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Introduction to Amazon DynamoDB | Amazon Web Services
Introduction to Amazon DynamoDB
Photo by Christopher Gower on Unsplash
What is DynamoDB?
As said by AWS, “Amazon DynamoDB is a fast and flexible NoSQL database service for all applications that need consistent, single-digit millisecond latency at any scale. Its flexible data model and reliable performance make it a great fit for mobile, web, gaming, ad-tech, IoT, and many other applications.”
DynamoDB is fully managed which means that all the dirty work like operating, scaling, and software patching happens behind the scenes. So as developers, we only have to worry about developing technological solutions that make use of the NoSQL database offered by AWS.
We are going to discuss:
Creating tables Adding & deleting items Querying items Deleting tables
For the purposes of demonstration, we will create a table to store basketball player data.
Creating Tables
In the AWS Management Console, click Services, then click DynamoDB. Click Create table. Enter Table name as BasketballPlayer. The primary key is made up of a partition key and an optional sort key. This is used to uniquely identify an item in the table. Let’s add Partition Key as PlayerId and change the type to Number. The sort key allows for searching within a partition. We won’t use a sort key for our example. Click Create.
Adding & Deleting Items
We are going to manually add and remove items(rows) to the BasketballPlayer table we just created.
Click the Items tab. Click on Create item. Insert value as 1213. Let’s click the + then Append of type String to add a field PlayerName and value Kobe Bryant. Let’s follow the same process to add a Number type with field name JerseyNo and value 24. Click Save. Let’s add another player with PlayerId 1321, PlayerName as Larry Bird, and Height as 2.06. We won’t be adding a JerseyNo this time. These items are easily modifiable if you want to edit the values. To delete the Kobe Bryant entry, select the grey box next on the left of the entry and it changes to blue. Click on Actions and then Delete. Select Delete.
Querying Items
You can add a few more items to test out querying.
While in the Items tab, select the dropdown saying “Scan” and select Query. To query by PlayerId, enter value as 1321. To query by more attributes(columns), click the Add filter button and insert the respective attribute values.
If you’re wondering what the difference between scan and query is, scan searches through the entire table and can take some time for larger tables and a query operation finds items based on Primary Key and optionally Sort Key quickly.
Deleting A Table
Click Delete table on the top-left. Type delete into the input box and click Delete.
It’s that simple. | https://medium.com/@nitinma2/introduction-to-amazon-dynamodb-8c1e4f22013 | ['Nitin Mathew'] | 2020-12-07 20:19:42.247000+00:00 | ['Cloud', 'Guide', 'AWS', 'Dynamodb', 'NoSQL'] |
Hard Fork Completed | As announced earlier, Beam has successfully completed the second Hard Fork.
At block height 777,777 the mining algorithm was changed from BeamHashII to BeamHashIII
Team Beam were all online at the time of the fork, constantly monitoring the health of the network and prepared for any contingency.
While the Fork was VERY smooth it was a moment of suspense when block 777,776 was mined and we were all waiting to see the post-fork block 777,777 appear. When it happened, it was a moment of joy and pride for the team.
Before
Anticipating block 777,777
After
You could definitely see a lot more smiles on our faces.
Congrats to 2miners who found block 777,776, the last BH2 block and to Leafpool for having mined the first block with the new PoW.
The first BeamHashIII block on our freely available open source pool software also happened at block 777,801 — build your own pool with this free code.
Aftermath
After the Hard Fork occurred, we witnessed an expected drop in difficulty and the two main reasons being that; not all the miners had performed a timely upgrade, and that the upgraded miners participating in the new PoW were mining at lower speeds per GPU on the network — as is the design of BeamHashIII.
However, only 24 hours after the fork, the hash rate of the network reached and eventually stabilised from its pre-fork value (taking into consideration that the the previous algorithm was more established with miner development and offered higher GPU mining hashrates).
Why did we do the Fork
When Beam launched on Jan 3, 2019, we announced that we will perform two hard forks. The rationale was to signal to ASIC developers that there is no point to start developing ASICs until the second hard fork is out.
We timed the first fork roughly 6 months from launch, and the second one in mid 2020. The 10-month timeframe is chosen because that’s how long it usually takes to develop a new ASIC chip.
What else is in this Hard Fork
In addition to the algorithm change, we implemented several important features that are consensus-breaking and can only be done as part of a Hard Fork:
Activate support for Confidential Assets
Activate support for Lelantus Mimblewimble
Activate support for One Sided Payments
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank our wonderful community, the miners, the pools and the exchanges who worked diligently to perform the necessary software upgrades and help us pass the Hard Fork with flying colors.
We also want to extend special thanks to our PoW Advisor Wilke Trei (aka Lolliedieb) who developed BeamHashI, BeamHashII and BeamHashIII.
Go Beam! | https://medium.com/beam-mw/hard-fork-completed-72e8f1edb10b | ['Beam Privacy'] | 2020-06-29 17:30:57.686000+00:00 | ['Privacy', 'Hard Fork', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Elizabeth Warren and the Audacity to Have a Plan | It’s 4:36pm PST, February 22nd, at the time I’m writing this. Nevada will go to Bernie. America seems to like recognizable names. Bernie, Hilary, Donald, George. There are 6 strong candidates heading into 47 more states (+territories) that will pass around delegates to decide the Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential election.
[Update 4:39pm PST — Vox projects Nevada goes to Bernie]
I still can’t tell you why Trump won the electoral college in 2016, and now I’m confused at how Bernie Sanders managed to score the first three caucuses for this primary. But there’s no coincidence that both are backed by a strong militia of social media vigilantes unperturbed by the vitriol it takes to win elections online. I recently read somewhere that we don’t vote for just ourselves in mind, we vote for our society in mind. Bernie supporters want a radical progressive takeover. Trump supporters want to shut out anyone that looks or thinks differently than archaic, nationalistic ideology. Society looks different to everyone. It depends on your upbringing, your status, and what “fair” means to you.
I can tell you that Bernie, Pete, and Joe are not the best choices available to us. We don’t need the fresh face Pete or the familiar faces of Bernie and Joe. If you believe that our government can rise to the type of leadership better than ever before, that doesn’t mean more yelling, more divisive rhetoric, and more antagonizing opponents on social media. Most of the democratic candidates don’t make the cut.
If you believe that we can step forward, that means marching toward logic and reason. We should want to be led by intelligence and authenticity.
Speaking of Intelligence
U.S intelligence informed Bernie Sanders that Russia is interfering with the Democratic primary to secure his win. Because Bernie won’t get moderates. Because Russia can bring Bernie down. Because Russia will aid Trump to bring Bernie down. Joe Biden, the previous frontrunner was toppled by the tactics of Trump, Russia, and unfortunately, himself.
The Best Candidate
Most Americans want some semblance of a nation back. Trump is not so charming that he can degrade our citizens and neighbors and still be the best option to run the country. And we must tell him that with completed ballots.
However, there’s one candidate worth of everyone’s vote this primary election — and ultimately the 2020 presidential election.
Elizabeth Warren is the 2020 choice. Her rhetoric, bold ideas, and intelligence surpass simplistic efforts to convince people not to vote for a woman. She’s beyond the media blackout that tries to trick us into thinking she’s not worth our votes. She’s not a ‘waste of a vote’ because 3 states caucused for Bernie and Pete.
I choose Elizabeth Warren because she’s smart. She’s calculated. She’s thought through her stances. She comes from a public-school background. She used to be a republican. She has a sense of the other side. She’s from Oklahoma. She has the best ideas.
And she’s the most likeable. Yep — A woman is likeable. Imagine that.
If my underpinnings for a candidate have society in mind, then that’s why I support Warren. She’s not the angry candidate. She’s not collecting her Bernie Bros, and she doesn’t come from the establishment. She not only has the nation and its people in mind, she has it with the intelligence to make us feel whole again.
She has the audacity to fight for working class people but be cordial in the execution. She won’t divide this country further than what Bernie’s trying to do. And given that history tends to repeat itself, tends not to look that different no matter who is president, I think bringing this country back to unity with a progressive candidate like Warren versus an angry democrat like Bernie is worth it. | https://heroabstract.medium.com/elizabeth-warren-and-the-audacity-to-have-a-plan-8fe4f9813116 | ['Nisha Mathur'] | 2020-02-23 02:29:39.266000+00:00 | ['Elizabeth Warren', 'Democratic Primary', 'Politics', 'Vote', 'Presidential Election'] |
The Best Blogging Platforms for Beginners | 23. Diigo
Diigo’s primary function is to help you organize bookmarks to your favorite web pages in an online repository. You can make the bookmarks public to share with others or keep them private. You can also annotate and highlight the pages you’re bookmarking. It also lets you make screen captures of full or partial pages, send links to email, Facebook, and Twitter, and even write a blog post from it.
Diigo has a featured called Enhanced Linkrolls that lets you create a list of bookmarks, filtered by the tags you’ve applied to them.
You can read more effectively with annotation tools as you browse around the web. Add digital highlighters and sticky notes whether on PC, tablets, or mobile, and have them always be where you left them when you return! Print to mark-up? No longer necessary.
Build your personal library in the cloud, with links, pages, notes, pictures etc, never to be lost, and ready to be accessed anywhere. Of course, those digital highlights, sticky notes and screenshots you added while going around the web automatically go into your library.
Say goodbye to broken links and lost treasures The web is dynamic — valuable content you found earlier is often no longer there when needed. Diigo archives the webpages for the links you save. Better yet, the archived pages are fully searchable. So do not just bookmark, save to Diigo!
Provide feedback and catch attention with annotation or screenshots Want to draw attention to a particular paragraph to your Twitter followers? Highlight it and tweet. Want to comment on a student’s writing? Use sticky notes for inline commenting. Want to provide feedback on a web design? Capture the page and mark it up.
Organize your information as little or as much as you want. Since Diigo provides powerful search capabilities, the simple act of saving or annotating something, often with just one-click, will enable you to find it easily later. But of course, when you do want better organization, for easier review, for connecting the dots, for better sharing, for presentation, or whatever, Diigo provides unsurpassed organization capabilities, with both tagging and lists, to suit different needs.
Share information as much or as little as you want One advantage of storing information in the cloud is that you can share them easily when you want to. Each piece of information can be set as private or public on Diigo. If you are an extrovert and like to share your passion and showcase who you are, make public as the default! If you are introvert, keep them all private! Want to send a whole collection to someone? just a few clicks away.
Enable better collaboration on information for any group, large or small. Too little or too much sharing with email? Build a group knowledge repository for your family, your class, your team, or your entire company; each group member can add and subscribe to it, and browse and search it. Better yet, group members can interact with on-the-page annotations. So imagine your class are all reading the same Wikipedia article, and commenting and discussing right on the page!
Pricing:
Diigo offers a straightforward enterprise pricing structure with four plans:
Free — $0
With Ads
Standard — $40/year
No Ads
Unlimited webpage highlights
Unlimited PDF highlights
Unlimited cloud bookmarks
Unlimited cached pages
Unlimited image storage
Import kindle notes and highlights
Professional — $59/year
Everything in Standard
Unlimited outliners
Unlimited PDF storage
Business — $10/user/month
Everything in Professional
Admin console dashboard
Collaborative PDF annotation
Collaborative web annotation
Unlimited team library for images, PDF, and webpages
Advantages:
Read more effectively with annotation tools as you browse around the web. Add digital highlighters and sticky notes whether on PC, tablets, or mobile, and have them always be where you left them when you return.
Great for collaboration
Diigo archives the webpages for the links you save
Disadvantages: | https://medium.com/digital-marketing-lab/the-best-blogging-platforms-for-beginners-971313813293 | ['Casey Botticello'] | 2020-05-17 18:25:37.273000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Social Media', 'Journalism', 'Writing', 'Technology'] |
A ‘sparky’ in the action | “You northern hemisphere guys get so excited about stars. At home we get this every night,” says Ryan Twittey, Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) Coordinator for the Cyclone Idai response in Mozambique in his usual say-it-like-it-is way. For him, home is Australia, land of the outback and big blue skies.
Although he is distinctly unimpressed by the luminous constellations above him, the rest of the ETC team have their necks snapped back, looking up and rhapsodizing about the undeniably spectacular Southern African sky. After another 14-hour working day, this is the entertainment in Beira.
It’s Ryan’s last day as ETC Coordinator for the response and he’s half-jokingly counting down the minutes until his replacement has his boots on the ground. “Yeah, I was nervous at the start, I didn’t know what to expect. I’d have preferred to have the IT knowledge behind me because at the end of the day if someone comes to you and says ‘Fix it’, it doesn’t feel good if you can’t. But we’ve got a pretty good toolbox here, so that was good. The team is great.”
That’s certainly true: his team, informally known as the dream team, has the most experienced — and most fun — partners from Ericsson Response, the Government of Luxembourg and NetHope.
Locals help Ryan get the vehicle out of the mud on the way back from Grudja. Photo: WFP Photolibrary
“I don’t mind the first three, four weeks [of an emergency] when it’s go-go-go and you’re getting stuff done. When it starts to slow down, and it’s all about reports and people wanting other stuff, yeah, it’s a good time to hand over.” He grins broadly. “I’m more operational than political. I’d certainly do this again, but I’d rather be in the first wave and be in the action.”
His preference to be in the action is unsurprising — if you met him you’d understand. Ryan is a proper Aussie — down to earth, direct and self-deprecating, with a dry sense of humour and a Crocodile Dundee hat. Even his dog is called Dingo. It’s taken about three weeks to pin him down to do this interview — he dislikes being in the spotlight and is happy with his day job as a ‘sparky’ as he refers to himself. It’s not entirely accurate, he’s actually a senior energy specialist with WFP’s Fast IT and Telecommunications Emergency and Support Team (FITTEST), but it’s testament to his nature that he describes himself that way.
Ryan was certainly in the action in Mozambique. Arriving in Maputo just one day after Cyclone Idai hit, he spent two hours in WFP’s country office in the capital before jumping in a car headed to Beira as the airport was closed. “There was equipment and luggage everywhere. We started a two-day drive to Beira and got three-quarters of the way before the road washed out so we went to Chimoio [further west] and flew back to Maputo and then flew on to Beira. It was a bit frustrating, to be honest. We were trying to go the quickest route and ended up taking the longest,” he shrugs.
He found places to sleep along the way and once he got to Beira, got a room in a hotel in town. “Well, yeah but my room had no roof so it was a bit open air and there was about four inches of water on the floor — but the bed was made and half dry.” | https://medium.com/world-food-programme-insight/a-sparky-in-the-action-756404a1d577 | ['Suzanne Fenton'] | 2019-04-12 14:58:07.854000+00:00 | ['Mozambique', 'Cyclone Idai', 'Technology', 'Telecommunication', 'Humanitarian'] |
Amanda Cary . . . | Amanda Cary . . .
. . . writes to me, “This is the best poem I’ve ever read
And I’m pretty sure you’re my favorite person.”
Signing her name, Amanda Cary
And I’m pretty sure this should be my call
To quit while I’m WAYYYYYY Ahead!
*****************************************
Wikipedia & Encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Trueman
http://www.encyclopedia.com/children/scholarly-magazines/trueman-terry-1947
Thanks ILLUMINATION-Curated for letting me pitch, via this short-form poem, my longest and best work!
Sheehan. An Epic Poem of Love and Loss | by Terry Trueman | ILLUMINATION | Medium | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/amanda-cary-fbe65f62ab90 | ['Terry Trueman'] | 2020-12-18 17:10:16.803000+00:00 | ['Sheehan', 'Writing', 'Poetry', 'Glory', 'Short Form'] |
The little known life of Frank Stewart | <C> Frank Stewart. Nov 1934. [de Havilland 89 Rapide “Tainui” ZK-ACO crew at dinner in Palmerston North], 11–0348. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
After landing in Melbourne, the Tainui team continued onto New Zealand in an attempt to demonstrate the feasibility of an England to New Zealand air route. Hewett, Kay and Stewart flew from Richmond, Sydney directly across the Tasman Sea to Palmerston North, New Zealand, where they were welcomed with a crowd and celebration dinner.
At the time this was the first direct flight from England to New Zealand, and set a number of records, including being the first New Zealanders to fly the Tasman, and set the crossing record at 12 hours and 9 minutes which stood for several years.
Stewart and White Limited
With the completion of the MacRobertson Air Race, Frank returned to Auckland and continued with aerial photography, this time setting up a photography studio called Stewart and White Limited. The firm opened in 1935, and was co-owned by Frank and well known aviator and photographer Leo White.
Leo White would later go on to establish photography and magazine studio Whites Aviation Limited with Frank’s son, Clyde ‘ Snow’ Stewart. Author Peter Alsop notes, “…in Stewart & White, a photography company that, in practical effect, Whites Aviation reincarnated after the war”.
Stewart and White Limited. Maurice Clarke, Manager, Union Airways, c 1930, 13–0342. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
Success for Stewart and White came from the combination of Frank’s business acumen from previous ventures and White’s reputation and contacts in aviation. Their offices were located in His Majesty’s Arcade on Queen Street, the firm specialised in aerial photography, capturing aviation related commissions — like accompanying the Imperial Airways Short S23 flying boat Centaurus during a survey flight around New Zealand in 1937–1938, or photographing key events in New Zealand for publication in serials such as the Weekly News.
Stewart and White Limited. 03 Apr 1940. [Crew after arrival of Awarua], PHO-2018–6.8. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
In 1940 when the firm was in full swing, Snow Stewart, who had left school at 13, was employed at his father’s firm on the day of the arrival parade of HMS Achilles in Auckland on 23 February 1940. While Frank and Leo White were capturing aerial images of the ship in the harbour, and of the parade, Snow was back at the Stewart and White Ltd offices on Queen Street. By sneaking out of the dark room windows to a balcony overlooking Queen Street, Snow captured an image of the 100,000 strong crowds and confetti celebrating the Achilles parade. Snow describes how he developed and printed the image before his father and White returned to the office. The photograph was published as a full page image in the Freelance newspaper.
Unidentified. 23 Feb 1940. [Crowds welcoming return of HMS Achilles], 15/043/005. Walsh Memorial Library, The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT).
Stewart and White Ltd continued until the advent of World War Two, when the banning of civilian aerial photography and scarcity of photographic materials during the war forced the firm to close. From there, Leo White joined the RNZAF as a photographer capturing images which furthered his reputation in aerial photography.
Frank remained in Auckland, where he continued practicing photography. Including photographing capacity-plans for American Liberty cargo ships when docked in New Zealand. For a time during World War Two, Clyde Stewart joined his father in his photography work. In his oral history Clyde describes how Frank would collect the plans from the port, rush back to his home on the limited petrol allowance provided by the government to image the plans, then drive back to the ships with copied plans.
The Liberty ship is a hive of industry from the moment the keel is laid. Prefabricated parts are brought to the assembly point from inland factories. Supplement to the Auckland Weekly News 11 November 1942 p015, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19421111–15–1,
In many ways Franks legacy was continued on by Snow, who, after working with his father, re-joined the RNZAF to work under Leo White as a photojournalist. This working relationship continued post war with Snow becoming an integral part of Whites Aviation as colourist, production manager and chief photographer.
Portrait of Clyde (Snow) Stewart, Production Manager for Whites Aviation, holding a K 20 aerial camera in front of a Tiger Moth biplane. Whites Aviation Ltd: Photographs. Ref: WA-00867-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/30654500
Frank Stewart’s career in cinematography and aerial imagery meant he was an influential figure in early New Zealand photography. However, except for a few excerpts and bylines, his cinematography work has largely been forgotten by the general public, and his involvement in aerial imagery has been poorly documented in comparison with his contemporaries.
Searching through archives held by MOTAT, National Library of New Zealand and other institutions, I have been able to illustrate Frank Stewart’s role in New Zealand’s history of film and photography. But, it is by listening to the oral history of his son that we can gleam an idea of him as a person. As described by Snow he was “a character with a charming manner… but a terrible car driver, bit erratic …but a good photographer.”
References
https://www.noted.co.nz/culture/culture-arts/whites-of-our-eyes-how-hand-coloured-aerial-photography-came-to-define-the-new-zealand-landscape
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BOPT19231222.2.5?items_per_page=10&query=%22Frank+Stewart%22+cinematographer&snippet=true&sort_by=byDA.rev
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/FRTIM19341203.2.11?query=%22Frank+Stewart%22&snippet=true
https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?record_id=67715
https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/cyril-morton/biography
https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?record_id=275807
https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?record_id=65125 | https://medium.com/motat/the-little-known-career-of-frank-stewart-b29f82f5f469 | ['Freya Elmer'] | 2021-06-17 05:16:14.816000+00:00 | ['New Zealand', 'Aviation', 'Photography', 'Whites Aviation', 'Photographer'] |
May Community Update | In May, the Quadrant team has been growing, receiving industry recognition, and delivering on promises to our customers. Here are a few highlights of what’s been going behind the scenes at Quadrant since our last update.
New Team Members
Firstly, we’re delighted to welcome two new data engineers to the Quadrant family — Sam Darmali and Aishwarya Bose. They will help our data engineering team to ensure that we deliver what our clients require.
Both Sam and Aishwarya are eager young engineers, ready to jump in with both feet and contribute to solving some of the biggest data challenges in the industry today. We wish them luck in their roles!
Industry Recognition
We’re proud of Barkha Jasani, Quadrant’s Director of Engineering, for being recognised at the prestigious Women in IT Awards Asia 2019. Shortlisted as one of the finalists for the Data Leader of the Year award category, this acknowledgement of Barkha’s commitment to data engineering is a huge honour for her and the whole Quadrant team.
Barkha’s personal journey to date has been inspiring. Born and raised in a small town in Gujarat, India far from the major IT hubs, she started her life as one of many women who would typically go into more administrative jobs or stay home and start a family.
However, Barkha followed her dreams and enrolled in a course to study Computer Engineering. Thanks to her bravery and tenacity, when she finally graduated, she was able to join an IT firm in India before joining the Quadrant family here in Singapore.
We wish her many more awards and happy years ahead as a leading and remarkable engineer!
Data Quality Dashboard Release
As promised in our April update, we have now released the all-new Data Quality Dashboard tool, which lets users quickly assess the quality and suitability of a given location data feed for their business use case.
The dashboard contains a suite a quality metrics that provide a quick overview prior to running full evaluation analysis. This includes a world map view of monthly and daily active users, a data completeness matrix based on Quadrant’s internal completeness scoring system, and quality distribution charts.
You can read more on the new Data Quality Dashboard here.
Training New Data Scientists (students)
Quadrant was pleased to collaborate with Real Skills Education Australia to hold a data science workshop for students from leading Australian education institutions.
The students visited the Quadrant Singapore office on an educational overseas programme and enjoyed a day-long workshop led by Roger from our Data Science team, who taught them to work with data beyond the limitations of academia.
The students learned new ways to apply data science to its maximum capacity and got a sense of what it’s like to live a day in the life as a data scientist. At Quadrant, we are strong believers in education not being limited to academia and textbooks — get out there and have some practical experiences!
We wish all the students who took time out of their studies to visit the Quadrant office in Singapore the best for their future endeavours as data scientists.
May Events
Turning to events, Quadrant was represented by Barkha at the developer conference Voxxed Days Singapore, where she gave a presentation on the overall state of blockchain in the data economy and shared her vision of how blockchain could be a game-changer for the data economy.
Finally, Quadrant was pleased to host the next edition of its monthly community meetup. This month, the theme was advertising. Presented by Roger and Qi Xuan, attendees were given insights into the importance of leveraging the right data for the right advertising use cases. You can read further on that event, as well as download the event material, here.
Best Regards,
The Quadrant Team
We want to give you every opportunity to stay involved. Please continue sending your questions and suggestions and check our official channels in Telegram | Twitter | Facebook |Reddit for regular updates. | https://medium.com/quadrantprotocol/may-community-update-e0f7668aa553 | ['Nikos', 'Quadrant Protocol'] | 2019-06-13 11:55:42.516000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Technology', 'Singapore', 'Blockchain', 'Big Data'] |
🎅Ansible, 🎄Terraform, 🤶Chef : le père Noël existe-t-il vraiment ? | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/esker-labs/ansible-terraform-chef-le-p%C3%A8re-no%C3%ABl-existe-t-il-vraiment-4ba541211667 | ['Marc Gardent'] | 2020-12-22 10:37:25.566000+00:00 | ['Azure Devops', 'Ansible', 'Iaac', 'Chef Infra', 'Terraform'] |
10 Principles of Psychology You Can Use to Improve Your decking kits uk | 10 Principles of Psychology You Can Use to Improve Your decking kits uk cormancs57 Jul 22, 2019·3 min read
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I Turned My Life Around Using These Keystone Habits | Exercise Regularly
Regular exercise is considered a keystone habit because of the results that come along with it. Better eating habits, lowered blood pressure, increased focus, and better sleep benefits from regular exercise.
Track Your Spending
Track your spending if you want to change your financial future. Tracking your spending is considered a keystone habit because it will influence how you look at money, and you’ll likely follow through on a budget.
Track Your Eating
Like tracking your spending, tracking your eating is also a considerable keystone habit to adopt because it will influence your eating choices.
Are you used to eating tons of fast food?
Track it, all of it, and then look back two, three weeks from now, and feel the disgust. Tracking your eating helps because it holds you accountable when it comes to poor eating choices.
Write In A Journal
Journaling is an excellent keystone habit because it lets you observe your life with a sense of clarity. Journaling is useful for tracking your priorities, thoughts, wants, and needs. Transparency is vital when it comes to self-improvement, and nothings more black and white than a journal.
Meditate
Meditation will help you develop keystone habits because it forces you to take a step back and observe your thoughts and actions. Meditation has helped me identify many unnecessary patterns that were holding me back. Now, I’m free to choose what habits suit me without mindlessly jabbing away at my goals.
Create a Daily Routine
Consistency is key! So why not start a morning routine? Having a routine is probably the best keystone habit you could have because it keeps you consistent with the things that matter most.
I’ve spent years working on developing a proper morning routine, generally consisting of brushing my teeth, sitting in silence, drinking some coffee, writing, and reviewing my journal.
Get Regular Sleep
Last but not least, get regular sleep! Everything else won’t matter if you can’t get at least your required six hours of sleep.
Try going to bed around the same time each night, and wake up around the same time each morning. Make sleep a routine, and soon it’ll become a significant keystone habit. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/i-turned-my-life-around-using-these-keystone-habits-eb70bdc00b01 | ['Jazz Parks'] | 2020-10-16 03:06:54.640000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement', 'Inspiration', 'Motivation'] |
Thinking Out Loud | by Dwayne Phillips
Some persons “think out loud.” This is okay only when done properly.
Some persons “think out loud.” They state a list of ideas quickly. This is a rough draft spoken instead of jotted on paper. The ideas are only partially formed and should be worked and reworked until they make sense.
That is fine, but only when done properly.
Persons, especially those in position of authority, need to provide context to what they say. If a person is “thinking out loud,” state that first so that everyone else knows what follows are partially formed ideas. Otherwise, everyone else may take the rough-draft-ideas as final direction. They immediately implement the thoughts — most of which should have been ignored.
“I’m thinking out loud, go with me a few minutes, and let’s see where this takes us.”
There, that isn’t too hard, is it? It allows the speaker to completely spew everything that it swirling in the mind.
And everyone else knows they can suggest changes to the speakers rough draft. | https://medium.com/@dwayne-phillips/thinking-out-loud-7abf772063e8 | ['Dwayne Phillips'] | 2020-09-17 09:52:22.631000+00:00 | ['Thinking', 'Work', 'Meetings', 'Communication', 'Context'] |
What I learned from doing 1000 code reviews | While working at LinkedIn a large part of my job involved doing code reviews. There were certain suggestions that kept coming up over and over again, so I decided to put together a list that I shared with the team.
Here are my 3 (+1 bonus) most common code review suggestions.
Suggestion 1: Throw an exception when things go wrong
A common pattern I have seen is this:
This pattern actually caused an outage in one of the mobile apps I worked on. The search backend we were using started throwing exceptions. However, the app’s API server had some code similar to the above. Therefore, from the perspective of the app it was getting a 200 successful response and happily showed an empty list for every single search query.
If instead the API had thrown an exception, then our monitoring systems would have picked this up immediately and it would have been fixed.
There are lots of times when it may be tempting to just return an empty object after you’ve caught an exception. Examples of empty objects in Java are Optional.empty(), null, and empty list. A place where this comes up all the time is in URL parsing. Instead of returning null if the URL can’t be parsed from a String, ask yourself: “Why is the URL malformed? Is this a data issue we should be fixing upstream?”.
Empty objects are not the right tool for this job. If something is exceptional you should throw an exception.
Suggestion 2: Use the most specific type possible
This suggestion is basically the opposite of stringly typed programming.
Too often I see code like these examples:
Using the most specific type possible allows you to avoid a whole class of bugs and is basically the entire reason for choosing strongly typed language like Java in the first place.
So now the question is: how do well-intentioned programmers end up writing bad stringly typed code? The answer: because the external world is not strongly typed. There are a number of different places where strings come from, such as:
query and path parameters in urls
JSON
databases that don’t support enums
poorly written libraries
In all these cases, you should use the following strategy to avoid this problem: keep string parsing and serialization to the fringes of your program. Here’s an example:
This confers a number of advantages. Malformed data is found immediately; the application fails early if there are any problems. You also don’t have to keep catching parsing exceptions throughout the entire application once the data has been validated once. In addition, strong types make for more descriptive method signatures; you don’t need to write as many javadocs on every method.
Suggestion 3: Use Optionals instead of nulls
One of the best features to come out of Java 8 is the Optional class that represents an entity which could reasonably exist or not exist.
Trivia question: what is the only exception to have its own acronym? Answer: a NPE or Null Pointer Exception. It is by far the most common exception in Java and has been referred to as a billion dollar mistake.
Optional allows you to completely remove NPEs from your program. However, it must be used correctly. Here’s some advice surrounding the
use of Optional :
You should not simply call .get() anytime you have an Optional in order to use it, instead think carefully about the case where the Optional is not present and come up with a sensible default value.
anytime you have an in order to use it, instead think carefully about the case where the is not present and come up with a sensible default value. If you do not yet have a sensible default value then methods like .map() and .flatMap() allow you to defer this decision until later.
and allow you to defer this decision until later. If an external library returns null to indicate the empty case, then immediately wrap the value using Optional.ofNullable() . Trust me, you will thank yourself later. nulls have a tendency to “bubble up” inside programs so it’s best to stop them at the source.
to indicate the empty case, then immediately wrap the value using . Trust me, you will thank yourself later. nulls have a tendency to “bubble up” inside programs so it’s best to stop them at the source. Use Optional in the return type of methods. This is great because then you don’t need to read the javadoc to figure out whether it’s possible for the value to not be present.
Bonus Suggestion: “Unlift” methods whenever possible
You should try to avoid methods that look like this:
What do all the avoid methods have in common? They are using container objects like Optional, List, or Task as method parameters. It’s even worse when the return type is the same kind of container (ie. a one param methods takes an Optional and returns an Optional).
Why?
1) Promise<A> method(Promise<B> param)
is less flexible than simply having
2) A method(B param) .
If you have a Promise<B> then you can use 1) or you can use 2) by “lifting” the function with .map . (ie. promise.map(method) ).
However, if you have just B then you can easily use 2) but you can’t use 1), which makes 2) the much more flexible option.
I like to call this “unlifting” because it is the opposite of the common functional utility method “lift”. Applying these rewrites make methods more flexible and easier to use for callers.
See Also
Check out my other article on Practical Functional Programming.
This article has been translated into Korean by Ilkwon Sim.
This article has also been translated into traditional Chinese by DORA and also translated into simplified Chinese by Levin Zhang. | https://stevenheidel.medium.com/what-i-learned-from-doing-1000-code-reviews-fe28d4d11c71 | ['Steven Heidel'] | 2020-02-24 02:15:23.029000+00:00 | ['Java', 'Software Engineering', 'Code Review', 'Programming', 'Software Development'] |
Monetization Law Number Seventeen: monetization is primarily a profit and revenue maximization concept, not a growth concept | Monetization Law Number Seventeen: monetization is primarily a profit and revenue maximization concept, not a growth concept
Monetization as a profit tool
Monetization is a revenue and profit optimisation concept.
Growth, revenue or profit
Monetization is a term used for all manner of purposes. We see monetization as primarily a revenue and profit lever as opposed to a growth tool. At some point in most markets, an increase in price will result in demand trending to zero. The laws of supply and demand are always with us. Monetization works within the confines of this overarching economic concept. The outcomes of growth, revenue, or profit maximization are correlated, but not always harmonious. Thus it is essential to set a clear direction on which is to be the number one goal.
In rational agent terms, the marketing team may be motivated for maximum unit sales, and the sales team may be aiming for the highest revenue. The gap therefore arises; who in the organization is driven solely for profit maximization? — The monetization function!
The schema below demonstrates the importance of goal clarity.
Price scenario #1, with sales of 2,000 units, would please Marketing. Price scenario #3 with revenue maxed at $80k would delight Sales. However, it is price scenario #4, which is optimal from a monetization profit perspective.
A monetization advocate is, therefore, a key seat at the goal-setting table. But, it is also vital that the #1 goal objective be communicated across the business.
Profit v’s Growth v’s Revenue
Monetization mapping — The Law of Supply & Demand
This exercise of mapping estimated scenarios should be carried out and used as part of the monthly monetization pack to fuel precise goal-setting — growth, revenue, or profit.
Conclusion: You can optimize for revenue or growth or profit — but not all three at the same time
This is part seventeen of the twenty-four laws of monetization series | https://medium.com/monetization-manifesto/monetization-law-number-seventeen-monetization-is-primarily-a-profit-and-revenue-maximization-216e15118b90 | ['Strat-E-Gym', 'The Monetization Manifesto'] | 2020-12-11 13:21:48.022000+00:00 | ['Pricing Strategy', 'Startup', 'Marketing Strategies', 'Monetization', 'Growth Hacking'] |
An Introduction To Decentralized Exchanges | There are many cryptocurrency exchanges in the market today. By now, you’ve probably used at least one cryptocurrency in order to buy or sell cryptocurrency. Maybe you’re just starting out and you’ve only used Coinbase to buy Bitcoin, or perhaps you’ve tried your hand at trading altcoins on Binance.
Nobody can deny that exchanges are incredibly important to facilitate cryptocurrencies — after all, they are the mechanism that allows people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies and tokens to each other. Just like most things within the cryptocurrency industry, there have been significant innovations made with cryptocurrency exchanges within the past two years. The main innovation that this article will focus on is the creation of decentralized exchanges.
More specifically, this article will provide the following information:
What decentralized exchanges are
Why decentralized exchanges matter
Four decentralized exchanges that you can use today
Limits and downsides of decentralized exchanges
What are decentralized exchanges?
To understand what decentralized exchanges are, it’s important to first understand what it means for an exchange to be centralized. A centralized exchange is one in which a central entity figure manage’s a person’s capital and private keys, and facilitates trading between users.
Centralized exchanges have more volume than decentralized exchanges because:
Decentralized exchanges are still new, and so they are still fixing some “growing pains” (which I’ll focus on later). Meanwhile, many centralized exchanges have had time to fix their issues. With centralized exchanges it is not necessary to understand what a private key is in order to trade tokens on the centralized exchange, or to send tokens. Decentralized exchanges require users to be aware of MetaMask and private keys.
Examples of popular centralized exchanges include Coinbase, Binance, and Poloniex.
A decentralized exchange (DEX), on the other hand, provides users with the ability to trade cryptocurrency on a distributed ledger — all while allowing the users to control their private keys and funds. There is no middleman/intermediary, and the smart contracts for the DEX are open source so they can be reviewed and verified. There is not a single or central entity that controls users’ funds. This puts the power back into the hands of the users of the exchange, not the owners of the DEX.
Examples of decentralized exchanges include IDEX, Waves, and Kyber.
Why are decentralized exchanges important?
By now you might be asking yourself, “who cares about decentralized exchanges?” They might appear at first to be making things more complicated for users of the exchange, requiring technical knowledge about MetaMask, private keys, and so on.
The truth is that decentralized exchanges provide a number of significant benefits, not only to the people who create the exchanges but also to the exchange’s users.
One main benefit that decentralized exchanges provide to users is removing the need to trust a centralized entity to secure the users’ funds. With a centralized exchange like Binance or Bittrex, users are trusting that:
The centralized exchange will keep the private keys of their users safe from hackers The centralized exchange will prevent hackers from getting access to users’ accounts by getting their login info The centralized exchange will not exit scam (i.e. run away with users’ funds).
With decentralized exchanges, these concerns do not exist for users. The smart contracts that the decentralized exchanges use manage funds for users. Because of this, the companies that created the DEX have zero ability to move around users’ tokens.
No need for KYC/AML
Another advantage that decentralized exchanges provide is that there is no need to have login information for the exchange. This also means that there is zero need for users to go through a KYC/AML process, such as a user submitting their driver’s license or state-issued ID.
Usually, all users need to trade through a DEX is having access to their Ethereum wallet through MetaMask. Once they do, they can connect their MetaMask to the DEX to start trading.
Ability to invest in the exchange’s success
Another massive advantage of decentralized exchanges is that they provide users with the ability to stake some money in the success of the DEX through a token. Many centralized exchanges do not have a token that is connected specifically to the exchange (except Binance with its BNB token).
There are several examples of this. IDEX has an AURA token which enables people to stake the token to not only secure the decentralized network, but also earn a share of fees generated by IDEX. If an investor believes that IDEX will get significantly more volume in the future (and thus generate more fees), they have the ability to invest in that success by putting some money into AURA.
Minimal fees
Unlike centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges have significantly lower (if not zero) fees to use the DEX except for paying for gas. This means that users don’t have to worry about racking up a significant amount of fees when depositing or withdrawing tokens onto the DEX, or when trading a significant amount during the day.
Protection from hacks/exit scams
Another great advantage that a DEX provides is that it removes many of the security worries that users of a centralized exchange might have. For example, a DEX does not control a user’s private keys — the users do.
There is also the possibility that a centralized exchange might exit scam — that means that the exchange steals their users’ tokens and shuts down their website.
With a DEX, there is no possibility that the owners of the DEX can steal their users’ tokens because they do not own the users’ private keys. Furthermore, let’s assume that a DEX (such as IDEX) were to suddenly shut down one day and people were no longer able to access the website. Even if this were to occur, users of IDEX can still retrieve their tokens because IDEX’s smart contract is designed in such a way that users can retrieve their tokens directly from the smart contract.
Top decentralized exchanges you can use today
So now that you’ve learned the benefits of decentralized exchanges, you’re probably wondering about a DEX that you can use today to start taking control of your funds while trading. Here are four decentralized exchanges that you can start using today:
IDEX
Kyber Network
Waves DEX
Changelly
Although this article will not go into excessive detail about each of these exchanges (that’s for a future time!), note that each of these exchanges have different user experiences, user interfaces, 24 hour volume, etc. A particular decentralized exchange might be of more use than another exchange if that particular exchange has more volume for a specific token that you want to trade.
Limits and downsides of decentralized exchanges
So far I’ve covered what a DEX is, the advantages that a DEX provides, and some decentralized exchanges that you can use today. If decentralized exchanges seem incredibly innovative and useful, it’s because they are.
But at this point you might think to yourself, “Decentralized exchanges seem really useful. Why doesn’t everybody use one?”. The truth is that a DEX is not a panacea to every single problem for users and creators of an exchange. Although a DEX represents a significant advance in exchanges and provides several distinct advantages, it also provides several distinct disadvantages that a centralized exchange wouldn’t usually face.
So what are the limits/downsides of a DEX? I’ll get into each of these points in more detail, but here’s a quick overview:
Decentralized exchanges generally have lower volume than centralized exchanges
Lack of KYC/AML compliance
Requires users to understand how to use MetaMask and store their private keys safely
Users must trust the smart contract code powering the DEX
Decentralized exchanges can face growing pains as they are still (relatively) new
Lower Volume
Decentralized Exchanges generally have lower volume than centralized exchanges do. For example, IDEX has 24 hour trading volume of $20 million according to CoinMarketCap. Popular centralized exchanges (like Bittrex/GDAX/Poloniex) have a daily trading volume of >$100 million. This is because:
Decentralized exchanges are newer and so less people know about them
Decentralized exchanges require knowing how to use MetaMask.
UI/UX of a DEX might be more confusing than a centralized exchange
All these factors cause decentralized exchanges to have lower volume. This can lead to some difficulties for users if they’re attempting to trade a specific token that does not have much volume on the DEX. As a result, users who cannot buy/sell tokens as a result of low volume might be discouraged from using a DEX.
Lack of KYC/AML Compliance
As stated before, a DEX does not require users to have login information in order to trade their tokens. All it requires is connecting the DEX to a MetaMask wallet. Because of this, users do not need to submit information such as their email, state-issued ID, or driver’s license.
As a result of this lack of a KYC/AML process, decentralized exchanges might face increased scrutiny from regulators. A DEX allows a person to trade massive amounts of cryptocurrency anonymously (as long as volume for the DEX exists). This could cause decentralized exchanges to become prime targets of hackers and scammers who know their personal information won’t be connected to their illegal trading.
It should be interesting to see the response of the SEC and other regulatory bodies as more people realize that they can use these exchanges completely anonymously. Will they require decentralized exchanges to add a KYC/AML process? Or will they allow decentralized exchanges to continue as they are? Only time will tell.
Requires users to understand MetaMask/Private Keys
In order to interact with decentralized exchanges like Kyber Network or IDEX, users must connect to their MetaMask wallet. This requires some technical experience of installing MetaMask and understanding the need to keep private keys and seed phrases safe.
While this is incredibly empowering to users because it allows them to completely control their funds, it also puts the responsibility of keeping the private keys safe to users. If a person does not practice proper security measures, a hacker could acquire their private key or wallet seed phrase and use that to take control of the user’s funds.
Unlike a centralized exchange, trades on a DEX cannot be reversed because of the immutable nature of the blockchain. The need to reverse trades has happened before — Binance, for example, was able to reverse irregular trades on their exchange. A DEX would not be able to reverse illegitimate trades made by a hacker who obtained access to a user’s digital wallet.
Users must trust the smart contract code powering the DEX
One advantage that a DEX provides to users is that users no longer have to trust the creators of the DEX because the smart contract code is managing the funds and not the exchange.
However, what this does is shift trust from trusting the central entity (i.e. the creators of the exchange) to trusting that the smart contract code was written properly without any bugs. There’s the possibility that the smart contract code was written in such a way that there is a hidden bug that allows a person to exploit the smart contract and withdraw all funds within the smart contract.
While this is usually not an issue (as the smart contract code is open-source and can be reviewed), what this means is that the smart contract code should have gone through a diligent auditing process beforehand. If you are unsure whether an exchange’s smart contract has gone through a stringent auditing process, you can usually reach out to a team member of the exchange to ask.
Decentralized exchanges face growing pains
Because decentralized exchanges are still relatively new in the cryptocurrency space, they are still facing some roadblocks and growing pains as they fix issues that they’re running into and as they continue to scale.
For example, IDEX has recently run into performance issues and even had to shut down for a few days to fix these issues. While IDEX has taken steps to address these issues for the future, it’s important to realize that all decentralized exchanges are still nascent technologies and they might continue to face some more roadblocks before they become widely adopted. | https://medium.com/blockchain-report/an-introduction-to-decentralized-exchanges-420fca06b072 | ['Shaun Newsum'] | 2018-05-23 06:14:31.799000+00:00 | ['Insights', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain'] |
RESURGE. Losing weight can take a lot of time… | Weight Loss Tip From 48 Year Old Mom Who Lost 60 Pounds in 5 Months
Losing weight can take a lot of time, discipline and sometimes a lot of sweat.
There are however a lot of simpler ways to see your pounds and inches drop on the scale and in your waist without having to do HITT workouts three times a week, counting calories, or restricting yourself to a water-only diet.
So, if you don’t want to feel like your world’s falling apart just to lose weight, here are 12 little tricks that you should incorporate daily into your routine that will help you lose weight.
If you’re consistent enough, it can even lead you to losing up to 20 pounds in a matter of 2 weeks, just like it did for my 48 year old friend, Margaret. She safely lost 60 pounds in 5 months and shared her top 12 weight loss tips.
And the best part of all this is — there is no gym or diet required.
Click here to see the 2-minute “after-dinner ritual” that helped me melt away 22 pounds in just 16 days.
Let’s get started.
1. Always start a meal with a glass of water
2. Make a few simple swaps at every meal
3. Have a piece of dark chocolate for dessert
4. Be diligent with portion control
5. Move more
6. Don’t drink your calories
7. Don’t starve yourself
8. Snack on high-protein, high-fiber foods
9. Steer clear of simple carbohydrates
10. Eat a light, early dinner
11. Get longer, more consistent sleep
12. Keep a journa
GET RESURGE DEEP SLEEP AND HGH SUPPORT FORMULA NOW
One last thing… you should try this 2-minute “after-dinner ritual” that burns up to 2 pounds of belly fat per day…
“All this by a 2-minute “after-dinner ritual?” I asked.
I met an old friend for lunch last month and I was super impressed with how good she looked.
She said, “It’s not so much about the “after-dinner ritual”, but more about how it gives you a regenerative form of deep sleep that is responsible for everything we need to dramatically increase our fat burning metabolism and improve our health and appearance.”
Even though I was skeptical, I’ve been struggling with my weight over the last few years, so I gave it a shot and watched the same video she did.
Well, it’s only a couple weeks later and you know what they say about how “you can’t transform your body overnight”…
They’re right — it actually took me 16 days to lose 22 pounds.
Now it’s my girlfriends asking ME what I’M doing differently 💅
Imagine your body being beach ready before Memorial Day.
Imagine enjoying the foods you love: pasta, wine, or even a dessert — completely guilt-free.
And imagine feeling good and living your life without obsessing about every single calorie you eat…
All while knowing your health is being protected by one of the most powerful natural healing rituals ever discovered.
Click here to see the 2-minute “after-dinner ritual” that helped me melt away 22 pounds in just 16 days. | https://medium.com/@weightlossfastandhealthy/weight-loss-tip-from-48-year-old-mom-who-lost-60-pounds-in-5-months-cfa406785a0d | [] | 2020-12-27 10:08:50.705000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss Tips', 'Weight Loss', 'Resurge', 'Weightloss Recipe', 'Weightloss Foods'] |
Why Overfitting is a Bad Idea and How to Avoid It (Part 1: Overfitting in General) | Beware of overfitting! Photo by Jenny Hill on Unsplash
We want our AI models to be as accurate as they can be. That’s one of the selling points of AI — that we can encode the best version of our past knowledge and have an automated model infer and apply our judgement. How can we tell when the model is accurate enough to trust? More importantly how can we tell if our efforts to improve accuracy are actually making the model worse? This situation can happen through a training problem called overfitting.
In this two-part series I will show how overfitting can affect various kinds of AI models. In this first post I’ll take a simple example and demonstrate both a reasonably accurate simple model as well as a “perfectly accurate” (overfit!) complex model. In the second post I will demonstrate overfitting in virtual assistants (sometimes called chatbots).
Modeling some sample data
Let’s assume we are trying to predict the sale price of a house. In this hypothetical example we have only two features available to us: the square footage and the sale price of the house. Here’s the sample data:
Square Footage Sale Price 500 60000 1000 121000 1250 128750 1500 175500 2000 208000
Given the limited amount of data available we opt for a simple model first. With two variables our simplest model is a purely linear regression.
Linear plot of square footage vs sales price
As we see in the image above this model looks great! The predicted model is “y = 99.7x + 14025” with an R-squared value of 0.97. (Spoiler alert: This sample data was generated with “y=100x + RANDOM_NOISE”, so this is in fact the “correct” model). While we don’t have any blind data to test our model on, we can glance at that chart and infer the model has captured the essence of the square footage/sale price relationship. We deliver our findings including the model and its 97% accuracy score.
100% or bust!
Let’s assume a distressing turn of events. Our executives are upset at the “low” accuracy and further that our model did not correctly predict any of the training examples. We are further told that only 100% accuracy is acceptable and must go back to modeling.
The training accuracy of a model can almost always be increased by adding additional features. Even though we have only one obvious input feature (x=square footage), we can generate additional features through a process called “feature engineering”. In this example we will use additional polynomial factors as our additional features (x, x², x³, x⁴).
Polynomial regression applied to square footage vs sales price
This new model “y = -6E-07x4 + 0.003x3–5.2477x2 + 3868x — 900000” has an R-squared score of 1.0 and it perfectly predicts each of the training data points. (In fact we can always achieve 100% accuracy while testing new data by adding even more polynomial features.). However this model makes several troubling implications:
· The most expensive possible house is 1879 square feet — all larger houses are cheaper than that
· Sufficiently large (or small) homes have negative cost(!)
We can compare the two models by selecting data points not in our training set and comparing the predictions.
Square Footage Price (Linear Model) Price (Polynomial Model) 418 55700 0 1750 188500 248700 1879 201361 263195 2270 240344 0 2500 263275 -590625 3000 313125 -4125300
There are other techniques we could use to show that the complex model is a much worse model despite its high training accuracy. (The most common method is cross-validation where a subset of the training data is removed and used to test the model instead.)
Generalization is the key
Rather than obsessing over training accuracy we should focus on how the model performs on data it has not seen before. This is best measured with a blind test, where we have real-world data the model was not trained on but can be tested on. In situations where no blind data is available, we can still look for ways to infer how the model works — in this case a simple visualization was enough.
As demonstrated above increasing the training accuracy of a model is not always a good thing, especially when it forces the model to learn localized but not generalizable patterns. A simpler model with lower training accuracy can be superior to a more complex model with higher training accuracy particularly when tested on unseen data.
Training accuracy is interesting but blind test accuracy is most important.
This post was intentionally simplistic in the model and data selected to demonstrate a framework for thinking about and visualizing overfitting. While very few AI models work in two dimensions this framework is still “close enough” to reasoning about more complex models. In the next post I will explore overfitting in virtual assistants.
For help in implementing best practices, and avoiding overfitting, reach out to IBM Data and AI Expert Labs and Learning. | https://medium.com/ibm-watson/why-overfitting-is-a-bad-idea-and-how-to-avoid-it-part-1-overfitting-in-general-b8a3f9ffcf66 | ['Andrew R. Freed'] | 2020-12-21 19:45:54.535000+00:00 | ['Methodology', 'Testing', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Generalization'] |
We have devised a comprehensive plan, a partnership that can engage people, ideas, and resources across various sectors to create a synergy of health and prevention efforts that will have a long-term… | SANJEEVAM HEALTH CARE
We have devised a comprehensive plan, a partnership that can engage people, ideas, and resources across various sectors to create a synergy of health and prevention efforts that will have a long-term effect on society’s health.
WHO WE CATER
For adults and aged focusing on health monitory services, chronic care management, and post-surgical health services
The objective is to create a preventive health care practice at schools by targeting the youth of this country.
For Corporate segments which includes Basic health checkup with 30 parameters, Employee and Employer performance-enhancing program (EPE) | https://medium.com/@9gridseo/sanjeevam-health-care-ab56faf24633 | [] | 2020-12-16 12:13:22.863000+00:00 | ['Preventive Health Checkup', 'Preventive Medicine', 'Preventive Healthcare', 'Online Business', 'Online Medicine'] |
Trust Wallet Partners with WAX and OPSkins Marketplace | Read this article in German, Russian or Chinese
Trust Wallet, OPSkins Marketplace and Worldwide Asset eXchange™(WAX) today announced a partnership that will allow users to access OPSkins’ items directly from Trust Wallet’s browser and purchase them using WAX Tokens or other cryptocurrencies.
Trust Wallet is a secure mobile Ethereum wallet that supports Ethereum, ERC20, ERC223 and ERC721 tokens. Trust Wallet allows users to directly interact with decentralized apps (DApps) in a safe and secure manner by providing a fully security audited system to send, receive and store digital assets. Trust Wallet gives users complete control over their private keys, which are stored exclusively on the user’s device.
The mobile-optimized version of OPSkins marketplace will now be accessible directly from the Trust Wallet DApp browser and items will be available for purchase using funds stored in the wallet. A variety of Crypto Collectibles™, also known as non-fungible tokens or NFTs, will be available for purchase through OPSkins using WAX Tokens or other cryptocurrencies. These NFTs will then be manageable through Trust Wallet.
“We are thrilled to partner with WAX and expand our Trust DApp Marketplace. The Crypto Collectible ecosystem is constantly evolving and more assets are created each day,” said Viktor Radchenko, founder of Trust Wallet. “Having a well-established company like WAX joining us shows how much we are committed to our long term vision — making DApps more accessible and less intimidating for mobile users. With this partnership, we welcome all WAX and OPSkins users into the Trust community and promise to provide outstanding customer support to every new member.”
“Blockchain-based collectibles burst onto the scene with CryptoKitties and have been growing in popularity ever since,” said Malcolm CasSelle, CIO of OPSkins and President of WAX. “As the popularity of these Crypto Collectibles grows, so does the need for a trustworthy infrastructure to manage them, which is where WAX, OPSkins and Trust Wallet come in. Allowing the OPSkins marketplace to be accessed directly from Trust Wallet is an exciting move for us and for the blockchain-based gaming community as a whole.”
With the integration of OPSkins onto the Trust Wallet platform, WAX Tokens gain additional utility and more players are incentivized to join the ecosystem.
OPSkins is rapidly becoming the go-to marketplace to trade Crypto Collectibles. The first NFT to be added to OPSkins and tradable with WAX Tokens was CryptoKitties in December 2017, and there are more to come. OPSkins boasts over two million weekly transactions on its platform, has millions of active customers, adds 200,000 new users each month and offers over five million items available for purchase using WAX. WAX allows anyone to create a virtual goods marketplace, onboarding millions of gamers to the growing cryptocurrency space.
About Trust Wallet
Trust Wallet is a secure mobile Ethereum wallet that supports Ethereum, ERC20, ERC223 and ERC721 tokens. It provides a full secure audited system to send, receive and store digital assets. Trust has a sizable user base with new users joining every month. The built-in fully functional DApp browser can be used to communicate with decentralized applications and trade crypto collectibles directly from a smartphone or tablet, on both iOS and Android. For more information, please visit trustwalletapp.com.
About WAX
WAX is a functional utility token that supports a decentralized platform, enabling anyone to operate a fully functioning virtual marketplace with zero investment in security, infrastructure or payment processing. Developed by the founders of OPSkins, the world’s leading marketplace for online video game assets, WAX is designed to serve the 400+ million online players who already collect and trade video game assets and Crypto Collectibles. With the inclusion of the WAX simple exchange widget, gamers will have access to a worldwide market with blockchain trust and transaction verification. For more information, please visit https://wax.io and http://www.opskins.com. | https://medium.com/wax-io/trust-wallet-partners-with-wax-and-opskins-marketplace-a770dd3576f6 | ['Wax Io'] | 2018-06-22 09:19:53.220000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Tokens', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Another Bitcoin hit piece | Bitcoin has been alive and growing since its inception in 2009; since then, every bull run has been met with criticism and attempts to defame the network. Often recycling the same counterpoints against Bitcoin (it is for criminals, it is a bubble, it is useless, it is boiling the oceans, etc.), the New York Times (NYT) chose the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) lense to argue against Bitcoin in their latest piece. However, like the NYT and others who chose ESG to refute Bitcoin, they entirely miss the “S” and “G” arguments.
The argument around Bitcoin’s energy usage is not an argument at all; in fact, it's irrefutable. The Bitcoin network consumes a lot of energy — The NYT quantifies this consumption at the same amount of electricity as Washington State does yearly; or more than a third of United States’ air conditioning energy expenditure; or more than 7x more energy than what it takes to power Google’s global operations. Bitcoin’s 91 terawatt-hours of electricity consumed annually outpaces that of Finland. Bitcoin consumes a lot of energy. But before a critic can decide on its utility, any ESG savvy investor/activist knows that energy expenditure does not equal carbon emissions.
Energy expenditure ≠ carbon emissions.
A voluntary self-reporting group of 23 Bitcoin mining entities compiled their data to report 67.6% of Bitcoin mining done by the council members was done through a sustainable energy mix. Thus, bringing the industry sustainable energy mix to 56%. Likewise, the NYT claims the sustainable energy composition of Bitcoin is likely somewhere between 40–75%.
Using the lower bound of the NYT figures, the 40% renewable energy used to power Bitcoin is better than the ~30% renewable energy used to power the US and Canada.
Bitcoin critics often claim that despite whether the energy is sustainable, there are better uses for the energy. This is the underlying argument to the Bitcoin energy debate — utility. No one argues that Bitcoin does not consume country-sized amounts of energy; people argue the utility of Bitcoin, a system using country-sized quantities of energy.
One rebuttal to the “better use” argument is that Bitcoin consumes non-rivaled energy. A Bitcoin network participant using energy to mint Bitcoin is not hindering others from using equal or more energy to serve their purpose. Bitcoin energy consumption is not a zero-sum game. Those using energy for Bitcoin are not competing against hospitals needing the energy to perform necessary procedures.
Bitcoin creates demand for an otherwise wasted or stranded supply of energy. One of the most significant problems with sustainable energy is getting it to consumers at the time of need. Erecting solar-panel farms or wind turbines can create massive amounts of renewable energy; the problem is often that these renewable energy farms are some distance from the population that would consume the energy. Bitcoin provides a constant and reliable source of demand for an otherwise stranded and underused energy source. Unfortunately, solar panels and wind turbines collecting energy often fail to deliver sustainable energy to consumers continuously. With solar power, clouds, obstructions, and nights prevent constant energy, which is a rather significant hindrance in the wide-scale adoption of solar energy. With wind, wide clearings are required as well as strong winds to turn the turbines. These factors have limited renewable energy adoption and are contributing factors to why the world is not as green.
Bitcoin, a stateless yet constant monetary system, could be the consumer demanding this energy. Even better, Bitcoin could collect this energy and store it as a digital monetary good, bitcoin (BTC), to be used at a different time and place. Simply reducing money to its purest form, money can be defined as a tradable unit of one’s stored energy.
To illustrate this point, if a farmer grows a harvest of apples and trades the harvest for $30,000, it is safe to say those $30,000 are one way of measuring the time and energy the farmer took to produce the apples. The farmer no longer needs to count all of the painstaking hours to produce the apple harvest; the farmer can state the labor + harvest = $30,000. If it took the farmer a year to produce the $30,000 harvest, then it can be stated that a years’ worth of time and energy is equivalent to $30,000. The same can be said about a single bitcoin. Quantifying this number and denominating it in USD provides a floor price for the monetary good. All else equal, a bitcoin is worth the energy it cost to produce it. Whether BTC trades at a premium or a discount to its production cost is up to the market to decide.
A hypothetical solar panel farm collecting unobstructed rays in the Saharan desert could produce and store vast amounts of energy. The problem is that the Saharan desert is one of the world's lowest population-dense areas but one of the richest measured in the unobstructed sun. Therefore, if those residing in the Saharan desert could convert and store the solar energy into a monetary good, real wealth creation could be achieved for underserved populations while simultaneously efficiently using non-rivaled energy from the sun.
By powering the Bitcoin network and receiving compensation in BTC, stranded and wasted energy can be used to create transferable value.
Once understanding this, a reader might notice the gaps in an ESG-centric attack on Bitcoin that lacks “S” and “G” considerations like that mentioned in the NYT article.
While there is no refute to energy consumption by Bitcoin, there are millions of people in emerging markets, oppressed states, and broken economies being empowered by the sovereignty of Bitcoin. Let there be no doubt that criticism of Bitcoin’s utility from a person who has never experienced problems accessing organized financial services, let alone has a federally insured bank account, comes from a position of extreme privilege.
Bitcoin has a small population of ~200 million global users today, mostly in western and developed nations. The minority of its users are those facing real consequences for accessing a financial system that skirts the purview of broken or totalitarian states. Let that sink in. 200 million people globally are choosing to store value in a decentralized, stateless, censorship-resistant monetary system, and the majority of those are from western and developed nations. Right now, over a billion people are earning, spending, and storing their wealth in currencies suffering from double-digit inflation. 2.5% of the world’s population has exposure to bitcoin, while 12% of the world’s population suffers from hyperinflation. The need for an uncorrelated asset has never been greater for investors attempting to protect against inflation and those needing a sound store-of-value asset.
For several reasons, bitcoin adoption is growing for citizens of countries like Afghanistan, Venezuela, Nigeria, etc. Political instability, crippling sanctions, failing economies, and so on are felt by the citizens of countries who suffer from these problems. For example, Afghan citizens fleeing Taliban rule made last-minute stops at banks where governing authorities limited their withdrawal requests to $200 weekly; lifetime savings were left and lost instantly. Separately, Venezuelans often store, quote, and spend in US dollar terms as a safer, more predictable unit of account than the Bolivar, which has been in a state of hyperinflation since 2016. For citizens experiencing difficulties such as this, a financial alternative is in desperate need.
But for countries with limited financial services, citizens have found ways to access these services at a premium. Like many of those in Latin America, underbanked communities suffer the consequences of a cash economy via high fees or high unit costs for services that come standard at a bank. Remittance services, cash management, currency conversion, and interest-earning accounts are services that underserviced communities forgo entirely or pay multiples higher for inferior services to those in the traditional system. This is where the real utility of Bitcoin is found.
For those separated from reliable forms of financial services, those lacking safe places to store wealth, and those using predatory lenders are the real beneficiaries of Bitcoin. Before critiquing the utility of Bitcoin, one must walk through the process of value transfer via the traditional financial system. To transfer via Swift or other traditional forms, a bank requires a large amount of information on both the sender and recipient, not to mention that both parties must have a bank account to source and receive the funds. Assuming both parties have bank accounts, a wire can be transferred, but the transfer requires a fee and takes several days to process before the funds are settled.
Those in Latin American countries working abroad and sending money back home have an even more complicated process. After earning their income and deciding to send an amount home, remittance services can charge exorbitant fees for the remittance alone. On top of that, processing and conversion fees may be incurred. After all fees and processing, the remitted amount might be 50% to 95% of the initial amount being sent—a crushing fee to pay for an often critical source of income.
Bitcoin, an open network, permissionless, and free to use, can process this remittance in 10 minutes and only require 2 data points: an amount to send and an address to receive said amount. This is the utility of Bitcoin. This utility is discounted by individuals who lack insight into the financial alternatives available to the under and unbanked. By simply choosing to remit via Bitcoin, participants are preserving 99% of their initial amount. Better yet, the transaction incurs no counterparty risk. Because Bitcoin is Peer-to-Peer, it relies on the network, not an intermediary, to process the transaction. When a participant chooses remittance via Bitcoin, the transfer starts at A and terminates at B. Remittance via traditional financial system mechanisms requires trust in each leg of the transaction. Trust that the institution will remit the full amount to the individual listed in the time stated. These service providers are highly regulated trustworthy institutions in the West, yet over $36 billion has been paid in bank fines globally since 2008. Another key factor is remittance via Bitcoin is permanent and censorship-resistant. When remitting via Bitcoin, once the transaction is confirmed, the process of adding a new block of transaction data to the Bitcoin blockchain, the transaction is considered permanent. This censorship resistance and permanence of Bitcoin provide features of sovereignty to the users of the Bitcoin network not traditionally found in the legacy financial system. These features are highly desirable to disenfranchised communities battling unstable conditions in their home nations.
When critiquing an energy-intensive novel technology, it is best to forgo subjective takes on its utility. Bitcoin is the latest in a long line of revolutionary technologies met by critical skeptics. Failing to acknowledge revolutionary technology despite not gaining the same amount of value as its users is like discounting the future success of an online bookstore because the skeptic is not a big reader. | https://medium.com/@piercev18/another-bitcoin-hit-piece-fdbf091ee71c | [] | 2021-09-06 03:39:46.298000+00:00 | ['Underbanked', 'Financial Inclusion', 'Esg', 'Bitcoin'] |
Sports News, Transfers, Scores | Watch Live Sport. | FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 It is booked to happen in Qatar from 21 Best November to 18 December 2022. This will be the very first World Cup to be held in the Arab world, and it will be the subsequent World Cup held completely in Asia later the 2002 competition was held in South Korea and Japan. Groups: 32 (from 5 or 6 confederations) Have country: Qatar Dates: 21 November — 18 December 2022 Dates: 21 November — 18 December 2022
New Zealand’s men will visit Pakistan twice in 2022–23 later the Black Caps pulled out of a visit recently. New Zealand to return to Pakistan twice in 2022–23 after abandoned 2021 tour New Zealand flew home from Pakistan in September, where they were because of play white-ball matches, later a “security alert” from their administration. Britain’s people likewise pulled out of Pakistan visits three days after the fact. New Zealand will presently play two Tests and three one-day internationals in December and January prior to returning for more white-ball matches in April. The subsequent visit will incorporate five ODIs, two a larger number of than recently booked, and five Twenty20s. The choice for England and New Zealand to pull out of their individual visits recently …
Rafael Nadal has tested positive for Covid-19 after returning home from the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. The 20-time Grand Slam champion was beaten by Britain’s Andy Murray in the semi-finals of the show occasion on Friday. Nadal said he had encountered a few “upsetting minutes” yet desires to improve “gradually”. The 35-year-old has just barely gotten back to activity later a long injury lay-off. Nadal composed on Twitter: “On my get back in the wake of playing the Abu Dhabi competition, I have tried positive for Covid in the PCR test that was performed on me when I showed up in Spain. “Both in Kuwait and Abu Dhabi we passed controls like clockwork and all were negative, the keep going being on Friday and having the outcomes on Saturday. “I’m having … | https://medium.com/@sespn/sports-news-transfers-scores-watch-live-sport-212132f6d1b4 | [] | 2021-12-29 17:57:55.143000+00:00 | ['Šport', 'Watch Online', 'Sports Journalists', 'Sports Betting'] |
Voting Options in DAOs | This article explores the different voting mechanisms used by DAOs through Q&As with DAO founders and builders. *Special thanks* to Michael from Curve, Clement from Kleros, anonymous from Compound, Sky from DXdao, Luuk and Pat from PrimeDAO, Adam from lexDAO, Dekan from Raid Guild, Luke from 1Hive, Cooper from Audius, Auryn from Gnosis, and Ezra from DAOstack for providing input!
We’ve come a long way…
Token based quorum voting
Quorum voting requires a certain threshold of voters in order for a proposal to pass (for example: 60% quorum, which means 60% of voting power needs to vote). Once this threshold has been met, whichever decision has more votes wins. Without reaching the quorum threshold, proposals fail.
The threshold has typically been based on the total number of votes, although some protocols (like Compound governance) have a quorum threshold only for the votes in favor of a proposal passing instead (20% quorum in this case would mean 20% of voting power voting positively for a proposal in order for a proposal to be considered for passing).
Projects that have used this include Compound, Curve, and Kleros (among many others).
This governance mechanism is battle tested, and has a long history in our political system. It also has a simple UX for users.
On the flipside, pure token-based voting has some issues. Plutocracies aren’t great. Selecting the “right” quorum requirement is hard. A low quorum makes proposals very easy to pass and the system easy to attack. A high quorum makes it very difficult to pass proposals. This challenge is even greater when large whales are added to the mix. Token-based voting is sensitive to certain kinds of attacks (like the flash governance attack we saw in Maker). Quorum-based voting also requires a high amount of participation from members to pass proposals, which is expensive and time consuming.
Q&A with Michael from Curve:
How do you like quorum-based voting being used in your DAO?
Quorum-based voting makes sense for us. Usually turnout is very small, though. We have not had many challenges passing proposals (only 1 didn’t reach quorum out of ~30). Voting does turn into a game of chasing whales though, which is annoying. Some of them you know, some of them you don’t know, which makes things challenging. The amount of gas is a barrier to a certain degree, but we are looking to subsidize gas with meta transactions in the future.
Are you concerned about some of the risks associated with quorum-based voting? (NOTE: Curve does not use direct token voting. They require token holders to lock tokens, and the voting power given is proportional to the amount of tokens locked as well as the time they are locked for. This mechanism decreases attack vectors.).
Not really since voting power is given to token lockers, based on the amount of time they have the tokens locked for. Not really concerned about other risks, like not being able to reach quorum.
Would you switch the voting mechanism for this DAO if you could easily do so?
What I really want to have is liquid democracy, where votes are delegated.
Q&A with Clement from Kleros:
How do you like quorum-based voting being used in your DAO?
I hate it. The only quorum % I would advise projects use would be 0 (ie, no quorum).
What are some of the things you most dislike about quorum-based voting?
It leads to tactical voting. There are various reasons why tactical voting is not ideal, and doesn’t lead to the best decisions being taken. (Tactical voting means that you may be incentivized to lie about your preference to get the best outcome you can. Many people often do this in the US elections for example, by voting Democratic or Republican even if they support an independent party since their “vote won’t count”). In quorum-based voting, people against a proposal often abstain since they are more likely to prevent a proposal from passing this way than to vote no.
Quorum-based voting also leads to governance locks when the quorum can’t be reached. It also leads to forced conservatism as only extremely popular proposals can be passed but simple ones have trouble getting people to vote.
Are you concerned about some of the risks associated with quorum-based voting?
Yes, I am concerned. The risks of governance locks are significant and can result in projects stopping their development or not being able to answer in a timely fashion to new environment conditions.
Would you switch the voting mechanism for this DAO if you could easily do so?
Conviction voting is interesting, Moloch permissioned-style can fit some DAOs. I’m also generally a fan of Condorcet method voting systems.
Q&A with {anonymous} from Compound:
How do you like quorum-based voting being used in your DAO?
At least in Compound, it seems to be working, and upgrades are being made by the community. It has not been a problem meeting quorum, possibly because there are active whales.
What are some of the things you most dislike about quorum-based voting?
Tokens as a voting mechanism have a market price, which is mostly based around speculation. Separating out the voting power from the financial aspect would be a good thing.
The challenges around Compound governance seem to be more related to social and incentive problems. For example: Many people participate in the community because they care, not because they have a long term stake. It would be good to get more people aligned with the long term direction of protocol. Getting more people to care in general is a challenge. In addition, even though Compound is decentralized, many still just reach out to the team instead of working within the community. Part of this problem is likely due to a lack of infrastructure around proposals and voting as well as perceived centralization.
Would you switch the voting mechanism for this DAO if you could easily do so?
Quadratic voting line of thought seems to be interesting. Possibly requiring the locking up of tokens to accrue voting power. Possibly also issuing vesting COMP to farmers to align long term incentives.
Other things that come to mind is voting power tied to the length of time tokens are staked.
Holographic Consensus
Holographic Consensus (HC) was a concept spearheaded by DAOstack. This voting mechanism associates a prediction market with each proposal. Predictors can stake funds for or against a proposal they believe will pass or fail. If they predict correctly, they benefit financially. Proposals that are predicted to pass are “boosted” and voting switches from 50% quorum to relative majority (where you only look at For vs. Against votes, and no quorum is needed), making the barrier to pass proposals much lower than proposals that don’t have funds staked on them.
Projects that have used this voting mechanism include DXdao, NecDAO and Prime DAO.
This voting mechanism naturally protects projects from nefarious proposals, since you need to pay in order to attack (via staking funds on proposals). It works great for projects that have many proposals since members only really need to pay attention to proposals with a stake on them. It also allows a DAO to pass proposals quickly.
On the flipside, the UX is more confusing and it introduces a new token mechanism (staking on proposals) which isn’t always desired.
Q&A with Sky from DXdao:
How do you like HC based voting being used in your DAO?
Holographic consensus-based voting that is being used by DXdao has been working well. It’s been interesting to participate in a system which uses non-transferrable REP for voting and a GEN-staking token for predicting on proposals, as this is unique from most other single token governance systems.
My understanding is that the design of holographic consensus is meant to be a system that can scale to tens or hundreds of thousands of members. Obviously, we have not seen this large scale experience in action yet and so DXdao is practicing what we might call a much lighter version of what it was designed for. It is not often that there are so many proposals in the queue that the staking mechanism becomes an important aspect of the filtering.
Overall, it has been working well. DXdao has not had many contentious votes. Part of the reason for this is likely that people making proposals often feel out and gain social consensus through forum posts/chats and community discussions around a topic prior to making the proposal. This almost adds a third layer into the governance mix.
What are some of the things you most dislike about HC type voting?
Holographic Consensus adds more complexity to the governance process. The biggest drawback is probably that it is hard to understand the exact details of how the system works, especially if one is new to the DAO and system.
Because of this, it takes time and energy for people to become familiar with the governance process and how to most effectively govern with it.
Also, I would say that an active Holographic Consensus governance system with all the moving pieces and lots of people being active becomes quite expensive especially with higher gas prices on Ethereum.
Would you switch the voting mechanism for this DAO if you could easily do so?
For me, the most interesting addition to the current governance system would be some way to incorporate conviction voting into the governance process to be used for specific types of proposals on top of the current system. Seeing Commons Stack’s Panvala Conviction Voting system in action during Gitcoin grants was pretty cool. I think this fluid type of voting makes a ton of sense in certain situations.
I also really like the simplicity of Moloch DAOs — they are quite easy for new people to understand right away, and they are efficient and secure (assuming you have the necessary community watching over them).
At this point, I don’t think it would make sense to switch fully to any other voting mechanism as HC has been working well for DXdao’s needs, but we are always experimenting!
Q&A with Luuk from Prime DAO:
How do you like HC based voting being used in your DAO?
I believe HC can work well for filtering proposals for a DAO. I’m not really sure it works well for making the best decisions for a DAO though, since people with specific knowledge about something aren’t necessarily the same people who have voting power. The initial idea that Colony had (i.e. where people had reputation in a specific domain) seemed interesting. In fact, in another DAO I was working on (CuraDAO), some people even found it unethical for them to be able to vote on certain proposals they didn’t have knowledge on! I don’t necessarily believe in the vision of these mega DAOs.
Although not really related to the voting mechanism, I do really love the proposal information and flow in the DAOstack DAOs.
What are some of the things you most dislike about HC type voting?
A big challenge is the need to use GEN.
Would you switch the voting mechanism for this DAO if you could easily do so?
Would switch to having multiple voting mechanisms for different decisions. HC for base layer decisions, then Conviction Voting for budgetary decisions. 1 Token 1 Vote for other things. To me, it makes the most sense to use the right tool for the right thing. HC makes sense for high level, but not necessarily low level.
Permissioned relative majority (Moloch DAOs)
Relative majority (ie, where you just compare total number of for and against votes) isn’t a viable governance option for DAOs due to the ease with which they can be attacked (1 person can easily drain the DAO’s funds while others aren’t looking!). However, Moloch DAOs have a nice little feature to prevent this: proposals need to be sponsored by DAO members in order to be voted on, which adds a nice security buffer.
Projects that have used this include MetaCartel Ventures, Raid Guild and DAOhaus.
Some of the benefits of this voting mechanism include a simple UX, and less actions required by members, meaning a lower attention requirement and gas cost. On the other hand, proposals are easy to pass and can pose a risk if nobody is watching. It is slower by design.
Q&A with Adam from LexDAO:
How do you like “permissioned relative majority” voting being used in your DAO?
LexDAO previously used quorum-based voting, and it was a nightmare. Had to whip every vote to get enough people in. The complaining about gas was endless, even when it was $.50 to vote. Votes were rare, but still people were bugged by the gas. Moloch on the other hand tends to effectively align incentives to foster community. It flips the burden from “get enough people to say yes” as the threshold for anything getting done, to “it’s your job to say ‘no’ if you care.”
Do you dislike anything about this sort of voting mechanism?
It’s definitely slower. A lot of the protections built in are around the timing of the proposal process.
Would you move to another voting system, or change anything about it?
Delegation might be something nice to add.
Q&A with Dekan from Raid Guild
(Note: Dekan is building DAOhaus, a platform to deploy Moloch DAOs):
How do you like “permissioned relative majority” voting being used in your DAO?
I like the simple majority rules and no quorum on Moloch voting. Only a single vote is required to pass a proposal which saves gas but it also requires members to be vigilant on watching proposals. It requires an engaged community.
Do you dislike anything about this sort of voting mechanism?
Although “majority rules” has its positives, it is also a negative in a sense. A lot can ride on one vote so a proposal can sneak through if the community is not engaged. If a proposal does sneak through, members can still ragequit, but that could be missed too. So there is a high level of responsibility to be aware of the votes happening in your DAO.
Would you move to another voting system, or change anything about it?
I would like to have an early voting mechanic, so a special proposal could pass instantly on some quorum being met.
Conviction voting
High level: Conviction voting is a voting mechanism in which people stake their voting power on proposals, and over time, those proposals accumulate enough votes to pass. Aragon recently began a pilot for this new type of voting mechanism, which is still very experimental.
Projects that are using this include 1Hive, Panvala, and Commons Stack.
This voting mechanism in theory prevents people with large stakes and strong opinions from suppressing minority voters. The majority doesn’t need to achieve consensus on every proposal, instead, token holders can simply focus on the proposals they support.
On the other hand, this voting mechanism is not yet battle tested, it has a more confusing UX, and likely needs to be used along with other voting mechanisms that are better for yes/no or time sensitive decisions.
Q&A with Luke Duncan from 1Hive
Note: Luke is a member of 1Hive and Aragon, which have funded the building of conviction voting systems:
How do you like your experience with Conviction Voting so far?
Conviction voting is really interesting, it’s still early, but I consider it to be a game changer from a decentralized governance perspective. It’s hard to compare it to other voting mechanisms, because it works so differently. At least in the context we use it, it is more about budgeting and resource allocation than about reaching a specific consensus/decision.
Do you think it could be used effectively for specific consensus / decisions? Or are there reasons why it’s not that good for it?
It’s not really the right tool for that, though in some contexts it could be applied. For example, we use it for funding, and the amount of support required depends on the amount of funds requested by a proposal out of the available funds in a treasury/pool. Another use case is updating a linear parameter (e.g. an inflation rate), which can be done by averaging the signals periodically to move parameter values. But it wouldn’t make a ton of sense to make arbitrary decisions like “upgrade this smart contract”.
The Multisig
Many projects and communities have opted to go the Multisig route (usually with Snapshot for off-chain signaling). In this voting mechanism, token holders signal on proposals, which are then executed by a more centralized committee who usually control a Gnosis Safe. A more thorough analysis of this option along with Q&A will be published at a later date.
Colony’s “Lazy Consensus” voting mechanism (section 3.4 of Colony’s whitepaper)
In this system in development by Colony, , anyone in the community can make a motion for something to happen. If no one objects within a certain amount of time, it happens. If someone objects, then a reputation-weighted vote decides whether or not it should happen. This voting mechanism is still under development, so unfortunately we don’t have firsthand accounts or example projects yet.
Final Thoughts
Currently, the vast majority of projects are using quorum-based voting, in part because it is the most battle-tested and simplest to integrate for existing projects. But we are still in the super early stages of product / protocol governance! The voting mechanism used by your project influences everything from member participation to security and community culture. The *right* voting mechanism could play a critical role in the long term success of projects, by allowing groups to make the best decisions, at the right pace, with minimal risks.
Until a clear winner emerges, projects should try and minimize locking themselves into a specific protocol or voting mechanism, and be open to experimenting as the space keeps evolving. | https://medium.com/daostack/voting-options-in-daos-b86e5c69a3e3 | ['Eric Arsenault'] | 2020-12-15 19:46:44.946000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Governance', 'Crypto', 'Daos'] |
Dark & Lovely Rebrands With a Revitalizing Celebration | Dark & Lovely Rebrands With a Revitalizing Celebration
When it comes to black women and hair, rain can sometimes be our kryptonite. However, the torrential downpour could stop several black beauties from celebrating the rebranding of Dark & Lovely. For over 45 years, Dark & Lovely has proudly dedicated its legacy to catering to the hair care and styling needs of African American women. In celebration, the haircare brand is unveiling a fresh and new modern look. The new logo and brand aesthetic were all unveiled at the rebranding event hosted by Kela Walker.
The rebranding comes on the heels of Dark & Lovely’s 45th-anniversary celebration in 2017, honoring its launch as the first at-home relaxer and hair color formulated specifically for African American women. The pioneering brand has evolved and is addressing the role hair plays in that expression with the Dark & Lovely campaign, “Dark & Lovely & __________.”
The Dark & Lovely & _______ campaign celebrates those who authentically express who they are and encourages women to recognize their infinite, internal power, helping them to find their individual voice.
“The Dark & Lovely consumer is bold, she is dynamic and she is constantly changing,” states Kristen Blandon, Vice President of Marketing at SoftSheen-Carsen. “To continue to be the brand she chooses for her evolving hair needs, we must evolve too!”
The first updated hair care products are the signature Fade Resist hair color and relaxer product lines. , $5.00, is the #1 hair color for women of color. Its new Nourishing Care conditioner is infused with Vitamin E and Argan Oil to help protect your hair from dryness. Offering 18 shades, the largest shade palette for women of color, the no-drip application provides up to 100% gray coverage. It locks in brilliant shine for up to eight (8) weeks of vibrant, rich conditioning color.
The Dark & Lovely Triple Nourished Silkening Relaxer $7.00, delivers salon-worthy results, leaving your hair feeling nourished and silky smooth. The new Relaxer System helps deliver the conditioning care needed for healthier looking hair. The No-Lye formula helps preserve five signs of healthy hair — moisture, shine, strength, softness, and body. With this new product update, you are able to relax any way you want; whether you want to retouch, tex-tax, or spit treat (edges, nape, etc.) for style versatility.
The rebranded Dark & Lovely products are available for purchase at Wal-Mart, Dollar General, Family Dollar, and www.amazon.com. | https://medium.com/@guestlistblog/dark-lovely-rebrands-with-a-revitalizing-celebration-d647fee91e24 | ['Glasgow Skinner'] | 2020-10-17 03:23:36.645000+00:00 | ['Hair', 'Hair Care', 'Beauty'] |
Making P2P Great Again | This is how it all began:
Bitcoin whitepaper described a peer-to-peer currency
However, all cryptocurrencies so far, Bitcoin included, failed to win a significant share of everyday payments.
We need to fix this and make P2P great again.
Every cryptocurrency has irreversible payments built-in. But that is not enough for making safe P2P deals with untrusted counterparties. Without any guarantees that the other party keeps one’s part of the bargain, such payment is just an irreversible donation in exchange for soft promises.
Today we are releasing version 1.5 of Byteball wallet, which includes bound payments.
Bound payments allow you to set a condition when the payee receives the money:
If the payee doesn’t keep one’s part of the bargain, you safely take your money back after a waiting period that you set.
All this happens in completely peer-to-peer manner, no intermediaries, no escrows. Both parts of the deal are secured by math underlying the operation of Byteball platform.
Under the hood, this is a smart contract between the two parties. But unlike other crypto platforms that support smart contracts, you don’t have to trust the developer that the smart contract will operate as expected, the contract is so simple that you can read it yourself:
This is a P2P interaction, only two parties are directly involved and there are no central entities such as DAOs.
Already now, bound payments allow you to P2P exchange bytes (the native currency of Byteball) against blackbytes (a private untraceable currency on Byteball platform) or any other asset issued on Byteball.
In the future releases, we’ll enable you to bind payments to other events happening in the real world. Oracles will serve as connectors between the real world and the cryptographically secured unalterable storage of Byteball database, and oracles will bring the events from the real world to Byteball.
That will allow you to send P2P payments conditional on the other party’s delivery on one’s promises, thus making your payments safe while making P2P great again! | https://medium.com/obyte/making-p2p-great-again-fe9e20546a4a | [] | 2017-03-06 00:04:59.949000+00:00 | ['Smart Contracts', 'Bitcoin', 'Byteball', 'Peer To Peer', 'Blockchain'] |
Finding the Whole Child in Education Reform | By CHRISTOPHER NYE
Big challenges lie ahead — fixing the economy so that it more equitably serves everyone, not just those with the wealth and power; rebuilding democracy so that it is no longer hijacked by lobbyists and corporations; and redirecting cultural life away from decadent diversions and violence but toward higher purpose. Addressing these and other challenges like global warming will demand more than competent workers and participating citizens. It will demand people with a broader vision and a higher and evolving humanity.
An excellent article not long ago in Community Works Journal by Hector Vila addresses this demand from the point of view of teachers and their responsibilities within the broader culture. In what follows I use a different perspective that I believe complements what Dr. Vila had to say.
Think about those, now children, who will be called upon one day to supply solutions in these three spheres. The problems are daunting and will take decades to resolve, but don’t we owe it to those who are now young and in our charge to equip them to handle the world we leave in their care? We can begin immediately to instill the qualities needed to create a new vision and a vibrant society.
How can this be accomplished?
Imagine with me a school where students spend so much time outside and doing projects in the community and in their school garden that it is as if the walls of the building do not exist. There is an ebb and flow, where community members with valuable real life experience to share frequently come into the school, and students, wanting to learn about the society and nature around them, can often be found out beyond the classroom. No one can miss that these young people are fully engaged, that they appreciate the opportunities and nurturing afforded them. A psychological climate of mutual support, what in Finnish schools is called “pedagogical love,” supports all these relationships.
Empowered teachers, who feel the school in which they teach is their school rather than merely a place of employment, can do this. They set the tone. More than that, to a considerable extent they are able to set the school’s direction and expectations for children, rather than having these mandated by administrators at a distance, especially in Washington, who wield carrots and sticks, tests and sanctions, to insure compliance. The teachers are encouraged to be innovators. They work hard and enjoy what they do.
At the weekly assembly, called the loya jirga in this imagined school, much singing can be heard, and students share the results of their creative work and projects they have researched. They perform skits, stories, and songs as well as storyboards and paintings. These presentations involve two principles of the school — first, that that older students work with and help nurture the growth of younger ones in order to create a community of learners. Second, not just the brain but the heartfelt creative talents of the hands and body become important in the acquisition of knowledge. Head, heart, and hands work together in the project-based learning one finds in every classroom. Place-based education links learning with nature and the local community.
When teachers look at students in this school, they look through a different lens. Instead of being a data collectors, they see each child’s emergent and future potential. Relying on their knowledge of a whole child drawn from having taught him or her for at least two years in a multi-age classroom or through a looping arrangement, as well as authentic assessment, teachers can foster growth in multiple levels and areas.
The lens or paradigm used by educators here is key. It focuses not on deficiencies but on the gifts and latent potential in each individual student. When young people feel affirmed in this way, the dividends in student motivation can be remarkable. This calls to mind what psychologist Wayne Dyer says — simple but profound: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
What kind of a paradigm will optimize the potential of each individual child?
The Economic Model
The prevailing paradigm could be called an economic one. We want schools that will produce workers capable of competing in the international marketplace. Justifiably upset that job applicants typically have inadequate basic skills, the business community has used its formidable power and resources to write the script for how schools must change. Make them accountable the way factory employees are. Use quantitative measures to insure quality control. Guarantee compliance by disempowering unions and privatizing management. Like the Darwinian struggle that the economy mimics, competition between students, between teachers, and between schools is encouraged: let the market sort out winners and losers. If a school is a loser, cut your losses and close it.
Of course the parallel with business does not work completely. In a business you can reject defective materials you receive from suppliers; you can also fire non-performing employees. In a public school all children are entitled to a free education. None are turned away. More important, this economic paradigm ignores the fact that in the cultural domain, where education belongs–i.e. the realm of ideas, arts, and individual creativity–this system based on accountability and compliance smothers the human spirit and the very qualities you want to encourage. The results bear this out: out-of-control testing, teaching to the test, narrowing and standardizing curriculum, time and resources spent on data management that formerly went into teaching, the migration of the most creative teachers out of the profession because they are stifled and forced to teach from a script, and teachers treated like technicians rather than professionals, and for-profit corporations running schools — to name a few of the symptoms.
This paradigm’s central weakness is that it loses sight of the child and the need to nurture individual talents. Businesses focus on making a profit, and the correlate in the economic paradigm for education is: cost-effective schooling that produces measurable skills needed for the economic system.
The Political Model
What we may call the political model significantly improves on the kind of thinking enshrined in No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Some very perceptive and progressive people embrace this democratic approach, and for good reasons. It gives more power to teachers; schools are run more democratically; kids are given a role in running the school and gain confidence; parents become involved. One of the best things about this model is that it incorporates listening to kids and responding to their needs and curiosities. This in turn strengthens their willingness to take initiative, be active in the community, and be creative. This is the idea behind the Institute for Democratic Education in America (IDEA). Examples include Mission Hill School in Boston, The Met in Providence, and Brooklyn Free School.
Some adherents to this democratic paradigm feel this is the only way, but that ignores other models and elements that work extremely well yet do not attempt to make the school a functioning democracy. Listening to kids is one thing, critics of this approach say; giving them the power to determine what they are going to learn, when and how, is asking them to operate beyond their capacities and is a mistake. But the fact is, children in these schools seem to flourish, and they learn to take initiative, negotiate, and develop social skills that can be truly amazing.
A Cultural Model
Let’s look at a third paradigm. The Whole Child Model grows from a different center than these other two. It emerges from the potential latent in each individual child, and it resembles the school we imagined at the outset. It’s primary aim is not to prepare a productive worker, or a participating citizen, but rather both of these and a mature person who is capable of leading a fulfilled, satisfying and purposeful life, one that optimizes the talents and uniqueness that child brought to this lifetime. A friend named Lynn Stoddard captures this in his holistic approach to learning that he calls Educating for Human Greatness. Instead of focusing narrowly on math scores and English proficiency, he works on the qualities his research has told him parents want most for their children, qualities like a love of learning, self-confidence, initiative, creativity, and social skills including teamwork. Engender qualities like these, he argues, and children will see that basic skills are necessary to exercise the higher order skills. Put children to work on a project of reclaiming and redesigning a park now full of litter and discarded drug paraphernalia, and watch them discover how important literacy and math skills are. Motivation is built in.
As stated above, the political model is an improvement over the economic model because it is child-affirming, rather than child-measuring. But the whole child or cultural model goes further in the child-affirming direction. This can be approached different ways. In a conventional public school almost any form of project-based learning can be child-affirming if the teacher serves more as coach than instructor and constantly looks for ways to draw out the unique talents of individual children. Some seem to learn through alternative learning styles, perhaps through making or creating things; others are quick to grasp concepts or rise to a mathematical challenge. In a project that calls for all these elements, a team can learn how to support one another with their differing talents. Even in a Waldorf school, where typically a faculty council runs the school and the students have no role in governance, child affirmation takes different forms. Teachers stay with a class for multiple grades and really get to know each child. Instead of buying textbooks, students create their own. And in the morning the teacher stands at the door and shakes hands and makes eye contact with each student upon arrival. In some independent schools with smaller classes, and in the youngest grades for some public schools, teachers do home visits in order to orient the family and child as to what to expect when they first come to class. This also affords the teacher an opportunity to gain a picture of the child’s environment.
In contrast to this child-affirming emphasis on the individual child’s potential strengths and abilities, our contemporary educational practice tends to focus on deficiencies and considers only one intelligence of real value — the cognitive-intellectual or left-brain. The entire impulse that resulted in No Child Left Behind spun out of a perception that we had to make up for inadequacies; we had to prepare more competitive workers and catch up with other nations. The whole child model instead tries to focus on strengths, and use those to motivate growth and draw in other areas that need strengthening. This isn’t radical; it’s a best practice many experienced teachers use: engage a child’s interests to teach new content. But national and state directives and scripted lessons in a test-and-sanction environment do not allow for much of this.
At the website www.EducateTheWholeChild.org we propose a framework for whole child education. It involves engaging students whenever possible on five different levels. Not identical with Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences, these levels nevertheless make use of brain science’s discovery that material can be learned and retained better, the more parts of the brain become involved. Thus a student working on a project that requires multi-level activity and initiative is bound to do better. The five areas are:
cognitive-intellectual activity, associated with the left brain creative-intuitive activity (the arts), associated with the right brain structured physical movement and unstructured, self-directed play handwork, making things that can be useful engagement with nature and community.
Teachers who have worked with service learning or run projects beyond school walls, know that when students are active in the fifth area, it is easy to engage them in the other four. Moreover, the tangible service in one’s own place or community adds a purposeful dimension to learning, one where students build self-esteem because they can see they are contributing. Moreover, community members become stakeholders in the children’s education.
Gardens, even on a vacant lot next to an urban school, provide tremendous opportunities to challenge children on several levels. In the winter, students plan, calculating how much room is available, the number and cost of seeds. In spring they plant and tend the seedlings. Drawing the young plants as they emerge builds powers of observation and artistic skill. In late spring the students will be challenged to come up with a plan for getting their vegetables through the vacation so there is something to harvest when school begins again. Then in late summer into fall as they are astounded by the way the tiny seeds have transformed and produced seeds of their own, students can learn meal preparation with food they have harvested. In late fall they dry and prepare seeds for next year’s crop. They create a cookbook with recipes they have researched or created. Other writing activities can be introduced along the way. And finally, reflecting and writing about the gardening experience can form a basis for next season’s plans.
Summing up, we can look at the economic model for education and see what it aims to produce: workers, competent in math and English. While this is a worthwhile goal, it fails to address the need to help young people develop their full potential as human beings. By aiming higher, much more could be accomplished. We can see what the political model aims to produce: citizens, responsible, thoughtful, voting, in some cases ready to serve the general good. This is also worthwhile, for the qualities of responsible citizenship also make one a good worker and a better person.
The cultural model when rooted in a whole child approach has a different aim — to produce a fully integrated person, versatile and able to do all of the above, able to address big challenges. Moreover, one hopes this person, who has been educated to have multiple, integrated intelligences, will be able to make a marriage work, raise a successful family, take initiative, value creativity, care about others, become a lifelong learner, and above all balance outer demands with inner capacities so that life becomes not a chore but a journey. That is the ideal, and a profoundly useful one. Ideals help us navigate through conditions we cannot anticipate or control. They make possible purposeful and integrated lives. Whole child education should become our paradigm and our educational ideal.
About the Author
Christopher Nye leads Educate the Whole Child, an initiative to change the prevailing paradigm from accountability to nurturing the whole child. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies, has been a college professor and administrator, a poet and editor. He successfully introduced service learning to his campus and engaged college students as mentors in after-school programs at elementary schools.
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CONTENT USE POLICY All materials contained in this web site remain the sole and exclusive property of CWI, or the author as designated by arrangement. We strongly encourage re-publication, but we do ask that you properly credit, and then share your re-publication link with us directly. contact us | https://medium.com/communityworksjournal/finding-the-whole-child-in-education-reform-721a4240db5b | ['Joe Brooks'] | 2019-06-06 00:43:03.026000+00:00 | ['Schools', 'Sustainability', 'Teaching', 'Learning', 'Education'] |
LENNAR (NYSE: LEN) LATEST Q4 FY 2020 EARNINGS CALL — MANAGEMENT COMMENTARY ON GROWTH — 12/17/2020 | 2020 Fiscal Year
Net earnings, revenues, deliveries and new orders for 2020 were the highest in the Company’s history
Net earnings of $2.5 billion, or $7.85 per diluted share, compared to net earnings of $1.8 billion, or $5.74 per diluted share
Revenues of $22.5 billion — up 1%
Deliveries of 52,925 homes — up 3%
New orders of 56,169 homes — up 9%
Paid off $2.1 billion of homebuilding debt
Retired $1.5 billion of homebuilding senior notes
Paid off approximately $600 million of other debts payable | https://medium.com/@fintechbytes/lennar-nyse-len-latest-q4-fy-2020-earnings-call-management-commentary-on-growth-12-17-2020-33cafc0584ff | ['Fintechbytes Co'] | 2020-12-18 14:10:59.251000+00:00 | ['Stock Market', 'Stocks', 'Investment', 'Investing', 'Finance'] |
A Guide to Conducting Feedback Campaigns | A Guide to Conducting Feedback Campaigns
Five tips to increase your reach to obtain quality feedback from participants during the COVID-19 lockdown period
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
Gathering constructive feedback for design screen flows is tough. It’s especially challenging when everyone’s working from home during this COVID-19 lockdown period.
I’ve created a set of screen flows and user journeys in the form of an interactive PowerPoint presentation to obtain user feedback for validation and improvement. I’ve compiled approximately ten user flows into a single PowerPoint deck for review.
The next step is to think about how I can ensure that people take the time to participate (considering their busy schedules) and make an effort to provide the best feedback they can.
I’ll be sharing the measures incorporated to obtain useful feedback during this challenging period.
#1: Create a campaign with incentives
Lucky draws and prizes are a cheap and effective way to drive participation. When appropriately used, e.g. in the form of contests, you’ll be able to get a large number of quality responses from participants. Having a chance to win something makes it worth people’s time to participate — provided the incentive is attractive enough.
A proven approach from my experience with marketing campaigns (in Singapore’s context) is to use vouchers, i.e. from Starbucks, Grab, CapitaLand, etc. The amount can vary depending on the efforts required and the target audience’s time. So far, the amounts that I have worked with range from S$20 to S$50 vouchers.
You can either compensate the participant’s time by offering them a voucher outright or use the voucher as a prize from a competition. I have found the latter to be the most effective; the former may have ethical implications in conservative companies.
#2: State the objectives upfront clearly
When sending out a digital document, e.g. PowerPoint, to a group of people, it’s essential to state the objectives upfront clearly before overwhelming the participants with information. Stating the objectives upfront puts the participant in the appropriate context to provide relevant responses to address your objectives.
If you’re using email as your channel, you can consider following this approach and state the following:
Indicate clearly in the email subject that inputs are required, e.g. “Inputs Required.” Why you need their help, e.g. design a suitable solution. How they can help, e.g. follow steps in the document. What would you be doing with their feedback, e.g. incorporate into solution Lastly, when do you need it, e.g. by next week
From the email, people would get a sense of what you need from them. When they open the document, you can further include a summary of the objectives in the first slide to reinforce the need for good feedback.
#3: Provide visuals and clear step by step instructions
After stating the objectives and putting the participant in the right context and frame of mind to help you, this step focuses on making it easy for them to do it — while allowing you acquire the relevant information. If the steps to navigate the document and provide feedback is too complicated and confuses people, we wouldn’t be able to get constructive responses.
I leveraged on three ways to make my document easy to navigate for the participants:
Use popover walkthroughs — for each screen flow, use tour boxes to guide users on where should they click for each step. Provide a summary — for each screen flow, provide an overview of the intended business outcome/value in the form of a welcome modal/screen Provide the steps with visuals — for the feedback document, instruct users how to insert comments and feedback into the material with visual aids, etc.
I have found popover walkthroughs extremely useful in guiding users to navigate your hi-fi prototype. A sample is shown below—more information on creating good walkthroughs can be found online.
As for the provisioning of feedback, you may want to provide some suggestions on the guidelines. Here are the ones I used:
Frame your feedback with a context — indicate your role and the goal to be achieved.
— indicate your role and the goal to be achieved. Be clear and specific — describe the category of feedback, e.g. aesthetics, usability, process, content, etc.
— describe the category of feedback, e.g. aesthetics, usability, process, content, etc. Describe problems, avoid solutions — provide “why” rather than “how”; avoid prescriptive requests, e.g. “change this colour to red”, etc.
It’d be better if you could provide a sample response for each guideline so that your audience would know what’s the standard and use that as reference.
It’s a delicate balance between providing too much information which would confuse the user, and providing sufficient guidance to achieve the outcome without being physically present to guide your participants.
#4: Communicate through influential people and leaders
You may not have the capacity to reach out to many colleagues in a large corporate environment. It’s more effective to go through leadership or influential people in the organization to reach out to sub-teams and departments as people are generally more inclined to assist people that they are familiar with.
To reach out to the leaders and influential people, you’ll have to find a way to sell the idea to them and get their buy-in. You can either do it via a pitch or strategically involve them at the early stage of your initiative.
#5: Choose the right timing and set a deadline
Setting a deadline provides a sense of urgency to reach a target. While you may have your hard deadline to meet, it’s recommended to set a soft deadline that’s slightly earlier than your hard deadline. Based on experience, people often miss the soft deadline, and you’ll have to send reminders and bumps to complete the feedback constantly.
It’s also important to choose the right timing, e.g. lull periods, to send out the feedback survey. The responses wouldn’t be of quality if surveys were sent during peak periods when people are busy.
I have found segmenting the participants into different groups and catering the timing based on the activities of the segments an effective way to get quality responses. Being in the loop of the activities and events of your target segments, e.g. observe through emails, outlook calendars activities, etc. provide you with a good idea on when would be the best time to reach out to them. | https://medium.com/the-internal-startup/a-guide-to-conducting-feedback-campaigns-3dc705974436 | ['Jimmy Soh'] | 2020-06-12 15:39:54.401000+00:00 | ['User Testing', 'User Experience Design', 'User Experience', 'Surveys', 'Campaign'] |
‘When lives are at stake, it’s not about rules and regulations’: Hero airmen reveal they flew 823 Afghans out of Kabul including 183 kids | ‘When lives are at stake, it’s not about rules and regulations’: Hero airmen reveal they flew 823 Afghans out of Kabul including 183 kids Personal Work Aug 20·4 min read
The crew flew 823 people, 183 kids and 640 adults — out of Kabul airport on Sunday night
Lt. Colonel Eric Kut authorized the flight to take off without any paperwork for those on board
‘When you have women and children and people’s lives at stake, it’s not about capacity or rules or regulations
Other C-17s have left Kabul this week with just 100 people on board because troops and consular officers at the airport are insisting on people having paperwork to get a seat
The US has removed 9,000 people since Sunday but only around 1,000 of those are US citizens
The State Department doesn’t know how many Americans are still in the country
President Biden is refusing to take responsibility for the fiasco and says he made the right decision to withdraw troops suddenly, despite intelligence warning this would happen
The government was also asking people to be prepared to pay $2,000 each for a seat on a rescue flight
Troops remain on the ground in Afghanistan and are at the airport facilitating the ongoing evacuation
The heroic US Airmen who ignored red tape restrictions to save 823 Afghans from Kabul on Sunday by cramming them into a C-17 cargo jet spoke out on Friday about the mission, revealing they saved 183 more than previously reported.
At first, it had been reported that the crew took 640 Afghans out of Kabul but the true number was 823 and includes 183 kids whose presence on board wasn’t previously accounted for.
The flight breaks the record for the number of people to have ever been flown on a C-17 jet and disgraces the other C-17 jets that have left Kabul with only 100 people on board this week, while thousands wait at the airport gates desperate to be saved.
They are not being allowed to board planes because they don’t have the right paperwork and thousands of Westerners and others in the city remain unable to even get to the airport because they’re being stopped by the Taliban.
On Friday, Lt. Colonel Eric Kut, who made the decision to leave the airport with as many Afghans on board, said he was more interested in saving lives than checking paperwork and abiding by red tape rules.
‘First and foremost, a lot of people talk about rules and capacity. We were trained to handle that to max perform that aircraft.
‘When you have women and children and people’s lives at stake, it’s not about capacity or rules or regulations. It’s about the training to make sure we could handle we could that many people out.
‘We were there to do what we were trained to do. We were there to deliver hope and freedom,’ he told CNN’s New Day on Friday from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.
At first, it had been reported that they took 640 Afghans out of Kabul. They revealed the true number was 823 and that 183 children weren’t counted in the first reports
‘The ability to operate at night is a real game-changer,’ one congressional aide told Reuters.
‘Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,’ one U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
The officials said launching airstrikes against the larger equipment, such as helicopters, has not been ruled out, but there is concern that would antagonize the Taliban at a time the United States’ main goal is evacuating people.
The Taliban now controls 2,000 armored vehicles, including US Humvees, 40 aircraft which could include UH-60 Black Hawks,.
‘We have already seen Taliban fighters armed with U.S.-made weapons they seized from the Afghan forces.
‘This poses a significant threat to the United States and our allies,’ Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, told Reuters in an email.
US is considering BLOWING UP its own equipment to stop the Taliban from using it
About a month ago, Afghanistan’s ministry of defense posted on social media photographs of seven brand new helicopters arriving in Kabul delivered by the United States.
‘They’ll continue to see a steady drumbeat of that kind of support, going forward,’ U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters a few days later at the Pentagon.
In a matter of weeks, however, the Taliban had seized most of the country, as well as any weapons and equipment left behind by fleeing Afghan forces.
‘Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,’ one U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters. | https://medium.com/@personal.work.141/when-lives-are-at-stake-its-not-about-rules-and-regulations-hero-airmen-reveal-they-flew-823-8418aeb9b419 | ['Personal Work'] | 2021-08-20 17:12:32.875000+00:00 | ['Afghanistan', 'Deserter', 'Blogs And Blogging', 'Médium', 'Afghan Children'] |
Matplotlib VS Ggplot2 | Back story
I primarily work in python, but I needed to use R for a few recent projects. There are a lot of differences between R and Python, but the graphs grated me the most. The visualizations produced in R tend to look dated. I usually use matplotlib while working in python, and the closest comparable package in R is ggplot2.
But which language, or in this case which package is better at visualization? I decided the only way to settle this was a head-to-head comparison of the same graphs made using matplotlib and ggplot2.
Rules of engagement
For the comparison, we will have seven rounds and a bonus round. In each round, I used the same data and tried to make identical graphs in both packages. The rounds are as follows:
Scatter Plot Contour plot Heatmap Regression multiline graph Multiline connected graph Polar bar chart Multiple Boxplots Bonus round
In each round, the packages are scored out of 5 based on aesthetics and ease of use. The results are at the end of this blog. I will try and keep my bias to a minimum and be as objective as possible.
A few things to remember:
In all the rounds, except for the bonus, I am trying to build the same graph in both packages. I am using the same data and the same color scheme.
In some cases, I could not use the same data due to the limitations of the package or my skill level. I produced a similar graph using mock data.
This a package visualization showdown, which means if matplotlib or ggplot2 cant produce the same graph but another package in the same language can say seaborn or plotly, that does not count.
Even though this is not a tutorial, I have added code snippets but did not go into detail.
In all the images below, the graphs and the code, matplotlib(python) is first, then ggplot2(R).
Finally, all the scoring is in the results section at the end.
So without further adieu,
Let the games begin, and let the best package win!!!
Round 1: Scatter plot
For the scatter plot, I used the fat dataset. This dataset has body measurements of individuals from their neck, chest, abdomen, and other areas. Brozek is a response variable and is a measure of fat in the body. The plots show the height and weight of the sample data. The color gradation and the size of the dots are based on the brozek value of the individual.
Both packages were able to achieve similar results and were relatively easy to make. Matplotlib has better color gradients schemes available. I tried to get the same gradation in gglpot2, but the medium colors look drab. Also, the color gradation legend is more decipherable in matplotlib.
Matplotlib (python) scatterplot | https://towardsdatascience.com/matplotlib-vs-ggplot2-c86dd35a9378 | ['Rebecca Patro'] | 2021-02-12 21:09:14.961000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Visualization', 'Ggplot2', 'Data Science', 'Matplotlib'] |
Dreaming Dragons | A fragment of light
Flickering golden shadows
Magical being
In the night, amidst fire and wind, he cast an enchantment over me, a thick weaving of harsh guttural words that caught and held me fast, hiding me, thread by thread, within luminous scales and smoldering eyes. For a moment, a young girl’s shadow remained. Then it too became dragon.
The surrounding sands changed into the unyielding, glimmering glass.
The folk in the town said I was guarding the hidden riches in the lofty spire. Little did they suspect that I was the secret treasure in the tower. | https://medium.com/genius-in-a-bottle/dreaming-dragons-e56cee296091 | ['Susannah Mackinnie'] | 2020-12-08 23:49:49.637000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Fiction', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Fantasy', 'Dreams'] |
Is Six Feet of Social Distancing Always Necessary? | 6 Feet Apart Is the Gold Standard, but Should It Be?
Exploring the origins, and difficulties, of the 6-foot rule
It may have been the most bizarre card game in history.
Groups of men — some sick with the common cold, some healthy — sat around card tables for 12 hours, playing poker. The healthy men wore specially designed arm braces or plastic “collars” that allowed them to handle the cards and chips but made it impossible for them to touch their faces. The sick men were unencumbered and could freely touch the cards, the chips, or their own runny noses. The men were seated about 4.5 feet from one another.
The gonzo poker game was organized by researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School for a 1987 study that sought to measure how viral pathogens pass among people via different routes of transmission. Since the healthy men couldn’t touch their faces, the only way they could get sick was by breathing in airborne virus particles expelled by their unwell poker buddies.
Once this first part of experiment was over, the presumably cold virus–infested playing cards and chips that the sick men had handled were immediately transferred to a new lab room, where a fresh batch of healthy volunteers was waiting. These men played poker with the cards and chips for 12 hours and were directed to touch their faces every 15 minutes.
So who got sick? Among the healthy men in the first part of the experiment — the ones who couldn’t touch their faces but were sitting close to ill people — more than half ended up coming down with the common cold. Among the men who had to play with the germ-ridden cards, none got sick. “These results point to aerosol transmission as the most important mechanism of natural spread,” the study authors wrote.
That study is one of several older research efforts that — coupled with more recent work — have helped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) create guidelines designed to stop the spread of viruses and other pathogens. Those guidelines form the foundation of the government’s current SARS-CoV-2 recommendations, including its advice to stay at least six feet away from other people.
Three feet is the “area of defined risk” for health care workers exposed to patients who may carry an infectious disease.
“These studies looked at how likely it was that someone infected would communicate [that infection] to others in a shared environment, and then how far apart people were who became infected,” says Julie Fischer, PhD, an adjunct professor of microbiology and immunology at the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Science and Security. The results of these sorts of experiments are not always perfectly consistent, and most of the data is not specific to SARS-CoV-2. But Fischer says that the CDC’s guidelines are based on the best evidence to date and are designed to afford the public the greatest level of protection.
But guidelines are not laws. And some organizations that are planning to reopen this fall — in particular, some schools — are discussing whether a full six feet of physical distance is necessary to keep people safe from Covid-19. Some experts also say that the question of “what is a safe distance?” and “what distance is safest?” may have two different answers.
Balancing risks and benefits
Back in June, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that when classes resume this fall, student desks and seating would be spaced a minimum of three feet apart — not the six feet recommended by the CDC.
The university said that its decision was based on input from infectious disease and public health experts. But the move triggered an immediate backlash among concerned students, their parents, and some faculty members. The school soon revised its policy to conform with the government’s six-foot guideline.
While many observers may have wondered just what the university’s administrators were thinking, some who were close to the controversy say that the debate isn’t as clear-cut as one might assume. “The three-foot rule — that’s classically what’s considered the safe distance,” says Efraín Rivera-Serrano, PhD, a molecular virologist at UNC-Chapel Hill. He’s referring to long-standing infectious disease guidelines, produced by the CDC, that say three feet is the “area of defined risk” for health care workers exposed to patients who may carry an infectious disease.
Rivera-Serrano says there’s no question that maintaining at least six feet of physical distance is optimal. But he points out that the World Health Organization, along with countries such as France and Denmark, have adhered to a one-meter (3.2 feet) physical distancing guideline throughout the pandemic. “Three feet should be enough, especially if [everyone is] wearing a mask,” he says.
The question of “how much distance is enough?” is a challenging one for schools and other institutions or businesses that are attempting to balance public safety with reopening imperatives. Everyone agrees that more distance is better when it comes to reducing exposure risks. But classrooms do not have unlimited space, and as the distance between two people increases, the amount of added risk reduction falls.
If people are wearing masks, it’s unclear whether there’s a large amount of additional risk reduction when people move from three feet to six feet.
To illustrate this point, imagine that someone has tossed a water balloon up in the air. If the balloon lands and explodes within three feet of your legs, you’ll probably get hit with some droplets. The farther away you move, the lower your risk falls of being splashed. But at a certain point, the odds of any water hitting you become so small that putting more distance between yourself and the balloon doesn’t do much to lower your risk.
The same basic rules apply to virus transmission. Rivera-Serrano says that when an infected person talks, sneezes, coughs, or even just breathes, that person expels droplets of saliva. The closer someone is to that person, the more likely they are to inhale one or more of those droplets. But if people are wearing masks, it’s unclear whether there’s a large amount of additional risk reduction when people move from three feet to six feet.
To his point, a July study published in the Lancet looked at data related to SARS, MERS, and Covid-19. It found that people’s risk of infection dropped from 13% to 3% when they maintained at least three feet of physical distance. “[P]rotection was increased as distance was lengthened,” the authors of that study concluded. But graphs included in the study suggest that the magnitude of the risk reduction beyond three feet may be quite small.
Rivera-Serrano says that whenever six feet or more of physical distancing is possible, people should follow that guideline. But he also says that if people maintain at least three feet of distance and are also wearing masks, it’s not yet clear whether the additional three feet of distance provides a significant added layer of protection — or, at least, one that is significant enough to keep a large percentage of U.S. students out of the classroom this fall.
The origins of the six-foot rule
As recently as the 1950s, health officials didn’t have a solid understanding of the ways in which common respiratory illnesses spread from person to person. That changed during the 1960s and 1970s when some pioneering research at the Common Cold Unit — a former initiative of the British Medical Research Council — revealed that close proximity to infected individuals, more so than touching infected surfaces, seemed to carry the greatest transmission risk.
A later study of English school children, published in 1982, suggested that virus transmission was elevated when students sat three feet or less from one another. “These studies formed the foundation of the standards developed by CDC and [the National Institutes of Health] and used in health care facilities, which are that anything closer than three feet carries the most risk,” Georgetown’s Fischer explains.
Before Covid-19, the three-foot guideline was still widely used in health care settings. So how did U.S. health authorities come up with the current six-foot recommendation?
“During the SARS epidemic, epidemiologists realized that three feet might not be enough to prevent droplet transmission,” Fisher says. “There was evidence that health workers who had moved through spaces within about two meters, or six feet, of SARS patients had become infected.”
SARS and Covid-19 are transmitted by related coronaviruses. Assuming that they are passed from person to person in similar ways, it follows that three feet might not be enough space to effectively lower the spread of SARS-CoV-2. But if everyone’s wearing masks, that could change the math. It’s uncertain how much added Covid-19 protection a person enjoys if they’re wearing a mask and they maintain six feet of distance from others, as opposed to three feet.
“People love to think about things in absolutes, but in biology there are always exceptions. With distance and risk, it’s a continuum.”
Experts say the answer likely depends on dozens of different variables. “We understand that unique air patterns, like the way air-conditioning flows, can make a big difference in how far droplets can move,” Fischer says. (At a restaurant in China, a person infected with Covid-19 sat close to an air-conditioning unit, which was believed to have carried the virus to diners sitting “downstream” in the path of the unit’s air flow.)
Also, a person who is sneezing, as opposed to talking or breathing, may expel droplets much farther. When people are outdoors, Fischer says that several different factors — such as UV light or humidity — may cause virus droplets to degrade or fall to the ground more quickly than they would indoors, and so transmission may be less likely. But the risks associated with all these scenarios are “hard to quantify” and highly situation-dependent, she says.
To sum all this up, public health authorities are doing their best to provide people easy-to-follow, evidence-supported guidelines that minimize the risk of virus spread. The best evidence to date suggests that maintaining six feet of physical distance is likely to be a highly effective way to reduce the odds of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. But some open questions remain, and debates about what distance is appropriate — especially when coupled with masks and instituted among low-risk groups — are sure to continue.
“People love to think about things in absolutes, but in biology there are always exceptions,” Rivera-Serrano says. “With distance and risk, it’s a continuum.” | https://elemental.medium.com/six-feet-apart-is-the-gold-standard-but-should-it-be-3af48fe56ff0 | ['Markham Heid'] | 2020-07-31 14:14:44.265000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Pandemic', 'Covid 19', 'The Nuance', 'Coronavirus'] |
Uber like Taxi Hailing Driver App UI Design | Uber like Taxi Hailing Driver App UI Design
So finally you have decided to launch your taxi booking app in the ride-hailing market. Think twice, are you seriously ready? Only knowing the app development model and technology will not be enough to create an app like Uber, Lyft, Grab or Careem. Therefore, before you hire mobile app developer or getting into the development process, you need to gulp down an in-depth analysis report on the ride-sharing market.
Get instant updates with Rating & Reports
Passengers like it when drivers show utmost customer-service. Your customers can rate their riding experience on a scale of 1 to 5. Where 5 is excellent, 3 is average and 1 is terrible.
Passengers can rate drivers on a scale of 1 to 5
They can write a feedback of the ride
Drivers can rate the customers
Get to know your least rated driver
A report section where Admin can view various reports like Total Earning Report, Payment Report, User wallet Report, Referral Report, Drive Log and Payment Report etc.
Keep an eye on all the numbers
Take insight driven business decisions
Find out your earnings
Identify your weak areas
Once you looking for taxi business solution, you more likely than not confronted the problems of building up a task. Taking your business to an online stage is something very essential and this is perhaps the least demanding approaches to work your business bother free. | https://medium.com/@zikarpatel121_95685/uber-like-taxi-hailing-driver-app-ui-design-d064e9c0133c | ['Zikar Patel'] | 2020-10-10 10:41:25.967000+00:00 | ['Uber', 'Solutions', 'Taxi', 'Design', 'Software Development'] |
The Frugal Airbnb User’s Guide for visiting Seattle | Pike Place Market — December 2018
There’s a particular prideful emotion you feel when you discover a jewel amongst the pebbles of Airbnb listings. A rush of mental images crosses your mind of the peaceful short weekend getaway
There’s only one problem. Will you be able to afford it?
Seattle is a destination where many hope to travel, yet the prices can intimidate even the most skilled of Airbnb shoppers.
Fortunately for us, Airbnb provided a dataset from their 2016–2017 listings in Seattle on Kaggle. Using the dataset provided by Airbnb, we will take a closer look at when and where to stay in the Emerald City.
An Overview of Seattle by Neighborhood
One of the aspects that makes Seattle so unique is its variety of neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a unique personality and associated price tag.
Out of the 3,818 listings contained in the dataset, the median listing price in Seattle was $105.00 per night at the average rate of $137.11 per night.
Not bad! But these prices vary depending on which neighborhood you are viewing.
To get a better idea of where to stay if you’re trying to save money, let’s take a look at the distribution of listings across the neighborhoods. | https://medium.com/@joefinnell/the-frugal-airbnb-users-guide-for-visiting-seattle-669e6ecbfe3f | ['Joe Finnell'] | 2019-06-17 18:07:17.668000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Airbnb', 'Seattle'] |
Homecoming | Homecoming
Photo by javo Portraits on Unsplash
I stand at a window
waiting for your arrival.
A cold north wind blows
through the rafters and
sends shivers down my spine.
I have not seen your beautiful face
in over two years when you ran
screaming from the house
after one of our many fights.
You called to let me know
that you were okay but that
you would not be coming home.
I received a few letters over
the months—postcards mostly
from some new place you were
visiting. You never seemed to set
down roots in any place for very long.
Like some dark demon was driving
you to keep searching for that perfect
place. I have waited patiently for you
to return home. I knew you would
eventually. And when I received
your call two days ago, I felt
my prayers had been answered. You
said you were coming home to stay.
I want to take you in my arms and
say that everything will be all right.
I want to feel the softness
of your brown hair in my face
and the warmth of your flesh
touching mine. I have thought
about you every minute of each day
that you have been gone. I have
dreamed of this moment and prayed
for it to happen. I do feel a bit
nervous this morning. Afraid it
is all a prank. Another attempt
to hurt me. I want to believe
what you said. That you were done
running. That you had found
a sense of peace and a taste of joy.
I have prepared a short speech
welcoming you. And I cooked
your favorite meal—tortillas
and refried beans with jalapenos.
The minutes tick away and I
struggle to keep my faith. I hear
your car before I see it pull
slowly into the driveway. Your
face peers out from behind
the windshield. I want to rush
to greet you but I wait. The car
door opens and you step outside.
I see a smile on your lips when
you catch a glimpse of me at
the window. The time has come
for forgiveness. I open the door
and throw my arms around you. | https://medium.com/loose-words/homecoming-b3c53608e09b | ['Harley King'] | 2020-12-04 12:46:48.306000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Patience', 'Poetry', 'Love', 'Forgiveness'] |
中國與香港舉行抗疫交流會 | A columnist in political development in Greater China region, technology and gadgets, media industry, parenting and other interesting topics. | https://medium.com/@frederickyeung-59743/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E8%88%87%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E8%88%89%E8%A1%8C%E6%8A%97%E7%96%AB%E4%BA%A4%E6%B5%81%E6%9C%83-d6ad97485f0d | ['C Y S'] | 2020-12-23 05:30:35.433000+00:00 | ['Hong Kong', 'China'] |
My view about WordPress, Domain and Hosting | Are you a student, entrepreneur, freelancer, blogger, coach, sales executive, and working professional? Do you want to know the differences between WordPress, Domain & Hosting? Then you’re in the right place. In this article I’m going to talk about, how domain, hosting and WordPress are interrelated?
what is WordPress?
Wordpress.org is an open-source content management system that is developed by 1000’s developers, for which you don’t have to pay money.
It is ultimately easy to use, and the best thing is 35% of websites have been built entirely through WordPress.
Wordpress.org is an open-source content management system which is developed by 1000’s developers, for which you don’t have to pay money from time to time.
WordPress is fast, compared to others, optimized and secure.
Many news publications and media are built on wordpress.org such as Sony Music, New York Times, TechCrunch, and quartz.
Choosing The Right Domain Name:
Well, Let’s understand What is DNS?
DNS ( Domain Name System) helps to find websites across the world. It is like the English language through which we can connect with the global.
Here we have to be careful while choosing a domain name, it is very difficult to change the domain name in the future.
The domain name is like the contact name on your phone.
If possible select a .com for your domain name, if you don’t select a domain i.e. .com then you might have to face a problem in future when your website becomes famous and your website will have high traffic or an increase in the number of visitors.
Your Domain name can be your full name or twist on your name with the profession (Rupakmandal.com) or it can be a company name like amazon.com, Google.com and paytm.com.
It should be based on your profession, niche, or the company which you want to start or founded.
Your domain name should be easy to write, and hard to mix up.
Mostly a domain name is recommended to 10 characters or less.
Your domain name should be two words that will be easy to type and hard to mix up for example Dropbox.com, Alibaba.com etc.
Avoid name like chances of making spelling mistake such as flipkart.com
Include a name that will be easy to memorize, and reflect your niche brand.
Choosing A Web-Hosting Server :
Let’s understand, What is a web-Hosting Server?
A web hosting server is a type of internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via www ( world wide web ).
Any computer connected to the internet can be a website host provider.
But practically it is impossible to set up your own server because you need a 24/7 internet connection and it will not handle traffic spikes.
So we rent a server i.e. hosting. I will highly recommend you go for it.
Choose carefully before purchasing a hosting :
Just make sure, what’s your business is all about to do you need one or more than one website at a time.
Few things to choose before purchase the hosting i.e.
No. of Websites. SSL Certificate Storage Subdomains Databases Backups No. of Email accounts Support:
Let me know in the comment section, what do you think about this article. | https://medium.com/@rupakmandal/my-view-about-wordpress-domain-and-hosting-7b2fe7c76b51 | ['Rupak Mandal'] | 2021-04-01 09:14:24.314000+00:00 | ['Domains', 'Hosting', 'WordPress'] |
TryHackMe — Advent of Cyber 2 [Day 6][ID] | Jadi, apa bahayanya XSS?
Hehe, karena saya sendiri bukan ahli, silahkan baca link-link berikut:
More Resources
Check out this awesome guide about XSS:
swisskyrepo/PayloadsAllTheThings
Common payload list for you to try out:
payloadbox/xss-payload-list
For more OWASP Zap guides, check out the following room:
Learn OWASP Zap
OWASP ZAP Installation on Docker
Pull image
docker pull owasp/zap2docker-stable
Run container
docker run -u zap -p 8080:8080 -p 8090:8090 -i owasp/zap2docker-stable zap-webswing.sh
Open at http://localhost:8080/zap/
Reference :
https://www.zaproxy.org/docs/docker/about/ | https://medium.com/@fahmifj/tryhackme-advent-of-cyber-2-day-6-id-456a05e53617 | ['Fahmi J'] | 2020-12-19 17:32:00.175000+00:00 | ['Xss Attack', 'Web', 'Tryhackme', 'Advent Of Cyber 2', 'Hacking'] |
Review — The Morning Show, season one | Review — The Morning Show, season one
The Morning Show was among the first titles available on Apple TV+ when it launched last November, and it’s pretty clear that Apple saw it as the crown jewel in the initial offering. It’s loaded with big stars including Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Billy Crudup, and more. It’s a glitzy, expensive-looking drama about the inner world of morning news at a major TV network, and it’s clearly an attempt at giving Apple TV+ its House Of Cards equivalent.
In the series, Anniston’s Alex Levy and Carell’s Mitch Kessler have been long-time co-anchors of the biggest morning news program, the titular The Morning Show (also frequently referred to in the show as “TMS”). The show begins with Kessler’s dismissal for sexual improprieties in the workplace. Levy immediately takes advantage of the situation to try to leverage more control over the program, including choosing who gets to replace Mitch as her co-anchor, but she’s getting pushback from the network. In a moment of desperation, she publicly announces that Bradley Jackson (Witherspoon) will be her new co-anchor, which unbeknownst to her is exactly the situation that news division head Cory Ellison (Crudup) has been trying to engineer all along. From there the show deals with the (at times) strained relationship between Jackson and Levy, the personal dramas of other members of the TMS staff, and Kessler’s desperation to fight back against what he sees as an agenda-driven depiction of him as a monster.
Obviously the key themes in the show were inspired by the #metoo moment that highlighted so many situations of sexual harassment and worse by powerful men the entertainment industry, with Matt Lauer’s fall into disgrace at the Today Show being a specific key inspiration. It also deals with how people deal with threats to their station in life, what they’re willing to do to get what they want, and the consequences that sometimes go along with that.
In general I thought the show was great, but there were times when it veered heavily toward the soap opera end of the TV drama spectrum, something I think House Of Cards avoided. I also kept feeling like I was watching a full season-long backstory to a Murder, She Wrote episode. I love Murder, She Wrote, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but for some reason the show often felt very 1980’s, despite the R-rated language and contemporary themes.
Storywise, my biggest complaint is that I don’t think the writers did a good enough job conceiving of and developing the character of Bradley Jackson. One of my biggest story gripes is when a show or movie tells you something about a character but never shows it. The Morning Show tells us multiple times that Jackson is a conservative. One character even describes her as “more of a libertarian.” But the show never demonstrates that there’s anything conservative about her. She confesses on air to a past abortion and seems non-repententant about that decision. In general her character feels more like a progressive idealization of a truth-telling journalistic crusader surrounded by other people who are phoneys. The storyline of her relationship with Levy also felt a little underdeveloped.
One of my favorite characters was that of TMS’s executive producer Chip Black, played by Mark Duplass. He frequently felt very relatable as a character in the center of several concurrent awful situations who has to try to manage the chaos surrounded by people who are constantly threatening his job. My other favorite character was Crudup’s Ellison, who was often cartoonishly eccentric, but got laughs in an organic way that didn’t detract from the seriousness of the drama.
The cinematography is great in the series. You’ll enjoy the visuals of this a lot, particularly in 4K HDR. And the music is fantastic as well, starting with the theme song, Benjamin Clementine’s “Nemesis.” I love Cab Calloway, and Clementine’s performance mirrors a lot of Calloway’s staccato vocals, so much so that I had to look it up to see if maybe it was a Cab Calloway song originally. (It’s not.) The rest of the show’s soundtrack is really great as well, both in their choices of popular music tracks, but also the music written for The Morning Show’s score.
The Morning Show is not as good as House Of Cards, but then again House Of Cards was exceptionally good up until Kevin Spacey’s own #metoo indiscretions caught up with him and the show was forced to end with a season in which his absence was a major detriment. But The Morning Show is a solid example of the type of well-crafted series Apple TV+ is aiming for, led by big stars and backed by talented creatives. I’m honestly not sure where they can take season two. I fear we might be in a Jessica Jones scenario where there’s no way to top the first season so the show goes in a totally different direction, but I’m at least interested in seeing what they come up with. | https://johnsherrod.net/review-the-morning-show-season-one-28efdf75dc07 | ['John Sherrod'] | 2020-07-07 03:14:24.991000+00:00 | ['Apple', 'TV Series', 'TV', 'Review', 'TV Shows'] |
3 Reasons Developers Like Apache Spark for Data Engineering | When your business decides to develop a software application or a software product, its IT team or IT consulting partner must choose an appropriate development environment to support the needs of the project and plan for scalability, performance and upgrades. Many developers like the Apache Spark tools and libraries and supporting environment and there is good reason to choose Spark for your project.
‘These are just a few of the developer considerations that make Spark a good choice.’
Spark is a distributed open-source cluster-computing framework and includes an interface for programming a full suite of clusters with comprehensive fault tolerance and support for data parallelism. This open access and flexibility makes Spark a common choice for developers.
In this article, we will discuss three reasons your developer team or IT consulting partner may wish to choose Apache Spark for data engineering in software application or software product application development.
Here are three reasons developers like to use Apache Spark:
Flexibility and Scalability–Spark is not a restrictive environment. It offers support for Cloud apps, Kubermetes, Apache Mesos and Hadoop and can easily handle disparate data. Developers can leverage Spark in a standalone mode and it supports hundreds of types of data sources including Apache Hive, Apache Cassandra, Apache HBase, HDFS etc.
Libraries and Tools– With more thaneighty high-level operators and support for parallel applications, Spark offers many tools and features to support developers. Spark accommodates familiar application languages, and developers can work in SQL, R, Python, Scala and Java. Spark supports streaming, analytics and SQL and has libraries for machine learning, streaming, data frames and graphics.
Programming APIs — Developers have lots of choices for APIs including Python, Scala and Java and for R programmers, SparkR allows access to Spark data directly from the R environment. For developers working in analytics, the Python and R access is crucial as these are typically used in analytical and data science solutions.
These are just a few of the developer considerations that make Spark a good choice. In addition Apache Spark popularity is driven by developer community support. With so manycontributing developers and world-wide use of the features and tools, the Spark libraries and functionality are growing every day.
‘We discuss three reasons your developer team or IT consulting partner may wish to choose Apache Spark for data engineering in software applications and software product development’ | https://medium.com/@sn-96564/3-reasons-developers-like-apache-spark-for-data-engineering-464cf455ed40 | ['Kartik Patel'] | 2021-08-23 12:03:14.140000+00:00 | ['Spark', 'Apache', 'Spark Interface', 'Apache Spark', 'Developer'] |
Kepada Bulan #1 | ● 97's ● Life is not the amount of breaths you take. It's the moments that you takes your breath away ● | https://medium.com/@shintakasih/kepada-bulan-1-fe0dd67fd827 | [] | 2020-12-04 08:46:06.108000+00:00 | ['Stories', 'Series', 'Bulan', 'Cerbung', 'Thoughts'] |
The Psychology of Islam | Yahya Saqib speak on the psychology of Islam and explains how it is a carefully designed and purposeful religion. He looks at why we are taught to pray at a very young age and he goes into detail to explain the meaning of Prayer and why we pray five times a day. | https://medium.com/virtual-mosque/the-psychology-of-islam-1c24aef12850 | ['Virtual Mosque'] | 2016-04-09 17:55:45.143000+00:00 | ['Islam', 'Daily', 'Prayers'] |
Pennsylvania Hides Public Data | Pennsylvania Hides Public Data
As irregularities in Pennsylvania’s open data website began to draw scrutiny, the state abruptly shut down access. Our data backups explain why. kprobinson Nov 25, 2020·4 min read
Last week, Pennsylvania shut down access to key portions of its “OpenData” website, data.pa.gov [https://data.pa.gov]. Data were being scrutinized by the public, and as increasing attention was drawn to apparent errors and irregularities, the site was abruptly shut down.
Pennsylvania states: “As counties finish counting ballots and move toward certification of election results, they are no longer regularly updating the unofficial information dashboard. Therefore we are removing the election data assets from the Open Data Catalog.” The state has put up a separate website dedicated solely to reporting election results and directs the public there.
This rationale is misleading. Much of the data in question is not subject to updates. The public record of mail-in ballot activity does not change as counties tabulate votes, yet these records are of great public interest.
Without a decent explanation, we are left to speculate. Fortunately, I was reviewing this data before public access was cut, and there are plenty of backups. Included below is an up-to-date copy of Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot records, which were free to the public until late last week. We’ll perform a few simple queries on this data.
Sample Records
The following sample of records includes the details of a ballot application from a Philadelphia County resident born September 5th, 1914. The ballot was mailed on September 28th and returned on October 8th. | https://medium.com/@keparo/pennsylvania-hides-public-data-78d40014b38f | [] | 2020-11-25 23:21:32.082000+00:00 | ['Open Data', 'Data Science', 'Election 2020', 'Government', 'Public Policy'] |
I Love You, My Child | I love you, my child
There is nothing that you can do
that can separate me away from you
You are here always,
within my strong and loving embrace
You are protected
You are loved.
I delight in you,
and see my own eyes upon your eyes
I take away your fears
I take away your tears
from now on you are safe
and you are where you’ve always longed to be.
Let the people who judged you
see how I cherish you now,
Let those who condemn you
see how close you are to me.
You are never outside of my love,
never an outcast
never a failure
never so far away
You need not do anything
to please me,
for I am already pleased
that you trust me
to guide you in everything
you wanted to do
You are beautiful
you are whole
you are healed
you are my beloved
you can rest upon my strong shoulders,
and trust that you won’t ever slip away,
For it is I
who is holding on firmly to you. | https://medium.com/the-inspirer/i-love-you-my-child-a62559331b09 | ['Jocelyn Soriano'] | 2020-11-12 02:35:53.866000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Poetry', 'Poem', 'Love', 'Parenting'] |
Nova City: | The project of Nova developers, called Nova City Islamabad, is a prime location in the city. Located on the Fateh Jang Road, the community is easily accessible from the twin cities. In addition, the community is close to the Islamabad International Airport, CPEC Route, motorway, and CPEC Route. Thus, it is an ideal place to live in. Moreover, the community is designed to cater to the needs of the residents.
The property of Nova City Islamabad is located at a distance of just a few kilometers from the Islamabad International Airport. The location is very convenient for the business people, since they can access the airport in no time. The residents can also benefit from the easy connectivity and transportation facilities. There are several destinations in Pakistan that are within a few hours’ drive of the city. Therefore, it is a smart choice to live in this new housing society.
In addition to being an excellent residential community, the society of the city has taken care of the needs of families as well. The neighborhood will include a zoo, complete with all types of animals. The development will be completely automated, so residents will be able to take advantage of the many amenities that Nova City has to offer. The community will have all of the modern conveniences they’ve grown accustomed to. This makes the life of a resident in Nova City an even better experience.
The developers at Nova City Islamabad plan to build a new metropolis in the vicinity of the Fateh Jang neighborhood. The development will have several commercial buildings and residential plots, as well as many parks and green belts for peaceful living. As the master plan for the development of Nova City continues, there will be theme parks, sports parks, a safari, and a number of hotels and restaurants. As a gated community, residents will have peace of mind and an easy payment plan.
A good location is vital for a successful home. The development of Nova City will benefit investors of all types. The city is located near the CPEC route and is easily accessible from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The New Islamicabad International Airport is 21 minutes away, making the project an excellent choice for travelers. Its proximity to the two cities is also a key advantage. The prestigious New Islamabad International Airport will make it an easy commute for residents.
The pre-launch phase of Nova City Islamabad is a good opportunity for investors to purchase a plot. The city has a variety of animals and is very close to the office. This is a very attractive feature for investors. The city’s proximity to the RDA and RBA will be a great benefit for many. There are no other developments in the area with the same amount of public space and amenities as Nova.
Nova City Islamabad is a gated community, so residents can rest assured that their safety is a priority. The city is equipped with security cameras and CCTVs to monitor the area around the community. In addition, the main hospital and clinics will provide emergency services and the latest equipment. The entire community will benefit from Nova City’s proximity to the M-2 motorway. There is no need to worry about safety in the city as it has such high quality infrastructure.
The housing scheme of Nova City Islamabad is located on the CPEC route and is easily accessible from the main Islamabad city and the Rawalpindi city. Moreover, the housing society is surrounded by numerous important landmarks, which enhances the overall value of the society. Further, the project is located close to the Rawalpindi Ring Road and the Islamabad International Airport. Further, the construction of the residential society is expected to be completed in the near future.
The project’s location is ideal for families with children and provides a secure, gated community. With its modern infrastructure, the community has an incredibly easy commute to the main cities and is easily accessible. Moreover, the development has been designed to be highly accessible. It is easy to get to the major cities by car and is within walking distance of major attractions. Furthermore, the facility has good transportation facilities. The cost of the apartment will depend on the number of rooms and the size of the plot
visit us for more details:
https://pcmarketing.pk/ | https://medium.com/@pcmarketingofficial/nova-city-2aa89d4e9f9 | [] | 2021-12-27 12:00:00.896000+00:00 | ['Nova City Islamabad', 'Real Estate Investments', 'Islamabad Real Estate', 'Real Estate Builders', 'Real Estate Business'] |
Will Not Endure | Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash
From what I have lived,
loved, and lost
I mean to live this moment.
For this moment too will not endure
— Pranay Mishra | https://medium.com/@pranoymishra1/will-not-endure-8f8d0b8420b4 | ['Pranay Mishra'] | 2020-12-19 08:12:54.656000+00:00 | ['Poet', 'Poems On Medium', 'Poetry Writing', 'Poetry', 'Poetry On Medium'] |
2017: The Year ICOs Re-Drew the World VC Map | The top ICO cities in the world
Initial coin offerings (ICOs) raised USD 5.95 billion in 2017, according to Token Report’s quarterly ICO data, with 3.06 billion coming in the fourth quarter alone. When it comes to the geography of traditional venture capital deals in the United States, the San Francisco Bay Area has held king status for a while now, so it’s no surprise that it holds the crown in ICO activity as well. And while London, one of Europe’s top three VC cities, comes in third for ICOs, Moscow beats it by coming in second place.
There’s evidence that initial coin offerings may be reshaping the startup capital map. There are a few rising cities among the top ICO markets with growing amounts of deal activity that are not on traditional venture capital maps at all, including Tallinn, Estonia, and Kiev, Ukraine, to name a couple. The rapid adoption of cryptocurrency and the ease of opening a business are some factors, and in Moscow, Russia, cryptocurrency is quickly becoming a mainstream area of study at universities due to high demand.
Dollars vs. ETH & BTC
The Atlantic last year found that the U.S. is home to the top six metros and 12 of the top 20 cities with the highest levels of venture capital investment in the world. The six: San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Diego, make up 45 percent of total global investment.
Below is a map of global tech venture capital activity, by the Martin Prosperity Institute last year, ranked by the amount of capital raised:
If you were to look at a similar heat map for ICOs, mapped by amount raised, the picture wouldn’t look too different. Of the 50 ICOs that have raised the most money to date, the majority — 18 of them — come from the U.S. Of the 18, 10 are based in the San Francisco Bay Area, one in Los Angeles, two in Seattle and only one in New York. The country in second place is Switzerland, with five ICOs, followed by Germany with four and Canada and the U.K. each with three.
But it’s important to note that it’s difficult to compare venture capital and ICOs by dollars raised, as ICO dollar amounts vary widely by market conditions as well as the value of the underlying currency it accepted as funds. For example, a project that raised 50,000 ETH in June 2017 at 300 USD per ETH is marked in our database as having raised 15 million USD — now, that amount would be worth 43.7 million USD. In addition, dollar amounts in crypto are very different from what you see in venture, where Softbank can invest billions in Uber and that’s called “venture capital.” For those reasons, we think deal activity is a more reliable indicator of an ICO cluster, for now.
ICO Deal Activity
We’ve created our own heat map, viewable here, not by amount raised but of where ICOs are based. Bear in mind that the map shown below includes closed ICOs only. You can toggle the map to have it visualize open, closed or all ICOs in our database:
The metro areas on the east and west coast of the U.S. are major hotbeds of ICO deal activity. However, our data shows that after San Francisco, the only other American city in the top five is New York. Below is a list of the top 10 cities in the world that are closing the most ICOs:
San Francisco Bay Area Moscow London Singapore New York Los Angeles Hong Kong Tallinn Berlin Shanghai
Surprise Honorable Mentions
The Baltic region in Europe has seen widespread cryptocurrency adoption in the last few years, including the fact that it has a high concentration of Bitcoin full nodes: Lithuania leads here, with 66 nodes — a large amount in proportion to the size of the country. Estonia as a government has been friendly to the idea of virtual currency adoption — it even proposes to issue its own Ethereum token — called estcoin — in an ICO to accelerate and facilitate investment and startup activity in the country. It currently hosts an e-residence program in which non-Estonians can register for a digital ID that allows them to start and run a European Union-based business.
Beyond that, it is relatively easy to launch a business in Estonia. Opening an LLC is cheap, and through the e-residency program virtually anyone of any nationality can launch a business. When Estonia’s e-residency program published a blog post first proposing estcoin, it saw a spike in applications to the program, mostly due to entrepreneurs hoping to easily launch an ICO.
Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is frequently ranked high on lists of countries that have adopted cryptocurrency. With a population of just 279,796, in 2015 it already had 51 merchants accepting bitcoin and a couple of ATMs. The exchange Bitstamp is headquartered there, and notable ICOs to have closed in the city include Iconomi, Quantum, Cofound.it and Viberate. | https://medium.com/tokenreport/top-ico-cities-and-countries-e6f867bf77f6 | ['Seline Jung'] | 2018-01-02 16:35:38.529000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Ethereum', 'ICO', 'Blockchain', 'Venture Capital'] |
Don’t Lose Hope for the Planet | Don’t Lose Hope for the Planet
Indigenous peoples haven’t, and neither should we
by AJAI RAJ
“Doom. Gloom. All I ever hear.”
— Case, Neuromancer by William Gibson
I’ll be the first to admit it: reading and writing about climate change can be a real drag. Not only does the news seem uniformly bad — a relentless march of cold, implacable facts signifying an oncoming catastrophe — but there is a whole cottage industry (more of a mansion industry, really) devoted to discrediting those facts.
It can feel like reporting on the impending razing of your own house, accompanied by a chorus of aggressively ignorant naysayers (who, by the way, live in the same house) insisting that everything is fine. Not unlike the picture of that dog in the bowler hat that’s so popular these days. You could argue that climate change was patient zero of the “fake news” phenomenon.
But on another level, I get it. Leaving aside the longstanding role of the fossil fuels industry in actively misleading the public, very much like the tobacco industry, I can understand why one would prefer to deny that climate change is happening, to instead cling to feeble arguments to the contrary and accuse scientists (and meteorologists, and the weather) of orchestrating a worldwide conspiracy.
It’s the same reason that I, when I was a cigarette smoker, found myself Googling for assurances that my risk of getting cancer wasn’t really that high— and that was after my dad died from complications following surgery on an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a smoking-related condition which, like most cardiovascular diseases, has nothing to do with cancer. Like the old saying goes, denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
Actually, the more I think about how dreadful and dystopian climate change headlines can sound, the more I understand the appeal of climate change denial. And the more I see the inevitability and destructiveness of the cycle. In a perverse way, to deny climate change is to be able to have hope for the future. So the worse the headlines, the fiercer the denial. Round and round we go, the serpent eating its tail.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to lose hope. We can change the narrative from one of doom and gloom to one of healing and hope, and we can do so without denying facts or ignoring reality.
We not only can. We have to.
That’s the message of Snowchange Cooperative, an Finland-based organization that’s at the front lines of climate change, and one that’s unlike any other on the planet. For almost 20 years, Snowchange has been combining modern scientific techniques with the traditional wisdom of indigenous peoples— including the Saami, Chukchi, Yukaghir, Inuit, Inuvialuit, Inupiaq, Gwitchin, Icelandic, Tahltan, Maori, Indigenous Australian, and many others that this writer admits to having never heard of before reporting this story — to help these communities document and adapt to the effects of climate change all over the world.
Tero Mustonen, PhD and president of Snowchange, embodies this duality perfectly. Not only is he a scholar of Arctic biodiversity, climate change, and issues facing indigenous peoples, he is also the head of a Finnish village called Selkie, in the eastern region of North Karelia. Dr. Mustonen lives off of the land, in a land-based economy complete with fisheries, in the middle of an old-growth (read: ancient, undisturbed) forest, with his wife, a couple of goats, a few chickens, and no running water.
“The boreal [regions] and the Arctic are one of the places where climate change has been proceeding faster than almost anywhere else— a lot of the things that were predicted in 2001 or 2002 have manifested in many ways throughout the arctic,” Dr. Mustonen said.
“One of the things we try to put forward are practical solutions and opportunities, and things that actually address the impacts [of colonialism, and the environmental damage wrought by industry] and also the larger scale of what we need to do in terms of nations, and cultures, and economies, and things like that— so we operate from the grassroots level in many, many remote communities, all the way to very high policy levels, including the UN, US, UK, and Indian governments.
“For this year, we have a number of flagship activities on ecological restoration. Many of these remote communities are better off if they are able to restore and address past land use changes that have taken place,” most often through colonial land theft and industrial pollution, “and through that, rebuild their resilience, for example in the context of rivers and catchment areas.” | https://medium.com/defiant/dont-lose-hope-for-the-planet-68155b0435ac | ['Ajai Raj'] | 2017-02-26 20:03:04.680000+00:00 | ['Defiant Science', 'Climate Change', 'Environment'] |
Why the Silent Treatment is the Weapon of Choice for Narcissists | Don’t rely on your memory
You have been so used to the gaslighting, and being presented with different versions of events, you forget how disorienting and confusing it can be. It may be an everyday occurrence for you but writing down his actual words and behavior can make it easier for someone else to see him for the abuser that he is. Record anything that makes you unhappy or uncomfortable.
What is normal daily life to you will immediately sound alarm bells to a therapist or relationship counselor. Try to find one who has experience of helping domestic abuse victims.
Being believed is vital
If your mental health is going to survive, you need to surround yourself with people who know that you are telling the truth, even if they haven’t seen any evidence of abuse. Find people who know you well enough to stand in your corner, no matter what.
Cut toxic people out of your life
This might even be your immediate family, but if they don’t believe what you’re telling them, they are siding with the abuser.
If they want to believe but don’t want to listen to you, just tell them there is always another side to any story, when they are ready to hear it and leave them to consider their views. Don’t try to argue your point if they have made up their minds.
The best resource I have found is Lundy Bancroft’s book “Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men”.
Lundy had 15 years of experience working with abusers and their families through a program called Emerge, at the time of writing this book. It is full of useful tools, strategies, and insight.
Don’t take any blame on yourself
This is the first mistake that an outside viewer is going to make, that it takes two to tango. They want to see both sides as equally valid emotional beings in the situation, as would happen in most other relationship breakdowns. But not so in the relationship situation with a narcissist.
They hate you and want to destroy you because everything good in you makes them hate themselves more. It gnaws at them when you are sweet and loving and caring. They want to pummel your love into the ground and leave it bleeding and open and broken.
They want to make you into nothing so that they can feel something.
They want to make you into a little, terrified nobody, so they can feel like Superman with the power to do mighty things.
Don’t accept anyone saying you must have done something to upset him. This simply shows a lack of understanding of the nature of abuse.
When you are in a relationship with a narcissist nothing makes sense. They throw you into a spin and then make you feel like the cause of your own confusion. You are not the cause of the confusion, they are.
Speak your truth
“How dare you speak to me like that?” he yelled at me down the driveway of our former marital home.
And in one rare, karmic moment, the right response came to me, “Because I am not afraid of you anymore.”
At that moment it was true and no matter what he managed to throw at me during our divorce proceedings in the months and years following, and in using our children against me, fear was not a feature.
Despite everything, I always have that perfect exchange of words to hang on to. And it’s true. I found my voice and I am not afraid of him anymore.
“Do you realize what this has cost you?” he yelled at me on another occasion, meaning the legal cost of our divorce.
“Yes, I can never get those 20 years back”, I replied. | https://medium.com/fearless-she-wrote/why-the-silent-treatment-is-the-weapon-of-choice-for-narcissists-194f4db0b19e | ['Daisy Chains'] | 2020-11-20 16:43:08.093000+00:00 | ['Domestic Abuse', 'This Happened To Me', 'Narcissism', 'Women', 'Relationships'] |
Passive Income: How I Make $7,200 A Month (Online Business) | Passive income is income that requires little to no effort to earn and maintain. It is called progressive passive income when the earner expends little effort to grow the income- Although this sounds near to IMPOSSIBLE I am going to show you ways to boost your income at HOME!
(All these method work are used by me and at the age of 16, I am currently in education getting paid $700 per day)
Method 1:
Although creating an online business sounds near to impossible for people like me and you; I will be showing you how simple it is to start and generate an income as soon as possible. An E-Commerce business can be started by buying cheap product from Alibaba (Wholesale Merchants) most of their products are located in China. The start-up can be quite daring however it is extremely rewarding.
Step 1 — Finding the “Right Product”
Finding the right product should take a long time to find, sellers put days worth of research into the product before purchasing (this prevents buying items that don’t really sell) The best way to find the right item is look for something that no many people are selling, therefore more buyers will be attracted to your product.
Step 2 — List the product on eBay or Amazon
This step is key: Although you haven't purchased the product, listing it on sites such as eBay is great you you check the amount of traffic you bring to your product (more views and watchers will result in it selling quickly, less views and watchers means the product isn’t the right one, therefore you will have difficulty selling) eBay is the best place to list the product because you list items for FREE!
Step 4 — Buy the product from Alibaba & Calculate the profits!
This is by far the most exciting step — You can calculate profits easily by adding up the total cost of the product (Make sure to include shipping + VAT) REMEMBER you should sell your products from 3x as much as you brought them for, this creates optimum profits.
Secondly, shipping time — the shipping time averages around 4 weeks. | https://medium.com/@exodusyoutube/passive-income-how-i-make-7-200-a-month-cronline-business-36e6d96b7bcd | ['Uwais Waseem'] | 2020-12-21 13:05:14.308000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Profit', 'Online Marketing', 'Lifestyle', 'Online Business'] |
Landslide Vote by Nurses in North Carolina Delivers Biggest Hospital Unionization Win in US South in 45 Years | HEALTHCARE & UNIONS
Landslide Vote by Nurses in North Carolina Delivers Biggest Hospital Unionization Win in US South in 45 Years
“I’m so grateful this victory will allow us to be better advocates for our community,” one nurse said.
A healthcare worker holds a sign as she participates in a national day of action on August 5, 2020 in New York City. (Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
In what advocates are calling the biggest union victory at a hospital in the American South since 1975, nurses at Mission Hospital in North Carolina overwhelmingly voted to unionize this week.
“We could not be more proud of the unity, the perseverance, and the patient advocacy and dedication of the Mission RNs to their patients, their colleagues, and their community,” Bonnie Castillo, a registered nurse and executive director National Nurses United, said in a statement Thursday. “At a time when nurses are in a daily battle with the deadly fight for their patients and their own lives in the era of Covid-19, they have demonstrated incomparable courage and resilience that is an inspiration to all of us.”
The nurses voted by 965 to 411-a 70 percent landslide-to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC)/National Nurses United (NNU), in a secret, mail-in ballot election conducted and counted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The vote count was completed early Thursday morning, and the pro-union votes prevailed, NNU wrote in a statement, despite a “heavily funded anti-union campaign by the hospital owner, HCA, the largest hospital system in the United States, and arguably the most politically and economically influential giant in the hospital industry.”
According to reporting from the Citizen Times:
Mission Health operates six hospitals and numerous out-patient clinics across Western North Carolina. Mission Hospital, in Asheville, is its flagship facility. Mission will be NNU’s first union in North Carolina and its largest at any HCA-affiliated hospital. Mission opposed the union effort, saying it would would interfere with supervisor and staff communications and ultimately hurt the hospital’s quality of care. In its annual public financial statement, HCA stated more unionization could cause its labor costs to “increase materially.”
Sue Fischer, a pro-union float pool registered nurse at the facility, countered the hospital’s claim, describing in a statement how HCA, after acquiring Mission Health last spring, has cut corners at the rural, acute care facility.
“We started to see dramatic decreases in the amount of staff and resources we had across the hospital,” Fischer said. “The nurse-to-patient ratios started to get much worse, equipment was replaced with cheaper versions, and certified nurse assistants, housekeepers, security, and phlebotomists, along with many other staff were let go in unprecedented levels.”
In a press release Thursday, NNU noted, quoting a pediatric ICU nurse at the hospital, HCA told the nurses that “nothing would change for at least a year and a half.”
NNOC will now represent 1,800 RNs at Mission. Overall, NNU, the largest U.S. union of RNs, represents more than 155,000 RNs.
“Our families, friends, and fellow citizens rely on the care we provide here,” Hannah Drummond, a trauma care unit registered nurse, said in a statement. “Their overwhelming love and support remind me of why we’re doing this. They gave us strength. I’m so grateful this victory will allow us to be better advocates for our community.” | https://medium.com/an-injustice/landslide-vote-by-nurses-in-north-carolina-delivers-biggest-hospital-unionization-win-in-us-south-f051634f38e5 | ['Lisa Newcomb'] | 2020-09-17 20:16:00.745000+00:00 | ['North Carolina', 'Unions', 'Nurse', 'Healthcare', 'Politics'] |
Mi 11 spotted in Public | Mi 11 images have leaked, as the device was spotted in the hands of the employee of Xiaomi….
Mi 11 will be powered by Snapdragon 888, and will be featuring new samsung HM2 108mp sensor which is said to capture more light and give more details….
The other features include 144hz adaptive display and that too it’s Super AMOLED Which is great for sure….
The main difference is the charging speed, the pro varient gets 120W charging and the non-pro Variant gets 50W charging…
The camera module on the Mi 11 seems to be different from previous devices, and its a triple camera setup, there’s still rumors about the camera configuration on both the devices, its not set, which will get 108mp camera…
Still the official news has not came so stay tuned for more detailed news news…
Specs-
- sAMOLED Display
- 20MP Selfie
- 4780mah Battery
- 50W Fast Charger
- 30W Wireless Charger
Mi 11 Pro
- sAMOLED Display
- 20MP Selfie
- 4500mah Battery
- 120W Fast Charger
- 80W Wireless Charger
- Snapdragon 888 | https://medium.com/@techberg/mi-11-spotted-in-public-5804499ca110 | [] | 2020-12-13 17:55:23.790000+00:00 | ['Xiaomi', 'Mi', 'Technews'] |
Air Quality Forecasts | During a pandemic the air quality might not be seen as the most pressing issue but, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people world wide every year. If we wonder what might be the situation in Europe, the European Environment Agency (EEA) would inform us that in 2018 nearly 379000 premature deaths were attributable to particulate matter (PM2.5) and 54000 to NO2. The WHO has established some guidelines on the quantity of certain pollutants above which an impact on the health of the population is expected. For example PM2.5 should not exceed 10 μg/m3μg/m3 and NO2 should not exceed an annual mean value of 40 μg/m3μg/m3 or a 1-hour mean of 200 μg/m3μg/m3. Given the relevance of these pollutants for the population’s health, every country and region in Europe has built a network of ground stations to monitor them, like those managed by the Agenzia Regionale Protezione Ambientale del Lazio (ARPA) for the Latium region in Italy. The data from the ground stations in Europe are collected by the EEA and assimilated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and other eight institutions across Europe into their air quality models for analysis and forecasts. The numerical models are able to provide an estimate of the concentration of the pollutants in areas that are far from the ground stations with a spatial resolution of 10 km. The ECMWF provides through its Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) the analysis and forecasts about the air quality as the median of the ensemble of the models. The data about gas traces such as NOx, Ozone and SO2 are now available also from satellites, e.g. Sentinel 5-p through its sensor TROPOMI and MetOp through GOME-2 but in this post I want to show how the model forecasts from the CAMS service can be fetched by everyone and visualized in an animation on a web page.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides information related to air quality, atmospheric composition, greenhouse gases, solar irradiance. The datasets released by the CAMS service is the result of assimilation processes in which observations from satellites and ground stations are used to update and correct every hour the estimates computed by a numerical model of the atmosphere. The CAMS is operated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on behalf of the European Commission.
CAMS European air quality forecasts
The CAMS provides its datasets as open data, available to all for free, through a web page and a web service. For the European air quality forecasts a user can select, among other options
the variables, that is the physical parameters she is interested in
the model she wants to use (nine models are available, plus the ensemble)
the levels, or heights for which she wants the forecasts
the area of interest, delimited by north and south latitudes and west and east longitudes
the dates from which the forecasts should start
the lead time hours, that is the hours of the forecasts
the format of the data (CSV, GRIB, NetCDF)
If you want to set up a service based on the data provided by the CAMS you will likely use the web service API. In order to use the API, you have to be registered into the Copernicus Atmosphere Data Store (CADS) and follow these steps
login copy your ADS API key in the .condarc file in your home folder install the cdsapi Python package
For more information on how to register to the CAMS follow the how-to instructions. The NetCDF format is easy to use in Python with the xarray library. If you choose one single day as the start of the forecasts the file returned by the service will contain the forecasts in a multidimensional array. The name of the dimensions (metadata) are standardized and a description is provided in the file. We can easily visualize the data for one forecast using Matplotlib. Here is an image of the concentration of NO2NO2 at ground level where we can clearly see that the concentration will go well beyond the annual mean limit recommended by the WHO in most of the Po Valley.
The Jupyter Notebooks
If we have requested the forecasts at different lead time hours we might want to visualize each forecast as a frame in an animation. The details on how to create an animation with Matplotlib are a little bit more convoluted but a Jupyter notebook is available on my Github repository with an example of an animation built on a sequence of hourly forecasts for 4 consecutive days. The Python code can be used to fetch and visualize other variables with a little work and a different selection of the request’s parameters.
Conclusion
I find the Jupyter notebooks a great tool to test ideas and publish the results of experiments. The Jupyter notebooks are used by EUMETSAT for their highly recommended training courses. Wekeo, one of the Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (DIAS), provides virtual machines with a Jupyter Lab instance that can be used to write notebooks without the need to download the data. While the Copernicus data are free the computing resources offered by the Copernicus DIAS are not but it might be the only way to build a service in case you need to consume data that is updated frequently and whose size can range from hundreds of MBytes to GBytes. | https://lgslm.medium.com/air-quality-forecasts-743289f22a68 | ['Luigi Selmi'] | 2020-12-08 10:53:48.282000+00:00 | ['Jupyter', 'Copernicus', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Open Data'] |
Changing Careers | For the last 7 years or so i’ve spent my time traveling to remote parts of the country to work in the oilfield. Those places are most often sparsely populated and either unbearably frigid or swelteringly hot. This was what I wanted as a Petroleum Engineer and I truly did enjoy the work.
A drilling rig in North Dakota
Then the industry took a massive tumble (crazy for oil right?) with the onset of COVID-19 and everything changed in a heartbeat. I was laid off from a company where I had planned to work for many years. Why was this happening to me? What did I do wrong? The answer to these questions in reality was nothing. The world was changing and its need for the industry was changing as well. So what the heck was I supposed to do?
I spent the first few months scavenging the internet looking for any engineering job I could possibly qualify for, in the hopes that I could continue doing what I really enjoy: problem solving through engineering. Unfortunately I didn't have much success. Very few companies were hiring at all, and those with openings wanted 20 years of experience wrapped up in a Jr. level package and price. So, I decided to go a different direction. I decided to re-educate. I decided to become a software engineer.
Going back to school can be a daunting proposal. One that is especially scary when it’s something completely unrelated to what you’ve been doing. Did I remember how to learn in a class? Can I still do it? It’s was scary.
After doing some research and talking to friends who have experience in the industry led me to the Flatiron School. Their proposal? Teach you all the skills needed to be a full stack software engineer in just 15 weeks. This alone terrified me. My last education experience took me 4 years, how can I relearn in such a short time?
Well turns out I spent a lot of time in college not learning to do things I would need in my career. After 2 weeks of being at the Flatiron School, i’m sold. They teach you the skills you need in a style I had personally never experienced in a formal education setting. Rather than teaching theory off the bat, you learn how to actually do things. They let you fail and then guide you back to success. I hadn't realized it before but this was how I learned how to do the things i’m most proficient at. It’s how my dad taught me carpentry and auto mechanics, though neither of us knew it at the time.
I’ve been challenged so far and i’m enjoying it. I’m able to use my problem solving skills and reapply to a new topic. I’m excited to continue on this journey and I know it will lead me to a new career. Here’s to changing careers! | https://medium.com/@ghesketh76/changing-careers-43cb276e7625 | ['Grant Hesketh'] | 2020-12-18 22:05:52.836000+00:00 | ['Career Change'] |
Checkbook IRAs for Buying Cryptocurrency Directly in Your IRA | Photo by David Kovalenko on Unsplash
Back in 1999, when I first started teaching my method for creating synthetic bonds, by using options, with the goal of throwing off much higher cash flow than traditional cash flow investments, there were no brokerage firms that allowed you to buy or sell options in an IRA.
Options were perceived as really risky. Certainly not something people should be doing in their IRA! Not even covered calls! Even though a covered call is actually less risk than just owning the stock!
It wasn’t that they were prohibited. It was just a perception. A wrong-headed perception.
It took a number of years before optionsXpress became the first brokerage firm, who understood options well enough, that they began offering options trading in IRAs.
Not coincidentally, optionsXpress was a new firm, built from the ground up, that didn’t have the emotional baggage around options that the legacy brokers did.
And they were hungry. We sent hundreds of millions of dollars of client business to them as a result. And because they were an upstart, that business was meaningful to them.
Of course, within a few years everyone did it. But someone had to be the first to break with conventional wisdom. And that someone was optionsXpress.
In 2018, 67% of Americans say they will run out of money in retirement. That fact has not changed since I created the Snider Method and started teaching it to near-retirees in 1999 as a way to bridge that gap.
Fast forward 19 years and we are in a very similar situation. Only this time the boogey man in the closet is cryptocurrency.
The lopsided upside:downside potential of cryptocurrency is like nothing we have ever seen before. Or may see ever again. Which is why people think it is scary. Or a scam. And yet, it may be our single best opportunity to solve the retirement savings problem for an entire generation of near-retirees.
The risk isn’t investing in cryptoassets. It’s NOT investing in cryptoassets. The trick is to structure our investment so that, if the naysayers are right, we don’t do irreparable harm to our nest egg. But if the believers are right, we make potentially life-changing money that could catapult us across that retirement finish line.
In a perfect world, the most desirable place to make that investment, whenever possible, is in a tax-advantaged retirement account, like an IRA. Not only because of the tax consequences. But because that is where many near-retirees have the bulk of their investable assets.
So what are your current options for investing in Bitcoin in an IRA?
Buy Greyscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC:GBTC) in an IRA at a regular brokerage account
A self-directed IRA at an IRS regulated trust company or “non-bank custodian”
A “checkbook IRA” (a specific form of self-directed IRA also known as an IRA-LLC)
What is a self-directed IRA?
According to the IRS: A self-directed IRA is an IRA held by a trustee or custodian that permits investment in a broader set of assets than is permitted by most IRA custodians. Most IRA custodians are banks and broker-dealers that limit the holdings in IRA accounts to firm-approved stocks, bonds, mutual funds and CDs. Custodians and trustees for self-directed IRAs, however, may allow investors to invest retirement funds in other types of assets such as real estate, promissory notes, tax lien certificates, and private placement securities.
What investments are allowed in a self-directed IRA?
The IRS does not provide guidance on what is permitted, but specifies only what is NOT permitted. This includes life insurance policies, shares of an S Corporation and collectibles.
The IRS definition of “collectibles” is fairly straightforward, but there are some exceptions that it is important to note. Collectibles include artwork, rugs, antiques, metals, gems, baseball cards, stamps, alcoholic beverages, and most coins.
Exception for certain coins and precious metals
Per IRS Pub 590-a: “Your IRA can invest in one, one-half, one-quarter, or one-tenth ounce U.S. gold coins, or one-ounce silver coins minted by the Treasury Department. It can also invest in certain platinum coins and certain gold, silver, palladium, and platinum bullion.”
Examples of assets commonly held in self-directed IRAs
It is up to each IRA custodian to determine what assets they will or will not custody in self-directed IRA accounts.
Common examples include: Precious metals as per the exception above, real estate, secured & unsecured notes, private company stock (including LLCs), tax liens & deeds, judgments & structured settlements, accounts receivable factoring, commercial paper, equipment leasing and, as of more recently, bitcoin and other cryptoassets.
What is a “checkbook IRA”?
In the 1996 case of Swanson vs. Commissioner, the tax court gave its blessing to a new type of self-directed IRA structure — sometimes known as a checkbook IRA or IRA-LLC .
In the case of an IRA-LLC, your IRA does not own the individual assets. It owns one asset: a single member LLC. As manager of the LLC, you are able to buy and sell assets within and on behalf of the LLC for the benefit of your IRA.
Why is a checkbook IRA better than a traditional self-directed IRA?
While for some people a traditional self-directed IRA may suffice, the biggest advantages of the checkbook IRA are: lower fees, fewer restrictions and more control.
In 2014, when the IRS issued it’s guidance on virtual currency, confirming that it was considered property and could therefore be held in an IRA, an entire cottage industry sprung up of so-called “Bitcoin IRAs”.
In spite of the fact that SDIRAs had been around for ages, (I set my first one up around 2001), these early marketers of “digital asset IRAs” charged outrageous fees (ie. $3000 setup plus 10% commission plus % of assets for maintenance!) and huge minimums in order to take advantage while they could. Shockingly, they are still out there and people are still falling for them.
More recently, established custodians like Kingdom Trust and Pensco have gotten into the game with fees that are more in line with those for other assets. But still, those fees are not inconsequential. And one could argue justified since they have to custody your cryptoassets, which requires additional cost and expertise.
Plus, literally every time you get permission from the custodian to buy or sell, there is a fee. Every wire transfer, or check cut, or report filed … another fee. Granted it’s a lot of $200 here and $50 there. But over time, it really adds up.
With a checkbook IRA, especially if you set it up with a custodian that only charges a flat annual fee, not a percentage of assets plus transaction fees, as most do, you take fees of what could be thousands of dollars per year down to $275 or less.
This is possible because you, or more accurately the LLC you manage, has custody of the cryptoasset AND you are not required to consult with the custodian for each purchase. You can buy and sell at will from the LLCs bank/brokerage accounts.
In fact, with an LLC IRA, you don’t even need a custodian that allows Bitcoin. You just need a custodian that allows single member LLCs, as that is the only asset owned by your IRA. What you buy and sell is your business, so long as it is within the IRS rules.
Which, of course, brings me to the admonition that with great power comes great responsibility. The trade-off is you don’t have someone else responsible for not losing your cryptoassets or making sure that a transaction won’t blow up your IRA or any of a number of other services provided by the custodian of a traditional IRA.
Moreover, the consequences of a mistake can be significant, as we will see in a later section. But first, let’s get into the weeds…
What are the steps for setting up a checkbook IRA?
Open self directed IRA at custodian that allows single member LLCs, preferably one that charges a flat annual fee only
Roll funds/assets from existing IRA to new self-directed IRA — rollovers are a custodian to custodian transfer, not a distribution, and therefore not taxable.
Set up single member LLC with your IRA as the single member and you as the manager — Most custodians will have specific language required in the LLC operating agreement
Get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for your LLC — this is analogous to a Social Security Number but for companies
Complete Direction of Investment instructing custodian to send a check to the LLC —
Set up business bank account for the LLC and deposit check sent by custodian
Open accounts at exchanges in the name of the LLC — this can be a lengthy and tedious process with quite a bit more paperwork than an individual account but it is critical the account be a business account in the name of the LLC, not your name
Connect LLC bank account to LLC exchange account
Purchase cryptoassets
Transfer cryptoassets from exchange to hardware wallet bought specifically for the LLC — my recommendation is a Ledger Nano S. Others are Trezor and KeepKey.
Store digital wallet and 24 word seed phrase in safe place
Complete the Letter To Loved Ones template (courtesy of Pamela Morgan) telling your loved ones what, where and how to access your cryptoassets if anything should happen to you.
What are prohibited transactions in a self-directed IRA?
Your IRA may not buy an investment from or sell an investment to a disqualified person as defined by Internal Revenue Code Section 4975. To do so is known as “self dealing”.
Disqualified persons are individuals or entities between whom or which an IRA is prohibited from engaging in any direct or indirect sale or exchange or leasing of any property; lending of money or other extension of credit; furnishing goods, services or facilities; or transferring to or permitting the use of IRA income or assets.
Disqualified persons include:
Fiduciaries (which in the case of a self-directed IRA includes you, as the IRA owner).
Your spouse;
Your parents;
Your grandparents and great-grandparents;
Your children (and their spouses);
Your grandchildren and great-grandchildren (and their spouses).
Service providers of the IRA (e.g., IRA custodian, CPA, financial planner).
An entity (such as a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust or estate) of which 50% or more is owned directly or indirectly or held by a fiduciary or service provider; also a partner which holds 10% of a joint venture of such entity.
The general rule is that neither you or these people/entities close to you can benefit from or do business with the IRA-LLC.
What are the consequences of a prohibited transaction?
Per the IRS: Generally, if you or your beneficiary engages in a prohibited transaction in connection with your traditional IRA account at any time during the year, the account stops being an IRA as of the first day of that year. If your account stops being an IRA because you or your beneficiary engaged in a prohibited transaction, the account is treated as distributing all its assets to you at their fair market values on the first day of the year. If the total of those values is more than your basis in the IRA, you will have a taxable gain that is includible in your income. The distribution may be subject to additional taxes or penalties.
Some other “gotchas” when setting up a self-directed IRA for purchasing cryptoassets
One is Unrelated Business Income or UBIT. While a thorough discussion of UBIT scenarios is outside the scope of this article, the one scenario most likely for an IRA investing in cryptoassets is the use of debt financing through margin. Do not buy on margin in an IRA-LLC.
The other comes into play if you open an account at a non-US bank or brokerage firm. Again, per the IRS:
If you have a financial interest in or signature authority over a foreign financial account, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, trust, or other type of foreign financial account, exceeding certain thresholds, the Bank Secrecy Act may require you to report the account yearly to the Department of Treasury by electronically filing a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
Services that will set this all up for you
If you have the time, temperament and experience to set this all up yourself, it can be done.
On the other hand, the safest bet, especially if this all left you feeling really overwhelmed, is to pay a professional to do it for you. Depending on the size of your investable assets, the fees charged may be well worth it.
My advice, if you do choose to go the done for you route, is to not go with your local accountant or attorney unless they just happen to have expertise in both cryptocurrency and tax. Find professionals who specialize in these areas.
They will be less expensive because they have done it before and they just cookie cutter the documents. They will have relationships with custodians and brokerage firms that speed up the process. And they are less likely to make a mistake which will cause you, at best, to pay for something twice and, at worst, nullify your IRA.
As a rule of thumb, if you are paying more than $2000 to have all this set up for you, you are paying too much. Over time, as cryptocurrency becomes more and more mainstream, that number should also come down.
In fact, we probably aren’t too far off from the day traditional brokerage firms, like Fidelity, begin offering cryptoassets to their clients. Until then, while there is definitely a cost in time and money to set this all up initially, if you believe in cryptoassets as an asset class, as I do, then putting that in an IRA may be well worth it.
Just something for you to consider and, as always, I hope you found it helpful. | https://medium.com/sane-crypto/checkbook-iras-for-buying-cryptocurrency-directly-in-your-ira-38aed382ce62 | ['Kim Snider'] | 2018-06-12 16:01:04.919000+00:00 | ['Retirement', 'Retirement Planning', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Investing'] |
Electric car By TATA Motors | Electric car in India is now one step closer to get recognition from the world. In simple terms, an electric car is a vehicle that runs on electrical motors that are energized by batteries. In short, people called it “EV (Electric Vehicle)”. TATA launched an electric car called TATA Nexon. But We will talk about that later. Most importantly it can Save Energy and control pollution.
The world is facing major problems due to global warming and all other things. Air Pollution is one major participant in Global warming. Most of the Air pollution is released by Industry and Automobile. All the more reason for India to make Electric cars in India.
An electric car has become an option for replacing petrol/Diesel cars around the globe. The electric car was introduced in the early 19th century around 1828. After that electric car comes into motion but after the discovery of an internal combustion engine, petrol and Diesel propelled vehicle become cheaper and more reliable.
Don’t worry we are not going in technical terms about electrical cars. But at the end of this post, you will learn how it will affect us and the world.
Electric Car in India made by TATA motors
Who doesn’t know about TATA Empire? From Small pin to big machinery, TATA is making all kinds of things. Energy, Information Technology, Chemicals, retails, E-commerce, Engineering, Airlines, Automobiles, Communications, Hotels, etc. TATA has the all.
Even Jaguar and Land Rover are under the TATA’s acquisition.
TATA has released the Nexon Electric car. India’s own Electric vehicle. From Looks to Performance it has its own unique features.
Features of TATA Nexon Electric Car
Charging of Electric car
With the help of a CCS2 charger, it can get charged 0 to 80% in 60 minutes. At home, it can take up to 8.5 hours to get charged 10 to 90%.
Safety
Dual Airbags, ABS (Anti-lock braking system- we will talk about this in some other post) with corner stability (In a simple way you can cut the corner with ease in this Electric car while driving.), Reverse parking camera, etc.
Eco friendly
As you read in the title it is an Electric car so it doesn’t need any fuel.
No fuel burn= No pollution.
No fuel Burn=Less Noise pollution.
As the world is facing the problem, Electric cars will recolonize the Automobile world.
One-time Investment
When it comes to Electric cars it can be pricey compare to Petrol or Diesel cars but it can be costless from time to time when you have to pay less for its fuel. Electricity will charge less than Fuel.
Design and Interior
It is one of kind & Eye-catching. You can visit your nearby showroom. Its design is Superb. Tail Line, Projected Lamps, the Shoulder line is designed quite beautifully. It’s like “Love at First Sight”
if you want to know about 3D design and 3D printing click here.
The problem of charging is the biggest drawback of the Electric car. Just imagine you are traveling on some shady hill or road and your charging will shut down. What will you do?
In India especially there are several issues with the electric charging station but I really hope that it will get sorted soon.
But for now, go to your Nearby TATA showroom and take a test drive of TATA Nexon. I am going to take the test drive, What about you? | https://medium.com/@itsanand/electric-car-by-tata-motors-f1db5625451a | ['Anand Patel'] | 2020-12-16 05:52:38.603000+00:00 | ['Electric Vehicles', 'Ways To Save Electricity', 'Electric Car', 'Save Environment', 'Save Energy'] |
The Most Important Musical Moments in Motown’s History. | One of the country’s most iconic record labels was modeled off of the main moneymakers in its hometown of Detroit, Michigan: the auto industry. “I wanted to have a kid off the street walk in one door unknown… and come out another door a star, like an assembly line,” label founder Berry Gordy told the Telegraph in 2016. “That was my dream.”
That germ of an idea would go on to sprout into one of the most important music labels of all time, the future Hitsville, U.S.A. Gordy called it Motown — a combined and shortened version of Detroit’s nickname: Motor Town. This year, that label celebrates its 60th anniversary of launching the careers of future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, the Temptations, the Four Tops and Gladys Knight and the Pips.
A former boxer, songwriter and businessman who’d failed to find success in his previous endeavors, Gordy took out an $800 loan from his family in 1960 to put a down payment on a two-level home in Detroit. He envisioned creating a hit-making factory out of Motown’s HQ and was determined to make Motown “the sound of young America.”
A black businessman in a racially segregated America, Gordy didn’t need to look far to find his artists. He tapped into Detroit’s local black music scene to discover young skilled yet raw talent. Ones he would hone and develop for mass appeal, making his label one of the most successful black-owned businesses in America.
In addition to songwriting teams, performance teams and one of the most prolific studio musician groups of all time, the Funk Brothers, Motown artists worked with a finishing coach who taught them manners and class — even teaching them how to step out of limos elegantly. Gordy was very conscious and controlling of their public image; he saw the whole picture. He knew how important image was, especially for black artists in America at a time during which there was a very clear and often legal line separating audiences by race. Long before Diddy on Making the Band or Simon Cowell on American Idol, Gordy groomed future stars with tough love.
The story of Motown is not just about music history, but American history. By the mid ’80s the label struggled; Gordy told the Telegraph that “it was no fun anymore.” So, in 1988, Gordy sold the label to MCA and an investment company.
Still, the label continues on today and the legacy still stands strong.
Stevie. Marvin. Diana. Smokey. Michael. So many of Motown’s legends only need one name. There are simply too many great songs, albums and artists to mention, but here we try our best to identify the most important musical moments in Motown’s soulful history.
Barrett Strong, “Money (That’s What I Want)” 1960
His name is probably not the first that comes to mind when you think of Motown, but Barrett Strong is responsible for the label’s first-ever hit: “Money (That’s What I Want).” Written by Gordy and performed by Strong, the success of the song, reaching no. 2 on Billboard’s rhythm and blues chart, helped bankroll the fledgling label.
And while it would be Strong’s only hit as an artist, he went on to enjoy a successful career as a songwriter for other Motown artists; he wrote the classics “I Heard it through the Grapevine” for Marvin Gaye, “War” for Edwin Star and “Papa was a Rolling Stone” for the Temptations.
The Miracles, “Shop Around” 1960
Without Smokey Robinson, there’s no Motown. Proof? Smokey was the one who told Gordy, his songwriting buddy, to get that $800 loan. Plus, Smokey — along with the Miracles — gave Motown its first single to sell a million copies, “Shop Around.”
And that’s not the end of his influence by far. Michael Jackson’s rendition of “Who’s Loving You,” a Smokey song, convinced Gordy to sign the Jackson 5. The man also wrote “My Guy” for Mary Wells and “My Girl” for the Temptations. Both came out in 1964 — and both are cultural staples.
The Marvelettes “Please Mr. Postman” 1961
The first successful female group on the label would deliver Motown’s first no. 1 pop hit on the Billboard 100 pop chart. In it, the Marvelettes beg their postman to see if he’s carrying a letter from their man. The great drum work you hear is by a then-studio drummer named Marvin Gaye. Lead singer Gladys Horton’s frustrations grow as she tells him, “You better wait a minute, wait a minute.”
The energy and vocals of the song are even more urgent than the New Edition hit “Mr. Telephone Man,” which was likely inspired by The Marvelettes, and the song would live on with covers by both the Beatles in 1963 and the Carpenters in 1974, when it reached number on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Supremes Where Did Our Love Go 1964
The Supremes laid the groundwork for all super female groups to come.
With this record, they became the first artists ever to have three no. 1 songs from the same album. “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love” and “Come See About Me” perfectly capture the sweetness and joy of the Motown Sound.
The group started with four members and later ended up with just three. Soon, Gordy pushed Diana Ross to the forefront. She later left and found massive success as a solo artist and movie star.
The Temptations Cloud Nine 1969
Before this album, the Temptations were known for their sugary yet soulful hits like “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and “My Guy,” as well as their GQ style and crisp choreography.
Then two things happened. First, David Ruffin was replaced by Dennis Edwards. Then, their producer Norman Whitfield got inspired by Sly Stone and decided to take the group’s music in a more psychedelic, funky direction.
Cloud Nine contained a murkier sound than a typical polished Motown offering. And the title cut, a song about drug use (perhaps), garnered the label their first Grammy.
In a way, this album cracked the door just enough for Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder to push it all the way open, making it possible for them to break off from the classic Motown Sound.
Jackson 5 ABC, 1970
While it’s true that their debut for Motown contained the group’s official first hit, “I Want You Back,” it wasn’t until their follow-up that the Jackson 5 truly launched. This is where it all started to click.
The playfulness, the band’s playing — Michael’s star was shining but not completely blinding his older brothers. “ABC,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There” all hit no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Including “I Want You Back,” from the previous album, the band became the first act ever to have their first four singles accomplish this feat. The boy band formula was created and would be copied for years to come.
Marvin Gaye What’s Going On 1971
A long-time Motown artist who found success early making honeyed love songs, Gaye’s struggles with his inner demons became more difficult in the late ’60s. He suffered through drug addiction, an unstable marriage to Gordy’s sister, issues with the IRS and even an attempted suicide.
The turbulence in the world also weighed heavy on Gaye’s already emotional state. He recorded the title track against Gordy’s wishes; the label owner didn’t want him to record a “protest” song. Later, Gordy told him that it was “the worst thing I’ve ever heard in my life.” Still, the song was a hit — and Gordy now wanted a full album.
Partly inspired by the letters his brother sent him while stationed in Vietnam, Gaye recorded a concept album from the perspective of a Vietnam vet back home witnessing all the horrors of modern society.
He tackled racism, hatred, poverty, even environmental issues in a lush and haunting tone that was less angry than pleading and earnest. It was something only Gaye could deliver.
Stevie Wonder Music of My Mind, 1972 // Talking Book, 1972 // Innervisions 1973 // Songs in the Key of Life, 1976
It’s considered the greatest run of records ever. Four albums in five years. Twelve Grammys. Wonder’s “classic period.”
After his first contract expired, the one he’d signed when he was 11, Wonder negotiated for more control over his career — and, most importantly, more creative control. He fully took advantage of it during these years.
In the span of four albums, he explores life, love, joys, horrors, struggles, anger, poverty, violence, Black Power and even religious hypocrisy. You can tell that he’s clearly in a zone here.
Many of his songs seamlessly transition into the next track. He plays around with reggae and Afro Cuban rhythms. Wonder wrote, produced, arranged and composed all 21 songs on Songs in the Key of Lifer, a double album with a bonus four-song EP — a concept album about our greatest gift and mystery, life.
By taking the listener through a musical journey of beginnings and endings, of highs and lows, of reality and potential, Wonder ambitiously challenges us to enjoy the ride.
This article originally appeared on Tidal: Read | https://hyunwkim.medium.com/celebrating-60-years-of-motown-858f5d62f1ae | ['Hyun Kim 김현'] | 2019-09-12 13:48:27.394000+00:00 | ['Motown', 'Marvin Gaye', 'Music', 'Soul Music', 'Rhythm And Blues'] |
How to automate IOS app with Appium? | How to automate IOS app with Appium?
What is Appium?
Appium is an Open source, Cross Platform test automation tool for mobile apps
Maintained by Dan Cuellar, Jonathan Lipps and a number of other contributors
Supports automation of Native, Hybrid and Mobile Web apps
Based on Webdriver JSON wire protocol
Based on Client-Server Architecture
Appium Server written in Node.js
Part 1: Environment Setup
Step 1: Install Java Development Kit (JDK)
To install JDK 1.8, open your terminal and type the following:
$ brew tap adoptopenjdk/openjdk $ brew cask install adoptopenjdk8
Now that JDK 1.8 is installed, we have to set the environment variable JAVA_HOME.
Open the file ~/.bash_profile (or ~/.zshrc if you use zsh), add the following: export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.8` export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
Step 2: Install Xcode and Simulators
You may likely already have Xcode installed on your Mac. But if you don’t, open the App Store app and install Xcode.
Once Xcode is installed, it comes with a list of simulators to use. To check the list of simulators and their IOS versions, go to Xcode -> Window -> Devices and Simulators
If you wish to use simulators with a different IOS version, go to Xcode -> Preferences -> Component, and install the desired version of simulator.
Step 3: Install Appium
We need to run Appium server to connect to IOS device and send UI tests commands over to instruct the device to perform actions.
Appium can be simply installed via NPM. Open your terminal and type the following:
$ npm install -g appium
Step 4: Install IntelliJ IDE (Free Community Edition)
We will use IntelliJ to create our UI tests maven project. IntelliJ is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) developed by JetBrains. Its Community Edition is free to use and powerful enough that provides rich features to write, compile and run Java code.
Download and install IntelliJ (Community Edition) from here: https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download
Part 2: Write and Run automated UI tests
With the above set up, we should have a complete environment for running automated UI tests. Now let’s look at how to write our UI tests and run them.
Step 1: Create a simple IOS app using React Native
Before we can write and run our UI tests, we need an IOS app that we can interact with to run automated UI tests. If you already have an IOS app you want to run UI tests against, you can skip to next step.
In this step, we will create a simple IOS app that we will run UI tests on, using React Native. React Native is a popular open-source mobile application framework. It can be used to develop cross-platform applications for IOS, Android, and Web.
Follow the instructions below to create a simple React Native app:
1. First, we need to install react-native-cli:
$ npm install -g react-native-cli
2. Then we can create a simple React Native app using react-native command. ToDoApp is an example name for the React Native app. Feel free to change it to a name of your choice.
$ react-native init ToDoApp
3. At last let’s run the app and open the app in IOS simulator.
In the current terminal window, start the react-native server:
$ cd ./ToDoApp $ react-native start
Open another terminal window, and cd into the ToDoApp directory, run the following to run the IOS app:
$ react-native run-ios
It will start building the IOS app bundle and automatically open up an IOS simulator to install and launch the IOS app.
4. In your terminal output, you should see Build Succeed and it’s then Installing and Launching the app as below:
▸ Build Succeeded
info Installing
“/Users/anonymous/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/AppiumUITestsExampleApp-ctzpwtembojftqdlmhpsholpwycs/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/AppiumUITestsExampleApp.app”
info Launching “org.reactjs.native.example.AppiumUITestsExampleApp”
Take note of where it’s installing the app bundle from
/Users/anonymous/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/AppiumUITestsExampleApp-ctzpwtembojftqdlmhpsholpwycs/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/ToDoApp.ipa(your app bundle file path might be different).
We will need to use this app bundle file path later to run automated UI tests.
By this step, you should be able to see an IOS simulator running the example React Native app like below:
Step 2: Create UI tests gradle project
Maven is a popular build automation tool used for building and managing Java projects. We will create our UI tests project as a maven project.
1. Open IntelliJ, go to File -> New -> Project, which opens up a dialog window to create a new project.
2. Select gradle on the left panel, and set Project SDK on the top to be 1.8 (the JDK we installed earlier), and click Next.
3. On the next panel, for Name field, type AppiumIOSUITestsTutorial . Set Location to be the directory you want to save this project. Leave the rest and click Finish.
Step 3: Install package dependencies
Next, we need install a list of package dependencies that are needed to write, compile and run Appium UI test.
1. Open the file build.gradle, and add the below
Step 4: Write simple UI automation tests
Now that we have an IOS app and a UI tests maven project set up, we can start writing simple UI automation tests to run against the IOS app.
1. In IntelliJ, create a file BaseTest.java under src/main/java directory.
2. In BaseTest.java file, paste the following code:
Let’s take a closer look at what’s going on here:
http://127.0.0.1:4723/wd/hub is the localhost url where Appium server will be running. Our UI tests will establish a connection to the Appium server url once running.
Then we need to set a list of capabilities, which we use to tell Appium how to set up our UI tests. See more about Appium desired capabilities.
AUTOMATION_NAME tells Appium the type of automation engine we want to use. XCUITest is the driver for IOS tests.
DEVICE_NAME specifies a name for the device. It’s more of a display name to distinguish itself.
PLATFORM_NAME specifics the mobile platform.
PLATFORM_VERSION specifics the mobile OS version.
APP specifies the path to the app we wish to use. It could be an absolute local file path or remote http url. Do remember to modify MobileCapabilityType.APP to be your own IOS app bundle file path that was created in Step 1.
Last we initialize an IOSDriver using the Appium server url and capabilities. We will be using this IOS driver to interact with our device and app.
Step 5: Run automated UI tests on IOS simulator
With above UI tests written, we are now ready to run our automated UI tests against the IOS app we created on IOS simulator.
1. First, let’s launch the Appium server. Open your terminal and type the following:
$ appium
This will start the Appium server in the foreground, and the server is listening and waiting on any connection from UI tests.
2. Next, we will run the UI tests from IntelliJ. Right click on the file AppUITests.java, select Run ‘AppUITests’, and it should start running the TestNG tests in the file.
3. In the terminal, you should see Appium server is establishing a connection with the automated UI tests, and as instructed opening up an IOS simulator, installing our IOS app bundle, and executing the automated UI tests against the installed IOS app.
4. Meanwhile, you will see an IOS simulator being opened up and our AppiumUITestsExampleAppIOS app being installed and launched a few times. Our automated UI tests run in IntelliJ will also finish successfully.
Congratulations!!! You have successfully created a React Native IOS app and automated UI tests to interact with the app on IOS simulator. | https://medium.com/@dipakalagate1991/how-to-automate-ios-app-with-appium-9a960cd6cf5 | ['Deepali Kalagate'] | 2020-12-22 13:58:20.894000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'iOS App Development', 'Appium'] |
Ransomware Groups Now Threatening to Release Stolen Data If Businesses Don’t Pay | by Ryan Whitwam
Getting hit with ransomware can be devastating to a company, but malware operators are trying to make it even worse. Not only are they holding potentially vital data hostage, but they’re also threatening to shame companies that don’t quietly pay the ransom. The cybercriminals behind the Maze Ransomware have set up a website where they have pledged to reveal which companies don’t “work with [them]” to recover data.
We all benefit from encryption when it keeps our files and communications private, but the same technology makes ransomware possible. Ransomware can target individuals, but the criminals behind these operations have increasingly targeted companies with deeper pockets than your average computer user. Upon infecting a computer, ransomware encrypts important files and deletes the originals. To retrieve the files, the victim has to pay a ransom (usually in Bitcoin) in exchange for the decryption key.
The Maze site, which is hosted on the open internet (and we won’t be linking), lists eight companies that have refused to pay the company’s ransom. The group lists the date of the attack, a selection of stolen files, and the total volume of data collected. Yes, Maze has gone to the added effort of stealing data from infected systems as extra leverage.
This is something ransomware authors have threatened in the past, but Maze is the first known to have done it. The makers of the Sodinokibi/rEvil ransomware have posted recently on dark web forums that they are finalizing plans to do something very similar. They hope that threatening companies with those stolen files with increase the number willing to pay up. Of course, you’d have to trust these groups to delete the stolen data after being paid, which seems far from certain.
Maze frames this as a public service that will reveal companies that are attempting to hide the unauthorized attack on their systems. However, it’s a rather transparent threat that could cause more companies to pay for fear of having private data released. The end result is that companies need to start treating malware attacks like data breaches. If customer data is included in encrypted volumes after the attack, it’s entirely possible that data is in the hands of criminals. Companies will need to do all the usual data breach things: notify customers, reset passwords, and issue carefully crafted but ultimately hollow apologies.
Now read: | https://medium.com/extremetech-access/ransomware-groups-now-threatening-to-release-stolen-data-if-businesses-dont-pay-d24d5ded4ef2 | [] | 2019-12-20 14:08:55.461000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Security', 'Malware', 'ransomware', 'Ransomware'] |
Common Cold. We’ve been catching it since time… | Common Cold
Have you ever had a cold? I certainly have. In fact, I have one right now, even though you (obviously) can’t tell.
I’ve had the common cold a lot: I have what seems like a particularly gullible respiratory system, and my immunity system is in turns both lacking and strangely overprotective. I have it so much, my mother likes to joke that I get it only twice a year, but that it stays for six months each time.
So I think I’m somewhat qualified to say that common cold and I have a special relationship. I even kind of like it — at least compared to some of the other stuff I’ve had over the years like viral flus, pneumonia, and chicken pox.
The common cold is almost a reliable old friend at this point.
But it really shouldn’t be.
When you read my last statement, you probably didn’t even blink. (I mean, you probably did blink, but I’m speaking metaphorically, here.) And why should you?
Plenty of people get colds, and plenty of people get colds all the time. There’s nothing unusual about me.
But what is unusual is the fact that I’m not unusual. If you think about it, think about how far human science and medicine have come in the last half-century, the fact that I catch colds all the time should be unusual.
We have vaccines for chicken pox, tetanus, rabies, and perhaps most successfully, polio. Even the flu, which shifts and mutates as often as once a year — most notably in 2009, when we saw the first cases of H1N1 flu— has a vaccine.
So, I ask the question again: why am I still catching a cold twice a year?
Perhaps the most misleading thing about the common cold is its name. The word ‘common’ implies something lowly, but, more importantly, it also implies something singular.
It couldn’t be more wrong.
The ‘common cold’ is really not common at all. Chances are, each cold I catch is entirely different from the ones I’ve caught before.
Colds are caused by any one of over two hundred viruses, belonging to one of seven families. The one thing that all these viruses have in common is the way they make you feel: the sore throat, the runny nose, the dull headache. That is to say, their common function is to attack cells in you respiratory, breathing, system.
The actual ways in which they go about doing this are all very different, so discovering one universal cure becomes much harder, if not impossible.
People have been trying to cure the cold for a long time.
The first attempt was in 1953, by an epidemiologist named Winston Prince. His interest was piqued when a handful of the nurses who worked with him all fell sick at the same time. He took samples from them and grew the culture in his lab, narrowing down to a virus known as a ‘rhinovirus’.
(The word ‘rhino’ is Latin for ‘nose’, and the reason you’re thinking of a thick-skinned grassland beast instead is that its full name, rhinoceros, refers to the ‘ceros’ or horn on its nose).
Winston Prince developed a vaccine for this virus, based on the principle that the body will create antibodies for any virus — dead or alive — that it encounters. He injected several hundred people with dead rhinovirus, then found that, on following up, they had significantly fewer colds than the rest of the population. He wrote a paper in 1957 describing his success, and in it, he named the strain ‘JH’ after Johns Hopkins — the university where he was working at the time.
Before long, however, other clinical trials came out. These new trials showed that the vaccine had little to no effect, suggesting there might be other strains around.
There were.
Over the course of the ’60s and ’70s, scientists steadily discovered more and more viruses. They found more families, apart from the rhinovirus— coronavirus, influenza and parainfluenza virus, adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, and metapneumovirus.
They found that, even within the rhinovirus, there were more than 160 separate strains, each needing a different vaccine. Injecting people with 160 different vaccinations each was always going to be impractical.
Scientists gave up on trying to cure the common cold. The last clinical trial was in 1975.
While rhinoviruses are different from one another, they’re also not. They all look like pom-poms under a microscope; They’re all, as Nobel Prize-winning biologist Peter Medawar called them, “a piece of bad news wrapped in a protein coat”.
And it is the coat — the protein — that makes all the difference. Each strain has a slightly different composition of the proteins that make up its exterior, so the body and white blood cells don’t recognise a new one until it’s too late.
But, some scientists asked, just because the coats are a little different, does that mean that they are nothing alike?
That’s exactly the question Sebastian Johnston was asking when he took a second look at the rhinovirus. While an asthma specialist by trade, he did some work in the “Common Cold Unit” at Imperial College in London during his PhD years and was fascinated by the cold.
Johnson wondered if he might be able to isolate some structure that was common to all strains of rhinovirus, and then develop a vaccine based on that. It wasn’t an entirely novel idea: something similar had been done with the polio vaccine as well.
He approached Jeffrey Almond, newly-appointed head of vaccine development at the giant pharma company Sanofi Pasteur. Almond was interested, and the vaccine was further looked into. The team had some success with isolating a protein that was ‘on’ many of the serotypes (strains) of rhinovirus.
However, a series of unfortunate events led to the testing grinding to a halt in 2013. There was a change in management at the company, and Almond retired. Johnston’s vaccine had nowhere to go: Imperial College couldn’t itself fund the research.
But the moral of Johnston story is this: maybe there is hope. Maybe, just maybe, we may still be able to create a vaccine for the common cold. And maybe, just maybe, I can catch it just once a year instead of twice.
Other research has been done in recent years. Prominently, Martin Moore in Atlanta is revisiting the supposed impracticality of 160 vaccines; he thinks he might be able to combine them into a cocktail of sorts.
But we also have to think about the practicality of having a cold vaccine at all. To start with, big pharma companies, don’t like vaccines in general: they take years to develop, have to be sold for less, and more often than not, don’t even end up working.
In this case, it’s not clear whether anyone would use the vaccine, even if it came on the market. Most people who could afford the vaccine would generally be pretty healthy too. They’d get over the cold in the span of a few days, so why bother preventing it?
As for those who can’t afford the vaccine, they likely have bigger things to worry about. And by the time anyone, rich or poor, takes themselves to a doctor, it’s too late for the vaccine anyway. So that rules out most of the potential buyers.
Of course, it still leaves me.
Want to write with us? To diversify our content, we’re looking out for new authors to write at Snipette. That means you! Aspiring writers: we’ll help you shape your piece. Established writers: Click here to get started. | https://medium.com/snipette/comon-cold-502ee8159675 | ['Manasa Kashi'] | 2019-02-22 07:01:02.159000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Vaccines', 'History', 'Virus', 'Medicine'] |
Hooked On Phonics 1957 | How the parochial/private schools made better readers faster.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Peak and decline of parochial schools
For more than two generations, enrollment climbed steadily. By the mid-1960s, enrollment in Catholic parochial schools had reached an all-time high of 4.5 million elementary school pupils, with about 1 million students in Catholic high schools.[17]
A major transition took place in the 1970s as most of the teaching nuns left their orders. Many schools closed, others replaced the nuns with much better paid lay teachers and started charging higher tuition. Source: Wikipedia.org
Private schools are funded from resources outside of the government, which typically comes from a combination of student tuition, donations, fundraising, and endowments. Private school enrollment makes up about 10 percent of all K-12 enrollment in the U.S (about 4 million students),while public school enrollment encompasses 56.4 million students.
Because private schools are funded outside of government channels, they often exercise more freedom in how they operate their schools. Many private schools choose to teach material outside of the state-mandated curriculum. They are also allowed to have religious affiliations and selection criteria for which students they accept.
Differences in private vs public education
Differences in private vs public education can have effects on the future achievement of children. Several studies point out the fact that students who attend private schools are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college afterward. There have been studies that point to the fact that areas where a homogeneous public education system is present have higher amounts of inter-generational social mobility. In comparison, private education systems can lead to higher inequality and less mobility. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth has also pointed to the fact that students who attend private schools tend to earn more in their careers than compared to their public school counterparts. Source: https://en.wikipedia.orgwikiEducational_inequality_in_the_United_States#Private_vs._public_education | https://medium.com/family-kids/hooked-on-phonics-1957-7c4b2297649c | ['Jo Ann Harris'] | 2020-12-18 17:24:09.980000+00:00 | ['Teachers', 'Early Childhood Education', 'Sound', 'Education', 'Spelling Correction'] |
Review of Grokking Dynamic Programming Patterns for Coding Interviews | Dynamic programming (DP) is a hard and a distasteful subject for the vast majority of students and makes for an equally daunting and intimidating tech interview topic. In my several years of IT experience, I have hardly been quizzed on dynamic programming questions in interviews. From a practical standpoint, an average software engineer is unlikely to employ dynamic programming algorithms in his day-to-day work. In fact, I have met software engineers who retired without ever confronting a dynamic programming problem in their careers. I have neither so far.
This isn’t to say that dynamic programming isn’t important or that it has no utility. It certainly has its place but most engineers won’t find themselves butting heads with the subject in their careers . Given this context, you may wonder if it’s even fair to ask DP questions in interviews for positions that don’t require this skill-set? Many interviewers are cognizant that the position they are interviewing candidates for doesn’t require DP skill-set and will avoid related questions. But there are a few who mess it up for everybody. For example, someone at a big name company would ask a DP question to a candidate, who would then go tell her friends, who would in turn tell other people, post on forums, Quora or Blind and before you know it, a perception would come into being, that this particular big tech company has DP questions asked in its interviews.
And this brings me to my main point, which is, ed-tech companies capitalize on this fear of DP questions and sell expensive courses dedicated solely to the subject of dynamic programming. The course “Grokking Dynamic Programming Patterns for Coding Interviews” is one such example.
Even though the chances of running into DP questions in an interview are slim but the courses on these topics sell like hot cakes because potential candidates have heard the rumor from a friend or a friend of a friend, that interviews at company X consist of DP questions. Educative’s course is a great example of a product selling on fear more than a need. The course has been authored by Arslan of the “Grokking the System Design Interview” fame, who himself is an ex-Facebook engineer. The course does a decent job of explaining the subject matter, and is structured like a crash course. But I wouldn’t recommend buying the course as I find the price tag unjustified for something which has endless and freely available online material. If you want to prepare DP for interviews, I’d suggest sticking to one of the other comprehensive courses on Educative which include a smaller section on DP such as “Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions” or “Coderrust: Hacking the Coding Interview”. For an interview, prepare DP questions as an appetizer rather than the main course. Nevertheless, If you fall for the fear-marketing and feel tempted to buy the course, I’d suggest looking at the table of contents of the course and simply googling each question in the list. You should find plenty of free online resources for each question. The only exception when it may make sense to buy the course is when you have several months for preparation combined with the motivation and zeal to comb through each possible interview topic. Otherwise, your purchase will be analogous to the treadmill bought with great fervor and passion but few months later, used only to to dry wet laundry on. Only that, this course won’t be useful in any capacity when performing daily chores. | https://medium.com/double-pointer/review-of-grokking-dynamic-programming-patterns-for-coding-interviews-7ffc4967611c | ['Double Pointer'] | 2020-10-12 04:01:07.462000+00:00 | ['Codingbootcamp', 'Coding', 'Coding Interviews', 'Technology', 'Code'] |
Urbanimmersive (UI.v) is Turning up the Heat | Introduction
Holding by holding I am forcing myself to justify my investment. Urbanimmersive is a large holding for me. Trading on the TSXV, Urbanimmersive last traded at $0.125 CAD. When I started writing this article three days ago, it was at $0.095 CAD. In the US some brokers allow you to buy and sell this stock using the OTC ticker UBMRF.
What Does Urbanimmersive Do?
Urbanimmersive is a platform to allow real estate photographers to much more easily produce 3D tours, dedicated property websites and floor plans in just hours using relatively inexpensive equipment. The customer is the real estate photographer or a group of real estate photographers. Urbanimmersive achieves this by ingesting the raw digital data and processing it in their data center. Additionally Urbanimmersive sells a CRM package to allow photographers to schedule their appointments and bill clients. They have a full suite to be the only software a real estate photographer needs to run their business.
What is the Story
Urbanimmersive is finally reaping the results of digesting a large acquisition, Tourbuzz, and launching a new generation of 3D tours that generates floorplans and allows consumption on mobile phones. After a somewhat lackluster year of growth in 2019, growth in 2020 is taking off. Covid 19 has boosted 3D tours somewhat, making them more popular as buyers want to shop for a home without leaving the house.
Revenue is Growing and Growth is Accelerating
Growth of gross merchant volume (GMV) has been strong since July 2020, and is now picking up steam. November 2020 GMV was up 54% over November 2019 GMV. December 2020 GMV has already topped December 2019 GM in the first 14 days of the month. GMV will have a correlation towards revenue, but it isn’t a 1–1 direct correlation. December 2020 may turn out to be 100% higher than last year.
Beating the Competition
Urbanimmersive has a solution that allows $500 to $1500 Ricoh cameras to be used instead of the $5000 cameras needed by their competition. Additionally their competitors need 2.5 hours to produce the 3D tour that Urbanimmersive can produce in 1.0 hours. Urbanimmersive estimates it is costing them 1/8th of the processing dollars to produce 3D tours on Urbanimmersive’s proprietary software platform.
Low Cost Lowering Barrier of Entry
Urbanimmersive has cheaper cameras, faster processing, and now a phone app, “UI Capture”, that makes it dead easy for photographers to produce high quality tours every time they shoot, regardless of lighting conditions and to some extent the skill level of the photographer. By driving down the cost and required skill of producing 3D tours, Urbanimmersive will expand their own market.
Growing the Company
In 2018 Urbanimmersive acquired Tourbuzz. Tourbuzz has 5,000 photographers using their platform. Urbanimmersive is just now starting to cross-market their 3D tours to Tourbuzz customers. I believe they have been waiting this long because their wanted to really polish their 3D tour product before pushing it. Additionally Urbanimmersive claims they can acquire new photographers with a lifetime value of $40 with about $12 of marketing, another avenue to grow.
Additional Markets
Real estate is not the only market 3D tours can be valuable for. Urbanimmersive is also entering the resort and hotel market where every room can be toured by a prospective guest wanting to book it. They have snagged a few large jobs in this space and this may turn out to be a big market. Additionally because their technology does not need infrared or lasers, it is now being used on crime scenes, even outdoors, to record exactly what was where and how far apart objects are. This is an additional market that is untapped. There is also some market for 3D tours of restaurants and stores.
Valuing the Future
Recently at an online investor event, Urbanimmersive gave a ballpark guidance for $6M CAD revenue and $1.5M CAD EBITDA for 2021. Putting a reasonable 15X multiplier on $1.5M EBITDA gives us a valuation of $22.5M CAD. Divide that by a fully diluted share count of 122M (options and warrants converted and exercised), and we get a valuation of $0.184 CAD. That gives a reasonable upside to today’s $0.125. But I believe this guidance to be possibly very conservative.
Gross Margins Will Go Up
Since future growth will largely come from the high margin parts of the business, revenue growth will have a big impact on net income. 3D tours have a 97% gross margin and floor plans a 65% gross margin. This part of the business should grow faster than the hardware sales part of the business which is only 30% gross margins.
Explosive Growth Possible
As the cost of entry level cameras comes down and the newly launched Urbanimmersive camera app allows more entry level photographers to produce tours, the market will expand. The market has been growing steadily, but this may be the inflection point where 3D tours become standard on every home sale and floor plans become standard as well. Additionally the consistent quality tours enabled by the “UI Capture” phone app may allow Urbanimmersive to be used by Airbnb or Zillow at scale.
Summary
Urbanimmersive is undervalued with a potential for the valuation to rapidly expand as the growth rate of the company justifies a higher multiple times EBITDA. Additionally the top line will grow solidly and may start to grow explosively. The company is executing well and may have reached an inflection point where they are ready to dominate their market.
Check out https://www.urbanimmersive.com for more details. This interview by Smallcap Discoveries is well worth watching as well. | https://medium.com/right-way-investing/urbanimmersive-ui-v-is-turning-up-the-heat-7b29e8d7a5cd | ['Lindsay Leeds'] | 2020-12-16 19:33:20.105000+00:00 | ['Investors', 'Stocks', 'Stock Market Tips', 'Investment', 'Investing'] |
New Jersey woman turns a “dirty, stinky” van into a resource for disabled veterans | New Jersey woman turns a “dirty, stinky” van into a resource for disabled veterans
Eileen Murphy of Hunterdon County, New Jersey recently paid tribute to her late father-in-law by donating his foul smelling 2003 Chevrolet Venture to DAV (Disabled American Veterans).
“He used it for gardening. He was an avid gardener,” said Ms. Murphy. “That van trucked around a lot of manure to grow giant tomatoes and such. That’s what I remember most about that van — it was always stinky and dirty.”
Ms. Murphy’s father-in-law was a U.S. veteran. He was stationed around the world, serving as an Army mechanic and ended up based at New Jersey’s Fort Dix. Later, he became a mechanic consultant to the military.
“He wasn’t on the front lines, but he knew people who were and some who lost their lives,” said Ms. Murphy. “He was quiet about his service, but it was important to him. That is how his generation was. They served without the expectation of gratitude. He often quoted President Kennedy — ‘Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.’”
That’s why Ms. Murphy chose the DAV vehicle donation program. DAV is a non-profit charity that provides a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families, helping more than one million veterans in positive, life-changing ways each year.
“We always choose DAV for our donations. We think they deserve all the funding to help our veterans,” added Ms. Murphy.
Thousands of individuals have learned that making a DAV vehicle donation is easy and can be tax deductible. Donors receive free and convenient pick-up that is a touchless experience. DAV works around the donor’s schedule to pick-up DAV vehicle donations, as long as the auto donation for veterans is towable and tow truck accessible.
“Our experience was excellent,” said Ms. Murphy. “DAV is our go-to charity. They keep doing great work and the process is seamless. I even have more donations for them!”
Those who make a DAV car donation can get a tax deduction. An initial receipt is provided for the DAV car donation at the time of the pick-up. If a vehicle donation sells for $500 or less, the donor will be mailed a thank-you letter within 30 days of the sale of the vehicle, which serves as a tax receipt.
If the vehicle donation for veterans sells for more than $500 and a tax identification number has been provided, an IRS Form 1098-C will be mailed within 30 days of the sale stating the amount of gross proceeds (the maximum amount of your tax deduction) received from the DAV vehicle donation. For specific tax-related questions, donors are encouraged to consult a tax advisor.
Make a DAV vehicle donation and turn your car, truck or boat into a resource that helps empower veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity.
Donate your vehicle to DAV today or get more information by calling 844–440–4267 or Car4DAV.com. | https://medium.com/@helpdav/new-jersey-woman-turns-a-dirty-stinky-van-into-a-resource-for-disabled-veterans-d0dec79eafaa | ['Help Dav'] | 2021-02-04 18:06:38.150000+00:00 | ['Charity', 'Veteran', 'Disabled Veteran', 'Car Donation', 'Dav'] |
City of Pain | And after one of those journeys that involved the drawing of an imaginary line across the Earth, a flight that brought her to the gleaming nowhere of an airport in the early hours of the morning, the traveler caught another flight, around noon, and continued her journey. She spent six hours on this second plane, or it might have been 16 hours; the difference between the two was difficult to tell in that airborne suspension. The traveler’s wristwatch made one claim, her calendar made another, and her jet-lagged body made a third. Finally, around midday, the plane began its approach for landing, and the traveler could see from the air what resembled, in almost every respect, a familiar metropolis: the same twisting highways, the same elongated parks, the same repeating towers. It reminded her, as aerial views always did, of what her mother had once told her about the collapse of enormous stars, which could shrink to a width no greater than that of a city. Judging only by distance covered, the traveler might well have just circled the globe and returned to the place where she had started. But there was something about this view that convinced her otherwise: The immense city was circular, and the tangle of highways in its center resolved neatly into several major roads leading outward, like the spokes of a wheel. This cartographic regularity was how she knew that she had arrived, for the first time, in the city of Reggiana.
In the terminal, she saw a signboard featuring the crest of the city, illustrated with three dolphins. She’d arrived in late winter, and the weather was inconstant. There were snow flurries one moment and the softest sunshine the next, and yet, she was soon to discover, no matter what the weather looked like on a given day, the temperature was always higher than expected. She who knew how similar cities could be was now interested only in their differences. When she discovered that all the citizens of Reggiana were refugees, recent arrivals from elsewhere, she knew she had come to the right place. The city had been rapidly constructed, everyone coming in at almost the same time; the founding myth said that between the city’s establishment and its peak population, hardly a full season had passed. This collective newness meant that learning the culture of Reggiana was itself central to the culture of Reggiana. Like Qom or Touba, Reggiana was a holy city. As in Jerusalem, Lhasa, Mecca, and Ile-Ife, the experience of the numinous was pervasive in all its streets and on all its walls. To touch a railing or open a gate in Reggiana was to be reminded of human mortality. There was no interaction that was not imbued with a tremendous weight; each was like a sugar cube as heavy as Mount Everest. All this was true, but the atmosphere of the city was neither ascetic nor dramatic. The citizens had, instead, a sober sense of living in an ensorcelled world in which the conflict was with what they could not see. They knew that what was invisible was not thereby imaginary. They were under the scourge of a Visitation, and it was for this reason that all Reggiani carried a curfew in their heads and a knot in their hearts.
At the time of the traveler’s visit, the hand of Death was heavy on that careful city. As in all earthly places, people were born and people died, but Reggiana also daily endured numerous additional bereavements. So extensive was the scourge that, for many of the citizens, the day’s first activity was to check the obituaries. As one carter said to the traveler, taking her to collect her rations: “Each one of us checks the obituaries not only to see who has died during the night but also to confirm that it was not us.” On his cart was painted the city’s crest, which featured a doorknob. “Reggiana,” the carter added, “is one of the few true democracies in the world. Anyone at any moment might succumb to the Visitation: the rich, the poor, the educated or simple, the well-known or anonymous. The actual population of the city is unclear, for we stubbornly include the dead on our census rolls.” He told her that one of the first to die during the Visitation was a customer of his, who had been a leading architect of the city. That man was still referred to, the carter said, in the present tense.
Photo: Teju Cole
The Reggiani traded stories the same way merchants in other cities traded spices, leather goods, perfumes, rugs, and carvings. Each story told in Reggiana was different, and only in memory, only when the traveler attempted to recount to herself the story that she heard, did it become evident that the stories were all one story, variations on a single tale which, in one way or another, were connected to the Visitation. But she soon forgot this realization, and, the next day, encountering new stories, each was as fresh in her hearing as it was in the storyteller’s telling. One afternoon, writing down an account of one who had recovered from the Visitation, she heard the church bell ring, summoning no one, and the azaan sound from the next neighborhood over, unattended by the hurry of feet. No one gathered in the churches or synagogues, no one assembled in the temples or mosques, the schools were empty, the shops remained shuttered, the people stayed home. But the inhabitants of Reggiana were deeply interconnected, and all their civic and social life was conducted within domestic walls. In each house in the city was a means of communication. Families from all over the city reached each other from these humble enclosures; businesses large and small were operated from kitchen tables and bedrooms; lovers, ex-lovers, and future lovers engaged in all the stratagems by which desire could be cultivated in the absence of the beloved’s body.
There are particular forms of knowledge possessed by those who have had to rebuild their reality. The Reggiani were great gourmands, cooking with flagrant disregard for borders, with palm oil, fish sauce, garri, beets, yoghurt, harissa, anchovies, yuca; but what really marked out the cuisine of Reggiana was the love of concentration in all its forms: Given a choice, they would choose demi-glaces instead of stocks, spirits instead of beer, wine instead of water, paste instead of tomatoes, chiles instead of capsicum. Alongside this love of whatever was reduced, preserved, dehydrated, spicy, and pickled, was an inclination toward frugality and an abhorrence of needless waste, culinary or otherwise. No city of comparable size produced less garbage. These habits came naturally to whoever came to the city. The traveler had only been with them a few days when she noticed that she was writing her notes down with the same pencil, day after day, sharpening it each time it became blunt. She felt no inclination to go outside to buy a new one nor would she have been able to as the stationery stores were closed. Shorter and shorter the pencil became until it was the size of a golf pencil. The traveler, writing, marveled at this, not only because she had not persisted with a single pencil since childhood, but also because she was thrilled to share the modesty of the citizens of the city in this way, though she was, herself, only a temporary resident. | https://level.medium.com/city-of-pain-1f77a5eae1e9 | ['Teju Cole'] | 2020-04-02 18:59:33.115000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Literary Fiction', 'Writing'] |
Build your open source Big Data distribution with Hadoop, HBase, Spark, Hive & Zeppelin | The Hadoop ecosystem gave birth to many popular projects including HBase, Spark and Hive. While technologies like Kubernetes and S3 compatible object storages are growing in popularity, HDFS and YARN hold their place for on-premise and large use cases. Interested in compiling your personal Hadoop-based distribution from source yourself? This article comes with all the peculiarities of the build process and will teach you how do it.
Following our previous articles Installing Hadoop from source and Rebuilding HDP Hive, this article enriches the series and looks into the process of building multiple open source Big Data projects while managing the dependencies they have with one another. The goal is to create a “mini” Big Data distribution around Hadoop-based components by building the projects from source and making the builds dependent on one another. In this article, the selected projects are:
Why did we pick these projects? Hadoop gives both a distributed filesystem and resource scheduler with HDFS and YARN. HBase is a reference project for scalable NoSQL storage. Hive brings a SQL layer on top of Hadoop familiar to developers and with a JDBC/ODBC interface for analytics. Spark is perfect for in-memory compute and data transformation. Zeppelin offers a user-friendly web-based interface to interact with all the previous components.
Accurate instructions on building Apache projects are sometimes a bit difficult to find. For example, the Apache Hive’s build instructions is outdated.
This article will go around the main concepts of building different Apache projects. Every command is shared and all the steps are reproducible.
Project versions
All the projects given above are independent. However, they are designed to work nicely together and they do follow each other around important features. For example, Hive 3 is best used with Hadoop 3. It is important to have consistency when picking the versions we will build. All the official Apache releases are marked as tags in their git repository, they have different names depending on the project.
The selected versions to build our platform is summarized in the following table:
| Component | Version | Git tag | | — — — — — — — |: — — — — — — -:| — — — :| | Apache Hadoop | 3.1.1 | rel/release-3.1.1 | | Apache HBase | 2.2.3 | rel/2.2.3 | | Apache Spark | 2.4.0 | v2.4.0 | | Apache Hive | 3.1.2 | rel/release-3.1.2 | | Apache Zeppelin | 0.8.2 | v0.8.2 |
Let’s now start by cloning all the repositories of the projects and checkout the tags we targeted.
git clone --branch rel/2.2.3 https://github.com/apache/hbase.git
git clone --branch rel/release-3.1.2 https://github.com/apache/hive.git
git clone --branch v2.4.0 https://github.com/apache/spark.git
git clone --branch v0.8.2 git clone --branch rel/release-3.1.1 https://github.com/apache/hadoop.gitgit clone --branch rel/2.2.3 https://github.com/apache/hbase.gitgit clone --branch rel/release-3.1.2 https://github.com/apache/hive.gitgit clone --branch v2.4.0 https://github.com/apache/spark.gitgit clone --branch v0.8.2 https://github.com/apache/zeppelin.git
Note: For this article, we will build the projects versions’ “as is”. If you want to know how to apply a patch, test and build a release, check out our previous article Installing Hadoop from source.
Versioned distribution
A distribution is a collection of multiple components that are built, assembled, and configured as a logical unit. Each component is identified by a name and a version. The distribution is a unique combination of the embedded components. This unique combination is also identified by a name and a version.
To reflect the component and distribution naming pattern, the final name of a component, which we called the release name, looks like {project_name}-{project_version}-{distrib_name}-{distrib_version}.tar.gz , for exemple hadoop-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.tar.gz .
The release name is defined in the Maven pom.xml definition files of all the project submodules. They must all reflect the new release name. To consistently and easily update all the files, use the mvn command multiple times during the article:
mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0
The -DgenerateBackupPoms=false parameter is optional: it avoids the generation of pom.xml.versionsBackup files after the update.
Once the pom.xml files are up to date, we can build and package each project following their respective instructions.
Build environment
To obtain a reproducible build environment, all the builds described in this article are run within a Docker container. The Apache Hadoop project provides a Docker image that contains everything needed to build Hadoop. We use this image to build all the projects in our distribution.
To start the build environment, the hadoop Git repository provides the start-build-env.sh available in the project root folder.
Navigate to the hadoop directory we just cloned and run:
./start-build-env.sh
_ _ _ ______
| | | | | | | _ \
| |_| | __ _ __| | ___ ___ _ __ | | | |_____ __
| _ |/ _` |/ _` |/ _ \ / _ \| '_ \ | | | / _ \ \ / /
| | | | (_| | (_| | (_) | (_) | |_) | | |/ / __/\ V /
\_| |_/\__,_|\__,_|\___/ \___/| .__/ |___/ \___| \_(_)
| |
|_|
This is the standard Hadoop Developer build environment.
This has all the right tools installed required to build
Hadoop from source.
Important: The docker run command inside start-build-env.sh mounts the project repository as a local volume. By default, only the hadoop repository is mounted. To mount the other repositories, modify the ./start-build-env.sh script and mount the parent folder. Thus, all the cloned repositories will be available within the container.
Build a custom Hadoop release
Apache Hadoop (HDFS/YARN) is a dependency on all the other projects in our distribution so we should start by building this one first.
We want to be able to differentiate our version of Apache Hadoop from the official release, let’s do that by changing the name of the version. We use the versions:set subcommand to update the pom.xml declaration files:
mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0
We can then build a release of our mydistrib-0.1.0 Hadoop version with:
mvn clean install -Pdist -Dtar -DskipTests -Dmaven.javadoc.skip=true
-Pdist and -Dtar is a special profile defined in hadoop-project-dist/pom.xml . It launches a script after the compilation that copies all the necessary files (JARs, configuration files, etc.) and makes a .tar.gz archive. Why did we use install and not package ? The question is answered in the next part.
Once the build is done, the archive is located on your host machine at:
./hadoop-dist/target/hadoop-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.tar.gz
The archive is available outside of the container because the directory is mounted from the host (see ./start-build-env.sh ).
What comes next? Hive has a dependency on Hadoop, HBase, and Spark whereas Spark and HBase only depend on Hadoop. We should build HBase and Spark next.
Build a custom HBase release
Before building Apache HBase from source, we must not forget to change the name and the version of the release to differentiate it from the Apache distribution:
mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0
We must ensure that the HBase build refers to our version of the Hadoop dependency.
The version of Hadoop used for building is defined in the root pom.xml file of the project. We need to replace the default Hadoop version from the "hadoop-3.0" profile:
<profile>
<id>hadoop-3.0</id>
<activation>
<property>
<name>hadoop.profile</name>
<value>3.0</value>
</property>
</activation>
[...]
<properties>
<hadoop.version>${hadoop-three.version}</hadoop.version>
To change this value for the build, we can either modify the pom.xml above permanently or override the value of hadoop.version property at build time. Let's try with the second option:
mvn clean \
-DskipTests -Dhadoop.profile=3.0 -Dhadoop-three.version=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 \
package assembly:single install
Notice how the parameter to package the JARs in an archive ( assembly:single ) is different from the one we used for Hadoop in the previous section. Every project has its own way of functioning when it comes to release making.
We can find the HBase release at ./hbase-assembly/target/hbase-2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin.tar.gz . Let's make sure it embeds the correct Hadoop JARs by checking what's inside:
cp ./hbase-assembly/target/hbase-2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin.tar.gz /tmp
cd /tmp
tar -xvzf hbase-2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin.tar.gz
cd hbase-2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0
find . -name "*hadoop*"
[...]
./lib/hadoop-yarn-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
./lib/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
./lib/hadoop-hdfs-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
./lib/hadoop-auth-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
[...]
We can find the previously built Hadoop JARs inside the archive. This means that the “mydistrib” version of HBase is dependent on the “mydistrib” version of Hadoop which is what we wanted to achieve.
Build a custom Spark release
As for HBase, we need to make sure that the Apache Spark distribution we will make has a dependency on our version of Hadoop.
In the pom.xml file of Spark, we can see that the Hadoop dependencies are defined as profile. The one we are looking for is in lines 2691-2698 of the file:
<profile>
<id>hadoop-3.1</id>
<properties>
<hadoop.version>3.1.0</hadoop.version>
<curator.version>2.12.0</curator.version>
<zookeeper.version>3.4.9</zookeeper.version>
</properties>
</profile>
We need to change the <hadoop.version> to 3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 , we can do it with the sed command this time:
sed -i "s/<hadoop.version>3.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/<hadoop.version>3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/" pom.xml
Which gives the following result:
<profile>
<id>hadoop-3.1</id>
<properties>
<hadoop.version>3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0</hadoop.version>
<curator.version>2.12.0</curator.version>
<zookeeper.version>3.4.9</zookeeper.version>
</properties>
</profile>
Of course, the 3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 JAR files are not available in the public Maven Repository but the mvn install command that we ran copied the compiled JAR files to our local Maven repository which is located in ~/.m2 by default.
Let’s see if we can find these JARs:
ll ~/.m2/repository/org/apache/hadoop/hadoop-hdfs-client/3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0
total 6.4M
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 4.8M Oct 14 17:55 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 5.9K Oct 14 17:53 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.pom
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 1.4M Oct 14 17:55 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0-sources.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 153K Oct 14 17:55 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0-tests.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 94K Oct 14 17:55 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0-test-sources.jar
The build container and the local host share the same ~/.m2 directory (see the ./start-build-env.sh script of Hadoop).
Note: If you run mvn package instead of mvn install for the Hadoop build, the JARs could not have been found in .m2 resulting in the following error when trying to build HBase:
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 01:09 min
[INFO] Finished at: 2020-12-02T10:42:46Z
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal on project hbase-hadoop2-compat: Could not resolve dependencies for project org.apache.hbase:hbase-hadoop2-compat:jar:2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0: Could not find artifact org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-hdfs-client:jar:3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 in central (https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2) -> [Help 1]
Again, we can change the version name for our release of Spark:
mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0
Because Spark 2.x needs to be built with JDK 8 (see SPARK-25820 for details), we need to switch the java version inside the container before building:
sudo update-java-alternatives --set /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64
Note: By default, the OpenJDK 11 is the active version inside the build container. If you do not perform the step above, the build step will fail with the following stack trace:
[ERROR] import sun.misc.Cleaner;
[ERROR] ^
[ERROR] symbol: class Cleaner
[ERROR] location: package sun.misc
The Apache Spark project comes with a make-distribution.sh script which is essentially a wrapper around mvn . Let's use this script to build Spark:
./dev/make-distribution.sh \
--name my-release --tgz \
-Phive -Phive-thriftserver -Pyarn -Phadoop-3.1
The -Phadoop-3.1 will load the profile we just edited while the other profiles are mandatory to user Spark on YARN and SparkSQL wth Hive.
Once the build is done, the archive is available at:
./spark-2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin-my-release.tgz
Build a custom Hive release
Moving on to Apache Hive. As declared inside the project’s pom.xml file, Hive has both Hadoop and Spark as build dependencies, we need to change the *.version properties to match our previous builds:
sed -i "s/<hadoop.version>3.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/<hadoop.version>3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/" pom.xml
sed -i "s/<spark.version>2.3.0<\\/spark.version>/<spark.version>2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0<\\/spark.version>/" pom.xml
The standalone-metastore Maven sub-module also has a dependency to Hadoop, let's not forget that one:
sed -i "s/<hadoop.version>3.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/<hadoop.version>3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/" standalone-metastore/pom.xml
The build command for Hive is the following:
mvn clean install -Pdist -DskipTests
Once the build is done, the archive is available at:
./packaging/target/apache-hive-3.1.2-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin.tar.gz
Build a custom Zeppelin release
The final piece of our Big Data distribution: Apache Zeppelin. It is a notebook with a friendly web-based user interface.
For Zeppelin, it is a bit more complicated to make a release with custom resources than for the previous projects.
Zeppelin’s pom.xml file provides convenient profiles to build the project while choosing the versions of Hadoop and Spark which can be tweaked like the following in our case:
-Pspark-2.4 -Dspark.version=2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0 -Phadoop-3.1 -Dhadoop.version=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0
On top of that, the Zeppelin’s package stage is configured to fetch the built Spark release online to copy its python/lib/py4j-0.10.7-src.zip file in Zeppelin.
This step can be found at line 397 of spark/interpreter/pom.xml :
<configuration>
<target>
<delete dir="../../interpreter/spark/pyspark" />
<copy file="${project.build.directory}/${spark.archive}/python/lib/py4j-${py4j.version}-src.zip" todir="${project.build.directory}/../../../interpreter/spark/pyspark" />
<zip basedir="${project.build.directory}/${spark.archive}/python" destfile="${project.build.directory}/../../../interpreter/spark/pyspark/pyspark.zip" includes="pyspark/*.py,pyspark/**/*.py" />
</target>
</configuration>
By default, it fetches the archive at https://archive.apache.org/dist/spark/${spark.archive}/${spark.archive}-bin-without-hadoop.tgz which is the value of spark.bin.download.url . We need to change it because the official Apache archive site will not be hosting our custom release. In our case, we decided to host it on a private Nexus repository. If we do not set this URL, the build would fail with the following error:
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal com.googlecode.maven-download-plugin:download-maven-plugin:1.6.0:wget (download-sparkr-files) on project r: IO Error: Error while expanding /dataclan/zeppelin/rlang/target/spark-2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin-without-hadoop.tgz: Not in GZIP format -> [Help 1]
Note: The default archive name says “without-hadoop” because we could have packaged Spark without the Hadoop/YARN libs (with the profile -Phadoop-provided ). In this case, we can proceed with our previously built Spark distribution. Indeed, we only care about its pyspark files.
The final build command is:
mvn clean package -DskipTests -Pbuild-distr -Pspark-2.4 -Dspark.version=2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0 -Phadoop-3.1 -Dhadoop.version=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 -Dspark.bin.download.url=https://nexus*****.com/repository/mydistrib-releases/mydistrib-0.1.0/spark-2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0.tgz
Once the build is done, the archive is available at:
./zeppelin-distribution/target/zeppelin-0.8.2-mydistrib-0.1.0.tar.gz
Conclusion
We have seen how to build a functional Big Data distribution including popular components like HDFS, Hive, and HBase. As stated in the introduction, the projects are built “as is” which means that no additional features are added to the official release and the build is not thoroughly tested. Where to go from here? If you are interested in seeing how to patch a project to make a new release, you can read our previous article Installing Hadoop from source in which we also take a glimpse at running its unit tests.
This article was originally published by Adaltas and was written by Leo Schoukroun. | https://medium.com/adaltas/build-your-open-source-big-data-distribution-with-hadoop-hbase-spark-hive-zeppelin-e3a45d01213a | [] | 2020-12-18 10:20:46.443000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'DevOps', 'Open Source', 'Infrastructure', 'Software Development'] |
Introducing The Shortform, a Medium publication | Introducing The Shortform, a new Medium publication dedicated to tiny bits of knowledge.
Photo by Good Good Good on Unsplash
This is a brand-new publication to support short content here on Medium. As the name The Shortform is already implying, every article is written in the new shortform format.
I want to take advantage of the fact that these posts aren’t cut by a Read More button so that the reader can enjoy an uninterrupted stream of knowledge and entertainment. Exactly the content you would consume while waiting in the grocery store line or after a hard day at work when you are low on energy.
I am happy to announce that we are open to new writers! Just check out the following article on the guidelines and how to get added:
Looking forward to seeing you there! | https://medium.com/illumination/introducing-the-shortform-a-new-medium-publication-dedicated-to-tiny-bits-of-knowledge-79404c337ad0 | ['Tom Fenske'] | 2020-12-09 12:22:36.881000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Writing', 'Publication', 'Short Form', 'Inspiration'] |
5. Getting to KNOW your Audience — OW | The Secrets to Being an Exceptional Communicator
5. Getting to KNOW your Audience — OW
What is your audience's Opinion and Who are they?
I didn’t recognise the number but I was expecting a call and thus began another 5 minute rude interruption.
We all get them. We all hate them. And yet companies persist in using telemarketing and tired sales scripts.
This one was especially bad. It was someone trying to sell me a meeting arrangement service using LinkedIn. Essentially, they would trawl LinkedIn for (their words) “hot” prospects and arrange a meeting with them for me.
I wasn’t interested and informed them. But this one was persistent and was unwilling to let me escape. On and on she talked. Didn’t want to know anything at all about me, my needs, my business, my opinion on cold call telemarketing, anything about me at all. She was interested in getting through her script presumably to earn a pay check.
I gave up being polite and cut the call.
I have often wondered if any of such calls ever achieve their goal.
I have yet to meet anyone who relishes receiving these cold calls. Purely speculative, scatter gun. And yet, so many of my clients complain of meetings and presentations that they willingly attend where the presenter is concerned only with getting through their script, in spite of the audience’s wants, needs opinions and preferences.
OK, perhaps “willingly” is a stretch. Grudgingly, then.
In the last episode, we discussed what your audience already Knows and what they Need to know. And how you, as the presenter, need to make sure that you identify your 10% that they really must take away.
This time, we are looking at the audience’s Opinion and Who they are.
I worked for a client a little recently where the Country manager was having problems with the local leadership team. Technically, the individuals were all brilliant and excellent, they just didn’t get along together very well. There was quite a bit of power play going on and inter-department blaming and rivalry was rife. Essentially, they weren’t playing well together, and like a football team that doesn’t support each other well, they were getting thrashed by the competition.
As is often the case in such situations, the team members thought rather negatively about “this soft, fluffy stuff” and that the problem lay with the company’s processes and other departments, not their team and certainly not something any coach could fix. They weren’t quite ready to instantly change their behaviour… well at least until the other party admitted that they were wrong and changed first.
And sometimes it is personal. It’s not your role they disagree with, it’s you. In these politically correct days nobody says what they think, but they sure do think it. Maybe they prefer a female, maybe you need to be Asian to understand the local culture. Maybe you should be an engineer. Maybe the way you dress is deemed as threatening.
Even with a non-hostile audience, you want to know what they think about you and your topic before deciding how to approach your presentation.
What do they think of you and your topic?
I was enjoying my new position installing computerised tills and stock control systems throughout the central London pub estate for Chef and Brewer. My boss was a great guy and everything was going brilliantly well until he got replaced by an arrogant, opinionated know-it-all, who, quite frankly, understood nothing about computerisation and worse, hated the idea of it. This was the late 1980’s and my new boss was determined to halt the technological advance at all costs.
Within a month I felt like Sisyphus. Pushing the computerisation agenda up an increasingly steep hill and soon to be crushed by the backlash.
I hadn’t had time to build any real influence nor win any significant political allies in the organisation and my colleagues soon joined my new boss in undermining and stalling progress. My personal credibility hadn’t been established securely enough and without it, I was going to struggle to overcome the logical and emotional resistance that I was convinced were at the root of the problem.
Aristotle noted that there were three key forms of resistance in an audience: Ethos, Pathos and Logos. The character or credible appeal of something or someone, the emotional appeal and the logical argument.
It is often difficult to distinguish whether it is you or your topic that is causing the problem.
Certainly, your personality colours your opinion about the topic. But when you are on the inside, it always feels personal.
To give your case the best possible chance of success, you need to establish credibility with your audience, present your logical argument and appeal to their emotions. That is, you need to win their hearts and minds. Notice the word “win” — because in every presentation, yours is just one more voice contending to be heard and acted upon.
People do resist change, and anytime that you are presenting you are instigating change.
All of your audience members (and you) share 3 basic human needs:
Communication is much more than the words that come out of your mouth
When your argument makes the audience FEEL that you are picking them out as non-compliant, wrong or simply for being different, then your argument falls on deaf ears.
To ensure that your argument stands a chance of being accepted. You need to know what they think of you and think of your topic. And the easiest way to do that is to ask them.
I didn’t understand all this back in the late 1980’s in London. I just bulldozed my project through as best I could. Fifteen months later, I was generously made redundant the day I installed the last pub in the estate.
At this point, you know what your audience Knows and what the Need to know. You’ve got a handle on their Opinion and remember that they need to be right, and they need to belong and you will be encouraging their positive self-image. But you recall the saying it’s not what you know but who you know? In this section we’ll cover:
Stakeholder Mapping
Stakeholder or audience mapping uses a simple 2x2 matrix with Low to high power on the vertical axis and low to high interest across the horizontal.
Consider the specific individual members of your audience and place them on the grid relative to each other. Include, where appropriate, stakeholders who might not be personally present but sending a representative (aka spy).
Your focus in your presentation are those individuals who are most interested in your topic and have the power to affect the change you desire.
When you are preparing a sales presentation, for example, it pays to know who is the key decision maker (powerful) and the most interested. Not always the same person! I often find myself presenting to greatly interested people with little power and the person with the actual power isn’t even in the room. I think of this as a gatekeeping presentation and once through the gate, I have a chance to pitch to the person with the power.
When you have a clear idea about the power and interest in the room, it’s time to establish how you call the four different audience types to action.
Nancy Duarte says that there are four audience types, each requiring a slightly different call to action:
There are:
Doers, Suppliers, Influencers and Innovators.
A Doer is someone who instigates activities. You should ask them to assemble, make decisions, gather, respond or attempt.
is someone who instigates activities. You should ask them to assemble, make decisions, gather, respond or attempt. A Supplier is a person who controls resources. Ask them to acquire, fund, support or provide resources.
is a person who controls resources. Ask them to acquire, fund, support or provide resources. Influencers change perceptions. Ask them to activate, convert, empower or promote.
change perceptions. Ask them to activate, convert, empower or promote. Innovators generate ideas to add value to and spread your ideas. Ask them to create, discover, invent or pioneer.
How do you call to action if you don’t know their type?
Intuitively you can see that these four audience types make sense. When you know your audience well and have experienced presenting to them before, it’s relatively easy to pin them down to a particular type. But there will be times when you don’t know them well enough. In such a situation, make sure to sow those key action verbs throughout your presentation noting who responds to each, usually shown through greater attentiveness, a smile, a nod or simply paying attention. Note also any of the verbs that appear to fall on deaf ears, you might not, for example, have any innovators in the room.
Above all, be sure to establish the audience type for the most powerful interested stakeholder and focus on getting the right call to action to them.
Of course, all of this is moot if you don’t actually have a call to action
Your call to action for this episode is to identify your audience, map them on a simple power/interest grid and work out, if you can, their audience type.
I use post-its on a whiteboard (real or virtual) to help me in planning. And once I have identified the key stakeholders (high power and high interest) I take a little longer to get to find out what they know, and specifically what they need to know and take a little extra effort to understand their opinion and create a call to action that will activate them to fund the resources we need to make the change they need. | https://medium.com/leadership-advantedge/5-getting-to-know-your-audience-ow-cb85506881f6 | ['Dr John Kenworthy'] | 2019-07-23 07:51:01.786000+00:00 | ['Public Speaking'] |
Submit Your Article to ‘Leaders and Managers’ | Credit: Jo Szczepanska, Unsplash
We welcome submissions to “Leaders and Managers”, a growing publication about the practice of management by experienced managers and educational professionals dedicated to studying it.
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https://form.jotform.com/201965966994073 | https://medium.com/leading-and-managing/submit-your-article-to-leaders-and-managers-cbc85aa9e328 | ['Scott S. Bateman'] | 2020-07-30 20:35:29.853000+00:00 | ['Submissions'] |
Draw The Rest Of The Chart | Imposter Syndrome and Levelling Up in Data Visualization
Is It Ever Gonna Be Enough?
A bright, energetic consultant stares intently at Microsoft PowerPoint. This hero, inexperienced but devoted, hears a door open nearby. A boss approaches.
The boss sits down and asks to see our hero’s latest wireframe for a potential dashboard to sell to a middle-management client. Upon looking at the PowerPoint slide for about five seconds, the boss tells our hero that he doesn’t know how to explain what he asked for any better, but whatever he’s looking at, this isn’t it.
The boss turns to a workstation right behind the hero and pulls up a news website. Right there, beyond the boss’s pointed finger, the hero sees an article published by a major news journal that includes a series of advanced charts. Animated bar charts race against each other in one frame. In another, balls fly across the screen into little bins to represent potential outcomes. The charts all require a high degree of experience to generate.
The boss stands up. “Make it look like this.” He leaves.
The hero only stares. The article uses charts and algorithms that our hero has never seen before. The hero’s preferred software or language won’t even make some of them. Some charts look touched-up in an expensive image-editing application. Our hero doesn’t have access to that.
Freeze frame and focus in tight on our hero. Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got myself in this situation. Well.
I Don’t Even Like Balsamic Vinegar, and Work Won’t Let Me Install Balsamiq on My Laptop
Look, Silicon Valley, you win. Really. You’re always going to pump out new technologies that we have to know, or else we’ll fall behind. New certifications, new dataviz platforms, new algorithmic techniques. Ok. Cool. I’ll spend my life tracking down the latest thing and hoping I’m good enough compared to my peers, but that’s life. Right?
Well, sometimes. That’s life… when you’ve done this for a few years. When you’re first starting out? You can’t tell a colorblind palette from a grayscale one. Your resume still includes things like “Captain of the JV Volleyball Team, 2011–2015”. Murder. I liken this to an old meme from several years ago.
I’m pretty sure I can’t even draw the first one
I can think of no better metaphor for learning anything at all in the modern data science environment. Transformational data products sit across an ever-growing chasm of technical, unexplained difficulty from the simple charts made by a novice. You want instructions for an animated, clickable pie chart in plain language? Tough.
Donut Charts > Pie Charts, just like Pie > Cake
You, young budding data scientist or consultant who got forwarded this article, you have it pretty bad. Maybe not as bad as I had it. I graduated from college during the Great Recession! I did 3 internships before I got a job in Washington D.C. earning $34,000 a year! You know how far $34,000 a year takes you in Washington? About one student loan payment and, maybe, a taco.
Yet, perhaps you also have it bad in your own way. I lived underemployed for years but at least I found work. If I was ever a failure (personal note: Was? Don’t get too cocky now), at least I knew I was probably in the wrong line of work because a global financial crisis forced its way into my young adulthood.
You have none of that. Instead, you have ten times the things to learn in one-tenth the time. Draw an owl? Please. Draw ten. Use a different language or dataviz app for each. Roll in all the latest dataviz techniques in the newest books. And can you have it on my desk before lunch? Byeeeee.
I Don’t Know Excel and You Can’t Prove I’m Lying
Because you know. You just know, beyond doubt and reason, in that deep pit of your stomach where you keep all those thoughts you have about leaving everything behind and jumping onto a train with vagrants. Deep down there in your soul of souls. You know the place?
Down in your heart of hearts, you fear what we all do — getting exposed. You fear the boss, the one who thinks they’re cool and “gets data” and “knows what Python is”. You’re terrified that they’ll come in and ask you to create this cool thing they just saw someone post on Twitter — an entry in the Tableau IronViz competition, no less — and now they want to see you make that cool thing too.
Down this pit of despair you descend as you read up on polygonal mapping workflows and “Radials Made Easy” articles. Oh, but they’re actually just links to 30-minute YouTube videos with data that looks NOTHING LIKE YOURS BECAUSE THEIRS ISN’T PIVOTED, *takes breath,* WHY WOULD YOU SPEND NO TIME IN YOUR ARTICLE DISCUSSING WHAT THE SHAPE OF YOUR DATA IS BEFORE MAKING YOUR CHART YOU ODIOUS CATFISH. You’ve reached rock bottom. You can’t do it. You can’t make that chart.
Or at least, not right now, you cry to your boss. Maybe with more experience? It’s not fair in the least, but thanks for playing. Your boss will now make a face that makes it pretty clear in their cool-boss passive-aggressive way. A face that says you’re not their dataviz person. Because you can’t do the thing they saw that one time.
“I thought you were the expert at visualization?” Nightmare. Update your resume.
The Only Way Out Is Through
This isn’t cumulative. Over 1,000 questions about dataviz are asked on Stack Overflow each month
Dear friends, the community hears your cries.
And in truth, there’s no time like the present to jump right on in. The Tableau community on Twitter, double-edged sword that it is, can expose your boss to visualizations that you won’t know how to make for a few years, but it can also introduce you to some really, really cool people.
When Tableau Zen Master Yvan Fornes posted a fitness tracker last January that included a radial chart and made the whole workbook free to download, I knew this was a great chance to learn the techniques for radials in Tableau. But I had absolutely no idea where to start, so, I did this.
Remember, begging for help goes better if you frame it as a semi-intelligent question!
And then a really cool thing happened.
Way, way more than he had to do.
Within a few hours, I was able to make this dummy chart…
I MADE AN EYE! I pretend it has a laser in it. FEAR MY TABLEAU LASER EYE!
Now if a client ever needs that kind of product, I can say yes to them.
That’s a great way to learn Tableau, by the way. Watch Twitter for workbooks that do things you don’t know how to do, then download them, rip into their calculated fields, and create your own recipe for it. Save, rinse, repeat.
What Do You Mean You Only Know JavaScript? Isn’t That the Same Thing as Java?
That’s also the trick to beating imposter syndrome: just doing something hard once, no matter how bad. Every data scientist in the world, be they analysts, engineers, visualizers, and anything in between, is a force to be reckoned with from the second time they do something onward.
The point is, yeah, you’re going to come across new situations and fail them. It’s part of life and we all go through that. As my son’s cartoons say, “Sucking at something is the first step at being sorta ok at it.” Find helpful people and just be honest. You don’t have to compete in IronViz. You don’t have to switch on the fly between Tableau and PowerBI. You don’t even need to know algebra—well, no, you definitely need algebra to do this line of work. Calculus? Depends.
Maybe all this is still more than you need. Maybe you’re waiting for an answer on Stack Overflow. Or for a matplotlib blogger to explain how to put value labels on bar charts without a terrifying-looking For loop (Python devs, go check out Altair!). Or how to get a map to zoom in with D3 without digging through four textbooks.
That’s all, all of it, fine. It’s part of your job and you’re coming onto the scene at an exciting time. All these great, awesome, wonderful tools and all these coding libraries let you do so many amazing things! And yet, only a handful of people can explain how it all works from start to finish in regular words.
None of that is your fault, as long as you keep looking and learning. It is, I submit, your duty to the data science community to search out the answers and share them with the rest of us. A data scientist’s brain is like a shark: it has to always be thinking, moving, learning, analyzing, studying, creating, logging, cleaning, proofing, plotting. So I’m going to say this as clearly as I can: failure isn’t being under-experienced, it’s stopping. To stop is to admit defeat, and that will never do when your cause is all the knowledge in the world.
Hey, maybe you don’t have questions. Maybe you’re just looking through the plethora of new technologies and wondering “well… where exactly do I start?” The answer can only ever be: at the beginning. Ask yourself what you want to do, and why. Then seek out a way to do that thing. Then do that thing.
Or maybe instead of learning a new, exciting plotting library, you’ve been studying for an AWS exam for a month and you just failed it earlier today, so you went home and wrote an article so you could remind yourself that everything’s fine, and you’re fine. You’re fine. You’re fine… but you failed by two questions, and… and how could you let that happen?! What a sham, what an imposter, everyone at your job already knows that you’re a failure and a fraud and you just gave them proof, you absolute idiot. How could you ever get this far being so bad?! Donald Trump is already drafting a tweet calling you a loser, you dreg.
Adulthood is filled with people telling you every time you do things wrong, but when you do something right there’s nothing but a similarly-sized void where you’d expect affirmation to be. But look at what you learned, Phil. You didn’t pass the exam, but you know a lot more about what you wanted to know about.
Maybe all of our inexperience, immaturity, failure, is just what we get for trying and shouldn’t be thought of so poorly. Maybe failure is wholesome. Maybe the real Solutions Architect exam, or interactive sunburst chart, or web-published study, or good feedback round with the client isn’t the real prize: the failures getting there are.
Go make a good mistake. Close this article and draw the rest of your chart. You’ll do fine.
Philip Hawkins wants to write science fiction when he grows up. He works as a consultant for the US government and is unsure what else to put here, if anything. | https://medium.com/nightingale/draw-the-rest-of-the-chart-88eb0e8babd4 | ['Phil Hawkins'] | 2019-09-05 16:46:58.565000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Career Advice', 'Tableau', 'Design', 'Data Humanism'] |
Life as a Writer with ADHD | Life as a Writer with ADHD
If you are living with ADHD, it may be easy to dismiss the idea of writing.
Whether you have ADHD or not, I want to reiterate something: not all ADHD brains are the same — so my experience might not be the same as yours even if we share similar traits.
Managing ADHD is an ongoing process and it’s definitely not as easy as swallowing a pill. Nope, it takes work.
There are things we always have to work harder at, like improving our short-term memory retention. Sometimes we can’t even remember simple things, like whether we turned left or right.
Perhaps that sounds familiar to you, which is why you have decided to hear my experiences. Or perhaps you know somebody who has been diagnosed with ADHD. Whatever the case may be, I am delighted to share how I manage my headspace. | https://medium.com/narrative/life-as-a-writer-with-adhd-8417a80b8aaa | ['Katy Velvet'] | 2020-12-24 09:29:02.453000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Writing', 'Adhd', 'Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement'] |
The Democratic Party Has Lost Touch With What Its Constituents Want and Need | In 2013 I was in the process of getting out of the military, and I had a political ideological dilemma. I was starting to branch away from the conservative values I was taught since childhood and found myself intrinsically agreeing with neoliberal policies and philosophy. I wasn’t educated or versed enough in political nuance to have strong stances on almost any policy issue, but I found myself giving the Democratic Party a second look.
The Democratic Party fully captured me with Barack Obama’s second term and their grand promises of a better future. They felt so antithetical to conservatism — the very thing I realized I was distancing myself from.
The Democratic Party promised that a vote for them is a vote for the people. They promised to stick up for immigrants and undocumented workers, protect health care and the Affordable Care Act, workers’ rights, unions, promote better schooling and create better opportunities for their constituents. I had found the party that stood for the same values and wanted the same future that I began to want. But as the years went on I found myself distancing myself from the Democratic Party, realizing the promises, enthusiasm and optimism were nothing more than empty platitudes.
The recent Democratic National Convention reminded me how out of touch the Democratic Party is with its constituents and how willing they are to leave behind the progressive vote. I came to the harsh realization that the Democratic Party cares more about appearing to support progressive change rather than actually supporting it.
The DNC was quite the four day event. It had performances from artists like Leon Bridges, Billie Eilish and John Legend. Countless Hollywood celebrities talked about the necessity of beating incumbent president Donald Trump in the upcoming November election and stressed the dire consequences if we fail. As a film lover, it’s neat to see all the actors and actresses I like share the same goal — defeating Donald Trump. But beyond that, they failed to mention any of the progressive ideas and policies that their constituents desperately need.
2016 all over again
There were plenty of vague calls for unity, such as the second night’s national roll call. “No one has ever watched or cared about the roll call vote except the people in the convention hall. Tonight, it told a story of unity and it just worked in this moment,” claimed a senior Democratic official. I’d love an explanation on the importance of unity compared to proposed policy with quantifiable outcomes of positive change.
If I’m supposed to be inspired by fruitless calls for choosing love over hate and light over darkness, I’m afraid they’ve desperately failed their mission.
These fruitless platitudes undoubtedly work for some audiences. If you’re wealthy enough to not see any material consequence of a Donald Trump presidency and are shouting about unity and love, you likely never cared about progressive change in the first place and treat the presidency as a symbolic office.
I tried to approach watching the DNC as if I was a first-time voter or someone who wasn’t very politically literate. I wanted the Democrat Party to give me something to vote for, something that would excite me, something that showed me they understood the struggles of their constituents. The purpose of the DNC is to select a candidate and sell that candidate to their constituents. If I was a first-time voter or someone that abstains from voting, the DNC didn’t do nearly enough to excite me to get off my couch and vote.
Not a single time did a democrat at the convention mention that the country wasn’t great before Trump became president. Outside of one mention of the public option for healthcare, we never heard about proposed fixes to America’s broken healthcare system, worker’s wage growth being destroyed by inflation, 66% of filed bankruptcies are because of medical bills, college tuition more than doubling since the 1980’s, America’s renting crisis, the top one percent owning 40% of America’s wealth, or any of the other countless problems plaguing American citizens.
There wasn’t a single moment or message from the Democratic Party about failed policies in the past, how they plan to make up for such failures and how they understand the wants and needs of their constituents. There was lots of symbolic messaging throughout the event surrounding the fight against injustice and their support of Black Lives Matter, such as Elizabeth Warren’s subtle tribute in the background where she spelt ‘BLM’ out in blocks of a classroom background. I really wish sometime in the near future we can raise the bar — even just an inch.
Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic lawmakers recently knelt for nine minutes to honor the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. But this sympathy and empathy toward victims of racial injustice is new. This sympathy and empathy wasn’t initially showcased when Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the national anthem in 2016. Pelosi stayed away from the topic, claiming “I love the National Anthem… and I love the First Amendment and I’ll leave it at that.” I don’t believe the party has radically shifted its views on the subject in four years. They’re only paying lip service now because it’s finally the popular position to take.
Biden’s history in politics won’t do the Democratic Party any favors
The DNC failed to acknowledge that Joe Biden’s 1994 crime bill was largely responsible for that very racial injustice we are protesting today. It added 100,000 cops to the streets, increased funding by $9.7 billion for prisons and played a significant role in mass incarcerations in the African American communities. Biden would later work with segregationists to oppose school integration.
There’s no apology or admission of guilt or failure. No admission of having made an unfathomable mistake. Bill Clinton admitted it was a mistake while Biden lies and claims it did not increase incarcerations, despite countless evidence pointing to the contrary.
Biden would also lie about being arrested while trying to see Nelson Mandela. If Trump had lied about being arrested while trying to see Nelson Mandela, I have a really hard time believing Biden supporters would shrug it off like they shrugged off this lie.
During the four day event there were plenty of montages of how Joe Biden fights for women’s rights and will protect them against domestic violence. Except there’s nothing really to suggest he would do so. Throughout his career, he has been accused of sexual harassment and has been criticized for his handling of the 1991 case in which Anita Hill accused Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. Though he would cosponsor the Violence Against Woman Act bill, there’s a troubling long history with women that’s near impossible to ignore and makes me believe his intrinsic beliefs are not in favor of the people.
Show us you’re at least trying
Just look at Biden’s stance on Medicare for All. Medicare for All offers comprehensible coverage to all Americans, saving two trillion dollars over 10 years and 87% of Democratic voters supporting Medicare for all. While it is true Medicare for All likely doesn’t have the support to pass, especially in the Senate, Joe Biden advocating for such a policy in the midst of a pandemic in which 184,000 Americans have died could likely convince a lot of his supporters of its necessity and lay the groundwork for the future of American healthcare.
I am currently without healthcare coverage due to financial hardship. The anxiety of knowing any moment could result in financial ruin or bankruptcy is an enormous burden on my shoulders, especially during a pandemic. Not supporting Medicare for All doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the party that is supposed to represent and fight for me.
Medicare for All isn’t the only instance in which the Democratic party isn’t fighting or representing the people. Biden still isn’t in favor of legalizing marijuana even though the majority of voters (even Republicans) support its legalization. In the midst of nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism that Biden was largely responsible for, he doesn’t support defunding the police despite considerable support for it. For a party that was supported by 88% of African American voters in 2016, picking Biden as the candidate to champion the people doesn’t make me believe he values the votes of the black community even though Biden had a wide lead of black voters over other candidates in the Democratic Primary.
Vice President candidate Kamala Haris is almost of equal blame in alienating large sects of their supporters. Harris, the first Senator to co-sponsor Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan, walked back her support after dropping out of the presidential race. She tried damage controlling criticism of her decision to walk back her notion of eliminating private health insurance claiming she interpreted the question differently.
And to her credit, the definition of Medicare for All has changed from the 2018 midterms to the 2020 presidential election. Medicare for All was an ambiguous blanket term used to indirectly say America’s health insurance industry needed an overhaul. However, Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan hadn’t changed, and what was proposed in the 2018 plan has been the definitive progressive platform since 2018 and is identical to the plan now. This is a prime example of only wanting the appearance of change without actual fundamental and systemic change.
Harris isn’t likely to win over progressive voters with her laundry list of moderate policies that disproportionately affected marginalized communities. Harris was criticized during one of the presidential debates for acts such as jailing 1,500 people for marijuana violations then laughing about it when asked if she’d ever smoked marijuana. Harris’ father, a Marxist economics professor at Stanford University, would later criticize her for leaning into the stereotype of pot-smoking Jamaicans. Harris also blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row, kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California and fought to keep the cash bail system in place — a system that disproportionately impacts marginalized communities.
Harris also supported a 2008 bill that reported undocumented juveniles to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they were arrested and suspected of committing a felony, whether or not they were convicted. Harris would later apologize for this California truancy law that led to arrests of parents.
Though Kamala Harris is likely the most ‘progressive’ nominee the party has had in modern history, she’s not going to excite the progressive base. She’s only the most progressive because the bar has been set so low.
It’s understandable these failures wouldn’t be mentioned at the DNC. It would be great if they were and there were apologies and proposed legislation to correct these mistakes, but I didn’t expect them to be addressed. I also didn’t expect the strange optics used to pitch Joe Biden as the nominee. These optics included mentioning how the great losses Biden has suffered throughout his life somehow makes him a good candidate to be president. The intent is obvious — Biden both receives and displays empathy and sympathy. While it is sad that Biden has suffered a lot of loss in his life, it doesn’t speak to his ability to be president. It doesn’t speak to what he can do for the people. And I don’t care about the fruitless platitudes from Hunter and Ashley Biden about how caring Joe Biden is.
I don’t care about former President Barack Obama’s speech where he claims Biden and Harris really care about the American people. I don’t want to listen to a man who drone-striked innocent civilians and tortured people. And frankly, I don’t believe him anyway.
Incompetency and lack of reflection will haunt the Democratic Party
It’s maddening to see how far the bar has fallen in the post-Trump era. The DNC was an insulting reminder of how incompetent the Democratic Party is during the most important election of my lifetime. They ran on defeating Donald Trump in the 2016 election with Hillary Clinton and I’m afraid they’re making the same mistake again. If they want to energize the youth vote they need to run on more than defeating Donald Trump.
One of the reasons Trump won the 2016 election was because of his anti-establishment stance. In a time of frustration and uncertainty, people selected to take the risk with Donald Trump over lifelong politician Hillary Clinton. Biden has conceded the anti-establishment ground, and his calls for a return to normalcy completely miss the mark on the frustrations people have toward the status quo.
The return to normalcy isn’t a good selling point to progressives when normal isn’t good enough. Especially when we factor in the negotiation process with Republicans regarding Biden’s proposed policies. Biden and Harris will swing to the middle just like Obama did once in office. It’s not dangerous to run too far to the left. Obama ran further to the left of what was considered electable at the time, and went on to serve two terms in office. The problem is getting a left candidate to stay left — and Biden and Harris’ career have not convinced me they will.
Where does this leave the progressive vote?
This is the most important election of my lifetime and likely the most important in the past thirty years. When authoritarianism is tightening its grip on democracy, I’m afraid fruitless platitudes about love, unity and hope while propping up the candidate largely responsible for the economic and racial injustice we face today, isn’t going to inspire the future of the Democratic Party and the progressive vote. We especially won’t be thrilled when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, likely the loudest progressive voice in congress, was limited to a mere sixty seconds while we heard from former Republican governors for much longer.
I watched the DNC looking for any reason to vote for Biden. I just wanted to feel moved and heard. I wanted to have something to believe in and a better future to look forward to. I wanted to believe people in the party that is supposed to represent me actually cared about me by showing proposed policy. Instead I got a bunch of baseless claims, fruitless platitudes and a rehash of the same 2016 strategy that failed.
Though I am thoroughly disappointed with the Democratic Party, I will be voting for Biden. I do understand and realize the necessity of defeating Donald Trump and the material consequences of Biden failing that I can’t ignore. But the progressive vote, myself included, are going to be voting for harm reduction. We won’t be voting for Biden, but rather against Trump.
The Democratic Party better pray Biden wins and they get the party back on track with a newfound sense of competence before the 2024. If they think cleaning up Trump’s mess is bad, wait until they lose against a more competent and even more authoritarian version of Trump because they’ve failed to understand their constituents’ wants and needs. | https://medium.com/make-it-personal/the-democratic-party-has-lost-touch-with-what-its-constituents-want-and-need-26b097ab3c06 | ['Cameron Craig'] | 2020-09-02 20:45:00.901000+00:00 | ['DNC', 'Politics', 'Trump', 'Joe Biden', 'Election 2020'] |
New COVID-19 variant hits Washington State, but Washingtonians know how to handle it. | Today, almost a year to the day after the very first US case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Washington, we learned that the COVID-19 variant that has been spreading in London, has arrived here too.
The UW Medicine Virology Lab found that two people in Snohomish County who knew they had COVID-19, actually have this new variant. So far it seems like this variant is pretty rare in Washington, although it is likely that there are other people here who also have this variant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that this new variant will be the most common strain in the coming months.
What, exactly, is a new variant? Viruses are constantly changing. Part of the reason we need to get flu shots every year is because the influenza virus changes slightly. Similarly, the virus that causes COVID-19 is constantly changing. When enough changes happen, it starts to act a little different and we track it as a new variant. We expect new variants of a virus to occur over time. Sometimes new variants emerge and disappear. Other times, new variants emerge and persist. Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 have been documented in the United States and throughout the world.
Does it have a name? Well, yes. It’s known as B.1.1.7 or SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01. That’s why we usually just say “new variant.”
If you get COVID-19, does it make a difference what variant you have? Not for you! According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no conclusive evidence that it causes more severe illness or increased risk of death. But, this variant does spread more easily and quickly than other variants, so we all need to be extra careful to do our best to protect each other.
Does the vaccine work on the new variant? So far, it looks like it does. This is great news, but it is a topic that is still being studied, so there may be more information soon.
How do we protect ourselves from the new variant? By doing all the same things we’ve been doing, as consistently as we possibly can:
Wear a mask, even with people you see regularly and in your smallest social circles;
Keep gatherings outside whenever possible;
Avoid any social gatherings indoors, but if participating, wearing a mask and ensuring windows and doors are open to maximize ventilation;
Wear a mask while in the car with other people, including with family who do not live in your household;
Wash hands often, not touching your face, and carrying hand sanitizer for use when water and soap are not available;
Stay home if you are sick or if you have been exposed to COVID-19; and,
Get tested for COVID-19 if you have symptoms or were exposed to someone who tested positive.
Practice compassion. Viruses mutate inside your body. Preventing yourself and others from getting COVID-19 also helps to prevent new variants from arising. | https://medium.com/wadepthealth/new-covid-19-variant-hits-washington-state-but-washingtonians-know-how-to-handle-it-19cd0fe35e25 | ['Washington State Department Of Health'] | 2021-01-24 02:14:14.890000+00:00 | ['Masks', 'Social Distance', 'UK', 'Covid 19'] |
Building a Serverless Analytics App to Capture and Query Clickstream Data | The best way to answer questions about user behavior is often to gather data. A common pattern is to track user clicks throughout a product, then perform analytical queries on the resulting data, getting a holistic understanding of user behavior.
In my case, I was curious to get a pulse of developer preferences on several divisive questions. So, I built a simple survey and gathered tens of thousands of data points from developers on the Internet. In this post, I will walk through how I built a web app that:
collects free-form JSON data
queries live data with SQL
has no backend servers
To stay focused on collecting click data, we’ll keep the app’s design simple: a single page presenting a series of binary options, on which clicking will record the visitor’s response and then display live aggregate results. (Live version here. Spoiler alert: you can view the results here.)
Creating the static page
Keeping with the spirit of simplicity, we’ll use vanilla HTML/CSS/JS with a bit of jQuery to build the app’s frontend. Let’s start by laying out the HTML structure of the page.
Note that we left the #body element empty-we'll add the questions here using Javascript:
By adding the questions with Javascript, we only have to write the HTML and event handlers once. We can even adjust the list of questions at any time by just editing the global variable QUESTIONS .
Collecting custom JSON data
Now, we have a webpage where we want to track user clicks-a classic case of product analytics. In fact, if we were instrumenting an existing web app instead of building from scratch, we would just start at this step.
First, we’ll figure out how to model the data we want to collect as JSON objects, and then we can store them in a data backend. For our data layer we will use Rockset, a service that accepts JSON data and serves SQL queries, all over a REST API.
Data model
Since our survey has questions with only two choices, we can model each response as a boolean-false for the left-side choice and true for the right-side choice. A visitor may respond to any number of questions, so a visitor who prefers spaces and uses vim should generate a record that looks like:
With this model, we can implement the click handlers from above to create and send this custom JSON object to Rockset:
In practice, ROCKSET_APIKEY should be set to a value obtained by logging into the Rockset console. The Rockset collection which will store the documents (in this case demo.binary_survey ) can also be created and managed in the console.
Updating existing responses
Our code so far has a shortcoming: consider what happens when a visitor clicks “spaces” then clicks “vim.” First, we will send a document with the response for the first question. Then we’ll send another document with responses for two questions. These get stored as two separate documents! Instead we want the second document to be an update on the first.
With Rockset, we can solve this by giving our documents a consistent , which is treated as the primary key of a document in Rockset. We’ll generate this field as a random identifier for the visitor on page load:
Now let’s run through the previous scenario again. When the web page loads, the “vote” object gets seeded with an ID:
When the visitor clicks a choice for one of the questions, a boolean field is added:
The visitor can continue to add more responses:
Or even update previous responses:
Every time the response changes, the JSON is stored as a Rockset document and, because the _id field matches, any previous response for the current visitor is overwritten.
Saving state across sessions
We’ll add one more enhancement to this: for visitors who leave the page and come back later, we want to keep their responses. In a full-blown app we may have an authentication service to establish sessions, a users table to persist IDs in, or even a global frontend state to manage the ID. For a splash page that anyone can visit, such as the survey we’re building, we may not have any previous context for the user. In this case, we’ll just use the browser’s local storage to maintain the visitor’s ID.
Let’s modify our Javascript code to implement this mechanism:
Data-driven app: aggregations on the fly
At this point, we’ve created a static page and instrumented it to collect custom click data. Now let’s put it to use! This generally takes one of two forms:
an internal dashboard informing product decisions or triggering alerts around unusual behavior
a user-facing feature to enhance a data-driven product
Our survey’s use case falls under the latter: as an incentive to answer questions for curious visitors, we’ll reveal the live results of each question upon clicking a choice.
To implement this, we’ll write Javascript code to call Rockset’s query API. We want to send a SQL query that looks like:
The response will be a JSON object with counts for each question (count of “true” responses and total count of responses), along with a count of unique visitors.
We can parse this data and set attributes on HTML elements to relay the results to the visitor. Let’s write this out in Javascript:
Even with tens of thousands of data points, this AJAX call returns in around 20ms, so there is no concern executing the query in real time. In fact, we can update the results, say every second, to give the numbers a live feel:
Finishing touches
Access control
We’ve written all the logic for sending data to and retrieving data from Rockset on the client side of our app. However, this exposes our fully privileged Rockset API key publicly, which of course is a big no-no. It would give anyone full access to our Rockset account and also possibly allow a DoS attack. We can achieve scoped permissions and request throttling in one of two ways:
use a restricted Rockset API key
use a lambda function as a proxy
The first is a feature still-in-development at Rockset, so for this app we’ll have to use the second.
Let’s move the list of questions and the logic that interacts with Rockset to a simple handler in Python, which we’ll deploy as a lambda on AWS:
Our client-side Javascript can now just make calls to the lambda endpoints, which will act as a relay with the Rockset API.
Adding more questions
A benefit of the way we’ve build the app is we can arbitrarily add more questions, and everything else will just work!
Similarly, if a visitor only answers a subset of the questions, no problem-the client-side app and Rockset can handle missing values gracefully.
In fact, these circumstances are generally common with product analytics, where you may want to start tracking an additional attribute on an existing event or if a user is missing certain attributes. Since we’ve built this app using a schemaless approach, we have the flexibility to handle those situations.
Rendering and styling
We haven’t fully covered the logic yet for rendering and styling elements on the DOM. You can see the full completed source code here if you’re curious, but here’s a summary of what’s left to do:
add some JS to show/hide results and prompts as the visitor progresses through the survey
add some CSS to make the app look nice and adapt the layout for mobile visitors
add in a post-survey-completion congratulatory message
And voila, there we have it! End to end, this app took just a few hours to set up. It required no spinning up servers or pre-configuring databases, and it was easy to adapt while developing as there was it was just recording free-form JSON. So far over 2,500 developers have submitted responses and the results are, if nothing else, interesting to look at.
The survey is currently live here-feel free to check it out and poke around! Results, as of the writing of this blog, are here. And the source code is available here. | https://medium.com/rocksetcloud/building-a-serverless-analytics-app-to-capture-and-query-clickstream-data-91fc50200b94 | ['Vahid Fazel-Rezai'] | 2019-08-24 00:16:39.993000+00:00 | ['Developer', 'Sql', 'JavaScript', 'Json', 'Serverless'] |
Make Your Snapshots Into Lead Story Photos With This Quickstart Guide | Composition
One of the most important aspects when shooting photos is composition. Amateurs have a tendency to frame an object dead center and not care about the surroundings. We find it esthetically pleasing when we use the golden ratio.
I’m not saying you should never center a subject, but you have to do it because it is an active choice.
The golden ratio
In short, the golden ratio is: math, math, oh my goodness, nature is crazy, math → 0.618. This means that if you place your subject 62% to the left or right in the frame, it will look more pleasing to the eye.
If you enjoy reading about the wonders of our nature, I suggest you read more about the golden ratio here (Wikipedia).
I did an experiment when teaching composition in 3d many moons ago and I asked the students to draw a line.
Then I asked them to add another line where it felt right. 80–90% of the students added that line smack in the golden ratio.
If you don’t consider this while shooting, have it in the back of your head when you edit the photo.
How would this shot look if the church tower was in the middle of the frame?
Tip: If you found this topic interesting, you can bump it up a notch by researching Fibonacci’s Ratio.
The “Rule of thirds”
Another well-known rule (which is meant to be broken as any other rule) is the rule of thirds. On most pocket cameras or phones, you can turn this grid on and get an overlay in your viewfinder.
The rule of thirds represented with vertical- and horizontal lines. Notice where they intersect as well. Graphics by author
The iPhone rule of third grids turned on. A nice, non-intrusive overlay. Screenshot by author
If you place your subject in the cross-section or along with one of these lines, the photo will subconsciously be more pleasant to look at. You can use several of them at the same time.
Try placing your human subject in the bottom left point while placing the distant mountain in the top right point. It will look good, I promise
Focus and depth of field
Focus is simply about what subject in the photo you give attention to. You can think about focus in two ways — what you are aiming at and how blurred out the rest of the image is. This is called depth of field, or DOF for short.
You have probably seen photos where the subject is crystal clear but the background is blurred out. You have also probably seen photos where the foreground is blurred out and the mid- or background is clear. You can use DOF to frame the action of your photo.
Focus on the book. Blurred out background. Photo by author
Subject and landscape all in focus. Photo by author
A high aperture (for example f1.8) will blur out the background. A low aperture (for example f16) will keep more of the image in focus. More about that in the technical part of this story.
Lighting
Without lighting, you have no photo. It is all about how you let light into the camera.
There is a lot of nice natural light out there. You don’t have to buy light equipment unless you want to experiment.
Remember that backlit tends to darken the subject, so unless it is a style you are going for, you might want to avoid that.
Don’t have the light hit your subject from the front. Have it hit a bit on the side. This way you will shape the subject instead of flooding it. If you need some bounce light from the other side, you can set up a reflector. This can be a piece of styrofoam.
Light from the side, additional help from the other side if needed. Graphics by author
When the sun is low you can get some amazing colors. When you have figured out what you want to shoot, you can do it in the early morning or night for the warm, golden feel.
Dawn over Oslo. Photo by author
Color
You might not be used to care about color. If you take a photo of a subject, it is easy to forget about the total feeling of the photo. You might find yourself focusing too much on the subject and not the colors in the photo.
Colors, like teal and orange, complement each other. This means that they go well together. All colors have complimentary colors and there are many websites out there that will help you find the right colors for you.
Screenshot from colors.adobe.com by author
If you have the main color established, maybe you can find another color to help the photo shine.
Here are a few resources:
There are tons of resources on color, so browse around until you find the one you like best.
It’s not just about finding matching colors. It’s also about making photos pop with strong saturated colors.
Without the yellow wall, this shot would not have popped as much. Photo by author
Make it interesting
How many times have you seen people take photos of their kids from above? Get down to their level and the photo will look better.
What is your subject and why is it interesting? If it’s not interesting to begin with, make the whole setting interesting.
A classic mistake is to shoot the main photos to reveal all the relevant information to the viewer. This makes sense. You’re trying to show the viewer everything you can. It is the most boring way to shoot a photo though.
Consider the following presentation:
Lots of info. So boring that I want to hide under the carpet in disgust. Photo by author
Absolutely not… Maybe you need this view in your article or in a graphical presentation. Do that, but as your header, you want to be more creative.
This shot does not give the user all the info — only a taste. It is clearly about travel and is probably part of user research.
Which would you click?
A much more interesting view. Photo by author
Here are a few similar examples. | https://medium.com/curious/make-your-snapshots-into-lead-story-photos-with-this-quickstart-guide-884860d4bf31 | ['Martin Andersson Aaberge'] | 2020-10-27 15:36:18.364000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Branding', 'Writing Tips', 'Creativity', 'Photography'] |
18 Things Your Editor Wants You to Know | As a writer, I know that hitting “send” can feel like throwing your work into a frightening void. Now, as a magazine editor, I’m the one behind the curtain. Over two years reviewing essay submissions, fielding pitches, assigning reported work, and editing accepted pieces, I’ve collected scraps of insider info that I wished I’d known before I became an editor. So — I give them to you.
Here are my top 18 tips for writers:
1. I want you to succeed. Every time I open a new piece or pitch, I’m rooting for it to be great. It’s not just that it makes my job easier. (Though it does, immensely.) It’s just a delight to read good work — and that’s what our readers want, too. I’m on your side.
2. When pitching, express enthusiasm. Pretend you work for the publication and want to see it succeed and do great work. (You’re on our side, too, right?) Say, “I’m fascinated by this question, and I haven’t seen it covered. It might be a fit for your readers because of x.” (You already know that you should be quite familiar with the publication, right? Of course you do.)
3. Sometimes I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for. That is, until I see it. If you can anticipate what our readers will respond to, or what our coverage is missing, you’re golden.
4. Use a conversational (but polite) tone in email. If you email like a cold fish, you’ll probably write everything else like a cold fish too. See #5.
5. Add voice and life to essays and articles. This is the number one thing I cannot edit for. If you make a typo, I can fix that. If you are clumsy in using quotes, I can fix that. If you have a tangential sentence or paragraph, I can fix that. If you are boring, I cannot fix that. If you’re bored writing it, why would anyone want to read it?
6. Find the through line. Your piece should have a point. You don’t need to hit the reader over the head with it — please don’t — but your essay or article should have a driving or unifying thread. After reading the piece, the reader should feel that they gained something — and as the writer, you should know what that something is when you’re writing.
7. Sometimes what I really want to say is, “Your writing needs work.” I don’t say that, because between strangers over the medium of email, it sounds unnecessarily cruel. But if you felt puzzled while reading #5 or #6, or you’re not getting the response from editors that you want, it might be useful to find a writing class or a writing group to provide instruction and feedback.
8. Don’t say “I followed your guidelines; why wasn’t my piece accepted?” I have actually been asked this. Look, it could be literally any reason. Although I’d like to, I just don’t have time to give individual feedback. (And do you really want to know if my answer is #7?)
9. Don’t take edits personally. Everyone needs to be edited, even editors. At least three people after me look at the pieces I edit, and they always have additional edits. And they’re usually good ones, things that I missed and that make the piece better. Editing is just part of the process.
10. Editors make mistakes. Don’t argue or assume the worst if you don’t get paid or something — just ask politely. Mistakes happen. We’re human.
11. Be enthusiastic and pleasant. You’ll get more work. Because we are human, editors like nice people.
12. Don’t be sloppy. We’ve all forgotten to attach the document to the email, and we all make typos. No worries. But if you’re sending a piece that is in two very obviously different fonts (has happened) or that just dumps block quotes into a document in succession (ditto), don’t send it.
13. Be careful with previously published work. Don’t submit previously published work unless the publication accepts it, and you have clearly disclosed that. (Blogs count as published work. Small updates do not make a piece new.)
14. I don’t want to micromanage you. If you’re not sure what angle I want, ask “Would you like A approach or B approach? I prefer A b/c x, but y weighs in favor of B.” Not “Here are the quotes from my experts, which ones do you like?” (Yes, I’ve been asked this.)
15. Don’t use my personal email or social media to reach me. I’m just so overwhelmed already with messages from multiple venues. (Aren’t we all?) Exception: It’s fine to ask on Twitter if you can email me at work, and I’m happy to give you my email address.
16. Keep pitching. Even if you’re an established writer that I assign work to, feel free to pitch. Pitches make my job easier. Make them specific. Make them easy to say yes to, and inspire confidence in me.
17. Observe simple care and courtesies. Such as: If you must be late (really try not to be late) then always check in with the editor. Don’t expect me to keep track of your invoicing — it’s just as easy for you to look at your emails and invoices as it is for me. If I ask for two experts, don’t ask me if one is OK. If I ask for edits, send them back to me as a redline so I can easily see what you changed. Make my life easier — and I’ll like working with you.
18. Be curious. Ask good questions. Dig a little deeper. Take a true interest in the subject matter. Find the surprises. Share them with us. It’s hard for an editor (or a reader) to resist a curious writer.
Sharon Holbrook is the managing editor of Your Teen for Parents magazine. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and many other publications. Find her on Twitter @sharon_holbrook. | https://medium.com/swlh/18-things-your-editor-wants-you-to-know-8d2ebb540393 | ['Sharon Holbrook'] | 2019-05-29 14:00:55.095000+00:00 | ['Publishing', 'Magazine', 'Newspapers', 'Editor', 'Writing'] |
Simple Stress Management Techniques for Managing Stress | Effective Stress Relievers | The world has significantly changed with, of course, the people in it. It’s a competitive time, and daily life is fast-paced. Everyone is busy dealing with their issues, and it’s normal. We all try our best to achieve the best for ourselves and our families.
In doing so, we might sometimes go overboard. Maybe stretching the work shift too long or just too much multitasking, even worrying too much can also result in causing stress.
Now, stress is a part of life. It can be both physical and mental. Circumstances can often stressfully affect you, and it won’t always be under your control. It’s the truth.
However, what you can do is control how you might respond and deal with the situation. You don’t want to be overwhelmed by it or let it be a chronic thing, right? So, you need to have some sort of stress management techniques to prevent yourself from getting stressed out.
Best Stress Management Techniques That You May Try
Honestly, there’s no one-stop solution for stress relief. It can vary from person to person, depending on personal preferences. Now, we have some majorly preferred methods for relieving stress, and you might find the one that will work perfectly for you! Give any one of these best stress management techniques a go!
Get Rid of Your Caffeine Addiction
Have you ever wondered that the coffee you love so much can also be the reason behind the immense stress you’re feeling lately? Coffee, tea, energy drinks contain a stimulant named caffeine, which can cause severe anxiety issues if consumed excessively.
So, next time when you’re done with 6–7 cups and feel a bit jittery or anxious, it’s the wake-up call — time to cut the habit.
Now, coffee can also be considered healthy in moderate consumption. Make sure you don’t go more than 4 cups a day, and you’ll be fresh as a daisy! The same goes for tea and energy drinks. Keep your doses in check, and you’ll be just fine!
Laugh, Laugh, Laugh it off
What can I say about this? If you’re not a typically grumpy person, you indeed love to laugh. I mean, it’s arguably the best form of emotion we humans have. So, what gives? Try laughing a bit more than usual. Increase the laughter to reduce stress.
As for the technical part, laughter releases endorphins that are highly effective in improving our moods and decreasing cortisol and adrenaline levels, which are mostly stress-causing hormones. The best remedy? Start watching sitcoms! Maybe begin with F.R.I.E.N.D.S or Two and A Half Men?
Turn The Music Up!
This is probably the most preferred stress relieving technique out there. Take a moment to calm your nerves. Put the headphones on, turn up your favorite artist, and close your eyes for a bit.
This works like meditation. The preferred music will completely be your department since people also claim that death metal works great for them as stress relievers! Wow!
Organize Your Sleep Time!
One of the best stress management techniques is to optimize the sleeping pattern. It’s probably the hectic schedule that’s keeping you up for long, long nights. But now, it’s time to compromise anything but sleep. Lack of sleep is the key to your stress. Yes, work is important, but your health should be your first priority.
Now, make sure you give yourself at least 7 hours of sleep as recommended by the doctors. Plan your work schedule, keeping that time frame in mind. You can surely work something out, and honestly, it will also improve your time-management skills. All win-win for you!
The Basic Meditation — Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is a therapy for a lot of things; be it anger issues or just your regular stress! When you do deep breathing, your body automatically shifts towards a relaxing state. It sends more oxygen to your brain, which then calms your nervous system for the better.
Keep deep breathing twice a day in your daily schedule and make sure you do it properly. Eyes closed. One hand on your chest, one on your belly, then inhale, exhale, repeat (slowly). Once you keep doing this regularly, you can say goodbye to stress forever!
Expressing Gratitude
Did you know that being humble and showing gratitude can positively affect your mood? You see, when you express gratitude towards something, it helps you recognize all the precious things you have you should be thankful for.
Maybe it’s just the warm and bright sunny day, or it can be the loving lunch your mother made for you; anything that makes your life a little better, try to be thankful for it.
This eventually helps you cope with stress as realizing the resources you have at your disposal when things go sideways is really empowering!
Be Vocal, Be Social!
This is a working remedy for a lot of issues. Talking about your problem, be it stress, anxiety, depression, or anything, will ease your mind and help prevent a lot of possible damage in the future.
Make sure to be vocal about your issues. Be it your closest friend, a family member, or maybe your therapist, just let them know about what you’re going through. It will result in decreasing your stress to a minimum level.
A study revealed that individuals with the fewest social connections are most likely to fall prey to depression & anxiety. So, you also have to be a bit social as well. Being part of a close group of people can give you the comfort and assurance you need to get rid of your stress.
Even if you’re an introvert, I’m quite sure you’ll at least be able to find that one person you can open up! I surely believe in you!
The Verdict
These are all tested and proven stress management techniques that are preferred by many. Make sure you try them all out, and hopefully, you’ll find the ones which will be the most effective as your stress reliever! | https://medium.com/@ohyatalks/stress-management-techniques-9f15de1300e | ['Ohya Talks'] | 2020-12-12 19:01:25.333000+00:00 | ['Stress Relievers', 'Stress Management', 'Managing Stress', 'Stress Relief', 'Stress Management Tips'] |
Aerial drone footage of Black Island Farm | Video | Black Island Farm, Syracuse Utah.
I spent some time with my family at Black Island Farms in Syracuse Utah. The passivity was so beautiful I decided to take out the DJI spark and capture some drone footage of the property. The venue included live music, great food, hog and turkey races, a tractor ride and a whole bunch of other family friendly fun to celebrate fall.
The Video | https://medium.com/mobile-tech-news/aerial-drone-footage-of-black-island-farm-video-1dfcb69b8a8c | ['Jason Yeaman'] | 2017-10-15 18:11:13.436000+00:00 | ['Black Island Farm', 'Dji', 'Video', 'Spark'] |
Some Publications Are Not Worth — Avoid Them. | I share with you what to not do while sharing your draft with a publication. This may not be an exhaustive list though. Be free to add your experience.
Keep following Medium publications. Getting published in major publications is my aim. I hope you target the same. Be free to approach Medium Support by emailing [email protected]. They are helpful. Editors of publications like Koinonia have helped me by their valuable suggestions and formatting. https://psiloveyou.xyz and live-your-life-on-purpose are the other publications that have helped me get views and followers. Be free to choose publications by searching in the search box. I got my first Medium curation (on Relationships) only possible because of Koinonia editors and my second curation (first in Poetry) with PS I Love you. It is always a good practice to post your article with a publication that suits the central theme of your post. If there is no publication with that specific theme or theme of your post is not so specific, you can post on your own with no publication, or also publishing with decentralized publications can help you. There will be no editors editing your work, and you will submit your work with no boundaries. Although decentralized publication might not give you more advantages than others, something is better than nothing. There is a big advantage of not submitting your work with any publication. Medium owned publications may approach you if it suits their needs. However, there will also be a few junk publications that can give you frustration. I share with you a few of the incidents.
They may steal your time
An editor of publication with over one thousand followers once dropped me a note saying they liked my article and if I am interested to add my post. I was excited and replied positively. I added my article to their publication. But for over two weeks, they didn’t accept it. Later we got to know that he was fooling many of the fellow writers.
Noteworthy, The Journal is playing pranks with many writers. So My best suggestion would be to avoid them.
Such publication steals your time and they keep frustrating you.
Screenshot captured from Gmail.
They may steal your money.
According to one of the Facebook threads, one of the writers had submitted a fresh article to the same publication. They accepted it, but with the promotion of their banner beyond Medium. It was a high-quality article that she was expecting to get curated. But the commercial banner embedded in the post's bottom denied her curation and distribution as it violated Medium guidelines. She had no choice other than removing not only banners but also entire posts from that publication.
They may steal your ideas.
In August, there was a Facebook and medium post from one of the users who had mentioned that a publication where he submitted his draft stole his ideas and published as their own. While writing general articles, you may encounter such publications.
So, it can always be advisable to publish your articles first without adding to any publications and later submit your work with them. But make sure such publications accept published posts. Using decentralized publications in this context can be helpful.
Also, do not forget;
If you are removing your article from any of the publications, editors might get to know about it.
If you are removing your post from publication with a good reputation, this might harm your future submission with them.
I hope this article helps you. If you are also searching for a publication with a central theme of Family, Relationship, or Dreams, You can write with This-shall-be-our-story. To know how you can be a writer, visit this post. | https://medium.com/this-shall-be-our-story/some-publications-are-not-worth-avoid-them-a8cd895b88e7 | ['Suraj Ghimire'] | 2020-09-03 09:56:16.534000+00:00 | ['Medium', 'Blogging', 'Publishing', 'Writing', 'It Happened To Me'] |
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Watch Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2020) : Full Movie Online Free A youth romantic drama with themes of growing up, the story focuses on college student Tsuneo and dreamer Josee, who lives her life stuck in a wheelchair. Josee — named after the heroine in Françoise Sagan’s Wonderful Clouds — spends most of her days reading and painting until by chance she encounters Tsuneo, and decides it’s time to face the real world.
Release Date:Dec 25, 2020Runtime:99 minutesGenres:Animation, Drama, RomanceProduction Company:BONESProduction Countries:JapanCasts:Taishi Nakagawa, Kaya Kiyohara, Yume Miyamoto, Kazuyuki Okitsu, Lynn, Chiemi Matsutera, Shintarou Moriyama, LilyPlot Keywords:based on novel or book, paraplegic, love, slice of life, relationship, disability, anime
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TELEVISION SHOW AND HISTORY
A television show (often simply ) is any content prBookmark this siteoduced for broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, cable, or internet and typically viewed on a tv set, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are usually placed between shows. s ‘re normally scheduled well ahead of The G0G with Grandpa and appear on electronic guides or other TV listings.
A television show may also be called a tv program (British EnBookmark this siteglish: programme), especially if it lacks a narrative structure. A tv set Movies may be the G0G with Grandpaually released in MoViE that follow a narrative, and are The G0G with Grandpaually divided into seasons (The G0G with Grandpa and Canada) or Movies (UK) — yearly or semiaual sets of new MoViE. A show with a restricted number of MoViE could be called a miniMBookmark this siteovies, serial, or limited Movies. A one-The G0G with Grandpa show could be called a “special”. A tv set film (“made-for-TV movie” or “televisioBookmark this siten movie”) is a film that`s initially broadcast on television instead of released in theaters or direct-to-video.
Television shows may very well be Bookmark this sitehey are broadcast in real The G0G with Grandpa (live), be recorded on home video or an electronic video recorder for later viewing, or be looked at on demand via a set-top box or streameBookmark this sited over the internet.
The first television set shows were experimental, sporadic broadcasts viewable only within an extremely short range from the broadcast tower starting in the. Televised events such as the 60006 Summer OlyBookmark this sitempics in Germany, the 60006 coronation of King George VI in the united kingdom, and David Sarnoff’s famoThe G0G with Grandpa introduction at the 6 New York World’s Fair in the The G0G with Grandpa spurreBookmark this sited a rise in the medium, but World G0G II put a halt to development until following the G0G. The 626 World Movies inspired many Americans to get their first television set and in 622, the popular radio show Texaco Star Theater made the move and became the first weekly televised variety show, earning host Milton Berle the name “Mr Television” and demonstrating that the medium was a stable, modern type of entertainment which could attract advertisers. The firsBookmBookmark this siteark this sitet national live tv broadcast in the The G0G with Grandpa took place on September 2, 6000 when President Harry Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San FraThe Walking Dead: World Beyondco was transmitted over AT&T’s transcontinental cable and microwave radio relay system to broadcast stations in local markets.
❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏
Streaming media are multimedia media that are continuously received by an end user and presented to an end user while being provided by a provider. The verb to be streamed identifies the process of providing or receiving media in this way. [Clarification required] Streaming identifies the delivery method of the medium rather than the medium itself. The distinction between the delivery method and the distributed media is particularly true for telecommunications networks, as most delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or not streaming by nature (e.g. books, video cassettes, sound CDs). There are challenges associated with streaming content on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet coStarzection does not have sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, delays, or slow buffering of this content. And users who lack compatible hardG0Ge or softG0Ge systems may have problems streaming certain content.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet content in real time, similar to how live television broadcasts content over the air with a television signal. Live internet streaming takes the form of source media (e.g. a video camera, sound interface, screen capture softG0Ge), an encoder to digitize the content, a media publisher, and a content delivery network to distribute and serve that content. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the point of origin, although it is often the case.
Streaming is an option for dBBC Oneloading files. The end user receives the full file for the content before viewing or hearing it. Streaming allows an end user to use their media player to begin playing digital video or audio before the entire file has been transferred. The term “streaming media” can apply to media other than video and audio, such as: B. Live subtitles, ticker tape, and real-time text that are considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONTENT ❏
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its BBC Oneer the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[2][2][000][2][000] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][6][2] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][6][20][22][22] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[2000]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsistent.[22]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 0000 to 22 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[000] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[6]
❏ GOODS OF SERVICES ❏
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[2] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[2] Credit is extended by a creditor, also knBBC One as a lender, to a debtor, also knBBC One as a borrower.
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Thanks for watching guys!! Smiling a little better a big laugh.! Have a nice day :)) | https://medium.com/2020-123movie-josee-the-tiger-and-the-fish/watch-josee-the-tiger-and-the-fish-studio-2020-movie-animation-online-donwload-1aebc12e89c | ['Tong Kepo Atuh'] | 2020-12-26 17:11:01.806000+00:00 | ['Animation'] |
Meal Finder using MealDB API | Course from Brad Traversy
Features:
fetching API with fetch() manipulating DOM in js
Github code
HTML
The input box includes a button to submit a search, and another one is the random search button. Both of them will trigger addEventlistener.
The result heading shows the result message.
The meals show the result displaying of cards.
The single meal shows the details of picked meal.
CSS
The container is centered, and the form is flex.
The meals is a list of results, which distributed to four items each line.
The each meal with info is in the absolute position covered on the images.
Changing the opacity of meal info’s background by hovering each meal.
The responsive purpose.
JS
get the DOMs needed
search and random click trigger the functions
reset the single meal first and then fetch the meals data from the MealDB API
AND result heading shows the meal according to the searching name
If no meal in the database, show the message
map all the meals if have and then create the meal
If the input is null, the message in the result heading
When clicking the random button, fetch the database again to pick the random meal and show on the page.
loop the meals to find the meal-info and get the attribute of meal id number
select the meal picked and add the meal to DOM | https://medium.com/@diyifang/meal-finder-using-mealdb-api-3f111c26953c | [] | 2020-12-19 22:14:11.060000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Frontend Development', 'Frontend', 'Front End Development', 'Web Development'] |
🍁Are you happy 😃to learn from home? new Month new beginnings 🦃 | Spooky October went by ( or at least the year 2020 has been like October’s Halloween). It's November guys!!! apart from no shave November what are you geared up to? This year 2020 has been like no shave, no trimming.
Change in nature as well as the environment we dwell in.
Oh yeah, there’s also an election going on that will have massive worldwide implications. Even the government will change a new leaf once the results are declared. So, if you’re a bit distracted I get it or by getting out to vote, that’s totally understandable.
Heck yeah, you will ask what is the congruence of Halloween and education or you taking online courses.
Many of the world’s children do not have internet access at home
Household wealth is the biggest determinant of internet access
The link between internet learning solutions and reading skills
Strategies for successful remote learning: internet, television, radio, and ‘take-home’ printed materials
7 First Steps From Java Beginner to a Professional Java Dev
How to Become Cloud Native — And 13 Tools to Get You There
12 Best Kotlin Tutorials & Courses — Learn Kotlin Online
4 Project Management Skills Every Software Developer Should Possess
10 Best Postman Tutorials and Courses — Learn Postman Online
Why you should motivate your Pull Request?
Top 5 React Native Testing Tools Booming in 2020–21
Deploy & Host Your Flutter Website with Firebase Hosting | https://medium.com/quick-code/are-you-happy-to-learn-from-home-new-month-new-beginnings-885152ae4799 | ['Almas Sayyed'] | 2020-11-08 17:07:40.900000+00:00 | ['Thanksgiving', 'Newsletter', 'Programming Tips', 'Programming Languages', 'Technology'] |
How To Read A Screenplay (Part 4): Subplots, Relationships and Character Functions | There are multiple layers to any story. The more you dig, the deeper your understanding.
Cary Grant and friend reading a screenplay.
I can’t remember exactly how this subject came up on the blog, but it did, and when I asked whether people would like to explore how to read and analyze a screenplay, the response was quite positive. So here we are with yet another GITS series on screenwriting.
Let me be clear up front: I am not suggesting you have to read scripts precisely this way. Nor am I saying if you choose to use this overall approach that you do so in the order presented. These are not steps so much as they are analytical tools which you can use any way you see fit.
I begin with this supposition: There are multiple layers to any story. The more you dig, the deeper your understanding. Moreover there is a special kind of learning you can experience only by cracking open a story and exploring its many moving parts, a knowledge that settles into your gut where you start to develop an innate sense of what works and what doesn’t. From the standpoint of being a professional screenwriter, when often you are working against a ticking clock, either to assess a story and come up with a take to pitch, or do a writing assignment, having that internal sense of story is critical to your success as it can help you feel your way through the process.
So at the very least, I would encourage you to try out these approaches I will be detailing in this series to see if and how they fit with your own writing sensibilities. Look at each as a different ‘lens’ through which you can examine a story, providing a unique perspective and insight into the overall narrative.
Note: This series is not in any way, shape or form an attempt to train people how to be a professional script reader. They have their own approach and I am almost positive would not have nearly the time to go through as many steps as I’m suggesting here. Rather this is for writers who want to learn their craft better.
Today, Part 4: Subplots, Relationships and Character Functions
It’s impossible to emphasize enough how important subplots are for… well, I suppose every screenplay. At their most basic level of value, they provide a way for the writer to cut away from the Plotline which is hugely important on many fronts including time management and pace. But their significance is multifaceted.
Here’s how I think of subplots: Relationships. If you want to track down subplots in a screenplay, locate all the primary and even key secondary characters, especially the ones who directly connect with the Protagonist, and you’re almost assuredly looking at a subplot.
Continuing with our study script Up, let’s list the various relationships in the story:
Carl — Ellie
Carl — Russell
Carl — Kevin
Carl — Doug
Carl — Muntz
Carl — Real Estate Developer
Muntz — Kevin
Russell — His Father
Russell — Kevin
Kevin — Her Babies
Doug — Alpha and the Other Dogs
The Plotline: Carl getting the house up to Paradise Falls. All the above relationships represent subplots that tie into and impact the Plotline. For example:
Carl — Ellie: Carl would not have a Want [Conscious Goal] to get the house to Paradise Falls were it not for his promise to Ellie, and of course the love and affection he has for his late wife, as well as the shadow of guilt about never having fulfilled this shared dream.
Carl — Real Estate Developer: Carl acts on his goal when the Real Estate Developer manages to get Carl set to move into an old folks home, relinquishing the rights to his house and the valuable land on which it sits.
Carl — Russell: Once airborne, the surprise appearance of Russell enables Carl to get the house to Paradise Falls [Russell steers the house there while Carl is knocked out], but then the boy’s presence creates disruptions in Carl’s plan.
Russell — Kevin: The first disruption occurs when Russell finds and befriends Kevin, who then follows the pair until he becomes an ad hoc member of the expedition.
Carl — Kevin: Kevin creates a secondary goal of getting the bird to her babies.
Carl — Doug: Doug intersects with Carl, Russell and Kevin because he is searching for the bird, then he joins the traveling troop.
Doug — Alpha [and the Other Dogs]: Alpha intersects with Carl and company because Doug is with Carl and company.
Carl — Muntz: Carl intersects with Muntz because of all the previously noted connections.
Note how the subplots in Up create a seamless path from Carl’s home in the city to Carl being chased by Muntz, one group [Carl, Russell, Kevin, Doug] vs. the other [Muntz, Alpha, Other Dogs]. So at one level, that is their character function — to create that narrative path.
But there is much more to the function of characters and their relationships as they help take us from the Plotline into the Themeline and the soul of the story. And that leads us to a fascinating way to view the Plotline and subplots: Look at them through the lens of Character Archetypes.
Here is my take on the character archetypes in Up.
Protagonist — Carl
Nemesis — Muntz, Alpha and the Other Dogs, Real Estate Developer
Attractor — Russell, Ellie
Mentor — Doug
Trickster — Kevin
For a deeper analysis of these archetypes, you can go here to a previous GITS post.
With regard to reading and analyzing a screenplay, the point is this: Another tool at your disposal is to identify and break down the story’s subplots:
Subplots can be intimately connected to the Plotline.
Subplots are generally tied to individual characters who have unique relationships with the Protagonist and sometimes with each other.
Subplots are typically shaped the way they are by virtue of their character’s narrative function.
Subplots can be explored in terms of primary character archetypes.
Subplots provide sub-themes that amplify and widen the meaning of the story’s central theme.
In sum, subplots open doorways into the soul of a story, a presence that is intimately connected with a dynamic Joseph Campbell said lies at the center of The Hero’s Journey: Transformation, or as I prefer, Metamorphosis. That is the subject of tomorrow’s post in this series.
Reminder: This is just one approach to analyzing a screenplay. Everyone is different and has different needs, either personally or per project. If you resonate with any ideas here, feel free to use. If not, feel free to lose.
For Part 1: The First Pass, go here.
For Part 2: The Scene-By-Scene Breakdown, go here.
For Part 3: Plotline Points and Sequences, go here.
Upcoming posts:
Part 5: Metamorphosis
Part 6: Themes
Part 7: Style and Language
Comment Archive | https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/how-to-read-a-screenplay-part-4-subplots-relationships-and-character-functions-74b9a551adc9 | ['Scott Myers'] | 2020-10-13 13:02:45.853000+00:00 | ['Screenwriting', 'Writing', 'Screenplay', 'Creative Writing', 'Writing Tips'] |
Recognizing Handwritten Digits with scikit-learn under Data Analytics using Python | Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also focus on applying data patterns towards effective decision making. It can be valuable in areas rich with recorded information; analytics relies on the simultaneous application of statistics,computer programming and operational research to quantify performance.Data analysis is not limited to numbers and strings, because images and sounds can also be analyzed and classified.
Scikit-learn (formerly scikits.learn and also known as sklearn) is a free software machine learning library for the Python programming language. It features various classification ,regression and clustering algorithms including support vector machine,random forest, gradient boosting, k-means and DBSCAN, and is designed to interoperate with the Python numerical and scientific libraries NumPy and SciPy. Here we are going to analyze the digits data-set of the Sci-Kit learn library. We are going to train a Support Vector Machine and then we will be predicting the values of a unknown Handwritten digits.
Here we jupyter notebook for the the performing operations. So lets start first with importing required libraries.
There are 1797 total images are there in the dataset.
Our whole data-set is stored in digits. Following is an example of a digit in our dataset. It consists of 64 pixels (8X8).The data set contains images of hand-written digits: 10 classes where each class refers to a digit from 0 to 9.Each image stored as 8x8 matrices as following (for digit 0):
Matrix value for Digit
This dataset consists of 1,797 images that are 8x8 pixels in size. Each image is a handwritten digit in grayscale, as shown in Figure
Pixel image in dataset
Let us train our SVM with the first 1790 images in out data-set. After that we will use the remaining Data-set as our test data and check the accuracy of our training machine.
It consists of 6 images of 64 pixels each(8X8) of six different numbers.The output of the above test data will be produced as below:
Lets fit our model using SVM classifier.Here we use 1st 1790 images for training the model and remaining are for validation.
Pridiction by the model
As we see,both predicted and target values are same for this data.Lets check the model peidiction for some datasets.
As we can see we have achieved 100% accuracy. Let us now define a function that will find the accuracy of our SVM and train our model with varying data-set. We will start with 3 elements in our training data and work our way up to 1790 data and store the accuracy of our models in a dictionary.
Accuracy function
The values dictionary holds all the accuracies values for the given model.
Let us plot our dictionary result to visualize the accuracy result.
Accuracy of the model
Let’s try to form the confusion matrix using seaborn.
Now let’s form the confusion matrix using Matplotlib.
We have predicted using 75% training set and 25% of the testing set we got the accuracy around 96.4%. Now, lets’s try to predict using 70% of the training set and 30% testing set.
Conclusion:
As we can clearly see for well above 95% of our models the achieved accuracy is 100% . Hence we can easily conclude that our model works accurate for more than 95% of the time.Hence by using Scikit-Learn library in python,data analysis becomes easy ,effective and take less time.
“I am thankful to mentors at https://internship.suvenconsultants.com for providing awesome problem statements and giving many of us a Coding Internship Exprience. Thank you www.suvenconsultants.com" | https://medium.com/@rohanarora1999/recognizing-handwritten-digits-with-scikit-learn-under-data-analytics-using-python-31eed675c31e | ['Rohan Arora'] | 2020-11-10 13:43:40.778000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Scikit Learn', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Analytics'] |
Buttigieg Sets Agenda for Transportation: “Heterosexuals Must Walk Twice as Fast” | One day after being named President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg spoke to the nation about his hopes for the department as an openly LGBT candidate. “The role of the Department of Transportation is to get you where you need to go, and fast,” announced Buttigieg. “To do that, heterosexuals have to catch up.”
Biden’s former presidential rival was speaking of the historic nature of heterosexuals to walk significantly slower than their LGBT peers, specifically gay men. On any given night you can find scores of gay men rolling their eyes and impatiently behind heterosexual men and women nonchalantly strolling past bars named The Cockpit or Cattyshack.
“If we could just get heterosexuals to walk at a “gay pace,” then we could save billions in infrastructure,” Buttigieg explained. “Gay men walk at about 75% the speed of an automobile on the highway, while heterosexual men walk slightly slower than the pace of one normal human. If we can get straight men to walk faster on sidewalks, then we won’t have the same number of vehicles degrading our bridges and roads and we can lower our carbon emissions.”
“It’s a win-win,” said Buttigieg.
To accomplish this audacious plan, Buttigieg is expected to roll out several plans, such as subsidizing the sales of iced coffee and Birkenstocks. Other proposals are setting speed minimums on sidewalks and playing Britney Spears’ “Womanizer” loud enough for people to walk to. | https://medium.com/@spencerdblair/buttigieg-sets-agenda-for-transportation-heterosexuals-must-walk-twice-as-fast-bc5c64402e14 | ['Spencer D Blair'] | 2020-12-17 02:59:42.712000+00:00 | ['Satire', 'Biden', 'Buttigieg', 'Transportation', 'Gay'] |
Another Killer Fat Loss Masterpiece Geared Towards Women | Another Killer Fat Loss Masterpiece Geared Towards Women
Furthermore HB5 means “Hormonal Balance 5”…
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I’m sure you’re probably wondering how you can get your hands on HB5 right away… | https://medium.com/@sivagamimca2022/another-killer-fat-loss-masterpiece-geared-towards-women-d572582578a8 | [] | 2021-12-30 05:00:31.439000+00:00 | ['Weight', 'Weight Loss', 'Health', 'Weightloss Foods', 'Weight Loss Tips'] |
Using Promises for Async Programming in JavaScript | Promises
To do this in JavaScript, we can use promises in our code. Promises are objects that represent a process that runs for an indeterminate amount of time and may result in success or failure. To create promises in JavaScript, we use a Promise object that’s a constructor for creating promises. The Promise constructor takes a function called the executor function that has the resolve and reject parameters. Both parameters are functions that we call to either fulfill the promise (which means end it successfully with some value) or to reject the promise (which means returning some error value and marking the promise as failed). The function’s return value is ignored. Therefore, promises can’t return anything other than promises.
For example, we can define a promise in JavaScript like in the following code:
const promise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
setTimeout(() => resolve('abc'), 1000);
});
The code above creates a promise that fulfills the promise with the value abc after one second. Because we’re running setTimeout inside the executor function to resolve the promise with the value abc in one second, it’s asynchronous code. We can’t return the value abc within the callback function of setTimeout , so we have to call resolve('abc') to get the resolved value back. We can access the resolved value of the fulfilled promise by using the then function. The then function takes a callback function that takes the resolved value of the fulfilled promise as a parameter. You can get the value there and do what you want with it. For example, we can do something like:
const promise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
setTimeout(() => resolve('abc'), 1000);
}); promise.then((val) => {
console.log(val);
})
When we run the code above, we should see abc logged. As we can see, the promise will supply the value when the promise is fulfilled with a call to the resolve function.
A promise has three states. It can be pending, which means that the promise has been fulfilled or rejected. It can be fulfilled, which means that the operation completed successfully. Or it can be rejected, which means that the promise operation failed.
A pending promise can either be fulfilled with a value or be rejected with some error. When a promise is fulfilled, then the corresponding resolve value is picked up by the then function and the callback function passed into the then function is called. If a promise is rejected, then we can optionally catch the error with the catch function, which also takes a callback function with the error. Both the then and catch functions return promises, so they can be chained together.
For example, we can write something like:
const promise = (num) => {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
setTimeout(() => {
if (num === 1) {
resolve('resolved')
} else {
reject('rejected')
}
}, 1000);
});
} promise(1)
.then((val) => {
console.log(val);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log(error);
}) promise(2)
.then((val) => {
console.log(val);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log(error);
})
In the code above, we have a function promise that returns a JavaScript promise that fulfills the promise with the value resolved when num is 1, and reject the promise with error rejected otherwise. So we run:
promise(1)
.then((val) => {
console.log(val);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log(error);
})
Then the then function runs, the promise returned by the promise(1) function call is fulfilled since num is 1, and the resolved value is available set in val . So when we run console.log(val) we get resolved logged. When we run the code below:
promise(2)
.then((val) => {
console.log(val);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log(error);
})
Then the catch function runs because the promise returned by the promise(2) function call is rejected, and the rejected error value is available set in error. So when we run console.log(error) we get rejected logged.
A JavaScript promise object has the following properties: length and prototype . The length always has its value set to 1 for the number of constructor arguments, which is always one. The prototype property represents the prototype of the promise object.
A promise also has the finally method to run code that’s run no matter whether the promise is fulfilled or rejected. The finally method takes a callback function as an argument, where any code that you want to run, regardless of the outcome of the promise, is run. For example, if we run:
Promise.reject('error')
.then((value) => {
console.log(value);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.log(error);
})
.finally(() => {
console.log('finally runs');
})
Then we get error and finally runs logged because the original promise was rejected with the reason error . Then whatever code in the callback of the finally method runs.
The main benefit of using promises for writing asynchronous code is that we can use them to run asynchronous code sequentially. To do this, we can chain promises with the then function. The then function takes a callback function that runs when the promise is fulfilled. It also takes a second argument when the promise is rejected. To chain promises, we have to return another promise as the return value of the first callback function of the then function. It can return other values, like nothing, if we don’t want to chain another promise to the existing promise. We can return a value, which will be resolved and the value retrievable in the next then function. It can also throw an error. Then the promise returned by then gets rejected with the thrown error as the value. It can also return an already fulfilled or rejected promise, which will get the fulfilled value when a then function is chained after it or get an error reason in the callback of the catch function.
For example, we can write the following:
Promise.resolve(1)
.then(val => {
console.log(val);
return Promise.resolve(2)
})
.then(val => {
console.log(val);
}) Promise.resolve(1)
.then(val => {
console.log(val);
return Promise.reject('error')
})
.then(val => {
console.log(val);
})
.catch(error => console.log(error)); Promise.resolve(1)
.then(val => {
console.log(val);
throw new Error('error');
})
.then(val => {
console.log(val);
})
.catch(error => console.log(error));
In the first example, we chained the promises and they all resolve to a value. All the promises were already resolved into values. In the second and last examples, we reject the second promise or throw an error. They both do the same thing. The second promise is rejected, and the error reason will be logged in the callback of the catch function. We can also chain pending promises, like in the following code:
const promise1 = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
setTimeout(() => resolve(1), 1000);
}); const promise2 = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
setTimeout(() => resolve(2), 1000);
}); promise1
.then(val => {
console.log(val);
return promise2;
})
.then(val => {
console.log(val);
})
.catch(error => console.log(error)); | https://medium.com/better-programming/using-promises-for-async-programming-in-javascript-b544f1c4c4ca | ['John Au-Yeung'] | 2019-11-20 18:14:09.619000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Promises', 'Programming', 'Technology', 'Software Development'] |
Market Update: November 7th | Quick Take
Direction: We’re currently in one of the tightest ranges BTC has experienced since the bear market of 2014. BTC volatility has plummeted and we’re at the lowest point ever on the .BVOL index since BitMEX started running calculations back in Feb 2017.
Bitcoin dominance peaked at about 55% this cycle, and has slowly trended down as select alt coins have been popping off. We’ve seen the addition of two alts, ZRX and BAT to Coinbase, both experiencing 30%+ pops due to the listing. I’d expect similarly positioned alts to perform well, as alt coins generally outperform in times of low BTC vol.
Bitcoin volume has declined dramatically since it’s December peaks, and over the past two months BTC has lot a decent amount of volume to alt coins as speculators seek higher returns (see: flight to risk-on assets during stable periods).
Charting BTC in this range offers little insights, so I am just including the chart to indicate the key levels we need to break on high volume to indicate direction. On balance volume shows that there has been significant accumulation though, which is a bullish indicator. I’m leaning towards a bullish retest of 6500 at this time.
Key Support: 6320, 6250
Key Resistance: 6410, 6460
Actions: During this time, I would suggest trading alts — or trying to play both sides of the tight range if you are scalping BTC. Special situation/event driven alpha is the best alpha to chase in times of sideways actions.
Playing actions such as suspected listings, main net launches, news announcements and forks will likely be the best way to trade these markets for the next few weeks until volatility returns. I’ll be picking up XLM and ZEC as potential Coinbase additions, as well as accumulating low cap coins which show promising roadmap results, and have market caps below their ICO raises (there are a lot…)
Fear & Greed
Fear and Greed is back! And we’re decidedly neutral, leaning greedy. This is skewed heavily by the long/short ratio and momentum, as strength, breadth and speculation are all fearful. Seeing as momentum is being skewed by the recent ranging, I would consider this an overall bullish indicator. | https://medium.com/ledgercapital/market-update-november-7th-ba078815f3cd | ['Avi Felman'] | 2018-11-07 16:19:00.465000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum', 'Cryptoam', 'Bitcoin'] |
Time Series Database Comparison | Introduction
A time series is a series of data points of some particular metric (and its tags) over time.
Picking a new (time series) database can oftentimes be difficult. Though the choice can sometimes seem like an agonizing decision, the best method of combating this sort of paralyzing fear is to enter the decision making process with as much information as possible. This blog aims to educate — with rather broad strokes — the differences between some of the heaviest hitters in the Time Series Database (TSDB) space. We will go through each of the following databases one by one and try to parse out general weaknesses and strengths: InfluxDB, TimescaleDB, OpenTSDB, and GridDB.
InfluxDB
InfluxDB was first released in 2013 and is written primarily in Google’s Go. It is maintained by InfluxData and is currently the #1 TSDB in use.
TimescaleDB
Written in C, TimescaleDB is based on the ever-popular and more “traditional” relational database PostgreSQL. This means that developers who are familiar with SQL will likely feel extremely comfortable with this database.
OpenTSDB
OpenTSDB was written in Java and runs entirely on top of Hadoop and HBase. Hadoop is a software suite which uses MapReduce to properly process very big data. HBase is a database modeled after Google’s Bigtable. Because of this, it may sometimes be considered to be a bit difficult to use.
GridDB
Toshiba started development for GridDB in 2011, with its commercial release coming in 2013; it was then open-sourced in 2016. GridDB is written in C++ and has language bindings for a ton of other languages. It has also been integrated with other open source projects such as MapReduce, KairosDB, Grafana, and Spark.
Basic Usage & Query Language
As a first point of comparison, let’s take a look at writing extremely simple writes and queries, just to get a quick peek at how exactly each database looks and feels.
InfluxDB
InfluxDB operates most usually via HTTP. Because you can make simple HTTP GET requests via its API, the easiest way to get up and running is to simply use the command line interface (CLI). From here, you drop down into an InfluxDB shell and query using its own query language: Influx Query Language (InfluxQL). Each data entry can be thought of as a traditional SQL table, with a timestamp always being the primary index. Each measurement will also contain tags for meta data (such as location, sensor name, etc) all of which can be thought of as columns and of which are indexed.
Here’s an example of using InfluxQL to insert some sample data.
> INSERT cpu,host=serverA,region=us_west value=0.64
The measurement name is cpu. Host and region are tags. The value is the value. The timestamp will be the current local timestamp (if none is specified).
To query:
> SELECT “host”, “region”, “value” FROM “cpu”
name: cpu
— — — — -
time host region value
2015–10–21T19:28:07.580664347Z serverA us_west 0.64
TimescaleDB
As mentioned before, TimescaleDB is built on top of PostgreSQL, meaning it gets a full and native SQL interface. Though it uses full SQL, it does offer some key advantages, including some added time-specific functions, that can push it over-the-top as a nice option for your time-related data and time-related applications. First, it’s much faster at certain queries, namely those involving time series data; in some cases climbing to up to over 20x faster. It also boasts much higher ingest rates (again, this is compared to “stock” PostgreSQL), which is absolutely essential because gathering time-related data can quickly get out of hand and snowball into huge tables which can no longer fit into memory, causing major performance issues.
To query with this language, you simply need to use the traditional SQL calls. The main nugget of information I would like to share is that querying time series-related data (example: GROUP BY), despite using a very large table — most generally a performance killer — can have similar or even faster querying (when compared to regular postgresql). This query, for example, can be up ~400x faster than a regular postgresql DB:
SELECT date_trunc(‘minute’, time) AS minute, max(usage_user)
FROM cpu
WHERE time < ‘2017–01–01’
GROUP BY minute
ORDER BY minute DESC
LIMIT 5;
The reason for this will be touched on a bit later.
OpenTSDB
When creating your DB’s schema, you can choose to base it on either HBase, BigTable, or Cassandra. Because HBase is the default, we will go over that, and because it is based on Hbase, it means all the data points are stored in a single, gigantic table. To query OpenTSDB, we can use any of the following: CLI tools, its HTTP API, and a developed GUI. A normal query with OpenTSDB uses a tag-based system which can seem quite tricky at first glance. Here’s the basic format of posting data to the DB:
<metricID><normalized_timestamp><tagkID1><tagvID1>[…<tagkIDN><tagvIDN>]
Here’s what sending some actual data looks like:
put http.hits 1578533444819 34877 host=A
put proc.loadavg.1min 1578533444819 1.35 host=A
Unlike the other Time Series Databases on this list, this one does not use a query system that resembles anything remotely looking like SQL. Instead, querying is done using tags.
Here’s the equivalent to a SELECT * from <column>. This is the easiest query to make:
m=sum:cpu.system
To further specify a tag, for example adding a specific machine/tag, you simply append to the original query:
m=sum:cpu.system{host=web01}
As for a more nuanced query, here’s one that will provide data from two different host names, separated out by group:
m=sum:cpu.nice{host=web01|web02}
Output:
[
{
“metric”: “cpu.system”,
“tags”: {
“host”: “web01”
},
“aggregated_tags”: [],
“tsuids”: [
“010101”,
“0101010306”,
“0102040101”,
“0102050101”
],
“dps”: {
“1346846400”: 63.59999942779541
}
},
{
“metric”: “cpu.system”,
“tags”: {
“host”: “web02”
},
“aggregated_tags”: [
“dc”
],
“tsuids”: [
“0102040102”,
“0102050102”
],
“dps”: {
“1346846400”: 24.199999809265137
}
}
]
GridDB
GridDB’s default usage comes from using Java to write small functions which call directly to GridDB; this can be seen in the official GitHub samples. If Java isn’t necessarily your preference, GridDB has connectors for various other programming languages (C++, Go, JavaScript/Nodejs, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby). Because Python seems to be a very popular connector (based on GitHub stars), we will focus on that.
Once your .py file properly connects to your DB, creating a new GridDB Container (think of a container as similar to a RDB table) is simply just creating a Python object with your intended schema:
conInfo = griddb.ContainerInfo(“point01”,
[[“timestamp”, griddb.Type.TIMESTAMP],
[“active”, griddb.Type.BOOL],
[“voltage”, griddb.Type.DOUBLE]],
griddb.ContainerType.TIME_SERIES, True)
ts = gridstore.put_container(conInfo)
Now let’s PUT some data to query:
now = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
ts.put([now, False, 100])
And now let’s use GridDB’s simplified version of SQL, TQL:
query = ts.query(“select * where timestamp > TIMESTAMPADD(HOUR, NOW(), -6)”)
And then to execute and iterate through the results:
rs = query.fetch() #Get result
while rs.has_next():
data = rs.next()
timestamp = str(data[0])
active = data[1]
voltage = data[2]
print(“Time={0} Active={1} Voltage={2}”.format(timestamp, active, voltage))
To execute your GridDB code, you would just run your python file. This workflow will be very similar for whichever programming language is used.
Time Series
Next I want to explore the specific time series functionality introduced by each different database.
InfluxDB
InfluxDB differs from traditional RDBMS in that it uses a narrow-table model with the timestamp being the primary key. This non-traditional data model is designed with an easy-to-get-started with time series dataset in mind. The main advantage of having a data model that does not have a strict schema is that if the incoming data already naturally fits into the predetermined data model, it is extremely easy to get up and running; and indeed, most data in this field will naturally fit into this data model without any extra initial set up by the developer.
This database also contains special time-based query abilities. If you wanted to query for data that occurred within the past hour, for example, it would look like this:
SELECT * FROM “foodships” WHERE time > now() — 1h
To add to that, InfluxDB also includes COUNT, MIN, MAX, time_bucket, first, last, and more. It can also be used to query geospatial data types combined with time-series analytics.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the UPDATE & DELETE portions of the traditional “CRUD” (Create, Read, Update, Delete) are toned down a ton to keep CREATE and READ more performant; this is done specifically because of what TSDBs typically prioritize.
TimescaleDB
Because it’s built on top of PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB offers all of the functionality of SQL while also adding time-specific functionality. For example, there are now built in functions for median/percentile, cumulative sum, moving averages, and many more.
TimescaleDB’s data retention policy is unique in that it will delete data at the chunk level. The “chunk level” refers to the automatic chunking of like-data (generally corresponding to specific time intervals and regions of the partitions keys’ space). Essentially, TimescaleDB is able to query the entirety of its large datasets because all of it is stored on a really, really big table (hypertable); all user interaction and querying of “other”/smaller tables are just an abstraction: chunking. It is precisely through this process that TimescaleDB can claim much higher rates of ingestion over traditional relational systems.
Nearly every time series database has specific abilities to query data with time-related parameters; one of the most common of these is sum/aggregate. In TimescaleDB, we can not only aggregate, but we can do a continuous aggregate, which helps a ton with performance. Essentially, this recomputes the query automatically at specified time intervals and sets the results into a new table — when the user queries that dataset, TimescaleDB can easily and efficiently query that new made table. Of course, beyond that, there are many more features such as working with popular PostgreSQL extensions, PostGIS, for example.
OpenTSDB
The best features of OpenTSDB are its flexibility and ingest performance, mostly stemming from its foundation of HBase. Because of its HBase base, this TSDB has no schema and can ingest millions of data per second without sacrificing granularity. From the CAP theorem perspective, this is the only DB on this list that is AP (Availability, Partitioning).
On that same token though, because of its HBase foundation, this TSDB may have the biggest and more fear-inducing learning curve, which is absolutely something to consider when thinking of making that plunge. For example, in the previous section, we already saw just how different interacting with this DB is when compared to the other ones on this same list.
As for some unique time-specific features: it scales extremely well, it has very nice downscaling abilities, and has a robust tags and metrics system to easily mark the various data being stored by the DB.
GridDB
GridDB’s unique key-container data model is using the Wide-table model, which can be closely compared to a traditional relational data model, complete with having a fixed schema. With this model, it has the timestamp as the primary key of the row, allowing all columns (tags) to be associated with each time slot.
While not completely built on the relational data model, the key-container data model is relatively close; from a cap theorem perspective, GridDB fits into CP paradigm (ACID compliant). The key (usually a sensor name) will its “value” as a container, which is essentially a rdbms table, of either the time-type, or collection-type. With the collection type, it’s mostly used for metadata, even including all sensor names as an array. And with the time series container, it’ll give each sensor its own rdbms table to store all relevant information.
GridDB can also scale linearly. According to their own benchmarks, the performance of the DB will linearly scale when adding extra nodes/extra hardware. This means that on top of the fast in-memory performance, throwing more compute power will almost always increase productivity, should the need arise.
And of course, like the other TSDBs on this list, GridDB has special time functionality such as data aggregation, data retention policies, and sampling/interpolation functions. It also has some advanced time series data placement algorithms in place for maximum performance.
Conclusion
Now of course, each TSDB has its own unique set of pros and cons. Let’s briefly touch on them here:
InfluxDB
Pros: Easy to get up and running. Good performance for one node
Cons: No strict schema can be seen as a detriment. Only one node in open source.
TimeScaleDB
Pros: Full SQL, fast ingest, fixed schema
Cons: fixed schema
Note: I list “fixed schema” as both a pro and a con, because — like many things — it has many tradeoffs. If you want to hit the ground running and expand aggressively, a fixed schema can be a detriment. But if you are ok with planning out your schema and making sure all incoming data fits the schema, having ACID compliance can be worth the extra effort.
OpenTSDB
Pros: Very scalable, very fast ingest
Cons: (very) difficult learning curve, no fixed schema, interface (telnet) too different
GridDB
Pros: very performant, fixed schema, scales out linearly
Cons: fixed schema
Of course, you should always be picking your new TSDB based on your specific use case and needs. | https://medium.com/griddb/time-series-database-comparison-aa83c5e257d2 | ['Israel Imru'] | 2020-08-05 23:39:42.388000+00:00 | ['Internet of Things', 'Data Science', 'Time Series Database', 'Big Data', 'Time Series'] |
Method: Observation | Observation is the engine of the field study. Through personal and team work, your observations will trigger reflections, which will become insights and design material. Different observation methods will help you produce different types of observations: what you can observe and experience on your own, and what your informants will tell you about their actions or their thoughts.
In the next paragraphs, we describe the main observation techniques we use:
Silent observation and shadowing
Participatory observation and participatory design
Design evaluation of existing solutions
Thinking aloud
Artefact walkthrough
Interviews
Mapping
It is important to decide beforehand which method you will use in what situation, so that you can prepare yourself and avoid thinking about what to observe, how to observe and how to document your observations in the middle of the action.
We have compiled a list of references for further reading at the end of the chapter.
Your best observation tools: your curiosity and your senses
Whatever the observation method you are using, remember to be explorative and to look at everything as something interesting. Use all your senses to enrich your visual observation with a full physical experience of the field: the sounds, the smells, the feeling in your hands, the movements of your body when navigating this new space.
Look out for details, repeating patterns, start making connections. Make note of what happens the way you thought it would, and make note of what does not. Whenever possible, try to put yourself in the shoes of your informant. If you get offered the opportunity to try to operate some of the systems your informant is working with, make sure that you have the clearance to do so.
Keep the mantra that “there is always something to observe”. You will experience moments when you have the impression that nothing is going on. What actually happens then? What are your informants doing when it seems that they are not engaged with a specific task? How do they know that they do not need to engage right now, and what will make them resume their work task?
Documenting your observations
Document what you are observing with the help of notes, sketches, photos and videos — if you are allowed to take photos and videos, and if the photos and videos serve a specific purpose in your study. Your notes will contain the most important part of your field data, so treat them very carefully. Do not rely on your memory or your photos and videos only.
We recommend that you develop a template for your observation sheets, that suits the needs of your study, and that is convenient for you to use. You will also need to develop a coding system to distinguish your observations from your reflections, for example the ideas and questions you get when you observe something. You will use this coding system while writing your notes, and when you review them after an observation session.
Complement your notes with additional information: your name, the time of the observation, the location of the observation, the observation method, some information about your informant(s). The timestamp and location will help you cross reference your notes with the timestamps and location of your photos and videos. Make sure to keep your informant anonymous whenever possible and needed. You can for example prepare a list of codes for each of your informants, and keep the code list in a secure place.
Think about a convenient way to take notes while moving, talking, taking pictures, grabbing things. You will write a lot, so you will need a good amount of paper. Watch out were you step, and train to write while looking at something else.
Capturing photos and videos
A photo or a video is not an observation: when you will look again at it later, there is no guarantee you will remember what specific information you were trying to capture. Rather, you should consider a photo or a video as a form of evidence that documents an observation you have written in your notes. From this point you can always ask yourself: what form of evidence is most convenient, given the conditions in which I am carrying out this study? A sketch might work just as well as a photo, especially if you do not have the authorisation to take photos.
Once you have all the required permissions and once you are sure that you need photos, you need to make sure to use proper equipment. Although phone cameras are becoming pretty decent, we strongly recommend to use a digital camera with a light tripod. You will need to zoom in your photos, extract specific informations, so it is important that your photos are not blurry. When you take video, a tripod is absolutely mandatory, because it will really help you produce video of high quality. | https://medium.com/ocean-industries-concept-lab/method-observation-2cec89c1c33 | ['Etienne Gernez'] | 2021-09-14 16:15:14.110000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Fieldwork', 'UX', 'User Research', 'Course'] |
How to Track Text Messages on iPhone and Android | SMS or text messages have overtaken both phone calls and emails as the primary means of communication, especially in working adults who find themselves too busy to take or make long calls. So, instead, they send a short message to directly convey their thoughts to the opposite party. While SMS too are personal means of communication, some people, like a businessman, company owners, parents, etc. want to know “can you track text messages” so that they can check the messages of their employees or kids. In fact, the number of people actually demanding an app to track text messages is quite high. So, in this article, we will tell you how to track text messages on iPhone and Android devices.
Part 1: Is It Ok to Track Text Messages
Tracking someone’s text messages is invading their privacy and most countries prohibit tracking messages on cell phones. Though, there are special instances where tracking someone’s text messages can be legal, depending on the person who you intend to track. The legal tracking of messages is limited to the following scenarios -
Child monitoring — Parents can legally track text messages of their underage kids to ensure their safety. This allows them to ensure that their kids aren’t bullied by someone, or they aren’t contacting someone who you don’t find trustworthy.
Employee monitoring — Employers can also track text messages of their employees if the device from which messages are sent was given by the company for employees' use. By tracking their employee’s messages, employers can make sure that their employees aren’t spending the company’s time and an asset on their personal conversations. Though, if employers do monitor their employee’s text messages, then, the employees should know and agree to such surveillance beforehand.
Self-monitoring — If you don’t have the device with you, and you need to check some messages, then you could also monitor by following the method below.
Part 2: How to Track Text Messages on Android & iPhone
In case, you decide to track messages on someone’s device, you need to know how to do it and what you need to make it right! Here are some ways by which you can track messages on Android and iPhone:
1. Track Text Messages on Android
There are many tools that are available for Android users for tracking text messages on a cell phone. But, the best tool for tracking text messages from another phone is KidsGuard Pro. It is an Android parental control app that allows parents to monitor their kid’s cell phone activity. Parents can view phone calls on the child’s device, text messages, browsing history, contacts saved, photos, videos, and much more. Text message tracking is one of the main features of KidsGuard Pro that allows you to read the text messages sent or received on the device.
Advantages of using KidsGuard Pro
KidsGuard Pro is one of the easiest parental control tools to install and use. Its interface is very user-friendly, which makes it simple to use.
KidsGuard Pro allows text message tracking from another phone while some other parental tools available in the market don’t have this feature.
Parents can also track social and instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber, QQ, WeChat, and others on the target device.
Text messages can be viewed and read from another phone, tablet, or computer.
KidsGuard Pro tracks the target device silently in the background and is not detectable, allowing discreet tracking.
Try It NowView Demo
How to Track Text Messages on Android Using KidsGuard Pro
Step 1: Create a KidsGuard Pro account.
Step 2: Then, download the KidsGuard Pro app on the target’s device from www.clevguard.net and install it.
Step 3: Launch the KidsGuard Pro app, sign in with your KidsGuard Pro account. Then, follow the setup procedure to set the app.
Step 4: Finally, click on Messages on the dashboard to view the text messages.
2. Track Text Messages on iPhone
Since KidsGuard Pro is only available for Android devices, iPhone users need to find other parental control apps to track text messages. Though, iPhone has a feature called iMessage syncing that can allow tracking text messages from another phone. Since your kids won’t have their own Apple ID, you can set your own Apple ID to send and receive messages. To know how to use iMessage syncing to track text messages on iPhone, follow the below steps -
Step 1: First, on the target iPhone, go to Settings > Messages.
Step 2: In messages, tap on Send & Receive.
Step 3: Now, sign in with your Apple ID and then you would be shown lit of email addresses and phone numbers attached to the account.
Step 4: Check your email address under the “You can be reached by iMessage” at and “Start New Conversations From”.
Step 5: Now, you would be able to view the iMessage send and received on the iPhone.
Using this method, you can sync the iMessage of all of your family members to track them. Though this method only works for iMessage, normal text messages don’t work.
Part 3: Conclusion
So, this is all about our topic on how to track text messages on iPhone and Android devices. Text message tracking has become very important for parents to ensure their kids aren’t doing something that might harm them emotionally and psychologically. By tracking their text message and seeing for themselves how they communicate with others, parents can gain a firm insight into their kid’s psychology and behavioral patterns and correct any inappropriate behavior when necessary. For this purpose, parents can use KidsGuard Pro to keep an eye on their kids and their phone calls and text messages without letting them know. | https://medium.com/@clevguard-cooperation/how-to-track-text-messages-on-iphone-and-android-3e99949d7ce9 | [] | 2020-12-23 09:49:48.431000+00:00 | ['iPhone', 'Android', 'Monitoring', 'Texting'] |
Dressing The Bump With Non-Maternity Clothes | Got a bun baking in the oven? Congratulations! Now go figure what you’re going to wear for the next nine months. While maternity wear seems like the only way to go, non-maternity clothes can actually fit like a glove too. It’s much more wiser to upsize regular clothing and invest in pieces that have longevity so that you’ll be able to wear them post baby bod. The trick is to go with something stretchable like blazers, babydoll dresses, and peplum anything. Ahead, we’ll introduce you to some “evergreen” pregnancy styles that works well with and without baby bump. Read on!
1. Blazers
Not ready to spill the beans? Then, use this Hollywood costume designer’s trick for hiding pregnant bellies on TV shows. By wearing blazers with a flowy blouse, it’s hard to tell exactly what shape it is underneath. Just be sure to keep them open as buttoning emphasizes the bump instead. Go with Houndstooth or check patterns as they’re distracting enough to keep busy eyes away from the growing belly.
2. Babydoll Dresses
Emma Roberts, Sophie Turner, and Lauren Conrad have all been there. Cleverly utilizing babydoll dresses to camouflage their burgeoning bumps. Follow their lead and pair a similar look with a steady pair of boots or sandals for style and comfort.
3. Long Flowy Dresses
When it comes to dressing the bump, a lot of expecting mums are skeptical of oversized clothes as they tend to make the body look three times bigger. The strategy is to find a piece with some structure. Like this flowy printed dress that’s shaped at the shoulders, and paired with a belt to accentuate the waist.
4. Wrap Dress
If you’re looking for something that can grow with you, then this it. Before, during and post birth, wrap dresses are easily adjustable to suit your shape. It’s easy to wear, comfortable. Not to mention, easy to pair — just add on the right accessories and it’ll bring you from work to dinner ready.
5. Tiered Dress
Whoever invented tiered dresses deserves our praise, wholeheartedly. They’re designed in such a such a way where fabrics cascade downwards to hide any love handles. For expecting mothers, this comes as good news — whether it’s to hide a real baby during pregnancy or a potential food baby post-partum.
6. Peplum
Got to look professional? Peplum’s the way to go! They’re dressy, posh and put together. If you’re looking to wear this until the end of your pregnancy, better size up or go with those with longer peplums. | https://thread.zalora.com.ph/dressing-the-bump-with-non-maternity-clothes-69c759538b45 | ['Yap Jin Wen'] | 2020-12-15 10:43:36.692000+00:00 | ['Maternity', 'Fashion', 'Pregnancy'] |
75 Years of Innovation: Digital FAX machine | The sound of data: delivering the digital fax machine…
Likely, if you are of a certain age, you will remember the distinctive sound of a fax coming through. That screechhhh….whirrrr….screech…sound is almost iconic. Not too long ago, the fax machine was a central part of any office environment. Before email, the fax was the fastest way to get documents and written communications from company to company. A fax machine may seem somewhat outdated now, but because this communication mechanism can be isolated from the internet, it still has value today. In some situations, including medical and insurance, a fax is often still seen as carrying more legal weight than an email. The fax machine persists, and its journey has been a long one.
In 1970, SRI International was contracted to commercialize the previous generation of slow and cumbersome fax machines. This is the story of delivering the digital fax machine.
Out of the light and dark came a strange sound…
The concept of ‘faxing data’ is surprisingly old. In 1843, Alexander Bain patented the “Electric Printing Telegraph” which was an early form of the modern-day fax machine. ‘Fax’ is short for facsimile (copy). Sending a fax works by scanning a document at one end, sending that data by telephony, and reproducing it on another fax machine. A fax machine has both the ability to scan and send, and to receive and reproduce. The faxing process begins with an optical scanner that differentiates between black and white. When a document is scanned in preparation for faxing, a light is used to reflect either dark or light; this represents the text and/or images in the document. The fax converts the dark/light to an electrical signal, which, in turn, is converted to sound for transmission across the telephone network; hence the strange screeecchh, whiirrrr, screech, tones heard when a fax is received.
At the receiving end, the reverse happens. The tones are converted back to an electrical signal, used to generate the facsimile image and convert the printout.
In versions of the analog fax machine, into to the late 1960s, while this method worked, it had several fundamental issues. Analog fax machines were very large and the preparation and sending process was slow and subject to interference, fax output was prone to error.
In 1970, SRI International was commissioned by Savin, CBS Television Services and Dacom to resolve the issues of the analog fax machine and create a commercial fax machine for widespread use.
SRI determined that a digital version of a fax machine, where tones correspond to binary 0 and 1, would resolve the inherent issues of sending a fax over phone lines. By digitizing the fax process, automation and error correction could be applied. The digital fax would allow computers to pre-prepare and queue facsimiles, which could be sent, en masse. The digital process would also allow for error correction, ensuring that any fax received was accurate. Speed was another important improvement offered by using a digital fax machine.
The lightning speed of the digital fax machine creates commercial roots
Using an optical scanner and modem sources, alongside SRI’s printer and signal processing skills, the development of the digital fax machine became a reality. The resulting prototype was named the Z-60 digital facsimile machine. This first version was bulky but fast. The Z-60 could scan, compress and transmit data at 4,800 bits per second, magnitudes faster than existing fax machines. In 1973, Ricoh acquired the rights to the technology developed by SRI. Ricoh released the RIFAX 600s, the world’s first commercially available digital fax machine. The RIFAX 600s, designed for general office use, could transmit an A4 page in 60 seconds compared to the several minutes needed by the contemporary fax machines of the 1970s.
In April 1973, the RIFAX 600s was used to demonstrate a fax transmission between Tokyo and New York via satellite communication. This demonstration placed the RIFAX 600s, based on SRI’s digital fax technology, as a globally leading technology brand.
In 1974, the RIFAX 600s was rebranded and released in Japan and the USA as the Rapifax 100. This innovation in fax technology allowed the fax to be used in a wide set of commercial situations resulting in the fax machine’s common use in companies across the globe. Subsequently, the numbers of fax machines in use, grew rapidly. In the USA, by 1970, there were only around 25,000 fax machines in use. By 1980, the numbers had grown to 250,000 fax machines. As 1990 approached, there were 5 million fax machines throughout the USA. The noise of a fax coming through permeate offices the world over to become an iconic sound of the twentieth century.
Interested to see more from SRI? Visit sri.com. | https://medium.com/dish/75-years-of-innovation-digital-fax-machine-64804561494e | ['Sri International'] | 2020-10-21 20:42:11.644000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Corporate Innovation', 'Document Management', 'Computers', 'Communication'] |
Old Photographs | Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
I am not fond of photographs, there are few displayed in my home, just a couple in a room my husband, who is fond of them, uses. I do have more but thanks to our wonderful technology they are safely stored on a USB and the originals destroyed.
I guess to some the destruction of photos must seem sacrilege and while it did feel odd to tear up faces of friends and family I do not regret it, as now my home is, mostly, free of any energy emanating from any human other than those present and alive.This is important to me, as I’m sure it would be for anyone who can “read” photographs.
A few years ago, I was given a handful of photographs of myself and others that had been unearthed from my Mother’s house. They were not new to me, but as I looked through them one in particular, of myself aged around 13, gave me pause.
The girl looking warily into the camera held such an air of dour resignation that I was completely taken aback. I searched my memory for my thoughts of that time to no avail. I began to have many questions, but this stranger appeared to have no voice. She haunted me a bit and I wanted to help her.
I could not for the life of me remember if I had been taught to send reiki down a timeline, the idea became a constant on my mind though, so I attempted this using a simple method that felt right. I can’t say I gleaned much knowledge as to what the problem might have been, but on re-viewing the photo after the sending the energy did seem altered for the better.
Several months later, while reading a book written by a reiki master, I found mention of timeline sending which made me feel justified in my assumption that it could be done, though I’m still not sure if I had been taught about it.
Not long after I read several books written by shaman that spoke of their methods of soul retrieval which, to my mind, carried a similar intent to timeline sending, though sans the re-integration ritual.
I have heard of, or read of, many skilled healers and have often wished healing from them was possible. Some have passed, some are too far away, and now with the restrictions of 2020 most are unavailable for hands-on sessions.
It seems though, according to my friends, that none of us need be forever dependent on others for healing, and it is perhaps my own enforced dabbling into various methods of self-healing that triggered the following partly personal channelling which suggests this to be so.
It is my understanding through this message that we do not need to be officially trained in any specific technique or be too concerned with rigid ritual in order to help ourselves.
I think, maybe all we really need is to believe that as one of the One we are at the same time made of many ones that also contain every aspect of the One. Everything is us and we are everything, including both patient and healer.
We are All and we are enough.
Namaste
Claire
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
All You have Been
Do you wish to remember all you have been, to sift through the years of your life, your personal age, to revisit each you of the past?
You know they are there, they wait like patient off-stage actors, listening for their cue to return.
One word, one gesture, from you and they appear fully themselves yet fully you.
They do not ever cease to be, they merely step away, lingering in the shadows of your everyday awareness.
Pause now and call one to you…..
and do you see how readily they come?
How bright and fresh they seem despite the passing of time?
Mm, they do not die, they pause.
You have seen them, acknowledged them, now feel them.
Depending on your choice you may rejoice or despair at their energy, wish them away or bid them welcome. Whichever you choose bears no onus, adjustment of their energy is not ever cosmic command.
They and you will bide without it, but know should you call them again no miraculous change would have occurred without your intercession. It truly is of no matter should you allow them to be if you so choose.
Some though may wish for adjustment, some whose past selves bore much trauma, much pain. ’Tis a difficult task for such as they for no pain is revisited willing unless that pain has been allowed such growth that the only possible cure is to discover where its roots lay and thwart further growth by releasing oneself of its malignancy at source.
Hear, we do not speak only of what you know as “inner child work”. We speak of all past selves, be they of last week or last decade. All ages of self are present within, accessible and amenable to healing.
All aspects of self bide within also, some familiar, some not so. For most the least familiar, but present within all nonetheless, is the aspect of healer.
’Tis not only the right/rite of recognized healers to perform healing. All are able to send healing through time to self. All are able to assuage their pain by simple intent to do so.
Often self-adjustment is more intense than given adjustment and, as one holds all selves at one time, pinpoint accuracy as to which self needs healing is un-needful. All selves are contained within the one container that also contains the healing.
When the energy needed is both birthed and sent within the one entity of entities, the healing energy becomes a focused, potent force of specific, individual design.
No given healing energy could match that which is birthed through and by oneself.
Beloved children you are each healer.
You are each self-actualizing masters.
We ask you to believe this to be so and trust that you are each capable of healing all you have been, all you are yet to be.
Be peace our clever Masters and allow your “selves” this care.
Namaste
Channelled Text
September 2020 | https://medium.com/spiritual-secrets/old-photographs-7ac58c459252 | ['Claire Elaine'] | 2020-10-05 16:36:55.323000+00:00 | ['Healing', 'Spirituality', 'Personal Improvement', 'Self', 'Spiritual Secrets'] |
BTC Dropped on News About the Highly Infectious New Strain of COVID-19 | Bitcoin’s price dropped by 6% on Monday, while the major equity indices sharply corrected to be due to the reported emergence of a mutated coronavirus strain in the UK. Furthermore, the Bitcoin’s movement seems closely joined with the traditional markets again in recent days. The uncertainty from the virus might continuously impact the crypto market, as seen in March. Therefore, we expect bitcoin correction is not over yet. It’s possible that pulling back to retest underlying support levels around $21800.
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An Antidote to Imposter Syndrome | Despite the assumptions of others, I’m not particularly confident much of the time. This shouldn’t be a big surprise. Most humans suffer from a sense of unworthiness, or ‘imposter-syndrome’ — worried we aren’t as put together as people think we are and we will be found out at any moment.
Imposter-syndrome rears its head often in the days leading up to me teaching a course on how to use Buddhist practice in the work of social restoration (as if Buddhist practice is anything but socially restorative). I struggle a lot with fear that the whole thing will be a flop, or someone in the group will derail the conversation and I’ll not be able to bring folks back to the focus of the work.
Such fears are perfect for practice. When we meet our edges is right where you could say “the rubber hits the road” for anyone engaged in working with their minds.
There’s so much anxiety connected to ‘what if’ because of the resistance we have to the possibility of things not going our way. Accepting that yes, sometimes something won’t go our way, can be the perfect antidote. I’ve used this approach with many things, particularly heavy, painful possibilities like: ‘What if my cat dies?’
What if she does? One day she will. And it will hurt. It will be devastating. It will be painful and sad and heartbreaking. And I will live. Just as I have lived through grief before and learned to adjust to a new normal absent of the physical presence of someone I love.
Knowing I can work with a ‘what if’ like my cat dying, makes it a lot less difficult to sit with something like: ‘What if I can’t answer something someone asks during a class I’m teaching?’
I don’t know every possible answer, and I don’t need to. I also don’t need to pretend I have a response to something when I don’t. This is a trap that’s easy to fall into when we’re sitting in the teacher’s chair. We think we have to have a response and it needs to sound really wise or savvy. But no one is an expert in everything. We just need to know our own mind and practice and share that with clarity and skill.
Owning my mind is something I’ve been working on for years, almost the entire decade I’ve considered myself a dharma practitioner. But it’s only recently that I’ve been able to dig into it a little more and see the fruition of all my effort.
Listening to Reverend angel Kyodo williams has been a significant help for this practice. In a talk they gave for the Meditation in the City podcast, they say: “You don’t get to have your own mind. You only have the collective mind.” This is referring to cultural influences on how we think and the impact socialisation has on our implicit biases. Our mind is not free of outside influences. Our opinions, thoughts, ideas and perspectives are shaped by the world in which we live.
Another teaching Reverend angel gives often is that you are responsible for your own mind; other people’s minds are not your business. This sounds like it conflicts with the first teaching, but what they are saying is we are influenced by collective ideas, and it’s our job to work with how those influences impact us as an individual. We can change our own mind — we can’t change anyone else’s.
This was something I’ve understood on an intellectual level for a very long time but only took to heart (and gut) in the last year. It is common to believe, if other people just changed their behaviour, things would get better. I did this a lot with past partners. I would listen to a talk or read something in a book and think if my partner had this information they would change! For the better! So I’d share the thing, prepared for it to blow their mind. Instead, I would be met with disdain, annoyance, and oftentimes anger. I didn’t get why they were so upset when I was just trying to help.
This is not to say we shouldn’t share things we think others will benefit from, but anything we share should be offered without expectations. To prepare for teaching for the first time — to a mixed audience of folks from very different backgrounds and experiences — I realised taking this to heart was essential. I work with my mind every single day and I can speak to my experience, but how I work with my mind is up to me and how another works with their mind is up to them.
As long as I remember that my mind is my responsibility, and I’m not responsible for the minds of anyone else in the room, imposter-syndrome can’t get in my way. I don’t have to change anyone’s mind, or figure out how they should apply the teachings to their life. That is their business and responsibility, not mine. My responsibility is to show up authentically and share my practice in good faith, as an offering folks can use as they want to, if they want to.
From this mindset confidence blossoms because I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone. I trust in my practice. I trust in it because I see the results of it. If someone else doesn’t trust in my practice, no big deal. There is no need to convince anyone of the validity or depth of my practice. I let it speak for itself and invite others to judge it on their own merit, according to what works for them. | https://medium.com/kaitlynschatch/an-antidote-to-imposter-syndrome-229342ffbe2f | ['Kaitlyn S. C. Hatch'] | 2020-03-04 22:02:41.666000+00:00 | ['Buddhism', 'Dharma', 'Imposter Syndrome', 'Personal Responsibility'] |
Tech with Impact | 2019 was an impactful year! Sustainability, Impact and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals finally reached the tech companies within Insurance, Pension and Banking
This article is based purely on my own personal views and to this I add examples on the tech companies that already have created impactful solutions and will continue to do so in 2020 in the Nordics.
1. Insurance with Impact
Generally, insurance is created for doing good — for the society as well as for the individual. Insurance is a contract (policy) that transfers the risk of financial loss from an individual or business to an insurance company. The company receives money from its customers/clients and pools them in order to pay for losses. Thereby the insurance company and their customers/clients help each other whenever someone experiences a financial loss.
Source: Undo — Hövding Partnership
In the tech industry, we have seen a big movement from the new “Insurtechs” (short for Insurance Technology) wanting to create new ways of looking at insurance and thereby entering a market that previously has been dominated by the old and more traditional insurance companies. Latest, the Danish Insurtech Undo launched micro insurance on the new and pricey Hövding biking “helmets” to a low price of 15 DKK monthly to insure the users, if their Hövding unfolds in relation to an accident.
Insurtechs such as Troov and Lemonade are moving towards micro insurances and “on demand services” using AI/Machine learning. The big AI insurtech Lemonade are letting their insurance policy owners make their claims through an app, where the technology identifies and analyses the input in order to pay the claim directly to the customer. All done without the customers have to enter into a more traditional claims process known from the big and already established insurance companies.
Insurance for Social Good
Lemonade build their solution to lower the operational cost of running an insurance company and to help their users to claim the money for their losses in a frictionless and easy way.
Source: Lemonade GiveBack Programme
Last year, Lemonade launched their GiveBack Programme where they offer their customers to choose a cause for which they would like to donate their unclaimed money to, so their customers contribute to a better world. Where we previously didn’t have the opportunity to decide for ourselves what the profit of an insurance company was used for, Lemonade — which is built by purpose driven founders — enables their customers to choose a predefined cause and then make their contribution. For me, that is tech with impact!
BusinessModel: B2C
Source: Tryg Yearly Bonus Programme
The Nordics have the opportunity to Give Back. Tryg, a big Nordic insurance company — which also owns the InsurTech Undo could in my opinion look into a GiveBack Programme.
Tryg claims that over the last 4 years, they have been paying a yearly bonus of 8% to their customers. They do not state whether it’s because the customers are good at not having any financial losses throughout the years or that the customers simply pay too much for their insurance? In 2019, around 925 million DKK was given back to the customers
What if the 925 million DKK was spent on doing good?
What if Tryg took the 8 % bonus and simply gave their customers an opportunity to give back through a set of predefined causes that all are aligned with Tryg’s impact agenda?
And if Tryg isn’t just an insurance company but a part of a banks offering, they could also move this 8% bonus into impact investing, so their customers wouldn’t see this as a donation but as an impact investing opportunity to use the money to do good.
2. Pension — Long term investing in the society
The last couple of years, there has been a huge debate regarding what our pension money is used for — Should our pension money be invested in sustainable businesses rather than in the non-sustainable ones?
Pension companies are moving away from black businesses to more green businesses all while their customers are demanding a more greener pension scheme than ever.
Not many tech companies have made it yet in regards to sustainable pension, but here in the Nordics the pension tech company Matter made one of the first sustainable pension solutions for customers through their partnership with AP Pension (formerly Skandia Pension DK). Matter have with their platform enabled the customers to see their societal impact on their pension savings in terms of Carbon footprint etc.
Business Model: B2B & B2C
Source: Matter Pension
The New generation of pension savers
Last year, we saw how the new Generation Z (also a part of the Greta Thunberg movement) entered into the workplaces with their purpose driven mindset, setting high standards for the societal impact of global companies. In terms of savings, it’s widely known that the younger generation actually care about savings — both for the future of our society and for themselves.
Traditional players don’t yet walk the talk
We are slowly but surely seeing a growing number of larger pension companies changing their investment strategies towards a more — in my opinion — customer oriented strategy, where the focus is on the environmental impact driven by the demands of their customers.
I think we still have some years to go before it will change dramatically, since the way we reward our employees within the companies is by financial return and not by the size of potential impact — impact measured in Environmentally, Socially and by Governance.
Though on the Nordic scene, pension companies such as Pension Denmark, MPPension and Storebrand have stated their commitment to a sustainable future and are currently changing not only their investments but also their operations to become more sustainable.
Below you can see a visualization of Storebrand’s sustainable investment methodology, where they first exclude, then look at the company’s sustainability rating and then finally engage with them.
Source: Storebrand’s Sustainability Investment Methodology
From a low to high in Risk, to thematic investing in Sustainability
It is interesting to see when the demand from the younger generation comes in terms of being able to have a more firm voice of what to invest in and how the money has to be invested.
From a traditional low-middle-high risk going to a more customer oriented self-selection thematic model like the example below from WHEB Asset Management
Source: WHEB Asset Management
3. Banking & Wealth Management with Impact
Within Banking and Wealth management, there is a lot of traction within consumerism and investments in sustainability.
New solutions for making the world a better place all while focus should be on how we can become better at taking wiser decisions about our consumption as well as how we save our money for a better and more sustainable future.
If we take a look on how we in the Nordics perform in regards to the World Overshoot Day, we simply need to change our habits to consume less and if we do consume, we need to consume with a better sustainable footprint.
Regarding the latter, the Swedish fintech Doconomy is a great example of tech with impact and definitely worth following in 2020.
Doconomy — a credit card that limits the negative impact
The Swedish fintech Doconomy announced in late 2019t their collaboration with MasterCard — offering their users a Black credit card which limits their uses to transact/buy products from vendors that have a specific set of negative impact which again helps and eliminates consumption in companies that do not contribute positively. This solution is also expected to be launched with more banks in the Nordics in the coming years ,since the demand from the users is growing.
Doconomy also just recently launched their solution, Ålandsindexet, together with Nordea where they offer calculations on the CO2 footprint of the general consumption of the Nordea bank customers after every transaction.
Business Model: B2B & B2C
Trine — invest in solar
A 5 year old tech company, now scale-up, called Trine made their entrance in various media, when they stated they wanted to get around 1.2 billion people out of energy poverty, creating a crowdfunded investment fund investing in solar projects in Africa.
Their solution allows everyone to invest through crowdfunding in solar projects and makes it possible for each person to support SDG 13 — Climate Action and SDG 7 — Affordable and Clean Energy.
Until now, more than 10.000 investors have backed their solution with over € 30.000.000 and supporting nearly 2 million people in Africa with electricity.
Business Model: B2C
Source: Trine Solar
MakeImpact — sustainable investing using the SDGs as a framework
Read more on www.makeimpact.io
With my educational background in persuasive design and sustainability as well as my 8 years in investment banking working with business development, I got the idea in the summer of 2018 to build a solution to help the non-investor to get started on their impact investing journey using the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework.
Me and my co-founder established a team back in August 2018 and used the first 6 months doing market research with our key target audience — the non-investor who would like to use their money to make an impact in the world. After several design sprints, we began to develop the first Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and launched in late April 2019.
MakeImpact is an a free investment app with the goal of making it easier for you to invest in companies that meet one or more of the 17 UN SDGs. The app showcases public available data on the various sustainable commitments from global listed companies — all members of UN Global Compact — and lists them according to which of the SDG’s they support. In the app, you can therefore choose the SDGs that best suit your own values and based on the SDG’s you choose, the app will match you with the companies that support the same goals as you.
Since the launch of MakeImpact 11 months ago, there have been over 1600 downloads of the MakeImpact app and more than 1000 users have chosen to register through the app. These users are represented in 54 different Danish banks and we have already helped a lot of users to get started investing with a purpose. We are right now working on many exciting things which will be launched later this year.
Business Model: B2C & B2B2C
4. Winning the impact of the new generation of consumers, savers and investors
Photo by Callum Shaw on Unsplash
But to win the market of the new generation of consumers when it comes to their savings and wealth, we need to do the following:
First, we need to embrace auto enrollment. We know that the younger generations are fast paced, always connected to devices and adept multitaskers, but it can be difficult to get their attention. Incorporate that and auto-escalate it into their retirement/wealth management plan and they’re on track without having to go in and make a proactive choice or selection. Studies show that making auto enrollment optional boosts employee participation by 40%. Second, we need to make online financial wellness tools available.I personally think companies have to realize they have a big role to play when it comes to engaging younger generations entering the labor market. If they help young workers understand what they’re facing and create a long-term sustainable plan for success, they will also create loyalty and enable retention whether it is for their workplace or for their bank/insurance or pension. Make them co-owners of their own financial planning. Utilizing things like gamification is an enabler for their knowledge gain and understanding of the new “financial world”. And finally, we need to embrace digital components. Historically the financial sector has been great in just “digitizing” a document but haven’t used time on visualizing and simplifying the information described in the documents. If you really want to educate the younger generations, you simply need to visualize the content of these documents by for instance infographics, visuals and videos to ensure they understand it and do not just push the accept button — of course all easy accessible on both mobile and tablet devices.
Varan Pathmanathan is the CEO and founder of MakeImpact, a Nordic Impact Fintech that helps individuals make sustainable investment decisions using the UN SDGs framework. After graduating from Aalborg University in 2011, he spent several years working in the investment banking sector and worked in several banks in their business development units. He has a background in Human Computer Interaction from Aalborg University & University of Melbourne, in Persuasive Technology. | https://medium.com/makeimpact/tech-with-impact-ac7b9178529e | ['Varan Pathmanathan'] | 2020-07-30 20:00:39.986000+00:00 | ['Sustainability', 'Makeimpact', 'Investing', 'Sustainable Finance', 'Impact Investing'] |
Best two hosting providers in 2021 | Bluehost and Digital Ocean makes it easy and quick to get a website up and running has an easy-to-use cPanel interface that’s ideal for beginners, features a wide array of great features, is generally fast, has reliable servers, and has some pleasantly surprising security features for a budget-friendly web host.
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WHICH BLUEHOST PLAN IS BEST FOR WORDPRESS?
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DigitalOcean has happy price points as well as a great pricing system. They offer the two most popular pricing systems: monthly and hourly. This cloud host has fair prices for hourly charges, which means you will not pay much over the monthly fee even if your cloud works for most of the time.
Pricing
DigitalOcean approaches the issue of pricing in a unique way.
Instead of offering pre-made plans with features that scale up with the price, they offer so-called Droplets, where you choose the amount of memory you need, the number of vCPUs, transfer limits, and SSD Disk size. They’re charged by the hour, starting at $0.007/hr which comes up to $5 per month, but goes up into the thousands depending on specific needs.
Ease of use
When signing up for DigitalOcean, you can use your email, Google, or even GitHub account. Although they don’t charge you before you start using paid services (which means before you first use up your free $100 credits), if you’re using PayPal, you’ll need to purchase a $5 credit in order to proceed. This isn’t the case with cards, but they warn that they may have to place a pre-authorization charge that will be canceled once your card is confirmed. | https://medium.com/@haribo-ffire/best-two-hosting-providers-in-2021-4b4328d8fb9e | ['Lulux Live'] | 2020-12-25 14:48:09.457000+00:00 | ['Domains', 'Web Development', 'Hosting', 'Web Design', 'WordPress'] |
Torched Driftwood | Torched Driftwood
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
Crumpling the fliers
into large loose balls
finding some of the smaller
twigs lying near the sand
I swear I don’t care
what comes next: I just
want to lose myself in your legs
the white against
the deep green of the lake
Everything else is foreground
and I can only see those stems
rising out of the sand
demanding my touch
goosefleshed as they are
The wind isn’t speaking to me
the crackling driftwood
hasn’t mentioned anything worth
writing home about
but I lie there, uncomfortable
dreaming of touch
and I forget to keep talking
as I muse about
what plays out in my head | https://medium.com/scrittura/torched-driftwood-388eb514131d | ['J.D. Harms'] | 2020-12-08 15:59:35.101000+00:00 | ['Musing', 'Love', 'Fire', 'Image', 'Poetry'] |
How to Design a Security Organizational Structure | With experience working with hundreds of organizations, in this webcast we discuss the security organization structures most effective in reducing risk, reducing cost/overhead, and consistently being able to obtain certifications like #ISO27001 and #SOC2. | https://medium.com/@christian.hyatt/how-to-design-a-security-organizational-structure-52df28adfc45 | ['Christian Hyatt'] | 2020-12-08 16:51:48.875000+00:00 | ['Governance', 'Cybersecurity', 'Information Security', 'Leadership', 'Business'] |
Binary Numbers and Memory | Binary is the bases of the technology we use today, from your favorite stereo to the thing you are reading this off of today. Most things contain a computer, and therefore also contain binary that controls it. “Binary is a base 2 number system invented by Gottfried Leibniz that is made up of only two numbers: 0 and 1.”(Computer Hope). It is the state of high or low voltage that tells our computers what to do.
But it didn’t start off this way. A trip down memory road shows us that binary used to be a much more mechanical operation. Using switches and levers to determine if something was on or off. And it wasn’t the only of it’s kind, with other signal readers reading up to 10 different variety of signals. The problem with base 10 signals, however, was the shortage of power. If the machine was getting an overflow of power or too little, these signals could be easily confused or mixed up. So creating a simple on and off mechanism made it easy to differentiate the given signals. Making binary our first choice of operations.
Then was the creation of logic gates. People were experimenting with different and new ways to solve operations as quickly as possible, and with the creation of boolean algebra by George Boole in the 1840s, technicians, and scientists sought to find better ways to control these logic gates. With operations like and, or, xor, and not, we could now give our circuits the rules we needed to do more advanced operations (storyofmathimatics.com). Many years later creating many of the same operations we use in programming today!
#!python3.7 # defines variables hello and world to True (1) and False (0) hello = True world = False # If hello and world are both True, return True if hello and world: return True # If hello or world are True, return True. This opperation includes # xor which states that if only one is true, then turn on. Which is #different from or which looks for at least one operation to be true elif hello or world: return True # if hello is not the same as world, return True elif hello is not world: return True
This led to the inventions of machines like the IBM100, where you used punch cards to order tasks and operations. The holes in the punch card would determine if the signal was on or off (one or zero), in the 1950s. However, these were again mechanical and had to be repaired almost every day. But without discoveries like these, we might not have the technology we have today. As it shaped our future. (IBM)
Our logic gates became even more complex, with combinations of and, not, and xor gates. Our technology shrank, and the replacement of mechanical parts for electric ones brought forth the creation of the ALU (Arithmetic and Logic Unit), and circuit boards. These used our logic gates, and bits that carried over data. Each one and zero being a bit. Hence why things were called 8-bit and 16-bit, and later called bytes.
It doesn’t make much sense to do so many operations without having a place to store it. So using what’s called a D-Type Flip-Flop circuit, that takes advantage of our logic gates, creates a way to temporarily store data. But this only stores a single byte. So by adding more of these register circuits together, we can hold more data. Thus creating our first RAM (Random Accessing Memory). This memory also needed a clock to interpret new states of on or off. hence why the ‘D’ in D-type Flip-Flop stands for Delay, and why clock circuits were invented (101 Computing).
The ALU, RAM, Clock, all connected threw our circuit board leads to the invention of the heart of our computer, known as the CPU (Component Processing Unit). This Unit was comprised of many built-in instructions that would make use of our ALU and RAM, to run programs. And the amazing part is, this entire process is still comprised of just ones and zeros! The CPU can only fetch, get, encode/decode and execute problems after using addresses, which tell it what, and where to do this in memory. The first CPU created into a single circuit was the first Intel Processor! The 4004 Intel processor! Going an outstanding 740 kilohertz, or 740,000 cycles per second. But despite this speed, it is nothing compared to the technology we have today.
Some people will even overclock their CPU, adjusting the speed of the clock to try and get it to run even faster! But this typically leads to overheating and melts your components. However, on the other side of this is underclocking. This is very useful when your computer wants to go to sleep and can cool off by running slower when you step away from your computer.
But I go off on a tangent. The main importance here is that all these creations and inventions are built off the logic of Binary. It creates a way to run operations must faster than a human, and even store more memory than ever imaginable. We can see this in our Hard drives, SSDs (Solid State Drives), and thumb drives. As it writes and fetches our saved pictures. And it’s still advancing as servers and clouds store our data for us. | https://medium.com/swlh/binary-numbers-and-memory-51a29705bb0f | ['Anthony S. Protho'] | 2020-05-13 20:23:05.892000+00:00 | ['Binary', 'Circuit', 'Computer Science', 'Memory', 'Code'] |
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