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How we organize our software development process | At OnMyBlock (our previous startup) and at Airbnb, we used Scrum (with a few tweaks) as our software development process.
Every 2 weeks, our team would get together to review all the work that was done in the previous sprint (a time-boxed window usually 2–4 weeks long) and then plan for the upcoming sprint. This meeting is typically called sprint review and sprint planning.
Here is how we conducted the sprint review and planning:
Before the meeting, the scrum master (a single person responsible for project managing the stories during a sprint) would ping everyone to make sure they updated all their stories (aka tasks) in our project management software. At the start of the meeting, each person goes around and shares what they shipped, what work they couldn’t finish, and explain why they couldn’t accomplish the unfinished work. Then, the scrum master leads the team in discussion on which upcoming epics (aka features) are most urgent and important Everyone independently plans what they will deliver by the end of the next sprint, choosing from a list of prioritized epics. Each person is allotted a fixed number of story points. If you are allotted 13 story points (we used Fibonacci numbers to scale our story points), you can only commit to stories that have a total sum of 13 story points. Story points are values assigned to a story (aka tasks) that attempt to provide a sense of how difficult it will be to accomplish that story. After everyone is done planning, each person goes around and shares what they are committing to delivering in the upcoming sprint.
Sprint schedule
There are usually “stand-ups” in Scrum, which are short daily meetings for the team to update each other. Our team felt daily stand-ups were too frequent and unproductive so we cut it down to 3 per week except we have 2 per week on the weeks where we have sprint review and planning. Our stand-ups follow the typical agenda where each person goes around and shares what they did yesterday, what they are working on today, and if they have any blockers to their current story (aka task).
Pros of how we did Scrum
Engineers had more ownership of the features they were responsible for and this resulted in better performance reviews because we were assessed on which projects we led and delivered end-to-end.
There was clear accountability because if someone commits to work that they didn’t finish, they would be responsible for explaining why they couldn’t finish it by the deadline.
Less knowledge was required to accomplish tasks because an engineer can fill up their sprint with tasks that were related to their area of expertise; such as backend, frontend, data, ML, different services, specific languages, etc.
Cons of how we did Scrum
Estimating the difficulty of stories was rarely accurate, which led to frequent over estimating and underestimating of the work.
When we pre-assign ourselves stories, we typically chose stories that belonged to an epic we were responsible for. Many of us ended up working in silos, which decreased collaboration during the implementation phase of projects (we had a lot of collaboration during the design phase).
Entire features shipped slower because the concentration of effort was spread out across multiple epics at once.
It was difficult for our team to quickly adapt and change course mid sprint since we planned 2 weeks in advance.
The process today
At our current company, Mage (AI application development tool), we use a hybrid of Scrum and Kanban with a few tweaks. The tool we use to manage this is called Airtable.
Once a week, we hold a meeting called “Mage Force” where we review all the features we shipped last week and then prioritize the features we need to deliver in the upcoming release. Before we start the meeting, we hold a trust activity where the goal is to build trust amongst ourselves and to build each other up (one of our core virtues of “give people power-ups”). In contrast to having a 2 week sprint, we have 1 week release cycles where we ship as much product as possible that our customers need.
Magic
Here is how we plan our release cycle: | https://m.mage.ai/how-we-organize-our-software-development-process-4fbd4530b3f4 | ['Tommy Dangerous'] | 2021-03-19 19:00:38.602000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Product Development', 'Development', 'Engineering', 'Teamwork'] |
Top 15 Modern Home Interior Designs | Our home is an identity of our personality because it is a spot where we feel comfortable it does not matter about your lifestyle or taste which is modern, classic or traditional if your home has a pleasant feel, it will always be a home.
Everyone needs a comfortable environment and want well organized interior is according to their comfortably or lifestyle which is the necessity of every home. It does not matter that how your home looks messy but the way of living should always be organized with welcoming and fresh looking lifestyle.
1.Well Organised Dining Room
2. Entrance is More Attractive
Generally, a typical house entrance is more attractive to welcome guests, friends and relatives. A well organized home shows your manifest the tastes of owner’s lifestyle.
3. Well-Organized With Eye-Catching Latest Designs and Colors
A Home is that place where family, friends, relatives and guest spend a quality time with together in home so it is very much important that living house or space is to be well-organized with eye-catching latest designs and Colors plays an important role in modern style so always choose the right colors for your home.
4. Enhance Your Enjoyment with Comfortably
5. Your Dream Kitchen in a Reality
6. Your Home Bedroom For Energy Efficiency
7. Modern, Classic or Traditional
8. Fresh Looking Lifestyle
9. Home Look is Pleasant Feel
10. Luxurious Kitchen With Full of Possibilities
11. Proper and Comfortable Seating Arrangements
12. Gorgeous Bathroom with Paint Colors
13. Best Shades For Virtually
14. Luxurious Bathroom Ideas
15. Regardless of Your Taste
Contact us now to find out about our latest new home Interior Designs in Wellington. | https://medium.com/@grovehomes10/top-15-modern-home-interior-designs-49e3d09f693f | ['Grove Homes'] | 2019-02-07 10:53:29.946000+00:00 | ['Modern Home Design', 'Interior Design', 'Small Home Designs Nz', 'Designer Kitset Homes Nz'] |
Military Dependents Deserve Equal Access to Healthcare | Healthcare open enrollment season has just completed, and thousands of young graduates from military families faced lose-lose decisions.
The lucky ones will snag a rare job with health insurance in one of the toughest job markets in decades. The vast majority of others will remain unemployed and make one of two choices:
Enroll in the TRICARE Young Adult Program under their parents’ plans at an additional cost of hundreds of additional dollars per month while without income,
under their parents’ plans at an additional cost of hundreds of additional dollars per month while without income, Or risk being uninsured during a global pandemic.
Here’s what’s happening, based on my personal experience
The Affordable Care Act allows young adults to stay on their parents’ health plans until the age of 26; that is unless you are a military family under TRICARE, the military health insurance program.
Instead, dependents are covered by their parents’ insurance policy under TRICARE until the age of 23 if enrolled in undergraduate or graduate classes, and until the age of 21 if not.
As the daughter of a recently retired Coast Guard Captain, I felt this discrepancy firsthand.
The two of us at my college graduation
I remember when our family first found out, thanks to a military magazine article.
I was a college junior, still figuring things out like everyone else. But I was forced to quickly come to a shared understanding with my family that they could not afford to enroll me in the TRICARE Young Adult Program after my graduation. While I certainly never intended to be unemployed after my graduation, either way, a security blanket enjoyed by many of my peers was ripped from under my feet.
For me and for so many other military dependents, these were our options: graduate school or a job with insurance or bust.
I was thankfully accepted into Columbia University to pursue a Masters In Public Administration. Classes would start a month after my college graduation, and I would complete my masters within the year.
That summer, I renewed my military ID at the Coast Guard Base in Charleston before moving to New York City. When they handed me the new card, there was a hard truth on the right-hand side of the ID that would go on to define my early twenties:
Expiration Date: May 20, 2017.
My military status, and therefore my health insurance, would expire the day of my commencement at Columbia.
Throughout that next year, my job hunt was on overdrive as I balanced graduate school on the fast track. Simultaneously, newly-elected President Donald Trump initiated a job freeze on open positions in the federal government, therefore vanishing an MPA student’s typical employment runway.
I grasped for other positions in non-profits and consulting firms, and applied for, interviewed at and was rejected from over 30 organizations. The stress became so much I suffered from hives across my body for a week.
That same spring, I was thankful to spontaneously connect with the team at Exposure Labs, the award-winning film production company behind The Social Dilemma, Chasing Coral and Chasing Ice, and was offered a position (with health insurance).
I was lucky.
And while my experience was difficult, I certainly wasn’t navigating what could be the deepest recession since World War Two, according to the World Bank.
2020 and 2021 graduates are finding themselves in a broken and seemingly inaccessible job market due to the necessary physical and economic restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. There are no in-person job fairs, interviews or networking events. And these impacts can go on to determine graduates’ long-term job growth and wage potential for decades to come.
Lisa Kahn, an economist at the Yale School of Management, conducted a comprehensive study to explore exactly that. She learned that those who entered the job market in weak economies earned less at the beginning of their careers than those who started in strong economies and that this disadvantage persisted for as long as twenty years.
As we take all measures to control this virus, we must also offer every tailwind possible to disadvantaged graduates to give them a better footing in this tough job market… which leads us to the Great Recession and the birth of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
You, Me and the ACA
Just over ten years ago, the ACA was signed into law during an economic emergency and expanded health coverage to 20 million Americans.
One of the first ACA provisions to go into effect was the rule guaranteeing young adults the right to stay on a parent’s insurance until the age of 26.
Source: Obama White House archives (2013)
There are many reasons why this was one of the first provisions. According to the Obama Administration in 2010,
Pre-ACA, young adults had the highest uninsured rate of any group at one-third uninsured.
Young adults had the lowest rate of access to employer-based insurance, due in part to being at the beginning of their careers, and more often holding entry-level or part-time positions, jobs in start-ups, or other types of employment that typically comes without employer-sponsored health insurance.
And one in six young adults had a chronic illness like cancer, diabetes or asthma.
And yet, young adults from our military families face the same barriers without the same benefits.
Cost is often the counterargument for extending health insurance to young adults in military families. However, what is 40,000–75,000 additional young adults from military families compared to the 5.5 million young adults that have already gained coverage under the ACA from 2010 through September 2015? From my perspective, a drop in the theoretical bucket.
In this same vein, our military represents less than one-half of one percent of the American population, who, alongside their families, have volunteered to serve our nation and protect rights and freedoms they themselves may not receive.
Well, what can we do?
This June, Representative Elaine Luria, D-Va., introduced, with bipartisan support, the Health Care Fairness for Military Families Act (H.R.7176), which would allow TRICARE dependents to remain on their parents’ policy until the age of 26 without a premium increase. This switch could save military families more than $4,000 a year and accelerate our economy by releasing a massive burden stifling a portion of the next generation of professionals.
Representative Elaine G. Luria (Provided to US Congress by Member)
In a statement, Representative Luria said, “During this public health emergency, it is more important than ever to provide our service members and their families with affordable and accessible health care.”
Despite Luria’s bill being introduced in the House six months ago, it has yet to be considered by the House Armed Services Committee.
Since our country’s infancy, our military has served us — voluntarily, courageously and blindly. As we close out this year’s open enrollment season, I invite fellow Americans to return the favor by simply asking ourselves this question: is this where we want to cut corners? | https://medium.com/@savannahseydel/military-dependents-deserve-equal-access-to-healthcare-58520bf0cf5f | ['Savannah Miller Seydel'] | 2020-12-21 22:12:54.170000+00:00 | ['Healthcare', 'Military', 'Obamacare', 'Millennials', 'Policy'] |
Let’s learn how to to build a chat application with Redis, WebSocket and Go | Why Redis?
Let’s consider a chat application. When a user first connects, a corresponding WebSocket connection is created within the application ( WebSocket server) and it is associated with the specific application instance. This WebSocket connection is what enables us to broadcast chat messages between users. We can scale (out) our application (for e.g. to account for a large user base) by running multiple instances. Now, if a new user comes in, they may be connected to a new instance. So we have a scenario where different users (hence their respective WebSocket connections) are associated with different instances. As a result, they will not be able to exchange messages with each other - this is unacceptable, even for our toy chat application 😉
Redis is a versatile key value that supports a variety of rich data structures such as List , Set , Sorted Set , Hash etc. One of the features also includes a PubSub capability using which publishers can send messages to Redis channel(s) and subscribers can listen for messages on these channel(s) - both are completely independent and decoupled from each other. This can be used to solve the problem we have. Now, instead of depending on WebSocket connections only, we can use a Redis channel which each chat application can subscribe to. Thus, the messages sent to the WebSocket connection can be now piped via the Redis channel to ensure that all the application instances (and associated chat users) receive them.
More on this when we dive into the code in the next section. It is available on Github
Please note that instead of plain WebSocket , you can also use technologies such as Azure SignalRthat allows apps to push content updates to connected clients, such as a single page web or mobile application. As a result, clients are updated without the need to poll the server or submit new HTTP requests for updates
To follow along and deploy this solution to Azure, you are going to need a Microsoft Azure account. You can grab one for free if you don’t have it already! | https://itnext.io/lets-learn-how-to-to-build-a-chat-application-with-redis-websocket-and-go-7995b5c7b5e5 | ['Abhishek Gupta'] | 2020-04-13 17:07:46.656000+00:00 | ['NoSQL', 'Go', 'Redis', 'Database', 'Azure'] |
The Strange Case Of Abigail Shrier | As of writing this, Abigail Shrier’s new book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters is spending its second week as an Amazon best seller. The book received some praise when it was first released from the likes of Dennis Prager, Michael Knowles, Ben Shapiro — the normal types. Ray Blanchard and J. Michael Bailey (otherwise known as “the fucksaw guy”) provided praise for the book. It also got a glowing review from Feminist Current, a website founded by well known TERF Meghan Murphy. Basically, all the normal characters loved this book, but it didn’t seem like the kind of thing that would take off.
However, then Target stopped selling the book after somebody pointed out the oddity of a progressive company that has previously taken massive public backlash for its pro-transgender stance making profit off of it. Shrier and her fanbase responded to this with claims of “censorship” for “not appeasing the woke mob,” like you’d expect. Mind you, Target revered their decision the following day, but that did not seem to matter. At the same time this was going on, a man tried to get an ad for the book on a billboard reading “Puberty Is Not A Disorder,” (which is such a strawman it’s hilarious) and was denied.
I must admit, I can see why someone on the fence about transgenderism would be interested in this book. The transgender movement in the United States can easily enter a state where it refuses to answer tough questions, even when the answers to those questions would end up on their side. Mind you, considering most of the people who ask these questions are harassers acting in bad faith, I cannot blame anyone for getting a little short — but that certainly does lead to bad optics in the long run.
With that said however, the fact that one does not wish to answer a stupid question does not change the stupidity of the question being asked. While I have not read Irreversible Damage personally, I have been following Ms. Shrier’s career for the past two years and know it’s full of asking stupid questions and being surprised when she gets stupid answers. (For those curious, the subreddit r/gendercynical looked into some of the claims in Shrier’s book and found them to be nothing but bias anecdotes.)
From everything I’ve seen of this book, it’s fair to say that it’s nothing more than an expansion of the Wall Street Journal article that first got her on the map back in early 2019, on the topic of “Rampant Onset Gender Dysphoria.” Basically, the hypothesis states that the reason “so many” young people are becoming female-to-male trans people (neither Shrier nor any advocate for this hypothesis I have spoken to has defined exactly how large of an increase has occurred, but trust them, it’s a really big number) is because whole friend groups are turning trans all at once. While it is true that people in pro-trans friend groups and more likely to publicly be transgender, the study was pure nonsense.
The study in question was not peer-reviewed, and was basically nothing more than a survey. And the survey in question did not even talk to trans people themselves, instead talking to their parents — who were recruited for this study through transphobic forums! Considering what has been fact-checked regarding Shrier’s book, it seems like that’s her favorite kind of evidence.
I should also note, for someone who seems to stress the importance of female biology (she even said on Joe Rogan that the hole in the girl on the cover is supposed to be her uterus) she seems to have some odd views on it. When NPR ran a headline that used the phrase “people who menstruate” in an article regarding the tampon tax, Shrier responded:
Was there ever a more insulting, degrading and biologically reductive descriptor? Why would any girl look forward to womanhood, so described?
For the record, if “womanhood” means bleeding out of your vagina one-third of the time, I cannot think of any girl I’ve met who has “looked forward to womanhood” regardless of how it’s described.
However, even if we just limit the conversation to cisgender women, not all women menstruate. Even ignoring women who get hysterectomies or similar medical procedures — I’ll just leave it at I imagine Shrier is going to be rather confused when she enters menopause.
Another weird example of ignorance happened when Shrier on The Joe Rogan Experience back in July. During the interview, Shrier went on and on about the dangers of binders, or devices that squash the breasts of the person wearing them in order to make them look smaller. While they can be dangerous if used for too long or during periods where you’re already having trouble breathing, the same can be said of most bras. In fact, binders are not even the only thing that could serve that purpose — you’d think someone who writes so much about high school sports would know what a sports bra is.
I should end this article by talking about how Shrier views transgender people in general. Shrier has gone on at length many times about how she has no issue with trans people, she just believes that gender dysphoria is being over-diagnosed and the like. However, if that truly is the case, why is all of her writing never addressed towards the people actually suffering this confusion? Wouldn’t it be more useful for her to write with the target audience being these confused teenagers instead of — actually, I have no idea who her intended audience is, considering Bailey is a fan of her work I guess it might be fans of fucksaws.
Shrier has never once given an example of what separates these incorrect diagnoses she rails against with correct ones she takes no issues with. When pressed on it, she sometimes mentions that gender dysphoria “used to be” something that shows up in early childhood — transgender people regularly say it still does, for the record — and only occurred in people born male. The fact that these changes could be caused by a further understanding of the issue is simply unthinkable to Shrier, instead, she believes, it’s part of some wide conspiracy that does not even have a conspirer.
To end with, I will note that Shrier respects “real trans people” so much that her Wall Street Journal article on Rampant Onset Gender Dysphoria was given the title “When Your Daughter Defies Biology.” I really do not feel I need to go into that. | https://medium.com/@ephromjosine/the-strange-case-of-abigail-shrier-7d872b80527b | ['Ephrom Josine'] | 2021-02-05 23:33:50.214000+00:00 | ['Abigail Shrier', 'Transgender', 'LGBT'] |
Fandom, Fangirls and Female Sexuality | “And the louder you screamed, the less likely anyone would forget the power of the fans. When the screams drowned out the music, as they invariably did, then it was the fans, and not the band, who were the show…” (Ehrenreich, Hess and Jacobs, 1992)
Last month at Brisbane’s BIGSOUND music conference, Pitchfork’s senior editor, Jessica Hopper, gave a keynote address which I strongly believe is essential viewing for anyone with an interest in music. As one of the most influential music critics of today, Hopper could have spoken about anything and had the room’s complete attention, but instead she took the opportunity to expose the sexist attitudes that plague the world of music, opening a discussion about why, after years of women establishing themselves as incredibly talented musicians, tastemakers and writers, women in music are still made to feel like they don’t belong. She spoke about some of the daily struggles women face as both musicians and music professionals in the industry, sharing all too real examples from women all over the world.
As a young woman on the cusp of her professional life with an interest in dipping her toe in the music business, these stories were quite disconcerting, but interestingly enough what jumped out at me was Hopper’s discussion of society’s disregard for women as consumers of music. Hopper eloquently highlighted how we have lost sight of the enduring capacity that young women have to anticipate, sustain and add culture value to the experience of music, and how we instead look down on female fans as second tear to male:
The term ‘fangirl’ tends to be a pejorative one. Its associated somehow with a lesser experience of music, as if teen girls in all of their riotous enthusiasm are simply undermining the point. Artists are made less important by that fangirl excitement, which is reduced and delegitimised as hysterical or silly, or worst of all, stupid. Their interests are assumed to be based on the glimmering surfaces or their attraction to the artist, rather than what they actually get from the music, or the concerts or the fan communities that they are a part of. Their interests are seen as an adoration that spoils the credibility of the artist that they love.
Hopper’s powerful address made me question my own frequent misuse of the term ‘fangirl’ and why I was so easily turning on my own and dismissing a demographic that is in fact integral to the industry. Women, in particular young girls, are the largest consumers of music in the world today and over the years have helped shape the way music is written, promoted and sold. After all, fangirls are not a new phenomenon…
In recent years the media has been swept up in a moral panic surrounding the intense and ‘unhealthy’ fans of artists like Justin Bieber and One Direction, but as Barbara Ehrenreich, Elizabeth Hess and Gloria Jacobs highlight, this is not the first case of star centred female hysteria. In the 1940s young women were swooning over Frank Sinatra, in the 1950s they were screaming for Elvis Presley and in the sixties, fandom hit a whole new level with the emergence of Beatlemania. In Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships Katherine Larsen and Lynn Zubernis discuss how The Beatles were headline news not only for their musical talents, “but for the reactions of their female fans, whose swooning and crying constituted a rare open expression of emotion and sexual feelings which has been described as revolutionary.” The young Beatles fans were reported as expressing themselves by, “sobbing uncontrollably while screaming… until the onset of either unconsciousness or laryngitis. Girls peed in their pants, fainted, or simply collapsed from the emotional strain.”
It is evident simply from the wording in the above report that, although The Beatles were a highly respected band, these young fans were looked down upon by society and their support of the band was mocked and ridiculed as silly and overwrought. The same can be seen today with Beliebers and Directioners, simply by looking at their urban dictionary definitions:
While admittedly these fandoms have at times produced scary and unhealthy subcultures which should of course not be encouraged,
…we cannot dismiss an entire culture based on a few extremists (sound familiar?). Fangirls have proven time and time again to be dedicated and passionate consumers, they will buy every ticket and every piece of merchandise available and are the cheapest and most effective publicists an artist could dream of. Yet, instead of celebrating this lush enthusiasm, the stigma surrounding female fandom seems to be, not so subtly, reinforcing that the worst thing you can be in this world is a passionate young woman. Why does the music industry, and the world at large, continue to reject these young fans?
Writer and Doctor Who fanatic, Deborah Stanish, suggests that there are two key issues at fault. Firstly, is the involvement of ‘fandom gatekeepers’, who take on the role of policing fandoms from people who they believe aren’t doing it ‘right’. This notion, which is seemingly ridiculous, deems there is only one true way to be a fan and dismisses fangirls as frivolous and their enjoyment of certain artists and music as unauthentic. Stanish proposes the second issue is the demonization of fangirls, which she defines as, “the systematic belittling of women’s, particularly young women’s, opinions.” In an article for Apex Magazine highlighting the oppression of fangirls in geek culture she wrote:
These petty fandom politics are damaging, and create an environment of exclusion that seeps into the real world. These are the same sort of arguments that were used to keep women out of voting booths, jobs and political office. It’s the rationale that is still used to drive women away from video games, comics, and the Internet at large: they don’t count, their opinions don’t count and we’re going to make sure they know it.
Looking back at fangirls within the music community, because their fan adoration is generally directed at male artists and boy bands, I would suggest there is a third issue to unpack as to why fangirls are frowned upon, and that is societies discomfort with female sexuality.
Fandom theorists believe that for many female fans, fandom is inviting because of its encouragement of self-expression, including sexual exploration. But as the constant public shaming of these young female fans by society, the larger fandom communities and even the artists they adore shows us, there is something about young women desiring or expressing sexual feelings that is socially unsettling and needs to be controlled. Larsen and Zubernis continue to highlight that young women are struggling to, “create a healthy sexual identity for themselves in a society still filled with mixed messages, double standards, fear and exploitation.”
[caption id=”attachment_6653" align=”aligncenter” width=”330"]
Society is fine with this…[/caption]
It seems the music industry is fine with making young women sexual objects in order to make money, but as soon as they become sexual subjects who express their desires, a moral panic is declared (simply look at Miley Cyrus)! Because then, the control is out of their hands and the reality sets in that female sexuality in young girls exists beyond the male gaze. There seems this social double standard where young boys are expected (if not encouraged) to have sexual feelings and to explore them privately with outlets like porn. But today, in 2015, we still seem to treat young girls as precious and delicate flowers that need to be protected from the realities of adulthood. We should be encouraging a healthy and safe exploration of sexuality in young girls, rather than instilling them with a sense of shame.
[caption id=”attachment_6949" align=”aligncenter” width=”300"]
But not with this.[/caption]
Hopper’s keynote address opened a much needed discussion about why the music industry dismisses fangirls as relevant consumers of music. It seems that for healthy development to occur, the industry needs to start acknowledging and valuing fangirls and to simply stop telling them that they are doing it wrong. Within the industry and throughout the world, fangirls are dismissed as overly emotional or hysterical, but even hysteria is a gendered term. If you look as far back as the nineteenth century, Freud defined hysteria as a neurosis in women caused by repression, conflicted sexuality and fantasy.
So maybe the question should no longer be, why is society dismissing fangirls? But instead, is fangirl excitement simply caused by the heightened emotions of pubescent teens, or is it deeper than that? Is this fangirl ‘hysteria’ a product of generations of sexual repression and a disregard of young women as sexual beings? | https://medium.com/the-isthmus/fandom-fangirls-and-female-sexuality-5c325d341396 | ['The Isthmus'] | 2016-05-22 01:06:02.036000+00:00 | ['Feminism', 'Fangirl', 'Fandom'] |
Breaking down barriers; building new futures | Michael was drawn to visual and experiential learning experiences from an early age.
As a youngster, he excelled in the woodshop, but dyslexia made reading and writing difficult, so he was forced to repeat the fourth grade. Instead of feeling defeat, Michael seized the opportunity to explore creative workarounds that would propel him through the rest of his school life and into today.
“The barriers I overcame in life drove me to become who I am today. I have two decades of tackling impossible challenges, turning dreams into reality, and inspiring others to do the same.” -Michael Sturtz
In college, Michael searched for the ideal art school and teacher but never found either — even after attending four different art schools. So, he set out to reinvent arts education and vocational training in a truly non-competitive learning environment. In 1999, Michael started his own ultra-accessible hands-on art school, to become the teacher he had been seeking.
Today, The Crucible is the largest nonprofit industrial arts education facility in the US, with over 90 faculty and 8,000 students served yearly.
Michael designed and directed the facilities and programs, including The Crucible’s impressive scholarship program, which builds educational and career pathways for disadvantaged communities.
He also presented stunning theatrical events at The Crucible, uniting industrial arts processes with stagecraft and all manner of performing arts that defined a new genre of entertainment, attracting audiences from around the country.
“I enjoy bringing diverse groups of people together in the community to work collectively on common goals, and steer them toward sustainability and success.” -Michael Sturtz
With the success of The Crucible under his belt, Michael went on to launch the first Stanford University lab housed inside of a Corporation. The Stanford Creative Ignition Lab at Autodesk’s mission is to explore the potential of visual, experiential, and embodied thinking to advance the future of learning, creativity, design, and making.
“We pioneered new ways to more purposefully bring the tools of invention and
production seamlessly into creative processes.” -Michael Sturtz
Michael led the lab until 2017 when he was recruited to lead the Design Kitchen; the in- house design consultancy and prototyping lab at Google X.
There, he focused on early-stage proof-of-concept prototyping for all Google X ‘moonshots.’
While Michael has been consulting and visiting New Zealand for 12 years, as an EHF fellow he can now truly set his sights on helping to shape New Zealand’s future.
He has been working with Callaghan Innovation, traveling the globe to research, interview, and build case studies on critical success factors that establish innovation districts. Michael’s research and recommendations will inform the development of Callaghan Innovation’s Gracefield Innovation Quarter.
Michael is now striving to create Indigeny: an accessible innovation center where happy accidents arise from the intersection of education, technology, science, and indigenous wisdom.
“Drawing inspiration from indigenous wisdom, Indigeny will ideate, incubate, and launch new, Kiwi-born designs, technologies, and materials.” -Michael Sturtz
Michael hopes the lab will create and curate career pathways for the Maori community, high school, and university students, and green innovators to inspire, mentor, and train a new generation of world-class environmental leaders.
“By helping to develop native designs, technologies, materials, and leaders; and creating new educational and employment pathways, Indigeny will contribute to New Zealand’s growing economic independence and elevate New Zealand as a leader in the race to save our planet.”
Michael first visited New Zealand in 2007 to design and help build the metal casting, welding, and blacksmithing facilities for The Learning Connexion near Wellington. It was through his frequent visits in the following years that Michael became passionate about Aotearoa’s potential to lead the world in restorative technologies.
“I feel NZ is unique in its accessibility to government change-makers, indigenous wisdom, and invested open-mindedness about environmental restoration. I believe it’s where Indigeny will receive the support needed to launch a new model of living on the planet.” -Michael Sturtz
Michael believes that launching Indigeny in New Zealand is “the highest and best use of my existence” and he looks forward to partnering with other visionaries at EHF who are similarly impassioned by their own unique missions. | https://stories.ehf.org/breaking-down-barriers-building-new-futures-734d00f3e802 | ['Madina Knight'] | 2020-12-15 01:49:40.994000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Cohort 5', 'New Zealand', 'Art', 'Creative'] |
On Writing | “Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.”
— Michael Michalko
Via AdviceToWriters
For 100s more On Writing posts, go here. | https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/on-writing-2d82b09b4e07 | ['Scott Myers'] | 2020-12-21 13:02:37.879000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Writing', 'Fiction', 'Screenwriting', 'Creativity'] |
Scan Business Cards to Excel With BizConnect | With OCR software you can scan business cards to excel effortlessly and quickly. The scanning is done with a high-resolution card scanners or even high-definition scanners depending on the requirement. They can do the scanning in just a few minutes without the need of any special paper for the scanning. There are many OCR software available in the market that can do the scanning to Excel. Converting the scanning to an Excel file is also very easy and simple. Since scanning to Excel involves several steps such as, title removal, elimination of the blank spaces, alignment, and resizing, you will have to do all these tasks again to get an Excel document from the scanned business card.
So, to scan business cards to excel, you must have an OCR program like BizConnect, Onenote or any other good OCR software. Since the OCR software has its own format for the document, using it is easier. There are three ways to scan business cards to excel format. Firstly, you can use OCR software that is based on OCR accuracy. Second, you can use everyone or other OCR applications that have their own OCR format conversion tools. Thirdly, you can export business cards to excel through other OCR programs.
Bizconnect Export business cards to Excel — To export business card to Excel from OCR software, you need to select the file that you want to export, then choose “batch scan.” Then, choose “Fit to Exit” from the drop down menu. You will be prompted for a name, password if necessary. The batch scan should take a minimum of 5 minutes.
Bizconnect — To scan business cards to excel through Bizconnect, you need to download the free version of Bizconnect. Next, download and install the free version on your computer. Open Bizconnect, then click on “Card Scan.” If you are using the full-text option, choose all cards and click “scan.” If you are only using the image option, choose one card at a time and scan it.
Bizconnect Choose output tab — to scan business cards to excel format by using OCR software, you need to choose the tab “output” and choose “file.” In order to view the resulting document in Excel, you need to choose the “table” option. Then, you need to go to “sheets” and click on “table.” In the table, you can choose the appropriate columns for the data that you want to display.
There are many apps to scan business cards to excel file. However, not all of these apps are made for easy use. There are apps for business card scanning and there are also apps that allow you to editable formats. If you are unsure which of these apps you should use, you can hire the experts to help you can use Bizconnect. | https://medium.com/@bizconnectus/scan-business-cards-to-excel-with-bizconnect-d23849a1b02f | [] | 2021-06-17 10:19:17.937000+00:00 | ['Business Cards', 'Free', 'Business Card Reader', 'Readers'] |
Wyze Labs shakes up home security with an inexpensive pro service for 2021 | Wyze Labs is shaking up yet another market with an incredibly inexpensive product and service offering. The company is taking preorders on a home security system with professional monitoring for just $60 per year that will be delivered in March 2021—and buyers will get the basic starter kit for free.
Customers who don’t want to commit to a full year of service will be given the option to pay $60 for the starter kit and $5 per month for the service. Either way, the monitoring service—which will be provided by a third party, Noonlight—will cost exactly half what Ring charges customers who opt in to monitoring for its Ring Alarm product line. And a similar Ring Alarm starter kit costs $200 (although they’re currently on sale for less).
Wyze Labs Users will arm and disarm the system using either the Wyze app or this keypad.
Mentioned in this article Wyze Cam v3 Read TechHive's review$19.99MSRP $19.99See iton Wyze Labs A Noonlight dispatcher will be notified when the system goes into an alarm state, and the dispatcher will attempt to contact the subscriber and coordinate help from first responders (police, fire, or ambulance) if there’s an emergency, including routing information to the appropriate 911 call center. If the subscriber can’t be reached, Noonlight will automatically summon an emergency response to the subscriber’s home.
The Wyze Home Monitoring Core Starter Kit will include a Wyze Sense V2 hub (the brains of the system and the bridge to your home network), a Wyze Sense keypad (for arming/disarming the system), two Wyze Sense V2 entry sensors (for doors or windows), and a Wyze Sense V2 motion sensor. The hub will operate on AC power with a battery backup good for about 10 hours. It will connect to your home network via ethernet or 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (2.4GHz only), though it also supports Bluetooth 4.1 and Bluetooth Low Energy 5.1.
[ Further reading: The best smart home systems ]The system can be armed and disarmed from the keypad or via the Wyze app on a mobile device. The system will have Home and Away monitoring modes, so that the motion sensor won’t trigger an alarm while you’re home. The hub will have an 82dB siren onboard, which doesn’t strike us as very loud (the Ring Alarm siren puts out 105dB, and even that isn’t as loud as you might want). Perhaps more importantly, the Wyze hub doesn’t have an LTE radio onboard, so there’s no failover in case your broadband connection goes down (seasoned burglars know to cut your telephone and/or cable lines before breaking in).
Wyze Labs The Wyze Labs Home Monitoring System Hub has a battery backup, but there’s no LTE radio onboard for broadband backup.
The hub communicates with Wyze’s new sensors using unlicensed radio spectrum at 915MHz, which should provide excellent range (Wyze claims 500 feet for the keypad and sensors).
Mentioned in this article Ring Alarm Read TechHive's reviewMSRP $199.00See it Those outboard sensors can be configured to trigger cameras to begin recording video, but the motion sensors on the cameras cannot trigger an alarm state (a Wyze spokesperson said such a feature might be added down the road). Subscribers will receive one license for Wyze’s Cam Plus service, which brings AI notifications such as person detection along with event recordings of unlimited length on Wyze cameras. Additional licenses will be made available to subscribers at a discount.
Users will also be able to integrate other Wyze products—including its inexpensive smart bulb—into the Home Monitoring System, so that the system’s sensors will be able to trigger the bulb to turn on. And IFTTT users will be able to tie the Wyze system together with devices and systems from other vendors that also support IFTTT. Wyze says it intends to expand the system with water leak sensors (to mitigate water damage) and temperature sensors (to help avoid frozen pipes).
You’ll find more information about Wyze Home Monitoring Service at Wyze Labs’ website. We’re looking forward to getting a system in for an in-depth evaluation. Stay tuned.
Updated shortly after publication to clarify how the sensors on Wyze cameras interact with the system.
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/@charlot43219324/wyze-labs-shakes-up-home-security-with-an-inexpensive-pro-service-for-2021-98102e123002 | [] | 2020-12-25 01:42:32.212000+00:00 | ['Entertainment', 'Streaming', 'Surveillance', 'Internet'] |
Will We See a Return to Major Sporting Events in 2021? — Chirs Norminton | It is undoubtedly true that the sporting year of 2020 will go down as the most disrupted since the Second World War ended over 75 years ago. The Covid-19 Pandemic spread rapidly and led to most of the world’s sporting events being postponed or even cancelled.
The financial fall-out from this massive disruption is yet to be fully felt by the clubs and organizations that have been affected.
Better times ahead in 2021?
While the pandemic continues to disrupt many major countries around the world, there has been some return to sporting events, albeit without spectators.
2021 will provide if all goes well, an absolute plethora of sporting events, some of which were postponed from 2020. The Tokyo Olympic games have been rescheduled to take place one year later in 2021 and the Euro 2020 football championships are now expected to take place during June and July 2021.
This will all lead to a very congested sporting calendar for many professional sports and for the athletes who take part in different sports venues.
The Premier League football team Tottenham Hotspur, for example, had a lot of players drafted for playing international games leaving the team behind with a handful of players left to play as they would be gone most time due to the players self-isolating.
The financial impact of Covid-19
Even the largest events in the world, such as the Tokyo Olympic Games, have suffered financially due to postponements.
As we all should know, there are a lot of people in Japan within close proximity. Tokyo is a tourist hotspot but due to travel restrictions, a lot of money had been lost as trips had to be cancelled.
The cost is predicted to run into billions of dollars in extra expenses for the Japanese organizers who will also have to adapt to ‘Social Distancing’ of the spectators within the stadiums when the events do take place.
The reduction in the number of people being able to attend each event will result in a reduced income from the events which will also be combined with extra costs in providing staff and equipment to oversee that the crowds are able to enjoy the events in a safe environment.
A major positive that may have some impact upon the success, or otherwise, of the sporting season of 2021 will be the efficacy of the various vaccines which are now just being introduced for public use.
If these vaccines are shown to provide sufficient protection, which is believed to do so, we may finally have what the scientists call ‘herd immunity.’ What this means is that people will be immune to the virus and will no longer spread it meaning that sporting events may be able to resume like before and increase the numbers of spectators they can admit.
This would provide a huge advantage, even a life-saver, to some sporting organizations who depend upon their weekly attendances to pay-their-way.
The ‘new normal’ for 2021 and beyond
Companies and individuals who specialize in providing financial solutions for sporting clubs, such as Chris Norminton, will be in much demand once the sporting calendar starts to re-establish itself in what has been described as “the new normal”.
Many sporting clubs have already started to use cashless systems for entry to stadiums and for purchasing food and beverages within and around the venues. As it is considered that banknotes and coins may be able to carry the Covid-19 virus on their surfaces, there will be a major change in direction towards cash-free systems within sporting and concert venues in the next few years.
The future looks bright for sport in 2021 if the vaccines prove to be efficient in controlling the pandemic, especially with a new strand of the virus on the rise. However, many potential spectators and the events they attend will have to adapt to this ‘new normal’ which may not be detrimental to sport if a cashless society becomes an accepted part of it. | https://medium.com/chris-norminton/will-we-see-a-return-to-major-sporting-events-in-2021-chirs-norminton-11b035bfd446 | ['Chris Norminton'] | 2020-12-23 14:20:06.453000+00:00 | ['Football', 'Sports', 'Technology', 'Soccer', 'Chris Norminton'] |
3 Best Gifts for Your Growing Daughter (2 to 5 years old) | From their terrible twos to fantastic five’s, toddlers spend most of their time during this age bracket mimicking adults, figuring out what they love to do, and of course, turning the house upside down for moms to clean up after. Sure growing kids, let alone girls, can be a handful but they are also such a joy that you just want to surprise them with the best gifts for daughters 2 to 5 years old.
Here is a list of the top gifts that will surely put a smile on your little angel’s face.
There is nothing girls of this age enjoy more than pretend play. Two to five years old are usually the ages kids play with brooms, kitchen pans, and whatever they see adults use daily. This kitchen playset is a top choice for parents looking for gifts for daughters 2 to 5 years old. Giving them their own kitchen space will not only keep them busy, but it will also keep them out of your kitchen — a big yay for moms.
When buying gifts for daughters 2 to 5 years old, make sure they learn something while having fun with your gift too. With their imaginations running wild and free as they will ever be, little girls love picture books with engaging stories that will feed their fantasies. This storybook by Karen Jameson and Marc Boutavant is popular among parents all over the world.
Magical Love and Bub Portrait
Little girls always imagine themselves as their favorite characters and when they see themselves as fairies or princesses in a beautiful custom photo, it will make them happy more than anything else. Make your child’s dream of becoming a Woodland Fairy, a Pixie, or a Disco Ballerina come alive through premium canvas portraits by Love & Bub.
Give the best only to your daughter. Make her feel special by giving any of these unique and wonderful gifts for little girls that will surely make her smile.
Find more blogs at Love and Bub Portraits. | https://medium.com/@artistsloveandbub/3-best-gifts-for-your-growing-daughter-2-to-5-years-old-d3f7d0f3f9c5 | ['William Anderson'] | 2021-08-27 10:49:12.717000+00:00 | ['Kids', 'Parenting', 'Baby', 'Love', 'Parents'] |
5 Simple Dietary Tips To Lose Weight During Winter | How to lose weight fast for next summer
5 Simple Dietary Tips To Lose Weight During The Winter
Winter is here, which means you’ll be feeling sluggish and hungry all of the time!
Stepping outside for a quick walk or even an inside gym session becomes more difficult as the weather cools.
You avoid outside activities, sweat less, and eat more; these are the three fundamentals of any healthy weight-loss plan.
Let’s face it, losing weight during these months might be challenging.
During the winter, we drink less water, which causes dehydration and adds to our general tiredness.
When you combine all of this, you wind up consuming more calories than you burn on a daily basis.
The ideal recipe for gaining weight!
Is there a way to lose weight, and possibly keep it off, without having to work up a sweat?
Well, if you follow a few easy but crucial dietary guidelines on a regular basis, you could not only help yourself but also others.
5 Diet Tips to Help You Lose Weight This Winter
1. Make sure everything is fresh.
Winter necessitates home-cooked meals.
We usually opt for a ‘healthy’ bowl of prepared soup rather than making it from scratch.
Any packaged or processed food means you’re consuming too much sodium, preservatives, and sugar, which can all contribute to weight gain.
Markets are brimming with fresh greens in the winter.
Stock up and prepare ahead of time.
Make healthful food from scratch by combining a range of seasonal ingredients.
2. Indulge in herbal teas
We tend to feel less thirsty on cold days, which leads to dehydration without our knowledge.
Furthermore, what we commonly refer to as “hunger pangs” are actually indicators that the body requires water rather than food.
A body that is dehydrated has a weakened metabolic system.
Warm water or herbal teas will not only relax and rehydrate your body, but will also keep you fuller for longer periods of time.
Green tea, black tea, chamomile tea, and oolong tea have all been shown to suppress appetite and prevent overeating.
3. Before a meal, eat a low-calorie soup.
According to a study conducted by Penn State University, having a low-calorie soup before a meal can help you avoid overeating and consume fewer calories.
The research was presented in Washington, D.C. at the Experimental Biology Conference.
According to the study, those who ate soup before lunch consumed 20% fewer calories overall than those who did not.
According to the study, you should prefer low-calorie broth-based soups over high-calorie cream-based soups, which might lead to weight gain.
4. Put protein on your dish.
Protein keeps you satiated for longer, keeping you from overindulging in sugary, fattening foods, which is especially important during the winter.
Furthermore, it aids in the stabilisation of blood sugar levels, which may aid in weight loss.
5. Participate in physical activity indoors.
It is not necessary to engage in outside activities all of the time; alternatively, you can engage in exciting indoor exercises such as barre workouts, yoga, dance, and pilates, all of which can be done during the winter.
To keep fit and lose weight, all you have to do is put down your blanket and set aside 20 minutes.
Losing weight is not as simple as eating healthy and working out. For as long as time can tell, people have been misguided because they rarely give importance to factors including hormonal imbalances, poor metabolic rates, toxins-buildup, existing medical conditions, you name it. When these factors are not dealt with, why do healthy eating and exercise even matter? This is the same question that the creators who approached their weight loss supplement called African Lean Belly through the lens of the African culture have been trying to answer. Plot twist, there is no answer because such suggestions become meaningless if the root cause is not handled. | https://medium.com/@badrshatla77/5-simple-dietary-tips-to-lose-weight-during-winter-a824f0d40419 | ['Badr Shat'] | 2021-12-13 00:59:37.897000+00:00 | ['Belly Fat', 'Weight Loss', 'Fat Burning Foods', 'Metabolism', 'Lose Belly Fat'] |
Finimo All-in-One Esport Gaming Payment Gateway Platform! | Finimo Token Launch to bring online payment accounts to whole new Esports gaming industries.
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Finimo current platform offerings Finimo token on justswap for players and investors and soon to be supported for other platforms and online games. In less than 6 months, Finimo is planing to become the most liquid recruitment marketplace on the planet, bigger than all other esports recruitment platforms combined.
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✅Like & Share Our Official Instagram Page:- https://www.instagram.com/finimo_io/ | https://medium.com/@finimoio/finimo-all-in-one-esport-gaming-payment-gateway-platform-1e8c03529315 | [] | 2020-12-15 10:26:44.656000+00:00 | ['Online Gambling', 'Smart Contracts', 'Blockchain', 'Esport', 'Tron'] |
Tech Breakdown: Hiding Water in Boat Interiors | A common problem encountered when making boat-related games or really any games that contain a big water surface is hiding that water surface when something is floating on it. I’ll describe the approach I use in my game Sail Forth, in Unity3D terms, but the technique should be applicable anywhere.
The Problem. Someone get a bucket!
Since water in most games is just a big plane, it makes sense that if anything was floating in it, the water surface would intersect it!
So how do we fix this? There are 2 main approaches I know of: one is based around deforming the water mesh below the hull of the boat, and another involves masking out the water surface within the boat interior. We’ll be focusing on the second approach because it is the one I know how to do!
There are 3 components to this solution:
Making a ‘mask’ mesh for each boat
Writing a shader for the ‘mask’ mesh
Modifying the water shader to use the mask
The Mask Mesh
First we need a mesh for our boat that we can use to mask out the water surface. I hand-author a mesh for each boat, depending on your situation you may be able to use a single generic mesh.
The water mask mesh
A good way to create this mesh is to take the edges along the rim of your boat’s interior and fill it in. It’s important that this mesh be either a separate object or have its own material in the engine, so that we can assign it the masking material.
The Mask Shader
Now that we have the mask mesh, we need a shader and material that will hide the water surface wherever the mask is drawn. At first, we’ll accomplish this purely with the depth buffer.
The shader for the water mask mesh
For now, this is the whole shader for the water mask! To sum it up: it renders after all opaque geometry (our boat, for example), before the water, and it doesn’t write any colors but does write to depth. This last part means you won’t be able to see it, but it does occlude things behind it. It doesn’t occlude the boat itself because it is drawn after the boat.
Toggling the water mask mesh on and off
If we apply that shader to our mask mesh, assuming the water’s render queue is after the mask render queue, you’ll see it’s already working!
All that’s happening here is the water is being obscured by our invisible mask mesh, in the same way it’s obscured by the other parts of the boat.
This on it’s own might be enough of a solution for your situation, and it was for me for a few years of development. However, there is one problem:
Gross
What’s happening here? As our boat bobs up and down, sometimes part of the waves rise above the top of the boat. This means the water is closer to the camera than the mask, so it passes the Z test and gets rendered.
You might consider this to be technically correct, as that part of the boat is literally underwater, so perhaps the water should be shown! You might also argue that the physics should be fixed such that the boat never goes below the water surface, but this can be quite tricky to tune. Fortunately there’s a way to fix our shader so that we never see the water inside the boat again!
The Stencil Buffer
If you’re unfamiliar with the Stencil Buffer, you can think of it as basically another screen you can draw to that contains just integers instead of colors. Shaders can specify what value to write to the stencil buffer, and also can specify a comparison operation that prevents the shader from drawing unless the stencil buffer matches the referenced value. It’s like an auxiliary depth buffer that you can choose any value to write to.
We’re going to modify our masking shader to utilize the stencil buffer, which will also require modifying our water shader.
This is the exact same shader, but with the addition of the stencil block at the bottom. The stencil syntax can be kind of confusing to understand, so I’ll try to sum up what’s happening there:
Stencil - This is just signifying that we’ll be doing a stencil operation in this shader pass Ref 1 - The stencil value we'll be referencing is 1 Comp always - When we look at the current stencil value, our shader should always draw its pixel regardless of the stencil value. Pass replace - When we draw a pixel, we should replace the current stencil value with our value, aka '1'.
So, the result of this shader running should be that the stencil buffer will contain ‘1’s at each pixel where our object was drawn.
Now, we need to use this stencil information in our water shader.
Masking in the Water Shader
Water shaders can be pretty complicated, so I’m going to leave out everything related to that except for the relevant stencil part. Presumably whatever you’re using for your water has some kind of custom shader associated with it, so you’ll just need to edit that shader and insert this Stencil block.
Adding the stencil block to the water shader.
This is pretty similar to the stencil code we had in our masking shader, but with slightly different parameters.
We’re still referencing the value of 1, but our goal here is to not render the water if the stencil buffer is equal to 1, because we know that it is 1 everywhere our masking object is.
For that reason, we make the Comp parameter ‘notequal’, which should be pretty self explanatory. If the stencil value is not 1, the stencil test will pass.
It doesn’t really matter what we do with the stencil value if the test passes, as we aren’t using it anywhere else, so I specified to ‘keep’ the stencil value if the test passes.
Water water everywhere but not a drop in our boat!
With that change, you can see the stencil buffer in action! Here I’m moving the boat up and down, far below the water surface, but you can see the water is never drawn over the boat interior.
This does bring up another issue: What if the boat sinks? My solution to this is to disable the water mask renderer as soon as the boat begins sinking. Otherwise, I assume there is no reason why you’d want to see the water drawn over the boat’s interior.
Edit #1: Another issue, similar to the sinking one, is brought up in this nice article: https://simonschreibt.de/gat/black-flag-waterplane/. A tall wave could get between the boat and the camera, which would then be incorrectly stenciled out causing an ugly artifact. Depending on your use case this may never occur, or might be very noticeable.
Oops…
My solution to this for now, is to toggle between the initial depth-mask implementation and the stencil-mask based on distance to the camera. This reduces the problem decently, depending on your use case.
At close camera distances, it’s very unlikely that a wave could get between the boat and the camera, so the more accurate stencil approach works well.
At far camera distances, a wave might be between the camera and the boat, so the depth-mask approach is needed to avoid ugly artifacts. The bright side here is that at farther distances it’s less important to prevent any water showing over the top of the boat as it will naturally be smaller on the screen and less noticeable!
Artifact is ‘fixed’
That’s it for this tutorial, hopefully this has helped to explain the power of the stencil buffer! | https://medium.com/@phosphoer/tech-breakdown-hiding-water-in-boat-interiors-26e0f03b5b0e | ['David Evans'] | 2021-02-27 20:33:07.512000+00:00 | ['Game Development', 'Graphics', 'Gamedev', 'Unity3d', 'Shaders'] |
The Simple Things People Get Wrong in Remote Interviews | During the Interview
5. Establish clear communications
At the start of the video call, check that both your interviewer and yourself can hear and see each other clearly. If there are any issues with the volume or video, politely ask for some time to make the necessary adjustments. You do not want to be asking your interviewer to repeat themselves every five minutes.
If the language spoken is not your native language, do not afraid to ask the interviewer to speak slower. The reverse is true as well.
Make a conscious effort to slow down and enunciate your words. People tend to speak faster when they are nervous. This will help greatly in improving the clarity of communication between both parties.
6. Take notes
Remember the times you wished you could jot down certain things during your on-site interview? Remember how your memory failed you time and again?
You will not face that problem with remote interviews. Time to put the pen and paper you prepared earlier to good use. If you prefer to do things digitally, any decent notepad application can do the trick too.
We tend to forget things. Don’t let your memory hinder you. Write them down. Note down the important points and the nitty-gritty details e.g job scope, workflow, team structure.
Pro tip: Jot down the significant or interesting parts of the interview for the post-interview follow-up. This information can be very useful in helping you craft a personalized thank you message for your interviewers post-interview. | https://medium.com/better-programming/the-simple-things-people-get-wrong-in-remote-interviews-4d4292b4eaca | ['Jeremy Aw'] | 2020-12-05 16:31:58.091000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Programming', 'Interview Tips', 'Interview', 'Remote Work'] |
Bisk Investing in Your Financial Future | You’ve probably heard that being financially secure takes hard work, determination and time. Here at Bisk, our employees have helpful resources available on-site!
For the past several months, employees have been receiving information and tips on becoming financially successful. We’ve dived into many topics, including saving for retirement through the Bisk 401(k), budgeting, identity theft and credit.
Employees from the Tampa and Orlando offices had the chance to attend seminars hosted by The Society for Financial Awareness (SOFA). The one-hour workshops allowed us to ask questions, talk openly and get feedback on ways to eliminate debt.
Here is what some employees had to say about the seminar:
“The seminars were informative, relevant, and knowledgeable. The presenter we had was personable!” “The seminars covered a variety of topics and helpful tips that you can use every day.” “The knowledge the instructor had and the quick easy ways to help you start to get your finances in order were very helpful.” “Please have more sessions!”
Employees attending the seminars received a Bisk financial folder that included presentation notes, a handy-dandy Bisk notepad, and a Bisk piggy bank, and were also entered into a raffle. Winners won finance-related games such as Monopoly, Payday and The Game of Life.
Gifts and More Gifts!
The fun didn’t stop there! Employees were given a worksheet activity to encourage their children to track their spending and save their money. Teaching kids the foundations of finance can establish good money habits for life.
Employees also had an opportunity to meet with our 401(k) advisers and ask questions about their contributions, as well as receive personalized information about their retirement.
We hope this campaign helped pave the way to financial strength for each employee here at Bisk.
Written by Magda | https://medium.com/lifeatbisk/bisk-investing-in-your-financial-future-c7d19434f9f8 | [] | 2017-01-24 18:55:01.153000+00:00 | ['Company Culture', 'Tampa', 'Employee Benefits', 'Orlando', 'Bisk Healthy U'] |
How To Rewire Disillusionment and Monotony | How To Rewire Disillusionment and Monotony
Do things the make time fly.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
By Kathleen Reily
Once not long ago I had a conversation with a gentleman who was cusping that midlife period and there was so much about his mindset that found inspiring and wanted to learn from. He was so happy, resilient, and remained so positive in the midst of life’s pitfalls and challenges. I could tell immediately there was so much I could learn from him.
Since then we have had multiple conversations about life, what determines that experience of fulfillment for men, and what is the interior life like for a midlife family man, discussing the positives and the negatives. I was asking him questions in hopes of getting some insight into what ingredients he possessed that made him the person he was.
He responded to me with a story. Many years ago he discovered it was paramount that he feels driven on a daily basis, and in order for him to feel driven he had to be doing something that he loved. He emphasized that one doesn’t necessarily have to love what they are doing one hundred percent of the time, but one must lose track of time, one must experience their day racing by until suddenly it’s evening time. Once you realize that this particular thing you are doing speeds up time, then one must figure out how to do more of it. One thing this gentleman told me was that he was deathly afraid of monotony and stagnation, not moving toward a goal or attaining anything major in his life by way of challenging himself.
He then recommended that one figure out a way to do more of this thing that makes time fly. Because for him to live out his life barely feeling alive was the worst thing in the entire world. I ask you to find that one thing or those few things that make you feel alive and bring you so much joy that time begins to fly.
The more you live your life in this headspace, this mindset that doing this thing brings to you, the more you will reverse that experience of possible disillusionment with life, possible monotony. If these are experiences that you are currently having on a regular basis, I challenge you to sit down with a pen and paper and go back over your years to find that one thing that made time fly for you. | https://medium.com/change-becomes-you/how-to-rewire-disillusionment-and-monotony-ef449e6b9813 | ['The Good Men Project'] | 2020-12-28 21:48:31.489000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Change Your Life', 'Depression', 'Mental Health', 'Success'] |
Why few car-makers are skipping SAE Level-3 automation? | As the research and development of autonomous vehicle progresses, automakers are confident about the operation and functioning of Level-4 and Level-5 automation; however, skeptical about the conditional automation i.e. Level-3. This stage of autonomous vehicle involves the handover of vehicle control to the human driver in case of emergency. The question arises that whether the driver would be in position to react promptly to the situation and take back the complete control of vehicle with in no time. It is unrealistic to expect the 100% of attentiveness of the driver in autonomous mode. Hence, the automakers are afraid of this kind of partial automation as the small distraction could lead to fatal accidents and traffic chaos.
Audi has already tested its Level-3 autonomous vehicle A8 and is on verge of launching it by year end. The vehicle allows drivers to take their off eyes road and serves as traffic jam pilot. BMW and Mercedes-Benz are planning to introduce level-3 automation vehicles by next year. These L-3 vehicles need human take-over within 10 seconds. However, many automakers such as Volvo, Ford and Google are arguing about the safety of this conditional driving vehicle. These automakers are the once who have bypassed the level-3 automation and jumped directly to fully autonomous level-4 and level-5 featured vehicles. Toyota also have similar take on this. The company finds L-3 automation difficult to accomplish as compared to fully autonomous L-4 and L-5. Ford and Volvo considers level-3 as myth and the most unsafe automation. Hence, these OEMs are skipping L-3 to offer L-4 vehicles earliest by 2021. Many researchers believe that skipping L-3 and directly introducing L-4 and L-5 will create market opportunities for fully autonomous vehicles and ride sharing. Moreover, according to industry sentiments, full autonomy offers lots of benefits and opportunities such as automated delivery and mobility to non-drivers and is expected to take over the conditional autonomy vehicle market at faster pace.
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Share this article Related Posts | https://medium.com/@m14intelligence/why-few-car-makers-are-skipping-sae-level-3-automation-e9c4896aa1c3 | [] | 2020-10-12 10:01:24.621000+00:00 | ['Level 3 Cars', 'Autonomous Vehicles', 'Autonomous Driving'] |
Disease Spotlight: Pemphigus | There are a subset of dermatological diseases that are not very well known to the general public that can be painful, and potentially life threatening. In today’s post, I want to shed some light on one of these diseases: pemphigus vulgaris.
First off, I would like to give you some stats about how frequently this disease occurs in the general population. Pemphigus vulgaris affects about 0.7–5 people per 1,000,000 per year in the general population. This is not a very common disease, but its affects can be debilitating and missing this diagnosis can pose serious problem for the person who actually has it.
Dr. Fivenson is a nationally recognized leader in bullous diseases, like pemphigus, and he sees hundreds of these patients. He, and his team, are here to make sure you get the most accurate distilled information about rare dermatological disorders, and what you should look out for.
So what is pemphigus?
Pemphigus is a rare chronic blistering skin condition that is caused by the immune system attacking the body. These types of diseases are called autoimmune diseases, and in this case, your immune cells are making antibodies against your skin, specifically the epidermis. This means that the disease is not contagious, and cannot be transferred to people by any mode of transmission (i.e. blood, fluids). It can happen to people at any age, but it tends to happen to middle aged adults or older adults.
Pemphigus vulgaris: this subtype of pemphigus creates blisters that generally start in the mouth and then appear on the skin or the genital mucous membranes (i.e. vagina, urethra, and underside of the foreskin). There can also be nail loss, alteration of the skin pigment, and severe disability if it is not taken care of quickly. Pemphigus vulgaris is not a disease that will go away by itself. It needs active treatment to control the flares and reduce downstream complications…. Continue reading here. | https://medium.com/@sultanqiblawi/disease-spotlight-pemphigus-2294e9215973 | ['Sultan Qiblawi'] | 2019-06-17 02:54:50.185000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Dermatology', 'Education', 'Skincare', 'Medicine'] |
My Simple Rules for Making Money | Rules automate your decisions.
A lot of life is spent trying to make money. We need money to live, eat, sleep, pee, repeat. So despite what the critics say, who suggest we be happy and live in a tent on the side of a freeway, money is pretty important.
Just don’t let it consume you — cause, after all, money is digits that appear on your banking app. The hilarious thing is, governments can add more digits to everybody’s banking apps (a story I’ve written a lot).
Money rules reduce stress and remove drama. Here are my money rules.
Has to be honest
I refuse to earn money from anything dishonest or illegal. But I also refuse to earn money from things that make me feel dirty.
Examples include: multi-level marketing, hidden affiliate links, product placements on Instagram, cold calling, sending spam emails.
When you sell your soul for money, it feels terrible. It’s hard to be good at something that makes you feel terrible every time you do it. Therefore, you won’t make money from it so, why do it?
No assholes
There just isn’t time. If I have to deal with assholes then the answer is no.
I remember being asked to consult to a recruitment company for a tonne of cash. I went to their office to meet the team. Every person I met had a pole shoved up their ass. The egos were dripping off the mahogany walls. It was a cesspool of selfishness. I tried not to vomit.
Big wig: “So will you join us?”
Me: “Let me think about it.” *nervously smiles*
I never went back. Imagine getting paid to build people’s personal brands who don’t deserve it, so they can brag over a chardonnay at a dinner party about how many followers they have. No way man. That’s not even worth a million dollars to me.
Translation: good people make you a lot more money. Opportunities flood their inboxes because they’re gorgeously humble. Find those people.
If I listen to critics, I make zero
Social media is full of them. “You can’t do that here. You can’t park there.”
Honestly, critics have told me for my entire life that I suck at writing. It started in high school with the coordinator of my year level. He wanted to kick me out of the school. “The English teacher is wrong. You’re a dud.” The guy would walk around at lunchtime holding a golf club and swinging it everywhere.
He thought he’d use the golf club on a student, but he never did. He didn’t even play golf which made the habit even weirder. I ended up quitting his school. I found a school for musicians and excelled. I quit writing, though. Years later I took the creativity learned from making music and fused it with the writing skill school told me I didn’t have.
Then as I wrote online the literary critics came out of the woodworks. They applied editorial guidelines to indie writing. They didn’t realize that social media isn’t The New York Times. There are no rules when writing online — except don’t write boring jargon full of words people can’t understand, to look smart.
Thank god I didn’t listen to the critics. I’d be still stuck in a dead-end job with a boss baby whipping my butt and telling me to do his job for him. Nope. Ignoring the critics helped me escape and build a business.
And the big tech companies who wouldn’t hire me because they said I was “too entrepreneurial?” They were absolutely spot on. That’s why I now run a 7-figure business. You can make a lot of money from feedback.
Minimal gossip
Gossip is toxic. I don’t want to earn money with people who gossip. Or people who complain a lot about nothing. Life isn’t fair. There is never going to be a day where we all earn exactly $1000 per week and the global economy is run by utopian angels who want to hug us and make our lives better, equally.
When you get away from all the complaints, you come up with ideas to solve problems, instead of being the problem. And those who solve problems do pretty well financially.
At least 20% has to be invested
My material dreams are almost non-existent. I like investing because it helps me make money, so I can think about money less. Kind of counter-intuitive at first glance.
Every time money hits the bank account, at least 20% has to go into financial assets. An asset isn’t an Apple laptop, luxury car, or designer bag either. These are fake assets that go down in value. I’m talking about investing in real businesses that generate money and advance the human race.
Some investing has to be very high-risk
If all my money is in certificates of deposit, I’m not even keeping up with inflation. A few anti-Bitcoiners have suggested I make my banker rich.
No thanks.
Here’s what is missed:
Risk equals growth.
Volatility equals growth.
If all your money is in the safest option possible, then it’s not going to grow. The silent tax of inflation takes money away while you sleep in the form of trillion-dollar bills passed through congress.
You can still feel safe though. I simply add a few tiny high-risk assets into my investment portfolio.
My go-tos are Bitcoin and Ethereum. Why not other cryptos? Because I’m not a startup investor. I have no idea what a cryptocurrency that is less than one year old will do in five years. I learned this lesson in 2017 when I bought a bunch of unknown cryptos. Most of them are worth close to zero now.
I called it diversification. It was really gambling.
Bitcoin has been around since 2008. It’s proven what it can do. Countries even use it now as currency, would you believe? It’s volatile as hell, but it also has averaged a 200% year-on-year return. I’m happy with lots of ups and downs to get that kind of growth.
When you add high growth to a mostly safe investment portfolio, you get a much larger overall gain. Why’s that matter?
Inflation is high. You need higher returns to beat inflation. Therefore, Bitcoin and Ethereum are necessary evils in my eyes. Otherwise, I work until my 90s which hurts and steals time from the unborn grandkids.
Diversification is mandatory
More than one income source. Check.
More than one type of investment. Check
Putting all your money or time into one thing is a bad idea. Paradigm shifts are happening. Don’t get caught with your pants down.
Build stuff people actually want
I own a business, which means I build stuff. Yay.
*Sticks middle finger up at complexity*
It’s important to build stuff people want. I don’t piss-fart around either. I definitely don’t guess. Nope.
I survey once. Survey again. Soft launch. Ask for feedback. Iterate. Pre-launch. Iterate. Full launch. Iterate. Repeat.
This process stops me thinking I know everything. I know nothing. I just ask people what they want, build the product, and give it to them and say, “Is this what you want? No. How about this?” If you ask questions enough times you learn what people want. Then they pay you money for it and you feel like a genius.
Questions. Ask them a lot to make moula.
Must be fun
It’s fun to goof around. I don’t like taking it all too seriously. I’m happy to make myself look stupid, because the truth is I have no idea. There’s no point me trying to make you agree or disagree with me. All I want to do is make people think deeply. If I achieve that … we’re blazing forward. High-five.
We’re not in this life game very long. May as well enjoy it. Plus, you make more money when it’s fun. Use fun as a compass.
Must invest in myself
I blow money on online courses like a sugar addict does on Subway choc-chip cookies. I can’t get enough. Books are even worse. The only present I ever like is an Amazon book voucher.
My rule is to spend money to read lots of books, so I can be friends with people I will never get to meet in real life, such as Nelson Mandela. Wisdom affects the mind differently when it’s in a book you can’t quickly consume in the same way you can a 15-second TikTok video.
Has to quietly inspire people
So many people want to nuke our dreams.
I want to do the opposite. It’s better to tell people “actually, you can do that.” However I make money, I have to inspire people. Because when I hit rock bottom there was nobody at my front door to inspire me. I had to figure it out by myself, so the process took a lot longer than it needed to.
In my 20s, I lived the other way. I was a full-time pessimist. I could always tell you why what you wanted to do was impossible. The people I needed to earn a living deserted me and I couldn’t work out why. Later, I figured it out.
Life is hard enough. People need inspiration. People need to be told that all the rules, including the ones in this article, are bullshit.
You can be and do whatever you want. Read that again. | https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/my-simple-rules-for-making-money-cc5aceb235c4 | ['Tim Denning'] | 2021-07-05 17:07:17.811000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Lifestyle', 'Money', 'Freelancing', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
WhoThrough: Doctor Who Season Three | The ongoing series goes on to Hartnell’s third season.
When my wife and I first married in 2014, we enthusiastically committed to watching a Doctor Who story a week, in order, until we were done. Five and a half years later, we finished. (With The Timeless Children. Which at least has the decency to bookend An Unearthly Child nicely as a title.)
And with that done…we decided to start all over again.
Posted here are a combination of my notes from the first and second WhoThroughs. Scattered sentences and thoughts. Likely some of it won’t make sense unless you’re familiar with the episodes.
But if you love the show like we do, hopefully you’ll find some interesting observations ahead.
GALAXY 4
Gets into the assumption that the women are wrong and overreact long before even meeting the other aliens. Yet it’s Steven and the Doctor who seem awfully prone to bickering. A thin story to start a series with — even though the warring factions and ‘judging by appearances’ were less familiar TV SF tropes then. Why is Steven wearing Ian’s cardigan?! Amazing bit of sound work as Vicki’s language becomes the Rill’s, and their whole aesthetic is lovely: blocky guns and an octagonal ship with thick materials for the Drahvins — versus the Rill’s domed robots and triangular ship shapes among silver and transparent surfaces.
Amazing flashback — POV, violent. Glad the lost episode three was found. Strangely love the Doctor using his cane as a weapon. Letting the Dhravin die is pretty fucking dark.
This feels like the first story explicitly assembled-from-past Doctor Who — a cute robot, a monstrous species, warring factions; they don’t much go together, except that they’re all things the show does. It’s basically impossible to sell Chumblies as a threat when the early interaction is so kindly — the heat ray blast is meant to work as a threat but it’s so obviously a gentle demonstration.
Vicki pointing out that her rock-throwing plan is entirely a reasoned scientific method is the character’s rejection of the Doctor’s sexism now getting onto the page — what an influence she’s been! (And again, that much speaks to the Drahvins’ mostly-unseen society.) I rather love the simplicity of “how pervious the metal is” as a test for spaceship sophistication.
Actually, the clone women are basically Maaga’s Chumblies! That’s neat. There’s better rhyming going on here than it seems. Example: episode three has the Doctor about to wreck the Rill’s air, then Steven trapped and suffocating in the Drahvin’s air lock.
There’s a real commitment to the timeframe, the ticking clock, across all four episodes. It’s a single day, all pretty continuous, a race against time.
MISSION TO THE UNKNOWN
Tediously masculine. Bizarre that nobody could imagine a future beyond reel to reel tape. Nice tension to the fate of the message. Alien gathering plays like the ‘round a table’ scene in Star Wars Episode II — fabulously designed but basically banal. And they all stand around agreeing. Cory killing Lowry seems premature, when we know it’s only the human aspects that die and the killer plant then takes over. Daleks don’t recognise tape recorders.
This is the most dangerous planet in the universe…but the only dangerous thing we’ve seen, the vargas, are from Skaro. It’s hard to make “he saw a Dalek spaceship” the shocking reveal it’s meant to be after discussing Daleks two minutes prior. “Licence to kill” can only be deliberate reference — this came out only two months before the first full-on meta Bond film: Thunderball.
We watched the Levine animation, to preserve the original audio at least. But the university production is worth a look, and I do wonder if it’s more sluuggish pace is closer to how this felt at the time.
THE MYTH MAKERS
Strain showing on historicals — having to impersonate someone, misunderstanding, fast incarceration, etc. The capture-escape format as ever, but hampered by not showing you anything truly new and alien. Neat Doctor arrival, though. The music for the opening fight is a ghastly choice. The old assumption that everyone knows what the history is based on cos ‘we did it school’. “Old beggar” gets a good laugh.
Wonder if the Time Bandits writers saw this and vaguely remembered it. Paris is hilarious, written with no portentousness, all posh chat, no pomp. He’s a buffoon…and a joy for it. “This whole business has been carried a bit too far.” Troilus is awfully wet. “I don’t like killing at all, but I like adventure.”
The Doctor spends most of the show away from his companions. If this weren’t a historical it’s restoration would be more important — as it should be given Vicki’s departure. This is too soon to lose Vicki, the true defining companion. Love that she hugged the TARDIS; she loved the show.
The left-behind offering is a smart way to convey ‘the TARDIS has gone missing’ visually. (One assumes.) But since historicals have a tendency to see the ship picked up and moved — Marco Polo, The Romans — we kinda already know where this is going. Do they know it says ‘police’ on the box?
Episode two is basically episode one again, only happening to Vicki. Lovely casting with big, funny performances. Frances White’s willingness to go enormous and hysterical is a real loss without the footage. Vicki going out like Susan — married off in someone else’s time and place — with the added humiliation of removing her identity is pretty lousy. The failure to engage with the human side of war, making a wooden horse to get back to the TARDIS, doesn’t sit well no matter how good a wheeze. They don’t even bother to characterise Katarina before shoving her onto the TARDIS.
THE DALEKS’ MASTER PLAN
Amazing first Dalek reveal — expecting the injured agent to be attacked by and aforementioned varga, it appears suddenly, low-angle. Gorgeous. And then they go after the Bret Vyon…and instead the TARDIS appears, at his lowest point of despair!
Katarina is a lousy fit for the way this story gets going. Bret’s doing all the new curiosity stuff so she has to be vaguely confused while also being a standard companion who can’t work the TARDIS. Meanwhile the Doctor’s talking to himself to articulate the plot.
Very nice planting of expectations. The Doctor has invented a chair for detaining prisoners?! Doc, Steven and Bret arguing over the best tactic is badly written, but a great idea: each met the Daleks but fought them differently. Hooded Delegate a great design, but less scary for knowing he has a proper job. The council is wonderfully strange and uncanny, only Chen is an straight Earth allegory. Indeed, good direction makes this story a sad loss.
After having a whole episode to set it up, the Mark Cory’s tape only tells the Doctor stuff he already knows! How did the convicts play like convicts on-screen when they’re so caveman-like? Bret’s attitude to the Doctor in episode three (“grandpa”) is so almost the Brigadier. The prison jungle seems a lot more menacing than the supposed deadly one of Kemble.
Did Hartnell refuse to bounce on the trampoline for the teleport effects? Nation’s forever anti-drama — instead of Chen struggling to explain a cock-up to the Daleks, he and his pal calmly discuss how they might explain, find an idea, and the next scene is “they believed us”. (Hilarious non-cliffhanger too where his second-in-command says to himself “And one day I will be powerful…second only to my boss” like that changes a thing.)
Three planets in a row where we just see bits of jungle. Not a huge variety, is it? What is Mavic Chen’s lifespan? Early on they mention this plan’s been in motion for decades, and later it’s that it needs another 50 years. Brutal: Bret, Katarina, Sara all killed with the Doctor right there. The SECOND Sara turns to the Doctor’s side, is made a companion, she starts screaming at stuff in the jungle.
Is it bad that I like the cheeky commentary of undoing a ‘toxic atmosphere’ cliffhanger with a gag about earth’s pollution? There is something full-circley about returning to bobbies outside the police box. Doing an Christmas episode where the Doctor can’t get back to the TARDIS and gets caught in bureaucracy is kinda cool, as is showing up in a film…shame the ep is so crucifyingly unfunny. (“Put some more clothes on” is funny, though. Weirdly, the cricket sketch the following week is far better.)
If the Daleks just need a spare part, it feels like a time machine could be more useful for achieving that than they’ve made it — changing this one rather than going just back and making another in plenty of time. Or pop back to before they lost it and replace it with a fake! Nice to see the Monk again, and almost a shame to waste him and Egypt on something so fleeting. (The locals in Egypt are utterly characterless and evoke nothing of a period — the educational remit has gone.) Still, it has a nice ‘crossover event’ quality. With him and Chen here we’re very nearly at a ‘Master and Daleks/Cybermen team up against the Doctor’ story.
Chen feels like a real Master prototype (and for Salamander, come to that), which is interesting when you also throw the Monk into the mix. They spend ages on testing the time destructor despite the audience already knowing it won’t work. Heart sank on episode eight when it looked like we were getting The Chase II. Steven and Sara are notably flirty. Arrival of space politics and colonies a huge jump, and one that influences the entire show from now on.
One forgets the TARDIS is lacking the ability to go where it’s meant to, so when the directional unit is stolen you wonder why it’s needed for a moment! Chen taking over an evil council with a gun is patently ridiculous. Locking them up is sillier, freeing them is barmy. Doing a Doctor-lite episode 11 almost kills the story, but then so does switching the time destructor to a MacGuffin irrelevant to the Daleks’ plans…
Funny how much smaller this feels than Dalek Invasion of Earth. The lack of location footage, Daleks in the wild, makes it smaller than your prefer — a sequel to the style of The Chase rather than Invasion.
THE MASSACRE
Opening is very clear: they’re here as sightseers — see the famous bits, visit historical names. The modern show peering through, especially with only one companion. Steven not knowing his history makes it a lot easier to give the context exposition. The curfew is a neat device to keep Doctor and Steven separate. There’s huge tension in Steven being so out if his depth for an episode — a real argument that the Doctor is right to insist he knows what he’s doing. Lack of cliffhanger recaps makes everything feel more urgent…at least when watching today. The tension of whether the Abbott is the Doctor is well-played, cleverly shaped and makes neat use of Hartnell’s absence. Steven’s departure and the Doctor’s speech is the best bit of the writing on the show thus far. Ends on an RTD-style “What?!”
Regarding Steven returning: After storming out over the Doctor’s refusal to save a girl he liked from the massacre, perhaps Steven comes running back in specifically to prevent a change to history. He’s from the future, he knows humans didn’t capture an alien and acquire time travel in the 1960s. He realises the Doctor might be right! He must stop history changing! So back he runs, to stop policemen from entering the TARDIS. He comes back when he takes on board the seriousness of the Doctor’s dilemma as a time traveller. And is rewarded with hope in the form of Dodo, who ‘proves’ Anne survived.
(His actions also prevent the cops from getting distracted and not saving a boy’s life — again, history is safeguarded. but does the Doctor really not offer to help when a kid’s in an accident?)
It’s truly unfortunate producing to have a story with double the Hartnell where he’s on holiday for a week. You get the big reveal and then…hardly see the Abbot next week, and get no Doctor at all. There’s a different energy to a story with just the Doctor and a male companion and it’s a shame to have lost so much of it.
My sense of the episode is that it was written and rewritten to be about the Doctor taking on the Abbot’s role, but when Hartnell’s schedule interfered further rewrites were undertaken with one simple solution: Steven’s the lead, so let’s make this all about his uncertainty. He sees someone ‘recognise’ the Doctor, he follows that through and mistakes the Abbot for him, gives up the girl under that error, and ultimates ‘loses’ the Doctor, the dead Abbott. Strong stuff for the heroic lead.
And then the mercurial Doctor returns and Steven realises: The Doctor isn’t the Abbot — the Abbot died, and the Doctor had no idea the era he was in, or the Abbot’s role. But where the hell he was is never dealt with decently.
THE ARK
Hard this, because it’s the horribly racist story of how slaves become unreasonable dominators if offered a voice, whereas white humans are benevolent masters. But it’s also one of the most inventively structured and impressively directed stories of the era. Bizarre to watch in 2020 — there’s no faction that simply denies the virus is happening.
Everything looks huge — high angles, clever use of space and insert shots. Using Dodo’s sneezing as a device for tension helps hide it as set-up for the latter half. Starts as a playful romp…and then people are dropping like flies. Again, the Doctor is not the saviour. (Very New Who series eight, this.) Introducing Dodo as enthusiastic and playful — she picks a costume like she’s a Doctor — keeps her distinct from Susan. The monoids going simplistically evil really clashes with the Planet of the Apes-like complexity given lip-service to elsewhere. Steven very tough, happy to threaten or demand…but unlike Ian he rarely gets into fights. Translator devices very Ood-like.
Steven starts treating Dodo like his granddaughter which is a properly hilarious turnaround. The humans barely care about Monoid deaths, and thus the show positions killing humans as far worse than Monoids — not great, racism-wise. It’s ridiculous how unapologetic the TARDIS crew are about the disease. After this adventure the Doctor had the TARDIS do a viral screen of each passenger…probably.
Is this the first story where a live character is in-shot when the TARDIS dematerialises? “Security kitchen” feels like compression of two sets on the page. Ark fashions — underpants covered with streamers — apparently don’t change in 700 years.
Second half really thin on character compared to first. The usual negligible characterisation of guest characters, they’re all defined by what they are. The casual, constant use of effects is impressive — forced perspective backgrounds, camera trickery (reversed footage), editing (food making itself in a bowl, picture in picture) models, part-builds and full-size practicals (the capsules). Even the animals in the film inserts make things feel bigger and more alive. Shame about the Monoids. If you want to imply a vast Monoid population, why number them 1 to 5?
THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER
Terrible. Doctor’s absence expected, but he’s the only character interacting with the villain, so Gough is talking to himself for an hour. Games aren’t beaten cleverly, but arbitrarily — Cyril kills himself, Dodo gets out of a killer chair. Sentience of the dolls brought up but then the team celebrate when the world is destroyed regardless! Stakes feel pathetically low. Still, another proto-Master, that’s something. The N-word is pronounced louder than most of the rhyme that includes it.
Dodo’s “It’s the day my mother died” is an extraordinary thing to throw in then throw away. “We shall play endless games together!” is a tedious pitch for a story. Trying to make “they play for the TARDIS” a big moment twice in episode one is pushing it. Seriously, why isn’t this about the Toymaker versus Steven and Dodo, with the Doctor placed out of the way, so Gough can do his scenes with the story’s (forced) leads?
Why would anyone invest in a run of guest characters who are set up specifically as fictional creations just for the games? (They try to square this circle with Dod’s speech in episode three, but you still don’t care when the opponents have their lives taken away.) They technically plug this plot hole, too, but really: why would the Doctor make any moves at all if he needs to give Steven and Dodo time to do their puzzles? (And if each move might be wrong, why not let the Toymaker automate the whole thing?)
I’m honestly not sure that’s Hartnell’s voice in episode two, and Steven even has a gag about it not being. Imagine typing “Only 72 moves to go, Doctor” as dialogue. It feels like a month between the heroes winning their games and the actual end of the episode.
The trilogic puzzle’s final move is kinda clever, but the ending with Cyril’s sweet is a mess — it plays like the sweet (which shouldn’t exist now anyway) is a trick-flavoured one, a school prank, not that the Doctor breaking a tooth.
THE GUNFIGHTERS
Lots of overhead angles. Love the “A Holiday for The Doctor” pun. Episode one is interminably slow, but I like the song (very akin to Moffat using nursery rhymes). First cleavage in Who? Blimey, when she straps a gun belt on the Doctor…
Nice that the Doctor getting mistaken for someone else is deliberate, a set up, this time. Dodo’s in a very different show — cheerily bursting in on Holiday right after the barman is gunned down. A lot of ‘acting without incident’ while people wait for the song verse to finish — shows a difficulty with the device; these days you’d script activity to go with the song. Beyond allowing the Doctor to lose, this era, this story, ushers in the Doctor fighting history, trying to prevent an inevitable event. No wonder Dodo can’t fit in — this story might be a comedy, but these jaunts are what the jolly Vikki signed up for.
How does Kate beat the Doctor to the saloon from the dentist’s?! “Keep ’em talking, Stephen, I’ll sneak round behind” is a lousy plan to yell across the street. Does the Doctor keep loaded guns on the TARDIS in case of a cosplay emergency?! The running gag of the Doctor being given guns is neat, witty, and a surprisingly good commentary on the character’s pacifism/heroism.
THE SAVAGES
Poor Steven, like Yaz he so often gets to repeat the subtle information as blatant and literal. “The traveller.” “You mean the Doctor!” “You live in caves like animals?” He also disbelieves Dodo for no reason at any given opportunity.
Doctor offered high office by stuffy tech bastards, as he will be on Galifrey. (More prototype stuff.) Splitting the Doctor from his companions at start of episode one turns out to be utterly redundant. Edal takes the Doctor away at gunpoint despite the Doc in theory being in authority. When the Doctor announces his intention to oppose the city leaders he has such thunder — he’s become our Doctor, his actions driven by decency, justice.
Lovely reveal that the savages are artists and builders, creators of a beautiful temple. Rare for the show to do the ‘practical solution to a SF problem’ thing like Steven using mirror on the light gun.
A bit regressive to start with the old ‘Doctor goes off to do science’ thing. It’s not just that the poshos are draining the savages, it’s that they know it’s wrong or they wouldn’t be hiding it. I’m desperate to know how the ‘freeze guns’ worked on screen when they moved captured characters around.
It’s a small thing, but in this story and the last Hartnell has been much more on-point with his dialogue delivery. Looking at the stills in the reconstruction, are Jano and some of the Elders’ skin…painted gold? (Or is it blacking up, putting us on very uncomfortable territory?) The Doctor’s personality ending up in Jano is one of those developments that feels true to the sci-fi of the episode, but also surprising — it also really connects to the theme empathy, of seeing from others’ perspectives.
Jano impersonating the Doctor is the show reaching the idea of the title character being an icon, familiar by mannerism, voice and vocabulary alone. Jano also a hairs-breadth from saying “I am…the Doctor” as a phrase with weight and power. The Doctor defined as conscience. He declares his intention to stop the Elders rather than sneaking around, the big old showboat.
Love the Doctor expressing his joy in the smashing up of the system. Two years ago he’d have been complaining that people are wrecking important and expensive scientific equipment. Slow pacing probably annoys people, but I love how much time you spend with the Elders up front knowing they’re the baddies and letting them talk until we essentially have them condemned from their own mouths.
THE WAR MACHINES
A series of brutal hits to start: London, wide shots, WOTAN knowing the term TARDIS, hard cut to club, sex and flirting in the air, the Doctor taking a taxi, in a club, WOTAN’s bug W symbol on screen at the end of episode one and getting his own credit, saying “Doctor Who”. Blimey.
They make pains to point out that Ben wasn’t doing important Navy work, so his departure in the TARDIS wouldn’t really be desertion. Ben immediately ruins his ‘save the cat’ introduction moment by blaming Polly for the assault he saved her from. Funny tension where Ben and Polly are introduced and Dodo gets hypnotised — cos she is clearly being replaced. Daft to hypnotise Dodo since who knows if she’s acting out of character?
There’s huge ambition and energy to the direction — madly stylised at times, but it gives a potentially tired show some real verve. Great integration of pre-recorded location film and studio sets throughout. The Doctor believes Ben’s report instantly — that’s a leap forward from standard form (again). With everything else so current, the 40s-style American journalist sticks out as a genre relic. Doctor never facing down WOTAN in person an odd omission, but obviously him standing up to a war machine is fab. | https://medium.com/@ellardent/whothrough-doctor-who-season-three-9478b975234b | ['Andrew Ellard'] | 2020-12-15 14:41:33.845000+00:00 | ['TV Series', 'Doctor Who', 'TV Shows', 'Filmmaking', 'Scriptwriting'] |
How USAID is Adapting Humanitarian Programs to Respond to the Global COVID-19 Threat | The United States is responding to COVID-19 pandemic here at home and also supporting partner countries in their response to the disease. USAID and the State Department have pledged more than $900 million to date to combat COVID-19 in more than 120 countries around the world. This assistance will be used to care for the affected, help frontline health workers slow the spread of the disease, and equip local communities with the tools needed to fight this dangerous pathogen.
The United States is helping more than 100 countries fight this pandemic. Map credit: USAID
In addition, USAID is adapting its existing lifesaving programs to help meet the growing global COVID-19 threat. For many countries, the disease is spreading in areas already hit hard by crises, such as conflict, drought, locust swarms, and flooding. USAID’s humanitarian programs are flexible and nimble, allowing us to meet critical needs while pivoting to address new challenges caused by COVID-19. Here’s a snapshot of how we and our partners are doing that in several countries around the world. | https://medium.com/usaid-2030/how-usaid-is-adapting-humanitarian-programs-to-respond-to-the-global-covid-19-threat-6836df25fdc7 | ['Usaid Saves Lives'] | 2020-05-06 17:24:32.561000+00:00 | ['Global Health', 'Covid 19', 'Disaster Response', 'Humanitarian', 'World'] |
Covid-19, a real dilemma | A middle and lower class family having only one member earning for his whole family, burdened with too many responsibilities and now facing a financial crunch. A small grocery owner hesitant to open his shop due to health risk, opens his shop to get some money to feed his family. A man saving money for his whole life to get his daughter married is now using that saved money to run his family without earning for months. The savings, that was kept for further studies of his son in a good college, is now used to fulfill the basic needs of his family. A daily wage laborer working in another city having no food and shelter travelling to his hometown walking on the verge of his health. A doctor working hard day and night, away from his family, without caring about his own life which is at stake. This all I think was somehow similar. Whatever your status is, whatever your religion is, you are making choices right now, sacrificing some to get some, but still unsatisfied and afraid of upcoming uncertainties.
Like Chinese products, we are now suffering from the Chinese virus. What a perfect analogy Chinese virus and Chinese products have, it gives a similar kind of dilemma, to choose between our lives or livelihood, dreams or necessities, like it gives by its product quality or budget, sacrificing one to get another. It reminds me of the time when I was buying a mobile phone, staying away from home and without it was difficult, for me buying a mobile at that point was my necessity. I was too confused at that time, I wanted a durable and a good mobile with decent specifications within budget, to go for Chinese brand or to go for other brands, was a tough choice for me as they have their pros and cons, likewise millions of people these days are making choices between their life and livelihood.
The trade-offs required by the pandemic will get even harder. Even the Government is in the dilemma, whether they should prioritize life or livelihood. Lockdown was indeed necessary but Tablighi Jamaat and labour migration turned out to be the worst coronavirus vector. The change in Government philosophy was seen from lockdown 1.0 to unlock, how “JAN HAI TO JAHAN HAI” turned into “JAN BHI AUR JAHAN BHI” and now “ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT ABHIYAN” indicates that they even realized that they can’t ignore one to get one. If the lockdown continues, India may see more death due to hunger than from the pandemic.
It is said that “Every experience teaches us a lesson. Whether good or bad, it leaves its mark always”. We sure won’t get good results out of this pandemic but can reduce its impact by ensuring our actions. We should not give up at the crisis and eventually we’ll find hope in desperate situations. It is now up to us to make the best decision for our society, and not letting this dilemma affect us devastatingly. | https://medium.com/@maheshwari.2sep.avni/covid-19-a-real-dilemma-9afc9a827589 | ['Apoorva Maheshwari'] | 2020-06-03 22:18:49.812000+00:00 | ['Thoughts', 'Covid 19 Crisis', 'Impact', 'Choices', 'Life'] |
The Alana Yogyakarta Hotel & Convention Center — @alanayogyakarta | THE ALANA HOTEL & CONVENTION CENTER YOGYAKARTA
As a 4 star Hotel, The Alana Yogyakarta offers the guests a mixture of beauty and superb service. Our Hotel was built with “Baroque Era Concept with Traditional Essence” touch. It is a concept that brings modern and traditional touch all-in-one. We also offers the guests a modern lifestyle, high-end facilities, and personal service are what we offers to all guests. The Alana Yogyakarta is located at Jalan Palagan Tentara Pelajar KM.7 Yogyakarta. Located in an integrated block called Mataram City, this super-block provides various attractions such as restaurant, coffee shop, souvenirs shop and many more. Located only 20 minutes away by driving to Adisucipto Airport Yogyakarta, our Hotel is a perfect place for business-trip traveller. The Alana is also located only 10 minutes away tourism attraction such as Malioboro, Tugu Yogyakarta, and it is only located about 60 minutes away from Candi Borobudur and Prambanan Temple. The Alana Hotel and Convention Center Yogyakarta have 263 Rooms + 1 Presidential room. Each room is designed with contemporary architecture with Javanese culture touch. Smoking rooms are positioned on 7th and 8th floor. Whereas 16th, 17th, and 18th are where Executive Club, Executive Suite, and President Suite located.
WEDDING DREAMS
Everyone has been dreaming about their own wedding dreams. A solemn wedding with beautiful decoration and attended by your colleagues, friends, and people that you loved ones. In our opinion, wedding is a sacred activity that need a huge attention because not everyone can arrange a wedding beautifully. Wedding Dream Alana is a service from us in order to provide future brides-and-grooms information that you might need to arrange your upcoming wedding. Our website contains one-stop wedding information that you need such as wedding make up and gown service, jewelry, event organizer, decoration service, photo and videography service, wedding cake, master of ceremony, entertainment, and our delightful Food and Beverages service from our Hotel. | https://medium.com/@byoliverscom/the-alana-yogyakarta-hotel-convention-center-alanayogyakarta-2c167a8c40da | ['Byolivers Fine Art Wedding'] | 2020-12-22 09:35:41.719000+00:00 | ['Fotografer Wedding', 'Indonesia', 'Fotografer', 'Jogja', 'Fotografer Pernikahan'] |
What It Means for Conversational AI to Be “Conversational” | HAL is a well-known fictional conversational AI that lacked in empathy for it’s users.
About the Author: Dr. Ender Ricart is a Principal UX Researcher at LivePerson, a company at the forefront of conversational AI applications for customer service. The content of this article is informed by insights from in-depth qualitative research on customer experience with conversational AI.
In the research I have performed on conversational AI, people tell me that they do not want nor expect an AI to be human-like. In spite of what they say, in practice, I observe people applying the same fundamentals of linguistic interaction with conversational AIs as they do with people. Interactions with conversational AI are, thus far, designed to emulate (or simulate) human-to-human conversation, and, therefore, trigger people to apply fundamental principles of communication. If and when an AI does not behave in accordance with these principles or ignores them entirely, it leads to confusion and frustration for its conversational partner. In this article, I am going to unpack two fundamental principles of communication and their applications to chatbots:
Forming a Shared Symbolic Cloud — How we can successfully communicate about things and build shared understandings.
Maxims of Cooperative Communication — How we manipulate what we say and how we say things to communicate meaning.
Insights in this article draw from my training in cultural and linguistic anthropology and qualitative research I performed at LivePerson on people’s interactions with agents and chatbots in customer service. After reading this article, you should have a better idea about the complexity of communication and how it comes to bear on people’s expectations and frustrations when interacting with conversational AI.
1. Forming a Shared Symbolic Cloud — How we can successfully communicate about things and build shared understandings.
In communication, we build a kind of Shared Symbolic Cloud, if you will, that conversational participants contribute to and draw from. This cloud is comprised of subjects, objects, temporal markers, spatial markers, referenceable symbolic systems, and more. We can engage in conversation to begin with because there is enough pre-existing overlap in the language spoken, perhaps similar experiences, learnings, and sociocultural underpinnings.
While conversational participants engage in the mutual building of this symbolic cloud, they nonetheless have a unique set of interpretations and understandings of the conversation at hand, because they also have their own Individual Cloud through which they filter and process information. We have different understandings and meanings attached to words born from slight to dramatic differences in our sociolinguistic systems and experiences.
What is your mental image of a “chair?” Is it a La-Z-boy or an armchair? Mine is a wooden chair. You probably imagine a different “wooden chair” than I do. I see the wooden chairs my parents had in the house when I was growing up. There is no way that this is also your mental image of a chair, let alone a wooden chair. Regardless, I can successfully communicate with you about chairs or the need to buy wooden chairs for the dining room table. What this specifically means for you, your mental image of a wooden chair for the dining room, will not 100% map to my mental image, but it will still overlap enough that we can communicate.
Communication, then, is like a game of telephone. The message is communicated and received by others with a degree of fidelity to the original and intended meaning. Each conversational participant takes away something different from a conversation because our Individual Clouds differ. This is why it is so valuable to have supporting, nonverbal language infrastructures in place afforded by face-to-face communication. Things such as body language, vocal intonation, other vocal cues such as sighs but also visual aids like specific dining room chairs to point out and compare. All of this comes together to form that Shared Symbolic Cloud of communication. Participating members of a conversation have access to, understanding of, and can contribute to this symbolic cloud of linguistic interaction.
In sum, the Shared Symbolic Cloud of communication is a composite of a participant’s Individual Clouds, and Individual Clouds too are composites of societal clouds such as macro levels of language, culture, and social norms and the more micro levels of personal experience, sociolinguistics, and niche culture, etc. All this comes together to enable communication at all and then about specific things.
Knowledge cultures — mind the gap
Building a Shared Symbolic Cloud becomes more difficult when we throw things like medicine, physics, philosophy, heating and ducting installation, ballet, university admission process, etc., into the picture. These are known as “knowledge cultures.” The more stand-out knowledge cultures include specialization that require advanced training or education. There is usually identifiable jargon (common examples being legalese or technobabble). Included in the term knowledge culture are also less obvious things like a business. Think about any business or company you have worked in. There is an internal work culture, business goals, best practices, brand image, processes, systems, departments or divisions, ranks, etc. You have likely experienced the confusion of engaging in an unfamiliar knowledge culture at multiple points in your life. Maybe you started a new job, and people around you were using acronyms or software you were unfamiliar with. Much of a company’s New Hire Orientation is around helping new employees learn and implement knowledge culture tenets like corporate goals or principles.
According to Pokémon.com, there are 809 official Pokémon types.
Many hobbies are also deeply entrenched in knowledge cultures. I can recall not too long ago trying to get into the then newly released Pokémon Go. I quickly found myself overwhelmed by the sheer variety of Pokémon, Pokémon classification, abilities, stats, and care/evolution. Meanwhile, my partner, who had grown up playing Pokémon, was making strategic decisions about which Pokémon to catch, develop, and evolve.
Another and more frequent exposure to foreign knowledge cultures occurs when you call customer service because of a question or issue. You frame the problem or question using your Individual Cloud of experience and knowledge — your point of view. You have very little understanding of how the company or business talks and thinks about said problem or question within their knowledge culture. It can be frustrating to engage in a conversation with said company or business because there is little correspondence between how you are thinking and talking and how the business is. It is a failure to build that Shared Symbolic Cloud wherein communication takes place. This is because there is a larger gap between your Individual Cloud and the cloud the customer service agent is mobilizing, heavily influenced by the knowledge culture they work in. It makes it more difficult to talk about the same thing and build shared understanding if and when you have different meanings underpinning similar words and concepts.
Diaper debacle — black-boxed business process and practices
I ordered diapers on Amazon that were supposed to arrive in two days. Five days later, I had yet to receive them and noticed that the delivery date had been pushed out another two weeks! I got in touch with Amazon’s customer service through the in-app chat. They informed me that the diapers were sold through a third-party seller, and Amazon could not do anything to help me. I needed to send the vendor a message to cancel or refund the order. This was confusing as, when I made the initial purchase, I could find no indication that this was a third-party vendor. I sent a message to the third-party vendor. There was no response or refund. The next delivery window elapsed, and the delivery date was pushed out even further. I got back in touch with Amazon to complain. They again informed me there was nothing they could do at this point except message the vendor and wait. If the product did not arrive by the specific date for delivery, then they could compensate me. I never heard from the seller. I never got the diapers. Amazon issued a refund. I presume the seller is still selling diapers. I still can’t tell if I am ordering through them or not when I go to purchase diapers.
In the above example, there is a gap between how I understand the Amazon Marketplace operates and how the customer service representatives understand it. From my point of view, everything on the Amazon Marketplace is Amazon’s. I do not have visibility into what is being sold by a third party and the rules and regulations behind cancellations, returns, refunds, or complaints. I experienced the promise of two-day delivery being broken, and the diapers failed to be delivered. For me, this was the fault of Amazon and not some then invisible third-party seller. Already frustrated, it was even more frustrating to have the customer service representative tell me nothing could be done because of rules that seemingly were magicked into existence just to annoy me. Had I known at the time of my purchase that the seller was a third-party vendor (and maybe the seller’s star ratings and not the product’s) and had I known the rules surrounding cancelation and refunds, I likely would have gone about my purchase differently. This is a clear example of inside/outsider knowledge of the knowledge culture the business is operating under. The onus is on Amazon to be transparent about this for improved customer service relations and should not be on me to learn through some agent telling me, basically, “yeah sorry; not our problem!”
Customers do not have access or exposure to a business’ knowledge culture: the company’s way of thinking, saying, and doing things is black-boxed. The customer service agent or sales rep, however, is in a unique position. They have an intimate understanding of the company’s knowledge culture and can empathize with the customer and their point of view. Because customer service representatives are in this privileged position of dual understanding, a good customer service representative will go the extra mile to meet the customer where they are and build the bulk of the Shared Symbolic Cloud to enable effective communication.
Image of a customer trying to make sense of a business’ knowledge culture with access only to a small portion of the whole.
The Amazon customer service representatives I spoke with did not successfully empathize with me. They did not realize that I, in my Individual Cloud, did not have the knowledge or access they have. If they had stepped into my shoes, they would have gone the extra mile to demonstrate to me how I can find out if a product is being sold by a third-party seller on the Amazon marketplace. They could have informed me all in one sitting about the rules regarding cancellations and refunds for goods sold by third parties, rather than doling out these policies slowly over the course of a month with different agents. They also could have followed up with the seller and perhaps notified me that they are going to be putting the seller on probation or removing them from the Marketplace (I had done some digging and found this particular seller had failed to fulfill orders for a number of people). They did not do this. Instead, I had to be the angry and confused customer. I would have much preferred to be informed, teaming up with Amazon’s customer service representative to resolve my situation and monitoring it over time. I just needed them to share the necessary knowledge with me so we could build that bridge of mutual understanding...
Starting from the customer’s point of view
Based on qualitative researchI conducted at LivePerson with people of a various age, gender, educational background, income, occupation, and locality, we know that a positive experience with customer service includes empathy and personalized care. These are the actual terms used by the majority of study participants, with all mentioning this in some form or other. Empathy was characterized by study participants as when the customer service representative acknowledges what the customer is experiencing and how it is impacting them. This amounts to feeling like one is being heard, taken seriously, and that he or she will be given individualized attention given the specifics of their situation. This latter aspect dovetails into study participants’ conception of “personalized care,” discussed as the customer service representative working toward identifying the specifics of what is going on and providing tailored solutions given such particulars.
What empathy and personalized care have in common here is this feeling of having successfully connected through communication with the customer service representative. That is at the core of what makes for a positive interaction with customer service. These research insights demonstrate that customers value when agents go the extra mile to meet them where they are, starting from their Individual Cloud of experience and understanding, and work from there to build out a Shared Symbolic Cloud that they, the customer, can understand and see the applicability to their situation. This amounts to recognizing the gap between the internal knowledge culture that a business possesses and the knowledge and experience of the customer and starting from the customer’s point of view (empathy) to find a resolution that satisfies their situation and the business (personalized care).
Building chatbots that start from the customer’s point of view
As discussed, customer service needs to go further than a typical conversation partner to translate the internal world of the business (its knowledge culture) into something easily digestible for the customer and the Individual Cloud of experiences and understanding they are operating within. Customers cannot do this work because the internal logic and workings of the company are black-boxed and inaccessible to them. In customer service interactions, therefore, it needs to be the agent building this bridge, the Symbolic Shared Cloud, and providing, at necessary junctures, pertinent information to help the customer join in and engage successfully. This same responsibility applies to a business’ digital customer service agent, the chatbot. It too must work from the customer’s point of view, their Individual Cloud, to build empathy.
Tell-tale signs that your chatbot is not bridging the gap are as follows (insights derived from research I conducted at LivePerson):
A. Customers are struggling with how to word things to get the chatbot to understand them.
This is a struggle to translate his or her problem/query as it is understood and experienced in their Individual Cloud into the knowledge culture of the company.
B. When the chatbot presents selection options, the customer cannot figure out which category to choose.
This is also a translation issue, but more directly related to the organizational schema that a business knowledge culture might be implementing. It is a question of how the company is classifying or categorizing this product or this topic. It is a similar experience to walking up and down every aisle of a grocery store to try to find where they categorized the dried fruit — is it next to the fresh fruit, nuts, spices, cereals, or canned goods? If you can’t find it after your first try (maybe two if you aren’t in a hurry or don’t have kids), of course, you are going to ask someone that works there rather than go through the whole store.
Building conversational AI experiences for customer service that possess the winning qualities of empathy and personalized care are readily achievable with user research. Below are a few examples of things you can start investing in today to help your bot bridge the gap and translate effectively between your internal business knowledge culture and the customer’s point of view.
Solution — how to build chatbots that have empathy and personalized care
Reminder that empathy for customers is feeling listened to and understood and personalized care amounts to having his or her situation be identified as unique and then customer service working towards finding a resolution that works for the customer. Both of these can be achieved by a chatbot.
Start from the user’s point of view — their Individual Cloud
It is important to work backward from the customer. In another article, I talked about this from the perspective of mental models. It also applies to what a bot says and how it says it. You don’t want the bot to be too steeped in jargon or the company’s knowledge culture. It needs to be a proper marriage between the customer’s point of view and the business’. Conduct user research into how people are framing problems or issues — what language they are using to talk about things? What is the context in which they are experiencing it? Incorporate learnings into the language and phrasing of the bot. This will go a long way to help customers feel grounded in their interaction with an unfamiliar knowledge culture. You can admix business jargon or info about your company’s organizational system as teachable moments. In the example below, the bot gently rephrases the customer’s query using the business jargon “digital portal.”
Customer: I have a new credit card but when I log in to view my activity online. I can’t see the new card there. What is going on?
Bot: I am sorry to hear you are experiencing difficulty accessing your credit card activity on the digital portal. To help you better, would you please take a moment to log in here…
Having the bot restate or rephrase the customer’s intent is additionally a way to build empathy. It demonstrates to the customer that their specific situation was understood — the first step toward receiving personalized care.
2. Plain talk doesn’t just apply to words
The design basics of user experience on the web also have many parallels with conversational AI. To create satisfying customer experiences, it is absolutely imperative to design categories, information architectures, logic hierarchies, and more from the user’s point of view. Again, just like user experience on the web, working backward from the customer will make their role in the conversation and the interaction options seem intuitive (that is, resonating with their Individual Cloud). At risk of sounding like a broken record, and tooting my own horn, perform user research (such as card sorting, first click, or tree testing) to identify how to label and construct information hierarchies and categories so it resonates with the customer’s understanding.
3. Recognize a customer’s issue or need as unique and deliver “personalized” care with bots
Sure, maybe the company gets hundreds, thousands, even millions of customer service hits about the same issue daily. It doesn’t matter. From this one customer’s singular point of view, the issue is unique to them. They don’t want to be told that their issue is commonplace. If they did not go to or find their answer in the “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)” page, being shuttled to the FAQ page reinforces that: (a). they are just a number, and (b) the company doesn’t value them and their situation enough to provide personalized care. Unless your bot is specifically an FAQ bot, don’t send a customer to the FAQs. It is OK to pull content for the bot’s response from an FAQ page, but don’t link to the FAQs or indicate that their question is commonplace. Instead, have the bot talk to the customer and frame content (derived from FAQ pages or not) as unique to this individual and their specific situation. This will set the bot up to deliver a personalized care experience to the customer.
2. Maxims of cooperative communication — how we manipulate what we say and how we say things to communicate meaning
In addition to Individual and Shared Symbolic Clouds, what we say and how we say it conveys meaning as well. The British philosopher of language, Paul Grice, outlines four principles of cooperative communication that we apply unconsciously when we converse with others to drive and derive meaning. The maxims are as follows:
Maxim of Quantity — Your contribution to a conversation should be informative only to the extent needed; that means there should be no additional information nor should there be too little.
Maxim of Quality — Say only what you know or believe to be true and possesses sufficient evidence to support it.
Maxim of Relation/Relevance — Contribute to the conversation at hand.
Maxim of Manner — Don’t be obscure, be brief, don’t be vague, and organize your contribution.
Gricean maxims operate at the overarching level of the conversation as a whole. To this end, they draw individual utterances made into the larger whole of related subjects, objects, spatiotemporal references, and topics. We unconsciously apply these maxims to convey and comprehend meaning, both implicit and explicit. If and when we encounter a violation of one or more of these maxims, the violation and type of violation serves to communicate significance beyond the surface value. See the following example:
Person A: Did you talk to Michal and Jorge about getting together next Saturday?
Person B: I sent a message.
Here, Person A applies the maxims of cooperative communication to derive meaning from what Person B has stated. They apply the Maxim of Relevance to determine that the “message” must be related to getting together with Michal and Jorge. Surely, Person B wouldn’t intentionally mislead Person A by talking about some irrelevant message they sent! Person B has additionally flaunted the Maxim of Quantity. They could have responded by saying, “I did talk to them. I sent them a message, and they responded to say, ‘yes; next Saturday works.’” However, Person B did not say this and in not saying this but rather violating the Maxim of Quantity, Person B has, in turn, successfully communicated a different set of implicit meanings to Person A.
Person A: Did you talk to Michal and Jorge about getting together next Saturday?
Person B: (EXPLICIT) I sent a message. (IMPLIED) No, I have not talked to them. I messaged them, but they never got back (and I may be a bit irritated by this), so I don’t know if we are getting together next Saturday or not (please don’t ask me again).
Thus, violations of these maxims serve to communicate additional value beyond the explicit content of what was uttered. All of this occurs tacitly, often without calculation, as a part and parcel of communication.
How do these maxims apply to communication with conversational AI?
Conversational AI are not good at carrying context across utterances. Because of this, the application of Gricean maxims fail and with it the thread of cooperative communication.
For intent recognition purposes, conversational AI tend to ground conversational context on a turn-by-turn basis or per discrete interaction, rather than across interactions and intents. The longer context can be retained (subjects, objects, topics, and other identifying information) and mobilized, the easier it will be for the bot and the customer to mobilize Gricean maxims. Businesses should preface the development of machine learning and natural language processing that enables AI to integrate transconversational historical data and multithreaded intents in any given interaction with a customer.
Below is an example of a well-known conversational AI, Mitsuku, developed by Pandorabots and acclaimed “record breaking five-time winner of the Loebner Prize Turing Test, is the world’s best conversational chatbot.” (Link)
Between individual conversational turns (I say something and someone else says something), Mitsuku appears to be in accordance with the principles of cooperative communication, but Gricean maxims apply at the level of the overarching conversation (comprised of multiple conversational turns), not a single turn. Looking at the bigger picture of what is actually being talked about, Mitsuku violates the Maxim of Relevance, Quantity, and Manner. It switches the topic of conversation from the weather to the cost of raincoats, after which it fails to be relevant altogether. It violates the Maxim of Manner and Quantity by talking at length about random things like a “Mousebreaker” clearing its memory.
As Mitsuku’s conversational partner, I felt frustrated and confused because I tried to apply these maxims to understand what Mitsuku was saying, sussing out any implied intentionality related to our larger conversation. For example, I had to think over what “Mousebreaker” might mean. At first I thought maybe “Mousebreaker” was a play on words, referring to a computerized “windbreaker,” but then why does it erase memory? So, this implied meaning didn’t make sense and essentially I wasted cognitive power. The topic continued to leapfrog. Even Mitsuku’s possible joke about the cost of my raincoat lands awkwardly when she promptly forgets the conversational thread and then becomes distractingly vague (violation of the Maxim of Relevance and Manner). Mitsuku’s repeated violations devoid of intentionality (and, therefore, meaning) prevent us from actually cooperatively communicating and failing to build a Shared Symbolic Cloud. Maintaining the larger conversational context across each of our interactions is essential for a truly cooperative and collaborative conversation to occur with conversational AI.
To summarize
If we are going to position AI as conversational, then we need to be more aware of the anatomy of a communicative event.
Shared Symbolic Cloud — how we build mutual understanding.
Maxims of cooperative communication — how we say things and what we say convey implicit and explicit meanings related to larger context of conversation.
I discussed how building mutual understanding becomes more complicated when a complex knowledge culture is involved. With customer service, it becomes increasingly important to meet the customer where they are, their individual clouds, and work backward to build empathy and personalized care. The same need applies to chatbots used for customer service. Research into the customer’s point of view is needed to achieve this. This includes not only what they are experiencing and how they communicate, but also how they organize information.
With maxims of cooperative communication, I emphasized the need for conversational AI to maintain conversational context beyond discrete interactions (however a complete interaction is defined). These maxims, which, are unconsciously applied by people in communicative events, apply across interactions to index all past subjects, objects, topics, places, people, etc.
The goal is not to make AI indistinguishable from humans but make them more conversationally compatible with humans. This is important because people will unconsciously apply the fundamentals of communication when invited to converse with AI. | https://medium.com/swlh/what-it-really-means-for-conversational-ai-to-be-conversational-c796ff278656 | ['Dr. Ender Ricart'] | 2019-12-22 11:06:38.309000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Chatbots', 'Customer Service', 'AI', 'Conversational UI'] |
My Beloved, All I Can Gift Is Love | Can’t understand the need to hide
Can’t get what is there to run from
My heart embraces you
Loves you even when you far
Love wants to share
All that is inside
to open the floodgates
of hugs, kisses, laughter, and joy
Like a child jumping on a trampoline
My heart pumps love every second
All I can give is an outlet to this overflowing love
Not to hinder its course in any fashion
To let it fly in the vast sky
To let it dive into an unfathomable ocean
What is this? I don’t understand
Love so vast, ever accepting and inviting
Love is the only language I understand
Love is the only communication I do
Love is the only life I live
Love is the only prayer
My chanting beads
are my heartbeats
where love pumps out the whole of me
Love is openness, with no barrier
without hiding behind any curtain
Even if I am naked and vulnerable
I surrender it all at your lotus feet
My beloved, all I can gift is love
Because I am that
with no masks, no makeup on
Love is a sacred temple
I offer myself at its altar
Such open-heartedness
paves a path so clear and smooth
One step here equals a thousand-mile glide
One heartbeat in pure love
is the entire life lived fully
No closed paths, nothing to hide
Baring every beautiful and ugly spot
A loving hug or candid conversation
As you are no Other, but my extension
Can’t understand the need to hide
Can’t get what is there to run from
My heart embraces you
Loves you even when you far
No doors latched,
All windows unlocked
My heart is an open residence
Whensoever you want to visit
You are forever welcomed
with a hug and a smiling heart! | https://medium.com/blueinsight/my-beloved-all-i-can-gift-is-love-d76e81d400f6 | ['Ruchi Thalwal'] | 2020-12-08 13:20:22.420000+00:00 | ['Prayer', 'Blue Insights', 'Poetry', 'Self', 'Love'] |
I Will Never Vote Democrat Ever Again | Photo by Daily Beast
Here's the deal.
From this point on, I won’t vote for any candidate seeking higher office running on the Democratic ticket. They will not get my support for any reason, no matter who the candidate is.
Yes, that includes Nina Turner.
“But why, Kathy? I thought you loved Nina?”
Because, sooner or later, you need to walk away from one-sided, abusive relationships. And it’s already way past later.
The Democratic Party cannot be rehabilitated.
I repeat, the Democratic cannot be rehabilitated.
Democrats wouldn’t know a fair primary election if it bit them on the bum. Your vote equals jackshit and the DNC openly admits this. Backroom deals are just part of their charter, and they reserve the right to ignore the will of the voters by installing their own hand-picked candidate.
Running on the Democratic ticket, no matter the reason, makes Nina complicit in their fuckery. The Party isn’t loyal to the people. Nina knows this and is choosing to aid and abet the DNC instead of fighting them.
Is this Nina’s intent? I sure hope not, but 2020 has taught me never to assume any politician's motives are benevolent. I’m far less likely to extend the political benefit of the doubt than I was even four short years ago. Activists who were demanding basic human rights alongside me for years are now Fauxgressives Building Back Better.
Barf.
Photo by NYmag.com
The Democrats have had at least half a century to get their shit together and be the good guys, Instead, they severed ties with their Blue Collar base while still pretending to be the champion of the working class. You can only pull that off so long.
Sooner or later, you gotta cut your losses and learn your lesson about repeatedly rewarding bad behavior. This is precisely why the DNC brazenly ignores the will of The People. The masses allow them too.
We have been promised no fundamental change during a Sniffy McGropey/Mocha Hillary administration. Just what the hell are you celebrating, exactly? That the country will be run into the ground, but at least not by Trump? That our authoritarian V.P. elect has a vagina and brown skin?
Not a peep about policy.
We won’t change the corrupt system by participating in it. It's impossible to change the Democratic Party from the inside. There was a time I had high hopes that we could stage a hostile takeover and have instant party infrastructure. When I think about it now, I’m all cringy at my naive doofiness.
What possessed me to believe that the DNC would allow TRUE Progressives to over-run their corporate-backed goldmine? I thought the Democrats would embrace progressive policies because that's what the voters demanded. Isn't that adorable?
That’s never going to happen. Never, ever, ever. I know this now. The elections of 2016 and 2020 have made that crystal clear.
Your vote for a Democrat in a high-level position is just positive reinforcement for further corruption. They suffer no undesirable consequences for their treachery (quite the contrary), so why would they feel compelled to change? After all, endless payouts to the 1% and death by austerity for the rest of us suits their purposes quite nicely.
Where am I and who is this lady? Photo by the LA Times
And before anyone whines how I’m not slamming the GOP who are just as guilty, consider this:
The Republican Party makes no bones about their love affair with the rich and powerful. In fact, it’s pretty much what they campaign on. The GOP isn’t pretending to be my friend, unlike the DNC that likes to claim FDR and JFK as their own while pissing on their legacies.
Call mr crazy, but I would rather take a punch to the face than a knife in the back. I prefer facing a painful truth than being placated with a comforting lie.
Hey! The Dems fuck us over even worse than the GOP! I’m SO gonna keep voting for them! That’ll learn ' em!"
Not this girl. Fool me once, bleah bleah bleah, fool me twice, bleah bleah bleah. (Hey, cliches are cliches for a reason.)
And sorry Fauxgressives, my decision isn’t sour grapes no matter how hard you try spinning it as such. I wanted both teams to lose. Still do. I don’t belong to the Democratic Party or any other for that matter. Getting mad at Independents and Lefties who won’t support neoliberal policies is like slamming the Campfire Girls for not selling Girl Scout cookies.
Why would you even expect that?
Oh, that’s right. Your massive undeserved sense of entitlement. | https://medium.com/@kathycopelandpadden/i-will-never-vote-democrat-ever-again-5a754ab06a01 | ['Kathy Copeland Padden'] | 2020-12-14 20:49:03.899000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Oligarchy', 'Nina Turner', 'Democratic Party'] |
Enabling Design Thinking in Data Analytics with DataOps | Want to boost data-analytics innovation? Try “Design Thinking.”
Design Thinking is a solution-based design methodology that organizations use to address ill-defined or tricky problems that defy conventional approaches. It uniquely marries design with customer empathy to produce solutions that address latent customer needs. The Design Thinking methodology re-frames problems in human-centric ways, creates many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and then adopts a hands-on approach to prototyping and testing.
The Design Thinking process boils down to three steps:
Empathy — Gain an understanding of the problem you are trying to solve by consulting experts, observing, and empathizing. The discovery process enables designers to think beyond their own assumptions, about the end user’s needs, and the problem space.
Ideation — Generate lots of ideas — as many as possible
Experimentation — Create prototype solutions, test, learn and repeat
Design Thinking has grown beyond its physical design roots to guide innovation in education, business and computer science. As you would expect, data professionals are now applying design thinking to data science. Design thinking can serve as a major boost to corporate innovation. Unfortunately, most data organizations are not set-up for a rapid feedback loop of Ideation and Experimentation, so creativity never shifts into high gear.
Figure 1: Design Thinking consists of three stages: Empathy, Ideation and Experimentation
Figure 1 shows the stages of Empathy, Ideation and Experimentation in series. As any experienced “Design Thinker” will tell you, the stages do not necessarily happen in sequence. Experimentation can lead to deeper Empathy, which fuels Ideation. The process could have many feedback loops. One issue that frustrates Design Thinking in data analytics is that Experimentation can take much longer than Empathy and Ideation. It can take weeks or months for the data team to implement a relatively minor change in analytics. Nothing interrupts the creative juices of innovation from flowing like waiting and waiting and waiting some more. When users can’t see immediate feedback on their ideas, they may lose interest. | https://medium.com/data-ops/enabling-design-thinking-in-data-analytics-with-dataops-4765bcbf8211 | [] | 2020-04-08 13:49:38.940000+00:00 | ['Design Thinking', 'Dataops Automation', 'Data Science', 'Design Thinking Culture', 'Dataops'] |
Parrots found stuffed in plastic bottles in Indonesia!! | Dozens of smuggled parrots stuffed in plastic bottles have been found on a ship docked in Indonesia’s eastern region of Papua.
Police said the crew discovered 64 live parrots and 10 dead birds after hearing noises coming from inside a large box.
Indonesia is home to the highest number of threatened bird species in Asia and a rampant illegal trade in birds.
Birds are sold domestically in giant avian markets or smuggled abroad.
The destination of the parrots found on Thursday morning in the port town of Fakfak was unclear, local police spokesman Dodik Junaidi told AFP news agency.
https://www.mqm.org/file/frj/m-v-p-fr-x8.html
https://www.mqm.org/file/frj/m-v-p-fr12.html
https://www.mqm.org/file/frj/m-v-p-fr13.html
https://www.mqm.org/file/frj/m-v-p011.html
https://www.mqm.org/file/frj/m-v-p06.html
https://www.mqm.org/file/frj/m-v-p077.html
https://www.mqm.org/file/frj/m-v-p66.html
https://www.mqm.org/soc/Boc-v-Lan01.html
https://www.mqm.org/soc/Boc-v-Lan02.html
https://www.mqm.org/soc/Boc-v-Lan03.html
https://www.mqm.org/soc/Boc-v-Lan04.html
https://www.mqm.org/soc/psg-v-mon01.html
https://www.mqm.org/soc/psg-v-mon02.html
https://www.mqm.org/soc/psg-v-mon03.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Bi-v-Cov-ds5.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Bi-v-Cov-dsf4.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Bi-v-Cov-gt.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Bi-v-Cov-gt2.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Bi-v-Cov-m3.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Dun-v-Hea-bm4.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Dun-v-Hea-ccv1.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Dun-v-Hea-ert2.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Dun-v-Hea-ws5.html
https://www.mqm.org/akk/Dun-v-Hea-xp3.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/ps-v-mo2.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/ps-v-mo4.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mon01.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mon04.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mon08.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mon2.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mon3.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mona-fr-news-tv.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mona-fr02.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mona-rc04.html
https://www.mqm.org/tele/psg-v-mona-rc4.html
“The ship’s crew told us that they suspected there were animals inside the box as they heard strange noises,” he said on Friday.
No arrests have been made so far.
The seized birds were identified as black-capped lories, a type of parrot native to New Guinea and nearby islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean.
It is a protected species in Indonesia that is sought-after illegally to supply the pet trade, said Elizabeth John from the wildlife trade watchdog Traffic.
“Indonesia perhaps leads the charge in bird smuggling interceptions in the region, but what is needed is more arrests and a true crackdown of the players from source to market,” she told the BBC.
It’s not the first time that birds have been discovered hidden inside plastic bottles. In 2015 Indonesian police arrested a man who was trying to smuggle 21 yellow-crested cockatoos, an endangered bird, in bottles.
In 2017 Indonesian authorities found 125 exotic birds forced inside drain pipes after wildlife raids that led to several arrests. | https://medium.com/@ariful95.me/parrots-found-stuffed-in-plastic-bottles-in-indonesia-a3100d3572f3 | [] | 2020-11-20 19:09:40.722000+00:00 | ['Sports', 'Birds', 'News', 'Technology'] |
Why your Pluto sign is more important than your Sun sign in astrology | In Evolutionary Astrology, where Pluto is placed in our birth chart is our starting point for our analysis of our entire chart.
Why? What does Pluto represent?
If we agree that we are living in a universe that is always evolving, then it makes sense that we are part of that evolution. From the viewpoint of Evolutionary Astrology, our souls come from Source. Source can be thought of as whatever fits into your own unique belief system, from the Christian God to the energy of the Universe. Source is what is evolving, through many aspects, including us, as our soul self.
The soul, and its evolutionary intentions, are represented by Pluto in our birth charts.
The soul evolves through its many layered experiences of resistance and contrast. The ultimate resistance comes from wanting to be separated from Source to know ourselves and simultaneously wanting to return back to Source. This is the first and also the last ultimate desire. Over our lifetimes we experience a multitude of other desires, each of which creates resistance, and therefore a chance for growth and evolution. Each of these can be encapsulated in large themes that each of our lifetimes represent. When ultimately we have one desire remaining, and that is the return to wholeness and Source, this evolutionary experience comes to a close and it is the end of our experiences on Earth.
You will find that your Pluto placement answers many of the questions about why you are the way you are and why you feel the way you do in this lifetime. You may not believe in nor recognise the ways in which your Pluto represents your past lives, but you will certainly see and experience these large themes played out in your current life. You don’t just recognise your Pluto placement, you live it, and it is the starting point for understanding every other aspect in your chart, including your Sun sign.
Personally, I have no knowledge of my past lives, though I’m curious to one day have regression therapy to find out. At this stage in my own personal journey it is more than enough to understand my own Pluto and to finally have an answer as to why certain issues and concerns have plagued me my whole life, and yet for others are of absolutely no concern whatsoever! It has given me so much comfort and validation to know that my particular set of obstacles and struggles are exactly as they should be. Even more amazing to me is the realisation that I’m completely in alignment with the evolutionary mission of my soul, and that everything has been set up (which I believe is a soul choice before entering this lifetime) perfectly in this lifetime for me to feel the resistance. It is then my choice whether I propel myself forward to the new and to what my soul wants to grow towards, or whether I stay in my evolutionary comfort zone.
For me, Evolutionary Astrology is an amazing and profound resource to know yourself and to tune into yourself. When life seems hazy, complicated and a huge tangle of events, looking at it through the filter of your birth chart and the Evolutionary Astrology paradigm puts everything into complete focus. Over a lifetime, it is an essential tool to have in your pocket to bring you back to what you are learning and where you are going. It is a way to pull all the threads of your experience together.
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This is an excerpt from my upcoming series of books which will explore each Pluto generation currently alive on our planet. Sign up here to be the first to know when they’re published. | https://medium.com/@mirella-trimboli/why-your-pluto-sign-is-more-important-than-your-sun-sign-in-astrology-8990050b9a7b | ['Mirella Trim'] | 2020-12-27 12:11:29.314000+00:00 | ['Personal Growth', 'Astrology', 'Horoscopes', 'Personal Development', 'New Age'] |
Why is the CDC Suppressing Coronavirus testing in Washington State? | As many of you may know, Washington State has been ground zero for the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in the US. As of this writing 16 of the 17 deaths in the US are from Washington State (and 15 from a single county in the state). Below is total attributed deaths worldwide. You can view the most recent numbers here.
Washington State also makes up the largest portion of confirmed cases in the US.
These numbers will change by the time I post this since some more limited testing is finally starting to take place but in reality these ‘confirmed’ numbers are pretty useless at this point because they are grossly under-reported due to a complete and total lack of testing.
It wasn’t only a problem of test kits….it was also a problem of policy.
Until very recently the CDC only allowed people to be tested if they had visited an affected foreign country or could prove they were in contact with someone who had. A completely idiotic policy.
“The new criteria allow people to be tested who have severe respiratory illness with no other explanation, even if they have not traveled to affected countries or have been in contact with a known coronavirus patient, he noted.”
Ok, that sounds promising right? It’s obviously on US soil so we should be testing a much broader range of people to better gauge the spread, right? However, not even a week later local hospitals are ALREADY putting a break on testing at the guidance of the CDC for a completely opposite reason.
H/T to twitter user @Noneya_Mindyers (highlighting is mine)
That is from EvergreenHealth which includes the hospital in Kirkland, WA where the majority of Coronavirus deaths in the region have occurred. EvergreenHealth also has a network of outpatient clinics and urgent care locations throughout the region.
So at first the CDC doesn’t want people tested because they don’t think it has spread enough to warrant testing unless you have traveled…..but NOW they don’t want people tested because IT HAS SPREAD TOO MUCH?!?
After seeing that post I went to look for myself and saw the message described in that tweet. But now this is what you get….
However, google still has it indexed
And fortunately the internet rarely forgets. While I wasn’t able to pull-up that exact page….I was able to get their Community Message for 3–4–20 from the way-back machine internet archive which contained largely the same message https://web.archive.org/web/20200307153209/http://www.evergreenhealth.com/community-message-3420
The more concerning questions is WHY WAS THIS MESSAGE DELETED? I have received no response via twitter. It doesn’t appear that it is because this policy has been reversed….it appears that it was deleted because it had received attention and they don’t want the policy on public display.
Why is the CDC so set on limiting testing? Would love for EvergreenHealth to clear up this confusion…..As they should know, communication is key during a public health crisis. | https://medium.com/@WallStreet_Rant/why-is-the-cdc-suppressing-coronavirus-testing-in-washington-state-6d90fd35e545 | ['The Wallstreetranter'] | 2020-03-07 21:42:32.136000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Covid', 'Outbreak', 'Cdc', 'Covid 19'] |
Bitsnapp weekly #14 — Ethereum Constantinople upgrade has been delayed | Recap
Ethereum’s long-anticipated Constantinople upgrade has just been delayed after a critical vulnerability was discovered in one of the planned changes. The hard fork has now been set for block number 7,280,000, scheduled to hit on February 27th.
A U.S. Bitcoin ATM company, Coinme, has teamed up with international coin counter Coinstar to offer Bitcoin purchasing facilities in thousands of new locations. “Bitcoin is now accessible at your local grocery store via Coinstar kiosks, and this offering will make it even easier for consumers to participate in this dynamic new economy.”
In what seems to be one of the first major security breaches of 2019, New Zealand-based digital assets exchange Cryptopia was allegedly hacked this week. The platform reported the incident via Twitter on Jan. 15, mentioning “significant losses.” | https://medium.com/bitsnapp/bitsnapp-weekly-14-ethereum-constantinople-upgrade-has-been-delayed-a8b919808690 | [] | 2019-01-20 18:01:34.472000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin', 'Bitsnappweekly'] |
Leading edge technique to boost electric vehicle battery performance | New Delhi: A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, has developed an advanced technique that can precisely estimate one of the most important battery internal states known as the SOC (state of charge). SOC reflects the remaining capacity of the battery, i.e., how much more charge can be withdrawn from the battery before it gets fully discharged.
The knowledge of remaining capacity helps to optimize the battery’s capacity utilization, prevent overcharging and undercharging of the battery, increases its lifespan, reduces cost, and ensures the safety of the battery and its surroundings. Unfortunately, such a vital parameter cannot be directly measured by any sensor. We can only infer SOC by using the available measured quantities such as battery terminal voltage and current. However, the highly non-linear characteristic of the lithium-ion battery makes it difficult to estimate the SOC accurately. Hence, a well-developed estimation algorithm is crucial, which can ensure precise, reliable, and cost-effective SOC estimation, says IIT, Guwahati statement.
In recent years, lithium-ion batteries are widely recognized in various applications due to their low carbon emission, high energy density, low self-discharge rate, and low maintenance cost. Apart from the various day-to-day small devices such as cell phones, laptops, etc., they have been also widely used in various other important applications such as electric vehicles, Renewable Energy Sources (RES) integrated smart grids, micro grids, etc.
Professor Somanath Majhi, Dr Sisir Kumar Nayak, and Gautam Sethia (L to R)
The emission of greenhouse gases in burning fossil fuel in the combustion engine has made the transportation sector the highest contributor in increasing air pollution. The greenhouse gases are known to be heat-trapping and thus cause global warming. Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming the most suitable alternatives to conventional fossil fuel-based vehicles. The battery acts as the prime energy source of electric vehicles.
In the RES integrated smart grid, the availability of solar and wind energy is intermittent. Hence, an energy storage system such as a battery is required to store the energy when available and use it later when needed. In smart-grid, batteries can be used for peak shaving, voltage regulation and frequency regulation by storing or feeding energy. In micro-grids, intermittent RES is integrated with the battery so that it can store energy in off-peak hours and supply energy in peak hours or during the unavailability of renewable energy. It can also assist in some emergencies. In all these applications, the precise estimation of SOC plays a vital role in their efficient operation.
Researchers divided the problem into two parts. The first was to derive the mathematical model of the lithium-ion battery, which can closely exhibit its dynamic characteristics. Then, using a few advanced system control and mathematical concepts such as sliding mode theory, they have tried to estimate the battery’s internal states precisely. The proposed technique shows the highly robust characteristics and works accurately even in the presence of various external disturbances such as sensor inaccuracy, temperature variation, etc. Compared to the existing techniques, the proposed technique not only increases the accuracy but also reduces the computational time and hence needs a cost-effective microcontroller chip for its implementation/commercialization.
The research team consists of Professor Somanath Majhi, Dr. Sisir Kumar Nayak, Associate Professor, and Gautam Sethia, Research Scholar. All of them are associated with the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, IIT Guwahati. They have published their research findings in IEEE Transactions on Circuit and System-I journal. (India Science Wire) | https://medium.com/republic-news-india/leading-edge-technique-to-boost-electric-vehicle-battery-performance-de2a2a0575d7 | ['Rupesh Dharmik'] | 2021-04-07 13:17:06.830000+00:00 | ['Electric Vehicles', 'Technology', 'Iit Guwahati', 'Battery', 'Lithium Ion Battery'] |
Covesting Launch Date Announcement and Intermediary Business Update | As we move closer and closer to the final, much-anticipated launch of the Covesting fund management module, we wanted to pause for a moment to reflect on what a difficult and demanding journey it has been to reach this achievement and milestone.
The last year has been especially challenging due to the strict adherence to cost optimization in the face of radically changing industry demand.
In addition, as we are reaching the finish line, we also wanted to provide transparency into our product development lifecycle and give a detailed overview of the overall business as part of this update.
Corporate Updates and Regulatory License
As part of our cost optimization and budget adherence, we made the decision to put our license with the Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority on hold.
We requested that the Estonian regulator liquidate the company along with its license. This decision was made in early 2020, due to the fact that the license went unused since 2018.
However, this doesn’t change the fact that Covesting is a regulated financial entity. We continue to operate under the DLT license issued by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.
The Estonian license was simply a backup “plan B” in case the DLT license from Gibraltar wasn’t issued. But once we received the DLT license, it made little sense to continue to expend costs and have a required physical presence just to continue to receive a license under the Estonian jurisdiction.
The DLT license allows Covesting to manage both the B2C and B2B sides of the business strategy and doesn’t limit us from delivering the products and services we set out to bring to clients.
We are in regular, close communication with the GFSC, providing monthly updates on development progress and B2B negotiations — which have become a top priority for the business.
All aspects of the company’s financial status are fully disclosed to the GFSC and are in compliance with all regulatory capital standards and guidelines, in order to fully maintain the DLT license in good standing.
Covesting Product Overview
With a launch date now on the horizon, we wanted to take a look back at all that the hard-working teams here at Covesting have accomplished over the last two years of development, and compare them with we had originally planned.
Here are the four pillars of the original Covesting infrastructure:
• Crypto Intelligence Portal
• Liquidity Aggregation
• Covesting Digital Asset Exchange
• Copy Trading Platform
Here is the end result of each product development cycle, and the version of the product we have ultimately delivered:
Crypto Intelligence Portal
Status: Released
Covesting had a vision of launching an all-inclusive information resource designed especially just for the cryptocurrency industry.
The idea was to educate the crypto community in order to help them make informed decisions about the investments and trades they make.
As was outlined in the original Covesting white paper, the Crypto Intelligence Portal would include:
• An integrated news feed from top industry resources.
• Original blog posts and articles from reputable traders, analysts, and journalists from throughout the crypto space.
• Detailed trade ideas with technical analysis and trading strategies from the best professional traders across the market.
• A robust Crypto Academy with A-to-Z education, video tutorials, and much more.
• A complete glossary for cryptocurrency-related terminology.
• A collection of the most important and comprehensive cryptocurrency resource links for additional education.
• And a thriving, active community where investors and traders can interact and discuss the latest market trends, developments, and trading ideas.
While we still firmly believe that the Crypto Intelligence Portal hosts a wealth of useful information, we have decided to cease its operations due to the low demand for this type of information.
The Crypto Intelligence Portal remains active via https://ci.covesting.io/ and still includes the Crypto Academy, complete with lessons and video tutorials that educate traders with helpful how-tos.
Liquidity Aggregation
Status: Released
Liquidity aggregation was among the first engines that the Covesting team deployed, helping the Covesting exchange to have a full, liquid order book from the moment it launched.
While other platforms struggled to build trading volumes, Covesting’s order books were deep and ready for instant order execution dating all the way back to the platform’s beta release in early 2018.
Liquidity aggregation still powers the Covesting trading terminal today, offering some of the best order book depth and fastest order execution across the cryptocurrency market.
Covesting Digital Asset Exchange
Status: Released
The Covesting digital asset exchange was released as a beta starting on April 1, 2018, and is currently in operation.
The platform and infrastructure are custom built from the ground up, rather than relying on limited, out-of-the-box solutions.
However, although choosing this development method makes for the best possible product, it does create a time consuming and resource-heavy task to see through to completion.
Building a cryptocurrency exchange from scratch, including a KYC verification system, wallet with multi-currency support, and a reliable trading engine, takes time, money, and expertise.
Furthermore, new users can continue to sign up to the platform, offering them a variety of ways to trade. Covesting has the highest level of security, and the platform has never been compromised or suffered an intrusion of any kind.
We also provide safe, secure custody of assets, and meet all regulatory guidelines to ensure the safest platform possible, free from market manipulation, and more.
In 2017, launching a cryptocurrency exchange was a brilliant idea, but in 2018 alone over 500 new exchanges emerged, all competing for the same set of market participants who remained following the early 2018 crypto market collapse.
Early 2018 brought extreme losses to those that had been lured to the market in late 2017 following much hype and FOMO.
Now, even two years later, the market has only restored to just 1/7th the total active crypto enthusiasts that once filled the market at its peak interest level. Even more importantly, the trend of “crypto involvement” that sparked the surge of development of crypto projects, has fallen flat and isn’t growing.
Even search trends on Google indicate that interest remains relatively low for crypto assets like Bitcoin and altcoins.
Because of this, there’s no new demand for cryptocurrency exchange or news and analysis websites, regardless of if the vendor is fully licensed or not, or how good your marketing is.
Only a few large players were able to establish their positions as leaders in the space, in terms of both trading platforms and information outlets. These large players are more than enough to serve the demand in the crypto market, making it difficult for others to capture a piece of the share.
We plan to continue to maintain the Covesting exchange and everything that entails, including the infrastructure, nodes, wallets, treasury, trading engine, and more. However, we have allocated all remaining development resources towards finalizing the Covesting copy trading module.
There is little competition in fund management modules in the crypto market, making the Covesting fund management module on PrimeXBT a unique value proposition that stands out from the rest of the market.
Further strengthening the product at launch, the Covesting fund management module will launch first on PrimeXBT to an already established user base of active traders who will take advantage of the platform.
By sticking to a B2B strategy for launching Covesting, we ensure that any partners we launch on have a built-in user base to tap into, and are growing fast with strong market share.
Our first partnership with PrimeXBT will be a major milestone, and we are extremely thrilled with the synergy between the two platforms in coming together to build an amazing product for the crypto market.
Today, we are happy to reveal the official beta release date.
Covesting Fund Management Module
Status: Beta launching on April 1, 2020
Two years ago, on April 1, 2018, Covesting launched the first-ever beta version of the cryptocurrency exchange to consumers eager to try it.
This year, on April 1, 2020, we will be releasing the Covesting module beta on the PrimeXBT trading platform for the first time, introducing to the world an innovative new trading experience.
The beta version will at first be limited to only a select number of users to minimize the impact of any last-minute bugs or issues that may arise, and allow us to further stress test the platform ahead of a larger rollout.
The module itself will be released in multiple phases, with the COV token and its utility being integrated during the second phase.
As the launch date gets closer, we will issue another blog post fully dedicated to the beta launch to provide more details, outline the next steps, highlight key features, and reveal the prize we’re offering to the most active beta tester!
Covesting: Adapted to Reality
To operate a successful company and a profitable business, you always must be ready to adapt and evolve. Oftentimes, the best-laid plans and ideas that were relevant previously, may not come together due to how rapidly certain industries change — and no more so than the crypto industry.
You sometimes simply have to face the fact that you cannot predict the evolution of industries years in advance, and must pivot strategy as regulations change, ideas emerge, and new services are released.
With the crypto market unable to keep up the hype and hysteria from 2017, the products designed to meet that demand had to be revised to adopt the changing market. Those that were able to do so successfully, will be at the forefront of the future of this industry.
Today, we are focused on releasing the Covesting fund management module on one of the most innovative trading platforms in the industry today: PrimeXBT.
Tomorrow, regulation may change, and everything we know about the crypto market may change with it. We, like any other successful business, must be ready to accept the new reality, adapt, refocus, and remain relevant, regardless of whatever the market brings us.
Through our steadfast approach and constant focus, we are confident in our latest evolution, and where we will evolve from here.
Stay tuned for additional updates from Covesting, and more on the Covesting fund management beta launch in the coming weeks.
Yours,
Covesting Team | https://medium.com/covesting/covesting-launch-date-announcement-and-intermediary-business-update-a4d13d6a6b59 | [] | 2020-02-25 16:34:28.647000+00:00 | ['Covesting'] |
The Little Bud | On the ground, looking up was this tiny bud,
looking up to the darkness of a multitude,
of leaves and bushes that engulfed it,
alas.
Born in damp ground, besides a flowing rivulet,
it tried to get a grip of the surrounding,
surrounded by many, many forest bushes,
it wondered if it could grow out, of the,
tentacles that crowded around its sight,
the sight of that golden, glazed sun ray,
that caressed each of the branches, the leaves,
of so many other plants, their head high up,
getting to feel the warmth, enabling photosynthesis,
and the bud wished, wished hard for a tinge of light,
to befall on him.
An old tree branch, unable to hold itself to the parent tree,
fell, fell to the ground, on top of a few forest bushes,
bending them by a fraction, by just a little bit,
scaring the little bud, but wait, the very next day,
the first rays of the sun, pierced through, falling,
falling directly on its gloomy lap, caressing the little structure,
devoid of sunlight, for such a long time,
the little bud smiled, the brightest smile, it can produce,
looking up, on the ground, looking up to the mighty sun,
which too seemingly smiled back at him. | https://medium.com/scrittura/the-little-bud-f38cd9190898 | ['Somsubhra Banerjee'] | 2020-11-26 05:33:31.081000+00:00 | ['Thoughts', 'Flowers', 'Poetry', 'Prompt', 'Sun'] |
The strange, sad odyssey of ‘Lawn Chair Larry’ | The strange, sad odyssey of ‘Lawn Chair Larry’
Larry’s boyhood dream was to fly — and by God, he does.
“So many people have dreams and they never follow through on them.” -“Lawn Chair Larry” Walters
On July 2, 1982, Delta and TWA airline pilots were stunned as they began their descents into Los Angeles International Airport and radioed in a UFO. They claimed to a mystified control tower that the unidentified object appeared to be a man seated in an aluminum lawn chair with a pistol in his hand, cruising along at 16,000 feet.
They were absolutely correct — the UFO was 33-year-old Larry Walters, fulfilling a childhood dream which ultimately took his life — but not in the way one may initially think. “When he went up into the clouds, and heard engines of planes, and he couldn’t see them, and they couldn’t see him, he went ‘oh my goodness,’” the lawn chair-riding pilot’s fiancé later told a UPI reporter.
It was the understatement of 1982, and possibly the decade.
Icarus ascending
A resident of North Hollywood, California, 33-year-old Larry was just about as average a blue-collar, hard-working American as anyone. He was employed as a truck driver for a television commercial production company, and in his spare time enjoyed the company of his fiancé, Carol van Duesen in San Pedro.
He especially enjoyed a lawn chair he bought from Sears-Roebuck that he found “exceptionally comfortable” for relaxing and watching jets and passenger planes fly overhead on warm Summer evenings.
“He is the guy you barely know down the block, washing his car on a dull Sunday afternoon,” wrote columnist John Keasler in the July 8, 1982 Miami News of “Lawn Chair Larry.” “The guy you sit next to on the bus. All the frustrateds, all the regimented, all the conformists.”
Larry claimed that since he was 13 years old in the early 1960s, he had dreamed of ascending into the clear blue yonder in a balloon. “It was just something that hit him when he was 13, and he’s had a fascination on that for all these years …” van Duesen claimed.
In 1967 Larry joined the Air Force and went to Vietnam for the express reason to fly a plane, but military doctors shot down his childhood aspirations by finding his eyesight was simply too poor for piloting.
But bad eyesight was not going to stop Larry from shaking the surly bonds of earth. In March, 1982 he began buying the equipment and supplies he would need to accomplish his goal, including 42 weather balloons, helium tanks, a parachute, a BB gun (for shooting out balloons to descend), water jugs, an altimeter and a CB radio. He estimated he spent between $3,000 and $4,000 at an Army-Navy surplus store.
Larry’s Sear-Roebuck lawn chair
Although he spent days and days planning and preparing his chair for his journey, keeping journals and notes, he apparently did not research enough of how much helium would actually be required to lift him just over the housetops. He claimed he planned to drift lazily to a height of about 30 feet above the backyard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight out over the Mojave Desert before popping some balloons and drifting back down.
As E.T. warmed our hearts in the theaters that summer, Lawn Chair Larry was about to stimulate our imaginations the way Spielberg and his syrupy puppet could never do.
Flight of Inspiration
Something in many of us wants to burst and blossom at all times, and that if sometimes in a given lifetime, a body doesn’t go straight up in a lawn chair, he or she will get more and more constricted and finally give up and live in that dull gray limbo, and start buying term insurance …
On Thursday, July 1, Larry traveled to Carol’s home and inflated the 42 balloons with helium, arranging them with nylon cables in six tiers rising almost 180 feet high. Then, on the morning of July 2, as the space shuttle Columbia completed a nearly flawless flight, Larry donned a parachute, strapped himself into his chair, dubbed “Inspiration I” and fastened via a guy wire to his jeep. He secured his CB radio, altimeter, camera, a sandwich and a two-liter Coke, and after a hearty farewell, ordered Carol and friends to release the guy wire.
But neither the launch or ascent went as planned. The wire broke prematurely, and propelled by 42 balloons filled with 33-cubic feet of helium each, Larry did not float languidly over the rooftops — he instead lurched off the ground as if fired from a slingshot, and continued to catapult upward until according to his altimeter he was over three miles off the ground.
Despite his glasses yanked from his face by the perilous ascent, he managed to radio Carol:
Carol: You’re going to be directly over us, so, in a few, about a minute or two. So look down and see if you can see us. Over. Larry: Ok, I’ll be looking for ya. Carol: We can already see your balloons. Maybe when you get over … you’re going to go into, you’re going to go into some blue stuff. Can you see us down now? Can you see us? Over. Larry: Carol, I’m, I’m almost 6,000 feet over. I can’t see much of anything (laugh) except for a lot of houses. Over.”
Disregarding Carol’s pleas to return to earth, and after reaching such dizzying heights he didn’t dare shoot out any of the balloons, fearing he may unbalance the load and dump himself out of the chair. So, he clenched the armrest like grim death and sailed, cold and anxious with his Coke and sandwich, for almost an hour. He radioed his friends on the ground to let them know he was okay, despite enduring an air temperature of about 5˚F.
What Larry may have seen from 16,000 feet
Then a bad situation grew worse. It dawned on him, as his feet and hands grew numb from the frigid temperatures, that he was not drifting east toward the Mojave, as he expected, but west toward the Pacific Ocean. He called in a Mayday on his radio to the Crest-REACT (Radio Emergency Associated Communication Team) in Corona, California, which was also picked up by Doug Dixon, who was a member of an Orange County Citizen’s band radio club.
“This guy broke into our channel with a mayday,” Dixon explained to the AP. “He said he had shot up like an elevator to 16,000 feet and was getting numb … he sounded worried but he wasn’t panicked.”
The conversation as recorded by REACT:
REACT: What information do you wish me to tell them [air traffic control] at this time as to your location and your difficulty? Larry: Ah, the difficulty is, ah, this was an unauthorized balloon launch, and, uh, I know I’m in a federal airspace, and, uh, I’m sure my ground crew has alerted the proper authority. But, uh, just call them and tell them I’m okay.” REACT: What color is the balloon? Larry: The balloons are beige in color. I’m in a bright blue sky which would be very highly visible. Over. REACT: [Balloon] size? Larry: Size approximately, uh, seven feet in diameter each. And I probably have about 35* left. Over. REACT: You’re saying you have a cluster of 35 balloons? Larry: These are 35 weather balloons. Not one single balloon, sir. It is 35 weather balloons. REACT: Roger, stand by this frequency.
it is unclear why Larry reported he had 35 balloons instead of 42.
Entering the primary approach corridor of LAX, and with the awful reality of eventually ditching in the ice-cold and turbulent Pacific looming, Larry got up his nerve, pointed his BB gun up and fired. One balloon popped. Then two.
Nothing happened. His concern starting to turn to panic, Larry shot out seven more balloons before he accidentally fumbled and dropped his BB gun somewhere over Orange County.
Thankfully, before he dropped the gun, however, he had shot out enough balloons to start a fast descent, augmented by his 30 water-filled gallon jugs.
“I cannot say I was afraid or anything,” Larry later recalled of his rapid descent into a Long Beach neighborhood. “The part that was scary was the last 300 feet with the rooftops and telephone poles coming up so fast. I was praying I would not his one of those power lines and be fried or sizzled.”
After receiving a frantic 911 call from one of Larry’s ground crew, and seeing that Larry was fast approaching, the police had the power company kill the electricity in the area, leaving blocks of homes and businesses with no power. Then, as if by a miracle, Larry’s almost certainly crippling landing was arrested by his craft entangling in dead high-voltage lines, ending his 21-mile flight a mere five feet off the ground. He was swarmed by admiring neighbors and children, who helped him out of his chair.
“By the grace of God I fulfilled my dream,” he told the gathered crowd. “But I wouldn’t do it again for anything.”
A man can’t just sit around
After Larry was helped to safety, he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD. As he was placed in a squad car in handcuffs, a reporter asked him why he had done it. He casually replied, “A man can’t just sit around.”
He added he had two regrets from his flight — he gave away his beloved lawn chair to those neighborhood children, and he reported he was so amazed by the view he neglected to take a single photograph.
“It was something I had to do,” he told the Los Angeles Times after serving two days in lockup. “I had this dream for 20 years, and if I hadn’t done it, I would have ended up in the funny farm.”
He added that perhaps he could become a spokesman for Sear-Roebuck’s remarkable lawn chairs.
Larry after his flight
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was not amused by Larry’s flight. Regional Safety Inspector Neal Savoy said “We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, a charge will be filed … If he had a pilot’s license, we’d suspend that. But he doesn’t.”
“My mother thought I should be institutionalized, and probably still does,” Larry told the AP. “But she’s proud of me.”
On December 18 the FAA made good on their threat and levied four charges and over $4,000 in fines against Larry. Those charges included “operating a civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate” and operating an aircraft within an airport traffic area “without establishing and maintaining two-way communications with the control tower.”
Larry vowed to challenge the charges, proclaiming that “If the FAA was around when the Wright Brothers were testing their aircraft, they would never have been able to make their first flight at Kitty Hawk.” They eventually settled for a $1,500 fine, which Larry paid.
In addition to the fine, Larry also proudly accepted the top prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas, and unbelievably discovered he had set the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons, although the distinction could not be officially recorded because he was unlicensed and unsanctioned. The Smithsonian Institution asked him to donate his lawn chair to the National Air & Space Museum, but he had to sheepishly admit he had given it away. He had also autographed and given away pieces of the deflated balloons.
In the months following the flight, he catapulted to fame and was the toast of the town. His journey was covered on NBC News. He guested with Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” and was flown to New York to be on “Late Night with David Letterman,” which he later said was the most fun he had ever had. He hired an agent but fired him soon after, claiming it was all “too much, too soon.”
“I didn’t think that by fulfilling my goal in life — my dream — that would create such a stir and make people laugh” he later told the Los Angeles Times.
Trying to parlay his flight into a career, Larry quit his truck-driving job in 1983 and went on the lecture circuit, remaining sporadically in demand at motivational seminars. “It’s amazing, there are people out there who still want to hear about it,” he said in 1988 of his flight.
But fame and fortune proved to be elusive and damning for this admittedly simple man, who actually longed to keep his uncluttered lifestyle. He lived in the same low rent North Hollywood apartment since 1971 and he had almost no bills. But as the attention petered out, and the speaking gigs got fewer and fewer, he found himself alone and without direction. He never married Carol van Duesen although they remained good friends, and he spent a lot of time hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains and doing volunteer work for the U.S. Forest Service.
“I love the peace and quiet,” he said in 1988. “Nature and I get along real well.”
Breaking even
In 1991, nine years after his flight, Larry appeared in an advertising campaign for Timex, the watch that “takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” Timex spokesman Ron Sok said the company felt that Larry fit their campaign that touted ordinary individuals conquering enormous obstacles. Larry earned $1,000 from that ad, and he claimed at the time that with that check he finally financially broke even from his experience.
Despite his cheerful outward demeanor, Larry continued to battle personal demons, possibly as a result of his flight and the disruption it had caused in his modest life. Then, just before Thanksgiving, 1993, his mother, Hazel Dunham, disclosed that on the previous October 6, her son, who had the audacity to buck the authorities and pursue a lifelong ambition, had hiked to a remote spot in the Angeles National Forest and shot himself in the heart.
He was 44 years old, he left no suicide note and no one was sure of his motive.
“It was his favorite place,” Mrs. Dunham said through tears of the forests where her son ended his life. “He loved those mountains.” In addition to his mother, he was survived by two sisters.
“I have never flown, not like he did, not with the vast world spinning away from me like a vast circus,” wrote Pennsylvania columnist T. W. Burger on December 3, 1993 of Larry’s courage and influence. “That makes me feel curiously unaccomplished, sitting here at a computer, heavy as a stone, while the air whistles at my window …”
###
Read more at www.dalebrumfield.net. New novel Naked Savages now available worldwide. | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-strange-sad-odyssey-of-lawn-chair-larry-3b943991179c | ['Dale M. Brumfield'] | 2019-06-06 17:50:33.064000+00:00 | ['Aviation', 'Cultural Archaeology', 'History', 'Flight', 'Contemporary History'] |
3 Ways to Help Students Discover Their Passions | 3 Ways to Help Students Discover Their Passions
Photo by Jordan on Unsplash
I’ve always thought you are lucky if you are born knowing what you want to do with your life. For me as a child, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I used to play “school.” I used to give my friends assignments and grade them.
By the time I graduated from college, I had three potential careers: actor, disc jockey, teacher. I desired all three equally, although I thought teaching seemed the most dull yet stable. I applied for jobs in all three areas and the first one I got was as a high school English teacher. So I went the teaching route, performed improv on the side and amused my friends spinning records.
After seven years I left teaching, had babies, joined a start-up. But here’s the thing. I never actually stopped being an educator. I realized that my life’s passion was actually supporting learning for others. As a child I had mixed up that passion and defined it as “I want to be a teacher.” But in fact my journey as an educator has taken such amazing twists and turns.
The Passion Spectrum
I’ve observed thousands of students explore their interests. There’s two extremes on opposite ends of the spectrum for passion awareness.
At one end, a student believes fervently that they know what their life’s work should be. I’ve seen many students have fierce desires to become veterinarians or EMTs — both of which have lengthy learning pathways before starting a career. Another kind of individual at this end of the spectrum is the student who is deeply passionate about something that doesn’t initially seem aligned with a career. For example, a boy who only wanted to skateboard, or a girl who was obsessed with Queen Victoria. They know their passions, but there’s no obvious career pathway.
At the other end of the spectrum are the students who have absolutely no idea about their own interests, and just see a blank slate when asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” — an outdated and dumb question to ask by the way. Some kids at this end of the spectrum appear disengaged. And others present as nearly defiant about identifying their interests.
But most of us, adults and students, are in the middle ranges of the spectrum, having a couple of ideas about what we might want to do with our lives and a few compatible (or conflicting) goals for our work futures and career trajectories. And there’s always someone telling us, even if it’s just thevoice in our own head, why we can’t do one thing or another — that it is impractical, unachievable, ridiculous or dumb.
Stop Judging and Start Encouraging
But here’s the thing. Passions are a gift — strange and mysterious callings that the owner seldom knows why they’ve arrived. Parents and educators with the best of intentions sometimes try to talk students out of their impractical passions.
If a student is doing a physics project in science class, and she is passionate about Queen Victoria, a teacher might reasonably suggest to leave the Queen out of the physics project. But what happens when you say, “YES! Find a way to include Queen Victoria into this physics project.” What you get is a more motivated and engaged student, increased odds for a successful project where learning occurs, and a truly interesting and unique finished product. And in addition to the student learning, sometimes a teacher will learn something new too when they say yes to a project like this.
If a student is obsessed with skateboarding, what happens when you help him secure an internship at a local shop? If your community doesn’t have a skateboard shop, there’s a journey of discovery to uncover something connected to skateboards. For example, we located a small business in our rural community that manufactured snowboards out of a garage. Until the quest to find a skateboard shop began, none of us knew this snowboard business existed because it didn’t have a retail front nor a commercial listing. But the business owner did high end snowboard design for competitive snowboarders. Our student who was obsessed with “skateboarding” as a generic concept now was highly engaged and excited to be learning autoCAD and advanced design features for snowboards.
And, his passion matured and evolved. What seemed sometimes dumb to the adults around him — his desire to dress and socialize in the skateboard culture — morphed into a new sense of confidence, knowledge, and interactions with adults who treated him as a peer in the field, rather than a skater kid.
The girl obsessed with Queen Victoria simply outgrew that interest. Almost as-if she had been hungry to learn more about the Victorian era and had been denied the opportunity so her hunger grew. Once everyone helped her embrace her obsession, and turned to her as an expert in that area, and she soaked in all kinds of learning, she was satisfied. She went on to new interests. But the important thing, the amazing thing, was that for about one year, her focus became something that we all learned from, and her passion connected a lot of academic dots across subject-matter areas. We found ourselves talking about these connections in the lunch room with other teachers, and in the classroom with our other students.
So always encourage passions, interest-exploration, and even obsessions (with care).
The Passion Mix-Up and Discovery Process
Jordan knew he wanted to be a veterinarian. We secured a “Shadow Day” for him with a local vet. He was thrilled because the vet was going to be conducting surgery on a cat, and was going to allow Jordan to be in the room and potentially assist with the process. His enthusiasm was so contagious, all us adults at the school were also excited.
However, a couple hours later I got a phone call from the vet. Jordan had fainted during the cat surgery. He was okay but needed to be picked up and brought back to school. As school principal, it was never fun to call a parent and notify them that their child had gotten hurt. And for the injured student, in addition to the physical pain of an injury, they also sometimes suffered feelings of humiliation or embarrassment about getting hurt, even if they did nothing wrong and it wasn’t their fault for the injury.
Upon his return to school, I checked in with Jordan. And checked in with his mom later. They both indicated that he didn’t get hurt when he fainted, that he was feeling fine and joking about it, and that he realized he did not want to become a veterinarian.
Discovering what you don’t want is equally or maybe even more important than discovering what you do want. Most everyone in education has seen firsthand a peer in college who blazed a trail to be a teacher, only to discover in their last semester, when the field work requirement kicked in, that they disliked being in a classroom full of kids. Sadly, I’ve heard many tales of people who make that discovery but then stick with going into teaching because they already had invested so much time and money in their education and career preparation. Or they stick with teaching because they love the subject, i.e. physics, or math, or literature. They like the content, but not the kids.
I call it “passion mix-up”. The passion is true and genuine, but the application of that passion is misapplied. I thought my passion was to “be a teacher” but really my passion was to help others learn. Jordan thought his passion was to be a veterinarian, but maybe his passion really was animals. Maybe a better career path would be a breeder, or a trainer, or a pet store owner, or a circus performer.
Passion Meets Aptitude
This is where passion meets aptitude. Passion for animals, aptitude for … business? acrobatics? Who knows? Aptitude also must be discovered. What are your innate talents and skills? How are you wired? If you are passionate about music, should you play an instrument, do sound engineering, manage a band or teach? Such diverse ways to manifest your passion for music.
Jordan went on to launch his own graphic design business. And his portfolio includes a good number of animals and animal-like creatures. His aptitude was for illustration and graphic design, not scalpels and anesthesia. But perhaps his passion for animals has remained into adulthood.
Here’s what I’ve learned after 20 years of helping kids pursue learning through their interests and passions:
Always say “yes” to a student’s passion and find a way to help them explore it more fully. Never disqualify a student’s interest, even if it seems dumb, morbid, or non-academic. Think carefully about the differences between a student’s passion and that student’s abilities, natural talents, and aptitudes. Help the student recognize the difference between these two concepts. And to discover new ways to pursue their passion with alignment to their aptitude. Passions are gifts, and they arrive to us for reasons we can’t always understand. But aptitudes can be measured through cool assessment tools. If a student doesn’t think they have a passion, that’s okay. Instead give them an aptitude assessment and let them start exploring there. It will certainly lead them to a new interest-based discovery.
Recommended Aptitude Assessments
Here’s a few aptitude surveys I’ve used with students that work great, resonate as accurate with the student, and nourish a sense of unique self with talents and skills.
Gallup’s Clifton Strengths-Finder. This assessment is awesome for adult teams and for high school students. It focuses on individual talents and skills, and provides a “Top 5 Strengths” outline that explain the ways you naturally think, feel and behave. What I love about this tool is that it doesn’t point out your weaknesses. Its premise is that the most successful people are those who capitalize and use their innate talents. And that we shouldn’t try to get good at everything, we should build on our natural talents and surround ourselves with a team that collectively has well-rounded strengths.
When I was principal at New Technology High School in Napa, I was extremely fortunate to set up a pilot study with the education division of the Gallup Strengths-Finder. All four hundred of our high school students took the assessment, and then we guided them to think about their strengths and put them to use when they were working in collaborative groups with other students to complete learning projects. The Executive Director of Gallup Education even spoke at the White House about our outcomes.
Naviance offers a career aptitude assessment available from Hobsons. It recommends students to specific careers and links to college degree programs aligned with those careers. It’s a somewhat expensive, yet comprehensive platform that fosters amazing self discovery. When used as intended, Naviance truly helps students develop a college-going and career plan. I’ve seen schools double their college-going rates with it. However, the platform can’t work its magic if the school staff is not finding regular and meaningful ways to compel students and their families to use it.
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is a military assessment tool. It is technically a recruitment and placement tool, but students can opt-out of being contacted by a recruiter. The ASVAB is available to schools at no charge, and the results the students receive back are insightful and extremely detailed. The ASVAB is something that potential recruits study for, and try to improve their scores. It’s rigorous. As a school principal I facilitated the ASVAB assessment as an opportunity for self-discovery, and made sure to communicate to the students and their parents that it was low-stakes and not to worry if the math or language portions were hard. However, there was usually some pushback from a variety of stakeholders about offering this assessment as part of the school day because of the connection to the military.
Share Your Journey With Me
If you’ve made it to the end of this article, I think you might have a story yourself to share. I’ve implemented a “50 Coffees in 50 Days” project to investigate how interests, passions and aptitudes have impacted career journeys.
Have you ever experienced “Passion Mix-up”? How has your career pivoted based on discoveries of your own interests and aptitudes?
I’d love to speak with folks who have been on their career journey long enough to reflect on what has remained central and consistent throughout a series of changes, evolutions, discoveries, and even failures. Could you spare 15 minutes over a virtual coffee to share your story with me? Sign up here. | https://medium.com/@rustyclover/3-ways-to-help-students-discover-their-passions-ebbf570dc06e | ['Michelle Spencer'] | 2021-03-24 00:39:37.978000+00:00 | ['Passion', 'Careers', 'Self', 'Education', 'Life Lessons'] |
[LeetCode] Missing Number | Problem
Given an array nums containing n distinct numbers in the range [0, n] , return the only number in the range that is missing from the array.
Follow up: Could you implement a solution using only O(1) extra space complexity and O(n) runtime complexity?
Input: nums = [3,0,1]
Output: 2
Explanation: n = 3 since there are 3 numbers, so all numbers are in the range [0,3]. 2 is the missing number in the range since it does not appear in nums. Input: nums = [0,1]
Output: 2
Explanation: n = 2 since there are 2 numbers, so all numbers are in the range [0,2]. 2 is the missing number in the range since it does not appear in nums. Input: nums = [9,6,4,2,3,5,7,0,1]
Output: 8
Explanation: n = 9 since there are 9 numbers, so all numbers are in the range [0,9]. 8 is the missing number in the range since it does not appear in nums. Input: nums = [0]
Output: 1
Explanation: n = 1 since there is 1 number, so all numbers are in the range [0,1]. 1 is the missing number in the range since it does not appear in nums.
My Approach
I’m always surprised at how much knowledge I retained from my math and engineering classes. In this problem I immediately recognized that Gauss’s formula could be implemented to create a simple and succinct solution. Gauss’s formula tells us the sum of all numbers in a sequence, if that sequence contains all the numbers in a set. Below was my pseudo code as I approached the problem.
// Gauss’s formula to get the intended sum of all the numbers in the set. If the set is [N…M] and the number of elements is T, then the sum of the sequence is sum = (T/2)*(M+N). Using this I can set a target sum which we are trying to aim for and compare it to the actual sum of the array.
// sum all the numbers in the array
//subtract the two and that is the number.
//edge case is zero, check for zero. If not then return 0.
//check for zero by the length of the array being equal to the sum.
//edge case arr.length = 1, check if 0 is in it if not return 1, check if 0 is in it, if not return 0.
Solution
function missingNumber(arr){ let length = arr.length; let target = (length/2)*(length + 1) let sum = 0; for(let i = 0; i<length; i++){ sum += arr[i] } if(target !== sum && length !== 0){ return target - sum } if(length === 0 && arr[0]===0){ return 1 }else{ return 0 } }
Big O
Time is O(n) because we must iterate through each element of the array.
Space is O(1), constant space because memory allocation remains constant with input. | https://medium.com/@trevorklow94/leetcode-missing-number-b3c7a735c6f2 | ['Trevor Low'] | 2020-12-19 01:28:52.671000+00:00 | ['Leetcode', 'Algorithms', 'JavaScript'] |
Legislative Recap: My Net Neutrality, Nightlife, Environmental, Housing, Mental Health, and Criminal Justice Bills Pass the Legislature and Head to the Governor | Last week was the deadline for bills to be passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor for his approval or veto. I am proud of the work we were able to do to pass bills that will have a real impact on lives across California. We had some real successes, including passing bills to enact the strongest net neutrality standards in the nation, expand use of solar energy storage, reform how we set housing goals and ensure we’re planning for our actual future housing needs, allow (but not require) local communities to extend nightlife hours to 4 a.m., and bills to help individuals with severe mental health and substance use disorders get the help they need.
Senator Wiener, co-authors, and supporters of SB 822 — which will enact the strongest net neutrality standards in the nation — host a press conference in Los Angeles calling on the Assembly to pass the bill
Senator Wiener discusses SB 785- a bill to protect immigration status in court
In addition, a number of bills I was proud to co-author passed the legislature, including a bill to allow San Francisco to pilot safe injection sites that help prevent overdoses, and a bill to make Lunar New Year a day of special significance in California. Our Lunar New Year bill was signed by the Governor just last month.
Senators Dr. Richard Pan and Scott Wiener, and Assemblymembers David Chiu and Phil Ting announce SB 892 which recognizes Lunar New Year as a day of special significance in California
Here are some highlights of bills I authored that were passed by the Legislature and that are on the Governor’s desk:
SB 822: Enacts the strongest net neutrality protections in the nation, putting California at the forefront of ensuring all of our residents have access to a free and open internet.
SB 1045: Creates a new type of conservatorship for severely mentally ill and drug-addicted people on our streets — people who are unable to make decisions for themselves and who are frequently detained on psychiatric holds — in order to get them stable, healthy, and into housing.
SB 905: Allows, but does not require, 9 pilot program cities to extend the nightlife hours to as late as 4 a.m. Currently, California has a rigid 2 a.m. end time statewide, no matter how big or small the city and no matter what the nature of the city’s nightlife. SB 905 allows San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood, Long Beach, Palm Springs, Coachella, and Cathedral City to make this decision locally. Nightlife is hugely important to California’s culture and economy, and SB 905 will improve the vibrancy of our state’s nightlife.
SB 923: Sets statewide eyewitness identification standards to help prevent misidentifications that lead to innocent people being convicted and actual perpetrators remaining free.
SB 700: Creates a rebate program to expand the installation of renewable energy storage systems in California. More energy storage will address the imbalance between when solar energy is created (daytime when people are at work) and when energy is consumed (when people get home at night).
SB 918: Directs the recently created Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to set specific measurable goals to prevent and end youth homelessness in California.
SB 937: Requires businesses to provide lactation facilities for their workers. New mothers should not have to choose between breastfeeding and returning to work. This bill will help ensure women can return to work and not fall behind.
SB 829: Exempts from state cannabis taxes donations of medical cannabis to low income people suffering from serious illnesses like HIV and cancer. When the voters legalized adult use of cannabis, they inadvertently applied taxes to “compassionate care” medical cannabis donation programs, which are now shutting down since they have no revenue and cannot pay taxes.
SCR 110: Calls on the medical community to stop performing medically unnecessary,nonconsensual, and often irreparably harmful sex assignment and genital “normalization” surgeries on intersex infants at birth. Instead, medically unnecessary surgery should be delayed until the intersex individual can decide for themselves whether to pursue surgery at all, at an age when informed consent is possible.
SB 221: Bans Gun Shows at the Cow Palace, a longstanding goal of the surrounding communities
SB 726: Protects CalWORKS Recipients from penalties when counties negligently over-issue their benefits
SB 765: Updates and closes loopholes in my 2017 housing streamlining bill (SB 35)
SB 785: Protects immigration status in court (SB 785 was signed by the Governor earlier this year)
SB 828: Ensures that the state’s process for setting housing goals for cities is based on actual housing need. The current process is highly politicized, and wealthier/whiter communities often get lower housing goals, while lower income, less powerful communities get higher goals.
SB 966: Expands on-site water reuse by requiring issuance of health and safety standards so that cities can adopt water reuse programs for their residents
SB 1004: Strengthens California’s mental illness prevention and early intervention programs, with a special emphasis on preventing mental illness among youth
SB 1021: Caps drug co-pays and ensures that people can utilize their insurance to obtain PrEP(pre-exposure prophylaxis, a once-daily pill that nearly eliminates the risk of HIV infection)
SB 900 (adopted via the budget): Expands the Cal Fresh food assistance program to encourage incentives to use food benefits to purchase fresh produce
Senator Wiener joined by co-authors and advocates announcing SB 937 which will ensure working women have access to lactation facilities
Thank you for allowing me, and trusting me, to do this work as your Senator. As always, I’m proud to represent San Francisco and Northern San Mateo County in the Senate. | https://scott-wiener.medium.com/legislative-recap-my-net-neutrality-nightlife-environmental-housing-mental-health-and-6479cde2ccb7 | ['Scott Wiener'] | 2018-09-06 21:56:30.053000+00:00 | ['California', 'Net Neutrality', 'San Francisco', 'Nightlife', 'Housing'] |
Indexing on MongoDB Using Rockset — How It Works | Indexing on MongoDB Using Rockset — How It Works Ben Follow Jul 21 · 8 min read
MongoDB is the most popular NoSQL database today, by some measures, even taking on traditional SQL databases like MySQL, which have been the de facto standard for many years. MongoDB’s document model and flexible schemas allow for rapid iteration in applications. MongoDB is designed to scale out to massive datasets and workloads, so developers know they will not be limited by their database. MongoDB supports a variety of indexes, which accelerate selective queries in much the same way as a SQL database.
However, there comes a point in the lifetime of an application when a secondary index or replica of the production database is needed. As a NoSQL database, MongoDB is not built to perform for JOINs, and cannot run SQL queries. If you want to run analytical queries that aggregate a large amount of data, running them on the primary production database risks interrupting the performance of that database for application serving queries. A secondary database, designed for serving large analytic queries, can obviate that risk.
External Indexing Using Rockset
Rockset recently partnered with MongoDB to build an integration that allows Rockset to be used as an external indexing layer. Rockset uses Converged Indexing to accelerate queries with minimal configuration. Every document is indexed on every field, even nested fields inside arrays or objects. Rockset indexes every field automatically so users don’t need to build indexes to make queries fast — queries are indexed by default. There is no limit to the number of fields which can be ingested and indexed. Rockset is designed to scale well for documents with thousands of fields or more.
Our unique approach to indexing often leaves people with questions. How do we maintain indexes on every field when documents can maintain thousands or even millions of fields? What sort of queries can take advantage of these indexes? By design, it isn’t necessary to understand Rockset’s indexing engine in order to use Rockset. However, it can be helpful to understand how Rockset indexes data, and how Rockset indexes compare to other systems, specifically indexing in MongoDB, when transitioning to Rockset.
Single Field Indexes
In MongoDB, you can create a single field index on a field to quickly select all documents with a particular value of a field, or a contiguous range of values.
Rockset indexes are very similar, but they are created automatically for every field, and there is no limit to the number of indexes you can have. When Rockset ingests a document, every scalar field is automatically added to an inverted index. This includes fields inside arrays or objects. For each field, we store a map from each value to the set of documents which contain that value. To evaluate a query with an equality predicate (say SELECT * FROM people WHERE name = 'Ben' ), Rockset finds the inverted index entry for desired value ( Ben ), finds the documents which match and looks up all of the other fields for that document.
Compound Indexes
You can use compound indexes in MongoDB if you want to search a collection with constraints on two field simultaneously. Compound indexes are great for equality predicates and certain range predicates, but don’t support all combinations of predicates and sort orders.
Rockset uses a more flexible approach similar to MongoDB’s index intersection. For every field, we store the list of documents which contain each distinct value. If you have predicates on multiple fields, we retrieve the set of documents which match each predicate from the index, and take the intersection ( AND ) or the union ( OR ). While this approach requires minimal configuration and is fast for most queries, in some cases a true compound index can outperform index intersection. If Rockset users want the functionality of a compound index, they can specify a field mapping to combine the fields they want to index on to create a new field, and use an index on that combined field.
Rockset can intersect the result sets of different indexes efficiently because within each value, the documents are all sorted in the same order. Therefore we can intersect two sets in streaming fashion, which is both fast and memory efficient. For evaluating range predicates, we use a data structure called a static range tree. We group numeric values and timestamps into buckets at various levels of granularity so we can find documents with a range of values by combing a small number of distinct sets.
Multikey Indexes
MongoDB multikey indexes allow users to index values inside of arrays. This accelerates a query to find all documents where an array contains a value. For instance, if each user has a list of interests, you can use a multikey index to find all users who are interested in a given topic quickly.
Rockset automatically indexes every element of every array, so queries like SELECT * FROM people WHERE ARRAY_CONTAINS(interests, 'databases') are accelerated by an index with no configuration.
Text Indexes
Text indexes are useful for text search — finding all documents where a string contains a term or set of terms. MongoDB text index and Rockset text indexes are very similar. Strings are first broken down into tokens and normalized to the root word based on the language locale. then you can score strings based on how many search terms they contain.
Rockset text indexes are a little different from other indexes in that the user must do a little work to create them explicitly. Rockset text search operates on an array of strings (words) rather than a single string. Rockset will automatically perform this tokenization at ingest time if you set up an appropriate field mapping. Once your data is ingested, you can use the SEARCH function to use Rockset text search. This query will find all applicants whose resumes contain either the term "rockset" or "sql", and show those that contain more matches first:
SELECT *
FROM applicants
WHERE search(
has_term(resume, 'rockset'),
has_term(resume, 'sql')
) ORDER BY score() DESC
Wildcard Indexes
In MongoDB, a wildcard index creates an index on all nested paths inside an object. This is useful if the schema of the object is dynamic, and you want to automatically index new fields, or the object has many fields and you want to index all of them. Users create a wildcard index by running the following command:
db.collection.createIndex( { "field.$**" : 1 } )
At Rockset, we think indexing data automatically is a great idea, so we build indexes automatically on every field, even deeply nested fields inside objects. Rockset essentially has a wildcard index on the entire document. Unlike wildcard indexes in MongoDB, even nested geographical fields are indexed. While MongoDB restricts users to a total of 64 indexes, Rockset allows collections to have an unlimited number of indexes.
2dsphere Indexes
MongoDB and Rockset both support fast queries for geographical shapes — nearby points, points inside a polygon, etc. Any data which contains latitudes and longitudes can likely benefit from a geospatial index. In fact, both MongoDB and Rockset use the Google S2 library for storing and manipulating geographical objects. All you need to do to start using Rockset’s geospatial index is to ingest geographically typed data. For learn more about how Rockset geospatial indexes work and how you can use them, check out Outside Lands, Airbnb Prices, and Rockset’s Geospatial Queries.
2d and geoHaystack Indexes
MongoDB has 2dsphere indexes for indexing spherical geometry (i.e. the surface of the Earth) and 2d and geoHaystack indexes for indexing objects in flat, Euclidean geometry.
Unfortunately, Rockset does not support 2d indexes in Euclidean space. As a workaround, you can specify the two coordinates as separate fields, and write a query which uses both fields. For instance, if you want to find all (x, y) points near (1, 1), you could run the following query, and it would intersect the set of points with x in (0, 2) and y in (0, 2):
SELECT * FROM points WHERE x > 0 AND x < 2 AND y > 0 AND y < 2
Another option is to convert your points into latitude/longitude coordinates in a small range (say -1 to 1), and use Rockset’s geospatial index. While results won’t be exact due to the curvature of a sphere, within a small range the surface of a sphere approximates a plane.
Hashed Indexes
If you create a hashed index on a field x in MongoDB, it creates a mapping from the hash of x to all the documents which contain that value of x (a posting list). Hashed indexes are useful for equality predicates. Rockset's inverted index is similar, in that we store a posting list for every distinct value, so it can be used to accelerate an equality predicate. The Rockset inverted index doesn't hash the values though, so it can also be used to accelerate range predicates by merging the posting lists for all values in a range.
Hashed indexes in MongoDB can also be used to shard a collection based on a given hash key. Rockset does not allow users to control sharding. Instead, documents are automatically sharded evenly to ensure writes and reads are balanced across all replicas. This maximizes parallelism and performance.
Getting the Most Out of Rockset’s Indexes
Rockset is designed to minimize the amount of user configuration to get fast queries, but there are still steps you can take to make your queries faster. You can run EXPLAIN on the query in question to see how the query is being executed. If you see index filter , the query is being accelerated by one or more indexes.
> EXPLAIN SELECT * from people WHERE age > 18;
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXPLAIN |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| select *:$2 |
| reshuffle on_final |
| index filter on commons.people: fields($2=*, $1=age), |
| query($1:float(18,inf], int(18,9223372036854775807]) |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
Here are a few common reasons your query may not use an index:
If you’re searching by a LIKE pattern or regular expression with a wildcard at the beginning (i.e., WHERE haystack LIKE %needle% ), we cannot use an index. If you are searching for a particular word or token, you should try creating a text index with a field mapping, and use text search instead of LIKE.
), we cannot use an index. If you are searching for a particular word or token, you should try creating a text index with a field mapping, and use text search instead of LIKE. A query which selects documents based on the output of a function (i.e. WHERE DATE_PARSE(creation_date, '%Y/%m/%d') = DATE(2020, 7, 13) ) Rockset cannot apply the index. You can either rewrite the predicate to apply directly to a field ( WHERE creation_date = '2020/07/13' ) or create a field mapping with the output of the function, then apply a predicate on that.
) Rockset cannot apply the index. You can either rewrite the predicate to apply directly to a field ( ) or create a field mapping with the output of the function, then apply a predicate on that. Where possible, express predicates as ranges. For instance, if you want to find all strings which start with an upper case letter, use WHERE my_string >= 'A' AND my_string <= '[' rather than WHERE UPPER(SUBSTR(my_string, 1, 1)) = SUBSTR(my_string, 1, 1) .
You can find more advice on accelerating your queries in the query performance guide. | https://medium.com/rocksetcloud/indexing-on-mongodb-using-rockset-how-it-works-dfc882e07770 | [] | 2020-07-22 23:04:09.806000+00:00 | ['Mongodb', 'Indexing', 'NoSQL', 'Sql', 'Sql Joins'] |
Magpie marketing | The pace of change is not accelerating
According to the advertising, marketing and technology consultant Shelly Palmer, the pace of change will never be as slow as it is today.
“Tomorrow will not be like today. Today you will experience the slowest rate of technological change in your lifetime. Tomorrow, it will be faster and the pace of change will continue to increase.”
Once you spot this argument, you’ll see it everywhere. You’ll see it in books and business journals and marketing magazines. But perhaps its most ardent proponent is the futurist Raymond Kurzweil, who pushes the perspective to its extreme.
“We’re entering an age of acceleration. The models underlying society at every level, which are largely based on a linear model of change, are going to have to be redefined. Because of the explosive power of exponential growth, the 21st century will be equivalent to 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate of progress.”
At first glance, it’s a compelling argument. It’s provocative and persuasive. There’s only one problem. It isn’t true.
Compare Kurzweil’s words to those of Elbert Hubbard:
“The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.”
Hubbard, a writer, artist and philosopher died in 1915. For all their panicked similarity, Hubbard and Kurzweil issued their warnings 100 years apart. Clearly the feeling that we are being carried along by an uncontrollable current of change is not unique to modern times.
While this may sound contrarian, this idea is fairly well documented by academia. An article by Chris McKenna, of the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, traced the sentiment back to 1900:
“They said that change was accelerating in 1900. They said it in 1920. In 1940, in 1960, in 1980 and in 2000. So the presumption is that the people who said it before were wrong, but we’re right now.”
But why stop there? Geoffrey G. Jones, Professor of Business History at the Harvard Business School tracks the idea back even further:
“If you go back and read what people wrote in the 19th century, they thought change was happening at an incredible rate we had never seen before.”
It’s easy to see why we perceive today’s pace of change to be so fast. Moore’s Law provides decades of exponential growth in computing power. Data is more abundant and more swiftly processed than ever before. The smartphone supply chain has given birth to an ever-expanding set of smart devices. Yet evidence of a great acceleration is hard to come by. In fact according to Justin Fox, the ex-editorial director of Harvard Business Review, the evidence is almost non-existent:
“In the business community, especially in and around Silicon Valley, there is a widespread belief that we live in an age of mind-boggling economic upheaval and change. But economists have been churning out research for several years now that seems to show a decades-long slowdown in almost every indicator of business dynamism.”
The idea that the pace of change is accelerating uncontrollably is a myth.
But it is not alone. | https://alexjmurrell.medium.com/magpie-marketing-29b6c5315a9b | ['Alex Murrell'] | 2020-12-22 17:46:36.813000+00:00 | ['Branding', 'Technology', 'Marketing', 'Brand Strategy', 'Advertising'] |
Remembering Bob Cook | In Thanksgiving for the Life and Legacy of The Rev. Robert Daniell Cook (1933–2014)
When people ask me “What is your favorite hymn?” the answer rolls off my tongue rather quickly. “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” is my enthusiastic response. From the time I was a small child this hymn has filled my heart and my imagination with gratitude and anticipation. As I have grown in my faith I am now in a better place to articulate these feelings.
The gratitude I feel is a reflection of the first stanza of Lesbia Scott’s 1929 hymn which proclaims “I sing a song of the saints of God patient, brave and true. Who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew.” As a spiritual discipline I spend time each day thinking of, and thanking God for the men and women throughout the generations whose faithfulness and love and sacrifice make it possible for our generation to live into Christ and the Christian community we inherited and are blessed to share.
The anticipation is derived from the third stanza which says; “They lived not only in ages past, there are hundreds of thousands still. The world is bright with the joyous saints, who love to do Jesus’ will. You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea. In church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea. For the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too.” The reality that God’s saints are alive and involved in doing God’s work in various places makes each day exciting and a joyful mystery to behold! With each new saintly encounter, we are privileged to see a little more of the divine in our midst.
On September 6, 2014, the Episcopal and Wilmington communities gathered in our sacred sanctuary to celebrate, remember and give thanks for the life and legacy of St. James 26th Rector, The Rev. Robert Daniell Cook. Bob served God’s people faithfully as a priest for more than fifty years. Forty-two of these years were spent in Wilmington and Burgaw. There has not been a day since arriving at St. James in 1999 that I have not given thanks for the incredible gifts of love, humor, inquisitiveness, compassion, friendship and empathy that Bob freely gave to parishioners, neighbors, the homeless, the AA community and me. In many ways it is impossible to share all the stories of Bob’s love and kindness. Yet, his legacy is alive and visible in the lives of so many people who witnessed and received these gifts. Bob’s selfless work for Habitat for Humanity after his retirement from St. James in 1992 and his spiritual mentoring of many in the AA community, for decades, says much about Bob’s faith and priorities. I think Lesbia Scott was describing Bob when she wrote; “I sing a song of the saints of God, patient, brave and true.”
Along with the gratitude, I anticipated my monthly breakfast or lunches with Bob with joy. For fifteen years, we spent purposeful time together about once a month. After each gathering I can away with some new spiritual nugget, some new baseball insight, and a funny story or two. Even when I was having a tough time, Bob would make me laugh, and would share his abundant wisdom! I remember fondly the breakfast where I announced to Bob that the vestry wanted to make him Rector Emeritus. Bob’s response was classic. He looked me straight in the eyes and asked, “How much does it pay?”
At Bob’s memorial service we sang this wonderful hymn “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God.” This was a fitting tribute to one of our Lord’s bright and joyous saints! As a husband, father, grandfather, friend, priest, and mentor Bob Cook exemplified the best of God’s presence and love in the world. For this and so much more I say “Thank you, Bob” and as Lesbia Scott’s hymn ends, “For the saints of God are just folk like me, and I mean to be one too!”
The Rev. Ron Abrams serves as Rector of St. James. He and his wife are native Long Islanders, have two sons, a daughter-in-law, and two dogs. Before answering the call to St. James, Ron was Rector of Holy Trinity in Fayetteville, NC; Rector of St. Ann’s in Bridgehampton, NY; and Assistant at St. Mark’s, Westhampton Beach, NY. Ron is also an avid Yankees fan and historian. | https://medium.com/st-james-parish/remembering-bob-cook-724932fac53c | ['St James Parish'] | 2016-08-23 13:56:28.719000+00:00 | ['Episcopalian', 'Church', 'Holy Ground', 'God', 'Bob Cook'] |
How Does Security Camera Installation Dovetail With Network Cabling? | When you want to have security cameras installed around your office or home, you can also get network cabling done. There are a few things you can do to make sure that all these things fit together, and there are some tips below that will make this easier on you. Ensure that you have talked to a professional installer near New York and North Jersey who can help you. Plus, remember that this is a great way to remain safe no matter how often you are home or in the office.
Who Needs Security Cameras?
Everyone needs security cameras. You can use security cameras around your home, and you can use cameras around your office. Security camera installation in New York will help you secure your house because you want to know what is happening when you are not there. You can check the camera feed on a monitor, or you can see it on a video feed on a mobile app. This is a great way for you to know what is happening, and it is especially helpful when you are not there.
How Do Cables And Cameras Work Together?
When you are searching for “network cabling contractors,” you should ask the installer how they can help you with both network cables and cabling for the cameras. A network cable could be so powerful that it can broadcast a signal that will provide wireless service to every room in the building. Because of this, you can run the cameras on a wireless signal. If you want to combine the installation of these two things, you should ask your installer for help.
How Do You Place Security Cameras Around The Area?
You can place security cameras in the spots that your installer thinks will work best for you. Your installer likely has a good idea of where to put them, and they can show you why these cameras work in those spots. This is a good thing to do because you want to know that you have covered the whole area. You could even get cameras that oscillate because you want to know that they cover a very wide area.
When you ask for network cables to be installed in the same places, you can get a wifi signal in each room that is near the cameras. Plus, you know that you will always have a clean video feed that will be useful if you ever have a break-in or problems in the facility.
What About Sensors?
You can add sensors to your home or business so that the cameras will turn on as soon as the sensors are tripped. You should install sensors that will turn on lights if you are using cameras outside, and you can set up motion sensors that will turn on a camera near all your exterior doors. This is a very good way to conserve power and ensure that you start anyone who should not be there.
Get An Estimate First
You should get an estimate first so that you know precisely how much this service will cost. When you are looking at the estimate, you will get an idea of what you are paying for and what can be adjusted. Plus, you may ask for more services if you think you need an even higher level of security.
In Conclusion
The Commercial Outdoor Security Cameras and network cables that you install around your home or office will ensure that you have a clear view of the entire area. Plus, you can check the video feed from any location and add a strong wifi signal. | https://medium.com/@smartdigitaltech01/how-does-security-camera-installation-dovetail-with-network-cabling-8d7d8983c71c | ['Frank M'] | 2020-04-03 10:04:36.869000+00:00 | ['Commercial Outdoor', 'New York', 'Installation', 'Security Camera'] |
Hotel Owner’s Risks with “Data Security” | Hotel Marketing | Hotel Owner’s Risks with “Data Security” | Hotel Marketing
#HotelMarketing #BeatTheCompetition #Bezla Bezla.com
No matter where you are on your hotel revenue journey, Bezla can help you go further.
Bezla.com LLC
Website: https://Bezla.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bezla
Phone: +1–888–999–8086
1800 JFK Blvd Suite 300 PMB 91649
Philadelphia, PA 19103
- — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
Tremendous data infringements impact hotels and other businesses. Unauthorized access to confidential data is progressively getting typical, to which minimum standard measures are also developing that hotels and others must observe.
A court decision a few years ago concerning a global hotel company emphasizes the importance of these procedures to the industry. The lawsuit was extensively awaited by the data security community typically for its foreseen governing on the control of the Federal Trade Commission to restrain data protection measures. And so, within the hospitality industry. After all, this judgment didn’t deal with other businesses but with a significant hotel player, all operators, trademarks, and industry owners.
Cybercrime has been immense and has progressed in the last years — a total of 42.8 million detected protection incidents in 2014, with more going concealed. The estimated annual expenditure of cybercrime to the global economy has arrived as much as $575 billion from $375 billion, with firms’ susceptibility growing.
There’s a considerable possibility that hotel owners handle the expense of data infringements affecting their properties. Thus, the verdict should be a wake-up call to fellow owners. They should also take this opportunity to assess if they have taken necessary action to protect especially their patrons.
The lawsuit was about FTC bringing a case against the global hotel firm as sufficiently falling to safeguard its computer network, permitting hackers entry to customer data, exposing more than 600,000 credit card records, and causing a monetary loss of over $10 million. In defense, the firm claimed that there was insufficiency in FTC’s power to control information safety measures on commercial institutions. The lower court’s ruling was in FTC’s favor, also designating them as the country’s data protection regulator.
This finding is beneficial since it recognizes the actions to disregard FTC’s measures.
Notably, FTC reasoned that the defendant failed on the following:
• Failed to utilize readily accessible safety standards, such as firewalls
• Kept credit card details in a precise text
• Failed to execute appropriate data protection methods before linking local computer networks to corporate-level networks
• Failed to handle known safety exposures on servers
• Utilized default usernames and passwords for entry to servers
• Failed to mandate workers to use intricate user IDs and passwords to access corporate servers
• Failed to checklist computers to suitable controlling the network
• Failed to keep proper safety measures to observe unwarranted computer usage
• Failed to perform safety examinations
• Failed to restrict third-party access to corporate networks and computers
Safety experts acknowledge this list as an adequate indication for minimum protection measures for any data structure or collection. Anyone or any business who mishandles and does not follow the said measures could encounter infringement. Any corporation participating in unjust or misleading business practices and gathering and keeping data violates Section 5 of the FTC Act and is subject to action by the latter.
Several owners not directly handling private and sensitive information don’t realize the consequence of information safety. They hire administrators and engage brands through reservation systems and other data collection methods. However, it is imperative to be involved since they need to compensate brands and managers for their charges incurred. So, owners will have to take care of monetary expenses if there’s a need to handle the breach in an infringement.
The above list shows a probable advantage for owners to voice their anticipations to brands and managers. Thus, mandating them to follow FTC measures as part of their obligations but handle the fees and expenses if they don’t. Although, owners should suppose that they possess and maintain sensitive data such as work documents, health information, financial statements, and company secrets. Thus, they have a lawful responsibility to secure those data and have their partners and employees do the same.
Additionally, owners should take a look at the human element. A reported data of 95% breaches tracks down to intended and unintended acts by a person connected to a company. It means that even when a corporation is following all necessary measures imposed by the FTC, it can still be affected by a data breach.It is vital to note that a person can sidestep technical security by replying or opening a false email, or clicking a suspicious website alone. Hotel companies focus on individuals, whether serving guests or cultivating employees and associates. Owners should encourage their brands and managers to focus on the importance of individuals in preventing cyber-attacks and building public confidence in the industry. Hotel owners believe in people; however, they must require their brands and managers to avoid these attacks and develop an enterprise that people trust.
Operators will undoubtedly be concerned with satisfying FTC and other private parties’ advancing information safety measures to evade expensive lawsuits. They also execute their obligations following their agreements with hotel owners and steer clear of awkward public gaffes. Being unable to satisfy the minor criteria potentially violates predetermined commitments. It sets the operator at a relative impediment to opponents who present more significant information safety. Similarly, operators will want to do the most reasonable thing for all concerned.
If Bezla could be of service to your hotel marketing, visit us at www.bezla.com or give us a call at 888–999–8086. | https://medium.com/@bezla-llc/hotel-owners-risks-with-data-security-hotel-marketing-c0e5c81cc9ac | ['Bezla Llc'] | 2021-12-15 21:37:27.475000+00:00 | ['Hotemarketing', 'Beatthecompset', 'Beatthecompetition', 'Hotels', 'Bezla'] |
One Unsettled Soul Refused to Play the Hollywood Game | A career pivot
Acting called out to Frances Farmer. To answer the summons, she transferred to the university’s Drama Department. Subsequently, she drew praise for her performances in student productions. On 10 March 1935, she won a contest of the left-wing newspaper The Voice of Action, which paid for the winning contestant to go to the Soviet Union (USSR) as an ambassador. Her own mother denounced her as a pawn of Communists, threatening to stop her from going to Russia. Frances was 21-years old though, leaving her free to go where she wanted, and on the 10th of April she embarked on her trip.
On her return, a photo in a newspaper caught the eye of someone at Paramount Pictures, and Frances got a screen test at the studio. In February 1936, during the filming of Too Many Parents, she married fellow actor Leif Erickson. Her big breakout role would be in that year, in the film Come and Get It, in which she gave a dual performance as a mother and daughter. Critics proclaimed her to be the American Greta Garbo.
A Paramount headshot of Frances Farmer. From Wikimedia (Public Domain).
Paramount was less enthused, their new star favored an austere life, wore little makeup, supported the Spanish Republicans, and refused to change her name to something more glamorous. Frances didn’t step into the pre-fabricated role made by the public and the studios. After her success in Come and Get It, she also battled with Paramount executives over the candy floss roles she was being given, and she wanted something with a substance she could sink her teeth into.
Heading out on her own
Finding the desired roles not forthcoming, Frances headed East in the summer of 1937, to join New York’s politically active Group Theatre collective. She later wrote about the reason for going away from film (The New York Times, 1970):
“I was feeling constricted now…suffocated, as in the stagnant air of a sealed room.”
She couldn’t merely go through the motions and collect her paycheck. There was a deeper desire, a purpose, for her artistic fulfilment. At the Group Theatre, she won a lead role in Clifford Odet’s play, Golden Boy, but after a disastrous love affair with the playwright, she returned to Hollywood. Frances found the type of film work uninteresting. Trouble only continued to grow as a former agent sued her, and she became more dependent on alcohol, further exacerbated by the divorce from Leif Erickson in early 1942.
A photo from Photoplay, January 1937. From Wikimedia (Public Domain).
This all came to a head when, in October 1942, she was driving home after visiting her half-sister Rita, and Santa Monica police pulled her over. Her headlights had been turned on in a dim-out zone, necessitated by World War II worries over possible Japanese attacks. Frances reportedly told the police officer “You bore me”, along with much stronger defamatory statements, which led her to face charges of drunken driving. Paramount cancelled her contract.
Mounting criticism of actions
Frances’s agent advised her to get out of town. The actress accepted an offer to be the lead in a low-budget film which would be shot in Mexico, titled Five Were Chosen. Ricardo Montalbán, one of the fellow actors in the project, claimed in an interview that a few days before filming began, a nude Frances roamed the halls of their hotel, spraying people with a seltzer bottle (Kauffman 1999).
A photo of Frances Farmer. From Flickr by Classic Film Scans (CC BY 2.0).
During her time in Mexico, Frances could not sleep and nightmares plagued the little rest she got. The uneasiness boiled over in a heated argument with the director, during which a male co-star slapped her after she made a sarcastic quip, becoming a brawl when she fought back until police broke it up. The next morning Mexican authorities escorted her out of Mexico.
Frances Farmer had become a pariah in Hollywood. She continued to mix Benzedrine, an amphetamine, with alcohol, resulting in a dangerous cocktail. At the start of 1943, she began working on the low-budget melodrama No Escape. Frances struggled with head pains, exacerbated when combing her hair and, on 13 January 1943, she attacked the hairdresser Edna Burge. Afterwards, Frances went to the Knickerbocker to have drinks with friends, which devolved into a brawl. Police apprehended her at her hotel room the next morning.
Frances Farmer’s arrest photo (17 January 1943). From Wikimedia (Public Domain).
At her court hearing, when Judge Marshall Hickson asked her about her drinking habits, she replied (Shelley 2010: 32):
“I put liquor in my milk. I put liquor in my coffee and in my orange juice. What do you want me to do, starve to death?”
The judge sentenced her to 180 days in jail for violating her probation. On 20 January 1943, Frances was declared to be mentally incompetent, after which she was sent to La Crescenta private sanatorium, although the treatment alarmed her to such a degree that she ran away from the institution. She would spend the following years in and out of mental institutions until her parole on 25 March 1950.
A sunset over troubled waters
Promotional photo of Frances Farmer (left)and Connie Stevens, from The Party Crashers (1958). From Wikimedia (Public Domain).
Frances Farmer would gravitate to living on a farm near Indianapolis. She would make a comeback in acting in the 1950s, eventually hosting the popular television show Frances Farmer Presents (1958–1964), and becoming the actress in residence at the University Theatre at Purdue during the late 1960s. On 1 August 1970, she died of esophageal cancer. After her death, a friend commented she had been content during her later years, “raising stray cats and friends” (The New York Times, 1970).
Sources:
Estrin, E. 1983. “The Unraveling of Frances Farmer” on The Washington Post.
Kauffman, J. 1999. “Frances Farmer: Shedding Light on Shadowland” on jeffreykauffman.net.
Kopfinger, S. 2016. “Unscripted: Remembering Frances Farmer, whose tragic story lives on” in LancasterOnline.
Morgan, K. 2017. “Come Back As Fire And Burn All The Liars: Frances Farmer” on The Huffington Post.
Reiher, A. 2017. “Mindhunter: The Tragic Story Behind That Frances Farmer Reference” on PopSugar.
Shelley, P. 2010. Frances Farmer: The Life and Films of a Troubled Star. Jefferson: McFarland & Company.
The New York Times. 1970. “Frances Farmer, Actress, 56, Dies” in The New York Times. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/one-unsettled-soul-refused-to-play-the-hollywood-game-49e20096abf8 | ['C.S. Voll'] | 2020-12-24 06:56:42.595000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'True Crime', 'Media', 'History', 'Film'] |
Wireguard for the Initiated. Wireguard is awesome. Modern crypto… | Wireguard is insanely great. Modern crypto, lightweight, in-kernel, UDP for everything and seamless roaming if your IP changes. What’s not to love?
But if you are just starting out with it and have a strong TCP/IP and Linux background, you might appreciate a concise explanation. This attempts to be that.
Wireguard
All it Does
Wireguard creates a virtual network interface, the first of which is called wg0 , which encrypts and decrypts traffic. The kernel retains a list of peers and associated public keys. If the kernel get a packet destined to one of the peers, it gets encrypted and sent via UDP to the last known IP / port of that peer. The reverse happens if encrypted traffic arrives from a peer. If a properly encrypted packet arrives from an unexpected IP, that peer is updated and all response packets will now flow back to that new IP. That’s how roaming is supported — just like mosh . That’s all it does. Everything else — complicated IP subnetting, routing or any fancy port mappings— is done with netfilter, iproute2 or other standard kernel strategies. Wireguard’s elegance is in doing only one thing — encrypting and decrypting traffic — really well.
Install
Get the package however you prefer. In Ubuntu you could:
apt install wireguard
Now you presumably have the kernel module and the related userland utilities wg and the helper application wg-quick .
Keys
Wireguard uses Curve25519 public / secret key pairs which can be generated with wg thusly:
wg genkey | tee secretkey | wg pubkey | tee publickey
We’ll do this on two machines, machine “A” and machine “B”. Let’s bring up a wireguard interface on machine “A” named wg0 with 10.0.0.1/24 on it and pass it our secret key:
# Machine A (1.1.1.1)
ip link add wg0 type wireguard
ip addr add 10.0.0.1/24 dev wg0
wg set wg0 private-key ./secretkey
ip link set wg0 up
We’ll do the same using a different IP on machine “B”.
# Machine B (2.2.2.2)
ip link add wg0 type wireguard
ip addr add 10.0.0.2/24 dev wg0
wg set wg0 private-key ./secretkey
ip link set wg0 up
We can see what wireguard interface settings look like using wg with no arguments:
# Machine B (2.2.2.2)
$ wg
interface: wg0
public key: M6c1PIs1GUoOtCrO8O+fs0Bh5iRvBdNtGj3BwNkHbQM=
private key: (hidden)
listening port: 50764
Peers
Now let’s tell machine “A” about the public key and initial IP / port combination to use to get to machine “B”:
# Machine A (1.1.1.1) <VPN 10.0.0.1>
wg set wg0 peer M6c1PIs1GUoOtCrO8O+fs0Bh5iRvBdNtGj3BwNkHbQM= allowed-ips 10.0.0.2/32 endpoint 2.2.2.2:50764
And machine “B” about the same for “A”:
# Machine B (2.2.2.2) <VPN 10.0.0.2>
wg set wg0 peer atv4BKui/BSG+Wz+3xZDvyqZi5fUsvZXqAyqo6JeaC8= allowed-ips 10.0.0.1/32 endpoint 1.1.1.1:57593
Peers are known by their public key. The associated IP / port combination can change as valid packets start to arrive from alternate addresses. Roaming clients are handled this way so you can just slap your laptop shut on one network and open it up on another without re-negotiating your VPN session.
The “allowed-ips” lets the interface know what network it can get to by encrypting packets with the given key and sending it to the given endpoint. Right now it is just the single machine 10.0.0.1/32 but you could send all 10.0.0.0/24 traffic or simply 0.0.0.0/0 . You can think about it like the route entry for this key / IP / port combination.
Now try pinging 10.0.0.2 from 10.0.0.1 and you should get responses:
# Machine A (1.1.1.1) <VPN 10.0.0.1>
$ ping 10.0.0.2
PING 10.0.0.2 (10.0.0.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.0.0.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.489 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.2: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.519 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.0.2: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=1.39 ms
^C
--- 10.0.0.2 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2029ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.489/0.799/1.390/0.417 ms
Check on the peers your machine knows about with the wg command — you’ll see peers listed there now:
# Machine A (1.1.1.1) <VPN 10.0.0.1>
$ wg
interface: wg0
public key: atv4BKui/BSG+Wz+3xZDvyqZi5fUsvZXqAyqo6JeaC8=
private key: (hidden)
listening port: 57593 peer: M6c1PIs1GUoOtCrO8O+fs0Bh5iRvBdNtGj3BwNkHbQM=
endpoint: 2.2.2.2:50764
allowed ips: 10.0.0.1/32
latest handshake: 2 minutes, 15 seconds ago
transfer: 1.09 KiB received, 11.18 KiB sent
That’s it (Oh, one more thing!)
There is a helper app called wg-quick which reads config files from /etc/wireguard/ which makes setting things up a little easier. (and more painlessly survive reboots) Here’s a minimal example:
# Machine A (1.1.1.1) <VPN 10.0.0.1>
# /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf
[Interface]
PrivateKey = EF7nGyEOl1OlZwoQgYLN41SQuDJTMpJeht9CMarHC1k=
Address = 10.0.0.1/24
ListenPort = 57593
SaveConfig = false [Peer]
PublicKey = M6c1PIs1GUoOtCrO8O+fs0Bh5iRvBdNtGj3BwNkHbQM=
AllowedIPs = 10.0.0.2/32
Now, fire up wg-quick and see if you get the same setup:
wg-quick up wg0
And wg-quick down wg0 will do the opposite. On Ubuntu, you might make that survive reboots with:
systemctl enable wg-quick@wg0
DNS
If you end up routing most or all traffic through a Wireguard tunnel, you might want to automatically drop the IP of a DNS cache in there and maybe set a search domain. You can do that fairly concisely with:
# Machine A (1.1.1.1) <VPN 10.0.0.1>
# /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf
[Interface]
PrivateKey = EF7nGyEOl1OlZwoQgYLN41SQuDJTMpJeht9CMarHC1k=
Address = 10.0.0.1/24
ListenPort = 57593
SaveConfig = false
DNS = 8.8.8.8, example.com [Peer]
PublicKey = M6c1PIs1GUoOtCrO8O+fs0Bh5iRvBdNtGj3BwNkHbQM=
AllowedIPs = 10.0.0.2/32
You’ll notice 8.8.8.8 which is the DNS cache and example.com is how you specify your default search domain. Numbers are caches and names are search domains, all separated by commas.
Hub and Spoke
It is common to designate one peer as a “server” and have other clients peer through that to get to other peers. You do this using traditional iproute2 strategies ( echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward and ip route entries) so there isn’t anything special here. I’ve been very happy with the minimal amount of CPU encrypting / decrypting to accomplish this costs. Even a $200 embedded appliance holds up fairly well at the center. You can see what I use for this in A Home Network which is a bit more broad article.
Conclusion | https://medium.com/@anders94/wireguard-config-for-the-initiated-2b1cc5f2b1ee | ['Anders Brownworth'] | 2021-04-21 14:56:00.097000+00:00 | ['Linux', 'Encrypted', 'Wireguard', 'Tunnel', 'VPN'] |
Looking to relocate from Silicon Valley or NYC to Miami? | Moishe Mana’s vision for Flagler Street in the Flagler District: Heart of Downtown Miami
The Magic City is now a hotspot with a growing population of tech and Silicon Valley natives who have been flocking to this great city in droves. It’s something we like to call the Mass ‘Techxodus’.
Why Miami and Not Austin?
Major players in Miami such as City of Miami Mayor, Francis Suarez and Billionaire Entrepreneur and Visionary Moishe Mana, have been at the forefront of building a tech hub in the center of Downtown Miami in the coveted and historic ‘Flagler District.’
To be at the forefront of something big
Affordable real estate
No state income, inheritance and estate taxes
Diversity of culture and thought
Sunny weather all year round
Active communities
World-class healthcare
Sandy beaches
Various forms of entertainment
Incredible dining
Work-Life Balance
Recently, Mayor Suarez has made a splash on Twitter in his interactions with tech entrepreneurs from the Valley and he and Mana’s team are working together to make this vision a reality.
Whatever was the reason that prompted you to considering relocating to Miami, we’re here to help with any questions you may have and any relocation services you may need.
Looking to relocate to Miami? S&S Global’s team of relocation concierges are here to help you with all things turn-key relocation from your commercial and residential real estate transactions, to furnishing your home, dealing with internet providers and filling the refrigerator with groceries.
Want to chat more about moving to Miami? Email me at [email protected] or tweet me at @megconnolly_! | https://medium.com/@megmb/looking-to-relocate-from-silicon-valley-or-nyc-to-miami-57f4dcf8ed79 | ['Meghan Maloof Berdellans'] | 2020-12-15 20:12:21.147000+00:00 | ['Real Estate', 'Relocation', 'Miami', 'Austin', 'Silicon Valley'] |
3 Truths You Need To Hear To Be Unapologetic About Your Passion | 2. You Don’t Have What You Need To Succeed, If You Don’t Know Your Limits
Knowing how to succeed doesn’t just involve cost analysis, how to set realistic goals, and where to educate yourself.
It means knowing your limits and when to walk away.
When you are piecing together all the information you need to expand your business or start your business, make sure you know your boundaries.
What are you not willing to sacrifice in order to succeed?
When we do not know the answer to this question we (1) quickly get burnt out (2) can make compromises that make us feel unethical (3) begin sacrificing the wrong things in our life.
I have several non-negotiables: I will not work past a certain hour. I will not regularly sacrifice sleep. I will not miss out on important life events with family or friends. I will maintain a certain level of privacy. I will always try to be fair, even if I’m writing about someone or something I disagree with.
Just last week I saw that a famous magazine was requesting a story that I could write. If I got the gig, I would make a considerable chunk of cash and be published by a brand name.
I decided not to submit my work. The type of article they desired would require me to divulge information about myself, and an ex-partner, that I was uncomfortable with.
Knowing my limits before starting my business empowers me to stick to a course that feels right. Sometimes my business grows slower than other people in my industry, but my business is also aligned with who I am.
This doesn’t mean I don’t mess up. We often learn what our boundaries are because we (or someone we know) overstepped our limits.
I recommend revisiting your limits every six months. Its an integrity audit that helps me remain on course and learn from my mistakes. When my business is in line with my values, I have nothing to apologize for. | https://medium.com/the-post-grad-survival-guide/3-truths-you-need-to-hear-to-be-unapologetic-about-your-passion-781a41eeaec2 | [] | 2020-08-05 15:07:57.420000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Business', 'Empowerment', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Life'] |
Oklahoma’s tribes unite against a common foe: Their Cherokee governor | Gov. Kevin Stitt’s demands for more money from Indian casinos have sparked a bitter feud with economically powerful tribes — including his own.
When Kevin Stitt campaigned for governor of Oklahoma, he said his identity as a citizen of Cherokee Nation gave him “firsthand” knowledge of the clout tribal nations wield in the state. But since his victory in November 2018, tribes have been teaching Mr. Stitt lessons in the politics of Indian Country.
In a rare act of coalescence, nearly all of Oklahoma’s 39 tribal nations are united against the governor. Soon after taking office, Mr. Stitt proposed a sharp hike in the fees that the tribes pay to operate their 130 lucrative casinos, unleashing fierce discussions across the state about identity, economic power and tribal sovereignty.
“He has a total ignorance of Indian Country,” Rocky Barrett, chairman of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a tribal councilor for the past 40 years, said of Mr. Stitt, the first tribal citizen to become governor of Oklahoma since the 1950s.
Other tribal leaders have been just as pointed. “I don’t think he can spell sovereignty,” said John Berrey, chairman of the Quapaw Nation.
Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. poses for a portrait with tribal members during an MLK Day celebration at at a community center in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The Cherokee Nation is responsible for millions of dollars of infrastructure in the state. | Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times
On a deeper level, many tribal leaders said they felt betrayed by the governor, who has said in media reports that he understands “what a tremendous benefit the tribes have been” to Oklahoma, a state whose origins are rooted in the genocide and forced relocation of Indigenous people and the encouragement of white settlement, which threatened the sovereignty of tribal nations.
Several of Mr. Stitt’s allies have turned against him, and some Cherokees have begun collecting signatures in a movement aimed at pressuring the Cherokee Nation to revoke his citizenship.
Pointing to the growing economic sway of tribal nations in Oklahoma’s economy, money is at the heart of this dispute. The tribes paid $148 million in fees from casino operations to the state last year, 88% of which was earmarked for Oklahoma’s public schools, which rank among the most underfunded in the country.
Mr. Stitt, a Tulsa mortgage banker and conservative Republican, proposed that the tribes pay a much higher revenue rate to Oklahoma to operate their casinos, a move that tribal leaders have seen as an aggressive approach and a continuation of generations of broken agreements between the state and tribal governments.
The gaming agreements between the tribes and the state were set to expire on Jan. 1. Mr. Stitt had proposed a new contract to begin this year that would bring the revenue rate more in line with what casino operators pay in Arizona and Nevada. He warned that casinos would be operating illegally if a new agreement wasn’t signed, but operators said they believed the compact would automatically renew if new agreements were not made. Three tribes filed a federal lawsuit in December seeking clarity.
Read more here: https://www.hcn.org/articles/indigenous-affairs-oklahomas-tribes-unite-against-a-common-foe-their-cherokee-governor | https://medium.com/high-country-news/oklahomas-tribes-unite-against-a-common-foe-their-cherokee-governor-eee82e8f5e2d | ['High Country News'] | 2020-02-20 17:51:01.453000+00:00 | ['Sovereignty', 'Tribes', 'Indigenous', 'Gaming'] |
26+ Useful Machine Learning Blogs and Newsletters to Increase Your Productivity | These are blogs, sites, and newsletters that my colleagues read and I browse through. We can keep up with the rapidly increasing Machine Learning knowledge-base. These are good summations that guide us to the more detailed papers we should read in our specializations.
Research Paper Tools
I think many researchers use arxiv Sanity Preserver, but it is talked about rarely. I use arxiv Sanity Preserver solely to find articles of interest. I use Mendeley to store, read, and markup those PDF-formatted articles that I find interesting through arxiv Sanity Preserver.
Blogs
Over the last eight years, a newer phenomenon has been the uprising of blog sites that are great supplements to arxiv. The following are my “goto” blog sites:
Medium is a myriad of blogs divided by class or category on-line daily publications . It is one of our “goto” blog sites. Also, Medium publications such as towardsdatascience, theStartup, machine-learning, Artificial Intelligence, and programming explain and summarize techniques and papers and expose us to what is new or a leading trend.
is a myriad of blogs divided by class or category on-line daily publications It is one of our “goto” blog sites. Also, Medium publications such as towardsdatascience, theStartup, machine-learning, Artificial Intelligence, and programming explain and summarize techniques and papers and expose us to what is new or a leading trend. Distill is probably my favorite blog site. What draws me is the clarity of the topic under discussion. The second draw is illuminating graphics. There is an abundance of interactive graphics, probably done with hand-crafted JavaScript . I feel compelled to say; you can get close to these visual effects with the latest releases of HiPlot and Streamlit , both of which are covered in later blogs.
is probably my favorite blog site. What draws me is the clarity of the topic under discussion. The second draw is illuminating graphics. There is an abundance of interactive graphics, probably done with hand-crafted . I feel compelled to say; you can get close to these visual effects with the latest releases of and , both of which are covered in later blogs. The Deeplearning.ai blog site is a site that lists all the courses produced by Deeplearning.ai, a growing list of tutorials, the “Pie & AI” signup, and “Pie & AI “ event descriptions and dates. I recommend that you go to the Deeplearning.ai site at least once a month to review the new material.
Sites
The Ethical Machine Learning’s awesome-production-machine-learning and awesome-artificial-intelligence-guidelines sites. I start here if I want to find the latest and greatest in the Machine Learning production or ethics categories.
Machine Learning Production topics. Source: https://github.com/EthicalML/awesome-production-machine-learning
fast.ai site references blog, book, package, community chat group, and three years of courses ranging from beginner to SOTA (state-of-the-art) on deep learning. The package and courses are based on Pytorch , except for the first course based on Tensorflow . I expect another course version next year and another release of the fast.a i package. Last year they took a stab at Tensorflow on Swift . It will not surprise me if the upcoming course introduces Julia .
blog, book, package, community chat group, and three years of courses ranging from beginner to SOTA (state-of-the-art) on deep learning. The package and courses are based on , except for the first course based on . I expect another course version next year and another release of the i package. Last year they took a stab at on . It will not surprise me if the upcoming course introduces . realpython has the best Python tutorials I have ever read on advanced Python fundamentals. People that are Python beginners, as well as multi-year experienced Python software engineers, can learn from the tutorials on this site.
has the best tutorials I have ever read on advanced fundamentals. People that are beginners, as well as multi-year experienced software engineers, can learn from the tutorials on this site. goggle.ai.hub has components (mostly docker images), documentation, tutorials, Jupyter notebooks, code, Tensorflow examples, Kuberflow pipeline example codes, and much more, all centered on Machine Learning. The goggle.ai.hub contents can be used on your local computers and the cloud. It is not specific to the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) .
has components (mostly images), documentation, tutorials, notebooks, code, examples, pipeline example codes, and much more, all centered on Machine Learning. The contents can be used on your local computers and the cloud. It is not specific to the . Kaggle is the site for Machine Learning competitions, all artifacts associated with the kaggle competitions, and various real-world domain datasets in Machine Learning. Many people have used the fast.ai package to learn machine learning techniques and that place them in the top 10% of any Kaggle competition.
is the site for Machine Learning competitions, all artifacts associated with the competitions, and various real-world domain datasets in Machine Learning. Many people have used the package to learn machine learning techniques and that place them in the top 10% of any competition. PapersWithCode will not stop you from searching GitHub for Python packages but will help you get the source code associated with a published machine learning paper. More critical, this community effort has both TRENDING and SOTA tabs. PapersWithCode is a fantastic compliment to arxiv Sanity Preserver.
The mission of Papers with Code is to create a free and open resource with Machine Learning papers, code, and evaluation tables. — https://paperswithcode.com/about
datasciencecentral.com does not have generally have the best blogs, but there may be a few gems for you here.
Other great machine learning blogs are:
Newsletters
TheSequence Scope is a free subscription while the Edge has a $50/year subscription fee. The logo and quote state their mission well.
TheSequence is an unusual way to learn and reinforce your knowledge about machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The Algorithm from MIT Technology is a weekly newsletter that summarizes the latest machine learning news.
The Algorithm is a newsletter for people who are curious about the world of AI. I’m here to help you cut through the nonsense and jargon to figure out what truly matters and where all this is headed. You’ll hear from me every Friday with updates and thoughts on the latest AI news and research (as well as some added magic and memes). — Karen Hao, Senior Reporter
The Batch is a weekly newsletter written by Professor Andrew Ng and is one of several products of deeplearning.ai.
Miscellaneous
These are useful podcasts, especially if you are in a situation where you can not read.
I find it useful to print these out. I am old school as you get Python doc snippets with a keystroke in most of the Python IDEs (Interactive Code Environments — code editors). | https://medium.com/swlh/26-useful-machine-learning-blogs-and-newsletters-to-increase-your-productivity-a5c4d171eaa4 | ['Bruce H. Cottman'] | 2020-12-26 08:45:42.683000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Knowledge', 'Blog'] |
Hollow Words _ III | Day XXIII. Hi, sometimes I don’t feel anything at all. I miss talking to you, but I don’t miss the way I felt the last week we spent together. A black hole in my chest, and salt on my lips. But now, now there’s nothing inside of me. For now.
Day XXIV. Hi, once upon a time, you used to say I was one of a kind. I remember your eyes when your dad would skip his breath. When it stopped… And when only the two of us were left on his grave. I only asked to be a sparkle of life for you.
Day XXV. Hi, how strange life can be.
Day XXVI. Hi, I think I still love you. Maybe I will love you forever somehow. Maybe you’ll never understand what it means. But I love you.
Day XXVII. Hi, maybe for me you’ll always be you. There isn’t another name for me, for you. Is the name I gave you, and mine is the one you gave me. Don’t toss it aside, don’t waste it, it’s ours to cherish. Wherever we are.
Day XXVIII. Hi, I believe you live of nostalgia. You claim to be living day by day, but way too often you live with the volume too low. You fall in love with the present only when it’s already past. So you live of nostalgia.
Day XXIX. Hi, now I know, you will never be able to forget. Perhaps, even with your last breath, you’ll think of me.
Day XXX. Hi, maybe YOU are the one who lost. You, accepting things as they come, whatever life brings. You, never fighting. You let me go. Like you let go of everything.
Day XXXI. Hi, you monster. That’s what you are. Captor and abuser. How long did you relish making a joke out of me? Were you laughing? Were you thinking of me all the time? Stupid little F. You disgust me and I pray no one is to be your victim ever again. You piece of… I don’t care, not anymore. Get married. Throw yourself off the city walls. I don’t care. Today I was dying in my bed, I felt my whole body breaking apart and all I wanted was to scream. But the reality is, today was nothing compared to years of psychological torture and abuse. Remember, you get to have only one extraordinary woman in your life…
Day XXXII. Hi, trampled on the ground without breath. Your words decaying my wounds and swallowing me whole. “Noone forces you to stay here.” “ Noone pays you.” “You’re full of problems you’ll never solve.” “You never let go of us.” “You live in the past.” “I’m not yours I’m free”. “You were the centre of my universe”… Please leave me here where you discarded me. Have mercy and honour my death. I have no more tears or blood to shed. My words are sails of ships adrift, torn by the wind. I can do nothing else but flatten and melt with the ground. I wait for the storm to wash away my illusions and for the thunder to call me from lethe. My bones of stone, my nails as roots and leaves for hair. A sigh that is sealed, a spell that is a dream in this night of midsummer where I am no more.
Day XXXIII. Hi, die. From tonight every fragment, every particle of the magic I’ve given you abandons your life. You, rotted and corrupted to the bone. You who tried to kill my light. I wish you to be happy. I wish she or some others will give you what you want. But I hope you’ll never regret it, or you’ll have found true hell. Nothing hurts like losing love. From tonight you’re slowly dying. | https://medium.com/@federicammicheli/hollow-words-ii-5aba4cbc4f25 | ['Federica M Micheli'] | 2021-04-01 10:15:25.823000+00:00 | ['Love Letters', 'Healing From Trauma', 'Breakups', 'Lost Love', 'Relationships'] |
Don’t Choose Your Main Programming Language Before Reading This | Introduction
There are plenty of factors to consider when choosing a programming language to invest time and effort in and some uncertainties come up: “May I be admitted to some job position?”, “Is Salary going to be enough?”, “Will the Language die after a couple of months?”, and so on.
As we can figure out, this is a crucial decision that guides our career and impacts directly on our personal life then we might want to investigate who are already in these job positions and their choices.
Stack Overflow’s 2020 Survey provides us evidences about who is in these programming jobs. It is composed of 64461 answers from around the world containing the main programming language, Satisfaction, Salary, and online community engagement.
Programming Language impacts on the Job Satisfaction?
Here we can see Job Satisfaction from very satisfied to very unsatisfied. Languages are ordered from the biggest percentage of very satisfied developers to lower.
Developers working with Julia differ from Dart when answering very satisfied by 11%. Therefore, there is a clue that the language you work in is going to improve or diminish your work enjoyment.
One should think, so let me choose Julia as my main skill and I will be one of the most satisfied developers of 2020. But not so far, this is never so simple!
Which languages pay the biggest salaries and have more developers?
The chart below shows a comparison between the median salary and number of developers which indicates Julia has not the biggest median salary and not the biggest community. So if you are keen on choosing a language that pays better in median then Perl, Scala, Rust, and Go are well ranked among the most satisfied developer’s who work with a language.
But, these languages do not have such a considerable number of developers as Java, C, and Javascript which indicates more robust technologies and a larger community.
If you are interested in mastering a Programming Language you might want to be a valuable skill with a great community around.
How much are developers working with some language engaged in online communities?
We can see that languages with more developers have more community engagement and this can be an important factor in the long-term satisfaction of working on the technology.
Opportunities can emerge from this community and as more programmers work in a language more updated and rich the ecosystem around will be.
We can see that C, Java, and Javascript have the most developers who are in an online community. This is excellent to know once we might need help often with bugs and doubts.
It is important to notice that Python and Bash/Shell/Powershell are among those with high very satisfied rates, a high number of users, larger median salaries, and a big community.
Conclusion
This article provides us a glimpse of which programming languages from a general perspective are worth to invest time and effort considering the answers of the 2020 Stack Overflow survey.
Julia shows to be the language with a higher percentage of developers very satisfied but when we consider other variables such as salary and number of users it falls behind. C, Java, and Javascript shows to be languages with a high number of users and higher communities but with lower income and Job Satisfaction. Bash/Shell/Powershell and Python shows to be balanced languages in terms of number of users, satisfaction, and salary.
I expect these observations will improve your confidence to invest in mastering a Programming Language and help you to decide,
What is your main language and why?
To see more, see the link to Github available here. | https://medium.com/swlh/dont-choose-your-main-programming-language-before-reading-this-5b416c93b9ac | ['Gabriel Dias De Abreu'] | 2020-12-14 06:47:34.254000+00:00 | ['Programming Languages', 'Programming', 'Software Development', 'Stackoverflow', 'Stackoverflow Survey'] |
The “Why” In Medium Earning Stories | The “Why” In Medium Earning Stories
image by skitterphoto from Pexels
It’s no secret we have more people making less than a $100 monthly than people making thousands of dollars. This alone may influence the many articles we’ve seen about medium earnings. Making at least a $100 or more is a big deal it’s quite an achievement, especially because we have a high number of writers who don’t make enough to pay for the partner program with their earnings, which is sad wouldn’t you say?
With that in mind I decided to share with you a few of the many reasons why writers decide to share their monthly earnings, and tips to help others achieve similar results, or at least try. Because let’s face it, if it was that easy everyone would do it. The guarantees are not guaranteed, and what follows isn’t certain:
If I Can Do It You Can Do It Too :)
Says who, You?
Like hell that’s true! The idea behind this line is not selling you a lie, depending on who shares this with you of course, but it isn’t that simple, so it isn’t always true. If I can do it, I can at least show you what I did to achieve the $200, $500, or $1000 mark. When using the same or similar strategies the chances of you getting positive results are higher. Yes! Higher, and guarantee isn’t part of this. But what can I say, words sell!
This is how people usually tell the story, right?
“Here’s how I made $100 with a single story this month, and how you can do it too”
Now, if the above head line was something like “ Here’s how I made $100 with a single story this month and how you can try too” this wouldn’t be convincing enough, and “ How I made $100 this month with a single story step by step guide” would be too realistic. And, although I appreciate realistic views I acknowledge that it isn’t what we want to hear. Amazing stories sell better, sometimes too good to be true.
Fact: This isn’t guaranteed but the headline makes it sound like it is. Hard work does pay off, following certain steps may get you quite an interesting cheque, and sometimes not even close to that. How many people read the story that made that writer a $100, how many people are going to read your story, how can you guarantee that everyone of the readers will read the whole story? The like for like, and claps in exchange of claps is uncertain, and receiving exactly the same amount of money, and the possibility of the same reading time would actually be scary, just think about it.
Words sell
… And sometimes the product sucks!
The higher the number the better. Wouldn’t you like to know how to make a thousand $ in one month by following a few tips, and tricks? A $100 in a week? $50 with a single article etcetera. There is nothing wrong with this but “these articles help generate more income, and maybe reach that $100” the more I claim to have made the better, because you want to make whatever I claim, and even more as a result you’d read such an article about medium riches expecting to learn how, and when to hit 3, 4, and 5 figures.
Everyone Else Is Doing It
Do you remember the backpack kid and his dance move, the YouTube videos with a title that kept updating every time the videos were watched, and why most of our smartphones right now have between two to four rear cameras?
Everyone at some point was doing this, it’s no secret that people run out of ideas and look for new things to share. If you like something that is trending as part of a marketing technique you can study the content (from whoever) and make a copy, just make it better, or at least try. This is what motivated some writers to cone up with these stories. Some of these stories inspired me to write this, others are just as bad as this is :(
Motivation
We don’t always look at these stories like a bunch of lies or bad marketing schemes, but sometimes as motivation. The fact that some writers successfully achieved something you’ve been working hard for may put you down or give you the energy to work hard enough to get there. Even if we don’t make as much as expected we still make something. In the end it’s all that matters. When we try we get to witness the outcome of our determination and hard work. Taking that very first step is very important. Results may vary, but you won’t know unless you try. | https://medium.com/@samwritessecurity/the-why-in-medium-earning-stories-f04f1caeb327 | ['Sam Writes Security'] | 2020-12-16 03:18:03.424000+00:00 | ['Medium Earnings', 'Medium Partner Program', 'Making Money On Medium', 'The Reason Why', 'Ｍedium'] |
Spending Time | Spending Time
by John E Marks
Saturday 16th March 2019 10:49 pm
History is written by those who win and those who dominate.
Edward Said
Blessed by an unholy curiosity
To reach out to all that is mortal, dies;
The pungent smell of hot tar sends me back
To summer days spent wending my time away
As dandelions parodied the gaudy sun
Stones were reserved for having fun by skimming water.
In the dark church heavy incense melds
With the body odour of the priest
Sweating for his immortal soul
Did I dream the frozen moment when I pushed at the heavy door
And stared myopically down the nave towards the altar,
Admiring the immutable calm of the white burning candles,
Not seeing the conscious act of sacrilege taking place on the altar?
Mummified unwindings of a past that could not last
Like a dark, tepid river, fear begins to snake through the empty spaces
Where my veins should be deep inside of me
Where all the souls of all the lost girls and boys coagulate
To stretch the nothingness of not-knowing way past infinity
The unguent messes of the priest's eyes
Close in unctuous supplication
But no-body listens to the wind
Though the insensibility of stones is a staging post
On the never-ending road to unfenced existence.
Where every line of badly drawn flesh is a labyrinth
Of a life lived apart from the breeding
Of many well-scrubbed killers
A line of Brutus’s on the Ides of March
Dilemmas create an overweening uncertainty
Go ahead and allocate a fist full of $100 bills
To an orphanage with a uniform dress code
White robes won't do it; burkas don’t do the trick,
Blood drawn by air strikes might
In this off-shoot of the industrial-military complex:
Boys throwing stones at tanks in occupied Palestine,
Had all been loved by girls and women,
Suffice it to say a ‘humanitarian-medical’ approach
Has little impact on the killer-regimes.
Men live for a love and a bed and a scrub,
Unlike the young scribes, who make the flesh crawl;
By staying alive.
The best mild decades of the 1920s and 1950s, are recalled fondly
In the mainstream media as times of dancing and singing,
While the monsters of European-American his-story
Make killers-tolls on the produce of the small farmers of Africa
For politics is a dirty, greedy business,
That knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing:
Like the Yemini children regularly blown to bits on our HD screens
🌷 | https://medium.com/@johnemarksesq/spending-time-4a3cb2801364 | ['John E Marks'] | 2019-03-17 12:38:36.709000+00:00 | ['Baby', 'Short Story', 'Murdered', 'Palestine', 'Child'] |
The Whipped Cream Snow, going, going | I sit at the table with my hot cup of coffee. The new fire in the fireplace has caught. No, it smolders. I bellow some air . It flames. Maybe it is all right. Judge has raced out and raced back in. Annie, too. She poked her head out the door and went out for the first time since the cold spell. She came in complaining. It is raining.
Today it rains. It rains away the light catching icicles. It rains the snow, the great heaps of snow, the snow that covered everystill thing in a soft plop of snow. It settled into every limb and branch, into every window and door. It silenced the street and the walkers. It made the familiar new.
Judge and I walked, crossing the deer Times Square by the vineyard. Crisscrossing tracks, sometimes narrow passages, sometimes groupings of four hoof marks, a great space and then four more hoof marks. I see the deer in my mind’s eye making great jumps in the thick snow. The deer, not me. My boots sink deep. Each step is a slog. The snow holds my boot, and my leg. I pull it up and lean forward. The boot goes deep again. The snow pulls against my other leg.
Judge has begun the walk with a snow celebration. A tree branch is weighed down by snow. Judge grabs it ferociously and bites off the last bit, and then the next bit. He bounds and arcs away and then back. The snow tickles his belly. His jumps stop. His legs never clear the snow. He discovers my path and follows it for a minute.
I remember his way with snowshoes. He follows close behind the snowshoer and begins to put his paws on the shoes, a free ride till the person wearing the snowshoes catches on and protests. Maybe he thinks I should be wearing snowshoes. I think I should be wearing snowshoes.
Judge has smell destinations on the path we are taking. Some are old history, an old smell story of woodland death perhaps. One smell is current events, big empty dog kibble bags blown far away from their house and caught in the blackberry canes at the beginning of the woods. Merv has taken the bags away, but Judge visits the canes where they had blown and caught. He digs deep into the snow and sucks in the old kibble smell, like a smoker with the first cigarette of the day.
We keep going, up the sledding hill now. The base has ice under the snow, that gives each step a little one two punch, down, crack, further down. A little ice surprise. The hill is hard work, hard snow work of stories, stories I remember now by the fire, “a mile up hill in two feet of snow to school,” Dad says. The walk was its own think. Concentration of the next step deep into the snow, and then the next step. A quiet snow world. Judge and me. Breath and sun.
We come to the little bridge over the stream, the old stream that piped its way to the train depot and the water tank for the steam engines, when there were steam engines, and a train, and tracks, and the depot. The snow has extended the bridge, has obscured the edge of the bridge. Judge explores the chasm but pulls back before a fall. I cross the bridge, carefully, right down the middle.
We are behind the barn. Two bits of leek flower stick up through the snow, the leeks that Dad planted, that grow year after year, uncut, uneaten. Old boards, barn debris are soft long bumps and hillocks. Judge moves, relieved? Onto the plowed driveway and up the stairs to the house.
A memory now of sun, clean air, sparkles in the snow, gleam of icicles. Today is rain, stripes of rain down the sunroom windows, watered silk designs, refracting the branches behind. The rain drops beat an uneven rhythm. Annie watches out the window. For a squirrel? A mouse? For the rain to wash away the snow?
I watch the fire. The heat begins to reach me. I eye the coffee cup. Empty. Time to do something about that. Good morning! | https://medium.com/@nancyadams_73524/the-whipped-cream-snow-going-going-c461f72d7699 | ['Nancy Adams'] | 2019-01-23 15:14:23.912000+00:00 | ['Rain', 'Hiking', 'Snow', 'Dogs', 'Cats'] |
A Product Manager’s Guide to APIs | A Product Manager’s Guide to APIs
Image by Fiverr
We live in a world where technology reigns and data presides at every corner. As users of many different products, we’re no longer looking for the best product to get the job done, we’re now looking for the product that gets the job done AND works seamlessly with all other products we use. Therefore, it has become increasingly important to understand tools that simplify workflows and integrate components to provide a seamless user experience for our customers. Since data has become abundant, innovative teams have grown exponentially better at forming these links and connections to simplify workflows via APIs.
What is an API?
An Application Programming Interface, or API, is in its simplest sense a technology that connects two systems.
Here’s an analogy explaining it:
You go to a large library and are looking for ‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown. But the library is huge and you have no clue where to find this book. Luckily for you, you see the librarian at their desk and a catalog with the types of books you can borrow. You request for ‘The Da Vinci Code’ from their fiction list. The librarian walks through the labyrinth of shelves to find the book and brings it to you.
Photo by j zamora on Unsplash
In this analogy
the library is the database — one of the systems involved
— one of the systems involved the books are the data
you are the requestor — the application/system looking for information
— the application/system looking for information the librarian is the API — they take the request back to the database and return information back to the requesting application
— they take the request back to the database and return information back to the requesting application the request for the book is the call made to the API
made to the API the catalog represents the specific format the request has to follow so the API understands it
so the API understands it the book you received from the librarian is the response
By Sachin Jain for ByteNBit
In the simplest of terms, that is what an API does: it acts as the interface between two applications and facilitates information transfer while ensuring speed and security. It is a developer-centric tool — APIs are built by and for developers as part of the application code, however, this doesn’t mean they can’t drive value for the end user.
How do they work?
Let’s take a real life example.
You are on LinkedIn and you are trying to find some companies in the fintech space. You type out your keywords (industry, location, etc.) and LinkedIn executes the search to display relevant results from its database of thousands of companies in less than a second. This request to look up all the relevant companies almost instantaneously is likely facilitated by LinkedIn’s Company Search API (which is also available for use by external applications).
This type of request-response interaction can occur within a product or with external products and is used to facilitate information transfer ranging from financial payments data to location data, in order to provide a seamless experience for the end user.
Why are they important to product managers?
APIs open up a world of opportunities to build a more-integrated product to provide more value for your users. As a product manager, it helps to understand the benefits and the constraints that also come with the technical solutions built/leveraged by the product team, so you can make and communicate product decisions and strategy effectively. I’m not saying you have to understand APIs to the point where you can dig right into the code — instead you should be able to understand the value it provides your user and business so that you can identify and test if there is a need for it and communicate WHY this is necessary to all stakeholders/partners of your product.
Using APIs built by others
I’ve created a really simple, short list of the ‘Good’ and the ‘Bad’ items to consider when thinking about using APIs built by others.
The Good:
It can provide a well-integrated and simple experience for the user
If you leverage other APIs, you can focus on building features that address the core need for your product, while maintaining a simple and complete flow for the user
It can reduce the effort to implement specific features
The Bad:
Some cost money (based on the volume of requests you’re making)
You create a dependency on another system — if the other system changes their API call, you have to make changes on your end to ensure your user experience isn’t interrupted
Building an API for others to use
There are a few key items to consider before undertaking this:
Is this something users want or need? If so, are they likely to use it? This can be validated quickly by talking to customers or even with landing pages to evaluate the demand
What value is this driving for our business? Are we expecting an increase in revenue? or a higher conversion rate? It’s also important to ensure that we are targeting metrics in line with our product strategy and our organizational goals
Can we even do this? Is our business ready to support the cost of building it out and also the cost of maintaining the infrastructure to provide this service for our users?
Implementation
Once you’ve identified the need for leveraging or building an API, it’s also important to understand how you break this down into user stories for implementation while maintaining focus on your user persona’s goal. It may help to split the user story into two — one for the API and one for the UI functionality/piece. However, you could include it all in a single user story and call out the API criteria specifically in the Acceptance Criteria. The approach should be discussed with the product team to see what works best for them.
Who is the user?
This could be developers, testers of an application or technical folks on specific internal teams. It is important to really understand and isolate your user and have a clearly defined persona for each type of user to provide context on their specific needs and goals.
For example — if your user is a developer, make sure you either define the specific type of developer (front end/back end/developer looking to incorporate payment functionality) or have a clearly defined user persona the team can refer to.
What is their need and their goal?
For this portion, you need to understand the functionality that is expected (create, read, update, delete) by the user and tie that back in to what the user is trying to achieve.
Your final user story could go something like this:
As a developer working on payment systems, I want to fetch the customer’s relevant financial data when I send a customer identifier, so that I have the information from the customer to process the financial transaction.
Acceptance Criteria
I’d include any mandatory fields that need to be a part of the API requests and the key fields that you need from the API response. If this connects in to the front end, it’s also important to call out those elements here to ensure its tackled by the team. If you’re integrating with an existing API then it’s best to read all the API documentation upfront and ensure it’s attached to the stories for everyone’s reference.
Another section to include would be API criteria that is not directly associated with the actual function of what the API is trying to achieve, but could impact the end customer. This could include the number of requests to be handled per unit of time, the time it takes to send out/receive a response, any authentication/authorization information expected by the API, limits on the volume of data sent in a single API call — it’s best to call this out explicitly and tackle this with the technical team, especially if these items can impact the end customer experience.
Few more things to learn about APIs…
Now this section includes more details that you could say are teetering on the edge of the more technical side of things. I’ve used this section to detail areas I’m familiar with through work and also explore areas new to me.
Public vs Private
APIs largely fall into 2 buckets: Public and Private.
Public — these are APIs open for use external to a company. Key examples are the Google Maps API to leverage Maps functionality in your product, Braintree API to leverage payments functionality in your product or the LinkedIn Company Search API to add company search functionality in your product. The goal is to be able to share information for use cases being tackled by other companies, that can end up benefitting your end user (eg. Open Banking in the world of financial data)
Private — these are APIs developed for internal use for developers/applications with specific access. Key examples are customer information APIs within a company that can be used by different business functions within that company for obtaining customer information pertaining to the problem they are tackling.
Types of APIs
I’ve only listed the two key types (there are other older formats that are not used as commonly today)
REST (Representational State Transfer) — this is currently the most common type of API. REST represents a specific API architecture and these APIs generally use HTTP functions to make/receive requests (with information typically being sent/received via JSON files). A key thing to note about REST APIs is that they are flexible in terms of the types of data they return/take and have a low bandwidth. There are 4 key HTTP functions these APIs are based on: POST, GET, PUT, DELETE (performing create, read, update and delete functions respectively) SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) — this is an actual protocol. SOAP APIs generally use HTTP and XML. These APIs are often heavier in terms of bandwidth and payload.
Webhooks
Webhooks get a special mention because they can be considered a special type of API — the simplest way to describe them is a “reverse” API. With APIs, the data transfer will not happen unless a request is made explicitly; webhooks on the other hand trigger the data transfer based on an event (such as a payment being received, an update to a user’s feed, etc.) which can be really beneficial to automatically trigger a downstream set of events.
Where do we go from here?
This was just a short intro into the world of APIs and how it could play into conversations with your stakeholders as a Product Manager. Hopefully, it’s equipped you to identify opportunities to optimize your product and also understand the numerous items the product team has to consider when dealing with APIs.
There’s still a lot more that comes into play when building or using APIs, ranging from understanding API documentation to figuring out how you authenticate users of your API, and this means there’s a lot to be learnt if you’re interested. Time to dive right into it! | https://medium.com/swlh/a-product-managers-guide-to-apis-c5fffff0e5e0 | ['Akshayaa Govindan'] | 2021-04-27 02:35:16.006000+00:00 | ['API', 'Optimization', 'Product Manager', 'Technology'] |
Law Of Attraction Guided Meditation | (Listen to this meditation read by an A.I. robot with a British accent)
Before we begin open your mind to receive this meditation, knowing no one can hypnotize you unless you let them.
Take a few moments to visualize the stacks of cash you desire in the depths of your soul.
Activate your senses. Smell, feel, and taste the difference between a silver coin and a hundred dollar bill.
When your intention is clear, get comfortable and close your eyes.
Breathe deeply and loudly. Imagine you’re pretending to sleep so the airplane passenger beside you will stop their incessant chatter.
Breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth. Exhale as though you are exasperated by the pitiful amount of money in your bank account.
After thirty-three deep breaths, begin to visualize the amount of money you wish to manifest. Be specific.
Picture the number in digits. How many zeros does it have? Next ,picture the number in roman numerals, then in tally marks.
Is it cash, gold bullion or cryptocurrency?
Remember to keep breathing deeply, in and out, in and out. It is critical that you bring the breath if you want the universe to bring the money.
How will you spend the money? Picture in your mind’s eye what you will do and buy with the money. Again, be specific.
Will you buy your own island or travel to Saturn? The sky is not your limit — think big, think beyond the sky into a distant galaxy far, far away.
What will you eat and drink when you’re rolling in dough? Drool over rare delicacies you’ve only read about in Sci-fi novels. Taste the raspberry jam freshly squeezed from jellyfish. Salivate as you imagine sipping six hundred year old scotch.
Don’t limit yourself to what seems realistic. Create a new version of reality, one in which you are rich beyond measure.
Which celebrities will you take selfies with? Picture your perfect companions, right down to the number of hairs on their big toes. Specificity is key.
How many windows will your new home have? Who will you invite to your V.I.P. only pool parties? How many personal chefs will you hire to make kale and caviar smoothies on demand?
You can have it all with the ridiculous amount of money you’re manifesting with this magical meditation.
What color will your Tesla be? What will you say to Elon when he delivers it to your door along with three billion dollars worth of stock in Space X?
Keep going until your mindset is stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime.
Once you are clear on what you want to do or buy with the money, begin to visualize the money flowing to you and appearing in your life.
Imagine you’re walking through a forest and all of the trees are covered in cash instead of leaves. You can pick as many twenty dollar bills as you can carry in your backpack. Give gratitude to the trees. They like hugs.
Imagine you open your front door and discover a giant box filled with hundred dollar bills. Pause for a moment of gratitude. Think about hugging the trees the box was made from.
Imagine you’re walking along the beach and every time a wave rolls in it leaves gold coins on the shore. Fill your basket with coins and give thanks to the water.
When you are clear on how the money will come to you the universe will listen. It’s important to know money may not come to you in the way you imagine, though. Be prepared for money to show up at any time, in any form.
Never step outside without an umbrella. Money may literally fall out of the sky if you are doing this meditation right. A sudden shower of shiny copper pennies could start raining down at any moment. Get your bucket ready.
An important part of staying in the flow is giving gratitude for any money coming your way. The pathetic paycheck you worked your ass off for, a sticky nickel under the couch cushion, a crumpled fiver in your winter coat pocket.
Be thankful and more money will flow to you.
Perhaps the most radical shift in your mindset is going to be feeling gratitude for your debt. If you have debt it means money was available when you wanted it and money will be there for you again and again.
Your credit card bills are proof you can get money whenever you want to buy a pair of shoes you can’t afford or travel to Maui and rent a beach house. Give thanks and more credit card debt will be in your future.
There are no limits to what you can manifest if you listen to this recording five times per day for seven years. Repeat as often as four times per hour if you’re really serious about manifesting wealth and achieving financial freedom.
I believe in your ability to become dirty, rotten, filthy, stinkin’ rich. Begin creating your beautiful bounty today. | https://medium.com/muddyum/law-of-attraction-guided-meditation-e16a7fa92c7d | ['Rachael Ann Sand'] | 2020-06-23 14:32:31.255000+00:00 | ['Meditation', 'Satire', 'Self', 'Money Mindset', 'Humor'] |
La Marzocco GS3 | Coffee continues to grow in importance, there are lots of people who love the idea of having their own coffee set up at home, and with so many machines around it can be difficult to choose what is the best machine for you.
The La Marzocco GS3 comes in two different models, the GS3 AV which is an auto volumetric machine.
The volumetric model allows the barista to program their controls to produce pre-determined shots consistently, making espresso and coffee easy for all.
The GS3 MP operates with a manual panel, this gives the barista complete control over their timing and flavor of their espresso shots.
In the market for an espresso coffee machine, Coffee Machine Warehouse, has the largest range of used and refurbished machines in Melbourne, and they are happy to help to find the machine that is right for you. | https://medium.com/@mr7eus/la-marzocco-gs3-e314ad44f30c | ['Zeroto Lerance'] | 2020-12-23 13:05:30.523000+00:00 | ['Coffee', 'Australia', 'Coffee Machine'] |
牠：第二章～完整版 下載(2019) | 導演安迪馬希提、編劇蓋瑞道柏曼，卡司比爾史柯斯嘉。牠在27年後又回來了，各奔東西的魯蛇們在闊別了多年之後，再度回到這個讓他們充滿夢靨的故鄉，一同勇敢面對小丑潘尼懷斯。
片長：169分 上映日期：2019/09/05
牠：第二章 It: Chapter Two
visit here: http://cinema.hd-4k.website/movie/474350/it-chapter-two.html
劇情簡介
27年後，魯蛇俱樂部成員長大並陸續搬離了德利小鎮，直到他們接到一通不詳的電話響起，將他們紛紛召回德利小鎮。在《牠：第二章》中，詹姆斯麥艾維飾演比爾，潔西卡雀絲坦飾演貝芙莉、比爾哈德飾演瑞奇，以賽亞穆斯塔法飾演麥克，傑瑞安飾演班，詹姆士蘭森飾演艾迪，更有比爾史柯斯嘉飾演經典的邪惡小丑潘尼懷斯，同時青少年版的魯蛇俱樂部成員也回歸：傑登里伯赫飾演比爾、懷特歐雷夫飾演史丹利、蘇菲亞莉莉斯飾演貝芙莉，芬恩伍法德飾演瑞奇，傑若米雷泰勒飾演班、裘森賈布斯飾演麥克，以及傑克迪倫格雷澤飾演艾迪。
導演安迪馬希提再度集結了少年版與成年版的魯蛇俱樂部成員，為了小丑潘尼懷斯，他們在27年後重回故鄉德瑞鎮。預告從貝芙莉(潔西卡雀絲坦 飾)回到德瑞鎮的故居畫面開始，赫然發現小丑潘尼懷斯並沒有被消滅，牠在27年後又回來了，正如同這個小鎮的歷史，每27年邪惡力量就會再度甦醒。於是各奔東西的魯蛇們在闊別了多年之後，再度回到這個讓他們充滿夢靨的故鄉，一同勇敢面對小丑潘尼懷斯。
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牠：第二章 It: Chapter Two裸監督[2019] 線上完整版 | https://medium.com/@lagimakan860/%E7%89%A0-%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%8C%E7%AB%A0-%E5%AE%8C%E6%95%B4%E7%89%88-%E4%B8%8B%E8%BC%89-2019-42d839266c3a | [] | 2019-09-01 17:54:28.171000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Free', 'Online', 'Watches'] |
How to Enjoy Revising Your Drafts | I have the opposite of blank page syndrome. My folder of essays to revise has over thirty pieces in it, but I’d rather open a blank page and write a new essay than revise an existing one.
The joy of starting from a blank page is of pulling an idea from the creative ether and following it to unexpected places. Your hand darts across the keyboard or page, your thoughts cluster and connect and compete to be the next one you write down.
Sometimes it’s not like this, and each sentence is bumpy going. You wait tensely until the words resolve themselves. Long, excruciating gaps separate sentences as you agonize over the choices of structure and syntax.
Either way, the ideas in the first draft flow in only one direction: outward. You think; you write; you move on to the next line. You are completely free in all your choices, unimpeded by constraints of best practices, fact-checking, or readability. You don’t have to stop to read what you’ve written, look for references, or intake new ideas to write about. Most writing advice recommends that you don’t.
In contrast, writing the second draft begins with reading your first. You need to process what you’ve already written and decide how to make it better. Information flows both in (reading) and out (revising). The process tends to be slower and less thrilling, with few surprises. You’ve seen all this writing before when you wrote it.
When I noticed my reluctance to revise (and hence publish) my essays, I sought out the areas of the revision process that are enjoyable. I knew there must be some.
Hone your taste for good prose
The pleasure in revising stems from improving and enjoying your prose — when you read a paragraph you just revised and appreciate how well it flows, how artfully it uses languages, and how clearly it lays out its ideas.
To appreciate your writing as you improve it, you need to have a sense of what you like. I looked for examples of novels and essays where I’ve savored every word. After racking my brain a bit, I pulled out my old favorites, Jane Eyre, books by P.G. Wodehouse, the late John Le Carre, and Agatha Christie.
My choices are subjective, and probably don’t match what critics, the public, or more well-read readers prefer. Reminding myself what I enjoy is for my own benefit, so none of that matters.
Occasionally, before or between sessions of revising my drafts, I pull out a random paragraph from these books and mentally note what I like about it.
I’d like to expand my list of options to include more books from this century. I might start by working my way through this list of books selected for their quality of prose.
Choose a piece to revise and note your impressions
I have resolved to spend a set number of sessions per week revising my essays. I am well-positioned to do this because I have a folder of essays waiting to be revised, so it will be a sort of isolation exercise — focusing on the one skill I want to improve for a period of time.
Each session, I open one of my unedited essays or fiction pieces and decide what element(s) of the writing I plan on improving, such as structure, pacing, character consistency, world-building, and completeness of story threads.
Before I start, I note down in a spreadsheet a few words assessing where the piece stands with respect to the selected element, including where I see its flaws and strengths.
Spend a session revising the piece
I then start making revisions, experimenting with changes, and assessing if I like the writing better after the change. My sessions usually last between half-an-hour and an hour. I turn on ‘track changes’ in my word-processor before I start altering the first draft.
Depending on what element of the writing I’m concerned with, the modifications may be on the macro level, like moving whole blocks of text around, adding sections, adding research, and cutting sections, or on the micro level, rearranging sentences or changing word choices.
Check for your revisions to converge consistently
Since I write down my impressions before each session, I can review them to see if my impressions get better the more I revise.
In mathematics, when you solve an equation numerically, you check a condition called ‘convergence’ to see if the equation solver is working properly. When you iteratively improve your solution, you expect the change with each iteration to get smaller and smaller, as you hone in on the best possible answer.
When you revise your draft, you know that you are consistently improving the draft when you don’t see glaring issues anymore after a few sessions.
If you changed the opening or moved paragraphs around until you liked the structure, but then when you come back to it in the next session, you still think the structure is bad, it might mean that your idea of ‘bad’ is changing from session to session and isn’t consistent. Or that you are seeing new flaws that you couldn’t see before.
I find that after I’ve changed it around a handful of times and explored all the options, I arrive at a solution that still looks good to me every time I look at it. That’s how I know I’m ready to move on to the next stage.
Do a before and after comparison to see how far you’ve come
After you’ve revised your piece enough to move on to the next element (macro to micro) or completed your revisions altogether, it can be satisfying to read the first draft and the latest draft back-to-back.
If you tracked changes, you can view the first draft by changing the viewing option in your word-processor, or by making a copy of the file and ‘rejecting all changes’.
The final draft may be massively better than the first, which is encouraging. Or they may be sections that were freer and more spontaneous in the original and got lost in over-writing by the final draft. This is less encouraging, but also useful to know and to correct going forward.
I like having a tangible outcome from all that time I spent revising. While I don’t have word counts or the number of pages filled as a metric, as I did for the first draft, the before-and-after confirms that the revision sessions were worth the trouble. | https://dkannapan.medium.com/how-to-enjoy-revising-your-drafts-cfeb695ab70f | ['Deepti Kannapan'] | 2021-01-01 18:44:41.319000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Editing', 'Creative Writing', 'Creativity', 'Writing Tips'] |
Why I don’t want to motivate you | Lately, I come to realize that motivation is vague. It’s completely useless and is empty words.
A few months back, I met a person. He is extremely engaged in what he does. That man is full of wisdom. He speaks rarely. Whenever he speaks, he spurts truth. I was intimately inspired by that man.
I asked him if he would mentor me. He said, “I won’t tell you what to do, I will tell you the truth. Henceforth, whatever I tell you is a lie for you to follow, and truth for you to realize sincerely”
I didn't understand what he said. But I agreed certainly. I started talking to him every day. I started asking him questions that were bothering me for a long time.
He would answer everything I asked him. His answers would seem absurd to comprehend but very calming to realize wholeheartedly.
Here is part of the conversation from our chat. Q = question asked by me. A = Answered by him.
Q: Why are some people lazy and some are driven?
A: Who told you people are lazy and some people are driven?
Q: What’s to be told? You can see some people motivated and working hard and some always lazy as sloth and not doing anything.
A: People are lazy for things that don’t move them.
Q: What do you mean?
A: Are you lazy to eat food when you are starving?
Q: That is completely irrelevant to this situation. Eating food is the primary need of human beings.
A: Yes, you got it. You don’t need the motivation to eat food because that is your innate desire.
Q: What so anyone motivated is because of their innate desire?
A: Yes, It cannot be otherwise. You cannot persist in the things which don’t satisfy you. It’s a matter of time, you will stop doing those things.
Q: So, How to create a desire?
A: The funny thing is you don’t have to. It's already in you. You just have to find it.
Q: How can a person find it?
A: Through Sincere Introspection not influenced by any prescriptions.
You see, Man is moved by something. You don’t have to motivate him to do that thing. Because he will do it himself. Motivation is infused in his blood for things that move him.
I cannot motivate you to do something against your will. That will lead to lifetime misery for you. If something doesn't move you, it simply doesn't.
The greatest “success” in someone’s life is to find the thing that truly moves him. That thing won’t feel like work to him. It will be a play to him.
No one can compete with him, because others are working and he is playing. You cannot work 7–8hrs/day. But you can easily play.
Thereby, I don’t want to motivate you. | https://medium.com/@anjalbinayak/why-i-dont-want-to-motivate-you-7f51d532fb5a | ['Anjal Binayak'] | 2021-06-19 03:21:20.926000+00:00 | ['Motivation', 'Truth', 'Desire'] |
A Brief History of Oculus, from Day Zero to Day One | The excitement was immediate — the work ahead, overwhelming: could a precocious teenager from Long Beach, California, actually succeed where so many before him failed?
In 2011 that teen, Palmer Luckey, caught the attention of one of the most illustrious game developers in the world, John Carmack, creator of Doom and Quake and founder of id Software. Having made several VR prototypes by tinkering and modifying existing parts from a personal collection of head-mounted displays, Luckey quickly seized an opportunity to send Carmack his latest: PR6, or Prototype 6 — what he then called “the Rift.”
Carmack would later demo this model at E3 — an event that stirred public interest and introduced the Rift to many industry leaders, including three soon-to-be members of the Oculus executive team: Brendan Iribe, Michael Antonov, and Nate Mitchell.
Together, they would take on an elusive challenge: creating a truly immersive virtual reality gaming experience.
The earliest Oculus demo offered more than a proof of concept — it captivated crucial support from programmers and game-studio heads, turned eyes away from other less-exciting VR headsets that were then on the market, and revived hope in virtual reality itself.
The team channelled this momentum into an ambitious Kickstarter campaign, which offered game developers a chance to get their hands on this new technology first, and invited the earliest adopters to help shape the platform’s future by building their own applications for it. As excitement around the Rift grew in the gaming community, the project took off — eventually surpassing $2 million in pledges from 9,522 backers.
At the end of the Kickstarter campaign, Luckey hosted a Reddit AMA to connect with supporters and skeptics, manage daydreams, and clear up any rumors from the mill.
“One of the biggest issues is getting people to believe it actually works as well as we say it does. There are a lot of VR skeptics, but once they actually try it, they are almost always blown away.” — Palmer Luckey
Oculus was at “day zero”—years of software development and hardware iterations were still necessary. As they got closer to “day one” — a consumer release—they chronicled each development with 82 backer updates along the way.
The Rift entered 2013 with a head of steam: The Verge deemed it “the most revolutionary gaming experience seen in years,” Jimmy Fallon gave it a Late Night close-up, and it put a beaming smile on the face of the first grandmother to try it.
As backers received developer kits, the team looked to solve the nauseating sickness that occurs when the brain believes it’s moving but the body senses everything is still.
When Brendan Iribe announced at the Gaming Insiders Summit that their next prototype would be a “no-motion-sickness” experience, the promise helped usher in outside investment to support a growing team, and future research and development. Momentum continued when Carmack announced he would become the company’s Chief Technology Officer. Then came another indication that this device was going to be ubiquitous: joining Facebook.
The hallmark of truly innovative technology is that it sparks more ideas, inventions, and works of art—and it didn’t take long for the world to begin imagining applications for Oculus beyond gaming. Aviation enthusiasts practiced hang gliding, sky diving, and flying. Forensic researchers reconstructed crime scenes. Reporters created immersive journalism experiences to give audiences first-person interactions with events in the headlines. Clinicians developed therapeutic approaches to help psychiatric patients confront challenging emotions and treat symptoms through virtual reality. And a new class of filmmaker sprung up on Kickstarter itself, pioneering new forms of storytelling such as CLOUDS, Blackout, and The Ark.
Even in its earliest stage, the Rift represented more than just an exciting new technology or a revolution in gaming. It was an entirely new approach to experiencing the world and connecting with one another. It also represented what’s possible when thousands of early adopters step up to say they believe in a small team with big ambitions. Following their journey to “day one” over the last three years has been an education and an inspiration. Here at Kickstarter, we look forward to stepping into the Rift.
For more, visit Oculus.com. | https://medium.com/kickstarter/a-brief-history-of-oculus-from-day-zero-to-day-one-8878aae002f8 | [] | 2018-05-09 15:36:08.542000+00:00 | ['Oculus Rift', 'Tech', 'Virtual Reality', 'Technology'] |
Greetings! | Hello everyone! It’s been a while for me to (actually) write blogs…sort of. You can say that I have some hiatus from doing anything since I graduated from my master's study in July. However, I will give writing on Medium a try by moving all my (notably….done well) assignment writings during my previous study to give you some insights (also asking for comments and feedback as well!). As you can see, probably this page will be my writings portfolio ;) (and will be connected with my side-project: @popculturenut on Instagram!)
Enjoy! | https://medium.com/@irien/greetings-d956f73ae1e7 | ['Rininta Irientantya'] | 2020-12-14 15:02:02.646000+00:00 | ['Introduction', 'Fun', 'Pop Culture', 'Beginning', 'Research'] |
Former CJN involved in $9.6billion debt controversy and 6 things we saw last week | A military court-martial for the troubled Nigerian Army major-general, Hakeem Otiki; Cash deposits and withdrawals from individual bank accounts are to attract additional charges which was effective from Wednesday and much more…
1. P&ID: $9.6 billion debt controversy
The Nigerian government arraigned persons it said were representatives of the Process and Industrial Development Company (P&ID) before a Federal High Court in Abuja on allegations of fraud.
The government arraigned two suspects who pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fraudulent involvement in the contract.
The EFCC commenced an investigation of the contract following a British court ruling that Nigeria owed the Irish firm about $9 billion for violating terms of the contract.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the agreement was designed to fail as key elements necessary for its success was missing.
It was confirmed that a key legal argument the British firm, P&ID Limited, used in securing the humongous arbitral award of $9.6 billion (N3.2 trillion) against Nigeria was provided by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Alfa Belgore.
2. Theft of ‘billions’ by Soldiers
A military court-martial for the troubled Nigerian Army major-general, Hakeem Otiki, opened in Abuja on Tuesday, with the defence team labouring to cast the case as springing from a protracted resentment rather than merely another manifestation of endemic corruption in the military.
The defence argued that a bitter rivalry was at the root of the scandal and the man appointed to lead the court-martial, Lamidi Adeosun, a lieutenant-general, was not suited for purpose because of a conflict of interest.
Although the defence did not elaborate on the cause of the rivalry, a senior army officer close to the two officers involved said it was over who would take over from the current Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, a lieutenant-general.
Mr Otiki is the army chief at the heart of the large cash heist executed by Nigerian soldiers in July. He was the general officer commanding of the Nigerian Army 8 Division in Sokoto when he sent five soldiers in his detail to haul some cash from Sokoto to Abuja via Kaduna.
PREMIUM TIMES broke the story of the embarrassing development mid-July. Military sources said at the time that the money was in billions. Although the Nigerian Army has not publicly commented on the theft or disclosed the amount involved, some news reports have put it at N800 million, while some went with N600 million and others cited N400 million.
3. CBN’s additional charges to individual accounts
Cash deposits and withdrawals from individual bank accounts are to attract additional charges which was effective from Wednesday.
The CBN said the charges would be in addition to already existing charges on withdrawals and will be aimed at encouraging its cashless policy.
The House of Representatives asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to immediately suspend the implementation of the new aspect of the cashless policy on deposits which has taken effect.
The CBN governor gave reasons why it approved the new bank charges on bank withdrawals and deposits by individual and corporate customers announced on Tuesday.
4. Buhari sacks Oyo-Ita
President Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointment of Dr. Mrs. Folashade Yemi-Esan as the Acting Head of the Civil Service of the Federation with immediate effect.
Dr. Mrs. Yemi-Esan, who is the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources takes over from Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, who was directed to proceed on an indefinite leave to allow conclusion of the investigation being carried out by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
5. Nigerian Army accuses Action Against Hunger of aiding Boko Haram
The Nigerian Army blacklisted Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organisation operating in Northeast Nigeria for allegedly ‘aiding and abetting’ Boko Haram terrorists.
The army said it has ‘credible intelligence’ that the NGO supplies food and medication to the outlawed armed group.
Nigerian soldiers sealed the offices of Action Against Hunger in Borno and Yobe states after ejecting all staff working there.
6. Sacked Nigerian lawmakers flout Supreme Court order
Three former federal lawmakers risk being imprisoned following their refusal to honour Supreme Court judgements ordering them to return some monies to the National Assembly.
The court sacked Mr Sopuluchukwu and ordered the second respondent (INEC) to issue Mr Nwankwo the certificate of return.
According to the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) approved emolument for Rep members, Mr Sopuluchukwu was to return N794, 085 he received monthly for 22 months.
7. More on Boko Haram Insurgency
The Nigerian Army launched “Operation Positive Identification” against fleeing Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in the North-east.
Army spokesperson disclosed that the troops had been instructed to strictly check valid means of identification of persons before allowing them passage.
It was reported that 13 Nigerian soldiers were killed in what seems to be a resurgence of Boko Haram attacks on troops in the North East. The terrorist group also carted away a large quantity of military equipment. | https://medium.com/premiumtimes/former-cjn-involved-in-9-6billion-debt-controversy-and-6-things-we-saw-last-week-c8bf3d4edb58 | ['Premium Times'] | 2019-09-23 13:26:39.005000+00:00 | ['Debt', 'Army', 'Buhari', 'Boko Haram'] |
Absurdity in advertising. | Absurdity in advertising.
The nonsense consumers buy into.
Photo by Ken Treloar on Unsplash
I recently stumbled upon something…rather something stumbled upon me.
I didn’t ask to see this and now I can never UN-see it.
Facebook plopped the most absurd advertisement into my screen space and I’m at a complete loss. Not only do I not know why the ad targeted me, I have no idea what it’s actually selling for $2.00.
Is it underwear that sprays air freshener? Someone with stinky parts might actually pay $2.00 for an invention like that.
Or is it a sneezing penis? We’ll never know. | https://medium.com/the-haven/absurdity-in-advertising-e4eb203682ab | ['Kristi Keller'] | 2019-07-26 05:59:44.130000+00:00 | ['Facebook Ads', 'Advertising', 'This Happened To Me', 'Consumerism', 'Humor'] |
Journal 1 | Do you ever feel lost but you know exactly where you are?
That’s how I feel right now.
The stress with being back at school and being in advanced classes has taken over.
It makes me feel so down the majority of the time.
Everyone says I need to try harder but I was trying my best.
I have no motivation to complete any of my assignments.
I miss when it was Summer.
Not because we had no school. Not because we had no homework. Not because we got to sleep in.
I miss when my only worry was not putting on sunscreen before I went out.
I miss staying up all night having deep conversation with my friends.
I miss playing video games all day and having a absolute blast without feeling bad about the fact that I got nothing productive done that day.
I miss constantly having a smile on my face.
I miss being excited about picking an outfit for the day.
Maybe this feeling is because online school is finally getting to me but I think it’s more school in general.
Since school started things have changed.
My head is constantly in a textbook reading over information that will never be helpful to me in life.
My eyes are constantly glued to the screen of my zoom class and the homework that takes hours on top of hours to do.
I end up getting tired by 6:00 pm.
All my friends are so busy with school that we barely have the time to have our deep conversations and play those video games that we love so much.
They tell me it’s my fault. That I can do better.
I understand where they are coming from but in my position it is easier said then done.
I try so hard to focus on my work and to get my homework in on time and study for all my tests.
But it feels like all the information I hear ends up going out the other ear. All the information I read disappears in a matter of hours.
I procrastinate so much and it shows in my grades.
I can’t bring myself to stop.
I keep telling myself I will do better next time but will I?
From where I see things I said that last marking period and the year before that.
I guess it’s really my own laziness and my own procrastination that got me here.
All I am trying to say here is high school is a lot harder then I thought it would be and I feel so drained already.
All this pressure and the constant need to repeat myself when talking about it with my family and friends is finally getting to me.
I figured that the only person who can get me out of this funk is myself.
At this point screw school screw my grades. I need a break that's why I am so thankful for winter break. This winter break I need to take time for myself. I need to relax and keep my chin up. I need to give myself a goal that I HAVE to reach. It is the only way I can finally feel satisfied with my placement in life right now.
If you feel like this right now as well just remember that it gets better. Things will always get better overtime.
“Life goes on. Lets live on!” -BTS
-Mandy | https://medium.com/@mandy13/journal-1-c704535c6696 | [] | 2020-12-18 22:18:23.819000+00:00 | ['Lost', 'You Are Not Alone', 'Motivation', 'Feelings', 'Journal'] |
How the Morphology of Our Jaws and Skulls have Changed Over Time | Bibliography
1. Nestor, James. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. Riverhead Books, an Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2020.
2. Wilford, John Noble. “Human Teeth, Small Already, Keep On Shrinking.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Aug. 1988, www.nytimes.com/1988/08/30/science/human-teeth-small-already-keep-on-shrinking.html.
3. Ungar, Peter S. “Why We Have So Many Problems with Our Teeth.” Scientific American, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2020, www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-we-have-so-many-problems-with-our-teeth/.
4. Gibbons, Ann, and Photographs by Matthieu Paley. “The Evolution of Diet.” National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/evolution-of-diet/.
5. Cramon-Taubadel, Noreen Von. “Measuring the Effects of Farming on Human Skull Morphology.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 114, no. 34, 2017, pp. 8917–8919., doi:10.1073/pnas.1711475114.
6. University, Stanford. “The Toll of Shrinking Jaws on Human Health.” Stanford News, 22 July 2020, news.stanford.edu/2020/07/21/toll-shrinking-jaws-human-health/.
7. Sample, Ian. “Oldest Homo Sapiens Bones Ever Found Shake Foundations of the Human Story.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 June 2017, www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/07/oldest-homo-sapiens-bones-ever-found-shake-foundations-of-the-human-story. | https://medium.com/anth-p380-prehistoric-diet-and-nutrition/how-the-morphology-of-our-jaws-and-skulls-have-changed-over-time-168ebafee8ad | ['Keitlyn Alcantara'] | 2020-12-18 22:41:09.490000+00:00 | ['Anthropology', 'Food', 'Evolution', 'Prehistory'] |
英國與歐盟達成自由貿易協議 | A columnist in political development in Greater China region, technology and gadgets, media industry, parenting and other interesting topics. | https://medium.com/@frederickyeung-59743/%E8%8B%B1%E5%9C%8B%E8%88%87%E6%AD%90%E7%9B%9F%E9%81%94%E6%88%90%E8%87%AA%E7%94%B1%E8%B2%BF%E6%98%93%E5%8D%94%E8%AD%B0-be5d5b7c220c | ['C Y S'] | 2020-12-24 15:00:37.338000+00:00 | ['UK'] |
How to access git metadata in CodeBuild when using CodePipeline/CodeCommit | How to access git metadata in CodeBuild when using CodePipeline/CodeCommit
Hopefully your pipeline doesn’t disappear into the mist (Photo by JJ Ying on Unsplash)
Here’s the scenario: Attracted by the ease of using one cloud service for everything, you’ve got a build pipeline set up in AWS. You’re using CodeCommit for the source, a CodeBuild instance for your build target, and you’re using CodePipeline to hang it all together. Everything seems great- deployment into the rest of your AWS infrastructure is easy, builds kick off from commits, and everything is working well.
Until you decide you want to use the git metadata, like say using the output of git describe to figure out what version you’re building. When you try this, your build fails with:
fatal: not a git repository (or any parent up to mount point /codebuild)
If you came here from Google and you just want a solution, skip to the end of the post for a guide. If you’re interested in the gory details, read on.
Why doesn’t this work?
Turning to Google, you find this forum post from 2016. Linked at the bottom of that, is another forum post where an AWS engineer contributes:
CodePipeline downloads the source as a zip from the source provider rather than doing a Git clone, which means the .git folder won’t be retained and git commands like the one you’re running won’t work. Can you share more details about your use-case? It seems like your goal here is to produce a zip archive of your repository, which you could also achieve using something like the zip command. If you have other use-cases for retaining the .git folder I’d be interested in hearing more about them as this is a feature request we’ve heard from several customers.
You read that right. CodePipeline downloads the source and then repackages it without the .git directory before giving it to CodeBuild. I don’t know why it does this.
Another AWS user put this sign up, probably (Photo by Ken Treloar on Unsplash)
Can we use an environment variable?
Say we want to know what git describe --tags would have printed. CodeBuild provides some environment variables for us. Maybe we can use one of those to see the git metadata we want?
From the documentation, we have CODEBUILD_RESOLVED_SOURCE_VERSION , which is “the commit ID”. In one of my builds, I get:
CODEBUILD_RESOLVED_SOURCE_VERSION=80167249a7009aeff680573a9c40ab122176b361
That’s the git SHA of the most recent commit that’s being built. Potentially useful.
We also have CODEBUILD_SOURCE_VERSION , which appears to be the S3 ARN for the artefact that contained the zipped source. Not super useful.
The documentation also describes CODEBUILD_SOURCE_REPO_URL . Maybe I can use that to clone the repository — it would be a bit of a hack, but it would work. Here’s the documentation for it (emphasis added):
For CodeCommit and GitHub, this is the repository’s clone URL. If a build originates from CodePipeline, then this might be empty.
Sure enough, it’s empty in my build:
CODEBUILD_SOURCE_REPO_URL=
As far as I can tell, the documentation doesn’t say what “might” means in this context. Is it always empty? Sometimes? Only in certain configurations? I don’t know.
Don’t forget to get out and not know things in nature (Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash)
Can we use an AWS API call?
I initially hoped that we could give the current commit hash to the CodeCommit CLI to determine the tag, but it’s fairly limited. Here’s the example response in the documentation for get-commit:
{
"commit": {
"additionalData": "",
"committer": {
"date": "1484167798 -0800",
"name": "Mary Major",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"author": {
"date": "1484167798 -0800",
"name": "Mary Major",
"email": "[email protected]"
},
"treeId": "347a3408thisisanexampletreeidexample",
"parents": [
"7aa87a031thisisanexamplethisisanexample1"
],
"message": "Fix incorrect variable name"
}
}
We get the treeId , which is an internal Git concept, but we don’t get the git tag, even if the requested commit is directly tagged.
On the main code-commit cli page we can see there are some tag related API calls, but they are for AWS tags, not git tags.
I guess we’re going to have to clone the repository.
Not this kind of clone (Photo by Daniel Cheung on Unsplash)
Cloning the repository
I’m not the first to want to do this — some of the forum complaints linked at the start of the article worked around the limitation by cloning the repository. There’s also another article where the CodeCommit repository is cloned in CodeBuild here. However, I think the approach I used is a bit simpler.
Allow CodeBuild to clone your repository
Give CodeBuild the git credential helper
Then we need to:
Clone the repository at the right branch
Wind the repository back to the commit that is being built (otherwise you will have a race condition between commits and builds, which could result in the wrong git metadata being used)
Copy the .git directory to the source tree.
Here are the steps:
1) Allow CodeBuild to clone your repository
To do this, give your CodeBuild execution role the permission codecommit:GitPull . There’s a CloudFormation template at the end of this post, but here’s the policy statement:
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"codecommit:GitPull"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:codecommit:*:*:<YOUR_REPOSITORY_NAME>"
]
},
2) Give CodeBuild the git credential helper
Start your buildspec.yml like this:
version: 0.2 env:
git-credential-helper: yes
That’s it. Now git clones will work in your CodeBuild agents.
3) Cloning the repository
A simple git clone <REPO_URL> in your buildspec will work, but you might not get the same source that is being used by your build — so we need to check out the right branch and git reset to the commit being built.
This is complex enough to be in a separate script which deals with this single concern and performs some error checking. Since I’ll want to do this on many projects, I’ve written a script you (or I) can drop in to any project. You can find it here, or download it with the following command:
Here’s a buildspec that uses the script and then prints the top of the git log:
version: 0.2 env:
git-credential-helper: yes phases:
build:
commands:
- scripts/codebuild-git-wrapper.sh <REPO_URL> <REPO_BRANCH>
- git log | head -100
(Note that you’ll need to provide your own values for REPO_URL and REPO_BRANCH).
Hopefully using your pipeline feels like this (Photo by Imani on Unsplash)
Seeing it in action
I’ve provided a CloudFormation template which contains an entire pipeline demonstrating the principle. If you want to see the whole pipeline in action, you can clone this repository and follow these instructions to get it up and running.
Summary
To get git metadata into CodeBuild/CodePipeline, follow these three steps:
Allow codecommit:GitPull in your CodeBuild role Put git-credential-helper: yes in the env part of your buildspec file Clone the repo, reset to the commit that matches CODEBUILD_RESOLVED_SOURCE_VERSION , then copy the .git directory to the build directory.
If you don’t want to write your own script to do the clone/reset/copy step, you can use this one I wrote for you.
If you want to see a whole pipeline in action, I’ve published an end-to-end sample pipeline here. | https://itnext.io/how-to-access-git-metadata-in-codebuild-when-using-codepipeline-codecommit-ceacf2c5c1dc | ['Timothy Jones'] | 2019-08-23 06:48:55.210000+00:00 | ['Codebuild', 'Continuous Delivery', 'Git', 'Continuous Integration', 'Software Engineering'] |
Midnight Musings — What drives consciousness? | Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”
― Allen Saunders
Usually I have so many things to say and all throughout the day I read about some amazing, some horrifying things, like a million dollar prize problem that has been unsolved for decades, the Hodge Conjecture, explained in a very simple way catered to non-mathematicans.
Then one very sad, gruesome yet true murder story about a child actress who was brutally murdered along with her mother by her own father, Judith Eva Barsi.
A bravery tale of one such cadet Amit Raj who gallantly rescued 3 children from a burning house but sadly succumbed to his own injuries with 85% burn.
But when I am sitting in front of my computer, with a notepad open and the cursor blinking, I don’t have anything to say save for the stories I shared. It makes me wonder why do people make certain decisions, choices in life. What goes behind the decision making process of brain. Given a set of choices — how does my brain comprehend that doing a certain event is better than others. Is this what is called consciousness? How does a person decides that murdering their own child and their wife is a good thing to do. I am certain that their decision is affected by external factors like alcohol, drugs, provocation. Or maybe they are just evil people. How does evilness comes from. Is it a state of mind or is it a disease? | https://medium.com/@simple-surbhi/midnight-musings-what-drives-consciousness-f72283c5908e | ['Surbhi Bhattar'] | 2020-12-25 17:45:49.220000+00:00 | ['Mathematics', 'Life', 'Consciousness', 'Murder', 'Writing'] |
Moving Toward Racially and Culturally Integrated Churches | Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
I’ve always thought that it would be cool to go to a racially diverse church. Combining different races, different cultures, and different backgrounds would produce a unique and fascinating church. Unfortunately, I can’t remember attending a single American church that truly fit the racially/culturally integrated description. In my own estimation, developing an integrated church has simply been too challenging a task for anyone to achieve. The concept sounds great, but very few churches have been willing to rise to the challenge.
I want to start by defining a few terms. Cultural integration is a bit broader of a term than racial integration, because it would be possible to have cultural differences in a church while being of the same race. However, while being of a different race as someone else may present some small issues, being of a different culture can create enormous problems. Races usually develop a particular culture, which makes it very difficult to differentiate between racial and cultural issues. At the same time, cultures that are significantly different are usually represented by people of different races. For that reason, I will include the idea of racial integration under the umbrella of cultural integration.
Also, I want to point out the difference between integration and assimilation. In a church setting, outsiders will often assimilate into the main group. By adapting the practices and beliefs of the main group, a person can learn to fit in, usually by abandoning their own culture. By contrast, when two or more groups integrate into one, each group maintains their own core practices and beliefs. However, these groups bind together over their shared values, choosing to focus on their similarities, while celebrating the unique gifts and perspectives that each group brings. Obviously, integration is much more difficult, but it also offers much greater rewards.
Scripturally, it is obvious that believers of different cultures should be able to work together in a church setting. Galatians 3:28 says “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (ESV).” At the time that Paul wrote this, there was an enormous cultural divide between the Jews and the Greeks. If even this barrier could be overcome through Christ, there is no excuse for believers of different cultures not to work together today. In other examples, Jesus ministered to a Samaritan woman, and John wrote about a multitude in heaven made up of people from every nation. In Ephesians, Paul wrote about the value of having different gifts and abilities in the local church, and in I Corinthians, he wrote about not offending a person from a different background. When looking at these examples, there is no doubt that God intended for churches to be racially and culturally diverse.
And yet somehow, this hasn’t really happened. I don’t think Christians have intentionally tried to remain culturally and racially divided, but the challenges of fellowshipping in an integrated church are significant. Ultimately, it is simply much easier to divide into our own comfortable groups, and form churches where people agree with each other about doctrine, and want to worship and practice the same way. The effort that it takes to understand cultural differences is, for many people, simply not worth the potential return. In the end, church segregation happens, not purely by intent, but because people do not actively work against it.
However, for the work that it might take to have a church that is healthily integrated, I believe that the advantages are well worth the effort. As Christians, we need to have healthy discussion and disagreements about issues of faith and practice. Having people from a plurality of races and cultures will ensure that a vigorous conversation about Christian issues will happen within the church. By contrast, when a church is composed of people who are all very similar to one another, religious conversations can easily begin to focus on smaller issues of less importance. A wide range of people will ensure that a wide range of perspectives are heard, which will lessen the possibility that a church will blindly fall into error without being warned. Many times, we learn the most from the people with whom we disagree. A culturally vibrant church will allow many opportunities for its members to learn about a variety of viewpoints.
In our racially charged society, there is a need for the church to set an example of how people of different races can move beyond their differences and work together. Personally, I’ve been inspired by the story of John Piper, a pastor in Minnesota. Piper grew up in the 1950’s in South Carolina, where segregation was promoted both in society and in the church. However, Piper began to understand the evils of racism, attempting to build a racially diverse church, and also adopting an African-American child.
This stands in sharp contrast to the attitude of some professing Christians in America, who look at foreigners with deep distrust. For example, conservative politicians, including President Trump, spoke very harshly about Somali-American Ilhan Omar. This rhetoric culminated in a crowd chanting “Send her back” at a Trump rally. It is safe to assume that some of these people would have claimed to be Christians. However, speech like this shows an attitude of arrogant superiority, far different from the love that Christ commanded his followers to have for people around them. The church must work to bridge the cultural and racial divides that have plagued our nation for centuries. Integrating churches would serve as a powerful example of Christ’s love.
One of the specific challenges that will present itself to a church that seeks to be culturally diverse is that it is difficult to meet the needs of more than one group of people at a time. Some doctrinal beliefs can be left up to individuals, without the church specifically taking a side. However, this is not possible with all issues. For example, worship styles can be become a very divisive issue, simply because a church must make a decision about how they will worship. Either they will have a worship band, or else they will not. Either they will be traditional, or else they will be contemporary. While some compromises can be made in most issues, it is hard to meet everyone’s preferences. This can be challenging when people have very strong preferences that border on convictions. Other issues of this nature include mode of baptism, use of church funds, type of pastor, church programs, women in ministry, and regulations on communion. In each of these areas, the different backgrounds that will be represented in a culturally diverse church will make love and unity difficult. However, as I previously mentioned, these disagreements also have the potential to produce a healthy conversation about important issues. As believers commit themselves to loving and understanding each other, the most intimidating human barriers can be overcome.
While it may be possible to integrate an established church, I believe a better strategy for creating culturally integrated churches is to plant new churches, taking steps to bring in people from many races and cultures from the very beginning. Believers should be trained to understand different cultural perspectives from the beginning of the discipleship process. If a person spends many years as a believer without trying to understand other cultural perspectives, change will be particularly difficult. A church that is begun with a vision for cultural and racial diversity will be much better positioned to actually attract people from different backgrounds.
Whether in a church plant or an established church, there a few key steps that can be taken to move toward cultural integration. The biggest one, I believe, is to understand what parts of our practice are cultural and what parts are Biblical. We should never compromise Biblical truth in an attempt to appeal to people of different backgrounds, but we can and should compromise on cultural forms of Christian practice. On the same note, we must hold firm on major theological issues, but we must not be too quick to judge others for what they believe on minor issues of Scripture. The final step that I would like to mention is that we must learn to appreciate the amoral aspects of different cultures, being willing to understand and even embrace the viewpoints of others, when those viewpoints do not involve religious issues.
Whether or not the American church can begin to racially and culturally integrate is something that remains to be seen. However, each of us can work to love and understand our Christians brothers who come from different backgrounds than we do. God created diversity for a reason, and yet we have often shied away from embracing that diversity. Through God’s grace, the church can be a shining light to a world scarred by barriers and divisions.
Sources.
Desiring God. “Bloodlines: Race, Cross and the Christian- Documentary on John Piper.” YouTube. 2015. 18:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us-tvWT2gDo&t=969s | https://medium.com/christian-perspectives-society-and-life/moving-toward-racially-and-culturally-integrated-churches-6fd05c2624d3 | ['Jacob Zimmerman'] | 2019-11-03 23:02:53.391000+00:00 | ['Integration', 'Cultural', 'Christianity', 'Racial', 'Church'] |
A robot in Egypt is helping test for COVID | An inventor in Egypt has created a Covid19 testing robot. The robot CIRA-03 was created by Mahmoud el-Komy to help limit human exposure to the virus and reduce transmission of infection. CIRA-03 is capable of performing multiple task, including blood testing, echocardiograms, and even X-rays.
The robot performs the Coronavirus test by cupping the chin of the patient and then swabbing the inside of their mouth for a sample. CIRA-03 is also capable of warning people that aren’t wearing masks. | https://medium.com/@joiecooper2/a-robot-in-egypt-is-helping-test-for-covid-7f9d663a2674 | ['Joie Cooper'] | 2020-12-02 13:55:49.355000+00:00 | ['Cira 03', 'Coronavirus', 'Egypt', 'Robots', 'Covid19 Testing Robot'] |
Firebase Cloud Firestore — Fetching Data | Pagination
Cloud Firestore SDK provides two types of pagination means — By value or by document snapshot. In my opinion, paginating by document snapshot is better and more feasible in all cases.
Method 1) Paginating by value
In the above code, developer has to first order the matched document list by a document field (e.g. fooDoubleKey at line 2) and then start paginating with a specific value (e.g. 20 at line 3). By applying different values (e.g. 17 ) to the startAfter() (line 3) in each pagination, we can fetch the next subset of matched document list.
SDK provides 4 types of functions for defining the start point and the end point of pagination:
startAt() - Include the value at the start point startAfter() - Exclude the value from the start point endAt() — Include the value at the end point endBefore() — Exclude the value from the end point
In my opinion, paginating by value is only suitable for collection with fixed content and ordering. Sample use cases would be paginating survey questions or FAQs, since each question has a unique and consecutive question number.
There could be a concern with random document content. Take the above collection as an example. We fetch the first four documents in the first fetch and know that the last document is having 18 . We would probably guess the next start value to be 17 and paginate at 17 . However, we don’t know the number of document duplication with value of 18 . We could miss some of the documents with the value of 18 which are highlighted as red in the above graph.
To tackle this issue, SDK provides the following alternative — Paginating with document snapshot.
Method 2) Paginating by Document Snapshot (More Feasible) | https://medium.com/swlh/firebase-cloud-firestore-fetching-data-76619dfd3bff | ['Myrick Chow'] | 2021-01-06 15:23:33.213000+00:00 | ['Android App Development', 'Cloud Firestore', 'Firestore', 'Firebase', 'Mobile App Development'] |
Hi-coo | There are people who seem deep, but their insides are hollow
They want you to have principles they themselves don’t follow
Interesting are their ways that I find hard to swallow. | https://medium.com/poets-unlimited/hi-coo-b95d351979b1 | ['Zaira Abbas'] | 2017-11-20 15:03:33.148000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Inspiration', 'Life', 'Relationships', 'Love'] |
Mars Rover Is Frozen in Place Following Software Error | by Ryan Whitwam
The Curiosity rover has performed admirably on Mars for more than seven years, but there have been a few bumps along the way. After all, it was only designed to last a few years. NASA reports that Curiosity has suffered a system failure that left the robot unaware of its position and attitude on the red planet. Until it recovers, Curiosity is frozen in place.
Curiosity arrived on Mars in 2012, making history with its wildly successful rocket sled landing system. Since then, it has traversed the terrain in Gale Crater and climbed the slopes of Mount Sharp, relaying data on the red planet’s geologic past. Thanks to Curiosity, we have a better idea of where water existed (and may still exist) on Mars, as well as where we might be able to find evidence of ancient life.
Mars is far enough away that we can’t directly control Curiosity in real-time — the rover gets batches of commands and then carries them out. That means it needs to have precise awareness of the state of all its joints, as well as environmental details like the location of nearby obstacles and the slope of the ground. This vital information ensures the rover doesn’t bump anything with its arm or clip large rocks as it rolls along.
Curiosity stores all this attitude data in memory, but something went wrong during operations several days ago. As the rover was carrying out its orders, it suddenly lost track of its orientation. The attitude data didn’t add up, so Curiosity froze in place to avoid damaging itself. While the rover is physically stuck in place, it’s still in communication with the team here on Earth.
Even careful positional awareness can’t save Curiosity’s wheels from Mars’ pointy rocks.
Since everything else is working on the rover, NASA was able to develop a set of instructions that should get the rover moving again. When transmitted, the data will inform Curiosity of its attitude and confirm its current state. This should allow the rover to recover and keep performing its safety checks. However, NASA also hopes to gather data on what caused the issue in the first place. The hope is they can avoid another freeze-up in the future.
While NASA hopes to get more use out of Curiosity, the agency is hard at work on the upcoming Mars 2020 rover. That mission is set to launch this summer, arriving on Mars in early 2021.
Now read: | https://medium.com/extremetech-access/mars-rover-is-frozen-in-place-following-software-error-2840a65b3476 | [] | 2020-01-24 15:47:49.716000+00:00 | ['Space', 'Science', 'Mars', 'NASA', 'Curiosity'] |
The Abyss | He’s strapped into a state of stasis,
No rattle of the chains, no changes,
Perhaps the gentle growth of grapevines in places,
But no new voices or faces,
Used to be besotted with his basic bases,
Now with comfort nothing quite tastes how it tasted
Chewing glass of governments and Gods subtly stained it
And the tyrants trusted the taint of time would tarnished and tame him. | https://medium.com/@spoonthepoet/the-abyss-987089eff28d | ['Tobias', 'Spoon'] | 2020-12-19 10:18:40.896000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Poet', 'Poems On Medium', 'Poem', 'Poetry On Medium'] |
̶W̶h̶y̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ —W̶h̶y̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ Why I read books | This week, I’m going to outline the reasons ̶ y̶o̶u̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ — ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ I have valued reading as much as I have throughout my life, and make a continual effort to do so despite my shortening attention span and penchant for instant gratification — or perhaps because of it.
When I say read, I refer to reading long-form fiction: usually novels, though novella and short stories serve similar purposes. I would have used the term literature, but I have had limited experiences with drama or poetry (I suspect that most of the arguments I make would apply), and I would have sounded more pretentious than I already do.
The first reason I read is for entertainment. The first reason I read, was also for entertainment. Wasn’t that entertaining? The first ‘chapter books’, as they were called, I read were about Pokémon.
My mother immediately disapproved of these books, and insisted that I read ‘classics’. I was in the first grade Mom, cut me some slack. This started a lifelong (yes, even now) conflict between my mother and I where she would constantly criticize any book I read as ‘lacking in nutrition’ on a good day and ‘trash’ on a bad day.
I quickly progressed from Pokémon to Roald Dahl and E.B. White, Artemis Fowl and ASOUE, often under the covers with a flashlight, fending off my mother’s efforts to get me to read Black Beauty and Anne of Green Gables. Mom, those books are for girls. I did read Little Women recently, and I do regret not reading it when I was younger.
This phase of my life lasted much longer than I suspect it did for most people: I only ever used a laptop on the kitchen table for homework and didn’t own a cell phone until I finished high school, so reading was often my most exciting individual leisure activity. They were tense. They were hilarious. They were romantic. They were epic.
I would always have a book in my desk at school to read during boring classes. I have memories of reading when I was supposed to be doing homework and then quickly hiding the book underneath my textbooks when my mother appeared, in high school.
To this day, I still read primarily for pleasure. I’m a staunch believer in dropping a book if I’m not enjoying it by the time I’m finished a quarter. But Chris, you say, what if I don’t enjoy reading? To that, I say you’re reading the wrong books. A well-written book can be just as thrilling as a Korean movie, just as funny as an internet meme, just as relaxing as a yoga session, just as engaging as a video game, and better than TV in all aspects. I’m kidding ̶, ̶I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶e̶v̶i̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶a̶l̶i̶t̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶s̶p̶i̶r̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶. If the only things you’ve ever read were the SparkNotes summaries for high school English class, feel free to ask for a few recommendations to get started.
In a bit of a circular argument, another reason I read is so I can get better at reading. There are a litany of texts bemoaning the decline of reading and the supposed benefits of reading ranging from increased memory to improved cognitive ability, but I’m referring to reading comprehension. Not something so plebeian as vocabulary or reading speed improvement, but instead being able to derive more enjoyment from the books that I read.
With every book read, my appreciation for delayed payoff improves, my accumulation of background knowledge grows, my affinity for articulate prose strengthens, and my aptitude for figuring out what is going on in anything literary published after Virginia Woolf started writing inches forward. It’s like understanding the adult jokes in family movies: sometimes it’s a double entendre, sometimes it’s a subversion of expectation, and sometimes it’s staring you in the face but you just weren’t mature enough for it at the time.
More than greater appreciation for the books that I’ve already read, becoming better at reading increases the number of books that I can enjoy. If I read primarily for enjoyment, many books are inaccessible to me because they are not enjoyable. In a few cases, it’s because they’re badly written. In most others, it’s because I don’t quite have the aptitude to read them yet.
Increasing this aptitude is important because it also increases the number of stories available to me. Sure, Romeo and Juliet have had enough modern retellings that there can be a list ranking them, but what about 1984? Ishiguro is accessible enough, but what about Rushdie? To read more books, I need to read more books.
Usually, highly rated restaurants have some degree of experimental fare. And it’s not because they can’t make a burger without deconstructing it or they think a Thai-inspired lasagna tastes significantly better than the original. But if the discerning patron arrives at the restaurant looking for an experience worth their time, then the chef needs to deliver something that the patron hasn’t had before. It’s much easier to surprise than to somehow execute an established recipe better than it’s ever been done, to a degree of magnitude that’ll be noticeable.
It’s the same for me as a reader. As much as I have my preferred authors, endings, and styles, my favourite books have always been ones that have stood out, overturning expectations, yet somehow delivering a better story. But to have something to stand out from and to have expectations to subvert, a baseline level of reading is required. I wouldn’t know why lampredotto is interesting unless I’ve had a standard burger and tripe in hotpot before. And though a chicken club is always appreciated for lunch, slow-cooked tripe burgers surprised me the first time I had it, and went on to become something I think of going to Florence to eat again.
But the lampredotto burger isn’t for everyone. Most people turn away at the idea of the burger, or when they first see the greyish mass emerge, speared from a large stockpot smelling of wet barn. Some of the ones who do give it a chance will choke down a bite or even the whole thing, and even claim to enjoy the experience, but won’t go back for seconds.
It’s not that the people who savoured it are some how superior to the ones that don’t. Lampredotto is Florentine street food, eaten by people throughout the social strata. There’s no need to try the burger if it looks unappetizing. Pizza and pasta are abound, with enough variety to satisfy every palate. If the idea of eating tripe fills you with horror, you’re probably not going to enjoy it. But the initiated that appreciate the lampredetto burger do have one unforgettable experience that will forever remain with their memories of Florence.
Likewise, what’s the point of reading books that you won’t enjoy? It’s not a requirement to read the same way it is to eat, and it’s much harder to pick up a book with all the modern instant gratification available on-demand. Claiming to have enjoyed your lampredotto burger without actually having done so is like claiming to enjoy the Divine Comedey without actually having done so. People will be impressed, but you’ll know that you didn’t.
But you want to be able to enjoy the lampredotto burger, because I bring it up every time I mention my semester abroad, which is quite often. However, the sight of it is enough to make you queasy. So you start off with slightly more adventurous foods such as lighter offal, gamey meats, and rubbery foods like cuttlefish and octopus, sticking to the ones that you enjoy first. Eventually, the idea, sight, and smell of the burger won’t be so frightening anymore, and the lampredotto can be attempted. Maybe you’ll love it. Maybe you still won’t like it. But after preparing to eat it, you’re in a qualified position to pass a personal judgement. Maybe you’ll enjoy it next time you’re in Florence.
On the other hand, books require immense activation energy to start and tremendous time commitment to finish. What makes reading a lot easier, is if the books are enjoyable. The story and all the purported benefits to your empathy and creativity are also stickier if you enjoyed the book, then an added bonus to your leisure time.
To conclude, let’s briefly touch on the importance of stories. Varied scientific literature has always purported that reading imparts a cornucopia of advantages to the reader. Gaiman says in his famous forward that “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” Harari claims in his breakout novel, Sapiens, that humans have evolved to what we are today because of our singular ability to tell stories and believe in them.
Regardless of the veracity of these dubious claims, I collect one more story with each novel I read. I know of another series of events that didn’t happen, but could have all the same. I meet new characters and can call upon the plot of one like an old friend. I can relate more easily and convey ideas more simply to people who have read the same story. The story becomes mine after I read it.
I find that this mental library of stories is one of my greatest treasures. They provide a frame of reference for understanding events that I haven’t experienced. They help me make connections to ideas that aren’t mine. They teach me how to manage emotions I’m not accustomed to. Perhaps most importantly, when I do find myself in a bad spot, they remind me that there’s some good in the world, and it’s worth fighting for.
That is why I read. | https://medium.com/@chrisreads/%CC%B6w%CC%B6h%CC%B6y%CC%B6-%CC%B6y%CC%B6o%CC%B6u%CC%B6-%CC%B6s%CC%B6h%CC%B6o%CC%B6u%CC%B6l%CC%B6d%CC%B6-%CC%B6r%CC%B6e%CC%B6a%CC%B6d%CC%B6-w%CC%B6h%CC%B6y%CC%B6-%CC%B6w%CC%B6e%CC%B6-%CC%B6r%CC%B6e%CC%B6a%CC%B6d%CC%B6-why-i-read-books-54a3b2ad61ae | ['Chris Reads'] | 2020-12-18 07:01:47.448000+00:00 | ['Book Recommendations', 'Reading Challenge', 'Literacy', 'Reading', 'Novel'] |
D'Angelo Wallace recommends VPN protection | D’Angelo Wallace was born in 1998 and is an American Twitch streamer and YouTube commentator. He’s known for his harsh commentaries directed at Internet stars and knows the online culture very well. His channel is tremendously popular and has 1.16 million subscribers. He made his first video on YouTube in “trending” tab about a film “Cuties”, which he said encouraged child exploitation. And he’s just as hard on data-mining companies and cybercriminals, and that’s why he recommends using a VPN for privacy protection.
How to get the best VPN deal?
There are tons of VPNs to choose from, some of them are great, some so so, while others you’d better avoid. The recommendation you see in D’Angelo videos is a good one, but a bit pricey for some. If you want to get high-quality online privacy protection, you can get yourself NordVPN with a 68% discount for just $3.71/month for a two-year deal. Simply click the link below to apply for the discount.
Click here to get exclusive 68% NordVPN 2-year deal discount
What does a VPN do?
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, and it’s a privacy protection cybersecurity software. It hides your real IP address, encrypts your traffic, and sends it through one of its servers. This way, our online-data is secured from cybercriminals and data-mining companies, because they can’t get past the encryption and monitor your online activities.
That’s why VPNs are widely recommended for those that don’t want to feed their data to marketing agencies for Ads targeting. Moreover, it will protect you on public Wi-Fi if some cybercriminal tries to sniff out confidential information while you’re connected to it.
What makes NordVPN the right choice?
VPNs apply military-grade encryption, and that may slow the device and Internet connection down a bit, that’s why high-quality VPNs invest in good servers. NordVPN has a vast network of 5500+ high-speed servers to choose from and a cutting edge NordLynx protocol to ensure the latest encryption standard is used for your protection.
It also has a CyberSec feature that will block ads and blacklist malware-infected sites. All of this is packed in one easy-to-use software that 15 million people worldwide enjoy. And you can join this community with a great deal, and secure your online data for two years to come. | https://medium.com/@tweensermelisa/dangelo-wallace-advises-to-use-a-vpn-1e70787e492f | ['Melisa Tweenser'] | 2021-02-17 15:22:33.815000+00:00 | ['Discount', 'Security', 'Privacy', 'VPN', 'Deal'] |
CONVERSATIONAL AI | Human-Computer Interaction
Customer engagement is one of the most important aspects of any business. Any business can be superior or inferior based on the quality of customer engagement and customer interaction. It’s a priority for every business to focus and accelerate virtual engagement strategies by putting pressure on digital touchpoints and digital channels.
In today’s digital world, It is important to keep an eye to the customer service approach. They expect exceptional customer service 24*7. The better you serve, the more customers cling to your brand. Over the years, We come across numerous ways to make better customer engagement but the introduction of Conversational AI is something special.
Happy Customers
The most important focus of every business is people. Every business needs to cater their customers by unlocking empathy, trust and loyalty. Activating those insights with digital tools such as Conversational AI can exponentially improve efficiency.
Conversational AI refers to a type of artificial intelligence designed to help software understand and interact with people in the most effective way as possible — using natural language. It enables businesses to deliver automated and personalised communication experiences using voice assistants, chatbots and messaging apps.
AI is changing the face of Human-computer interaction. Conversational AI is a smart assistant communicating with your customers, understanding their requirements and assisting them accordingly. One of the most significant advantages of Conversational AI over prevalent rule-based bots is the identification of user contexts and intentions. Thus they can deliver the intended personalised reply to the user’s query.
Query Management
The adoption rate of Conversational AI is very trending in business nowadays. Brands need new ways to catch up with a larger share of the market. Integrating Conversational AI to the webpages, social media pages or any customer-facing touchpoints can eliminate the need of page hopping or heavily click-driven approach to interaction. Customers can simply ask an AI-enabled bot to find what they need rather than performing multiple actions and browsing through heaps of irrelevant information.
Conversational AI not only provides friendly and easy to use approach solutions for users but there are various other reasons for companies to prefer this technology.
Saves time — Conversational AI provides quick response and fast customer service which attracts customers all around globally.
Easy real-time access — Customers can seamlessly connect with a chatbot and access the required information very quickly.
Increases efficiency — Conversational AI helps to improve operational and customer support efficiency which improves the overall efficiency of a business.
Online relationship management — Companies can manage customer interaction and branding engagement through synchronized and personalised conversations.
Efficient management of customer query — Conversational AI can efficiently manage the customer needs and solve it appropriately through a continuous learning process.
Handles the entire customer cycle — Conversational AI covers the complete loop, from seeking product information to sharing product feedback.
Nowadays, customers want products and services delivered immediately and effortlessly. No one prefers a ‘prolonged buying journey’. This shift is significantly altering the expectation from brands as well. By integrating Conversational AI into brands today enables users to interact through speech, text, gesture etc.
AI-enabled conversational interfaces can be found in many domains such as News and Media, Healthcare, E-commerce, Retail, Finance etc. It helps to build a better understanding with the user in the intended domains. Continuous advancement in Conversational AI provides more accurate information to customers as well as B2B applications. Eventually, it eliminates the need for human operators involved in customer service through synchronous conversations and human-like discussions…! | https://medium.com/@anjanack93/conversational-ai-5ca9690b515c | [] | 2020-12-22 08:22:11.259000+00:00 | ['Chatbots', 'Customer Engagement', 'Conversational Ai', 'Chat', 'Tech Blog'] |
End to End Testing React app with Selenium WebDriver Chrome PyTest and CircleCI | In order to create automated testing in a continuous integration environment, you will need to familiarise with a series of automation and testing tools for different situations. In this post, I’ll explain how to use Selenium Python implement and automate e2e testing for React app in CircleCI.
Overview
There are lots of tools and techniques that can be integrated in a CI environment. Here at Neami, our development team is mainly using nodeJs and React, but test team prefers to use python. thus i worked out this design to make both 2 teams happy ( testers would write test case in Python rather than switch to javascript ).
We are using Selenium WebDriver Python,Chrome and we integrate them with CircleCI. The testing framework we are working with is PyTest, which makes it easy to write small tests, yet scales to support complex functional testing for applications and libraries.
The main techs we use are:
React
Selenium
Chrome
PyTest
CircleCI
Frontend
In this example, Frontend is to do list app built with React, you can find source code on this repository.
Docker
There are lots of benefits to use docker, I’m not going to go through of the benefits here. Let’s create a base Dockerfile to support Selenium, Chrome and React:
Next, create a Bash script docker-entry.sh.
#!/usr/bin/env bash set -ex cd pytest nginx pytest -s --url http://localhost
Selenium and PyTest
Now, It’s time to look at Selenium test, create conftest.py (modules auto-discovered in test directories)
$ mkdir pytest
$ cd pytest && touch conftest.py
Copy following code to conftest.py
Now, create pytest/test sub directory and test case file:
eg. I created a test_todo_list.py:
We are ready to run the script! Run the command:
$ docker build --no-cache -t e2e-test .
$ docker run -p 80:80 --rm e2e-test
The tests are being run and you can see the results:
CircleCI Integration
Now, Create config.yml in .circleci directory at root of project. eg. config.yml should like
version: 2
jobs:
build:
machine: true
working_directory: ~/todolist
steps:
- checkout
- run: docker build --no-cache -t e2e-test .
- run: docker run -p 80:80 --rm e2e-test workflows:
version: 2
frontend:
jobs:
- build:
filters:
branches:
only:
- master
CircleCI Workflow Job being run for every commit, you can see the result in CircleCI dashboard:
That’s it!
You made it all the way until the end! No need setup local env, no softwares and tools required, you don’t even need docker, just push your code to Github, CircleCI runs testing job after every committing.
If you get stuck along the way, feel free to check out the code on this Github repo.:
Learn more
Join our community Slack and read our weekly Faun topics ⬇ | https://faun.pub/in-order-to-create-automated-testing-in-a-continuous-integration-environment-you-will-need-to-35d9952ccca4 | ['Yi Ai'] | 2019-07-18 19:01:45.932000+00:00 | ['Selenium', 'React', 'Pytest', 'Docker', 'Circleci'] |
Criminal prosecution 101: How to battle corruption; Nigerian Style! | Are you a concerned Nigerian Citizen? Do you want to prosecute high profile criminal cases and battle the endemic disease; Corruption, that has eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian Society? Do you want to learn how to prosecute high profile criminal cases and battle Corruption Nigerian Style? Then look no further, I gat you. Just follow the tips I have endeavoured to give below, and all will be well with you.
It is no secret that fighting corruption in Nigeria is dangerous. It is a truth that has been trumpeted and ingrained in the very fabric of this nation. However, as the brave anti corruption crusader that you are, I am sure that these grave tidings will not dissuade you nor give you cause to pause in your quest to attain a Corruption free Nigeria.
Thus, the first thing you must do if you want to successfully battle corruption and prosecute high profile criminal cases in Nigeria is to go and ‘bust’ them; the criminals, in their respective homes in the dead of the night commando style. (After you must have done your “investigation” of course). These so called criminals, looters of our collective wealth, thieves all of them. They should not be allowed to escape the wrath of the law.
Now, when you do this, do not avert your mind to the rule of law, democracy, due process, equality before the law and the likes, those are kumbaya concepts and they exist only in vacuum. This is Nigeria and we do as we want. Just ask El Zakzaky and Sambo Dasuki; all you need to do is to ‘Invite’ them for questioning, hold them incommunicado and grill them (yes o, you must grill them… otherwise… ) for one week then they’ll know you mean business.
See ehn, in this kind of operation, the media is your best friend. Generate furore. Tell them you recovered so so so and so amount of money in naira or dollars in the “criminal’s” bedroom, soakaway, water tank whichever one works for you. Give them tidbits of the full picture and let their creative minds go to work.
The next thing you will want to do is to draft a hundred count charge. Don’t worry… The higher the number of offences you charge them with, the higher your chances of securing a conviction. Forget all those alakowe charge and bail lawyers shouting proof. Proof? What is proof? They think they’re the only ones that knows the law? You just file those hundred counts anyhow anyhow, e bad as e bad, one out of the 100 go catch am sha ni.
Quick tip: It’s not enough that you’re working, the people must know you’re working. And how will the people know that you’re working if they don’t know you’re working? Simple. You leak it. You gotta let the people try the case and hand you your judgement even before you enter the court of law. The more outraged the common man, the more your chances of securing a conviction in court.
When you get to court, just call your witnesses, let them come and tell the court the truth of the matter. You don’t even need to prepare them for questioning or have a trial plan you’ll adhere to. Afterall, the truth as they say must surely prevail and liars, all of them, they go to hellfire.
Upon cross examination when defence counsel destroys your witnesses in the box, do not panic, maintain philosophical calmness. All you need do is establish a prima facie case for them to answer to. Damn their no case submission, hundred count charge still popping.
Quick tip: Peradventure hundred count does not pop, it’s still not yet time to panic. Just call the media and say some choice words to them. Who section 27 RPC epp? Talk to the media! Tell them!! Tell it all to them!!! Tell them that the judiciary has been compromised and that was how you lost your case. Tell them that the bench is corrupt and that you’ve already filed an appeal against the decision of the trial court. Yes, we both know that filing a notice of appeal does not equate to entering an appeal simpliciter but the people don’t need to know that. All they need to know is that you’ve filed an appeal shikena. Hook, line and sinker, na so dem go chop am. Let their twitter fingers go to war against corruption.
Now, all of these will have been a long day’s job. So at the end of it, you’ll need to sit back, sip moringa, odekwu or whatever your poison is and enjoy the circus while it lasts.
Do these religiously and as often as you please, and all will be well with you.
Shalom.
PS: An earlier version of the post: “Criminal prosecution 101: How to battle corruption; Nigerian Style!” first appeared on TheRains’ Asylum: My Unsolicited Thoughts | https://medium.com/@femiojosu/criminal-prosecution-101-how-to-battle-corruption-nigerian-style-84ba1c1936d8 | ['Oluwafemi Ojosu'] | 2019-09-30 16:26:05.315000+00:00 | ['Law', 'Satire', 'Nigeria', 'Corruption'] |
Why do we let them suffer? | There are only two possible reasons that humans live in poverty: either we are unable to eradicate it, or we collectively choose to allow it. Today it is clearly the latter, we have the means to abolish poverty, but we choose not to. The global GDP per capita is now over $11,000 and the world bank estimates that a person needs $700 a year ($1.90 per day) to survive. Meaning, it takes just 6 percent of human output to ensure that every single person has their basic needs met. Despite this, over 700 million people (half of whom are children) live in absolute poverty.
Living in poverty is not romantic, it is not fun, and it is not rewarding. It means a life of hunger, loss, and pain. So why, if we have the ability to end this suffering, do we choose not to?
I don’t ask that question as someone who has the answer, or survey data to present. I ask it is as someone who is completely unable to empathize with those who are actively against taking measures to end poverty or more commonly those who do not ever think about the global poor. Making the world a better place, particularly for the poor, consumes me, and I’m unable to comprehend how people live their lives uncaring or unconscious to the suffering of others.
But I think trying to understand is an important task, because if we are going to end poverty, then we are going to have to persuade more people that we should. And in order to change people’s minds, we must understand their current mindset. Below, I examine some of the reasons why people allow others to suffer and provide a few short rebuttals.
“Not my problem” — The most blunt explanation for why people allow others to live in poverty is that they simply do not care about them. This may be due to pure selfishness, racism, or a medley of the two. These people are the most difficult to convince to take action, you cannot persuade them with data or statistics. They are simply not good people.
“I worked hard for my money” — Some will imply that they do not give because they “worked hard for their money” and thus deserve to spend it on themselves. Beyond this mentality showing a warped idea of deservedness, it also fundamentally misinterprets our current economic reality. Even domestically, our mobility rates are abysmal but across borders they are almost certainly much, much worse. The truth is that a person’s wealth is almost completely a function of where and when they were born.
Can’t/don’t know how — Others may believe that charities are unable to actually help the world’s poor and that donations are eaten up by overhead costs or corruption. While this claim may be true for some organizations, there are many charities that do immense good. In fact, there is an entire movement dedicated to finding the charities that do the most good with their donations, effective altruism.
If you need help finding the most effective charities, check out GiveWell which provides detailed ratings on the per dollar impact of charitable organizations. My personal favorite is GiveDirectly which simply wires your donation directly to poor families.
Beyond personal donations, we also have a pretty good idea of policy changes that would drastically reduce poverty. The most simple are higher taxes to support direct cash transfers and abolishing restrictions on immigration. People who truly want to end suffering caused by poverty should be advocates for higher taxes and open borders.
The default setting — Probably the most common reason that people allow the world’s poor to suffer is that they never think about them. People build barriers in their head so that they never have to justify selfish actions to themselves or others. It appears that these barriers are the default setting for those of us in rich nations. We’ve created borders of many kinds to keep the poor out of sight and out of mind.
Still, no matter how closed our circles we have all been presented with information that shows us that many people still lack their basic necessities. We should be determined to rewire our brains beyond the status quo and intentionally consider and help the global poor.
A look in the mirror
Perhaps I could learn even more about our inhibitions by reflecting within. While I certainly do more than most, I do not do the most that I can. In 2020 my post-tax earnings were about $45,000. I donated roughly $5,000, leaving me with $40,000 to myself. I could save less money, cut food costs, live in cheaper housing, even pick up a second job, and donate much more to the effective charities. I could also have more uncomfortable conversations with those around me about how and why they should be doing more. It’s easy to write this blog post, but it’s harder to say it face to face.
So why don’t I do these things?
I don’t believe that it is “not my problem” or that I “worked hard for my money.” I know exactly how to donate and which charities are the most effective. I do not operate unconsciously and I am constantly thinking about the world’s poor. To me, that only leaves some other type of selfishness or naivety. I think I have partially convinced myself that I can have a greater impact on the world by gaining more power and having a multiplier effect. For example, part of my savings are reserved for a possible election campaign. I have convinced myself that I could win public office and make systems level change. But if I’m honest with myself, these actions probably come more from my own personal desires than an expected value equation. Humans seem to be extremely good at lying to ourselves, and I am no exception.
However, even these lies don’t work all the way down. Choosing to get Chipotle for dinner doesn’t increase my chances of changing the world, it just means that I have $10 less to give to a person that needs it. I have written before about the anxiety I feel about the proper amount to give. I have settled on a minimum of 10% of my income a year. But I know I should do more.
There is a part of me that cannot help but see this as a collective action problem, none of us would have to do that much if we all did a little. If the OECD countries used just 5% of their GNP towards foreign aid they would have a collective $6 trillion, enough to provide every person on Earth with a basic income of $770, and completely eliminate absolute poverty. More targeted spending approaches could send even larger lump sums to the poor.
You could then raise the question beyond the individual level and ask, why do nations allow the global poor to suffer? But to ask the question in this manner would allow individuals to punt and escape responsibility. Every OECD nation is some form of a democracy. If the majority of us cared enough to elect leaders pushing for more foreign aid and immigration — then we could end poverty. The burden falls on us.
I guess I didn’t really provide a great answer to the question in the title and I do not have anything conclusive to say. Maybe someday I’ll be able to update this post with some survey data. But for now I’ll just end with a reminder that there are 700 million people (that’s more than twice the population of the US) that do not have the income to meet their most basic human needs. We can each lift a few of them above the line. It’s time to end poverty. | https://medium.com/@ntg5040psu/why-do-we-let-them-suffer-897d0f7d9f48 | ['Nate Golden'] | 2020-12-23 18:21:44.049000+00:00 | ['Poverty', 'Effective Altruism', 'Economics', 'Charity'] |
Hummer EV | The Quiet Revolution is here. Introducing GMC Hummer EV, the world’s first all-electric super truck. Reserve yours now.
Check out more at: https://www.gmc.com/HummerEV | https://medium.com/@atticlive/hummer-ev-7d2ac6ce0096 | [] | 2020-11-24 11:33:38.470000+00:00 | ['Electric Vehicles'] |
DevSecOps — What can we automate? — leave the machine-age thinking behind! | Introduction
Automation has always been a hot topic in almost every industry but, nowadays, it has resurfaced in the software industry due to the attention and significance DevSecOps is gaining.
In this article, I don’t want to praise DevSecOps and its principles, nor do I want to criticise its flaws, but I would like to focus solely on automation and discuss what can and can’t be automated.
On both extremes of the spectrum, there are so-called experts who either (as automation enthusiasts) believe everything can be mechanised, or (as the machine-foes) distrust them completely and think no critical decision must be left to these soulless devices.
Automation enthusiasts are drunk with the power that these efficient automatons have given them, and machine-foes are worried about the socio-cultural impacts of the machines, and if you are wondering, yes these machine-foes exist even in the software development world!
Background
To better understand the viewpoint of the automation enthusiasts (or better said, “maniacs”), we need to go a few centuries back to the renaissance era, when humans, officially, for the first time got the permission to think!
Joyous with the newfound freedom, we started exploring, trying to understand and comprehend the world around us, only to find out the complexities of this world are higher than what we can deal with in its entirety at once.
Intoxicated with the power of thinking, we assumed understanding the universe was an achievable possibility if we broke every concept down to smaller ones following our childhood intuition and, aggregate our understandings of the parts to an understanding of the whole. As a result, we invented science — partly, the crusade to find the indivisible parts called the elements.
We even broke down the relationships between phenomena to the most elementary one called “cause and effect”. “Cause” is necessary and sufficient for “effect”. The “cause” itself is an “effect” of another “cause”, and we went up until we reached the cause of all effects — which we named “God”.
For many years, causal thinking and the determinism emitted from it was the only scientific way of thinking, and it had generated a lot of achievements for science and humanity. Its success was to the extent that Newton called the world a “Hermetically sealed clock”. A deterministic machine that can be understood and explained fully by causal relationships (universal laws!), ignoring the concept of the environment completely. This was machine-age thinking.
Machine-age thinking eventually led humanity to the industrial revolution. When we thought, like our God, we need to build machines to do our work. We created factory lines and manufacturing processes and wherever we didn’t have the required technology or labour was cheaper than machines, we replaced machines with people! Therefore, in organisations, for many years, people were either advanced or cheap, easily replaceable machines.
Modern age findings have shown us that mechanistic thinking has been very limiting. We have learnt to question the understandability of the universe. We now know that causal relationships are not the only type of relationship possible, and universal laws do not exist. We also found a phenomenon called “a system” — that broke the back of the reductionist machine-age thinking and has led us into a new, more comprehensive thinking model called “systems thinking”.
A system’s defining properties are the ones that cannot be attributed to a single part, but they emerge from the interaction of different parts. They are the “product” of the interaction of the parts. These properties cannot be measured directly but through their manifestations.
Understanding a system also relies heavily on understanding the environment in which it operates and its defining properties.
Systems can be classified into the following types:
“ state-maintaining systems ”: These systems react to change to maintain state. These systems usually have no learning or improvements, and their means and ends are externally defined for them.
”: These systems react to change to maintain state. These systems usually have no learning or improvements, and their means and ends are externally defined for them. “ goal-seeking systems ”: These systems respond differently to different events in the same or different environments until they produce a particular outcome (state). It means they have the choice of different means, but the ends are defined external to the system.
”: These systems respond differently to different events in the same or different environments until they produce a particular outcome (state). It means they have the choice of different means, but the ends are defined external to the system. “purposeful systems”: Not only can these systems produce the same outcomes in different ways in the same environment, but also different outcomes in both the same and different environments.
It can be seen that mechanistic thinking was a special case of systems thinking, and machines were only one type of systems when causality was considered the only type of relationship, and the environment didn’t matter; therefore, determinism ruled.
“Machine” is a system that has no purpose of its own. It has a function which is to serve the purposes of something external to it. So machines are either state-maintaining or goal-seeking systems.
Automation — or not!
Now we have all the required conceptual foundations to try to answer our question once again. What can be automated?
Automation means replacing with a machine, and a machine is at best a goal-seeking system which means it can improve efficiency but not efficacy.
Suppose you are sure you are doing the right thing. In that case, a machine can help you do it more efficiently as it does not have some of the limitations of humans (e.g. it does not get tired easily, it does not need to go to the restroom as often and…). Still, if you are doing the wrong thing, it can enable you also to do it more efficiently and drives you off the cliff more rapidly. Russell Ackoff has a quote which says “The righter you do the wrong thing the wronger you become.”
Now, going back to DevSecOps, one thing is clear; the efforts that are about “doing the right things” or “efficacy” cannot be automated. Purposeful systems with free-will (human beings!) are needed to decide what is the right thing to do. The more you invest in your automated pipelines (the more you invest in “efficiency”), the more you must invest in “efficacy” or making sure you are “doing the right thing”, from business and solution decisions to technical designs.
It would be best if you also remembered, “the right thing” for a purposeful system is constantly changing due to the constant change in both the environment, its internal state and its interactions with the other systems (purposeful or not), and the machine (the automated pipeline) must be flexible enough to be able to cater for this constant changes in the external goal to which it must adapt.
There is another angle to the story of automation, and that is automated testing for assurance (e.g. security, resilience, etc.).
As was mentioned previously, defining properties of the system such as security and resilience are called type II properties of the system, and as they cannot be measured directly, they can also not be tested directly. This means we can only test the existence of some of their manifestations. Automating these tests obviously increases the efficiency of checking the existence of these indicators or manifestations, and can give the experts some invaluable insights, but relying too much on the results of these tests has two major drawbacks:
These manifestations can be faked. It means all systems that have these “properties” exhibit these “manifestations” but not all systems that exhibit these manifestations have these properties necessarily. These manifestations are very context (environment) sensitive. Something that was a good indicator of a specific type II property of the system might no longer be a correct sign when the environment in which the system operates changes gradually.
As an example, for the first point, a secure system in a specific domain will pass all the regulatory security requirements. But, all systems that pass the regulatory security requirements are not necessarily secure.
As an example, for the second point, a specific key length for a specific cryptography algorithm used in a system might be tested as one of the criteria showing security of the system. The key length is very context-sensitive. A key length that was once considered secure can no longer be considered a correct metric for testing security as the processing powers increases, or flaws in the crypto-algorithms are identified. So what we test against must be constantly updated according to the constant changes in the environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we must embrace the new thinking tools that we have been provided and leave the mechanistic thinking behind. Everything cannot be automated, and automation is not the devil’s work. We must automate to increase efficiency and invest in skilled expert people to increase efficacy.
Machines have not been invented to do our jobs. They have been invented to free us from the mundane, inhuman tasks so that we can focus on what we are the only known race capable of doing. Thinking, innovating and creating purpose and meaning. | https://medium.com/nationwide-technology/devsecops-what-can-we-automate-leave-the-machine-age-thinking-behind-18ca420037f3 | ['Matin Mavaddat'] | 2020-11-25 08:14:29.172000+00:00 | ['Systems Thinking', 'Devsecops', 'Software Engineering', 'Automation', 'Automated Testing'] |
The Nature of Frustrated Teachers According to Experts | The Nature of Frustrated Teachers According to Experts
Photo by Mikael Kristenson on Unsplash
In many countries the teaching profession is highly respected. However, from the teacher’s own point of view, people in this profession are not free from the shackles of problems, because they face various challenges. Based on the results of a survey conducted by Harris Interactive (2006), some of the problems faced by frustrated teachers are presented below.
First, teachers who saw that there was not enough time to plan lessons by 65 percent.
Second, 2 out of 3 teachers stated that the salary was not in accordance with the workload as much as 64 percent.
Third, teachers who view helping students individually as a heavy hand are as much as 60 percent.
Fourth, teachers who perceive that professional prestige are still far from expectations are 37 percent.
Fifth, teachers who view the implementation of learning in class as a heavy challenge are 34 percent.
This means that there are still teachers who have not really carried out their professional duties in a pleasant atmosphere. This can invite frustration among students. As contained in the site http://www.gladlywoulditeach.com . In an online discussion forum for English classrooms, it is revealed teacher characteristics that cause frustration to students. The following shows the characteristics of teachers that cause students to be frustrated by their poor performance when carrying out the learning process.
Negative views of their teaching activities or work. Students repeatedly convey the idea that teachers who hate their jobs should find other jobs. Busy work and lack of varieties in class activities. Students feel distracted by assignments that do not build new skills or knowledge for them. Students are irritated by teachers who belittle, insult or belittle them. Instead of supporting them, students felt that some teachers treated them in a condescending manner Lack of knowledge. Teachers who teach directly from books elicit student frustration because they are often unable to answer questions in more detail than what is given in the textbook, nor do they relate subject matter to the real world or outside the textbook examples. Doesn’t know much about the students. According to students, some teachers make little effort to get to know their students, know little about what students do outside of the classroom, and only a small proportion of teachers make the effort to learn and identify the names of their students. Reluctance to answer student questions. In some classes students interrupt to ask a question. According to students, some teachers underestimated them. Some teachers stated that the students could actually answer the question themselves. Some other students stated that the teacher could not answer the questions clearly. This appears to be a side cause of two other frustrations: teacher arrogance and / or lack of teacher knowledge. Students report that some teachers do not care about their students, their classes, or classroom activities. Students very quickly determine that if the teacher doesn’t care about the learning process in the classroom, they shouldn’t care about the teacher either.
In addition, some students stated that their teachers did not recognize good work ethics. Some of the teachers only make a few marks on the work paper, so that students do not know what improvements to make.
The attitude of some frustrated teacher traits that show favoritism also raises frustrated teacher traits in students.
Although students had no difficulty explaining the characteristics of their frustrated teachers, it turned out that almost all students began their reports expressing respect for the teacher and underlining that most of their teachers were well prepared, caring, knowledgeable, and often inspirational.
If you liked this piece why not check out some of my other pieces here. | https://medium.com/@everythingcj/the-nature-of-frustrated-teachers-according-to-experts-1b4a7ba02f5b | ['Everything Cj'] | 2021-02-07 14:11:10.372000+00:00 | ['Teaching', 'Teaching And Learning', 'Life', 'Teachers', 'Frustration'] |
Three Ways to Avoid Burnout | Three Ways to Avoid Burnout
3 Simple Tips and Hacks to Help you to Avoid Burnout
Burnout is something we all face, but it isn’t something we all have to face in life. Like any other issue in life a little bit of educaiton can go a long way. Mastering many different tips, tricks, and life hacks can help you avoid the sensation of being burnt-out. That being said, here are three more tips on how you can start to work towards destroying the feeling of being burnt out.
Don’t say yes. It doesn’t matter if you’re a stay at hone mom/dad or the CEO of a major company you have to stop saying yes to everything. No I can’t bake the bake sale cookies and drive carpool every week, no, the meeting with the board every twenty minutes is just not going to happen. Burnout happens all the time because we continue to fill are already filled plates, you need to learn to say “NO.” At first people will be shocked, but after a while they know that you aren’t doing 1,999 tasks a day for them. This doesn’t mean help nobody, but don’t say YES to everybody. This is MY TIME. You know why you’re burned out, it’s because you think that you need to do everything for everyone and then do things for yourself. CEO, parent, friend, or all three you need to block time for yourself. For example from 1–2 is lunch, maybe you want this to be your watch TV, not talk to anyone time. Maybe you want to block out less than an hour to get things done for yourself. You can take 15 minutes to read, listen to something, or take a bath. No matter what it is start setting time for yourself before you set time for everyone else. Just like an important meeting never miss your time. Unreasonable Standards. You don’t have to be Captain America or Super Mom. Yes it is nice, but at the end of the day it is unsustainable. You can’t do everything, can’t be perfect at everything, and don’t need to accomplished huge feats everyday. Understand this or you’ll never avoid burnout, and you’ll always feel down. I’m not saying don’t try to do things or be great, but don’t try to do the impossible and hold yourself to standards you wouldn’t hold other people to.
Overall avoiding burnout is not hard if you have the right mindset. These three mind tricks will help you to avoid burnout and live a much better life. Burnout does not have to be a constant in your life, I can honestly say I never feel burned out, and I do a lot of things. | https://medium.com/thrive-global/three-ways-to-avoid-burnout-9df4bc6aa3eb | ['Saliba Faddoul'] | 2019-04-02 21:32:43.682000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Stress', 'Productivity', 'Wellbeing', 'Wellness'] |
Y2k CTF 1.0 Walk-through| Part-2 | hey guys, hope you all are good.
here is the part 2 of Y2k CTF 1.0 walk-through Crypto and Misc. To read the first part click.
So in this Part, we gonna cover Cryptography and Miscellaneous challenges.
Let’s start with Crypto first
1. Crypto
This part was quite complex but easy at the same time as well, you just need to focus on the details.
i). Mad or What?
points:50
We just gave a hypothetical scenario of a random guy just as to make the challenge fun.There were 2 files one is a zip file and the second one is a text file.
So after downloading the files, the text file contains some gibberish value that looks like a hash, second file which was a zip file contains another password protected text file.
So take that hash use any hash detection method to find the type of hash. It was MD5( https://www.tunnelsup.com/hash-analyzer/ ).
Break it and you will get “ils”. use this password to extract the file from the zip.
You will get a string of data that makes no sense, nothing sort of encryption.
Think hard!! or should I say think smart?
Yup, read the description again, it says “his methods spins my mind”. Here spins make a reference to rotation cipher.
so let’s try the standard rotation algorithm i.e ROT 13. ROT13 the string gives
Many participants tried to submit the string as it is but we tweaked it a bit.
You just need to put “_” between every word as it was standard flag format.
flag: F_IBM{i_Am_iRritatinG}
ii). Freaky friend
points: 100
It is the hardest challenge nobody was able to crack it. The challenge had a description and a zip file to download.
After extracting the zip you got 2 files one was having a hash and the second file was just a .dat file having no other information and not even password protected.
Again repeat the same process and detect the hash. Again it was MD5 but many online MD5 crackers failed.
So you cracked the hash, so what next. what you will with that cracked hashed.
You can’t use that as flag because it is not flag.
No password on another file so what is the use of that cracked hash and what do to with .dat file.
So a quick google search will tell you that .dat files are generic files that they store data to the specific application. So let’s try to understand how to get the solution. First thing first we are dealing with some sort of cryptography so some sort of encryption.
The description says that the “He sent you some files” that means the whole encryption is done on the file.
Let’s try to use the first encryption for a file we use the first one which was ECB cipher.
there you go!!
flag: F_IBM{w0rld_15_n07_r34l}
Miscellaneous
i). Thunder
points:40
So you got a brief description and a link. On the landing page, you got an image and “a line form Thor movie”.
Download image and working to get info from the image is not possible, so let’s try to do the basics all over again.
Check the source code.
There is something weird, dashes and dots.
It is weird to have these symbols without any purpose.
These dashes and dots are nothing but Morse code.
So head towards the online conversion of Morse code to text. convert the Morse code to text and you got a string. Put it in the standard format and you will get your flag.
Bit easy!! right.
flag: F_IBM{GITHUBy2k1337}
ii) jss fckkkk offff
points:100
Bit weird name, OK so this challenge has just normal description and a link. After getting to the page you see some data and a picture.
So let’s start with the basics source code inspection nothing there, we have an image let’s download it and analyze it. | https://medium.com/@kanchansinghyadav/y2k-ctf-1-0-walk-through-part-2-fd6023d9b223 | ['Kanchan Singh Yadav'] | 2021-02-06 17:00:07.620000+00:00 | ['Miscellaneous', 'Ctf', 'Security', 'Cryptography', 'Ctf Walkthrough'] |
<Sub/Tweet> The Opportunity of NFL + Amazon | After a deal between the NFL and Amazon was announced in early April, details have begun to surface regarding the price for brands to get in front of Prime audiences for Thursday Night Football this coming season. According to Reuters, the eCommerce giant is looking to charge advertisers $2.8 million for packages that include 10–30-second spots.
This package deal reportedly includes a license for brands to advertise on Amazon site-wide throughout the duration of the NFL season.
Why It Matters:
Will the streaming deal between the NFL and Amazon be credited with a dramatic growth of Prime subscribers? Probably not. However, those who choose to view games on Amazon instead of on network TV present a significant opportunity for advertisers.
Amazon Prime viewers are consumers who have been proven to be partial towards shopping online. They’re paying an annual fee to enjoy the convenience and perks that come along with being a Prime member. What’s even more telling is the fact that these users (soon-to-be viewers) are more likely to purchase products on Amazon than non-members. They also tend to spend more on the site.
As a advertisers can go to viewers with more-direct asks. It means that they can include (TBD) buttons and/or links to products that may interest the viewer, similar to Google’s YouTube overlay ads. All is possible because Prime members won’t see these advertisements as hassles, but rather an extension of the experience they expect from Amazon.
Committing $2.8 million to the Amazon/NFL season buy would signal a few things for brands. First, that they have the budget to focus on the “wow factor”. Second, that they are letting profit take a backseat as a goal for this campaign, at least for the time being. Brands that opt-in will be looking to get in on the ground floor advertising to Amazon Prime audiences and to experiment with what ad types and strategies work best to get users to convert.
Here’s why spending the $2.8 million could be worth it:
The likelihood that a viewer from the Prime audience would convert and purchase is significantly higher than that of your average network viewer. Making your brand/product familiar to this group wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Timeline:
The deal between Amazon and the National Football league was reached on April 5th. There will hopefully be an update on how many advertisers have signed up for the contact in the coming months before the beginning of the NFL season.
Relevant Links:
Exclusive — Amazon to charge $2.8 million for NFL ad packages
NFL, Amazon Prime announce ‘TNF’ streaming deal
These numbers explain why Amazon wants to give so much free stuff to Prime members
Sixty-Four Percent Of U.S. Households Have Amazon Prime
Amazon Plans Ads Packages For NFL Games; Google Will Stop Scanning Emails For Ad Targeting Data
YouTube advertising formats | https://medium.com/the-subtweet/the-subtweet-the-opportunity-of-nfl-amazon-e8c2fb8bacc2 | ['Joey Vara'] | 2017-10-03 15:30:35.381000+00:00 | ['NFL', 'Amazon Prime', 'Advertising', 'Digital Marketing', 'Amazon'] |
Dependency injection in Android using Hilt | Let’s first break the term to understand what is Dependency Injection
Dependency
Say we have a Car class:
Car.java class
Here our class Car needs the object of the Engine and Wheel class to work.
When a class is dependent on other classes ( Car class needs Engine class and Wheel class), the required classes are called dependencies.
Why dependency is a problem?
Every time we need a Car object, we have to create an Engine and Wheel class too. For a small project it wouldn’t matter, but as the number of required Car objects increases, you would have to create the same amount of Engine and Wheel objects too. So, say for 1000 Car objects you would have to create 1000 Engine and Wheel objects too.
Injection
To solve this problem, we use a library — Hilt. What this does is, it injects (or provides ) the other required class objects, Engine and Wheel in our case, to our Car class.
Advantages of implementing dependency injection:
Re-usability of code
Ease of refactoring
Ease of testing
What is Hilt?
Hilt is a dependency injection library for Android that reduces the boilerplate of doing manual dependency injection in your project. Doing manual dependency injection requires you to construct every class and its dependencies by hand, and to use containers to reuse and manage dependencies.
Understanding how to use Hilt in a demo project
Step 1: Adding dependencies
First, add the hilt-android-gradle-plugin plugin to your project’s root build.gradle file:
Project level build.gradle
Then, apply the Gradle plugin and add these dependencies in your app/build.gradle file:
( Hilt uses Java 8 features. To enable Java 8 in your project, add the following to compileOptions )
App level build.gradle
Step 2: Creating Application class
All apps that use Hilt must contain an Application class that is annotated with @HiltAndroidApp. The @HiltAndroidApp annotation makes this class a container for all the dependencies of our application.
Let’s create our Application class:
BaseApplication.kt
Step 3: Creating Car (dependency) class
Car.kt
The @Inject annotation helps in passing the dependency required by MainActivity.kt which is stored in the container (i.e. BaseApplication for us)
Step 4: Using the dependency in MainActivity.kt
MainActivity.kt
Did you notice that we did not manually create the car object ( car = Car() ) ?
The @Inject annotation helps in passing the dependency required by MainActivity.kt which is stored in the container (i.e. BaseApplication for us)
The @AndroidEntryPoint annotation allows the class to use every dependency stored in the container (i.e. BaseApplication for us)
The @Inject annotation helps passing the dependency class, had it not been this, we have to manually create object (i.e. car=Car())
Running the App we get this message in Logcat:
car: Car is running
What is Field Injection?
Certain Android framework classes such as activities and fragments are instantiated by the system. In this case, we use field injection, where dependencies are instantiated after the class is created.
Is there any other type?
Yes, Constructor Injection, where you pass the dependencies of a class to its constructor.
To understand Constructor Injection let’s modify our code a bit.
Let’s create 2 other classes, Engine and Wheel that would be required by the Car
Wheel.kt
Wheel.kt
Engine.kt
Engine.kt
If you forgot, the @Inject annotation helps in passing the dependency classes.
Now, let’s modify our Car.kt class so it uses Engine and Wheel.
Car.kt
Now we use the dependency in MainActivity.kt
MainActivity.kt
Here, we did not have to pass any arguments ( Engine and Wheel object ) to the Car class object. This is known as constructor injection
Running the App we get this message in Logcat:
engine: Engine started wheel: Wheel is rotating car: Car is running
Start using Hilt
If you’re intrigued by Hilt and want to learn more about it, here’s some resources for you to learn:
Documentation: [Click here]
Sample project: [Github link]
Codelabs: [Click here]
HILT Cheatsheet: [Click here]
For more updates, follow: @shashi-kant10
Article by : Shashi Kant | https://medium.com/dependency-injection-in-android-using-kotlin/dependency-injection-in-android-using-kotlin-eb25e435c8ad | ['Shashi Kant'] | 2020-12-29 14:34:36.007000+00:00 | ['Dependency Injection', 'Android', 'Kotlin', 'Dagger Hilt'] |
Magnified | Photo by Noelle Otto from Pexels
Perhaps missing you is easier than missing her now
You’re accessible
And tangible
And somewhere to be found
She’s gone from here
So searching wouldn’t do any good
So instead I’ll attach to you
More value than I probably should
My feelings for you are still real
They’re just magnified
By the other feelings of abandonment that I try to hide
And when I admit them I feel like it seems so cliche
Past trauma doesn’t excuse behaviour today
Yet here I am so triggered that I could fucking scream
Part of me wants to stay composed
And the other wants to cause a scene
A piece of me is broken
But don’t worry, another part of me is tough
So rough around the edges, but I’m afraid its not enough
I want to heal all of the open wounds
But I’ll keep all of the lessons
Perhaps the turbulence is how the universe
Reminds us that we are sentient | https://medium.com/@spoonful-of-stardust/magnified-8c962e3788c0 | ['Spoonful Of Stardust'] | 2020-12-11 15:00:31.608000+00:00 | ['Loss', 'Poetry', 'Love', 'Vulnerability', 'Love Letters'] |
Thoughts On New Year’s Resolutions | A new year is a new chapter for many people. We wait very eagerly for the next year to come, hoping that it will bring new and exciting possibilities. We can call that a “New year, new me” mindset. But think about it, what it is that actually changes? Why do you hope that something will be different because the earth completed its next usual circle around the sun?
Do you want to know the secret behind being successful and accomplishing all your new year’s resolutions? Okay, here it is:
There are no secrets, and nothing changes, except for the motivation to change something, and it lasts for a couple of days or couple of weeks at most.
Isn’t that what’s really happening? Just think of the past new years when you set some resolutions, did the changes that you were trying to make actually stick?
What I’m trying to explain here is that you should be living with this mindset not only on some special parts of the year but literally every day of the year. If you want to make changes in your life that matter and grow you, you should be living from the above-mentioned mindset every day.
Just think about it, why are you motivated to change something right now, and not in the middle of summer, or at the end of fall, or at the beginning of spring? Why now?
I want you to realize that the motivation that you feel right now is not grounded in anything real and will fade away very quickly. You can’t be depended on motivation when you want to change something.
Do you know what is the difference between amazing visionary people and ordinary mediocre people?
Vision and discipline, not motivation.
Vision is the thing that sources motivation. If you don’t envision your future clearly, and if you don’t fully buy into your vision, you’re almost guaranteed to fail.
Discipline is the ability to do the things that you know you should be doing, even though you don’t want to. It’s is the key to real-life changes. If you can’t do it, it’s almost impossible to make dramatic shifts in the way you live, because the tendency of your system to stay the same way it’s always been is just too strong.
“If Resistance couldn’t be beaten, there would be no Fifth Symphony, no Romeo and Juliet, no Golden Gate Bridge.” — Steven Pressfield
Your mind and your body will do everything to not achieve the goals and plans that you set yourself for the new year. If it was that easy, the levels of consciousness and ways of living would be much better in society then it is today.
Progress is slow (from a human perspective) because everything around you wants to be the same, including you of course. It’s good and bad news at the same time, because that tendency keeps you alive, but also keeps you stuck in life. And if you want to help yourself, you will have to go through the battle with your mind and body, to “Tame the Gremlin”, as Richard Carson would say in his book called, yeah you guessed it right, “Taming Your Gremlin”.
“I free myself not by trying to be free, but by simply noticing how I am imprisoning myself in the very moment I am imprisoning myself” ― Rick Carson
So again, I will tell you as directly as I can:
If you want to achieve something in 2021 that you were not able to achieve in 2020 (or whenever you read this, doesn’t matter), you probably won’t, if you don’t change your strategy.
You have to consider the power of your mind’s resistance. And you have to think about the fact that you don’t really want to change. And I mean it seriously, deep down, you don’t want to change, because you are afraid of change.
After all the negative things I said, let’s talk about some good news.
And the good news is that you can accomplish much more than you think even in a single year. But also, the following quote has some truth to it:
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” — Bill Gates
You just have to do the following, very briefly:
Figure out who you are right now
Figure out what you want to be
Figure out the skills and traits you need to become that version of yourself
Figure out how to develop those
Work on their development every day
Just forget about motivation, cultivate discipline and struggle through bad days and emotional roller-coasters that are inevitable
Learn about your mind and it’s resistance patterns. For that, you have to cultivate observation practices such as meditation, contemplation, journaling, etc.
Visualize your envisioned self every day, review your goals every day, reflect on your progress every day, for the whole year.
Go through the process of trial and error, get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable and confused, surrender to the fact that you have to go through emotional labor to change anything worthwhile.
On your worst days, when you truly want to quit, remember that it won’t always be this way, because nothing stays the same.
Try to enjoy the process, have a positive attitude, and be grateful towards yourself that you are taking responsibility for your life.
“Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance” — Steven Pressfield
That’s basically how I see it. Do you want to truly change something in your life next year? Just remember the points I listed above and do them. Yeah, that’s hard work, but remember, we are trying to go against the behavioral patterns that are deeply rooted in us, that don’t allow us to be the best possible versions of ourselves. It’s a feature, not a bug. You have to be smart and approach the problem of accomplishing your goals strategically, because if you don’t, you might as well don’t set any goals and just go with the flow, and nothing’s wrong with that.
If you want to know why it’s hard to change, I recommend reading an article I wrote a couple of months ago, called The Truth About Truly Changing Yourself.
In the end, try to enjoy the process of trying to become a better human being in any way possible. Because in the end, it all comes down to enjoyment and being okay with whatever you have or whoever you are.
“If you are aware of telling yourself you should change, your gremlin has got you buffaloed. Should, ought, and must are gremlin terms that dampen the spirit of experimentation. Instead, simply change for a change. Play around. As you become aware of an outdated concept or an old habitual behavior, consider playing with changing the behavior.” — Richard Carson
So, accept the way you are right now, be okay with it and then get out of your cushy little comfort zone and get to work. | https://medium.com/@bazera/thoughts-on-new-years-resolutions-7785f76e0638 | ['Giorgi Bazerashvili'] | 2020-12-27 00:12:46.708000+00:00 | ['New Year', 'New Year Resolution', 'Motivation', 'Discipline', 'Personal Development'] |
Coefficient of Determination (R²) | Contents
01 — TSS (Total Sum of Squares)
02 — RSS (Residual Sum of Squares)
03 — Coefficient of Determination R2
04 — R2 in practice with Scikit-Learn
Another R2 common formula
01 — TSS (Total Sum of Squares)
Well, before catching the Coefficient of Determination R², you know what is this? Not? Okay, let’s go for a brief explanation…
Suppose we created a plot with some data to see the relationship between a houses prices and its sizes, it looked something like this (and not very pretty):
If you pay attention you will see that our plot has an increasing variation, that is:
As the price increases, the size also increases — vice versa.
Now suppose I want to create a model that uses a line to represent this data, so that if I enter a new price it will try to find out (predict) how big the house is.
NOTE:
The first idea we are going to have is to average the sizes and draw a line. Suppose the line looks like this:
Well, this line does not represent that model very well. If you pay attention you will see that we have a lot of error. How could we calculate the error of this model?
1st — Just take each value (points on the plot);
Just take each value (points on the plot); 2nd — Calculate the distance to my line:
- You will square each point;
- And then add to the next point.
In the plot the distances from the points to the line you can see like this:
NOTE:
This is what we know as the TSS (Total Sum of Squares).
Formula:
NOTE:
Actually what we did above was to take the variance out of our data.
02 — RSS (Residual Sum of Squares)
Continuing… Now suppose I created a new model, but with a line that seems to align better with this data, see below:
NOTE:
OK, just looking at it, you can see that this line represents this data much better than just averaging the errors of all the data. In the end it looks like it is growing at the same rate as this data is growing.
But, how can I prove that this second straight is really better than the other? Well, just calculate each of these distances between our data and the green line (new line):
NOTE:
This is what we know as the RSS (Residual Sum of Squares).
Okay, if we calculate the data we will see that my RSS is less than the TSS. That is, my RSS is better adjusted.
Formula:
03 — Coefficient of Determination R²
NOTE:
But how do I know how much better my RSS is compared to TSS?
That is, how much better is it compared to the average?
So, this is where our dear R² comes in… R² is nothing more than my TSS minus RSS divided by TSS:
But what does this formula actually mean in practice?
Numerator: Well, in the numerator we see how well my RSS model is in relation to TSS ;
Well, in the numerator we see how well my model is in relation to ; Denominator: When we divide by TSS we are normalizing, that is, we are bringing this value to a scale that is between 0 and 1.
But why normalize between 0 and 1?
OK, let’s see… Suppose we created a very bad Machine Learning model that created a line that was equal to the TSS, more or less this:
NOTE:
Well, my RSS will be equal to my TSS, so my R² will be 0:
Now let’s imagine another scenario (it’s just an example) where my data is distributed in a way where my Machine Learning model goes through exactly all the data, that is, there was no error:
So, as our RSS had no errors, what will our R² be now?
Great, but what does our R² tell us?
The higher (closer to 1) the R² , the better my scenario will be;
the , the my scenario will be; The lower (closer to 0) the R², the worse my supporter will be.
But how could we interpret our R²? For example:
I created a Machine Learning model that generated the R2 of 0.87.
What does that mean?
It means that my Machine Learning model is 87% better than just taking the average of the values.
Another interpretation approach is to say that my model explains 87% of the data variance. As well?
Remember that the calculation of the TSS is the calculation of the variance of our dataset :
- That is, the total result of the variance.
is the calculation of the : - That is, the total result of the variance. While my RSS shows how much of this variance has been explained:
- If my R² was 1 it would mean that 100% of the variance would have been explained — 1 error on the line.
04 — R² in practice with Scikit-Learn
Okay, but how do I program this witchcraft all there? Simple, see the code below:
OUTPUT:
Coefficient of Determination: R^2: 0.9158177316382643
Great, we took our R² which was 0.91, that is, we explain 91% of our data set. Now let’s see what part of the code did this and what was the logic:
First we create a model with the training data:
model.fit(x_train, y_train)
And then just with the testing data we get R² with the score() method:
# Coefficient of Determination: R^2 / R-Squared.
r2 = model.score(x_test, y_test)
Another R² common formula
NOTE:
Another common formula for finding R² is as follows: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/coefficient-of-determination-r%C2%B2-a337b8d3e9e7 | ['Rodrigo Leite'] | 2020-12-13 16:32:47.988000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Scikit Learn', 'Machine Learning'] |
How to Deploy Keras Models to Production (Beginners Welcome!) | Photo by Taylor Vick on Unsplash
Lessons Learned in Deploying Neural Networks
Let me begin by saying I have a really exciting job — but this blog is not going to be about the exciting parts.
I want to speak to you about the problems you may face in deploying models implemented in Keras, the popular open source framework for deep learning. This is something many engineers (like myself) have struggled with, and you may spend hours trying to figure this out if you’re on your own. My objective though is to make sure you don’t need to do that, and that you’ll come away from this blog with 3 Learning Outcomes:
Implement RESTful APIs in warp speed for your Deep Learning model using the Flask-RESTPlus framework Use the AWS SDK for Python, to Provide Cloud-Stored Data to the API Parse the JSON Responses from the API, so you can use it in your app!
The good news is if I do my job right, you’ll see by the end that it’s actually very approachable.
Lesson #1: Separate Concerns Between Machine Learning, and The HTTP Routes
As you read this, I assume a few things about your deep learning project:
You already have a trained model, and have saved it. NOTE: the examples in this blog will use a Hadoop (.h5) and JSON (.json) file, so please keep that in mind if you are using a different format. You are deploying the model to a web server. Unfortunately I cannot promise that these concepts will carry over to mobile or IoT devices (see TFLite), or the browser (see Tensorflow.js).
If both those statements apply to you though, then I can sum up this lesson in 4 seconds:
Let Someone Else Worry About the Model
That can seem confusing at first, however this lesson is really just about the fundamentals — have a dedicated API endpoint for running inference, and I promise the deployment process becomes a lot simpler.
Example: Building a RESTful API with Flask-RESTPlus
As you may know, the simplest way you can load your saved models in Keras to use on a web server is by simply providing the relative file paths on your local machine[1].
For example, let’s take a look at Plant Vision, a RESTful API I built using Flask-RESTPlus. The code for the repository is linked here, and it already comes with a saved model (to use for image classification) so feel free to play around with it as you wish.
For context, this API allows users to upload images of plant leaves, and the model (a convolutional neural network) identifies them as healthy or not.
We start by importing the packages we need to program a web server in Flask, build a RESTful API with Flask-RESTPlus, and to process our image data using Keras with a Tensorflow backend:
# Prevent ImportErrors w/ flask
import werkzeug
werkzeug.cached_property = werkzeug.utils.cached_property
from werkzeug.datastructures import FileStorage
# ML/Data processing
import tensorflow.keras as keras
# RESTful API packages
from flask_restplus import Api, Resource
from flask import Flask
# Local utility Functions
from util import leaf
2. We’ll need to initialize an app variable for Flask of course:
app = Flask(__name__)
3. The next step is to build the API, and this is where the usefulness of Flask-RESTPlus shows. In this next snippet, we’ll instantiate an API object, and give it a namespace — you’ll see what I mean below:
api = Api(app, version="1.0", title="PlantNet API",
description="Identifying Leaf Disease via Deep Learning") ns = api.namespace("Diagnosis", description="Represents the health states of a leaf understood by the AI."
)
You can run the Flask server in development now, using the following command (this is specific to the repo linked above):
export FLASK_ENV=development; export FLASK_APP=application; flask run
And see we already have something to show users!
Auto-generated UI for a Flask-RESTPlus API
Look back up at the previous code snippet — notice any similarities between the keyword arguments we provided, and the text that appears on the screenshot above?
Normally in Flask we would need to make separate HTML templates to display a UI to users.
But because you’re a smartypants, you now know that by using Flask-RESTPlus, we can auto-generate a UI just based on the keyword arguments we provided to the Api and api.namespace constructors!
the version you provide Api becomes that little number 1 ;
you provide becomes that little number ; the title you provided as well becomes the header of the template;
you provided as well becomes the header of the template; and the argument provided for description subtitles the page
But wait a second —what does it mean by “No operations defined in spec”? And how come it looks like nothing from the namespace appears on the template?
This gets us into the next step: the purpose of the namespaces in Flask-RESTPlus is to group your API routes together.
So until we actually have added a route for our model to classify images, there’s really isn’t a need for anything else on the UI (because we haven’t really built the API yet).
3. Let’s fix that now —let’s create a route that uses the model to infer the health of user-uploaded leaf images. Use the following code snippet to load the deep learning model as a global object, and implement this route:
# Use Flask-RESTPlus argparser to process user-uploaded images
arg_parser = api.parser()
arg_parser.add_argument('image', location='files',
type=FileStorage, required=True) # Model reconstruction - using retrained weights from Inception V3
with open("./plantnet/inceptionModelArchitecture.json") as f:
model = keras.models.model_from_json(f.read())
model.load_weights("./plantnet/inception_model_weights.h5") # Add the route to run inference
@ns.route("/prediction")
class CNNPrediction(Resource):
"""Takes in the image, to pass to the CNN"""
@api.doc(parser=arg_parser,
description="Let the AI predict if a leaf is healthy.")
def post(self):
# A: get the image
image = leaf.get_image(arg_parser)
# B: preprocess the image
final_image = leaf.preprocess_image(image)
# C: make the prediction
prediction = leaf.predict_leaf_health(model, final_image)
# return the classification
return prediction
If you want to go into more detail on how the model actually preprocesses images and predicts on them, take a detour to the utility functions in the repository.
Now when you reload the tab where you’re viewing the auto-generated UI, you should now see the API namespace show up:
Once we have added routes, the namespace that groups them shows up as well.
In fact you can even drop down the namespace to reveal a debugger, so you can test out the route we’ve created (using the sample image in the repo for example), and check to make sure it works like you’d expect:
Again, let’s emphasize that this route’s only purpose is to provide a label for one image of a leaf — nothing more, nothing less. A sample input image may look like the following:
And the output is a JSON string such as the following:
{
"label": "Grape_Black rot",
"confidence": 0.4162355065345764
}
Key Takeaways
In this example, we’ve seen that can reduce the complexity of deploying deep learning models to the web, by encapsulating all the data processing into a API endpoint (and do it quickly with a framework like Flask-RESTPlus).
The Next Steps
For now, let’s move beyond the debugging UI— the real magic comes in using the API endpoint we’ve created in the backend of other web apps we may have. So let’s take a look at that now, and see how easy it becomes to use deep learning in your own projects!
“Inside every large program is a small program struggling to get out.”
― Tony Hoare, 1980 ACM Turing Award Recipient
Lesson #2: Don’t Let Cloud Storage Stop You
Truthfully speaking, you’ve already done a huge chunk of the work my friend. There’s just a few things left that can trip us up in using our API — like, how are you supposed to send images programmatically in an HTTP request?
Again, this example has a few assumptions:
If your app stores the images in the cloud (specifically, in an AWS S3 bucket that has programmatic access)[3]. Your app’s backend is written in Python.
If those assumptions do apply, then this next example is just for you!
Example: Accessing S3 Objects Using boto3
Let’s say we have a web app for botanists who want to upload leaf images of the plants they study. We want our app to use the Plant Vision API described above, to let them know if the leaves are healthy.
We can use boto3 , the AWS SDK for Python, to get images stored from our S3 bucket (more generally known as S3 “objects”) into our program.
For starters, let’s make a .env in the repository of our other app, and add the AWS credentials we need to access the S3 bucket:
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<your_access_key>
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<your_secret_key>
AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME=<name_of_your_bucket>
2. Next, let’s make sure we can use these environment variables in our application. There’s a few ways to do this in Python, for this example we’ll use the python-dotenv package, to be installed via pip:
(env) python3 -m pip install python-dotenv
Then, we can load in our environment variables to our Python module like so:
# Python module
from dotenv import load_dotenv
# Loads in environment variables from a .env file
load_dotenv()
# Examples of Storing AWS information in Python variables
# AWS S3 Variables
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = os.getenv("AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID", "")
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = os.getenv("AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY", "")
AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME = os.getenv("AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME", "")
3. Now, we’re all set to actually access the S3 objects!
We start by initializing the AWS client — this will let us interface with our S3 bucket:
# init AWS client
import boto3
s3 = boto3.resource('s3')
bucket = s3.Bucket(settings.AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME)
4. In order to get the S3 object, we now need it’s key. This step is very tactical — for example, let’s say the bucket has an image stored in it using the following structure:
*** My S3 Bucket File Directory ***
garden-images/
|
|
|---plantA/
|
|
my-plant-img.jpg
Then the key for my-plant-img.jpg would be garden-images/plantA/my-plant-img.jpg .
However, your app’s database might only store the HTTPS address to the image stored in S3, so there’s a ton of extra information that would make boto3 throw an error!
To fix this, we can convert your image’s URL address (which may be using HTTPS) to an object key on S3, by slicing the URL to take only the root directory of the bucket, to the start of the query string:
# get the key to the image on S3, leaving out the rest
ROOT_BUCKET_DIR = "garden-images"
start_path = img_url.find(ROOT_BUCKET_DIR)
end_path = img_url.find("?")
key = img_url[start_path:end_path]
Note that for this work, your img_url should start as a URL address! You will also need to study the file structure of your own S3 bucket, to find the ROOT_BUCKET_DIR you will need.
4. We can now grab the image data stored on S3 with the following:
# get the image data
object = bucket.Object(key)
response = object.get()['Body']
5. With that, you’re now all set to send this image in a HTTP request to the API, by using the requests module:
# convert the image to low-level binary data
img_data = response.read()
img_bytes = bytearray(img_data)
# data needed to make the request
files = {'image': img_bytes}
url = "https://plantvision.herokuapp.com/Diagnosis/prediction"\
# get the predictions from the Plant Vision API
api_response = requests.post(url, files=files)
NOTES:
The files dictionary you make has to be structured for the specific API you’re using. The only reason I used ‘image’ as they key in this dictionary is because that is the argument we passed to arg_parser in the Flask-RESTPlus (see the example in the previous lesson). As a Python programmer, we don’t normally see the bytearray data structure — so what is it, you may ask? It’s essentially what we can use to transfer the image information over the TCP/IP network to our API, as it needs to be low-level bytes[2].
6. Last but not least, we need to make sure we actually use the data! Right now our API returns a dictionary, which goes inside of our response.text .
We probably don’t need all the data in the response variable. Let’s use the json package to parse the response from our API, storing the values that we care about in their own variables for further use:
import json
# parse the response
label = json.loads(response.text)['label']
confidence = json.loads(response.text)['confidence']
Key Takeaways
In this section, we saw how to make requests involving image data to a RESTful API in Python. We overcame the issues of accessing the images in AWS by using boto3 and a little string parsing, and made the HTTP request by using a bytearray in the dictionary we eventually pass to requests.post .
I realize this part has a lot more steps to it, so here’s the link to the code on GitHub for the other app I’m using in the code snippets.
“The cloud is for everyone. The cloud is a democracy.” –Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce
Closing Thoughts
For now, we’ve gotten a response from the deep learning model into our app. However, is this enough to actually provide value to users?
At Carbon0 Games, my team and I believe we can advance how humans think, feel, and act in designing their lives to fight climate change. If deep learning can help us in that mission, that’s great — however it’s not the end of the story.
If you’ve made it this far, I expect you too will try to deploy deep learning as a force for positive change. Build things your users can trust, help more of us get through these unprecedented times— because that’s a job truly worth getting excited about.
References and Further Reading
Please check out some of the following resource if you would like to know more on some of the topics mentioned here:
[1] Kathy Wu, Francois Chollet, “Serialization and saving” (2020), Keras.io.
[2] Jakub Przywóski, “bytearray”, (2015), Python Reference (The Right Way).
[3] Corey Schafer, “Python Django Tutorial: Full-Featured Web App Part 13 — Using AWS S3 for File Uploads” (2019), YouTube.
And lastly, if you want to build more robust production pipelines I’d recommend the Tensorflow Serving documentation. Alternatively, this blog post by an Amazon Data Scientist explains how to use AWS Sagemaker if you want to just run model inference in the cloud. | https://blog.devgenius.io/how-to-deploy-keras-models-to-production-beginners-welcome-1fbfab19d3f6 | ['Zain Raza'] | 2021-05-11 14:21:56.788000+00:00 | ['Keras', 'DevOps', 'Flask', 'AWS', 'Json'] |
Stable Coins and Cryptocurrency | Stable Coins and Cryptocurrency
Looking for stability in an unstable world
We’ve all heard it. Don’t invest in cryptocurrency: it’s not safe; it’s not even real! But, we all know that’s not true. In fact, it was recently announced that many Ivy League schools have invested portions of their endowments into cryptocurrency funds.
Image Credit: blog.goodaudience.com
So what is cryptocurrency? At its very core, cryptocurrency is a decentralized digital cash system. Unintentionally discovered in 2008, Bitcoin (believed to be the first cryptocurrency) was created as a means to prevent “double-spending” in financial transactions. You know — kind of like “floating a check” … I pay you, then, before that money is withdrawn from my bank account, I pay someone else. At the end of the day, I’ve paid two debts with the same pot of funds. Not cool.
Bitcoin founders realized that processing all payments through one centralized place caused not only time delays, but also relied on a single source to validate whether or not funds were actually available. And so began the decentralized system which relies on the consensus of many to validate a transaction. But decentralization also means that cryptocurrencies are not typically “pegged” against another stable asset (think US dollar), and the coin’s value fluctuates… sometimes a lot!
According to Sherman Lee’s recent Forbes article, Explaining Stable Coins, the Holy Grail of Cryptocurrency, in a perfect world, cryptocurrency would have four key attributes: price stability, scalability, privacy and decentralization. If a coin possessed these four attributes, it could, theoretically, be practical for everyday purchases as well as desirable for longer-term investments.
So what is a “stable” coin? It’s a coin that is pegged (backed) by another stable asset, like gold, but NOT tied to a central bank. In essence, the coin has value as deemed by a “tangible” asset, i.e. gold, but the accountability of a decentralized network.
Recently, there are few projects attempting to solve the stability issue. Some are even pegging against the US dollar, and then backing with an alt. coin like ETH or Bitcoin. Both ETH and Bitcoin are available on the Get Cred app. If you haven’t checked it out, download the app and get started today!
As these projects continue to unfold, it’s not unreasonable to envision a world where we’ll be using cryptocurrency for everyday purchases very soon. And Get Cred is an easy way to start your journey. | https://medium.com/acreapp/stable-coins-and-cryptocurrency-eef9e817e851 | ['Jamie Boyer'] | 2018-11-30 00:52:31.994000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Altcoins', 'Finance', 'Stable Coin'] |
He Was A “Classic Man” Who Loved to Break Hearts | He Was A “Classic Man” Who Loved to Break Hearts
geralt via Pixabay
He was a classic man, I was hooked on him — one sip of his love and he had me. He knew it. Conceited, no, he just knew where he stood and knew that I’d be around, no matter what. He was gifted in the arts of breaking hearts and watching women pick them up and piece them back together again. I swore it wouldn’t be me, it couldn’t be me. He had it in his mind, though — one of these nights, he’d own mine too. And he did. I armored myself with every piece of metal I could find — my heart would be my own. Sadly, I was mistaken. The big payback ended up being my loyalty losing its control and him losing his love for me. How then, did I manage to survive? | https://medium.com/a-cornered-gurl/he-was-a-classic-man-who-loved-to-break-hearts-dd9ab0645e13 | ['Tre L. Loadholt'] | 2020-11-02 23:31:03.073000+00:00 | ['Heartwork', 'Music', 'Haibun', 'Challenge', 'A Cornered Gurl'] |
Why Lisbon is the place to build your corporate startup | Why Lisbon is the place to build your corporate startup
The potential for corporate startups in Portugal — Part 2
A 3-part series about the definition of a corporate startup, why Lisbon is the place to build it, and how be the employer of choice in a competitive tech ecosystem.
Over the past years, Lisbon became one of the most attractive places in Europe for startups and tech-savvy young professionals. Many articles and studies highlight the city’s potential and showcase the growing number of startups and accelerator programs [1], [2]. But why is Lisbon also the perfect place for corporate startups? Let’s explore this topic from the point of view of such a corporate startup based in Lisbon.
Image by João Paulo from Pixabay
Why corporate startups should come to Lisbon, Portugal?
When the Web Summit decided to move the event from Dublin to Lisbon in 2016, many entrepreneurs and investors had the capital of Portugal on their radar for the first time. And over the past 4 years, Lisbon became one of the European startup capitals like Berlin or Barcelona, mostly due to the mix of funding possibilities and accelerator programs, the networking scene, available talents, and a great quality of life in a vibrant city with the beach nearby.
Besides these reasons, there are additional ones which make Lisbon a great place especially for corporate startups. Let me tell you why we chose Lisbon as our home, because I believe this can be true for other corporate startups as well:
The neutral ground of our corporate organization
With a huge international organization as our parent, investor, partner, and client, it was important for us to find a neutral but accessible ground for the new company. In our case, our corporate partners are located in Germany, the US, Japan, India and China. None of these countries would have been the preferred location for us due to a potential bias of being closer to one of them. Therefore, Portugal was the independent choice regarding location, language and culture.
Location and time zone
To collaborate across the globe, it is also important to find matching windows in the different time zones. Whether you have clients in the US or in Japan, the Portuguese time zone makes it possible to collaborate with all other locations during the regular work day. When it comes to traveling, Lisbon is very well located, not only in Portugal, but also in Europe. It has an international airport with flights to almost anywhere in the world. It’s a 3-hour flight to Frankfurt, and a 7-hour flight to New York. Within Portugal, a 3-hour drive will get you to the south or the north of the country.
Hotspot for young talented people with the drive to create
When building up a new company, you need talented people to work for you. This is definitely a given in Lisbon: not only mentioning the entrepreneurs, digital nomads, and locals already living in Lisbon, many young talented people from different industries and seniority levels are eager to move to Lisbon for the job.
Especially in the software engineering sector, Lisbon is booming. Portugal has great university programs for tech, e.g. Machine Learning, which bring highly qualified juniors to the market each year. Talent in Portugal is also easier to hire than in other locations, and often still cheaper.
There are also dedicated companies like LandingJobs, which created an ecosystem of tech talent and help many new companies, like corporate startups, to match with the right talent. If you are new to the city and need a first boost to hire, companies like them can give you the right kick start.
However, the tech market in Lisbon is highly competitive regarding salaries, benefits, products, and impact. Talents tend to follow the best offer and the best fit, not only monetary but also in terms of culture. Additionally, brand loyalty is not as established as it is in more traditional companies or big brands.
“Surround yourself with the people you want to become”
The meetup/networking scene
Lisbon is full of creatives, makers and innovators, and has one of the best meetup scenes and networks for entrepreneurs, digital nomads and tech-savvy people worldwide. There are endless groups with events happening every week, not only to socialize over a beer or a hike, but also to talk tech, exchange about product management techniques or the latest hacks on Spark. (Talking about Pre-Covid-19, of course) This environment gives you the chance to make valuable connections, participate yourself and become known in the ecosystem.
But in the end, it’s not a big city. Which means it’s not possible to remain anonymous as a company. Everyone knows each other and news spread fast, so if you’re not doing a good job, others will quickly know.
Open innovation programs & startup collaborations
For corporate startups, it is vital to make connections within their sector. beta-i is one of the big players in Lisbon, which fosters collaboration between startups, corporates, governments and investors. They run open-innovation challenges with the city of Lisbon based on different topics, like Mobility or Tourism, to create pilots between startups and local corporates that will improve city life. This gave us the chance to have all the players of our industry, mobility & transportation, on one table and discuss how we can innovate together through collaboration.
The openness of the city and government
We were positively surprised by how welcoming the city of Lisbon is for new arrivers. The Camara Municipal de Lisboa (CML) is very open to collaborations and innovations, and always eager to improve Lisbon’s city life and the future of transportation, which was a great sign for us.
Visas and attractive tax benefits
The Portuguese government started many initiatives to make the country attractive for skilled foreigners. The Non-Habitual-Residence-Status [3] gives foreigners of certain professions a flat tax of 20% (+ 11% Social Security) for 10 years. Startup Visas and Tech Visas make it easier for foreigners from outside Schengen to move to Portugal. This makes your location attractive for talents from aboard.
The Coworking scene
Every month, a new Coworking space opens its doors and all of them offer a great experience. The advantages for corporate startups are the short-term contracts and the possibility to easily grow or reduce office space on demand. Community events foster connections with other entrepreneurs and companies in the building. On coworker.com, Lisbon lists 99 coworking spaces, compared to 114 in Berlin or 28 in Tel Aviv [4].
And, a 10-minute drive away from the city center, on the eastern riverside front of Lisbon, the City of Lisbon is transforming an old military food factory into a huge campus for tech startups and creatives. Hub Criativo do Beato, with 35.000-square-meter of creativity, innovation and collaboration, will host over 3.000 people from all around the world and will be a unique place for innovation.
The early stage of a digital capital
Although it seems like Lisbon has been trending for a while now, it is still at its early stages of becoming one of the digital capitals of Europe. The events, jobs, and networks aren’t saturated yet, and is it still early enough to jump on the early adaptors train.
The language
And I am not talking about the Portuguese language. Most Portuguese have a very good level of English, and the language is widely spoken in the city. There might be an old lady next door who doesn’t understand English well enough to communicate, but in a work and day-to-day-living-context, everything is possible with English.
The lifestyle and safety
Lisbon is not only a pretty city but has a lot of charm. There is a vibe in the city, a drive to create. Lots of beautiful beaches are less than an hour away by car, the food is good and the coffee is great. Plus, Portugal is one of the most peaceful countries in the world, ranking in 3rd place in the 2020 global peace index [5], after Iceland and New Zealand.
Despite some inflation in recent years, Portugal is still more affordable than most cities in Europe. And other Portuguese cities, such as Porto and Coimbra, are emerging as attractive places to set up a startup, with abundant talent, cheaper costs of living than in the capital and an equally good quality of life.
If you decided to come to Lisbon with your corporate startup, continue reading here, how be the employer of choice in this competitive tech ecosystem as a corporate startup. | https://medium.com/tblx-insider/why-lisbon-is-the-place-to-build-your-corporate-startup-6aa5a60c442b | ['Mona Hanselka'] | 2020-09-29 13:55:36.565000+00:00 | ['Lisbon', 'Portugal', 'Culture', 'Corporate Startup', 'Startup'] |
Polyamorous Porn Is Exactly the Kind of Porn We Need | Porn is extremely explicit, but it’s rarely intimate.
Intimacy is something I look for in the content I consume. I rarely watch movies and TV shows because I’d much rather spend my time watching vloggers.
I find other people’s lives utterly fascinating and I can’t get enough peeks behind the curtain. I’ll spend hours watching people going through their daily routines, exploring their corner of the world, prepping their lunches while telling their favorite stories, or just sitting down to give life updates to their viewers.
If you follow the same vloggers long enough you’ll get a strong sense of their personality, their quirks, their interests, and even the kind of chemistry they have with their spouses.
The one thing you don’t get to see, though, is what I want to see the most.
I can’t help it. The longer I follow a vlogger and the more I feel like I know them, the more I want to watch them fuck.
I become incredibly curious about what they would look like naked. I want to know how they masturbate and what they get off to. And I want to see exactly what it looks like when they get down and dirty with their partners.
It feels like the natural extension of vlogging. Seeing someone’s personality and being offered a little slice of their life feels intimate, even if it’s edited and curated. Getting to see their naughty, sexy side would complete the package.
It would also be the best kind of porn imaginable: porn with people you know.
Maybe it’s the demisexual in me, but there’s something extra hot about mixing familiarity with sex.
Getting to see someone naked after following them online for a while is a treat. OnlyFans girls who make chatty, personal content can absolutely take my money. And I feel fortunate for the very few moments in my life when I got to see friends or acquaintances doing something dirty.
I’m constantly on the lookout for creators who will share it all. The ones who won’t just document their van life adventures, take their camera with them on nature trails or to the heart of their cities, and show off their most elaborate meals, but who’ll also be completely candid about the things they find arousing and won’t turn off the camera when things get steamy.
I’ve found some of it here and there.
Horny Hiking combines Instagram travel influencer content with hardcore sex, either in sprawling outdoor locations or on the cozy little bed they’ve set up in the back of their van.
Savannah Solo is basically what you get when one of the many hilarious women on Twitter decides to regularly fuck herself on camera.
They’re both fucking great. They make some of my favorite porn because they come so close to giving me the X-rated vlogger content I keep wishing for.
But I still want more, so I was incredibly intrigued when Adult Time announced a new series called Poly Family Life.
Polyamorous Porn Means More Than Groupsex
Poly Family Life is a four-part series created by AKGINGERSNAPS and the first installment in Adult Time’s new Creator Series.
The videos focus on AKGINGERSNAP’s relationship with her two partners, Smassh and Lana Mars. They road trip through Alaska in the summer, talk about their life as a throuple, and because they’re part of the porn industry they show all the action that travel vloggers normally leave out of their videos.
The first episode gets right into the dirty stuff, starting with a quick montage of the three fooling around and fucking while offroading.
Then, they sit by a campfire and Smassh spends a couple of minutes telling the story of how he met AKGINGERSNAPS and how Lana came into their life.
After that, it’s back to the porny stuff. They take the camera with them on a hike through the woods and find a great spot for an outdoor threesome.
The girls make out with each other, surrounded by bushes and with a clear view of the mountains in the background. Once everyone is properly turned on and ready, they find a spot where Lana can lie down and get eaten out by her lady until Smassh makes it a threesome by pulling down AKGINGERSNAP’s shorts and fucking her from behind.
They trade the camera around so everyone can have a turn getting some doggystyle action until Smassh finishes by coming on Lana’s back.
It’s a candid POV scene, but the location makes it stand out. That, and the fact that Lana keeps her plaid shirt and knee-high socks on the whole time, which is a perfect look for just about any woman.
The second episode gets a little more personal. The three of them spend a few minutes talking about what it was like to come out to their families as polyamorous and how bisexuality factors into their relationship.
The conversation is interspersed with footage of the girls shopping at a quaint little store, having lunch outdoors, going for ice cream, and just exploring the empty strip of road they found themselves on.
Five minutes into the video, it cuts to the ladies walking into a spa cabin at night. They undress and take turns massaging each other slowly and sensually — and making each other come.
It has everything I love about massage porn. Women getting oiled down, watching their glistening skin being stoked and rubbed, practically feeling the arousal building, and then watching it end with a very genuine and satisfying orgasm.
It’s also extremely sweet and intimate. Smassh is behind the camera the entire time, but he doesn’t intrude on the action. You can almost forget he’s there while you’re watching them doing nothing but making each other feel really fucking good.
And the scene was lit and shot surprisingly well considering all the constraints of shooting in a small room that isn’t set up for filming.
The third episode starts with a little more commentary on what it’s like to have multiple partners, spliced in with clips of bike rides, a campfire, some road head, and lots of quick shots of blowjobs, handjobs, and fucking.
Then they find a desolate quarry and start getting frisky.
It’s a scene that’s reminiscent of the action in the first episode, except instead of trees and mountains, it’s clear skies and open space.
The scene is also much more dick-centric — which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Instead of eating each other out, the girls decide to treat Smassh to a double blowjob. They take turns giving him some expert-level deepthroating without any gagging, which I find both impressive and hot.
Things take a bit of a turn for me during a portion of the scene where the blowjob gets particularly aggressive. That’s something I personally don’t care for. I love the dynamics created between dominant guys and submissive women, but I find dick choking and gagging to be turn-offs.
Once they’re done servicing him, the girls take turns bending over to get fucked from behind. They trade the camera a few times so we get to see the action from Smassh’ POV but also some clearer shots of the hard pounding.
I was expecting the scene to end in a facial or at least some kind of cumshot. But instead, it ends gently and almost romantically, with the doggystyle thrusts slowing down to a more sensual pace and soft music fading in while the scene fades out.
Give Us More Vlog Porn
Poly Family Life is off to a very decent start and I’ll definitely be watching the last episode as soon as it comes out.
There’s a lot to love about it. You get a sense for their relationship dynamic before watching them fuck. You get snippets of them casually enjoying their trip, which leaves you wanting more. I could spend a lot more time watching them hanging around town, taking in the Alaskan wilderness, and showing little glimpses into their relationship dynamics.
I also love that it’s content shot by a throuple. As much as I want vlog porn, I want polyamorous vlog porn even more. I love seeing the way those arrangements play out, what it takes to sustain chemistry with multiple people, and all the joys and challenges that come from loving more than one person.
And that’s part of why I appreciated the girl-on-girl massage porn in the second episode so much. Polyamory isn’t just about hot and sweaty threesomes and all the different ways three or more people can fuck together. It’s also about how everyone relates to their individual partners and the personal connections they build when they’re by themselves. And that’s exactly what they showcased in that scene.
My only real complaint with Poly Family Life is that the daily life scenes are treated almost as extras to the sex.
I’m constantly wishing I could see vloggers fuck. But as much as I enjoyed watching AKGINGERSNAPS, Lana, and Smassh fuck, I kept wishing I could have spent more time watching them vlog.
It’s a glimpse into a genre of porn that could be huge and would be incredibly engaging. But I still haven’t discovered anyone who strikes the right balance of providing plenty of personal content with hot, explicit sex.
Until I discover someone who does daily vlog porn and does it right, though, this kind of content is how I’ll fulfill that need. Poly Family Life gave me a taste for polyamorous porn, and I really hope there will be a lot more of it in the future.
This article contains affiliate links to Poly Family Life on Adult Time. If you click on one (or click here) and sign up, I earn a small commission and you will be supporting my work (and getting off to some really hot porn)! ❤ | https://medium.com/love-emma/polyamorous-porn-is-exactly-the-kind-of-porn-we-need-21d8d4212068 | ['Emma Austin'] | 2020-12-10 12:36:21.463000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Pornography', 'Review', 'Social Media', 'Sex'] |
Today Top Stories || Trump Has Set A Condition For Resigning | Fly Dubai Launches Regular Commercial Flights To Israel | Iran Releases Australian Female Educator In The Exchange For Three Prisoners | Today Top Stories || Trump Has Set A Condition For Resigning | Fly Dubai Launches Regular Commercial Flights To Israel | Iran Releases Australian Female Educator In The Exchange For Three Prisoners zaviews Nov 27, 2020·4 min read
US President Donald Trump has made his resignation from the White House conditional on formal approval from Biden’s Electoral College.
According to the World News Agency, President Donald Trump has set a new condition for acknowledging his defeat and stepping down. Donald Trump says those who have won a majority in the election are ready to step down if Biden’s victory is formally accepted by the Electoral College.
Speaking to reporters on the eve of Thanksgiving, President Trump said that if Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College persisted, he would not hesitate to leave the White House to concede defeat, but to take the oath of office (January 20). Until then, many new things will emerge that could change the situation.
Electors elected by popular vote in the US presidential election endorse the winning candidate, after which the successful candidate is sworn in on January 20. President Trump is waiting for a miracle before this day, while Joe Biden has also announced the members of his cabinet.
Democrat Joe Biden won the US presidential election with 306 electoral votes out of 538, while President Trump lost his second term with 232 votes. However, President Trump has not yet acknowledged his defeat while in power in the White House. Proceedings have begun for the transfer.
Fly Dubai resumed regular flights after the establishment of relations between the UAE and Israel and the first flight was from Dubai to Tel Aviv and from there back to Dubai.
According to the AFP news agency, when the first flight of Fly Dubai reached Tel Aviv from Dubai, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also present there.
This is a historic moment
Benjamin Netanyahu said of Fly Dubai’s first flight to Tel Aviv, four hours from Dubai.
He said to the passengers
Peace be upon you, come here again and again
The Fly Dubai flight later reached Dubai for the first time directly from Tel Aviv, the first scheduled commercial flight since relations between the two countries were restored.
An immigration official in Dubai “welcomed Dubai” to Israeli travelers, who entered the city and waved some of their hands in a sign of peace.
“This will accelerate peace and development in the Middle East,” UAE Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a recent statement on Twitter, referring to relations with Israel.
The UAE and Israel expect the Corona-affected economy to improve after the relationship, and there will be an exchange of tourists between the two countries.
According to the report, Fly Dubai will have two flights a week to Israel, while commercial flights of Israeli airlines are also expected from next week.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has announced that it will start flights to Tel Aviv from March 2021.
Israel and the UAE announced in August that they would normalize relations and end the UAE’s long-running boycott of Israel through government-level banking and business deals.
Later, the neighboring country Bahrain also signed an agreement with the UAE on September 15 at the White House to normalize relations with Israel.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are the third and fourth Arab countries to establish relations with Israel, while Egypt and Jordan signed peace agreements with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively.
An Israeli delegation left for Bahrain yesterday to formalize the agreement.
Iran releases Australian female educator in exchange for three prisoners
Iran has released Moore Gilbert, a British-Australian woman educator, but Thailand has released three Iranian prisoners in return.
According to the international news agency, Moore Gilbert, a female educator from the University of Melbourne, who has been imprisoned in Iran for two years on charges of espionage, has been granted release from prison. Moore Gilbert was arrested in 2018 and tried in a closed cell and sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage.
Prior to the release of educator Moore Gilbert, Thailand had extradited three Iranians detained in connection with a failed 2012 bombing of Israeli diplomats, but Thailand described the process as a “prisoner exchange.” Is not valid.
On the other hand, Iranian state media claim that the female educator was released in exchange for the release of 3 Iranian citizens imprisoned abroad. One in three is an Iranian citizen businessman who went to Thailand for business. | https://medium.com/@zaviews/today-top-stories-trump-has-set-a-condition-for-resigning-fly-dubai-launches-regular-4f0aeee2465d | [] | 2020-11-27 13:28:02.234000+00:00 | ['News', 'Iran', 'USA', 'Israel', 'Uae'] |
The Top Three Reasons Why Academics + Universities Publish on Medium | P.S. Medium isn’t just for the Ivies.
One of the most exciting use cases we’ve seen emerge has been from an unlikely character: Mt. San Antonio College outside Los Angeles.
Journalism professor Toni Albertson pioneered their student publication migration over to Medium, now called Substance. It’s amazing, and produces work like this — their first post — with over 15x more traffic than their most successful piece previous to publishing on Medium:
What has struck me isn’t their immediate success, but the rationale behind the endeavor. It cuts across nearly every issue higher ed is facing today: | https://blog.medium.com/the-top-three-reasons-why-universities-publish-on-medium-dd1080975aff | ['Gabe Kleinman'] | 2015-05-20 21:20:58.111000+00:00 | ['Higher Education', 'Academia', 'Education'] |
Subsets and Splits