title
stringlengths 1
200
⌀ | text
stringlengths 10
100k
| url
stringlengths 32
885
| authors
stringlengths 2
392
| timestamp
stringlengths 19
32
⌀ | tags
stringlengths 6
263
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Digital Marketing vs Internet Marketing: Are They Same? | Even people working in the digital marketing industry tend to get confused in this aspect. They hardly know the difference between digital marketing and online marketing. However, things are a bit confusing and let me sort this out for you.
Digital marketing and online marketing are not exactly similar. In fact, online marketing is only a subset of digital marketing, just like a Pomeranian is a subset of a bigger group — dogs.
Yes, and digital marketing is nothing new. It has been existent in the world ever since digital gadgets came into existence, and whether you believe it or not, people in the 1940s and 1950s too performed marketing digitally through radios. Then came the televisions some years after that and digital marketing became visually perceivable.
So digital marketing is a sort of marketing that is done through digital devices, whether landline phones, TVs, or radios and it has nothing to do with the Internet. In fact, though it is a form of traditional marketing, these are still digital in nature.
And that’s where Internet marketing or online marketing comes into existence. Internet marketing is a form of marketing that is performed using the internet and mostly search engines. Internet marketing is not exactly similar to digital marketing and these are not synonymous terms.
Another thing that confuses people is the phrase Traditional Marketing vs Digital Marketing. People consider these TVs, Radios, and Landlines or Mobile SMS marketing a form of traditional marketing methods like Newpapers marketing or brochures, and these digital products are actually considered something away from the digital marketing group.
In reality, they are actually trying to make comparisons between Traditional Marketing and Internet Marketing, and as I said, people are just confused.
As of now, when there are the smartest-smart digital products across the world, no sort of marketing is considered tradition. Even the banners and brochures have turned digital and now they too are counted under digital marketing methods.
So all-in-all, Digital Marketing is a huge group and things like Online Marketing and Internet Marketing are just small parts of it. I hope you understand the differences now. | https://medium.com/@abhishekkumar020591/digital-marketing-vs-internet-marketing-are-they-same-e1c0793d6338 | ['Abhishek Kumar'] | 2021-10-28 13:40:55.138000+00:00 | ['SEO', 'Digital Marketing', 'Search Engine Optimizati', 'Internet Marketing', 'PPC Marketing'] |
humor microfiction | Micro-humor
Son’s Bully
A hundred-word microfiction
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
“Dad. Today I bravely confronted my bully and punched him squarely on his nose.”
“Whoa! I’m proud of you, my boy.”
“But the principal suspended me for three months, and my bully was set free, dad.”
“How dare he? I will sue him if he doesn’t take you back immediately.” | https://medium.com/illumination/humor-microfiction-sons-bully-29fd903a94cc | [] | 2020-09-14 16:05:53.850000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Funny', 'Microfiction'] |
Research as a market differentiator | Many years ago, when I was working at the CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research), my supervisor told me something that struck me:
“Miguel, because your colleague is an engineer, he is a man of action. However, you and I are physicists, therefore we have to sit down and look at these charts.”
Then he spent ten long minutes looking at a table littered with papers showcasing various graphics I found totally indistinguishable. For him, however, those drawings were full of information relating to the trends, features and capacities of the physical phenomena that we were investigating in the particle accelerator.
Years later, having left academia and immersed in the business world with Good Rebels, I have discovered that analytical skills are not exclusive to research centres. At the end of the day, in order to develop your tasks correctly and efficiently, mastering what you are working on and deep diving into the results and main driving factors is key.
Just as my supervisor used to scrutinise those charts persistently, in Good Rebels I have developed a well-trained analytical perspective that allows me to see beyond the surface. As Musashi Miyamoto, author of the famous “Book of Five Rings”, once said
The observing eye is stronger, the perceiving eye is weaker.”
A lesson learned
As the years (and my PhD) went on, I realised that what seemed like magic or like an inexplicable superpower at the time, was actually all down to technique. Analytical and research skills are something you can build, both in yourself and in corporations. In the case of Good Rebels, this technique is based on three pillars:
A multidisciplinary team: we work with varied profiles, which allows us to obtain a diverse perspective on the different phenomena influencing how brands interact with people, media and technology. Our extensive experience: for many years, we have been developing our own methodologies and mastering different ways of analysing reality. A wide range of different specific techniques that provide us with a complete picture of the elements we are analysing.
The different techniques that allow for such a thorough analysis can be classified along two main axes: offline and online; qualitative and quantitative.
Techniques such as social listening, online communities, panel surveys or audience profiles will allow us to find different trigger points according to the features or objectives of each project. However, there are other techniques beyond these two axes that are also important, such as observation methods based on data or on interaction with people.
The idea is to cover all the possible angles of analysis, because we are aware that the interaction processes between brands and people can be extremely diverse and complex nowadays.
The most profitable investment
At Good Rebels we think of research as the most profitable investment of all. On the one side, research is what will help us understand the opportunity cost of what we do not do. On the other side, it will allow us to minimise our own biases, broadening our view and our spectrum when making decisions.
This is why, apart from the research associated with each project (which usually has a very specific purpose with its own applications and activations in the short- and the mid-term), it is interesting to open up the research objectives to more generic areas in the mid- and long-term.
This kind of research, developed with a broader, more global perspective, permeates the specific topics that are analysed in each particular case, enriching every project with the initial knowledge that drives the final results. At Good Rebels we have developed several investigations following this approach, but we are especially proud of the two latest ones. Keep reading!
COVID-19: Implications for CMOs
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been pouring different analyses into this space for reflection, with the aim of helping CMOs understand how the global pandemic was affecting the marketing and communication function. As with any other study involving COVID, our learnings have been changing throughout the year, which is why we have devoted an extra effort to keep the website updated.
As a result of this effort, we have also developed some specific publications relating to the rise of direct-to-consumer, to home-driven marketing, or to forecasts on consumer confidence, which we developed back in March, when the whole market was plunged into the darkest uncertainty.
Have you met Zen Gen?
The other major research which we have been working on over the past few months focused on the digital behaviours of Zen Gen (people between 55 and 75 years old, often known as ‘baby boomers’). The study, developed in the United Kingdom, Spain and Mexico, analysed their relationship with technology, as well as their online purchasing habits.
This research has shed light on some insights that many (us included) would find surprising. Why? Because our findings have blown away many of the preconceptions that are often held about this generation. For example, more than 80% of our respondents buy online regularly, and 27% of them use Pinterest to look for inspiration and ideas.
Moreover, following our strong belief on the importance of universal access to knowledge, the data from this research is published and accessible to the general public, so that the conclusions can be analysed in detail or expanded further according to each person’s view and perspective.
Rebel Thinking
As part of our commitment to publicising all the research we develop and sharing knowledge, the Rebel Thinking think tank has been offering content related to digital marketing for 15 years, both in the form of articles and more extensive publications (white papers).
Rebel Thinking contains more than 7,000 articles classified by topics and categories, to facilitate user immersion and guide their research. Although we have far fewer whitepapers, they have a greater level of depth, addressing topics that are critical to Good Rebels as a company, such as People-Centred Organisations, our Smart Social methodology, or data science. These articles not only explain past research in a broad and detailed manner; they have also helped us connect with our clients by expressing and transmitting our values and capabilities.
The observing eye is not a magical eye: at Good Rebels we have been training it for many years to understand reality, in order to be able to help the people and brands we work with. We have been mastering research techniques, creating diverse teams and compiling all the knowledge so that when we observe that reality, displayed like a sheet of graphics on our table, it is all crystal clear to us.
Miguel Blanco holds a PhD in Physics from the Université Pierre Marie Curie and is a Data Scientist at Good Rebels. | https://medium.com/@goodrebels/research-as-a-market-differentiator-f14e012d5188 | ['Good Rebels'] | 2020-12-16 18:14:29.770000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Digital Marketing', 'Market Research', 'Data Analytics', 'Data Science'] |
157. How to Live a Life with No Regrets | This is Entrepreneurs of Faith, a Sunday episode of Monetization Nation. I’m Nathan Gwilliam, your host. In today’s episode, we’re going to discuss how to live a life with no regrets.
If your life flashed before your eyes, would you have any regrets?
In a 2012 sermon, “Of Regrets and Resolutions,” Dieter Uchtdorf, a German aviator, airline executive, and religious leader, explained that a nurse who cares for the terminally ill often asks her patients a simple question as they prepare to leave this life: “Do you have any regrets?”
“Being so close to that final day of mortality often gives clarity to thought and provides insight and perspective,” Uchtdorf said. “So when these people were asked about their regrets, they opened their hearts. They reflected about what they would change if only they could turn back the clock.”
If we could turn back the clock, what would we change? How would we be different? As entrepreneurs, we have to make constant decisions. Sometimes, we may make choices we regret. For example, this week I thought of some team members that I let go of over the years, and a business partnership that didn’t end well, and what I could have done better in those situations.
A Near-Death Experience
Marshall Goldsmith, an American executive leadership coach, and author, shared his near-death experience on his website, MarshallGoldsmith.com. He had been on a flight to Santa Barbara when the plane suddenly took an “enormous” dip.
“We have a minor problem,” Goldsmith recalled the pilot announces. “The landing gear isn’t working. We are going to circle the airport until we run out of fuel so we can land safely with the wheels up.”
Goldsmith explained he was terrified for his life. The moment seemed to last forever, giving him a chance to reflect. He asked himself, “What do I regret?”
“The only answer I could come up with was that I had never adequately thanked the many people who had been good to me in my life. I told myself, ‘If I ever get back down on the ground safely, I will thank these people,’” Goldsmith wrote.
After the plane landed safely, Goldsmith traveled to his hotel and started writing thank-you notes to the people he was grateful for in his life. After he had reflected on his regrets, he immediately took action and made a change. Now, he makes a conscious effort to be grateful for everyone around him, especially in his business.
“That was the moment I became a connoisseur of gratitude, a virtuoso at thanking. I’m always thanking people now in my emails, letters, seminars, and life. The last thing I say on most phone calls is not ‘goodbye’ but ‘thank you,’” Goldsmith wrote.
If we were to have a similar experience, what would we regret? What lesson could we learn? What would we want to do better? What changes would we make? Not only does this lesson apply to our lives, but also to our businesses. Goldsmith was able to reflect on his regrets in his business, and then make a change by constantly being grateful for his customers, clients, and employees.
5 Ways to Overcome Regrets
As entrepreneurs who are humans, we will make a lot of mistakes and wrong choices. It is inevitable. We may lose a client, launch a marketing campaign that fails, or release a product no one likes. However, we don’t have to live in regret. How do we get to the point where, when someone asks us if we have any regrets, we can confidently say no?
Here are five steps we can take to overcome our regrets.
1. Reflect
Sometimes we may not know what we will regret in the future as we live our present lives. In order to make changes, we first need to recognize what changes we want to make. We can do this by setting aside time to reflect.
Goldsmith didn’t realize he had regrets until he had a near-death experience. He didn’t realize he lacked gratitude for the people he worked with until he was forced to assess his life. Even though a near-death experience can provide meaningful insights about ourselves, we don’t need to have one to determine what changes we should make in our lives now. We simply need to take the time to reflect on what we wish we were doing better.
Margaret J. Wheatley, an American writer, teacher, speaker, and management consultant, said, “Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”
We should reflect on our leadership abilities. Are we kind? Do we appreciate our employees? We should reflect on our business processes. Is there a step we can take out? Are we missing something? When we set aside time to reflect, we can stop bad habits and prevent regrets in the future.
2. Accept
When we make a wrong choice, we need to accept it. We shouldn’t continue to feel guilty over a mistake we made years ago. We need to accept the fact that everyone makes mistakes. Uchtdorf said a common regret many people have is, “I wish I had let myself be happier.” We shouldn’t let our shortcomings, mistakes, or failures ruin our chance to be happy or successful.
Steve Maraboli, a speaker, best-selling author, and behavioral science academic, said, “We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future.”
Once we accept that we will make wrong choices and mistakes in our lives, it will be easier to forgive ourselves and move on, continuing on the path to success.
3. Apologize
If we have hurt someone else, we need to apologize. In our businesses, this could mean acknowledging poor leadership skills and making a promise to do better for our employees or partners.
As entrepreneurs, we often fall into leadership positions and have to spend most of our time working with others. As we run a business, we need to make sure we aren’t leaving our relationships at the bottom of our priority list. One common thing we need to apologize for in the workplace is neglecting our relationships. If we don’t take the time to really build our relationships and apologize for our past mistakes, our workplace won’t run as efficiently or be as successful.
Uchtdorf explained that a common mistake we make is ignoring the people around us because we are too consumed with our projects. He said, “Isn’t it true that we often get so busy?” Uchtdorf said. “And, sad to say, we even wear our business as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life. Is it? I think of our Lord and Exemplar, Jesus Christ, and His short life among the people of Galilee and Jerusalem. I have tried to imagine Him bustling between meetings or multitasking to get a list of urgent things accomplished. I can’t see it.”
When we focus on all of the tasks we need to accomplish, it can be easy to forget about being a human and working with others. When this happens, we need to take the time to apologize. As we start apologizing for our mistakes, we will build better relationships with our employees, partners, and customers. Once we have apologized we can begin to make amends.
Uchtdorf continued, “I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day. When He interacted with those around Him, they felt important and loved. He knew the infinite value of the people He met. He blessed them, ministered to them. He lifted them up, healed them. He gave them the precious gift of His time.” When we admit mistakes and apologize to those around us for things even as small as being too busy, we will begin to have fewer regrets in our lives.
4. Learn & Improve
The more we see our mistakes as learning opportunities and chances for improvement, the less regret we will have. After Goldsmith reflected on his regrets, he decided to learn from them and find a way to improve. As we do this in our businesses, our mistakes will no longer be failures, but a sign we are moving forward to reaching our full potential.
A common regret many people have is, “I wish I had lived up to my potential.” During our life on earth, we are meant to grow and learn. If we can do this, we will have less to regret.
“Our Heavenly Father sees our real potential,” Uchtdorf said. “He knows things about us that we do not know ourselves. He prompts us during our lifetime to fulfill the measure of our creation, to live a good life, and to return to His presence.” He continued, “Let us resolve to follow the Savior and work with diligence to become the person we were designed to become. Let us listen to and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. As we do so, Heavenly Father will reveal to us things we never knew about ourselves. He will illuminate the path ahead and open our eyes to see our unknown and perhaps unimagined talents.”
As we open our minds and hearts to learn new things and understand what God wants of us, we will become better people. In our businesses, we should constantly have the mindset of growth. We want to learn from our mistakes and regrets so we can improve.
5. Change
After we have recognized the regrets we have or could have in the future, we need to make changes. We need to take what we have learned and begin to apply it in our lives. We can do this by making resolutions and goals to improve.
Uchtdorf explained, “The more we devote ourselves to the pursuit of holiness and happiness, the less likely we will be on a path to regrets. The more we rely on the Savior’s grace, the more we will feel that we are on the track our Father in Heaven has intended for us.”
As we strive to do better in our businesses, as we reflect, accept, apologize, learn, and make changes, we will begin to live a life free of regret. We will get to the point where we can say “no” when we are asked, “Do you have any regrets?”
“[W]e should not be like the boy who dipped his toe in the water and then claimed he went swimming. As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we are capable of so much more. For that, good intentions are not enough. We must do. Even more important, we must become what Heavenly Father wants us to be.”
Key Takeaways
Here are some of my key takeaways from this episode:
1. Sometimes we may not know what we will regret in the future as we live our present lives. When we set aside time to reflect, we can stop bad habits and prevent future regrets we will have with our businesses.
2. Everyone makes mistakes. Once we accept that we will make wrong choices, it will be easier to forgive ourselves and move on, continuing on the path to success.
3. When we focus on all of the tasks we need to accomplish, it can be easy to forget about being a human and working with others. If we realize this is something we are doing, we need to take the time to apologize.
4. The more we see our mistakes as learning opportunities and chances for improvement, the less regret we will have.
5. After we have recognized the regrets we have or could have in the future, we need to make a change so we can live a life without regrets.
Join Entrepreneurs of Faith
If this episode of Entrepreneurs of Faith resonated with you, please subscribe for FREE to Monetization Nation so you can receive future episodes of Entrepreneurs of Faith.
1. Subscribe to the free Monetization Nation eMagazine.
2. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation YouTube channel.
3. Subscribe to the Monetization Nation podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.
4. Follow Monetization Nation on Instagram and Twitter.
Share Your Story
What regrets do you have and how have you learned from them? Please join our private Monetization Nation Facebook group and share your insights with other digital monetizers. | https://medium.com/@monetizationnation/157-how-to-live-a-life-with-no-regrets-940d49d0d07a | ['Monetization Nation', 'With Nathan Gwilliam'] | 2021-07-12 20:41:27.159000+00:00 | ['Regret', 'Life', 'No Regrets', 'Live', 'Monetization'] |
Identifying and Disrupting Deficit Thinking | A community of scholars who study “at-risk” populations focuses on how students’ family values might hinder their success in education. An educational researcher utilizes evidence of racial inequities to justify their work on how racial and cultural contexts cause barriers for students of color. An education scholar conducts an analysis to show how policy discourse is perpetuating ways of thinking that detract from efforts to address core systemic barriers to success for low-income students. Which of these constitutes deficit-thinking? How does one accurately make this assessment?
Because education is a problem-based field, doctoral students are encouraged to use problems to justify the urgency of their research. To be sure, there are numerous problems plaguing education, but how problems are identified and named is just as important to the research process as efforts to actually address them. Research itself becomes problematic when framed with deficit thinking, and researchers are not immune to using deficit frames to respond to educational issues. Despite some of the most conscious efforts, even the most critical scholars — the authors included — have the potential to produce research laced with deficit thinking. In addition, researchers have recently begun to apply the concept of deficit thinking to critique any discourse that discusses challenges or disparities, making it difficult for anyone to know what actually constitutes deficit thinking.
Education scholars and researchers are often socialized into deficit thinking. In this article, we highlight a few common ways — among many — that deficit thinking emerges in educational research. We also offer recommendations to encourage colleagues to actively disrupt deficit thinking by understanding what it is, addressing it in their own research, and offering helpful critiques to disrupt the spread of deficit narratives. The theme that runs through each of our examples is that deficit thinking is rooted in a blame the victim orientation that suggests that people are responsible for their predicament and fails to acknowledge that they live within coercive systems that cause harm with no accountability. In a forthcoming brief, we discuss how deficit thinking is not only a symptom of larger systemic oppression, but also reinforces these oppressive systems. Furthermore, deficit thinking is pervasive and implicit, and often emerging in language that treats people as problems.
“People are not Problems”
In Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois offered critical commentary in the essay, “Of our spiritual strivings.” In the piece, Dubois ponders the “Negro problem” and his response to the question, “How does it feel to be a problem?” DuBois’ question could readily be answered by numerous communities of color who have been positioned in educational research as “problems” that need to be solved or “broken people” who need to be fixed.
Researchers who situate people as problems engage in deficit thinking by focusing on fixing people rather than fixing oppressive and disabling systems.
For example, early research on Black boys and men referred to them as an “endangered species.” This same line of research, although intended to amplify the issues facing Black boys and men, positioned them as lacking agency or capacity to succeed and perpetuated beliefs that the education system has the ability to bestow this agency and capacity upon them. Ultimately, a deficit narrative entered the research discourse, often blaming these boys and men for their predicaments. Cultural phenomena such as sagging pants, participating in gangs, or desiring to be rappers and athletes — all with their own reasons for their societal prevalence — fueled images that were used to confirm this deficit narrative. Building on critiques of such thinking, Shaun Harper later offered an alternative anti-deficit framework about Black men and college attainment, in which he shifted the focus toward systemic influences on their success and away from centering on individual traits.
The Language of Deficiency
What is really “At-risk”?
The term at-risk is commonly used to refer to students who are marginalized and academically disadvantaged within educational systems. Gloria Ladson-Billings challenged the use of the term “at-risk,” explaining that children could derive no sense of pride from such a label. This concept has fueled discourses that are deficit-oriented in that they foster assumptions that minoritized students are more likely to fail than succeed and fixate on these students’ traits, rather than oppressive structures, as the cause of failure. An anti-deficit perspective would suggest that racially minoritized students are not “at-risk,” but educational institutions are at-risk of failing them. These institutions are at-risk of losing out on the diverse perspectives and experiences that these students contribute to the learning environment. Ivory Toldson noted, the best alternative to describe “at-risk students” is simply “students.”
Photo by Peyton Sickles on Unsplash
Resilience and Grit
The concepts of resilience and grit allude to characteristics that determine whether individuals succeed despite seemingly insurmountable odds. Research emphases on resilience and grit may promote deficit thinking because they situate the responsibility of success or the predicament of failure on individuals. Focusing on individual prowess does little to name how educational structures operate to ensure that some students fail while others succeed. Resilience and grit also fuel a system of shame management. Educational institutions have notoriously failed students, so much so that school districts across the US have been labeled as “failing.” Yet, minoritized students who strive and beat the odds are treated as exceptional, while the majority of them are viewed as deficient. Deficit thinking blames the students who are left behind for their predicament, rather than the policies and practices that perpetuate oppressive and inequitable systems. Exceptionalism and praise directed toward students who “succeed” help institutions manage the overwhelming shame of systemically failing students, most of whom are racially minoritized and economically disadvantaged. Anti-deficit viewpoints place less emphasis on these individual traits, and greater focus on how to re-envision and transform the larger systems and structures that perpetuate inequities in educational outcomes.
Minority vs. Minoritized
Since the 1980s, the term minority and minorities were used to refer to African American, Asian American, Latinx/a/o, Native American, and Pacific Islander populations. Over time, minority became standard language in educational research. The use of the term signaled a discourse in which every population was “less than” White people. This term is still used in educational research and promotes deficit thinking. However, these populations are not inherently minorities. Instead, they have been forced to operate in a hegemonic system that minoritizes them. Unlike the term minority, using the term minoritized can disrupt deficit thinking in educational research because it gets at the contextual nature of oppression, systems and processes rooted in power that affect these populations, and reality that identities and experiences are not objective.
Photo by Melany Rochester on Unsplash
Giving Voice
The strength of qualitative educational research lies in its emphases on particularities rather than broad strokes. Through qualitative research, readers can access thick descriptions in which individuals articulate their lived experiences. Yet, qualitative researchers have engaged in deficit thinking by referencing their work as “giving voice” to participants. Although qualitative research is one venue through which we learn about people’s experiences, participants come to the research with voices of their own. Deficit thinking prompts researchers to presumptuously conclude that participants enter our research processes with no voice, we are essential in making their voice materialize, and they exit the study with voice as a result of our work. Despite the fact that qualitative research can illuminate pressing issues and center populations whose perspectives and experiences might not otherwise enter particular discourses, we would argue that research does not give voice. Instead, research, especially qualitative inquiry, is a tool to share the already-existing stories of participants that were otherwise silenced by oppressive systems.
Moving Forward
Given the pervasive nature of deficit thinking, we want to encourage educational researchers in two ways. First, we encourage scholars to understand anti-deficit thinking, which requires comprehending the impact of language and discourse on how people are situated in research, how questions and language are framed, and how findings are reported. Second, we encourage scholars to engage in healthy critique and disruption of deficit-oriented research. A host of scholars have offered critiques of bodies of literature framed with deficit thinking in an effort to shift dominant narratives, but more is needed. Although we encourage greater critique, we caution scholars to apply the concept of deficit thinking carefully to avoid certain pitfalls, such as referring to research as deficit without having a clear understanding of what deficit thinking is and how it shows up in educational research. We also caution scholars to avoid being hasty in offering critique because doing so can promote unnecessary confusion. For example, some scholars refer to anti-deficit research as deficit oriented or critique deficit-based research to build an argument that is deficit itself.
Overall, as researchers, senior faculty, and mentors who are committed to equity-focused, anti-deficit research, we want to build upon and contribute to dialogue within educational research spaces that is devoted to disrupting deficit discourses. We know first-hand the power of deficit discourses in research and the harm they can do, but we also believe in the power of critical anti-deficit scholarship that can disrupt, dismantle, and reshape how scholars approach research for educational equity. | https://medium.com/national-center-for-institutional-diversity/identifying-and-disrupting-deficit-thinking-cbc6da326995 | ['National Center For Institutional Diversity'] | 2019-07-26 15:54:26.794000+00:00 | ['Education', 'Equity', 'Students', 'Diversity', 'Research'] |
How to Become a Powerful Good Luck Magnet | How to Become a Powerful Good Luck Magnet
Quick and easy ways to bring more good fortune into your life.
Photo by Amy Reed on Unsplash
A delivery man came by asking for Lucky King today.
It is remarkable how often people mispronounce my name in this way. I get called Lucky on average once or twice a week!
I have treated this as a game for years. Every time someone calls me Lucky I imagine I receive a good luck credit.
Ka-ching!
At a wedding one time my nameplate was misspelt as Lucky King. People came up to my boyfriend all night asking to be introduced to Lucky.
That evening was a bonanza for me!
Ka-ching!
Ka-ching!
Ka-ching!
Seriously though, I do consider myself blessed in life. Like most people I have dealt with family, health and employment difficulties. When times have been challenging, I’ve always believed I would get through — and somehow I do!
I am conscious of not shying away from challenges due to fear. Making a fool of myself is okay. Failure is okay. I have done both on many occasions and learnt useful lessons each time.
Facing fear head on is important because — fear blocks good luck from entering your life. | https://medium.com/the-ascent/how-to-become-a-powerful-good-luck-magnet-d8d04dc93fec | ['Lucy King'] | 2019-01-31 14:10:30.785000+00:00 | ['Inspiration', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Psychology', 'Productivity', 'Self Improvement'] |
Télécharger (PDF/Epub) To Sleep in a Sea of Stars By Christopher Paolini (Full Book) | Download Now !
During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.
As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.
Product details
Item Weight : 2.1 pounds
Hardcover : 880 pages
ISBN-13 : 978–1250762849
ISBN-10 : 1250762847
Product Dimensions : 6.42 x 1.74 x 9.56 inches
Publisher : Tor Books; Illustrated Edition (September 15, 2020)
Language: : English
Download Now!
https://123books.xyz/1250762847
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars PDF — To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Epub — To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Mobi — To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Audiobook — To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Kindle
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars PDF EPUB Download To Sleep in a Sea of Stars ebooks with Apple Books on iPhone. In fact, a real bookworm will never normally budget this dear actions only for certain venues along with times. Free Kindle Books, Nook Books, Apple Books and Kobo eBooks To Sleep in a Sea of Stars PDF EPUB Download To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Take place I just read Amazon ebooks on Android? Ask for PDF and EPUB documents with Google Play Books. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars PDF EPUB Download To Sleep in a Sea of Stars Download and save PDF files for a iPhone utilizing the Books app that is definitely part of the iOS operating system. Books for iPhone, iPad, and Android .
EPUB is an e-book file format that uses the “.epub” file extesion. The term is short for electronic publication and is sometimes styled ePub. EPUB is supported by many e-readers, and compatible software is available for most smartphones, tablets, and computers. EPUB is a technical standard published by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). It became an official standard of the IDPF in September 2007, superseding the older Open eBook standard.
An electronic book, also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices.[1] Although sometimes defined as “an electronic version of a printed book”,[2] some e-books exist without a printed equivalent. E-books can be read on dedicated e-reader devices, but also on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
PDF To Sleep in a Sea of Stars eBook
PDF To Sleep in a Sea of Stars eBook | https://medium.com/pdf-epub-to-sleep-in-a-sea-of-stars-by-christopher/t%C3%A9l%C3%A9charger-pdf-epub-to-sleep-in-a-sea-of-stars-by-christopher-paolini-full-book-9cbb7de014a1 | [] | 2020-12-24 16:04:19.440000+00:00 | ['Pdf', 'Books', 'Sea', 'Reading', 'Novel'] |
Song of the Day — October 29. The Dirty Knobs — F*ck That Guy | Song of the Day — October 29
The Dirty Knobs — F*ck That Guy
29.October.2020
The Dirty Knobs
“F*ck That Guy”
2020
Mike Campbell is to rock and roll and guitars as Martha Stewart is entertaining and cooking — flawless and brilliant.
Both know what they do well, and they stick to it and make every attempt to level up at their craft.
Serving as Tom Petty’s right hand for, well, forever, Mike Campbell became proficient at many things in addition to guitar playing — producing and songwriting being chief among them.
In between Petty projects and other side gigs, Campbell formed The Dirty Knobs with guitarist Jason Sinay, bassist Lance Morrison and drummer Matt Laug and mainly stuck to playing around Los Angeles.
After Petty’s untimely death and Campbell’s epic worldwide tour replacing Lindsey Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac, he returned home to his Knobs.
They hunkered down and recorded a proper album scheduled to be released in March but got delayed. The Dirty Knobs Wreckless Abandon will officially be released on November 20.
The first single, “F*ck That Guy,” just came out. You may think by the song's title that it’s an all balls-out rocker …it’s not. Written by Campbell and Chris Stapleton, “F*ck That Guy” has a very laissez-faire sound and vibe to it, like you could picture guys on their porch saying just that.
It’s a cross between Sheryl Crow’s “All I Wanna Do” and Campbell sounds (and plays here) a lot like Mark Knopfler. Provided you like those things, you’ll like this.
Releasing it so close to election day, it very well could take on a different tone . Regardless of what political side of the spectrum you’re on, we’re so divided right now that the genius here is that both sides are saying the same thing about the other.
BUT, what makes the song is the video.
The Dirty Knobs play a kind of Keystone Cops character as they chase a personified COVID-19 around Los Angeles. It’s silly and fun and absolutely makes the song.
The song is good, but it’s really the video that puts it over the bar: | https://medium.com/pop-off/song-of-the-day-october-29-bd9abbc08697 | ['Keith R. Higgons'] | 2020-10-29 17:49:40.291000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Rock', 'Album', 'Covid 19', 'Art'] |
What all has changed in the AWS Lambda in the past one year… | Serverless computing, in general, is now considered a rapid way to build modern cloud-native applications. Like every major design systems in the past decades, the Serverless has also gone through a number of changes and improvements over time.
It has been only 6 years since AWS launched the Lambda service and this year, by far, has seen some major improvements. Lambda alone can do so little, but the thriving eco-system of services (integrations and event-emitters) is helping the overall Serverless Computing on AWS to cater to a vast variety of use cases.
This was one of the quotes from Andy Jassy at the recently concluded re:Invent 2020 keynote.
Forrest Brazeal wrote a great post about recent Lambda additions and the trend-shift in Serverless computing for better Serverless computing.
Let’s look at some of the most important features and their impact going forward.
Lambda functions are a bit slow (cold) to start
Yes, because this is designed to be a serverless, pay-per-use, auto-scaling, and low-operations system. That means heavy-lifting is done by AWS. To work on the other features, Lambda service had to compromise on this one.
A year back, Lambda service announced the availability of the Provisioned Concurrency. This means we can define how many Lambda functions will be kept in memory to avoid spending extra time on serving new requests.
This does not break any promise of serverless computing. We still don’t need to worry about servers and we can configure the concurrency when required.
Lambda functions have limited storage
Lambda service had default ephemeral storage of only 512Mb and need to rely on S3 for all the persistence.
In mid-2020, AWS announced the integration of EFS with Lambda to allow low-latency, high throughput file processing. This feature helps Lambda function to process large files seamlessly.
The biggest difference in using EFS vs S3. EFS is a file system, so the code can use the file system APIs instead of using the S3 APIs.
Lambda functions are not exactly PAY-PER-USE
Lambda service calculates the billing on a 100ms time block. So for example, if a function takes 55ms to complete the processing, the Lambda service will still charge for a 100ms time block. That’s like paying nearly double the cost, and at a large-scale, this is a big amount.
With a recent announcement, Lambda service now charges in a 1ms block. That means for a 55ms function execution, we will be paying around 55ms only.
Lambda service can only run functions
Yes, and this is a good thing. Lambda was originally designed to build micro-functions that can run independently to execute code based on the attached events.
With the latest announcement, now Lambda service can run Functions (as in code in zip file) or Containers (as in containers).
Depending on your understanding of Serverless computing, this is a very interesting addition. This allows builders to leverage Serverless computing without making major changes in their existing software packages, provided they are containerized.
If your goal is to design better cloud-native software, you will find this feature a very good option for future design.
Lambda functions have very limited memory
Lambda functions can only configure up to 3GB of RAM. There is no way to configure the CPU, and it is allocated proportionally based on the amount of RAM configured.
With the latest announcement, Lambda functions can now allocate up to 10 GB of RAM.
With CPU proportional to the amount of RAM, now you can perform more complex tasks in a function and may still be fine with the 15 minutes maximum time duration.
Lambda functions provide limited control and insights
Yes, it does, because the promise is to get away from the low-level details and instead focus on building features.
But that is changing, with steep adoptions, builders need more insights and control so that they can design better serverless functions without adding more code.
With the latest announcement, Lambda Extensions can help extract and augment the internal details. Extensions help integrating external tools like a “sidecar” without making any changes in the function code.
With these many changes, we hope to see newer and better use cases in the future with Lambda and Serverless services. | https://medium.com/appgambit/what-all-has-changed-in-the-aws-lambda-in-the-past-one-year-c5ff69f2df60 | ['Dhaval Nagar'] | 2020-12-22 11:35:17.653000+00:00 | ['Lambda', 'AWS Lambda', 'AWS', 'Amazon Web Services', 'Serverless'] |
Headphones v/s Earphones : Choose! | Re-ignite your love of music!
Confused to pick the right choice of headphone? Or wait! Maybe it’s a snug pair of earphones you’re looking for? Whatever your choice, It is vital that you think over for a minute as to what you’re looking for in your choice of product & why it’s important to you. Try & envision how your perfect music accessory would fit into your daily routine. Once that’s done, simply scroll down to explore our list below
1. Over ear headphones: JBL E65BT
Head in the clouds!
The one most commonly associated with headphones, the over-ear headphones are right for you if you binge watch web series and love streaming movies on your smartphone or tablets. They are big enough to fit your entire ear with its big plush ear-pads and provide excellent noise-cancellation. It is also ideal when you are traveling in quite a noisy environment like trains and buses.
2. On ear headphones: boAt Rockerz 410
Music made comfortable!
A variation on the over-ear headphones. The on-ear Headphones provide a comfy feel, great sound playback and are ergonomically designed. It has smaller ear cups and is portable enough for you to carry around anywhere. So if your schedule involves constantly being on the go, then on-ear headphones are the perfect choice for you.
3. Bass Earphones : Sony MDR-XB510AS
Life of the party
In-ear headphones are miniature models of headphones designed to be carried anywhere with relative ease. They provide a snug and comfortable fit inside the ear and offer an immersive sound experience. That’s not all! They also provide excellent noise cancellation features that allow you to tune out the noise and simply focus on the music. It is manufactured to suit the sporties and outdoor activity enthusiasts.
4. Bluetooth earphones: boAt Rockerz 255r
Hands free fun.
Bluetooth headphones are fast becoming popular due to being wireless & allowing one to escape the hassle of cords & tangled wires. They also provide superior bluetooth features that integrate with your smartphone. Not to mention they also feature some style quotient as trendy teenagers prefer to wear it just like an accessory. They are quite comfortable to carry anywhere and everywhere. A minor drawback of these earphones are that they tend to drain the battery of the smartphone or tablets they’re integrated with. But, thanks to the increased battery capacity of the new devices out there, it no longer is a major disadvantage.
5. Wireless earbuds: boAt airdopes 203
Wireless music. Re-imagined.
As the name suggests these truly are the innovative earbuds that are the trending accessory the modern youth desires. Designed perfectly with great aesthetics, these earbuds are designed to be highly portable due to their ultra lightweight features. Are you a sportsman, gym freak or simply the outdoorsy type? You are? Great! These buds are manufactured just for you! All these truly wireless earbuds are bundled with protective cases to keep it secure.
Still on the fence about which to choose? Don’t worry! Just head over to our #Homeguru series on YouTube
Original post @Vijay Sales — Online Electronics Shopping Store in India | https://medium.com/@vijaysalesoffcial/headphones-v-s-earphones-choose-88c30d2ed87 | ['Vijay Sales'] | 2020-07-31 07:18:38.511000+00:00 | ['Headphones', 'Earphones', 'Buy Online Gadgets', 'Mobile Accessories Online', 'Mobile Accessories'] |
Flutter State Management with Provider — NotifyListeners x StreamProvider — Part 2 | So, in Part 1 we saw how we can work with NotifyListeners using Consumer and Selector and the difference between them.
In this second part I will demonstrate a way to work with Stream using StreamProvider and handle changes on a specific value.
What is Stream?
In a nutshell, we can imagine Stream as a PIPE, where we can insert something at one end and take that value at the other. But how we can do this?
The StreamController provides the StreamSink class, allowing us to insert something inside the pipe (using the sink property) and getting the value that was inserted, the Stream, using the stream property.
Let’s create a class that will handle this. I will use the same example used in Part 1 but with some changes:
class MyModel { int _secondCount = 0; int _thirdCount = 0; int _value = 0; StreamController<int> _secondCountController = StreamController(); Stream<int> get secondCountStream => _secondCountController.stream; StreamController<int> _thirdCountController = StreamController(); Stream<int> get thirdCountStream => _thirdCountController.stream; StreamController<int> _valueController = StreamController(); Stream<int> get valueStream => _valueController.stream; void updateSecond() { this._secondCountController.sink.add(_secondCount++); } void updateThird() { this._thirdCountController.sink.add(_thirdCount++); } void changeValue() { this._value += 1; _valueController.sink.add(this._value); } void dispose() { this._secondCountController.close(); this._thirdCountController.close(); this._valueController.close(); } }
Let’s look at this code:
StreamController<int> _secondCountController = StreamController(); Stream<int> get secondCountStream => _secondCountController.stream; .
.
. this._secondCountController.sink.add(_secondCount++);
We created a StreamController that will provide a stream and sink properties and a Stream property that will be used by StreamProvider widget.
To add a value to the stream, we use the sink property:
this._secondCountController.sink.add(_secondCount++);
Remember to close the StreamController to avoid memory leaks:
void dispose() { this._secondCountController.close(); this._thirdCountController.close(); this._valueController.close(); }
The StreamProvider
The StreamProvider is a class that listens to a stream and exposes the value to its descendants.
StreamProvider<int>.value( initialData: 0, value: model.secondCountStream, child: SecondWidget(), ),
To work with it we just need to set:
the stream type “<int>”, in this case was an integer type;
the “initialData” that will be used until the stream emits a value;
and the “value” that is the stream that we will listen to.
In the “child” we will implement the widget that we want to update when the stream changes.
class SecondWidget extends StatelessWidget { @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { var model = Provider.of<MyModel>(context); return Column( children: <Widget>[ Text('Second Current Date :' + DateTime.now().toString(),), FlatButton( onPressed: () {model.updateSecond();}, child: Text("Increment Second: " + Provider.of<int>(context).toString()), ), ], ); } }
Using Provider.of<int>(context).toString() we can get the value emitted by the stream.
But, wait a minute!!
Why did you create a new widget to get the value emitted by the stream?
Are you asking me why I didn’t do this?
StreamProvider<int>.value( initialData: 0, value: model.secondCountStream, child: Column( children: <Widget>[ Text('Second Current Date :' + DateTime.now().toString(),), FlatButton( onPressed: () {model.updateSecond();}, child: Text("Increment Second: " + Provider.of<int>(context).toString()),), ], ), ),
For this question I’ll show an image that explains it:
The StreamProvider exposes the value to its descendants which means you can’t use the same “context” as StreamProvider. And a solution here is to create a new widget that will be used as a child of StreamProvider.
The full implementation:
void main() => runApp(MyApp()); class MyApp extends StatelessWidget { @override
Widget build(BuildContext context) { return Provider( create: (context) => new MyModel(), //DI child: MaterialApp( title: 'Provider with StreamProvider', theme: ThemeData(primarySwatch: Colors.blue,), home: MyHomePage(title: 'Home Page'), ), ); } } class MyHomePage extends StatefulWidget { MyHomePage({Key key, this.title}) : super(key: key); final String title; @override _MyHomePageState createState() => _MyHomePageState(); } class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> { MyModel model; @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { this.model = Provider.of<MyModel>(context); return Scaffold( appBar: AppBar( title: Text(widget.title), ), body: Center( child: Column( mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly, children: <Widget>[ Text('Date Without StreamProvider :' + DateTime.now().toString(),), StreamProvider<int>.value( initialData: 0, value: model.secondCountStream, child: SecondWidget(), ), StreamProvider<int>.value( value: model.thirdCountStream, child: ThirdWidget(), ), StreamProvider<int>.value( value: model.valueStream, child: ValueWidget(), ), ], ), ), ); } @override void dispose() { if(this.model != null) { model.dispose(); } super.dispose(); } } class SecondWidget extends StatelessWidget { @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { var model = Provider.of<MyModel>(context); return Column( children: <Widget>[ Text('Second Current Date :' + DateTime.now().toString(),), FlatButton( onPressed: () {model.updateSecond();}, child: Text("Increment Second: " + Provider.of<int>(context).toString()), ), ], ); } } class ThirdWidget extends StatelessWidget { @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { var model = Provider.of<MyModel>(context); return Column( children: <Widget>[ Text('Third Current Date :' + DateTime.now().toString(),), FlatButton( onPressed: () {model.updateThird();}, child: Text("Increment Third: " + Provider.of<int>(context).toString()), ), ], ); } }
class ValueWidget extends StatelessWidget { @override Widget build(BuildContext context) { var model = Provider.of<MyModel>(context); return Column( children: <Widget>[ Text('Listening a value :' + Provider.of<int>(context).toString(),), FlatButton( onPressed: () {model.changeValue();}, child: Text("Change Value"), ), ], ); } }
When you create a widget to manipulate each stream, it makes your code more readable and easier to maintain. I encourage you to always do this.
To learn more about the StreamProvider and another constructors, check out the documentation here.
Conclusion
It’s simple and straightforward to work with Stream and StreamProvider, and you don’t worry so much about rebuilding the widget tree. And of course, you can do more with that than shown here.
In these two parts, I have shown three ways to work with the Provider as State Management, Consumer, Selector, and StreamProvider, and each one of them has its benefits.
I always try to use the KISS principle and choose to use a simpler way, either in architecture or in componentization.
So, in my opinion, Selector is the simplest way to work with State Management, because we can listen to a specific value with a little less code than StreamProvider. However, working with ChangeNotifier has some limitations and you will need to create an architecture that circumvents this limitation.
I hope you enjoyed this article and “have a nice code”!
References | https://medium.com/flutter-community/flutter-state-management-with-provider-notifylisteners-x-streamprovider-part-2-84604eac1696 | ['Wilker Oliveira'] | 2020-01-07 13:03:03.306000+00:00 | ['Flutter', 'Stream', 'Provider', 'Dart', 'State Management'] |
My Top 10 Favorite Facebook Advertising Features | Video is the future of Facebook.
Someday, Facebook might even be all video, all day.
And there’s good reason for that. People love to watch videos. At last count, Facebook users are watching 100 million hours of video per day on the social network.
Are you using Facebook Ads to grow your business?
If not, you should be. Here are nine reasons why.
Facebook has many great ad formats, targeting options, and campaign types.
Here are my top 10 favorite Facebook advertising features.
1. Lead Ads
In addition to being cheap and insanely effective, Facebook Lead Ads totally eliminate the need for people to visit a landing page on your website.
With Lead Ads you can acquire valuable contact information from potential customers who are using Facebook on a mobile device.
You can use these ads to get people to sign up for your email newsletter, offer deals or discounts, schedule appointments, and more.
2. Video Ads
Video ads are an awesome and cheap Facebook advertising feature — you can pay as little as a penny per video view!
More memorable than the usual text and image combo, Facebook video ads deliver strong brand recall and high engagement — and drive purchase intent.
Simply upload the video to Facebook’s native video player, customize the description, thumbnail, budget, and targeting, and go!
3. Engagement Ads on Wall Posts
Engagement ads can help make your Facebook Page look super popular to anyone who is checking out your business.
Facebook will only show this type of ad to the people who are most likely to engage with your post — reacting, commenting, or sharing.
Sure, getting thousands of comments and reactions is ultimately just vanity — but people want to be part of the in-crowd. Facebook Pages with zero fan interaction always looks a bit suspect. If your business is so great, where are all your customers?
4. Remarketing
Facebook remarketing lets you reach people who have already interacted with or checked out your brand in some way. Maybe they visited your website (or a specific page on it), took some sort of action in your app or game, or gave you their email address or phone number.
Facebook tags these people with cookie. Your remarketing ads will show to those people as they go through their Facebook News Feed so they will remember you and perhaps convert on one of your hard offers.
People who are familiar with your brand are 2x more likely to convert and 3x more likely to engage. Ridiculously powerful stuff!
5. Interest Targeting
Facebook’s interest targeting helps you find the people who are likely to be interested in buying your product or service.
You can reach specific audience based on their interests, their activities, and the pages they’ve liked. You can also combine interests to expand the reach of your ad.
Whether you want to target people who are interested in technology, fitness and wellness, entertainment, or a certain business/industry, this Facebook ad feature will help you do it.
6. Demographic Targeting
You can target people based on where they live, their age, their gender, their political leanings, their job title, or by specific life events (e.g., engagement, birthday, anniversary)
Facebook also offers financial targeting. You can specify that you only want to show it to people who make more than an income level you specify, whether it’s as low as $30,000 or more than $500,000
If you sell a pricy product, you want to make sure your ads are shown to people who can afford to buy your stuff!
7. Behavior Targeting
Facebook’s behavior targeting lets you reach people based on purchase history, intent, device usage, and more.
Facebook uses data from third-party partners to figure out what people are purchasing, online and offline. After matching up that data with user IDs, Facebook lets advertisers target audience segments based on thousands of different purchasing behaviors.
For instance, you can target ads to people who have purchased clothing, health and beauty, technology, or pet products. Or if you wanted to target based on travel, you could choose options such as frequent travelers, international travelers, cruises, or whether someone has used a travel app in the past month.
8. The Facebook Pixel
Facebook’s tracking pixel tracks actions that happen on your website as a result of your paid ads (as well as your organic posts). All you have to do is add some code to any pages you want to track.
Actions include things like adding an item to a cart, viewing content, making a purchase, and completing registration.
The tracking pixel will help you measure conversions, optimize your ads and targeting, and gain insights about the Facebook users visiting your website.
9. Website Conversion Campaigns
You want to use conversion campaigns when the objective of your ad is to get people to do something specific on your website or in your mobile app.
You define that action, whether it’s completing a purchase, adding something to a cart, or a page view.
10. Carousel Ads
Carousel Ads let you display multiple images or videos (up to 10) within the same ad unit. Each image or video can link to a different page of your website
You can use these images to highlight products, features, or a promotion.
When done well, Carousel ads have proven to significantly increase conversions and click-through rates.
Bonus: Facebook Messenger Bots
Businesses can now create bots for Facebook Messenger that will “talk” to your customers anytime, 24/7. How cool is that?
Facebook’s chat bots have a ton of potential in terms of customer service and sales. They can provide automated information, take orders, help you buy products or services, or provide shipping notifications.
And you never have to leave Facebook Messenger to shop or get the information you want.
Those are my favorite Facebook advertising features. What are yours?
Originally posted on Inc.com
About The Author
Larry Kim is the CEO of Mobile Monkey and founder of WordStream. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. | https://medium.com/marketing-and-entrepreneurship/my-top-10-favorite-facebook-advertising-features-238916a1bd78 | ['Larry Kim'] | 2017-04-28 16:18:06.320000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Facebook', 'Social Media', 'Digital Marketing', 'Advertising'] |
Tiny graphics keep readers attention, and time does the same | Everyone in my family is born a bisect year. Three children and us, the parents!
I always get laughs and astonished looks when I tell this story to a friend. Still, there is no difference between a bisect year and the other years, right No year is special. Well, it depends.
We tend to recall milestones like marriage, babies and anniversaries. For your company, your products, you can also make a timeline of special years:
When was the company created
When was a product started
First customers
New versions
International versions, second and third products
Domain scientific publications
Standards and norms
In paralel with your product’s timeline, recall other important dates from the domain.
Context milestones complement your timeline and attract your customers
Speak to your customers by using events which are important both for you and for them:
- field events like congresses, discoveries or other publications
- national / international events
- new international standards (e.g. HL7 FHIR, ICD-11 or WHO ATC codes for medical apps)
Show these events in parallel with your timeline to give context and to connect your customers to your story.
Your turn now
What time references would you use in our tiny graphics?
Send your questions and ideas via the Tiny Graphics mailing list.
PS
My eldest daughter prefers saying we’re all born a Football World Cup year. | https://medium.com/@mapopescu/tiny-graphics-keep-readers-attention-and-time-does-the-same-b65eb6914e6a | ['Marius Popescu'] | 2020-12-08 23:38:29.912000+00:00 | ['Data Vizualisation', 'Infographics', 'Dashboard', 'Graphics', 'Tiny'] |
Interferon: The Latest Advancement in Covid-19 Treatment | Interferon: The Latest Advancement in Covid-19 Treatment
A frontline doc unpacks results of a new clinical trial that shows interferon may reduce the odds of severe illness or death from Covid-19
Photo: Emin BAYCAN/Unsplash
As someone who provides care for those with Covid-19 in a hospital approaching its capacity, I’m constantly on the lookout for safe and effective treatment strategies — anything to help my patients recover faster and get home sooner. With so many therapies being studied, it can be difficult to determine which new piece of data is truly valuable. My attention was caught by a well-constructed clinical trial published November 12 in The Lancet by Phillip Monk, et al. Here’s why I believe it’s so important.
Recent studies have shown a significant portion of individuals who become severely ill from Covid-19 possess antibodies that disable naturally occurring immune proteins called interferons. Instead of targeting invading pathogens, these antibodies, called autoantibodies, act against the body’s own immune system.
Interferons are cell-signaling molecules that function to alert the immune system of a developing infection. When interferons are deactivated by autoantibodies, viruses like the novel coronavirus are able to evade the body’s early warning alarms.
The importance of interferons is also highlighted by studies observing individuals with mutations in genes that code for interferon production. When interferons are diminished because of a mutated gene, patients tend to suffer from more severe symptoms of Covid-19. The lead author of one such study, Qian Zhang, explains, “If you don’t get the alarm out, you could have viruses everywhere in large numbers.”
It would stand to reason that providing the body with an added supply of interferon could potentially improve its response to the virus, SARS-CoV-2. This theory is supported by studies on animals infected with other coronaviruses, SARS and MERS. Unfortunately, the concept did not translate well to humans with Covid-19 as evidenced by the Solidarity trial conducted by the WHO earlier this year. Patients in this study failed to benefit from interferon injected under the skin, but what might happen if the medication was administered by a different route?
That’s the question Monk and colleagues sought to answer by treating patients with an inhaled formulation of interferon beta-1a. By targeting the organ most strongly affected by SARS-CoV-2 — the lungs — researchers hoped to deliver interferon directly to its area of greatest need.
What separates this study from many other pharmaceutical trials is its thoughtful design. Despite having a small sample size, being a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial allows this investigation to bypass many confounding elements that plague retrospective and observational studies. Moreover, publication in a peer-reviewed journal elevates its findings above data found on preprint servers which have become so prevalent lately.
The 97 hospitalized patients in the United Kingdom received either interferon beta-1a (code-named SNG001) or placebo for up to two weeks. At the end of four weeks, 58% of patients receiving interferon recovered compared to 35% of the placebo group as measured by the WHO Ordinal Scale for Clinical Improvement (figure below).
Of the 49 patients in the placebo group, three died, whereas all of the 48 patients receiving interferon survived. In her report on the study, Mary Van Beusekom, a writer for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy notes, “A secondary analysis showed that SNG001 patients were more than three times more likely to recover, defined by resumption of ability to resume normal activities, than those receiving a placebo at 28 days.”
Lead investigator, Tom Wilkinson, PhD, recognizes that interferon has the ability to boost the lung’s defense against pathogens in a nonspecific manner which could prove especially beneficial this time of year when co-infections are more likely to occur. “This [interferon beta-1a] might carry additional advantages of treating Covid-19 infection when it occurs alongside infection by another respiratory virus, such as influenza or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that may well be encountered in the winter months.”
One drawback is that, despite showing a trend toward improving mortality, the study did not involve enough patients for this trend to be considered statistically significant. Authors of an associated commentary in The Lancet call for expanded research on the safety and efficacy of interferon. “Larger randomised clinical trials are therefore needed to further investigate the effectiveness of nebulised interferon beta-1a therapy in this setting.”
Because interferon plays a role in the initial response to a pathogen, the group is now studying the effects of the drug when administered prior to hospitalization. They also hope to examine the response to interferon in “ventilated, critically ill patients with Covid-19 who have evidence of active viral infection in the lungs.”
Randomization of a small sample of patients can also lead to an unintentional imbalance in the group characteristics. The authors note that “SNG001 and placebo groups were well matched for age, sex, and overall comorbidities, but were less well matched for disease severity at recruitment and for specific comorbid conditions — particularly diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.”
Of the serious adverse events that occurred during the study, none were attributed directly to interferon beta-1a and all were thought likely to have been caused by Covid-19 itself. The most frequently reported adverse event was the development of headache which occurred in 15% of the interferon group and 10% of those receiving placebo.
Because inhaled interferon is not currently marketed to treat other diseases, information regarding its cost is lacking, but, undoubtedly, price will factor into its chance of widespread success. Despite some clear obstacles, I believe this novel therapeutic has as good a chance as any to become a game-changer in the pandemic. Here’s to inhaling a deep breath and waiting patiently for what happens next. | https://coronavirus.medium.com/interferon-the-latest-advancement-in-covid-19-treatment-9c2c02bed72a | ['Bo Stapler'] | 2020-11-18 17:12:29.684000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Healthcare', 'Covid-19', 'Coronavirus', 'Science'] |
Support Vector Machine. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a… | Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a supervised classifier and is defined by a separating hyperplane. In other words, given a set of labeled data, SVM generates an optimal hyperplane in the feature space which demarcates different classes.
Confusing, isn’t it? Let’s understand it in layman's terms.
Suppose, you have a given set of points of two types (say □ and ○) on a paper which are linearly separable. The job of SVM is to find a straight line that asserts the set into two homogeneous types, and which is also situated as far as possible from all those points.
Evidently, both straight-line ‘A’ and ‘B’ separate the two types of points as desired. However, ‘A’ is precisely situated as far as possible from all those points. SVM, as a tool, will elect ‘A’ as the separating hyperplane. In the image, the light blue periphery around lines ‘A’ and ‘B’ is called ‘Margin’. It is defined as the distance from the hyperplane to the nearest point, multiplied by 2. In simpler terms, the hyperplane will stay in the middle of the margin. The higher margin will give the optimal hyperplane.
Working of SVM
Till now, we are familiar with the process of segregating two classes with a hyperplane. But a rather important question arises is how does it work, and separate the two given classes. Don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it appears to be.
To understand this, we need to delve into the working of Support Vector Machine or SVM. In the process, we will look at different scenarios of how a hyperplane can be constructed. Just remember a thumb rule to identify the appropriate hyperplane:
Select the hyperplane which segregates the two classes better.
In the example, we need to draw a hyperplane such that it distinguishes the two classes. We start with randomly plotting of three hyperplanes along with the data set, as shown in the graph hereunder.
Now, we attempt to adjust the orientation of the hyperplanes in such a way that it homogeneously divides the given classes. Here, all three hyperplanes (‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’) segregate the classes well, but a rather pertinent question is “How can we identify the appropriate hyperplane?”
To answer the question, we further try to maximize the distances between the nearest data point and hyperplane, which would help us to decide the hyperplane. This distance, as we have learned, is called ‘Margin’.
As can be seen in the graph, the margin for hyperplane ‘B’ is comparatively higher than both ‘A’ and ‘C’. Therefore, we consider hyperplane ‘B’ as the best fit.
Another pertinent reason for selecting the hyperplane with a higher margin is the degree of robustness. That is to say, if we select a hyperplane having a low margin, there are higher chances of misclassification.
In the scenario given below, it is not possible to draw a linear hyperplane to classify the given set, then how does SVM demarcate the same? (Note that so far we have only looked at the linear hyperplane.)
These types of problems are very easy for the SVM algorithm, which solves it by introducing additional features.
Plotting the transformed points in the x-y plane, we get:
Now, we can easily draw a hyperplane which differentiates the two classes.
Hyper-parameter Tuning
Kernel
The most important hyper-parameter of SVM is ‘Kernel’. Given a list of observations, it maps them into specific feature space. Generally speaking, most of the observations are linearly separable after this transformation. Note that the default value of the kernel is ‘rbf’. Now, we would quickly scroll through different types of Kernel.
1. Linear Kernel
In Linear Kernel, we only have a Cost parameter.
2. Polynomial Kernel
Here, usually, ‘r’ is set to zero and ‘γ’ to a constant value. Along with the cost parameter ‘C’, the integer parameter ‘d’ has to be tuned. The value of ‘d’ ranges from 1 and 10.
3. Radial Kernel
It is the most popularly used kernel. It outperforms every other kernel due to its flexibility of separate observations. Here, the cost parameter ‘C’ and parameter ‘γ’ have to be tuned.
4. Gaussian Kernel
In the Gaussian Kernel, we calculate an N-dimensional kernel by picking ‘n’ patterns in data space first. Then, the kernel coordinates the points by calculating its distance to each of these chosen data points and thereafter, taking the Gaussian function of the distances.
Regularization
The regularization parameter is also known as the ‘C’ parameter. It provides the SVM optimization with regards to the degrees of obviating misclassification in each training example.
If ‘C’ is very large, the optimization will choose a hyperplane with a smaller margin. Similarly, a very small value of ‘C’ will force the optimizer to select a hyperplane whose margin is large, even as the selected hyperplane misclassifies more points.
Given hereinbelow are examples of two different types of ‘C’ parameters. In the left image, the regularization value is low and hence, it has some misclassification. Whereas, a large value of ‘C’ leads to choosing of smaller margin hyperplane.
Gamma
The gamma parameter characterizes how far the impact of a single training example reaches. A low value of gamma signifies points far away from hyperplane are considered in the calculation, and vice versa.
Margin
Margin is a line that separates the closest points belonging to different classes. A margin is considered to be good if the separation is larger for both the classes, and points belonging to one class should not cross to another class.
Conclusion
Considering the limitations of SVM, it doesn’t perform well when we have large data sets as the required training time taken is higher. SVM falls short when the data has more noise or given classes are overlapping. This is because it is difficult for SVM to draw hyperplane for overlapping classes. Further, SVM doesn’t directly provide probability estimates, these are calculated using an expensive five-fold cross-validation.
However, on the positive front, SVM works really well with clear margins of separation and is effective in high dimensional spaces. It also performs well in cases where the number of dimensions is greater than the number of samples. It uses a subset of training points in the decision function (called ‘support vectors’), and therefore, is also memory efficient. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/support-vector-machine-bf7dfa64b893 | ['Aakash Jhawar'] | 2020-08-08 16:02:06.130000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Support Vector Machine', 'Deep Learning', 'Hyperplane'] |
Woman’s Club of Medford welcomes speaker from Alzheimer’s Association | Woman’s Club of Medford welcomes speaker from Alzheimer’s Association
Effie Murphy will be speaking on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.
The Woman’s Club of Medford will be holding their general meeting on Thursday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at Medford Memorial Community Center, located at 21 S. Main St. in Medford.
The speaker for the evening will be Effie Murphy from the Alzheimer’s Association. As women are more susceptible to this disease, it is important to have as much knowledge and preparation as possible.
Refreshments will be served. | https://medium.com/the-medford-sun/womans-club-of-medford-welcomes-speaker-from-alzheimer-s-association-ecd02b5dfb76 | ['Melissa Riker'] | 2018-11-01 17:01:02.623000+00:00 | ['Health', 'New Jersey', 'Alzheimers', 'Disease'] |
The Music Modernization Act’s Failure… | Now that the hoopla and back slapping are finally over from inside the Oval Office and President Trump’s unusually big signature has been scrolled on the bill, the long term effects of H.R.5447 — The Music Modernization Act (“MMA”) are anything but clear. In the abstract, the intention of this legislation are to “update music licensing laws to improve the future for music creators”. To the contrary of my colleagues in music publishing, I do not believe that this bill will create “fairness” over the LONG term for music makers or the organizations that own and administrate this music. I believe that this new law will create a new urgency to circumvent all laws by streaming platform owners. The passing of this bill only “hot-wired” the outdated US Copyright Code into simulating something temporarily workable. We have not ended the push to the bottom on what private companies feel are fair payments to rights holders for streaming music.
The MMA has created a new Federal agency (“The Collective”) prescribing the cost of the digital mechanical license fees for streaming music and assigning Federal Judges to preside over disputes. Like all good capitalists, the operators of these streaming platforms are smiling, towing the appropriate industry line(s) and then spending every moment finding ways over, around and through the ineffective and patchwork legislative “wall” that has been thrown-up to silence 20 years of grousing about digital music rights. For example, look at Spotify’s new “direct upload” program which encourages artists to work with Spotify directly and be paid directly. It’s a slick pitch to confused musicians who may not understand what is happening. It’s like a child who is being sex-trafficked without knowing it.
In the years it took to build the industry coalition and the Congressional support to get the MMA bill passed, I fear that the bill’s many supporters may have gotten lost in the shadow of that wall. Desperation for any kind of “legal protection” led to compromise that led to this bill that will force artists to make terrible direct license deals with streaming platforms and the “gains” of the MMA will be largely curtailed if not completely nullified.
But I am ahead of myself…
“Publisher’s Row” on 28th Street in New York City in the 1920s known as “Tin Pan Alley.”
In the early 20th century, copyright laws were enacted from the decrepit 19th century rules to protect the creators and owners of intellectual property by making sure they were paid a tiny “mechanical rate” (read: a payment of about $0.01) for each copy of each song sold. The music that people enjoyed was manufactured and it was used as printed folios, vinyl discs or even reel to reel tapes. Music had intrinsic value because it existed in physical form and publishers and the fast-growing record labels had chosen certain artists to be “good enough” to manufacture and distribute their music.
For decades, the value of music grew as sales grew. In the 1960’s, music was the “tip of the spear” of a social revolution in most of the Western World and the value of music grew exponentially in financial, social and even political terms. Laws around recordings were updated to try to keep up with the financial and legal pressures being brought to bare on the Government because of the influence and the popularity of recorded music (ie: the Copyright Act of 1976).
The legacy of the US Government keeping up with technology is very poor. Into the cracks leftover by legislative myopia and compromise, legal and financial mischief has long occurred at labels, with managers and music publishers, so it’s not surprising that many in the music industry rely on these grey areas to make money. Said simply, the world around music sales has been dark, dirty and so many (older) people in the industry miss “the good ol’ days” because of the ready cash, the lack of oversight and blurry legal lines. The age of digital downloading and streaming has started a new kind of transparency that both shocked the industry and created an entirely new kind of financial black hole.
In 1998, Napster came along to teach us all what downloadable music was and how the next generation wants to use music. The age of endless choices on-line had begun. An entire generation of kids under the age of 20 discovered that an ocean of content was available for zero dollars. Within months, long held assumptions about the value of music evaporated because young people didn’t see “sharing” files or streaming music that you didn’t pay for as stealing. They felt emancipated. For those of us in the industry, we felt as if we had been assaulted and we had no idea if or how the sun would come-up tomorrow.
Onto this bloody battlefield came charging 1998’s “Digital Millennium Copyright Act”. The law attempted to try to mitigate the tsunami effect of downloading, streaming and digital content by trying to legally define digital content using terminology from the past. Most importantly, the DMCA is largely credited for creating the loopholes in the Copyright Code that allow platforms like YouTube, Facebook and others to host content without the need for licenses or payments (ie: “Digital Safe Harbor”). The combination of the legal loopholes of DMCA and Napster’s brazen assault the music industry’s control of its intellectual property caused chaos and the upending of the industry that has never quite found its groove again.
Because of the lightning-fast rise of social media, on-line shopping, content & gaming and the power & influence of these new technology companies over Congress, almost no new meaningful legislation has occurred in the 20 years since DMCA. When I personally lobbied Congress as part of advocacy group from NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) (The “Grammy” people) in 2014, we heard from countless House Representatives and Senators that: “Congress will not touch rewriting the Copyright Code and we don’t want to put bandaids on things with music downloads and streaming. We want to touch the issue of music once and not deal with it again for a generation.” So, we went back and tried to create an “omnibus” bill but what was really needed was a total rewrite of the Federal Copyright Statues. The MMA is that “omnibus” bill — kinda’.
The different categories of Copyright Law — thanks to wikiHow.
The basic problem with the current copyright code is that there are different laws and rules governing different types of content (music, film, photographs, books, dance, fashion, etc.) that have existed largely unchanged since the 1970s. From the 1920s to 1990s, it made sense that these “things” would be treated differently under the law because their use, function and audience were (in most cases) very different. In a digital world, this content is all the same… content. However, copyright law still looks at what the ‘artistic’ category is on that content and doesn’t take into account how this content will be used or monetized.
So, where does this leave us? Said simply, the MMA is a failure because it does not address the fundamental issues of digital media and digital copyright. The MMA has scared the large streaming platforms into making rules of their own and artists are left out in the cold with no leverage or support. Congress has made it clear that they are not revisiting music “issues” for a long time.
As artists and creators of music, we need to make some choices:
Will we see how this new law does before doing anything?
Will we start agreeing to direct license deals under the justification that “something is better than nothing?”
Is it time to get that job at Walmart?
Maybe, it is time for artists to come together to create digital coalitions of our own that live away from the big social media and music streaming platforms.
Yes.
In a post-MMA environemnt where the music industry will be scattering for cover hoping that these large platforms will continue to serve-up indifferent eyeballs that will convert into plays of music, maybe its long past time for musicians to take control of their destinies by banding together to create networks of websites and small streaming platforms that are controlled and monetized by musicians for musicians. It could be that the ultimate effect of the MMA is to speed-up the evolution of the digital musician from hapless gatherers looking for anything monetizable on the enormous caustic environments of YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud and others to creating our own small environments that are catered to our fans and can interface with other artists sites.
It’s time for musicians to stop being so passive and agreeable as the walls collapse on us…
What artists still have to learn is that there are an unlimited amount of streaming dollars. We are not competing with other artists — we are offering choice to our collective fans. Creating a collective isn’t a new idea. It’s an idea that been around for centuries. The guilds of the middle ages protected artists for centuries. We are once again living in the “dark ages” and it’s time for us to turn the light on for ourselves. The MMA was the “best” we were going to get from the Government. As the survivors of hurricanes, gun violence and droughts learn every year, the Government’s “best” is barely anything at all… | https://michaeljwhalen.medium.com/the-music-modernization-acts-failure-1332ac7a8520 | ['Michael Whalen'] | 2018-10-14 18:25:12.134000+00:00 | ['Music Business', 'Artist', 'Streaming', 'Congress', 'Monetization'] |
What’s new in GetSocial?. Product Updates (September 2017) | For those with a little more time…
Over the last few months, we’ve been focusing on expanding our business and bringing new customers up to speed. Throughout the third quarter, we developed several new projects and welcomed customers with massive websites.
As we wanted to maintain this trend, both our engineering and product teams battled for their own roadmaps, something that can be crazy to manage at times. Ultimately, we spent the last few months optimizing and developing for scale, something that was greatly needed.
Once those processes were completed, we were able to circle back into our product roadmap and developed a few, long-requested, features.
An improved Viral Alerts System
Our Alerts feature notifies our customers once their content is becoming viral. The first version of the feature would automatically define which content should be considered for analysis, removing outliers (low and high) and focusing on the others.
As that removed some control for our customers, we removed this ‘relevance threshold’ and added a new field for the condition builder. Now, you can define an alert based on a minimum or maximum number of sessions an article receives.
With it, you’ll be able to create queries such as the following:
If you activate this alert, you’ll be notified once an article receives more than 1,000 visits, at least 100 shares or more than 500 visits coming from shares (referrals) in a single day.
You can learn all about the renewed Viral Alerts feature on our knowledge base.
A new integration: Google Tag Manager
As bigger customers join GetSocial, new needs start to appear on our feedback surveys. One thing we’ve learned over the last few years: the bigger the company, the bigger the challenges to implement code on their websites.
As we’re now mainly working with Audience Development, Social Media or Content Marketing teams, it has become unusual for these folks to refer us to their development teams. In fact, most of them use some sort of Tag Manager software to implement their MarTech stack. Without surprise, Google Tag Manager is amongst the most used.
With this in mind, and apart from our current Google Tag Manager tutorial, we developed a native integration that allows any GTM user to install GetSocial on their website without handling any code.
You can learn all about this new integration on our knowledge base.
A new Insights Report
Many of our customers are agencies or teams that produce reports to their peers and, obviously, bosses (we all have them).
We wanted to facilitate these processes as we shift into a more constant presence in our customers’ daily tasks. Because we live and breathe on top of data, we decided to make the most out of it, and automatically produce relevant content about our user’s data.
On our new reports, you’ll find stats about what the best days and hours to post are, top performing content and even the power of your social users.
Here are some screenshots of this new feature:
How are people sharing your content?
When should you be posting your content? When is your audience sharing it?
Along the way, we’ll transform this from an automated email into a self-service report system, where you’ll be able to push whatever data you want or define a specific cadence to receive such information. | https://medium.com/getsocial-io/whats-new-in-getsocial-9f77faf5ae14 | ['João Romão'] | 2017-09-13 16:58:42.448000+00:00 | ['Product Management', 'Google Analytics', 'Google Tag Manager', 'Integration', 'Product'] |
Free to Air Live on TV and Chargers vs Bears NFL Week 8 TV Coverage | How to Watch Los Angeles Chargers vs. Chicago Bears LIVE: NFL Week 8 TV Channel. Bears vs Chargers NFL live streaming tv guide — Soldier Field, Chicago. Bears vs Chargers: How The Two 2019 NFL Match Up.
Watch NFL Live Stream — Click Here
The Packers scored first but ultimately less than Philadelphia in their game last Thursday. Green Bay came up short against Philadelphia, falling 34–27. Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams were two go-getters for Green Bay despite the defeat. The former passed for 422 yards and two touchdowns, while the latter caught ten passes for 180 yards. That was the first 300+ yard effort for Rodgers this season.
Meanwhile, after flying high against Miami two weeks ago, Dallas came back down to earth. It was close but no cigar for Dallas as they fell 12–10 to New Orleans. Dallas’ loss signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.
These two teams will surely be scraping tooth and nail to get back into the win column after losses last week. A pair of defensive numbers to keep in mind before kickoff: The Packers rank fourth in the league when it comes to passing touchdowns allowed, with only 4 on the season. As for the Cowboys, they enter the matchup with only 5 touchdowns allowed, good for second best in the NFL. We’ll find out if either of these strengths ends up making the difference in the contest.
How To Watch
When: Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET
Where: AT&T Stadium — Arlington, Texas
TV: FOX
Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App
Ticket Cost: $65.00
Bay Packers (3–1) and Los Angeles Chargers (3–1) inside AT&T Stadium seems likely to hold major postseason ramifications.
Both teams currently lead their respective divisions. Each team believes it’s poised for a big year.
And the winner of Sunday’s game will continue its fast start, while the loser will suddenly be mired in a two-game losing streak.
Here’s a look at each positional group and which team has the edge.
QUARTERBACKS
Today In: Business
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott ranks third in passer rating (113.7) among signal callers that have started every game this year. Prescott is completing a whopping 72.4% of his passes and is fifth in the league in touchdown passes (nine). Since becoming the Cowboys’ starter in 2016, Prescott is 35–17, has reached two Pro Bowls and led Dallas to two division titles. Prescott’s leadership is universally praised and he could become the NFL’s highest paid player when he signs his next contract.
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers was off to a slow start, but looked like his old self in last week’s loss to Philadelphia. Rodgers and the offense struggled in the red zone, though, scoring touchdowns on just three of seven trips (42.9%). Rodgers also threw his first interception of the year while trying to lead the Packers to a tying score in the final minute
By Geoffrey C. Arnold | The Oregonian/OregonLive
The Los Angeles Chargers and Chicago Bears are two of the favorites to reach Super Bowl 54. The two legendary franchises will renew their rivalry on Sunday (1:25 p.m. PT/4:25 p.m. ET, FOX, DirecTV) in a Week 5 game.
You can watch the live stream of the game on foxsportsgo.com with your cable provider login, or you can watch this game live for FREE with FuboTV (free trial).
Unfortunately, this game could be complicated to see for viewers who have either Dish, or Sling TV, as an ongoing carriage dispute with FOX has resulted in all FOX network channels being removed from those providers with no end to the feud in sight.
Sling
FOX channels removed from Dish, Sling TV at worst time for sports fans
In one of the best sports seasons of the year with college football and NFL in full swing and MLB playoffs on the way, Fox sports channels will no longer be available on Dish Network or Sling TV.
The Cowboys (3–1) were considered juggernauts after rolling past their first three opponents. The offense was deemed unstoppable and quarterback Dak Prescott deemed the MVP of the league. That was before the New Orleans Saints shut down the Cowboys during a 13–10 win. The Cowboys will place a high emphasis on getting carries for running back Ezekiel Elliott, allowing Prescott to use play-action more.
The Packers (3–1) finally got their offense untracked, but the previously stout defense fell apart during their 34–27 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for 422 yards and two touchdowns, but the defense gave 176 yards on the ground. The Packers’ defense is allowing 142 rushing yards a game, which could be a problem against the Cowboys | https://medium.com/@info.foxrugby/free-to-air-live-on-tv-and-chargers-vs-bears-nfl-week-8-tv-coverage-a3b9e1b7020f | ['En Vivo Rwc Semifinal On Tv'] | 2019-10-27 16:33:23.051000+00:00 | ['Tv Channel', 'NFL', 'Chargers', 'Bears', 'Live Streaming'] |
Synthetic Dataset using Blender + Python: Part 2 | Rendering the dataset
Now that we are comfortable with the Blender starters (from PART 1), we can start using Python to automate some of its aspects and generate a synthetic dataset.
Pre-requisites:
I will be using Ubuntu 20.01 and Blender 2.91.
Objective:
To generate a dataset using Blender and Python, with the characteristics:
Assume our object is centered at the origin (0,0,0)
Capture the object from a particular distance (R), in a circular path, a total of 10 images
The script should also output camera locations and orientation (in Z axis) along with the frames
Such dataset may help us find out the camera/robot’s location given a test image; not so simple as it sounds ;)
Let’s start with setting up our environment.
Open the console and launch Blender.
$ blender
Start with default project: The default project (create one if you haven’t…) gives you a cube centered at the origin with a Camera and a Light. As discussed in the last part, the object can be replaced with your object of Interest by simply importing its 3D model. For better visualization, I have duplicated the default cube (CTRL+C and CTRL+V) and colored them.
Setup the Camera: We plan to take snaps of the object of Interest (OoI) from various points of the trajectory programmed/desired by us. So, we start with an initial setup for our objects: camera, light and all cube(s). It signifies the initial position of our camera, before it can start capturing anything. The Object Properties for Camera look like:
Automate Camera motion using Python script: Let’s first try to understand what are we trying to accomplish here. Here, I am trying to move the camera in a circular trajectory but only till a quadrant; camera starts at the X axis and ends up at the Y-axis.
For a particular radius, this trajectory is traversed by shifting the camera in small steps. The smaller the steps (or step-size), the better (and more) the data. The same step is repeated for different distances or better called as radii.
We are familiar with with the fact that the X and Y coordinate in Cartesian coordinate can be replaced with rCos(theta) and rSin(theta) in spherical coordinate system. So, we can first find theta, and for a particular radius (r), we can find x and y. The Setup the Camera section shows the initial camera orientation. The X and Y coordinates have been fixed by us initially. We find the angle made by the camera at this time. Let’s call it init_angle . This is very close to the X axis, as obvious. Now, we need to limit our motion to a maximum of 90 degrees (or a single quadrant). Let’s call it target_angle . Now, while going from init_angle to target_angle , the number of steps to be taken are specified by num_steps_revolution (just because the camera is revoluting about the origin or the first cube). For simplicity, we choose only a single radius for trajectory.
Let’s not change the lights and get to the code.
Import required dependencies:
import bpy
import os
import numpy as np
from math import *
from mathutils import *
Now, we define the locations and names of the objects that we will be needing: the target a.k.a the OoI (object of interest):
#set your own target here
target = bpy.data.objects['Cube'] #Do not forget to check the object name
t_loc_x = target.location.x
t_loc_y = target.location.y
The target object is the one around which we want the camera to face. In our case, its the cube centered at the origin.
cam = bpy.data.objects['Camera']
cam_loc_x = cam.location.x
cam_loc_y = cam.location.y
Now, define the angles and radius.
R = (target.location.xy-cam.location.xy).length # Radius
num_steps_revolution = 36 #how many revolution steps in each circle/revolution
#ugly fix to get the initial angle right
init_angle = (1-2*bool((cam_loc_y-t_loc_y)<0))*acos((cam_loc_x-t_loc_x)/dist)-2*pi*bool((cam_loc_y-t_loc_y)<0)
target_angle = (pi/2 - init_angle) # How much more to go...
Start looping the camera
for x in range(num_steps_revolution):
# Use alpha to locate new camera position
alpha = init_angle + (x+1)*target_angle/num_steps # Move camera
cam.rotation_euler[2] = pi/2+alpha # *Rotate* it to point to the object
cam.location.x = t_loc_x+cos(alpha)*R
cam.location.y = t_loc_y+sin(alpha)*R # Save Path for renders
file = os.path.join('/home/renders', x) # saves filename as the step number
bpy.context.scene.render.filepath = file
bpy.ops.render.render( write_still=True ) # render
The entire code (with slightly different variable names) can be found here
Running the entire code in a console (as shown in Part 1), should render and save 36 images in the path specified. A sample would be:
$ blender -b ~/Videos/blender/panel-synthetic-dataset.blend -P ~/Videos/blender/test_synthetic.py
To visualise if the camera trajectory will look like, I modified the initial script as follows:
I replaced the render part with camera generation. Thanks to this wonderful BlenderExchange Site As we increase the angle, progressing from initial angle init_angle to target angle target_angle , at each step, instead of rendering, I ask Blender to place a new camera at the newly calculated position. The result is as follows:
The blend file can be used for reference here: 10cams.blend
Except for the new cameras all facing towards negative Z axis, as it doesn’t affect our purpose, everything looks Good :)
A Step further:
This seemed very simplistic but great to understand how to get the job started. I used an upgraded version of the code, to give me even more data: I added rotation to revolution. Till now, our camera shifted to a new position in the same circular trajectory and took a snapshot and moved ahead. But now, we ask it to take even more snaps at the same exact spot, by rotating about itself. Further, I ask it to not only follow a single radius, but a range of radii; we need to specify the radii (r1, r2,…) for getting closer or farther from the object. This modified script can also be found here:
This script performs similar camera motions with rotation+revolutions and saves the camera data (location, orientation) as the file name. The process took a minimum of 5 hours on my non-GPU system and generated more thatn two thousand images
The memory consumption was as follows:
$htop
Please let me know if this helps you 😃 | https://medium.com/@prashantdandriyal/synthetic-dataset-using-blender-python-part-2-2f1c17a2b709 | ['Prashant Dandriyal'] | 2020-12-27 05:03:33.945000+00:00 | ['Synthetic Data', 'Computer Vision', 'Blender', 'Dataset', 'Python'] |
Naachiyar Review: Yet another Bala film | When Bala tried to change his template last time by adapting a novel like Eriyum Thanal, it failed miserably. Whenever he wants a hit, he goes back to his template. His previous movie Tharaai Thappattai didn’t fetch the necessary response from the audience.
What’s a Bala Template?
He is a master creator of characters. Nobody can think of a person raised inside a graveyard or a boy who hates his mother or a man with a God complex delusion, but all these movies will have one common conflict — the age-old good vs evil. The evil kills a significant person in the life of the good. The good dole out brutal vigilante justice on the evil at the end. This template hasn’t changed in his movies except for Sethu (his first movie) and Paradesi.
What’s wrong with a Bala Template?
Any template fizzles out after a point of time. There are many examples of directors in Tamil cinema who got sucked into their template and eventually perished. Visu, Vikraman and short-lived Perararsu are some of them. The producers will love these directors when they are at their peak. When the template fizzles out, Tamil cinema will push them to obscurity. Bala is surviving with his template because of the unusual characters he creates and Naachiyar is not different from his template.
In Naachiyar, he presents you with a complicated Police officer character. She is flawed, vulnerable but bold, righteous and breaks the rules to help the people she wants to. It’s not a surprise that Jyothika owned up the role and she has given a splendid performance. You can’t see a single trademark Jyothika expression in the movie, and that shows the deftness in handling such a substantial role. In fact, I think it’s one of the better female characters written by Bala.
I somehow felt that Ivana (a newcomer) made her mark than GV Prakash in the movie. But to be honest, you wouldn’t have expected GV Prakash to give such rustic performance in the film. It says a lot about Bala as a director, and he extracts the best out of every actor.
Bala’s sharp dialogues shine throughout the movie. He doesn’t shy away from using religion or caste names in the midst, and although controversies are surrounding it, I don’t find anything wrong with it. I don’t know when we are going to look beyond these things.
The way Ilaiyaraaja handles background score should be a textbook for other music composers. The use of silence when the screenplay takes over shows why Raaja is the best and when Bala wants the audience to feel a particular emotion, he looks up to Ilaiyaraaja, and he delivers. It is so evident in the climax sequence, and probably, no other music composer composes for a movie and not think the film as an album of songs.
Cosmetically, you might think that it’s a different Bala movie, but it follows the Bala template to perfection. An imperfect protagonist, Good vs Evil storyline and brutal punishment. Naachiyar is another typical Bala movie that camouflages into a police investigative thriller. The problem with Naachiyar, none of these themes are complete. You don’t get to explore Naachiyar’s character (or any other character), the investigative thriller part is choppy and Bala practices subtlety in his brutality. This chaos doesn’t help the movie, but the short run-time might help you to overlook the issues.
Naachiyar stays in that average zone — it’s neither great nor bad. Bala needed a victory, but Naachiyar is not the one that’s going to fetch him. Naachiyar is not a bad movie to watch. It’s worth watching for Jyothika, Bala and Ilaiyaraaja. And in 100 minutes, it’s not going to bore you to death like lot other movies in the mill. | https://medium.com/sylvianism/naachiyar-review-yet-another-bala-film-1656e78ee3db | ['Sylvian Patrick'] | 2020-02-15 23:00:08.619000+00:00 | ['Tamil Movie Review', 'Movies', 'Ilaiyaraaja', 'Bala', 'Tamil Movies'] |
How to Use Limitations to Boost Productivity | How to Use Limitations to Boost Productivity
Sometimes it’s good to be cornered to be more productive
Image licensed from Canva
I saw a thread on Twitter where people detailed what they miss most from their pre-pandemic lives. Hanging out with friends, hugging parents, going out without a mask were common replies, but stuffing popcorn in movie theatres appeared just as much.
I started to wonder what I miss most and because in my country we are almost back to normal — it left me missing travelling the most. The experience of leaving this everyday life behind to delve into a different city, hearing another language and dip my toes in the sea is on the top of my list.
But surprisingly, right after these, I realised how much I miss my weekly commute to Vienna — which is 200 miles or 3 hours on the train away from where I live. I work as a freelance consultant and my main client’s headquarters are in another city, another country. Before March I commuted to Vienna, every Wednesday — getting up at 5 to catch the 6 am train, arriving there at 9 to work from the office the whole day and then catching the evening train back. It is as exhausting as it sounds, the longest day of the week was always Wednesday and I used to spend my entire Thursday recovering from it. Yet I realized I miss it.
Because even if it was exhausting, I got so much done in one day that I felt okay not doing anything on the following day. The commute left me with 6 hours of a train ride, and those were the most productive hours of my entire week. Sitting in my seat, nowhere to go, nothing else to do but work or write. During an average journey — there and back — I used to write 5,000–8,000 words or to clean my inbox getting everything done for the whole week. I was focused, sharp and without distractions. I managed to use the limitations to my advantage so no wonder I wish I could be travelling there again.
I might not miss the ensuing fatigue but I surely miss the exceptional productivity. It made my day and my whole week.
I started to think about how I could replicate that productivity without the possibility of getting on the train, and I collected a few tips that focus on using restrictions to boost productivity.
Limit the impulses
The beauty of the train ride was that I had nothing else to do but to focus. The wifi is usually up and down, making it near impossible to browse endlessly without being interrupted by a tunnel. There is nothing to look at but the back of someone else’s seat. There is nothing to hear but the music in my ears. Watching out the window is not my thing but the scenery there is not too interesting after having seen it once.
If you limit the impulses you would have normally, if you shut everything out, if you silence your phone and switch off notifications you can become immediately more focused. The idea of multitasking is a myth, when multitasking your brain jumps back and forth between different tasks in a short time, loosening your focus and making you more tired quicker.
When at home or at the office (lucky you!) make sure that during a certain time, there is nothing to bother you. Early mornings work great for that. Stopping phone notifications is superb. Sitting in a boring environment works magic. Limit the impulses that would distract you and be there fully for your tasks.
Limit the space
Working from home sounded great at first until we were forced to do it. Because there are too many things happening. You get up for a coffee. Then to put the dishes away. Then it’s lunchtime. Then the postman arrives. You get up, you leave the desk, you lose focus and it’s hard to get it back.
You can help yourself by limiting the space around you. Make sure you can’t go anywhere or it’s difficult to do it. Make sure that you are comfortable but no one bumps into you. Sometimes working and writing on my phone from the bathtub is the most productive time of my day — because there is nowhere to go, nothing to do. But an ugly corner in a coffee shop, a park bench without a view or a bus stop works just fine.
A more comfortable limitation is when you get comfy in your bed, plugging some music in, surrounding yourself with only the things you need to work — so that unplugging and getting up shouldn’t be worth your while.
Limit the time
I noticed in myself and I heard a same for others too, if I have too much time to complete something I will most probably waste 90% of it with something useless. Thinking, overthinking, second-guessing myself, procrastinating my whole term away.
But when there is a looming deadline, and time is scarce, I seem to be better at focusing. Having a lot to lose helps to stop me procrastinating. And I don’t like missing deadlines, self-imposed or not.
You’ll be surprised what can be done in 10 minutes or 25. The Pomodoro method is a great way of setting deadlines to yourself. Working 25 minutes seems nothing, but if you set slightly impossible chunks of tasks, you will automatically become more focused. After all, it’s only 25 minutes, it can’t hurt. | https://zitafontaine.medium.com/how-to-use-limitations-to-boost-productivity-199a5d97ec93 | ['Zita Fontaine'] | 2020-07-27 14:36:31.652000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Advice', 'Work', 'Inspiration', 'Writing'] |
UpD8: Veteran’s Affairs a hot topic in the 8th Congressional District | U.S. Rep Mike Fitzpatrick and his Democratic opponent, Kevin Strouse, last week spoke out about alleged fraud and mismanagement at Philadelphia’s Veterans Affairs regional office.
Fitzpatrick, a Republican who represents the 8th Congressional District, urged federal law enforcement authorities to investigate potential criminal activity following reports of data manipulation and mail destruction brought to light in whistleblower testimony in front of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
“I urge you to consider opening an investigation into these allegations. The unlawful destruction of veterans’ claims and correspondence is a serious issue,” Fitzpatrick wrote in a letter. “The fact that data may have been manipulated so that certain VA supervisors and employees could get bonuses, at the expense of veterans’ pension and disability claims languishing in the backlog, is unconscionable and deserving of further investigation.”
The letter sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania highlights the testimony of VA whistle blower Kristen Ruell and VA Office of Inspector General findings that noted alleged shredding or destroying of mail.
Fitzpatrick and fellow Rep. Patrick Meehan wrote a letter to Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits Allison Hickey, questioning a pattern of destroyed and concealed mail from veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities across the nation.
The two lawmakers released photos obtained from a whistleblower that purportedly show filing cabinets and boxes full of unanswered mail from veterans. They wrote that reports of discarded or destroyed mail from veterans “suggest a pattern of misconduct that could well extend throughout the VA.”
In the Philadelphia office, there were allegedly eight filing cabinets and more than 160 boxes full of unanswered, ignored mail.
Strouse called on Congress to make a strategic investment in upgrading the IT capability of the VA in order to make claims processing more efficient and provide more timely service to veterans throughout Pennsylvania.
“Congress needs to make a strategic investment in upgrading the IT infrastructure at the VA in order to increase the efficiency of claims processing and reduce costs over the long term. Unfortunately, Republicans in the House and Senate, including Congressman Fitzpatrick, have repeatedly voted against properly funding the VA. This issue is personal to me — at a time when we have fewer veterans serving in Congress than anytime since World War II, I plan to use my experience and work ethic from my time in the Army to find bipartisan solutions to address the many problems plaguing this ineffective Congress.”
••
Strouse won the endorsement of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale cited Strouse’s commitment to stand up for working families on issues of wages, jobs and workers rights.
“I’m incredibly honored to have the support of Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, an organization representing over 800,000 workers across our great commonwealth,” Strouse said. “When I am elected to Congress this fall, hard-working families in Bucks and Montgomery counties can be sure that I will work tirelessly to fight for greater access to the kind of economic opportunity once enjoyed by everyone in the middle class, which has been under constant assault by Congressman Fitzpatrick and his right-wing allies in Washington, and further eroded by Gov. Corbett.”
••
Meanwhile, Strouse called on Fitzpatrick to sign on to a bipartisan letter urging Speaker of the House John Boehner and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to bring export-import bank reauthorization to the floor for a vote.
The letter, supported by the Chamber of Commerce, urges House leadership to reauthorize the federally backed export-import bank, which was founded in 1934 to help American businesses finance foreign sales.
If Congress fails to act by Sept. 30, the bank’s charter will expire.
“We need new leaders in Washington who can put an end to this senseless dysfunction and work towards common-sense solutions to help spur economic opportunity and create jobs for the middle class,” Strouse said.
“This is a common-sense solution for American business with a history of bipartisan support, and I call on Congressman Fitzpatrick to immediately sign on to this letter and urge Speaker John Boehner to bring the bill to a vote before his inaction harms even more businesses in Bucks and Montgomery counties.”
Strouse is a former Army Ranger, CIA counterterrorism analyst, and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He lives in Middletown with his wife and two young children. He is program director of Teach2Serve, a nonprofit that teaches social entrepreneurship to local high school students.
••
In other news, Fitzpatrick is accepting applications for fall semester internships in both his Washington, D.C. and Langhorne offices.
The unpaid internships are an opportunity for any students interested in the legislative process, public service and learning more about the inner workings of the federal government.
The opportunity is open to college students, law students, and recent graduates. Responsibilities include answering phone calls from constituents, organizing mail and faxes, leading constituents on tours of the Capitol Building, greeting visitors and assisting the congressman’s overall legislative efforts through research and writing.
The deadline for applications is Aug 8.
If interested in working in Washington, contact Anna Marie DiMascia at 202–225–4276 or [email protected]
If interested in working in Langhorne, contact Jen Nawalinski at 215–579–8102 or [email protected]
••
Fitzpatrick joined fellow Rep. Tim Murphy, Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia and members of the Bucks County Suicide Task Force to discuss the bipartisan Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act.
The legislation aims to reform the nation’s mental health system by focusing programs and resources on psychiatric care for those most in need of services. Measures include increasing access to trained professionals, strengthening communication between doctors and families and ensuring federal funds support treatments, not bureaucracy.
“The stark reality is that millions of Americans who suffer from mental illness are going without treatment, and families are struggling to find care for loved ones. As a legislator and community leader who cares deeply about those I serve, I remain dedicated to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to follow through on the mending and strengthening of mental health services available in the U.S.,” Fitzpatrick said. “Individuals and families who have been touched by mental illness deserve a support system that empowers families and caregivers, fixes the shortage of resources available to those in need of treatment, and drives evidence-based care. That’s exactly what H.R. 3717 provides.”
The bill, written by Murphy — a clinical psychologist with over three decades’ experience — and co-sponsored by Fitzpatrick, is the product of a year-long committee investigation into the nation’s mental health system and has been described as the most comprehensive overhaul of the system since the Kennedy administration.
“The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act is an extraordinary piece of legislation. The members of the Bucks County Suicide Task Force, as well as the Family Survivors Committee, believe this may be the most important legislation to be introduced in support of mental health and preventing suicide and similar tragedies in decades,” said Marseglia, the head of the task force. “We are grateful for Rep. Murphy’s efforts and Rep. Fitzpatrick’s support and will do all we can to assist in its passage.”
••
Fitzpatrick has been named the recipient of the 2014 Congressional Cancer Champion Award for his work
to deliver a unified message to Congress and the White House on the need for increased cancer-related funding.
The award is presented annually by One Voice Against Cancer, a collaboration of more than 40 national nonprofit organizations.
“As a federal representative and a cancer survivor, I am fully committed to providing a strong voice in Congress for cancer patients, survivors, advocacy organizations and families in my district and around the nation,” Fitzpatrick said. “The fight against cancer is one that transcends politics, and I am proud to lead the bipartisan push for the awareness and funding we need to put an end to the despicable disease.”
Fitzpatrick, a member of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, Skin Cancer Caucus and Rare Disease Caucus, has worked to solidify $29.9 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2014. That’s a $1 billion increase from the previous year.
“American science and innovation has changed the way the world thinks about and treats cancer; it is imperative that Congress does its part to encourage discovery and support those on the front lines of life-saving research,” Fitzpatrick said. “I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to prioritize cancer research and prevention efforts as part of a larger, national health initiative that increases the quality of life for all Americans.”
The award was presented to Fitzpatrick by Ed Scholl, a Quakertown resident who has been involved with cancer advocacy on both the local and federal levels for years with the organization Cancer Action Network.
“Since 2005, when Congressman Fitzpatrick was first elected, he has not just been a supporter of cancer research, prevention and early detection, he has been a champion of the cause. This OVAC award is a recognition from every major cancer organization in the country uniting in identifying Congressman Fitzpatrick as one whose support has been critical in leading the way in Washington, as well as every corner of the country, in finding a cure,” Scholl said. “It’s an honor and a privilege to have someone like Mike partner with volunteers in his district to take a national lead in fighting back against this disease that takes too many.”
Dick Woodruff, chairman of One Voice Against Cancer and vice president for federal relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said, “One Voice Against Cancer is proud to recognize Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick during this year’s lobby day with its 2014 Congressional Cancer Champion Award for his leadership and commitment to cancer research and prevention. “Congressman Fitzpatrick has worked across the aisle to build congressional support for lifesaving cancer research, prevention and early-detection programs.”
Fitzpatrick is serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes all of Bucks County and a portion of Montgomery County. | https://medium.com/feasterville-trevose-times/upd8-veterans-affairs-a-hot-topic-in-the-8th-congressional-district-f01af3c6b873 | [] | 2017-04-27 14:43:37.164000+00:00 | ['Kevin Strouse', 'The Upd8', 'Bucks County', 'Montgomery County', 'Politics'] |
Out on a Limb | The knock on my dorm room door was almost inaudible. I wasn’t expecting company. That didn’t mean anything considering I was a resident assistant. Knocks and phone calls invaded my study time regularly.
I opened the door to find the boyfriend of a campus friend. I’d met him a few times and he seemed nice. Something was different. He looked agitated and was pacing back and forth in the hallway. His girlfriend wasn’t with him. I suspected a breakup had occurred and he needed an ear. Mentally calculating the amount of time I’d need to finish my studies for the evening, I decided I had time to lend my ear to the cause and invited him in.
“I shouldn’t have come. You’re probably busy.”
Once I assured him I was too boring to be overly busy, he sat down in the dorm appointed lounge chair. Though he was relatively thin, I could almost convince myself the chair was sagging from the weight of whatever was on his shoulders. Everything about him was down: head, shoulders, clenched hands between his knees. He was dressed in all black and the picture of despair.
“I’m scared because I want to die. They hate me. I’ve disappointed them and they hate me.”
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but my breakup assumption was falling apart.
“Who hates you?”
“My parents. God. They told me I’m cut off. They told me to stay away from them. I’m an embarrassment.”
Nothing was making sense. I could see him shaking. His nose was starting to run. I handed him my Puffs box accurately predicting the looming purge of emotion. The tears came fast and hard. The agony was overwhelming. I wanted to hug him, but also didn’t want to hug him. We didn’t really know each other all that well and my intuition told me my ear was needed more than my arms.
After a bit, he collected himself and began apologizing. I remained quiet. He must have realized I was waiting for him to decide what came next. He took a deep breath and shared his truth. “I’m gay.”
I asked if my friend, his girlfriend, knew. Yes. She’d known for some time and had offered him some level of cover among their high school friends from their very conservative community. He’d fought acknowledging his truth for years, always fearing what his parents would think. When he was younger, it was easier to do. He didn’t know other gay people and it was easier to convince himself something was wrong with him — that he was unusual. Life on a college campus with a student population in the tens of thousands taught him differently. He’d had the chance to meet, know and come to care for other gay men. He’d heard horror stories in terms of coming out to parents, but he’d also heard amazing stories of grace and support. He’d talked himself into believing his parents would surprise him with grace. He took a risk with honesty and lost.
There was nothing helpful I could say about what had happened with his parents. I asked him what he planned to do. It was mid-semester in the fall. His parents abrupt dissociation, in addition to being emotionally devastating, presented a huge financial crisis. They were helping to fund his education. He didn’t know how he was going to come up with what was owed to MSU and, if he ended up disenrolled, he wasn’t sure where he’d go. At that moment, he no longer had a home. He no longer had a family.
The resident assistant in me kicked in. I didn’t know how to heal the chasm with his parents, but I did know how to get him on the path to meaningful support from campus resources. We talked through things he could do related to school. As I talked through the options, he looked so young and eager to take some sort of positive action. We were the same age and I was over 10 years away from being a mom, but I remember feeling something I can now compare to a maternal instinct. I wanted to protect and comfort him. I wanted to rage at those who had caused him pain. He was a beautiful person whose only sin was telling the truth.
Sitting next to him, I remember hearing his stomach growl loudly. “When did you last eat?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve been too upset to care.”
Because it was Sunday and dorms didn’t serve dinner on Sunday’s back then, he was going to have to deal with what I had on hand. Two peanut butter sandwiches and a plastic bottle of Sunny Delight later, he was settling into his new reality.
“Do you really want to die?”
I needed to know the answer to that question. He assured me he wanted to live. It would kill him if his parents truly hated him and if they never forgave him. His heart would never recover.
After he left my dorm room, I didn’t get much studying done. I couldn’t figure out why he knocked on my door. Why had he come to me?
I remember curling up with a large stuffed rabbit I kept on my bed and sobbing. I’d spent the majority of my life being regularly rejected by my biological father. It was something I had the benefit of a sustained pattern of indifference to get used to. My visitor had experienced an abrupt and severe rejection by his parents with no practice runs and I wasn’t entirely convinced he would survive the pain.
Oddly, after that intense evening in my dorm room, I didn’t see or hear from my guest much. On occasion, I’d reach out to his former girlfriend for wellness checks. She’d report that she thought he was okay.
About two years later, I got a sign — literally and figuratively — that he was managing well. It was my senior year on campus and I held a student position in the Office of the Vice President for Finance and Operations at Michigan State University. We received word that protestors were enroute to the VP’s suite and to prepare for an interruption. Minutes later, a vocal group of students demanding safer and more inclusive conditions for lesbian and gay students (this was 1995, so LGBTQ was not fully developed) paraded through our offices. There he was, sign in hand and bringing up the tail of the parade. The weight on his shoulders was gone, as was the sadness in his eyes. He was mad, determined and having the time of his life in the safety of his family of fellow homosexuals and allies. I smiled at him and he winked at me — both of us surprised to see one another — as he marched on to the next destination.
It’s been over 25 years since I last saw him. I don’t recall enough information (last name, major, his former girlfriend’s last name) to track him down and hear how he is doing. I hope he’s well. I hope his family has accepted him. I hope I was adequate when he needed me. I wish I could tell him about the mark that Sunday evening 27 years ago left on me. I wish he could know that my children have heard from their earliest years of comprehension that I will always be their mom, always be proud of them and that the truth will always be welcome in our home. | https://medium.com/@msulisap/out-on-a-limb-ba341e2f112e | ['Lisa Parker'] | 2020-10-12 01:30:19.631000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Pride', 'Coming Out', 'Allyship'] |
Sometimes I Feel Like I’m Losing My Voice | Photo by Arantxa Treva via Pexels
Sometimes I Feel Like I’m Losing My Voice
A writer’s lament
And I know it’s the overwhelming year that’s nearly behind me and feverishly thinking about the one ahead of me but as a writer, I cannot lose my voice. I am not talking about the physical sound from the use of my vocal cords but my writer’s voice — the authenticity that is me.
There’s pressure all around us. As creatives, we strive to pursue a place in the artistic world where we can be heard, but in a sea of sames, how can our differences stand out? The one thing I do not want to lose as it pertains to my craft is my uniqueness.
I do not want to lose myself in the sea of sames. I have worked hard to carve out space in this world for myself and my way of giving people the ideas that come to me as I toss and turn at night.
This — this writing thing is my freedom song. I write about my life. I write about what I wish my life was. I write about the beauty of the lives of others. And I write about the untruths and could-bes and would-bes of this world. There is a space of peace that shows itself when I am writing.
There’s pressure all around us. As creatives, we strive to pursue a place in the artistic world where we can be heard, but in a sea of sames, how can our differences stand out?
I lose myself in the words.
Of late, I have felt as if I am pulling words from the pit of my stomach, stretching them out to their true length, and delivering them to a wholesale warehouse for direct manufacturing. What I’m trying to say is, it’s been hard.
If you’re reading this and nodding your head in agreement, I wish I had the answer. What I have told myself to do is, “Practice more. Stress about things less. Just write, Tre.” It’s working. Little pep talks have become my friends.
Every so often, I have to remind myself that no matter how many clones there are touting the same advice, using the same template, and running around after each other to see who can push out the most articles per week, I must remain who I am.
Of late, I have felt as if I am pulling words from the pit of my stomach, stretching them out to their true length, and delivering them to a wholesale warehouse for direct manufacturing.
And who I am is my voice.
I have lasted five, almost six years on Medium and fourteen on WordPress, growing each year and giving a little bit more of myself at the same time too. I refuse to follow a cookie-cutter pattern or waddle behind a crowd chasing too-good-to-be-true outcomes.
I want to stand in line by myself, but I also want to share that line with others who will not strip the beauty of themselves away to put on the skin of those who lose themselves just to get ahead. I am here. I work hard to keep my presence pure. I don’t want to be like anyone else.
But sometimes I feel like I’m losing my voice. And should it seem like I have dear reader, I urge you to tap me on the shoulder and bring me back to earth.
Please. | https://medium.com/cry-mag/sometimes-i-feel-like-im-losing-my-voice-26b287e4300d | ['Tre L. Loadholt'] | 2020-12-07 17:02:56.406000+00:00 | ['Cry', 'Writing', 'Life', 'Essay', 'Creative Writing'] |
The Biggest Mistake People Make in their Careers (and lives) | A Careerbuilder survey found that 49% of all workers accept the first offer given to them. For people under 35, who are far less likely to negotiate, these numbers are surely much higher.
Losing an extra few thousand dollars may not seem like a big deal. However, over a long enough period of time, small things become big things.
According to an analysis by Salary.com, negotiating your initial salary and renegotiating every few years will earn you over $1 million more during your career.
Here’s the kicker, raises and future offers generally build on your current salary or position — which means your first mistake can haunt you for a long time.
I had a conversation with Jeff Goins, best-selling author of The Art of Work, about 8 months ago. I asked his advice about publishing a book I wanted to write and he said, “Wait. Don’t jump the gun on this. I made that mistake myself. If you wait a year or two, you’ll get a 10x bigger advance, which will change the trajectory of your whole career.”
Most People Can’t Wait
In the famous Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, four-year-old children were offered a treat of their choosing (an Oreo cookie, a marshmallow, or a pretzel stick). They were told they could have the treat now, or, if they waited 15 minutes and “resisted temptation,” they could have a second treat.
So, for waiting 15 minutes, the kids who waited would get a 100% increase in their reward.
Follow-up studies on these children later in life found that those who delayed gratification were more successful in generally all areas of life.
We’ve all heard this before. Yet, despite knowing about this famous study — and the loads of research on willpower and self-control since — most people are still impulsive about their decision-making.
The Wrong Motivations
The reason most people fail to make the best long-term decisions is because they don’t know what they really want.
If you don’t know what you want, of course you’ll take the best thing offered you.
In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins said, “A ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ is irrelevant if it is the wrong opportunity.” According to Collins, most companies don’t go from good to great because they lose track of their original intent.
When you start to succeed (or get a degree, etc.), more opportunities come your way. Unless you know exactly what you are and what you’re not, you’ll be easily swayed.
Because most people haven’t decided what they intrinsically want, their primary motivation becomes external validation. Thus, rather than actually being good, the objective is to look as good as possible.
Why do you really want to do what you are doing?
Ryan Holiday, best-selling author of The Obstacle is the Way, told me that people write a book for one of two reasons:
Get a book deal Write a book that does well long into the future
Most people trying to develop a writing career, if they were honest with themselves, want to get a book deal. They’d sacrifice the long-term goal of writing a classic at the expense of merely “becoming an author.” The same is true of most people trying to start a business, or doing anything else.
The problem is, in most cases, it doesn’t go both ways. Holiday, for example, took a substantially smaller book contract for his book, The Obstacle is the Way, because the book was on an unproven concept. But he was fine with the initial pay-cut, because his goal was more long-term. He wanted to write a book that would continue to sell well years into the future.
This is the exact opposite of how most people approach their goals. The goal for most people is to be a “best-seller,” or an “entrepreneur,” or a “college grad.” It’s all about the image. The external validation becomes more important than truly doing great work.
The Benefits of Delayed Gratification
Holiday differs in one more way than most people in his space. He was offered a book contract for the book that would eventually become The Obstacle is the Way several years before he wrote the book.
Of course, he was ecstatic! He told his mentor, best-selling author Robert Greene, about it. Holiday recollects about that conversation:
“Robert was as happy for me as everyone else, but he told me he didn’t think I should do it. Not because it wasn’t a good deal, but because I wasn’t ready. You’re 22 years old, he reminded me. Are you sure you can speak from a place of real understanding about the subject matter, he asked? He told me that everyday I was experiencing new things, that I was widening my understanding and authority on the topic by living, and improving as a writer. ‘The book would be better the longer I waited’ was his nice way of saying ‘It wouldn’t be any good if it came out now.’ He advised me to pass.”
Unlike so many others, Holiday delayed gratification. He further explains that over the next few years, he’d learn things and have experiences allowing him to become the person that could write The Obstacle is the Way.
Could he have written a great book at age 22? Probably.
Would it have been a classic? Probably not.
The question is: Do you really believe you could create a classic?
Or, do you believe you can create something truly impactful?
Rather than just “starting a business,” do you believe you can create something truly important?
Do you really believe in yourself?
This may sound like a trite question. But it’s serious.
Of course you believe you could create something. But I’m talking about something real. Something of enduring quality. Something truly great.
Do you believe YOU could do that? Or, would you rather create something quick and inferior, but that gives you a false sense of achievement?
Said Tony Robbins: Life gives you exactly what you ask of it, no more and no less. You get in life what you’re willing to tolerate. It’s all about your personal standards.
Most people get less in life than their potential because they have low standards for themselves and those around them.
The greatest reward for delayed gratification is who you become. It’s not necessarily about the work you do. More, it’s that you became someone who could do work at that level.
Your work is a reflection of you. Who you become determines the quality of your work. The quality of your work influences the lives of other people.
You’ll Know When It’s the Right Time
An obvious objection, or question, you should be having right now is: What if I wait too long?
Waiting to act and delaying gratification are two completely different things. Perfectionism is not delaying gratification. Perfectionism is a disease that leads to procrastination and waiting.
The time to act becomes painfully obvious, not only based on intrinsic feelings, but also based on external demand. It’s not enough to feel ready. There must be clear evidence that you are ready. That can only occur by experience in the real world and not merely in your head.
80% of Life is Showing Up
In the book, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Michael Gerber explains that the natural thing for a new business to do is grow.
Most people wonder if they will get any traction for their concept. This fear is legitimate, but besides the point. If you start a business, and work at it, it will grow.
Most businesses fail when things start growing. They get too excited by future prospects and don’t continue the technical and organizational stuff to support the growth. Of this, author and strategist Greg Mckeown has said, “Why don’t successful people and organizations automatically become very successful? Success is a catalyst for failure.”
You must balance 1) your plans for the future with 2) doing and improving the actual work (i.e., your products) and 3) keeping things well-managed.
If you keep these three things balanced, your chances of success during growth are substantially higher, Gerber explains.
Conclusion
If you’re willing to wait an extra year or two, the quality of your impact as well as the quality of your life could dramatically improve.
You must first know what you want. Until you do, you’ll be swayed by the first offer you get.
You must also know why you are doing what you’re doing. Until you do, you’ll be more concerned about looking good than actually doing something of lasting and significant value.
Expect that when you go into business, it is going to grow. When it does, don’t get distracted by all the “one-in-a-lifetime” opportunities that come your way. Stay the course. When needed, delay the gratification for something good in order to create something truly great.
You’ll never regret that extra 6 months, or year, or few years you were investing in yourself. When the harvest comes in, you’ll look back with a satisfaction most people could never imagine. | https://medium.com/the-mission/the-biggest-mistake-people-make-in-their-careers-and-lives-b68bfe937a9d | ['Benjamin Hardy'] | 2020-09-21 20:18:53.733000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Education', 'Work', 'Careers'] |
Call Me by Your Favorite Film’s Name: Film-Watching Cultures among Taiwanese College Students 20 Years Ago and Now | Call Me by Your Favorite Film’s Name: Film-Watching Cultures among Taiwanese College Students 20 Years Ago and Now 歐如 Follow Jul 1, 2020 · 12 min read
Call Me By Your Name. 2017.
Find the Chinese version here:
“Dancer in the Dark (2000) is returning to theaters.” I told Johnson, a Taiwanese cinephile friend in his 40’s, as My friends in college were all thrilled to watch the film.
“That was one of the films that enlightened me in my early 20’s,” he replied, “these films are now largely restored and re-released. It’s interesting to see them kind of being passed down.”
The concept of passing films down touched me. But then, of course, each generation receives the same films differently. Weeks after, when Johnson mentioned watching Fight Club (1999) in his early 20’s, a vague impression of it being a cult legend urged me to ask him, “but was Fight Club already a wenqing (“cultured youth”) must-see back in the days?”
“No, ” he said, with a little hesitation.
Have the most loved films really been passed down? Do wenqings nowadays watch the same films their predecessors did?
Curious, I spread a survey about the film-watching culture among Taiwanese college/grad school students 20 years ago (people in their 40’s) and now (people around 20), asking each participant for one to three films that they believe to be representative examples of “wenqing must-sees,” “films that most college students have seen and love,” and “personal favorites” during their college years. I made it clear on the survey that the films can be from all years, except that a participant around 40 should only mention the films that had been released before they graduated.
College/grad school students are in the most prominent age group in Taiwanese film market, and there is significance in the number 20.
It was approximately 20 years ago that people started to have easy access to the internet and a public online forum, PTT Bulletin Board System, reached its maturity. While the prevalence of the internet has changed film watching habits drastically, it might have also brought the past and the present more closely. It seems that non-mainstream films or older ones gain popularity more easily in the digital age. Possibly, film watching communities that exchange information more closely and collective imaginations of such communities (“the art film nerds,” “the superhero fans,” and so on) are more easily formed.
With these in mind, I spread the survey and collected valid responses from 425 current college students and 104 people who went to college 20 years ago. While labels can be vague (such as wenqing) and participants all have different preferences and film-watching habits, a most-agreed list can still be found in each category.
Below are the films mentioned by the highest percentage of our participants as wenqing must-sees:
Wenqing must-sees in 2020 according to the 425 participants.
Wenqing must-sees in 2000 according to the 104 participants.
Some participants also provided directors’ names. Counting the participants who mentioned a director and adding the participants who mentioned any film made by the director, I found Edward YANG the biggest name for current students (mentioned by 16% as a wenqing must-see director). WONG Kar-wai followed him closely (15%) and he is the most mentioned filmmaker by people in their 40’s (13%).
On both lists, most of the films mentioned are from the 90’s or the early 2000’s, showing a special connection between current students and the films a generation older than them. However, different from Woody Allen’s idea that the best age is always an earlier one in Midnight in Paris (2011), students in 2000 didn’t reach back — The 400 Blows, the French New Wave film on the 2020 list, is actually the only film released before 1990 among all the lists in this survey.
Maybe the internet does bring old films back more. Or, it is because the 2020 concept of wenqing were born in the 90’s that films from the decade play such an important role in the wenqing identity in 2020.
But even though 12 of the 17 films on the 2020 list are from the 90’s or the early 2000’s, only 5 items appear on both lists (Yi Yi, The Shawshank Redemption, Blue Gate Crossing, Love Letter, and The Three Colours Trilogy) and the rankings are different. Similarly, the most wenqing WONG Kar-wai film was In the Mood of Love 20 years ago, but Chungking Express has taken its place.
In the Mood for Love. 2000.
Yi-shuan CHEN, a veteran film lover, believes that wengings 20 years ago regarded In the Mood for Love as the pinnacle of WONG kar wai aesthetic, and the reflection of Hong Kongers’ distrust in promises after the Handover in 1997 resonated with Taiwanese audiences. Chungking Express was also loved, and it might have replaced In the Mood for Love over time for its rich referentiality in popular culture.
Many films on the 2020 lists are often referenced. Chungking Express, Léon: The Professional and Pulp Fiction all present iconic looks. The Before Trilogy is the key that connects different parts of the 2016 novel wén qīng zhī sǐ (The Death of Wenqing) by Hsiang-ying LAI, and the Facebook film/book review page Let Me Sing You A Waltz takes the first line of a song composed by Céline to Jesse in the trilogy.
Almost all the old films on the 2020 list have been re-released in recent years, but with only the list, it is hard to say if the films gained popularity after being re-released or the other way around. Films of Lars von Trier (such as Dancer in the Dark) were also re-released, and the films of some wenqing directors 20 years ago like David Lynch and Pedro Almodovar as well (they were mentioned by participants, but they didn’t make it to the list), but they are still less perceived to be wenqing-defining names now.
Current college student and film lover Chih Chieh WANG observed that many films on the two lists were nominees for the Golden Horse Awards, the Oscars, or prizes at Cannes. The other films are mostly high rated ones on IMDb. Léon: The Professional, for example, isn’t quite an award film, but it is the 43rd on the IMDb top 250 list.
CHEN recalled that Léon: The Professional’s initial release in Taiwan was a moderate success. However, wenqings preferred Luc Besson’s earlier films such as Subway (1985) and The Big Blue (1988). They saw Léon: The Professional more as the filmmaker’s attempt to break into Hollywood. The star of the film was Jean Reno, and nobody actually knew the newcomer Natalie Portman. He attributes the growing popularity of the film to that of Portman and reruns on movie channels.
Chungking Express. 1994.
In addition to the two possible reasons and its fame on IMDb, it might also gain popularity among Taiwanese through South Korea’s influence. People have observed that the film is more popular in South Korea in any other places, and garments and phone accessories inspired by it can be found all over Seoul. Taiwanese people’s love for Léon might be inflamed by all the garments and phone accessories imported to Taiwan from South Korea.
Blue Gate Crossing, as CHEN recalled, was another film with actors that have become well-known over the 20 years. He agreed with the result that it was a film favored by and only by wenqings. He was surprised when he first saw Yi Yi on the list because most Taiwanese didn’t even have the chance to see it. Yi Yi wasn’t released in Taiwan until 2017. Before 2017, the film was only sometimes screened in film festivals. After some second thoughts, CHEN agreed that maybe it was exactly the scarcity that made it a wenqing-defining film.
One the list, there is also the intriguing case of Fight Club. I thought it gained popularity over time because I’ve read so much about it’s legend as a cult legend that was neglected when it first came out. However, as CHEN remembered, the film’s reception history wasn’t so dramatic in Taiwan. As he knew, it was discussed rather heatedly. He was a student at National Taiwan University, and it was after a younger student did a report on the film that he watched the film at a second-run theater.
One hundred people imagine wenqings in one hundred ways, and that’s why a collective, descriptive list is much fun. Would people’s ideas of “films that most college students have seen and loved” be less surprising? Let’s see:
Popular movies in 2020 according to the 425 participants.
Popular movies in 2000 according to the 104 participants.
Compared to the wenqing lists, people agree more on what most of their peers see and like. As many as 42.3% of current students gave the term “Marvel movies” or “The Avengers Series” (a few used the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the MCU), and many others mentioned sub-series or individual movie titles. The percentage of the first place on the 2000 list, Titanic (24%) is outstanding as well. Films that appear on both the wenqing lists and the popular lists are good examples of the vagueness of wenqing.
As under the category of wenqing, certain filmmakers’ works are mentioned a lot. Among current students, 9.2% mentioned films by Christopher Nolan (such as Inception and The Dark Knight Trilogy), and 12.5% of participants in their 40s mentioned films with Stephen Chow.
Apart from the directors, the MCU is the biggest brand name. Often regarded as a match for the MCU, films based on DC Comics publications such as Joker and The Dark Knight Trilogy are also frequently mentioned, but few people gave “DC films” as an item.
Films on the two lists don’t overlap much, for most films on the lists are contemporary. The Harry Potter Series, a rare exception, lasted a decade. It witnessed people in their 40’s graduate from college, and current college students cherish it as a collective childhood memory like Spirited Away. Another rare exception is the long-time champion of IMDb Top 250, The Shawshank Redemption. In fact, it is the only film that appear on all the lists in this survey, including the following two.
CHEN commented that Shaolin Soccer was indeed the most representative work with Stephen Chow, even surpassing Kung Fu Hustle (2004). Chow’s status as a film auteur was secured after Shaolin Soccer. Sassy Girl also had a distinct place in his memory. He recalled that it was the first commercial success ever made by a South Korean film in Taiwan.
A significant change over the 20 years is the growth of Taiwanese films’ popularity. Following the 90’s, the winter of local film production in Taiwan, not one Taiwanese film is on the 2000 list. On the 2020 one, however, Our Times, You Are the Apple of My Eye, and the more recent Detention prove the energy in local film productions after the “revival” in 2008 following the blockbuster Cape №7 (2008).
The most unpredictable lists in this survey are the ones about favorites. Wenqing must-sees and popular films are by definition collective, and shard imaginations about the two are probably reinforced online in the digital age. But what films are picked as personal favorites the most?
Personal favorites of the 425 current college students.
Personal favorites of the 104 participants around 40.
Although participants tended to give different titles for the three categories, the favorite lists are beautiful blends of the previous two, proving that these films are popular in general and/or among a certain group of people.
The two lists do not overlap at all. Also, naturally, favorites overlap less between peers, but some were still noticeably mentioned more.
Farewell My Concubine (re-released in both 2018 and 2020 in Taiwan) is often discussed among current college students for its depiction of Cultural Revolution and gender fluidity in Chinese opera. The late leading actor Leslie Cheung is also widely loved as a brilliant artist and gay icon.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the latest film on the 2020 list and the only film that’s not English-speaking or Mandarin-speaking on both lists of favorites. As all the lists above show, comparatively, films of this kind are still rarely discussed in Taiwan. Ihe distributor of Portrait of a Lady on Fire in Taiwan is Andrews Film Co. Ltd, a company partly famous for social media marketing. With fine merch and non-stop memes, it successfully introduced the Cannes winning film to college students so that they can fall in love with it.
Documentary films are also not mentioned much in the survey, but there are some visible trends outside the lists. French director Agnes Varda’s documentaries are mentioned by participants in both groups as one of their favorites. And along with a few people that provide the category “political documentaries” as wenqing muse-sees, her documentaries are also mentioned under that category. Her popularity may be traced back to Taipei Film Festival’s Filmmaker in Focus program in 2019 and other screening activities following the world’s loss of Varda.
We can see the significance of The Lord of the Rings Series from the 2000 list, and the appearance of Fight Club on the 2000 list may also prove that it left a strong impression on Taiwanese moviegoers back in the days. | https://medium.com/ouru/are-film-classics-from-the-90s-being-passed-down-17f1f5efb174 | [] | 2020-07-01 13:08:09.463000+00:00 | ['Audience', 'Culture', 'Taiwan', 'Culture Change', 'Film'] |
Underground Groundbreakers of Today #7: Homes First | Originally published on Underground Groundbreakers
The issue of affordable housing has become a particularly urgent one throughout the United States in the past few years, especially as it has been revealed that there is no city in the country where minimum wage can pay for a two-bedroom apartment. And this is before considering things like addiction recovery, mental health recovery, and those with developmental disabilities.
While there has been more attention paid and organizations devoted to combating this pressing issue in recent years, there is an organization that has been working tirelessly on it for almost 30 years: Homes First, located in Lacey, Washington, near Olympia, the state’s capital. The motivation for the organization’s founding goes back as far as the 1950s, and the group is now a successful example both of activism and idealism for a good cause and the reality and practicality for the need for funding. Their example shows that the two do not have to be, and should never be, mutually exclusive.
Homes First was officially established in 1990, but the energy for it started more informally, as it often does, in 1987, at a community action day discussing housing for the homeless in Thurston County. The lack of affordable housing in the area had become a serious problem, and the group at the action day decided to try to do something about it. Knowing that the existing safety net was not enough for people who really needed help, the group formed a non-profit housing corporation that would acquire property to develop as low-cost housing for the area. This brought together “activist integrity, legal know-how, government grant-smithing, and the right amount of business acumen to make this nonprofit a viable corporation” — the perfect combination of elements to effect real change.
And for the past three decades, that is what Homes First has been doing. In addition to providing the physical houses or apartments for people who need them, Homes First partners with other organizations that provide additional services tenants may need to live and thrive. Homes First has now provided homes to over 5,500 people and has a portfolio of homes to 46 scattered sites in Thurston County as well as Mason County. In their words: “Homes First’s approach to providing safe, healthy, and affordable homes builds community and provides generational affordable homes in a scattered site program that is sustainable.” As noble a goal as this is, it admittedly is not an easy one to achieve, and one with many challenges. First and foremost, of course, is money. Funds are needed for all aspects of the homes — acquiring land, construction, and developer fees, among others. As a nonprofit, donations are crucial — without more generously donated funds, this crucial work can’t continue.
But it’s not all business — at the end of the day, the goal of Homes First is to make a difference in the lives of people: those with developmental disabilities, veterans, single adults, families, and people in recovery from addiction. Homes First strives to make the south Puget Sound region a place where everyone can live and prosper. Homes First’s core values — respect, dignity, equity, personal responsibility, partnerships, and community, as well as the belief that all important aspects of life begin in the home — drive everything they do.
In addition to helping individuals, Homes First’s scattered site model also helps revitalize neighborhoods and helps create real communities, which is both good for business and for people. Their goals of creating and maintaining homes, supporting tenants, and building safe communities, accomplishes both of these honorable aims. As individuals who enter a Homes First home are able to get on their feet, perhaps for the first time, they are able to save up to eventually purchase their own homes, which in turn benefits the entire area. Homes First is a living, breathing example that helping people directly helps communities.
But despite all of the success Homes First has had, they know there is still more to be done. Because of the crisis of housing affordability in Washington State, HomesFirst simply can’t help everyone who needs it, and is forced to turn down more than 800 requests for homes each year. This is why donations are more crucial than ever, and why success stories are the best way to connect with both the community and potential donors. The story of Andrea is one example. After hitting rock bottom while dealing with drug addiction, being homeless and having her children taken away, Andrea went to treatment for her addiction and found her way to a Homes First home, where she lives with her children and eight other women. The women help take care of each other as a community, leading to all of them living more productive lives. This is an inspiring and heartwarming result of all of the hard work Homes First has put in to help improve people’s lives. And 2019 had more success, with 25 more people receiving homes. But Homes First wants to create many more Andreas, but they can’t without more investments from community members and businesses.
And like a good activist organization, the work is never done and the ideas for how to help even more people never stop. In 2018, Homes First launched Homes First 2.0, Enhance Property Management. This program will supplement those individuals who are getting housing with help to local landlords who want to do something about the housing crisis but may not have the required knowledge to do so. This in turn will help even more people find homes.
This year, Homes First will be celebrating 30 years of doing good for their community. This is an exciting milestone that shows that their mission has remained strong. In an era where affordable housing is being discussed more than ever, Homes First has been ahead of the curve and has demonstrated the power of both activism and the logistics of management and fundraising. Their vital work is sure to continue and grow in the next 30 years and beyond.
If you would like to learn more about the work of Homes First, please check out their website here, and follow them on social media @HomesFirst (Twitter), homesfirstwa (Instagram) and Homes First (Facebook). You can also donate to support their work here. | https://medium.com/@undergroundbreakers/underground-groundbreakers-of-today-7-homes-first-d35d634ba84f | ['Underground Groundbreakers'] | 2020-03-15 00:22:52.970000+00:00 | ['Affordable Housing', 'Housing', 'Homeless', 'Washington State', 'Homelessness'] |
GREEN LABS will focus on bolt on acquisitions this year | 29 JAN 2021 / Mergermarket
GREEN LABS, a South Korean digital agriculture platform developer, will focus on acquisition opportunities in Korea this year to strengthen its leading position in the digital agriculture platform market, co-CEO Shin Sang-hoon said.
The Seoul-based company is currently reviewing two to three targets, he added. It is eyeing targets engaged in agricultural businesses such as agri-logistics companies, IoT developers in smart farming, agricultural film manufacturers, agriculture pipe manufacturers, seed companies, fertilizer companies, pesticide companies, and others involved in relevant sectors, he noted.
The ideal deal value is below KRW 10bn (USD 9m), Shin added.
For future bolt-ons, it would finance the deals through its cash, he said.
GREEN LABS recently acquired two domestic firms,Happy Farmer and RUNean, Shin continued. Happy Farmer, acquired in November last year, specializes in processing and distributing agricultural products. RUNean, acquired in January this year, estimates the cost of farmhouse construction via automatic algorithms and databases, according to the company’s press release.
Additionally, the company plans to expand its IoT-based smart farming service to East Asia and Southeast Asia. Thus, it is looking for investors from these regions for its next funding round, the CEO continued.
The ideal investors would be local investors that have solid networks with agriculture and ag-tech businesses, as they can help GREEN LABS connect with relevant industrial partners and customers, the CEO added.
The proceeds will be earmarked for R&D and to hire employees including data engineers and computer engineers, he continued.
The firm remains receptive to investors’ approaches to this end, but details have not been determined as it just closed a KRW 20bn Series B fundraise this month, Shin noted. GREEN LABS is in a position where it does not need to raise money right now, but is in a comfortable position to do so at an appropriate time, he added.
Organic growth on track
While the company will focus on inorganic growth this year, it will also seek organic growth to strengthen its dominant position in the country’s ag-tech market, Shin said.
The number of users of its Farm Morning app has increased exponentially, and the company expects to meet the target of securing more than 100,000 users by 1H21, the CEO noted.
Given this rapid growth rate, it expects all domestic farmers to use the app by 2022, he added. Farm Morning app is a digital farming platform that GREEN LABS launched in July last year.
GREEN LABS uses data analytics to help farmers cut costs, increase profitability and distribute their crops. It offers objective farmer-driven information on seeds, fertility, soils backed by the company’s agronomic data. Additionally, its users are given data-backed recommendations as to how to create the perfect environment for the crops to grow, Shin said. With its central control panel and IoT devices installed in their greenhouses, farmers can view and change the settings of the greenhouses, even if they are away.
On the digital front, GREEN LABS plans to provide advanced B2B IoT-based smart farming services to agricultural companies by the end of this year, as part of its efforts to help farmers maximize their profits, the CEO continued.
GREEN LABS expects to record sales of KRW 100bn this year, up from sales of KRW 25bn last year, Shin said.
The founders including Shin, Ahn Dong-hyun and Choi Sung-woo, hold a majority stake, followed by, domestic VC HASHED, which had participated in the Series B fundraise, he continued.
The company’s overall business has not been impacted by the novel corona virus outbreak. Rather the COVID-19 outbreak has created a positive atmosphere as smart farm technology has garnered attention from investors, he said.
Founded in May 2017, the company had 160 full-time employees as of 26 January, Shin said. GREEN LABS’ global peers include California-based Farmers Business Network. It is the first digital agriculture company in South Korea, he noted.
by Haejin Choi in Seoul
Write to Haejin Choi [email protected] | https://medium.com/@greenlabs/green-labs-will-focus-on-bolt-on-acquisitions-this-year-2c789be57df7 | ['Green Labs'] | 2021-02-23 05:40:03.382000+00:00 | ['Farming', 'Platform', 'Agriculture', 'Agritech', 'Farmers'] |
The Purpose Of Cheat Meals! | Photo by Cristiano Pinto on Unsplash
You may have heard of cheat meals if you’ve heard of fit guys eating pizza and other junk food while staying lean. It can definitely throw people off balance. Some Body Coaches have ads or videos that promote the idea of you still being able to eat the foods that you like while maintaining a healthy lifestyle and eating routine. It’s important to know why some people implement them and some don’t.
Cheat Meals vary from person to person, because one person may not have junk foods they enjoy while the other one can fare well without them. It’s meant to be a psychological aid for people who may miss eating some of the foods that may have held them back from eating better or may have needed to heavily moderate.
Body Coaches put emphasis on exercise, but more importantly what you eat and how much enjoyment you’re getting out of what you’re eating. Many people start to do something to try to better their life, but it usually goes downhill quickly because they find it mundane, boring, or flat-out unfun.
It’s true that everything good derives off of hard work and perseverance, but enjoying something can go a long way to motivate someone to keep doing something even if they don’t see any immediate progress. With that said, cheat meals should be used in moderation depending on how much of your favorite foods are junk foods vs healthy foods. Having one cheat meal won’t kill all of your progress, but having them constantly will eventually wreak havoc on your health if they are riddled with junk food.
Everyone’s different so I can’t tell anyone what to have for their cheat meal. Cheat Meals should be balanced out with what your health goal is and should take macro and micronutrients into consideration to determine how often you should have them. | https://medium.com/@gorphysanon/the-purpose-of-cheat-meals-450196b008f6 | ['Gorphy Sanon'] | 2020-12-15 00:17:35.920000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Food', 'Eating', 'Cheat Meals', 'Perspective'] |
Weeknotes S1, Eps 10 ‘The 21st Century Wicked Economy’ and Series End……. | More like ‘Fortnight Notes’ again but if I’m honest this is just the way it’s gonna be with the miniscule amount of time I have for these; “He says,” perched on the edge of the sofa, on the early Saturday morning coffee break whilst ferrying children to swimming/karate or whatever else is current!! (any content is good content, right?!?). Don’t worry though (I hear your collective sigh of relief!) I won’t be terminating the #weeknotes journey at the end of series 1…. They have been far to valuable a tool in my reflection and open working to stop now…
I will try and do a mop up of my thoughts on Series 1 before Christmas, stay tuned….
Being a full 2 weeks since my last musings, I have 5 moments for this blog;
One… Monday 11th Marco Picardi joined our team, another great placement from the public practice team. Marco has joined the team to work predominantly on our North East Cambridge Innovation District Area Action Plan. He has enormous experience as an urban planner in delivering complex international master-planning schemes and its a real testament to the public practice model that we can bring these types of bespoke skills into a local authority planning team to ensure the place shaping we are working has the very best minds helping to bring social, economic and environment innovation to our building places of the future. Marco is our 4th Public Practice placement from as many cohorts and the success of our partnership with Finn and the team is really gathering pace.
On a human note, its always really good to welcome new faces into the team especially those who share many of the same values and passion of our existing group. I managed to get some time set aside to chat with Marco and grab coffee and begin to learn a little bit about him, we share the same Italian heritage so not just planning we have in common!
The power of understanding the global picture on place making
Two… Wednesday 13th I attended a small roundtable session run by Linda Christie and Professor Duncan Maclellan. I’d recently spoken with Linda on the research she is doing around this in conjunction with Places For People and its an area I have a huge and passionate interest in. The workshop was a wrap up of the work so far and it was really interesting to see some of the ‘wicked challenges’ we share in understanding the intrinsic links between having a safe and secure roof over our heads and economic prosperity.
You would think this is a reasonably obvious statement but it is clear (certainly IMO) we do not have a functional economic system which assimilates place, local economics and social impact at the heart of how we measure success. Without detracting from the huge amount of hard graft put in by those who work across sectors, the many moving parts, services, governance and (immovable structures) are disjointed at best and more often than not ineffective, and significantly reduce the opportunities our citizens and communities have to provide a positive contribution. Instead our world is often completely focussed on failure demand, which is ultimately far more costly in both social and economic terms and unsustainable as we continue to encounter new and complex modern day challenges including climate change.
I will keep you posted on how the research progresses, and it is linked to some of the work I am looking to explore in our plan making journey for Cambridge. This also is intrinsically linked to a wider network of skills and colleagues who perhaps traditionally have not worked together to collaborate on these issues which I’ll pick up later in the blog.
Three….. I can’t not mention our Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service away day on the 18th. I’ll keep it brief as I tweeted quite a lot about it on the day. All I will say was that it felt like a real line in the sand moment for the team as we finalised coming together as two local authority planning services into one team of not inconsiderable size c.140 people.
Its been a really long journey to even get us to this point and we know the really hard work of aligning systems and process, developing a new shared culture and attitude and managing our parent councils distinctive aspirations in a brave new world is still to come. I do feel though to get the team together to celebrate this moment, award individual over and above successes (with Alpaca awards….. Don’t ask!!!) and feel solidarity from our Chief Execs who attended to hand out the awards, was a great point to reset, restart and progress. Big thanks to all, but especially our event organising team in Jane, Heather, Cat, Vicky and Jenny.
Four and Five….. These go together as they were two meetings I had on Friday (21st) and really linked to the ‘wicked economy’ issues I mentioned earlier.
First meeting of the day was with Guy Clifton at Grant Thornton. I met with Guy through my work with SOLACE and we shared details at the summit in October. I am interested in some of the work Guy and his team are progressing in a couple of areas; Both around the placemakers leadership program that is in its infancy in partnership with a strong communities focussed organisation in Collaborate CIC, and the Vibrant Economy Indexing work that starts to approach the measurement of economic wellbeing with more qualitative measures in order shift conversation from GVA/GDP as the sole (limited) metric. This is not only refreshing and progressive, but also for me shows an intrinsic understanding of fundamental requirement for all of us to embed a co-designed participatory approach we MUST scale up if we wish to shape a much more inclusive, healthy, open and secure future for our communities, especially the increasingly uncertain and volatile political, social, economic and environmental landscape we are in.
Second meeting on Friday was in much the same vein, and was fantastic to finally meet f2f Owen Garling, a colleague working down the road in Cambridgeshire County Council, managing the many facets of their transformation journey. I have been acquainted with Owen for some time in the digital ether so its always good to finally get a coffee in.
Owen is progressing so really innovative work at Cambridgeshire and has a healthy passion for changing the world too… In local government we are well known for silo working and often don’t see the value (join the dots) in certain areas because they are not directly related to the immediate (or historic) working we are undertaking. This requires a substantial cultural paradigm shift, as organisations, like communities are interconnected in much more nuanced ways than the sum of their services, and in order to begin addressing the systems issues that exist we need to work with the whole system — not just those bits we understand!
Transformation is a great starting point for me as these teams often are seeing and trying to understand complex service problems across a wide range of areas so are often tapped into the relationships, and interactions that are critical to many issues.
In two tier government systems it is vital to build strong relationships as there are so many vital moving parts which have the potential for transformational impact if we can build a more coherent ‘hive mind’ to supercharge our collective experience, skills and most importantly passion to change for improved public outcomes.
Pods…. This week was all about the BBC 4 Intrigue Series ‘Tunnel 29’ the story of escape from East Berlin into the west in the early 60s…. Amazing story of courage and innovation. A stark reminder of the very different places many of our European cities were during that period!
Also loved hearing our South Cambs new Chief Executive Liz Watts on the LGIU Pod series… I love some of the stuff this series covers, but especially great to hear Liz talk place shaping at Northstowe New Town and the power of our emerging Local Plan and the opportunities that good inclusive growth can bring.
Books…. Nothing new, still tying to get time to finish Hilary Cottam’s Radical Help.. But Panto rehearsals have somewhat got i my way….(Don’t ask!!!)
See you for a wrap up before Xmas. | https://weeknot.es/weeknotes-s1-eps-10-the-21st-century-wicked-economy-and-series-end-b285de16f85b | ['Paul Frainer'] | 2019-11-26 13:43:03.802000+00:00 | ['Economy', 'Local Government', 'Collaboration', 'Social Innovation', 'Urban Planning'] |
Secrets Of Medusa | Story of Medusa and its relevance
Perseus and Medusa. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
According to the legend, Medusa was a beautiful woman and caught the eyes of Poseidon. Due to a long-time feud between Poseidon and Athena, he wanted to defile the latter’s temple.
Poseidon persuaded Medusa, and both performed the act at Athena’s altar. Furious, Athena exacted her revenge by turning Medusa (an evident show of male chauvinism and patriarchy) into a snake-haired monster, albeit a mortal one, who was grotesque enough to turn beholders into stone.
Perseus, son of Zeus and mortal queen Danaë, was on the quest to slay Medusa to save his mother from the clutches of King Polydectes who coveted her.
Gods favored him by providing with five objects to overcome his ordeal — a knapsack to hold Medusa’s head; Hermes’s winged sandals; Hades’s helm of darkness (for invisibility); Zeus’s adamantine sword; and a highly reflective bronze shield from Athena.
Shield
The bronze shield plays an important role here as Medusa cannot be faced directly but only through reflection. Later, Medusa’s head was embossed into the shield and presented to Athena, who called it Aegis.
Medusa by Caravaggio has its base in the form of a shield. The portrait was done on a convex board made out of poplar with Medusa’s visage, bringing out its reference to Aegis.
The technique for the preparation and painting was complex.
The poplar board was covered with a layer of linen and given four different preparation layer. On top of it, an additional layer was added to make the background more reflective and another layer for the actual backdrop, which is greenish-yellow in color (a concoction of verdigris and lead-tin yellow paint).
Further, the painting was done with three layers of siccative oils, turpentine, and mastic with traces of beeswax. Finally, the shield was finished with a few layers for the protection of paint.
Self-portrait
Medusa vs Caravaggio. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). Edited: Author
Unknown to many, Medusa is a self-portrait of Caravaggio.
If we look at the image, we can see that the forehead, bulging eyes, and the widened cheeks of Medusa resemble that of Caravaggio. He had used a convex mirror to study his reflection and used his features as an inspiration for the painting.
Why would anyone want to immortalize themselves as a monster?
Caravaggio had his face painted as Medusa to prove that he was, in fact, immune to her dreadful gaze. It is believed that Medusa was unaffected by her face. | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/secrets-of-medusa-d79741b9b548 | ['Sandhya Ganesh'] | 2020-11-01 08:28:33.478000+00:00 | ['Mythology', 'Art', 'Caravaggio', 'Painting', 'History'] |
The Woman in the Letter | Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
By the time you read this, you’ll probably be on the plane to Cali, about to begin the next leg of your adventure. This is the beginning of the distance between us; soon, you’ll lose my face in mist of the rainforest. In a few year’s time you’ll be searching for the name of that Canadian girl in Quito.
That’s I want to record it now, while it’s still fresh. The way you got up with me in the mornings before I worked and we’d drink coffee on the balcony, when our conversations carried the drunken haze that can only be reproduced by fatigue. Running for the bus that would take us up to the mountains for the weekend. The all-nighter we pulled by the beach in Puerto Lopez, drinking cheap rum by the fire and telling as many stories as we could cram in before sunrise.
That urgency is part of what made this so beautiful. There is no moment that hurt, nothing I regret.
Because of you, I’ll remember the roosters crowing in the morning as the most mournful of love songs. You changed the landscape of the city for me. You poured romance into the streets of Quito.
Our love can’t cross borders. It won’t transcend distance and make its home in reality. It will always be trapped here, frozen in time.
I hope you look back to it sometimes and that when you do, it makes you smile. If you’re ever feeling sad or lonely in snowy Michigan, read these words again and remember someone loved you.
Kisses,
Brynn
***
I found your letter, Jeff messaged Brynn once he connected to the airport wifi.
Was it too much? It felt like a bit much.
You made me blush.
Good. I’ve always wanted to write a proper love letter, on paper and all. And I thought you might appreciate it.
I’ve always wanted to receive a proper love letter on paper and all, so that worked out well.
Look at us, being this in sync to the end!
Jeff hadn’t ever thought about receiving a love letter. He’d never given much thought to the ways in which love was expressed until he met Brynn, who was obsessed by human connections or the lack thereof, and the role language played in everyday interactions. She was living in Quito as an ESL teacher and slowly learning Spanish, and was consistently fascinated by her loss of ease in communication.
“It’s almost nice to have this language thing as a crutch,” she told him once. “I never manage to make myself understood either way. Now at least I have an excuse.”
“How can you not make people understand you? You’re a writer!” Her speckled brown arm still held the warmth from the sun. He rested his head against it.
“Yes, but the speaking words are harder.”
Jeff chuckled. “Oh wow. Yeah, I can see that.”
“Shut up.” She pretended to slap him with her scarf, but it barely brushed against him. “I wish I could just write out everything I wanted to say. And pass it through at least seven edits.”
“Seven?”
“That’s the magic number.” She shrugged. “I’d end up saying a lot less, but my words would all be true. Or not. But they’d sound better.”
“I think your speaking words sound fine.”
“You would.”
Jeff couldn’t remember the context of that conversation, but he wished he’d told Brynn how lucky she was to at least have one method of communication that worked for her. He had nothing. His thoughts just gathered in his mind, shapeless, until they faded. He’d never been able to express to someone how he felt; he couldn’t even find the words for himself.
That always made their relationship feel unbalanced.
He still kept her goodbye note in the top drawer of his nightstand. He wondered what she’d think of that, whether she’d be flattered or accuse him of holding on. Brynn had an almost religious respect for the transience of things.
Most of the time it stayed there. He brought other girls back to his place and never gave a second thought to the person trapped in the letter. But on his lonelier nights he’d take it out and reread the dog-eared page for the thousandth time.
Remember someone loved you.
***
“Let’s not fall in love,” Brynn said after the first time they had sex.
“Sorry, what?”
“I’m sorry. It might seem a bit presumptuous to assume you’re going to fall in love with me, and I don’t, but I want to get this out of the way just in case. I mean, you’re going back to Michigan. I don’t even know if I could get a work visa in the States. And I can’t stand the cold.”
“Why are you thinking about this now?”
“Am I freaking you out? Sorry. I just think all the time. And I don’t know about you, but that was some fantastic sex for me.”
Jeff smiled. “Yeah. Same.”
“Seriously. It’s usually not that good.”
“Same.”
“And I like you.”
“Same.”
“Hey.” Brynn punched him lightly. “Stop stealing my thoughts.”
“Sorry.”
“You’d better be. Anyways. The next step from here would normally be getting to know each other better in hopes of falling in love and starting a life together. I’m saying, let’s not do that. Because it doesn’t really make sense.”
“Because of the visas.”
“Because our lives don’t line up. Would you wait around Quito for the next six months while I finished my contract?”
“I mean… I only have a three month leave from work, and money’s pretty tight, so…”
“Exactly. That’s fine.” She wrote something on his chest with her fingertips. He couldn’t quite make out what it was. “So let’s make this easy. No long-term expectations. Just the fun stuff. You down?”
“Who wouldn’t be?”
“Excellent. So do I get to see you again?”
“I was planning on heading to Quito after this.”
“Perfect. You can stay with me. If you want.”
“I want.”
“Good.” She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “Is it weird that I just said all that?”
“A bit, yeah.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I liked it. It was honest.”
“I try.” She turned back to him and propped herself up on her elbow. “I just don’t want you reading too much in it if I start saying romantic stuff, you know? I’m very capable of caring without committing.”
“Good to know.”
“I’m sorry. I’m talking too much.” She marched her fingers down his stomach. He bit his lip. “Our days are numbered. We shouldn’t waste them.”
***
Jeff didn’t fall in love with Brynn, but he got used to waking up next to her. He learned to identify when she was having a moment and needed to disappear into herself, or when she’d worked herself into a frenzy and needed an adventure. He heard stories of her friends and family back at home until he knew who was who by name. He could remember her smell the second he closed his eyes.
He cared for her, but not enough to miss his flight to Cali. Not enough to follow her around the world, or to beg her to move to Michigan. He reread her letter over and over again on his flight and mourned the ending of their brief fling, but was satisfied with how clean the break was. No unfulfilled expectations. No bitterness. It was over. He’d loved her, and he didn’t anymore.
Brynn wasn’t his only romantic entanglement on his three-month South American trip, but she was the only one who wrote to him, so she endured the longest in his mind. She was the only one he kept in touch with when he got back home. She sent him long messages dripping with poetry and longing, painting a picture of her life in Quito, and her sad relocation to Vancouver when her mother’s dementia worsened. He’d saved all those messages. He still poured over them sometimes, when he was feeling a bit lonely. She’d trapped herself in her own words to the point where he didn’t even want to see her again. He preferred having this version of her, the one that simultaneously was and wasn’t real.
She’d deleted her Facebook eight months earlier. She sent him a message saying goodbye.
I just can’t deal with this social media shit anymore. I hate feeling like I always have to be available for everyone. And having daily access to these idealized versions of lives I could be living, while I’m trapped here in rainy, expensive Vancouver… It’s just too much. It doesn’t bring me joy. Feel free to send me an email if you want. I’d still love to keep in touch.
He’d tried writing to her a couple times, but erased everything less than a paragraph in. Everything he wrote made him sound boring, and he couldn’t deal with the fact that she may find him boring. Every now and then he googled her. She’d been trying to get her writing published the last time they’d spoken, and he kept hoping to see her name pop up as the author of a piece, but all his searches for Brynn Taro brought up were websites about gluten-free biscuits.
It was better this way. They’d had their moment, and now he was forced to let go.
***
Brynn bent over to pet Ferdinand the cat when she walked through the front door, and banged her head on the doorframe getting back up. She mouthed a couple curses, then unlaced her boots and walked into the kitchen.
The night had made her melancholic. She blamed Lucy for bringing up Ecuador. “Isn’t it wild that this time two years ago you had a whole other life there? It must be so weird for you.”
Yes, Lucy. This is weird. In the most boring way possible.
Brynn was glad she could be around for her mother as her illness progressed, and she couldn’t be chasing freedom forever. It made sense for her to stay in Canada. But her heart ached for Quito. Sometimes it was easier to pretend that part of her life had never happened, so she didn’t contrast Quito’s colourful Old Town and coconuts on the beach to the drab Vancouver skyline and overpriced beer at whatever knock-off Irish pub her friends had chosen.
This is my life now.
Whenever she thought of Quito, her mind inevitably drifted to Jeff, even if he’d only been around for a month. She hated herself for placing such importance on him. He’d affected her a lot more than she liked to admit.
Jeff made her feel comfortable and loved. But more importantly, he’d been around while she was the best version of herself.
Back then she romanticized everything, from solo sunsets to makeout sessions with strangers who hadn’t taken time to learn her name. Life felt alive then, that was the best way she could put it. Everything made her tingle with emotion and excitement. Jeff had walked in at the perfect moment, when she could shower him with love, then send him away with a smile.
She was glad he couldn’t see her now that her spirit was trapped in the mediocrity of the day-to-day. He probably wouldn’t care for this version of her.
She wondered how he was doing. He’d never emailed her, and while that hurt, it was probably for the best. Neither one of them should be clinging to an idealized love that never would have held up against the brutality of time.
Sometimes she wished she’d tried to make it work for real. When that happened, she googled the weather in Michigan and the feeling went away.
“Bedtime, kitten,” she cooed to Ferdinand. He wriggled away when she tried to pick him up, so she walked into her room alone. She lay in bed and behind closed eyes, tried to piece together Jeff’s face.
Remember someone loved you. | https://medium.com/the-junction/the-woman-in-the-letter-3976f66f3fe9 | ['Nikita Mélusine'] | 2019-06-28 21:08:39.503000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Romance', 'Love Letters', 'Fiction', 'Short Story'] |
Install Rails in Windows machine | Open powershell and check if the ruby is installed in your system by typing the ruby -v command.
If you get the message above, that means you don’t have Ruby installed and you need to install it.
Note: For applications requiring rails 6.x, you need the ruby version above 2.5
2. To install ruby on a windows machine, go to rubyinstaller.org and click on it to download.
3. Once download completes, click on the downloaded file and go through the installation process. Most default installation options (pre-selected) are good. In one of the options you might get the option to download and install the MSYS2 and development toolchain, make sure you have that checked to download and install it.
While installing, when it command prompt pops up, hit enter
After installation is complete, restart the powershell and rerun ruby -v command. It should be showing you the version you installed.
You now have the Ruby programming language installed and working perfectly.
Next Step: Install NodeJS and Yarn
NodeJS is a JavaScript runtime and Rails has this as a dependency in order to work correctly. Yarn is a package manager which Rails (6 and above) uses to manage some assets.
To see if you have node already installed, pull up a PowerShell window and type in node — version followed by enter.
If you get an error message like above, then you will need to install node.
2. To install NodeJS, go to nodejs.org and click on the Download button.
3. Once downloaded, click on the downloaded file and click through the installation options. Leave all the installs to default options.
After installation is complete, restart the powershell and rerun node — version command. It should be showing you the version you installed.
YARN
You can check for an existing installation of Yarn by checking the yarn version in your PowerShell window. To install yarn for Windows, head over to the yarn (classic) installation page: https://classic.yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install#windows-stable Click on the download button and install after download is complete. Once installed, re-start your PowerShell window and check for the yarn version using yarn — version. You now have NodeJS and Yarn (dependencies of Rails) successfully installed.
Next step: Install Rails
When we are talking about ruby, the ruby gems play a major role. Rails itself is a rubygem hosted in rubygems.org.
Before we install rails gem, we make sure we install bundler. To install bundler simply type gem install bundler .
note: If you want specific version of bundler, then type gem install bundler -v 1.17.3
2. Next step would be to install webpacker. Webpack is a JavaScript bundler which Rails 6 uses to manage its JavaScript assets. To install webpack, simply type gem install webpacker .
3. Install rails using gem install rails
4 Once successfully installed, you can check for the version of rails that’s installed by typing in the rails -v command followed by enter
Last step: Test
Now that we have rails installed, let’s use it to create a new rails application. You can do it by using the following
rails new test_app
2. You should now be in the test_app folder. This is your newly created rails application.
cd test-app
3. start rails server
rails s
4. Hit localhost:3000 in the browser and you see this result
You have now successfully installed Rails on your windows machine. | https://medium.com/@imrohanbk/install-rails-in-windows-machine-d7da940e4981 | ['Rohan Kurdikeri'] | 2020-12-11 11:04:41.727000+00:00 | ['Ruby On Rails Development', 'Rails Install Windows', 'Ror', 'Rails', 'Ruby on Rails'] |
Matplotlib -Data Visualization | Getting Started
We will begin by importing Matplotlib using:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
If you’re using the Jupyter notebook we can easily display plots as static images next to the code cell using: %matplotlib inline.
We are now ready to begin creating our plots. Let’s create a blank Figure using the .figure() method. this will give us the canvas to draw the axes.
fig= plt.figure()
Now we need to add axes to it using the .add_axes() method. The add_axes() method takes in a list of four arguments [x0, y0, width, height] where (x0,y0) define the coordinate of the lower-left(0,0) point of the axes in the canvas. So the axes is positioned on absolute coordinates in the canvas.
axes= fig.add_axes([0.0,0.0,0.8,0.8])
# here width and height are the 80 percentage of canvas.
Now let’s plot our x and y arrays on axes:
fig= plt.figure()
axes= fig.add_axes() x=[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
y=[1,4,9,16,25,36,49]
axes.plot(x,y)
SubPlots:
plt.subplots
we noted that the .figure() method will give us the canvas to draw the axes. this canvas can contain multiple graphs. Let’s try to put in two sets of the graph on one canvas:
fig= plt.figure()
axes1= fig.add_axes([0.0,0.0,0.4,0.4])
axes2= fig.add_axes([0.5,0.0,.4,0.4]) x=[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
y=[1,4,9,16,25,36,49]
axes1.plot(x,y)
axes2.plot(x,y)
We can also create multiple plots in the object-oriented approach using the .subplots() method. The .subplots() method takes in nrows, which is the number of rows the canvas should have, and ncols, the number of columns the canvas should have.
For example, we can create a 2 by 2 subplots like this:
canvas,axis=plt.subplots(2,2)
axis[1,1].plot(x,y)
axes sharing
fig=plt.figure()
ax1 = plt.subplot(211)
ax2 = plt.subplot(212, sharex = ax1)
Matplotlib allows us to create customized plots by specifying the figure size, and DPI by simply specifying the figsize and dpi arguments. The figsize is a tuple of the width and height of the figure (in inches), and dpi is the dots-per-inch (pixel-per-inch).
Now, let’s go ahead and specify that we want a figure having width=8 , height=2 , and dpi=100 .
fig= plt.figure(figsize=(4,4),dpi=100)
axes= fig.add_axes([0.0,0.0,0.8,0.8])
x=[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
y=[1,4,9,16,25,36,49]
axes.plot(x,y)
We can do the same thing with subplots() like this:
canvas,axis=plt.subplots(2,2,figsize=(4,4),dpi=100)
axis[1,1].plot(x,y)
Legends:
Legends allow us to distinguish between plots. With Legends, you can differentiate one plot from another. we need to add a legend using .legend() and then specify the label=” ” attribute for each plot like below:
fig= plt.figure(figsize=(4,4),dpi=100)
axes= fig.add_axes([0.0,0.0,0.8,0.8]) x=[1,2,3,4,5]
square=[1,4,9,16,25]
cube=[1,8,27,64,125]
axes.plot(x,square, label=’square’)
axes.plot(x,cube,label=’cube’) axes.legend()
Plot range:
Matplotlib allows us to set limits for our plots. We can easily configure the range of our plots using the set_ylim and set_xlim methods of the axis object. For example, we can choose to show only plots between 0 to 1 of the x axis , and 0 to 5 of the y axis :
fig= plt.figure(figsize=(4,4),dpi=100)
axes= fig.add_axes([0.0,0.0,0.8,0.8])
x=[1,2,3,4,5]
square=[1,4,9,16,25]
cube=[1,8,27,64,125]
axes.plot(x,square, label='square')
axes.plot(x,cube,label='cube')
axes.legend()
axes.set_ylim([0,150])
axes.set_xlim([0,5])
X and Y labels and Title:
We can add x and y labels and title to our plot using set_xlabel, set_ylabel, set_title
fig= plt.figure()
axes= fig.add_axes([0.0,0.0,0.8,0.8]) x=[1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
y=[1,4,9,16,25,36,49]
axes.plot(x,y) axes.set_title('Getting Started With Graph')
axes.set_xlabel('-----------------x direction--------------->')
axes.set_ylabel('-----------------y direction--------------->')
Plot Appearance
Matplotlib gives us a lot of options for customizing the appearance of our plots. By changing line color using color=’red’ . by changing the opacity of the graph using alpha=0.5. This value ranges from zero to one with zero being fully transparent and one being entirely opaque. Reducing alpha will make your plot objects see-through, allowing multiple layers to be seen at once as well as allowing overlapping points to be distinguished.
we can also apply the style sheet to the graph as follows
from matplotlib import style
print(plt.style.available)# ['ggplot','bmh','dark_background',....]
style.use('bmh') import numpy as np
label = ['Adventure', 'Action', 'Drama', 'Comedy','Horror']
no_movies = [941,854,4595,942,509]
plt.bar([x for x in range(0,len(label))], no_movies)
plt.xticks([0,1,2,3,4], label, rotation=30)
Special Plot Types
Scatterplot: A scatter plot is a type of plot that shows the data as a collection of points. Scatter Plots are usually used to represent the correlation between variables. It also helps it identify outliers.
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt x=[x for x in range(1,50)]
y=[x**2 for x in range(1,50)] plt.scatter(x, y)
Bar chart: A bar chart is a chart that presents categorical data with rectangular bars with height proportional to the values that they represent. So in short, bar graphs are good if you to want to present the data of different groups that are being compared with each other.
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
label = ['Adventure', 'Action', 'Drama', 'Comedy','Horror']
no_movies = [941,854,4595,942,509]
plt.bar([x for x in range(0,len(label))], no_movies)
plt.xticks([0,1,2,3,4], label, rotation=30)
Histogram: A histogram takes in a series of numerical data and divides the data into a number of bins. It then plots the frequency data points in each bin. It is useful to display the count of data in ranges.
Examples of this might be age groups, or scores on a test. Rather than showing every single age a group might be, maybe you just show people from 20–25, 25–30… and so on. Here’s an example:
import numpy as np
fig= plt.figure(figsize=(4,4),dpi=100)
axes= fig.add_axes([0.0,0.0,0.8,0.8])
x = np.random.normal(size = 1000) axes.hist(x,bins=20,label=’square’)
ikds | https://medium.com/@upendravijay2/data-visualization-5ff9dccca537 | ['Upendra Vijay'] | 2019-10-13 18:53:56.711000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Graph', 'Data Science', 'Matplotlib', 'Python'] |
The Love | “Love — it doesn’t take a lot. It takes everything!”
So, the Valentine’s is finally over, and we have another full year to wait to tell somebody we love them. Oh wait…something’s doesn’t sound good here…
I really get the overall global hype over Valentines (but still thinks it is just another marketing trick, as Coca Cola’s Santa Clause).
On one side, it is a good thing to have one day a year to celebrate love and passion, in this chaotic daily rhythm we all have. To slow down, and think about the others, how much they mean to us, and see how much we mean to them as well (also important, don’t you agree?).
On the other, having just one day a day to celebrate love? Don’t think so. Love isn’t a one-day-stand. Love is constant, ubiquitous. It is the essence of our being, of our mind, of our energy.
It is created over time, with passion, effort, deeds, kind words, attention…It consumes you whole, your every living cell, every breath you take, every though you think.
Love is freely moving energy that moves us, makes us happy, fulfilled, calm, at peace. It is that one thing that we all respond to, without words.
Love for oneself and for the other. We first need to love ourselves so that we can love the other. As we respond to love, so the other will.
You really don’t need one day a year to show your love. Do it every day. Show it, say it, make it happen. We all our here for a short period of time, so don’t waste it without the love. Learn to use it and grow from it. | https://medium.com/@antic.ljubica.bubica/the-love-7b39ebc6edc | ['Ljubica Antić'] | 2020-02-15 11:57:03.433000+00:00 | ['Love Yourself', 'Love'] |
Dove Chocolate Promises, Amended For COVID-19 | Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels
We at Dove® Chocolate Promises stand with America and with the world in this time of fear and uncertainty. It has come to our attention that some of the sayings on the interior wrappers of our Promises line of chocolates have become problematic within this context. We are currently working to alter our production processes; in the meantime, please refer to the amended versions below while enjoying our Dove® Chocolate Silky Smooth Promises.
Teach your grandma to take a selfie.
*No. Good god, no. Back away from your grandma.
Shopping makes everything better!
*Could literally kill you.
If you fall down 7 times, get up 8.
*If you can’t get up the eighth time, call your primary care provider and describe your symptoms. Please do not immediately go to the emergency room.
Chocolate makes everything a little better.
*This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Book the flight!
*For a trip at some point after April 2021.
Don’t settle for a spark . . . light a fire instead.
*Settle for the spark. Better yet, just get the hell away from each other.
Make someone melt today.
*With words ONLY, and only via digital forms of communication.
Hug the sunlight.
*Sure, go ahead. Even we don’t know what this one means.
You are exactly where you are supposed to be.
*Which we are hoping is home. Go the fuck home.
Take a deep breath and exhale.
*At home, 6 feet away from other people.
Shut out the world for just a moment.
*Shut out the world until you’re told to go back into it. Seriously. Fucking go home and stay there.
Wear that perfect dress tonight!
*By yourself, in your kitchen.
Be your own valentine.
*Yes. Exactly. We were just trying to be cute when we wrote this and did not intend for it to be interpreted in a masturbatory way, but there has never been a better time to be your own valentine.
Forget the rules and play by your heart.
*We’d like to use this item to officially roll back every instance in which we at Dove® Chocolate Promises have used our wrappers to encourage you to “break the rules,” “throw caution to the wind,” “push the boundaries” or any other vapid cliché from our seemingly endless repository of vapid clichés. We apologize; we at Dove® maintain a delusional level of optimism at all times, and it simply never occurred to us that there could be life circumstances in which our quippy and sap-filled advice would not be applicable.
And finally, we’ve identified two sayings for which we could not find an appropriate amendment and which we’ve decided to retire until further notice:
You’ve got this!
Smile! It’s contagious. | https://medium.com/slackjaw/dove-chocolate-promises-amended-for-covid-19-bf2943d93b19 | ['Jennie Young'] | 2020-05-07 16:21:01.249000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Satire', 'Business', 'Life', 'Covid 19'] |
Case study: Adding a control timer feature to Netflix | What are the context and the problem?
Who, in your entourage, has not subscribed to Netflix or another SVOD service? Today, there is a SVOD market in France that is continuously growing with more and more new players (Disney +, Apple TV, Amazon Prime etc.)
Netflix has established itself as the market leader. In fact, in 2019, more than half of SVOD users in France were customers of Netflix (Barometer of Video-on-Demand — September 2019 by the CNC).
These platforms have transformed our consumption habits. They are increasingly pushing us to overconsumption of video content, with bingewatching as a widespread practice.
These changes in our screen consumption are also linked to the huge increase of the number of devices (5.5 per household) in a societal environment that pushes us to consume screen. This necessarily induces risks in terms of mental and physical health (isolation, dependence, inactivity, etc.)
Today, any SVOD platform has the ability to manage screen time. In comparison, other apps like YouTube, Facebook and iOS from Apple launched their control timer service.
Youtube (left), Facebook (center), IOS (right)
In this context, how to help and support Netflix users in their consumption of streaming content?
Users aware of their irrational consumption
To better understand this problem, we must take an interest in Netflix users to learn more about their consumption habits and their relationship to their screen time. I had the opportunity to interview various users, analyze this data and identify four key findings.
Guilty feeling
“I have often felt guilty about doing nothing during a day…”
Lost of time
“I spent the day in front of Netflix and I didn’t do anything all day!”
Lack of priority
“I’ve already declined an event with my friends for Netflix, in order to stay comfortable.”
Awareness
“I know I spend a lot of time on my phone and especially on Netflix.”
Let the users decide to improve their daily life
To transform this irrational consumption and moderate this feeling of guilt, the idea is to give the user control of his screen time and to leave him the choice and the decision to improve his daily life, while accompanying and advising him. Through an ideation workshop, I developed a feature accessible from the user’s account with several options:
Define my screen time: the user can define a similar screen time every day or customize depending on the days of the week ; he can add a reminder that is showed when half of their total screen time is reached.
the user can define a similar screen time every day or customize depending on the days of the week ; he can add a reminder that is showed when half of their total screen time is reached. Reminder me to take a break: the user can define the frequency of his break by selecting the number of hours and minutes and round to the current episode or movie to show the reminder.
the user can define the frequency of his break by selecting the number of hours and minutes and round to the current episode or movie to show the reminder. Automatic reading of the next episode
Global vision of its consumption: the user can see his overall consumption depending on the days ; he can also see his daily average screen time per week and changes in his consumption.
Final version : scenario with Marine, my ideal persona
Marine is 22 years old, she is a student in a business school and lives in the Paris region. She went back home and wanted to watch the first episode of a new series. She had only one hour, before starting to study for her midterms, which are coming soon. Few hours laters, she realizes it’s 2:00 in the morning and she’s still on Netflix and missed all the things she had to do … One time too many!
The next day, she will decide to take charge of herself and will go into the settings of the application … To discover her user flow, it’s here 👇 :
Iterate
From my low-fidelity to my high-fidelity prototype, this challenge showed us the benefits of the test phases in order to iterate on my prototype and improve it to satisfy the needs of end users. So, I followed the aesthetic of the application and the design elements to respect the user flow.
Iterate on the options and their titles
Iterate on consistency and representation of elements
Iterate on the feedback
What’s next
I would like to further improve the user experience with : | https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/add-a-control-timer-feature-to-netflix-c3d82bad97d7 | ['Juliette Gaboriau'] | 2020-12-10 04:37:03.969000+00:00 | ['UX Design', 'Case Study', 'Netflix', 'Prototyping', 'Features'] |
Software Engineering Factory: Low Code/Rapid Development. | Rapid Application Development Collective
RAD Platforms Collective
Delightful UX
Deliver app experiences that are relevant today — and ready to scale into the future. Visually design context-aware smart applications, that deliver exceptional user experiences across a range of touchpoints and modalities.
Accelerated Development Through Visual Tools and AI
AI-powered development by default.
Build Anything to Run Anywhere
Build the applications you want and need — exactly the way they should look — and run them wherever you need them to run.
Cloud-Native
Build and deliver portable, scalable, and resilient applications without specialized expertise. Deploy anywhere in one click.
Collaborative Development
Bridge the traditional gaps between business, development, and operations, solving business challenges as an integrated team.
Quickly Integrate Everything
Apps, data, infrastructure, and cloud
Automate Intelligently
To cut costs and eliminate complexity by bringing people, processes, and systems together to deliver value fast.
Artificial Intelligence
Embrace smart applications; seamlessly connect AI and cognitive services to elevate your solution.
DevOps made easy
Integrate out-of-the-box DevOps capabilities with existing tools.
Data Integration
Integrate data and logic from any data source, system, or service. | https://medium.com/@satishvelagapudi/software-engineering-factory-low-code-rapid-development-db7af804476a | ['Satish Velagapudi'] | 2021-04-26 14:44:42.790000+00:00 | ['Low Code Development', 'Rapid Prototyping', 'Rapid App Development', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Automation Testing'] |
Rekap AMA: Crypto Expert X DAO Maker Indonesia | Who is DAO Maker?
A lot of the people know DAO Maker, previously ICO DOG for years already, however we never formally introduced… | https://medium.com/dao-maker-indonesia/rekap-ama-crypto-expert-x-dao-maker-indonesia-2f8ed83b05f | ['Dao Maker Indonesia'] | 2020-12-15 04:43:09.907000+00:00 | ['Dao Maker', 'Indonesia', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Community'] |
ENERGETIC: THE VIEW OF AN ENTHUSIAST — AN INTERVIEW | ENERGETIC: THE VIEW OF AN ENTHUSIAST — AN INTERVIEW
Clean energy is gradually coming close
In light of recent developments in the energy sector and the state of affairs in the nation and in the education sector, two correspondents from the NIMechE UI Press, Emmanuel Ogunsola and Titilope Banji, set out to speak with the immediate past president of NIMechE UI in an exclusive interview. Obasi Obinna, who had recently completed most of his requirements for a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Ibadan, Mechanical Engineering, earlier this year, engaged us with his recent interests, involvements and things pertaining to the Energy Club UI. Some concerns that have been on the minds of members of the departmental association were clarified and pertinent information gathered. Read on to see what he had to say.
Can we meet you please?
My name is Obasi, Obinna Paul and I’m a recent 'graduate' of the University of Ibadan with a bachelor’s degree focused on mechanical engineering. I am the immediate past President of the Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers, University of Ibadan Students’ Chapter (NIMechE UI)
It’s great to meet you, Obinna!
How has life after 'graduation' been so far? Any highlights?
Haha... Well, it’s been challenging particularly because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I’ve been trying to keep my head above the waters by learning new skills.
It’s not been easy getting a job cause of the peculiar situation the 2019 class have but luckily for me, I got a job with Clean Technology Hub Nigeria and that’s where I’m presently working as a Research Associate.
Oh... That’s awesome!
That’s really a feat that hardly comes easily.
Do you mind telling us what Clean Technology Hub does, by the way?
Yeah, thanks. Clean Technology Hub is a pioneering hybrid hub for the research, development, demonstration, and incubation of clean technologies for increased energy access and improved climate resilience. It is also an early start-up incubator for inventions and innovations in clean energy, and a driver of clean energy investment into Africa.
Basically, we conduct research into renewable energy sources and how best we can adapt them to solve our indigenous energy problems in Nigeria. We also help our partners which are mostly foreign firms to execute these projects in Nigeria. CTH is located in Abuja, Nigeria.
Wow... So, you are really interested in energy.
How is it like to see how Nigeria fares in Energy sustainability relative to other countries?
Yes, you are right, I’m interested in the energy sector.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous countries and only about 60% of the population have access to electricity. Most African countries fare better than Nigeria. This is actually sad because we have the potential to be self sufficient in energy and we’re not utilizing our potentials. However, things are changing right now. There are so many renewable energy mini grid projects coming up and this is the key to solving our energy challenge in this country
Hmmm. The challenge as regarding utilization of potentials adequately is really a tough one. It’s good you and everyone at CTH is doing something about it.
Yes, thank you very much.
I must really say you are really doing great work at the Energy Club UI and congratulations on the release of the club’s magazine
Oh, thanks 😁. I’m presently occupying an advisory position in the club, so I’ll send your regards to the present executives.
Okay!
So when one hears about an Energy club, one would assume it’s only for engineers. Given this premise the nature of Energy Club UI is quite surprising, why this approach?
Haha... Herein lies one of the major problems facing the energy sector. The energy industry is made up of almost any sector you can think of.
The issues we face in the Nigerian Energy Industry are more of the political, economic and legal issues than engineering issues.
The policies governing the energy sector in Nigeria sometimes make it difficult for the proper growth expected of the sector. Which is why we thought it wise to start attacking these issues from the root. That was what inspired the opening of the club to everyone irrespective of their background. Our aim is to raise the next generation of energy professionals proffering solutions to the myriad of problems facing the energy sector in Nigeria.
This is really nice
So what are the challenges and highlights in the journey so far? That is, for Energy Club UI
Okay, so, we faced the same problems associations or organizations face when they start newly, which were finding a suitable organization that fits the club and the finance to run the organization.
But thankfully, we’ve overcome some of these problems. We’ve been able to secure partnerships with some organizations and we’ve also organized programs and projects which are in line with the goal of the club. So, SO FAR SO GOOD. The current executives lead by Ogochukwu Okeke and assisted by Habeeb Sanusi is doing an amazing job.
Great. Please, can you tell us categorically how the club started? Did it start as a wide one or was it ever a "mech" thing?
So, it was a mech thing at a point but it wasn’t functional. We just listed it as part of the clubs in NIMechE UI. Ogochukwu and I decided to take it a notch higher by opening it up to everyone and that was how it happened. We registered the club and made it fully functional and independent. One of our 2 staff advisors is a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The other one is from law.
Oh! So is it still essentially a part of NiMechE UI with a wider interdisciplinary scope?
It’s registered as an Association in the University of Ibadan, so it’s basically not under NiMechE-UI again.
Okay, thanks for that Obinna.
We wish the Energy Club UI greater success and impact.
Thanks for granting us this interview.😃
You’re very much welcome. NiMechE-UI will forever be very dear to me no matter where I go.
That’s so nice...
Anything else you would like to say? Shout outs?
Yeah, I’d like to use this medium to encourage the current President of NIMechE UI and his entire executive team. They’ve been doing great so far, and I pray that they’ll do greater things than I did.
I’d also like to reassure the whole of mech that my mind and support will forever be with them. School will soon resume, so Y’all should be prepared! I love you guys!
Thank you very much Obinna!
You’re welcome Titi and Emmanuel. | https://medium.com/@nimecheuipress/energetic-the-view-of-an-enthusiast-an-interview-db08824d154b | ['The Nimeche Ui Press'] | 2020-12-09 21:51:13.196000+00:00 | ['Energy', 'Research', 'Students', 'Renewable Energy', 'Clubs'] |
Why International Aid Has Not & Cannot Substitute for Reparations | So why has international aid proved inadequate? There are 2 key reasons.
The majority of this aid is tied or given out of strategic interest, acting as an extension of colonialism
Unfortunately, most countries (and indeed most people) do not like to give large sums of money to people they have wronged in the true nature of altruism. Keeping in line with Western character, any investment into a foreign country must be exactly that: an investment, where they seek a return.
And while I would not disagree with that in any other case, under the topic of reparations this cannot work because you should not profit from making up for crimes against humanity. Indeed, I do not see Germany demanding interest on the money paid to the victorious powers of World War Two.
Thus, as highlighted above, with such prevalent economic ties to Europe, international aid manifests itself in predatory loans among other forms, only serving to further neo-colonialism and prevents any true essence of autonomy or atonoment.
By keeping colonies tied and dependent on European powers Europe manages to retain much control yet do not have to deal with the political and social costs of doing so. As Janaka Jayawickrama describes:
“The United States uses humanitarian assistance as an extension of their foreign policy while the European Union use it as a substitute for foreign policy.”
When compensation is given out of strategic interest, this is clearly not done in the true nature of reparations. I do not remember Japan telling America where they should direct reparations in the mid-20th century.
2. This aid neither recognises the crimes of slavery and colonisation through offering a formal apology nor is it done in the nature of recompense or justice.
Compensation needs to be given in the explicit recognition of the crimes of colonisation, not in the racialised tone of pity which furthers the notion of the “the white man’s burden”.
People often assume that reparations are purely monetary but this is far from the case. For instance, in the Caricom 10-Point Plan for Slavery Reparations, the necessity of a formal apology is indicative in its place as first on the list.
You might be thinking, why is a formal apology so important? Well, firstly the persistent refusal of European countries to issue one, and instead offer ‘statements of regret’ should highlight the gravity an apology would have.
European countries largely wish to not offer a formal apology due to the legal implications of it being tied to the demands for reparations yet, this persistent lack of formal apology also implies the inferiority of Caribbean people, maintaining colonial narrative and imply the victims’ suffering does not deserve official recognition, subsequently perpetuating socio-political hierarchies.
This is of course reinforced by the predatory lending and misdirected aid that functions as neo-colonialism. By offering a formal apology, European leaders would potentially bring to light all the colonial strings they still pull out of the shadows.
It is often argued that reparations would only deepen neo-colonialism and legacies of dependency however, this implies European nations would have control, where this is neither necessary nor inevitable. The system of international aid does this, perpetuating the stereotypes of Caribbean people unable to survive without Europeans, furthering the colonial legacy of the “white man’s burden”.
However, Reparations, rather than aid, stray away from this, stressing justice and atonement as guiding compensation, instead of strategic intervention and racism.
The argument about reparations deepening dependency, in fact, does not detract from the argument for reparations but highlights the need for strict guidelines as to how reparations will be implemented by Caribbean powers themselves. | https://medium.com/discourse/why-international-aid-has-not-cannot-substitute-for-reparations-12afbfc63a08 | [] | 2020-08-08 17:01:18.640000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Racism', 'History', 'World', 'Economic Development'] |
dude i’m in love | dude i’m in love
Yeah it’s crazy, he makes me feel ✨that✨ way, and i really thought we could just be friends lol.
Today HE texted me so randomly to hang out, and i replied right after and said yes. We hung out for like 7 hours not even kidding.
We played cards TOGETHER i mean just him and i and i TOUCHED HIS HANDS BFBBAHAGAHKD. HE ISNT HOT but anyways.
HE GRABBED MY HANDS LIKE WTF BUT YESS I LOVED IT. One of my friends literally said dude just kiss already wtf and my heart rate legit went 📈📈.
I know for a fact he felt that way too, idk how or why i just know. AND I LOVE HIM idk what’s going on or anything but i’m in love. LOL | https://medium.com/@tinipando/dude-im-in-love-8dd3265bcc78 | [] | 2020-12-21 07:07:44.857000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Teens', 'Boyfriend'] |
Why does your garbage look like that? | I live with my mom in a 1-bedroom apartment and or garbage is a mess.
It looks like two, blue recycling bins side-by-side with a smaller bin inside that is lined with a plastic grocery bag. As I like to think most households get a little messy from time to time, I’ll admit it does reach a point where the bins become one giant mound of containers, paper, plastic, compost and garbage of all sorts. These overflowing bins out in the open and visible to all are an obvious eye sore when we have company. But I like it.
Everything is out in the open instead of tucked away in neat, black, little bags where people like to pretend it no longer exists after putting an item inside. I am aware of what I am throwing away and even if I do so unconsciously in the moment, I am reminded when I take it down to the sorting room in the apartment building.
The disposal room has different bins for almost everything which I love. It has ones for paper, containers, glass, cardboard, compost, and waste to be precise. When I make the trip to take it all out, I meticulously sort through every piece into the appropriate bin and in doing so, analyze:
What it is and why I am throwing it away; and if it could have been avoided.
I know it sounds like a lot of effort but so is self-awareness. There’s a reason they say ignorance is bliss but you can only check-out for so long before it catches up to you. | https://medium.com/@carreracaldwell/why-does-your-garbage-look-like-that-8b499a6642c7 | ['Carrera Caldwell'] | 2020-12-27 21:46:43.361000+00:00 | ['Climate Action', 'Compost', 'No Waste', 'Garbage'] |
Class 8: Preparing an AI Workshop | Class 8: Preparing an AI Workshop
The steps and tools for setting up an AI Design Camp or Workshop
Watch Class 8 >
Any time you’re asked to run an AI-focused design workshop or camp, the very first step is to make a duplicate of this folder and move it to your team’s project folder where you can start customizing it:
The AI Jumpstart Toolkit: Original >
The “AI Jumpstart Toolkit: Original” Box Folder contents
The documents in this folder are numbered to match the order you’ll need them in:
01_AI Jumpstart Guide
Review this first for a how-to on customizing, preparing for, and conducting an AI Jumpstart Camp. This is also a good reference to have printed and on hand throughout camp.
02_AI Jumpstart Agendas
1, 2, and 3 day agenda examples you can customize
03_Create your AI Camp Mural
Links to the design thinking Mural templates you can use or customize for your camp
04_AI Jumpstart Prep Work
Once you have your Mural and agenda established, share the prep work assignments with the camp attendees.
05_AI Jumpstart Kickoff
This is a deck template you can use to kickoff day one of camp.
06_ML 4 Design Guide
This is a good reference to have printed and on hand throughout camp.
07_AI Jumpstart Retro
Have the team complete this 15 minute retro to conclude your camp.
08_Journey to GA
A guide through your next steps — preparing to build and deploy AI, and setting measurable key results.
09_AI Camp Results
A PDF of measurable AI Design Camp results captured between 2018–2019. | https://medium.com/ai-design-thinkers/class-8-6c67402053 | ['Jennifer Aue'] | 2020-01-27 23:41:16.394000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Design Thinking', 'Design', 'Adfclass'] |
How much does Chrissy Metz Weight Loss ellen, “USA Star” Now 2021 | Chrissy Metz Weight Loss ellen now in 2021: We’re checking in one of the stars of This Is Us, with a look at Chrissy Metz’s weight loss journey, along with the positivity and gratitude she brings to every day of her life.
Here, we are going to understand the actual journey of Chrissy Metz weight loss — Chrissy Metz who plays Kate Pearsons in the hit NBC show This Is Us in the USA is a role model for all women of all ages and sizes.
Here is what the actress has actually said about self-image and her own weight-loss experiences, and how really it’s affected her role on the show.
Here is the video that Chrissy Metz’s Amazing and Incredible Transformation.
Also Read: Why Childhood Obesity Is A Problem? Statistics and Rates
When she first moved to Los Angeles, Metz saw acting from a totally different viewpoint- that of a talent agent.
According to Marie Claire, she became her agent’s assistant after spending a few years auditioning for roles.
In 2016, Chrissy said her job requires her to lose weight
Chrissy Metz told TVLine that, because of Kate’s storyline, her This Is Us contract includes a clause that actually requires her to lose weight fast along with her character-and she’s all about it. “That was a real win-win situation for me,” she said. Because it is one best thing to try to do it on your own body and soul, she said. But as human beings, it’s an ego thing there: We’re more likely to do something for someone else.
She’s not stressing over the scale
Chrissy told Marie Claire in 2017 that she really doesn’t even know how much she weighs. She said, I don’t want to see my weight-related numbers and I really don’t worry about the numbers of my weight. It just messes with my mind.
Also Read: Fast Weight Loss Without Diet — Burn Unwanted Fat Fast By Simple 7 Steps
Chrissy Metz still taking steps to lose weight
Chrissy Metz told in 2018 that she is perfectly working to lose weight, but it’s on her own schedule. Actually, her weight-loss efforts are “not for anybody but me. She said I want to have a fit, fine, healthy body and not have to be put in a box. I really don’t want to be limited by anything.”
Chrissy Metz Before and After
Chrissy Metz weight loss ellen Before and After 2020
Although it was a job, it wasn’t Metz’s reason for moving to LA. She told Harper’s Bazaar very frankly that, “Scheduling an amazing audition for the talent was like watching your boyfriend take out another very beautiful and gorgeous woman every single day.
Chrissy says: When is the universe gonna give me a damn break from all these things?
Luckily, Metz didn’t give up on her acting ambitions.
Also — Chaz Bono Weight Loss Before and After: Did Chaz Bono have weight loss surgery?
Landing Kate
Here, Landing KateIt’s near very far impossible to picture anyone else playing Kate Pearson on This Is Us, but Metzhad to hustle for the amazing chance.
“I think I was a lot like Kate in my earlier years before I was really secure with who I was and really knew that our bodies don’t define us,” said Chrissy.
She told the big Deadline, “I desperately wanted an audition and begged my agent for the opportunity to read for that casting.
This was a role that finally broke down the real issues behind weight; inadequacy, codependent relationships, and living in the shadows.
Chrissy Metz Weight Loss
However, it was just what she really needed to jumpstart her weight loss.
“I was so gung-ho, I lost 100 lbs. in less than near about 5 months,” she told People really a magazine. “All I did was eat a 2,000-calorie diet and regularly walk 20 minutes a day without missing.”
Right after the weight loss perfectly, she landed an amazing role on American Horror Story: Freakshow, where she was required to wear a fat suit, which really helped put her health into perspective.
Chrissy Metz Weight Loss Contract Deal
“You have to wonder like ok, are people trying to help me, do they really wanna help me, or do they wanna benefit from the situation. Maybe it’s both.”
Although there has been speculation regarding the details of Metz’s This Is Us contract, she told People that it includes nothing demanding that she lose weight.
“There were like a hundred strangers and I was basically naked. So that’s a little nerve-wracking. Very liberating, however, but very nerve-wracking.”
But Metz revealed that healthy weight loss was discussed as a part of her character’s journey.
She told Ellen she was looking forward to the challenge, saying, “Like most actors right, like we are chameleons, so we play different roles. So, I was kinda like, oh, I hope I get to lose weight, cuz that’s like a win-win for me.”
She shared with TVLine that having that accountability to the show would help keep her on track with her — and Kate’s — health.
Also Read — Jorge Garcia weight loss secrete: Everything you want to know, Before, After and Now
Showing the Love
This Is Us not only features heartrending topics, but it also highlights different perspectives.
“A woman reached out and said oh my gosh for the first time in my life I felt confident after seeing you.”
Wow.”What?”That’s terrific.” It’s amazing!”.
Metz summed this up during an interview with The Wrap, saying, “The show is educating people in that people who are overweight don’t just sit in a corner eating themselves into oblivion. The food is the symptom, it’s not the issue.” And the show does even more for its audience; it comforts them as well.
How Much Does Chrissy Metz Weight
You might really want to know that actually how much does Chrissy Metz weigh? Well, from our recent findings information, Chrissy Metz weight about 181 kg or 399 lbs.
Chrissy Metz has become a household name thanks to her amazing role in the breakout hit This Is Us, but the road to stardom has not been really easy.
The 36-year-old suffered from depression and a 100-pound weight gain a few years before her big debut — and she landed in the hospital on her 30th birthday after experiencing a big panic attack.
Weight loss with Chrissy Metz
“I cry in bathrooms with strangers. True.” Really? She says Yes. “I can’t help it. These stories that they, you know, tell me.”
Metz says that’s exactly what TV is for — to let fans know they’re not alone.
“No, I’m always prepared to cry. For the record, it’s always right here.”… Continue Reading… and You can read the following topics also.
1. Unapologetically herself
2. Everyone can relate
3. Chrissy Metz’s Incredible Transformation — Weight Loss
Originally published at https://healthowdy.com on December 27, 2020. | https://medium.com/@healthowdy/how-much-does-chrissy-metz-weight-loss-ellen-usa-star-now-2021-efd18cf776d1 | [] | 2021-01-31 12:38:07.886000+00:00 | ['Startup Life', 'Health Foods', 'Weight Loss Tips', 'Chrissy Metz', 'USA'] |
Creating Demand Through Innovative Utility-driven Features | Please consider reading this previous blog post to get acquainted with our roadmap and product portfolio before proceeding to this blog post.
Abassian’s Coin (BNA) is at the center of an innovative business model which will undoubtedly play an important role in our growth. Through the BNA, Abassian will integrate new types of utility features as time passes, creating more demand for our native ecosystem currency.
TLDR
At the moment we are offering consultancy services only accepting payment in BNA, thus embedding an utility value for the coin.
Relay: is a direct marketplace smart contract for token holders matching coin holders to enterprise customers needing tokens. In order to use Abassian,(BNA) is required to access and utilize the platform’s various services on a transactional basis. Relay addresses volatility, allowing businesses to use a tokenized ecosystem and technology all the while bestowing the benefits and drawbacks of “hodling” a token to a user base that accepts that risk.
Abassian Accelerator: BNA holders also have early access to technology and data in addition to token purchase privileges for IEO’s launched on Abassian.
Community ran blockchain nodes: Be part of a decentralized compute network and get rewarded in BNA
Smart Contract Marketplace: Developers and enterprises can sell services and Smart contracts
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Design
We balance risk vs rewards to deliver value at every step.
The idea of the minimum viable product (MVP) has been around for some time. The simplest definition is that an MVP must be the simplest core feature set of any product that allows it to be deployed and absolutely nothing more. However, the most popular definition is; “The smallest thing that you can build that delivers customer value (and as a bonus captures some of the value back).”
The concept of value is vital to the MVP strategy — a wheel has no value to a user but a skateboard does. It’s all about transport not concepts to the user.
Should you take a look at our roadmap: we have a packed schedule for the next quarters delivering most of our blockchain product lines. Once this milestone is complete we will start working on the Abassian Cloud Platform.
With this in mind, we still want to start providing value to our enterprise customers now, not after several quarters. Therefore, once a blockchain offering is complete, even if the Abassian Cloud Platform is still in development we offer consultancy services for enterprises at the same cost as using the cloud platform. This has a variety of benefits as it helps us better understand the needs of our customers, how would they interact with our cloud deployment platform and maturing strategical relationships. Armed with this knowledge we can better design and build the right platform that our enterprise customers will use.
You may ask yourself how would possible customers buy BNA?
Relay: The Value of a BNA
Blockchain is poised to be a technology disruptor that cuts out intermediaries, reduces costs, and increase efficiencies and reach. It also offers greater transparency and traceability for many business processes, but for these outcomes to be reached, enterprise adoption has to become mainstream.
The complexity and volatility of cryptocurrency pose a risk to widespread enterprise adoption. Cryptocurrencies can be technical, which can create a barrier for those interested in blockchain. Additionally, the volatility of crytocurrency dissuade enterprise customers from adopting blockchain, due to fluctuations in price. Enterprises need predictability in an unpredictable world. This poses a problem for established companies that wish to tap in to the potential of blockchain, but are apprehensive about operating in native cryptocurrency. Relay abstracts the complexity of cryptocurrency for these enterprise customers.
Relay connects token holders to enterprise customers needing tokens. Relay is a direct marketplace smart contract for token holders that wish to sell their BNA.
Pricing and participation is governed by a strict set of variables: like platform adoption indicator, minimum required hold time and others. We are going to provide details in a future paper. Therefore Relay gives enterprises, developers, and those that wish to utilize the Abassian platform the ability to purchase directly from token holders, ignoring secondary markets altogether.
In order to use Abassian, BNA (Abassian’s Tokenized Micro-License) are required to access and utilize the platform’s various services on a transactional basis. Due to the limited supply of BNA and the nature of an open market, the demand of BNA causes their value to fluctuate. Using Relay, a user can purchase BNA right on our platform and gain access to Abassian services.
Abassian Accelerator
As the Abassian ecosystem of blockchain applications is built we are continually looking to provide more value. One of the projects we pursue to achieve that is the Abassian Accelerator. It provides growth-oriented companies essential business incubation services and access to industry-specific development resources through its connection to Abassian. The mission of the Abassian Accelerator is to identify and support blockchain projects that discover, develop, and deploy innovative products, services, and marketplaces in order to support economic growth and development.
The Accelerator provides multiple avenues for businesses to raise funds using BNA. Some partnerships will be limited to holders of BNA tokens. Participation to and discounts to various sales to Abassian community members depends on multiple factors such as BNA hold time, number of coins and so on. Further details are going to be released at a future date.
Community run blockchain nodes
To ensure node diversity and cut costs we are researching into creating a decentralized cloud network powered by Kubernetes. This provides the opportunity for community run blockchain nodes for users with idle compute and storage capacity. To run a node installation of a Kubernetes Edge plugin is required and also an amount of BNA tokens. Users are rewarded in BNA for usage of their compute resources.
Abassian Smart Contract Marketplace
Another use case for the BNA coin is the Abassian Marketplace: a one-stop shop where businesses and developers can buy and sell their products and services. Our partners provide the essential resources any blockchain project needs to succeed. | https://medium.com/@zac.duncan.watts/creating-demand-through-innovative-utility-driven-features-f1832b150e05 | ['Zac Watts'] | 2019-07-22 16:13:23.766000+00:00 | ['Smart Contracts', 'Blockchain', 'Consensus'] |
“ INSEPARABLE TEA” | “ INSEPARABLE TEA”
The phone beeps “ It’s time to wake up”,
Me “ Oh No !”,
After a moment,
I see the first glance of it for the day,
It smiles at me,
I begin my day by holding it in my favorite mug,
It rejuvenates and cheers me,
Ah! Yawn disturbs me,
It comes as a savior,
When loneliness disrupt me,
It becomes my companion,
When negativity encircles me,
It refreshes me with positivity,
It is my “TEA”,
My caretaker,
Cups fall short,
Boost me throughout the day,
As I wish it Good Night,
One last time for the day. | https://medium.com/@prateeti007/inseparable-tea-b0210a200c25 | ['Prateeti Hazarika'] | 2020-12-21 01:14:19.964000+00:00 | ['Beginner', 'Life', 'Poetry'] |
The Trail’s End | Even the wretched have children, thought Jean, as she sauntered at a brisk pace past a pregnant hobo lying on the walking trail, adjacent to her glass tower high rise office building. Jean often wondered from where these faceless, anonymous members of society originated. It was easy to forget that the homeless were actually people, but Jean was too preoccupied with the vapid details of her own petty life to pay much attention to them. She liked to think of herself as a charitable person, but in truth Jean spent more time pondering which Netflix series she would binge-watch next than she did pondering the fate of the endless rows of homeless that ruined an otherwise beautiful walking trail.
There was a time when Jean made valiant efforts to convince herself that she braved the homeless each weekday at noon because daily exercise was an important part of a healthy lifestyle. But as Jean aged, she lost the energy necessary to convince herself of such fantasy. The truth was that Jean walked quickly with her elbows flailing every day at lunch time because if not, her ass would become fat. “Chair ass,” was what her coworker Tracy called it. And if her ass became fat, Jean would spend her remaining Saturday nights alone with her cat Velda. So Jean walked, and she walked hard. Every weekday at noon sharp. The trail wound through pine trees and oak trees. Plump squirrels darted back and forth. The lonely elderly were there too, feeding stale peanuts to random, bloated critters.
Jean had slipped off her flats and laced up her New Balance before leaving her desk each day for her two mile trek across the homeless-nature-suburban trail. She had learned to ditch her skirt suits in favor of pantsuits. Jean could get away with dark blue jeans on Thursdays and Fridays, if she wore a smart looking blazer with the right accessories. On this day, Jean wore dark blue jeans, her New Balance, and a thin red sweater, with stupid jingly bracelet accessories, earrings, and a necklace, to show that she was not a slob, and that she put some effort into looking presentable before she left the house.
Jean’s face was pretty but not beautiful. As a teenager, she had cute freckles adorning her nose and cheeks, which morphed into somewhat unruly sunspots as she skidded into 40. Jean once read a photojournalism article showing what aging rock stars looked like when they woke up first thing in the morning. The photographer showed up at the musicians’ houses at 5 AM, woke them up, and took their picture as they opened the front door. One of the old rocker dudes told the newspaper reporter, “When you’re born, you have the face God gave you. When you’re 40, you have the face you deserve.”
Jean was not so sure that she deserved the gobbler chin that had been gradually appearing in her horror-house bathroom mirror each morning, but at least God had allowed her to keep her gorgeous thick mane of blonde hair. Also, her body had not yet completely betrayed her. She still had just enough curves to catch men’s attention when walking in public. If she focused on her peripheral vision, Jean could spy quite a few older gentlemen checking out her ass when she wore her black yoga pants. Some women had the roving eye, too.
Jean could not help but sneer just a tad at the men she spotted roaming the halls in their work-a-daddy uniforms consisting of cheap polyester slacks, cheaper synthetic button-down collar plaid shirts, and comfy scuffed leather shoes. Half the time, the slobs didn’t even bother to shave before leaving the house. Jean figured that being a man must be like winning the lottery and not having to pay taxes on the loot.
Jean lurched onto the trail alone on this day because everyone else in her office had agreed to be good Samaritans and head over to the Red Cross “Bloodmobile” in the parking lot to donate blood. The sun was intensely bright and the sky was an obnoxious turquoise blue. Jean began at a snail’s pace, then picked up speed once her heart started kicking and her lungs came to life. It had been raining like a bastard all month long, and the plants and shrubs were thick and lush.
A radio played music in the distance, and the sounds encroached closer and closer to Jean. A hairy, muscular man sporting a shiny bald head and wearing a food stained tank top shot around the corner on the trail and headed straight toward Jean, riding a blue Huffy beach cruiser covered in old random bumper stickers. Where’s The Beef? read a sticker slapped across the handlebars. An old radio was held in place on top of the handlebars by green bungee cords with dead rusty hooks. The man rapidly pedaled the beach cruiser in a manner suggesting he was either running from an intimidating figure, or chasing someone weak. His face was weathered, with a grimace suggesting either physical pain or emotional misery. Maybe both. Jean heard Whitney Houston crooning from the old radio and IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will always love youuuuuuu!! Whitney’s singing became louder and louder as the beach cruiser approached, then Whitney’s voice suddenly became warped and mangled as the smelly man on the bike whipped past her, causing wind to ruffle Jean’s hair a just bit.
As Jean hit her stride, she heard whispering coming from no particular direction. She kept walking, wondering if she was maybe hearing things. Sometimes when Jean drank too much coffee in the morning, she would hear things and see things that were not there. Her shrink had suspected early stage schizophrenia and advised Jean to avoid coffee, cannabis, and any other stimulant, but Jean had decided early on that her shrink was a quack because he had a beard that grew all the way down past his ugly Adam’s apple. Any diligent professional with an eye for detail would at least take the time in the morning to shave the hair from his pencil neck to make his beard look tidy and presentable.
But the whispering did not stop and the sounds became more intrusive with each step. The paved portion of the trail gave way to loose dirt covered with pine needles and dead leaves. Jean passed through a patch of shade under a massive oak tree, then into the open bright blue sky. The smell of the oak trees always reminded Jean of camping trips she took as a young teenager. The whispering turned into muttered words. A row of massive sunflowers perked up as Jean approached, staring directly into her eyes and following her movements, as if receiving an old friend for dinner. The dirt shuffled and vibrated below Jean’s feet and long green vines from the side of the trail took hold of her ankles. Jean looked down, only to notice that the long, dirty green vines had also taken hold of her wrists tightly enough to halt the flow of blood to her hands.
A tremendous force yanked Jean to the Earth. The back of Jean’s head was suctioned into the dirt, as the dirty green vines gently caressed her arms and legs. The massive sunflowers approached Jean with a vicious curiosity and leaned into her face. The sun became so bright, that the entire blue sky surrendered to a whiteness so belligerent that Jean could only yelp like a wounded dog in its presence. The flowers and the vines were eager to see Jean close up, but the sun was the most interested of all. The horrendous white orb maneuvered closer and closer to Jean, until she was screaming with madness as she went blind and the horrific brightness became the darkest of all dark.
As the sun asserted its dominion over Jean’s entire reality, the heat became so oppressive that sweat splashed from Jean’s torso and head, marrying chunks of dirt to her body and hair. The sound of sizzling sweat erupted from Jean’s forehead, and her eyeballs liquefied. Jean smelled burning hair, then burning leaves. The heat seemed to melt time away too, as the course of events not only slowed, but became unrecognizable. Jean’s own movements and shrieks of pain were deliberate, but seemed to be happening to someone else. The vines holding Jean to the earth made painstaking movements, as if they were covered in wet tar with an outer layer of thick carpet.
The ground opened beneath Jean. She hung suspended over the empty blackness for a lonely brief moment, breathless and carefree and paralyzed with hope. Blasts of steaming and frigid air shot into Jean’s back from the depths of the seamless pit. The dirty green vines released Jean’s arms and legs with a casual flick, and Jean descended alone into the Earth’s deep, hollow universe.
THE END | https://medium.com/literally-literary/the-trails-end-75b2d78ef8fe | ['J.S. Lender'] | 2021-07-02 05:51:08.666000+00:00 | ['Fiction', 'Horror', 'Fantasy', 'Literally Literary', 'Short Story'] |
Talk Smart to Me: How We’re Preparing Self-Driving Cars to ‘Speak’ with Smart Infrastructure | Talk Smart to Me: How We’re Preparing Self-Driving Cars to ‘Speak’ with Smart Infrastructure
A smart infrastructure device could help relay intersection traffic information to self-driving vehicles.
Half a mile. It may not sound like a long distance when you’re in a car, but imagine being able to know exactly what is happening around the corner ahead at a busy, complicated intersection before you approach it. You’d know if anyone was approaching a traffic light at an unsafe speed, or whether to keep your eyes peeled for a group of pedestrians out of your line of sight.
That’s pretty valuable information that could help improve safety for everyone involved. A self-driving vehicle already analyzes its immediate surroundings and what is coming directly ahead, but what if it could see even further out before arriving at an intersection? At Ford, that is exactly what we are looking at with our own research team and vehicles.
Researching smart infrastructure and self-driving vehicles: Situated above an intersection, a new infrastructure node designed by Ford can get a comprehensive view of what’s happening in all directions and offer a bird’s-eye view of knowledge to support the self-driving vehicle, which at the same time is also analyzing its immediate surroundings at street level. Equipped with sensors like radar, LiDAR and cameras, our infrastructure node quickly relays information to our self-driving research vehicles and lets them know exactly what kind of situation they are about to encounter as they approach an intersection.
Why this is important for self-driving vehicle development
· Some intersections have complex layouts that can minimize or obstruct the view of a self-driving vehicle, so this technology can help it get a more comprehensive view of the surrounding world to see traffic lights, pedestrians around corners and even cyclists. · For example, this is helpful if a bus or truck is blocking a self-driving vehicle sensor’s direct line of sight. With information from the infrastructure node, the vehicle may know even quicker if another car is approaching from around the corner at an unsafe speed. · This information can be used to reduce the likelihood our self-driving vehicles need to harshly hit the brakes due to an unseen pedestrian — and to ensure a smoother ride for passengers. · At the end of the day, these learnings can help us provide a smooth ride and great self-driving experience.
In addition to partnering with Argo AI, Ford operates its own independent research vehicles that are being used for this project.
Research is kicking off in Michigan: There are many places we think our infrastructure node could be helpful, but we’re starting out by testing it at two key intersections in Saline, Michigan. These nodes will be installed on Michigan Avenue and Ann Arbor Street and on Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street — both in popular areas full of shops and restaurants with a heavy flow of vehicles, pedestrians and bicycle traffic. Over the next few months, we will work alongside the city of Saline, the Michigan Department of Transportation and our team at Quantum Signal AI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford, to install the smart infrastructure nodes.
An example of C-V2X: If this infrastructure node technology sounds familiar, it’s because Ford has already been thinking about how vehicles can communicate or “talk” to other connected objects in the future. Known as cellular vehicle-to-everything, or C-V2X, this is a wireless communication technology that uses cellular data to talk to similarly equipped vehicles, people and infrastructure such as traffic lights to relay important information.
· This project is very much an example of what C-V2X is capable of if we can deploy it on a wider scale. · It’s helpful to think of C-V2X as a wireless “tap on the shoulder,” giving self-driving vehicles a heads-up about what’s happening ahead of them. · Powered by this type of cellular technology, our infrastructure node represents a stepping stone into the future, where connected self-driving vehicles have more than enough information to reliably navigate streets as we deploy them to improve access to transportation.
What to watch: While self-driving vehicle services are still a few years away, there are real things we can do right now to prepare for the future. By testing emerging technology thoroughly in real-city contexts today, we can ensure that when self-driving vehicles do start seeing wide-scale deployment, they provide a great experience for everyone. Following deployment in Saline, we plan to expand testing of our smart infrastructure node over the next year. | https://medium.com/self-driven/talk-smart-to-me-how-were-preparing-self-driving-cars-to-speak-with-smart-infrastructure-3893d7ea7ee3 | ['Ford Motor Company'] | 2021-02-11 18:15:31.050000+00:00 | ['Self Driving Cars', 'Automation', 'Smart Cities', 'Business', 'Technology'] |
Covid-19 pandemic: International alarm grows over new variant | There is growing international alarm over a new variant of the coronavirus in the UK, with a host of countries imposing travel bans.
More than 40 countries have barred UK arrivals, as the EU held talks on forming a common policy.
Sweden banned foreign travellers from Denmark after cases of the variant were discovered there.
The new strain is more transmissible but there is no evidence it is more deadly.
site : https://unworldoceansday.org/index.php/user/9417
New coronavirus variant: What do we know?
Tracking the global pandemic: Where has been hit hardest?
As the list of countries imposing travel restrictions on the UK grew, the World Health Organization (WHO) sought to put the risks in context.
site : https://unworldoceansday.org/user/9417
WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan said new strains were a normal part of the evolution of a pandemic, and that it was not “out of control”, contradicting the UK’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who used those words on Sunday.
In another development, travellers from South Africa are also facing bars from some countries after another new variant of the virus was discovered that is unrelated to the one found in the UK.
site : https://www.bkreader.com/events/hd-watch-demon-slayer-mugen-train-online-full-movie-hd-freeanime/
What’s happening in Europe?
Much of the continent has banned UK arrivals in an attempt to halt the spread of the new strain.
France imposed a ban on passengers and freight from the UK, causing disruption at the key southern British port of Dover.
site : https://www.bkreader.com/events/watch-demon-slayer-mugen-train-2020-full-movie-online-free/
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was working with French President Emmanuel Macron to resume trade, and that he hoped the issue would be resolved “as soon as possible”.
site : https://unworldoceansday.org/index.php/user/8742
The French Transport Minister Clément Beaune said his country would by Tuesday announce what would replace the initial 48-hour ban on travellers and lorries.
In Brussels, officials have been holding talks on finding a co-ordinated response from the EU’s 27 members.
site : https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/users/138130
No decision is expected until Tuesday, but one option discussed was demanding that UK arrivals test negative for Covid-19 before they leave.
There was some better news from the continent on Monday, with the EU’s medicines regulator approving the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for jabs to be given as early as Sunday.
site : https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/users/138136
And in the rest of the world?
Many other countries, from India, to Iran, to Canada have banned UK arrivals.
The US is yet to follow suit, but two airlines — British Airways and Delta — will only allow passengers who test negative for the coronavirus to fly to New York’s John F Kennedy airport.
site : https://attack-on-titan-s4-e4-online.tumblr.com/
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman have shut their borders completely to international passengers.
Along with Denmark, the new strain has also been detected in Australia, Italy and the Netherlands.
The handful of cases found in Denmark prompted Sweden to ban arrivals from there, the first time it has imposed such restrictions on a neighbour.
“There is an obvious risk that Danes will be tempted to cross over to Sweden to shop for Christmas presents,” Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg said, according to the AFP news agency.
Some experts believe that the new strain has already spread beyond where it has been reported, crediting the UK’s use of genomic surveillance for detecting it.
“I think we will find in the coming days that a lot of other countries will find it,” Marc Van Ranst, a virologist from the Rega Institute for Medical Research in Belgium, told broadcaster VRT. | https://medium.com/@longstorm100/covid-19-pandemic-international-alarm-grows-over-new-variant-d913c4a7a0af | [] | 2020-12-22 03:18:05.215000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Europe', 'Pandemic', 'Covid 19', 'News'] |
SQLite/SQFlite CRUD Database Operations in Flutter | Watch Video Tutorial
SQLite CRUD Operations in Flutter
SQLite is a local database for storing structured data, so it can be called as a mini database. Most of the time we use SQLite Databases in Mobile Applications. To use SQLite in Flutter, we have an awesome plugin called SQFlite. To start with we need to add Dependency to our project’s pubspec.yaml file
Add Dependency
You can get it from here.
https://pub.dev/packages/sqflite
To Integrate SQFlite library in your project, Open the pubspec.yaml file…
dependencies:
// your other dependencies goes here
...
sqflite: any
Let’s create a simple database of employees
Create a new file named ‘employee.dart’ and the contents will look like this
class Employee {
int id;
String name;
Employee(this.id, this.name);
Map<String, dynamic> toMap() {
var map = <String, dynamic>{
'id': id,
'name': name,
};
return map;
}
Employee.fromMap(Map<String, dynamic> map) {
id = map['id'];
name = map['name'];
}
}
Here each employee will have an ‘id’ and ‘name’.
Database Utils
We will write a database utility file where we will write our database utility functions.
Create a file named “DBHelper.dart” and copy the below code into it.
import 'dart:async';
import 'dart:io' as io;
import 'package:path/path.dart';
import 'package:sqflite/sqflite.dart';
import 'package:path_provider/path_provider.dart';
import 'employee.dart';
class DBHelper {
static Database _db;
static const String ID = 'id';
static const String NAME = 'name';
static const String TABLE = 'Employee';
static const String DB_NAME = 'employee1.db';
Future<Database> get db async {
if (_db != null) {
return _db;
}
_db = await initDb();
return _db;
}
initDb() async {
io.Directory documentsDirectory = await getApplicationDocumentsDirectory();
String path = join(documentsDirectory.path, DB_NAME);
var db = await openDatabase(path, version: 1, onCreate: _onCreate);
return db;
}
_onCreate(Database db, int version) async {
await db
.execute("CREATE TABLE $TABLE ($ID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, $NAME TEXT)");
}
Future<Employee> save(Employee employee) async {
var dbClient = await db;
employee.id = await dbClient.insert(TABLE, employee.toMap());
return employee;
/*
await dbClient.transaction((txn) async {
var query = "INSERT INTO $TABLE ($NAME) VALUES ('" + employee.name + "')";
return await txn.rawInsert(query);
});
*/
}
Future<List<Employee>> getEmployees() async {
var dbClient = await db;
List<Map> maps = await dbClient.query(TABLE, columns: [ID, NAME]);
//List<Map> maps = await dbClient.rawQuery("SELECT * FROM $TABLE");
List<Employee> employees = [];
if (maps.length > 0) {
for (int i = 0; i < maps.length; i++) {
employees.add(Employee.fromMap(maps[i]));
}
}
return employees;
}
Future<int> delete(int id) async {
var dbClient = await db;
return await dbClient.delete(TABLE, where: '$ID = ?', whereArgs: [id]);
}
Future<int> update(Employee employee) async {
var dbClient = await db;
return await dbClient.update(TABLE, employee.toMap(),
where: '$ID = ?', whereArgs: [employee.id]);
}
Future close() async {
var dbClient = await db;
dbClient.close();
}
}
Let’s see what the above code does…
initDb() async {
io.Directory documentsDirectory = await getApplicationDocumentsDirectory();
String path = join(documentsDirectory.path, DB_NAME);
var db = await openDatabase(path, version: 1, onCreate: _onCreate);
return db;
}
the initDb() function will create a database file in the App’s Documents directory
Future<Employee> save(Employee employee) async {
var dbClient = await db;
employee.id = await dbClient.insert(TABLE, employee.toMap());
return employee;
/*
await dbClient.transaction((txn) async {
var query = "INSERT INTO $TABLE ($NAME) VALUES ('" + employee.name + "')";
return await txn.rawInsert(query);
});
*/
}
The save function will insert the employee data into the table in the database.
There are two ways to write queries.
await dbClient.transaction((txn) async {
var query = "INSERT INTO $TABLE ($NAME) VALUES ('" + employee.name + "')";
return await txn.rawInsert(query);
});
if you want to write the raw query, you can use the above method.
Select
Future<List<Employee>> getEmployees() async {
var dbClient = await db;
List<Map> maps = await dbClient.query(TABLE, columns: [ID, NAME]);
//List<Map> maps = await dbClient.rawQuery("SELECT * FROM $TABLE");
List<Employee> employees = [];
if (maps.length > 0) {
for (int i = 0; i < maps.length; i++) {
employees.add(Employee.fromMap(maps[i]));
}
}
return employees;
}
Update
Future<int> update(Employee employee) async {
var dbClient = await db;
return await dbClient.update(TABLE, employee.toMap(),
where: '$ID = ?', whereArgs: [employee.id]);
}
Delete
Future<int> delete(int id) async {
var dbClient = await db;
return await dbClient.delete(TABLE, where: '$ID = ?', whereArgs: [id]);
}
Now we will write a Screen where we will implement the above functions
import 'employee.dart';
import 'dart:async';
import 'db_helper.dart';
class DBTestPage extends StatefulWidget {
final String title;
DBTestPage({Key key, this.title}) : super(key: key);
@override
State<StatefulWidget> createState() {
return _DBTestPageState();
}
}
class _DBTestPageState extends State<DBTestPage> {
//
Future<List<Employee>> employees;
TextEditingController controller = TextEditingController();
String name;
int curUserId;
final formKey = new GlobalKey<FormState>();
var dbHelper;
bool isUpdating;
@override
void initState() {
super.initState();
dbHelper = DBHelper();
isUpdating = false;
refreshList();
}
refreshList() {
setState(() {
employees = dbHelper.getEmployees();
});
}
clearName() {
controller.text = '';
}
validate() {
if (formKey.currentState.validate()) {
formKey.currentState.save();
if (isUpdating) {
Employee e = Employee(curUserId, name);
dbHelper.update(e);
setState(() {
isUpdating = false;
});
} else {
Employee e = Employee(null, name);
dbHelper.save(e);
}
clearName();
refreshList();
}
}
form() {
return Form(
key: formKey,
child: Padding(
padding: EdgeInsets.all(15.0),
child: Column(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.min,
verticalDirection: VerticalDirection.down,
children: <Widget>[
TextFormField(
controller: controller,
keyboardType: TextInputType.text,
decoration: InputDecoration(labelText: 'Name'),
validator: (val) => val.length == 0 ? 'Enter Name' : null,
onSaved: (val) => name = val,
),
Row(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly,
children: <Widget>[
FlatButton(
onPressed: validate,
child: Text(isUpdating ? 'UPDATE' : 'ADD'),
),
FlatButton(
onPressed: () {
setState(() {
isUpdating = false;
});
clearName();
},
child: Text('CANCEL'),
)
],
),
],
),
),
);
}
SingleChildScrollView dataTable(List<Employee> employees) {
return SingleChildScrollView(
scrollDirection: Axis.vertical,
child: DataTable(
columns: [
DataColumn(
label: Text('NAME'),
),
DataColumn(
label: Text('DELETE'),
)
],
rows: employees
.map(
(employee) => DataRow(cells: [
DataCell(
Text(employee.name),
onTap: () {
setState(() {
isUpdating = true;
curUserId = employee.id;
});
controller.text = employee.name;
},
),
DataCell(IconButton(
icon: Icon(Icons.delete),
onPressed: () {
dbHelper.delete(employee.id);
refreshList();
},
)),
]),
)
.toList(),
),
);
}
list() {
return Expanded(
child: FutureBuilder(
future: employees,
builder: (context, snapshot) {
if (snapshot.hasData) {
return dataTable(snapshot.data);
}
if (null == snapshot.data || snapshot.data.length == 0) {
return Text("No Data Found");
}
return CircularProgressIndicator();
},
),
);
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return new Scaffold(
appBar: new AppBar(
title: new Text('Flutter SQLITE CRUD DEMO'),
),
body: new Container(
child: new Column(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.start,
mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.min,
verticalDirection: VerticalDirection.down,
children: <Widget>[
form(),
list(),
],
),
),
);
}
} import 'package:flutter/material.dart';import 'employee.dart';import 'dart:async';import 'db_helper.dart';class DBTestPage extends StatefulWidget {final String title;DBTestPage({Key key, this.title}) : super(key: key);State createState() {return _DBTestPageState();class _DBTestPageState extends State {//Future > employees;TextEditingController controller = TextEditingController();String name;int curUserId;final formKey = new GlobalKey ();var dbHelper;bool isUpdating;void initState() {super.initState();dbHelper = DBHelper();isUpdating = false;refreshList();refreshList() {setState(() {employees = dbHelper.getEmployees();});clearName() {controller.text = '';validate() {if (formKey.currentState.validate()) {formKey.currentState.save();if (isUpdating) {Employee e = Employee(curUserId, name);dbHelper.update(e);setState(() {isUpdating = false;});} else {Employee e = Employee(null, name);dbHelper.save(e);clearName();refreshList();form() {return Form(key: formKey,child: Padding(padding: EdgeInsets.all(15.0),child: Column(mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.min,verticalDirection: VerticalDirection.down,children: [TextFormField(controller: controller,keyboardType: TextInputType.text,decoration: InputDecoration(labelText: 'Name'),validator: (val) => val.length == 0 ? 'Enter Name' : null,onSaved: (val) => name = val,),Row(mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.spaceEvenly,children: [FlatButton(onPressed: validate,child: Text(isUpdating ? 'UPDATE' : 'ADD'),),FlatButton(onPressed: () {setState(() {isUpdating = false;});clearName();},child: Text('CANCEL'),],),],),),);SingleChildScrollView dataTable(List employees) {return SingleChildScrollView(scrollDirection: Axis.vertical,child: DataTable(columns: [DataColumn(label: Text('NAME'),),DataColumn(label: Text('DELETE'),],rows: employees.map((employee) => DataRow(cells: [DataCell(Text(employee.name),onTap: () {setState(() {isUpdating = true;curUserId = employee.id;});controller.text = employee.name;},),DataCell(IconButton(icon: Icon(Icons.delete),onPressed: () {dbHelper.delete(employee.id);refreshList();},)),]),.toList(),),);list() {return Expanded(child: FutureBuilder(future: employees,builder: (context, snapshot) {if (snapshot.hasData) {return dataTable(snapshot.data);if (null == snapshot.data || snapshot.data.length == 0) {return Text("No Data Found");return CircularProgressIndicator();},),);Widget build(BuildContext context) {return new Scaffold(appBar: new AppBar(title: new Text('Flutter SQLITE CRUD DEMO'),),body: new Container(child: new Column(mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.start,mainAxisSize: MainAxisSize.min,verticalDirection: VerticalDirection.down,children: [form(),list(),],),),);
Let’s see what the above code does…
The ‘form()’ function will create a Form widget with a TextField.
validator: (val) => val.length == 0 ? 'Enter Name' : null,
onSaved: (val) => name = val,
The above code will check if the textfield is empty or null and if it returns true, the validate() function will be triggered assigning the name to the value from the TextField.
We are setting a boolean isUpdating to true if we are updating and employee.
The below code fetches the employees and refreshes the list.
refreshList() {
setState(() {
employees = dbHelper.getEmployees();
});
}
Then we update the DataTable in the UI.
SingleChildScrollView dataTable(List<Employee> employees) {
return SingleChildScrollView(
scrollDirection: Axis.vertical,
child: DataTable(
columns: [
DataColumn(
label: Text('NAME'),
),
DataColumn(
label: Text('DELETE'),
)
],
rows: employees
.map(
(employee) => DataRow(cells: [
DataCell(
Text(employee.name),
onTap: () {
setState(() {
isUpdating = true;
curUserId = employee.id;
});
controller.text = employee.name;
},
),
DataCell(IconButton(
icon: Icon(Icons.delete),
onPressed: () {
dbHelper.delete(employee.id);
refreshList();
},
)),
]),
)
.toList(),
),
);
}
Each row in the DataTable is made up of DataCell
DataCell(
Text(employee.name),
onTap: () {
setState(() {
isUpdating = true;
curUserId = employee.id;
});
controller.text = employee.name;
},
),
The second column in the DataTable will have an IconButton with a delete button.
DataCell(
IconButton(
icon: Icon(Icons.delete),
onPressed: () {
dbHelper.delete(employee.id);
refreshList();
},
),
),
onPress of the delete button, we will call the delete function from the dbHelper class and refresh the list from the database.
employees.map((employee)
....
The above code will map the list of employees in the DataTable.
That’s it. We have successfully, fetched, inserted, updated and deleted employee records from the SQLite Database.
Please leave your valuable comments below.
Thanks for reading. | https://medium.com/@vipinvijayannair/sqlite-sqflite-crud-database-operations-in-flutter-ce169e307656 | ['Vipin Vijayan'] | 2020-10-09 14:11:19.333000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Flutter', 'Mobile Apps', 'Mobile App Development', 'Flutter App Development'] |
Scheduled publishing, the perfect way to manage your content during Christmas | Christmas is not here yet but DatoCMS has already a gift for you, Scheduled publishing.
It happens more often than not that you might want to publish one of your records but you aren’t available at the time you want to publish it. It’s probably going to happen during vacation time like Christmas.
Fear not because from now on you can set up you records publication even if you’re not there to press the “Build now” button.
How to set up a Scheduled publishing
We’re going to create two simple articles and schedule the publishing of the first one during Christmas and the second one for the new year.
To start we’ll create a “Festivity” model.
Some of the fields you might need for your related to festivities model
Remember to enable the draft/published system in the additional setting of your model.
You need the draft/published system to be active to be able to use the Scheduled publishing
Now we can move on to create our records.
Our New year festivity record
When we save it we have our New year post ready but nobody will be there to publish it at 12AM of the first of january.
We can set our scheduled publishing to be sure the post will be out.
Setting up the publication date is really easy
You’ve probably noticed that the publication time is set to GMT(London) because that’s the time set on the Global project settings of our project, but our computer is actually in a different time zone.
Keep that in mind if you’re working remotely or in a different timezone than the the one set in the project.
In our case we’re at GMT +1, we’ve set the publishing an hour earlier. If we were in London the notification about the Timezone would not show up
You can check the release time in your collection by selecting the “Scheduled publishing at” in your Tabular view.
Your environment is part of the process
If you’re using our CDA client side (with React, Vue, Angular, you name it) or your DatoCMS project is server-side (using Rails, Node.js, Elixir, PHP or any other solution of your choice) and it’s using our Content Delivery API, the records will be available at the scheduled time.
Otherwise if you have a static site project, the last step is to enable Scheduled publishing in our environments so that they can deploy properly.
Remember to select the right environment if you have more than one!
A request from the future
Many projects might need more than a single record to be released at the same time, for example if you have magazine that is going to release several article a specific day per month.
In the near future DatoCMS will expand Scheduled publishing capabilities to enable the release of several records at the same time.
Enjoy your vacations
Now you’re ready to enjoy Christmas and New year’s eve without the stress of pressing deadlines, go out there and break a leg! | https://medium.com/datocms/scheduled-publishing-the-perfect-way-to-manage-your-content-during-christmas-b544d46b0354 | ['Francesco Falchi'] | 2018-12-13 21:26:13.881000+00:00 | ['Publishing', 'Scheduling', 'Wev Development', 'Christmas', 'Deployment'] |
Navigare un report in Tableau: un confronto tra ieri e oggi | We believe that the key to understanding and interpreting data lies in the way it is displayed. This is why we help our customers to get the most out of their data by promoting this culture within the company. | https://medium.com/visualitics/navigare-un-report-in-tableau-un-confronto-tra-ieri-e-oggi-d07f92362252 | ['Greta Pelà'] | 2020-12-17 10:45:12.606000+00:00 | ['Tableau', 'Navigation Button', 'Tableau Desktop', 'Tableau Software'] |
The course is set on hope | The course is set on hope
A letter to Mosquito Ridge readers on the eve of the UK election
In an election, the media forces us to focus on parties. The Labour Party has moved to the left; the Conservatives are having a dire campaign; the Libdems have disappeared. What’s obvious though, is that the real action is in the electorate.
For a while now, and catalysed by Brexit, a conservative near-majority has been emerging, aligning the obsessions of the selfish upper middle classes with those of racist and xenophobic poorer people in small towns.
The fact that this took the form of parties — the BNP with a million votes and then UKIP with four million — again tended to focus our minds on parties, not the social phenomenon itself.
You could see it last night, in the attitudes of the elderly white men who dominated the BBC Question Time leaders debate. They’d bought, without question, the lie that Corbyn supported the IRA; some seemed actively to want a nuclear war in their lifetime; they seemed to imagine pressing the nuclear “red button” would be like firing the machine gun on a Spitfire, not bringing the end of human civilisation.
Then there were the young “entrepreneurs”, complaining about their companies having to pay tax, or having to pay their workers the minimum wage.
The strategy of the left in Britain, whatever happens in this election, has to begin from the fact of this move to the right by people over the age of 60, the extreme unreality and nostalgic character of their ideas — and that, for now, they’ve been able to find expression in the Conservative Party.
So long as Conservatism can align this large group of old warmongers and racists to the interests of big banks, hedge funds and global corporations, the right can maintain single party rule in Britain.
The trajectory of the right, if the Tories win on Thursday, becomes clear: towards a hard nationalist Brexit; towards a victim narrative as Europe tells them to fuck off; towards voter suppression (remember May has not lifted a finger to encourage registration in this campaign); towards the demonization of all opposition as a “threat to national security”. Not long after, they will water down their criticism of Trump’s exit from Paris and accomodate to the new reality it creates.
All this will intensify as Brexit fails in its own terms. As the economy slows. As migration refuses to fall.
The election represents an opportunity to disrupt this process, reverse it and disperse the right back into its constituent blocks of liberal Conservatism, authoritarian populism and fascism. Faced with a project of total hegemony, that is all the progressive half of society can do: there can be no question of co-existence, of rotation in and out of office as in the neoliberal period.
But the opportunity may have come too early.
First, because Corbyn does not fully control the Labour Party nor command the PLP. Second, because Corbyn himself, and those around him, understand only half the problem.
Corbynism is the promise of a Nordic welfare state in a neoliberal economy. That’s why it feels revolutionary: because all the structures and norms of the economy are geared towards recreating the selfish, nationalist, militarist attitudes we saw as the red faced old men and money-grabbing low wage bosses hurled their bitterness at Corbyn.
The Labour manifesto has captured the imagination of the young who will turn out in large numbers. It has also enthused the surviving pockets of the small town, manual working class — even to the extent of recapturing up to 30% of former UKIP voters according to some local polling.
But Corbyn does not really understand what we are up against. To Corbyn, the basic principles of fairness, redistribution, nuclear disarmament, anti-racism and anti-imperialism are lifelong beliefs, which were always containable within the two party system; always allowed as long as Corbyn, Abbott, McDonnell etc functioned as an extreme check and balance within the system itself.
Despite all the accusations of “Marxism” — one of the strongest proofs that Corbyn is not a Marxist is his failure to understand the depth of the challenge his programme poses to the UK elite.
The UK elite is in fact heavily merged with, and the middleman for, a global kleptocracy. Its model is to squeeze value out of the UK economy and deposit that value in the offshore bank accounts of the global kleptocrats.
The reason there is no “magic money tree” for working class wages, the welfare system and the NHS is because the “money tree” is in the Bahamas. You shake the British economy, the fruit falls off, but never lands on the ground below. It lands in the offshore bank accounts of the rich.
Their project, from Thatcher to May, has been to atomise the British population through enforced precarity at work, dispersal of solidaristic communities, credit dependency and mind-numbing via talent shows and poverty porn. To make resistance impossible.
Thus if, on the doorstep, you sometimes find blank faces; people with no aspiration, no idea of what they want the government to do; no demands on their MP; but instead a bewildered fatalism, that is a function of what the economy has become.
The state delivers so little for the ordinary person, and yet so much to the hedge fund, the global infotech company, the arms dealer or the property speculator, that it is no surprise to find the latter heavily engaged with politics, yet the general population passive.
Karl Marx had an explanation for this, summed up in the proposal: being determines consciousness. The way we live affects the way we think.
Inadvertently, Corbyn’s programme threatens to disrupt the whole shebang. To change thinking and living at the same time. It has given people — mentally for now, physically if he wins on Thursday — a material stake in politics for the first time in a generation.
Slashing university fees from £9,000 a year to zero. School dinner money form £9 a week to zero. School budget cuts from £100,000 tomorrow to zero tomorrow — these are real things. So is confiscating the wealth of speculators to the tune of £5bn.
Reversing the corporation tax cuts will do more than bring in £20bn to spend on health and social care. It will change the model of British capitalism. Because low company taxes encourage investment in low-productivity businesses with low wages.
The classic young Tory entrepreneur runs a coffee bar, a tourist hostel above a pub, a security firm, a construction work agency, a company servicing property speculators. Innovation is not required, unless it be finding innovative ways to make your workforce register themselves as “self employed”. The tech startup, with its risks, hard work, collaborative culture — that’s for dummies.
A Corbyn victory would begin the physical reversal of this atomisation, stagnation and exploitation. It would incentivise the risk taking tech innovator and penalise the rent-seeker and the speculator. And it’s no surprise to find, among the new converts to Corbynism, hundreds of tech innovation types.
If Corbynism succeeds, we would then expect a revival of interest in politics; a revived civil society. The red faced old man, cursing foreigners and wishing for nuclear Armageddon, would be eclipsed by the intelligent, prudent, restrained, educated person, at home in a globalised economy of ideas.
That is why they have to stop us.
The Tories are learning fast that repeating lies works — because the broadcast media has no defence mechanism against fake claims. It just treats them as valid and balances them off against refutations. Thus the claim that Corbyn “sided with our enemies” or “backed the IRA”. The closeness of key media decision makers to the elite itself ensures they are not exactly busting a gut to refute the lies (with Channel 4 and the Guardian as exceptions).
If Tory “terrorism and security” smear against Corbyn were literally true, he would be in jail, not a member of Her Majesty’s Privy Council. It is a metaphor, a gesture, a knowing ruse, a rhetorical device. But it’s the kind of rhetoric that got Jo Cox MP killed.
It is diluting the quality of our democracy. But the elite are fighting for survival.
Their strategy in the next five days is clear. Throw every slander possible at Corbyn, in the knowledge that a section of the population is highly susceptible to believing it. And let’s understand why.
It took guts for figures like Corbyn to stand up for human rights in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, when the Catholic population — and Irish Catholics in mainland British cities — were being stigmatised and placed under surviellance for their sympathy with Republicanism. Likewise it took guts for people like Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and the late Bernie Grant to stand up for black politicians’ right to be different, defiant, uncompromising: to refuse to play the institutional game; to harry the Met Police even as the latter infiltrated their campaigns’ and to demand the police stop standing by as young black men were murdered.
The reason Corbyn and Abbott can be so easily “otherised” in conservative-minded small towns is because so few politicians in the 1980s did step outside their comfort zone — on the issues of human rights and anti-racism. They were not “terrorist sympathisers”: they were extraordinarily brave in standing against a stream of abuse, prejudice, secret service surveillance and disruption. But yes, they were very unlike your normal do-nothing Labour MP of post-war tradition. That’s why they look and sound different. That’s why the elite despises them.
But here’s the probem.
I have repeatedly warned the Labour left that, though our economic programme feels fairly moderate to us, to our adversaries, it feels revolutionary. They will treat us as revolutionaries. And that’s what’s happening
To support Corbyn’s Labour is to open yourself up to accusations of supporting terror, threatening national security, advocating communism and sabotaging “the will of the people”.
Screeching mainstream commentators now say this openly — such as the former Bank of England economist Andrew Lilico, who tweeted that if 38% of Brits even support Labour in the polls then we “do not deserve democracy”.
My advice was always: do the left economic programme first and forget any systemic challenge to the military, diplomatic and security status quo; the economic programme it is radical enough, and resistance to it will be so strong that it will take an entire 5 year parliament to enact.
That’s what Alexis Tsipras understood in Greece, when he removed all the criticism of NATO from Syriza’s programme, refused to dismantle key parts of the Greek secret state, refused to take on the Orthodox Church.
If you are going to dismantle the economic power of the elite, do not simultanteously try to disrupt their institutional, diplomatic and geostrategic certainties. In fact, the Greek experience shows that — in order to effect strategic economic change — the left has to align itself with parts of the national story and take parts of that apparartus with it.
The problem is, for large numbers of radical young people — including left nationalists in Scotland, Greens and people in Momentum — dismantling Britain’s ability to repeat Iraq and Afghanistan, and repress protest movements and stigmatise minorities, is what they came into politics to do. And so did those most closely identified with Corbyn.
So we go into this final week as the classic British motley army Shakespeare wrote about in Henry V. Traditional Labour centrists, prodded out of their sulk by the sudden realisation we have momentum and hope; Greens lending us their vote; the Guardian’s metropolitan liberals grudgingly accepting that a form of radicalism can work. The bright techocrats of Momentum, trained in horizontal activism. Northern working class bruisers, male and female, from the PLP; Welsh Labour, determined to do it their own way; plus a regiment of new converts who don’t fit into any existing category of the left. Moving through us on the eve of battle with zen-like calm, is the white-bearded, snaggle-toothed MP for Islington.
And the battle is coming.
The elite and the billionaire owned media will throw every dirty trick and smear at us for five days. If you have only understood politics as a kind of ping-pong game with a known set of rules, get set to be shocked. All we have on our side is momentum, hope and the massive voter registration of young people that just happened.
If we win the elite will say “WTF just happened?”. So will we.
But here’s the point. If we lose, we will do so possessing all the momentum in British politics. I’m told it’s certain May will be replaced within a year — but who by? There’s scant appetite in the Tories for austerity. They’ve understood the deep positive reaction to Labour’s break with austerity.
That the Tory party drops austerity is likely; but whether it can kick the habit of economic nationalism and xenophobia is a different question. Given the influx of ex-UKIP types, the Tories will probably emerge from a post-May leadership battle as a conservative English nationalist formation.
The only certainty is: win or lose, Labour must become a more democratic party. We’ve had to fight this election with MPs we could not choose. The HQ remains an unwilling participant in the Corbyn project, as does much of the regional apparatus.
The single most valuable weapon in the whole campaign — the manifesto — was a product of party democracy. The second most valuable thing — the leader — was a product of democracy. Yet beyond that there is no democracy.
To find a better way to fit the Labour Party’s different factions and intellectual traditions — this too needs a deeper democracy, so that all can feel they have ownership of the strategy, tactics, slogans and priorities. Democracy means above all stopping the PLP from blocking left candidates in future; having the right to re-select MPs, and ending the system of ad-hoc bans, suspensions and time limits that are strangling opposition to the HQ bureaucracy.
The polls show we can win if we can do three things:
Convince the 18–35 age group that voting matters
Convince people that money in your pocket; a home for your kids; and saving the NHS is more important than a cultural war against the EU, migrants and Muslims
Assure people that the Britain will be a safer place, in a very unsafe global situation, if it has a more cohesive society. And that the British state will be safer in our hands than those of the kleptocrats, amateurs, bullies and buffoons in the Tory cabinet.
All week, as we’ve been facing this rising verbal violence from the right, alongside the dazzling possibility of finishing off neoliberalism in its birthplace by Friday (!), the words of a poem by anarcho-Marxist and perpetual refugee from repressio Victor Serge have been going through my head. Here’s the last lines: | https://medium.com/mosquito-ridge/the-course-is-set-on-hope-9cf575076711 | ['Paul Mason'] | 2017-06-03 09:16:46.472000+00:00 | ['Jeremy Corbyn', 'Brexit', 'poem', 'Politics'] |
(More) Straight Talk About Toyota’s Electric Vehicle Strategy | Thanks so much for all your feedback on my first blog post.
Today I’ll respond to that feedback, as well as some input from the press, and provide more detailed answers about Toyota’s Electric Vehicle strategy.
Has Toyota dragged its feet on Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) investment because of its investment in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs)?
No. Here are the facts:
Toyota spends about $10 billion per year on R&D.
That pays for a lot of R&D on fuel cells, but it also pays for over a thousand scientists, including over a hundred in the US, working on battery R&D. And so far they’ve generated one of the largest battery patent portfolios of any company, including far more patents on solid state batteries.
So you aren’t dragging your feet on BEVs?
2012 Toyota Rav4 EV — built in partnership with Tesla
No. Not only was Toyota an early developer of our own BEV, we were also an early investor and joint developer with Tesla. Until now, high battery costs have prohibited a more widespread effort, but by 2030 we expect that:
approximately 20% of our global vehicle production will be BEVs; and
approximately 70% of US vehicle production will be electrified (BEVs, PHEVs, FCEVs, or HEVs)
Toyota is ALL IN on the Biden Administration’s goal of 50% of US vehicle production being BEVs, PHEVs, or FCEVs by 2030.
The 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime
But why pursue four different types of drivetrains? Isn’t that wasteful of R&D investment?
Toyota is known for being scrupulously efficient in manufacturing and has helped other companies become more efficient using concepts from the Toyota Production System (TPS).
But being efficient about R&D means managing the risk of lost opportunities if we make decisions too soon. And it also means developing products for diverse customers, not just a category of customers.
This boils down to two principles:
The solution to uncertainty is diversity, and What is best for the average person is not best for every person.
Let’s talk about each of these principles in turn:
1. The solution to uncertainty is diversity.
This is a profound, fundamental lesson from nature.
Sure, it feels more satisfying to make bold predictions and decisions right away, and put all of our eggs in one basket. But making decisions too soon is foolish.
We know that total carbon emissions in transportation must be drastically reduced, and we know that BEVs are part of the solution.
However, we do not know (nor, in truth, does anyone know) whether BEVs are the entire solution.
Why is that?
It is because the solution to long term carbon emissions will involve large changes to many of the world’s energy and production systems, and tomorrow’s technology will be different than today’s.
We can of course calculate the marginal costs and benefits of making changes to current energy and production systems with today’s technology. But optimal incremental strategies now do not accurately predict the best strategy in the future.
Faced with this uncertainty, our strategy is to place several bets on several promising pathways, including BEVs, and adapt our strategy as we learn.
This is the core idea of Toyota’s philosophy of Kaizen and the approach of every investor who diversifies their portfolio to manage uncertainty.
It is also the strategy nature has used so successfully for evolving life on earth.
2. What is best for the average person is not best for every person.
Everyone understands this principle when it comes to clothing: maximizing a group’s total comfort isn’t achieved by making everyone wear size “medium.” The same is true for mobility.
As battery technology improves and the carbon emissions from the electrical power grid decrease, long range BEVs will become more attractive, both from a practicality and environmental point of view, to the average customer.
Does this mean that in 2030, the greatest net carbon reduction would be achieved by making every customer buy a long range BEV?
No, it does not.
For some customers, particularly those that live in areas with low carbon intensity electrical power generation and easy access to rapid (level 3) charging infrastructure for long trips, replacing a gasoline fueled car with a long range BEV will be the best way for them to contribute to carbon emission reduction.
But for other customers in different circumstances, the best way to contribute to carbon emissions reduction will be different — perhaps a PHEV or an FCEV. For example, for a customer using their car mostly for commuting in an area with fewer high speed chargers, a PHEV would make more sense.
The animated chart below, produced by our open-source, peer-reviewed simulation tool, illustrates this point. It compares net lifetime carbon emissions for several Toyota Vehicles to current BEVs made by other manufacturers. It examines both the average US electric power generation carbon intensity and the lower electric power generation carbon intensity of California.
This chart shows that even with the lower carbon intensity electric power grid of California (a reasonable estimate for what the overall US grid might be like in 2030), diverse types of EVs have lifetime carbon emissions that are similar to BEVs.
Note that the scale of the Y axis is arbitrary — the relative results would be the same regardless of the time period chosen. In this case, five years was selected to give meaningful scale because it is the average duration of US ownership for new vehicles.
This means that in 2030, more people in more circumstances will be able to contribute to carbon reduction, and greater net carbon reduction can be achieved, if we provide customers with a diverse EV portfolio of choices that includes both BEVs and other options.
But isn’t it true that PHEVs don’t achieve their potential high carbon reduction in real world use, particularly in Europe?
We know that PHEV owners with low-range PHEVs, poor access to overnight charging locations, or company-provided gas credit cards (that disincentivize electric charging) more frequently refuel with gasoline than necessary.
But these factors are reasons to fix those problems — not reasons to dismiss PHEVs!
Modifying company “gas card” policies, using slightly larger batteries in PHEVs (such as in the RAV4 Prime), and installing more overnight charging infrastructure with some rapid chargers is a more practical way to reduce carbon sooner than building only BEVs and installing the many more rapid chargers an all-BEV approach would require.
Doesn’t your argument about “right sizing” battery packs depend on a shortage of battery supply?
No. “Right sizing” battery packs into diverse types of EVs, and limiting the ramp-up speed of global battery production, is a good idea even if battery supply is not otherwise limited.
TNGA-Powertrain Units — Lithium-ion Battery
Batteries are continuously improving. Compared to current technology, future battery technology (including possibly Toyota’s solid state batteries) will be produced with less carbon emissions, reduced environmental impact, at lower cost, with higher performance, and with fewer recycling problems.
By spreading today’s battery cells across a diversity of EV types now, we can maximize carbon reductions immediately. Then, as battery technology improves, we can ramp up production of more efficient, less carbon intensive batteries.
Here’s an analogy: Cell phone technology allowed developing countries to leapfrog wired telecommunications infrastructure. It would have been a waste of time and resources for these countries to have invested heavily in wired telephone infrastructure when cell phone technology was just around the corner.
We believe there is a corollary with the evolution of battery technology.
Summary
Can Toyota meet aggressive, results-oriented, quantitative limits on how much carbon may be emitted over a vehicle’s entire lifetime?
Yes, we can.
Will Toyota meet this challenge by producing millions of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs)?
Yes, we will, and we will also offer other drivetrains for customers in circumstances where those vehicles are a better carbon reduction choice.
We believe the best approach, as the Biden Administration has proposed, is for policymakers around the world to insist on results, and allow innovators like Toyota and our competitors to create diverse solutions to achieve those results.
In years past, when other pollutants were of greatest concern, governments established limits on the amount of emissions permissible and necessary fleet fuel efficiency, and then allowed the private sector, including Toyota, to innovate catalytic converters, engine control systems, and new types of drivetrains to meet those limits.
We believe this proven approach of driving innovation by focusing on outcomes — rather than prescribing particular technology solutions — is the best way to reduce carbon emissions.
Carbon is the enemy, not a particular drivetrain.
Battery Electric Vehicles are wonderful ways to reduce carbon for some customers. Other types of electrified drivetrains are best for other customers, especially in the near future.
I believe we should use all the tools in the toolbox. | https://medium.com/toyotaresearch/more-straight-talk-about-toyotas-electric-vehicle-strategy-f0aba4be40 | ['Gill Pratt'] | 2021-08-23 22:09:36.860000+00:00 | ['Electric Vehicles', 'Technology', 'Battery', 'Automotive', 'Toyota'] |
Why Good People Ghost: The Rise Of A Dishonest Dating Culture | Why Good People Ghost: The Rise Of A Dishonest Dating Culture
By Heidi Priebe
I was just ghosted for the first time.
It’s not that I’ve never had a relationship end ambiguously. We’ve all had those first few uncomfortable dates where we know that a third isn’t coming. When the passion wanes and the texting peters off — where a natural end follows an unsuccessful middle. That seems comfortable to me. It always has.
But for the first time ever this year, I experienced the full ghosting experience — of meeting someone I was crazy about, feeling an intense connection with them, being altogether sure that the feelings were mutual — that they were different than the other shady people I was used to dating — and then having them disappear into absolute thin air.
I can’t pretend it doesn’t suck to be ghosted. I know I’m not the first or last to experience the phenomenon but it still felt a bit like someone had punched me in the gut when it happened. The disregard is insulting. The lack of closure is maddening. You move on, but not before your self-esteem takes a hit. The only thing worse than being broken up with is realizing that someone didn’t even consider you worth breaking up with.
Being ghosted was an unpleasant experience. But it was also one that forced me to reflect on my own past dating behaviours. While mulling over my own rejection, my mind flashed back to a day several weeks before, when I was sitting on my best friend’s couch with my phone in hand.
“I’m just not interested in him,” I explained. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with him objectively, the attraction just isn’t really there for me.”
“That’s fine,” She assured me, “But you have to tell him.”
“I don’t know.” I winced. “We weren’t serious or anything. I think I’m just going to let it… you know… die out.”
She gave me that infuriating look that only someone who’s a generally better person than you can give you. “Okay,” She said. “But consider if it were you in his shoes.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” I replied confidently. “Being broken up with is humiliating. When things peter out it’s just a way of letting everyone escape with their pride intact.”
And so I stood by my own logic. I ghosted the guy I wasn’t feeling and I slept fine at night. I told myself that was just how we do things now. That it was the modern break-up protocol we’d all agreeded to adhere to, after all.
Flash forward a few months later: I’m sitting on that same friend’s couch, lamenting over my own unfair dismissal (karma working in full force, as per usual). It turns out that I did mind being ghosted — in fact, I minded a lot.
And what I was forced to realize at that point was my own cardinal dating mistake prior to being ghosted — I’d put all my eggs in one basket. I had foolishly expected dating post-college to work the same way it always had — you were single for a while, you did your own thing, and then you met someone and started casually seeing each other. If it went well, it became a relationship. If not, it ended amicably because you still had to see each other in econ class.
But that was not how things happened anymore. Dating post-college was an entirely new ball game and I had to face the stark truth of what had happened to me: The person I’d been dating was in the game and I was not. College was over and the real-life dating scene was an absolute rat race.
In the real world, there was no such thing as passively single. There was no such thing as slow, monogamous dating. In the real world, you had two clear choices: You were either in the game or you were out of it. And if you weren’t in the game, you were already losing it.
And so, I did what any other jaded twenty-something would have done: I brought myself up to speed. I downloaded Tinder. And OKCupid. And Snapchat. I started swiping, texting, dating and ‘talking with’ various people at once. I forgot names on first dates. I made notes on my phone to keep track of who was who. After all, it was what everyone else was doing. And it seemed to be the only way to keep up without getting duped.
The longer I stayed in ‘the game,’ the clearer it became to me why other people acted the way they did in relationships. Everyone had, at some point or another, had the exact same experience with dating:
You put all your eggs in one basket. You get burned. So the next time, you make a point to distribute them evenly. You’re so worried about not getting your own heart broken that you don’t really care whose you break along the way.
You date the person you kind of like to distract yourself from the fact that the one you really like hasn’t texted you back in three days. You sleep with people you have no connection with to convince yourself you don’t need anything more. You keep your options open because when one relationship crashes and burns, you need to have somewhere to run. You don’t want to have to feel inadequate, so you keep the back burner full of people to fall back on.
We’re dishonest because we don’t trust each other — because we can’t. No matter how happy we are with somebody and how invested it seems like they are, we never know when the other shoe might drop. We never know who else they’re talking to, who else they’re sleeping with, who they might meet at the bar or online or at work who blows us out of the water and renders us suddenly obsolete. We are constantly at risk of being one-upped and there’s no way to shelter ourselves from it other than to prepare for it. To always have one foot out the door. To never be totally invested or all the way in.
Check any twenty-something’s phone and you’ll generally see a specific smorgasbord of people they’re keeping in touch with — one they want to date, one they want to sleep with and a few others they’re keeping around ‘just in case’ nothing else works out.
And do we want all of these people in our lives? Not particularly. In fact, it’s exhausting.
The texting. The dating. The small talk, the drama, the hooking up and breaking up and falling half in love and then having it all fall to pieces. After playing the game for long enough, we all inevitably start to wonder if we’re the only honest player left.
Until that scary moment where we check ourselves and realize that we’re just as bad as all the rest.
We’re dating multiple people at once. We’re taking things too far before we decide how we feel. We’re keeping people around ‘just in case’ and we feel no remorse — because we see these things as necessary measures. We are desensitized to the ways in which we’re using other people, under the guise of ‘Well, that’s just how it works.’ It’s easy to hate the people who’ve flaked on us but it’s harder to admit that we’re a big, consuming part of the problem.
I, for one, consider myself to be an honest and straightforward person. And yet I’ve ghosted. I’ve flaked. I’ve blurred the lines of fidelity. And I’ve told myself, time and time again, that it’s all the fault of the toxic dating culture we’ve created. And at the end of the day, I think that’s what we’re all telling ourselves.
Save for those who are empowered by a false sense of grandiose detachment, we all like to think we’re decent people. That we treat other people with respect. That if the tables were turned, we’d date ourselves. And yet, we all remain stuck in this vicious cycle of hurting and neglecting one another.
At some point or another, most of us throw in the towel. We pack up our bags, delete our apps and temporarily bow out of the dating game. We don’t like the people we’re meeting and we don’t like the people we’re becoming. We wonder if there are any honest people left out there. We wonder if we could even count ourselves as such, if there were.
The dating game is a vicious cycle that has taken any semblance of human emotion almost entirely out of the picture. And yet, as much as I’m frustrated by the culture, I’d like to think that there are still good people behind it. That we’re not all selfish, desensitized robots, controlled by the endless monotony of swiping right, being matched and feeling validated. That every once in a while, we stop to question ourselves. What we’re doing. What we’re looking for, and how exactly we’re going about it.
I’d like to think that as much as we all lie, deceive and discontinue, what we want deep down is still to tell the truth. That we want to believe each other. To trust each other. To be honest with each other, even when it’s painful and uncomfortable.
I’d like to believe all this and yet some part of me knows that as a society, we’re still all very far from figuring it out.
And so for now, we pick our phones up. We feel that age-old hunger for validation. And we swipe. And we swipe. And we swipe. | https://psiloveyou.xyz/why-good-people-ghost-the-rise-of-a-dishonest-dating-culture-6f4a19d4383d | ['Thought Catalog'] | 2021-03-04 17:55:30.359000+00:00 | ['Ghosting', 'Love', 'Relationships', 'Dating', 'Honesty'] |
Bitcoin “reorg”/Options on large theft | On 8th May, 7000 Bitcoins (valued at around US$40 million) were stolen from Binance.
There was an initial suggestion on twitter for “reorg” by JeremyRubin that Binance CEO CZ considered. It was soon realized by CZ and team that you can’t ask “reorg” and given up.
However, in a similar large theft in future, should the Exchanges and miners be prepared to do the following:
Exchange creates a number of serial transactions “double-spending” the stolen Bitcoins. Using Binance example, Binance creates say 250 transactions of 28 BTCs each. They are serial in nature, so Miners can potentially earn 28 BTCs each for next 250 Blocks if they decide to go back and re-mine from the block before the theft! In this scheme, Exchange has given up on the BTCs but instead of thief, BTCs will be given to the Bitcoin Ecosystem. It should be done in few hours of the theft, so as to make it look feasible to miners. Can Exchange get greedy and not give the all lost BTCs to miner? While it is possible, but remember that thief may play a similar game by giving away larger part of BTCs to the miners?
While this may disrupt the Bitcoin chain for some time, but if this gets done one or two times, incentives for large scale theft will reduce. | https://medium.com/@satoshidisciple/bitcoin-reorg-options-on-large-theft-26946ae22a3d | ['Satoshi Chela'] | 2019-05-09 13:08:26.938000+00:00 | ['Reorg', 'Bitcoin', 'Binance'] |
Some people might take interest. Some may support you in your quest. But at the end of the day, nobody cares, or will ever care about your dream as much | Some people might take interest. Some may support you in your quest. But at the end of the day, nobody cares, or will ever care about your dream as much Toledo vs Eastern Michigan Live Tv Nov 19, 2020·5 min read
Life is a journey of twists and turns, peaks and valleys, mountains to climb and oceans to explore.
Good times and bad times. Happy times and sad times.
But always, life is a movement forward.
No matter where you are on the journey, in some way, you are continuing on — and that’s what makes it so magnificent. One day, you’re questioning what on earth will ever make you feel happy and fulfilled. And the next, you’re perfectly in flow, writing the most important book of your entire career.
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/285027
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/285028
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/285029
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/285030
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/285031
What nobody ever tells you, though, when you are a wide-eyed child, are all the little things that come along with “growing up.”
1. Most people are scared of using their imagination.
They’ve disconnected with their inner child.
They don’t feel they are “creative.”
They like things “just the way they are.”
2. Your dream doesn’t really matter to anyone else.
Some people might take interest. Some may support you in your quest. But at the end of the day, nobody cares, or will ever care about your dream as much as you.
3. Friends are relative to where you are in your life.
Most friends only stay for a period of time — usually in reference to your current interest. But when you move on, or your priorities change, so too do the majority of your friends.
4. Your potential increases with age.
As people get older, they tend to think that they can do less and less — when in reality, they should be able to do more and more, because they have had time to soak up more knowledge. Being great at something is a daily habit. You aren’t just “born” that way.
5. Spontaneity is the sister of creativity.
If all you do is follow the exact same routine every day, you will never leave yourself open to moments of sudden discovery. Do you remember how spontaneous you were as a child? Anything could happen, at any moment!
6. You forget the value of “touch” later on.
When was the last time you played in the rain?
When was the last time you sat on a sidewalk and looked closely at the cracks, the rocks, the dirt, the one weed growing between the concrete and the grass nearby.
Do that again.
You will feel so connected to the playfulness of life.
7. Most people don’t do what they love.
It’s true.
The “masses” are not the ones who live the lives they dreamed of living. And the reason is because they didn’t fight hard enough. They didn’t make it happen for themselves. And the older you get, and the more you look around, the easier it becomes to believe that you’ll end up the same.
Don’t fall for the trap.
8. Many stop reading after college.
Ask anyone you know the last good book they read, and I’ll bet most of them respond with, “Wow, I haven’t read a book in a long time.”
9. People talk more than they listen.
There is nothing more ridiculous to me than hearing two people talk “at” each other, neither one listening, but waiting for the other person to stop talking so they can start up again.
10. Creativity takes practice.
It’s funny how much we as a society praise and value creativity, and yet seem to do as much as we can to prohibit and control creative expression unless it is in some way profitable.
If you want to keep your creative muscle pumped and active, you have to practice it on your own.
11. “Success” is a relative term.
As kids, we’re taught to “reach for success.”
What does that really mean? Success to one person could mean the opposite for someone else.
Define your own Success.
12. You can’t change your parents.
A sad and difficult truth to face as you get older: You can’t change your parents.
They are who they are.
Whether they approve of what you do or not, at some point, no longer matters. Love them for bringing you into this world, and leave the rest at the door.
13. The only person you have to face in the morning is yourself.
When you’re younger, it feels like you have to please the entire world.
You don’t.
Do what makes you happy, and create the life you want to live for yourself. You’ll see someone you truly love staring back at you every morning if you can do that.
14. Nothing feels as good as something you do from the heart.
No amount of money or achievement or external validation will ever take the place of what you do out of pure love.
Follow your heart, and the rest will follow.
15. Your potential is directly correlated to how well you know yourself.
Those who know themselves and maximize their strengths are the ones who go where they want to go.
Those who don’t know themselves, and avoid the hard work of looking inward, live life by default. They lack the ability to create for themselves their own future.
16. Everyone who doubts you will always come back around.
That kid who used to bully you will come asking for a job.
The girl who didn’t want to date you will call you back once she sees where you’re headed. It always happens that way.
Just focus on you, stay true to what you believe in, and all the doubters will eventually come asking for help.
17. You are a reflection of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
Nobody creates themselves, by themselves.
We are all mirror images, sculpted through the reflections we see in other people. This isn’t a game you play by yourself. Work to be surrounded by those you wish to be like, and in time, you too will carry the very things you admire in them.
18. Beliefs are relative to what you pursue.
Wherever you are in life, and based on who is around you, and based on your current aspirations, those are the things that shape your beliefs.
Nobody explains, though, that “beliefs” then are not “fixed.” There is no “right and wrong.” It is all relative.
Find what works for you.
19. Anything can be a vice.
Be wary.
Again, there is no “right” and “wrong” as you get older. A coping mechanism to one could be a way to relax on a Sunday to another. Just remain aware of your habits and how you spend your time, and what habits start to increase in frequency — and then question where they are coming from in you and why you feel compelled to repeat them.
Never mistakes, always lessons.
As I said, know yourself.
20. Your purpose is to be YOU.
What is the meaning of life?
To be you, all of you, always, in everything you do — whatever that means to you. You are your own creator. You are your own evolving masterpiece.
Growing up is the realization that you are both the sculpture and the sculptor, the painter and the portrait. Paint yourself however you wish. | https://medium.com/@toledovseasternmichiganliveonn/life-is-a-journey-of-twists-and-turns-peaks-and-valleys-mountains-to-climb-and-oceans-to-explore-d90b2de3b2b7 | ['Toledo Vs Eastern Michigan Live Tv'] | 2020-11-19 00:02:19.799000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Sports', 'Social Media', 'News', 'Live Streaming'] |
Meet Papi Ojo, The Nigerian Star Dancer From Beyonce’s ‘Black Is King’ | A still from Black is King
If you’ve seen Beyonce’s new visual album, “Black Is King”, then you’d remember an intriguing blue-painted figure captured with the superstar time and time again, leaving many viewers asking about his significance or offering his sleek African dance moves known as ‘Gbese’ and ‘Legwork’ praises.
That other-worldly figure is Stephen “Papi” Ojo, a self-taught 22-year-old Nigerian-born performer who has quietly played an outsize role in bringing African dance to American stages. And in Black is King, Ojo is the most prominent face beyond that of its headlining star. He plays the “blue man,” who represents the subconscious of the protagonist prince and the power of African dance.
But before manifesting one of his biggest dreams by working with Queen Bey, Ojo who grew up in Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city has always had a thing for dance. He told TIME that he was steeped in the country’s art and culture, listening to Afrobeat artists like P-Square and Sound Sultan and dancing at naming ceremonies and birthday parties for fun.
Then after his family moved to East New York, Brooklyn in search of better opportunities in 2008, Ojo started a dance group alongside his older brother Emmanuel and friend Caleb Bonney.
According to him, they would watch YouTube videos of African dance routines and rehearse incessantly until they were ready to post their renditions on social media. Before long, these videos earned them live audiences.
However, after experiencing harrowing personal tragedy, Ojo stopped dancing for a while, but soon after resumed and branded into a duo group named A.V.O. Boyz alongside his best friend Caleb Bonney. In an interview with Okay Africa, he talked about doing dance lessons, viral challenges, and live performances, which led to them gaining a larger following.
All these at the same time as Nigerian musicians like Wizkid and Davido were making waves internationally. A year and a half later, Ojo who was now a political science undergraduate was offered his first industry job: to flank Rihanna onstage at the 2018 Grammys during “Wild Thoughts.”
The gwara gwara dance (from South Africa) they displayed became a moment of international fascination and trended on social media for days. “I got to teach Rihanna moves from Africa,” he stated. “I thought, ‘we’ve reached the top,” he told Okay Africa.
This impression incorporated other high-level teaching and dance roles for artists from Big Sean and A$AP Ferg at Teyana Taylor and Janet Jackson, whose “Made for Now” video has more than 72 million views and counting.
For Black is King, Ojo simply got a mysterious call which transported him to the music video to Beyoncé’s “Spirit,” the rousing lead single off her album Lion King: The Gift.
His role isn’t noticeable in the video by any stretch as he is just among many featured dance troupes. But Ojo tells TIME, he helped choreograph parts of the dance and show her team different movements-like the network from Ghana and the kpakujemu from Nigeria.
Not long after, he was asked to fly to South Africa, where he realized he was about to play a much bigger role. Black is King is loosely based on the story of The Lion King: a prince is born and must overcome adversity to find his way home.
Since the film’s release, many have theorized about the significance of Ojo’s “blue man.” Some have speculated that he represents a water genie; another article postulates that his shade is a reference to “haint blue,” which is thought to protect against evil spirits or represent a spirit itself.
Ojo wasn’t particularly forthcoming about his character’s significance but in his TIME interview, he noted that he’s “supposed to be guiding Simba, with culturally-rooted afro-dance moves, throughout his stages of life.”
As for the collaborative process with the megastar, he stated that it went smoothly. “She was a very good student,” he says. “Paying homage to the originators, paying respect to our culture-some people might not care. But she was very receptive. She was being respectful the whole time, listening. And every move was clean, sharp, crisp.” he told TIME.
Ojo recalled that he felt an enormous weight in serving as an African dance ambassador to one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
How was Ojo able to keep the secrets for months? He said he was inspired to dive further into his own fledgeling Afrobeat music career after returning home. But the coronavirus halted all of his performances, and to make money, he took a job at Amazon’s warehouse in Staten Island, before leaving to focus on his creative work.
Speaking about his future to Okay Africa, Ojo says he’s taking what he’s learned from everyone he’s worked with so far, not just Beyoncé. He’s also hoping to capitalize on the moment by putting out new dance videos and songs; in striving to match Beyoncé’s work ethic, he hopes to raise even more awareness and love for his cultural roots. | https://medium.com/@peteadenuga/meet-papi-ojo-the-nigerian-star-dancer-from-beyonces-black-is-king-3fbc87bac9e8 | ['Pete Adenuga'] | 2021-02-08 20:55:22.226000+00:00 | ['Film', 'Black Is King', 'Dance', 'Arts And Entertainment', 'Beyonce'] |
Anyone Who Can Speak, Should Sing | If you are capable of speech, you have the ability to sing. We won’t all sound alike, of course, and you may prefer the sounds of some people over others, but we are all able to sing.
Most of us learned some basic songs at a very early age. We sang The Alphabet Song and various nursery rhymes such as Mary Had a Little Lamb or Rock-a-bye, Baby. What’s more, we sang them without worrying about how it sounded. We just belted it out for the sheer pleasure of doing so.
The fact that it just felt good and natural to sing should have been an important message to us, but we didn’t listen.
We let go of that pleasure as we got older. Somewhere along the way, we learned to be fearful of bursting into song whenever the fae mood was upon us.
It’s important to reclaim that joy, for the sake of our bodies as well as our psyches.
How do I know? Experience. Lots of experience.
I sing. A lot. All the time. Daily. It’s what I do. I wouldn’t call myself a professional (though I have been paid at different times), but I am a reasonably accomplished amateur. I have had the opportunity to study voice and have been singing in different choirs for roughly forty of my fifty years. I couldn’t, and wouldn’t want to, imagine my life without song.
Singing Actually Changes Your Body
I’m an asthmatic and I can personally attest to the prophylactic benefits of singing to strengthen the muscles of the respiratory system, helping to defend it against infection.
After contracting a whopping case of bronchitis, my doctor was amazed at the speed of my recovery. He advised me to never give up singing because he was certain it was what saved me from developing pneumonia.
But singing can do even more.
· Singing can positively affect the endocrine system. It reduces the levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in the body. It increases oxytocin production and encourages the release of endorphins, all of which aid in reducing the negative effects of stress.
· The reduction of stress can lead to a lowering of the blood pressure which benefits both heart and brain.
· It is an aerobic activity. Singing oxygenates the blood which provides an energy boost and promotes better brain function.
· The use of the mouth, throat, airways, lungs, and diaphragm to sing strengthens the muscles and can help to alleviate mild asthma symptoms.
It comes down to this: Singing makes you, physically, healthier. Being healthier is going to lead to feeling better. Singing makes you feel better.
See? We already knew this when we were kids.
If you can’t remember a time when you loved to sing, watch a group of children. They’ll remind you. On key or way off, in tempo or not, it doesn’t matter. They love to sing for the sake of producing the sounds and for the way it feels. Some enjoy the lyrics and others just love to see how loud they can be. So much joy.
They aren’t considering their cortisol levels or how strong their diaphragms are. They are only enjoying how it feels to sing.
So, what happened?
At some point, we began to care what other people might think when we sing. Unfortunately, we aren’t always nicer as we get older, and judgement entered the social equation.
It took the fun out of singing.
I’ve even heard horror stories of children being told by a choir director to “Just mouth the words, dear, and don’t actually make any noise.” It’s a horrible thing for a child to hear and something I find unforgivable. It’s saying, “The way your vocal cords work is displeasing to me. I intend to silence you. Probably forever.”
Of all the instruments humans use to create music, nothing is so personal as our own voice. Violins, clarinets, and so on are tools in the hands of the player. The voice is an integral part of the human being. It’s personal because it’s a part of our person.
It’s worth saying again. Everyone can sing. Quality is subjective. We are all capable of producing music with our voices.
You don’t have to take center stage at the Met.
You just need to sing. The great thing about singing is you don’t need an audience. You don’t even need special equipment.
There are easy ways to bring singing back into your life.
1. Sing in the shower. Seriously, this is a great option. The acoustics in there are fantastic and you’ll feel totally ready for your audition for The Voice. The warm, moist air is good for your airways and soothes away dryness in the throat and sinuses. Take a deep breath and belt out some show tunes while you shampoo.
2. Sing in the car. I’m Ol’ Skool and like to sing along with the radio, but you can also create a personal playlist of songs you know and love. You can pick songs that boost your mood or calm your nerves, or just songs that have lyrics you can remember. Whatever flutters your vocal cords. You don’t need to worry about anyone hearing you, either. Traffic noise will cover pretty much anything and unless you’re louder than an ambulance siren, you’re pretty safe.
3. Sing karaoke. If you do like gadgets, a karaoke machine is a fun one to have around. You can pick up one with a screen to display lyrics for $100 or less (though you can go as wild as your wallet will permit, if you like) and it has the added benefit of being fun at a party. You can go out with friends to a local bar for karaoke night or have your own at home with YouTube. In fact, why don’t you give it a try, right now.
You did, didn’t you? Even if you didn’t form words, you hummed along, right? It was fun, wasn’t it? Don’t you feel better now?
Of course, if you don’t have a problem with singing in front of others, you can join a choir. A quick Google search will give you some local options. Churches, community centers, and community colleges often have choirs that are open to public participation. This adds a great social aspect. Make some music and make some friends.
Just do it.
The trick is just to do it. Before you try any other excuses about why you can’t, remember those songs we learned as kids. You still know the words to The Alphabet Song. Dig deep and I’m sure you can come up with the lyrics to a few nursery rhymes. Heck, learn all the verses to The Bastard King of England, for all I care, just don’t let your mother hear you using language like that and don’t tell her I suggested it to you.
But, please, do sing. You can and you should. Make use of the amazing musical instrument you carry built right in.
Above all, don’t ever just stand there and mouth the words. | https://medium.com/because-life/anyone-who-can-speak-should-sing-79cd097180ea | ['S. J. Gordon'] | 2019-07-26 07:36:01.225000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Music', 'Self', 'Life', 'Mental Health'] |
Take Your Creativity to the Next Level | Take Your Creativity to the Next Level
Learn the power of observation, imagination, and being present
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
What do you do when you feel like your creative well runs dry? Where do you turn to? Do you have the tools in place to help kick-start your creativity again?
Learning to carefully observe the world around you, and to wield the power of your imagination — connecting dots, seeing patterns, linking ideas and more — while fully engaging in the moments around you can help you avoid that ugly feeling of coming up dry on ideas. More, it is a powerful way to reboot your creative energy and find new inspiration.
Let’s dive in and take a closer look.
Observation
It sounds like a bullshit cliche, and maybe it’s been said enough to count as one, but the world we live in is absolutely overflowing with ideas. It takes a bit of practice, effort, and sometimes some sweat equity to see and appreciate these ideas, but the fact is, they’re all around us.
Being able to pop the hood, take a closer look, tinker with the patterns and the rhythms of the world is our job as creatives. It’s also the starting place to discovering these ideas.
Don’t just take note of the crooked tree with those sharp, angular branches clawing at the sky…tell me what kind of tree it is, what time of day, and most importantly, how do you feel seeing this?
That’s the power of observation.
Don’t just casually acknowledge the things that snag your attention, give them their due. Pay attention fully. Break down what you’re seeing, how it makes you feel, how it connects to other things you’ve seen, felt, and understood.
Look for the details in the cracks.
Try asking yourself:
What’s the texture
What color is it? What shade?
How does it make me feel?
What does it remind me of?
If you had to describe this to someone who had never seen this before, how would you do that?
Imagination
But it’s not enough to just observe. You have to dig at what you’re seeing, feeling, experiencing too. You have to get at the “why” behind it, why did this thing capture your attention? What’s the connection? What’s the link?
Use the power of your imagination to draw on other things you’ve seen, felt, and experienced that this reminds you of. Are there connections between these things? Is there a pattern, a series, some reason these repetitions are standing out to you?
But also…
Flip the script, what is this not at all like? What’s something this is starkly in contrast with that can help you describe it, sense it, experience it? What is it’s antithesis? And how does knowing it’s striking counterbalance help you see and experience this thing more closely?
Engaging with the present moment
And of course all of this requires you to be fully in the moment. But not just this moment, but also other moments where you’ve seen and experienced similar things (or their striking opposites). You have to ground yourself in these moments and become fully aware, fully connected, and fully immersed in the observation and its experience.
Dig deeper, find the roots, draw everything you can from this. This is the beginning of powerful ideas that you’re getting at.
Keep a journal
You will need somewhere to record all of these observations and their connections, and one of the best places for this is a journal. It’s a great place to write what you’re seeing, experiencing, feeling, connecting with and more, and a great place to come back to and reflect on, to draw out those connections mentioned earlier.
And remember, journals are more than their physical reality, at least it has been my experience anyway. A journal can feel like a trigger element, the scribblings in between its pages awakens that dreaming part of your mind and can stir old memories back to the surface. It’s a powerful powerful tool and a very effective way to spark creativity.
Some things to write in your journal that will help you with creativity:
What you saw, heard, felt and experienced
Why you think it stood out to you
What it reminded you of
Connections, patterns, personal and universal symbols you sense in what you experienced
Your emotional responses to it
Wrapping things up
If you want to be more creative, you have to go deeper than just scratching the surface when you watch the world around you. You have to observe, and I mean really observe. It has to become a part of your autopilot as much as your conscious effort. You and your creativity are partners in this effort, and you have to develop a keen sense of partnership — synchronicity — with that inner self.
Trust me, your soul will stir, you’ll sense the goose-flesh crawling, and you’ll feel the chill when your creativity wants you to notice something. You just have to learn to be in tune, paying attention and ready to receive.
Ultimately, if you want to be more creative, practice creativity. It sounds painfully simple and obvious, and in so many ways it can be, but it’s also a complex effort that will require your continued pursuit. But you can get there, and with time and learning the power of observation, imagination, and engagement with your present moments, you will. | https://medium.com/swlh/take-your-creativity-to-the-next-level-71c5f02a51a3 | ['Gregory D. Welch'] | 2020-01-03 11:13:20.511000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Productivity', 'Writing', 'Inspiration', 'Creativity'] |
Sunrise 20201215 | entrepreneur, mentor, advisor, mother, wife, dog parent and lover, tennis player : changing the world one woman and entrepreneur at a time
Follow | https://medium.com/morning-haiku/sunrise-20201215-b41447975ee9 | ['Jenny Lawton'] | 2020-12-15 00:00:00 | ['Mindfulness', 'Gratitude', 'Poetry', 'Life', 'Haiku'] |
Fetch is the simplest crypto wallet | Fetch is not only the easiest way to find the best prices and trade tokens with one-click, it’s also a powerful and simple to use wallet to manage, monitor and use your Ethereum and ERC20 tokens.
Let’s dig into how Fetch makes it easy today and some of what’s coming to make it even better.
Automated Scan of Holdings
Fetch automatically scans over 200 contracts to detect and display your holdings. This is a huge upgrade over entering token contract addresses into an app to see your portfolio. For any token that Fetch supports, you’ll just auto-magically see your balance.
Soon, Fetch will support finding your holdings in protocols and custodial wallets in which you have assets. This means assets in an IDEX wallet or being lent out to a finance protocol like Compound will also automatically appear in your Fetch portfolio. Having to open multiple apps and websites to figure out what you own and where it is will be a thing of the past!
Send and Receive any Token
Tokens are most valuable when you send or receive them, either to use as payment or for the utility they were designed to power. So we made this one-click simple in Fetch.
Click the ‘Actions’ button on the Portfolio and you’re one-click away from transferring any token you own to another user. You’ll see your current holdings in that token and easily be able to send a fraction of your holdings. As with trading, Fetch takes care of all the complexity for you buy optimizing network fees (gas).
Notifications
Have you ever refreshed Etherscan wondering when a transaction was going to complete? This would be nuts in any other situation than crypto. Refreshing the Bank of America page to see if a deposit completed? Nah…you’d wait for the notification you knew was coming when everything was ready.
This is how Fetch handles transactions. When your transactions are pending, complete or have an issue you’ll see a notification that explains the situation in clear language. No jargon. Ever
Clear language and no refreshes required!
The best part is we’re quietly rolling out infrastructure to support even more soon. Expecting a transfer into your account? No problem, Fetch monitors the chain and will notify you when that transfer is initiated and completed. Save the page refreshes for another time.
Transaction History
Ever tried to dig through Etherscan transaction history to figure out what you paid in network and exchange fees for a specific transaction. Then opened up a spreadsheet to input it all and figure out how you ended up with exactly how much you have, down to the 18th decimal place? It’s too much work, error prone and the type of thing software is great at doing for you.
So we do exactly this with Fetch. A clear language breakdown of a transaction to the 18th decimal place, no spreadsheet or crypto PhD required. You’ll find a complete account history in Fetch along with clear details of each transaction accounting. You won’t need to jump between three sites and a spreadsheet to figure it all out. Just point and click!
No spreadsheet required!
What’s Next?
We’ve already come a long way in simplifying crypto, removing the jargon, making transactions comprehensible and keeping you updated at all times. There is still a ton more to do. In the coming months, we’ll be rolling out:
Mobile apps that are completely synchronized with your desktop. One account available everywhere.
Fiat on/off ramps so you can transact fiat to crypto with one-click.
Upgraded infrastructure supporting advanced monitoring, notifications, alerts and analysis that we should all expect from any account but sadly isn’t yet available in crypto.
Download Fetch and try for yourself today! | https://medium.com/hello-fetch/fetch-is-the-simplest-crypto-wallet-670fc042509d | ['Hansmeet Sethi'] | 2018-11-29 18:01:01.295000+00:00 | ['Fetchproduct', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Crypto', 'Blockchain'] |
AI Speeds Drug Discovery to fight COVID-19 | AI Speeds Drug Discovery to fight COVID-19
An inside look at AI’s role in the race for COVID-19 treatment and drug discovery, and TCS’ first-hand research and experimentation
The virus named “SARS-CoV-2” is the source of a global pandemic COVID-19, which has severely affected the health and economy of several countries. Multiple studies are in progress, employing diverse approaches to design novel therapeutics against the potential target proteins in SARS-CoV-2. One of the well-studied protein targets for coronaviruses is the chymotrypsin-like (3CL) protease, responsible for post-translational modifications of viral polyproteins essential for its survival and replication in the host. There are various ongoing projects to find inhibitors against 3CL protease of SARS-CoV-2.
Recent studies have proven the efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in understanding the known chemical space and generating novel small molecules. These small molecules have to satisfy several physicochemical properties to be able to be used as potential drug molecules. With the advent of AI-based methods, it is possible to design novel small molecules with desired drug-like properties. At Tata Consultancy Services(TCS), we employed deep neural network-based generative and predictive models for de novo design of small molecules capable of inhibiting the 3CL protease. The generated small molecules were filtered and screened against the binding site of the 3CL protease structure of SARS-CoV-2. Based on the screening results and further analysis, we have identified 31 potential compounds as ideal candidates for further synthesis and testing against SARS-CoV-2.
The AI-driven revolution in drug discovery
Finding a new drug takes a decade or more with a very low success rate. Advances in data curation and management have fueled the emergence of an AI-driven revolution in drug discovery.
AI-based methods are emerging as promising tools to explore the vast chemical space that is available to sample drug-like molecules. AI models are capable of learning the feature representations based on existing drugs that can be used to explore the chemical space in search of more drug-like molecules. This has provided a beacon of opportunity to the drug design community to overcome many challenges including the global antibiotic-resistance crisis. Most importantly, an AI-based approach can reduce the initial phase of the drug-discovery process from years to a few days.
TCS capability in terms of algorithms
In this study, we have utilized our in-house deep neural network-based generative and predictive models to design novel drug-like small molecules (new chemical entities or NCEs). Our in-house models and algorithms have been validated on a multitude of drug design tasks to tailor compounds to a specific protein target of interest. These validated, pre-trained state-of-the-art models were used to generate novel small molecules capable of inhibiting the 3CL protease of SARS-CoV-2, utilizing advanced training techniques such as transfer learning and regularized reinforcement learning.
An overview of dataset collection and pre-processing
ChEMBL is a public database which maintains the most comprehensive collection of drug-like small molecules. The generative model was initially trained on a dataset of ~1.6 million drug-like molecules from the ChEMBL database. The molecules were represented in Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System (SMILES) format which will enable the model to learn the necessary features to design novel drug-like small molecules.
Training the deep learning models
The pre-processed SMILES dataset was used to train a recurrent neural network (RNN)-based generative model. The problem of learning the SMILES grammar and reproducing it to generate novel small molecules was cast as a classification problem. The entire SMILES string was considered as a time series, where every position or symbol was considered as a time point. The different symbols in the SMILES vocabulary were considered as the classes of the classification. At a given time point, the generative model was trained to predict the class of the next symbol given the class distributions of the previous symbols in the time series. Thus, the model learns the probability distribution over the various classes at each time point of the time series. The problem was cast this way, to resemble the class of natural language processing (NLP) problems for which sophisticated AI models and architectures have been developed over the years.
Our trained generative model has state-of-the-art accuracy of 96.6%, calculated based on the chemical and synthetic feasibility of the drug-like molecules inferred from the model. This general model capable of exploring the chemical space acted as our prior model, which was further adapted to generate small molecules specific to a target of interest using transfer learning. In order to bias the model to focus on the 3CL protease of SARS-CoV-2, a dataset of protease inhibitor molecules was manually curated from the ChEMBL database. The dataset of 2,515 protease inhibitor molecules was used to re-train the generative model using transfer learning. In the process of transfer learning, the generative model is biased towards focusing on a smaller subset of the chemical space. Further, regularized reinforcement learning was used to modulate the generative model to produce molecules with optimized physicochemical properties (Fig. 1).
Figure 1: Approach used for generating novel compounds for targeting 3CL protease of SARS-CoV-2.
Filtering the potential drug-like molecules against SARS-CoV-2
The trained generative model was used for sampling 50,000 small molecules from the learned chemical space. After removal of duplicates and molecules which were identical to the ChEMBL database, the residual dataset consisted of 42,484 molecules. These molecules were subjected to stringent physicochemical property filters including drug-likeness, octanol-water partition coefficient (logP), hydrogen bond donor and acceptor counts, molecular weight, bioactivity and synthetic accessibility, which resulted in a set of 3,960 molecules. These molecules were further filtered based on their affinity towards SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease. After virtual screening, a total of 1,333 small molecules were obtained which could act as potential inhibitors.
We also observed that, the generative model could generate small molecules that are similar to HIV-protease inhibitors, but with better binding to the SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease. The complete set of promising small molecules can be found here so that anyone can test these molecules against SARS-CoV-2 in this hour of need.
Other AI-based applications for COVID-19 drug design research
Several companies and startups have transformed their research goals in innovative ways, to utilize AI in accelerating the search for a cure against COVID-19. The European AI-centered startup Molecule.one has released its patented syntheses planning platform for free access to the scientific community, in an effort to help researchers rapidly synthesize and test potential candidate molecules against COVID-19. IBM has applied its AI generative frameworks to three COVID-19 targets and has generated 3000 novel molecules. These molecules have been released under the Creative Commons License (CCL) to the scientific community for synthesis, testing and optimization. The Hong Kong-based pharmaceutical research company, InSilico Medicine has released a list of 97 candidate small molecules designed to inhibit the 3CL protease of SARS-CoV-2. Several AI-based rapid virtual screening models have been developed and tested against COVID-19, with existing public and commercial virtual screening compound libraries as primary databases. In essence, several directions of research have incorporated AI-based models to come up with potential therapeutics for COVID-19, at an unprecedented pace. | https://towardsdatascience.com/ai-speeds-drug-discovery-to-fight-covid-19-b853a3f93e82 | ['Arijit Roy'] | 2020-04-29 18:08:51.910000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Covid 19', 'Data Science', 'Science', 'Deep Learning'] |
From Sourdough to Scholarships… | SD Bakers started as a hobby of two sourdough enthusiasts…
It all started in the Fall of 2019 when two friends would get together every Wednesday to bake sourdough bread… Before we knew it sourdough took over us and we were making more bread than our families could consume. What do you do with extra bread fresh from the oven? We started sharing the rest with friends, mostly our Turkish- American community in San Diego. Seckin began using sourdough to bake traditional Turkish favorites like simit and pide . After many trials and errors, we perfected those recipes too.
Our friends insisted that we should charge them and the idea of SD Bakers came to life. We started with our small circle of friends in February 2020 and has been baking since then alternating between sourdough bread, challah, simit, pide and crackers. Our motto is to use only sourdough as yeast and to buy organic flour, and the best ingredients that we would feed our kids.
We knew we were going to incorporate BTF fundraising into this venture eventually. Unprecedented Covid outbreak led us to allocate part of our revenue to BTF for the Laptops4Kids project. Like other circles, San Diego has limited options to raise funds during the pandemic and we have quickly realized that it would not be sustainable to continuously ask for donations during these hard times. | https://medium.com/building-bridges/from-sourdough-to-scholarships-a261fbc95431 | ['Arzu Gocmen'] | 2020-12-25 19:41:07.503000+00:00 | ['Empowerment', 'Philanthropy', 'Scholarships', 'Türkiye', 'English'] |
Apple iCar: Specs and Rumors | The news that Apple made cars has become a hot topic in the industry. The CNBC said that Apple has never admitted to making a car plan, but Cook acknowledged that Apple is developing an “Autonomous system” that can be used for self-driving cars or other purposes.
The DigiTimes predicts that Apple cars will be unveiled from 2024 to 2025. According to Bloomberg News, Apple has also handed over the autonomous driving department of its “Titan” to John Giannandrea, the senior director of the artificial intelligence department.
The main task is to develop an autonomous driving system that can eventually be used in Apple’s electric cars
Taiwan’s Economic Daily News further pointed out that Apple has recently put forward stocking requirements to Taiwan’s auto parts manufacturers such as Heda, BizLink, Heqin, and Tomita.
Apple is expected to announce Apple Cars in September next year and also call its prototype cars. It has been tested on the road in California, USA.
Judging from the signs revealed by the media, Apple’s building a car is already a certainty.
At the moment, Apple has handed over the autonomous driving department of its “Titan” to John Giannandrea, the senior director of the artificial intelligence department.
The main task is to develop an autonomous driving system that can eventually be used in Apple’s electric cars.
Why does Apple build cars?
As early as 2016, Musk said: “Tesla’s biggest competitor is not Google, but Apple.”
Apple’s stock price has been hovering between US$100 and US$120 for a long time, and its market value can basically stand at US$2 trillion.
However, if you want a breakthrough in market value in the future, it is difficult to build on the existing track. Obviously, with iPhone hardware sales reaching the ceiling, Apple’s service business has fallen into an antitrust controversy again.
Apple urgently needs to find a new business to open the situation
The automotive industry is ushering in a stage of rapid growth, and it is a good time for Apple to enter the market at this time.
From January to November this year, 17.79 million passenger vehicles were sold in the Chinese market, and electric vehicles accounted for 5.4%. The industry predicts that sales of electric vehicles will exceed 1.5 million next year.
According to economic principles, when a new product category enters the market and the market share can rise to about 10%, it is often an inflection point of explosive growth.
This law has been verified in the smartphone industry
In the electric vehicle market this year, products such as model 3 have attracted huge attention, and the inflection point will faintly come.
Photo by zhang kaiyv on Unsplash
Apple’s main products are mainly consumer electronics products represented by the iPhone, Mac, and iPad
At present, everything Apple has laid out in the industrial chain is to form a complete supply chain system around these consumer electronics products. But in the automotive field.
Apple is still a novice
But Apple has been planning for a long time in the automotive field. Since the establishment of the Apple project code-named “Titan” in 2014, Apple’s patent application on automobiles has not been interrupted.
In January 2016, Titan ushered in its first major adjustment. According to employees who did not want to be named at the time, Apple is still a few years away from developing “a truly differentiated electric vehicle.”
Due to the lack of a clear goal, the Titan project encountered some challenges
But despite this, Apple’s investment in the automotive field has not stopped. According to incomplete statistics, Apple has applied for nearly 100 automotive patents since 2017, covering charging, autonomous driving, AR navigation, biometrics, and smart hardware.
And the Car External interactive electric vehicles on-board systems, body structure optimization, safety assurance, etc., can be said to cover the core areas of car manufacturing.
In 2018, Apple obtained several patents related to lidar. According to Apple insiders, the core of Apple’s car strategy is a new battery design.
The design reduces the number of modules for storing battery materials and frees up space inside the battery pack, thereby enabling the car to have a stronger endurance.
From the perspective of patent reserves
In 2020, Apple has obtained at least 10 autonomous-driving patents, which involve the three major areas of autonomous driving sensors, communication, and control.
It is worth mentioning that the patent for autonomous driving sensors involves the linkage between sensors and data sharing.
Different sensors correct each other in the process of calculating data, making the decision-making process of autonomous driving more accurate; the other is called the “Charging station with an automatic alignment device” patent.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Besides, Apple has also applied for lidar obstacle detection, hidden lidar, recognition of traffic police gestures, and scene recognition under severe weather conditions.
We have seen that Lidar has been used on the iPhone 12, and Apple can still observe passengers, The psychological changes adjust the vehicle driving mode and other related patents.
Apple’s patents in the smart cockpit include voice and gesture operation of the car
Cars use gestures (AR recognition) or eye movements (eye-tracking technology) to determine the driver’s intention to perform related operations.
This technology is further upgraded and may be extended to passenger interaction.
The current mainstream model of new energy vehicles is to first develop a set of highly integrated chassis that includes power systems, battery systems, vehicle controllers, and automatic driving execution, such as braking and steering, which is called “Skateboard”.
For this part of the work, Apple’s current accumulation and layout in the automotive field should not be a big problem
It can be seen from these patent applications that Apple’s performance in the field of central control car machines and autonomous driving is worth looking forward to.
Whether it is an operating system or a chip, Apple’s technical depth and human-computer interaction understanding should exceed that of traditional car companies.
Apple’s patent accumulation in smart cockpits is even more exciting
Although some patents have been applied in some car companies, Apple’s ability to integrate technology and products is worth looking forward to.
In general, Apple wants to build a self-driving electric car with a high degree of intelligence, connectivity, and integration of software and hardware.
If the car is launched, it can be expected that it will surpass the existing car interactive experience and innovate user experience
The experience in the car scene is a high probability event.
It can be found from Apple’s patents that Apple still has more thoughts on the future of intelligent electric vehicles.
On the whole, it is based on the perspective of future user experience. It aims at various pain points in-vehicle use and future autonomous driving and The evolution trend of related technologies combined with AR.
Can Apple make cars?
Before the iPhone came out in the past, Apple was also a novice in the mobile phone industry. However, mobile phones and PCs are actually products that are closely related to each other.
The iPhone made by Apple is not considered a cross-border, but a homeopathic extension based on past technological accumulation and industrial chain.
Mobile phones and cars are actually two complete products.
In different product fields, the complexity and difficulty of the automotive field are also greater
For Apple, the capital investment is large, the production line and component suppliers have to start planning from the beginning, and the talents for carmakers need to be accumulated.
Therefore, it is more difficult for Apple to bring subversive changes and breakthroughs in the automotive field than to make a subversive mobile phone.
Judging from the current car manufacturing by new forces, various OEMs are focusing on car-machine systems and smart cockpits, focusing on intelligent networking, human-computer interaction, and a more networked user experience.
This is actually Apple’s home field
Advantages, Apple’s iOS-based software ecosystem has been unable to make progress in the automotive field in the past. It can build cars on its own.
Based on iOS, it can cut into the Internet of Vehicles and open up the seamless connection between mobile phones and smart cockpits in the car. This will undoubtedly allow other new power cars. Advantages envied by enterprises.
Building a car is a matter of burning money
At present, Tesla, the most successful car company in the field of new energy vehicles, has been losing money almost every year during its 17 years of establishment and has burned more than 5 billion US dollars in accumulated money.
Despite the huge investment in building a car, Apple is not bad for the money.
In 2019, Apple has 1.5 trillion in cash reserves. All of Tesla’s losses in 17 years are less than a fraction of Apple’s cash reserves.
If Apple wants to burn money to compete with Tesla, then Tesla is not a dimension and magnitude at all
In general, after the entry of new forces such as Apple and Tesla, the importance of core technologies in the automotive industry will become more and more prominent.
The competitors of traditional car companies are not limited to Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen, but Tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Tesla.
According to Goldman Sachs, Apple can use cars as a hardware platform to support its services. However, the low level of profit in the auto industry may mean that investors can see a limited contribution to profitability from this move.
But in fact, it is speculated from the focus of Apple’s patents that Apple is rushing to control the technological commanding heights of autonomous driving.
It does not pay attention to all the details of the vehicle but focuses on the most profitable intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit system links.
The other parts can actually be outsourced
If Apple has the ability to control some parts, it is not difficult to make a car that surpasses the standard of traditional car companies, and Apple’s model is still to hold the majority of profits in its own hands.
This is actually a continuation of Apple’s consistent style and model
In the mobile phone field, Apple only controls the core of the chip and operating system. Other parts are handed over to a group of suppliers, and OEMs are handed over to Foxconn, Wistron, and Luxshare Precision, etc.
In the automotive industry, Apple also wants to control only the parts that represent high technological manufacturing and high profits in the future.
After all, the industrial chain of the automotive industry is much more complicated than that of the mobile phone and PC industries.
A car has 30,000 parts and components, and the extremely large industrial chain places extremely high requirements on Apple’s integration capabilities.
According to Taiwan media sources, Apple has put forward stocking requirements to Taiwan’s auto parts manufacturers such as Heda, BizLink, Heqin, and Tomita.
From the perspective of the industrial chain
The current auto industry’s parts supply operation model has been relatively mature, auto market companies are highly dispersed, and the years of development of traditional auto companies have built their own community of interests.
Suppliers are also highly dispersed, and Apple is involved
It is basically impossible to achieve control of the mobile phone field in a short time.
From the experience of Tesla and other traditional automakers, it is very difficult to have a global electric vehicle or car production network.
Therefore, based on Apple’s inherent model to build cars, the integration capability of the supply chain is one of Apple’s biggest difficulties facing the auto market.
Besides, another big problem for Apple to make cars is that the early adopters are difficult to reproduce. The automobile category and the mobile phone category are two different user groups.
Photo by Romain Tordo on Unsplash
In the past, the launch of new products such as AirPods and Apple Watch first attracted the early adopters of the original fruit powder group and then popularized it among the mass consumer groups.
This made Apple’s new products a very smooth transition to the initial cold start stage of sales.
But in the automotive industry, this fan effect may no longer be useful. It is basically impossible for users in the mobile phone market and PC market to transfer to the car market.
On the one hand, mobile phones and cars are completely different products, with different product attributes, user needs, and interests, and there is no continuity and continuity at the demand level.
Secondly, cars are consumer category that focuses on decision-making. Apple cars are on the market and the price is not cheap.
Ordinary consumers can afford Apple mobile phones, but they need to buy Apple cars is based on a certain economic foundation
Apple’s inherent fan base The proportion of China Energy’s affordable consumption is not large.
Besides, it also needs to establish market trust. For automotive products, especially self-driving smart cars, safety is the most important.
It will take some time to verify the safety and handling experience. After all, a novice will end up making Consumers may be more willing to take a look at the car first.
Consumers may have a long wait-and-see period in the early stage of Apple’s introduction to the market
Although Apple is not bad for the money, it is difficult for Apple to tolerate long-term losses based on catering to the capital market’s expectations of investment returns.
From the analyst’s point of view: “If fully autonomous driving becomes the mainstream, then the time the driver spends on the road will again become the focus of competition for technology giants.”
In this regard, Apple’s full-scene ecosystem based on iOS services has given automotive hardware to it, and it will grow into a new service business.
Apple’s product ecosystem will achieve a closed-loop of overall travel from home, mobile travel to the company, and realize a unified lifestyle. Station-style “smart service”.
Therefore, in this sense, it depends on whether Apple is willing to sacrifice short-term returns and profits and use it as a core long track in the future for continuous investment.
Because it is too easy for Apple to make money, it may have underestimated the fierce competition and profitability of making cars and is unwilling to do long-term money-burning projects.
From the point of view of its revealed strategic purpose, Apple may make cars different from Tesla. Apple is more for profit, and Tesla still has the idea of changing the auto industry.
However, if Apple is determined to make a difference in the auto market, Tesla’s market value may be cut by half if there is a small success in a few years. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/apple-icar-specs-and-rumors-299a41cfdedb | ['Arslan Mirza'] | 2020-12-28 13:14:20.721000+00:00 | ['Apple', 'Electric Car', 'Technology', 'Self Driving Cars', 'Tesla'] |
Straight Laced & Poker-faced; | Justified how I spend my time, free from you I know I feel just fine, I stood the test, I passed through the duress, I’m free. I have a spine it’s not twisted like he, clench fisted, teeth grinding, animalistic and bemused, such the despicable mess, the likes of you, now I’m the one amused, free from the insanity that is you.
Justify how I stood the test of time, to thank you for bettering me is all I’m grateful for, pushing me up against you door, bought back my visions just as before. I’m like the old me I used to be, but evolved and inching ever so closer to 2023, I’ve never felt so free having you so far away from me.
Fear doesn’t drive me, I’m exactly who I’m supposed to be. Never shall you receive an apology from me, I can’t lie, I’ve no need to hide. No longer bide my time, your a nasty fruit fly, like a cancer everything you touch will die. Forever you shall circle, infecting your disease, there will be others just the same as me.
The ocean is too vast to cast and make it last, the hook is getting rusty, you’re much older than you would like to be. How much longer can you insist to score, before everyone slams the door, leaving you empty like before. You are not the one I choose to adore, I can not be held down, you have no power anymore.
You played your hand, I called your bluff, lust should never trust, straight lased and poker-faced, I unveiled your mask. The tables have turned, be careful or you’ll get burnt, I have the power to reveal to the world, the despicable mess you truly are. In the end, I’m much the same as before, just more evolved, inching through to 2024. | https://medium.com/@thegizz2111/23-24-662469ae2b3d | [] | 2020-12-23 07:40:01.450000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Prose Poem', 'Poetry', 'Poet', 'Poems On Medium'] |
What is Delta-8 THC and what are its Medical Uses? | Leafwell | People often get confused when they see terms like “Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)”. However, the differences between Delta-8 and Delta-9 needn’t be confusing. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and Delta-8-THC are nearly identical molecules in structure and very similar in psychoactive benefits. The relatively obscure delta-8-THC and the very popular Delta-9-THC molecules have little more than two atoms’ worth of variance.
Both forms of THC are readily marketed throughout marijuana legal states in vape cartridges, soft drinks, gummies and tinctures. Consumers are making comparisons between Delta-8-THC and Delta-9-THC every day.
The legal cannabis industry and those medical marijuana patients who seek a smoother therapeutic THC experience are coming to see that two atoms can be responsible for a world of difference in cannabis products.
Delta-8 THC chemical formula and structure. C₂₁H₃₀O₂. By Nikos 1993. From Wikipedia.
In what ways are Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC Different?
The weed called cannabis contains a panoply of cannabinoids. These chemical compounds are responsible for the therapeutic effects sought by medical marijuana patients. Delta-9-THC and CBD are two of the most popular and abundant cannabinoids. In contrast, Delta-8-THC is one of the “minor cannabinoids. “ Delta-8-THC appears in very slight concentrations in the cannabis plant, but is on course to become one of the weed’s most popular elements.
To understand what separates the Delta-8-THC molecule from the Delta-9-THC molecule, start by cataloging what connects these two forms of tetrahydrocannabinol. Delta-9 and Delta-8 are alike in that both cannabinoids bind to the same cannabinoid receptors in the human nervous system. The differences between the two THC types start with where and how they adhere to receptors in the medical cannabis user’s endocannabinoid system.
Nick Warrender as CEO of Lifted Made, a delta-8 specialty cannabis product brand, explains to Hello Giggles that Delta-8-THC and Delta-9-THC both contain double bonds, with the “delta” designation indicating where the bonds attach. According to Warrender, Delta-8-THC’s double bond is located on the eighth carbon of the Delta-8 carbon chain. Delta-9-THC’s is located one carbon off from Delta-8, at carbon nine in the Delta-9 carbon chain.
Pushing further into the science, Warrender specifies that Delta-8-THC attaches to the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS) at both the CB1 and CB2 receptors, while the more-common Delta-9-THC connects only with the CB1 receptor. The Lifted Made CEO points out that the widely marketed and used therapeutic cannabinoid CBD also, like Delta-8-THC, binds to both the endocannabinoid system’s CB1 and CB2 receptors.
This chemical similarity provides a basis for Warrender pitching Delta-8-THC as “a cross between CBD [cannabidiol] and Delta-9-THC.”
What Medical Uses does Delta-8 THC have?
The National Cancer Institute’s dictionary of cancer drugs defines Delta-8-THC as an analogue of the widely known and loved Delta-9-THC. The National Cancer Institute’s dictionary attributes antiemetic (nausea-beating), anxiolytic (anxiety reduction), appetite-stimulating, analgesic (painkilling), and neuroprotective (serving to fend off damage, degeneration or impairment of nerve cell function) properties to Delta-8-THC.
The National Cancer Institute scientists have determined that Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol binds to a cannabinoid G-protein coupled receptor in the central nervous system. In technical terms, Delta-8-THC’s activation of the central nervous system receptor “inhibits adenyl cyclase, increases mitogen-activated protein kinase activities, modulates several potassium channel conductances and inhibits N- and P/Q-type Ca2+ channels.”
In words that are easier to understand, as spoken by cofounder and marketing director Ian Bush of Hii Stick therapeutic hemp products to Hello Giggles, the experts at the National Cancer Institute are crediting Delta-8-THC for providing relief from pain, nausea and inflammation. These ameliorative properties of Delta-8-THC can also open the way to increasing a patient’s appetite and relieving stress.
Ian Bush, in tune with Lifted Made’s Warrender, likens the medical uses of Delta-8-THC to the therapeutic applications of the CBD cannabinoid, but “with more of a psychoactive effect, but, again, far less psychoactive than THC.”
The National Cancer Institute concurs that Delta-8-THC will leave medical cannabis patients with a softer psychoactive footprint, concluding: “This agent exhibits a lower psychotropic potency than Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta-9-THC), the primary form of THC found in cannabis.”
These properties make Delta-8 THC potentially very useful for children, those who are particularly sensitive to Delta-9 THC, and those seeking something more tolerable for chronic pain relief during the daytime.
Why aren’t there more Delta-8-THC Products Available?
As stated above, Delta-8-THC is a minor cannabinoid. This means that Delta-8-THC concentrations are usually quite low — maybe 1% if you’re lucky, compared to the 20% plus you can get with Delta-9-THC and CBD. This means that Delta-8-THC is:
More difficult to extract in high amounts.
It will take a lot of time and selective breeding to get Delta-8-THC-rich cannabis varieties
Minor cannabinoids can be difficult to keep stable when exposed to air and light. We need to learn how to keep them from changing or degrading too much over time.
Delta-9 THC is more readily available than Delta-8 THC, as it’s produced in higher concentrations by the cannabis plant. Author: Harbin. From Wikipedia.
Are there any Delta-8-THC-Rich Cannabis Strains or Products?
As Delta-8-THC is found in relatively small concentrations, there have not really been any varieties of cannabis that have been developed with Delta-8-THC production as of yet.
However, it is possible to make Delta-8-THC-rich extracts, so it is possible to get vape pens, concentrates and other products high in Delta-8-THC. As far as we here at Leafwell are aware, Marley Natural has a Delta-8-THC-rich product by the name of Marley Natural STUDIO vape cartridges, which contains a blend of Lemon Haze, OG Kush and Sugar Mama. 3Chi is another company that makes a Delta-8 THC vape cartridge. Burman’s Health Shop also stocks various Delta-8-THC products. As always, we would recommend that you research all products thoroughly before buying and using them, and learn more about what makes a good medical cannabis product.
Connoisseur Genetics OG Kush Cookies (OG Kush x Girl Scout Cookies (GSC))Photo by hoppman at seedfinder.eu | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Is Delta-8-THC as Effective as Delta-9-THC?
The question may be posed as is Delta-8-THC more effective or less effective than Delta-9-THC as a medical cannabis product? The answer is that Delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol appears to be similar in therapeutic effectiveness to Delta-9-THC, with a difference.
Dr. Peter Grinspoon is a board member of the advocacy group Doctors for Cannabis Regulation and a primary care physician at Harvard Medical School. A specialist in therapeutic cannabis, Dr. Grinspoon tells Discover magazine, “People report [Delta-8] as being less anxiety-provoking, less sedating and a little more clear-headed than [Delta-9] THC.”
A common and limiting complaint among medical cannabis users, especially among those who are leery of treating a recurring condition with medical marijuana applications, is that Delta-9-THC side effects can include paranoia and anxiety. Delta-9-THC has even been blamed for triggering dizziness and headaches, conditions that can negate the benefits medical cannabis curious patients are seeking. You can, however, mitigate some of the negative effects of any type of THC using other cannabinoids and terpenes (the entourage effect, which also boosts various cannabinoids’ medical properties as well).
Cannabis and cannabinoid-based medications could be a great treatment for anxiety. Delta-8 THC could be particularly useful as an anxiolytic medication.
Harvard’s Dr. Grinspoon believes Delta-8-THC may open up acceptance of THC based medical cannabis products among the elderly, children and other patients in need of ameliorative solutions that bring “less confusion and spaciness or stonedness or whatever you want to call it.”
The reality of the USA’s legal cannabis market is that products tend to contain high concentrations of THC. That high concentration is not by accident. The typical American legal cannabis consumer’s purchase history indicates that greatest THC concentration at lowest price point is the deciding factor considered by many recreational and medical cannabis users in determining which cannabis product to purchase.
However, medical cannabis users are wising-up to the benefits of other cannabinoids, whether or not they are psychoactive. In fact, many medical users specifically want the choice of how inebriated they feel. Those looking after sick children or the elderly are also interested in less intoxicating products. Providing wider ranges of products and alternatives can only be a good thing. Having Delta-8-THC-rich products is just one of the possible variations of this wonderful plant!
The future may be a time when the legal cannabis industry discovers that transitioning those high Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentrations to concentrations of Delta-8-THC will make the benefits of medical marijuana better for everybody. | https://medium.com/@leafwell/what-is-delta-8-thc-and-what-are-its-medical-uses-leafwell-e7c6eb064487 | [] | 2021-01-22 21:50:08.730000+00:00 | ['Thc', 'Medical Marijuana', 'Cannabinoids', 'Marijuana', 'Cannabis'] |
The shattered realities of William Gibson | The shattered realities of William Gibson
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
Through the most famous opening line in science fiction history, a generation of readers have entered the imagined reality of the Sprawl. Conceived in a series of short stories (later collected as Burning Chrome) and introduced to a mass audience in the 1984 novel Neuromancer, William Gibson’s dark future dystopia remains, almost 40 years later, one of the most convincing science fiction visions ever created.
“…the real strength of Gibson’s writing is not in the fantasy it conjures, but the reality it constructs, and then shatters.”
Today’s most famous scifi worlds are created on the cinema screen, or in the virtual realities of video games. There’s a genuine irony that, while Gibson partly created our ideas of cyberspace and virtual reality, the world of the Sprawl has remained a stubbornly linguistic universe. A place we enter through printed words on the page, thanks only to the visionary inventiveness - and technical mastery - of Gibson’s writing.
Count Zero, the second novel in the Sprawl trilogy, opens with a virtuoso display of fiction writing skills, that in just 2700 words, combine all Gibson’s key strengths as a writer. In that space Gibson kills and then resurrects his central character, and summons on the page the intoxicating cyberpunk vision for which he is famed. But the real strength of Gibson’s writing is not in the fantasy it conjures, but the reality it constructs, and then shatters.
Turner is a corporate mercenary, blown to pieces, quite literally, on an unspecified mission in Istanbul. Because he has a good contract, Turner is painstakingly rebuilt, with body parts bought on the open market. It’s the contrast of such elements that makes Gibson’s writing so haunting - his poetic genius of conjuring the unreal imagery of a man remade from purchased body parts, but only after the detail of a contract negotiation has established mundane reality.
Turner’s death is narrated in three terse sentences, opening with the stark pronoun “they”, that condense the mercenary’s mission into a set of snatched images. His resurrection is explicated in three paragraphs, an idealised, hyperreal mid-West American childhood of “coffee and Wheaties” that Turner awakes from into “tropical green and sunlight that hurt his eyes” and a surgeon we know only as the Dutchman.
The narrative continues to telescope inward, from sentence, to paragraph, to page length descriptions that immerse the reader ever deeper into the reality Gibson’s words weave. We follow the resurrected Turner into a Buddhist “bardo” state, held between life and death in symbolic environment of international airports, until “a vast chunk of memory detached itself from a blank bowl of airport sky” and sends Turner to Mexico.
Gibson cements his reality with “eyeball kicks”, ultra closeup, intensely described details that hold the reader fascinated. A Mexican bus journey is narrated around the glass knob of a transmission lever, “cast around a crouching spider blown from clear glass, hollow, half filled with quicksilver. Mercury jumped and slid when the driver slapped the bus through switchback curves, swayed and shivered in the straightaways.”
Half of the chapter is dedicated to a betrayal. Turner awakes in bed with a woman and, in the decaying splendour of a Mexican beach town, the two develop something close to a true relationship.
“Something Midwestern in the bone of the jaw, archaic and American. The blue sheets were rucked across her hips, sunlight angling in through hardwood louvres to stripe her long thighs with diagonals of gold. The faces he woke with in the world’s hotels were like God’s own hood ornaments. Women’s sleeping faces, identical and alone, naked, aimed straight out to the void.”
Gibson carries the slowing pace of the chapter along on the beauty of such well crafted sentences. Paragraphs that build from a simple sentence, through a cumulative sentence clustering multiple descriptive phrases together. The kind of craftsmanship invisible to most readers, but holding their attention, until a final periodic sentence structure, keeping the paragraphs meaning until the very final word. “But this one was different. Already, somehow, there was meaning attached to it. Meaning and a name.”
Her name, we learn, is Alison. We also learn she is a psychologist, sent to assess Turner’s mental state, and fitness for the next mission demanded by his corporate paymasters.
“…we know we are seeing the world through the eyes of a man whose eyes are not his own.”
It’s the experience of lived reality created through Gibson’s words, that allows him to create the effect that readers find so compelling - shattering his reality with fragments of the unreal.
Turners death comes in the form of a “slamhound”, that we’re beckoned to imagine as it comes “scrabbling through a forest of bare brown legs”. The mercenary does not recuperate in a hospital but is regrown on “slabs of collagen and shark-cartilage polysaccharides”. The eyes Turner is given are green. Whatever color his eyes were before, we know we are seeing the world through the eyes of a man whose eyes are not his own.
The fragments of unreal embedded in the real continue. A hologram postcard. A black metal credit chip. A dozen odd microsofts, that embed in socket behind the ear. A security guard carries a Steiner Optic laser, we are told, before the mundane realist detail of his trousers, creased like knives. Even Turner’s suntan is made unreal, as it fades from an angular patchwork created by skin grafts.
If Count Zero never quite reaches again the fever pitch of its opening pages, it may only be because those pages attain an intensity of imagery rarely achieved in prose fiction. They embody the power of the science fiction genre, at its very best, to both create and shatter realities for its readers. And of the written word, in the hands of a master like William Gibson, to invoke the power of human imagination, perhaps more powerfully than any other storytelling medium. | https://damiengwalter.medium.com/the-shattered-realities-of-william-gibson-6989fdf35aef | ['Damien Walter'] | 2018-01-18 16:51:34.643000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Science Fiction', 'Writing', 'Creative Writing', 'Creativity'] |
30 One-Sentence Compliments That Dig Beyond The Surface | 30 One-Sentence Compliments That Dig Beyond The Surface
Photo by Mathilde Langevin on Unsplash
1. You’re an incredible listener — thank you for letting me speak, and thank you for not talking over me.
2. You make everyone you encounter feel warm and welcome — the second you walk into the room, people are at ease.
3. Thank you for being kind — I needed kindness today.
4. Thank you for being polite — your gratitude and graciousness are beautiful.
5. When I’m with you, I feel seen.
6. When I’m with you, I feel safe.
7. When I’m with you, I feel loved.
8. I love the way you love people.
9. I love the way you love life — that kind of love is infectious in the best way possible.
10. I love the way you show up for others and the way you show up for yourself.
11. You inspire me to show up for myself.
12. You inspire me to show up for those around me.
13. You inspire me, period.
14. I admire your sense of fashion.
15. I admire your taste in art, in food, in music.
16. I admire the way you give the space for a taste that does not reflect yours.
17. I admire your sense of calm.
18. I admire how you make people feel calm.
19. I love how you are unapologetic about your ambition.
20. I love how you are unapologetic about your love.
21. I love how you own who you are — it makes it feel more natural for me to do the same.
22. I love how you laugh.
23. I love how you love to make others laugh.
24. I love how you always know the right thing to say in the darkest of moments.
25. I love how you don’t let yourself dwell in the dark moments.
26. I love how you’re always present with me.
27. I love how you’re always present with the ones around you.
28. Thank you for never taking your phone out at meals.
29. Thank you for never taking your phone out while I’m talking to you.
30. You are a miracle, and I’m grateful for you. | https://medium.com/@megan-minutillo/30-one-sentence-compliments-that-dig-beyond-the-surface-eccae22fb345 | ['Megan Minutillo'] | 2020-12-22 17:54:39.551000+00:00 | ['Love', 'Self Improvement', 'Positivity', 'Kindness', 'Lists'] |
Self-harm: It’s own addiction | Although it’s commonly hidden away, self-harm is a quite usual occurrence especially in teens, and young adults. Most can conquer this with treatment, however it is still extremely difficult to admit that you need help.
So Self-harm is basically hurting yourself with intent, there are a multitude of ways to do so but most conventional is cutting yourself with a sharp object or a blade. There can also be an after affect is some that causes them to pick at wounds, pull hair, etc. prevent healing. Anyone who self-harms is a sign of emotional distress, and when not brought help those can feel the need to self-harm. These people often feel they deserve the pain but also feel shame in self-harming.
Okay, that makes sense, but why? Why do people choose to hurt themselves? Well you see it’s not a choice, self-harm is a side effect to a lot of different mental illness’s such as Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, Eating Disorders, Anxiety, and so many more. The people suffering with these feel like that’s the only way to ground themselves back.
Using drugs or alcohol also increases the chances of self-harm as the person is less aware and has less self-control. This also leads to the injury’s being worse than intended.
Now self-harm isn’t attempted suicide, but should definitely be taken seriously, people who feel the need to Self-harm are also at a higher chance of suicidal thoughts, and may grow into actions.
Of course no matter how long a person has been using Self-harm as a coping mechanism it can always be treated using Psychodynamic therapy, Cognitive behavioral therapy, and Dialectical behavioral therapy. A doctor can also provide medication.
What do you do if you notice someone is self-harming? Whether it’s a family member, a friend, if you notice frequent bandages, or long sleeves in hot weather it’s possible the person could be trying to hide scarring. Even though it’s a hard thing to do ask them about it, and don’t be dismissive saying something like “Even though I don’t fully understand, I am here for you” Even this little act can prove useful, and give someone a little more willpower to quit and seek treatment. | https://medium.com/@Baileesmith54/self-harm-its-own-addiction-da43b564c118 | ['Bailee Smith'] | 2021-08-17 16:00:18.346000+00:00 | ['Depression', 'Cutting', 'Addiction', 'Self Harm'] |
Walking Black While Biracial | Hello, my dear. You know who you are.
Yours is the story of two girls. Two girls who walk with me everywhere I go. They hold each other’s hand and together as sisters, have helped to define who I am. They are both me, and I am both them — 3 are 1, and 1 is 3. But one girl’s walk is not easy and safe like the other’s. One girl struggles to find her feet as she trips and stumbles, desperate to keep up. All her life, her grip is weak and her walk is timid, as she is constantly left behind. You know this story. This is your walk.
You are the one I had favoured less.
This is my hardest confession because there was no playground bully. There were no monsters in the office or the streets. But you know this pain. You know what I’ve done.
All your life, people see you instantly but they don’t ever acknowledge you directly. But the other girl, they love to piece her together. They take their time with her, learn her stories, and try to see her in my face while you get left unspoken to.
I know you’re half-black, but what’s the other half? Come on, tell me. “My mom‘s Filipino!” Whoa, so you’re half-Asian? That’s so cool! I can see it in your eyes now. Do you speak Tagalog?
Because of my own encouragement, she knows little fear and walks more confidently, with her chin up and strides long. She is always considered mysterious, more intriguing, and as a result, I have leaned into her more. We’re more likeable with her around, right? She gets more nods and eyebrow raises. She makes us more interesting, right? She connects with more people and doesn’t scare them away.
So I chose to stand closer by her, walk faster with her and over time, I even let her walk without you. We bounded down the path, learning more together as you desperately tried to catch up. You never begged for attention. You never did me wrong. Yet still, I barely gave you praise, or even acknowledged you in most situations.
Those situations were few and far between, sometimes only seen as a token of someone else’s mild curiosity, and in difficult situations when my life wasn’t easy, I remember blaming it on your hair or your striking difference to all those who grew up around me. And slowly, without realizing it, I’d let you walk behind your sister and me, watching as we took the compliments and put down those that were meant for you.
Oh, I love your natural hair! You should wear it out more! “Thanks, but you don’t know how it frustrates me.”
You loved me and you needed me, but I downplayed your significance. You’d watch as I made my preferences known, my tastes outright: I stay out of the sun to keep my skin fair — when yours is a deeper shade of tan; I straighten my hair at all times — and never really bothered to learn about your curls; and I kept silent on issues that I felt did not directly affect me as a mixed-race person — issues that defined everything about you and your right to exist. And at some point, it must have felt like all I ever did was morph into my other half more than you, becoming 2 instead of 3, as you frantically tried to catch up from behind, or quietly slow down to let us move forward.
I left you alone. And I wonder in all this time, how has that made you feel?
Growing up, our parents didn’t treat our blended race as an issue worth separating with distinction or discussion. “Don’t worry too much about it,” as if to say, “You’re mixed. Isn’t that the one identity you just need to own?” And for all I know, maybe they are right. Yet it doesn’t excuse my choices, my conclusions about you. You never hurt me, you never caused me grief. Your presence never brought hate or scorn directly in our path as 3. I treated you like the hate I see — I hate I can’t fathom — everyday in the news and in our history.
Then the protests came. And the pride for everything that you are and exist to be, was everywhere that I could not look away. I watched people rise and shout and talk about how radiant you are — how much you belong. I didn’t respond much, didn’t say much — watched but didn’t contribute. And one day a friend asked me the question.
So do you identify as black? “…not really, no.”
But you already knew that. And I wonder all this time, how did that make you feel?
There it was: the disconnection. So proud to be half-Asian but wanting nothing to do with you. Too weak to stop the pride and prejudice built inside my head. I chosen to walk without you, willingly and without shame. For years, you stood at the sidelines and accepted that I favoured you less. And in that silence, I saw you the way that I had defined you — defined us.
I left you feeling lonely and made you feel forgotten. Your curly hair became a mess that I was too afraid to maintain, too lazy to control. Your skin never glowed because I hid you from the sun, and you were unsure of your place in my world because I made you feel like you weren’t worth fighting for. I know that you cried, felt dirty and unloved. In your silence, I left you defeated. I left you to die alone.
Why did I think you were any less than your sister? Why was I so eager to bring up one half of me and unconcerned with talking about the other? Why did I make you feel like a commodity worth only the few bits of who you are?
Yes, we are one identity because I cannot be me without defining you. We are unique and interesting because you are here, because you walk with us. Your identity, your black identity, should be worth every bit of effort and I’m so sorry that I ever made you think you weren’t deserving of care. I should have been kinder to you, paid you more attention. Then maybe now, I (we) wouldn’t feel so lost when confronted with new questions that I’ve (we’ve) never really been asked: questions directly about you, specifically about how you are and how you feel.
Would you ever forgive me?
I am trying to do better. I need to do better, for the path — which you both walk in my name — to feel safe and sacred once again. No more leaning into only one half and forgetting that we are 3. I need to pull you from the sidelines and make you want to walk as your best and beautiful self. I need to praise your skin when it darkens in the sun, to be proud of your hair and do more to wear it out, and to learn more and speak out about your struggles more than I ever have.
So please be patient with me. I promise that you will walk proudly again, side-by-side with your other half. I promise that you will have your own moments where I will stand closer, you can walk faster, through this mist. And I promise that your hand won’t ever be let go.
I don’t ever want to favour you less.
.
.
. | https://your28yearoldneighbour.medium.com/walking-with-my-black-side-as-a-biracial-woman-a5579fda1b2e | ['Your Year Old Neighbour'] | 2020-12-18 20:26:39.010000+00:00 | ['Empathy', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Personal Development', 'Apples For Hannah', 'Race'] |
Making a Bad Graph Less Bad | Storytelling is one of the important ways humans communicate with one another. To tell stories about data, we use data visualizations, or more simply put — graphs.
There are some terrible graphs out there, and we’ve all seen them. But there are even more graphs that aren’t quite terrible, but are bad nonetheless.
Scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day, I came across an article from the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the politics of guns. The leading data visualization caught my eye — but not in a good way. The colors were bothersome, things were too far apart to make visual comparisons, and the style of graph was less than ideal.
Here’s the graphic:
Graphic from article in South Florida Sun Sentinel
Let’s take a closer look at what makes this graph bad and see if we can make it less bad.
Color
One of the first things I noticed about the visual was the bad choice of colors. While at first it might make sense to represent “Support” with green and “Oppose” with red (like the colors of a traffic light), this color combo should be avoided — and for a very good reason. It is widely known that the most common type of colorblindness is red-green colorblindness, that is those affected cannot (or have difficulty) distinguishing between red and green. If you cannot tell the difference between these two colors, this graphic is useless, or confusing at best. With 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women affected by colorblindness, the red-green combination is a bad choice.
I started imagining what the graph might look like with other color combinations. My first thought was: what about blue and orange? This is a commonly used pairing for data visualizations, mainly because it’s easy on the eyes, so to speak. But I let out a sigh of disappointment when I realized blue-orange would not work for this graph. The data being represented have to do with level of support for an assault-style weapons ban, an undeniably political topic. Since blue is typically used for the Democratic party and red for the Republican party, using either of those colors is a bad idea. While it is true that a democrat is more likely to be a supporter and a republican an opposer, it’s not a good plan to imply by color usage that these things always go hand-in-hand.
So if I can’t use red or blue, what’s left? I probably want to stay within the Crayola 8, as outside colors can sometimes be distracting, so let’s try green and orange. Aesthetically, it’s not my favorite choice — but it’s better than bad.
Comparison
The figure is begging the viewer to make visual comparisons, but it’s not always easy to do. In the figure, there are three related graphs. The top graph illustrates the proportion of all Floridians who support and oppose an assault-style weapons ban, as well as those who don’t know or have no answer. It is meant to be a point of comparison for the other two graphs, which display the proportions for support, oppose, and undecided by gender and by political party. But my eyes are having trouble comparing. I can feel my eyeballs bouncing up and down as I try to assess if the level of support among independents is higher or lower than the level of support from all Floridians. These items need to be brought closer together to enable viewers to plausibly make these judgments.
I also find it challenging to compare the percentage of opposers in each subgroup. Comparing the percentage of supporters is much easier, since all those bars begin at the same point, at 0%. Since the bars for the oppose category all begin in slightly different spots, comparing their lengths is more difficult. The fact that support data is easier to compare than oppose data hints that somehow the support data might be more important to understand than the oppose data, which I think is an unfair assumption.
I see two possible options for making the comparison between oppose groups more digestible. Option 1: switch the order of the oppose group and the undecided group for each bar. This flip-flop would enable the viewer to more quickly compare the lengths of the oppose bars since they would all be right-aligned. The swap further improves the graph by putting the groups on a scale from positive to negative, with undecided between support and oppose, as it naturally falls.
Option 2: construct a grouped bar chart instead of a stacked bar chart. This type of graph might ease the visual comparisons among opposers since all bars would start at 0%. In this option, the importance of understanding the oppose data is put on equal footing with the importance of understanding the support data.
Same data, different visual
The next step was to take the bad and make it better (well, at least make it less bad). I tried to improve the colors and make things easier to compare. Here’s my visual: | https://towardsdatascience.com/making-a-bad-graph-less-bad-b50653aff743 | ['Eileen Palmer'] | 2019-11-22 18:01:15.792000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Data', 'Data Science', 'Matplotlib', 'Python'] |
Citi Bike plans its expansion to the outer boroughs | The Citi Bike dock at East 137th Street in Manhattan is the closest station to the Bronx which stretches for miles above that. But next year, the ride share program plans to expand to the northernmost borough.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) held a Citi Bike planning workshop on Wednesday at Betances Community Center in the Bronx. Representatives presented information on the project, held group discussions and asked participants to map out docking stations in their community district, Bronx 1.
Lisa Rivera lives in the district and works in the local education system. She spends a lot of time traveling between different schools in the area.
“I definitely see myself using [Citi Bike],” she said in her discussion group. “This would be beneficial to me. All the money I would save on transportation; it cuts down on gas and cuts down on traffic.”
Bronx residents point out potential stations for Citi Bike docks at a DOT planning meeting.
This meeting was the first part of the department’s plan to integrate Citi Bike into this community district as well as Manhattan Community Districts 9 and 10. After listening to locals, they will present ideas to the community board and then aim to complete the expansion by Spring of 2020.
“With any program, you want to start in the densest part of the city and then work your way out,” said Bronx Borough Commissioner for the DOT Nivardo Lopez.
In 2013, Citi Bike premiered six thousand bikes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. A couple years later, it doubled the number of bikes and expanded to Queens. Throughout that time, Bronx residents have largely relied on bus services for transportation.
“In the Bronx, on the East-West Corridors, we have somewhat of a transit desert,” said Amril Hamer, the Bronx Organizer for Transportation Alternatives. “Citi Bike would help people that live in those corridors get to their jobs.”
Citi Bike runs slightly less expensive than passes for the bus and subway with an annual fee of $169. Additionally, the DOT proposed reduced fares for affordable housing residents, food stamp recipients and Community Development Credit Union Members. This would bring the cost down to $5 per month for those that qualify.
“This is going to be another way of improving mobility throughout New York City for people might not have as many transit options,” said Commissioner Lopez.
According to the DOT, Citi Bike will reach all of the Bronx with a total of over 40 thousand bikes throughout New York City by 2024. | https://medium.com/@sarah.c.gabrielli/citi-bike-plans-its-expansion-to-the-outer-boroughs-9e6596008315 | ['Sarah Gabrielli'] | 2019-11-14 18:26:18.314000+00:00 | ['Bronx', 'Transportation', 'Citi Bike', 'Cycling', 'Dot'] |
Hot To Avoid Regrets And Make A Move | Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash
Pandemic gave everyone opportunity, to learn, grow, and think about what’s next?
Since we have started doing things remotely, I’m sure we are left with plenty of time throughout the day which we usually used to spend commuting, water-cooler conversations, etc.
Not sure what everyone is up-to, but everyday since I have started working remotely, I’m getting hundreds of ideas in my mind, and things which can help extend my horizon. But I was not motivated enough or lazy to start anything, and due to this, everyday I sleep with a regret of lost opportunity.
I don’t want everyone to feel the same so wanted to share few things which I can help everyone achieve what they are thriving for.
There are few thumb rule or principles you should follow and make them as part of life even outside this unprecedented scenario:
Don’t be afraid of criticism Fail fast, learn fast Do what feels right to you Seek help
Let’s discuss these one by one briefly:
Don’t be afraid of criticism
Humans are made in such a way, where they try to think what others will think. I would like to say only one thing, if you will think what others will think then what will other do? So, let’s delegate the job of thinking/giving critics to others and we should focus on our primary job of doing what feels right to us.
At first, this may be daunting but always remember if people are giving opinion then your point is getting heard and people want to start a discussion or want you to improve on it. Always remember, take that feedback positively and do some thinking but always do what feels right to you.
Fail fast, learn fast
Yes, you heard it right, as easy and straightforward it may sound but humans are afraid of failing. Humans treat failing as failure rather than a learning opportunity to make a come back stronger and wiser.
Cannot emphasize more, do not be afraid of criticism and failing. If you are not failing then you are not trying, so keep trying until you find yourself at the spot you want to be.
Do what feels right to you
Don’t get influenced by others, always take opinion but try to think your version of the story. If you are doing something in which you are convinced then no one can stop you from moving forward, you will be able to handle all the things we discussed earlier.
Seek help
People out there are happy to help, you have to collect yourself and make your move. It will help open many doors, get different perspective, and learn early. This is the thing which everyone knows how to do but sometime they don’t find right words or are not confident enough to ask questions. So, go out there, nudge someone, they will be happy to give you advice. | https://medium.com/@chopra0/how-to-avoid-regrets-and-make-a-move-87f54c2187bf | ['Prince Chopra'] | 2020-05-20 02:05:04.067000+00:00 | ['Regret', 'Help', 'Pandemic', 'Time', 'Time Management'] |
How Uber works and makes Money: uber business model and revenue model of Uber | Uber Technologies, is an American multinational transportation network company (TNC) offering services which include but not limited to Ride booking, peer-to-peer ridesharing, ride service hailing, food delivery, and a bicycle-sharing system. San Francisco Based transport giant has its operations over 785 metropolitan areas worldwide. Its platforms can be accessed via its websites and mobile apps.
Uber business and revenue model
As of 2019, Uber is the market leader in the US Transport market with the estimated 110 million users worldwide. It has a 69% market share in the USA for passenger transport and a 25% market share for food delivery.
Uber didn’t become Uber in one go, Step by step, with data-driven decisions and moderately brave experiments made Uber today the market leader in the online taxi ride market.
Want to know about the uber business model and how uber makes money (uber revenue model) read our complete blog at https://www.appsrhino.com/how-uber-works-and-makes-money-business-and-revenue-model-of-uber/ | https://medium.com/@appsrhino4/how-uber-works-and-makes-money-uber-business-model-and-revenue-model-of-uber-87d3257b90a4 | [] | 2020-12-22 14:52:49.586000+00:00 | ['Taxi', 'Mobile Apps', 'Mobile App Development', 'Technology', 'Uber'] |
This is Why Employee Programs Fail | Often companies wonder why their employee referral program is not running successful despite offering heavy cash bonuses. Isn’t cash prize motivating enough? In most cases, the answer is NO!
The real reason why a referral program may fail is missing employee engagement. Is your employee feel motivated enough to refer more candidates? If the answer is NO then you need to work on your employee referral program to make it more interactive, dynamic, fun.
Here are some prominent reasons why employee referral programs fail. | https://medium.com/cvviz/this-is-why-employee-programs-fail-f3497f8efd9f | ['Amit Gawande'] | 2019-08-19 08:06:23.266000+00:00 | ['Employee Referrals', 'Employee Referral Program', 'Hiring Strategy', 'Hiring', 'Recruiting Technology'] |
Thursday Works Too | I’m the freak in town
You’re the freak from out of town
Let’s get down Tuesday
Monday could be right
But already past midnight
That gives us Tuesday
Wednesday’s for weirdos
Won’t be noticed we’ve no clothes
But must dump Hump Day
I can’t swing Friday
But if we do it my way
We’ll get down Tuesday
Concession offer
I’ll make room for you Thursday
No weekend — full queue
So switch day is it?
It’s your T-day to toggle
Amp up or we’re through | https://medium.com/no-crime-in-rhymin/thursday-works-too-8692fa83221b | ['Juliette Roanoke'] | 2019-08-14 17:05:52.023000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Haiku', 'Humor', 'Relationships', 'Sex'] |
My Reflections of ‘In The Heights’ | Like everyone else, we were excited. Beaming with pride that any semblance of our story — our neighborhood story was being told on the silver screen. We were especially proud because our son, who has been acting for 6 years now, was able to land an on-screen background role in the movie. So, no matter what suspicions or reluctance some of us had about which story would be told, “In The Heights” had us all waiting with eager expectation.
And it delivered…kind of. Well, it’s complicated. Within a few days of its long anticipated premier, social media and news outlets like The Root, exploded with criticism mainly about the movie’s misrepresentation of Washington Heights, a neighborhood that recently was canonized as “Little Dominican Republic” to pay homage to the many Dominican residents that call it home.
And that may the source of the rub.
There are much smarter people than me talking about the nuances of Latinx identity. I won’t attempt to be scholarly about that. These are my reflections, most of which are birthed out of my experiences as someone deeply shaped by Uptown culture. The only other motivator here are my kids, who I feel the exciting responsibility to pass on the legacy of my identity so that they could discover who they are.
Art will always be complex
No matter how deeply a piece of art is connected to a real moment in history, place or person, its expression will always be at the mercy of the artist. As enjoyers of art, there will always be room to insert your observations or interpretations of the piece, but ultimately the artist decides — even if subconsciously — what the pen writes, what the brush strokes, what the camera captures. Lin-Manuel is the architect; he’s the artist. In The Heights was shaped by his experiences of Uptown (mainly Inwood, or Dyckman for us natives, which is the northern most part of the neighborhood. how that difference shapes his storytelling is also important, but for another time). For those of us that took to the theaters in celebration of what could be, we watched a movie about a neighborhood that existed in his imagination. and we didn’t leave with the level of satisfaction we had hoped for. Why? Because we don’t live in his imagination. Not as main characters, at least.
Art will always be complex, because art is birthed out of us. And we are complex beings who are shaped by nuanced experiences, privileges or lack thereof. We’re shaped by our desires and preferences — spoken or unspoken. As the architect Lin created what he imagined, a “mosaic.” But therein lies a fundamental obstacle. Washington Heights is not a mosiac. While it may be home to a variety of Latinx identities, Washington Heights is demonstrably Dominican; Afro-Dominican.
There have been so many Mexicans, Cubans, even Brazilians declaring their praise for In The Heights because they felt seen. And rightfully so, their flags and accents were in the movie. They felt seen because they were on screen. The movie’s effort to celebrate Latinidad (I don’t want any of the smoke that comes with this word) was beautiful but it minimized the Dominican story that lives in the very air of this community. Now, this is dicey, because I’d hate for this to be interpreted as a campaign to not celebrate those cultures. This is not that. We should celebrate them.
This is, however, an effort to show that Latinx expression varies across the different Latinx ethnicities and this movie was an opportunity to put that on display.
Beyond the tasks of filmmaking
Casting, as much as the wardrobe, the script, the director or any other department on the set of a movie, is not so much a task, but an opportunity. Better yet, it’s a responsibility to build the world of the film. And in the case of a movie about a neighborhood with such a unique expression, it is difficult to see the right cast in the backdrop of the wrong setting. It’s also devastating to see (on the big screen no less) our streets, our bodegas, our corners, our stoops with strangers occupying them. Even more — what the cast wears, how they sound, their accent, their syntax, their references, their isms, their music, their skin color, the smells of the movie, el sabor of the movie. All of those are special and important to the telling of our story. All of those serve as bricks in the construction of the world that the movie promised simply by virtue of its name. Oh, how i wished there was a perico ripia’o or a number with una bachatica ensendi’a!
But this is not In The Heights through my eyes, nor your eyes. It’s through the eyes of two Puertoriqueños, one of whose relationship to the Heights could perhaps be understood as periphery having grown up in West Philly. This may be the reason for a heavy presence of salsa music and a domininant Puerto Rican cast. Even if they played the role of Dominicans. This may explain why the beloved piraguero cooled los vecinos from the sweltering heat with piraguas and not frio frios. ¡Dame uno de chinola!… not parcha. When you know the artists, you better understand the art.
And as for the visual direction, well, that was in the hands of an Asian man and a white woman. Jon Chu and Alice Brooks are responsible for what, and more importantly, who, is captured by the camera. And listen, this is no indictment on them for those things. I could never. And i wouldn’t want to. But it is a call to awareness that they are the source of this art. And the truth is that perhaps for some of them, this wasn’t their story to tell.
Casting directors and other executive roles in the filmmaking journey are like the visual managers at retail stores. It’s their vision that decides which mannequins and outfits are considered most attractive for the windows that face the street. Yes, we got to see Latinos on the screen in ways that we never have. Yet there still remains glass ceilings to be shattered for the Afro Latinx community. Perhaps much of the frustration is coming from the expectations we had on this movie to deliver some of that shattering.
Nonetheless, as a Dominicano from Uptwon, Lin-Manuel has given me sufficient reasons to be proud of my Latinx idenity — no matter how nuanced it may be. But we shouldn’t make the conclusion that critique means that we hate the project and can’t appreciate it generally. I think Lin knows that. He’s also just an artist navigating all the heat his work is receiving. That’s no easy place to be in. I get that, too.
I won’t beat a dead horse. Afrolatinos were desperately absent in the foreground of this story, and thus, in the present imagination of its creators. But it’s important to share that I won’t condem anyone for not highlighting me in their imagination. None of us can, I suppose. We can only hope to inspire imagination; stretch it with truthful criticism — whether it spills out of us harshly or not. Though we hope it wouldn’t.
It’s a big deal to have this movie in Hollywood. And I’m thankful for that. There is nothing like In The Heights that has been memorialized into cinema history. That should be celebrated. As big, however, is the missed opportunity to tell the story more truthfully. Again, I think Lin gets that. His humility and active listening is a hopeful sign for great future projects and advocacy of the stories some of us felt fell short here.
If anything I’ve gotten from the loving relationship in my life is that mature love leads with celebration while holding space for growth, transformation, correction.
The Gift of Becoming Yourself
Yes, Hollywood is watching us have our disagreements. But I want to strongly encourage us to reframe the way we have these discussions. It’s important that we don’t frame those bringing critique as “hating” on the movie and damaging our perception to Hollywood. And on that note — big production companies, like Warner Bros., with their white dollars, are not the only way to have our stories told. The filmmaking industry is like any other industry, I imagine. There are enough creators, writers, producers, actors, directors, DP’s of color telling our stories without the help of big wig executives. I’m hopeful for the stories In The Heights will give birth to. But I’m weary of adjusting ourselves to mass appeal. I know it produces dollars but is dwarfs our stories into something foreign. The road to getting Hollywood to see the value in our stories is long and arduous. Surely, there are other ways.
Perhaps the next best thing that we can do is more simple than we imagine: create. Tell your story. Tell your ancestor’s story. Tell your block’s story as you know it; as you experienced it. Tell it truthfully. Don’t be held hostage by mass appeal. It’s one of the pitfalls we’ve inherited from the social media age. If you drink from the cup of mass appeal you risk the integrity of your story because you decide that what others think is more valuable than the deepest truth of your experience.
There’s no question that this movie has poured gas onto the on-going conversation about Latinx identity. And for that I’m thankful. Our Latinx identity is nuanced and complex. With Afrodesendencia and Indigenodescendencia. Learn your story. Climb your family tree. Saca tu abuela del closet. With all its twists, painful turns and pleasant surprises, there is no journey more important than the one where you become yourself, as you’ve been made. To share both that journey and what you discover is a gift to the world. To experience that in your art, your stories, your movies is to construct a bridge that allows me; that allows us, the opportunity to enter your story. The only catch is that it must be done truthfully. No hiding the mess. Not forgetting a chapter. And not making anyone invisible.
Living in my memories
My teen years were all about basketball at Dyckman park, bread runs to Kenny’s bakery and parties at Incarnation Catholic School’s gym on 175th and St. Nicholas. For over a decade I lived in Dyckman with my wife and two kids as a faith and community leader. In 2017 I debuted my memoir about what it meant for me to love this place that had changed so much over the years. I’ve had a number of non-native New York friends message me after watching the film: “Wow, I feel like I understand your story more” or some version of that sentiment. If I’m honest, these reflections are in large part to ensure that those unfamiliar with the place that shaped so much of me wouldn’t conclude that this film captured all what that place is.
If your conscience makes room for it, go buy a ticket. Watch this movie. Take with you what you can from this story. And trust me, you can. There’s plenty there for you. There’s plenty there for us. Beauty does not evade this movie. El fuego Caribeño wasn’t a stranger. To see the hydrants open, the streets flooded with kids, and the struggle to find our place in society — that was still especially beautiful and compelling. | https://medium.com/@richperez/my-reflections-of-in-the-heights-2a0e6ad3302 | ['Rich Perez'] | 2021-06-17 03:09:07.156000+00:00 | ['Reflections', 'Film', 'In The Heights', 'Imagination', 'Film Reviews'] |
Murder for “Necessity”?. The case of the Queen v. Dudley &… | Wrestling with dilemmas sheds light on the way moral argument proceed in our personal lives and in the public square. Life in democratic societies is rife with disagreement about right and wrong, justice and injustice. The case of the Queen v. Dudley and Stephens indicates the intensity of our morality on “what shall be done?”
Four shipwrecked men, lost at sea on a small rowboat with no food or water became the perfect legal storm and, ultimately, a watershed moment on how far man can go with justifying murder of one for the sake of many in the name of necessity. Parker’s (victim) situation was showing an appearance of imminent death as he gave way to temptation and drank the seawater. Dudley ( defendant) proposed to Stephens (defendant) to draw lots on who should be put to death to save the rest, and that they afterwards thought it would be better to kill the boy that their lives should be saved. But the question is, “What is a justified murder?”, “ Is it a murder with consent?” or “ Why does an act of consent make such a moral difference that an act would be wrong, taking a life without consent is morally permissible with consent?”.
Dudley’s evidence: “No vessel appearing on the morning, I made signs to Stephens and Brooks that we had better do it, but they seemed to have no heart to do it, so I went to the boy, who was lying at the bottom of the boat with his arm over his face. “I took out my knife-first offering a prayer to God to forgive us for what we were about to do and for the rash act, that our souls might be saved-and I said to the boy, ‘Richard, your time has come.’ The boy said, ‘What me, Sir?’ I said, ‘Yes, my boy.’ “I then put my knife [into the side of his neck.] The blood spurted out, and we caught it in the bailer and we drank the blood while it was warm; we then stripped the body, cut it open, and took out his liver and heart, and we ate the liver while it was still warm. Stephens at that time was in the stern of the boat and Brooks in the bow?” It was a terrible scene when later described by the survivors. “Mad wolves”, they described themselves: “We could not have our right reason.”
The verdict of the court was homicide by any definition. Dudley and Stephens were indicted of murder for the murder of Richard Parker on the high seas on the 25th of July in the present year. This proved that both prisoners were subject to terrible temptation which tends to be immoral and opposed to all legal principle and analogy.
Lord Hale regarded the private necessity which justified, and alone justified, the taking the life of another for the safeguard of one’s own to be what is commonly called “self-defence.”
Here comes the main question of the issue: Is “necessity” a reasonable defence for murder?
Taking look on the case, much of the prevailing authority at the time spoke of necessity as “self-defence”. Taking one’s life to safeguard your own. Although, Dudley and Stephens claimed the defence of justifiable homicide, what needed to be put in question was “How would you rule?”
Permitting such a defence to be asserted raises poignant questions such as how does one measure the comparative values of lives and who decides such things. I must say that necessity as a “survival” is used as an excuse to eliminate one’s reason of their temptation without thinking the rights of the victim. It must no be supposed that in refusing to admit temptation to be an excuse for crime it is forgotten how terrible the temptation was; how awful the suffering; how hard in such trials to keep the judgement straight and the conduct pure.
A man has no right to declare temptation to be an excuse nor allow compassion for the criminal to change or weaken in any manner the legal definition of “crime”.
The court rejected war as an appropriate analogy for Dudley and Stephen’s situation. War is a service imposed upon people by the nation. This was a private homicide to achieve a private end, the saving of their own skins. Dudley and Stephens urged the court to accept that they had a duty to preserve their own lives, but the court rejected this as well. True, without the killing of Richard Parker, the other men might have died, but turning the sailors’ war analogy against them, the court stated, “To preserve one’s life is generally speaking a duty, but it may be the plainest and the highest duty to sacrifice it. War is full of instances in which it is a man’s duty not to live, but to die.” Dudley and Stephen’s killing of Richard Parker was not, in the court’s words, “devilish.” They were honest men, who, when driven to an extreme, gave in to a temptation that, if we are honest with ourselves, we would be hard pressed to say for certain that we would be able to resist. But if the law were to allow people to kill for their private benefit when they feel that extreme necessity compels it, the door would swing wide open to the dangers of “unbridled passion and atrocious crime.”
That was not self-defence, but murder, no matter how extreme the circumstances they faced when they made their fatal choice. The verdict was guilty. The men would have to pay for their crime.
This case was taken as an example of ethical dilemma known as “trolley problem”. If you were put in their situation, what would you do? Would you sacrifice one piece to save three others, or would you gamble all four on a hope — no matter how remote or unlikely that hope might be? | https://medium.com/@devinkalukito/to-what-extent-is-murder-justifiable-for-necessity-98d6a98b28ed | ['Devinka Lukito'] | 2020-12-22 13:03:30.080000+00:00 | ['Criminal Justice', 'Justice', 'Case', 'Legal'] |
Genaro Eden Application Scenarios and User Experience | In the era of data eruption, no matter whether you are an individual or a group, each one is a data producer in some way. And all the data producers are looking for a bigger and safer harbor to moor their information.
Genaro Eden upholds the principle of ‘Returning users’ data to the users’. This is what makes its application prospects impossible to ignore.
Now let’s take a look at how Genaro Eden can exert influence on those industries that are closely related to our daily life — and transform them!
Target Users and Application Scenarios
Every individual or company that has a need for secure storage can become a potential user of Genaro Eden. The following will illustrate the possible application scenarios of Genaro Eden from the perspectives of both individuals and corporate users.
Individuals：
Blockchain lovers
Anyone who believes that blockchain technology can bring more security to data storage. Blockchain-based technology allows each user to store data in a secure, high-performance, and inexpensive manner. While most of the products in the market are no more than concepts, a believer in blockchain would not want to miss the opportunity to try Genaro Eden, the first peer-to-peer storage application in Asia? It will open a door for you to enter the brand new blockchain world. Your journey starts right from here!
People who have high requirements for data privacy
Data privacy in the digital age has become a priceless asset. Blockchain empowers users to preserve their data and privacy. Ant Financial Services under Alibaba Group had considered associating Alipay with Japan’s bank accounts, but Japanese banks were concerned that consumers’ personal information might be leaked and they did not agreed to cooperate. The president of Mizuho Financial Group stated at the press conference: “The consumer’s data is property and it is very important not to leak it to a third party.” Genaro Eden is a reliable security lock for everyone’s valuable data assets. Whether they are your movies, photos, or documents, all can be encrypted and stored safely on Genaro Eden without the need for you to be worried about data leakage.
Content Creators
For content creators, copyright is undoubtedly their greatest concern. If there is a truly secure storage platform it will undoubtedly bring them a certain amount of assurance and benefit. Imagine you were a writer. Would you be worried that the data stored in the Cloud could be accessed by hackers? The permanent and private data storage provided by Genaro Eden fully demonstrates content creator benefits which should not be underestimated.
Program Developers
Today, most application developers are relying on third-party platforms or cloud storage for data storage; Genaro Eden has great potential in this area. The Genaro Network will publish an API (Application Programming Interface) for program developers so that engineers can upload, download, and view files on Genaro Network without using a separate platform.
Corporate：
The enterprise version of Genaro Eden is still under development. Along with the extensive application of blockchain technology, Eden’s corporate version will also have a lot of room for development.
Government
Profile records and personal asset records can be stored on Genaro Eden. The government can use the blockchain’s digital timestamps to verify and sign documents that contain important citizen information and proof of ownership, while the peer-to-peer model allows all data in the system to be simultaneously and permanently distributed across nodes, avoiding corruption or fraud caused by government workers.
Medical
Medical data usually contain sensitive information such as patient’s identity information, treatment plan, and treatment costs. Once the data is compromised, lawbreakers can easily cause harm to patients on health property by stealing information.
Logistics
Think about daily transaction records and shipping numbers on Taobao. All of these need a stable storage platform. Another thing that troubles users is that the data they enter on these platforms is vulnerable to being hacked. So when you receive an unwanted ad or sales call, have you ever pictured an ideal scene whereby all your data is encrypted and stored in a secure way so that no one can access your phone number and expose you to telephone harassment?
Banks
It is common that when you go to the bank to sign up for a credit card, then the bank gets all your personal information. You have no idea how the data will be saved, let alone where the data is going. Banks always promise something along the lines of not sending your information to a third party or using your information for other purposes. However, you still feel suspicious when getting an unexpected call from some financial managers promoting their latest financial products or insurance company — wondering, ‘how come they know my contact number?’ The emergence of a peer-to-peer storage provider such as Genaro Network can solve this tricky problem. Since the users’ data belongs only to themselves, the bank can only have limited access when handling services for its client.
These are just a few examples. With the collection of feedback on Genaro Eden Personal Edition and the further development of the Enterprise Edition, more application scenarios will be discovered and thus push companys’ data protection to a higher level.
User Experience
The car inventor Henry Ford once said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” The underlying meaning of this sentence is that people’s core need is “faster.” However, “cars” at that time did not exist even in people’s wildest imaginations. It was impossible for them to think of something that could replace horses as vehicles.
Imagine you ask a similar question to users who are accustomed to cloud storage: “what kind of storage services do you want?” It can be assumed that their answer might be — a faster, safer, and more economical storage. From this point of view, “faster,” “more secure,” and “more economical” are the fundamental factors that impress users. The birth of peer-to-peer storage can beat its competitors’ cloud storage to meet the real needs of customers.
Then the next question is which peer-to-peer storage service to choose? Most may have heard of Storj, Sia, IPFS, and other decentralized storage services. But now, Genaro Eden, the first peer-to-peer storage application based on Genaro Network in Asia, can provide users with more secure, private, efficient, economical and permanently storage solution.
So what does it look like and is it easy to use?
Genaro’s Design: simple, clean and easy
Open Genaro Eden and you will see this user-friendly interface:
It is worth noting that compared to traditional cloud storage software, Genaro Eden needs to import its own private key. In addition to reading the instructions, users need to have a basic understanding of blockchain — keep in mind that each person must be responsible for their own storing behavior and not rely on the centralized server to help recover personal data once it’s lost.
Genaro’s Value: Return users’ data to users
When users experience Genaro Eden, they not only store their own data, but also possess a feeling of control over their own data. This is the embodiment of the value which is what Genaro Eden wants to pass to the user.
Early this year, at the Blockchain Connect conference held in San Francisco, Jason Inch, Chief Strategy Officer of Genaro, put forward a viewpoint from a novel perspective: In this era of “nothing to hide”, protecting our data doesn’t only mean protect it from being leaked but also protect our rights of using them. In another word, how we are going to use the data should be decided by data owners.
Genaro Eden, a vanguard in the blockchain industry, believes that users are the owners of their own data. The data ONLY belongs to the users themselves. As a pioneer in changing the rules of the game for data storage, we know the road is long and winding, and we only took a first small step of a thousand-mile journey when Genaro Eden was released. However, we will gradually create an impact on the traditional cloud storage industry… and discover who will succeed in the end. | https://medium.com/genaro-network/genaro-eden-application-scenarios-and-user-experience-a8207a3cf95a | ['Genaro Network', 'Gnx'] | 2018-06-12 12:13:40.594000+00:00 | ['Genaroeden', 'Storage', 'Blockchain', 'Cloud', 'Dapps'] |
Amy Coney Barrett’s Nomination: For Dummies | From Drew Perales on unsplash.com
After news broke on the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG as she’s more commonly known, millions of people poured out their hearts on social media in mourning. The Trump Administration, however, poured out any feeling they had into finding her replacement. The top contender for the position, you ask? Amy Coney Barrett.
For those who don’t keep up-to-date with the happenings of the Supreme Court of the United States, or SCOTUS for short, I’ll summarize as best I can: Barrett is a lawyer and academic from New Orleans, Louisiana, who now holds a position as an associate justice for SCOTUS. As the fifth woman to ever serve under this title, Many would think it to be a huge win for feminists everywhere. As exciting as it is to see a woman in this position, it’s not as progressie as one would think.
Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit that provides reproductive health care worldwide, has been closing locations all over the United States due to lack of funding. In August of 2019, the organization voluntarily withdrew from Title X funding due to an order stating that medical institutions that receive Title X funding can no longer refer patients for abortions. Before Barrett was even appointed, there was talk about overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion legal at all.
Basically, Barrett being appointed to this position is a gag move by the Trump administration to fill Ginsburg’s shoes and is blanket activism which, at the end of the day, caters to Trump’s personal pro-life beliefs.
Even Trump’s pro-life stance can be refuted, as there are many videos from years ago of him in interviews saying that he’s pro-choice. It leaves one to believe that he might be voicing different views now to receive funding or some kind of deals from investors or other corporations. Perhaps he became so radical as to win the favor of more Republicans as we draw closer to his reelection. No matter the reason, his views are dangerous for the millions of women and people with uteruses who need things like prenatal care, regular gynecology visits, and abortions — no matter what their reasons are.
The nomination and future inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President elects leaves room for hope. Both have very strong records of fighting for reproductive rights and equal access to health care for all. This small silver lining might be the safety net we need from the impending fallout from Trump’s term, and might be the force keeping Barrett and the rest of the conservative-leaning SCOTUS in check. | https://medium.com/nj-spark/amy-coney-barretts-nomination-for-dummies-322f51d70d2f | ['Victoria Gasper'] | 2020-12-22 13:34:23.799000+00:00 | ['Ruth Bader Ginsburg', 'Reproductive Rights', 'Abortion', 'Amy Coney Barrett', 'Planned Parenthood'] |
R.O.R. | The phrase I hated the most growing up that my mother would say was, “Why couldn’t you be like “so and so”?” This phrase would cut me to the bone when I was a child. I wasn’t a bad kid, I just wanted to make her proud of me. Now years later, I look back and the phrase doesn’t have the same meaning or effect that it once had. After many experiences (highs and lows) we’ve built relationships with other people. Just like those experiences some great and some not so great.
You have invested in your relationships (partner/spouse, family, friends, business), maybe not financially, but at least with time and energy.
How do we create a return on relationship (not financial) with others? Can this be done without the perception of coming across as being selfish?
One of the biggest struggles within our own families are family dynamics & family issues. We all have different personalities, thoughts and views on the world. We tend to hurt those the most that are close to us. We get into physical altercations or verbal altercations. Oftentimes, these altercations are left unresolved. After many years, nobody seems to remember why they don’t see eye to eye. Another form of family issue is abuse. Some examples of abuse are physical, mental, emotional and financial. All forms of abuse can lead to furthering the damage of the family issues, oftentimes lead to divorce or abandonment.
For those that are in or lucky to get out of the abuse cycle, we beat up ourselves over the past. We think to ourselves, is this or was it worth it? We second guess ourselves with statements like “I should’ve, I would’ve, I could’ve.”
A major problem to why we are saying those statements is that we are stuck to our habits (even old habits) and routines. Our emotions control our thoughts on how we perceive how things are. We see that person and want NOTHING to deal with them.
Our relationships change as we age and get older. Our outlook on how we see others as well as how others see us change. On the flipside, if the relationship is not having a positive return, remember from one of our last blogs, this too shall pass. Turn it into a positive, Remember that we can control how we react to things. Everything can be positive. It is our own outlook, not theirs. We can still have a net positive on a return on relationships.
This may be difficult to hear. Sometimes we need to suck it up, put our head down and go to work. Humility is a strength. Sometimes its just sitting down and hearing someone out. Humility and being able to understand others are strengths, not weaknesses. The hard work and effort will pay off (blood, sweat and tears).
Some might ask why the sudden change? Why are you acting or talking strange? Some might say you are being manipulative or being selfish. Some might think that you are trying to make them look bad.
You are going to shock them. You will gain their respect. You will gain and see a return on your relationships. Some examples of the return on your relationship are personal happiness, relationships strengthened or renewed.
Positive transformation in you and others around. Others who see the relationship between you and others. Others will see different people as the problem. Nobody wants to be the problem. Those others will want to change. Others will want the positive changes in themselves and other relationships that they are having.
Working with our senior loved ones is no different. We have the opportunity to have a positive return on relationship with them. We have the opportunity to create new positive memories instead of relying on the past, old memories.
You can start earning R.O.R. with our “Safety Gadgets for Seniors’’ which you can download for FREE at secretsofseniorcare.com. You will make living at home a safe and viable option for your senior loved one. | https://medium.com/@tyler-scott/r-o-r-654ee13d711d | ['Tyler Scott'] | 2020-12-15 06:51:05.943000+00:00 | ['Business Development', 'Alzheimers', 'Investment', 'Family', 'Dementia'] |
Integrate Hyperledger Fabric with the IOTA Tangle | Sending Payments
Supply chain projects might benefit from the built-in payment solution, where payments for certain services and goods can be sent between supply chain participants.
One possible use case could be when retailers or end consumers send payments to the producers, logistics and fulfillment providers for the ordered assets.
Since none of the Hyperledger projects support cryptocurrency or any other type of payments, IOTA connector can be used to perform fee-less payments between participants at the moment where a smart contract confirms successful transaction.
To send payment using the IOTA wallet, you will need to store wallet seed and keyIndex on the ledger. Seed is used to initiate a transaction, and keyIndex is specific for IOTA implementation and represents the index of the current wallet address, which holds the tokens.
After every outgoing payment transaction, the remaining tokens are transferred to the next address in order to prevent double-spending. The index of the new address (called remainderAddress) should be stored on the ledger and used for the next outgoing payment. Incoming payments do not trigger address or index change.
In the example, we will maintain only one wallet for outgoing payments. This wallet will be assigned to the retailer, who is the end consumer of the asset in this supply chain project.
The payment will be sent to the previous asset holder each time the holder is changed, which indicates asset movement towards the end consumer. In other words, once a producer prepares a container for shipment and transfer it over to a freight forwarder, the retailer will pay to the producer in IOTA tokens. Then, once a freight forwarder delivers the container to the next destination, the retailer will transfer IOTA tokens to pay for this service.
All possible participants in this sample of a supply chain project are defined upon initialisation of the ledger. For simplicity, we assume that there is only one participant with the role of “Producer”, “Shipper” and so on.
We will start with the definition of the structure for the wallet object
This structure contains seed and keyIndex as described above. In addition, it also contains the actual address where tokens are currently stored. You can perform balance check to ensure sufficient balance of the wallet. Enter your wallet address on this page to check the current balance.
Next, we will extend the existing Participant structure by adding the IotaWallet part into it
And then we will generate a new empty wallet and add wallet information to every participant record.
To generate a new wallet, you can use a function from the IOTA connector:
walletAddress, walletSeed := iota.CreateWallet()
Since we generate a new wallet for every record, we set the keyIndex value to 0. If you are about to use existing wallets, please adjust keyIndex values accordingly.
The generated wallets are empty and currently can only receive IOTA tokens.
In order to send tokens, you need to maintain at least one wallet funded with IOTA tokens.
Wallet data of this wallet should be stored on the ledger.
You can provide wallet data upon ledger initialisation, or you can modify values in the configuration file under chaincode/iota/config.go
To store a wallet on the ledger, please update the initLedger() function by adding the following code. You can replace values for iota.DefaultWalletSeed and iota.DefaultWalletKeyIndex with respective values of your wallet. | https://medium.com/iotatangle/integrate-hyperledger-fabric-with-the-iota-tangle-9bc3ac873e82 | ['Alexey Sobolev'] | 2019-12-03 20:08:11.903000+00:00 | ['Distributed Ledgers', 'Iota', 'Announcements', 'Hyperledger Fabric', 'Smart Contracts'] |
Time to Tokenize: 3 Reasons to Consider Listing a Digital Security | Potentially higher valuations. Lower capital costs. Fewer administrative hassles. As the digital securities market continues to grow, more issuers are investigating the benefits of digitizing their listings.
Digitization makes perfect sense for issuers in the $8.8 trillion alternative asset space, where inherent inefficiencies have prevented both issuers and investors from realizing the market’s full value. The industry’s paper-intensive, manual and redundant processes have remained largely unchanged for decades, making it nearly impossible to buy and sell assets on the secondary market and ultimately depressing valuations for issuers.
Digital securities offer an efficient, modern alternative, enabling investors to buy and sell smaller stakes electronically in assets like real estate, private equity, and venture capital. For issuers, this approach can help them reach a broader market, boost valuations and streamline administration, all while meeting regulatory requirements. But while digital securities are a natural fit for most alternative assets, they’re not the answer for every situation. For issuers interested in the advantages of digital, here are three good reasons to pursue a digital listing.
1. Expanding access to more investors
For the most part, issuances in the private securities industry happen behind closed doors. Companies typically offer ownership in a real estate project or an up-and-coming startup to a select group of investors, shutting out those who don’t have an inside connection to the deal. Even if these investors knew the right people, most can’t come up with the capital to invest, with minimum investments often starting at $50,000 or higher.
Digital securities democratize this process by allowing investors to take part in deals that were once out of reach. More efficient distribution enables investors around the globe to buy and sell securities more easily, and a secondary trading market expands the number of people who can potentially own these assets. By breaking up larger assets into bite-sized units, digital securities also allow issuers to take on smaller investors more efficiently. While an investor might have once needed $100,000 to invest in a traditional real estate project, they might now be able to own part of the same deal for just $5,000.
For easily accessible assets like public equities, the benefits of enhanced access that comes from digitizing may not be meaningful, but for assets where investor access has traditionally been limited, like private securities, a digital approach can help issuers reach a broader pool of interested investors and achieve the liquidity that can lead to higher valuations.
2. Improving transparency to help investors make more informed decisions
Understanding private security performance can be a mystery for investors, thanks in part to infrequent business updates. For securities like REITs or venture funds that include multiple holdings, performance data on individual holdings is also often scarce. This lack of data often makes it difficult for investors to research and build a healthy, well-diversified portfolio.
Digital securities offer more transparency to investors by enabling them to see real-time market pricing, data that’s never been available for most of these these assets before. Based on each asset’s performance, investors can vet current and potential holdings to create a portfolio based on their individual needs. Since asset entry sizes are smaller, investors can also select assets based on the specific markets and properties they’re interested in. For example, rather than investing in a single REIT, an investor could spread a similar amount of funds among investments across multiple areas of the REIT market. This transparency also benefits issuers, who can use it as a key selling point to generate investor interest among those uncomfortable with less transparent products.
3. Increasing flexibility for investors
Traditionally, investing in an asset like venture capital or private equity often meant tying up capital for anywhere from seven to 10 years. If an investor needed to liquidate, they typically had to take a large discount — if they could find a buyer at all.
Thanks to their smaller increments and a secondary trading market, digital securities give investors more flexibility to buy and sell assets as their needs change. And while clearing and settlement can take weeks to complete with traditional private securities, the digital format offers cost-effective, frictionless transfer with near-instant settlement. For private securities issuers, these advantages can help improve investor satisfaction, keep them coming back for new offerings and boost asset valuations.
While digital securities can help facilitate liquidity, however, they don’t guarantee it. As the market matures, truly unlocking the value of digital securities will require a robust ecosystem of platforms and providers like Openfinance. For issuers whose goals align with the advantages of digital securities, the potential to transform their businesses is great.
Want more news and insights on digital securities? Stay connected with us on social media:
Website: openfinance.io
Twitter: twitter.com/OpenFinanceIO
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/openfinance-network
Medium: medium.com/openfinance
###
Juan M. Hernandez is the CEO of Openfinance, the first U.S. regulated platform for the secondary market trading of digital alternative assets. Juan is a serial entrepreneur, technologist and polymath experienced in financial markets, exchanges and blockchain technology. He holds a CS degree from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. | https://medium.com/openfinance/time-to-tokenize-3-reasons-to-consider-listing-a-digital-security-e200cf2fe3c2 | ['Juan M. Hernandez'] | 2019-05-21 15:37:32.922000+00:00 | ['Digital Security', 'Tokenization', 'Alternative Assets'] |
It’s Time to Stop the Unfair Violation of Porn Performers’ Rights | It’s Time to Stop the Unfair Violation of Porn Performers’ Rights
The stigma attached to the adult entertainment industry has paved the way for porn performers to be raped, fired, and denied banking services with no apparent legal recourse Mysterious Witt Follow Apr 18, 2020 · 7 min read
Photo by Vinícius Estevão from Pexels
Porn performers aren’t respected in our society and nothing underlines this fact better than the Stormy Daniels/Donald Trump scandal. When the world learned that President Trump had tried to buy porn performer Stormy Daniel’s silence about their affair before the 2016 election, she was the one who was skewered in the court of public opinion. Trump, on the other hand, emerged unscathed.
This is business as usual when it comes to the treatment of porn performers in our society. Porn actors aren’t seen as worthy of respect.
As model Amber Rose told Marlow Stern, Senior Entertainment Editor of The Daily Beast:
“Porn stars are here for our convenience. Everyone uses them when they want to use them and then throws them away after. We don’t respect them enough.”
Stereotyped and stigmatized, porn performers are denied their humanity. It doesn’t make a difference that the stereotypes aren’t true.
Feminist porn director, Erika Lust, told Dazed:
“It’s often assumed that to be an adult performer you’re troubled, on drugs, have money problems and no self-esteem. Even though those cases certainly exist, it’s not a fair judgment to pass on to everyone who chooses to do adult films, and it’s not my experience at all.”
When society denies that porn performers are three-dimensional beings with the same needs and desires as other people, this creates a world in which it’s okay to deny them their rights.
The unfair treatment of adult actors is so commonplace that former porn performer Bree Olson tweeted an open letter to women who are considering entering the industry, advising against it.
“When you do porn, you automatically become a segregated part of society that is held to prejudice without the support of activists for your human rights,” Olson tweeted.
“I think it’s worse for women,” Lust told Dazed. “Some people just take the right to moralise over other people’s sexuality and choices.”
But the general public’s narrow views about sexuality shouldn’t impact whether certain humans are afforded their rights or not.
Lust adds: “It comes from a malicious urge to police bodies and sexuality.”
Women and men alike have the right to perform in porn videos if they want, and how they choose to earn a living should have no influence on whether their human rights are protected.
Banks refuse services to porn performers.
Making porn is a job just like any other. When adult actors get paid they need a place to cash their checks and keep their money. Many banks make this difficult for people in the adult-entertainment industry, denying them services.
Banks can get away with this because of “morality clauses” buried deep in the fine print “aimed at legal businesses with taboo reputations,” Witney Mallet wrote in her article, “How Banks Make It Hard For Sexy Startups,” which appeared in Fast Company.
But who decides which businesses and individuals are reprehensible and which aren’t?
Even if porn performers are able to create accounts with some banks, those same banks can close their accounts at any time without explanation.
PJ Patella-Rey, a sociology doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland focusing on the intersections of digital technology, labor, and sexuality, told Fast Company:
“We have to think about how straightforward moral stigma informs these policies. The personal politics of the people in the boardrooms has to be a factor to some degree, even if it’s not a conscious thing.”
While there’s a framework in place to protect individuals against discrimination based on their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation, “no federal laws explicitly prohibit discrimination against adult businesses,” Witney Mallet wrote in her article for Fast Company.
But discrimination is exactly what’s happening when banks refuse to offer services to people who work in the adult entertainment industry. Survivors Against SESTA compiled an exhaustive list of financial institutions that won’t work with adult entertainers.
Even if porn performers are able to create accounts with some banks, those same banks can close their accounts at any time without explanation.
In 2014, JPMorgan Chase closed the accounts of hundreds of adult performers and directors without giving any reason why. Porn performer Teagan Presley was one of the performers whose account was closed.
When accused of discriminating against people who make porn, Chase denied the claim.
Mortgage and loan companies have also declined to give loans to adult-oriented companies, and banks can do this simply because certain officials don’t approve of a particular industry or job.
Porn performers feel they can’t press charges when they’re raped.
In 2015, several porn actresses publicly accused fellow porn performer James Deen of rape.
Stoya was the first, tweeting: “James Deen held me down and fucked me while I said no, stop, used my safeword. I just can’t nod and smile when people bring him up anymore.”
Laurie Penny, author of Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution, wrote in Time of the courage it took Stoya to come forward, “…knowing that she would be accused of lying and attention-seeking, knowing the number of people who would claim that as a sex worker, she cannot expect to claim rape and be believed.”
Just because porn actors have sex as an occupation doesn’t preclude them from legal protection against being forced to have nonconsensual sex.
The running belief is that porn performers can’t be raped because they have sex for a living — or that they somehow deserve the bad treatment because they’ve made “immoral” choices.
This was the case of Tori Lux, who alleges she was also raped and beaten by Deen. Lux wrote in an open letter on The Daily Beast as to why she didn’t come forward earlier.
“…because people — including the police — tend to believe that sex workers have placed themselves in harm’s way, and therefore can’t be assaulted… Simply put: I was afraid.”
Just because porn actors have sex as an occupation doesn’t preclude them from legal protection against being forced to have nonconsensual sex.
Formal charges were never brought against Deen.
Porn performers get fired from jobs after leaving the industry.
Life doesn’t get any better once porn performers retire. Even when they start new careers, they face the danger of getting fired from their jobs simply for having appeared in porn in their past.
This is what happened to Stacie Halas, a California middle-school teacher, who was fired after students found one of her videos on the Internet. When she tried to fight her termination in court, her appeal was denied.
Kimberly Halsey, a former porn actor, was also let go from her real estate job after a co-worker recognized her. She considered pursuing legal action against her employer but decided against it because she didn’t want to get blacklisted from the real estate industry.
The true hypocrisy is that former porn performers are fired from their jobs when nothing happens to their co-workers who recognized them from watching porn.
Adult entertainment lawyer Michael Fattorosi told Salon that employment discrimination cases involving adult entertainers are “very, very difficult to win… [It’s] not like saying we’re letting you go because you’re black or Jewish or you wear a turban. Those things are not a result of a life choice you make, and being a sex worker is.”
Even if sex work is a life choice, this doesn’t make it legal to fire a qualified person from a job just because they made porn in their past.
The true hypocrisy is that former porn performers are fired from their jobs when nothing happens to their co-workers who recognized them from watching porn.
It’s hypocritical to disrespect porn performers while still enjoying the content they create.
The hypocrisy of discriminating against adult actors seems lost on most. The negative view of porn performers persists even when porn is enjoyed by so many.
Porn is a $97 billion global industry, according to sociologist Kassia Wosick, the author of Sex, Love, and Fidelity: A Study of Contemporary Romantic Relationships. Porn sites get more visitors per month than Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined.
That’s a lot of porn viewing. According to Pornhub’s 2017 Year in Review, “The USA continues to be Pornhub’s country with the highest traffic by a long shot.”
When we each start to recognize porn performers’ humanity, we can help to change our collective consciousness and perspective.
Marlow Stern said it best in the Daily Beast:
“It’s time for Americans — who consume far and away the most porn of any country in the world — to start treating adult performers with respect…and to treat these people like goddamn human beings.”
Each individual who enjoys porn can begin to do this by changing the way they view adult performers.
When we each start to recognize porn performers’ humanity, we can help to change our collective consciousness and perspective.
We can’t stand idly by while adult entertainers’ rights are unfairly violated.
To learn more about what is being done to support porn actors’ human rights, contact organizations such as the Free Speech Coalition, the North American trade association for the adult industry, or the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee. Both organizations support and advocate for performers’ rights. | https://aninjusticemag.com/its-time-to-stop-the-unfair-violation-of-porn-performers-rights-3f9c9b153e87 | ['Mysterious Witt'] | 2020-04-18 21:17:02.192000+00:00 | ['Equality', 'Sex Work', 'Women', 'Pornography', 'Sexuality'] |
Relative Positions of ArUco Markers | Hello everyone! While working on my graduation project, I realized there is not enough documentation for ArUco and relative position/rotation calculations. I won’t focus on math, but you can check out the functions I’ve been using.
Before starting, I highly recommend that you complete camera calibration and have some knowledge about ArUco tracking. If you nailed these subjects, we are good to go!
In ArUco tracking blog, I’ve mentioned that we use estimatePoseSingleMarkers function to receive 3D translation(position) and rotation vectors of the detected markers. These vectors are marker centered and if we want to calculate the difference we need to calculate the camera centered vectors for each marker.
Let’s assume we calculated two markers 3D location. It means we have two vectors, let’s call them A and B vectors. Since their positions are calculated as camera centered, the difference between them will give us marker A as B centered or vice versa, since it’s dependent on the operation(A-B or B-A).
Two markers and one camera. We are calculating the AB vector.
As you can see above, there are two markers in front of the camera. Markers are A and B, the camera is C. ArUco functions provide us AC and BC vectors, we require AB vector and the calculation is:
AB = AC - BC
But how we can do that? There is an angle issue between them, we can’t simply extract them. We need to invert the BC and use the sum. Here’s the function to invert the perspective.
Rodrigues angles are required to convert our rotation vector to the matrix form. Rodrigues angles can be used as 3x3 matrix or 3x1 vector. We are using the vector because of the matrix multiplication. It is required that the number of columns of the 1st matrix must equal the number of rows of the 2nd matrix. I won’t go further explanation of marker transpose and inverted angles, you can read some OpenCV docs for that.
If there are no questions, the current situation is:
AB = AC + (-BC)
Now we have AC and (-BC) vectors. The only thing we need to do is summing the vectors. It will be easier if we use composeRT function from OpenCV. This function is combining two vectors. Let’s create our relativePosition function to do that. I didn’t check the vector sizes, so it would be helpful if you consider some assertions.
What we accomplished in this function:
Reshaped the vectors to 3x1 for passing OpenCV assertions.
The inversion of the second marker is calculated.
Combining the first marker and inverted second marker. For readability, I created the info variable, totally unnecessary but if you want to catch the errors and some useful info you can change the code a little bit and make it better.
For future usage, we reshaped the result to a 3x1 matrix.
Functions are done. Now let’s check the demo, shall we? You can find the whole code below, there are some parts that I mentioned in my earlier posts[calibration, tracking], please check them first if there is something you don’t understand.
You should give the marker ids as a parameter, for the demo purposes. If you named it as “demo.py” the command you’ll use:
python demo.py --coefficients 0 --firstMarker 12 --secondMarker 34
Arguments:
coefficients: If zero, the camera is not calibrated. If one, provide the path in the code. Not a good practice, but happened.
firstMarker: ID of the first ArUco marker.
secondMarker: Id of the second ArUco Marker.
How demo works:
It is a realtime video stream. If you show the markers you gave as arguments you’ll see something like this:
Markers have to be detected in the stream.
If you press “c”, the relative position will be calculated. It’s the calibration between the markers. The relative position will be calculated. If we do it in every single frame, you won’t see any difference because it’s gonna be like the normal marker tracking. In the stream it will be like:
We calculated the difference. Now the centered marker has full control.
If you pressed “c”, you have the perspective transform between two markers. By moving the second marker, you’ll see that the distance and rotation between the markers will stay the same because the calibration is not changing for the demo purpose. If you want, do it in each frame and you will have full control and you can achieve anything you want. But if you leave it like that and assume that there is an a angle and xyz difference, you’ll see that wherever you move the second marker, there will be an axis image rotated by a angle and moved by xyz-(xyz2). If you have a 3D object and you watch the edges, for example, you can see if the object is broken or not because if it brakes the markers will be effected. Or maybe you are putting markers in front of each room and corridor and guiding people in the building. These are some examples of how we can use this knowledge. So, after this step your result will be like:
The relative position follows the second marker since we calibrated only once.
Most of the code is present in my early blogs. I added some comments and put them to a GitHub repository. It would be awesome if you visit and like it, every star counts! If you want to experience the whole process, please rewrite the code and compare with mine. It is tested in my own graduation project, you can count on the results.
My project was that with one-time calibration, following the ultrasound info and the needle. By doing that, even if the needle is inside the body I can see the marker attached to that and see through the body. It reduces the risk of needle went somewhere wrong because of inexperienced doctors and possible errors in the environment. But of course, because of the light in the environment, mathematical errors, light level changes, camera calibration, etc. there will be errors. For these reasons, I suggest the Kalman filter.
By reading the blog and working the code, I can say that you now know the fundamentals of using ArUco markers. From there, you can use your imagination and practice a little bit to achieve further. You can check some showcases and applications to replicate them or make them better. I hope this blog will guide you on your project. Have a great day!
Resources: | https://aliyasineser.medium.com/calculation-relative-positions-of-aruco-markers-eee9cc4036e3 | ['Ali Yasin Eser'] | 2020-07-30 16:03:22.584000+00:00 | ['Computer Vision', 'Opencv', 'Tracking', 'Aruco', 'Marker'] |
What makes Artificial intelligence & Machine learning such powerful tools in self-driving cars? | What makes Artificial intelligence & Machine learning such powerful tools in self-driving cars?
AI is anything that makes machines act more intelligently, and in this case is self-driving cars. Ismail Osman ·Nov 25, 2020
AI makes self-driving cars save than humans can drive.
We, humans, make mistakes when we drive a car, and as a result, we lose over a million people every year.
The reason is, we make the same mistakes over and over again.
But with self-driving cars powered by AI, if the car makes a mistake, it will learn from it, and so will other cars.
Including all future cars that have not been on the road yet will never make the same mistake again.
The lesson here that AI will evolve faster than people will evolve. Imagine that.
Image Credits: Chesky / Shutterstock | https://medium.com/@ish3/what-makes-artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-such-a-powerful-tools-in-autonomous-vehicles-51e778e31e74 | ['Ismail Osman'] | 2020-11-27 14:37:42.881000+00:00 | ['Self Driving Cars', 'Intelligence', 'Autonomous Cars', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
What Goes Into a Successful Kubernetes Deployment? | Kubernetes Consulting at HiFX
Kubernetes or K8s is an open-source system used to automate deployment, management of containerized applications, and scaling. This system aims to group containers to make an application into logical units that allow for easier management and discovery. With 15 years of experience running production workloads at Google, Kubernetes gives you the accessibility of utilizing on-premises, hybrid, or public cloud infrastructure. As useful as Kubernetes is, actually using it is tricky, which is why one must know the most efficient way of deploying and managing it to optimize the value it can bring to your organization.
What’s the Best Way to Deploy and Manage the Kubernetes System?
Terraform for Provisioning
While you can use other CLI-based tools to manage your Kubernetes system, the most efficient choice would be to choose Terraform as your provider. One of the most basic yet practical benefits that Terraform offers is using the same configuration language to provision the Kubernetes infrastructure and deploy its applications. Simultaneously, Terraform also provides full life cycle management that makes the provisioning process much quicker. This management entails that Terraform won’t just create resources. It will also offer a single command for creating, updating, and deleting tracked resources without you having to inspect the API to identify them. To further optimize the provisioning process, manage your infrastructure as code. This change will allow you to keep all updates under a version control system and review them before deployment.
AWS EKS for Simpler Management
AWS EKS or Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service is the most critical complimentary service for Kubernetes. The AWS EKS makes it easy to run Kubernetes without needing to install, operate, or maintain your Kubernetes control plane. It does this by automatically managing the availability and scalability of the Kubernetes control plane nodes responsible for starting and stopping pods, scheduling pods on virtual machines, and storing cluster data. Simultaneously, AWS EKS also detects and replaces unfavorable control plane nodes for each cluster that further optimizes the Kubernetes system’s management.
Helm for Deployment
Given the Kubernetes system’s complexity, the best way to deploy it would be to simplify the process without tarnishing its efficacy. Helm does that for a Kubernetes system. It can be challenging to write and manage Kubernetes YAML manifests. For the simplest of deployments, you would need a minimum of 3 YAML manifests that have duplicated and hard-coded values.
Helm is a client/server application that simplifies this process by creating a single package advertised to your cluster. To be more specific, Helm allows for Kubernetes YAML manifests to be converted to and managed as Helm charts that are YAML manifests combined into one package. Since introducing a Helm chart to your cluster is as simple as running a single Helm install, this makes the deployment and management of applications easier.
Envoy to Facilitate the EKS
Envoy Proxy typically offers a multi-team, scalable, API-driven ingress tier capable of routing internet traffic to various upstream Kubernetes clusters. In this case, you will be using this proxy as an ingress controller to enable the ingress to the EKS cluster.
What Kind of Alert and Metric System Should I Set Up?
When it comes to Kubernetes, the most compatible alert system for it would be ElastAlert. It is a system that combines rule types and alerts, which means that the Elasticsearch gets queried frequently, and the data passes to the rule type, which determines the match. If a match occurs, it updates with one or more alerts, enabling the system to find more matches. One of the reasons why ElastAlert is the most useful is the feature, which saves its state to Elasticsearch and resumes where it stopped when initiated again. Simultaneously, any alerts that throw errors may be retired for some time by the system itself.
On the other hand, for an efficient metric system, one should pair the Kubernetes Metrics Server and the Kube-State Metric server for maximum efficiency. The Kubernetes Metrics Server is a significant source of container resource metrics and offers a single deployment that would work on most clusters. Simultaneously, it also provides callable support of up to 5000 node clusters. On the flip side, the Kube-State Metric Server is used to generate metrics from Kubernetes API objects without modification.
Which Autoscaler to Use?
The most efficient autoscaler to use from within the Kubernetes system is the Horizontal Pod Autoscaler. It implements an API resource and controller for Kubernetes. It is perfect for high traffic endpoints in the application as any case of resource starvation is handled using the cluster level autoscaler. Simultaneously, the resource determines the controller’s behavior, which allows the controller to periodically adjust the number of replicas in a replication controller or deployment to match the evaluated average CPU utilization to the specified target.
How to Optimize the Detailed Monitoring for the Kubernetes System?
Fluentd for Data Collection
The best system to utilize as a data collector and function as a DaemonSet for Kubernetes is the Fluentd. It allows you to unify the data collection so that you can understand and analyze it better. It does this efficiently by decoupling data sources from the backend system by placing a unified logging layer in between.
Elasticsearch and Kibana for Processing and Forensics
By utilizing Elasticsearch and Kibana together, the task of processing the data and logs becomes much simpler. Elasticsearch functions as a real-time, scalable search engine which provides a full-text, structured search alongside analytics. It siphons through large volumes of log data and typically deploys alongside Kibana, which acts as a useful data visualization frontend and dashboard for Elasticsearch. Combining the two software programs allows you to explore your Elasticsearch log data through a web interface to get a better insight into your Kubernetes applications.
StatsD and Grafana to Display Metrics
While StatsD fetches the metrics for the detailed monitoring of endpoints traffic, they are stored in Elasticsearch and displayed in Grafana. StatsD is a set of tools used to send, collect, and aggregate the custom metrics from any application, and they are considered the standard for business backend. Similarly, Grafana is perhaps the best technology to compose observability dashboards for metrics at this point.
Prometheus for Pod’s Resource-Based Monitoring
Being one of the best free monitoring software out there, Prometheus is utilized for resource-based monitoring and alerting. It can record real-time metrics, monitor your servers, and analyze your applications and infrastructure’s performance.
Conclusion
Our in-depth experience with containerization using docker helped in to re-engineer and deploy a large-scale web application to Kubernetes managed application for a client of ours. This resulted in faster deployment, better management and cost saving. The successful implementation was a result of months of research to identify the right tools/components to use in this migration project.
About HiFX
Established in 2001, we are a group of passionate technologists with a strong focus on excellence, and commitment to providing high quality, cost-effective solutions to our clients.
The expertise of our DevOps engineers combined with thorough utilization of our partner technologies from AWS, Ansible and Kubernetes in automating and streamlining cloud infrastructure and development platforms result in successful server provisioning and configuration management, application deployment, integration and monitoring of cloud infrastructure and platforms. | https://medium.com/swlh/what-goes-into-a-successful-kubernetes-deployment-67f1ab677892 | ['Mohan Thomas'] | 2021-02-22 10:20:12.820000+00:00 | ['Elastalert', 'Kubernetes', 'Helm', 'Envoy Proxy', 'Terraform'] |
Veteran Suicide and Homelessness Prevention — Sen. Jeff Jackson | If you’re a veteran who is reading this and you need someone to talk to, please use this link to get in touch with some good people who will listen and try to help.
A couple of weeks ago, I learned that a friend of mine in the National Guard committed suicide.
He was a great Soldier and a great father. He’s not a statistic — he’s a person.
But he joins a tragic group of service members who have taken their lives since September 11th, 2001.
30,177 service members have died by suicide since September 11th.
That’s quadruple the number of deaths due to military operations in the same period.
I’ve been in the military for 18 years. He’s not the first one of my friends I’ve lost to suicide. And while suicide remains a major problem for all of our military components, the National Guard has the highest rate.
Over the years, I can’t tell you how many suicide prevention PowerPoint briefings I’ve been required to sit through with the rest of the platoon. It’s check-the-box training that we all receive.
The numbers speak for themselves: Slideshow training isn’t enough.
In North Carolina, we’ve got over 700,000 veterans, so this hits us hard. The VA estimates that as many as 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In our town halls across the state, it comes up repeatedly. Suicide prevention — and mental health services more generally — for our service members deserves to be part of any agenda focused on solving problems in our state.
Here are some steps we should take:
Mandate the VA develop and implement suicide prevention training that ditches the PowerPoint approach and takes a skills-based approach.
Too often, the military approaches suicide prevention the same way it approaches teaching new recruits about their chain of command: They show some slides and ask if anyone has any questions. Instead, we should approach it the same way we approach learning how to treat a casualty or learning to assemble your rifle: it’s a skill you’re expected to practice.
With suicide prevention, spotting indicators among your buddies, knowing how to talk to them, and knowing what steps to take when those indicators persist are all skills that need training — not a simple slideshow that lets command check the box.
This will be harder. It will take more time on the training schedule. But when it comes to suicide prevention we are currently operating in a state of failure and we need to acknowledge that and let it motivate us to build an effective solution.
2. Invest in high-quality tele-health
Only half of our veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who need mental health service actually get it. More of them would seek care if it were made easier. Once a service member realizes they may need help, they should be able to quickly and easily schedule a phone or digital meeting with a Suicide Prevention Counselor at the VA.
3. Increase the number of Suicide Prevention Coordinators at the VA
The Government Accountability Office recently found that the VA simply doesn’t know how heavy the workload is and doesn’t have a clear sense of what staffing changes need to be made to meet the demand.
This aligns with a broad-based understaffing at the VA, which was recently reported to have approximately 50,000 staff vacancies. This is an issue of underfunding and every politician that gives lip service to supporting the troops must prioritize their health when veterans return home.
4. Support medical cannabis
I support a transition from our current criminal approach to cannabis to a legalized and regulatory approach.
Right now in the General Assembly there is a bill to consider taking the small (and overdue) step of allowing cannabis for medicinal purposes.
That the bill is making progress is a surprise, given that the majority party has resisted any movement in this direction for years. In committee, however, they heard very compelling testimony from former military service members about how access to medical cannabis (supplied by other states) had profoundly positive effects on their PTSD.
As I wrote at the time:
We should take their testimony seriously and — at a minimum — allow for the medicinal use of cannabis.
5. Address veteran homelessness by fully funding Housing Choice Vouchers
This is addressed more broadly in our section on affordable housing, but Housing Choice Vouchers — formerly known as Section 8 vouchers — are the main way we assist very low income individuals in obtaining housing. But we dramatically underfund the program. If we fully funded the program, it would significantly reduce homelessness and previous expansions have been particularly effective at reducing veteran homelessness.
The connection between mental health and homelessness is direct. Before you can provide sustained and effective mental health treatment, you have to provide housing security. That’s how we take people out of “survival mode” and create the possibility for effective treatment, but it’s also how we solve logistical problems associated with providing treatment, like case workers knowing where they can meet with their clients.
6. No needless wars
The best way to help disabled veterans is to stop creating more of them. Our service members assume an obligation to defend our nation; we should assume an obligation to only send them into battle when it is absolutely necessary. On that count, we’ve failed them. We’ve fought wars of choice that went very poorly. Let those lessons be permanently learned so we never make that mistake again.
***
Just to be candid — these aren’t all the answers. No one has all the answers on this. But there are some pretty important things we aren’t doing that would make a real difference — and they don’t involve a new task force or new red tape. We need a bottom-up approach that starts with the service member and imagines what an effective solution would look like from that perspective. | https://medium.com/@jeff-jackson/veteran-suicide-and-homelessness-prevention-sen-jeff-jackson-f34ecfc92e3a | ['Sen. Jeff Jackson'] | 2021-08-02 15:06:27.326000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Veterans', 'North Carolina'] |
A customer centric approach to launching ML products as a core platform capability | A customer centric approach to launching ML products as a core platform capability Shilpa Chidambaram Mar 18·4 min read
Building an effective Machine Learning product is a hard science however it is more difficult to launch it as a platform capability. A platform caters to multiple business verticals and hence needs to be versatile, flexible and easy to use, yet effective in delivering the essential business outcomes keeping in view the data privacy tenants. This was the challenge I faced when we were working on launching offer recommendation machine learning model as a platform capability.
While employing multiple strategies to bring alive the product, the most essential pre-requisite seemed to be taking a customer centric approach. Traditionally customer is only seen as the end consumer who benefits from ML recommendations, however as a core platform capability, we had to entertain various type of users who play a crucial role in defining, tuning and maintaining the machine learning model in the platform. Such users include the operations team who install the infrastructure, data science team who tune the model periodically and analytics team who measure and report the business outcomes of these models.
Keeping in mind all the users of the platform, in my view, the following are the key considerations for any platform product manger to launch a successful machine learning product in the market.
1. Defining compelling business use cases
The first and foremost requirement in devising any ML feature starts with defining a compelling business case with clearly articulated problem statement. The need to write down the use cases with measurable business outcomes cannot be emphasised further for successful product launch. It streamlines and guides all the cross dependent teams towards unified vision and helps the product team to guide, support and channelize the decisions in the ML model throughout the product development lifecycle.
2. Data Management Platform (DMP)
Devising early the strategy to unify, cleanse or organise system data is key to success for any analytics product including machine learning models. In addition, having a structured taxonomy to define and label the data goes a long way in improving predictions for any ML model. While it is not a requirement to get started on building the first ML model, systematic planning for a centralised DMP helps in improving overall organisational goals towards being an AI centric company.
For offer recommendation, we started with defining taxonomy for offer attributes and later pursued the goal of building a unified data mart for all our analytics and machine learning objectives. It helped multiple cross functional teams such as product, data science and business analytics team to work on the common platform reducing confusion thereby errors thus improving overall business outcome.
3. Data Compliance Definition
It is imperative that data compliance is part of the product design right from inception of any ML model. It is essential that organisation is explicit in stating the governing privacy rules they comply with and address such needs in the data structures of the platform so that the subsequent teams are aware of the unavailability of such data.
In addition to the privacy rules that the organisation comply with, it is essential that data platform is also flexible to accommodate any additional data restrictions on the client side. This requires the data science team to be aware of any such possibilities and design the model such that it can self learn with available data and give the best possible predictions.
4. Explainability of AI
Even though Explainability of AI is a new concept and is possible when the ML model is mature enough to generate consistent rules, it is essential that the design of model accommodates for such explanations. The explanation of why a particular recommendation was made helps build trust in the system users and allows for better communication with end customers. It also helps in gathering useful feedback from the end users which can improve the ML outcome overtime.
5. Model parameters interface
During experimentation and post launch phase, it is required that model parameters are available to the in house and client side data scientists to fine tune the model parameters so that they can test the model consistently to improve the model outcomes. Therefore, providing a self service interface that enables data scientists to fine tune the model and deploy the AI resources on demand goes a long way in reducing operational overhead for the company. The parameters may include all or some of the infrastructure, data and machine learning model fields depending on the maturity of the underlying systems.
6. Business metrics and analysis dashboard
The ML feature launch should be treated as a series of experiments rather than a full fledged platform capability. This will ensure that the ML feature scales responsibly based on enough testing and certification from the data science team. To enable consistent communication across board about the success of ML features, a unified dashboard with key metrics is essential to be designed from the beginning. The dashboard should be flexible to zoom in and out of the metrics to enable qualitative discussions among key stakeholders.
7. Ease of Integration
In order to facilitate ease of use to the client, it is essential that the AI infrastructure installation is on demand and automated. The customer should be able to use a switch or a flag to install AI infrastructure and also scale it on demand based on the requirements of ML model and size of the client database.
8. Release Docs and User manual
Thorough documentation internal and external is essential to keep in track the changes over time and observe the aberrations over time. A clearly articulated user manual helps enhance the self service capability in end users to use the platform effectively. | https://medium.com/@shilpachidambaram/a-consumer-centric-approach-to-launching-ml-products-as-a-core-platform-capability-898e9ca4d43 | ['Shilpa Chidambaram'] | 2021-03-18 23:36:21.629000+00:00 | ['Platform Thinking', 'Platform', 'Product', 'Machine Learning', 'Product Management'] |
Sexism In Indian Schools: An issue which is rarely spoken about | A school is a place which plays a vital role in weaving a child’s personality. If a child witnesses the normalization of a certain kind of behaviour, he or she would tend to overlook it at even later stages of life. A common trend in Indian schools as soon as the stage of elementary education commences has been that of a differential behaviour between boys and girls. This is where the promotion of sexism actually begins.
Girls even before they hit puberty, are constantly told to walk or sit in a certain manner, so that they can be categorized as feminine, while boys, on the other hand, are taught to be tough and sporty so that seeds of manliness can be sowed in them. This has given a rise to the promotion of various stereotypes and is also the reason why most Indian people have a completely prejudiced behaviour towards the entire spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community.
Sliding into middle schools, students are often told to not care much about their looks, as they come to school to get educated in a uniform, with a proper dress code. The major issue with school dress codes is that they solely exist for girls or are selectively enforced. Case in point, most schools that have skirts for girls and shorts for boys as their respective uniforms, generally have a ‘knee-length or below’ rule for the girls and no such rules for boys. Usually, girls who have their skirts somewhat above their knees are constantly shamed. Their character is judged based on the length of their skirt. Some schools change the dress code for girls as they go into higher grades from a skirt to salwar kameez because they want girls to be aware how to dress in a “modest way” so that their bodies don’t catch male attention. When schools ask young girls to cover their skin because it is provoking a male student, a message is sent that pubescent girls should be highly aware of their bodies and how boys might come to see it sexually and telling them it is their responsibility to prevent that. Although this may seem trivial, this idea is what later manifests and becomes the basis for our collective victim-blaming behaviour and promotion of rape culture.
Boys are also called out for piercing their ears or doing anything that does not conform to the conventional gender norms set by a society that is overwhelmingly obsessed with the gender binary and refuses to accept identities that exist outside of it.
Let’s talk about how schools deal with something as natural as menstruation. Several schools conduct separate workshops with various brands like Stayfree or Whisper which actively exclude boys to teach the girls alone how to deal with this biological occurrence. Firstly, in such workshops, menstruation is often referred to as a problem and not a biological process. This is another reason why society has always had a prejudiced attitude towards the female body. Secondly, girls are told to conceal their sanitary pads from males, which creates a sense of shame which follows these girls back into the male-dominated world. This also inculcates a lack of gender sensitivity and gives rise to the notion that women have to remain hush about something that affects them and their bodies at periodic intervals.
The common discourse around fixing the school system is mostly focused on the need for sex education. However, schools need to realise that they are not teaching their students to perform their ascribed gender roles. Schools need to work towards creating an environment wherein nobody feels ashamed or excluded. Be it boys who like to wear ear-rings or girls who are tough and most importantly the LGBTQ community. When we start having these conversations, we’ll automatically start heading towards a more accepting society. | https://medium.com/@madhuraarora/sexism-in-indian-schools-an-issue-which-is-rarely-spoken-about-369d50a93463 | ['Madhura Arora'] | 2020-11-20 09:26:27.591000+00:00 | ['Edu', 'Sexism', 'Society', 'Schools', 'India'] |
STEM, A Return to Sanity — Part One | Exploring possibilities for STEM in an uncertain future
An Excerpt from the book Cu*t — by Will Sommers
Available here
Get Mad STEM Folk
In calling for an improvement in EDI standards in STEM, many have already begun work within existing non-subject specific learning and development provided to undergraduate, PhD students and others.
This personal development is crucial as we move towards a world where the ability to deal with and work with others will become as important as your ability in your chosen STEM field.
A large element of this is in the EDI sphere, and it behoves us to ensure that the right EDI is being taught.
STEM must also be aware that it has some tidying to do in its own house, that the importance of providing environments in which everyone can feel comfortably able to take advantage of the equality of opportunity that EDI affords them.
They must, as has already been done in many ways, pick carefully through the myriad of resources EDI has available and differentiate between what is good advice that can benefit STEM and what is simply authoritarian credo masquerading as advice.
As an example of practical EDI, you may recognize, as so many are already doing, that people with greater life responsibilities, on average, are more likely to take into account the holistic view of life when looking for work, life balance, benefits, flexibility etc, and recruitment processes and procedures should reflect this.
Conversely, this also means that we need to see more of those who have a different mindset than above (live to work), and are in the workplace; continue to embrace that many people neither want to; or may not have the actual time capacity to; work at the pace they would like, and perhaps they should consider a more holistic approach too.
Illustrated beautifully by that term “goes the extra mile”, which is code for working for nothing, this is accepted as a slogan on a daily basis, but is inherently discriminatory if you have a disability, have dependents, live to work, rather than work to live or value the time you get not working in other ways and don’t want to be psychologically coerced by your prospective employers.
Isn’t it extraordinary that the fight to gain equality within the workplace, important though it has been, is now in a position where with the use of technology, we should all be finding ways to keep people out of work and yet maintain pay and outcomes as well. Now that is an EDI challenge, we should all get behind because socializing is fun!
Such actions may well be the seedlings of what can move us forward to a more egalitarian future based on the practicalities for the individual, that afford equality of opportunity, even if they choose not to take it.
Goodness knows how it will eventually be achieved, nobodies done it yet, we all work too much, too long and not smart enough, so we have lots of work to do.
Character development is paramount to success in HE, the difficulty is that this aim, laudable though it may be is utterly dependent on the individual and incredibly burdensome for the institution.
It is a supply and demand problem and becomes particularly bothersome at STEM PhD levels as the sheer volume of work involved in achieving the PhD means that every credit counts, and to what degree is it helping the aims of STEM as disciplines when we attach credits for extraneous EDI or Leadership seminars?
But attach them in some way the cultist will, and in doing so, we have got to sort the worst from the best and imbue these extraneous opportunities with the spirit of enlightenment and self-betterment, not the tenants of the cult.
STEM must avoid the enablement of the dogmatic, anti-human, intellectually moribund and righteous cause mentality driven fluff that masquerades as development and a social good.
It must be critical and condemning no matter what guise and honeyed words or good intentions these bad actors manifest, for after all, again “one may smile, and smile, and be a villain”.
These attempts at righting perceived or real wrongs is a cause that it is hard not to get behind as we have discussed, but a lot of this is in fact steeped in a morose and miserabilist view of the world, encourages personal weakness and posits victim and aggressor narratives that are a prelude for indoctrination into the dominant narrative of the misanthropic.
Those who do not acquiesce to, for example, the nice idea that we should all be nice, will find themselves trapped by the unwitting narrative in which they have, often, for expedience’ sake, bought into.
For it is inevitable that every witch hunt in history has only ended when those who began the hunt become the witches, and we have myriad examples of this in academic life today, as well as examples of the wrong kind of gay, or the wrong kind of black.
The end may be nearer than my dystopian thinking allows.
However, we must firstly place EDI where it should be in relation to STEM, to recognize it as an area of interest that is a visitor to STEM and that it should NEVER take any other position than that.
In other words, no edicts and rules must impede the STEM process, and as such ensuring that we do not let the adherents and acolytes of EDI empty their emotional bowels in the middle of it all.
STEM is already under attack, biology in particular, and as I have stated previously, my belief in their nefarious aim of undermining STEM means vigilance, and the constant challenging of any interference NO MATTER HOW SMALL AND INSIGNIFICANT it may seem.
I have no doubt, for I have experienced it, the likes of “The Iron Maiden of Unconscious Bias” is alive and well in the University estates. Its eradication, along with all other activities that utilize the oppressor/oppressed narrative, should be of paramountcy as we move forward, so for the first principle, I lay down for the new vision is…
In the next Blog I shall continue by looking at a number of actions we can take that may be helpful to all in STEM, principles of engagement if you will. | https://medium.com/@edijester/stem-a-return-to-sanity-part-one-567f31b36dca | ['Will Sommers'] | 2020-12-21 08:08:38.643000+00:00 | ['Stem Education', 'Diversity', 'STEM', 'Inclusion', 'Equality'] |
YOU | If you asked me why, I’d ask God to give me a chance
I’d ask God for a miracle and he’d give you a chance
If you asked me how, I’d ask you to give me a chance
I’d let you stand where I stand and see what I see
Feel what I feel
Be who I am and see who you are
My heart beats way too fast for no reason
At least I think there’s no reason
What I know is a story for another day
“ how can one person be so beautiful yet so broken?”
Beauty doesn’t come with any guarantees
Nothing natural comes with any guarantees
Time must be losing its weight. It’s not that heavy for me to push anymore
I’m losing track but this time, in a way that’s good for me
If you asked me why, my answer would be you
YOU…
Time within time
Hours within minutes
Strength within weakness
You moved distances and still stayed
I went so high up and still stayed
You
You’re amazing
I love you
I’m broken but my pieces do gather
I wish we could share each other’s pain and breathe life into each other
Your smile
My God, your smile
Your smile takes me back to the first time I thought I knew what love felt like. What I thought was love wasn’t actually love but what I felt was magical.
I found love in my mind but not in my heart. My mind fought for me more than my heart did. I took my heart’s side in the end but my mind remains my best friend.
You leave me with nothing when you look at me
You take everything including my sanity
I lose direction
I lose pace
You say “come here” and I give myself to you
I give you more control than I will ever give myself
You take my old and tired worries and replace them with worries about being without you
You do all this in the slickest of ways and you leave me wondering
Are you even real?
The dreams that I have are intense
It doesn’t matter whether it’s daytime or nighttime
My mind wanders and takes me a long way away from reality
Maybe you’re just another character in one of my dreams
Maybe God made this little world for me
Maybe God made you for me
Maybe God does love me that much
If you asked how, my answer would be me
Patience pays but it pains
The payment is worth the pain
My feelings taught me about patience and pain
My emotions
If I believed in fairies, I’d wish for peace
The greatest things are the ones that you give to yourself
I want to give myself peace but I constantly fail
I find myself in a maze that I can’t find my way out of
The only enemy I’ve ever had is myself
The greatest friend I’ve ever had is you
The thoughts in my head don’t belong to me anymore
Nothing belongs to me anymore
Do you hear me breathing heavily?
I think way more than I act
I’d be a totally different person if I put all my thoughts into actions
I’m a fire that burns white
You’re that part of me that won’t let me burn out
The part that brightens my flame and gives me the strength
That part that makes my flame bigger and gives me the courage to step out of my comfort zone
When your flame and mine come together, we create beauty that’s unmatched
We’re a fire that no mortal being can ever put out
When it’s you and I as one, there are no questions
When it’s you and I apart, you remain my reason for everything.
Words fail me when it comes to me
You’re the best definition of me
Sunflowers and roses
Bright and beautiful
You roll my darkness over
You break and rebuild different parts of me
You give and take
You take and give
If you asked me why
Why I love you
Why I think I love you
If you asked me how
How I came to love you
I’d give all these as my answers
I’d tell you about you
Then I’d tell you about me
You’d see you within me
All my answers would lead back to you
You’d see that it’s always been you
It will always be you. | https://medium.com/@ednaleona/you-4f3ced1052d3 | ['Edna Nkera'] | 2021-03-17 07:27:38.921000+00:00 | ['Lovestory', 'Love Letters', 'Love'] |
Responsibility | Responsibility
I want to be responsible to and for everything about everyone that I love, but I am not and I can’t be. I can just listen and trust myself with the knowledge that I have in the moment. This morning I read that good decisions come from experience and that experience comes from making bad decisions. The complicated part is that we don’t always know which are which until we have the benefit of time. If, however, one believes that everything is always exactly as it is supposed to be, then the volume of self judgment can get turned down.
I love early Mark Rothko paintings because in them you can see his efforts to find what he seeks, to give form to what he knows he needs to share. They are the art equivalent of coddiwompling, moving with a purposeful intention toward a vague destination. Each decision we make is an essential part of that journey. | https://medium.com/@heidizuckerman/responsibility-4ea5bb0309c6 | ['Heidi Zuckerman'] | 2020-12-21 14:46:43.455000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Wisdom', 'Connect', 'Love', 'Art'] |
SAP HANA VORA & HADOOP | As a “Data Architect” at one of the big utility companies in Australia, I was wondering whether we as in the company, should be considering VORA or not. Certainly we could get SAP to do a little presentation to us, but I thought of doing a bit of digging myself. I would like to share my thoughts and observations with you and hope this will assist you or your organization in some share or form.
As VORA is a new product and knowledge/information in the market is not yet widely available, there are quite a few questions for whom finding an answer is tricky. I tried to collaborate all this information into one place from an Analyst, Architect, and BI manager perspective.
“Let’s start with basics “
What does VORA means?
VORA is the Latin root for “VORAcious” or in other words “big”. As VORA can consume large amounts of data, it was given this name as per comments from a SAP spokesman.
What does it do?
VORA is an in-memory query engine which plugs into apache Hadoop framework to provide interactive analysis. VORA is using SPARK SQL library and HANA compute engine.
How does it do it?
HANA VORA is a combination of Hadoop/YARN (resource allocation), Spark (in memory query engine) and HANA push down query delegation capabilities. VORA handles OLAP analysis & hierarchical queries very well as it does layers in few enhancements to Spark SQL. VORA can exist on standalone basis with one of the Hadoop nodes but can also integrate with classic HANA. Classic HANA integration of-course will incur infrastructure cost but Hadoop integration should cost next to nothing in terms of infrastructure cost.
“We’re taking the lessons learned with what we’ve done with HANA, the real-time, interactive experiences which you can do in the enterprise cloud and applying this to Hadoop,” Tsai said. “But it’s not just making Hadoop interactive …. a lot of people are working on that; but how you also provide those real-time, interactive experiences and that business semantic understanding in Hadoop, and I think that’s the biggest thing that SAP has put in.”
What are the specific features of VORA vs Apache Spark?
VORA is an extension to the Hadoop platform and includes the following features in its first version:
Accelerated In-Memory processing
Compiled Queries
Support for Scala, Python and Java
HANA and Hadoop mash-ups
Hierarchies
Support for HDFS, Parquet and ORC
NUMA awareness
Is VORA based on SAP HANA?
No, VORA is a completely new code base, but the engineering team is the same group as the HANA engineering team, so many concepts and ideas have been borrowed from SAP HANA, as you can see by the feature list. VORA and SAP Hana can exist separately.
Who will benefit by using SAP HANA VORA?
SAP HANA VORA will deliver the most value to people in the following positions:
Business analysts can perform root cause analysis using interactive queries across both business and Hadoop data to better understand business context.
Data scientists can discover patterns by trying new modelling techniques with a combination of business and Hadoop data, all without duplicating data copies within data lakes.
Software developers can deploy a query engine within applications that can span enterprise and Hadoop systems using familiar programming tools.
What type of licenses are there and how much will it cost (just the application)?
What are the challenges which SAP is trying to address using VORA?
Currently “batch process” based tools in Hadoop landscape does not provide fast and drill down mechanism to slice and dice the data. VORA will complement the stack of tools Hadoop enabled enterprises have
When is SAP releasing VORA to the market?
SAP VORA will be released on 18th September 2015. As per SAP roadmap and strategic directions it will be available in cloud first. I am expecting all type of licenses to be available from 18th September, but if in case there is a delay that could only be to the on premise version.
Integration to Hadoop
As you can guess from the screen shot below, SAP HANA VORA will be available as a configurable tool within Hadoop landscape. The question now arises is around Hadoop enterprise versions e.g. HORTONWORKS and CLOUDERA, when are they going to accept and release this into their landscape.
Steve Lucas, president of SAP’s Platform Products Group mentioned in his conversation with “Fortune” that VORA is to augment and speed up data queries of unstructured data, but not to displace Apache Spark.
What are the high level differences between SAP-HANA, VORA and Apache SPARK?
Conclusion
According to me SAP VORA will be a good addition for companies who are already on SAP platforms. Such companies can integrate their transactional, lake and other data sources into one VORA and create mash-up queries for deep dive and interactive analysis. For others I recommend to explore the options for a tool within Big Data Space or they can certainly consider to buy VORA which is a commercial product and offered separate to HANA.
Any question feel free to reach out to me.
References:
http://image.slidesharecdn.com/saphanavora-150902163438-lva1-app6891/95/sap-hana-vora-an-overview-8-638.jpg?cb=1441303367
http://core0.staticworld.net/images/article/2015/09/screen-shot-2015-08-28-at-1.00.47-pm-100611602-primary.idge.png
http://www.slideshare.net/SAPTechnology/sap-hana-vora-an-overview
& SAP Product guide | https://medium.com/@amandeepmodgil/sap-hana-vora-hadoop-2c8f0e0838a1 | ['Amandeep Modgil'] | 2020-12-07 03:56:25.876000+00:00 | ['Vora', 'Hadoop', 'Bigdata', 'Hana', 'Sap'] |
Portable Chargers: What You Need To Know About It? | These days, it is entirely expected to have in excess of two cell phones in our homes, and not very commonly will two individuals will have a similar brand of telephones. Cell phone brands will in general have extraordinary chargers for themselves, which implies one charger isn’t viable with the other. Since one charger can’t suit various brands, the purchaser may need to purchase another charger fit to a specific brand of telephone, on the off chance that it gets blemished.
In any case, fortunately, there are a few organizations that are selling all-inclusive charger stores online that can address this issue. These regularly plug into the cigarette lighter attachment inside your vehicle, and these days various people are probably going to utilize this for charging their cell phones and different machines, rather than genuinely lighting cigarettes!
Since cell phones are currently turning into a need as opposed to a propensity, clearly we need a charger that is easily available on charger store online. This implies there is a requirement for a sunlight-based charger, a gadget that accompanies work in sun-oriented panels. If you go on long outings inside your vehicle or need to go for work, a cell phone charger for the vehicle is an indispensable accomplice to possess.
The sun-based chargers can tackle the force of the sun and concoct an amazing charging office that can help your telephone run for quite a long time. One ought to anyway remember that the charger must be held under the sun for around, which is sufficient to keep your telephone energized for to sixty hours. The lone necessity for utilizing the charger is the presence of daylight; it can likewise work in zones that are to some degree shady. | https://medium.com/@mobilecharger/portable-chargers-what-you-need-to-know-about-it-2c5821711ea6 | ['Inell Dimarco'] | 2021-05-25 04:34:59.482000+00:00 | ['Charger'] |
This was indeed a very interesting concept on perspectives. | How to Easily Increase Perspective and Broaden Your Mind
766 3 | https://medium.com/@preetisingh15/this-was-indeed-a-very-interesting-concept-on-perspectives-f68737e223a3 | ['Dr. Preeti Singh'] | 2020-12-27 16:30:01.293000+00:00 | ['Perspectives'] |
SoapFault exception: [HTTP] Error Fetching http headers | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/sroze/soapfault-exception-http-error-fetching-http-headers-81700e6f6204 | ['Samuel Roze'] | 2017-11-01 11:31:57.581000+00:00 | ['Erreur', 'Exception', 'Performances', 'PHP'] |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.