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Improving Traveloka Web Performance | In the previous article, we’ve discussed how we built a performance culture in Traveloka. This article is a technical follow-up on how we improve our web performance using various techniques.
Before going further, I’m going to lay out a few constraints that we have in Traveloka that may affect how you approach and solve performance problems on your end. Different constraints might result in different solutions. So, make your decision based on the constraint that you currently have.
With that said, here are our four constraints:
Server-Side Rendering (SSR), not static HTML . We render content in our node.js service with the data we get from the backend.
. We render content in our node.js service with the data we get from the backend. High volume of server-side API calls . Typical pages have at least six API calls.
. Typical pages have at least six API calls. Backend-defined views . We have a few pages, where the contents are defined exclusively in the API response.
. We have a few pages, where the contents are defined exclusively in the API response. Multiproducts monorepo. As of this writing, we have 30+ products deployed into 20+ separate services inside a single repository. Some of them are still deployed in a single monolith.
General Optimization
These are the kinds of applicable optimization that improve performance across Traveloka’s pages. As you’ll see later, we have another approach that only applies to specific products or features.
The first optimization that we did was to switch to Brotli for a better compression algorithm. In our testing, Brotli compressed 15–40% smaller than its gzip counterparts on the same files. We also noticed a 15% Lighthouse score improvement average across our pages.
Optimizing compression also has a nice side effect on bandwidth usage in our CDN. We’re typically serving a few hundred terabytes of static assets in our Cloudfront a month. With 23% less bandwidth, the cost saving is definitely noticeable.
Considering the implementation itself is fairly straightforward, it’s a nice win.
Brotli for Dynamic Data
We generate HTML at runtime instead of serving static files. We also have a separate API proxy service that forwards requests to different backends serving JSON data. We want these services to have a small response with acceptable latency.
Because HTML and JSON are dynamically generated, we have to carefully balance between CPU usage and compression performance. Based on our experiments, the sweet spot for Brotli’s settings is at quality=4 (out of 11) and lgwin=20 (out of 24) at runtime. Such configuration results in 20% reduction in response size with barely noticeable increase in CPU usage compared to gzip.
We use Express to serve those data. But unfortunately, since its compression library hasn’t supported Brotli yet, we use an implementation from one of the PRs.
Brotli for Static Assets
There are various methods that you can use to serve static assets with Brotli. If you’re using AWS CloudFront, Brotli is now supported. In our case, however, due to the lack of official support during our implementation back then, we decided to use Lambda@Edge, CloudFront, and S3 until today. Using Lambda@Edge handler, we can rewrite the request based on the request header to serve either Brotli or gzip. This is important because not all browsers support Brotli.
First, we create two static assets in our Continuous Integration (CI); normal (uncompressed) and Brotli-compressed (with .br extension) using the highest settings for quality and lgwin at 11 and 24 respectively as we also do compression at build time. Then, we upload them to an S3 bucket that is already configured to be served using CloudFront with the correct header such as Content-Encoding .
The next step is to setup Lambda@Edge to handle Origin Request events in CloudFront, add Accept-Encoding to whitelisted headers, and set cache behavior to follow whitelisted headers.
The logic in the Lambda function itself just reads the current HTTP request, checks whether the Accept-Encoding key in the HTTP header contains a value of br, and appends a .br to the HTTP request URL before forwarding it to S3.
Figure 1. The Lambda@Edge’s logic to add Brotli support in CloudFront.
The cost associated with executing a Lambda function is practically zero because it doesn’t get executed twice due to the presence of cached assets in CloudFront that inactivates an Origin Request event. Consequently, we are able to reduce the average file download size by up to 40%, with the greatest reduction in JavaScript assets.
Bundle Optimization
Another general optimization that we implemented was in the bundler / package manager level. This approach might be slightly different per company as the tools that we use have different challenges or quirks depending on how they are used. This optimization is purely focused in reducing the bundle size.
For additional context, we use Yarn (over npm) as our package manager of choice for its superior support for monorepo workflow. We also use webpack and Babel as our bundler combo.
The most important step in optimizing bundle size is running “bundle & coverage analysis” to find unused parts with tools such as webpack-bundle-analyzer and Chrome DevTools Coverage tab. In our experience, bundle problems mainly arise from either tree shaking issues or premature assets loading.
Tree Shaking Optimization
One common tree-shaking issue can be caused by a non-major dependency version mismatch. With monorepo using Yarn’s workspace, instead of packages having individual copies of the same dependency, a single copy is hoisted (moved) to their relative root directory and shared. In cases where such sharing arrangement doesn’t work as intended, you’ll see your code loads the same dependency twice in the bundle analyzer.
Figure 2. webpack-bundle-analyzer shows duplicate Moment bundle.
To fix this duplication, you can use yarn-deduplicate to make sure that the generated lockfile is acceptable. You can also add additional safeguard by using require.resolve module method and resolve.alias module option in webpack config in order to resolve dependencies path before (not when) any module traversal happens so that each reference to the dependencies will always refer to the same node_modules path.
Figure 3. Webpack config using resolve.alias module option and require.resolve module method.
We also use this approach for dependencies, where we have different file names as entry points such as index.web.js that contains ES import, but index.js itself uses CommonJS. Even after adding resolve.extensions module option, webpack still incorrectly tree-shaked this module.
Figure 4. Webpack config to fix tree-shaking issues caused by resolve.extensions module option.
Those approaches might work to some extent. But as a last resort, you can use Yarn resolution to force dependencies inside your project to be a single version. This approach can also be useful if you use private dependencies in multiple packages, where you only need to specify a wildcard ( * ) as a dependency requirement in your package.json file and set the actual version using the resolutions field in root package.json .
Another thing you need to check is whether your dependencies set sideEffects: false in package.json as a directive for webpack to create a more optimal bundle. If they don’t and you notice that the result from that package is suboptimal, you can force it using a webpack config. You just need to be sure that it really is side effect-free.
Figure 5. Webpack config to force dependencies to be side effect-free
We also noticed misconfiguration of preset-env and node_modules transpilation in webpack config could cause improper tree-shaked modules. We carefully tested a combination of webpack include and exclude module rules, and used oneOf module option instead of multiple rules to make sure that each transpilation config targets specific module paths with no overlap. Such configuration reduced up to 180kB and 124kB on average for mobile web entry points.
The last optimization we made was disabling the Buffer polyfill in the webpack config, which saved around 20kB.
Resource Loading Optimization
This technique is commonly referred to as code splitting but it’s usually more nuanced than a simple change from static import to dynamic import. The goal of this optimization is to strike a balance between fast first load and quick future interactions. Similar to all previous approaches, it’s always better to run “bundle & coverage analysis” as well before doing any performance optimization.
The goal of this optimization is to strike a balance between fast first load and quick future interactions.
The way you optimize for assets loading depends on how you structure your app. Here’s two examples from our use cases:
We don’t fetch A/B test libraries (including the config from API) if no experiment is running. This is possible because we statically define experimentation in the route level.
We fetch heavy client-side navigation logic in parallel with the succeeding Next.js route components. Leveraging the fact that a promise object is immutable, we create a single instance that is awaited during client-side navigation but fetched inside Next.js routeChangeStart events.
Despite fixing some of the performance issues that we’ve found so far with optimization techniques through those two use cases, optimization is still a continuous effort and we’re thankful we already have implemented a good system in place to monitor web performance.
Framework-level Optimization
Sometimes, improving existing apps can only get you so far and this is also the case for us. Our legacy service, while working well, still has suboptimal performance even after various optimizations. Consequently, in addition to some other technical reasons, we decided to build an entirely new SDK for our customer-facing sites (codenamed TVLK5). With this scheme, we observed a 30–60% improvement across all lighthouse metrics on top of already optimized pages using previous approaches.
Figure 6. Performance metrics for pilot release of TVLK5 service back in December 2019. Many more improvements have been made since then.
There were a lot of changes in TVLK5 that may warrant another post but here are four approaches that contributed to better overall performance:
No External CSS
We stop using external CSS files via CSS Modules as it’s tricky to work with in some code splitting scenarios due to how style rules are applied based on insertion.
We replace it with a single critical style that is generated on server-render time. This new approach allows us to code-split the components with more confidence even with JS disabled.
There’s no exact number of how much this method alone improves performance as we’re also rewriting our components using the new design system from scratch. Based on unscientific measurement, it contributes to a significant improvement in the Speed Index alone.
We’re also able to move away from extracting optional critical styles at build time as not only is it prone to flaky results, but it’s also hard to set up & maintain.
Native Web APIs Utilization
We promote the use of standard browser API instead of npm modules such as Intl.DateFormat and Intl.NumberFormat over moment or date-fns and accounting respectively. We also add selective polyfills for Intl APIs using polyfill.io.
To support these efforts, we provide guaranteed interoperability between our API response and browser API input by using BCP47 language tag and ISO 4217 country code. We also make sure that our docs show an example of using these standard APIs.
Figure 7. In the currency section of our docs, we show users how to format using Intl.NumberFormat API.
Framework-specific Bundle Optimization
We provide alternative methods to improve web performance even more on a framework level in TVLK5 by initially adding the following two module loading patterns:
Progressive Hydration . Server-side rendered component that’s only loaded & hydrated after it’s visible on the screen using IntersectionObserver API.
. Server-side rendered component that’s only loaded & hydrated after it’s visible on the screen using IntersectionObserver API. Static Subtree. Server-side rendered component that doesn’t create client-side JS bundle, yet it still works on client-side navigation.
Another small change that changed the development way of TVLK5 was adding support for .client.ts file extension.
As our app is developed universally (for both server and client) using React components, having a special file extension for browser bundles makes previously tricky patterns become manageable.
In fact, both module loading patterns above are implemented using that special file extension.
API Call & SSR Logic Refactor
Previously, we fetched all API calls needed to server-render our site serially partly due to how we leveraged self-contained Express middleware. Over time, our Time to First Byte (TTFB) worsened because of this pattern.
Figure 8. Previous critical rendering path blocked by series of API calls.
As we rebuilt our site from the ground up, we identified the API that can be fetched in parallel. We also deferred some APIs to be fetched on the client-side to reduce server load even further.
Figure 9. Critical rendering path in TVLK5.
As an additional measure, we also added a few Server-Timing headers for better visibility of our TTFB breakdown. We’re also currently experimenting with API preload so that critical client-side API calls don’t need to wait for JS and React Hydrate to start fetching.
Above the Fold Optimization
While in the previous two sections, we’ve discussed global and framework-level optimizations that mostly happen in the “backstage”, we also have “frontstage” optimization that’s catered specific to a particular product or feature.
This optimization involves our third constraint: the Backend-defined Views (that we mentioned in the introduction section). The most common use case is to display an image carousel with different layout configurations.
Figure 10. Examples of Backend-defined Views UI.
As you probably notice, pages with this functionality (and layout) instantly become image-heavy pages. Considering image as the top contender for performance bottleneck, you can imagine the UX degradation in this scenario as it’s used as above the fold content.
To make matters worse, this is client-side rendered, which means users have to wait for TTFB, JS load, API call to finish prior to image rendering — four steps with varying degrees of bottlenecks.
“Smart” Server Rendering
The first change that we made was to customize the rendering behavior. Switching to SSR is not as straightforward as you might think because being developed client-side first means the way we usually implement layout (based on configured aspect ratio from the backend) assumes we have preliminary access to viewport width in JS.
In SSR, this assumption no longer works and we had to rewrite those calculations to use CSS calc function and abstract an AspectRatioContainer component to polyfill aspect-ratio CSS feature.
Next is balancing between slow API calls with Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric and Speed Index. If we wait until the API call is resolved, the user might stare at the blank screen for a while. To prevent such occurrences, we provide a timeout to server API calls and render UI skeleton if it passes our threshold and continue fetching and rendering in client-side.
That is something that React Suspense SSR can help but unfortunately, we have to settle with a few boilerplates as it’s not currently supported yet.
Image Optimization Checklist
It’s important if you have an image-heavy page that you use an image-serving proxy or CDN whose main benefits are resizing images on the fly (since the page is rendered dynamically based on screen width) and serving next-gen images without worrying about browser support. There’s a few paid services like Cloudinary, Imgix, or ImageKit. You can also host your own service.
A non-CDN consideration is Device Pixel Ratio (DPR). Image-serving CDN has the ability to serve dynamic images with the best quality possible to matching devices without making a tradeoff between quality and file size. Of course, it’s trickier if you consider SSR. But in most cases, you can get away with choosing the default DPR value based on the common device pattern that you see in your analytics.
Adding preload also helps to prioritize image loading. The key to preloading images is balancing the number of specified preloads with the network limit. In our case, we only preload the first 2 images in the first 3 sections of any page. This value is calculated based on the common screen size and UI configuration that are typically served to the users.
To avoid double fetching, you have to make sure all preloaded images use the same DPR value (or any image query)
Figure 11. An example of double fetching of the same image because of specifying different URL (query string).
Lastly, consider setting good defaults for your image component. For example, we set importance="low" and loading="lazy" by default so that we only need to explicitly configure them when we want a different loading strategy. In our observation, using JS-based lazy-loaded images resulted in a relatively poor performance. So, we opt to use native API without polyfill. But your mileage may vary in your own environment.
Other SSR tips for better LCP
When you’re doing server-side rendering with universal (or some people call isomorphic) approach, it’s possible to have different rendering methods for server and client, whose component depends on browser-specific API. However, if you’re not careful, you might end up with a lower performance score than before or worse, a broken or unintended rendering behavior.
In general, you should avoid relying on typeof window expression directly in render and use component lifecycle or effects instead to determine which environment such component renders in. The Perils of Rehydration explains an issue perfectly when there’s a mismatch between server & client.
We had stumbled upon a peculiar case as well (which is understandable given our unusual approach as followed). In our app, we wrap the root component with React.Suspense API because there are a few other APIs that leverage Suspense for data fetching on the client-side. The problem arose due to our utilization of Next.js, whose code was also used for server-side rendering and Suspense is not yet supported in SSR.
Initially, we worked around this roadblock by using a special client extension that replaced React.Suspense API with React.Fragment on the server. It turned out this approach caused a severe performance issue albeit oblivious to the UX (at least based on our testing) as it caused React to trigger repaint on hydration, which in turn, caused LCP timing to be recalculated even though there was no visible changes in the screenshot timeline before and after LCP was measured (we even compared those two images pixel by pixel).
We finally fixed this issue by removing the top level Suspense and wrapping other Suspense boundaries using react-no-ssr wrapper. This approach decreased our LCP timing from 4.8s to 0.8s. A massive improvement in the Lighthouse score and yet, no noticeable difference in the actual user experience.
User Experience > Lighthouse Score
Finally, I want to end this post with a note that UX triumphs over any metric any day. Lighthouse score should only be used as a proxy and not as an ultimacy (to get a perfect score by sacrificing UX or worse, by cheating in measurement).
Let’s revisit the previous case of Backend-defined Views performance improvement that can be seen below in Figure 12:
Figure 12. Previous Backend-defined Views rendering timeline.
And compare it to the after-version in a similar time slice below in Figure 13:
Figure 13. Current Backend-defined Views rendering timeline.
Can you guess the score differences between the two? Not that much actually. They basically have the same score.
But which is actually better in terms of user experience? Due to the difference in perceived performance, I’d say it’s the second one because I could see the contents displayed faster in the second approach.
With more tools available for us to measure, monitor, and improve web performance, we should always remember that ultimately what we need to improve is the user experience. Perceived performance is harder to measure and yet reflects more of the actual user experience in using your sites or apps.
As you rely on Continuous Integration (CI) to prevent any regression of your web performance, you also have to keep testing it using real and most commonly used devices and see how the experience feels.
Recap
Techniques to improve web performance vary depending on the constraints that you have but the fundamental principles stay the same: reducing bundle size to the minimal, deferring loading unused resources on the first interaction, loading the right resources just-in-time as they’re needed, preparing optimized loading strategy for further interactions, and utilizing predictive loading to make screen transitions faster.. Moreover, always think as a real user and prioritize contents that matter most to them.
Besides UX and application architecture, you also need to have a good knowledge of bundler and its ecosystem. The flexibility and diversity of the JavaScript ecosystem means it’s hard to find the right tools that perform well for all scenarios without any adjustment. Sometimes, you need to get your hands dirty debugging and configuring bundler to get optimal results. Tools like webpack-bundle-analyzer, Chrome DevTools JS coverage, or source-map-explorer can help you find spots to maximize improvements.
The most important thing is to have a good culture in place where engineers care about web performance and have the right tools to warn the metrics you care about of any regression. These are some of the ways you can keep improving your web performance as you develop more features or even new products. | https://medium.com/traveloka-engineering/improving-traveloka-web-performance-975d3b406f01 | ['Fatih Kalifa'] | 2020-12-02 03:04:40.902000+00:00 | ['Web Development', 'Web Performance', 'Traveloka', 'Optimization'] |
A Personalised Recommender from the BBC | The BBC produces fantastic content that appeals to a mass audience such as Killing Eve and Bodyguard on BBC iPlayer, the Danger Mouse games for CBBC, and Match of the Day on the BBC Sport, to name a few. While it’s great that we can produce content that is enjoyed by so many different people it does create data science challenges around understanding the personalities and preferences of individuals. Episode 1 of Killing Eve, for example, attracted a whopping 26% of the TV audience during first transmission.
Term frequency-inverse document frequency (tf-idf) is a metric most associated with text analysis and, in particular, as a rudimentary search engine. It assigns a weight to each text document that tells us how relevant each one is to a particular search term. The success of tf-idf is largely down to the inverse document frequency part that penalises popular words in the search term. Common words such as “the” carry far less information than more niche words like “BBC”. This is how tf-idf differs from simply counting the occurrences of the search terms in each document.
Here at the BBC, we’re using tf-idf for entirely different applications: recommender systems.
By analysing how our audience interacts with our content we can infer similarity between different TV shows on BBC iPlayer, or articles on BBC News. This allows us to make more relevant recommendations and improve the experience that we offer. In terms of content association, our top hitters that have mass appeal reveal less information about a user’s specific interests. Hence, tf-idf allows us to make recommendations that are relevant on an individual user basis rather than just serving up our top content in all recommendations.
In the next post in this series I will discuss how, with the addition of a network graph community detection algorithm, we can use tf-idf to identify topics or genres of content that are defined by user behaviours. This allows us to enrich our metadata, improve recommendations and audience segmentations. | https://medium.com/bbc-data-science/a-personalised-recommender-from-the-bbc-237400178494 | ['Matt Crooks'] | 2019-11-19 08:46:00.250000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Recommendation System', 'Tf Idf', 'Recommender Systems'] |
Guan Yin Speaks. Day 13, Your mind is a snake. | “Greetings. This is Guan Yin.
I offer no disrespect to snakes, they are a useful part of the ecosystem and are often beautiful, as is this fellow in the above picture.
Snakes do, however, share certain traits and qualities that line up with the human mind. They are stealthy, opportunistic and sometimes lethal. They can find their way under, around, and over almost anything. Not to say this is necessarily bad, if this ability is harnessed.
Yes, your mind can kill you. If you live in a continuous fire hose stream of thoughts thoughts thoughts, ever in the future and the past, there can be little growth. If that thought stream is negative and toxic, filled with fear, judgment, and anger, your life-force can shrivel and diminish to the point of physical death. You will be cut off from the ever renewing healing and rejuvenating power of your own Divine nature.
I entirely understand how challenging it is to redirect and in time, stop thought. The human is hardwired to think, to problem solve, plan. We feel entitled to aggrieved thinking. You don’t NEED to do that.
Whaaaat? You may say? If I don’t plan ahead what will happen! If I don’t remember what happened with that guy 10 years ago, I might forget how I was hurt, and somehow he’s getting away with it.
Well my dear ones, I will tell you that life works much better when you take your hands off the wheel, and allow that Divine presence which is in you to steer. It is much smarter and more able than your mortal dream self.
It comes down to attention. See how appealing the yellow snake looks? So benign, almost sweet. Like the snake, your mind is just waiting for the rabbit of your inattention to round the corner so it can devour it and go on with its ceaseless chatter.
Ceasing thought is not only difficult, but probably dangerous for your mental health. So let’s look at replacement therapy. Really examine your thoughts as often as possible. Most likely you’ve got a negative mindset, attitude and belief stream going on. Begin several times in the day to stop and look at a thought.
“That idiot should learn to drive.”
“Wow, she’s gotten a little chubby there…”
“Why don’t those people listen to reason? Can’t they see that they’re being duped?”
And so forth. And so forth, and on and on. Stop now and then and look at one thought, and ask yourself, is this thought kind? Loving? Helpful? Then in that listening moment, ask forgiveness for the harmful thought. Replace that thought with a mantra that you love. Do that until the whole of your being settles and grounds itself, smile. Go on with your day.
What does that do, you ask? Well if you do it a thousand times a day, it starts to add up. You begin to see, to perceive, to feel what your thought life is creating for you. Make no mistake, if you don’t create your life, your ego snake mind will do it for you. It is doing that now.
Do a mirror practice. Think,
“Oh God I look fat and old.”
See what your face looks like when you say that.
Now look into your own eyes deeply, say,
“My life is God’s life, radiant with light, ever young.”
See the difference?
What do you want? That is not an aimless question. What DO you want?
The lodestar is coming to a place of no-thought, where your Divine self can shine and direct traffic for you. Time is short. Train your mind. Make a decision, discipline yourself. You will thank yourself.
That is all. I truly love you.”
Flowed through Kristin Strachan. Guan Yin Lineage holder, teacher, student of Master Zhi Gang Sha, spiritual practitioner in Colorado.
compassionbuddha.net | https://medium.com/@kristinstrachan/guan-yin-speaks-day-13-your-mind-is-a-snake-d2f2e318573c | ['Kristin Strachan'] | 2020-12-22 21:47:07.400000+00:00 | ['Snake', 'Guan Yin', 'No Thought', 'Monkey Mind', 'Mind'] |
How to keep your Battery healthy | Many people asked me how to really keep the battery’s life as long as possible. I’ll soon write my bachelor thesis in Computer Science at a Bavarian Technical University of Applied Sciences and had a basics course in Electrical Engineering. Due to the importance of such batteries in my study, I have learned more about it and have been informing my friends and family about the correct usage. I worked at a company in the field of digital health what brought me experience concerning the current topic.
LiPo batteries in a nutshell
A lithium polymer battery is rechargeable and of lithium-ion technology. The voltage of a LiPo cell varies from about 2.7 - 3.0 V (discharged) to about 4.2 V when fully charged. Usually, the embedded developers implement artificial voltage limits (low and high) to protect the battery a bit.
Temperatures and charging duration
LiPo cells don’t stand cold or hot temperatures in the long run. Further, they suffer damage when they get discharged them to 20 % or less too often. battery or charging it more than 80 %. It is better to charge your phone more often than discharging and charging it almost completely. You can charge a phone over 80 % without really damaging it, as long as you use the battery until you reach the limit of 80 % in the next minutes or rather hours.
Furthermore, the best idea would be to keep the battery level at 50 % which is impossible (more or less).
Got a new smartphone*! How to deal with it?
Yes, the rumor that the phone should not be used immediately after unpacking it is right. Often, the batteries are in a long-term preservation to prevent harming it while storing over months or years. To get the whole battery capacity, you can wake it up by charging it about 100 %. Note, you should use the 20 - 30 % in the following time. But after charging, you can install and initialize your device.
* a device running with a LiPo battery
Charging overnight
Generally, I try to avoid charging my iPhone overnight. In a normal night I definitely get more than 2 - 3 hours sleep which means the battery is still charging in the morning although it reached 100 %. As a battery, this must feel like hell. In the morning, while I have breakfast and a shower, the device is charged until a maximum of 80 % when needed.
Charging continuously
Some people don’t care about their laptop, they don’t disconnect the cable after reaching even 100 %. As I had to learn, batteries wear out very fast when you don’t unplug it from the power supply.
An artificial 80 % battery limit
Some manufacturers have a feature which stops the power supply when reaching 80 %. Apple, for instance, implemented a new feature using machine learning technology to learn when you wake up (to reach 100 % until then). It waits to finish charging past 80 % until you use it. I really can’t understand why anyone would implement such a feature while it would be way easier and more useful to implement an artificial limit of 80 %. This protection really helps the battery, because you could never overcharge it until you disable the feature (when you need the full capacity). The physical and software side implementation exists and works for a long time, the iPhone blocks the power supply when charging it with the laptop or other computers in some cases.
Monthly calibration
A battery should be calibrated every month. This can be done by discharging and charging it fully (yes, about 100 %). You can charge some minutes longer after reaching 100 % since the maximum battery is often less than 4.2 V. You should then have the full capacity again.
My experience
All my phones I had had their full capacity of 100 % for a very long time such as the current, which is about 9 months old. Of course, I have followed the tips above for years. I would recommend everyone who cares about battery capacity to follow my article. | https://medium.com/@danielhentzschel/how-to-keep-your-battery-healthy-80d8a1a4bdb7 | ['Daniel Hentzschel'] | 2019-09-25 17:23:57.507000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Embedded Systems', 'Battery', 'Computers', 'Smartphones'] |
Musonius Rufus, Roman Philosopher | This is a summary of a lecture given by the Roman philosopher, Musonius Rufus (lived in the 1st century CE), on the subject of training in philosophy as a way of life. It is a contemporaneous record of what he said in a discourse, recorded by one of his students. The emphasis is on what is necessary to act virtuously, and the underpinning that he considers necessary to live an ethical life while standing up to difficult circumstances. There are many stories about his stoicism, as in this anecdote about him:
According to Philostratus, once when Musonius was lying chained in the prison of Nero, his friend, Apollonius of Tyana, secretly communicated with him, inquiring what he might do to help release him. Musonius’ reply was a brief acknowledgment of Apollonius’ thoughtfulness and a polite but firm refusal of assistance. Thereupon Apollonius answered in one terse sentence, “Socrates the Athenian refused to be released by his friends, and consequently went to trial and was put to death.” To which. Musonius answered, “ Socrates was put to death because he did not take the trouble to defend himself, but I intend to make my defense. Farewell.”
…….
Lecture VI: On training
He was always earnestly urging those who were associated with him to make practical application of his teachings, using some such arguments as the following. Virtue, he said, is not simply theoretical knowledge, but it is practical application as well, just like the arts of medicine and music. Therefore, as the physician and the musician not only must master the theoretical side of their respective arts but must also train themselves to act according to their principles, so a man who wishes to become good not only must be thoroughly familiar with the precepts which are conducive to virtue but must also be earnest and jealous in applying these principles. How, indeed, could a person immediately become temperate if he only knew that one must not be overcome by pleasures, but was quite unpracticed in withstanding pleasures? How could one become just when he had learned that one must love fairness but had never exercised himself in avoidance of selfishness and greed? How could we acquire courage if we had merely learned that the things which seem dreadful to the average person are not to be feared, but had no experience in showing courage in the face of such things? How could we become prudent if we had come to recognize what things are truly good and what evil, but had never had practice in despising things which only seem good? Therefore upon the learning of the lessons appropriate to each and every excellence, practical training must follow invariably, if indeed from the lessons we have learned we hope to derive any benefit. And moreover such practical exercise is the more important for the student of philosophy than for the student of medicine or any similar art, the more philosophy claims to be a greater and more difficult discipline than any other. study. The reason for this is that men who enter the other professions have not had their souls corrupted beforehand and have not learned the opposite of what they are going to be taught, but the ones who start out to study philosophy have been born and reared in an environment filled with corruption and evil, and therefore turn to virtue in such a state that they need a longer and more thorough training. How, then, and in what manner should they receive such training? Since it so happens that the human being is not soul alone, nor body alone, but a kind of synthesis of the two, the person in training must take care of both, the better part, the soul, more zealously, as is fitting, but also of the other, if he shall not be found lacking in any part that constitutes man. For obviously the philosopher’s body should be well prepared for physical activity, because often the virtues make use of this as a necessary instrument for the affairs of life. Now there are two kinds of training, one which is appropriate for the soul alone, and the other which is common to both soul and body. We use the training common to both when we discipline ourselves to cold, heat, thirst, hunger, meager rations, hard beds, avoidance of pleasures, and patience under suffering. For by these things and others like them the body is strengthened and becomes capable of enduring hardship, sturdy and ready for any task; the soul too is strengthened since it is trained for courage by patience under hardship and for self-control by abstinence from pleasures. Training which is peculiar to the soul consists first of all in seeing that the proofs pertaining to apparent goods as not being real goods are always ready at hand and likewise those pertaining to apparent evils as not being real evils, and in learning to recognize the things which are truly good and in becoming accustomed to distinguish them from what are not truly good. In the next place it consists of practice in not avoiding any of the things which only seem evil, and in not pursuing any of the things which only seem good; in shunning by every means those which are truly evil and in pursuing by every means those which are truly good.
In summary, then, I have tried to tell what the nature of each type of training is. I shall not, however, endeavor to discuss how the training should be carried out in detail, by analyzing and distinguishing what is appropriate for the soul and the body in common and what is appropriate for the soul alone, but by presenting without fixed order what is proper for each. It is true that all of us who have participated in philosophic discussion have heard and apprehended that neither pain nor death nor poverty nor anything else which is free from wrong is an evil, and again that wealth, life, pleasure, or anything else which does not partake of virtue is not a good. And yet, in spite of understanding this, because of the depravity which has become implanted in us straight from childhood and because of evil habits engendered by this depravity, when hardship comes we think an evil has come upon us, and when pleasure comes our way we think that a good has befallen us; we dread death as the most extreme misfortune; we cling to life as the greatest blessing, and when we give away money we grieve as if we were injured, but upon receiving it we rejoice as if a benefit had been conferred. Similarly with the majority of other things, we do not meet circumstances in accordance with right principles, but rather we follow wretched habit. Since, then, I repeat, all this is the case, the person who is in training must strive to habituate himself not to love pleasure, not to avoid hardship, not to be infatuated with living, not to fear death, and in the case of goods or money not to place receiving above giving. | https://medium.com/@malcolmschosha/musonius-rufus-roman-philosopher-e1db93dcb7d | ['Malcolm Schosha'] | 2020-12-27 18:37:15.912000+00:00 | ['Stoicism', 'Philosophy'] |
The Snow Ball | I found this little verse in an old notebook with other poems intended for children. I always felt like this wasn’t complete, but perhaps it’s best left short and sweet. I imagine this as the text on an invitation to a winter celebration.
You may also like: | https://medium.com/an-idea/the-snow-ball-be78d90c6556 | ['Joy Scrogum'] | 2020-12-13 03:11:59.206000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Party Invitation', 'Childrens Poetry', 'Snowman', 'Winter'] |
KYC improvements for the Eidoo ICO Engine | Because of the feedback we received during these days, we decided to ease the KYC process needed to verify you on icoengine.net.
In fact, from now on we will also accept Tier 1 for all ICOs, so it isn’t required to complete Tier 2 to join token sales.
The decision of the user to complete a Tier is related to the amount he/she wants to use during the year: 3000 CHF for Tier 1, 500'000 CHF for Tier 2, unlimited for Tier 3.
The reason why we started to ask you a KYC is the ICO regulation: companies who organize their ICOs won’t be able to move the funds they rise if they cannot demonstrate banks who gave them that money.
Please read this guide to register yourself on the website and to fill Tier 1 correctly (English version — Italian version). | https://medium.com/eidoo/kyc-improvements-for-the-eidoo-ico-engine-d2e938b16aee | ['Amelia Tomasicchio'] | 2018-02-22 11:31:13.882000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'ICO', 'Token Sale', 'Blockchain'] |
TV review: Agents of SHIELD — ‘Shadows’ | The string of entertaining and surprising episodes that Agents of SHIELD began to pull together at the close of its ropey first season continues with ‘Shadows’, a solid premiere that throws us back into the uncertain world of the agents with an added edge of hopelessness and desperation as they lay everything on the line to gain something that barely gives them an advantage in the war against Hydra.
To make matters worse, they even lose the important MacGuffin in the process of securing themselves a quinjet that is capable of being cloaked. The real kicker is seeing that Fitz has been trying to work on such technology and has made no headway, as he talks to a hallucination of Simmons while struggling to recall the scientific knowledge he had before Ward tried to kill the two of them last season.
As far as the others go, we can see that Skye and May now have a really effective working partnership in the field and that Coulson has become somewhat reclusive. Ward’s locked up (in a cell that bizarrely seems to have no bars) and has apparently gone through a couple of suicidal experiences. Chances are, no matter what he says, he can’t be trusted. Although, without Garrett to command him, what kind of man is Ward meant to be anymore?
There are a whole host of new characters too, and none of them have a particularly great time working alongside the SHIELD agents, ending up in a car crash after Lucy Lawless’s Isabelle Hartley has been forced to have her hand sliced off (courtesy of said mysterious MacGuffin, which is introduced in an early sequence that’ll get people excited for the upcoming Agent Carter series starring Hayley Atwell) and Nick Blood’s Lance Hunter has likely sustained some serious injuries of his own.
The best addition is on the villainous side of things, though, as new character Carl Creel (Brian Patrick Wade) provides the first truly menacing superpowered foe for our heroes. This character, also known as the Absorbing Man, is straight from the comics and he has the ability to take on the properties of whatever material he comes into contact with. It’s going to make him difficult to defeat and I’m looking forward to seeing what the show decides to do with him next.
All in all, this is a really decent return for SHIELD that should reassure fans that the improvements it made at the end of Season 1 were more than just momentum built off the great twist in Captain America 2. There’s a lot to be excited about here, some of the execution is still clumsy, but it has a very watchable quality and I’m hopeful about the signs of where this is going.
Agents of SHIELD airs on Channel 4, on Fridays at 8pm | https://simonc.me.uk/tv-review-agents-of-shield-shadows-8c39f52a629e | ['Simon Cocks'] | 2016-11-14 18:01:25.040000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'TV', 'Marvel', 'Review'] |
Is the Electric Vehicle hype well deserved? | Lets find out……..
Probably not, at least in India. We are a country with a vehicle population of over 25.3 crores (2017) most of which are concentrated in the metro cities, the cities with extremely high population density, most of whom are living in tall buildings. Developing the charging infrastructure in such cities is difficult, main reasons being
1. An EV takes at least 7–8hrs of time to get fully charged, fast charging is an option but that is advised to use only in emergency situation by the manufacturers.
2. Space is a big constraint, where to leave our vehicle for charging overnight?? …and the first and last mile that needs to be travelled to reach the charging station would also be a great challenge.
If we want to see EV as an option we will have to create charging infrastructure for our cars next to / within our residential / commercial complexes. This option may not be as practical as it sounds as developing this type of infrastructure is costly and our country does not have that kind of disposable cash as of now or in the coming few years.
But we can surely have a greater impact of EV’s in the two-wheeler and the three-wheeler market, and also in shuttle service, because
1. Batteries are small
2. Time required for charging is less
3. Battery swapping is possible because of compact battery
This 2 and 3-wheeler market is expected to represent over a $500 billion industry in India by 2025.
OPPORTUNITIES:
EV’s are Cheaper to maintain:
While the price of an EV may look a lot more than petrol or diesel cars, the cost of running this EV is way less than your normal car. Buying this EV would get even cheaper with government bringing out new schemes, incentives and tax benefits for Carbon free vehicles and also various discounts in charging infrastructure.
Maintenance: the cost of maintaining an EV is way less than a normal petrol/diesel car as they have very few moving parts main components being inverter, motor and battery. But unfortunately, these cars can’t be repaired at your roadside garage.
Better for the environment, better for you:
These cars have zero tailpipe emission actually they don’t even have a tailpipe. With the technology advancing the range of EVs is increasing at a light speed so say goodbye to range anxiety. So, to sum it up the future of driving is bright and clean.
OBSTACLES:
Battery improvements:
Since the first battery was invented in 1799 using only copper and zinc, researchers have harnessed many other elements, each with its unique properties, for use in batteries.
But there hasn’t been much progress in batteries the past 200 years. As there are only 118 elements’ in the periodic table and we have very few elements that don’t react with each other. So, for making that radical change in the battery performance there are constant innovations going on like the foam batteries or the graphene battery which might be able to solve some of problem but coming up some new ones.
Amount of element’s used to manufacture a 70 KwH battery is approximately 250 kg of rare earth metals of course we can’t connect all dots but yeah, we need to think of the second order effect to. (Are we harming the environment in some other way, to protect it from greenhouse gases?)
Place where your electricity is generated:
About 80% of India electricity comes from burning fossil fuels and 74% of it electricity is generated by burning coal, so even if you are thinking that you are protecting the environment by driving an EV, 80% of the time you are wrong because the damage has already been done at some other place even if it’s not visible. But there is a positive side to this problem with the world relying more and more on renewable sources of energy generations and we might be able to tackle this problem to some extent in the recent future.
And also, we have 52 years of gasoline (petrol/diesel) left at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves.
So, the problem is not that gasoline would get exhausted because of continuous use, the problem is the ever-increasing air pollution.
Battery life:
The problem with a battery is that as the charge of the battery exhausts to less than 30%, the vehicle can’t be operated at the max possible performance levels, which is not seen in petrol/diesel vehicles. And as the battery gets old it gets discharged faster and you need to charge it more frequently. You must have seen this in your old laptop, as the laptop gets older it gets discharged way faster than compared to when it was new but with upcoming innovations, we hope to tackle this problem.
“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.” — Robert H. Shuller
Conclusion:
Yes! EV’s are going to have vast impact on our lives irrespective of the country we live in. So, get ready to experience cheap and clean commutes.
But good things take time, be patient and stay tuned in to see the world make a paradigm shift and also be a part in making the world a better place by contributing in any which way you can. | https://medium.com/@kotkarsubodh27/is-the-electric-vehicle-hype-well-deserved-fb238aca7b35 | ['Subodh Kotkar'] | 2020-12-09 03:15:37.720000+00:00 | ['Future Of Mobility', 'Sustainability', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Zero Emission Vehicles', 'Mobility'] |
The words that sway. | Imagine: This word appeals to your target’s imagination and emotion. You ask them to create their own picture.
Would you be interested in…: You are making a suggestion to your interlocutor, giving them the power to decide while at the same time arousing their curiosity, a common trait that we all have to a certain degree.
Do you prefer … or …?: A classic. You are only offering two options, both working for you. Your audience feels like they have some sort of power and control because everyone likes to have choices in the things they do.
Surprisingly: using this word implies that you were expecting less, whether you are talking about a person or a situation, and therefore sets a lower bar in the mind of your interlocutor.
Seriously?: used as an exclamation, it is a subtle way to bring discredit over someone’s argument. | https://medium.com/whatisepeolatry/the-words-that-sway-a9115f9eadb6 | ['Vanessa P'] | 2021-02-23 17:33:23.465000+00:00 | ['Language', 'Sales', 'Linguistics', 'Communication Skills', 'Negotiation'] |
Apache Spark: 5 Performance Optimization Tips | Apache Spark: 5 Performance Optimization Tips
So recently my team and I started writing down lessons and conclusions from every issue we had with Spark. In this post I’m going to give you 5 interesting tips, that are quite specific, and you may face some issues in which knowing those tips can solve the problem. I hope you’ll find them valuable.
1) Parquet schema Vs. Hive Metastore in SparkSQL
When reading a Hive table made of Parquet files, you should notice that Spark has a unique way of relating to the schema of the table. As you may know, the Parquet format stores the table schema in its footer. That’s why sometimes there can be some conflicts between the Parquet schema and the Hive schema (in the Metastore).
When Spark reads a Hive/Parquet table, it generates a new schema by the following rules:
In case of columns that have the same name in both the Parquet schema and the Hive Metastore, but not the same datatype, Spark will choose the Parquet datatype. This is very important to know, and its the reason I’m writing this tip.
A few weeks ago, we had an issue of reading a column that was of type timestamp in the Hive Metastore, but the type in the Parquet schema was string and because the code performed a cast to long — the whole process didn’t work. It took us some time to recognize the conflict. The new generated SparkSQL schema will contain only the columns that appear in the Hive Metastore, any Parquet columns that doesn’t appear there will be emitted.
Further reading: http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/sql-data-sources-parquet.html#hive-metastore-parquet-table-conversion
2) JDBC fetch size in SparkSQL
SparkSQL enables reading from a lot of databases through JDBC. Therefore, Spark supports many features that JDBC offers, one of them is the fetchsize — which will be the subject of this tip.
This parameter is very important because of 2 cases:
If the fetch size is too big, we’ll try to process to much data in one time and we may face some GC problems or Out-Of-Memory errors. But that’s actually not the common case. If the fetch size is too small, and we need to fetch a massive amount of data, the network overhead will be high and dramatically slow down the process. That’s actually something we faced because the default value of the parameter for Oracle is 10 , we raised it to 50,000 and the process ran 5 times faster.
Further reading: http://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/sql-data-sources-jdbc.html
3) spark.sql.shuffle.partitions
Shuffling in Spark happens after a groupby , join , or any operations of that sort. The number of the partitions after a shuffle is determined by the value in the parameter spark.sql.shuffle.partitions , the default value is 200 . It means that if you didn’t change that value, after every shuffle that occurs you have 200 partitions, which can be quite a lot in some cases.
You should adjust this parameter to your specific case:
The number of partitions should be at least the number of the cores running your code (and you should actually set it to 2–3 times more than that).
The maximum size of a single partitions is limited by the memory of a single executor, therefore you should make sure to set enough partitions and avoid over-sized ones.
Too few partitions can lead to unused cores (wasted resources). On the other hand, too many will heavy on the tasks scheduling and management (because there will be a lot of tasks), and it can be an overhead.
Further reading: https://www.talend.com/blog/2018/03/05/intro-apache-spark-partitioning-need-know/
4) Join a small DataFrame with a big one
To improve performance when performing a join between a small DF and a large one, you should broadcast the small DF to all the other nodes. This is done by hinting Spark with the function sql.functions.broadcast() . Before that, it will be advised to coalesce the small DF to a single partition.
Notice that we use coalesce instead of repartition , because coalesce doesn’t invoke a full shuffle.
PySpark example:
from pyspark.sql.functions import broadcast smallDF = smallDF.coalesce(1)
largeDF.join(broadcast(smallDF), largeDF.id == smallDF.id)
5) “Container killed by YARN for exceeding memory limits…”
This tip is written thanks to the profound research of my colleague (and dear friend) Shani Alisar.
If you’re using Spark on YARN for more than a day, I’m sure you have come across the following errors:
Container killed by YARN for exceeding memory limits ... of ... physical memory used. Consider boosting spark.yarn.executer.memoryOverhead
Container killed on request. Exit code is ...
Those are very common errors which basically says that your app used too much memory. Or more precisely — the driver or the executers reached the maximum container memory and got killed by YARN.
How to avoid it
Repartition: Make sure to spread your data among enough partitions, and that every partition will consist an equal amount of data (see tip #3 above). Set a lower number of cores in spark.executor.cores , fewer cores will cause less parallel tasks under the same executor. Make sure the number of course is efficiently correlated to the number of partitions (again, tip #3). The default values are: YARN mode: 1, Standalone: all available cores. Boosting the memory overhead: The overhead is the gap between the container memory and the process memory (executor JVM max heap). We define this gap in order to keep the process running in the peaks, and not get killed because of the container memory limit. Therefore, if we increase the following parameters: spark.yarn.driver.memoryOverhead and spark.yarn.executor.memoryOverhead , we will be better prepared for the peaks, but the trade-off will be some performance loss — because the GC will work harder. The default value for those parameters is 10% of the defined memory ( spark.executor.memory or spark.driver.memory ) GC Tuning: You should check the GC time per Task or Stage in the Spark Web UI. If you think it doesn’t run in the optimal frequency — you can try play with the values of the related Java parameters in spark.executor.extraJavaOptions : -XX:OldSize={SIZE} -XX:MaxNewSize={SIZE} -XX:NewSize:{SIZE}
Further reading: https://databricks.com/blog/2015/05/28/tuning-java-garbage-collection-for-spark-applications.html For pyspark developers: Try setting a lower value to the spark.executor.memory parameter. The reason is, when you run pyspark — it involves 2 processes: an on-heap JVM process and an off-heap python process. The parameter defines the size of the heap, and both processes are limited by the container memory. Therefore, the larger the heap, the less memory the python process will have, and you may reach the container’s limit faster.
Great lecture about Spark memory management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTR30Fy02Yo
I hope you found those tips useful and informative. I tried to make it short because there is really a lot to say about some of those topics, but for the purpose of this post I think this level of detail is fine.
As always, I encourage you to correct me, ask questions and generally discuss the post in the comments. | https://medium.com/@adirmashiach/apache-spark-5-performance-optimization-tips-4d85ae7ac0e3 | ['Adir Mashiach'] | 2019-07-31 23:45:55.200000+00:00 | ['Spark', 'Big Data', 'Yarn', 'Hadoop', 'Apache Spark'] |
The P/E Ratio Captures More Information Than Many Think | A Quick Glance at The Price to Earnings Ratio
The key takeaway regarding the P/E ratio: Starting from it paves the road for a structured analysis based on revealed assumptions instead of implicit ones.
Looking at simple multiples risks omit important information of a company, but it facilitates further analysis and can uncover puzzles that allow the analyst to understand fundamental aspects to a company’s outlook.
All assessments [of a company] boil down to one thing: Whether the company will generate profits, now and in the future
When valuing a business, one must consider many things. Whether a business will thrive depend on a myriad of factors.
Amongst them the strength of management, the capital structure, expectations toward changes in market share, and whether the company has or is building a moat (advantages that allow companies to protect market share and stay profitable enabling some degree of pricing power).
But all assessments boil down to one thing: Whether the company will generate profits, now and in the future.
The P/E ratio expresses the share price relative to the earnings per share (EPS). Thus, it gives the investor a vague indication of whether the cost of ownership is compensated by the value of owning a part of the given company.
But this value depends not only on current earnings but also on the present value of expected future earnings. The P/E ratio doesn’t measure that.
A common intuitive explanation for the P/E ratio goes along the line of “The ratio tells how many years of earnings it would take to equal the stock price.” Yet, that explanation leans on a crucial assumption — that earnings are perpetual.
The P/E ratio can be thought of as a static glimpse of a dynamic variable. Earnings are rarely constant over time.
If a business is growing, its future earnings will imply a larger denominator, meaning the P/E in the future — given the share price don’t move — will be lower. Thus, high expected earnings growth all else equal justifies a high P/E ratio. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/the-p-e-ratio-captures-more-information-than-many-think-2d266c221ae9 | ['Asger Bruhn'] | 2020-12-28 13:13:33.293000+00:00 | ['Finance', 'Investing', 'Economics', 'Venture Capital', 'Stock Market'] |
Why we travel | We travel because there’s nothing like the breathtaking view of a sunset on Kilimanjaro or the the smell of crisp morning air as the sun rises above Yosemite Valley.
We travel to create memories of a lifetime and to be able tell the untold stories waiting to be told. We embrace that our lives have the potential to be the greatest stories we’ll ever write and that travel helps us realize it.
We travel because we are driven by curiosity and a desire to be surprised. To be moved. To be educated. To keep feeling feelings for the first time, because there is nothing quite like it. Because we aren’t in this to see what we already know, but to see how much more there is to learn. And we know this will help us find the horizon that stretches beyond what we have already achieved in life.
We travel to immerse ourselves in traditions of distant cultures — from the streets of Havana to the peaks of the Andes. What we find is that we’re all kindred spirits, just as curious about the world as you are. And what we experience is the freedom of feeling connected to the world.
We travel to find out who we are. To find the unknown in our hearts and the corners of our own minds. We embark on the chase of our dreams, not only to explore new destinations but also discover what makes us tick, what makes us passionate about life and what it means to be human.
We go traveling to discover what it means to be home.
And that’s what makes us feel alive. | https://medium.com/@kaylatravels/why-we-travel-fa20dd719fa | ['Kayla Williams'] | 2021-03-08 08:35:48.553000+00:00 | ['Travel Writing', 'Travel', 'Reasons To Travel', 'Wanderlust'] |
Introducing the 2021 Civic Innovation Corps members | Introducing the 2021 Civic Innovation Corps members
This week marks the start of the 2021 Civic Innovation Corps! 55 Corps members kicked off the summer on June 14th and will spend the next 10 weeks using their data and technology skills to make government more effective and efficient for all.
The 2021 Civic Innovation Corps marks our inaugural cohort of data scientists, designers, product managers, and software engineers stepping into city and state governments across the country. Several of our team members got our start in state and city governments and have long understood the importance they play in delivering critical services. We’re thrilled to be providing our first cohort of young technologists with similar opportunities.
Corps members will spend the next ten weeks in three states and six cities across the country working on a variety of projects, including several related to COVID-19 recovery. Their summer of service comes at a time when, now, more than ever, we need their skills and we’re grateful for their willingness to serve.
Introducing the 2021 Cohort
55 Civic Innovation Corps members are joining us this summer. Our Corps members reflect the people they will be serving this summer in their diversity of backgrounds and experiences. Our inaugural cohort:
Reflects the diversity of technologists , with a majority of Corps members being women and people of color.
, with a majority of Corps members being women and people of color. Resides in 16 states across the country , from Maryland to Texas, California to Georgia, and Rhode Island to Ohio.
, from Maryland to Texas, California to Georgia, and Rhode Island to Ohio. Holds educational backgrounds from 39 schools and programs , from boot camps and small liberal arts colleges; to certificate programs and large research institutions.
, from boot camps and small liberal arts colleges; to certificate programs and large research institutions. Displays a variety of hobbies and interests, including silent filmmaking, motorcycling, traveling, game designing, bicycling, synchronized swimming, running, figure skating, and much more.
Host Offices
We are so excited to see what this inaugural cohort of Corps members will create, code, design, and build over the next ten weeks. This program would not be possible without our host offices who have joined us in providing opportunities for young technologists to serve with their skills. We would like to thank our partner host offices for making this inaugural summer possible:
As the summer gets underway, we’ll be sharing what our 2021 Civic Innovation Corps members are looking forward to. Keep an eye out for future blogs and be sure to follow us on Medium and Twitter so you don’t miss these introductions. | https://blog.codingitforward.com/introducing-the-2021-civic-innovation-corps-members-a8c8296af308 | ['Ariana Ophelia Soto'] | 2021-08-24 21:22:47.476000+00:00 | ['Coding It Forward', 'Internships', 'Civic Innovation Corps', 'Civictech', 'Local Government'] |
AWS Lambda + FastAPI (Serverless Deployment): Complete CI/CD Pipeline Using GitHub Actions | Let’s build a complete CI/CD workflow using GitHub Actions, FastAPI, AWS Lambda (Serverless Deployment) and AWS S3.
Photo by Manasvita S on Unsplash
Are you burdened with mundane boring and repetitive tasks that delays bringing your magical software product to production? As software/devops engineers focused on bringing our code to life, we all face the same problems where we need to perform tasks that are boring, repetitive and sometimes a total waste of time. For instance, one of them is the process of running the unit tests on various environments and then deploying our software to various delivery platform. The processes takes longer than they should and surely makes our day at work inefficient and unproductive. Have you ever wondered:
How can I automate all these boring repetitive testing and deployment processes?
Do we have any kind of method that could solve these problems?
Don't worry you’re not alone.
I thought about it all the time, till I realized that there is a simple solution to these problems. It is an amazing method in software development world called Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment(CI/CD).
CI/CD is one of the best practices in software development as it reduces the repetitive process of unit testing and the deployment of the software.
This practice undeniably will help the developers in efficiently automating all the steps required for running the automated tests on the server. Plus, it can continuously deploy the application to the deployment platform once it has passed the automated tests. And yes, it is fully automated.
The good news is, all of these processes can be achieved by using a new feature on Github called GitHub Actions!
In this article, we’ll demonstrate you a simple walkthrough on building a complete CI/CD workflow of FastAPI using GitHub Actions and we’ll deploy the API to AWS Lambda.
Let’s Dive in! | https://medium.com/thelorry-product-tech-data/aws-lambda-fastapi-ci-cd-pipeline-with-github-actions-c414866b2d48 | ['Azzan Amin'] | 2021-01-03 03:33:36.519000+00:00 | ['AWS Lambda', 'Ci Cd Pipeline', 'Python', 'Github Actions', 'Fastapi'] |
Be Open To Receive | Pressing in, changing attitude and welcoming the moment…
I had a meeting scheduled the other day, and a full load of work that needed my attention. I could almost feel the palpable wall in my mind I had built up to my hostile feelings about the meeting. It was a Zoom networking meeting and would take an hour plus out of my day. I was not “feeling it”.
“Be Open To Receive” came to my mind. I needed to change my mindset. I thought:
-> Be open to receive community
-> Be open to receive what others had to offer
-> Let this time be designated for this and be present.
When I opened up the Zoom meeting, turned on my video and began, my mind was fresh. I released the negativity and was focused on who would I meet? What would I learn? What relationships could be formed? By having that talk with myself the meeting went by in a breeze and was quite enjoyable.
Do you have things during the day or week that you just don’t want to go for whatever reason?
If we show up with hesitancy we are blocking the universe from sending us gifts. We are telling the world to shut down and not allow natural flow. In order to receive the offerings, the gifts the world is laying at our doorstep… we have to have that talk with ourselves.
In my life, it is natural for me to give. If you need something, just ask me! I am your girl! I have a friend that just drips giving. She truly is amazing. She gives small, thoughtful gifts to everyone that she touches, or touches her. She constantly shows up with a plant, or a small package, or a bag of candles because it is fall and the pumpkin scent is everywhere and she knows I love them! Having said that, I also love to receive. I LOVE A GIFT! This friend I mentioned? She does not want anything. Giver only.
Where do you fall? When someone pays you a compliment, do you receive it graciously with a polite, “thank you” or do you brush it off, unable to receive it?
This week with the 4th of July just happening, enjoy the freedoms that you have. Enjoy the moments with your loved ones, and do something FUN! Be open to receive, even when you don’t feel it. | https://medium.com/@janet-62229/be-open-to-receive-91fe504756b3 | ['Janet Neustedter'] | 2021-07-06 17:37:05.375000+00:00 | ['Welcome The Lord', 'Receive', 'Mindset Shift', 'Mindset Coaching'] |
How to Embrace a Curio? | The Tiluf network is a decentralized mixed reality platform, where Creators create curios and Embracers embrace them. Here, everything is done through transactions — which are necessary to keep the platform decentralized.
•Discover your choice: Tiluf’s explore screen is full of Curios. Click on the explore button in your bottom menu tab, and you’ll see a grid of Curios that other creators have created. You can use the search bar on top if you have anything particular in mind. You can search anyone or anything — Creator, Curios, Sonders, and Embracer by their name or Id.
•Check Availability: If you like a Curio, tap on it. You’ll see the Curio details page. If you find the Embrace option below, then woohoo! This Curio is available for embracing.
However, if you unable to find the Embrace option, it means that the current owner has decided to keep it for a while, and it is not available for others to embrace. In this case, you can contact the current owner through their contact section and negotiate with them to transfer you the Curio.
•Embrace: Whenever you click on Embrace, you’ll get a pop-up transaction box. Enter the price amount, and slide right to complete the transaction. Now, the ownership will be transferred to you.
In case you want to sell the Curio to others, just set a price and change its availability status to ‘Let it go’. Whoever is looking for it can embrace it, and you’ll get coins in exchange! | https://medium.com/tiluf/how-to-embrace-a-curio-867450a12ba7 | [] | 2021-02-03 06:39:24.058000+00:00 | ['Curio', 'Blockchain', 'AR', 'Embrace', 'Tiluf'] |
The Big Dipper | A Short Fiction Tale by Marija Solarevic
Image by Pascal Treichler from Pixabay
You don’t remember the way, but you put your foot on the gas pedal, burning the straight-eight until it purrs on the route to your late uncle’s estate.
Look left: your friend Amber is navigating you by the stars. She’s gazing for guideposts up there. It all looks like alphabet soup to you.
“I need more time. Something is off,” she tells you instead of returning the look. She doesn’t know it’s a race against time. You’re not the heiress. You’re just posing like one.
You’re already late for your appointment with the estate attorney. You weren’t more than a little girl the last time you were visiting. They’ll never know the difference.
“I think we’ve lost our way, muffin” Amber exhales. She’s an odd bird, like one of those migrating ones, holding astronomical knowledge beyond proportion and common sense in that little head of hers.
You stop the car.
The medallion you carry around your swan-like neck slaps your chest with the force of a sledgehammer in full swing. It must be the weight of guilt.
“Is the overlay bothering you?” Amber’s sight has never failed before. Amber looks again, recoiling in disbelief. “No clouds out tonight, Liz.”
You don’t remember the way.
“I don’t see the North Star,” she sniffs.
It’s pitch black. If you check the glove compartment, there won’t be a map. It’s dark enough for you to lose sight of the road. The asphalt blends with the dirt underneath the bushes and the meadow by the lake, and the… wait a minute! You know that lake!
“It doesn’t matter, I know where the manor is!”
It’s the same as you remember it from the time when your uncle would return from his strange travels to Morocco, to India, continuing through the Himalayas, to the Moon and back, you imagined the exotic landscapes you weren’t permitted to witness alongside him.
“And the lights are still on. You’re too important not to be waited for,” Amber is set. “Do you think you got the house?” She’s prying.
“Please, I couldn’t care less.” But you do care a great deal.
“As long as Carlotta didn’t, right?” There’s a ball of spit stopping in the middle of your throat. You swallow with disgust.
As soon as you step on the front porch, a sound arises from inside the manor as the grandfather clock strikes midnight. Amber puts a hand in her pocket as if she’s resting.
The growl vibrates in a way neither man nor beast could imitate.
“It’s okay, Liz. I got your back.”
Will you open the door?
“Don’t call me that. From this point on, it’s Marla Midnight.”
What if the creature is preying from behind?
“Ah, my Lady of the manor.”
You do it, you open the door only to have the thing leap into your face!
It’s a brown stretch with a humid scent, a silver glint in the edge of one’s eye, it’s teeth, claw, and an unholy growl. You both scream. There’s a sound of glasses clanging, a chair scratching the hardwood floors.
Amber’s gun is already out when a boringly dressed litigator enters the lobby. “Ah, there you are,” he feigns to recognize you. You love it when lawyers don’t do their homework.
You look down.
The thing that attacked you is balled up. She’s all teary-eyed and wet snouted. The other animals in the room were stuffed, but this bear cub got lucky. Maybe your uncle started to prep it before he passed away. There’s a curious piece of glass embedded into the skin of its forehead.
The creature blinks, it growls, it turns into a gleeful squee the longer you look. Amber lowers her engraved pistol. The litigator turns a blind eye.
“Ladies, I welcome you to the Midnight Manor.”
You feel Amber’s piercing eyes glued onto your back as she follows in your footsteps to the study.
“I thought we’d have to give your part of the inheritance to Lady Carlotta.” Is the middle-aged waistcoat trying to be funny? You can’t help squirming at the mere sound of your third cousin’s name.
You take the slender chain from underneath your blouse and present the attorney with your medallion. It’s your proof of identity. And nobody can prove you stole it.
“Where do I sign?” your voice speaks volumes moving through the empty rooms of the estate you practically own.
He hesitates. There’s a “but”.
“Before we entrust you fully,” he speaks in the plural, but there’s nobody there except for him. “… with ownership of the estate, there’s a condition you must fulfill.”
Your uncle had a weird sense of making things harder for people.
Do you need to marry? Produce a child? Make amends with cousin Carlotta, who tried to off you on your trip to Italy?
“My dear Lady, I am not entirely comfortable with this, but I must do the legal contract justice.”
“Are you gonna spill it or what?” Amber is too keen for her own good.
“We are… on the very edge of legality here,” he is taking a handkerchief to pat his forehead. Pat, pat, pat… as you both wait and the bear cub is trying to lick its own groin.
“Until you fulfill this condition,” he continues, “the Midnight Manor is up for grabs. Any relative with a justifiable cause may have at it.”
“Hey, that’s not right!” Amber lets herself go. “We traveled all this way.”
“What’s the condition?” you remain seltzer cold.
“You are to take it into custody…”
“The beast?” The last pet you had was a hamster you forgot to feed.
“What are we, zoo keepers?”
“Nurse it to full strength.”
“Liz, I think it’s flea-ridden!” Did she just say your real name aloud? Luckily, the representative doesn’t even flinch.
“And take it back where it belongs.” The litigator points a finger up to the heavens. Or the first floor, you don’t know. You have to try the easy way.
“Upstairs?” you ask.
He takes a breath, knowing he’s about to say an impossible thing and these impossibilities should have no place in legal matters where everything is either this or that, nothing left lingering inside the in-between.
“You’re to install the bear on the night sky.”
He smacks his books closed and starts packing his brown leather suitcase. “This is your late uncle’s dying wish and testament,” he says as if he’s a radio show about to tune out.
“That must be why I couldn’t see the North Star!” Amber lets out a sigh. “What are we gonna do now?” she asks. You look down at your feet, the cub looks back. It’s chewing on your trousers.
“I think I’ll name you Dot.”
The litigator is on his way out. You block his path. “Let me ask you one last thing…” you take a splice second of his time.
“Which way is up?” | https://medium.com/written-tales/the-big-dipper-926c8fb04f61 | ['Written Tales'] | 2019-06-09 22:35:35.251000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Short Fiction', 'Horror Fiction', 'Fiction', 'Written Tales'] |
The Age of the Ultracrepidarian | Why do people feel compelled to offer advice when they’re clearly not qualified to do so? Daniel Patrick Moynihan said “You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.” And yet we’re surrounded by people who seem unable to differentiate between the two.
We have reality show stars that feel qualified to lecture us on the evils of vaccinations. We have used car salesmen who believe they’re experts on US-Iranian diplomacy. And you can’t look at your phone without seeing a bunch of career bureaucrats peddle health advice as though they’re infectious disease experts. And none of that even begins to cover my own in-laws.
There’s no shortage of people willing to provide their unsolicited (and unwanted) advice to anyone that’s unfortunate enough to be within listening range. And while branching into new areas is a worthwhile pursuit, presenting a position with no supporting evidence isn’t helpful — it’s irresponsible.
Einstein supposedly said that “The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance,” but I’d argue that with this group, the combination of the two is even more damaging. The problem comes from a lack of humility. As people begin to believe that their opinion takes precedence over reality, they feel justified to disregard evidence. Why bother with facts, their opinion is all the justification they need. As Stephen Colbert ranted on truthiness,
“Anybody who knows me knows that I’m no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They’re elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn’t true. Or what did or didn’t happen. Who’s Britannica to tell me the Panama Canal was finished in 1914? If I wanna say it happened in 1941, that’s my right.”
While it would be convenient to blame this on our current alternative fact and post-truth nightmares, our willingness to confuse opinion and fact isn’t new. The Greek orator Demosthenes recognized this behavior over 2300 years ago when he said, “The easiest thing of all is to deceive oneself; for we believe whatever we want to believe.” In fact, the origin of the term for this behavior — ultracrepidarian — comes from this same time.
Don’t Judge Beyond the Sandals
Apelles of Kos, one of the famous painters of Ancient Greece, often brought his paintings to the village square to gain some real-time feedback. On one of these occasions, a shoemaker noted the sandals on a character in the painting and criticized their shape.
Apelles took note of the feedback and changed the painting. When he brought it back to the public square, the shoemaker saw that Apelles had taken his feedback. Feeling vindicated, he then began to critique others aspects of the painting. To which Apelles replied, supra crepidam sutor iudicaret”, meaning “do not judge anything apart from sandals”.
The term ultracrepidarian is based on the Latin word ultra, meaning beyond, and crepida, denoting a shoe or sandal to the Greeks. An ultracrepidarian then becomes anyone who’s operating “beyond the sandal,” such as the shoemaker criticizing Apelles’s painting, or anyone pushing an opinion beyond their area of expertise.
Are We All Ultracrepidarians?
“We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.” — Mark Twain
It’s easy to look at the blatant examples with disdain. Obviously, an eighteen year-old pop star isn’t one to offer us all relationship advice. And a quick look at online reviews can give you hundreds of examples of people who ought to keep their opinions to themselves. On a related note, if you ever need to feel better about your own outlook on life, search for negative reviews of the world’s wonders. My personal favorites are the people who felt the Paris Catacombs contained too many skulls and the surprisingly high quantity of people that are upset over not seeing Nessie on their trip to Loch Ness. Not to mention the multiple reviewers who feel the Grand Canyon “should be more grand.”
But while these examples occupy the far end of the spectrum, if you consider the more subtle aspects of ultracrepidarian behavior, we’re all guilty of it from time to time.
We all have many areas of competence, but no one knows everything. Should I push my political opinion simply because I feel strongly about it? If I haven’t done the research to back it up, that opinion doesn’t bring anything worthwhile to the conversation. The same logic applies to sports or economics or whether Episode III, and not Episode I, is the worst Star Wars movie.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. If you feel strongly about an opinion, it’s natural to want to share it with others. This isn’t to suggest that you shouldn’t share your opinions and perspectives. You should. It’s just that before spouting them off, we ought to do the work to back them up with evidence.
If all we can bring to a discussion is our opinion, it’s not adding a whole lot of value. Without supporting evidence to back up that advice, we’re less able to use those opinions to help others. Which, when all is said and done, should really be the threshold that we keep in mind — are we looking to help others or ourselves?
Are you trying to help someone do what’s best for them or promote your own agenda?
Are you trying to help others on their own journey or are you looking to inflate your own ego?
Are you working in absolutes, never or always, or do you recognize that life includes much more nuance?
It’s easy to stray into this area. And even with the best of intentions, it’s unlikely that we’ll avoid crossing this line again in the future. You have worthwhile thoughts on a lot of topics — it’s understandable that you want to share them.
Yet while many of us may unintentionally toe the ultracrepidarian line, and need a slight nudge from time to time to correct things, many others jump in with both feet. In these instances, we need a stronger response.
Be Skeptical. Be Scientific.
“The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous.” — H. L. Mencken
Several years ago, the CDC encouraged employees to avoid certain words on budget requests in order to improve their chances for approval. Their management recognized that if recommendations included words like transgender and diversity, they were less likely to be seen favorably by the Trump administration and less likely to gain funding.
Whether you call it censorship or strategy, it’s disappointing at the very least.
Two of the discouraged words, words that top CDC management felt would cause our nation to withdraw funding in the event that they were included, were evidence-based and science-based. Actions that would further the scientific development of a science-based industry, would be seen as negative.
Again, profoundly disappointing to say the least. But it also offers some insight into the best counter we have to ultracrepidarians.
Ultracrepidarians hate science. They hate evidence. It exposes their opinions for what they are — mere opinions without the knowledge or experience to support them.
Science demands skepticism. It may start with an opinion, but no opinion is allowed to continue without test. Even the truth is merely seen as today’s understanding of reality, with a to-be-further-updated-as-we-all-become-smarter mentality.
As you encounter ultracrepidarians, counter them with a scientific mind. Ask for their basis. Ask for evidence. Stories tend to fall apart as you delve a few questions deep on people.
In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari recounts the story of a man who claimed that the world was held in place by resting on the back of a huge elephant. When someone asked him what the elephant stood on, the man said that it stood on the shell of a giant turtle. And the turtle? On the back of an even bigger turtle. And that bigger turtle? Until the man finally snapped and said, “Don’t worry about it. From there it’s turtles all the way down.”
The best counter to the ultracrepidarian is to simply ask questions. Question their basis. Question the details. And refuse to take their pro-offered opinion as fact. As the old saying goes,
“In God we trust. Others must provide data”
We all have a responsibility for the information that we take in. Increasing our standards for information takes away the ultracrepidarian’s power. It discounts their opinion unless they’ve done the work to validate it. While everyone may be entitled to their own opinion, we don’t have to sit there and listen to them preach it as fact. | https://jswilder16.medium.com/the-age-of-the-ultracrepidarian-2245b5d41516 | ['Jake Wilder'] | 2020-06-02 02:26:11.117000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Self', 'Life Lessons', 'Personal Development', 'Politics'] |
Q3 Project — Idea Sharing and Group Formation | Today marks the first day of our Quarter 3 project “week”. I am thankful that we will technically have more than a week to work because we have a lot to do!
We started out today writing all of our different ideas on the whiteboard, and then we essentially voted on which ideas we wanted to turn into actual projects. We formed groups based on how we voted for the different project ideas.
There were a lot of exciting and good ideas written on the board today, and I was really impressed by the things that my classmates came up with. I am inspired by the creativity that surrounds me at Galvanize; it makes me want to be more creative. Amanda had an awesome idea for an app that helped people call their government representatives, but the idea that I ended up wanting to work on the most was Rachel’s. Actually, Amanda, Rachel and I will all be working on Rachel’s idea, and I am pumped to be part of team RAD working on Wellminder!
Wellminder
Wellminder is a holistic wellness app. Since we spent time this afternoon filling out the project proposal, I may as well use the project description we wrote there:
Wellminder is a mobile application that tracks and determines patterns between wellness factors so users can work towards positive health choices.
I am eager to get going on this app because I think it’s an awesome idea, and it’s definitely something that I would personally want to use. It’s different from other fitness apps because instead of calorie counting or exercise tracking, it will take a more holistic approach to health and wellness tracking. Essentially, we want the app to ask its users a small series of questions each day about what they’ve done and how they are feeling, tracking and making visualizations of patterns.
I am feeling pretty ill, so after we finished filling out our project proposal I headed home and have been working from here this afternoon. Amanda and Rachel have already come up with some wireframes for Wellminder, and in my opinion they look awesome. Here are a couple of them:
I can’t wait to tackle the many challenges that building this app will bring. React Native, here we come. Go to RAD. | https://medium.com/the-road-to-code/q3-project-idea-sharing-and-group-formation-bf63759a8817 | ['Dylan Thorwaldson'] | 2017-11-30 22:07:00.692000+00:00 | ['Nodejs', 'Learning To Code', 'JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Health'] |
Kansas State Wildcats vs Kansas Jayhawk Free NCAAB Pick, 2–25–2019 | Free NCAAB Spread Pick by Kris Pennypacker of PrecisionPicks.com
Kansas State Wildcats vs Kansas Jayhawks
Line: Kansas -3.5
Game Time: Monday, February 25, 2019, 9:00 PM EST
Two of the top teams in the nation will take the court on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse when the #21 Kansas State Wildcats travel East to take on their inter-state rival, #12 Kansas Jayhawks. The Wildcats lead the Big 12 Conference and own a 2.0 game lead over the Jayhawks as they enter Monday night’s matchup.
Kansas State won the first matchup vs the Jayhawks earlier this month, 74–67 and covering the -2.5 point spread. Head coach Bruce Weber has guided Kansas State to a 21–6 overall record to go along with an impressive 11–3 mark in conference play. The Wildcats have gotten it done with great defensive pressure, allowing only 59.3 PPG while averaging 66.5 PPG on offense. The Wildcats do most of their damage from the outside, where they have shot 37.2 percent from 3-point range while turning the ball over on just 17.2 percent of their offensive possessions in league play. On the road so far this season, Kansas State is 6–4 SU, 4–0 ATS in their last 4 road games and 27–11 ATS in their last 38 vs. Big 12.
Bill Self has led the Jayhawks to a (9–5) Big 12 record this season and a (14–0) SU record at home. Kansas has been hampered by injuries all season long, but they recently got back sophomore guard Marcus Garrett, who had missed the previous five games with a high ankle sprain. The Jayhawks have also been playing without senior swingman LaGerald Vick and big man Udoka Azubuike. Kansas plays at the fastest pace in the Big 12, but the Jayhawks have also turned the ball over at a very high pace of 20.5 percent of their possessions during Big 12 play (9th in the Big 12). Offensively, the Jayhawks average 76.4 PPG while allowing 70.6 PPG on defense. The Jayhawks defense has been poor at guarding the 3-point line, allowing 36.4% from beyond the arc. The Jayhawks are 2–6 ATS in their last 8 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Kansas State had the opportunity to rest their starters in the 2nd half of their most recent win over Oklahoma State. Kansas enters tonight’s matchup after a 91–62 beatdown at Texas Tech. At this stage in the season, Kansas is fighting an uphill battle. The Wildcats defense will put a lot of pressure on the Jayhawks to turn the ball over and their style of play wore down Kansas in the first meeting. I’ll take the +3.5 points and back the better team on the road.
Kansas State vs Kansas NCAAB Pick: Kansas St. +3.5 | https://medium.com/verifiedcappers/kansas-state-wildcats-vs-kansas-jayhawk-free-ncaab-pick-2-25-2019-ed5431c2b56f | ['Precision Picks'] | 2019-02-25 13:19:49.863000+00:00 | ['Basketball', 'Sports Betting', 'Sports', 'Gambling', 'College Basketball'] |
Slack App Directory Spotlight #2 | Hope you’re enjoying a productive and pleasant week! We have new featured apps fresh off the development cycle for your enjoyment. This bi-week’s featuring has something for everyone.
The team at Skype built a super handy slash command. This Slack app has seen quite a lot of attention already, as Skype boasts a massive user base and Skype plus Slack is a natural fit. The integration is dead-simple to use, simply add Skype to your Slack team and then type /skype in any channel to spin up a group call. You can probably use this for your next team meeting. You can find an overview and the `add to Slack` button on Skype’s site.
We are big fans of Zeplin here at Slack and use it for many of our design projects. Zeplin is like a translation service for designers and engineers: it automatically generates the styleguides and resources your development team needs to build the designs your team crafts. The Zeplin app sends updates into a channel of your choosing in Slack, similar to the Trello app, and is a great way to track your team’s progress.You can find full information about the app on Zelpin’s site or in our app directory.
If you’re the type of person that scans metrics, analyzes analytics, and relies on content marketing then you should check out Chartbeat. Chartbeat keeps a constant pulse on where your audience is and what they’re doing within your sites. Even cooler, the Chartbeat app is multi-level. You can type /chartbeat to call on a variety of data points about a site or social profile and you can also connect Chartbeat to a channel and customize the info that the Chartbeat app shares. Here are all details of how the Charbeat app works and how to set it up. | https://medium.com/slack-developer-blog/slack-app-directory-spotlight-2-f4d3738910ca | ['Slack Api'] | 2016-04-08 06:03:57.446000+00:00 | ['App Directory', 'API', 'Slack'] |
The Case for the Rapid (but Imperfect) Test | Image: Yuri Samoilov via flickr/CC BY 2.0
Imagine if every morning before you showered you spit into a test tube, and by the time you got out, you knew if you had Covid-19. That result would dictate whether you went to work or saw friends or if you stayed home and isolated.
This technology exists, and some experts say it could be a pandemic game-changer, but critics of the idea, including the FDA, say the tests aren’t reliable enough.
The tests detect antigens, proteins on the surface of the virus that trigger an immune response. The antigen tests are faster to use and cheaper to produce than PCR tests, which look for the virus’s RNA. They could even function like at-home pregnancy tests — antigens in the saliva react with molecules in a strip of paper, changing its color to indicate a positive test. However, the FDA requires tests to detect at least 80% of positive cases, and these rapid tests are closer to 50%.
That sounds problematic. But Michael Mina, MD, PhD, a Harvard epidemiologist and immunologist, says the difference in test accuracy is at either the very beginning or end of the disease when only a small amount of the virus is present and people aren’t really infectious. The tests are much more precise when people have millions of viral copies in their nose and throat, which is also when they’re most infectious, even without symptoms.
Mina says a less precise test that immediately detects the most infectious cases is an improvement. Currently, about nine in 10 people with the virus go undiagnosed because of testing shortages. “High frequency testing using a less sensitive test goes much further than low frequency testing using the best test in the world,” said Mina in an interview with This Week in Virology. | https://elemental.medium.com/the-case-for-the-rapid-but-imperfect-test-afda36c0ceab | ['Dana G Smith'] | 2020-08-06 18:36:51.637000+00:00 | ['Testing', 'Coronavirus', 'Health', 'Pandemic', 'Covid 19'] |
Solar hot water running costs and greenhouse emissions | I have always enjoyed using copious amounts of hot water at home, focussing my guilty conscience on my excessive water wastage, but not sparing a thought for the energy consumption. Given that Australia and sun are synonymous for most people, you might assume that this is because I have been blissfully using solar hot water to wash away my energy worries but unfortunately you would be wrong. Everywhere I lived in Australia I used instant gas hot water, while in the USA I used an electric storage tank. This disclosure led to shock and confusion in my partner, whose family home in not so sunny Central Europe has apparently been happily relying on solar hot water for years.
Image by pasja1000 from Pixabay
Being almost totally ignorant about how these systems operate, I always associated solar hot water services with images of an adrenaline spiking adventure into potentially icy waters, rather than a green energy utopia. From the piecemeal uptake of this technology across Australia, I would guess that I am not alone in this. The most recent surveys from 2012 and 2014 suggest that only 10–13% of households have solar hot water¹ ², very low for such a sun saturated country, and quite surprising given we were at the forefront of developing this technology in the 1950s³. In comparison, solar hot water has been a success story in many other countries, particularly those that have mandated its installation in new buildings, such as Israel, Greece and Barbados⁴ ⁵ ⁶.
Solar hot water technology, though it has had low uptake in many parts of the world really is very effective at what it does.
Image by rasamoydas from Pixabay
The system works a bit differently to your standard rooftop photovoltaic solar panels and has a number of advantages. A solar hot water system uses plates or pipes to directly transfer the suns heat to water, this water is then stored in a highly insulated container until it is used. In contrast, photovoltaic cells need to convert solar energy to electricity and then use this electricity to heat the water, which is much less efficient. The storage tank is a key feature of solar hot water systems. It is insulated enough to guarantee hot water overnight and even across the next day if it is overcast. And, no fear! Almost all solar hot water systems are installed with a gas or electric back up, so you are never short of hot water, even if the sun is not shining.
Solar hot water sounds great, so why is it not popular in Australia?
Sustainability Victoria⁷ gives a nice chart to compare energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions for different water heating systems based on calculations of the average 1- 4-person household in Victoria, Australia. I made some simple summary graphs of the stats for a 4-person family.
Greenhouse house gas emissions of different hot water services. Adding a solar boost lowers the emissions of full gas or electric services.
This chart shows the minimum and maximum greenhouse gas emission produced for running different hot water systems. Emissions vary based on whether the system supplies instant hot water, uses a storage tank, or for electricity, if they it is used during peak or off-peak times. This chart shows that a fully electric installation generates by far the most greenhouse gas emissions. Solar boosted with electric is much lower, so, if you already have an electric system, adding solar hot water panels will make a big difference.
The rub is that for a system with an electric boost it still produces more emissions than gas alone and how much really depends on the details. If the electric boost is used in off-peak times, that is overnight when supplies are not needed for businesses and industry, there is no solar input into the grid, meaning the electricity is mainly produced from greenhouse gas rich coal rather than renewable sources, spiking the emissions as we see here.
Annual cost of running different hot water services. Solar boosted with gas is the cheapest to run due to currently low gas prices in Australia.
In Australia, a solar system with a gas back up is by far the cheapest. Again, a solar system boosted with electric is definitely cheaper than a fully electric system run off of mains electricity but it is not necessarily cheaper than a full gas installation. And here we can see why this technology has not been broadly adopted — why invest a lot of money up front into a solar hot water service when it may not even save you any money relative to a gas installation?
So why not change to gas?
For many people the upfront investment in solar hot water is challenging and the benefits are just not apparent. Gas seems likes a cheap, easy and even environmentally sound choice compared to electricity… at least in the short-term. However, natural gas is non-renewable and produces greenhouse gases, a lot, even if at a lower level than coal, so this is not a long-term solution. As electricity is produced more and more by renewable sources the emissions associated with electric boosted solar systems will drop, especially if other technologies like solar battery storage are successful for ensuring overnight electricity supplies. The current cheap gas prices are also not guaranteed into the future and these fluctuate quite a bit year to year as it is, though how this plays out will largely depend on government policies that either promote renewables or the mining industry.
It is difficult to provide clear incentives for adoption of renewables in countries where there are large fossil fuel supplies, as costs and energy security are not major barriers to continued usage of traditional hot water systems⁵. So far, Australia’s policies towards renewable technology such as solar hot water systems have focussed on the environmental benefits, relying on people’s commitment to going green and offering short-term rebates that differ across the country to prompt uptake. This facilitates those who are well-off and so-inclined to take up these initiatives but those who cannot buy-in pay increased energy prices to cover the gap left by solar adopters, further worsening their financial situation, leading to what is known as ‘energy poverty’⁸.
This a problem for wide-scale change but, lacking supportive government policies, for those who are in a position to invest, solar hot water will reduce the costs and emissions associated with an existing gas or electric service. Often the choice of hot water service is a rushed decision at the moment it breaks⁹. There are many pros and cons of every system and practical considerations that are unique to each home, so if this is something that interests you it is worth looking into the details now, so you can make an informed decision that best helps you and the environment. | https://medium.com/@patchingtheplanet/solar-hot-water-running-costs-and-greenhouse-emissions-f40111e8e8e8 | ['Patching The Planet'] | 2020-12-03 16:13:19.702000+00:00 | ['Running Cost', 'Australia', 'Greenhouse Gas Emissions', 'Hot Water System', 'Solar Energy'] |
Places to Visit for Wine Tastings | There is a multitude of popular destinations around the globe where one can experience an adventurous wine tasting expedition. From Bordeaux, France to Napa, California, the most well-known destinations are often the most sought out. They can also be the most expensive. However, there is a myriad of wine tasting destinations right in the US other than Napa Valley. These wine-producing regions may not be as fruitful as others, but they’re delightful nonetheless. And one can be sure to enjoy a tantalizing experience in any of these regions. Here are five wine tasting destinations in the US outside of California.
Willamette Valley, Oregon
The cooler temperatures of Oregon may not be as desirable for producing more fruity full-bodied wines that are typical of most warm-climate regions. Cooler climate can easily create complications for vineyards such as frost, low sugars, and shorter growing seasons. However, Willamette Valley has managed to produce an abundance of cool-climate grapes due to its unique climate. This 150-mile-long valley is host to over 500 wineries. Despite the cool temperatures, Willamette Valley has a longer and warmer growing season than any area in Oregon. It also has unique temperature shifts during the growing season that add to the beautiful complexity of its wines. This area is a popular destination for its Pinot noir, but also produces other varieties such as Pinot blanc and Chardonnay.
Walla Walla, Washington
While Washington State may not be the most renown wine-producing region in the states, it does come close as it’s the second-largest producer in the states. Its main region for a bevy of wines is Walla Walla, and for good reason. Walla Walla, Washington has a rich agricultural heritage due to the areas varying geological features of its valleys. Different soil compositions, elevations, and rainfall allow Walla Walla to be a host for agricultural products from asparagus to wine grapes. Due to its lush growing regions, it’s been able to set aside approximately 3,000-acres of vineyards, which house around 120 wineries. The wines produced from this region range from Cabernet sauvignon to Grenache, and other varietals.
Finger Lakes, New York
When one thinks of New York, they probably wouldn’t picture luscious valleys populated with a variety of wine grapes. Yet, that’s exactly what Finger Lakes, New York is known for. With this region far outside the reach of skyscrapers and packed city bridges, it’s able to be a host of numerous wine varieties that are adept to its cooler climate. This region houses over 140 wineries and produces some of the states finest Rieslings, but also produces a variety of reds including Pinot noir. | https://medium.com/@ephraimvasco/places-to-visit-for-wine-tastings-40b85515149d | ['Ephraim Vashovsky'] | 2019-11-14 18:46:37.555000+00:00 | ['Wine Tasting', 'Travel', 'Wine'] |
How My Consciousness Has Affected My Relationships With White People | I never believed racism had different levels of offensiveness. For me, either you’re racist or you’re not and any derogatory comment or action is equally problematic. A Klansman burning a cross on a Black person’s lawn carries the same weight as a co-worker telling a racist joke.
This is one area of my life where I have never allowed a grey area.
Over the past few months, it’s become clear that a few White people in my life do not share these views. During our conversations, some have expressed that making a “racist comment” doesn’t necessarily define someone as racist if they’re “just joking” or if they don’t use the “N” word.
So as long as it’s just a joke and they don’t call me a nigger, how could they possibly be racist? Because after all, everyone knows these are the only two ways someone can express racist tendencies, right?
Um…okay.
The more I speak out, write, and get involved with organizations devoted to securing racial equality and promoting the humanization of Black bodies, the further the divide deepens between myself and the White people I once considered my acquaintances and friends.
They stopped asking me how they could help combat injustice.
They even let go of the awkward “how are you feeling” calls and text messages. Honestly, I could do without the forced inquires about my well-being, but what once seemed like genuine concern for the liberation of Black people has been exposed for what it really was: momentary White guilt.
These people who knew me and some of the obstacles I’ve worked to overcome felt an obligation to pay lip service to my plight of being a Black woman in this country. They delivered award-winning performances of feigned interest for as long as they could. After all, they weren’t completely oblivious to the fact that they benefit from White supremacy, even though they wouldn’t dare say so out loud. Instead, their guilt played out not by readily accepting and acknowledging the racial inequities in this country, but by asking me if I was okay and what they could do to help.
Checking on your Black friend and at least asking what could be done to advance the movement surely meant you weren’t racist, right?
It was evident that I could no longer continue to live in a bubble of delusion.
The more White people in my life began to distance themselves from conversations related to anti-racism work, the more I knew our relationships with each other were never as they seemed. I had been there for their life events and supported causes that mattered to them but when it was my turn, reciprocity was nowhere to be found. It didn't matter how long I had known these people or how kind they might have been in the past. The bottom line was they couldn't comprehend that as long as racism still exists, speaking, writing, and joining groups formed to address it and find solutions would never have an expiration date.
If they couldn’t understand that, I could no longer be vulnerable in their company. I couldn’t be myself around them, which would mean stifling my views and beliefs. Their admission that some racism was okay simply because it wasn’t identical to the “in your face” hatred touted by right-wing extremists confirmed they had no idea of the impact microaggressions have on Black people and people of color. Ultimately it meant they were unable to step outside the comfort zone White supremacy afforded them and their families to help dismantle it for the protection of me and mine. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/how-my-consciousness-has-affected-my-relationships-with-white-people-93af6fe1272e | ['Jeanette C. Espinoza'] | 2020-11-03 02:55:38.253000+00:00 | ['Activism', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Equality', 'Racism', 'Writing'] |
Everything You Need To Know About Instagram Post Sizes | Instagram always upgrade their platform to give a good user experience for users. So in this blog post you can learn about Instagram post sizes and tips.
It is really helpful for growing your brand or business on Instagram.
If you want to get more likes and followers, definitely you should know about post sizes and posting methods on Instagram.
So in this blog post you can learn about Instagram post sizes and tips in a simple way which is really helpful for growing your brand or business on Instagram.
Mainly 4 types of posting options are available on Instagram. Those are Feed post, Stories, Videos post and IGTV.
Each posting sizes and resolutions are totally different from each other.
So let’s gets started the everything you need to know about Instagram post sizes.
Feed
Feed posting is the common posting type using images. There are 3 types of post sizes available for feed posting on Instagram.
Supported Image file is PNG or JPG and size should be below 30MB.
1:1Square ratio
This is Instagram’s native ratio with 1080x1080 pixels resolution. when we post in square ratio, it will give a good view in grid photo layout without any cropping.
1.91:1 Landscape ratio
This is the least attractive posting type. Because its height is too small when comparing width. Instagram always prefers larger images. Resolution is 1080x680 pixels.
4:5 Vertical ratio
Resolution of the vertical post is 1080x1350 px. But the ratio of images taken from cameras are not familiar with above sizes.
Because those images size ratios are 2:3 and 16:9. So you can post those images in two methods.
first method is you can crop your image into familiar post ratio. Next method is over cropping method.
But you will get extra spaces both sides of the image. It reduces the attractiveness of the image.
Read More | https://medium.com/@letroot/everything-you-need-to-know-about-instagram-post-sizes-90ff86ce8e50 | [] | 2020-12-27 07:55:30.059000+00:00 | ['Instagram', 'Image Sizes', 'Post'] |
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of the Wasted Vote | The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of the Wasted Vote
The concept of the wasted vote, beaten into us by Republicans and Democrats alike, is the number one reason people are scared to vote for a third party candidate. Even in this tumultuous election, where the major party candidates are polling as the least liked presidential candidates of all time, we are told that these are our only options. We must choose the lesser of two evils. Better to vote against a candidate we hate than to vote for a candidate we actually support. This idea is not an unfortunate truth, but a carefully constructed lie perpetuated by the parties in power.
The purpose of a democracy is to aggregate the preferences of the people and make decisions based upon those preferences. If voters prefer a third party but are taught that a third party vote is a “waste,” they are forced to misrepresent their own preferences, negating the entire purpose of the democratic process. How can we find the will of the majority if the majority isn’t supposed to vote according to their will?
In Gallup’s most recent poll from September 2016, 40% of US voters identify as independent. Yet, most of these independent voters can be redistributed into “lean” categories — i.e. they typically “lean Republican” or “lean Democrat.” These voters choose to identify as independent, indicating that they don’t have a strong preference for one of the two major parties. Yet they can be sorted into these “lean” categories because they typically end up voting for one of the major parties. Why? Because we are constantly told we only have two options. Ever.
Voting for a third party candidate that most of the population hasn’t even heard of might not be the most effective way to spend your vote, it’s true. But in today’s world, where a variety of candidates can permeate the political scene relatively inexpensively via social media platforms, it is much easier for third party candidates to become viable options. Or at least it should be…
Parties in power like to stay in power, and the two leading parties today have taken significant steps to ensure that they remain “the only options.” The presidential debates are hosted and regulated by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). The CPD touts its status as a “nonpartisan” commission because it does not favor the Republican party over the Democratic party, or vice versa. It certainly does, however, favor these two parties over all others. In fact, the CPD is run solely by the chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties. Several sitting members of the CPD have even expressed explicit support for major party candidates, both verbally and financially.
Since the establishment of the CPD in 1987, only one third party candidate has ever been included in the debates — Ross Perot. Before the debates, Perot was polling below 10%, yet he was still given a seat at the table. Perot performed well in the debates, with 33% of voters claiming that he had been the most persuasive candidate. His inclusion in the debates not only allowed Perot to spread his message on the main stage, but also legitimized his candidacy as a valid voting option. Perot’s polling numbers continued to climb, and he ended up receiving 19% of the popular vote in the 1992 election. Recognizing this as a significant threat, the CPD passed the 15% minimum polling requirement for inclusion in the debates in 2000.
Many political analysts consider the 15% requirement to be rather high. It is perhaps even more significant to note, however, that it is an entirely arbitrary benchmark. There is no statistical reasoning to specifically support 15% as a barrier for entry. Even if the 15% rule is an attainable measure for third parties to reach, the CPD is extremely manipulative of their measuring sticks. The CPD only considers five polls of their own choosing when assessing the 15% requirement.
The CPD promised to reveal their selected polls for the coming election by September 26, 2015, one year before the first debate, in order to give candidates a chance to prepare their campaigns accordingly. The CPD then blew past their own self-designated deadline by nearly 11 months, refusing to announce their selected polls until August 15, 2016, less than six weeks before the first presidential debate. And while it is hard to find polls devoid of any bias, the CPD chose polls conducted by media outlets that are widely critiqued for their partisan leanings.
In all five of the CPD’s polls, third parties are mentioned exactly once as potential options to the general “Who would you vote for?” question. The polls then quickly move on to a question such as “How would you vote if only the Republican and Democratic candidates were on the ballot?” The complete irrelevancy of this question is astounding, as no states will have only these two candidates on the ballot. The polls then proceed to dive deeper with questions regarding candidates’ traits, favorability, and strengths. Of course, for all of these critical questions, only the two major party candidates are offered as choices.
This rhetoric enforces the idea that while third party candidates may technically be options, they aren’t truly valid choices side by side with the major party candidates. The Fox News polls really struck gold with the question, “Regardless of how you plan to vote, who do you think WILL win in November? Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump?” This question, also found with slightly different phrasing in CBS-NYT’s polls, illuminates the real root of the message — sure, you can vote for a third party, but they will never win.
You might think that even if this is a message perpetuated by the two major parties, it is still true. But let’s look at some numbers. While 40% of American voters identify as independent, four out of five of the CPD polls questioned groups comprised of 35% or less independents. Fox News clocked in with only 21% of respondents identifying as independent, perhaps because they phrased their affiliation question as “… do you think of yourself as a Democrat or a Republican?” As third party support is obviously highest among independent voters, the underrepresentation of independents in these polls correlates to the underestimation of third party support.
It is the complete pervasion of the no chance in hell mentality that prevents us from breaking free of the chains of the two party system. In the 2008 election, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader won 2.7% of the popular vote. However, 90% of voters who said they preferred Ralph Nader above the other presidential candidates voted for one of the major party candidates instead. They didn’t want to waste their vote. Ironically, if all of those voters who preferred Ralph Nader had actually just voted for him, he could have earned about 27% of the popular vote and had a completely legitimate shot at winning the presidency.
A vote for a third party candidate is only wasted so long as we all continue to believe it’s a waste. Americans continually clamor for change, but we are scared to use the biggest tool we have — our vote. Don’t waste it. | https://medium.com/@tedi.knaak/the-self-fulfilling-prophecy-of-the-wasted-vote-3d10744f1bc2 | ['Tedi Knaak'] | 2016-11-05 16:05:56.240000+00:00 | ['Politics', '2016 Election', 'Third Party', 'Voting', 'Libertarianism'] |
What can be the possible threats in mobile app security? | Smartphones and mobile applications are an essential part of our life. With mobile apps, we can play games, book a flight, socialize, and buy groceries. Recently mobile apps have made inroads into banking and financial sector, where confidential details are exchanged. A security breach in the mobile application can lead to data theft, IP theft, unauthorized access and fraud. From the business perspective imperfect mobile app security, it can lead to dissatisfied customers, revenue loss and eventually tarnished brand image.
1. Device Fragmentation
Mobile application testing needs to cover a multiplicity of mobile devices with different capabilities, features, and limitations. Identification of security vulnerabilities specific to devices makes performance testing a difficult task. The testing team can’t test release as fast as the development team is producing them, so they are becoming a bottleneck in the release process. This also leads to the production of low-quality apps. Most of the apps are made in iOS, Android or Windows environment. But there are different versions of each Operating System (OS) which have a different set of vulnerabilities. Testing of the app on each version is time-consuming and requires application tester to be aware of the loopholes.
2. Tools for Mobile Automation Testing
A reasonable approach to fragmentation requires the use of automation testing. But Traditional testing tools like Selenium or QuickTest Professional (QTP) weren’t designed with cross-platform in mind. So automation tools for mobile app and web application are different. While many test automation and testing tools for mobile have emerged, there is a dearth of full-fledged standard tools that can cater to every step of the security testing. The common mobile automation testing tools are Appium, Robotium, and Ranorex.
3. Weak Encryption
A mobile app can accept data from all kinds of sources. In the absence of sufficient encryption, attackers could modify inputs such as cookies and environment variables. Attackers can bypass the security when decisions on authentication and authorization are made based on the values of these inputs. Recently hackers targeted Starbucks mobile users to siphon money out of their Starbucks mobile app. Starbucks confirmed that its app was storing usernames, email addresses, and passwords in clear text. This allowed anyone with access to the phone to see passwords and usernames just by connecting the phone to a PC.
Mobile encryption
4. Weak Hosting controls
When creating their first mobile applications, businesses often expose server-side systems that were previously inaccessible to outside networks. The servers on which your app is hosted should have security measures to prevent unauthorized users from accessing data. This includes your own servers, and the servers of any third-party systems your app may be accessing. It’s important for the back-end services to be secured against malicious attacks. Thus, all APIs should be verified and proper security methods should be employed ensuring access to authorized personnel only.
5. Insecure Data Storage
In most of the popular apps consumers simply enter their passwords once when activating the payment portion of the app and use it again and again to make unlimited purchases without having to re-input their password or username. In such cases, user data should be secure and usernames, email addresses, and passwords should be encrypted. For example, in 2012 a flaw in Skype data security allowed hackers to open the Skype app and dial arbitrary phone numbers using a simple link in the contents of an email. Design apps in such a way that critical information such as contact details, passwords, and credit card numbers do not reside directly on a device. If they do, they must be stored securely.
Businesses should define standard secure practices during application development. Considering the following concerns, they can ensure security across every aspect of mobility operations:
Data: How does the application fetch and display data?
Network: How does the application access networks?
Device: How vulnerable is the device to loss or theft?
Application: How securely and effectively is the application coded?
Businesses should apply mobile strategy diligently make sure your mobile developers can think through unintended consequences of app design and security. Delivering an easy-to-use app will decrease the brand value if you put customer or enterprise data at risk.
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The article was originally published at the Maruti Techlabs. | https://medium.com/dayone-a-new-perspective/what-can-be-the-possible-threats-in-mobile-app-security-2a3f26126cf8 | ['Maruti Techlabs'] | 2016-08-12 13:16:12.300000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'Security', 'Encryption', 'Mobile Apps', 'Webhosting'] |
A Step By Step Guide To Using Handlebars With Your Node js App | Since our “main.handlebars” file is empty if you try to run the app and look at the result nothing will show up since neither our “main.handlebars” nor “index.handlebars”’s body contain anything, so let’s open the “main.handlebars” file and fill it with some content:
<h2>Liste of my most loved League champions</h2>
<ul>
<li class="midlaner">Leblanc</li>
<li class="midlaner">Lux</li>
<li class="toplaner">Teemo</li>
<li class="midlaner">Kassadin</li>
<li class="toplaner">Jarvan IV</li>
</ul>
Let’s add some CSS:
li {
font-size: 2rem;
width: 300px;
margin: 4px;
padding: 4px;
list-style: none
} .midlaner {background-color: #eeeeee} .toplaner {background-color: #ffea00}
By now if you refresh the page, you will see some content (probably not interesting enough to catch your eyes).
Handlebars Configuration
extname: string
The first thing it came to my mind and I’m pretty sure it was the same for you when you were about to create handlebars file is “Uhm that’s a heck of a big file extension” and that’s where our first configuration property comes in handy.
Let’s change the code so our file extension will take fewer characters, “.hbs” for instance looks good to me:
//instead of app.set('view engine', 'handlebars');
app.set('view engine', 'hbs'); //instead of app.engine('handlebars', handlebars({
app.engine('hbs', handlebars({
layoutsDir: __dirname + '/views/layouts',
//new configuration parameter
extname: 'hbs'
}));
Don’t forget to change the extension of the files we already created (“main.handlebars” to “main.hbs” and “index.handlebars” to “index.hbs”).
defaultLayout: string
By default, if you don’t tell handlebars which layout file to render, it will throw an error telling you there’s no layout file. Using this property will give you the control to what name of the file it has to look for in case you didn’t explicitly mention it in the render function.
Let’s create a file and name it “planB.hbs” and let’s fill it with something different:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
<title>My Awesome App</title>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./style.css" />
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is the plan B page</h1>
{{!-- We could use the same body as the index.hbs page --}}
{{!-- using the {{{body}}}, you remember it right ?--}}
</body>
</html>
Let’s add the new property to our “index.js” file:
app.engine('hbs', handlebars({
layoutsDir: __dirname + '/views/layouts',
extname: 'hbs',
//new configuration parameter
defaultLayout: 'planB',
})); app.get('/', (req, res) => {
//instead of res.render('main', {layout: 'index'});
res.render('main');
});
I guess you predicted correctly what we will be getting after running the code, didn’t you?
Keep in mind that adding the property with a name of a file let’s say “file1.hbs” as value will be overwritten if you mention explicitly another file “file2.hbs” in the render function, in other words, the file mentioned in the render function has the priority to be rendered over the one mentioned in the defaultLayout property.
partialsDir: string
This property helps to make the project more organized, it takes a string path to a folder as a value, this folder will contain small chunks of code that we can use in the body of our “main.hbs”, “index.hbs” or any other partial file (a partial nested inside another one). It’s the same idea of the component-based frameworks such as React.
Let’s create two files in the subfolder named “partials” that we created earlier and call them “lovedChamps.hbs” and “hatedChamps.hbs”.
Cut the code inside the “main.hbs” file and paste it inside the “lovedChamps.hbs” and let’s create another list inside the “hatedChamps.hbs”.
“main.hbs”:
{{> lovedChamps}}
{{> hatedChamps}}
As you can see we’re referring to the files containing the code we want to include to our core code by this notation {{> partial_name}}.
“lovedChamps.hbs”:
<h2>Liste of my most loved League champions</h2>
<ul>
<li class="midlaner">Leblanc</li>
<li class="midlaner">Lux</li>
<li class="toplaner">Teemo</li>
<li class="midlaner">Kassadin</li>
<li class="toplaner">Jarvan IV</li>
</ul>
“hatedChamps.hbs”:
<h2>Liste of my most hated League champions</h2>
<ul>
<li class="midlaner">Yasuo</li>
<li class="midlaner">Zoe</li>
<li class="toplaner">Mundo</li>
<li class="toplaner">Darius</li>
<li class="midlaner">Fizz</li>
</ul>
“index.js”:
app.engine('hbs', handlebars({
layoutsDir: __dirname + '/views/layouts',
extname: 'hbs',
defaultLayout: 'planB',
//new configuration parameter
partialsDir: __dirname + '/views/partials/'
})); app.get('/', (req, res) => {
//Using the index.hbs file instead of planB
res.render('main', {layout: 'index'});});
Run this and see magic happens. | https://medium.com/@waelyasmina/a-guide-into-using-handlebars-with-your-express-js-application-22b944443b65 | ['Wael Yasmina'] | 2020-11-30 17:57:38.380000+00:00 | ['Nodejs', 'Backend Development', 'Expressjs', 'Backend', 'Handlebars'] |
The Sandhills: Pedaling a Sea of Hills | By Ari Dubow
In a gas station in Bartlett, Nebraska, I bought a grilled cheese sandwich, hot from the warming oven and wrapped in flaccid aluminum foil. After five weeks on the road, I managed to quit hesitating with food like this. Someone asked me what I was doing, and I said I was biking across the continent, that I had enjoyed Nebraska so far, and was feeling good because I was about halfway done. I was deep into the Great Plains, and the feeling of middle-ness was freeing.
“Bartlett’s halfway between a lot of stuff,” the man said. Isn’t everything? An odd truism to deploy at that moment.
“I’d even say it’s halfway between everything!” his wife said.
And there it was: a truism becoming a world view.
Photo credits to unsplash.com and Instagram: @mforsbergphoto
I was in the Sandhills, a region of northern Nebraska, and I’d be remiss if I tried to describe the area in any way other than this: it was a sea of hills. That was the phrase fixed in my mind as I pedaled across, and it’s the phrase that still felt most true. The hills were so fluid, so graceful, that you’d almost expect one to crest in white foam and tumble down over itself. The grasses were dense and green from the spring rains, so thickly packed that it only took a few feet of distance for the individual blades to mesh in an astro-turf looking mat.
It was the first really hot day of the year, and the ground felt steamy. The birds and insects in the Sandhills made a sheet of glistening, penetrating sounds. Every store, every motel, every church, had Sandhill in the name: the Sandhill Diner, Welcome to the Sandhills Motel, Sandhill Elementary, Sandhill Church of Christ.
I turned out of the gas station and bicycled east, rolling down a hill while eating my grilled cheese. By the time I was at the bottom, I had finished my grilled cheese and turned upward. Most people try to use their momentum going downhill to help them get uphill, cranking and cranking and shifting gears diligently so as to avoid lost energy. But halfway across the continent, I stopped doing this. Biking long distances exhausted me mentally far more than it did physically, and the franticness of up-hill strategy involved more mental effort than I cared to expend. So I just relaxed into the incline.
I heard a pick-up truck behind me slowing down — I learned to identify the size and type of vehicle by the sound it made behind me, a skill which came in handy — and then there it was just on my left. The window rolled down, and I saw the man I spoke to in the gas station with his wife in the passenger seat. She leaned out and handed me a bundle of dollar bills.
“Treat yourself to a nice dinner tonight,” she said. I smiled enormously, thanked them profusely, said I would get two burgers tonight, not just one, and they said God Bless, and I said the same.
At the top of the hill, I turned right. In this part of the country, turns were a much-anticipated event. I’d been waiting to make this right turn for around 3 days. Turns never failed to feel like the ending of an old era and the beginning of a new one. Goodbye, US highway 281, and hello NE 70!
And NE 70 was a particularly interesting one because from the map, it appeared to function as a sort of corridor between major roads and towns, which meant it was quiet. Something about a corridor was intriguing to me — it evoked a hidden reality and backdoor into something.
The asphalt was new, deeply black, and — perhaps an illusion from the glistening of the road combined with the extraordinary wet heat — felt soft. I pedaled, with a feeling a refreshment from the change of scene and a feeling of comfort from the grilled cheese slowly digesting.
Bicycling across the continent felt slow, though not slow in time, not simply slow in miles per hour. It felt slow because there were so few stimuli, not much really happened, and I realized, somewhere in the Sandhills, that often what we think of as “speed” is just a misconstrued distraction.
I heard a thundering behind me that definitely wasn’t a car. It was a massive, beastly horse, galloping alongside me, snorting, kicking its legs out from behind itself. I stopped, and it stopped with me, and we stared at each other for a little while. I started pedaling again, and he ran with me once again. He seemed angry, but playful. It felt like we were playing a game. I went faster and faster, using my the straps on my pedals to pull up with one leg while the other leg pushed down, and the horse galloped, looking forward, and then to his left at me and then back. Birds and insects called out in a chorus that had the emotional register of a mass-protest. The road dipped into a small valley while the embankment on which the horse ran turned upward. He stood on top of a small peak looking down at me while I rolled away.
I kept pedaling for some amount of time, which was always hard to tell when biking 100 miles in a day, looking left, looking right, looking straight. Thinking, remembering, observing, planning — ruminating. The sun was bright, the green hills both absorbing and reflecting that light at powerful levels. Street signs cropped up at unexpected locations, reading 512th avenue, or 970th street. They felt sarcastic.
I turned onto 630th avenue because I was hungry, and I had a few thousand calories of Planters peanuts in one of my bike bags. I liked to get off the main road sometimes, so I went to a mansard-roofed barn of grey wood. I didn’t want to land a nail in a tire, so I leaned my bike against a tree, took out my jar of peanuts, and with wobbly legs, went to the barn.
In the barn, I called out to confirm I was alone. I whistled, said “hey! hey!” No one responded but some sparrows nesting by a window. In the back of the main area was a red sofa, made of material hardly softer than burlap. I sat down and munched on peanuts. The sun came in through the main entrance like an overexposed photograph. Above the opening, beside which two massive wood sliding doors clung to the wall, a sign as tall as I hung. Painted in deeply saturated acrylic paints, mostly green, blue, and yellow, was a landscape of the sea of hills, with a straw-hatted farmer in the foreground. It read:
“The Sandhills: God Country.” | https://medium.com/guac-magazine/the-sandhills-pedaling-a-sea-of-hills-12ac03143846 | ['Guac Magazine Editors'] | 2020-06-17 03:14:17.132000+00:00 | ['Nebraska', 'Great Plains', 'Bicycling', 'Sandhills', 'Roadtrip'] |
Mastering Data Aggregation with Pandas | Data aggregation is the process of gathering data and expressing it in a summary form. This typically corresponds to summary statistics for numerical and categorical variables in a data set. In this post we will discuss how to aggregate data using pandas and generate insightful summary statistics.
Let’s get started!
For our purposes, we will be working with The Wines Reviews data set, which can be found here.
To start, let’s read our data into a Pandas data frame:
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv("winemag-data-130k-v2.csv")
Next, let’s print the first five rows of data:
print(df.head())
USING THE DESCRIBE() METHOD
The ‘describe()’ method is a basic method that will allow us to pull summary statistics for columns in our data. Let’s use the ‘describe()’ method on the prices of wines:
print(df['price'].describe())
We see that the ‘count’, number of non-null values, of wine prices is 120,975. The mean price of wines is $35 with a standard deviation of $41. The minimum value of the price of wine is $4 and the maximum is $3300. The ‘describe()’ method also provides percentiles. Here, 25% of wines prices are below $17, 50% are below $25, and 75% are below $42.
Let’s look at the summary statistics using ‘describe()’ on the ‘points’ column:
print(df['points'].describe())
We see that the number of non-null values of points is 129,971, which happens to be the length of the data frame. The mean points is 88 with a standard deviation of 3. The minimum value of the points of wine is 80 and the maximum is 100. For the percentiles, 25% of wines points are below 86, 50% are below 88, and 75% are below 91.
USING THE GROUPBY() METHOD
You can also use the ‘groupby()’ to aggregate data. For example, if we wanted to look at the average price of wine for each variety of wine, we can do the following:
print(df['price'].groupby(df['variety']).mean().head())
We see that the ‘Abouriou’ wine variety has a mean of $35, ‘Agiorgitiko’ has a mean of $23 and so forth. We can also display the sorted values:
print(df['price'].groupby(df['variety']).mean().sort_values(ascending = False).head())
Let’s look at the sorted mean prices for each ‘province’:
print(df['price'].groupby(df['province']).mean().sort_values(ascending = False).head())
We can also look at more than one column. Let’s look at the mean prices and points across ‘provinces’:
print(df[['price', 'points']].groupby(df.province).mean().head())
I’ll stop here but I encourage you to play around with the data and code yourself.
CONCLUSION
To summarize, in this post we discussed how to aggregate data using pandas. First, we went over how to use the ‘describe()’ method to generate summary statistics such as mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum and percentiles for data columns. We then went over how to use the ‘groupby()’ method to generate statistics for specific categorical variables, such as the mean price in each province and the mean price for each variety. I hope you found this post useful/interesting. The code from this post is available on GitHub. Thank you for reading! | https://towardsdatascience.com/mastering-data-aggregation-with-pandas-36d485fb613c | ['Sadrach Pierre'] | 2020-09-03 21:35:45.919000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Development', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Technology'] |
IntelliJ Setup for Jenkins Core Development | 1. Installation and Cloning
Install IntelliJ from here, and clone the latest Jenkins core source code from here (you can also fork it before cloning). In this tutorial, I have used IntelliJ IDEA Version 2019.3.1.
2. Setting up IntelliJ IDEA
Open IntelliJ IDEA.
Click on Import Project, and in the popup, choose the directory where Jenkins had been cloned.
Select ‘Create project from existing sources’, and click on Next.
Click on Next
Click on Next
Click on Next
Click on Finish. IntelliJ should be ready like below.
3. Building Jenkins
Now we want to build Jenkins. Run the following: (This will prepare the jenkins.war file without running tests)
mvn -am -pl war,bom -DskipTests -Dspotbugs.skip clean install
This may take a little time. If everything works well, you should get a successful build result like below:
Now, we can run Jenkins on our local machine using the following command:
mvn -pl war jetty:run
If it runs successfully, you should be able to view Jenkins console by going to http://localhost:8080/jenkins/
4. Debugging
Now, our next goal is to be able to debug jenkins by using breakpoints in IntelliJ. Close the previous running instance by (Ctr+c).
In the toolbar, go to Run -> Edit Configurations…
Click on the ‘+’ icon so we can add a new configuration.
Click on ‘Maven’.
Ensure that this configuration as same as above. Click on Apply and OK.
Now, you can choose either Run ‘Maven Run’ or Debug ‘Maven Run’ based on what you would like to do. Breakpoints can easily be applied alongside the code in the IDE.
Moreover, Groovy/Jelly views are re-compiled every time a browser requests a page, so the changes can be observed with just a simple browser refresh. This is also true for help files.
Also, you can run ‘Build’ in IntelliJ to hot-swap code, which means that some changes like method bodies and annotations changes will take effect without having to restart Jenkins. | https://medium.com/@sumitsarinofficial/intellij-setup-for-jenkins-core-development-2d3932f832c5 | ['Sumit Sarin'] | 2020-03-07 20:21:08.460000+00:00 | ['Jenkins', 'Setup', 'Debugging', 'Intellij', 'Beginners Guide'] |
Comunicarea patrimoniului cultural indigen în mediul online: o prezentare generală a politicilor GLAM | Open GLAM presents global perspectives on open access to the cultural heritage in Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs). Submissions are welcome so please get in touch.
Follow | https://medium.com/open-glam/comunicarea-patrimoniului-cultural-indigen-%C3%AEn-mediul-online-o-prezentare-general%C4%83-a-politicilor-e0143323d682 | ['Brigitte Vézina'] | 2020-10-28 16:29:19.945000+00:00 | ['Openglam', 'Traditional Knowledge', 'Română', 'Muzee'] |
Can One Pursue MBA Without GMAT? | The Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is usually a fundamental part of the application process to land a spot on any MBA course, especially for students who wish to pursue it abroad. The process of application and preparation can, indeed, be grueling. Most aspiring candidates are well aware that scoring in the GMAT will significantly enhance their chance of getting into a top business school. However, very few sources mention MBA programs that don’t require you to take a GMAT. While a majority of MBA courses in top business schools do require a GMAT score, several countries house prestigious universities that don’t demand a GMAT score for admission. Given below are a few of them:
USA
Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics — University of Delaware
The MBA program at Alfred Lerner College of Business can exempt applicants from taking the GMAT exam if they possess four or more years of full-time professional work experience (in a relevant field). The candidate also must have completed a Bachelor’s Degree with a minimum of 2.8 GPA. The student must have a high score in an upper-level math course in statistics or calculus. Applicants can request these waivers on their application while filling in their details in the ‘test’ section.
College of Business — Florida International University
Florida International University does not require applicants who pursue a Healthcare Management MBA to take the GMAT or GRE. However, the admission committee may recommend taking it to strengthen your application. For the Professional MBA program, applicants who have more than four years of professional work experience are eligible for a waiver exempting them from taking the exam.
Hult International Business School
The Hult International Business School in Boston, New York City, and San Francisco allows applicants to take the Hult Business Assessment Test instead of the GMAT to prove they have the required skills to succeed in the program.
Kellogg School of Management — Northwestern University
For the course at the Kellogg School, most students do not require GMAT scores for application. But if the admission committee of the institution sees any problematic areas in your application, they may request you to send them your GMAT score.
Lubin School of Business — Pace University
For an Executive MBA program at Pace University, the application does not require GMAT scores. Students can still send their GMAT scores if they wish to, but their admission will not use the scores as a primary basis for the final decision. An MBA program in Financial Management is specifically designed for graduates who have a good GPA from an AACSB-accredited US business school. Applicants who have a 3.50 GPA or higher for their Bachelor’s degree do not need to send their GMAT or GRE scores.
Marshall School of Business — the University of Southern California
Standardized tests are optional for all applicants to the Executive MBA program at the University of Southern California. They are not required to submit a GMAT or GRE score. But there is a possibility that providing your GMAT/GRE score will strengthen your application and benefit you with that extra edge over your fellow candidates.
Sawyer Business School — Suffolk University
Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School does not require the GMAT or GRE scores for an Executive MBA program. However, applicants are required to have seven or more years of professional experience to gain admission in the course.
Canada
Lakehead University
The Faculty of Business Administration of Lakehead University offers applicants a Business Skills Development Program. A student completing this program is eligible to join the MBA program without providing a GMAT score. The duration of this program is one year which further comprises three terms. Enrolled students learn comprehensive and integrated knowledge of business and management, and the program teaches students skills such as communication, decision making, and analytics. Students are advised to read all the requirements for an MBA before applying.
New York Institute of Technology
The New York Institute of Technology, Vancouver, offers a Finance and Management MBA. Both these programs don’t require the applicant to provide a GMAT score. The Management MBA is an AACSB-accredited degree where enrolled students learn leadership skills and gain professional experience in the course duration. For admission to the Finance MBA program at the university, a candidate must have an undergraduate degree from a recognized college and a minimum of 3.0 GPA to be eligible for it.
Queen’s University Smith School of Business
The Queen’s University Smith School of Business does not require you to provide your GMAT scores if you are pursuing an Accelerated MBA for Business Graduates. Instead of the GMAT scores, greater importance is given to your application, resume, cover letter, and interview. This program is available in cities like Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, and Ottawa. Applicants must necessarily have two years of working experience and an undergraduate degree in Business, Marketing, Accounting, or any other field of relevance.
Schulich School of Business — York University
The Schulich School of Business offers flexible study options and several specialization choices. If a candidate meets the specific criteria set by the institution, the authorities consider overlooking the applicant’s GMAT requirements. A student who has graduated from the Schulich BBA or iBBA programs doesn’t need to provide a GMAT score. Also, the institute does not require candidates with a GPA higher than or equivalent to B+ to submit a GMAT score.
Thompson Rivers University Business and Economics
Providing a GMAT score is entirely optional for an MBA degree at the Thompson Rivers University Business and Economics. Instead, more weightage is given to a candidate’s quantitative and computing skills. The university offers a two-year full-time program as well as a five-year part-time MBA course. It also provides an option for enrolling in an accelerated MBA program where, instead of GMAT, candidates are required to show their TOEFL scores.
UK
Cranfield School of Management
The Cranfield School of Management organizes its own entrance test for admission to a full-time MBA program. After clearing the entrance examination, shortlisted candidates have to participate in an interview round. The institute conducts two tests to evaluate the candidate’s problem-solving skills.
Durham University Business School
For admission to the Durham University Business School, the applicants are required to have at least three years of previous work experience and an eligible IELTS score. The duration of the full-time MBA program is 15 months.
Henley Business School — The University of Reading
The Henley Business School does grant admission to applicants of its full-time MBA program without a GMAT score, provided they demonstrate outstanding grades and have a minimum work experience of three years.
Lancaster University Management School
The Lancaster University Management School provides aspiring students with a one-year full-time MBA course without the GMAT requirement. The criteria for enrollment is based upon the candidate’s work experience, academic performance, and interview.
Middlesex University
The Middlesex University considers candidates with an undergraduate degree in any relevant discipline and a minimum of three years of work experience for admission to its full-time MBA course without a GMAT score.
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool offers an online MBA course with no requirement of a GMAT score. The selection of eligible candidates is based on their prior work experience. For admission to the course, candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree along with at least three years of relevant work experience. Applicants need to provide their TOEFL/IELTS score for entry to the program.
Australia
Macquarie Graduate School of Management
The Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) does not require a candidate’s GMAT score for admission to its MBA course. The enrolled applicants have to complete the course within a year. The candidates also have an option to take a part-time MBA course, which can be completed over three to four years. A Bachelor’s degree in any discipline, proficiency in the English language, and a GPA of 5.0 out of 7.0 are mandatory criteria that a candidate must satisfy to get admission into the MBA course.
University of Canberra
The University of Canberra provides MBA admission to candidates who possess a relevant degree at the undergraduate level. Work experience is not mandatory for these applicants. Candidates applying to the MBA program with an undergraduate degree in any discipline must have a minimum of three years of work experience. | https://medium.com/@ashwinijain/can-one-pursue-mba-without-gmat-ca0b20b205c2 | ['Ashwini Jain'] | 2020-12-27 02:32:47.600000+00:00 | ['Study', 'Higher Education', 'Education', 'Study Abroad', 'Students'] |
Lockdown — Lets Watch (22/04/20). Lets Watch! | Lets Watch!
Deathgasm! (£1.99 Rental Youtube / Google / Amazon)
If they gave out oscars for wonderfully silly old school comedy horrors — and they should — then this would have won, hands down. What do you want from a old style comedy horror? Nudity? — It has a little. Violence? — shit loads. Laughter? — If you do not laugh at the syphoning scene then I am afraid you have no sense of humour and you should quit now.
Two teenage goth misfits find each other over the record collection at a local shop and hit if off straight away. Both having a love of metal they form a band with a couple of classmates. Discovering some old music they play it only to bring about the end of the world.
All Hail Satin!
Supernatural (Amazon Prime)
Supernatural started out life a decade and a half ago as a pretty normal monster of the week type show. There are two brothers (hunters) who hunt monsters whilst looking for their father. It has now been running for fifteen years and was one of The CWs biggest shows, it had little love in the UK. It is ending this year and recently amazon prime picked up the previous series. The later series have descended a little into a parody of itself but the first five still have some great stories to tell. You name it and from a monster point of view they have probably covered it. Just from a storytelling perspective some of the one off episodes are great but then you have the fact that it can be incredibly aware of itself. There is an episode later on where they end up at a Supernatural Fan Convention with fans asking questions such as “You are always dropping you guns, why don’t you put them on a bungie or something”
Lucifer & iZombie (Lucifer S1–3 Prime S4 — Netflix | iZombie — Netflix)
I’ve put these two together for a few reasons. Firstly the premise is similar procedural cop show with a twist. Ones the devil, ones is a zombie, duh. It would actually be more shocking to see a cop show without a twist, but hey ho. Secondly they both started around the same time and finally I had absolutely fuck all interest in either of them when they first started. How very wrong I was. They are both very funny, sometimes even laugh out loud funny. Both work the same was for most of the run. Body gets found, gotta work out who did it etc… Lucifer can find out what anyone desires so he uses that to solve crimes. Liv eats brains and gets flashes of the victims life. If you have not laughed in the first episode of each then they are not for you, you boring boring grumpy sods. | https://medium.com/@bloris/lockdown-lets-watch-22-04-20-1a853cbbeec0 | ['Lee Wilson'] | 2020-04-23 12:26:08.921000+00:00 | ['TV', 'Films', 'Movies', 'Lockdown'] |
Wednesday~Extra | Here’s an extra tidbit to sink your gnarly fangs into about the climate. I noticed it going off the rails in the later 80’s and especially in the 90’s. Today it’s as unpredictable as the lightening I talked about earlier today. It will all coalesce into a steady decay. Once the methane really gets going, look out! Peace, The Ol’ Hippy : Link Below \/ | https://medium.com/@jrallen1200/wednesday-extra-41ba8128360c | ['John Allen'] | 2020-12-23 20:59:53.189000+00:00 | ['Climate Change', 'Ecology', 'Global Warming', 'Climate', 'Climate Crisis'] |
Why Was Donald Trump the Best President Ever? | Why Was Donald Trump the Best President Ever?
Somebody asked the question on Quora. So I answered it. And now Quora tells me that they can use my content wherever they like without my permission and without payment. Tessa Schlesinger Dec 15, 2020·5 min read
By using my content in any way they like, Quora has effectively removed my copyright. Fair Use. Own artwork.
Every now and then (about once a year) I go answer a few question on Quora for a week or two. I was vastly put off, though, when I was approached by Quora ownership contacting me asking me if they could republish one of my responses elsewhere — without payment. I said no. They then said I could set my settings so that my responses wouldn’t be reproduced. That was about a year ago. I’ve just received their new terms and conditions. In it, they indicate that they now have permission to use our responses for any of their publications, royalty free, for any purpose whatsoever, without asking.
They can sell our work, use it for advertising, change it, and a lot more. Effectively, they are removing all the protections that copyright supplies.
So I’m going to delete all my answers and close my account. It’s not as if I earn anything from them. I did, however, think I would publish the answers for which I received the most response. For this response, to date, I have received 175K reads in three weeks, with 6.K 24, 408 shares, and 428 comments for this particular piece.
Here it is.
Donald Trump Balloon in London made to show him the displeasure of the Brits. Fair use.
Donald Trump is the best president that the USA ever had because:
He managed to prove to the world — single handedly — what most had only guessed at for decades — that America had a large number of stupid, ugly, ignorant people. He was able to destroy what America had built up in centuries in a mere four years — a reputation for democracy. That takes some doing — true greatness. He got away with lying 20,000 times in four years, and he managed to convince 71 million people that he was honest. That is a quite remarkable achievement. You have to hand it to him. He knows how to lie with equanimity. He single handedly destroyed all trust in the USA. The USA has no more friends. He changed the balance of power so that the west now prefers to look to China for trade rather than the USA. He was the first American president to lay a thorough foundation for future dictatorship in the USA. He is responsible for establishing a Nazi like resistance to human decency. It takes an incredible president to openly do that. He was able to convince millions of Americans that the virus was not serious in spite of it being highly dangerous. He even admitted to a journalist in January that he knew it was dangerous, but he wasn’t going to tell people that because he didn’t want to worry them. It takes absolute greatness to be that convincing to 71 million people when the evidence to the contrary is right in front of them. A remarkable achievement. He convinced his supporters that he is a business supremo when, in fact, he owes so much money that he is probably bankrupt. He got away with not showing his tax forms (obviously because, as we now know, he lied and cheated on them), and it’s quite remarkable that he did so. In spite of laws against nepotism, he got away with appointing relatives to the White House. It definitely takes an amazing president to commit so many crimes in front of everybody and get away with it. Politicians aren’t generally honest people, but Trump is in a category of his own. Make no mistake that Donald Trump will be remembered as the best president the USA ever had — the best conman, the best liar, the best stable genius, the best peroxide blond, the best obese man, the best ever at playing golf when the country was burning. You tell me who else set records like this. Absolutely nobody. Not even close.
So, yes, Donald J Trump is definitely the best president that America has ever had, and his touch on people’s lives (and deaths) will be remembered for a very long time to come.
The Effective Theft of Copyright by Quora
This is what the new licencing agreement says.
“By submitting, posting, or displaying Your Content on the Quora Platform, you grant Quora and its affiliated companies a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty free, fully paid up, transferable, sublicensable (through multiple tiers), license to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, create derivative works from, publish, transmit, store, display and distribute, translate, communicate and make available to the public, and otherwise use Your Content in connection with the operation or use of the Quora Platform or the promotion, advertising or marketing of the Quora Platform or our business partners, in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed), including via means of automated distribution, such as through an application programming interface (also known as an “API”). You agree that this license includes the right for Quora to make Your Content available to other companies, organizations, business partners, or individuals who collaborate with Quora for the syndication, broadcast, communication and making available to the public, distribution or publication of Your Content on the Quora Platform or through other media or distribution methods.”
There is absolutely no point in my having copyright to the piece when they have effectively taken control of the piece I wrote. This effectively means they now have my copyright. Quora is not the only platform that does this. In their licence, they also give everybody else permission to use my piece — provided I have labeled it not for reproduction. What an absolute gall. The power of large corporations is unbelieveable. Nobody is going to sue them, of course. And most people won’t bother to read the licence.
It’s going to take me a while to remove everything from Quora, and after some thought, I will simply remove the pieces that have garnered many views initially, and then I will gradually remove the rest, and close the account.
Does Quora Send me Traffic to Other Platforms?
Maybe once or twice a year, I will note that Quora has sent me three or four readers. It really isn’t worth the effort put into it, and I do it for fun more than anything else. At this point, if they’re going to use my copy for their profit, and I’m a starving writer with little income, I have every right to be angry.
I think you should be, too.
What say you? | https://medium.com/born-to-write/why-was-donald-trump-was-the-best-president-ever-6728bdb4c636 | ['Tessa Schlesinger'] | 2020-12-16 16:34:04.130000+00:00 | ['Payments', 'Copyright', 'Writing', 'Business', 'Quora'] |
SUMMER FUN: 3 WAYS TO ENGAGE DONORS & RASIE FUNDS | Coming up with exciting and engaging ways to raise money and call attention to your nonprofit’s mission can be hard. Especially during the summer months while so many people are on vacation. However, do not be discouraged. Let’s join them and have some summer fun!
Summer time is the perfect moment to take advantage of current trends and diversify your fundraising strategy from the traditional approaches. All the while, making it fun for both you and your donors. It’s a win-win!
Here are three ways to bring some summer fun to your fundraising through posting “donation asks” on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Selfies for #SocialGood
A selfie campaign is a great way to spread awareness about your cause while also expanding the audience and reach of your nonprofit. A big bonus — it really helps get your brand out there.
Create a hashtag that is unique to a particular fundraiser you are holding or your nonprofit itself.
Ask donors to use that hashtag along with a selfie! Not only will this further distinguish your nonprofit with a unique hashtag, but also creates a convenient way for you to keep track of the donors who participate in the selfie campaign.
Encourage donors to post on their personal social media pages with their friends and family, tagging your organization and using your hashtag of your choice.
Reward the participants of your selfie campaign by reposting their selfies to your nonprofit page. Nonprofit donor appreciation shows potential donors that you really do value your support base and inspires them to donate and get involved with your cause!
Nonprofit branded merchandise can be a great prop for donors to use in their selfies, but isn’t necessary! Depending on the cause of your nonprofit, donors could take selfies that reflect your message and purpose. Ex. An animal rescue nonprofit asking participants to take selfies with their pets!
The main takeaway here is for your donors to keep evangelizing your mission, to participate and donate regardless of where they are or what they’re doing. It’s as simple as that!
2. Giveaway Contests
Giveaway contests are an awesome way for you to show donor appreciation, while also increasing donor retention and continual support for your nonprofit.
Entering into the giveaway should have one condition: Make a donation!
You can hold giveaway contests for 24 hours, or even a week, but use an impending deadline to participate to drive action.
No matter how big or small the donation, all donors should be equally eligible to participate and win a prize. Make your prize directly related to your nonprofit’s cause so that you can spread awareness of your mission through the campaign!
3. Live-Streaming
Live-streaming is an amazing way to engage donors, spread awareness of your nonprofit, and showcase the authenticity of your employees! When live-streaming to boost buzz for your fundraising campaign, make sure that those who click on to your live-stream stay engaged. | https://blog.goodworld.me/summer-fun-3-ways-to-engage-donors-rasie-funds-2bedf58826af | [] | 2019-07-24 13:41:01.008000+00:00 | ['Fundraising', 'Social Media', 'Summer', 'Nonprofit'] |
How do I wear my mask? | The number of COVID cases are increasing by the day in Bangalore. Fear and angst are permeating my mind. As long as I do not get it, I am fine. I am not sure how far I am from the state of getting infected. It is anyone’s guess.
The signs of vaccine availability are not yet visible. From around the world, there are two clear messages: wear a mask and observe social distancing. It seems these are the only two saviours at present to keep the Virus away. These tools are simple to follow and execute. The masks are becoming available in different flavours and designs.
Seven out of ten cases, we do not want to follow these simple rules. Some masks are on the nose, some on the mouth and some hanging around the neck. Also, I see many on the streets without masks. In Bangalore, there is a fine of Rs 200 if you are found not wearing a mask. It is better to speak less about social distancing. We are very far.
My manager and I had perspectives early in my career on our ability to follow any rules. We decided to conduct simple experiments with two typical daily activities: wearing a shirt and reading a newspaper. I spent one day on each of the experiments. I identified ten individuals at different levels starting from workers in my office to the Vice President and asked them the detailed step by step process of how he wears the shirt in the morning. I listened and recorded the efforts of each of the individuals in detail and tried to summarise my findings. To my utter dismay, I found there were ten different variants. While I am unable to share the complete report, I shall tell you the highlights. One individual unfastened all the buttons and put on the right sleeve first. The other did the exact opposite. One undid only two buttons on the front and slid the shirt through the head and the neck. He buttoned the sleeves on the hands before he buttoned the front buttons. I learnt an interesting lesson that every one of us has a different method in mind for wearing a shirt, and we have the right justification for why we are doing in that specific way.
I conducted the second experiment slightly differently. I identified ten individuals from my neighbourhood, and this time the sample included women, young girls and boys. Instead of asking questions to the participants, I had the privilege of observing them while they were reading the morning newspaper. I had startling pieces of evidence this time again. There was a lot of variation with one individual starting reading from the front page and another from the back page. Yet another started reading from the centre beginning with Op-ed page. The population showed a large standard deviation. A Standard Deviation is a number used to tell how measurements for a group are away from the average. The process of folding the newspaper after reading also varied from person to person. In one case, a small child was playing on one page soon after the parent completed reading. In another case, a mother tore one sheet and used for folding the diaper to throw in the dust bin. I am sure in a Japanese or a German home this would not happen. Typically an individual will read the newspaper sitting a table or a desk and replace in the original place after the reading.
As the factory manager, I found it extremely difficult to make the workers and the supervisors in my unit follow any documented process. This non-conformance has always resulted in a shoddy output. My visit to a Japanese assembly line for the same product provided me with some startling insights. I have seen one worker at a particular workstation would read the process steps before he starts assembling, though he has been at the same work station for thirty years. My colleagues in India always questioned me why they should read the process steps or follow the rules every day as the entire process is permanent in their head.
I saw a lot of discipline on the streets of Tokyo, even the simple processes of walking on the pavement or talking on a mobile phone.
As a nation, we have a huge challenge ahead of us. The Virus is spreading tentacles all over the place. As the schools and the public places open up, the Virus is going to spread exponentially. The concept of ‘self-regulation’ does not work in our country. Someone needs to prod me either a parent at home or police outside. The nudging theory and constant messaging on the media will not help me.
The virus threat is real and waiting at my doorstep. A dreadful experience can only teach me a lesson. | https://medium.com/back-in-time-unintentionally/how-do-i-wear-my-mask-6a3d81527ddd | ['Dravida Seetharam'] | 2020-09-04 09:27:24.737000+00:00 | ['Masks', 'Covid 19'] |
Bee #GratefulFor Pollinators! | Photo: Did you know pollinators are responsible for more than 75% of what we eat? Coffee, chocolate, and pretty much all of the ingredients needed for pumpkin pie rely on pollinators so show them some love today!
When most people think about pollinators, they imagine graceful butterflies, or a busy and buzzy honey bee, pollinating crops and flowers to bring the pollen back to their hives and create honey. But pollinators include more than honey bees, as there are all different types of bees, bats, birds, and bugs that specialize in pollinating the plants native to their homes or ecosystems. In fact, some native plants and pollinators have a co-dependent relationship — meaning that one cannot exist without the other!
For example, birds like the i’iwi have long, curved beaks, perfect for drinking the nectar from flowers in places like Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii. As they move from flower to flower, they pollinate the plants.
Photo: I’iwi or scarlet Hawaiian honeycreeper. Photo credit: Megan Nagel/USFWS
Pollinators not only keep plants healthy and growing, but they are also indicators of healthy habitats because they are so sensitive to threats like the changing climate, habitat loss, environmental toxins, and invasive species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service works to ensure the future of fish, wildlife and their habitat and the National Wildlife Refuge System creates refuges dedicated to their conservation.
“Refuges are important for pollinators because they protect relatively undisturbed, natural habitats that provide the critical resources, such as food, nesting and overwintering sites required by pollinators, said Regional Refuge Biologist Joe Engler. “Pollination is critical for the existence of healthy plant populations which in turn provide the fruits and seeds eaten by the many species of wildlife that refuges were established to protect. The pollinators themselves, both adults and larvae, are also a food source for wildlife.”
Because pollinators play an important role in keeping refuges healthy, and are facing so many threats, refuge biologists in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Region with the assistance of the USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab, and the USDA ARS Bee Biology & Systematics Laboratory are studying bees on refuges in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Photo: Bombus nevadensis on Steens Mountain thistle. Photo credit: USFWS
This study currently focuses on conducting inventories of the primary bee species on 11 national wildlife refuges in the Pacific Northwest. With over 800 species of bees occurring in this region, once completed, this study will tell what types of bees are living on the refuges, what types of habitats they prefer, and provide important data and specimens for research and educational purposes. This study is leading the way for the Service to better understand the role that pollinators play in keeping refuges healthy, but also how refuges support bee populations. The information that results from this study will help refuge managers improve bee habitat and populations as needed.
“Because different types of bees have different requirements for their food, nesting and overwintering sites, each refuge plays a unique role in supporting the wide diversity of bees found in the Pacific Northwest,” said Engler.
Photo: Bombus vosnesenskii or calignosus on checkermallow. Photo credit: USFWS
Studies like this are vital as there is growing evidence that pollinators are in decline world-wide. In the United States, four species of bumble bees are known to be in decline and considered vulnerable to extinction. This includes the western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis), which was once considered to be one of the most abundant bumble bees in the Western United States, and Franklin’s bumble bee (Bombus franklini), a species restricted to southern Oregon and northern California which hasn’t been found since 2006. Within Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, the Xerces Society’s Red List of at-risk to endangered pollinators includes five species of butterflies and 19 species of bees; the Xerces Society is an organization of national and international scope dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates. In Hawaii, one butterfly and 26 bees are considered at-risk, including the Blackburn’s sphinx moth which is federally listed as endangered in Hawaii.
Photo: Arctic skipper on Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Photo credit: USFWS
Bees and other pollinators, through their pollination activities, are critical for the production of over 100 food crops world-wide, and over 75% of all plant species depend on them for pollination.
“For a relatively unknown and often maligned group of insects, it is sobering to think that almost all life on this planet, including humans, depends on these industrious creatures,” said Engler. “They are intricately involved in helping weave and maintain the foundation of human existence as we know it.”
Learn more about pollinators and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by clicking here. | https://medium.com/usfwspacificnw/bee-gratefulfor-pollinators-5105f1a4df31 | ['Usfws Columbia Pacific Northwest Region'] | 2020-11-26 15:42:28.198000+00:00 | ['Thanksgiving', 'Gratefulfor', 'Pollinators', 'Conservation', 'Wildlife'] |
My First One-Night-Stand Was With Two Men in a Sex-Club | A blur of blinking lights behind foggy taxi-windows later, they’re inside.
A visual overload of deep reds and naked skin bathed in flashing lights, the place is a glaring contrast to ‘the church of techno’. Creatures of the night in all shapes, sizes, and costumes meander around or lounge lavishly on fake-leather couches.
Again, she lets him lead—this time to a quiet, upstairs area. Padded PVC platforms are strewn with more naked bodies, some making out or fucking, others watching — a few whiles touching themselves.
Finding a free spot, he greedily pulls down her panties to relish her wetness. Moaning, she leans back as he slurps her up, unfazed by the small crowd that starts to form around them.
Alexander Popov via Unsplash
She’s never had sex in public before.
It turns her on even more than she had imagined. Several sets of eyes fixed on her as she twitches and squirms with pleasure drives her wild and quickly brings her to her edge.
About to burst, Jimmy slips two fingers inside her, setting her off, before he flips her around and enters her from behind. She continues to roar with excitement while he pounds her, one hand firmly grasping her long hair while the other plays with her ass.
The mass of onlookers grows until he too peaks, and they collapse together in a sweaty pile.
Giggling in between kisses, they dress and head downstairs for a drink. She’s sure the night has passed its pinnacle when another stunningly handsome guy plumps down on the seat next to them.
He lifts his glass to greet them,
I’m Jimmy!
—Ditto! says the first Jimmy.
They laugh and toast, and very soon she has a Jimmy on each nipple.
She’s never had two men touching her at once before.
She cheers them on as they move closer to each other and meet in a passionate kiss.
Jimmy #2 is a Greek statue impersonate. Wearing nothing but very tight briefs, she can’t help but notice that he’s exceptionally well ‘equipped’.
Escalating quickly, the trio makes their way upstairs. A bit buzzed from the booze, and immersed in the heat of the moment, they’re oblivious to their audience. She watches, mesmerized as second-Jimmy takes first-Jimmy in his mouth to swallow him deep.
She’s never seen two guys having sex in real life before.
Keen to participate she strips down and gets on all fours to straddle Jimmy #2. Her breasts billow over his eager, feasting face, as Jimmy #1 pounds her from behind again.
Her newfound exhibitionist-self is in heaven, as the spectators continue to amass. In their honor, she slides down to sample #2’s impressive package. The visual is clearly well-received, and she smirks as she picks up remarks from the sideline:
—Wow, this is so hot! This is exactly what I came to Berlin to see!
Little do they know:
She’s never done anything like this before.
Post peak performance, she’s suddenly satiated and excuses herself to her two Jimmys, who insist on walking her out. Gentlemanly, they retrieve her coat and kiss her farewell as she hops in a taxi.
She doesn’t bother to exchange numbers, as she knows with certainty that this is it — and frankly, she prefers it that way.
After all, she’s never had a one night stand before. | https://medium.com/essensually-ena/my-first-one-night-stand-was-with-two-men-in-a-sex-club-4198de3114a1 | ['Ena Dahl'] | 2020-04-19 15:56:10.775000+00:00 | ['This Happened To Me', 'Sex', 'Short Story', 'Erotica', 'Threesome'] |
Facility location optimization using a variant of the k-means algorithm | Facility location optimization using a variant of the k-means algorithm
How to modify a basic k-means algorithm to solve famous constrained optimization problem Hedi Follow Jun 8 · 10 min read
Photo by Mario Caruso on Unsplash
Authors : Hedi Hargam, Pierre de Fréminville
In this article we are interested in the optimization of object placement under certain constraints. We will take as example (this is not a real use case) the placement of cell phone towers that must be within reach of the users. The goal is to place a limited number of cell towers as close as possible to housing areas, and thus to be able to cover the maximum of territory. For that, we chose as an optimization objective the sum of distances between each user and the closest cell tower. It is also specified that the cell towers have maximum and minimum capacities to be respected to be considered as functional.
Example of 12 samples with k=4 cell towers. Condition on the capacity C is 1 < C < 5
In the following, we propose an algorithm to solve this problem, and a new solution developed in python based on a modified Expectation-Maximization algorithm. We will also present the computational results obtained on a fictitious dataset for our problem.
Mathematical modeling
In the following, we will use the bird’s eye distance between each customer and the tower. We use the classical euclidean distance in the plane.
Our problem is close to a well-known problem in the mathematical optimization literature and is generally referred as the capacitated k-geometric-median problem, the Fermat-Weber localization problem, or the Facility location problem. In our case, the centers can be chosen freely in the plane whereas in some of the variants of the problem found in the literature, centers must be chosen among the given points.
The k-geometric-median problem is combinatorial optimization problem which consists consists in determining k location (geometric medians) such that the sum of distances between demand (client) and the nearest of the selected facilities is minimal. Additional constraints can be added : like ensuring a maximum capacity limit (capacitated k-geometric-median problem) and/or a minimum capacity limit.
The k-geometric-median problem (KGMP) belongs to the class of NP-hard problems.
The KGMP can been seen as a clustering problem close to the well-known k-means problem. The major difference is that in the KGMP we minimize the sum of Euclidean distances from each point to its cluster centroid, whereas in the k-means problem we minimize the sum of squared Euclidean distances from each point to its cluster centroid (which is equivalent to minimizing the sum of the intra-cluster variances).
The centroid of a cluster in the k-means problem is simply the mean of the cluster’s points. In the k-geometric-median problem the centroid is different from the mean and is called the geometric median.
Let’s have a look at an example on a line and an example in the plane to compare the mean with the geometric median.
1D Example : with (0, 0, 9)
Mean is : 9/3 = 3 → Total mean-sample distance = (3–0) + (3–0) + (9–3) = 12
Median is 0 → Total median-sample distance = (0–0) + (0–0) + (9–0) = 9
It can be noted that the geometric median is often used in machine learning because it is more robust to outliers.
Geometric median
The point that minimizes the sum of the distances to a set of points is called the geometric median in the literature.
It is also referred to as: the L_1-median, the spatial median, the solution to the Weber problem, the solution to the Fermat point problem (in case of triangles).
In the k-means problem, the goal is to minimize the sum of the square distances to the centroid in each cluster. The centroid of each cluster is the mean of each cluster, it can thus be found by a direct analytical formula.
On the contrary, the geometric median has no explicit formula, but is strictly convex (in the non-degenerate case) and can be found by solving the optimization problem below.
source : Vardi et al article
The convexity of C(y) comes from the fact that the sum of distances to the sample points is a convex function, since the distance to each sample point is convex and the sum of convex functions remains convex.
3D surface visualisation of the convex function C(y)
Note also that the geometric median is differentiable almost everywhere and its gradient (first derivates) and hessian (second derivatives) can be expressed analytically (this is useful in case we want to use to general convex optimization algorithms).
Resolution method chosen
Basic approach
In order to solve the Capacited-KGMP, we got inspired by the article “Constrained K-Means Clustering” by Microsoft Research. An great open-source implementation which uses OR-tools min cost flow solver and based on sklearn API can be found here: joshlk/k-means-constrained (credits to Josh Levy-Kramer)
The main idea of the article is the following: in the classical Expectation Maximization algorithm used to solve the k-means problem, replace the E (expectation) and M (maximization) step to match the problem additional constraints:
In our case, we follow these steps:
Initialization : choose initial cluster centers position using the kmeans++ algorithm to avoid local optima
: choose initial cluster centers position using the kmeans++ algorithm to avoid local optima Expectation : assign points to a cluster by solving a constrained optimization problem (min-cost flow)
: assign points to a cluster by solving a constrained optimization problem (min-cost flow) Maximization : update clusters centers by computing the geometric medians (note that we have to use an optimization algorithm here as well contrary to the k-means centroids version because there is no analytical formula)
: update clusters centers by computing the geometric medians (note that we have to use an optimization algorithm here as well contrary to the k-means centroids version because there is no analytical formula) Repeat expectation and maximization steps until convergence criterion is reached.
The convergence of the original algorithm still holds with our modifications because the geometric-median is convex (in the proposition 2.3 in the article, the proof relies on the fact that the k-means centroid is convex).
Constrained K-Geometrical algorithm (k-means comparison)
Expectation part (cluster assignment)
The goal of the expectation step is to assign points to each cluster while satisfying our side constraints.
This can be done by solving the general Mixed Integer Programming optimization problem :
Instead of using a general MIP solver we can reformulate the assignment problem as a min-cost flow problem:
Equivalent Minimum Cost Flow formulation Bradley & al.
Maximization part (cluster centers update)
In this part, we update the clusters centers keeping the cluster assignments fixed. Below the geometric median with our notations :
The geometric-median has been well studied in the literature (a list can be found in the wiki article: Geometric median) and a couple of algorithms have been proposed, among the most efficients:
the Weiszfeld algorithm : the best known specific approximate algorithm for finding the geometric median, the principle is described in the article from Yehuda Vardi and Cun-Hui Zhang. divide-and-conquer: by using the convexity in a binary search Bose, Maheshwari & Morin (2003) general convex optimization procedures, such as: Nelder and Mead (NM), Broyden, Fletcher, Goldfarb and Shanno (BFGS), conjugate gradient (CG).
The convexity of the geometric median implies that procedures that strictly decrease the sum of distances at each step cannot get trapped in a local optimum.
In the following computational results, we have used the COBYLA algorithm, noting that we have already a good initial solution x_0 which is the mean of our points. Thus, this step is actually fast and precise. Example of python code :
Adding operational constraints on the clusters
More constraints can be added, like forbidden areas or maximum distance between a house and its assigned tower. Forbidden areas constraints can be added in the M step, however, the feasibility set over which we minimize loses its global convexity property.
To deal with the loss of convexity, a flexible way is to use a meta heuristic algorithm, such as the particle swarm optimization (PSO : Particle swarm optimization ).
To solve the problem with the PSO framework, we have two options :
Add a penalty to values that don’t match the constraints (ie : in a forbidden area or too far from a house)
Filter the swarm particle in order to keep only the particle that match the constraints
PSO is a very robust algorithm in term of results even if the function has many local optima. This is partly due to the high number of particles that we can set.
In our use case, setting the number of particles to 100 seemed to reach a good balance between computation time (the higher the number of particles, the slower the computation) and the quality of the optimum found. As an example for a problem with 100 cell towers the algorithm runs in 2 seconds on a classic 8GB ram CPU, and around 10 seconds if we add more constraints like forbidden areas.
Evaluation methods
In order to evaluate the performance of the algorithm, we have set up two different methods.
Offline
In the offline evaluation, we benchmark the algorithm with:
historical baselines on the one hand: in our case, the chosen baselines are historical studies where cell towers where placed manually by industry experts. To this day, our algorithm has always outperformed this baseline.
the optimal (or almost optimal) solution using discretization of the map and a brute force search, where we don’t have the computation time limits of the production tool
Note that other algorithms have been proposed in the literature, such as ones combining discretization of the map and resolution of CPMP problems, and could be used to extend our benchmark.
Online
The goal of the online evaluation is to give to the user general indicators of quality when we don’t have access to the optimal solution (due to computation time constraints). These indicators can be used for monitoring as well and be based on clustering problem evaluation metrics such as :
Internal Clustering Validation Measures, Yanchi Liu & al
An interesting metric for our problem is the Silhouette index. A higher Silhouette index score relates to a model with better defined clusters. It is calculated using:
the mean intra-cluster distance (a) and,
the mean nearest-cluster distance (b) for each sample. Where (b) is the distance between a sample and the nearest cluster that the sample is not a part of.
To sum up, if the Silhouette index is negative this indicates a potential bad positioning of a tower. However, this index is only indicative because it might not be suited for our additional constraints.
Real case example
Dataset
There is a real case example. We need to place 3 towers among 34 neighborhoods where the maximum and minimum capacity are 8 to 12 by cell station.
Unfortunately, a location constraint is added at the last moment. For reasons of building permits it is not possible to place a station in the red zone.
We include this forbidden area in the constraints of the geometric median calculation. As we can see the station 3 is now out from this areas and some clusters had to be restructured to ensure a minimal total distance. We can see the neighborhoods that switched stations (circles) and the slight deviations of station 1 & 2 positions.
Performance evaluation (without forbidden area)
Above, an extract from our performance evaluation table, we can see that the Silhouette score is negative for house n°13. Actually this house is closer to the cell tower 2 than to the 3 to which it has been assigned. This is simply due to the fact that station 2 has reached its maximum capacity of 12 and it was necessary to redirect this house on the second closest station.
The total sum of all housing area — cell tower distances is 13.021943852. Now, how far are we from the minimum calculated by the raw testing of a large number of solutions ?
Well, actually on this quite straight forward example the best solution that we found by testing a few billion points is 13.021943849. With a difference of less than one millionth of a percent, we are satisfied with our results.
However we cannot generalize this result on all possible use cases, especially in cases where the algorithm would be stuck in a local minimum. Which are nevertheless very rare in our problems.
Conclusion
As a summary, we have proposed a flexible and scalable algorithm, inspired from the classical k-means algorithm, to solve an operational problem. Although the tool might not reach state-of-the-art performance compared to some more sophisticated algorithms that can be found in the literature on some large maps, it gives fast and accurate enough solutions to answer to our business problem. Last but not least, the solution framework design for our use case can be used for many other similar problems.
Going further / research directions
The facility location problem has been well studied in the literature, for example we refer the reader interested in going further on the topic towards the following articles: | https://medium.com/total-digital-factory/custom-algorithm-to-solve-optimization-location-problem-1eb585e44186 | [] | 2021-06-29 14:59:12.401000+00:00 | ['K Means', 'Optimization', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Business'] |
How to solve Two-Sum Algorithm in JavaScript | I think we all can agree on this: Two-Sum Algorithm is sort of a classic data structure challenge. In my blog, I’d like to share two approaches to solving it. The first one is a so-called “brute force” method, and the second one represents a more elegant solution
So, our problem is: Given an array of numbers and a target number, find the sum of two numbers from the array that is equal to the target number. May not sum the same index twice. Return these numbers.
Create a working solution with nested loops (Time complexity: O(n²))
Here, I’m using nested for-loops to check all possible sums in the array. Once I get the right pair, I return them. If nothing matches, an empty array is returned.
function twoSum(nums, target) {
let result = [];
for(let i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) {
for(let j = i + 1; j < nums.length; j++) {
if(nums[i] + nums[j] === target) {
result.push(nums[i], nums[j])
}
}
}
return result;
};
2. Use an Object-based solution (Time coxplexity: O(n))
A more sophisticated and time complexity friendly approach is solving this problem by using an empty object. That will give us O(n) in time complexity.
function twoSum(nums, target){
//FIRST STEP: create an empty Object
let numObject = {}
//SECOND STEP: use a for-loop to iterate through the array
for(let eachNum in nums){
let otherNum = target - nums[eachNum] //we'll check for otherNum in the object and if it's there, we got it and can push in our result array. if(otherNum in numObject){
let resultArr = [];
resultArr.push(otherNum, nums[eachNum])
return resultArr;
} numObject[nums[eachNum]] = eachNum //NB! adding key/value has to go after the if-statement to avoid adding the same index twice. We add the value or a new pair on each iteration.
}
return "not found";
}
Hope it was helpful!
Source: | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/how-to-solve-two-sum-algorithm-in-javascript-90c998dd8aad | ['Anastasia Orlova'] | 2020-12-21 08:06:20.700000+00:00 | ['Two Sum', 'Problem Solving', 'JavaScript', 'Data Structures', 'Algorithms'] |
3 Simple Ways to Move on From Toxic Relationships | you can’t change someone who doesn’t see an issue in his actions.sometimes you need to give up on people .not because you don’t care but because they don’t
1. Hear the piece of you that is insane, dreary and ruinous
A fraction of the time we live in desolation since we are unfortunate of confronting our doo-doo and think by one way or another in the event that we evade it — it will disappear — it will not.
At the point when you acknowledge your wreck without attempting to drive it away, you permit a chance for your feelings of trepidation, hurt and tension to be delivered and delivered for great.
The greater part of the enduring you may encounter when you separate are the voices in your mind advising you — you did this wrong, your ex did that off-base and that in some way or another you made this chaotic situation of an awful relationship. A portion of those considerations cycle in a ghastly damaging manner: “I wasn’t appealing how he would have preferred”, I wasn’t sufficiently youthful”, “I’m not making enough money”… I’m certain you have an extensive rundown that goes nearby around and around.
At the point when you hear these considerations in your brain, the normal practice is to ‘center around certain contemplations’ and push away your negative musings. Notwithstanding, that doesn’t work with a separation since you are so harmed and the hurt is more grounded than any sure considerations you may attempt to zero in on.
You can generally zero in on the better future you need, yet you will not get over the relationship on the off chance that you flee from the terrible sentiments you have in your body and enthusiastic cerebrum.
These terrible sentiments should be felt, experienced and delivered.
Advising yourself to quit zeroing in on them and to consider something different — won’t make them disappear and just continues to rehash the pattern of negative contemplations and emotions.
2. Go to a higher ability to break the pattern of your negative feelings.
There’s simply around a 5 to 10% accomplishment for AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) program.
Which means just 1 out of 15 individuals who go through the program really quit drinking. That is an extremely LOW achievement rate thinking about how well known the AA program is.
So WHY do individuals continue to return to AA?
One of the center standards of AA is that they trust in a more powerful that has the individual’s well being on a fundamental level that advocate their prosperity. So regardless of whether you “come up short” when on the program, there is somebody other than you who has your back. They call it god, on they approach a companion, their support, whatever and whoever it takes, to not depend on the individual doing the program without anyone else.
Try not to depend on you ALONE to advance out of your wreck. You need to approach a higher force or association with adoration to take you out or your propensities for helpless self talk and absence of affection.
God has become a filthy word in our advanced culture. Also, that is on the grounds that we are tired of religion’s rendition of god and in urgent hunt of an individual, cherishing and groundbreaking form of a higher force.
Your enthusiastic cerebrum is set to destruct when you’ve been in a harmful relationship.
You’ve adored, you’ve been harmed and your enthusiastic cerebrum, your sensory system and your body is living in dread since you have hidden away your harmed and you’re similar to an injured creature simply trusting that somebody will strike.
In the event that you have left your relationship you’re actually conveying that hurt or dread (or both — they are constantly caught) at that point you will respond from that enthusiastic cerebrum.
The passionate cerebrum is multiple times all the more remarkable (and more seasoned) than some other piece of your mind.
It’s critical to have the option to intrude on the enthusiastic cerebrum with a force that is more remarkable than it. Furthermore, on the off chance that you attempt to utilize your levelheaded sensible cerebrum — it basically isn’t sufficiently incredible.
What has been demonstrated to break the force of the passionate mind, is an inclination of adoration, solace, well being and association with something more impressive than you. That sensation of unadulterated love that you can interface with and you can consider it whatever works for you: ‘god’, more noteworthy awareness, a confidence in an adoration that you knew when you were youthful with a friend or family member or a character you love from a film or story. It simply must be the best form of adoration you can envision and associate with.
Anything that causes you To feel associated with an adoration that is BIGGER than you is needed to help your passionate cerebrum to start to have a sense of security — so you can open the negative pattern of hurt and dread that your mind has got itself caught or ‘hard-wired’ in.
3. Delivery your hurt in a sound and enabled way.
The main method to deliver your past is such that you feel amazing as you are doing that — like a top dog who has tried sincerely and accomplished an extraordinary award.
The fundamental explanation the vast majority try not to confront hurt in a relationship is they are terrified of being a wreck or running over to others like they can’t handle their sentiments and themselves.
For what reason is AA simply 5 to 10% effective? For what reason do individuals return to drinking on the off chance that it got them into difficulty in any case?
At the point when you get to a piece of you that is harmed, it’s characteristic to be terrified and go to your old propensities and ‘soothers’ that removed your dread of the hurt or your dread of not realizing what to do.
One reason you pull in “some unacceptable person” in a relationship, is on the grounds that you are being tested to really see which parts of you that you are frightened to see!
Yet, all things considered, you fault “some unacceptable person” for setting off these profound dull pessimistic patterns of feeling. And afterward you say, I accomplished something incorrectly and that is the reason I pulled in ‘some unacceptable’ fellow.
You’re overlooking what’s really important.
You’re really being shown a piece of yourself that is frantically needing to figure out HOW to LOVE however you never had the chance to figure out HOW to LOVE.
At the point when you grow up and you get injured, nobody shows you how to be available to hurt or not be unfortunate of the hurt or to say sorry or to search for somebody to help you!
More often than not, the hurt gets overlooked, pushed away from plain view and life proceeds. In the interim, your passionate mind is recollecting the hurt and making the inclination that goes into your sensory system and enthusiastic memory that connections are undependable for you to communicate your feelings and hurt is a superior thing to evade or overlook.
The enabling piece of figuring out HOW TO LOVE when you are harmed is the lone solid approach to mend that hurt totally so it can go.
Furthermore, you can feel a hero when you figure out how to feel your hurt and how to request help or love.
I have worked with customers who have had many years (or a lifetime!) where they kept away from their hurt and dread, yet when they discover that it is feasible to make a space of adoration — with you own form of a “higher force” — the move is monstrous. Like in some way or another, they had this mysterious legend and champion for what they needed in adoration and all they need do was interface with the inclination that it’s OK to be harmed, powerless and there is an unfathomable strength in that legitimacy and nobody can hurt when they own that.
The greatest satisfaction I have had working with customers is watching them become familiar with their novel and individual method of how to give themselves the space of affection needed to end the damaging pattern of contemplations and recuperate the hurt that prevented them from permitting love into their body once more.
The negative cycle gets supplanted by an alternate love of who you are that you probably won’t have known previously or you may have had looks at and with the meetings and viable activities, they will perceive how amazing they can be.
The meetings open up that space of adoration inside you and your body, so you don’t need to consider your emotions and you will encounter love that is perpetual, and that endures in your body. That experience of affection in the body and the sensory system really overhauls the pessimistic cycle in the enthusiastic cerebrum, until the customers can interface with their own bliss, and the force of their interesting individual romantic tale.
I’ve been cited as saying “the main romantic tale of everything is yours”.
Until you guarantee the manner in which you need to cherish yourself, by being and believing and encountering that adoration in your body, you can’t actually encounter the affection you want. | https://medium.com/@brklnbright/3-simple-ways-to-move-on-from-toxic-relationships-9479d9d9d0f1 | ['Ben Gael'] | 2021-03-09 17:07:50.429000+00:00 | ['Love Letters', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'Dating', 'Love', 'Relationships'] |
Arriving in a New Reality — The COVID-19 Roadmap | “We have a plan but the house is burning” is very different from “The house is burning but we have a plan”. In crisis, the sequence of actions plays an important role.
COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruptions to many business models. This crisis is testing every organization’s agility to react to a rapidly changing landscape. Leadership is required to address the emotional dimension of the situation and to quickly put plans into action that will re-position the organization to a new reality.
Leaders can effectively plan for and respond to any crisis, including COVID-19, by following the five phases of this roadmap.
1. Communicate and Engage: Address the emotional dimension of the crisis
2. Business Continuity: Secure the critical aspects of the operations
3. Re-plan: Revise goals and targets
4. Re-structure: Adjust the organization to align with revised goals and targets
5. Stabilize: Reposition for growth in new market environments
1. Communicate and Engage
When people are stressed and upset, it is more important to convey that you care than what you know. In crisis communication, empathy should be a primary focus of the message. There are countless frameworks and methodologies on crisis communication but most of them agree on the following:
· Audience assessment: Assess the audience and develop specific messaging for each audience segment. Storytelling is a powerful tool for connecting with an audience and establishing trust through authenticity, especially when referring to a personal experience.
· Aligned messaging: It is critical for the leadership team to be aligned on messaging. A Message Map can support this objective by segmenting a key message into three key sub-messages, each with supporting facts. Developing a Message Map together with the leadership team creates clarity in messaging and drives this alignment.
· Listening posts: How do you know whether your messages connect with your audience? How do you know to dial up or down your messaging frequency, or provide more context? Listening posts are critical in answering these questions and fine-tuning the engagement with your audience. Listening posts can take the form of surveys, feedback from front-line employees and social media.
2. Business Continuity
Collapsing global supply chains, shifting buying patterns and declining revenue streams are just some of the realities companies are dealing with today.
In order to minimize the potential impact to teams, customers and partners, companies are forced to go into ‘crisis mode’ to quickly develop and deploy plans that ensure business continuity. While developing a holistic Business Continuity Plan can be a long-term endeavor, here are some actionable steps:
· Form a Business Continuity Leadership Team. This team should include leaders and people who on the ‘front line’ with your internal or external customers. You need short feedback loops to understand in real-time how the situation at critical points of your business is unfolding and whether your counter-measures are effective. Regular reporting processes are often not fast enough.
· Conduct a business impact analysis to identify the most critical parts of your operations and how the current situation is impacting them. Develop scenarios for how your operations may be impacted by a potential, future evolution of the crisis.
· Develop recovery strategies and action plans. Your plans may include activities addressing existing situations or future scenarios. Ensure clear accountabilities. Define lines of communications and measurable outcomes that will reveal what is working and what is not. Test these plans if possible.
· Build a communication and engagement strategy. Crises trigger emotional responses that can lead to unforeseen actions and outcomes. A communication strategy must take the emotional dimension of the event into consideration. Ensure that the leadership team is engaged in the development process and united in their messaging.
3. Re-plan
Once business continuity is addressed, targets, budgets and goals need to be evaluated and calibrated. These may include hiring plans, sales targets, functional and organizational budgets. The challenge is to re-plan in an economically uncertain, emotionally fraught environment. At the same time, the re-planning process must not divert leadership attention from running the business and serving your customers.
A typical planning process can take weeks or months to complete. How can you accelerate this process and build scenario models that can be rapidly adjusted to meet your needs? Follow this outline for a rapid process to re-plan and focus your team.
· Remind and Focus: Review and understand how your goals and targets are related to others in the organization. Establish laser-like focus on the most relevant ones and adjust them accordingly. Create and communicate a schedule for the re-planning process and define roles.
· Revise & Adjust: Hypothesize new options and identify potential opportunities. Explore feasibility and base assumptions surrounding the options when setting new goals and targets.
· Re-align: Communicate your new goals and targets to the organization. Validate that individual performance management goals and process are in sync with them.
· Re-integrate: Integrate the goals and targets into your governance process and measure progress. Celebrate success when it’s achieved.
4. Re-structure
Once revised goals and operational budgets are established, the organization needs to be re-structured to accomplish these goals and operate within the new budgets. This may mean operating a department on a lower budget, protecting strategic investments or structuring a sales territory model to a new projected revenue stream.
· Define Strategic Targets: Identify the key areas for re-structuring and cost savings. These usually start with G&A functions and vendor optimization. For many organizations, it has been surprising how effective remote operating employees can be. Thereby, the COVID-19 crisis has shown that many organizations have the opportunity to reduce the facility footprint. Areas that should not be disrupted, such as R&D, should also be identified.
· Setup a Transformation Office: Once top-level department targets have been established, a Transformation Office should be formed. This office serves as the interface between the restructuring teams and the executive steering committee. This office oversees the realization of targets, drives communication and designs the governance process of the restructuring effort.
· Prioritize Initiatives and Develop Your Roadmap: Develop and prioritize portfolios of related initiatives with a focus on rapid value realization. Initiatives need to identify the potential impacts to employees, customers and partners. The portfolios should be consolidated to ensure that top down targets can be accomplished within the desired timeframe.
· Initiate Change and Plan Workforce Transition: Implement the initiatives and structure continuous process reporting to inform and involve the leadership team. Change Management is pivotal to ensure impacts to employee morale and engagement are minimized.
5. Stabilize and Reinvent
Once an organization’s P&L is in line with revised budgets and the financial model is stable, there is an opportunity to re-imagine the organization and it’s ongoing value proposition. Many futurists, such as Matthias Horx “The world after Corona” predict that COVID-19 will result in lasting societal changes. For most markets, there is no going back to the pre-COVID status quo.
Summary
COVID-19 represents an unparalleled challenge on a human and economic level. Simultaneously, this crisis is an opportunity to re-imagine an organization. A good example for how organizations have re-invented themselves after a crisis is the London Underground. A devastating fire at the King’s Cross Fire station in 1987 triggered a fundamental restructuring of the organization. Today, the London Underground is one of the most secure, modern and efficient in the world.
The current crisis will test the agility of your organization like never before. How fast can an organization adjust to new patterns in demand? To a workforce that is working from home? The instability in the supplier market and the need to shorten supply lines?
Much comes down to the leadership team and its ability to work cohesively. It is imperative they support the most urgent, critical actions to stabilize the organization while evaluating the potential and necessity for fundamental, strategic shifts. This article provides a crude blueprint for this. It serves to facilitate leadership team discussions that will create your organization’s response and define its future. | https://medium.com/slalom-business/arriving-in-a-new-reality-the-covid-19-roadmap-1c8206635940 | ['Chris Von Bogdandy'] | 2020-04-22 19:53:36.786000+00:00 | ['Restructuring', 'Planning Ahead', 'Covid 19', 'Covid 19 Crisis', 'Leadership'] |
Share to social media on iOS with UIActivityViewController | Project setup
Let’s start with a clean project. Add a share button to the default view controller. For the button image, you can choose square.and.arrow.up to make it look like a native share button.
Add a new view controller which will produce the image to be shared. Do not add a segue from the old view controller to the new one — this will be done programmatically.
Change it’s size to be a custom value in the Size inspector by selecting Freeform and entering the size.
Also make sure you uncheck Resize View From Nib in the Attributes inspector.
Else the custom size will not appear when we instantiate the view controllor.
Add a new class for this view controller called ShareViewController and assign it in the storyboard. Also give it the Storyboard ID: shareVC .
You can add whatever you want to the view controller.
Taking the screenshot
First, let’s make a simple implementation for the ShareViewController :
It updates the message field, and provides a simple populate method for that task (very important if you have non-trivial data types to separate the GUI and logic!).
The most important method is the one that takes the screenshot — without showing the ShareViewController :
First, instantiate the view controller. You don’t need to push it to the navigation controller, since we don’t want to show it.
Next, begin taking the screenshot with UIGraphicsBeginImageContextWithOptions . Pass the vc.view.frame.size such that it uses the same size as the ShareViewController . The 3.0 factor is a scaling factor to increase the quality of the image — you will need to dial this in depending on the size of your ShareViewController .
. Pass the such that it uses the same size as the . The factor is a scaling factor to increase the quality of the image — you will need to dial this in depending on the size of your . Next, populate the ShareViewController with the data.
with the data. Render the image with vc.view.layer.render(in: UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext()!) . This creates the screenshot from the view controller without showing it.
. This creates the screenshot from the view controller without showing it. Finally, create an image from the context and return it. Don’t forget to call UIGraphicsEndImageContext !
Sharing to social media
Next, in the main ViewController , hook up a short method to the share button:
Here, share is implemented as follows:
First we take the screenshot, obtaining a UIImage using the take_screen_shot method.
using the method. Next we set the filename. Note that this is also visible to the user in the activity view controller. Every time the user shares, this image will be overwritten — so it is not taking up too much space on the phone.
Next store the image and get it’s URL.
Create the UIActivityViewController , passing the URL to share.
, passing the URL to share. Set the excluded activities — there’s lots to choose from here, but probably you don’t want the reading list option.
Finally, present the view controller.
We already did the screen shot method. Next, the save image method:
which should be self-explanatory.
The only missing method is the error message:
This, too, should be self-explanatory.
Result
Let’s see how it turned out — pressing the button gives:
As we can see, there’s a preview of the image we’re sharing. The image is:
Final thoughts
Note that not all of the buttons may work correctly. For example, if you choose Save Image , you may get:
This app has crashed because it attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description. The app's Info.plist must contain an NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription key with a string value explaining to the user how the app uses this data.
So… do that!
You cant find the complete project on GitHub here.
Happy sharing! | https://medium.com/practical-coding/share-to-social-media-on-ios-with-uiactivityviewcontroller-bc5d0559d3db | ['Oliver K. Ernst'] | 2020-10-09 05:44:54.700000+00:00 | ['Swift Programming', 'iOS', 'Swift', 'Programming', 'Social Media'] |
To Blockchain, Or Not To Blockchain, That is The Question | Blockchain is one of the hottest topics in tech right now, and certainly will find its place in the ecosystem. With Bitcoin hitting all-time-highs of nearly $20,000 as recently as yesterday (17/12/2017), and with documentaries such as “Banking on Bitcoin” gaining substantial traction on Netflix, it’s safe to say that Bitcoin is now mainstream.
However, do people in general actually understand what blockchain is?
It was recently reported (October 28th 2017) by Bloomberg that a British company “On-Line Plc” added Blockchain to their name and saw a 394% increase in stock price. In light of this it is fair to ask “Why did TicketChain move away from blockchain?”.
“It’s simple, we want to deliver the best product possible, that concentrates on eradicating ticket fraud and touting.” (Kevin Murray, COO)
Ticket fraud and secondary market touting are genuine issues in the entertainment industry right now. These are tough problems to tackle, and we have given them careful consideration before jumping into a solution.
We discovered that retrofitting the novel concept of blockchain to fit these problems wasn’t the correct approach. In search of the best path for our company and our customers, we decided to re-brand as Evopass.
Evopass reflects the fresh direction for the business, and still maintains the original levels of security, transparency and streamlined digital offering. The focus is now on creating an accessible and scalable system using the best technology available. More can be found on the re-brand here.
The Path to Self-Reflection
Previously, we asked ourselves: “Are we creating this using blockchain because it’s the best solution, or because we wanted a blockchain solution?”. We came to realise that even though we started off with the belief it was best from a product perspective to incorporate blockchain, it was actually only effective (for us) purely on a promotional basis.
Therefore, in reaction to this discovery we choose to build using secure and centralised systems where we had full control of the data. This is not to say that blockchain ticketing cannot be achieved in other realms of transactions. GUTS, Aventus and Crypto.Tickets have all seen huge success in product development and fundraising stages.
However, we felt when it comes to product delivery we wanted to provide the best service for our customers, and although interested in blockchain, they weren’t looking to adopt it.
Blockchain Suitability?
Blockchain is suitable when one requires a transaction between trustless sources, or a permanent historical record. In our specific case, we require a trusted centralised overview of the system and its data. Trustless scenarios are when the ‘community’ cannot depend on a centrally controlling organisation.
In regards to ticketing, our customers do indeed trust us to issue and deploy valid digital tickets onto the market. Thus, blockchain features can be described as somewhat unnecessarily over-complicated for this scenario.
We have looked to incorporating a capacity management tool into our system, and for best results in this regard trust is essential.
Receiving External Feedback
We presented the original premise of TicketChain to the Irish Blockchain Expert Group, and feedback from this was invaluable. It helped us paint a clearer image of our goals and how to best get there.
An number of contention points for a blockchain solution began to appear, highlighting that we have indeed made the correct decision in transitioning away.
The primary five issues that kept cropping up were as follows.
Block time and transaction latency
Cryptocurrency price fluctuations
Steep learning curve for customers
Cryptocurrency bubble or fad mentality
Lack of tried and tested commercial products
A major point to note is that our primary product benefits can replicated more cheaply, and in a more energy conservative manner when done through regular databases. The energy requirements by miners (validation mechanisms for the blockchain) are extremely intensive and can often, if used incorrectly cost more to run than they will yield.
Other areas of potential concern with ticketing on the blockchain were user acceptance and education hurdles. Would event goers, i.e. the entire general public, be happy to use, and understand how to use a blockchain orientated system?
The Future for Evopass
Evopass represents the past challenges overcome, while maintaining our focus on delivering the most secure digital ticket offering possible. It can be licensed as an API to existing ticketing providers, or to organisers for hosting events through their own brand. Evopass is exempt from the adversity of blockchain while ensuring delivery of the core features we’ve always prided ourselves upon.
That being said, we still have team members with significant expertise in the blockchain field. During our journey, we have gained substantial experience in Solidity development, blockchain use-case research and cryptocurrency investment strategies.
Therefore, we will be primed to launch a blockchain solution if it indeed becomes more applicable for our operations in the future. It is often quoted that right now “Blockchain is a solution looking for a problem”.
Right now we believe there are more appropriate use-cases out there, but overall what the future holds for blockchain and Bitcoin is still uncertain.
One thing is for sure, watch this space.
Evopass Team | https://medium.com/evopass/to-blockchain-or-not-to-blockchain-that-is-the-question-4a2afa15ebe8 | [] | 2017-12-19 11:27:42.554000+00:00 | ['Ticketchain', 'Evopass', 'Bitcoin', 'Tickets', 'Blockchain'] |
Staking the stakeholder — Part 4: how do we engage stakeholders through change? | In Part 1 of this four-part blog post, we looked at the why and how of identifying all stakeholders by using techniques such as Rapid Listening and Segmenting.
In Part 2, we looked at understanding how our stakeholders are impacted by what we do, think, and feel about it by looking at two key areas: interests & concerns (impacts), and attitudes (think) & emotional state (feel).
In Part 3, we looked at understanding how our stakeholders can influence what we are doing by examining the levels of power, legitimacy, and urgency they have over our work. We also considered change readiness and what capability needs to be developed to manage this “new normal.”
In this final blog, we will look at how we can use a stakeholder profile to build an effective engagement strategy in a mutually beneficial way, tailored to each stakeholder.
Before we go any further, it will be useful to understand what is meant by stakeholder engagement. The definition of a stakeholder engagement strategy, found in the PMBOK Guide Fifth Edition (2013), states:
the process of communicating and working with stakeholders to meet their needs/expectations, address issues as they occur, and foster appropriate stakeholder engagement in project activities throughout the project lifecycle.
As we have seen, stakeholders impact our work both positively and negatively and can have significant influence over the success or derailing of work. How a manager and team engage and manage these relationships is hugely important.
There are a few ways that teams can successfully engage stakeholders; these are:
face to face activities (collaboration)
appealing to hearts and minds (communication)
Face to face activities:
As Patrick Mayfield says in his book Practical People Engagement (2013), face to face still matters (even in a digital world). I thoroughly endorse this.
With face to face, we receive rich and human responses to the information given. People are open to asking more questions; they provide immediate feedback, and their reactions and scope of influence and be seen and felt.
Workshops can be a great form of face to face activity, i.e. impact assessments or change readiness assessments. The first draft of a stakeholder profile will be a useful tool to use in a workshop. Managers and teams will have some insights already on how stakeholders are likely to behave.
This information will help them know how to prepare for the workshop and how to pitch information and work with their stakeholders. For example, a PR team could be described as follows:
how they think: they are partners and support your agenda
how they feel: are willing to explore the change agenda
how they can influence: have high power and legitimacy and low urgency (dominant)
change readiness: high levels of awareness, knowledge, and skill
With this information, a team and a manager could expect high levels of collaboration and interest in deep-diving and exploring impacts. Since it demonstrates that the PR team have high power and legitimacy, they will require to be kept well informed, but they will not force an agenda. They also have high levels of change readiness making transitions easy.
A stakeholder profile will make face to face interactions easier to handle, bringing an element of objectiveness and focus to discussions and relationships.
In the workshop itself, profiles can be validated and/or updated with new information. There is an opportunity to deepen information and address interests and concerns (impacts) as part of this dialogue instead of waiting for communication to be issued.
As with all collaborations, there may be times when a team have difficult areas to address or an imbalance of influence or power dynamics which threaten to detail work. To ensure there is a healthy balance and constructive dialogue, a good facilitator is recommended to keep dialogue impartial.
While in our remote world this may not always be possible, an option such as video conference is a great substitute.
Appealing to hearts and minds:
Successful communication appeals to hearts and minds, meaning it appeals to reasoning as much as it does to emotions. According to Ranjit Sidhu there are three ways to achieve better engagement by using:
symbolic action and symbolism: role modelling and publicly showing commitment to change. Responding to feedback and challenge symbolises that individual contributions are valued.
role modelling and publicly showing commitment to change. Responding to feedback and challenge symbolises that individual contributions are valued. using metaphors : people will more likely remember things if explained in simple terms and connected with imagery they can identify with.
: people will more likely remember things if explained in simple terms and connected with imagery they can identify with. use of narrative and storytelling: our brains engage much more readily with stories and narratives on an emotional level as they help us make sense of what is happening.
All these techniques can be employed in workshops. Symbolism can provide a powerful context for staff to interpret change and can help with shaping stakeholder attitudes (think), especially if leadership teams are on board.
Used well, metaphors can help deliver more complex messaging and make the interpretation of information more accessible. Framing is considered a useful tool to do this.
Lastly, storytelling can help with change readiness and emotional states. It can help staff imagine a new future, one that they can influence and shape in the work that you are doing.
These tools, combined with a stakeholder profile, can help teams and managers use the right engagement technique. In doing so, it will help them effectively manage their stakeholders and promote a successful outcome rather than having their work derailed.
While a stakeholder profile may seem like a manager or team are labeling a person or group of persons, in fact, what they are doing is developing an understanding of who their stakeholders are as individuals or a group of individuals and engaging and communicating with them in the right way.
I have used this four-part blog series to offer insight into how it is possible to take our stakeholders with us when we try to “get stuff done”. I feel we can accomplish this using a more “human” approach, remembering to include all stakeholders.
I think it’s crucial to identify what stakeholders think and feel about change, how they can influence it, and, importantly, how we can involve them a positively engaged and effective way.
Remember, to be notified about my latest blog posts you can follow me on twitter @montyalavedra | https://medium.com/@montyalavedra/staking-the-stakeholder-part-4-how-do-we-engage-stakeholders-through-change-2b73d3e3eec2 | ['Monty Alavedra'] | 2020-12-14 13:17:53.666000+00:00 | ['Stakeholder Engagement', 'Profiling', 'Stakeholder Management', 'Change Management', 'Business Psychology'] |
niwala | fingers claw the soft flesh of a mango pickle
mixing it with bronze masala
the familiar solace of childhood
first taste. tender sensation.
a small memory of home
wrapped in a niwala.
from outside
rain knocks on the windows
clouds watch our prosaic performance
on days like this
we set aside our dreams to marinate
wrap ourselves in circumstance
turn custom into medicine. | https://medium.com/meri-shayari/niwala-956cfdf4281d | ['Rebeca Ansar'] | 2020-12-22 06:01:54.967000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Storytelling', 'Poet', 'Culture', 'Poem'] |
3 Incredible Benefits of Cannabis Vape Pens | Ever wondered why if you’re a cannabis fan, a vape pen should be your go-to accessory?
I am often asked why I prefer to vape rather than smoke so I thought I’d write a few words on why cannabis vape pens in the UK are quickly becoming a growing trend. I’ll be writing from the perspective of a CBD vaping lover, but of course, vape pen batteries are also compatible with THC carts.
CBD vape pens continue to be a large part of the rapidly growing cannabis market despite the recent negative press surrounding vaping — in large part caused by the additives such as vitamin E acetate being used illegally as a thickening agent in the black market THC vapes.
Undoubtedly, this highlights the importance of buying CBD vapes and CBD vaping supplies from a reputable source, accompanied with lab reports. As the legal cannabis market matures, the instances of bad actors selling dangerous products should be reduced helping to protect cannabis oil vapers. Good to hear!
According to Public Health England, vaping “regulated products has a small fraction of the risks of smoking”[1], what’s more, CBD vapes look great and produce a delicious aromatic smoke without lingering odours — perfect for the discreet vaping!
So what are some of the other reasons I like them so much:
Convenient, Discreet, and Portable
One of the main benefits of CBD vape pens is that they can be used anywhere without drawing undue attention — no clouds of smoke and potent smells — thank you!
They are generally very simple to operate usually coming as a disposable all-in-one or as a reusable battery (which I prefer for environmental reasons) with disposable vape cartridges. No time consuming rolling– just screw or plug in a new cart and you’re ready to go!
When you use a pre-filled vape pen the CBD oil is heated to its vaporization point creating a vapour that can be inhaled easily. This is also what limits the amount of smoke produce and means that smells are kept to a minimum.
Modern vape pens are also amazingly sleek and very portable — very different to those huge devices nicotine vapers seem to use –so can easily fit in a pocket, laptop bag, purse or backpack. Perfect to carry around all day to take a couple of puffs whenever required!
Flavour
Depth and variety of flavour is another thing I love about CBD vape pens.
Smoking THC or CBD flower can often scorch the delicate terpenes which make up the cannabis flavour profiles. Vaping — particularly with a variable voltage device — allows more gentle heating of the cannabis vape oil and the cannabis terpenes meaning a more customizable vape experience and that the underlying flavours can shine through.
Personally, I have always preferred more natural cannabis flavours — classic strains like Amnesia Haze or OG Kush, which are made by adding terpenes — the aromatic cannabis flavour compounds — into the cannabis vape oil once it has been extracted.
Some brands add synthetic flavours to add additional fruitiness to their vapes flavour but I have always preferred to stick to natural compounds for health reasons!
Potency & Affordable
Cannabis vape products are also more potent than the natural cannabis flower. Most cannabis distillate based vape cartridges are at least 60% CBD or THC (depending on which you choose) and some products might reach 90% THC. The higher the potency, the lesser you’ll have to use the vape pen meaning the longer it will last and the smaller it can be!
In terms of cost you one can easily purchase cheap vape pens in the UK at popular websites like www.pasocbd.co.uk.
Conclusion
From potency to discretion, affordability, portability, and convenience it’s easy to see why traditional cannabis smokers are gravitating towards vaping.
I hope this has been helpful in explaining some of the benefits!
Happy Vaping!
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vaping-in-england-evidence-update-march-2020/vaping-in-england-2020-evidence-update-summary | https://medium.com/@eva16martin/3-incredible-benefits-of-cannabis-vape-pens-686bcca194da | ['Eva Martin'] | 2020-04-27 11:27:11.479000+00:00 | ['Vape', 'Medical', 'Benefits', 'Cbd', 'Cbd Oils'] |
Coinbolt Smart Contract | Coinbolt is a Smart Contract like other smart contract but it has a better features which is Its a 2by2 matrix contract
This means that is a Team work not like the others where leaders get referrals and give it to themselves.
With this leaders get referrals and give it to their downlines, because everyone just need two referrals only
So with this, team work will be in play.
We Leaders of Team Dollar will work with every member of the team to achieve greatness, remember that this is a team work, without our members earning we the leaders won't and also without our members moving we won't also.
It our responsibility to make sure you succeed in Coinbolt Smart Contract.
If you want to be part of Team Dollar message the team leader by following this link to WhatsApp:-
https://wa.link/6wwp05
Here is how it works
When you buy the level 1 With 10$
Then you refer 2 direct downlines through your link or your upline gives you the 2 direct refer
They register with 10$ each
That’s 20$
The system automatically upgrades you to level 2.
And you can see on the list that to get it is 20$
You’ve not made any profit yet because the $20 is your upgrade to level 2
The system automatically
Unlocks level 2 for you that’s where the real money start coming in to your wallet. | https://medium.com/@sportsofdavid/coinbolt-smart-contract-3e81f526e6e6 | ['Team Dollar'] | 2021-07-07 19:03:18.367000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Smart Contracts', 'Coinbolt', 'Coinbolt Smart Contract', 'Earn Money Online'] |
What movie is playing in your head? | My middle school son was auditioning this week for roles in two shows at a local theatre company. He’s a talented young actor, but behind that talent, he was wrestling with a cluster of nerves and anxiety. A normal thirteen-year-old with aspirations to do great things, he was battling the kind of fear that likes to hang out in the cheap seats.
To battle some of his jitters, I spent some time with him each morning helping him take control of the movie playing in his head. “Close your eyes, and imagine walking into the audition. Look around, make eye contact, smile and say hello to everyone. Take a deep breath, and sing your audition number for them. Imagine singing each word, and pay attention to what it feels like when you hit each note just right. When you’re done, confidently thank them. See what it looks like in your head when they smile back and tell you that you did a great job. Feel it.”
I’ve done the same thing recently with my daughter (his twin sister) who has taken up lacrosse. We’re visualizing what it feels like making the perfect pass, cradling the ball, and running downfield to take the perfect shot. As much as we’re spending time training physically, we’re also taking time to train mentally. From the stage to the playing field, strengthening the mental game is critical.
There was a time when someone else would have told this story and I would have thought they were nuts. For a long time, the concept of visualization didn’t fit my “push harder and apply yourself” mindset. Why visualize when you could just bulldoze through the challenges and grind it out?
And then it hit me…
Whether I like the idea of visualization or not, I’m doing it every day without knowing it. With each challenge I face, I’m watching stories in my head that are impacting how I handle myself. For a while, those stories revolved around all of the reasons I could not and would not be successful. I was visualizing what it looked like to fall short and to miss the mark, because I didn’t feel like I was enough or that I belonged at the table. There was no way “those people” would want to talk to me.
As an entrepreneur, this was paralyzing. I would attend networking breakfasts and strategically walk in late so that I missed the networking portion and could find a table that looked safe to me. Every conversation was scary, and I was intentionally sidestepping opportunities because of the movie playing in my head. It affected my meetings and pitches with new clients. I was watching the wrong movie.
I was visualizing failure.
And then, I came across a research project from 1996 at the University of Chicago. A random group of students was selected to shoot free throws. On the first day, their starting shooting percentages were recorded. Then, over the next thirty days, each group was given specific instructions.
One group was told not to touch a basketball for thirty days — to do nothing. The next group was told to practice shooting free throws each day for thirty minutes. The final group was asked to come to the gym each day for thirty minutes, closing their eyes and visualizing shooting free throws, never touching a ball.
Thirty days passed, the groups came back, and they shot free throws again to be tallied. The group that did not practice at all showed no improvement. The group who shot free throws every day improved their percentage by 24%. Where did the group who only visualized shooting their free throws come in? They improved by 23%, without ever touching a basketball, just behind the group who practiced daily. Simply visualizing success helped them to BE successful!
It’s time for a new movie!
And so, if we are naturally wired to play movies in our heads anyway, why not create some Academy Award winners for ourselves? Why not take control and start to watch success stories rather than letting the negativity direct what’s on our big screen? Whether it’s at work or in our relationships, on a lacrosse field or in an audition, the simple act of slowing down to visualize success can be the key that unlocks it for you.
The Takeaway
Direct your own movie! Close your eyes right now, pick a part of your life that you’re motivated to excel at, and visualize what that success looks like. Spend some time quietly and watch each detail. Imagine each move. Feel the emotion of doing it perfectly. See it and experience it in vivid detail. Then, tomorrow, repeat it again until your imagination becomes reality! | https://johngamades.medium.com/what-movie-is-playing-in-your-head-6533aa0e8d17 | ['John Gamades'] | 2019-05-13 17:33:32.587000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneurship', 'Self Improvement', 'Motivation', 'Self', 'Success'] |
Green Real Estate and its Attributes for Society | In today’s world, it’s more important than ever to start focusing on the impact humankind has on our planet. People are starting to become more aware of nature in general and the impact they make.
One of the ways people can make a positive ecological impact on planet Earth is by buying so-called green homes. What is green real estate, and why should you care? We decided to write a brief article explaining all the essential information you need to know about this trending topic.
Without further ado, here is everything you need to know about green real estate:
Introduction to a booming industry
As already mentioned, people are starting to recognize the impact we have on our planet, and more people every day are finding the desire to do something with it. Living in harmony with nature is something we all truly desire somewhere deep inside of us. Green real estate, however,
doesn’t necessarily mean you have to build your home in the middle of a forest completely out of the city and out of contact with other people.
What green real estate represents is more so the attitude of humanity towards nature. It is about taking responsibility for our impact and developing properties that are more ecological and energetically efficient.
A plethora of people don’t know that commercial real estate properties account for 30% of all greenhouse emissions in the world, and these numbers would be rising even higher if it weren’t for green real estate.
What aspects does green real estate consist of?
It is not only solar panels that make the difference. Other aspects of this movement are eco-friendly isolation, xeriscaping (a way of landscaping where the plants require little to no irrigation), and passive design ( architecture that utilizes the natural environment around the property to heat and cool it rather than relying solely on heating and air conditioning). Combine all these aspects, and you get homes of the future that are better looking, less energy-efficient, and, most importantly, less harmful to our planet.
Advantages of green real estate
Economic aspects
There are two main reasons for green real estate development in the United States. These are the client demand and healthier environment. But the economic benefits also can’t be overlooked. Increased asset value, shorter payback periods, and operating cost savings, just to mention a few, are the reasons that green real estate is starting to look more attractive to everyone.
Speaking of asset value, it is proven that upfront investment in green buildings also makes the properties more valuable, with many building owners seeing an increase of up to 10 % in their asset value.
When it comes to operating cost savings, green buildings have proven to reduce day-to-day costs year over year. These types of buildings report having almost 20 % lower maintenance costs than the average commercial buildings.
If you’re thinking about how big the market for such properties is, we can assure you that green buildings are for every market and every community in the States since it’s not just a small movement some people can join.
It is more so a trend that is going to take over the whole real estate industry and revolutionize it for the better. | https://medium.com/@galvao-julien/green-real-estate-and-its-attributes-for-society-f889ddb4102 | ['Julien Galvao'] | 2021-06-08 14:48:06.364000+00:00 | ['Buy Green Realty', 'Brooklyn Real Estate', 'Real Estate', 'Green Building', 'Green Energy'] |
Digital marketing fundamentals for Financial Institutions— Content is still King | In my previous article, Digital marketing fundamentals — empower advisors to succeed online, I covered the outcome of a sound digital marketing strategy for your advisors/agents, talked about the risk of facing irrelevance if your advisors/agents do not deliver on emerging affluent investors online expectations, and reviewed current challenges in the Financial Services Industry.
In today’s article, I will introduce the first key element essential to any turn-key Digital Marketing strategies. This should be particularly interesting for those of you working in a field marketing or home office marketing capacity.
Digital marketing — Content
The whole purpose of the Internet is to house content that can be instantly delivered to users based on their needs, preferences, and priorities. Consider the last time you searched for relevant content; when you came across a site that lacked content, or contained content that wasn’t current, compelling or useful, you probably clicked right through to the next site, all in a matter of seconds. The impression was near instantaneous, and it was not a good one. (more here: 3 Examples Of How An Outdated Website Can Hurt Your Business)
Now imagine a referred lead, maybe the son of a baby boomer client, going to one of your advisor’s static, templated website and finds no fresh or compelling content. No way to learn anything distinguishing about the advisor; no way to gain any insight into his or her practice; no way to determine his or her level of expertise. In this case, the first impression is most likely going to be the last impression.
Aside from the fact that digital content is what people look for when they go to a website, it serves three very critical purposes:
It keeps the user on the site, and/or keeps them coming back . Whether it’s the static content on the web pages, or the blog posts, or the podcasts, or the availability of webinars, fresh, compelling, well-written, digital content is the primary driver of user “stickiness,” increasing the chance for interaction with the advisor.
. Whether it’s the static content on the web pages, or the blog posts, or the podcasts, or the availability of webinars, fresh, compelling, well-written, digital content is the primary driver of user “stickiness,” increasing the chance for interaction with the advisor. It can be what differentiates the advisor . At a minimum, the static web content on the web pages must be well written and imaginative to the point where it helps to establish the value of the advisor, offering some sense of personal insight and professional distinction. However, it is often the fresh content that is published daily, weekly, or, at a minimum, monthly, that offers the greatest insight into the practices, methods, expertise, and philosophy of the advisor that users look for.
. At a minimum, the static web content on the web pages must be well written and imaginative to the point where it helps to establish the value of the advisor, offering some sense of personal insight and professional distinction. However, it is often the fresh content that is published daily, weekly, or, at a minimum, monthly, that offers the greatest insight into the practices, methods, expertise, and philosophy of the advisor that users look for. It is essential to raise the visibility of the advisor . It is content that establishes the advisor as an authority and helps them build influence in their target market, whether it sits on their website or is funneled out to social media. It’s what the market responds to creating opportunities for making new contacts and generating leads. It’s also what the search engines respond to in ranking websites. Websites that contain always fresh, relevant, compelling content rank much higher than those that don’t.
. It is content that establishes the advisor as an authority and helps them build influence in their target market, whether it sits on their website or is funneled out to social media. It’s what the market responds to creating opportunities for making new contacts and generating leads. It’s also what the search engines respond to in ranking websites. Websites that contain always fresh, relevant, compelling content rank much higher than those that don’t. It is what spurs the call-to-action. Whether it’s a timely blog post, podcast, an offer of a free report, or invitation to a webinar, it is the content that triggers action. Financial advisors with well-placed content consistently receive calls from clients or prospects responding to an article or podcast.
Of course, digital content can also be the bane of OSJs and compliance officers, which is why most financial advisors do not currently post fresh content. Understanding the significance of content in advancing the online presence of their advisors has spurred several broker-dealers and advisory firms to find ways to streamline the processes for content review and publishing. (more here: Financial Advisors, release your content powerhouse)
The digital content component may be the most essential in an effective digital strategy, without which, financial advisors will likely remain invisible.
A word about Blogging in Financial Services
The most successful inbound marketing strategies are built on a foundation of original, handcrafted content that provides its audience with value. Blogs are the primary tool for adding a constant stream of fresh content that can raise visibility, enhance the advisor’s brand, expand market reach, and engage clients and prospects. When integrated with the advisor’s social media apparatus, it becomes the hub of their online presence, directing traffic between social media sites and the advisor’s website.
Did you know? Companies that blog 15 or more times per month get 5 times more traffic than companies that don’t blog at all.
Quantity vs Quality
Until recently, I was telling my marketing team that it was all about quality over quantity. I have changed my mind recently. Why? This was true because we were in a brand building phase. Now I think it’s about volume. My goal is to drown our competitors with content and have our brand dominate search, paid search, and industry publication.
You need to aggressively approach content marketing and aim to outrank your competitors.
All the great content you write can be repurposed to educate your audience through channels such as emails, whitepapers, webinars, blog posts, social media, and even as a Slideshow that you can feature on Linkedin.
Previous article: | https://medium.com/loic-jeanjeans-blog/digital-marketing-fundamentals-for-financial-institutions-content-is-still-king-24028f1f65f4 | ['Loic Jeanjean'] | 2017-02-20 19:02:00.848000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Financial Services', 'Financial Industry', 'Content Marketing'] |
Easy integration testing of GraphQL APIs with Jest | In modern software development, you know for sure that automated tests are crucial for the success of your software project. But writing unit tests is only part of the story, as you also need to check if all the code you’ve written works well together and that your service as a whole actually does what it’s supposed to from a business logic perspective.
This article shows you one (of many) ways to write integration tests for your GraphQL API. I’ll give you also some introduction how a good test looks like and why I’ve chosen this particular toolset. This approach can of course also be used for any other micro service or API variant.
Integration testing
When writing unit tests you always test only the logic in the current method. All calls to external methods should be mocked, so you actually do not write into your database or call an external service for real. Integration tests come in different flavors: you might want to mock away some calls to external services (e.g. a payment API that does not offer you a sandbox server), however, I try to keep the integration testing system as close as possible to reality. Your goal when writing integration tests is to test the typical scenarios (and edge cases) of your service in a way your service will be used in the production environment later.
Good integration tests are:
Isolated: Testing one scenario has no effects on another scenario and it does not matter in which order the different integration tests are executed
Testing one scenario has no effects on another scenario and it does not matter in which order the different integration tests are executed Repeatable: When code is not changed, the test result is always the same
When code is not changed, the test result is always the same Understandable: It is easy to understand what business case the particular test covers and eventually why the expected outcome is important
It is easy to understand what business case the particular test covers and eventually why the expected outcome is important Structured: Test files should not have too many lines, a more complex scenario should be covered in its own test file
Test files should not have too many lines, a more complex scenario should be covered in its own test file Easy: The tests should be easy to implement and easy runnable by the developer team (testing is not the most favoured task for many developers, so keep the barrier as low as possible)
Test database and seed data (example MongoDB)
As said, you need to ensure that your tests can run isolated and are repeatable. Therefore you need a test database that has the same dataset every time before a new test scenario is executed, a dataset where you know that e.g. a specific shop item is existing and you can write a test which tries to retrieve this item with ID “xyz”.
It may sound like a lot of work to create this setup, but it is easy to achieve. First you need an empty test database by booting up a local docker container or an additional database instance at your database provider. Second you create a database dump from your production database with some example data. In case of MongoDB it can be done with one simple command:
Just replace the parameters according to your database setup. Take particular note of the query argument to just select a subset for the export if your production database contains a lot of data.
Importing the data into your test database is as easy as creating the seed file. So finally we can create a shell script we can call anytime to create exactly the same dataset in our database again like this:
Caution: Always double check the server address or use database logins that do not exist in the production database to prevent accidental deletion of your production data!
Jest integration testing with snapshots
First of all, you might ask why are we using Jest for integration testing, there are a lot of other tools out there. I see a big benefit in re-using a framework your developers might already know from unit testing and do not have to learn another framework. This can keep the entry barrier (also for new developers) low and save a lot of time. Additionally, Jest provides with Snapshots a really easy and fast way to create integration tests.
So let’s say we have a GraphQL endpoint that gives back all the items available in our store. Thanks to our seed data we know what to expect:
Request:
Response:
Unless we change our code or our seed data, the API should return this exact response to this exact request. Jest Snapshots gives us an easy possibility to check the complete response object. Additionally we need to ensure the dataset is correct before running our test using the mentioned seed script. Altogether, our first test scenario could look like this:
The first run
First run creates the snapshot file
When running this test the first time, Jest will automatically create a __snapshots__ folder and a snapshot file inside of it. Just because the console shows you a green test, it does not mean you are done yet! You have to check if the auto-generated snapshot contains what you expect, else you would assume a false state to be correct. This check is necessary every time you’ve written a new test and the console is showing you that new snapshots have been written. In our case, the snapshot shows the correct data and we can commit the snapshot file together with our tests into our repository.
The n-th run (passing)
Running our test again without changing any code is the actual real integration test. Jest validates that the response from the API is matching exactly what was stored in the snapshot file.
The n-th run (failing)
The more interesting case is when the snapshot does not match anymore and your test is failing:
Failing snapshot test after code changes
As the diff shows, the order of the response seems to has changed and is therefore not matching our expected response anymore. This can have two reasons:
The snapshot is correct and you introduced a bug with your latest
code changes. In this case, the test prevented the go-live of a bug and you can adapt your code until the test is green again
code changes. In this case, the test prevented the go-live of a bug and you can adapt your code until the test is green again The snapshot is wrong because the business requirement has changed (e.g. the default sorting shout be by name ASC now). In this case, you have to update the snapshot to confirm the change is correct by running Jest with the -u flag and committing the updated snapshot file into your repository.
Updating a snapshot after confirming the change is correct
Learnings from daily life
Using Jest Snapshots is a fast way to write integration tests for our GraphQL API. However, if you do your research you will find a lot of valid arguments why not to use Jest Snapshots like in this blog post What’s wrong with snapshot tests. While some points are true also for this use case, I think that testing APIs with Jest Snapshots is a bit different and some downside can be prevented. Here are my learnings from using snapshots in a real project:
Jest expects the snapshot to match exactly. As GraphQL gives us the power to request only a subset of parameters, you should only request those parameters that are relevant for your test. This prevents the test from failing for the wrong reasons.
… this will also make your snapshots errors easier to read as the diff contains fewer data.
Jest runs in parallel mode per default. If you have two test scenarios (two spec.ts files) writing into the same database collection or table you might get side effects. To ensure isolation of tests run Jest in sequential mode via the --runInBand flag.
files) writing into the same database collection or table you might get side effects. To ensure isolation of tests run Jest in sequential mode via the flag. Most importantly: Make sure your team does understand snapshots! The tests can be written really fast but this comes at the price that snapshots do contain a lot implicit knowledge. Your team needs to think more about the real reason for the failing snapshot, its impact etc. before blindly running jest -u to update the snapshot.
Integration tests have become an important part in our tool chain to prevent releasing bugs that have been left undiscovered before when just using unit testing. Feel free to leave your experiences with Jest Snapshots or other integration testing tools in the comments. | https://medium.com/swlh/easy-integration-testing-of-graphql-apis-with-jest-63288d0ad8d7 | ['Philipp Schmiedel'] | 2019-06-09 16:09:28.446000+00:00 | ['Testing', 'Integration', 'GraphQL', 'Jest', 'Software Development'] |
The Emergence of the “Tech First” Automobile | By Sidhart Krishnamurthi, Product Management @ Recogni
Fig 1 — Car Equipped with Advanced Technological Capabilities
Currently, the auto industry is producing vehicles that have novel technological features. No longer solely products of conventional manufacturing, these cars now have advanced autonomous and electric capabilities — majorly due to the emergence of tech companies, who are developing “technology-first” automobiles. To compete in the long run, traditional car OEMs in this sector must take this shift into account and adapt with the market.
Traditionally, the auto industry has been dominated by manufacturing. Companies are horizontally integrated, and they source various mechanical components of cars from third parties (known as Tier-1 parts suppliers). After procurement, they integrate each part together, as planned in ideation, into a finalized vehicle.
However, there are new entrants, in the form of technology companies. Unlike traditional OEMs, these firms are vertically integrated. All of their development, particularly within the realm of tech innovation, occurs internally. Their cars are “technology-first” rather than just being based solely on the assembly of various mechanical components.
As a result, the rate of innovation has rapidly increased. Because OEMs normally outsource all AV technology development to third parties, there exists a lack of innovation within the companies themselves. On the flip side, technology companies are vertically integrated — they develop their own AV technology and deploy it onto their own vehicles. As a result, tech firms are bringing cars with advanced autonomous capabilities to the hands of consumers exponentially faster than traditional OEMs.
Given this, traditional OEMs must discover how to quickly enable self-driving capabilities in their cars. With the constraints that come with horizontal integration, these firms must source a third party that is developing a state-of-the-art platform to allow their vehicles to be autonomous. Through this, they can develop “technology-first” automobiles, allowing them to adapt with the industry as the rate of innovation speeds up in the realm of vehicle autonomy.
As we drive, our brains use a data center level of compute while consuming less power than a lightbulb. To mimic this and facilitate the production of “technology-first” automobiles, cars must be equipped with a platform that generates a minimum of 75 Tera-Operations-Per-Second (TOPS) of compute for every watt of power consumption. This unsolved optimization barrier is known as the visual perception problem.
We @ Recogni are developing a state-of-the-art visual perception platform. Unlike incumbent solutions, which are based on legacy technologies such as the GPU, our product is purpose-built for autonomous vehicles. Because we are not constrained from a technological standpoint, we can allow AVs to flawlessly perceive their surroundings in real time. Through leveraging key innovations in math, ASIC architecture, and AI, our solution generates 100 TOPS for every watt of power consumption, clearly solving the visual perception problem outlined above. With these unique capabilities, traditional OEMs should procure our solution in order to develop “technology-first” automobiles.
To learn more about Recogni, check out www.recogni.com | https://medium.com/@recogni/the-emergence-of-the-tech-first-automobile-5b6b2585a0a8 | ['Recogni Inc.'] | 2020-12-03 17:24:09.431000+00:00 | ['Self Driving Cars', 'Automotive', 'Transportation', 'Autonomous Vehicles', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
The Case for Using Covid-19 Exposure Notification Apps | The Case for Using Covid-19 Exposure Notification Apps
Last week, I got a text from the New York State Department of Health inviting me to use the state’s contact tracing app. It was the first time I’d received an invitation, and my first thought was: After eight months of Covid-19, you’re asking me to use it now? Today, the case count in the U.S. reached 16.9 million, and over 307,000 Americans have died. Transmission is rampant in a majority of states. If an app notified me every time I had a close brush with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, would it even make a difference in helping stop the spread?
I asked Michael Reid, MD, MPH, who’s heading up the contact tracing programs for both San Francisco and California and is an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco specializing in infectious disease. The short answer is that it’s not known for sure whether these apps help reduce transmission in the U.S.: Not enough people have adopted them, so there’s not enough data.
The long answer, though, suggests they may still play an important role in reducing transmission of Covid-19, especially once the country is ready to fully emerge from shutdown.
Reid began his explanation by clarifying that these apps are for “exposure notification,” not for contact tracing per se. “They function to complement existing contact tracing capabilities,” he says. “That’s a useful distinction to make so that one understands that they’re not replacing the need for human contact tracing.”
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http://www.zamstats.gov.zm/bky/kei-uni-v-was-uni-liv-rug-jp01.html
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http://www.zamstats.gov.zm/bky/kei-uni-v-was-uni-liv-rug-jp10.html
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http://www.zamstats.gov.zm/bky/kei-uni-v-was-uni-liv-rug-jp13.html
https://www.torontolofts.ca/dfy/kei-uni-v-was-uni-liv-rug-jp01.html
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http://khanuul.mn/video/kei-uni-v-was-uni-liv-rug-jp01.html
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http://embrasser-h.com/koy/kei-uni-v-was-uni-liv-rug-jp01.html
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http://www.ridembl.com//fuy/kei-uni-v-was-uni-liv-rug-jp01.html
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https://www.thomsonstb.net/js/kei-uni-v-was-uni-liv-rug-jp01.html
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https://rinaz.co.jp/Rugby/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts11.html
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https://rinaz.co.jp/Rugby/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts19.html
https://mascerca.co/wp-admin/MAR/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts11.html
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https://mascerca.co/wp-admin/MAR/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts19.html
https://www.alecia.co.jp/bk/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts11.html
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https://www.alecia.co.jp/bk/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts19.html
https://www.renatus-japan.co.jp/JPG/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts11.html
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https://www.renatus-japan.co.jp/JPG/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts19.html
https://members.victimsofcrime.org/fight/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts11.html
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https://members.victimsofcrime.org/fight/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts13.html
https://members.victimsofcrime.org/fight/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts14.html
https://members.victimsofcrime.org/fight/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts15.html
https://members.victimsofcrime.org/fight/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts16.html
https://members.victimsofcrime.org/fight/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts17.html
https://members.victimsofcrime.org/fight/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts18.html
https://members.victimsofcrime.org/fight/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts19.html
https://www.globetravelcentre.com/Fox/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts11.html
https://www.globetravelcentre.com/Fox/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts12.html
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https://www.globetravelcentre.com/Fox/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts17.html
https://www.globetravelcentre.com/Fox/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts18.html
https://www.globetravelcentre.com/Fox/jp-fuji-r-u-g-b-y-bts19.html
Human contact tracers — which the U.S. is woefully lacking, notes Reid — identify people who test positive for Covid-19 and interview those people to find out who they’ve had close contact with. Those people are then notified about their exposure and given instructions for self-quarantining. This is a tried and true public health method for reducing transmission of infectious disease, and it’s proven to be a powerful tool for controlling Covid-19 in countries like South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Taiwan.
But the contact tracing process has a gap that apps may help fill. When a person who tests positive for Covid-19 is interviewed by a contact tracer, they identify people who they already know, like household members and close friends and family. They can’t, however, identify people they interacted with who they don’t know, like the salesperson at the grocery, or a teller at the bank.
While working as a contact tracer, says Reid, he learned that most people don’t know who they acquired Covid-19 from, and a substantial number of cases also elicit very few contacts. Exposure notification apps can alert people if they’ve been exposed to a stranger with Covid-19 and give them “the agency to take matters into their own hands,” he says, by self-quarantining and contacting their local public health department, which can use that information to track outbreaks. These Bluetooth-based apps allow phones to communicate with other phones that they come into contact with; if one user has logged a positive test result, the other will be notified.
For this reason, explains Reid, apps could actually have even more utility in a situation like the one we’re in today, where there is more widespread transmission of the coronavirus — assuming enough people use them. “If we’re ever going to go back to work or be on school campuses, or on factory floors, then these kinds of tools could be a real asset to be able to determine who you’ve come into close contact with who you might not otherwise known.”
The big caveat, he notes, is that the most important public health interventions are still social distancing and mask-wearing.
Whether enough people will use exposure notification apps remains to be seen. A recent Reuters analysis estimated that about 6 million Americans had used the apps by mid-November and that nearly 50% of the U.S. population would have access to one of these apps by Christmas. In April, a modeling study from the University of Oxford showed that 60% of the population needs to adopt these apps to end transmission. There are numerous reasons why people may not have downloaded the apps (Nature explains them in-depth here). Privacy is one common concern; in a OneZero story published in April, my colleague Will Oremus questioned whether these “opt-in” public health apps would be treated as such by private entities like churches and schools, and another colleague, Sarah Emerson, raised concerns that marginalized groups would bear the consequences of widespread surveillance.
Reid didn’t seem too worried about the privacy issue, though. “Ironically, I think that’s a really peculiar conversation to be having, given that Google and Apple and other technology companies are scraping your data all of the time for information that they’re going to use to target you for new products that you’re going to buy,” he says. “The mechanics of exposure notification technology is such that [the data] is not being centrally housed in some department of public health data warehouse.”
After talking to Reid, two things became clear to me: First, the country needs more human contact tracers and can’t expect apps to make much of a dent in transmission on their own. Second, I should probably just download the app. At the very least, there appears to be minimal cost and risk to me, and doing so would add another layer of protection to myself and the people in my household, plus support the work of the human contact tracers as they scramble to identify where the virus is headed next.
And, looking ahead, it may very well be a tool I’ll encounter again in the future. If exposure notification apps are shown to be effective, “I think they’re going to play an important role when the next pandemic comes around,” says Reid. “And chances are it’ll come around sooner than the last one.” | https://medium.com/@rater05pakhi-41095/the-case-for-using-covid-19-exposure-notification-apps-5d081eee63a4 | [] | 2020-12-18 15:31:01.509000+00:00 | ['Public Health', 'Covid 19', 'Coronavirus', 'Technology'] |
Bank Data: Accuracy | F1 Score | ROC AUC | On the bank data we saw that our dependent variable is imbalanced, and on the pervious blog we discussed that the metric that we will be basing our results on was F1 Score using the Confusion Matrix. This blog will discuss, in depth, why.
Accuracy
Accuracy score is the most commonly used metric when it comes to performance measurement, but sometimes this can be a bad metric to base your results on.
Accuracy measures how many observations, both positive and negative, were correctly classified.
This can be misleading when having an imbalanced dataset, because if you have an imbalance dataset where the dependent variable is binary, there are 80% 1’s and 20% 0’s, then our model will develop an accuracy score where it calculates most of predicted variables as 1’s, maybe giving it a 90% accuracy score.
So, when does it make sense to use it?
When your problem is balanced using accuracy is usually a good start. An additional benefit is that it is really easy to explain it to non-technical stakeholders in your project,
When every class is equally important to you.
F1 Score
F1 Score combines precision and recall into one metric by calculating the harmonic mean between those two.
This means that F1 Score is good at evaluating how the model did at predicting your positive class. This helps when you care more about your positive class.
When should you use it?
Pretty much in every binary classification problem where you care more about the positive class.
It can be easily explained to business stakeholders which in many cases can be a deciding factor.
ROC AUC
It is a chart that visualizes the tradeoff between true positive rate (TPR) and false positive rate (FPR). | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/bank-data-accuracy-f1-score-roc-auc-f951d2a0ef92 | ['Zaki Jefferson'] | 2020-09-14 12:29:55.304000+00:00 | ['Sklearn', 'Python', 'Confusion Matrix', 'Data', 'Data Science'] |
Representative Anna V. Eskamani’s Statement on the Passage of SB404 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 20, 2020
Florida House & Senate Passes Anti-Abortion Legislation, Forcing Minors to Seek Parental Consent to End a Pregnancy
Tallahassee, FL — Today on a vote of 75–43 the Florida House passed SB404, legislation that puts into place forced parental consent for minors who wish to end their pregnancy. Below is Representative Anna V. Eskamani’s statement in response.
“I am disappointed but not surprised with today’s passing of SB404, and remain forever committed to fighting for abortion access in the State of Florida and across the country. It’s critically important that we honor and respect young people to make their own personal medical decisions, and I urge my colleagues to focus on prevention of unplanned pregnancies versus politically motivated legislation that is ultimately designed to ban abortion. SB404 is dangerous, likely unconstitutional, and a trojan horse to ban abortion statewide. I urge Governor Ron DeSantis to veto this bill.”
You can read an initial draft of Representative Eskamani’s full debate remarks at this link and watch her remarks on the Florida Channel.
### | https://medium.com/@annaveskamani/representative-anna-v-eskamanis-statement-on-the-passage-of-sb404-f11d5f03a70e | ['Anna V. Eskamani'] | 2020-02-20 23:20:43.928000+00:00 | ['Abortion', 'Reproductive Rights', 'Reproductive Health', 'Reproductive Justice', 'Florida'] |
Opinion: Society Doesn’t Care About Women’s Health | Regardless of the progress and scientific advancements to improve health outcomes over the years, it’s clear that society still doesn’t care about women’s health. Women’s concerns about their health are often ignored, misdiagnosed or diagnosed late.
This is a systemic problem in our healthcare system, affecting clinical studies and medical research, interactions with healthcare providers and outcomes, and societal education and awareness on women’s health.
SYSTEMIC GENDER INEQUALITY IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
Historically, clinical trials and diagnostic criteria focused on data from men. In the US, it was only 1990 when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) created The Office Of Research On Women’s Health to address how a ‘lack of systemic and consistent inclusion of women in NIH-supported clinical research could result in clinical decisions being made about health care for women based solely on findings from studies of men — without any evidence that they were applicable to women’.
Historically, the difference in male and female hormone levels, particularly the normal hormonal fluctuations women have throughout the menstrual cycle, have been used as a reason to exclude women from clinical studies on the basis that this introduces more variables. It was only 2015 when the NIH required medical investigators to consider sex as a biological variable. They also required that to receive grant funding, both sexes must be included in the research, or provide a valid reason for why one sex is excluded. Unfortunately despite measures to reduce the data gap between sexes in clinical research, this issue still exists.
There are many consequences of this. It means that diagnostic criteria and disease pathologies are often informed by data from men, despite the fact that women may present with a disease differently. Excluding or under-representing women in drug trials also has damaging effects.
Females have a 1.5–1.7 greater risk of having an adverse drug reaction compared to male patients. A reason for this is that females may biologically metabolise and react to drugs differently. It may also mean that some drug doses should be different for men and women. This was found to be true in an American sleep medication zolpidem (also known as Ambien), where the recommended dose was found to be double as much as women should consume.
WOMEN AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
A Public Health England survey found that 31% of women reported experiencing severe reproductive health symptoms in the last 12 months, such as heavy periods, infertility, menopause, and incontinence. Unfortunately this survey also reports that over 50% of women who experience mild or severe reproductive health symptoms do not seek assistance.
Sadly, women may feel uncomfortable or afraid to talk to healthcare professionals about symptoms they are experiencing, which may prevent them from accessing the care they need. In a small study, of the 75% of women in the UK that reported experiencing menopause symptoms, only 36% visited their doctor, while 50% did not seek treatment and 26% sought treatment elsewhere. In 2015, Ovarian Cancer Research found that in the UK, if a woman suspected a sexual health or gynaecological problem, only 17% of 18–24 year olds and 68% of 55–65 year olds would seek medical attention.
Despite reproductive health problems being so common, the 2018 UK Health Research Analysis Report found that of the 21 distinct health categories, the reproductive health and childbirth category only received 2.1% of the total awards and expenditure for all direct awards submitted to the analysis.
ENDOMETRIOSIS
Endometriosis is one of the reproductive conditions that has received national and global attention for slow and unacceptable diagnosis times. In the UK, it takes on average 7.5 years to be diagnosed. Endometriosis is incredibly common and affects 1 in 10 women, the same number of people that have diabetes. However, endometriosis research is woefully underfunded. For every $1 of research funding invested in endometriosis, there is $200 invested in diabetes research. The combination of long waits for a diagnosis, and inadequate treatments can leave women with pain, infertility, low self-esteem, difficulty maintaining work, and too many or unnecessary medical appointments and treatments.
OVARIAN CANCER
In ovarian cancer, 45% of women wait 3 months from their first GP visit to receive a correct diagnosis. This delay may mean that the cancer becomes harder to treat. A report by Target Ovarian Cancer highlights some of the difficulties women and GPs have at identifying symptoms of ovarian cancer, which may cause delays in seeking help, and make a proper diagnosis more difficult. For example, only 20% of women in the UK can list bloating as one of the main symptoms of ovarian cancer. The charity also reports that 44% of GPs think that symptoms only present in later stages, when they can appear early. This is one of the many examples where both more education for doctors and the general public is needed to help raise women’s health outcomes.
WOMEN AND HEART HEALTH
It’s not only symptoms and conditions involving women’s reproductive health that are overlooked. This problem happens in illnesses that affect both men and women. The British Heart Foundation reported that more than 35,000 women are admitted to hospital with a heart attack every year, but women are 50% more likely than men to receive an incorrect initial diagnosis after a heart attack.
The British Heart Foundation also found that women who had a final diagnosis of a total blockage of the artery, also known as STEMI, were 59% more likely to be misdiagnosed compared to men. Women with a final diagnosis of a partial blockage, or NSTEMI, were 41% more likely to be misdiagnosed than men.
One of the reasons why heart attacks are misdiagnosed in women, is that the protein troponin, which is released when a person has a heart attack, is lower in women than men. The levels used to diagnose a heart attack are often based on men’s levels of this protein. However research has found that peak troponin levels in females are 4x lower than males in hospital patients. In the last few years, this has led to the development of new testing that can detect lower troponin levels.
Additionally, men and women may experience heart attack symptoms differently. Although The American Heart Association finds that most women report chest pain or discomfort, women are also more likely to experience symptoms such as shortness of breath, back pain, jaw pain, nausea, or vomiting.
The British Heart Foundation also notes that women report experiencing some less common symptoms such as anxiety brought on very suddenly that may feel like a panic attack, or excessive coughing or wheezing. More awareness is needed to help people identify that women may experience different symptoms of a heart attack to men, in order to improve health outcomes.
WOMEN AND PAIN MANAGEMENT
Men and women’s pain is often treated differently. In addition to medical research often not focusing on women, and gender biases that women may encounter in the healthcare system, some research suggests that there are biological reasons for why males and females experience pain differently.
This remains an evolving area of research, but implicates hormonal differences in males and females, such as oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, in why pain may be experienced differently. Some research also suggests that men and women’s cerebral cortex, the main communications network in the central nervous system, processes pain differently and may also be linked to the role of sex hormones.
Research also suggests more women than men have a chronic pain condition. Some of these conditions include migraines, fibromyalgia, IBS, and chronic tension type headaches, TMJ, and interstitial cystitis. A study in Sweden reported that for all of the 10 different anatomical regions, more women than men reported pain in the last 7 days, and were also much more likely to report experiencing chronic widespread pain.
Similarly, women have a higher prevalence of autoimmune conditions than men. Autoimmune disease is when the body launches an immune response by lymphocytes or antibodies on its own cells — or when the body attacks itself. Autoimmune conditions include rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, and systemic lupus erythematosus.
This again highlights the importance of women being adequately represented in medical research to understand both why they have higher rates of autoimmune diseases, and also if there is a need for different approaches to manage specific autoimmune conditions between males and females.
WOMEN AND WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
Weight management is another area of healthcare where men and women face inequalities.
Although generally, weight can be managed through exercise and nutrition, there are some differences between the sexes. Due to higher levels of testosterone, men tend to have lower fat mass and more muscle mass than women. As a result, men often need to consume more calories than women, because muscle will burn more calories than fat. In the context of weight management, typically, both men and women lose muscle with age and this affects weight loss.
Beyond this, female sex hormones may make it more difficult to lose weight. For example, one of oestrogen’s many functions is to influence glucose and fat metabolism. As a result, lower oestrogen levels may lead to weight gain. This steep decline in oestrogen levels may also be a reason why during menopause, some women may gain weight.
While high stress levels can contribute to weight gain in both men and women, this may be exacerbated in females due to the fact that oestrogen is released by fat cells. Conversely, when oestrogen levels are too high weight gain can also occur.
Beyond sex hormones, other hormones such as cortisol, insulin and thyroid hormones can influence weight. Being overweight or underweight may indicate other health issues. It’s important that women feel comfortable speaking with their doctors about this, and also that their healthcare providers can look beyond diet and exercise to other underlying mechanisms and conditions.
IN CONCLUSION
In the UK and throughout the world, inequality in healthcare between men and women persists. This systemic problem touches all levels of the healthcare system — from how research is conducted and funded, the testing and diagnostic criteria, and interactions and medical interventions with healthcare providers and outcomes.
Increased medical research with a greater number of female participants is crucial. There needs to be more resources and guidance to improve diagnostic criteria and time, understanding of disease pathologies, and medical outcomes. We have to build awareness and trust, to empower women to talk to their doctor when they feel something isn’t quite right. GPs also need to receive greater training on female specific problems, so women are diagnosed earlier, and their health concerns are taken seriously and not dismissed or marginalised.
While focusing on the inequalities in healthcare between men and women, we must also acknowledge that even amongst women inequalities exist that also need addressing. There are inequalities in women’s health outcomes varying by race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
At Forth, we want to break down the barriers that women face in healthcare by giving them a greater understanding of their own health. We want to empower women, so they feel more in control over their own health and have the confidence to seek medical help if problems arise.
We support all the work being done by healthcare professionals, researchers, scientists, and the growing number of female founded healthcare businesses who are passionate about raising awareness around the taboos surrounding women’s health needs, and like us want to be part of a growing movement which are intent on driving equality in female health. | https://medium.com/@forthwithlife/opinion-society-doesnt-care-about-women-s-health-302ef2c158a7 | ['Sarah Bolt'] | 2020-12-18 12:05:22.408000+00:00 | ['Womens Health', 'Health', 'Feminism', 'Medical Research', 'Endometriosis'] |
Samsung Jetbot Mop review: This robot mop does double duty as a handheld scrubber | Samsung Jetbot Mop review: This robot mop does double duty as a handheld scrubber Derek Dec 7, 2020·3 min read
Robot vacuums have been fairly well commoditized, but there seems to be plenty of room for innovating mopping robots. Samsung’s Jetbot Mop has one of the more unique designs we’ve seen.
The 15-inch-wide robot uses two disc-shaped water reservoirs, called the “water supply kit,” affixed with mopping pads to propel it across the floor as they scrub. And while most robot mops perform that single act, the Jetbot doubles as a handheld cleaner. Easy to operate and affordably priced, it’s a compelling alternative to more sophisticated robot mops such as iRobot’s Braava Jet m6.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best robot mops, where you’ll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.Getting the Jetbot ready to clean requires very little effort. First, you wet and ring out the mopping pads; two pairs are included—the microfiber pads are better for wiping smooth flooring, white the thicker mother-yarn pads are ideal for soaking up spills and pulling dust from cracks and crevices. Next, you fill each reservoir with clean water—I had no problem doing this straight from my kitchen tap—then attach a mop pad to each one. Finally, attach each reservoir to its post on the bottom of the robot.
[ Further reading: The best robot vacuum cleaners ]To clean, you just set the Jetbot on the floor and press the power button once to turn it on, then again to activate Auto mode. The robot starts shimmying across the floor powered by the spinning motion of its mops.
Samsung You can lift Samsung’s 6-pound Jetbot Mop and power-clean your walls.
The Jetbot doesn’t have any room-mapping capability, so it cleans in a seemingly random pattern of straight, diagonal, and zig-zag movements using its smart sensors to avoid walls, furniture, and cliffs. It’s funky looking if you’re used to the straight-ahead paths taken by most vacuum/mop hybrids, but it worked well enough to give my kitchen and bathrooms wall-to-wall coverage. It also doesn’t support virtual boundaries, so I had to create a physical one using some boxes to keep it from drifting onto the carpeted floors that adjoin these rooms.
Samsung Samsung doesn’t provide an app for controlling the Jetbot Mop, but you will get a dedicated remote control.
In addition to Auto cleaning, the Jetbot offers seven other modes that you can activate from the device’s remote control. Some, like Edge and Focus, which allow the Jetbot to mop along walls or thoroughly clean areas of concentrated dirt, should be familiar if you’ve used a robot vacuum. Other modes like Step and Figure-8 clean in unique patterns that are probably best suited for larger spaces than the kitchen and bathroom. You can also direct the Jetbot manually using the remote’s directional keys.
Mentioned in this article iRobot Braava Jet m6 Read TechHive's reviewSee it Grab it by its handle and press the power button twice quickly and you can use it to clean bathtubs, shower tiles, windows, and other surfaces. I found this particularly, er, handy, as all you need to do is apply a bit of pressure and the Jetbot does most of the work tackling these detested housekeeping chores.
Samsung The Jetbot can be set in its floor plate when it’s not in use.
The Jetbot won’t eliminate the need for hand mopping. While it’s great for wiping away surface grime, it doesn’t provide the agitation needed to scrub out deeper dirt. And because it can only use plain water, it won’t disinfect your floors. But these are limitations of most robot vacuums. With its double-duty capabilities, it will reduce how frequently you have to break out your stick mop and other cleaning supplies, and that makes it worthy of recommendation.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details. | https://medium.com/@Derek26694432/samsung-jetbot-mop-review-this-robot-mop-does-double-duty-as-a-handheld-scrubber-f891720ba686 | [] | 2020-12-07 09:20:33.482000+00:00 | ['Entertainment', 'Consumer Electronics', 'Gear', 'Music'] |
In Pursuit of a New Golden Ratio | The golden ratio is originally a mathematical term. But art, architecture, and design are inconceivable without this math. Everyone aspires to golden proportions as beautiful and unattainable perfection. By visualizing data, we challenge ourselves to strike a balance between design and analysis; finding a similar harmony in the visual perception of a graph much like the harmony of the golden ratio in the world around us. How do we bring numbers and dry logical conclusions to life? How do we get them to tell a fascinating story without losing its meaning? Perhaps we can consider this the “new” Golden Ratio.
In search for the answers to these questions, I investigated the best examples of modern data visualization by searching through the category “Greatest” in the Tableau Public gallery of works. The work “How Safe Are Ivy League Schools?” by authors Alex Dixon & Tarannum Ansari caught my eye. The authors asked the non-standard question: How safe is it to study at Ivy League universities?
For those unfamiliar, the Ivy League is an association of the eight oldest American universities — often used as a shorthand for prestigious higher education in the United States. To answer their question, the authors used open data on the website of the US Department of Education.
Despite the age of the visualization (it was released in 2017 and features data from 2001–2014), I decided to choose this piece for my investigation of the balance between analysis and visual design. I believe that paying attention to nuances that can confuse users is the best way to learn how to avoid misleading context in my own work, as well as to discuss differences in perception with other specialists.
Report Layout
At first glance, it’s pleasing that the visualization is made with the ideology of a dashboard — on one screen without scrolling. Three vertical logical blocks are highlighted:
for administrative violations,
for administrative penalties,
for criminal offenses.
The “How Safe Are Ivy League Schools?” dashboard
Vertical blocks are united by a horizontal strip at the top: eight logos and the short names of the universities. The logos make it possible to reference the universities throughout the dashboard without having to rely on the written name. The logos also work as filters: by clicking, you can select the desired university and view only its information.
Under the logos there is a time slicer by years — you can select the period of interest and the data will update accordingly. Traditional and understandable visual solutions are used for visualization:
bar chart,
filter with a choice from the drop-down list,
heat chart,
area diagram.
Fonts and Colors Scheme
The authors use fonts very skillfully: two catchy bold fonts are chosen for the headers and a concise, well-read sans-serif font for the description and numbers.
The color scheme is a harmonious combination of milky cream and green (perhaps as a reference to the color of ivy leaves). While from a design standpoint this color palette is quite pleasing, it raises a few questions for our inner Analyst. For many people green is intuitively perceived as positive — the greener the better. Accordingly, a saturated green color should indicate a more positive situation (low level of danger). As a result, some users may potentially be confused due to the choice of this palette.
In addition, the heat map visualizations have a somewhat confusing color logic, which leads to color and data conflicts. For example, the data for Cornell University is distributed as follows:
100–200 offenses — standard green,
200–500 offenses — light green color,
over 500 offenses — dark green color.
Selection of the heat map (Source)
What could make the Analyst feel a little more comfortable? Perhaps adding an alternative red spectrum color to the report to create a transition between negative and positive. And this color exists. The Ivy League has several signature colors and one of it — Harvard crimson — just the “crimson” shade we need.
Please note: This solution is not the best for all people due to color vision deficiency (CVD). It is just one of the suggestions to make the visualization more clear, though one should always check to ensure a viz is using colorblind-friendly palette to avoid misunderstandings due to color perception (for example, Color Blindness Simulator)
Visualization: The Analyst is Confused
As already mentioned, simple and intuitive graphs have been chosen for the visualizations. The authors brilliantly managed to reflect a large amount of data without excessive fragmentation and visual weight. Pop-up tips played a significant role — there are lots of them and they are quite informative.
However, there is an ambiguous logic in the choice of the measurement which crosses out all the ease of the visual perception for the Analyst. The authors chose absolute values as the unit of measurement: the total number of violations or offenses. It seems to me that it’s not entirely informative to use absolute values in such studies.
For example, 691 law violations were committed at Cornell University in 2014 — is this a lot or a little? It seems to be a lot. That same year there were only 386 violations at Dartmouth College. It looks like things are really going bad at Cornell University after all, doesn’t it? Moreover, the current logic of the heat map tells us this too— Cornell University is shown with darker green than Dartmouth College.
Selection of the heat map (Source)
But this conclusion may be wrong. To fully understand the situation, I would recommend taking into account the total number of students. And the authors have this data — when you hover over the histograms (left visual block) informative tips with this data for each university appear.
So, 691 law violations occurred at Cornell University, which has 21,679 students, and 386 law violations occurred at Dartmouth College with 6,298 students. That’s 31.9 law violations per 1,000 students at Cornell University and 61.3 law violations per 1,000 students at Dartmouth College — with a convincing advantage… Cornell University wins!
The authors do attempt to compensate for this difference in volume in the bar graphs on the left, which use thickness to designate the number of students. However, this makes the visual less readily understandable at a glance and adds more cognitive load to the reader.
The number of students by column thickness (Source)
Our internal Explorers also lacked clear color legends — at least one for each block. Finally, the Analytist tore up something else about the horizontal scale for heat maps — because it was only from the prompts that he could understand that there is aggregate year-by-year data for each of the universities.
You Criticize — You Offer!
This report has deservedly entered the category “Greatest” in Tableau — the authors set a fairly complex and voluminous task and have effectively realized it. If it wasn’t for the mentioned remarks on the measurement logic and color choice, the report would be almost flawless from the user’s point of view.
At the same time, we don’t necessarily get the answer to the basic question: how safe is it to study in the Ivy League? Trying to answer, our Analyst suggested the report be supplemented with a consolidated safety indicator for the entire Ivy League, also normalized to provide the data in the form of a percentage of events per 1,000 students. Our Designer enthusiastically released all that. The result of their collaborative search for the new golden ratio is this visualization:
A new variant of the same dashboard (Courtesy of the author)
So what do we see? The leader among all types of law violations is liquor law violations. Among the criminal offenses, burglary and robbery have a sad leadership .
The already mentioned Dartmouth College and its affiliated Princeton University and Brown University are the most “red” participants in our table.
In contrast, Columbia University in the City of New York, Cornell University, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania are mostly in the safe “green” zone.
Harvard University, however, proved to be an unexpected leader in burglary and robbery. But if you look closely at Criminal Offenses’ heat map 2001–2014, it is clear that these problems have been experienced by Harvard University in the past — since 2009, the university has moved to the “green” team and has never left it again.
Conclusions
Modern data is called Big Data for a reason — the more data, the more difficult it is to visualize. Volumetric data requires detail, and this affects the visual component of the analysis. The original report successfully avoided visualization problems by proposing a constructive graphical solution for a massive data block.
But the completeness of the data presented has replaced the analysis itself.
Not claiming the truth and armed with Occam’s razor (yes, analysts have a lot of surprising techniques in the arsenal), I grouped the data on crimes into the category “criminal offenses” and got rid of the details of the sanctions in “law violations”.
This allowed me to calculate aggregated security indicators, compare Ivy League universities, and find some answers. Maybe it wasn’t as elegant as the original version — that’s something for my inner Designer to think about.
My final word of advice — when working on data visualization switch internally from Analyst to Designer and vice versa. (Don’t forget to involve the User however, since he will be the one who will evaluate the final result.) By switching between these two modes of thinking, we work towards that perfect balance between design and analysis — our “new” Golden Ratio. | https://medium.com/nightingale/in-pursuit-of-a-new-golden-ratio-1ad528534222 | ['Alex Kolokolov'] | 2020-08-18 13:59:42.551000+00:00 | ['Tableau', 'Visual Design', 'Data Visualization', 'Analysis', 'Dashboard'] |
Episode 1: There's a light that never goes out | It was very late at night and there was not a living soul outside. That street was too strange and so far no one knew why the big house on the corner lived empty, though always with the lights on.
Every night was the same. And that car was already stopped by there were more than six months. It was too long. And no one came to remove, even the police making frequent rounds there.
Some claim to have seen the vehicle wandering the neighborhood, without a driver, slowly, wrapped in smoke. Something very likely, I would say, given the mysteries involving one home.
Was heard always a very strange noise coming up from it whenever the fog was in charge of the neighborhood. And last night, the fog was there again.
The next door neighbor, who lived in the lower house, no longer stand it any longer the situation. Not because of the fog and the car seemed to already be part of the sidewalk. Simply because those sounds were very strange.
It was almost surreal. Even elusive. Sounds arose when the fog came. It was then that he decided to run away. He lived alone, but strangely was careful to shutdown all the lights.
He went screaming down the street, desperate, going straight for the lighted house and the car seemed to have life without any idea where he was going. Without a paddle.
And since then, no one ever heard of Andy Taylor again.
R.C.
This story was inspired by the picture that illustrates this post. This photo was found on instagram profile @cirkeline. Follow it! There are great pictures there :)
Did you read this miro tale and like it? So click on the “Recommend” button below to make this story gain more strength and get more people. And, who knows, one day it will become a movie. Tks!
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr | https://medium.com/conto-em-foto/episode-1-there-s-a-light-that-never-goes-out-2f6a6e93c2e1 | ['Conto Em Foto'] | 2015-10-12 19:22:01.531000+00:00 | ['Fiction', 'Storytelling', 'Story'] |
When your travel agent changes your itinerary for a profit | Photo Credit: Damir Bosnjak
Originally published as “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” on paulkist.com on September 21, 2008.
As usual, the words come once I depart, and I’ve departed, and the words are coming. I haven’t written a true blog entry since my last journey out of the country, back in November 2007, and as I sit on Virgin Atlantic Flight 68 to London’s Heathrow Airport, eyes singed from an inconsistent 4 hour sleep, not sure if I was too hot or too cold. My face was cold, my chest was sweating, and my legs had goosebumps. It was really, really confusing. I always considered humans warm-blooded creatures, but I felt like a reptile for the last few hours. But I digress. I almost did not make the flight, why? Because I tend to never learn that if my parents recommend someone to get me a “deal”, it never works out the way I want, and sometimes, spending a few extra bucks up-front is worth saving high blood pressure in the end.
And I was also trapped with a full bladder, unable to find a way past the lady who wouldn’t have woken up if a piece of overhead luggage fell on her face. Finally when my kidneys were screaming for mercy I had to climb over her, which wasn’t an easy task. My yoga is paying off though.
It felt like a terribly-timed joke when the person at the check-in counter at JFK told me there was no record of me flying on the printed itinerary I had in my hand. This itinerary was given to me by a travel agent at St. “Mark” Travel. I’ve changed the saint’s name for anonymity purposes (and yes, naming your business after a saint is pretty common among us Coptic folk). The agency accepted payment and booked my flight for me. Must’ve been some mistake, I thought, between e-ticketing or something of that nature. I was directed to the ticket counter, which believe it or not, is a separate department. The agent at the ticket counter told me that I was not booked on this flight but after about 15 minutes of phone calls and green-screen searches she discovers that I was booked for a flight that left yesterday.
How could that be? My itinerary, confirmation number with the airline, all pointed to my flight being today. This didn’t make any sense. Until some new information surfaced…
The Virgin Atlantic agent discovered something very interesting. Apparently 2 days after I booked and paid for this ticket, someone at the travel agency actually cancelled my ticket, and re-booked me on a different itinerary and a return flight to a different city than what I had booked! They also let me know that there was a significant price difference, and that the money was refunded to the travel agency.
Of course, one could say that after years of practical jokes I’ve played on loved ones, that this was the ultimate payback. I was kinda hoping Ashton Kutcher would run out from behind the lady in red and let me know how punk’d I truly was.
However, that didn’t happen.
I do not hold St. Mark himself, nor do I hold any patron saint of a travel agency personally responsible.
So what were my options? Pay the 200 dollar change fee to get on this flight, and pay the full price of the return ticket to fly to Boston from the city I was now flying back to? I don’t think I had a choice because “your ticket has a restriction, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Deep breaths. About to call the travel agent…
”Paul, you’re a consultant”, I thought to myself, “you can totally be professional and get answers without getting flustered.”
When I told her what happened, she said “Oh yea? Your ticket is different than what we booked? Why did that happen?”
“I’m not sure why it happened, I was hoping you could tell me”
After 20 minutes on the phone, it turns out I wasn’t going to get any answers, because she asked me back the same questions I asked her. I guess they thought it would be ok to just change my itinerary and hope I’d just figure it out.
Believe it or not, I’m writing this with a smile on my face. Why? Well it’s because I’m going back to Kenya! And two, I’m sure the 400 bucks will find its way back to me, either via my friend the travel agent, or by some karma related act of the universe, or maybe St Mark himself will hand me a check,
I’m not sure of the details yet. | https://medium.com/master-of-some/when-your-travel-agent-changes-your-ticket-for-a-profit-70c3dd2999a6 | ['Paul Kist'] | 2018-09-23 14:16:16.021000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'This Happened To Me', 'This Glorious Mess', 'Kenya', 'Travel Agency'] |
When the maps run out | I notice that there is a part of me that would like not to be serious, that would like it to be secretly a bluff, a puffing of the ego, when I say that it feels like there’s a new responsibility landing on the ragtag of thinkers and tinkers and storytellers at the edges, one edge of which I have been part of over these last years. And for sure, this is only one map I’ve been sketching, others will have their own that may or may not overlap.
But the way it looks from here tonight, the people who are meant to know how the world works are out of map, shown to be lost in a way that has not been seen in my lifetime, not in countries like these.
I am thinking of one of the smartest, most thoughtful commentators on the events of this year, whose analyses have helped many of us make sense of what Brexit might mean, the director of the Political Economy Research Centre at Goldsmiths, University of London, Will Davies. In an article for the Washington Post, a week after the referendum, he drew the parallel to the Republican primaries. He too had picked up on the Case-Deaton white death study and the correlation between mortality rates and Trump support.
‘Could it be that, as with the British movement to leave the EU, Trump is channelling a more primal form of despair?’ he asks. But as the article approaches a conclusion, the despair seems to have spread to its author. ‘When a sizeable group of voters has given up on the future altogether… how does a reasonable politician present themselves?’
All of this represents an almost impossible challenge for campaign managers, pollsters and political scientists. The need for candidates to seem ‘natural’ and ‘normal’ is as old as television. Now it seems that they also need to give voice to the private despair of voters for whom collective progress appears a thing of the past. Where no politician is deemed ‘trustworthy,’ many voters are drawn toward the politician who makes no credible pledges in the first place. Of course government policy can continue to help people, and even to restore some sense of collective progress. But for large swaths of British and American society, it seems best not to state as much.
As I read them, these are the words of a person who is running out of map, though one who gets closer than many to seeing how deeply the future is broken, how far the sense of collective progress is gone.
While the victorious political centre of the Clinton and Blair era has gone on insisting that everything is getting better and better, some of the smartest thinkers on the left have recognised the breakdown of the future and responded by setting out to reboot it, to recover the kind of faith in collective progress that made possible the achievements of the better moments of the twentieth century.
If their attempts have struggled to gain traction, one reason may be that the left is better at recognising the economic aspects of what has gone wrong than the cultural aspects, which it tends to ignore or bracket under bigotry. There are great forces of bigotry at work in the world, they will have taken great encouragement from Trump’s election and they need to be fought, as they have been by anti-fascist organising in working class communities, again and again. As a teenager in the northeast of England, my first activism was going out on the streets against the British National Party with Youth Against Racism in Europe. Still, without pretending that they can be neatly disentangled, there are other aspects of what has gone wrong that belong under the heading of culture, besides racism and xenophobia.
In the places where it happens, economic crisis feeds a crisis of meaning, spiralling down into one another, and if we can only see the parts that can be measured, we will miss the depth of what is happening until it shows up as suicide and overdose figures.
Without a grip on this, the left has struggled to give voice to those for whom talk of progress today sounds like a bad joke. And yeah, maybe Bernie could have done it — he’d surely have been a wiser choice for the Democrats this year — but the thing is, we’ll never know. Meanwhile, across the western countries, too often, the only voices that sound like they get the anger, disillusionment and despair belong to those who seek to harness such feelings to a politics of hatred.
This is where I intend to put a good part of my energy in the next while, to the question of what it means if the future is not coming back. How do we disentangle our thinking and our hopes from the cultural logic of progress? For that logic does not have enough room for loss, nor for the kind of deep rethinking that is called for when a culture is in crisis. But that is another story, and a longer one even than this text has become, and I must get up in a few hours’ time to go talk about that story with a conference full of hackers. | https://medium.com/redrawing-the-maps/when-the-maps-run-out-8cc5f5f4f5e | ['Dougald Hine'] | 2016-11-13 10:45:26.926000+00:00 | ['Politics', '2016 Election'] |
Use Ansible to setup HAproxy as a Load Balancer | What is HAProxy ?
HAProxy is a high-performance, open-source load balancer and reverse proxy for TCP and HTTP applications. Users can make use of HAProxy to improve the performance of websites and applications by distributing their workloads.
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https://blog.goo.ne.jp/mncsrfd/e/2048d9aa7df5fb1f2c20ff6bd391a7daPerformance improvements include minimized response times and increased throughput. HAProxy is used in high traffic services such as Github and Twitter.
HAProxy Architecture :
Load balancers can be used to distribute workloads across computers, networks, disk drives or CPU’s. A reverse proxy accepts a request from a client, forwards it to a server that can fulfill it, and returns the server’s response to the client. A load balancer distributes incoming client requests among a group of servers, in each case returning the response from the selected server to the appropriate client.
What is Ansible ?
Ansible is an open-source software provisioning, configuration management, and application-deployment tool enabling infrastructure as code.
Let’s start the configuration in Ansible …👇
Follow the below steps in Controller Node(CN) :
Step-1 : In CN, create a inventory file which consists of IP’s of load balancer and webservers.
Step-2 : Check the network connectivity to the webservers as well as load balancer using ping module.
ansible host_name -m ping
Step-3 : Create an ansible playbook (lb.yml) containing all configuration of webserver and HAProxy server(Load balancer).
Step-4 : To update HAProxy Configuration file automatically on each time , write the below code at the last in “haproxy.cfg.j2”
Step-5: Run the playbook using command :
ansible-playbook lb.yml (playbook_name)
Step-6: Check the Managed Node (load balancer) , configuration file is updated dynamically. (/etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg)
The port no. is changed to 8081.
It’s adding entry of every webserver present in the inventory file of CN.
Step-7: Check the working of load balancer on client browser, as the Client uses load balancer IP only, it doesn’t know from which webserver it is getting the content.
Task completed !✌️
Thanks for Reading !!🙏 | https://medium.com/@boxinglivesstreams/use-ansible-to-setup-haproxy-as-a-load-balancer-65d520b4fc16 | [] | 2020-12-13 14:39:48.103000+00:00 | ['Haproxy', 'Ansible', 'Load Balancer'] |
Trending plant-based, vegan and veg dishes and restaurants | Are you looking for the trendiest vegan spots on the block? Or perhaps you’re keen to get some inspiration when it comes to vegetarian and plant-based food options?
With 12% of the population self-reporting as being vegan or almost all vegetarian, the meat-free trend is on the rise in Australia. So much so that these last few years have seen an increasing number of restaurants offer meat-free options or even completely ban meat from their menus. Indeed, a significant number of cafes and restaurants are now actively committed to preventing animal cruelty and reducing their carbon footprint on our planet. Their creativity is limitless as they thrive, every day, to turn popular Australian favourites such as chicken noodle soup, Hawaiian poke bowl or shepherd’s pie into delicious and tasty meat-free options.
In this post, we’ll highlight the top meat-free options for vegan, vegetarian or plant-based foodies in some of the best restaurants in the country. Ready to embark on a plant-based foodie journey? Read on!
Peppe’s opened its doors in April 2019 in Bondi Beach. The popular restaurant is the latest vegan gnocchi bar in Sydney and one of the best vegan pasta spots in the Eastern Suburbs. The chef’s creativity is such that even a traditional pasta lover will approve! Their vegan pasta made from creamy porcini and cauliflower sauce are to die for. The vegan pesto gnocchi and mushroom arancini are some of the other favourites on the menu.
Looking for imaginative yet approachable vegan dishes? Mexican inspired Bad Hombres in Sydney won’t disappoint! One of their most popular dishes is their BH Cauliflower menu item. Featuring mouth-watering oregano-paprika salt, cashew cream, salsa verde, coriander and onion, it’s no wonder it’s a favourite among regulars.
Internationally acclaimed and renowned chef Matthew Kenney has turned Alibi into one of the most popular plant-based restaurants in Australia. The menu is extremely creative and traditional ingredients are traded for delicious fresh vegan options enhancing the original recipe and flavours. Some of the trendiest items on the menu include the plant-based Margherita pizza made of cashew-based cheese or the Polenta Verde featuring kale pesto, almond ricotta, blistered tomato and roasted fennel.
Besides providing delicious vegan food to foodies, the restaurant also currently delivers free meals to vulnerable and destitute people to help during these uncertain times. Their hearty and healthy options include curries, soups and some yummy desserts. Some of the items on the innovative menu vary every week but the lentil burger and pancakes (made with cabbage, carrot, onions and vegan aioli) are among the trendiest meals on the menu.
The plant-based trendy spot offers eco-conscious foodies a sophisticated dining experience. Some popular items on the menu include pickled vegetables with vegan feta and lemon myrtle salt or chickpeas Panisse with yeast and macadamia.
The innovative and balanced menu at Shakahari offers visitors delicious and healthy vegetarian dishes. The restaurant promotes natural and fresh ingredients and nutritious meals. Some of the favourites on the menu include baked pumpkin, orange and nutmeg terrine and the popular ‘’Avocado Magic’’ featuring red capsicum, thin fried eggplant slices and a jade green sesame coriander puree.
One of the other meat-free restaurants we’d recommend in Australia is Grassfed in Brisbane for burger lovers who enjoy fresh and tasty ingredients. One of the most innovative burgers on the mouth-watering menu is the Herbivore. The vegan burger features falafel patty, apple slaw, sesame cheese, turmeric kraut, red onion, fresh mint, alfalfa and vegan aioli.
Another place we’d recommend meat-free foodies to check out is the playful and healthy Two-Bit Villains restaurant in Adelaide. The place offers meat-like tasty burgers, a hearty sweet potato pot pie and even red hot dawg made of soy, pickle relish and a toasted bun. Who said going meat-free meant you had to compromise on taste and options?
Are you hungry yet? We’re looking forward to catching you up on our HangryCub platform soon and delivering amazing vegan, plant-based and vegetarian dishes straight to your door! | https://medium.com/@hangrycub/trending-plant-based-vegan-and-veg-dishes-and-restaurants-c892fbe40298 | [] | 2020-12-23 00:16:28.070000+00:00 | ['Plant Base', 'Restaurant', 'Vegan', 'Veganism', 'Food'] |
Dental Implants Market Size Worth $9.0 Billion By 2027 | The global dental implants market size is expected to reach a value of USD 9.0 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 9.0% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising demand for tooth replacement has provided good growth potential to the market. Increasing number of dental injuries owing to road accidents and sports injuries are some of the major factors boosting the demand.
With growing aesthetic awareness, people are exploring more treatment options, which is leading to the growth of the market. For instance, as per the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry data, more than 95% of individuals across the globe believe that their smile is a vital social asset and nearly 84% revealed to be under an increased pressure to perfect their smile, thus increasing the product demand.
Dental implants are considered as the only restorative technique that preserves and stimulates natural bone. Owing to the growing number of edentulous people, the demand for prosthetics is increasing, which is expected to be one of the major impact rendering drivers for the market.
Click the link below:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/dental-implants-market
Further key findings from the study suggest: | https://medium.com/@marketnewsreports/dental-implants-market-9d0e08a714cf | ['Gaurav Shah'] | 2020-12-21 08:51:15.706000+00:00 | ['Turkey', 'Australia', 'Dental Implants', 'Medical Devices', 'Brasil'] |
OOP Principles for Writing Better Code in Laravel Explained | Start Your Design With Layers; Your Life Will Become Much Easier!
One of the most important programming principles is an architectural pattern (1, 2) — simply, layers. Let’s think of what each layer we typically need does. Is there any good approach that fits most standard situations of a typical web application?
Possible layers of a typical web application.
1. Routing. A user or an API client calls a certain URL and expects something to happen. Our application has to recognize the URL. That is done by a routing class. In Laravel, there is a great routing system with a lot of helpful features [1]. VueJs also includes a great routing mechanism, [1].
2. The application checks important properties of the call. Does it have proper headers? Is the session active? Is the user logged in? Is the call authorized? Does the user have proper permissions to use this call?
All kinds of call validations are managed by middleware. In Laravel, you can create as many middlewares as needed. Many are prepared for you right away.
3. Laravel creates a Request object encapsulating all the input data. Laravel sends the Request object into a Controller.
Now, we are in a Controller, which is a kind of entry point of our application. At the end of the controller’s function, the app is supposed to return some data. Between the entry point and the return statement, we have a business logic doing some magic that our client wants.
Note: Controller is a place where most of the tutorials for Laravel end. For trivial examples, it doesn’t make sense to build more layers. However, because of that, new programmers have a very hard time learning something more advanced. I went through this struggle myself as well.
4. A controller is supposed to validate the incoming data, call a service doing some business logic, and then form a response in the desired format (e.g. a json or a blade view).
5. Data validation is an extremely important task. Many programmers don’t pay enough attention to it creating insecure applications. SQL injection is just one of the well-known security threats.
Remember that you should never trust the client’s data. Always validate them, even when they come from your own front-end client. Remember that the API may be used by other applications.
6. After the data is validated, we are ready to call a service. The business logic should be separated from the controller and if possible, also separated from the framework itself. It is easier to unit test your app if classes do not depend on the framework. An example of the recommendation is to avoid using resolve (‘ClassName’) ; Prefer inversion of control or passing dependencies to the lower layers manually.
What is business logic? Most of the time, your application will need CRUD operations. The service class will take the incoming data and save it to the database. Or, it will read the data, put it into the desired format, and return back. If anything more complex is needed, the service class will call other services.
7. If the service needs access to a database, it calls a Repository class. Repository handles all calls for a database. The layers above do not know how the data is stored. You simply call
$userRepository->getById(1);
And that’s it. It must not matter for the service, whether your DB is MySQL, NoSQL or data are saved somewhere in the cloud via API.
8. Laravel native models are very powerful and can save some time for creating simple applications. However, they violate several OOP rules. For this reason, I decided to create my own system, and completely get rid of the Active Record (anti) pattern. I will explain this idea later in the article.
A repository calls a DataMapper that knows how to get data from the database. The DataMapper class is database-specific. It has to be created separately for each type of DB (mySql, noSql, files). However, its interface should be exactly the same. My DataMappers always have these common public functions:
public function getById($id, $attributes = '*');
public function getBySlug($slug, $attributes = '*');
public function patchById (IModel $model, $selectedAttributes);
public function deleteById ($id);
public function search (array $criteria, $attributes = '*');
public function store (IModel &$model);
If a DataMapper requires some special functions, they are implemented within the child class. E.g. UserDataMapper needs functions such as getByUserName(), isRoot(), etc.
9. DataMapper prepares data for the Laravel Query Builder. This is the lowest layer of the application. The query builder returns data or throws an exception if something fails.
Important rule: No class or function should skip layers! It creates tight coupling, and ultimately leads to problems with testing and distributing work among your teammates. This rule is really important, however, even Laravel supports breaking it in a horrible way.
Example: Laravel Validator is a powerful tool. No question about it. However, it allows you to create a validation rule like this:
'state' => 'exists:states'
It looks simple and elegant. However, from the OOP rules perspective, it is a horrible concept. It connects your top layer with the bottom layer being the SQL database. On top of that, it connects your validation with the actual name of the database column. This is an extremely tight coupling that will ultimately kick you in the back. Once you go this path, you almost certainly end up painfully rewriting a huge portion of your code in the future.
On top of that, you are allowed to do even a worse thing with this concept. You can validate user’s data like this (pseudo-code):
IF Validator( 'email' => 'exists:emails') == False THEN createNewUser()
Why is this code dangerous? What if the email appears in the DB before your code reaches the save() function? It will most likely not happen 99% of the time. However, when your app gets busier serving more clients, you have to expect this kind of situation happens. Your app would crash without a warning. The validation passes, the email is not taken, but the data will not be saved, the email is already there. An exception you’ve never seen may crash the app. | https://medium.com/better-programming/laravel-oop-principles-for-writing-better-code-explained-part-1-531276365cba | ['Peter Matisko'] | 2020-09-01 17:39:54.423000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'PHP', 'Laravel', 'Oop', 'Programming'] |
[Part.2] จดหมายรักจากแกะไฟฟ้า (From Blade Runner To Cyberpunk) | เอกสารอ้างอิง
ฟิลิป เค ดิค. (2526) หุ่นสังหาร. กรุงเทพมหานคร: สำนักพิมพ์เพื่อนหนังสือ
Why Does Sci-Fi Love Asian Culture But Not Asian Characters?.12 ตุลาคม 2560.SlashFilm.com[ออนไลน์] เข้าถึงจาก https://www.slashfilm.com/blade-runner-2049-asian-culture/
Cyberpunk Cities Fetishize Asian Culture But Have No Asians.11 ตุลาคม 2560.Vice.com[ออนไลน์] เข้าถึงจาก https://bit.ly/33WqU1k
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? A metaphysical detective story. 2 มีนาคม 2561. Irishtime.com [ออนไลน์] เข้าถึงจาก https://bit.ly/2o7GUy1
Theme in Blade Runner. Wikipedia[ออนไลน์] เข้าถึงจาก https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes_in_Blade_Runner
Blade Runner Box Office. Box Office Mojo[ออนไลน์] เข้าถึงจาก boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=bladerunnersequel.html
Why ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Failed at the Box Office, According to Director Denis Villeneuve. 23 พฤศจิกายน 2560.SlashFilm.com [ออนไลน์] เข้าถึงจาก https://bit.ly/2qBbTDD
Punk Ideologies. Wikipedia[ออนไลน์] เข้าถึงจาก https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_ideologies
Punk Subculture. Wikipedia[ออนไลน์] เข้าถึงจาก https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture | https://medium.com/@natthagunguin/part-2-%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%81%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B0%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%9F%E0%B8%9F%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%B2-from-blade-runner-to-cyberpunk-63eb196ea6a0 | ['Natthagun Guin'] | 2021-01-15 03:13:58.832000+00:00 | ['Blade Runner', 'Philip K Dick', 'Thailand', 'Cyberpunk 2077', 'Cyberpunk'] |
gosli: a little attempt to bring a bit of LINQ to Golang | gosli: a little attempt to bring a bit of LINQ to Golang Dmitry Bogomolov Follow Apr 8 · 4 min read
First, let me admit that I really like Golang. I think it’s pretty elegant, easy-to-read and very powerful language. But also, I love C#.
Though I know that every language has its’ best practices and has its’ own way to create good software, there’s something from C# that I definitely miss in Golang. One of those things is LINQ (Language-Integrated Query).
LINQ allows us to manipulate with collections in C#, modifying, filtering, grouping them using anonymous (lambda) functions. Let’s see a little example how it looks:
The problem
One of the biggest inconveniences I met in Go was the fact that the language doesn’t have some standard way to filter a slice or to find an element of slice by one of its’ fields. I tried to find some way to do it, but everything I found was something like “Well, you have to write a loop for it”.
Once upon a time, I found myself having multiple loops in my program, and they were almost the same but working with different types. It was something like that.
It made me think that it should be the way to avoid code copying. One approach is to make common method receiving interface{} .
And there are at least a couple of problems I see in this implementation.
First, a lot of type assertions are there (like x.(B).FieldString… etc.). It doesn’t look very nice and it makes us create a lot of code to check if assertion can be made.
Also, it makes us use the reflect package. A lot of Go apps are made to be fast, I mean, really fast. And you could hear it here and there that reflect is not a great helper if you’re looking for good performance.
And another disadvantage is the underlying type returned by our filter method. Let’s check it with fmt.Printf(“%T”, filteredA) and it will return us: []interface {} . If we want to use this object it wouldn’t be to cool to do. We will need to iterate over it to convert every element’s type to A .
So, all these problems made me think that we shouldn’t make a pseudo-generic method for all the types. But writing a separated loop for every type (as we did in the first code example) doesn’t look too good as well.
I supposed that making a code generator to create some general methods that won’t use the reflect package inside of those methods could make a deal. That’s how we can avoid copying-and-pasting code all the time and also we could have nice and clear methods that receives and returns particular types instead of annoying interface{} .
Introducing gosli
These thoughts lead me to make a lib I called gosli . I didn’t really plan to make a big deal out of it, I just wrote some code that, I guess, could be useful for someone else.
TL;DR: check the source code and examples of usage here https://github.com/doctornick42/gosli
Ok, let’s start. To get it we need to run this command:
go get github.com/doctornick42/gosli
Let’s create a new project with such a structure:
testtypes.go will contain our types from the previous examples:
After it, we should run this for Linux
$GOPATH/bin/gosli types/testtypes.go A
or this for Windows:
%GOPATH%\bin\gosli.exe types\testtypes.go A
As you can see, our types folder has been extended by adding 3 new files:
The only file of them we need to modify manually is a_equal.go , which is needed for gosli to understand how it can check if two instances of A are equal. From the scratch the code of this file looks like:
Let’s append after the // `equal` method has to be implemented manually comment a new line:
return r.FieldInt == another.FieldInt
That’s it. Now we can make some code to test the result, let’s just use the code we used in a previous example and put it in our main.go file:
And if we run the program we will see this output: [{“FieldInt”:1},{“FieldInt”:3}] which is correct.
The full code of this example is here.
Features of gosli
The library has 2 main approach:
to provide methods for slice of custom types. This part uses code generation, it has been briefly described in the previous paragraph. The documentation showing all the methods and other details could be found here;
gosli also has all these methods for basic Golang types out-of-the box, it’s described here.
Also, every method of -Slice types returns such a type too, so the methods could be combined in a chain like this:
result, err := SomeTypeSlice(original).
Where(filter1).
Where(filter2).
Page(1, 2)
So, thank you for reading. If you would like to check out gosli, feel free to ask me about it or create issues in the repository.
In the experiment folder there are some tests, benchmarks and examples, that I hope will help to understand how to use the library in your apps.
Also, you can find more awesome gopher images (like one I used in this article) by Egon Elbre under the CC0 license here https://github.com/egonelbre/gophers | https://medium.com/swlh/gosli-a-little-attempt-to-bring-a-bit-of-linq-to-golang-1e3fb4acfd04 | ['Dmitry Bogomolov'] | 2020-05-08 09:45:29.241000+00:00 | ['Golang', 'Programming', 'Linq', 'Code Generation', 'Open Source'] |
Adobe XD Collaborative Design with Adobe XD | One of the main skill in Adobe XD the designer has a speed for creating a thought. And remove all friction in the design process. When we start our journey in Adobe XD we focus relentlessly and performance and quality. We take support for real-time design prototype preview on iOS and Android. And this is easier to create beautiful and mobile experience real-time projects.
We are extremely close to releasing a beta of XD and Window and bringing the same speed and efficiency to the large number of a designer using PCs. And sometimes this is a real issue when using software and this software available on a single platform.
We want to see how Adobe XD make a positive impact on your designing skill. We know designing experience involves much large group of designers. And this helpful for adding other designers, developers, and stakeholders to your team.
Working with Stakeholders
When we first released XD we want to Publish prototypes for review by stakeholders. In our max release, we have added some support for commenting. Checking beyond 2016, and we want to expect continued improvement in commenting and designing signoff experience.
The second main thing in the stakeholder we have to maintain a speed between the designer and developers. And talking to our customers we have working with developers to implement the design if you want to add some additional information and interpretation of the design in one place. You should create a PDF and add some information and is a slow and tedious process and this PDF report share to design specs and style guides directly from your XD document.
Additional specifications in XD you will be able to provide a link version to your developers and developers can view your document in the browser. And in this view and get access and download your specifications you get access and check measurement is right.
Adobe XD is very helpful for designing a particular project more people using Adobe you can add one or more people in one particular project and this project is very helpful for designing any design.
Across the prototyping document, stakeholders will be able to review your document and be able to comment and provide feedback on your design. And this all features and tools are very helpful for designing a product and this is very helpful.
Working with Other Designers
If you are a designer you are not just collaborating with stakeholders in Adobe XD you have a large project you can work with other designers and divide a conquer and check deadlines.
And this existing approaches to work with multiple designers and every designer require splitting work with the separate design document and this added of multiple version of the document and sharing across documents. And we check the final review and manage a single source this process is difficult and time-consuming.
Our goal is to reduce friction and ensuring focus on your design. We are very excited to add multiple designers and collaborate on a real-time project. | https://medium.com/@josephsamue01/adobe-xdcollaborative-design-with-adobe-xd-561be7e9df24 | ['Joseph Samuel'] | 2021-03-04 09:55:11.265000+00:00 | ['Xd', 'Hire', 'Freelance', 'Designer', 'Adobe'] |
Masks — the Flag of Covid Combatants | Another email — discussing Covid masks outdoors
Hello XXXXX,
I much appreciate your thoughtful epidemiologist’s response.
All google-search mask cartoons I could find are pro-mask, convey the idea that mask opponents are uneducated deplorables, Republicans, etc. in the most one-sided propaganda assault I have ever witnessed.
Much of my career (doctoring and lawyering) I’ve noticed professionals focusing on narrow aspects of their trade, ignoring usually unconscious motivations, all the while overlooking either specific or broad impacts of their activities.
GENERALLY HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS CANNOT BE TRUSTED
I believe most studies support the idea that health care providers over-estimate the positive effects of their (proposed) interventions, and under-estimate the negatives. I’ve certainly witnessed that non-stop, and I believe many reasons underpin this phenomenon. Lawmaker, methinks, do the same. Many reasons for this kind of behavior have been well-described, and include financial, cultural, social, professional, legal, psychological, emotional, political, etc. The universal law of unintended consequences (many foreseeable) explains only a small portion of the discrepancies between advertised and real outcomes.
WHERE IS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EQUATION?
Doctors thus in general, and the ID/epidemiologists now, have mostly failed to weigh the costs of their proposed interventions, and — indeed — your reply focuses only on hypothetical benefits: wearing masks can prevent disease so we should wear masks; smoking in public causes disease so it should be banned. So far largely absent from discussion, especially in the healthcare sphere, are the countervailing factors. Only recently have numbers begun to appear about the collateral damage. If wearing masks for a year prevents one death out of a million, is it worth it? If not hugging children the next year would prevent 10 deaths in a million, is it worth it? If not attending school for a year will prevent 100 deaths in a million, is it worth it?
ARE THERE TWO SIDES ON THIS ISSUE OR IS ONLY ONE SIDE RIGHT?
When the civilian collateral damage exceeds uniformed casualties (common in wars this last century) we express moral disapproval and/or evoke the concept of ‘total war’. I think the collateral damage from infectious disease/epidemiologic efforts to suppress or control Covid already match the impact of the disease and will, in the end, vastly outweigh it, so I can morally disapprove of the efforts. The first studies are out with estimated numbers of collateral deaths due to delayed/non-delivered medical care from Covid phobia in the USA — they don’t approach the direct Covid deaths yet — but neither are they an order of magnitude less. And they don’t include the direct deaths and disease from abuse, suicide, alcoholism, increased homicides, accelerated rates of dementia, failure to immunize, etc., and we will never be able to measure the loss to our children from diminished social contact, lost educational opportunities, etc., not to mention the unemployment, malnutrition, and total dislocation of the entire world’s economy, certainly most likely to devastate the most economically disadvantaged around the globe in the next years. For me, the mask-in-public is the flag of combatants on one side of this conflict.
EXAMPLE OF NEWS ARTICLE TOUTING NUMBER OF LIVES MASKS SAVE
A while back there were some guesstimates regarding the actual benefit of mask-wearing, under the blazing headlines of “how many lives could be saved” so I tried to extend out the numbers. My computation was that if about 3,250–7,500 Americans wore masks 90% of the time, for 6 months non-stop, one less person would die of Covid. Put another way, perhaps 325–750 would need masks to prevent 1 hospitalization. (Most of that benefit, of course, would come from mask-wearing indoors — stores, shopping centers, etc. since we probably agree that outdoor transmission probably is quite low and perhaps approaches zero). I don’t think there’s any place in America where, if you asked folks to step forward, 3,250–7,500 would volunteer to wear masks to save the older or mostly infirm one of them at greater risk — and yet that’s the number required to underpin the policy.
ABOVE FROM CDC: 1968 FLU EPIDEMIC AS DEADLY PER CAPITA AS 2019/20 COVID
LAWS AND MASKS
As for the legal stuff, that’s a somewhat different analysis. It’s quite different to ask for someone to refrain from a particular activity (smoking a cigarette) and ordering everyone to engage in a particular activity. The law has different ways of analyzing affirmative requirements vs. proscriptive ones, but they are not considered identical. Having said that, we all break laws all the time — who comes to a complete halt at every stop sign? I consider the mask proscriptions, “shutdowns”, etc., to be the single greatest authoritarian imposition on civil liberties during my lifetime in this country, all for a virus which — so far — seems no less threatening than the 1968 flu, which no one my age (we all survived it) can even remember as an event. Instead we remember the riots and RFK assassination. And as for law-breaking back then, I took an affirmative action, based on a moral perspective, going into a draft center to protest the Selective Service, and in 1968 went to federal prison as a result thereof. Way back then I concluded it is not “illegal” to commit a crime — in fact, the law assumes citizens will break the law and thus specifies the applicable penalty. You break the law, take the risk, pay the price, all according to the law and society’s structure.
Finally, regarding politeness, when we met I believe I asked you guys if you wanted me to wear a mask (I brought one in case)- and you were non-committal. In general, when practical I ask folks for their preference, but that has nothing to do with disease or epidemiology — it’s out of respect to them. However, that’s not practical when walking in public, biking, etc. That being said it’s cute hiking in the hills to see people don their masks or make a symbolic gesture to do so when one walks past them — a new learned social tic that will probably take longer to eradicate than it did to inculcate.
I have great respect for you and your family and hence felt it worthwhile to flesh out my thoughts somewhat more.
Lance | https://medium.com/@lance-montauk/masks-the-flag-of-covid-combatants-93b74a6a6a62 | ['Lance Montauk'] | 2020-09-22 16:44:39.189000+00:00 | ['Masks', 'Flu 1968', 'Propaganda', 'Covid'] |
月薪6萬適合在桃園買屋嗎？買房前該注意什麼？ | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/compwm/%E6%9C%88%E8%96%AA6%E8%90%AC%E9%81%A9%E5%90%88%E5%9C%A8%E6%A1%83%E5%9C%92%E8%B2%B7%E5%B1%8B%E5%97%8E-%E8%B2%B7%E6%88%BF%E5%89%8D%E8%A9%B2%E6%B3%A8%E6%84%8F%E4%BB%80%E9%BA%BC-8dc96d00989f | ['Tony Zeng'] | 2020-01-02 07:28:33.845000+00:00 | ['桃園', '買房', 'Home', '投資', '房屋'] |
Connect to Remote Kerberized Hive from a Local Jupyter Notebook to run SQL queries | Let’s keep it simple. Your data is stored in a Kerberized Hive which is part of your Kerberized Hadoop cluster. And from your system, you want to connect to this Hive through a Jupyter notebook to, let’s say, run some SQL queries.
If it is a regular Hive, it is pretty straight forward. And if it is Kerberized Hive, it’s bit tricky — hence this post.
Instead of assuming that your system has so-and-so packages already installed, I have captured all the steps starting from a freshly brewed RHEL 8.2 VM, with the end goal of connecting to a Kerberized Hive from the Jupyter Notebook. So …
I have created a new RHEL 8.2 VM and running Jupyter lab in this VM.
And then, from my MacBook, I am doing port forwarding to the port where Jupyter lab is running, so that I can run the Jupyter notebook lab from my MacBook.
(Having said that, one could run the below steps in your own system as well.)
Here we go!
Login to the system where you want to the Jupyter lab, and make sure Python, Kerberos client, and Java are installed as listed below.
[root@visconti1 ~]# yum module install python36
[root@visconti1 ~]# yum install python3-devel
[root@visconti1 ~]# yum install krb5-workstation krb5-libs
[root@visconti1 ~]# yum install krb5-devel
[root@visconti1 ~]# yum -y install java-1.8.0-openjdk
[root@visconti1 ~]# yum install java-1.8.0-openjdk-devel
[root@visconti1 ~]# yum install npm
You could run the Jupyter lab as a root, but to be more realistic where one would be running the lab from a specific user in their system, I am creating an user called as “hadoop” (please feel free to name the user accordingly!)
[root@visconti1 ~]# useradd hadoop
[root@visconti1 ~]# passwd hadoop
Changing password for user hadoop.
New password: NewPassw0rd1024
Retype new password: NewPassw0rd1024
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
Download spark along with hadoop, and then untar it.
[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ pwd
/home/hadoop
[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ wget
…
[hadoop@sicily1 ~]$ tar xvzf spark-2.4.7-bin-hadoop2.7.tgz
…
[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ mv spark-2.4.7-bin-hadoop2.7 spark [root@visconti1 ~]# su — hadoop[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ pwd/home/hadoop[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ wget https://mirrors.estointernet.in/apache/spark/spark-2.4.7/spark-2.4.7-bin-hadoop2.7.tgz [hadoop@sicily1 ~]$ tar xvzf spark-2.4.7-bin-hadoop2.7.tgz[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ mv spark-2.4.7-bin-hadoop2.7 spark
Specify the environment variables that are pointing to Python, Spark home, Java and the Kerberos cache location. I am pasting the content from my VM’s bash profile. After editing, make sure you “source” the .bashrc file.
[hadoop@visconti1 ~]# cat ~/.bashrc
…
alias python=python3
export PYSPARK_PYTHON=/usr/bin/python3
export KRB5CCNAME=/tmp/krb5cc1
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java
export SPARK_HOME=/home/hadoop/spark
export PYTHONPATH=$SPARK_HOME/python:$SPARK_HOME/python/lib/py4j-0.10.7-src.zip
export PATH=$SPARK_HOME/bin:$SPARK_HOME/python:$PATH
export PYSPARK_PIN_THREAD=true
…
Install the required Python libraries
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install — upgrade pip
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install wheel
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install pandas
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install requests
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install requests-kerberos
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install pyspark
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install py4j
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install nodejs
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install jupyter
[root@visconti1 ~]# python -m pip install jupyterlab
Now, we need to copy the krb5.conf file and also the necessary Kerberos keytab file from the Kerberos admin server to this VM.
Before that make sure you add the Spark Resource Manager host name and the Hive host name to the /etc/hosts file. In the snippet below, lamy1 is the Spark Resource Manager host name, and sheaffer1 is the Hive host name, and visconti1 is the current VM host name from where Jupyter Lab is running.
[root@visconti1 ~]# cat /etc/hosts
…
10.11.xx.xx2 visconti1.blue.mountains.com visconti1
10.11.xx.xx8 cornell1.blue.mountains.com cornell1
10.11.xx.xx9 florida1.blue.mountains.com florida1
Create a keytabs folder. The keytab file from the Kerebros Admin Server (in our case this is lamy1) will be copied to this keytabs folder.
[root@visconti1 ~]# su — hadoop
[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ mkdir keytabs
[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ exit
logout
Login to the Kerberos Admin server VM and copy the /etc/krb5.conf file and the yarn.keytab to the current VM from where Jupyter Lab is running.
[root@visconti1 ~]# ssh root@lamy1
root@lamy1’s password: <password>
[root@lamy1 ~]# scp /etc/krb5.conf root@visconti1:/etc/krb5.conf
[root@lamy1 ~]# su — hadoop
[hadoop@lamy1 ~]$ scp /home/hadoop/keytabs/yarn.keytab hadoop@visconti1:/home/hadoop/keytabs
hadoop@visconti1’s password: <password>
..
Under spark/conf folder location, create a core-site.xml file, with the following single property “hadoop.security.authentication=kerberos”
[hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ cat spark/conf/core-site.xml
…
<configuration>
<property>
<name>hadoop.security.authentication</name>
<value>kerberos</value>
</property>
</configuration> Just a run a spark sample command to make sure spark is running [hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ spark-submit /home/hadoop/spark/examples/src/main/python/pi.py 10
..
Pi is roughly 3.141640
..
Generate a Kerberos ticket before starting Jupyter.
Start Jupyter, and please make a note of the token (as highlighted below)
[I 10:17:45.783 LabApp] JupyterLab extension loaded from /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/jupyterlab
[I 10:17:45.784 LabApp] JupyterLab application directory is /usr/local/share/jupyter/lab
[I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] Serving notebooks from local directory: /home/hadoop
[I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] Jupyter Notebook 6.1.5 is running at:
[I 10:17:45.788 LabApp]
[I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] or
[I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] Use Control-C to stop this server and shut down all kernels (twice to skip confirmation).
[C 10:17:45.795 LabApp]
To access the notebook, open this file in a browser:
file:///home/hadoop/.local/share/jupyter/runtime/nbserver-7967-open.html
Or copy and paste one of these URLs:
http://localhost:8888/?token=e2a595892389453a880b9c0b5e7f102b0206283991e6def5
or
[I 10:18:29.621 LabApp] Build is up to date [hadoop@visconti1 ~]$ jupyter lab — no-browser — port=8888[I 10:17:45.783 LabApp] JupyterLab extension loaded from /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/jupyterlab[I 10:17:45.784 LabApp] JupyterLab application directory is /usr/local/share/jupyter/lab[I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] Serving notebooks from local directory: /home/hadoop[I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] Jupyter Notebook 6.1.5 is running at:[I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] http://localhost:8888/?token=e2a595892389453a880b9c0b5e7f102b0206283991e6def5 [I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] or http://127.0.0.1:8888/?token=e2a595892389453a880b9c0b5e7f102b0206283991e6def5 [I 10:17:45.788 LabApp] Use Control-C to stop this server and shut down all kernels (twice to skip confirmation).[C 10:17:45.795 LabApp]To access the notebook, open this file in a browser:file:///home/hadoop/.local/share/jupyter/runtime/nbserver-7967-open.htmlOr copy and paste one of these URLs:or http://127.0.0.1:8888/?token=e2a595892389453a880b9c0b5e7f102b0206283991e6def5 [I 10:18:29.621 LabApp] Build is up to date
Now come back to your system and do a port forwarding as below. In here, we are opening up a port 9999 in my system where it listens to the port 8888 on visconti1.blue.mountains.com (the VM) where Jupyter is running.
Ravis-MacBook-Pro:Downloads ravi$ ssh -N -f -L localhost:9999:localhost:8888 [email protected]
[email protected]'s password: <password>
Open the Jupyter lab from your system and run a sample notebook which would connect to the Kerberized hive. The notebook is attached.
http://localhost:9999/lab
And finally the moment of truth — where we come up with a notebook connecting to remote Hive. In the notebook, I can create multiple cells, but to keep it simple, I have added all the content in a single cell.
Conclusion
As part of this post, we went through the mechanism on how to run the a Jupyter Notebook connecting to a Remote Kerberized Hive and there by run SQL queries.
Thank You! | https://medium.com/ibm-data-ai/connect-to-remote-kerberized-hive-from-a-local-jupyter-notebook-to-run-sql-queries-83d5e548d82c | ['Ravi Chamarthy'] | 2021-01-22 08:02:51.762000+00:00 | ['Apache', 'Spark', 'Hive', 'Kerberos', 'Jupyter Notebook'] |
| If I had You! | | | If I had You! |
We’d near further down the beach,
Things would’ve been better;
The Sun disappearing and the Stars glittering above us,
Fireworks exploding the blue-black skies,
Bright colors whirling, spinning through our eyes,
Wrapped hands with unimaginable memories and no lies. | https://medium.com/@rahulugale/if-i-had-you-6aba4dcab85d | ['Rahul Ugale'] | 2020-12-05 10:53:51.935000+00:00 | ['Beach', 'Love', 'Life', 'Magic', 'Emotions'] |
Economic inequality is killing the food system. | In April, quarantined shoppers walked by empty meat counters in their local grocery stores while hungry people waited in line for hours at food banks.
The chairman of Tyson, the nation’s largest meat supplier, warned that farmers and ranchers would have to kill their animals unless the federal government forced sick, underpaid workers back to the slaughterhouses.
“The food supply chain is breaking,” he said.
This was not supposed to happen in a wealthy democracy like the United States of America. Food shortages are supposedly for developing nations that were too socialist or weren’t industrious enough to build a massive, centralized food system.
But it turned out that the empty meat counters were not caused by a shortage in production. There was plenty of meat being slaughtered that could have been used for domestic consumption, but the industry exported near-record amounts of meat in May, mostly to China.
Journalists, policy experts, and producers along every part of the food supply chain have spent decades diagnosing what’s wrong with how the U.S. feeds itself. But few have looked at the relationship of imports and exports and the connection to U.S. poverty. To put it bluntly, we export high quality domestic products to wealthier people overseas and import cheap, low quality food for poor people.
For farmers, fishermen, and chefs who have spent their lives producing and selling food, a question that comes up again and again is why can’t more Americans afford food that is produced ethically and sustainably?
Those who have studied the food system at length seem to agree that any fix to its well-documented labor and environmental problems will involve food getting more expensive. But decades of growing income inequality and poverty mean that raising food prices is impossible for the last crucial link in the supply chain: eaters.
The COVID-19 Stress Test
Seafood harvester Kevin Scribner has experience with almost every link in the seafood supply chain.
Kevin Scribner
Scribner started fishing as a summer job during college on the Washington coast in the late ’70s before moving to Alaska to catch sockeye in the salmon fishing mecca of Bristol Bay in the ’80s. Scribner noticed that there was an untapped domestic market for higher quality fish that had been carefully handled, so he became a seafood broker and helped establish Alaskan salmon as a premium ingredient worth a premium price.
“Bristol Bay was a gonzo fishery back then,” Scribner said. “We had to learn to pull away from treating salmon like a stick of wood.”
For a few years, Scriber worked with a high-end grocery chain that catered to more upwardly mobile customers, but he soon discovered they were selling cheap farmed salmon alongside the wild-caught salmon. The farmed salmon was so much cheaper that the grocery store could mark up the price, get a higher margin, and the salmon would still be less expensive than the wild salmon.
The experience left a bad taste in Scribner’s mouth, so he walked away and looked for new ways of helping small-boat fishermen get a fair price for their labor.
Before the virus hit, Scribner was working on scaling up models of cooperative ownership in seafood distribution. He re-shifted some of his energy to shortening the supply chain between eaters and harvesters to keep fishermen afloat while restaurants were closed.
“70 percent of pre-pandemic seafood went to restaurants,” he said. “That’s vanished. Just like 2008 was a stress test for the financial system, this pandemic is a stress test for our industry.”
You could go further: COVID-19 has become a stress test for the entire food system.
Fishermen like Scribner, small farmers, and independent restaurant owners have known for years that the supply chain has been breaking. The coronavirus is simply the big yank that finally pulled apart some of the most important links.
Trade deficits
In 1988, more than 273,000 people were commercial fishermen, but by 2000 that number had fallen to 53,000. Since the early 2000s, the industry has continued to shed jobs.
In 2018, Trump had just started the trade war in earnest. Some seafood harvesters were excited about the possibility of more tariffs targeting China’s food system. Shrimpers have long cited competition with cheap imports as the primary downward force on seafood prices, and this was the perfect opportunity to level the playing field with Chinese shrimp.
For Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and others at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which oversees our nation’s fisheries, the seafood trade deficit represents a different opportunity to close the trade deficit.
NOAA often cites the statistic that the United States imports an eye-popping 90 percent of its seafood to help make the case that we need to ramp up seafood production to meet our insatiable demand.
The NOAA plan for increasing production is not to increase fish stocks by improving water quality and carefully managing what we catch. It’s to intensify aquaculture production, which means bringing factory farming to the ocean. On May 7, NOAA got its wish, and Trump issued an executive order that would expedite permitting of offshore aquaculture facilities.
The problem with the 90 percent import statistic used to justify the executive order is that it’s misleading. The United States is also a top-five exporter of seafood. So if the U.S. has such an insatiable demand for seafood, why aren’t we simply eating our own seafood instead of shipping it all over the world?
Scribner says the most likely explanation for the trade paradox is that we’re exporting relatively expensive wild seafood and importing relatively cheap aquacultured seafood. The United States has some of the best managed fisheries in the world, and our seafood commands a premium price. A similar trade dynamic exists within the meat industry in which we import the most beef of any country in the world but are also the fourth largest exporter. As with seafood, we export expensive meat and import cheap meat.
The USDA has reported that diet correlates with income. The rich can afford to eat a diverse diet full of local vegetables and quality protein while the poor eat more highly processed grains. Because the two-tiered food system still keeps people from starving, the U.S. avoids the full-tilt social unrest that accompanies hunger in other parts of the world. The availability of cheap food helps make extreme income and wealth inequality just barely palatable.
Problems on land
When the city of New Orleans issued its COVID-19 quarantine order on March 20 and shuttered local farmers markets, farmers and independent distributors scrambled to set up new distribution networks.
The city didn’t yet have a plan to keep its local supply chains viable, so farmer Marguerite Green did what she could to keep farmers in business and growing food. Green runs SPROUT NOLA, an organization that provides technical assistance to both new and seasoned farmers. SPROUT also runs a weekly market for BIPOC and women farmers in New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood.
Marguerite Green
Green reached out to a local food box delivery service to start an ad hoc CSA. It was so successful that the Crescent City Farmers Market adopted and expanded the system. She eventually kept the market going by coming up with a safety protocol that could keep farmers and shoppers safely distanced.
“In this moment of crisis, we need to build the food system we want to see,” Green said. “Supporting local food shouldn’t be something that people see as an act of charity.”
In some ways, the virus has provided new opportunities to bring local produce directly to people who might otherwise not be able to afford it. Sustaining this new system will require long term investment in farmers and distribution systems but also in consumers.
The median U.S. farmer nets a little more than $4,000 each year from producing food. That’s farm owner, not farmworker. If this sounds low, it is. At 2.5 percent, agriculture has some of the slimmest profit margins of any industry.
Low net agricultural income can also partially be explained by the significant expenses associated with farming and the tax advantages that come along with capital-intensive industries. Say you’re a corn farmer who had a bumper crop and the market was paying high prices that year. You might think it was a good time to buy a new $400,000 piece of machinery to offset your gross income and reduce your tax liability. Plenty of farmers take that deal.
The only problem is that they also rack up ballooning debt payments that will eventually come due. Farm bankruptcies spiked in the early 1990s after decades farms being pressured to borrow money to grow their operations through federal “get big or get out” agriculture policy. Bankruptcies had tapered off for much of the 2000s but are on the rise again and hit their highest levels since the Great Recession last year.
While high expenses are one factor in low farm incomes, it’s also true that farmers just don’t get high prices for what they produce. In 1995 — long after the Green Revolution had already industrialized much of the world’s food systems and sent food prices plummeting — food production and forestry still accounted for 7.5 percent of the world’s GDP. By 2017, that number had fallen to 3.4 percent globally.
In the United States, food production is even less of a factor in our overall economy. Farming, forestry, and fisheries accounted for just 0.9 percent of our country’s economic output in 2017, one of the lowest rates in the world. Our low food-to-GDP ratio can at least be partially explained by how little we spend as a country on eating. Per capita, the U.S. spends the lowest percentage of its income on food anywhere in the world.
David Conner, a professor of economics and development at the University of Vermont, says there are two major market failures within the food system that make it financially unsustainable: (1) Food is too cheap because it doesn’t reflect the true environmental and labor costs of its production, and (2) A few companies have so much power that certain sectors of the food and ag economy are no longer competitive.
Food prices are kept artificially low by a food system built on underpaid labor and inexpensive commodity grains reliant on fossil fuels for powering farm equipment, manufacturing fertilizers and pesticides, and transporting food through a globalized distribution network. Some of that grain is fed back to us in the form of ultra-processed food, but a significant percentage is fed to animals. This is likely why the United States has cheap meat prices compared with the rest of the world. It’s also why the U.S. also leads the world in diabetes prevalence in so-called developed nations.
There is evidence that Americans would like to spend more money on healthy food. Almost 80 percent of hungry people report that they buy less healthy food to save money for other expenses.
Since 1993, the United States Department of Agriculture has been documenting what percentage of money spent on food actually goes to farmers versus food marketers or food processors. Adjusted for inflation, farmers captured just 14.2 percent of all food expenditures in 2018.
More than 85 percent of food dollars go to what the USDA calls “marketing,” which is everything that adds value to the food from transportation to processing to packaging. For processed foods, money also goes to factory owners and the people who are paid to tweet like a frozen steak sandwich. Because whole foods like raw vegetables require far less processing and packaging, more of those dollars can go to farmers.
Value added?
The largest piece of the marketing pie (37.4 percent) goes to restaurants and other food service establishments, but very little of that finds its way to food service workers.
Farmworkers are notoriously low paid and exploited, and wage statistics are unreliable because a reported 70 percent of farmworkers are undocumented. But based on official labor statistics, food service workers are paid even more poorly than farmworkers. Eight out of the top 10 lowest paid jobs are in the food service sector.
It’s not just the laborers who are suffering. Restaurants as a whole are in big trouble.
Brett Jones worked just about every job in the restaurant industry from cook to server to manager. In 2019, Jones opened Barracuda, a counter-service taco shop in uptown New Orleans.
A first-time restaurant owner, Jones had been open for less than a year when the Governor issued a statewide order to close all restaurants due to COVID-19. Barracuda stayed closed for a month and half, and Jones got to spend some precious time with his newborn baby and young daughter and wife. Prior to the lockdown, Jones had spent most of his waking hours getting the new restaurant off the ground.
When Louisiana lifted some of the lockdown restrictions, Jones converted Barracuda to a make-shift market offering takeout only. Jones feared that staying closed any longer would probably have shuttered the restaurant for good.
“On a personal level, I’d rather be closed,” Jones said. “But when the gods of capital say you gotta open, you gotta open.”
Brett Jones
Jones is making decent money because he’s running with a lean staff and working six 16-hour days every week. He had to lay off most of his staff but said that meant they were making more on unemployment, which Jones said was what he wished he could afford to pay them all the time if it didn’t mean raising prices he already felt were high. The biggest challenge when Barracuda finally reopens at full capacity will be restaffing the restaurant, but other restaurants will likely remain closed for good.
Industry insiders have been worried for years that the restaurant bubble would finally burst. Before the virus hit, restaurants in New Orleans had trouble finding staff even though the city’s unemployment numbers outpaced national averages. Online classifieds couldn’t fill the void, so a local knife shop frequented by cooks and chefs took to posting restaurant job openings on social media.
Now the bubble may have finally burst for good. Celebrity chefs are wondering aloud in The New York Times whether the thin margins and long hours are worth it anymore. By some estimates, up to 30 percent of restaurants won’t survive the coronavirus and will shutter permanently. James Beard winner Andy Ricker recently announced that he’s closing all but one of the restaurants in his mini empire.
At its simplest, profit is a two-variable math equation: revenue minus expenses. To increase profit, businesses can try to reduce their expenses by, for example, cutting labor costs or using cheaper supplies. They can also try to increase revenue by selling more stuff or by raising prices.
Jones thinks most restaurant owners avoid raising costs because they remember what it was like to work low-wage jobs and want their food to be as accessible to as many people as possible. But Jones acknowledged that an industry can only focus on lower costs and higher volume for so long.
“There’s so many layers of fear when it comes to raising prices,” Jones said. “There tends to be a mentality in the industry that we’ve always done it a certain way, and we don’t know how to do it any other way.”
Jones said he was seeing more creativity in terms of business models in response to the coronavirus but sit-down restaurants that rely on lots of labor and alcohol sales would be hit the hardest. When restaurants are feeling the squeeze, their commitment to buying more expensive local produce is often one of the first casualties, which in turn harms local farmers who rely on high-end restaurants that can charge more.
While those who do want to save the industry bemoan that customers are not willing to pay more for food, few consider that the customers may simply not have the money. Real wages haven’t risen in 40 years. Meanwhile, the bottom half of the country has lost almost a trillion dollars of wealth over the past 30 years.
Artist-activist-chef Tunde Wey wonders whether the whole industry should be allowed to die. If restaurants fail, small boat fishermen and diversified farms could die right along with it.
Socialized food
Restaurant workers shouldn’t be pitted against farmworkers as they fight over every last cent of the ever-shrinking food dollar. The United States is still one of the richest countries in the world, with the second most financial assets per capita. Studies have shown that seafood consumption rises with income, so increasing wages could increase food spending across the board.
Food economist David Conner says that while it is possible to correct the market failures within the food system, it would mean that food will become more expensive. Even before the pandemic hit, about 40 million Americans relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (commonly referred to as food stamps) to be able to afford food. Conner says that if food prices rise, we will have to increase wages, increase government spending on food stamps, or both.
“If we fix the food system, prices will increase,” Conner said. “But we can do it if we pay a fair wage to everybody.”
By redistributing income and wealth and expanding the welfare state, we can support a stronger and healthier food system with an increased portion of our food dollars going to farmers, ranchers, and fishermen.
Both Conner and Marguerite Green agreed that at the bare minimum, we should raise the minimum wage and give farmworkers and restaurant workers the most basic of labor protections they are currently excluded from. To claw back our wages that have evaporated into the ether of the top tax bracket, we could raise taxes on the rich and corporations.
We can save money on healthcare expenditures by implementing a national insurance program like Medicare for All that will meet the needs of restaurant workers, farmers and fishermen, who have uninsurance rates four to five times the national average. Universal healthcare will also free up all eaters to spend more of their disposable income on supporting food producers.
Green is working within the market system for now but believes the whole system should be changed.
“The way food is priced now shows that we don’t value it,” she said. “We’re always going to come up short if farmers are working 100 hours to grow food, but some people get to pay 10 hours worth of labor to pay for it.”
Green is a member of Democratic Socialists of America and ran for Louisiana State Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry. An open socialist in a state where Republicans are a near-super majority on the verge of writing a new constitution, Green won more than 250,000 votes, or more than twice as many as her more established Democratic opponent.
So far, neither presidential candidate has put forth a plan for radical change. So instead of focusing on national electoral politics, Green is devoting her few available hours outside of work to supporting the movement for black lives’ uprising against police violence.
The ground feels more fertile for big changes to the food system now than ever, but the working poor continue to grow in numbers. The COVID-19 economic shock is going to add more people to the rolls of Americans who can’t afford to buy domestic food. So if we’re serious about saving farms, fishing vessels, and restaurants after the coronavirus has subsided, we will have to make sure that the poorest eaters come first. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/economic-inequality-is-killing-the-food-system-b7ac24955977 | ['Kendall Dix'] | 2020-10-08 13:23:48.072000+00:00 | ['Agriculture', 'Inequality', 'Fishing', 'Economics'] |
How To Boost Your Self-Love | How To Boost Your Self-Love
Me only being twenty, I have learned so much about self-love and confidence which has molded me and transformed me into the woman I’ve become today.
I think it’s important to know there is nothing wrong with being insecure about certain traits that you have.
However, there comes to a time and place when you need to be able to release what you can’t control.
You can never find love or happiness from someone else until you find it within yourself.
How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you. It is up to us to set the standard as to how people treat us by loving ourselves in our thoughts, actions, and feelings. The self-looking glass is a concept that I like to explain to individuals when advising on self-love because I believe it’s something we all do subconsciously.
The self-looking glass is a reflection of how we think people view us. So our perception and the way we value ourselves are based on how we think others view and value us.
When I was in grade school I was insecure and ashamed of my curly hair and, I had my mom straighten it every day because I wanted to fit in then in high school I used to get mean comments on my curly hair this one girl referred to me as “noodlehead” and I became very insecure of my hair. As an adult I’ve come to love my hair, it didn’t happen overnight but it happened.
One of the biggest insecurities I struggled with is body image and skinny shaming. Skinny shaming is a concept that I feel that is taken lightly and not as Seriously as it should be.
Growing up, it was difficult — especially as a black female — because the black female is supposed to have big boobs, big butt, and be thick. I was not that.
One thing I struggled with in my early teenage years was society’s stigmatization of what the ideal black female should look like in which I developed negative thoughts towards my body image.
But one thing I realized is this is who I am and nobody can take that away from me. It’s also important to know what one person’s perception might be completely different from what another person perceives.
One of the biggest problems of how we measure worth and value is by external traits rather than internal. I have a tattoo on my chest in Arabic that says a woman of inner beauty that is specifically dedicated to the self-love struggles I’ve experienced. Self-love, worth, and value are not measured by what’s on the outside but what’s on the inside.
An important question to ask yourself when you’re wanting to change something about yourself or you don’t like something about yourself ask yourself do I not like it because I don’t like it, do I want to change it because I want to change it or am I doing this because I’m afraid of the opinions of others?
Self-love is a foundation of our everyday lives and the decisions you make to better yourself for happiness will all fall back on your self-love, your self worth, and how you value yourself.
We need to stop placing our worth in the hands of others and allowing others to define our value. The Dove commercial you’re more beautiful than you think is a perfect example of body positivity. In the commercial, there’s an artist who makes two sketches of the individual, one sketch of them describing themselves and one sketch of a friend/family member sketching them.
The purpose of this commercial is to show how we view ourselves in comparison to how others view us. A lot of times people view us as beautiful, smart, and outgoing but are so stuck in our negative views of ourselves we fail to realize that there are so many people who love and admire us.
The first step to boosting your self-love and confidence is to find what self-love means to you. Second: remove yourself from negativity this can be friends, family members whatever is not bringing you peace and uplifting you, you need to remove it. Social media can also hurt how you love yourself.
You may start to compare yourself to what you see for example Instagram models. One thing I’ve done is to follow daily affirmations and positive accounts that way whenever I login into my Instagram account I see nothing but positivity. People show you what they want you to see on social media people only show their success, wealth, and relationships. Three: eat well and nourish your body. This will not only take care of the inside but it will also reflect on the outside. Four: mediation, meditation is a great method to help your mental state.
There are so many different meditations that you can listen to, to open your heart, mind, and soul that will help work on a better visualization of yourself. Five: stay productive, if you’re staying active and doing things you enjoy this will decrease the negative thoughts that may linger in your mind.
There are many more things you can do to help increase self-improvement and self-love. These are five of the things that helped me and can be beneficial to you as well. Self-love takes time but it’s not impossible.
The moment you learn your self-love you’ll be amazed by how many others love you too. | https://medium.com/self-inspired/how-to-boost-your-self-love-and-self-improvement-ac42e0b31195 | ['Kimora Harris'] | 2020-12-04 17:19:09.189000+00:00 | ['Self Worth', 'Self Improvement', 'Body Image', 'Self Love', 'Confidence'] |
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🦋 TELEVISION 🦋
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TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 150s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 150s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 115s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV.
🦋 OVERVIEW 🦋
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In the wake of calling Zed and his Blackblood confidants to spare The Bachelorette, Talon winds up sold out by her own sort and battles to accommodate her human companions and her Blackblood legacy. With the satanic Lu Qiri giving the muscle to uphold Zed’s ground breaking strategy, The Bachelorette’s human occupants are subjugated as excavators looking for a baffling substance to illuminate a dull conundrum. As Talon finds more about her lost family from Yavalla, she should sort out the certainties from the falsehoods, and explain the riddle of her legacy and an overlooked force, before the world becomes subjugated to another force that could devour each living being.
Claw is the solitary overcomer of a race called Blackbloods. A long time after her whole town is annihilated by a pack of merciless hired soldiers, Talon goes to an untamed post on the edge of the enlightened world, as she tracks the huggers of her family. On her excursion to this station, Talon finds she has a strange heavenly force that she should figure out how to control so as to spare herself, and guard the world against an over the top strict tyrant. | https://medium.com/@amarigona-krasnin/the-bachelorette-s16-e012-series-16-episode-12-full-episodes-bb6768b4ea10 | ['Amarigona Krasnin'] | 2020-12-22 01:18:52.678000+00:00 | ['TV Series', 'Startup', 'TV Shows', 'Reality'] |
Geopandas Hands-on: Introduction to Geospatial Machine Learning | Geopandas Hands-on: Introduction to Geospatial Machine Learning
Part 1: Introduction to geospatial concepts (this post)
Part 2: Geospatial visualization and geometry creation (follow here)
Part 3: Geospatial operations (follow here)
Part 4: Building geospatial machine learning pipeline (follow here)
In this post we are going to cover the preliminary ground of basic geospatial datatypes, attributes, and how to use geopandas to achieve these.
Table of Content:
What is Geopandas Installation Geospatial concepts Introduction to basic geometric attributes
What is Geopandas
Geopandas is open-sourced library and enables the use and manipulation of geospatial data in Python. It extends the common datatype used in pandas to allow for the many and unique geometric operations: GeoSeries and GeoDataFrame. Geopandas is also built on top of shapely for its geometric operation; its underlying datatype allows Geopandas to run blazingly fast and is appropriate for many machine learning pipelines that require large geospatial datasets.
Installation
Now that we are acquainted slightly with Geopandas, lets begin the installation process.
There are many options, but I would recommend installating using conda as it creates a new environment for your project without affecting other libraries in your system. To install conda, follow this link: installing conda.
Create a new conda environment and setup some configs
conda create -n geo_env
conda activate geo_env
conda config --env --add channels conda-forge
conda config --env --set channel_priority strict
2. Install with conda
conda install python=3 geopandas
Geospatial concepts
A. Geospatial common datatypes
There are some common geospatial datatypes that you need to be familiar with: Shapefile (.shp) and GeoJSON (.geojson).
Shapefile is a vector data format that is developed and maintained mostly by a company called ESRI. It stores many important geospatial information including the topology, shape geometry, etc.
Shapefile data format
GeoJSON, similar to JSON, stores geometry information (coordinates, projection, etc) in addition to your typical attributes relevant to the object (index, name, etc).
Example of GeoJSON format with the added “geometry” key inside the JSON object
Once you load either of these dataformat using Geopandas, the library will create a DataFrame with the additional geometry column.
GeoDataFrame (Source: geopandas.org)
This is how you import the default geodata built-in within the Geopandas library that we are going to use in this and subsequent posts.
import geopandas
path_to_data = geopandas.datasets.get_path("nybb")
gdf = geopandas.read_file(path_to_data)
gdf
Introduction to basic geometric attributes
Now that we have some ideas of geospatial data and how to import our very first one using Geopandas, lets perform some basic methods to further cement our understanding.
First, lets make the boroughs name as index to make our explorations easier.
gdf = gdf.set_index("BoroName")
AREA
From the geometry column, we can measure the areas (if they are of type POLYGON or MULTIPOLYGON: since we can’t measure the area of lines or points)
gdf["area"] = gdf.area gdf["area"]
>>BoroName
>>Staten Island 1.623822e+09
>>Queens 3.045214e+09
>>Brooklyn 1.937478e+09
>>Manhattan 6.364712e+08
>>Bronx 1.186926e+09
>>Name: area, dtype: float64
POLYGON BOUNDARY
Since our geometry is of type polygon or multipolygon, we can extract out the line coordinates of the objects. This can be useful when, say, we want to measure the perimeter of the polygon objects, etc.
Polygon Boundary Lines (Source: Wikipedia)
gdf['boundary'] = gdf.boundary >>gdf['boundary']
>>BoroName
>>Staten Island MULTILINESTRING ((970217.022 145643.332, 97022...
>>Queens MULTILINESTRING ((1029606.077 156073.814, 1029...
>>Brooklyn MULTILINESTRING ((1021176.479 151374.797, 1021...
>>Manhattan MULTILINESTRING ((981219.056 188655.316, 98094...
>>Bronx MULTILINESTRING ((1012821.806 229228.265, 1012...
>>Name: boundary, dtype: geometry
CENTROID
If you want to find the centroid point of the given polygons, you can call the gdf attribute as follows.
Polygon Centroids (source: Wikipedia)
gdf['centroid'] = gdf.centroid >>gdf['centroid']
>>BoroName
>>Staten Island POINT (941639.450 150931.991)
>>Queens POINT (1034578.078 197116.604)
>>Brooklyn POINT (998769.115 174169.761)
>>Manhattan POINT (993336.965 222451.437)
>>Bronx POINT (1021174.790 249937.980)
>>Name: centroid, dtype: geometry
DISTANCE
Now that wealready know the positions of the centroids and wanted to find out where the distance between Queens and everywhere else, this can be done easily using the distance() method:
queens_point = gdf['centroid'].iloc[1]
gdf['distance'] = gdf['centroid'].distance(queens_point)
You can then perform many spatial aggregates function to find out the mean, max, or min distances.
gdf['distance'].mean() #To find the mean distance
gdf['distance'].max() #To find the maximum distance
gdf['distance'].min() #To find the minimum distance
Conclusion
That’s it! Hope you learn something new today. In the next post, we will dig deeper into how these geospatial data can be visualized and created from scratch. Stay tuned! | https://towardsdatascience.com/geopandas-hands-on-introduction-to-geospatial-machine-learning-6e7e4a539daf | ['Juan Nathaniel'] | 2021-08-10 04:33:53.345000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Geospatial', 'Visualization', 'Data Science'] |
Climbing Kilimanjaro- stories from a teenager | In 2018, I summited the highest peak in Africa at 16 years old. I have been looking back at the thousands of photos taken realizing how monumental and impactful this climb was for me, how I forgot so many aspects both on and off the mountain. I want to share them.
Day 1: Unpack to Repack and First Glimpses
I remember the first thing I did when arriving in Arusha, Tanzania was going to the highest floor of the hostel to gaze at the mountain. It was a humid 87 degree day with clouds and haze in the sky- the opposite of optimal viewing conditions- yet there it was… Almost magical and kind of out of place (Kili is the world’s highest free-standing mountain). I spent hours gazing, restudying climbing routes packing lists until the cloud coverage came in with a single goal in mind: to summit. But the peace and anticipation was slightly broken when we had to unpack and repack our gear (the 2nd pic) from suitcases to duffel bags. I’ll admit it was a rookie mistake- should have stuck with duffel bags in the first place- but with carryons and baggage claims, those logistics became too complicated so we packed all our stuff the night right before we headed to the base of the mountain- I really do not recommend. But hey, it all worked out in the end.
Mt Kilimanjaro from Arusha
Day 2:
It’s illegal to climb Kilimanjaro without porters or guides because of the dependence locals have on the climbing season for income. But honestly, even if I had the choice I wouldn’t go without them because these people were simply amazing. Their attitudes, stories, and overall positiveness made my experience undeniably more sentimental. We started off with a two-hour drive to the base of the mountain where we unloaded our gear from the van and placed everything on a weigh station. For safety reasons, no person is allowed to carry more than 30 pounds at any given point because excess weight inevitably intensifies altitude sickness. But then we began the hike up. 30 minutes into the first stretch we were all soaked by heavy rain moving through the rain forest we were in but honestly, the greenery and the sun made every shine for those drifting moments the rain paused. Max, one of our guides, started pointing out the plants unique to the region and I learned he actually held a degree in botany from a University near Arusha. He told me he had strong passions for basketball- which was very evident, I mean, he towered over me at 6’5- and wanted to eventually go to the US to see LeBron James play. I liked hearing about his passions and more would come in the following days. The hiking time was really short at around 3.5 hours but we climbed more than 2,000 feet and the altitude was slowly hitting as we reached the 9,500 ft mark at Camp 1: Mti Mkubwa.
Days 3 and 4:
There are these inexplicable feelings and lines drawn from Kili… and I feel like I’m not even close to being in a place to be able to explain or just, in general, extrapolate the versions of lives lived over there. I think our perceptions of “how the other half lives” are so dramatized and completely inauthentic making it seem we have to be the heroes of change and “save” others. That thought is just disgusting.
Climbing is an out of mind, out of body experience and it is so easy to forget everything around you and just focus on summiting. I was scared that would happen to me but just the opposite occurred… Day 3 and 4 of Kilimanjaro was the first time I truly felt weak after hearing the strength and drivenness of others on the mountain. I couldn’t have been more grateful for this gift and maybe it will extend externally.
My guide Emmanuel (Ema) told us of his family. His brother died of tuberculosis earlier that year leaving behind 5 children: two babies, two six-year-olds, and one eleven year old. They were passed on to Ema who was single with an on and off girlfriend. The question in my mind was who was taking care of the kids while Ema worked trips sometimes 9 nights away from home? He explained the 11-year-old takes care of almost everything: cooking, cleaning, making sure the kids go to school meanwhile the girlfriend checks in periodically. That just amazed me: an 11-year-old taking on a life’s worth of responsibility meanwhile, I was struggling to make a sandwich at her age. That narrative stuck with me throughout the whole trip all the way to today. I could write about my climb, the altitude, what I ate, etc but all of that seems so incomparable to the rest of the narratives on the mountain. You can read metrics online but stories are so much harder to come by.
Days 5 and 6:
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the word “useful” in my life… One of my teachers in my earlier days used to tell me, “Rhea, if you apply yourself you will be much better off. Apply yourself and do something useful.” Useful- the word seems so arbitrary to me now. You know when you say a word to yourself over and over and suddenly your speech dissolves a part of your vocabulary into incomprehensibility- yeah that’s how I feel with useful. Sad to say I even had to use Google to make sure I was spelling it right. Anyway~ useful. We apply the word to one too many things: do something useful, be useful but what does that even mean? Because there is a line between usefulness and fulfillment, between personal satisfaction when that satisfaction may be at the expense of others… or even ourselves. So, when and how do we decide to position our choices and walk the line? I guess it depends on perspective but where I’ve seen such critical decisions between usefulness and happiness it mostly ends with regret.
The tallest person I have ever met was named Max- absolutely massive; I had to tilt my head up to the sky just to even make eye contact. He was my other guide on Kilimanjaro. Max was different from the other guides on the mountain, he actually had a college education which I learned was especially rare in these rural areas. He majored in Botany which I found especially astounding since every plant we came across he could identify. While his talent was very evident, Max didn’t speak of his choice in academic concentration in an especially positive way because the job openings for a new graduate in Botany are rare. He attributes his choices to where he is now. Of course, choice defines our present state but to me, the stories of how people derived where they were to where they are now were constantly communicated on the mountain. From Max, I just rediscovered my feelings towards living beyond what you love- how passion can be an enemy and cloud vision. In other words, passion, whether good or bad, can hinder usefulness from an external perspective. I hate thinking like that but in terms of practicality, it’s true. Practicality becomes more evident in these parts of the world where dreams may be compromised for security and often times the leap of faith proves to be unbearable.
Day 7- SUMMIT DAY
Why do we never talk about hardships in the climbing/hiking/trekking or even the general outdoors community? I feel like there’s a strong aversion to talking about the failure to persevere in critical moments where we’re so vulnerable… when it’s so easy to give up and turn back. Because we know that after that moment, the moment we give in, the could haves, should haves, would haves all trickle into our mindset and regrets fall into place. When I look at a lot of my photos I think they really glorify my true condition- internally I’m really suffering. As photographers we want to relay what we see but rarely do we really relay how we got to see what we saw; aka the true story behind the matter. I mean I’m writing this reflecting on photos portrayed in the climbing community since we showcase the successes but maybe not the failures. Failure is associated with shame because when you put your money, time, and effort all just to descend, damn it sucks. I saw a lot of tears and ache on my summit day of Kilimanjaro so here goes:
We woke up at 12 am- dead set in the pitch dark of the night. I’ll be very honest, I don’t remember a whole lot before dawn with the exception of the trail of headlamps of people ahead of us along with the mantra of “Pole pole” which means slow, slow in Swahili. I remember hearing avalanches somewhere on the other side of the mountain and the ice crinkling under my boots. And then the sun rose and let me tell you summit day sunrises are so encouraging for a few seconds and then you’re snapped back into the reality of what you’re trying to accomplish along with the headaches and lower body pain that comes with altitude sickness… I had wished the sun had never risen because now I could see how far I was from the top which felt like every step forward was two steps back. But the worst part was seeing others descend because of the unrelinquished pain even though they were only a few hours away from Uhuru peak. There was this one woman quite literally dragging her feet in the gravel as her guides tried to support her to the top. Her trekking poles were dead weight behind her and I remembered she was the only remaining climber after the rest of the group had to turn back… She had to descend at Stella Point only about 600ft from the summit because her condition turned critical. Her descent was so personally emotional I had to sit down only to feel my tears freezing on my cheeks.
Right below Stella Point
It wasn’t too long after we reached Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa and the top of one of the seven summits. I felt so grateful and proud and happy- which are all such understatements of what I genuinely experienced. For all I know they were accentuated by hallucinations but the top was gorgeous for the 5 minutes I wasn’t thinking about the shortness of breath we were all having at almost 20,000 ft above sea level… These moments that are so short-lived really make me question why I take the time and monumental effort to pursue this consuming passion- why take the risk? I guess my answer is what’s life without it? Half the things I know today are a byproduct of exploration in the outdoors. Everything out here is genuine, it’s real along with the extremities that come with the pain but even that’s perceptive, right? Kilimanjaro was a bunch of hidden lessons bound by one climb to the top and it’s the culmination of stories exuding truths. | https://medium.com/@rheakumar088/climbing-kilimanjaro-stories-from-a-teenager-50194cd69dfe | ['Rhea Kumar'] | 2020-12-22 17:48:10.555000+00:00 | ['Teenagers', 'Nature', 'Kilimanjaro', 'Hiking', 'Seven Summits'] |
Ethereum Blockchain: developing smart contracts | Blockchain technology
Blockchain is a trusted distributed ledger that maintains a continuously growing number of transactions and data records.
In fact, it is an innovative technology of decentralized data storage providing a high-security level and enables data manipulation occurred according to certain rules.
This confidence is ensured by the fact that data array is stored at once for each Blockchain participant, meaning that it won’t be enough to simply replace the entire array in one place.
And each subsequent piece of data, a so-called block, contains a hash of the previous block, providing the following benefits:
It’s impossible to substitute an intermediate block in the finished chain;
A block can’t be changed without changing its hash, therefore it is impossible to make it without breaking the chain integrity.
A block can’t be changed without changing its hash, therefore it is impossible to make it without breaking the chain integrity. Having great perspectives for a plenty of industries, Blockchain provides various abilities for developers. For instance, an Ethereum Blockchain platform, serving as an extension to Blockchain and enabling smart contracts.
Ethereum Smart Contracts
Smart contracts are programs with contract clauses, determined by the parties and written into the lines of code.
While each network participant has access to all the data, they automatically trace agreements’ completion and remove any intermediaries.
In fact, an Ethereum smart contract represents an ordinary contract, but the fixing goes not legally, but technically. So, there is no need for a notary or any other authorized administrator, recognized by both parties.
In Blockchain, smart contracts are responsible for data manipulation. Each smart contract has a small database and provides methods for changing its data.
Since contracts are replicated across all nodes, their databases also are. Every time a user calls a method from a contract, thus changing the data, this command is replicated and repeated by the entire network. This process enables to create a distributed consensus to fulfill agreements.
Noteworthy that Ethereum smart contracts describe what data to store in the ledger as well as a set of functions for performing operations on these data.
Functions’ execution is carried out through the interface, provided by each contract and generated from the source code separately from the compilation. Also, the interface allows executing of the binary code.
Data changes occur via transactions, each transaction has the following structure:
Transaction sender;
Transaction recipient;
The amount of sending currency;
Price per gas unit;
Gas limit per transaction;
Arbitrary data (optional).
Learn more about Ethereum network and Smart Contract development.
Also, find out How to create a Hello, World smart contract. | https://medium.com/@riki-tanaka/ethereum-blockchain-developing-smart-contracts-bdfaafb7d194 | ['Riki Tanaka'] | 2021-06-17 15:16:43.843000+00:00 | ['Smart Contracts', 'Programming', 'Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Solidity'] |
Geosyntheticsystems.ca : Geotextiles Ottawa | We are proud to have received Landscape Ontario’s Award of Distinction for 2014–2019 — five years in a row! Nominated and voted on by our customers and peers, this award is granted for outstanding customer service to the landscape industry.
Our Story
“Decades of soil management solutions”
At Geosynthetic Systems, we know dirt. From Peter Mulrooney’s early childhood summers spent selling “black muck” (which his father Clarence had collected by hand) by the bag in Ottawa’s Byward Market , to his work in road construction in the 1960s, to landscape design & construction in the 1970s, our family has been involved in the local construction industry in one way or another for more than 60 years.
Our decades of experience with local soil conditions means that we have the technical know-how and expertise to advise you on which products and services are right for your project. We can even save you time and money by working with you onsite to ensure proper installation.
We are your local soil experts. No matter how large or small your project, we can help you meet your soil-conservation and soil-management goals.
Our Promise
The right products, on-site, on time, on budget.
The construction and landscaping industries are ever evolving, and Geosynthetic Systems will continue to evolve with them. From keeping abreast of new legislation and ongoing technical training to sourcing innovative and environmentally friendly products and services, Geosynthetic Systems is committed to helping you meet your project objectives.
Our Mission
Is to provide friendly, down-to-earth expertise and quality geosynthetic/landscape supplies which reduce the environmental impact of construction and preserve our natural resources, while at the same time helping our clients achieve success with their projects.
Our business will grow and prosper by ensuring the well-being of our team, the integrity of our promise and the trust of our stakeholders.
Our Values
These are the values that guide our company: No BS — we aim for transparency with everyone — staff, stakeholders and customers alike. We are not afraid of being honest. Heart — we care about what we do, how we do it and who we do it for; we like our planet and our customers enough to only sell what we can stand behind.
Team — we care about life-work balance. We encourage our staff to make sure they meet their family needs first. We want everyone on our team to feel like they work with us, not for us. We think it’s important to have fun with your coworkers while you’re working and contributing. Integrity — if it’s something we’d have to whisper to talk about, we won’t do it or sell it.
Contact us :
3543 Conroy Road.
Ottawa, ON K1T 3S6
(866) 490–4GEO (4436)
(613) 733–9585
Website : https://geosyntheticsystems.ca | https://medium.com/@geosynthetic-systems/geosyntheticsystems-ca-geotextiles-ottawa-gabion-baskets-ottawa-a59f594e632d | [] | 2020-12-24 09:08:03.646000+00:00 | ['Services'] |
On A Flight To… | On A Flight To…
Part 2
Photo by Gerold Hinzen on Unsplash
And then…
I stood and thought about it for a while; I was in a situation no sensible person should really find themselves in, but whoever said you had to be sensible?
It actually amused me; I liked the uncertainty of it. I know to some people this will sound bonkers, but when you’re in unique, awkward situations it heightens feelings, experiences seem extra nuanced, and you’re really living.
And there is always a way out, there has to be.
After a while standing in this unfriendly car park a thought emerged; I knew someone in England who knew someone who had gone to Florida to live with his American girlfriend and to try and set up a business. I had never met this guy and I had no idea which part of Florida he was living in but I remembered his name.
I found a phone box and dialled directory enquiries and apparently there was someone with that name living in the Palm Beach area.
I had no money and I asked to be put through to the number and to ask them to accept reverse charges. I was really risking it here, but so what; I didn’t have any other choice.
She asked what name to give and I gave her my name but told her that wouldn’t be enough as the guy had probably never heard of me, but to say that I was from England and we had a mutual friend.
To my surprise, he answered and took the call. I explained about our mutual friend and that I was in a bit of a jam at the airport.
‘Hold on’ he said, ‘wait there, I’ll be with you in 20 minutes.’
I walked into the airport and found the office of the car rental company and strolled up nonchalantly and dumped the keys on the counter and turned and walked away.
A girl called after me, and I answered that the car was in the car park and just kept walking. I honestly expected to feel a hand on my shoulder as I walked out of the airport but there was nothing, and I was free.
Michael picked me and I was surprised to find his American girlfriend in the car too, plus a load of suitcases.
He explained — they had an apartment in Palm Beach but they had agreed to house-sit for someone’s massive house on a sports estate in Boca Raton, and they were on their way there now. Apparently there was a mass of space, loads of bedrooms, and I was welcome to join them.
Result, once again.
Apparently they were just walking out of the door of their apartment when I rang and so if I’d been a minute later I would have missed them and this story would have taken an entirely different turn at this point.
We drove through a new estate with a golf course and tennis courts all surrounded by these huge houses, all with pools, and we found the house and it was magnificent.
I sat on the bed in my room and smiled to myself. How things can change.
And then began a great week of fun. I really wasn’t into drugs, I’d sampled dope a couple of times while I was at college but I was never that interested, but the stuff they had was different, it just made you laugh.
It was all tiny bits of twig and leaf and they kept it in a circular film canister in the fridge and every day in the early evening they would fish it out and then would follow an hour or so of manic laughter, it was just great.
They were a fairly new couple and although they made me completely welcome, I went out a fair bit to give them some space and I discovered the Wildflower which was brilliant, plus a few other places.
Everyone thought I was Australian at first, but when they discovered I was English it was like some sort of weird social passport had been granted to me, and before I was really aware of what was going on I had made friends, there were people I knew, people spoke to me like we’d known each other for years, and there were girls too. Nope, I’m saying nothing more about that, don’t ask.
Michael had lent me some money to keep me going and I had phoned a friend of mine in England and he sent me some money to a bank in Boca Raton and after a week it arrived.
I spent a day in Fort Lauderdale and discovered something I didn’t know existed — there were agencies where you go to get a car that you would drive to some place, and you get paid to do it.
That night I took Michael and Mary Lou out for a top dinner to thank them for being so kind to me and the following day I found myself driving out of Fort Lauderdale in some guy’s car en route to San Francisco.
It took about a day to get out of Florida and then I turned left on route 10 and through Tallahassee and Mobile and finally reached New Orleans and there I walked into a bar on Bourbon Street and fell hopelessly in love.
Her name was Sally Townes and she was playing in the bar and if you put her name into Spotify and select Walk Away With The Blues you’ll see.
She was playing the piano and singing and you know how sometimes music creates a connection that’s impossible to put into words, you just feel it, and I came in the door and she looked up and I listened to her sing and looked into her eyes and that was it.
As I think about it now it still brings huge emotion to me, it was one those moments in life that never leaves you and I’m still partly in that moment even all these years later.
We spoke during the interval and after her set she invited me to join her and a bunch of others who had heard of a new band playing somewhere in New Orleans and they were going to see them. And after that we went to see another band, and then another.
Everyone in New Orleans knew Sally and we were welcomed into every place we went and finally a wonderful, magical night ended as I fell onto the bed in my hotel room at around nine the following morning.
And then I was arrested in Texas… | https://medium.com/weeds-wildflowers/on-a-flight-to-be34414928f4 | ['Robert Bush'] | 2020-08-15 22:07:47.681000+00:00 | ['Short Story', 'Satire', 'Romance', 'Travel', 'Humor'] |
“Magical!” Jefferson Starship LIVE! at the Newton Theatre | The band leaves the stage except for guitarist Jude Gold who is featured on a solo guitar performance of “Embryonic Journey.” While playing his open-tuned guitar, Gold impresses with his lightning fast finger picking. At times, he plays conventionally on the fingerboard, while at other times, he taps the guitar’s neck, inspiring cheers and applause from the crowd. Using his instrument’s whammy bar, he saws his hands across the strings and manipulates the guitar’s volume control to sound like a cello before holding up his instrument in a vertical manner and ending with glistening harmonics.
The crowd rises to its feet for this unique and impressive solo.
The rest of Jefferson Starship retakes the stage and Richardson enters with a black hood over her hair before mysteriously launching into Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 classic, “White Rabbit.” Audience members dance in their seats as Richardson knocks their socks off with her powerful performance singing the famous, “Go ask Alice, when she’s ten feet tall” chorus. When Richardson skillfully bounces her mic stand down to the ground with her foot and makes it ricochet right back up to her again, the crowd stands and cheers.
Asking, “Are you ready to rock and roll?” she and the group launch into Starship’s 1981 #1 hit, “We Built This City,” where Freiberg sings lead and Richardson harmonizes. The driving beat, flashing lights, and wailing guitar bring the crowd right back to the ’80s as the audience sings along on the ubiquitous “We built this city/We built this city on rock and roll” chorus.
After announcing, “Hey, New Jersey — do you want more?” Richardson dances around the stage, her hair covering her face, as she plays cowbell while Freiberg sings Jefferson Starship’s 1979 Top 20 hit, “Jane.” Effortlessly vocalizing straight from his soul, Freiberg hits notes both high and low with emotion and power while clearly enjoying himself as he sings, “Jane, you’re playin’ a game, playin’ a game, playin’ a game,” before ending with a wail.
The crowd stands and cheers as Richardson points to Freiberg and exclaims, “He wrote that song!”
One by one, Richardson introduces her fellow band members, and gives each a chance to solo on his instrument. When she gets to drummer Donny Baldwin, the entire group watches Baldwin solo with rapt attention and Gold even videorecords it on his cell phone from the side of the stage.
Then, Freiberg introduces Cathy Richardson asking, “How long have you been singing with us?” to which Richardson jokingly replies, “I’ve been singing with you since I got your records when I was 15!”
Disclosing that Richardson was personally chosen by Grace Slick to perform her music, Richardson acknowledges, “It’s not easy to stand in the shoes of a legend” before thanking the band for giving her the opportunity.
Lastly, she introduces Freiberg, revealing, “In a couple of months, he will be 81 years old.” Calling him, “A living legend — the best rock legend ‘rocktogenarian!’” — the audience stands and applauds for Freiberg.
The audience rocks out as Richardson and Jefferson Starship launch into the 1967 Jefferson Airplane classic, “Somebody to Love.” | https://medium.com/spotlight-central/magical-jefferson-starship-live-at-the-newton-theatre-e2f4c782451b | ['Spotlight Central'] | 2019-07-05 11:04:44.474000+00:00 | ['80s Music', 'New Jersey', 'Concerts', 'Music', 'Rock'] |
Deadnaming and Reclaiming | Deadnaming and Reclaiming
For trans people, names can be a source of joy… and pain
Pax Ahimsa Gethen: My real, chosen, and legal name.
Twice a year, when Daylight Savings Time begins and ends, I putter around changing all the clocks in the house that don’t update themselves automatically. One of these is the caller ID display on my landline phone. It does update to the current time once someone calls, but I’m impatient for that to happen, as we get few calls to our landline other than spammers and scammers. So I call my home number from my cell phone to hasten the process.
This year, I noticed something strange and alarming: My deadname — the name I was given at birth and went by before my gender transition — came up on the caller ID display. As I’d gotten a legal change of name and gender five years ago, I was sure I had updated it with my cell phone carrier long before, and would have noticed my (increasingly bothersome) deadname come up during previous Daylight Savings change rituals.
Fortunately, my cell phone service provider offers excellent customer service. I opened up a web chat and explained the situation. It was a Sunday evening, but they responded very quickly, and were friendly and helpful as always. Excerpts from a redacted transcript of our chat follow:
(09:09:05 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: The caller ID on my cell phone is displaying my previous name, which I changed legally several years ago. Please reset to show my current name or just remove the ID completely.
(09:09:16 PM) *** Denise W joined the chat ***
(09:09:22 PM) Denise W: Hi Pax
(09:10:19 PM) Denise W: Is this on [cell phone number]?
(09:10:22 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: Yes
(09:10:52 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: I called my home number today to reset the time for DST, and saw my previous name on the display
(09:11:18 PM) Denise W: okay I’ll do my best .
[…]
09:13:07 PM) Denise W: You’re on GSM so we can only change it to Wireless Caller. Is that okay?
(09:13:12 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: Sure.
(09:14:47 PM) Denise W: okay 1 moment. I’ll get this going.
(09:14:52 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: Thanks
[…]
(09:15:31 PM) Denise W: Can you give me the number that receives your call showing the wrong name please?
(09:15:42 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: [home number]
(09:15:57 PM) Denise W: thank you
(09:16:32 PM) Denise W: And what is the name that shows up?
(09:16:37 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: [deadname]
(09:16:53 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: Well actually [deadname - last first] is what is displayed
[…]
(09:18:30 PM) Denise W: okay thank you. I have it requested to update the caller ID. It can take up to 72 hours to update it.
(09:18:36 PM) Denise W: Sometimes much quicker
(09:18:43 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: Thanks, much appreciated.
(09:19:12 PM) Denise W: You’re very welcome.
(09:19:17 PM) Denise W: Enjoy your Sunday!
(09:19:24 PM) Pax Ahimsa Gethen: You too, thanks!
(09:19:30 PM) Denise W: Thank you. :)
I included the above transcript to highlight that it is entirely possible to have a respectful, professional interaction with a customer without using any gendered terms. As I’ve explained in previous blog entries, I am agender and prefer not to be addressed as “Sir” or “Mister”, even though those terms are preferably to me to “Ma’am” and “Miss” as I’ve chosen to transition to male for legal and medical purposes. I realize that most employees who use these titles and honorifics are simply following orders to do so, but I remember and seek out services and establishments that have staff who avoid gendered terms when speaking with me.
Although I was happy that my case was promptly and respectfully addressed, even typing my deadname into a private web chat was difficult for me. I’ve grown increasingly distressed by seeing that name the further I am into my transition. Though I’m not stealth (so cannot be “outed”), trans-antagonistic bullies who know of my dysphoria sometimes rub it in my face, as my deadname is easily findable on the Internet; I posted under it quite frequently.
One person stalked me with my deadname for months, on Wikipedia, my personal blog, and elsewhere. These attacks — which escalated to graphic sexual references and suggestions that I be put into an internment camp and kill myself — were mentioned in a recent New York Times article about the harassment marginalized people face on Wikipedia.
While I have significant dysphoria over my deadname, it’s important to note that not all trans people feel this way. Some trans folks, such as Eli Erlick, choose not to change their birth-assigned names even if they don’t appear to match their transitioned gender. For some, having a non-traditional name for their gender is a powerful reclaiming and statement against unnecessary binary thinking.
However, it is always best to presume that a trans person who has changed their name does not want their deadname revealed or spoken about, even in the past tense. This especially applies to journalists writing about us. One of the queer choruses I sing in was recently featured in a front page article in a local newspaper, but the very first paragraph included the deadname and dead pronouns of one of our transgender singers. Though I guessed — and later confirmed — that he was personally OK with this language, it made me reluctant to share the piece with anyone. Drawing undue attention to a deadname, especially at the very beginning of an article about trans people, reinforces negative stereotypes and is harmful to our community.
Choosing one’s own name is one of the most powerful and affirming actions a trans person can make. Hearing that chosen name used reliably and respectfully is vital to our well-being. Cisgender people who routinely change their names for reasons of marriage, for example, might not understand what the big deal is if someone finds out the names we were assigned at birth. Or they might argue that it is in the public interest to know this information, even if we were not notable before our transitions.
Trans people don’t exist to satisfy the curiosity of cis people. Our identities are precious, and our histories are often painful to recall, and we should be entitled to reveal as little or as much about them as we wish. Honor our names, and respect our efforts to live as our authentic selves. | https://funcrunch.medium.com/deadnaming-and-reclaiming-8354fdfc9767 | ['Pax Ahimsa Gethen'] | 2019-04-13 16:57:06.125000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Gender', 'Transgender'] |
How Swing-able is Texas Anyways? | Image Credit: Adam Thomas [1]
I know I’m not the only one who was surprised to see that Texas included as a “swing state” in Google’s macro. How could that be? Some sort of mistake? I went to school in Texas and let me tell you, that place is a red state. It at least felt red…
However, we watched Georgia swing blue this year and it really does beg the question: which others could swing?
Let’s take Texas for example and I hope to demonstrate why, in fact, your vote really does matter and you should take it seriously (regardless of our political leaning).
What is an Election Anyways?
When I wrote about Virginia and Pennsylvania, I made the point that the reports from the news were resulting from biased samples. Now, when I say “biased,” I don’t mean they were wrong or intentionally misleading. I mean that because of the manner that the results were collected (e.g. “in person” ballots were naturally counted faster), it gave an incomplete picture of the story that the underlying population (all the ballots combined) was telling.
Furthermore, since I started writing this little mini-series, I’ve been thinking of the votes cast in each state as the “target” of my statistical analysis. Statistically speaking, I was treating “all the ballots” as “the population” which we could “sample” from to make inferences about the final results.
This is all well and mathematically sound… except when you bring up that the votes themselves are actually a biased sample of what the people of that state represent.
Ballot Counting can be a Biased Sampling Technique
The way a democracy works is that we don’t assume we know what the will of the people is. We ask them. And the majority opinion is what we go with (kind of). So we have this whole process set up where you can go vote and tell the government what laws should be passed and which officials should be in office. But here’s the thing:
NOT EVERYONE VOTES!!!
Voting is a biased sampling process because not everyone participants. We can’t assume that, since 75% of Democrats choose not to vote, then exactly 75% of Republicans do the same. Sometimes more of one group shows up to the polls. So what affect can this have on an election (and democracy)?
The Texas Swing?
During the writing of this article, Texas had counted 98% of its votes and Donald Trump had won the state by 600,000 votes (52% to Biden’s 46%). But I was curious, could people’s perception of what they imagined to be an inevitable result have actually manifested this result? What I mean is: did assuming that the state would go red play a role in it’s eventual “red-ness” after counting votes in 2020?
Was there a universe that existed where Texas actually swung… Democrat? Let’s take a look…
Split by County
Let’s do a similar analysis we did with Virginia where we split the state by county to get a sense of how Texas is spatially distributed (i.e. how did each county vote?). First off, we see that, again, about 50% of the votes come from the largest 5 counties.
Image by Author
In Virginia’s case, this type of distribution ensured Biden’s victory (even though he was behind by 20% at one point). However, we can see that the largest county, Harris, is not nearly as imbalanced (in favor of Biden) as Fairfax County was for Virginia. I wonder…
Did Biden supporters not show up in these big cities in the same numbers as they did in Virginia because they figured it was a lost cause? Could Texas be a “blue state” actually?
Could Texas be a Blue State?
As we saw with the Illinois example, we really don’t need more than ~10k votes to get a sense for how the underlying population behaves. Let’s just assume that the way people voted in these counties reflects the underlying population’s sentiment towards each candidate for that county (i.e. Harris County leans 55% blue). Then, let’s take the actual population and assume that 75% of people are of voting age (a pretty good guess in 2016).
We can use these two pieces of information to extrapolate what the results would be if EVERYONE of voting age had shown up to the polls. Could the larger, “blue” city populations do what they did in Virginia?
Unfortunately, the results are not as dramatic as I was hoping for. Biden goes from 46% to 47% and Trump drops from 52% to 51%. Texas really is a red state. (That is — if the proportions demonstrated by this election are representative — which would be hard to know from this data).
But I’m not satisfied. I wanted to know how swing-able Texas was… not just whether it was red or blue. First, let’s talk about an assumption I made earlier.
Record Turnouts?
We’re all celebrating a 66-ish% voter turnout this election because it’s smashing records that were decades old. But, that still means that 33% of people didn’t vote. And actually, that’s 33% of people who were registered to vote and then chose not to vote.
How many people are eligible to vote and just not registered? Since I had population data, I chose to look at the numbers through that lens rather than the “registered voters” lens. It turns out that, if you assume 75% of people are voting age, the number drops to 51% voter turnout. Now, of course, some of that discrepancy is accounted for by immigrants or other non-eligible-to-vote adults… but I just wanted to point out that the number 66% is already inflated and, in general, unimpressive to be “record breaking.”
Could Texas Democrats Surprise Us All?
Ok back to Texas… We already pseudo-established (I realize we’re doing a lot of hand-waving here) that Texas is a red state. But remember, voting is a biased sampling mechanism.
Does a world exist where more Democrats show up at the polls?
We recall that the deficit that the blues needed to make up was 600,000. What percentage of the Texas population would that be? Turns out only about 3%.
Ok, but we already established that most Texans are Republican. So what percentage MORE of the Democrats would have to show up. Well, from the numbers from the toy model above, if 6.3% more democrats showed up to vote this year, Texas would’ve swung blue. It would’ve meant that 57% of Texas Democrats could have surprised the 52% of Texas Republicans (assuming their number doesn’t change) at the polls and Texas would have artificially given all 38 of its electoral college votes to Biden. We wouldn’t even be talking about Pennsylvania right now…
Your Vote Matters
Ok so this has been a toy example but I feel like it makes the point: there is a ton of room for growth in voter turnout and if one group figures it out before the other, they could really swing policy making even if they aren’t the majority.
Sure if one person doesn’t show up to vote, it might only slightly change the proportion of votes that the final tally reveals. But again, it still biases our sample if it happens in a way that is unbalanced.
Consider the concept of group-thinking. Having a cavalier or fatalistic attitude could lead to those around you having the same attitude and, in turn, propagating it further to their friends. If people can be assumed to vote similarly to their friends or at least those close by, then a huge group of your network not voting could lead to a biased sample on election day. Imagine if something like that had happened with Democrats in Fairfax County, Virginia? It could’ve unnaturally changed a predictable, landslide victory for Biden into a close-count as a result of biased sampling. The same (well, the opposite really) could be said about Texas.
The best way to avoid this is to just make a habit of voting. And make sure you let your friends and family know how important it is.
It’s your right. And it’s a big deal.
If you liked this article
Consider giving a clap (or 10?) so TDS will share it more readily with others
Check out my other case studies on the election:
Illinois (how many votes needed to call an election)
Virginia (how did statisticians know Biden wins even while he was losing by 20%)
Pennsylvania (swing state drama statistical interpretation)
Images
[1] A. Thomas. https://unsplash.com/photos/lobgrHEL1GU | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-swing-able-is-texas-anyways-83623f0911f3 | ['Sean Fronczak'] | 2020-11-12 23:21:24.741000+00:00 | ['Democrats', 'Republicans', 'Texas', 'Swing State', 'Election 2020'] |
When Anxiety Can Be Your Ally | Higher Stress Tolerance
People who have lived with anxiety for a significant period of time often have a higher than normal stress tolerance. I don’t mean that in the sense that they don’t feel the stress. I mean they can still function under levels of stress that would crush others.
I have what is considered high functioning anxiety — meaning I look like I’m okay because I can hide the rolling terror that exists beneath the surface of my seemingly normal façade.
It also means that I’m used to feeling scared and on edge all the time. My level of anxiety fluctuates but is normally pretty high, so the pandemic anxiety I feel is only slightly above what would be my norm.
If you are always anxious, then the addition of new things to be anxious about is usually easier to integrate into your life.
Use that to your advantage. You can focus in and keep things moving when others may be paralyzed with indecision or fear.
Plus you are used to feeling anxious long term. As this drags on and deepens even the strongest people could start to crack under the pressure. But for those of us with anxiety, it is not that different from every other year of our lives.
Familiar with Worst-Case Scenarios
When you have anxiety your mind presents you with worst-case scenarios all the time. Many of us, have problem-solving minds and have tried to make plans for the worst-case scenarios. Most of our fears are not rational — no a scorpion isn’t going to come out of my jewelry case and sting me — -but my mind has planned what to do if it does.
Because a pandemic is something that experts have warned us about for years and they have happened before, I bet many of my fellow anxiety sufferers already had at least a rough outline of what the plan was if this went down. And here we are.
Even if your mind did not prepare you for this specific scenario, it knows how to make plans for when shit happens. Let it make plans. Indulge your anxious preparations (to a reasonable extent — not 8 months' worth of toilet paper).
Do your best to not let your mind wallow in fear. There is much to be terrified of. When your mind reminds you of that, ask it what you are going to do about it. Then make a plan. Even if you end up not needing the plan, you will feel better for having thought it through.
Plus sometimes unexpected things happen. Somewhere in your plans, your mind may have come up with some weird fear and you will be the one with the contingency for it.
Redirect Hypervigilance
Before the pandemic what I worried most about when I was out and about was mass shootings. Because of my anxiety, I was hypervigilant in public places. My habit was to scan any new place I was in as soon as I arrived. I noted exits and any large things that could be used for cover. As I worked my way through the location I would periodically scan the people around me and notice any that looked out of place or nervous. Just working the statistics of mass shootings, I did pay more attention to younger white males. They were the ones most likely to be threats.
I have managed to mostly redirect my hypervigilance to pandemic issues. People without masks. Areas where there is no way to stay apart. Lack of social distancing. In fact, I’ve gotten so attuned to social distancing, that a few times I’ve stopped dead without realizing why. I unconsciously noticed the people in an area I needed to go and my anxious mind stopped me before my conscious mind realized I needed to wait. If I’m out, hand sanitizing is a constant habit whenever I touch anything outside my car. My hands get washed the second I walk in the house — -I drop my purse and any bags I have and head to the sink. And yes, they do get washed again after I unpack.
I’m sure many of you have specific things you were hypervigilant about as well. If you were a germaphobe, you were well set up for this pandemic. If not, hopefully, you can easily redirect your hypervigilance toward keeping the virus away from you and yours. | https://heatherashman.medium.com/when-anxiety-can-be-your-ally-d99676e82031 | ['Heather Ashman'] | 2020-07-06 23:45:18.698000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Life', 'Preparation', 'Planning', 'Anxiety'] |
Why startup founder must do mistakes and learn the lessons and build a successful company. | https://murmurcars.com
It might sound weird but the startup is like a little baby who needs to grow and get knowledge about how to survive. Like everything, the startup also has a lifetime. In each period or stage, it needs to get data that will help him to move on.
Most startups die because they do not listen and learn new data. Data is equivalent to knowledge which we give to our babies and teach them how to adapt to this world.
As the founder, I did, do, and will do a lot of mistakes. As the founder and human you need to understand that it is okay to do mistakes and learn new lessons, it is a new experience. Mistakes help you to avoid them in the future. If you do not do mistakes, and most importantly do not learn from mistakes then something is from with you or with the world in which you are living.
The most successful people made their fortune by making mistakes.
As a founder, I have a list of mistakes that helped me to build a successful business and live the life which I want.
#1 Ship fast, time is money and does not wait for you.
Most startups became successful because they appeared at the right time. As a founder, you have to feel the time and handle micro, macro influences around the niche on which you are focused. That will help you to present your product on time with the right value proposition.
Before Uber there was Taxi Magic. But the founders of Taxi Magic were early and did not have an appealing value proposition, which followed the bad execution.
I also learned that if you ship fast, early traction will help you to ship an improved version.
#2 Think big, execute small
As the founder i always had the big picture for my company. I visualized my big goal and then draw a roadmap to achieve this goal. Each step I divided into microtasks chained them into one working mechanism.
Remember the human body consists of millions of microorganisms that work together to achieve one super goal.
As the founder, you need to learn micro-management!
#3 Get early sales, Never give it for free.
Most founders give a product for free and feel happy that they got early customers.
Customers are those who pay you and want to get a product that they care about.
People who get a product do not care, they are not interested. I call such people useless users who just littler the server space.
Early sales will teach you where to focus and why people want to buy your product. Their feedback will help you to develop the product, change the business model and market it.
Our early customers basically showed us the way how our product can be used and value proposition.
Always remember that people buy your product to solve their pain. If you can solve the pain then your product will be essential for them.
# 4 Listen to early customers but do not redevelop the product, just change your messaging.
Most founders will redevelop, add new features but in our case, we were carefully listening to all our customers and presenting them with the same product but with different messaging.
We learned that most customers even do not know what they want exactly, they just want to be heard.
As the founder, you need to be able to listen and move forward with your own decision.
#5 No one knows your business better than you.
As a first-time founder, I was advised by investors, serial entrepreneurs in what direction I should build my company, where should i focus first, and what i should not do.
This really depends on your persona, if you like to be followed or be your own and choose your destiny?
I learned that nobody will really help you to build your dream it you do not. As a founder, you will get distracted by useless, not relevant advice a lot. You will need to sort all incoming and outgoing info.
I did not listen to my mentor, investors, and dug my own path to success, and proved to them that they were wrong and I was able to follow my vision and it worked out.
In my path to success, I spent a lot of sleepless nights, damaged my health, was mentally ill, spent $200k, almost all my savings.
And the most important lesson I learned is that a startup founder should be a gambler, more risk involves more success. As a founder you are a warrior, you need to surround yourself with people whom you trust and loyal to you, and ready to start this fight with you.
In my success i very much thankful to my parents who raised me, and my wife who supported and believed me. | https://medium.com/@eminfaliyev/why-startup-founder-must-do-mistakes-and-learn-the-lessons-and-build-a-successful-company-351733f34990 | ['Emin Aliyev'] | 2020-12-17 06:59:29.916000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Startup Life', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup Marketing', 'Startup Lessons'] |
1st duty of govt? Foresee the future | Brexit has been foreseeably the most disastrous decision any European state has made since 1939.
It’s also the most unfriendly & expensive single decision 🏴 has ever made for itself (in terms of treasure & comity between 🇬🇧‘s constituent nations & the groups which make them up).
Its incalculable costs in treasure & peace of mind for its closest allies 🇮🇪, 🇵🇹, 🇵🇱, 🇩🇰, 🇳🇱, 🇬🇮, 🇩🇪, 🇯🇵, and 🇫🇷 were all predictable, & predicted.
10s m of pple continue to have billions of sleepless nights over the predictable friction Brexit has unnecessarily introduced into their lives.
What has been completely unforeseeable is how the English government has made EVERY situation it brought upon itself worse by, uniquely, being unable to foresee the outworkings of its unforced errors.
Not extending the transition period last June.
Solving an internal political problem – not announcing 🎄 ’s cancellation in time, meant a mutated strain was necessary as a scapegoat.
Today’s decision whether or not, & if so under which conditions, land, air & sea connections with an 🏝 State will be restored is being decided by the 🇪🇺27 in 🇧🇪 without 🇬🇧 presence.
100 Disastrous 🇬🇧 Unforced Errors | https://medium.com/political-risk/1st-duty-of-govt-foresee-the-future-bb1bc2ee6a40 | ['Stephen Douglas'] | 2020-12-24 09:05:25.465000+00:00 | ['France', 'UK', 'UK Politics', 'Brexit', 'Boris Johnson'] |
Python for Data Science vs Python for Web Development | Python programming has various frameworks and features to expand in web application development, graphical user interfaces, data analysis, data visualization, etc. Python programming language might not be an ideal choice for web application development, but is extensively used by many organizations for evaluating large datasets, for data visualization, for running data analysis or prototyping. Python programming language is gaining traction amongst users for data science whilst being outmoded as a web programming language. The idea of this blog post is to provide a comparison on the two completely different purposes of using Python language and help understand that it is not necessary to know Python as a web programming language for doing data science in Python.
Python for Data Science
Organizations of all sizes and industries — from the top financial institutions to the smallest big data start-ups are using Python programming language to run their business.More additional Information At Data Science Course
Python language is among the popular data science programming languages not only with the top big data companies but also with the tech start up crowd. Python language ranks among the top programming languages to learn in 2019.
Python language comes in the former category and is finding increased adoption in numerical computations, machine learning and several data science applications. Python language can do anything, excluding performance dependent and low level stuff. The best bet to use Python programming language is for data analysis and statistical computations. Learning Python programming for web development requires programmers to master various web frameworks like Django that can help the build websites whereas learning Python for data science requires data scientists to learn the usage of regular expressions, get working with the scientific libraries and master the data visualization concepts. With completely different purposes, programmers or professionals who are not knowledgeable about web programming concepts with Python language can easily go ahead and pursue data science in Python programming language without any difficulty.
Python is a 23-year-old powerful expressive dynamic programming language where a programmer can write the code once and execute it without using a separate compiler for the purpose. Python in web development supports various programming paradigms such as structured programming, functional programming and object oriented programming. Python language code can be easily embedded into various existing web application that require a programming interface. However, Python language is a preeminent choice for academic, research and scientific applications which need faster execution and precise mathematical calculations.
Python web programming requires programmers to learn about the various python web development frameworks, which can be intimidating because the documentation available for the python web development frameworks might be somewhat difficult to understand. However, it is undeniable that to develop a dynamic website or a web application using Python language, learning a web framework is essential.
Python Web Development Frameworks
There are several Python web application frameworks available for free like-
Django
Django is the python web development framework for perfectionists with deadlines. Python web development with django is best suited for developing database driven web applications with attractive features like automatic admin interface and a templating system. For web development projects that don’t require extensive features, Django may be an overkill because of its confusing file system and strict directory structure. Some companies that are using python web development with django are The New York Times, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Flask
It is a simple and lightweight solution for beginners who want to get started with developing single-page web applications. This framework does not support for validation, data abstraction layer and many other components that various other frameworks include. It is not a full stack framework and is used only in the development of small websites.
CherryPy
It emphasizes on Pythonic conventions so that programmers can build web applications just the way they would do it using object oriented Python programming. CherryPy is the base template for other popular full stack frameworks like TurboBears and Web2py.
There are so many other web frameworks like Pyramid, Bottle, and Pylons etc. but regardless of the fact, whichever web framework a python programmer uses, the challenge is that he/she needs to pay close attention to detailing on the tutorials and documentation.
Why Web Development with Python is an impractical choice?
Python programming language probably is an impractical choice for being chosen as a web programming language –
Python for web development requires non-standard and expensive hosting particularly when programmers use popular python web frameworks for building websites. With PHP language being so expedient for web programming, most of the users are not interested in investing in Python certification programming language for web development.
programming language for web development. Python language for web development is not a commonly demanded skill unlike demand for other web development languages like PHP, Java or Ruby on Rails. Python for Data science is gaining traction and is the most sought after skill companies are looking for in data scientists, with its increased adoption in machine learning and various other data science applications.
Python for web development has come a long way but it does not have a steep learning curve as compared to other web programming languages like PHP.
Why Python for Data Science is the best fit?
Python programming is the core technology that powers big data, finance, statistics and number crunching with English like syntax. The recent growth of the rich Python data science ecosystem with multiple packages for Machine learning, natural language processing, data visualization, data exploration, data analysis and data mining is resulting in Pythonification of the data science community. Today, Python data science language has all the nuts and bolts for cleaning, transforming, processing and crunching big data. Python is the most in-demand skill for data scientist job role. A data scientist with python programming skills in New York earns an average salary of $140,000
Data Scientists / Data Science Certification like to work in a programming environment that can quickly prototype by helping them jot down their ideas and models easily. They like to get their stuff done by analysing huge datasets to draw conclusions. Python programming is the most versatile and capable all-rounder for data science applications as it helps data scientists do all this productively by taking optimal minimal time for coding, debugging, executing and getting the results.
The real value of a great enterprise data scientist is to use various data visualizations that can help communicate the data patterns and predictions to various stakeholders of the business effectively, otherwise it is just a zero-sum game. Python has almost every aspect of scientific computing with high computational intensity which makes it a supreme choice for programming across different data science applications, as programmers can do all the development and analysis in one language. Python for data science links between various units of a business and provides a direct medium for data sharing and processing language.
Python has a unified design philosophy that focuses on ease of use, readability and easy learning curve for data science.
Python has high scalability and is much faster when compared to other languages like Stata, Matlab.
There are more and more data visualization libraries and cool application programming interfaces being added for inclusion of graphics to depict the results of data analysis.
Python has a large community with good number of data science or data analytics libraries like Sci-Kit learn, NumPy, Pandas, and Statsmodels, SciPy etc. which have rich functionality and have been tested extensively. Data analysis libraries in Python language are growing over time.
Python Programming for Number Crunching and Scientific Computing in Data Science
Data analysis and Python programming language go hand in hand. If you have taken a decision to learn Data Science in Python language, then the next question in your mind would be –What are the best data science in Python libraries that do most of the data analysis task? Here are top data analysis libraries in Python used by enterprise data scientists across the world-
NumPy
It is the foundation base for the higher level tools built in Python programming language. This library cannot be used for high level data analysis but in-depth understanding of array oriented computing in NumPy helps data scientists use the Pandas library effectively.
SciPy
SciPy is used for technical and scientific computing with various modules for integration, special functions, image processing, interpolation, linear algebra, optimizations, ODE solvers and various other tasks. This library is used to work with NumPy arrays with various efficient numerical routines.
Pandas
This is the best library for doing data munging as this library makes it easier to handle missing data, supports automatic data alignment, supports working with differently indexed data gathered from multiple data sources.
Enroll Free Live Demo At Data Science Online Training
SciKit
This is a popular machine learning library with various regression, classification and clustering algorithms with support for gradient boosting, vector machines, naïve Bayes, and logistic regression. This library is designed to interoperate with NumPy and SciPy.
Matplotlib
It is a 2D plotting library with interactive features for zooming and panning for publication quality figures in different hard copy formats and in interactive environments across various platforms.
Matplotlib, NumPy and SciPy are the base for scientific computing. There are many other Python libraries such as Pattern for web mining, NLTK for natural language processing, Theano for deep learning, Scrappy for web scraping, IPython, Statsmodels, Mlpy and more. For people starting with data science in Python, they need to be well-versed with the above mentioned top data analysis libraries in Python. | https://medium.com/quick-code/python-for-data-science-vs-python-for-web-development-fcdbeb1c67cf | ['Sandhya Reddy'] | 2020-02-05 03:21:34.546000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Web Development', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization', 'Python Programming'] |
Mapping US Census Data with Python | Public Data
Mapping US Census Data with Python
If you’ve ever wanted to create quick geographic visualizations of your favorite Census statistics then you’ve come to the right place! First you’ll need to get your hands on the census data that you’re interested in. For this example, we’ll be using transportation data in New York state.
Data Download
Now you’ll want to import the required packages. If you are new to the censusdata package please take a moment to familiarize yourself using the excellent documentation or this introductory blog on the very subject
import pandas as pd
import censusdata
from tabulate import tabulate
Now we need to download the data we’re interested in.
df = censusdata.download('acs5',
2015,
censusdata.censusgeo([('state', '36'), ('county', '*')]),
['B08301_001E', 'B08301_010E'])
A quick breakdown on the parameters of this method:
‘acs5’ refers to the 5 Year American Community Survey and designates the database we are downloading from.
refers to the 5 Year American Community Survey and designates the database we are downloading from. 2015 is the year that we are getting data from
is the year that we are getting data from censusdata.censusgeo([(‘state’, ‘36’), (‘county’, ‘*’)]) defines the geography we are interested in. The ‘36’ value is the FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code for New York state while the ‘*’ means we want every county. To look up your own state or county FIPS code refer to the Wikipedia page.
defines the geography we are interested in. The ‘36’ value is the FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code for New York state while the ‘*’ means we want every county. To look up your own state or county FIPS code refer to the Wikipedia page. [‘B08301_001E’, ‘B08301_010E’] this is a list referring to the specific two tables that we are interested in. Note that these were located beforehand using the search function of censusdata.
Dataframe Prep
Now let’s take a look at what's in our dataframe.
print(tabulate(df, headers='keys', tablefmt='psql'))
Okay, we are definitely getting the raw information we want in this table but right now it’s a bit cumbersome to interpret. For instance, the Id values here are censusgeo objects. Yikes!
First, we’ll change the existing column names away from those table Ids to reflect their contents.
column_names = ['total_transpo', 'total_public_transpo']
df.columns = column_names
Next, we’ll engineer a new column that's just the ratio of public transit.
df['percent_public_transpo'] = df.apply(
lambda row: row['total_public_transpo']/row['total_transpo'],
axis = 1)
Now we’ll redefine the index while extracting the county name.
new_indices = []
county_names = [] for index in df.index.tolist():
new_index = index.geo[0][1] + index.geo[1][1]
new_indices.append(new_index)
county_name = index.name.split(',')[0]
county_names.append(county_name) df.index = new_indices
df['county_name'] = county_names
Okay, let’s take another look.
Much better! Now onto the mapping
Mapping
To do the mapping we’ll be using a plotly feature called figure_factory that's going to do a lot of the work for us. So the first thing is to import the package.
import plotly.figure_factory as ff
Now creating the map is just a few lines of code.
fig = ff.create_choropleth(fips=df.index,
scope=['New York'],
values=df.percent_public_transpo,
title='NY Public Transit Use by County',
legend_title='% Public Transit')
fig.layout.template = None
fig.show()
Looks pretty good for a few lines of code! But don’t be fooled, we worked to set ourselves up for success here by structuring our dataframe in a way that's compatible with figure_factory. For instance, it takes in FIPS data in the form of state_code + county_code. So by renaming our indices to follow that form, we can simply pass the direct index values into the method
Finally, the data in this map is distributed in a way that we would expect, with a huge hotspot centered around NYC that fades the further out you go.
That's all there is to it, now get mapping! | https://towardsdatascience.com/mapping-us-census-data-with-python-607df3de4b9c | ['Jackson Gilkey'] | 2020-04-27 18:51:47.075000+00:00 | ['Maps', 'New York', 'Data Science', 'Census'] |
How to be Kind to Yourself When You Are Not Consistent? | Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash
Each one of us here wants to succeed in life, in the fields we choose or in the relationships we commit to. But it’s not every day that we can actually stay true to the words and actions. I have been in this phase a million times before. The difference is back then when I was a teenager, I had the time capsule in my hand. I could do anything and I chose to while away hours together watching Kdrama or talking over to a friend. But now, in my late twenties, I don’t want to waste time.
It is probably because I have seen deaths, I have seen failures, I have seen betrayals and what more, I have seen separation. Hence I want to stay true to my purpose and the work really hard, just to see myself meet my potential. It is self-love, self-challenge.
So, I started investing my time, money, savings into the field I loved more.
Writing.
There is nothing in the world that can suffice me other than the pen and paper and my flow of thoughts into it. But lately, I haven’t been quite consistent. There are external vulnerabilities that have quite got the better of my discipline.
I held on a grudge, a bad one, filled with guilt for not showing up every day. I had my reasons but it wasn’t valid to my brain.
Then nothing went well.
It was then I realized that the problem was not the circumstances, the problem was me! I had to rewire myself into being kind TO MYSELF to meet the better version of me.
Accept Your Limitations- Don’t Multi-task
When we start out, we overwork ourselves. We love working, being in the enthusiast phase and getting things done. The same happened with me as well.
The first few days are when I dream big, make big plans, and often forget that there are time constraints. For example, I have a toddler who is running around making a mess everywhere but with my plans, my time was limited for work. This caused unnecessary frustration over the work that couldn’t be completed, of the little time I got to spend with him and anchoring a guilt of not being the best mother to him with my big dreams.
Likewise, you would have a limitation. Don’t ignore it or turn it into positivity that wouldn’t last. Accept it and work around it. Make time for everything and make it one at a time. If you are playing with the kid, you should only do that. Of you are cooking, divert the kid with toys or screen time, be assured he is safe and only cook, fast and come back outside.
The same holds true, don’t juggle, handle with a different approach.
Appreciate Your Small Efforts
Pause whenever you want, take it as a luxury you have earned for not giving up on many things. During the pause, appreciate yourself for the little success and also for the failures. Because you have been working, trying to get things done and you are moving forward! That is important, even by an inch is also progress.
Don’t beat yourself with the deadlines and wordcounts. I wanted to write 1500 words per day, whom am I kidding. It is absolutely doable but not everyday! There are some days, where you need to pause, take a deep breath, and appreciate your efforts!
Believe In Routines
So far, more than motivation, it is the routine that has kept me going, the art of time-blocking through the day which I learned from a blog coach Shailaja V has been hihgly beneficial. I am able to commit to my work at hand and a sense of satisfaction prevails.
Yes, motivational quotes help, but for a short time, it might be the trigger but to make you move forward, you need to build a habit. I always think of brushing my teeth whenever I hear the word “habit”. Because back when I was a little kid. Brushing was a cumbersome chore. I used to think if I didn’t have to spend the boring 2 minutes here, I would be playing and creating sandcastles. But once in the habit, I started brushing twice a day and I loved it.
Why?
Understand the Purpose
Whatever work you are doing, for it to become a habit, you need passion.
Passion is driven by purpose.
Know your purpose, are you helping someone or are you helping yourself? Is the writing routine making you a better person and is helping you pay your bills. Once you fall in love with your purpose, the habit is a side effect of it.
If you are able to enjoy the process, then discipline, routine, and habit become a part of the journey. It won’t be cumbersome. You will love it.
Conclusion
It is fine once in a while if you take a break for self-care or sometimes even to just watch some series. Your mental health is more important than deadlines and gravitating habits!
Once you are charged, promise me to get back to the limelight and start writing! | https://medium.com/consitent/how-to-be-kind-to-yourself-when-you-are-not-consistent-cc124606540f | ['Brunda Sunil'] | 2020-08-07 05:52:20.464000+00:00 | ['Kindness', 'Habit Building', 'Mindfulness', 'Habits For Success', 'Consistency'] |
The future of drones is female | Women in Bolivia leverage technology in humanitarian work
From the traditional cholitas fighting in the rings of El Alto and climbing the peaks of the Andean mountains, to acclaimed researchers and scientists — Bolivian society champions independent and strong women. With technology opening up new opportunities, female drone operators now appear on the horizon.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems? Drones and gender
The World Food Programme (WFP) and Bolivia’s Vice Ministry of Defence (VIDECI) organized a week-long Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) training in December 2018 to strengthen local capacity for emergency preparedness and response. Thirty-five representatives from ten organizations attended the UAS training. While men dominated in numbers, it was clear among participants that there was no disparity between genders and the ability to operate drones.
“Women have the same capacity as men to use any type of technology. We just need to dedicate time to learn the handling of equipment and software for analysis and processing of drone images,” says Julieta Vargas from a local non-governmental organization (NGO), Practical Action. With a smile she adds, “Men might have a slight advantage, as they tend to play more computer games which have controllers similar to those of drones”.
Although women do not lack capacity with drones, the gap in access to education and the perception of male dominance in certain fields including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as well as information and communications technology (ICT) is evident. “Women face barriers to enter the technological job market but it is just a stigma, not a scientific difference,” says Jennie Lum, Business Support Assistant at United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) who joined the training from Panama. She admits that most of the drone pilots at UNHRD Panama are male, which reinforces the trend of women underrepresented in technology-focused studies and occupations (European Commission, 2018). According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNSECO), only 30 per cent of researchers worldwide are women. In some areas like ICT, that number plummits down as low as 3 per cent. Bolivia is leading the way, with women accounting for 63 per cent of researchers across sectors compared to 26 per cent in France and 8 per cent in Ethiopia (UNESCO, 2019). Women recognition in this field is fundamental to show that jobs are genderless.
For the United Nations (UN), gender equality is essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Increasingly, there are many global efforts to encourage female participation in technology fields including the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)-led Girls in ICT Day and the African Girls Can CODE initiative by the African Union Commission, UN Women and ITU. The latter was attended by 80 girls from 34 African countries in August 2018 — among them, a group working on a SMS-controlled drone to dispense life-saving medicine in rural areas of Africa (UN Women, 2018). Similar initiatives are now taking off in Bolivia: In March 2018 a regional event related to Stanford University’s Global Women in Data Science (WiDS) — took place in La Paz (Stanford University, 2019).
Female cooperation in (Practical) Action
For Julieta Vargas who works in risk management and climate change, the UAS training was her first encounter with drones and she is now capable of operating multi-rotor systems as well as creating maps and 3D models from obtained imagery. “Drones give me an extra tool for my work. Right now, for geographic information systems (GIS), we use satellite images which don’t always have ideal resolution. Drone pictures allow for a better analysis of vegetation types and their characteristics,” says Julieta, who develops maps to assess threats and vulnerabilities to native wetland vegetation or bofedales. “Currently, to monitor these plants indigenous to Bolivian mountains, we need to [physically] go in person to reach some areas. With drones, this task will no longer have to be done manually,” she says.
Drones to aid climate change adaptation
“After this training, it is clear that there are many uses for drones in our work — collecting information for early warning, emergency preparedness and disaster response. By using drones, we will be better positioned to assist the government in responding to disasters in this country,” says Elisabeth Faure, WFP Country Director for Bolivia. “Bolivia is one of the countries most impacted by climate change in Latin America, causing communities to move from their homes, as they cannot make a living anymore. We can now use drones to monitor the effects of climate change and help the most vulnerable,” she adds. Climate-related disasters tend to have a greater impact on those who rely on traditional ways of living (farming, animal herding) as well as people living in poverty.
Drones are now finding their way into civilian and humanitarian operations. As new applications of the technology are discovered, more and more women are increasingly looking to the skies and taking charge of drone controllers. | https://medium.com/@kasia.chojnacka89/the-future-of-drones-is-female-25383dd149d8 | ['Katarzyna Chojnacka'] | 2019-05-06 18:24:26.901000+00:00 | ['Gender Equality', 'Drones', 'Women In Tech', 'Humanitarian', 'Bolivia'] |
Convert Iterables to Array using Spread in JavaScript | CodeTidbit by SamanthaMing.com
Use ES6 spread (…) to easily convert Iterables into an Array! Often, iterables are limited in terms of their built-in methods. By converting it into an array, you’ll have access to ALL of the amazing array methods such as filter, map, reduce! Awesome 🎉
[ ...'hi' ]; // // ['h', 'i'] [ ...new Set([1,2,3]) ]; // [1,2,3] [ ...new Map([[1, 'one']]) ]; // [[1, 'one']] [ ...document.querySelectorAll('div') ] // [ div, div, div]
Built-in Iterables
In JavaScript, we have some built-in iterables that we use spread to convert them to an array:
String
Array
Map
Set
There’s one more, but we won’t focus on that for this post, TypedArray .
What are Iterables?
Iterables are data structures which provide a mechanism to allow other data consumers to publicly access its elements in a sequential manner.
If you’re interested in learning more about iterables, check out these awesome posts:
String → Array
const myString = 'hello'; const array = [...myString] // [ 'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o' ]
We can convert the array back to a string by using join()
array.join(''); // 'hello'
Set → Array
const mySet = new Set([1, 2, 3]); const array = [...mySet] // [1, 2, 3]
We can convert the array back to a string by passing it into new Set
new Set(array); // Set { 1, 2, 3 }
Map → Array
const myMap = new Map([[1, 'one'], [2, 'two']]); const array = [...myMap] // [ [ 1, 'one' ], [ 2, 'two' ] ]
Similar to Set, we can convert the array back to a string by passing it into new Map
new Map(array); // Map { 1 => 'one', 2 => 'two' }
NodeList → Array
const nodeList = document.querySelectorAll('div'); const array = [ ...document.querySelectorAll('div') ];
// [ div, div, div] *
*I suggest you paste the code into your browser to see the actual output
Array.from vs Spread
Another very similar method to the Spread syntax is Array.from . In fact, we can replace our examples with this:
Array.from('hi') // // ['h', 'i'] Array.from(new Set([1,2,3])) // [1,2,3] Array.from(new Map([[1, 'one']])) // [[1, 'one']] Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('div')) // [ div, div, div]
What’s the difference?
The difference is in the definition
Array.from works for:
array-like objects (objects with a length property and indexed elements)
iterable objects
Spread only works for:
iterable objects
So let’s take a look at this array-like object:
const arrayLikeObject = {
0: 'a', // indexed element
1: 'b', // indexed element
length: 1, // length property
}; Array.from(arrayLikeObject); // [ 'a', 'b' ] [...arrayLikeObject]; // TypeError: arrayLikeObject is not iterable
Which should I use?
Of course, it depends. If you are working with array-like objects, you have no choice but to use Array.from . But when it comes to iterables, I've always used spreads . Why? Because I'm a huge fan of the Airbnb Style guide. I wish I have a better reason, but that's all I have lol 😝 I'm guessing because it's less typing 🤔 If you know the reason, please drop it in the comment 😆
Resources
Share | https://medium.com/dailyjs/convert-iterables-to-array-using-spread-in-javascript-b6ccd4e858b1 | ['Samantha Ming'] | 2020-01-13 10:33:50.584000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Software Development', 'Programming', 'Software Engineering', 'Web Development'] |
Tableau Tutorial for Beginners | Before we conduct the data analysis, it is important to understand the types of variables we have in the data set.
When using Tableau, you will need to know the difference between numeric variables (a measure), and categorical variables. You will also need to know the difference between discrete and continuous variables, and how to visualize them.
Let me break this down for you.
Numeric Variables:
As the name suggests, numeric variables are variables that can be measured. They are also known as quantitative variables and are in the form of a numeric value.
A numeric variable can be of two types — discrete and continuous.
Discrete Variables:
The value of a discrete variable is obtained from counting.
For example, The number of candies in a jar is a discrete variable.
Continuous Variables:
The value of a continuous variable is obtained by measuring. Any measurable quantity such as time, distance, and the temperature is a continuous variable.
For example, The height of students in a class.
Categorical Variables:
A categorical variable represents the type of data that can be divided into groups.
For example, Race, sex, age group
Now that you understand the difference between the types of variables, we can move to the next step.
Step 2: Download and Install Tableau
Click on this link to download and install Tableau Public on your computer. Tableau Public is a free service that allows anyone to create interactive visualizations.
It is a free version of the Tableau Software that allows you to use most of the software functions. You can connect to CSV files, Excel spreadsheets, and text documents.
However, you will not be able to save your work locally on your computer. You will have to save and access it from Tableau Public.
Step 3: Connect Data Source
After your installation is complete, open Tableau Public. You will see a pane that looks like this on the left side of the window.
To connect to our data, click on Microsoft Excel. Then, find the Excel spreadsheet we just created and open it.
You will see a window that looks like this:
The data has been successfully loaded into Tableau.
Step 4: Data Analysis
To start analyzing the data, click on Sheet 1 at the bottom left corner of the screen.
You will see the following screen come up:
Pay careful attention to the data pane (on the left side of the screen). You will see the different variable names.
There are two things you need to know about the way Tableau classifies variables:
Data Type
Firstly, Tableau assigns each variable a data type — String, DateTime, Decimal, etc.
It is important to take a look at each variable and ensure that the data type is correct since it is possible for Tableau to get it wrong ( For example, Tableau could incorrectly classify a Datetime object as a String).
In this case, however, Tableau has seemed to have assigned the correct data type to each variable. We do not need to make any changes here.
Measures and Dimensions
Tableau also classifies variables into measures and dimensions.
Measures are types of variables that can be aggregated, or used for mathematical operations.
Dimensions are fields that cannot be aggregated.
You can think of measures as continuous variables, and dimensions as discrete variables (refer to the first step of the tutorial if you don’t remember the difference).
Let’s take a look at the data pane again:
The variables at the top half of the pane, such as ‘Cabin’ and ‘Embarked’ are classified as dimensions.
Variables in the bottom half, such as ‘Age’ and ‘Fare’ are classified as measures.
It is possible for Tableau to incorrectly assign a variable as a dimension or a measure. In this case, there are two instances where Tableau has done so. We will need to re-define these variables.
We will take a look at the data set again to identify the incorrectly defined variables.
The variables Pclass and Survived were classified as measures or continuous variables.
However, these variables are discrete. Although they are numerical, they represent a category and not some sort of quantity.
For example, take a look at the variable ‘Survived.’ A value of 1 indicates that a person survived the Titanic, and a value of 0 indicates they didn’t. This is a categorical variable.
We need to change these incorrectly defined variables before we start visualizing the data.
To do this, you just have to drag and drop. Click on the incorrectly defined variable and drag it up to the dimension section of the pane.
Here’s what it should look like when you’re done:
There are only four variables in the measure section, and everything else is classified as a dimension.
Now, we can start with the visualization process.
Step 5: Data Visualization
Histograms
We will start by visualizing one variable. When visualizing the spread of one numeric variable in a data set, a histogram is used.
First, we will visualize the distribution of the variable ‘Age.’
In order to do so, we will first need to create bins or intervals of the age group:
Choose a bin size of 10, and click ‘OK.’
The variable ‘Age (bin)’ should appear on your data pane:
To visualize the age group we just created, drag the ‘Age (bin)’ variable to the Columns pane at the top of the screen. Then, drag the ‘train(Count)’ variable to the Rows pane:
After you do this, you will see a histogram like the one below:
Age Distribution of Titanic Passengers
This is a good, clear visualization of the age distribution in our data set. However, it can be improved.
If you look closely, you will notice the value ‘Null’ on the X-axis.
To remove the null values:
Click on the drop-down near ‘Age (bin)’, and click on ‘Show Filter.’
The following should appear on the right-hand side of your screen:
Untick the checkmark next to ‘Null,’ and you will no longer see null values in your histogram:
Age Distribution of Titanic Passengers
If you want to change the colors of the bins, drag the ‘Age (bins)’ variable to the Color button in the Marks card:
Then, click on Color -> Edit Colors to choose a color palette:
Select a color you like, click on Assign Palette, and click ‘OK.’ You will now have a histogram with the colors you chose:
2. Similarly, we can now visualize the variable ‘Fare.’
Repeat the entire process to create a histogram for passenger fares. This time, use a bin size of 30.
Your chart should look similar to this:
Count Plots
Similar to the histograms we created for the variables ‘Age’, and ‘Fare’, we can create count plots for categorical variables.
First, we will visualize the counts of the variable ‘Survived.’
Note: Remove the variable ‘Age (bin)’ from the Columns section and the marks card. You will have to do this each time you want to create a new visualization.
Just drag the variable ‘Survived’ to the Columns section and the variable ‘train(Count)’ to the Rows section.
Then, drag the variable ‘Survived’ to the Color button in the Marks card, and choose a color palette:
Here’s how the graph will look:
You can do the same to visualize the remaining categorical variables in the data set.
Pclass
Follow the same steps as before, and you should get a visualization that looks like this:
Bar Chart
Bar charts are great for visualizing the relationship between multiple variables.
Were female passengers more likely to survive the Titanic than male passengers?
To answer this question, I two variables — ‘Survived’ and ‘Sex’ need to be visualized in a count plot. Based on the type of insight you want to get, you can color this by either variable:
The resulting plot will be something like this:
Survived and Sex
By just looking at this graph, we can find a correlation — female passengers did seem more likely to survive the Titanic than male passengers.
Tableau’s Marks Card
Before moving on to the next visualization, you need to know about an important feature of Tableau — the marks card.
Marks Card
Click on the “Show Me” button on the top right corner of the page, and you can find the marks card. Here, you can see different types of charts.
Tableau allows you to play around with different types of graphs to visualize the same data — there are bubble charts, tree maps, box plots, etc.
You can take a look at some of these, and spend some time creating different charts.
However, be careful when using these to visualize your data. Some of these graphs may look pretty but aren’t necessarily the best visualization practices.
Using charts that are too sophisticated may make it difficult for others to read and interpret, so proceed with caution.
Stacked Chart
An alternative way to visualize the ‘Sex’ and ‘Survived’ variables above is to use a stacked chart.
Select the stacked chart option from the Marks Card
Click on the card that looks like a stacked bar chart.
You should see a graph that looks like this. The bars for the variable ‘Sex’ are no longer visualized side by side. Instead, they are stacked on top of each other.
Stacked Chart — Survived and Sex
More Visualizations
Applying what we have learned above, we can create visualizations to find answers to the following data questions:
Note: I suggest writing down the questions. Then, create your own visualization to try and answer them yourself.
Did the passenger class a person was in have any impact on whether they survived the Titanic?
It looks like passengers in the third class were far less likely to survive than passengers of any other class.
Did the port the passenger embarked from have any impact on their survival?
There appears to be no apparent relationship between the variables ‘Embarked’ and ‘Survived.’
Were younger passengers more likely to survive the Titanic?
Note: To answer this question, you can use the variable ‘Age’ or ‘Age (Bin).’
Age and Survived
Age and Survived
The age distribution of passengers who survived the Titanic is similar to the age distribution of passengers who didn’t. There seems to be little to no correlation between age and survival.
Were passengers who paid higher fare prices more likely to survive the Titanic?
Note: I changed the bin size to 25 to get a clearer picture.
It can be observed that passengers who paid higher fare prices ($50 and above) have higher survival rates than passengers who bought cheaper tickets.
Visualizing Multiple Variables
Tableau is a great tool to use when you need to visualize the relationship between more than two variables at once because there are just so many ways to do it.
To show you an example, I will visualize the relationship between the variables ‘Age’, ‘Sex’, and ‘Survived.’
Survived and Age group with Sex
There are many different ways you can do this, depending on the variable you want to stand out.
You can re-position the graph and try coloring different variables, and see what answers your data question best.
Sometimes, visualizing the same variables in many different ways can give you an entirely new perspective.
I will now visualize a few more variables to find the relationship between them, and you should try these on your own.
‘Fare’, ‘Sex’, and ‘Survived’
‘Fare’, ‘Pclass’, ‘Survived’
‘Age’, ‘Pclass’, ‘Survived’
6. Marks, Tooltips, and Annotations
Using marks, tooltips, and annotations can make it easier for people to read your graph.
However, you should use these wisely to avoid cluttering your graph with too much information.
Tooltips
Tooltips are the details that appear when you hover your pointer over the visualization:
Survived Count — Tooltip
You can choose to add information to your tooltip, without adding it to the visualization.
Re-create the survival count chart above. Then, all you need to do is drag the variable you want to add to the Tooltip button in the Marks card:
This way, every time someone hovers a pointer over your graph, they will be able to see this additional information:
Survival Count with Tooltip
As you can see in the chart above, the tooltip has information on the passenger’s sex, which is not displayed in the graph.
Note: I would not recommend using tooltips this way. When visualizing categorical variables, it is always better to use a different hue or a separate column. I only created this to show you how you can use tooltips in the future.
Annotations
It is possible to display the information you see on the tooltip as an annotation on your graph.
This way, you can call out a specific mark or point on your graph and get readers to see it easily.
This is especially useful when visualizing location data in a map because you get to annotate and draw attention to a particular area.
Here’s how to annotate your graph:
Right-click on the histogram and click on Annotate -> Mark
2. A screen like this will appear. You can choose to remove marks you don’t want, and click ‘OK.’
You will now see the annotation appear like this:
And… We’re done!
I hope this tutorial helped you get started with basic data analysis and visualization with Tableau.
Of course, there is so much more to data visualization in Tableau, and we have barely scratched the surface.
If you are interested in learning more about exploring, analyzing, and visualizing data, I would suggest the following free learning resources:
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Data Visualization and Communication with Tableau — Duke University
This is a complete beginner’s course, that takes you through the basics of business analytics and data exploration. It is a 5-course specialization, that teaches you how to apply statistical analysis to make business decisions.
It takes you through using SQL to query your data, statistical techniques, business analysis, Tableau, and data communication/storytelling.
This course is free to audit, though you will need to pay if you want a certificate.
2. Tableau for Data Science and Visualization — Crash Course (freecodecamp)
This is a crash course to help you get started with Tableau and is a 29-minute video.
If you want to dive in and start using Tableau right away, this is a course you should take.
I would suggest this course if you learn better from watching video tutorials than reading articles.
3. Foundations of Data Analysis — edX
This course does not teach you Tableau. I have added it to the list because I think it is a great resource to understand statistical thinking and data analysis.
It teaches you the concept behind data exploration, and how to ask the right data questions. It also goes slightly deeper into the mathematical and statistical concepts required to learn data science.
The visualizations in this class are implemented in R programming. However, no prior programming experience is required, they’ll show you how to do it from scratch.
Technique > Tool
Photo by Haupes Co. on Unsplash
Personally, I feel like learning the technique, or the method behind something is far more important than learning the tools to implement it.
If you learn the technique to perform data analysis and visualization, you can easily pick up different tools to do the job.
Once you learn the science behind statistical analysis and data visualization, you can quickly figure out how to implement it using different tools — R/Python libraries, Excel, Tableau, PowerBi, etc.
Always prioritize learning the technique over learning the tools.
That’s all for this article! Thanks for reading :) | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/tableau-tutorial-for-beginners-43483adf719 | ['Natassha Selvaraj'] | 2020-07-19 15:30:08.849000+00:00 | ['Tableau', 'Data Analysis', 'Data Visualization', 'Data Science', 'Business Analysis'] |
The Year for Early Learning and Childcare: Covid-19 Insights | This article is the introduction of our four article series in early learning and childcare post Covid-19.
In August 2020 as Tarun and I contemplated Early Insights, the community of early childhood practitioners across seven countries we had been convening with our peers, we were struck by two things. One, the two of us shared a mission to serve the community with multiple perspectives that lay at the heart of the field. This covered the need for high quality adult child interactions, why early learning is important and what a world with excellent early learning and childcare for all could look like. Two, we were cognizant how the conversation at the edges of the field such as the power of technology, the need for care to power a 9.7 billion person planet and political and capital cycles were shaping it. We decided that this duality needed more explanation and debate.
By growing our community to 90 people across 14 nations, publishing seven articles, hosting two webinars and presenting at Teach for All’s global conference we examined our shared experiences. They highlighted that
While schools can go online, early education struggles to do so. The work of children, play, is cut off, parental routines are rewired and reaching parents is hard.
From the scars of stress, to the challenge of socio-emotional learning, the system of early learning and care we have are being buffeted by waves the system is not designed to handle
For perhaps the first time parents, teachers and policymakers are feeling the pain simultaneously
The way the world of early learning and childcare unfolds is a heart and mind issue. We wanted to shed some light on it and engage in a debate with you.
From September to November we spoke to 14 people engaged across the spectrum of early learning and childcare, from policymakers and investors to entrepreneurs and thought leaders on social care. This conversation at the edges highlighted three trends which we dive into in the following article series.
Trend One: The science and economics behind early learning is clear but the space needs revised communication to become a priority! Trend Two: Parents have unequal and poor access to information on early learning. This is critical because the easy scale behind early learning can address ballot box issues such as job creation, gender equality, access to health, and welfare services. All of which are important to parents as citizens and the state as a guardian of them. Trend Three: We need a 21st century understanding of what technology can (and cannot!) do for us — this means co-designing with parents and revamping learning for ages 4+
Our inside out and outside in viewpoints made us see the landscape in a fresh light which we summarise in a series ending summary here. For long form readers this journey is available as a report here.
Tell us what you think by tweeting us @earlyinsights or leaving a comment. We would love to hear from you! If you’d like to join our community, fill out our 1 minute sign up form here. | https://earlyinsights.org/the-year-for-early-learning-and-childcare-covid-19-insights-1a67457eebfe | ['Keya Lamba'] | 2020-12-17 16:36:49.193000+00:00 | ['Early Childhood Education', 'Inspiration', 'Covid 19', 'Perspective', 'Reflections'] |
Is It Worthwhile For Blockchain Projects To Write Their Codes From Scratch? | Advancing Technology
In as much as tailor-made solutions may drive developers to work on products from the ground up, there has been enough technological advancement, even in recent technologies such as blockchain, to build some unique specialized platforms.
Some platforms have been designed to make it easier for developers to quickly and effectively create fully working specialized platforms- trying to develop new codes without any existing template is an enormous task and especially when designing complex platforms or new technologies.
For example, building blockchain applications requires great skill and expertise. The language widely used in building crucial blockchain elements is not widely known. Developers may have to learn using it before they even embark on making even a simple blockchain platform.
ælf is an example of how fast technology is moving. They are creating a Linux like platform but for blockchain technology with the aim of establishing a sort of operating system or foundation where developers find it easy to build even complex platforms.
Platforms such as ælf could become the foundation for the future development of apps, websites, and software. They aim to improve efficiency even in the creation of applications.
There have been discussions over the internet about a future with ‘no coding.’ ælf will reduce the instances of new codes being written, by providing templates that are simple to understand and construct while still delivering complex solutions. These templates can be rearranged to suit the specific needs of the platform built.
ælf is using their own code for the two other specific reasons:
By building the code from scratch their developers will now be able to know every single detail of the program and will know it inside out. In order to properly address the three issues plaguing current blockchains — governance, resource segregation, and proper performance efficiency, a whole new solution is needed. This solution cannot be a variant or a version of current ‘faulty’ systems but must be revolutionary. This is especially considered even more important when taking into account that many existing codes are simply unable to equally improve on the issues without compromisation of another. Ælf is aiming to unclog the blockchain through the creation of ‘parallel processes.’ Rather than transaction processing taking place individually in a rigid and inefficient system, ælf’s code allows for a much more complete system to process transactions in batches concurrently.
In centralized platforms, companies such as QuickBase and Mendix are working to transform codes into visual interfaces. This was fueled by the cloud disruption of various legacy systems which allowed anyone with an internet connection to develop platforms that could rival those built from scratch.
Such systems are disrupting traditional software coding systems. ‘No code’ software has its code in the background. The app developer only sees the visual representation of the code, and this is what they use to build their platforms. More on software build disruption can be read here.
The blockchain app space is one that is proliferating sharply. Various industries are contemplating using decentralized applications to solve some of the underlying issues centralized platforms have. With platforms such as ælf allowing for true scalability and proper project implementation, developers will find it easier creating decentralized applications.
ælf provides a skeleton over which developers can add flesh to their application. Such platforms will only increase in future as efficiency is prioritized.
With the ælf kernel one can build their own blockchain with very simple coding skills. Essentially they only need to develop the smart contract and the rest is built for them.
But ælf’s differentiation from being just another template builder which only lasts a few years is the ability to customize and adapt. So developers can choose minimal coding to complete coding and everything in between. They have the choice to choose any programing language and can choose any governance protocol. This also means as tech develops, ælf can be adapted for new protocols and use cases, further providing an increasingly convenient platform and ease of execution for coders. | https://medium.com/swlh/is-it-worthwhile-for-blockchain-projects-to-write-their-codes-from-scratch-7bb3fd45ecad | ['Sal Miah'] | 2018-10-22 18:03:25.321000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Technology'] |
Surface | In 2008, I saved up money and bought myself an iPod. It was red. And it made me so happy. I spent a LOT of time deciding which model, which color, and even if an iPod was the right thing to spend my money on. After purchasing it, I was SO proud.
And a few months later, it went missing. And I was crushed.
I called my dad to tell him what happened and he reminded me of a passage in 2 Kings.
A group of prophets were cutting down trees using a borrowed iron axe.
“As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh no, my lord!” he cried out. “It was borrowed!” The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.” (2 Kings 6:5–6)
Dad said “let’s pray it surfaces just like the iron axe.” Wouldn’t you know it- the iPod appeared shortly after.
Seven verses. This story is only 7 verses in the entire Bible but is one I refer back to whenever I misplace something of value. Maybe you’ve lost something recently? Maybe it’s as unimportant as an iPod. (Although, at the time, that iPod was SO important to me). Maybe it’s something of greater or less value. It’s still of value to you and it still matters to God. Give this story a read and watch your faith grow just a bit. Pray for the iron axe to surface. | https://mindacorso.com/surface-e98a1384a97d | ['Minda Corso'] | 2020-12-10 12:40:44.405000+00:00 | ['Miracles', 'Prayer'] |
Subsets and Splits