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Vashikaran is an ancient Indian form of science that involves the use of powerful spells to control a person’s mind and make them according to someone else’s. Therefore, for those who are creating problems in your life, a positive captivating mantra can affect their mind and they | https://medium.com/@yogirajshastri1/love-problem-solution-ab9f554aeb77 | ['Yogiraj Shastri'] | 2020-12-20 08:22:07.214000+00:00 | ['Love Marriage Specialist', 'Love Problem Solution', 'Black Magic Specialist', 'Vashikaran Specialist', 'Astrology'] |
Supreme Court Rules LGBTQ Protected from Job Discrimination | Millions of LGBTQ people will have new civil rights following a decision by the Supreme Court that found employers cannot discriminate on the basis of workers being transgender or gay. On Monday, June 15, the Supreme Court ruled that it breaks federal law for employers to discriminate against people because of sexual orientation or gender identity. Federal law mandates that an employer cannot discriminate on the basis of sex, race, national origin, or religion, through the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s Title VII.
This new case was Gerald Lynn Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. The question was whether the prohibition against sex-based discrimination covered LGBTQ employees.
The court’s four liberal justices were joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch in their 6–3 majority, determining that LGBTQ workers are protected. Gender identity and sexual orientation are included within the federal prohibition of workplace sex discrimination, said the court.
This law is expected to have sweeping consequences. Anti-discrimination laws on the books with more than half of US states omit mention of gender identity and sexual orientation. According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, most of the 8 million LGBTQ employees in the US live in those states that lack coverage. The Supreme Court has established legal protection for the LGBTQ community in the workplace.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU EXPERIENCE LGBTQ JOB DISCRIMINATION
Take these four steps if you experience gender identity or sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace:
Get legal assistance Get documentation Report the discrimination Take legal action
FINDING THE RIGHT WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION ATTORNEY
It is important to know that the attorney who is representing you is both highly engaged and highly skilled in this area of law. At Wenzel Fenton Cabassa, PA, we have earned a strong reputation directly focusing on employment law and sex discrimination cases. Request a free consultation today. | https://medium.com/@wfclaw/supreme-court-rules-lgbtq-protected-from-job-discrimination-b81a59dfeb4e | ['Matthew Fenton'] | 2020-07-01 17:23:56.329000+00:00 | ['Workplace Culture', 'LGBT Rights'] |
The Rise of Open Observability Standards and Predictions for the Future | The Rise of Open Observability Standards and Predictions for the Future Shivnath Babu Jan 18·4 min read
The past year saw big movements in the evolution and adoption of standards like OpenTelemetry and OpenMetrics. In this article, I will briefly chronicle the rise of these standards and then give my predictions on the future of these standards over the next five years.
You can scroll back and forth in time through the above timeline which ranges over the past two decades. This walk through time looks at the major milestones in the rise of open standards in observability.
The timeline shows how we got here, but the question is: “why did we get here?”
Note that the above standards are primarily about defining common standards for communication of telemetry data. Such standards enable interoperability among the large number of independent systems and tools for observability that collect and/or transport and/or store and/or process telemetry data. Designing for interoperability brings two key advantages.
First, interoperability helps avoid vendor lock-in. When customers have the power of choice without the fear of lock-in, the chances of them adopting new solutions for observability increase significantly.
Second, the accelerated pace of adoption of observability solutions in the market facilitates innovation along many directions. These include: (i) intelligent analysis of telemetry data using AI/ML techniques to automatically identify root causes of problems and to fix them whenever possible; (ii) end-to-end visibility of data pipelines that span across multiple applications, services, and clouds, (iii) efficient and cost-effective storage of diverse types of metrics, traces, events, and logs; and (iv) real-time processing of the large volumes of telemetry data as they are being collected. Healthy competition to deliver this innovation is always welcome.
So what’s next?
Predictions for the Future
Prediction #1: OpenMetrics will have fast-growing adoption.
Rationale: OpenMetrics is based on the Prometheus wire exposition format. The adoption of Prometheus has been growing rapidly, with hundreds of thousands of installations, more than 700 exporters, and thousands of library integrations. This rapid proliferation of Prometheus will serve as the “carrier” that brings OpenMetrics into most enterprises.
Prediction #2: OpenTelemetry will have slow, but steady, growth over the next two years, and will experience accelerated growth afterwards.
Rationale: Distributed tracing across the modern stack is not yet a must-have in most companies; but it is getting closer to having a breakout year. Trends working in this direction are:
Proliferation of applications built using a combination of services on Kubernetes and/or cloud platforms.
Proliferation of mission-critical data pipelines that combine analytics with intelligent decision making in close to real time.
How one-click installs are now possible in containerized environments like Kubernetes to bring end-to-end visibility.
Prediction #3: Open standards for logs will not get very far.
Rationale: Logs are the natural next frontier for open observability standards after metrics and traces. Arguably, logs are more easily available and more widely used today in observability than either traces or metrics. Can this ubiquitous and sticky nature of logs be attributed to them not being shackled by standards? I think the answer is yes.
Logs enable a certain freedom of expression for developers that is critical to protect. Forcing more structure here may result in developers creating fewer log messages, and be counterproductive for observability; especially in the ability to drill down to the root cause of complex problems. Furthermore, trying to convert the trillions of existing log messages from current applications, platforms, and services into a common standard will be a nightmarish experience.
Instead of open standards for logs, I think two other efforts will have growing adoption and bigger impact in the next five years: (i) Using AI/ML techniques to automatically learn the structure and extract insights from logs; and (ii) Developing open standards for events. CloudEvents is a project to watch out for in this space.
Prediction #4: New open observability standards will emerge from the DataOps community.
Rationale: The push for open observability standards to date has come predominantly from the DevOps/SRE community. More and more companies that are now transforming themselves using data and technology — accelerated significantly due to the pandemic — have mushrooming DataOps teams. These teams foster a data-driven culture and manage the entire lifecycle around operationalizing data-driven processes. The current state of affairs of DataOps teams is similar to where DevOps teams were six to eight years ago:
There is growing demand for DataOps services from the business side
As discussed here and here, there is a large and diverse set of emerging data technologies to deal with
There are strong concerns about vendor lock-in and lack of observability
The emergence of open standards to facilitate interoperability and observability can eliminate the constant balancing act needed between concerns in adoption of new technologies and the need to innovate to meet growing business needs. This topic — including why current open standards for observability like OpenTelemetry, OpenMetrics, and the W3C Trace Context do not meet all needs of DataOps teams — deserves further discussion which I will cover it in a future blog.
Did someone say that the best way to predict the future is to invent it? Stay tuned! | https://medium.com/@shivnath-95389/the-rise-of-open-observability-standards-and-predictions-for-the-future-b64db6299814 | ['Shivnath Babu'] | 2021-01-18 23:42:10.112000+00:00 | ['Metrics', 'Prometheus', 'Observability', 'Opentelemetry', 'DevOps'] |
Game Design with Singleton Pattern | Game Design with Singleton Pattern
There can only be one, so make it count
This is the 6th entry in the Game Design with Programming Patterns series looking at the game design side of programming. Try the example experiments in the interactive supplement!
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
What Is The Pattern?
Singleton pattern objects have two properties: they are limited to one instance of themselves and provide global access to methods and data from themselves. Once created, any subsequent reference to a Singleton object will be that one object — it never creates more than one instance. In addition, any other part of the program can use the object because it is globally accessible. Singleton’s openness lets it provide data and services throughout the rest of the program. As a consequence, hastily applied Singletons create more problems than they solve, leading to Singletons that have more information or behavior than reasonable. Avoid creating unwanted problems by thinking carefully when singular uniqueness and access are needed.
How I Used It
The singleton will track the clicks inside and outside of the scene in the UI at the bottom left. | Clicking on cubes in this scene makes them jump
The nature of the Singleton made the most sense to me as a statistic tracker. By entering the singleton scene, a fairly simple stat tracking singleton instance is created. It counts the mouse clicks both inside and outside of the scene as well as the total seconds the application has been running. The singleton can be told to reset the click count by the button at the bottom and will resume tracking after that reset. Once the singleton scene has been loaded, the object will continue tracking the clicks and time from anywhere. Storing these stats in the singleton keeps them persistent and global.
Design Impressions
Creating a singleton in Unity is easy. Deciding when to create one is hard
A Singleton can be the best place to provide dependable utility and information to the rest of our game. Narrowing a Singleton’s focus to metadata like clicks or time counting lets it operate outside of the game space while still connecting to objects within. The Singleton can hold references to services or methods related to itself, and try to keep other objects from relying too heavily on it. This serves as a basic guideline to avoid bad Singleton scenarios where they become too entangled with other objects and systems.
Going Forward
Singleton objects should be used to address consistent and unchanging demands over the progression of the game, and they should reliably serve those demands no matter what. They are most suited for systems that are independent of specific games. Systems like a game’s rendering, debug, or stat tracking systems all inform how a good Singleton is constructed, that is, by not containing any critical logical functions. They should instead hold complementary processes and information. Holding references to other objects, handling player inputs, or containing “universal” information about a game all are good candidates for Singleton objects. Limited to that external domain, the Singleton pattern finds its place in the implementation details and not in the actual game design.
Previous: Prototype
Next: State
Code: https://github.com/jasonzli/game-programming-study
Reference: Game Programming Patterns, Nystrom, Robert 2014 http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/singleton.html | https://medium.com/dev-genius/game-design-with-singleton-pattern-21685f7a43bb | ['Jason Zhen Li'] | 2020-10-06 00:43:38.054000+00:00 | ['Game Design', 'Game Development', 'Indiedev', 'Software Development', 'Game Programming'] |
WHAT KARMINA LACKU HAS TO SAY ABOUT PROFESSIONAL PERMANENT MAKEUP IN NYC | Karmina Lacku
Your face will always be the first thing anyone new will notice about you. And first impressions do make a huge impact on your public image. In times like now, when we women have jam-packed schedules and ultra-busy lives, we get next to no time for ourselves. We need a solution that can save us time and be safe and healthy at the same time. Best Permanent makeup artist has come up with one such solution.
The beauty clinic culture started many years ago. Now, it has become more of a necessity than an indulgence. So what are the benefits of going to a beauty clinic regularly?
· Skin and hair care routine: We all have different skin and hair types. To make sure our skin looks supple and healthy, we need to do more than just simply washing it. For this, beauty experts use specific products depending on your skin type.
Beauty professionals
· Suggestions on daily practices: Beauty professionals can also guide you as to what products you should be using according to your daily schedules. This may further help your skin look and feel brighter and healthier.
· Deep cleansing off-and-on: The experts will know when its time to give your skin a deep cleanse. This can prevent your pores from clogging from the makeup and products you wear on a regular basis.
· Up-to-date with the latest trends: Your salon can be your link with what’s new in the beauty industry. New techniques come up very frequently, and you never know, some of them might be of great use to you!
Talking about new techniques, a very recent rave among makeup artists in NYC is the concept of best permanent makeup. Karmina Lacku, who is the best permanent makeup artist in NYC, shares her views on this topic.
WHAT IS PERMANENT MAKEUP?
This technique comes under the umbrella of cosmetic tattooing, wherein an approved ink is used to draw the desired part onto a person’s face. You can get it done under the expertise of a professional permanent make-up clinic like Karmina Beauty Clinic. For example, people get eyebrow hair tattooed onto their natural brows. This gives the brows a thicker and fuller look.
Phibrows
APART FROM EYEBROWS, WHAT ARE SOME OTHER FACIAL FEATURES WHICH CAN BE ENHANCED BY PERMANENT MAKEUP?
The lips, for example. Some women want to geta permanent tint on their lips so that they don’t have to apply their favorite lip color every morning. In this case, the natural undertone is assessed and the target color is then finalized.
Permanent eyeliner NYC is also another thing that’s becoming very popular. All these are meant to make life easier for us ladies who don’t want the hassle of applying these products now and again.
HOW LONG DOES THIS PERMANENT MAKEUP LAST?
The tint does gradually fade away. Nevertheless, it will last you a good 4–5 years. Regular touch-ups are recommended. Some procedures may even last up to 10 years, depending on several factors like skin color, skin type, etc.
The color can also be changed if desired. For example, a nude lip shade can be amped up to a peach-tone and a brownish hued eyeliner can be changed to a black or a navy blue one.
So, if you want to make your life a little bit easier, the best permanent makeup artists NYC recommends you to try these techniques! | https://medium.com/@karminalacku/what-karmina-lacku-has-to-say-about-professional-permanent-makeup-in-nyc-375ee1886e8d | ['Karmina Lacku'] | 2019-12-05 05:09:34.213000+00:00 | ['Permanent Makeup', 'New York', 'Permanent Makeup Artist', 'Beauty', 'NYC'] |
Married to the Tribe | Married to the Tribe
Tango induces tribal love. After tango, coupling with just one feels sort of claustrophobic.
Photo by Preillumination SeTh on Unsplash
No matter the stranger’s laser blue eyes and satin silver hair. The magic resides in the embrace and he knows how to power it from his core through my torso. The music begins and we are dancing airborne tango.
Airborne tango occurs when my partner and I are so in sync we leave the ground. One of tango’s basic tenets is that one leg is always free. So, for split seconds during weight shifts, both feet seem to dance on air. If cars hydroplane on wet pavement why can’t fleet-footed dancers generate uplift on a wood floor? At the Verdi Club in San Francisco where I dance tango every Thursday, I’ve been in “flight” nearly the whole evening with the stranger who is passing through from Oregon to Africa. He is so thrilling to dance with that I break with protocol that advises couples to change partners after every set of four songs.
His pendulous strides allow my legs to float out slits in the sides of my genie pantaloons. Astaire-like in his extensions, he has the build of Gene Kelly, compact and grounded — except when we are airborne. We exchange more sweat than speech. I praise our nimble connection once. He responds, “Tango’s like sharing a central nervous system.” Off we glide under the ambient fire of vintage chandeliers.
As I exit the salon, my Argentine friend, Gladys, who has not missed my breach of etiquette, asks “Tu novio?” Is he my sweetheart?
I smile, recalling the lovely rocking of his cadencia, a syncopated step, so perfectly in time to the music, I still feel jubilant. He is what Argentines might call “El Re del Compas,” the King of Rhythm.
I have given him my email because it turned out we had a friend in common. But, “No, I’ll never see him again,” I answer Gladys.
It is not just that he lives in another state, but that three years before I had vowed to keep chaste the place of my passion, this container as it were, called the milonga, where I dance with a satisfying mix of freedom and intimacy. Sometimes I stand back and observe. Manicured feet in candy-colored spikes, fluid garments, torsos spiraling beneath joined heads move in an organized ebb and flow that disallows any inkling that we are not all connected.
I’m content to belong to that tribe, not to any one man.
I have tried clumsily to explain to non-tango friends about my sense of a third presence when the tango connection is this good. They smile. The thousand-mile gaze follows. But I’ve learned that the alchemists even had a term, tertium quid, that referred to a mysterious third element that arises with two known quantities.
Tango mysticism aside, I’ve etched real miles on dances floors from San Francisco to Buenos Aires. Milonga, the venue where tango is danced, is a word of African origin, possibly meaning gathering place. And so up to now, I’ve kept my gathering place as sacred as a church. This promise was easy to keep only after I failed to steer clear of entangling alliances, only after all the tumult tango sparked in my life. First, I quit my day job, a coveted editorial position on a travel magazine. Then my obsession catalyzed the loss of my cherished 15-year relationship. Locked in embrace with multiple partners every night, how could I not expect him to feel like my insignificant other?
When I first arrived in Buenos Aires (planning to stay two months but staying a few years), I was still bereft over my losses. I met a student of philosophy, Peter Esser, from the States, who warned me that tango was a pharmakon. “Like government, police, food, and drink,” Peter said, “tango can be medicine or poison.” I had yet to bleed the poison as I proceeded to engage in two ill-advised affairs with Argentine milongueros. These prowling men, who “fish” the milongas, are usually great dancers, romantic, suave, and practiced at the art of catch and release.
The art of self-deception, I realized, was the toxin I needed to purge. Tango itself was pure. The dance, consisting of a few basic steps, asks nothing more than total presence and skillful play. It was born among poor immigrants of a primal desire for bonding with others. Over its more than one hundred years, it’s been refined but its improvisational quality endures.
Tango had crept into my life unbidden. Maybe I was ready for the cleansing of tired, lofty expectations for my partner, myself, for life. The first technique a tango follower learns is to not anticipate, or she’ll miss the beauty of the moment, the dance’s subtle betrayal. At any time, leaders may block our feet (paradas), sandwich them, spill us like fountains (volcadas), hang us off cliffs (colgadas), twirl us like windmills (molinetes), or invade our space (sacadas).
Despite its sexy aspects, tango is undeniably playful and therapeutic. When I sank into its childlike quality, tango began to influence my behavior even outside the dance circle.
In Buenos Aires, you can dance tango from 2 pm to 6 am, though clock time ceased once I entered the tightly packed halls. I’d melt into the embrace with men from all corners of the globe. I’d feel ravished in an oddly wholesome way. Before dawn, I’d return to my bed alone, sleeping sound as an adolescent nourished by a dozen fairytales.
When I came home to San Francisco, I kept clear of the “tango-ed web.” Eventually however, I longed for a relationship. Although I believe in chemistry, I caved to online dating buzz. I played up my love of bicycling and swimming. I wanted no one who danced tango. (The gods must have roared with laughter.) My first and only date looked auspiciously like my previous relationship — a tall, Irish lawyer. It went well, perhaps too well. He emailed me soon after that he had been inspired to “resurrect” his former relationship.
I was happy for him. There may be plenty of fish, but I was using the wrong bait. Not one guy bit after the recidivist lawyer. I was resigned to being married to the milonga when the Astaire-Kelly stranger emailed me the day after we met. He said our evening of dancing pleased him “into a smile” and “Nothing quite that good happens very often for me.” He wrote in a refreshingly open way that was flattering, self-revealing, and charmingly vulnerable. I read and re-read his emails.
My weakness for tango is surpassed only by my soft spot for the written word. Our emails grew legs that danced over many miles the next two months as he traveled. I began to fall in love with his voice. Unlike the men I had tried tediously and in vain to connect with on e-Harmony, he was hair-trigger responsive and lighthearted. He cared minimally for biking and swimming — but, alas, we had tango.
He wrote casually that he was passing through San Francisco on his way back to Oregon. I hit the send button seconds later. “Come! Stay five nights,” I entreated.
“I love how understated you are,” he wrote back.
“What’s the point?” I replied. “We’ve already shared a nervous system.”
He came, he stayed, and our airborne tangos continued to take flight more than a year later.
Tango taught me to not anticipate, thus in a larger sense to not burden love with expectations. It gave me other tools that apply to intimate relationships: How to maintain my own axis or balance in partnership and, as a dance of improvisation, how to enjoy uncertainty. Despite what I deemed best for me, the universe sent me a partner, however fleetingly, who for a cherished few years, shared my passion for an activity that cannot progress without trust. I’m grateful. Laugh all you like, there is still this mysterious third presence that looks out for me, for him, for us.
And, perhaps the best part: I’m still married to the milonga. | https://medium.com/nomudnolotus-writer/married-to-the-tribe-8b2ae317e996 | ['Camille Cusumano'] | 2020-11-21 18:38:59.510000+00:00 | ['Love', 'Dance', 'Milongas', 'Argentina', 'Tango'] |
Continuous Delivery and Automated Canary Analysis using Spinnaker and Prometheus | At Quantum Metric, we have started rolling out Spinnaker as our primary tool for Continuous Delivery.
With the rapid growth of our customer base and the teams contributing to our platform, it has become more important than ever to ensure that we are continuing to deliver value quickly and reliably.
Per the Official Spinnaker Website
Spinnaker is an open source, multi-cloud continuous delivery platform for releasing software changes with high velocity and confidence.
Though Spinnaker was originally created by Netflix, it has accumulated a strong community of supporters including Google, Amazon and Microsoft when it was made open-source.
While many factors were considered when choosing Spinnaker, one specific feature we were especially intrigued by was the native support for running Automated Canary Analysis (ACA) within our deployment pipelines during a canary deployment.
Simply put, a canary deployment allows us to partially roll out a change against a subset of traffic so that it can be evaluated against the current deployment to ensure it is operating as expected.
Spinnaker uses Kayenta to query one or more metric stores (e.g. Prometheus, NewRelic, SignalFX) against a current instance of the service (the baseline) and a new version (the canary) and then runs statistical analysis to automate the comparison.
At the time of this writing, Quantum Metric uses both Prometheus and SignalFX as metric stores for ACA, however this article will only focus on Prometheus.
Overview
The purpose of this article is to share how we are leveraging ACAs with Kayenta and Prometheus to increase confidence of our production deployments.
However, we will not be covering specific details for configuring Spinnaker, Prometheus, or digging into best practices for running ACAs as much of this can be very contextual.
The links below provide more details on the above:
The Service
With some minor details omitted, the service we will be referencing is our Resource Manager service which is responsible for enforcing resource integrity for specific data within our platform.
It has simple, but well-defined Service Level Objectives (SLO) around Availability and Latency that serve as excellent indicators we can use for canary deployments.
In other words, during a canary deployment, we will automate the analysis of the following Prometheus metrics supporting these SLOs to understand the risk of a deployment before it is fully released by comparing behavior between the baseline and canary deployments.
# Availability
resource_manager_request={status="success"} # Latency
resource_manager_request_duration{duration="bkt_0_to_50ms"}
We will come back to these metrics when we discuss configuring the canary analysis.
Canary Deployment
Before we discuss configuring canary analysis, we need a pipeline that will automate the deployment of a baseline and a canary version of the service.
To recap, the baseline should use the same version (and configuration) that is currently running in production, whereas the canary is the new version.
To read more about why this is preferred rather than running comparisons against production, read Canary Best Practices.
Additionally, we want to ensure that our pipeline is configured to tear down these deployments following the automated analysis and judgement has been made on whether to continue the release or not.
The following image reflects the different stages of our canary deployment pipeline. For simplicity, early stages responsible for baking our Helm charts and deploying to development environments are omitted.
Canary Deployment Pipeline
First, a brief explanation of each of the stages in this pipeline:
Configuration — Manages parameters and other configuration used by the downstream stages such as the Docker Image tag that triggered the deployment pipeline.
Manages parameters and other configuration used by the downstream stages such as the Docker Image tag that triggered the deployment pipeline. Find Baseline — Retrieves the current version of the service running in production for use in downstream Deploy Baseline stage.
Retrieves the current version of the service running in production for use in downstream stage. Deploy/Baseline Canary — Deploy the two versions with identical replica counts for comparison during Canary Analysis.
Deploy the two versions with identical replica counts for comparison during Canary Analysis — Run ACA against the previously deployed baseline and canary versions.
Run ACA against the previously deployed and versions. Canary Judgement — Perform manual judgement on the results of the ACA to determine whether to continue or not. Note that this stage is not necessary and execution can be determined directly based on the results of the Canary Analysis stage.
Perform manual judgement on the results of the ACA to determine whether to continue or not. Note that this stage is not necessary and execution can be determined directly based on the results of the stage. Delete Canary/Baseline — Tear down the previously deployed baseline and canary deployments.
While there are more advanced traffic routing patterns and policies that can be used when running a canary deployment (see Istio), we are just using Kubernetes load balancing to route traffic between the current, baseline and canary deployments.
This gives us the ability to determine the amount of traffic we want to send to the canary deployment using simple math.
For example, if we decide that we want to route 20% of traffic to canary deployments, and there are 3 replicas currently running in production, we would calculate the target replica counts as follows:
3 (current) + 1 (baseline) + 1 (canary) = 5 total replicas 1 (canary) / 5 (total) = 20% of traffic when load balanced
Canary Configuration
Before a canary stage can be added to a pipeline, a Canary Configuration must be defined where we configure the following attributes as input for our Canary Analysis stage.
Specific metrics and groupings for evaluation during analysis.
Scoring thresholds and weights for metric groupings.
Reusable metric filter templates to provide reusability.
The configuration we are using is relatively straight forward, and uses a single Request Check group, though you can leverage multiple metric groups to configure specific weights that are applied when scoring. To learn about more advanced configurations, read through Configuring Metric Groups and Weighting.
Here is the canary configuration we will be using:
Canary Configuration for Resource Manager
The image above reflects that we have a canary configuration with a single Request Check group consisting of two metrics, Request Success and Request Latency, and a default weight of 100.
Let’s dig further into each of these metrics…
First, we configured the Request Success metric as shown below:
Metric Configuration for Request Success
Some specific details for how this metric is configured:
Fail on — Since this is directly tied to our Availability SLO, we are configuring this to only fail when it is determined that there is a decrease in success rate when comparing the canary and baseline deployments.
Query Type — We are using PromQL so that we can specify the templated Prometheus query we want to run directly.
Template — We provide the PromQL query template here that will be used to retrieve the metric that is being analyzed during Canary Analysis. The template includes ${scope} and ${location} which are expressions that will be interpolated at runtime in order to differentiate between the baseline and canary deployments. These will be covered in more detail in the later sections.
Similarly, the configuration for the Request Latency metric looks the same, but runs a query specific to the resource_manager_request_duration metric.
Metric Configuration for Request Latency
For more, visit Canary Configuration
Configuring Canary Analysis
Now that we have our resource-manager canary configuration, we can continue to the Canary Analysis stage for our deployment pipeline, which is configured to perform canary analysis for our deployment using the Request Check configuration.
Canary Analysis Configuration
While our resource-manager canary configuration specifies the metrics, groupings and default scoring thresholds, the Canary Analysis Configuration provides the ability to actually configure how to run canary analysis within our deployment pipeline.
Here are some details for how we are configuring our Canary Analysis stage.
Analysis Type — Configure the analysis to run in real time or against a specified time interval retrospectively. Real Time is perfect for what we need.
Config Name — We are referencing the resource-manager canary configuration.
Lifetime — The total duration in which we will run this Canary Analysis stage. Generally speaking, the longer you can run this, the more data points that can be considered, though it is certainly contextual. In our case, 30 minutes is more than sufficient due to the high volume of the service.
Interval — The frequency at which a new canary score is generated.
Baseline/Canary Location — Used to identify the location of the control (the baseline) and the experiment (the canary) and directly maps to the ${location} expression previously mentioned in our PromQL template. In our case, both of our deployments will be located in the resource-manager Kubernetes namespace which will map to the namespace label on our Prometheus metric.
Baseline/Canary — Similarly, these are used to identify the scope of the control and experiment and directly map to the ${scope} expression used in our PromQL template.
This will result in the following Prometheus queries being run as part of the canary analysis:
# Request Success
sum(delta(resource_manager_request{result="success", pod=~"canary",namespace="resource-manager"} [30s])) sum(delta(resource_manager_request{result="success", pod=~"baseline",namespace="resource-manager"} [30s])) # Request Latency
sum(delta(resource_manager_request_duration{duration="bkt_0_to_50ms",pod=~"canary",namespace="resource-manager"} [30s])) sum(delta(resource_manager_request_duration{duration="bkt_0_to_50ms",pod=~"baseline",namespace="resource-manager"} [30s]))
Configuring Analysis
We now have everything we need to run a full production deployment that will run an ACA across these metrics to help us better decide whether or not to proceed releasing it to 100% of traffic.
Once the deployment pipeline is triggered, and the baseline and canary deployments are successfully running, our Canary Analysis stage will run analysis and calculate a score for the within the provided interval.
We have configured analysis to run using five minute intervals as shown below.
In Progress Canary Analysis
One important capability to note is that you can configure the canary to fail if any of the individual runs fail. This will ensure that if there is an immediate impact, that it does not need to run the full Canary Analysis stage before we can tear down the problematic deployment.
Successful Canary Analysis
If needed, we can drill into any of these individual canary runs to understand how the baseline and canary compared and were scored across both our Request Success and Request Latency metrics .
Canary Analysis Report
Once the Canary Analysis stage is completed, the pipeline is configured with a Canary Judgement stage that allows for any additional analysis to be done and provide manual intervention if needed. Even though this is not necessary, in many cases it can still be useful.
Canary Judgement
Since our Canary Analysis succeeded with a score of 100, and there is only 0.2–0.3% deviation between the baseline and canary, we can feel confident in proceeding with rolling this out to 100% of traffic, and tearing down those deployments.
In the event one or more of the metrics had failed, we would have seen something similar to the following reflecting a significant deviation of one of the metrics.
Failed Canary Analysis — Low Request Success
The image above is specifically reflecting that there was a deviation to Request Success in the canary which is indicative of a potential issue in the new version.
Summary
So there it is!
From a high level, we have shared how we are using Spinnaker, Kayenta and Prometheus to run automated canary analysis to increase confidence during deployments when delivering value to our customers.
We are really only in the early stages of fully utilizing the capabilities of what Spinnaker has to offer, but are excited to see increased adoption across Quantum Metric and know it will further enable us on the path towards Continuous Delivery.
Working with Spinnaker has been both challenging and fulfilling for our team, We have leaned a lot on the community, as well as some great tooling provided by companies like Armory (check them out, they are doing some great work!) to get to this point.
Our Delivery Engineering Team is growing quickly!
If you are passionate about Continuous Delivery, Observability and enabling those around you, definitely check out the opportunities we have available, as well as other open positions at Quantum Metric!
References | https://medium.com/@eric.irwin/continuous-delivery-and-automated-canary-analysis-using-spinnaker-and-prometheus-e31a0f6e26f8 | ['Eric Irwin'] | 2021-04-12 14:21:05.235000+00:00 | ['Canary Deployments', 'Continuous Delivery', 'Engineering', 'Prometheus', 'Spinnaker'] |
Know The Basics of Radiant Cut | Know The Basics of Radiant Cut
There are different types of standard diamond shapes and sizes. Radiant cut is one of those popular shapes. Each shape has their own characteristics and advantages. This presents a problem to the buyer, the buyer’s dilemma. To make the most informed decision and to get the best value for money, you need to know the popular cuts. If you are planning to purchase radiant cut diamonds, you need to know about the cut in more depth.
Ideal radiant cut has 70 facets. When seen from the top side, a perfectly cut radiant diamond will show a diagonal cross pattern. This is the USP of radiant cut which differentiates it from any other cut. Although there are some slight variations of the cut exist, the standard radiant cut is the most versatile cut. The diamonds tend to be slightly rectangular with a 5:6 ratio of width and length. However, square shapes radiant cut isn’t rare.
Like the popular hybrid cuts, such as the princess cut, radiant cut also combines the angular elegance of step cuts and the dazzle and brilliance of the round brilliant cut. While radiant cut has cropped corners, princess cut has sharp edges and this is the differentiating factor between two cuts. Emerald cut also has cropped corners.
Radiant diamonds can be used for multiple purposes as the cut is very versatile. They can be an effective solitaire while using them as centre stone is not uncommon practice either.
While the radiant cut has some common feature with emerald and Asscher cuts, radiant cut has small sized facets which helps us to conceal flaws, if any, in the stone. Other step cut based shapes often suffer from the clarity related issues due to longer facets. This also means that radiant cut doesn’t ‘accumulate’ colours at the corner which is a prominent issue in some other non-round cuts.
When assessing a radiant cut diamond, you should use the parameters which you use for evaluating other popular cuts, especially, round brilliant cuts. This means that you should use the standard certification grades to get the best possible value for your money.
However, while you judge the diamond the best you can, you should also rely on professional grading system. GIA certified diamonds come with a standard grading and it tells you the weight and the size of the diamond. It specifies the flaws of the stone and you can be assured that you are buying an authentic and genuine diamond. | https://medium.com/@angelinagertz/know-the-basics-of-radiant-cut-ebc076ad7845 | ['Valentin Magro'] | 2016-10-14 14:54:45.231000+00:00 | ['Diamonds', 'Jewelry'] |
A Workplace Culture of Care by Selale Anapa for TraumaVenture | I learned a great deal in college — time management; prioritization; the impact of politics, economics, and culture on international affairs; cultural literacy; and globalization. Upon graduation, I left with a web of knowledge secured and ready to be applied to the outside world. Optimism and self-pride for earning a degree rested on each shoulder, rustling encouraging words for the future in my mind.
I walked into the workforce eager, motivated, and dedicated. What I didn’t realize is that I would soon feel overworked, drained, and fatigued. Among the plethora of information I learned in school, something was missing — what entering into the workplace would look like for me as an individual with cultivated needs and independent experiences.
During the onset of COVID-19, I was introduced to the concept of a Culture of Care, the theory that a workplace best achieves its mission when the importance of relationships is emphasized. That lens appealed to me, and I started to do a self-audit; I reflected on how I was spending my time and, more importantly, how I was spending my energy. I did not realize that even though my time was well-managed, I could still be left feeling drained. COVID-19 seemed to amplify how I was able to look at my life. Thoughts of work consumed me — small tasks, conversations, upcoming meetings, whether I did something right or wrong, my first call the next day — all of these things negatively impacted my well-being; I could feel myself slipping away. I was not able to shake off the workday. It stayed with me past work hours, into dreams, and before work hours the next day. Personally, I was unable to enjoy time for myself or actively engage in the important relationships of my life. Professionally, my motivation and creativity dwindled. I thought to myself, this can’t be it.
Humans are inherently social beings. For us, connection is a basic need, and we naturally seek companionship as part of our welfare; in other words, we depend on community. Just as our family, friends, universities, sports teams, and neighborhoods are communities, so is our workplace. As social, emotional beings, we typically define our subjective well-being, or happiness, by evaluating our life through experiences; thus, our work and our well-being are interconnected. The average person spends one-third of their life ( 90,000 hours) at work, and therefore, work is inevitably a variable we consider when self-evaluating.
This pandemic has flipped the typical workplace environment upside down, both physically and socially, and sparked innovation for redesigning the layout for the future of work. Innovation starts with compassion and understanding. As children, we are taught respect, responsibility, honesty, and kindness are of the highest importance. When these values are transferred to the workplace, work can be an environment that nurtures positive relationships, embraces understanding, community, and encouragement. It becomes the healthy soil in which engagement can grow.
The workplace is an ecosystem composed of interacting social beings where each member (leadership, employee, stakeholder) must feel appreciated to actively engage and foster success. Engagement starts with leadership. When senior leadership is transparent, empathetic, and appreciative, employees are engaged and, more importantly, are assured of the company and their place in it. COVID-19 has elevated this need for caring and trusting leadership. Where trusting leadership is intact, the switch to remote work has created more independence for employees and an opportunity to take new creative direction in their responsibilities.
His Holiness, the Dalai Lama said, “To earn trust, money and power aren’t enough; you have to show some concern for others. You can’t buy trust in the supermarket.”
When people feel they can trust and be trusted, they are eager to be a part of the relationship. Research has proven that social connections and relationships at work enhance one’s sense of meaningfulness, reinforcing engagement. In a relationship where trust is observed, people are willing to contribute what is needed — dedication, talent, energy, honest opinions, ideas. These relationships should not be transactional; after all, we are social beings; it makes the most sense for workplace culture to be person-centric.
A Culture of Care focuses on the emotional investment required by employees as much as the physical task. The pandemic is an unprecedented time filled with uncertainty — each of us is experiencing it in distinct ways with unique stressors that are not always visible to others. We must be mindful of the spectrum of challenges each of us encounters. The values we were taught as children (respect, responsibility, honesty, and kindness) are more critical than ever as we navigate the day in a time that tests our mental and physical well-being. We can use this unique time to explore and make meaningful connections, both professionally and personally. A celebratory, respectful, trusting, and collaborative work model is not an unattainable dream. It is a reality, very much in our reach if we work toward it on all levels of the professional ecosystem.
The COVID-19 landscape has prompted me to be increasingly mindful of how my work environment is translating into my personal life. The workplace, as we have known it, is changing and employees’ expectations along with it. A change in workplace culture is imperative; acknowledging and being mindful of the interconnectedness between work and personal life allows us to live more authentically and lead to increased well-being. Let us change it; let it be person-centered and encompass connection, trust, collaboration, and respect. A Culture of Care is, first and foremost, a culture, without limitation by four walls. If we hold to the values we are taught as children, transformation into a Culture of Care can transcend the workspace and into the facets of our everyday lives.
#fridayreads #cultureofcare #thefutureofwork #wellbeing #humanizingtheworkplace #empathymatters #peoplefirst #humancentricleadership #baskadinlar #kadinliderler #TraumaVenture | https://medium.com/@traumaventure/a-workplace-culture-of-care-by-selale-anapa-for-traumaventure-a1601fb4ae72 | ['Traumaventure Cecilia M Cardesa'] | 2020-12-16 20:56:37.248000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Cultureofcare', 'Trauma Informed', 'Future Of Work'] |
How Your Definition of “Friend” Can Impact Your Career | No matter your profession or career choice, there’s a nearly 100% probability that your job relies on input, information, or cooperation from other people. Perhaps it’s people you work with directly — on your team, in your department, or in other parts of your company. Or maybe you interface with people outside of your organization — for account management, sales, customer support, or a myriad of other job functions. No matter the context, learning how to work with others effectively is an imperative skill to master in order to grow in your career, and extends beyond using socially acceptable email sign-offs.
When I started my first job after college, my definition of “friend” was along the lines of “someone that I have spent a lot of time with, know well, and want to be around outside of a professional setting.” I had grown up with a good group of close friends, but was also an awfully shy person who was intimidated by just about everyone outside of my friend circle. I viewed the interactions necessary to do my job primarily as professional obligations — not relationships.
At that first job, I had a colleague named Ryan who continually confused me with his use of the word “friend.” He’d say something like, “I have a friend that works at company X — do you want me to introduce you?” I’d ask how he knew that friend, and a typical response was, “We met once at a happy hour two years ago.” At the time, this was not my definition of a “friend.” Maybe an “acquaintance,” but more likely just “someone I met once.” It was funny to me, but I didn’t yet see the benefits of my Ryan’s definition of friend. That’d take a whole new career, industry, and city.
A few years later, I moved to San Francisco to join a venture capital firm as an investor — a very different role than my previous jobs in strategy in the media & entertainment industry in Los Angeles. Instead of being internally focused and relying on a small dedicated team of co-workers within my company, my job was now primarily externally focused, meeting with hundreds of founders, investors, and other professionals whom I didn’t have prior relationships with. In this new industry and career, I began to notice other people using the term “friend” in a similar way to my colleague from earlier in my career. “I have a friend who’s an investor at X, would you like an intro?”
At first, my midwest sensibilities viewed this liberal definition of the word “friend” as braggadocios and arrogant — an attempt to overstate their own importance or professional network. But I continued to hear this verbiage from people that I had come to respect as sensible and humble individuals. Soon enough, I caught myself using the term more liberally myself.
After trying it out, I found that expanding my own definition of “friend” from “someone that I have spent a lot of time with, know well, and want to be around outside of a professional setting” to “someone that knows me by my name and that I’ve had a positive interaction with” not only opened up endless opportunities for me, it also made me a friendlier and warmer person. I began to view people that I had only met a handful of times completely differently —not as someone I was compelled to interact with, but as a friend. This new relationship categorization lowered the bar for reconnecting with people, or reaching out to ask for a favor, make an introduction, or just “catch up” with someone.
There’s actually a whole school of thought known as linguistic relativity, which claims that “that the structure of a language affects its speakers’ world view or cognition, and thus people’s perceptions are relative to their spoken language.” While I’m not contemplating completely different languages, I also believe that one’s internal definitions of specific words within a language similarly affects their world view and perception. If you don’t agree — find two people who have drastically different definitions of the word “liberal,” yet have similar world views and perceptions.
Since expanding my definition of friendship, I’ve noticed that I have organically added qualifiers to the intimacy of my relationships. These days, someone may be a “friend,” “good friend,” “close friend,” or “best friend.” In all, I have way more friends than I used to — almost exclusively due to how I define a friend.
This advice does come with one warning: if you consider someone your friend, you must also consider yourself their friend. This means that if they reach out to ask you a favor, you act in the same manner that you’d expect them to. After all, friendship is a two-way relationship. Friendships also aren’t transactional — we don’t keep score of favors given and received or hold the conviction that our friends “owe” us anything. Phony friends are usually transparent and easy to spot — and if you don’t approach friendship in a genuine and authentic way, you’ll damage both your career and your personal life.
If you’re able to adjust your vocabulary to be more inclusive and positive when working with others, chances are you’ll treat them better and realize the long-term benefits of having so many additional friends. So, what do you say, friend? | https://medium.com/the-raabithole/how-your-definition-of-friend-can-impact-your-career-79b3d8f5f8dc | ['Mike Raab'] | 2019-10-19 03:58:29.664000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Advice', 'Business', 'Culture', 'Life'] |
Habits | The creation of good habits is essential to the life of a good college student and a successful person. With good habits, a person can make their own life easier in that they don’t have to devote conscious thinking to the completion of their responsibilities. With the development of good habits a person can become better at their own time management and at holding their own selves accountable. The formation of good habits is essential for our daily prosperity.
In our discussion there was talk about how our daily lives consist nearly halfway of habits that we have previously formed. This is really an odd concept to think about because we as people often like to think of ourselves as always making conscious decisions regarding ourselves. The thought that we may be predisposed to certain acts or thoughts based on previously formed notions can be a scary thing.
Another one of the topics discussed was the statistic that many people were able to more effectively quit smoking when they first started their attempt in a location that was unfamiliar to them. This is relatable to my current scenario in that I am entering a new atmosphere with the potential to form new habits. My goal here is to form productive habits in my new potential. I hope to form effective studying habits that will allow me to reach my full potential in regard to my college career. I am prone to my fair share of bad habits some of which are rooted in my academic study habits. These in particular are among the ones I hope to change in my new beginning.
Habit forming is a very important aspect of our lives and one that we are continuously changing and working with. As we delve into new areas of our lives we become more responsible for the control of production of new habits. It is my hope that college allows me to further my ability in habitual learning. | https://medium.com/logans-life-talk-journal/habits-5398e315fea3 | ['Logan Reid'] | 2019-08-03 18:45:11.983000+00:00 | ['Habit Building'] |
He Doesn’t REALLY Want the Perfect WomanHe Wants These 3 Things from You Instead… | How much time do you spend trying to be the kind of woman you think men want?
If you’re like most women, it’s a LOT. You spend all this time making yourself look sexy and attractive.
All this time presenting yourself as fun, interesting, worldly, and not needy in the slightest.
You spend all this time showing him just how good you’d be for him… How amazing his future would be if he chose you as the woman by his side…
And it doesn’t work. It never works. WHY? Why do you work so hard…
And the guy in your life just takes you for granted, if he even notices you at all?
It’s probably because he’s immature, right?
He can’t recognize a good thing until it’s gone. Or maybe… It’s because you’ve been doing all the work for him.
If He Doesn’t Work for Your Relationship, He Won’t Value It
What men value most are those things they have to work hard to get.
Hand a man a college diploma, and he won’t value it as much as if he’d had to put in years of study and effort to earn it.
Hand a man the perfect girlfriend, and he won’t value her as much as if he’d had to woo her for weeks just to get her to go out with him.
This is why playing hard to get works.
But, as you’ve probably already noticed…
There’s a BIG problem with playing hard to get. That strategy stops working once he’s actually got you.
Something happens when guys decide they’ve won you. It’s almost like they think, “Game over.”
Their minds are already on their next challenge. What is going on?!
And how can you stop it from wrecking your relationship?
It’s Not Just You — ALL Women Experience This (That’s Why They Ask for Help)
Many women give up on love. They never let themselves get too close to a man, for fear of scaring him off.
But other women try a different approach. They get help.
Relationship coach James Bauer is one of the people they turn to.
He noticed that many clients were coming to him, complaining about guys who were blowing hot and cold.
Everything would be going great, and then it was like…
Something would change overnight.
A guy who’d been warm, affectionate and interested would suddenly become distant.
He’d no longer have any time for her.
He wouldn’t smile in greeting. He’d stop making eye contact. His kisses were brusque.
Wanting to help his clients, James investigated.
And what he discovered made sense of everything. He knew why these men were backing away. He knew what they needed … and what they weren’t getting.
It didn’t come down to anything wrong with these women.
Rather, it all came down to something he called “The Hero Instinct.”
Unleash His Hero Instinct
One of the most wonderful things about women is how naturally caring they are.
Look at you. You’re always there for your guy. You look after him. You always make time for him. You’d do anything for him.
You never realize that, in the process…
You’re actually taking something away from him. You’re taking away his purpose.
You see, he wants to be your hero. He doesn’t want you to be his hero.
Men love heroes. Look at how many grown men are still fascinated by Marvel comics and superhero movies.
Every man on Earth, from the time he was a boy, dreamed of growing up to be the kind of hero who would save the world — and get the girl at the same time.
Most men don’t get to indulge their world-saving side in their 9–5 jobs.
Give Him A Worthy Challenge
Circumstances don’t call for them to rip off their corporate ties and spring into action, revealing their superman side. Maybe they can’t save the world. But they can still get the girl.
Getting the girl is a worthy challenge for an ordinary guy with the heart of a superhero. It takes superhuman confidence. Superhuman charm. Superhuman immunity to pain. Now, all he needs to find is…
A girl who needs a hero. Do You Need a Hero? Let me guess… That’s not you.
You’re strong. You’re independent.
You can fix a leaky faucet. You can drive a stick shift. You can take care of yourself.
You’re never going to make that Jerry Maguire mistake of looking for a man to complete you.
Instead, you have a lot to offer a man. You’re generous. Kind. Loving. Giving to a fault. All you want is to find a man who’s willing to receive all you have to give.
And that’s why heroes aren’t showing up in your life. That’s why you’ve ended up with so many takers instead.
Guys who take everything you have and leave you high and dry. If you want a hero, then you need to advertise for one. Here’s how.
3 Ways You Can Invite a Hero into Your Life, Starting Today
1. Ask a guy for help.
Ask him for advice on buying a new computer. Ask him to listen to that weird rattling sound that’s started up in your car. Ask him to reach something on the top shelf.
Then thank him warmly, with a great big smile of appreciation.
No, that doesn’t make you needy. It makes you a woman with space for a man in her life.
2. Take pleasure in male company.
Guys love women who appreciate men for just being men.
So what if his apartment is a shrine to sports? So what if he spends hours on his fantasy football team? So what if his idea of a clean shirt is the one with the fewest wrinkles?
He’s a guy. It’s okay. You don’t need him to be more like you, because you’ve got the feminine side of the gender equation covered.
3. Let him earn your respect.
Superheroes love challenges. They don’t want to be given a gold medal just for showing up. They don’t want your love handed to them on a plate. They want to earn it.
There’s one thing they crave even more than a woman’s eternal enduring love: A challenge.
So give him opportunities to prove himself. You don’t have to do the work of winning him over.
Sit back, relax, and allow him the pleasure of winning your admiration.
Keep Learning
If that sounds like fun to you, click here to watch a video presentation about this relationship enhancement tool.
It’s something you can learn once, but then use for the rest of your life. | https://medium.com/@romanticloverelation/he-doesnt-really-want-the-perfect-womanhe-wants-these-3-things-from-you-instead-db58eea42756 | [] | 2020-12-21 12:59:05.233000+00:00 | ['Breakups', 'Life', 'Dating', 'Relationships', 'Love'] |
“There Are Worse Things I Could Do” — Stockard Channing as Rizzo in “Grease” | There are worse things I could do than write articles about songs I love. Hopefully you see things the same way…
If you’re of an age, the soundtrack to “Grease” will be etched on your mind. Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey wrote some great songs…”Summer Nights”, “Beauty School Dropout” and “Greased Lightening”.
They also had a bit of help from their friends. Barry Gibb wrote the title track for the “Grease” movie and John Farrar wrote “You’re The One That I Want”.
Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey also incorporated some classics into the soundtrack, like Rodgers and Hart’s “Blue Moon” and Lieber and Stoller’s “Hound Dog”.
Hidden amongst all the great songs on the “Grease” soundtrack album, I never thought the more introspective “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” got the attention it deserved.
Sure, we all remember Olivia Newton-John in those skin-tight pants for “You’ve The One That I Want”…John Travolta on the bonnet of the hot-rod for “Greased Lightening”…the cast skipping and hand-jiving their way through “We Go Together”…
But when asked for our favourite “Grease” song, people rarely go to “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”.
It’s sung by Rizzo, the hard-bitten leader of the Pink Ladies who, over the years, has cultivated a tough exterior.
She’s seen her way through guys who “only want one thing”. She’s carved out her niche in an unforgiving world. A world where guys expect too much, but heaven forbid you get caught out…you don’t see the guy for dust and you get ostracised by all your family and friends.
There are worse things I could do
Than go with a boy or two
Even though the neighbourhood
Thinks I’m trashy and no good
I suppose it could be true
But there are worse things I could do
Thank goodness we’ve moved beyond guys being congratulated for playing the field, but the girls they go with getting labelled “trashy and no good”.
Moral double-standards isn’t a great game to play, especially when the powerful…who, back in the 1950s, were almost exclusively guys…oppress those less able to defend themselves.
There was never any doubt about what the girl had done. She was the one carrying the baby.
But the guys moved off into the sunset, trashing the reputation of someone who had either genuinely cared for them, or had just got a little carried away in the heat of the moment. The guys could still go on to become pillars of society. The girl’s reputation was forever tarnished by having a baby out of wedlock.
When Rizzo finds herself expecting, she tells the father. For a moment she hopes they might have forged something lasting together. But she sees his reaction…a mixture of horror, fear and panic…and realises it’s not going to work. He’s busy playing the field, being a lad, doing what guys do.
We know Rizzo has started to care because she takes it all on herself and pretends the baby is someone else’s. She trades on her “bad girl” reputation and says some other guy got her pregnant.
The real father’s face shows revulsion that she went with someone else for a fraction of a second, followed by a considerably longer sense of relief that he’s not going to be “tied down” with a wife and a baby, his days of being one of the chief studs around town prematurely over.
Showing she isn’t as hard-bitten as either she or anyone else thinks she is, Rizzo reflects that “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” than finding herself pregnant before high school is over.
I could flirt with all the guys
Smile at them and bat my eyes
Press against them when we dance
Make them think they stand a chance
Then refuse to see it through
That’s a thing I’d never do
The girl’s living her life according to her own rules. What’s the harm in that?
Her rules might not be your rules or my rules, but she has her standards. And even though being an unmarried teenage mother in 1950s America probably was pretty much “the worse thing you could do” from the perspective of everyone else in her small town, she gives the father back his freedom because she doesn’t think it’s fair to tie him down.
Setting him free seems to be the right thing to do. She doesn’t want to cramp his style or stop him living his own life. Even though it comes at the expense of no longer being able to live her own life.
Perhaps for the first time, Rizzo has found it in herself to care for another human being. Not the baby…although I’m sure she’d have cared for that in due course…but for its father. She’s taken away his life sentence, by taking one for herself instead. Nobody does that for someone they don’t care about.
It’s not an easy decision to let him go, but she does it…
I could hurt someone like me
Out of spite or jealousy
I don’t steal and I don’t lie
But I can feel and I can cry
A fact I’ll bet you never knew
But to cry in front of you
That’s the worse thing I could do
You see, if she cried, he might stay. Then she’d always feel guilty for having ruined his life, tied him down, stopped him living the carefree life he wants to live.
To take all that away from him…well, that’s the worse thing she thinks she could do. Worse, even, than bringing up a baby on her own in a small town in middle America in the 1950s.
That’s why the worse thing she could do isn’t spending time with a range of different guys, or getting a reputation as a girl of easy virtue, or flirting just for the sake of it.
The worse thing she could do is cry in front of the father of her child so he’d feel obliged to stay.
If that’s the worse thing she could do, it says a lot more about her than it does about all those who, a few short months down the line, will be looking down their noses at her and gossiping about her when the baby starts to show.
They’ll be passing a judgement that’s not theirs to pass. And they’ll ignore the essential goodness which got her in that predicament in the first place. She set someone free, instead of trapping him. That’s by no means the worse thing anybody could do.
In a movie soundtrack packed full of great songs which, even 40 years after the film’s release, most people can still sing along with, I don’t think there’s a better track…or one that makes us give thanks more that the world has moved on since the 1950s…than “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”.
With a masterful moment of poignancy, courtesy of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s songwriting talents…here’s Stockard Channing as Rizzo, with “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”…
PS — just before we get to the video, if you enjoyed this article, please give it a “clap”. You can also follow me on Medium (here)to get new articles as soon as they’re published. And why not check out my book “No Words, No Song”, where I write about more great songs like this one, available in the Kindle Bookstore (here). | https://nowordsnosong.medium.com/there-are-worse-things-i-could-do-stockard-channing-as-rizzo-in-grease-c89f6251e696 | ['No Words', 'No Song'] | 2018-05-28 14:26:03.754000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Lyrics', 'Songwriting', 'Songs'] |
Diabetic Cyborg Life 2/20: Fallacies of the GOP | Being confident in ourselves is always a good thing, yet that can be hard when the nation and state you live in are run by fascists terrorists. In listening to the Paul Krugman book Arguing with Zombies, I realize a few things that were apparent before, but I denied in ignorance. The biggest being that American “conservatives” are not conservative in any way.
The “conservative” party here rule for and are controlled by the wealthy 1% of citizens. They tell lies of “upward mobility” while giving no room for that in policies they make. The “mobility” they speak of is not apparent in any demographics since the 1960’s or 1970’s.
The rank and file Republican voters support these wealthy legislators in the hope they will be them one day. Those GOP officials will never give them the chance to rise. They like to say both parties are the same, yet reality and facts tell a much different tale.
The most extreme of the GOP took power in overtime and the Democrats remain a coalition of many interest groups and factions that want similar things. As Krugman shares in his book, the ways of the GOP are more akin to fascists and dictators as recent facts will show.
The only hope this optimist can really give here is that November can supply a refreshing blast of small “d” democracy, though I honestly have my doubts. | https://medium.com/adam-the-diabetic-cyborg-daily/diabetic-cyborg-life-2-20-fallacies-of-the-gop-3262075b66aa | ['Adam', 'Diabetic Cyborg'] | 2020-02-20 06:01:43.281000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Economics', 'This Happened To Me', 'Life', 'Optimism'] |
How Sex Work and Social Media Launched a Music Career | Photo by Gustavo Gonzalez
Laika, 27, is an up-and-coming pop artist from Toronto. Her music embraces the synthy, ‘80s-tinged vibrancy popularized by groups like CHVRCHES and The 1975. It’s hook-heavy, accessible ear-candy for teens and twenty-somethings. From a selling standpoint, those are all good things. Though she’s new to the world of pop music, she’s entered it with somewhat of a celebrity status. That’s because, up until recently, she’s been known by another alias: Cortana Blue. And as Cortana, she’s one of the most popular camgirls on the planet.
For her, an average night camming can generate $1,000 with relative ease — a target she’s hit 20 times within a single month. Her premium Snapchat (which costs $50 to $100 to access), currently has 2,500 followers, and would be much higher, had it not been previously deleted. Her Twitter and Instagram both exceed the 100K follower mark, the latter having been deleted on more than one occasion as well. She’s represented cam sites at sexpos, walked the red carpet at the AVN Awards, and has even had fake accounts steal her content in attempts to bank off her success. Basically, she’s accumulated a level of social notoriety most of us will never come close to.
As I entered her two-bedroom home — a luxury condo located along Toronto’s waterfront — I couldn’t help but think, this looks expensive. At one end of her couch, next to her computer and dual monitor setup, hangs a small collection of fan art. On the other side, two guitars — one acoustic, one electric — are displayed in front of a massive wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling window. It’s probably not intentional, but everything seems to be metaphorically placed, as if to say, “this is a side of me the world should know about.”
While she sat across from me in a shiny blue dragon onesie, I asked if the decision to present herself as one entity, who does both porn and music, was a conscious one. She told me it was. “Why would I waste three-hundred-thousand people who already have my account, especially with cam, with people who know me as someone who sits and plays guitar, and sings on cam, why would I make it something completely different?”
The leveraging of a social media following is relatively new in the sex work community. A “past life” as a sex worker can be a source of stigma and shame for some public figures, but shifts in how sex workers interact with audiences on social media have helped artists like Cardi B, who used to be a stripper, thrive in the mainstream in part because of — not in spite of — a career in sex work. It’s an underdog success story that comes from a world we don’t usually associate with underdog success stories. The next evolution seems to be combining these careers seamlessly.
This is where Laika differs from let’s say, VeraBambi — a former webcam performer who’s leveraged her Instagram following in order to launch a career as a YouTube cosplayer/ makeup artist. (Vera currently has 912k followers). The difference is that, like Cardi, Vera left sex work before monetizing her other interests in a new career. Laika, on the other hand, doesn’t see sex work as a means to an end. Instead, she sees it as a tool that can be flipped and utilized to fight stigma, all while setting her apart in the music world.
“When I go on tour, I will go on stage and be like ‘Y’all can buy my Snapchat for fifty bucks, you can get to see me naked,’” she said. “I can only imagine saying that in a room full of people, how many people will probably buy my Snapchat.” (Snapchat, her second largest source of income next to cam shows, generates about $7K a month.)
Until recently, the celebrity figures of porn didn’t have platforms like Instagram or Twitter to control the trajectory of their career. I often wonder what the Sasha Greys of the 00s could have accomplished had their peaks occurred after Instagram’s infancy. Laika told me that without social media and her four-year-long dedication to camming, her music career “wouldn’t have happened.”
In its first month, Laika’s debut single, “Earl Grey,” had surpassed a total of 100,000 combined Spotify and Apple Music streams.
“If people only cared about me being naked I would have no streams. So it’s clearly like, people embracing the fact I can do both, and why not?” While wrangling up her cats, she mentioned (rather nonchalantly) that she’d also raised $30-thousand for her first music video. She did this by selling her private Snapchat, along with self-produced porn via ManyVids — a video hosting and e-commerce site for adult entertainment. “It was like, a crazy lucrative month for me,” she said. According to her, that exceeded any fundraising she’d previously done. All things considered, I asked if there’d ever be a point where she’d stop camming, to which she confidently replied, “No.”
Potentially alienating younger listeners, because of her involvement with camming, seems more likely than not, though she told me she’s not really worried. “When Christina Aguilera released ‘Dirty,’ we were in grade six… in grade six. And my mom still let me listen to that, my mom still let me go to her concerts,” she said.
In the past decade we’ve seen a push to view sex work as real work. As Laika mentioned almost repetitively, “it’s exhausting,” and her peers seem to get that. But the appearance of progress often comes with setbacks. Vex Ashley, who founded the adult film collective Four Chambers, is all too familiar with the risks associated with holding mainstream (or “real world”) space as a sex worker.
“I think it’s so difficult because the problem is that once you have done sex work, that will always be the most interesting, salacious, noteworthy thing about you,” she said. “We consider you’re either in sex work world or you’re in reality world and that’s something that’s really difficult to merge.”
Not long ago sites like Tumblr provided a safe space for sexually explicit content to exist alongside fashion blogs and pop culture GIFs alike. Vex’s Four Chambers is a product of spaces like this. Her UK-based project uses crowdfunding to produce artistically driven, conceptual porn. At the time they started in 2014 it was all rather progressive.
Supporters would make subscription-based contributions via Patreon in order to help fund future projects. All of this was done with the added bonus of complete transparency between contributor and creator. By 2018 she said the project was raising close to $26,000 per film.
Then, in June 2018, she got the call. Four Chambers was to be taken down from Patreon. They claimed community guidelines, supposedly enforced by the new FOSTA-SESTA laws, were to blame. Even over the phone, I could sense her skepticism as she explained that sex worker profiles on Patreon were being deleted long before these new guidelines. Prior to being shut down, Patreon gave Vex a month to bring subscribers up to speed, provided she delete every post that was in violation of their updated terms. “I literally had to go through and purge everything that I’d done on the site in order to get through that last month.” She said it was like starting at the beginning.
Vex, Laika, and countless others are constantly having accounts deleted. In the case of social media, particularly Instagram, there is no grace period; you aren’t given a month to advise followers; it all happens without warning. As Vex explained, there’s no human judgment as to what’s acceptable on these platforms, “it’s just an algorithm.” Once you’ve been deleted there’s really nothing else you can do but start over. So for someone like Laika, the very thing that’s helping launch her music career could also be the thing that holds it back; having to restart over and over again.
Still, Vex sees the appeal beyond self-promotion when it comes to social media and sex work. “The blessing and curse of social media is that it’s allowed people who do sex work to be more accessible in a domestic way that they weren’t before,” she said. “Hopefully that allows the public to have a more expansive view of the kind of people that are doing sex work, because that’s a wide church.”
According to Laika, that is the goal. “One space one name, doing both things.” With a grin on her face she told me that if her music career continues to prove successful, she’ll have porn to thank for it. “Camming gave me money, and money changed my life,” she said. After all, sex sells.
Follow Brad on Twitter. | https://medium.com/@bradxgarcia_/how-sex-work-and-social-media-launched-a-music-career-a5f290c06b0b | ['Brad Garcia'] | 2019-02-05 15:54:29.258000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Sex Work', 'Culture', 'Feminism', 'Music'] |
Percent Indicator In Flutter | In this article, we will explore the Percent Indicator in flutter using the percent indicator package. With the help of the package, we can easily achieve flutter animated percent progress indicators. So let’s get started
We will implement a demo of the percent Indicator that can be easily embedded in your flutter applications.
Table Of Contents :
Flutter Percent Indicator Implementation Code Implement Code File Conclusion
Flutter :
“ Flutter is Google’s UI toolkit that helps you build beautiful and natively combined applications for mobile, web, and desktop in a single codebase in record time, Flutter offers great developer tools, with amazing hot reload”.
Percent Indicator :
The flutter percentage indicator package produces a progress bar indicator that is different or linear from the default progress bar indicator that looks more beautiful. It is used to display the progress indicator time in any application, such as download, installation, uploading, etc. In this plugin, linear indicator and circular indicator are the two important indicators that cover it. Let’s look at its important indicator.
Two ways of percent indicator
CircularProgressIndicator: The CircularProgressIndicator is a widget that shows progress with a circle. It is a circular progress bar that indicates whether the application is busy or on hold. LinearProgressIndicator: The LinearProgressIndicator is a widget that shows a progress bar in a linear direction and shows that the application is in progress.
Some of the important Percent Indicator attributes:
progressColor — Progress color properties are used for the progress bar so that the progress line can be easily visible and you can change the progress color as per your choice.
Progress color properties are used for the progress bar so that the progress line can be easily visible and you can change the progress color as per your choice. percent — The percent defines the percentage as long as the progress bar is animated. It takes a double value from 0 -> 1.
The percent defines the percentage as long as the progress bar is animated. It takes a double value from 0 -> 1. radius — Radius properties define the size of the circle.
— Radius properties define the size of the circle. center — Center properties define the widget that is in the centre of the progress bar. It can be used by both linear and circular indicators.
Demo Module:
Implementation :
Step 1: Add dependencies.
Add dependencies to pubspec — yaml file.
dependencies:
percent_indicator: "^2.1.7+2"
Step 2: import the package :
import 'package:percent_indicator/percent_indicator.dart';
Step 3: Run flutter package get
Code Implementation :
Create a new dart file called percent_indicator_demo.dart inside the lib folder
In this screen, we have shown both the indicator and the circular indicator. In which centre properties are used in which progress bar per cent is initialized. Let us understand this in detail with the help of a reference.
First of all, we have set the percentage timer in the init state which will increase the timer when the progress bar in running them in your application.
@override
void initState() {
Timer timer;
timer = Timer.periodic(Duration(milliseconds:1000),(_){
setState(() {
percent+=10;
if(percent >= 100){
timer.cancel();
// percent=0;
}
});
});
super.initState();
}
Now we have taken the circular percent indicator, which has given the background color, the progress color separately, and showed the progress percentage at the centre which will update the progress percentage.
CircularPercentIndicator(
radius: 120.0,
lineWidth: 10.0,
animation: true,
percent: percent/100,
center: Text(
percent.toString() + "%",
style: TextStyle(
fontSize: 20.0,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600,
color: Colors.black),
),
backgroundColor: Colors.grey[300],
circularStrokeCap: CircularStrokeCap.round,
progressColor: Colors.redAccent,
)
Now we have taken the circular percent indicator, which has given the background color, the progress color separately, and showed the progress percentage at the centre which will update the progress percentage.
LinearPercentIndicator( //leaner progress bar
animation: true,
animationDuration: 1000,
lineHeight: 20.0,
percent:percent/100,
center: Text(
percent.toString() + "%",
style: TextStyle(
fontSize: 12.0,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600,
color: Colors.black),
),
linearStrokeCap: LinearStrokeCap.roundAll,
progressColor: Colors.blue[400],
backgroundColor: Colors.grey[300],
),
),
When we run the application, we ought to get the screen’s output like the underneath screen capture.
Code File :
import 'dart:async';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter/widgets.dart';
import 'package:percent_indicator/circular_percent_indicator.dart';
import 'package:percent_indicator/linear_percent_indicator.dart';
class PercentIndicatorDemo extends StatefulWidget {
@override
_PercentIndicatorDemoState createState() => _PercentIndicatorDemoState();
}
class _PercentIndicatorDemoState extends State<PercentIndicatorDemo> {
double percent = 0.0;
double _height;
double _width;
@override
void initState() {
Timer timer;
timer = Timer.periodic(Duration(milliseconds:1000),(_){
setState(() {
percent+=10;
if(percent >= 100){
timer.cancel();
// percent=0;
}
});
});
super.initState();
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
_height = MediaQuery.of(context).size.height;
_width = MediaQuery.of(context).size.width;
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title:Text("Percent Indicator Demo"),
backgroundColor: Colors.redAccent
),
body:Container(
child:Column(
mainAxisAlignment:MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly,
crossAxisAlignment:CrossAxisAlignment.center,
children: <Widget>[
Column(
children: [
Text(
'Circular Percent Indicator',
style: TextStyle(
fontStyle: FontStyle.italic,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w700,
fontSize: 15),
),
SizedBox(
height: 40,
),
Container(
padding: EdgeInsets.all(10),
child: CircularPercentIndicator(
radius: 120.0,
lineWidth: 10.0,
animation: true,
percent: percent/100,
center: Text(
percent.toString() + "%",
style: TextStyle(
fontSize: 20.0,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600,
color: Colors.black),
),
backgroundColor: Colors.grey[300],
circularStrokeCap: CircularStrokeCap.round,
progressColor: Colors.redAccent,
)
),
],
),
Column(
children: [
Text(
'Linear Percent indicator',
style: TextStyle(
fontStyle: FontStyle.italic,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w700,
fontSize: 15),
),
SizedBox(
height: 40,
),
Container(
margin: EdgeInsets.only(left:30,right:30),
alignment:Alignment.center,
child: LinearPercentIndicator( //leaner progress bar
animation: true,
animationDuration: 1000,
lineHeight: 20.0,
percent:percent/100,
center: Text(
percent.toString() + "%",
style: TextStyle(
fontSize: 12.0,
fontWeight: FontWeight.w600,
color: Colors.black),
),
linearStrokeCap: LinearStrokeCap.roundAll,
progressColor: Colors.blue[400],
backgroundColor: Colors.grey[300],
),
),
],
),
],
)
)
);
}
}
Conclusion :
In this article, I have explained a Percent Indicator in a flutter, which you can modify and experiment with according to your own, this little introduction was from the Percent Indicator demo from our side.
I hope this blog will provide you with sufficient information in Trying up the Percent Indicator in your flutter project. We will show you the Percent Indicator is?, and working on it in your flutter applications, So please try it.
❤ ❤ Thanks for reading this article ❤❤
If I got something wrong? Let me know in the comments. I would love to improve.
Clap 👏 If this article helps you. | https://medium.com/flutterdevs/percent-indicator-in-flutter-18b7d8c46380 | ['Naveen Srivastava'] | 2021-03-12 05:31:41.210000+00:00 | ['App Development', 'Flutter Widget', 'Flutter', 'Dart', 'Flutter App Development'] |
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Brings Optimism to Women’s Group in Wau, South Sudan | A group of women sits under a large mango tree inside the Cathedral Collective Centre in Wau in Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan. They sit barefoot with their legs stretched out under a tree that boasts succulent yellow mangoes hanging low from the branches.
Scattered around the women is a kaleidoscope of beautiful kitenge cloth, a popular African wax fabric made up of colourful prints.
Someone must have said something funny because they erupt in laughter in unison.
You can feel the sisterhood between these women as they each focus on the cloth and needle in hand while they chit chat with one another.
These women are part of the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Women’s Support Group. The IOM team trains different cohorts of women on various skills, including hand sewing and craft making, sometimes honing existing skills to help the women generate a small income. The groups are made up of widows, mothers, young mothers and survivors of gender-based violence.
The Women’s Support Group are trained on hand sewing and craft making © IOM 2020 / Achuoth Deng
Thirty-seven-year-old Christina Gabriel Mongu is a member of the Women’s Support Group. She lives in the Collective Centre with her husband and eight children, aged between 9 years and eighteen years old. The close-knit family as Christina describes it, came to the Collective Centre after South Sudan descended into a second wave of conflict in July 2016. Before then they were living in a village called Ndokala, a 40-minute drive from Wau town.
Christina Gabriel Mongu, 37, is a member of IOM’s Women’s Skills Group in Wau, South Sudan © IOM 2020 / Achuoth Deng
“Life as we knew it was interrupted when the guns started,” said Christina Gabriel.
Christina joined the women’s group in early 2019.
“I used to stay in my shelter, idle, turning with the sun until I was selected to join the group,” said Christina. “Here I can be with the other sisters, sharing stories and supporting one another,” she added.
Christina says she did not have the skill of dressmaking until she joined the group.
IOM’s Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support staff train the women in various skills © IOM 2020 / Achuoth Deng
Each member of the group can keep a few items — dresses, skirts that they make, and the rest of the items are pooled together and sold by for an average price of 1,000 South Sudanese Pounds, approximately USD 6 at local trade fairs. Profits are shared between members to supplement their needs at home; The money generated is also used to buy more material for making more items. Members spend an average of three months in one group focusing on developing one skill then at the end of the period they rotate to another group.
IOM’s MHPSS team uses the training in sewing, dressmaking and beadwork as an avenue to offer psychosocial support to the women. The team has created a safe space that allows the women to discuss issues on different topics including situations at home. IOM’s Psychosocial Support (PSS) facilitators and animators are always present during the activities encouraging the women to express their ideas, opinions and perspectives freely. The presence of facilitators also helps to instill respect and compassion between members.
The trained Counsellors also conduct home visits, one-on-one counselling and offer Psychological First Aid.
Members of the Women’s Support Group discuss issues affecting them with trained counsellors © IOM 2020 / Achuoth Deng
“The objective of the Women’s Support Group is two-fold; to empower the women so that they can help themselves through projects that generate income and also to support them in their psychological well-being,” said IOM’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Programme Manager, Heide Rieder.
“Allowing members to move to another group after they have developed skills in one craft broadens their knowledge and it allows IOM to reach more women, leaving no one behind,” added Rieder.
MHPSS is supporting ten skills groups in the Cathedral Collective Centre, with each group made up of twenty women including women with disabilities.
In April, IOM supported 18,783 people with various Psychosocial Support interventions at the individual, family and community level.
“I am very happy because I can put the skills I have learnt to use even when I go back to my village,” said Christina.
“I will become a seamstress and use the money to take care of my family.” | https://medium.com/@UNmigration/mental-health-and-psychosocial-support-brings-optimism-to-womens-group-in-wau-south-sudan-401033082d39 | ['Iom - Un Migration'] | 2020-06-24 15:28:16.742000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Support', 'Mental Health', 'South Sudan'] |
Boost VC’s $500k Sci-Fi Accelerator — Apply to Tribe 14! | Are you a Sci-Fi Founder looking for investment? Apply to Boost $500k accelerator. www.boost.vc/apply
We are investing $500k in 10 startups for Tribe 14.
What’s new at Boost VC?
What are we looking for?
Every year, we share “request for startups” in the different industries we invest in — you can read the latest posts here:
Application FAQ
To Submit an Application: www.boost.vc/apply
www.boost.vc/apply Deadline: All Tribe 14 Applications must be submitted by Wednesday, June 3, 2020 at Midnight PST.
All Tribe 14 Applications must be submitted by Dates: Tribe 14 will start in August 2020 in San Mateo, CA.
Tribe 14 will start in August 2020 in San Mateo, CA. Location: San Mateo, CA. Our program combines in person and digital events. Housing & office space is provided for teams in residence during the accelerator program.
San Mateo, CA. Our program combines in person and digital events. Housing & office space is provided for teams in residence during the accelerator program. Learn more: www.boost.vc/accelerator
www.boost.vc/accelerator Questions: Reach out to us at [email protected]
Ready to submit your application? www.boost.vc/apply | https://medium.com/boost-vc/boost-vcs-500k-sci-fi-accelerator-apply-to-tribe-14-3bc450bb4bdf | ['Maddie Callander'] | 2020-05-16 18:13:26.606000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'SciFi', 'Funding', 'Accelerator', 'Startup'] |
A Concise Guide to Remember More of What You Read | 1. Start What You Can Finish
Before you pick up a book, use what I’d like to call it the “Three-Pronged Questionnaire”:
What do I want to learn or read? They can be categories such as fiction/non-fiction, self-help, politics, science, relationships, cooking, etc. Why am I reading this? What do I hope to get out of this book?
To help you with that, going through the table of contents, book summary, and reviews give you a wonderful sense of idea what that book is all about.
The list of questions above serves to ensure you’re reading a book that will pique your interest in the long run. If you’re likely to enjoy the purpose of the book, you’ll make an effort to understand the context of what the author has written.
As one of my teachers used to put it, “If you study to remember, you’ll forget. If you study to understand, you’ll remember.” — Which do you remember better: the content in your history textbook or the logic behind why 5+6 = 11?
2. Annotate (The Messy Way)
Scribbling notes on books is not something new, but the way you’re making notes on them make a difference.
Merely underlining or highlighting an excerpt or an idea in the book isn’t effective in imprinting those words in your memory. Instead, I’d highlight a specific sentence or paragraph of ideas, draw a curly bracket beside it, and rephrase it in my own words.
Doing this not only summarises the key points the author is trying to convey, but it also deepens your understanding. It’s the same way of telling someone what you’re trying to remember except you’re doing it for yourself.
Putting something in your own words helps you retrieve that information later on.
Don’t believe me? Try explaining the process of evaporation and revisit the concept a day or two later.
Put tabs on the first page
Sometimes, I’d also annotate striking ideas on the first page of the book. It’s usually filled with a title in the middle of a blank page, so there are tons of spaces left for me to write.
On it is where I’ll write a short subtitle along with the page number relating to a concept that appealed to me. Whenever I want to refresh my memory on some grand ideas or lessons listed in the book, I just need to turn to the page.
3. Create Your Encyclopedia of Book Summaries
Much of my advice here takes a great deal of work on your part but summarising each chapter and its takeaways help in remembering what you read.
I use Notion to compile all book summaries I’ve written. You may not be carrying your pile of books all the time so having an app like this allows you to retrieve information wherever you go.
Here are some useful functions that helped me organised my notes better:
Collapsable drop lists — useful for parking a chunk of the information under the main header of a chapter
Underline, bold , and italicise functions to emphasise various key concepts
, and italicise functions to emphasise various key concepts Colour tags to differentiate the categories of books you’ve read
Embed web links, images, or videos — could be book reviews or summaries by others online that you find useful
Another bonus tip I’d like to share is a compilation of my favourite websites to visit for concise book summaries: | https://medium.com/the-innovation/a-concise-guide-to-remember-what-you-read-16d651f64132 | ['Charlene Annabel'] | 2020-12-22 11:05:43.406000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Reading', 'Productivity', 'Productivity Hacks', 'Self Improvement'] |
What should be your action plan for B2B marketing in Covid19? | At first, we all thought COVID19 is not that big of a deal, it will go away sooner or later. And baam, before we knew, we were all locked in our houses and sanitizing our hands 100 times a day. Businesses have started encouraging and mandating employees to stay at home. Every employee is at home, so are all your customers. The world is going through a tough time and you can do your bit. If you are running a B2B business and how to contribute while creating a win-win situation for everyone, we have just the blog for you. The B2B strategy in Coronavirus is fairly simple.
Here are the points that are covered in the blog:
What are the effects of COVID-19 on B2B buyers?
Customer acquisition strategy in COVID19 (With Examples)
Customer retention strategy in COVID19 (With Examples)
Channels to stay connected
Some more examples of Brand Empathy
Bottom Line
What are the effects of COVID-19 on B2B buyers?
Before jumping into the action plan, we need to understand how has this pandemic affected the people.
Increase in thoughtfulness in spending
While we are facing a pandemic, people have started to rethink their purchasing habits. People had started avoiding to go to theatres, malls, and other crowded places. 459,000 people lost their jobs in just the leisure and hospitality sector. The income flow for many people has stopped. From this data, you can infer that people have become more thoughtful about their spending habits and will not spend blatantly.
Recognition of social responsibility
If a business is trying to contribute in any way to help the people, their efforts are not getting wasted. Stories are getting covered and people are getting smarter. People have started to recognize the brands that have helped them during this crisis situation. It will be a win-win situation for both. The world needs any and all kinds of help from whoever can. You are doing your bit in helping the world become COVID19 free without even realizing it.
Avocado Mattress is known for its Green and Non-toxic mattresses helping the environment and curbing the climate crisis. They have started using their capacity to make organic face masks and hospital bedding. They are supporting their green initiative while additionally providing precautions for the pandemic. These stories leave a bigger impact on consumers than any advertisement campaign.
Increased Importance of empathizing with your customers
When you understand the customer, they will understand you. B2B companies as generally a necessity for the buyer as the buyer is running a business and won’t buy a luxury product for the business. When you listen to the queries of your customers, you will be able to understand their needs.
Loyal customers, they don’t just come back, they don’t simply recommend you, they insist that their friends do business with you – Chip Bell
If you do a favor on someone in these tough times, you would be able to earn the gratitude through your generosity. This would give birth to a never-ending relationship between you and your customers. Just being empathetic would work as a great B2B marketing strategy for your business.
Customer acquisition strategy in COVID19 (With Examples)
The strategy is generally used as a negative word. Which is wrong. Here, every strategy idea would have the factor of empathy and good motive behind it.
Any kind of Price Relief
While selling a product or service, every business incurs some margin of profit. If the product is being sold in the times of pandemic, and it is a necessity for the other business, you can think of providing a little relief on the price of your product/service. Price relief can be in forms of discounts or flexibilities like payments in installments. The price of the goods will have an indirect relation to customer acquisition and delight. A decreased price will fetch you more loyal, grateful, and happy customers at this time at least. So think about providing price relief if you can.
Ways to provide price relief:
Sector-specific discounts: Due to CoVID-19, some sectors have taken a massive hit. Sectors like travel, hospitality, food, and event management have gotten affected more than other sectors. You can provide your customers with discounts based on their industry.
For example, Loom has provided its app for free to students and teachers. They also announced that they were cutting charges and removing limits along with that. Here’s what their official tweet says:
Payment Distribution over the years — If your product costs 200$ per month, you provide a discount of 100$ in these times with a condition that it would be paid in installments of 10$ over the 10 upcoming months. You can split the installments according to your needs.
— If your product costs 200$ per month, you provide a discount of 100$ in these times with a condition that it would be paid in installments of 10$ over the 10 upcoming months. You can split the installments according to your needs. Provide Free extra services: Suppose you have a complementary product like printers have toners. You can provide those credits for free as they buy the core product.
For example, Mailchimp Announces a $10M Price Relief Fund to its clients to relieve them from expense problems in these times. Mailchimp is a B2B SaaS that provided an extension to its services for free to many businesses. This empathy goes a long way in the mind of businesses.
If you can think of more ideas of price reliefs, let us know in the comments down below.
Give Gratitude
In the 21st century, gratitude is something that seems to be lost. Express your gratitude towards the people around you and thank them for being calm and supportive during such tough times. It would not have a direct effect on your sales charts but it would help you build a good brand image and relationship with the customers.
Zomato’s way to show gratitude :
Little things matter here. For example, a food delivery company in India, Zomato has changed the indicator of the driver on the map to a superhero. It was done as a symbol to showcase their importance in these times.
Aveda’s way to show gratitude :
Aveda is a healthcare and beauty brand that has salons under its franchise. It also has a big online store. They are promoting local salons by asking online buyers to select their local salons while checking out. They compensate for the salon that you choose.
Listen to your Market
Due to the pandemic, customers are stuck in their houses. They are easily available for feedback or if they need your product. Keep your ears open for your customers as fulfilling their requirements would be the best thing you could do right now. The clients would talk to you regarding their problems and expect you to provide them with a solution. You can always find new customers acquisition strategies if you listen to them as they know what they want. What better source of this information than the customer itself.
It’s not just a great chance to empathize with your customers but also a great chance to gain information about innovation via problem discovery from customers.
GoDaddy provided resources for the smooth functioning of small businesses in their blog titled Together we stand. The title itself reflects empathy.
Customer retention strategy in COVID19 (With Examples)
Develop an online strategy
If you don’t have an online strategy in place by now (2020), the coronavirus pandemic is a universal sign to start it. Develop a website where your clients can interact with you. Don’t be afraid of the risks attached to online businesses, because there are none if you are authenticated. COVID 19 has prompted hundreds of businesses to move online.
Homespotter is a marketing automation tool for real estate brokerages. They created a guide to their platform spacio where realtors can go digital and distribute virtual tours. This guide would greatly help so many realtors who do not really have an online strategy but are planning to have one due to the pandemic.
If you are a beginner and trying to figure out an online strategy, then here are some strategies you can use to create a foundation of online strategy:
Create a website — Develop a dynamic website that attracts your target audience and provides links to communicate their queries or questions with you. WordPress would be a great tool for creating websites out of scratch.
— Develop a dynamic website that attracts your target audience and provides links to communicate their queries or questions with you. WordPress would be a great tool for creating websites out of scratch. Think upon a Social media marketing Strategy — Social media accounts will require a little bit of effort. Develop a strategy to create posts and time to post. Choose suitable social media platforms as per your industry. For Eg. LinkedIn would be better in the B2B industry than Facebook. This will help you achieve smoothness in the process.
Social media accounts will require a little bit of effort. Develop a strategy to create posts and time to post. Choose suitable social media platforms as per your industry. For Eg. LinkedIn would be better in the B2B industry than Facebook. This will help you achieve smoothness in the process. Develop a Content Marketing Strategy — Content Marketing is shifting the way marketing works. Decide upon your niche, find relevant content ideas for your market, and start publishing it.
Content Marketing is shifting the way marketing works. Decide upon your niche, find relevant content ideas for your market, and start publishing it. Work on Search engine optimization (SEO) — In this digital era, you need to optimize your content with search engine algorithms to stay relevant. Create an SEO strategy that includes keyword research, On-page SEO, and technical off-page SEO. It would require some learning but it would improve your visibility on search engines.
In this digital era, you need to optimize your content with search engine algorithms to stay relevant. Create an SEO strategy that includes keyword research, On-page SEO, and technical off-page SEO. It would require some learning but it would improve your visibility on search engines. Create paid digital ad campaigns — You can follow the guidelines of the ad platform and start running your ad with a minimal price. You can run your ad on Facebook, Google, Bing, Instagram, or wherever your target audience exists.
You can follow the guidelines of the ad platform and start running your ad with a minimal price. You can run your ad on Facebook, Google, Bing, Instagram, or wherever your target audience exists. Remarketing — Whenever someone clicks on one of your ads, the Remarketing ad will follow the cookies of that user and show your ad to them on different platforms. It is a strategy worth trying.
Whenever someone clicks on one of your ads, the Remarketing ad will follow the cookies of that user and show your ad to them on different platforms. It is a strategy worth trying. Automation in marketing — Automation is the new key to business. When you are introducing automation in marketing, it will help you increase your productivity by minimizing your efforts. E.g. — Email marketing automation tools will help you send emails to masses within just a few clicks. You can check out these productivity tools. Some of these tools will immensely help you automate your marketing.
Amplify your core competencies
Every business has one core competency that the clients love and the business loves as well. This core competency is the reason behind the majority of revenue for the businesses. You must precisely focus on providing the necessities than the wants of the customers. We are currently dealing with a conservative buyer who would think twice before spending money. That’s why focusing and amplifying your core competency would be a good strategy in the times of the pandemic.
For example, if you are an online service provider, who helps other people who require to build an online shopping platform. You also help them with AR, Web app design, and software development. But your core competency is to create eCommerce websites. Shift your business focus towards this. It would retain your customers.
Close, one of the leading CRM tools planned to have an integration with Zoom to help the users of Close to supercharge their communication and productivity. They have dug down their core capabilities by learning new realities by announcing their integration with Zoom. Close’s core competency was to provide a great CRM experience. Adding video calling options has further amplified this core competency.
Communicate directly with your customers
Businesses need to provide proof of their authenticity in order to gain the trust of people. Communication has become easier due to the ever-increasing usage of the internet. You need to communicate information like your store shifted online, tutorials to order, pay, etc through these channels of communication. Always have a responsive communication strategy to retain your clients.
For example, you would find social media posts on your wall or emails in your inbox, regarding different companies like Banks, Airlines or even food chains telling you how they have changed their operations in the past weeks, and how they are planning to work in the near future. You can keep in touch with your clients and stakeholders in this manner.
British Airways is one such example where they understood the needs of their customers and empathized with them. They made customer support a priority and made a dedicated page to help customers who need help due to coronavirus flight delays. They were proactive about the questions they were going to receive from their audience so they provided a solution before the questions start overloading.
Channels to stay connected
Emails
If you are running a blog or have started collecting email data from your customers, you’d be having a big list of emails ready. Use this newsletter to communicate certain necessary information like price change, new discount offers or any big changes in the business to your customers. You can use email automation tools to send emails to a big audience in just a few clicks.
Here an example of the email template:
Subject: We are here with some good news Hey Bob, I hope you are safe and healthy at your home. You have been one of our most valuable customers and we always wanted a chance to pay it back to you. We have decided to provide you a discount of 50% on all our essential products. If you want to avail this discount just reply to this email and we will generate a code for you. Regards, James from ProductVilla
Social Media
Since everyone is finding a way to kill time at home, social media is their go-to place. People are constantly online on social media scrolling through their timelines. You can create your social media accounts if you don’t already have one. Start posting important information to your clients from there. It would look authentic and increase the reliability of your company. If you are new in social media, try using some of the graphic designing tools like Canva and Piktochart to create impressive posts. These easy to use software will create stunning images to post on your social media handles.
Ad Campaigns
In case you want to reach out to a bigger audience than your own, you should think about starting an ad campaign. You can create ad campaigns on Gmail, Quora, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Instagram or any other social media platform. Make a relevant copy that fits in the advertising guidelines of the platform and start running the ad. This way you can ensure that your message reaches a bigger audience.
Here is an example of how TOMS is selling comfort to the people working from home through a Facebook ad campaign:
Some more examples of Brand Empathy
LinkedIn Learning
Linkedin is a social media platform for professional networks. They have an extension to their social media called Linkedin Learning where they provide courses for individuals to gain expertise in a subject. They have provided some of these premium courses for free. So that while people are staying at home, they can be productive. These courses reflect the profiles of professionals. This would help the unfortunate people who have been laid off to get back in the job market stronger than ever. They have segmented these courses in categories such as Managing your finances, taking care of yourself, managing your people and sustaining your business. These courses would be helpful to both individuals as well as businesses.
Qwilr
Qwilr is a sales documentation platform that creates proposals, sales and marketing documents as responsive webpages. They started providing flexibility in payment for the industries that are impacted by the virus. Also, they have made it free for government organizations, schools, healthcare providers, nonprofit or organizations sharing critical public health information.
Disney
Disney decided to launch frozen 2 early just because people are sitting at home and have nothing to entertain themselves with.
Bottom Line
We are all in this together. All the Businesses, Governments, and People are doing their part to make the world a better place. Don’t worry if your business shows slower growth or you can barely meet two ends. Stay aware of the changes around you, have a B2B action plan, do your part, and be patient. | https://medium.com/@akashkotadia/what-should-be-your-action-plan-for-b2b-marketing-in-covid19-35bbed2b22b1 | ['Akash Kotadia'] | 2020-04-28 09:54:40.656000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'B2b Marketing', 'Strategy', 'B2B', 'Marketing Strategies'] |
To Sparse or not to Sparse? | The title of this post could be the question of Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, if he were a Data Scientist :-)
Back to the serious matters, using dense vs. sparse datasets in model training/prediction is one of the important choices Data Scientists make when preparing Machine Learning solutions. Moreover, the necessity to make such a choice early in the project implementation illuminates a fundamental theoretical limitation in a machine learning project workflow perspective.
Problem Statement
In both the academic courses and post-graduate trainings in Data Science and Machine Learning, the typical break-down of a Data Science and Machine Learning project is described with the phases below
Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)
Data pre-processing and feature engineering
Model training and forecasting
(Optionally) Packaging the ML solution as a data product
Preparing a research report with key discoveries and ML solution description
In reality, things are more complex than explained in academia. Data pre-processing / feature engineering and Model training / forecasting are tightly interconnected since
Some steps in data pre-processing and feature engineering are consciously performed with keeping in mind specific predictive algorithms to be used down the road
Suboptimal forecasting accuracy of generally known-to-be-accurate ML algorithms on a particular project alerts on actions needed to take in order to change data pre-processing and feature engineering
Using (or not using) sparse datasets in model training is one of the tangible highlights of such a collision. Sparse datasets can strongly amplify forecasting accuracy of some algorithms while drastically degrading it for other types of algorithms.
I have made a case study of the impact of sparse vs. dense dataset inputs on the forecasting accuracy of predictive models for Kaggle competition of Recruit Restaurant Visitors forecasting (https://www.kaggle.com/c/recruit-restaurant-visitor-forecasting).
Machine Learning Experiment Design
In the course of this case study, two variants of data pre-processing and feature engineering have been implemented. Both variants generated the same set of numeric features as well as shared the same missing data imputation and target variable transformation steps. The difference between them was in a way categorical features were encoded.
For each of data pre-processing and feature engineering schema, the same set of machine learning algorithms has been trained on 4-fold CV as follows
xgboost (using Python)
lightgbm (using Python)
GBM (using Python)
KNNRegressor (using Python)
CNN (using R wrapper for h2o and the local instance of h2o server)
Brief description of each of the pre-processing and feature engineering is described in the following subsections.
Variant 1
Variant 1 facilitated label encoding for categorical features (leading to dense datasets as a result). The code for GMB model implementing such an approach is presented below
Variant 2
Variant 2 performed one-hot encoding of categorical features (leading to more sparse datasets as a result). The code for GMB model implementing such an approach is presented below
Results
It proved Variant 2 of data pre-processing and feature engineering improved performance of gradient boosting-type algorithms as follows
xgboost — PubLB score 0.495 (vs. 0.498 with Variant 1 pre-processing and feature engineering)
GBM — PubLB score 0.505 (vs. 0.509 with Variant 1 pre-processing and feature engineering)
lightgbbm — PubLB score 0.501 (vs. 0.502 with Variant 1 pre-processing and feature engineering)
The additional effects of using sparse datasets with gradient boosting machine-style algorithms were
reduced complexity of models
decreased time to train the most optimal model (this was especially noticeable for lightgbm)
However, Variant 2 degraded performance of two other algorithms I tried
KNNRegressor dropped it performance from 0.524 (on my best attempt) to below-0.53 level
The similar situation was with CNN based on H20
Dataset Sparsity and Performance of ML Solutions
Proper handling sparse data may affect performance of your Python scikit-learn-based ML solutions. If your data sparsity ratio is huge, you may switch from Pandas dataframes to sparse matrixes (as suggested in http://scikit-learn.org/stable/modules/computational_performance.html)
You can calculate the sparse ratio of your input dataset with the simple code fragment below
Summary
In the machine learning experiment performed for this case study, it has been illustrated that
Sparse training datasets are helpful in improving performance of gradient boosting machine-style algorithms (gbm, lightgbm, xgboost)
Sparse training datasets does not work well for algorithms operating with multi-dimensional geometry concepts (like knn regression) as well as deep learning algorithms (various types of Neural Networks) — dense datasets will work better for them | https://medium.com/sbc-group-blog/to-sparse-or-not-to-sparse-691483f87a53 | ['George Vyshnya'] | 2017-12-17 09:39:42.572000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Data Analysis'] |
How to Cut Your Time to Retirement by 5 Years | However, the 4% rule may not be a realistic depiction of retirees’ behaviour
The ubiquity of the 4% rule begs the question: does it square up with peoples’ actual retirement experience? I’m a little suspicious that the 4% rule doesn’t work as a blanket rule.
As many people with aged family members might tell you, seniors actually tend to spend less on most things as they age.
My mom’s an example of this phenomenon. She’ll be 80 next July. She’s still healthy and can live independently.
She doesn’t eat as much as she did in her younger years as her appetite’s not what it used to be. She says her taste buds aren’t that sensitive anymore, so she feels less motivated to go out to eat than she used to. So, her food bills are way down from where they used to be.
My aunts — my mom’s sisters — are the same. When they go out, they go someplace affordable, and they tend to order smaller meals than younger family members. They view going out as a chance to catch up with one another instead of fussing too much about the quality of the food.
Also, they go to places they enjoy near their homes. Thus, they spend less on fuel than they used to. My mom, for instance, only re-fuels once every two months.
They don’t feel like they need to impress anyone, so they spend less on clothing than they did.
The statistics suggest they aren’t outliers in their frugal ways. In the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey (“CES”), which surveys American households’ incomes and expenditures, the same pattern of decreasing spending with age can be seen.
According to the CES in 2013, overall expenditures drop with age. Expenditure peaks at $60,524 per year in the 45–54 year age group, falling to $55,892 (55–64), $46,757 (65–74), and $34,382 (75 and above).
Spending on items like food, housing, transportation, clothing, and entertainment drops substantially in each older age group. Spending on health rises — as we might expect — but not enough to offset falls in spending in the other categories.
Further, this trend isn’t restricted to the US. The UK’s Office for National Statistics data shows the same result. In 2018, families headed by 30–49 year-olds spent £666.30 per week. The equivalent spending for households headed by 75-year olds, and above, was approximately half, at £336.10 per week. | https://medium.com/makingofamillionaire/how-to-cut-your-time-to-retirement-by-5-years-16023db9a81b | ['U-Ming Lee'] | 2020-11-27 16:42:28.932000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Retirement', 'Finance', 'Investing', 'Financial Planning'] |
An Overview of Human Pose Estimation with Deep Learning | A Human Pose Skeleton represents the orientation of a person in a graphical format. Essentially, it is a set of coordinates that can be connected to describe the pose of the person. Each co-ordinate in the skeleton is known as a part (or a joint, or a keypoint). A valid connection between two parts is known as a pair (or a limb). Note that, not all part combinations give rise to valid pairs. A sample human pose skeleton is shown below.
Left: COCO keypoint format for human pose skeletons. Right: Rendered human pose skeletons. (Source)
Knowing the orientation of a person opens avenues for several real-life applications, some of which are discussed towards the end of this blog. Several approaches to Human Pose Estimation were introduced over the years. The earliest (and slowest) methods typically estimating the pose of a single person in an image which only had one person to begin with. These methods often identify the individual parts first, followed by forming connections between them to create the pose.
Naturally, these methods are not particularly useful in many real-life scenarios where images contain multiple people.
Multi-Person Pose Estimation
Multi-Person pose estimation is more difficult than the single person case as the location and the number of people in an image are unknown. Typically, we can tackle the above issue using one of two approaches:
The simple approach is to incorporate a person detector first, followed by estimating the parts and then calculating the pose for each person. This method is known as the top-down approach.
approach. Another approach is to detect all parts in the image (i.e. parts of every person), followed by associating/grouping parts belonging to distinct persons. This method is known as the bottom-up approach.
Top: Typical Top-Down approach. Bottom: Typical Bottom-Up approach. (Image Source)
Typically, the top-down approach is easier to implement than the bottom-up approach as adding a person detector is much simpler than adding associating/grouping algorithms. It is hard to judge which approach has better performance overall as it really comes down to which among the person detector and associating/grouping algorithms is better.
In this blog, we will focus on multi-person human pose estimation using deep learning techniques. In the next section, we will review some of the popular top-down and bottom-up approaches for the same.
Deep Learning Methods
1. OpenPose
OpenPose is one of the most popular bottom-up approaches for multi-person human pose estimation, partly because of their well documented GitHub implementation.
As with many bottom-up approaches, OpenPose first detects parts (keypoints) belonging to every person in the image, followed by assigning parts to distinct individuals. Shown below is the architecture of the OpenPose model.
Flowchart of the OpenPose architecture. (Source)
The OpenPose network first extracts features from an image using the first few layers (VGG-19 in the above flowchart). The features are then fed into two parallel branches of convolutional layers. The first branch predicts a set of 18 confidence maps, with each map representing a particular part of the human pose skeleton. The second branch predicts a set of 38 Part Affinity Fields (PAFs) which represents the degree of association between parts.
Steps involved in human pose estimation using OpenPose. (Source)
Successive stages are used to refine the predictions made by each branch. Using the part confidence maps, bipartite graphs are formed between pairs of parts (as shown in the above image). Using the PAF values, weaker links in the bipartite graphs are pruned. Through the above steps, human pose skeletons can be estimated and assigned to every person in the image. For a more thorough explanation of the algorithm, you may refer to their paper and to this blog post.
2. DeepCut
DeepCut is a bottom-up approach for multi-person human pose estimation. The authors approached the task by defining the following problems:
Produce a set of D body part candidates. This set represents all possible locations of body parts for every person in the image. Select a subset of body parts from the above set of body part candidates. Label each selected body part with one of C body part classes. The body part classes represent the types of parts, such as “arm”, “leg”, “torso” etc. Partition body parts that belong to the same person.
Pictorial representation of the approach. (Source)
The above problems were jointly solved by modeling it into an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) problem. It is modeled by considering triples (x, y, z) of binary random variables with domains as stated in the images below.
Domains of the binary random variables. (Source)
Consider two body part candidates d and d' from the set of body part candidates D and classes c and c' from the set of classes C . The body part candidates were obtained through a Faster RCNN or a Dense CNN. Now, we can develop the following set of statements.
If x(d,c) = 1 then it means that body part candidate d belongs to class c .
then it means that body part candidate belongs to class . Also, y(d,d') = 1 indicates that body part candidates d and d' belong to the same person.
indicates that body part candidates and belong to the same person. They also define z(d,d’,c,c’) = x(d,c) * x(d’,c’) * y(d,d’) . If the above value is 1, then it means that body part candidate d belongs to class c , body part candidate d' belongs to class c' , and finally body part candidates d,d’ belong to the same person.
The last statement can be used to partition pose belonging to different people. Clearly, the above statements can be formulated in terms of linear equations as functions of (x,y,z) . In this way, the Integer Linear Program (ILP) is set up, and the pose of multiple persons can be estimated. For the exact set of equations and much more detailed analysis, you can check out their paper here.
3. RMPE (AlphaPose)
RMPE is a popular top-down method of Pose Estimation. The authors posit that top-down methods are usually dependent on the accuracy of the person detector, as pose estimation is performed on the region where the person is located. Hence, errors in localization and duplicate bounding box predictions can cause the pose extraction algorithm to perform sub-optimally.
Effect of duplicate predictions (left) and low confidence bounding boxes (right). (Source)
To resolve this issue, the authors proposed the usage of Symmetric Spatial Transformer Network (SSTN) to extract a high-quality single person region from an inaccurate bounding box. A Single Person Pose Estimator (SPPE) is used in this extracted region to estimate the human pose skeleton for that person. A Spatial De-Transformer Network (SDTN) is used to remap the estimated human pose back to the original image coordinate system. Finally, a parametric pose Non-Maximum Suppression (NMS) technique is used to handle the issue of redundant pose deductions.
Furthermore, the authors introduce a Pose Guided Proposals Generator to augment training samples that can better help train the SPPE and SSTN networks. The salient feature of RMPE is that this technique can be extended to any combination of a person detection algorithm and an SPPE.
4. Mask RCNN
Mask RCNN is a popular architecture for performing semantic and instance segmentation. The model parallelly predicts both the bounding box locations of the various objects in the image and a mask that semantically segments the object. The basic architecture can be quite easily extended for human pose estimation.
Flowchart describing the Mask RCNN Architecture. (Source)
The basic architecture first extracts feature maps from an image using a CNN. These feature maps are used by a Region Proposal Network (RPN) to get bounding box candidates for the presence of objects. The bounding box candidates select an area (region) from the feature map extracted by the CNN. Since the bounding box candidates can be of various sizes, a layer called RoIAlign is used to reduce the size of the extracted feature such that they are all of the uniform size. Now, this extracted feature is passed into the parallel branches of CNNs for final prediction of the bounding boxes and the segmentation masks.
Let us focus on the branch that performs segmentation. Suppose an object in our image can belong to one among K classes. The segmentation branch outputs K binary masks of size m x m , where each binary mask represents all objects belonging to that class alone. We can extract keypoints belonging to every person in the image by modeling each type of keypoint as a distinct class and treating this like a segmentation problem.
Parallely, the objection detection algorithm can be trained to identify the location of the persons. By combining the information of the location of the person as well as their set of keypoints, we obtain the human pose skeleton for every person in the image.
This method nearly resembles the top-down approach, but the person detection stage is performed in parallel to the part detection stage. In other words, the keypoint detection stage and person detection stage are independent of each other.
5. Other Methods
Multi-Person Human Pose Estimation is a vast field with a plethora of approaches to tackle the problem. For brevity, only a select few approaches are explained here. For a more exhaustive list of approaches, you may check out the following links:
Applications
Pose Estimation has applications in myriad fields, some of which are listed below.
1. Activity Recognition
Tracking the variations in the pose of a person over a period of time can also be used for activity, gesture and gait recognition. There are several use cases for the same, including:
Applications to detect if a person has fallen down or is sick.
Applications that can autonomously teach proper work out regimes, sport techniques and dance activities.
Applications that can understand full-body sign language. (Ex: Airport runway signals, traffic policemen signals, etc.).
Applications that can enhance security and surveillance.
Tracking the gait of the person is useful for security and surveillance purposes. (Image source)
2. Motion Capture and Augmented Reality
An interesting application of human pose estimation is for CGI applications. Graphics, styles, fancy enhancements, equipment and artwork can be superimposed on the person if their human pose can be estimated. By tracking the variations of this human pose, the rendered graphics can “naturally fit” the person as they move.
Example of CGI Rendering. (Source)
A good visual example of what is possible can be seen through Animoji. Even though the above only tracks the structure of a face, the idea can be extrapolated for the keypoints of a person. The same concepts can be leveraged to render Augmented Reality (AR) elements that can mimic the movements of a person.
3. Training Robots
Instead of manually programming robots to follow trajectories, robots can be made to follow the trajectories of a human pose skeleton that is performing an action. A human instructor can effectively teach the robot certain actions by just demonstrating the same. The robot can then calculate how to move its articulators to perform the same action.
4. Motion Tracking for Consoles
An interesting application of pose estimation is for tracking the motion of human subjects for interactive gaming. Popularly, Kinect used 3D pose estimation (using IR sensor data) to track the motion of the human players and to use it to render the actions of the virtual characters.
The Kinect sensor in action. (Source)
Conclusion
Great strides have been made in the field of human pose estimation, which enables us to better serve the myriad applications that are possible with it. Moreover, research in related fields such as Pose Tracking can greatly enhance its productive utilization in several fields. The concepts listed in this blog are not exhaustive but rather strives to introduce some popular variants of these algorithms and their real-life applications. | https://medium.com/beyondminds/an-overview-of-human-pose-estimation-with-deep-learning-d49eb656739b | ['Bharath Raj'] | 2019-05-01 14:09:06.190000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Deep Learning', 'Pose Estimation', 'Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
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DONT FORGET TO FOLLOW FOR MORE INFO AND UPDATE. | https://medium.com/@monicgandung/livestream-nathan-phillips-square-new-years-eve-fireworks-2020-live-2020-397cb29edec5 | ['Gandung Monic'] | 2020-01-01 04:44:12.808000+00:00 | ['Matches', 'Live', 'Live Streaming', 'Sports', 'Games'] |
Teaching People to Fish: Coda’s Support Philosophy | This post was originally published as a doc, which you can see here.
Coda docs can take many shapes. Users stretch and mold the product in ways that sometimes surprise even us. With infinite unique possibilities for your docs, it’s no surprise that our support process doesn’t always provide a one-and-done solution. You may have heard this quote before:
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.
It’s a bit cheesy, but it helps to explain our philosophy.
]The goal of support at Coda is to equip you with tools that help you tackle questions you ask now and those you might have in the future. Think of it like math class — if you received the solution up front each time and never had to work through a problem, you wouldn’t have learned very much. While we could build out a doc that follows our preferences, it might not be what you want and could pose further problems later if the structure isn’t clear to you.
Coda’s magic comes from allowing you to create what you dream up.
Your doc is yours: support through empowerment.
New products introduce learning curves — curves that change shape depending on how you intend to use the product. In Coda, for example, publishing a blog-type doc without tables is different than setting up a relational database with formulas. Our aim is to help you embrace whichever learning curve you find yourself on through learning materials, help content, the Coda community, and direct support.
More importantly, we focus on empowerment. While we want to unblock in the moment, laying a good foundation is critical to opening up your productive capacity with the product. At the same time, we want Coda to be intuitive. The complexity of your doc should be your own choice, so we aim to support creation of a doc that works for your needs.
Learning is a two-way street.
When you brainstorm solutions on your own or with us, we learn how people use the product and what the product can do. And we often see users find solutions to problems that we didn’t even know existed in the first place. While Coda’s support team are experts in the basics and building blocks, every maker has their own preferences in how to use Coda.
We’re here to help you explore those preferences and variable solutions toward the same goal. For example, let’s say I want to add multiple values to a table with a button — maybe I want to populate a table like a template or duplicate data from one table to another. There are dozens of different ways to accomplish this. In the gif below, one button pushes two buttons in the Values table. A second button uses the RunActions() formula to add two values. And a third references the Values table to map those values onto the new table. Each button does the same thing — they’re different paths to the same result.
A good deal of the support process is trial and error. We put Coda to the test every day, using our own docs where we test our formulas and new features. We’re all nerds when it comes to a good challenge, but we’re also each just one person, providing a solution based off of our understanding of the product and our experiences. That’s one reason the Community is so valuableーhere, you’re able to crowdsource answers from a range of makers.
Transforming the product with your feedback.
Support at Coda doesn’t stop when our conversation is over; our goal as a team is to ensure that you are set up for success with your Coda experience. We want to make sure that our learning and help content is useful and that the feedback (even the implicit requests) are funneled to the best places internally for action.
We bring direct quotes, trends, and stories to the product teams to help support their planning process and continue to iterate on the product to ease those points of friction that might get you stuck. That said, turning feedback into action takes time — our product team is constantly shuffling and reprioritizing requests to deliver a great Coda experience to all users.
The community is a great place to post questions about the product or feedback, as you can get traction with other members responses. When more people run into issues with the same thing, it helps to expedite the request on the team’s roadmaps.
Coda support, wherever you are.
Different support resources might be more valuable at varying times in the learning process. But which is right for you right now? Here are our suggestions:
Coda Learn — Fundamentals
Here you’ll find videos on how to use the building blocks of the product.
Help Center — All levels
Content is divided into broad categories, but split up by skill level. No matter where you are in the process, the help center is extremely valuable for solutions.
Community — All levels
The Community can seem like an advanced space at times, but we encourage all users to check it out and post questions and answers, as it can often be the most impactful place to crowdsource answers. Plus, the community serves as a public record for other users to see what solutions arose from your questions.
When providing support, we often use the community to find varying solutions to problems!
And of course you’re welcome to contact us directly. We’re always here to help. | https://blog.coda.io/teaching-people-to-fish-codas-support-philosophy-bc702a9be084 | ['Charlotte Espeland'] | 2020-05-13 21:04:48.509000+00:00 | ['Support', 'Empowerment', 'Startup', 'Customer Service', 'Productivity'] |
How to deal with image resizing in Deep Learning | TL;DR: The best way to deal with different sized images is to downscale them to match dimensions from the smallest image available.
If you read out last post, you know that CNNs are able to learn information from images even if its channels are flipped, over a cost in the model accuracy.
This post studies a similar problem: suppose each color channel has a different size. Which are the best ways to train an image classifier in those circunstancies?
First, let's create a simple model to serve as base for some comparisons that will be made in this article:
Layer Output Shape Param #
=================================================================
InputLayer (None, 100, 100, 3) 0
_________________________________________________________________
Conv2D (None, 100, 100, 32) 896
_________________________________________________________________
MaxPooling2D (None, 50, 50, 32) 0
_________________________________________________________________
Dropout (None, 50, 50, 32) 0
_________________________________________________________________
Conv2D (None, 50, 50, 64) 18496
_________________________________________________________________
MaxPooling2D (None, 25, 25, 64) 0
_________________________________________________________________
Dropout (None, 25, 25, 64) 0
_________________________________________________________________
Flatten (None, 40000) 0
_________________________________________________________________
Dense (None, 128) 5120128
_________________________________________________________________
Dropout (None, 128) 0
_________________________________________________________________
Dense (None, 2) 258
=================================================================
It's a simple model, able to tell dog pictures apart from non-dog pictures, with only two convolutions. After training it for 10 epochs (using complete 3-channel images, 100x100 pixels), the results are: | https://medium.com/neuronio/how-to-deal-with-image-resizing-in-deep-learning-e5177fad7d89 | ['Adriano Dennanni'] | 2019-10-08 12:38:34.075000+00:00 | ['Convolutional Network', 'Keras', 'Machine Learning', 'Image Processing', 'Deep Learning'] |
Like Sweden, Finland has its Muslim-bashing populists | Radical agenda. Leader of the Finns Party Jussi Halla-aho delivers speaks at the Finns Party congress in Jyvaskyla, last year. (Reuters)
The rise of the far-right Sweden Democrats, who are hostile to Muslims and migrants, is mirrored in Finland, Sweden’s neighbour to the east. Finland, too, has an authentically populist political party with a nasty message for immigrants of non-European, non-Christian heritage.
Like Swedes, Finns have elections on their minds. Finnish voters will go to the polls next year. Despite its relatively homogenous, small population — just 5.5 million; 17 inhabitants per sq. kilometre — and comparatively placid politics, Finland’s populists maintain an unhealthy focus on Muslims. This might seem surprising considering Finland has a rather small number of Muslims, perhaps 70,000, the majority of whom are adolescents.
Not so. The Finns Party, which is part of the governing coalition albeit under a different avatar, has an ugly anti-Muslim, anti-migrant agenda, one that is likely to become more strident as the election draws closer. On September 11, a Finns Party politician was convicted of public incitement to violence against the Finnish Red Cross, which runs reception centres for asylum seekers.
Finns Party Leader Jussi Halla-aho was fined by Finland’s Supreme Court six years ago for comments linking Islam to paedophilia and Somalis to theft. One of the party’s deputy leaders, Laura Huhtasaari, who ran for Finnish president this year, channelled US President Donald Trump with a “Finland First” message and rants about “Muslim backwardness.” Earlier this year, Huhtasaari was fined for a Facebook post calling for a Muslim-free Finland, which a court said amounted to discrimination against an ethnic group.
The Finnish populists are unapologetic about wanting a Finland with no immigration from outside Europe, except for individuals who bring clear economic benefits. In any case, Finland’s Muslim community, which includes Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Iranians, Somalis, Bosnians and Kosovo Albanians, lives in a markedly Islamophobic culture. The International Social Survey Programme of 2008 said that approximately one-half of the Finnish population had a negative attitude towards Islam and Muslims, more than any other country in the 42-country study.
That explains some of the context for the Finns Party’s rhetoric, which chimes with that of the Sweden Democrats next door. The Sweden Democrats are desirous of locking migrants in to overt displays of “Swedishness,” whatever that might mean. Sweden Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman Markus Wiechel admitted his party wanted migrants to “become Swedish… to assimilate.”
This hard-line approach can only provoke resistance in Sweden, Finland and elsewhere in Europe, when a more measured give-and-take is required.
Consider the findings of a recently submitted doctoral dissertation on the identities of young Muslims in Finland. The scholar, Teemu Pauha of Helsinki University, investigated young Finnish Muslims’ sense of belonging to the country in which they were born and made a surprising discovery.
“Within the scope of a single interview session, the same study subject could talk about both ‘those Finns’ and ‘us Finns,’ depending on the connotations linked with Finnishness in each case. Many considered themselves Finns when abroad and foreigners in Finland,” Pauha said.
Pauha’s research opens with an interesting anecdote that illustrates the extent of disconnection between Finnish Muslims and their country. In December 2017, the 100th anniversary of Finnish independence, a Muslim youth organisation, Nuorten Muslimien Foorumi (NMF), organised a gala to mark the occasion. An NMF activist went on television to explain the organisation’s goal was to “construct the kind of Muslims who feel that they are also Finnish.” It suggested, Pauha writes, that “Finnish identity is not automatic” but something to be consciously built by Muslims.
Just how hard that will be is clear from Pauha’s analysis of letters written by 11–16-year-old Muslims to an imaginary friend about life in Finland. “Finnishness is associated with things that are haram, especially smoking and drinking, and, as a result, becoming more like the Finns is portrayed as a cause of losing one’s Muslimness,” says Pauha. Clearly, the idea of Finnishness itself must change if it is to fit all of the country’s population in the 21st century.
That said, young Finnish Muslims’ uncertain embrace of Finland has profound implications for them, their country and Europe more generally. By 2050, as the thesis points out, the Pew Research Centre estimates migration could push Finland’s Muslim population to 3.4%. That would be a big increase from 0.8% in 2010.
Even if Finland walls itself off to non-Europeans and Muslims, Pauha says, the Muslim population will grow, “but more modestly, to approximately 1.4%.”
Whatever happens, Finns and Muslims must accommodate each other.
Originally published at thearabweekly.com. | https://rashmee.medium.com/like-sweden-finland-has-its-muslim-bashing-populists-8e21e7e09e6e | ['Rashmee Roshan Lall'] | 2018-09-16 10:11:45.226000+00:00 | ['Migrants', 'Muslim', 'Populism', 'Finland', 'Sweden'] |
‘The Stand’: M.E1. “The End” | The Stand, the much anticipated new adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same title, premiered in these United States on Thursday, 17 December 2020 on CBS All Access.
The premiere episode, appropriately titled The End, serves as a good introduction to King’s main characters. People familiar with the 1994 miniseries, even though it has been more than 25 years, will likely find it difficult to not draw comparisons between characterisations.
King, in 1994, adapted his novel into a four-part miniseries. The new adaptation, with more than double the instalments, will likely be far more fleshed out. The nine-part adaptation, filmed in September 2019, wasn’t impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns.
Whilst the Coronavirus isn’t The Stand, given how 2020 has unfolded, timing is apt. The parallels, despite comments tweeted by King himself, are hard to ignore.
Miniseries showrunner Benjamin Cavell and premiere director Josh Boone, from conception, had always envisioned as The End televised. Cavell and Boone, tossing out the beginning, middle, and end playbook, approached King’s story from a new direction.
The End, instead of beginning The Stand with Campion (Curtiss Cook Jr.) unleashing the contagion upon the world, opens with the final scene. It gives us our first definitive look at Randall Flagg. Flagg, played by Jamey Sheridan in the 1994 adaptation, is now characterised by Alexander Skarsgård. The miniseries villain is evil personified.
Image Credit: IMDb.com
Mirroring Whoopi Goldberg’s Mother Abigail Freemantle, a character Ruby Dee had previously made her own, Flagg’s first appearance comes in a dream sequence. Further, noting how there are several dream state scenes scattered throughout the premiere episode, these weren’t the only dream sequences.
Played by Gary Sinise in the 1994 adaptation, in this latest adaptation, Stu Redman is personified by James Marsden. Stu, immune to the deadly pandemic, is one of only a few people remaining alive. | https://medium.com/harsh-light-news/the-stand-m-e1-the-end-8a9fbb2e13e | ['Shain E. Thomas'] | 2020-12-17 22:03:28.937000+00:00 | ['Stephen King', 'The Stand', 'Television', 'CBS', 'All Access'] |
How to foster a non-toxic culture that is conducive to high performance | How to foster a non-toxic culture that is conducive to high performance
The link between trust culture and performance, and steps you can take to build this culture.
“Culture is the soul of the organization — the beliefs and values, and how they are manifested. I think of the structure as the skeleton, and as the flesh and blood. And culture is the soul that holds the thing together and gives it life force.” — Henry Mintzberg
In 2001, the behemoth Enron collapsed in the largest bankruptcy known to American history at that time, wreaking havoc on the Wall Street. Besides drawing attention to accounting and corporate fraud, the Enron scandal exemplified how a culture permeated with fear and toxicity could not only bring a company down to its knees, but send it directly to its grave!
A toxic culture is known to have a negative impact on morale, productivity, and creativity due to the high levels of stress induced. Research shows that at a neural level, acute uncontrollable stress weakens the influence of the prefrontal cortex which is the control center for concentration, planning, decision-making, and judgment. But you don’t need research to know you can’t really show up as your best self or think straight when you’ve just been humiliated in front of your colleagues by your boss.
In the case of Enron, toxicity was reported to trickle down from the top levels of the company, with executives obsessively pushing for huge earnings’ growth at the expense of integrity and ethics — in some cases deriding employees for not being loyal when they refused to perform illegal accounting procedures. This built a fear-based culture where employees did not question authority to avoid punishment and consequently the prevalent fraud destroyed the company.
The link between trust and performance
Paul J. Zak, Harvard researcher and author of “The Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performing Companies,” discovered that “compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report 74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, and 40% less burnout.”
His research also shows that high-trust companies also had one-half the employee turnover of low-trust companies and moving a company up one quartile in organizational trust results in the average employee producing an additional $10,185 in revenue every year.
In a different study code-named “Project Aristotle,” Google set out to determine what makes teams successful, and trust — or psychological safety — emerged as the most important factor. As mentioned in the insights from this research, “In a team with high psychological safety, teammates feel safe to take risks around their team members. They feel confident that no one on the team will embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new idea.”
As a leader, you need to foster a healthy trust culture and then continuously monitor it to make sure it doesn’t turn toxic. So the question is, how do you do this? What intentional steps can you take? Here are 2 steps to start off.
The first step to building a trust culture is to create transparency
Make important and relevant information easily accessible to both your clients and your team members. Not only does transparency improve trust, which leads to lower overall turnover rates, but it also improves productivity, as employees get more motivated when they feel like they’re in the loop.
While it may be tempting for you as a leader to give negative announcements a positive spin, such PR-laden comments can both be frustrating and patronizing to your employees. If the ship is sinking and the house is on fire, be honest about it, ask for help, and include your team in the discussions.
In his book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, businessman and investor Ben Horowitz talks about transparency in a section titled, “CEOs should tell it like it is.” The benefits are many. Besides improving trust, there are simply more brains working on organization problems, resulting in faster solutions. Horowitz also writes that counterintuitively, it is indicative of a healthy culture for bad news to travel fast “as a company that discusses its problems freely and openly can quickly solve them. A company that covers up its problems frustrates everyone involved.”
Embody Core Values Within the Organization
It’s one thing to hang your company’s core values on the wall, but a totally different thing to bring them to life within an organization. Living company values usually starts from the top, with you leading by example and allowing those values to guide decisions on who to hire, fire and promote.
Our CEO, Fred Swaniker, recently published an article titled, 5 Reasons Not To Work With ALX to address common misalignments between personal and organizational values. The more employees are aligned with the company’s core values and mission, the more likely their productivity, levels of engagement and satisfaction would be higher. According to the report titled State of Employee Engagement, that compiled data from thousands of organizations across 157 countries worldwide, “33 percent of employees believe their company’s core values don’t align with their personal values”, which is bad news for job satisfaction and employee turnover.
Besides ensuring all new employees are made aware of the company’s core values during on-boarding, company values need to be reinforced in all communications and meetings. It is also important to recognize and reward values-centric behaviors through written recognition or peer-voting opportunities.
Having read all that, what is your company culture like? What steps are you taking to build trust within your organization?
About the author: Amina Islam is the Innovative Learning Lead at Xcelerator where she works with the product team to develop new programs. She received her Ph.D. from Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in 2017. Amina is always excited about new ideas and explores them in writing on her Linkedin profile and ahscribbles.com.
At Xcelerator, we are working with top global companies to develop managers into high impact leaders. Interested? Learn more. | https://medium.com/xcelerator-alg/how-to-foster-a-non-toxic-culture-that-is-conducive-to-high-performance-10357484b825 | [] | 2019-11-04 14:30:17.006000+00:00 | ['Manager Development', 'Leadership', 'Xcelerator', 'Leadership Development'] |
Modern American Eugenics: Sterilization in the Justice System | A new lawsuit alleges that ICE inmates in a Georgia prison were needlessly sterilized. The complaint describes doctors performing hysterectomies on several immigrant women. There is evidence that the procedure was not required and that the women did not even understand why they had to undergo the procedure.
A hysterectomy is a surgery to remove the uterus. A doctor may recommend the procedure for things like ovarian cancer or persistent vaginal bleeding. Women who undergo the procedure can no longer get pregnant — they are sterilized. Because of this, doctors are hesitant to perform the procedure unless absolutely necessary. Instead, doctors may fight every step of the way to avoid the procedure. This makes the ICE’s frequent use of the procedure raise serious red flags. Why are so many immigrant women sterilized by the government if not for the fact that they are immigrants?
The ICE hysterectomies are not an isolated incident. The justice system is eager to pressure people to give up their fundamental right to reproduce. Sterilization against people in the justice system has no place in America.
The U.S. has an extensive history of sterilizing minorities.
The U.S. has a long history of sterilizing Black and brown women. For example, in the 1974 case Relf v. Weinberger, the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed in a lawsuit that the federal government funded 100,000 to 150,000 sterilizations per year. This was population control.
One of the most notorious state sterilization programs was the North Carolina Board of Eugenics, which sterilized thousands of poor Black and brown women because they were on welfare, wanted an abortion, were in prison, or the doctors simply thought that it would be better if those women couldn’t reproduce. North Carolina wanted to reduce the number of Black people. This is clear because the number of sterilizations increased when the Black population increased but was unaffected by increases in the White population.
Widespread government sterilizations of minorities stopped by the 1980s. However, sterilization programs are still proposed by lawmakers and the justice system. Modern lawmakers sometimes openly suggest sterilization programs as a form of population control. In 2009, one Louisiana lawmaker suggested paying poor women $1,000 to have their tubes tied. Why? To reduce the number of people on welfare…by eliminating the ability of those women to reproduce permanently. This perverse idea is at the core of sterilization programs. People with authority decide that it “would be better for society” if “undesirables” couldn’t have any more children.
The core point is that the ICE hysterectomies are not an isolated incident. Even since 2000, there have been several documented cases of coerced sterilization in the U.S.
Today, judges and prosecutors push for sterilization and promise shorter sentences, while prisons lie to induce sterilization.
In the South Carolina case Heaton v. Stirling, Dr. Patricia Carney told prisoner Kimmie Heaton in 2004 that she needed a hysterectomy because she had endometriosis. However, when Heaton received her medical records in 2018, she discovered that she never had endometriosis. Heaton sued because she was wrongfully and involuntarily sterilized. Heaton’s litigation is ongoing.
In California, between 2006 and 2010, hundreds of inmates were illegally sterilized by prison doctors. Hundreds more were pressured to have their tubes tied. The California prisons justified the procedures by claiming that:
“Over a 10-year period, that isn’t a huge amount of money compared to what you save in welfare paying for these unwanted children — as they procreated more.”
Justifying sterilization because future children will be on welfare is eugenics.
In 2014, a Prosecutor offered a Virginia man a plea deal to reduce a 5-year sentence for reckless driving if he got a vasectomy. Telling someone that if they do not get a vasectomy then they will spend five years in prison is coercive. Despite this, the court thought that this was a valid and voluntary agreement.
In 2015, a Tennessee district attorney was fired after repeatedly recommending sterilizations in plea deals for women. For one suspect, this DA would not consider a plea deal without sterilization. The only reason he was fired was because of the intense negative press over the deals after the defense counsel reported them. It is unclear how many more “deals” the DA coerced from women. Tennessee only banned sterilizations in plea deals in December 2016. Similarly, in 2009, West Virginia prosecutors recommended that a mother of three get her tubes tied to reduce her sentence for marijuana possession. She agreed.
In 2017, a Tennessee judge submitted an open order that any men who would get vasectomies could get 30 days off of their sentences. The order also gave a 30-day credit to women who got birth control implants. 38 men and 32 women agreed to the procedures. The judge justified the order by saying:
“I hope to encourage them to take personal responsibility and give them a chance, when they do get out, to not to be burdened with children. This gives them a chance to get on their feet and make something of themselves.”
The order was eventually pulled by the judge and the judge was fired. In 2019, there was still active litigation related to the unconstitutional and coercive order.
Finally, in 2018, an Oklahoma judge “recommended” that a woman be sterilized to reduce the sentence for her counterfeit check charge. The woman took up the judge’s recommendation.
A common theme between all of these instances is the narrative of personal responsibility. They say that to stop future children from having an “unfit” parent, people should give up their fundamental right to reproduce. This is coercive. This is unconstitutional. This is wrong. When a judge or prosecutor decides that it is better for you to not have children because of your “undesirable” traits, that is eugenics.
Unfortunately, there is no way to know how many “off the record” sterilization deals happen every year. We only hear about them if defense counsel goes to the press, or a judge puts out a public sterilization order.
“Recommendations” for sterilization from the government are inherently coercive.
Historically, governments, judges, and prisons justified sterilization programs by calling them “voluntary.” They argued, as ICE will likely argue, that there was no coercion because the women willingly signed a form permitting the sterilization. This argument ignores the fact that procedures pushed by the government, especially in prison, are inherently coercive.
Normally, people are likely to listen to what their doctors say, since doctors are the experts. It is generally hard to second guess your doctor. It is even harder when that doctor is an agent of the prison holding you. Your ability to consent is doubtful if your doctor speaks a different language than you. It is doubtful that you can consent to be sterilized if the prison, which controls you, employs the doctor that recommends sterilization. It is questionable whether your “consent” is voluntary at all. As one article pointed out:
“Medical professionals in prisons “face extraordinary ethical challenges: prisoners, who cannot choose their care provider and who are fully dependent on the health care provided to them, are a vulnerable population, as demonstrated by the many exploitations, abuses, and violations of their human rights in the past.”
A prison doctor can appear like an extension of the prison because of the power the prison has over prisoners. Prisons control all of your decisions and actions while incarcerated. As such, it exerts pressure on decision-making that may make medical consent seem like a sham. This potential for coercion and abuse is not academic or hypothetical. The U.S. has a history of “voluntary” sterilization that continues well into 2020.
Meaningful consent is also dubious when the intentions of such plans are so blatant. Especially so with the women sterilized in Georgia. Why is this permanent procedure being used at such a high rate, especially when it is not necessary? How can women who do not speak fluent English fight an American doctor strongly “recommending” a permanent procedure? The coercive effect is obvious.
It is one thing if a woman wants or needs a hysterectomy, or if a man wants a vasectomy. It is something else entirely if a judge, prosecutor, or prison doctor determines that you should have the procedure.
What can we do to prevent coercive sterilizations?
The main problem with fighting the justice system’s use of sterilization is that it is a hidden problem. If prosecutors suggest it off the record and judges keep quiet, then it is difficult to see how pervasive the problem is. The only thing we know for sure is that this coercive practice happens too often. However, there are four demands that we can make to our state governments to prevent this from happening in the future:
1. Provide multiple doctors for prisoners to choose between. Prisons cannot provide only one predetermined doctor for prisoners. Doctors who directly work for prisons and do coercive work have an inherent conflict of interests. We must avoid rubber stamps for sterilization. There must be a separation between the government and the doctor providing care. Prisoners cannot give meaningful consent when a single doctor, who may push sterilization, is the only option.
2. Provide translators for people who do not speak English. If an English-speaking doctor tells a Spanish-speaking woman that she needs a permanent procedure, that woman likely cannot give informed consent. If there is no informed consent for procedures, then they are involuntary. Translators should be available for people going to a doctor while in custody.
3. Demand that all states ban the use of sterilization in the judicial process. Sterilization has no place in the criminal justice system. It is perverse for a prosecutor or judge to threaten years in prison unless you “agree” to be sterilized. The reason that judges and prosecutors continue to use these tactics is that they are not explicitly banned.
4. Disbar prosecutors and judges who suggest sterilization in exchange for a lighter sentence. Prosecutors and judges must be punished for implementing sterilization schemes. It is a betrayal of public trust and human decency to pressure someone to sterilize because of their “undesirable” traits. That is eugenics, and it has no place in America.
We cannot undo the harm that has been done to any victims of government-coerced sterilization. However, we can stop this from happening to any more vulnerable people. We must ensure that modern American eugenics is a thing of the past. | https://aninjusticemag.com/modern-american-eugenics-sterilization-in-the-justice-system-9d5de263f1f6 | ['Aris X. Hart'] | 2020-09-21 19:25:32.936000+00:00 | ['Race', 'Justice', 'Immigrant Rights', 'Criminal Justice Reform', 'Prison Reform'] |
Why Covid 19 is a Wake UP Call for All of Us. | Why Covid 19 is a Wake UP Call for All of Us.
It’s time to re-evaluate our priorities for the economy of the future.
Even in paradise work is inevitable. Image from Alexis Antonio at Unsplash
It is a while since I wrote that the Covid 19 pandemic should be seen as a wake up call for the travel and hospitality industries. Four and a half months on, and the stuttering attempts to revive the sector are demonstrating the truth of my assertion.
I believe that the importance attached to this business sector, and the wider sports and leisure industry, is symptomatic of the extent to which we in the developed world have lost touch with what matters. Maybe the pandemic is providing a wake up call for all of us.
Perhaps a return to the basics of ‘Economics 101’ will help readers to understand how I have arrived at this conclusion.
Imagine yourself alone in some mythical Eden, a deserted island. You need food and water. Fortunately there are abundant fruiting plants and a sparkling stream. Everything you need. Except, in order to benefit from this abundance, you have to do some work. The water has to be collected, the fruits gathered.
In time, the fruiting season for the plants will pass. Lack of rain may cause the stream to dry up. You have to work harder to find essential food and water. And you realise that you need protection from the sun, from predators, or from storms that arise from time to time. Life is no longer quite so idyllic. Your survival depends on the exertion of a great deal of effort.
You have learned the first rule of basic economics: nothing of use to mankind’s existence can be procured without the expenditure of human effort.
Expand this metaphor from the single individual to a family. There are family members who are not able to perform every task that needs to be undertaken to ensure their continuing survival. They are too old or too young. You have to shoulder the burden of carrying out all of the work required to meet their basic needs. You have to produce a surplus over and above what is needed for your own personal survival.
The good thing is that there are family members who can take on at least some of the burden. Between you, by working together, you can ensure the survival of the group.
As time passes you realise that there are occasions when the materials you need are in abundant supply and others when they not available. The fruit rots on the trees, changes in the weather, over the course of a year, mean that your need for shelter and clothing is greater at some times of the year than at others.
You are starting to learn rule two of basic economic survival: the need to preserve any temporary surplus to provide for the hard times.
Now expand the number of people involved to a community. For the sake of argument assume that the island is large enough to provide for the needs of all members of the community. Each family, acting independently, produces what they need. Some families occupy a space that is close to all of the materials they require.
Some are further from those resources. In order to meet their needs, they find it necessary to encroach on the space occupied by one of the other families. There ensues a dispute about who should have access to the resource that both need. If the community does not act to resolve the dispute peacefully, the disagreement will escalate to the ultimate disadvantage of the whole community.
Rule three of basic economics: there are practical limits to how many people can survive on a small island.
Rule four: competition leads to the demise of the weakest; co-operation ensures the survival of all, so long as proper regard is paid to rule three.
Enough, then, about the realities of life on an imaginary paradise island. We have a whole planet at our disposal. We have evolved a range of technologies and working methods that ensure each of us who is able bodied can produce far more than he or she needs. In fact, we regularly produce enormous surpluses.
We have organised ourselves into nation states centred around areas of land and the resources on and under that land. For some such nation states the volume of resources available is insufficient to meet the needs of all of their population. They strive to obtain access to the abundance available in other lands. As in the basic case of a few families struggling to survive on a small island, such disputes can be resolved by co-operation and by sharing. If not, war ensues.
Throughout what we choose to call the civilised world, we debate, through the exercise of democracy, the most desirable way of distributing the surpluses that we have created. Or we do in theory.
In practice, there is a cacophony of voices telling us that, rather than use our surplus for the benefit of the young, old, sick and disabled citizens of our nation states, we should use it for our own pleasure.
We should indulge our addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling, not use some of our surplus to help those whose lands are not as blessed as ours with natural resources.
In stead of setting some of the surplus aside for the time when the resources available to us are depleted, we should use the surplus to increase our pleasure.
Rule five: there will always be droughts. There will always be storms, hurricanes, earthquakes. Plagues of voracious insects or disease causing microbes are inevitable.
We have entered a period when all of the leisure pursuits listed above place us in danger, beyond those dangers we already know yet ignore.
A new danger, related to the fact that most of these indulgences are performed in the presence of large crowds. And crowds, we have learned, are beloved by the virus which happily skips from one body to another unless appropriate precautions are taken.
The usual objection to this analysis is that all of these leisure activities provide employment, especially so in those places where natural resources are less readily available.
My answer to that is to point out that we are able to permit people to ‘work’ at providing us with entertainment, and all the other leisure pursuits we so love to indulge in, because most of us are doing work far in excess of what we need to do to satisfy our basic needs.
Those of us whose work is deemed essential could reduce the number of hours we work, so that the entertainers, the chefs, the waiters, the barristas and bar tenders, the airline pilots and stewards, can be redeployed into important work.
Sure, some form of retraining will be required.
Sure, there is room, still, for entertainment. Just not in crowded places.
We can, too, reduce some of those surpluses. Doing so might help avert the environmental disasters looming ahead, disasters that will make the pandemic pale into insignificance. | https://medium.com/illumination/why-covid-19-is-a-wake-up-call-for-all-of-us-d3eb879d0b06 | ['Frank Parker'] | 2020-08-06 11:24:26.963000+00:00 | ['Economics', 'Leisure Industries', 'Environmental Issues', 'Covid 19', 'Politics'] |
Meet the Team🇺🇸🌸🐇 Spring 2020 | Zack Abbott (he/ him), Talent Operations, USDS HQ. Previously General Dynamics IT. From Rockville, MD.
The last seven and a half years I was employed by GDIT supporting several government contracts and working my way up the ladder until I landed a spot as a HR Specialist for the last year and a half. I served in many administrative roles prior to that, but found my calling when I stepped into the HR role. I thoroughly enjoy working with people, helping them be successful in their professional roles, and ensuring they are taken care of in their personal lives as well.
I joined USDS to do the same. As a member of the talent team, I’m working to bring on great people to support our mission and also ensure they have everything they need to be successful.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I wish I was a gifted musician. As much as I love sports and anything of the like, I always wish I was musically inclined. I’ve been an athlete my entire life, but I can’t live without music. I have tried my take at the electronic aspect of music, but could still use the basic knowledge of chords, notes, etc. to help guide my musical interests.
What is your motto?
I look at life two ways, “stuff happens,” and “always smile and laugh.” I’ve pretty much built who I am around those two things and have found solace in knowing that I can’t control most things in life, but I can control who I am and how I react. The glass is always half full for this guy, no matter what the situation is; always looking at things from a positive/optimistic perspective and making light out of whatever the situation is.
When and where were you happiest?
It’s not a matter of when and where, because I’m always happy. There may be bad days, but even on those bad days I tend to find something positive out of them. If I were to describe what makes me happiest, it’s spending time with my friends and family, having a nice cold beer and just laughing. Laughing is my favorite thing in the world, that and my dog and wife (the cat’s cool too). Also love baseball and live music. Go Nationals, rock & roll, hip hop, and EDM (more so house music currently). | https://medium.com/the-u-s-digital-service/meet-the-team-spring-2020-bbb6034e2c | ['U.S. Digital Service'] | 2020-05-12 14:19:39.535000+00:00 | ['Team And Culture', 'Engineering', 'Civictech', 'Design', 'Government'] |
Rapid Aerial Assessment of Odisha Flood 2020 — A Case Study | The world famous technologist, business leader and philanthropist, Bill Gates once said,
“Drones overall will be more impactful than I think people recognize in positive ways to help the society”
Today, the use of technology has become a necessity. Can we even imagine our lives without these advanced technologies? Answer, a big NO. With the advancing technologies and its widespread use in every sphere of our lives, the disaster management squads have now started using DRONES: one of the greatest boons of technology to the mankind, to assess the adversity of the natural calamity such as flood, tsunami or drought occurred in certain areas. And hence, carry out rescue operations suitably.
One must be wondering…..at places where the most skillful human tactics fail to analyze the severity of the situation, how can a mere device like IG Drone emerge out victorious?
Researching about the cause of natural disasters, proper assessment of the damaged infrastructure, identification of people trapped under debris; alive or dead, is not a man’s cup of tea. That is exactly when IG Drones come to rescue!
IG Drones Capability
With its advanced software, IG Drones can capture high-resolution, real-time images of even the most inaccessible locations .The high-resolution photos and thermal images helps to identify the issues in a particular site in a very short span of time. It provides excellent and practical solutions for the rapid assessment of the natural disaster-affected areas that enables the squad to carry out the rescue operations in a faster and efficient way.
Computer generated orthomosaic of a village with the help of images acquired by IG Drone
Team IG Flood Assessment
We, as a team has always aimed at working collectively towards making the use of technology for a noble cause; aiding people during crucial times. Recently, our team assessed the entire situation in the flood-affected state of Odisha with the help of sophisticated IG Drones.
IG Pilot in action for mapping the flooded area
Finding out the intensity of the flood in the affected areas, locating the flood victims or the people stuck in an area seeking help were the various aspects we focused working on. Not just that, large chunks of affected areas were being mapped with the help of our drones which proved effective in the quantification of losses by the help of the 3D models generated. The mapped areas not only provided an estimated damage percentage but also clearly marked out the elements affected in the social outfit. The data captured were used in the preparing hazard maps in order to plan the prevention and mitigation measures for reducing damage caused due to disaster in future. Unbelievable! But true.
Rising Like a Phoenix
Despite the challenges faced by our team, we left no stones unturned in carrying out the post-disaster analysis with a systematic approach and in making a quite an accurate output out of the resources with every minute details.
Watch our latest Youtube Video on our efforts to map the remotest parts of water logged villages.
Our approach to the whole situation was quite simple, holistic and well-controlled. Above everything else, the ultimate goal of helping people in the direst situations was fulfilled. The purpose behind creating IG Drone was finally served.
ABOUT US:
IG Drones provide specialist inspection services at height and difficult to access areas, via the use of drones. Technical end-to-end solution to help you ease your operation. Capture the smallest of details with ease. Raise your operational standards & Imagine more with us. Imagine Inspire Innovate.
Follow us on — Twitter |Facebook |Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube Channel | https://medium.com/@igdrones/rapid-aerial-assessment-of-odisha-flood-2020-a-case-study-eac7c5b95b97 | ['Ig Drones'] | 2020-12-04 21:57:12.436000+00:00 | ['Case Study', 'Floods', 'Humanity', 'Drones', 'Technology'] |
Ridin’ with Biden to the most American climate solution ever | For years, the world has been shifting to electric vehicles (EVs) —without the United States.
Lacking a clear, coordinated plan to decarbonize the car industry, the U.S. has fallen behind in EV sales: In 2019, 1.1 million EVs were sold in China and 539,000 in Europe; only 320,000 were sold in the U.S., a drop of 12% from the previous year.
Meanwhile, American car companies have been hesitant to make big commitments without federal support, though they’ve seen the writing on the wall. When Trump rolled back fuel economy standards in March, some big carmakers — Ford, Honda, BMW, Volkswagen, and Volvo — agreed to meet California’s stricter emissions limits anyway (GM just jumped on the bandwagon).
On this directionless path, we’ve seen global emissions rise to record levels and market share of EVs in America stall at a paltry 2%. Fortunately, with President-elect Joe Biden in the White House, good news may be just around the corner.
“[Biden] will have it in his hands to make the United States a top market for the sales of EVs just [as] they approach price parity with internal-combustion engine cars,” wrote Ethan Zindler of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, in a recent commentary. “Best of all, he can do it regardless of who controls Congress.”
Biden’s climate plan calls for more than 500,000 new public charging outlets by 2030, a full electric vehicle tax credit, and a new fuel economy standard. Even if Biden just reinstated Obama-era car emissions rules, EV sales would jump 25% by 2026, according to a recent BloombergNEF analysis.
With the Trump roadblock lifted, we’ve already seen a deluge of activity on the EV front. Last week, corporations formed a coalition called Zero Emission Transport Association (ZETA) to advocate for “100% electric vehicle sales throughout the light-, medium-, and heavy-duty sectors by 2030.” GM and Ford announced more aggressive pushes to EVs, though at different rates. And Wall Street raced to funnel more money into EV startups.
All these moves are big for a country with cars in its DNA. The pickup truck, the Western road trip, and the drive-in movie theater are all American innovations that benefited greatly from federal policies, getting boosts from interstate projects and sprawling city planning that catered to the independent ownership of cars (the inequity that sprouted from this policy is for another post).
EVs can lean into this existing infrastructure, while simultaneously fighting climate change — and they’re a more affordable and realistic solution than investing in, say, bullet trains, which doesn’t seem like a priority for Biden.
Already, carmakers are leaning into the American ideal of flashy bigness, rolling out electric sports cars, SUVS, trucks and even (god help us) an electric Hummer. These innovations (or reinventions) could create an untapped EV market that unlocks a whole sector of jobs in engineering and manufacturing.
“The clean vehicle sector already boasts hundreds of thousands of jobs but, if we encourage its growth, the United States can decisively win the global race to develop a new clean transportation economy and employ hundreds of thousands of Americans right here at home,” said Joe Britton, ZETA’s executive director, in a statement.
Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. Four years of Trump, combined with indecisive leadership on behalf of auto manufacturers (save for the unicorn that is Tesla), set the auto industry further back than it needed to be. Now, American car companies are playing catch up.
But the momentum seems to be headed the right direction. And if Biden gets the ball rolling, and we avoid another nightmare presidency, EVs can propel a fading American industry back onto the runway. | https://medium.com/planet-days/ridin-with-biden-to-the-most-american-climate-solution-ever-b9b403536b14 | ['Brandon Pytel'] | 2020-11-30 20:41:58.044000+00:00 | ['Climate Action', 'Joe Biden', 'Tesla', 'Climate Change', 'Electric Car'] |
5 Things to Consider before Taking any Life-Changing Decision !! | We are bound to make several decisions in our lifespan. Of those, perhaps a few might be the easier ones, but some occur to be really really tougher & then there are those that are the extremely difficult ones. Hence, every decision that we make, be it an easy or a complicated one has got phenomenal strength that could change the course of our life.
Therefore, I’ve identified 5 important components, which if perceived properly, could not only help us in making better decisions but also refine our thought process from deep within.
1. Peace at Mind.
It is incredibly important to understand under what circumstances you are currently in while committing someone about something or prior to taking any decision. It is very essential because if a decision is taken in a confused, an unstable, or an unclear state of mind, it often turns out to be a wrong one & sometimes it even proves to be one of the biggest mistakes of our life. Therefore, it is highly essential to be calm and have an absolute peace at mind before taking any decision. Remember, a decision should always be taken with peace at mind, not for the peace of mind.
2. Intuition.
Go with your gut feelings, normally these are not wrong. However, I feel this could be of greater help and support if analyzed alongside the 5th point discussed below.
3. Impact on Your Present.
Yes, the first thing that changes when you take any decision is your today — your present. Therefore, it is important to understand and distinguish what kind of a decision is being taken — is it for your today or are you sowing seeds for a better tomorrow? So, we must condense upon and take a decision prioritizing our present without giving much of an importance to the future, which none of us could ever decipher. Thus, I feel an honest decision taken for your today will automatically secure & create strong grounds for your future.
4. Avoid Unnecessary Fear.
After Peace at Mind, discussed above, this is the next significant angle to think about while making a decision. Because our decisions should never be based on any sort of fear, especially the fear of the future. Taking decisions based on assumptions could be disastrous, no matter how accurate your assumptions could be. Therefore, you should never take decisions by assuming things. Similarly, one should not take any decision based on historical events as well, or based on any real-life example of a similar situation. Because, if the future would be your life’s greatest secret, then your past should be your life’s greatest learning. So, please take your decision based on your own learning & not someone else’s. Do not ever get swayed by others opinions.
5. The Root of Your Decision.
Now, this could be an integral dimension to analyze, not impossible though. I believe it becomes fundamental to dissect your thought process, to evaluate & identify, the core feelings from where your decision has emerged. In other words, you have to ensure that your decision is definitely not a result of your ego, anger, revenge, frustration, or your own benefit. To sum up, it should not be based on any kind of good as well as bad intentions. You should ascertain that it is purely derived from an unbiased & neutral feeling from deep within.
Our life perpetually keeps on changing, & in this dynamically changing life, every individual’s personality, growth, and status should be a result of their own choices and never ever a result of someone else’s — Think About It!!
Thanks for reading & have a great decision making in life !! | https://medium.com/@vinnethb/5-things-to-consider-before-taking-an-important-decision-89bbafd8577e | ['Vinneth Bajaj'] | 2019-02-13 10:59:03.468000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Choices', 'Decision Making', 'Life'] |
Mutual respect translates to so many qualities that a relationship | When Ginsburg started law school in 1956, just over a generation of women had had the right to vote. She could make the Harvard Law Review but she couldn’t have her own credit card or mortgage. That didn’t change by saying #1956istheworst. It changed one decision, one argument, one job title at a time.
Create boundaries from the first date. If you don’t tell someone how you want to be treated, they’ll never know if they’re crossing your limits. Not to mention you’ll never know if they’re disrespectful or simply unaware of how their actions hurt you.
You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Honesty is the best policy.” While honesty is important, being mean in the name of honesty is hurtful and unnecessary. People should never use honesty as an excuse to make a rude, unhelpful comment.
I want you to recognize the signs and learn to respect yourself earlier than I did. However, I also want to be clear on two things: (1) I’m not a relationship expert and I’m speaking from my own personal experiences and viewpoints. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to every person, relationship or nuance, in which some of these points may look different in another situation. (2) While I touch on signs of and resources for abuse in this article, my suggestions for helping yourself are mainly focusing on relationships that are unhealthy or give us less than we deserve. Abuse is a much more complicated situation, especially when it comes to getting out of that relationship and finding safety. If you feel unsafe or abused, please access these resources when you can, rather than utilizing the suggestions I list below.I’m not saying you need to be doting on your partner every minute of every day, but admiring one another, rather than getting stuck on imperfections, leads to a more satisfying relationship for both of you.Below are 12 examples of signs that could seem excusable, but indicate you may be in an unhealthy relationship. Along with those signs are reminders and suggestions that may help you better understand the situation and how you can help yourself in it.
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Letitia Baldrige’s Complete Guide to a Great Social Life was published in 1987. The author was White House chief of staff for Jacqueline Kennedy and garnered diplomatic experience at American embassies in Paris and Rome.
At the same time, finding a relationship with someone who doesn’t leave out important details is also crucial. Lying by omission is when people purposely leave out important details to deceive someone, and that’s not okay. People often make excuses about why they’re lying by omission, but if they’re keeping something important from you, it’s a problem.
I didn’t want to get brainwashed — even temporarily — into some patriarchal mindset of what it means for a woman to have a great social life, written by a woman necessarily influenced by those times and their associated norms. In fact, I was humbly surprised and enlightened by Letitia Baldrige’s advice, which seems to be quite timeless in a lot of ways.
Remember, you deserve someone who’s kind and honest with you. Remember, you deserve someone who respects you and your rights. If someone isn’t treating you well, you’re allowed to let them go. You can also consider trying out “I statements,” an effective tool for communicating your concerns and needs. | https://medium.com/@caicalrecom/mutual-respect-translates-to-so-many-qualities-that-a-relationship-280e4c5d46fc | [] | 2020-12-04 02:34:10.808000+00:00 | ['Babies', 'Education', 'Democracy', 'Mental Health', 'Health'] |
How JavaScript works: debugging overview + 4 tips for async code | This is post # 34 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.
Debugging plays a major role in the software development process and it’s an area where any developer can further improve on. Leaving crucial bugs in a production environment can cause huge losses for your application and company. The debugging process involves the identification and resolution of bugs in your code.
During the debugging process, you can step through your code to determine where each failure occurs and what is the cause of the error. All modern browsers have built-in JavaScript debuggers. Also, there are functions and flags in JavaScript that make debugging easier.
There’s a difference between debugging asynchronous and synchronous code in JavaScript. This is because, in asynchronous code, the timing of function invocations and their results aren’t sequential. Also, if there’s no response within a certain period, there’s a timeout that can act as a bug. In this article, we’ll explore how to debug JavaScript and tips for debugging asynchronous code.
Why is Debugging Important
Debugging is done mostly to avoid the incorrect operation of an application by fishing out bugs and incorrect code. Let’s look at some of the importance of debugging and why developers should meticulously and efficiently debug their applications.
Bugs can make your application crash. With proper debugging, you can spot bugs from your code and avert unexpected behavior.
For example, with debugging you can determine the cause of runtime or compile errors in code. Some code might not throw an exception or an error but may behave unexpectedly. For instance, assigning incorrect variables may cause unexpected behavior.
let a = 5; let b = 10; let c = 12; let d = a + b; // Developer was meaning to write let e = a + c; let e = b + c;
From the code above, the developer is expecting 17 as a response to unexpectedly get’s 22 . If the developer debugs this code with the console.log() function, they can trace their error in the console. Sometimes, developers use new tools and programs for creating their applications which behave unexpectedly sometimes. With proper debugging, developers can determine how their application behaves overall.
How to Debug JavaScript Applications
JavaScript is used for most web-based applications and has started getting traction in mobile applications too. Developers must debug their applications before pushing them to the production environment.
Sometimes, developers pay more attention to writing code than debugging it. Let’s look at the processes for debugging a JavaScript application:
Identifying a Bug
Identification of bugs is the first step in debugging. For instance, engineers can either identify bugs after an error or an unexpected behavior during testing or by simply looking at their code. This step has to be repeated until the bug is identified. If bugs are not properly detected the application might act unexpectedly.
Debugging can be either done actively or passively. In passive debugging, the execution steps during debugging are followed by the developer. Afterward, the logs or the available data from the execution steps can be collected by the developer.
However, there are scenarios where the developer needs to communicate with the application during debugging. For instance, developers may need to send data into their application during debugging to see how the app behaves. This cannot be achieved in passive debugging since passive debugging only involves executing debugging steps and printing out data from the debugging process. Hence, developers use the active method of debugging. Active debugging allows developers to communicate with their applications during the debugging process.
Isolate the Bug
The process of isolating bugs is to determine what section of the program is causing the error. In this step, the developer tries to separate the portion of the code that causes the error from the rest of the application so that they can debug it thoroughly. This step generally follows any of these methods:
Forward Analysis
In forward analysis, the engineers step through their code forward, sometimes placing breakpoints. Once there’s an abnormality recorded, the engineer focuses on the area to determine the cause of the error.
2. Backward Analysis
Sometimes, after forward analysis, developers need to trace an error back from the current breakpoint to an earlier breakpoint to find the cause of the error. This method is known as backward analysis.
Determine the Cause of the Bug
After isolating the bug, the next step is to debug the isolated section to determine its cause. For instance, if the error revolves around an incorrect input field, all input fields will be debugged to ascertain the cause of the bug.
Fixing the Bug
Once the source of the bug has been determined, the developer proceeds to fix the problem. If it turns out that it’s a deep problem, related to the architecture of the app, It is important that an experienced engineer is in charge of this process.
Test the Application
Debugging an application is an iterative process, it occurs from the start of the development process to the deployment of the application. After fixing a bug, engineers test the app to see if there are other abnormalities. Sometimes, new bugs may arise after fixing some parts of the app.
Debugging Methods in JavaScript
In this section, we’ll be discussing the different debugging methods in JavaScript and how to apply them in your application.
Web Console
Most web browsers have a web console that allows developers to log information associated with a web page. Since JavaScript can run on a web page, developers can debug their applications from the web console. One advantage of debugging with the web console is the ability to interact with a web page by executing JavaScript expressions relating to a page. You can open Firefox’s web console by pressing the CTRL + SHIFT + K buttons.
Let’s look at some of the debugging methods associated with the web console and how to debug a JavaScript application with them. The application we’ll be debugging is the program below:
Log
To quickly debug code, developers log outputs in some portions of their code using the console.log() function. This function takes a parameter that can be an array, an object, Strings, or numbers. It is very useful for debugging because it returns the value of the parameter given as a log so that the developer can easily see what’s going on in their application.
For instance, from our sample application, we’d like to make sure that the button is working fine by ensuring that the id we are calling is the correct one. We can log a message when the id we are calling and our button’s id aren’t the same.
We won’t get any logs because we are calling the “demo” id which corresponds to our button’s id . Now, if the developer meant to assign the button’s id as “demi”, they can confirm that by assigning demi to correctId .
Now, we’ll get a log in our console saying: ID doesn’t match, id is demo . With this message, the developer knows that they assigned the wrong id to the button.
2. Warn
Sometimes, there are lots of logs in the console and it becomes difficult for the developer to spot a bug quickly. To make messages of interest distinct from other logs, the developer can make use of the console.warn() function. This function is very similar to the console.log() function, as it takes in parameters and returns the value of the parameters. However, it prints out logs as warnings.
If we implement the same example in our console.log() function, we’ll get a warning in our console:
3. Error
Sometimes, logs of errors get more attention and are easier to spot out. This is what the console.error() function does. It’s just like the console.log() and console.warn() function. If we repeat our example with the console.error() function, we’ll get an error:
4. Assert
The console.assert() function will write an error in your console if the assertion is false. It accepts parameters like the assertion and error message. To replicate our example with the assert method, let’s look at the example below:
5. Debugger Statement
In JavaScript, the debugger statement is used for invoking a debugger or stopping the execution of the code if there’s no debugger. This is used for setting breakpoints in your application. Setting breakpoints when debugging is a good practice since it allows the developer to inspect the program during its execution. If we modify our program by adding the debugger statement, our application execution will pause until we hit the play button in our browser:
Debugging JavaScript with a Debugger
Debugging tools are also known as debuggers.. They make it easier for developers to spot and fix bugs faster because they provide increased visibility and analysis. Let’s explore the Firefox debugger for JavaScript applications.
Firefox JavaScript Debugger
The Firefox JavaScript debugger allows you to debug your JavaScript application running locally and remotely. With this debugger, you can set breakpoints, events, Debug worker threads, etc. Let’s dive into debugging a JavaScript application with a Firefox debugger.
Start Debugger
First, we’ll open our application in the Firefox webpage. Next, we’ll start the debugger by clicking on CTRL + SHIFT + I and navigate to the debugger panel. Now that the debugger is open, let’s fetch our application’s file.
Notice that the debugger panel is divided into 3 parts, with the first part containing the necessary files for the web page, the second panel contains the file of interest (a workplace for the file we’ll be debugging) and the last panel containing tools necessary for debugging:
To open our file, click on the file:// folder in the first pane and choose the file of interest. Next, we’ll look at different steps to pause execution and take a closer look at our file.
Pausing Execution
Breakpoints pause code execution while debugging. In this section, we’ll explore the different ways to add breakpoints to our code when debugging in the Firefox debugger.
Unconditional Breakpoints
We’ll be using the console.error() example for this section. When you click on the line number of your file that you wish to apply a breakpoint on, you’ll automatically pause execution with an unconditional breakpoint. You can also right-click on the line number of your file and choose Add breakpoint .
Let’s apply an unconditional breakpoint on line 16; if (id === correctId) { , and click on the button in our web page. You’ll get the message “Paused at execution”:
Now, you can step through your code to inspect it. As you step through your code, notice that you’ll get the expected logs when you get to certain points. For example, at the end of line 19, you’ll get the error message. Also, notice that you can’t apply breakpoints on HTML code.
Conditional Breakpoints
To apply a conditional break, right-click on the line number of your file and choose Add condition . Conditional breaks only apply to your code when a defined expression evaluates to true . For example, adding the condition below on line 16: if (id === correctId) { will cause a break because id doesn’t have the same value as correctId .
id != correctId
If we change the condition to id === correctId , there won’t be a break.
You can remove breakpoints, edit conditions, etc. by right-clicking on the line number and selecting the option of your choice.
Event Listener Breakpoints
You can add event listeners to breakpoints or pause on exceptions. To add an even breakpoint to your code, expand the Event Listener Breakpoints section in the third panel and click on any event listener of your choice.
If you want to implement a pause whenever there’s an exception in your program, tick “Pause on Exceptions” under Breakpoints in the 3 panel.
Step Through Code
While your code is on pause, you can step through it to carefully observe for errors. You can step over, step in, or step out with the buttons in the 3-rd panel.
The step over the button, allows you to advance to the next line of your code in the same function. Step in allows you to advance to the next line of your code in a function. In a function call, step in allows you to enter the function being called and step through variables. The step-out button allows you to run to the end of a current function, skipping the return value from a function.
Tips for Debugging Asynchronous Code
Debugging synchronous code isn’t the same as debugging an asynchronous code in the context of JavaScript. Asynchronous code runs after the execution of the main thread to avoid freezing or blocking subsequent JavaScript code from running. In the process, where a timeout is set and no response is received, there can be an error.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when debugging an asynchronous JavaScript code:
When there’s a timeout error, it can be from your code or network connection. Start by increasing your timeouts and checking your internet connection. Since asynchronous code’s output isn’t sequential, tick the “Pause on Exception” button when debugging. This will pause execution whenever you get an exception. Use the step over button when you get an exception to inspect the entire call stack. The first step to debugging asynchronous code is to use the console.log() function in different code sections. Use the try and catch statements to handle errors properly in asynchronous code.
Conclusion
Debugging is an important step and should be incorporated with application development. It shouldn’t be left out as an afterthought. To make debugging easier, especially for bulky programs, it is a great step to use debuggers.
No matter the tools you use, there will be cases where the message of the error, its stack trace, and all of the information you have gathered are insufficient for you to properly reproduce and resolve the issue.
A solution like SessionStack will make the 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 the 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-debugging-overview-4-tips-for-async-code-5bf541c2d2ca | [] | 2021-07-01 13:20:12.731000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Web Development', 'Debugging', 'Asynchronous', 'Software Development'] |
If content is king, then these 35 clickbait titles are … … … | Clickbait Title: It is common on Buzzfeed and Cracked
When you go to Buzzfeed or Cracked.com, it is not difficult to find all clickbait titles. The title apparently indicates that the article would be a list and not just an article. It makes the reader know what the link is going to be before clicking.
In fact, click-baiting is a form of social media marketing where the advertisers use some catchy titles, descriptions, or headlines in order to attract the users to click on them. It is a common practice for them to generate the revenue. (Sometimes, the advertisers also use catchy photos, gifs, or video snippets for the same purpose.)
There are some emotions and psychology ideas behind the clickbait titles.
Most readers clicking the articles because of fear, anticipation, surprise, or curious. There are many different forms cause and effect emotions of the clickbait titles.
On the other hand, the clickbait titles also create a certain state in the reader’s mind where they know the content of the link without reading the whole article.
Many media brands, such as Buzzfeed, the Huffington Post, New York Times, etc use click baiting techniques in order to attract the reader to click their links. | https://medium.com/business-startup-development-and-more/if-content-is-king-then-these-35-clickbait-titles-are-f0844f11cf05 | ['Tony Yeung'] | 2017-03-28 08:36:39.897000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Social Media', 'Marketing', 'Clickbait', 'Business'] |
How to find outliers and anomalies using Isolation Forest | I made a previous video about finding outliers in the candidate votes of the US presidential elections from 1976 to 2020, the link being found here:- A Data-Driven Analysis Of Trump’s ‘Voter Fraud’ Claims In The 2020 Presidential Election | by Tracyrenee | AI In Plain English | Dec, 2020 | Medium
The presidential elections only come around once every four years, so I felt it would be a good idea to search for outliers in more practical, day to day activities, such as the housing market. I chose the train dataset from Kaggle’s Ames House Price competition to carry out this test, with the web address for this dataset being found here:- House Prices: Advanced Regression Techniques | Kaggle
Once I downloaded the dataset and saved it to my personal GitHub account, i created a program using Google Colab because it is free and has many libraries already installed on it. The link for Google Colab can be found here:- Welcome to Colaboratory — Colaboratory (google.com)
Once my program was initiated, I imported the libraries I would need:-
I then loaded the dataset onto the program and read it:-
I carried out a graphical analysis and found that most of the house prices were between $100,000 and $300,000, but there were a few outliers of over $700,000:-
I also created a box plot and found that the better the overall quality of the home, the higher in price it was likely to be:-
I then checked for any null values and found there were quite a few columns that had missing data:-
I imputed the missing values by replacing the null values in categorical columns with the most used values and the null values in numerical columns with the median values:-
I then ordinal encoded all of the categorical columns because most models want this type of data to be converted to numeric data before fitting it:-
I defined the X and y variables that were used to train, fit and make predictions. The y variable, being the target, was composed of train.SalePrice. I employed feature selection to define the X variable, so dropped a number of columns in an attempt to improve accuracy.
I then used sklearn’s train_test_split function to break the X dataset into four smaller datasets for training, fitting and predicting:-
I then created a pipeline where the data would be scaled and then trained and fit into sklearn’s GradientBoostingRegressor. I achieved 99.96% accuracy when I employed this technique.
I predicted on the validation set and attained 95.21% accuracy:-
I created a dataframe where the actual values in the validation set can be compared to the predicted values:-
After making predictions on the Ames House Prices train dataset, I wanted to obtain information of outliers. I created another model, which was sklearn’s IsolationForest in this instance. I set contamination to 1%, which means that 1% of the examplies would be considered outliers.
I created two new columns called “scores” and “anomaly” in the train dataset. Each row is given a score based on the “SalePrice” and values of either 1 or -1 are placed in the “anomaly” column. If the value of -1 is present in the “anomaly” column then this indicates the price is an outlier:-
I then printed out a list of anomalies. Fifteen anomalies came up, which is 1% of the number of rows in the dataset:-
I then decided I wanted to see all of the sale prices greater than $500,000 and there were 9 properties that met this criteria:-
I checked the accuracy and it was 166.67%, the reason being I was dividing 15 anomalies by 9 outliers.
I also made a visual representation of the scores of each property as compared to its sale price:-
The code for this program can be found in its entirety in my personal GitHub account, found here:- House-Prices/Kaggle_Ames_Housing_Prices_Isolation_Forest.ipynb at master · TracyRenee61/House-Prices (github.com) | https://ai.plainenglish.io/how-to-find-outliers-and-anomalies-using-isolation-forest-388e5fec2762 | [] | 2020-12-12 09:17:13.654000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Kaggle', 'Isolation Forests', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Unsupervised Learning'] |
Rapper And Business Partner Form Tello Music Group | Growing up in New Jersey, JupiterJames, whose real name is Philip James, first began rapping in the 90’s. A pure fan of Hip Hop, he was originally introduced to the art when he overheard a record his cousin was playing from a California based Hip Hop group, called Da Pharcyde.
Entrenched in 90’s rap, JupiterJames grew up listening to the likes of Common, Mos Def, A Tribe called Quest, Notorious B.I.G and De La Soul. However, credit must be given to one specific movement that helped him develop the passion he has for the craft today. Listening to Slum Village Vol. 2 helped change his life and influenced him to take rap seriously.
While working to develop his unique sound, he joined a rap group from Bloomfield, NJ, called Sound Abuse. After a short stint with the group, JupiterJames went on to form a duo called After Earth, where his talents and passion for the art helped propel the duo to what many believed would soon be great success. During this time, he shared the stage with artists such as Mickey Factz, Uncle Murda, Sheek Louch from the Lox and Maino to name a few.
Now a solo artist, JupiterJames, whose name is now written as “JPRTJMZ”, resides in Orlando, Florida, where he and his business partner formed their independent label, Tello Music Group. With this new opportunity, he is using his new environment to reset his world, the way he views it and the way the world views him.
Social Media:
IG: Instagram.com/JPTRJMZ
Twitter: twitter.com/JPTRJMZ
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3qWgbFmIJnbWdCxrOPGbYt
Facebook: facebook.com/jptrjmz | https://medium.com/@michaelstover-9775/rapper-and-business-partner-form-tello-music-group-3c05dbe08dc | ['Michael Stover'] | 2020-12-26 17:41:35.527000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Florida', 'Orlando', 'Rap', 'Hip Hop'] |
Busy-work or Good Governance? | Governance is a word that is bandied around frequently these days, but we realized that the scope of what people mean by using the word governance is quite broad. Allow me to define what I feel is the correct interpretation of what governance is.
Governance is a system used in organizations to ensure that the organization fulfills its purposes and reach its goals and objectives. Nothing less and nothing more!
You may say, but is it not about compliance?
Well, let me put it this way: do you think we will reach our goals and objectives if we don’t comply with the necessary legislative or fiduciary compliance requirements?
Surely not; we will run into problems very quickly and fail (or at least fail partially) in our goal to fulfill our purposes and achieve our strategic objectives.
The next person would say yes, but governance is about having the correct controls in place, and indeed, we will not disagree, but even that is a misleading statement.
Controls are normally used to ensure the right things happen and the wrong things don’t. The question we need to ask here, the right things for whom?
YOUR ORGANISATION — yes, the specific organization is the obvious answer.
HOWEVER, if I look at the controls implemented by most organizations, people in the organization have absolutely no idea if the controls applied and implemented are ‘the right thing’ for their specific organization.
Even though the idea of doing the right thing is logical and frameworks like COBIT even provides some rudimentary tools to find out what is right for your organization in the form of the Goals-Cascade, people just don’t get the implications of this statement.
Why do we say they don’t get it?
Because they don’t do it!
They don't take the time to find out if controls are the right thing and (back to the definition of governance) ensure that controls help the organization fulfill its purposes and reach its goals and objectives.
The problem — a significant disconnect between organizational goals and objectives (which surely is the most important reference of what is right for the organization) and controls implemented in most organizations.
The reason for this phenomenon is quite simple; it’s very challenging to puzzle out what is the right thing is, given the specific strategy of the organization and the organization’s specific context (internally, market and macro).
Another popular view developed because of this exercise’s difficulty; if we implement industry best-practice, we should have good governance, right?
Well, actually, NO — that is an incorrect assumption!
Have you ever wondered why something is considered best practice?
Think about it for a moment; it’s because it is proven within a specific industry or context. That means that many others must have done this and say it works, yes?
You should also agree that best practice is defined broadly — it’s a catch-all if you said yes. I can confirm this because I have spent considerable time contributing to developing frameworks and standards in my life. Let's face it, something new never becomes best practice (you need considerable evidence that this has worked before, right). Therefore, by definition, best practices are Old (even though proven) ideas!
Wow, is that really what we want to do? Implement a bunch of old ideas in the hope that it will magically solve your problems — the biggest of which is that you don't know or bothered to understand your specific context, or even worse, purpose and strategy?
Do you want to implement board guidance blindly and cover for all eventualities, even those we will never face?
How is that ‘good governance?
We are trying to make this point here; governance is not equal to compliance to, or about, only applying best practices!
Best practices are there as a guide and a teacher when you face a problem and want ideas on how to solve the problem to work for your organization.
Good Governance is about understanding what the organization aims to achieve and doing everything possible to help them do it, with the least effort, at the lowest cost, AND with the necessary amount of controls — which is also as little as possible to get the job done!
If you agree with our definition of governance, you should also agree that a pragmatic approach best serves the interest of your organization.
If you don't — well, I suppose you can always continue to do things that do not matter, wastes valuable organizational resources, and increase the level of compliance fatigue in your organization — the choice is yours.
p.s. People often ask me how much control environments can be simplified while still providing good governance and demonstrating full legal compliance? This is an educated guess — but based on my experience a good target to work towards!
Wait for it!
60% or more!
Yes, more than 60% of the controls in your organization are either outdated, ineffective, not necessary, busy work, copy and paste from somewhere else (so no relationship to your purpose or goals), a waste of organizational resources, and a total waste of time!
Your GRC team is not doing their work if they don't make it easy for the organization to comply with applied controls. Change the success metrics for the team to the following:
· How many controls were removed because they were unnecessary?
· How many controls were simplified?
· How many controls were removed because it was impossible to measure compliance (therefore ineffective)?
· How many controls were made part of normal operations and specifically automation of processes and procedures (if it’s part of the way the system works, you will have 100% compliance)
· Can you provide evidence of compliance (real data but opinions) for all controls?
· How many controls were removed because root-causes of problems were addressed — and therefore, the control (which was always supposed to be an interim measure ) could safely be removed?
· Can you explain for every single control you have in place what risk it addresses and how that relates to the organization’s activities or goals and objectives? (This one is magic, it catches all the BS controls out!)
· How any controls were changed and updated because they were standing in the way of providing value for customers or good service to customers?
· What is the level of compliance to the set control regime? (Hint, it needs to get better every year if the GRC team is doing their job well!)
I know that many will not like this article- but CxO, if you are serious about surviving the digital future, you need to stop doing things that do not matter and focus on that which does!
Have fun simplifying your control regime and, as a consequence, provide better Enterprise Governance, better services, and products, become more productive and profitable! | https://medium.com/@johannbotha/busy-work-or-good-governance-599f846e8cc0 | ['Johann Botha'] | 2021-09-07 08:09:20.571000+00:00 | ['Governance', 'Grc', 'Control System', 'Compliance', 'Control'] |
5 Ways To Make Money Online Earning $1000 Every Month | 5 Ways To Make Money Online Earning $1000 Every Month
Photo by Viacheslav Bublyk on Unsplash
Are you looking for ways to make $1000 or more online every month? Do you want to start a side hustle business and earn extra income while still keeping your 9–5 job? Or maybe you are interested in making passive income online while you sleep?
Whatever your reason is, making your first $1000 online can be fascinating and intimidating at the same time. However, I can confidently tell you that there are several possible ways to make your $1000 every month even while you sleep.
1. Sell Your Photos
You are capable of making money online by selling your photos as a professional photographer. Don’t waste your time anymore taking pictures. Make money from them by selling to individuals and companies who use images for their projects.
One thing about this is that you can sell your photos many times without limitations, and you will continue to make money with little to no effort.
There are quite several photography websites to submit your photos to start making money online today. They include Shutterstock, Getty Images, Photoshelter, etc.
2. Start Drop-shipping
One of the most popular ways to make money online is through drop-shipping. This is where a third-party company handles the inventory management and shipping process for you.
And the only thing you do is place the order on behalf of your customers and set the price for them. It only involves three processes.
You place an order on behalf of your customer. The manufacture ships the items directly to your customer. And the customer finally pays you the money for you to pay the manufacturer.
You don’t have to buy the products in bulk and hope to sell them for profit. Neither do you have to handle packaging, shipping, and delivery costs? You can start selling on platforms like Amazon and eBay. Oberlo, AliExpress Dropshipping, etc.
3. Create a Money-Making Blog
Did you know you can start making money online blogging about your life? And even better, you can blog about what people are searching for online to solve their problems.
I must admit that blogging is one of my best ways to make money online when considering ways to make money from home. It gives me the freedom I need and more time to spend with my lovely family.
If you want to start a blog, Identify your area of expertise, niche, or skills you can share with others, you could be solving their problems. Focusing on a particular topic is the best way to build a trusted brand everyone would come to for information.
Here are several proven ways to make money blogging.
Google Adsense
Affiliate marketing
Selling your own physical or digital product
Sponsored posts
4. Tap Into the E-Book Business
One of the easiest ways to make money online is writing and publishing an e-book. Are you an expert on a topic? Or do you have a skill people are searching for? Writing an e-book on those popular topics is a comfortable way to start this side business and earn passive income.
And if you are looking for ways to make money working from home, I would advise that you create an e-book on topics your audiences are interested in.
You can find good writers and designers on Fiverr or Upwork to professionally take care of them so that you concentrate on your day job.
The easiest way is to find a book that has been published in print and license it. Then convert it into an e-book. There’s only one thing to sacrifice that I consider normal. You will have to pay royalties. Your e-book business can be done as a side gig or full-time job.
5. Build an e-Commerce Website
According to Statista, in 2020, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 4.28 trillion US dollars, and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 5.4 trillion US dollars in 2022.
Online shopping is one of the most popular activities on the internet. So selling products and services online is one of the best ways to make money online in recent times.
Ensure you have a well-defined niche for your business. Research to find out trending products to sell online for maximum return on investment. You can choose to create your own e-commerce platform or sell on a popular e-commerce platform.
Here are some of the best e-commerce platforms to sell your products or services online:
Shopify
Woocommerce
Zyro eCommerce
What are you waiting for? Get started making $1000 online today.
I Appreciate You. | https://medium.com/writers-blokke/ways-make-money-online-earning-1000-every-month-e5d12de287b2 | ['Abdul Rashid Sani'] | 2021-09-05 09:13:51.146000+00:00 | ['Motivation', 'Money', 'Side Hustle', 'Make Money Online', 'Life'] |
My New year eve’s horror story | My New year eve’s horror story
Photo by pineapple supply co. On Pexels
Another year, another of New Year’s Eve party. Nowadays It almost is a status symbol to announce where you would celebrate and start the new year.
For most of us, our company will send an email with exclusive employee offer to attend the new year party, or your friends might come up with a venue and ticket ideas to enter the new year in style.
I didn’t like going out on New Year’s Eve for years, first of all my mother would never have agreed to the idea of party. According to brown parents party word is a taboo, and they can only think the worst is going to happen at a party.
But as I grew up and had a few friends,I started enjoying their company and going on out New Year’s Eve felt like I was part of a cool gang.
My mother allowed me only if my best friend at the time ( now husband) would be there with me all the time throughout the party and protect me. Let’s call him ‘A’.
‘A’ agreed and we made it to the party.At the party everything was amazing, the lights,the food, the crowd the music. It was such a new experience for a girl from a small town.
After a while drinks were served and people started drinking as though they had not seen alcohol for years. The noise became more prominent,the laughs were louder and we didn’t drink as we were not allowed to, I had to go home sober. I was in no mood to be disowned after just one party.
There was a group just in front of us, having fun they were of the same age as us. While we were singing and dancing. One of the girls from our group complained that the guy from the other group is staring at her.
Annoyed one of the guy friend yells from our group at the other guy, I don’t even remember how the fight started. It was all so fast. I panicked. I was so scared that we will go to jail and my mom will never allow me to go out ever again.
I ran out. I stood near the gate. I was shaking. Meanwhile ‘A’ calls me, “ where are you, I am getting the bike to the front gate, let’s get out of here”. I replied that thankfully I was already there.
He rides his bike to the gate as fast as he can and we leave. While on the road we start laughing. What a waste of time. We both were so unhappy with the evening and thought just a coffee by the beachside would have been more fun than this mess.
After a few minutes on the road we hear a vehicle signaling from behind. We give way and Change the route. My mom calls to check on us and so I had to get down and answer the call.
We park near a bridge. Watching the water flow, I speak to my mother. I told her the party was boring and so we left, I will be home in some time. She was extremely happy that I didn’t stay out long.
After the call, I sit on the bike and suddenly I didn’t know what hit us I fell on the ground. After a second I tried to look up and ‘A’ is struggling to pick up the bike off his leg as the bike fell on him.
We helped each other and we looked over in surprise, what was that. Over a few feet away there were two guys who were drunk crazy and were on the road, one was crying and the other almost unconscious.
We run up to them. ‘A’ cautions me to stay away. He will go look as to what happened. When he reached near the guy, it was one of the boys from the party.
He held on to ‘A’s arm and started yelling, “you did this, I will call the police on you.” And the other guys was not able to move.
‘A’ pulled his hand away, ran back to me and demanded I sit on the bike soon. I jumped and sat behind him. We drove past the guys. One of them still tried to kick the bike when we drove next to them.
My God, what was that.For the kids we were at that age it was traumatic.We then realized the guys saw us leave the party and they drove behind us to cause trouble. We then had to take a long route home so that we could make sure no one followed us.
After reaching home we waited for almost thirty minutes before I could enter home. Just to make sure no one followed us.
After reaching home, I was so nervous but had to keep a straight face. If my mom knew what had happened she would never ever let me go out ever again.
Now, I was worried about ‘A’. It would take another twenty minutes for him to reach home.I was worried ‘Did he reach home safe. Was he in trouble’. Laying on the bed all I could do is pray. After about an hour he texted me “I am ok. Good night.”
Hush, now I could sleep. But I wonder if the two guys were not injured in the accident what did they plan to do that night? Why do people drink so much that their brain turns to mush?
The next day ‘A’ came home.we were such good friends that we could talk to each other just by looking at each other, no word we’re required.
After to the accident his bike had to be repaired, he couldn’t tell his mom what happened and so we had to borrow money from my aunt and pay it off to her month by month with our pocket money or birthday money what ever little we could save was spent on the repair.
That’s when we swore, that we will never go out on New Year’s Eve ever again. Rather have a get together with friends in my house.
We started a tradition where we hosted the most amazing parties. With games and the best Decorations. No drinking of course. People wait for our party even now. I am glad we were able to make something good of a bad situation.
After so many years I still didn’t tell my mom what happened. Brown parents can never handle it.😃 | https://medium.com/@23mailboxx/my-new-year-eves-horror-story-4a1ef227e7c8 | [] | 2020-12-25 08:34:40.307000+00:00 | ['New Year 2020', 'Party', 'New Year Party', 'New Year Resolution', 'New Year'] |
I can’t test that! (Part II) | Keeping your tests in a passing state can sometimes be a challenge. Just like your code needs maintenance, so do your tests!
You might introduce new code that changes the functionality of another piece of code. When this happens tests may start failing. Great! The tests did their job! They pointed out a regression on how something use to work.
Tests can also fail because they were written poorly or incorrectly. I see this a lot when writing tests for asynchronous code.
“Its not easy being green” ~ Kermit the Frog
In this article I’m going to show you how to test that an UIAlertView was presented and has the correct title and description.
class TicketViewController: UIViewController { func submitTicket(validator: Validator) {
guard validator.isTicketValid(ticket) else {
let alert = UIAlertController(title: “Invalid Ticket”,
message: “Missing inputs.”,
preferredStyle: .alert) let action = UIAlertAction(title: “OK”,
style: .default,
handler: nil) alert.addAction(action) self.present(alert, animated: true)
return
}
... }
}
Above we have a function that takes in a Validator which makes sure the ticket we want to submit has everything that is required. If it fails we show an Alert.
When writing tests for asynchronous code, Apple gives us Expectations. The following example uses Expectations with NSPredicates.
class TicketViewControllerTests: XCTestCase { func testSubmitTicket() { // Given
let ticketVC = TicketViewController()
let mockValidator = MockValidator() let predicate = NSPredicate(format: “presentedViewController != nil”)
_ = expectation(for: predicate,
evaluatedWith: ticketVC,
handler: nil) // When
ticketVC.submitTicket(validator: mockValidator) // Then
waitForExpectations(timeout: 5, handler: nil) if let alertVC = ticketVC.presentedViewController as? UIAlertController { XCTAssertEqual(alertVC.title, “Invalid Ticket”)
} else {
XCTFail()
}
}
}
So we initialized our Expectation with a Predicate that continually checks for our ViewController to have a presentedViewController. Once this condition is met our Expectation is fulfilled and we can assert a few things to complete our test!
*Note: please take note on the order of things. It is important to create your expectation before triggering the function that you are testing. If you call submitTicket() and then set up the expectation you open yourself to a timing window and your test might fail sometimes.
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article or learned something new please give it a clap. Until next time, keep writing tests and keep those pipelines green!
If you missed the first article in this series check it out! | https://medium.com/@danielsedam/i-cant-test-that-part-ii-442bb8789023 | ['Daniel Sedam'] | 2021-02-16 21:54:54.773000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Swift', 'Asynchronous', 'Expectations', 'Testing'] |
Never Settle: The Breast Is Yet To Come | By Kelli Reifschneider, BIOMILQ Chief of Staff
Upon my departure from Corporate America, an ex-colleague told me: “wow, that is gutsy at your age.” I’m 36 years old, which means I got my Bachelor’s degree 14 years ago, got my MBA 5 years ago, and I’m a whopping 24 years away from retirement. If my math is correct, I’d argue that it’s no better time to take hold of my career by considering the bigger impact of my work, finding a company culture that aligns with my values, and not settling for a job that doesn’t spark joy. To my previous colleagues, that might seem like asking for too much. But to my current colleagues, that’s just our reality.
Yes, I left my cushy director-level position at a Fortune 5 company to join an early-stage start-up. Some people thought I was going through an early midlife crisis. Some people were inspired by my drive to not settle in my career.
Kelli with Bennett, now 17 months, and her husband Jon
So, why did I take this leap of faith? I changed my career to help BIOMILQ disrupt traditional agriculture with a new option for infant feeding. As a new mom who struggled with low milk supply, I was drawn to how BIOMILQ’s science can help reduce the guilt that I and so many moms feel.
When I was pregnant, I dreamed about a future freezer filled with breastmilk that would keep my son happy and growing after I returned to work.
My reality wasn’t as picturesque as a photo on Instagram with #freethenipple as the caption. I could only supply 60% of what my son needed which meant my freezer would only be stocked with Ben and Jerry’s. My lactation consultant’s advice to eat more oatmeal to somehow stimulate milk production only led to a growing distaste for oatmeal, instead of a growing supply of milk.
On week four of motherhood, I hit what felt like rock bottom: as I transferred four freshly pumped ounces of milk to a bottle, I spilled the liquid gold all over our kitchen counter. Tears streamed down my face as I wondered how I was going to feed my baby at his next feeding — four weeks into motherhood and I already felt like a failure. Whoever came up with the phrase “don’t cry over spilled milk” clearly wasn’t an exhausted mom. What if there was an alternative feeding option that I trusted to provide much of the nutrition of breastmilk, without the mom guilt?
Left: Kelli and Bennett, 4 weeks old; Right: Kelli and Bennett, 4 months old, snuggling before Kelli’s first day back to work after maternity leave
Last summer, when Bennett was five months old, I surfed through LinkedIn as I pumped breastmilk between Zoom calls. I stumbled upon an article about two ladies planning to make human milk outside the body — I was immediately intrigued. I reached out, met with BIOMILQ’s CEO and Co-Founder Michelle Egger, and continued to follow the company’s journey. Nearly a year after crying over spilled milk, I’m five months into my ‘midlife crisis’, working alongside a team that wholeheartedly believes in advancing our mission.
Bennett, now 17 months old, loves his BIOMILQ Teddy Bear
I’m proud that my work at BIOMILQ as Chief of Staff, whether it be financial modeling, interviewing molecular biologists, or sourcing new refrigerators for our lab, contributes to making the future of infant feeding fearless — I can’t wait to tell Bennett about how I help mamas and babies. But, BIOMILQ is much more than a mammary biotechnology company. We’re encouraging women to pursue STEM and leadership roles. We’re disrupting traditional agriculture and reimagining where food can come from.
We’re all about unlocking human potential, and our empathetic approach to employment does just that. We have industry-leading parental leave (maternity and adoption leave: 4 months full pay + 8 weeks part-time pay; caregiver and paternity: 6 weeks paid). We have a ‘Mother’s Room’ on-site for pumping privacy. We respect the 9 to 5 schedule. We recently took an afternoon off to go strawberry picking as a team. I’m home for dinner every night, it’s no big deal if I need to work from home when Bennett feels under the weather, and the team just chuckles when I show up to work with yogurt in my hair. For the first time in a really long time, I am excited to go to the office on Monday morning (the muffins and memes at our team meeting don’t hurt!).
Strawberry picking at Eno River Farm in Hillsborough, NC
When interviewing candidates for our new roles, we often ask: “what is the craziest decision you’ve ever made?” I hope that mine inspires others to make a crazy decision that allows them to be proud of the work they do with a team that doesn’t make it feel like work. | https://medium.com/@biomilq/never-settle-the-breast-is-yet-to-come-7c4cbbfa98fb | [] | 2021-07-22 19:22:23.959000+00:00 | ['Breastfeeding', 'Women In Business'] |
Why A Superyacht Designer Is Building An Amazing Nuclear-Powered Science Vessel | While the ‘science sphere’ will be dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, the forward part of the vessel includes private suites for high net worth individuals as well as world-renowned figures, which the team terms “very inspiring people” (their spin on ‘VIP’).
Earth 300’s designers hope their vessel will “capture the spirit of Silicon Valley, SpaceX, Davos and the Olympics”. This makes it sound like an ocean-going International Space Station (ISS) crossed with a superyacht. There’s definitely a risk the project appears less like a beacon for science and cooperation and more like a rich man’s climate change Noah’s Ark. They will have to tread carefully.
That said, the hardware behind Earth 300 is pretty epic. The most revolutionary aspect of the design is the power train: instead of burning fossil fuels, Earth 300 will be powered by an onboard nuclear reactor!
Earth 300 is working with Core-Power to explore how Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) technology might replace oil bunkers and gas turbines. An MSR would mean the vessel could carry out research with zero emissions and without the risk of water pollution from oil spills.
A pelican covered in oil following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The World Economic Forum found that if shipping were a country, it would be the world’s sixth-biggest GHG emitter, so reducing emissions from marine vessels is vital if we’re to reach net zero.
The Earth 300 team see the MSR as the central technology around which the rest of the vessel would be built: “The first engineering challenge was to focus in finding the correct propulsion and onboard power generation technology that could cope with the high demands of a vessel of this size and, our direction became clear, it had to be atomic,” says Jefferson. He sees the reactor as “highlighting the key role that the maritime industries can play in decarbonizing heavy industry and transport”.
“It had to be atomic.”
It wouldn’t be the world’s first nuclear-powered vessel; not by a long shot. There are already hundreds of naval nuclear reactors powering military ships and submarines, and even some commercial vessels like Arctic icebreakers. It would be the first MSR-powered ship though, and the first civilian nuclear vessel outside of Russia for many decades. | https://medium.com/generation-atomic/why-a-superyacht-designer-is-building-an-amazing-nuclear-powered-science-vessel-2f9af74fd278 | ['David De Caires Watson'] | 2021-05-06 14:50:03.797000+00:00 | ['Shipping', 'Design', 'Climate Change', 'Nuclear', 'Science'] |
The Absurdity of the Tax System | The Absurdity of the Tax System
Image on Unsplash
Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes — Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, 1789
A Few Words About Taxes
Taxes exist in almost all societies and can be defined as a compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on employees’ income and business profit, or indirect taxes, which are levied on goods and services. Taxes can be considered as the income of the government that from this money pays the employees of the public sector, provides programs to help the poor and less fortunate people, provides education and health system, builds roads, parks, provides defense from external threats and so on. It seems that is necessary for every country to collect taxes, however, there are many different tax systems.
Tax Rates and Taxes
There is a belief that the higher the tax rates the higher the amount of taxes collected by the government. Usually, this is not the case. Let’s consider the indirect taxes where VAT increase can cause a decrease in the demand. That’s the reason for the high VAT on tobacco and alcohol. Let’s consider now the direct taxes, which vary across counties. A common phenomenon is companies to change tax headquarters. For example, in Europe, many companies from other countries have set their tax headquarters to countries with lower tax rates like Ireland, Luxembourg, Cyprus, and so on. As a result, the countries with higher tax rates are losing taxes and the countries with lower tax rates are collecting more taxes at the end of the day.
The Insanity of the Greek Tax System
taxisnet
The tax system in Greece is madness. Imagine that the system changes very frequently and there is a platform called taxisnet that is down most of the time. The UX and the UI of the platform is a case study of how unfriendly an application could be. Just to get an idea of how wrong this platform is, think about its name: “taxisnet”, which means, if I am not mistaken, a net of taxis, instead of taxes. In order to tame this monster, you need to have your personal accountant. So, in Greece, instead of having a family doctor we have a “family accountant”. Apart from the accountants, there are“tax technicians”, which are people who are specialized in the tax system and offer you advice about how you can pay fewer taxes taking advantage of complicated “buggy” tax systems.
Extra Income and Taxes
I have many stories to share about Greek taxation, but let me just provide you with a concrete example. Let’s consider the developer Julia who works full-time in the private sector with an unlimited term contract. Julia makes $50K per year: 40% of her income is held by the government for taxes, pension, and health insurance.
Εvery now and then, Julia undertakes some small freelancing projects, making around $3K per year. Also, she writes on Medium where she makes around $1K per year. According to the Greek tax system, she has to be registered as a freelancer, meaning she has to pay around $2K per year minimum, plus she has to pay 24% VAT on her transactions. Furthermore, she has to pay 40% taxes on her remaining taxable income due to her total income. To sum up, from the extra $3K she will end up with $456 which is 15% of her income! Note that in the case where she changes her mind and she wants to unregister, she has to pay extra!
So, what are her options? What should a reasonable person do? In my opinion, there are only two options:
Stop working as a freelancer. This means that the Greek government would potentially lose money. Not declare the extra income and risk it. Again, this implies that the Greek government is losing money.
Flat Tax Rate
Personally, I am a fan of the flat tax rate. I believe that it is fair to pay a fixed rate of around 10–12% regardless of one’s income. In this way, more companies will choose Greece for their tax headquarters and people will not evade taxes. When the taxes are so high, it is obvious people and companies try to cut corners. | https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-absurdity-of-the-tax-system-cc6b359556f4 | ['George Pipis'] | 2020-12-26 13:41:45.415000+00:00 | ['Flat Tax', 'Taxes', 'Taxation', 'Tax System'] |
The contract: Harden still has two years and over $85 million | As the old saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
For disgruntled NBA superstar James Harden, one of the teams where the grass is greener… is now the Green Team.
As the former MVP tries to force his way out of Houston, he has reportedly added Boston to his list of “preferred destinations” according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Kelly Iko. The Trail Blazers are another recent addition to the list, which also includes some of the C’s biggest Eastern Conference rivals: the Nets, 76ers, Heat, and Bucks.
Just because Boston is now on Harden’s list doesn’t mean Celtics fans should expect a trade anytime soon, however. According to the report, “the viability of a possible deal with the Celtics or Trail Blazers is unclear at this time.”
While the Celtics have reportedly had exploratory talks with the Rockets about Harden, the 31-year-old comes with a heavy price tag in many ways: his contract, the cost to acquire him… and his off-the-court drama.
First, the contract: Harden still has two years and over $85 million left on his existing deal, plus a $47.3 million player option for the 2022–23 season. Then there’s the cost. Any potential package for the three-time scoring champ would include a treasure trove of assets, from established players like Jaylen Brown and Marcus to future first-round draft picks.
Finally, the off-the-court drama. Where do we even start? He’s currently quarantining for four days after attending a private party which allegedly took place at a strip club, violating the league’s health and safety protocols. He was fined $50,000 for his actions and the Rockets’ season-opener against the Thunder was postponed. And that’s not all. Harden also had a heated exchange with rookie Jae’Sean Tate at practice this week, throwing a ball in the rookie’s direction.
All of those aforementioned reasons make Harden ending up in Boston seem unlikely — but there’s no denying his talent. Harden is an eight-time All-Star who has averaged 33.7 points per game over the last three seasons.
But even though the Celtics are among his “preferred destinations,” that doesn’t mean Danny Ainge would prefer to do everything it would take to bring Harden to Boston. | https://medium.com/@fanjiramdan11/the-contract-harden-still-has-two-years-and-over-85-million-3cf0d61a5a11 | [] | 2020-12-25 07:21:21.100000+00:00 | ['James Harden', 'Startup', 'Games', 'Strategy', 'Sports'] |
Vaccine news: The great, the bad and the utterly predictable | The recent news of various vaccines exceeding all expectations was the best bit of news for a while. Problems with delivery could soon cause those expectations to come crashing back down, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some cause for celebration.
The arrival of a vaccine at any stage other than the first few weeks of this could still not justify the damage caused by months of lockdown, let alone the damage which will be caused by further restrictions until Easter, but it does at least provide an end which even the fiercest supporters of lockdowns would welcome.
Not all perhaps. A few statements on social media from the most fanatical seem to suggest that some form of restrictions will be necessary for years until the virus is totally eliminated from society.
Leaving aside the aggressive levels of delusion which cause a person not to see how disastrous this would be, the idea of continuing this for years is not something which would not be tolerated by the vast majority of people.
There are signs of a creeping, unconscious acknowledgement of this. Media outlets which gave huge prominence to double digit daily death figures in the summer have been oddly reserved when it comes to hundreds of deaths in recent weeks.
They often don’t even mention it apart from including it in a little infographic of doom somewhere on their home page.
But regardless, it doesn’t change the problem that the opposition to the restrictions has been largely blunted by this news. While it will pick up steam again, hopes to remove the restrictions before Easter have probably disappeared.
An awareness of the disproportionate nature of these measures was starting to take hold, but won’t translate into action when an ‘end date’ of a few months is in view. This becomes especially true when like a mirage in the desert, the end date only needs to appear to be a short while away. Any anger at further lengthening can (for now) be quelled with further promises.
The baseless claim that lockdowns save lives is repeated as fact, signs of the damage caused by them are repeatedly diminished or ignored, and evidence that we were explicitly lied to before the latest month of lockdown is treated with a big collective shrug.
Government ministers can repeat that lockdowns work in media interviews and go unchallenged. The latest evidence against this claim from Frontiers in Public Health, Covid-19 Mortality: A Matter of Vulnerability Among Nations Facing Limited Margins of Adaptation, concluded that demographic factors were the determinant of Covid-19 mortality.
When it came to government restrictions “no association was found with the outcome, suggesting that the other studied factors were more important in the Covid-19 mortality than political measures implemented to fight the virus”.
These studies are of no interest to governments suffering from one of the worst cases of Sunk Cost Fallacy in history, and they and their supporters in the media continue with the same assertions. Most of the public, as opinion polls demonstrate, accept these assertions wholeheartedly.
It follows logically from this that to drop the restrictions when a vaccine is in view is equivalent to sacrificing lives. This view will probably dominate either for the duration of the restrictions, or until it is too late to mount an effective campaign against them.
Attempts to point out that lockdowns cost lives (in the long run more than the Covid-19 deaths themselves) have not hit home over the past eight months and are unlikely to make the difference now.
This is partly due to the fact that government financial support, while necessary, has acted as a sort of anaesthetic. Most people have yet to grasp just how much damage has been done by the restrictions even as increasing numbers join the gradually growing minority which is the opposition.
The costs aren’t just economic, with vast numbers of businesses concerned they will never return, and a hidden cost of unemployment which is barely contained even now, but those unquantifiable costs which will be felt for years to come in ways we won’t always be able to directly trace back to the current policy.
That lockdowns kill large numbers is something which ironically may mean that the result of the announcement of a vaccine and the subsequent urge to hold out for a few more months actually results in more deaths.
This won’t be considered even in retrospect. The curious state of mind which elevates Covid-19 deaths above all others is a stubborn thing. Put the facts on lockdown deaths to people, with stories such as cancer patients going terminal due to having surgeries cancelled, and the response is logically inadequate even if adequately sincere. The greatest supporters of lockdowns normally resort to evasion, sometimes even coupled with a deceitful accusation of a desire ‘let the virus rip’.
The best advice I was ever given was to always listen to people I disagreed with. If the point was well made then you can always gain something from listening. I think that this was perhaps the best bit of advice that I ever received, which makes it especially frustrating that I have no idea who gave it to me.
I have tried to do this in almost every case and often try to take it a step further: How could I argue the person’s case if I had to? What is their strongest argument? It is a process which can allow your arguments to be strengthened by exposure to the best, rather than the worst, of the opposition. It can cause you to question what is wrong about your own views, to refine them, or very occasionally change them altogether. At the very least it provides a more generous understanding of those you disagree with.
What has terrified me more than anything about the current crisis is how, after the first few weeks of understandable caution, it became increasingly difficult to make the other side’s case. The inconsistency, denial, and downright dishonesty made it impossible.
I cannot think of any other big issue where this has happened. With the exclusion of bigotry and crank science calling either for genocide or subscribing to flat-earth theories, I have been able to make the case for the other side of every argument I’ve been on.
Religion, war, economics, drugs, capital punishment, abortion, animal rights, and almost everything people argue about in politics — all to a greater or lesser extent have two (or many more) sides to them. To see the other sides to the argument is to truly understand the argument.
In this case, the only reasonable aspect is that of fear and vulnerability which many understandably feel. But this is a feeling to sympathise with and respond to rather than an argument to agree with. Especially when it gives rise to actions which cause so much more damage than the danger they are seeking to prevent.
The downright bizarre nature of what has been going on comes clearer when comparing our reactions to other circumstances.
The desire to save lives at any cost is simply not consistent with many other aspects of the society we live in. We accept deaths in many areas where the costs of preventing them would be a fraction of those caused by the current restrictions.
Take driving: Every year in the UK about 1700 people die in traffic accidents with thousands more injured. The proportion is equally bad in other countries, if not worse. Reducing 70mph speed limits to 50, 50 limits to 30, and 30 limits to 15 with strict and determined enforcement would save hundreds of lives. We don’t do it. We have decided, perhaps unconsciously, that we can live with this (at least those of us who aren’t among the 1700 can live with it) for the sake of our convenience as well as a relatively small amount of GDP.
I am not suggesting necessarily that we do make this change, but it’s clear that even if lockdowns did save lives, our obsessive focus on Covid-19 deaths to the exclusion of all others would be a strange anomaly. Far from being an accepted moral principle, the desire to save lives at all costs is in fact something we routinely go against, for much less significant trade-offs.
It is also glaringly obvious that the current concern for the deaths of the elderly as well as pressure on hospitals are examples of selective concern.
Every year thousands of elderly people die from respiratory diseases and some years have thousands of excess elderly deaths with strains of influenza which don’t even cause a national conversation or campaign for handwashing, let alone restrictions which cause society to grind to a halt.
Then there is the pressure on hospitals. In any areas where Covid-19 cases are concentrated it must feel unbearable to be working on a busy A & E. Yet it is unbearable every year and overall, the numbers of hospital admissions are not excessive for this time of year.
What is unusual for this year is that it is the first year in which most people have been aware enough to actually care. And the first year in which it’s been shamelessly used as a moral cudgel with which to beat away criticisms; a cudgel used by those people incapable of arguments which go beyond repeating mindless platitudes about protecting ‘our’ NHS.
The inconsistencies have mounted and are visible for anyone who wants to see but still they make little impact on the tone of the debate.
These inconsistencies, along with refusal to see just how unusual for society this elevation of one type of death really is, is evident in much of the reporting on Sweden. Sweden have finally imposed some restrictions recently although they are still a long way from most other developed countries. Predictably this was reported as Sweden finally ‘locking down’ as their strategy had failed.
Maybe they will go much further and, in a way, it’s surprising they’ve held out for so long. For the most part however Sweden have done their best not to turn a crisis into a catastrophe, and yet they are routinely framed as reckless by countries that have done the national equivalent of fighting a bug infestation by setting their house on fire.
Sweden has had a little over 6000 deaths in a population of 10 million people. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that these were all preventable deaths: I am genuinely fascinated to meet the person who could make a cogent argument that it would have been worth doing so even if the price was the following: thousands of non-Covid deaths; lower living standards for millions; thousands of businesses ruined; untold damage to the social fabric; an authoritarian approach to governing that will be near-impossible to roll back; steep rises in suicides, domestic abuse, mental breakdowns, alcoholism and drug use; widening inequality and increasing deprivation; children losing almost a year of a proper education; as well as countless tales of human suffering and misery that go unreported.
I say I’d be genuinely fascinated to meet the person who could make this argument, because despite having spent an inordinate (and probably unhealthy) amount of time in the past months reading and studying this topic, I have yet to find anyone who has been able to do so. Their best is to frame it as unavoidable, an argument so evasive and weak that it’s hard to believe that normally intelligent and sensible people could say it without embarrassment.
They wouldn’t do so in many other circumstances. But the absurdities of the past few months are so bad that it is actually growing more unpalatable for us to admit how outrageous the panic has been.
And this leads to perhaps the worst long-term effect of what should simply be great news. The ‘reckoning’ may not come. By this I mean the investigation that properly scrutinises the last few months, and not just an official inquiry, but a full public discussion which is as uncomfortable and difficult as it is thorough and honest.
I wrote a while ago about how the very understandable urge of most people to move on from this is so strong that the relief of it being ‘finished’ will overpower any serious examination of what has happened here.
This is problematic for a number of reasons. Firstly, because our failure to recognise our limitations and how damaging our behaviour has been leaves us vulnerable to repeating similar mistakes. The cliché that ‘those who don’t read history are doomed to repeat it’ is true, but for a society it requires more than just a few people to read their history books. Otherwise the saying easily becomes ‘those who do read history are doomed to watch helplessly as those who don’t read history, repeat it’.
If society was a person in therapy then any half-decent therapist would see through the inconsistencies and dangerous delusions and gently coax their client to recognise and be aware of such self-destructive habits. There is no therapist for society except when there are enough people willing to submit to an examination of themselves and the society in which they live.
Vaccines signalling the ‘end’ of the restrictions (even if the material difference is not nearly as great as the symbolic difference) are in themselves wonderful news. But soon after this the danger becomes that there will be little willingness to properly analyse what happened. Nobody likes to relive a trauma after all, but failure to do so can lead to more trauma.
Graphs showing technological progress over time might show a line crawling along with a very gradual incline for thousands of years before rapidly shooting up in the past few centuries. A graph capable of measuring cognitive, moral, spiritual and emotional awareness and development may not yet have reached even the lower part of the steep incline.
The combined effect can be highly destabilising and the contrast positively dangerous. It’s relatively easy to spot this danger when barbaric wars are fought with modern weaponry. Yet the less widely recognised dangers are not necessarily any less perilous, such as when unevolved minds have the ability to magnify primitive hysteria and fear with the use of modern communications.
The last few paragraphs will not persuade many, who might respond that it is too abstract to be relevant or even too tenuous to be correct. I think that assessment is dangerously wrong, but I have to accept that.
So here is one final thought on a far more immediate practical concern: What exactly are we going to do if a similar type of virus emerges at the end of 2021 or early 2022? There is a strong enough possibility that such a thing can happen that it seems inexplicable that there hasn’t been a wider discussion as to what we would do if that happened.
If we do not have a full, hard assessment of the past few months which goes much deeper than simply arguing over the mismanagement of care homes and dodgy PPE contracts, then the result could be that just as our shell-shocked selves are beginning to clear away the wreckage, rebuild our lives and repair the damage, we have to do this all over again.
[Of course, the virus that emerges could be far worse than Covid-19; so bad in fact that it actually does warrant some of the measures we’ve recently taken. If so, then our capacity to fight it will be largely spent and the results will be even more dire.]
Is anyone seriously suggesting that if another Covid-like pandemic arose that it would be at all feasible for us to repeat our very recent history again? If so, I would once again be fascinated to meet such an individual.
It seems that there have been two main types of crazy during the last few months. Those who believe this is all a conspiracy by Bill Gates/the Illuminati/Reptilians etc. and those who believe that Covid-19 is a plague on a level with the Black Death, or even the Spanish Flu. Both exhibit paranoid and damaging delusions, but for some reason the latter is not only socially acceptable, but socially approved and encouraged.
I have read the words of educated and intelligent people who subscribe to these views and they are more terrifying than the virus. They point to a desire to see this continued for years until we can completely and utterly eradicate the virus and seemingly conquer death itself — at least for Covid-19. They belong in a weird cult encouraging repentance before doomsday, not influencing public policy.
One good example which is representative of many of these is an extract by a historian who was discussing Covid-19 in the context of Smallpox and how long it took for that vaccine to arrive — the upshot being that these restrictions could be necessary for years. It is worth repeating, partly because it is a good example of this sort of thinking, but also due to its timing (written in August before the vaccine announcements; updated soon after). He ends:
“If you were holding out hope that a year from now this would all be over, I have bad news: That’s pretty damn unlikely. But don’t let this reality cause you to lower your guard. Covid is nasty even if you don’t die. The lingering health complications can be brutal for those who recover. The goal is to never catch it. I repeat: The goal is to never catch it. Keep your guard up. What will things look like a year from now? I don’t know. What about two years from now? I don’t know. Ten? Don’t fucking know. All we can do is remain vigilant (wear a mask!), realize that this is the new normal for the next while, and hope. And if a vaccine becomes available, get it.”
As you can tell from the last sentence, this was written before the vaccine news. So, surely his view is changed now. Surely even such an apocalyptic outlook which was previously contemplating a potential ten-year battle, can be reassured by these victories for science.
No. At least not yet. And he helpfully provided the update:
“Nov 15 update: There is promise with a vaccine from Pfizer, but all of the above remains true. Protect yourself, protect others.”
The injunction to protect others comes from one of the most admirable instincts we have, but when it is inspired as much by fear and dogma as it is by compassion, it is easily misapplied. It’s misapplication in this context has not only failed to effectively protect others, but inflicted damage on a lot of other people.
The passage in italics above was written by a historian, so perhaps there is even more limitation to the notion that an awareness of history is crucial to giving us perspective on present. No amount of studying history can give us that perspective we need to save us from ourselves if we are so stubbornly blind about what we do today. | https://medium.com/@rememberthebridge/vaccine-news-the-great-the-bad-and-the-utterly-predictable-308a07a3e488 | ['James Randle'] | 2020-12-13 15:39:34.067000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Lockdown', 'Media Criticism', 'Vaccines', 'Debate'] |
What do I Want to do? | Do I really want to write a book? Deep down there in my heart, do I want to? Do I see myself selling books and stuff?
Sigh, yes, I do. But then, writing this 100 words everyday is being difficult for me. I haven’t written for the past two weeks or maybe it was just one week — nevertheless, it felt really long since I wrote my 100 words.
And I just watched a video of Malcom Gladwell on Master Class where he was talking about how a writer should first be a reader. A reader as in, not someone who reads a lot of books but as someone who can first think of a reader and be a reader.
You know? Honestly, writing 100 words every single day, I am writing but I don’t know a specific goal I have while doing so. I mean, what is my book going to be about? Sometimes I feel it should be about vulnerability, because I want to inspire people to be vulnerable. Other times, I think each topic should be on its own — 100 word topic. Of course, every topic will usually be more than 100 words.
Anyway… this is being difficult for me when I think about the process there is. First I have to write 100 words everyday. Then I have to read what I wrote and edit it, edit it again and keep rewriting until I don’t find a single word that I would like to have otherwise.
And while doing all this, I should be consistent, I should work hard — god — a lot goes into making what you want. And I guess this is where we all fail or slow down and stop.
We start on working on a goal. When we begin, little do we know how far we really need to go and how much hard-work and dedication we need to put all by ourselves without anyone motivating us. As we begin to realise all of that, we see how tall the hill actually is to climb. We come in terms with the fact that — it is super super difficult and it will take more than you thought to do that.
This difficulty that lies in front of us demotivates us by half and the other half, we do it ourself with every passing day we don’t attempt achieving it. Why is this phase so difficult? Its not that I don’t want to reap the benefits out of what will come to me if I really put myself through the struggle of effort and consistency — but I don’t want to put that effort in the first place. No, not everyday. That is really difficult.
I am not speaking for anyone, I am not talking to connect or relate to whoever is reading this, I don’t even know if anyone will ever read this. But in 100% honesty, talking to myself, I don’t want to work that hard.
I have so many fears. How do I consistently come up with really good ideas that people want to turn the pages to read? How do I keep the reader engaged? I am writing so much, how much will all of it pile up to when I finally want to go back and read each single one of them? How difficult is this really going to get? Can I even do what I want?
And among all these questions and the struggle to find answers, the mind unconsciously shows another way — do something else instead of this! Today I thought that I should go back to writing stories — fiction. I mean, not that I shouldn’t. But I have started on something here — non-fiction, something pragmatic and grounded — so why am I not thinking about this, but thinking about a new idea? The moment something gets difficult, the mind automatically seems to redirect us to another goal that seems relatively easy. And when that turns out to be difficult, it takes us to the thought process of searching for another one. Its exactly in this journey of jumping from one goal to another, we lose track of what we want to do and become confused. We are lost. We don’t know where we started and we are scared to go back to where we started, even if we can trace our steps back. Why are we scared? We don’t know. There are so many things to consider while going back to that idea that we left. What will people say? What will they think and what will we be called? Our personal ego.
God, we are more complex than we seem.
The point is this — everything is going to be difficult. I am not saying that we should not jump from one goal to another. We can. We totally can. But when we are jumping, I think we should understand why we are doing that. If we are jumping from the fear of not being able to achieve something because it’s really difficult and intricate, we should take some time for ourselves and come back to the same thing, because everything is going to be difficult and messed up. Period.
Jump around, but because you want to — not because the steepness of a hill scares you. | https://medium.com/@naahushi/what-do-i-want-to-do-2d9c43a98b18 | ['Naahushi Kavuri'] | 2021-07-06 02:47:21.827000+00:00 | ['Writer', 'Leadership Skills', 'Introspection', 'Habits'] |
Edward Slovik, the Only US Soldier Executed Since the Civil War | Edward Slovik, the Only US Soldier Executed Since the Civil War
A Portrait of Edward Slovik. Credit: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons
World War II (WWII) erupted in September 1939 and, in December 1941, the United States (U.S.) joined in. Among them was the twenty-one-year-old Eddie Slovik, a rifleman of the 109th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 28th Infantry Divison, he would become one of the millions of casualties in the war. Except, it would be his own country that killed him.
Pre-war
Edward Donald Slovik was born on the 18th of February 1920 in Detroit, Michigan, into a Polish-American family. As a child, he was a troublemaker known to the police, at age twelve he and his friends broke into a foundry and were arrested. He was guilty of many other crimes such as theft, disturbing the peace, and breaking and entering, until he was finally sent to prison in October 1937 at the age of seventeen. He was released in September of 1938 on parole but was swiftly sent back four months later when he and his friends crashed a car while driving while they were drunk.
Slovik didn’t get out of prison until April 1942, when he was aged twenty-two. By this point, the United States of America had been fighting in the war for four months. The Battle of Midway was only a couple of months away but Slovik wasn’t drafted due to his extensive criminal record, he was cited as ‘morally unfit’ for service, receiving a classification of 4-F.
Once out of prison he got a job in Dearborn, Michigan at Montella Plumbing and Heating, where he also met his future wife Antoinette Wisniewski, the bookkeeper for the company’s owner. The two married in November of 1942, but their happy marriage didn’t last long.
Towards the end of 1943, the U.S. Army was in need of reinforcements, Slovik was reclassified to 1-A which meant he was ‘available for unrestricted military service’ and was drafted in January 1944. He’d received the notice the night he and his wife had moved into their new home.
On the 24th of January 1944, Slovik arrived at Camp Wolters in Texas, during his six-month stay he was trained as a rifleman. During his training at Camp Wolters, the invasion of Normandy had given the allies a foothold into Nazi-occupied France, when he was shipped to France, in August 1944, the allies were crossing the Seine river and at the gates of Paris.
Slovik did not enjoy his time at Camp Wolters. He hated guns and was happy living with his wife, he reportedly wrote the following letter to his mother during his time at the camp:
All I know mommy is that ever since I was born I’ve had hard luck. Then I lived 15 months with my darling wife and was so happy with her. Now they break up my happiness and try to kill us both and take everything we got. Why don’t they leave us alone. We didn’t do anything to anybody, did we? — Edward D. Slovik at Camp Wolters, July 1944.
War and desertion
Slovik was sent to join the 28th Infantry Division as a replacement soldier. The division had suffered a large number of casualties at the time and many men just like Slovik were sent in to fill the gaps.
The 28th Infantry Division marching through the streets of Paris on the 29th of August, 1944, four days after he liberation of Paris. Credit: AP Photo/Peter J. Carroll
Shortly after his joining the 109th Infantry was driven through the remnants of the Battle of the Falaise Pocket. A scarring experience for a young man who’d never stepped foot onto a battlefield before, Eisenhower himself wrote:
“The battlefield at Falaise was unquestionably one of the greatest “killing fields” of any of the war areas. Forty-eight hours after the closing of the gap I was conducted through it on foot, to encounter scenes that could be described only by Dante. It was literally possible to walk for hundreds of yards at a time, stepping on nothing but dead and decaying flesh.” — Five-Star General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Slovik wouldn’t last long though. On the day he joined his regiment’s Company G they passed through the town of Elbeuf where they came under artillery fire. Once the artillery fire had stopped his company endeavored to move further East towards their objective in Germany, but Slovik refused and stayed in his foxhole. The company left him — deserting was a common occurrence and not met with any surprise.
When he did finally leave he found a Canadian Provost unit (provost being the military police) with whom he spent six weeks. They handed him over to the American Military Police who returned him to his regiment. However, he threatened to run away again. Had he stayed, it’s unlikely that he would have received any kind of disciplinary action at all, but Slovik refused and handed in a note of confession.
Slovik note of confession. Credit: Historical Images Archive/Alamy Stock Photo
It’s hard to read, but it says:
“I Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik №36896415 confess to the desertion of the United States Army. At the time of my desertion we were in Albuff in France. I came to Albuff as a replacement. They were shelling the town and we were told to dig in for the night. The following morning they were shelling us again. I was so scared nerves and trembling that at the time the other replacements moved out I couldn’t move. I stayed there in the foxhole till it was quiet and I was able to move. I then walked in town. Not seeing any of our troops so I stayed over night at the French hospital. The next morning I turned myself over the Canadian Provost Corp. After being with them six weeks I was turned over to the American M.P. They turned me loose. I told my commanding officer my story. I said that if I had to go out there again I’d run away. He said there was nothing he could do for me, so I ran away again and I’LL RUN AWAY AGAIN IF I HAVE TO GO OUT THERE. “ — Edward D. Slovik, 1944
After he handed it to one of the American Military Police he was invited to tear up the letter — recommended to do it even! If he returned to combat there was still a good chance he’d get away with nothing but a slap on the wrist, men were deserting by the thousands and the military had nothing to gain by punishing them for going back to the fight. Slovik refused the offer.
On the 11th of November 1944, he appeared before a nine-man general court-martial. They unanimously agreed upon the death penalty. Slovik appealed the decision and it was sent up the chain of command, going to Major General Norman D. Cota, commander of the 28th division, who said, “If I had let Slovik accomplish his purpose — I don’t know how I could have gone up to the line and looked a good soldier in the face.”
Eventually, the trial reached Dwight D. Eisenhower’s desk. The Five-Star General and future President of the United States was in no position to be merciful. It was December of 1944 by the time he heard of Slovik. The Nazis were making one major offensive that resulted in the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest of France.
The Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest in the entirety of WWII for the U.S. army. Men were dying by the thousands. The United States Army Center of Military History puts the casualties at 75,000 for their army. Desertion, much to the detriment of Slovik, was also becoming a problem, and so he approved the execution. The higher-ups in the military needed to find a solution to the problem and so they made an example of Slovik.
Death
In Eastern France on the 31st of January 1945, Edward D. Slovik was executed by a twelve-man firing squad and was the first — and the only man — in the U.S. military to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. He did not die immediately, the doctor on the scene who was to confirm his death found him still breathing and he is reported to have asked “What’s the matter with you guys? Can’t you shoot straight?” As none of the bullets had hit Slovik’s heart. Still, he died before the gunmen could reload for the second volley.
Over 20,000 U.S. soldiers were tried for desertion during WWII. Forty-nine were sentenced to death, with forty-eight of those sentences being commuted later on. It’s argued that when his death was announced the higher-ups that ordered it thought Slovik’s would be commuted as well, but it’s likely that the unfortunate timing of its arrival at the desk of Eisenhower cemented it in stone.
Slovik was buried in a graveyard in France alongside the bodies of ninety-five murderers and rapists. His grave was marked by a number instead of a name and was also blocked from view behind shrubbery. His wife petitioned her entire life to get his grave moved until she died in 1979, writing to seven presidents to try and get it returned to U.S. soil. In 1987, another WWII American-Polish veteran Bernard V. Calka petitioned president Ronald Regan to order the return of his body. Reagan approved the order and Calka raised $5000 to have the body moved to Detroit’s Woodmere Cemetary, where Slovik was buried next to his wife. | https://historyofyesterday.com/eddie-slovik-the-only-us-soldier-executed-since-the-civil-war-928ce0d47014 | ['Jordan Fearn'] | 2020-11-16 12:03:08.497000+00:00 | ['World War II', 'History', 'Culture', 'War'] |
DIGIFIZZY Unlockable Content | Common Bundle | Burn your 721 for the 1155 treasures!
Introducing our gatemakers as part of the COMMON BUNDLE unlockable content drops for ISSUE TWO of DIGIFIZZY!
For our common unlockable content bundle there are 700 total for purchase at a price of 0.5$MONA each. You must be connected to Polygon Network. The bundle is an ERC998 variant NFT, where you burn your 721 NFT to unlock the 1155 NFT treasures that it holds!
PORTAL Audio Visual NFT
9EN travels through different dimensions, virtual realms, and eventually makes it to Earth. A portal she uses through hyperspace travel is a symbol portrayed in this particular NFT. The symbol tends to stretch out due to a gravitational singularity in which there’s a chaotic oscillation of the stretching and squeezing of space during an interstellar journey. 9EN (short for 9EN3TRIX) is the world’s first virtual DJ, Music Producer — artist.
The project was born as an idea/concept to inspire people around the globe through immersive audio and video art installations that would enable a viewer/listener to dive in and experience various virtual realms of the metaverse followed by a storyline. Virtual presence of the 9EN project provides us with the audio and image development designed to truly transcend time and space. The project is aiming to launch its first audio and video art installation by the end of 2021. | https://medium.com/@digitalax/digifizzy-unlockable-content-common-bundle-60f073493845 | [] | 2021-06-17 20:29:09.758000+00:00 | ['Nft', 'Digital Fashion', 'Web3', 'Digifizzy', 'Metaverse'] |
Debugging Route Upload Errors — TollGuru GPS traces to Toll API & Route Polyline to Toll API | Debugging Route Upload Errors — TollGuru GPS traces to Toll API & Route Polyline to Toll API
TollGuru GPS traces to Toll API and Polyline to Toll API allows fleets, logistic companies, ride-shares, and car rentals to calculate tolls from GPS traces and mapping route polylines. Customers can
upload their GPS traces (as CSV files) and receive tolls for the GPS trace. upload route polyline and receive tolls for the route.
However, the response from TollGuru sometimes has “Location not found” or “Pair not found” errors for tolls for the ticket systems.
What should you do in this case?
First, it is important to understand how a ticket system works. As you know, you pay tolls on a ticket system based on where you got on (your entry plaza) and where you got off (your exit plaza). For example, New Jersey Turnpike, Pennsylvania Turnpike, New York State Thruway, Kansas Turnpike, Ohio Turnpike, Central Florida GreeneWay, Maine Turnpike, Indiana Toll Road, Florida’s Turnpike and Turner Turnpike and Will Rogers Turnpike in Oklahoma are ticket systems.
You can see a simple ticket system in the following figure. While traveling eastbound, you can get on the ticket system at either mainline toll plaza 1 or ramp toll plaza 3 and get off on mainline toll plaza 4 or ramp toll plaza 2. Mainline toll plazas 1 and 4 are the start and end of this simple ticket system.
“Location not found” or “Pair not found” errors occur when
the GPS coordinates are captured after the user is already on the ticket system (entry unknown error)
Say the GPS coordinates are first captured when the vehicle is west of plaza 4 and the GPS track ends east of plaza 4. In this case, the vehicle could have entered the system at either mainline plaza 1 or ramp plaza 3. Without knowing the exact combination (entry 1 and exit 4 or entry 3 and exit 4), we cannot calculate toll rates.
the GPS coordinates end in middle of the ticket system before exiting from the ticket system (exit unknown error)
Say the GPS coordinates are first captured when the vehicle is west of plaza 1 and the GPS track ends east of plaza 1. In this case, the vehicle entered the system at mainline plaza 1 but could have exited at either ramp plaza 2 or mainline plaza 4. Without knowing the exact combination (entry 1 and exit 2 or entry 1 and exit 4), we cannot calculate toll rates.
the GPS coordinates are captured after the user is on the ticket system and the capture stops before the user exits the ticket system (both entry and exit unknown error). Say the GPS coordinates are first captured when the vehicle is west of plaza 1 and 2 and the GPS track ends east of plaza 3 and plaza 4. Since both the entry and exit combinations are unknown, tolls cannot be calculated.
Solution
What can you do when you see a “Location not found” or “Pair not found” errors? Ideally the users would need to add extra GPS coordinates such that GPS coordinates cover both the entry and exit plazas on the ticket system. If you are unsure of the error, please email [email protected] for the TollGuru testing team to find and fix the source of the error.
About TollGuru
TollGuru, a product of MapUp Inc., calculates tolls for all toll roads, bridges, and tunnels in the United States, Canada, Mexico and India for all vehicle types. TollGuru provides smart toll exchange and navigation platform.
TollGuru mapping service is designed for real America — where both costs and times figure in route decisions. TollGuru shows the cheaper routes not shown by any other mapping applications such as Google maps, Apple maps, Waze, HERE maps, MapQuest, Scout GPS, Garmin, etc. Unlike other mapping applications, our routes consider two vectors — travel time and travel cost (fuel and tolls) to provide a real-time decision platform. | https://medium.com/tollguru/debugging-route-upload-errors-tollguru-gps-traces-to-toll-api-route-polyline-to-toll-api-b117ac8ce8c9 | ['Maneesh Mahlawat'] | 2020-08-20 16:50:49.697000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Mapping', 'Technology', 'API', 'Travel'] |
Black Mirror brainstorms — a product design exercise | Next we’ll start with an example to get us thinking.
Let’s say we’re a large technology company who’s looking to have the most personalized content so people will spend more time in our product. To do that, we’re building a targeting engine that sifts through millions of data points to spot trends. Our goal is to figure out how this can go wrong for people who we’re collecting data on.
Now let’s get to each of the sections.
Brainstorm
Here, we’ll write down some of your ideas for what might go wrong. Here are a few areas to help frame your activity:
Economic Issues: could we enable bad faith actors to prey on vulnerable groups?
could we enable bad faith actors to prey on vulnerable groups? Politics: could a corrupt government could use this info to identify and target dissidents?
could a corrupt government could use this info to identify and target dissidents? Social Issues: could our product reinforce already-present societal divides?
Important note: some folks won’t do well thinking on the fly in a group setting. To help them, instruct everyone to take 2–5 minutes to think up ideas before talking with the group. The stickies you provide are perfect for this.
Quotes
This section is for quotes people in the episode might say. It can also be things people say about the episode after watching it.
Don’t be afraid to get dramatic or go over the top.
Plot Points
Plot points are helpful in describing how this bad situation comes to pass. They’re the substance of the story. Consider these four as a starting point:
The characters: who’s going to be affected
The setup: the well-intended idea
The problem: how the well-intended idea goes wrong
The effect: how the idea going wrong affects people
The Poster
Here, we’ll communicate the big idea. I suggest using a big quote that sums up the episode. If a team’s so inclined, they could also do an illustration.
After the Exercise
When everyone’s finished presenting, take a moment to look for common elements from everyone’s posters and write them on stickies. We’ll take the stickies, put them up, and group similar ones together. These are excellent candidates for anti-goals.
Wrapping up
We don’t have to look far to see how this might be helpful. Consider that Target figured out a teen was pregnant and started sending her pregnancy-related coupons, much to the shock and anger of her parents. Another time, Facebook year in review showed Eric Meyer a photo of his recently-deceased daughter surrounded by confetti and dancing people. None of these things products intended to be cruel. But because the designers didn’t consider the negative implications of their decisions, unintended things happened (and some of them were pretty rough).
Black Mirror Brainstorms are intended to help us consider the negative impacts of our work. By doing this, we help ensure that our products are great and don’t end up causing harm. The unceasing march toward growth will often pull us in unexpected ways and it’s easy let any negative impact of our decisions fall by the wayside.
Credit and thanks
Adapted from Aaron Lewis and Gamestorming’s Cover Story activity. Thanks to Andrew Zusman, Christine Luc and Weiman Kow at Pivotal for the feedback. | https://uxdesign.cc/black-mirror-brainstorms-f919ccf5938c | ['Joshua Mauldin'] | 2018-11-30 02:40:57.919000+00:00 | ['User Experience', 'Design Ethics', 'UX Design', 'UX', 'Product Design'] |
MACHINE LEARNING MODELS AND BABIES: WHAT IS THE CONNECTION? | Machine Learning is one of the most advancing technical fields that is grabbing a lot of attention everywhere. From college going students, to research scholars, from small start-ups to big tech giants, all want to bring their best foot forward and make the best models and bring out the best features using ML.
More and more students and researchers are now trying to learn about Machine Learning but it is really important that one should get correct and precise information. Many people give really difficult meanings and definitions of what a machine learning model exactly is and how it works. The bookish definitions are definitely correct but is this correct easy to understand and explain? My answer is: NO.
When someone asks me what an ML model is, I simply say it’s a human child. Did you get it? No, I’ll explain.
Just like a small human child observes the people around and slowly learns from them. Along with this, there are some functions called reflexes that have already fed information in a human mind as to how to react in a situation of panic. In a very similar way, a machine learning model has some inbuilt functions and then it learns the other things from the information that is fed inside.
Let’s understand using one of the simplest ML models — linear regression. Linear regression attempts to model the relationship between two variables by setting a linear equation to the observed data.
This model uses a given set of information to get trained on it and then tries to implement the gathered information and its patterns on test data.
Taking the example in the image, the data containing images of various vehicles with a dependent value that tells if it is a car or not is given to the regression model. The model analyses this given data and then tries to give output on other images telling if they represent a car or not.
I hope that after today even you will say that an ML model is just like a baby. Hence, now you know the connections.
IMAGE REFERENCE:
https://www.futurithmic.com/2019/04/12/why-you-should-study-ai-machine-learning-how-did-it/
https://semiengineering.com/deep-learning-spreads/ | https://medium.com/@abhigya006btit19/machine-learning-models-and-babies-what-is-the-connection-35626f47a43a | ['Abhigya Verma'] | 2020-10-20 15:55:10.781000+00:00 | ['Ml Model', 'Regression', 'Machine Learning'] |
How does Self Organizing Algorithm works? | How does Self Organizing Algorithm works?
A simple step- by-step guide with mathematical example
Self Organizing Map(SOM) proposed by Teuvo Kohonen is a data visualization technique. It helps to understand high dimensional data by reducing the dimensions of data to a map. And also it showcases clustering by grouping similar data together. This clustering ability was well received to after a variant of SOM, Growing Self Organizing ma was introduced.
We can summarize SOM as:
Fig.1. What does SOM do? drawn by author
SOM is unique as it deviates from most generic ‘error-correction’ approach and rather follow competitive learning.
Fig.2. SOM representation drawn by Zhe Li
What actually happens?
Data points will be competing to get a representation in the Network. First the network is initialized with weights. A data from training datasets is randomly chosen and distance between nodes (weights) and sample vector is calculated. The shortest of the distances is considered the BMU. Then the neighborhood of winner node or BMU is found. Neighbor weights or nodes get updated. Repeat the process till the network is trained for every training data.
Best Matching Unit(BMU) : The winner node(or weight) which has the shortest distance from itself to the sample vector. There are numerous ways to determine the distance, however, the most commonly used method is the Euclidean Distance, is the most common metric to calculate distance between weights and sample vector.
Algorithmic Break Down
Initiation (randomization)
Competition (Select winner node)
Cooperation (Identify neighborhood)
Adaptation (Adapt weights of winners & neighbors)
Smoothing (Reduce NR as iterations increase/ introduce an optional smoothing phase)
Parameters
R/C — No.of rows/columns N- No.of Neurons MaxIter — No. of iterations MaxNR — Maximum radius of Grid nr(t) — neighborhood radius ර(t) — learning rate A — no.of dimensions Distance between Neuron i and j => D(wi,wj) Input -> All_inputs={x1,x2….} wk= all weights or nodes
Fig.4. SOM algorithm drafted by author | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/how-does-self-organizing-algorithm-works-f0664af9bf04 | ['Vivek Vinushanth Christopher'] | 2020-09-24 13:10:14.986000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Som', 'Data Visualization', 'Data Science', 'Computer Science'] |
Dogs are the best | Photo by Raquel Garcia on Unsplash
The best pets are dogs,
they can play, protect, and eat.
Then they take a shit. | https://medium.com/sweaters-and-blankets/dogs-are-the-best-c003e1ac70e1 | ['Tiffany Hsu'] | 2020-12-14 00:19:27.760000+00:00 | ['Pets', 'Haiku', 'Dogs', 'Animals', 'Poetry'] |
On solving audacious problems | Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash
Nowadays one can witness multiple movements around solving grand challenges that we are facing. Whether we perceive them in our personal lives in the west or people in developing countries. Even the United Nations came up with a poster with the claim “17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform our world”.
This is definitely the right direction to go and where everyone of us should work on.
At the same time many institutions claim that we need to make huge investments and run grand research experiments to find solutions. And this is something I am not understanding. For many challenges we are facing, there are to my knowledge already existing solutions. Some are known to everyone while others are not known (or even hidden from the masses). I am gonna list out these 3 grand issues and also outline solutions that EVERYONE can apply. Most of them do not even require a penny to be invested. Rather the challenge is to overcome your own psycholgocial barrier, or as Ramit Sethi would call them invisible scripts, and be ready to take ACTION.
Debt of any kind (+ interest)
Debt is bad. You owe money to a person or financial institution. They make you a slave for a certain period of time, because they expect the money back plus an additional fee in the name of interest. If the payback is delayed, the interest rate will be higher. Let us face it, you become a slave. But for what price? Because “we buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.” Sounds familiar. You don’t need to buy a house (hint: it is not even an asset unless you rent it to somebody), you don’t need to buy the latest car (a used car is enough to get from A to B) and you certainly do not need to get a student loan to go to college. For the latter, it is better to do an apprenticship or buy books on what you want to learn. There are even tons of online courses.
Solution: Just do not get debt and make sure your expenses are lower than your income. If you have debt, be very agressive in paying them off first, before making any other important purchases.
Traffic Jams
This is a particular issue in Asia and many parts in the USA. Just recently I heard it from Joe Rogan and also Elon Musk who both mentioned how horrible the traffic is in Los Angeles. There are many factors which contribute to traffic jams and packed streets. When I observe the streets, one thing always catches my eye: 90% of the people I see driving on the seat, drive both a large car and alone. That is ridiculous. These have the guts to drive SUVs and station wagons to commute to work and back home and are sitting in their alone? Now scale this up to thousands of cars on a daily base. This is just sad. Probably the same people who wonder why we have traffic jams and find the fault in others or other institutions.
Solution: Switch to public transport, bikes or car pool with others.
General health issues (allergies, obesity and cancers)
I do not know the numbers, but I remember that it was mentioned that the health industry is worth billions of dollars, may be trillions. There are tons of people and companies with tons of different advice as well as products running around. People get more sick nowadays then feeling healthy and it ranges from smaller issues to frightening conditions. I assume that the real truth to optimal health is already existing, but certain institutions not interested to make this knowledge public. Especially the pharma industry who need this keep this secret for their profits.
You also hear how organizations invest tons of money in research for the next cure for cancer. This is great, but again, I do believe there is a solution out there and we need to embrace it soon.
Solution: Start fasting (e.g. intermittent fasting), drink tons of water, eat tons of colorful as well as unprocessed/natural veggies and only eat when you are hungry.
Conclusion
I am sure there are tons of other areas which need to be improved on. But it should give you an idea that most giant problems we face can be solved very easily and are almost free, at least affordable. The time to value is super low as the switch can be applied already the next day. It is probably not easy for somebody who is used to drive all the time to just simply change to trains and busses. But the impact can be tremendous and a win-win for everyone, except for those who profit from the problems above. | https://medium.com/@adammbhakrani/on-solving-audacious-problems-c592855b956 | ['Adam Bhakrani'] | 2019-11-14 11:10:50.391000+00:00 | ['Solutions', 'Simplicity', 'Problems', 'Debt', 'Traffic'] |
Year End Review: My View for our Society. | Alright, this year is pretty much wrapping up. Millions if not billions of people are ready to say goodbye to the year of 2020. We have seen a disturbing amount of economic and personal upheaval for everyone around the world. Many have been thriving in this era, and many others have been losing like crazy. Big companies are making billions due to people ordering more and more online for delivery. Individuals are being let go, threatened or have been evicted, and have the lights go out on them due to money running out.
Despite this year being so up and down for a myriad of people, I want to point out the plusses for this year that I believe are signs towards progress of a better America. I feel excited for these things because I believe they open up a whole new world for us, more opportunities. The writing below reflects my current opinions with the information at my disposal.
Black Lives Matter
Though this year has seen the tragic deaths of many undeserving black people, the one silver lining to that is that people are no longer ignoring it. Millions of people across the nation blew up in protest and caused politicians to finally stop and think about it. It made politicians finally take hardline sides. The number of allies has grown, the culture is taking a turn for the better. Companies were finally made to take a stand as well. Though it may just be a surface level commitment to fair treatment of all, when large companies start openly supporting a minority, it means a certain threshold has been reached and change can just take advantage of its own momentum. There is work to be done still, but at least it’s not status quo.
Identifying the cracks in our Society and Government
Though this year has seen the deaths and unfair treatment of minorities and we have seen a rise in the amount of people willing to spread disinformation, all is not bad. The elements of racist tendencies, the crazy and irresponsible church leaders and their lemmings, the abuse of government structures and the growing facist element in the White House and Congress isn’t a regression or a signal of the country going to hell. It’s a chance to see where all the cracks in our ship are. We can either watch the cracks grow bigger while the water increasingly floods in, or we can find those cracks and patch them up. All of the elements that were mentioned above have always been there. It was just hidden with code switching and the absence of a huge presence on social media. It has always been there, it’s just not been as visible as before. Now that we have identified the sickness, the damage, we can start working towards remedies.
Unexpected Experiments of Political,Business and Educational Concepts
I believe that Covid-19, while horrible for the economy and the livelihood of billions of people, has forced us to accelerate our journey of discovery into many concepts that would have taken decades to experiment and get data on. In fact, many of these concepts not only got to be manifested in experimentation, we as a society ironed out a bunch of kinks. What are these concepts you ask? They are universal income, Teleservices, working from home, and online schooling.
Universal income
Universal income is one of the concepts that I am excited about. The idea that every american would receive a set amount of money depending on their income from tax returns. I am talking about the stimulus packages. Yes, we have only done one (hopefully soon to be two), but we have identified how it would be distributed and actually did a first run through to see how our infrastructure could handle it. It turns out, we could do better with it, and my opinion is that we need to invest more in the IRS (for several reasons that I won’t go into here). The IRS was the body that actually took the legislation and made it happen. It gathered the necessary information on who and where to send checks to. We also got to see all of the mistakes, like checks being sent to noncitizens that weren’t even in this country. That doesn’t mean we should just call it a failure and stop the process. It means that we found a hole, now we need to figure out how it got there, what do we need to do to patch it up, and move on. Lesson learned for the next round. Though the stimulus checks were not meant to be a precursor to universal income, I think we as a nation got a much better glimpse of what is possible in terms of this concept. We got to see how the infrastructure for that concept would work. We got to see some of the cracks. And we roughly got an estimate of how much money that would actually cost to give money to Americans, even if it was just one check last time. Now we can decide if we want to go further with this concept or drop it because now we have a much clearer picture on if it’s possible or not.
Teleservices
Teleservices are the next thing that we have seen in action. What do I mean by teleservices? Telehealth (doctors). Many people do not have access to doctors because there are not many services provided in their local areas. Some areas just don’t have a big enough population to support a hospital. People who are prone to illnesses, people with disabilities, or people who just have a hard time finding transportation can visit a doctor now in increasing numbers, not because a doctor just moved into town, it’s because we can now do basic check ups with telehealth. Yes, it has limitations, but it’s a much better alternative to no services at all. Now we can talk to doctors about our symptoms and show them things (within reason) without having to step out of our house, or even go to the next city. I’m hoping that this will increase the demand for doctors and nurses across the nation especially as our WiFi network is expanding and strengthening with 5G networks. This isn’t just restricted to doctors and nurses, it can also be counselors and psychologists as well.
Working from Home
Before the Pandemic, I am sure there were millions of people who thought “man, I could just do this at home, why do I have to be in the office?” while at their jobs. There are many jobs that could be done from home. But before the pandemic, the popular belief was that most if not all work should be done at a place of work. Mostly because it’s how it’s always been done, not because there was actual comparative data on job performances from home and at the office. But there were some legitimate concerns: how can we know you’re actually doing your job? What if you had to collaborate with someone or meet another employee or supervisor? I’ve also seen some bullshit reasons for not working at home as well: it’s not fair to the other workers who actually have to do their work from the office. We can have meetings via Zoom or Gmeet. We can present our projects and findings via these same things. We may see the fall of conference rooms if we can all just do it from our home computers.
This pandemic has forced us to actually move our jobs home. Yes there are alot of jobs that have been proven in this climate that they just don’t work out at home for a myriad of reasons (just the sheer incompatibility no matter the circumstances at home), but there are a lot more jobs than we initially thought that could be done at home. A lot of our work can be done online. Majority of jobs had to be done on computers anyways. Reports, data input, analyses are all done online or on computers. And a great many of us have computers or laptops at home. Even storage of data is online in different clouds. The shelter in place orders have allowed us to actually experiment and see if we can actually take that all home with us. And it looks like this new work culture is here to stay. Many people have moved out of the cities because they could do their jobs at home. A large number of people have bought homes in the suburbs or in the rural areas because they can now do their jobs anywhere there is an internet connection. Companies are also shifting to downsizing because it’s just more profitable if they don’t have to pay for upkeep and rent of office space. The buying of houses and the move of companies to downsizing work spaces all point to the expansion of at-home-work and will change what our world looks like after the COVID pandemic. I am excited about this because it opens up opportunities for people who previously did not take high paying jobs because they didn’t want to commute or live in specific cities. I think this will reduce housing costs and property costs in cities because workers are now spreading out and buying properties. I think this will also raise the overall housing costs across the states while reducing the morbidly high costs of cities. This is both good and bad for people. Good for people who are a little further from the cities because they will see an uptick of more people and rising property values. These people will see a rise in their local economies because of new services being added to their localities because of the rise in population. This will also see a rise in education because property taxes are rising which means more money for schools. Working from home also opens up a lot of opportunities for people who are homebound. People who have to stay home for their kids, people with disabilities, and people who wouldn’t even have made enough to justify moving to the cities to work now have access to jobs because they can now do it at home. I think this will also increase the number of highly paid migratory workers because people who were previously bound to their desks now have the ability to work wherever there is electricity and internet. Yes, the majority of people may just stay at home, but I think this will increase the amount of migratory people overall. Which means more tourism revenue! People in rural areas can also now be part of the global market and global workforce. With the move of people from the cities to the rural areas because they can work at home, people who lived in rural areas can now access these high paying jobs as well because they can work from their place of origins, the rural areas. And with the improvement in internet technology, more and more people can have access to the internet.
Education
This is a double edged sword. I think Distance learning has shown us both extreme good and extreme bad of distance learning. First, the bad. We have all seen, nation-wide, that our scores in testing are going down, and the amount of F grades are going up. As a teacher myself, I see that a lot of kids take advantage of the decreased oversight over their education. I’ve caught a few playing video games. There are quite a few who actually just turn their camera off and aren’t engaged or not attending. There are kids who will try to be fully engaged, but they have the worst environment to learn in. Many of the students I have seen have a lot of siblings or cousins with them and all of them are on distance learning too. It can be super noisy and alot going on in small rooms or apartments. There are also many students who just aren’t able to engage at all with a computer screen and do way better in person. But, the worst off are the students who not only have all of these issues, they also suffer from living in poverty. They either don’t have a place at all to do distance learning or don’t have the right technology to engage with learning. Many times they don’t even have access to the internet. We see on the news that many students in different states are going to McDonalds just to get the wifi to do work. These kids are fighting uphill battles. Now for the good things about this pandemic for learning. It has made every teacher expand their teaching medium. Before the shelter in place, I knew of Google classroom, and some teachers were already implementing that tool into their curriculum. I knew about Google Docs and used it myself, but never really used it with my kids. Now? Every teacher is using one form or another of online technology and broadening their horizons on what they can do to help teach the kids. For me, my students with disabilities especially are benefiting because they are able to access more accommodations that they needed just to access the curriculum. My nonreaders are now able to access their books because their readings are online with text to speech capabilities. These nonreaders are also now producing more work since they can use the voice to type feature of google docs, whereas they produced very little work because they didn’t know enough to spell simple words like “word” or “often.” While a great many kids are not doing well with Distance learning, there are quite a few kids who are actually benefiting from Distance learning because it is their preferred medium. Many schools have oftentimes limited the home-schooling options in the past. But now with shelter in place orders, many kids who would have been stuck in the brick and mortar buildings of schools can now manifest their compatibility with online learning. It’s not all bad, but it’s also not all good.
Overall, we now have data of initial experiments and data after fixes to initial infrastructure issues with government and education ideas/concepts. We also have a consolidated cultural awareness of the wrongs being visited upon the black community it American. When we finally get the vaccine in enough numbers to safely go back outside, we will not be stepping into our precovid world. Opportunities have been uncovered, infrastructures of companies in all sectors have made permanent changes, people have moved away from cities but keep their jobs has pretty much locked down the infrastructure changes in many of the economic sectors in the US. | https://medium.com/@izikv/year-end-review-my-view-for-our-society-7700241ac5d3 | ['Isaac S'] | 2020-12-27 16:02:31.316000+00:00 | ['Policy', 'Politics'] |
Content Moderation and Consent | Experiences of community solely through the internet
KELSEY: I want to open by asking if everybody could share one story of a sense of community you experienced through a purely digital platform.
I can start with my story. I spent a summer working at a website called Instructables. It’s a tutorial site where people share how to make different things. It’s an explicitly inclusive and friendly community. One of the things that they’re very careful to have in their makerspace/lab area is a test kitchen. The founder was talking to me about this: people who make robots, they know they’re makers. But making in a kitchen is also making; making with a sewing machine is also making. I admire that their community goes out of their way to invite all of those kinds of making in. I also really like their comment policy, which is literally “be nice”. As a user, you can flag a comment not just as spam or inappropriate, but also as “not nice” to have it reviewed by a moderator.
I had friends who I met only through their online presence
The summer I spent there, making projects, was the first time I ever felt like I had friends who I met only through their online presence. You get windows into the lives of the most prolific makers because they post step-by-step photo instructions of different stuff that they’re making, and I was one of them.
KEVIN: I can share next. EDGI is the first time I’ve had community through a digital platform. EDGI is completely distributed. For a long time, I only interacted with EDGI people through Zoom, Slack, or GitHub. It’s really amazing when you have consistent interactions through all these mediums that, a year later when I was able to attend an in-person meeting, it didn’t feel like a first meeting at all. It felt like we had known each other for so long already, but we were like wait, I’ve never actually given you a hug before! EDGI is continuing, going strong, and continues to be my community.
It felt like we had known each other for so long already
LOURDES: For me it is the Midwest 90s Emo Facebook group that I am part of. A few of us, the main posters in the group, have branched off, and we’ve created our smaller private group and we’ve become really good friends. Lately we’ve been having Zoom calls with like 20 of us. I’ve met a few people in different cities now. It’s cool knowing I have friends across the country.
DAWN: I was really into modding the Elder Scrolls game Morrowind. I was an active member of a forum called Tamriel Rebuilt, which was all about people who wanted to rebuild a whole continent in the Elder Scrolls game Morrowind, a quixotic project that was maybe not possible in the constraints of the game engine at the time.
I had been active in forums like IRC and stuff like that before, but that was one of the first places where I really got to know other people — and at a time where there weren’t a lot of these remote collaboration tools. I felt like I knew these people well, because we posted in forums together, and you got to know who they were from that.
GREG: During Hurricane Irma, I was watching the storm as it emerged and headed right at us. I saw a whole bunch of people talking about how the storm was coming, but in different forums, and so I set up a Slack for people who wanted to prepare. Within a couple of days there were almost 1000 people in it, and they were doing all kinds of things.
I felt responsible for this space that I’d set up
I felt responsible for this space that I’d set up, and so I was working 18 hour days just to manage the things that all these people were doing. But a lot of the ideas were actually not very good ideas. They were all really well intentioned, but a lot of times, people just came up with something and then said, let’s get to work. It was just like, Who did you talk to? Who said that was a good idea?
I had a really challenging experience trying to organize this community and Slack. As fun as it was as it was coming together, I had very few tools at my disposal for sorting through noise and for evaluating the quality of different kinds of things that were going on. It was only through connecting with other organizers who were experienced with this community curation and network organizing that we got some measure of control by doing things– like, every channel should have a document that says what’s happening in this channel. We had to figure out how to make it work.
I walked away wanting to help others learn from our mistakes so that they can make more interesting mistakes.
The work of maintainership
KELSEY: I really thought it was interesting, Greg, that you brought up the word responsibility so quickly. When I picked articles, I focused on digital spaces and power, control, responsibility, and what we owe to each other as participants.
Do you still feel responsible to your community?
I felt responsible to ensure that that network was accountable to members of the community
GREG: Absolutely. In the time, I felt responsible for the network that I’d convened, but also responsible to ensure that that network was accountable to members of the community. So I was spending a lot of my time going out and finding people who would never join our Slack, talking to them, and then bringing back that perspective into this platform.
More recently, with Liz Barry, I facilitated a set of conversations discussing the phenomenon of emergent, spontaneous, civic hacking disaster responders. I just published a piece yesterday, Introducing the Principles of Equitable Disaster Response, that shares principles that we articulated for network-centric crisis response. It’s helpful to have something on hand to say, this is why we’re going to go to the extra effort to hear from somebody before we put this out into the world.
There wasn’t really a framework for how to locate this digital virtual community in its real-world context, and I felt responsible for bridging that gap.
DAWN: There’s also a lot of “moderation” work that never counts as moderation work, which is actually just maintaining social ties. What has to be formally understood around moderation?
The human cost of content moderation
LOURDES: Has anyone heard the podcast Last Podcast on the Left? It’s a comedy podcast about murders and paranormal stuff and conspiracy theories. I got really into it. I joined the the group on Facebook and started posting a lot, and all of a sudden, I was a moderator.
We have this sense of camaraderie
It was a whole world; mods had our own group, and a chat. The mods purposely chose people from different perspectives, so in the chat there were these far-right dudes that were really into guns, and me, far-left lady of color; I was totally on them all the time. But we have this sense of camaraderie, too. And we even have a group name for ourselves. But it’s a couple of hours a day, and thousands of people were in this group that we modded.
The reading about the Facebook moderators, that’s a whole other level. But there was some stuff that people posted and I saw that just made me question, what is up with humanity? And why are we, unpaid group mods, doing this?
DAWN: That was a lot of labor, Lourdes. I know. It takes a lot of time and a lot of emotional energy.
What if we took disturbing content as an expected product of platforms that encourage virality?
I was thinking also about the Facebook article, and even the Something Awful one. In the background in my mind was that really great article by James Bridle about auto-generated content targeting children on YouTube, which is deeply creepy and disturbing. And Lisa Nakamura wrote an article thinking through this thing, which said, we see these postings of all of this hateful, misogynist, racist, and deeply disturbing graphic content as aberrations. But what if we took that seriously as an expected outcome? Let’s not treat it as an unintended consequence of what these platforms do, but read it as one of their products. That should help us think about how these spaces are built and maintained.
Just throw as much cheap labor and people’s dignity at a problem as they can
I don’t actually know if I think that any of these models are sustainable. I think what Facebook and YouTube and some of these big platforms are doing is basically trying to just throw as much cheap labor and people’s dignity at a problem as they can and hope that they’re going to get good enough at automating from what they learn from that — at the cost of all of these people’s emotional wellbeing — and see if that’ll get them to a point where they expect that no one’s gonna have to look at it. I just don’t think that’s going to work if you build systems that magnify or create it, where virality is encouraged.
And so it’s not just that one video gets posted once, it’s that it gets posted hundreds of thousands of times as they mix and flow through multiple channels. I felt like that was a piece which wasn’t explicitly addressed, but brought up in those articles.
I like how Lisa Nakamura talks about it as a way to think about the design intentions.
KELSEY: In junior high, everybody would share those videos, those GIFs that would just go on being peaceful and nothing for a long time and then suddenly, a scary face would pop out. There was something so delightful about it to every 12 and 13 year old that would cause that to go viral, even though it was awful.
My three-year-old niece, whenever she got access to a phone for long enough, you’d look over and she’d be in that part of YouTube.
Something about how disturbing that is or how unusual that is — there’s got to be something biological about how attractive that is to somebody very young.
I wonder if that comes back to the question of responsibility to moderate. The existence of Something Awful is interesting by itself, right? Or 4chan; there is an audience that’s explicitly looking for the sorts of things that I, as an adult, would like to be moderated out of my feed.
Bad content for profit
LOURDES: When I was in middle school, the internet felt completely unregulated. You’d find really, really messed up stuff. I’m thinking of one website, this was in 2001, 2002, and it was graphic images from the war in Iraq and a lot of really messed up stuff that’s not moderated.
Now, people make money off of disturbing content
I was a 12 year old stumbling upon it. It was pretty easy to get to. So this isn’t a new issue. What’s new is the capitalism that perpetuates and is being perpetuated by it. Now, people make money off of this content. And then these companies that are contracting with Facebook and exploiting their workers, there’s a whole industry made from this messed up content.
DAWN: At the end of the article about Cognizant [Bodies in Seats], there was a line about how it’s a system where the people who work there thought, this is my first step into being a knowledge worker working at a tech company. But it’s really Facebook controlling costs and risk by outsourcing the messy work of finding and training human beings, and laying them all off when the contract ends.
It’s an acceleration of existing patterns
In one way, I agree, it’s nothing new. But it does feel like it’s such an acceleration of existing patterns. That model of outsourcing risk is an old pattern. But when combined with the scale that some of these platforms are operating at, and the fine tuning that’s happening on them for certain behaviors or types of attention — that whole article on Twitter’s introduction of their new algorithm — they’re all compounding into this acute state.
LOURDES: There’s a really good book called Words that Wound, about hate speech, especially in a university setting. It’s in response to this libertarian idea that all speech should be free. It argues that words can be violent, that they have a physical impact, and especially when it’s a racist or homophobic slur or diatribe, that it can actually affect someone’s livelihood.
Social media as a civic forum
KELSEY: I’m curious how platforms play into this discussion of violence, public forums, and freedom of speech. Facebook and Twitter feel to a lot of people like they’re supposed to be a public forum, even though they’re very literally not. Do you think that if Facebook and Twitter didn’t appear to be such big civic forums, that we would request one from the government, a digital space to discuss things?
I’m curious how platforms play into this discussion of violence, public forums, and freedom of speech
DAWN: There are various governments that have attempted to create those sorts of platforms, but they tend to be a capture for consent, or resistance to ideas.
Canada is a very consultation-heavy country. We get consulted a lot using consultation platforms. I think there’s other countries that have models like that, like Decidim, on a different scale in Barcelona. Greece had a way that they were doing these online consultations, but not necessarily in this model of a public forum that maybe Twitter and Facebook now operate at.
Twitter and Facebook were not originally trying to be civic forums
But in their original intent, that’s not what Twitter or Facebook were trying to be.
One of the articles shows that shift in Twitter. The history of Facebook is also a history of shifting; the way that Zuckerberg reformulated their mission multiple times reflects his changing thinking on what their goal is.
I don’t know whether people would demand it. Probably not; it’s a different model of how identities get performed or articulated at a nation level, but that nation-level identity can be a fiction anyway. But I think that there have been very powerful more regional platforms formed bottom-up, from people wanting that kind of space.
There are also people who want to nationalize some of these larger things, and/or break them apart, or the activist stakeholders who basically want to buy out Twitter and make it a platform co-op. I think there are some interesting ideas circulating around converting those spaces.
GREG: In its messaging on this stuff, Facebook conflates the concept of freedom of speech in multiple directions. First of all, freedom of speech just means that the government can’t arrest you. The First Amendment does not apply to allowing anything to be posted to Facebook. Facebook can choose whatever policies it wants. So for them to say “free speech” is not really coherent. And then they hide behind “free speech” to defend their position on allowing deceptive political advertisements.
Facebook can choose whatever policies it wants
I have some friends who’ve worked at Facebook for a very long time, since the mid-aughts. I’ve argued with them about this stuff for a long time. Those arguments have become really touchy over the last five years, but it’s worth at least understanding where they’re coming from. From their perspective: A) yes, humans are flawed, and so bad things are going to happen on Facebook, but B), the marketplace of ideas is inherently good. So although there are bad things that happen, on net, people being able to say whatever they want is good. It’s all going to work out in the end, and, well, who gets to decide what’s true?
From my perspective, that’s a really interesting question. It would be worth asking that question. Let’s have that conversation, as opposed to presenting it as a hard question to answer, and therefore, the end of the conversation.
It’s worth asking who gets to decide what is true, finding an alternative to throwing our hands up
I don’t necessarily have ready answers as to how they should decide what constitutes truth. It is hard. But I don’t think it’s as irreconcilable as they make it out to be. I think their perspective is bad, and I would like to see other opportunities to demonstrate that there really is a coherent alternative to the civil libertarian “there’s nothing we can do” approach.
Do y’all have experience with decentralized alternatives like Mastodon? Because I tried. It wasn’t so much fun.
LOURDES: I did try, yeah!
KELSEY: Greg, what was not fun for you?
GREG: It wasn’t actually clear how to do it. After half an hour, I managed to join a node, but I couldn’t figure out how to see people on other nodes or how to communicate with them.
I believe deeply in the concept of federation, and decentralized networks and so on, but I couldn’t figure it out!
If you had a community that you brought there, and you just made it work for that specific community, it seemed promising, but it was hard for me to imagine it catching hold.
DAWN: I think there’s been two waves of moves to Mastodon, which opened up some questions around it.
Do we want to federate with all online communities?
Gab switched to using it last summer in July, so the alt-right/far right had a space; everyone who got deplatformed from Twitter went to build their space so they could be white supremacists. They had a different underlying tech stack, and they switched to using Mastodon servers, but with sort of more selective roles on how to federate them. That spawned this whole crisis, or maybe just a question, within the Mastodon community, of, do we want to federate these things?
They came as a community to that space. And so I think that became rather self-contained and functional fairly quickly; it was an in-group that wanted in-group connections.
There was another one more recently, at the beginning of this year. There was a lot of censorship going on in India, and a bunch of journalists collectively made a move to Mastodon at the same time, trying to think about censorship resistance and what federated and decentralized alternatives offer.
I think that opens up some of these questions around how moderation or how content works. In these federated models, there isn’t necessarily a universal view. On Twitter, ostensibly I can access all the content unless someone blocked me and I’m logged into the platform. But that is something you can play with in something like Mastodon. You can choose how porous the boundary is in and out of your community.
You can choose how porous the boundary is in and out of your community
This issue has come up as well with Scuttlebutt [SSB]. They had some pubs where people were blocking certain content, but because of how content is syndicated, people were worried that they were still syndicating content (without seeing it) from pubs that were anarcho-capitalist/libertarian veering into more right-wing. There’s a lot of interesting questions around moderation that these federated and peer-to-peer models open up.
KELSEY: I was trying to think of other semi-decentralized platforms for creation of community, and I feel like that’s been Slack for a lot of people. I’m in a space called We All JS, which is an explicitly identity-inclusive Slack community for people who write JavaScript. They have a bunch of special moderation bots and rules where if you say “you guys”, for example, Slackbot will respond and correct your language to something more gender neutral. Slack explicitly enabled that kind of custom interaction.
I wonder if that’s actually more decentralized than Mastodon because you don’t have to be a deeply committed decentralized technologist to use it.
I’m curious what platforms you all are on with your families or communities, and why.
How platforms shape content
DAWN: I collaborate with a lot of people who are very value-driven in how they work with technology. These questions about how far down our own stack to go come up a lot. In one organization, our main space is Matrix. I use Riot, Matrix chat [now called Element], and it’s always walking that tradeoff with proprietary versus open and decentralized alternatives. I have a lot of Signal groups, but also WhatsApp ones. And I’m just not on some platforms, like Facebook.
It’s always walking that tradeoff with proprietary versus open and decentralized alternatives
With all the mutual aid going on right now, it’s been on my mind a lot more. I started a pod in my building, and we’re using WhatsApp, because you have to go where the people are.
I think a lot of that model is one of harm reduction, not Puritanism. If you say, we’ll only talk if you first install x new tools and air gap your machine to generate your key, you’re going to lose a lot of people. You have to say, okay, let’s get working, but let’s start thinking actively about what risks we face as individuals, or as a small group or community, and how to reduce those risks. I think that’s an active tension; it’s not something to be resolved. It’s something to negotiate.
You can’t say, we’ll only talk if you first install…
KELSEY: I had some interesting conversations with my mom around what gets communicated over different spaces. She was talking about how on Facebook, there’s a lot of stuff that she just doesn’t bother posting anymore: once you get past a certain number of friends, you don’t want to post anything very real or raw.
I’ve been thinking about how we self-moderate on these platforms and how that interplays with the moderation that’s built into the platform, or how these platforms nudge us to behave in certain ways towards each other.
How these platforms nudge us to behave in certain ways towards each other
DAWN: My Instagram is just friends, so I can let loose. Facebook is everyone in my life, so I keep it pretty restrained unless I’m in my private groups. We mold different platforms to different aspects of how we want to present ourselves to the outside world, to our audience. There’s all this performativity in internet life.
KELSEY: Can we flip that around? Are there ways that we could take power over these spaces?
DAWN: I think revisiting what moderation means is quite interesting. In SSB, you generate a keypair, and it’s tied to a device. So people have multiple identities on SSB per device: for me, it’d be like dcwalk-laptop, dcwalk-mobile, or something. When one person can have many identities on one platform, based on context, I think that really opens up some of these questions of moderation.
Secure Scuttlebutt has a really lovely set of community-defined principles. They talk about “near moderation”, and “interdependent abundance”. I think they’re trying to open up some of these topics from a very different angle; the different lens comes from different architectural choices, but it can speak back in cool ways. Even just visibility can be a power take-back mechanism. When people are doing pod-style or neighborhood-level collaboration, people have flags that don’t surface on a single platform.
The different lens comes from different architectural choices
The model that Facebook is perpetuating is this universal space. Scholars have very convincingly critiqued designing for a universal; that model doesn’t work. Ideas like federation probably better represent a more pluralistic approach to connecting people all over the world.
Understanding federation
LOURDES: So what does federation mean?
GREG: Federation, as I understand it, means you have a lot of different semi-autonomous systems that are a part of one system.
Federation is a set of members bound by specific set of rules
One distinction that I think is really important is the difference between federation and confederation. A confederation is more like allies who aren’t necessarily formally bound to each other, whereas federation is a set of members bound by specific set of rules. The United States is a federation of states. The states have their own governing scopes and processes, but the federal government sets some standards and does some things on their behalf, collectively.
When we talk about federated networks, it’s not always clear to me whether there is some sort of central organizing entity, or whether a federated network just means that there are different nodes that can communicate to each other using common protocols, but are not necessarily actually bound through some sort of central coordinating entity.
KELSEY: That’s a really valuable point. In a decentralized technology context, it’s not clear whether “federated” is meant in the sense of having some powers delegated to a unifying authority. I don’t hear that discussed much.
In a decentralized technology context, it’s not clear whether “federated” is meant in the sense of having some powers delegated to a unifying authority
GREG: I’m really interested in how Americans seem to have lost the capacity to understand the concept of federation. The whole American idea is that you have local, state, and federal, and we don’t really understand that culturally anymore.
LOURDES: Do you think it has to do with how we see subjectivity and shared values? In my mind, a federation would be held together by shared values, but in the US, we’re so into subjectivity and the idea that there’s no universal morality.
The importance of boundaries
GREG: It’s really interesting that you hone in on values there. I study the commons, governing the commons, and the whole field of common pool resource management that’s largely associated with Elinor Ostrom and the Bloomington school. Traditionally, these are fields that study watersheds and fisheries, natural resources systems, but in the last ten years, a subfield has emerged that focuses on knowledge commons and digital resources as commons.
From that lens, the open source field has got a lot of things wrong. As an organizer, I was totally sold on the “here comes everybody” Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks approach. But once I started doing these projects, I realized it doesn’t work. And I was trying to figure out why. That’s when I started reading Ostrom’s work.
Principle number one is to set boundaries
Elinor Ostrom has a set of principles for the design of institutions that can sustainably share resources, and principle number one is to set boundaries. This was really tricky for open source and open knowledge communities to wrap their heads around. When I was talking about Ostrom’s work with real anarchist hacker types, they got immediately turned off by the notion of boundaries. Their whole idea is that a network is more valuable if more people are in it, so how would you set up boundaries?
I think that the key is to understand that the values set the boundaries. The values help a community determine what’s in and therefore what actually must be — even though this is an open network, if you’re not in line with these values, then you’re out. And we have mechanisms to remove them.
I worked on a project called SustainOSS, through which we developed a set of principles applying some of the Commons principles to open source software.
KELSEY: I’m resonating a lot with that. I’m a somewhat lapsed maintainer of an open source project called Tessel. We had this very embracing approach to maintainership. Anyone could show up and say, teach me how to use GitHub, teach me code and hardware, so that I can be a contributor. Our approach was a radical yes to that. I would definitely not recommend that to your average open source project, but it suited our project’s values. It also helped open up the definition of “open source” for me.
The degree of interactivity meant by “open source” is up to the maintainer
Different open source projects mean different things by “open source”, and that’s okay. It has to be okay to say that it is not the maintainer’s job to, A) make your feature, B) accept your pull request, or C) listen to you talk about what you do and don’t like about the thing they gave you for free. Open source can just mean I let you see it; open source can mean I let you suggest things but not contribute; it can mean I let you contribute; it can even mean I help you contribute. But that definition is up to the maintainer.
That understanding is frequently not reached. I think part of that has to do with open source still being kind of a new field. But part of it also has to do with people coming in with too much idealism. And I say that with a cringe in my body. But boundaries matter a lot. If you can’t make any, you don’t have anything meaningful inside of them.
LOURDES: I know some of you have read You Are Not a Gadget, by Jaron Lanier. He outlines the idea that the internet was a sort of anarchist vision that then became co-opted by capitalism and by our ideas of what a computer interface should look like. The fact that we store our information in a file folder, for example, is the metaphor chosen by one small group of people in deciding what a computer interface should look like.
I think having no boundaries or set of principles going in, allows other principles to take over. I think that’s how a lot of the technology we’ve built has become co-opted by systems of surveillance and advertising and capital.
Having no boundaries or set of principles going in, allows other principles to take over
DAWN: I think that the way that the internet unfolded speaks to having an intentional flexibility that got recast in perhaps unintended ways. I do think that there was an under-definition of certain values that allowed them to be empty buckets that could be filled with a lot of discordant things.
That’s a problem that I’m interested in. These projects that are very value-driven still use these flexible terms like “decentralization”. But it’s how you pair that with other values that actually gives trajectory to the types of social change that you’re pursuing.
Harmful design
KELSEY: The one article we haven’t really touched at all is Human Centered Design Considered Harmful, by Jussi Pasanen. I’m seeing the broader pattern of things that begin with these really genuine intentions, can turn into these crazy things — when people get involved, it gets messy. When money gets involved, it gets warped in this weird way.
GREG: I find the user-centered design discourse maddening. It can be useful as a tactic, but it involves this process of simplification. I understand the objective of that process, but when you’re dealing with things like infrastructure and complex systems, that simplification is a process of erasure, and it’s eventually going to come back to bite you in the ass. You’re probably going to fail, or if you succeed, you’re going to end up becoming a part of somebody else’s problem.
When you’re dealing with complex systems, simplification is a process of erasure
DAWN: There’s been some really good critiques of user-centered design. I think a lot of design scholars would point to an operationalizing tendency, which turns focus to product and then thinks about an individual engagement with the product as the site to design for. Don Norman, who wrote The Design of Everyday Things, is a seminal figure in this type of design thinking. He took a theory from psychology affordances, about a relational approach, and then narrowed it down to this way you think about an individual perceiving these affordances in an object.
There’s a lot of really cool ways in which people are trying to challenge that tendency. Thinking about, say, Sasha Costanza-Chock’s work, Design Justice and that very participatory approach.
Design really needs to happen from the bottom up
LOURDES: I just received Design Justice, and I think their argument is right on point. Design really needs to happen from the bottom up instead of top down and through capital surveillance.
Pasanen’s argument about anthropocentrism also resonated with me: human-centered design is anthropocentric and ignores everything else in the world. It reminded me of a critique of the whole mainstream environmental movement as anthropocentric, the approach that says we need to take care of the wild and of the wilderness because we need to survive.
An environmental justice framing is not anthropocentric, it’s more society-centric. I think what’s weaving these together is this idea of a collective moving towards collective-oriented design and thought in decisions, as opposed to individual and alienated decisions that will destroy the world.
DAWN: There’s a lot of people challenging these framings, but I don’t think there are reproducible ways through yet. I don’t know if we’ve escaped the gravity well that is getting trapped in designing a specific product. And when you have to design a thing, you just fall back on those patterns because you need to move forward.
KELSEY: That’s definitely something we’ve talked about before in these discussions, that sense of a need for momentum. We need it to stay motivated, but making progress for its own sake can be the most harmful thing we do. On the other hand, I get really frustrated. We can say that it’s good theory all we want, but how do you broadly deploy decentralization or bottom-up power without starting at the top?
DAWN: Trans-local, non-hierarchical distribution. That’s it. That’s the way. They don’t scale, because scale is part of the problem. | https://medium.com/data-together/content-moderation-and-consent-5d840ef42543 | ['Data Together'] | 2021-01-06 19:01:24.541000+00:00 | ['Ethics', 'Content', 'Decentralization', 'Civitech', 'Design'] |
Coatue and Tiger Global Betting on Braintrust and a Web3 Revolution in IT and Operations Optimization | This December, Braintrust announced a $100 million private token sale to an investment group led by Coatue with participation from Tiger Global, True Ventures, Hashkey, Blockchange Ventures. The infusion of funds is specifically meant “to grow the network and fuel rapid community-led innovation.” This indicates that this investment is less about what Braintrust does, match employers with talent, than how it does it, through community ownership and web3 protocols. In so many ways, this investment is about the future of digital transformation and how corporations will, or in this case will not, manage it.
The Disappointing Good Intentions of Digital Transformation
The digitalize or die wave that has gripped IT and Operations for a decade has only intensified over the last few years as dramatic commercial shifts strain bottom lines and remote work becomes the norm. In 2022, IT budgets are expected to eclipse those of the past 2 years and soar to 2018 levels and beyond.
The majority of this new spend will be on Web 2.0 projects that will fail. A 2020 Boston Consulting Group study concluded that an astonishing 70% of digital transformation projects fall short of their goals even when the organization is fully on board. Companies will fully commit to digital transformation this coming year and, sadly, they most likely won’t actually transform the organization in any significant way, leaving users underwhelmed and the IT team hobbled by an already outdated infrastructure. This failure will cost corporations nearly $111 billion.
Braintrust and the Web3 Approach
Braintrust is a web3-powered 2-sided marketplace currently focused on connecting high-end freelance tech and design talent with top employers. It’s main innovations, however, don’t surround its approach to recruiting, but its approach to operationalizing a business.
Instead of bloating an IT department with full-time personnel and expensive consulting firms, it uses grants and bounties to incentivize its freelancing tech-centric customer base to create value within the platform. The Braintrust platform’s initial use case of high-tech talent matching and job bidding is ideal because it attracts the exact people to the marketplace that Braintrust needs to help build out its core platform. In turn, talent is able to boost their value through increased technical experience in an emerging area, web3, further differentiating their talent supply.
Furthermore, The protocols that govern token ownership, voting, adjudication and eventually features like staking (enabling talent and employers to stake tokens to insure delivery on both sides) resolve user research deficiencies (because the users themselves are shaping the new functionality) and reduce bloat in other departments like legal and finance. Not coincidentally, Braintrust plans to expand its services to these other disciplines in the future, further enabling the ecosystem to successfully shape the organization.
The above information comes from Braintrust’s real-time Network Dashboard where community members can openly track Braintrust’s growth.
The $100 million token investment led by Coatue and Tiger Global, among other things, is an investment in the promise of web3 tech to change the IT and Operations cost structure of 2-sided marketplaces, optimizing the IT and operations spend and making them much more profitable, even as both sides get better deals. Braintrust openly targets what it calls “outdated, fragmented recruiting systems” by incentivizing community members to contribute technology, educational services and social marketing. This reduces friction on all sides, making connections between supply and demand quicker and cheaper to execute. Buying $100m in BTRST specifically “to grow the network and fuel rapid community-led innovation,” will act as a catalyst for this virtuous cycle.
Flipping the UpWork Model
To see how this might work long-term, let’s compare Braintrust’s model to that of UpWork, one of its web 2.0 competitors. UpWork generates revenues from membership and transaction fees charged to both talent and employers, with talent shouldering most of the cost.
Braintrust doesn’t charge talent for its services, instead choosing to take 10% of the contract value from the employer.
Because of this approach, the employer pays more in the Braintrust model, but the overall marketplace share (what UpWork calls the “take rate”) of the transaction is less.
Braintrust’s single-sided fees ecosystem is actually more economically efficient and obviously more attractive to top-tier talent. But will the employers pay more? Braintrust is betting that the employer will because it will want to be where the top-tier talent is. This may have them paying more in service fees, but also getting more for their money. One could also envision overall hiring costs dropping due to less friction in the end-to-end process, creating better employer terms as a result of this efficiency. At a cost of anywhere between $3000 and $4000 to hire a single employee, streamlining the hiring process and gaining access to adequately vetted candidates can lead to sizable reductions in the overall cost of recruiting and impactful increases in net productivity.
Expected Challenges Remain
Braintrust has some challenges. It’s talent pool appears web3 curious but more often than not doesn’t understand web3 itself or it’s role in the recruiting world. The talent is often simply there for globally accessible well-priced contracts with good companies. That in and of itself isn’t bad, but it does necessitate continued education concerning the value of the platform, and it means that the current talent pool isn’t likely to be enough to implement the required changes to the protocol. Fortunately, however, its community-based contribution model is designed specifically to address these shortcomings through education and ambassador grants.
Braintrust and the New Way Forward
Today, corporations are spending large sums on digital transformation largely driven and resourced in house. This is costly and often disorienting as the core business suffers under the distraction of technological pressures. The Braintrust web3 approach provides a solution to this model, creating potential for a win-win between corporations that must update their technological core to survive and the increasingly-empowered high-end talent needed to make such updates possible. | https://blog.cryptostars.is/coatue-and-tiger-global-betting-on-braintrust-and-a-web3-revolution-in-it-and-operations-f7666ad60f8a | ['Charlie Heinemann'] | 2022-01-13 20:59:51.291000+00:00 | ['Web3', 'Token Sale', 'Technology', 'Information Technology', 'Recruiting Technology'] |
Nostradamus Predictions 2021: When it comes to prophecy, the name of Nostradamus first comes to… | Nostradamus Predictions 2021: When it comes to prophecy, the name of Nostradamus first comes to mind. France-born Michael the Nostradamus made many predictions. He also wrote a book Whose name was Les Professes. Many prophecies about the world have been made in this book.There are 6338 prophecies in this book. It is said that 70 percent of all his predictions have been proved to be true.Nostradamus also made some predictions about 2021, whose information we are giving you here.
2021 predictions of Nostradamus:
1. Nostredamus made a prediction for the year 2021 that a Russian scientist would develop a biological weapon and virus that would make a person zombie. This will destroy the human species know mere click here | https://medium.com/@lovejotmalhi167/nostradamus-predictions-2021-when-it-comes-to-prophecy-the-name-of-nostradamus-first-comes-to-116ab5d7b06d | [] | 2020-12-27 11:44:51.030000+00:00 | ['Instagram', 'Facebook', 'WWE', '2021', 'Blogger'] |
What Is The Difference Between Reference And Literal In JavaScript? | Before reading this article, you must have intermediate knowledge of JavaScript like a little bit OPP concepts, Arrays Objects & functions .
What you will learn?
Here we will see about,
Data types & a Variable Primitive type vs reference type Literal vs reference (Object, Function, Array)
1. Data types & a Variable
Data types
If you are familiar with programming languages like, C C# C++ Java etc. You have noticed that every programming language has their own data types and declaration of variables & same case with JavaScript. But if you search about data types of JavaScript you will find varieties of answers about it, some resources will say there are 8 data types and some will say 6 and so on. But don't get confused there are 6 data types in JavaScript in general.
Number > integer, BigInt, floats etc. String > Array of characters i.e words Boolean > True/false Null > no value (technically null is a value) undefined > not defined at declaration time symbol > a unique value that is not equal to another value
You Must have to know, these are the types of data or forms of data in other words. The above 6 types can be modified in more detail like in sub-categories. As JavaScript is a loosely and dynamic type language which means there is no force to write the form of data eg. int string boolean you just simply tell computer about declaring of data not the form of the data.
eg.
We just declare our variables by not telling the machine what type of our declared data. It is the JavaScript job to find the type of data. For assurance, we can ask from JavaScript that what type of data we have declared by typeof keyword/operator. let's break here about types of data because this is not our main topic.
A Variable
In the above visual piece of code, we have covered the variable also. Furthermore, a variable is the part of the memory for storing some kind of data. eg. let name = 'Hawking'; now variable name has space in memory containing data Hawking
2. Primitive type vs reference type
Whatever we saw above Data Types & a Variable these were primitive type of data which means whenever memory stores, this data will save an unordered way (where ever memory sees space put there) but in reference case memory store whole data in sequence order (with memory reference) you know why? because reference type of variables are Array Function and an Object . So, these types store in memory with sequence and generate reference (address) in the memory cell. This is the fundamental difference between primitive and reference data types.
In other words, reference type means when you create an object, that value is not directly assigned to the variable. Instead, a reference to that value is what gets set. All that variable knows about is the location of the object in memory, not the object itself.
Now see how primitive and reference works on memory side.
3. Literal vs reference
(Object, Function, Array)
somehow both literal vs reference are the same thing but literal is a way to make a prototype (blue print) of your data in an object. While function, array and reference form has already designed in JavaScript with a constructor and can be accessible with new keyword.
Basically, constructor is the part of “OOP” approach! don’t think over about it if you’re beginner.
See code below how literal and reference look in real.
eg. | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/reference-vs-literal-in-javascript-1492edc17df5 | ['Fahad Khan'] | 2020-12-07 08:21:51.353000+00:00 | ['Reference Type', 'JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Web Development', 'Primitive Type'] |
[Tutorial] How to claim your FREE UNI tokens and get $50 trading credit on Huobi.com! | 🦄1.First, you need to connect your Metamask wallet to your web browser by typing in your password
🦄2. Next you need to add the token to your Metamask wallet!
Click “Add Token”
🦄3. Select Custom Token ,then input the contract address into the field
0x1f9840a85d5af5bf1d1762f925bdaddc4201f984
It should auto-populate everything else in the box , click Next!
🦄4. Next to claim your UNI you just need to make sure you have enough Ethereum in your wallet to pay the gas fees and then select Claim UNI on Uniswap.
After the transaction is complete just sent them over to Huobi.com!
🦄Full details of the $50 credit can be found here.🦄
👉No Huobi Account? Sign up here. | https://medium.com/huobi-global/tutorial-how-to-claim-your-free-uni-tokens-and-get-50-trading-credit-on-huobi-a70ed7b64912 | ['Huobi Global'] | 2020-09-17 07:38:05.381000+00:00 | ['Uniswap', 'Claimuni', 'Free Cryptocurrency', 'Tradingcredit', 'Unitokens'] |
The Teachers’ Conundrum | A Sonnet for the Teachers, from a Teacher
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.
Welcome friends, colleagues, educators all,
You teachers who care to enhance your art.
They put out the word and you answered the call,
To inspire the children to make a great start.
We came to teach, empower, and change the world,
Encouraging the future with courage and heart,
And all the modern approaches we’ve packed in our cart,
But sometimes, try as we might, the momentum stalls.
Those wonderful little cherubs don’t follow our lead,
Why don’t they see the genius and magic we provide?
They talk too much, they game, lie, cheat and hide,
Where are the fruits? I thought I was planting the seed.
That’s teaching I guess, a thankless profession,
Or maybe that’s me, a frustrated teacher’s confession. | https://medium.com/sonnetry/the-teachers-conundrum-4b3b6266cfaf | ['Joseph Brown'] | 2019-11-14 15:43:46.745000+00:00 | ['Teaching', 'Poetry', 'Teachers', 'Education', 'Sonnet'] |
As Bitcoin surges, cryptocurrency giant exchange Coinbase aims to go public | The announcement comes as interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has soared during the coronavirus pandemic. Investors have found such currencies attractive as the US dollar weakens.
Cryptocurrency giant Coinbase announced on Thursday that it has confidentially filed for a public offering, becoming the latest in a parade of high-profile startups to pursue an IPO in 2020.
Coinbase’s announcement comes at a time when both the IPO market and cryptocurrency prices are red-hot. The price of Bitcoin is currently near a record $23,500, and trading volumes are surging — a great deal for firms like Coinbase, which makes the bulk of its revenue from trading commissions.
In its IPO announcement, which came in a company blog post, Coinbase did not provide details about how it would structure its offering. A traditional IPO, whereby banks arrange for institutions to get first dibs on the stock for a fixed price, would likely be anathema to many crypto enthusiasts and Coinbase employees.
In a recent interview, Coinbase co-founder said during an interview to Fortune the company is “spiritually” built to go public via an offering involving digital tokens on a blockchain — the ledger technology that underpins Bitcoin, and which crypto enthusiasts view as the future of financial infrastructure.
It’s far from clear, however, whether the SEC would sign off on such an arrangement. If the agency refuses to do so, another option would be for Coinbase to pursue a direct listing in which it sells shares directly to the public. Indeed, this model was recently employed by Spotify and Slack.
Coinbase’s IPO will give its early shareholders, including CEO Brian Armstrong and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, an opportunity to cash out. But it will also represent a milestone in the crypto industry’s long-running quest for legitimacy. The company has yet to reveal how much money it is making, though sources close to Coinbase say it has regularly turned a profit in recent years. The company’s last fundraising round, for $300 million, valued it near $8 billion. That figure, however, is from 2018, and it’s likely Coinbase will seek a much higher valuation owing to the booming crypto market and the recent surge in demand for IPOs.
When Coinbase launched, many dismissed Bitcoin as a fad, while many government officials regarded it as primarily a vehicle for crime and money laundering. While some policymakers — and President D. Trump — continue to treat the digital currency with hostility, the past two years have seen a surge in acceptance by mainstream institutions. Indeed, a new crypto fund run by cofounder Ehrsam has attracted investments from the likes of the endowments of Harvard and Stanford universities.
Meanwhile, Coinbase has made several acquisitions in recent years to help its diversify its revenue model beyond trading fees, including custody operations.
The company has been dogged by recent controversy, however, related to a decision by CEO Armstrong to publish a blog post declaring Coinbase to be an “apolitical” company. The post came in the midst of upheaval related to the Black Lives Matter protests and was regarded by many as tone deaf and insensitive. The controversy gained further traction last month when the New York Times published a piece describing how numerous Black employees had left Coinbase, with some of them citing racist attitudes among their coworkers.
Having a look at google trends, it is not even really clear where the attention to Bitcoin is coming up so rapidly these days. Anyway, at the end of the game only exchanges are taking benefits from this huge “unexpected” BTC surge. Sometimes it’s probably better being skeptical about coincidences.
FD
website
official site
Social Networks
medium
facebook
twitter
instagram
linkedin
telegram
#coinbase #bitcoin #Advisory #consulting #agency #digitaltransformation #DEFI #businessdevelopment #tokenization #brandawareness #marketing #programmanagement, #digitalservices #cryptocurrency #exchanges #listing #bitcoin #BTC #ETH #de-fi #exchangelisting #ICO #STO #IEO #IPO #boost #icoboosterteam #businessconsulting | https://medium.com/@icoboosterteam/as-bitcoin-surges-cryptocurrency-giant-exchange-coinbase-aims-to-go-public-cc48c9fb140d | ['Ico Booster Team'] | 2020-12-18 18:48:15.464000+00:00 | ['Btc', 'Exchange', 'SEC', 'Coinbase', 'Bitcoin'] |
Robin Hood (2018) — If we can’t stand with the injustice then fight against it | Robin Hood (2018) — If we can’t stand with the injustice then fight against it
There are many injustices in society. Who is going to stand out to fight against the injustices if we don’t want to stand with them? Charlifestyle Dec 27, 2020·3 min read
I have spent two years studying in Nottingham. When I first arrived in Nottingham, I have already heard that it is the birthplace of Robin Hood. I didn’t know much about this hero until watching this movie and know what he had done for the people.
After four years in the war away from England and failed to prevent his commander from being executed. Robin was being sent back to Nottingham. When Robin returned to Nottingham, he found that he was officially dead for two years and his lover Marianne has met another guy.
Robin discovered that the commoners are planning to rise against the government that oppresses and exploits them. Therefore Robin decided to cooperate with his saver John to work to end the war by stealing the money taken from people to fund the church’s conflict.
With improved archery and combat skills to stealing the riches and return back to the people, Robin was nicknamed “Hood”. For the people, “Hood” is a hero but no one knows his true identity and ever sees his face as he was disguised. However, for the governors and the rich people, “Hood” is a pain. Therefore, they wish to find out who is “Hood” as soon as possible.
When Hood found out that the war is a ploy of Church, he figured that he has to stop it immediately. Under the situation that being chased by the governor, Hood has a full planning in revenge to fight against the governor. However, he needs support from Marianne. Therefore, he had to reveal the true identity to her.
With the help of Marianne and John, Robin destroyed the plan of the governor successfully. He stole all the money from the governor to share it with the people. Finally, Nottingham had a hero that is willing to stand against the government to protect people’s welfare. Even there is another corrupted governor appear in the city, Robin Hood would not let this appear in Nottingham again.
In every society, there would be much injustice between the rich people and the poor people. With the low social status in society, people don’t have their rights to stand against injustice from the government. Even they can speak out for themselves, their opinions are being eliminated by successors. As this is the norm for the whole world, successors lead the world, dominate the world and only their rights would be respected.
Though in the 21st century, most countries have their own democracy, people could elect their own leader. Indeed, does this leader can represent all the people? Or is he or she just another muppet of the rich people and concern about their rights only? Will there be a leader that would stand for the lower class people and turn back all the policies from previous leaders?
It might be hard to find a leader that is omnipotent and willing to stand from the perspective of the poor just like Robin Hood. Some leaders may even encourage corruption to exist in society. It is really unfair for most people that have worked hard. Yet if you can’t stand with the injustice phenomenon, why don’t you be the hero like Robin Hood and unite with others to fight against the system you don’t like? | https://medium.com/@charleunglifestyle/robin-hood-2018-if-we-cant-stand-with-the-injustice-then-fight-against-it-48f12a80274d | [] | 2020-12-27 22:23:00.654000+00:00 | ['Film', 'Review', 'Robin Hood', 'Film Reviews', 'Movies'] |
Emergency exits of a Teen-Adult. Obsession of time and realizing it`s… | I had always been a control freak which both nourished me, enabled me to by being keen find goals and work hard to attain them so I managed to change cities and then countries to follow, and damaged me by letting me depress myself whenever I stood still and felt like I haven`t lived enough in meantime.
My blessing was realizing time`s value in an early age by my obsession over it was a curse... I cannot really compare my struggles in life to anyone else, and I strongly believe that noone should. I have lost my father, threatened by my stepbrothers/sisters both monetary and psychologically. I was so lucky to have such a strong mother figure who always protected, supported and encouraged me to have control over my life. I was curious yet cautious to have the strings on my hands, so I did everything by the book, sometimes managed to trick it by my own way. What I mean by that is that I have been working in international companies, while I am not a very good fit for the corporate world. I realized that I was only in a working-sleeping cycle in weekdays and looking forward to weekends starting from Sunday evenings. Just at the exact moment of realization by obsession of time kicked in, started to push me off my limits most of all mentally. I made the most of my time, raced with time, with creating memories worth the experiences, doing something in every bit of minute that I am not occupied by work. After being able to match your own private deadlines (getting a concert ticket, wearing wedding dressing for a photoshoot, getting drunk and then catching a flight) in a breathless race, you begin to felt like torturing yourself and the first thing that comes to your mind when you are not fulfilled with your life is the choices you made to pick a profession. I was only feeling alive, and remunating life when I was away from work which I worked as a Financial Controller by the way.
In time I accepted the fact that I cannot be the person I would like to be in occupation-wise. Not because I was afraid to chase my dreams but I did not have any satisfying dreams that I felt attached for a lifetime. As a mostly unsatisfied person in occupation, I had this simulation in my head that I was travelling all around, trying local foods, meeting people, or painting every day, working with illustrators etc. None of the ideas and passions in me had a happy ending, because I had too many interests I was always bored at the end of every simulation. So I though to myself “Why should I just start from scratch then, why bother myself taking the same steps, I will just carry on with my corporate life where I have breaks with the interests I already have. They will be my emergency exits in life.”
I followed this though, I had my own parameters for success. A balanced-life, surrounded with several loving people, painting from time to time, seeking opportunities in every change I encounter. Corporate culture never fit me, but I had found this little holes that I could try to fit myself in some way which didn´t distrupt the work flow but reassured my love to live. That is when I felt becaming such a survivor, not being a rebel but not an obedient either. I guess that was the charm I put on myself, because I was not directly opposing any rules but only bending for new way of living, nobody seemed to be hardly rejecting my way of behavior (some even find it enthusiastic).
So be a hard working, self-aware (still in growth), sensible, nurturing, awesome person that you already are! You can find your path within the bounding realities of your daily life. I am opposing all the over-positive attitude that became popular anyway, so whenever you feel a bit cruel and self- depreciative, I would only like to remind you that you were the first best friend that you ever had and surely will always remain unconditionally… | https://medium.com/@lego-broker/how-did-i-expand-my-time-819f19d937e5 | ['Lego Broker'] | 2020-12-13 11:16:30.799000+00:00 | ['Friend', 'Growth', 'Own Way', 'Work', 'Sustainable Dreams'] |
Page One: ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ (1968) | Written for the screen by Roman Polanski, novel by Ira Levin
Written in 1967 and apart from a three-line parenthetical, it reads like it could have been written today. Lean, clean, and tight scene description.
Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.
For more Page One posts, go here.
You may follow the daily conversation on Twitter as I cross-post there: @GoIntoTheStory. | https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/page-one-rosemarys-baby-1968-b67d01ad4a70 | ['Scott Myers'] | 2020-12-08 12:01:55.670000+00:00 | ['Screenplay', 'Screenwriting', 'Film', 'Movies', 'Cinema'] |
Recording a Video with Sound on a Mac ( + it’s Web Optimized (smaller file size) ) | To be able to record the audio, download a free program like Soundflower
2. Open audio MIDI Setup
3. Create a multi-output device with both your regular output, and the Soundflower program you just installed
4. You have to select this multi-output device when you want to record something
Some softwares, such as DAWS, manage sound on their own, so you might have to adjust the sound preferences in your specific software.
5. Cmd+shift+5 to open up the video recorder
Reducing the file size (Web Optimizing)
After recording you can open the video in an open source program called handbrake for further editing. Download handbrake if you don’t have it.
2. You can web optimize the image, by selecting web optimize, this will reduce the size.
Click Start to begin processing the video.
3. If you want to change the video size, and crop some of the video off the edges, go to the dimensions tab
4. If you don’t need actually need any audio, you can further reduce the file size by selecting “Remove All Tracks” under “Audio”
Converting to a gif | https://medium.com/@webdexter/recording-a-web-optimized-video-with-sound-on-a-mac-1435d60967a | ['Web Dexter'] | 2021-02-04 06:37:23.717000+00:00 | ['Soundflower', 'Screen Recording', 'Web Optimization', 'Audio', 'Mac'] |
Ost Technology Update: It’s Now Even Easier To Build on Ethereum With Ost Layer-2 | The team at Ost technology has been working hard to improve our platform to make it even easier for developers to build dapps with their own tokens on our Ethereum Layer-2 infrastructure. We have recently released several major updates, including:
Improvements to Ost’s mobile wallet SDKs
A sample React Native app (built using the latest version of the RN wallet SDK), and
A server-side demo application.
Taken together, these updates are designed to deliver a greatly simplified developer experience that significantly reduces the time it takes to integrate Ost technology into existing applications and tech stacks. Now it’s even easier to build an Ethereum dapp on Ost.
Here’s an overview of the improvements:
Support for In-App Custom Loaders
It’s now possible for developers to customize their loaders to suit their particular projects. Specific new capabilities include the ability to choose:
Loader gifs
Success and failure icons
Success messages
Loading-text messages
Regardless of the mobile wallet SDK being used, custom loaders must be implemented in Android and iOS native code base. You can learn more about implementation at the Github pages for our Android Custom Loader and iOS Custom Loader.
Support for Custom Error Messages
App developers can now choose their own end-user and developer error messages. For more information please see React Native Error Messages.
Wallet Settings UI View
Developers can now implement a single “wallet settings” view covering all possible wallet actions and settings. This eliminates the prior need to implement 10 or more individual wallet workflows, an improvement that should significantly reduce integration time. The “wallet settings” view, which is dependent on device and user status, is updated as these change.
The RN Wallet SDK Can Now Be Implemented with just 4 Macro Workflows
In January we released a major update to Ost’s RN Wallet SDK, Version 2.3.12-beta.
With this version of the SDK, implementation is reduced to just 4 macro-workflows:
Activate user
Set up device
Wallet settings: UI view as described above
Transaction with add session: developers are no longer required to check whether an active session exists. Instead, the SDK will perform the check and trigger the “add session” workflow if a new session needs to be created.
For more information, see Ost Wallet SDK Macro Workflows (Jan 2020)
New Transactions Webhook
Ost’s Webhooks allow you to subscribe to specific events or topics within the Ost Platform. Whenever an event occurs that meets your parameters, the Webhook collects the data and sends it in the form of an HTTP request to a URL you specify. Once you receive the data, you can then execute any code on your server app. For example:
If you subscribe to the users/activation_success topic, then once a user is activated in the Ost Platform, you will receive a notification, following which you can execute any logic. For example, you can update the user with updated user entity in your database.
If you subscribe to transactions/initiate, you can show a recipient the details of a transaction as soon as it is initiated. Without subscribing to this Webhook, receivers would only see these transactions — in their transactions ledger — once they reached SUCCESS status, i.e., after they had been mined (6 blocks x 3 secs = 18 secs later).
For more information, see Introduction to OST Platform WebHooks · OST SDKs
startTime and endTime for Transactions API Endpoint
To retrieve >10,000 transactions — the maximum number allowed at this time — developers can now specify a startTime and endTime. For more information, see https://dev.ost.com/platform/docs/api/#get-all-user-transactions.
Ost Technology — A Turnkey Solution for Ethereum Developers
Our goal is for Ost tech to enable anyone to build a dapp on Ethereum easily. That’s why we continue to work to make the platform as simple and developer-friendly as possible. We’re always excited to meet and learn from developers building dapps on Ethereum, so be sure to get in touch with us if you’re working on a project.
And don’t forget to find us at ETHDenver this week if you’re attending the event — our team will be traveling to the Mile High City this Thursday.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter for further updates. | https://medium.com/ostdotcom/ost-technology-update-its-now-even-easier-to-build-on-ethereum-with-ost-layer-2-20b5a79744eb | ['Jason Goldberg'] | 2020-02-11 20:21:30.300000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ost', 'Developer'] |
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Sale!, HURRY UP! Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, Hyperlinks to supporting retailers on This post on medium.com are automatically made into affiliate links, and if you purchase a product through these links, We may get a small commission on the sale. Discount for this seasonal, limited time offer.
More Detail! | https://medium.com/@michael_59567/floating-mount-house-number-by-qt-home-decor-onsales-discount-prices-d8572334cae1 | [] | 2019-10-17 16:44:22.729000+00:00 | ['Home Decor'] |
Alone [8x11] Series 8 Episode 11 : FULL SERIES | 〘 WATCH STREAMING | Alone Season 8 | ONLINE | SCHEDULE | On TV | AIRING TODAY 〙
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Overview
Hardcore survivalists are put by themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness, without camera crews, teams, or producers — on a single mission to stay alive for as long as possible.
=======================
⭐A Target Package is short for Target Package of Information. It is a more specialized case of Intel Package of Information or Intel Package.
✌ THE STORY ✌
Its and Jeremy Camp (K.J. Apa) is a and aspiring musician who like only to honor his God through the energy of music. Leaving his Indiana home for the warmer climate of California and a college or university education, Jeremy soon comes Bookmark this site across one Melissa Heing
(Britt Robertson), a fellow university student that he takes notices in the audience at an area concert. Bookmark this site Falling for cupid’s arrow immediately, he introduces himself to her and quickly discovers that she is drawn to him too. However, Melissa holds back from forming a budding relationship as she fears it`ll create an awkward situation between Jeremy and their mutual friend, Jean-Luc (Nathan Parson), a fellow musician and who also has feeling for Melissa. Still, Jeremy is relentless in his quest for her until they eventually end up in a loving dating relationship. However, their youthful courtship Bookmark this sitewith the other person comes to a halt when life-threating news of Melissa having cancer takes center stage. The diagnosis does nothing to deter Jeremey’s love on her behalf and the couple eventually marries shortly thereafter. Howsoever, they soon find themselves walking an excellent line between a life together and suffering by her Bookmark this siteillness; with Jeremy questioning his faith in music, himself, and with God himself.
✌ STREAMING MEDIA ✌
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the procedure of delivering or obtaining media this way.[clarification needed] Streaming identifies the delivery approach to the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies especially to telecommunications networks, as almost all of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio tracks CDs). There are challenges with streaming content on the web. For instance, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of this content. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain content.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, an activity in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the content before watching or listening to it. Through streaming, an end-user may use their media player to get started on playing digital video or digital sound content before the complete file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can connect with media other than video and audio, such as for example live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are considered “streaming text”.
This brings me around to discussing us, a film release of the Christian religio us faith-based . As almost customary, Hollywood usually generates two (maybe three) films of this variety movies within their yearly theatrical release lineup, with the releases usually being around spring us and / or fall respectfully. I didn’t hear much when this movie was initially aounced (probably got buried underneath all of the popular movies news on the newsfeed). My first actual glimpse of the movie was when the film’s movie trailer premiered, which looked somewhat interesting if you ask me. Yes, it looked the movie was goa be the typical “faith-based” vibe, but it was going to be directed by the Erwin Brothers, who directed I COULD Only Imagine (a film that I did so like). Plus, the trailer for I Still Believe premiered for quite some us, so I continued seeing it most of us when I visited my local cinema. You can sort of say that it was a bit “engrained in my brain”. Thus, I was a lttle bit keen on seeing it. Fortunately, I was able to see it before the COVID-9 outbreak closed the movie theaters down (saw it during its opening night), but, because of work scheduling, I haven’t had the us to do my review for it…. as yet. And what did I think of it? Well, it was pretty “meh”. While its heart is certainly in the proper place and quite sincere, us is a little too preachy and unbalanced within its narrative execution and character developments. The religious message is plainly there, but takes way too many detours and not focusing on certain aspects that weigh the feature’s presentation.
✌ TELEVISION SHOW AND HISTORY ✌
A tv set show (often simply Television show) is any content prBookmark this siteoduced for broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, cable, or internet and typically viewed on a television set set, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are usually placed between shows. Tv shows are most often scheduled well ahead of The War with Grandpa and appearance on electronic guides or other TV listings.
A television show may also be called a tv set program (British EnBookmark this siteglish: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A tv set Movies is The War with Grandpaually released in episodes that follow a narrative, and so are The War with Grandpaually split into seasons (The War with Grandpa and Canada) or Movies (UK) — yearly or semiaual sets of new episodes. A show with a restricted number of episodes could be called a miniMBookmark this siteovies, serial, or limited Movies. A one-The War with Grandpa show may be called a “special”. A television film (“made-for-TV movie” or “televisioBookmark this siten movie”) is a film that is initially broadcast on television set rather than released in theaters or direct-to-video.
Television shows may very well be Bookmark this sitehey are broadcast in real The War with Grandpa (live), be recorded on home video or an electronic video recorder for later viewing, or be looked at on demand via a set-top box or streameBookmark this sited on the internet.
The first television set shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within an extremely short range from the broadcast tower starting in the. Televised events such as the 2020 Summer OlyBookmark this sitempics in Germany, the 2020 coronation of King George VI in the UK, and David Sarnoff’s famoThe War with Grandpa introduction at the 9 New York World’s Fair in the The War with Grandpa spurreBookmark this sited a rise in the medium, but World War II put a halt to development until after the war. The 2020 World Movies inspired many Americans to buy their first tv set and in 2020, the favorite radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “Mr Television” and demonstrating that the medium was a well balanced, modern form of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The firsBookmBookmark this siteark this sitet national live tv broadcast in the The War with Grandpa took place on September 2, 2020 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in SAN FRAThe Bureau of Magical Things CO BAY AREA was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets.
✌ FINAL THOUGHTS ✌
The power of faith, love, and affinity for take center stage in Jeremy Camp’s life story in the movie I Still Believe. Directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (the Erwin Brothers) examine the life span and The War with Grandpas of Jeremy Camp’s life story; pin-pointing his early life along with his relationship Melissa Heing because they battle hardships and their enduring love for one another through difficult. While the movie’s intent and thematic message of a person’s faith through troublen is indeed palpable plus the likeable mThe War with Grandpaical performances, the film certainly strules to look for a cinematic footing in its execution, including a sluish pace, fragmented pieces, predicable plot beats, too preachy / cheesy dialogue moments, over utilized religion overtones, and mismanagement of many of its secondary /supporting characters. If you ask me, this movie was somewhere between okay and “meh”. It had been definitely a Christian faith-based movie endeavor Bookmark this web site (from begin to finish) and definitely had its moments, nonetheless it failed to resonate with me; struling to locate a proper balance in its undertaking. Personally, regardless of the story, it could’ve been better. My recommendation for this movie is an “iffy choice” at best as some should (nothing wrong with that), while others will not and dismiss it altogether. Whatever your stance on religion faith-based flicks, stands as more of a cautionary tale of sorts; demonstrating how a poignant and heartfelt story of real-life drama could be problematic when translating it to a cinematic endeavor. For me personally, I believe in Jeremy Camp’s story / message, but not so much the feature. | https://medium.com/@ketin13639/alone-8x11-series-8-episode-11-full-series-64caea2a93f8 | [] | 2021-08-19 12:42:05.290000+00:00 | ['Creators', 'Medium', 'TV'] |
French Renaissance Forts in Africa | French Renaissance Forts in Africa
Vauban’s designs updated for 21st-century warfare
Example of French base at Meneka. Image source: War Bible.
There is a theory that some people subscribe to that state's history is cyclical. It’s been around since ancient times when it was believed that civilisations inevitably went through a cycle of dark and golden ages, collapse and growth. While it remains just a theory, it is interesting to see concepts and ideas from times past reused in modern days.
A sterling example is the type of forts built by the French military this year in Mali. The French military has been deployed to the region as part of the fight against terrorist groups affiliated with Daesh and Al Qaeda. Part of France’s commitment in the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger), the forts draw heavily on designs and principles exported directly from the early modern period of history.
Star forts
The star fort design was developed during the Renaissance as gunpowder weaponry became more prevalent throughout Europe. Traditional high walled castles were increasingly vulnerable to cannon fire. Sieges that would have taken weeks or months could now be finished in days.
Another major issue with the traditional circular or square tower design was that it provided cover for attackers who managed to reach it. This area, where the defenders could not fire at them, became known as a dead zone.
Turrets and bastions were extended into diamond point shapes which meant that attacking infantry had no shelter, even when they reached the walls. The new designs ensured that attackers would be exposed to fire, no matter their location. These interlocking fields fire guaranteed there were zero blind spots. It also provided a more difficult target for artillery as cannon fire was likely to glance or ricochet off the angled walls.
Interlocking fields of fire for a star fort. Image source: Norbiton.
Mali
The French military is well aware of the history that they are drawing from. Colonel Michel, a spokesperson for the Barkhane task force in Gao, was interviewed by the French Ministry of Defense last July and had this to say.
“The star fort is a revival of old concepts that are well known to the French Army. But it was the subject of a joint study with the FAMa, benefiting from their knowledge of the enemy and the terrain. As partners, we have shared our experiences to develop this new concept of the fort. This camp demonstrates a common will to put strong and visible structures on the ground, capable of showing to the population and to the terrorists the will of the FAMa to take root in the landscape. It will also be a sign of future settlements since it’s a model that will hopefully be developed throughout [eastern Burkina Faso, southwestern Niger, and southeast central Mali]”
The French forts might seem anachronistic but they are built on solid mathematical principles and are highly effective. They eliminate blind spots and allow defenders to return fire from protected positions. They can also be built with limited building materials. A combination of trenches and walls filled with sand or dirt is all that is needed. This is of especial importance in the arid climate where they are currently being used. The forts built so far have predominantly used local materials that are readily available.
The French forts in Mali have been described as built in the Vauban style. A prominent French military engineer from the 17th century, his designs built on earlier Renaissance models and today are some of the best-known examples of star forts. Other forms of bastion or star forts can be found across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe.
Example of French base at Labbezanga. Image source: War Bible.
The French bases represent an increasing military commitment to the Sahel. Operation Barkhane has been in action since 2014 but these fortifications are a recent development. It’s hoped that they will be a model copied throughout the region, not just in Mali. Labbézanga’s bastion fort has been handed over to Malian forces (Forces Armées Maliennes) and specific training provided as to how best utilise the fortification. A base on its own is useless and should be a staging point for patrols and reconnaissance.
In many ways, the forts are a historical throwback much in the same way that a large French military presence in Africa is. It will be interesting to observe their effectiveness in the coming months. Their success could result in the design being replicated across the continent. | https://medium.com/discourse/french-renaissance-forts-in-africa-84c4bf28237d | ['Fearghal Fitzgibbon'] | 2020-11-13 15:34:31.036000+00:00 | ['France', 'Architecture', 'War', 'Military', 'History'] |
Today I met a homeless Vietnam veteran and it reminded me to be thankful for everything I have. | Today I met a homeless Vietnam veteran and he reminded me to be thankful for everything I have.
My husband and I both work full time and make decent money, but there are times it feels like that’s not good enough. Student loans and other bills are frustrating at times.
This afternoon I met an older man who was trying to stay in a campground but didn’t have the $10 for the campsite. He also didn’t have money for gas to drive much further down the road because his check doesn’t arrive until January first.
I spent a few minutes visiting with him and got his story. He doesn’t consider himself destitute, but he isn’t able to work because of how Agent Orange affected his body.
We have a house, vehicles, phones, jobs, and a small business that almost pays for itself. I realized I have nothing to complain about. | https://medium.com/everything-shortform/today-i-met-a-homeless-vietnam-veteran-and-it-reminded-me-to-be-thankful-for-everything-i-have-830a9c322865 | ['Kim Zuch'] | 2020-12-27 14:55:12.671000+00:00 | ['Everything Short Form', 'Everyone Has A Story', 'Grateful', 'Life Lessons', 'Short Form'] |
[Spotlight] Walking the walk of Data Ethics | [Spotlight] Walking the walk of Data Ethics
Photo by David Werbrouck on Unsplash
By Darine Benkalha*
Despite our increasingly data-driven world, the collection, sharing and use of data still provoke numerous debates. On one hand, public, private and civil society organisations all use data to inform their activities whether it is policy making, research on societal issues or the creation of applications and smart technologies. On the other hand, big data scandals sparked a “data fearing” dystopia where various actors, and especially individuals, practice “data holding”. However, those collecting, sharing and working with data are facing a growing public criticism and more are exploring the ethics of their data practices and adopting ethical frameworks to guide them.
The Open Data Institute (ODI) defines data ethics as a “branch of ethics that evaluates data practices with the potential to adversely impact on people and society-in data collection, sharing and use.” For the ODI, data ethics should not focus solely on personal data but on all types of data and should be used at every stage of the data lifecycle. In fine, data ethics encourages the adoption of guidance that will ensure more ethical decisions are made about data and especially when data activities have the potential to affect people and society.
For our September’s Implementation Working group (IWG), we invited Olivier Thereaux from the Open Data Institute, Sara Baker from The Engine Room and María Paz Canales from Derechos Digitales to discuss data ethics and explore the principles and behaviours we should adopt when we work with data and why all of this matters for the public good.
While in the past years many organizations have taken a first step in identifying codes of conduct for the ethical use of data, in practice, these principles are rarely binding and not systematically embedded in day-to-day activities. Insisting that data ethics shouldn’t be a “check the box” type of exercise, our panelists shared some practical tools and guidance that should help walking the walk of data ethics.
Open Data Institute’s Data Ethics Canvas
Our first panelist, Olivier, introduced the ODI’s Data Ethics Canvas, with the hope to provide a practical framework to anyone who works with data. Indeed, the Canvas main goal is really to help identify and manage ethical issues right at the start of an initiative as well as throughout its whole process. Built around the values of engagement, trust and with the goal of minimizing harms on already marginalized groups, the Data Ethics Canvas counts four focus areas each including a set of concrete asks:
Know the data (pink) to analyse the existing environment and how the data is acquired.
(pink) to analyse the existing environment and how the data is acquired. Explore impacts (yellow) with a focus on taking into consideration the trade-off between positive and negative impacts both on the short and long term.
(yellow) with a focus on taking into consideration the trade-off between positive and negative impacts both on the short and long term. Plan your engagement (green) as communication is key to build trust and help people understand the what, the why and the how of a project.
(green) as communication is key to build trust and help people understand the what, the why and the how of a project. Integrate ethical practices (blue) to embed and think continuously about ethical issues and values.
Olivier encouraged future users of the canvas that each of its areas should be addressed by a cross-cutting team of experts from diverse backgrounds, that the canvas should have an equal amount of details and actions related to all focus areas and that it should be regularly reviewed and updated as the project progresses. Olivier also shared tips that practitioners should take into consideration during the data lifecycle:
Collect : Ask yourself questions about both the legal and the ethics of collecting data.
: Ask yourself questions about both the legal and the ethics of collecting data. Use : Inform people how the data will be used, what the results are and how decisions have been made based on this data.
: Inform people how the data will be used, what the results are and how decisions have been made based on this data. Share: data should be available equitably and fairly to those who need it the most. Not sharing data can be as unethical as sharing it.
For more detailed information on ODI’s Canvas, check out Olivier’s slides.
Responsible data in project cycles
The Engine Room,with its cross-sectoral group of 1200 practitioners, has also been advancing the importance of data ethics. Their Responsible Data program brings together a community of people committed to using data more safely and ethically for social change as well as creating space to share challenges and to develop practical tools and resources to address them.
Sara explained to the group that while The Engine Room initially took a rights-based approach to data ethics, it switched to a justice-based one to be cognisant of the wide variety of dynamics at play in the data lifecycle. According to them, responsible data should be rooted in the principles of empowerment — empower users to be active participants and co-design the process with them — and harm avoidance — ensure no harm is done or exacerbated by the way data and technology is used. Like the ODI, The Engine Room has identified a series of questions and factors that should be taken into consideration at all the stages of a data-driven project cycle:
Think about the power dynamics that are at play between the subject and the user of the data. Avoid unknown unknowns by practicing ongoing risks assessment. Adopt precautionary principle to ensure harms can be sufficiently evaluated. Embrace the spirit of thoughtful innovation instead of acting for the sake of rapidity. Remember about diversity and bias to assess what perspectives are missing. Work towards building better behaviours as responsible data is not one-size-fits-all and is all about context and culture.
Sara also shared with participants more tips to use at each phase of the project cycle:
Design : What kind of data do you need?
: What kind of data do you need? Collection : Have you obtained informed consent?
: Have you obtained informed consent? Transfer & Storage : Where do you keep your data?
: Where do you keep your data? Analyzing & Archiving : Has your data been de-identified and anonymized?
: Has your data been de-identified and anonymized? End of Life: When you close a project, what will happen to the data?
See more in Sara’s Slides here.
Data ethics in the health sector
While health sector organizations have been doing some thinking around the collection and use of data for a long time, the recent use of technology for exposure tracking in the COVID-19 context has accelerated the need to have these conversations. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) created a special task force within its pre-existing group working on guidance for the ethical use of AI in the health sector, to create principles for ethical COVID-19 data management. María was part of this task force representing her organization, Derechos Digitales, and therefore provided the IWG with two key considerations for the adoption of data ethics principles in the health sector.
Be mindful of the context : creating guidance should always be done with the normative, social and political dynamics in mind as principles will change depending on the beneficiaries’ realities as well as the type of data infrastructures in place.
: creating guidance should always be done with the normative, social and political dynamics in mind as principles will change depending on the beneficiaries’ realities as well as the type of data infrastructures in place. The devil is in the details: the number of principles to adopt, the system’s implementation time limitation and the criteria to assess how principles will be implemented are all key to a successful adoption of data ethics principles.
María also shared some recommendation around the adoption of data ethics principles:
Use restrictions : data should only be used for the communicated purpose.
: data should only be used for the communicated purpose. Increase the level of responsibility : ask data users to provide information in a way that is understandable for any users of the system.
: ask data users to provide information in a way that is understandable for any users of the system. Accuracy : only collect and use data that is relevant to what your system intends to deliver.
: only collect and use data that is relevant to what your system intends to deliver. Accountability and oversight: consult and engage external stakeholders to co-create the principles.
Data Ethics: Making the most out of data
Olivier reminded the group at the start that data ethics should not only be about avoiding scandals, but also about creating trust when working with data correctly. Indeed, data and trust go hand in hand and the only way we will get the best value of data is when we provide the data to the people who need it the most. As data keeners, we also must continue promoting the adoption of data ethics principles as this is a central part of strengthening public trust and going against the forces discouraging data collection, sharing and use.
But we also have collectively more work to advance on that front. We must continue to advocate for a better balance between ethical guidelines, international frameworks for human rights as well as local regulations. Bridging the gap between international human rights and new technologies guidance will be fundamental to make data ethics principles relevant and eventually binding.
We also need to take the conversation beyond privacy. While it is still the entry point of data ethics, studying the impacts of the use of data on different groups demonstrates that data ethical questions touches broader topics like human rights, as well as very tangible issues like access to health which is of particular urgency in the pandemic context we are all experiencing today.
To sum up, by walking the walk of data ethics, we help mitigate the negative impact and biases that have been unintentionally built into systems, policies and services–to create fairer societies. This is where the true power of data is. | https://medium.com/@opendatacharter/spotlight-walking-the-walk-of-data-ethics-c4bdd607ac63 | ['Open Data Charter'] | 2020-10-15 14:07:07.070000+00:00 | ['Policy', 'Open Data', 'Data Science', 'Data', 'Ethics'] |
Is a mobile app right for your B2B business? | In the era of digital transformation, the role of mobile application has extended its radius.
In other words, the adaptability has matched the compatibility in a true sense.
Undoubtedly, it is helping every sector of the economy. From FMCG to the service sector, it covered up all related benefits.
Here, the new targeted fraction as business app development comes into the picture. Business to Business model has been maturing consistently.
In the past, the enterprises depended on their relationships for building their brand.
Whether it was at industry events or in-person, or over the phone, the communication between customer and business played an important role in consistent business growth.
But now, the digital revolution has changed that dynamic. In this way, the role of the mobile app also keeps on aggregating.
The contributory effect is the growth of business and retention of much-expected business.
With the sudden upheaval in market competitiveness, every mobile application development company is are prone to revolutionize every niche of the sectors.
Is a mobile app right for a B2B business?
The way today’s current marketplace is behaving, enterprises must have a business mobile app.
The customer retention strategy would be more constructive with b2b app development.
Most of the successful and growing business has dynamic mobile apps. The way they prosper the need of the business completes the fundamental objective.
Furthermore, the mobile app accentuates your circumference and garnishes more opportunities for your business.
In a competitive market, reliability, accessibility, and conformability win the game.
So as in the case of b2b business. Business app development has developed an important business methodology.
The cost of the mobile app is correlated to its functionality. So once you decide about the opted functionality and process, you would have much better lead retention. Your app must be more user-friendly, optimized and targeted.
Now, it is important to unfurl the integrated reasons for business app development. So, let’s explore it comprehensively:
Contemporary Demands Need to utilize Potential Reorder and successful retention Better ratio of retention Emerging technology
Contemporary Demands
There is no doubt to say that the contemporary needs of the market have been changing since globalization.
In addition to this, it has become more dynamic these days. So, to outreach the customers and satiating their needs, can be easily done with the mobile app.
In a general sense, the B2B buyers expect a direct, specific and streamlined buying process.
They don’t want to engage in unnecessary processes or channels. Gone are the days, when traditional methodology offered you more lucrative conversions.
Furthermore, the number of people using mobile has enormously increased in the last few years.
The trends to access all their buying habits are the result of digitization. It constitutes a great need for mobile application development.
With more featured functionalities, you may fetch more valuable business clients.
Need to utilize Potential
You need to know that B2B buyers are not interested in price bargaining. In a further sense, they are not so interested in knowing deep detailing of your price structure.
Instead, their entire buying experience hovers around how value your service has? The enriched buying experience cherishes your potentials.
The way you extend outreach to targeted customers, either assure or fail your efforts of their conversion.
An important difference stays here between unusual customers and business customers.
The retention strategy is completely reorganized for b2b clients. They need to be treated much more considerably.
As they buy for just having a usual experience or to cut their boring time. They are more prone to the quality of the service for their correlated integrated efforts.
So the need to explore competitive development companies in the market such as the best mobile app development company Dubai.
It will make sure to constitute your business decisions more visionary and achievable.
Using features like Barcode scanner, purchase information, post payments, push notifications and many more uplifts the level of user experience.
Reorder and successful retention
The much-appreciated benefit of the b2b app development is, the way it rebuilds orders for your enterprise.
In other words, it helps the buyers to reorder your product or service in the near future.
The usability of the mobile app cements whenever the last buyers again reorder.
It also targets similar customers and increases the percentage of consumer retention.
In the last few years, the pattern ahs transfigured into a new way. Access to the service or products needs to be streamlined.
Once you keep them for the first time with the quality service. Here, the mobile app makes it easier to recollect all your buyers again.
Better ratio of retention
In a simpler sense, it would preserve a better OI for the business. With the huge cost of buyer retention, today the role of alternative are kept on emerging.
Especially when it comes to the B2B buyers the strategy must be organized and efficacious.
It sounds much more constructive because of the B2B customer bill more. In a general sense, they buy more volume.
So once you dedicate app development for b2b business, the cost of retention will be comparatively less. The return on investment would be much less.
Emerging technology
With the consistent changes in technology, the need for mobile app development gets stronger.
Today, most of the companies are accelerating their efforts in upgrading their technologies.
From logistics to managerial operation, it has made its importance So, In the case of the b2b model, every enterprise must be tech-savvy to fetch more valued customers.
You can’t allow your customers to let you just because of comparatively outdated working methodology to your competitors.
So, with the need of time, mobile application development must be reintegrated as your business strategy. It will add more and loyal buyer retention for your business.
Wrapping up
Today consumers are not keen on comparing the business structures to other businesses in your industry.
The market is witnessing a paradigm shift such as the app development for b2b business.
Now, B2B buyers are comparing with the best digital experiences they have ever had.
So it will more effective to use a mobile app for your B2B business model. It will be nurturing more in the coming years. | https://medium.com/@TarunNagarDubai/is-a-mobile-app-right-for-your-b2b-business-906a550aab3 | ['Tarun Nagar'] | 2020-02-17 06:26:09.924000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Business', 'Mobile App Development', 'B2B', 'Mobile Apps'] |
Rethinking the Battle Against Depression | Rumination and Avoidance: The Twin Engines of Depression
Photo by Viktor Forgacs
The great unintended sin of our overly-medicalized approach to depression is that it encourages people to think about it as they would an infectious disease — as though it were a malicious bacteria you’ve caught that needs to be eradicated with a strong dose of antibiotics.
But as I’ve hopefully shown above, far from a virus or bacteria, depression is often a perfectly understandable psychological response to a vast and complex set of individual-specific interpersonal, cultural, and societal stressors. If only the causes of depression were as simple as polio or influenza!
Sadly, when we train people to think of depression this way — as an infectious disease — they begin to see their own experience of depression as bad, something to be quickly eradicated, preferably via a pill.
Then, when pills inevitably fail in the long run, we turn to more subtle, but equally unhelpful, psychological attempts to eradicate the disease. And almost always, these attempts take the form of two habits: rumination and avoidance, the psychological equivalents of the proverbial “fight or flight” response.
And while these attempts to fight or run away from our depression may give relief in the short-term, they inevitably exacerbate things in the long-run.
In the rest of this article, I’m going to explain these two maintaining factors in depression and offer some thoughts for identifying them and working to lessen their influence by substituting healthier alternative habits.
What is rumination, exactly?
Photo by Ben White
Rumination is the mental habit of persistent negative judgments about oneself, especially one’s perceived past failings and mistakes:
If only I hadn’t been such a jerk, she never would have left me. I’ll never be truly lovable.
I’m just a lazy bum. I’ve always been lazy. I’ll never amount to much anyway.
I can’t do anything right and always screw things up eventually.
Did I come across as rude? I shouldn’t have brought up that story about her mother. Why do I always put my foot in my mouth?
Read through just a few simple examples like these and it should be obvious how badly you’re going to feel if this is the kind of self-talk you habitually engage in, day in and day out.
The deeper question is, if we know that habitual negative self-talk and rumination like this make us feel bad about ourselves (guilty, hopeless, lonely, etc.), why do we do it? Why do we ruminate when it pretty obviously only makes our depression worse?
Part of the answer is simple conditioning. If you’ve historically associated sadness and depression with the mental habit of rumination, eventually becoming sad will automatically trigger the mental habit of rumination. In fact, this is the same process (Classical Conditioning) that Pavlov discovered with his infamous drooling dogs.
Like any habit — physical or mental — rumination can seem to “come out of nowhere” and be difficult to resist. Still, if a habit can be formed, it can also be broken.
But for deeply entrenched habits like a lifetime of rumination, breaking out of it can be difficult, especially if that habit is filling some kind of important but unmet emotional need.
In depression, for example, a common feeling is a lack of enthusiasm and motivation to do the things you know you should and want to do. In its extreme form, this lack of motivation can become what psychologist Martin Seligman termed Learned Helplessness, an almost complete despair of ever doing anything differently in the face of depression.
While many people who struggle with depression often look quite passive, it can be amazing how active their minds are — specifically, how intensely they ruminate. In fact, it could be that because they lack so much motivation to physically do anything, rumination temporarily alleviates this need to take charge of their lives and do something. Like worry in anxiety, rumination offers the illusion of control and agency in depression.
Of course, while hyper-analysis of one’s past mistakes and flaws is perhaps temporarily relieving in that it gives you something to do and feel in control of, the negative emotional side effects only contribute to one’s sense of sadness, shame, despair and apathy in the long run.
In the next section, I’ll suggest some practical ideas for breaking out of the rumination habit.
Why mindfulness is the cure for rumination
Photo by Aleksandr Ledogorov
You’ve likely at least heard the term mindfulness before.
And while it’s typically thrown around quite casually and loosely as an apparently easy cure-all for anything that ails you, I’m going to explain why a very specific version of mindfulness can be not only helpful for dealing with rumination, but in fact, is the exact cure for it.
Fundamentally, mindfulness is the capacity to be aware without thinking. It means learning how to observe things as they are in the present moment without getting lost in thoughts about what they mean, how good or bad they are, and what happened or might happen in the past or future.
More specifically, mindfulness is the ability to control our attention — to notice when our awarenesses is consumed by thoughts (especially our own self-talk), and then to gently shift our attention to observing things (including our own thoughts) rather than engaging with them.
For example: You’re lying in bed and can’t seem to fall asleep. You find yourself obsessing about that awkward conversation you had on your date earlier in the evening:
Damnit, I always put my foot in my mouth on first dates!
Why couldn’t I have mentioned another topic? Any other topic would have been better than my last girlfriend!
I’ll never find someone. I should just give up and accept that I’m always going to be alone.
Thoughts like these are a perfect example of rumination. It’s a kind of highly negative and judgmental (and usually irrational) storytelling about yourself. And each one of these negative thoughts generates more negative emotion (self-directed anger, sadness, hopelessness, etc.).
But how do you stop ruminating? How do you stop thinking? How do you stop storytelling?
Mindfulness is the answer.
Although we rarely recognize it, it is possible to be aware without thinking. By cultivating our attention muscle via mindfulness, we can learn to more quickly recognize when we’re caught in unhelpful rumination spirals and then disengage from those unhelpful thinking patterns by focusing our attention elsewhere.
When we practice mindfulness, we practice noticing ourselves getting sucked into thinking and then extracting our minds from that thinking back into simple observation (usually of something physical like our breathing).
For people with depression, the mental habit of rumination is strong. In a sense, it’s an addiction to a certain self-critical way of thinking.
In order to break out of that habit, we need to strengthen the competing mental muscle. We need to learn how to shift our attention and remain in observing mode without slipping back into thinking mode.
Mindfulness is the most direct and efficient way I know of to build that mental muscle and ability.
Ruminating less won’t cure your depression. But it will go a long way toward lessening your overall distress and negative emotionality. So much so that when you begin to lift the excess emotional burden of rumination, you’ll often be amazed at how much easier it is to address other aspects of your depression.
While it’s beyond the scope of this article to walk you through how to get started with mindfulness, here are three resources that can help:
Now that we’ve covered rumination, let’s move on to the second maintaining factor in depression — Avoidance.
What is avoidance, exactly?
Photo by Jose López Franco
Avoidance is the habit of turning down opportunities and experiences that are in some way difficult or scary but likely to be rewarding and worthwhile in the long-run:
Staying on the couch watching Netflix after work because we’re exhausted rather than going for a walk or to the gym.
Canceling brunch with a friend because we’re a little anxious and just feel “off.”
Eating lunch in our office instead of going out to eat with colleagues.
Turning down the invitation to join that softball league with our sister-in-law.
Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with canceling a meetup with a friend or eating lunch in your office. In fact, being able to say no to things you genuinely don’t want to do is a key component of assertiveness.
Turning down opportunities like these become avoidance behaviors and problematic when they fit two key criteria:
They’re habitual. We don’t just occasionally skip out on the evening walk and watch Netflix, rather, that’s the case more evenings than not. They’re motivated by feelings and in conflict with our values. It feels better in the short-term to stay on the couch, even though we know that walking regularly is good for our health (a value) and will actually help us feel better in the long-term.
The reason a habit of avoidance is so detrimental to us — especially when we’re depressed — is that it robs us of meaningful and rewarding experiences in favor of short-term gratification or relief. And it’s this consistent lack of meaningful and rewarding experience that maintains and even worsens depression.
When we’re depressed, it can seem like the hardest thing in the world to simply get up, get moving, interact with friends, and do some meaningful work. And yet, those are the things we need most when we’re depressed.
The challenge, then, is to figure out ways to engage with life and begin to get more of those rewarding experiences even though every bone in our body tells us we can’t, that we don’t have the energy or motivation.
Why Behavioral Activation is the cure for avoidance
Photo by Tiago Rosado
You can think about depression like having an empty fuel tank. And obviously, it’s hard to go anywhere or move at all when your tank is empty, which is very often how people describe their experience of depression.
While getting a handle on your rumination habit is a good way to stop your tank from leaking and losing even more fuel, the other “half” of the problem is that you need more fuel in the first place. That’s where the concept of Behavioral Activation comes in.
Behavioral Activation sounds technical but it’s actually simple: it means doing things you find rewarding.
More specifically, behavioral activation is a structured plan for incentivizing yourself to engage in more rewarding (i.e. tank-filling) activities despite not feeling like it or having much energy/motivation.
On a superficial level, behavioral activation resembles the famous Nike motto: Just Do It.
But of course, if you’re depressed, that’s the whole problem — you don’t have the energy or motivation to do much of anything. Which is why the secret ingredient to effective behavioral activation — and what sets it apart from “Just do it” — is the concept of incrementalism.
Incrementalism is the idea that if you’re having trouble making progress on any endeavor, including engaging in more rewarding activities, the solution is to break things down into smaller steps and pieces:
Can’t seem to actually meet a buddy for dinner and drinks? How about meeting him for lunch?
Still too much? How about coffee for 15 minutes?
Still too hard? Try inviting him over to watch a game.
Still too much? Send him a text after the game about the coolest thing that happened in it.
Once you’ve found a small enough increment, do it until you begin to notice a small uptick in motivation and energy. Then, go for the next smallest thing on the list. Rinse and repeat.
I had an old supervisor who used to say:
I’ve never seen someone so depressed that they couldn’t go to the bathroom. If they can find the energy to get into the restroom, that’s a start, something we can build on.
The key to breaking the cycle of avoidance, then, is to combine behavioral activation — a structured plan for doing things that are personally meaningful and rewarding — with incrementalism in order to get over the motivation problem.
In fact, the most powerful effect of incremental behavioral activation is to chip away at the belief that because I don’t feel motivated, I can’t do anything.
By showing ourselves experientially — in very small ways at first — that that belief isn’t entirely true, we can guide ourselves to ever-increasing levels of activation and therefore reward. We can start to re-fill the tank.
Perhaps most importantly, in the long-run, we can construct a new belief about the very nature of motivation itself: Yes, motivation helps me do difficult things, but doing difficult (and rewarding things) actually leads to more motivation. In other words, we build a more sophisticated model of motivation and action, one that is bi-directional. | https://medium.com/the-understanding-project/rethinking-the-battle-against-depression-513f84a556 | ['Nick Wignall'] | 2019-04-03 11:49:45.758000+00:00 | ['Depression', 'Mental Health', 'Self Improvement', 'Self', 'Psychology'] |
Black Women, Black Love. A AAMBC Review | It’s fall into reading season, and we’ve been enjoying every second. Though most of our reads are fiction, we absolutely love a well-written and timely non-fiction piece. So, we were excited here at the AAMBC to have the privilege to review Black Women, Black Love, by Dianne M. Stewart.
This thoroughly researched, profound, and moving novel provides readers with knowledge surrounding why “70% of Black women in America are unmarried.” Ms. Stewart advocates for a complete overhaul and dismantling of the structural systems embedded with white supremacists’ ideologies that continue to plague generations and generations of Black women. Tracing the root cause of struggles with marriage in the community from slavery and the plantation to modern-day social problems such as mass incarceration, Ms. Stewart details a somber history that will cause readers to have to sit with the level of disrespect, humiliation, and factors outside of the control of Black women.
We give Black Women, Black Love five out of five stars. While the subject matter of this novel is extremely troubling, it is even more necessary. If you’ve ever wondered why Black women’s marriage rates don’t seem to be in the majority, this book is for you. If you’ve ever wondered how Black women become the stereotypical “welfare queen,” this novel is for you. If you’ve ever wondered how Black men’s mass incarceration impacts Black women, this novel is for you! A line that we loved in this novel from Ms. Stewart states, “Human beings, including Black women, were not designed to endure loneliness and isolation.” We believe in the simplicity and truth of this statement. This novel will leave you wanting to dismantle any oppressive systems that impact Black women’s ability to prosper in love. | https://medium.com/the-aambc-journal/black-women-black-love-a-review-210a3a90f58f | ['Aambc Review Community'] | 2020-11-05 17:38:58.585000+00:00 | ['Book Review', 'Black Love', 'Black Books', 'Nonfiction', 'Black Writers'] |
You Won’t See a Trans Story Like Mine on TV | After starting my transition, I began attending a local support group for trans women called FemSpec. I remember being in awe of these trans women, some of whom had been in transition for decades, paving the way for a baby trans like me. We exchanged notes on everything from local hormone doctors to how to deal with unsupportive work environments.
Because I was a grad student at Washington University at the time, which is a progressive, private university, I was lucky enough to be in a supportive and collegial environment. A group called “Women In Philosophy” invited me to an event and I felt so grateful to be included, despite still dealing with my own internalized transphobia and doubtful feelings that I belonged in such spaces. Despite their friendliness I still felt like an outsider, having read so much TERF propaganda that I had started to believe it. Eventually, though, I won this internal battle and gained the confidence to feel more comfortable in women-only spaces.
Despite this increased confidence, I’m still not totally comfortable using the women’s restroom. Even after four years I still get nervous. If there’s a line I usually just hold it, because I’m scared that some woman will try to talk to me and out me because of my voice, which I spent many of my first months in transition trying to feminize by watching YouTube videos and endlessly practicing vocal exercises using a voice-analyzer software on my phone.
A lot of cis people don’t realize that male-to-female hormone therapy doesn’t affect the voice, which once deepened by testosterone remains so permanently. The only way to sound more feminine is to either be lucky enough to have a high-pitched voice, or to practice vocal exercises to raise the voice’s pitch and change its resonance. Beyond pitch and resonance, there is also intonation, vocabulary, and many other factors that go into how your voice is gendered. Many trans women struggle with this, which in my opinion is my most clockable feature. To this day, I hate talking on the phone — especially when the line glitches and I hear myself in a feedback loop. Instant cringe.
Eventually, I cared less about making my voice “passable” and gave up on vocal exercises, partly due to being misgendered less often and having fewer problems blending in. But the bigger part of this was simply not caring as much about passing, solidifying my nonbinary identity, and not trying to fit some stereotype about what women are “supposed” to look like. When first transitioning, I would never leave the house without makeup, as I wanted to maximize my chances for people to see me as female. It does still hurt when people “sir” me, but I’ve come to care less about putting in all the effort required for passing as female, shifting towards a fairly casual sense of feminine fashion that doesn’t always require expensive makeup.
In the media, we usually see trans femmes who are high-glam all the time: Gatekeepers expect this and enforce it. At the same time, we’re often punished for our femininity, with TERFs claiming we’re obsessed with a contrivance of the feminine which doesn’t allow us to simply exist along a spectrum of femininity like cis women do. Plenty of cis women never wear dresses or makeup, but when trans femmes do the same we’re considered not “serious” about transition, or not really trans at all, just perverted fakers who want to appropriate the label of “woman” for nefarious purposes. And if we have facial or body hair just like some cis women do? Lord forbid because that is the worst sin of all: How dare we exist without perfectly smooth, hairless skin!
Speaking of stereotypes, when I came out to my mom she said she had never noticed any “signs” of me being trans as a child, clearly forgetting about the time she’d punished me for cross-dressing in her clothes. This “lack of signs” led her to be skeptical at first: She was worried my sudden public coming out as trans was a sign of an oncoming psychosis, and worried about me eventually regretting my decision to go on hormones.
Their Christian faith taught them to “love the sinner/hate the sin,” so even though I know they love me, I don’t know if they hate what they probably think is my sin.
“How do you know you’re really trans?” she asked, thinking my newly expressed desire to transition was a social contagion resulting from having done too much research on the internet.
My parents were initially very skeptical of everything I did, and I could tell it was hard on them. Hard for them to give up calling me the name they’d given me at birth, the name they’d been using for 28 years; hard for them to see me as anything but a boy. To this day I don’t know if they see me as a woman, or as their daughter, but they’ve both come to accept me, and they never disowned me. They now use my chosen name and pronouns (with occasional misgendering), and in that, I am lucky, as not all trans people have that luxury. It took them awhile to come around, but they eventually did. I still remember the first time I received something in the mail addressed to “Rachel” from my mom. That meant so much! Although I love my parents and they never stopped loving me, coming out to them was complex. Their Christian faith taught them to “love the sinner and hate the sin,” so even though I know they love me, I don’t know if they hate what they probably think is my sin. To be honest, we don’t talk about it that much. It just goes kind of unspoken.
In these matters, I think it’s important to give our family members time to adjust. They may never come around — and if they don’t, it’s okay to give up hope and move on since doing otherwise can be downright unhealthy for both sides. Often, if we just let time do its thing. The people in our lives come around when they see us living our lives, see it isn’t a “just a phase,” see us happier than we’ve ever been, and see us thriving. They begin to use our chosen names and pronouns, finally accepting us as the complex people we all are, remembering that our shared history is what brings us together.
And that, in a nutshell, is my trans story. Trans narratives are rarely simple enough to be fully captured in short personal essays, and mine is no exception. There is much I left out: so many relationships, so much pain, and joy. But you get the gist. If I have conveyed anything, I hope it’s that there is no single trans narrative, and that every journey is unique.
When we can finally excise from our minds any notion of conformity to the story that all trans people are “supposed to have,” the less we will hear people say things like “I never saw any signs.” Instead, they will say, “I see you, and I believe you.” | https://humanparts.medium.com/my-trans-story-f640bbfcd581 | ['Rachel Anne Williams'] | 2019-09-18 02:47:07.644000+00:00 | ['Transgender', 'Identity', 'LGBTQ', 'Self', 'Equality'] |
Teleconferencing Is the Pair Programming of the Future | AGILE DEVELOPMENT
Teleconferencing Is the Pair Programming of the Future
Collaboration for developers has never been easier.
Coding via teleconference is similar to the situation above, but nobody has to shower!
My challenge to you…
If you’re a leading member of a development team that typically works separately, I triple-dog-dare you to:
Pick a task that you think will take two weeks for your development team to complete (working separately). Perhaps an upcoming backlog item. Invite your entire team to a call on MS Teams, Zoom, or whichever teleconferencing tool you use. Have them drop as many meetings as possible so that they’re free for all or most of the day. Start sharing your screen, talk about what you’re trying to do, and start coding while the rest of the team is watching. Start asking a few questions. Don’t force any structure on the process. Don’t stop coding. Work the entire day this way. (note: you may want to have the fastest typer do the screen-sharing/coding) Repeat the process for at least another 2–3 days that same week. ??? Profit.
Why?
Well, screen-sharing over a teleconference is essentially pair programming without having to crowd around a single computer. There’s a number of additional advantages as well:
Your team can work from anywhere in the world. This is particularly important now, of all times, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of being limited to a “pair”, you can have N developers (or even non-developers) contributing on the call.
Anyone on the call who isn’t coding/screen-sharing can help by googling any issues that arise or pulling up documentation. They could also use their own machine to work on a related task while staying on the call.
A long session with voice and video promotes team engagement and eliminates delays in communication.
Developers can mute, take a break, etc. without disrupting the rest of the team.
Developers can swap between which screen is being shared.
Modern teleconferencing tools like MS Teams let developers take control of each others’ computers.
Developers have connected the world together in real-time. It’s time to use those same tools to accomplish great things together from anywhere in the world.
My personal experience
Whether I realized it or not, I’ve been doing this for about 2 years now. I have a small team, and we screen-share via teleconference almost every single work day at some point. Often times we screen-share for most of the day. It’s not a special event to work this way; it’s just how we collaborate. I can’t believe what we’ve been able to figure out as a small, cohesive group vs. what each of us would’ve been able to figure out individually in the same timeframe. I’ve used this same practice a few times with people outside of the team to great success as well.
The combined knowledge of a development team is immense, and (in my opinion) it’s a shame if that knowledge is fragmented rather than working towards the same goal.
Something that one developer forgets might be something that another developer remembers. There’s minimal lag between a question being asked and the question being answered. After the call finishes, every developer knows exactly what happened and what work is remaining on the task or project.
Try it out and see for yourself. | https://medium.com/swlh/teleconferencing-is-the-pair-programming-of-the-future-2f6ea433211c | ['Sj Porter'] | 2020-07-15 08:08:29.368000+00:00 | ['Development', 'Programming', 'Agile Methodology', 'Teamwork', 'Agile'] |
Avengers Endgame Failed Its Fat Fans | *minor spoilers ahead!*
I could write a dozen paragraphs about how much I loved Avengers Endgame. The story was wrapped up in a near-flawless manner. I loved the continued character development of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, who is one of my favorite characters. There were several progressive-feeling moments that touched me to the point of tears.
Unfortunately, one of the thing I’ll remember most about Endgame is how I felt when Marvel let me and all it’s other fat fans down.
I won’t say how far into the future we we meet up with Thor in New Asgard. He’s been living there long enough to become slovenly and unkempt, with dirty clothing, messy hair, and a frizzy beard. It’s obvious that everything he’s been through has thrown him into a depression and trauma he’s unable to deal with, so he muffles his feelings constantly with alcohol. Between Thor: The Dark World and Avengers: Endgame, Thor has watched his brother and half his people die in front of him, lost his mother, and watched half of the universe disintegrate before his eyes. Who wouldn’t be messed up after all that?
I wish I could describe the feeling of absolute disappointment I felt sitting in a full theater and hearing the laughter and comments when the camera zoomed in on Thor’s muffin top. His body turned and the focus fell on the prosthetic and/or digitally altered stomach pooch, unrealistic to anyone whos’s ever lived in a fat body. From around me, gasps and guffaws reminded me that fat bellies (like mine) are shocking, gross, something to be feared.
I sat in that theater last night, literally surrounded by people who were laughing at me.
No matter how much I loved the rest of the movie, the plot, the character development and story arcs, I will ALWAYS remember how I felt in that moment. I will remember the familiar sense of disappointment when I become a punchline, and how let down I felt by everyone involved. I will remember how a hundred people around me perpetuated what I’ve already been told over and over, that being fat makes me a joke.
I’d been warned that this was coming, I’d seen an article online before going to the movie about the fat jokes that would follow. I’m lucky to be far enough along in shedding the shame society likes to rain on people with bodies like mine that instead of being ashamed or devastated, I just felt disappointed and angry.
I carry an internal list of the movies and TV shows that are marred by scenes like this- comments and jokes that pass without a thought from people who aren’t shaped like me. These microaggressions color every day for people like me, we have it drilled into us time after time that our existence is nothing more than something to be ridiculed.
Given an opportunity to show that depression and PTSD can result in the inability to function and take care of yourself, the writers and producers chose to make some fat jokes. Given a chance to make the positive statement that even a god of Asgard is susceptible to depression, to help real people in pain feel less alone, they chose to zoom in on his stomach.
Does adding a high-tech fat suit add something to this? Or does it exist only so that Rocket can make fat jokes and later in the movie someone can make a joke about Cheez Whiz running through Thor’s veins? Did having one of Thor’s loved ones tell him to “eat a salad” add something to the movie or to that particular scene? Does perpetuating the idea that being fat goes hand in hand with being sloppy and unable to care for oneself do anything other than alienate a large group of fans?
I guess I could acknowledge that at least they didn’t make Thor’s beer belly and mini-man-boobs an obstacle for him. Throughout the movie, in fact, the extra weight didn’t seem to have any physical effect on him at all. Which raises the question: why make Thor fat at all?
I applaud the inclusion of a real emotional reaction to someone having lost things, and showing that Thor is in real pain. I’m just not clear on why fat jokes were a necessary part of that. | https://medium.com/fattitude/avengers-endgame-failed-its-fat-fans-874ac3e5990a | ['Rachael Hope'] | 2019-04-27 20:56:26.955000+00:00 | ['Entertainment', 'Body Image', 'Society', 'Movies', 'Culture'] |
10 Lessons from 10 Top Emerging Mental Health Leaders | 1. A Superpowered Life Comes from Turning Anxiety into Courage
Shefali Tsabary PhD works primarily with parents and children in an effort to build emotional resilience. She helps parents alleviate their own anxiety when it comes to parenting and the associated challenges. In her new book Superpowered she urges kids to take their insecurities, like not doing well in school, and turn them into strengths by figuring out how they can excel in different ways that will serve them best.
2. Put the Right Nutrients into Your Body to Minimize Anxiety
Drew Ramsey, MD works at the intersection of mental health and nutrition. He’s a board-certified nutritional psychologist, and his work helps us understand how to better nourish our bodies to reduce emotional imbalances. Most notably, he is known for highlighting the benefits of leafy greens, especially kale. These should be regularly implemented into your diet for reduced stress.
3. Don’t be Intimidated to Use Your Voice
Kevin Love is a fierce competitor in the National Basketball Association. It’s not often that a man with such physical prowess — he stands almost 7 feet tall and weighs near 250 pounds — would be expected to speak about mental health, but Love is the exception. He helps athletes and individuals become more confident and open as they go about their mental health journeys.
4. Marginalized People Must Break the Stigmas of Mental Health
Wilma Mae Basta is working to give away 10,000 hours of free mental health services to anybody who identifies as a woman of color in the United States. She works to fight against misconceptions related to mental health. For instance, she stated in an interview, “The Black community has survived slavery. Our story is of perseverance and resilience, and because of that, there’s an expectation to also survive depression and anxiety. But mental health should not be a symbol of weakness, and finding healing from it should not, either.”
5. “Even if you’ve been mentally healthy your whole life, the stacked stresses of the pandemic, financial strain, and isolation may have pushed you into unknown territory.”
Dr. Daniel Amen is a world-renowned therapist who has written 10 New York Times best-selling books. His work now focuses on pandemic related mental health issues. One of his most notable recommendations is rewiring your brain’s negativity bias about self-isolating, quarantining, and social distancing. Instead of dreading the times we’re facing, try asking yourself questions like:
What do you enjoy about being at home?
What’s better about your life now that you don’t have to commute to work?
What has this time at home freed you up to do more of?
6. Friendship is as Important for Your Health as Diet and Exercise
Lydia Denworth is a science journalist and author of the book Friendship, where she explains the emotional, psychological, and evolutionary foundations of why we make friendships. According to her research, “With friends our attention becomes focused, distractions lessen, awareness of time disappears: We emerge into a world in which the intimacy and joy shared with others is the fundamental reality, and for a time the world becomes a different place.”
7. Accept and Embrace an Appropriate Amount of Grief
David Kessler is one of the world’s foremost experts on grief and loss. Unfortunately, society is undergoing more loss than it’s ever seen right now, whether that be loss of family, friends, money, occupation, or hope. Ramsey in his book, Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief, explains how recognizing grief but then using it to find some sort of meaningful activity to do is critical right now.
8. Your Inner Biases do Not Control You
Light Watkins is a meditation teacher who focuses on bringing simplicity to the meditation practice. He recently discussed the importance of meditation in reconfiguring the mind to avoid implicit biases. By activating the mind through meditation, we are better able to understand where our biases come from and how we can get rid of them.
9. Everybody Panics
Perpetua Neo blends concepts from neuroscience, psychology and ancient wisdom. She recently published an article about panic attacks based on her own personal experience. In it she describes how truthfully, none of us are in control, and based on external factors anybody can experience a panic attack. But, once you understand this, you can begin the internal work to realize that they can be easily overcome with certain tangible steps and the appropriate mindset.
10. Emotional Agility Serves as a Roadmap for Real Behavioral Change
Susan David is the mother of emotional agility. In her Wall Street Journal #1 best-selling book about the subject, she emphasizes that emotionally agile people are not immune to the daily stress we all encounter in our everyday lives. The key difference though is that they know how to gain critical insight about situations and interactions from their feelings, and they use this knowledge to adapt, align their values and actions, and make changes that move them forward in the best way possible. | https://medium.com/real-1-0/10-lessons-from-10-top-emerging-mental-health-leaders-8981757820c | ['Jordan Gross'] | 2020-11-06 18:26:51.215000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Leadership', 'Inspiration', 'Psychology', 'Mental Health'] |
Her first few movies | A few things have changed since when I originally wrote about the things I (used to) watch with my daughter Vanessa. She still likes those things, but she watches them much less and she dabbled with other stuff, like Trotro, a show she discovered on Netflix with her babysitter. It’s a French show about a donkey doing kids stuff and Vanessa really loved it for a few weeks. It’s cute but I have to say that I found the singing and the voices really annoying. She also tried Les Lapins Crétins : Invasion, which stars the Raving Rabbids from Ubisoft video games. It’s also on the French Netflix and of course it was my idea to try it. It’s moderate fun, but frankly not as much as I expected and it didn’t stick too much with her. Two more recent discoveries are T’choupi à l’école, which is also French and is a CG show about a bunch of kindergarten kids doing cute stuff at the kindergarten, and Masha and the Bear, a crazy show about a messy little girl who strikes the life of a bear with the strength of a hurricane. She loves both of them and the second one has the added bonus of making me and my wife laugh our asses off.
All of these shows are in French, which is a good thing, since she has been mostly watching English spoken stuff and I’d like her to watch things in all of the three languages she’s learning.
(Well, Masha and the Bear is Russian, But I’d say it’s a bit early for subtitles, so we opted for the French language)
Then, during a short vacation in Italy, with the complicity of her grandad, she developed quite the passion for Chip and Potato, a Canadian show about a young pug that basically lives the life of a regular kid, in a world full of anthropomorphic animals. And Chip’s got a plush, Potato, which secretly is a mouse she befriended. This is also on Netflix and I have to say I initially didn’t like it much, because of the looks and the fact that most of the characters look and sound like they have a serious cocaine addiction, but Vanessa really loved it, so I gave it a serious try and, well, it’s not Hilda but it’s fine. It teaches nice things (or things I agree with, I guess that’s what counts) and it’s cute. Plus, Vanessa learned a lullaby from it and she sings it to me every time she sees me lying on the couch, which is otherwordly cute.
But right now, that’s also a thing of the past, more or less. In the last couple of weeks, Vanessa fell in love with music videos. She always liked to watch, every once in a while, videos from her favourite songs, but she recently decided that she really loves that, so her “screen time” has been dedicated to music. Recent top hits have been the Abba and Lady Gaga discographies, both on Spotify and YouTube, and she is learning lyrics, dancing, watching the videos. The Lady Gaga part of it may give my readers the urge to call social services but, what can I say, I think it’s cool, I like her vibe, even though I’m not necessarily a fan. She’s also quite into Marina and the Diamonds (but I guess now it’s only Marina) and she still loves to watch the clips with songs from Disney movies, even from the movies she never watched, but yeah, Abba and Lady Gaga are the heavy hitters right now.
And we started watching some movies together! Of course, being a forty years old dad, my first thought was to show her some Disney classics, at least the ones that don’t focus on princesses falling in love with the first dude they met and constantly needing rescue. Plus, Vanessa was already familiar with some of them because of bedtime stories and because of the songs, so it made sense. We started with The Jungle Book: she loved Mowgli from our evening readings and she loved Bare Necessities, so it was a no brainer. And, well, she seemed to like it and have fun, even though she went to hide on the other side of the living room when Shere Khan was on screen, and she never asked to watch it again. But then we started reading the original book, which I bought in a beautiful edition in my last trip to San Francisco, so I guess that’s good.
Personally, I still think the art style and the songs are adorable, even though by today standards the movie is incredibly slow, kinda boring, I guess. What really annoyed me, though, was the ending. After more than one hour with only male characters (and a wolfmother, of course), here comes the little girl, getting water from the river and singing about how much she hopes to find a beautiful husband, have a daughter and send her to the river to get some water while she’s home cooking. And just to be safe, Baloo warns Mowgli about women: he shouldn’t trust them. OK.
Then we tried Lady and the Tramp, of which Vanessa was also aware because of the big Disney book she got as a present from family friends, but she wasn’t necessarily a huge fan of it. She kinda liked it, she had fun with all the cute animals but she never asked to watch it again.
My opinion? Not that dissimilar from The Jungle Book: art is still lovely, the rhythm is almost unbearably sleep-inducing (or maybe I shouldn’t watch movies from so many decades ago while I’m digesting my lunch) and the way it uses human ethnic clichés to depict different animal races is a bit disturbing. But at least Lady is a strong female character that ends up taking matters in her own paws, more or less. Anyway, Vanessa didn’t really care about the movie, so who cares?
And then love struck hard when we watched Mulan. Vanessa was instantly sucked in, she didn’t speak for the whole movie (which is quite longer than the previous ones), she was annoyed by the old lady at the beginning, she got mildly spooked by the Huns and she ended up having so much fun. She talked about it a lot afterwards, she was constantly riffing on how much Shan Yu is not a nice person. Since March, we watched it together four times and she watched it two or three more times with her mom while I was at E3 (it’s become the secret weapon when she is impossible to manage). It may seem not too much but keep in mind that we let her watch it only when there’s really enough time to watch all of it and, also, only if she didn’t already watch other stuff or play some video games on the same day. So, by her standards, six or more times is a lot. And she always watch it religiously, with very little talking on specific moments while, of course, she sings along with it. She instantly loved Reflection but, after a while, I’ll Make a Man Out of You became a heavy hitter on Spotify and now she can sing almost all of it by memory.
Me? I think it still is a lovely movie, with a fascinating art style, great rhythm and some very nice music. I never loved the songs, even though I’m kinda into Reflection and I almost cried when my daughter asked me to explain what’s going on in that scene. Yeah. I’m silly that way, with Disney movies. I also think that I’ll Make a Man Out of You is scarily sexist, even though it makes sense in the context of the movie. But taken out of context, I have to admit I don’t love the fact that my daughter knows it by heart. I know, I know, I worry too much and in fact I’m not really worried, plus the overall movie is quite nice in that sense, so everything’s fine. I think.
After the second showing of Mulan in two days, we tried Dumbo. I mean, cute animals, memorable music, short running time… what’s not to love? Well, she had some fun with it and she was happy but she never asked for it again. As soon as she had a new chance to watch a movie — which was a couple of weeks later — she went back to the Chinese well and that was it.
What can I say about Dumbo? It’s incredibly cute, the cage scene is heartbreaking, the flying scene with that music (I have to admit I didn’t remember that that music I loved was from Dumbo) is adorable and the crazy drunk elephant scene is still beautifully inventive and visually stunning. By the way, sorry, I never thought that part of the movie was scary and my daughter agrees with me. On the negative side, yeah, there’s always the rhythm issue and the crows are maybe a bit problematic, I guess.
As I said up there, Vanessa started listening Abba classics and she loves them so, a few weekends ago, around the end of June, my wife decided we all had to watch together Mamma Mia! I never watched it so, why not? And, well, we found a new cinematic love for our daughter. She watched it from the beginning to the end without saying a single word, she loved it, she started talking about Sophie and her mother Donna, and Abba songs became even bigger heavy hitters on Spotify. Her favorites? I’d say Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, Honey Honey and Dancing Queen. And she asked for the movie many times but, since it’s almost two hours long, there haven’t been many chances for rewatches. There’s been only one rewatch a week ago. And once again, she basically watched it in a trance. She’s adorable.
Me? Well, it’s a really simple movie, I’m not exactly a fan, but it’s moderately funny, I like the songs, Meryl Streep is so intense that she makes Abba lyrics sound profound, Amanda Seyfried is beautiful and Pierce Brosnan is Pierce Brosnan, so I guess it could be worse.
Last and probably least, last Sunday afternoon I was really tired, my wife was taking an afternoon nap, Vanessa wasn’t in the mood for sleep and I enjoyed the idea of her not taking a nap, so that she would fall asleep quite early in the evening (after the usual dose of Sunday house-made pizza), have a nice, long, night of sleep and be easy to wake up in the morning.* So I said “Let’s watch a movie!” and she loved the idea. I suggested Toy Story, she seemed into it, it started and… she seemed to enjoy it but then, after half an hour, she started complaining and ended up demanding that we stopped it. Why? From what I could understand, she basically hated every single character apart from Bo Peep.
Personally, I have to say that even though I still think it’s well written and it’s got some nice ideas, you can really feel how tentative the writing was in many ways: it’s clearly Pixar’s first movie. Also, by today standards, it looks terrible and kinda scary.
So we stopped it, but she wasn’t satisfied, she wanted to watch something else. And that’s when we discovered Masha and the Bear.
* The plan worked perfectly.
So I guess we’re back on Mulan and Mamma Mia! | https://medium.com/@giopep/her-first-few-movies-3e92a0ef8c22 | ['Andrea Maderna'] | 2019-07-22 16:06:10.403000+00:00 | ['Mulan', 'Parenthood', 'Movies', 'Disney', 'Parenting'] |
MongoDB with Realm, an upgrade from Stitch | MongoDB Inc. made it clear in their debut that they won’t change on how Realm works, but will instead improve it.
Realm won’t change to become a JSON database, but it will be compatible with new data types like Dictionaries, Sets, Mixed/Any data types and more database functions that will make developing for different platforms much easier.
Empty dictionary written in Swift
They’ve also introduced ‘universal’ sync solutions for all platforms which will make backups much easy, especially for app users who might shift from one mobile operating system to another. | https://medium.com/thecodr/mongodb-with-realm-an-upgrade-from-stitch-cbdcf9170197 | ['Daniel Kioko'] | 2020-06-12 13:45:13.877000+00:00 | ['Mongodb', 'Programming', 'Database', 'Sofware Development', 'Realm'] |
China completes its first-ever docking in lunar orbit | China’s national flag is seen unfurled from the Chang’e-5 spacecraft on the moon, in this handout image provided by China National Space Administration (CNSA) December 4, 2020
The manoeuvre was part of the ambitious Chang’e-5 mission to bring back the first lunar samples in four decades
A Chinese probe carrying samples from the lunar surface successfully docked Sunday with a spacecraft orbiting the moon, in another space first for the nation, state media reported.
The manoeuvre was part of the ambitious Chang’e-5 mission — named after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess — to bring back the first lunar samples in four decades.
The cargo capsule carrying lunar rocks and soil lifted off from the surface on Thursday, and docked with the orbiter on Sunday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Sch-v-Ber-dazn-01.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Sch-v-Ber-dazn-02.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Sch-v-Ber-dazn-03.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Sch-v-Ber-dazn-04.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Sch-v-Ber-dazn-05.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Nap-v-Cro-liv-sky8-tv-01.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Nap-v-Cro-liv-sky8-tv-02.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Nap-v-Cro-liv-sky8-tv-03.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Nap-v-Cro-liv-sky8-tv-04.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Reims-v-Nice-foot-tv-01.html
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http://frenchdigitaltour.org/bek2/Reims-v-Nice-foot-tv-01.html
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http://frenchdigitaltour.org/bek2/Reims-v-Nice-foot-tv-03.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Vil-v-Elc-horario-tv-01.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/v-ideo-Standard-op-tv-01.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/Tot-v-Ars-tyc-01.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/UK-v-Snooker-liv-cbs-01.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/sup1/GP-v-Sakhir-lequipe-01.html
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https://www.finehh.com/fud2/UK-v-Snooker-liv-cbs-01.html
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https://www.finehh.com/fud2/GP-v-Sakhir-lequipe-01.html
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https://www.finehh.com/fud2/GP-v-Sakhir-liv-sky8-tv-02.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/vxo/Prix-t-v-m01.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/vxo/video-arsenal-v-tottenham-match-liv-ukkkkk1.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/vxo/video-arsenal-v-tottenham-match-liv-ukkkkk5.html
https://tcher.tamu.edu/vxo/video-reims-v-nice-en-direct-tv-fr-1.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/vxo/video-reims-v-nice-en-direct-tv-fr-5.html
http://frenchdigitaltour.org/kjr/video-reims-v-nice-en-direct-tv-fr-1.html
http://frenchdigitaltour.org/kjr/video-reims-v-nice-en-direct-tv-fr-2.html
http://frenchdigitaltour.org/kjr/video-reims-v-nice-en-direct-tv-fr-3.html
http://frenchdigitaltour.org/kjr/video-reims-v-nice-en-direct-tv-fr-4.html
http://frenchdigitaltour.org/kjr/video-reims-v-nice-en-direct-tv-fr-5.html
http://www.daikimaru.jp/bwj/Skhir-GP-v-01.html
http://www.daikimaru.jp/bwj/Skhir-GP-v-02.html
http://www.daikimaru.jp/bwj/Skhir-GP-v-03.html
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https://tcher.tamu.edu/vxo/Skhir-GP-v-01.html
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https://note.com/kdiruas/n/n9c491755f15d
https://attributn.tumblr.com/post/636763070565335040
https://attributnn.hatenablog.com/entry/2020/12/06/232330
https://www.peeranswer.com/question/5fcce6faa72e39c81e571832
https://slexy.org/view/s21Wihulkw
https://paiza.io/projects/oW2Sfi906AI2gmf2WDPPFw
https://pastelink.net/2c8ku
https://note.com/kladvsp/n/n35726d6e533c
https://uiwuryas.tumblr.com/post/636763190785638400
https://wepayst.hatenablog.com/entry/2020/12/06/232533
https://www.peeranswer.com/question/5fcce77883f9ad6078dfea94
https://slexy.org/view/s2UxuVt4FM
https://paiza.io/projects/uuCxdXCJahCotf_70Ck_Lg
https://pastelink.net/2c8ld
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/kulkuidewa/e/32479abca6dd387b39c982803acbb4e8
https://blog.goo.ne.jp/kulkuidewa/e/4a3caa6dbe15b34e44c0fa7a8c64bacd
Xinhua said it was China’s first “rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit”.
The cargo capsule’s departure from the lunar surface on Thursday was also a first: the first liftoff of a Chinese craft from an extraterrestrial body.
The capsule transferred the moon samples to the orbiter, which will separate and return to Earth, Xinhua said.
China is looking to catch up with the United States and Russia after taking decades to match their achievements, and has poured billions into its military-run space program.
Its space agency said previously that “before liftoff, the Chinese flag was raised on the moon’s surface”.
Scientists hope the samples from Chang’e-5 will help them learn more about the Moon’s origins and volcanic activity on its surface.
If the return journey is successful, China will become only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s. | https://medium.com/@reshito/china-completes-its-first-ever-docking-in-lunar-orbit-e2c7eb974d30 | [] | 2020-12-06 14:43:02.036000+00:00 | ['Moon', 'Newsletter', 'China', 'Lunar New Year'] |
Love Amalgamating with the Divine | Although Prem-Samarpan is two words in Hindi, I could not divide them personally as they mean the same to me.
Prem means “Love.” Love that is divine and omnipresent. Love that resides in every heart. Love that connects us with the divine. We can love anything, any person or animal, but that love that arises from the heart's deepest caverns is divine communicating with the divine.
Samarpan means “Surrender.” Only in deep love, true surrender can happen. When love is present, it happens automatically. Heart surrenders. Love is a prayer where surrender is an effortless by-product.
Like Meera, whose love for Lord Krishna was a prayer, a journey, and the destination, love in the truest sense is that only. Love where the devotee surrenders everything, merging in the beloved and only beloved remains. Lover and beloved are one, not two entities.
Prem and Samarpan - Love and Surrender is one and not two distinct realities. | https://medium.com/the-brain-is-a-noodle/love-amalgamating-with-the-divine-af4a9d14367e | ['Ruchi Thalwal'] | 2020-12-28 15:22:06.193000+00:00 | ['Self', 'Spirituality', 'Prayer', 'Love', 'Poetry'] |
Consumption of Digital Gadgets in China | China has a Huge market for Electronic Gadgets. Whether you are a just looking for cool gifts, you will find a broad array of electronic gadgets and cool gizmo gadgets here. In China, the growing gadgets demand will drive global marketers to seek opportunities in China.
Originally published at https://vijaynanavare.blogspot.com.
Gadgets and Small Tech Products are Growing in China
The gadgets in main Electronic Gadgets category include solar appliances like solar phone and laptop chargers. You will also find LED watches with cool light effects or amusing cryptic ways of displaying the time. There are laser gadgets such as handheld laser pointers and rangefinders. And loads of other small and interesting cheap electronics and cool inventions.
There are also several popular gadgets and popular technology products in China, like virtual cinema video glasses, solar chargers, digital Dictaphones, 3D printers both big and small, camera drones that fit in the palm of your hand, musical gadgets, and much more.
Chinese people love gizmo gadgets and Chinese parents tend to buy them for their children, especially for education. One such example is the flying toys which are one of the hottest gadgets in 2017. These come in all sizes from a palm size mini drone that fit in your hand to bigger quadcopters carrying 4K cameras, such as the DJI Phantom. These are able to capture stunning aerial photography. Many of these can be synced to your smartphone or iPad and offer immense VFP photography. These gadgets are popular due to their favorable price and providing hours of entertainment and make an ideal gift for boys.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of the owner and owner does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. | https://medium.com/@vijunanavare/consumption-of-digital-gadgets-in-china-5dd1baeb449 | [] | 2020-12-14 06:08:03.376000+00:00 | ['Gadgets', 'Blogging', 'Blogger', 'Electronics', 'Blogging Tips'] |
Persephone Rises | Persephone Rises
A poem
Art by Moga Alexandru
I remember; The crispy grass under my soles,
The tall lavender kissing my sore knees and my hands
Dancing around trees; Dirt beneath my fingertips and
A feeling of urgency towards stillness.
The voices of the woods would call me and I would answer
In sober desperation; The world is dying, I don’t want to spend
More than one minute in the same place because there is
So much to see and much earth to greet; Soon everything will collapse,
Starting by my lungs, one against the other, so I’ve been saving my breath
For the words that matter.
The Fae asked me to have faith in the cycles, in the seeds about to sprout
Yet I feel I’ve been cropped, harvested and soon, the soil will follow,
Eating down my legs and my arms; swallowing my limbs whole, engulfing
All that once was into a new beginning; An imploding volcano,
Erupting itself.
I see stones made out of empty shells and webs abandoned, evicted;
Long-gone spiders left circular notes, which I study and memorize by heart.
It is the lore of the forest, the words of a song I forgot the rhythm yet my
Syncopated hearth tries to retrieve it; I thought I could sing the world anew.
I thought I could mend the roots and the branches with saliva and tears,
But they keep on breaking; crippled jungles seek shelter beneath my arms,
The toasted wings of a weary phoenix, tired of the chthonian act of rebirth,
Pushed from the legs of Gaia more than once; beaking the primordial egg
Until it cracks open and cuts my skin, plucking my feathers.
But I resist.
The colossus of trees resist.
The agitated animals resist, clawing the fields, standing the sacred ground.
My eyes lighten the flames, and the ashes fall heavy and agglutinated
As dunes of sand of a dying desert.
A forbidden idea of possibility enters the pores of the forest, each hole,
Each cave wants to be more, to extort life from every leaf and dewdrop.
I twist stalagmites with my bare hands to extract the juice of persistence
And it rains all over the burnt land, the wounded seeds.
The tiniest creatures seem to celebrate this second chance, this existence.
I think of the many times I wanted to end mine, desiring to be
Shoved down into the cold, wet earth, stretching my whole body;
Finding new heartbeats beneath the steps of new ancestors,
Drinking new blood from the gems of a pomegranate.
Soothed, remade, strong enough to germinate again. | https://medium.com/giulia-listo/persephone-rises-1ab79252b817 | ['Giulia De Gregorio Listo'] | 2020-01-24 20:12:55.204000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Nature', 'Love', 'Writing'] |
3 Reasons Why I No Longer Buy Starbucks | Why you shouldn’t either
Photo by Gema Saputera on Unsplash
Just like you I was used to my routine. Waking up on a cold frosty morning craving a hot cup of a carmel maccahiatio. This was my go-to, along with some sort of breakfast sandwhich. Bringing my grand total to around $9–10/day….everyday. I had no grasp at how much per year I was spending on JUST coffee and breakfast. If I am having Starbucks daily, which I was for the last year and I’m spending around $10/day. On average I am spending $70 per week totaling $3,640 a year. Once I did the math I had a holy shit moment. I have now switched to buying oatmeal in bulk and drinking coffee at home I have calculated on average my breakfast cost me around $2/day with a whopping $728/year spent on just breakfast.
I have since applied this method and method being “not a fucking idiot” to every aspect of my life. Finances, dating, work ect. The outcome has been unreal.
Cost Savings
This one is obvious but with how much I was saving by eating just breakfast at home I was able to pay off TWO credit cards. When I’m in a super crave mood I get creative. Add vanilla, cinnamon and a splash of coconut milk to spice up my coffee. The concoctions are endless and makes my heart happy knowing I won’t go broke trying to fill my coffee void. I have even thought of quitting coffee and save the money and just sticking with water. Maybe in 2021.
Make The Recipes At Home
I know I know, it just taste better when someone else makes your food/drink. I felt the same way, trust me. I loved the convenience of driving down the block, waiting in an absurd drive through line, just to tell someone exactly what I want and have it handed to me ten minutes later. Let’s be real those morning Starbucks drive-through lines take forever. You pay for the convenience of quick, fast, food.
This weekend I tried to recreate the iced green tea lemonade. One of my favorites. I would get the venti size (mostly all ice LOL) and sweeten it up!
I made the recipe at home for less than half the price of Starbucks and in almost the same amount of time the drive through would of taken, plus I have extra to share!
1 organic green tea bag
2 tablespoons of organic honey
1 full lemon
Seep the tea bag and honey in hot water for five minutes. I add a few ice cubes to cool it down because I’m extremely impatient. Then add the fresh squeezed lemon and you’re finished. If it’s too bitter for you add more honey. I made 5x the amount to share with my family for a refresher pick me up mid day, it was a hit.
You can also do this with the coffee. Grind your normal coffee beans with different spices to change things up! Cinnamon, cacao, vanilla bean are just a few that will turn your dull cup of black coffee into a whole new world. Ok, maybe i’m addicted to my cup of joe in the morning but I tell myself I could be addicted to worse substances.
Health
Hate to burst your bubble but those frappuccino’s have massive amounts of sugar in them. We all know what it’s like when they hand you your drink and there’s literally carmel swirled and stuck on the sides of your cup. Don’t get me wrong I am a sucker for carmel but I’m also a sucker for not dying before my 30th birthday due to sugary unhealthy coffee drinks. I am pretty sure like the rest of the country I am addicted to sugar. I could lick the sides of the Starbucks carmel cup and it would get my endorphins going! It wasn't until I got older I realized just how bad that was for my body.
“The food you eat is either fighting or feeding disease”.
Save your money and your health by making your favorite drinks at home.
Leave your favorite coffee and tea recipes below, I would love to hear them!
XOXO,
Sage | https://medium.com/@sageelisabeth/3-reasons-why-i-no-longer-buy-starbucks-e22a7d36eb9f | [] | 2020-12-07 13:48:14.338000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Money', 'Budget', 'Coffee', 'Saving'] |
Welcome to OneZero | Welcome to OneZero
Introducing Medium’s new tech and science publication
Today, Medium is launching a new forward-looking tech and science publication. We have a few reasons: We’ve seen reader interest in this subject area explode, we care about it, and we want to go deeper. (Yes, we are launching a portfolio of new brands, and we are doing so strategically.) We also know that many of our readers are passionate about — or work in — tech and science. This publication is for you. Medium has a unique ability to tap expert minds, because they live here on the platform (and if you’re not here, please come), and they can contribute to the conversation of the day, the week, the month, and the year.
Thanks to our thoughtful journalists, who will lead this effort, we can take it even further. And we will.
OneZero will be a place to find timely analysis and commentary from a stable of the sharpest thinkers and writers out there, as well as rich, colorful deep dives into the most unexpected corners of our digital universe.
We’re thrilled to begin this journey, and even more excited to have you join us. OneZero is here. And we’re just getting started.
Thanks for reading,
Siobhan O’Connor
VP, Editorial at Medium | https://onezero.medium.com/welcome-to-onezero-a79d8d59d3f | ["Siobhan O'Connor"] | 2019-02-27 20:28:18.749000+00:00 | ['Medium', 'Onezero', 'Technology', 'Culture', 'Science'] |
A Marxist in Love | Nothing breaks me more than a Marxist in love or out of love, which is usually the case. Those bastards who see any eye of affection as a blind one. Those up-all nighter’s who fear any form of want. Maybe it’s not fear but some other insidious emotion that makes them withdraw with horror.
You, fine young cannibals, make me want nothing more but to fix the things that keep you from me, but I ain’t no Superman, handyman, clean up your mess man, I’m just a queer soul looking.
I don’t want to mess with that casual effort of hiding how close I want you. I need to be able to say it without fear, and you can’t give me that, I know, but I want it anyway, so maybe that’s why you give me nothing. | https://medium.com/storymaker/a-marxist-in-love-cb55b1a5f901 | ['Aigner Loren Wilson'] | 2020-12-21 21:20:26.024000+00:00 | ['Sexuality', 'Beauty', 'Philosophy', 'Relationships', 'LGBTQ'] |
Dynamic Business Environment Backing the Mobile Virtual Private Network (VPN) Sector | With the rising usage of smart devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, business entities are focusing more on mobile security and mobility solutions. The key factors driving the growth of the mobile virtual private network (VPN) sector are the changing business environment, increasing cyber-attacks, emerging concerns over data loss, and the indispensable need to meet the desired standards.
Further, MVPN-powered remote accessibility offers flexibility to employees in a company, which can be a prominent factor in improving productivity and communication. These days, companies need centrally-managed and simplified remote offices, which help them provide secure and reliable data access to their employees at low costs. Mobile VPN has transformed the conventional method of accessing data by replacing laptop with pocket-sized devices. These devices combine small computers with the cellular phones that are compatible with common office applications, such as word processing, e-mail, and presentations.
Research Relevant Queries@ http://bit.ly/2Y4xaRm | https://medium.com/@marketnewspoint/dynamic-business-environment-backing-the-mobile-virtual-private-network-vpn-sector-998e01a7b8e4 | ['Punit Shah'] | 2019-05-06 12:05:41.520000+00:00 | ['Virtual Private Network', 'VPN', 'Network', 'Mobile', 'Mobile Vpn'] |
New year’s resolution system that works | How NOT to set goals:
I want to lose weight
I want to save money
I want to exercise more
Why do they fail?
They are not specific (when, how many, etc…)
It’s difficult to track the progress
You forget about them
You set the target too high and quit
How to set the resolutions?
We set a date (to check the progress periodically)
We make them specific (we need to know what to check)
We make them visible (we need to see them to remember and to keep us on track)
We make them flexible (we set a minimum limit)
Step 1 — We create our list of new year’s resolution
For each category from the self-assessment wheel, we set 1–2 resolutions.
We write just the goal, we don’t need to write specific details, yet.
Financial: save money
Spiritual: meditate more often
Physical: workout more often
Intellectual: read more
…
Step 2 — We make the resolutions more specific
We set a target (the date is already set, the whole year), so we can measure our progress. We also set a minimum target.
I will save $3650 (or a minimum of $1800)
I will meditate 1800 minutes (or a minimum of 900 minutes)
I will go to the gym 150 times (or a minimum of 100 times)
I will read 180 hours (or a minimum of 90 hours)
…
We’ve set a date. We can now verify our progress. E.g.: Saving $3650 in a year means saving $10 a day, and $1800 on the 31st of June.
We made them specific (how much, how many, and when).
We made them flexible (e.g.: save $3650 or a minimum of $1800).
Now we need to make them visible.
Step 3 — We make the goals visible
Based on the above system, I have created a tool to generate the print version of the system with your own goals.
You can generate your goal-checking file here, for free:
https://newresolutions.herokuapp.com/
1) You can mark each section with a pen. The grey sections represent the minimum target
2) This vertical line represents 25% percent of the year (31st of March)
3) This vertical line represents 50% of the year. Use this to see if you are on track or not
Benefits of printing your goals:
You check the sections as soon as you finish them
It’s more visual, you can measure your progress in real-time. Also, they look like a progress bar that is loading more and more, getting you closer to achieving your goals
You can place the papers somewhere you can see them every single day, making it easier for you to remember to stay on track
Rezolutii de anul nou
Generate your list here: https://newresolutions.herokuapp.com/
Setting and reaching your goals is a long-term game. In the first year, reaching your goals is more important than the goal itself. In the following year, you will know yourself better and you can set the target higher. | https://medium.com/@stefanicastefan/new-years-resolution-system-that-works-f07dd5a1dcda | [] | 2020-12-26 14:25:20.420000+00:00 | ['New Year Resolution', '2021', 'Self Development', 'New Year', 'New Year Eve'] |
The case of the Baloch people | The case of the Baloch people
New Book ‘The Right to Self-Determination Under International Law and Politics: The Case of the Baloch People,’ by Hassan Hamdam published Jasim Dec 19, 2020·16 min read
The author, Hassan Hamdam is a Baloch poet and literary person. He obtained his Master’s degree in human rights and social justice (in international legal norms) from the London Metropolitan University.
From the college days, Hassan was involved in the Baloch national struggle as a student activist. In 2000, he fled from Balochistan and sought asylum in the United Kingdom. Since 2008, he has been affiliated with Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) and been campaigning to highlight the human rights violations in Balochistan perpetrated by the Iranian and Pakistani states. Presently, he is the vice-president of BHRC and is based in London.
In his book, Hassan Hamdam navigates the right of self-determination through international legal norms and explores its triumph and failure since the Second World War. The book elaborates on the role, position, and the obligations of a modern state in the international law and new emerging relations of people in the world. It also describes briefly the history of British rule in the Indian subcontinent and the creation of the new Muslim state of Pakistan in 1947.
The book also narrates the events leading to the occupation of Balochistan by Pakistan in 1948. It highlights the long struggle of the Baloch people for the right to self-determination and explains the right of the Baloch people according to the international principles, and provides political and legal methods for the right to self-determination.
The book ‘The Right to Self-Determination Under International Law and Politics: The Case of the Baloch People,‘ is anticipated to be an informative and instructive work for all those interested in reading and understanding the legal and political importance of the right to Self-determination as well as in understanding the legitimate basis of the Baloch people’s struggle to exercise their right to self-determination.
Three thousand years ago, a group of Indo-Iranic tribes (called Balaschik at that time) settled in the northwestern Caspian region of Balashagan. Circumstances forced them to disperse and migrate towards south and eastern parts of Iranian plateau. In medieval times, they finally settled in present Balochistan where they became known as the Baloch. During their long and tortuous journey from Balashagan to Balochistan, the Baloch faced persecutions, deportations, and genocidal acts of various Persian, Arab and other regional powers. During 17th century, after dominating Balochistan culturally and politically, the Baloch carved out a nation state (the Khanate of Kalat). In 1839, the British occupied Balochistan and subsequently it was divided into various parts. In the wake of the British withdrawal from India in 1947, Balochistan regained its sovereignty but soon Pakistan occupied it in 1948. The historical account of the Baloch is the story of a pastoralist nomadic people from ancient times to mid-twentieth century. The author outlines the origin of the Baloch state and its variegated history of survival against powerful neighbors such as the Persians, the British and finally, Pakistan. This fascinating research work discovers the background of the long drawn-out conflict between the Baloch and Pakistan and Iranian states.
click here in affiliated link to purchase the book >>>>>>>>>>>>>> The baloch and the Balochistan
Here is a story of innocent Baloch from occupied land of pakistani Balochistan
I am obsessed with reading novels, short stories, or any literature about people who left their homes, were expelled from their countries or persecuted. A part of keeping informed is I don’t get weary of watching movies and documentaries about the lives of refugees or victims of torture and imprisoned for unjust reasons.
Of course, watching these movies now is different from when I was a kid in the late 90s, enjoying the silver screen with friends and cousins. Now the movies I watch are about real life, and they feel close to my real life.
When I go to bed after watching a movie in any language, I wake in the middle of the night, scared, reliving the scenes as if I am being abducted or tortured, or our village is being burned or evacuated, or I am running away from some army man, always afraid of what lies ahead, just like in the movies. This is painful, but is now a part of my life, part of why I left my home. I cannot run away from the reality of confronting it. Being aware of the trauma and the trials of others has made me realize that I am not the only victim of war, subsequent loneliness and homesickness. Which is why I decided to share my story too.
I was born in a small village called Khairabad, near Kech, in the south of Balochistan. I never imagined in my wildest thoughts that one day I would be sitting alone, lonely, in the corner of a coffee shop writing the story of leaving my home, my family, friends, relatives, and carry along the childhood memories. I now understand how important they are and what they mean to a person.
Not only watching movies was fun, but my childhood was, as most childhoods are, innocent of the country’s political situation. As the only son of my parents, I was privileged to receive an abundant amount of love and affection from my cousins, aunts, uncles, and extended family. Daily life was going to the mud-built structure that served as a school, playing cricket after school with cousins and friends and occasionally herding the sheep to the fields. In the summer during school break, I would join my uncle and grandfather at date-palm farms, where my grandfather would sell the dates to city folks from Karachi who would come to buy Makurani dates at rock-bottom prices that only we offered.
Getting older was exciting, because our world expanded, or so we thought. Together with my cousins, we could not wait to go to Turbat, the nearest city that was 40 miles (64 kilometers) away. The only public transport from our village were Toyota pickups that took over an hour to reach the city on dirt roads. Once there, we would buy Balochi Chawat (traditional footwear) and walk around the streets of Turbat city.
Rahmat-e-Sheeren, Gadi Chok, and Balochistan Music Center were my favorite places in the city. Whenever I would go to Turbat, I would buy one Balochi cassette of music and never missed the Rahmat-e-Shereen sweets and samosas. It was a different world full of more adolescent kind of fun. My mother had promised me that when I graduate from high school that she would send me to Turbat for higher education. So, whenever I went to Turbat and looked at the buildings of Atta Shad Degree College, I told myself that I would be there someday, attending college classes in those buildings.
It wasn’t until I graduated from high school that I came to know that the land where I was born had already seen three political battles between Baloch nationalists and the Pakistani military. All of the conflicts involved much bloodshed, including of course people who were fighting for their land and justice. The people of Balochistan suffered the killing and persecution of numerous political leaders and as many activists, of whom if they weren’t killed took refuge in Afghanistan and the neighboring province of Sindh. Fortunately, Turbat, and the town where I grew up had not been affected by these trials as much as other towns, hence I was able to grow up somewhat innocent and enjoy being a child safe under the watchful eyes of my family.
Kech
My mother was good for her word: In 2006, I gained admission in Atta Shad Degree College and moved to Turbat. There were three dormitories for students on campus known as New, Old, and Complex. I was assigned to room six in the Old building. Four students, who were all from different villages and towns in the Kech district, and I shared the room. I also shared an education with these friends and roommates that wasn’t limited to the classroom.
As I learned my way around campus, I saw much writing and graffiti written in red paint and spray paints. It was written by the Baloch Student Organization (BSO). The various graffiti messages read:
“We didn’t accept the state census in Balochistan.”
“Kalam may tawar kitab may rahsoon. (The Pen is our guide, the Book our Leader!)”
“BSO ke rehnumabo ki griftari ryasati deshatgardi hai. (The arrest of BSO leaders is a form of state terrorism!)”
“Warna raj e bandat ant. (The youths are the future of the nation)”
“Army, get out of Balochistan.”
“We need education, not jail.”
This wasn’t the first time I had heard of the BSO. The first time I heard the name of the organization was in 2003, when I was in school. One of my cousins told me that some BSO walas were visiting our school and arranging a study circle type of event for the students. It was the first and last event of any kind that was conducted for students during all my school years. This organization seemed to care.
Apart from seeing BSO footprints around the campus and my singular knowledge of its existence from my cousin, I felt like a person who was given a new set of eyes, who had just popped out of his old environment into a contemporary world. College life was an entirely new experience for me. Not just the interaction with my roommates, but the daily interaction with several students from different towns and villages gave me a broader perspective on people.
Reading various works of literature that I had never before encountered, gave me a more reflective understanding of life. I made new friends and occasionally attended BSO study groups, where I sat around sipping the bitter and sweet tea at Pyary’s Canteen and smoking cigarettes like a grown-up man. I had crossed the threshold of adulthood by now.
Little did I know what lay beyond that initial step into being “grown-up”. How things would change so fast or how I ended up here sitting at this coffee shop writing, in exile. I am still asking myself these questions.
On August 27, 2006 the military entered the college grounds armed with loaded weapons and the arms of war. Faster than anyone could raise an alarm, almost one hundred students and staff of the college were taken becoming hostages of the military. Knowing this was illegal, just one of the offenses the military was committing, the principle of the school went out to tell the army Major leading the invasion that, without any official notice, he was not allowed to enter the college premises. The military man started shouting. I still remember his exact words: “Who the hell are you dictating what I can and cannot do? And what my authorities are!!!”
Naturally, the petrified students who were not taken by the military, were left to stand by, unable to believe what was happening. Remember, we were from an area that had not been directly affected by the political upheaval, this was not comprehensible to us.
The teachers themselves told us that the military had never forced themselves on college property before. This was an escalation of a situation none of us were well-informed of at the time. Unbeknownst to us at the college, the day before on August 26, a Baloch politician named Nawab Akbar Bugti, was assassinated in a military operation in Dera Bugti, his home town. Reacting to the assassination, student activists and politicians were out protesting against the military. In response, the military then put a curfew on the city of Turbat and other parts of Balochistan. The military had come to our school, as they had to colleges and universities across Balochistan to cordon off the areas and prevent students from going out and protesting against the military. When the security forces left the campus, I breathed a sigh of relief — as I’m sure everyone else did — packed my bags and left the city.
The invasion of the military was too much for me. But there was nothing for me to do at home and no space to smoke my cigarettes. I got bored. Even though I didn’t want to return, it was for me the only place to go at the time. So, after a week I returned to Turbat and college.
Returning to the college, I picked up where I left off from and started the same routine. However, it was not the same anymore. Turbat city had changed now, and it seemed to have spread throughout Balochistan. There was a feeling of trepidation. Students were caught up in politics, demonstrating and protesting against the state for the exploitation of Balochistan’s resources and the mistreatment of the people. The assassination and military incursion had awakened everyone to become involved, to be heard.
Of course, the military didn’t stand this. This was what they had tried to prevent in the first place, when they first showed up at the colleges and universities. On the other hand, some Baloch nationalists were holding political gatherings and raising the issue that Pakistan has been exploiting not only the resources, but the education and culture of Balochistan for the past six decades. Regardless of any negotiations that took place, the military seized and threw students in jail all over Balochistan. In an injustice as old as time, these activists were being put in jail for believing in and voicing the rights of Baloch to have a say in the governance of their own land.
The BSO
Although Aristotle wrote that the man is by nature a social animal, it is not entirely the reason I took the steps that I did leading to further escalate towards my exile. An intellectual capacity for seeing and understanding moral imperatives and wrongs was awakened in me. Being part of the Baloch students community, I started attending political gatherings at the college. There were two tiers of academic study at the college: one was regular classes with professors and the second was the Study Circle, which was arranged by students once or twice a week to talk and get insight on international politics, the political situation surrounding us in Balochistan, and literature and writings on democracy and liberalism. To add to our learning in the study circles, we invited Baloch intellectuals from different specialties to educate us.
From this training, I learned that as a people, we Baloch have a distinct culture and history which is different from the other nations in Pakistan, especially from the ruling majority class. I came to know a different version of history, one which was always hidden by the state from us. This different version of Baloch history is a history of subjugation and manipulation of our people by the state. This most recent version of Baloch history that I learned made me more critical of the everyday injustices that were occurring — had been there for a long time — in Balochistan.
Despite the very important learning that was taking place, I left Atta Shad Degree College after a year and a half. One day I just took my clothes, folded them in a dirty bag, and left the dorm with teary eyes. But I left my books in my room, just for the self-satisfaction that I would come back some day. There were two reasons I decided to leave. First was financial. My father had passed away when I was in 8th grade at school, and the amount of money he left behind was not enough to continue my higher education. The second reason was the city was getting more fraught with fear. The student dormitories were under watch by the Pakistani intelligence agencies. There was a big military base and secret service building near the college. Every night unknown people freely roamed the college grounds and went through the dormitories. There were suspicious cars with tinted mirrors that followed students when they arrived and left the main gate of the school. I was disillusioned, I knew I couldn’t stay.
Once home, I tried to ask relatives in the gulf countries to get me a labourer’s visa to get me out of there. But this wasn’t the path my mother was willing to let me go down. She was convinced that I must finish college. When I insisted that I could not go back to college in Turbat, she refused to give up on me following a higher education. She suggested going to school elsewhere. “Why don’t you go to Karachi? Karachi is a safe city. I will arrange some money for you.” And that’s just what she did. After staying at home for four months, I went to Karachi in August 2007 because of my mother’s persistence.
Karachi
It was a challenge to go back to school, and I faced a dilemma even though I had reached Karachi: Should I continue in school or should I return home and try to find a visa? This time I asked some relatives in Oman, Qatar and UAE, but did not receive any response. Which led to my decision to stay in Karachi until I finished my master’s degree.
Four other students, all from my village, and I rented a two-bedroom tiny apartment in Gulistan- e-Johar. The others had arrived before me and knew the lay of the land. Just to help me along, one of my roommates wrote on a piece of paper the names of three buses and where they would take me: ‘11-A will take you to the Liaquat Library, 4X will take you to the tuition center, and Lucky Star brings you home.’ That piece of paper and it’s directions were the start of a new life in Karachi.
In Liaquat Library, I met with several Baloch students who had traveled a hundred miles to come to Karachi to fulfill their desire for knowledge. Some of whom I met at the library were students enrolled at colleges, some from different universities. We were all there for the same reason: we had all learned a thing or two from the study circles of BSO back in our hometowns or and brought that knowledge to Karachi with us.
During this time in Karachi, my friends and I were treated as if we were illiterate, ignorant people. We heard many times, both in our classes and in public places that we Baloch lived in the mountains, were not civilized people, violent, uneducated, did not know how to speak proper Urdu, and just don’t wear decent clothes. We were frightened to go into non-Baloch dominant areas.
Despite being citizens of Pakistan, we were considered and treated as third-class citizens. My perspective and understanding of myself and fellow Baloch’s standing changed when I faced these biases. Luckily, during this time I was learning other things too which was strengthening my resolve, and the easy access to books, libraries, and the internet was aiding the person I was becoming. I had always wanted to be a social worker and accomplished this goal, first earning an undergraduate degree in 2009 in Sociology and then a Master’s Degree in Social Work in 2013.
Subsequent to completing my education, I worked for a couple of non-governmental organizations helping people as a social worker. However, despite my developing character and working in my chosen field and corporeal self being in Karachi, my thoughts were in Balochistan, my homeland.
My thoughts were soon to be cemented forever with Balochistan as it became harder to visit. In 2009, the Pakistani military started a new tool, a program called “Kill and Dump” to quell any kind of resistance, imagined or real, to their authority. This was intended to stop the Baloch political movement which was gaining more and more popular support in every corner of Balochistan. It was much stronger than the three previous political movements and especially since the Baloch youth were participating in it from the beginning.
The army first abducted those Baloch leaders and activists who condemned state absolutism in their public gatherings and demanded justice from the West, calling out to human rights organizations to intervene in Balochistan to stop state forces from exploiting Baloch resources. The military’s ruthlessness didn’t end there. Within a couple of years, the state deployed a hundred thousand security forces in different towns in Balochistan, built more security checkpoints on highways, where they checked every passenger’s identification card. It was also announced in print and electronic media that the state will punish the supporters and facilitators of the Baloch movement.
Mostly student activists, guilty only of trying to have their voices heard, were abducted from security check-posts. Every two to three days, they would “disappear” people from Bozi checkpoint, Gwadar Zero Point, Uthal checkpoint, and Khuzar checkpoint, and their decomposing bodies were dumped in Murgap, Turbat, Uthal, Quetta, Khuzdar and other parts of Balochistan.
My journey of social work and helping others didn’t go far because of the “Kill and Dump” operations. I was afraid I would be abducted and killed like many other students and activists. From 2009 to 2015, during my time in Karachi, we lost several BSO’s activists and some close friends. Zakir Majeed, a M.A English literature student and Senior Vice Chairman of BSO, was forcibly disappeared in Mastung in June 2009, and is still missing; no one knows about him. Qambar Chakar, 24, a student of Balochistan University of Information Technology Engineering and Management Science (BUITEMS), was abducted with his cousin in November 2010 from his home. Later his cousin Irshad Baloch was released, but Qambar Chakar’s decomposed body was found dumped in Murgaap, Turbat along with another missing student Ilyas Nazar, only 22, in January of 2011. Raza Jahangir, a good friend and Secretary General of the BSO, was killed in August 2013 with another activist Imdad Baloch in a military operation in Turbat. BSO’s Chairman Zahid Baloch was abducted in March, 2014 in Quetta, and he is still missing along with others.
With tensions and apprehensions escalating, traveling became more difficult. I had to cross ten to eleven security check posts, show my identification card to the army-guard whenever I went home from Karachi. I was asked numerous prying questions at the security checkpoints, and I had the feeling that they were just trying to pinpoint my movements and get information that was innocent enough, but that would be used against me for some unknown reason. It was getting more and more dangerous.
The last time I went home to Khairabad was in June 2014. After that, I stopped going back to the place where I grew up, and the place where my father, grandfather, grandmother, and uncle are buried. The place I call my homeland. My home.
In August 2015, I landed in the United States with the hope of finding a safe shelter to live peacefully for the rest of my life. | https://medium.com/@enthrapi/the-case-of-the-baloch-people-671190b53959 | [] | 2020-12-19 18:15:42.521000+00:00 | ['Balochistan', 'Stateless', 'Refugees', 'Refugee Crisis', 'Baloch'] |
Psychology of Adopted Children. Each child is different when it comes… | Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash
Each child is different when it comes to dealing with being adopted. Some can accept it a lot sooner and move on but some might take little longer as well. As parents, it depends on how openly you convey the message to them.
It is grief or loss that the child would go through despite less or no awareness. They feel rejected and abandoned by their birth parents. The immediate thought is “there must have been something wrong with me that they gave me up”. It takes age, maturity and emotional support to understand that they can be other reasons for giving for adoption. Also, they always have this question of “Who am I”. They grow up trying to build their self-identity. They need to feel loved and constant reassurance from their adopted parents in any form until they understand and develop trust.
The child’s psychological behaviour depends on when they get to know about their adoption. In their young age or teens, they wouldn’t be able to process this. Too many questions arouse in their mind for which they might or might not get answers for. Some kids wouldn’t ask their adopted parents as they feel they might hurt their feelings. So it would be helpful if the parents are more approachable about their adoption. Even if they do search for their birth parents or try to get information, their loyalty always stays with their adopted parents.
The child is curious to understand their history, hereditary or medical background that they come from. It is hard for them to handle questions like “Which parent do they resemble”. Mentally they struggle to answer on this unless they have been taught to be open about their adoption.
Let the child know about their adoption at the earliest possible and also support them emotionally. It helps them to know that you are available or open to discussing this with them at any period. They need to be able to talk about their adoption to someone and it is better if it is you (the parents).
It is important to make them understand that it is nothing to fear. As today, adoption is pretty common and it is not assumed to be unnatural or different. There is a positive way in the way society deals with it. As parents, you need to make sure you build your child’s confidence in terms of adoption. | https://medium.com/@srinu27s/psychology-of-adoption-db19dd5c9d55 | ['Srinidhi S'] | 2020-04-26 12:30:42.182000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Adoption', 'Children', 'Relationships', 'Parents'] |
Finally! The Ancestors get government representation with appointment of Deb Haaland for Secretary… | Finally! The Ancestors get government representation with appointment of Deb Haaland for Secretary of the Interior. Mother Earth rejoices!
Haaland, who is vice chair of the House committee on Natural Resources, will have a significant role managing public lands. “Right now,” she said in an earlier statement, “public lands emit close to 25 percent of the carbon emissions, the total carbon emissions of our country. And that’s because this administration has gone hog wild with leasing off land to the gas and oil industry.” Read more at Indian Country Today: | https://medium.com/antiracist-nursing-news/finally-the-ancestors-get-government-representation-with-appointment-of-deb-haaland-for-secretary-a414d8c95438 | ['Courtney Allen-Gentry Rn Msn Phn Ahn-Bc Hwnc-Bc'] | 2020-12-18 16:50:48.700000+00:00 | ['Biden', 'Politics', 'Election 2020', 'Indigenous', 'Native Americans'] |
WEEK 16 NFL POWER RANKINGS | Introduction
What a weird week in the NFL. The winless Jets won, but at what cost? Only the Jets can lose at winning. Then the next day the Bengals defeated the Steelers on Monday night and surprised the world behind Ryan Finley’s great quarterback play. Maybe now we can stop watching Juju dance on the opposing team logos for TikTok because clearly that’s not helping the Steelers win games. My Patriots also got eliminated this week and I’m still getting texts from people I haven’t spoken to in years rubbing that in my face. Seriously guys, it’s Christmas, spread a little cheer or something. Anyways, here’s my updated power rankings going into Week 16 of the NFL.
32. Jacksonville Jaguars (1–13)
Previous Ranking: 31
Analysis: I wanted to keep the Jets as the worst team because I really cannot comprehend the logic in beating the Rams. Seriously why did they do that? But the Jaguars now have sole possession of the first overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft unless they win a game again this season. They play the Bears this week and the Bears need to win to try and get a playoff spot. The Jaguars then play the Colts in week 17 in an important game for the Colts, so I don’t see them losing their spot as the number one pick in the draft come April. Jacksonville needs to send New York a thank you card or something because that’s the best Christmas gift any Jacksonville fan could ask for.
31. New York Jets (1–13)
Previous Ranking: 32
Analysis: What a time to be a New York Jets fan. I would say I feel bad for the Jets, but I don’t, because I hate the Jets. Somehow, some way, the Jets won this past week against the Rams, but at what cost? They now have the 2nd pick in the NFL draft this upcoming April and I can’t wait to see how they find a way to mess this up, too. I still think they are arguably the worst team in the NFL, but they beat a very good Rams team and that win is more impressive than the one win for the Jaguars this year. This is probably the only time I’ve ever been happy the Jets won a game. Thank you Adam Gase.
30. Cincinnati Bengals (3–10–1)
Previous Ranking: 30
Analysis: I wanted to move the Bengals up in the rankings this week after their win over the Steelers on Monday night, but they still have a terrible record and I think that game was a fluke. The Steelers looked horrible on offense and the Bengals clearly wanted to win that game much more than the opposition. The Bengals have a chance to move up in my power rankings this week, however, if they can win against the 4–10 Houston Texans.
29. Atlanta Falcons (4–10)
Previous Ranking: 28
Analysis: The Falcons really shouldn’t be this bad, but they are. I don’t see how it’s possible to lose as many leads as they do in games, but they found a way again this week to blow it against Tom Brady and the Bucs. How hard is it to close out a game? This would’ve been a great upset against a divisional rival that’s playing for a playoff spot and seeding, but they choked again and lost. They should all be ashamed of themselves.
28. Houston Texans (4–10)
Previous Ranking: 26
Analysis: This team needs a lot of work to get back to being competitive in the NFL as the Texans have looked very poor as of late. Deshaun Watson is not to blame, but just about every other player on the team is to blame. JJ Watt hasn’t done much to help the defense that ranks as one of the worst in the NFL and I don’t think they’re going to get much better for a while. Like I said, this team needs a lot of work in the offseason to gain some ground in the AFC.
27. Detroit Lions (5–9)
Previous Ranking: 27
Analysis: As expected, the Lions lost again this week. Matt Stafford is playing through injury, which is nothing new because he’s usually playing while injured during this time of year about every year. He’s banged up, the defense sucks, and there’s just no spark on either side of the ball to bring some light to this team. I’d be surprised if they win another game this season.
26. Carolina Panthers (4–10)
Previous Ranking: 25
Analysis: The Panthers are really missing Christian McCaffery and I don’t think he is going to play again this season. He might as well wait until next year because the Panthers don’t have much to play for. I like this team, though, and I think they could be a lot better next year with coach Matt Rhule making some changes to improve in the offseason.
25. San Francisco 49ers (5–9)
Previous Ranking: 22
Analysis: How do you lose to the Cowboys after going to the SuperBowl last year. Seriously, I want to rank the 49ers lower on this list because they should be ashamed of themselves for the season they’re having this year. Granted, they’ve had a lot of injuries, but so have the Cowboys! There was no reason for them to be this bad and let the Cowboy’s offense put up 41 points. The Cowboys didn’t have Zeke Elliot OR Dak Prescott this game. Get it together, San Fran.
24. Dallas Cowboys (5–9)
Previous Ranking: 29
Analysis: I’m surprised the Cowboys were able to defeat the 49ers this past week with the amount of injuries they’ve had, but they actually look pretty solid on offense going forward. Andy Dalton is playing well enough to keep America’s team in the playoff hunt. I can’t believe this team still has a chance at the playoffs, but you never know. They would be the worst playoff team I can think of in recent memory, but hey, kudos to them.
23. Denver Broncos (5–9)
Previous Ranking: 23
Analysis: The Broncos had a tough task in facing the red hot Buffalo Bills Saturday night, but they didn’t even really keep it close. The Bills dominated this game and the Broncos seem to be focusing on getting the best draft spot for next year to help improve in the offseason. This is another team that might not win another game this year.
22. Los Angeles Chargers (5–9)
Previous Ranking: 24
Analysis: Two weeks after an embarrassing loss to the Patriots, the Chargers are winners of their last two games and look to win out and end the season on a positive note. The lone bright spot of this team is Justin Herbert and he should continue to be the bright spot of this team for years to come. They need to improve on defense, but this Chargers team is trending in the right direction.
21. New York Giants (5–9)
Previous Ranking: 21
Analysis: The Giants need to work some magic these next two weeks if they want to make the playoffs as I now have them ranked as the third best team in their division. They didn’t have Daniel Jones on Sunday night against the Browns, but I don’t think that would’ve changed the outcome of the game if they did have him. This defense is average, but they should be great with the talent that they have on their roster. I kept them in the same spot at 21, but they’re trending in the wrong direction at this point in the season.
20. Philadelphia Eagles (4–9–1)
Previous Ranking: 20
Analysis: Jalen Hurts looks significantly better than Carson Wentz and it looks like there’s a new quarterback in town in Philly. They weren’t able to defeat the Cardinals, but Kyler Murray looked stellar in that game and it’s impressive enough that Jalen Hurts and the Eagles were able to keep this one somewhat close. I think the Eagles are going to possibly win this division if they can get some help around the league. If not, they have their new quarterback to start building around in the offseason in preparation for next year.
19. Washington Football Team (WFT) [6–8]
Previous Ranking: 19
Analysis: I said last week that this team is fun to root for, but I might have to take that back. Alex Smith and Ron Rivera are fun to root for, but that’s about it. I like Chase Young, too, but I’m bored watching this team play when Alex Smith or Chase Young isn’t on the field. Dwayne Haskins is in the news now for having strippers sent to his house and not wearing a facial covering to help limit the spread of COVID-19, but I’m not really surprised. What else is a man to do when he’s being benched for a guy who has one and a half leg? He got the start this past week due to injuries, but he sucks and probably won’t earn a starting role again in his career. I wouldn’t be surprised if this team doesn’t win another game this year and misses out on the playoffs.
18. New England Patriots (6–8)
Previous Ranking: 16
Analysis: Ugh. I’m disappointed in this season for the Patriots because I really thought we might make the playoffs at one point this year. With a loss on Sunday to the Dolphins, the Patriots were eliminated from playoff contention and I officially am no longer a fan of Cam Newton. He’s not the only reason for the Patriots’ lack of success this year, but he made a couple bad plays that lost a couple games this year that I think could’ve been prevented. If he would actually play like he says he’s going to, everything would be fine. He’s all talk right now and I hope he isn’t under center for the Patriots next year.
17. Minnesota Vikings (6–8)
Previous Ranking: 18
Analysis: I got a lot of hate from the handful of people that read my posts about picking the Bears to beat the Vikings this past week, but suck it, I was right. The Vikings’ offense is fine behind Dalvin Cook, but their defense needs a lot of work. They’re just not the same defense that dominated the NFL not too long ago and they need to find a way to get better in the offseason. We’ll see how they finish out the year, but letting Mitch Trubisky put up 33 points is not a step in the right direction.
16. Las Vegas Raiders (7–7)
Previous Ranking: 15
Analysis: I like the Raiders, I think they’re fun to root for, but this past week’s loss to the Chargers was not what they needed to help them make the playoffs. Derek Carr got hurt pretty early on in this game, but Marcus Mariota stepped in and played great. The defense is the problem for the Raiders as it was a lot to ask of Mariota to be constantly playing from behind despite his impressive play. If the Raiders want to be competitive in the AFC, they need to get better on defense first.
15. Chicago Bears (7–7)
Previous Ranking: 17
Analysis: DAAAAA BEARS. This past week was a solid win for the Bears as they are inching closer to securing a spot in the NFC playoffs. Mitch Trubisky has looked pretty good as of late and the defense is doing just enough for the Bears to be winners of their last two games. They had a bad loss to the Lions three weeks ago, but they seemed to have recovered and now look to finish the season on a high note. I have faith in this Bears team and I’ll keep rooting for Mitch Trubisky until he’s no longer on the field.
14. Arizona Cardinals (8–6)
Previous Ranking: 14
Analysis: The Cardinals did just enough to hold off Jalen Hurts and the Eagles this past week and that was thanks in large part to Kyler Murray. Kyler looked fantastic this week and his shoulder doesn’t appear to be bothering him much anymore. They finish off the year against the 49ers and the Rams, so they might be able to sneak up in the rankings with two solid wins. I thought the Rams were legit, but a loss to the Jets doesn’t make me nearly as confident in them being one of the better teams in the NFC. These next two weeks should be very telling for who the best team in this division is.
13. Los Angeles Rams (9–5)
Previous Ranking: 4
Analysis: Do you smell that? It smells like garbage or something. Oh, wait, it’s the Rams playing against the Jets. Garbage. Absolute garbage. How? How can you lose to the J-E-T-S. C’mon LA, this is brutal. The only way this makes sense to me is that Bill Belichick made a deal with Mcvay that let the Rams beat the Patriots two weeks ago in exchange for the Rams letting the Jets win so the Jets don’t take Trevor Lawrence and the Patriots don’t have to face him twice a year. I don’t know, but what I do know is this Rams team should be ashamed of themselves. They fell 9 spots in my rankings thanks to that piss-poor effort.
12. Miami Dolphins (9–5)
Previous Ranking: 13
Analysis: The Dolphins handled business on Sunday and eliminated the Patriots from the playoffs behind Tua’s quarterback play. He looked great against the Patriot defense and the Dolphins inched one step closer to the playoffs. They now play the Raiders who are desperate for a win in what is sure to be an interesting contest. The Dolphins play the Bills in week 17, so they need to win this one if they want to solidify their spot in the playoffs
11. Pittsburgh Steelers (11–3)
Previous Ranking: 3
Analysis: I predicted, like many others, that the Steelers would dominate the Bengals in a game that they needed to win after dropping their previous two. Boy, did they screw that up. They looked TERRIBLE against a pretty bad Bengals team and I don’t know what they can do to be dominant again. They already clinched a spot in the playoffs but it’s looking like it’ll be a first round exit at this point. I dropped them 8 spots this week to number 11.
10. Cleveland Browns (10–4)
Previous Ranking: 12
Analysis: The Browns continue to take care of business as they beat the Giants Sunday night with ease. Baker Mayfield looks great and I don’t expect the Browns to skip a beat as they play the Jets this week. I’m looking forward to their week 17 matchup with the Steelers because I think they’re playing much better football now. This should be a fun team to watch heading into the playoffs.
9. Baltimore Ravens (9–5)
Previous Ranking: 10
Analysis: The Ravens destroyed the Jaguars on Sunday, as expected. They have looked good the last couple weeks, but I’m not exactly convinced they can play from behind. They get to face off against the Giants this week and finish the season against the Bengals. Barring an upset, this team should finish 11–5 heading into the playoffs.
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9–5)
Previous Ranking: 9
Analysis: Tom Brady did it again. Down 24–7 in the 3rd quarter, the Bucs found a way to come back and beat the Falcons on Sunday. Antonio Brown finally caught his first touchdown on a 50 yard bomb from Brady and it looked like they found their groove in the 2nd half as an offense. This team has a pretty easy schedule the rest of the year and should be hot going into the playoffs.
7. Seattle Seahawks (10–4)
Previous Ranking: 11
Analysis: Seattle is slowly creeping up the rankings as the rest of their division tries to keep up. Russell Wilson has not been as stellar as he was in the first half of the season, but the defense is showing improvement when it matters most, which is promising for this team. I think they’ll find a way to put it all together and finish the season strong heading into the playoffs.
6. Indianapolis Colts (10–4)
Previous Ranking: 8
Analysis: The Colts are playing some great football lately and continue to perform in all aspects of the game. This defense is very good and the offense is scoring plenty of points to keep them in any game. They face off against a struggling Steelers team this week and end the season playing the Jaguars, so they might be looking at a 12–4 season. Bravo.
5. New Orleans Saints (10–4)
Previous Ranking: 6
Analysis: It feels a bit odd putting the Saints in my top 5 after they lost to the Chiefs on Sunday, but they have Drew Brees back and their defense is still one of the best. If they can get healthy before the playoffs, this team is dangerous and hungry to make a SuperBowl run in what could be Drew Brees’ final year. They finish up this season playing the Vikings and the Panthers, so they should finish 12–4.
4. Tennessee Titans (10–4)
Previous Ranking: 5
Analysis: Derrick Henry is so scary and so good. He’s a grown man amongst children and I love watching him tear it up. We get to see how good this team is as they face off against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers this weekend. The Packers aren’t very good at stopping the run, so this game should be high scoring and fun to watch. Get excited.
3. Green Bay Packers (11–3)
Previous Ranking: 7
Analysis: Jumping all the way up to number three on my rankings, the Packers deserve to be recognized as the current best team in the NFC. I don’t know what I was thinking having them ranked as 7th, but what can I say, I’m an Aaron Rodgers hater. He’s proving me wrong, but he’ll have to continue his success against a tough Tennessee Titans team this upcoming weekend.
2. Buffalo Bills (11–3)
Previous Ranking: 2
Analysis: Josh Allen is my MVP this year, I don’t care what anyone says. What he’s done this year is very impressive as he has put all of the haters to rest and dominated in most of his games. The Bills are red hot heading into the playoffs and I anticipate that they win out the rest of the year behind their fantastic play on both sides of the ball.
1. Kansas City Chiefs (13–1)
Previous Ranking: 1
Analysis: The Chiefs solidified their position as the best team in the NFL with a great win against the Saints on Sunday afternoon. They lost Clyde Edwards-Helaire, though, but Le’Veon Bell filled in nicely in CEH’s absence. They finish the year playing the Falcons and the Chargers, so I expect them to continue to dominate and finish the regular season with just one loss. They still have to play the games, though, so we’ll see what happens. | https://medium.com/@mattmorley12/week-16-nfl-power-rankings-9d5123ad058e | ['Matt Morley'] | 2020-12-24 14:33:26.762000+00:00 | ['Power Rankings', 'NFL', 'Rankings', 'Football', 'Sports'] |
Why We Serve: Amy Quispe | Why We Serve: Amy Quispe
In this series you’ll hear stories from USDSers and learn why they decided to join, why they stay, and how their work is making an impact for all Americans. U.S. Digital Service Follow Feb 23 · 3 min read
Amy Quispe (she/ella), Engineer @ USDS HQ. Previously at Facebook. From Corona, Queens.
What’s your background?
I usually describe my career as “very Silicon Valley” — I’ve been at both large and small tech companies in San Francisco and New York City. I started programming as a kid, thanks to my middle school math teacher. I was lucky enough to go to Stuyvesant High School, which had an extensive computer science curriculum, and then attended college at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. Despite being a lifelong nerd, I was not a stereotypical programmer, especially as a Latina from Queens — but being different has always been a strength of mine.
What inspired you to join USDS?
I remember hearing the story of Healthcare.gov back in the day. And when I was working at Google — this must have been 2014 or 2015 — Mikey Dickerson came to speak, and I remember being deeply inspired about this kind of work. There’s a lot of discourse in the tech world about impact at startups vs. large companies, but the kind of work USDS was doing? No competition. I almost joined twice in the last few years, but the stars never quite aligned. Then, the pandemic hit, and I knew it was time.
Now more than ever, it was imperative that government services work, and I had both the drive and the skills to help.
How has your experience been starting fully remote?
I started in May 2020, and it was a really rough start. USDS throws you in the deep end, and when you’re trying to connect to VPN and haven’t met anyone in person, the deep end gets just a bit deeper. That being said, it’s been about nine months and we’ve all had to adjust to working remotely, and many more people have on-boarded remotely after me. Learning how to be effective in this environment has also given me the opportunity to help shape the culture.
What are you working on right now and how does it help people?
One of the best things about working here is having clarity about how you’re helping people is a pre-requisite for any project. Before I joined, I was helping friends and family deal with navigating unemployment. Then I joined USDS and suddenly I was helping fix the very same systems that people I knew were relying on. Currently I’m working on a project related to vaccines, and I’m similarly excited to be fixing the problems in my immediate world. Technology allows you to scale. When I use technology to fix a problem in my life, I can simultaneously solve the same problem for the entire country. | https://medium.com/the-u-s-digital-service/why-we-serve-amy-quispe-9c7b3a0c309c | ['U.S. Digital Service'] | 2021-02-23 18:44:30.780000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Government', 'Engineering', 'Civictech'] |
In The Ghetto | Ghosts ghouls grottos giving you an alter day to the pep Pepsi call of sweet sugar replacement so sickly makes one throw up into a Fauve colourist scheme it’s Freddie Fandango from Fritz, Mania the hallow court of St Germain opening display let’s adore the art for its very own special mystifying mosaic catch the muse before she disappears it is said Picasso led the blind Rimbaud read to the rich such manifestations only appear once a year have a cup the sacred cup of denial kiss her feet who’s feet? The one’s of Her Lucidity look out we’re late! | https://medium.com/scrittura/in-the-ghetto-df466e825142 | ['Mimi Bordeaux'] | 2020-12-28 07:55:33.076000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Travel', 'Prose', 'Art', 'Life'] |
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