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Moving from Ego-Centric to Eco-Centric | “The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego. The second half is going inward and letting go of it.” -Carl Jung
Organizations are no different. The early years focus on identity, differentiation, and getting noticed. These are very important to getting established. However, for organizations to experience long-term success, they need to grow up and move from an ego-centric identity to an eco-centric identity.
So what is the difference?
“Ego” is defined as “self-important”
“Eco” is defined as “combining form.”
The personal ego that Carl Jung was famous for discovering is not all bad. In fact without ego, we wouldn’t get anything done. The ego helps us execute and “reality test” like the definition describes. However, if the ego is given too much authority to grow, it will dominate in a self-serving way and leave a path of destruction in its wake, much like our modern businesses have done without regard to it’s effect on human development or the Earth.
Moving From Ego-Centric
Ego-centric companies embody a mindset that operates primarily from the left-side of the brain. This is the half that analyzes, controls, and sees a linear future. It thrives off of rational, reductionistic thinking. It's a binary, either or world. Either your in or your out. Either it works or it doesn't. It is very mechanistic and grew in popularity in the recent industrial age.
Ego-centric organizations experience trouble in primarily in two ways:
1. Increased Rigidity — when the ego goes unchecked, organizations grasp tightly to past patterns of success in light of evolving industry changes. They begin a slow and insidious process of rigidity much like a corpse. When the blood stops flowing, the body dies, and then stiffens.
2. Myopic Vision — control is good to an extent, but when organizations let the control dominate the culture and decision-making, they lose relevancy, stifle relationships, and lack a broader vision that is beneficial beyond the company’s interests.
Example — Blockbuster Video experienced unprecedented growth with it’s video store model. It was a household name and a destination for many families.
I remember the Blockbuster stores being packed on Friday night. But, as all life shows us, the world evolves, and in order to thrive, you must adapt.
When the DVD world began migrating to digital streaming, Blockbuster hung on too tightly to it’s successful store model and failed to innovate with the changes.
Meanwhile Netflix started gaining market share with it’s DVD-shipping model and created a customer base that was ready to move to digital streaming when broadband became speedy enough.
Netflix is now worth approximately $10 billion. Blockbuster went bankrupt. Blockbuster was operating in an ego-centric, too-big-to-fail mindset. It was this rigidity and myopic “brick-and-morter” vision that ultimately lead to its demise.
Moving To Eco-Centric
Eco-centric companies operate from a mindset that includes both sides of the brain as well as a broader ability to sense and respond to ever-changing externalities.
Eco-centric companies lean more heavily on the use of right brain thinking, which tends to be more creative, inclusive, and collaborative. However, they don’t eliminate the left brain logic altogether, but rather use both simultaneously and embrace the natural paradox and tension that occurs by acknowledging both.
Furthermore, eco-centric organizations recognize that thriving in uncertainty requires a move from mechanistic thinking to living systems thinking.
The machine-like logic of the industrial age has permeated our culture in both our way of operating and our way of thinking. The ego thrives off of this linear logic because it provides very clear processes and ways to measure and grow.
However, it has lead to massive destruction of the natural world with its hyper-competitive consumptive logic and created depressing work cultures that suppress human development and growth.
From Breakdown to Breakthrough
Moving from ego-centric to eco-centric is shifting to a mindset that is a more inclusive, less partial way of moving through the world. All living things teach us how to operate harmoniously in diversity. How to grow and adapt. How to collaborate and co-create. How to move through seasons with grace.
If we see ourselves and our organizations as “combining-form” we can begin to recognize opportunity in times of disturbance. We can let go of the iron grasp of control and focus on the here and now.
The companies that I work with that are moving in a direction of eco-centricity are experiencing a rare form of empowerment in their workplaces that is also spilling over into their home lives. They are dissolving the unconcious wall between their workplace personas and their home-life personas. There is a rare integration that is occurring that is not only visible, but felt.
Like Carl Jung stated, these companies are “going inward and letting go.”
This shift in logic requires bravery to let go and breakdown old patterns and create new eco-centric ones. The good news is that much like the natural world and our current fall season teaches us, following the breakdown there is always a breakthrough. | https://medium.com/limen/moving-from-ego-centric-to-eco-centric-349ec11682a1 | ['Joel De Jong'] | 2016-12-04 21:04:26.103000+00:00 | ['Mindfulness', 'Management', 'Leadership', 'Innovation', 'Strategy'] |
A Doctor Refused to Believe My Virginity | A Doctor Refused to Believe My Virginity
Why do health care professionals dismiss women?
Photo by Daan Stevens/Unsplash
A few years ago a bad reaction to a new medication landed me in the Emergency Room. My hands had swelled. My face looked bloated. It felt like the flu times three.
I told my manager at work. I knew something was definitely wrong. She didn’t care.
“We’ll see how long you last,” she texted me. I lasted 10 minutes.
Out of fear of losing my job, I went to work. I’m still not sure how I managed the 15-mile drive.
I sat at my desk. It didn’t take long before the whole world went topsy-turvy and I blacked out, landing on the floor. Coworkers called Mom, who came to my work and drove me to the ER. Nurses immediately brought me back to a room.
I knew the problem had been the new medication. Even a simple Google search could’ve told you that. Several others had had a similar reaction to the same pills. But I knew tests were necessary — blood, urine, so on — to rule out anything else.
When the doctor came in, I remember distinctly the way he looked at me. His face twisted in irritation. Impatience radiated off him. He had things to do, that aura said. Things more important than examining me.
I felt like a burden as I lay ill in the hospital bed.
I answered a few basic questions. I explained the new medication and the bad reaction I was having. Although a Google search is far beyond refutable proof of it being the exact cause of my issue, I explained others had had similar reactions and it seemed like the most logical reason.
He appeared to consider it, at first at least, before his questions began again.
The doctor asked, “Have you considered you might be pregnant?”
Pregnant?
“No, that’s not possible,” I said. I had never had sex. Mom, who sat diligently by my bed, almost laughed. She also knew I had never had sex. As an added bonus, I didn’t like men sexually.
“How can you be sure?” The doctor said.
“Because I’m a virgin,” I answered.
His eyes narrowed. It felt angry and demeaning. The hostility made me feel bad for seeking help at all. He didn’t believe me.
“You don’t have to lie to me because your mother is here,” he said.
I sat shocked. Lie? Here I was in my mid-twenties — a full-grown, independent adult. I wasn’t a scared teenage girl hiding her sexual history from Mommy. I had no reason to lie.
“I’m not lying,” I said. “I have never had sex.”
Mom chipped in next. She looked like she might laugh at the whole thing.
“It’s true,” Mom said. “She hasn’t.”
Photo by Olga Kononenko/Unsplash
He refused to believe either of us. The doctor demanded a urine panel. I expected a urine test as part of a normal workup, but the doctor demanded to specifically check if I was pregnant. It felt humiliating.
I must have been lying, he decided. Why would I tell the truth?
All my problems, he decided, were based on his one notion that I probably got knocked up and either was hiding it or didn’t want to believe I was pregnant.
It wasn’t until my urine cleared me of pregnancy did the doctor care to tend to my actual sickness. I lay in that hospital bed for hours upon hours in agony — my misery prolonged — before he even dared consider anything else could be wrong.
I fell in and out of sleep, so sick it hurt to move. I ended up staying in the ER for over eight hours, with far too many of those hours going without any treatment. I feared at one point I would die due to his inaction.
Eventually, he ordered some sort of medicine in an IV once his initial diagnosis fell through. I never saw him again that night.
Should I always expect that level of hostility? I wondered. Was this just part of being a woman? | https://cassiuscorbin.medium.com/a-doctor-refused-to-believe-my-virginity-57edb600eb82 | ['Cassius Corbin'] | 2020-02-03 21:02:53.302000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Sexuality', 'Equality', 'Healthcare', 'Health'] |
Occasions (Improved) | When I was a child I enjoyed nothing more than getting out to birthday parties, Halloween and Christmas celebrations. I just always loved the feeling I got, not just when I was there, but (and maybe even the feelings I liked the most) much more, the anticipation and excitement, whether I was at school, at my Dad’s working, or just killing time, or when on the car journey (sometimes we walked) there, full of thoughts of the joy at meeting friends new and old, getting to indulge guilt-free in treats and playing games as furiously as we cared.
Then, after all that was finished and a new day begun, the memories — not just so I could reminisce at some point far on in life, but to actively think on as I went to bed or on an otherwise dull walk to school, and then to share with classmates (and normal mates) all the stories, those tales I would relate with perhaps a little more liveliness than was really warranted (I was never as adventurous in real life as I told). I spined stories of the rule-less football matches or the mad sprints over gardens and fields, and all the silly jokes we’d tell each other, or the hours spent inside on the X Box or PlayStation.
On thinking back, now in my twenties, it just seems so idyllic, that I have begun to wonder; did my own penchant for exaggeration effect my own recollections?
I never have went out as much after I turned eighteen, when I left home. My parents were the sociable ones, and once gone I was gone there was not much push. Even as I got slightly more mature, when my friends went out to house parties or for a night out I had no inclination to join in, and after a few bad experiences left a sore taste for alcohol fueled or spontaneous events I mostly stopped trying.
It’s not to say I don’t have fun, or put myself in some room I never leave, I simply don’t ‘go out’ or ‘party’ much any longer. I just don’t enjoy it, which makes me question if I ever could, and yet I look back on those thought from my youth and think of them as my most cherished memories.
(I originally wrote this piece in Medium on the spur of the moment. Above is the version I published on Wattpad.) | https://medium.com/@dec-ocane/occasions-improved-f973645b39c8 | ['Dec Ocane'] | 2020-12-19 19:34:27.433000+00:00 | ['Redraft', 'Memories', 'Nostalgia'] |
Canonical enables Linux desktop app support with Flutter | Canonical enables Linux desktop app support with Flutter
By Chris Sells (Google) & Ken VanDine (Canonical)
Google’s goal for Flutter has always been to provide a portable toolkit for building beautiful UIs that run at native speeds, no matter which platform you target. To validate this capability, we started by focusing on the mobile platforms Android and iOS, where we’ve seen more than 80,000 fast, beautiful Flutter apps published to Google Play.
To build on this success, for more than a year we’ve been expanding our focus to include desktop-class experiences, both for the web and for the desktop operating systems: macOS, Windows, and Linux. This work includes extensive refactoring of the engine to support desktop-style mouse and keyboard input, as well as resizable top-level windows. It also includes new UI capabilities that adapt well to desktop, like Material Density support and the NavigationRail, and experiments with deep integration into the underlying desktop OS with experiments in Dart:FFI and access to the system menu bar and standard dialogs. All of this work was to ensure that in addition to being suitable for mobile-style experiences, Flutter is ready to handle full-featured, full-sized desktop apps.
It has long been our vision for Flutter to power platforms. We’ve seen this manifest already at Google with products like the Assistant, so now we’re thrilled to see others harnessing Flutter to power more platforms. Today we are happy to jointly announce the availability of the Linux alpha for Flutter alongside Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, the world’s most popular desktop Linux distribution.
Why Flutter for Linux?
Last year, when Google announced desktop-class application support with Flutter, Canonical saw an exciting opportunity to make Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, an attractive target platform for Flutter app developers. Flutter’s native cross-platform story is growing rapidly and Canonical wanted to be at the vanguard. By enabling desktop Linux support in Flutter, Canonical is making it very easy for application developers to publish their apps for Linux users via the Snap Store, the app store for Linux. By making Linux a first-class Flutter platform, Canonical is inviting application developers to publish their apps to millions of Linux users and broaden the availability of high quality applications available to them.
A number of things about Flutter were exciting for Canonical:
Fast growing ecosystem of application developers
Multiple platform support
Highly optimized native applications
Modern UI framework supporting declarative, reactive, and composable widgets
Rich development platform using Visual Studio Code, Android Studio, and IntelliJ
Google’s initial announcement announcement of Flutter desktop support started with an alpha release supporting macOS and plans for Linux and Windows. Canonical is making a significant investment in Flutter by dedicating a team of developers to work alongside Google’s developers to bring the best Flutter experience to the majority of Linux distributions. Canonical will continue to collaborate with Google to further improve Linux support and to maintain feature parity with the other supported platforms.
Flokk: Proving Flutter’s readiness for the desktop
To demonstrate that Flutter was ready for the desktop, we worked with the designers and developers at gskinner to create an innovative, beautiful Flutter desktop app. Flokk is a real-world app that works with real-world data, specifically your Google Contacts list.
In addition to being able to manage your contacts, including searching contacts, adding new contacts, and editing existing contacts, Flokk also lets you associate GitHub and Twitter handle information with your contacts.
The Flokk Contacts app was built with Flutter to target the desktop
The display of GitHub and Twitter notifications turns your contacts into your own personal social network. And if you’re not seeing your favorite social networks in Flokk Contacts, then the good news is that Flokk is completely open source, so you can submit a PR to add your favorite.
In addition to innovating in the social space, Flokk uses Flutter features to look and feel great. As just one example, the dark theme not only switches the colors but animates the changes as it does so.
Flutter enables Flokk to take advantage of smooth animation, high-performance scrolling, and easy theming
The creative team behind the Flokk Contacts app was led by Grant Skinner, who’s well known for both excellence in design and implementation of innovative user experience. Grant had this to say about working with Flutter on Linux:
“Building the Flokk Contacts app was a breeze! We were able to apply all our previous expertise in Flutter to target Linux with virtually no adjustments, and the app runs fantastically. Working with the Canonical team was a wonderful experience; they were enthusiastic, engaged, and passionate about making Flutter better not just for Linux, but for every platform. It was an amazing project, and I’m thrilled to be able to target another major OS with Flutter.” — Grant Skinner
If you’d like to use the Flokk app on your Linux machine, you can download the latest release on GitHub. Or, if you’re running snapd, you can download the Flokk App from the Snap Store.
Easy install of Flutter on Linux
Now that you’ve seen how well Flutter works for desktop-class applications, especially on Linux, you’re going to want to get it running on your own Linux machine. To make that as simple as possible, we’re pleased to provide the Flutter SDK for Linux as a snap in the Snap Store. The Flutter SDK snap provides everything needed to develop Flutter apps on your favorite Linux distribution. No need to install a bunch of development dependencies; simply install the Flutter SDK snap and your favorite IDE, and you have everything you need to create, build, and publish your applications for Linux.
For example, if you’d like to get started developing Flutter applications for Linux and your IDE of choice is Visual Studio Code, this is all you need to do at your Linux terminal:
$ snap install --classic flutter
$ snap install --classic code
$ code --install-extension dart-code.flutter
If you also want to use Linux to develop mobile apps, you can do so by installing the Android SDK or Android Studio (which includes the Android SDK). For more information on the Flutter SDK as a snap, see https://snapcraft.io/flutter
Flutter for Linux desktop
Once the Flutter SDK is installed on your Linux machine, to build a desktop app you need to upgrade to the Flutter dev or master channel. Then enable Linux desktop support:
$ flutter channel dev
$ flutter upgrade
$ flutter config --enable-linux-desktop
Now when you create a new Flutter project, you’ll get a linux subdirectory that lets you run the app on your Linux desktop:
$ flutter create counter
$ cd counter
$ flutter run -d linux
The famous Flutter Counter app runs great on Linux, too
What you’ll get is a shiny new Linux app built with Flutter running on the latest stable version of GTK+. If you have an existing Flutter project to which you’d like to add Linux support after you have Linux enabled, you can add the linux subdirectory like so:
$ cd my_flutter_app
$ flutter create .
This will create the linux subdirectory with the Runner project that you need to build and run your Flutter app on the Linux desktop.
Accessing native code in Linux from Flutter
In addition to supporting the desktop by writing Dart to create Flutter widgets, your Linux desktop apps can also access all of native Linux using platform channels or the Dart Foreign Function Interface for C/C++. Or, if you’d like to reuse pre-existing code, you can find that code on pub.dev, Dart and Flutter’s package manager site. Most of the packages you’ll find on pub.dev are pure Dart, most of which work just fine in Linux apps. Some packages, called plugins, have native code in them that are specific to one or more platforms. As part of this release, we’ve published three plugins on pub.dev that use native functionality of Linux:
url_launcher: launch the default browser at a URL provided
shared_preferences: user preferences shared between app sessions
path_provider: path information about special-purpose directories, such as downloads, pictures, and so on
Each of these plugins is available for you to use in your apps, as well as serving as an example of how to access Linux natively from your Flutter code, like the Linux implementation of url_launcher.
Deploying to the Snap Store
To deploy your Flutter app to the Snap Store, you first need to install Snapcraft, the tool that you’ll use to build and publish your application as a snap:
$ sudo snap install snapcraft --classic
To drive the Snapcraft tool, you’ll need to create a snapcraft.yaml file in your app’s project directory. As one example, this is the snapcraft.yaml file for Flokk:
name: flokk-contacts
version: 1.0.1
summary: Flokk Contacts
description: A fresh and modern Google Contacts manager that integrates with GitHub and Twitter.
confinement: strict
base: core18
grade: stable apps:
flokk-contacts:
command: flokk-contacts
extensions: [flutter-master]
plugs:
- network parts:
flokk-contacts:
source: .
plugin: flutter
flutter-target: lib/main.dart # app's main entry-point file
In the directory with your snapcraft.yaml file, you can now run snapcraft to build a snap of your application.
$ snapcraft
If all goes well, this produces a file in your current working directory like flokk-contacts_1.0.1_amd64.snap .
Once you’ve set up your account for publishing in the Snap Store, you can publish your snap:
$ snapcraft login
$ snapcraft register flokk-contacts
$ snapcraft upload flokk-contacts_1.0.1_amd64.snap --release edge
This command will upload the application to the Snap Store and attempt to publish it to the edge channel. Once your application is published in the edge channel, it can be installed either via the Snap Store Desktop client or using the command line:
$ snap install --edge flokk-contacts
For more details on building your first snap and publishing it in the Snap Store, see https://snapcraft.io/first-snap#flutter for a guided tutorial.
Flutter Linux desktop samples
The Flokk app is an excellent example of a real-world Flutter app targeting the Linux desktop. For a simpler sample, you can check out the Photo Search app, which was also built specifically to show off desktop features.
Try the Photo Search sample on Linux
Photo Search is a simple online photo search app that uses several plugins to access native platform functionality, supporting both macOS and Linux.
For an example Linux desktop app with step-by-step instructions, I recommend the Write a Flutter desktop application codelab, which walks you through using OAuth and GraphQL to build a GitHub client in Flutter.
The Flutter GitHub codelab client application in action
For a more comprehensive app that exercises much more of the surface area of Flutter as well as providing several little applets, I recommend the Flutter Gallery, which was redesigned last year to support desktop as well as mobile. If you’d like to see that in action, you can check that out on the Snap Store, too.
The Flutter Gallery sample is available on the Snap Store
One more desktop app that shows off the fun side of Flutter is a multi-player game built by Thorsten Lorenz called batufo. Set against a beautiful backdrop, the game lets players from all over the world compete against each other in real time.
Play in real time across multiple Flutter platforms
Thorsten has been building this game to support multiple Flutter platforms including Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS. If you’d like to see how he did it and follow along with future updates, he makes his coding sessions available as videos and the code available on GitHub. To install the game from Linux, you can pull it down from the Snap Store.
Summary
With this alpha release and the close partnership between Google and Canonical, Linux developers get Flutter support for their operating system of choice. Install the Flutter SDK via snap. Build and test your desktop app on Linux using Visual Studio Code or Android Studio. Deploy your app to the Snap Store. For the latest details, see the desktop page on flutter.dev. And above all else, make sure to provide feedback so that we can continue making Flutter the best it can be on Linux, as we strive to do for every supported Flutter platform.
Flutter for Linux from the Canonical team is a giant step forward for our dream of making Flutter the best way to build an app, no matter which platform you’re targeting. Targeting the desktop has made the Flutter engine that much more adaptable to a long tail of devices that Google itself can’t support directly, but for which we plan to continue to build partnerships and to enable the ecosystem.
Wherever there are devices that need fast, beautiful apps, that’s where we want Flutter to be. | https://medium.com/flutter/announcing-flutter-linux-alpha-with-canonical-19eb824590a9 | ['Chris Sells'] | 2020-07-08 17:30:11.181000+00:00 | ['Flutter', 'Linux', 'Ubuntu'] |
【共鳴讀書 no. 127 】~因直視而覺察 | in Eudaimonia and Co | https://medium.com/%E5%85%B1%E9%B3%B4%E8%AE%80%E6%9B%B8%E7%AD%86%E8%A8%98/%E5%85%B1%E9%B3%B4%E8%AE%80%E6%9B%B8-no-127-%E5%9B%A0%E7%9B%B4%E8%A6%96%E8%80%8C%E8%A6%BA%E5%AF%9F-5fae6aa244a9 | ['Jinna Sun'] | 2019-07-07 15:35:23.307000+00:00 | ['Book Review', 'Education', 'Art'] |
Toast the New Year with 400-Year-Old ‘Buttered Beere’ | Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash
No, this isn’t the syrupy butterscotch drink you can buy at Harry Potter World, but it did inspire it. If you’re in the mood for a boozy, rich and aromatic experience this holiday season, Buttered Beere is just what you need. You’ll also impress your loved ones by offering them a hot sip of Tudor England that will DEFINITELY keep them plump and jolly through the winter months.
YouTube channel Tasting History with Max Miller introduced me to this recipe from 16th century cookbook The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin. In short, ale makers would often add eggs, butter, sugar and spices to batches of brew that had turned the corner in order to mask the unpleasant taste. I’d imagine ale drinkers began to appreciate the sweet and spicy beverage in its own right and wanted to replicate it at home.
Note: This recipe goes a long way and can serve a modest get-together (depending on how much you drink) because it is so VERY rich.
What you’ll need:
3 Pints (1500ml/48oz) of good quality British Ale
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 lb (225g) demerara or brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1 stick (113g) diced unsalted butter
How to make it:
Max Miller says, “Take 5 yolks and beat them with the demerara or brown sugar until light and frothy. Set aside. Poor the ale into a saucepan. Try to not create too much foam. Stir in the spices. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down to low and simmer for 2 minutes. For a non-alcoholic drink, leave at medium heat and boil for 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the egg and sugar mixture. Then return the pot to low heat until the liquid starts to thicken. Simmer for (approximately) 5 minutes.”
Make sure to keep that heat low and keep a close watch so the eggs don’t cook!
“Add in the diced butter and stir until melted. Then froth the buttered beer with a hand whisk and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow buttered beer to cool to a warm but drinkable temperature. Then whisk again and serve warm. This can (also) be served cold by chilling the beer, then mixing it with cold milk (1 part beer/1 part milk).”
My tip for 2020: spike it with whiskey and toast the new year. | https://medium.com/@dakotamorlan/toast-the-new-year-with-400-year-old-buttered-beere-2e8f87be9377 | ['Dakota Morlan'] | 2020-12-21 01:58:03.295000+00:00 | ['Beer', 'Recipe', 'Cooking', 'Holidays', 'Cocktails'] |
Lift & Shift Social Support | Lift & Shift Social Support
If you’re here reading, there’s a good chance you’re looking for social media tips and tricks. Your how-to search might also be related to hosting an online Fundraiser for the Lift & Shift Foundation.
Thank you for your interest!
Giving to the Lift & Shift Foundation enables us to advocate for and foster a more inclusive and veteran-friendly tech society. As a nonprofit organization, we’re able to carry out our mission thanks to generous charitable donations. Our work depends on those that give in every size, shape, and form. Regardless of the amount, every dollar counts.
Battle of the Bots in January 2019
Because of supporters like you, we’re able to bring veteran families together; we can offer STEM education programs that build confidence; allow veterans to join us behind the scenes to build circuits and software; assist disadvantaged Americans by designing adaptive devices; and so much more.
None of this could be accomplished without the generosity of donors and organizations who make sure that veterans and their families feel our presence in their communities! A great — and easy — way to support veterans interested in science and technology is through online fundraising.
Here are a few tips on how to how to start a fundraiser on your social network. (You can download our social media image kit to help.)
Reasons to Host a Fundraiser
Although birthdays are the most common reason to host a fundraiser, you can actually start a fundraiser at any time of the year, for any occasion! Here are a few ideas:
In honor of a family member or friend who served in the military
In recognition of a loved one’s enlistment, deployment or homecoming
In honor of a loved one’s retirement/transition out of service, to give back to future generations of service members
Holidays (when many deployed service members are far from home): Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, July 4
Military holidays: Armed Forces Day (May 16), Veterans Day (Nov 11), Military Spouse Appreciation Day (May 12), Patriot’s Day (Sept 11), Military Appreciation Month (May), Month of the Military Child (April)
Whatever your reason for donating to the Lift & Shift Foundation, even if it’s “just because,” please know that we are grateful for your generosity. Your support drives our impact and results for veterans and their families.
How To Set Up a Facebook Fundraiser Benefiting Lift & Shift
Get started with this link to create a Facebook Fundraiser. (Optionally, head to our Facebook page at WeLiftAndShift) Enter how much money you would like to raise and the date you’d like your fundraiser to end. Make sure to add a fundraiser description! This is your chance to edit and update the description of your Facebook Fundraiser with a personal story on why you believe in our mission, and what it would mean to you when friends and family join in. Complete the last few steps, and just like that, you are ready to raise charitable donations for a great cause.
How To Set Up an Instagram Fundraiser Benefiting Lift & Shift
The charity search opens when you add a Donation sticker to an Instagram story, or when you click the Fundraiser option just before you go live. You can find our Instagram profile, liftandshiftfoundation,when you search for charities. That’s all it takes to make a difference.
Spread the Word About Your Fundraiser
When sharing your fundraiser, chatting about the impact can make your effort even more successful. Here are a few ideas of what to share with your friends and family:
The highest praise would be sharing our impact on you.
Why it’s important to you.
What it means to have your friends and family support veterans with science and tech programs.
Remember To Thank Your Supporters
Every charitable donation — no matter how big or small — makes an impact in the lives of America’s veterans. Don’t forget to thank your supporters for the positive impact they make when supporting your fundraiser! Be as grateful to have them as we are to have you. | https://medium.com/lift-and-shift/lift-shift-social-support-4a1cbcf2938f | ['Lift', 'Shift Foundation'] | 2020-12-27 21:48:12.008000+00:00 | ['Veterans', 'Nonprofit', 'Fundraising'] |
15 lessons to share from my 3 years as a Twitch PM | 15 lessons to share from my 3 years as a Twitch PM Sam Chen Feb 6·14 min read
TwitchCon 2019 Badge
This week marked my last at Twitch. I’m officially hanging up the wrench and leaving this community in the hands of the next generation of Twitch Staff. I’m not leaving the platform though (I’ll still be streaming), but I did want to share some of my experiences and learnings from the last 3 years.
Twitch has been my home for the last three years, it’s been a whirlwind of emotions for 36 months (that’s almost a year!), I’ve gotten to meme with the best of you, I’ve gotten to do a job where people tackle-hug me for the impact my products made, and all along the way I’ve had the pleasure of creating real friendships with some of the greatest people I’ve ever known.
I’ve gotten to see, first-hand, not only Twitch’s growth, but the growth of countless streamers, communities and friends. I wanted to share some of this hard-won wisdom I have earned in my time here. I’m going to break down my advice into lessons for each group of stakeholders I’ve had the pleasure of working with at Twitch.
A hackathon trophy with the immortal words of Forstycup in the background.
Staff
I’m sad to be leaving your ranks, but optimistic because I expect you to carry the mantle of all of us who have come before you. If I was lucky enough to be part of your onboarding at Twitch, this might be a bit of a repeat, but if not, here are my words of wisdom for you:
People care about this platform — Twitch is a platform like no other today. No offense to Facebook or YouTube, but the users of Twitch genuinely care about the success of the platform. They aren’t always going to agree with all the decisions we make, but they want to see Twitch succeed. This is possibly the most valuable blessing you could get working here, but it is its own double-edged sword. Don’t let these people down; Twitch is the intersection of content and community, and our users are the reason we continue to exist.
— Twitch is a platform like no other today. No offense to Facebook or YouTube, but the users of Twitch genuinely care about the success of the platform. They aren’t always going to agree with all the decisions we make, but they want to see Twitch succeed. This is possibly the most valuable blessing you could get working here, but it is its own double-edged sword. Don’t let these people down; Twitch is the intersection of content and community, and our users are the reason we continue to exist. Look at the whole picture — Everyone who regularly uses Twitch has a life before and after the streams they view. Don’t ever stand back and think “it’s not my department, it’s not my problem” because none of our users see a difference between subs, bits, ads, moderation or whatever team you’re on. If you stay in the silo of your own team, you’ll only limit your ability to really engage with users. The best products I’ve developed for Twitch were a partnership between the people on my team and a group of dedicated users.
— Everyone who regularly uses Twitch has a life before and after the streams they view. Don’t ever stand back and think “it’s not my department, it’s not my problem” because none of our users see a difference between subs, bits, ads, moderation or whatever team you’re on. If you stay in the silo of your own team, you’ll only limit your ability to really engage with users. The best products I’ve developed for Twitch were a partnership between the people on my team and a group of dedicated users. You have the opportunity to profoundly affect more lives in a day at Twitch than you’ll likely have at any other job — This is a lesson I learned after I launched Community Gifting in 2018 (yes, there was a time Community Gifting didn’t exist on Twitch). So many people came to me after the launch to tell me that Community Gifting was the reason they can be full time on Twitch. I never looked at my job the same again. This sentiment made me feel elated, but it was also a humbling reminder that I was impacting the lives of many individual streamers, not just Twitch as a whole. You don’t get to build something like this everyday, but you CAN build something like this on any given day. Don’t ever underestimate your ability to progress meaningful change at Twitch. In the words of Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Yo Dawg Meme — Community Gifting Style
Viewers
You are crazy kids, misfits, rebels, troublemakers, and above all the lifeblood of Twitch. You might have come to Twitch to watch the next meme only to find yourself part of a community you never want to leave; the addiction is real. Here are my thoughts for you:
It’s ok to take time off — The instinct to make Twitch your entire life is hard to fight. I’ve personally felt the need to be in every stream, play every game, participate in every Discord and it has only run me to the ground. I’ve seen many people get burnt out by this and some of them even leave the platform for good. No one thinks less of you if you aren’t in every stream. If a stream does make you feel that way, that might not be the right community for you. My experience throughout these years it that the community will be there when you get back, I promise.
— The instinct to make Twitch your entire life is hard to fight. I’ve personally felt the need to be in every stream, play every game, participate in every Discord and it has only run me to the ground. I’ve seen many people get burnt out by this and some of them even leave the platform for good. No one thinks less of you if you aren’t in every stream. If a stream does make you feel that way, that might not be the right community for you. My experience throughout these years it that the community will be there when you get back, I promise. Don’t spend above your means — I’ll be the first to say that I helped build Community Gifting and I know how addicting it can be to spam gift subs. When love is for sale, sometimes you gotta buy it. But it’s never worth jeopardizing your finances for it. Believe me, no streamer who’s been around for a while would ever encourage you to debt-finance their lifestyle. Supporting streamers is good, they work hard and your support allows them to keep doing what they do, but don’t do it at your own expense.
— I’ll be the first to say that I helped build Community Gifting and I know how addicting it can be to spam gift subs. When love is for sale, sometimes you gotta buy it. But it’s never worth jeopardizing your finances for it. Believe me, no streamer who’s been around for a while would ever encourage you to debt-finance their lifestyle. Supporting streamers is good, they work hard and your support allows them to keep doing what they do, but don’t do it at your own expense. Don’t avoid subscribing just because you can get everything for free — Yes, I know this is ironic because of my last piece of advice. But here’s the thing. The most beautiful moment you can have on Twitch is finding the first streamer you’re willing to just drop $5 a month on and set it and forget it. It’s because you’ve found community, you’ve found friendship, and you’ve found belonging. Don’t underestimate that feeling. My first paid sub on Twitch was to twitch.tv/thedragonfeeney because even though I could get gifted in her channel whenever I wasn’t subbed, it wasn’t worth it to me to not have her emotes, even just for 2 days. But it was much more than that.
A streamdeck button featuring lobCry of me timing out LotsofGifts (Niall) in LotsofBunnies’ channel
Affiliates
I’m one of you. I streamed when there wasn’t an affiliate program and I’ve been an Affiliate for over 2 years now. Your journey as a streamer is hard, hopefully this will help you along the way:
Partnership isn’t everything — I know that checkmark is sexy (the Ambassador one is even more sexy), I know it is. At the end of the day, you don’t need Twitch to validate your value, your worth, or even your content. If you’re not enough without the checkmark, you’ll never be enough with it. In my time at Twitch, I’ve seen streams get partnered and within a year they’ve left the platform for full time jobs. Partnership is a milestone, not the end of the journey. I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded of your value because I’m sure your community does it on a regular basis. You can succeed on Twitch (and in your content-creation life) without ever making Partner.
— I know that checkmark is sexy (the Ambassador one is even more sexy), I know it is. At the end of the day, you don’t need Twitch to validate your value, your worth, or even your content. If you’re not enough without the checkmark, you’ll never be enough with it. In my time at Twitch, I’ve seen streams get partnered and within a year they’ve left the platform for full time jobs. Partnership is a milestone, not the end of the journey. I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded of your value because I’m sure your community does it on a regular basis. You can succeed on Twitch (and in your content-creation life) without ever making Partner. People don’t like you because you’re “just like ___” — One of the key things I see Affiliates do is copy someone else’s content, sayings, or style… then months later they wonder why they aren’t “just as successful”. The reality is that the community you build is the one who likes you for who you are, not who you’re trying to be. It doesn’t mean: don’t watch streams and adapt to something that works for you. There just isn’t a shortcut, a magic bullet, or a genie to make your stream as successful as you feel like it should be. It’s why the Devin Nashes or the Harris Hellars of the world can give away so much great free advice; they understand at the end of the day, the audience of people who can take their wisdom and be successful is a small group of individuals who will put the hard work in it. As they say, luck is just hard work meets opportunity. Make your own luck.
— One of the key things I see Affiliates do is copy someone else’s content, sayings, or style… then months later they wonder why they aren’t “just as successful”. The reality is that the community you build is the one who likes you for who you are, not who you’re trying to be. It doesn’t mean: don’t watch streams and adapt to something that works for you. There just isn’t a shortcut, a magic bullet, or a genie to make your stream as successful as you feel like it should be. It’s why the Devin Nashes or the Harris Hellars of the world can give away so much great free advice; they understand at the end of the day, the audience of people who can take their wisdom and be successful is a small group of individuals who will put the hard work in it. As they say, luck is just hard work meets opportunity. Make your own luck. Tools are just that, tools; they aren’t solutions — If I had a penny for every time someone told me that a specific Partner feature was the one reason they weren’t more successful, and I took those pennies, bought GameStop at $6 and held until $400, I’d be rich! But in all seriousness, remember that the people who have been on this platform for 5+ years did it without an affiliate program, without emotes, without any true form of on-platform monetization. Twitch might be different now, but it’s only gotten easier to grow and be stable. The tools you have today and the audience that visits Twitch on a daily basis is only going to increase. Use it to your advantage, don’t waste time lamenting about what you don’t have today.
Ceddy prediction that I wouldn’t make Partner in the next year at a Chicken and Waffle breakfast party at TwitchCon 2019
Partners
I’m so glad I’ve gotten to know so many of you over the years. I’ve been to more PAXs than I can remember, gotten more business cards than I can hold (they’re in storage but it’s a lot), and had more cups of coffee getting Partner feedback than is healthy for a human. You’re what made my time at Twitch truly special, and I hope to honor that love with this advice:
Set goals, achieve them, rinse and repeat — You’ve all achieved something in life most people will never be able to do, you’re a Partner on Twitch. Dana White (President of UFC) came to an event I was at once and told the room, you’ve all done something that was too hard for me to do: “get a 4 year college degree”; I believe you can do a lot more than you think, if you just put your mind to it. That’s how I feel about you. You set a goal and you achieved it. The first goal was one Twitch made for you; you have the ability to do it for yourself. There’s always someone who’s going to make more money, have more views, or “be better” than you, but they didn’t live your life, walk in your shoes, or build your community. You did something difficult and achieved something most can’t. You can do it again, I believe.
— You’ve all achieved something in life most people will never be able to do, you’re a Partner on Twitch. Dana White (President of UFC) came to an event I was at once and told the room, you’ve all done something that was too hard for me to do: “get a 4 year college degree”; I believe you can do a lot more than you think, if you just put your mind to it. That’s how I feel about you. You set a goal and you achieved it. The first goal was one Twitch made for you; you have the ability to do it for yourself. There’s always someone who’s going to make more money, have more views, or “be better” than you, but they didn’t live your life, walk in your shoes, or build your community. You did something difficult and achieved something most can’t. You can do it again, I believe. You don’t own your viewers, and they don’t own you — One of the most toxic things I hear people say (not just partners) is those are MY viewers. You don’t own your viewers, they have their own lives whether they’re on Twitch or not. The most toxic belief is that you need to chase down those viewers. I once had a streamer reach out to me after I told one of her mods that I stopped coming by because she got really focused on the game and didn’t interact with chat. She immediately reached out and apologized. And the first thing I told her was: “You don’t owe me an apology, this is your channel, your content, and your community.” If you change your content for the few, you’ll alienate the many that got you to where you are. I firmly believe Twitch is a matching game, the better viewers are matched with a streamer the longer they’ll stay with that channel; it’s ok if someone isn’t a great match for your channel.
— One of the most toxic things I hear people say (not just partners) is those are MY viewers. You don’t own your viewers, they have their own lives whether they’re on Twitch or not. The most toxic belief is that you need to chase down those viewers. I once had a streamer reach out to me after I told one of her mods that I stopped coming by because she got really focused on the game and didn’t interact with chat. She immediately reached out and apologized. And the first thing I told her was: “You don’t owe me an apology, this is your channel, your content, and your community.” If you change your content for the few, you’ll alienate the many that got you to where you are. I firmly believe Twitch is a matching game, the better viewers are matched with a streamer the longer they’ll stay with that channel; it’s ok if someone isn’t a great match for your channel. Don’t have beliefs, have hypotheses — I think everyone’s heard about how valuable data is but data is valuable because it lets you test a hypothesis, do something different, and measure how it does. Sometimes it’s hard to get data at Twitch (both internally and externally), but not having data doesn’t mean “don’t take a data oriented approach”. The streamers I consider the most successful have so much information to back their choices by changing something, measuring the results, and then doing it over and over again. Don’t let things happen to you; take control of your own destiny by developing and testing your own hypotheses. Believe me when I tell you some of the most successful products on Twitch didn’t come from nowhere. You don’t want to see what the 2018 /subscriptions page looks like, but that’s a story for another time.
The subs team finally activating cumulative sub tenure after 5 months of hard work
Twitch Leadership
Endings are always bittersweet; my time at Twitch will always be something I hold near and dear to my heart. I can’t help but express my admiration and appreciation for the leadership at Twitch. You’ve given me the opportunity to do something incredible both personally and professionally. Having sat in numerous meetings with many of you, I know your jobs are hard, the decisions you make are often impossible, and while I don't expect any of you have the time to read this, I want to share these thoughts in hopes that you do:
Celebrate people, their accomplishments, and even the everyday — I started my career at Walt Disney World. They’re a company known all over the world for the stellar customer service (in many ways, the same way Amazon is). What I learned on my first day of orientation was a very simple “flywheel”: creating a safe environment allows you to treat your employees well; treat your employees well and they’ll treat your customers well; those customers will create business value. For as many wins as we’ve had in the last three years I’ve been at the company, I wish we spent more time celebrating them together. Celebrating the individuals that accomplished seemingly impossible things, celebrating the high performers who go above and beyond, and just as important, celebrating the individuals who move on, either to a different department or a different company. Every promotion at Disney was celebrated and every departure was announced with as much fanfare as every new hire.
For those of you who had the chance to attend a Waffle Wednesday, you’ll have seen the variety of employees from all around, from different teams, functions and all walks of life. Whenever someone asked what “this was for” or what “we are celebrating” I’d just say “because it’s Wednesday”. You help create a company and environment where people are excited about what they do; embrace it!
— I started my career at Walt Disney World. They’re a company known all over the world for the stellar customer service (in many ways, the same way Amazon is). What I learned on my first day of orientation was a very simple “flywheel”: creating a safe environment allows you to treat your employees well; treat your employees well and they’ll treat your customers well; those customers will create business value. For as many wins as we’ve had in the last three years I’ve been at the company, I wish we spent more time celebrating them together. Celebrating the individuals that accomplished seemingly impossible things, celebrating the high performers who go above and beyond, and just as important, celebrating the individuals who move on, either to a different department or a different company. Every promotion at Disney was celebrated and every departure was announced with as much fanfare as every new hire. For those of you who had the chance to attend a Waffle Wednesday, you’ll have seen the variety of employees from all around, from different teams, functions and all walks of life. Whenever someone asked what “this was for” or what “we are celebrating” I’d just say “because it’s Wednesday”. You help create a company and environment where people are excited about what they do; embrace it! The community trusts you, live up to that trust — When I joined the company, one of the first things I realized was the value of trust. Every chance I got with the community, I bought low so I could sell high on a rainy day. When I talk to users, new and old, streamers and viewers, or large and small, they all profoundly believe what we have to say. They choose to listen and engage and interpret. That trust is extremely easy to break and extremely hard to get back. Don’t give more reasons for our customers to not trust us. Own the successes, and own the mistakes. We’ll build a better platform together, not as staff and users, but as one family.
— When I joined the company, one of the first things I realized was the value of trust. Every chance I got with the community, I bought low so I could sell high on a rainy day. When I talk to users, new and old, streamers and viewers, or large and small, they all profoundly believe what we have to say. They choose to listen and engage and interpret. That trust is extremely easy to break and extremely hard to get back. Don’t give more reasons for our customers to not trust us. Own the successes, and own the mistakes. We’ll build a better platform together, not as staff and users, but as one family. Streamers are more than numbers — Finally, just as engineers aren’t “resources”, streamers on the platform aren’t just an aggregate number. They have lives, they pay rent, and they have families that count on them. Every decision that gets made has an impact not only on the whole but the parts that equal the whole. Why is this important? Because if there’s one thing that I learned from my time at Twitch, is that the deeper we go into an individual’s experience the more likely we are to find something that’s universal. Some of the best things I’ve done for the company are ones where I got deep enough with one user to find something that I realized everyone needed but not many could express. Twitch succeeds when we all do, not only when some do at the expense of others.
TwitchCon 2018 Keynote when Emmett announces cumulative sub tenure
Special Thanks
This journey was made possible by the love and support of so many people, but there are a few people specifically that I want to take the time to shout out.
Bobby Scarnewman — Sup wit it, scar? You’re the real homie. You were the best partner in crime anyone could ever ask for. As I’ve always said, you and I have the same heart but two different brains. You’ve made such a profound impact on my life, you’ve made a bigger impact on Twitch than others will ever know, and you’ve never been properly thanked for either. Thank you, Bobby. You literally taught me what it means to belong to a community. If the world had a few more Bobby Scars, we’d all be better off.
Eddie Kotowski and Sanny Chawla — You two took a PM who thought pubsubs were only delicious sandwiches one can get at Publix to one of the most technically oriented PMs at Twitch (someone else’s words, not mine). I’ve been so proud to see both of you grow as engineers, and now as managers. Thanks for your patience, your kindness, and your dedication to delivering the best user experience. When my engineers hear me say, “Sanny/Eddie would have never let me do that,” they might be confused, but I’ll always know what that means.
Bobby Carp and Saurabh Oberoi — You know I went to the University of Michigan. I might have never played football but the phrase, “The Team, The Team, The Team,” never rang more true than my time working with you. You taught me the art of balancing process and people, helping to create a powerhouse team that only continues to deliver at Twitch. Your legacies will live long beyond your departure from the team we were all a part of. Every growing engineering team should be so lucky to have leaders like you on them.
Feen (thedragonfeeney) and Feff — When I moved from Amazon to Twitch, my biggest fear was I wouldn’t be able to get feedback from my users — boy, did I have no idea how heckin’ dumb that was… I can’t imagine the luck I had that you were the first Partner I was introduced to. Through these years, you’ve been more than just users to me, more than friends, you’ve been the driving force for why I always pushed for my products at Twitch to be the best. I’m in awe of the community you’ve developed on Twitch and I always saw my role at Twitch as something sacred, because I never wanted to let you down, and in turn, I never wanted to let any streamer on Twitch down. I may leave Twitch but I won’t leave your channel, ’cause it’s the home of Pizza Friday, that’s this Friday, I’ll bring my pizza, and we’ll talk about it.
Me and Hannahbart serving up a pineapple and anchovy pizza from MOD Pizza on Friday at PAX West 2018. Everyone’s favorite meme-flavored pizza.
What’s Next?
My favorite saying from one of my favorite shows of all time, The West Wing: “What’s Next”. The next thing you get to tackle gives you both a sense of appreciation for the present and a sense of inevitability for the future. I’m currently working on a new podcast, starting to write a book on product management (since one of my engineers convinced me to), and getting ready to call Los Angeles my home as I move there for my next career opportunity.
Who knows, maybe I’ll even try to make Twitch Partner.
Thank you all for making the last three years the most memorable of my life. Goodbye, and thanks for all the waffles. | https://medium.com/@djfluffkins/15-lessons-to-share-from-my-3-years-as-a-twitch-pm-2b40346ba982 | ['Sam Chen'] | 2021-02-06 23:03:46.584000+00:00 | ['Live Streaming', 'Community', 'Product Management', 'Twitch'] |
The G Spot | In the rarefied atmosphere of ESG most discussion and activity are focused on the E — the Environment: global warming and carbon emission reduction. Environment, as a concept, is actually much broader than carbon emissions reduction and we hear very little about water security or oceanic diversity. In similar vein, we don’t hear about a great deal of emphasis, in ESG discussions or actions, about the S — Society: yes, we hear a bit about gender equality, (anti) child labour and poverty alleviation but, again, Society is a much broader topic for consideration and action if the whole ESG enterprise is to gain traction.
What we hear very little about, however, is the G in ESG — Governance. It is as if there is not much to say about Governance, that it is somebody else’s responsibility or that it is such a boring and two-dimensional topic that to put too much emphasis on it will risk boring people and turning then off ESG more broadly.
It is my contention, however, that the Governance, the G in ESG, is not only absolutely fundamental to the ESG movement, to achieving the short- and long-term goals of the ESG movement; G is the key to the whole ESG enterprise. Without the G, there is no ESG.
What do we mean when we talk about Governance? For me the reductionist view of Governance is when it is seen solely or predominantly as central to a company achieving its objectives whilst maintaining legal and ethical standing at the same time as financial probity: what some in the world of finance call the four Ps — People, Purpose, Process and Performance. This is, perhaps, the more boring perspective.
Governance is, in reality, so much more than this and so much more important than this. Governance includes the regulatory structures (and strictures) put in place by governments and international bodies to control businesses. The best we can say about this, in ESG terms, is that currently it is still ‘Under Development’. Yes, it is about the manner in which a company goes about doing its business — things we may describe as internal, but Governance is also about the strategic direction of the company, the philosophy of the company and the legacy of the company — things we may describe as the company’s place in the world. Being clear about this is absolutely central to the ESG mission. Governance is also about making sure that everything lines up, is cognizant of and is acting upon the rules of the game — not just in an active way but in a proactive manner (even drug cartels do this, although not particularly good examples of ESG champions!). Mention of drug cartels, however, leads one into thinking about those things that are currently missing from any debate about governance — not the least of which is crime. Whilst one hears quite a bit about cyber-crime, the ESG debate is almost silent on the broader topic of crime. We hear very little (almost nothing) about corruption (in politics or corporations), the patently illegal actions and activities of politicians and corporations (as well as large and small businesses) and the obviously illegal activities of ‘organised crime’. I defy anyone who claims that crime is boring, but unless we get to grips with the fulness of the concept of Governance, we put the whole ESG enterprise at risk. Governance is trendy.
Head of Social Policy at Bedford Row Capital Plc
Professor Kevin Haines: [email protected] | https://medium.com/@debtadviserbrca/the-g-spot-c7d73adc8960 | ['Bedford Row Capital'] | 2021-07-06 11:34:35.716000+00:00 | ['Esg', 'Governance', 'Sustainable Finance'] |
Yes, I Did Those Jobs | What was your first job? You know, the one that paid you actual money. Mine was cleaning Persian show cats’ cages for a woman who lived outside of town. $1 an hour. I was over the moon!
My fee for babysitting was only 50 cents an hour; I was going to clean up.
And I did
I cleaned up cat shit and cat litter and cat vomit and balls of cat fur. The lady’s husband had built a cinder block building out back when their basement got to be too full of cat cages. There were probably about a hundred cats or so it seemed to me. The lady herself spent hours every day bathing the cats. Those cats were the least cat-like cats I’ve ever been around.
They didn’t groom themselves. They didn’t evince any curiosity about anything around them. They just laid there in those cages, often in the litter boxes, with a dull, dumb expression on their pushed-in little faces. I lasted two weeks, I think. I wasn’t fast enough (a theme we will revisit throughout my work life).
Then I got my first “real” job with a W4 and everything!
I ran the concession stand at the local movie house in the little town I grew up in, Lodi, Ohio. The Idol Theater (get it? Lodi spelled backward, huh?) sat maybe 75 paying customers and was the only option for watching movies short of driving up to Medina where there was a two-screen multiplex. I think I earned $2.50 an hour, making the popcorn and cotton candy and selling it to customers. There was no cash register just a box. I had to figure out the customers’ change in my head.
That part was hell.
But I got to take as much popcorn as I wanted at the end of the night and making cotton candy was a blast. The first weekend I worked was when “Blazing Saddles” made its big Lodi premiere. I heard that movie so many times before I saw it that I could lip-sync the entire movie and did. Friends weren’t nearly as impressed as I thought they should be.
As I’ve written about Daddy and his legendary work ethic before, so let’s just say I was programmed to work and work hard.
Pen and ink on illustration board by the author — 1985
But I knew this work stuff, it was temporary. I’d show up and do what was expected of me, but it was really only a matter of time before I made a name for myself as an Artist.
So I worked crappy jobs to earn money and drew my weird pictures and got ready for my Big Break.
A particularly tough job was with a sign company. I suspect that technology has transformed sign painting but it was pretty primitive in 1976. In order to trace the letters onto giant pieces of plywood for the really big signs, the lettering was done on paper and then the paper was attached by magnets to a massive steel surface. My job was to use “the stippler”, an electrified stylus that zapped tiny holes in the paper which was then taped into place on the sign and dusted with either chalk or charcoal to give the sign painter his letters (see? Primitive). My boss told me to be careful but that the stippler would bite me. Once.
He was right. On the second day, I let my guard down, allowing the tip of the stylus to make contact with the steel surface and just about got knocked on my ass.
That was bad. There was worse.
I think I got rotated off the stippler because my lines were too wobbly (and I wasn’t fast enough). Instead, I operated the automatic silk screen press. I had a pile of large sheets of paper to my right and a rack to my left. The trick was to pull the sheet of paper into the press, position it perfectly before the top part of the press lowered and the squeegee with the ink got pulled across and then to yank it out, get it onto the rack without messing up the wet ink and make sure the next sheet was in place before the screen came back down again. There was a foot brake to slow things down, but slowing things down was not in the job description.
I don’t think I lasted very long there but within less than a week my hands were covered in paper cuts and cleaning the ink off at the end of my shift using lacquer-thinner was every bit as painful as you’re thinking right now.
Detail from “Puzzle it Out”, pen and ink on illustration board by the author (yes, she was high)
All this time I was drawing and painting and believing in myself.
I was an Artist. I wasn't going to waste time learning marketable skills. I wasn’t going to be a Secretary or a Shoe Salesperson or a Medical Assistant. The one skill set that could reliably earn me money was cleaning (thanks, Mom!). I spent years cleaning in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, cheap motels and flophouses, chain hotels, and even one really fancy four-star joint in downtown Cleveland.
Somewhere in there, I managed a day and a half at the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner factory where I got pulled from one line after another for being — wait for it — too slow. In case you’ve never had the pleasure, working on a factory line is every bit as soul-sucking, miserable, and tedious as you’re thinking. Maybe worse. Factories are loud, dirty, dangerous places and the fact that people were lined up to get jobs there tells you all you need to know about the economy in Cleveland in the 1980s.
When that fell apart, I got hired to work the deli counter at Grossman’s Deli not far where Cleveland used to be really industrial. I’d arrive at 5 am and put a massive pot of water on to boil with all four burners turned on under it. Then I’d heave three or four enormous briskets of corned beef into the pot, five on Fridays, and go cut and wrap about thirty thousand kosher dill pickles in wax paper.
The lunch rush was brutal but there were three of us behind the counter and we had our system. By 2 pm when the rush was over, there wasn’t an inch behind that counter that wasn’t slathered in grease including the phone. | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/yes-i-did-those-jobs-4c93963e9f38 | ['Remington Write'] | 2020-07-03 13:11:07.334000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Jobs', 'Action', 'Work Life Balance', 'Work'] |
Google Data Fusion: Using Cloud Storage file uploads to trigger Data Fusion ETL Pipelines | Google Data Fusion: Using Cloud Storage file uploads to trigger Data Fusion ETL Pipelines Justin Taras Jul 14·6 min read
TL;DR Google Cloud Functions and Google Data Fusion’s REST API can be jointly used to deliver event based execution.
Google Data Fusion Pipeline Execution
In most typical deployments of Data Fusion, Pipelines are launched using the following three methods.
In-built Data Fusion scheduler
Google Cloud Composer (Fully managed Apache Airflow)
3rd party scheduler through Data Fusion REST API’s
But what about event based scenarios? What happens if a pipeline needs to start based upon some event like a file arriving in a Google Cloud Storage (GCS) bucket. Instead of waiting until the next scheduled pipeline run how can the pipeline be automatically triggered?
Take this simple Data Fusion pipeline:
Simple Data Fusion Batch Pipeline
When this pipeline runs, the GCS source plugin looks for any new files in the designated bucket, passes the file into Wrangler where it is parsed and formatted, and then written to Google BigQuery. This is a very common ETL pattern that’s used extensively in Google Cloud. How can this simple pipeline be invoked in an event driven manner?
This article will explore how to take the aforementioned pipeline and make it event driven using Google Cloud Functions.
Google Cloud Functions Setup
Google Cloud Functions can be deployed with a variety of event trigger types that can be used to invoke a function. In this example, the Finalize/Create trigger event will be used because it signals when a new file is written to a bucket or a new version of a file is created. This can be used to identify when a new file has landed and is ready for processing by Data Fusion.
The Cloud Storage Event Trigger
Google Cloud Functions also enables developers to create environment variables to modify the configuration of the function. Instead of hardcoding values into the function code itself, environment variables can be used to pass those values in at function runtime. In this example, the core components needed for interacting with the Data Fusion API and PubSub API are included as variables. For reference, don’t use this method if you need to pass in sensitive information like passwords or access keys. For managing sensitive data, check out Google Secret Manager.
In the Cloud Function Editor, select the runtime of the function (python 3.7).
When you select the python runtime, two files will be generated:
main.py
requirements.txt
The main.py is the file that will contain the python code that will power the function. The requirements.txt file will have the python library dependencies that are required for the function to execute. In this example the only library that will ben needed is the PubSub client. Most of the other core python libraries that are required are already installed on the function image.
google-cloud-pubsub
The run_job definition is the entry point for the function and is the definition that will be called when function is executed. Make sure it’s set or otherwise the function won’t work.
Remember to set the function Entry Point.
The Cloud Function Code
The python example code has 2 definitions. The get_access_token function is used to generate an access token for the Data Fusion API’s. This is accomplished using the cloud function instance metadata server to retrieve the access token with an enforced scope.
The run_job definition is the main entry point for the function and is where the API calls to Data Fusion are produced. The data from the cloud storage event will be passed into the run_job definition via the data parameter. This is a JSON object that will need to be parsed to retrieve the bucket and file names needed.
Passing File Details to the Data Fusion Pipeline
With the function being triggered by files landing on GCS, the file details need to be passed to Data Fusion in order for the pipeline to know what file to pickup and process. This is done using Macros. In the pipeline example, data is read from GCS, wrangled in Wrangler, and written to BigQuery. A macro is placed in the GCS sink plugin so it can be programmatically changed with each pipeline run.
${my-file} macro in my GCS plugin
When the pipeline is invoked via REST, the macro details need to be included in the API call. The my-file key in the struct below is the macro name in the pipeline.
data = '{"my-file":' + default_file_name +'}'
Below, the macro and its corresponding value are passed as a payload in the API call. When Data Fusion receives the API call, they payload key/value pairs are matched with the pipelines macros and the values are substituted.
r1 = requests.post(post_endpoint,data=data,headers=post_headers)
Capturing Pipeline Run Details
Once the Data Fusion pipeline been triggered, a unique id is generated for that individual pipeline run. The example function code calls the Data Fusion API to retrieve the pipeline run details. These details are written to PubSub so that a downstream service can consume them for monitoring purposes. Cloud Functions are short lived so monitoring of the Data Fusion pipeline execution shouldn’t be handled by the function itself. See lines 63–80 for the pipeline run data extraction and publication to PubSub.
Invoking the Function
Once the function is deployed just drop a file in the bucket that the Cloud Function event trigger is listening on. The logs for the deployed function should indicate a successful function execution.
Logs from Function Execution, Status ‘ok’
A quick look in the Data Fusion UI for the deployed pipeline that was executed shows that the pipeline is in “Running State”.
Deployed Data Fusion pipeline “Running”
The pipeline run details can be found in the assigned PubSub subscription. Below is the event from the recently executed pipeline. The “runid” is how to uniquely identify the pipeline from other pipeline executions.
Data Fusion pipeline details written to PubSub
Final Thoughts
Google Cloud Functions is an interesting way to make data fusion pipelines even driven. For pipelines that consume data from GCS on a regular basis, Cloud Functions can accelerate downstream delivery of data without manual processes or relying on scheduling, so long as the pipeline isn’t awaiting any upstream dependencies.
While Cloud Functions does a great job of of starting the the pipelines, additional work is needed to ensure that the pipelines complete successfully and don’t encounter any failures. This would need to be managed by an outside system as this is out of the realm of functions. | https://medium.com/@jtaras/google-data-fusion-using-cloud-storage-file-uploads-to-trigger-data-fusion-etl-pipelines-cec3325c78e7 | ['Justin Taras'] | 2021-07-30 13:55:21.766000+00:00 | ['Data Fusion', 'Gcp', 'Google Cloud Functions', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Data Integration'] |
Array — Data Structure and Some Common Coding Problems | Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash
An array is a linear data structure that is used for holding the same type of values. This is the common def. of the array.
But in actual when we should use array, whenever we want to hold some data of the same type either it is primitive or non-primitive we should use an array.
Like in our mobile phone we have contact lists that are also an array.
While using arrays there are some advantages and disadvantages also there-
Declaration:
For creating an array in different languages different syntaxes are there In this tutorial I will show you how to create an array using Java.
Initialize an array of size 10.
int[] array = new int[10];
2. If you want to create an array with some values.
int[] array = {1,2, 3,4,5};
You can iterate an array using a loop.
Advantages:
An array is index-based so it takes constant time to return an element.
e.g. If we want to get the element at index 4 then direct we can do
int element = arr[4];
It takes constant time in accessing data. But insert and delete operations are costly in an array.
Disadvantages:
In an array we can not store different kinds of values It will store only the same data type of values at a time. Array size is fixed.
So to overcome these problems of array new data structure came into the picture which is known as LinkedList. (Next post)
Some Common coding interviews Problems related to array:
1. Reverse an array.
2. Sum of array elements.
3. Find maximum and minimum elements of an array.
4. Search an element in an array.
5. Find the kth max and min element in an array.
6. Sort array of 0, 1, 2. with and without extra space.
7. Rotate array by one.
8. Find missing numbers from an array.
9. Move all negative numbers to one side of the array.
10. Union and Intersection of two arrays
11. Longest consecutive subsequence in an array.
These are some common problems and for the solution of these problems You can check out my Github and if you want a detailed explanation, or you want to learn more about complete DSA and Backend Development then connect with me on Linkedin
Hope you understood the basics of array Data structure. If any doubt or query reach out to me.
Thanks for reading! | https://medium.com/shoutloudz/array-data-structure-and-some-common-coding-problems-5689e27f15d7 | ['Chakresh Tiwari'] | 2021-04-06 05:26:53.766000+00:00 | ['LinkedIn', 'JavaScript', 'Java', 'Arrays', 'Data Structures'] |
FINANCIAL COPYWRITER | Partially Remote within Lagos / Full Time/ Sales & Operations
Financial Copywriter Job Description
About Chaka:
Chaka Technologies connects African businesses and individuals to global investment opportunities. We provide access to 4000+ assets in 40+ countries including the US, China, Nigeria and more.
Read about us on TechCrunch, Business Day, or watch on Channels TV.
Chaka is available at www.chaka.com
Who We Need:
The Chaka marketing team is looking for a highly motivated and organized financial copywriter to manage its content marketing strategy and execution. The ideal candidate specializes in writing engaging content that demonstrates our thought leadership in the financial markets and establishes a connection between the Chaka brand and investors and/or stock traders.
The candidate can take complex, technical concepts and explain them to beginners, but can also write technically enough to inspire pros! You understand the value in SEO and know how to drive action with engaging, fact-checked content.
He/She has a firm grasp of grammar, punctuation, and error-free spelling (preferably conversant with AP-style writing). He/She has relevant and up-to-date understanding of the industry’s trends and industry’s content trends. The Chaka Marketing team is full of team players and action-takers. If you feel comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with specific, strict deadlines, whilst collaborating with other key members on cross-functional teams, then let’s work together!
What You Will Do:
Develop, write, edit, or proof content that will inspire, engage and educate customers for a broad array of marketing initiatives and materials, including email campaigns, daily newsletters, market analysis articles and whitepapers.
Communicating advanced and technical finance or investment concepts while still attempting to remain engaging and enticing to audiences.
Tell compelling stories that drive action.
Understand and address audience pain points (audience here being high value investors, asset managers, and other financial institutions)
Understand and convey product value in both long- and short-form types of content from email subject lines to high-converting website copy.
Collaborate with designers to bring the written word to life for effective storytelling
Preferred Background and experience
2+ years professional experience in finance-related journalism, communications, or similar. Finance qualifications with copywriting experience also considered.
A good idea of the common text and visual formats that are often employed in financial writing
Above average understanding of SEO and email marketing
Must-have skill: email marketing and high Mailchimp proficiency
Preferably skilled in both acquisition and retention copywriting
Freakishly good attention to detail
Team player and all-round collaborator
Out of the box thinking
Makes quick, quality decisions
Is calm in high-pressure, tight deadline situations
Focused on outcomes, but establishes process
What We Offer:
Strength, Stability, and Vision
A collaborative team of creative thinkers to brainstorm with
A culture that embraces your eccentricities and allows you to breathe
A technology platform that is revolutionizing the African investing industry
An empowered culture where your ideas are important and your voice matters
Healthcare benefits and competitive leave days
To apply, send your Resume and Cover letter to [email protected] | https://medium.com/@chaka-careers/financial-copywriter-95438319d4d6 | ['Chaka Technologies'] | 2021-07-26 09:39:18.265000+00:00 | ['Nigeria', 'Finance', 'Copywriter', 'Chaka', 'Vacancies In Nigeria'] |
A Significant Way to Start a Secured Smart Contract MLM Business Like Million Money | A Significant Way to Start a Secured Smart Contract MLM Business Like Million Money Employcoder Aug 20, 2020·2 min read
Million Money Clone Script enables you to build your Million Money MLM Clone Website will all top features in a short period of time without any hassles.
What is Million Money?
Million Money is a smart contract-based MLM Business Platform that runs on Ethereum smart contracts powered by Blockchain technology. It allows registered users the fastest, easiest, and risk-free way to earn 1500 ETH for every 100 days.
How does Million Money MLM Works?
The main working principle of Million Money is the “Multi-Level Marketing “ in which all the transactions and functions of the website are built and carried via a smart contract that is written on the Ethereum Blockchain Network. As this works based on MLM, it involves the compensation Plan or Reward Program through which the users can make money.
How to Start an Ethereum Smart Contract based MLM Platform Like Million Money?
If you are looking to start your own Smart Contract based MLM Business like Million Money, Then Million Money Clone Script helps you to launch your MLM Platform in a few days.
Instead of Building MLM Platform from scratch, Readymade Smart Contract MLM Clone Script has proven to be a cost-effective solution that helps in faster development of MLM Platform and deploying it to the Market.
Million Money Clone Script enables you to build your Million Money MLM Clone Website will all top features in a short period of time without any hassles.
We, Employcoder leading Cryptocurrency Exchange Script Development company provides the powerful Million Money clone script with all advanced features and plugins. Our Blockchain developers are good at developing both readymade and customizable Smart Contract MLM clone scripts with attractive functionalities. We provide the best Smart Contract MLM Platform development with enhanced features at down to earth cost and on-time delivery.
Get an Exclusive Free Demo of our Million Money Clone Script !! | https://medium.com/@employcoder/a-significant-way-to-start-a-secured-smart-contract-mlm-business-like-million-money-ab0563c10a94 | [] | 2020-08-20 05:55:32.336000+00:00 | ['MLM', 'Smart Contracts', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Mlm Software Development'] |
Reasons Why You Should Learn GIS | Geospatial technology is growing rapidly. This has resulted in a lot of new opportunities in far-ranging fields from the street lights in your city to using satellite imagery to observe changes on earth.
If you were ever on the fences, these are just a few reasons you should consider learning GIS.
Remote Work
One silver lining that is going to emerge when this pandemic cloud moves out is remote work.
Many organizations tested all benefits and limitations of remote and had to make necessary adjustments to ensure the continuation of their operations. Telecommuting has become a lifeline.
GIS professionals can, for the most part, work remotely 100% of the time. In this cloud era where people use Software as a Service (SaaS), you can remotely access all software you need and most documents you might need for your project on your company’s Electronic Document Manager(EDM). Alternatively, you could have your software installed on your computer/laptop and access all documents through your network.
In March, when the lockdowns started, transitioning from the office to working from home was the simplest thing I’ve had to do. Apart from a folder of the first project I was planning on working on, the only other thing I grabbed from the office was a monitor. I am accustomed to dual monitors at the office and only had one monitor at my place.
Furthermore, remote work is here to stay. A global study indicates that more than 20 percent of remote workforce work as effectively three to five days of the week as if working from the office. Another study, by the University of Chicago School of Economy, predicts that the percentage of the workforce working remotely will increase from 5 percent, pre-pandemic, to 22 percent, post-pandemic.
Application
Another good reason why you should learn GIS is its applications.
Global reliance on location intelligence is increasing at a very high rate. Many organizations turn to GIS for help in making spatially related decisions. Anything from what and where a problem is, monitoring changes, managing and responding to events, and even forecasting scenarios.
One of my articles touches a little bit on some fields in which GIS is being used. Another article went a little deeper and listed 1000 applications of GIS.
This is not something I knew about when I first got into GIS. It is, however, something I like to talk about whenever I get a chance.
Virtually every field can, and most likely does, use GIS. The only difference is the extent. Is it just for making simple communication maps or performing complex analyses. Making GIS a very nice thing to have in your toolbox.
Resources
A few years back, I took a short online course on Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP). It’s a class in the field of Data Science, one of the very lucrative fields. It’s the most expensive online class I’ve ever taken.
One of the obstacles I encountered was the lack of resources for practicing outside of the classroom.
Our instructor did give us limited access to his online Sandbox. Limited in the sense that it was terminated at the end of the course, and we only had ‘User’ privileges. To fully practice your new skills, you need ‘Admin’ access where you can build and break things.
An alternative to this was a monthly subscription to online Sandboxes, most of which were very expensive.
GIS has a wealth of online resources that are either free or very affordable.
ESRI, the world leader in GIS, has a lot of free and very affordable tutorials on their Training page. ESRI also offers evaluation copies of GIS software at a very affordable rate.
Youtube is another good source for GIS tutorials. These range from introductions, to the very advanced ones.
Besides ESRI, there are many free, open-sources GIS software that you can use to practice with. You can find this list here.
Many colleges and universities have collections of GIS data that you can download for free. Examples of these include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, PSU, the University of Texas at Austin, to name a few.
You can also download GIS data from many of the states’ Information Technology libraries. California Geoportal and Texas’ TNRIS are some good examples.
Another source is the US Census website (Tiger). This has one of the richest and well-organized collections of GIS data.
New Craft
You may just want to learn GIS as a new craft.
In today’s very competitive business world, being able to learn a new craft is one of the keys to success.
Learning a new skill has many benefits, including:
Learning a new skill opens doors to opportunities that were otherwise not available to you. This could be working in a new department in your company, getting into a brand new industry, have an extra stream of income from freelance work, or even working in a different country (when you learn a new language).
Technological advancement is one thing that’s not going to be slowing down any time soon. Learning a new skill is one way to keep you relevant at your job, your industry, or the workforce as a whole. Having an extra skill, like GIS, in your toolbox, plus your years of experience is likely to give you an edge over someone who’s just getting into the workforce.
People who embrace continuous learning tend to be very adaptable. Learning a new skill is risky and it takes you out of your comfort zone. Taking risks increases self-confidence and nurtures a growth mindset. This is the best way to grow as a person and as a professional.
One more benefit of learning a new skill is mental health. Learning a new skill, whether it’s GIS or anything else, gives your brain new experiences. Your brain gets trained to handle a variety of challenges. All this keeps neural pathways active.
Auxiliary Skills
As part of my GIS certificate program, I had to take several intro classes. Introduction to Database Management, AutoCAD, Programming, and Remote Sensing.
Depending on the line of work you choose, you might have to go a little deeper on some of these subjects. For example, my very first GIS job was with Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), where we were using aerial imagery to conduct natural resources inventory. This meant I had to dig a little deeper into Remote Sensing.
You might not have to set up a database from scratch, at least not at the beginning, but basic database knowledge is a must. Things like query definition, where you isolate just the data you want to work with instead of working with the entire database, is a required skill.
AutoCAD knowledge proved handy when I got into the oil and gas industry. Packages for many projects include some kind of AutoCAD drawings.
Learning an auxiliary skill opens you up to other areas that you might find more interesting than you thought. I am not a developer by any means, but I find it very satisfying when I can use a few lines of code to manipulate tens, thousands, or even tens of thousands of records.
Freelance Work
Freelance work is another reason you may want to consider learning GIS. Freelance work offers the flexibility of hours and the location where you work. It is also a good way to supplement your income or try out a new skill before deciding whether or not you want to go all in.
Sites like Fiverr and Upwork show a lot of GIS gigs charging rates up to $30/hr. Most of these gigs use data supplied by clients.
Conclusion
There has never been a better time to learn GIS. Whether you’re planning on embarking on a brand new career journey, you want to boost your resume or to start a side hustle, you will be entering the spatial technology world when it is advancing at a rapid rate and its demand ever so high. | https://medium.com/swlh/reasons-why-you-should-learn-gis-d02b136968fb | ['Ally Fumo'] | 2020-12-17 20:33:35.006000+00:00 | ['Resume', 'GIS', 'New Skills', 'Remote Work'] |
#PowerPlay: Reflecting on the Role of Power and Privilege in Global Health (and Beyond) | #PowerPlay: Reflecting on the Role of Power and Privilege in Global Health (and Beyond)
In honor of Women Deliver, we’re calling on the GHC community to share stories about power — your relationship to it, its impacts on your community, and the role you play in shifting dynamics to foster a more equitable world.
In a 2014 TED Talk about civic power, Eric Liu asked listeners some important question: Do you want power to benefit everyone or only you?
Talking about power and privilege can feel…uncomfortable at best and painful at worst. But as Eric put it: Every day, we move through systems of power that other people made. So it’s important to understand power, where it comes from, how it impacts us, and why it matters.
We’ll be exploring what power looks like in all its messiness and beauty while honoring the wide array of faith traditions, ability levels, socioeconomic backgrounds, gender identities, sexual orientations, education levels, and political persuasions represented in our global GHC community.
Power can be complicated and personal. We want to know why.
In the Global Health Corps (GHC) universe, we recognize how forces outside of our control influence our life paths. Because of this, we can often grapple with feelings ranging from pride to shame, anger to guilt, fear to boldness, defenselessness to defensiveness, and beyond.
As Eric stated, “power + character = a great citizen, and you have the power to be one.” So as social justice leaders committed to transforming broken systems, we are on a lifelong journey of transformation and shifting power dynamics to build a more equitable world.
In the lead up to Women Deliver’s “Power. Progress. Change.” conference in early June, we’re launching the #PowerPlay campaign. Spanning the individual, structural, and movement levels, we’ll be exploring what power looks like in all its messiness and beauty while honoring the wide array of faith traditions, ability levels, socioeconomic backgrounds, gender identities, sexual orientations, education levels, and political persuasions represented in our global GHC community.
Photo source: Women Deliver
Share your #PowerPlay story on AMPLIFY.
All month long, we invite you to publish your thoughts on power and privilege on AMPLIFY. We’ll work with you to finalize and brand your content as part of our #PowerPlay campaign, tied to Women Deliver’s 2019 conference. Check out some inspiration to get started:
What does power mean to you? In what situations do you feel more or less powerful as a young leader?
Can you think of a time you realized you had more/less power and privilege than you thought? What happened and how did you react and navigate that?
What does power have to do with global health/health equity, historically or right now?
When — personally or professionally — have you seen power dynamics shift for the better?
How do power imbalances dehumanize even those who seemingly benefit from them?
Photo credit: 2018–2019 Malawi fellow Christine Bedenis
Are words just not enough? Submit photos to the #PowerPlay photo contest. 📷
It can be difficult (impossible?) to articulate what power means using words alone, so we’re turning to the *power* of images to further illuminate the concept.
Fill out this short form and submit 1–3 photos that depict the concept of power in some way. We’ll share them on GHC’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts and credit you in the month of May. The top three winning photos — those with the most cumulative likes across platforms at the end of the month — will be printed and displayed in GHC’s offices with photo credit.
We believe growth happens when we get uncomfortable. Join us in embracing the power of vulnerability, self-reflection, and community. What’s your #PowerPlay?
Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook. | https://medium.com/amplify/powerplay-reflecting-on-the-role-of-power-and-privilege-in-global-health-and-beyond-48c8aa545f2 | ['Global Health Corps'] | 2019-04-23 16:56:32.386000+00:00 | ['Social Justice', 'Leadership', 'Global Health', 'Women Deliver', 'Power'] |
The Journey Ahead. Episode 4: The Journey Ahead | “Good gosh damn gents, hearing you talk about poppycock dust gave me shivers from tube to top hat,” said the mosquito. The air above her head flickered in midnight blues and charcoal grays. Several massive orange puffs behind her cast dark shadows over the table top. The two worms and fat fly she addressed were silent, surprised at her sudden entrance. Her companions, the grizzled earwigs and their subservient silverfish, stood waiting.
Inside the house, scavengers who came upon each other without predatory intent could expect inquisitive and jovial interaction. Flies, crude and blunt as they are, didn’t do so well with the jovial part. Donny would normally start with an insult, then move into a rant based on the incoming species’ stereotypes. This time however, he was silent, brow visibly furled due to cognitive overload. How could he get rid of the newcomers and control his hostage situation?
One of the hostages broke the silence. Norm spoke, “Uh, you’ve had poppycock dust before?”
“You’re diggity darn right I have, and I’m willing to purchase some off you this very moment.” As she finished her sentence, the mosquito shot a sly wink in Norm’s direction. Luckily, he caught it. “But, I’ll only take it if it’s genuine. Don’t you slip me dust from a honeycrisp or granny apple. I won’t take any of that second rate stuff.”
“It’s real alright. You can come see for yourself, we were just about to go get the seeds,” Norm cautiously replied.
“Well alright then, me and my boys here will join you on your trek. Let’s giddy on up.”
Donny’s brow furled to right angles. He started, “Wait just a minute now plasma-sucker.” The mosquito didn’t flinch at the insult. Among the group, adrenaline was rising and the air was as heavy as the sweat dripping down Donny’s antenna. Using all of his brain power to craft his next sentence, he continued, “I’m sorry to inform you that these two worms and myself have an agreement to tend to. We won’t be going nowhere for the time being.”
Turning to face the fly, the top-hatted mosquito responded, “Oh, pardon me. I got all worked up over the thought of poppycock dust and I forgot my manners.” At this comment, she audibly clicked two segments in her lower abdomen. Moving behind Donny, the earwigs stealthily unhooked the silverfish, though keeping them put. She continued, “I didn’t invite the fly on our trek. Will you join us?”
“Will I join you?” Donny’s voice cracked. “I’m not going anywhere. And… and neither are the worms. As I said, we were in the middle of something, an agreement of sorts.”
Donny was shaking with adrenaline and anxiety. The mosquito paused, then calmly replied, “Now I’m real sorry about this friend, but it seems to me that these worms don’t want much to do with your agreement,” she said and looked to Norm and Norman.
“Nope!” spouted Norman.
“And we can’t just pass up an opportunity for poppycock dust. It sounds like you’ll be staying, and we’ll be taking the worms and going. Don’t make a fuss now, shit-eater.” She turned to leave, motioning that the worms come with.
Donny felt the insult, registered his loss of control, and lunged to attack. At the very moment of lift off, two lashes swung around his thorax and abdomen. The lashes quickly tightened, rendering his wings motionless and causing his paralyzed body to nose-dive from the air. He hit face first, feeling something in his proboscis crack as orange spatter spewed onto the table top. | https://medium.com/norm-norm/episode-4-d1825de52871 | ['Shaun Lind'] | 2016-08-26 03:35:06.857000+00:00 | ['Short Fiction', 'Fictional Series', 'Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Graphic Novels'] |
The Paintbox of a Cook | The Paintbox of a Cook
The colours of culinary expression
Image by kawephoto on Shutterstock
This poem is the tenth poem I have published at BeingWriters, a wonderful publication that gave me my start on Medium. Thank you BeingWriters, and Raffaella Ferretti, for your ongoing support and encouragement.
Can you understand
How bountiful Earth
Is with edible vegetation?
Life is sustained by it.
Life is improved by it.
It’s the greatest gift of nature.
Of all that we eat,
None is more wholly
Imbued with the nourishment
Our body and soul require;
Nutrients and nurturing.
Roughage and vitamins,
Aesthetics beyond compare,
Plates of vibrant colour,
Inspiration and imagination.
New ideas and concepts
In the sketchbook of a cook.
Not as a side dish,
Or accompaniment,
Rather a meal
In itself.
© Victor Sarkin 2020.
My take on an acrostic poem, where typically, the first letter of each line spells out a word. In this case, each word spelled is connected to the theme of the poem. I have added another dimension where the first letter of each stanza also contributes another word, in the theme of the poem. A bi-dimensional acrostic poem, if you will. | https://medium.com/beingwriters/the-paintbox-of-a-cook-135262178032 | ['Victor Sarkin'] | 2020-11-22 17:35:52.356000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Poetry', 'Food', 'Creativity', 'Diet'] |
On leaving: | On leaving:
This pandemic, college, and quite a few other things have had me feeling kinda flighty recently, I hope some of you can relate! Seth Honda Follow Dec 15, 2020 · 1 min read
Photo by Deva Gawkar on Unsplash
I’ve been thinking
About running away.
I’ve been thinking
About walking for a long time
In no particular direction.
I would like to,
But I am much too afraid,
So I will dream about it instead.
And I do,
I close my eyes
And find myself in the middle of a forest,
I find myself surrounded by trees
That disappear into the clouds,
And I walk for a long time
In no particular direction,
But here it is lonely,
I realize.
Here the trees tower over
Me in a way that makes
Me feel very small.
Very alone. | https://medium.com/literally-literary/on-leaving-461ddc3f0b78 | ['Seth Honda'] | 2020-12-15 05:33:17.685000+00:00 | ['Prose', 'Running Away', 'Solitude', 'Poetry'] |
Leads, Leads, Leads, Leads, Leads! Brand Strategy? | Leads are the thing we all need to keep the sales pipeline filled. There is no denying that. As a business, you generally know how many leads it’ll take for you to close a certain amount of deals. (If you don’t, stop right now and figure it out before you run out of money.) You hustle to get those leads and concentrate on tactics that will drive as many people to your website as possible. You create forms to capture email addresses. You post ad, after ad, after ad. You attend trade shows, create videos, the list goes on and on. And, at the end of all of this, not much happens. Why? Because leads don’t bring you money. Clients do. And those people that are visiting your site are possibly not quality leads.
You can have 100,001 leads with 0 new clients. Or, you could have 10 leads with 1 new client. I hear people talk about it all the time as it relates to social media. The term “friends” on Facebook has warped our whole idea of what an actual “friend” is. Would you rather have 1,239 contacts on your phone you can’t rely on that heavily or 5 contacts on your phone you could call anytime you needed anything? We all know the answer. We like the world to see quantity, but we really care about quality.
Don’t Fall For It
I get a bit angry when I hear about marketing companies that approach businesses and promise a certain amount of leads for a certain dollar amount. These businesses get soooooo excited about the prospect of hundreds (or thousands) of new leads per month! Then, they run ads, or whatever, to get those leads. They need to live up to their end of the deal, right? They promised leads, and by golly, they will get some leads! But, those leads visit your website, maybe try out what you have to offer, only to realize that it’s not a good fit at all. Those promised leads are horrible. They do nothing but justify the existence of that marketing company.
What has this “marketing company” failed to do? They have failed to embrace and execute your brand in a way that targets, attracts, and delivers the right people at the right time to your business. These fly-by-night “marketing companies” don’t care about your brand. They say they do “branding”, but I’m not sure they know what that means. How long do they spend with you getting to know your company before launching the first ad, or website change? How much effort do they put into generating clear and unique copywriting that speaks to your audience? Are the photos, typography, or website templates they use pulled from a mass-produced library of designs they’ve used for 1,000 other businesses like yours? Don’t fall for it. Don’t be another tally on their whiteboard. You deserve better.
The Struggle Is Real
65% of companies struggle to generate traffic and leads. No surprise, right? Driving leads is hard! That’s why we are so eager to pay someone else to get us more traffic and more leads!
We get it. We like leads. Like I said before, without those leads we all die. The point here is to make sure we are getting the right kinds of leads. This is where a real brand strategy can help. Taking the time to define who you are, what you are, why you exist, who you’re targeting, what you’re selling, and what you want people to say about you when you’re not around will pay off for you in the end. We are so eager to get that logo done, get some business cards, launch a website, set up a Facebook page, and get t-shirts printed, that we don’t take the time to understand where we’ve been, where we are, where we’re going, and why we exist in the first place!
The Challenge
I want to leave you with this challenge. Show your website to a complete stranger and give them 7 seconds to tell you:
1. what you do, and
2. how you will make their life better.
Next, ask 5–10 people inside or outside of your business what you do. How many different answers do you get?
Just start there. Think about what was said. Is that who you want to be? If not, then it’s time to step back and strategize. Tactics without strategy just leaves feeling empty and lost. Tactics fail, strategy is for the long haul.
Let’s take time to think about strategy. Then, we can use that info to drive the right kinds of leads. The leads that turn into clients. Because they are the ones that pay us real money.
—
Want to be more effective with the time you have creating marketing strategies? You can read The 5 Step Process For a More Structured Marketing Strategy eBook for a more in-depth discussion of these concepts and how you can begin to implement them. | https://medium.com/thoughts-of-a-brand-strategist/leads-leads-leads-leads-leads-brand-strategy-bdd7d5564254 | ['Skot Waldron'] | 2018-05-18 16:43:01.101000+00:00 | ['Branding', 'Lead Generation', 'Marketing', 'Brand Strategy', 'Digital Marketing'] |
Learners struggle to access learning materials as government gambles on how to cover the gap. | Learners struggle to access learning materials as government gambles on how to cover the gap.
Martha is a Class seven candidate at a primary school in Wakiso district. Her day starts at 7:00am with house chores before turning on Television at 9:00am for televised lessons. She also receives work from her school on a weekly basis through her mum’s phone.
“When I wake up, I brush my teeth, bathe and then do my assigned house chores for the day before getting ready for study sessions on TV”. Martha says. Martha’s mother, Maria Mbabazi who has three other school-going children says her biggest challenge has been keeping the children engaged during this trying time.
Her children are among the 4,697,036 primary school children affected by the school closures. In total, 10,646,478 learners — 608,973 pre-primary, 1,031,520 secondary and 165,396 tertiary — are at home waiting out the pandemic. Ms Mbabazi says not many of them are used to studying on Television and end up watching other channels which she can’t control.
“I keep telling them to read their books but it’s not easy, they keep dodging and end up watching other channels and because you don’t want them to go out and loiter the village, you let them be”. She said.
Martha is lucky to come from one of the few families with a TV set in Uganda. The most recent household survey conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics was carried out in 2016. It indicates that forty-two per cent of households in Kampala owned a working television set as opposed to areas like Karamoja where no single individual owned a television set.
Overall, 83% of the households in Uganda do not have their own television sets. Children in the rural areas and informal settlements where communally owned televisions (7%) are the norm cannot make use of the televised lessons as this would be in contravention of the government orders on physical and social distancing to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Soon after the government announced the closure of schools on March 20, different local Television stations have introduced lessons and relied on teachers from different schools to deliver them. Some of these Televisions include BBS Television under its program “Somera mu Ddiiro Lyo” which translates to, “study from your living room” Others include Bukedde Television, Top Television and the National broadcaster, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. These lessons have only benefited children in urban areas where households have television stations as they are connected to electricity.
According to the survey, only 57% of the households are connected to the national power grid with the rest depending on tadooba, dry cells and batteries, solar and other sources of lighting. Over and above the lessons available on television, teachers at Martha’s School (Kimanje parents’ school) have been sending lesson plans and questions to her mother’s phone.
Henry Ssemanda, a teacher at one of the private schools in Wakiso said the teachers were using WhatsApp to deliver lessons on phone for those parents who can afford the internet data charges “The parents take care of the internet charges on an agreement basis between a teacher and a parent and we write the work. We draft questions and answers and then take pictures of the work and send it via WhatsApp and later on, we send the answers still through the same method.” Teacher Ssemanda said.
He also says for parents who can afford, the lessons are conducted on phone and the notes are sent on email or WhatsApp. “We receive work from the teachers with questions and after some days, the teachers send the answers and we mark the children” Mrs Christine Mukasa, another parent whose child (Dan Mukasa) is a Class seven-candidate said. She, however, says accessing the internet especially social media that comes with a tax has been a challenge. “My older son has a phone and the work is sent on his phone. We download it and this has helped a lot. We also photocopied past papers that we printed and he uses that for his reading”. Mrs Mukasa added.
The situation is however different with regards to public schools. A parent identified as Ruth Anderah says her child receives work free of charge from the teacher via WhatsApp. “Since schools closed, I have received work twice on WhatsApp and they send us a lot that can take the children some time. I have never paid any amount of money.” She said.
According to the World Internet Statistics by 31st-Dec-2019, Uganda had 18.5 million users with a penetration rate of 46%. However, according to a 2018 report by the Uganda Communications Commission in 2018 showed that the number of users had been slashed by 5 million after the introduction of Over -The -Top service tax (OTT) on social media platforms.
This made internet access more expensive, especially for social media platforms. According to the survey, more than 68% of the people own mobile phones compared to 32% of households with radios. Less than 3% of the population own or have regular access to computers or laptops. For children in rural areas who have no access to these resources, all they can do is wait for the schools to reopen so that they can resume their lessons.
Children in Mafubira-Kyamaggwa village in Mafubira sub-county, Jinja district in the eastern part of the country, this forced closure of schools is an extended holiday for them. “It is time to play and more time in the gardens because there is no option. It’s only the urban schools that are using the internet but here children are spending time in the garden and playing,” says Ms Justine Nakibuuka, a mother of 3 children with one in primary four. All the platforms mentioned by the parents call for the usage of the internet which is still very low in Uganda. This was confirmed by findings from the Uganda National Information Technology survey which indicated that social media platforms are some of the popular avenues for citizens to engage with each other and pursue businesses and educational opportunities.
On the 20th of April-2020, the ministry of Education unveiled plans to continue engaging children in learning through the Internet, radio and TV lessons. The government also introduced a free online learning platform Kolibri a free and open-source education technology platform. The learning material is downloaded onto a laptop or any other internet-connected device. This can then be shared “seeded” with other devices over an offline network. The spokesperson at the Ministry of Education, Patrick Muinde says the ministry together with the National curriculum development Centre is developing content for the online program that will mainly cater to children in candidate classes.
The platform currently has content developed by Khan Academy, an American non-profit established by Salman Khan with the goal of creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos.
Its website also includes supplementary practice exercises and materials for teachers. Muinde said the ministry had drafted guidelines for the televised and radio lessons to ensure the children were getting the right information. “Kolibri is a good platform and we are developing content for those that can access the internet. This is in addition to lessons we are to roll out on both Television and radio,” he said. Addressing the nation recently, the minister of education and first lady, Janat Museveni said the government was doing this for only children with access to the internet and TV or radio. She also said the government had also finalised the printing of reading materials for those children who cannot access lessons on Television, Radio or the internet.
This material will be distributed to the children in their homes. “The materials will be handed over to the district leaders led by the RDC who will move them down to the sub-county leaders and later to local council offices that will distribute the materials to children in homes. Our target is to reach out to the children,” she said.
A total of 1.5 billion learners, which is 90.2% of all enrolled learners are out of school in 190 countries worldwide due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
In Uganda, over 20 million learners with 36.6% of these in primary, 26% in secondary and 19% in post-secondary education have been at home since schools were closed due to the pandemic. Education experts have urged the government to prioritize providing learners with the reading and study material they need instead of depending on radio, television or the internet to fill in the gaps.
The national secretary of the Federation of Non-State Education Institutions, Patrick Kaboyo says those children who have access to phones, the internet, television or even radio are unlikely to stay focused on their lessons and will invariably engage in other non-educational activities. His concern is borne out by data from the UNBS which indicates that even among the general population; only 6% of them used mobiles for education purposes.
More than 52% used these devices for social networking such as WhatsApp. “Even for children who have been using ICT to learn, online learning is not practical as the cost of data is extremely high and reach is limited,” he said.
He is skeptical about the government’s plan to deploy the RDC to deliver the learning materials to learners. “Why deploy the RDC at the expense of the district education officer? Why deploy a local council chairman and not an education secretary at the councils or even school head teachers? This should be changed and evaluation meetings should be held weekly to assess the program,” Kaboyo said.
As the lock-down continues and with the academic year calendar drawing to a close, concern continues to grow as to whether learners like Martha will have to write their end year exams which will determine whether they transition into secondary or post-secondary education. Of even greater concern is the lack of information for parents and learners how at-home learning will be assessed. | https://medium.com/wanadata-africa/learners-struggle-to-access-learning-materials-as-government-gambles-on-how-to-cover-the-gap-5ffcbfaf39e0 | [] | 2020-12-02 08:41:55.571000+00:00 | ['Data Journalism'] |
不要對你的物件做分散式設計！ | 知名的大師級架構師 Martin Fowler，在他早年的「Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture」一書中，就曾經提及了這樣一條定律：
“Don’t distribute your objects” - The First Law of Distributed Object Design
「不要對你的物件做分散式設計」 | https://medium.com/brobridge/%E4%B8%8D%E8%A6%81%E5%B0%8D%E4%BD%A0%E7%9A%84%E7%89%A9%E4%BB%B6%E5%81%9A%E5%88%86%E6%95%A3%E5%BC%8F%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88-acfd20c905e0 | ['Fred Chien 錢逢祥'] | 2020-05-09 04:39:14.516000+00:00 | ['Microservice Architecture', 'Microservices', 'Distributed Systems'] |
Musée de l’Art Brut: Roger Ballen | I tend to go to exhibits rather blindly, that is to say, I don’t do my homework first. I think this is quite normal, but the academic inside of me feels a need to prepare in advance. Having prior knowledge tends to improve the experience, but at the same time, discovering a new art movement in a museum context is more exciting than the internet or in a book. Even a good book.
Honestly, this museum probably would have been one of the last museums I’d have visited just to check off all the museums. That’s what having artsy librarian friends is good for. I met this particular artsy librarian friend randomly in a bookstore near my apartment in Belleville. She was recommending graphic novels right and left to the two girls she was with, so I said to her, “it seems like you know a lot about graphic novels.” “Do you want a recommendation?” She asked me. Why, of course! And that’s how I became friends with Margot. Two days later she took me to her favorite museum in Paris, Musée de l’Art Brut.
The building was originally an old market hall. Essentially, it’s one large space that has been portioned off to serve varying purposes: a cafe, a bookstore deemed worthy by Margot, and one exhibition. This particular exhibition was called “The World According to Roger Ballen,” a South-African born photographer.
What do you know about art brut or “outsider art”? Something? Nothing? Here are a few excerpts from the exhibit before I spill the beans:
Even without a background in art brut, certain characteristics are immediately obvious: the work is rough, maybe even uncomfortable, there’s an instinctual animal quality to it. In Ballen’s exhibit, the latter was expressed more directly. Animals are included in just about every piece, occasionally juxtaposed with humans to blur the line between us. Margot confirmed my suppositions by giving me a quick overview of art brut: it’s art produced by people that don’t have fine art backgrounds, nor are affiliated through institutions. Usually, there’s a reoccurring theme, which gives the pieces an obsessive quality, especially when viewed as a series. It’s as if each photograph or sculpture is a spin-off of the precedent. As if the artist had a hunger for this topic, that couldn’t be satiated. I thought it was a little meta, (such as the picture above with the goat and a chalkboard drawing of the goat) or more eloquently express, there’s the use of mise en abîme, copying an image within itself. With my rudimentary art history background, I could see how art brut could be superficially compared to modern art with the classic grade-school scratchy drawings. However, it’s a bit less cold than modern art, perhaps more playful, which could explain why I connected with it more. This is true even though Ballen claims to speak to poverty and fear in South Africa. Upon reading the description of the exhibition at the entryway, I signed to myself, “Great, this is going to be depressing and heavy.” He nonetheless manages to make the subject lighter, though no less disturbing. Margot wittily described Ballen’s photographs as a “bon misère” or a “good misery.”
With sculptures, photographs, old horror film-like dolls, mannequin settings, and artsy videos, Roger Ballen seems rather prolific, testing out various mediums and ways of expression. He even caught the attention of the cult group, “Die Antwoord,” which I find compliments his art rather well.
At the end of our visit, Margot said “c’est certain que je vais faire des cauchemars ce soir,” I’ll certainly have nightmares tonight. I never asked her if she did, or not.
If you want to read a more professional description of the exhibition and explore the museum, go here. | https://medium.com/@maxgraze/mus%C3%A9e-de-lart-brut-roger-ballen-2c12959658fb | ['Maxene Graze'] | 2020-02-15 14:28:35.283000+00:00 | ['Paris', 'Exhibition', 'Photography', 'Museums', 'Art Brut'] |
10 Effective Ways to Make Him Worry About Losing Me | 10 effective ways to make him worry about losing me because I see him taking me for granted? I give him all the love and he returns zero at the end of it all. What do I do?
Relationships can sometimes be difficult to deal with, especially if you are with someone who is not willing to change his mind because of you. Many of my beloved sisters are taken for granted by their long-term partners just because they are good to them.
Providing him with everything he wants is never a true way to his heart and affection. Use His Secret Obsession to acquire how to behave to make him see you’re one in a lifetime kind of girl. I have seen best wives exploding at some point and give up on everything they have been fighting for. Chances are they will probably look for revenge on those awful husbands or boyfriends who took them for granted for such a long time.
And if I was one of these women, I’ll definitely want to know effective ways to make him worry about losing me.
Try some of these tips.
These will go handy with your plan and to show him what he will lose if he continues with his nonsense.
Also, THIS GUIDE can help awaken his infatuation towards you and inspire him to treat you beautifully.
1.Make him worry about losing you by not being always available
Acting like you are not available to him will indirectly show your man that he will lose you if he continues behaving badly.
You can’t always be there when he needs you, sister live your life just like you have always dreamed of.
Don’t share so much about your life and your friends and let him guess what you have been doing in your spare time.
If you remain consistent like that for a longer period of time, he will realize that something is not right and he will try to make you happy.
This will make him think about you more and he will definitely try harder to make your life better.
2. Talk about future plans without including him
Go out with your friends to some interesting place for the weekend, make him ask himself what you will be doing with them.
Add some spice to the whole story by telling him that the place will be packed with both boys and girls from your office. And that you are planning to have a barbecue near a river.
This will make him wonder why he isn’t invited. And he will continuously be thinking about if any of those guys will try something with you.
He knows that parties like that there tends to be a lot of alcohol so he will be worried that you will cheat on him.
His wake-up call now and it will show him that you don’t necessarily depend on his ish all the time.
3. Don’t answer his messages right away
Make him worry about losing you by not answering his phone calls or his messages right away.
Pinch him a little bit because he will respect you more after you do that.
He needs to see that you are not always available every time he thinks of you. He should go the extra mile if he wants to keep you in his life.
Please continue doing this and you will see that your relationship will improve. And remember that once you change your attitude, things in your life will change for the better as well.
4. Surprise him with new sex positions
The real deal: here’s another one of the 10 effective ways to make him worry about losing me, girl, try to make some new changes in the bedroom.
“Where did she learn all this?” and he will be shocked at how well you are doing it at the same time.
He will wonder where you’ve learned all those moves, with another man, and that feeling will eat him alive.
5. Pamper yourself
If you’ve gained weight, hit the gym right away to make yourself feel better.
When you get to the gym, don’t play around, work hard. Just know that you’re all you got to make this work. He’ll realize you’re serious about keeping fit and you’ll definitely look your best all the time.
Please hit the gym as soon as you gain at least a pound other than procrastinating which will backfire badly.
6. Flirt in front of him
One of these 10 effective ways to make him worry about losing me is juicy. I’ll do some sneaky things in order to show him that I also have other options.
When a good-looking guy walks by you, look him deep in his eyes and check him out but make sure that your partner sees that.
These makes men jealous and he will think that another man is a threat to him. It gets even better if a random man approaches you and offers to buy you a drink. As that will make your guy want to explode but that is a lesson he has to learn for treating you like you didn’t deserve.
Please do not overdo this, make sure it comes once and let it go, otherwise you don’t want him thinking you’re lose though.
This is only for him to realize he should go the extra mile if he wants to keep you in his life.
7. Stop being clingy
Don’t act all clingy and needy, he won’t ever miss you. He will take you for granted and he will think that you have no life without him in your life.
So if I want ways to make him worry about losing me, I won’t be needy nor seek his attention all the time.
He needs to see that you can have fun without him and that you don’t need him to complete you. BY doing so, your man will recognize that you are not the same woman he knew. And that there is a chance that you leave him if he doesn’t treat you right.
8. Try to be more distant
When he acts rude or that he is not interested in you anymore, try some tricks that will make him change his mind.
Acting distant will be your perfect strategy as he will be asking himself where you are and whom you’re with.
If he wants to know if everything is fine with you, just tell him yes. Everything is fine and continue doing what you are doing.
He will then see that you are not interested in him like before. And that he has to work hard to bring your love back.
9. Don’t please him all the time
If you spoil your man that as long as you are there everything will be lovey dovey, he will eventually start taking you for granted.
So, whatever you do, don’t please him by spoiling him with everything he wants.
You also deserve the right to enjoy your life and do things that make you happy. Not compromising always.
Never put him first because the moron is not worthy of it. If he was, he wouldn’t have done this to you.
Men will take advantage of you if you let them. The better you are with them, the worse they will be with you.
So, be a whore for a change and give him strict restrictions. Then, he will see that you are not fucking around and that you are dead serious.
10. Have your own friends
If you go out with your friends while he stays at home, this is to make him think about if you are having a good time with them. This will make him worry about losing you and he will change his mind and his stupid behavior as well.
Bottom line here is you need to make moves like this not to hurt your man but to show him that you can survive without him as well. Please make sure all these ways to make him worry about losing me don’t need to be repeated. You do one once that’s it, and so on. Otherwise he will see you as someone he can’t spend his life with who keeps repeating these irritating gestures.
I hope you learnt something from these 10 effective ways to make him worry about losing me. You may sign up here to find out more about crazy texts you can send him and make him only yours. | https://medium.com/@sean-obuseng/10-effective-ways-to-make-him-worry-about-losing-me-11cb08e15293 | [] | 2020-12-02 08:31:35.090000+00:00 | ['Women In Business', 'Women', 'Women In Tech', 'Womens Rights', 'Womens Health'] |
A Vaccine Has Arrived and the U.S. Is Still Screwing Up | A Vaccine Has Arrived and the U.S. Is Still Screwing Up
Photo: Christian Lue/Unsplash
I really don’t know why anyone is surprised by recent revelations about Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution snafus. For nine months, our government has failed to create working supply chains for both testing and personal protective equipment (PPE). We still lack raw materials, manufacturing capability, data on need, logistics, price supports, and equitable distribution. Why would we expect vaccines to be different?
Back in March, many of us called out that the health care supply chain was broken. I wrote about it with Ashish K. Jha and Valerie Griffeth in the New England Journal of Medicine. Nothing that we talked about or called for has been fixed. Instead, the feds developed a mess of a system to meet our health care systems’ PPE, testing, and other supply chain needs — a “fumbling” effort by “inexperienced” people with no background in supply chain logistics, manufacturing, disaster preparedness, or health care.
We learned very early in this pandemic that our national strategy was one of bluster and photo ops — not one of doing the hard work to get supplies into the hands of those who need them.
Alarm bells have been ringing for months about the lack of strategy for vaccine manufacturing, distribution, and messaging.
In the face of immediate need for PPE, we set up workarounds — groups like Get Us PPE developed data networks and equitable distribution strategies. For testing, the country relied on public-private partnerships, like Rhode Island’s (and other states’) partnership with CVS.
But let’s be clear: these efforts are simply substitutes for a federal strategy.
They are in no way equivalent to a good, organized, 50-state, publicly funded effort — which brings me to vaccines. Alarm bells have been ringing for months about the lack of strategy for vaccine manufacturing, distribution, and messaging.
In September, Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit, and David Lakey, vice chancellor for health affairs at the University of Texas, wrote a piece for STAT imploring “Operation Warp Speed” to come up with a plan. Simultaneously, potential breakdowns in the cold-storage distribution chain were highlighted by Ed Silverman and others.
In October, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials sounded the alarm that they still had no funds and no federal guidance on strategy. As of November, despite knowing that multiple phase 3 trials were nearing the end, and despite earlier promises to release vaccines pre-election, there was still no central repository for distribution plans, according to Kaiser Health News.
Not to mention the fact that months on, few people in positions of authority are talking about how to handle long-standing, well-founded mistrust from Black and Brown communities.
Without trust, even the best supply chain is useless.
With consumer confidence in the federal government at an all-time low and misinformation campaigns at an all-time high, even health care workers have expressed hesitancy about the vaccine.
Meanwhile, the guy who is directing Operation Warp Speed can’t explain why President Trump is making certain executive orders or why we passed on buying an extra 100 million doses of the vaccine.
Let’s be clear:
More than 300,000 Americans have died.
Another 150,000 will likely die before inauguration.
A vaccine is the best chance we have at getting things back to normal, quickly.
But what good is a vaccine if it stays on the shelves?
So, to those who expect that a miracle will be wrought and Covid-19 will simply disappear? Sorry, not gonna happen. To those who expect that herd immunity will naturally come to pass? Also not gonna happen. Just look at Sweden or New York City. To those who think the states will magically figure it out without funding or clear national guidance? Nope.
For the next 33 days until the inauguration, we’ll just continue to bumble along through the goodwill of philanthropy, the forethought of a few great states’ departments of health, and the hard work of health care workers, pharmacists, and techs who have already sacrificed so much.
And we’ll continue to watch our number of preventable deaths grow.
At the end of the day, despite having sunk billions of dollars into the creation of a vaccine, our feds have failed to close the last-mile gap — just as they failed with testing and with PPE.
To fix it, we need investments in manufacturing and supply chain. We need investments in data architecture and equitable distribution. We need clear public health messaging, stat. Magical thinking doesn’t work to stop pandemics. | https://coronavirus.medium.com/a-vaccine-has-arrived-and-the-u-s-is-still-screwing-up-c8ecf530f9a1 | ['Megan Ranney'] | 2020-12-17 14:32:22.885000+00:00 | ['United States', 'Coronavirus', 'Covid 19', 'Health', 'Public Health'] |
‘Resident Evil’ Reboot’s Casting Decisions Are Already Showing Signs of Illness | Source: Capcom
Pale skin. Heavy-breathing. Disappearing iris. We all know too well how perfectly-healthy humans can turn ill and end up being zombies in Resident Evil. Though originally released as far back as in 1996, there is no doubt that many adults today still remember the fear and terror of playing Resident Evil for the first time at night, alone. Even until today, many still wonder how a game console, a puny TV and crappy resolution were able to give them a good deal of nightmare.
Then came Resident Evil (2002), a live-action movie based on the game with a leading character who was a total unknown — Alice. Not being a Redfield or a Valentine, Alice continued to confuse the viewers — players and non-players alike — and I would totally forgive anyone who thought that Resident Evil was a zombified twist to the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland. To clear up the air, Alice was in fact a custom-made character created by director Paul W. S. Anderson to make his live-action movie less predictable to the viewers, by large those who had already completed the game(s). And I swear to you that she was born of an idea as complex as “a Caucasian woman stealing Ada Wong’s red dress”.
After almost two decades and five sequels later, the Capcom horror game is ripe for a reboot. Naturally, Milla Jovovich won’t return as Alice, and her director-turned-husband, Anderson, won’t be directing as well. This opened up the possibility for a reboot where we will get to see the original characters actually calling the shots in-film, which is exactly what we will be receiving. Earlier in October, Deadline reported that the reboot will be helmed by Johannes Roberts, the mastermind behind 47 Meters Down (2017), and six key cast members of the reboot have been confirmed. Kicking off the list is the gorgeous Kaya Scodelario from the Maze Runner trilogy and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) in the role of Claire Redfield. This is followed by Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell as Chris Redfield, Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy, Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker, and Neal McDonough as William Birkin.
Rendered poster of Resident Evil reboot. Source: Bosslogic
Now, I don’t have any complaints at all about not seeing Jovovich in this reboot — after all, her Alice kind of messed up with the original characters of the game when Anderson introduced the latter in the sequels with half-baked roles. But at least, there was one good thing about Alice, in a way that she was such a stray bullet — she did not have to conform to any arcs established by the games. This is no longer the case with the reboot, and now that the wild card no longer exists, the original characters have to basically adhere to the original plot laid down by the games.
Of course, six key characters in a film based on video games doesn’t sound bad at all. That is, until you realize that six of them are literally from two groups with pretty much their own individual story-fabric. If you are veteran of the Resident Evil game franchise, or someone who was unlucky enough to be tortured by the first few titles when they were released in the 90’s like me, you could instantly tell that Chris, Jill and Albert Wesker belong in the first 1996 game, and Claire, Leon and Dr William Birkin belong in Resident Evil 2.
I won’t go too crazy with what happens in-game for those characters, but let’s just say that both Albert Wesker and Dr William Birkin are powerful enough — as villains in the games as well as with respect to their character development — to command their own individual films. There is no alpha and beta here — both of them are apex predators in their own rights, and they don’t really work together. Which begs the question: How faithful can this reboot be towards the original storyline which many of us had experienced in-game?
As much as I remain skeptical towards the idea of Wesker and Birkin sharing a single film, it is even more alarming to see Chris, Jill, Claire and Leon being bundled together. In case you are wondering, the first and second Resident Evil games took social distancing to the extremes in the 90’s even before the birth of Covid-19. The protagonists didn’t gun down hordes of zombies discussing what to have for next breakfast, and they were usually cornered and forced to take their own isolated paths to survive. That is what made the first two games so iconic at the first place, and if Johannes really wants to ‘recreate the terrifying visceral experience’ like what she has said, the last thing she needs to do is grouping four protagonist from two Resident Evil games together and let them have fun blasting through zombies in Raccoon City, Avengers-style. | https://thefilmaddict.medium.com/resident-evil-reboot-s-casting-decisions-are-already-showing-signs-of-illness-5a054f5ca5f2 | ['The Film Addict'] | 2020-11-07 12:20:29.483000+00:00 | ['Paul W S Anderson', 'Film', 'Movies', 'Kaya Scodelario', 'Resident Evil'] |
The Top 5 iOS Libraries and Add-Ons Every Beginner Swift Developer Should Know | Without further ado, let’s jump right into my favourite iOS 14 compatible libraries that made my life as a part-time iOS developer a lot easier and added significant value to the end product.
Charts
Complexity to set up: medium
In case you need to visualise any kind of statistical or historical data within your app, do not code it yourself. Instead, you can use the Charts library. It offers an easy and intuitive way to generate various charts and allows to format them in all kinds of ways. The following chart types are currently supported: line charts, bar charts, scatter charts, candle stick charts, bubble charts and radar charts. Certain chart types can also be combined with each other (e.g. line chart as an overlay to a bar chart).
Official Charts logo taken from GitHub
After you have installed and imported the library in your Xcode project, I suggest the following basic steps:
Raw data: It is good enough, to prepare the data in such a way that you can pass an array of objects (either classes or structs) into Charts. Each object within the array must contain at least the information you want to display in the chart (e.g. date and number in case you want to show historic data within a bar chart). Add chart to GUI: Add a UIView to you ViewController and let it inherit from the type of chart you need, e.g. a CombinedChartView. Connect the view to your code. Populate chart: Create a helper function that receives the chart view from step two and the raw data from step one. Within this helper function, you can then conveniently assign data points from the array to the various components of the chart like the x-axis and y-axis.
Constraint: The library currently does not work with SwiftUI out-of-the-box but there is a wrapper solution for this explained in this great article.
Bart chart, line chart and pie chart example of Charts iOS library in this fitness tracker
MongoDB Realm
Complexity to set up: high
Realm is an offline-first database for iOS (and many other platforms) and a must-have library in case you are building cross-platform applications that require seamless data storage and synchronisation. Realm has been around for a few years and has recently been integrated into the MongoDB platform. For me personally it solves the following key problems:
Local mobile database: Realm is a convenient way to store and retrieve data locally on your users’ devices. It is therefore a great replacement for Apple’s CoreData. They advertise it as a mobile database and that describes it pretty well. I also find it easier to use than platforms such as Firebase. It is worth noting that you do not necessarily need to use the online storage functionality to use Realm. The mobile database is open source and free of charge.
Realm is a convenient way to store and retrieve data locally on your users’ devices. It is therefore a great replacement for Apple’s CoreData. They advertise it as a mobile database and that describes it pretty well. I also find it easier to use than platforms such as Firebase. It is worth noting that you do not necessarily need to use the online storage functionality to use Realm. The mobile database is open source and free of charge. Online data storage: The most powerful feature is obviously the possibility to synchronise every user’s local data across devises with the MongoDB cloud database. From a developer perspective, handling the data is essentially the same as working with local data. Bidirectional data synchronisation is happening in the background and you do not need to worry about it as a developer. The biggest challenge for me was that there is no built-in switch that conveniently switches over from the local to the cloud realm database once a user signs-up with your app. This logic must be implemented by the developer.
The most powerful feature is obviously the possibility to synchronise every user’s local data across devises with the MongoDB cloud database. From a developer perspective, handling the data is essentially the same as working with local data. Bidirectional data synchronisation is happening in the background and you do not need to worry about it as a developer. The biggest challenge for me was that there is no built-in switch that conveniently switches over from the local to the cloud realm database once a user signs-up with your app. This logic must be implemented by the developer. Cross user analytics: Now that Realm has been acquired by MongoDB, you can use all the great features that MongoDB offers around data analysis. Therefore you are able to do cross-user analytics in a convenient way.
Please note that it will take some time to go through the tutorials, spin up a MongoDB instance and adjust your iOS code accordingly. But once it is working, it is a real game changer for your app.
MongoDB Realm image taken from mongodb.com/realm website
Bond
Complexity to set up: medium
Bond is a reactive binding framework for Swift and a great addition if you are planning to use the MVVM pattern in your app. It is easy to set up and use. In essence, it simplifies the way you wire your UI to the data in your view model.
Let’s dive into an example to give you an idea on how Swift Bond works. The following example has four UI components on the view controller:
restTimerTitle (UILabel)
restTimerSlider (UISlider)
restTimerSwitch (UISwitch)
restTimerTimeLabel (UILabel)
Each UI component is connected to the view model via Bond. This allows the view controller to display data changes from the model and (in case bidirectional synchronisation is needed) vice versa update data in the view model based on changes on the UI.
Swift Bond binding in action for a UILabel, UISwitch, UISlider
The restTimerTimeLabel is observing changes of the formatted duration and then displays it on the UILabel and adds a nice fade transition when the value changes (lines 1 through 5). The restTimerSlider is wired to the restTimerDuration value from the view model bidirectionally (line 6). Therefore any change from the slider directly updates the view model in one single line. The remaining lines 7 to 9 add some formatting based on the data from the view model.
Swift Bond to wire your view model and UI
Firebase
Complexity to set up: medium to high
Official Firebase logo taken from Firebase website
Google’s Firebase framework offers various modules that will make your live as an iOS developer a lot easier. Key features that I find most relevant for beginner iOS developers are:
Authentication: The most relevant feature for me. A great way to add authentication to your app. Firebase supports various ways for users to sign-up with your app such as username / password, Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I personally use Firebase authentication together with MongoDB Realm (see above) which requires some setup (e.g. generating your own JWT token and writing your own Firebase function).
The most relevant feature for me. A great way to add authentication to your app. Firebase supports various ways for users to sign-up with your app such as username / password, Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I personally use Firebase authentication together with MongoDB Realm (see above) which requires some setup (e.g. generating your own JWT token and writing your own Firebase function). Cloud Functions: Cloud Functions is Firebase’s serverless framework to host JavaScript / TypeScript based code. Functions can react on Firebase events or can be triggered via HTTPS requests. I for instance use Cloud Functions to automatically send a welcome message as soon as a user signs-up with my app.
Cloud Functions is Firebase’s serverless framework to host JavaScript / TypeScript based code. Functions can react on Firebase events or can be triggered via HTTPS requests. I for instance use Cloud Functions to automatically send a welcome message as soon as a user signs-up with my app. Storage: You can leverage Firebase to let each app user store personal binary object such as images and videos. The setup is fairly easy and well documented. What a great way to enhance your app by letting users upload and share their images and videos.
You can leverage Firebase to let each app user store personal binary object such as images and videos. The setup is fairly easy and well documented. What a great way to enhance your app by letting users upload and share their images and videos. Crashlytics: You can conveniently track app crashes across your apps and versions with Firebase’s crash reporting solution. Unlike with Apple users do not necessarily opt in to activate the recording of app crashes. You will see when and where in your code crashes have happened.
Of course, there is also the popular Firestore and Realtime Database functionality. Firestore is a NoSQL database that allows you to store user data. I do not use Firestore since I consider MongoDB Realm to be the better solution for this particular task.
I have seen articles where people complain about the performance and scalability of Firebase. This is a problem that at least I cannot relate to. So far, I have experienced Firebase as a very reliable service for the features that I am using.
Hero Transitions
Complexity to set up: low
The Hero library is a quick win that can easily be integrated into your app. It will beautify your app with smooth transitions between view controllers. You can choose between ready-made animations and you can even customise the transitions to create more complex animations.
Official Hero Transitions logo taken from GitHub
IQKeyboardManager
Complexity to set up: low
This is an honorable mention at place six. It might not be a general purpose library like the other ones above but it is a great help when dealing with text inputs in your app. It solves the following two problems very well: | https://levelup.gitconnected.com/top-5-ios-libraries-every-beginner-swift-developer-should-know-c02518842648 | [] | 2021-01-13 19:58:04.095000+00:00 | ['Ios Developer', 'Cocoapods', 'Xcode', 'Ios Development', 'Swift'] |
Horse Power: The New Passive Income of NFTs. | This is Stallion, creator and visionary of Horse Power.
You can buy HorsePower NFTs here starting January 1st.
Stay updated + reward drops here in the telegram chat.
I am here to make sure that your HorsePower (HP) NFT:
Goes up in value. Gets you passive income for the rest of your time holding it.
How is this possible?
With the invention of Defi (Decentralized Finance) and new multi-chain products available, earning safe passive income in no longer a dream, but reality.
I will take the crypto invested into the HorsePower NFTs and grow it through a variety of different protocols and then send back large amounts to the holders.
The more HorsePower you have, the more you make.
What if I don’t pay you? Well, i’m sure a-lot of you bought a bunch of NFTs that didn’t benefit you in any way because nobody bought them after you did. Worse case scenario you would loose $250 worth of money. Best case scenario, you become a millionaire from holding long enough.
HorsePower NFTs will have 10 Generations.
The First Generation is the liquidity funding. The first three-hundred hp nfts will cost $250. (Down from $500)
Each HP NFT is unique.
WAGMI = We All Going To Make It
Generation 1 will consist of 1000 HP NFTs. Daily rewards will start beginning with the full sale of 300 HP NFTs. The following 700 will be integrated into for sale at a price of $500.
Each generation will have different attributes, twists, and even an automated process of receiving rewards in the future.
Rewards are as follows:
Daily Reward — This will range from $100–500 to any random holder or a variation of it. (Eg: $100 to five different holders) Weekly Price — This is a prize from $500–$1000 to any random holder. Monthly Jackpot — Any amount depending on the market and how generous I am feeling.
*All these are subject to higher increases, or lower depending on the market.
Through this new combination of Crypto + NFTs, we really are all going to make it.
HP NFTs are available on NFTrade starting January 1st.
Join Telegram Chat
~Stallion | https://medium.com/@horsestallion37/horse-power-the-new-passive-income-of-nfts-ff79c86780ad | [] | 2022-01-03 03:33:58.924000+00:00 | ['Passive Income', 'Nft Collectibles', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Wagmi', 'Horses'] |
The Breakup of the Year | ‘twas the afternoon before christmas
and mrs. claus was a mess
she had recently altered
her former known dress
she wanted a shake up
something different for her
she’d had it with cookies
candy canes and sugar
she needed a cleanse
just a break from disease
she’d claim “allergy to sweetness”
he’d just heard her sneeze
the timing was awful
she had work left undone
but she’d begged for a change
and she was ready to run
year after year
same after same
and he rarely, if ever
said her first name
so she covered her new mini-dress
with a downy white coat
set her sleigh’s GPS
to meet up with a boat
she’d take nothing with her
in true ghosting style
he’d figure she’s shopping
and be home in a while
he could have the attention
but she could not have stayed
and with no turning back
she was no longer his maid
no longer his second
no longer his wife
she looked out to adventure
and went on with her life | https://medium.com/the-pom/the-breakup-of-the-year-575ee539f852 | ['Samantha Lazar'] | 2020-12-19 19:09:10.184000+00:00 | ['Breakups', 'Christmas', 'Poetry', 'Relationships', 'Love'] |
Snowflake’s IPO and the Data Blizzard | Snowflake’s IPO and the Data Blizzard
👉 Find more of this analysis at The Generalist.
Snowflake in 1 minute
Since its founding in 2012, Snowflake has grown into a leader in the cloud data warehousing space. The company’s intuitive solution makes it easy to run analytical queries with a customer-aligned billing model. Intriguingly, Snowflake has established itself without the founder-led culture that dominates most of the tech industry. Instead, three external CEOs have guided the company to a ~$500M annual revenue run rate, with 132% year-over-year growth. That’s attracted pre-IPO investment from Warren Buffett — a rare foray into tech for the Oracle of Omaha. Big winners of the listing include the secretive Sutter Hill Ventures and Altimeter Partners.
Snowflake’s toughest task may be in weathering the coming storm. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google all have products in the space, and with limited enduring defensibility, the company could see its position pressured.
As a member of The Generalist, you have access to The S-1 Club’s full report. To learn about Snowflake’s kooky founders, mercurial CEO Frank Slootman, and the mission to win the “data cloud,” keep reading. If you enjoy this analysis, we’d appreciate you sharing it.
Analysts
David Wei
Danielle Morrill
Sam Parr
Justin Gage
Annika Lewis
Aashay Sanghvi
Karine Hsu
Mario Gabriele
Introduction
One last job.
It’s a scene you’ve watched before. A grizzled pro approached by an old friend in need of help. Perhaps they meet in a dingy basement, under the veil of secrecy, or share words in a banal local diner or coffee shop.
The friend pleads with the pro. A daughter is sick, a partner in danger, a brother in a bad spot with some worse people. Or sometimes it’s a question of upside — the money is just too good to pass up.
One last job, the friend beseeches.
It always works. It has to — otherwise, there would be no film.
The “One Last Job” premise is so popular it’s attained the status of a trope, serving as the basis for iconic films like Heat, Inception, Gone in Sixty Seconds, and countless others.
After a period of reluctance, the pro succumbs. The job is on and the game afoot.
In 2018, Frank Slootman was retired and comfortable. The bolshy Dutchman had fulfilled his destiny in the corporate world, transforming Data Domain from a 20-person company into an “800-pound gorilla” doing $1B in sales, before taking the reins at ServiceNow. Starting in 2011, Slootman supercharged the business, increasing revenue from $75M to $1.5B over his six-year spell.
Now it was time to relax. To sit on a few boards and enjoy life on the water. Slootman’s sailboat, The Invisible Hand (really), had won the Transpac Honolulu Race the year prior. A man like Slootman would surely have seen such success not as a culmination but the start of sustained dominance.
Renegade Sailing
But then Slootman got a call.
We can only speculate as to who made first contact. Before long, though, Slootman was talking to a familiar face: Mike Spieser. The two men had gotten to know each other starting in 2014 as both served on the board of Pure Storage, a fast-growing data storage company. Mutual respect grew.
If anyone knew Snowflake and what the company needed, it was Spieser. He’d been there since the company’s early days, both as an investor through his firm Sutter Hill Ventures (SHV), and as an operator — he served as Snowflake’s first CEO before passing the torch to Bob Muglia. Formerly of Microsoft and Juniper Networks, Muglia had performed admirably, overseeing a period of breakout growth, but when it became clear Slootman might be available, Snowflake’s board pounced.
The message the former ServiceNow chief received was clear: “We want you.”
According to Slootman, he didn’t consider any other roles, and if the opportunity had come a year earlier, he would have turned it down. But, “Snowflake [was] a special company…they just don’t come along often.”
For Slootman, it was time for one last job. This is his story, in part, but more importantly, the tale of a company too good to pass up.
Snowflake’s history
Though Slootman and Spieser are central to this filing’s tale, they are not where the adventure begins. To understand Snowflake’s inception and its culture, there’s only one place to start: the first 0:25 of this video.
If this screenshot of founders Benoit Dageville and Thierry Cruanes doesn’t entice you, we’re not sure what will.
Benoit and Thierry are kooky, playful, anything but boring. In that respect, they aren’t what you’d picture when asked to imagine two long-time data architects.
Back in the summer of 2012, these jokesters left their presumably-high-paying-and-cushy Oracle jobs. They teamed up with Marcin Zukowski, the former founder of Vetcorwise, a database management company. The trio had a big idea: build a cloud-native data warehouse from the ground up.
To be clear, this is probably the least casual of ambitions one could have. Building a successful company as an entrepreneur is a daring aspiration in and of itself, but the complexity and scope of Benoit and Thierry’s challenge is hard to overstate. For those that aren’t intimately familiar with enterprise data infrastructure, this isn’t your mother’s mobile app. This is even far from standard B2B SaaS. Data warehouses are, well, absolute behemoths.
But the trio knew what they were doing. Benoit and Thierry had worked on legacy architectures at Oracle, understood the drawbacks of the then-newly-hyped Hadoop, and knew there had to be a better way. Between them, they already held over 120 patents — this was not a team light on experience. Still, the task was formidable. The team built, often beneath a veil of secrecy, emerging from stealth with something unique, one-of-a-kind. A Snowflake, if you will.
Interestingly, none of the founders have ever served as CEO, though they remain key leaders: Benoit acts as President of Products, while Thierry is CTO. Marcin may have taken a step back — his LinkedIn identifies him as a “co-founder.”
Instead, as alluded to above, Snowflake has been helmed by three outside CEOs over the last six years. First Spieser, then Muglia, and finally Slootman.
That pattern rarely screams “wild success,” but Snowflake is the exception to the rule: the company has strategically leveled-up over time, identifying the right leader at the right time to maintain their startling trajectory.
While every company has its trials and tribulations under-the-hood, from the outside, Snowflake has executed, dare we say it, perfectly. From January 31, 2019, to January 31, 2020, the company grew revenue by over 173% to $264M, with the following six months seeing Snowflake hit an Annual Run Rate (ARR) of $483M. Though Snowflake is still operating at a loss — losing $348M as of January 2020 — that growth has allowed them to access capital at a jaw-dropping clip. Snowflake has raised $1.4B with $1.1B arriving in the past two years.
Crunchbase
Safe to say: it’s snowing in data land.
Share
Number of mentions in the S-1
Data: 697
Capital One: 31
Data Cloud: 26
Cloud Data Platform: 28
Silo: 15
Sutter Hill Ventures: 1
Scarcity: 1
Market
Wintery tailwinds are expected to power growth in the world of data. While Snowflake pegs their market at ~$81B it may be even more extensive than that. As of 2018, the International Data Corporation (IDC) found global data storage generated $88B in revenue with a capacity of 700 exabytes added. By 2023, that figure is expected to nearly double, reaching ~$176B in revenue and 11.7 zettabytes in storage.
The data warehousing market was believed to be $13B in 2018, rising to $30B by 2025, a 12% CAGR. The APAC region is expected to grow more quickly, at a 15% CAGR.
Encouragingly for Snowflake, incremental capacity and renewals are expected to be driven by the cloud. Gartner predicts 75% of databases will be in the cloud by 2022, with just 5% “repatriated” on-premises. Other sources suggest that hybrid strategies — the marriage of cloud and on-premise data warehousing — may expand rapidly. Just as encouragingly, “unstructured data” — a significant driver of Snowflake’s rise — is growing between 40–50% per year.
It’s worth noting that Snowflake is already well-established in the space. Per Datanyze, the company is the third-largest with an estimated 10.08% market share, just behind SAP Business Warehouse and Apache Hive.
Mordor Intelligence
Gartner recognized Snowflake as a “Leader” though the company did trail more familiar names like Oracle, Microsoft, and AWS in terms of “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute.”
Gartner’s Magic Quadrant
Finally, it’s worth noting that the market seems to be up for grabs with considerable fragmentation in the space. That’s created a fluid dynamic between businesses as rivals compete and collaborate. That structure has aided Snowflake’s rise over the past eight years but could make data domination a considerable challenge. In “Competition,” we’ll dive into one method to track Snowflake’s market position, focused on “developer mindshare.”
Mordor Intelligence
What is a database?
If you’ve gotten this far, you probably know that Snowflake is a database.
But what does that mean? How does Snowflake compare to multi-billion dollar incumbents like Oracle and MongoDB?
Fundamentally, there are two types of databases: transactional and analytical. Snowflake is printing money by excelling at the latter.
Transactional databases are all around us. With few exceptions, every app is built on a database. That’s what allows developers to store user emails, preferences, account information, and anything else that gets customized. These are called transactional databases because the data is generated through the little transactions that happen every time a user takes an action:
A user signs up → add a row to the users’ table
A user changes their password → update an existing row
A user loads their profile page → read from the users’ table
If your app has many users, these transactions constantly occur (we’re talking about thousands per second). As a result, early databases were optimized for this use case: to add and update rows quickly and ensure data wasn’t corrupted. They’re also well-suited to filter specific sets of data.
Over time, teams realized that all of the data they collected could be pretty valuable. By analyzing it, they might be able to answer questions critical to their business. How often did users log in? Where were they based? What was the most popular pricing plan?
The problem was that the kinds of queries required to unearth this information are markedly different from those used in transactional databases. They’re typically longer, more resource-intensive, and involve combining data sources from multiple places. Transactional databases weren’t designed to handle them.
Enter the data warehouse.
To better serve these types of queries, teams began designing databases specifically for analytics, copying data from their transactional database into this new analytical database. These new structures were optimized for gnarly, analytical queries, as was the underlying infrastructure (servers).
Thanks to their more fine-toothed functionality, teams have ended up storing orders of magnitude more data in analytical warehouses, tracking events like website page views and product interactions.
This is what Snowflake is: an analytical database. More precisely, it’s an analytical database that requires no infrastructure management from its users, often referred to as a “managed data warehouse.” Users don’t need to deal with deploying servers, scaling, networking, or managing permissions — they just dump data into Snowflake and query it (extremely) quickly. Snowflake’s even built an in-product query engine to accelerate queries through low-level optimizations.
The Product
Snowflake isn’t the only managed data warehouse on the market — Amazon Web Service’s (AWS) Redshift and Google Cloud Platform’s (GCP) BigQuery are popular options.
What is it that has made Snowflake such a success? Above all, it’s a combination of flexibility, service, and UI.
Splitting storage and compute
It’s worth noting that with a database like Snowflake, two pieces of infrastructure keep the lights on: storage and compute. Snowflake takes care of efficiently storing your petabytes of data and making sure your queries run quickly. This idea — separating storage and compute in a data warehouse — was relatively novel when Snowflake started. Today, entire query engines like Presto exist just to run queries efficiently, with no storage included.
There are some clear advantages to splitting storage and compute: stored data is located remotely on the cloud, saving local resources for the compute load. Moving storage to the cloud delivers lower cost, has higher availability, and provides greater scalability.
No vendor lock-in
CIOs — and increasingly, developers — don’t want to be tied to a specific cloud provider. The majority of enterprises have adopted a multi-cloud approach (and that can mean many things). As such, there’s a natural reluctance to choose solutions like BigQuery that are native to a single cloud (Google, in this case).
Snowflake provides a different level of flexibility. It runs on AWS, Azure, or GCP, satisfying the “multi-cloud checkbox” that enterprise buyers have. Often such a strategy is theoretical rather than concrete. Amidst tech’s giants battling for control of the cloud, Snowflake is a sort of warehousing Switzerland.
Of course, this isn’t to say that there’s no lock-in. By signing up to Snowflake, users are committed to a vendor: Snowflake, itself.
Fully managed
If you want to build a data warehouse from scratch, there’s a lot of infrastructure to manage. Even if you’re outsourcing your servers to a cloud provider, you still need to deal with sizing the right instance (4GB RAM? 48GB RAM?), scaling as your workloads grow, and networking components together. If you use a managed service like AWS’s Redshift, you need to worry about handling sizing and scaling.
As mentioned above, Snowflake is a fully managed service — users don’t need to worry about any infrastructure at all. You just put your data into the system and query it.
While fully managed services sound great, no good deed goes unpunished, which means there’s a tradeoff: price. Snowflake customers need to be intentional about storing and querying their data because fully managed services are expensive. When teams decide whether to build or buy, they need to forecast cost savings by comparing Snowflake ownership’s total cost to building something themselves.
Impressive UI and SQL ergonomics
Snowflake’s UI for querying and exploring tables is surprisingly pleasant to look at and intuitive to use.
Snowflake’s product
Another nice touch from Snowflake is their SQL ergonomics. SQL (Structured Query Language) is the programming language that developers and data scientists use to query their databases. Each database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.) has its own SQL flavor, with slightly different details, wording, and structure. Snowflake’s SQL seems to have gathered the best from many SQL dialects, adding useful functions. A great example is the PIVOT function, which regular SQL tends not to have but saves analysts a bunch of time (if you’ve ever tried to create a pivot table from scratch, you’ll understand).
Data sharing
In a bid to establish its network effect credentials, Snowflake outlines its “data sharing” functionality in the S-1. As it stands, this appears to be a relatively immature part of Snowflake’s product, though it does seem to have had some use during the COVID outbreak. The S-1 notes that one client shared epidemiological data via the company’s “Data Marketplace,” subsequently viewed by “hundreds” of customers. A representation of this interaction can be found below.
Snowflake’s S-1 filing
Business Model
“I…[do] not like SaaS that much as a business model, felt it not equitable for customers,” Slootman wrote in 2019, discussing his decision to join Snowflake.
The concept of equity and alignment is a critical part of the company’s business model. Rather than charging per seat on a monthly or annual basis, Snowflake bills customers based on usage, offering on-demand and upfront billing. Discounts are given for the latter.
Furthermore, Snowflake bills its three core functions — storage, compute, and cloud services — separately. Compute is the larger financial commitment. For example, purchasing 4TBs of data storage per year and 955 in compute credits costs roughly $23K per year. Approximately $22K would be spent on compute, with just $1K allocated to storage.
Public Comps, Snowflake
This model is suited to the large enterprise contracts on which Snowflake focuses. The company boasts recognizable logos across sectors, including media, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology. Sample customers include sleepier businesses like Office Depot, McKesson, and Nielsen, alongside startups DoorDash, Instacart, and Rent the Runway.
Snowflake’s S-1 filing
Snowflake primarily leverages a top-down sales motion to secure these deals, relying on robust sales development, inside sales, and other related teams. Indeed, of all public SaaS companies, Snowflake spends most on Sales & Market as a percentage of revenue at 70%. As a comparison, Zoom spends just 37%.
Capital One is a particularly crucial relationship. In 2017, Snowflake signed the financial giant and has successfully deepened the relationship since. For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2020, Capital One represented 11% of Snowflake’s revenue — both a feat and a concern. That’s significant customer concentration, a worry slightly mitigated when looking at the rest of Snowflake’s customer base: the company has 3,117 customers. Of the Fortune 500, Snowflake counts 146 as clients, and they contribute 26% of revenue. Reasonable enough.
The signing of Capital One is also a sign of the trust Snowflake has built. The company has earned HIPAA and FedRAMP compliance certifications, improving security. That’s important for all companies, but particularly those that handle sensitive information. The fact that Snowflake has signed Capital One, Experian, and DocuSign is indicative of the reliable reputation they have earned in the market.
Management team
As discussed in “Snowflake’s History,” co-founders Dageville, Cruanes, and Zukowski are all still with the company. But while Snowflake’s success began with the three co-founders’ vision and technical expertise, Snowflake has blossomed under the leadership of external CEOs, chiefly Bob Muglia (2014–2019) and Frank Slootman (2019-present).
Slootman most recently served as CEO of ServiceNow from 2011 to 2017 and is an operations guru known for being something of an IPO specialist after ushering ServiceNow, Data Domain, and now Snowflake into the public markets. That’s been achieved by focusing on boosting sales and trimming corporate expenditures. Slootman’s track record at his previous postings is impeccable. ServiceNow grew revenue from $100M to $1.4B in revenue during his tenure, while Data Domain was guided to a $2.4B acquisition from EMC.
From an incentive perspective, executive compensation is mostly cash salary with both an equity and non-equity component primarily determined by the compensation committee. Specific KPIs are largely lacking:
Snowflake’s S-1 filing
It’s interesting to see that Slootman (5.9% holds more of the company than founder Dageville (3.9%). Along with Muglia (3.3%), those three men make up the largest affiliated equity holders. SHV leads external investors with 20.3%.
Snowflake’s S-1 filing
Investors
When unpacking Snowflake’s investor base, there’s only one place to begin: SHV, venture capital’s silent assassins.
It’s hard to find much information about the firm, despite having been in business since 1962. When you navigate to Sutter’s website, you’re met by a wall of blue, a logo, and an address. That’s it. In a funding environment in which firms pay escalating amounts to brand themselves and establish an online presence, SHV’s minimalism is a consummate flex. (See also: Benchmark).
Sutter Hill’s website
Whatever game the market, SHV isn’t bothered. They know what they’re doing, and firms are unlikely to attain such staying power without success. According to Crunchbase, the firm has made 287 investments with 81 exits along the way. That includes familiar names like Sumo Logic (another impending IPO), GlassDoor, Smartsheet, and Yext.
But perhaps more interesting than SHV’s portfolio is their approach. While we’ve seen new venture funds come to market in the last couple of years outlining a “studio” approach, SHV has played the game for at least a decade. In an interview with Strictly VC, Managing Partner Sam Pullara describes the firm’s practice of “origination” — building companies in-house with external entrepreneurs. This is a strategy that runs counter to the narrative that funds can’t incubate enduring businesses.
“The best example of what we do is Pure Storage, which my [Sutter Hill] partner Mike Speiser helped start when he was leaving Yahoo to come here. He worked with [founder and CTO] John Colgrove for eight months, trying to figure out the best company to start in flash storage. John started it, and Mike joined as interim CEO as John built out the team. Then Aneel Bhusri of Greylock [Partners] did the Series B, and the rest of that is going amazing.”
Though details are scant, Snowflake seems to have been built with the same approach. Indeed, it’s hard to overstate just how involved SHV appears to have been in its success. From what we understand, Speiser helped the original architects design the commercial organization around the product, with Snowflake’s sales and go-to-market teams running through SHV until recently.
That hard work has paid off. At IPO, SHV is the largest external shareholder with a 20.3% stake in Snowflake. They’re followed by Altimeter Partners (14.8%), ICONIQ Partners (13.8%), Redpoint Ventures (9.0%), and, inevitably, Sequoia Capital (8.4%).
As mentioned earlier, Snowflake has raised a total of $1.4B on its path to IPO, illustrating that while costs are relatively low to start software businesses, scaling is expensive. Critical rounds include the $5M Series A led by SHV in 2012, a $26M Series B round led by Redpoint in 2014, and the monster $450M Series F in late 2018, spearheaded by Sequoia. As part of that round, enterprise software veteran Carl Eschenbach — formerly of VMWare and involved with the firm’s investments in UiPath and Gong — took a board seat.
There’s one final investor worth noting: Warren Buffett. The Oracle of Omaha is expected to plow $570M into Snowflake, investing $250M in a private placement at $80 per share. He’s agreed to purchase a further 4M shares from former CEO Muglia at the IPO price, which could cost between $303 and $344M. Salesforce Ventures is also grabbing $250M as part of the private placement.
Given Berkshire Hathaway’s reticence to invest in tech companies, particularly those operating at a loss like Snowflake, this show of confidence represents something of a coup.
Financial highlights
Ask an investor to wave a wand and create a business, and it might end up looking a lot like Snowflake. There’s plenty to admire in the company’s performance to date. With that in mind, we’re going to focus on three fundamental pieces of the business: revenue growth, net revenue retention, and the margin profile.
Revenue growth
There are no two ways of putting it: Snowflake is growing fast. As noted under “Snowflake’s History,” revenue expanded 173% over the last two fiscal years and 132% when comparing the six months leading up to July 31, 2019, with the same period in 2020. Some sources have suggested that Snowflake’s trajectory makes them one of the fastest-growing software companies at IPO ever.
This has been achieved at a significant scale. As noted earlier, Snowflake logged $264M in its 2020 fiscal year, up from $96.7M.
Net revenue retention
Customers are using Snowflake more and more. Thanks to the usage-based pricing model, Snowflake has had success “landing and expanding” with their clients. Their most recent six month period showed a net retention rate of 158%, meaning that even accounting for churn, customers spent 58% more than they had compared to the same period in 2019. Remarkably, Snowflake’s net revenue retention stood at 223% the year prior.
This compares favorably to several public software companies, including Datadog (146%), Slack (138%), and Slootman’s old haunt, ServiceNow (96%).
Moderate margins
If there’s one weakness in Snowflake’s financial performance beyond the decision to eschew profitability, it’s the gross margin profile.
Unlike many public software companies, Snowflake can’t brag about 75–90% gross margins. Because of where the company sits in the stack, they’re reliant on public cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and GCP. That’s demonstrated graphically in the S-1 filing.
Snowflake’s S-1 filing
As a result, gross margins are comparatively modest, around 60%. This represents an improvement in performance in prior years, which saw margins of 44–45%.
Part of that is due to increased negotiating power with those public cloud providers. From the S-1:
“Our improved gross margin during the last four quarters presented is primarily attributable to higher volume-based discounts for purchases of third-party cloud infrastructure, increased scale across our cloud infrastructure regions, and improved platform pricing discipline.”
Valuation
What is Snowflake worth? This is the (multi)billion-dollar question for Slootman, SHV, and Buffett himself.
As background, Snowflake last raised capital in February of this year at a $12.4B valuation. There are whispers $ SNOW’s debut may see the business priced north of $20B, with $30B within the realm of possibility given the scalding hot IPO-market. That’s quite a price for a company yet to reach an annual recurring revenue rate (ARRR) of $1B.
As referenced in “Market,” Snowflake considers its TAM to be $81B, with additional upside possible should data sharing become a more significant part of its business. The S-1 notes that the “data sharing opportunity” has “not been defined or quantified by any research institutions” but considers it to be “substantial and largely untapped.” Putting that to the side, should Snowflake IPO at a $25B valuation, the company would represent a whopping 30% of its TAM. It would also represent one of the industry’s highest multiples relative to sales: 95x for the 2020 financial year and 52x for the six months ending July 31.
Does Snowflake deserve this premium?
Ultimately, the company is a best-in-class provider, growing quickly and operating in a rapidly expanding market. If we assume Snowflake’s trajectory continuing with revenues reaching $850M by the 2022 financial year, a sales multiple looks more reasonable at 29x. That’s in-line with other public SaaS companies, including Datadog, Zoom, and Coupa, all who see Enterprise Value (EV) to Next Twelve Months (NTM) sales at roughly 30x. More broadly, high-growth SaaS sees EV/NTM sales between 20–25x.
Competition
The competitive landscape is one of the most exciting parts of the Snowflake story. As noted, the “frenemies” dynamic seems unique in the enterprise software landscape.
The Big Three and beyond
To put it simply: Snowflake relies on the big cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure) for raw materials. Snowflake’s product, in effect, is storage and compute. Without the big cloud providers, they don’t have storage. Access is mission-critical.
Simultaneously, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft each have a directly competing product to what Snowflake offers. Redshift, BigQuery, and Synapse are going after the same customers that Snowflake is. Given those are three of the most successful, highly-capitalized businesses of all-time that’s cause for concern. To date, Snowflake seems to have benefited by being the “Switzerland” of the space — staying neutral as public cloud providers engage in a slugging match. They’ve also capitalized on their first-mover advantage. But looking forward, it’s not clear what barriers prohibit this “Big 3” from catching up.
In addition to the big cloud providers’ SQL databases, the OG on-prem SQL data players remain. Oracle, SAP, and Teradata are striving to compete in this brave new (cloud) world.
Finally, it’s worth considering a competitor of similar vintage to Snowflake. Databricks, founded in 2013, started as an extension of Apache Spark, initially focusing on the data science part of the analytics stack. Over time, they’ve encroached on Snowflake’s domain, with their new Lakehouse product providing storage. While Snowflake’s been squarely focused on storage (and compute) to date, the company has also suggested an interest in data science workflows. Databricks is a small company relative to the giants listed above, last valued at $6B. But in five years down the line, we may see more robust competition as feature sets converge.
Tracking market share
Given the space’s competitive dynamics, tracking Snowflake’s market share becomes increasingly important for those interested.
Though we’ve mentioned other KPIs above — notably revenue growth, margin profile, and net revenue retention, all relative to competitors — alternative metrics may provide a unique vantage. In particular, we think tracking “developer mindshare” may give a differentiated view on how Snowflake is trending relative to its rivals and is a potential leading indicator of future market share.
Leveraging publicly available data on Github, we were able to identify the frequency and velocity of code and repositories on specific technologies. The results are as of August 2020, summarized in the tables below:
Taken together, Snowflake shows steady growth in developer mindshare, though both BigQuery is accelerating more rapidly. RedShift shows relatively similar growth, while Hadoop, Cloudera, Synapse, and Apache Hive are in relative decline. Those interested in the stock may want to consider tracking this information going forward.
The cautionary tale of Hadoop and Cloudera
While all looks rosy for Snowflake at the moment, observers of the space may recall the (relative) demise of similarly hyped business: Cloudera, MapR, and Hortonworks. Swift technological advancements have the potential to benefit insurgents and deposition incumbents.
After its release in 2006, Apache’s Hadoop received significant buzz through the early 2010s. Hadoop was an open-source ecosystem, and for a period, the best data warehousing solution for on-prem databases. A trio of companies emerged off the back of Hadoop, serving as vendors. Cloudera, Map R, and Hortonworks helped companies leverage Hadoop’s features to create high-volume data management strategies.
That trio dominated the on-prem traditional data warehouse industry before they faced a classic Innovator’s Dilemma. As they focused on servicing their existing market, they failed to devote time and resources to the next frontier: the cloud.
Over time, all three lost share to Snowflake and the offerings of the Big 3. Unable to compete architecturally, the trio faced increasing pressure exacerbated by strategic mistakes. In 2019, Cloudera and Hortonworks merged in an all-stock deal. Though Cloudera now trades on the NYSE, it’s $3.9B is a fraction of what it might have been when seeing what Snowflake has managed to achieve. The same year as the Cloudera merger, Hewlett Packard acquired MapR for less than $50M, a far cry from the $280M raised, and believed to be below its revenue.
Snowflake was the beneficiary of the evolution of data warehousing towards the cloud, but like all things tech-oriented, it is susceptible to disintermediation via innovation. Today, no threat appears imminent. But mindful investors will remember that the backers of Cloudera, Hortonworks, and MapR may have once felt the same.
Why now?
There’s a rumor that circulated in May of last year. In an interview with The Information, then-CEO Bob Muglia made an innocuous comment. When asked when Snowflake would go public, he answered that it would be at least a year, maybe more.
“We have enough cash and don’t need to go public,” he said.
Two weeks later, he was ousted. The man brought in to replace him — Slootman, of course — was a different profile of leader. A disciplined, aggressive CEO with experience taking companies public, having down so twice already. Snowflake is his chance to “three-peat.”
All to say that Snowflake has been mulling a listing for some time, and put in place a leader well-suited to make it happen in relatively short order. In October 2019, just five months into his tenure, Slootman stated that he expected Snowflake to go public early summer in 2020 or after the presidential elections.
Both the favorable market conditions and coronavirus tailwinds seem to have altered that calculation slightly. Rather than waiting for late November or December, Snowflake is capitalizing on the sympathetic market conditions to list this fall.
While investors’ appetite for cloud stocks is undoubtedly a large part of the calculus, there may be another element. As mentioned earlier, Snowflake has executed at breakneck speed. At the back of Slootman and Co.’s mind may be a question: can we keep it up? It’s hard to find fault with Snowflake’s metrics at the moment, but as competition heats up, that may not always be the case.
👉 Find more of this analysis at The Generalist. | https://mariogabriele.medium.com/snowflakes-ipo-and-the-data-blizzard-27ece27c026f | ['Mario Gabriele'] | 2020-09-14 17:08:14.619000+00:00 | ['Investing', 'Stock Market', 'Data', 'Warren Buffett', 'Technology'] |
The Role of the African Diaspora in Shaping Economic Development on the continent | Africa has the biggest emerging markets and the youngest population in the World. The UN estimated by 2050, the world population will surpass 9 billion, with Africa accounting for the majority of the 2.3 billion increase — which is more than India and China combined. In contrast, developed countries population is expected to increase slightly from 1.23 billion to 1.28 billion (United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2009).
The rapid increase in the African population has several implications for policymakers who want to engage the continent. Firstly, appropriate policies need to be designed to promote sustainable economic development which will benefit all segments of the population. Secondly, African countries are integrating into the global economy which is driven by the emerging markets in Asia, thus they are seeking new emerging markets to conduct business in. Thirdly, economic policies need to address economic development that is focused on sustainable poverty reduction and promotes climate change. The integration of the world means the outbreak of diseases, economic and social failures are easily transferred from one country to the other. What this means is we are no longer protected by our border from a deadly outbreak of diseases as we saw in 2014, ebola outbreak in west Africa.
Africa is an untapped market
Another important factor policymakers should take into consideration is 60% of the entire continent population is below the age of 25. With 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 (the youth bracket), Africa has the youngest population in the World. Couple this with the fact that the governance situation is steadily improving and the advancement of technology has created plenty of opportunities for future generations, which did not exist for previous generations. All over Africa technology is enabling the rapid development of basic services like education, healthcare, sanitation, and banking. For example, “In Uganda, the web-based application Mobile VRS has helped increase birth registration rates from 28% to 70% across the country”, which has enabled politicians and decision-makers to track health outcomes and improve access to services for these children.
The Role of the African Diaspora
Another phenomenon happening is African from the diaspora are returning home. Because Africa is home to some of the fastest-growing economies in the World and due to the fact that, a promise of a better life in the west is no longer a reality for most African living abroad. Social, and economic mobility is not guaranteed. A lot of well-educated African’s, find themselves working 80-hour workweeks in corporate jobs, with very little chance of breaking the glass ceiling. Chams Diagne founder of Talent2Africa, a Dakar-based recruitment agency that specializes in recruiting African professionals from Europe says, “In the West, it seems like there’s a glass ceiling that cannot be broken,”. “People are moving back to grow their careers faster.
For Africa, to reach its full potential, the African diaspora will need to play a vital role and contribute its diverse skill set to the development of the continent. On average, African immigrants are better educated than people born in the U.S. or the immigrant population as a whole. It’s a population that’s very diverse in its educational, economic and English proficiency profile,” said Jeanne Batalova, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute a think tank in Washington and co-author of a report last year on sub-Saharan African immigrants in the U.S.
The diaspora's financial contribution to the African continent and the countries they live in is also unmatched. In 2012 alone, remittances from the diaspora were put at an estimated $60.4 billion. In the U.S. alone, there are roughly 35 million citizens of African descent in the U.S. with a collective purchasing power of about $450 billion per year. A sum that if represented by a single country would make it one of the 15 largest economies in the world.
According to the Migrations Policy Institute, “29 percent of Nigerian-Americans over the age of 25 hold a graduate degree, compared to 11 percent of the overall U.S. population”. Yet, Nigerians still face racist stereotypes, which often-times limits their ability to progress in the corporate world. In a recent meeting with his advisors, U.S President Donald Trump said that Nigerians would never go back to “their huts” once they saw America. This negative stereotype is driving Africans back to the continent to seek new opportunities.
The opportunity has never been greater for African leaders to create favourable economic, political, and social conditions for individuals who want to return home from the diaspora. To achieve this, the host countries need to ensure they have institutions that are transparent and accountable, such as an impartial court system and predictable regulatory systems. A recent survey conducted by the World Bank found 60% of African professionals working in the banking, manufacturing, and tech sectors would return home if, the judicial system and regulatory systems were more predictable.
What Needs to Change?
Predictability of the Judicial System
Court impartiality is essential to business confidences. When courts are perceived to act impartial and decisions are enforce based on legal facts and not on political affiliations, businesses are more likely to engage in contractual transactions, such as credit with suppliers and clients. This is because businesses have confidence in the legal systems that disputes will be resolved legal disputes in a fair and timely manner. In contrast, a lack of confidence in the legal system leads to mistrust, destroys business confidence, and leads to corruption, because individuals try to influence decision-makers. Gallup survey conducted in 2013, found “less than half of sub-Saharan Africans (48%) express confidence in their judicial system.
Predictability of Regulatory Changes
Another area of concern is the regulatory environment is unpredictable in African countries. Unpredictable regulatory systems are likely to harm long-term business planning and investment, confuse interpretations of the rules, and increase the potential for corruption. I recently visited Ghana for 6 months, and during my visit, I had a chance to talked to a few business owners, who had recently moved back to Ghana from the U.S to start a business.
They expressed to me that a predictable regulatory system in the short and long term is vital if the continent is going to continue to attract the best and brightest people from the diaspora. “What we want is consistency and predictability from the institutions that govern our lives”.
Court impartiality and predictable regulatory systems need to be a top priority if African countries are to capitalize on the enormous resources and human capital. Strong, efficient and transparent institutions contribute to business confidence and help facilitate transactions. It also helps reduces transaction costs and reduce corruption. Strong and reliable institutions ensure that procedures such as customs clearance and export/import documentation are streamlined and efficient while detecting unlawful operations. They need to be coupled with a well-functioning judicial system that encourages the rule of law and guarantees investors will be treated fairly if legal disputes arise.
Recommendations
African countries will need to reform its institutions.
Some of the reforms include overhauling the tax codes, improving tax administration procedures, and easing tax burdens, simplifying procedures for construction permits, and improving contract enforcement. Despite some business indicators showing that Africa’s laws and regulations are more restrictive than other regions, some countries have already taken the right steps forward to solve some of the challenges noted in this article.
For example, Ghana used to have a very complicated and time-consuming process when it came to registering a business. Registering a business in Ghana used to involved 12 procedures, 81 days and entrepreneur would spend 78% of the per capita Gross National Income (GNI) to start a business. However, the “red tape” has been significantly reduced, it now takes 8 procedures, 33 days and 26% of the per capita GNI. This has improved Ghana ranking from 145th to 99th on the ease of starting a business in the World.
Similarly, Rwanda has taken steps to eliminate burdensome bureaucracies that hinder entrepreneurs. Prior to the reforms, an entrepreneur would have needed to complete 9 procedures, spend 43 days and about 232 % of the per capita GNI to start a formal business in 2004;however, the system has been overhauled and it only requires two procedures that take less than three days and cost 9 % of the per capita GNI. As a result, Rwanda’s ranking has improved substantially from 58th easiest country in which to start a business in 2007 to 9th in 2011.
The chance has never been greater for Africans to go back and contribute their knowledge, skills, and expertise to the continent and more importantly rewrite a positive narrative about the continent. | https://medium.com/an-idea/the-role-of-the-african-diaspora-in-shaping-economic-development-on-the-continent-11d428d22e07 | ['Henry Awere'] | 2020-09-16 23:35:55.940000+00:00 | ['Africa', 'Economic Development', 'Diaspora Africa', 'Public Policy'] |
User Testing Changed My Perspective on Online Dating | I got married at 23 to my college sweetheart. I’d never downloaded a dating app. I didn’t understand the pains of online dating.
Somehow I found myself designing a dating app.
Like every good designer, I tried to empathize with my users. I have single friends. I’ve been on my fair share of awkward dates. But for me, finding romantic relationships has never been that painful.
I tried to dig into the pain my users were feeling, but in the back of my head I kept thinking, “Come on guys, just be nice and get to know people…it’s not that hard!”
The Test
After a few weeks at Icebrkr, we started user testing. I thought it would be uncomfortable, but I knew that this was what UX Designers were supposed to do, so I dove in.
I read Sprint by Jake Knapp; I created user testing goals and a script. I sent out emails and surveys and follow up emails. I tried to find people who had characteristics of our target user. This included people who are looking for a long-term relationship people who are frustrated with online dating. Finally, I narrowed down our group of testers to five people and we scheduled the video calls.
I thought I was “nervous-excited”, but it turns out I was just nervous. I totally messed up the recording and the whole call was a mess. We regrouped for the second interview and tried again.
Photo by: Matthew Henry
The second interview changed everything for me. The woman we talked to was very outgoing and open. I could hear the frustration in her voice, and see it through her body language.
Her frustration didn’t surprise me. I expected our target users to be fed up with dating. Her personality is what surprised me.
I’m ashamed to admit that I expected most of our target users to be a little…socially awkward. I was shocked that this beautiful, smart, bubbly woman was having a hard time dating. Why? How could someone so personable have such a hard time finding a romantic connection? She’s not awkward or anti-social; she’s not afraid of commitment. Why would things not work out for her?
Catching the Empathy Bug
Photo by Krista Mangulsone on Unsplash
Throughout this user testing experience, I was open to being proved wrong. I wanted to believe that online dating was hard and painful and had problems that needed to be solved. I was open to learning why online dating wasn’t easy and simple. This open attitude allowed me to begin to empathize…
I started thinking that maybe I got lucky. Maybe I would be in the same boat if I hadn’t met my husband during our first year of college. I started to imagine what it would feel like to online date. I thought about what it might be like to get my hopes up and then have my match ghost me. Or how it would feel to realize that that my match is just a fake profile or that he’s only interested in a hookup. ugh. It all started to feel bleak and gross and unsettling.
Maybe online dating is harder than I thought.
How are these amazing people supposed to find each other? How are the serious dating supposed to crawl through the weeds and find the other serious daters? The apps they’re using are full of casual daters and people interested in hookups; where can the serious daters go?
When you create an app that allows people to make an account and start swiping in under 60 seconds, you create a specific environment. This environment allows fake profiles, casual daters, and catfishers to thrive. This is not what our users are looking for.
This is not what I would be looking for if I was online dating.
Empathy Takes Time and an Open Mind
Photo by Ramesh Casper on Unsplash
There’s a lot of pressure on designers to immediately get on board with the products they design, but empathy takes time. When I was first introduced to Icebrkr, I can admit that I didn’t believe in my product, and that’s okay.
If you’re like me and you don’t quite understand your users’ emotions yet, I’m sure you know what I’m going to say…talk to your users! User testing helped me understand the pain that my users are going through. It completely changed my perspective.
But before you start scheduling user interviews, check your attitude. When you talk to your users, you have to be open to changing your mind. If you go into the interview with your mind already made up, you’re not going to listen well and you won’t walk away with the empathy you need.
Learning to empathize with others is a skill. Practice it. Try to feel their emotions. Think about their circumstances and feelings.
Choose a Product That’s Worth Building
A good test to see if you have developed empathy for your users, is to take a good look at your product. I’m sure you’ve heard the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it they will come.” But I challenge you to ask yourself: is what your building good for them?
Is your product worth building? Will it improve people’s lives?
I recently read the book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal (I know, I know, I’m late to the game). Towards the end of the book Eyal talks about the moral questions around creating a product. He gives us this Manipulation Matrix to test your morality as a designer.
Eyal argues that successful and moral products come from “Facilitators”. Facilitators are designers who create products that have two important qualities:
1. The product is useful enough for the designer to use it herself.
2. The product generally improves the user’s life.
Take a good look at your product and think about where you fall in the manipulation matrix. Would you use your product? Is your product good for your users?
Think about how your product is solving the problem your users are experiencing. If you’re having trouble with this, maybe you’re not building an ethical product. If you are truly invested in your users, you’ll want to build a product that improves their lives. If you can see how your product is easing the pain that your users are feeling, that is a very good sign.
And isn’t that what being a designer is all about? Creating a more beautiful, easy, simple, enjoyable world for the people around us?
Icing on the Cake
I believe that Icebrkr is a product worth building. A few months ago, I might not have said that. I knew that Icebrkr was different. I wouldn’t have joined a company whose mission was to get people to hook up; I’m a LTR kind of girl. But I didn’t think the problem we were solving for was that important. I thought online dating was simple, just be nice.
It turns out, I was wrong. Online dating isn’t easy. As I talked to frustrated people, they changed my perspective.
My new-found empathy created a new-found love for my product. I started to understand why people needed an app for serious daters. I realized how much good could come from our app. These frustrated, yet wonderful people could find happiness through our product.
This empathy fueled our designs. I was so excited to create after those interviews! We redesigned the onboarding of Icebrkr based on the feedback we got from user testing. And this week, we are launching our product in Boston!
I’m so glad that I worked to develop understanding for our users. I believe I am a better designer and Icebreaker is better app because of this experience.
You can read more about the redesign here: kaylabrianne.com
If you liked my article please 👏 , comment and share. You can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn. | https://medium.com/@kaylabriannesmith/user-testing-changed-my-perspective-on-online-dating-e145e64a2cfe | ['Kayla Brianne'] | 2019-02-07 16:36:17.563000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Startup', 'Design Process', 'Online Dating', 'User Testing'] |
The First Love. Falling Out of It? | The First Love. Falling Out of It?
None of the stories of first love last forever. Okay maybe some do, but most don't even last long enough to fall into a long term relationship, let alone having a happily ever after.
But that's just how life goes on, we young humans are strange, fickle minded creatures too curious to hold on to one or maybe as the adults put it so subtly we are too immature to understand love so we let it go and set ourselves on a mission to fall in for broken hearts just to understand the meaning of love and call it moving on.
Obviously sometime in our life we do find that one person who makes it all work, or maybe it is never meant to work, who can say that? But do you ever end up wondering how things would have been if one of those events in the series of a budding innocent love, had gone differently. Would you still be where you are now? Would that love still be as important as it was years ago? Would life still seem as easy as it was with them, before the long chain of heartbreaks?
Sometimes I think it would be easier if we all just spent the rest of our lives with our first love. Not the person you were crazy about for months and they ignored you and completely crushed your heart, but the first person who made our heart beat faster and gave you the feeling of butterflies and inferno, the innocent feeling of belonging and most of all the unconditional love.
After all that was the first time we'd felt so special, they were the first person to make you feel that way, so that has to account for something, doesn't it? | https://medium.com/@aayushihere08/the-first-love-falling-out-of-it-eadf5f8f8dff | [] | 2020-12-18 18:04:31.823000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Relationships', 'Heartbreak', 'First Love', 'Love'] |
Movie Review: A Christmas Horror Story (2015) | The fact that I didn’t find this to be a complete waste of time is pretty remarkable, given that I usually hate things with this kind of tone. I mean, Santa fighting off zombie elves is just that kind of horror comedy that would usually having me rolling my eyes.
And this is an anthology, which I think helps make it feel fresh. If it was all Santa vs. zombies, I’d have found it pretty exhausting. But at the same time, the movie goes for that Trick ‘r Treat kind of anthology, where the episodes aren’t clearly divided. It cuts back and forth to them, and they’re not really intertwined, so it’s a strange decision. I think the movie would have been more entertaining had it not done that.
Rating: 5/10 | https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/movie-review-a-christmas-horror-story-2015-f0c59492b40a | ['Patrick J Mullen'] | 2020-12-25 14:07:35.401000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Canadian', 'Anthology', 'Movie Review', 'Horror'] |
What will be the biggest challenge to your content in 2017? | Before we get in to this I would like you to view the video below, if you haven’t seen it already:
Here’s a thought…”algorithms can only take us so far in our journey to better content” the problem from me is they aren’t human so they don’t really give us what we want, they give us what they think we need, you only have to search Google to see that.
So what’s the future? None of us have a crystal ball but I would say content that is original and shareable is the way forward. Why would I say that?
The reason, it’s what separates us from the noise. I see lots of copy cat posts and articles where it’s really easy just to cut and paste someone else’s work and claim it for your own, there is very little original thinking out there and that’s because we are still in the mindset of “the more followers I have the better” and “if I build they will come”. Wake up and smell the coffee, they won’t, especially using someone else’s content.
Original content is the way to go, or at the very least your spin on any given subject, something that screams ‘you’.
I started banging on about this stuff around 2009 when only a few were saying a similar thing, at that time it was still to be heard you had to shout the loudest and have the biggest following, that doesn’t count in my book. I would much rather have a small loyal band than 20 squillion followers that do bugger all.
We should be aiming for brand advocates, those fantastic souls who shout our names from the rooftops, those who buy our stuff and attend our events, where ever they are, quality over quantity.
This is where fantastic content comes in and influencers to. If you can ‘ride on the back’ of an influencer with content that really resonates with their audience or at least a part of it you have a chance. This is a quick way to stardom, if that’s what you want. Or you could take the slower route and build up with organic content and search.
I think too much emphasis is placed on algorithms and how they return stuff to us, I like the conversational route and no better place to see that in action is Facebook. You can go on to Facebook at anytime and view some really deep rich conversations, but then in amongst all this fab content is an advert for drumsticks or a size 36B bra, ops maybe not 😉 because it’s what you searched for 2 days ago and the algorithm remembers.
My point is, algorithms are great but it’s not the be all and end all, to me conversations are.
Conversations that resonate and have purpose are even more special and if you ask a question then you better be ready to answer it, pet hate I’m afraid. I hate it when people say “oh sorry I didn’t have time to answer I’m so busy”…bugger off if you ask a question at least be courteous to answer when someone takes the time to reply to it. Rant over!
So think of your content as the start of a conversation, why, because we are all tired of being talked ‘to’ or ‘at’.
It’s far more productive and helpful to either start a conversation around a topic, or answer questions that are causing a problem for your audience. This is a great way to grow your audience with people who like what you have to say and who you can help. If I start a conversation more often than not I will wait for the questions and answers to come roiling in as I find them fascinating and helpful plus it gives me a chance to find out what’s bugging them.
“Surround yourself with people smarter than you” is a great piece of advice plus you will have some fantastic but challenging conversations.
This is niche marketing at its best, a small tight group that interact and converse, that’s so much better than listening to some idiot who likes the sound of their own voice, and lord knows there’s enough of those out there.
So back to the original question “the future of content.” quality content that’s original and shareable is the answer. Don’t treat your audience as fools, there not, if you do they won’t stick around for long.
But enough of me…I would love to hear your thoughts on content and how you see it changing in 2017. | https://medium.com/digital-and-social-collection/what-will-be-the-biggest-challenge-to-your-content-in-2017-27d6ad1da56c | ['Keith Mcmean'] | 2017-03-31 15:09:04.182000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Content Marketing', 'Digital Marketing'] |
On Bombs, DNA & Blockchain | Early Ethical Discussion Needed on the Impact of Transformative Technology
Ethical and Moral Dilemmas of Distributed Ledger Tech
My grandfather, Homer Weeks, was a brick mason who, during World War II, built the secret city in Oak Ridge, Tennessee as part of the Manhattan Project. Before he was called to the war effort, he had built modest homes, businesses and churches in rural areas of the state. But in the Smoky Mountains near Knoxville, he helped construct a hidden city where almost 80,000 people enriched uranium and plutonium for the world’s first deployed atomic bomb.
Later my father, Jimmy Mayes, his son-in-law, would also become an early contributor to this world-changing and devastating technology, but in another way. He became a US Navy seaman first on “diesel boats”, then on the first nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.
Both men died young, perhaps due to health issues linked to their work. My grandfather died of heart disease before I was born. Growing up, I saw the toll my father’s work took on him as one of the first to realize the potential destructive power of nuclear weapons, all while specializing in their launch, care and maintenance. He died of suicide at 34.
It was from these men that I attribute my life-long interest in world-changing technologies — but also the very personal pursuit to find technologies that contribute something positive to business and humanity. I’ve now worked with emerging technologies and industries for over 30 years as part of the Human Genome Project, the mobile software revolution, the emerging cannabis industry, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. With each effort I’ve strived to act ethically and to raise awareness of the moral impact of our decisions, to look ahead to the impact of new technology on society and the environment.
The Secret City
Like many who worked for the Clinton Engineer Works from 1942 to 1945, my grandfather wasn’t exactly sure what they were all doing — just that it was to help win the war. Within the heavily guarded fences, inhabitants were asked not to share details of their work, and warned with posters and signs that “loose lips sink ships” and “loose talk helps our enemy.” As a brick mason, my grandfather wasn’t exactly privy to highly classified discussions.
It was only after the Hiroshima explosion on August 6, 1945 that my grandfather received a letter from Robert Patterson, Undersecretary of War that read in part:
“The atomic bomb which you have helped to develop with high devotion to patriotic duty is the most devastating military weapon that any country has ever been able to turn against its enemy…we are proud of every one of you.”
I imagine my grandfather feeling at first patriotic to contribute to ending the war, then horrified at having helped unleash the age of nuclear weapons.
On this 73rd anniversary, it is important to remember that Hiroshima was a manufacturing center 500 miles from Tokyo. It targeted a civilian population in an effort to force the Japanese government to surrender. The first atomic bomb killed 20,000–70,000 people immediately, tens of thousands more from radiation fallout. In combination, the first atomic weapons killed over 200,000 people.
Scientists who were part of the Manhattan Project began feeling deep remorse long before the bombs were dropped. The questionable morality of dropping the bomb on civilians and its lasting, destructive power profoundly disturbed many of its creators. Less than 2 months before the first bomb was deployed, Manhattan Project scientists at the metallurgical lab in Chicago submitted the Franck Report, asking that these new weapons not be used, and to consider the broader issues to the country and the world.
The Franck Report was created and signed by Chairman James Franck, Donald J. Hughes, J.J. Nickson, Eugene Rabinowitch, Glenn T. Seasborg, J.C. Stearns and Leó Szilárd. Presented to President Truman’s Interim Committee in June 1945, it was rejected. The committee ultimately concluded there was no alternative to dropping atomic bombs.
In a recent interview with D. Leah Steinberg, author of Raised in the Shadow of the Bomb: Children of the Manhattan Project, she talks about her father Ellis P. Steinberg, and uncle, Bernard Abraham, who were both Ph.D. candidates in chemistry at the University of Chicago and recruited to the Manhattan Project at the Metallurgical Laboratory. In her book, Steinberg talks about the lasting impact on project participants and their families, and mentions her father signing the broader Szilárd petition in July.
At Director J. Robert Oppenheimer’s departure ceremony at Los Alamos, he left with these words: “If atomic bombs are to be added as new weapons to the arsenals of a warring world, or to the arsenals of nations preparing for war, then the time will come when mankind will curse the names of Los Alamos and of Hiroshima.”
USS Sam Rayburn Submarine
One Sub, One Country
When my own father served on the USS Sam Rayburn nuclear submarine, it carried sixteen Polaris ballistic missiles, each armed with three nuclear warheads. A single Polaris nuclear missile carries 10 times the destructive power of the second atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki, killing over 100,000. My father once said a nuclear submarine was “the most powerful country on earth” because one sub could destroy any single country.
In 1962, according to recently declassified reports, the US had 1,825 nuclear missiles “afloat”. It reached a peak in 1975 of 6,191; as of 1991 there were 4,709. Today an estimated 15,000 nuclear weapons exist worldwide with only 9 out of 196 countries in possession. More than 90% of nuclear weapons are controlled by the US and Russia.
A regional war in which two countries use 50 nuclear weapons with 15KT payloads each would destroy the entire planet. Almost 75 years after the first weapons were used, society has still not collectively understood the powder keg we created. In 2018 it appears we’ve nearly forgotten the stockpiles exist, and world politicians talk casually about nuclear weapons as if they are prepared to use them. While nuclear-armed countries unapologetically control these humanity-ending stockpiles, they also prevent other countries from developing them.
Blockchain technology probably won’t change how we secure nuclear arsenals. The “military-grade encryption” used throughout the cryptocurrency space is exactly the kind of security we hope is already employed to ensure control. But we can learn something from the nuclear debate about how (or when) moral and ethical issues should be discussed.
Mapping the Genome
My first job while still an undergrad at the University of Tennessee was a part-time copy editing position with the Information Management System of the Human Genome Project. Before the internet, the US Department of Energy was responsible for communicating Francis Collins’ and James Watson’s NIH effort to map the sequence of human DNA. The project was located inside the same Oak Ridge laboratory built by my grandfather.
I was a young English major tasked with writing newsletters and helping disseminate information using early networked systems run by the National Science Foundation. As a non-scientist, I remember being most fascinated by early court cases in which DNA was used to convict a suspect in a court of law. At the time few gene therapy studies were underway, but I’ve watched through the years as many emerged to show the real value of the project: fighting cancer, reversing birth defects and revealing predictive information about present and future health risks.
Mostly I remember the early excitement of those who imagined how their work would change modern medicine. It was also my first experience with scientists and technical geniuses who, while brilliant, were not always adept at (or interested in) explaining what they did to others. It was there I learned to be someone who listened and helped bridge the information gap — and were I earned a reputation for asking hard questions.
Unlike the Manhattan Project, health scientists on the Human Genome Project created the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) program at the beginning in 1990 as an integral part of the mission. What would the ability to alter genes mean to society? Would someone try to make an army of super soldiers, or would we commercialize the customization of fetuses? Thankfully, these ethical questions were discussed from the beginning.
In the end, the Human Genome Project took $2.7 billion and 15 years to complete the map of human DNA. Today a person’s genome can be sequenced in hours for around $1,000. Issues of privacy, fairness, design and custody of materials are addressed as part of every genetic project.
There are obvious parallels to DNA sequencing and blockchain technology. The main role of DNA in a cell is the long-term storage of information. DNA is made up of chemical building blocks called nucleotides. To form a DNA strand (which I contend is pretty secure), nucleotides are formed into alternating chains of phosphates and sugars. Understanding our genetic blueprint is obviously more directly humane than how we manage our digital cash, but digital ledger technology can learn a great deal from the way the genome project addresses ethical questions.
One blockchain start-up, Genecoin proposed to put consumer’s unique DNA sequences on a blockchain. Their pitch stated “Humans currently preserve their genes by passing them down through generations. This is an incredible but utimately [sic] unreliable backup method.” The company claimed they would “sample your DNA, turn it into data, and store it in the world’s most powerful supercomputer: the Bitcoin network.” Despite online updates as early as February of this year, Genecoin appears to be a deceased project.
Bitcoin is Neither Fat Man
Nor Little Boy
Technology that gives monetary power to the people may be nothing like a murderous weapon of mass destruction, nor is it necessarily as impactful to humanity as discovering our chemical building blocks and eradicating disease. Yet there are many current ethical dilemmas in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology development. One recent report labeled 80% of all 2017 initial coin offerings as frauds. Few inside the space seem to be asking “What does an ethical ICO look like?”
Beyond market ethics, the technology itself could impact society in ways we never imagined. For example, what human costs might be incurred in the proliferation of immutable databases? What destructive code lurks in the best DAO? What would a world currency look like, and how would it impact fiat currencies or destabilize monetary policy? How much energy will mining require in the future? How do cryptocurrencies place distance between the haves and have-nots, or simply the tech-literate and those without wifi? Who are the visionaries discussing moral implications of immutable, global, decentralized databases?
What’s more, Cathy O’Neal’s 2016 book Weapons of Math Destruction makes the argument that technology designed to make life easier for humanity can make it worse. In this age of the algorithm, many models being used are opaque, unregulated, and incontestable, even when they’re wrong. Cryptocurrencies, tokenized economies and distributed ledger technology may usher in the age of decentralization, but encrypted keys, anonymous transactions, and unchangeable data structures could have unintended consequences.
To date several blockchain projects have created foundations to help maintain development efforts. The Bitcoin Foundation was founded in September 2012 with the stated mission to “standardize, protect and promote the use of bitcoin money for the benefit of users worldwide.” It supports education and adoption efforts, and lobbies regulators and lawmakers on various issues such as cryptocurrency legislation and New York’s Bitlicense. While this popular foundation is doing valuable work, its efforts are not focused on ethics.
A More Ethical, Post-capitalist World
Some enthusiasts have suggested that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and distributed, decentralized ledgers can help create a more ethical, post-capitalist world, one democratized by computer code. The potential is real, and suggests a paradigm shift in the finance, healthcare, legal, manufacturing and government industries.
Automated, indirect reporting of supply chain events may one day allow consumers to understand the true impact of their purchases and track the sources of disastrous problems. Cryptocurrencies may one day serve over
2 billion of the “unbanked”, people without access to traditional banking systems or trustworthy banks and governments. Distributed applications, or dApps, could soon create global software systems without a commercial company’s control. Transparent, distributed autonomous organizations (DAOs), created and executed entirely through open source software, may one day be some of the largest and most efficient companies on the planet.
One working example of how blockchain is helping to address business ethics occurs in the diamond industry. Everledger is a start-up helping to authenticate diamonds to ensure they are sourced ethically. By tracking the supply chain on an immutable ledger, they can avoid the purchase of “blood diamonds” used to finance terrorist activity.
Critics of Bitcoin and blockchain have suggested they undermine the fiat currency structures of countries around the world, and disrupt financial markets that survive through regulation. Many see the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies as scams or ponzi schemes designed to dupe unsophisticated investors, and that digital currencies have no intrinsic value. Since most computer users are unaware of the complexity behind the applications they use, many people won’t fully understand encryption, distributed ledgers or token economics, making them targets of the technological elite.
With such potential impacts we can’t ignore the necessary work of considering the consequences. Blockchain tech needs to create dialogue to collectively recognize the implications on society. We should start early, similar to the way Human Genome Project approached moral dilemmas, not after the fact, like the Manhattan Project.
Do you know of an organization exploring the ethical and moral implications of blockchain technology? Please comment and let us know.
Please visit and support these organizations:
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament: https://cnduk.org/
Union of Concerned Scientists: https://www.ucsusa.org/
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons: http://www.icanw.org/
Blockchain for Good: https://www.blockchainforgood.com/
***
Michael Mayes is working with the ULC Project, ethically building a truly scalable, decentralized payment network for global-scale applications. Under a no-ICO model, they are building the Unblocked Sharded Ledger, featuring a unique consensus model, the Unblocked Consensus Algorithm. The project’s initial proof of concept will be a payment network utilizing the Unblocked Ledger Coin (ULC). | https://medium.com/mpg-research-communications/on-bombs-dna-blockchain-c818140be732 | ['Mpg Research'] | 2018-08-03 13:31:01.605000+00:00 | ['Nuclear', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Distributed Ledgers', 'Blockchain Technology'] |
EIGHT(8) RECOMMENDED WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS YOU SHOULD NOT IGNORE | CircadiYin is a 100% natural solution that supports full restoration of circadian rhythm, which is clinically shown to control metabolism.
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Replenish 911 contains seven of the most sought after probiotics that assist in a heatlhy gut for weight management. | https://medium.com/@excellenceskill/eight-8-recommended-weight-loss-supplements-you-should-not-ignore-485e54c0853c | [] | 2021-12-17 09:22:26.177000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss', 'Supplement Ingredients', 'Weightloss Recipe', 'Loss Weight Diary', 'Fat Burning Foods'] |
a better homosocial model would emotional connection amongst middle-aged men | There’s been a lot of research recently on the dynamics of Anglosphere and specifically American male friendships.
The underlying issue in the anglosphere is the male homosocial friendship model (basically how men tacitly assume friendships work) doesn’t allow for emotional connection or deep intimacy without the assumption that sex is either currently happening or an eventual goal. Basically, getting close to a guy, any guy, even a married one, is seen as a dangerous slippery slope to a night of lurid sex.
This has implications. For example, recent research suggests women have gay friends not only because it makes them feel safe (the homosocial sexual model doesn’t apply) but also because heteronormative american male culture is uniquely terrible at forming friendships.
Because same-sex intimacy is a forbidden thing to do unless you’re gay, and even then, only permitted if you plan on taking your clothes off, men never develop the interpersonal intelligence required to build meaningful friendships among each other. This makes it difficult for straight men to keep relationships with women going, even if there’s no untoward thoughts between them.
Personally I think the opioid crisis, crippling depression, suicide, mass shootings, all of these american social ailments afflicting straight, mostly divorced or unwed middle aged men would be greatly remedied by a better homosocial model that permits men to have friendships with each other without some erotic sword of damocles always hanging overhead.
There needs to be healthy social spaces where men can work through their griefs among confidants. Currently that isn’t permitted. | https://medium.com/@kalensk/a-better-homosocial-model-would-emotional-connection-amongst-middle-aged-men-b14b15deecf2 | [] | 2020-12-25 20:15:03.862000+00:00 | ['Isolation', 'Men', 'Emotional Connection', 'Male Connection', 'Emotions'] |
Online Pharmacy: Customer Personas and User Paths | Knowing the audience and behavior of online pharmacy buyers is key to usability engineering. Before improving the service’s interface, it is important to collect data on those who place orders, how they behave on the website, and what motivates their decisions.
Picom analysts use CJM (Customer Journey Map), a modern UX research method. It makes it possible to see users’ motives: to understand their goals, expectations, and emotions when using the site. We then create a customer journey map, where we mark the points and the nature of the interaction. This allows us to save the budget as well as to understand why customers are leaving and how to increase sales.
We analyzed the consumer behavior of one of the most popular online pharmacies. We present the results of two research stages and show you how to use these data to raise conversions.
When analyzing, we took into account the socio-demographic characteristics of users, region, online shopping experience, device type as well as motivation, goals, and behavior scenarios. Based on this data, we created 5 portraits of typical online pharmacy customers with characteristic emotions, actions, and barriers.
Anna, saves time and money
Gender and age: female, 35
Who she buys for: herself and family
Product familiarity level: medium to high
What she buys: medicines, vitamins
Experience with online pharmacies: high, ordering goods is not a problem
What she dislikes: calling pharmacies when looking for a medicine
What she wants: quickly place an order and save money
Device: smartphone, often visits the site on the way over or during work breaks
Marion, has chronic diseases
Gender and age: female, 40
Who she buys for: herself
Product familiarity level: high, well versed in the names of drugs
What she buys: the same drugs on a regular basis
Experience with online pharmacies: high
Goal: savings
Device: PC
Alex, buys for others
Gender and age: male, 35
Who he buys for: relatives, e.g. parents who do not know how to use the Internet and are afraid to order medicines themselves or according to a list from his wife
Product familiarity level: low, if the required drug is not available, he will not be able to find analogs
What he buys: medicines, baby products
Experience with online pharmacies: high
What he dislikes: calling the information desk, visiting several pharmacies in search of medicines, consulting with the pharmacist over the drug choice, looking for analogs
What he wants: to quickly and without queuing receive the ready order at a pharmacy nearby
Device: smartphone
Kate, a young mother
Gender and age: female, 25
Who she buys for: herself and the child
Product familiarity level: medium
What she buys: medicines for the baby, baby care and hygiene products, baby food, vitamins
Experience with online pharmacies: high
Goal: saving time and money
What she dislikes: visiting several pharmacies with a stroller
What she wants: select everything via a smartphone, be able to use the site at night
Device: smartphone
Sarah, an inexperienced user
Gender and age: female, 50–55
Who she buys for: herself
Product familiarity level: high, regularly buys medicines as a part of continued treatment
Experience with online pharmacies: low, faces occasional difficulties when navigating through the website
Goal: buy infrequent or expensive medicine as cheap as possible
What she dislikes: ordering via the Internet as she finds it difficult. The site should be of a familiar brand and inspire trust
What she wants: check the availability of a medicine
Device: tablet or PC
How to build a customer’s profile
There are several ways to find data about typical users:
Explore the web analytics tools of the online pharmacy. Study the socio-demographic characteristics and interests of visitors as well as their behavior on the site — movements, the number of pages viewed, the visit depth, etc. Examine the structure and functionality of the service. Try to recreate the buyer’s journey and note what questions arise before placing an order. Use your own experience of communicating with the audience: request information from the sales department or listen to the calls if there is a hotline. Conduct in-depth interviews with the target audience representatives. With the basic information gathered, segment your audience and create typical characters.
Two user scenarios
How do customers look for the needed products in an online pharmacy? The analytics identified two main user paths.
1. If it is a drug, most often the visitor knows the name and uses the search form on the site. Therefore, it is important what exactly the potential buyer will see in the search results and on the product card. To facilitate the selection process, pay attention to the following details:
The product must have a photo. It is the image that most quickly convinces the user of having found the right drug.
The package size, the dosage form, the concentration of the active ingredient, and other features of the drug should immediately be displayed in the list of products.
If the drug is sold only on prescription, the buyer must see a notification of this as early as at the preview step.
If the product is usually purchased once, you need to add supporting information, methods of administration as well as indications and contraindications to the description.
Personal recommendations and discounts work well for upselling regular goods. Besides, the buyer may be interested in cheaper analogs or more economical packaging. If the drug needs to be taken continuously, 50 tablets will cost less than 20.
When the buyer has found the right medicine, the main motivating factors for ordering are:
Price. Users compare the cost of the drug both in offline and online pharmacies as well as in several ones. Then, if a customer becomes loyal and regularly orders goods from one pharmacy, they may stop checking prices with other services
Users compare the cost of the drug both in offline and online pharmacies as well as in several ones. Then, if a customer becomes loyal and regularly orders goods from one pharmacy, they may stop checking prices with other services Order picking speed. The longer you have to wait for drugs, the lower the purchase percentage is. If a buyer can collect an order at the pharmacy only in 2–3 days, he/she can simply forget about it. And no one will wait long for medicines that are to relieve acute conditions. Therefore, it is important to build a system of reminders, especially if the order is not picked on the same day: calls from the call center, SMS-notifications like ‘the goods are waiting for you, the storage time is 48 hours’. Products that are infrequent or not urgent to take (such as vitamins) may wait longer if they are cheaper than in retail.
The longer you have to wait for drugs, the lower the purchase percentage is. If a buyer can collect an order at the pharmacy only in 2–3 days, he/she can simply forget about it. And no one will wait long for medicines that are to relieve acute conditions. Therefore, it is important to build a system of reminders, especially if the order is not picked on the same day: calls from the call center, SMS-notifications like ‘the goods are waiting for you, the storage time is 48 hours’. Products that are infrequent or not urgent to take (such as vitamins) may wait longer if they are cheaper than in retail. The simplicity of registration and authorization. The number of steps a customer has to take when placing an order directly affects the conversion.
2. Cosmetic and hygiene products of irregular use are often searched through the catalog. In this case, you need:
Clear categories. The user should immediately see in which section the product of interest is located.
Convenient filters help reduce bounce rates.
Detailed descriptions of the goods as well as ingredients and photos.
Feedback from other buyers.
Barriers
Most often, visitors of an online pharmacy refuse to buy medicines when: | https://medium.com/@grigorij-kogan/online-pharmacy-customer-personas-and-user-paths-fdd0e6423487 | ['Grigory Kogan'] | 2020-12-16 07:10:40.684000+00:00 | ['Medtech', 'Online Pharmacy', 'Online Business', 'UX Research', 'Website Development'] |
The Couple In Economy | The Couple In Economy
Short character study written on the train home
1972
The affair had begun in late summer, as most seem to do, the leaves flooding the grasses and the sun dimming in heat and hours. She was young and unextraordinary, he was wealthy and bored of his wife. And so it has been, is, and will be in the lives of thousands of lovers yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
And yet, that morning, something felt strange to Boston’s commuters about this particular extramarital liaison.
June Carmick was curiously plain, in that way which makes one peer closer over the folded pages of a morning newspaper.
She had an unusually prominent jaw, an ugly, bulbous quality to her nose and a hairline that seemed to start too far up on her head. Still, her complexion was good, one supposed, unspoilt by cosmetics or scrubbing, and her eyes had a greenish light to them that could almost be attractive when she spoke with vigour about her latest paperback or purse.
A dull creature, but not quite ugly enough or stupid enough to be worthy of comment. Perhaps that made it worse. In the shudder of carriages, as she locked hands with the doting, handsome man who grinned down on her, you could almost feel the loud, echoing chorus of bemused questions from the travellers.
Why her?
The man accompanying her was a catch, but a married one. Handsome, late fifties, sprawling in a way which suggested money was not the reason he was travelling with her in economy class. No, he’d just come back from the suburbs with her, some unimpressive tenement block no doubt with peeling wallpaper, hard mattresses and obnoxiously loud cats. But he had stared at her, in the low swinging light of the carriage before the sun rose, like she was more beautiful than anyone in the world.
She worked in the typing pool, he was a partner. Isn’t that the way most of these stories start? They were discreet, her eagerly so in the desire to keep him, and him perhaps more so in the desire to keep the liaisons from his formidable socialite wife. Who knows how it began, this strange joining of an unextraordinary woman with an extraordinary man? Perhaps he grabbed her hand one day in an elevator and asked her to join him for coffee as the September rain wept against the cafeteria windows. Or maybe he wrote three words on the back of a memo with a number and left it on her desk as she chewed on a pencil, tasting the wet graphite and paint in her mouth. It didn’t matter, and it is lost to history. The deed was done, and they were set.
“You need to kill my wife,” he had said to her once, staring up at the bulb that flickered hard against the yellowing paper. She lay flat on her back, silent, wondering if he was joking. “If you kill Susan, we could keep everything. I could marry you.” The thought seemed to form in his mouth before his mind had fully formed the plan. “You have no motive, no connection to her. It would look like an overdose if you did it right.”
She had swallowed hard, turning to watch the slow crease of his eyes that sprang like tree roots from his temples when he was thinking. “Please, Robert, no,” she had said, hoping the words were less weak than she felt. “I’m not a killer.”
But it was useless, and he kissed and pleaded so fiercely that he had barely placed the pills in her hand before she had nodded an unspoken promise. Six small grey pills with a short groove down the middle that, when ground with a pestle, looked white, like sucralose. She didn’t ask what they were, or why. Just whether to ring the front bell of the great whitewashed house at the top of the hill, or ask for the staff to let her in from the kitchens.
“Oh no,” Robert had said, lighting a cigarette with a magnificent flourish of a lighter in one hand. “You must have tea with her. Susan would never accept a gift from a stranger without meeting them. Bad etiquette, June dear.”
“What then?”
“Just put the powder in the sugar bowl when she goes to show you a photo album or something. Say you don’t take it. Say you’re a historian of homes in Massachusetts or something. She’ll like that. Always enjoyed the glamour of academic attention, Susan.”
He said the words like she was already dead.
“How can you be so cold with her? Didn’t you ever love her?”
He laughed, the performative laugh of a man bred for dinner parties and polo. “Darling, in my circles, a marriage is about a merger at best and avoiding a bastard at worst. With Susan, it was about capital and daddy’s money. No one,” he finished, sounding rehearsed, “Ever loved Susan Jones-Vanderst.”
She let silence break a few words more from him.
“She’s cold, my dear June. Very cold.”
And with that, he turned back to her on the bare white sheets, cigarette in mouth, as if they had discussed whether to buy croissants on the way to the station that Thursday. | https://madelainehanson.medium.com/the-couple-in-economy-1c0936d70800 | ['Madelaine Hanson'] | 2020-01-05 12:44:13.170000+00:00 | ['Dark Fiction', 'Horror', 'Fiction', 'Short Story', 'Psychology'] |
Destielgate: How the power of fans broke the Internet | Destielgate: How the power of fans broke the Internet
In a masterclass of media literacy and fandom as a force for change, Supernatural fans are making the show more entertaining AFTER its ending Some Lionheart Dec 17, 2020·9 min read
art by @lilnatli on Twitter
Very few shows stay on the air for 15 seasons. Let alone a scripted one with the same leads. Yet the CW’s Supernatural managed to achieve that feat… How?
I have one word for you: Fandom.
Fans helped the story of Dean and Sam Winchester’s quest to avenge their mother triple its original 5-season run and live long enough to see itself become a… Gay telenovela?
Ok. Let’s back up a little.
12 seasons of Queerbaiting: the Destiel case
For years, Supernatural has been a prime example of queerbaiting — a Hollywood trope that consists of creating homoerotic tension between two characters that never gets explicitly resolved on-screen. So much so that when I searched for “queerbaiting”, Google’s autocomplete suggested Supernatural without me asking.
Screenshot of my Google search for “queerbaiting”
This trope is so prevalent in mainstream storytelling that whole youtube channels are dedicated exclusively to unveiling the mystery behind several fan-favorite “friendships”: are they gay? Think Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor… the list goes on.
Supernatural’s Destiel (Dean + Castiel) case, however, is uniquely fascinating. Through a series of unplanned mishaps, showrunners created one of the best love stories ever told: a faithless, broken man is rescued from hell by an angel who betrays his divine mission and literally falls for this human. They kill and die for each other several times, eventually raising two children and dethroning the Abrahamic God together. Shakespeare would never.
The only problem? It was a queer love, and not what the show was supposed to be about. So the writers danced around it for 12 years, joking about it, hinting at it, but never outright addressing it or developing the romance explicitly… until about a month ago.
Destielgate
Thursday, November 5th, 2020. Georgia is still counting votes. Vladimir Putin is rumored to resign. Supernatural’s 15th season, episode 18 just aired, and “Destiel” is trending on Twitter over the presidential election.
Political analysts and regular people alike are baffled. But the #SPNFamily knows exactly what’s going on.
After 12 years of subtextual pining, Castiel, angel of the Lord, finally admitted to loving Dean Winchester… Only to receive a weirdly edited stoic response and die less than 40 seconds after coming out. Thus, earning Supernatural the Unofficial World Record on the fastest U-turn from Queerbaiting to Bury Your Gays (another timeless Hollywood tradition).
Both ecstatic they were right about Castiel’s feelings for Dean and enraged at the network for killing yet another gay character, fans took to action. Refusing to accept narratives that a queer person’s only future is to die tragically, over $58,000 was raised in Castiel’s name to the Trevor Project, the US’s leading organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to queer youth.
But while the angel’s “homosexual declaration of love” and subsequent sacrificial death became an inspiration for fans to organize and promise LGBTQ+ kids that they do “Deserve a Happy Ending,” the show chose to ignore it. In a very controversial wrap-up, writers delivered a finale worthy of Season 1. And while some fans were happy to have this kind of back-to-the-start closure, many believe it threw away 15 years of character development in favor of cheap sentimentality.
If you never watched Supernatural, this post explains exactly how mindboggling the ending was.
Now, closing a great series with a bad finale isn’t exactly new. Loyal fans will forever be angry at the last minutes of iconic shows like How I Met Your Mother and Game of Thrones. But still, Supernatural’s case is remarkable. Mostly because the self-proclaimed Worst Fandom Ever is still refusing to let their favorite show end Like That.
Bisexual Truth or Despair?
art by @liart_ez on instagram
Years ago, fanon (beliefs a majority of fans hold about a cultural product they enjoy that don’t explicitly align with the official story –or canon) designated Dean Winchester as bisexual. Despite showrunners’ efforts to depict him as a Straight™ womanizer, his interactions with other men, camera angles, and acting choices inevitably turned Dean into everyone’s favorite bi disaster. Either with Castiel, secondary characters, or even his brother Sam, fans filled the internet with videos, art, and fanfics dedicated to exposing and exploring Dean’s bisexuality.
So it’s easy to see why a large part of the fandom became angry at the amount of effort that (allegedly) was put into no-homo-ing one of the series’ most heavily queer-coded characters. Reportedly, most of Dean’s reaction to the love confession was edited out, and the episode’s title got changed from ‘The Truth’ to ‘Despair.’ Still, it was all speculation. Until…
The salsa on top of the taco came on November 24th. That Tuesday night, the Spanish translation of 15x18 aired on Warner Channel Latin America, under the original title ‘La Verdad’ (The Truth). In a hilarious twist of events, the Latin American dub translated “and I, you” where the original English audio had Dean answering “don’t do this” to his best friend’s “I love you.”
This, inevitably, caused the internet to lose its shit. Tumblr collapsed for several minutes, and the conspiracy theories didn’t take long to appear. Was this what they cut from Dean’s full reaction? Why did they cut it? Was it censorship from the network? Is this why the Latin American episode maintained its original title, whereas the US one got changed to “Despair”? Across the world, fans demanded answers.
And so, the show’s unofficial 16th season began.
#TheySilencedYou
Amidst the confusion the Latin American dub created, more international fans shared the outrageous choices other translators had made. It came up that in Germany, Dean used the F-slur in season 2. It was rumored that in India, don’t do this/and I, you got translated to “I am yours” instead. And an Italian fan went through hours of dubs to fake a leak where Dean also reciprocated Cas’s love.
Meanwhile, some felt homophobic censorship had robbed them of what would have been Dean’s explicit canonical reciprocation in English. So, naturally, they took to Twitter to protest. Through #TheySilencedYou, #TheySilencedThem, and #SomethingToSay, fans expressed their feelings of anger and betrayal at how all of the show’s female, disabled, and queer characters ended up either killed or forgotten.
These campaigns prove Destielgate outrage goes beyond the desire for a ship to become canon. The real craving is one for stories where disenfranchised folks are not disposable for the White Man’s realization. Specifically, Supernatural fans ask for The Powers that Be to acknowledge and engage with their concerns, instead of dismissing them as teenagers obsessed with two guys kissing.
Season 16 so far
Since the Latin American Spanish beginning of Destielgate, in a seemingly never-ending Season 16, we’ve had:
text post by @deanwinchesterapologist on Tumblr
Why this matters
For starters, this past month has been more entertaining than most of Supernatural’s official seasons. But beyond the hilarity of it all lies a profound truth about the importance of online communities –after all, it is the fans themselves who are producing and broadcasting this apocryphal season on social media– Destielgate is showing us fandom is a force to be reckoned with. Not only a creative one, though the over 5,600 new fanfics it inspired are impressive (all published since Despair aired).
Supernatural’s season 16 is positioning the fandom as a powerful community for positive change. Both in regards to LGBTQ+ representation in fiction and in the very real lives of those who will be positively impacted by fan-supported initiatives. Where casual viewers barely know what a Bechdel Test is, fandoms are probably the most media-aware communities. Because of our “obsession” with a story, devoted fans teach each other about the importance of representation, and then we try to transform how media depicts and shapes our world.
Campaigns like #TheySilencedYou mirror The Lexa Pledge and work to make queer voices heard. Through fannish activities, we are saying that our stories matter, and we’re demanding they be told respectfully. We’re keeping showrunners accountable, even after the show has ended, fans are joining forces to stop streaming it, attending conventions, and engaging with the network on social media.
Now, a bunch of strangers gathering in an online mob isn’t surprising. But the fact that so many people can gather around fictional gay angels and deaf hunters to demand media better depictions of disenfranchised folks is important. Particularly in a world where high-level TV executives are still over 80% white and 60% male.
art by @c_kaeru_ on instagram
If Destielgate has proven anything, it’s just how powerful fandom can be. The community gave us: access to translations (both official and faked), memes, alternative endings, art, fanfics, and thousands of dollars to help queer kids survive and thrive.
Versaphile, a fan archivist and writer, once said that “the fandom community cannot depend upon the kindness of corporations to maintain our platforms and tools. We must serve ourselves and rely on each other, because we share the same collective values and goals, and because we seek to preserve our own culture and history.”
This is also true for trusting Big Media to tell LGBTQ+ stories that honor our realities: we can’t keep depending on executives’ kindness. We must serve ourselves. And while that doesn’t mean letting them off the hook for profiting from our hope for over a decade, it does mean to remind us that, in the end, fandom is about the community itself. It’s about engaging with each other and taking the characters and stories we love beyond the limitations of canon.
Because when we tell our own stories, gay love always pierces the veil of death… and, after all, isn’t that what matters? | https://medium.com/@some-lionheart/destielgate-how-the-power-of-fans-broke-the-internet-d9882b4d88b | ['Some Lionheart'] | 2020-12-17 15:42:28.495000+00:00 | ['Supernatural', 'Fandom', 'Media Criticism', 'LGBTQ', 'Media Literacy'] |
We present the first project of Crypterium Family — InstaChange | To bring mass adoption of cryptocurrencies closer, Crypterium is creating the whole range of products that fundamentally change the cryptocurrency usage experience. We are on the way of making any crypto-related activities easier, more secure, and accessible. This week, we’ve launched the first of many coming services. It allows anyone to buy crypto at best rates within seconds. Without further ado, please meet InstaСhange.
From the beginning, Crypterium has been comprehensively addressing the issues making anything related to crypto a bit of a pain. Today, everything is so complicated, time consuming and expensive, that only very tech-savvy people can find their way around.
We want to change that, by building a whole new ecosystem, that we like to call Crypterium Family, and that is making any operation with crypto easy. From buying crypto and exchanging it to spending crypto it in everyday life and pledging it to get loans — we’re building satellite products that will make dealing with crypto at least as easy as with traditional financial products.
The first project we’d like to introduce to you is called InstaChange. It offers you the easiest and most convenient way of entering the crypto world. The idea is simple: before you can start using crypto in everyday life, you need to get some crypto. InstaChange lets you buy Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin or Tether straight from your bank card or bank account — instantly and with minimal fees.
Crypterium Family concept
Crypterium is currently working on a bunch of new products that would ideally fit in the world’s first cryptobank ecosystem — Crypterium Family. They won’t immediately go inside the Crypterium App — we’ll first run them in parallel and properly test them — but eventually, they’ll be merged together.
“We are going to do a lot of additional services, and within that range of services we have an Innovation Team that is working on launching new products and one of them — InstaChange — is finally launched” — says Austin Kimm, COO at Crypterium.
Maybe it’s time to give our first satellite a try while crypto prices are the lowest they’ve been for a whole year. To make the deal even sweeter, we offer you 0% for any purchases made by November 25. Let’s celebrate the first CF project together!
About Crypterium
CCrypterium is building a mobile app that will turn cryptocurrencies into money that you can spend with the same ease as cash. Shop around the world and pay with your coins and tokens at any NFC terminal, or via scanning the QR codes. Make purchases in online stores, pay your bills, or just send money across borders in seconds, reliably and for a fraction of a penny.
Join our Telegram news channel or other social media to stay updated!
Website ๏ Telegram ๏ Facebook ๏ Twitter ๏ BitcoinTalk ๏ Reddit ๏ YouTube ๏ LinkedIn | https://medium.com/crypterium/instachange-the-first-project-of-crypterium-family-e3424fb8ca41 | [] | 2018-12-25 12:48:44.174000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Mobile App Development', 'Exchange', 'Technology'] |
Building the Magpie DS3 Drone | 3D Print the Drone Air Frame
The DS3 variant of our Magpie air frame is a simple 220 mm Quad. The prototype drone airframe was the Martian II as described in Part 1 of this series. The Martian II is constructed of carbon fibre, which is strong, less flexible but heavier than the PLA that we are using to 3D print our design. For example the arms, bottom deck and power distribution board mount weighs 81g in carbon fibre compared with the PLA equivalents which are 42g. Our components are a similar thickness to the Martian II bits except the flight deck, which is 1mm thicker.
Figure 1. Bottom Deck and Arm Construction.
Apart from the cost, availability and difficulty of 3D printing carbon fibre there is also a safety issue with this material. If a carbon fibre air frame crashes and breaks, you need a special clean up kit. Breathing in carbon fibre is not good for you. It is classified as an acute toxic substance and its effects can be similar to glass fibre or asbestos. It can also be very sharp and small particles will irritate the skin.
Figure 2. Bill of Materials (BOM).
The design was put together in SketchUp, exported as an STL file and then turned into GCode instructions (which the 3D printer understands) using FlashPrint. FlashPrint actually converts the STL file to a GX file. A .gx file is a GCode file with an additional binary header that contains a thumbnail preview picture. FlashPrint is the slicing software used for the FlashForge Guider II 3D Printer. Whatever slicing software that you use should work with the STL files that you can download from Thingiverse.
The complete Bill of Materials (BOM) for the Magpie DS3 Drone is provided in Figure 2.
Start off by 3D printing the 4 arms (note that the arms come in left and right orientations and you need two of each) and the bottom deck. We have used black and white PLA filament in keeping with our Magpie theme. As shown in Figure 1, the arms attach to the deck using eight M3 nuts and bolts.
Attaching the Quad ESC
Once you have the arms attached to the bottom frame, you can add the quad 20A Electronic Speed Controller (ESC). The RacerStar ESC that I bought has mounting holes which line up nicely with the Nano PDB (not a fluke). The quad ESC sits on four M3 x 6.3mm nylon tapped hex spacers.
Figure 3. Mounting the Quad ESC.
Another set of four M3 x 6.3mm nylon tapped hex spacers go on top of the ESC (Figure 5). The Power Distribution Board sits on top of these.
Mounting the Motors
We need to mount the four brushless motors to work out the correct wire length to the ESC. My RacerStar motors came with two sets of M3 screws, 8mm and 6mm. The thickness of the frame arms is 4mm, so use the 6mm screws to ensure they don’t short out the motor coils. For now you can just do them up finger tight but eventually you will want to apply loctite to ensure that the motors don’t fall off mid flight (bad).
The RacerStar ESC can be programmed using the BLHeliSuite software on PC. With that we can reverse the motor direction but you need compatible Flight Controller software. For our purposes, it is probably simpler to just swap two wires if the motor is going in the wrong direction.
Figure 4. Motor Connection Order and Location.
Our motors indicate their default rotational direction (clockwise or anticlockwise) by arrows on the top of the motor and different coloured propeller nuts. The black nuts rotate clockwise and the red nuts anticlockwise. To minimise the amount of work, you should mount the motors in the configuration shown in Figure 4.
Figure 5. Motors mounted on propeller guards.
You will need to thread the motors through the prop guards (Figure 5) before you can screw them onto the mounting arms. The prop guards sit between the motors and the arms and are held in place by the motor screws.
Once you have mounted the motors you can then wire them to the Quad ESC (Figure 5). While you are doing this, also solder the ESC battery connection to the appropriate pads (+ and -) on the Power Distribution Board and a connector to allow you to plug power into the flight controller. Make sure that you put the heat-shrink on before you solder the wires to the ESC and leave enough slack in the wires so that you can remove the board if required. If you want to be able to disconnect the battery power from the ESC then use some sort of connector (e.g. bullet plugs) instead of soldering. This is what we did for our prototype (Figure 6).
If you have a servo or ESC tester then now is a good time to test that everything is working and the motors are spinning in the desired direction. Next up we will look at mounting and testing the flight controller.
Mounting the Power Distribution Board (PDB) & Flight Controller
Before placing the PDB on the four M3 x 30–35mm bolts, connect the ESC power and control cables. This is easier to do before placing it on the stack.
Figure 6. Connect ESC power and control cables before mounting the PDB.
The PDB should have M3 anti-vibration mounts in the mounting holes. This will reduce the amount of motor vibration picked up by the IMU (Figure 7). Secure the flight stack with 4 x M3 nylon lock nuts.
Figure 7. PDB in place on the top of the flight stack.
Four M3 x 35mm spacers are used to connect the top and bottom decks of the drone. To minimise the transfer of vibration, the top deck is not connected to the flight stack (Figure 8). The SBUS connection cable to the X8R receiver goes through the hole below the Nano 33 BLE. The X8R is mounted on the top deck with the battery.
Figure 8. Top Deck secured to bottom Deck.
Mounting the X8R Receiver and Battery
In the Magpie DS2 version we didn’t have prop guards and the X8R could be mounted on the bottom deck. In a subsequent version (DS4?) we will put it back on the bottom deck but this will require a redesign of the rear prop guards. For now, we will mount the X8R on the top deck.
Figure 9. X8R Transceiver in Antenna Mount.
3D Print the X8R mount and covers (Figure 9). This is then secured with cable ties or double sided tape. Similarly, the LiPo is cable tied to the top deck. Make sure that the propellers wont hit the cable ties.
Figure 10. The completed Magpie DS3 drone.
The completed drone is shown in Figure 10. In the next article we will load the flight controller software into the Arduino Nano 33, calibrate the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and test the motors. | https://medium.com/@reefwing/building-the-magpie-ds3-drone-1c1d9b543624 | ['David Such'] | 2020-12-26 00:33:52.636000+00:00 | ['Nano', 'Construct', 'Makers', 'Arduino', 'Drones'] |
Mommy and Daddy | INTRO
Depression. A word I should be too young to know. I shouldn’t know the definition of this vividly. I shouldn’t know how to describe every aspect of it in detail. I shouldn’t be able to explain to you the effects it leaves, emotionally and physically. I shouldn’t be able to sit here and write to you about what it feels like to feel like you were a mistake.
The feeling of emptiness is one which hits hard. Struggling to feel something is one of the hardest things to fight against. I hear news I know should evoke emotion but it feels more like life is just happening to me and I couldn’t care whether or not I was there.
Eight years old, I should not know these feelings. I shouldn’t know the urge to end my life when it has barely begun. I shouldn’t know the struggle of getting out of bed in the morning because I do not wish to move. I shouldn’t know the feeling of safety and warmth you get when you sit down in the shower for hours, breaking down and having your tears be drowned out by the sound of the running water. I was eight years old. A child. One who should still have the safety and security from the idea of my parents. Instead their image fills me with fear. The idea of having to go home and face them makes me shake as my throat feels as if it is closing up while my palms get sweatier.
He told me to be quiet,
Said I could never tell.
I swear he didn’t hurt me,
I swear to you I fell.
He didn’t give me bruises
He didn’t chase me either
(at least not very far)
I swear he hasn’t hurt me
I swear to you I fell.
If you want a different story,
I swear I will not tell.
He told me to be quiet
He told me not to cry,
He told me not to scream
Although I don’t know why
But then he pulled a gun
And put it to my head
He told me to remove my clothes
And I did what he said,
I’ve stayed quiet to this day
I won’t tell anyone
I’ll keep it all inside
’Til the memory fades to none
I want him gone,
I want him out.
I told my mommy
“Try not to pout”
“He’s not too bad”
He’s not too great
“please , Oh please
Just appreciate”
I shot him once and then I shot her too.
However,
Just because they’re gone,
Doesn’t mean the pain left too.
There were times when they would beat me
And hit me with a shoe
I wept and cried
All through the night
They never tried
To make it right
SHOWERS
Sometimes you don’t take a shower to get clean. Sometimes people don’t use showers as a way to “freshen” up themselves. They provide comfort. They’re an escape.
I end up taking multiple showers a day, not because I want to, but because I feel like I need to. I need that escape. I need to have the feeling of comfort I only receive from the scorching hot water stinging my back. I need to have the sound of the water hitting my skin and the shower floor drowning out the sounds in my mind. I need to focus on individual water droplets racing down the side of the wall to the floor. God, I could spend hours and hours just tracing each droplet, watching them race with the others and wondering which one would reach the floor first. It feels exhausting having to just stand there so I end up sitting most of the time. I just feel myself sink to the floor and let the shower happen to me.
It’s everyone’s most vulnerable state. Showers. You’re completely naked. Defenseless. Someone could come in and there’s nothing you could do about it. You’d be completely exposed. Someone could come in to kill you. Or maybe just to hurt you. There could be an introducer. But what could you do? Nothing. You’d be completely oblivious to anything happening around you. That’s why they’re dangerous. Showers are dangerous.
When you reach the point of showers becoming dangerous is when everything starts to slip away. My personal hygiene started failing. Showers no longer felt safe, so I no longer wanted to go in them. I’d lock the door and let the water run while I stayed outside and listened for footsteps, praying nobody would catch me. I didn’t want to be in there anymore. It was no longer my escape. It was no longer my happy place.
He once got me when I was in the shower. He showed up at my most vulnerable. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do so I just let it happen. He came into the bathroom without warning and opened the shower curtain. There are times where I can still feel his hands gripping my body as the water just kept on stinging me. I was confused at first, and quite frankly I still am. I don’t know what would cause a grown man to do that to a child. His own child. Why was this happening? What did I do?
A million thoughts whirled through my head as he took a step closer to me. I tried to cover my body but it was no use. What could I do? Where could I go? The answer is nothing and nowhere. I’ve never felt so helpless. I keep wanting to scream out and make it stop but I was just paralyzed with fear.
Sometimes I can imagine his hands touching me. The flashbacks seem too real that it can send me into a state of panic. Everything comes flooding back into my mind. Every fragile touch of his hand slipping down my body. Every teardrop going down my face. Every water droplet from the shower hitting my skin. Every unwanted stroke as he violated me and went deeper and deeper inside my untouched and pure, eight year old body. I can still feel the pain of my vagina stretching more than it ever should at this age. I can feel myself being violated all over again. It happens each time I go back into the shower. It happens each time I feel rainwater hit my body.
So when people wonder why my “showers” are faster than most, it is because I cannot bear to be in there for more than a minute. I rush to clean myself as fast as I can so I can get out of there. Or sometimes I don’t even shower. Even if I’m dirty, I’m more clean than the feeling of him inside of me.
THE ART OF CUTTING
Feeling a blade slice through my skin is the most enticing pain I’ve ever endured. It’s like for the first time I’m the one in control of my body and I’m the one deciding what pain is inflicted upon me.
Nothing brings me more joy than getting to drown out the pain you’ve caused, with pain I’m inflicting. Your image leaves my mind as soon as I see them crimson red blood drip out of me and slowly fall down my body and unto the bathroom floor. The memories of your touch fade out as the feel of the warm blood pools over me. For once I’m finally in control. For once you’re not the one hurting me. Maybe it’s not the healthiest way to deal with you, but it’s definitely the most effective.
The first time I did it was an accident. Every time after that, though, was on purpose. I’d constantly try and put myself in situations that could end in harm, even if they were at the fault of other people. I’d stand in an inconvenient place and I’d just happen to “accidentally” get hurt. Of course whoever hurt me would feel bad but I’d always shake it off and play it as if it was no big deal, because to me it wasn’t a big deal. It was pure happiness. Nothing brought me more joy than seeing my own blood pool out of me uncontrollably. Nothing felt more enticing than the feeling of a blade of some sort slicing deeper inside of my skin. Nothing felt more like “home” than the cold feel of a knife. Nothing felt safer than hurting myself as badly as you hurt me.
How is that normal?
It’s not. I know it’s not. But I just can’t stop myself. It’s like a drug, and you’ve played a part in my addiction. You know, I don’t even cry anymore when I do it. I just let the pain happen, I just let everything happen while I sit there and take it. You taught me how to stay silent, so silent I’ve stayed.
My mouth stays quiet and I refuse to make a sound as I sit down on the cold bathroom floor slicing open my skin, just trying to feel something. The smell of bleach stings my nose the second I breathe it in. The entire bathroom ends up needing to be cleaned each night because how else am I supposed to get rid of the blood stained tiles that were once pearly white? HOW DAD? How am I supposed to stop the tears from streaming down my face? How am I supposed to stop feeling this pain when I’m causing it? How am I supposed to keep drowning out the pain you’ve caused with the pain I’m causing?
There is no right or wrong answer. Or if there is then I guess I’m too dumb and broken to realise it. Maybe I’ll never be able to stop. Maybe I don’t want to stop. Maybe I like it, or maybe I’m just telling myself I like it because this type of pain is easier to deal with.
It’s not that I want to die. I don’t cut for the hope of death, I do it for the hope of life. Nothing makes me feel more alive, and more at peace, than the idea of being so close to the edge of death but living anyway.
Or at least that’s what I tell myself.
Sometimes I do want to die. Sometimes I don’t want to stop cutting. But I’m too scared. I’m too scared to go through with it and I don’t know why. I feel like I don’t even know what I’m really feeling. Ironic, isn’t it?
The only thing I’m sure of is that I can’t stop myself from almost killing myself. I hate that I can write that sentence so nonchalauntly. But, hey, what am I supposed to do? I know I should try to get better and I know I should try to get help but you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.
How am I supposed to stop when the pain feels too good? How?
I can’t.
The pain is just too enjoyable.
JUST AS BAD
Sitting there and letting it happen. Ignoring it all together. Choosing to not believe your daughter. Denial. Silence. All of that makes you just as bad as him. You knew it was happening and still you said nothing. You watched the way he treated me and you still stayed with him. Why don’t I matter, mommy? Why would you stay with a man like that? I may not know the answers to these questions but I do know that you are just as bad as he is.
You should have stopped it, mommy. You’re supposed to keep me safe. You let daddy take away something you told me was always special. For years I believed everything you said about him being a good man. I believed that since he’s such a good man who loves me so much, then maybe this is what fathers did with their daughters. Maybe that was normal. But it’s not. And now that I know that, you’re just as bad as he is. Maybe even worse.
THE AFTERMATH
Even after you’re gone I still have to deal with the effects. You’ve ruined me. The worst part is, I didn’t even know you were ruining me as you did it. Now, I know what you’ve done. Now, I have to fully deal with it. You left an eight year old to try and cope with something she didn’t understand. As the years progress it just gets worse and worse. There is no getting better. Time continues to pass me by and more memories seem to flood back into my mind with each year, memories I don’t recall ever happening. It’s as if you find new ways of ruining me as time goes on. I can’t be at peace. I just wish these painful images would escape my mind but instead they consume my body and leave me paralyzed and numb. I could be doing my homework and suddenly your image will fill my head. It happens at random times in which I cannot control no matter how hard I try. I keep fighting but at what point should I just stop fighting? How do I know when to give up and give in? I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to decipher these emotions. I still can’t seem to figure out if pushing to escape them is just unhealthy denial or if it’s what I’m supposed to be doing. I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore and it’s all your fault. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, I just can’t seem to escape you.
I can’t seem to forget the feel of you touching me. Even when it’s not you who is touching me, there are still certain places that once a hand touches, your image comes flooding back. Every painful thing you ever put me through rushes into my mind. I want to scream out but you always made me stay silent and because of that I lie there silent with only your image coming to mind as I scream in my mind, begging you to stop even though you are nowhere near me. Because of you, I don’t know what it feels like to have someone make love to me. I only know what sex is. Because of you I can never seem to get close to anyone. I don’t long for a physical or emotional connection most people desire. Anytime someone gets too close to me, it reminds me of you and I push them away. You’ve ruined me. Even now as different boys touch my body, I still can’t seem to shake away the feeling of you forcing yourself inside of me. You violated me but still I haven’t known love since you. I end up faking emotions to significant others. I fake orgasms hoping it’ll make him stop sooner. He gets satisfaction and I just try my hardest to not break down.
THE HEALING PROCESS
It never happened.
THE PSYCHIATRIST
Adults are always the worst in tough situations regarding children. They never know what to do. A lot of times they make the wrong decisions because they “legally” have to but they don’t understand it’s effect. They try to make you talk things through. They try and “get inside your head” but they don’t care about doing a good job, they just care about getting the job done. To them, it doesn’t matter if the job is done correctly or not they just care about completing it. Adults do the bare minimum. Adults make things worse. Once adults are involved, everything starts falling apart. They force everything out of you that you aren’t ready or willing to talk about. Sometimes you just have to wait until a child is ready to speak, you can’t force it out of them like word vomit because then they feel attacked and no longer feel safe.
There’s lots of different adults you can talk to about bad things. They have them available inside and outside of school. School “helpers” are the absolute worst. Counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists, when affiliated with the school, always do more harm than good. There’s regulations they need to follow, regulations that prevent kids from wanting to talk to them. Nothing stays private. Why open up to someone about a bad home situation if all they are going to do is call up a parent/guardian to tattle on you and all that you said? Why would I willingly want to speak of the troubles going through my mind to someone who is just going to get me in trouble for it? They think they’re helping. They’re not helping.
No matter how many times you try and explain it to them they just don’t understand. There are things that just can’t be shared. Not every adult thinks the way they do.
Sometimes parents just won’t understand. Some parents see depression as attention seeking. It’s another reason to yell at their kid. Some parents will get mad for their child confiding in a social worker. Some parents will use that as an excuse to punish their child more.
It doesn’t help. Adults don’t help. Adults make everything worse.
There are reasons that not many kids willingly seek out help. There are reasons that kids will lie to those authority figures straight through their teeth. I know I would.
Why would I admit to something that would get me in more trouble? I wouldn’t. I’d lie because you can’t prove what’s going on inside of my mind. I can lie all I want, you wouldn’t know the difference.
Other kids go through the same stuff. My generation has higher numbers of recorded mental illness. We struggle more with depression and suicidal thoughts. Most kids struggle with the same thoughts but they never go seek out help. We confide in friends. We don’t confide in adults. Adults don’t have our trust. Trust is something that is earned and has to be proven, so there’s no reason for us to want to go to someone who we know will break that trust. Confidentiality isn’t so confidential. Adults tell other adults. They can’t keep anything a secret.
“You get bad ideas from all of those TV shows you watch”. No mom. Those TV shows just help put down into words the thoughts I can’t explain.
“You’d be better if you weren’t always on that damn phone!” No dad. My phone is the only connection to people who care about me and make me want to be here.
“You’re just an attention seeker”. No mom. I’m just struggling.
“We have to inform a legal parent or guardian about our meeting”. No Mrs. Buchanan. You’re going to make it worse.
There are some adults who will just never understand. Parents are sometimes the stressor and if you call them out on it, you’ve just made things worse for the child. Adults can unintentionally cause more harm to the child than good, when they try to help they just make it worse but I don’t think they really care about the child. I think they care more about doing their job and getting it done. | https://medium.com/@marissalyons16/mommy-and-daddy-79f22f590d38 | ['Marissa Lyons'] | 2020-12-18 16:35:26.071000+00:00 | ['Depression', 'Suicide', 'Short Story'] |
Patio Furniture in Canada | Patiobay | Nice Patio furniture brings comfort and performance to your outdoor spaces. A basic stone patio are often reworked into an alfresco eating destination with a spacious table and comfy chairs. Outfit a construction with a wicker lounge and classic rocking chair, each screw-topped with plush cushions, and it will quickly become a second recreation room throughout the nice and cozy weather months. once complemented with the proper terrace piece of furniture, even little areas adore balconies and pocket gardens can beckon you outside. Use the subsequent tips to settle on the most effective Patio Furniture for your room. Thoughtful coming up with will facilitate build your curtilage your new favorite spot for lounging, dining, and entertaining.
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Invest WISELY in crypto currencies | Don’t rush to invest in crypto currencies. Learn to do it WISELY.
A lot of people have become cryptocurrency investors. This is primarily because of the massive boom in bitcoin prices. This post outlines how you can invest WISELY in crypto currencies.
WISELY is an acronym for:
Wisdom Intricacies Security Exchanges Law Yield
Wisdom
Crypto-currencies are not for everyone. They are very very very volatile. Need proof? Check the bitcoin price graph over the last few years:
Another point to remember is that there are thousands of crypto-currencies, most of which have very low liquidity. This means that you may not find a buyer when you decide to book profits or sell.
So be wise. First, understand your risk appetite. Then consider if you should invest in cryptocurrencies. Please DO NOT put your retirement fund into crypto assets. Only invest money that you can afford to lose.
Intricacies
Conventional investments (mutual funds, gold, real estate, bank deposits) are relatively easy to understand. Crypto investments require a lot of technical knowledge.
Make sure you have a strong understanding of addresses, blocks, confirmation, cryptography hash functions, hash rate, mining, multi-sig, nodes, pools, private keys, proof of work (and other algorithms), wallets, etc.
Security
If your online banking or share trading account is hacked, you do have some legal recourse. But if your crypto account/wallet gets hacked, you have almost no legal options. So you must know how to secure your crypto assets using hot, warm, and cold wallets.
While phishing, malware, and scams are usually targeted towards end-users and exchanges, there are many attacks on the crypto networks — 51% attack, cannibalizing pools, DDoS attacks, double-spend attacks, Р+Epsilon attacks, Sybil attacks, etc.
Exchanges
Stock exchanges are highly regulated entities. Crypto exchanges in most countries are not regulated. This means they can shut down anytime or even steal your money and there’s not much you would be able to do. So make sure you only use highly respected and credible exchanges.
Law
Cryptocurrencies are outright illegal in some countries. Plus the legal and taxation issues are not clear in most jurisdictions. You must understand the money laundering and taxation laws of your country before you trade in crypto.
Yield
There are all sorts of crypto assets today -
Utility tokens such as Ethereum, BAT, CRO, KNC, LINK, MKR, OMG, REQ, ZIL, ZRX.
Transactional tokens, such as XRP, IOTA.
Electronic cash / decentralized money such as Bitcoin, LTC.
Privacy coins such as XMR and DASH.
Tokenized version of assets such as land, gold.
Mining contracts.
Crypto derivatives.
Financial models for predicting yields in such assets are very primitive as of today. You need to learn how to calculate yields.
Legal Disclaimer
The information in my social media networks, websites, and videos is for general information only and should not be taken as constituting professional advice from me. I am not a financial adviser. You should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation, or other advice to check how the information relates to your unique circumstances. I am not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or indirectly. I link to external resources for your convenience. I am selective about them but I don’t endorse them.
This post was originally published by me on LinkedIn. | https://medium.com/blockchain-blog/invest-wisely-in-crypto-currencies-fdfd30d72ead | ['Rohas Nagpal'] | 2020-12-13 08:27:11.380000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin', 'Investing'] |
If You Do Any Of Thess Things It Means Your IQ Is WAY Higher Than Anyone Else | If You Do Any Of Thess Things It Means Your IQ Is WAY Higher Than Anyone Else Alan Dec 11, 2020·2 min read
1. Your “Inner Voice” is Loud
You Know The Voice That You’re Reading This Article in ( Unless You’re Reading it Out Loud), It’s Called Your “Inner Voice”, And If You’re Reading Or Listening To Any Kind of Information Being Given That Little Voice In Your Head Is The Main Thing That You’re Listening, That Means Your IQ is Higher Than an Averege Person
Disclaimer: If You’re in School and Your Grades Are Low, Don’t Let That Define Your Inteligence. You’re Way Smarter Than Your Teacher Might Think You Are, Even if You Think You’re Not. 2. You Argue With Yourself Alot
I Know It Might Seem Dumb But If You Can’t Quiet The Inner Voice In Your Head Than You Could Use it To Your Advantage. Whenever You Think You’re Wrong Try Taking a Diffrent Approach To The Argument, It Might Not Be Right But You Will at Least Strenghten Your Own Argument
3. You Are Curious Or Act Curious
If You’re Always Taking An Extra Mile To Learn Something You Could Be The Next Einstein, If You’re Even Actin Curious About a Certaint Subject You Are Gonna Benefit From Being Curious
4. You’re a Night Owl
If Your Alarm Says Anywhere From 00:00am to 2:00am You Could Be a Night Owl, If You Stay Up Late Studying And Wilingly Trying To Learn More You My Friend Have a High IQ
Now Don’t Get It Confused, If You Stay Up Late Scrolling Through Instagram And TikTok You’re Simply Just Lazy, I Suggest You Find a Hobby or Interest That Will Keep You Busy at Night
But Still Try Getting 7–8 Hours of Sleep Everyday ;)
5. You Are Worried About The Smallest Things
Have You Overthinked About a Simple Thing Like: “Should I Walk My Dog Tommorow In The Morning Or Now”, And You Spend Half an Hour Thinking About a Simple Thing That Won’t Even Matter In The Future
Bonus One
You Enjoy Reading My Articles ;) | https://medium.com/@alan.besic104/if-you-do-any-of-thess-things-it-means-your-iq-is-way-higher-than-anyone-else-5516eff4ff25 | [] | 2020-12-11 15:33:34.893000+00:00 | ['Iq', 'Overthinking', 'Brain', 'Inteligence', 'Smart'] |
Is Malta really the last resort for crypto exchanges? | By Olga Grinina
It all started when the headlines featured the news of the world’s largest crypto exchange moving its operations to Malta. Now, a couple of weeks later, we see at least 3 more exchanges moving to offshore locations in response to recent regulation crackdowns in China and Japan. So what benefits are the likes of Binance and Kraken are seeking when relocating to those remote island locations? And in what ways — if any — is their legal framework beneficial for setting up a crypto-related entity?
Back in February 2017, Gibraltar’s government announced the plans to issue the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency with the supervision of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC). GFSC prepared proposals for necessary legislation to provide an efficient, safe and innovative regulatory framework in Gibraltar. The main idea of the proposal was to make it possible for innovative companies to transmit and store value belonging to others through the distributed ledger technology (DLT). Taking into consideration Resolution of European Parliament as of 26 May 2017 on virtual currencies[1] the “Founding Fathers” of DLT regulatory framework in Gibraltar proposed these nine regulatory principles for licensing firms going to operate DLT:
1.Honesty and integrity
2. Due respect to the interests and needs of its customers
3. Maintaining adequate resources
4. Adequate risk management practices
5. Protection of clients’ assets and money
6. Effective corporate governance
7. Maintaining high-security access protocols
8. Detecting and disclosing financial crime risks
9. Being resilient to ever-changing crypto environment
Then, on January 1, 2018, the Financial Services (Distributed Ledger Technology Providers) Regulations 2017 (LN. 2017/204)[2] came into effect. The act stipulates to obtain special DLT license for companies willing to operate with cryptocurrency via the blockchain technology (DLT) i.e. “Carrying on by way of business, in or from Gibraltar, the use of distributed ledger technology for storing or transmitting value belonging to others” (paragraph 10, schedule 3 of Financial Services (Investment and Fiduciary Services) Act). The government fee for obtaining the DLT license is ranging between £20–30 000.
From the first glance at this new regulatory environment, it may look like now Gibraltar is the best place to relocate a crypto-business. However, it’s crucial that technically the country is not the part of the EU Common Customs Territory, while still being within European Economic Area[3]. Gibraltar is also a part of the British overseas territories, which means that Brexit could dramatically change its both legal and economic environment. Another risk is that Gibraltar — as the part of British overseas territories — will have to disclose information on beneficial owners of the companies under the UK policy against the corruption, tax dodging and money laundering[4]. Additionally, a company obtained the DLT license under Gibraltar’s law will have to open a corporate bank account — and that is where the bank’s KYC procedure comes into play. The major questions here is whether the banks ultimately be willing to work with exchange operations of fiat to cryptocurrency? So far in practice we have seen private banking sector being rather cautious when offering banking services to companies transferring cryptocurrency. Yet, no doubt that the situation would change completely, once new rules on anti-money laundering[5] and KYC procedures for cryptocurrency users are finally implemented.
From the taxation perspective, Gibraltar could be well favoured by many European and American companies. Corporate tax in Gibraltar is 10% without taxation on dividends. However, any corporate structure shall be subject to legal review, because most countries have their own rules on controlled foreign companies. Another point to consider is that many OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) resolutions and programs — such as BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) — are applied to Gibraltar. Those actually erode Gibraltar’s status of a classical offshore territory with a fairly low-tax rate in a proper sense, making it rather regular jurisdiction without any outstanding legal appeal.
It looks like pretty much the same regulation perspective is taking shape in Malta. Last week Morgan Stanley reported that most cryptocurrency trading volumes now happen at the marketplaces based in Malta coming from the companies registered on the island:
Speaking of the legal framework, back in 2017 Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) proposed a scheme for collective investment with cryptocurrencies. The legislation draft announced by MFSA proposes licensing for qualified investors with a right to invest in cryptocurrency. Simply speaking, if this act is finally approved by the government, Malta has great potential to become one of the most attractive places for investors and incorporation of funds. In April 2018 Parliament of Malta began discussing three bills[6] regarding cryptocurrency regulation: Malta Digital Innovation Authority Bill (MDIA) on establishment special government authority for certifications of DLT companies; Technology Arrangements and Services Bill (TAS) on registration and certifications service providers; and The Virtual Financial Assets Bill (VC) on regulation of financial services with virtual currencies. The ultimate goal of MDIA is to certify and regulate blockchain run businesses and their operations, the Malta Independent reported. The organization has also announced the plan to create a framework to oversee ICOs. These Maltese legal developments — if finally implemented — would definitely create a good framework for cryptocurrency business, such as platforms, funds, exchanges etc. In the meantime, it is rather difficult to evaluate how they would be affecting the overall ecosystem. The biggest issue here is probably the banks’ willingness to operate fiat / cryptocurrency transfers.
Without providing any specific timeframes and before being actually passed into legislation, all these legal proposals — however innovative and beneficial they were — for now appear to be mere promises government that lack credibility and effectiveness. Whether it is Malta, Gibraltar or anywhere else, these kinds of initiatives have to be backed up by concrete actions and detailed implementation schemes on the government side. So, for now — before heading to another ‘crypto paradise’ — we strongly advise first taking some time to talk to a lawyer about all possible implications of such a move. Probably not the Maltese lawyers though — we hear they’ve already started offering assistance with licensing services for crypto startups, yet the licensing has only been broadly declared with no specific details about the licensing authorities or requirements, etc.
[1] European Parliament, P8_TA(2016)0228 URL: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-
//EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2016–0228+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN
[2] URL: http://gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/articles/2017s204.pdf
[3] See: http://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/eea_agreement.pdf
[4] https://www.ft.com/content/5a924560-4d45-11e8-8a8e-22951a2d8493
[5] http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20180411IPR01527/anti-money-laundering-meps-vote-to-shed-light-on-the-true-owners-of-companies
[6] https://opm.gov.mt/en/Documents/FSDEI%20-%20DLT%20Regulation%20Document.pdf | https://medium.com/tech-nomad-notes/is-malta-really-the-last-resort-for-crypto-exchanges-d3d27d449713 | ['Olya Green'] | 2018-06-12 09:49:34.630000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin'] |
Sonic Radiation Releases EDM Single “Roentgen” | From Dallas, Texas — Sonic Radiation, also known as Todd Last, is a solo artist who creates exciting electronic dance music that is both modern and experimental. Sonic Radiation’s newest song “Roentgen” has recently become available worldwide.
Sonic Radiation blends synthesizer grooves and beats to produce a unique sound. By intertwining modern music with electronic dance music and using modern computer music technology, Sonic Radiation creates tracks that are both intriguing and captivating while also sticking to the roots of electronic dance music.
A longtime Spinal Cord Injury sufferer who worked hard to gain back the ability to live and follow his lifelong dream of creating Electronic Music as the aspiring artist Sonic Radiation. After an accident in the oceans of Hawaii, Todd worked hard with Spinal Cord Injury recovery therapies to recover life skills and begin a new life. Continuing his dream of creating Electronic Music was an important early step toward his recovery and future. Sonic Radiation aspires to express his hope, energy and reverence for Electronic Music and life.
With one eye on the past and one eye towards the future, Sonic Radiation constructs exciting electronic dance music that is both intriguing and captivating while holding true to the roots of the genre. While constantly creating tools for the modern dj’s arsenal and reinterpreting remixing projects, Sonic Radiation forges ahead with a vision towards the future of electronic music. The vision started by experimenting for two years to create high energy music that was released as The 121 Project. Formed in 2003, the Dallas, Texas based artist, Todd Last, worked to create music that arranges songs with a combination of techno and trance that are solid and unique. Inspired by industrial groups like Front 242 and Front Line Assembly, electronic groups like The Crystal Method and Astral Projection, as well as the Dallas club scene, Sonic Radiation pulls from those styles to give the listener something for the ear, the mind and the dance floor.
Buy, stream, follow, like and subscribe thru your preferred store and social media network
www.sonicradiation.com/connect
http://www.facebook.com/sonicradiation
instagram.com/sonicradiation
soundcloud.com/sonicradiation
twitter.com/sonicradiation
youtube.com/sonicradiation | https://medium.com/@michaelstover-9775/sonic-radiation-releases-edm-single-roentgen-f1302d4a3dbd | ['Michael Stover'] | 2020-12-11 03:37:24.934000+00:00 | ['Dallas', 'Texas', 'EDM', 'Music', 'Spinal Cord Injury'] |
WHY RESEARCH AI SAFETY? | In the near term, the goal of keeping AI’s impact on society beneficial motivates research in many areas, from economics and law to technical topics such as verification, validity, security and control. Whereas it may be little more than a minor nuisance if your laptop crashes or gets hacked, it becomes all the more important that an AI system does what you want it to do if it controls your car, your airplane, your pacemaker, your automated trading system or your power grid.
In the long term, an important question is what will happen if the quest for strong AI succeeds and an AI system becomes better than humans at all cognitive tasks. Such a system could potentially undergo recursive self-improvement, triggering an intelligence explosion leaving human intellect far behind. By inventing revolutionary new technologies, such a super-intelligence might help us eradicate war, disease, and poverty, and so the creation of strong AI might be the biggest event in human history. Some experts have expressed concern, though, that it might also be the last, unless we learn to align the goals of the AI with ours before it becomes super-intelligent. | https://medium.com/@contactxforia1/why-research-ai-safety-76cad6bf3098 | [] | 2020-12-21 05:02:32.998000+00:00 | ['Robotics', 'Roboticprocessautomation', 'Rpa Tools', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'AI'] |
Lessons I Learnt from Investing on Robinhood for 1 Year | I joined Robinhood in 2018. In 2020, I began to actively trade. Having had strong returns, I decided to share here some of the lessons I learnt along the way so other small retail investors like me may also benefit.
Disclosure: This article is not investment, tax, or legal advice, nor is it a solicitation for investment. I may have an affiliate relationship with some of the companies listed below. Furthermore, I am not a financial expert and offer this only as a way to share my experiences.
Introduction
I spent the first 2 years after opening my Robinhood account dabbling semi-passively in trading to gain an intuition for how the markets moved. After this learning period, I decided to take on a more aggressive investment stance.
Despite the volatile markets and downturn in several industries, I was able to reach the end of year with a strong performance that outperformed that of my managed funds.
As 2020 comes to a close, I decided to reflect on my investment journey, what allowed me to get these results and report some of the lessons I learnt along the way.
Lessons
1. Robinhood Targets Stock Pickers
It is my opinion from observing the company’s tools and the way they communicate with users that Robinhood is designed for aggressive investors. These are investors that accept a higher level of volatility in their portfolios and tend to do so by picking specific stocks rather than investing on broad market funds and ETFs.
For this reason, I use Robinhood exclusively for my personal selection of stocks and invest in the general market elsewhere.
2. Diversify Sufficiently but not Excessively
Unrealized return from stock picks held at the time of this writing. Only some of the stocks are labeled on the x-axis. Positions bought and sold throughout the year are not shown here. Green line shows my overall portfolio return for the year. Black line simulates a portfolio where funds were allocated equally among all my stocks. Red line approximates returns of S&P500 for the year.
Even before starting my investment journey, I had often been told of the importance of diversification. Usually as an argument for investing in broad market ETFs such as those that track the S&P500.
However, I learnt that diversification like any tool, needs to be used only where appropriate. If you diversify completely, you will end up tracking the market. It will lower the portfolios volatility and with it the possible returns (or losses).
For instance, this year’s S&P500 return was of approximately 13.6% whereas TESLA returned approximately 670%. That means that someone that invested $10k in TESLA at the start of the year would have approximately $77k at the time of this writing. It would take an investor of S&P500 approximately 15 years to get that same return. Similarly, PLTR, MSFT and others also had very strong returns. Note: I am not suggesting that anyone invest now in TESLA or debating the merits of doing so. Past performance is in no way a guarantee of future returns.
At the same time, if someone thought DBI was the ticker to go with and had invested their whole $10k in it, they would now have only $4k left and would need a significant return just to get back to where they started.
So how did I diversify? I believe in allocating different percentages of my overall portfolio to stocks based on my confidence that they will go up within my expected time frame. I may split the percentages based on my levels of confidence: 3% for low confidence, 10% for medium confidence and up to 15% for high confidence. For instance, 15% of my portfolio is invested in TESLA whereas only 2% is currently on RYCEY.
Although I don’t usually follow the numbers exactly, having them as guidelines ensures that I rebalance my portfolio as the market changes forcing me to realize some of my returns that would otherwise remain unrealized and risk becoming losses if the market turns.
It is also possible to diversify on assets outside of the stock market:
3. Keep a Watch for Dividends & Turn Off DRIP
When considering investing in stocks most retail investors primarily seek returns from appreciation where the stock price at some future date is higher than the price it was bought at. However, dividends can be a good source of steady returns.
For instance, I included in my portfolio the ticker NCV which has a dividend yield of 11.27% per year. That means that regardless of changes to the market price of the underlying security and assuming that there are no changes in the company’s dividend policy, an investor in this stock will get approximately $0.90 for every $100 they have invested in the stock every month.
After a few months holding dividend stocks I noticed that my account’s cash balance was not going up. I discovered that my DRIP (dividend reinvestment) setting was ON. Since I allocate my portfolio very deliberately it did not make sense to me to have automatic market priced orders being placed with the dividend I received and I decided to turn that setting off. That allows me to reinvest my cash balance according to my own strategy.
4. Invest in What You Know
There are a lot of stocks out there. Choose your stocks based on industries you understand the most.
Sometimes, you find a stock that either from its financials or its recent price movements seems like an attractive investment. However, it happens to be in an industry you know little about. From my experience this year, I believe it best to stay away from those and wait for a similar opportunity to occur with a stock in a more familiar industry.
For instance, one of my worst performing picks was DBI which is down 46% from where I bought it. At the time, I thought the recent price movements from the stock indicated it was likely to have a strong rebound. It turned out, that the price would continue to drop for many months. This stock is in the Apparel & Accessories industry which is one I know little about. This meant my intuition and overall understanding of its price movements were not tuned well to this stock.
5. FOMO is Dangerous
As humans, it takes a great deal of training and self-control to avoid making bad investments due to the fear of missing a strong upside. This becomes even more pronounced when certain companies are constantly touted on the media as big wins for investors.
Although, I have done a good job at staying away from these situations, I have fallen pray to this sentiment a few times. The most recent was with the IPO of DASH. I bought this ticker during its first trading day and it is down 16.4% since. I still expect the stock to outperform the initial purchase price long-term but given the hype pre-trading it was a case in which I should have waited longer before entering my position.
Conclusion
My first full year of actively trading on Robinhood was very insightful. It allowed me to hone in on some strategies that I hope to consistently adapt in the future to achieve strong yearly returns.
Excited for a prosperous 2021 and hope the best for other retail investors like me trying to navigate the stock markets. | https://medium.com/@thepaulo/lessons-i-learnt-from-investing-on-robinhood-for-1-year-78354721b651 | ['Paulo Carvalho'] | 2020-12-27 17:28:50.788000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Investment', 'Portfolio Management', 'Robinhood App', 'Stock Market'] |
How My Small Start on Medium Turned into a Large Success… | Photo by Kalea Jerielle on Unsplash
How My Small Start on Medium Turned into a Large Success…
And got turned back into a very small start again.
Three years ago this coming March, I started writing for Medium.
I wrote my butt off. I’m a prize-winning author and journalist. I learned the system, figured shit out, and produced.
AND I worked diligently to tag, include, highlight, engage fellow Medium writers. I was a HUGE fan of the platform. Threw my heart and soul into it. Got published in the bigger pubs, curated often (remember that? hahahahaha) and expanded my reach.
By January of this year I was up to 82, 971 views per month. Earning $2595.27 for that month. And growing.
Not too shabby.
I continued to produce my ass off, thinking, foolishly, that…
a) this would continue and even more stupidly,
b) I could count on this.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Well SILLY ME.
I am up to — on my profile at least — 7.4K followers.
Except that with all the meddling and fiddling that Medium did this year, two things happened:
a) they disappeared nearly all my followers, but didn’t bother to inform me or anyone else who had the same thing happen as to why, no matter how many times you and I write and ask- with perfectly good justification- WTF?
b) I am now getting these happy dappy emails informing me that I am UP to 7435 followers. What happened to the other 95%? And yes, this is system wide. Ask around. I did. I am not alone.
Do I need to tell you what happened to my earnings? Please.
And this during a year where all my other work died, as I am a travel blogger, and so did my classroom training. Zero income from that, therefore Medium was far more important. Again, I am hardly alone.
But wait, there’s more. This is the VERY BEST PART.
Several times this year my earnings plummeted. I worked my ass off to bring them back up. By August I was back up to 48k views. And I earned $1647.95.
Christ that was a long slog back up the mountain. But WAIT!
Apparently Medium cannot bear to allow their hardest working writers to earn real money. Because all of a sudden, over the course of just a few weeks, my earnings plummeted again and so did my views.
Nothing I did differently. Other than keep right on writing. Oh. I did send a few rather curtly worded emails to Arthur, one of Your Friends at Medium, who doesn’t respond any more.
Nobody does if you ask the hard questions.
My readers (those who are determined enough to track me down again, which is no longer very easy, based on what they tell me) complain:
Your stuff doesn’t show up any more The follow button refuses to work And by the way, apparently mine doesn’t either because the folks I follow and like best, hell, what happened? Did they head off to Disney World and get lost in the Haunted House? Because even if I tag them, I don’t hear from them. And finally, they are sick and tired of the mediocrity of the writing, the insulting quality of the material that is being pushed at them that they didn’t sign up for. Hey, I didn’t say it, they did. And, here’s a surprise: THEY ARE LEAVING MEDIUM.
Here’s one comment:
I’m leaving Medium, enjoyed your writing, thank you. I might check back in six months and see if the site has improved. Right now it’s just a crowded field of mediocrity and too hard to find you and a few other good writers I wanted to read. You are special but right now Medium isn’t.
Have I communicated all this to Your Friends at Medium (YFM)? Of course I did. I sent articles and comments and other people’s stuff all pointing to the same thing. All. Year. Long.
Crickets.
Look. I’m military. When the whole unit is doing well, we all do well. But what do I know? I’m just a Fortune 100 consultant not working full time in the big leagues any more. By choice. Because I thought I could make this work (yes, of course I am working on an email list.) And, I switched careers years ago.
To one one of the things I do really well: write. Prolifically.
So. All you happy-dappy enthusiasts and newbies who tell us how to write for Medium (and I am addressing YOU, who had a grammatical typo in your title, and whose writing was so execrable I was in tears by the third paragraph, but your story got promoted) I would offer that you might want to practice a little caveat emptor.
For those thousands of readers who joined at least in part to read my shit, Medium gets to keep their money.
How curious then, those same readers don’t seem to be able to read my stuff regularly, which they paid to read. Yah. Funny thing about that.
Hey. Just saying. Far be it for me to posit an obvious question.
So there you have it. I am back in the minor leagues, forced to play small again, after working my aging ass off to develop a following, only to have it gutted by the gods that be at Medium, Multiple times. Our Friends at Medium, as it were.
And folks wonder why so many of us are so actively seeking out other options. I am tired to death of this kind of ripoff of talent for profit.
A great writer, Dr. S, whose work occasionally shows up here and whom I am proud to call my pen pal, said this when I told him what happened with Medium this year, a year when all of us so desperately needed the funds that we had the right to be paid:
I’m stunned that you were making that much from Medium. And less stunned that they found a way to screw the writers.
Yep. Write in, they will tell you OH it’s a bug.
Yes, folks. And I’m a dung beetle.
While it is obvious that I am on occasion full of shit, in this case I am exhausted trying to push my shit uphill in a Sysyphean attempt to actually earn real money on this platform.
I genuinely care about my readers, and I genuinely care(d) about the success of this platform. Until, well, until this year.
Because what used to be that Shining City on a Hill, called Medium, has devolved into Mediocre, with thousands of folks writing articles about how to make thousands on Medium, while Medium apparently spends its days ignoring its writers’ questions and finding new ways to monetize us for the shareholders.
But hey. What do I know? I’m a dung beetle. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/how-my-small-start-on-medium-turned-into-a-large-success-b993acaf7df2 | ['Julia E Hubbel'] | 2020-12-24 06:06:27.188000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Success', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Medium', 'Writing Tips'] |
Why did I leave? | An insight that occurred to me during my evaluation about my career was how the environment, unchecked, will shape it. I joined as a senior infrastructure specialist. The infrastructure specialist role is corporate speak for “I work on servers”. When you add the word senior it means I have been around long enough to fix more problems than I created.
I had the fortunate opportunity to be promoted to cloud architect. This position gave me a lot of freedom to set the technical direction for the company, and allowed me to work on projects on my own terms. It resulted in a lot of great skill building which ironically led to me leaving the company.
The difficulty I faced was that Hershey’s culture is essentially focused on managers and teams, and leaves very little room for independent contributors rising to higher levels of the organization. As a result there are only a couple roles I could be promoted to. Unexamined you think those are the roles you want.
I am not one for titles or promotion as a sign of value or identity, but it is a measure. I worked hard and solved a lot of very tough technical problems during my time. It was difficult to witness a management track that could reward people accordingly and a technical track that doesn’t match the same progression.
All that negativity aside, I decided I didn’t want any company holistically to shape my career. I allowed myself to be lured into the path of “what is next” by what the company had to offer, not what can I offer the world and what can the world offer me. I was easily enticed by the company’s career path because the first promotion was rewarding.
It is a poor reason to consider leaving just because you feel a technical promotion won’t happen. But it is a good reason if you have grown, and the relationship is no longer mutually beneficial. One of the things I wanted was corporate experience, but I need to work with people who understand my technical capability and how it can be applied regardless of my title.
On the other hand, allowing an environment to shape me can also be a force of good. I felt my skills were getting stale. Even though I was adopting new skills, learning cloud providers like Azure and AWS, working with infrastructure as code tools like terraform, and automating builds with CI/CD pipelines, those skills were underutilized and not well understood by others in the department. I needed others around me who wanted to solve the problems with code to continue to challenge me. | https://medium.com/pearcec/why-did-i-leave-5c4adfae100e | ['Christian Pearce'] | 2021-03-06 18:49:43.667000+00:00 | ['Career Development', 'Reflections', 'Career Advice', 'Software Engineering', 'Career Change'] |
Becoming Root Through An SUID Executable | Becoming Root Through An SUID Executable
Linux Privilege Escalation By Exploiting The SUID Bit
Photo by Kevin Horvat on Unsplash
Welcome back to the Linux Security Series! In this series, we’ll discuss security issues that affect Linux systems and common misconfigurations that lead to them. Let’s get started!
Privilege escalation is a way that attackers can escalate their privileges on a system. For example, let’s say that an attacker has gained access to your web server, but only as a low privileged user. They cannot read or write sensitive files, execute scripts, or change system configuration. How could they compromise your server and maintain their access there?
If attackers can find a way to trick the system into thinking that they are the root user, they can carry out more powerful attacks like reading and writing sensitive files and inserting permanent backdoors into the system. And this is where privilege escalation comes in. Today, let’s talk about how attackers can exploit SUID programs to escalate their privileges to become root.
The SUID Bit
SUID stands for “SetUID”. It is a Linux permissions flag that allows users to run that particular executable as the executable's owner. For example, if a file is owned by root, the program will always run as root, regardless of who started the execution.
Why would this functionality be useful? A common use-case for SetUID is the password change utility. To change your own password, you would have to modify sensitive system files, such as /etc/shadow . This file is normally only accessible by root users, so you will need to have root privileges to carry out a password change. But since the system doesn't want to give a normal user root privileges, SUID allows users to obtain root privileges only when running certain programs. In this case, SUID on the password change utility allows users to gain temporary root access to change their passwords without obtaining root access across the board. For the most part, this is a normal and necessary behavior. But if an attacker can find a way to execute arbitrary code when running these SUID programs, they can exploit the temporary root access to execute code as the root user on the system!
For example, let’s look at the “Vim” file editor first. Let’s say that Vim is owned by the root user and has the SUID bit set on a system. This means that whenever a user runs the Vim editor, Vim is running with root privileges. No biggie, right?
This setting could actually spell the death sentence for your system because you can actually run arbitrary system commands from within the vim editor! To run commands in Vim, you have to type the characters colon bang “:!”, then the command you want to run. For example, to run the “ls” command, you can type “ :!ls ” then press enter. You should now see the results of the ls command on your terminal.
So this means that if the Vim executable has the SUID bit set, the attacker can execute system commands as root from the Vim editor! Other editors, such as “more” and “less” also allows for command execution from within the program. You can type the bang character “!” then the command that you want to execute for these programs. For example, to run the “ls” command, you can type “ !ls ” then press enter. You should now see the results of the ls command on your terminal.
Besides file editors, another program that allows users to run arbitrary system commands is the “find” command. The find command is usually used for locating files and often has the SUID bit set to allow users to find files across the system. But find allows the execution of system commands through the “ -exec ” flag! For example, to run the “ls” command from within the find command, you can use the command “ find . -exec ls \; ”. So if the find executable has the SUID bit set, the attacker can execute system commands as root!
Escalating Privileges Using The Vulnerability
These misconfigurations make privilege escalation trivial. For example, an attacker can use the ability to execute commands as root and add themselves as a root user in the /etc/passwd file. This command will do just that.
echo “vickie::0:0:System Administrator:/root/root:/bin/bash” >> /etc/passwd
This command adds a root user with the username of “vickie” and an empty password. Since “0” is the UID of the root user, adding a user with the UID of “0” will give that user root privileges. This command is not possible for regular users because only privileged users can modify system-critical files such as the /etc/password file.
More SUID Dangers
Programs that lead to privilege escalation when run with SUID are not just limited to programs that allow for arbitrary system code execution. Any programs that allow arbitrary writes to system files are owned by root and have the SUID bit set can lead to privilege escalation.
For example, if the file editor “Nano” has the SUID bit set, the attacker can use Nano’s root permissions to open the “ /etc/passwd ” file and add themselves as the root user directly in the file editor!
And the system utility “cp” is used to copy and overwrite files. If it has the SUID bit set, attackers can tamper with any file on the system by overwriting the original file with its root privileges! For example, the attacker can create a copy of the original /etc/password to a file they own. Then, they can add themselves as a root user by editing the copy of the passwd file. Finally, they use the “cp” command to overwrite the original /etc/password file with the modified one.
Be Careful!
You can see that SUID could become incredibly dangerous when misused. SUID rights should only be granted to programs when necessary and not to programs that allow command execution or arbitrary writes to files on the system.
Thanks for reading! Next time, we’ll dive into more privilege escalation techniques that attackers can use to compromise your system. | https://vickieli.medium.com/becoming-root-through-an-suid-executable-47473173a6ec | ['Vickie Li'] | 2020-10-30 20:02:16.025000+00:00 | ['Cybersecurity', 'Hacking', 'Programming', 'Linux', 'Technology'] |
What I Wish I Knew Before Having Sex | Truth #1: You don’t owe anyone any sexual act.
Swallowing, orgasms, reciprocal oral, kissing, sex, you name it — none of that or any other sexual act is something you owe someone else or something that others owe you. Consistent, clear, enthusiastic consent is crucial. While those previously mentioned acts can be helpful or seen as polite, don’t feel you have to do them if you’re not okay with it. Communicate with each other so you all can better understand your needs and can figure out what works for everyone.
Truth #2. Lesbian sex can include more than just oral sex.
Lesbian sex can also include toys, fingering, playing with someone’s clit, or whatever else you and your partner want it to be. Sex isn’t just about penetration or sexual acts that have “sex” in the name. I wish I knew this earlier because I feel like I did the sapphic community an injustice by not opening up my mind past heteronormativity.
Truth #3. Ongoing consent from all people involved is important.
I used to think consent meant asking before you did something and stopping when the other person showed or said they wanted to stop. However, consent is more than that. It’s asking “Is this okay?” or “Can I keep doing this?” or “Are you comfortable?” or “Do you like this?” While it doesn’t have to be sexy, it still can be. More than that, it’s important, especially for people who don’t always feel comfortable speaking up or aren’t sure if they like something.
Truth #4. People won’t hate you if you don’t agree to a sexual act.
I’m quite the people-pleaser. I usually say “yes” to whatever’s asked of me to avoid conflict and because I’m scared people will be mad or dislike me if I say no. However, we have to take care of and respect our needs and wants too. People probably won’t automatically hate us for saying no, and even if they do, that doesn’t mean we did something wrong.
Truth #5. Suggestions don’t mean you failed.
If someone suggests a new sexual act, asks you to move your mouth or finger, or to make another change, try to not take that as offensive or as a failure. Other people know their bodies better than we know them, so it’s okay to not be in exactly the right place or to switch up what you’re doing. Suggestions don’t mean you’re not good at sex or that they’re judging you. On that note, encourage suggestions yourself as well and don’t feel bad about it.
Truth #6. Communication about likes, dislikes, STDs, and kinks is important before, during, and after sex.
Communication about sex may feel awkward, especially if you feel shame or don’t want the other person to feel it. However, communication is important in many ways. Research shows that people who communicate about sex have better sex. Communicate about what you like, don’t like, and kinks you have before you have sex, while you’re having sex, and after you’ve had sex. This way, you and those you have sex with will better understand what makes mutually good sex. Talking about STDs is the only exception here — discuss those before sex to ensure health and safety.
Truth #7. Your worth isn’t in your body and what you do with it.
Like I mentioned before, I engaged in hookup culture during my first couple years of college. This usually meant having sex with acquaintances and not having any emotions or feeling past that. Because of this, I thought my worth was in my body and in my willingness to do what someone asked me to do. I had to learn that our worth doesn’t come from our bodies and what we do with them; our worth is inherent. Our bodies and experiences can’t change that. Regardless of whether you’ve had a lot of sex or little sex, regardless of what you’re willing to do, and regardless of your appearance, your worth is the same as other people’s. | https://medium.com/sexography/7-truths-i-wish-i-knew-before-having-sex-125c61a9e262 | ['The Sex', 'Secrets Column'] | 2020-10-27 11:43:00.429000+00:00 | ['Feminism', 'Life Lessons', 'LGBTQ', 'Relationships', 'Sexuality'] |
Quiz Your Love Is It Love Or Infatuation | You are getting attracted. You think about him/her. You want to be with your object of love. You are showing all the signs of being in love. But is it love? Or is it infatuation that will go away after some time?
Let us examine this in little more detail. What is the difference between love and infatuation? The first difference is that infatuation is short lived. It disappears soon.
How will you test it? Think about all the qualities that are making you fall in this love.
Now think of another person. Imagine that the new candidate has all the qualities in greater measure. Think deeply and imagine as much as you can. Are you still in love, or you are shifting your allegiance to the new candidate?
Take another scenario. Imagine having a bad fight with your lover. Imagine of him/her calling you different names and arguing furiously with you. Are you still in love? Will you go back next day to them? Or you already hate them?
Take this test. After many years, your beloved is losing physical charm. Pick up photographs of some movie stars when they were young and compare with the way they look now. Do something similar with your lover. Are you still in love? Will you love them after so many years when they would have lost most of their physical charm?
Love is a feeling that lasts despite years. Love can take fights in its stride. Love cannot be easily defined, but in love you care for your beloved more than yourself. You become very selfless with your true sweetheart. Do you have that feeling? If yes, it is love. Otherwise you need to think more.
Next time your man shuts you out do this Men secretly crave this 1 thing more than anything else (and it’s not what you think) | https://medium.com/@donsiimoo/quiz-your-love-is-it-love-or-infatuation-4ddbc81ba8cf | ['Bekri M'] | 2021-07-15 23:44:00.078000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Couples', 'Lovestory', 'Love'] |
He Doesn’t REALLY Want the Perfect Woman, He Wants These 3 Things from You Instead… | He Doesn’t REALLY Want the Perfect Woman, He Wants These 3 Things from You Instead… Ricky Brown Sep 3·6 min read
How much time do you spend trying to be the kind of woman you think men want?
If you’re like most women, it’s a LOT. You spend all this time making yourself look sexy and attractive.
All this time presenting yourself as fun, interesting, worldly, and not needy in the slightest. You spend all this time showing him just how good you’d be for him… How amazing his future would be if he chose you as the woman by his side…
And it doesn’t work. It never works. WHY? Why do you work so hard… And the guy in your life just takes you for granted, if he even notices you at all? It’s probably because he’s immature, right? He can’t recognize a good thing until it’s gone. Or maybe… It’s because you’ve been doing all the work for him.
check out this video presentation to understand better.
If He Doesn’t Work for Your Relationship, He Won’t Value It
Fact:
What men value most are those things they have to work hard to get.
Hand a man a college diploma, and he won’t value it as much as if he’d had to put in years of study and effort to earn it.
Hand a man the perfect girlfriend, and he won’t value her as much as if he’d had to woo her for weeks just to get her to go out with him. This is why playing hard to get works.
But, as you’ve probably already noticed…
There’s a BIG problem with playing hard to get. That strategy stops working once he’s actually got you.
Something happens when guys decide they’ve won you. It’s almost like they think, “Game over.” Their minds are already on their next challenge. What is going on?!
And how can you stop it from wrecking your relationship?
It’s Not Just You — ALL Women Experience This(That’s Why They Ask for Help)
Many women give up on love. They never let themselves get too close to a man, for fear of scaring him off. But other women try a different approach. They get help. Relationship coach James Bauer is one of the people they turn to.
He noticed that many clients were coming to him, complaining about guys who were blowing hot and cold. Everything would be going great, and then it was like…
Something would change overnight.
A guy who’d been warm, affectionate, and interested would suddenly become distant. He’d no longer have any time for her. He wouldn’t smile in greeting. He’d stop making eye contact. His kisses were brusque. Wanting to help his clients, James investigated.
And what he discovered made sense of everything. He knew why these men were backing away. He knew what they needed … and what they weren’t getting.
It didn’t come down to anything wrong with these women.
Rather, it all came down to something he called “The Hero Instinct.”
Most Women Do Something that Drives Men Away…Without Ever Realizing It
One of the most wonderful things about women is how naturally caring they are.
Look at you. You’re always there for your guy. You look after him. You always make time for him. You’d do anything for him.
You never realize that, in the process…
You’re actually taking something away from him. You’re taking away his purpose.
You see, he wants to be your hero. He doesn’t want you to be his hero.
Men love heroes. Look at how many grown men are still fascinated by Marvel comics and superhero movies.
Every man on Earth, from the time he was a boy, dreamed of growing up to be the kind of hero who would save the world — and get the girl at the same time.
Most men don’t get to indulge their world-saving side in their 9–5 jobs.
Circumstances don’t call for them to rip off their corporate ties and spring into action, revealing their superman side. Maybe they can’t save the world. But they can still get the girl.
Getting the girl is a worthy challenge for an ordinary guy with the heart of a superhero. It takes superhuman confidence. Superhuman charm. Superhuman immunity to pain. Now, all he needs to find is…
A girl who needs a hero. Do You Need a Hero? Let me guess… That’s not you.
You’re strong. You’re independent. You can fix a leaky faucet. You can drive a stick shift. You can take care of yourself. You’re never going to make that Jerry Maguire mistake of looking for a man to complete you.
Instead, you have a lot to offer a man. You’re generous. Kind. Loving. Giving to a fault. All you want is to find a man who’s willing to receive all you have to give.
And that’s why heroes aren’t showing up in your life. That’s why you’ve ended up with so many takers instead. Guys who take everything you have and leave you high and dry. If you want a hero, then you need to advertise for one. Here’s how.
3 Ways You Can Invite a Hero into Your Life, Starting Today
1. Ask a guy for help.
Ask him for advice on buying a new computer. Ask him to listen to that weird rattling sound that’s started up in your car. Ask him to reach something on the top shelf. Then thank him warmly, with a great big smile of appreciation. No, that doesn’t make you needy. It makes you a woman with space for a man in her life.
2. Take pleasure in male company.
Guys love women who appreciate men for just being men. So what if his apartment is a shrine to sports? So what if he spends hours on his fantasy football team? So what if his idea of a clean shirt is the one with the fewest wrinkles? He’s a guy. It’s okay. You don’t need him to be more like you, because you’ve got the feminine side of the gender equation covered.
3. Let him earn your respect.
Superheroes love challenges. They don’t want to be given a gold medal just for showing up. They don’t want your love handed to them on a plate. They want to earn it. There’s one thing they crave even more than a woman’s eternal enduring love: A challenge. So give him opportunities to prove himself. You don’t have to do the work of winning him over. Sit back, relax, and allow him the pleasure of winning your admiration.
Keep Learning
If that sounds like fun to you, click here to watch a video presentation about this relationship enhancement tool. It’s something you can learn once but then use for the rest of your life.
Disclaimer: I don’t Represent the product/Ebook/course shown in my article. this is for educational purposes only. Results are not typical use it at your own risk
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: this Article may contain affiliate links, which means if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. I won’t put anything here that I haven’t and /or personally verified. | https://medium.com/@rickyolo/he-doesnt-really-want-the-perfect-woman-he-wants-these-3-things-from-you-instead-b16c8144604a | ['Ricky Brown'] | 2021-09-08 05:34:34.997000+00:00 | ['Relationships Love Dating', 'Relationship Advice', 'Love', 'Relationships', 'Dating'] |
bravery in breastfeeding | In 2011 when I had my daughter Charlee, it felt taboo to breastfeed in public. I was constantly hiding, feeling ashamed of exposing myself publicly for everyone to see. They didn’t have special breastfeeding friendly areas or pictures on instagram of strong women exposing their breasts during a feeding. After having my daughter at 19 years old, I immediately started college. I was a full time student and working. I remember hiding in the back seat of my car in between classes, trying to pump and eat my lunch and study at the same time. I would hide in the bathroom stall and try and pump during breaks. I remember sitting in my first college classes being in so much pain from my breasts being so engorged. I felt so embarrassed and terrified at the idea that my boobs could leak at any moment. I didn’t want to feel so ashamed at doing such a beautiful thing. Looking back, if I could do it all over again, I would be unapologetically proud of body for being able to produce the best nutrition possible for my baby. I wouldn’t have cared about what anyone else thought. I would have been stronger, and advocated for myself a lot more. We are now entering a new generation of mamas who are much braver than I was. I see mamas breastfeeding with pride, having photoshoots that express that express the importance and beauty of breastfeeding. You all are a force to be reckoned with and I applaud every single one of you.
I share my story with you because I need you to know that you’re not alone.
Also, I need to note something. I want to make this very clear: just because I breastfed my daughter, doesn’t make me “better than anyone else” who chose to use formula. All of us mamas are doing the best we can. You have to do what’s right for you and your baby. Every single mama and every single baby are different and unique and beautiful in their own way. Be brave and be confident in whatever decision you make. And, most importantly, let’s support one another. No one likes a mom shammer. Motherhood is way to difficult and scary to go about it alone. Be a strong woman who empowers and encourages and supports other strong women. | https://medium.com/@caitlyn_nicole91/bravery-in-breastfeeding-5de06f2e9ef5 | [] | 2019-08-06 20:56:01.322000+00:00 | ['Feminism', 'Writing', 'Women', 'Motherhood', 'Breastfeeding'] |
This One Silly Notebook Will Unlock 50% More of Your Hidden Potential | This One Silly Notebook Will Unlock 50% More of Your Hidden Potential
I uncovered this gem by accident
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
I’m a content junkie. I read 100 books a year. I watch hundreds of hours of YouTube videos and thousands of hours of audio. Most of what goes in doesn’t stick. I do other things while I consume much of this content.
…but sometimes you get a lightning bolt.
This story is one of those. Now I share it with you. This is the story of one silly notebook.
As a fairly far-introvert (no idea what to call it… severe, left of center… who knows), I live in my head a lot. I juggle ideas constantly. I’ve got 50 balls in the air. I drop them a lot. Thoughts come and go. Sometimes I capture the best ones.
But the endless thinking is distracting from life.
It’s hard to be fully-present when you’re always thinking. Hell, as I write this, I’ve got Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer in my ears (on double-speed). I know I have a content problem, but the more I stuff-in the more fantastic ideas that come out. Even if I only absorb 10% of the stuff I consume.
I don’t recommend what I do. I do it so you don’t have to. I consume an insane amount of stuff, so I can stay fresh and innovative.
…but I didn’t know about the notebook.
I love paper notebooks. While I use my phone a lot, if I need to work through an idea, the first place I turn, is paper. I’ve got notebooks everywhere. Every time I go to a store, the first place I visit is the office supply section.
This notebook isn’t any notebook.
Some call it a distraction journal. I found it watching a YouTube video on productivity… or something. I don’t remember. I got distracted.
I named my notebook the ‘Squirrel Notebook’ (for obvious reasons).
I’ve got a squirrel’s attention span. It doesn’t take much to grab my attention and yank me from my working mind.
The idea is that you keep the Squirrel Notebook on your lap as you consume content. There are no rules for the notebook. No format. This isn’t some bullet journal with all the bells and a whistle. This is a date and whatever comes to mind.
The conscious mind — the present, listening one, is the weak part of our brain.
The subconscious — that secret, bigger part, is the workhorse of our brain. The Squirrel Notebook helps us access this idea-generating part of the brain.
As you consume content (read, watch, listen), your mind will occasionally wander. If you’ve got my mind there’s more wander than attention-payment. Every time you get a little wander, tune-in instead of tune-out. If you get an idea that might be worth something, write it down. If you forgot something on the grocery list, write it. If you have a new story idea, write it.
Draw little pictures
Use arrows and codes if you want
Scribble the idea as fast as you can and return to your content
I’ve found by using my Squirrel Notebook as an idea dustpan, it allows me to get all those distracted thoughts from my melon, so I can return-focus to the content at hand.
By allowing myself the moment of distraction I’m more-focused.
AND I get to keep all those ideas for later, instead of trying to juggle them in my head.
This week alone, my Squirrel Notebook helped me uncover a few game-changing ideas for my publishing business.
I’m willing to bet the same will happen for you.
If you’re into notebooks like me, you probably dictate certain purposes for each. You can’t take a certain note in a book designed for a different purpose. Not so with the Squirrel Notebook. It’s a catch-all.
I date the spine so I have some idea of the idea-span, should I need it later, but beyond that, the Squirrel Notebook is a free-for-all.
What happens to the good ideas?
You curate later.
If you want to develop an idea further, you can move it to the proper location. Or, you can allow the idea to marinate a few months. The best ideas return.
Try the Squirrel Notebook.
You’ve got my permission to write anything you want. While I can’t guarantee you’ll get exactly 50% more hidden potential, you might get 200% more.
I’ve got something. Just for you… I want to invite you inside the fence.
When you build a tribe around your best work, even if you’re starting-out, you’ve got an instant audience when you’re ready to fly. No matter what kind of work you create. I want you inside the fence, but you’ve got to move fast, so I can shut the gate behind you.
Therefor, I built a free email masterclass for you. I hand-crafted the whole thing. It took me a couple months. I call the masterclass the Tribe 1K.
I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 (or your next 1,000) readers without spending a hot nickel on ads. Past students include New York Times bestselling authors. Yep, the ones you see in the bookstore.
Your email list will help you build a legacy creative business.
If you want to grow your creative business you need email before you lose that valuable reader’s attention. Start your list before you need one. Once you need a list it’s almost too late.
Tap the link.
Guarantee your seat before I start to charge an enrollment fee.
We’re waiting for you. | https://medium.com/the-book-mechanic/this-one-silly-notebook-will-unlock-50-more-of-your-hidden-potential-fbe4c3839f30 | ['August Birch'] | 2020-12-16 15:59:04.994000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Productivity', 'Life Lessons', 'Writing', 'Life'] |
Bureaucracy has black and brown children in a vice grip: tales from the NYC Department of Education | Bureaucracy has black and brown children in a vice grip: tales from the NYC Department of Education
Worried more about the perception of how data may be interpreted negatively or the phantom pushback by principals or the press. Central stakeholders tend to make the most conservative decisions on where the city should put its time and treasure rather than grappling with the hard and very challenging and uncomfortable reality that we don’t know the answer on how to face this pandemic; and that reality is negatively impacting our children.
There are city-wide staff calls where senior leadership decides to focus on discussing the great work the DOE staff are doing rather than discussing the challenges we face and underscoring the critical need for all of us to double our efforts in the unprecedented time of COVID-19.
So much so, the zoom calls sound more like a DJ giving shout outs at a happy birthday party! “I just want to give a shout out to my office and the great work they are doing” . This was how many of the deputy chancellor’s started their segment.
One of many lost opportunities to summon a rally cry to come together in the time of crisis. I’ve stop attending the calls as I now see them as a suck on time and resources to make those at the top levels of our municipal system feel validated.
I’ve seen so many promising initiatives die on the vine rather than get the backing because of the perception that the uncovering of the facts would cause political upheaval.
In the final months of the Mayor’s Bill de Blasio administration, the leadership that suppose to sail the proverbial education ship through this storm has jumped ship. The first deputy chancellor took a job in Atlanta at the height of the pandemic this late Spring. Some deputy chancellor’s have taken other positions and/or “retiring”.
These are dark times for public education and even more bleaker for black and brown students whose families can’t afford to hire a private teach to teach a pod of students. Whose parents can’t support their children during the school day to monitor their focus to school work in a distance learning format. At the kitchen table or the living room couch. A home not set up for learning, just bearly for living.
COVID-19 has us all in not the best of states. But I will argue that it is brucracy. that is exacerbating the pain and has put our most vulnerable students in a vice grip. | https://medium.com/@bryon.d.brown/bureaucracy-has-black-and-brown-children-in-a-vice-grip-tales-from-the-nyc-department-of-education-79c958b4cd95 | ['Rumi Black'] | 2020-12-05 12:48:50.828000+00:00 | ['New York City', 'Remote Learning', 'Covid-19', 'Education Technology', 'Education'] |
Episode 008 — Nicholas Heller, CEO of Fractal Labs | SMEs are the backbone of each country´s economy, still, they are vastly underserved by financial services. Nicholas Heller and his team at Fractal Labs are here to change that.
Welcome to #TheQuickPitch, a podcast show in which Reid Jackson sits down with entrepreneurs across Europe building awesome tech companies 🚀💥
Nicholas Heller is co-founder & CEO of Fractal Labs, a platform #startup that helps reimagine financial services for SMEs. At #TheQuickPitch he discusses with Reid about the challenges and opportunities for financial services to serve start-ups and growth companies with products they need at a different stage of growth to progress their business. There is a surprisingly big lack of understanding of depth or metrics to make good credit scoring. Due to fragmentation of the SME market, it is also very difficult for financial institutions to quantify value from those segments, understand risk and offer timely relevant services to these sectors.
SME is a broad term and very fragmented, and they all (different segments) require different levels of services whether it´s from their bank, accountant or alternative lender. Therefore they are traditionally very underserved which also is a massive opportunity for Fractal Labs.
Don´t miss out our previous founders´interviews on #TheQuickPitch
Tune in and get to know how an ex-astronomer turned into a start-up CEO. Kim Nielsson is the CEO and Founder of Pivigo, a London-based start-up that brings businesses and data science together to harness the value and opportunities in data.
Meet Anna Tsyupko, the founder and CEO of Paybase, an end to end solution covering payments, compliance, and risk management start-up. Out of London, Anna and her team enable their clients to use payments for their advantage. Within three years the team has grown to just over 20 people and recently launched their platform. Listen to Anna’s story on how she lives and breathes entrepreneurship.
#founder #startup #openoceanvc | https://blog.openocean.vc/episode-008-nicholas-heller-ceo-of-fractal-labs-fea24584d68e | [] | 2020-02-07 08:21:59.901000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Founders', 'Fintech', 'Podcast', 'Founder Stories'] |
The inherent advantages of building an EQMS on the Salesforce.com Platform | The leadership team at CQ has been a part of the Quality and Compliance industry for over 25+ years now. When the ComplianceQuest mission statement was established, we were extremely clear on two fronts; One, we wanted to build a best-in-class, next-generation EQMS on the Real Cloud. Two, we wanted to build a platform that was customizable so we could help clients across sectors (including healthcare/life sciences, manufacturing, technology, automotive, aerospace and CPG segments) and stages (from startups to Fortune 500 corporations).
In the first two articles as part of this blog series — we focused on the inherent advantages of real cloud, while also highlighting the reasons why customers often struggle with ‘Fake Cloud’ solutions.
In this post, we delve deep into why ComplianceQuest was built on the Salesforce.com Platform, one of the most secure, connected and flexible platforms to build real cloud-based solutions. Also, we will explain why a real cloud solution is a must in the case of an EQMS product.
But first — why Salesforce.com Platform?
As we have mentioned in the post — the CQ Team had spent several years in the EQMS sector. There were five major trends that we had noticed in the early days of building our solution. All these trends were noticed thanks to a clear focus on listening to our customers.
Rapid Digital Transformation: Our target customers — from healthcare to manufacturing, from startups to large, global corporations — were keen on building a highly automated process to manage Quality and Compliance. Their teams were looking for solutions that were customizable, affordable, yet deeply nuanced to meet their quality/compliance needs.
Our target customers — from healthcare to manufacturing, from startups to large, global corporations — were keen on building a highly automated process to manage Quality and Compliance. Their teams were looking for solutions that were customizable, affordable, yet deeply nuanced to meet their quality/compliance needs. Flexible & Scalable: The CQ Product, right from Day Zero, was built with a keen eye on fulfilling customer needs. We realized that customers wanted a scalable solution — both in terms of modules they would use as well as no. of users. They wanted to integrate with other ERP, CRM, and Inventory systems. They wanted custom features built in; they wanted multi-language capabilities, and they wanted data visibility.
The CQ Product, right from Day Zero, was built with a keen eye on fulfilling customer needs. We realized that customers wanted a scalable solution — both in terms of modules they would use as well as no. of users. They wanted to integrate with other ERP, CRM, and Inventory systems. They wanted custom features built in; they wanted multi-language capabilities, and they wanted data visibility. High quality dashboards, reporting and mobile-readiness: Additionally, we needed to build a powerful platform with wonderful end-user experience. The purpose of an EQMS was not only about fulfilling basic quality and compliance needs, but also a platform that would enable collaboration and throw out data-driven insights. Our customers wanted readily deployable mobile apps to view quality data/metrics on the move.
Additionally, we needed to build a powerful platform with wonderful end-user experience. The purpose of an EQMS was not only about fulfilling basic quality and compliance needs, but also a platform that would enable collaboration and throw out data-driven insights. Our customers wanted readily deployable mobile apps to view quality data/metrics on the move. Proven Platform: Most importantly, they wanted a long-term solution built on a proven platform — which was highly secure and reliable.
Most importantly, they wanted a long-term solution built on a proven platform — which was highly secure and reliable. Data Visibility: Last but not the least, the data from an EQMS was extremely relevant for decision-making. It was important to have data and metrics from the entire product lifecycle, including customer and supplier data, visible to key stakeholders.
We decided to build on the Saleforce.com for all of the reasons mentioned above. It was a proven platform with a large number of users; Prospective customers wanted a familiar ‘real cloud’ solution, one that could easily integrate with other products. And, needless to add, our product managers evaluated multiple platforms and believed the collaboration/mobile features in Salesforce.com were ideal for enterprise users.
Once we decided on the platform, we architected an EQMS with 12 broad level Solutions.
Audit
CAPA
Change
Complaints
Document
Equipment
Incident
Inspection
Non-conformance
Supplier
Training
Risk
The modularization was critical — as clients could pick and choose modules of focus. For example, in the healthcare segment, we helped numerous customers all over the world with Audit, CAPA and Document Management Solutions, when they were gearing up for ISO 13485:2016 compliance. Over time, these customers added Supplier and Training modules. Today, we’ve customers who use all our 12 modules, across the entire lifecycle of their operations — but that’s not where they started. The key here was to have a solution for all possible processes within Quality and Compliance, yet offer custom modules as needed.
At a platform level — dashboards, languages & localization, idea management, collaboration, reports, analytics and security were all the key features.
We are convinced that ComplianceQuest built on the Salesforce.com is the best solution for all your Quality & Compliance processes.
The vision at ComplianceQuest is to transform quality and compliance into a strategic advantage for our customers through experience, expertise and passion. ComplianceQuest is an innovative, 100% cloud based Enterprise Quality Management System solution company. We provide an enterprise grade solution that streamlines quality, compliance, content and collaboration management initiatives and strategies across diverse, globally based supply chain networks.
To know more — Call us for a demo and experience why ComplianceQuest will be the best solution for you: | https://medium.com/@compliancequesteqms/the-inherent-advantages-of-building-an-eqms-on-the-salesforce-com-platform-de6a2436ef2b | [] | 2020-12-26 18:17:11.293000+00:00 | ['Salesforce', 'Digital Transformation', 'Document Management', 'Solutions', 'Cloud'] |
Super Summit 2020 Has Been Cancelled | Summit Motorsports Park has broken plenty of hearts by announcing Super Summit 2020 has officially been canceled, thanks to COVID-19. The event was supposed to take place on June 6. This news comes as a shock after owner Bill Bader, Jr. took to social media April 15 to announce it would be opening back up and having a 2020 season schedule, despite warnings about the threat of the coronavirus. With the industry still in disarray it apparently was too much, so Summit will remain shut down, meaning no Super Summit this year.
In a Facebook post, Summit explained this move was done to “best protect enthusiasts and manufacturers planning to attend the show” as well as staff and the Norwalk community in general. It’s possible tremendous pressure was put under tremendous pressure to fold after Bader, Jr.’s video declaration that he was opening everything back up went viral, with many media outlets and others treating the move as a hostile and/or irresponsible action.
With record attendance at Super Summit last year and what looked to be record-breaking momentum heading into the 6th annual event. Among the planned activities were cruise-ins, drag races, music, fireworks, and even fun runs, making it a celebration for everyone.
As the pandemic continues, a dizzying number of automotive gatherings have been cancelled or postponed around the world. This includes car auctions scrambling to hold online events, museums providing internet tours, and more.
While the cancellation of Super Summit is bad news, for now the Hot Rod Power Tour kickoff event is still on. Originally, it was supposed to take place right after Super Summit, but now it’s scheduled for August 23 at Summit Motorsports Park. Hopefully that’s not another promise which needs to be broken, but we’ll see how this whole situation rolls out. If everything goes as planned, the Tour will run through August 29 at the Chicagoland Speedway.
Photos credit: Summit Motorsports Park
The Coronavirus Saga Continues
70th Pebble Beach Concours Postponed To 2021 Due To COVID-19
Expect other Monterey Car Week events to postpone or cancel as well.
Jeffrey N. RossMotorious
Tour Some Virtual Auto Museums
Being stuck inside doesn’t mean you can’t go anywhere.
Steven SymesMotorious | https://medium.com/motorious/super-summit-2020-has-been-cancelled-8f4aa9e428ea | ['Sam Maven'] | 2020-04-23 22:22:42.801000+00:00 | ['American', 'Muscle', 'News', 'Racing'] |
Elle Me Dit: My Ode To Paris. I took the RER from Charles de Gaulle… | I took the RER from Charles de Gaulle to feel more like a local, also, it saved me quite a bit of money. Cramped on this regional rail with tourists and locals alike I didn’t know what to expect from a city I have been dreaming of since the age of five. Would it live up to my expectations? Would it suffice my wildest dreams of exploring this city of lights? This queer boy from Ohio knew he needed Paris. Scenes from Sex and The City’s last season, The Devil Wears Prada, and Amélie only did so much. One could not answer those questions until one was enthralled by its entirety. As soon as I exited the Port Royale station, next to the famous La Closerie des Lilas, I knew my first day in Paris was going to be an electrifying hymn within my core.
First, I want to enlighten Americans to understand that our negative pre-conceived notions of Parisians are strictly irrational. Yes, they do speak English. Yes, they do understand you. Also, they are not assholes, well, at least I haven’t run into any. I would say they seem to be direct, discerning, and equipped with purpose; attributes that ought to be respected.
As I stop by one of the various Crêperies, I am reminded of Paris’ simplicity. She possesses a regimen, which is not merely sedentary, but tranquil. There is a stillness to Paris that doesn’t resemble a post-bomb, eradicated village, but the background noise almost becomes non-existent and you are transported to another dimension. The buildings hide behind trees as they do away with skyscrapers, contrary to a city like New York. Let us not forget, France is a very old city. The identifiable sloped roofs keep your eyes glazing over and the windows invites you in. You feel safe. I even felt safe enough to fall asleep on a park bench next to the Eiffel tower. It may have been the jetlag. I may sound slightly ridiculous as you are reading this, but this is what she tells me. This is the only way I can articulate it.
So as I observe the beautiful people who smoke profusely and engorge in their booze tastefully, I can try to grasp what it means to be Parisian. I am not talking about the bavette steaks, frites, foie gras, crepes, and galettes. I am talking about the social energy that they radiate. I have never seen something so personal in my life. Their identity is intensely sacred and somewhat holy, and I cannot fully explain it. I wouldn’t call it patriotism. I think I will never fully explain it because I will never fully understand it. So as I continue to consume my steak frites at a random brasserie, I will keep you updated if I find out more. I will keep listening to what she has to tell me. | https://medium.com/@hausofoneal/elle-me-dit-my-ode-to-paris-day-1-e944bab575db | ['Paul O. Mims'] | 2019-06-17 20:37:10.953000+00:00 | ['Personal', 'Food', 'Traveling', 'Paris', 'Travel'] |
Porting Backyard Flyer Project to Crazyflie | Udacity Flying Car and Autonomous Flight Engineer (FCND) nanodegree starts out with basics of autonomous flight and provides a broad overview of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and their history. The first project called the Backyard Flyer is designed mostly to understand ways to interact with the simulator though event-driven python code. Event-driven programming deals with asynchronous nature of a drone where the state of the system changes over time and our code should respond to these state changes as they occur.
FCND simulator is a valuable tool used to control and fly a drone in a virtual 3D world. Simulations are critical for UAVs/robotics as they provide a no-risk environment to develop and test out algorithms before deploying them on hardware. Once deployed on hardware, we run the risk of damaging the done or even worse risking the safety of people around the hardware.
For a complete description of the project and the solution, you can refer to the code here. Here is the outcome of the drone flying a predetermined square path on the simulator.
Backyard Flyer project working with FCND simulator
In this post, I will focus on porting this project to work with Crazyflie. Udacidrone API abstraction used to develop this project to work with the simulator supports Crazyflie as one of the platforms. Udacidrone API provides a protocol agnostic API to control a drone in the FCND simulator or other supported hardware such as PX4 powered drone or Crazyflie. So, any code written to work with the simulator should also work for Crazyflie.
Udacidrone and associated tools
For a detailed description of Udacidrone, you can refer to their getting started guide. Here, I will emphasize on essential steps to get basic setup working for communication with Crazyflie.
Software
Clone the repository
Create a virtual environment and activate
This project is tested to work with python 3.6.8 and I recommend using pyenv to manage your python versions if you are using MacOS.
python3 -m venv fcnd
source fcnd/bin/activate
Install all dependencies
pip install git+https://github.com/udacity/udacidrone.git
Hardware
It’s assumed that you have followed instructions on setting up Crazyflie2.1. Ensure you have Crazyflie2.1 PA radio plugged-in and the Crazyflie2.1 is turned ON.
Configuration
Launch cfclient (while the virtual environment is activated). You will see the cfclient UI where you can search and connect to your Crazyflie.
Connect to Crazyflie using `cfclient` UI
Once connected, it is recommended to change the connection bandwidth from 250k to 2M .
Change bandwidth of Crazyflie connection to recommended `2M`
Programming paradigm
When writing software using Udacidrone, event driven programming paradigm is leveraged for its ability to capture asynchronous operations. For example, if we would like the drone to take action depending on its position, we would first create a listener to position observations. When position observations are made the position listener is invoked. The position listener can read the current position and decide on its action. One such example in this project is we check if current altitude is “close” to the desired altitude. If so, we start navigation to waypoints.
Simulator to Crazyflie
These instructions were provided as part of the porting instructions in the project. However, for others, who may not have access to the course content, here is the project that works with the simulator. To port backyard_flyer.py to Crazyflie, following modifications are to be implemented:
Launch crazyflie_backyard_flyer.py script with the PA radio plugged in to your laptop and Crazyflie switched ON to see it fly a rectangular trajectory.
> python crazyflie_backyard_flyer.py
Logs/TLog.txt
Creating log file
Logs/NavLog.txt
starting connection
Connecting to radio://0/80/2M
Connected to radio://0/80/2M
Waiting for estimator to find position...
Closing log file
takeoff transition
filter has converge, position is good!
waypoint transition
waypoint to navigate to: [0.75 0. 0.5 ]
0.75 0.0 0.5
the delay time for the move command: 2.7578634101417574
vel vector: (0.19966524161618923, -0.01156681850591479, 0)
waypoint transition
waypoint to navigate to: [0.75 0.75 0.5 ]
0.75 0.75 0.5
the delay time for the move command: 4.019526425683314
vel vector: (0.03779849779012415, -0.19639570658446173, 0)
waypoint transition
waypoint to navigate to: [0. 0.75 0.5 ]
0.0 0.75 0.5
the delay time for the move command: 4.781339464967377
vel vector: (-0.19740196558339365, -0.032131977589508295, 0)
waypoint transition
waypoint to navigate to: [0. 0. 0.5]
0.0 0.0 0.5
the delay time for the move command: 4.743249739164866
vel vector: (-0.03620927863315014, 0.19669491132428135, 0)
waypoint transition
landing transition
manual transition
Crazyflie in action
Crazyflie flying a square trajectory of side 0.75 meters
Conclusion
Udacidrone API allows us to write software once and deploy to work with multiple target environments such as FCND simulator, Crazyflie, or any PX4 drone. The tooling is quite mature and thanks to the documentation of Udacidrone API, the project instructions, and Crazyflie setup documentation — you can start making your ideas fly relatively quickly.
Also published on https://pramodatre.github.io/2020/11/06/backyard-flyer-project/ | https://medium.com/@pramod-atre/porting-backyard-flyer-project-to-crazyflie-2dfc6fb3f296 | ['Pramod Anantharam'] | 2020-12-23 00:14:26.180000+00:00 | ['Uav Technology', 'Autonomy', 'Drones', 'Drones Technology', 'Uav'] |
6 Tips To Create The Best Product And Service Update Emails | Product and service update emails are newsletters that work in a collaboration between marketing and product teams. In this article, you’ll learn how to create the best product and services update emails.
It doesn’t only deliver information about the improvements in a product or service but also keeps the customers engaged while promoting new features and driving traffic to the website. Simply put, the product and service update emails are all about introducing brand new changes and upgrades happening within the system.
However, with an average person receiving 126 business emails every day, standing out in the customer’s crowded inbox isn’t an easy task. So, it becomes imperative to make your product and service email templates exciting and enlightening to garner the customer’s attention. You can do so by revealing critical improvements, promoting a product, and trying to bring the customers to a landing page. In short, instead of including boring documentation and information regarding bug fixes, you need to go a step ahead and transform the boring details of your business email template into exciting ones.
The best practices for creating impeccable product and service email updates
1 Work on your subject line
Instead of going for a generic “product update” subject line, go a step ahead and get creative with it. In short, make it attractive and inspiring. You can take some inspiration from the examples below:
Here’s your new product with additional features.
Sneak peek of the new update.
Customers are loving the new feature.
Our product line just got better. Take a look.
You can’t miss these new features/updates.
A brand new product overview.
These are a few of the many ways to spruce up your subject line and entice your customers. Here’s a product update email from Hotel Tonight with a creative subject line “Even more perks”. The email copy is illustrative and informative too.
Further, you can also make the most out of your subject line by highlighting the most impressive feature of the update. Do it the way Apple does with a simple yet impressive subject line “AirPods Pro are here“ followed by a minimall copy and monochromatic email design.
2 Make sure your update is worth sending
You might have worked hard on a product update. From planning to developing and deploying, your team must have spent weeks on it. So, it is natural to get excited to share the news with your subscriber base. However, the same isn’t the case with your customers.
To put it in other words, If they receive a lot of emails for minor updates, the chances of them getting annoyed to become higher. Hence, before you send any product or service email update, ask your email template developer if it is really important or worth sending. Take some cues from this product update email from Conductor.
This email informs the users about the new features added and tells them how they can benefit from these features. All in all, it is simple, effective, and worth attracting the customer’s attention.
3 Create relevant content
You must have a clear idea about your goal before you craft your product update email. Do you want to notify your subscribers about certain changes? Are you looking to promote any educational or promotional tool? If these are your goals, you can include relevant content such as:
A guide to extract the most out of the new feature.
Product description.
Welcome message.
List of features.
Feedbacks.
Cross-selling and up-selling products.
Reasons for an update.
Here’s how Readdle makes good use of the product update email by informing their user base about the introduction of email templates in Spark. It also gives a brief overview of the new list of features.
4 Pay attention to communicating the benefits to create product service update emails
You can make your product email updates engaging and impactful by communicating its benefits clearly to your subscriber base. Hence, depending on the type of products you sell or the services you provide, let your customers know how they will benefit from the latest update. Check out this example from FilmSupply.
See how they have divided the product update email into various sections communicating the benefits in a precise and clear way.
5 Include interactive elements to accelerate engagement
All-text emails are usually boring and dull. However, when it comes to visually engaging emails, they have the ability to generate more user interest. Do you know adding videos in emails can increase your click-through rates by 300%? So, if you wish to accelerate your subscriber engagement, incorporating interactive elements in your product email update is the key. Interactive elements include GIFs, videos, collapsible menus, sliders, and accordions to name a few.
With the help of these elements, you can visually inform your customers how your product or service works. Simply put, you can entice them to check your latest update by showing them how it works. See how Nest makes good use of video to demonstrate their new smoke alarm to the subscriber base.
6 Ask customers to try their hands on the beta release to create product service update emails
Businesses use beta releases to test products and tools that are in their development stage and are yet to be released officially. You can do the same with your new product and service and get the first-hand experience of how customers are going to perceive it. Begin by asking a small number of customers to test your product and then gradually increase the number of beta testers to reach an optimal figure.
Also, make sure you send such emails only to your genuinely interested subscribers. It would help you get useful feedback. Here’s how Mailchimp does it by giving early access to its users for their new website builder.
Wrap up
Product and service email updates are all about communicating directly with your customer base and informing them about the benefits that come with each update. From illustrating how your subscribers can get started with the new update to let them know more about the update with a blog post link, there are a lot of ways to ace your product and service email updates.
So, make use of the above-mentioned tips and tricks and see how you unleash your creative self while creating such emails that generate user interest and engagement, all at once. | https://medium.com/visualmodo/6-tips-to-create-the-best-product-and-service-update-emails-118c2f212328 | [] | 2020-09-19 23:18:58.700000+00:00 | ['Emails', 'Product', 'Update', 'Creation', 'Service'] |
每日幣讀 0419 | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/7sevencoin/%E6%AF%8F%E6%97%A5%E5%B9%A3%E8%AE%80-0419-c97df0d8f56a | [] | 2019-04-19 02:07:29.409000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'News', 'Blockchain', 'Sevencoin'] |
Data Science: Data Cleansing And Visualization For Beginners Using Python | In this article, I am discussing an educational project work in the fascinating field of Data Science while trying to learn the ropes of Data Science. This write-up intends to share the project journey with the larger world and the outcome.
Data science is a discipline that is both artistic and scientific simultaneously. A typical project journey in Data Science involves extracting and gathering insightful knowledge from data that can either be structured or unstructured. The entire tour commences with data gathering and ends with exploring the data entirely for deriving business value. The cleansing of the data, selecting the right algorithm to use on the data, and finally devising a machine learning function is the objective in this journey. The machine learning function derived is the outcome of this art that would solve the business problems creatively.
I will be focussing exclusively on the Data cleansing, imputation, exploration, and visualization of the data. I presume the reader has a basic knowledge of Python or even any equivalent language such as Java or C or Cplusplus to follow the code snippets. The coding was done in Python and executed using Jupyter notebook. I will describe the steps we undertook in this project journey, forming this write-up’s crux.
Import Libraries
We began by importing the libraries that are needed to preprocess, impute, and render the data. The Python libraries that we used are Numpy, random, re, Mat- plotlib, Seaborn, and Pandas. Numpy for everything mathematical, random for random numbers, re for regular expression, Pandas for importing and managing the datasets, Matplotlib.pyplot, and Seaborn for drawing figures. Import the libraries with a shortcut alias as below.
Loading the data set
The dataset provided was e-commerce data to explore. The data set was loaded using Pandas.
The ‘info’ method gets a summary of the dataset object.
The shape of the dataset was determined to be 10000 rows and 14 columns. The describe specifies the basic statistics of the dataset.
The ‘nunique’ method gives the number of unique elements in the dataset.
Initial exploration of the data set
This step involved exploring the various facets of the loaded data. This step helps in understanding the data set columns and also the contents.
Interpreting and transforming the data set
In a real-world scenario, the data information that one starts with could be either raw or unsuitable for Machine Learning purposes. We will need to transform the incoming data suitably.
We wanted to drop any duplicate rows in the data set using the ‘duplicate’ method. However, as you would note below, the data set we received did not contain any duplicates.
Impute the data
While looking for invalid values in the data set, we determined that the data set was clean. The question placed on us in the project was to introduce errors at the rate of 10% overall if the data set supplied was clean. So given this ask, we decided to introduced errors into a data set column forcibly. We consciously choose to submit the errors in the
‘Purchase Price’ column as this has the maximum impact on the dataset outcome. Thus, about 10% of the ‘Purchase Price’ data randomly set with ‘numpy — NaN.’
We could have used the Imputer class from the scikit-learn library to fill in missing values with the data (mean, median, most frequent). However, to keep experimenting with hand made code; instead, I wrote a re-usable data frame impute class named ‘DataFrameWithImputor’ that has the following capabilities.
Be instantiated with a data frame as a parameter in the constructor. Introduce errors to any numeric column of a data frame at a specified error rate. Introduce errors across the dataframe in any cell of the dataframe at a specified error rate. Impute error values in a column of the data set. Find empty strings in rows of the data set. Get the’ nan’ count in the data set. Possess an ability to describe the entire data set in the imputed object. Have an ability to express any column of the dataset in the impute object. Perform forward fill on the entire data set. Perform backward fill on the entire data set.
Shown below is the impute class.
The un-imputed data set was checked for any Nan or missing strings for one final time before introducing errors.
A helper function ‘do_impute’ was defined to introduce errors in a column of the data set and impute the data set column afterwords. This function would take a condition parameter to perform imputation.
To introduce error, random cells in the ‘Purchase Price’ column is set to ‘NaN.’ Once set, there are several ways to fill up missing values or ‘NaN’:
We can remove the missing value rows itself from the data set. However, in this case, the error percentage is low at just 10%, so this method was not needed. Fill in the null cell in the data set column with a constant value. Filling the invalid section with mean and median values Fill the nulls with a random value. Filling null using data frame backfill and forward fill
The above mentioned are some common strategies applied to impute the data set. However, there are no limits to designing a radically different approach to the data set imputation itself.
Each of the imputed outcomes was studied separately — the fill (backfill and forward fill) and constant value imputations outcome shown below.
The median and random value imputations are in the code below.
Then the mean imputed outcome is visually compared with an un-imputed or clean data column as below.
From the above techniques, mean imputation was found closer to the un- imputed clean data, thus preferred. Other choices such as fill(forward and backward) also seemed to produce data set column qualitatively very close to clean data from the study above. However, the mean imputation was preferred as it gives a consistent result and a more widespread impute technique.
The data frame adopted for further visualization was the mean imputed data set.
Exploring and Analysing the data
A cleaned up and structured data is suitable for analyzing and finding exemplars using visualization.
Find relationship between Job designation and purchase amount?
2. How does purchase value depend on the Internet Browser used and Job (Profession) of the purchaser?
3. What are the patterns, if any, on the purchases based on Location (State) and time of purchase (AM or PM)?
4. How does purchase depend on ‘CC’ provider and time of purchase ‘AM or PM’?
5. What are top 5 Location(State) for purchases?
We plotted a sub-plot as below.
We can similarly repeat this subplot to view the top 5 credit cards, the top 5 email providers, and the top 5 languages involved in purchases. There are many other visualizations techniques beyond what I have described in this article, with each one capable of giving unique insights into the dataset.
Acknowledgment
I acknowledge my fellow project collaborators below, without whose contribution this project would not have been so exciting.
The Team
Rajesh Ramachander: linkedin.com/in/rramachander/ Ranjith Gnana Suthakar Alphonse Raj: linkedin.com/in/ranjith-alphonseraj-21666323/ Yashaswi Gurumurthy: linkedin.com/mwlite/in/yashaswi-gurumurthy-020521113 Praveen Manohar G: linkedin.com/in/praveen-manohar-g-9006a232 Rahul A linkedin.com/in/rahulayyappan
Closing Words
The Github link to the codebase is https://github.com/RajeshRamachander/ecom/blob/master/ecom_eda.ipynb.
We had fun and many learnings while doing some of these fundamental steps required to work through a large data set, clean, impute, and visualize the data for further work. We finished the project here, and of course, the real journey does not end here as it will progress into modeling, training, and testing phases. For us, this is only the beginning of a long trip. Every data science project that has a better and cleaner data will generate awe-inspiring results! | https://medium.com/the-innovation/data-science-data-cleansing-and-visualization-for-beginners-using-python-3f55323768f1 | ['Rajesh Ramachander'] | 2020-09-11 20:14:08.271000+00:00 | ['Data Imputation', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization', 'Pandas', 'Data Exploration'] |
Why we talk more about CO2 even if methane is 80 time more potent — GWP and CO2 equivalents explained. | Photo by Kamal J on Unsplash
When I was starting to read more and more about the climate crisis, I was sometimes confused when I heard that methane is 80 times more effective in warming the planet than CO2. I was wondering, why are we talking about CO2 so much then?
So this blog post aims to answer that question. To do so, we will briefly look into the greenhouse-effect, go through the most important greenhouse gases, global warming potential and carbon-equivalents.
Some basics:
First of all, it is important to understand that almost all energy consumed on earth originates from the sun.
Secondly, it is important to state that our atmosphere is crucial for the survival of humans and most other forms of life on this planet. The 0.0006% of Ozone in our atmosphere, for example, protects us from the damaging UV-radiation that sunlight entails. Before the ozone layer formed 600 million years ago, there was no life on land.
But our atmosphere also does a great job in enabling temperature on earth that a beneficial for life to thrive. We refer to this as the natural greenhouse effect. It is caused by the circumstance that certain (greenhouse) gases are selective in the energy frequencies they absorb. When energy from the sun is entering the atmosphere, it has a different frequency/wavelength compared to when it leaves. This allows the greenhouse gases to let the energy in, but “trap” it on its way out. More energy in the system then leads to higher temperatures.
Thankfully so! Without the greenhouse effect, the temperature on earth would be around -18°C (now it is on average around +14°C). So, in general, we want the greenhouse effect; we just do not want too much of it.
What is global warming potential (GWP)
There are many gases (and other things) in our atmosphere which contribute to the greenhouse gas effect, and some of them are more effective in absorbing and emitting energy than others. In more professional terms: the “radiative efficiency” differs. Additionally, they have a different “lifetime,” i.e. how long they stay in the atmosphere. Carbon does not break down in the atmosphere and therefore has a constant GWP (But it can be taken out of the atmosphere by plants, for example). All other gases are therefore expressed as a multiple of the GWP of carbon.
If we combine these two properties of a certain gas (lifetime and radiative efficiency), we can come up with its global warming potential (GWP). Since we take their lifetime into account, the GWP is dependent on the timeframe. As you can see on the right side of the table.
This table is part of a bigger table from the IPCC on the GWP of certain “species”.
And herein lies part of the answer to our methane question. Methane does break down in the atmosphere. So its effect on global warming vanishes over time. The convention is to use the GWP over a hundred years. So if someone says methane is 80 times worse than CO2, he or she is technically right, but not mentioning that this ratio only holds true for a specific timeframe. In the case of 80 times that had to be a timeframe of shorter than 20 years. But indeed, even if we look at the 100-year timeframe, methane is 21 more effective than CO2.
So whats the missing part?
So GWP compares gases one by one. But in our atmosphere, the number of gases are very different. As you see in this table below, CO2 makes up more of the atmospheric composition. (the table is outdated. Currently, Carbon Dioxide makes up 0.0415%)
And that is why talk so much about CO2. There is just so much more CO2 in the atmosphere, that even though it has a lower GWP, the overall effect of CO2 is higher than the effect of methane or Nitrogen Oxide. To be able to compare the different gases easily, we can convert them to CO2-equivalents (often written as CO2e or CO2eq). As visualised in this nice infographic by Our World in Data:
Those equivalents help to quickly and easily communicate and compare certain emissions.
Those equivalents are calculated by: (amount of gas) x (GWP).
Wrapping up:
So wrapping up, the impact of a gas on the global temperature comes down to:
How effective it is at absorbing and emitting energy.
How long it stays in the atmosphere
How much of it there is in the atmosphere.
So, I hope this was insightful and de-confusing and helps you to get a better handle of your next literature on sustainability.
As we just saw, there are some good reasons to talk mainly about CO2. But the importance of methane and nitrous oxide should not be underestimated. Especially when looking at sectors like agriculture.
Technically it would be more precise to talk about greenhouse gases, expressed as CO2 equivalents or CO2e.
Sources:
Ozone Layer:
Atmosphere without GHG-effect:
GWP of greenhouse gases: | https://medium.com/@lennart-wittstock/why-we-talk-more-about-co2-even-if-methane-is-80-time-more-potent-gwp-and-co2-equivalents-e4115d995e2d | ['Lennart Witstock'] | 2020-12-17 18:32:53.539000+00:00 | ['Climate Action', 'Science', 'Climate', 'Sustainability', 'Climate Change'] |
Spoiler Manga Boruto 53: Isshiki Dead, Borushiki Stabs Rinnegan Sasuke | Boruto Chapter 53 manga spoilers have been leaked on the internet, although this spoiler will only be published tomorrow on December 20, 2020. Isshiki Otsutsuki is still trying to implant his karma seal into Kawaki when Naruto is seriously injured,while Borushiki suddenly regains consciousness and attacks Sasuke.
It is known that Masashi Kishimoto has been taking over the making of Boruto manga since chapter 52 yesterday. In boruto chapter 53, Sasuke’s name suddenly went viral on Twitter since December 17, 2020.
In boruto spoiler chapter 53 it is said that Boruto suddenly rose and pierced Sasuke’s eye. Is Sasuke going to lose his Rinegan?
Based on the leak of Boruto chapter 53 manga that has been circulating on the internet, Isshiki Otsutsuki is still trying to make Kawaki’s body as his container. If Isshiki can’t get Kawaki’s body in 5 minutes then Isshiki could die.
With the rest of his powers, Naruto tells Kawaki to escape and stay away from the battle area. Sasuke then takes Kawaki away with a special smoke bomb so that Byakugan Isshiki can’t see him. However, Isshiki makes Naruto a hostage to lure Kawaki out.
Kawaki is reminded of naruto’s kindness that considers him like his disciple and fills the void of his heart as a human being. Kawaki showed himself to Isshiki.
Seeing Kawaki come before him, Isshiki did not waste the opportunity and immediately began the process of planting karma seals.
In the process of planting the karma seal, Isshiki once told Kawaki that Kawaki is not a ninja but only his container and after that it appears that Kawaki has again had the Karma Seal in his left hand.
Isshiki once laughed off and was proud to show that he was the winner and told him that he always won.
Behind the laughs coming off Isshiki, suddenly the Karma Seal in Kawaki’s hand fades away. It turns out that Kawaki in front of Isshiki is just a Kage Bunshin.
After failing to implant the karma seal into Kawaki’s body, Isshiki’s power weakens. Seeing that kawaki didn’t waste the opportunity, he quickly stepped on Isshiki until the land around him was destroyed.
This way Naruto and Sasuke survive isshiki Otsutsuki’s threat. During that moment, Boruto suddenly got up and stabbed Sasuke in the eye. As it turns out, Boruto who was unconscious is now awake and his body is currently controlled by Momoshiki Otsutsuki.
“I didn’t expect Isshiki Otsutsuki to be defeated by you. So for me, the only obstacle left is you,” Borushiki said at the end of Boruto’s manga chapter 53.
It is known that Sasuke’s rinnegan was given by Hagoromo Otsutsuki during the fourth ninja war against Kaguya Otsutsuki. His Rinnegan is different from the others because it has 6 tomoes. With the dojutsu, Sasuke was able to move between dimensions of space and time and exchange places with objects around him without going through intermediaries.
Until now it is not known whether Rinegan Sasuke was destroyed or not after being stabbed by Borushiki. Just look forward to Boruto: Naruto Next Generation Chapter 53 (The Power of Connection) manga which was officially released on December 20, 2020. | https://medium.com/@idnsite/spoiler-manga-boruto-53-isshiki-dead-borushiki-incar-rinnegan-sasuke-504e23fbfaf0 | [] | 2020-12-19 03:28:42.706000+00:00 | ['Updates', 'Naruto', 'Boruto', 'Anime', 'Manga'] |
Ho-Ho-Ho, ‘Fatman’ Brings You Guns and Ammo | I’ll be honest with you; I wrote that headline before I finished watching Fatman. It was wishful thinking. I thought a B action flick, starring Mel Gibson as Santa Claus and Walton Goggins as a chain-smoking, fancy-clothed villain, must be a lot of bloody fun. I was wrong.
Fatman isn’t a good movie, neither a terrible one. On the one hand, it seems like a promising take on how capitalism exploits Christmas. On the other, it’s a bonkers revenge story of a man who leads a mission to kill Santa for not giving him what he asked for as a child. And there is the spoiled, rich, and irritating kid who throws a fit when he doesn’t get what he wants, too.
This unconventional Christmas movie doesn’t offer a profound view of either of those storylines. I mean, how could it be? It’s supposed to be a guilty-pleasure action-flick, but instead, it’s a snooze fest.
Where is the dark comedy that was promised by the trailer and the ridiculous plot? The Santa that shoots bean cans as stress relief is a good start, but there is no follow-up. The whole story becomes grim, forced, and tedious afterward. Weirdly, that does do some kind of justice to the holiday season we’re facing this year. Everything is somber, out of spirit, and dull. Merry Christmas to you, apocalyptic 2020! | https://medium.com/vulnerable-man/ho-ho-ho-santa-brings-you-gunfight-and-ammo-a3140b51bafe | ['Akos Peterbencze'] | 2020-12-21 00:02:01.200000+00:00 | ['Action', 'Christmas', 'Movies', 'Comedy', 'Capitalism'] |
The Truth About Trump’s Lies | The Truth About Trump’s Lies
The lame duck president might be telling his version of the truth.
Donald J Trump photo from Gage Skidmore
Donald J. Trump is many things, none of them good. For his entire political career, rivals have painted him as an amoral demagogue. They pointed out that he couldn’t even make a casino profitable; how could he run the country?
Those who railed against him were correct on nearly everything. Even before the novel coronavirus pandemic shut the economy down, there were signs of stress. Economists forecasted a recession before the 2020 election and believed it could deepen into a depression.
After bungling the country’s response to the pandemic, he decided that the economy was worth killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. Trump urged his supporters to storm the capitols of their states and demand they reopen. But only in the states run by those he considered his enemies.
When polling numbers suggested that Trump would lose the election to President-Elect Joe Biden, he started denouncing the polls. He claimed the election would be rigged. Without evidence, he alleged mail-in voting would allow people to cast ballots that were not valid.
Donald Trump knew deep in his soul how unpopular he truly is.
Election Fraud
Despite his knowledge of his approval rating, Trump would not acknowledge it. For most of his career, he was surrounded by yes-men. Very few people dared to counter him or tell him that his decision was not a good one. When he took office, he assumed it would be more of the same.
His tenure started with protests against him. Trump comforted himself with the belief that these were just a few people who disagreed with his policy until Robert Mueller was appointed as Special Counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Trump then pivoted to blaming angry Democrats. He floated the theory that they were angry he beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Then baselessly began to assert he actually won the popular vote but only if 3 million illegal votes were subtracted from his opponent’s total. Evidence was not offered for this theory.
Adding insult to injury, the former reality star put together a voter fraud commission. They came back with a report that said there was no systemic voter fraud. However, 17 intelligence agencies did find that Russia helped Trump win the 2016 election via a massive disinformation campaign.
In the 2020 election, Trump began to spout the same conspiracy theories about voter and election fraud. As with the 2016 election, he was polling way behind the Democratic nominee and felt he needed an excuse for his loss.
As it became clear that Biden would win the 2020 election, Trump claimed that dead people voted in the election.
Dead People Are Voting Republican
After Biden was declared the winner of the election, Trump continued to rant and rave about voter and election fraud. In addition to claiming that voting machines changed votes to the Democrat, he also claimed that ballots were cast from people who had long been dead.
It stirred a controversy. Those on the left claimed he was a sore loser and needed to come to terms with the reality that he would be evicted from the White House on January 20, 2021. The people had spoken. High profile Republicans, like Mitch McConnell, said Trump had every right to challenge the results of the election in the courts.
More than four dozen judges dismissed the cases that were brought before them. The Supreme Court refused to hear two cases filed with them, stating they did not have the authority to see them.
Frustrated by these losses, Trump continued to claim he won the election. That Biden would only be sworn in because of the dead people who voted.
As it turned out, dead people were voting. Except they didn’t vote for Biden, those ballots were cast for Trump. A situation he has yet to talk about, not even resorting to calling it fake news.
The case involves a Pennsylvania man casting ballots for his deceased mother and mother-in-law. Bruce Bartman committed the felony in an attempt to ensure that Trump would serve a second term. Officials caught the ballots after they were counted.
Many Democrats have pointed this out but missed a bigger point.
Lies Are A Different Kind Of Truth
Officials on the left claim that Trump doesn't care about the truth. To be certain, he has a very tenuous relationship with it. Some call him a pathological liar, which has merit but misses the bigger part of the puzzle.
Time and again, Trump has made assertions about situations that turned out to be true but distorted. Using the voter fraud example, perhaps he didn’t know that his supporters would use dead relatives to ensure his victory. However, the likelier scenario is that he did. Even if only because they follow his word and listen for his dog whistles.
Rather than lying, Trump uses confusion to his advantage. In 2016, he claimed the election was rigged. As it turned out, his campaign was working with Russia to ensure that he won.
Trump supporters will deny this; they will claim that the Mueller report exonerates him. It does not. In fact, Mr. Mueller told Congress that he felt it was their job to bring charges against Trump, not his. The evidence was laid out for them.
There is also the fact that Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., admitted to meeting with a Russian operative. And there is a video of the former reality star asking Russian hackers to break into the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s email servers.
Time and again, Trump has told the world that he is corrupt, immoral, and a failure. Millions of people chose not to listen to what he was saying. | https://medium.com/harsh-light-news/the-truth-about-trumps-lies-386fc425c421 | ['Edward Anderson'] | 2020-12-28 17:53:01.786000+00:00 | ['True Crime', 'Politics', 'Election 2020', 'Family', 'Psychology'] |
Harvesting prosperity through innovation and technology in agriculture | The history of early human advancement is the history of harvesting prosperity from agricultural innovation. In Harvesting Prosperity: Technology and Productivity Growth in Agriculture, we argue that this focus on raising agricultural productivity remains as urgent today as ever. Some stylized facts:
Nearly 80% percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas, and many depend on farming for their livelihood. Productivity growth in agriculture has the largest impact of any sector on poverty reduction — roughly twice that of manufacturing. (See accompanying chart) Rising productivity in China and other countries of East Asia has contributed to impressive reductions in poverty, but has been too low to have similar impacts in Africa and in South Asia, precisely where the largest remaining pockets of extreme poverty are to be found.
Despite increases in world agricultural productivity over the last few decades, global undernourishment remains significant and is on the rise, reaching 821 million people in 2017 (FAO et al. 2018).
Climate change will hit agriculture hard particularly where large numbers of poor people live. Climate change models suggest warming of 1 to 2 degrees by 2050 from the pre-industrial level (IPCC 2018) and the FAO estimates a 3–10% decline in average global cereal yields for every 1-degree Celsius increase.
Agriculture productivity is lower and is growing more slowly in poor countries, impeding their income convergence to the advanced economies.
Globally, the vast majority of increases in output have been precisely through increases in Total Factor Productivity rather than expanding use of land or inputs. This is increasingly true for developing countries as well. However, this progress has been uneven across the different regions of the world. In particular, productivity growth has been low in some of the poorest regions, i.e. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Hence, understanding the determinants of productivity growth becomes central. One school of thought views the rural small holder sector as inefficient in resources use, a drag on development, and, hence, prevented from moving to more productive jobs by compromised factor markets. Harvesting Prosperity presents evidence that the gains from reallocating land and labor are probably smaller than often thought, but that there are great gains to be had from investments in the generation and diffusion of knowledge. It shows that a common, although conceptually flawed, measure of labor markets distortion, the gap in average labor productivities between agriculture and industry, when corrected by actual time spent in the field, effectively disappears. Theory suggests that efficiency demands that marginal productivities be equated and, in India, the report finds that the best proxy available, wages, are surprisingly similar across sectors. Similarly, recent work suggests that there are not great gains to be had by either breaking apart large holdings or consolidating small ones. Productivity growth can occur easily in both.
On the other hand, there does appear to be great potential gains for investment in knowledge generation and diffusion. As an example, estimates of rates of return to R&D in agriculture routinely fall between 30–40%, higher than many alternative investments. However, R&D as a share of agricultural GDP is 6 times higher in advanced countries than developing countries; R&D/worker is 50 times higher. Levels of real spending have been rising in China and parts of Asia but are falling in half of African countries. And this, exactly at a time when they face challenges on the poverty, food security and climate adaption fronts.
Hence, the focus is on how countries can close this research gap, as well as facilitate the adoption of new technologies by farmers. On the first count, in addition to better allocating state resources dedicated to the sector, the global emergence of private R&D providers offers potential to strengthen national R&D efforts. However, this demands establishing an enabling environment that is encouraging to such actors.
On the second point, recent research on the role of bias against agriculture, uncertainty, information asymmetries, weak human capital, poor access to product, insurance and financial markets suggests multiple failures that governments may need to tackle more or less simultaneously, in order to facilitate the adoption of these new technologies by farmers.
Another new actor — global value chains (GVCs) — offers both a way to expand markets and an alternative means of remedying market failures in a synchronized way than direct government interventions. Under the right conditions, GVCs offer credit, insurance and product markets for farmers affiliated with them. What is required is, again, an enabling environment that ensures profitability for the lead GVC firm, as well as a legal system that enforces contracts from firm to firm. For instance, if the lead firm provides fertilizer and credit, it wants to be sure that the final product, indeed, is sold to them.
Irrigated wheat fields in Zambia. Photo: © Arne Hoel/World Bank
The agenda to increase agricultural productivity and make the rural poor more resilient to the adverse shocks likely to prevail is as urgent as ever. Fortunately, governments have new private sector actors and tools at their disposal if they embrace the necessary reforms.
Note: Harvesting Prosperity: Technology and Productivity in Agriculture is the fourth volume in the World Bank’s Productivity Project series, which examines the ‘productivity paradox’ of a persistent slowdown in productivity growth despite technological advancements.
Read more World Bank blogs and stories. | https://medium.com/world-of-opportunity/harvesting-prosperity-through-innovation-and-technology-in-agriculture-7dafb7b65bfa | ['World Bank'] | 2019-09-16 16:10:27.034000+00:00 | ['Innovation', 'Poverty', 'Climate Change', 'Technology', 'Agriculture'] |
Cracking Up: On F. Scott Fitzgerald | F. Scott Fitzgerald by Lisa Brown
“Echoes of The Jazz Age”
What F. Scott Fitzgerald knew best, and wrote about with unsurpassed style and insight, was himself. The Crack-Up, a series of seven personal essays he published in Esquire (then published posthumously as part of a collection edited by his friend Edmund Wilson), marked Fitzgerald as a desperate man. Written before and after the 1934 failure of the heartbreakingly great Tender is the Night, they are a plea for his generation but also a justification of his behavior as a young man, an odd apologia for a figure who coasted through the 1920s with an alarming lack of shame. Their historical and biographical value is immeasurable, for Fitzgerald is painfully self-conscious: commenting on the times and his role in them, while keeping the kind of distance that is rare in autobiographical writing. The tone is closer to essay to than diary; the mood more elegiac than sentimental. Indeed, as a group — though we will just look at two — they are an encomium for the dangers and varieties of nostalgia, the perils and the inexplicable pleasures of early success, and the trouble with leading life with an eye always cast on the good times past.
In the first essay, “Echoes of the Jazz Age” (November 1931), Fitzgerald proclaims, “It is too soon to write about the Jazz Age with perspective, and without being suspected of premature arteriosclerosis.” As a representative of his times, he has been diagnosed with an acute and painful form of degenerative and incurable heart disease: nostalgia. Fitzgerald, in retrospect, sees himself as a blur whizzing unthinkingly from a stag line to writing a novel to hopping a cab to another party in a non-stop, unthinking, don’t-rest-or-you-might-feel-the-exhaustion way of life. Even his wedding was a whirlwind affair. Like the music, everything was meant to be fast, fast enough so you could dance to it: “A whole race going hedonistic, deciding on pleasure.”
The Jazz Age, as he defines it, was born in the May Day riots of 1919, and died in October 1929. Fitzgerald, like his cohorts, is appropriately cynical, as it was a “characteristic of the Jazz age that it had no interest in politics at all.” It did not need to, for “it was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.” Where is politics in that? He continues, “We were the most powerful nation. Who could tell us any longer what was fashionable and what was fun?”
Certainly not the grown-ups, and new freedoms for young people just got wilder and more widespread as men returned from the war. “Scarcely had the conservative citizens of the republic caught their breaths when the wildest of all generations, the generation which had been adolescent during the confusion of the War, brusquely shouldered my contemporaries out of the way and danced into the limelight.” These were flappers, who peaked in 1922, the “kids” who took Fitzgerald as their spokesperson, who read his books and swore he “got” them.
Fitzgerald puzzles over the gestation of the Jazz Age — since, after all, cultural shifts don’t just happen, they have origins somewhere. As for jazz, “it first meant sex, then dancing, then music,” and all three meanings collided in its exploding popularity in the post-WWI period to which it gave its name. Fitzgerald also notes that jazz is “associated with a state of nervous stimulation,” and there is unmistakable bit of foreshadowing in that “nervous.”
Just the hint that there is sex around — it exists in books, in movies, in all sorts of permutations, and adolescents KNOW way more about it than they ever did before, makes this generation scads more sophisticated than their parents were at their age. There are even these scientists, Freud and Jung, quoted in the magazines, who were convinced celibacy was dangerous. By 1927, Fitzgerald claims “wide-spread neurosis began to be evident, like a nervous beating of the feet, by the popularity of crossword puzzles,” so much had sex taken over the American psyche. He even suggests it was the driving force behind Lindbergh’s 1927 transatlantic flight.
Yet, like all phenomena, it had to grow up sometime. “The Jazz Age had a wild youth and a heady middle age. There was the phase of the necking parties, the Leopold-Loeb murder (I remember the time my wife was arrested on the Queensboro bridge on the suspicion of being the “Bob-haired Bandit”) and the John Held Clothes. In the second phase such phenomena as sex and murder became more mature, if much more conventional.” But skirts finally came down, as did moods. “Somebody had blundered and the most expensive orgy in history was over.” Writing about it now, two years ago, seems as far away as time before War. “It was borrowed time anyway — the whole upper tenth of a nation living with the insouciance of grand ducs and the casualness of chorus girls. But moralizing is easy now and it was pleasant to be in one’s twenties in such a certain and unworried time.”
He recognizes he was lucky to be successful when success had, as it were, a low price of admission: you could be a genius on one book or play, a war general after four months’ field experience. “Now once more the belt is tight and we summon the proper expression of horror as we look back at our wasted youth.” But is he really horrified, or a bit embarrassed and sad? Giving up the feeling that old people would just step aside and let youth rule the world, “it all seems so rosy and romantic to us who were young then, because we will never feel quite so intensely about our surroundings any more.” “Surroundings” is doing a lot of work in this passage: it means place, time, social standing, something akin to milieu; and it also seems a rather grave pronouncement for a man not yet really old.
Why is Fitzgerald so convinced that he will never again feel with the kind of intensity that he did in his youth? What is left out of “Echoes” is that Fitzgerald’s life, not just his “surroundings,” has changed irrevocably. His wife, Zelda, who was his partner in all he described above, is mentally ill. He is severely depressed and an alcoholic. He is now a father, responsible for a child’s upbringing and education. And he is older, with all of the knowledge that comes with being knocked around by life. In his fictionalization of Fitzgerald’s life, The Disenchanted (1950), Budd Schulberg has this wise observation about that generation: “They thought youth was a career instead of a preparation.”
But that is all youth is, a preliminary stage, and to spend it as Fitzgerald did left him unprepared for what came next.
“The Crack-Up”
In the book’s piece de resistance, “The Crack-Up” (February 1936), Fitzgerald begins with a distinction between the inside and the outside:
Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work — the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside — the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your friends about, don’t show in their effect all at once. There is another sort of blow that comes from within — that you don’t feel until it’s too late to do anything about it, until you realize with finality that in some regard you will never be as good a man again. The first sort of breakage seems to happen quick — the second kind happens almost without your knowing it but is realized suddenly indeed.
To use a favorite Hemingway metaphor (and, indeed, Hemingway’s spirit infuses this essay, as if Fitzgerald was trying to draw on his friend’s brute strength to write about such a harrowing subject), Fitzgerald sounds like a boxer walking out of a bout with multiple blows. There are the visible bruises and cuts tended to after the fight, the evidence of his physical toughness, his survival skills. He’s been beaten but walked out of the ring on his own steam. Yet no one knows what those other blows, the ones that jostle the brain and shift the internal organs, the repeated plunges onto the canvas and ricochets off the ropes, will eventually add up to. How can anyone assess the unseen damage of the setbacks, large and small, we absorb from everyday life?
Fitzgerald’s next observation is often-quoted: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” This was Fitzgerald’s philosophy in early life, and he witnessed, in his own case, the impossible come true: he wrote the novel, got the girl, had the glamorous life he never could have imagined in his craziest fantasies growing up a grocer’s son in St. Paul. Thus, it makes perfect sense that he would believe, also Hemingway-style, that “life was something you dominated if you were any good.”
This is the American 1920s attitude, very William James: sheer exercise of will can change you and your life, the transformation of circumstances is a matter of work and faith, your fate is in your hands. As the 1920s pass, though, life takes over; “and then, ten years this side of forty-nine, I suddenly realized that I had prematurely cracked.” All of those blows had done their damage after all. He continues, “I saw that for a long time I had not liked people and things, but only followed the rickety old pretense of liking. I saw that even my love for those closest to me was become only an attempt to love, that my casual relations — with an editor, a tobacco seller, the child of a friend, were only what I remembered I should do, from other days.”
This is a classic description of depression, the loss of interest in what one used to like, the going through the motions, the should rather than want to feeling. A friend tries to convince Fitzgerald it’s in his head (well, yes, where else would it be?); that desire doesn’t matter, it’s vitality that is key. Either you want to live or you or don’t, and if you do, you go through those motions no matter how empty they (or you) feel.
Here the essay pivots, and Fitzgerald starts a new section called “Pasting It Together” (March 1936). He jokes that it is the “further history of a cracked plate,” but it is really his taking stock of whether he has the ability to restore himself to some kind of equilibrium.
He discovers how hard he has leaned on other people to play important roles in his psyche (Fitzgerald, a chronic list-maker, actually writes one out, but I will paraphrase): his “intellectual conscience” was Edmund Wilson; his “artistic conscience,” though they would always differ markedly in style, was Hemingway; and he looked to his socially suave friend Gerald Murphy for guidance in social matters, “how to do, what to say, How to make people at least momentarily happy (in opposition to Mrs. Post’s theories of how to make everyone thoroughly uncomfortable with a sort of systematized vulgarity).” After breaking this down — or pasting it together — Fitzgerald comes to a disturbing conclusion. “So there was not an ‘I’ any more — not a basis on which I could organize my self-respect — save my limitless capacity for toil that it seemed I possessed no more.”
Without work, who was he? Not a happy person — in fact, he had come to believe that ecstasy, the kind he knew in his youth, was an unnatural state.
At his best, now, he was just a writer, writing. At his worst he was a crack-up.
A conclusion, “Handle With Care,” tries to puzzle out how others had survived these self-revelations. He hits on the idea of conserving all of his energy for writing and making what he calls “a clean break.” He can no longer pretend that he can also be generous, kind, loving, or engaged in the world. The best he can hope for in this new life as a “sentient adult is a qualified happiness.” Ecstasy is as “unnatural as the Boom; and my recent experience parallels the wave of despair that swept the nation when the Boom was over.”
So again, he is exemplary, a barometer of the times. The Crash and Fitzgerald’s crack up are presented as ineluctable parallel events. It certainly takes a lot of ego to feel like you are so perfectly in tune with your generation, but Fitzgerald has been told this is so since he published This Side of Paradise in 1920, and makes a strong, and eloquent, argument for still being emblematic of the times.
Reaction to “The Crack-Up” essays was just as strong. Fitzgerald’s friends were horrified and slightly embarrassed by his confessions of depression and resignation. Their attitude reflects a stricter standard of acceptable self-revelation — to the twenty-first century reader it is a beautifully written account of a breakdown; there is nothing to be ashamed of or disgusted by. It has no lurid details or even particularly personal moments: reconstructed dialogue, excerpts from his diaries, all the fodder contemporary memoir readers are all too familiar with (and, in the present moment, weary of). Of course, many of Fitzgerald’s friends were also heavy drinkers and depressives, and this material could have struck chords a bit too familiar.
His editor, Max Perkins, wrote to their mutual friend John Peale Bishop that he wished Fitzgerald would return to the Catholic Church. Perkins wrote to Hemingway that he thought the mere existence of the essays, furthermore, meant Fitzgerald was not as bad off as he claimed: “Nobody would write those articles if they were really true. I doubt if a hopeless man would tell about it, or a man who thinks he is beaten for good.”
Yet Fitzgerald never really did come back. His last-ditch attempt to make it as a screenwriter in Hollywood was a disaster, and he never finished his novel about that experience, The Love of the Last Tycoon. The Crack-Up essays represent Fitzgerald’s last best work after Tender Is the Night. The blows from without and within were too much for him to handle. He died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940. | https://medium.com/dead-critics/cracking-up-1352f1163cbd | ['Lisa Levy'] | 2016-09-18 16:06:17.286000+00:00 | ['Lives Of The Critics', 'Confessions Of A Critic', 'Autobiography', 'Edmund Wilson', 'Ernest Hemingway'] |
Every DCEU Movie Ranked—‘Wonder Woman 1984’, ‘Man of Steel’, and More | The newest film in the DC Extended Universe, Wonder Woman 1984, has arrived in theaters and HBO Max. With nine installments in this superhero franchise and a new film available for fans of the series, I decided it would be a great time to rank every DCEU movie from Man of Steel to Wonder Woman 1984.
You probably will not agree with my ranking, but that’s where the fun is!
9. Suicide Squad (2016)
Easily the worst movie in the DCEU is Suicide Squad, a film that was bogged down by studio interference, and the result is a bloated film that suffered from many rewrites. The exposition is delivered poorly, and Jared Leto’s performance as the Joker is not great.
This all leads to a CGI-heavy finale that fails to be exciting. I can understand how a film like this can go wrong, and while Ayer has stated that a lot of footage ended up on the cutting room floor, the result is a very subpar superhero film.
8. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
This sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman was a disappointment on many levels, with a very messy narrative that feels overlong in its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. While the film boasts exciting action sequences, they were all spoiled by the trailers, and there aren’t that many.
Unfortunately, the film was bogged down by a boring mystery and questionable performances from the villains, who are basically walking clichés. Read my full review of Wonder Woman 1984 here.
7. Justice League (2017)
What should have been a thrilling event that brought together the DC universe is instead a film plagued with studio interference. Hit with a two-hour maximum runtime and Joss Whedon taking over directorial duties during production, this is a very messy, rushed superhero film.
Much of the characters’ origins are rushed through. While Zack Snyder isn’t my favorite filmmaker, the film would have been much better had he been given full creative control and if Whedon was more respectful to the cast and Snyder’s original vision.
6. Man of Steel (2013)
Zack Snyder’s kick-off to the DCEU is Man of Steel, a very dark film. Hans Zimmer’s score is fantastic, and it’s a very well-shot origin story that may have been better had it not lied so much in sadness and destruction.
The action sequences feel a bit long and repetitive, but Snyder did good work with this film.
5. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
This film improved on a rewatch. The first half of this film is light on action, functioning mainly as a political thriller, and it works so well. We have two heroes, whose ideologies are so different, and their perception of each other is negative, and it’s really fascinating to watch as we see the world react to these events.
However, in a movie so grounded in darkness and sadness, the film takes a strange turn by going to this giant CGI monster for the heroes to fight. It’s not a bad finale, but it feels so different from the first two hours, almost as if it had become a different movie entirely.
It’s a good film with breathtaking cinematography, but it doesn’t reach its full potential.
4. Birds of Prey (2020)
The past few months have been so crazy that it feels like Birds of Prey came out six years ago at this point. Nevertheless, this may go down as a very underrated film from the DCEU, with colorful, exciting fight sequences directed very stylishly by Cathy Yan.
Margot Robbie, who was easily the best part of Suicide Squad, portrays Harley Quinn to perfection, making her a very likable antihero. The plot isn’t the most original, but I loved seeing Ewan McGregor as the villain Black Mask, and overall, this is a fun movie.
3. Aquaman (2018)
James Wan directs this film so well; this is a fun, thrilling movie that boasts tons of exciting action setpieces and it really is a blast from start to finish. When the film isn’t giving us a fun action sequence, it’s giving us a lot of really great visual effects and fun dialogue between the characters.
It’s a rewatchable superhero film that really is an amazing time.
2. Shazam! (2019)
I could argue that this is a Christmas movie; aside from that, this is a hilarious superhero movie that shows the theme of family. It’s about a kid with a journey that he’s dealing with, trying to find who he really is, and it’s a great story that also makes fun of the superhero genre.
This is a funny, enjoyable movie that entertains throughout its entire runtime.
1. Wonder Woman (2017)
DC’s greatest outing since The Dark Knight is Wonder Woman, a delightful film about an Amazonian princess who arrives in the real world with a pilot named Steve Trevor. It is a thrilling movie that boasts a ton of truly incredible action sequences, particularly the No Man’s Land sequence.
It has such a charming performance from Gal Gadot with great chemistry between her and Chris Pine. This is a phenomenal superhero film that I’m always willing to go back and watch.
What’s your favorite DCEU movie? | https://thejonathansim.medium.com/every-dceu-movie-ranked-wonder-woman-1984-man-of-steel-and-more-dce5c32b7d72 | ['Jonathan Sim'] | 2020-12-27 03:43:21.847000+00:00 | ['Film', 'Wonder Woman', 'Rankings', 'DC Comics', 'Movies'] |
Image Optimisation: What WordPress plugin is the best? — 4 of the best plugins | They say, “A single image is enough to tell the whole story”, which means that you don’t have to use thousands of words to define your point of view when you are using an exemplary image. Research says that people are more attracted to visual content than to written content.
Similarly, as a reader, I would prefer to read such articles with appealing images, or you can say I see the image first; if it attracts me, then I read the whole article. With this statement of mine, you can judge how a picture would significantly influence your entire content or website. This is the reason why images on e-commerce, travel, and media websites have become more and more popular over time.
According to the HTTP archive, more than half of the entire website (i.e., 64%) consists of images, which will directly affect your website’s load time if you don’t focus on “image optimisation”.
A quick tip before we dive into the best plugins; Always use JPG images as file format for you images, the reason being they take less space. Do only use PNG images as file type when you want to achieve a transparent background.
For those who have never heard the term “image optimisation”, I would like to make it a bit clearer.
“Image optimisation means to reduce the size of the image without affecting the quality and delivers the right format, resolution, and dimension.” Phillip Stemann
Why is image optimisation necessary?
Image optimisation makes your website lighter, which enables your website to load within no time. Gomez and akamai.com states that more people are intended towards those sites that has a load time within 2 seconds. If it takes more than 2 seconds, around 40% of the total visitors will leave the site and switch to your competitors website. This will drastically affect your conversions due to the increase in bounce rate.
Also, image file optimisation helps in boosting the website’s SEO ranking as it’s one of Google’s many factors, moreover it improves the user’s experience as they don’t have to sit and wait.
As Google has recently released a new major update to their search engine, where they focus a lot on User experience. Having images to load fast, will automatically create a better User Experience.
If you run a test on Google PageSpeed Insights, using your website, you will also see how important it is that your images, not only are optimised, but also are lazy loading.
How does it help in SEO?
In the year 2010, an article was published on Webmasters Blogs with a statement, “Like us, our users place a lot of value in speed — that’s why we’ve decided to take site speed into account in our search rankings”. This statement clearly indicates that only websites with faster loading speed will rank on Google because, just like its users, Google is also not interested in websites with slow speed.
As a website owner, you must have known how vital search engine rankings are. Now you know how pictures will play a significant role in your website’s ranking if they are appropriately optimised. If you don’t focus on image file optimisation for some reason, you will end up with a cumbersome website that takes time to load, resulting in less traffic.
So we can conclude that image file optimisation is one of the essential factors to increase your website’s speed.
Source: https://backlinko.com
This graph represents the correlation between page speed and Google search position.
In general, if you are successful in rankings on search engines, you can easily attract your audience’s attention, and the chances of conversions will increase. All this success depends on how well you have optimised your website, which includes doing your image optimisation.
To make it more precise here, I would like to give an example from your everyday life, i.e., “online shopping”, which is very common nowadays, and you all know that one of the best online platforms for shopping is Amazon. This website consists of 70% of images, still the website loads within seconds, and is very popular among people. One of the main reasons for the popularity of this website is loading time. Now see the other side of the story if the same website’s loading time is more than 3 seconds, about 79% of all buyers will not purchase from here again.
Source: https://www.kissmetrics.io
If you plan to reduce some images to speed up your web page, you are doing wrong by your visitors. This way, you will scare away your visitors because, as stated above, “visual content is more appealing than the written content”. Hence, you need to be more focused on image optimisation rather than image reduction.
The best Image Optimisation Plugins
So far, I have discussed the importance and role of image file optimisation. Now I will focus on the plugins that will help you with image optimisation in WordPress. Many plugins have proven to be a better help for image optimisation, but I have chosen 4 WordPress plugins to give you the best results. The reason for selecting these plugins is that they are very compatible with WordPress, and you don’t have to be a professional to use these tools, as they are extremely easy to use.
Imagify
The team that designed one of the best caching plugins, WP Rocket, is behind this plugin. Imagify has all the essential features required to compress your image into a desirable size without affecting the quality of the image. Imagify offers three levels of image compression along with automatic image resizing.
TRY IMAGIFY
Compression options
Normal: A lossless compression algorithm that won’t affect the image quality.
Aggressive: A lossy compression algorithm that can reduce image quality, which is not even visible mostly. You can choose the ‘aggressive’ mode if fast web loading is your priority over image quality.
Ultra: With ultra, you can make your image as small as possible. However, this compression comes with a price of reduction in image quality. It is also a lossy type compression algorithm.
With Imagify, you don’t have to worry about the loose in image quality as it creates a backup of the compressed image and original image. If you don’t like the image after it’s been compressed, you can easily restore the original image or you can test using another mode easily.
Automatic image resizing
Even compression wouldn’t help you much if you are uploading an image of massive width. Therefore, it is essential to resize the image first. This can be done in WordPress manually, however Imagify does the resizing job for you automatically to save you from the hassle of doing it manually in WordPress.
Bulk compress WordPress images
If you choose the ‘auto-optimise images on upload,’ all your newly uploaded images will automatically be compressed. Now what to do with the old ones? Don’t worry! Imagify has got you covered. By clicking on the ‘bulk optimisation’ option on the media panel, you can get all your images optimised in just one click.
Pros
3 compression algorithms from lossless to lossy offer you the flexibility to balance the right image size with great image quality.
You can convert your image to WebP format after you’ve done the optimisation.
Imagify is compatible with most of the image file types.
With the image resizer, you can resize your images directly through Imagify without the need for a separate resizing plugin.
Cons
Imagify allows you to optimise 25 MB of images per month only in the free version. This is very little, even if you just got started with your website.
Pricing
For the free plan, you get 25 MB of optimised images per month.
Lite: At $4.99, you get 1 GB of optimised images per month.
Basic: At $8.99 you get 2 GB of optimised images per month.
Standard: At $19.99 you get 5 GB of optimised images per month.
Plus: At $39.99 you get 15 GB of optimised images per month.
Enterprise: At $69.99 you get 50 GB of optimised images per month.
Verdict
With so many fantastic specifications at hand, Imagify is unarguably one of the best optimisation plugins. A huge plus is how well it works together with WP Rocket’s cache plugin which is unarguably the best cache plugins or WordPress. However, with insufficient data offered in the free plan, you’ll have to sign up for the paid version to experience uninterrupted services.
ShortPixel
Shortpixel is considered the best WordPress Plugin by many of its happy users and for all the right reasons. The 3 compression types give you the liberty to choose between the image quality and website loading speed.
TRY SHORTPIXEL
Compression options
Lossless: Lossless version does not change the image’s quality much and provides less image compression than the other two.
Glossy: This algorithm is specifically designed for professional photographers as it provides high-quality glossy images.
Lossy: High image compression means a reduction in image quality. This is what the lossy algorithm provides.
Automatic optimisation
This feature is added in ShortPixel by default, so you don’t need extra configuration. As soon as you post any image on your site, ShortPixel automatically optimises it without any extra hassle. It even optimises images that are added by other WordPress plugins outside the media library.
Upload any file size
ShortPixel can handle any file size of file and image, and compress it effectively. If you want to add super-high-quality images to your site and are looking for a good optimising plugin, then ShortPixel has got you covered.
Pros
ShortPixel offers you access to a dedicated image CDN. This means that when a visitor visits your website, ShortPixel will deliver the images from the server which is closest geographically to them, and this will help in latency in the image delivery.
Depending upon the visitor’s resolution and screen size, ShortPixel crops and resizes the images automatically.
The fantastic lazy loading image option loads the prioritised image first; then, the rest will load as the website scrolls further.
Cons
With so many robust features, there is the only con of this WordPress image optimisation plugin, and that is a low amount of images (only 100) per month.
Pricing
Other than a free version, ShortPixel offers 3 paid plans.
Short: At $4.99, you can optimise up to 5000 images per month.
Large: At $9.99, you can optimise up to 12.000 images per month.
XXL: At $29.99, you can optimise up to 55.000 images per month.
Verdict
ShortPixel stands tall in close competition with Imagify for the number one position on the list of WordPress image optimisation plugins. Due to a variety of powerful options, ShortPixel is becoming increasingly more popular amongst the web building maestros.
WP Smush
WP Smush is unarguably the most easy-to-use WordPress image optimisation plugin. You can get easy access to it for free. But, if you want to get your hands on some advanced features you can upgrade to its pro version. However, to get access to its pro version, you must sign-up for a WPMU DEV membership, which already costs $49 per month. This membership comes with many other plugins, which is kind of win-win but certainly not for your pocket.
WP Smush only uses a lossless compression algorithm which means the image quality is not affected while being compressed by the plugin. But with an upgrade to WP Smush pro, you can get more aggressive (lossy) compression algorithms.
TRY WP SMUSH
Optimise images directly from the WordPress library
This image optimisation plugin is a great time-saver as it directly from the library makes it possible to optimise images, it is very convenient to use.
Image size detector
This feature of WP Smush helps in detecting any unoptimised image.
Pros
Without having to upgrade, you can compress unlimited images using the free version only.
WP Smush has all the features of top-ranking plugins like image resizing support and lazy image loading.
Cons
Using the free version, you can only optimise images up to 5 GB per file. Any file size higher than that requires the pro version.
Since the free version uses the lossless algorithm only, the image’s compression is somewhat limited.
Neither the pro nor the free version supports images that are bigger than 32 GB in file size.
Pricing
The basic version is free, however, WP Smush offers 3 pricing models if you wish to upgrade.
Hobbyist: At $6 per month, you get 1 website, all WP Smush pro features and unlimited image optimisation, live onboarding support, and WP Smush pro ticket support.
Professional: At $9 per month, you get 1 website, all WP Smush pro features, unlimited image optimisation, live onboarding support, and 24/7 WP Smush pro live support. Moreover, you get access to Hummingbird pro and Uptime monitor.
WPMU DEV Membership: At $19 per month, you get all you get in the professional plan plus access to Additional Platform Benefits, such as SEO & Marketing Pack, Security & Backups Pack and much more.
Verdict
WP Smush offers unlimited image compression with a free version, which makes it a compelling option. WP Smush’s easy to use features makes it a perfect pick for beginners or hobby bloggers.
Optimole
Optimole has to be the most innovative WordPress image optimisation plugin. So, if you are looking for a fully automated image optimisation plugin, then Optimole is the ideal choice for you. All that you are required to do is install and activate the plugin, Optimole will take care of the rest.
TRY OPTIMOLE
Simple interface and configuration
With an easy-to-use interface, Optimole is one of the most straightforward WordPress plugins to use. The no-hassle configuration saves time for you to focus only on the content.
Adjust image optimisation according to the website visitors’ viewport. Optimole tailor optimise the images according to the user’s network or device. What basically Optimole does when it encounters slow internet connection, it automatically downgrades the quality of the image so that page loading won’t get affected by this.
Wholly cloud-based
Increased CPU usage means slower page loading. Optimole is 100% cloud-based, which means it does not hog your CPU. Using cloud-based technology makes the image optimisation and content delivery and image optimisation blazing-fast.
Pros
Using the unique dynamic image serving feature Optimole changes the image URLs with cloud-based URLs. Now all the images will be delivered from the Optimole server to the user. The result will be a high-quality fine image on the user viewport.
Optimole does not require jQuery or any other JavaScript libraries for the lazy-load mechanism, making the page loading even faster.
Cons
The biggest drawback of Optimole is that it does not store any compressed or resized images in the WordPress database. That means you won’t have access to the compressed image if you think of repurposing it elsewhere.
Pricing
For an initial free plan, you get 5000 visits monthly. Other than this free plan Optimole offers 7 different plans:
Starter: At $22.9 per month, you get up to 25000 visits monthly.
Business: At $47 per month, you get up to 100,000 visits monthly.
Business 2: At $83 per month, you get up to 250,000 monthly visits.
Business 3: At $179 per month, you get up to 750,000 monthly visits.
Business 4: At $289 per month, you get up to 1.5M monthly visits.
Business 5: At $429 per month, you get up to 3M monthly visits.
Custom: The custom plan makes it possible to suit Optimole just for your need.
Verdict
If you’re looking for the automation of your whole optimisation flow, then Optimole is the plugin choice for you. Considering the effective and fast image delivery and the less-hassle configuration makes Optimole a great option for you and your WordPress website.
Conclusion
No one wants to click on the website and wait forever for the page to load. Adding images to your content can make your page load slower. But, without any attractive images to present, no website can properly flourish. This is where image optimisation plugins come to play.
If you have to choose the best among the rest, then Imagify should be your priority, followed by ShortPixel. Imagify and ShortPixel have got all the powerful tools for swift image optimisation. However, if you are looking for an entirely automated plugin, then Optimole is the one for you. WP Smush provides you with the most easy-to-use tools; therefore, if you’re into technicalities, then WP Smush can be your best image optimising companion.
Now you have your image optimisation plugin, it’s time to focus on your caching. Read my top 5 best cache plugins for your website, to choose the right plugin for your needs. | https://medium.com/@phillipstemann/image-optimisation-what-wordpress-plugin-is-the-best-4-of-the-best-plugins-1f3b56b69d5c | ['Phillip Stemann'] | 2020-12-22 14:01:10.132000+00:00 | ['Image Optimization Tips', 'Image Optimization', 'Image', 'SEO', 'WordPress'] |
The Mental Health Crisis in Higher Education Created by the COVID-19 Pandemic | Summing up my years as an undergraduate student, a graduate student for two degrees, a post-doctorate, and a faculty member, I have spent 54 years in higher education. Based on my experience as a faculty member over the past 45 years who has taught approximately 9,000 students and developed an extensive research portfolio, I have a deep understanding of both students’ and faculty’s needs and challenges. My bottom line assessment: higher education is seriously in crisis.
Faculty burnout
According to the World Health Organization, which includes the occupational phenomenon in its International Classification of Diseases, burnout is a “syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” The primary symptoms are feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental “distance” from or cynicism and negativity toward one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy.
According to a recent study of faculty mental health from Course Hero, a U.S educational technology company that operates an online learning platform for students, pandemic stress in faculty, while significant as early as March 2020, is now a record peak. The study examined how the pandemic has affected faculty views toward the academic work environment and job satisfaction.
“The pandemic has had far-reaching implications on the day-to-day work of faculty, as well as on their long-term career trajectories, professional aspirations, and views on the future of higher education,” said Tara Graham, Vice President of Educator Community and Partnerships at Course Hero. “Student success is tightly linked to the mental and emotional health and professional success of instructors. This research signals an urgency to expand the types of support offered to both students and faculty during this extraordinary time in education.”
According to the study, 74% of faculty reported significant stress due to challenges transitioning to new teaching modalities — the largest single source of stress for educators by a wide margin. Nearly two-thirds said that challenges meeting the emotional and mental health needs of students caused significant stress. While stress was high at the onset of the pandemic, the research found that faculty anxiety appears to be increasing, with more faculty reporting peak stress now than at the beginning of the pandemic.
Most significantly, more than 40% of faculty survey respondents reported that they have considered leaving their jobs as a result of COVID-19. The percentage was even higher in early-career faculty members, with 48% reporting that they are considering leaving.
Christopher L. Caterine, a former visiting assistant professor at Tulane University who left academe before COVID-19 and wrote a book about how to do it, reported in an interview with the publication Inside Higher Education that he could easily see how the pandemic exacerbated an already stressful work environment.
“I think the job is just becoming too much to bear,” he said. “It was high risk, low reward after 2008, and COVID-19 has made the entire situation unsustainable. So, I’ve seen lots of interest in my book and Q&A sessions from grad students, but also contingent folk and tenure-trap faculty.”
Catherine also states, “research jobs are low-impact and relatively low paying in most disciplines. Higher education is so far behind other sectors on compensation, support, and satisfaction that the pull of those base quality-of-life measures is finally strong enough to break the spell of feeling academia is a vocation.”
Overwhelmingly, professors said the pandemic had made their jobs more difficult, with 54 percent strongly agreeing and 33 percent agreeing.
Not surprising to me, “new modes of teaching” were a significant source of stress for three out of four survey respondents.
The long-term effect of COVID-19 on higher education
In the Course Hero study, faculty reported concern that, even after the country gains more control of the pandemic, changes to higher education will be permanent. Nearly two-thirds expect diminished perceptions of the value of higher education, and more than 40 percent expect an increased economic divide between students who go to elite, in-person colleges and those who attend online or part-time programs. Among other key findings, the research reports the following faculty concerns:
Looming closures and cuts. One in four faculty members is concerned that their institution or department may close permanently due to the pandemic or the economic crisis that it has created. Nearly half expect long-term closures or mergers with other campuses, while 60 percent expect institutions will cut academic programs or courses of study (60%).
The permanent new normal. Three-quarters of faculty expect changes in class size, teaching modality, or other shifts that make it more difficult to provide high-quality teaching and meaningful relationships with students.
Faculty Mental Health & Job Satisfaction
Difficulty on the job. Faculty overwhelmingly believe that the pandemic has made their professional lives more challenging, with 54% strongly agree and 33% in agree that their job has gotten more difficult because of COVID-19.
Coping with a stressful environment. More than half of faculty also reported significant stress from frustration with the decisions of the administration at their institution (53%), personal matters such as child care or financial concerns (57%), or other world events such as the election or social unrest (65%).
Faculty report signs of burnout. More than half of faculty reported a significant increase in emotional drain (53%) and work-related stress or frustration (52%), both of which are highly correlated with burnout.
Help from the administration. To improve their current level of job satisfaction, faculty named increased compensation (53%), modifications to teaching schedule or load (46%), new technology or better access to technology support (34%), and increased staff/teaching assistant support (26%).
Loss of campus community. Three-quarters of faculty also reported a decrease or significant decrease in connection to colleagues and connection to students.
Faculty-administration divide on job satisfaction. Only 15 percent of faculty agreed that administrators understand the difficulty that faculty face in managing their workloads. Half of the faculty feel a decrease or significant decrease in appreciation by my institutional failure, and 60 percent.
Secondary Trauma
Another significant source of stress, for two-thirds of professors surveyed, was meeting the emotional and mental health needs of students who are also struggling.
As was pointed out in this article, “faculty have been thrown into the role of front-line emergency counseling. They aren’t trained, paid, or qualified to do that work. It puts them and students at risk, including for secondary trauma among professors.”
A personal observation
It is the professors who actually care about their students who end up receiving the lion’s share of reflected student stress. I have always been a very approachable teacher who made it a point of genuinely getting to know my students as individuals and not just a faceless name and student identification number. Long before COVID-19, students came to me to discuss their personal as well as their academic problems. They continued to confide their COVID-19 struggles with me, although now mostly by email and Zoom chats rather than in person. | https://medium.com/the-top-shelf/the-mental-health-crisis-in-higher-education-created-by-the-covid-19-pandemic-b7c65cfff9a0 | ['James Knight'] | 2020-12-04 20:21:54.694000+00:00 | ['Teaching', 'Covid 19', 'Mental Health', 'Burnout', 'Higher Education'] |
This means this, this means that: Semiotics — the study of meaning | Pause and look around you. The reality you experience now has been made. The creation of things, spaces, services and interactions; these are all acts of design that aim to establish or convey a certain meaning to a certain action or communication. That meaning, in the best of circumstance, is there by design. There is a whole scientific theory on how this works; Semiotics. It has a substantial role in understanding anything designed — which is pretty much everything apart from that which nature has grown.
By definition, semiotics is the study of signs. I’m aware this is not surprising to you if I now point out that the word ‘sign’ is part of the word design. It’s here for a reason. Design is the thinking and the making of signs. And yet today, so many designers do not know what semiotics is.
There is not even a general understanding of what it’s about, or how much more effective design is when done by those who share this understanding. It’s rarely a conscious practice, and often when I bring it up in reviews or discussions, I am seen as the academic and over-analytical thinker, rather than a designer of aesthetic and practical experiences.
Design is the thinking and the making of signs
Those that think or make a design without regards to the semiotics involved will never design to the full potential of their concepts or ideas. Semiotics is the study of meaning. It’s the oldest study of the artificial. Because every sign we designed, and the meaning we attached to it, is an artificial construct. I know that the science behind semiotics is enough to make your head spin but as practitioners in communication, it’s essential we know the visible and hidden powers of the meanings our designs convey.
Accuracy of intent
So yes: science. That left-side thing of the human brain, with all its linear and analytical thought. For creative types, it feels that, explaining the relationship between systems of images and meanings associated to those images is stripping the act of creation of the spontaneous. Raining on the spark of inspiration. However, semiotics deals with the same raw material as the visual practitioners that resist this knowledge; it merely uses a different vocabulary.
I define the shared purpose between the combined effort of left-and-right thought hemispheres as the ‘accuracy of intent’. The objective of designing visual elements and content is to arrive at a logical-yet-creative expression with an intended outcome. The accuracy of intent is considering how much the interpretation of the image, shape or colour matches the designer’s intent.
Semiotics will help achieve a higher success rate of a desired outcome. Because there may be a desired meaning in the relationship between images or words and the observer on behalf of the designer, but it’s the observer that has to interpret the meaning. That is often easier declared than achieved.
Semiotics deals with the same raw material as the visual practitioners that resist this knowledge; it merely uses a different vocabulary
Switching to the vocabulary of Semiotics, the meaning and principles of what we design comprises two components: the signifier, related to the physical appearance of an object — this can be images, words, materials, sounds, smells, tastes, etc — and the signified, pertaining to the mental construct of the object, or the connotations of what the signifier implies.
Any object in the universe has a specific appearance and characteristic to which we impose ‘denotative concepts’ (jargon for ‘what we think it means’). Semiotics calls this act of imposition ‘signification’ — science for sense-making.
Consider the visual and sensorial solutions you can apply to a designed experience of moving a user through a navigation, slowly and deliberately. Avoiding a one-size-fits-all cookie cutter interface. Semiotics is integral to the understanding and creation of effective digital journeys.
By exploring the semiotic relationships between signifiers and the signified, designers can better understand and foresee the emotional reactions or interpretations a user may have upon experiencing the design. And develop more effective designs that roots on a subconscious level. To truly leverage the power of semiotics, designers need the awareness of the three types of signs they can design so they know when to use each of them.
Three types of signs
Semiotics make distinctions between Symbolic, Indexical and Iconic signs. In other words, symbol, reference and icon.
A Symbolic Sign is where the relationship between the signifier and the signified is cultural. Often a matter of language and typically referring to words. But shapes can fall in this category. For example, the swastika which has a very different meaning in Western cultures versus Eastern ones.
There are Indexical Signs: occurring when the signifier results from the signified. For example, smoke is an indexical sign of fire. A wheel is for spinning or motion. Directional signs like arrows, which point to something other than itself, are indexical signs which refer to something that is understood as related or caused by it.
Then there are Iconic Signs where the signifier looks like the signified. A shape of an apple is an iconic sign of an apple. An avatar of yourself is an iconic sign for yourself. Interestingly, these signs can have their origin as an icon but can evolve to be a symbolic sign. For example; the floppy disc icon is iconic only to those familiar with the actual object, while a younger generation symbolises it as a ‘Save’ action.
Explicitness limits meaning
In UX there is a tendency to rely primarily on iconic signs. Unlock your smart phone to see what I mean. However, the other two also serve a purpose, often found at the deeper levels of meaning. We, and our clients, are prioritising speed. Getting it done. There is a collateral to pay when the focus on speed is the criteria to which we design. We lose meaningful connections in what we design, and therefore for whom we design. There are so many things in life that, if too explicit, lose their punch line. They are not effectively meaningful. There is something about the implicit, the hint of, the hunch of. I think indexical and symbolic signs land this successfully.
There are so many things in life that, if too explicit, lose their punch line
What implicitly appeals to emotion and feeling we call ‘visceral’. It’s not necessarily what we see but what we feel. We can listen to a piece of music, we cannot see the music but we feel that sensory desire of joy and that shift in emotion.
That is rich territory because those are triggers that will see users prefer your design over another. We all make associations with signs before we can even communicate them, something Semiotics calls ‘notating imagination’. Notating imagination is a way to externalise the imaginative thoughts we have even before we have words for it.
That moment something crosses our mind and we imagine it, experience it, all before we can begin to describe it. The visceral reaction of emotion and feeling, that sensation before we even find the words to explain it: that’s what notating imagination is all about. That is semiotics at work. Whenever that happens, you have successfully created a visceral reaction for a user. You have created a moment of meaning.
The dance of expressing and being expressed
People will react to a design almost instantly, knowingly or not, illustrating how powerful semiotics can be. Sometimes these reactions can be deeply emotional, which depending on the experience you are designing may or may not be what you’re looking for. Understanding that signs can trigger emotions and not just action is the first step to embracing semiotics in the process of designing user experiences.
We are designing for systems that alter, transform, re-contextualise and self-interpret their environments
Semiotics is the dance between expressing a concept and that concept being expressed. And that dance can get interesting; what designers create is from within their own social culture and context. Whatever we craft has our fingerprints on it. Before we witness users navigate or experience the spaces we designed for them, we have predetermined the intent of that experience. Now that the world is the size of a fingernail, any act of design — be it shape, object, service or code — has a global reach.
Regardless of this reach, the fabric of a modern society comprises different cultures, with different perspectives on assigning meaning to what and how they perceive. We are designing for systems that alter, transform, re-contextualise and self-interpret their environments. It’s no longer only about images and words — semiotics is now influencing our social and cultural interactions.
More so than ever before, to understand these new milieus, a return to understanding the impact of the aesthetics is necessary. And by this, I mean the sensorial mapping of the environments we design in and for. The articulation of the visual landscapes and the understanding of the meaning that lives within that space we design for. Where we then bring our intuition and, occasionally, our academics, so that the accuracy in our intent can enjoy more meaningful outcomes.
So what?
Do you need to understand Semiotics to be a good UX designer? Maybe not. However, once you understand semiotics there is no going back. Once you adopt a semiotic approach, you cannot forget or bypass it.
You suddenly realise that you have held a limited understanding about the world of design. And that the thing you are creating right now can be more meaningful. Semiotics helps designers rearrange their ideas and think differently whilst imaging all other points of view. It helps enhance the meaning that matters — the most important one being that which matters for the user.
This article was first published on Foolproof.co.uk and is part of a series on Semiotics and their importance to User Experience Design. | https://uxdesign.cc/this-means-this-this-means-that-semiotics-the-study-of-meaning-84cd9e800214 | ['Mario Van Der Meulen'] | 2019-05-15 23:52:06.720000+00:00 | ['Semiotics', 'UX', 'Meaning', 'User Experience', 'Design'] |
Being Muslim in Oklahoma: Reflections on My Time With CAIR-OK | Photo from CAIR-OK
Six months ago, I began a Community Outreach Fellowship at the Council on American Islamic Relations-Oklahoma Chapter (CAIR-OK). CAIR is the largest Muslim civil rights organization in America. Its mission is to protect civil liberties, enhance the understanding of Islam, and empower American Muslims. Despite being a native Okie and former intern for the organization, I was surprised to find my fellowship with CAIR-OK provided me an invaluable perspective on both the Muslim and non-Muslim community in Oklahoma. Little did I know that these past six months would turn out to be one of the best experiences of my life. At the events I organized, I witnessed Okies take the time to travel from rural parts of Oklahoma to volunteer at our CAIR-OK events and show their support for the Muslim community; At the same time, I also saw first-hand the deep-seated Islamophobia and hatred some have toward the Muslim community. Part of the mission of CAIR as a national organization is to build coalitions that promote mutual understanding, but this can be especially trying in a state as politically conservative as Oklahoma.
On March 2nd, CAIR-OK hosted the third Annual Muslim Day at the Capitol. This is one of CAIR-OK’s largest events of the year, attracting about 150 people. On this day, Muslims from across the state gather at the capitol to meet with their representatives and discuss issues affecting the Okie Muslim community. This year’s Muslim Day at the Capitol was unique in that it drew in more non-Muslims than the previous two years. As I walked toward the state Capitol that day, I initially encountered protesters holding signs that read “Go Home” among other hurtful things. Given the results of the recent presidential election, the CAIR-OK staff had prepared for protesters to gather outside of the capitol, but it was still discouraging to be greeted by protesters holding demeaning signs. As I entered the Capitol Rotunda, I watched in awe as I saw the protesters outnumbered by parents and young children holding signs of support that read “You Belong” and “We Love You.” It was especially heartwarming to witness this outpouring of support specifically for the Muslim community, given that 68% of voters in Oklahoma voted for Donald Trump this past November. Despite the presence of protesters, it turned out to be a successful event. Muslim youth from across Oklahoma met with their representatives, and many toured the state capitol for the first time. This event has been momentous in increasing civic engagement among the Okie Muslim community and amplifying the voice of Okie Muslims more generally.
Photo from CAIR-OK
In June, CAIR-OK hosted the first-ever “Revealing Ramadan” event in the Oklahoma City metro area in which 160 non-Muslims were welcomed to the Islamic Center of Greater Oklahoma City to learn about the month of Ramadan. People of all faiths and ethnicities flooded the mosque to learn about the month of Ramadan and tour the facility. The majority of those in attendance had never been to a mosque and many did not know a Muslim. I watched young children try baklava and biryani for the first time, turning to their parents to ask them what the various buffet dishes being offered were. I watched as my fellow colleagues and friends sat on a panel to explain Islamic teachings, offer their personal Ramadan experiences, and share stories of discrimination they have faced based on their faith. This was one of the most powerful events I had the pleasure of organizing during my fellowship. Through community organizing, I have found that it is often fear of “the other” that drives individuals to have negative views of Muslims in Oklahoma. Many of those who hold these negative views have never met a Muslim, and base their views on information gathered from mainstream media. The most personally rewarding experiences I have had during my fellowship have been speaking to adults old and young, from various backgrounds, about their views on Islam and Muslims, and sharing my own experience as an American Muslim with them.
Much of what has made CAIR-OK successful is the dedication of its staff. CAIR-OK Executive Director Adam Soltani works tirelessly, juggling raising his two young sons with the demands that come with serving Muslims in the most conservative state in America. While the majority of the CAIR-OK staff are actually not Muslim, they are committed advocates for the Muslim community. I saw first-hand the amount of time staff members spend working outside of the office, supporting the Muslim community through their involvement with many other local organizations also dedicated to promoting justice. The composition of the CAIR-OK staff in itself illustrates that race, age, religion, gender etc. do not determine one’s ability to serve and better their community. Rather, it is a person’s own will, drive, and character that determine the positive impact they will have on those around them.
As I begin graduate school at Yale and leave Oklahoma permanently, I feel a deep sense of fulfillment. This fulfillment stems from knowing that I was able to give back to the community I spent most of my childhood in. As I look back on this chapter of my life I have no regrets about the time I spent at CAIR-OK. This organization will always have a special place in my heart because it has introduced me to life-long friends, provided me with a platform to share my experiences as a Muslim American, and given me the opportunity to work with interfaith partners on bettering the state. The people I have met on this journey have taught me the importance of continuing the pursuit of justice, even in the hardest of places and times. | https://medium.com/two-dirhams/being-muslim-in-oklahoma-reflections-on-my-time-with-cair-ok-c37415509447 | ['Shehla Fazili'] | 2017-08-01 00:08:50.135000+00:00 | ['Muslim', 'Justice', 'Islam', 'Oklahoma'] |
The artist is absent | The Artist is Absent
Wunderkammer Exhibit #4
Collage: Evgeniy Shvets/Stocksy
Conceptual art of the 1960s has spawned a few exhibition approaches that we should take a closer look at.
Between the two lockdowns this year, I had the opportunity to visit the new premises of the Haubrok Foundation on Strausberger Platz in Berlin Friedrichshain. Barbara and Axel Haubrok, who come from North Rhine-Westphalia, have been collecting contemporary art since 1988 — with a special focus on conceptual art. People argue about whether this is art at all — or rather a gesture — and what exactly is meant by it. “All conceptual art is just pointing at things,” said the painter Al Held. The author and curator Tony Godfrey summes it up as follows: “Conceptual art is not about shapes and materials, but about ideas and meanings.” He identifies four manifestations:
Ready-mades à la Marcel Duchamp,
an intervention that brings images, texts and objects into a surprising context,
the documentation, in which the actual work is only visible through notes, maps or photos, or
words that only represent the concept in terms of language and typography.
“During the exhibition”, curated by Axel Haubrok and his son Konstantin, falls into the third category and interests me for three reasons. First: concepts are the core of my work. Second: How do you present concepts from past exhibitions in such a way that they can be understood by someone who has not seen them? Third: Admittedly, I also wanted to see the rooms on Strausberger Platz. A former apartment, two rooms plus kitchen (which is also used as an exhibition room). It is located in a monumental building complex from the 1950s on Karl-Marx-Allee, which was shaped by the architect Hermann Henselmann. This striking place, closely linked to the history of the GDR, is also a setting in Jonathan Franzen’s “Purity”. Favorite novel, favorite writer.
I can get to Strausberger Platz from my home in Berlin in seven minutes by bike. A side entrance takes the elevator to the fourth floor. It smells musty, as is often the case in such old buildings, even if they are modernized, the light is ocher. Somehow I expect men in raincoats with leather briefcases to come around the corner and ask me what I’m doing here. Of course they don’t. The door to the apartment is open, voices can be heard from inside. I have registered for a time slot. A friendly lady greets and equips me with documentation that is tightly printed over several pages and lets me in. I turn right first.
The floor-to-ceiling windows of the small salon with old herringbone parquet are open on this mild September day and offer a clear view of green treetops. There are high glass tables in the room, on which mostly documents and white printed cards are placed. In one corner there is a stereo system playing a sound recording. I had imagined the place would be more spacious, all in all the area should be maybe 60 square meters. Nevertheless, I feel lost for a moment, don’t know how to orient myself.
I’m lucky, Axel Haubrok is there and provides the narrative as he leads me through the exhibition. He knows the stories behind every card and every document. For example, with regard to the title work by Robert Barry “closed gallery” he tells me, that in the late 1960s, Barry invited to exhibitions that were not open to the public. Haubrok raves about the still unrealized “Concept for a Book as an Exhibition Location” (1978) by Barbara Schmidt-Heins.
Hans Ulrich Obrist, however, implemented his exhibition. He asked artists such as Ed Ruscha, Maurizio Cattelan, Gilbert & George, Isa Genzken, and Gerhard Richter to design postcards for him, and in 1993 he exhibited them in a hotel room in Paris where he was currently living — without asking for permission. “Hôtel Carlton Palace. Chambre 763” was the title of the exhibition and its documentation. Great idea. The reproduced cards in the slipcase can be seen on the premises of the Haubrok Foundation.
As I listen to Haubrok, I think: There is a lot in this place that we can learn for exhibitions that are permanently threatened with being postponed, canceled and relocated to virtual space. There is no vernissage, no finissage, artists are condemned to stay away from their own opening event.
If the audience is allowed into galleries, they have to wear masks, disinfect their hands and of course not touch anything. In many museums there were no guided tours as long as they were open, you had to find your way around on your own. The experience is limited or does not take place at all, according to Barry’s motto: “During the exhibition the gallery is closed”. I very much hope not for much longer.
Take-away for innovators: “Not only what we can see and take with us is valuable, but also the ephemeral that we experience.”
Collage: Evgeniy Shvets/Stocksy
These are the findings, that I have taken with me for future exhibitions:
1. Physical experience remains pivotal.
Yes, you can visualize ideas and even philosophical questions. The more complex the subject, the more important it is that an exhibition appeals to all our senses. It helps me to understand when I can walk through a room, look at things and return to any exhibit and relate the dimensions. A lot can be viewed online, but without the spatial dimension it is only half the fun. And — I find it interesting to see how others react to the exhibits, to hear what they are talking about with each other.
2. People make the difference.
Exhibitions that raise questions, refer to connections and want to point out critical aspects are usually not self-explanatory. Even with the best didactics and technical aids such as audio guides and touchpads provided by museums. As a visitor, I take more information with me when there is someone who explains things to me and whom I can also ask questions. A round of applause to the knowledgeable, committed and often entertaining guides! I have learned a lot from them in museums, foundations, galleries, and also at company exhibitions in recent years. They are systemically important to me.
3. Documentation is essential.
Without a catalog or some other form of documentation, such as collected invitation cards, letters and photos, many conceptual exhibitions would be lost to posterity. Some artists may prefer the ephemeral experience. But from the point of view of the public and our target groups, a catalog or a website can be an asset and should be understood as part of the concept. For many artists, the work and the publication belong together anyway. As it should be. Publications can be digital too of course. Think crossmedia.
4. Dada no longer works.
In current times we are constantly experiencing deviations from conventions. Some even seem pointless to us. Under these circumstances it’s no real fun to be confronted with lights suddenly being turned off while you are visiting or exhibitions that remain closed to the public. We can create the surprising and the unexpected by changing the exhibition, not allowing it to be static. Visitors may be invited to participate.
5. Co-curation is the magic method.
This is what the “strict curator” Otto Kobalek did in 1995. It has been documented in a video by Franz West and Hans Weigand, which can also be seen in “during the exhibition” at Haubrok Foundation. At the opening of the “Kollektion West” exhibition, not a single picture was hanging on the wall. Together with the visitors, Kobalek decided on the spot which work should be hung where. This by the way reminds me of the remarkable co-curation project that the NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf started in the middle of this year under the guidance of its artistic director, Alain Bieber: It is called nextmuseum.io. Interested curators could make suggestions via the social media channel Telegram and artists could upload their works. The related exhibition will be on view at the NRW-Forum in February 2021. More about that later.
6. The format will be the ever-tempting question.
Where and how can concepts be made visible? To the extent that cities change and spaces become free, the answers to these questions can always turn out differently. But why not open apparently exotic locations for exhibitions? A hair salon to present the art of hair? A men’s room to address violence against women? Or simply send the concept — the philosophical question — nicely displayed and packed in a shoebox to 1,000 recipients, who in turn provide an impulse and then forward the box to the next thousand — well, what? Visitors no longer fits. People don’t come to the exhibitions, but the exhibition comes to their home. A kind of metamorphic chain staging.
Exciting times are ahead of us in which we can — and have to — rethink and try out many things. Perhaps in a few years there will even be a completely new world of terms because “the artist”, “the exhibition” and “the visitor” will no longer fit in the traditional sense. The boundaries are blurring. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/the-artist-is-absent-d7af5bb3fe55 | ['Sepideh Honarbacht'] | 2020-12-22 22:32:19.983000+00:00 | ['Innovation', 'Concept', 'Conceptual Art', 'Creativity', 'Art'] |
The Children of Adam and Eve in the Post-Modern World | Pre-Modernism
Pre-Modernism is a very large topic that covered socio-political and economic aspects of people’s lives in the medieval era but the writer wants to narrow it down to just an understanding of the reality/truth of people at that time. In pre-modern times, people used to believe that the only revealed, sacred knowledge is the ultimate truth which directly comes from God, priests, and clergies.
Modernism
In the modern era, which started in the mid-seventeenth century and lasted until the mid-twentieth century, people at that time used to believe that scientific reasoning and cause and effect mechanism are the only ways to get the truth.
Post-Modernism
Post-Modernism is essentially the deconstruction of all established truths in society and approach these established truths/realities in multiple ways. For example:
-> Iraq has Weapon of Mass Destructions (WMDs)
-> Make America Great Again.
-> Democracy, the only legitimate form of Government
-> Change We need | https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/the-children-of-adam-and-eve-in-the-post-modern-world-a9a020e8bb05 | ['Muhammad A.'] | 2020-12-08 16:51:39.600000+00:00 | ['Adam And Eve', 'International Relations', 'Social Realities', 'Postmodernism', 'Truth'] |
The Chick Abides- Life Lessons From The Big Lebowski | Moxie On Monday with CatherineGraceO
“I’m the Dude, so that’s what you call me. That or, uh His Dudeness, or uh Duder, or El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.” — The Dude
Did you know that I used to love White Russians? Yup. This green juice loving, yogi puritan, used to think it was pretty cool to head out for a night with the girls — the chicks — cozy up to the bar and happily guzzle a White Russian — or two. Overtime, I graduated to Bailey’s on the rocks until I began my foray down the path of the Buddha, raw juices, crystals and energy healing, looking to purify my soul in search of … what exactly???
I wasn’t quite sure.
Until NOW.
Until the awakening or “quakening” that begins upon reaching Midlife & Beyond.
Until something clicked. Until this Chick learned to Abide.
You know, “The Dude Abides.” The Big Lebowski. Bowling, Nam, oriental rugs and White Russians.
Ok, I’ll admit the first time I watched “ The Big Lebowski,” I was confused. Like, get me the hell out of here confused. Like turn the channel — I don’t care if it’s Hallmark or college football, this chick ain’t abiding.
Why not?
I didn’t get it.
I didn’t get the Dude.
I didn’t want to get the Dude.
You see, I’m a “How?” “Why” girl — you know that annoying type A student in the front of the class with her hand perpetually raised, forever perplexed, searching for the secrets of the universe?
I didn’t understand that we were Born to Abide or naturally born abiding.
Which brings me to this morning, I was listening to a book on Audible by Davidji — a bit of homework for my meditation training. Ji was talking about our emotional well being and began a discussion on neuroticism.
Let’s just say that neurotics, which I’ve been called once or twice (maybe more) — those humans who live in worry and anxiety, the ones who fret over the past, lugging it with them into the present and plop it waiting for them into the future, are on the opposite end of the emotional well being spectrum from The Dude.
When Ji began describing someone who’s grounded, emotionally balanced, who lets things simply roll off — you know, water off a duck’s back — someone who lives in the moment, I realized he was talking about the Dude — or a human who chooses to live life abiding.
Abiding by what?
Life and whatever life may bring.
What Ji was really saying is the ultimate benefit of meditation is rewiring your brain from wherever you are on the emotional well being scale to someone who learns to abide. Meditation will transform the most neurotic neurotic into a Chick who Abides.
Yes, it takes practice, like A LOT of practice to learn to Abide, especially if you’re a chronic worrier or someone dealing with a lot of stress, like yours truly.
So, maybe it’s time to cozy up on the sofa, pour yourself a White Russian, flip on “The Big Lebowski” and go a bit deeper into the “Tao of the Dude” and join me as this chick finally gets it.
This Chick Abides.
After all, why should Dudes have all the fun?
Need More Moxie?! See all my Moxie On Monday’s!
Founder, Creator, and Chief Executive Catalyst of CatherineGraceO and Forever Fierce Media. Join the Revolution! | https://medium.com/@catherinegraceo/the-chick-abides-life-lessons-from-the-big-lebowski-83152f741462 | ['Catherine Grace O Connell'] | 2020-12-14 18:52:02.087000+00:00 | ['Empowerment', 'Quotes', 'Monday Motivation', 'Women', 'Inspiration'] |
Pop Culture Mondays/1.18.21 | Fava beans a nice chianti…
WHAT’S EATING ARMIE HAMMER?
Honestly, I chose this photo because I PERSONALLY think men who wear turtlenecks and blazers are just MOST definitely a serial killer or at least give off major serial killer Patrick Bateman AKA American Psycho vibes. But let me back up. I cannot tell you how many people I have heard from this past week on this whole story. From “Who is Armie Hammer?” to “Wait Armie Hammer is a cannibal?” to “My friend’s ex spent a drug fueled weekend with him where they did nothing but meth and bondage but she said he was too out there..” OK. METH. Which maybe makes sense.
SO, let me explain who Armie Hammer is. He became REALLY well known playing the Winklevoss twins aka The WINKLEVII in the movie “The Social Network”. And he did such an incredible job tbh he was MORE Winklevii than the real ones who by the way are douchebags in real life too. So there you go. Armie is the epitome of WASPY-looking white all American dude who seems MUCH older than his 34 years. 34!!! While he may look the ultra Waspy part, he is half-Jewish and the great grandson of an oil tycoon billionaire, Armand Hammer. ANYWAY, the thing about Armie Hammer is to ME he seemed utterly forgettable…at least until “CALL ME BY YOUR NAME” which is one of those movies that really affected me for MANY reasons…get your mind out of the gutter…ok no you can keep it there, the 🍑 scene is still one of those OMG moments. But Armie seemed to play….himself maybe? Which was a LOT. And it seemed so disturbing because he seemed like a GROWN ass man in a sexual relationship with our Timothee Chalomet who seemed like MAYBE 14 in the movie…he was meant to be 18 but if you have not seen..watch it. Our man Armie gives off weird vibes which for the movie WORKED.
SOOOO…here is the story. Armie Hammer, going thru a contentious divorce and custody battle, apparently has a few fetishes which thanks to social media we now all know about. I started hearing things on TikTok and then it became a thing…when Instagram account DEUX MOI started putting the story on blast. A woman shared what she says are personal messages from Armie via Instagram where he gets really lurid and talks about having a fantasy of eating parts of her and at one point claims he is “100 percent cannibal”.
Look…this is DEF NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN or the very bashful so look away now…for all of you sickos out there here is a “taste” (sorry not sorry) of the ALLEGED messages from him:
LOOK…I am going to be controversial here perhaps…I do not think he is ACTUALLY a cannibal though I would say, being a famous movie star WOULD in fact be an incredible cover for a flesh eating serial killer. BUT I digress. While he may not actually be a cannibal, what is uncovered is his predatory and abusive ways both emotionally and physically with his MASTER/SLAVE domination he seemingly is into. AMONG other things. The guy clearly has a lot of issues.
The socials took off with all the stories and screen grabs and images and even videos. VIDEOS from Armie’s private instagram which…COME ON DUDE. If you put it out there…it will get out. Like him licking meth or coke (lot’s of debate here tbh) off his friend’s hand…which is LOVELY:
Yeah so. Not the brightest move. Also, on the heels of all this cannibal and drug drama, a video is leaked from his private Insta that shows a woman in lingerie on all fours in his bed in a hotel room on the Cayman Islands where he refers to the woman as “Ms. Cayman” which is just FUEL to this ever growing fire that has taken the public’s attention. And NOW the Miss Cayman Islands org have had to release a statement that this is NOT in fact Miss Cayman and now Armie has had to issue an apology to Miss Cayman…
“I would like to clarify that the person in my video, which was stolen from my private Instagram, is not Miss Cayman,” Hammer said in an audio message to the Cayman Compass. “I am genuinely sorry for any confusion my foolish attempt at humor may have caused. My deep sympathies to Miss Cayman, who I don’t know, and to the entire organization, as I had no intentions of implying she was actually Miss Cayman.” — ARMIE HAMMER
SO…needless to say Armie Hammer, already going through a contentious divorce which he proceeds to discuss openly on his “private” Instagram, is having a bad 2021. He lost a movie gig…he claims he pulled out of it…but a big JLO romcom (I KNOW you have seen “MAID IN MANHATTAN” 100 times) which is now going to a “want to be cannibal meth head” which seems like a good thing. So that kids…in a nutshell is what’s happening. And people cannot get enough. IRONIC that he became famous from a movie about Facebook and now is seeing his world unravel because of that VERY same company which owns INSTA. So that kids is the story of ARMIE HAMMER. For more, see alllll the links below: | https://medium.com/popculturemondays/pop-culture-mondays-1-18-21-7bb59200fa81 | ['Brooke Hammerling'] | 2021-01-18 20:12:24.401000+00:00 | ['Martin Luther King', 'Newsletter', 'Armie Hammer', 'Kamala Harris', 'Pop Culture'] |
To Lift This Great Social Incubus of Bad Cooking | To Lift This Great Social Incubus of Bad Cooking
Much good was done through something that seems so simple as measuring things out and teaching people to do so.
The Boston Cooking School magazine of culinary science and domestic economics (1908) [public domain]
American’s culinary tradition has a rather short history compared to the rest of the world’s, and even shorter memory. It’s fitting of course for a nation that is relatively young. The truly die-hard foodies might at least know who Escoffier was, or meant, even if they cannot pronounce it correctly. The average person’s idea of anything predating Food Network might include any of the PBS food hosts through the early cable years, who ranged from cringy to glorious, depending on your tastes. But for most Americans the first name of cooking who is not simply a brand name on a product is Julia Child. Whether from her own incredible story and success or from the cultural icon status she achieved later, most folks at least knew who she was, and that she cooked, and that a bunch of other folks learned to cook from her. She, of course, famously delved into the world of French cooking and brought it to the masses, but before she cut a 6'2″ swath through Le Cordon Bleu, television, and our foodie hearts, Julia Child learned cooking like most of us did — from her own mother.
So you would assume her mother learned from her mother, and so on and so on until mom begat Julia, who begat a culinary empire, who begat Dan Aykroyd and Meryl Streep portraying her to various levels of historic accuracy, who begat food television, which begat Guy Fieri.
Well, kind of.
Mother Child had a little help, as it turns out; like many cooks of her time, she had a reference point and guide to her kitchen endeavors. No doubt that influence was a seed for what was to come in young Julia from a woman who would be as successful in her day as a teacher and media figure as Child would be a half a century later.
Recipes in 19th-century cookbooks relied on measurements like a “handful” of rice or a “goodly amount” of molasses — on the assumption that women largely knew how to cook.
Fannie Merritt Farmer changed all that. Widely credited with inventing the modern recipe, Farmer was the first professional cook to insist that scientific methods and precise measurements — level teaspoons, cups and ounces — produce better food, and also the first to demonstrate that cooking classes could be mass-market entertainment. These were just a few of her contributions as the foremost cooking teacher, writer and lecturer of her day. Chiefly, she was responsible for “The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.” First published under her name in 1896, it was a best seller and remains in print, with more than seven million copies sold. The book’s popularity and longevity has made Farmer a primary source for generations of American cooks. “Correct measurements are absolutely necessary to ensure the best results,” Farmer famously wrote. Julia Child, one of the only American cooks to become as widely influential as Farmer, said that “The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book” was the primary reference in her own mother’s kitchen, and that she cut her teeth as a cook on its pancakes, popovers and fudge recipes. Both women were famous as teachers and writers, not as brilliant cooks. Child and Farmer were considered unusual in their time: Both were ambitious, charismatic media titans; purveyors of domestic wisdom who led unconventional domestic lives; and privileged women from old New England families with a strong sense of how things ought to be done.
Don’t get hung up on that word “privileged” there, since if Paul Harvey where still with us he would tell us that there is much more “rest of the story” here:
Farmer was born March 23, 1857, and raised near Boston, Massachusetts. Her family believed in education for women and Farmer attended Medford High School; however, as a teenager she suffered a paralytic stroke that turned her into a homebound invalid for a period of years. As a result, she was unable to complete high school or attend college and her illness left her with a permanent limp. When she was in her early 30s, Farmer attended the Boston Cooking School. Founded in 1879, the school promoted a scientific approach to food preparation and trained women to become cooking teachers at a time when their employment opportunities were limited. Farmer graduated from the program in 1889 and in 1891 became the school’s principal. In 1896, she published her first cookbook, The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, which included a wide range of straightforward recipes along with information on cooking and sanitation techniques, household management and nutrition. Farmer’s book became a bestseller and revolutionized American cooking through its use of precise measurements, a novel culinary concept at the time. In 1902, Farmer left the Boston Cooking School and founded Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery. In addition to running her school, she traveled to speaking engagements around the U.S. and continued to write cookbooks. In 1904, she published Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent, which provided food recommendations for specific diseases, nutritional information for children and information about the digestive system, among other topics. Farmer’s expertise in the areas of nutrition and illness led her to lecture at Harvard Medical School.
Terms like “Domestic Economics” and “Culinary Sciences” were just getting their start, and might seem like mere branding, but for that day and age it held great importance and meaning. The Boston school where she first studied and later became leader before striking out on her own began “as a philanthropic venture to enable women of modest means to find work as cooks in private homes and institutions. Its stated promise was ‘to lift this great social incubus of bad cooking and its incident evils from the households of the country at large’.” Modern sensibilities might recoil at the stereotype now, but in that day and age where woman’s rights were very much the struggle of the times, the standardization of education — culinary or otherwise — for women was a breakthrough and a way up for many.
Applying discipline, math, and science to something like food wasn’t new, but Farmer took it from book knowledge to conventional wisdom. She treated it like a skill, and like all skills there was a method to doing it and learning about it, and added value and worth to the life of those who mastered that skill. You do not get employment and opportunities without such skill. You do not get healthy cooking without exact measurements, or knowing the ingredients, or standardizing recipes, all things that are so taken for granted these days it’s laughable to think that only two lifetimes ago “eat what’s put in front of you” wasn’t just a parental admonishment but a safety mechanism because you really, truly, probably didn’t want to know what was in it, or involved in preparing it. Much good was done through something that seems so simple as measuring things out and teaching people to do so.
Fannie Farmer’s influence and cookbook are both still around today, in an age where culinary is a hot entertainment commodity and the entire breadth and depth of human knowledge on the subject is available with a quick search on your phone or computer. We think of the convenience of that, but really the revolution is the precision of calling up a recipe on demand nearly instantaneously by anyone who has access to a device. At least that part of the modern world, Fannie Farmer would probably appreciate. | https://medium.com/yonder-and-home/to-lift-this-great-social-incubus-of-bad-cooking-7a114f023a93 | ['Andrew Donaldson'] | 2019-08-23 11:22:56.073000+00:00 | ['Culinary School', 'Food', 'Women', 'Cooking', 'Education'] |
Elizabeth Warren Dodges Mass Incarceration Questions | On August 20, 2019, Elizabeth Warren announced a bill to combat mass incarceration. I’m of course on board for that, but what I find very suspect, is what she said 3 days earlier. Prior to her announcement, she was at a meeting with criminal justice reform leaders, and she didn’t at all seem interested, in any such bill. First, they ask what she plans to do for prison reform, to which she started talking about housing units. After that, another leader asked if she could organize Congress to pass a prison reform bill. Warren answered yes, but went on a tangent of, talking about how the house of representatives, voted to overturn Obamacare. You can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d80FiQEU-Ok
All I got from Warren’s meeting was, a sound bite of her 2020 campaign. The truth that all she wants are votes. By dodging these questions, it’s clear that mass incarceration was not something she wanted to commit to. I’m not at all surprised; mass incarceration effects who? Communities of color, and her base, is mostly comprised of racially biased people. One common trend of Warren supporters; ignoring people of color. I have interacted with many of them, to them Kamala Harris doesn’t exist. Kamala takes a stance months or years earlier, and they pretend that Warren is the only one doing it. When Warren supporters talk about who can win, they usually say Warren, Biden, and Bernie.
I did like Elizabeth Warren, but I’ve had enough. I was already disgusted with the fact that she checked Native American on her college application, then continued to defend it. And now this, ignoring black leaders as if they’re not smart enough to see what she was doing. Then, she put out a bill out 3 days later, like it never happened. Again, Warren supporters eating it up, as if she’s passionate about it. How does one go from dodging basic questions of support, to suddenly putting out a bill 3 days later? Sounds like a lie to get black votes, pass. | https://medium.com/talk-yo-tea-and-share/elizabeth-warren-dodges-mass-incarceration-questions-f00aa7b49f6a | ['Cj Howard'] | 2019-09-02 01:34:03.870000+00:00 | ['2020 Presidential Race', 'Blue Wave', '2020', 'Elizabeth Warren', 'Prison Reform'] |
Homeless LGBTQ Youth Reach For Hope | Luke shouts, “Fuck that, man. Fuck you! We’re out. Bobby, hurry up!”
Dan sighs. “Luke? Buddy? Remember me? I’m the guy who helped you get the meds you needed to get over that pneumonia. And hooked you up with the clinic for those other meds. I’m not one of the bad guys, OK? It’s my job to help people.”
Dan says that all calmly as Bobby starts pulling the blood-caked jeans up past his knees.
Luke’s obviously not buying anything. He spits out his next sentence in a cracking tone that has to be driven by visceral fear. “Oh, yeah? Helpin’ people like us means keepin’ the cops away from us. I ain’t going back to jail, man. And Bobby sure as fuck ain’t startin’!”
“Relax, buddy. Chill. For real. These guys aren’t here from Vice, I swear. They aren’t interested in some piddly solicitation bust. They wanna help Bobby. That’s it. I promise.”
“I know what kinda help that is! Fuck that shit, dude!”
“Luke, look at your friend. Slow down. Breathe. Deep. Let it out. Now look at Bobby. Really look at him… Please?” | https://medium.com/james-finn/homeless-lgbtq-youth-reach-for-hope-becb43c6eade | ['James Finn'] | 2020-11-23 14:57:05.568000+00:00 | ['Gay', 'LGBTQ', 'Transgender', 'Homeless', 'Youth'] |
Heavy Cost of Coronavirus Response Drains Local Governments’ Disaster Budgets | By Estrella Torres, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
The coastal towns of Dolores and Sulat in Eastern Samar constantly battle with the impact of extreme weather events such as storm surges, flash floods and typhoons.
Early this year, the leaders of the two towns were set to conduct training for emergency response teams, buy rescue equipment and early warning devices from their calamity funds, but the Covid-19 pandemic got in the way and wiped out their calamity funds to prevent the entry of the virus.
“The province was not ready to have a Covid-19 case,” said Manuel Catuday, head of Municipal Disaster Risk Resilience Management Office (MDRRMO) of Dolores. “We don’t have a government hospital, only a rural health center with one doctor.”
A community hospital in Dolores has been dilapidated since last year, and has not been repaired, he said. The next government hospital is in Tacloban City, which is at least a four-hour drive.
Covid-19 came at a time when the localities have not even completely recovered from the onslaught of Typhoons Yolanda and Ruby, which struck a year apart.
A piece of GI sheet is seen on top of an electrical post in Barangay Sagkahan, Tacloban City after Typhoon Yolanda made landfall and claimed more than 6,000 lives. Photograph by Bernard Testa.
While the government was still on post-Yolanda operations, Ruby came in November 2014 and caused severe damage to homes, crops and farmlands that were still being rehabilitated. There was not enough public attention in the aftermath of Ruby as Yolanda was still fresh in the minds of government officials as well as the general public.
“Lahat ng hanapbuhay namin nawala (All our sources of livelihood were destroyed),” said Rio Caspe, 42, a fisherman from Barangay San Francisco in Sulat whose house was destroyed by Typhoon Ruby.
His three children and wife had to rely on the meager earnings of their small sari-sari store as massive flooding made fishing difficult.
Caspe said his neighbors were also cash-strapped because their crops such as banana, rice and copra were destroyed by the typhoon.
“We only relied on relief goods while staying in an evacuation center,” said Caspe.
A resident of Magallanes Drive in Barangay Sto. Nino, Tacloban City sat and watched the devastation brought by Typhoon Yolanda in his community. Photograph by Bernard Testa.
Funds depleted
Dolores, a third-class municipality, earmarked P8 million in calamity funding for 2020 to prepare and protect its 42,000 people or 12,700 families from the impact of natural calamities.
However, the funds had to be realigned to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) for community volunteers as well as hygiene kits and food packs for residents during the lockdown, which was imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The national government’s Bayanihan fund gave Dolores a P14-million subsidy to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are now sourcing from this (Bayanihan) fund for our response to Covid-19 pandemic,” said Catuday.
The town also has to spend for at least 900 LSIs or locally stranded individuals who arrived in Dolores from March to June.
Dolores, Sulat, and seven other towns in Samar were placed under state of calamity in May when Typhoon Ambo, the first typhoon to visit the country this year, pummeled the province. As usual, the storm destroyed crops and damaged houses, displacing more than 140,000 people.
Most houses in these towns are made of light materials.
“Matagal bago kami makabangon, hirap kasi ang pagpapagawa (It takes a long time to recover because we don’t have enough money to repair our houses),” said Catuday.
Charlie Rosaroso, head of the Sulat MDRRMO, said at least P1.5 million or 30 percent of the P5.1 million calamity fund for 2020 was spent to provide emergency assistance to families affected by Typhoon Ambo. The remaining funds were depleted by the Covid-19 response.
He said he was only able to spare P300,000 to continue the training for volunteers on emergency response.
Provinces and cities get 5 percent of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), the local governments’ share of national tax collections, for disaster risk resilience (DRR) under Republic Act 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010.
Of the total calamity fund, 70 percent is allocated to prevention, mitigation and preparedness, and 30 percent is set aside as a Quick Response Fund (QRF).
“What is left of our calamity fund is now being used for our Covid-19 response,” said Rosaroso. These include relief goods, PPE for volunteers, hygiene kits, food packs for residents, as well as LSIs and ROFs (returning overseas Filipinos) undergoing quarantine.
Sulat has hosted close to 200 LSIs since March.
A fourth-class municipality with a population of close to 16,000, Sulat does not have a hospital, but there is one doctor in each of the rural health centers in 18 barangays, said Rosaroso.
As of Aug. 10, there were eight confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection in Eastern Samar and most of them came from Metro Manila. Both Catuday and Rosaroso said there were no confirmed cases in their towns, as they work even on Sundays to ensure health and hygiene protocols are properly implemented.
Mario Candelaria, chairman of Barangay San Francisco in Sulat, said: “An infection here is a nightmare because we don’t have a hospital.”
“Noon ‘pag galing Maynila sinasalubong ng mga taga dito, ngayon nilalayuan na (Before, those who arrived from Manila got a welcome, now people avoid them),” said Candelaria.
He said the P110,000 calamity fund of San Francisco has also been used for food packs, hygiene kits, and for disinfecting public facilities.
Exposed and vulnerable
The Philippines ranked second in terms of exposure and vulnerability to climate-related risks in the Global Climate Change Risk Report for 2020 of Germanwatch, the environment think tank. Japan topped the list.
Red Constantino, executive director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), said the report showed that “those who are least responsible for the problem, are the ones who are suffering the most. This is unacceptable.”
“The pandemic has largely revealed systemic weaknesses that would have just taken more time to uncover otherwise,” said Constantino.
The German report noted that strong tropical cyclones such as Bopha (“Pablo”) 2012, Haiyan (“Yolanda”) 2013 and Mangkhut (“Ompong”) 2018 have been recorded in the last 10 years, affecting mostly the poor and vulnerable population.
A man swims neck-deep in water in San Francisco Del Monte, Quezon City at the height of Typhoon Maring in 2017. Photograph by Bernard Testa.
At least 74 percent of the country’s population is susceptible to multiple hazards, including coastal hazards such as typhoons, storm surges and rising sea levels, according to the 2018 World Risk Report. The report ranked the Philippines third among countries most vulnerable to disaster risks.
The catastrophic impact of Tropical Depression Ondoy in 2009 cost Marikina and Pasig cities P22.54 billion, of which Pasig accounted for 90 percent.
Rich city gets more money
This time around, Pasig City had to let go of critical spending for disaster risk resilience programs due to the pandemic response, said Bryant Wong, the city disaster risk reduction and management officer. These included reducing the number of fire engines and rescue vehicles to be purchased.
“We did not expect Covid-19 pandemic to affect us all, but we need to respond to it the best way we can,” Wong said.
Unlike Sulat and Dolores, however, Pasig City Hall has deeper pockets and generous donors.
Of the P600-million calamity fund for 2020, the city government has spent half for the Covid-19 pandemic response, Wong said.
It also managed to utilize an additional P200 million from the P300 million DRR savings in the last five years.
Other funding sources for Pasig City’s Covid-19 response included a P1.2-billion supplemental fund for the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) and another P1.2 billion for tablets to be used by students for online classes, from the Special Education Fund.
The city also received P136 million from the Bayanihan fund, equivalent to one month of its IRA.
Wong said private donations of beds, PPEs, hygiene kits and rapid testing kits worth P50 million boosted the city’s pandemic response.
The private sector also donated 100,000 food packs to Pasig.
In the case of Sulat and Dolores towns, there are no big corporate donors, which meant that the money for food packs distributed to locked-down residents came from their calamity funds.
Funding sources
Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad of the Office of Civil Defense, also the executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Council (NDRRMC), told local government units (LGUs) in a webinar in July to learn “to adjust, transform and adapt strategies to manage response to Covid-19 pandemic and prepare for multiple hazards from natural calamities.”
During the webinar, John Aries Macaspac, a director of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), enumerated funding sources for the Covid-19 response, including the Special DRRM Trust Fund or the savings from DRR funds in the last five years, a month’s worth of IRA from the national government and realigned funds from the General Fund. LGUs may also use 20 percent of their development funds for the purchase of PPEs, rapid test kits, vitamins, medicines, accommodation and expenses of health workers, construction of rental quarantine facilities, mobile testing labs, tents, shelters for the homeless, and training for pandemic response, under guidelines issued by the DBM and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The “Bayanihan to Heal as One” or Republic Act 11469 allocated P37 billion for the emergency Covid-19 response of LGUs. It allocated P12.4 billion to all cities; P18.39 billion to municipalities and P6.2 billion to provinces.
Constantino said responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and climate emergency should go hand in hand, as both require the expertise of scientists and policies and actions based on evidence.
Scientists, he noted, advised physical distancing to prevent the transmission Covid-19 while waiting for a vaccine to be developed. Scientists have also stressed the urgency of limiting the rise of global temperatures to below 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
“We do not have the luxury to choose whether we need protection from the deadly fevers induced by the novel coronavirus or from an increasingly feverish planet. Just as climate change is not an environmental problem but a development crisis, so is Covid-19 not merely a human health crisis but an ecological problem,” said Constantino. | https://medium.com/@thefrontlinertoday/heavy-cost-of-coronavirus-response-drains-local-governments-disaster-budgets-951aa2e0f081 | ['The Frontliner Today'] | 2020-09-03 11:51:47.892000+00:00 | ['Estrella Torres', 'Philippines', 'Covid 19', 'Government', 'Pcij'] |
How to Avoid Burnout and Compassion Fatigue | EFFECTIVE EMPATHY: FIVE TIPS TO AVOID BURNOUT AND COMPASSION FATIGUE.
Before we get too deep into the practice of being an effective empath, let’s take a look at how empathy is defined. According to Hodges and Myers, empathy is “one person’s response to his or her perceptions of another person’s current experience.” The word empathy, when traced back to its origin, literally translates to “feeling into.” Often people interpret empathy as understanding what it may feel like to walk in someone else’s shoes or even recognizing you experienced similar feelings at one time. Often confused, sympathy and empathy are not synonymous. Sympathy is the ability to acknowledge someone else’s shoes but never lace them up for a walk, metaphorically speaking. And finally, there is compassion, which I’ll explain with an equation: Empathy (+) Sympathy = Compassion. Capiche?
Okay, now that we got that figured out — let’s take a gander at a few practical tips to be an effective empath.
1. Write yourself permission slips: Inspirational author, public speaker, and American scholar, Brene Brown shared the idea of “personal permission slips” in her book, Dare to Lead. In Brown’s terms, “For personal permission slips, you are in charge of your behavior — so you’re giving yourself permission to feel or act a certain way. It is setting an intention for how you want to behave in difficult situations.” I’ve started using personal permission slips before engaging in situations that I know have a pattern of triggering an emotional response. I write an intention on a post-it note and place it at the top of my meeting notebook, journal, or anywhere that is readily available for reference. Once I feel a shift in my energy and mood, I re-read my permission slip to reset the intention. A few intentions that I write often and you’re welcome to borrow are: I will listen with intent and care. I will not interrupt. I will pause to think. I will respond, not react. I will care, not carry.
2. Take 5: Just like a Reese’s Take 5, taking five minutes to step away from an interaction that you find altering your energy is just as sweet as the candy bar itself. When I find I am in a conversation or meeting and feel tension building throughout my body, it is a good indicator I need a moment to regroup. My tension signs are often physical — my jaw tightens, shoulders shrug up to my ears, I experience erratic breathing patterns, and I fidget nervously. At the initial sign of tension, I excuse myself for a quick Take 5 break. In this short moment, I can take a few deep breaths and regain my mental focus. I often rehearse phrases for this style of boundary setting. My go-to phrase is: “I’m sorry we have to end this conversation here, but I have another obligation. Can we circle back tomorrow, or in an hour?” I have practiced this phrase over and over so much that it doesn’t sound awkward but genuine. And it is genuine because the obligation I am referring to — is my obligation to self-care. I use those minutes to remove myself from a triggering setting and execute a quick gratitude practice. I will write down or say to myself one thing I am grateful for. This short exercise completely redirects my focus to a better place to manifest more positive thoughts.
3. Build a privacy fence: I love privacy fences. They are like safety barriers. Why do we build privacy fences around our homes in the first place? Answer: They offer just that — privacy, a sense of security, protects us from acquiring trash or debris from neighbors or nearby streets, allows us to have control over who comes in and out of our residence, providing a shield and barrier. I like ALL of that, which is why I built my very own imaginary privacy fence around my body and mind. Simply put, this concept is just a way to visualize your boundaries. I am a very visual person, so envisioning that I have a physical barrier, a privacy fence that I built around myself, makes me feel in control of my surroundings and situations. Decide what boundaries you want to put in place and start digging those posts! You want to set boundaries that will serve you in the long run and don’t have the potential to be knocked down by a gust of wind. Set the boundaries YOU like, without any feelings of guilt. After all, it’s your fence — so make it the way YOU want. The best part is, you only have to open the gate when you want to. When you are in an acceptable window of tolerance, welcome people inside. If not, shut the gate and practice self-care. You’re the only one with the key to that gate.
4. Be honest: I find this has been the most challenging practice in my effort to be a more effective empath, yet it had the most significant impact. When I feel courageous enough to share that I am emotionally exhausted and may not be in the right headspace to provide the best support and care, my honesty creates a deeper and more meaningful connection. In those moments, I still get very nervous, anticipating that the reaction of me opening up is a sign of weakness — but it is the opposite. It’s an awareness of a human’s emotional limits. It’s an act of self-love and profound intimacy with oneself that only comes with realizing my needs, not what others need from me.
5. Care, not carry. Sometimes, emotional leakage from the day ends up finding itself riding home with me. Before getting out of the car, I take a moment to indulge in a few deep breaths. I reflect on other people’s feelings and problems I may have carried home. As I mentioned earlier, I am a visual person — so I imagine myself taking that emotional baggage out of my car and throwing it in the trash can before opening up the front door. I picture myself one-armed chucking that crap in the can, saying “buckets!” It brings a smile to my face, just thinking about it. | https://medium.com/@brazenandproper/how-to-avoid-burnout-and-compassion-fatigue-5df0cbb96c97 | ['Brittney Bradford'] | 2020-12-20 16:48:56.768000+00:00 | ['Burnout', 'Empathy', 'Boundaries', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Mental Health'] |
‘The Patterning Instinct’ With Jeremy Lent | ‘The Patterning Instinct’ With Jeremy Lent
How humans might retrieve metaphors that amplify altruism and shared intentionality
Playing for Team Human today is Jeremy Lent, author of The Patterning Instinct. Lent’s expansive research looks at the variety of ways cultures throughout history have patterned meaning into the cosmos. In excavating these patterns, Lent shares how humans might retrieve those metaphors that amplify altruism and shared intentionality. Together, Rushkoff and Lent explore the question of what makes humans unique and how we might leverage our patterning instinct to foster a future characterized by deeper connection rather than alienation.
Douglas begins today’s show with a monologue on cultural immunity. He questions the impulse to solve the problems of democracy by simply building better tech. How might we build resilience in people rather than just in our gadgets and algorithms?
This show features intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord Records. Midway, you heard our friend R.U. Sirius featured in Episode 31. | https://medium.com/team-human/the-patterning-instinct-with-jeremy-lent-86fe63d3266b | ['Douglas Rushkoff'] | 2019-11-08 19:54:13.894000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Audio', 'History', 'Culture', 'Podcast'] |
TV Picks: 26 April — 2 May 2021 | — MONDAY 26th —
★ VIEWPOINT — ITV, 9PM.
New crime drama about a missing school teacher, which leads to her boyfriend being put on surveillance by two detectives. Starring Noel Clarke, Alexandra Roach, Amy Wren, Kila Lord Cassidy & Lucy Chambers. Continues nightly. (1/5)
Also watch:
Oscars 2021: Highlights — Sky Cinema, 7pm . Coverage of last night’s annual awards ceremony from the Dolby Theater and Union Station in Los Angeles, California.
. Coverage of last night’s annual awards ceremony from the Dolby Theater and Union Station in Los Angeles, California. How to Save a Grand in 24 Hours — Channel 4, 8pm . New consumer advice series where cost-cutting experts help viewers to save money. Presented by Anna Richardson. (1/4)
. New consumer advice series where cost-cutting experts help viewers to save money. Presented by Anna Richardson. (1/4) Baby Surgeons: Delivering Miracles — Channel 4, 9pm . Documentary about surgeons who perform operations on unborn babies.
. Documentary about surgeons who perform operations on unborn babies. A Black Lady Sketch Show — Sky Comedy, 9.30pm . Season 2 of the US sketch show. Starring Robin These, Ashley Nicole Black & Gabrielle Dennis. (1/6)
. Season 2 of the US sketch show. Starring Robin These, Ashley Nicole Black & Gabrielle Dennis. (1/6) Starstruck — BBC1, 10.45pm. New romantic sitcom about a woman (Rose Matafeo) who sleeps with a man on New Year’s Eve, only to realise he’s a famous movie star. Co-starring Nikesh Patel, Emma Sidi, Al Roberts & Joe Barnes. (1/6)
— TUESDAY 27th —
★ THE KILLER WITHIN — SKY CRIME, 9PM.
Documentary about Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham, who became Britain’s youngest double murderers when they killed Kim’s mother and sister in their beds in 2016.
Also watch:
Dream Kitchens and Bathrooms with Mark Millar — Channel 5, 7pm. New renovation series where a DIY expert helps homeowners transform their properties. (1/6)
— WEDNESDAY 28th —
★ BUILDING THE DREAM — MORE4, 9PM.
Series 10 of the property renovation show where Charlie Luxton helps people build their dream homes.
Also watch:
Grand Designs Australia — More4, 10pm. Series 9 of the Australian version of Grand Designs, with more extravagant building projects from Down Under.
— THURSDAY 29th —
★ SAVED BY A STRANGER — BBC2, 9PM.
New series about ordinary people whose lives were caught up in life-threatening moments, only to be saved by strangers. Hosted by Anita Rani. (1/4)
Also watch:
The Goldbergs — E4, 9pm. Season 8 of the US family comedy. (1&2/21)
— FRIDAY 30th —
★ INTERGALACTIC — SKY1, 9PM.
New sci-fi drama about a London cop in the future who’s wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to a prison spaceship, leaving her mother to fight for her release, before the prison ship is hijacked by other inmates. Starring Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Parminder Nagra, Thomas Turgoose, Natasha O’Keeffe & Imogen Daines. (1/8)
Also watch:
Royal Wedding: A Day to Remember — BBC1, 7.30pm . Documentary about Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton 10 years ago.
. Documentary about Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton 10 years ago. This Time with Alan Partridge — BBC1, 9.30pm. Series 2 of the spoof comedy where inept broadcaster Alan Partridge co-hosts a lighthearted magazine show. Starring Steve Coogan, Susannah Fielding, Felicity Montagu, Tim Key & Leila Farzad. (1/6)
— SATURDAY 1st —
★ THE GREAT GARDEN REVOLUTION — CHANNEL 4, 8PM.
New horticultural series where people transform their gardens with the help of designer Joel Bird, ecological gardener Poppy Okotcha, and craftsman Bruce Kenneth. (1/4)
— SUNDAY 2nd —
★ THE CHASE: CELEBRITY SPECIAL — ITV, 5.30PM.
Series 11 of the celebrity spin-off to quiz show The Chase. Hosted by Bradley Walsh with Dane Baptiste, Nigel Owens, Anita Rani & Mark Pougatch.
Also watch: | https://dansmediadigest.co.uk/tv-picks-26-april-2-may-2021-235ccba68fb4 | ['Dan Owen'] | 2021-04-26 16:31:26.214000+00:00 | ['Television', 'Listings', 'UK', 'Tv Picks', 'TV'] |
Richard Ouellette, local labor leader, dies | The late John P. Burke, a long-time national labor leader from Fort Edward, no doubt, would have been honored at the solidarity of unionized construction workers building the apartment complex in Queensbury that bore his name.
Work on the John P. Burke Apartments in Queensbury and the Herman T. Stichman senior citizen hi-rise in Glens Falls was halted temporarily in 1971 due to a construction worker’s strike in Warren, Essex and Clinton counties, The Post-Star reported on April 8, 1971.
The strike involved President Nixon’s new wage guidelines.
Richard L. Ouellette, business manager for the Glens Falls branch of Local 186 of the Laborer’s International of North America, was spokesman for the unions on strike.
Ouellette, a local leader for 30 years, died Nov. 18, 2019, at age 84, according to an obituary published Thursday in The Post-Star.
Ouellette came to the area to work on construction of the Adirondack Northway and became a labor leader, according to the obituary.
In the 1970s, Ouelette was treasurer of the Glens Falls Labor Council. | https://medium.com/@writermaury/richard-ouellette-local-labor-leader-dies-86057bf4fd43 | ['Maury Thompson'] | 2019-11-21 21:24:45.189000+00:00 | ['Richard Nixon', 'Labor', 'Glens Falls'] |
Free and Paid Tools to Remove Broken Links | 404 error
Broken links to a website are not considered good. So what is it that Broken Link affects your search engine optimization? If you are a webmaster then you would know about the broken web page.
According to several content marketing experts, it is best to find and remove dead links from time to time.
Find dead URLs on your site using these awesome tools
Over time, webmasters link to external sites but after some time few linked sites get expired/removed, this can cause because of several reasons.
Most of the admins never know about broken links from their site because they simply link to other webpages and forget.
When we link an external or internal page from our website, links will be live but some links will no longer exist in the future, and there are many reasons for this error such as either that webpage has been removed or permalinks have been changed. There are many reasons for having broken links.
What is a broken link?
When we go to a blog/website or any other webpages, sometimes it contains external or internal hyperlinks that no more exists, we can see a 404 error message, page not found.
If you are a webmaster or an owner of a website, you may know all about these things.
It occurs when a link's contents have gone or deleted or it has been removed/moved by the admin.
There are many types of broken links out of which 404 error is common. Below is the list of some well-known internet error codes.
302 - Page moved temporarily
304 - Webpage not modified
404 - Page not found
403 - Forbidden
408 - Request Timeout
413 - Request entity is too large
If you have broken links present on your website then it is impossible to find them manually. Even if you check every link one by one, it may take lots of time and you may end up wasting your time without proper results.
So in this situation, we have many online tools available that help to remove the broken links. Actually, they just tell you where are the broken links and then you have to do further work.
For SEO and a good user experience, it is very important to remove broken links. If there are too many broken links on a website, then it shows an error message to the users if they click it, and it could be bad for search engine optimization.
Many search engine optimization experts consider it important to pay attention to broken links.
So let us now read about some best free and paid tools that will help you in removing broken links, very easily.
1. Dead Link Checker
DeadLinkchecker is a free and accurate website tool. With the help of this tool, you can reveal all types of broken links from your website, which you may not even know about.
Other features of this tool are multi- check and auto check, with the help of this you can check many websites at once for broken links.
After checking all the webpages of a domain, it shows a report, from there the user can check what type of errors are coming up.
Report of broken links - InMyPad.com
It is free but there are some limits and you need to pay for a large website with lots of webpages. This is a very good tool for a small site and with 100% accuracy.
2. Drlinkcheck
Doctor Link Check shows a very detailed report about a domain. This broken-link checker tool is free for small website owners.
You can get a detailed report of the maximum of 2 websites with their free plan. To do more site audits, you will have to upgrade the plan.
With the help of this tool, you can find many types of broken links from particular webpages.
Find link types, error reports, link schemes, and several types of other details with Drlinkcheck. Best and free broken links auditing tool for small webmasters.
3. SemRush
Semrush is a powerful tool auditing tool, currently, thousands of webmasters around the world are also using the SemRrush tool to check broken links.
Semrush contains lots of tools that people use for growing traffic, finding ranking keywords, and lots of other things. Along with these, there is a broken link checker tool. Whether you have a large or small site, the tool can do all the work easily.
If you are using this tool then it is a good option to utilize all features, if not then the above free options are recommended because Semrush comes with different types of tools that can easily grow the search engine rankings of a website.
This is not a free tool. However, you can enjoy a free trial for a few days and explore all its powerful features.
From here, with this special link, you can begin your free trial.
Get 7 days of free Semrush trial.
There are no limitations to audit sites, you can even find lots of other search engine optimization tools. | https://medium.com/@amyverma/free-and-paid-tools-to-remove-broken-links-60c995540545 | [] | 2020-12-16 10:02:34.644000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'SEO', 'Content Strategy'] |
Creating Has Never Been So Easy | Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Never in any other era has it been so easy to create. The internet has become our canvas.
Take a moment to think on that.
We are now able to make a sustainable income with hardly any work at all if we choose to. It’s not easy starting off, but hard work has never paid off so much. There used to be an expected path to follow in order to live a successful life. Gradually, we’ve moved away from the expectation that you need to have a large house, fancy car, and college degrees in order to be considered successful.
Of course, if you have those things you may very well be successful, but those things no longer determine success to a lot of us. Spending less on fluff has let us get closer to the things that actually give us happiness.
From the comfort of our home we are able to speak to our coworkers through instantaneous messaging and video calls, growing the possibility of connecting with new people at a never before seen rate. We can build an online business, become a designer, a developer, journalist, or even a rights activist. Without moving anything but our fingertips and our scanning eyes, we can build from nothing at an impressive rate.
Our minds have the ability to be set free with just an internet connection.
We can connect with others around the world nearly instantly. See parts of the world we could have never dreamed to see. Access worldwide information from our fingertips and contribute to great causes. Technology has empowered us to develop our passions further.
We live in an empowered era. | https://medium.com/@connorhearld/creating-has-never-been-so-easy-a1a9aa4f5a79 | ['Connor Hearld'] | 2020-12-16 21:04:26.311000+00:00 | ['Minimalism', 'Motivation', 'Change', 'Inspiration', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
Kyber Ecosystem Report #28 (2021 Recap) | Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! We are delighted to bring together the most exciting developments at Kyber Network in this year-end ecosystem report for 2021. It’s been a really eventful year for the Kyber community!
Among many updates, we successfully completed our Kyber 3.0 upgrade and the DMM has been rebranded as KyberSwap after requests from the community. Yes, KyberSwap is back, better than ever 😎
KyberSwap is on 6 chains now: Ethereum, Polygon, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Fantom, and Cronos, with more on the way. On these networks, you can instantly swap tokens with the best rates via DEX aggregation, earn by adding liquidity, and participate in liquidity mining for bonus rewards.
Total Trade Volume: Over $4B
Over $20M in fees collected for 20,000+ liquidity providers
All-time-high TVL of ~$500M and $50B in Amplified Liquidity
Another highlight of the year: Backed by our strong community and various ecosystem activities and media coverage, Kyber recently crossed 200,000 Twitter followers! Huge thanks to our Kyber Network $KNC community for your strong support through these years!
Below we give a recap of what transpired this year and share our key focus for 2022.
KyberSwap
After months in beta, DMM was relaunched as KyberSwap with a seamless user interface to provide the best trading and earning experience in DeFi.
✅Trade at the best rates via DEX aggregation
✅Liquidity Providers earn more with dynamic fees and high capital efficiency
✅Audited by ChainSecurity, Insured by Unslashed Finance for $20M
KyberSwap was recently deployed on Fantom and Cronos (first DEX aggregator to launch on the Cronos network), and now brings the best token rates to 6 supported blockchains: Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, Avalanche, Fantom, and Cronos (more networks like Aurora/NEAR coming soon!)
We look forward to providing the best token prices and enhanced liquidity for traders, liquidity providers, and Dapp developers on any network we are expanding to.
⭐️ You can easily use KyberSwap to swap tokens at the best rates on supported networks and farm bonus rewards! KyberSwap will improve the overall trading and liquidity provision experience for ecosystem users, Dapps and NFT games.
Dynamic Trade Routing (Aggregation) for the Best Rates
KyberSwap users can get the best rates due to DEX (decentralized exchange) aggregation via our novel dynamic trade routing algorithm. This saves users time and effort when swapping any token!
KyberSwap sources liquidity across these different DEXs to help achieve the best prices for any token swap, on any supported network. The optimal route is identified and trades split through 30 DEXs (over $26 Billion in combined liquidity catering to 20,000+ tokens), including KyberSwap’s own liquidity pools, to find the best rate on different chains — Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, Avalanche, Fantom, and Cronos.
Popular decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap, Sushiswap, Curve, Balancer, QuickSwap, Pancakeswap, Traderjoe, Pangolin, SpookySwap, SpiritSwap, VVS Finance, and more have already been integrated.
Swap any token at the best rates on KyberSwap! Some of the popular tokens available at the best rates:
Single Token Deposit
Adding liquidity into a pool is a core function for thousands of liquidity providers. With our new Single Token Deposit feature, you can use just one token in the pair (e.g. ETH in an ETH-KNC pool) to deposit and add liquidity to the pool, and receive the corresponding liquidity provider (LP) tokens, all in one seamless transaction.
Single Token Deposit makes liquidity provision even easier, saving you time and effort!
Easily add liquidity into pools using either token in the pair, all in one seamless transaction.
When removing liquidity, you can also automatically convert it to your desired token (either token from the token pair) in a single transaction.
ZKyber: New L2 DEX Trading Experience based on ZK-Rollups
Building upon our past research into Rollup scaling solutions, we unveiled our ZKyber testnet on KyberSwap! ZKyber is an L2 scaling solution that provides a faster, cheaper, and fairer DeFi trading experience on Ethereum, with anti-frontrunning capabilities. This can potentially address issues of network congestion, high gas fees, and frontrunning on Ethereum. Test ZKyber for FREE and earn a share of $50,000! Learn more.
Partnerships, Collaborations, and Joint Liquidity Mining
Sipher Partnership and $50 Million Campaign on Ethereum
Sipher is a MOBA and Exploration Game with an end-game goal of creating an Open World Social Game.
🚀We have partnered with Sipher to run a $50M Liquidity Mining Campaign (ongoing) to provide the best liquidity and rates for the SIPHER token! Sipher has chosen the capital-efficient KyberSwap protocol and DEX Aggregator for enhanced token liquidity for SIPHER-ETH on Ethereum. Watch how to farm SIPHER here.
$1M Liquidity Mining with Unbound on Ethereum
Unbound Finance is a decentralized, cross-chain liquidity protocol that is building the next money lego by unlocking liquidity from AMMs.
🚀 There are UND-USDC and UND-KNC pools on KyberSwap on Ethereum, and liquidity providers can earn a share of ~$1M in UNB and KNC liquidity mining rewards (ongoing)! Liquidity providers can add any amount of liquidity to the eligible UND-KNC and UND-USDC pools on the KyberSwap on Ethereum to farm and unlock their share of the rewards.
$1M+ Liquidity Mining Campaign with Pegaxy on Polygon
Pegaxy is a racing game with a futuristic mythological styling. In this game, players will participate in PvP format races with randomized elemental variables to win rewards.
🚀Pegaxy has set up a PGX-USDT pool on KyberSwap (Polygon). The PGX-USDT farm has been extended for one more month! Add liquidity and stake your LPs to earn your share of $1M+ in rewards (ongoing)!
$1M Liquidity Mining Campaign with Elpis Battle on BSC
Elpis Battle is an open-world RPG that features the play-to-earn model. Gamers can enjoy epic battles and earn sizable rewards at the same time.
🚀Elpis Battle has set up a EBA-BUSD pool on KyberSwap (BSC). EBA Yield Farming on KyberSwap (BSC) will distribute $1M+ in rewards to liquidity providers (ongoing)! Learn more.
Other Rainmaker Liquidity Mining Campaigns
Ethereum
BSC
Polygon
Avalanche
Visit KyberSwap’s Farm page to see all the active eligible pools and yield farms!
Krystal + Kyber Network Partnership
Kyber has partnered with Krystal DeFi to collaborate on their token sale launchpad KrystalGO as well as other DeFi initiatives!
KNC holders can enjoy better allocation for KrystalGO token sales if they stake KNC. Krystal will also have a KNC staking service to allow holders to earn rewards from KyberDAO.
Aside from those above, in 2021 Kyber also collaborated with Velo Labs, Mercurial Finance, Asia DeFi Network, DeFi Alliance, Ren Alliance, and Zcash Developer Alliance.
Integrations
Any Dapp or aggregator developer can integrate KyberSwap since the protocol is completely permissionless.
DEXTools
KyberSwap is integrated with leading trading analytics platform DEXTools! More than 30 Million users can now view and access KyberSwap’s token pairs and the best rates on Ethereum, BSC, and Polygon. DEXTools have also created a DEXT-KNC pool in which you can add liquidity to earn fees on pool trades! Learn more here. In addition, DEXTools has added liquidity to the DEXT-KNC pool on KyberSwap (BSC).
Rome Terminal
KyberSwap has been integrated by multi-blockchain network, multi-DEX, and multi-dApp trading interface Rome Terminal. DeFi users on Rome Terminal will enjoy very high capital efficiency as well as better token liquidity and rates. This also means a lot more volume will be generated through KyberSwap and in turn more fees for LPs and KNC voters.
Kattana Terminal
KyberSwap now provides amplified liquidity to Kattana’s Trading Terminal! This integration means the best token rates and high capital efficiency for thousands of Kattana users.
Coin98 Wallet
Coin98 Wallet integrated KyberSwap to provide highly capital efficient liquidity provision to hundreds of thousands of users around the world! Users can easily participate in the ongoing Rainmaker liquidity mining campaigns using Coin98.
DEX Aggregators
Since KyberSwap has very capital efficient pools, other top DEX aggregators such as 1inch, Paraswap, 0x API, Matcha and Slingshot have also integrated KyberSwap to provide competitive rates for their users.
KyberSwap Data Analytics
Top Dapps and data analytics sites such as CoinGecko, Coinmarketcap, DeFi Pulse, DeBank, DeFi Llama, vfat.tools, APY.vision, Token Terminal, The Graph, Zapper, and DEXTools are now tracking KyberSwap statistics.
KyberDAO and KIPs
KyberDAO is a decentralized community platform that allows KNC token holders to participate in governance. KNC holders can stake KNC to vote on important proposals.
Over $10M worth of rewards have been distributed to KyberDAO voters!
The Kyber community can propose and vote on Kyber Improvement Proposals (KIPs) through KyberDAO. Some of the recent KIP topics we covered:
KIP-18: Advance KNC Allocation for Small-Scale Liquidity Mining Activities
KIP-17: Joint LM with Unbound Finance, EvryNet and DeFi Yield Protocol
KIP-16: New joint liquidity mining campaigns with Jarvis Network, DeFi Warrior and Ape In on Polygon, BSC and Avalanche
KIP-15: Additional LM on ETH & Polygon
KIP-14: Allocate an additional 5M KNC from the ecosystem fund & transfer ~1.78M KNC for Avalanche LM
⭐️ Please visit the Kyber community forum to discuss how we can improve Kyber Network together! For example, we aim to improve our DAO design and lower gas costs for voters. Latest Kyber developments are discussed in our Community Calls on Discord. Follow KyberDAO twitter.
KNC (Kyber Network Crystal)
The KNC token will continue to exist and will play an increasingly important role on KyberSwap, incentivizing trading and liquidity, as well as enabling governance. KNC token holders will greatly benefit from the growth of KyberSwap. Apart from KyberSwap, the number of use cases and the support for KNC in the DeFi ecosystem continue to grow:
After the token migration earlier this year, new KNC is available on top centralized exchanges (we are working with Coinbase to support the migration as well). We aim to improve the utility and increase the use cases for KNC over time.
New KNC supported on Multichain (formerly AnySwap)
With the Multichain (formerly AnySwap) cross-chain router, KNC can now be easily routed across 5 different chains; Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Fantom, and Avalanche!
Sharing about KyberSwap with the DeFi world
Given the offline restrictions caused by the pandemic, Kyber team members participated in multiple online events instead to complement our various marketing initiatives to spread awareness and educate users. Here are some highlights:
Kyber in the Media
The rebranding of DMM to KyberSwap and its new innovative features were covered by various media and news sites such as Coindesk, Cointelegraph, The Block, DefiantNews, Bankless, Decrypt, Defipulse, Defiprime, AltcoinBuzz, Dapp.com, and Crypto Briefing. News can be found in the Media sub-channel that we have created for you on our Discord.
Take a look at the Decrypt article on KyberSwap and the article on Forbes that mentioned Kyber Network’s rise.
KyberSwap’s growth in different networks was also highlighted by crypto media such as CryptoRank, Lunar Crush, and DeFi News and our yield farming opportunities covered by popular research reports such as those by Delphi Digital.
Defiprime also has an excellent article explaining what is KyberSwap and how it provides the best rates for users and higher earnings for liquidity providers.
To continue staying up to date, join our Discord here and follow Kyber on Twitter.
Looking ahead: 2022 and beyond
With its multiple benefits over other DEX platforms, KyberSwap is well positioned for growth. In the immediate future, we plan to raise greater awareness of the benefits of KyberSwap and aggressively drive user adoption.
More DEXs and networks: We will continue improving our DEX aggregation algorithm; deploying on many other networks beyond Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, NEAR/Aurora, and Cronos, and integrating liquidity sources from all popular DEXs on each network in order to achieve the best swap rates.
More liquidity and token variety: Another key focus is working with top projects to increase the variety of token pairs and enhancing liquidity (and increasing TVL) in the liquidity pools. Given our high capital efficiency, projects like Pegaxy, Elpis Battle, ZukiMoba, Unbound, Evrynet, DeFi Warrior, Wanaka Farm, Creator, StepHero, Sipher, The Parallel, and many others have chosen KyberSwap to be their liquidity platform of choice right after their token sales.
In addition, we aim to quickly adapt to upcoming DeFi and GameFi trends by investing in and partnering with popular projects in the space, while continuing our research into Ethereum L2 scaling solutions such as ZKyber. We will share more details in 2022, stay tuned!
We continue to be committed to our vision to become the liquidity hub for the decentralized economy, where any user or application can easily access the required tokens for their liquidity needs at the best rates.
Kyber is a community-driven project and we always welcome more suggestions for improvement, be it in terms of the UI/UX, liquidity, integrations, or other areas. You can reach us through our social media channels and this contact us form.
We wish everyone happy holidays and a great year ahead. See you in 2022 as we carve new milestones together! 🤶🎄🎉
Onward, Kyber Network! | https://blog.kyber.network/kyber-ecosystem-report-28-2021-recap-d1287f5b9c3b | ['Kyber Network'] | 2022-01-10 13:06:44.295000+00:00 | ['Defi', 'Blockchain', 'English', 'Featured', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Noodles & Machine Learning | A Foodie’s interpretation of Machine Learning Flavors
Co-Author aka Partner in All : Annusha Srinivasan (Annusha Srinivasan)
When we started exploring Machine Learning, we realized that there were many solutions available in the market from concept to production. To simplify and understand the options, our initial approach has been, understanding of concepts from MOOC’s, hands on coding using classical ML packages like Numpy, Pandas, Scikit Learn, NLTK, Matplotlib…mostly using Python/R on Anaconda/Pycharm/Rstudio as IDE.
Mr. Ginger's Machine Learning Journey
Though it was easy to get hands dirty & see the power of ML , it became complex when the classical ML approach were deployed for real world problems. Problems compounded due to many factors such as availability /quality of training data, imbalanced data sets, feature engineering requirements, lower precision, accuracy….
When we were building a Machine learning-based classifier for a NLP Classification problem for a business requirement, we encountered challenges in the form of Feature Selection, Imbalanced Data Set, hyper parameter Tuning, etc.
To improve the prediction accuracy, we wanted to try Deep Learning solutions. That’s when we stumbled upon AutoML/SaaS solution offerings across GCP, H20, AWS. In this article we will simplify various flavors of ML offerings from Google Cloud Platform(GCP) | https://medium.com/@ravisrinivasan82/noodles-machine-learning-33fa5bfc553 | ['Ravi Srinivasan'] | 2021-09-13 04:15:50.147000+00:00 | ['Gcp', 'Machine Learning', 'Automl', 'AI'] |
Getting started with Jenkins & Docker. Part I: Getting Docker | Download the one that suits for you from:
To ensure your install was successful, then you need to follow the steps described on:
Docker Install Info
If you need to check your docker instalation info then:
docker --version
docker --version
2. Something particular to notice is that there’s a different command to obtain more info (docker version, but without the “ — ”:
docker version
docker version
3. To getting more info:
docker info
docker info
Test Docker Installation
To see if your installation works, execute the following:
docker run hello-world
hello-world is a docker image stored on the Docker hub. If Docker finds the hello-world image on your local machine, then it would run it directly, but since this is the first time we’re executing this command, then it would have to pull it from Docker Hub:
docker run hello-world
2. In order to list all the docker images on your local:
docker image ls
docker image ls
3. In order to see all the running docker containers alive:
docker container ls
If you want to see all the containers (alive and not alive ones), then execute:
docker container ls --all
Now, let’s continue with the Jenkins install using its docker image: | https://medium.com/@sdanerib/getting-started-with-jenkins-docker-part-i-getting-docker-18ed7c1b7187 | ['Stephany Daneri'] | 2019-04-08 03:56:14.981000+00:00 | ['Getting Started', 'Mac', 'Docker'] |
Do you know enough about Giraffe? | Africa is home to the world’s largest living land animal, the African elephant, and the tallest living animal, the Giraffe.
Giraffe is a very interesting animal and is very famous for people of all ages. It is also one of the main attractions in zoos across the world.
Read this post to know more interesting facts about the world’s tallest living land animal Giraffe.
Here are some additional facts, which are not present in the above post:
Giraffes only need 5 to 30 minutes of sleep in a 24-hour period.
only need in a 24-hour period. A giraffe’s neck can measure up to 6 feet (1.8 m) long.
can measure up to (1.8 m) A Giraffe’s legs alone are taller than most humans : about 6 feet.
alone are than : about 6 feet. Giraffes’ tongues grow up to 21 inches (53 cm) in length.
For more such interesting facts, please follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. | https://medium.com/@akashag1001/do-you-know-enough-about-giraffe-65053c5316f1 | ['Akash Agrawal'] | 2020-12-23 06:43:15.042000+00:00 | ['Animals', 'Giraffe', 'Facts', 'General', 'Knowledge'] |
Intragastric Balloon Market Size Worth $90.5 Million By 2027 | The global intragastric balloon market size is expected to reach USD 90.5 million by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 12.1% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rise in obesity and increasing demand for minimally invasive procedures are the key factors driving the market.
Intragastric balloons are one of the most widely adopted endoscopic bariatric therapy devices in the clinical settings. This can be attributed to complications associated with surgical weight loss treatments and the low eligibility criteria for surgical options, thus leading to a rise in demand for effective minimally invasive weight-loss treatment options.
Safety concerns associated with intragastric balloons are anticipated to make the regulatory framework more stringent for pre-market and post-market scrutiny process of these devices. For instance, in 2019, Apollo Endosurgery Inc. revised the labeling of its Orbera intragastric balloon system to include contradiction clarifications, precautions related to anticholinergic and psychotropic medications, and updated U.S. adverse event tables after it received FDA safety letter.
Nonetheless, extensive research activities related to the development of innovative and novel systems and up-gradation of existing intragastric balloons to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional systems are anticipated to facilitate the intragastric balloon market growth.
Click the link below:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/intragastric-balloon-market
Further key findings from the study suggest: | https://medium.com/@marketnewsreports/intragastric-balloon-market-e717d0c36031 | ['Gaurav Shah'] | 2020-12-01 10:43:16.770000+00:00 | ['Switzerland', 'Medical Devices', 'Indonesia', 'Thailand', 'Australia'] |
Midsommar (Feminist Film Reviews) | Dani (Florence Pugh) adopts splendiferous feminine glory in the face of personal apocalypse.
Horror movies explore the darkest aspects of human nature — and sometimes, that happens in the blinding daylight. That’s the visual premise of Midsommar, which portrays a group of Americans visiting a strange commune in Sweden. As they become entangled in the locals’ violent rituals, their relationships break down. At the center of the plot is grieving student Dani (Florence Pugh), who clings to her dying relationship with her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) after her sister kills herself and their parents.
If this already sounds like it’s ripe for revenge fantasy, you’d be correct. And Pugh does an excellent job of portraying Dani’s depressive fury. Indeed, Dani is the central force in the film. As her grief and anxiety well up toward the film’s explosive climax, she “goes native” and fully embraces the rigid social order and vengeful wishes of the cult.
Director Ari Aster received critical acclaim for his debut feature film Hereditary, which also set dysfunctional relationships against a background of pagan horror. In Midsommar, he continues his idea that cultism and pagan rituals are comparable to human grief and destruction. It’s a problematic take, although certainly not out of place in the horror genre. What makes Midsommar more frightening than Hereditary is that there is no supernatural presence: it’s just people being awful under the guises of religion. Whether Aster, who is Jewish, intends to create a strong contrast between his religious tradition and those of pagans is certainly up for debate. So far, his films have joined The Witch as recent artsy horror films that paint pagans as purveyors of death. (In fact, the “demonic” entity in Hereditary is Paimon, a common villain in recent horror films. In mythology, Paimon is a demon king who offers knowledge and wish fulfillment for conjurers — but a “demon” in the original sense of a magical entity.)
Christian and his friend Josh (William Jackson Harper) are anthropology students who are morbidly fascinated by what they see in the commune. American arrogance is on full display as the two quarrel over who gets to write their thesis on the cult’s strange and murderous rituals. For both, their vices lead to their downfall: one undone by his disrespect for the culture he claims to study, and the other by his lust and infidelity. Both lead to disturbing — and decidedly misandric and racist — ways of dispatching them.
Indeed, Midsommar is a portrait of bigotry on all sides: arrogant young men having their way with whom they believe to be inferior, and vicious cultists for whom vindictiveness and grotesque violence is a sign of devotion to their gods. In Midsommar, there are no winners — except the women who relinquish their earthy, sexual power for something greater.
What truly makes Midsommar powerful, though, is Dani’s vengeful urges. In some ways, her pain and impulsive behavior are stereotypical: she’s the mad-eyed girl that dudebros warn us about. And yet her deliverance from lovelorn to revenge-crazy is the transformation we all crave. It’s a beautiful disaster, a trainwreck of grief, jealousy, and feminine fury wrapped up into an adorable yet fierce package.
Midsommar is a testament to the destructive power of love — especially when it’s unrequited. Dani becomes more than the springtime icon of a pagan cult. She is the manifestation of all gendered anger and the sanctimonious entitlement of American people. In this film, the two run head-to-head, but Dani is the ultimate victor as she fully adopts the ritualistic violence for her own purposes.
Enjoyed this story? Want expert writing advice and exclusive content? Join my mailing list and you’ll get biweekly writing quotes, a roundup of themed content across the web, and access to a secret story. | https://medium.com/femmetertainment/midsommar-feminist-film-reviews-444502d88201 | ['Rachel Wayne'] | 2020-07-14 02:17:11.330000+00:00 | ['Film', 'Movies', 'Cinema', 'Feminism', 'Horror Movies'] |
Building a more inclusive way to search | Laksh Bhasin | Pinterest engineer, Search Quality
Every day, tens of millions of people search for ideas on Pinterest, whether it’s a recipe to cook for dinner that night or a new hairstyle to try over the weekend. According to a Pinterest study, 70 percent of people use Pinterest to discover and save everyday looks and styles they want to try. With more than eight billion beauty and hair ideas saved, we’ve been testing a new feature to help Pinners more easily find relevant beauty ideas in search. Today we’re starting to roll out the beta version, which enables you to narrow beauty results by a skin tone range. In this post we’ll cover how we built and implemented a more inclusive search experience.
More than 200 million people use Pinterest every month. Our product reflects the global interests and tastes of people all over the world, with more than 100 billion ideas to explore. However, it’s not always easy to find the most relevant results. The majority of queries on Pinterest are less than three words, which presents an interesting serving challenge. In addition, our current ranking algorithms are heavily influenced by what the majority of people have engaged with over time. This means that some Pinners have had to work harder to find what they were looking for.
Any search engineer knows how important it is to make the experience seamless and easy to use, so that a user re-queries as few times as possible. We heard from Pinners that they couldn’t always find what they were looking for when searching for hair and beauty ideas, so we wanted to address this problem, starting with skin tone ranges. The skin tone ranges experiment enables you to customize your search results by a skin tone range. We’re starting with four palettes, and each represents a range of skin tones. As our technology improves and we gather more feedback from Pinners, we plan to expand the ranges to more skin tones.
Deep learning
Detecting a skin tone in an image is a challenging problem, because it depends a lot on lighting, shadows, how prominent a face is, blurriness, and many other factors. The most accurate way to detect a skin tone in a Pin’s image would be to have a human label every single Pin image according to a scientific skin tone palette. But with billions of unique images, and many more created each day, that’s an expensive approach that would be hard to scale.
Instead, we use a method that works at scale — machine learning. It’s not always perfect, but feedback from Pinners has been encouraging so far.
In order to move quickly to address this problem, we used a third-party Face AI library from ModiFace, a company specializing in augmented reality and machine learning for beauty applications. With the help of deep neural networks, ModiFace produced successive algorithms for skin tone detection. We went through a few iterations in order to improve this algorithm, especially for images with poor lighting and prominent shadows. For example, in the initial model, the image below was detected as a dark skin tone, because the lighting and shadows in the image are difficult for a machine learning algorithm to pick up on.
One way we tried to generate more training data to correct the machine learning algorithm was fetching results and passing them through Sofia, our human evaluation platform.
There also were a number of other factors we had to consider. For example, not every Pin contains a face, so we do some preliminary filtering based on a Pin’s category. We distribute the backfill process by running a Spark job on multiple worker nodes, while being careful not to send too much traffic at once to Amazon S3. In order to ensure the backfill runs relatively quickly, we use smaller image sizes to speed up the skin tone detection algorithm, even though the algorithm itself is generally size-independent. There’s a definite tradeoff between speed and accuracy, which we’ll continue to improve.
As new Pins are added to the system, we incrementally run the skin tone detection algorithm on just those new Pins, so we continue to increase our coverage of skin tone data and improve results.
When we run the skin tone detection algorithm on each image, we convert the RGB color output into the Lab color space. This color space has an axis L for “lightness” and two axes a and b for color components green-red and blue-yellow. Complexions typically fall into a specific subspace of the ab color plane, and we use the L coordinate to select different skin tones, from lighter skin tones (high L) to darker skin tones (lower L). Since many of the images on Pinterest are high quality photos with good lighting, we used the CIE-L*ab space with a 2-degree viewing angle and D65 illuminant (daylight).
A handy Pin explaining the Lab color space!
Serving skin tone ranges
We leveraged much of our serving and logging logic for skin tone ranges using previous work we did for recipe filters, which allow Pinners to search for recipes that match their dietary preferences.
This initial version of skin tone ranges filters content based on skin tone darkness or lightness using four ranges, each with some amount of overlap. On the front end, skin tone ranges are shown to users as quadrants, so that it’s clear each palette actually encompasses a range of skin tones. To ensure a good experience for Pinners, skin tone ranges are currently only shown for a predetermined list of common hair and beauty queries.
Query rewriting
Pinterest is about more than just finding inspiring images (in this case, of people sporting hair and beauty ideas). Pinners expect to find actionable content, like beauty products and tutorials (we take a similar approach for Lens results). In order to make our results more actionable, we blend different types of Pins with the appropriate skin tones into results using our query rewriting and understanding framework.
We also rewrite queries to ensure more engaging results for each specific skin tone range. If a user searches for “makeup” and chooses a darker skin tone range, that tells us they’re looking for deeper-toned makeup ideas, and enables us to refine our search ranking logic to better meet their expectations.
Privacy
It’s important that Pinners know we respect their privacy. That’s why if you tap a skin tone range, we do not store this information or use it to build a profile for you. This means you’ll need to tap a skin tone range each time you search. We also don’t use this information to target ads. We do not attempt to predict a user’s personal information, such as ethnicity.
Future work
Once this beta experiment rolls out to all Pinners, our future work will generally focus on improving the accuracy of results and bringing the experience to more platforms. We’ll try out new methods of query rewriting and blending in actionable content and hope to improve our search ranking models in order to better take into account the selected skin tone. To make experimentation easier with new skin tone detection algorithms, we’ll have to make a few backend changes to allow us to index multiple detected skin tones and run A/B experiments more easily.
Lastly, skin tones are just the start of building a more inclusive search. We hope to help Pinners find more personalized results by offering more ways to narrow your search.
We’re always working on improving our system to give Pinners a more personalized search experience. If you like working on search problems like this, join our team!
Acknowledgements: This project was built by a cross functional team of passionate Pinployees who care deeply about inclusion and diversity, and wish to scale these values for Pinners. Thank you to Rahim Daya, Xixia Wang, Stephanie Rogers, Frances Haugen, Candice Morgan, Karen Gomez, Larkin Brown, Antonio Alucema, Andrey Gusev, Christina Lin and Aaron Ru. | https://medium.com/pinterest-engineering/building-a-more-inclusive-way-to-search-789f4c92fd73 | ['Pinterest Engineering'] | 2018-04-26 18:47:02.295000+00:00 | ['Pinterest', 'Search', 'Diversity', 'Inclusion', 'Deep Learning'] |
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