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How to create interactive web application for beginners | Deploying Node.js Apps on Heroku
This article describes how to take an existing Node.js app and deploy it to Heroku. The best practices in this article… | https://medium.com/@maildoaho/how-to-create-interactive-web-application-for-beginners-37ae78780548 | [] | 2021-01-04 18:06:49.931000+00:00 | ['Nodejs', 'Bootstrap', 'Google Auth', 'Heroku', 'Cloudinary'] |
Identify Large Fund Wallets on Ethereum using On-Chain Analysis | Decentralized Retail Trading:
The Future of Finance and Retail Trading with On-Chain Strategies
By: Patrick Gorrell, Patrick Doyle, Roman Krasiuk
“We assumed we knew nothing about investing in digital assets and we sought to find the wallets that seemingly knew everything because they had access to information that nobody else had” - Patrick Gorrell
TLDR;
Since our early inception, FRST has used on-chain data to find specific patterns of activity that would give us a competitive edge when investing in digital assets. The mantra our team followed was simple and humble. FRST believed the wallets with money knew more than we knew. In doing so, we set out to find the wallets that seemed to be moving the markets. Although we could not detect the trades that were occurring behind the scenes of centralized exchanges like Binance, Poloniex or Kraken, we could detect the wallets that were depositing and withdrawing the most value.
Using conventional analytics tools made it nearly impossible to conduct a historical search for the types of patterns we were looking for; so we had to make our own. Along the way, we were able to identify all of the largest depositors on exchanges and follow where they were originating their funds. FRST began working with Capital Markets Trading Digital (CMT Digital) in Chicago to understand the flow of value and the personas of trading activity behind the wallets. In doing so, CMT and FRST have successfully been able to target opportunities that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Identifying Funds Heuristic
When searching through the vast number of wallets that exist on Ethereum, there are very few tools available that provide the specific wallet details necessary for spotting funds. The idea behind the heuristic is to find the largest depositing and withdrawing wallets into centralized exchanges. We assume that many large funds take advantage of price differences between exchanges so it was very likely that we could spot the movements between their accounts. About 87% of the wallets on Ethereum exist between exchanges. This means that a majority of the activity on Ethereum is token transfers from one exchange to another. By identifying wallets that act as treasury wallets, you can begin to map out all of their customer’s deposit and withdrawal wallets.
“If you want to find the funds, just look for the large depositors.” - Patrick Gorrell
Understanding how exchange wallets work
Most centralized exchanges manage funds on account-based chains differently from UTXO chain. Ethereum’s account-based model allows for more transparency into how exchanges manage funds for their internal treasury wallets and customer custodial wallets. There are 3 basic types of wallet personas that are associated with most centralized exchanges.
Exchange Custodial Wallets (Customer Deposit Wallets) Exchange Treasury Wallets (Exchange Primary Wallets) Exchange Withdrawal Wallets
Custodial/Treasury/Withdrawal Wallet Structure
The wallets that are most important to identify are the custodial (deposit) wallets of an exchange. By locating the large depositors, we can find that funds typically move large value transfers either from one exchange directly to another or, they move funds from a wallet outside of exchanges from a cold wallet.
The second most important type of wallet to follow is the withdrawal wallets. As stated before, roughly 87% of wallets on Ethereum exist in between exchanges. We believe this is due to a large number of wallets that interact with the exchanges and them trading assets on more than one exchange. This means that a majority of the time, a withdrawal wallet is, in fact, a custody wallet to another exchange.
Typically, there are treasury wallets that are specific to deposits & withdrawals as well as types of assets on Ethereum. Binance, for example, has multiple addresses that they use to source customer funds from custodial wallets and others that are used to manage withdrawals, whereas Poloniex has wallets for different assets like Ethereum-based REP, ZRX, BAT & STN.
Binance Exchange Cluster: FRST Platform
Poloniex Exchange Cluster: FRST Platform
Transactional Patterns
After working closely with many of the large firms in digital asset trading, our team soon discovered that most funds have something called a clearing function. A clearing function is a designated individual who clears the transaction for any deposit into an exchange. Additionally, we assume that funds would be very wary of moving large value transactions without sending an initial test transaction. An easy way to predict when a large transaction is about to occur is by looking for wallets that pass enormous amounts of value that send test transactions before every new type of asset allocation to the exchange.
Transaction Filtering | https://medium.com/frst/identify-large-fund-wallets-on-ethereum-using-frsts-on-chain-analysis-e3ae18c56811 | ['Patrick Gorrell'] | 2019-10-23 22:11:11.030000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Blockchain', 'Trading', 'Ethereum', 'Bitcoin'] |
JavaScript Variable Best Practices | Naming convention
Giving a good name to your variable is crucial. How you name your variables will decide the future of your application codebase.
It will dictate how easy it is:
To understand your code
To navigate it
To maintain it
So what we can do to genuinely improve naming?
Use Case-separation
There are a few known case-separators
These are major case-separators. As you can see the main purpose of using them is to separate words in your variable names. This way your code will already be much easier to read.
Let’s do a quick comparison:
So the benefit is quite obvious but which one to pick? I will give you few tips:
If your codebase already uses one of the conventions, just follow it — keep consistency, even if it is not your favorite. If codebase is messy or doesn’t have any conventions, pick one and follow it. In that case you will have to protect your choice and make sure others are following it too. If you are working with JavaScript the agreed standard is to use camelCase for variables, object properties, functions and object methods. PascalCase is often used for class names.
For example:
5. SNAKE_UPPER_CASE is often used to symbolise application level constants. Usually to contain configurations needed for your app to function. For example it may contain some API connection strings, tokens, constant value for app settings, like number of connections etc.
Meaningful names
There is a concept of self documented code which you may have heard of. It basically means that you document your code, by giving good, descriptive names to your variables and functions, that people can read like a book, and understand what is going on. It’s quite a difficult craft, that even senior engineers struggle with it from time to time. But it’s definitely possible and worth getting better at.
So first things first, try to forget about things like a, b, c names. Loads of tutorials will be using these to simplify examples, but in real codebase these names are really bad because they do not mean anything.
You may think that a short variable is better, because you save bites in your code etc. But this is mainly false, especially if we talk about JavaScript. Your code will be minimised and transpile for production anyway. So all your well written names will end-up being exactly a, b, c in your browser. But for Engineers, while you work with the code, keep it as descriptive as possible. Few examples of bad VS good:
So don’t be afraid to make a little bit bigger but more descriptive name. And don’t be lazy too. People love to shorten names to save milliseconds of time, but they do not realise they and others will spend minutes or maybe even hours to figure out in three month what was meant by uau .
Try to not over-explain your variables too, so for example something like userObject or basketListArray will be a bit overkill. People should have IntelliSense in their IDE's and if you name variables wisely it will be obvious what type of content there will be.
Rule exceptions
Sometimes you may have to loop through an array and you need an iterator, which usually is named as i , or you may need some math operations. In these cases people often use x, y names etc. These will be exceptions from general rules.
For majority of your code, I hope you got the idea 💡.
Declaration
Try to declare you variables as higher to the top as possible. Ideally stack all declarations together if possible or at least group them. This will give you and other devs better idea what variables you have used in further code as well as you will always know where to look for initial declarations if you need them. So try to avoid creation of variables on fly in the middle of your scripts.
Mutability & Scope
Good programming practice is to build your application with everything closed, scoped, and protected as much as possible. This is needed to prevent potential bugs. And to ensure your code will be used right.
So in JavaScript there is not many ways you can protect your code privacy. But what you can do, is use const and let to prevent mutations and control scoping of your data.
So a good practice would be to use keyword const for every variable declaration and change it only when it's really needed. And use let over var if you need mutable data, but you will still be in control of scope. This way you will reduce potential to bugs in you code.
Wrap-up
That’s it folks, thanks for reading this post until this point. It end-up being quite long article. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any question or you want to know more, put comments down bellow. | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/javascript-variables-best-practices-c4f4de8b5a8b | ['Arthur Frank'] | 2020-05-07 12:47:19.027000+00:00 | ['Learning', 'Best Practices', 'Clean Code', 'JavaScript', 'Variables'] |
ML — Machine Learning Intro. What Is It and How It Evolves Over… | Reinforcement Learning vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
Reinforcement learning is a branch of machine learning.
Unlike unsupervised and supervised machine learning, reinforcement learning does not rely on a static dataset, but operates in a dynamic environment and learns from collected experiences.
Data points, or experiences, are collected during training through trial-and-error interactions between the environment and a software agent.
This aspect of reinforcement learning is important, because it alleviates the need for data collection, preprocessing, and labeling before training, otherwise necessary in supervised and unsupervised learning.
Practically, this means that, given the right incentive, a reinforcement learning model can start learning behavior on its own, without (human) supervision. (https://ww2.mathworks.cn/discovery/reinforcement-learning.html)
Applications of Machine Learning
Facial recognition/Image recognition;
Automatic Speech Recognition;
Financial Services;
Marketing and Sales;
Healthcare;
Spam filter: the algorithm learns a predictive model from data labelled as spam and “no spam” (ham). After training it can predict for new emails whether they are spam or not;
Character recognition;
Object recognition in images;
And more...
What’s a Good Model?
Terminology of Machine Learning
(source: https://www.mygreatlearning.com/blog/what-is-machine-learning/)
Model: Also known as “hypothesis”, a machine learning model is the mathematical representation of a real-world process. A machine learning algorithm along with the training data builds a machine learning model. Feature: A feature is a measurable property or parameter of the data-set. Feature Vector: It is a set of multiple numeric features. We use it as an input to the machine learning model for training and prediction purposes. Training: An algorithm takes a set of data known as “training data” as input. The learning algorithm finds patterns in the input data and trains the model for expected results (target). The output of the training process is the machine learning model. Prediction: Once the machine learning model is ready, it can be fed with input data to provide a predicted output. Target (Label): The value that the machine learning model has to predict is called the target or label. Over fitting: When a massive amount of data trains a machine learning model, it tends to learn from the noise and inaccurate data entries. Here the model fails to characterise the data correctly. Under fitting: It is the scenario when the model fails to decipher the underlying trend in the input data. It destroys the accuracy of the machine learning model. In simple terms, the model or the algorithm does not fit the data well enough. Affine transformation: In Euclidean geometry, an affine transformation, or an affinity, is a geometric transformation that preserves lines and parallelism. In Euclidean geometry, an affine transformation, or an affinity, is a geometric transformation that preserves lines and parallelism. Fold change: It is defined as the It is defined as the ratio between the two quantities; for quantities A and B, then the fold change of B with respect to A is B/A. In other words, a change from 30 to 60 is defined as a fold-change of 2 Lingo: the language, word style, speech, jargon, or slang, used by a person or group
Related Posts
00#Episode — AISeries — ML — Machine Learning Intro — What Is It and How It Evolves Over Time? (this one:)
01#Episode — AISeries — Huawei ML FAQ — How do I get an HCIA certificate?
02#Episode — AISeries — Huawei ML FAQ Again — More annotation from Huawei Mock Exam
03#Episode — AISeries — AI In Graphics — Getting Intuition About Complex Math & More
04#Episode — AISeries — Huawei ML FAQ — Advanced — Even More annotation from Huawei Mock Exam
05#Episode — AISeries — SVM — Credit Card — Start to Finished — A Complete Colab Notebook Using the Default of Credit Card Clients Data Set from UCI
06#Episode — AISeries — SVM — Breast Cancer — Start to Finished — A Complete Colab Notebook Using the Default of Credit Card Clients Data Set from UCI
07#Episode — AISeries — SVM — Cupcakes or Muffins? — Start To Finished — Based on Alice Zhao post
Credits & References
INTRODUÇÃO A MACHINE LEARNING PARA CERTIFICAÇÃO HCIA-AI by crateus.ufc.br
The 7 steps of machine learning by Google Cloud Tech
A guide to convolution arithmetic for deep learning by Vincent Dumoulin F and Francesco Visin 2 F † FMILA — Université de Montréal †AIRLab, Politecnico di Milano
The Difference between Data Engineer, Data Scientists & Data Analysts:
Data Scientists and Data Analysts need to have TRUSTED, TIMELY & EFFICIENT ACCESS to the Data to do their best work. Data Enginner's role is the most distinct amongst the three. Data Enginner CREATE & MANTAIN THE INFRASTRUCTURE & DATA PIPELINE that takes terabytes of raw data coming from differente sources into one CENTRALIZED LOCATION with clean, relevant data for the organization. Data Analyst do what's described in their title: ANALYSE DATA & REPORT INSIGHTS from their analysis, and as AI field, for DEVELOPING A PREDICTIVE MODEL for BETTER ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES & FOR INCENTIVE OF PLANNING. Data Scientists INVESTIGATE, EXTRACT & REPORT MEANINGFUL INSIGHTS into the organization's data. In summary, Engineer create data, Scientist investigate data, and Analyst report insights :) | https://medium.com/jungletronics/ml-machine-learning-intro-4967a9761a2e | [] | 2021-08-01 12:43:37.799000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Autonomous Vehicles', 'Supervised Learning', 'Unsupervised Learning', 'Python3'] |
*Sky is the path to She* | Female!
male, Woman, man, Boy! Girl, child, children, offspring progeny, descendants, generations, genesis…
creation, Lord, Lady!
Our Lady? The Virgin! Mary?Daity?
Worship?
Abide by Thee?
Abide by Thee!
Echos from the prelude of rituals, doctrines, creeds, morals, codes.
Freedom
Freedom, has got no bounds, She is not put in a place,
She is not put in its place, a fixed address, a compartment in life precious gift we seldom chose to unsee, by walking face down on times pavements...
Forgotten is the precious infinite path of paths above us;
Sky has never been the limit.
Sky! Mirror of the Sea, guardian of the terrestrials, a celestial screen without barrier, matter, bonds.
Sky symbolic subordinate, Freedoms runner up, with carol, let clouds move clear like exempt lambs, leap and skip, carefree by ravines in the vale behind the pure, true, blue, velvety and devoted Veil.
Freedom is the brainchild of the Universe will, and teen mom of
the terrestrials release, deliverance, and liberty.
The sky is the path to Her.
Sky is the path to She. | https://medium.com/@bellavieladybee/sky-is-the-path-to-she-7aa5062e980a | ['Beloved Virgo A.K.A. Bellavie Lady Bee'] | 2021-03-20 13:43:59.029000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Universe', 'Sky', 'Freedom', 'Thoughts'] |
With Trump Fading, Ukraine’s President Looks to a Reset With the U.S. | “They roped us in, but I think we behaved with dignity,” Volodymyr Zelensky said of his encounter with American politics.
MOSCOW — Finally free of the shadow of President Trump, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, is looking to put relations with the United States back on a sound footing with the incoming administration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.“Joe Biden, it seems to me, knows Ukraine better than the previous president,” Mr. Zelensky said in his first interview with an American news organization since the election.“Before his presidency, he had close ties to Ukraine, and he understands the Russians well, he understands the difference between Ukraine and Russia, and, it seems to me, he understands the Ukrainian mentality,” Mr. Zelensky said. “It will really help strengthen relations, help settle the war in Donbas and end the occupation of our territory. The United States can help.”During the Obama years, Mr. Biden was put in charge of relations with Ukraine, where he worked with varying degrees of success to crack down on corruption and, after 2014, to end the war in Eastern Ukraine, an area referred to in Ukraine as the Donbas.ImageMr. Biden visited the site of antigovernment protests in Kyiv as vice president in 2014.Mr. Biden visited the site of antigovernment protests in Kyiv as vice president in 2014. Credit…Sergei Supinsky/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThat background plus the business activities there of his son Hunter Biden drew the attention last year of Mr. Trump, who saw Mr. Biden as a potential rival for the presidency. Uncomfortably for Mr. Zelensky, that dynamic drew Ukraine into American politics just months after he was sworn in as a corruption-fighting president in May 2019.“They roped us in,” said Mr. Zelensky, a former comedian turned politician, speaking more freely about the matter with Mr. Trump’s looming departure. “But I think we behaved with dignity suitable to a sovereign country.”As he took office, Mr. Zelensky had hoped to gain diplomatic backup from the United States in negotiations to end the grinding war with Russian-led separatists in eastern Ukraine. But that strategy unraveled in the impeachment scandal last year.After that, Mr. Zelensky largely refrained from public discussion of U.S. policy toward Ukraine, lest he offend one side or the other.Freed now from those restraints, Mr. Zelensky is setting out again, more than a year after his ill-fated first effort, to win greater American engagement in ending the only active war in Europe today.More than 13,000 people have died in the war in the flatlands of eastern Ukraine since Russia intervened militarily six years ago to support breakaway enclaves. These days the two armies fight sporadically along a 280-mile trench line, lobbing mortar and artillery fire at one another.ImageUkrainian soldiers reinforcing trenches in Stanytsia Luhanska, just a few miles from the eastern border with Russia, last year.Credit…Brendan Hoffman for The New York TimesLike the Berlin Wall, this front line divides people by East-West politics, not ethnicity. Villages on both sides speak a mix of Ukrainian and Russian. The Ukrainian central government wants to integrate with the European Union, while Russia seeks to retain the country within a sphere of influence.The negotiations to end the conflict are also geopolitical. France and Germany now mediate in so-called “Normandy format” talks. Mr. Zelensky has since early in his presidency sought a U.S. role in negotiations.William B. Taylor Jr., a former United States ambassador to Kyiv who served as chief of mission last year during the events leading to Mr. Trump’s impeachment, said Mr. Zelensky is correct in thinking relations with America may turn a hopeful new corner. “Zelensky’s instincts are still good,” he said in a telephone interview.“U.S.-Ukraine relations will become stronger and more coherent and that will benefit Zelensky,” Mr. Taylor said. “I am encouraged and optimistic about the new administration’s Ukraine policy.”Mr. Zelensky, in the interview by video link from Kyiv, said he was grateful for American support during the Trump administration, including for the stiffening of sanctions against Russia. “I should thank the United States in the period of Donald Trump,” he said. But he allowed that more could be done, such as encouraging American investment in government-controlled areas near the conflict.ImageMr. Zelensky hopes to strengthen ties between Ukraine and the United States as Mr. Biden — who has a long history with the country — takes office next year. Credit…Anastasia Vlasova for The New York Times“We really don’t want to be running on a treadmill,” he said, referring to European-led negotiations that have dragged on inconclusively for six years. A cease-fire has diminished but not halted the violence.The Trump administration has been largely absent from the process. The president fully promoted the baseless claim that Ukraine, rather than Russia, had meddled in the 2016 presidential election, and he thought Ukraine subtly favored Hillary Clinton.In that toxic atmosphere, the nominal U.S. envoy to the settlement talks, Kurt Volker, found himself alongside Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, negotiating not on matters of war and peace but rather a request that Mr. Zelensky investigate Mr. Trump’s political opponent, Mr. Biden, and his family — leading ultimately to Mr. Trump’s infamous phone call asking Mr. Zelensky to “do us a favor” and hinting about withholding military aid if he didn’t.As the impeachment saga unfolded, Mr. Zelensky walked a narrow path, declining to announce an investigation of the Bidens while helping Mr. Trump by cracking down on leaks that might have aided Democrats with impeachment.ImageLt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the whistleblower who testified about the “quid pro quo” call between President Trump and Mr. Zelensky, at a House committee hearing last year. Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York TimesDespite Mr. Zelensky’s efforts, the Trump administration ignored Ukraine after the impeachment, not bothering to appoint a new peace envoy or to push the confirmation of a new ambassador.In the interview, Mr. Zelensky said he resented efforts to draw Ukraine into American politics, which could only be harmful to the country’s interests.“I don’t want Ukraine to become the subject” of a fight between Democrats and Republicans, he said. “We are beautiful partners. But partners in what? Let’s be partners in geopolitics, in the economy between our countries. But certainly not between personalities, and moreover with two pretenders to the presidency of the United States.”Mr. Biden is expected to encourage Mr. Zelensky to press ahead with his anticorruption agenda and to make a clean break with Ukraine’s shadowy business oligarchs, some of whom promulgate pro-Russian views on their television channels.Mr. Zelensky has dragged his feet on this score. One oligarch who aided Mr. Zelensky in his campaign, Ihor Kolomoisky, cost Ukraine $5.6 billion in a bank bailout amid allegations of embezzlement, raising fears that Kyiv’s elite were siphoning off Western aid money. Mr. Kolomoisky denies wrongdoing.Mr. Zelensky said he saw no need to demonstrate distance from Mr. Kolomoisky. “I’m not certain that I should show something” now, he said, as that would indicate his decisions had been influenced in the past, which he denied. A new law rules out oligarchic meddling in banking oversight in Ukraine, he said.When the subject turned to coronavirus vaccines, Mr. Zelensky had trouble containing his frustration with Mr. Trump and his executive order banning the export of vaccines. Before the ban, Ukraine had been in talks with Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to speed up delivery but now has to settle for its first commercial vaccine shipments months later than expected because of Mr. Trump’s executive order.Russia has gleefully seized on the U.S. export ban for propaganda purposes, floating the idea that Ukraine, with friends like these, might consider turning instead to Moscow for lifesaving vaccines — no matter that Russia is also backing the separatist war.“Of course, it is impossible to explain to Ukrainian society why, when America and Europe are not giving you vaccines, you shouldn’t take vaccines from Russia,” Mr. Zelensky said. He was bracing, he said, for an “information war” on the issue.Still, as the largest democracy in the former Soviet Union, he said, Ukraine remained a natural long-term partner for the United States.“It seems to me the United States relates to Ukraine like the United States relates to democracy,” he said. “No matter who is president, he will always respect democracy and, in the same way, regardless who is president there will always be this relationship with Ukraine. At least, that is how I see it.” | https://medium.com/@zakariahli14/with-trump-fading-ukraines-president-looks-to-a-reset-with-the-u-s-52d6cca2b606 | ['Zikos Hrey'] | 2020-12-19 18:22:33.196000+00:00 | ['USA', 'Ukraine', 'Trump', 'Volodymyr Zelensky', 'President'] |
10 Wonderful Facts About Earth You’ve Never Heard Before | We think we know everything about our home planet, but we couldn’t be more wrong.
Scientists have already discovered a lot about the universe, but they believe there is still much more to learn about our planet.
Did you know that the Moon was once part of Earth?
See Also: 15 Facts About Men They’d Rather Not Share
We were so surprised to find out new amazing things that we decided to share them with you right away.
10 Wonderful Facts About Earth You’ve Never Heard Before:
Mount Everest is NOT the tallest mountain in the world
Neighboring states can have a 24-hour time difference
The driest place on Earth is located in Antarctica
Freshwater represents only 3% of all water on Earth
The world’s oldest temple is about 12,000 years old
The Moon was once part of Earth
Continents will reunite in 250 million years
A single-celled organism caused the first mass extinction
Most of our planet always lies in the dark
Earth’s atmosphere has borders
– If measured from the base to the summit, Mauna Kea is 33,475 feet high, which is 4,445 feet taller than Mount Everest.
See Also: 12 Ways Men Can Live Longer
– Despite the fact that American Samoa is only 1,240 miles away from the Line Islands that form part of Kiribati, the time difference between the two neighbors is 25 hours.
– The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica have seen no rain for nearly 2 million years. The winds here can reach speeds of 200 miles per hour.
See Also: 12 Main Differences Between Men and Women
– The oceans and seas hold 97% of Earth’s water, but it’s salty ocean water, not suitable for drinking.
– Researchers believe that the carvings on the pillars prove that roughly 11,000 years ago a comet strike caused a sudden temperature drop on our planet.
Read in Detail:https://www.rarerainbow.com/facts-about-earth/ | https://medium.com/@rare.rainbow/10-wonderful-facts-about-earth-youve-never-heard-before-132a56bf17ff | ['Rare Rainbow'] | 2019-02-25 06:35:42.820000+00:00 | ['Facts About Earth', 'Earth', 'Science', 'Facts'] |
When I was a pink flamingo — an ayahuasca journey | My new shaman friends
The calling
It’s October 2018. Not a good year so far. The “real world” spat in our faces a few times this year so my girlfriend and I decided to take a break. We packed up shop, and bought some flights to Peru. South America here we come. We’re going to live it up, figure things out and live happily ever after. That’s the plan.
Now what better way to work your shit out than by taking some strange amazonian plants and puking your guts out in a dark tent, right?
I first heard about ayahuasca a few years ago, on the Tim Ferriss podcast. Even though it’s the daddy of all hallucinogenics, Tim talked about it more as a healing tool. As a medicine. A way to to figure things out. To learn about yourself. To heal physically and emotionally. To loose your ego. To lift yourself into higher states of consciousness.
Ever since I travelled to Asia, I learned about buddhism, I started meditating regularly and experimenting with silent meditation retreats. I became interested in learning about myself. About the world. About what makes me who I am. And I wanted to dig deep and find out what I was made of rather than just work and drink myself through it in London.
On the surface, I wanted to figure out what to do next. I have free rein. I don’t have any commitments. I have a job that I can do remotely and part time. I can go and do anything. What’s the next chapter going to be all about? What’s important to me? What do I care about? All big questions that felt impossible to answer. The more I thought about it, the more I bumped up against little anxieties, worries and fears that stop me from choosing something, from doing something awesome with my life. It’s exciting, sure, but there are those voices in my head that say I’m not good enough. Or I don’t know what I’m doing. Or debating endlessly how I can make my mark on the world or wether I should just sack it all off, move to Canada to go snowboarding and live like a teenager for the rest of time. I have a lot of those voice. And they’re very active this trip.
But that’s my thing. Or at least one of my things. You have your thing. Everyone has a thing.
Now we were in the land of Ayahuasca. Peru. My girlfriend works in rainforest conservation with indigenous people. If I’m ever going to try this, the time is now.
The decision
My first opportunity came up in the form of a shaman recommended to me by a friend of a friend — deep in the Ecuadorian jungle. At the time I was pumped and up for it, but it turned out to be a logistical nightmare. And a blessing in disguise. I was going into the middle of the Ecuadorian jungle with only a hint of Spanish speaking ability to take the strongest hallucinogen on the planet.
Think Alex, think.
So I did. I started looking into it a bit more seriously. I started searching for more official centres. I read, I researched, I spoke to people and then finally decided to go to a place called the Rainforest Healing Centre. This is based near Iquitos and it turned out to be a great choice, but my aim here is not to promote any one place — there are many others that are great. Instead, I think it’s more useful to share the things I considered in my decision making process for anyone looking to do the same. like I said, if you’re gonna loose your shit, you want to know you’re in good hands.
It’s simple. For me, two things mattered the most:
Reputation — A track record of good reviews and publicity. Who are the people who set it up? What is the general vibe of the place? What’s my gut feeling?
Support — Who are the shamans? What’s their story? Did they learn from their shamanic grandparents when they were little or from howtobeashaman.com 6 months ago? Do they speak english? Are there english speaking facilitators to help me understand and process my experiences and make sure I don’t actually become a pink flamingo?
Those two things got me 80% of the way there. Other things I considered are
Max number of people in ceremony — taking ayahuasca is a personal inward journey — how many other people are going to puke, shit, cry and loose their shit next to you? (for RHC it’s 8 — I’ve seen others with 20+, even as many as 60!)
Location — Ecuador turned out to be a nightmare to get to. This depends on everyone’s situation. If you’re flying out especially for it, probably doesn’t matter that much.
Cost — Obviously. But maybe not so obvious. For me, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice on the first 2 points. It’s the first time I’m doing this, it’s bat shit crazy, so I’d rather pay a bit more and relax than be on edge the whole time. At the same time, you don’t want to get ripped off. And you definitely don’t want to pay $50 to a guy in the street. Trust is the most important thing. If you don’t feel safe or you have doubts, it will ruin your experience. Don’t do it.
So I’m glad I sat down to think about it a little before jumping on a bus to Ecuador to go meet my friend’s uncle’s dad’s shaman. 5 years ago might have been a different story!
And with that I grab my bags and jump on a flight to Iquitos.
The prep
I have 3 days in Iquitos on my own before the retreat starts. Like a prepubescent teen’s first kiss, I feel that right mix of nervous and excited. I’m confident I chose the right place and I’d spoken to the owner, Omar, over Skype. He was a genuinely a nice dude with great intentions and I had a good feeling about it all. I use the time I have before the retreat to relax and get myself into a good mindset. I meditate a lot, walk, journal, chill and watch films like Avatar, which — fun fact — I found out was made because James Cameron drank ayahuasca! True story.
As part of taking ayahuasca, one needs to follow a strict diet before and after the ceremonies. No salt, sugar, fat, oil, red meat, dairy, sex or anything fun basically. I need to keep this up for at least a week before the retreat. It’s preparing my body for the plant to work (RHC have some good info about this here). Ayahuasca has a strong purgative effect, so anything unhealthy you put in your body will come straight out, making the ceremonies more difficult. So I obey, and I slowly make my way through all of the ayahuasca friendly cafes in Iquitos which have special menu options for all the crazy folk.
The science
Why on earth has dieting got to do with taking psychedelics you say?
Glad you asked.
Part of it is to do with the purging effect of ayahuasca. The first thing it’ll do is “clean” you out. Much like meditation quiets the mind before spiritual insights can occur, ayahuasca cleans the mind and the body of toxins before any insightful messages can be delivered. These toxins are anything that’s bad for your body. We tend to have pretty salt and sugar heavy diets in the west, drink a lot and love cheese too much. Of course our body is pretty good at cleaning itself over time, but ayahuasca will give you a forcing hand with that. So the idea is to give your body a helping hand and prepare it for a spiritual experience as much as you can beforehand.
There’s a second, and more important reason for the diet. In simple terms, ayahuasca stops certain chemical processes from working in your body, which means that certain foods can’t be broken down properly and could become hazardous.
For the nerds, this happens as follows.
Ayahuasca is made up of two plants: the caapi vine and chakruna leaves. The later contain the chemical compound called DMT (the active ingredient causes the hallucinations) which is only released when brewed together with the caapi vine. This makes the ayahuasca brew. The caapi vine is an MAO inhibitor, meaning it temporarily stops the activation of the monoamine oxidase enzyme. This is needed to process the amino acid tyramine in the body, which is found in some foods. Hence a big reason for the diet is to avoid foods rich in tyramine to prevent it from reaching dangerous levels.
Mixing the caapi vine with chakruna leaves
If you choose a good centre, they will tell you all about the diet and which foods to avoid. If they don’t, take that as a warning sign.
The Journey
The Maloca!
It begins. Fast forward a couple of days and I’m in the Maloca, a beautiful round wooden structure in the middle of an open clearing. The shamans are sitting on the west side protecting the doors to the east from bad spirits. They puff on their Mapacho, giggling to each other from time to time. Soft, kind smiles contour their faces.
We form a semi circle around them, sitting on a folded up mattress, bucket on one side and tissues at the ready. Everyone is silent but the crackling jungle around us. There is a nervous, but calm atmosphere in the room. I feel the same mixture of excitement, curiosity and nerves as when I first arrived in Iquitos. Times 10. There are 2 sober facilitators in the room so I feel safe and well looked after for in case I end up wanting to dig my eyeballs out with a spoon.
I watch people go and shot ayahuasca one by one. It’s my turn. I walk up and kneel down in front of the shamans. Annie, the facilitator, whispers something to them and they pour me a shot of the good stuff. I take it, hold it with both hands, close my eyes and repeat my intention in my head. And down it goes. It tastes like a muddy tree stump. Really bitter, earthy. Not too bad at the time… but my gag reflex is being tested now as I write this.
I go back to my seat and wait patiently for the party to begin. And by patiently, I mean desperately trying not to think of every blog post I read where people were getting buried alive, shot into space or being devoured by snakes.
The candles went out. It was pitch black. Silent. The calm before the storm. I wait for about 30 minutes and then things start happening.
At first, I just felt like I had a bit of flu. My body was heating up. I could feel my pulse everywhere, especially in my head. I felt a little queasy, but I tried not to focus on it too much. The vine was stretching and pulsating inside me. My body, and the sense of reality that it represented, started to bend and shift and I could feel myself holding on for dear life. “This is nuts! Just focus on your breath” I kept saying to myself. Now I was starting to feel pretty nauseous and my stomach felt like it was on fire. If I didn’t think about it, I didn’t need to throw up just yet so I tried to keep it down as long as possible. “Come on aya, stay down there, do your thing”. And it did for a while. But just when I thought I was still in control, all of my insides seemed to squeeze and tense like a slingshot ready to fire. There was no stopping it. When ayahuasca says you puke, you’re going to puke. I felt like an entire ocean fell out of my mouth, then looked down in the bucket and saw a coupe of bits of saliva. Mind officially lost.
I hear the shamans starting to sing an icarus (shamanic chanting and singing) in the background. It’s hard to say exactly what happened next, I lost all sense of time and my mind raced so much that it’s hard to remember everything. I do remember puking quite horrendously a few times and that felt pretty grim. I was very agitated, trying to anticipate what might happen next, judging the experience and wanting to put a label on everything. “Why or what is this?” or “This is happening because of that” type thoughts. I found myself — or rather a voice in the distance — some higher version of myself perhaps, just tell me to relax from time to time, and I could feel my body start to melt in my seat for a few moments.
I felt a lot of emotion release. I found myself yawning extravagantly and making roaring sounds throughout the ceremony — to the point of almost dislocating my jaw — and not because I was tired. I felt some energy move around my body and then shoot out through my mouth in the form of loud yawns. At one point I found myself wiping a river of tears of my face, even though I wasn’t crying or feeling sad in any way. My internal emotions didn’t seem to match what my body was doing.
Later I found out that this is quite normal, and it’s just ayahuasca working on you at a cellular level, way under the radar of your intellect where you can question or understand what’s going on. It’s releasing emotions that get stored in the body over time. Like a massage releases the tension from a few stressful days, ayahuasca digs up and releases all that stored anger from the guy who stole your sunglasses when you were six which you’ve been carrying around for 30 years. I had no idea what it was, but the lesson was just to accept the experience. Whatever was happening, was happening for a reason. They call it medicine, so it’s probably a good thing. So I just tried to go with it.
I was caressing myself a lot, rubbing my arm, my chest, hugging myself, giving myself a head massage. Apparently I needed to give myself some love. I’m pretty hard on myself usually so this made sense. I had all sorts of conversations with myself — most of which I can’t remember.
I didn’t get any crazy visions, or get shot into space, or talk klingon with little green men — to my slight disappointment. I did have a few moments where I saw — more like felt actually — a ton of spiders around me. At the time, I thought that was a bad thing but apparently that represents a web of communication. Not sure what they were trying to communicate, because everything suddenly turned into a rotting forest and died around me. And that’s when I started freaking out a little bit, thinking it was gonna get ugly. But just as I did that, I found myself drawn to the icarous which seemed to somehow pull me out of it. Olinda and Estoban, the two shamans, came and sat next to me at different points throughout the ceremony and bathed me in song and chant. There’s something magical about the icarus and it seemed to have the power to control my experience in many ways. It’s difficult to explain, but I could just feel the energy shift in and around me with the tonalities and frequency of their voice. And my god they can sing! Olinda is a tiny (5” maybe) quiet, amazonian woman but she can sure give Pavaroti a run for his money.
According to them, their singing comes from the spirits that enter them. When they sit down next to me, they are essentially helping me communicate with the spirits, channeling the energy of the good ones, and driving the bad ones away. It sounds mystical and I haven’t seen any angels or elfs yet to make me believe in spirits, so I’m still a little skeptical. But I started thinking of spirits as energy. There are good energies and bad energies around. When you feel depressed or angry that’s a bad energy. When you feel excited, that’s good energy. But where does that energy come from? It’s not physical energy. It’s conscious energy. It’s created by thoughts and by the environment. It’s why you can feel physically tired but mentally awake. Different energies. So I think spirits are a bit like that.
After about 4 hours, the shamans stop singing and start muttering a few words. Their tone is friendly and generous as always. I pick out a few thank yous, and with that they close the ceremony. I had just survived my first ayahuasca ceremony! Fuck yeah. A sense of relief washes over me. I’m still super disoriented, mind still buzzing, senses still tingling. Standing up is a big no no so I lie down in bed and try my best to get some shut eye.
Kitchen / Dinning room / Hang out space
Second Ceremony
One down, four to go. I was a little more calm and prepared for the second ceremony. I knew what to expect a bit more now. It started with reality collapsing in on itself — kind of like that city bending scene from Inception (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG22TcpjRnY). It’s as though something was saying “forget everything you know and pay attention”. I started seeing loads of spiders and snakes around me. I started feeling a sense of fear, gradually building up. I wasn’t scared of the spiders or the snakes. I had seem them before, I knew they weren’t there to harm me. I still don’t know what I was scared about. It was just a feeling of fear. I stayed with it, watching it and letting it just be there. It got stronger and stronger, to the point that I was physically shaking at one point. But I was detached from it. I was above it somehow, watching everything that was happening to me from above. Then all of a sudden, I felt an instant urge to puke. I grabbed my bucket and unloaded with everything I had. I felt as though a vine had wrapped itself around the fear, around my stomach and my insides and was shooting out of my mouth at gale force. I felt like a screaming, chundering dragon. I felt like someone had just performed an exorcism on me.
After that little number, I felt pretty sober for the rest of the ceremony. It was over in half an hour. At first, I thought ‘Was that it?’ But I woke up the next morning feeling really good about myself, a sense of calm confidence and peace. I felt a sense of clarity and peacefulness that I’ve only felt after intense meditation on retreats.
“Purging”, as it’s called in the ayahuasca circles, is the release of toxins from your body. This generally happens at the start of the journey. It can be physical toxins stored up in your body, maybe because you chow down too many family size KFC buckets every month. Or it could be emotional or mental toxins — negativity, anger, stress, frustration, anxiety, fear. And the way one purges is different for everybody. A lot of people puke. Others yawn, scream, dance, sweat or shit themselves. But that’s shit that needs to come out. It’s ayahuasca pulling out a handful. It takes control, digs deep, finds what you’ve been avoiding and brings it to the surface for it to be faced and released. For me — this time — it was fear. God knows about what, it was just a feeling with no specific images attached to it, that disappeared the moment I unloaded it into that bucket.
After two ceremonies, I had purged a lot, I had some interesting experiences and mild visions, but nothing really life changing or shocking. Nothing close to what I had read in The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide — a great book by James Fadiman that wipes clean the “druggie” label of natural, psychedelic plants and lays out their uses and benefits for human development. In the book, a few people share stories about their experiences on Ayahuasca, and it sounds bat shit crazy compared to what I experienced. Here’s a quote:
“That’s when the scanning began. It was like the medicine plant had a lot of entities working for it, and although I couldn’t see them, my body was being scanned and sliced and diced in every direction as if through a giant cheese grater, Later I realised what I was describing could have been interpreted as an alien abduction. It was not frightening, but it was overwhelming. I certainly hoped they knew what they were doing. My DNA, my entire operating system, was being re-programmed — and fast. Billions of terabytes of information were shuttling through every cell”
That was described by Michael Wiese in the book, and even though I wasn’t looking to replicate his experience, the intensity and scale of it come across much grander than what I experienced. I was starting to doubt this. Sure I puked out some fear and I had a million conversations with myself — but I didn’t feel THAT different. I didn’t have any big epiphanies or realisations or visions. There was no slicing and dicing of my DNA.
I mentioned all of this — some of this — to our facilitator, Annie. Her response was “Next time, you drink from the big cup”.
Third Ceremony
And down the hatch it goes. A double dose of the good stuff. I thank the shamans, give Annie a I-hope-this-doesn’t-kill-me type look and I sit and wait anxiously for what’s about to happen.
What happened next is a bit of a blur but I’ve managed to piece things together from my journal, stories and my vague memories.
As I sat there I started to feel the ayahuasca coursing through my body. Much much stronger this time. My breathing got heavier. Images and thoughts started bending and blending and seemed to fly past me at lightning speed. It got faster and faster.
I started talking to myself at what seemed like a million miles an hour. Out loud. I was trying to work out what was going on, holding on for dear life to some sense of normality. I remember something along the following lines:
“This is fucking nuts. I can’t believe I was doubting this. OH MY GOD. This is fucking crazy. Ok. Calm down. I’m still here. I’m the one saying all these things. So I’m still aware of myself. But if I’m aware of all these things happening to me, who is experiencing them? Who am I really? Am I saying all this out loud? Shit I wonder what everyone else is thinking. Oh my god this is ridiculous….”
I felt totally out of control. I was scared shitless. Every second that went past seemed like an hour. I was calling for Annie every 5 minutes thinking I had lost it. I felt out of control, as though I wasn’t really there. My body was doing it’s own thing, saying what it wanted to say, moving how it wanted to move. I was just watching from afar. I noticed how I was trying to control the experience rather than just let it happen. I was trying to anticipate and explain everything that was happening. That was a lesson for everyday life too. I’ve read a million books on the subject, practiced a lot of meditation, but this seemed to hit home hard. Just let go! Mum would be proud!
The journey continued for about 4 hours in a similar manner. I had some good conversations with myself, puked a bit, cried a bit but mostly just tried to ride out the storm. Here’s an exert from my journal:
“Pretty sure I was playing with my pubes at one point, dribbling all over myself thinking I was a pink flamingo”
Yeah, it got pretty freaky. I had these vivid images of pink flamingos everywhere. I was one of them of course, in both sound and image form. I vaguely remember a pitch perfect animal call just emanating out of me. Apparently I CAN sing in key.
Now here comes the real shocker. After talking to my girlfriend afterwards, it turns out she was on the Galapagos islands looking at pink flamingos at that exact same day and the exact same time. Yes, really. Make of that what you will, but that’s too strange of a coincidence if you ask me. I had never seen a pink flamingo in my life. Maybe a picture when i was a kid. The force is real everyone!
It was a crazy ass ceremony and I was just glad I survived it. I tried to take some lessons from it but it was hard as balls when you’re dodging flamingos flying past you at the speed of light. Nevertheless, I think I got two big things out of it.
I saw how much my brain was trying to anticipate and explain what was happening. How many “why” questions I was asking. I’ve always been curious about how things work and why things are the way they are. Recently, my attention had turned inward and I had started asking those questions about myself. A productive journey in the long run (or so I’m told), but painful and confusing in the short term. I had maybe become a bit obsessed with why I think what I think. In a bid to become more self aware, I turned my mind onto itself — and things got a bit messy. Meditation teaches awareness. Awareness of self, of actions and speech and sensations. And thoughts. And in trying to become more self aware and to resolve some personal issues, I had started thinking about my thoughts more. But with that often came more thoughts and judgement — the opposite of awareness. So I’ve got some back-pedalling to do.
The other big lesson I got was seeing how much I judge myself and how pointless it is. Think about it. We beat ourselves up every day for saying the wrong thing, farting in lifts and not having our shit together. But what’s the point? It just makes you feel embarrassed and hate yourself. It never actually helps with solving or improving the situation. ANY situation. I’ll go so far as saying even a murderer shouldn’t judge himself. It’s not about justifying it. Obviously murder is terrible and he should probably be in prison. He should take responsibility for it, but adding “I’m so fucked up” to it, just causes pain. Just like farting in a packed lift. You can own it and silently giggle to yourself, or you can tighten up into a ball of worry and despair that everyone’s judging your blow hole.
The next day I was recked. I thought I was done. I thought I had experienced the power of ayahuasca. All doubts about it’s ability to shoot my brain out of a canon have been eliminated.
Yet I had 2 more ceremonies left. I didn’t have the energy. I thought about leaving early. I felt like I had a million things to process. But I fought that urge and I decided to stay and see it through to the end.
And I’m glad I did. Throughout my whole time at the retreat, people talked about spirits and as I’ve said before, I was skeptical. I never quite got it. Until now.
Estoban manning the ayahuasca brew
Fourth Ceremony
I took a smaller cup this time and it produced a totally different experience. A sense of calmness came over me shortly after drinking. I did’t puke. I felt a presence around me. Like a loving child giggling and playing around me. I felt a tickling sensation on my feet. First on one, then the other. Like someone was tickling me with a feather. This happened multiple times, and I had to check there was no one there. There wasn’t. I felt something gently stroking my arm, my forehead, my feet and my legs. It was done with the utmost care and love.
All of a sudden I felt a big surge of energy lift up through me, from the base of my spine to the top of my head. It was lifting, positive, loving. I’ve never experienced anything like it. It felt like my soul was lifting out of my body. Whatever that means.
“Holy shit, spirits are real” — I shouted in my head. Was this the spirit of ayahuasca? Was this what people talked about?
I tried to talk to it but I got nothing back. It was working silently. I could feel the energy shift and now I felt this pinching, zapping sensation in my forehead. It felt like someone performing brain surgery on me, reprogramming my brain. This got more and more intense, to the point where the zaps became quite painful, and again I had to check there was nothing or no one there. There wasn’t.
That was another important lesson for me to just let things be and not try to put labels on things. Spirits, consciousness, energy, whatever these things are doesn’t really matter. It’s the experience in the moment that matters, and the lessons you draw from it afterwards.
Fifth ceremony
The last ceremony was pretty chilled. I found it unusually hard to remember what happened — maybe my brain’s had enough medicine for now! There was one key moment where I felt a moment of calmness and peacefulness and I just felt really content with myself and with the world. The phrase “being connected to your higher self” comes to mind. Everything was great, I was the conductor in the orchestra of life. I also thought, since this is my last ceremony, I’d go big and ask “Who am I?”. Here’s a small exert from my journal:
“I felt my consciousness go into the trees, the nature, the other people in the room. I felt a little part of me in everything. Although part of me was directing the experience by asking questions like ‘Am I that tree?’, I tried to feel it and felt a sense of love and oneness with nature.”
And that was a thought I was happy to end on. The purging in the first few ceremonies helped me get rid of whatever I needed to get rid of. The pink flamingoes helped me recognise and appreciate the power of this crazy medicine. But the real value came from the last couple of ceremonies for me, where ironically I drank less ayahuasca. I was less afraid of it, I had learnt how to work with the medicine a bit better. I was gently being guided towards answers to my questions, rather than being thrown into the moshpit. But I needed some tough love to get there. At the end, I was tired and emotional and I didn’t fully appreciate it. I didn’t have a life changing experience. It didn’t feel as profound as people had described it to me. I wasn’t enlightened god dam it!
But after a couple of months, as I reflect and write this, I would do it all over again. I can see the multiple levels at which Ayahuasca worked on me. I care less about things I used to care about before. My body feels amazing, I’ve naturally gravitated towards a more vegan/vegetarian diet and I don’t really crave alcohol any more. I realised that all of the “bad” ceremonies needed to happen in order for me to let go of some things and get to some good insights.
I didn’t leave there with any radical new ideas about what to do with my life or who I need to be, nor did I have any strong desires for spiritual pursuits. I just left with less bags than I entered, a better view of myself and a bunch of crazy stories to share.
That was my experience and everyone’s is different. I wrote this to tell my story, shed some light on what Ayahuasca is and isn’t and hopefully help others looking to go on a journey.
I’ll end by saying a big thanks for everyone at Rainforest Healing Centre for what they’ve built and what they do.
Peace and love! | https://medium.com/@alexflorisca/when-i-was-a-pink-flamingo-an-ayahuasca-journey-5fa244c7c8da | ['Alex Florisca'] | 2019-05-27 10:13:08.457000+00:00 | ['Ayahuasca', 'Peru', 'Psychedelics', 'Shamanism', 'Spirituality'] |
The double standard and Domestic violence | Note: This article only expresses the opinion of its author.
Domestic Violence!
The danger threatening all families. I am not a sociology researcher to give numbers or the results of this violence.
I will only give my opinion as I talked earlier about the double discourse on social media and the media, it may be correct, it may be wrong or subject to discussion.
In previous days, I noticed images of awareness of domestic violence and its consequences on children, and this is in fact a good thing to spread awareness in a society that sometimes normalizes violence
But the strange thing about these pictures is that the victim is always the mother and the child, with the father’s hand visible to indicate that he is the one who has exerted violence on the mother.
Most of the images use the same method. So much so, that society considers that only the male is capable of projecting violence
[ The attached picture is the search result for the word domestic violence and this is the result of the search. All victims are female, and most of the results depict the man as the aggressor with the absence of the man as the victim ]
At the same time, I see some feminist protests over the use of women in television commercials related to washing, cleaning, or cooking
In fact, male or female (or others). We all cook, clean, and wash
By analogy with the second event. Why is the man absent from being the victim of the wife’s domestic violence?
Domestic violence may be practiced by any party, marital rape may be committed by either male or female
Domestic violence may be directed more against women, but some men are victims, and not talking about men who are victims of domestic violence is a normalization of violence against them.
Today, when we use the word violence always draw a woman, is the victim, as well as mental illness and even suicide
Today the society is completely normalized with violence against men and the absence of the psychological health of men, considering it as lack of manhood, and the word “Man Up “ is used by mothers, fathers, and the whole surrounding in general
This is not a negation of violence against women, but rather an evocation of the fact that domestic violence is a crime against ourselves, regardless of our gender, And that we must deal with this violence in the same way, regardless of the gender of the victim
Today, social media and media discourse is directed the same way. To the extent that social networking sites are mostly filled with hatred, so that the modern generation has become imprinted with violence against men, while we must educate our new generation that there is no difference between human beings, regardless of color, gender, and sexual orientation, so we all have equal rights and duties.
Double standards suffocate us all, sow hatred, and will be a tool for shattering future generations. | https://medium.com/@fedytizaoui/the-double-standard-and-domestic-violence-f4db79b887ae | ['Fedy Tizaoui'] | 2020-11-24 19:06:12.645000+00:00 | ['Abuse', 'Domestic Violence', 'Feminism', 'Social Media', 'Domestic Abuse'] |
What Machines Don’t “See” … Yet. | As of 2020, we have come a long way with respects to applying novel learning algorithms through deep learning to vision tasks — otherwise a characteristic feature of most living beings that move.
In “narrow” tasks like object detection and classification, different labs have reported “better than human” level performance of machines.
However, multiple bottlenecks have arose in the application of these algorithms to “real world” where humans still have a massive generalizing upper hand.
A rather simple research work on corrupting MNIST data, dubbed MNIST-C, highlights this difference quite well. The gist being that distorting/corrupting images of MNIST (handwritten numbers) while keeping the semantic structure of the numbers intact, confuses some of the best models that report high accuracy on the clean test data, but not humans.
One way forward then would be to create massive amounts of training data for machines to generalize to the real world like us. These datasets would account for as much possible distortions or out of distribution events there can be out there. By today's standards this would turn out to be an enormous task with a seemingly infinite “long tail problem” where we keep missing out on possible deviations from the training data.
Other alternates, not talked about as often, is to look at the biological underpinnings of vision and their evolution in living beings. One major drawback of datasets for computer vision today, is that the vast majority is made up of labelled 2D images. These images do not represent the real world as it has been appearing to living/moving/seeing beings. Even if we do collect massive image datasets that seem to capture an extremely broad range of objects and their categories, learning models trained on them would still lack 2 key concepts that could be needed for effective generalization.
First, before we compare human vision to computer vision, I believe, we need to represent motion to machines.
Most things we identify as single whole objects, when moved, move together as a single entity. For things that are fluid, like water and sand, we club together the individual particles/molecules and generalize the collection to, well, water and sand. When we look at a dog, we may have inbuilt mechanisms that identify separate aspects like the eye, ears, nose, fur etc. but the human mind has a bias to detect the dog as a whole and would “know” to expect a tail even when it is hidden from the eye. This is categorically different from current computer vision abilities of deep neural networks where the convolution layers try to identify, in isolation, each minute features first before collating them together as a whole, all while being prone to occlusion.
There is also the aspect of real world cause and effect being fluid and biological neurons, by design, have “spiking” signals to model that fluidity. With computational limits, though, we find ourselves discretising signals and operating on instances called frames/images. Recurring through time, or paying attention to events as they unfold in time to even detect objects would perhaps yield a better machine representation of objects. Mechanisms for time series have already been modeled in machines for non vision tasks through Recurrent Neural Networks, LSTMS, and Transformers. At the expense of immense compute, vision algorithms could benefit from attention like learning from videos. Short videos of dogs would consistently expose the beast in its totality to the machine and from “You Only Look Once” we shift to “keep looking till you see the whole damn thing” paradigm.
If, instead of MNIST, we had a datasets of videos that capture the written digits while they are being written (like children see in kindergarten), learning models could recognize not only how numbers are, but also how numbers come to be. If knowing what sequence of “something” makes up a number, what that number is made off, could then be deemed irrelevant — be it white pixels in black background, or black pixels in white, or any other distortions that maintains semantics. Only training on such datasets and then testing can reveal how effective these methods turn out to be. Granted, that by current standards even such video datasets would be massive, but efforts in that direction may just provide a better “understanding” to machines about the world we live in.
Another aspect is that of depth in a 3-Dimensional spatial world. How far a prey or predator is, has always been vital information for the survival of living beings. By augmenting images to zoom in and zoom out an object for deep learning models, what we effectively tell them is that “the object can come in many sizes” when we actually want to say “the object is close or far away”. This misconstrues the concept of objects and their sizes (both absolute and relative) for machines. Robustness to occlusion can also see improvement when instead of telling machines that dogs “may not always have a tail” we rather imbue the bias “a tail is probably hidden behind the dog”. Again, modeling 3-Dimensional images is already underway but implementing them “just” for detecting hundreds of thousands of objects will test the best of hardware.
Now imagine the technical challenges of representing a moving 3-Dimensional world to deep learning systems with 3D convolutions and transformers (or something). Thanks to billions of years of evolution, we humans are extremely good at generalizing concepts from a 3D (space) moving (time) world — so good, in fact, that for us it is enough to look at 2D images and infer not just the third missing spatial dimension but also a bit of the history, possible future, and abstract emotions! It would thus be unfair to show machines 2D, static representations and then expect them to generalize as good as ourselves to real world scenarios. I understand this proposal seems far fetched, yet I think learning is not about the limits of hardware, compute, or data. Effective modeling of the real world is sure going to be challenging and resource hungry but for now they seem to be the better alternative from a purely hypothetical computer vision and machine learning stand point. | https://medium.com/swlh/what-machines-dont-see-82598299bcea | ['Mrinal Sourav'] | 2020-12-19 09:55:31.258000+00:00 | ['AI', 'Computer Vision', 'Deep Learning', 'Machine Learning', 'Machine Intelligence'] |
You Want to Pursue Equality? Consider Socialism | In contemporary political literature, when egalitarian frameworks are thought of, socialism is a relatively-new entry to the conversation. For the longest time, market dynamics were posited as the only means to assign each entity what it was rightfully owed — work hard and you’ll be compensated adequately, the wisdom often goes. Socialism subverts that by apportioning return not according to what is input in it, but what we as a society have collectively agreed should be provided for regardless — it means that the non-working population who’re beckoned by market forces to plead for aid as they starve and die, are now a class whose more-productive counterpart ensures that they are just as prosperous.
That’s fundamentally at the core of the Marxist belief in concentration of capital being the cause and effect of society’s own inequities — socialism rectifies that by combining a sort of moral radicalism with the conceit that whatever is implemented won’t be to anyone’s full liking, but it’ll be to everyone’s benefit. The healthy provide for the sick, the young for the old, the able-bodied for the disabled, and so on — a society in which the values of collective solidarity are deeply embedded in its collective consciousness, is one that won’t struggle with seeing to its future a more egalitarian one.
The relativism enveloping conversations around equality remains their greatest handicap. Libertarians would often like to argue against wealth reassignment as if it isn’t just a more institutionally-accountable form of asserting natural ownership, and traditional capitalists are no less oblivious to the ways that so much of their wealth would become null if the state — society’s chief market manipulator — ceased to exist. Without the state, the concept of ownership cannot be upheld, and it can through sheer power of will decide that some have owned far more than they should, while others are perishing under the weight of utter destitution.
To say that socialism is the egalitarian framework, doesn’t mean that there aren’t others similarly-purposed — it’s just that the aim of the project necessitates achieving most of its objectives, and no other comes even close to offering a compelling alternative. Communism is far too state-centered to encompass the scale at which this project would be undertaken, anarchism’s conception of power is so diffused that whatever equality achieved will vary wildly depending on locale, and liberalism has through its current iteration abdicated all responsibility to govern, backsliding into a cynical disregard of the populace instead — socialism, which in its current advocacies is a hybrid of all that has proven to best jive with the needs of modern society, has about the best chance to make a change where it most counts.
It’s not to say that socialism itself hasn’t taken from traditions much less egalitarian to bolster its own case, but it’s how it builds upon them that makes it truly unique. Unlike the capitalistic status quo — which seems to lack all moral impetus to self-reflect — socialism is an ideology in which the reconsideration of elements perilous to its ultimate goal is actively encouraged — this means that there’s no pursuit of a long-lost orthodoxy, as much as a constant readjustment to fit which new paths towards equality there are to chart. It’s a decidedly more-effective form of purpose self-preservation than the thin valence of “freedom” that capitalism has decided would be its most-noble cause.
When past eras spring to mind, the limited means of man come up as an obstacle for truly realizing their final form — both physical and intellectual — but what if we thought about the project of society’s betterment not as one where the end goal is personal fulfillment, but one where every member of society’s needs are met? It requires great altruism yes, but we have it in ourselves to muster a little bit more, if only for it is the foundational piece of all human civilization.
Of course, transforming our society into a socialist one won’t have to end with the inking of its values on paper — unless our implicit norms reinforce an egalitarian view of the world by embodying a socialist ethic, the project of socialism will inevitably be met with failure. It’s why in its most radical manifestations in Latin America, it never really managed to transcend its symbolicity well into political praxis. Socialism isn’t just a smattering of flags lathered with shades of yellow, dark and red, plastered all over with hammers and sickles — it is the recognition that the state’s central role is to act against man’s worst instincts and rectify economic injustice by siphoning labor’s collective power to institute the most radical forms of wealth redistribution, putting an end to all material deprivation in the process.
Much of our rhetoric about wealth is mired in deservance or divine retribution — if not explicitly in a secular society, certainly influenced by Christian tradition — but what if money ceased to be an object where scarcity defined its pursuit? What if all could be provided for such that the question of absolute equality down to its minute components would become moot? These are questions that our society seems currently ill-equipped to answer, but they’re ones we’ll have to address in order to achieve a semblance of egalitarianism in the future — not one where fallacious symmetry compels our indifference, but one where the conditions of the unjustly-treated see to an immediate improvement thanks to a hard-coded belief in the tenets of equality, regardless of how impractical pr utopian they may seem. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/equality-socialism-income-wealth-inequality-poverty-capitalism-neoliberalism-af9e377437d4 | ['A. Khaled'] | 2020-08-21 12:44:25.423000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Socialism', 'Society', 'Poverty', 'Equality'] |
Illustrated Introduction to Linear Algebra using NumPy | Matrix and Vector Products
In this section, we will discuss the various types of matrix and vector products we can calculate through the in-built functions of NumPy.
Dot Product
We can use np.dot(a,b) to perform a dot product of two matrices.
We can pass an optional output ( out ) argument to describe what kind of output we need. In particular, it must have the right type, must be C-contiguous, and it’s dtype must be what was returned for the dot product. This optional argument is a performance feature therefore, rather than being flexible, an exception is returned in case of any inconsistencies.
For a detailed description, check the documentation page for the function.
Note: If both a and b are 2-D matrices, using matmul is preferred.
Inner Product
We can use np.inner(a,b) to perform an ordinary inner product of two vectors.
When higher-dimension matrices are passed as arguments, we get a sum product of the last axes.
For a detailed description, check the documentation page for the function.
Outer Product
We can use the np.outer(a,b) to perform an ordinary outer product of two vectors. If higher dimensional matrices are passed on as arguments, they are flattened into a 1-D array before performing the operation.
We can use the optional output ( out ) argument. It works similarly to the output argument in the dot product function.
For a detailed description, check the documentation page for the function.
Matrix Multiplication
We can use np.matmul(a,b) to perform matrix multiplication on two matrices. If higher dimensional matrices are passed on an input, we process them as a stack of matrices with the dimensions of the last two axes. Broadcasting takes care of any dimensionality differences.
Look at the animation below to get a better understanding of the process of matrix multiplication.
For a detailed description, check the documentation page for the function.
Einstein Summation
We can implement Einstein Summation in NumPy through np.einsum .
Einstein Summation is generally used to speed up complex operations for arrays and matrices. In order to get a basic understanding of the effectiveness of this function, let’s look at a small example.
Consider two matrices A and B; let’s suppose we want to multiple them element-wise and then we want the sum along axis-1 (rows of the array).
Normally, in NumPy, we would first need to reshape A, and then we will have to broadcast it onto B to multiply ‘0’ with the first row, ‘1’ with the second row and ‘2’ with the third row. This would give us a new array where we could perform the summation along axis-1.
However, if we use einsum , we do not need to reshape A at all, and more importantly, we won’t have to make a temporary array while performing the operations. Instead, einsum simply sums up the products along the row as it goes. Look at the code snippet below to see how both of these methods are implemented in code.
Even in such a small-scale example, the einsum implementation is thrice as fast as the “basic approach”. Einstein summation does solve the problem of speed and space, however, it can be hard to understand the syntax and call signatures used to perform these operations. Here’s a handy cheat-sheet to help with some basic operations.
When A and B are compatible one-dimensional arrays; Source
When A and B are compatible two-dimensional arrays; Source
Einstein summation is a very lengthy topic to get into in this blog, therefore we won’t be covering it in depth. However, in order to get a better understanding of how einsum works in NumPy, have a look at this very helpful blog by Alex Riley.
Kronecker Product
We can compute the Kronecker product of two arrays by using np.kron . In mathematics, Kronecker product (denoted by ⊗ ) is an operation where two matrices of arbitrary size are given as inputs and we get a block matrix as the output. It is a generalisation of the outer product (which is also denoted by ⊗ ). This operation is not to be confused with basic matrix multiplication. Look at the illustration and code snippet below to understand how it works.
For a detailed description, check the documentation of this function. | https://medium.com/@kaaanishk/illustrated-introduction-to-linear-algebra-using-numpy-11d503d244a1 | ['Kanishk Srivastava'] | 2019-06-23 19:11:35.599000+00:00 | ['Linear Algebra', 'Numpy', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization', 'Machine Learning'] |
Reflection on Amal Totkay | Amal Academy has given me a platform to find the inner ‘ME’. Today I have learned about Amal Totkay. Each and every totka will lead you to success. These Totkay are mentioned as:
Self-talk
Get out of your comfort zone
Create a new Habit
Ask people help
Fake it until you make it
AMAL TOTKA Take-aways
Always say ‘I can do it’
Daily write your Do’s and Dont’s.
Have constructive feedback on your work and seek help to improve it.
Donot hesitate to try new things. Make a habit to explore new things.
My favourite AMAL TOTKA
Create New Habit: Adopting new habit is very necessary for a better transition from a fixed to growth mindset. Make a habit of noting down every day achievement and learning. Fake it until you make it: Be confident that you will do it, if want to achieve something, acts as you have already achieved that. It will boost your confidence and you’ll definitely make it.
Amal Totkay Implementation
I have started noting down my daily learnings. Amal Academy has taught me that you cannot achieve anything in your comfort zone. Be confident to yourself and say, yes I can do it.
What can they do to develop a Growth Mindset beginning from Today?
To develop a growth mindset you have to come out of your comfort zone and make habit of noting down and approach people to help you in growing. | https://medium.com/@asharahmed/reflection-on-amal-totkay-8200fdbdec76 | ['Ashar Ahmed'] | 2020-12-25 07:59:03.053000+00:00 | ['Amal Totkay', 'Amal Academy'] |
And the People Could Fly: January Collection Highlight at the High | In recent years, the American South has become the nexus of film production. On commission from the High Museum, Alex Harris began photographing this wave of filmmaking that swept through the South, focusing his attention on the many independent productions that were underway from Louisiana to Virginia. As a native Southerner, Harris is interested in how his home is seen, imagined, and created through cinematic storytelling. And the People Could Fly, Columbia, South Carolina, shows actress Jasiatic Anderson smoking a cigarette on an outdoor patio. Harris photographed the scene on the set of writer and director Roni Henderson’s film And the People Could Fly in Columbia, South Carolina.
Alex Harris, (American, born 1949) And the People Could Fly, Columbia, South Carolina, 2018. Pigmented inkjet print. Commissioned with funds from the H. B. and Doris Massey Charitable Trust and the Picturing the South Fund, 2015.473
This piece is part of the exhibition Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex Harris, which is the latest chapter in the ongoing Picturing the South project, for which the High Museum commissions artists to create original bodies of work that offer new perspectives on the South’s social and geographical landscapes.
Gregory Harris, the High’s Associate Curator of Photography, discusses And the People Could Fly, Columbia, South Carolina, in the video above. If you’d like to learn more, join us on February 8 for Conversations with Contemporary Artists: Alex Harris at the High.
Come see this work on the Lower Level of the Wieland Pavilion in our special exhibition Our Strange New Land: Photographs by Alex Harris, on view through May 3, 2020. This is just one of more than seventeen thousand artworks in our rotating collection. It’s all here for you! | https://medium.com/high-museum-of-art/and-the-people-could-fly-january-collection-highlight-at-the-high-25eaa06d3ae4 | ['High Museum Of Art'] | 2020-04-09 15:23:23.229000+00:00 | ['Filmmaking', 'Documentary', 'Art History', 'Film', 'Photography'] |
Why Should You Be Rubber Duck Debugging? | Does it have to be a rubber duck?
No — I don’t even use one.
To be honest, when I decided to purchase a rubber duck I soon realized it’s hard to find one that is neither sold in a pack of 20+ nor 8+ inches in size. Due to this, I began asking other engineers if they practiced rubber duck debugging and found out most of who I asked did — even if some didn’t know what it was — but none used an actual rubber duck.
Someone used their cat, someone used their house plants, and another said they used their significant other — bless their heart for letting their engineer partner chew their ear off. The practice is much more important than the tool, for sure. You just need a judgment-free object — or a willing partner! — that will sit there and smile as you explain your problem.
One could have some fun with this and use a collectible figurine from a video-game, movie, or comic. Personally, I was playing way too much Nintendo Switch at the time and used this as an excuse to purchase a Link amiibo. It’s small enough to easily fit on my tiny pandemic desk and the figure’s face is somehow neutral yet determined (to help me solve my issue?).
What if you really like the idea of a simple rubber duck? Well, as I said earlier, if you’re looking online it’s hard to find rubber ducks that are neither huge nor sold in bulk. Although, the bulk rubber duck option might be a good idea for team building and possibly improving your team’s productivity. Hey, maybe your manager can expense it 😉.
Disclosure: This section contains affiliate links which if used to buy something may earn me a commission at no extra cost to you. | https://medium.com/swlh/why-should-you-be-rubber-duck-debugging-66fc847c2836 | ['Paul Mannarino'] | 2020-11-25 07:19:39.792000+00:00 | ['Remote Working', 'Debugging', 'Programming', 'Productivity Hacks', 'Coding'] |
Токены Olympus Labs стали доступны на Radar Relay, децентрализованной системе ретрансляции — безбиржевого обмена токенов | Olympus puts the power of blockchain in the palm of your hand-with a groundbreaking blockchain-based financial ecosystem and d-app marketplace for investors and developers.
Follow | https://medium.com/olympuslabsbc/%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8B-olympus-labs-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%B4%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%83%D0%BF%D0%BD%D1%8B-%D0%BD%D0%B0-radar-relay-%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5-%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BB%D1%8F%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8-b81f1eca965d | ['Olympus Labs'] | 2018-06-01 11:57:53.881000+00:00 | ['Russian'] |
Digital identity through humanistic personalization | credit Chris Yates (Unsplash)
You just got a new drone and you want it to be super smart! Maybe it should detect whether workers are properly wearing their helmets or how big the cracks on a factory rooftop are.
By Augustin Ador — 12 min read | https://towardsdatascience.com/digital-identity-through-humanistic-personalization-8131d4c3def0 | ['Tds Editors'] | 2020-09-08 13:36:01.943000+00:00 | ['The Daily Pick'] |
Live. Laugh. Love. | I am privileged to be a member of a men’s vocal ensemble. This season, a segment of our repertoire spoke of humanity’s connection to the earth, with themes of nature, healing, peace, and the value of hard work. Our director likes the songs to be introduced, as most of them have a great story and communicate a meaningful message.
I was invited to introduce this block of songs. Not being sure of what I wanted to say (which is unusual for me), I began reading some poets who make frequent use of these themes. Still, I couldn’t find anything that fit in the way I thought it should.
I live on 63 acres, which includes woods, a multiple acre pond, and a substantial garden, all surrounded by organic farmland; I decided to take a walk to my favorite hill that overlooks all these scenes and sit for a while. The poem that I am sharing with you now is the result of my thoughts, observations, and reflections. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Fall, In Love
Peace all around.
Her cool laughter echoes across the tranquil lake, receiving a gentle, rippling reply.
Whisper still.
Towering majestic colors chatter in response to her soft, delicate voice, and relinquish their grasp under the influence of her persuasive song.
Whisper still.
Memories of recent days flood my senses;
The muffled tapping of my hoe as it prepares the earth for new life;
The warm, smiling sun upon my back;
The fresh scent following an afternoon shower;
The hint of green poking its infant head from the dark, loamy soil;
The sweet juice of the first ripe strawberry;
Whisper still.
How often she has beckoned to me, and instead I have chosen the sights and sounds of a world to which she does not belong, cannot understand, and where her melodies cannot be heard.
The noise, the clamor, the seemingly endless melancholy cycles amidst meaningless rush and roar seek to tear me from her grasp.
Whisper still.
The days of my life flurry away as the hurried leaves upon her breath.
Yet, she nurtures, loves, waits, still.
All for which I labor, strive, and toil will not purchase another second of what I miss; that which I dismiss.
“Be still,” I hear her say. “Listen. Love. Laugh. Live.”
She continues forever, and someday, I shall join her in an everlasting embrace.
Peace all around. | https://medium.com/it-s-in-the-text/live-laugh-love-610d70bda448 | ['S. Edwin Rufener'] | 2017-11-23 14:30:36.644000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Happiness', 'Thanksgiving', 'Earth', 'Peace'] |
Davis Instruments AirLink air quality sensor review: A professional air quality monitor for your home | Davis Instruments AirLink air quality sensor review: A professional air quality monitor for your home Renee Dec 21, 2020·4 min read
Three things set Davis Instruments’s air quality monitor apart from the competition. First, its AirLink monitor can detect particulate matter as small as 1 micron that’s floating in the air; the competition we’ve reviewed is only capable of detecting particles measuring 2.5-microns or larger. Second, the AirLink can be deployed indoors or out; everything else we’ve reviewed is designed for indoor use only. And third, AirLink reports its findings to Davis’ WeatherLink software, so the sensor can be used in conjunction with the company’s highly regarded weather stations.
The AirLink is a deceptively simple piece of hardware. Its ABS plastic housing measures 2 x 3.5 x 1 inches (HxWxD) and is bare of ornamentation apart from the Davis logo embossed on top. The sensor can be set freely on a tabletop or mounted to a wall via a bracket attached to the back of the housing. It can also be used outdoors and has an operating temperature of 14°F to 140°F. Should you decide to deploy it outdoors, you can slip a second plastic cover over it, which increases its dimensions to 4 x 4.5 x 1.5 inches. Keep in mind that you’ll need to plug the sensor into an AC outlet.
[ Further reading: The best indoor air quality monitors ]The AirLink provides a range of air quality data similar to other air quality sensors. It pulls real-time data from the NowCast air quality index, tracks air quality trends, displays weather data, and delivers real-time text and email alerts about changes in air quality.
Davis Instruments The AirLink can be placed on a tabletop or mounted to a wall.
The list of pollutants the AirLink monitors is pretty short compared to other sensors. It tracks only particulate matter, the mix of particles and droplets in the air produced by our environment. Some particles, such as dust and smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen by the naked eye. Others—those with a particle diameter of 10 microns or less—are too small to be visible without an electron microscope and are fine enough to be inhaled. These are classified as PM10, PM2.5, and PM1, with the number denoting their diameter: 10 microns, 2.5 microns, and 1 micron.
Mentioned in this article Awair Element Read TechHive's reviewSee it These particles can get deep in your lungs, exacerbating existing medical problems such as asthma and heart disease and causing allergy-like symptoms and shortness of breath in otherwise healthy people. PM1, which is less commonly tracked by consumer-level air quality monitors, has recently been strongly linked to the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. Davis’ AirLink tracks all three types.
Before setting up the sensor, you’ll need to download and register an account in Davis’ WeatherLink app. Then, making sure Bluetooth is enabled on your phone, tap the Account icon in the upper right of the app’s home screen, tap the Add button next to Devices, and choose AirLink. From that point, the app effectively walks you through powering on and connecting the sensor.
Like any effective air quality sensor, the AirLink pulls hyperlocal air quality data (it asks for access to your location during the setup process) to contextualize your home’s readings. An overview of the most salient information is displayed right at the top of the apps’ home screen: the current AQI score as well the score for the previous hour; the current weather; PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 readings; indoor temperature and humidity; and sunrise and sunset times. It’s an at-a-glance snapshot perfect for quick check-ins.
Davis Instruments The AirLink can be used outdoors with its protective cover in place.
That was all I needed to know most of the time, but more detailed air quality information is displayed in designated sections as you scroll down the screen. In order, you get a full 7-day and hourly weather forecast; finer parsing of AQI readings, including an hourly average; indoor temperature/humidity/heat index readings; and a Records section that lets you view the high and low AQI for any particular day that your AirLink has been in use. You can jump directly to any of these sections by selecting the appropriate icon from a fly-out toolbar on the right of the app.
Mentioned in this article Davis Instruments Vantage Vue Read TechHive's reviewMSRP $395.00See it This is all included with the free Basic plan. You can upgrade to the Pro plan for $3.95 per month via in-app purchase to increase the speed of data uploads and to get historical data and charts along with monthly summaries. A $7.95-per-month Pro+ plan is also available, but add-ons like “Pest Management tools” suggest it’s aimed at industrial users.
The AirLink is a pretty utilitarian device, as you’d expect from a company whose business is professional-grade environmental hardware and software rather than consumer devices. Blending in with or complementing your home furnishings certainly wasn’t a design concern, and the device lacks features like an onboard display or color-coded LEDs that make consumer-grade air quality monitors intuitive to use—with or without a phone.
Michael Ansaldo/IDG The WeatherLink app provides an overview of the air quality when you first open it.
What you’re paying for is the quality of the air quality data. Davis has a global network of hundreds of thousands of weather stations that are used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Citizen Weather Observer Program, and other institutions.
If you live where wildfires, urban pollution, or other environmental factors are degrading local air quality, the accuracy AirLink offers is particularly beneficial, especially if you have health issues that render you vulnerable to pollutants. It’s also worth considering if the weather is your jam, personally or professionally, as it integrates with Davis’ personal weather stations.
More casual users, however, will probably be better served by something like the Awair Element, which can also report on carbon dioxide, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), and humidity levels in the air. This slightly less-expensive device, however, is limited to measuring larger (PM2.5) particulate matter.
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/@renee00688258/davis-instruments-airlink-air-quality-sensor-review-a-professional-air-quality-monitor-for-your-538e3d883a43 | [] | 2020-12-21 04:41:30.046000+00:00 | ['Home Theater', 'Tvs', 'Headphones', 'Streaming'] |
WILL KAMALA HARRIS BE BIDEN’S VP? | At the moment, she is the favourite
Illustation by Ramlink
Everyone is waiting for Biden to choose his running mate for the 2020 election, one has to wonder why he has not yet decided.
Supporters of various possible candidates are fighting all over social media. There is only one way to end this but so far Joe has remained silent.
The favourite is Kamala Harris but she has many things going against her. As a primary candidate she dropped out of the race in December, her support among black voters is problematic. Many in the community accuse her of being anti black men and hold her responsible for the imprisonment of many in California. Others think she is not African American because of who her parents are. Her “tiff” with Biden during one debate is also often brought out as proof she is not to be trusted and will do anything to advance her career. Besides some voters say she has zero pull in swing states. Due to all this, other names have been put forward for the position.
Stacey Abrams is viewed as the perfect running mate due to the support and respect she holds in Southern states. Unfortunately her lack of experience goes against her.
Elizabeth Warren is also going for the position. Her supporters state that she would be the perfect counter balance to Biden Centrist view. Her detractors argue that she is hated by everyone outside the Progressives bubble and would hinder him.
Amy Klobuchar unlike Warren has a foot in swing states and everyone recognises that Biden won the Minnesota primary only thanks to her. He had no office and did not campaign there. In other words, Klobuchar gets the job done but the Democrats expect a black running mate for Biden. Kamala Harris is thus viewed as the ideal candidate compared to all the other ladies.
Kamala Harris has the Khive, her supporters were left devastated when she dropped out, her come back in the middle of the primary (when she officially endorsed Biden) energised her supporters. A VP position is not only expected but demanded! The Khive is ready to campaign for a Biden/ Harris ticket and will do their utmost to convince those in the black community who are still skeptical to come around and vote them in.
Joe Biden has to make his decision sooner rather than later and the name on everyone lips is definitely Kamala Harris. | https://medium.com/@charlotte.zobeir/will-kamala-harris-be-bidens-vp-8e77d8e105a3 | ['Charlotte Zobeir Ali'] | 2020-05-28 20:28:45.386000+00:00 | ['US Politics', 'Vice President', 'Joe Biden', 'Kamala Harris'] |
Red Bottoms in The Mud- Are we being good stewards of the gifts God has blessed us with? | Made to Crave, Day 3
Growing up, my mama never paid a lot for my shoes.
I had a really bad habit of dragging my feet when I walked, so the bottoms of my shoes and the tips of my shoes were often scuffed.
I also spent a tremendous amount of time in mud puddles because:
WHY NOT. 😆😛
So when I would be gifted a pair of shoes that I actually WANTED (think: the Converse 👟 with the stars you could swap out the colors and NOT the Dollar General skippies) I would be extra careful to take care of them.
Once the new 👟 shoes were on my feet, I was suddenly more aware of how I was walking. I made a special effort not to drag my feet so that the shoes would last longer.
Oh, but don’t get it twisted, I would also receive REGULAR reminders 🗣🗣🗣🗣 from my mama to pick my feet up when I walked, which certainly helped me to remember. 😆
In today’s reading we are reminded that we are God’s creation and because of this,
we are called to care for our bodies and our soul in the same way.
He made us! Why would we then destroy something he took such good care to create? 🤔
A very simple example of this is if you went out and bought a brand new pair of red bottom shoes and you just wore them wherever you wanted to wear them.
👠On gravel
👠In mud
👠In the pool, etc.
You would never do that, right?
Why not?
Because of their VALUE 💰 .
You worked for the money you used (unless you have a rich aunt or a sugar daddy 🤪) to purchase the shoes, correct?
So they are VALUABLE to you!
I am certainly not comparing myself (or you 👀) to a pair of shoes, but this is a great example of how much God cares for us and VALUES us.
Honey, on a daily basis I imagine God walking around behind me saying “girl pick up your feet!” when I make mistakes (which I do on a daily basis).
Do you have a daily routine to care for your body?
Has that routine changed during the pandemic?
Scripture: You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NIV) | https://medium.com/@crystalsenterbrown/red-bottoms-in-the-mud-are-we-being-good-stewards-of-the-gifts-god-has-blessed-us-with-6d89bfed1f9e | ['Crystal Senter-Brown'] | 2020-12-12 15:48:26.226000+00:00 | ['Crystalsenterbrown', 'Weight Loss', 'New Year', 'Madetocrave', 'Black Women'] |
GIGA-POST! SEO Text Analysis: 11 Copywriting Tools | SEO Text Analysis
Why bother with all these SEO services?
Such a question may naturally arise. At the end of the day, the customer usually needs cool text, not some parameters. How can you technically measure the quality of material, does it catch on, does it sell? Not until they start reading it until they start buying from this page until they share it on social networks.
However, there are a number of parameters that are necessary for the successful promotion of text in search engines.
If at least some parameters can be checked automatically, it’s worth doing. Technologies are becoming more complex, the pace of life is accelerating, and we need to save precious time.
Remember: not a single SEO specialist or webmaster (at least among my friends) has the goal of deliberately tormenting a copywriter with all these services. I hope that after reading this article, you will better understand why they ask you to check the text in one way or another.
In addition, familiarity with certain services opens up new opportunities for you:
Reduces the time spent on checking (allows you to either devote more time to the material or to reduce the time for creating and working out the text).
Makes a transparent understanding of the requirements of SEO specialists and webmasters.
Improves texts, even if you are not required to. This increases the value of your copy and gives you a competitive edge.
The uniqueness of the text
Why is it important: the base parameter. If the text is simply copied or badly rewritten, then at best it just won’t hurt.
What to check: there are many tools, but I prefer semrush.com (also due to the online check).
Why do many people ask to check on semrush.com? Because it does not use the standard algorithm for checking the uniqueness of the text using the shingles method (it is used by most services), which makes it possible to quite successfully determine a low-quality rewrite. Yes, semrush.com is often manic in terms of checking uniqueness, but you just need to consider each case separately.
Time to check: 1–5 minutes, depending on the service.
Time for revision: depends on how conscientiously the text was written. I don’t even check my texts, as they are by default authors.
Important! It should be understood that in some topics it is impossible to achieve an indicator of 100% uniqueness due to the use of fixed expressions, phrases, quotes. In such cases, you can focus on the uniqueness of 80–90%. In the rest, I prefer the result 90–100%.
Tip: if you have a table, quote, or technical characteristics in the text that are obviously non-unique, just check the uniqueness without them by deleting these parts of the material.
What to look for: uniqueness is not important for product cards in an online store. There is no need to rewrite product descriptions manically. For some news sites, a rewrite or partial rewrite is also sufficient.
There is also such a “dirty” method of increasing the uniqueness: replacing some English ones with other language characters. In practice, I have not come across such a hack, only if it is a typo. But the text.ru service finds and highlights them. It is worth checking and correcting so that the search engines understand the words correctly.
Nausea
I will tell you honestly: I have never vomited from the text. Even the worst. Even the most spammy and stupid. Therefore, this parameter for me is always zero and I personally do not use it in my work.
Academic nausea is the ratio of the number of repetitions of the most frequently used word in a document to the number of words in the entire text. If it is large (more than 5–7%), then this is over spam.
Of course, different services may have different ways of counting nausea, but the spam check, which will be discussed below, in my opinion, allows us to assess the presence of problems with the percentage of occurrences of phrases.
Spammy text
What is important: texts with a large percentage of occurrences of keywords can be pessimized by search positions (positions are underestimated for spam); with a large number of such texts, the site may be subject to sanctions.
Important! In some cases, spam in the text can prevent the page from being indexed. Faced this several times.
How to check: http://istio.com/
Time to check: 1 minute.
Time for revision: 0–20 minutes.
What to look for
What percentage of spammy text is acceptable for SEO? In practice, a certain percentage or number of occurrences may be required from you, however, I can recommend a fairly safe border within 2–3%. Better no more than 2% — the density of the most frequent keyword in your SEO copy. How to check if the number of occurrences is optimal? Very simple. Open the service, insert the text, click “Analysis”. And that’s all.
Reference. % in the text (density) is calculated as the result of dividing the number of occurrences of a given word by the number of all words in the material.
In some cases, a high density may not hurt, but try to read a text where the density of a word is 5% and you will immediately feel that it is difficult to read. Below we will consider a service that will help you find the exact required number of occurrences if required.
Advice! Pay attention to the most common words. They are located in the analysis report of the number of occurrences from top to bottom in descending order of density. Many people think that keywords should be the most frequent words in this report. In some cases, this is quite natural, but it can cause spam. You should not specifically strive for this. However, be sure to pay attention to whether the words in the TOP-10 in terms of density are thematic. I have had cases when the word-parasite (or just a favorite word) from the copywriter got into the TOP but had nothing to do with the text. And all this affects the relevance of the text, so words that are not directly related to the article should not be among the most frequent.
A simple example: if we write a text about frame houses, then I do not expect to see the word “window” in the TOP10 phrases. The analysis of the most frequent words of competitors’ texts, which we will carry out below, will help to check this.
Number of unique phrases
Another important point: remember in the last article you discussed the point that in the TOP-10 there are mainly large texts? Large texts contain more unique words, which allows you to collect more traffic to the article due to the so-called “long tail” of requests (I will definitely write a separate article about it). This is where the roots of LSI copywriting grow. So, in Istio you can see this indicator in the “Dictionary” line. The indicator can be compared with the successful articles of competitors.
You should not deliberately try to overestimate this indicator by using rare words, archaisms, and neologisms. By itself, it means nothing.
But you can try to find thematic words that can be used in the text so that it ranks better or collect more traffic. In addition, these words and phrases can lead you to thoughts about what else should be mentioned in the text.
Where can I get them? We’ll figure it out at the end of the article. Read on.
Text volume
What is important: in itself — nothing, because it may be “water,” but some studies show that large texts rank better. In addition, Technical Specification usually requires a certain volume or “fork” (which, in my opinion, is the preferred option). And many pay for “kilo-signs”. Therefore, it is necessary to measure.
What to check: determined by any service, for example, Istio.com already discussed above.
Or in the same Microsoft Word.
Stop words (text water content)
So we came to the parameter “water content” of the text or the presence of stop words.
By stop words, in this case, we mean words and phrases that do not carry a semantic load, and the text does not lose anything when they are deleted. For example, “it’s not hard to guess that”, “without any doubt,” etc. Yes, in some cases these phrases may be present. For example, when an article is written in a living language. But in commercial texts they are superfluous, and when writing informational articles, I prefer to get rid of them.
Water content is the percentage of meaningless words or expressions.
What matters: the more meaningful the text, the better. And nobody wants to overpay for “pouring from empty to empty”.
The presence of the words required by the Technical Specification
I have been looking for an affordable tool of this kind for a very long time and finally found it!
What is important: there are no necessary words — the search engine will not rank for key phrases. In addition, you can collect thematic phrases and also use them (more on this below).
How to check: http://cabinet.seo-case.com/fraznum.php (free, but you need to register with the service “Semyon Yadren”).
Time to check: 1–2 minutes.
Time for revision: depends on whether you initially used all the phrases.
We go into the service, insert phrases in the left field, and our text in the right field (or the address of the page where the text has already been placed, but the page addresses are now for some reason incorrectly processed there, insert the text). We press “Analyze” (do not pay attention to the error on the button =).
Let’s say I have a text about frame houses and, according to the Technical Specification, there should be such words and phrases (we will consider how to find thematic words on our own using the same example below).
If you know analogs of this service, write in the comments, because I have been looking for it for a very long time. It happens that I give the copywriter in the Technical Specification for the text and 30–50 thematic words and phrases (for informational texts), it is certainly not easy for both the copywriter and me to check their presence.
Spelling and punctuation
Why is it important: illiterate texts are unpleasant to read. In addition, literacy can affect rankings, but I have not seen detailed studies on this topic.
I use Grammarly
As a result, we get recommendations on:
spelling;
punctuation;
grammar;
style;
typography;
orthoepy;
semantics.
They are arranged on the right side of the menu. You can choose which ones to pay attention to.
Time to check: 2–3 minutes (the service spends 1–2 minutes on text analysis).
Time for revision: 0–30 minutes. Depends on literacy!
What to look for: I pay attention to spelling, punctuation, grammar. Stylistics and typography — if you have time. | https://medium.com/marketing-laboratory/giga-post-seo-text-analysis-11-copywriting-tools-accbac4b3624 | ['Alex Koma'] | 2020-09-24 11:33:44.045000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'SEO', 'Copywriting', 'Blogging', 'Writing Tips'] |
Smart Couples Know This Is Better Than Sexual Compatibility | Today, the phrase “are we sexually compatible” pops up periodically. But I wonder what that has to do with anything?
Learning to love one another is about more than sexual compatibility.
Sex is an expression of the committed love, not the cheap imitation propagated today. If sexual compatibility is the litmus test for love, what happens when one person becomes physically incapacitated? Even if he used to be Superman.
If you say, “Superman,” I think of Christopher Reeves. He was the tall, dark, strong, and handsome Superman of the late 1970s and into the 1980s. However, in 1995 Reeves became paralyzed from the neck down after a horse-riding accident. Dana Reeves, loved her husband Christopher, until his death in 2004. “Her husband could not move, but that didn’t change her love for him. ‘We’re as physical with each other as we can be. And we’re as close as we can be. As you notice, I don’t know many couples who have been together for 15 years who do sit hand in hand . . . I mean, we kiss all the time,’ said Dana in 2002.” After his death, Dana reportedly said she promised to love, honor, and cherish him until death. But she amended that part to say she’d love, honor, and cherish him forever.
In the popular musical and movie, Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye’s question, “Do you love me?” stopped Golde in her tracks. They’d been married for 25 years. It was an arranged marriage, but they were told they’d learn to love each other. For all these years, they’d made the adjustments every married couple must make. They fought (watch the movie), they argued, were intimate (four daughters), struggled to survive, prayed together, supported each other even when they might not agree. The end of the scene draws tears to my eyes. “Do you love me?” “I suppose I do.” “And I suppose I love you, too.”
We need to hear words of love from our spouse; they need to hear them from us.
But, more importantly, back up those words of love with actions. Daily proof that you care for them. You willingly serve them because you want them to know how much you appreciate them. When two people learn to live this way, love grows deeper and proves stronger.
Loving someone has little to do with sexual compatibility.
When you get married, you don’t know what pleases the other person. Perhaps you’ve had a few conversations about what you’d like when it comes to sex. But, as you learn to live with each other, you also learn to serve the other in the bedroom, which creates a safe, loving environment to grow together sexually.
And as you grow older, the needs change. What makes your love exciting is deepening your friendship, your spiritual relationship, discovering new places together, trying new experiences, and learning how to bring that sparkle to your husband’s eye once again.
Just like you, I love that butterfly feeling in my stomach. But, while that signals an attraction, it is not love.
Love is so much more than butterflies. Those butterflies, while fun, are an emotional response to someone or something. But love is much more than a feeling. Love is a choice.
In the traditional vows, which often sadly gets removed these days, is the line for better, for worse. I didn’t realize when I said that line almost 38 years ago what it entailed. I thought I knew what love meant, but the years since have taught me beautiful lessons.
Look at marriages that have survived 50 years or more.
What do you see in these couples? They aren’t physically young any longer. Sometimes they even begin to resemble each other physically.
What is it about couples with this longevity that makes us want to watch them?
There’s an unspoken communication between them.
A steadfastness — old word, I know.
Steadfastness: immovable, not subject to change, firm in belief, determination, or adherence.
I love that.
Two people who’ve remained committed to each other for over 50 years embody this quality. They know the other person has their back. They’ve weathered the good, the bad, and the ugly together and still hold hands. I want that!
2. They are comfortable with each other.
At this point in a marriage, the physical isn’t what you’d expect would draw two people together. After all, do you love your wrinkles, crepey skin, and graying hair? I’m not thrilled about it. Yet, I often hear my husband tell me how beautiful I am. Guess that means beauty isn’t just, like the song says, in the way you look tonight. This husband sees the sparkling character in his wife. She sees his protectiveness and provision throughout the years. She knows how he likes his coffee. He knows she needs an extra layer in the evening to stay comfortable. He loves the way she is strong where he is not; she treasures his strengths that make her feel safe.
3. They exhibit a oneness that draws you in.
I remember watching my grandparents interact. Often I felt this oneness, this interplay that I could not be part of. I longed for that closeness with another person. I desired to be known so well that nothing would dim the light in the other’s eyes for me. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful honesty developed through years of struggle, laughter, pain, joy, and the ups and downs, forged through doing life together.
Observing a bond like this, that is broken only by death, reveals the spiritual nature of this love, this knowing, this oneness. And, I, for one, seek that relationship more than sexual compatibility.
Today, I encourage you to speak lovingly to your husband. Find ways to show him how special he is to you. Back up your words with actions. Practice this love that transforms your life.
What I’ve discovered in the years since God remade our marriage is this steadfast love, not sexual compatibility, takes my breath away.
The evils of pornography ensnared my husband when he was young and tried to steal our marriage, but truth won out. That was over a decade ago, and our marriage is better than ever now. The butterflies are lovely, but give me this incredible knowing and being known and loved for who I am, warts, bad habits, failures, inconsistencies, and all. And he the same. I prefer this acceptance, authenticity, and action over those butterflies — complete body, mind, and soul compatibility.
My goal? To out-love my husband. That’s a tough call because he’s so stinkin’ good at demonstrating his love for me. But it’s sure fun figuring it out.
What about you? If your marriage feels more like two roommates, it’s time to choose each other again. Don’t ignore this warning sign. What one action can you take today to demonstrate your love for your husband? Remember that special something you loved to do together and figure out how to make time for the two of you in the next week or two.
If you need help, please reach out.
Kirsten D. Samuel
Aftershock Recovery Coach
8-week Program, Custom-paced Coaching, Remote, or In-person Sessions | https://medium.com/@kirstendsamuel/smart-couples-know-this-is-better-than-sexual-compatibility-ab29d622deb3 | ['Kirsten D. Samuel'] | 2020-11-18 07:10:43.656000+00:00 | ['Encouragement', 'Addiction', 'Love', 'Marriage', 'Forgiveness'] |
Why do Scrum teams have a Project Manager? | It was always a big question mark in my head if a Scrum project is really a project or something else and why do many Scrum projects have dedicated Project Managers. I tried to read around a little and I found Myth: You Can’t Do Projects With Scrum on Scrum.org, it has some interesting thoughts but instead of going deeper, it just says that Scrum projects are projects, but no they are not really. So let’s just try to figure out together what the hell is going on here. I will consider first that Scrum projects aren’t projects.
If Scrum projects are not projects then how would you call them?
I spent an hour and a half under the shower today to figure out if there is any way to avoid using the word “project”. A Scrum team sounds good, but it rather refers to a set of people and not to an activity. Scrum product neither defines an activity nor a set of people. Development Team does not tell anything either. I tried to combine “team”, “product” and “Scrum” with anything I could find but I gave up. I even use the term “Scrum project” often myself, I can’t really express what I’m doing if I don’t say “I’m in a Scrum project”.
If Scrum projects are projects, how would you define them?
My reasoning so far is that a Scrum project must be a project because you can’t call it anything else. But is there a definition somewhere? The article I mentioned above says the following:
In our work, we notice that people tend to define projects as long-running activities where 1) the scope of what needs to be delivered, 2) the budget to make this happen and 3) the date when it needs to be delivered are all fixed. Other characteristics that people often mention is that a 4) projects only deliver at the end and that they 5) can last forever. Interestingly, the Project Management Institute (PMI) defines a project as “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result”. Wikipedia defines it as “Any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim”. Neither definition fixes scope, budget, and deadline. Neither specifies that something is only delivered at the end or that they last forever. So we seem to be talking about different things.
The Scrum Guide also says:
Each Sprint may be considered a project with no more than a one-month horizon. Like projects, Sprints are used to accomplish something.
I don’t want to deep dive into philosophy but my interpretation is that a Scrum project is a project, because it is using people and resources to deliver an output, so I agree with the definitions of PMI and Wikipedia, but I also agree that a Scrum sprint can be also considered as a project too.
So a Scrum project is a project, sprints are projects too, but is there a Project Manager?
No. And this is where misinterpretations start and this is why many Scrum projects are implemented falsely. I see two difficulties here, one is the misinterpretation of the customer and the other is the misinterpretation (and denial) of the organization.
First of all if an IT company develops software for other companies, the customers don’t really know what Scrum is and how does it work. They have one simple wish: “I want to speak to the Project Manager” and they expect you to say that it’s you or to get the name and phone number of the responsible person. At the beginning I always started explaining that there is no Project Manager in Scrum, I’m a Product Owner and there’s a Scrum Master as well, but after every attempt all I ever got was uncomfortable silence, then I was asked again who the Project Manager is. Customers want and need a Project Manager because that’s what they understand and that’s what provides them a sense of comfort and safety.
The other thing is that traditional IT companies are project organizations and not product organizations, we work on projects of products and each project must have a responsible Project Manager who has the legal right to sign contracts, takes care of the numbers and manages the required resources. In a project organization you just can’t have a Scrum project without a dedicated Project Manager, moreover as I said before the customer demands to have a Project Manager, so you must have a Project Manager or the world goes upside down, the earth will crack under our feet and we will all fall into the burning fire and we all gonna die. So we must have a dedicated Project Manager!
“We have no choice but to have a Project Manager” is an excuse
Let’s just consider something new. All I wrote before was from a project point of view. If you can only think within the limits of the project mindset, your universe will also become very limited. If you can only approach Scrum from a project perspective, you have no choice but to have a Project Manager, or your little universe will fall apart. From Scrum perspective things look a bit different.
Project Manager as a whole does not exist in Scrum
The roles and responsibilities of a Project Manager have been distributed between the Product Owner, the Scrum Master and the Development Team. That’s the whole point of Scrum, a team can only be self-organizing if all team members have management capabilities. Because we want our team to be self-organizing, there is no need for a Project Manager and there is no 1-to-1 mapping. Each and every Scrum role assume some tasks and skills of a Project Manager, but they also assume other skills, knowledge and experience what a Project Manager does not necessarily have.
Should we just fire every Project Manager?
It is vital to understand the self-organizing Scrum teams are the exact opposite of classical top-down project teams, even if the customer demands, one should stay consistent and consequent, the contact points are the Scrum Master and the Product Owner. Project Managers do not need to be fired, but they should have appropriate knowledge and experience to assume a role in a scrum team. It’s an organization’s responsibility to educate the Project Managers and support them to have the necessary certifications, not just because everybody have them, but to create a basic common understanding. Once a Project Manager has the basic knowledge, one can decide if one wants to be a Product Owner or a Scrum Master, the only thing what never worked and will never work is to say that “you will be a Scrum Master from tomorrow, good luck”. Make sure everybody has the proper knowledge and understanding so they can work according to their roles.
Final thought: be supportive
I think that changing from classical projects to Scrum projects can be pretty stressful for everybody, because it challenges the status-quo and one’s position and authority within an organization. I’m pretty sure that lot of people feel it as a setback or degrading when one must sacrifice his position as a Project Manager, which is well-recognized and established profession and career to become something vague and fishy what called Scrum Master just to follow the newest hypes and trends. People may feel that their dignity and reputation is in question and that they are both being attacked as a loyal employee and both as a person, and this needs to be taken very seriously. If you don’t deal with the affected people individually and with respect, you will only face with resistance. This topic surely deserves a few separate articles.
If you enjoyed reading this article, please support me with a few claps. Thank you! | https://medium.com/agileinsider/i-want-to-speak-to-the-scrum-project-manager-88dd41cefac6 | ['A Product Owner With A Pen'] | 2021-01-02 11:30:51.075000+00:00 | ['Project Management', 'Software Development', 'Product Owner', 'Agile', 'Scrum'] |
The Baby Boomers Guide to Why Train ONLINE Community Trainers? | Inside this eBook
Why Train the Trainer?
Why Train ONLINE Community Trainers?
Making the Decision
Finding Your ONLINE Community Trainer
ONLINE Community Trainer Workshop
Why Train ONLINE Community Trainers?
Why Train the Trainer?
Training and certifying an “ONLINE community trainer “ means identifying an existing staff person, or several staff members, who have some training expertise.
It also means teaching this person to train other staff members and community at-risk youth and adults on ONLINE community centric topics
They can be certified and licensed to use ONLINE community trainer workforce readiness, diversity and life preparation skills certification training workshops, eBooks and DVD’s. They can easily be trained ONLINE using a cell phone or other internet accessible equipment.
Why Train ONLINE Community Trainers?
An effective ONLINE community trainer program will teach trainers such skills as how to facilitate an ONLINE workshop and how to help students who are having trouble learning ONLINE.
It will also teach how-to implement an ONLINE community training program once the training is completed.
Training is often overlooked by organizations giddy with the thrill of bringing ONLINE educational materials into their office or community.
Over the years, I’ve seen many organizations finally embrace the idea that ONLINE community training technology can help them to achieve their mission more effectively and to better serve their constituencies.
But once they’ve managed to raise the money and buy the requisite ONLINE community educational materials and training software, they realize they didn’t budget the time or money to get their staff trained so that they could get the most out of their ONLINE community training investment.
One of the reasons that ONLINE community training is so overlooked is that funders often view it as unnecessary.
In budgets that must be constantly reviewed and justified, the important thing, or so commonsense says, is to get any kind of ONLINE community training materials and figure out the rest along the way.
This is fine if everything has been thought out in advance and there are people on staff who have the expertise to make the ONLINE community training programs work.
However, what happens if that person leaves? Or what happens when ONLINE community trainer materials and technological resources (webinars) are purchased for several departments, and it’s not clear how-to- use them ( Live vs. virtual ) and who will be the trainees to use them?
These and countless other situations make developing an internal ONLINE community trainer program a smart option for nonprofits (and corporations),
Training the “ONLINE community trainer “ means identifying an existing staff person, or several staff members, who have some ONLINE community training expertise and teaching this person to train other staff members to train others how-to use the ONLINE community training materials.
By training one key person to train others in the organization, you distribute the ONLINE community training knowledge and create a repository of ONLINE community training knowledge within the organization so that no one person carries all of the organization’s knowledge.
An ONLINE community trainer program could involve sending one staff member to an outside training class or to take an ONLINE community trainer webinar to learn about ONLINE community training, then teaching that staff member how to train other people on staff.
It is important to train the ONLINE community trainer on how to teach other people so that the information can be spread effectively.
Effective ONLINE community trainer programs will teach trainers such skills as how to facilitate an online training event, how to deal with students who are having trouble with online training, and how to teach implementing an ONLINE community training program once the ONLINE community training is completed.
Many nonprofits work with limited resources, financially and with staffing, and do not generally have an ONLINE community trainer training department to meet their ONLINE community training needs.
Also, given budget and current health constraints, it is not always possible to send your staff members to outside ONLINE community trainer workshops.
Developing an internal ONLINE community trainer program can be empowering, and it allows organizations to become more self-sufficient.
NEXT- The Baby Boomers Guide to More Reasons to Train Online Community Trainers?
Although an ONLINE community trainer program may not work for every organization, there are some great benefits. | https://medium.com/@dharoldgreene203/why-train-online-community-trainers-92b0fd6c0f03 | ['Dana Greene'] | 2020-12-19 17:06:38.501000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Nonprofit', 'Education', 'Training', 'Teachers'] |
HIRED TO BE FIRED | When values are priceless
For the past 18 months, everything I’ve bought has been delivered — either to my desktop or my front door. Groceries, books, clothes, music, films, Indian curries.
Wi-fi and Deliveroo know no bounds.
But for all the convenience (and covid safety), I am now missing the retail experience. I yearn for the joys of book browsing, trolley pushing, spur-of-the-moment coffee sipping…
Most of all, I miss great customer service. Interactions with people who care, who know more about their products than I do. Staff members who understand the the value of a smile.
And retailers value the customer experience, not only this quarter’s profit.
Or perhaps I’m hankering for something long-gone. Like when the best job in Harrods was ‘The Man Who Would Be Fired’.
He spent most of his day in a small office at the top of the building, drinking tea, reading the paper, doing the crossword, waiting for the telephone to ring.
He’d usually get one call a day. Sometimes two. When it came, the voice on the other end was always a Departmental Manager, summoning him at once.
Then he took the lift to the appropriate floor and made his way to the said Department. In this case, China and Glass. There he found the Manager placating a customer.
“Johnson,” the Manager said, gesturing toward the customer. “Do you know who this is?”
No, said the Man Who Would Be Fired, shaking his head while examining the carpet.
“This is Lady Dowager Fortescue-St Clair. Lady Dowager Fortescue St-Clair is one of our most important, valued customers. As was her mother, the late Lady Dowager Fortescue-St Clair.”
The Man Who Would Be Sacked bowed slightly. He knew his place.
“Her Ladyship recently came into our emporium and bought a fine Royal Dalton, 48-piece dinner service as a wedding present for her daughter. She asked for it to be delivered. That, I believe, was your responsibility.”
The Many Who Would Be Fired acknowledged that it was.
“Well, imagine the distress we caused Lady Dowager Fortescue St-Clair when the said Royal Dalton 48-piece dinner service arrived, was unwrapped, and found to be a Royal Dalton 47-piece dinner service. Plus a broken gravy boat.”
The Man Who Would Be Fired agreed that this must have caused considerable distress. The Departmental Manager continued:
“The cause of the broken gravy boat was you, Johnson. It appears that you had not wrapped it properly, thereby committing it to a damaging fate. What do you have to say for yourself?”
The Man Who Would Be Fired apologised, now looking at his shoes. But the Departmental Manager was not finished:
“This is not the level of service our customers expect from Harrods, Johnson. And certainly not the level of service we should provide to our most valued customers like Lady Dowager Fortescue-St Clair. Therefore, you will go immediately to the Personnel Office and collect your cards. Your slap-dash approach shows that you are not suited to a career with Harrods. Good day to you.”
On cue, the Lady Dowager tried to intervene. She said that dispensing with Johnson’s services was rather harsh. His apology was quite enough.
“Your Ladyship’s benevolence does you great credit,” said the Departmental Manager. “ But it is Harrods’ policy to provide the greatest care and attention to customers. Mr Johnson has failed to do so.
“We cannot risk such a dreadful incident happening again. I can only apologise on behalf of the entire company for this slipping of standards. We are indeed fortunate that you are the source of human kindness, and willing to forgive our appalling error.
“Johnson — why are you still here?”
At which, The Man Who Would Be Fired soulfully returned to the lift, took it to the top of the building, and returned to his small office, his tea, his paper, his crossword…
And awaited his next telephone call. | https://medium.com/@paul.rutherford/hired-to-be-fired-3d69b4b80982 | ['Paul Rutherford'] | 2021-08-09 13:27:36.070000+00:00 | ['Shopping', 'London', 'Customer Experience', 'Values', 'Retail'] |
Driven: The Race To Create The Autonomous Vehicle | A Conversation With The Author, Alex Davies | A car is not just a car — it has never been that simple. The same applies to any other object that we humans envision, create, and use. But today, we are talking about cars — the autonomous kind — and the race to build them.
The concept was not new, and partial autonomous transportation solutions have been around for a long time. Still, something happened in 2004: the first DARPA Grand Challenge took place in the Mojave Desert region of the United States, along a 150-mile route that follows along the path of Interstate 15. A prize competition for American autonomous vehicles, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
If you look at it from the performance angle, it did not go well; the farthest distance traveled was 7.32 mi of the course before getting hung up on a rock. No winner was declared. But if we value it from the interest it created in the R&D for autonomous cars, it was a huge success. But, at what price does this success come?
In his book, Alex Davies talks about the key players from the DARPA days’ early enthusiasm and the growing interests and financial investments that followed. Davies explores this exciting quest by a growing and increasingly-competitive community to transform transportation and change our lives.
In this podcast, he tells us this story and some more.
Enjoy.
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About the book:
Alex Davies tells the dramatic, colorful story of the quest to develop driverless cars — and the fierce competition between Google, Uber, and other companies in a race to revolutionize our lives.
The self-driving car has been one of the most vaunted technological breakthroughs of recent years. But early promises that these autonomous vehicles would soon be on the roads have proven premature. Alex Davies follows the twists and turns of this story from its origins to today.
The story starts with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which was charged with developing a land-based equivalent to the drone, a vehicle that could operate in war zones without risking human lives. DARPA issued a series of three “Grand Challenges” that attracted visionaries, many of them students and amateurs, who took the technology from ‘Jetsons’-style fantasy to near-reality. The young stars of the Challenges soon connected with Silicon Valley giants Google and Uber, intent on delivering a new way of driving to the civilian world.
Soon the automakers joined the quest, some on their own, others in partnership with the tech titans. But as road testing progressed, it became clear that the challenges of driving a car without human assistance were more formidable than anticipated.
Davies profiles the industry’s key players from the early enthusiasm of the DARPA days to their growing awareness that while this spin on artificial intelligence isn’t yet ready for rush-hour traffic, driverless cars are poised to remake how the world moves. ‘Driven’ explores this exciting quest to transform transportation and change our lives.
Guest(s)
Alex Davies, Senior Editor, Transportation, Business Insider (@adavies47 on Twitter)
Resources
Driven, The Book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Driven/Alex-Davies/9781501199431
The DARPA Grand Challenge: https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/timeline/-grand-challenge-for-autonomous-vehicles
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https://www.itspmagazine.com/podcast-series-sponsorships | https://medium.com/itspmagazine/driven-the-race-to-create-the-autonomous-vehicle-a-conversation-with-the-author-alex-davies-b58758074cfd | ['Itspmagazine Podcast'] | 2020-12-26 17:03:13.062000+00:00 | ['Autonomous Cars', 'Autonomous Vehicles', 'Technology', 'Cybersecurity', 'Business'] |
3 Important things for Biden Administration Climate Team to do immediately | The Problem and The Promise
The incoming Biden-Harris Administration has lofty climate goals. It has committed to a 100% clean energy economy and net zero emissions in the US by 2050. And to meet that, it has promised to enact legislation and create enforcement mechanisms by the end of its first term i.e., 2025 and an investment of $1.7 trillion in this sector over the next 10 years.
This is indeed admirable and forward thinking but needs lots of planning and execution.
Let us dig deeper into what is involved in meeting this goal.
The latest EPA data for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission shows the breakup below:
As we can see, about 90% of this can be tied to transportation, electric and heating or other forms of consumption in residential, commercial or industrial settings.
The good news is that in the US, businesses are already undergoing an environmental renaissance, committing to growth through sustainable means and pledging to net zero emissions in coming decades. That leaves the residential sector, the topic for this discussion.
An average US household consumes about 10.6 kWh of electricity and a typical individual drives about 17.8K miles per year (derived from data at EIA with # of household used as 118M). So, we will focus on how to reduce the GHG emission of these 2 factors.
As almost globally agreed, one of the best ways to mitigate GHG is to use renewable energy sources. So, in this article we will focus on how to enhance the adaptability of renewable energy sources (mainly solar) in the 2 sectors: residential electricity generation and residential transportation (electric vehicles, and storage of electricity).
Proposal
The major tenet of this proposal is to accelerate the production, storage and consumption of renewable energy by using the existing technology mainly EVs.
Revamping the renewable energy life cycle
1. Require EVs to permit V2V and V2G Charging (& entice them through tax credit)
At current count, the US has about a million fully electric vehicle EVs on the road but this number is expected to reach 18.7M by 2030 (source). All EVs have batteries which range in size from 20 to 100 kWh and the capacity is increasing by the year as companies try to provide even longer-range vehicles.
EVs charging and usage pattern need to change. We need to charge it at Daytime & power the house with it at night
Our current model of using EVs is to charge at night, when the grid load is the minimum and then use it at daytime when the users need to commute. This sounds logical but this needs to change.
Many EVs have batteries big enough (60–70 kWh batteries are most common these days) to not only meet the daily commuting need (48 miles or 12 kWh of battery consumption) but also to meet our household electricity demand on the daily basis (29 kWh) and then some. And if the batteries are solar charged, they can meet the dual goal of running both transportation and residential electricity requirements purely through solar. Which means no GHG from residential consumption (all of these figures are derived from the above referenced EIA data).
But there are challenges:
Current EVs can only draw power from home but not dispense power to home
We drive to work during daytime, this is when we could charge our car from solar
With EVs, we all are driving around with a big, bulky battery, about 2–5 times the battery that could power our whole house for the day.
So, why not use the same battery for powering our house?
Because you can’t. EVs ports (EVSE) are programmed to power only one way, you can only charge up the battery but not charge out. This is where V2V, V2H, and V2G come into picture. These are the technologies using which a vehicle can power another vehicle (V2V) or can power a home (V2H) or can even send electricity back to the grid (V2V) for someone else’s use.
One may wonder why these technologies are not in widespread use? They will obviously reduce the need for someone to buy home storage batteries and will definitely reduce the load on the grid.
Mostly because of conflicts of interests.
Tesla, for example, sells a full home energy solution called Powerwall. So, though they are the market leader in EV sales, it’s not in their interest to provide their cars as a substitute to power your home too
This is not a technical issue as a bunch of EVs in a few market segments do provide exactly this (Hyundai Kona in Japan for example). The battery chemistry difference between the two types batteries (EVs and Storage) is not significant enough hurdle here.
This doesn’t make sense and the Biden administration should strive to change that.
The $7500 Federal tax credit for EV purchase or 26% storage tax credit on home batteries should be extended to EVs and should be limited to only those vehicles which permit Vehicle to Vehicle/Grid/Home charging (V2V, V2G, V2H) charging. This will not only spur growth in EV sales and usage but also reduce stress on the EV charging infrastructure by spinning out p2p EV charging, similar to Uber and Airbnb.
The BH administration’s promise of setting up 500,000 EVSE by 2030 can also be fulfilled much faster once the P2P networks kicks on, without the need for any government funding.
For the second point, the car, wherever parked, should be allowed to charge. That way it can charge during daytime when the sun is shining.
How? Read on to the second point below.
2. Build a new Renewable Energy Marketplace
With solar and EVs batteries, anyone can be an energy trader, IF the regulations permit. If the regulations are tweaked appropriately, the government won’t need heavy handed measures (think subsidies) to spur growth in the solar and storage sectors as America’s public and corporations are smart enough to exploit viable economic opportunities.
Blockchain in Energy Market source
Energy ( mainly electricity) should be allowed to be traded freely and fairly. One of the biggest hurdles in enabling that is the last mile connection. If I have solar on my roof, the only buyer I have is the one who is physically connected to my solar panels i.e., my electricity provider. This should change to spur free energy trade.
And it can be changed by the usage of a new national (or even global) renewable energy marketplace to transact energy. Blockchain can be a technology to power this marketplace which will ensure all transactions are recorded in a transparent, secure and irrefutable way and with the lowest overhead/cost.
The BH admin can issue guidelines for developing and monitoring such a marketplace and not actually build one. Overall, it will need 2 policies for such marketplace to be successful:
A new Renewable Energy Marketplace should be created — or the SREC marketplace (Solar Renewable Energy Credit) be tweaked-
We have something similar already existing in SREC, but it has limitations. There is a need to either create a new marketplace or revamp the existing one, specifically:
It should permit not only energy generation but also consumption An EV as well as EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) should be allowed to participate Even small transactions of sub kWh should be permitted to include retail, end users’ transactions All transactions should be blockchain based to reduce overhead costs, enhance immutability and transparency and security.
Similarly, Grid tied solar & wind inverter should permit connecting to a marketplace (of customer’s choosing)) to update its generation related transactions.
The utility provider needs to serve everyone
Utilities need to permit anyone’s inter connections irrespective of whether the user is its own customer or not. If the user is not its customer, it can impose a connection fee, whose value can’t exceed more than 1% of the transaction current charges, through the customer’s marketplace. It will be very similar to a person withdrawing cash from a third-party ATM. The customer is served whether or not she has a bank account with the bank providing the ATM. The ATM provider simply charges customers a convenience fee.
In other words, if a Pepco customer plugs in his Tesla in his office charging station served by BGE or at his friend’s house served by Duke Energy, his car will be allowed to charge. His company or friend won’t be charged for this energy draw. And BGE or Duke will be paid through the marketplace by the customers directly at the marketplace, using blockchain transactions directly, without Pepco or any other third party in the picture.
How will it be possible? Fortunately for us, all EVs and EVSE these days are smart and connected devices with their own digital identities. They record all charging and discharging data already and even provide them into their dashboards for customers to view. Requiring automakers and EVSE manufacturers to create a blockchain transaction and upload this to the new Renewable Energy Marketplace shouldn’t be a huge lift.
3. Build new renewal energy HVDC network all across US
One of the biggest concerns with solar is that the sun doesn’t always shine. This is a fair enough point but there is another side to this argument and that is that the sun is going to rise and set every day, unlike gas or coal reserves which will run out soon. So, a grid of solar power-plants can not only extend the sunlight by 3 hours from coast to coast it can also reduce the local weather & geographic phenomenon (think cloudy days) and enhance reliability for generations to come.
Once electricity is allowed to be traded freely across geographical regions (see#2 above), the next thing remaining will be to make it available all across the US and possibly even globally.
Enter the (ultra) High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC or HVDC) network built mostly for renewable energy farms.
A Typical HVDC power line ; from source to home
Removing the last mile hurdle for energy trade (#2 above) will unleash huge economic opportunities for setting up energy farms (solar, wind and storage), and trading energy in the open market. One of the current limitations hindering the growth of rooftop solar or renewable energy farms is the restrictions imposed by current utility suppliers as they don’t have the infrastructure to sell or store the extra energy that customers may produce and so they don’t want customers to produce more than they can consume. With the market expanding across state lines, and their customers just transmitting the energy for the last mile, utilities won’t have economic or technical reasons to limit the growth of renewables (though they might need a piece of the pie too as they will need to upgrade their last mile connectivity). This will make renewable energy more accessible and reliable and further cheaper.
The BH administration, however, will need to make the infrastructure ready to utilize this huge potential. One form of that will be to set up a High Voltage DC power lines network. Why HVDC and not the traditional AC powerlines? Because renewal energy production is in DC and as it is meant for long distance transmission, HVDC lines are better suited for that. Also, HVDC is less costly than its counterpart HVAC and incurs less transmission loss and is well suited for interconnection across state lines, as power companies are regulated across each state.
The good news is that HVDC is already recognized as a valuable infrastructure technology to invest in. Just that it needs to be prioritized and interconnection rules to the network need to be simplified and made user- friendly, permitting both smaller individual players and big power companies to connect to it. If I have an acre of land which I want to convert to a solar farm, I need not worry about finding how to interconnect buyers and how to sell my energy; that should be the goal.
Conclusion
In conclusion, below are the 3 steps that the Biden-Harris administration should take to revolutionize the residential energy sector and to smooth out its transition towards green energy, away from fossil fuel. | https://medium.com/@dasindu/3-important-things-for-biden-administration-climate-team-to-undertake-immediately-7851d253de99 | ['Indu Das'] | 2020-12-17 00:15:09.333000+00:00 | ['Climate Action', 'Biden Administration', 'Renewable Energy', 'Electric Car', 'Climate Change'] |
U.S. professor gives Israeli prize money to Palestinian university | A US professor of Mathematics (and former Field’s Medal winner — David Mumford) has decided to donate his prize money from a prestigious Israeli award to Bir Zeit University in Palestine. I am struck by the depth of Prof. Mumford’s comments regarding his otherwise simple act of philanthropy. It was not about trying to solve a problem, nor even about trying to help build peace in the world — it was about realizing what brought success to him and then using his prize money to make those factors more available to scientists in an otherwise besieged part of the world. Brilliant.
I was just telling a friend this weekend that i want to support world class higher education in the developing parts of the world, and especially in Pakistan and Palestine. I truly believe that higher education, especially in the sciences, can enlighten, emancipate, encourage, and motivate people like no other thing. Education brings confidence and an ability to start rationalizing situations and problems so at least a solution can be imagined, if not immediately implemented. Prof. Mumford is right: Education brings hope. And that part of the world really needs hope.
— - | https://medium.com/bz-notes/u-s-professor-gives-israeli-prize-money-to-palestinian-university-7bbf05462e23 | ['Bilal Zuberi'] | 2016-03-21 00:53:45.734000+00:00 | ['Education', 'Israel', 'Mathematics'] |
Gauge Theoretic Gravity: Why space and time might be illusions | Einstein’s theory presented the universe as a four dimensional “manifold”, which is a word for a shape with certain properties. People and things in that manifold had to move around according to a strict rule: no traveling faster than the speed of light. Traveling faster than light is, unfortunately, the only apparent way to go back in time in Minkowski’s universe. But, in Einstein’s, there was a loophole. Spacetime itself could be shaped in such a way that some paths between points were shorter than others and so, even if you couldn’t go faster than light, you could shorten the journey between two points. You could also connect a point in the future to a point in the past by a bridge. You can’t turn around on the highway and go back, but, like a cloverleaf, you can take an exit and backtrack by another route.
The other property of Einstein’s manifold is that there is no such thing as universal time. Everything has its own “proper” time that it experiences as it slices its way through the manifold. Objects that are near one other and in a similar state of motion tend to experience similar flows of time as well, which is why we all on Earth experience nearly the same flow of time. The variations for ordinary speeds on Earth and small differences in gravitational fields are tiny to the point where only super precise atomic clocks can measure the differences.
It seems like all this discussion of bridges between times and places and no universal time means that time works like a highway. We are all moving along in our cars, experiencing our own flow. There are exit ramps and on ramps. You can go back in time if you can find an exit to take you by another route. All of this supports the idea that those dinos we want to see are just “back there” 65 million exits behind us. A time traveler just needs to come “unstuck” in this flow of time, take a shortcut back to the past, and viola, instant Cretaceous vacation (watch out for meteors!)
But wait, things aren’t so cut and dried.
The truth is that General Relativity is formulated according to Einstein’s philosophy. It proposes that space and time have a geometry, and physicists and mathematicians usually present it this way, the way he did. If something has a geometry, it must have every point existing somewhere or somewhen. There is no evidence for this part of the theory because all tests of the theory have been carried out over a very small patch of the universe, on the Earth and its immediate environs. Even observations of deep space have been made by looking at “old light” that has been traveling for millions or billions of years to reach us. There is a problem with the Einstein formula.
The problem is that Einstein takes a leap from spacetime having a geometry to anything in “free fall”, that is something not experiencing an external force, following a “geodesic” in that spacetime. A geodesic is a shortest line path in a curved geometry. It comes from the Greek geodaisia, ge-, the Earth, and daio-, “to divide”. On the Earth, a geodesic is a “great circle” path between two points; hence, it always divides the Earth into two equal halves.
We all know that if you were to go out on the ocean and follow a constant heading, you would not follow a great circle path except under contrived circumstances. Instead, you would follow a “rhumb line” path which is not a shortest line path at all. In order to follow a great circle path, you need to make periodic course corrections. In Einstein’s curved spacetime, there is a mechanism for making these course corrections, it is gravity. But now it seems we have two separate pieces to the theory: a curved spacetime, like the Earth, and a force that makes us obey that curvature, gravity, like the boat captain.
Ockham’s razor tells us that we shouldn’t invent things that serve no purpose, so it seems reasonable that if we want to explain gravity, we could just get rid of the curved spacetime and keep the gravity. But, then we are left with everything happening all at the same time in the same place. We need a coordinate system to keep things separated, but we don’t need Einstein’s ideas about geometry as much.
In 1950, Utiyama created a version of General Relativity that matched this perspective more or less, called gauge theoretic gravity. Gauge theory then took off and explained all the other forces: weak, strong, and electromagnetic, becoming what is now known as the Standard Model of quantum physics. All gauge theories have a geometric interpretation, but for other forces it is not seen as fundamental. (The geometries of the other forces exist in spaces made of complex numbers, so they aren’t that intuitive.) Still, most presentations of gravity used the geometric approach. Gauge theory gravity has the advantage that it presents gravity as a force, which is what it is, and not as a geometry that needs gravity to order phenomena according to geodesics.
Let’s go back to our highway analogy now. In our Einsteinean, curved manifold theory, we travel on a highway and the past is “back there” and the future is “up ahead”. In a gauge theoretic version, however, we could be on a treadmill with screens around us showing scenery like some sort of racing simulator. The forces exerted on us are the same in both cases. (They are mathematically equivalent.) A spacetime coordinate, rather than representing a point on a manifold, is an artificial construct that helps us label events as distinct from one another. When I travel from one place to another, the gauge theory tells me what will happen as I traverse that “distance”. It also tells me how different people (“observers” in relativity parlance) will have different experiences depending on how they interact with the gauge force of gravity.
Suppose that the universe is not a manifold. Suppose you are, in reality, experiencing neither motion in space nor in time according to Einstein’s ideas but interacting with a gauge force that makes it appear as if you are moving. This means that, not only is the past not “back there” somewhere, but other places are not exactly “over there” either. Rather, to move from place to place or time to time you interact with the gauge force of gravity which translates, rotates, twists, and accelerates you like the treadmill. As in the movie, The Matrix, other people experience their own versions of reality which they reconcile by communicating with one another and sharing observations through forces.
The universe does not need to be a computer simulation for it to be like The Matrix. (That would just invoke another universe that is “real” like the manifold we just got rid of and send Willem of Ockham into a tizzy.) Gauge theory just works that way. It is not like elephants standing on the turtle’s back from Hindu myth. As there is no spoon in The Matrix, there is no turtle.
While gauge theory has few implications for physical measurements right now, since it is mathematically equivalent to the geometric form of General Relativity, it has philosophical implications. If the past and the future do not exist “out there”, then they could be created out of the interaction between ourselves and the universe, especially when we bring quantum uncertainty into the mix. Our choices could, in fact, profoundly impact what we experience because the future has not been written and the past has been erased. I say could because we just don’t know.
It is dangerous to draw philosophical conclusions from physics, more dangerous still to present one interpretation of a physical theory as the only one. If the history of philosophy is any guide, people will choose sides depending on what they want to be true. I, for one, like the idea that my choices matter and that the future is mine to choose. Those like Einstein will wish for a universe where they bear no responsibility for their actions. If the history of physics is any guide, just when we think we’ve made sense out of the universe, it will reveal that we still haven’t a clue. | https://medium.com/the-infinite-universe/gauge-theoretic-gravity-why-space-and-time-might-be-illusions-e7ce5e419b64 | ['Tim Andersen'] | 2020-05-15 13:01:01.127000+00:00 | ['Time', 'Space', 'Physics', 'Gravity', 'Philosophy'] |
Commuting during COVID-19: Using Open Data to Predict NYC Subway Crowds | Commuting during COVID-19: Using Open Data to Predict NYC Subway Crowds
We are now close to a year into a global pandemic that has upended and altered everyday life. As one of the first COVID-19 epicenters in the US, New York City has been in the spotlight, first in trying to contain the spread of the virus with various restrictions on movement, and now with the easing of these measures to regain some semblance of normalcy. The subway system has not been immune to these changes — with scheduling weaned down to essential service and record lows for ridership — and data enthusiasts have taken notice (I Quant NY, QRI, CityLab).
As the city continues to adjust, more people are heading back into work and some students are attending colleges or schools in-person. A central question on many minds is how exactly this will all work given NYC commuters reliance on public transportation. Is it possible to safely and effectively move so many people while maintaining social distancing?
According to a recent New York Times article on subway ventilation systems, “if more people begin riding the subway, pushing crowding closer to pre-pandemic levels, the ability of the system’s ventilation to lessen the risk of viral transmission diminishes dramatically.” This challenge got us thinking about open data and whether or not it could be used to measure crowding in the subway system.
Having recently released a set of data products from our NYC subway accessibility project, including cleaned and interpolated hourly turnstile data, a subway network map, and a crosswalk that joins subway stations, equipment, turnstile data, and General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data, we turned first to these sources. We envisioned an app that provided the city and commuters some way of understanding how crowded their route might be from the perspective of an average subway car. The goal would be to identify when train cars in a specific route were likely to be most crowded so that individuals might alter their travel time or trip if possible.
While Google Maps currently provides estimates of how crowded subway stations and other locations are compared to historical levels using mobile location data as a proxy, we felt developing an open-sourced methodology that uses publicly available data from the MTA directly related to subway usage would add value to the space. Additionally, our approach presents crowding estimates on an individual trip basis rather than for entire stations, making it easier for users to consume and utilize this information in planning their commute.
Methodology
The task of estimating the crowdedness of a train sounds straightforward, yet it is anything but, especially given the limitations of publicly available data. The methodology we adopted to approximate crowdedness can be broken down into four steps as illustrated below.
Approach for estimating crowdedness on the NYC subway
Train schedules
One of the two key pieces of information needed to estimate crowding comes from the real-time GTFS data feed. This data provides the arrival time at a stop for each active train in the subway system. We pull in this data every few minutes and perform some processing such as filling in the starting stops and times, excluding trips with significant incomplete information to get clean data for trips by each train.
Commuters
The other key dataset is the Turnstile usage data that provides the approximate number of people using the subway. This data, released weekly, provides an aggregated count of the number of people entering and exiting a given station for a 4 hour period. Unfortunately, this data isn’t released at a high enough resolution to input directly into our analysis so we apply a time-series technique of interpolation to get estimations of the number of people at a station at every minute of the day.
Trip assignment
Next comes the challenging task of figuring out which train a commuter is likely to take by answering questions such as “how likely is an average commuter at Times Square to take the uptown R train vs. the downtown 1 train”. With no data available for individual commutes, we instead employ a heuristic approach. To do this, we start by looking at the total number of exits at the stations along each route at each hour as this tells us where people are commuting to. The proportions of these exits for all of the different routes serves as the proxy for the likelihood of a commuter choosing one route over another.
Crowding Estimation
Lastly, we bring all of these pieces together. When a particular train arrives at a station, we have the number of people waiting at that station and subsequently how many people are likely to board this particular train. Coupled with information on the number of people likely exiting from this train (using the station exit data), we are able to estimate the crowdedness of the train at this stop. We then average this metric for each train-station-time over a two-week period to generate a smoothed average crowdedness at each hour for all the lines along their respective routes. Due to differing commuter patterns, weekdays and weekends are treated independently.
With the data pipeline completed, we built an interactive web application, SubwayCrowds, to display the data (see screen grab below). Users select their trip of interest (subway line, start and end station) and can then explore the crowdedness of each station and hour along the journey. The chart on the left shows the estimated maximum number of other commuters you are likely to encounter in an average train car for the chosen trip starting at different times of the day. The slider along the bottom of the left chart can be used to display the approximate number of people in an average train car for that time of day along the route (right chart).
We’ve done our best to provide an accurate metric for train crowdedness but there were a lot of assumptions made in the process. We welcome the opportunity to improve this methodology and invite you to check out SubwayCrowds and its repo for more information and source code. Reach out to [email protected] to let us know if you have any feedback on the tool or the estimates. | https://medium.com/dataclinic/commuting-during-covid-19-using-open-data-to-predict-nyc-subway-crowds-f1dcabc4fd99 | ['Data Clinic'] | 2020-10-26 18:26:31.885000+00:00 | ['Open Data', 'Open Source Software', 'Transportation', 'Covid 19', 'New York City'] |
NeverTrump Started the Steele Dossier Debacle. Democrats Ran with the Ball | #NeverTrump.
The message is as simple as the name.
Ask any of your political friends about the Never Trump movement and you will hear derision, sympathy, anger, curiosity and sometimes, you will be greeted with eye-rolls.
What most people don’t know, is the Never Trump movement, and a healthy dose of establishment elitism, created one of the most bogus political investigations in American history.
An excellent piece by Julie Kelly lays the groundwork:
The following month, perhaps ironically on September 11, 2015, Fusion got the go-ahead. “Fusion would be hired by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative on-line publication backed by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer.” Singer was “no fan of Trump,” the Fusion founder wrote. The Free Beacon’s editor-in-chief was Matthew Continetti; his father-in-law is Bill Kristol. Beginning in 2015 and continuing until this day, Kristol has led the NeverTrump movement, a cabal of Trump-hating “conservatives” and Republicans: (Glenn) Simpson referred to his client as “Never Trump.” The Free Beacon, via Paul Singer, kept Fusion on a $50,000 per month retainer until January 2017.
The article is titled “NeverTrump Conservatives Started the Smear Campaign on Carter Page” and it’s interesting, brutal and sad. She covers some serious intrigues in the conservative press as they target an individual, much like their MSM counterparts.
As the Fusion GPS dossier (Steele Dossier or Trump–Russia dossier) was being assembled and picked through to trot out stories for a few NeverTrump websites, Future President Trump managed to win the 2016 Primary in May. Then, the “conservative” funding of the Steel Dossier was halted.
Magically, the DNC picked the tab in June for the Steel Dossier to be completed but they denied knowing they did it.
You read that correctly, the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign denied knowing that they were paying for an opposition research dossier on candidate Donald Trump. They paid $50,000 a month without knowing what they were paying for. We are supposed to believe this.
Glenn Simpson, owner of Fusion GPS, knew Christopher Steele and testified he had worked with him before. Simpson also refused to go into who contacted him in June to give him democrat money.
There was some legal wrangling over NDAs and client privilege and just like that, Clinton and the DNC are supposed to be innocent of the bogus results of this phony dossier.
Jane Mayer reported:
Marc Elias, the attorney at Perkins Coie who was serving as the Clinton campaign’s general counsel, acted as a firewall between the campaign and the private investigators digging up information on Trump. It’s a common practice for law firms to hire investigators on behalf of clients,so that any details can be protected by attorney-client privilege. Fusion briefed only Elias on the reports. Simpson sent Elias nothing on paper — he was briefed orally.
This is political operative 101 for pros. You don’t write anything. You meet or use the phone. Although, if James Comey is spying on you, that can get rough.
Elias simply “orally’ conveyed all the salacious garbage to other democrats and they were off to the races, colluding with Russians. Those Russians were lying to Steele and cracking up while drinking vodka and reading leaked stories of their own creation on the web.
The democrats stopped paying after Donald Trump won the election in November, but Steele kept working the dossier because Glenn Simpson started paying for it himself. Ten days after Simpson was self-funding the Steele Dossier, knowledge of it’s existence found it’s way to Senator John McCain. By December, McCain had the Steele dossier in his hands. David J. Kramer delivered it.
Kramer later testified that Steel told him some of the dossier may not be truthful:
“He explained that what was produced… needed to be corroborated and verified. He himself did not feel that he was in a position to vouch for everything that was produced in this,” he said.
That means Steele had an idea his sources were drinking vodka and laughing at him.
To get US officials laughing at him, Kramer immediately leaked portions of the Steele dossier to everybody in mainstream journalism:
“The Daily Caller reports that Kramer says he never intended for the dossier to be published, despite having given it to reporters from McClatchy, NPR, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed and CNN’s Carl Bernstein, among others which include Obama administration officials.”
David Kramer testified he handed it to Ken Bensinger of Buzzfeed in the offices of the McCain Institute. Perhaps they will give tours of the site of this historical exchange. Senator McCain also had a copy he handed over to James Comey.
Around this time, James A. Wolfe, Senate Intelligence Committee Security Director, photographed and sent the images to Ali Watkins of Buzzfeed for a story that would soon haunt both of them.
Buzzfeed published the dossier, Kramer freaked out as his testimony shows:
David Kramer — “I called Mr. Bensinger, and my first words out of my mouth were you are gonna get people killed.”
By April of 2017, Ali Watkins, then with BuzzFeed, published a piece that smeared Carter Page as a guy who “met with a Russian spy.” The reality was some Russian agents tried to recruit Page in 2013 but Page wasn’t going for it. Page, was working with our CIA.
That means, Carter Page is supposed to meet with spies.
This debacle lead to the unlawful FISA warrant. After that, the Mueller Report, which was a nothing burger for collusion and simply (most unfairly) snared some political prisoners for Beltway insiders to snicker at.
With so many former NeverTrumpers turning around to support the President for 2020, I wonder how many were disappointed in the plays made by the elitist NeverTrumpers who got this Steele dossier ball rolling.
What puts the lie to all of this is the fact that Donald J. Trump was never informed early on that “Russians” were knocking on our door. It was never about defeating Russians. It was always about defeating Donald Trump. That’s why he was never told.
Without the NeverTrump origin and the McCain hand-off to James Comey, these divisive, damaging and untruthful episodes may have never played out. | https://medium.com/@vbordini/nevertrump-started-the-steele-dossier-debacle-democrats-ran-with-the-ball-90da6269a41c | ['Vincent Bordini'] | 2019-12-18 14:55:00.054000+00:00 | ['Never Trump', 'Impeachment', 'Hillary Clinton', 'DNC', 'Politics'] |
How to control if the sugar suddenly rises? Know what to eat and what not to eat | How to control if the sugar suddenly rises? Know what to eat and what not to eat Sherlyn Keith Dec 11, 2021·3 min read
If you also know a diabetic patient and his diabetes has increased, then it is very important for you to know what he should and should not eat to control him.
Do not leave too many gaps between meals
Priyanka Verma, a consultant nutritionist at Sarvodaya Hospital, Faridabad, says that a diabetic patient should take a diet 6 to 7 times a day. Whenever we eat food, the food gets converted into glucose. At that time a hormone called insulin stops it from going into the blood. Insulin deficiency occurs in the body of a diabetic patient. As a result, glucose does not stop from getting into the blood.
If a diabetic patient eats 6 to 7 meals at short intervals, the body produces insulin again and again. It will create little glucose and regulate it with less insulin. If you only eat three times a day, there will be gaps between meals and more glucose will build up. In such a situation, eating, again and again, will be beneficial for the patient.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon powder is also beneficial for sugar patients. This increases the sensitivity of insulin. Due to which it works to reduce and control the level of sugar in the blood.
Green Tea
Green tea is also an effective way to control sugar. Green tea contains high amounts of polyphenols. It is an antioxidant that controls blood sugar. You can drink it daily in the morning and evening.
Blackberry
Jamun is beneficial for sugar patients. You will get Jamun seed powder easily in the market. Drink Jamun powder in the morning on an empty stomach. This will control diabetes.
Diabetic patients can eat these things
1. Whole grains, oats, gram flour, coarse cereals
2. Yogurt and whey, including toned milk
3. Fiber vegetables like peas, legumes, cabbage, okra, spinach, and other green leafy vegetables
4. peeled pulses
5. Oils containing omega 3 fatty acids
6. Papaya, apple, orange, and guava are more beneficial in fruits
Don’t eat these things
Sugar
2. sweet fruit
3. Jaggery
4. cold drink
5. fried foods
6. Potato
7. Sweet potato
USE ALTAI BALANCE TO CONTROL DIABETES
Altai Balance is one of the world’s first products designed to target blood sugar and control weight using the power of scientifically researched and natural ingredients from around the world.
That’s why we created Altai Balance.
Altai Balance is unlike anything you’ve ever tried before. It is one of the only products in the world with a proprietary blend of 19 of the highest-quality nutrients and plants that research has shown target and detoxify dangerous particulate matter and in turn, support healthy blood sugar levels for both women and men. | https://medium.com/@sherlynkeith/how-to-control-if-the-sugar-suddenly-rises-know-what-to-eat-and-what-not-to-eat-cffa4fd19a6c | ['Sherlyn Keith'] | 2021-12-11 14:20:14.965000+00:00 | ['Diabetes', 'Diabetes Solutions', 'Diabetes Prevention', 'Diabetes Newsblog', 'Diabetes Tipo 2'] |
Top 5 GOP Fails of 2020 | Just when you thought the Republican Party couldn’t possibly stoop any lower, 2020 happened. Instead of helping people, the GOP pushed dangerous conspiracy theories, flouted public health guidance, and doubled-down on voter suppression tactics. In fact, Republican state legislators engaged in such deplorable conduct, it’s hard to even remember everything that happened. Here are the top 5 worst failures by GOP legislators.
#5: Republicans make it harder for people to vote
The GOP’s refusal to ease voting during an unprecedented public health crisis brought the party’s long track record of voter suppression to a whole new level. They immediately set out to restrict mail-in and early voting, politicizing a global pandemic to keep themselves in power. Wisconsin Republicans recklessly pushed forward with their in-person spring election despite a lack of poll workers and many closed polling places, refusing to mail ballots in the hopes that it would lower turnout and help their conservative candidate. In Kentucky, Republicans tightened voter ID requirements even though state closures made it impossible for voters to obtain said identifications. Pennsylvania Republicans pushed legislation to ban ballot drop boxes and cut early voting by almost 3 weeks, leading to outrage among the Democratic caucus. Meanwhile, Texas Republicans fought tooth and nail to ensure that people afraid of catching COVID were barred from voting by mail, requiring folks to show up in person and risk exposure. Forcing people to choose between their lives and their vote is cruel, dangerous, and about as undemocratic as it gets. | https://medium.com/@TheDLCC/top-5-gop-fails-of-2020-cd7b081eb50a | [] | 2020-12-18 21:26:08.203000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Politics', 'Public Health', 'Elections', 'Republican Party'] |
FastAPI Microservice Patterns: Asynchronous communication | FastAPI Microservice Patterns: Asynchronous communication
What’s the problem?
In microservice based applications the business logic is spread across several services. To solve business problems the services need to communicate with each other. But how do services in a microservice architecture communicate?
Solution alternatives
For inter-service communication one can choose one of the following alternatives:
The remote procedure invocation pattern and messaging pattern are heavily used. When one uses the messaging pattern dependent on the technology and protocol configuration it may be required to consider the idempotent consumer pattern (Problem which is solved: How does a message consumer handle duplicate messages correctly?) as well. When to use what pattern and what advantages and disadvantages the patterns have is not in the scope of this post. To learn more about this I highly recommend to read the chapter Interprocess communication in a microservice architecture from the book Microservice Patterns: With examples in Java.
One solution: Messaging pattern
This post is about the messaging pattern which can be implemented in various ways. In this post the pattern is not implemented in combination with the idempotent consumer pattern which, as already mentioned earlier solves the problem of how to handle the reception of duplicate messages. The communication is either 1-to-1 or 1-to-n, means messages published by a publisher service on a single channel can be received by one or several consumer services. Independent of the technology used like e.g. MQTT or Apache Kafka the common concept is a message broker which acts as intermediary for messages published by publisher services and consumed by consumer services.
In addition to forwarding the messages between a message publisher and all consumers which have subscribed messages from the corresponding message topic the message broker handles other things as well. The messages are buffered by the broker until they have been transmitted to the consumers. The message brokers may support different behaviors w.r.t. this message buffering and forwarding. MQTT e.g. defines different quality of service (QoS) levels. Dependent on how the broker is configured a message is transmitted at at most once (0), at least once (1) or exactly once (2).
The at most once configuration is the least reliable on cause one would have to detect missing messages. Of course missing messages can be detected but there is no guarantee that all messages are published and obviously no way to restore missing messages. In this configuration the implementation of the idempotent consumer pattern would not make sense.
The at least once configuration prevents from missing messages but leads potentially to duplicate messages which have be handled with an implementation of the idempotent consumer pattern.
The exactly once configuration guarantees that every message is delivered (published as well as received) exactly once. There is neither a need to implement a detection for missing messages nor to implement the idempotent consumer pattern.
Pattern implementation
The example implementation of the messaging pattern used MQTT as messaging technology. The package used for integrating MQTT functionality into FastAPI is fastapi-mqtt. The package uses the package gmqtt under the hood to provide asynchronous MQTT client functionality. The MQTT client functionality could be implemented by using another Python MQTT client library like e.g. the Eclipse Paho MQTT Python Client as well. I’ve chosen fastapi-mqtt cause it abstracts away some boilerplate code and keeps the examples as minimalist as possible.
The post FastAPI Microservice Patterns: Local Development Environment — Skaffold, docker, kubectl and minikube in a nutshell describes how to setup the local development environment and how to get the source code of the pattern implementations. The sub directory messaging of the source code repository contains the example implementation of the pattern. The logic does not make sense but makes it obvious how the pattern works. To follow the explanations install a MQTT client like e.g MQTT-Explorer.
Eclipse Mosquitto is used as MQTT broker and deployed with Kubernetes The file mqtt-broker/deployment.yaml contains it’s deployment meta-data. skaffold.yaml refers the manifest:
...
deploy:
kubectl:
manifests:
- mqtt-broker/deployment.yaml
...
A service-b acts as a message publisher. A service-b acts as a message publisher as well as a message subscriber. Both services setup and tear-down the connection to the message broker which is accessible as mqtt-broker in the corresponding decorated functions startup() and shutdown() :
from fastapi_mqtt import FastMQTT, MQQTConfig ...
mqtt_config = MQQTConfig(host = "mqtt-broker") mqtt = FastMQTT(
config=mqtt_config
) ... @app.on_event(“startup”)
async def startup():
await mqtt.connection() @app.on_event(“shutdown”)
async def shutdown():
await mqtt.client.disconnect()
service-a ( service-a/app/main.py ) provides a REST endpoint /send/{payload} which publishes a user specified payload on MQTT topic /from-service-a :
@app.post(“/send/{payload}”)
async def request_answer(payload: str):
await mqtt.publish(“/from-service-a”, payload)
service-b ( service-b/app/main.py ) subscribes to messages on topic /from-service-a
@mqtt.on_connect()
def connect(client, flags, rc, properties):
mqtt.client.subscribe(“/from-service-a”)
and defines a generic message handler which is executed whenever a message is received
@mqtt.on_message()
async def message(client, topic, payload, qos, properties):
await mqtt.publish(“/from-service-b”, f”{payload} forwarded by service-b”)
In this example service-b simply republishes the message on topic /from-service-b .
Run the services with minikube start followed by skaffold dev --port-forward . Run MQTT Explorer and connect to the local MQTT broker by inserting the meta-data and pushing button “Connect”.
MQTT Explorer connection setup
After connecting to the broker you should see something like below:
MQTT Explorer | https://medium.com/@florian-kromer/fastapi-microservice-patterns-asynchronous-communication-45a3b68f8bb8 | ['Florian Kromer'] | 2021-01-08 14:33:33.807000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Skaffold', 'Fastapi', 'Design Patterns', 'Microservices'] |
Michelle’s Home for Wayward Women: Adventures in home ownership | Michelle’s Home for Wayward Women: Adventures in home ownership
Laurie, her sister, and I are all living in a “new” 43 year old house in the Portland area. We bought the house in the summer of 2020, an “As-is” sale from an estate that gave us a great price for a home in a lovely neighborhood. We saw the home as a structure with great potential that we could craft into a “forever home.”
We had some definite criteria that a home for us would need to meet. First, it had to have a bedroom, bath, kitchen and other living spaces on the ground floor, both to support Laurie’s sister and to let us eventually age in place even if we could no longer handle stairs. Second, it needed an enclosed garage, rather than a carport. Third, we wanted to be free of arbitrary and irritating homeowner association regulations. Finally, we wanted some space around the home, for noise, privacy, and to give Laurie her important gardening space.
This home met our criteria, if we were willing to do just a little work. There was no downstairs bedroom or full bath, but there was a den/office space that backed onto a laundry room and half bath. A bit of work with a tape measure and a little sketching convinced us that we could rework the laundry, half-bath, and a closet into a more compact laundry and a full bath, with the den converted to a nice bedroom.
We immediately put in a bid on the home, and were delighted when the bid was accepted and we closed on the house a few weeks later. Our immediate goal now was to find a contractor in mid-pandemic and start a bit of remodeling. At the same time, because remodeling isn’t stressful enough, we would be getting married, moving my condo contents to the new house, and selling my condo in the San Francisco region.
Fortunately, we had secure housing in the form of Laurie’s old three bedroom apartment about a mile from the house, so we would have a safe place to stay while the remodeling project rolled ahead. We interviewed and discussed changes with several contractors, and settled on one, with plans drawn up to rebuild one end of the first floor to give us the desired bath and bedroom.
Meanwhile, we went ahead with our moving plans, and in three trips, moved most of my condo contents in the back of Laurie’s truck to the garage of the new home. We developed some serious road warrior skills, driving the 600 miles between homes in 10–11 hours. Laurie’s awesome Tetris-honed skills in packing the truck resulted in our moving all this stuff with no damage or lost items. Oh, and we even managed to sneak in some wedding planning en route.
We were married on October 3, 2020 in a ceremony held in the Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church Sancturary, with a total of 8 people including ourselves present. Marriage in the time of COVID-19 is a strange experience. Everyone was masked, and maintaining social distancing. Contact zones were established for each small social bubble, to ensure no physical contacts outside of very specific controlled items occurred.
We were blessed to have Rev. Leslie Takahashi as our officiant, as well as our coordinator and author of much of our service. We adapted a bit of the text for our needs, and in recognition of the pandemic denying many of our friends the ability to be present, we added a section to recognize those absent from physical presence.
We were honored to have our fellow UU and singer-songwriter Laura Zucker present to perform three of her songs that felt extraordinarily appropriate for Laurie and I. Visit her website at laurazucker.com, and listen and purchase her songs from Band Camp, at laurazucker.bandcamp.com.
We also very much appreciated the witnessing and support of three of our friends in the service, and the expertise of the MDUUC Music Director Mark in taking on sound setup and running the A/V deck and live stream. Yes, the wedding was live-streamed, a BoxCast broadcast that about 70 friends were able to watch!
We moved to Laurie’s old apartment a few days after the wedding, a cramped fit, but we did OK in working our lives together. We spent a fair amount of time at the house, both checking on and working with our contractor, and tending to assorted odd jobs to make our home livable. Somewhere in here three sibling kittens entered our lives, to add that necessary touch of feline insanity.
There was landscaping to tend to, decades of deferred maintenance in the roof and porch structure, a lack of networking infrastructure, and a few plumbing problems, including a strange low water flow problem. Much of this was quickly addressed.
With the help of our contractor, the worn orange shag carpeting was removed and replaced with high end laminate flooring downstairs, and better carpet upstairs. A roofing contractor was engaged to replace the deteriorating cedar shingles and slats with a more modern sheathing and composite roofing, far safer in this wooded area in the event of a fire. I ran networking and cable wiring into several rooms.
Laurie and I spent weeks painting, patching, and cleaning. Disintegrating curtains were removed and new ones ordered. A new washer and dryer, to be stacked, was ordered for the new laundry room. The lead time on that was about 6 weeks, another unexpected twist from the pandemic. Apparently everyone was ordering new appliances!
Our contractor had a plumber in for the bathroom work, who we asked to look at our low water flow problem. Throughout the entire house, we had a water flow problem. With no flow, the pressure was quite high, 80 PSI, but when any tap was opened the pressure dropped to something like 15–20 PSI, and the flow was maybe 2 gallons per minute. Running the kitchen faucet while someone was in the shower upstairs pretty much turned the shower into a dribble. This wasn’t really a livable situation yet.
We knew that the shutoff gate valve just outside the house didn’t fully close, and there was a fair chance that it had failed to fully open as well. The plumber replaced that, which let us finish the interior plumbing work with the water fully shut off. It didn’t improve the flow problem, though.
The plumber had mentioned that many homes had pressure regulator “bell valves” on the water line, often buried. If one of these had failed, essentially stuck slightly open, it could cause this problem. We started a hunt for the valve. It would be either by the shutoff at the house, or by the meter at the street. After a good bit of digging we found it at the meter, about 18” down, buried in the dirt, along with several elbows and a zig-zag of PVC pipe.
We had that replaced, but again, there was no improvement. By then the contractor was done with the remodel, so we thanked and paid him. Laurie decided to excavate the line herself to see if we could find some clue as to the problem. As she dug out from the house, she found the copper pipe transition to old PVC plastic line about 5’ out. Additional digging uncovered a 90 degree bend straight down, and about 3 feet down, another elbow and the line headed more or less toward the meter. With the mess of pipe elbows at the street, we had a pretty twisty water line, although not enough to explain the whole low flow problem. With another 30 feet of three foot trench to dig, we thought it was time to call in the pros.
Cornel’s Plumbing agreed to come out and take a look. Alex, the plumber, suggested starting at the meter, opening up the line and checking the flow capacity, and then moving to the house and checking other points until the area with the restriction was found. He rigged a fitting onto the end of the meter, attaching a 50 foot hose. Opening up the meter valve, we had well over 10 gallons per minute out of the hose. Now we knew the problem was on our side of the meter, and not on the city side.
We knew at this point that the flow was poor at the connection to the house, and Alex the plumber had an idea. He took the other end of the hose up to the house, and screwed it onto the hose bib just past the house shutoff valve. Opening the hose valve and street shutoff valve, we had great water flow in the house’s plumbing. He said this lash up with the hose was how they normally supplied water while running a new water line in, but this was only the second time he had seen a home water line blocked in 7 years as a journeyman plumber. The hose lash up told us the water line from the street to the house was where the clog was.
The cost to dig up the old PVC line and find where it was plugged would be high, labor intensive as hand digging was needed to avoid destroying the pipe. It would be much cheaper to put in a new line with better materials using modern boring technology. We concurred, and he gave us a quote that was much lower than I had expected from doing a little shopping around. So, we bought the replacement installation project.
The crew showed up on time, and went to work. They dove into the crawl space through the hatch in our pantry, scoped out what they needed to do, and started prep. The driller showed up around 11 AM, and set up by the water meter at the street. They started drilling into the gentle slope there, at about the depth of the water line, aiming to miss the other utility lines and tunnel under the house. The plan was to surface the drill head near the pantry crawl space hatch, and install the house shutoff and reducer there, rather than in a vault outside. This would be both more convenient, and avoid any possible frozen pipe issues in the winter. One worker walked along with a special instrument that read out the drill head position, and called out steering instructions to the drill operator. They ran the line over 3 feet deep, past the perimeter foundation, and hit their target. The plumbing crew attached a long length of extremely heavy-duty modern PEX line, and a grounding wire (per code), and this was pulled back through with the drill head. By noon the drill crew was packing up and leaving, and by 2 PM we had a completed new water line in service.
It was time to shift our living and sleeping arrangements from the old apartment to the new house. Laurie could finish the huge job of emptying her old 3 bedroom apartment that she and her sister had occupied for a few decades. That was quite a task in itself. I could assist in moving things, but sorting and deciding what to keep and what to discard was a task Laurie reserved for herself.
We were ready to move in. With some assistance from a medical supplier, we set up everything for Laurie’s sister, and got her room ready. We would be sleeping in the guest room with my furniture until we got Laurie’s stuff moved from her apartment. We spent a few weeks shifting accommodations, moving boxes and such, and settling in. We thought we had everything in great shape, what with the new roof, new floors, plumbing overhauled, lights working, and a new washer and dryer on the way. We would have a great Christmas in our new home.
Woman plans, Goddess laughs…
The 42 year old Jen-Aire cooktop had other plans. The grill and one burner control failed, and I had the choice of repair or replace in front of me. Replace? There are two downdraft 30” cooktops on the market, and both needed 40 Amp service. We had 30 Amp service installed, which meant that we would have to pull a larger line and install larger breakers. But, the power panel was a Federal Electric, which has it’s own issues. Local code would require us to replace the entire panel. The cost of replacing the cooktop was going to be well over $5,000, which wasn’t in the budget.
So, repair. Naturally, the original parts were discontinued about 35 years ago, but there was a suggested replacement, discontinued about 20 years ago… The parts are something called an “infinite switch”, the heat regulator for an electric range element. There are so-called “universal” replacements, but they didn’t consider the “unique” wiring of this old cooktop. The cooktop circuitry assumed that the switch internals worked in a certain way, which no modern switch actually does any more, for good reasons. They used their assumption to power up the vent fan whenever the grill was on, bypassing the fan switch. The new switches were wired differently, and resulted in the fan power momentarily being interrupted every few seconds while the grill was on. Even better, if the fan were switched on directly the grill ran at full power, with no temperature control!
Chasing down the internal design of the switches and the wiring of the grill I determined that I needed to disconnect one wire between the fan and the grill proper, and replace the fan switch with a proper double-pole single throw switch, along with the previous replacement of the “infinite switches.” It’s all working now, and the cooktop now largely uses standard parts I can get off the shelf. The fix cost about $110. While Christmas dinner was cooked entirely in the oven, for New Years Eve we had our cooktop and grill, suitable for some T-bone steaks. Yay!
We’re largely unpacked now. I’ve gotten proper radio antennas set up for my amateur radio hobby, and Laurie has been weeding the yards using a come-along and some rope rated to 5,600 lbs force (she broke one of her old ropes pulling blackberry vines). She’s getting the outside planted and landscaped more to her liking. I’ve been cooking, and working on some changes in the interior, including a hobby workroom in a former loft space or attic over the garage. Life goes on, and we are enjoying our new home in the “woods.” | https://medium.com/@michellepaquette/michelles-home-for-wayward-women-adventures-in-home-ownership-27ba0af59330 | ['Michelle Paquette'] | 2021-08-22 13:34:47.211000+00:00 | ['Portland', 'Homeownership', 'Gay Marriage', 'Old House Renovation', 'Home Improvement'] |
The Timeline of Color in Art | The Timeline of Color in Art
Artists treated colors like people, which is why blue was revered and emerald green was blacklisted in the 1960s. Fatema Morbiwala Follow Dec 9, 2020 · 5 min read
Photo by Unknown on Unsplash
The first pigments were invented nearly 40000 years ago. I’m guessing here’s what might have happened — Four friends meet for a night of intellectual discussion and casual banter. They bring along their most precious possessions. Sharing a common love for art, they suddenly discover that they can create a basic palette of colors from these four prized possessions- soil, animal fat, burnt charcoal, and chalk.
Voila! A basic color palette made up of five colors was born — red, yellow, brown, black, and white.
From prehistoric times, these basic pigments have undergone massive transformations with the advancement of science. This opened new doors for the artists as they began experimenting with new pigments and colors like never before, which in turn facilitated art movements from Renaissance to Impressionism.
I’ve covered four of my favorite colors and their deep-rooted connection with the art world.
A Red-Carpet Treatment
Easily available in nature, red was extensively used by artists in the Paleolithic age. Red ochre, the color of longevity had its early origins from the clay that contained mineral hematite. The prehistoric cave paintings in Altamira, Spain, which date between 15000 and 16500 BC are early examples of paintings that used the red ochre pigment.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, this pigment was derived from small, cochineal cactus-feeding insects that were native to Mexico.
The allure of this vibrant red hue mesmerized everyone, especially the art fraternity. As explained by Victoria Finlay in A Brilliant History of Color in Art, the obsession with this color was such that it became the third greatest export of the New World, gold and silver being the other two.
Raphael, Rembrandt, and Rubens all used cochineal as a glaze, layering the pigment atop other reds (like red ochre) to increase their intensity.
The Aztecs have also been credited with the discovery of using cochineal bugs as pigments, evident from their elaborate headdresses, sculptures, and sacrificial tables, which date back to as far as the 12th century BC.
Blue Blood
The Virgin in Prayer by Sassoferrato, 1640–1650
The National Gallery, London
It may come as a shocker to many that the bright blue robes that adorn Virgin Mary, were chosen to be blue-colored, only because of the high price it commanded. There is no religious symbolism that motivated the painters to choose this color for this holy personality.
Mary’s iconic hue — called ultramarine blue — comes from Lapiz lazuli, a gemstone that for centuries could only be found in a single mountain range in Afghanistan.
For hundreds of years, Lapiz lazuli commanded a price equivalent to gold. Akin to the superhero of every action movie, this metamorphic rock with its intense color had many takers. Its color adorned Egyptian funerary portraits, Iranian Qur’ans, and later the headdress in Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665).
In the 1950s, Yves Klein, whom the New Yorker’s art critic Peter Schjeldahl described in 2010 as “the last French artist of major international consequence” collaborated with a Parisian paint supplier to invent a radiant shade of ultramarine blue.
His painting style was provocative and sensational, much like the color he invented. For Klein, blue was not simply a color, but rather a promise of endless possibilities like the vast blue sky.
Poison Green
Today green is commonly associated with nature and is a sign of vitality. But once upon a time, this color was associated with sickness and morbidity. A color that delivered the kiss of death.
In 1775, the Swedish chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele invented a hue, Scheele’s Green, the first of the “poison greens”, mixed with toxic arsenic.
JMW Turner’s early oil sketch of Guildford from the Banks of the Wey, painted in about 1805, has been found to contain Scheele’s Green.
Unaware of its implications on health, this color became every person’s go-to color in the Victorian era. Artists and patrons seized every opportunity to make this pigment a part of their art.
A couple of years later, emerald green was invented, whose brilliance outshone Scheele’s Green. Presented as a more durable alternative to Scheele’s Green, this pigment was equally toxic. It was adopted by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to create vivid, emerald landscapes.
This pigment was held responsible for many symptoms and deaths that were reported. This may have been the cause of Cézanne’s diabetes or Monet’s blindness. In fact, rumors go abound that the French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte was poisoned by arsenic, emitted by the green wallpaper in his bedroom. This resulted in an untimely death.
Eventually, this pigment was abandoned when it became known that people who wore their clothes dyed in emerald green, died early.
Fun Fact: To date, the French are superstitious about this pigment and refrain from making green theatre costumes even when safe alternatives are now available.
Purple Love
Springtime by Claude Monet, 1840–1926
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
This pigment was approximately developed in the first millennium BC. Sourced from a tiny shellfish, this pigment came to be known as purpura or Tyrian purple. Hard to find and highly sought-after, more than 2,50,000 of the critters had to be sacrificed to produce just half an ounce of color — just enough to color one gown!
But, this rare color truly came into its own, when it caught the fancy of the revolutionary painters in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Claude Monet, in particular, was enamored by this color, a regular in his Impressionist canvases. His practice was rooted in an in-depth study of the effects of light and shadow on color.
He believed that violet was able to tap into the dimensionality of shadow better than black and used the color extensively. “I have finally discovered the true color of the atmosphere,” he once noted. “It is violet. Fresh air is violet.”
His Impressionist peers did not stay immune to the charms of this hue, making it a favorite amongst artists. Such was devotion to the new hue, that art critics dubbed this craze as “violettomania”.
Georgia O’Keeffe, considered one of the greatest 20th-century artists, chose various shades of violet to depict the deep folds of a flower in her 1926 painting Black Iris.
The advent of pop art in the 1960s saw Andy Warhol’s screen painted canvasses sporting this hue.
The lofty qualities of purple continue to dazzle the world, be it through the delicate lilacs or the shades of purple lipstick that sit pretty in a makeup store.
Last Thoughts
It’s hard to imagine a world void of color. It can be concluded that the colors have immensely influenced artists and painters, inspiring innovative art forms that break every frontier. With its radiant and mystical abilities, colors continue to play a huge role in the way we act and think. History has been colored by pioneers who believed in a colorful tomorrow. | https://medium.com/the-collector/the-timeline-of-color-in-art-b55b8044744c | ['Fatema Morbiwala'] | 2020-12-09 18:18:04.713000+00:00 | ['People', 'Art', 'History', 'Culture', 'Colors'] |
The Gangster in the Blue Serge Suit | After his release Dio moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania where he opened a dress manufacturing business. He sold it in 1950 before moving back to New York to open another dress company. If there was any doubt to Dio’s motivations in labor organizing, it was exemplified in what he did after he sold the Pennsylvania business for $12,000. One year later, Dio returned, demanding another $11,200 to use his influence to prevent the plant from unionizing, while at the same time scheming with corrupt union officials back in New York to take control of his own charter, the United Auto Workers-AFL Local 102.
Dio’s association with the unions brought heavy scrutiny from law enforcement which knew his reputation. This became a problem in his quest for union leadership. The parent organization accused Dio of stacking the management of local charters with unsavory characters with criminal histories, and sought a way to remove Dio and his ilk from the organization. Through the course of their investigations, they were even left baffled as to how Dio, who had never worked in the trade, acquired the charters to begin with. Union officials sought the procedural means to oust Dio, but like the challenges of Dio’s criminal prosecutions, the union investigations were unable to find victims willing to testify against him.
They finally succeeded in 1954 when Dio was successfully prosecuted for tax fraud due to income he had failed to report on the sale of his Pennsylvania dress business, and the bribes made to keep the plant non-union. With his 60-day jail sentence, the union leadership finally had something they could use to justify Dio’s ouster. In the end, the unions accused Dio’s local organizations of not even having members, deeming them “paper locals” due to their inflated or imaginary numbers. The Times reported that that the New York District Attorney’s office said Dio’s local existed for the sole purpose of forcing “extorsive action” against the public.
Yet even with Dio’s setbacks and brief jail sentence, he was still a stubborn problem for the authorities and the unions. One of the challenges to prosecuting individuals like Dio was uneven application of the law across the country as well as between city, state, and federal authorities, according to McCarthy. “It was a hodgepodge of enforcement,” he said. It took time for them to evolve and catch up with the criminals. In 1956, the U.S. Attorney’s office warned that New York was on the verge of a “gangster invasion.”
Much like the realignment of security agencies after the 9/11 attacks, city, state, and federal law enforcement started working on ways to share evidence and communicate more efficiently to effect more successful prosecutions of organized crime.
The timing was appropriate. After Dio’s release in 1954, he went right back to the labor racket he knew so well, and his methods grew even more brutal. | https://medium.com/memory-project/the-gangster-in-the-blue-serge-suit-801da4f616be | ['Ben Feibleman'] | 2017-05-02 18:52:03.673000+00:00 | ['Organized Crime', 'New York', 'History', 'True Crime', 'Mafia'] |
A Case for Writing on Your Phone | A Case for Writing on Your Phone
Turn your mobile distraction device into a productive writing resource
Photo by Chad Madden on Unsplash
How often do you use that little rectangle in your pocket for distractions? Scrolling social media, staying up to date with friends, wasting time while you’re waiting in line… We now live in an age where our phones satisfy that ‘boredom’ twitch. It fills the empty space between moments in our lives.
But it can provide a lot more than just a distraction from boredom (this is not the article where I make a case for embracing boredom).
Have you ever been out in public and been struck with the next greatest novel idea only to find that you have no notebook within reach? Or maybe you’re standing in line and only have a few seconds. What about when you’re on your dog walk in the morning and aren’t carrying writing supplies?
As much negative impact we claim that our phones create for us, they also provide us with a wonderful resource to improve our writing productivity. Why aren’t we taking advantage of our endless connectivity to produce something wonderful or improve our skills?
There are so many ways our phone can help us stay productive and improve our writing. Here are some ways you can set your phone up to stay writing and learning, even when you aren’t near a keyboard.
Listen to podcasts / audiobooks
Writing isn’t always about writing. In fact, many authors would argue it’s equally important to be reading and learning in addition to writing. Podcasts and audiobooks are right at your fingertips, providing you with free resources to improve your craft and learn from the best.
There are plenty of podcasts that cover the business, process, and even behind the scenes of writing. Look up interview podcasts and learn from veterans. Find a podcast that teaches you the business of writing and how to be successful. Find inspiration within a serial fiction podcast that teaches you storytelling.
On top of that, audiobooks are a great way to learn the craft and even study the storytelling techniques of experts. Libraries are adopting online catalogs between ebooks and audiobooks, which provide the perfect reason to grab a library card. Download audiobooks and take them wherever you go, whether you study via non-fiction or immerse yourself in the storytelling adventure of your favorite authors.
Learn to dictate
As crazy as it might feel to walk around speaking into your phone without talking to anyone, we’re writers in the end. We’re already crazy.
Dictation might feel foreign to you, but it’s a great way to increase your word count without much effort on your part. If you’re walking the dog or doing chores around the house, you might not be able to write things down. Dictation solves all of your problems. Even if you don’t have an app that transcribes your words, recording them and transcribing it later is a great way to improve your skills. Now, whenever you have that strike of inspiration or solve your plot hole and you’re not near your writing document, you can make a note.
Talking out your scenes is also a great opportunity to find your way through a blockage. If you don’t have a sounding board for new ideas or a way to work through tough scenes, dictation and talking through the possibilities can help you work out your problems.
Find small, wasted moments
Especially during NaNoWriMo, writers are constantly searching for time in their day to get the words written. Think about the small, wasted moments that could be better served writing and find a way to incorporate writing into them. Are you bored and wanting to scroll social media? Write in your notes app instead. Standing in line at the grocery store waiting to check out? Write a few sentences. Sitting at a restaurant waiting for your food? You guessed it. Little moments like that might not feel like they are very productive, but small bits do add up over time.
Break a sweat
This is by far my favorite writing habit — writing while working out. In 2018, I wrote about 8K words of my NaNo novel while sitting on the exercise bike and typing away at my phone. I didn’t quite have the guts to dictate my novel then, and also there were people around, but this year I’m looking forward to dictating while I’m in the privacy of my living room and spinning away. Not only are you getting a workout and staying healthy, you’re also getting those words in. Whether you’re doing NaNo or not, that’s a great chance to have thirty minutes of uninterrupted writing time.
Utilize commute times
When I was driving an hour to and from work every day, I could have passed that as wasted time that I’d never get back. Instead, I used that time to either listen to podcasts or work through novels via dictation. Commute times take up a lot of our work week, and there’s no rules against turning them into productive writing sprints. Figure out how you can best use that time, either by learning or writing, and use that to your advantage. | https://medium.com/swlh/a-case-for-writing-on-your-phone-5f7c597020cb | ['Laura Winter'] | 2020-10-28 23:04:25.470000+00:00 | ['Writers On Writing', 'Writing', 'Creativity', 'Writing Tips', 'Productivity'] |
6 Things my conservative dad taught me to make me woke AF | 6 Things my conservative dad taught me to make me woke AF
On recycling, loving the land, and loving myself
I don’t really *do* Hallmark holidays. I don’t like the consumerism, I don’t like the obligatory nature of it, and yes — as a mother (but an introvert first), I would happily eradicate all Mothers/Fathers Day type activities from the calendar.
But. I can’t escape the fact that tomorrow (as I write this) is Father’s day, which gets me to thinking about my dad.
The truth is that if he were still alive today, I’d be baking a black forest torte and grilling some steaks — no card, no gift, other than my time and love. I certainly wouldn’t be writing a holiday-themed essay (which I hate) about fathers, for Father’s Day. We’d debate some political nuance, and I’d bait him into taking a hit of my medical marijuana, and he’d tell me his army stories for the 249th time. We’d laugh, and yell, and solve the meaning of the Universe.
But he’s not here. He died from melonoma over ten years ago now, and while the world celebrates dads, I can’t not think of mine.
So, in place of a black forest torte and a good rousing political debate, I’m ruminating here, with you, about my dad, and what he taught me.
Because honestly, I consider myself damn lucky. A lot of women are running around out there with daddy issues because they never felt their dad’s approval, or because he was never there, or never paid attention to them. But I’m not one of them, which I consider one of the greatest gifts the Universe has given me.
1: How to laugh at the haters, and those who misunderstand you | https://creativeonion.medium.com/6-things-my-conservative-dad-taught-me-to-make-me-woke-af-933f3f4dc124 | ['Marjorie Steele'] | 2018-12-21 17:54:41.215000+00:00 | ['Fathers Day', 'Parenting', 'Life Lessons', 'Death'] |
Here’s where Donald Trump and Joe Biden stand on relations with China and US allies | This appeared in The Millennial Source
Trump has maintained that he is the person best positioned to ensure that the world “respects” the US. Biden’s campaign says his foreign policy vision is “to restore dignified leadership at home and respected leadership on the world stage.”
In April, TMS first compared the broad policy positions of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. In the months since then, Biden secured the delegates to become the Democratic nominee, selected Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate and officially accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
With less than a month until the first of three presidential debates (and one vice presidential debate), the candidates are campaigning during an unusual, coronavirus-altered election year. While there has been a smattering of in-person events, for most voters, understanding each candidate’s stances on the various issues will require personal research.
To that end, TMS is spending 2020 scrutinizing the positions of both candidates. We previously examined Trump and Biden’s stances on mental health care and issues that are most relevant to female voters. In this article, we’re taking a deeper look at where Biden and Trump stand on foreign policy issues in relation to China and the United States’ allies.
Trump and Biden on foreign policy
In April, TMS said of Trump, “The backbone of Trump’s foreign policy has been his ‘ America First ‘ ethos.”
Since his first campaign and throughout his first term, Trump has maintained that he is the person best positioned to ensure that the world “respects” the US. Trump has repeatedly claimed that his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, tarnished the US’ reputation on the world stage.
Global polling challenges that contention, with the US’ favorability among foreign nations dipping since Trump took office. However, Trump is viewed favorably by people on the ideological right.
Biden’s campaign says his foreign policy vision is “to restore dignified leadership at home and respected leadership on the world stage.” As TMS wrote in April, Biden has claimed that “his administration would seek to work together with other democracies to ‘confront the rise of populists, nationalists and demagogues.’”
Currently, two of the most volatile areas of foreign policy are the US’ trade disputes with China and its strained relationship with countries that have traditionally been its allies.
Donald Trump on China
US-China relations have been contentious since Trump took office and they’ve only worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic, for which Trump has blamed China.
Trump came into office promising to stand up to China on trade. He frequently accused China, the US’ main economic competitor, of currency manipulation and other underhanded tactics to take advantage of the US. At a 2016 campaign stop, Trump went so far as to say the US was being “ raped “ in its trade relationship with China.
A year and a half into his presidency, Trump acted on his campaign rhetoric by placing 25% tariffs on Chinese products worth US$34 billion annually in trade. Beijing retaliated with tariffs of its own, leading to a trade war between the two nations. The countries have made some progress in trade talks since the tariffs began, but the negotiations remain ongoing.
Despite his tough talk and his frequent reference to COVID-19 as the “ China virus,” Trump has regularly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping, even claiming they would “always be friends.” Trump reportedly asked Xi for help in winning the 2020 election.
He also used the trade talks as an excuse for delaying sanctions related to the treatment of the Uighurs in Xinjiang. The abuse and imprisonment of the Uighurs, a Muslim minority group in China, has been labeled a humanitarian crisis by nations around the world.
Joe Biden on China
Biden has sought to set himself apart from Trump on China, most notably with a campaign ad in April that accused Trump of “roll[ing] over for the Chinese” in response to the coronavirus crisis. The tone of the ad revealed Biden’s apparent adversarial stance vis-à-vis China.
This is also reflected on Biden’s campaign website, which states, “To win the competition for the future against China or anyone else, we must sharpen our innovative edge and unite the economic might of democracies around the world to counter abusive economic practices.”
This tough-on-China tone reportedly reveals an evolution in Biden’s views in the wake of the nation’s human rights violations. Or it may merely be a political calculation, as American journalist James Traub has argued, “Biden has simply learned that beating up on China has become a cost-free way to prove your toughness.”
Biden has also said that as president he will assert greater pressure on China “to stop subsidizing coal exports and outsourcing their pollution to other countries by financing billions of dollars of dirty fossil-fuel energy projects through their Belt and Road Initiative.”
Donald Trump on America’s allies
Trump’s “America First” philosophy was not just reserved for America’s economic rivals. As president, Trump has taken a hard-line stance against nations that have historically been America’s allies, accusing them of abusing the relationship and not contributing equally to their agreements.
Trump has been critical of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), accusing its member states of not contributing enough financially to the alliance. The New York Times reported on September 3 that former senior national security officials believe Trump may choose to withdraw from NATO if he wins reelection.
Trump recently approved a plan to relocate 12,000 US troops out of Germany, a move criticized by voices across the political spectrum. Pentagon officials are concerned that it will cost billions of dollars to relocate the troops. Other critics, including Republican Senator Mitt Romney, have said it will weaken the European alliance and strengthen Russia’s power in the region.
Some of Trump’s foreign policy decisions have led to accusations that he is “stabbing allies in the back” to placate Russian President Vladimir Putin. These actions include ignoring bounties Putin allegedly placed on the troops of both the US and its allies in Afghanistan.
Trump has also pulled the US out of multiple peace treaties, actions that critics say endanger the world while emboldening nations like Iran and Russia that were constrained by the treaties. Trump claims those nations were not following the treaty rules anyway.
Joe Biden on America’s allies
Biden has stated that America’s alliances will need to be restored in the wake of Trump’s presidency. In an op-ed for Foreign Affairs earlier this year, Biden claimed, “President Donald Trump has belittled, undermined, and in some cases abandoned U.S. allies and partners. He has turned on our own intelligence professionals, diplomats, and troops.”
He continues, “The Biden foreign policy agenda will place the United States back at the head of the table, in a position to work with its allies and partners to mobilize collective action on global threats.”
Biden’s campaign also promises to use the next Summit of the Americas, to be held in 2021, “to rebuild strong hemispheric ties based on respect for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. We will also strengthen our alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and other Asian democracies, while sustaining an ironclad commitment to Israel’s security.”
Biden is among the voices who have been critical of Trump’s withdrawal from peace treaties. He says he will seek out new treaties and recommit the US to a policy of arms control. | https://medium.com/never-fear/heres-where-donald-trump-and-joe-biden-stand-on-relations-with-china-and-us-allies-b41573ed8566 | ['The Millennial Source'] | 2020-09-22 14:48:22.935000+00:00 | ['China', 'Us', 'Donald Trump', 'Relations', 'Joe Biden'] |
Build Your Own Blockchain with JavaScript | You may think that blockchain is far bit too complicated for you to handle. Well, actually, it isn’t all that bad if you think about blockchain from a more fundamental and conceptual level. Today, in this article, we’re going to cover some the basics about blockchain, and show you how you can use Javascript to build your own blockchain system, just by writing a couple of lines of code to describe your blockchain, including the underlying data structure, PoW mining, and transaction process. Of course, real scenarios where you build your own blockchain are far more complex than this.
Getting to Know Blockchain
As its name suggests, a blockchain is a chain of blocks, and so the basic data structure of a blockchain is a block. The content of a block includes such information as a timestamp, data, hash, and previousHash.
Among these components, the data portion is used to store data, naturally, and previousHash serves to store the hash value of the previous block. Here’s a diagram of a basic blockchain:
Next, as you can see from the below code, a hash stores general block information. A hash allows information of any length to be mapped into fixed length strings. In the example below it’s mapped to sha256:
calculateHash() {
return SHA256(this.previousHash+ this.timestamp + JSON.stringify(this.data)).toString();
}
Next, the basic structure of a block data looks like the following:
class Block {
constructor(timestamp, data, previousHash = '') {
this.timestamp = timestamp;
this.data = data;
this.previousHash = previousHash;
// The calculation of the hash must be at the end so to ensure that all data is assigned correctly before calculation
this.hash = this.calculateHash(); } calculateHash() {
return SHA256(this.previousHash + this.timestamp + JSON.stringify(this.data)).toString();
}
}
Next, because a blockchain is a chain of blocks, a blockchain can be represented as an array or chain, as shown below:
class BlockChain {
constructor() {
this.chain = [];
}
}
Next, there’s the genesis block, which is the first block in a blockchain always needs to be created manually. The previousHash of the first block is empty:
createGenesisBlock() {
return new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:00", "Genesis block of simple chain", "");
}
The blockchain constructor method should also be changed to the following method:
class BlockChain {
constructor() {
this.chain = [this.createGenesisBlock()];
}
}
Next, you can add blocks. Note that each block added must be connected to the original blockchain:
class BlockChain {
getLatestBlock() {
return this.chain[this.chain.length - 1];
}
addBlock(newBlock) {
// The previous hash value of the new block is the hash value of the last block of the existing blockchain；
newBlock.previousHash = this.getLatestBlock().hash;
// Recalculate the hash value of the new block (because the previousHash is specified)；
newBlock.hash = newBlock.calculateHash();
//Add new blocks to the chain；
this.chain.push(newBlock);
}
...
}
Now you can verify the blockchain. The core of the structure of blockchain data is to ensure proper linking and tamper resistance. However, if a block is tampered with, how can we verify and find the block? The most labor-intensive yet the most common method is to go through, or traverse, all the blocks and verify them one by one:
isChainValid() {
//Traverse all the blocks
for (let i = 1; i < this.chain.length; i++) {
const currentBlock = this.chain[i];
const previousBlock = this.chain[i - 1];
//Recalculate the has value of the current block. If the hash value is not matched, it indicates that data of the block was changed without permission, and therefore the has value is not recalculated.
if (currentBlock.hash !== currentBlock.calculateHash()) {
console.error("hash not equal: " + JSON.stringify(currentBlock));
return false;
}
// Determine whether the previousHash of the current block is equal to the hash of the previous block. If they are not equal to each other, this means that the previous block was changed without permission. Although the hash value is recalculated correctly, the hash value of the subsequent block is not recalculated, resulting the the whole chain breaking.
if (currentBlock.previousHash !== previousBlock.calculateHash) {
console.error("previous hash not right: " + JSON.stringify(currentBlock));
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
Now, run the following code:
let simpleChain = new BlockChain();
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:01", {amount: 10}));
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:02", {amount: 20}));
console.log(JSON.stringify(simpleChain, null, 4)); console.log("is the chain valid? " + simpleChain.isChainValid());
The result is shown as follows:
ali-186590cc4a7f:simple-chain shanyao$ node main_1.js
{
"chain": [
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:00",
"data": "Genesis block of simple chain",
"previousHash": "",
"hash": "fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:01",
"data": {
"amount": 10
},
"previousHash": "fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89",
"hash": "150b196268a0152e9f0e719ac131a722472a809f49bd507965029a78c7400529"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:02",
"data": {
"amount": 20
},
"previousHash": "150b196268a0152e9f0e719ac131a722472a809f49bd507965029a78c7400529",
"hash": "274a7a13ed20118e8cb745654934a7e24a4d59333ba17dfbf5d4cfe0fa8a6e34"
}
]
}
is the chain valid? true
Make sure that you pay attention to the previousHash and hash . You can see that the previousHash of the current block is actually the hash of the previous block.
Now, let’s try to tamper with a block. A common claim is that blockchains are tamper proof. It that true? Well, let’s try to tamper, specifically alter, with the second block and see what will happen:
let simpleChain = new BlockChain();
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:01", {amount: 10}));
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:02", {amount: 20})); console.log("is the chain valid? " + simpleChain.isChainValid()); // Change the data of the second block from 10 to 15
simpleChain.chain[1].data = {amount: 15}; console.log("is the chain still valid? " + simpleChain.isChainValid());
console.log(JSON.stringify(simpleChain, null, 4));
The result is shown as follows:
ali-186590cc4a7f:simple-chain shanyao$ node main_1.js
is the chain valid? true
hash not equal: {"timestamp":"2018-11-11 00:00:01","data":{"amount":15},"previousHash":"fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89","hash":"150b196268a0152e9f0e719ac131a722472a809f49bd507965029a78c7400529"}
is the chain still valid? false
{
"chain": [
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:00",
"data": "Genesis block of simple chain",
"previousHash": "",
"hash": "fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:01",
"data": {
"amount": 15
},
"previousHash": "fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89",
"hash": "150b196268a0152e9f0e719ac131a722472a809f49bd507965029a78c7400529"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:02",
"data": {
"amount": 20
},
"previousHash": "150b196268a0152e9f0e719ac131a722472a809f49bd507965029a78c7400529",
"hash": "274a7a13ed20118e8cb745654934a7e24a4d59333ba17dfbf5d4cfe0fa8a6e34"
}
]
}
From the above result, you can see that, after the data has been tampered with, the hash value is not recalculated, causing the block to have a mismatching hash value.
Now, let’s try to tamper with another block. Let’s think. What if we do it in a smart way and recalculate the hash value after the block has been tampered with?
let simpleChain = new BlockChain();
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:01", {amount: 10}));
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:02", {amount: 20})); console.log("is the chain valid? " + simpleChain.isChainValid());
// Recalculate the hash value after tampering with it
simpleChain.chain[1].data = {amount: 15};
simpleChain.chain[1].hash = simpleChain.chain[1].calculateHash();
console.log("is the chain still valid? " + simpleChain.isChainValid());
console.log(JSON.stringify(simpleChain, null, 4));
The result is shown as follows:
ali-186590cc4a7f:simple-chain shanyao$ node main_1.js
is the chain valid? true
previous hash not right: {"timestamp":"2018-11-11 00:00:02","data":{"amount":20},"previousHash":"150b196268a0152e9f0e719ac131a722472a809f49bd507965029a78c7400529","hash":"274a7a13ed20118e8cb745654934a7e24a4d59333ba17dfbf5d4cfe0fa8a6e34"}
is the chain still valid? false
{
"chain": [
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:00",
"data": "Genesis block of simple chain",
"previousHash": "",
"hash": "fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:01",
"data": {
"amount": 15
},
"previousHash": "fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89",
"hash": "74d139274fb692495b7c805dd5822faa0c5b5e6058b6beef96e87e18ab83a6b1"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:02",
"data": {
"amount": 20
},
"previousHash": "150b196268a0152e9f0e719ac131a722472a809f49bd507965029a78c7400529",
"hash": "274a7a13ed20118e8cb745654934a7e24a4d59333ba17dfbf5d4cfe0fa8a6e34"
}
]
}
The previousHash of the third block is not the hash of the second hash.
So, is the blockchain really temper proof? In reality, a blockchain is not completely tamper proof. Let me show you. What if we can be much smarter and recalculate the hash values of all the subsequent blocks? It would look like this:
let simpleChain = new BlockChain();
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:01", {amount: 10}));
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:02", {amount: 20})); console.log("is the chain valid? " + simpleChain.isChainValid());
// Tamper with the second block
simpleChain.chain[1].data = {amount: 15};
simpleChain.chain[1].hash = simpleChain.chain[1].calculateHash();
// Then, recalculate the third block
simpleChain.chain[2].previousHash = simpleChain.chain[1].hash;
simpleChain.chain[2].hash = simpleChain.chain[2].calculateHash();
console.log("is the chain still valid? " + simpleChain.isChainValid());
console.log(JSON.stringify(simpleChain, null, 4));
The result is shown as follows:
ali-186590cc4a7f:simple-chain shanyao$ node main_1.js
is the chain valid? true
is the chain still valid? true
{
"chain": [
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:00",
"data": "Genesis block of simple chain",
"previousHash": "",
"hash": "fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:01",
"data": {
"amount": 15
},
"previousHash": "fd56967ff621a4090ff71ce88fdd456547d1c92d2e93766b7e8791f7a5f91f89",
"hash": "74d139274fb692495b7c805dd5822faa0c5b5e6058b6beef96e87e18ab83a6b1"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:02",
"data": {
"amount": 20
},
"previousHash": "74d139274fb692495b7c805dd5822faa0c5b5e6058b6beef96e87e18ab83a6b1",
"hash": "cc294e763c51e9357bf22d96073e643f4d51e07dd0de6e9b15d1d4f6bf6b45a8"
}
]
}
Now, the whole blockchain has been tampered with. In fact, after you tamper with a block, you can further tamper with the whole blockchain by tampering with all the blocks after that block. However, if the number of the blocks after a tampered block is very large, to tamper with the whole blockchain, you need to tamper with the subsequent blocks quickly enough so to not be found out. In addition, the cost of tampering is also very high in this case. Therefore, as you can see, a blockchain is not completely tamper-proof, but at the same time, tampering a block A blockchain is usually designed to have the tampering cost larger that the potential benefits from blockchain tampering. In this regard, the whole blockchain can be considered secure and essentially tamper proof.
Why Blockchains Are More Secure
So as we’ve established in the previous section, a blockchain is actually not completely tamper proof, but yet they’re still pretty secure. To avoid the chances of our blockchain being tampered with, we need to increase the potential cost it would take to tamper with our blockchain. But how can we increase this cost? Well, the most labor-intensive method may be to artificially create barriers: So, do you want to participate in blockchain accounting? If so, then let’s solve this difficult math problem first to prove your ability and willingness. This involves a very simple concept — PoW.
Before we can get into it, let’s first solve this math problem. What is the math problem, you may ask? It is not that complicated, but may look a little silly, actually. Ensure that the first 10 digits of the hash value are 0. You can only solve this math problem by guessing and trying your luck. Hash calculation has the following characteristics:
Information can be of any length, whether it is a sentence, an article, or a song, and it can be calculated as a unique string of numbers.
This string of numbers has fixed length.
The calculation process is irreversible. That is to say, you can easily calculate the hash value of a text paragraph, but you cannot know the original information that a hash value corresponds to.
If you are given a text paragraph and allowed to add a nonce at the end of the text, you cannot find a way to ensure that the first 10 hash value of the text and nonce are 0 other than keep trying different numbers and hope that you are lucky enough to guess correctly as soon as possible.
Now, let’s get into the coding part of all of this. First things first. Let’s add a nonce to a block. First, note that the hash value of the previous block is fixed:
calculateHash() {
return SHA256(this.previousHash + this.timestamp + JSON.stringify(this.data)).toString();
}
This value cannot be changed. To solve this math problem, you need to manually add a nonce to the block:
constructor(timestamp, data, previousHash = '') {
this.timestamp = timestamp;
this.data = data;
this.previousHash = previousHash;
this.nonce = 0;
this.hash = this.calculateHash();
}
The nonce does not have any special meaning. It is added to change the generated hash value so that the hash value can meet the requirement.
The hash calculation process needs to be changed accordingly:
calculateHash() {
return SHA256(this.previousHash + this.timestamp + JSON.stringify(this.data) + this.nonce).toString();
}
So, as we discussed before, the math problem is to try to change the nonce to ensure that the first 10 digits of the hash are 0. For this, the corresponding code is as follows:
this.hash.substring(0, 10) === Array(10 + 1).join("0")
The first 10 digits of the hash are 0, which is preferred because this ensures the first 10 digits or the first 5 digits are 0. Well, the difficulty varies depending on the number of digits. It is much more difficult to ensure that the first 10 digits of the hash are 0 rather than the first 5 digits. The number of digits can be seen as difficulty. Mining is to try different nonces to make the hash value compliant:
mineBlock(difficulty) {
while (this.hash.substring(0, difficulty) !== Array(difficulty + 1).join("0")) {
this.nonce++;
this.hash = this.calculateHash();
}
console.log("Block mined, nonce: " + this.nonce + ", hash: " + this.hash);
}
For the sake of simplicity, difficulty can be used as a fixed parameter in the blockchain. Note: In fact, the difficulty in Bitcoin is dynamically adjusted to keep the block generation time at about 10 minutes.
constructor() {
this.chain = [this.createGenesisBlock()];
this.difficulty = 2;
}
Adding blocks is no longer adding blocks directly. Instead, now the block addition process is mining:
addBlock(newBlock) {
newBlock.previousHash = this.getLatestBlock().hash;
newBlock.mineBlock(this.difficulty);
this.chain.push(newBlock);
}
Only compliant blocks can be added. Now let’s run the following code:
let simpleChain = new BlockChain();
console.log("Mining block 1...");
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:01", {amount: 10}));
console.log("Mining block 2...");
simpleChain.addBlock(new Block("2018-11-11 00:00:02", {amount: 20}));
console.log(JSON.stringify(simpleChain, null, 4));
You will find that the block generation is much slower:
ali-186590cc4a7f:simple-chain shanyao$ node main_2.js
Mining block 1...
Block mined, nonce: 464064, hash: 0000e7e1aae4fae9d245f8d4b8ce030ffe13270218c362511db6840a824a1cdb
Mining block 2...
Block mined, nonce: 4305, hash: 000047b449537483d7f2861a12b53a59c971d3a928b2c0110a5945bff1a82616
{
"chain": [
{
"timestamp": 0,
"data": "2018-11-11 00:00:00",
"previousHash": "Genesis block of simple chain",
"nonce": 0,
"hash": "8a7b66d194b1b0b795b0c45b3f11b60e8aa97d3668c831f39ec3343c83ae41c0"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:01",
"data": {
"amount": 10
},
"previousHash": "8a7b66d194b1b0b795b0c45b3f11b60e8aa97d3668c831f39ec3343c83ae41c0",
"nonce": 464064,
"hash": "0000e7e1aae4fae9d245f8d4b8ce030ffe13270218c362511db6840a824a1cdb"
},
{
"timestamp": "2018-11-11 00:00:02",
"data": {
"amount": 20
},
"previousHash": "0000e7e1aae4fae9d245f8d4b8ce030ffe13270218c362511db6840a824a1cdb",
"nonce": 4305,
"hash": "000047b449537483d7f2861a12b53a59c971d3a928b2c0110a5945bff1a82616"
}
],
"difficulty": 4
}
In this example, the difficulty is 4. Therefore, the first 4 digits of the block hash value are 0.
What Is Proof of Work (PoW)
The above is an example of the concept of Proof of Work (usually abbreviated PoW). Although this concept seems simple, it has been proven to be highly effective and safe in several blockchains. For example, the PoW system in bitcoin guarantees consistency among millions of machines without human intervention and hasn’t had a single error within 10 years. It is undoubtedly miraculous, one could say. In fact, more is behind this simple concept. The core of PoW is the one-cpu-one-vote method, that is, to express your views and opinions by using your CPU (power). Why is it one-cpu-one-vote instead of one-ip-one-vote, you may ask? Well, it’s because you can simulate a large number of IP addresses at a very low cost. CPUs were used in PoW at the time (an example from 2008) because CPUs resources were quite expensive and could ensure the difficulty and fairness of mining (see the bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto). Of course, what Satoshi Nakamoto did not realize at that time is that the birth of specific algorithm chips like application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) ones have made ordinary CPU mining more and more difficult to accomplish. This is not described any further in this article due to space limitations.
What is the fundamental part of PoW? It is that PoW provides an anchor. That is, PoW implements anchoring between bitcoins in the virtual world and CPUs in the physical world and uses expensive resources in the physical world to ensure the security of bitcoins. Some may say that bitcoin mining consumes lots of electricity and is a wasteful process. However, this view is quite biased. In reality, bitcoin may well be the cheapest currency system in the world. After all, the circulation of many currents around the world have been backed by administrative bodies, which have been involved in massive expensive to protect and maintain the value of their currency. However, bitcoin only consumes computing power and electricity and this consumption is not completely meaningless, because the larger the computing power, the more secure the bitcoin system.
In fact, in addition to PoW, common consensus mechanisms include DPOS (delegate-proof-of-stake), PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance) widely used in private blockchains, and Raft. These consensus mechanisms are not within the scope of this article.
Profit-Driven Blockchain Development
The system of blockchain we discussed above is too simple and has the following major problems:
Each block only includes one transaction. This leads to high transaction cost. In fact, each block of a blockchain in real scenarios contains multiple transactions, which are packaged together in one block at the same time.
No reward is provided for mining. If there’s no reward provided for mining, who would be willing to buy mining machines, foot the electricity bill, and verify and package your transactions? Just think, the world definitely needs selfless people who are willing to make some sacrifices, but self-sacrifice alone cannot maintain constant progress, right? To be completely honest, world progress is also clearly driven by profits. Reasonable blockchain system design and incentive systems are fundamental to the stability of the blockchain. In fact, mining is the only method used by many PoW-based cryptocurrencies. For example, there are only 21 million possible bitcoins in total. These bitcoins can only circulate in the secondary market after they are mined.
Below we will look into a solution to solve these two major problems.
First, you’re going to want to define the transaction. The basic information included in a transaction is the transaction amount and the two parties involved:
class Transaction {
constructor(fromAddress, toAddress, amount) {
this.fromAddress = fromAddress;
this.toAddress = toAddress;
this.amount = amount;
}
}
Each block should contain multiple transactions, so to update the previous data to be accurate with transactions:
class Block {
constructor(timestamp, transactions, previousHash = '') {
this.timestamp = timestamp;
this.transactions = transactions;
this.previousHash = previousHash;
this.nonce = 0;
this.hash = this.calculateHash();
}
....
}
The data structure of the blockchain should also be upgraded accordingly. The transactions to be processed and the reward amount for each mining operation should be added:
class BlockChain {
constructor() {
this.chain = [this.createGenesisBlock()];
this.difficulty = 3;
this.pendingTransactions = [];
this.miningReward = 100;
}
....
}
Pay attention to the structural relationship:
One chain contains multiple blocks.
One block contains multiple transactions.
Next, let’s look into mining. Accordingly, the previous addBlock method should be changed to minePendingTransactions , which mainly differs from the former in the following aspects:
A new block added is not just an ordinary block, but a block that contains information about all the pending transactions. For the sake of simplicity, all pending transactions are packaged into one block. However, this is not true in real scenarios. For example, an original bitcoin block is too small (1 MB) to contain all the pending transactions. Remaining transactions after one packaging operation have to be packaged into another block. In addition, miners usually give higher priority to transactions with higher miner fees.
Pay miner fees. Generally, after a miner mines a block, a batch of transfer transactions to the miner address will be generated and the transfer transactions will be packaged into the next block.
For example:
//Incoming miner address
minePendingTransactions(miningRewardAddress) {
// Pakcage all pending transactions together in the same block
let block = new Block(Date.now(), this.pendingTransactions);
// Mining, that is, constantly trying nonce to make the hash Vluw meet the requirements
block.mineBlock(this.difficulty); console.log('Block successfully mined!');
this.chain.push(block);
// Put the miner fee transaction into pendingTransactions for the next processing operation. The miner fee transaction is characterized by the source account being empty.
this.pendingTransactions = [
new Transaction(null, miningRewardAddress, this.miningReward)
];
}
// Create a transaction, put the transaction into the pending transaction pool.
createTransaction(transaction) {
this.pendingTransactions.push(transaction);
}
Next, you can query the balance. In addition to transfer transactions, sometimes people may want to check the balance of an account. However, no real account exists in a blockchain. Common account models include the UTXO model of bitcoin and the Account/Balance model of Ethereum. Apparently, in our example, no real account exists, either. In this example, the blockchain transaction only records the transaction amount and the two transaction parties. It does not record the account balance. Then, with this being the case, how can we know the balance of an account? The most labor-consuming method is to iterate all the transaction information in the blockchain and deduce the balance of an account based on from, to, and amount information:
getBalanceOfAddress(address) {
let balance = 0;
for (const block of this.chain) {
for (const transaction of block.transactions) {
//账户转出，余额减少
if (transaction.fromAddress === address) {
balance -= transaction.amount;
}
//账户转入，余额增加
if (transaction.toAddress === address) {
balance += transaction.amount;
}
}
}
return balance;
So now was the transfer transaction successful? Did the miner receive the miner fees? Well, let’s run the code and see what happens:
let simpleCoin = new BlockChain();
// First, create two transactions, one where address1 first transfers 100 to address2 and another where address2 transfers 60 to address1.
simpleCoin.createTransaction(new Transaction('address1', 'address2', 100));
simpleCoin.createTransaction(new Transaction('address2', 'address1', 60)); console.log('starting the miner...');
simpleCoin.minePendingTransactions('worker1-address');
// Then, if these actions succeed, this means that address2 will have 40.
console.log('Balance of address2 is: ', simpleCoin.getBalanceOfAddress('address2'));
// How much should a miner account then? For this transaction, the appropriate miner fee is 100.
console.log('Balance of miner is: ', simpleCoin.getBalanceOfAddress('worker1-address')); // Create another transaction where address2 transfers 10 to address1.
simpleCoin.createTransaction(new Transaction('address2', 'address1', 10)); console.log('starting the miner again...');
simpleCoin.minePendingTransactions('worker1-address');
// Then, if this transfer was successful, then address2 will have 30.
console.log('Balance of address2 is: ', simpleCoin.getBalanceOfAddress('address2'));
// So now how much should a miner fee be then? Having handled two blocks, it should be set at 200, right?
console.log('Balance of miner is: ', simpleCoin.getBalanceOfAddress('worker1-address'));
The result is shown as follows:
ali-186590cc4a7f:simple-chain shanyao$ node main_3.js
starting the miner...
Block mined, nonce: 2121, hash: 000cd629157ee59494dfc08329d4cf265180c26010935993171b6881f9bae578
Block successfully mined!
Balance of address2 is: 40
Balance of miner is: 0
starting the miner again...
Block mined, nonce: 1196, hash: 000d5f8278ea9bf4f30c9cc05b4cc36aab8831dc5860e42c775360eb85bc238e
Block successfully mined!
Balance of address2 is: 30
Balance of miner is: 100
The balance of address2 is as expected. However, the balance of the miner is still 0 after the block was successfully added. Why hasn't the miner received fees? This is because the miner fees are put into the next block and the miner of the current block can only receive miner fees after the block is added.
Transaction Signature and Verification
As described before, it seems that anyone can start a transaction. For example, I may want to start a transaction that transfers 100 coins from the account of, say, Satoshi Nakamoto to my account. Is this feasible? Well, if you use the models you used above, it does seem that anyone can start a transaction. However, this isn’t completely in line with reality. So far, we have not gone over one important thing — which is the signing of transactions to ensure that only person, who just happens to be you, can transfer your money out and to also ensure that you cannot perform operations with another person’s account if you do not have their relevant credentials, i.e. account name and password.
So, let’s get into passwords, and more importantly irretrievable passwords. Passwords are common in the real world — for example, you’ve got a password for your credit card, your social media and e-commerce website accounts, and also you’ve got passwords for automatic gate controls. You must keep these passwords secure. Otherwise, once these passwords just so happened to be leaked, you may suffer asset loss or private information being exposed. If you suspect that your credit card password has been stolen, you need to change your password immediately. If you forget your password, you can take your ID card with you to the bank to set a new password.
However, in blockchain, you cannot simply modify or retrieve your password. Moreover, no ID card exists in the blockchain world. Rather, the password itself — or private key — is considered your ID card in blockchain.
Now, let’s talk about asymmetric encryption. The only password in blockchain is called the private key. So, what is a private key, and how is a private key generated? A private key is generated through asymmetric encryption. Asymmetric encryption uses different keys for encryption and decryption. It sounds complicated. However, the principle is very simple:
An asymmetric encryption algorithm generates a pair of keys. One is a public key and the other is a private key. The two keys can encrypt and decrypt data: Only the corresponding private key can decrypt data encrypted with the public key; only the corresponding public key can decrypt data signed and encrypted with the user’s private key.
The private key cannot be deduced from the corresponding public key, but the public key can be deduced from the corresponding private key. Most Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman (RSA) cryptosystem implementations follow Public Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS), which just means that the public key can be deduced from the private key, but the private key cannot be deduced from the public key.
The public key is used for encryption and the private key for decryption: Data encrypted with the public key can only be decrypted with the corresponding private key. The public key is like an email address, which is known to all and to which anyone can send emails. However, only the owner of the email has the password and can log on to the email account.
The private key is used for signatures and the public key for verification. For example, when A receives a letter from B, how can A confirm that this letter was really written by B? Well, B signed the letter with the private key. This is actually the encryption process). When A receives the letter, A uses the public key disclosed by B to decrypt the letter. If the decryption is successful, A can confirm that this letter was sent by B.
Let’s generate a pair of public and private keys:
const EC = require('elliptic').ec;
const ec = new EC('secp256k1'); const key = ec.genKeyPair();
const publicKey = key.getPublic('hex');
const privateKey = key.getPrivate('hex'); console.log('Public key', publicKey);
console.log('Private key', privateKey);
The result is as follows:
Public key 04f1aa4d934e7f2035a6c2a2ebc9daf0e9ca7d13855c2a0fb8696ab8763e5ee263c803dfa7ac5ae23b25fb98151c99f91c55e89586717965758e6663772ebccd1b
Private key 1c258d67b50bda9377c1badddd33bc815eeac8fcb9aee5d097ad6cedc3d2310c
The private key has 32 bytes and is your unique password. The public key seems longer. However, why are bitcoin addresses usually short? The public key has 65 bytes and its first byte is fixed (0x04). Of the other 64 bytes, the first 32 bytes are the x-coordinates of the elliptic curve and the last 32 bytes the y coordinates of the elliptic curve. A bitcoin address is shorter because the string also experiences a series of transformations such as SHA256 encryption, RIPEMD160 encryption, and Base58 encoding before a Base58 address like 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa is generated. For the sake of simplicity, the address generation will not be described in this article. Generally, the public key can be considered your account address, which only differs from the public key in the format and can be reversely converted.
Now you can sign your transaction. To do it, first, you need to use your own private key to sign the transaction to prove that the transaction was really started by you:
class Transaction {
// Calculate the hash in order to do the signature. You need to do this because the hash value will be signed instead of the original information directly.
calculateHash() {
return SHA256(this.fromAddress + this.toAddress + this.amount).toString();
} // Incoming key
signTransaction(signingKey) {
// Verify if the source account is the person's address, or more specifically, verify whether the source address is the public key corresponding to the private key.
if (signingKey.getPublic('hex') !== this.fromAddress) {
throw new Error('You cannot sign transactions for other wallets!')
}
const txHash = this.calculateHash();
// Sign the transaction hash with the private key.
const sig = signingKey.sign(txHash, 'base64');
// Convert the signature to the DER format.
this.signature = sig.toDER('hex');
console.log("signature: "+this.signature)
}
...
}
Next, you’ll want to verify the transaction. When the other transaction party receives the transaction information, it is required to verify if this transaction is valid by using the public key of the source account to confirm that the signature is correct and from the fromAddress :
class Transaction {
isValid() {
// The miner fee transaction fromAddress is empty, verification cannot be completed.
if (this.fromAddress === null) return true;
// Determine if the signature exists
if (!this.signature || this.signature.length === 0) {
throw new Error('No signature in this transaction');
}
// Transcode fromAddress to get the public key (this process is reversible, as it is just a format conversion process.)
const publicKey = ec.keyFromPublic(this.fromAddress, 'hex');
// Use the public key to verify if the signature is correct, or more specifically if the transaction was actually initiated from fromAddress.
return publicKey.verify(this.calculateHash(), this.signature);
}
...
}
The preceding sample verifies the validity of a single transaction. Because a block contains multiple transactions, you also need to add a method to verify all the transactions in a block:
class Block {
hasValidTransactions() {
// Traverse all transactions within the block, verifying them one by one
for (const tx of this.transactions) {
if (!tx.isValid()) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
...
}
Correspondingly, createTransaction needs to be replaced with addTransaction. That is, you cannot directly create transactions anymore. Instead, you need to verify signed transactions first and then only submit valid transactions. Example:
class BlockChain {
addTransaction(transaction) {
if (!transaction.fromAddress || !transaction.toAddress) {
throw new Error('Transaction must include from and to address');
}
// Verify that the transaction is valid and valid before it can be submitted to the trading pool.
if (!transaction.isValid()) {
throw new Error('Cannot add invalid transaction to the chain');
}
this.pendingTransactions.push(transaction);
}
...
}
Correspondingly, the isChainValid method of the blockchain should be used for verifying all the transactions in the block:
class BlockChain {
isChainValid() {
for (let i = 1; i < this.chain.length; i++) {
const currentBlock = this.chain[i];
const previousBlock = this.chain[i - 1];
// Check if all transactions in the block are valid.
if (!currentBlock.hasValidTransactions()) {
return false;
}
if (currentBlock.hash !== currentBlock.calculateHash()) {
console.error("hash not equal: " + JSON.stringify(currentBlock));
return false;
}
if (currentBlock.previousHash !== previousBlock.calculateHash()) {
console.error("previous hash not right: " + JSON.stringify(currentBlock));
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
...
}
Now Run the following code:
const {BlockChain, Transaction} = require('./blockchain');
const EC = require('elliptic').ec;
const ec = new EC('secp256k1');
// Generate a pair of private and public keys with tools.
const myPrivateKey = '1c258d67b50bda9377c1badddd33bc815eeac8fcb9aee5d097ad6cedc3d2310c';
const myPublicKey = '04f1aa4d934e7f2035a6c2a2ebc9daf0e9ca7d13855c2a0fb8696ab8763e5ee263c803dfa7ac5ae23b25fb98151c99f91c55e89586717965758e6663772ebccd1b'; const myKey = ec.keyFromPrivate(myPrivateKey);
// Derive the public key from the private key
const myWalletAddress = myKey.getPublic('hex');
// Looking at the output, I did get the public key from the private key.
console.log("is the myWalletAddress from privateKey equals to publicKey?", myWalletAddress === myPublicKey); let simpleCoin = new BlockChain(); const alice PublicKey = '047058e794dcd7d9fb0a256349a5e2d4d724b50ab8cfba2258e1759e5bd4c81bb6ac1b0490518287ac48f0f10a58dc00cda03ffd6d03d67158f8923847c8ad4e7d';
// Initiate a transaction and transfer 60 from your own account to Alice's account.
const tx1 = new Transaction(myWalletAddress, alicePublicKey, 60);
// Sign with private key
tx1.signTransaction(myKey);
// Submit a transaction
simpleCoin.addTransaction(tx1); console.log('starting the miner...');
simpleCoin.minePendingTransactions(myWalletAddress);
// If the transfer is successful, the balance of Alice's account will be 60.
console.log('Balance of Alice's account is: ', simpleCoin.getBalanceOfAddress(alicePublicKey)); // Initiate a transaction and transfer back to your account from Alice's account
const tx2 = new Transaction(alicePublicKey, myWalletAddress, 20);
// You still sign with your private key, but doing so will cause an error. Because you don't know Alice's key, you cannot operate your account. That is, your key cannot open Alice's account.
tx2.signTransaction(myKey);
simpleCoin.minePendingTransactions(myWalletAddress);
console.log('Balance of Alice's account is: ', simpleCoin.getBalanceOfAddress(alicePublicKey));
The result is shown as follows:
ali-186590cc4a7f:simple-chain shanyao$ node main.js
is the myWalletAddress from privateKey equals to publicKey? true
signature: 3045022100b87a9199c2b3fa31ac4092b27a41a616d99df884732dfd65972dc9eacd12da7702201f7957ef25d42c17cb2f6fb2888e6a0d5c521225d9b8851ba2d228f96d878f85
starting the miner...
Block mined, nonce: 15812, hash: 00081837c2ae46a1310a0873f5e3d6a1b14b072e3d32a538748fac71e0bfd91e
Block successfully mined!
Balance of trump is: 60
/Users/shanyao/front/simple-chain/blockchain.js:22
throw new Error('You cannot sign transactions for other wallets!')
For the first transaction, you operate and sign your own account. The transaction is successful because you have the private key. For the second pending transaction, you operate the other person’s account and fail to submit the transfer transaction because the private key is incorrect. The private key is your only password and passport. You can only own corresponding assets when you have the private key. Maybe this is the inviolability of private property in a real sense.
Summary
Now that you have read the article, how simple do you think blockchain is? Blockchain is not as complicated as you may think. However, it is also not very simple. In fact, the core consensus mechanism (or distributed consensus) and decentralized blockchain governance are not described in this article. This article only briefs on the basic blockchain structure, basic concepts, and general transaction process to give you a preliminary understanding of blockchain. Blockchain itself is a broad topic, which requires more research and exploration.
Original Source | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/build-your-own-blockchain-with-javascript-970e84dd634d | ['Alibaba Cloud'] | 2019-10-15 11:37:04.032000+00:00 | ['Data Structures', 'JavaScript', 'Alibabacloud', 'Blockchain', 'Programming'] |
What is Enlightenment? | Enlightenment is the stage where there is permanent happiness. When one becomes enlightened then they become free from the cycle of birth and death and obtain permanent liberation.
In today’s world even though technology has reached great heights and we have all the material comforts we could ask for, we are still not happy. Everything is at our fingertips, but now and then we are faced with situations in our lives that create worries, conflict, fear, negativity, frustration, disappointment, anger and sometimes even a feeling of hopelessness.
To become free from these kinds of situations and emotions that is why people seek enlightenment. People are looking for a way out of the bondage of the worldly life and enlightenment is the answer.
If one has attained eternal bliss, and when the worldly pains do not affect him, then he has become free. Permanent bliss (param anand), that is verily called liberation (moksha). The Enlightened world view itself is the experience of the Soul.
Complete enlightenment is not possible in this day and age, but with help of the knowledge of the Self or Self Realization, one is able to remain in the bliss of the Soul, while carrying out the activities of daily life. Only one who is Self-Realized, a Gnani Purush, can impart this knowledge of the Self to us. Once we receive the knowledge of the Self then our worldly life becomes worry-free and we begin to feel an inner peace which never leaves us. | https://medium.com/dadabhagwan/what-is-enlightenment-55d07285d857 | ['Dada Bhagwan'] | 2020-02-20 06:07:44.638000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Self', 'Self Realization', 'Spiritual Growth', 'Enlightenment'] |
[ HD-JA ] ジョゼと虎と魚たち フルムービー (2020) オンライン Sub-Japan | リリース済み: Dec 25, 2020 ランタイム: 98 数分 ジャンル: アニメーション, ドラマ, ロマンス 出演者: Taishi Nakagawa, Kaya Kiyohara, Yume Miyamoto, Kazuyuki Okitsu, Lynn, Chiemi Matsutera Crew: Kumiko Sakamoto (Editor), Seiko Tanabe (Novel), Seiko Tanabe (Original Story), Yuuji Kaneko (Art Direction), Sayaka Kuwamura (Screenplay), Haruko Iizuka (Animation Director)
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In 1889, on November 1 in Gotha, Germany Anna Therese Johanne Hoch, who later would be known as Hannah Hoch was born. Being the eldest of five children, the girl was brought up in a comfortable and quiet environment of the small town. Her parents, a supervisor in an insurance company and an amateur painter sent her to Girl’s High school. However, at the age of 15 Hannah had to quit studying for the long six years to take care of her newborn sister. Only in 1912 she continued her education with Harold Bengen in School of Applied Arts, mastering glass design. As the World War I broke up Hannah returned to the native town to work in the Red Cross.
The first years after war the young woman recommenced her studying, getting to know graphic arts. 1915 was highlighted by an acquaintance with an Austrian artist Raoul Hausmann, which grew into the long-lasting romantic relationship and involvement in Berlin Dada movement. For ten years till 1926 Hoch worked in Berlin’s major publisher of newspapers and magazines. Her task was to design embroidering, knitting and crocheting patterns for the booklets.
Being on vacation with her beloved in 1918, Hannah discovered ‘the principle of photomontage in cut-and-paste images that soldiers sent to their families’ (National gallery of Art). This find affected greatly on her artistic production, and she created mass-media photographs comprising the elements of photomontage and handwork patterns, thus combining traditional and modern culture. Her prior preoccupation was to represent the ‘new woman’ of the Weimar Republic with new social role and given freedoms.
Hoch was the only woman in Berlin Dada, who took part in all kinds of events and exhibitions showcasing her socially critical works of art. Till 1931 she participated in exhibitions but with the rise of National Social regime was forbidden to present her creative work. Till her last breath in 1978 Hannah Hoch lived and worked in the outskirts of Berlin-Heiligensee.
The piece of art which is going to be analyzed in this research is ‘The beautiful girl’ designed in 1919–1920. It combines the elements of technology and females. In the middle of the picture one can clearly see a woman dressed in a modern bathing suit with a light bulb on her head which probably serves as a sun umbrella. In the background a large advertisement with a woman’s hair-do on top is presented. Maud Lavin describes strange human as ‘she is part human, part machine, part commodity’ (Lavin). The woman is surrounded by the images of industrialization as tires, gears, signals and BMW logos. A woman’s profile with the cat eyes, untrusting and skeptical, in the upper right corner is eye-catching as well. This unusually large eye symbolizes DADA movement — a monocle, which is present in almost every Hoch’s work. The colour scheme does not offer rich palette of tints, including mostly black, white, orange and red pieces. The photo is surrounded by the BMW circles which add the spots of blue.
An apt description of the piece is given in the book ‘Cut with the Kitchen Knife’ and states that it is ‘a portrait of a modern woman defined by signs of femininity, technology, media and advertising’ (Lavin). In other words Hannah Hoch focused on the woman of the new age, free and keeping up with the fast-moving world. The artist promoted feministic ideas and from her point of view urbanization and modern technologies were meant to give hope to woman to gain equality of genders. With this photomontage she commented on how the woman was expected to combine the role of a wife and mother with the role of a worker in the industrialized world. The light bulb instead of a face shows that women were perceived as unthinking machines which do not question their position and can be turned on or off at any time at man’s will. But at the same time they were to remain attractive to satisfy men’s needs. The watch is viewed as the representation of how quickly women are to adapt to the changes.
In a nutshell, Hoch concentrated on two opposite visions of the modern woman: the one from the television screens — smoking, working, wearing sexy clothes, voting and the real one who remained being a housewife.
The beautiful girl’ is an example of the art within the DADA movement. An artistic and literal current began in 1916 as the reaction to World War I and spread throughout Northern America and Europe. Every single convention was challenged and bourgeois society was scandalized. The Dadaists stated that over-valuing conformity, classism and nationalism among modern cultures led to horrors of the World War I. In other words, they rejected logic and reason and turned to irrationality, chaos and nonsense. The first DADA international Fair was organized in Berlin in 1920 exposing a shocking discontentment with military and German nationalism (Dada. A five minute history).
Hannah Hoch was introduced to the world of DADA by Raoul Hausman who together with Kurt Schwitters, Piet Mondrian and Hans Richter was one of the influential artists in the movement. Hoch became the only German woman who referred to DADA. She managed to follow the general Dadaist aesthetic, but at the same time she surely and steadily incorporated a feminist philosophy. Her aim was to submit female equality within the canvass of other DADA’s conceptions.
Though Hannah Hoch officially was a member of the movement, she never became the true one, because men saw her only as ‘a charming and gifted amateur artist’ (Lavin). Hans Richter, an unofficial spokesperson shared his opinion about the only woman in their community in the following words: ‘the girl who produced sandwiches, beer and coffee on a limited budget’ forgetting that she was among the few members with stable income.
In spite of the gender oppressions, Hannah’s desire to convey her idea was never weakened. Difficulties only strengthened her and made her an outstanding artist. A note with these return words was found among her possessions: ‘None of these men were satisfied with just an ordinary woman. But neither were they included to abandon the (conventional) male/masculine morality toward the woman. Enlightened by Freud, in protest against the older generation. . . they all desired this ‘New Woman’ and her groundbreaking will to freedom. But — they more or less brutally rejected the notion that they, too, had to adopt new attitudes. . . This led to these truly Strinbergian dramas that typified the private lives of these men’ (Maloney).
Hoch’s technique was characterized by fusing male and female parts of the body or bodies of females from different epochs — a ‘traditional’ woman and ‘modern’, liberated and free of sexual stereotypes one. What’s more, combining male and female parts, the female ones were always more distinctive and vibrant, while the male ones took their place in the background. Hannah created unique works of art experimenting with paintings, collages, graphic and photography. Her women were made from bits and pieces from dolls, mannequins of brides or children as these members of the society were not considered as valuable.
Today Hannah Hoch is most associated with her famous photomontage ‘Cut with the kitchen knife DADA through the last Weimer Beer-Belly Cultural epoch of Germany’ (1919–1920). This piece of art highlights social confusion during the era of Weimar Republic, oppositionists and government radicals (Grabner). In spite of never being truly accepted by the rest of her society, this woman with a quiet voice managed to speak out loud her feministic message.
Looking at Hannah Hoch’s art for the first time I found it confusing, because couldn’t comprehend the meaning. It was quite obvious that every single piece and structure is a symbol of the era, its ideas and beliefs. However, after having learned about her life and constant endeavors to declare about female’s right, little by little I started to realize what’s what. As an object for research I chose ‘The beautiful girl’ as, to my mind, its theme and message intersects with the modern tendency: a successful, clever, beautiful and free woman has to become one in no time, cause the world is moving faster and faster. I enjoyed working with this artist as her example is inspiring and is worth following
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Its somewhat ironic that a movie about time travel can’t be reviewed properly until your future self rewatches the movie.
It’s bold of Nolan to make such a thoroughly dense blockbuster. He assumes people will actually want to see ~Tenet more than once so they can understand it properly, which some may not. This movie makes the chronology of Inception look as simplistic as tic-tac-toe.
Ergo, it’s hard for me to give an accurate rating, without having seen it twice, as I’m still trying to figure out whether everything does indeed make sense. If it does, this movie is easily a 9 or 10. If it doesn’t, it’s a 6.
It’s further not helped by the fact that the dialogue in the first 15 minutes of the movie is painfully hard to understand / hear. Either they were behind masks; they were practically mumbling; the sound effects were too loud; or all of the above. The exposition scenes are also waayyy too brief for something this complex — a problem also shared with Interstellar actually.
(Interstellar had this minimalist exposition problem explaining Blight, where if you weren’t careful, you’d miss this one sentence / scene in the entire movie explaining that Blight was a viral bacteria:
“Earth’s atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, we don’t even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen”).
I guess it’s a Nolan quirk. Hopefully, a revision of the film audio sorts the sound mixing out. I do like the soundtrack, but it’s too loud initially.
I liked all the actors. You think John Washington can’t act at first, but he can, and he grows on you as the film progresses. And Pattinson is his usual charming self. Elizabeth is a surprise treat. And so on.
Its worth a watch either way. See it with subtitles if you can. And definitely don’t expect to fully understand whats going on the first time around.
Its one hell of a complicated film. It will be very hard for an average viewer to gather all the information provided by this movie at the first watch. But the more you watch it, more hidden elements will come to light. And when you are able to put these hidden elements together. You will realize that this movie is just a “masterpiece” which takes the legacy of Christopher Nolan Forward
If I talk about acting, Then I have to say that Robert Pattinson has really proved himself as a very good actor in these recent years. And I am sure his acting skills will increase with time. His performance is charming and very smooth. Whenever he is on the camera, he steals the focus John David Washington is also fantastic in this movie. His performance is electrifying, I hope to see more from him in the future. Other characters such as Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy have also done quite well. And I dont think there is a need to talk about Michael Caine
Talking about Music, its awesome. I dont think you will miss Hans Zimmer’s score. Ludwig has done a sufficient job. There is no lack of good score in the movie
Gotta love the editing and post production which has been put into this movie. I think its fair to say this Nolan film has focused more in its post production. The main problem in the movie is the sound mixing. Plot is already complex and some dialogues are very soft due to the high music score. It makes it harder to realize what is going on in the movie. Other Nolan movies had loud BGM too. But Audio and dialogues weren’t a problem
My humble request to everyone is to please let the movie sink in your thoughts. Let your mind grasp all the elements of this movie. I am sure more people will find it better. Even those who think they got the plot. I can bet they are wrong.
~Tenet is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that’s set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It’s a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views.
John David Washington (Denzel’s lad) plays “The Protagonist” — a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he’s on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about “Domestic Abuse”). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive.
This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema ‘splurge’ gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his ‘effects’ for real and ‘in camera’, some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in “Inception” was crazy? You ain’t seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film’s ridiculously huge finale.
The ‘inversion’ aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes — one in particular in an airport ‘freeport’ — which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role.
Nolan’s crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing.
The ‘timey-wimey’ aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think “Oh, that’s a sloppy continuity error” or “Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror”. Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen “Aha!” moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular.
Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home.
And so to the first of my significant gripes with ~Tenet. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I’d go stronger than that… it’s truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare’s trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to:
the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from ‘~Tenetis’! (LOL);
the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?);
a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears.
Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable!
OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics… but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made “Inception” look like “The Tiger Who Came to Tea”. There was an obvious ‘McGuffin’ in “Inception” — — (“These ‘dream levels’… how exactly are they architected??”…. “Don’t worry… they’ll never notice”. And we didn’t!) In “~Tenet” there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as “future stuff… you’re not qualified” that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Sator says to Kat “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?” and she shakes her head blankly. We’re right with you there luv!
There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word “~Tenet”? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I’m none the wiser.
The manic pace of ~Tenet and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb’s marriage problems from “Inception” or the father/daughter separation of “Interstellar”. In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat.
It’s a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It’s a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years.
This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson’s Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up — rather more un-glam that usual — as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie.
Nolan’s regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery!
However, it’s Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale.
So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it’s a bit of a curate’s egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It’s a movie which needs a second watch, so I’m heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch… it’s not likely to go down… but it might go up.
(For the full graphical review, check out One Mann’s Movies on t’interweb and Facebook. Thanks.)
As this will be non-spoiler, I can’t say too much about the story. However, what I can is this: ~Tenet’s story is quite dynamic in the sense that you won’t understand it till it wants you to. So, for the first half, your brain is fighting for hints and pieces to puzzle together the story. It isn’t until halfway through the movie that ~Tenet invites you to the fantastic storytelling by Christopher Nolan.
Acting is beyond phenomenal, and I’d be genuinely surprised if neither Robert Pattinson nor John David Washington doesn’t receive an Oscar nomination for best actor. It’s also hard not to mention how good Elizabeth Debicki and Aaron Johnson both are. All around, great acting, and the dialogue amps up the quality of the movie.
The idea of this movie is damn fascinating, and while there are films that explore time-travelling, there’s never been anything quite like this. It has such a beautiful charm and for the most part, explains everything thoroughly. It feels so much more complex than any form of time-travelling we’ve seen, and no less could’ve been expected from Nolan.
Oh my lord, the score for this film fits so perfectly. Every scene that’s meant to feel intense was amped by a hundred because of how good the score was. Let me just say though, none of them will be found iconic, but they fit the story and scenes so well.
In the end, I walked out, feeling very satisfied. Nevertheless, I do have issues with the film that I cannot really express without spoiling bits of the story. There are definitely little inconsistencies that I found myself uncovering as the story progressed. However, I only had one issue that I found impacted my enjoyment. That issue was understanding some of the dialogue. No, not in the sense that the movie is too complicated, but more that it was hard to make out was being said at times. It felt like the movie required subtitles, but that probably was because, at a time in the film, there was far too much exposition.
Nevertheless, I loved this film, I’ll be watching it at least two more times, and I think most of you in this group will enjoy it. I definitely suggest watching it in theatres if possible, just so you can get that excitement.
(4/5) & (8.5/10) for those that care about number scores.
At first, I want to ask Christopher Nolan one question, HOW THE HELL YOU DID THIS? Seriously I want to have an answer, How did he write such as this masterpiece! How did he get this complicated, fabulous and creative idea? What is going on in his mind? The story is written and directed perfectly, the narration style was absolutely unique. I have no idea how can anyone direct such as this story, that was a huge challenge, and as usual Nolan gave us a masterpiece that we’ll put beside (Memento), (Inception) and (Interstellar) The movie is so fast-paced in a good way, there was no boring moment. The chemistry between John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was great and funny and both of their performance was really good. Elizabeth Debicki performance was the best in the movie because she had the chance to show her acting abilities and she cached up that chance and showed us an A level acting.
The music wasn’t unique and distinct as the music of Interstellar for example and I think this movie needed the touch of Hans Zimmer, I’m not saying that Ludwig Göransson failed but Hans Zimmer in another level.
If there was something I’d say that I didn’t like it in the movie would it be that Nolan discarded any set up or characters backgrounds except Elizabeth Debicki dramatic story but it wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t care about that, the exciting story didn’t give me the chance to focus on it. But the actual problem was the third act, it was really complicated and I got lost and I convinced myself to discard the questions that were in my head and enjoy the well-made action sequences and Elizabeth Debicki performance.
I think this kind of movie that gets better with a second and third watch.
I honestly don’t quite know where to begin with ~Tenet. I love Christopher Nolan’s work but I have never seen a more complicated film (and I understood Memento). ~After nearly three hours, I came away from ~Tenet not knowing myself, my mind reduced to nothing more than piles of ash.
Was there time travel involved? Hmm, there was definitely something about time inversion. I mean, does Nolan even understand what he wrote? Look, I give credit to the director because he’s one of the few directors left who knows how to create a compelling and intelligent blockbuster. ~Tenet is full of Nolan trademarks — the gratuitous Michael Caine cameo, a loud, really loud score, complete with stunning cinematography and slickly inventive action set-pieces.
This time around however, Nolan has finally managed to ‘out-Nolan’ himself: the palindromic plot, whilst creatively ambitious, is simply far too complicated for its own good. ~Tenet is overlong, overstuffed, pretentious and too exhausting to comprehend in its entirety — it makes Inception and Interstellar look like Peppa Pig by comparison.
I’m aware of the technical wizardry and creative mastery in this film and lord knows I’ll have to watch this again. For those who want a puzzle, ~Tenet at least provides a unique cinematic experience. But to actually enjoy solving it Nolan wants you to work very very hard | https://medium.com/@herliramdani680/hd-ja-%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%82%BC%E3%81%A8%E8%99%8E%E3%81%A8%E9%AD%9A%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A1-%E3%83%95%E3%83%AB%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BC%E3%83%93%E3%83%BC-2020-%E3%82%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3-sub-japan-1ab26c5d8aac | ['Herli Ramdani'] | 2020-12-24 08:08:10.490000+00:00 | ['Animation', 'Japan', 'Movies', '2020', 'Romance'] |
Getting 0x80240017 Unspecified Error And Don’t Know How To Resolve Them? | Getting 0x80240017 Unspecified Error And Don’t Know How To Resolve Them? Allaboutech Apr 21·4 min read
0x80240017 Unspecified Error can affect the user experience when they try to install the Visual C++ redistributable package for 2013 and 2015 version. These issues can be arised on windows 7, 8, and 10. If you are one of those users who face the 0x80240017 Unspecified Error and don’t know how to resolve them then follow some of the reliable methods.
Reasons Why Users Get The 0x80240017 Unspecified Error!
There are various reasons which can result in 0x80240017 Unspecified Error. Some of them are listed below:
Installing Incomplete Visual C++ Redist Package — One of the most import factors which result in 0x80240017 Unspecified Error is when users try to install the incomplete or corrupt package of visual C ++. It is suggested by experts that users need to only install the complete or full package from the official Microsoft website to eliminate unwanted issues.
Package Installed On Windows V6.1–0x80240017 Unspecified Error also affect the installation process when it’s downloaded Windows v6.1 operating system. It is essential to choose the suitable versions as the Visual C++ package is specially designed for Windows 7 and above.
Outdated Universal C Runtime — Unspecified error can also encounter by users when the installed window version has corrupt or missing Universal C Runtime update. This issues can affect the user’s experience when they try to install the Python distribution.
Windows Update Includes Visual C++ Redist Package — 0x80240017 Unspecified Error can be arised when the required visual C++ package is included in the update and the users are unable to install it. In that case, users need to complete ending updates of the windows.
Corrupted Or Incomplete Visual C++ Redistributable– When users install the corrupt or incomplete Visual C++ installation they need to face thee 0x80240017 Unspecified Error. These errors can be resolved easily by uninstalling any existing Visual C++ installations and downloading the latest and suitable packages from the official website.
Reliable Methods And Steps To Troubleshoot The 0x80240017 Unspecified Error!
Some of the steps and methods by which users can eliminate the 0x80240017 Unspecified Error without getting any hassles:
Method 1: Downloading Updated Visual C++ Redistributable Package
If your downloaded package is corrupt, outdated or didn’t download properly. Follow below-listed steps and eliminate the 0x80240017 Unspecified Error:
· First of all download the suitable Visual C++ Redistributable Package from the official Microsoft website.
· After that select the installation language and choose download option to start the downloading process.
· Choose a suitable installer according to the operating system and check required boxes with the VC-redist.x64.exe or 32 bit and click on next.
· Then locate and install the downloaded package and follow all the steps as appeared on the screen.
Method 2: Installing Windows 7 Service Pack 1
Most of the user’s complaint that they face 0x80240017 Unspecified Error when they try to install the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for 2013 or 2015 on Windows v6.1. These can be resolved by downloading the service pack 1 by following below listed steps:
· First of all, users need to visit the official website and choose the option service pack 1.
· After selecting download option users to get a new display on which they need to uncheck everything aside primary ISO file. After that continue by pressing Ok button.
· When the ISO package is downloaded successfully, download and install the WinCDEMU 4.1 tool which is used to upgrade the Service Pack 1.
· When the 4.1 tools are downloaded install it and complete the setup toll on your systems.
· After that users need to click on the add button to install system software.
· Start the installation process of additional software’s.
· Then you need to restart your device and complete the WinCDEMU process.
· When the next start up is completed you need to locate the ISO file and click right to select the drive letter.
· After that choose the driver letter and set the disc type to data disc and mount it by clicking ok.
· Then follow all the appeared steps and complete the installation by restarting your device.
Method 3: Updating Universal C Runtime
· First of all, visit the official website and download the suitable package application into your device.
· After that, you get a new screen, on that screen choose our installation language and select the download button to start the downloading process.
· Locate and open the downloaded file and follow all the reliable steps same as appeared on the display. When the process is finished restart your desktop and check whether the 0x80240017 Unspecified Error still persists or not.
Method 4: Installing Pending Windows Updates
· When users follow below-listed steps to install any pending Windows update they can easily resolve the 0x80240017 Unspecified Error:
· Start the process by pressing window + R key to open the dialogue box. Type mssettings:windowsupdate in the box and click on ok button.
· This will open the update settings screen.
· Click on the option check for updates and follow all he appeared steps if there are any pending window updates.
· When they are installed restart your desktop and check again if any pending installs are not there.
Method 5: Uninstalling Existing Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages
· To uninstall existing package press window + R keys to open the dialogue box. After that type appwiz.cpl and hit enter to open the screen.
· After opening the program and file display head to the right panel and click on the visual C++ Redist package and click on uninstall option.
· After that follow all the on-display instructions.
· After successful installation restarts your device and installs the new or updated versions.
After following all the methods and steps you can easily eliminate the 0x80240017 Unspecified Error. If you get any error or issues you can also get assistance from the certified experts.
Windows Windows 10 | https://medium.com/@allabouttech/getting-0x80240017-unspecified-error-and-dont-know-how-to-resolve-them-d197f1673641 | [] | 2021-04-22 17:05:27.573000+00:00 | ['Error Handling', 'Technical Writing', 'Windowservice', 'Windows 10', 'Windows'] |
Kotlin for Android Development | Traditionally, native Android development was done using Java. Kotlin is a relatively recent JVM language developed by JetBrains and was first released in 2011. The Android team at Hootsuite was one of the earliest adopters of Kotlin. In April 2016, the first Kotlin commit was added by converting a Java class into a Kotlin data class. It was shipped to production, and Kotlin was officially introduced into the Hootsuite app. Kotlin turned out to be a boon for the codebase and it’s quickly becoming the go-to programming language for Android Development at Hootsuite. I’ve spent the majority of my time at Hootsuite working with Kotlin and I’ve absolutely enjoyed using it. The amount of thought that has gone into making the language is impressive and it’s got some neat features that come in very handy when coding. Here are some interesting features of Kotlin that I came across during my co-op term:
Data Classes
Data Classes only contain state and don’t perform any operation. The advantage of using data classes instead of regular classes is that Kotlin gives us a ton of self-generated code. For instance, the properties declared in the constructor help avoid the boilerplate code of getters, setters, the constructor and copy() method. Let’s see an example -
A Java Class used for storing data about a car:
The equivalent single line class in Kotlin:
Null Safety
Null Safety is one of the most useful features of Kotlin. In Java, any object can be null. This means that runtime checks must be added throughout a codebase in order to prevent NullPointerException crashes, which has often been called a Billion Dollar Mistake by language designers.
The code fragment below shows an example of a null check in Java. They are cumbersome and easy to miss.
Kotlin’s type system is designed to eliminate the danger of null references from code. There are two distinct types of references in Kotlin — nullable references and non-nullable references.
As we can see from the code fragment above, if a developer attempted to pass a nullable object to the second class, it would result in a compile time error.
Kotlin Standard Library
The Kotlin Standard Library contains some very powerful functions. They are concise, intuitive and help consolidate the code. Some of the most commonly used ones are:
let()
let() is a scoping function used whenever we want to define a variable for a specific scope of the code but not beyond. It can also be used to test for null. In the code fragment below, the variable is no longer visible outside the scope of the block.
apply()
The apply() function calls the closure passed in parameter and then returns the receiver object that closure ran on. In the code fragment below, we create a create a new ‘Person’ object with ‘name’ argument, call the method foo() in the closure on it and return the the resulting object instance afterwards, all in a single line!
with()
The with() function is used to factor out the variable when multiple different methods are called on the same variable. In code fragment below, we call the 3 methods on object w without having to repeat ‘w’ for each method call.
Extension functions
Extension functions enable you to add functions to a class without actually writing them inside the class. They are used like regular functions and are statically resolved. They come in especially handy when working with library code that you cannot change. For instance, here’s how you can extend the View class to add a method that makes a view object visible:
Kotlin Android Extensions
When using Java for Android Development, in order to reference a view from its layout file, you have to call the findViewById() method.
The code fragment below shows how to set the text of a TextView (with id ‘text_foo’). It needs to be referenced using ‘findViewById’ before calling any method on it.
It gets very repetitive when you have to reference a large number of views this way. One common alternative is to use ButterKnife, a view binding library that uses annotation to generate boilerplate code. However, that has the drawback of introducing an additional library into the project.
Kotlin Android Extensions is a Kotlin plugin, that enables you to recover views from Activities, Fragments and Views in a seamless way. It allows you to access views in the layout XML, just as if they were properties with the name of the id you used in the layout definition. This no need for lengthy findViewByIds or additional third-party libraries. For instance, in the code fragment below, we simply address a TextView with its id, to set its text.
Java Interoperability in Kotlin
Kotlin boasts 100% interoperability with existing Java code. All Kotlin classes can inherit from Java classes, implement Java interfaces, call Java methods, and so on. Conversely, Java code can inherit from Kotlin classes, implement Kotlin interfaces and call Kotlin methods. This means that you could write code in Kotlin, without having to jump through hoops to make it compatible with pre-existing Java code or frameworks. It is one of the key reasons why experimenting with Kotlin in large codebases is possible.
Conclusion
In this blog post, I’ve presented some of the neat features of Kotlin that I enjoyed working with during my co-op term. Kotlin focuses on many important topics like interoperability, safety and clarity. I’d definitely recommend trying out Kotlin! Here are a few resources to get started:
About the Author
Shruti Basil is a Co-op Software Developer on the Core Android team. She currently attends University of Waterloo for Software Engineering. | https://medium.com/hootsuite-engineering/kotlin-for-android-development-4f3faa626ad | ['Hootsuite Engineering'] | 2018-02-07 18:35:23.588000+00:00 | ['Co Op', 'Android', 'Code', 'Mobile', 'Kotlin'] |
New SEC “Finders” Definition and Its Impact on Raising Capital for Early Stage Companies | New SEC “Finders” Definition and Its Impact on Raising Capital for Early Stage Companies Legacy Group Feb 2·5 min read
On October 7, 2020, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) published its proposed rule exempting under certain circumstances people they define as “Finders” from the requirements of the SEC´s broker-dealer compliance regime.
Practically speaking, this means that if the proposed rule is adopted in its proposed form, early stage companies and startups will be able to pay commission-based compensation to those referral sources who help them raise capital for their businesses through referrals and contacts.
This is a big development. Compare this to the existing rule that would be modified by this proposal which currently prohibits incentive-based compensation or commissions to finders and referrers. As things currently stand, early stage companies and startups are severely hamstrung in their capital-raising efforts. They basically need to hire expensive brokers with appropriate licenses to finance their businesses if they do not have financial backers within their personal networks.
Under this new proposed rule, companies would now be able to pay incentive-based compensation to those who are able to provide them leads and connect them with investors even if they are not licensed broker-dealers. The SEC refers to these individuals as “Finders.” In the proposed rule, the SEC set up two tiers of Finders (Tier 1 and Tier 2).
Tiers of Finders
Tier 1 Finders are people who just provide contacts and do not talk to potential investors about specific investment offerings. Tier 2 Finders are those Finders who set up more substantial relationships for the companies they refer potential investors to and actually discuss the opportunities that companies offer with the potential investors.
General Rules Applicable to Finders
Under the SEC´s proposed rule, the following rules apply regardless whether someone is considered a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Finder:
Not an SEC Reporting Company. The company cannot already be an SEC Exchange Act Reporting Company.
Registration Exemption Available. The company must be relying on and complying with an SEC registration exemption for selling an investment in the company.
No General Solicitation. Finders cannot “generally solicit” investors. This means they have to only introduce companies to people in their existing networks. They cannot send mass emails, promote offering on social media or through any other mass marketing efforts.
Potential Investors Must Be Accredited Investors or Reasonably Believed to be Accredited Investors. Finders can only talk to people about the offering that they know or reasonably believe are accredited investors. Finders may also be responsible for providing companies documentation about the investors and supporting their conclusion that someone is accredited or reasonably believed to be.
Written Agreement Required. The Finder must have a written agreement with the company that describes services to be provided and compensation.
Not Disqualified. The Finder cannot already work with a registered broker-dealer or be deemed a so-called “bad actor”.
Tier 1 Rules
In addition to meeting the general rules above, Tier 1 Finders are limited in that they cannot actually discuss any proposed offering of a company that will pay them incentive-based compensation with potential investors. Tier 1 Finders, simply stated, are the “sell your contact list only” Finders.
Tier 2 Rules
Tier 2 Finders and how they work with companies gets a bit more complex, with an additional host of requirements coming into play. In addition to the general rules above, the following apply to Tier 2 Finders:
No Investment Advice. The Finder cannot provide advice as to the valuation or advisability of any investment. Any presentation will have to be neutral and informational in nature only.
No Negotiating or Agreeing to Terms. The Finder cannot be involved in structuring the transaction or negotiating the terms of the offering and cannot bind the company it is assisting to any terms.
Must use Company Sales Materials. The Finder cannot participate in the preparation of any sales materials or modify those that the company it is assisting provides them.
Proper Disclosure Required. Finders will have to follow our protocols with respect to (1) disclosing their relationship with the company and compensation to be received to potential investors and (2) getting acknowledgements from investors that they understand the relationship.
No Handling Funds. The Finder cannot handle customer funds.
No Lending. The Finder cannot provide financing for any investor purchases.
Agreement Required before Beginning. The Finder cannot begin talking to investors until they have entered into a formal agreement with the company they are assisting covering the foregoing. The Finder will have to covenant to comply and have complied with all of the foregoing rules and requirements. Finders will be solely responsible for any failure to comply.
So What’s Next?
The proposed rule is in the 30-day comment period with the SEC for the proposed exemption. We are optimistic, however, based on our experience, that the SEC is likely to adopt the proposed rules here subject to some clarifications received from practitioners and interested persons during the comment period.
This is an incredibly important development for startups and early stage companies as they continue to explore new ways to finance their businesses. Despite the requirements set forth above, this is a substantial development with respect to easing the requirements for startups and early stage companies to access the private capital markets.
* * *
Legacy Group is distinguished by a singular tradition of service to our portfolio partners; the mutual commitment to, and the seamless collaboration of, a true partnership; formidable financial and legal talent across multiple disciplines and jurisdictions; and shared professional values that focus on client needs.
We provide experience and investment to a wide range of private companies spanning many industries, including real estate, hospitality, tourism, agriculture and technology. Contact us to learn more and to discuss current investment opportunities available to you in our portfolio companies.
*This publication/newsletter is for informational purposes and does not contain or convey legal advice. The information herein should not be used or relied upon in regard to any particular facts or circumstances without first consulting a lawyer. Any views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of our clients. | https://medium.com/@legacy-group/new-sec-finders-definition-and-its-impact-on-raising-capital-for-early-stage-companies-f77f74099946 | ['Legacy Group'] | 2021-02-13 15:46:16.398000+00:00 | ['SEC', 'Securities Regulation', 'Securities Law', 'Crowdfunding', 'Sec Finders'] |
Starting A Craft Beer Custom Packaging Design | We see this a lot: simple, non-custom Beer Packaging that gets the job done.
How can you expect to hit your sales target if you don’t invest in your presentation at the store?
You have a great product, but you left out one thing — your Packaging! Beer Packaging is a great way to grab your customer’s attention at retail and even online.
It’s an easy thing for most brands to overlook, but this is exactly the issue we aim to solve.
The U.S. has more than 3,000 breweries producing about 30,000 unique beer styles — talk about a crowded shelf.
A saturated market with limited marketing dollars, makes your packaging more important than ever!
Design is everything in Beer Packaging.
We help upgrade brands from plain to premium, and take advantage of all the latest technical and marketing innovations to create new designs, and more importantly increase your sales.
Bringing new packaging ideas to life can be a challenging task. That’s why we created this guide to walk you through each step.
Step 1: Determine Your Packaging Needs
What type of Packaging do I need?
Are there new innovations I can implement?
How many units do I need?
How can this be an extension of my brand?
Step 2: Establish Your Budget
There are two types of costs associated with new packaging.
Visible costs: such as the upfront cost of design and the price of the packaging itself. Hidden costs: such as additional filler, breakage, and more.
Your budget should include the cost of Packaging Supplies and Shipping Boxes. If any kind of packaging fillers are required, you need to account for them.
You can also include a Contract Packager to help with fulfilment or assembly.
By using a company like Bennett, you get Turnkey Solutions that help you minimize costs.
Setting a budget or at least a range for your Packaging helps the process not become inefficient or aimless.
A successful Wine Packaging program needs a budget that considers the economics of the entire process. You should consider the price of your product, your profit margin, anticipated sales, and the length of time you expect your Packaging to be in place.
Volume purchasing
As with most printed products, you only really get a good value at high purchase quantities, due to the economics of scale.
If you don’t buy in bulk, each package will add an unreasonable amount of expense to each shipment.
If you do buy in bulk, you will not only be putting more money up front for production, but also for storage, transportation between warehouses and handling. Digital allows you to have complete flexibility for this.
The higher the sales price of your product, the more you should consider investing in your Beer Packaging.
Step 3: Assess The Beer Competition
Because of the competition in the industry, you need to make sure your choices standout in a lineup.
It’s definitely become a growing challenge over the years to penetrate the market — but it can still be done!
What they don’t have is the chance to design with the latest innovations — taking opportunities to connect with your customers in completely new ways and actually create a new level of customer loyalty.
Step 4: Designing Your Beer Packaging
Did you know that 75% of consumers are influenced by package design?
Designing can be a fun process. Whether you’re tackling it or working with our Creative Services team, you need to consider key things about your beer, and your customer.
What style of beer are you selling?
Who is your target customer?
How / where are they buying it?
Next let’s dig into what you need to include:
What brewery made it?
What style it is?
Information about your beer (the name / flavor / ABV)
Now let’s talk about the more brand-focused elements:
Show your personality and brand voice
Tell your brewery story with some stellar copywriting
Use the Billboard Effect: multiple packages together become an eye catching wall
Double down on eco-friendly packaging / elements
We’re thirsty for a good story. Authenticity, community and sustainability are the best keywords to get you started.
Graphics need to be memorable, distinct, easily recognizable, and with easily identifiable shapes
Choose a color palette that fits your label and brand
Be prepared to go through a few iterations — it takes time to land on the “right choice”
Include time to do some market testing with your packaging and labels
Pro Tip: If you’re not a designer, and don’t have a design team — we provide access to our award winning in-house team in Creative Services.
Continue Reading | https://medium.com/@bennettpackaging/starting-a-craft-beer-custom-packaging-design-34774fff8f30 | [] | 2021-02-26 12:01:41.391000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Craft Beer', 'Designer', 'Small Business', 'Beer'] |
What Is The Triple-A Final Stretch? | Let’s be honest, more baseball is always a good thing. And that’s exactly what will happen at the end of September across Triple-A Baseball. This time it’s known as “The Triple-A Final Stretch.”
On July 14, Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball announced 10 additional games for each Triple-A Club in lieu of a traditional playoff format. That means five extra games for the Sounds at First Horizon Park and five on the road.
The Triple-A Final Stretch begins on September 22 when the Sounds play host to the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians). Following a five-game series from 9/22–26, the Sounds will enjoy back-to-back off days before finishing the season with a five-game set in Indianapolis from 9/29–10/3 against the Indy Indians.
“Why though” you might ask? This stems from all Minor League games being cancelled in the month of April, and Major League Baseball is trying to best sync the end of the MiLB season with the end of their own regular season.
So, here’s how this works as it pertains to crowning champions:
1) For each the Triple-A East (Go Sounds!) and Triple-A West, a 2021 Regular Season Champion will be named based on overall winning percentage through the originally scheduled championship season (Sept. 19 for the Sounds).
2) Among the 30 Clubs, a single 2021 Triple-A Final Stretch Winner will also be crowned based on the highest overall winning percentage during this 10-game stretch. What does the winning team get? Good question. We still don’t know the answer (*insert shrug and confused emoji*)
So, no playoffs across Triple-A Baseball in 2021, but y’all can giddy-up for the Triple-A Final Stretch! Get your tickets for the five home games here.
Want to get your Final Stretch tickets for FREE? Renew or purchase your 2022 Season Tickets and we will give you tickets and a Sounds jersey to enjoy the end of the 2021 season. | https://soundbytes.mlblogs.com/what-is-the-triple-a-final-stretch-cdb2672948d8 | [] | 2021-08-27 01:44:18.521000+00:00 | ['Baseball', 'Nashville', 'Milwaukee Brewers', 'Nashville Sounds', 'Milb'] |
Introduction to the Ethereum blockchain | In the previous article, Transaction lifecycle on the Ethereum blockchain, extracted from chapter 1 of my book Building Ethereum Dapps, I walked you through a typical Ethereum blockchain transaction. While doing so, I introduced various terms you might not be entirely familiar with, such as cryptographic hash, blockchain, mining, consensus, Proof of Work (PoW), Merkle tree, Merkle-Patricia trie and you might want to learn more. In this article I will clarify these concepts.
Cryptographic hash
I’ll start by explaining what a cryptographic hash is. A hash function is any function that can map data of arbitrary size to data of fixed size. The fixed size data is called hash or digest. To give an example, you can design a hash function so that it always generates a 64-bit hash from a file or string of any size. Whether its size is 10 KB or 10 GB, a 64-bit hash will get generated, as illustrated in figure 2.
Figure 2. A hash function produces a hash of a fixed size (64 bits in this example) given an input of any size.
A cryptographic hash function is a hash function that has five additional properties:
· It’s deterministic. The same input will always generate the same hash.
· It’s quick to compute.
· It’s a one-way function, unfeasible to invert. This means that the only way to deduce the original data from its hash would be to try, by brute force, to obtain the same hash by applying the function to an enormous number of input data sets.
· It should be almost impossible to obtain the same hash from two different sets of input data. Although a low chance exists that two inputs might produce the same hash, it’s impossible to determine them a priori, without applying the function to an enormous number of inputs, as suggested in the previous point.
· A slight change in the input data should produce substantially different hash values. Consequently, also because of what I said in the previous point, unless you’re applying the cryptographic hash function to the same input, you won’t be able to intentionally get the same hash or even a close one.
You will see shortly why cryptographic functions are useful when it come to blockchains.
Blockchain
What’s the blockchain? A blockchain is a distributed database that holds records called blocks. Figure 3 illustrates the structure of a typical blockchain.
Figure 3. A blockchain is a sequence of blocks, each containing a sequence number, a timestamp, and a list of transactions, each individually digitally signed. Each block also references the cryptographic hash of the previous block.
A block includes a list of transactions, which are digitally signed to prove their provenance. Most blockchains digitally sign transactions with an elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA), based on elliptic-curve cryptography. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block based on its cryptographic hash. In this way, a blockchain block holds both a reference to the latest set of transactions (the hash of the previous block) and indirectly to the full history of all the transactions that have been stored on it since its inception (because each block is linked to its predecessor).
This structure guarantees transactions can’t be tampered with or modified. A transaction recorded in a block can’t be altered retroactively because, to modify it, the hash of the block containing it would have to be regenerated, and this wouldn’t match the existing one already referenced by subsequent blocks, as shown in figure 4.
Figure 4. An attempt at altering the contents of a block, for example its transactions, won’t be successful: the new hash generated from the altered block details won’t match the original block’s hash already directly referenced in the next block and indirectly referenced in the subsequent blocks.
The blockchain structure I’ve described is, in fact, a simplified version of real-world blockchain data structures such as the Merkle tree used by Bitcoin or the modified Merkle-Patricia trie used in Ethereum. I will describe them to you shortly.
A blockchain is managed autonomously through a peer-to-peer (P2P) network that facilitates fault tolerance and decentralized consensus by processing all transactions independently on each node. Given these characteristics, blockchains are particularly suitable for recording permanently the history of events. This is useful for identity management, transaction processing, and provenance tracking, to name a few use cases.
Mining
To encourage the P2P network supporting the Ethereum blockchain to process its transactions continuously, active processing nodes, also called mining nodes or miners, are rewarded for the computational resources provided, and indirectly to cover the associated electricity costs, through the consensus mechanism. Every few seconds, one successful miner is entitled to generate and keep a certain number of tokens of the cryptocurrency supported by the platform. Such cryptocurrency has economic value, as it can be used to purchase services on the network, but it also can be exchanged for conventional currencies, such as dollars, yen, euros, and so forth. In the case of the Bitcoin blockchain, they’ll be given several Bitcoin tokens, worth around $2,000 each at the time of writing. The tokens given by the Ethereum blockchain are called Ether, and they’re worth around $200 each at the time of writing. Let’s now look at how the consensus mechanism works.
Consensus
Consensus is, as I mentioned earlier, the mechanism by which participant nodes of the network agree on the outcome of a transaction. Consensus is also distributed, because it’s determined by many participants, and trustless, because the participants don’t need to trust each other. In fact, consensus isn’t reached on individual transactions but on new blockchain blocks. Each participant verifies independently that a new block is valid and, if satisfied, propagates it further to the rest of the network. What happens in practice is that if most participants have accepted the block as valid and it has propagated successfully throughout the network, miners will use such a block as the latest valid block, and the rest of the blockchain will be built on it. If a malicious miner appended an incorrect block to the blockchain and it propagated to its peer nodes, these nodes would reject the new block, and the malicious chain would die out immediately. The same would happen if a full node tried to modify a block before propagating it to its peers. As you can see, the key step of the consensus mechanism is the verification of the latest block by a participant node. After verifying the digital signature of the individual transactions present on a block, a participant node verifies that the hash of the block is valid. Such hash is produced by miners according to an agreed protocol. The earlier versions of Ethereum used an algorithm called Ethash, based on a Proof of Work protocol. Future versions will be based on a Full of Stake protocol called Casper.
Proof of Work
As you saw earlier, the content of a block can be summarized with a cryptographic hash calculated on its metadata and transactions data, and also on an additional piece of data of a fixed length, such as 32 bits, called nonce. The objective of the Proof of Work (PoW) protocol is that miners must find a nonce such that the hash generated fits a certain constraint, for instance, having many leading zeros. Constraining a 64-bit unsigned integer hash to have 13 leading zeros when represented in hexadecimal format, as in the example of figure 5, reduces the number of valid hashes from the theoretical maximum number of 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 to 4,095.
Figure 5. Proof of Work: generation of an unsuccessful and a successful block hash
Because of the properties of hash functions you saw earlier, the only way a miner can find such a nonce is by trying many possible values until the constraint on the hash has been met. In the example I just gave, every such attempt will only have a roughly 0.00000000000002% chance of being successful. When a satisfactory hash has been found, the miner is entitled to append the new block being processed to the blockchain and claim the token reward. As you can understand, this way of producing a valid hash is CPU-intensive, energy-consuming, and, consequently, economically expensive. The main reason for such an expensive algorithm is to dissuade malicious blockchain participants from appending new incorrect blocks or modifying pre-existing blocks and making them look like genuine blocks. The amount of energy (and money) necessary to perform such actions would make them unviable.
The Merkle tree and the Merkle root
The blockchain structure I’ve shown in the previous diagrams is a simplified representation of a real one. Generally, a miner places in the block two parts: a header and a body, as shown in figure 6. The body contains all the transactions included in the block. The header contains the block metadata you saw earlier, such as the block number, timestamp, previous block hash, and PoW nonce. It also contains the Merkle root of the transactions Merkle tree that the miner calculates.
Figure 6. The structure of a block, including a header containing metadata, such as the block number, timestamp, previous block hash, and Merkle root of the transactions Merkle tree, and a body containing the transactions collection
The transactions Merkle tree, as shown in figure 7, is a tree structure built as follows:
· The block’s transactions are placed at the bottom of the tree, arranged in pairs.
· Each transaction is hashed, and each of these hashes becomes a leaf of the Merkle tree.
· A hash is calculated for each pair of contiguous hashes.
· The hashing of contiguous hashes is repeated until only two hashes remain. The hash of these two final hashes is the Merkle root.
Figure 7. A Merkle tree. Individual transactions are located at the bottom; the tree’s leaves are the hashes of the individual transactions; and the next row up is made of the hashes of the tree’s leaves. The top row, which is the hash of the hashes below, ends the tree: this is the Merkle root.
The Merkle root is therefore a single hash summarizing all of the transactions contained in the block in a way that guarantees their integrity. The advantage of having the Merkle root on the block header is that a client can synchronize the blockchain in a faster way by retrieving the block headers, rather than the entire transaction history, from the network peers. This is generally called light synchronization.
The modified Merkle-Patricia trie and the Ethereum blockchain
The Ethereum blockchain improves the design further. First of all, transactions are hashed in a more compact and efficient (yet still cryptographically authenticated) structure called a Merkle-Patricia-trie. Secondly, the block header (generated as usual by the miner) also contains, in addition to the Merkle-Patricia root of the transactions, the Merkle-Patricia root of the receipts, which are the transaction outputs, and the Merkle-Patricia root of the current blockchain state, as shown in figure 8.
Figure 8. An Ethereum improved block header. The header of a block of the Ethereum blockchain contains the root of the transactions Merkle-Patricia trie, which is a more compact and efficient structure than a Merkle tree. In addition, it contains the Merkle-Patricia root of receipts (which are the transactions effects) and the blockchain state.
As Vitalik Buterin explained in his blog post “Merkling in Ethereum”, with these three Merkle-Patricia tries, a client can efficiently check, in a verifiable way, the following:
· Whether a certain transaction is included in a certain block
· What the output of a transaction would be
· Whether an account exists
· What the balance of an account is
Detailed block validation
Now that you have learnt a lot more about blockchain structures, let’s revisit in more detail what happens during block validation which I briefly explained in step 6 of figure 1.
When a full node receives a new block, the transactions contained in the body are processed as follows:
The transactions are arranged in a transaction Merkle-Patricia trie specific to the new block. Transactions are executed on the node. This action generates transaction outputs (also known as receipts), which are arranged in a receipts Merkle-Patricia trie specific to the new block. It also alters the global state trie, of which only one instance exists on each node. If the roots of the new transaction trie, receipt trie, and modified state trie match the corresponding ones in the header, the block is considered validated. Then the new and altered tries are stored on the full node in a respective key-value store based on LevelDB, an open source NoSQL database developed by Google.
Note the following in figure 9:
· The transaction store contains a transaction trie per block, and each trie is immutable. The key of this store is the transaction hash (keccak 256-bit hash).
· The receipts store contains a transaction trie per block, and each trie is immutable. The key of this store is the hash of the receipts of a transaction (keccak 256-bit hash).
· The state store contains a single state trie that represents the latest global state and is updated each time a new block is appended to the blockchain. The state trie is account-centric, so the key of this store is the account address (160 bytes). | https://medium.com/@roberto.g.infante/introduction-to-the-ethereum-blockchain-3a54432c3757 | ['Roberto Infante'] | 2019-12-03 23:25:56.715000+00:00 | ['Merkle Patricia Trie', 'Ethereum Blockchain', 'Ethereum', 'Blockchain', 'Merkle Tree'] |
Reimagining the Stages of Grief | With aging, a key part of emotional repair is learning how to live with our grief. As the losses keep coming, whether today from the Virus or another illness, a divorce, a home, a role, or the passing of our beloveds, we begin to inhabit grief. Or does it inhabit us?
Like aging in general, grief is an individual, subjective journey. It’s not a tidy, linear road with a beginning and end, with a right and wrong way to do it. It happens in contexts: alone, with families, with support groups. It happens whether we hold religious or spiritual beliefs, whether we live in urban or rural areas, and whether we are wealthy or poor.
Thankfully, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, in her work on death and dying and, subsequently, on grief, drew a map for us. It’s not a set of steps but a pattern that can help us to identify the specific moment we are in while grieving. Its landmarks have become as renowned as the landmarks on the California Pacific Coast Highway from L.A. to San Francisco.
However, as I sat with my own grief one afternoon — climate grief, democracy grief, and personal, aching sorrow — I realized that I needed to add another dimension to her framework. I’m not redrawing the map, but adding the portals of shadow-awareness, pure awareness, and mortality awareness to expand and deepen it. It’s as if the map was drawn before we did the inner work of age and had a 360-degree view of our lives.
Denial: This has been a central theme throughout The Inner Work of Age. It’s buried within every inner obstacle to the shift from role to soul. But the psychological defense of denial also has a value: It gives us time to adjust to shocking news, a diagnosis, a loss. Just as we titrate a medication to the right dose so that our bodies adjust, we titrate our awareness with denial. We avoid the full truth for a while; we distract ourselves with less weighty things. And it helps us to acclimate by allowing in only so much information and only so much emotion.
At some point, we can begin to attune to our feelings and inner voices. From the shadow we hear, “No, it can’t be true. Maybe the doctors are wrong and it’s something else.” “No, he can’t be leaving me now. Who am I without him?” And we detect denial.
Hidden within it lies denial of mortality awareness. “It’s not my time.” “I don’t have limits.” “My mother lived to 100.”
Anger: When this feeling wells up, the shadow looks for a target to blame: “It’s her fault, her lifestyle.” “It’s that surgeon. He messed up.” “It’s my boss. He’s ageist.” “I hate God. He’s so unfair.”
But beneath this secondary emotion lie deeper, more vulnerable feelings of fear, abandonment, frustration, and betrayal. In our helplessness, our inability to control a situation that seems out of control, anger gives us a momentary sense of power. It energizes the Fighter in us and can motivate us to act on another’s behalf or on own behalf.
Anger also blinds us to mortality awareness. As adrenaline sweeps through the body, we don’t feel the vulnerability and deeper truth of limitations and death.
Bargaining: At this stage, we are telling the story of our loss in an effort to find meaning in it. We are negotiating with doctors, loved ones, or higher powers to change the outcome that we’ve been given. The shadow says, “If only….then I will….” When you detect this quiet, prayerful voice, you are in a moment of bargaining.
For some people, beneath the negotiation, self-blame lies dormant. If we are carrying unconscious guilt and secretly blame ourselves, we are bargaining to atone for a sin. The shadow, in this case, is targeting the bargainer. And it’s essential to tune into this unconscious process and decide, more consciously, if we are accountable in some way for this situation or if this is an ancient pattern of self-blame in the shadow.
Depression: Now, the Fighter concedes. The Bargainer rests. And we sink into an empty, meaningless moment of despair. The shadow speaks: “Without that job, I’m nothing.” “Without her, I’m no one.” “There’s no future for me now. I’m hopeless.”
For some, depression is an appropriate response to a crisis or loss. Overwhelmed with feeling and bereft of meaning, we sink with the heavy weight of the new reality. But it’s vital to move through it without getting stuck and with an internal shift. (In Romancing the Shadow, I wrote extensively about depression as descent to soul — if the descent is done consciously.)
Acceptance: This is what I call being present with what is. It’s not a passive, impotent response to a situation; it’s no longer an attempt to change or fix it. Rather, it’s an active quality of adjusting to a new reality. And it’s a deep trust that that there is some invisible purpose, some evolutionary direction hidden in the suffering.
As I contemplated these stages, I realized that they, too, describe the steps of a potential rite of passage: Loss always involves Letting Go, the struggle to release precious attachments to loved ones, loved objects, and loved belief systems. We may be forced by circumstance to let go suddenly and grieve against our will. This may bring up denial at first, then anger and bargaining. Or we may choose to let go, of a job or a family home, for example. But in each case the loss requires release of a past reality and its meaning to us.
Depression is a Liminal Time in which we float for a while, unmoored from our past reality. This period, between the past and the future, in which our identity and meaning is lost, can be frightening and disorienting.
Eventually, we emerge into another reality: We are ill, widowed, retired, caregiving. The word “acceptance” doesn’t quite imply the full outcome of a rite of passage. Renewal, rather, suggests that we have undergone a transformative transition and accepted that we are, now, a different person in a different reality. We are shifting from role to soul.
For grief to initiate us in this way, we need to experience pure awareness. Each loss carries us beyond the ego’s control. Each loss carries us toward a sacrifice. With a practice that offers the experience of pure awareness, we can more easily witness our sorrow and disorientation, more easily return to center and remember who we are.
I’m not proposing that shadow awareness, mortality awareness, and pure awareness are “cures” for grief. Rather, I’m suggesting that they can deepen our journey through grief so that it becomes, like age itself, a rite of passage enabling the evolution of soul. | https://medium.com/@conniezweig/reimagining-the-stages-of-grief-e4a81f3e5ba8 | ['Dr. Connie Zweig', 'The Inner Work Of Age'] | 2020-05-07 20:49:51.914000+00:00 | ['Meditation', 'Grief', 'Shadow', 'Spirituality', 'Grief And Loss'] |
Career Training in Travel and Tourism | Ever wondered what would it be like to go on long trips most of the year?
And how about this year turns into many years and you are able to explore the World??
Yes, it is possible!
If you are passionate about traveling and visiting new places, meeting new people then a Career in Travel and Tourism is your best chance.
A Career in the Travel and Tourism Industry has many advantages and one of the definite ones is that you get to visit many places on your bucket list.
Your first step should be to gain knowledge and expertise about this industry. Starting early is the key. Join a short term practical course and start working to gain the experience. Explore beautiful destinations first hand and guide other travelers in a job or start your own business.
As per the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reports, in the year 2019, 1.4 billion people traveled worldwide, resulting in 1.7 trillion of international tourism exports.
Top 10 World’s Most Visited Countries in 2019 were France, Spain, United States, China, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, Germany, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
Travel and Tourism is a growth industry and finding your niche will be an easy and exciting process.
You can find information on the short-term courses in Travel and Tourism here.
Start today, as the World is an open book and you have to read as many pages as possible.
Wish you all the luck and many many trips around the World! | https://medium.com/@nainasalve/career-training-in-travel-and-tourism-c039159564d2 | ['Naina Salve'] | 2020-12-14 15:25:24.106000+00:00 | ['Tourist', 'Travel Tips', 'Travel', 'Training', 'Tourism'] |
Authentication Using Passport-Google-OAuth in Node.js | Web Applications usually need a user to register on their application. So, Google authentication is a very important and safest way to register the user on the application. Here we’ll implement google-auth for user registration using the passport-google-oAuth library. This library combines passport-google-oauth1 and passport-google-oauth20.
Before Writing Code Developers needed to authenticate with google to get the clientId and clientSecret. It can be set from Google Developers Console. Developers also need to enable Google+API in the developer console, Otherwise, applications are unable to fetch user data from Google.
Node Modules Used
npm install passport
npm install passport-google-oauth
oAuth 1.0
The Google OAuth 1.0 authentication strategy authenticates users using a Google account and OAuth tokens. The strategy requires a verify callback, which accepts these credentials and calls done providing a user, as well as options specifying a consumer key, consumer secret, and callback URL.
Configuration
Routes
Link
A Link or button can be placed on the login form, allowing a one-click sign-in with google
<a href="/auth/google"> SignIn With Google </a>
Conclusion
I hope this will help you with passport-google-oAuth using passport.js.
Be familiar with this authentication. If you have any queries or suggestions, feel free to leave your comment in the comment section below.
Thanks for reading | https://medium.com/@mittalharsh4321/authentication-using-passport-google-oauth-in-node-js-a6890dda2e72 | ['Harsh Mittal'] | 2020-12-13 05:19:40.801000+00:00 | ['Google Oauth', 'Authentication', 'Expressjs', 'Nodejs', 'Mongodb'] |
GAN Training Breakthrough for Limited Data Applications & New NVIDIA Program! NVIDIA Research | GAN Training Breakthrough for Limited Data Applications & New NVIDIA Program! NVIDIA Research
With this new training method developed by NVIDIA, you can train a powerful generative model with one-tenth of the images! Making possible many applications that do not have access to so many images!
This new paper covers a technique for training a GAN architecture. They are used in many applications related to computer vision, where we want to generate a realistic transformation of an image following a specific style. If you are not familiar with how GANs work, I definitely recommend you to watch the video I made explaining it before continuing this one.
As you know, GANs architecture train in an adversarial way. Meaning that there are two networks training at the same time, one training to generate a transformed image from the input, the generator, and the other one training to differentiate the generated images from the training images’ ground truths. These training images’ ground truths are just the transformation result we would like to achieve for each input image. Then, we try to optimize both networks at the same time, thus making the generator better and better at generating images that look real. But, in order to produce these great and realistic results, we need two things. A training dataset composed of thousands and thousands of images, and stopping the training before overfitting.
Image via: Training Generative Adversarial Networks with Limited Data by NVIDIA
Overfitting during a GAN training would mean that our discriminator’s feedback would become meaningless and the images generated will only get worse. It happens past a certain point when you train your network too much for your amount of data, and the quality only gets worse, as you can see happening here after the black dots.
These are the problems NVIDIA tackled with this paper. They realized that this is basically the same problem, and could be solved by one solution. They proposed a method they called an adaptative discriminator augmentation. Their approach is quite simple in theory, and you can apply it to any GAN architecture you already have without changing anything.
Image via: Training Generative Adversarial Networks with Limited Data by NVIDIA
As you may know, in most areas of deep learning, we perform what we call data augmentation to fight against overfitting. In computer vision, it often takes the form of applying transformations to the image during the training phase to multiply our quantity of training data. These transformations can be anything from applying a rotation, adding noise, changing the colors, etc. to modify our input image and create a unique version of it. Making our network train on a way more diverse dataset without having to create or find more images. Unfortunately, this cannot be easily applied to a GAN architecture since the generator will learn to generate images following these same augmentations. This is what NVIDIA’s team has done. They found a way to use these augmentations to prevent the model from overfitting while ensuring that none of these augmentations are leaked onto the generated images. They basically apply this set of image augmentations to all images shown to the discriminator with a chosen probability of each transformation to randomly occur and evaluate the discriminator’s performance using these modified images. This high number of transformations all applied randomly makes it very unlikely that the discriminator sees even one unchanged image. Of course, the generator is trained and guided to generate only clean images without any transformations. They’ve concluded that this method of training a GAN architecture with augmented data shown to the discriminator works only if each transformation’s occurrence probability is below 80%. The higher it is, the more augmentations will be applied and thus a more diverse training dataset you will have.
Image via: Training Generative Adversarial Networks with Limited Data by NVIDIA
They found that while this was solving the question of the limited amount of training images, there was still the overfitting issue that appeared at different times based on your initial dataset’s size. This is why they thought of an adaptative way of doing this augmentation. Instead of having another hyper-parameter to decide the ideal augmentation probability of appearance, they instead control the augmentation strength during the training. Starting at 0, and then adjust its value iteratively based on the difference between the training and validation sets. Indicating if overfitting is happening or not. This validation set is just a different set of the same type of images that the network is not trained on. The validation set just needs to be made of images that the discriminator hasn’t seen before. It is used to measure the quality of our results and quantify the degree of divergence of our network, quantifying overfitting at the same time.
Image via: Training Generative Adversarial Networks with Limited Data by NVIDIA
Here, you can see the results of this adaptative discriminator augmentation for multiple training set sizes on the FFHQ dataset. Here, we use the FID measure, which you can see getting better and better over time and never reaching this overfitting problem where it starts to get only worse. The FID, or Fréchet inception distance, is basically a measure of the distance between the distributions for generated and real images. It measures the quality of the generated image samples. The lower it is, the better our results.
This FFHQ dataset contains 70 000 high-quality faces taken from Flickr. It was created as a benchmark for generative adversarial networks. And indeed, they successfully matched StyleGAN2 results with an order of magnitude fewer images used as you can see here.
Image via: Training Generative Adversarial Networks with Limited Data by NVIDIA
Where the results are plotted for 1 000 to 140 000 training examples using again this same FID measure on the FFHQ dataset.
Watch the video for more examples of this new training method:
Conclusion
Of course, the code is also completely available and easy to implement to your GAN architecture using TensorFlow. Both the code and the paper are linked in the references below if you would like to implement this in your code or have a deeper understanding of the technique by reading the paper. This paper was just published in the NeurIPS 2020, as well as another announcement by NVIDIA. They announced a new program called the applied research accelerator program. Their goal here is to support research projects to make a real-world impact through deployment into GPU-accelerated applications adopted by commercial and government organizations. Granting hardware, funding, technical guidance, support, and more to students. You should definitely give it a look if that fits your current needs, I linked it in the description of the video as well! | https://medium.com/towards-artificial-intelligence/gan-training-breakthrough-for-limited-data-applications-new-nvidia-program-nvidia-research-3652c4c172e6 | ['Louis', 'What S Ai'] | 2020-12-08 01:02:52.281000+00:00 | ['Nvidia', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Neural Networks', 'Research', 'Deep Learning'] |
Rails實作devise套件 | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/annielin28815/rails%E5%AF%A6%E4%BD%9Cdevise%E5%A5%97%E4%BB%B6-38119a7558a5 | [] | 2020-12-15 04:41:55.385000+00:00 | ['Ruby on Rails', 'Ruby', 'Rails'] |
Skill vs Talent — The COVID Shift | For quite some time I struggled with the notion of telling my story. I suffered from Imposter Syndrome, focusing more on being an enigma than an outlier, unable to accept the validity of why; time after time I would surpass highly qualified candidates to land highly sort after roles in the technology industry.
After all I had no college degree, not even a certification but found myself working at Apple, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and a subsidiary of Toshiba just to name a few, even interviewing at Google — for an Infrastructure Engineering role. Then it occurred to me that we were already experiencing a shift in the industry which would only be accelerated by COVID.
This shift came in the form of a recruitment strategy pivot. Most companies were now seeking adaptive, competent talent vs hard skill and extensive work history — and I had found that sweet spot. While coding, database management, cloud computing experience & solutions engineering were fundamental essentials, curating and maintaining relevant knowledge capital, effective stakeholder engagement and an innate aptitude to learn & quickly adapt to change was now paramount to Hiring Managers. Whiteboard coding questions by and large were being replaced with situational, behavioral & project based queries. What did you learn, how did you learn it and how long did it take?
My advantage was that aside from a few basic college courses, I was self-taught. That isn’t to discredit those who opted for the traditional route, but for me this made it easy to digest information, retain it and quickly pivot to new and emerging technologies. From my perspective our educational infrastructure had become obsolete and in order to remain competitive I had to up the ante.
At the onset of my career I worked as an Analytics Intern for a company called Resonate. This sharpened my research skills and introduced me to human attribute analysis. What factors affects one’s decision making process? How do values impact ones perspective? Once I applied some of these concepts to the interview process and the interviewer, I’d ace every single interview.
It was simple — publicly available data was my primary resource, how I leveraged it became my mastery. I started on YouTube, obsessively learning from ground zero. The OSI model, Networking, Data structures, python, Linux, PowerShell, ITIL problem management, IT acronyms. I’d create an AWS account and work on EC2 instances, and test my knowledge in virtual lab environments all for free.
leveraging sites like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, I also joined communities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review and attended any free webinar that related to my field. Before long I had curated a career development strategy that enabled me to easily identify gaps in operational efficiency, bring much needed value & expertise, and most saliently — exceed expectations and organizational goals.
The truth is I was shy, intimidated & uncertain, self doubt had brought me to the brink on many occasions, but there was a pivotal moment when things changed. I’d been working 3rd shift at HPE decrypting and analyzing log data all night when I finally conjured up the courage to disclose I had found a bug. Being 1 of 2 African American women on a team of 55 insanely brilliant engineers was intimidating, but in that moment something clicked, I was forced to strip away all of my insecurities, I was a badass, it was now or never. I found the courage to be bold and comfortable in a seemingly uncomfortable space. I’d been hired to deliver results, in my season of preparation I’d passed up countless opportunities because I was too shy to speak up or be intentional about my purpose. Skill was my qualifier, but talent cemented my presence.
I am now a PM for Finance and Risk Management Solutions at a Fortune 500 Fintech firm, & an Undergraduate Finance major at GSU — with a wealth of knowledge and a highly sort after business acumen which has earned me quite a few distinctions. I’m entering the coaching & mentorship space as well; as many have experienced COVID related job loss and would greatly benefit from my insight, career development strategies and professional experiences.
To connect — you can find me on IG; @the_mentologist or email me at [email protected]
Cheers! | https://medium.com/@desleym-charles/skill-vs-talent-the-covid-shift-461ae4f32ec7 | ['Desley M. Charles'] | 2020-12-08 15:24:17.026000+00:00 | ['Skills', 'It', 'Mentorship', 'Engineering', 'Careers'] |
Are You Ready to Write Your Book in the Next Month? | We’re three days away from starting the writing part of the Blog-Your-Own-Book Challenge.
Three days from a goal of writing 31 blog posts in 31 days, all on the same topic, that come together into a book.
Are you ready?
Just in case, came up with tips for you. I hope they help.
Make sure you’ve chosen the right topic.
I’ve talked to a ton of writers in the last month about their BYOB projects. One thing comes up over and over that I want to talk about for a minute.
Your topic should not be your entire empire.
Your empire = the business you want to build around your writing. AKA, your niche. My empire is ‘teaching people how to become writers.’
That’s way too big a topic for my BYOB project. Like I said, it’s my entire empire. I had to find a little slice of my niche to focus on for 31 days. For me, that’s ‘how to create a writing habit.’
In 31 days, I could skim along the surface of my whole niche. But the point of the BYOB Challenge is to go deep on one little part of it.
Think about your empire, the whole of your niche, and then choose one thing you can teach your audience about that thing. If you’re a fiction writer, that might be telling a series of connected short stories set in the world of your novel. If you’re an essayist, it might be delving into one specific thought or idea. If you’re a teacher-writer, maybe you’ll do what I’m doing and teach something on a deeper level than you could with a single blog post.
Make sure you’ve got your posts pre-planned.
Once you have your topic narrowed down, try this exercise. Think about five or six themes within the topic. What are a few topics that your main topic can break down into?
My BYOB project, creating a daily writing habit, breaks down to these themes:
Tiny goals
Goal stacking
Ramping up to a daily goal
Objectives and Key Results
Writing as a job
and resources
Once you have your topic’s themes decided, you’ll just have to come up with five or six blog posts you can write about that theme.
My best advice, in the next few days, is to use the PSST framework on each of those post ideas, if you haven’t already. That’s what I’ll be doing today and tomorrow. Having those posts planned out will make writing them so much easier.
And more likely.
Make sure you know how you’ll capture your audience.
One of the reasons we’re writing our books as blog posts is so that we can start to build an audience for the finished project. In order to do that, you need to make sure you’re set up for capturing your readers so you can reach out to them.
Yep. That means building an email list. And that means having an opt-in on your blog posts.
I wrote a pretty exhaustive post, with about a million screenshots, about how exactly to do that. Be sure to read that and choose your opt-in, then get your email server set up to receive those new subscribers.
Make sure you’re ready to meet this goal.
The last thing I want you to do in the next three days is be sure that you’re ready to actually achieve the goal you’ve set for yourself.
That means having time set aside to write your blog post. And a space for doing the work. It means getting your mind wrapped around the idea that for the month of August, writing a blog post everyday is part of your job as writer. It’s not a hobby. At least not for this month.
Set aside perfectionism. Set aside fear. You’ve got this. You’re going to rock it.
Ninja Writers is hosting daily write-ins — quiet writing time on Zoom — and we’ve got nearly daily workshop calls in August. We’d love to have you join us for the month. It’s free. | https://medium.com/the-write-brain/are-you-ready-to-write-your-book-in-the-next-month-c0c953f0607e | ['Shaunta Grimes'] | 2020-07-29 15:20:34.238000+00:00 | ['Byob', 'Writing', 'Creativity', 'Productivity', 'Blogging'] |
Improve your productivity with Fast.cli 🔥 | Hi everyone! My name is Alfredo, I´m Flutter developer in HandCash and I coorganize Flutterconf and GDGMarbella, in Spain. In this article, I´m going to show how to optimice your time making projects in Flutter.
If you have worked with Flutter, you know you can create the scaffold project for Flutter apps using the Flutter CLI
$ flutter create …
And later, you can start implementing dependencies that will use in the project , like flutter_bloc, freezed, url_launcher… Searching in pub.dev and paste in pubspec.yaml
Then, you start creating your folder structure below lib, like domain, data_access, ui… And recursively, the subfolders inside their folders.
Very bored and repetitive, so I start searching how to automate it and I find this project.
Fast.cli project 🤖
Fast.cli is a tool, made by pbissonho, to create a custom CLI that can handle all of this task.
This tool works using plugins like VSCode system. You can create your own plugins and share with all people that use this tool, is amazing!
Currently, creating your plugin, you will have this features:
Templates generator
Application Scaffold generator
Snippet generator for Visual Studio Code
Custom commands
Standard line commands (Some commands already included in the CLI)
Amazing!! Let´s see how to install it.
Installation
You have to be installed the Dart SDK in your system to continue with this steps. When you have installed and configured the environment, only you have to write:
$ pub global activate fast
And add this folder to your environment in your bash, this is a example if you use zsh
echo export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.fastcli/bin/" >> .zshrc
Clean-bloc project 🛠
This is the perfect tool to achieve my goal, create a tool to implement all dependencies and scaffold of whole of my projects.
Using this tool, I made a plugin for this automate, you can see here and all PR are welcome!
Installation
In order to install my plugin, you need to install before Fast.cli. After, you only have to write:
$ fast plugin add git [email protected]:alfredobs97/clean-bloc.git
And this is all! Now you can my plugin.
How to use
The first approach to my plugin was:
I need to create a standard scaffold, following clean-architecture principies and add the dependencies that all project need to use to create a robust, scalable and efficiency Flutter apps.
In order to create this, I wrote the “bloc scaffold”
$ clean-bloc create --name <flutter_projet_name> --scaffold bloc
This command will create the normal Flutter app scaffold with this content in lib
And this follow dependencies:
flutter_bloc: ^6.0.5
freezed_annotation: ^0.12.0
logger: ^0.9.4
json_annotation: ^3.0.1
chopper: ^3.0.2
injector: ^1.0.9
build_runner: ^1.10.4
freezed: ^0.12.2
bloc_test: ^7.1.0
mockito: ^4.1.3
json_serializable: ^3.5.0
chopper_generator: ^3.0.6
Finally, you can forget the hell flutter command:
$ flutter pub run build_runner build
And use:
$ clean-bloc run build
Make your own plugin!
This approach could be useful for developers that use bloc pattern and clean architecture but there are a lot of people using another patters or guidelines so I recommend you to create the plugin that optimize your time!
Following my plugin structure or Fast.cli tutorial, you can implement your own plugins in easy mode. Adding VSCode snippets or templates.
Thanks to the Flutter/Dart community 💙
This tool is a great example how the community is growing and there are a lot of great and useful packages for your day a day.
I encourage you to contribute to the Fast.cli project, this has a great future helping us saving time in new projects.
That´s all for today, thanks for your reading and you can find me in Twitter where DM are open!
Follow FlutterConf account and GDGMarbella to stay tuned with new events of Flutter! 💙
Thank you for your time and see you later! 👋🏼👋🏼 | https://medium.com/@alfredobs97/improve-your-productivity-with-fast-cli-675a6d7bc8cd | ['Alfredo Bautista Santos'] | 2020-12-04 10:03:19.314000+00:00 | ['Time', 'Dart', 'Flutter', 'Clean Code', 'Automation'] |
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Thank You | https://medium.com/@dreamimagesworld/free-happy-birthday-images-download-2aa6aa18f524 | ['Dream Images World'] | 2019-12-01 17:51:58.299000+00:00 | ['Birthday'] |
C#, XUnit, Moq Typing lines of code to mock dependencies of a class under test is one of those things no software developer enjoys. Having to rearrange these mocks… | Generate mocks with AutoSetup - C#, XUnit, Moq
Typing lines of code to mock dependencies of a class under test is one of those things no software developer enjoys. Having to rearrange these mocks after changes in the implementation makes it even more time consuming. Thanks to Roslyn and Visual Studio analyzers, this can be automated.
AutoSetup generates the mocks and an instance of a class under test automatically. It finds the class under test based on the naming convention.
For an example class under test such as this one:
It would generates mocks as shown here:
If you are using XUnit with Moq and still typing those lines to mock each dependency for a class under test, just add AutoSetup nuget package to your unit test project and generate mocks automatically. | https://medium.com/@tukaya/generate-mocks-for-c-unit-tests-b3ace6806955 | ['Tuba Kaya'] | 2020-12-14 13:36:34.043000+00:00 | ['Open Source', 'Moq', 'Xunit', 'Unit Testing', 'Csharp'] |
Amortized Q-learning with Model-based Action Proposals for Autonomous Driving on Highways | The article named Amortized Q-learning with Model-based Action Proposals for Autonomous Driving on Highways , prepared by
Branka Mirchevska1;2, Maria Huegle1, Gabriel Kalweit1, Moritz Werling2, Joschka Boedecker1;3 , was launched today on arXive.
1.Dept. of Computer Science, University of Freiburg, Germany.
2.BMW Group, Unterschleissheim, Germany.
3.Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools, Freiburg, Germany.
Just my short comments about the article: very professional,
it deals with a topic that is very scientifically advanced, which is very relevant today on a global scale. I can only congratulate Branka and her colleagues for this kind of work.
The link to the article: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.03234
The link to the video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Apmk3K9pkM&feature=youtu.be | https://medium.com/@mile.mircevski/amortized-q-learning-with-model-based-action-proposals-for-autonomous-driving-on-highways-37bcba54265d | ['Mile Mirchevski'] | 2020-12-11 13:53:56.019000+00:00 | ['Reinforcement Learning', 'Autonomous Driving'] |
Construction Glass Market is Booming Worldwide with Incredible Growth and Future Prospects | HomeConstruction Glass Market Construction Glass Market is Booming Worldwide with Incredible Growth and Future Prospects
*Global Construction Glass Market: Outline*
Ever since glass was first made, glass is a fascinating element for us. In the construction industry, it is one of the oldest and multipurpose materials.
Its role is changing from luxurious houses as window pane to advanced structural members in modern constructions to give the aesthetic look to the building.
Construction glass is among the most commonly used building materials because of its wide range of properties. In the next few years, growth in the construction industry worldwide is expected to drive the construction glass market.
Construction Glass Market Types and Application
For the construction materials such as polycarbonate, wood and concrete glass is a commercial substitute as glass enhances the intensity of the building’s natural light.
The key factors of glass which are expected to boost the demand for building glass industry are quality, safety and environmental sustainability.
By optimizing natural daylight for commercial structures, architects are using natural environmental influences in the interior of buildings in addition to residential uses.
Properties of Glass used in Construction Glass Market
Glass has various physical and chemical properties like it is resistant to electricity, chemicals, can mold flexibly, and remains unaffected to climate change.
Advancements in technology has allowed construction glass to be lighter and stronger. The economic factor of glass also makes it a better alternative relative to building materials.
Other properties include:
This property helps the external world to be visually connected. Clear glass panels used in buildings may be turned invisible with the advent of technology (Electro chromatic glazing).
With the advancement of technology, its ability to withstand deformation under load may be improved by some laminates and admixtures.
The U-value is the indicator of how much heat the glass transmits. Lower U-value, indicates better insulation properties.
Types of glass used in construction of various infrastructure includes
> Float Glass: It is produced by annealing the molten glass. It is also known as soda lime or clear glass. Its weight varies from 6–26 kg/m2 and thickness range is 2mm to 20mm. It is being used in the manufacture of canopies, store fronts, glass blocks, partitions for railings, etc.
> Tinted glass: Without the use of additives to the glass batch mix, color can be added to the transparent glass. Iron oxide is used to give a green color to the glass; Sulphur can turn the glass red, black or yellow, at different concentrations.
>Glass wool: It is a thermal insulation consisting of entangled and flexible fiber of glass that allows air to be “package” and thus provides strong insulating materials. Glass wool is used in buildings as filler or insulators, often for soundproofing
>Laminated Glass: Sandwiching glass panels inside a protective coating makes laminated glass. It is heavier than standard glass and can also cause optical distortions. It is tough and protects against UV radiation and isolates sound.
Used in aquariums, glass facades, staircases, bridges, slabs of floors, and so on.
> Extra clean glass: This is hydrophilic, glass. Without leaving any traces, the water flows through them and they are coated with nanoparticles that strike and break dirt, i.e. photocatalytic, making them easy to maintain and clean.
> Chromatic glass: There are three type of Chromatic glass which are used to control daylight and transparency.
* photochromatic (light sensitive),
* thermochromatic (heat sensitive) and
* electrochromatic (light sensitive glass controlled by electricity)
> Shatterproof Glass: Shatter proof glass is made by adding a polyvinyl butyral layer. It is used in flooring, window and skylight, etc.
> Toughened Glass: It is used to make fire resistant doors. Thickness and weight varies from 2 mm to 20mm and 6–26 kg/m2 respectively.
As scientists find new applications for glass, the adaptability of glass continues to increase. Glass is now used in the construction industry as structural component, insulation material, cladding material, external glazing material.
Glass is constantly undergoing transformation with the advent of green technology in construction. Some of the latest applications of glass are switchable glass projector displays and solar power glass.
The growth of the construction glass market is expected to complement the increasing demand for energy-saving products for infrastructure and construction projects in both developed and developing countries.
Existing infrastructure upgrading and modernization or remodeling activities are also anticipated to enhance building glass industry growth in near future.
Construction Glass use Market Competitive Landscape:
The key corporations in Construction Glass use Market square measure Central Glass, Guardian, Schott, CSG, Xinyi, Taiwan Glass, Farun, China Glass, AGC, NSG, Shahe Glass, PPG business.
Email Us: [email protected] | https://medium.com/@220maheshz/construction-glass-market-is-booming-worldwide-with-incredible-growth-and-future-prospects-8337e670d63c | ['Mahesh Prakash Zurange'] | 2020-12-13 06:09:12.302000+00:00 | ['Glass', 'Marketing', 'Business Strategy', 'Business', 'Construction'] |
What the hell is going on with the UX in cryptocurrency? | What the hell is going on with the UX in cryptocurrency?
Everything is confusing. Are the Crypto experts making everything confusing on purpose?
I am a father and I don't want my kids to be in the future like "yeah… so my dad missed this opportunity, he never invested in Bitcoin. I can't believe he missed this". And all their friends, in the future, flying away in drones laughing and mine still driving a Fiat 500…
What did I do? Studied about Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple and all the Blockchain stuff. I studied hard. I also did further reading about Crypterium, Trezor and Ledger (bitcoin Wallets) and the open-source ones like MyEtherWallet. And last but not least, read a bit about mining. I was like:
What have I learned? Nothing.
Really.
What I know about real money? I work > I get paid > The money goes to the bank (which exists, and I can even see banks on the streets).
If I want to use the money I can use a plastic card (accepted everywhere) or paper money (which I can also see and touch). That's it. Everything else about real money is a variation of that. It's easy, seamless and straightforward.
At this moment the crypto experts are reading this "pffff… look at this guy. He can't even understand the open-source next generation data preservation market network and decentralized peer-to-peer blockchain.".
So, from the start, the creator of Bitcoin and blockchain is Satoshi Nakamoto… who is a unknown person or "people".
This is Satoshi Nakamoto who said he had never heard of Bitcoin. Photo from AP.Associated Press.
Okay… This is not that bad, since Häagen-Dazs is also not the name of a Norwegian or Swedish family. It's just a name created by two americans who thought it would help them sell more ice-cream (and it did, it's absolutely delicious. Thank you).
The difference is that if 💩 hits the fan I know where to find the two americans and know who they are. With bitcoin the hole is a lot deeper. Here are some curious articles about him:
If you think this is not important, that's fine… let's move on to understand how to buy a bitcoin. If you don't know how to buy a bitcoin, don't worry, because I don't know either, you are not alone 👊
If you google "How much is 1 bitcoin worth", you will get this (results shown on the 3rd of March, 2018).
What I know (and actually, what is cool about Bitcoins), is that there is a finite number, 21 million Bitcoins in total. Where they are, no one actually knows… you would need to mine them. This is from Investopedia:
Bitcoin is like gold in many ways. Like gold, Bitcoin cannot simply be created arbitrarily. Gold must be mined out of the ground, and Bitcoin must be mined via digital means. Linked with this process is the stipulation set forth by the founders of Bitcoin that, like gold, it have a limited and finite supply. In fact, there are only 21 million Bitcoins that can be mined in total. Once miners have unlocked this many Bitcoins, the planet’s supply will essentially be tapped out, unless Bitcoin’s protocol is changed to allow for a larger supply.
This was going well, until "Unless Bitcoin's protocol is changed to allow for a larger supply".
So is it finite or not?
At this moment the user (myself included) is as lost as a blind person in a shootout.
But the user is brave, relentless and decides to try to buy some cryptowhatever. He asks for "easy" suggestions and hear things such as "Coinbase", or "Etoro". Alright… let's analyse Coinbase:
I decided to try and invest something, not as much as 8000 pounds for the simple reason of: I don't have it.
So I've decided to try with 90 pounds. Coinbase shows the following screen:
(by the way, I already did, the money is in my account, but this screen remains the same)
Clicked on "Add a Payment Method" and I can see two options:
Made me feel good that 90 pounds could be "investing large amounts".
In case you are making a SEPA (international transfer), Coinbase will only tell what banks are supported when you type the bank name into the field 🙄
After a bit of struggle and 30 days to confirm my payment (at that time, they told my my bank was not supported, but only AFTER I made the SEPA transfer), my 90 pounds were visible in my account. And finally I would buy my bitcoins to make sure my kids could fly with their friends in the future.
This is the e-mail I received:
"It's available in my account" What does this mean? Do I already have the Bitcoins?
If I go to my account, I see the following: | https://uxdesign.cc/what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-the-ux-in-cryptocurrency-7262d2754713 | ['Flavio Lamenza'] | 2018-08-07 08:02:10.789000+00:00 | ['User Experience Design', 'User Experience', 'UX Design', 'UX', 'Bitcoin'] |
The Negative Balance: A tale of Sorrow | One of the worst experiences with banking is when you get charged a “overdraft” fee for going over your balance.
Bank of America charged me $35 each time I used my debit card without enough balance, for a $2 cup of coffee I would get charged a $35 fee and my balance would go to negative by $37 and they wouldn’t even warn me happily letting me rack up more charges, the worst thing was THEY WOULD NOT LET YOU SHUT OFF THAT FEATURE!
Banks profit immensely off such predatory practices. It made me utterly sick and was one of the things, among many other examples of banking greed and incompetence, that drove us to start Paxful.
As of May 8th 2018 there are no longer negative balances on Paxful. We eliminated the feature because of consumer complaints. But why did we even have it in the first place?
The Problem
Every-time you send bitcoin there is a mining fee. Early on in Paxful we had many users who needed to send small amounts of btc, around $2.50’s worth, and they needed to send exactly that amount. Since they were newbies many of them did not understand how much bitcoin they would get back and after succeeding with their first transaction, often a grueling affair for a non technical person on a smart phone, they were horrified to discover that they needed another $0.55 of bitcoin to send their $2.50.
The Solution.. kind of
We wanted to spare them the pain and implemented the “Paxful pays” feature which would spare them the mining fee which would come from our own pocket so they could do their transaction without hassel. We thought we were doing them a favor by paying the fee for them so they could carry on with their business. Their account would go negative and the next time they needed to use it the miner fee would come from their new purchase. It was like we were giving them an interest free loan. We thought this would a cool feature and in the beginning it did help alot of newbies. We’d pay the fee for them if they didn’t have enough, what could go wrong?
Plenty.
This is my personal apology for this mess.
Our hearts were in the right place but as always it was bad communication that caused people so much pain. We did not make it clear to people that there was a fee and we were paying it for them, so when they came back to use their account they saw a negative balance and wondered “what the heck?!?! what did I do??” Understandably people were angry and blew up on forums accusing Paxful of scamming them and me the CEO of running away with their funds.
Many users even made new accounts, did an internal transfer to the new account and sent out to get by the mining fee. We didn’t mind those work arounds as along as people could actually do what they were there to do but the confusion and resentment it caused was not acceptable. We want everyone to have a GOOD experience with bitcoin and this new non fiat world to welcome them.
We are no longer paying the mining fee for users and it now won’t let you send out unless you have the funds. The use case were people needed to send those ultra small amounts is now not such an issue so we felt the little loan was no longer needed. There is alot to learn here, mostly about proper communication. Sometimes we think we are helping people but we actually end up hurting them. It was never our intention and we have fixed our mistake.
Our apologies from the entire Paxful staff. Our CTO Artur worked around the clock to get this feature out right in the middle of a complete redesign. We hope to serve you better in the future.
-Ray | https://medium.com/the-paxful-blog/the-negative-balance-a-tale-of-sorrow-c1758aa5e11e | ['Ray Youssef'] | 2018-05-09 08:45:51.397000+00:00 | ['Paxful', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Banking'] |
How to Protect Your App Idea: A Lawyer’s Simple Breakdown | How to Protect Your App Idea: A Lawyer’s Simple Breakdown
Almost ever first-time startup founder worries about people stealing their idea. They tend to keep their startup a secret until they launch, and won’t talk to anyone about it without signing an NDA first. While there are many things startup founders should be worried about, this is not one of them.
“To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.” — Steve Jobs
You shouldn’t worry about people stealing your idea before you even know if your idea is worth stealing. If after you launch, you find users really love your app, and the company starts to grow quickly, then it may be time to start worrying about people “copying” your app.
There are a few different types of legal protection you can get for a mobile app. Some can cost tens of thousands of dollars, others may just be a few hundred. Here’s a simple overview of each type of protection and who should consider getting them:
Copyright
According to USPTO:
“A copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of ‘original works of authorship’ including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished.”
Consider getting a copyright. This will protect source code, in-app copy, and graphics. Copyright registrations are fast and inexpensive usually under $1,000.
Even though Apple and Google have top tier security, it is technically possible for someone with a jailbroken phone to extract the source code from your app. They could simply change a couple of lines of your code, and launch it as their own app. A copyright gives you a legal recourse to take if someone does attempt a fraudulent act.
Remember, this does not protect the idea, it only covers the physical and intellectual assets that make up the app.
Patent
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This will give you the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention in the United States.
Patents provide more protection than copyrights because its’ requirements are much more stringent. What you are patenting must be useful, novel, and non-obvious. It also has to be physical, it can’t be an abstract idea. Simply put, patents protect original ideas and inventions from other businesses that are highly unlikely to come up with these ideas by themselves.
You will not be granted a patent if your product uses any previously patented methods or processes to create your product. Both the idea and the way you brought that idea to fruition must be completely original.
Patents are the most expensive type of protection and can cost anywhere from $8k-$15k.
Name Protection / Trademark
Protecting the name of the app is just as important as protecting the technology of the app. App names can be protected by what’s called a trademark registration.
A trademark is a word, name, symbol, or device that is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others.
With mobile, a trademark is used to prevent others from using the same app name as yours, but it won’t prevent others from creating a similar app under a different name.
When should you trademark your company name? As soon as you start to see your download count growing. If you search any popular game in the App Store you will see many spin-offs.
Popular Tetris-style game 1010, has been copied by an overseas programmer that named his game 10101010. This allows them to rank at the top when people search for the original game and steal some of the downloads that would have originally gone to the 1010 game.
Keep in mind that your trademark should be filed after your business entity has been formed. Other than that, filing a trademark early on is pretty straightforward, and costs only $150. You can read more on trademark protection on the Startup Law Blog.
Before settling on any name, it’s important to check if it’s even possible to trademark your app. You can see if the name is available on the USPTO website. If your name is available, consult a trademark attorney on your next steps.
After settling on your name make sure you reserve it on the app store, register your domain name, and create your social media accounts.
How Do I Reserve My Name in the App Store?
To protect your app name on the App Store, go to iTunes Connect and submit your app name reservation. The application process and reservations are free and as of 2015, there is no limit as to how long you can hold your name for as long as you are not in violation of Apple’s Guidelines:
“You will not, directly or indirectly, commit … (e.g., submitting fraudulent reviews of Your own Application or any third party application, choosing a name for Your Application that is substantially similar to the name of a third party application in order to create consumer confusion, or squatting on application names to prevent legitimate third party use.”
How Do I Register My Domain Name?
Use Namechk to see if there are domains and social media usernames available. Try to match your domain name as closely as possible to your app’s name, but don’t worry if that’s not an option. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to do this as more and more domain names are taken each day. You may have to get creative like companies such as www.joinhouse.party, www.visual.ly.You can purchase your domain by going to a domain provider like Namecheap and paying an annual fee of $10-$40.
How to Protect Your App when Developing with an Agency
Always ask the agency you’re working with for an NDA. Every established mobile app development agency will have these documents on hand and will gladly sign upon request. Mutual NDA’s keep all information you share private and will confirm that everything that is rightfully yours will remain yours.
Signing an NDA will give you protection to some degree, but it won’t 100% guarantee your app is safe. The best way to protect your app during development is to work with a reputable company. Conduct thorough research by using reliable review sites like Clutch.co to make sure the agency you work with is trustworthy and has quality reviews.
Special thanks to Steven Buchwald, a startup and tech attorney in New York at Buchwald and Associates, for his insight on this topic. You can contact him through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. | https://medium.com/app-partner-academy/how-to-protect-your-app-idea-a-lawyers-simple-breakdown-1b200044aeb | ['App Partner'] | 2018-05-03 16:44:23.602000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Lawyers', 'Startup Life', 'Legal', 'Copyright'] |
Mario’s Gym Routine | Can you teach an old dog new tricks?
A bit over a year ago, I saw a video of a Python program which was able to train a machine to play and win a game of Atari’s Pong through a process known as Reinforcement Learning (RL). Since viewing that video and my mind being subsequently blown by the potential of this application of AI, I have gone on a journey to learn how to leverage RL to beat various retro video games, and even documented my early stages in a previous post.
Throughout the past year, I’ve written various projects from scratch which aim to beat levels in the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES, but wanted to find a better way to switch between models and parameters without writing several hundred additional lines in each scenario. After experimenting with many RL libraries available in Python, I found rllib from the Ray Project to be the most effective and flexible, while also being able to scale up and out on machines — a requirement for my desires to take on larger and more complex environments. This article is intended to provide an example of how to build your own application which can be used to train an agent to beat Super Mario Bros. levels.
Baby Steps: Setting up an environment
Before I jump into the code, a development environment needs to be created to install dependencies and get your machine ready to learn. For installing dependencies in an isolated location for my project, I use either a virtualenv or conda environment to ensure I won’t be installing anything that could effect other apps on my computer. While I won’t go over setup for either in this post, you can read the official docs for either virtualenv or conda.
Inside an active environment of your choice, several dependencies need to be installed for the program to function. These can be installed with Python’s PIP:
pip install ray[rllib] torch gym-super-mario-bros
A more concrete list of requirements can be found on the repository I created for this project, but note that while the repository and dependencies may change with time, the dependencies will always stay compatible with the latest upstream code.
While this code might work on other Python versions (such as Python 3.6), I have only tested it on 3.7 and newer versions, which is highly recommended.
View from above
Whenever I look at examples for a new application, framework, method, or library, I always prefer to look at the entire chunk of sample code before diving into specifics. This allows me to see where the application begins, what needs to be initialized, any arguments that are parsed, which libraries are imported, and the overall structure of the code. For me personally, it’s much more valuable to have a high-level understanding of the code before diving into specific lines without any context, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do here.
The following example is a completely self-contained Python program which can train Mario to beat a specified level of the game. For those that like to get their hands dirty and just run with this code and don’t need explanations, enjoy! I will dive into more detail on each block of code for those sticking around. But, without further ado, here’s a sample application to give Mario a new brain:
Focusing in
With the full application out of the way, let’s look at each section in greater detail to understand what it does.
Import modules
We first need to import several libraries to make our lives easier. This is one of the great aspects of Python — there’s a high chance that something you need has already been created and is available in a library. I won’t mention all of the imports, but some of the key ones are as follows:
gym_super_mario_bros : An OpenAI Gym-compatible environment which allows Python programs to interact with Super Mario Bros. seamlessly.
: An OpenAI Gym-compatible environment which allows Python programs to interact with Super Mario Bros. seamlessly. ray : A distributed computing framework which makes it easy to run processes across multiple workers and machines.
: A distributed computing framework which makes it easy to run processes across multiple workers and machines. nes_py : A framework to interface between NES game environments, such as Super Mario Bros. and Python applications.
: A framework to interface between NES game environments, such as Super Mario Bros. and Python applications. rllib : A reinforcement learning library built on top of Ray which includes several robust models and algorithms to easily build and scale RL applications.
Custom wrappers
One of the great features of OpenAI’s gym is how easy it is to create custom wrappers around an environment to alter various aspects of the game or virtual world, such as modifying image shapes and sizes, stacking multiple frames together, changing reset conditions, and many, many more.
In some cases, as is the case with playing games from the Atari environment with OpenAI’s Gym, it is possible to get away with using the various atari_wrappers which are included with most RL libraries, without the need to add any additional wrappers. Most of these wrappers are imported above, but I had to update one of them, the EpisodicLifeEnv wrapper, as it expects the environment to have an Atari Learning Environment (ALE) object, which our Super Mario Bros. environment does not contain. I simply copied the code for this class as-is from the ray.rllib.env.atari_wrappers module, but modified lines 18 and 37 above to point to the unwrapped property instead of the ale . By including this code locally in my application and changing those two lines, I still get the full functionality of the wrapper (which I will explain further below) but it won’t complain that my environment doesn’t have an ale component.
I also modified a snippet of code from Uvipen’s awesome Super-mario-bros-A3C-pytorch repository which updates the reward each learner receives after every step. By default, gym_super_mario_bros determines the reward at each step by calculating Mario’s velocity (positive points while moving right, negative points while moving left, zero while standing still), plus a penalty for every frame that passes to encourage movement, and a penalty if Mario dies for any reason. While this is a fairly robust reward system, the levels could be played out more “normally” (as in, the way most humans would play them) by rewarding Mario for increasing his in-game score by defeating enemies, grabbing coins, and collecting power-ups. This information is saved in the info dictionary, and the previous score can be compared with the current game score to find a difference in the latest step and add that to the reward.
In addition to improving the reward when Mario increases his in-game score, a sizable reward is added if he collects the flag (or defeats Bowser) at the end of the level to encourage him to successfully beat the stage. He also receives a relatively large penalty if he doesn’t make it to the end of the level before he dies.
This new reward is then scaled down to be in a smaller range, which is similar to a reward clipping technique applied in the original DQN paper by Minh et. al.
Parsing arguments
Up next we parse arguments passed by the CLI during runtime. The user can modify a few components of the application by specifying various flags. These flags have the following impacts:
--checkpoint : The program automatically creates a new checkpoint file after every 50 training iterations and saves it to a spot that is indicated during runtime, typically at ~/ray_results/<Training instance>/checkpoint_<n>/ . By providing the full path to this file, a run can use that checkpoint’s weights to start a new training pass which ideally has a bit of progress already, dramatically reducing the amount of time required to train an agent, and also making it possible to use transfer learning to take Mario’s knowledge of one level and apply it to another.
: The program automatically creates a new checkpoint file after every 50 training iterations and saves it to a spot that is indicated during runtime, typically at . By providing the full path to this file, a run can use that checkpoint’s weights to start a new training pass which ideally has a bit of progress already, dramatically reducing the amount of time required to train an agent, and also making it possible to use transfer learning to take Mario’s knowledge of one level and apply it to another. --dimension : Each frame is cropped down to a square NxN image which makes it faster and easier to process details in an image by a neural network. Minh et al. used an image size of 84x84 which is commonly used for most retro video games, though sometimes other dimensions are used, such as 42x42.
: Each frame is cropped down to a square NxN image which makes it faster and easier to process details in an image by a neural network. Minh et al. used an image size of 84x84 which is commonly used for most retro video games, though sometimes other dimensions are used, such as 42x42. --environment : This is the OpenAI gym environment to train against. The gym_super_mario_bros environments have the format SuperMarioBros-<world>-<level>-<variant> , where <world> is the game’s world number (1–8), <level> is the level number within that world (1–4), and <variant> modifies how the game looks, from an untouched state ( v0 ), to colored blocks representing all objects, enemies, and players in game ( v3 ). It is recommended to stick with v0 for the game variant as most robust RL agents are able to handle the natural game state.
: This is the OpenAI gym environment to train against. The environments have the format , where is the game’s world number (1–8), is the level number within that world (1–4), and modifies how the game looks, from an untouched state ( ), to colored blocks representing all objects, enemies, and players in game ( ). It is recommended to stick with for the game variant as most robust RL agents are able to handle the natural game state. --framestack : Multiple frames can be stacked together to indicate motion of various objects. This helps the agent understand how to react to a certain situation as it is able to infer where objects will be in future states. This is similar to how humans interpret environments and states. If you were to take a random screenshot of a game and share it with your friend without any context, they might struggle to determine which direction each object in the screen was moving in. If, however, you were to take four screenshots from four connected frames and share those screenshots in order with your friend, they would likely have an easier time deciphering the direction of motion for each object in the image as they could compare any differences between the sequence. While the default value of 4 is recommended, different levels can be experimented with to see the effect.
: Multiple frames can be stacked together to indicate motion of various objects. This helps the agent understand how to react to a certain situation as it is able to infer where objects will be in future states. This is similar to how humans interpret environments and states. If you were to take a random screenshot of a game and share it with your friend without any context, they might struggle to determine which direction each object in the screen was moving in. If, however, you were to take four screenshots from four connected frames and share those screenshots in order with your friend, they would likely have an easier time deciphering the direction of motion for each object in the image as they could compare any differences between the sequence. While the default value of 4 is recommended, different levels can be experimented with to see the effect. --gpus : If users have compatible NVIDIA GPUs installed on their system, they can use those resources to dramatically improve the overall throughput and decrease the time required to train an agent. At the moment, the implementation outlined in this article supports a maximum of 1 GPU, but this will hopefully be changed in future versions of RLLib.
: If users have compatible NVIDIA GPUs installed on their system, they can use those resources to dramatically improve the overall throughput and decrease the time required to train an agent. At the moment, the implementation outlined in this article supports a maximum of 1 GPU, but this will hopefully be changed in future versions of RLLib. --iterations : This flag tells RLLib how many training passes it should go through prior to terminating. Note that this is independent from the number of steps that have been taken during execution.
: This flag tells RLLib how many training passes it should go through prior to terminating. Note that this is independent from the number of steps that have been taken during execution. --workers : Workers are the system resources that actually deploy the agents which will independently learn and update global weights with any progress (depending on the model). This number can never be more than the available number of CPU cores on a system, and is recommended to be one minus the total number of cores in a system, with the last one being a controller which deploys Ray and listens for all updates and broadcasts changes to the cluster.
Creating an environment
Before feeding it into a neural network, an environment needs to be built and wrapped with our modifications to make it easier for the agent to learn. I will go down these modifications line-by-line.
gym_super_mario_bros.make : This is a simple wrapper around the gym.make function and allows us to build the specified SuperMarioBros environment and returns the respective env.
: This is a simple wrapper around the gym.make function and allows us to build the specified SuperMarioBros environment and returns the respective env. CustomReward : This modifies the reward returned after each step following the changes listed earlier in this article.
: This modifies the reward returned after each step following the changes listed earlier in this article. JoypadSpace : When the network picks an action to take, it typically selects a zero-based number from a list which represents an action that the agent can take. For example, the first item in a list of actions might be for the agent to stay in place, the second item to go right, the third to go left, and so on. Adding the SIMPLE_MOVEMENT constant from the gym_super_mario_bros actions to the wrapper maps Mario’s actions to a list of pre-defined movements. There are three action lists available — RIGHT_ONLY , SIMPLE_MOVEMENT , and COMPLEX_MOVEMENT which increase in the number of possible actions that Mario can make, ranging from only being able to run right and jump to unlocking his entire toolset of abilities and motion. SIMPLE_MOVEMENT is a nice balance between offering Mario a range of movement while not bloating the action space with a large number of possible actions, making it harder to learn.
: When the network picks an action to take, it typically selects a zero-based number from a list which represents an action that the agent can take. For example, the first item in a list of actions might be for the agent to stay in place, the second item to go right, the third to go left, and so on. Adding the constant from the actions to the wrapper maps Mario’s actions to a list of pre-defined movements. There are three action lists available — , , and which increase in the number of possible actions that Mario can make, ranging from only being able to run right and jump to unlocking his entire toolset of abilities and motion. is a nice balance between offering Mario a range of movement while not bloating the action space with a large number of possible actions, making it harder to learn. MonitorEnv : The MonitorEnv keeps track of episode statistics after each run which can be viewed with the overall results. While this wrapper doesn’t change the environment, it does provide many useful metrics to evaluate overall performance.
: The keeps track of episode statistics after each run which can be viewed with the overall results. While this wrapper doesn’t change the environment, it does provide many useful metrics to evaluate overall performance. NoopResetEnv : The initial state of an environment is sampled by taking a random number of no-op, or non-actions in a row after reset. The no-op is generally assumed to be the first action in the action space, which in our case correlates to Mario standing still.
: The initial state of an environment is sampled by taking a random number of no-op, or non-actions in a row after reset. The no-op is generally assumed to be the first action in the action space, which in our case correlates to Mario standing still. EpisodicLifeEnv : This wrapper uses the modified version of the class that was shown above with the custom wrappers to add support to SuperMarioBros environments. The wrapper modifies the environment in a way that any time the player loses a life, it is considered the end of an episode, but a reset only happens when the game is over. This helps with estimation of future policies to aid in learning.
: This wrapper uses the modified version of the class that was shown above with the custom wrappers to add support to SuperMarioBros environments. The wrapper modifies the environment in a way that any time the player loses a life, it is considered the end of an episode, but a reset only happens when the game is over. This helps with estimation of future policies to aid in learning. WarpFrame : This wrapper first converts all images to a single-channel grayscale image, then resizes them down to an NxN square image as specified by the --dimension flag. This makes it quicker and easier for the network to find key features in each observation.
: This wrapper first converts all images to a single-channel grayscale image, then resizes them down to an NxN square image as specified by the flag. This makes it quicker and easier for the network to find key features in each observation. FrameStack : This stacks the specified number of frames from the --framestack flag together in a sequence to show motion of objects. The motivation for this wrapper was outlined in the argument parser section above, but the default setting is to stack four frames together to illuminate subtle differences between frames to allow the network to decipher movement.
Printing progress
This function is not strictly necessary, but I find the standard output which can be printed by RLLib to be fairly verbose, as I prefer to run a training loop in the background and only periodically look at certain values, such as the max, min, and mean rewards. The tabulate library makes it very easy to print clean tables of information which is what I use here, similar to what RLLib does with their output. If desired, this function can be omitted, and the result object below can be pretty_print ‘ed instead.
Main function
The main function in this case is where a lot of the magic happens and there’s a lot going on (which slightly pains me given how I normally write Python applications with a slim main function, but I wanted to be relatively concise in this case).
Breaking it down, the function starts with a env_creator_lambda definition which allows us to build a custom environment. This is necessary as RLLib takes a gym environment’s name by default and builds that environment at the beginning of a training run. As we added several custom wrappers to our environment, they need to be included in a new function which is handled specially by RLLib to let our Python application build the environment instead of RLLib doing it automatically.
I borrowed the IMPALA config tuned specifically for Atari Pong from the official Ray repository as a baseline for the Super Mario Bros. config. I chose IMPALA for my agent as I have a fairly beefy workstation which allows me to leverage a few dozen workers and two GPUs to accelerate the training process. IMPALA tends to be on the faster side amongst some of the common RL-models when given enough resources, hence my usage here. One of the reasons I moved to a RL-library, however, was to be able to seamlessly transition between various models without writing a bunch of new code to support new algorithms. Moving forward, I plan on adding new models in this application.
Eagle-eyed readers will also notice I use PyTorch as my framework of choice. While I haven’t done any comparisons for this specific application between PyTorch and TensorFlow (both are supported by RLLib), I tend to pick PyTorch when given the option as I prefer the framework’s more Pythonic and intuitive style, generally better performance, and seamless support for GPUs. Assuming both packages are installed, switching between the two frameworks is as easy as changing the value of the framework setting.
After initializing the config settings, several Ray-specific functions are called to startup a cluster on the current node, register an environment using our custom environment creation function with wrappers above using register_env , and building an IMPALA trainer based on the config that we created.
If the user specified a checkpoint file during runtime, the trainer will read the requested checkpoint file, and update the trainer’s weights based on that checkpoint prior to starting the run.
Lastly, the training sequence is created by looping through the requested number of iterations and calling the train() method against the trainer to begin that phase of the pipeline. This will automatically update the model weights as progress is made and new policies are learned. The results from each iteration are then printed using the custom function created earlier to display the episode rewards over time. On every 50th iteration, a new checkpoint file is created and saved alongside model parameters, typically in the ~/ray_results/ directory.
Running the application
At this point, you should now be able to replicate the training environment on your own machine by copying the first code snippet above, installing dependencies, and running the code with any necessary parameter changes.
If the code was saved as train.py , the training can be kicked off by simply running the following:
$ python3 train.py
Note that if you have a different number of available CPU cores than the default four or have NVIDIA GPUs, you can specify the result with the --workers and --gpus flags, respectively, similar to the following:
$ python3 train.py --workers 60 --gpus 1
Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash
Italian Plumbers Pumping Iron
Congratulations! If you followed this guide, you should now be able to train Mario to beat various levels of the original game that started it all. It may take several hours to complete a level depending on resources, and some are harder than others, but this offers a base foundation to achieve greater heights in the exciting realm of reinforcement learning.
Have any suggestions for improvement? Feel free to drop a new issue or pull request on my repository or comment below. And as always, enjoy the new adventures with everyone’s favorite Italian plumber. Wahoo! | https://towardsdatascience.com/marios-gym-routine-6f095889b207 | ['Robert Clark'] | 2020-12-24 14:15:52.292000+00:00 | ['Reinforcement Learning', 'Mario', 'Python', 'Nvidia', 'Editors Pick'] |
How To Hack Your Lunch | Like most people I know, lunch is my favourite meal of the day. It’s usually our first big meal of the day, and one that we’re always looking forward to, especially after an energy-draining first half of the day. Naturally I gravitated towards heavy lunches.
The things in my lunch menu included creamy spaghetti, double cheeseburgers, and the occasional pad thai on the more adventurous days. I liked to keep my lunch meals variegated, but one thing struck a common thread. No matter what I had for lunch, I’d always feel lethargic and drowsy afterwards.
For me, this lead to a downward spiral in post-lunch productivity, which was quite annoying. Fortunately for me, I came across an article by the New York Times not so long ago that demystified this vexing phenomenon.
For one, it is a natural human tendency to feel sleepy around lunch hours. Our Circadian rhythm is engineered to undergo a dip about 7 hours into waking up. This particular process is embedded within the deep recesses of our primitive brain and is therefore very difficult to suppress. One way to mitigate this problem is by maintaining a good sleep-wake schedule and to get adequate rest during the night.
The second reason heavy lunches make people feel drowsy goes down to our body’s physiological processes following meals. After a particularly heavy meal, our blood flow diverts from the brain and into the gut as our body’s parasympathetic nervous system kicks into ‘rest and digest’ mode. This diversion in blood flow is responsible for making us feel a downslope in alertness, productive output and a blunted creative tendency.
This same process, in reverse, causes blood to divert from the gut and into the muscles and brain when one is exposed to a threatening stimulus, which triggers the ‘fight or flight’ response. This is carried out by the sympathetic nervous system. Your muscles go into full alert mode, putting whatever process is currently undertaking in your digestive tract on hold.
The entire process is regulated by the autonomic nervous system in the brain and spinal cord, and is particularly useful when it comes to prioritising tasks in your body. Because it’s practically impossible for parasympathetic and sympathetic activities to occur simultaneously, this system acts like a sorting machine to ensure the right task is performed during the right circumstances.
Unlike the fully autopilot nature of our Circadian rhythm, we at least get to control what enters our digestive system. By the mere virtue of quantity, a heavier meal will cause an increased parasympathetic response, and hence worsen an already present propensity to slump on your chair during the afternoon hours.
A lighter meal, in contrast, lessens our digestive burden and therefore dampens the effects of parasympathetic overload. In return, they have the potential to improve post-prandial productivity and reduce daytime sleepiness.
I experienced the benefits that lighter meals proffered first hand and found that switching my lunch regimen to a simpler, calorie-lighter diet made me less drowsy in the afternoon, and vastly improved my post-lunch energy levels. Nowadays, I opt for a small pasta with some grilled chicken shreds or a simple green pea-and-chicken salad and a glass of water.
I no longer need my ration of coffee in the afternoon to keep me awake and perform my tasks. The additional boost of energy also created for me the illusion of adding more hours to the day, as it meant I was more active on more hours than I was used to having.
These days, I’m an evangelist for light lunch regimens. Besides the occasional burgers and burritos that I dig into during my photoshoot days, I consistently stick to modest lunch portions while ensuring my macronutrient balance is still kept on check.
If you’re a fan of heavy lunches like I was, and feel the subsequent lethargy take a huge toll on your afternoons, you should definitely try switching to this routine and see the changes it brings to your office table.
This last piece may be a bit of a long-shot, but if you really capitalise on your enhanced productivity, perhaps you’ll impress your employers and see yourself bringing home an additional wad of cash every month. Now that’s a true hack. | https://jonathanoei.medium.com/how-to-hack-your-lunch-8ea89e588ef9 | ['Jonathan Adrian'] | 2020-02-04 03:25:13.559000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Business', 'Health', 'Productivity', 'Nutrition'] |
Christmas is Fun With Friends | Christmas is Fun With Friends
Christmas is the time for fun with friends, so let us make a plan,
Hiding and seeking all the gifts and then playing in the snow,
Ready everyone for some fun I ask them,
I am absolutely ready so will you all join me?
So everyone is ready and I am making a plan for all,
Tomorrow we shall be playing in the snow after church,
Morning is the best time to be together,
After I am ready I will call you all,
Sending you all love, peace, and joy, hoping to have fun together. | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/christmas-is-fun-with-friends-e6791b3f978a | ['Dr. Preeti Singh'] | 2020-12-16 07:08:08.027000+00:00 | ['Friends', 'Poetry', 'Christmas', 'Acrostic Poem', 'Creativity'] |
San Francisco Politics 2020: The Year in Review | San Francisco had a tough 2020. A local economy built on tourism saw its hotels, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues entirely closed down or restricted. Nevertheless, the political world — public hearings, meetings of elected officials and a local, state and national election — proceeded.
Here’s our take on the key San Francisco political dynamics of 2020.
Housing the Unhoused
The pandemic shifted San Francisco’s narrative around homelessness. With shelter capacity curtailed by social distancing mandates, a debate began over where to house the unhoused. The Board of Supervisors overcame the mayor’s initial resistance to moving former shelter residents and those living on the streets into temporary hotels. Federal and state funding has led to over 2000 such placements.
This should be a game changer. It’s a game changer because the city cannot return those temporarily housed to the streets. And because the implementation of the November 2018 ballot measure Prop C ensures that not a single person need become homeless when FEMA funding ends-San Francisco has the local funding to house everyone now in temporary housing.
The mystery, which I raised last week (“ Mayor Breed’s Challenging Year “), is why the Breed Administration is not moving to secure this permanent housing. Instead, it has created a lot of unnecessary conflict over phasing out the temporary SIP hotels. I don’t get it. And supervisors and groups serving the unhoused are equally perplexed.
FEMA funding and Prop C allows something great to finally happen in San Francisco. The Breed Administration needs to start negotiating to buy or lease hotels and get this process moving. Further delay almost ensures a crisis down the line as rooms are not ready for those needing to leave FEMA-funded hotels.
Tenderloin Tents
Even prior to the pandemic the Breed Administration found it acceptable for over 100 tents to occupy Tenderloin sidewalks. This number grew to 420 during the pandemic, raising serious health threats to the neighborhood residents and workers who could not gain the required social distancing walking down the street (See “ San Francisco Violating COVID19 Guidelines in Tenderloin,” April 28)
A legal team assembled by Hastings College of the Law with neighborhood stakeholders as plaintiffs was forced to sue San Francisco for subjecting the Tenderloin to this serious pandemic risk. Many arguments from my Beyond Chron stories about the Tenderloin tent crisis were included in the plaintiffs’ legal briefs. (See “ The Tenderloin Strikes Back,” May 5)
The May lawsuit immediately prompted city action. By July the tent count had fallen from 420 to roughly 30. The city and plaintiffs’ agreed to a stipulated injunction preventing the return of tents. The legal settlement was ultimately approved by the Board of Supervisors. This occurred after two lengthy hearings in which some supervisors expressed concern that disallowing tents in the Tenderloin would negatively impact their own districts. Such talk exposed why the city has long maintained the Tenderloin as a containment zone.
The city’s approach to the Tenderloin also exposed a major downside of district elections-instead of all supervisors feeling responsible for ensuring the health and safety of the city’s most multi-racial working class community, the Tenderloin’s crisis was seen solely as D6 Supervisor Matt Haney’s problem. D6 is fortunate to have another great supervisor in Haney but the health and safety of a neighborhood should be a citywide concern.
When I attended Hastings (1979–82) it was seen as the enemy of the Tenderloin. The school is now an essential ally in the struggle for a safe and healthy neighborhood.
The Tenderloin tent lawsuit also showed that the vast majority of people on the streets are eager to be housed-few tent dwellers turned down the opportunity.
Transit Crisis
2020 was a fiscal nightmare for all urban transit systems in the United States. San Francisco’s transit crisis is even worse.
Multiple projects-the Central Subway, Van Ness BRT, and repairs to the Muni light-rail system-fell way behind schedule. On top of these failures is SFMTA’s decision to terminate long planned improvements to Mid-Market.
Former Mayor Ed Lee worked with stakeholders to create a bold vision that restored Market Street’s historic role. The Better Market Streets plan was central to this vision. It was a product of years of stakeholder input. Lee got many skeptics to invest in building new housing along Mid-Market as part of this visionary future.
But SFMTA threw this all overboard. It suddenly announced this fall that it was eliminating two of the plans core features: fully protected bike lanes and the replacement of the rundown red sidewalk bricks with beautiful gray pavers.
SFMTA made no effort to consult with stakeholders prior to reversing Mayor Lee’s and the community’s vision. This lack of process is not what people expected in November 2019 when Mayor Breed selected Jeff Tumlin to run SFMTA.
Mayor Breed’s appointment of such a true urban visionary to head SFMTA was a bold and brilliant choice. But what’s happened at the agency under his leadership reflects deeper structural problems than he anticipated.
Let’s hope the Biden Administration will financially rescue urban transit systems like San Francisco’s. In the meantime, Tumlin should be heavily investing in building fully protected bike lanes so alternatives to MUNI are available when the pandemic ends.
City Hall “Corruption”
A City Hall “corruption scandal” was a major story in 2020. It brought down DPW chief Mohammed Nuru, SFPUC head Harlan Kelly, Sandra Zuniga, the head of the Office of Neighborhood Services, and has put City Administrator Naomi Kelly’s future at risk. DBI Director Tom Hui resigned at the mayor’s request following disclosure that he arranged for the agency to hire his son.
People love corruption scandals. Even progressives who support expanded government ownership and control believe many public officials are “corrupt.” But phrases like “corruption” and “pay to play” were completely misused in San Francisco 2020.
That federal, state and local building, planning and health code provisions have become extremely complex in today’s world is not a sign of a “corrupt” process. Reporters can joke about all this complexity but stories about decks collapsing, disabled access ignored, and restaurant customers going home sick when strict code requirements are not mandated is not funny.
Hiring experts to process permits is no more “pay to play” than retaining an attorney to help with a lease or other business transaction. Are parents who can afford to hire SAT prep companies or tutors for their kids also guilty of “pay to play”?
I don’t see any evidence of “corruption” or illegal “pay to play” amidst the hard working employees of the Department of Building Inspection. I see some bad actors violating laws and DBI officials dealing with these people under strict instructions from the city attorney’s office.
DBI is controlled by a Commission. Members are appointed by the mayor and president of the Board of Supervisors. I wonder how many believing they have been wronged by DBI have brought their concerns to the DBI Commission-and why they have not. I wrote last week about how the media’s permit expediter scandal of 2004 fell apart when people were unable to confirm their claims at public hearings; some of the “victims” in recent media reports on DBI did work without permits, while others faced delays that had nothing to do with DBI or any city malfeasance.
Maybe that’s why these folks went to the media and not to the DBI Commission to raise their concerns. Commission members are more likely to know the full story.
There’s a difference between an agency not performing as it should-and I can name several in San Francisco-and claims that the agency’s inadequate performance is due to “corruption.” Like all organizations DBI makes mistakes; but blaming the high cost of housing and planning department delays on DBI is simply wrong.
If the Board of Supervisors want to expedite renovations and new construction, they can vote to do so in January. DBI has nothing to do with promoting these appeal procedures. Mayor Breed has been calling for such action since her 2018 mayoral campaign. I’ve strongly supported the mayor’s call for restricting appeals of building permits. Frankly, I’ll be surprised if the Board goes along.
It’s been a rough year. But a vaccine is happening, Trump will soon be gone, and better times are ahead.
Thanks for reading Beyond Chron in 2020. Have a safe and healthy holiday season.
Filed under: San Francisco News | https://medium.com/@beyondchron/san-francisco-politics-2020-the-year-in-review-e5245cf5ac43 | ['Randy Shaw For Beyond Chron', 'The Voice Of The Rest'] | 2020-12-17 17:15:00.611000+00:00 | ['Public Transit', 'Coronavirus', 'San Francisco', '2020', 'Politics'] |
This Is Why I Give. What About You? | We e live in an era of 24/7/365 charitable asks, whether from friends, Twitter campaigns, or crowdfunding sites. How are we supposed to make the most of this charitable spirit? In a world of shared social challenges, what’s a caring person to do? And if I were to turn the mirror on myself: how should I think about my own charitable giving?
These are questions I’ve wrestled with a lot. I’m a self-proclaimed philanthropy wonk — I have worked in, written about, advised others, and helped track trends in the industry for more than two decades. But that doesn’t make the question of charitable giving any less thorny.
At some point, I’ve realized that before I figure out how to give, I need to ask myself why. Why do I give?
For you, the answer may be straightforward. It feels good. You were asked. You always do it. You enjoy the tradition. You’ve benefitted and want to give back. Your religion instructs you to. You heard that Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg just pledged 99 percent of their Facebook stock holdings and were inspired to reconsider your role in shaping the future. Perhaps you’ve been touched by world events and feel you can’t stand by. Or your workplace matches gifts and you like to take advantage of every possible perk.
All of those reasons have one thing in common. They all derive from the opt-in nature of charitable giving. No one can make you give. It’s neither a requirement of citizenship nor the market economy, no matter how guilty the CVS cashier may make you feel. Each of us chooses whether and how to participate. This is not a bug; it’s a feature.
My own answer to “why I give,” is, quite simply, because I can. Because it’s my choice. Giving is a way to express myself, to signal what I care about, and what I stand for.
Ironically, the very breadth of that reason helps me focus. I don’t look for a short-term, measurable return on my dollar (though I can if I want to). I can support big, existential causes like civil liberties, political change, or the pursuit of social justice — which I know take a long time and for which my dollar is at best a long-term bet.
I don’t have to do what others say (though I can listen). The history of civil society in democracies is rich with causes once unpopular — from abolition to reproductive rights, environmentalism to gun control. More than two hundred years ago Andrew Hamilton noted the importance of this sector as protection of the minority against the tyranny of the majority.
I don’t have the financial resources of the Chan Zuckerberg family, but I do have access to the same toolbox of options for how I use my money for good. If there’s a way to invest, shop, volunteer, protest, or vote to achieve the goal I’m interested in, I’ll do that. I leave my charitable dollars for those issues or organizations where earned revenue is tough or impossible, and sustained action is needed. Once I’ve found the right organizations, I give them money and let them do their work.
There are three other types of donations I make. I donate my time by serving on boards and by taking shifts at the food bank or a local community center. I give blood. And I donate our family’s used clothing, books, and furniture to organizations that refurbish it or sell it as part of their missions. All of these kinds of donations make me feel good and are (usually) fun. Often, it feels like I got more than I gave.
But you tell me — if you give charitably, why do you do it? If you don’t give, why not? How intentional are you about your giving, and how do you think you can improve? How have you struggled with your personal giving?
Share your experience. Tell us what the rest of us could consider when we think about giving.
Please subscribe to our weekly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook ,Twitter, and Instagram. If you would like to reproduce this story, please contact us at [email protected].
This article was originally published in BRIGHT Magazine on Dec. 15, 2015. | https://brightthemag.com/this-is-why-i-give-what-about-you-ff4d2ea7d603 | ['Bright Magazine'] | 2019-07-31 10:28:24.273000+00:00 | ['Charity', 'Philanthropy', 'Giving', 'Essay'] |
Do Banks Need Bollywood Actors Endorsement? Who Is Endorsing Whom? | 19-December-2021: Several Founders, Co-Founders, CXO Bankers, CXO Fintech professionals & people who participated in the ePanel discussions:
Mr. Dhanender Chandna, Managing Director, Viren Business Solutions Pvt Ltd.
Managing Director, Viren Business Solutions Pvt Ltd. Mr. Ravi Shankar, Co-Founder, and CEO, Active Intelligence Pte Ltd
Co-Founder, and CEO, Active Intelligence Pte Ltd Mr. Saurabh Soni, Founder & CEO, DigiSparsh
Founder & CEO, DigiSparsh Mr. Jayaram M, Consultant (Partner), Basil Capital
Consultant (Partner), Basil Capital Mr. Shashank Chowdhury, Former Executive VP- Inclusion Initiatives, Vakrangee Software Ltd
Former Executive VP- Inclusion Initiatives, Vakrangee Software Ltd Ms. Hemal Vira, Head — Relationship Program, Customer Engagement, Loyalty & Campaign Mgt, IDFC FIRST Bank
Head — Relationship Program, Customer Engagement, Loyalty & Campaign Mgt, IDFC FIRST Bank Mr. Abhishek Arun, Chief Operating Officer, Paytm Payments Bank
Chief Operating Officer, Paytm Payments Bank Mr. Anand Kulkarni, Senior President & Program Head, YES Bank
Senior President & Program Head, YES Bank Mr. Roopesh Chandran, Director — Fintech, Processors and Business Excellence at Visa
Director — Fintech, Processors and Business Excellence at Visa Mr. Rahul Dayal, Head- Information Technology, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund
Head- Information Technology, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund Mr. Taufique Khan, Sr. Product Manager-NRI Products, DBS Bank
Sr. Product Manager-NRI Products, DBS Bank Mr. Rakesh Bhanusali, National Head- NR Business, AU Small Finance Bank
National Head- NR Business, AU Small Finance Bank Mr. Alok Karkera, Group Head — Government Coverage Group, West & South at Axis Bank
Group Head — Government Coverage Group, West & South at Axis Bank Mr. Narayanan S, General Manager Business Solutions, Associate Director, Principal Consultant, Cognizant
General Manager Business Solutions, Associate Director, Principal Consultant, Cognizant Mr. Sugata Dutta, International Training Assessor & Banking Domain expert for E-Learning Platforms
International Training Assessor & Banking Domain expert for E-Learning Platforms Mr. R Bhaskaran, Strategic Training Advisor in Banking & Finance
Strategic Training Advisor in Banking & Finance Mr. Manish Jeloka, President & Chief Strategist, Probus Insurance Broker Private Limited
President & Chief Strategist, Probus Insurance Broker Private Limited Mr. Hitesh Thakkar, Fintech Consultant, Self-Service Automation
Fintech Consultant, Self-Service Automation Mr. Sharad Goklani, President and CTO at AU Small Finance Bank
President and CTO at AU Small Finance Bank Mr. Ritu Rodrigues, Senior Manager Business Operations, Pine Labs
Senior Manager Business Operations, Pine Labs Mr. Vivek Singh, Head Payment Solutions & Product, Airtel Payments Bank
Head Payment Solutions & Product, Airtel Payments Bank Mr. Prashant Sinha, General Manager-Banking, India Transact Services Limited
General Manager-Banking, India Transact Services Limited Mr. Hemal Shah, former Technical Product Manager, Mastercard
former Technical Product Manager, Mastercard Mr. Vishweshwaran R, Senior Vice President — Digital and Customer journeys, IDFC FIRST Bank
Senior Vice President — Digital and Customer journeys, IDFC FIRST Bank Mr. Abhishek Mody, Vice President, M2P Fintech
Vice President, M2P Fintech Mr. Vikas R Panditrao , Co-Founder, Forum of Industry and Academic Knowledge Sharing (FIAKS)
, Co-Founder, Forum of Industry and Academic Knowledge Sharing (FIAKS) Many other CEO/CXO Bankers & Fintech professionals on FIAKS Forum requested to remain anonymous
Endorsement is a quite common form of marketing that’s used in any business. So, particularly talking about endorsements in the banking industry, one of the banks is making a 600 crores loss and signing up Amitabh Bachchan to sell saving accounts. Why?
Do you think bankers (who generally score very bad on fitness/health) have an obsession to connect with Bollywood stars and that is driving such decisions rather than it benefiting the financial institutions?
Perhaps, let’s dig into the history first;
The Bank-Bollywood connection is not new and has a history to it. Banks always would look for an authority that augurs well to deepen trust as a currency for its customers. In the past several banks have tried to explore the Bollywood connection.
Bank of Baroda undertook a major rebranding exercise as “India’s International bank”, it used cricketer Rahul Dravid as its brand ambassador in 2005. Dravid symbolizes solidity and trust, and a bank cannot ask for more.
Similarly, ICICI Bank Ltd used Amitabh Bachchan when it got into retail banking in a big way in 2001. It brought back Bachchan in 2013–14 for a different purpose and also used Shahrukh Khan to boost its overseas business, cashing in on his appeal among non-resident Indians in Dubai and the UK.
IndusInd Bank Ltd has been using actors — Farhan Akhtar, Sharman Joshi, and Boman Irani rather than stars. Joshi sold an innovative service called ‘My Account, My Number’ which empowered customers to get the bank account number of their choice. Akhtar and Irani featured in a new service in 2016, called ‘fingerprint banking’, which allowed customers to carry out end-to-end banking transactions on its mobile banking app ‘IndusMobile’ by using fingerprints.
There are several such examples and zealous banks trying this connect to lure customers but none of these partnerships have been able to change the fortunes of these banks in India. This clearly shows that even high-profile brand ambassadors can just support a bank to grow its business but cannot carry the burden of non-performance. Their financials must tell us a compelling story.
Now let’s talk about the impact of Bollywood on credibility for bank brands;
ICICI and IDFC have used Amitabh, Axis has used Deepika. In a movie crazy India, it does create an impact, especially for new brands. Celebrity endorsements definitely help. For celebrity-crazed India, it works to have a big brand name associate to create credibility. And the biggest brands out there are Bollywood followed by cricket. For instance, DBS had Sachin. It certainly creates brand recall. Like we all remember these brands due to celebrity association. Whether it translates into an actual business is tough to measure directly. But it would perhaps help.
It can be noted that this might not have a significant business impact in the metro’s however in Tier 2 and 3 cities it definitely does.
Also, seems the strategy works only if you take the top personalities. Bank of Rajasthan had Hema Malini, which hardly worked. Don’t think many of the stars will appeal as a brand for a bank.
As we first saw a large ad campaign by Amitabh Bachchan for ICICI bank. It did help them at that time to re-establish the trust factor on the retail banking side which is what it was aimed for. Therefore specific campaigns with Bollywood or sports stars signifying certain softer image-related aspects could be effective. But it does not bring in any new customers since the decision to open a bank account is not based on celebrity face. Celebrity endorsement for banking products doesn’t seem to have much impact. Seriously doubt how many saving accounts will be opened when Amitabh Bachchan endorses a bank.
Celebrity endorsement for banking products doesn’t seem to have much impact. Seriously doubt how many saving accounts will be opened when Amitabh Bachchan endorses a bank. Well, isn’t this Bollywood obsession extremely harmful & toxic? Corporates need to idolize defense personnel, sportspersons & philanthropic greats. Shouldn’t they?
Genuine artists who have done great struggles to attain a celebrity status should be ok to be used as ambassadors, however, there are only a few in that category, however, banks needing filmstars to give a message that it gives interest 12 times a year, not the greatest one!
Ultimately, Cricket & Bollywood still connect the most in this country. Yes, there are new fields where brand ambassadors are coming from but that does not mean that Bollywood has lost its sheen. Especially if there is a late entrant in the banking sector or for that matter in other industries as well then there is nothing wrong with having a Bollywood brand ambassador, the very fact that this question has become debatable indicates that there is an impact of endorsement by Bollywood stars.
Read the full bespoke at https://bit.ly/32FzqXc | https://medium.com/forum-of-industry-and-academic-knowledge-sharing/do-banks-need-bollywood-actors-endorsement-who-is-endorsing-whom-316623d501af | ['Fiaks Publisher'] | 2021-12-30 07:24:02.287000+00:00 | ['Marketing Strategies', 'Marketing', 'Banks', 'Brands', 'Endorsements'] |
How to Make a Doghouse | Building a doghouse can be pretty easy if you know the easiest and best way to make one. It will save you a lot of money and you can also teach other people how to make one. Once you have mastered the skill of making dog houses, you can sell or donate some of your own creations too.
Step 1
First, you would have to take measurements of your dog. Take the measurements from one shoulder blade to the other and then from nose to nail. You can take your dog’s standing height from paw to the top of its head.
Note down the measurements. You must make the house a little bigger than those measurements so your dog can move around the house freely.
Step 2
While making the house, the type of wood you use matters. I would suggest you to use pressure-treated wood in two- by- four or two- by- six in size.
Make sure the dog house base does not stay on the ground. You have to cut four parts of wood to the length and width measurements you have decided after taking your dog’s measurements. You can use a circular saw for that purpose. Use 12 D galvanized nails to secure the four pieces together.
Step 3
You would need four two- by- two or two- by- four vertical corner posts to support the top and bottom frames of the house. Set them up with 12 D galvanized screws in the shape of an “L”. Keep doing it until you have four corner posts ready.
Step 4
Now place the corner posts with 3" outdoor screws to the top and base frame. Set up one corner post on the left side of the bottom frame. Have two screws drilled in through each side into the frame? Keep doing it until it you have all the four corner posts attached to the base.
Step 5
Set up the top frame onto the corner post attaching one 7" angle clip within each corner post. Drill a nail into the corner post through each one side of the top frame.
Step 6
Use two-by-four fitting your dog’s measurements to make the middle of the roof frame. Take two two-by-fours equal in size and cut them according to your dog’s measurements in diagonal cuts. Fix the four pieces so they form two triangular shapes on each side of the center roof frame piece.
Step 7
After you have the door frame ready attach it using 12 D galvanized screws.
Step 8
Take the measurements of the floor and cut the carpet to this size. Paste the carpet to the floor plywood with construction glue. The roof frame and the side frames must be covered by plywood.
Step 9
Create a door in a square or rounded shape using plywood and attach it to the house.
This is how you can make a simple dog house. | https://medium.com/@sidparker/how-to-make-a-doghouse-423f63d4093d | [] | 2020-12-25 10:25:17.103000+00:00 | ['Dog House', 'Pets', 'How To'] |
Managing Stress — the Yoga Sutra way. | As a difficult year draws to a close, it is time to pause, reflect and make new affirmations for the coming year — to ensure that even though pain cannot be avoided, suffering can. The medical industry has raced against time to produce vaccines that are expected to take care of the virus strains — our primary source of pain in 2020. But for those whose lives have been indelibly scarred and altered by losses — family, health, financial security — the alleviation of suffering involves tackling the thinking patterns within one’s own mind. Stress is a treacherous and formidable foe to handle.
But there are antidotes.
One of the most authoritative and timeless texts that deal with the complexities of the mind at great length is the Yoga Sutras by Maharshi Patanjali.
Ironically, we humans, despite being a highly evolved species, are more intrinsically stress prone due to our tendency to replay stressful events in our mind in an endless loop. This generates a prolonged stress response, long after an unfortunate event has taken place in real time. Since the body cannot distinguish a real stressor from an imagined one, it ends up producing the same physiological response to both. Hence, cortisol levels remain chronically elevated, wreaking havoc on our physical and emotional wellbeing. It compromises our immune system, affects our metabolic functions and ultimately manifests as disease.
The general perception of stress being a modern day phenomenon is linked to the fact that stressors spring from the socio-cultural subtext of today’s world. For example, non-controllable stressors at the workplace include job loss, heavy work pressure, skill obsolescence, promotion denial etc. One needs psychological stamina to tackle these. The controllable stressors that creep in alongside are competitive rivalry, jealousy, greed, vindictiveness, ego, for which human values such as gratitude, honesty, patience, calmness and contentment need to be nourished.
One needs to acknowledge that the crux of chronic stress is poor management of the mind. And stress is no recent phenomenon. There are enough references in ancient scriptures to indicate that mental conflicts have had mankind in its grip since times immemorial. The Bhagavad Gita talks of the opposing pull or dwandwas that an exteriorized mind is subjected to. It offers instead the concept of balance or samattwa when faced with such conflicts. Dwandwa and samattwa form the psychological background of the battle of Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata.
But it is the Yoga Sutras by Maharshi Patanjali that tackle this issue head-on, by delving deep into the functioning of the human mind. The Sutras spell out powerful techniques for achieving an equanimous state of being, even as life with its ups and downs, happens all around. My year-long study of the Yoga Sutras after a 3.5 decade long corporate career, has given me the opportunity to personally experience the enormous, transformative effect of Ashtang yoga. By creating a heightened awareness of the inner workings of the mind, a complete re-orientation of one’s thought patterns comes into effect. That such a brilliant and comprehensive road map of the human personality was laid out thousands of years back and is relevant and applicable even today, is nothing short of breathtaking.
Interestingly, just three out of the 195 aphorisms of the Yoga Sutras are dedicated to Asanas — an indication that overall well-being is the result of more than mere Asana practice. The mind is the prime mover here. Patanjali, therefore, devotes his longest sutra (YS#2.34) to listing out the innumerable miseries that man can bring upon himself through his thoughts and actions. The negative acts may be performed either directly (krta), caused to be done by another (karita) or endorsed by oneself (anumodita); they may be incited by greed, anger or delusion (lobha, krodha, moha); and they may be mild, moderate or extreme (Mrdu, Madhya, Adhimatra) in intensity. Several commentators have interpreted and identified 81 stages of such pain causing actions. To catch the errant thought behind each action requires continuous reflection on our own true nature and a conscious recalibration of our thought patterns.
For this, Patanjali suggests the discipline of raising contrary positive emotions or Pratipaksh Bhavana, which gradually weakens or even eliminates the grip of negative emotions. ‘Cognitive reframing’ is the modern day equivalent of this process. The key here is to pause the hyperactive mind and consciously change the storyline running through it. Since our emotions arise out of our perception of the world, if the perceptions can be reframed, our emotions too will automatically follow suit.
Maintaining harmonious inter-personal relationships is another aspect that the Yoga Sutras emphasise upon, for keeping stress at bay. In YS#1.33, Patanjali offers four keys to unlock the four locks in our relationships, so to speak.
Maitri Karuna Mudita Upekshanam
Sukha Dukha Punya Apunya visanayam bhavanatas citta prasadanam
Hence, the appropriate way to respond to a happy person is with amity rather than envy; towards those in distress it is with compassion, not smugness; the success of a virtuous person is acknowledged with goodwill and the dissonance caused by a non-virtuous or negative person is treated with benevolent indifference. These positive emotions are known as Parikarmas. They are like embellishments that help polish the mind and inculcate positivity in us — the state of citta prasadanam.
Conventional medicine is increasingly recognizing the role of stress in a wide variety of medical ailments. Ancient yogic techniques, known for their restorative effect, are found to largely conform with modern day research findings , lending credence to the practice of yoga. For instance, doing asanas with the right anatomical alignment, right breath and right attitude shifts the balance of our Autonomic Nervous system; switching it from a hypervigilant state, mediated by the Sympathetic Nervous System that deals with acute crisis, to a relaxed ‘rest and digest’ response mediated by the Parasympathetic Nervous system, that restores the body to homeostasis.
Ashtang yoga practised in its entirety therefore ends up making us feel calmer, less fearful and uncertain even as contemplating on the Sutras inexorably draw us towards happiness and fulfilment. A priceless gift indeed from the ancient sages to the modern man going through trying times. | https://medium.com/@sharmilaaroy/managing-stress-the-yoga-sutra-way-580152c0a3c | ['Sharmila Roy'] | 2021-01-14 14:50:52.047000+00:00 | ['Stress', 'Life', 'Life Lessons', 'Psychology'] |
The Human Advantage of Meaning Making in the Future of Business | The Human Advantage of Meaning Making in the Future of Business
3 areas to explore for creating it and helping others find and cultivate it Sharon Woodhouse Aug 27·6 min read
But what does it mean? A giant inflatable yellow duck in Hong Kong Harbor. Photo by Rostyslav Savchyn on Unsplash
It was seeing Julianne Moore and Halle Berry easily have children after 40 that convinced me I could have my first child at 41. Never mind their genetic, wealth, and support-system advantages. If they could do it, I could definitely do it.
Recently, it was realizing that I was not at a Simone-Biles level of walk-away-from-the-Olympics, twisties-headspace crisis, that made me realize I should not walk away from a client who was driving me crazy. Even if he sent me a 23-line poem and no further information in response to a status check.
These examples are just a cheeky lead-in to humans and meaning. We find it everywhere, including in celebrity news. We make it, we seek it. And it’s an advantage we should understand better and cultivate in our businesses and work at this precarious and disruptive time in human history. | https://bettermarketing.pub/the-human-advantage-of-meaning-making-in-the-future-of-business-4d6703f5b07f | ['Sharon Woodhouse'] | 2021-08-27 14:22:59.562000+00:00 | ['Business Development', 'Coaching', 'Leadership', 'Meaning', 'Marketing'] |
Blockchain: back to the drawing board? | IMAGE: Tumisu — Pixabay
Over recent years, blockchain has been hyped as one of the most important developments for carrying out failsafe transactions of just about any kind. Based on the concept of a distributed ledger of transactions where every modification is logged and timestamped using a cryptographic proof of work, the original paper by Satoshi Nakamoto (whoever he, she, or they is/are) was elevated to the status of a latter-day incunabula, seen by many as the perfect solution, mathematically and computationally elegant.
Overnight, blockchain became the new mantra, beyond question, the universal solution. But… what if it wasn’t? What if, as on so many other occasions, a promising technology follows the familiar pattern of the hype cycle and, after scaling the peak of inflated expectations, it turns out that it falls into the trough of disillusionment? In other words, it fails the mass adoption test. Can we question blockchain without fear of looking ignorant or a technophobe?
Vint Cerf’s July 2018 tweet with its simple flow diagram showing that nobody needs blockchain should prompt some serious reflection, and not just about the fallacy of argument from authority. Vint was merely raising concerns that he had been analyzing for quite some time.
On February 6, another legendary figure, in this case in the field of cybersecurity, Bruce Schneier, published an article in Wired entitled “There is no good reason to trust blockchain technology”, which went into much more detail than Vint, with a much clearer separation between the technological foundation as such, blockchain, and some of its specific implementations such as bitcoin. According to Schneier, the idea of trust in a blockchain was not as crystal clear as some argued, while the consensus algorithm was definitely the most expensive and inefficient ever seen.
Indeed, the uses of public blockchains so far have led to energy aberrations like the one underlying the speculative explosions in popularity of cryptocurrencies, where practically the only hopeful scenario relates to Vitalik Buterin and the possibility — or better, the need — to reduce the energy consumption of transactional mechanisms of Ethereum by no less than 99%. But beyond energy consumption, which in itself would already be a major brake on mass adoption, it turns out that, in addition, Schneier is right about the trust mechanism, and statements along the lines of “in crypto we trust”, “in math we trust” or, “in code we trust,” which all sound very nice, but behind which lie an obvious reality: blockchains, like everything else in the world, have vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
The result of this progressive questioning is evident: in the analysts’ lists of the technological trends of 2019, blockchain is conspicuous by its absence. That said, analysts are not infallible and technology is not a hit parade. At the same time, this is the first time blockchain has been seriously questioned in its short life. We are now moving from questions based on “I do not understand”, to “I understand it and I’m not interested”, either because it’s expensive, it’s highly inefficient or because the trust aspect isn’t secure.
Do such problems require an amendment to the whole? Perhaps not: many aspects, such as the distribution of the ledger, the cryptographic proof of work or the concept of consensus itself, could be developed for future use. But in its current state, everything indicates that blockchain technology is probably not ready for mass adoption and that pushing ahead with that goal could have unintended, if not irresponsible, consequences. In short, a brilliant paper with an unclear origin is not necessarily enough to set in motion a process that changes the world as we know it.
From being one of the technologies considered key for the future and the apparently natural and definitive solution for all transactional systems, blockchain is entering a new phase, the trough of disillusionment, and from which it may never emerge. Some companies that were considering launching developments based on this technology are rethinking them, while the disproportionate initial interest is cooling, and growing numbers of people are now aware that blockchain technology probably needs to be taken back to the drawing board. | https://medium.com/enrique-dans/blockchain-back-to-the-drawing-board-77b5ced4d59 | ['Enrique Dans'] | 2019-02-28 10:14:23.513000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Trust', 'Hype', 'Bruce Schneier', 'Vint Cerf'] |
Limited-Service Restaurants: Weathering the Storm | Over the last six months, much has been written of the restaurant industry’s woes. Social distancing and economic shutdowns have been all but disastrous for an industry that relies heavily on foot traffic and people congregating around a meal. For many small operators, the pandemic has reduced their enterprise to a state of ruin from which they may never recover. However, the pandemic has not been as distressing for larger, publicly-traded companies with the capital resources to endure the downturn.
In this article, I will describe the broad trends observed in limited-service restaurant groups and explain what may be driving their valuations. This will be the first installment of three articles focused on the restaurant industry. Part 2 will examine full-service restaurant companies, while Part 3 will demonstrate how the interpretation of industry trends can be clouded when analyzing limited-service and full-service publicly-traded restaurant companies in aggregate.
This article was first posted in the ValuInsights Industry Blog. Visit us for more valuation insights and resources and follow me on LinkedIn!
Important notes: This article briefly investigates what may be driving valuations in the industry from a financial statement perspective. An actual valuation of a company requires an in-depth analysis of the business operations and associated risk factors that cannot always be directly considered through the data on the financial statements. Also, in order to keep the length manageable, this article will focus on what I interpreted to be the primary value drivers and will not touch on every observation in the data. For a quick read on the basic concepts of risk and return and how they apply in the context of this article, please visit: What is Value? and Risk and Return in the Market Approach.
The industry constituents for this analysis are listed below. I focused on U.S. companies that were traded on major exchanges for at least a year with a stock price equivalent of $1 or more. I excluded companies with significant operations outside of the restaurant industry (e.g., manufacturing foods for distribution in a retail environment, etc.). The effective date of this analysis is December 31, 2020.
The limited-service restaurant groups’ median enterprise value (“TEV”), median revenues, and median EBITDA are summarized in Figure 1. Latest fiscal year is notated “LFY” and “LTM” means latest 12 months.
Figure 1 shows us that values associated with the limited-service restaurant industry generally performed well over the last several years, including at the end of 2020. The growth in enterprise values in this chart contrasts with a modest decline in revenue and EBITDA. This is likely attributed to the fact that limited-service restaurants were relatively well-suited to adapt to social distancing requirements and government-mandated restrictions on indoor dining. Drive-through capabilities, delivery-friendly menus, and smaller physical footprints (i.e., lower fixed costs) along-side access to capital have made it possible for these publicly-traded companies to successfully weather the COVID-19 storm.
If you have been tuning in to the industry and the rise of the fast-casual segment, you may be wondering why historical growth in Figure 1 appears flat. This is because the limited-service restaurants broadly analyzed include the traditional fast-food players, as well as the fast-casual, gourmet burger, and pizza delivery segments. The significant growth that has recently occurred in companies like Chipotle, Domino’s Pizza, and Shake Shack have been largely offset by declines in traditional fast-food giants, such as McDonald’s, Yum! Brands, and Wendy’s.
When changes in financial metrics are outpaced by changes in enterprise values, valuation multiples will increase. This can be viewed in Figures 2 and 3 below, which compare the historical revenue and EBITDA multiples for the limited-service restaurant companies. In this case, EBITDA multiples increased sharply in the LTM period due to the increase in enterprise values relative to the slight decline in EBITDA.
The Growth Story
Growth often has a strong influence on how multiples differ among companies in an industry. A summary of the consensus forecasts for each group is presented in Figures 4 and 5 below (note that “NFY” means next fiscal year; NFY = calendar 2020 for most companies).
It makes sense to focus on growth after the NFY (2020) period. Limited-service restaurant groups are expected to generate notable revenue and EBITDA growth following the NFY period, even exceeding projected growth rates as of 12/31/2019. This high growth may reflect an expectation that companies that survive the challenges triggered by the pandemic will benefit in the longer-term due to the absence of smaller businesses wiped out by social distancing and economic shutdowns (i.e., less competition). This appears to be a consideration in how these companies are priced.
LTM EBITDA multiples are presented relative to projected EBITDA growth rates in 2022 in Figure 6 below.
The data presented in Figure 6 shows some correlation between growth and EBITDA multiples. Higher multiples are generally associated with companies that generate higher levels of growth. There are, however, some inconsistencies in the data, which suggest other factors are at play in how these companies are valued in the market. Interestingly, I did not observe a meaningful correlation between revenue growth and multiples. As will be seen below, revenue multiples appeared to be more closely aligned with profitability.
The Size Story
Larger companies are generally perceived to have lower levels of risk relative to smaller companies. This can be due to a number of factors, including improved product or geographic diversification, deeper management teams, access to a variety of distribution channels, and better availability of capital. In this case, I did not observe a discernable relationship between size and LTM EBITDA multiples. However, the LTM revenue multiples of the smallest companies (enterprise values of less than $1 billion) appeared to be correlated with their sizes. This makes sense, as a relative lack of geographic and product diversification tends to impact the smallest companies more significantly than their larger counterparts. See Figure 7 below.
The Profitability Story
Revenue multiples are typically heavily influenced by profitability since higher levels indicate more return generated per dollar of revenue. Investors are usually willing to pay more per dollar of revenue and, thus, higher revenue multiples can be observed in companies with higher levels of profitability. This relationship between LTM revenue multiples and LTM EBITDA margins can be observed in Figure 8 below (although I did note the inconsistencies in the data points).
Tying it All Together
The trends observed in this article would tend to suggest that valuations of limited-service restaurant companies are impacted by growth and profitability. Market multiples for smaller players in the industry appear to be more significantly impacted by size as compared to their larger counterparts. However, in general, it appears that the market expects a turnaround in limited-service restaurants to occur in 2021 and 2022.
I hope you found this analysis helpful. What are some other more qualitative considerations impacting valuations in the limited-service restaurant industry? Are the growth expectations for the industry summarized in this article consistent with what you’ve seen/heard from your contacts/experiences? Leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!
Any and all input, feedback, suggestions, and questions (including disagreements with my high-level analysis) are welcome! Have a suggestion for a future industry analysis? Leave a comment! Thanks for reading.
***
Restaurants are complex organizations with numerous value drivers. The valuation of a restaurant company requires an understanding of its risks and that of the industry as a whole, as well as proper interpretation of capital market evidence. Helios Consulting, Inc. is a full-service valuation service provider with the experience needed to guide you through your valuation requirements.
Don’t need a full valuation, but are looking for a high-level assessment of how your company compares to its publicly-traded peers? ValuAnalytics, LLC provides cost-effective, expert-level valuation analytics to give you the insight you need to make better internal decisions around valuation.
For more information, please visit us at:
www.heliosconsultinginc.com
and
www.valuanalytics.com | https://medium.com/@valuinsights/limited-service-restaurants-weathering-the-storm-b5ffd8601bf1 | ['Koji Bratcher'] | 2021-02-24 08:31:04.481000+00:00 | ['Venture Capital', 'Valuation', 'Private Equity', 'Restaurant', 'Investing'] |
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REASON WHY HEALTH SHOULD BE YOUR FIRST PRIORITY | INTRODUCTION:
Hello there, Today I am going to tell you some important points related to health. I wish that you’d read and get some informative points from here.
I’m covering topics about health, fitness, and exercises which you should do to keep yourself in shape. I will tell you about meals which you can add to your daily diet.
Moreover, there will be some tips for you for having a healthy and fit life with your loved ones.
LET’S START
There are so many definitions of being healthy out there. You should be well-being physically, mentally, or socially.
If you’re thinking good it means you’re having nutrient-rich food. People who feel refreshed and enthusiastic to do any specific task of the day are healthy.
There could be some days when you feel low, lazy, and don’t have enough willpower to do anything. This behavior determines bad health and it will end up destructing you from outside as well as from inside.
So, being healthy in your daily life is not only a need but It’s also a standard which you’ve to maintain for yourself.
EXERCISES FOR A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
It’s a physical activity that an individual should perform in their daily life to keep him/her in shape.
Everyone can do these activities within 15–30 mins or 1–2 hours.
There are no set rules that you’ve to do these exercises daily. You can do these activities 3–4 times a week.
Those people who are successful in life are consistent. So, be sure that you’ll maintain a consistent level to perform these daily exercises at home, park, or gym.
HERE ARE THE BEST DAILY EXERCISE YOU CAN PERFORM IN YOUR DAILY ROUTINE:
a) Running
b) Pushups
c) Lunges
d) Squats
e) Plank
f) Side plank
If you’re a beginner then you can start with 2 sets of 10–15 reps and can increase according to your physical health. These are one of the best exercises to lose weight as well.
DIFFERENT MEALS FOR HEALTHY LIFE
Physical activities and healthy food are the key components of a better life.
Always go with vitamin, protein, fiber-rich meals which will help you to lead a healthy life.
I’d like to go with the following diets for you which includes:
Vegetables: I know everyone doesn’t like it but still It is a rich source of nutrients like vitamin A and vitamin C.
It helps you to maintain blood pressure. You can get a variety of vegetables available out there.
example: Broccoli, Cucumber, Cauliflower, Carrots, Spinach, and so on.
2. FRUITS: Whenever it comes to taste and health. I always choose fruits over anything else as it is available in a vast variety and delicious taste.
Fruits are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants.
It would be delicious to add these as a food habit for a healthy life. I would like to give you one of my favorite ones.
example: Apples, Bananas, Oranges, and Blueberries.
3. Meat and Eggs: It would be amazing to add meat and eggs to your meals. It is a great source of protein and nutrients and It’s delicious too right! And eggs are good for the heart.
TIPS FOR HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL LIFE
1) Get enough sleep of 7–8 hours.
2) Be disciplined.
3) Play any sport with passion.
4) Eat healthy stuff. Sometimes people go for junk food which is also not bad as it gives you inner satisfaction.
5) Be positive and keep yourself from negative people.
6) Always be a consistent player because consistency is the key.
Conclusion:
I hope that you’ve liked this article. I appreciate it if you follow any of these tips or exercises in your daily life. | https://medium.com/@parveensinghcr12001/reason-why-health-should-be-your-first-priority-270de4afb668 | ['Parveen Singh'] | 2021-12-31 02:26:40.166000+00:00 | ['Diet', 'Health', 'Healthy Lifestyle', 'Fitness Tips', 'Healthy Food Choices'] |
Why Was Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement Used As A Platform for Liberation Psychology In The Context Of Apartheid South Africa? | Why Was Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement Used As A Platform for Liberation Psychology In The Context Of Apartheid South Africa? Sinawe Fairview Sep 8·24 min read
Abstract
The year 1994 marked the end of Apartheid in South Africa — a racially oppressive form of rule, with detrimental, psychological effects. Anti-Apartheid activist, Steve Biko, pin-pointed the psychological effects of Apartheid on the Black populous of South Africa. He realized that Blacks were more and more accepting of the notion that they were racially inferior to Whites. Holistically, the pride of being black was slowly deteriorating and to end this inward hatred Steve Biko initiated the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) — a counter-ideology against the rhetoric of Apartheid.
My research essay therefore aims to show how Steve Biko freed the oppressed minds of his fellow man, by identifying the source of racial tension, and the psychological effects of racial oppression prolonged by Apartheid. Thus his motives establish my research question: Why Was Steven Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement Used as a Platform for Liberation Psychology in the Context of Apartheid South Africa?
I will initially focus on the source of racial tension and the methods in which racial oppression was maintained during Apartheid, with the use of History, by analysing sources. Having identified in essence, the source of racism in South Africa, I will then develop the direction of my research question by drawing on the academic pillars of Psychology. Psychology will allow me to explain the cognitive social effects of racial segregation and furthermore evaluate a set of interviews I conducted.
My extensive research allowed me to eventually reach the answer of my research question, and effectively Steve Biko’s underlying aim. Steve Biko construed that the mind of the oppressed is the most pivotal weapon that the oppressor can yield. Hence, by eradicating the inferior self-image of the Black individual; the pride of being Black will be restored and therefore holistic freedom will be attained.
I. Introduction
South Africa is currently in its 18th year of democracy; a relatively young republic. Before attaining democracy (1994), South Africa was a country ridden with a racially oppressive system of government known as Apartheid; the effects of which, post 1994, might still be present in some way today. An analysis of the racial oppression can thus be examined through post-Apartheid policies and through psychological effects of Apartheid, on South Africa’s society.
Various post-Apartheid policies were introduced to redress the inequalities of the past and to help non-whites, specifically, to get a head start in the integration of the Republic of South Africa. An isolated example is the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act (no. 53) of 2003 (The Presidency, 2004).[1]
BBBEE aims to redress the racial composition of South Africa’s economic sector which is still racially imbalanced due to the Apartheid regime with non-whites restricted from having managerial/executive jobs and institutionalized to work in the skills-based or public sector of the economy through the implementation of the Bantu Education Act (no. 47) of 1953 (Kallaway, 1992).
Though positively aimed, there are discrepancies especially with misinterpretation suggesting that BBBEE is an act of reverse racism and may be susceptible to corruption or abuse — an attitude prevalent amongst some white South Africans today, which may arguably stem from the psychological effects of Apartheid on the South African society.
From racial oppression, legislation during Apartheid, and reverse racism — racism is still present not only in South Africa but in modern day society. Bhabha (2004, pg. 2–20), suggests that Fanon (1961) saw racism drawing its roots from colonialism and post-colonialism, in Africa. In the context of South Africa the foundation of this global issue is the establishment of the Union of South Africa, and Apartheid. However, it is evident that various processes of transformation were initiated to liberate the non-whites and achieve democracy, some of which were psychologically motivated rather than politically. Among them was Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement leading to this research question:
Why Was Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement Used as a Platform for Liberation Psychology in the Context of Apartheid South Africa?
This research question requires History to set the context of the foundation, of racial tension and oppression in South Africa, and Psychology highlights the cognitive effects of racial oppression. Collectively, the linkage of these two disciplines using pivotal academic methodologies could reveal an answer to this research question, particularly the role that Biko played.
II. The Origins of Racial Tension: The Union of South Africa & Apartheid
Apartheid[2], derived from the Afrikaans language, is used to describe the era of racial segregation and oppression of non-whites in South Africa, by white European descendants — predominantly administered by the Imperial British, and Dutch settlers.
The official launching of Apartheid (1948) in South Africa was with the inception of the National Party[3] into government rule; during which many human rights violations were committed, through the enactment of various acts (Husbands, 2004). Through the imposed legislation the government institutionalized racial inferiority and superiority, as well as racial dominance.
Racial dominance is an explicit form of racism but racism itself, being a global issue, encompasses a broad definition. Varying definitions suggest that the word itself cannot be isolated to one interpretation; however identification of common themes may help reach a common meaning of racism. One definition articulates that racism is “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races” (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Alternatively, the US Civil Rights Commission defines racism as “…any action or attitude, conscious or unconscious, that subordinates an individual or group based on skin colour or race. It can be enacted individually or institutionally” (Randall, 1995). This definition focuses on the method in which racism is practiced and accounted for — individual or institutional enactment. In the case of South Africa racism took its course institutionally via the government.
Like most cases around the world South Africa used legislation to enforce racism. Backed-up by the constitution and defence forces — the Apartheid government had no worries in dealing with those opposed to racial oppression. Even prior to the rule of the National Party racist attitudes were still present in South Africa. This dates back to when colonization took place and more fundamentally when the British strengthened their imperialism with the grouping of four South African-based British colonies. These colonies led to the creation of the Union of South Africa on May 31st 1910 (South African History Online, 2013)[4].
While South Africa was annexed under British imperial rule and formally known as the Union of South Africa (1910–1961); it was governed by laws which oppressed, discriminated and segregated the indigenous African groups (Boddy-Evans, 2013). As a result, racial tension was pre-existent prior to the Apartheid regime and can thus have been legislatively reinforced during the era of the Union of South Africa.
This is the essence of the Pass Law.
I cannot sell my labour to the highest bidder.
I cannot live in the residential area of my choice; I am committed by the colour of my skin to
live in segregated ghettos or locations or slums.
Freedom of movement is restricted by the Reference Book.
The right to live in peace in my house is subject to any superintendent
or Native Commissioner who is empowered to endorse me out of the municipal
district if, in his opinion, my presence is a danger to public peace and good order.
This is the law.
An evaluation of the following source extracted from, Blame Me On History, by Modisane (1963) [5], can somewhat depict the racial tension in the country from 1910[6]
This is the essence of the Pass Law.
I cannot sell my labour to the highest bidder.
I cannot live in the residential area of my choice; I am committed by the colour of my skin
to live in segregated ghettos or locations or slums.
Freedom of movement is restricted by the Reference Book.
The right to live in peace in my house is subject to any superintendent
or Native Commissioner who is empowered to endorse me out of the municipal
district if, in his opinion, my presence is a danger to public peace and good order.
This is the law.
Table 1[7]
The above extract is one which perhaps comments on the Natives (Abolition of Passes & Coordination of Documents) Act (no. 67) of 1952 because of Modisane’s (1963) mention of the “Pass Laws” aka the “Reference Book” (O’Malley, 2013). The “Reference Book” was a product of the 1952 legislature, of which O’Malley (2013) states, “in short, this act co-ordinated documents by abolishing passes and introducing reference books instead”.[8]
Modisane’s (1963) underlying purpose for the source may have been to inform the nature of this legislation. It was an internal permit which influenced where an individual could choose to reside in, as he clearly states that he couldn’t live in the residence of his own will.[9] Modisane’s (1963) extract has a personal and emotional tone to it but it still holds historical value, because Modisane (1963) was born during the time of the Union of South Africa and was still alive during Apartheid; making his autobiography a personal recount of the legislation and its effect on him as a black South African.
However, being an extract, questions whether the text may have been taken out of context. It may impose elements of exaggeration and subjectivity, as it comments on legislation without direct referencing or quotes of the act itself. However, Modisane (1963) still manages to depict the possible presence of racial tension.
III. Racial Oppression
An assumption based on the above is that during this period racist attitudes were established. Koplan (2009) however argues that this particular period in time was not the origin of racist attitudes and tension. South Africa was colonized by the imperial British in the early 1800s during which they engaged in many invasive wars with indigenous South Africans. [10]
Given that the British were explicitly invasive and their presence was foreign to the indigenous Africans — this may have induced racial tension and established the course of racism to take root within South Africa. The timeline of events mentioned shows that racist attitudes were possibly established more than a century ago, as early as the colonial period up until the commencement of Apartheid.
Even though there are historical records dating back to the cause and effects of the colonial period; Apartheid still arguably receives more historical attention. Wolpe (1972, pg. 1) argues, “Apartheid is regarded as no more than an intensification of the earlier policy of Segregation.” The early ‘Segregation’ policy he mentions is in referral to the modus operandi of the Union of South Africa, which encouraged racial divide.[11] Wolpe’s (1972) argument may therefore suggest that Apartheid was more structurally oppressive and a close analysis of this would be best assessed through the Nationalist Party’s domestic policies, depicted by the following sources.
Table 2[12]
Table 3[13]
Table 1 and 2 depict some of the domestic policies of Apartheid. The purpose of Table 1 may be to simplify complex arguments which may have surfaced on the known fact that Apartheid was a racially oppressive system. As a result, it paved way for a debate of its social discrepancies as expressed through statistical data. Therefore its value may be that of a reflection of social standards, as it contains social descriptors like the distribution of land between Blacks and Whites during Apartheid.[14] Data evidently shows that there was a disproportionate allocation of land.[15] The social discrepancy of Table 1 may be commenting on Apartheid’s Group Areas Act (no. 41), 1950 which imposed racial segregation coupled with allocation of land (South End Museum, 2013). One may also argue however that the Natives Land Act (no. 27) of 1913, was more accurate in explaining this significant difference in land allocation as it was enacted to incorporate “territorial segregation” (South African History Online, 2013).
A notable difference in the teacher student ratio suggests a lack of investment in the education of Blacks, classes were probably clustered and teachers may have not been plentiful or racial segregation was also present in schools. This may have been aligned with the Bantu Education Act, of which Ocampo (2004) states that it “ensured Blacks receive an education that would limit educational potential and remain in the working class”. [16]
Table 2, an official sign found on the coastal South African city of Durban depicts the racial segregation present during Apartheid. It is valuable because it explicitly states that the beach shown is for “whites only”. This sign may be closely linked with the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (no. 49) of 1953, which Christopher (1994, pg. 143) states that its aim “sought to create separate social environments for the White and other populations groups[17]”.
Conclusively, both tables suggest that racial oppression was present via the legislative, domestic policies of the National Party. It may have also triggered an increase of racial tension already present; drawing a correlation between the social conditions created by the oppressive legislation and the psychological effects it had on the non-whites of South Africa.
IV. Social Conditions & Social Categorization
The cognitive level of analysis in Psychology, states that cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors. In the context of Apartheid social conditions such as religion (which was influenced by the Apartheid ideology), education, locality, ethnicity and economic status, influenced the cognitive processes of social categorization, between Whites and Non-Whites. This was carefully articulated through the institutionalization of racism by the Apartheid government.
To fully understand the extent to which the Apartheid government institutionalized racism one needs to construe the ideological foundation of Apartheid and therefore its rhetoric[18]: South Africa could not function properly without its inhabitants being divided for their own mutual benefit (Neale, 2013).
In order to maintain the rule of the Apartheid regime; racially oppressive legislation was introduced. O’Malley’s (2013) depiction of the Group Areas Act (no. 41), 1950 shows a form of legislation which sought to racially divide South Africans, by allocating residential areas for each race, and making it illegal for other races to own land in a different racial area than their own.
This act in some way best promoted the ideology of the government and therefore one may argue that it had some psychological effects on non-whites who were given inferior home lands compared to white South Africans living in suburbs.[19] The implications of this act also had a psychological effect on the existent racial tension in the country, by inducing social categorization.
Similarly, the Bantu Education Act (no. 47), 1953, showed the disparities of education, and coupled with the Apartheid ideology only reinforced the differences of social conditions (ethnicity and economic status). Had it not been for these acts; Social Categorization would not have taken place because even though the ideology of Apartheid was explicit, maintenance of rule had to be effectively achieved through racially oppressive legislation.
The enactment of various racially oppressive laws only fuelled racial tension and oppression. Subsequently, many non-whites were subdued to a cognitive dilemma of self-identity. This dilemma is one which exemplifies the social differences within a particular place or region and how it affects the people and their position in society. Be it class, race or merely economic status — humans have a tendency to identify with a particular group and have this innate need to compare themselves to other groups, thus creating social categorization.
This social categorization forms an in and out group between Whites and Non-Whites respectively, based on racial discrimination. Tajfel & Turner’s (1971) Social Identity Theory (SIT) proposes that people exhibit their identity by categorizing themselves into groups and forming an identity based on the group. This social difference was enhanced by prejudice or discriminatory attitudes by the in-group against the out-group and at its most extreme form the discrimination may be racially inclined, as was the case in South Africa.
Tajfel & Turner (1971) hypothesized three mental processes that lead to distinctions between the in and out group, and classified these cognitive processes as: Social Categorization, Social Identification and Social Comparison.
Social Identification involves the social behaviour of the individual after adopting a particular group. The individual’s behaviour is influenced by categorization. In this case the values adopted by the Whites were that of superiority, and Non-Whites inferiority. Tajfel & Turner (1971) claimed that Social Identification would affect the individual’s emotions in correlation to their identification as it would exhibit either low or high self-esteem. The Whites therefore may have experienced high self-esteem as their identification enhanced white supremacy, and in contrast Non-Whites may have experienced low self-esteem because their Social Identification enhanced powerlessness and degradation.
Social Comparison aims to prove that both increased and decreased levels of self-esteem will induce social competition. In order to maintain or reach high levels of self-esteem the groups will compete for better social conditions; thus resulting in a change in their social identity. In the case of Non-Whites their competitiveness will coincide with a comparison of themselves with Whites and this will make them aspire to have a higher self-esteem so as to reach a social identity similar to Whites. This psychological manipulation sometimes affects the mental representation of the out-group’s identity and hence it leads them to aspire to the lifestyle of Whites and negate[20] their own identity.
The SIT perhaps best explains the effect of social categorization in determining segregated identities. This could establish a cause-effect link between social conditions via legislation, and social categorization. This supposed direct relationship may be attributed by the enactment of the racially oppressive laws that the Apartheid government passed. Had it not been for these various racially oppressive acts; the social conditions during Apartheid would not have been present because only their legality made them maintainable. Therefore one can see how social and cultural factors may have directly influenced the formation of social categorization during Apartheid.
V. Challenging The System: The Black Consciousness Movement
The implications of social categorization between Whites and Non-Whites in South Africa had a greater psychological impact on the make-up of the civil society and their attitudes towards themselves, as well as to others. The nature of competition among races, induced by social comparison only established a comparison which promoted the pseudo-science of Social Darwinism.[21] In the context of Apartheid South Africa this was characterized by the ideology of the Apartheid government.
South Africa and its oppressed section of society were not the only victims of racism. Social categorization dates back as far as the colonial period. However, intellectually engaging education was soon made accessible to Africans and eventually the formation of political parties and other movements which challenged racial oppression ensued. These liberation struggles gave rise to many notable African scholars like Biko. However, the ideals and values impinged by people like Biko were not only limited to South Africa but were present all over the world.
Biko, influenced by DuBois[22], established the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa during Apartheid (Hynes, 1974).[23] DuBois questioned racism and became educationally involved to end what he believed racism to be a matter of ignorance, and set way to prove this in his research studies.[24]
African American civil rights activists such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. adopted DuBois’ philosophies of the African Americans’ ‘double consciousness’ because they were entrenched by his views on racial prejudice (Gelbart, 2012). [25] Eventually a chain of influence reached Africa, which saw the formation of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) in the mid-1960s (Libre, 2009).[26]
Before understanding the development of the BCM first tracing its psychological roots — is vital. Martín-Baró (1994) developed the foundation of Liberation Psychology[27] by identifying three conditions which led to the civil war[28] — Social Conditions, Social Patterns and Transformation. These conditions may still be found in, and applicable to, other countries which may be facing internal issues of social injustice.
According to Martín-Baró (1994) Liberation Psychology is a form of resistance against oppression. However, it is borne of Social Conditions that are interlinked with patterns of social injustice. Social Conditions, are products of the structure of a certain society, and constitute of economic, ideological, political and cultural factors (Martín-Baró, 1994). These factors branch out into legislation which establishes and enforces oppression (Martín-Baró, 1994).
In relation to the Apartheid regime; Biko identified that the racial tension in South Africa dates far back to the formation of the Union of South Africa. He realized that Apartheid only strengthened institutional racism. Furthermore he construed that Blacks (Non-Whites) were victims of social comparison in relation to Whites. This conflicting ontological distinction, led to a cognitive dilemma of double consciousness experienced by the oppressed. Hence many Non-Whites began believing, to a certain extent, that they were inferior to Whites. Biko, however, understood that the manifestation of psychological oppression would have great long-term effects and chose to combat the rhetoric of the Apartheid government with the BCM.
To some extent one can argue that the BCM was the defining transformation against oppression in the context of Apartheid South Africa and that Biko used it as a platform for Liberation Psychology during Apartheid. He feared that even in the advent of physical liberation against the oppression characterized by Apartheid; the mind of the Non-Whites may still be subdued by Whites because their cognition may still view Whites as the supreme and more intellectual race. Hence, he stated that “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed” (Biko, 1971).
To grasp a more informed view of BCM and its aims I interviewed four subjects. They were given consent forms3. This qualitative research was an evaluative type as it aimed to determine whether the BCM was uprooted from Martín-Baró’s (1994) prescribed three[29] conditions of Liberation Psychology; aiming to answer the research question.
The subjects interviewed had one similar characteristic — they were all South Africans who were born and lived during Apartheid; making the sampling as purposive. The sample group consisted of three non-white subjects (2 Black and 1 Coloured[30]) and one white subject. Semi-structured interviews were used because on socially sensitive issues, like Apartheid, it allowed free elaboration of answers; thus resulting in an in-depth evaluation of qualitative data where the aim was to determine whether or not the BCM followed its prescribed procedures of being used as an intellectual approach, and a tool of transformation under the criteria of Liberation Psychology.
The subjects were asked 5 sets of questions[31] pertaining to their own understanding of the BCM and whether it matched with its reasons for inception and, in addition, their views on psychological liberation characterized by the BCM.. Each subject was debriefed[32] at the end of their interview.
The following emergent themes were found: Word Repetitions, Connectors and Transitions. In the first question Subject A, B and C all repeated the word “liberation” and Subjects D and A similarly linked the question back to “democracy”. Thus, in isolation, the use of the word “liberation” was constant. The answers given by the subjects indicate that they associate the BCM with the liberation struggle. This relationship presented itself as being conditional and time-orientated in the subjects’ responses. This established relationship between the BCM, and the greater liberation struggle itself, may indicate that the subjects identify the BCM as a significant component in South Africa’s quest for democracy.
Questions 3 and 4 induced a notable transition. There was a subsequent shift in the tone of the subjects after hearing the questions recited to them. Previously, the subjects were fluid with their responses and as a result there was minimal hesitation audible in their responses. However, these questions are distinctively, racially inclined as they ask the subjects’ opinions on the Black race of South Africa. Racial topics are inherently a volatile issue, both domestically and globally, accounting perhaps for the subjects’ change in tone, noticeable through careful, concise and slightly diplomatic responses. Even subjects B and C responded with caution, which was in contrast, much different from their critical and passionate mode of prior answering.
Conclusively, question 5 prompted the most significant question in the conduction of my interviews. Apart from Subject A, who felt that the BCM was “balanced in its approach”; the remaining subjects agreed that the BCM was an intellectual form of resistance. Their responses articulated that they construed the BCM as a negation of white supremacy, as it challenged psychological oppression. A sensitive question as it harnesses on the race issue. However, the transition established with the change in tone, experienced again by all the subjects, indicates that the subjects share a common sentiment towards psychological liberation. Their tones were positively sincere and fervent, regarding the BCM’s motion as a psychological liberation campaign.
At the end debriefing of the interviewees involved explaining the true crux of BCM — why it was formed and how it challenged the racist sentiments of Apartheid. Having later understood the actual context of the BCM’s formation; the subjects understood that there was more to its inception than the political stagnation caused by the ANC and PAC leaders during their arrest in the 1960s.[33]
Holistically, the answers to all the questions may be indicative of the interviewees’ personal views. Question 1’s answers may suggest that the subjects identified the BCM as playing a key role in the liberation struggle. Questions 3 and 4, which resulted in circumspect answers, may be indicative of the racial tension established in the country, formally by Britain (1910) and continued during the Apartheid regime. Question 5 may characterize the process of transformation in Liberation Psychology, as the subjects’ tones reflect that of a positive mentality in contrast to the psychological oppression present pre-1994. However, this is just one perspective. Future researchers should interview a larger and more racially diverse group of South Africans to reach a balanced hypothesis. Professions of interviewees should also be considered as this may influence their knowledge of the subject matter e.g. politicians or psychologists.
VI. Conclusion
South Africa is still to some extent tarnished by the effects of racism. Racism initially took its shape in the form of racial tension in South Africa and later was exhibited explicitly with the enactment of various, racially oppressive legislations which set the tone for South Africa to meet the criteria of Liberation Psychology as it experienced social conditions and patterns, indicative of social inequality. Furthermore, the political vacuum caused by the arrest of ANC and PAC leaders allowed the opportunity for an ideology to influence a transformation process against Apartheid. This transformation was initiated in South Africa by Biko perhaps because Black people were victims of double consciousness, as they no longer embraced their skin with pride. They, along with the other non-whites, were seen as the out-group forcing them to accept racial inferiority imposed by the in-group, white South Africans, unto them.
The psychological effects of this social categorization were quite detrimental as it made Black South Africans negate their identity, and led them to socially compare themselves to what was seen as the ideal identity — being white. Biko therefore realized that in order to free his fellow man; the breaking of one’s shackles must first start with the mind as that is the greatest weapon of an oppressor. He therefore used the Black Consciousness Movement as a platform for Liberation Psychology to take due course, because he feared that, even in the advent of democracy, South Africa’s black society would still be oppressed.
VII. References
Blog Post
- Gelbart, J. (2012, December 14). Double Consciousness. [Web Blog Post]. Retrieved from: http://guides.boisestate.edu/content.php?pid=19556&sid=843732
Books
- Biko, S., & Stubbs, A. (1978). I Write What I like. New York: Harper & Row.
- Christopher, A. J. (1994). The Atlas of Apartheid. London: Routledge
- Fanon, F. (2008). Black Skin, White Masks (New Ed.). London: Pluto.
- Fanon, F. (2004). The Wretched of the Earth (New Ed.). New York: Grove Press.
- Southern Africa, O. U. (2006). Understanding Apartheid: Learner’s Book. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
Online Journals
- Moane, G (2003). Bridging the Personal and the Political: Practices for a Liberation Psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 31, Issue 1/2, pp. 91–101. Available: Springer Link. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1023026704576 Accessed: August 2013
- Presidency, The (2004). Government Gazette: The Republic of South Africa. Broad-Based Black Economic Employment Act, 2003, Vol. 463, Issue 17, pp.1 -6. Available: https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/files/legislations/bbbee_act.pdf Accessed: August 2013
- Wolpe, H (1972). Capitalism and Cheap Labour-power in South Africa: from Segregation to Apartheid. Centre for Civil Society University of KwaZulu-Natal. Accessed: August 2013 http://ccs.ukzn.ac.za/files/Wolpe%20Economy%20&%20Society%201972.pdf
Speech
- Biko, S. Bantu. Black Consciousness Movement [Conference]. Cape Town. 1971.
Websites
- Boddy-Evans, A. (2013). Union of South Africa. African History. Available: http://africanhistory.about.com/od/southafrica/a/UnionSA.htm Accessed: October 1, 2013
- David, Dr. Saul. (2011). Zulu: The True Story. BBC: History. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/zulu_01.shtml Accessed: October 1, 2013
- Husbands, A. (2004). Steve Biko Biography. Global Perspectives on Human Language: The South African Context. Available: http://www.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/saw/Ajani_Biko.html Accessed: August 16, 2013
- Hynes, G. (1974). A Biographical Sketch of W.E.B. DuBois. W.E.B. DuBois Learning Center. Available: http://www.duboislc.org/html/DuBoisBio.html Accessed: November 7, 2013
- Inc, Goodreads. (2013). Blame Me On History. Goodreads. Available: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1396124.Blame_Me_on_History Accessed: October 12, 2013
- Ocampo, M. (2004). A Brief History of Educational Inequality from Apartheid to the Present. Global Perspectives on Human Language: The South African Context. Available: http://www.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/saw/Lizet_Education_Inequity.html Accessed: October 12, 2013
- O’Malley, P. (2013). 1952 Natives Abolition of Passes & Coordination of Doc’s Act No 67. Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. Available: http://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01829/06lv01853.htm Accessed: October 12, 2013
- Oneale, L. (2013). Apartheid and the Deceptive Leaders of South Africa. Guardian Liberty Voice. Available: http://guardianlv.com/2013/07/apartheid-and-the-deceptive-leaders-of-south-africa/ Accessed: August 16, 2013
- Online, South African History. (2013). The Union of South Africa 1910. South African History Online. Available: http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/union-south-africa-1910 Accessed: October 1, 2013
- Ryan, G., Bernard, H. (2010). Techniques to Identify Themes in Qualitative Data. Techniques to Identify Themes in Qualitative Data. Available: http://www.analytictech.com/mb870/readings/ryan-bernard_techniques_to_identify_themes_in.htm Accessed: January 4, 2014
- Press, Oxford University. (2013). Racism. Oxford Dictionaries. Available: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/racism Accessed: October 1, 2013
- Randall, V. (1995). Defining Race, Racism and Racial Discrimination. Race, Racism and The Law. Available: http://racism.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=276:race0801&catid=14&Itemid=117 Accessed: October 1, 2013
[1] According to The Presidency (2004, pg. 4), the central objective of BBBEE, which defines “black people as a generic term which means Africans, Coloureds and Indians”, is to promote “economic transformation in order to enable meaningful participation of black people in the economy.”
[2] Directly translated Apartheid means “the state of being apart” (Oneale, 2013)
[3] Political party
[4] The four colonies were known as the British Cape Colony, Colony of Natal, Orange River Colony and the Transvaal Colony.
[5]William Bloke Modisane (1963) was a famous black South African writer, playwright, actor, journalist and one of the founding members of Drum magazine. Drum, at that time, was an investigative journalism magazine which reported numerous incidents that were abound with accounts of social conditions, racial conflicts and racial tension, particularly during the era of the Union of South Africa and Apartheid (Goodreads Inc., 2013).
[6] Before South Africa’s republican status in 1961.
[7] See Appendix A
[8] The “Reference Book” in itself acted as a mini dossier for blacks. It contained a photograph for identification purposes and was holistically used to control the movement of black South Africans as suggested by Modisane (1963) when he states that the book restricted “freedom of movement”.
[9] One can also assume that racial divide was present as Modisane (1963) states that his skin colour “committed” him to live in an inferior location e.g. township. A township is a settlement equivalent to a slum, formerly officially designated for black occupation by Apartheid legislation.
[10] One particular war which significantly stood out was the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 which is still today considered one of the greatest defeats the British army has ever experienced (David, 2011). These clashes/wars were commonly centred on the dispute of territorial claim, as was the case in most colonized countries.
[11] Harold Wolpe was a South African lawyer, sociologist, political economist, anti-Apartheid activist and political member of the African National Congress (ANC) during the Apartheid era
[12] See Appendix A
[13] See Appendix A
[14] It can also be classified as a primary source as it dates back during 1978 which falls under the era of Apartheid
[15] 19 million Blacks were given 13% of land whereas as Whites were allocated with the remaining 87%, even though their population stood at 4.5 million.
[16] The reliability of Table 1 may be questioned since the source’s origin isn’t indicative of direct governmental statistics, and therefore may have been manipulated.
[17] One limitation of Table 2 is that it may be a public representation of an official legislation and therefore its context and aims may be misinterpreted if the legislation hasn’t been identified.
[18] Apartheid’s ideology was one which the government may have viewed as being mutually beneficial. It was influenced by pseudo-scientific reasoning in that the Afrikaners (European Dutch and Huguenots descendants who settled in South Africa in the 17th century) believed that it was ungodly and impractical for them to live cohesively with other races, especially the indigenous blacks because they were considered as heathens, and therefore inferior (Neale, 2013).
[19] This particular piece of legislation only enhanced the different acts which were already enacted because it strengthened the disparities of the social conditions in South Africa, in terms of locality
[20] Fanon’s (1952, p. 82) ontological distinction between Whites and Non-Whites: “for not only must the black man be black; he must be black in relation to the white man” perhaps highlights why the Non-Whites in South Africa had, and may still have, a distorted social comparison which negates their identity in a quest to have social conditions similar to those of the white man. Therefore even though the context of colonization and Apartheid may differ; the effects of social categorization are relatively similar; thus establishing a close link with Fanon’s (1952) critique and Tajfel & Turner’s (1971) hypothesis.
[21] One of the arguments presented by Social Darwinism is that certain races are biologically superior to others
[22] DuBois was an African American educator (Hynes, 1974)
[23] DuBois is credited for crafting the Black Consciousness Movement (Hynes, 18974). The movement itself came about through the influences of racism in the United States of America (USA) during the 18th and 19th century — the period in which slavery was still active. DuBois was considered highly intellectual especially amongst the African American community (Hynes, 1974).
[24] His ultimate aim was to challenge and disprove the science behind racial prejudice and discrimination against black people, across the globe, by the West. This was the first time someone challenged the rhetoric of white superiority and black inferiority via scientific research (Hynes, 1974).
[25] According to DuBois (1903) the term ‘double consciousness’ originally referred to the psychological challenge of reconciling an African heritage with a European upbringing and education. Therefore it seemingly opposed the evaluation of oneself according to the perception of another, for the evaluation was stirred out of ignorance and racial prejudice in this context.
[26] During the 1960s South Africa’s liberation struggle was politically fading, following the banning and imprisonment of many anti-apartheid leaders from political party giants such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) (South African History Online, 2013).
[27] Martín-Baró (1994) hypothesized that civil conflict, induced by the inequalities of socio-economic conditions, is not only limited to outcomes of violence but also has underpinning, psychological effects on the out-group. However, in order for the out-group to secede from psychological oppression, in addition to physical oppression, an intervention of Transformation needs to take place. This process of Transformation will give rise for the opportunity of the out-group (oppressed civilians) to break free from the chains of oppression. This quest for Transformation, at a psychological perspective, was the basis in which BCM was formed by Biko.
[28] El Salvadoran Civil War (1980–1992)
[29] Social Conditions, Social Patterns and Transformation
[30] In the Southern African context, a politically correct term used to classify people of mixed race.
[31] See Appendix C
[32] See Appendix D
[33] In my post-interview debriefing sessions (which have not been formally recorded) the interviewees agreed that BCM’s mission, as an intellectual force against the rhetoric of Apartheid, aimed to reject the pseudo-science of Apartheid against blacks. The responses to the questions and feedback from the debriefing process extend on BCM’s reasons for inception — see Appendix C. | https://medium.com/@xt-msomi/why-was-steve-bikos-black-consciousness-movement-used-as-a-platform-for-liberation-psychology-in-179e2e17d7e1 | ['Sinawe Fairview'] | 2021-09-08 11:47:28.988000+00:00 | ['Black Consciousness', 'Double Consciousness', 'Apartheid', 'South Africa', 'Steve Biko'] |
How To Buy FEG | We see a lot of people having issues trying to purchase FEG wether it is the ETH or BNBpair. Here are some basic instructions on how to purchase FEG on both uniswap and pancake swap.
Step 1
First you must download the app metamask to your computer or phone. Once installed, set up your wallet as you would any other wallet and continue to the next step.
Step 2
ETH/FEG
Before buying anything, your going to want to add the custom token FEG to your wallet. Go into your metamask wallet and select add token. Then copy and paste the contract address from coingeko into the add token address field. Here is the contract address if you can not find it. The token symbol section should fill automatically when done correctly.
https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/feg-token
After you have successfully added the token to your wallet, visit the uniswap exchange
https://app.uniswap.org/#/swap
Before continuing, make sure you have bought ETH on the exchange of your choice and have transferred it to your wallet. I know this may be common sense to some but for noobs like I was at one point, it wasnt. If you do not know how to buy ETH and send to your metamask wallet, youtube or google it. Its actually quite an easy process.
Once you are at the uniswap page. Select ETH to FEG. It should ask you to import FEG token if it does not show up as an active token. Press connect wallet and wallet connect to your metamask wallet. Metamask will ask for authorization to your wallet. Select authorize.
Click the gear icon in the right corner and manually put your slippage anywhere between 3% to 5%. Make sure you have enough ETH to cover gas fees and then authorize the transaction.
Congratulations, you now have purchased FEG Token
Step 3
Follow the same steps above but make sure to use pancakeswap instead of uniswap. Make sure to use the contract address on pancake swap for the BNB/FEG as the contract address to add the token from CoinGecko wont work. Also make sure to add the BSC network to metamask.
Bnb/Feg
In MetaMask : settings -> networks -> add network
Type in following data:
Network Name: Binance Smart Chain New RPC URL: https://bsc-dataseed.binance.org Chain ID: 56 Symbol (optional): BNB Block Explorer URL (optional): https://bscscan.com
Click save
Select Binance Smart Chain as the network in the drop-down menu in the main metamask interface
Send BNB to your wallet using binance global or binance.us
Use the BNB to trade on a BSCDEX such as : https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance
If you are having trouble connecting to your wallet using pancake swap, access pancake swap using the metamask browser and connect to your wallet within the metamask browser. Just input this link into the metamask browser to swap bnb for FEG
https://exchange.pancakeswap.finance/?_gl=1*dof69e*_ga*Mjg1MjkxOTAuMTYxMzI0ODMxNA..*_ga_334KNG3DMQ*MTYxMzI1NzA1MC41LjAuMTYxMzI1NzA1MC4w#/swap?inputCurrency=0xacfc95585d80ab62f67a14c566c1b7a49fe91167&outputCurrency=0xbb4cdb9cbd36b01bd1cbaebf2de08d9173bc095c
Congrats, you now have FEG token!
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Hopefully this helps everyone buy FEG! | https://medium.com/@fegtoken/how-to-buy-feg-3dc72514832c | ['Feg', 'Feed Every Gorilla'] | 2021-09-11 16:49:11.915000+00:00 | ['Crypto', 'Ethereum Blockchain', 'Defi', 'Investment', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Crowd Machine and Sutton Stone Partner to Help ICO Ventures get their Blockchain and Decentralized Apps Built for Free | Crowd Machine and Sutton Stone Partner to Help ICO Ventures get their Blockchain and Decentralized Apps Built for Free
PRESS RELEASE: Crowd Machine and Sutton Stone’s Program to Build Blockchain Decentralized Apps to Support ICO Ventures
George Town, Cayman Islands — 7 November 2017
George Town, Cayman Islands, 7 November 2017 — Crowd Machine and Sutton Stone announced a program to build blockchain decentralized apps in support of ICO ventures, their founders and developers for free. A set of programs aim to assist developers with solid decentralized app business concepts get their products to market much faster using Crowd Machine’s technology.
“One of the key limiting factors to decentralized app and blockchain adoption is the long development times, and outsized delays in getting apps to market,” said Craig Sproule, founder of Crowd Machine. “We want to accelerate the adoption of blockchain and current development approaches take too long to deliver. By using our Crowd Machine technology, we can get apps to market up to 45 times faster. By establishing a large portfolio of stable apps we’ll see much quicker adoption of blockchain and decentralized technology by enterprise markets.” commented Sproule.
Crowd Machine has partnered with Sutton Stone, a consultancy firm focused on blockchain advisory and helping companies through the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) process, to assess the viability of public ICO concepts by combining Crowd Machine’s experience in building apps with Sutton Stone’s experience in the ICO process, cryptocurrency and blockchain field. The partnership hopes to improve the quality of offerings being taken to market and through the ICO process by putting more mature product offerings into the system.
Where a decentralized app combined with a token offering makes sound business sense, the partnership works with the concept founders to build their app and take it to market.
“We currently have four concepts in development that we believe have real value in the decentralized and blockchain markets,” commented James Duchenne, who co-founded Sutton Stone with Adam Richard in 2014. “We believe the ICO market will transition to wanting to see companies with a minimal viable product in market before conducting an ICO. Crowd Machine allows that to happen in timeframes that make sense to the founders who are often funding projects out of their own pockets.” he continued.
The two companies are actively encouraging founders to propose their ideas for assessment, but are being very diligent in selecting those concepts that apply. “We want to ensure the founders we work with have a concept that meets stringent criteria,” added Duchenne. “It’s in everyone’s interest to ensure that the decentralized and blockchain apps taken to market have real value to the users they serve,” he stated.
The partnership believes that the blockchain and decentralize app market represent the future of app delivery, but also understand that it will take time for the market to mature. They’ve teamed up to ensure that the business model and supporting apps have a positive impact on the market development and accelerate its maturity.
Founders can apply for selection into their program at — www.crowdmachine.com
- ends - | https://medium.com/crowd-machine/crowd-machine-and-sutton-stone-partner-to-help-ico-ventures-get-their-blockchain-and-decentralized-6c54ea3320d6 | ['Crowd Machine'] | 2018-01-17 11:33:38.600000+00:00 | ['Decentralization', 'Developer Tools', 'ICO', 'Blockchain', 'Decentralized Apps'] |
What is LockDex? | What is LockDex?
DeFi has produces several developments that we are proud of. In particular, farming pools provide crypto enthusiasts with a seamless method for passive income. By staking tokens, they receive rewards in pool tokens. It takes only a few minutes to create an LP and getting started. LockDex aims to take this approach to the next step by leveraging security with competitive APYs.
LockDex.org
LockDex — Secure DEX, Large APYs & Rewards
🤔How Does it Work?
Any user can take tokens available in Uniswap V2 LPs. We are creating a user-friendly UI at https://app.lockdex.org/ so that users can deposit and access LPs from the browser using web3 tools like Metamask. No installations required. Seamless connection and instant access to the latest info on APYs.
LockDex Menu with available pairs to stake and APYs
Users can profit additionally by locking their LPs. For a short period of time, locked APYs will provide 10x APY rewards — from the launch after presale during the following 15 days.
For limited time: 10x APY
LDX and LDR
A two-token system fuels the whole economy of LockDex. Both tokens will be publicly listed on Uniswap V2 LPs but the timing and prices will change.
1️⃣LDX Presale
Presale will be available for some days in various stages. Early birds will profit from the best prices and, as time goes on, the price in USD for $LDX will change. More information on the presale in an upcoming post.
2️⃣LDR — the Reward Token
Users will receive LDR by following some steps in the platform, maintaining LPs, and participating in activities for the community. LDR swap for LDX will be available in the future, in the meantime, LDR LP on Uniswap will allow users to make use of their reward tokens.
➡️Roadmap
Presale ➡️ ️ LDX Listing ➡️ App Lanuhc ➡️ LDR Listing ➡️ More features
🔒 Learn More
Website: https://lockdex.org/
Telegram: https://t.me/LockDex
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LockDexOrg | https://medium.com/@lockdex/what-is-lockdex-cd3a534b6910 | [] | 2020-12-24 12:45:32.137000+00:00 | ['Blog', 'Lockdex', 'Liquidity Pool', 'Dex', 'Announcement'] |
Building a Scrum Poker App using MotionLayout | I think animations are one of the most complicated things to do in Android. Making a simple animation sometimes takes a lot of code, and it gets harder if you need to synchronise them.
Luckily, Android provides a few tools that enhance the user experience. One of the latest ones is MotionLayout introduced in the Google I/O 2018. Even though it is still under development, the tool appears to be stable on beta 6.
So, I have decided to give it a go by writing a simple Scrum Poker application.
In case you don’t know what Scrum Poker is, here you can find the rules.
Summary
Basically the app will display 3 states:
Initial: Showing all the cards
Selected: Showing the selected card flipped down
Revealed: The card is shown
The goal is to develop the app using as few lines of code as possible relying on the MotionLayout XML description file to build and trigger the animations for us.
The finished project can be found on Github.
Let’s do it
If you plan to follow this post step by step, I encourage you to use Android Studio 4 (Currently on Preview) because a few design tools have been included. The Motion Editor, for example, allows you to navigate through the sequences, and help you preview what the layout will look like.
Motion Editor available on Android Studio 4
To start with, you need to use an Empty Activity project from the Android Studio Project Templates.
Once you have set up your Project, you just need to add the dependency in gradle.properties and you are good to go.
implementation 'androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout:2.0.0-beta6'
Let’s set up a simple RecyclerView with an Adapter to show the cards.
Now you might notice something strange, you are leaving the TextView selected_card_title outside the Card. What is this for?
MotionLayout inherits from ConstraintLayout , which works with a flat hierarchy view (there are no nested view groups). So if you want to animate or change the constraint of that view, you have to do it at root level.
Let’s use data binding for the cards, to reduce the boilerplate, and focus on the MotionLayout.
Now, let’s define the Domain Class and the Adapter to display these Cards.
Once the initial setup is done, you are ready to build your Scene.
A MotionScene is an XML resource file that contains all of the motion descriptions for the corresponding layout.
Source: https://developer.android.com/training/constraint-layout/motionlayout | https://medium.com/glovo-engineering/building-a-scrum-poker-app-using-motionlayout-3cc5cb00f23b | ['Matias Isella'] | 2020-05-28 12:02:20.137000+00:00 | ['Kotlin', 'Android Development', 'Android', 'Constraintlayout', 'Motionlayout'] |
In Focus: Digital Archives | The Information Operations Archive (IOA) is a database of social media posts with content like “This is big! Hillary Clinton covered up child trafficking investigation at the State Department” and “Watch: Barack Obama admits he was born in Kenya #birtherism.” Co–created by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan think tank initiative, and Graphika, a network analysis firm, IOA currently hosts 10 million Twitter and Reddit messages from Russian and Iranian–backed election interference missions.
Twitter’s prompt to download information contained in the Information Operation Archive.
While Twitter and Reddit “released” datasets for public use in 2018, they imposed significant hurdles to access them. Twitter asked users to enter an email address to download a 5GB file that was virtually impenetrable to anyone without a data science background. For our part, we helped elucidate the data sets by transferring them to a user–friendly environment where social posts—in addition to date range and associated hashtags—are visualized. The IOA fulfills a purpose in not only making the tweets accessible and searchable, but also in foregrounding how they can (and should) be used for critical analysis. And though frequently nauseating, the IOA exposes common, specious strategies that bad actors use to stoke division.
A search for “Kamala Harris,” for example, yields both expected results (“BUSTED! Kamala Harris Caught Using Taxpayer Dollars for Her Lavish Travels”) and ones that on a surface level seem more puzzling, such as a tweet wishing Harris a happy birthday. The message— sent by a fake account that espoused progressive views—features a photo of Harris as a child sporting an afro.
MEET Digital Culture Center | https://medium.com/accurat-in-sight/in-focus-digital-archives-f4c3d682e4e1 | [] | 2021-06-17 04:08:22.934000+00:00 | ['Data Architecture', 'Data Visualization', 'Digital Archives', 'Dataviz', 'Database'] |
Vers Does Not Mean Versus | Boy: “So what are you into?”
Me: “(insert list *here* and then:) and I’m vers.”
Boy: “Wait, well what do you like more?”
Me: “Well, it depends on the person, their cock, their ass, and how I’m feeling that day.”
Boy: “How strange; well, you look like a bottom.”
I should have this conversation printed on every t-shirt I wear. Apparently, I was unaware that “vers” really meant versus: you are a top or a bottom. Not both. “Vers” is that word that means you’re hip or edgy in bed, and really it’s still code for top. And if you look like a bottom, well that’s that.
WRONG.
I have and will have and am still talking about what I like to do in bed to potential hookups, lovers, friends, strangers (you) etc. I thought it was quite simple, but it’s not. IF I am wanting to engage in anal sex, the position I take is context-dependent.
Being a bottom is a super vulnerable position. If I’m not that comfortable with the person I’m with, I’m less likely to bottom for physical safety concerns. After there was a murder related to Grindr last fall in my town of Ann Arbor, and after leading a workshop on hooking up and physical safety, I am not in a place where I’m willing to open myself up to (too much) harm. And having my face in a pillow with my ass in the air usually doesn’t allow for quick reaction time in case shit hits the fan.
I have also recently arrived to the bottoming scene, and I am learning more about my body, my prostate, what I like, and how I like it. If someone’s dick is too small or too large for what I know I like, I will most likely be in the mood to top. While a good top can work whatever penis they have, not all tops are good tops. And some experiences I wish I could wipe up with a tissue and throw away. Memories, however, are not like cum.
Similarly, not all butts are good butts. Having grown up in the U.S., butts are still instinctively dirty to me. They poop and fart and I think I should stay away from them. They usually smell like booty (in not a good or bad way) and I’ve been socialized to stay far, far away. Socialized to run screaming or to strap a bottle of Febreeze to my thigh just in case. So if someone’s booty reminds me of the asses I was haunted by as a child, there is no way I’ll approach it. . . . But they can approach mine . . . .
And then sometimes I eat way too many beans. Sometimes I eat three bananas in a day. Sometimes I get too excited with the fiber bran muffins. Sometimes I get too ravenous with the meat—the recently non-vegetarian in me gets a little wild around new types of meat (pun intended). Sometimes I’m nervous or anxious and have diarrhea. Sometimes I am having a good bum day. Sometimes I’m having a bad bum day. My butt is the more variable component in the dick-ass equation and so some days I feel more like bottoming or topping or not engaging in anal based on this.
But I also don’t just have sex for me. I have myself for that. So if I’m going to physically engage another person in sex, I like to know what they like. If they like something a lot (say, bottoming), I can get off on that and assume the appropriate role (say, top). For me the sex I have would get boring if I did the same thing every time. Mixing it up, trying new things, and changing old habits spice up sex, and I like Sriracha on everything: let me feel the burn.
Even this is too basic of a conversation for me. Sometimes, and quite often, I want to fuck someone and then be fucked by them. I don’t know when or how me saying that I’m “vers” meant that I was referring to a dichotomy, but I do not approve! For me, being vers is being versatile. I can top, I can bottom, I can neither, I can both, I can do other things.
I’m queer for a reason and it’s not to reproduce over and over how straight people have sex. I’m not here to reproduce normative sex. I am not one for strict categories. The moment when “vers” turns into “top” and “queer” turns into “gay” turns into “straight,” I know that my penis and ass have imploded into an oblivion of angst.
———
Thanks for reading!
Hit the green “recommend” button below if you liked it.
Follow the Culture Club Collection for more.
And check us out on Twitter and Facebook too. | https://medium.com/thsppl/vers-does-not-mean-versus-5d67a9b381c5 | ['Taylor Portela'] | 2015-02-28 16:48:49.291000+00:00 | ['Queer', 'Identity', 'Sex'] |
Will virtual hearings be an effective measure during the pandemic? | When the coronavirus pandemic struck and the nation went into lockdown back in March one of the biggest concerns in the legal profession was about the effect it would have on the criminal justice system in the UK.
At that time there were 37,500 Crown Court cases waiting to be tried and over 400,000 in the Magistrates’ Court.
An idea that HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) found themselves contemplating in the early months of lockdown was for the courts to hold virtual hearings with all participants taking part remotely from separate locations, effectively in a Skype or Zoom conference call.
The Coronavirus Act 2020 expanded the availability of video and audio links in criminal court proceedings allowing the courts the ability to function and remain open to the public without the need of participants to appear in person.
But the concept of remote hearings isn’t quite so new. Professor Richard Susskind, IT Advisor to the Lord Chief Justice since 1998 and author of the 2019 book Online Courts and the Future of Justice, has long been calling for courts to shift online, claiming it would make the service more accessible and affordable.
In fact UK courts have been gradually adopting digital technology over the last several years, after Sir Brian Leveson’s Review of Efficiency in Criminal Proceedings in 2015 which determined that the process of everyone gathering together in the same place was “inefficient and expensive”, and made the case for remote hearings using up-to-date technology to enable some, but not all, aspects of criminal cases to be handled without the need for all participants in the same place.
The idea has since spread across the board, from video links for the convicted in the Court of Appeal, to live-streaming from the Supreme Court, established in 2015.
The UK Supreme Court would hold its first fully-fledged remote hearing on 24 March 2020, with Justices and lawyers participating from home, and has carried them out regularly since, while the High Court would do likewise on Zoom on 27 March 2020.
The court system in England and Wales was able to react to lockdown in this way thanks to a £1 billion technological reform programme launched in 2016 including a video-conferencing tool called the Cloud Video Platform (CVP) which allowed for a dedicated private conference area enabling lawyers to speak to clients without visiting them in prison, and was part of a plan to make the court system run more efficiently and be more cost-effective.
Yet just because a virtual hearing is possible, does it mean it’s the best choice in the interests of justice?
Alistair Webster QC, from Lincoln House Chambers, thinks the prospect of virtual court procedures which have a limited focus, such as the Court of Appeal hearings he had been doing from home where few parties are involved and nothing vital like physical evidence needs to be presented, is a sound one, that saves time and expense, providing of course that everything is in working order.
“It’s definitely been a positive move, and it has demonstrated that the various hearings which can be done via video, which don’t require everyone coming to court to attend…. As long as the internet works properly it’s actually sensible. It should reduce costs, reduce traveling time…. as far as I’m concerned it’s worked very well.”
The practice may be viable in matters like civil cases, preliminary hearings or hearings for minor offences like motoring offences. In one such case in Swindon a man who couldn’t attend his sentencing hearing offered to be charged remotely by phoning the court and joining the cloud video link to appear on screen in court, pleaded guilty to the charge he was facing for drink driving and was subsequently issued with the appropriate fine and penalties.
But it’s probably not much of a surprise that when it came to applying this kind of practice to jury trials, the feedback from many in the profession was a resoundingly negative one.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, was one of the most prominent among the voices of opposition.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Law in Action in June Lord Burnett said “That is something which has been discussed in London, but so far, it hasn’t secured a great deal of enthusiastic support.
“Not least because it seemed to make the jury spectators rather than participants in a trial; and judges and lawyers are undoubtedly concerned, as I don’t doubt they’re concerned in Scotland too, about a lack of engagement between the jury and the advocates; and the jury and the judge; and the jury and the defendant and witnesses.”
The law reform group Justice actually tried putting the idea into practice by holding a series of mock trials in April and May with assistance from real barristers and a judge, with volunteers playing the jurors, witnesses and defendants, all of whom participated remotely.
The experiment was deemed a success, despite a few technical hitches like taking up to two hours to make sure all jurors were properly connected.
Yet the idea wasn’t warmly welcomed by solicitors and barristers either.
Mr Webster said they were ‘completely unrealistic’ and could result in less convictions if put into practice.
“There’s been a failure to understand, on the part of campaigners particularly in relation to sex cases, that evidence by video recordings and video link just doesn’t have the same impact upon juries as someone giving evidence in front of them.”
“It’s just not a practical way of doing it.”
Andrew Thomas QC, also from Lincoln House Chambers, was able to undertake preliminary court hearings and conferences with clients from his own home during the lockdown months, yet he too strongly opposed the idea of virtual jury trials believing it wouldn’t be an ideal situation when the jurors can’t physically see or take in the evidence being presented.
“I don’t think that it would be possible to reach safe verdicts by conducting trials where the jury were not present in the same room at the same time that the evidence was being given.”
He further cited the potential issue of outside influences which could serve as a distraction, yet conceded it may be extremely difficult to come up with an alternative arrangement under the current circumstances when safety for everyone in the court is paramount.
“The problems that we’ve got, [and the] problems with Covid-19, it’s very difficult to find any way around them. To do a trial with a jury involves a lot of people in a room together for long periods of time in an enclosed space, and it’s very difficult to find a way around that.”
Fellow barrister Huw Edwards, from Exchange Chambers in Manchester, shared the sentiment that having all the jurors in separate locations could leave them prone to distraction and pointed out that one thing judges like to do when sitting in court is to watch the jury and see what they’re doing and determine who may or may not be taking the case that seriously or even who may or may not be paying attention.
Something they can’t do when all parties aren’t in the same room.
Rachel Fletcher, a partner and criminal defence solicitor at Slater Heelis in Manchester, said a virtual trial prevents participants who aren’t in the room with the defendant from really looking them in the eye and getting a real feel for them, the situation or the evidence and doesn’t believe they’re a viable way forward at all.
“A trial is a very serious and sombre occasion. Somebody’s life is at stake. If they’re convicted they might go to prison.
“Similarly, the victims, they want to look the perpetrator in the eye sometimes.
“Juries just cannot get a feel for it. I would be very, very concerned about juries’ ability to focus. It’s not the same.
“It can’t happen. It cannot happen.”
But while the idea for virtual trials doesn’t appear to be gaining any kind of ground, virtual hearings for other types of cases could be here to stay for the foreseeable future.
They might appear to work better in some legal contexts rather than others, and the concern among legal professionals is that they not lower standards in criminal cases, especially where charges and a verdict can have a profound effect on the lives of defendants.
Pre-liminary hearings to determine whether an accused in a criminal case should be detained and go to trial have been taking place remotely since at least 2017.
A research report from the University of Surrey, published in May 2020, determined several features of virtual hearings which might reduce the quality of the process and the defendants rights.
These included the loss, or hindrance, of non-verbal communication between the defendant and their advocate which might not translate as well on the screen, the possibility that defence via video link might be less effective, and the method of video court being seen as more impersonal.
All qualities that are seen as vital in a criminal trial where one’s future is at stake.
Magistrates courts have been able to adapt to the idea since they handle first appearances in court along with hearings for low level offences and don’t require a jury, and by law anyone charged with a crime and denied police bail must be granted a remand hearing in the presence of a judge within 24 hours.
But now the defendant ‘attends’ court in the police station via the CVP.
Of course it’s essential for everyone’s interest, not least the defendants, that everything works without any problems, as it would be very remiss for one to have difficulty accessing their own hearing.
Yet there exists the possibility that defendants may find it difficult to engage in such an impersonal procedure, particularly if having to correspond with a solicitor they haven’t been able to meet with (concerns about safety in police stations led to new protocol in April requiring solicitors to meet their clients, even new ones, by telephone), before sitting before a judge on a screen who will decide their fate. And that’s without taking into account other mitigating factors like disability or even something more basic like the need for a translator.
“Obviously if you’re not able to see somebody face to face that’s going to adversely affect communication with some clients,” said Alex Preston, a criminal defence solicitor from Olliers Solicitors.
The toll on those being detained on remand can be significant, as Ms Preston was keen to point out; “It’s very tough. Most of them are in their cells 23 hours a day with very little association or time out for themselves not doing jobs, not doing education in the way that they were before.”
Ms Preston admitted to not being a fan of virtual hearings in general.
“If it’s purely a procedural hearing where the defendant isn’t present, they can work.
“But if the defendant is present entering a plea [or] being sentenced… virtual hearings separate them from the process, so it’s much more difficult to take instructions, and I worry about that particularly with clients who have got vulnerabilities.”
A survey of virtual court users conducted by the charity Transform Justice in 2017 found 58% felt the video link had a negative effect on a defendant’s ability to participate in the hearing while 72% felt the video link had a negative effect on the defendant’s ability to communicate with their practitioner, the judge or other participants.
In May 2020 the non-governmental organization Fair Trials surveyed vital figures working in the criminal justice system such as solicitors, barristers, judges, magistrates, police officers and CPS staff to gauge their views on how Covid-19 had impacted fair trial rights since lockdown began.
The majority of the 89 responses received were from defence lawyers, and the overall results presented were concerning.
In light of the changes from the norm that were taking place, like further prolonged periods of time in custody and solicitors not being able to meet with clients face to face which, as already said, could impact the help they provide, the shared concern that became apparent is the fear of defendant’s rights being overlooked.
It would seem therefore that remote hearings have become seen as a necessity as they might be the only sure way to deliver at least some form of timely and open justice, on some fronts if not all.
A report by Colette Allen, from the Legal Policy and Research Unit at the International Bar Association said the UK won’t be returning ‘back to normal’ when the pandemic is over as remote hearings were already becoming a regular staple in the administration of justice, but it hinges on the majority who might be apprehensive about sticking with the concept to dispel any doubts or preconceptions they might have.
But even though the idea for virtual jury trials hasn’t been well received and appears to have disappeared from the conversation, the biggest drawback and knock-on effect will be the continued postponement of jury trials until a more suitable time, or a more appropriate and accommodating venue can be found.
For instance, Mr Webster had recently arranged for a trial involving 11 defendants to begin in May 2021 but admitted it wouldn’t be possible to proceed with if social distancing were still continuing by then. Instead they might have to split the trial into tranches and prosecute that way, which would only prolong the process.
So the practice of the other kinds of virtual hearings described above could serve as a partial remedy to some of the problems the legal system is currently facing, though not a full one.
Yet when I visited Manchester Magistrates Court in October there were no virtual hearings taking place, and the usher who worked there couldn’t recall any ever having taken place there, which would perhaps imply they had been trying to carry on as normal all this time, albeit under strict conditions.
But given that a week later, when nine cases of coronavirus were confirmed at Manchester Magistrates Court and criminal cases were set to continue, even after Manchester Crown Court had been temporarily closed again in August following the confirmation of several cases among staff, then they certainly would seem like a viable option at present even if courts are only able to hold a very small number at a time, meaning the backlog of cases will likely not be reduced for a very long time to come.
“All of the pre-trial work in the crown court can be done remotely in my view, or certainly a lot of it can be” Mr Webster said, referring to the kind of matters that only require judges and lawyers to correspond with each other.
“Those are definite steps forward, and they’re welcome.” | https://medium.com/@danmardle84/will-virtual-hearings-be-an-effective-measure-during-the-pandemic-40aa7817d618 | ['Daniel Mardle'] | 2020-11-13 17:48:01.049000+00:00 | ['Criminal Justice', 'Courts', 'Virtual Trials', 'Legal System'] |
6 Mistakes Startups Make When Translating their Content to English | By Sophia Wood, Launchway Media
Have you ever read a website that was poorly translated into your language? How long did it capture your attention? At best, these sites are quickly forgotten. At worst, they become the subject of Internet ridicule for using antiquated or inappropriate language. Google may not dock your site for bad grammar, but a poorly translated site may come across as untrustworthy to users.
Marketing is an emotional game; it’s all about speaking directly to your audience in the language that suits them. All too often, translations are done hastily and without much thought. But when you are competing for the attention of an audience that is already overwhelmed with content, your copy has to be top-notch to stand out.
When translating your content to English, here are some common traps you need to avoid.
1. Translating everything literally.
Every language has its nuances and syntax. To any native speaker, a direct translation will sound like a robot and will immediately turn them off to your cause. You cannot just use the right words; you must use native phrasing, idiomatic expressions, and syntax. Otherwise your English-speaking audience will feel you did not write your copy for them.
2. Not running your copy by a native speaker.
Only a native speaker will be able to capture the intricacies of dialogue and culture in a way that attracts an English-speaking audience. Even if your translator is not native, always have a native speaker review the final version of your translation to make sure the phrasing sounds natural. A native speaker will also be able to speak to cultural references in their country that may be relevant to your marketing efforts.
3. Ignoring the diversity of the English-speaking world.
You should also pay attention to where your audience lives. An English speaker from the UK will have very different idiomatic expressions than a North American and these differences have a profound impact on the effectiveness of marketing. You would not hire an Argentine copywriter to speak authoritatively on slang and idioms in Mexico, so avoid making this mistake when translating your content into English.
4. Forgetting seasonal differences.
January may be the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, but North Americans will be fully bundled in winter jackets at that time. If you are preparing a seasonal ad campaign, consider tweaking your message when you translate your content for an English-speaking audience. You want your audience to feel your words were written just for them, not that you translated it as a second thought.
5. Using the same imagery across every country.
What you may think are universal symbols and images probably have a different meaning in the English-speaking world than they do in your home country. Conduct appropriate research, ideally with a native speaker, to ensure that the imagery you are using applies to your new audience. If your images include writing in your original language, remove the words from the illustration or add words in English. Once again, no audience wants to feel like they are your second-choice marketing effort.
6. Leaving out keywords and SEO efforts in translation.
You may be well-placed in your home market, but how do you stand up against the English-speaking competition? Make sure your translator pays attention to keywords, and does the appropriate research, as they translate your content to English. Finding these keywords, and including them in your content as you try to reach a new audience, is worth the extra work for the boost in SEO.
Translating your content to English requires much more than Google Translate. Cultural expressions, slang, and idioms are an essential part of speaking to your target audience. Make sure to have a native speaker review all your content before it is deployed in the English-speaking market so that it lands with the impact you want. Your startup can launch across borders as long as you research your new audience and speak to them directly in their language.
For more advice on Latin American startups, visit https://www.launchwaymedia.com/blog/. | https://medium.com/strategic-content-marketing/6-mistakes-startups-make-when-translating-their-content-to-english-f47948f24576 | ['Launchway Media'] | 2018-04-11 18:58:19.969000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Translation', 'Startup Marketing', 'Latin American Startups', 'Startup Lessons'] |
Learnings from the Chinese bike sharing system for the Indian market | Photo Credit: www.itdp.org
The rising urban sprawl has been unstoppable for a long time and thus the mobility in the cities have been greatly affected. Of many commuting troubles which urbanization has brought along, few of them are poor infrastructure, worsening air pollution, road accidents and the huge number of personal vehicles even for commuting short distances. The mobility giants keep exploring the alternatives to commute to fight these problems. Although the personal vehicle is the most used mode of transport these days, yet there are extremely high hopes from the booming bike sharing option.
Different countries experience varied preferences of the modes of transport owing to a bunch of factors which differ from country to country. The rate of adoption of bicycles is different at distinct locations, but the importance of cycling in the holistic evolution of sustainable transport systems is outstanding. And it has some solid reasons in its support like it leads to an immensely positive impact on the environment, requires less space and its usage will also drive toward improvement in infrastructure. Bike sharing ecosystem is appearing to pave the way for higher adoption of bicycle usage among people. There are enough and more perks getting introduced by government and employers to promote the usage of bicycles. China pioneered the successful adoption of bike sharing system and faced a plethora of failures and successes.
Bike sharing industry in China
In today’s times, if bicycle sharing is talked about at a global scale, there can be no way that China doesn’t get a mention. It goes without saying that China has the most popular bike sharing system in the world. It was validated by the Ministry of transport of the People’s Republic of China when they gave out the numbers in 2017. They stated that there were a total of 77 companies offering a massive number of 23 million bicycles on rent in over 200 cities of China. This industry saw a rampant growth in 2017 when the total of registered users using the bikes reached a whopping number of 400 Million as compared to 28 million in 2016.
China has had a very interesting history of bicycles. It was an extremely important part of the daily lives of locals so much so that owning one was the prerequisite for getting married back in the 1970s. The streets of Beijing used to be flooded with bicycles. The government had to create policies to reduce bicycle usage and increase the use of mass transport system. Then came then SARC epidemic which prevented people from using public transport and then came the influx of personal cars in the cities of China.
In 2007, the government which was struggling with the massive traffic congestion came up with docked bike shares in the main cities but people found it to be inconvenient and bike sharing didn’t take off because of the docked stations.
The bicycle sharing companies Ofo and Mobike were created in 2014 and 2015 respectively. They both had the focus on filling the gap of docked bike sharing by creating a dockless form of bike rental. In their opinion, the stations limited the spontaneity and access to the bikes. The little red Mobike bikes became easily traceable with GPS and were given on rent for a deposit of 299 Yuan through mobile payment. The little yellow Ofo bikes which were conceptualized in Peking University School Project spread outside the campus and were seen on the streets in a huge number.
It’s in late 2016 when bike sharing became the talk of the town in China. The country saw a lot of startups heavily funded by venture capitalists launching millions of bikes. It is heard that during 2016 and 2017, there was hardly any week when there was no announcement of bike share funding. The investors showed a keen interest in bike sharing apps which included GPS as that looked to be the only viable solution. The government saw it as a shining opportunity to become a world leader in promoting a greener mode of transport and appear as huge contributors to climate change. Also, it was a perfect way for them to reinstate the love of cycling among the citizens. A lot of companies like Bluegogo, Xiaoming Bike and many more sprung up in the industry of Bike sharing. The market leaders Mobike and Ofo meanwhile expanded across Southeast Asia, the US, Japan and Europe.
While the bikes were in bounty in the streets of China, they eventually got surplus and unused bikes started piling up in the bicycle graveyards. The sidewalks started getting clogged and people had to manoeuvre around the piles of the bikes which created an obstruction in the traffic as well. The industry players employed many trucks to collect improperly parked bikes and loads of workers to stack the bikes in a proper fashion. It’s just that this trash was good coloured but was enough to irk people. It went beyond imagination when companies recovered more than 3000 bikes dumped in rivers in Guangdong.
Successes and Failures of bike sharing in China
With the stature of being a pioneer in the global bike sharing industry, China also had its share of failures and successes of bike sharing in the country. Chinese bike sharing companies thought that they had a huge advantage over their global competitors by going the dockless way which didn’t really work out well eventually for them.
Successes of Bike sharing in China -
1. Huge fleet — Indeed China bike sharing industry has a lot of successes in its kitty which other countries should definitely take lessons from. Chinese industry, all companies put together had the fleet which was multiple times bigger than the rest of the world combined. The two major players Ofo and Mobike served 95 per cent of the Chinese market. Ofo owned over 10 million bikes to catered to over 9.65 million daily active users in 250 cities in China in March 2018. Mobike was also on the same lines with 8 million bikes running in 200 cities.
2. Capitalization on Technology — The players in China capitalized on the technology of using GPS and apps to book a bike for a number of hours. The Chinese cities saw a huge transformation as the entire concept proved to be extremely comfortable for commuters.
Research Credit: Mobike
3. Environmental impact — Bicycle sharing in China also contributed to an incredibly substantial environmental impact as the number of trips by private cars and taxis reduced by over 50%. Undoubtedly the bikes were generally used for short trips, but the effect on the environment could be clearly seen.
4. Reduction in parking space usage — Another success was observed in the reduced usage of parking space. Believe it or not, car parking occupies 10 times more space than bike parking. The free space can be used for plenty of other purposes, one of which could be planting trees.
5. Better utilization of public transport — The public transport system was getting underutilized because of a lack of connectivity to the stations. The bikes launched alleviated the connectivity to mass transport modes which were a huge success to the Chinese bike industry.
6. Employment opportunities — The operations of bike sharing companies encouraged bicycle production companies and created over 300 thousand jobs. Chinese companies contributed in more ways than one to boost the economy of the country and affect the environment in a positive way.
Failures of bike sharing in China-
Undeniably, there were many failures of the Chinese bicycle sharing companies which led to their downfall.
1.Improper parking of bikes — With a dockless bike, people were not bound to park at a specific spot and they were leaving the bikes anywhere. With the reckless parking of bikes, it created a lot of nuisance on the roads and in private parking spaces of people. The randomly parked bikes got difficult to regulate and created a lot of inconvenience to people.
The same government that was extremely excited about the launch of these bikes which were meant to curb pollution, solve traffic worries and free up parking spaces started taking strict steps to make sure that these companies regulate the parking of the bikes and put a check on the number of bicycles getting deployed on Chinese streets.
2. Dumping of bicycles on streets in a huge number — Another failure was observed when the streets were filled with bikes and got oversaturated. The government had to take many steps to put bike deployment and parking in accordance with the city’s requirements. The bikes were so much in number that officials had to impose a mandate of bike plate registration. A lot of technology was developed to ensure that bikes are parked at designated areas.
3. Troubles of Theft and Vandalism — Theft and Vandalism went out of control when the bikes were started to be seen with personal locks so that only that particular person could use the bike. The seats were getting stolen and theft touched a peak adding to one more failure to Chinese bike sharing industry.
4. Rebalancing of the bicycles — Another huge problem was that the bikes weren’t properly rebalanced based on the requirement of customers. The supply of bikes was overwhelming in the main areas of cities while it got difficult to find a bicycle in the suburbs. So, the rebalancing wasn’t efficient and according to the travel patterns of the users. The bike sharing industry surged up and then fell down too fast like every other technology bubble.
“It is said to be an unprofitable idea sustained by fantasy, false predictions, and the power of bigger firms.”
Learnings from Chinese bike sharing system for Indian Markets
There are many companies worldwide which are trying to set their foot in the industry of bicycle sharing. China has set examples for all of them to learn and they can now tweak their business strategy in order to succeed in the industry. Few of the takeaways from the failures and successes of the Chinese bike sharing system are as follows -
Filling the gaps in Public Transit
It is important to identify the spots which do not have public transport in a distance of 500 meters. These can also be referred to as blind spots and companies should try to fill this gap to reach public transit with a convenient way of bicycle sharing. In 2017, a Chinese internet company called Baidu identified these blind spots in Beijing which affected 50 per cent of its residents. Mobike utilized this opportunity and provided targeted services. It helped in reducing the gap in accessing public transport and immediately resonated with the Beijing residents. The key takeaway here is to strategically place the bikes instead of randomly dumping on the streets of the country.
2. Evidence-based urban planning
Planning a city based on the people density in an area is the ideal way which is bound to work in everybody’s favour. It is wise to use the metrics of movement of people to plan a city further. Mobike in China is providing the government with the ridership data so that efficient land use and infrastructure plans can be made. It makes perfect sense to urbanize the areas where ridership is more as compared to other areas. Also, the study of this data suggests that shared bikes extend each station’s utility radius from a walking distance to an 8–10 min, 3km riding distance.
3. Bring in Regulatory support
India is definitely a lucrative market from the sense of traffic, air pollution and road safety. There are numbers like over a half a million people were injured in road accidents and over 1,50,000 were killed in India in 2016 which are frightening, to say the least. With the right government policies and support, bike industry can bloom in India. The smart cities of India are already working on the lines of launching cycle initiatives like Pune Cycle Plan. This plan by the government focuses on the development of a sustainable urban transportation system. The civic body is also working on building an infrastructure where cycling can be encouraged. Hence, incorporating regulatory support in the industry is the way forward for India.
4. Pedal bicycles are unfit for daily commute in India
The bicycles which run only through pedalling are not fit for the Indian market for the daily commute. The extreme weather conditions, poor infrastructure and Indian mindsets do not encourage pedalling for the everyday commute. None of the Indians would want to sweat it out on their way to work. In fact, the then leading Chinese player Ofo exited the Indian markets due to cash crunch and non-fitment of pedal bicycles for Indian people. Following this, most of the players in the bicycle industry in India are switching to electric to cater to the Indian people.
5. Dockless isn’t the future
While a lot of companies in India are trying to achieve the feat in going dockless way, but the recklessly parked bikes in the middle of the streets, on the highways and on flyovers cause uncalled trouble for the residents of the city. The extra work of rebalancing the bikes involves a lot of manpower and trucks which could be done away if some well-thought strategies could be executed. ALthough dockless has its own advantages, but those definitely get outweighed by the drawbacks and inconvenience it causes. Remember the stack of bikes haphazardly parked on the streets of China. It’s only advisable to use caution before that situation arises in India.
6. Innovative strategies to overcome financial situations
A bunch of innovative strategies were launched by Chinese companies to control the investment on assets and yet able to run a huge fleet on the road. Ofo came up with the idea in which clients can contribute their bicycles in exchange for unlimited usage of other bikes at different locations. This would simply prevent them to invest more in the assets and yet have a sufficient fleet on the streets. The whole intention of sharing economy should be to minimise the material asset investment and utilize the limited assets to ramp up the service with maximum efficiency.
All of the experience of China bike sharing industry has a lot of value to add to the players who are trying to build a sustainable mode of transport in India. Bike sharing is certainly the way forward to overcome the woes of micro-mobility but a lot of factors play a massive role in building the right strategy for our country. It’s about time that we as a community work together to build a model that is favourable to everyone in the community and solves everyone’s commuting troubles. | https://medium.com/onn-mobility/learnings-from-the-chinese-bike-sharing-system-for-the-indian-market-c553631ec408 | ['Onn Bikes'] | 2019-05-13 09:45:24.882000+00:00 | ['Mobility', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Electric Mobility', 'Shared Mobility', 'Transportation'] |
Imagerie & traitement de texte : les applications du Deep Learning | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/jedha/imagerie-traitement-de-texte-les-applications-du-deep-learning-jedha-bootcamp-aace8bf94461 | ['Antoine Krajnc'] | 2020-12-11 12:58:27.774000+00:00 | ['Object Detection', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Deep Learning'] |
Rights of the data subject under GDPR | GDPR grants new rights to data subjects. These include:
Right of access: data subjects must be able to access any data that has been collected, or obtain copies of the data from the controller and/or processor. Right of rectification: should the data subject find inaccuracies in the data, they retain the right to correct any of the data. Right to object: after data collection, data subjects can object to how their data is being handled and halt further action. Right to restrict processing: data subjects can request that their data is not processed in a certain way or prevent further processing. Right to erasure: data subjects can ask that their data is deleted by the processor at the earliest possibility. Right to data portability: data subjects have the right to access their data in a digital format compatible with a variety of devices. Right to complain: if they are dissatisfied with how their data is being handled, or feel that their rights are not respected, data subjects have the right to complain to a supervisory authority. Right to be represented: when lodging complaints, data subjects have the right to representation by an independent, not-for-profit body. | https://medium.com/@patricksmith9021000/rights-of-the-data-subject-under-gdpr-45947f12ccf3 | ['Patrick Smith'] | 2021-06-17 09:51:25.050000+00:00 | ['Gdpr Compliance', 'Gdpr'] |
Create a simple bot creator in 33 lines of code | Hi, I am Amr Hesham and I am a software engineer who interested in android development and compiler design, and I love to play some RPG games, but some of those games have designed to make your stay on the game as much as possible, So they give you some repeated and boring tasks to do and it’s maybe every day, for example, collect several items …etc, so I have searched for a bot creator to use it and automate those tasks.
I have found a good one with many features like control mouse, keyboard, screen, check pixel color with some helper statements like if, loop …etc.
But to create your script you need to add a list of command with the GUI that means you can write a script like any programming language and I hated this idea, So after trying this program I got one question how can I design one like this or maybe better than it ?!
I started searching for how to control mouse, screen, keyboard in Java, and after some research, I got many answers and found an amazing class in java called Robot.
Robot as you can see in Oracle documentation
“This class is used to generate native system input events for test automation, self-running demos, and other applications where control of the …”
and it has many useful methods to do exactly what I want, and in this time I have read some Compiler Design books and created many toy programming languages, and also have a good experience in JavaFX Framework, so I found that it will be amazing if I merged my experience in Compiler Design, JavaFX and Robot Class to create my amazing Bot Creator Project.
I have started to create a scripting programming language with keywords for mouse, keyboard, screen then I added support for statements so I added if, while, repeat statements, after that, I want to make easy for the user to create a complex bot so I have added support for variables, functions and builtin function, for example, I have added builtin function called pixelColor to get the current mouse position pixel value, after finishing this language, it’s time for JavaFX to start so I have created a simple editor for it with some buttons like run, stop, restart …etc. and this is the result I called it SnapMacro.
SnapMacro Demo
After finished this project and using it in online games, I used it also to write a bot for Linkedin to add people or maybe I can use it to accept many people inventions and other things.
This is the story behind SnapMacro, by the way, Snap is the name of my scripting language, but the article is not ended here and the goal is not just telling my story but it to show you how to create a simple bot creator in just 33 lines with the same concept.
yes as you can see it will just 33 lines of code!
We will not create a scripting language or support statements or variables, but we will create a simple bot creator that support mouse, keyboard commands.
So first what we want from out small bot creator? basically, we will support 3 types of commands and the result will be 7 commands.
Mouse Commands
mouse move x y
mouse press right | left
mouse release right | left
mouse wheel x
Keyboard Commands
keyboard press x
keyboard release x
Delay Commands
delay x
So let’s start creating out bot creator, and we will use Kotlin Programming language in this article but you can use Java too or take the concept and use your favorite programming language it doesn’t matter.
First, we will user Scanner class to read user input from the console and we will initialize an instance of Robot Class and we will user when to check what is the type of current command.
fun main() {
val scanner = Scanner(System.`in`)
val robot = Robot()
while (scanner.hasNext()) {
when (scanner.next()) {
"mouse" -> {}
"keyboard" -> {}
"delay" -> {}
}
}
}
And now inside every type, we need to support some commands so let us start with the smallest one “delay” is has only one command which is delay x that take time in a millisecond as integer and use Robot to make delay, so the code will be like this.
"delay" -> robot.delay(scanner.nextInt())
Now let’s move to mouse commands and it has 4 commands move, click and wheel, first “press” command and it will take right or left and we will use when to check this, then we have “release” and it exactly like “press” in the structure, then we have “move” command and it takes x and y values and moves the cursor to this position so we need to scan two integers for this command, after that we have “wheel” command and it need just one positive or negative integer.
"mouse" -> when (scanner.next()) {
"press" -> {
when (scanner.next()) {
"right" -> robot.mousePress(BUTTON3_DOWN_MASK)
"left" -> robot.mousePress(BUTTON1_DOWN_MASK)
}
}
"release" -> {
when (scanner.next()) {
"right" -> robot.mouseRelease(BUTTON3_DOWN_MASK)
"left" -> robot.mouseRelease(BUTTON1_DOWN_MASK)
}
}
"move" -> robot.mouseMove(scanner.nextInt(), scanner.nextInt())
"wheel" -> robot.mouseWheel(scanner.nextInt())
}
And now we finished mouse command and we will go for keyboard commands, it has only two commands, “press” and “release” and they take character code, but it will not be very good to force the user to write the keycode like so we will read a character and convert it to a keycode, Robot has a good function that will do this job for use it called getExtendedKeyCodeForChar it takes char and return keycode as an integer, so the keyboard commands part will be like this.
"keyboard" -> {
val action = scanner.next()
val character = scanner.next()
val key = KeyEvent.getExtendedKeyCodeForChar(character[0].toInt())
when (action) {
"press" -> robot.keyPress(key)
"release" -> robot.keyRelease(key)
}
}
And now Congratulation, you have a simple bot creator so now you can write a script like.
mouse point 500 500
mouse press left
delay 500
mouse release left
mouse wheel 100
keyboard press A
delay 500
keyboard release A
delay 500
And it will work fine :D
And this is the full code is about 33 lines of code.
fun main() {
val scanner = Scanner(System.`in`)
val robot = Robot()
while (scanner.hasNext()) {
when (scanner.next()) {
"mouse" -> when (scanner.next()) {
"press" -> {
when (scanner.next()) {
"right" -> robot.mousePress(BUTTON3_DOWN_MASK)
"left" -> robot.mousePress(BUTTON1_DOWN_MASK)
}
}
"release" -> {
when (scanner.next()) {
"right" -> robot.mouseRelease(BUTTON3_DOWN_MASK)
"left" -> robot.mouseRelease(BUTTON1_DOWN_MASK)
}
}
"move" -> robot.mouseMove(scanner.nextInt(), scanner.nextInt())
"wheel" -> robot.mouseWheel(scanner.nextInt())
}
"keyboard" -> {
val action = scanner.next()
val character = scanner.next()
val key = KeyEvent.getExtendedKeyCodeForChar(character[0].toInt())
when (action) {
"press" -> robot.keyPress(key)
"release" -> robot.keyRelease(key)
}
}
"delay" -> robot.delay(scanner.nextInt())
}
}
}
If you are interested in this type of projects you shouldn’t stop here, and try to improve it as must as you can, if you want to convert it to a scripting language I recommend to you Crafting Interpreter book that will teach you how to create a compiler and interpreter, you can also store the commands and support some new commands like restart, exit …etc.
You can find me on: Github, Linkedin, Twitter.
Thanks and Enjoy Coding 😋. | https://itnext.io/create-a-simple-bot-creator-in-33-lines-of-code-f8c44cd870d7 | ['Amr Hesham'] | 2021-02-14 21:51:12.134000+00:00 | ['Game Bot', 'Bot Creator', 'Kotlin', 'Robot', 'Automation'] |
The Sacred Story of Shamanism | Around 3,750 generations ago, terrible new afflictions began to overtake certain people in the old tribes of man. Then, after overcoming what they viewed as a sort of small death, they emerged from their ordeal as if reborn. They woke up to their own divinity, assigning preeminence to the spirit world. As such, those divinely inspired indigenous Africans were the first people to be regarded as having access to, and influence in, the domain of the supernatural. So, they became special helpers of the community, using their newly acquired talent to obtain all sorts of otherwise inaccessible information.
Simply put, around 75,000 years ago, the original masters of the arcane mysteries learned how to enter trances to perform healing and divining rituals, among other things. This is when people finally discovered the power of prayer. Ultimately though, the first to become enlightened taught the appropriate standards of conduct for maintaining order among people in accordance with the divine. In so doing, they established the very first spiritual age. Since then, their apprenticeship trade has been passed on from one generation to the next, although it is an increasingly diminishing part of the ethnosphere of our species, as more and more of the chains get broken. The ancient oral traditions are gradually dying off. The animistic hunter-gatherers are nearly extinct. Their songs may soon go unsung.
Regardless, as part of the prehistoric advent of the human imagination, the story of shamanism traces out the widespread journey of our species as we colonized the planet. This began around 50,000 years ago, when a small band of magico-religious people set out of Africa on a coastal boating migration that took them up and around and down until they eventually reached Australia. There the indigenous people established a new set of traditions. In this way, they began to influence the spirits of their ancestors and the local flora and fauna by mirroring new kinds of behaviors. In line with this, they would adorn themselves in leaves and feathers and family heirlooms to aid in holy reenactments.
The stories that all of the ancients told was always one that reintroduced the human legacy from their particular point of view. Each new group told a myth of their people as the original inhabitants of the world in a time and place that made them seem exclusively divine. As part of this, around 40,000 years ago, another band of wandering nomads set out on an inland diaspora that took them north. This inevitably gave rise to the Eurasian branch of shamanism. This was right around the time that humans began to paint the walls of caves with strange images. People splintered off, more and more, creating custom after custom in the process of it all.
The European shamans, in particular, believed that certain caves were sacred sites that served as doorways to the spirit world. To sanctify a space, they would often record what they had experienced by painting on the walls. There are a limited number of geometric shapes hardwired into the brain and those very images adorn some of the oldest sacred spaces on Earth. The pitch black environments were routinely used for sensory deprivation rituals and then illuminated with torches during initiation ceremonies to give newcomers a glimpse of what they could expect to encounter on their spiritual journey. Sometimes, the acoustic chambers were used for ritual chanting. The list just goes on and on. The point is that these places were the doorways to the other side. They were portals to a new world.
This is when primitive paleolithic psychedelia really hit the scene. Non-ordinary states of awareness were held in the highest esteem by pioneering consciousness researchers the world over. They took full advantage of their modular brains, as our minds developed up through the hierarchy of needs. They experimented with chanting and dancing and discovered breath regulation and so much more. In this way, the shamans developed very reliable ways of engaging with the trans-personal realm of being. Drugs and drumming were all the rage. Altered states of consciousness were an essential aspect of their prehistoric culture. It was often unheard of for a shaman to try and commune with the spirit world without consuming some sort of entheogenic sacrament in the process.
By 27,000 years ago, shamanism had made it all the way to Siberia where healers would watch reindeer eat hallucinogenic mushrooms and trip out. Then, they would consume the yellow snow they left behind to go on a transcendent journey of their own. The shamans then repeated the process by returning to their villages with the red and white fungus which they would eat. Other members of the tribe would then drink the urine of the shaman, to induce their own visions. These medicine men contacted mythic beings and negotiated with them in order to cease calamities. If their wrath was believed to be caused by taboo breaches, the shamans asked for confessions from members of their community. Fourteen millennia later, part of the Chukchi tribe left to go establish the Navajo tribe in North America.
Over the span of three hundred generations, indigenous Americans eventually spread all the way down to the very bottom of South America, changing their magico-religious practices over time and across space as they went. In the Peruvian Amazon basin, the shamans are known as curanderos. In particular, the ayahuasqueros specialize in the use of a potent elixir known as the ayahuasca brew, which they learned about long ago by watching cats and listening to vines. These South American healers have even become quite popular among modern spiritual seekers who seek to be cured of illnesses like addiction and depression.
Although the shamans of the past seem to be vanishing more and more, the present is also giving rise to various forms of neo-pagan shamanism. These new age mystics have their own bag of tricks, including a range of classic and contemporary practices. A tattooed, modern primitive, urban shaman with dreadlocks and designer glasses might suspend herself from hooks on chains, in a hydraulic engine lift, that are pierced through her flesh while smoking cannabis oil out of a glass rig, with a blowtorch, in a warehouse. This is enough to propel the right person to another plane of existence, if only for a moment.
In the future, there will most certainly also be a fantastic revival of shamanism in the form of the techno-shamans. They will undoubtedly combine things like electronic dance music, transcranial stimulation helmets, nootropic and hallucinogenic compounds, strobe lights, virtual reality goggles, and countless other things to create their own kinds of radical peak experiences. The sacred story of shamanism is never-ending. The archetypal medicine man is immortal. Witch doctors are a permanent fixture of the world.
PRAISE BE TO THE SHAMANS!!! | https://joshuashawnmichaelhehe.medium.com/the-sacred-story-of-shamanism-6c84264be2d0 | ['Joshua Hehe'] | 2018-08-05 01:18:29.011000+00:00 | ['Culture', 'Anthropology', 'World', 'Religion', 'Spirituality'] |
Announcing Laracon Online | Laracon Online is a brand new one-day conference that will be held entirely online. This means no matter where you live you can now take part in Laracon. No hotels, no airfare, just signup and spend the day watching some of the best speakers right from your computer.
The speaker list includes Taylor Otwell, Jeffrey Way, Matt Stauffer, Adam Wathan, Evan You, Rachel Andrew, Nick Canzoneri, and Jason McCreary. Covering everything from new Laravel features to Vue.js, CSS, and more.
Laracon Online will be held on March 8th, 2017 with opening remarks at 8:45 AM EST. If you can’t attend that day, all the talks will be recorded and available online for viewing at your convenience shortly after the conference ends.
Registration is now open for everyone which includes a conference ticket, the recorded videos to watch after it’s over, a special Slack channel for hanging out and mingling, and even digital swag. All for just $10 during the early-bird special. | https://medium.com/laravel-news/announcing-laracon-online-ff21cd9a13e8 | ['Eric L. Barnes'] | 2017-02-06 20:25:28.212000+00:00 | ['PHP', 'Laravel', 'Conference', 'JavaScript'] |
Inbound Marketing VS Traditional Marketing | In the 21st century, consumers have been changing the way they seek to be informed to purchase products and/or services. Some of the content that most attracts these people are the messages at the right time in the timeline of a social network, mailings, recommendations of acquaintances or social networks, all these have a strong impact on consumers. Inbound for your company.
There is a methodology that does not correspond to the so-called traditional marketing, this appears because it is now consumed differently and therefore seeks to reach potential customers, in exchange for the traditional one that seeks to reach everyone regardless of whether or not they are the target audience, all this through repetition of messages, this methodology is known as Inbound Marketing.
Surely you wonder what are the differences between inbound marketing and traditional marketing, and why this first has been revolutionizing the strategies in the market. Here we share the 5 main differences:
Focus on the customer vs. focus on the product
Traditional marketing focuses largely on the product, what it is and its benefits for the customer, whereas inbound marketing focuses on people, their feelings and the development of the content of interest.
General public vs buyer person
In traditional marketing, when an advertisement is made for any means of communication, be it press, radio or television, the content is unlimited and reaches all viewers. On the other hand, Inbound Marketing works to define which public is the ideal client, better known as buyers, and according to their tastes or needs, what content, design, and message are going to be established.
Ads vs. quality content
In traditional marketing requires a budget because it requires a very high investment to reach all audiences regardless of who is treated through ads in traditional media such as radio, phone calls, and television and there are very few metrics to know if it really is working.
Unidirectional communication vs interactive communication
When a campaign is established in traditional media there are very few channels to have feedback with the client, however, in Inbound Marketing communication is interactive, digital and allows me to know the results of the campaigns by means of metrics.
Metrics vs. lack of information
If we put as an example, an accessories business for a market with an NSE AB, an Inbound strategy could be the creation of buyer people, with this develop a blog that is of interest on issues and frequent doubts.
A traditional marketing strategy would be used to broadcast advertisements on the radio or television, remembering and showing the benefits of the products and/or services.
In the strategy of Inbound, you can have how metrics visits to the blog, comments etc, however, the traditional requires surveys, focus group and is slower, plus there is no guarantee that the information obtained can be used to take new strategic decisions.
In many countries, Inbound Marketing is being widely accepted, and more and more companies are looking to specialize in this methodology since users are tired of receiving only advertising and spam. Therefore, it is necessary for your company to provide value to the user.
At Blue Rhino Media we can help you start this wonderful methodology, if you like to receive advice on Inbound marketing and how to apply it in your business make an appointment with us, leave your information on the form and an advisor will contact you within 24 hours. We would love to hear from you! | https://medium.com/@bluerhinomiami/why-should-your-company-do-inbound-marketing-ea0d6fd9e934 | ['Blue Rhino Media'] | 2021-01-03 12:47:57.454000+00:00 | ['Web Design', 'Websites', 'Web Development', 'Inbound Marketing', 'Marketing'] |
When Have We Blessed All That We Have | I am a writer, sharing my life with a partner and soul mate for over 52 years. We love to help others reach their Dreams. Thee Quest. Let us be your compass.
Follow | https://medium.com/theequest/when-have-we-blessed-all-that-we-have-b4b91e309174 | ['Pierre Trudel'] | 2020-10-14 14:01:16.554000+00:00 | ['Haiku', 'LGBTQ', 'Love', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Theequest'] |
Top 5 Future Economic Risks for 2021 | 1. Vaccine Hesitancy
2. Virus Mutation
3. Cyber War
4. Protracted Congressional Fighting
5. Credit Crunch
The combination of 1 & 2 will be tragic. But if accompanied by 3,4 or 5, then the optimism for the economy and the enthusiasm for stocks by investors will both shift down significantly.
Where Do You Fit?
Vaccine Hesitancy
As the first US shipments of vaccines roll-out, the optimism over the positive outcomes should be considered a bit more skeptically. Surveys in the US and abroad show a hesitancy to be fully all-in on a desire to get the vaccine once it becomes widely available. According to a KFF.org survey, about a quarter (27%) of the public remains vaccine hesitant, saying they probably or definitely would not get a COVID-19 vaccine even if it were available for free and deemed safe by scientists.
Here’s how KFF’s hesitancy numbers break down by groups from highest to lowest:
Republicans (42%)
Ages 30–49 (36%)
Rural residents (35%)
35% of Black adults
Essential workers (33%)
Health care delivery workers (29%)
Reasons given for the hesitancy range from worries about possible side effects (59%) to lack of trust in the government to ensure vaccines safety and effectiveness 55%). KFF is more optimistic than a recent Pew Research Center that showed only 60% saying they would get the vaccine and 39% saying they wouldn’t.
Remember, the first vaccines coming out require two shots exactly a month apart. This obstacle will further impede the dual recovery as some percentage of the group initially vaccinated will miss the next round and erode the efficacy rate.
Given conflicting reports during the initial outbreak and ethnic history (Tuskegee Study) /lack of trust (George Floyd), the hesitancy should be considered a potential serious impediment to a return to full economic and physical health for the US.
What a tangled web it weaves
The Virus Mutates
By definition, an RNA virus is an unstable organism and mistakes in copying the RNA as it moves from host to host are frequent. These viruses aren’t technically living as they need a host to survive. As a pathogen, its job is to evade the immune system, create more copies of itself and then spread to other hosts. This is why the yearly flu virus is so difficult to inoculate against. The FDA/CDC attempt to guess which strain will be the predominate one and then they approve the flu shot for the season. Their guesses are driven by the World Health Organization’s “Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) which puts out recommendations for which strains are most active. (It’s more complicated, but you get the idea.)
Moderna and Pfizer used first-time mRNA approaches to solving the virus and creating a vaccine. Yet, the point to be considered here is that it’s an RNA virus were dealing with. Already, we are seeing reports that British officials have identified COVID-19 mutations with over 1k infections showing a suite of mutations that may drive a surge. This could develop into an outbreak similar to the 1918–19 Spanish Flu where the initial outbreak (1918) was terrible, but the next year was worse (1919) as the virus became both more virulent and spread easier.
A more infectious and deadly strain of COVID-19 is a real possibility and is not being considered by the markets or the economy at this time as an important risk. If it occurs, we’ll see a much slower economic recovery and higher infections with deaths.
A combination of hesitancy and mutation will create the conditions for strongly negative outcomes on health issues, economic growth and job creation.
What country is this?
Cyber War
Cyber espionage is the playing field for spying between countries and businesses. Unlike the novels of John Le Carre, this is a digital world of hide and seek with critical communications and intellectual property at risk. The announced hacking of a leading cybersecurity firm, FireEye, plus major branches of the US government is a chilling, 2X4 to the head of all those involved in security. The break-in apparently came from Russia though a popular piece of server software offered by a company called SolarWinds.
The attack has been compared to a health virus that invades your body, multiplying, and attacking all your internal organs. It appears that the hackers stole the US own hacking capabilities that are used for finding vulnerabilities in foreign networks. This is considered a “very, very serious intrusion.” This comes at a vulnerable time for the US after President Trump recently fired Christopher Krebs, the director of Department of Homeland Security CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency).
The question remaining is the response of the US government towards Russia? Will this bring about a declaration of war between the two countries or merely a return to the Cold War? Too small of a response sends the message to other countries, like China, that it is okay to continue acting in this aggressive, digital espionage. Too large of a response would create the conditions for an outbreak of military hostilities.
Whatever president-elect Joe Biden believes will be his focus for the first 100 days, this cyber-attack will disrupt his plans and require a response as the country transitions political leadership. It will be a dangerous time and there is the potential for large mistakes to be made that can disrupt the global economy.
Look Familiar?
Congressional Fighting
After two years of a Trump administration with a split Congress, this risk is one almost everyone can understand. The impeachment of Trump along with the Mueller investigation has left deep scars on the Republican memory and is likely to drive how a Republican senate will approach a Biden administration.
Remember the role of the US Senate in Article II, section 2: “[The president] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States…” The Senate the exclusive right to provide advice and consent to the president on treaties and nominations.
During the Trump administration, there was difficulty getting many of his new personnel in place due to the 60 vote filibuster rule and Democrats withholding nominees from getting hearings or approvals. (A Democratic senate under Harry Reid did away with the filibuster rule for judicial nominees and allowed Republicans to place over 190 judges and 3 SCOTUS.) One can envision the same treatment to all of Biden’s Cabinet nominees as well as their deputies. This will slow the Biden administration’s plans on a wide range of policy plans from tax changes to spending to the environment.
Where this becomes a problem is what happens when there is a serious need to address and Congress won’t act? The US has critical economic needs, like affordable housing and infrastructure, that must be addressed or risk the continued deterioration of the country. To underscore how difficult this will be, President Trump couldn’t get an infrastructure deal done with a unified Republican Congress during his first two years.
The Sounds of Economic Crisis?
The economic fallout from the virus and the rolling shutdowns is not over and will continue to impact the United States in 2021. While the US government lending programs and stimulus measures have helped stave off a longer initial crisis, the medium term outlook remains cloudy for economic growth. Travel & tourism, leisure & hospitality, retail, and any face-to-face businesses will continue to see losses in the new year with or without the vaccine as consumers adjust and make permanent changes to their behavior. This has serious implications on corporate balance sheets.
One of the biggest changes is work from home (WFH) or work from anywhere (WFA). At this time, it’s a bad habit to over-extrapolate into the future the changes occurring under COVID, but this is one trend that was in place prior and has now been supercharged. Employee surveys show workers like the flexibility and a hybrid model of workplace attendance will likely remain in the future. Is it 1 day at home, 4 in the office? Is it 2:3 or 3:2? This one change has critical implications for transportation, office space and apartments.
The US is currently seeing a 13% drop in miles driven. While this doesn’t seem large, it has large implication for gasoline demand and production. Business air travel has collapsed. If continued, this would have a commensurate negative impact on oil companies and energy production in the United States. Granted, oil and gasoline prices have recovered, but what is their upside if this workplace trend has changed?
Along with this, downtown office space and apartment rental prices are cratering in the major US cities like San Francisco and New York. There have been very few CRE deals done in these groups and therefore, price discovery for how far they have fallen is difficult. This translates into questions over funding for city office space and apartments by either the markets or the banks. Banks with loans will likely begin the process of writing down the properties and taking hits to their loan portfolios and balance sheets. On top of this, financial institution with exposure to retail or retail malls is experiencing the “apocalypse” as shoppers stay away due to the virus, accelerating the downtrend in place prior to the outbreak.
As stated above, WFH and WFA are trends impacting demand for travel and transportation. Sales teams have learned you don’t need to travel for 3 hours to attend a 30 minute meeting with a client. It’s likely we’ll see a significant rise in non-performing loans (NPLS) at financial institutions with exposures to businesses like airlines and hotels as they remain significantly impacted by the virus. This will not likely turn-around with the vaccine.
The hope is that with a vaccine, the global economy will return to some normalcy and extended grace periods for loans and evictions will be enough to get everyone through the tough times. Yet in 2021, these grace periods will end, and the adjustment process will begin to rebalance lending and the economy. We should not expect lend & pretend extensions or a Japanese-style zombie approach. There will be limits (see above) to stimulus and government actions to delay the difficult and hard choices needed.
This potential credit crunch will be exacerbated by a slowing economy and any combinations of the other risks mentioned.
Darkly Moving Forward
And this last point applies to all.
2021 will not be as bright as we hoped should we see these risks occur.
With or without these risks happening, those in transportation, tourism, leisure & hospitality or anyone with a job in a face-to-face industry is going to need help next year and beyond. | https://medium.com/swlh/top-5-economic-risks-for-2021-91ee37c93dec | ['Andrew Busch'] | 2021-01-18 20:14:40.042000+00:00 | ['Vaccines', 'Congress', 'Economy', 'Cybersecurity', 'WFH'] |
Laravel — Security — Authentication (官方文件原子化翻譯筆記) | Photo by Kylie Anderson on Unsplash
# 版本
Laravel 7.x
# 前言
我喜歡使用 Laravel 開發的感覺, 除了開發快速, 程式碼簡潔且優雅之外, Laravel 框架本身也是一個很好的學習參照物。 本篇主要將官方文件重點整理成 Q&A 的形式呈現, 原子化的概念, 這方式並不適用於每個人, 但若對你有幫助, 我會很開心。
# Introduction
# Database Considerations
Laravel Authentication 中, 在建立 database schema for App\User model 時, 務必確保 password 欄位要幾字元長？
60 characters
Laravel Authentication 中, 在建立 database schema for App\User model 時, 務必確保 remember_token 欄位要幾字元長？
100 characters
# Authentication Quickstart
# Routing
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要快速開始 Authentication, 可以什麼 CLI 直接安裝註冊登入功能？
composer require laravel/ui
php artisan ui vue --auth
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下 CLI 會自動產生哪一個 controller 來處理登入後的請求?
CLI:
composer require laravel/ui
php artisan ui vue --auth
Answer: HomeController
Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 CLI 來達成 Authentication Quickstart 時, 自動建立的 authentication controllers 會被建立在哪個 namespace 底下？
App\Http\Controllers\Auth
Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 CLI 來達成 Authentication Quickstart 時, 自動建立的 RegisterController 處理什麼工作？
註冊
Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 CLI 來達成 Authentication Quickstart 時, 自動建立的 LoginController 處理什麼工作？
登入
Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 CLI 來達成 Authentication Quickstart 時, 自動建立的 ForgotPasswordController 處理什麼工作？
發送 email 連結重設密碼
Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 CLI 來達成 Authentication Quickstart 時, 自動建立的 ResetPassword 處理什麼工作？
重設密碼
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
Auth::routes(['register' => false]);
Answer: 不使用 Scaffolding 的 RegisterController
# Creating Applications Including Authentication
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
laravel new projectName --auth
Answer: 建立新專案時, 一同建立 authentication scaffolding
# Views
Laravel Authentication 中, 使用 authentication scaffolding 建立的 view 會位於哪個資料夾內？
resources/views/auth
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下的 CLI 會將 base layouts 置於死地哪個資料夾中？
resources/views/layouts
# Authenticating
# Path Customization
Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 authentication scaffolding 時, 預設驗證成功的使用會被導向 /home URI, 如果我要重新定義成 /yourHome , 那該在哪一個檔案中定義？
RouteServiceProvider
以下位於 RouteServiceProvider 的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
public const HOME = '/yourHome';
Answer: Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 authentication scaffolding 時, 預設驗證成功的使用會被導向 /home URI, 可在 RouteServiceProvider 的 HOME property 定義要導向的位置
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
class RouteServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
protected function authenticated(Request $request, $user)
{
return response([
//
]);
}
}
Answer: 當使用 authentication scaffolding 時, 預設登入驗證成功後, user 會被導向 /home URI, 如果想要自己定義驗證成功後的行為, 可使用 RouteServiceProvider 的 authenticated method
# Username Customization
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是?
Example:
<?php
public function username()
{
return 'name';
}
Answer: 當使用 Laravel Authentication scaffolding 時, 會使用 email 以及 password 欄位作為預設驗證欄位, 可使用 LoginController 中的 username(), 將 email 變更為任何你自訂的欄位
# Guard Customization
以下位於 Scaffolding — LoginController, RegisterController, ResetPasswordController 的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
protected function guard()
{
return Auth::guard('guard-name');
}
Answer: 在這些 scaffolding controller 中定義 guard, 所以會在預設的行為中使用定義的 guard
# Validation / Storage Customization
以下位於 Authentication Scaffolding — RegisterController 的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
protected function validator(array $data)
{
return Validator::make($data, [
'name' => ['required', 'string', 'max:255'],
'email' => ['required', 'string', 'email', 'max:255', 'unique:users'],
'password' => ['required', 'string', 'min:6', 'confirmed'],
]);
}
Answer: 當使用 Authentication Scaffolding 時, 可在 RegisterController 的 validator method 定義註冊會員時需要什麼資料, 以及驗證的 rule
以下位於 Authentication Scaffolding — RegisterController 的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
protected function create(array $data)
{
$user = User::create([
'name' => $data['name'],
'email' => $data['email'],
'password' => Hash::make($data['password']),
]);
Stats::create([
'user_id' => $user->id
]);
return $user;
}
Answer: 當使用 Authentication Scaffolding 時, 可在 RegisterController 中定義如何 create 一個 user, 資料要怎麼存
# Retrieving The Authenticated User
Laravel 中, 以下三種取得 authenticated user 的效果一樣嗎？
Example:
<?php
auth()->user()
Auth::user()
$request->user()
Answer: 一樣
# Determining If The Current User Is Authenticated
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
if (Auth::check()) {
// The user is logged in...
}
Answer: 判斷 current user 是否 authenticated, 回傳 boolean
# Protecting Routes
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
Route::get('profile', function () {
// Only authenticated users may enter...
})->middleware('auth');
Answer: 使用 auth middleware 來驗證目標 url 為 ‘profile’ 的請求
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
class PostContoller extends Controller
{
public function __construct()
{
$this->middleware('auth');
}
}
Answer: 在 PostController 當中使用 auth middleware
# Redirecting Unauthenticated Users
Laravel Authentication 中, 預設會將 unauthenticated user 重導向 login route, 如果我要自定義這個動作, 可以修改哪個檔案？
app/Http/Middleware/Authenticate.php
# Specifying A Guard
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
public function __construct()
{
$this->middleware('auth:api');
}
Answer: 指定 auth middleware 的 guard 為 api, 預設有 web 跟 api
# Password Confirmation
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
Route::get('/settings/security', function () {
})->middleware(['auth', 'password.confirm']);
Answer: 當 user 發 request 到這支 API 時, 除了會判斷身份是否 authenticated 之外, 還會導向特定頁面, 再次輸入密碼後方可存取該頁面
Laravel Authentication 中, 若我使用內建的 password.confirm middleware 來重新驗證密碼, 驗證過後, 預設有效時間是多長？
3 小時
Laravel Authentication 中, 若我使用內建的 password.confirm middleware 來重新驗證密碼, 驗證過後有效期限是 3 小時, 如果我要自定義這個時間, 可以在什麼地方定義？
auth.password_timeout
# Login Throttling
Laravel Authentication Scaffolding 中, 預設使用者輸入幾次帳密都錯誤, 會被 throttle 限制多久無法再登入？
1 分鐘
Laravel Authentication Scaffolding 中, throttle 會根據哪兩項資訊來判斷使用者的獨一性？
username / email
IP
# Manually Authenticating Users
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
class LoginController extends Controller
{
public function authenticate(Request $request)
{
$credentials = $request->only('email', 'password');
if (Auth::attempt($credentials)) {
// Authentication passed...
return redirect()->intended('dashboard');
}
}
}
Answer: 使用 Auth::attempt() 來驗證 $credentials 是否正確, 如果正確的話, redirect 到 request 原本的目標 url
Laravel Authentication 中, Auth::attempt() method 除了 username 以及 password 之外, 還可以接受其他參數嗎？
可以哦, 會自動對應資料庫的 column
# Specifying Additional Conditions
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
if (Auth::attempt(['email' => $email, 'password' => $password, 'active' => 1])) {
// The user is active, not suspended, and exists.
}
Answer: Auth::attempt() 除了可帶入預設 email, password 之外, 也可驗證其他 column
# Accessing Specific Guard Instances
Laravel Authentication 中, 什麼情況下, 我們可能會需要用到不同的 guard?
當我的應用同時使用不同的 authenticatable models 或 user table
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
if (Auth::guard('admin')->attempt($credentials)) {
//
}
Answer: guard 預設為 api 或 web, 也可自定義 guard, example 中指定使用 guard 'admin' 來驗證
# Remembering Users
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
if (Auth::attempt(['email' => $email, 'password' => $password], true)) {
// The user is being remembered...
}
Answer: 使用 Auth::attempt() 驗證, 且當使用 web route 時, 可在 arg2 帶入 true 啟動 remember_me feature, 會在 table 記下 remember_token
Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 remember me 功能時, Laravel 會在 User table 中的哪一個欄位記下 token?
remember_token
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
if (Auth::viaRemember()) {
//
}
Answer: 判斷 user 是否經由 remember_me token authenticated
# Other Authentication Methods
# Authenticate A User Instance
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要登入一個 model, 該 model 必須要是哪個 class 的 implementation?
Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\Authenticatable
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
Auth::login($user, true);
Answer: 使用 $user model login, 並開啟 remember_me feature
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
Auth::guard('admin')->login($user, true);
Answer: 使用指定的 guard admin 來 authenticate, 使用 $user model 登入, 並開啟 remember_me feature
# Authenticate A User By ID
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
Auth::loginUsingId(1, true);
Answer: 使用 User 來 login, 並且開啟 remember_me 的功能
# Authenticate A User Once
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
if (Auth::once($credentials)) {
//
}
Answer: auth 過後並不會動用到 cookie 或 session 或 token, 也就是說相當於當下的 request 有效而已
# HTTP Basic Authentication
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
Route::get('profile', function () {
// Only authenticated users may enter...
})->middleware('auth.basic');
Answer: 使用 HTTP Basic Authentication middleware, 這樣任何到 ‘profile’ 的 request 都會經過 HTTP Basic Authentication 驗證
Laravel Authentication 中, auth.basic middleware 預設會取哪一個 column 的值當作 username?
email
# A Note On FastCGI
Laravel Authentication 中, 當我使用 PHP FastCGI 並且想要使用 HTTP Basic Authentication 時, 需要在哪個檔案加入以下程式碼？
程式碼:
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Authorization} ^(.+)$
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
Answer: .htaccess file
# Stateless HTTP Basic Authentication
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
namespace App\Http\Middleware;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
class AuthenticateOnceWithBasicAuth
{
public function handle($request, $next)
{
return Auth::onceBasic() ?: $next($request);
}
}
Answer: 若要使用 HTTP Basic Authentication, 且不在 server 記下 session, 即關閉瀏覽器後, 使用者便需要重新登入, 那可自定義以上 middleware
# Logging out
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
Auth::logout();
Answer: 登出該使用者, 也就是說清除 server 上的 session 以及 token
# Invalidating Sessions On Other Devices
Laravel Authentication 中, 當用戶更改完密碼後, 我必須要讓該用戶在所有其他裝置失效, 若要做到這點, 我必須要讓哪一個內建的 middleware un-commented?
Example:
<?php
'web' => [
// ...
// 這裡是？
// ...
],
Answer:
<?php
'web' => [
// ...
\Illuminate\Session\Middleware\AuthenticateSession::class,
// ...
],
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
Auth::logoutOtherDevices($password);
Answer: 當 user 變更密碼之後, 可能會需要把變更密碼前的所有裝置都 logout, 這時就可以使用 logoutOtherDevices method
Laravel Authentication 中, 當用戶更改完密碼後, 我必須要讓該用戶在所有其他裝置失效, 當我啟動 AuthenticationSession middleware 來做到這點後, 如果我用來登入的 route 不是叫做 login, 那我必須要再來 exception handler 中 override 哪一個 method 來導向我設定的登入用 route?
unauthenticated method
# Social Authentication
# Adding Custom Guards
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要自定義 guard, 可以在哪個檔案中的 boot method 定義？
AuthServiceProvider
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要自定義 guard, 可以在哪個 AuthServiceProvider 的 boot method 中, 使用哪一個 method?
Auth::extend method
# Closure Request Guards
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要使用 closure 來自定義 custom guard, 可以在哪個檔案中的 boot method 中定義？
AuthServiceProvider
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要使用 closure 來自定義 custom guard, 可以在 AuthServiceProvider 中的 哪個 method 定義？
boot method
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要使用 closure 來自定義 custom guard, 可以在 AuthServiceProvider 中的 boot method 中使用哪個 method？
Auth::viaRequest
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
use App\User;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
public function boot()
{
$this->registerPolicies();
Auth::viaRequest('guardName', function ($request) {
return User::where('token', $request->token)->first();
});
}
Answer: 自定義一個 guard, 名為 guardName closure 內為 guard 的規則
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
use App\User;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
public function boot()
{
$this->registerPolicies();
Auth::viaRequest('custom-token', function ($request) {
// User instance or null
});
}
Answer: 在 Auth Service Provider boot() 中, 使用 Auth::viaRequest 自定義一個 closure based guard, arg1 為 guard name, arg2 為驗證的 closure, 若驗證通過則 return user instance, 若否則為 null
以下位於 config/auth.php 的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
'guards' => [
'api' => [
'driver' => 'custom-token',
],
],
Answer: Laravel 中, api guard 預設使用 driver 為 token, 即驗證的邏輯, 上面 example 中指定了 guard api 需使用自定義的 custom-token guard 來驗證
# Adding Custom User Providers
Laravel Authentication 中, guard 跟 provider 的差別？
guard 是 Laravel 將把 authenticated user’s detail 存在哪, 像是 session, database, etc
User provider 是 Laravel 如何 authenticate a user, 像是 Eloquent, 或 API, 或其他
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要自定義一個 user provider, 可以在哪個檔案中中的 boot method？
AuthServiceProvider
Laravel Authentication 中, 如果我要自定義一個 user provider, 可以在 AuthServiceProvider 中的 哪一個 method 定義？
boot method
# The User Provider Contract
Laravel Authentication 中, Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\UserProvider 的作用？
透過各種 method 從 persistent storage system 中取出並回傳一個 Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\Authenticatable implementation
以下的 Laravel example code 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
namespace Illuminate\Contracts\Auth;
interface UserProvider
{
public function retrieveById($identifier);
}
Answer: 透過 id 取得 authenticatable implementation
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下的 UserProvider contract 的作用是？
Example:
<?php
namespace Illuminate\Contracts\Auth;
interface UserProvider
{
public function retrieveByToken($identifier, $token);
}
Answer: 透過 $identifier 以及 $token (remember_token) 取得 authenticatable implementation
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下的 UserProvider contract 的作用是？
Example:
<?php
namespace Illuminate\Contracts\Auth;
interface UserProvider
{
public function updateRememberToken(Authenticatable $user, $token);
}
Answer: 當使用者使用 rmemeber_me 功能登入, 或登出時更新 remember_token 的值
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下的 UserProvider contract 的作用是？
Example:
<?php
namespace Illuminate\Contracts\Auth;
interface UserProvider
{
public function retrieveByCredentials(array $credentials);
}
Answer: 透過 $credential 來取得 authenticatable implementation
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下的 UserProvider contract 的作用是？
Example:
<?php
namespace Illuminate\Contracts\Auth;
interface UserProvider
{
public function validateCredentials(Authenticatable $user, array $credentials);
}
Answer: 驗證 $credential 並回傳 boolean
# The Authenticatable Contract
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下的 authenticatable method 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
namespace Illuminate\Contracts\Auth;
interface Authenticatable
{
public function getAuthIdentifierName();
}
Answer: 取得 primary key 的欄位名稱
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下的 authenticatable method 的意思是？
Example:
<?php
namespace Illuminate\Contracts\Auth;
interface Authenticatable
{
public function getAuthIdentifier();
}
Answer: 取得 primary key 欄位的 值
# Events
Laravel Authentication 中, 以下的 example 的用途是？
Example:
<?php
protected $listen = [
'Illuminate\Auth\Events\Registered' => [
'App\Listeners\LogRegisteredUser',
],
'Illuminate\Auth\Events\Attempting' => [
'App\Listeners\LogAuthenticationAttempt',
],
'Illuminate\Auth\Events\Authenticated' => [
'App\Listeners\LogAuthenticated',
],
'Illuminate\Auth\Events\Login' => [
'App\Listeners\LogSuccessfulLogin',
],
'Illuminate\Auth\Events\Failed' => [
'App\Listeners\LogFailedLogin',
],
'Illuminate\Auth\Events\Logout' => [
'App\Listeners\LogSuccessfulLogout',
],
'Illuminate\Auth\Events\Lockout' => [
'App\Listeners\LogLockout',
],
'Illuminate\Auth\Events\PasswordReset' => [
'App\Listeners\LogPasswordReset',
],
]; | https://medium.com/learn-or-die/laravel-security-authentication-%E5%AE%98%E6%96%B9%E6%96%87%E4%BB%B6%E5%8E%9F%E5%AD%90%E5%8C%96%E7%BF%BB%E8%AD%AF%E7%AD%86%E8%A8%98-ad6314d2bf05 | ['Ray Lee'] | 2020-12-25 07:55:41.088000+00:00 | ['Authentication', 'Backend', 'Laravel', 'Documentation'] |
A guide to knowing the types of bikes | The bike segmentation is based on a survey of the products of six bike manufacturing companies: Kendall, Scott, Giant, Turk and Especialize and several other brands. Because these companies have a wide variety of products, so a wider range of products can be found in them. Producer companies name their products according to the needs of the global market and name them in the main categories. These designations can be slightly different in the production companies and in different countries or a bicycle produced by one of the companies. It can be divided into two categories, for example, both the urban bike category and the tourist bike category. Or again, for example in the mountain bike section, a bike can be found both in Al Montaine and Andrew! Because the uses of some of the styles of bikes are close together and this will inevitably happen. However, in this tutorial we tried to introduce the most complete category of bikes along with the image of the bike and its style of use.
Mountain bicycle
Cross country Cross country
Sport Sport
Trail Trail
Al Montaine All mountain
/ Andrew Enduro
Downhill Dunnell
Fat bikes
Urban Bike
Urban Urban Bike
Hybrid
Fitness Fitness
Folding folding bike
Tourist bike
Touring Touring
Road bike
RACE RACE
Endurance Road
CYCLOCROSS CYCLE CROSS
TRIATHLON Triple and Triple Time
Bike Track / TRACK
Demo Bike
Jump / dirt jump
Bmx bmx
Trial
Electric Bicycle
Electric / Electric
Mountain bicycle
As the mountain bike name suggests, this style of bike is designed for dirt roads. But the work does not end there, and the mountain bike is divided into seven categories that differentiate each one from the other, so knowing them is crucial to choosing or buying a bike. Here’s a look at the seven styles along with their images.
Some sort of mountain bike segmentation is based on the design and type of auxiliary used, including Hard Tail and Full Suspension bikes. Hard Tail are usually referred to as bicycles that have only one auxiliary or no auxiliary.
Full Suspension Cycles are called bicycles that also have a rear wheel assist. These bikes have a dual frame, with a triangular section at the front of the bike and another at the rear of the bike.
Hard Tail Bike with Full Suspension
Now you might be wondering what the difference is between Hard Tail and Full Suspension bikes? In fact, this is the style of cycling to determine which one is best for you! If you are not a professional cyclist, buying a Full Suspension bike will only cost you extra money, as it has a rear-wheel drive assist. In such circumstances, the use of Hard Tail bikes is advantageous. Full Suspension bikes are mostly used for landing on mountain roads to relieve much of the pressure on the handlebars and wheels via the second rear-wheel-drive assist.
Cross Country Bike Types
Learn the basics of mountain bikes. There is a general principle. The way you go at the bottom of this chart is to design bicycles that are less pedestrianized and scrollier. At the top of this table is a cross-country bike designed for greater pedaling and less rugged track navigation, and at the bottom of this table is a dual-wheel bike that is designed only for very difficult and steep downhill trails. A Simple Way To Determine How Mountain Bikes Get Their Front-Aid Play Games This method can help you easily identify what category of bikes you are in before you look at the manufacturer’s catalog or website. has it. For example, a cross-country bike is 10 or 11cm in front of the bike, and a 20cm front-wheel drive bike for the Dunhill bike, designed for very rough downhill routes. So pay attention to the sheaths used. Apart from that, the accessories in each category are different. At first glance it might be a bit difficult to identify the style of a bike, but playing with the help of the front seat is a good criterion.
The amount of play in the forearm (front help) is 10 or 11 cm
Rear Assist: In some models it has rear assist and in others it does not (depends on the choice of rider or bike and race track)
This style of mountain bike is the most popular style in mountain bike which is divided into two categories of professional and non-professional. The non-professional style is known as the Sport Mountain, sport xc, or similar names, which we will introduce later. In this style: The Cross Country bike model is designed for professional racing and you need to spend at least $ 2,000 to buy a good model, which will be very expensive for our rial currency in Iran, apart from a proper bike. A professional cyclist. And it’s not a good option to start cycling or biking in the city. So this model is for professionals only.
Mountain Bike / Sport Sport
In fact, this style of bike is a cross country bike designed and manufactured for the general public and not for professional racing. It can be said that this is the most original mountain bike style. This is the style that the original mountain bike was formed with and is now complete but still the closest style to the classic mountain bike models. In this model, like a cross-country bike, a 10- or 11-centimeter front suspension is used. It is rarely used in the “middle-range” so it is less of a mountain suspension sport than a Full Suspension bike and is used only in the front suspension of the suspension bike. Some manufacturers separate the style from the Cross Country bike and introduce it as the Sport Mountain, Sport xc, and in a separate style. However, some manufacturers of the bike classify this bike as a cross-country or non-professional cross-country mountain bike, but at a lower level than cross-country racing bikes. In the way that the accessories and frames used in this style of bike are used in the medium and lower range of the bike, which in turn will bring a lower price to the consumer, this does not mean, in any way, that this style of bike Poor quality! And vice versa they will be very high quality, in this section we will not focus on the quality of the bike and the quality of the bike in the guide to the bike.
In the past, these two styles of bikes were one, but with each specialization the two styles were separated from the mountain bike.
Who’s useful: This style of mountain bike has the most spectrum of enthusiasts. In fact, it is very suitable for those who want to go hiking or for those who prefer to bike in the forest parks or in the mountainous cities. Not designed for the city. In most models of this style, the space on the bike body is designed for the connection of the bracket and the socket, so this bike can be one of the options for traveling by bicycle, although not specifically designed for this purpose.
CYCLING MAGAZINE | https://medium.com/@sibsabz171717/a-guide-to-knowing-the-types-of-bikes-c3c94c87815a | [] | 2019-11-14 13:39:16.627000+00:00 | ['Cycling'] |
The Tropical secret for Healthy weight loss | Are you struggling to lose weight no matter how much you diet or exercise? turns out it’s not your fault.
A 2021 study published in nature medical of 52,000 women and men the largest of its kind in humans found just one common factor in every overweight man and women low brown adipose tissue levels they also found common in every skinny person was high brown adipose tissue levels
brown adipose tissue bat also known as brown fat is not fat at all its, not a fat storer but a fat shrinker its brown color comes from its densely packed
mitochondria which work 24/7 to burn calories from your fat stores and the food you eat into pure natural energy. even though bat makes up a fraction of your weight it can burn up to 300 times more calories than any other cell in your body.
support healthy weight loss with Exipure’s proprietary
blend of 8 exotic nutrients and plants backed by clinical research.
With your brand-new fast-tracked body comes a new mindset. Discover simple methods you can do right now to instantly relieve stress and calm your mind boost confidence and reduce anxiety | https://medium.com/@jameshob498/the-tropical-secret-for-healthy-weight-loss-fcf0dde47f54 | [] | 2021-12-24 17:47:43.848000+00:00 | ['Weight', 'Health', 'Healthcare', 'Weightloss Foods', 'Weight Loss Tips'] |
Is your AI Fair, Transparent and Accountable? | moral.ai? graphic
Fueled by the cloud, and the commoditization of the computational power, we have opened up new frontiers in research leading to unprecedented gains in the field(s) of artificial intelligence. We have wrapped these scientific advancements into APIs and libraries that deliver enormous power into the hands of full stack developers. We are able to realize these power in practical applications such as chat bots (NLP/NLU), predictive modeling / machine learning and image recognition (to name a few). The opportunities for automation as well as autonomous and intelligent systems are growing, but we are realizing the current capabilities for short term competitive advantage. As the field of AI progressed and these techniques become more commoditized leveraging them will be table stakes for business. It is easy to get focus on the enormous benefits presented — but we need to assure our application of the tooling and techniques adheres to the same ethical and moral guidelines we run our businesses on.
I have been socializing the need for guidance in the space. We need to discuss the challenges of artificial intelligence and the importance of minimizing the effect of unintended consequences. The long term implications of these systems will challenge much of what we know about society. However there are immediate short term concerns, where even “innocuous intent”, might pose real risks to our brand and our business. There is momentum in this space (guidance on AI) which is mostly academic, but industry organizations, such as IEEE, have stared to weigh in. These bits that follow are notes from my research and conversations. This is an attempt to start the conversation and to solicit peers who are both fascinated by the opportunities but also conscientious practitioners.
Please read, comment and share.
Warm up
This brief eight minute video covers some of the risks — particularly inclusivity and bias. It’s a solid warm up.
HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE — Moral Code: The Ethics of AI
A Snapshot of Concerns
Bias has crept into a number of applications and algorithms actively in use. Here are four that span gender, racial and neighborhood bias and are fairly representative of systems behaving different than one would expect during the ideation phase of product creation. Maybe the impact of bias could have been avoided, but at minimum users should be made aware of the bias so they can adjust their interpretation appropriately.
Amazon resume screening with gender bias
Google speech has gender bias
COMPAS, a judicial sentencing tool, has racial bias
PredPol, a proactive policing, has neighborhood bias (redlining)
Two valuable lessons stemming from these instances:
how the behavior experienced is different than the behavior expected when the product was being designed how did the system learn that unintended behavior and what could have been done to prevent it
The Evolving Guidance
The evolving guidance seems to focus on three key areas: Fairness, Accountability and Transparency. I argue that a fourth component Data helps complete the discussion, although the counter is that data cross cuts the original three. It is important that we coalesce on an opinion, informed by regulation and industry best practices, across these four topic areas:
Fairness
Defining algorithmic “fairness”, http://fairness-measures.org/Pages/Definitions differentiates fairness, bias and discrimination:
Group Fairness : It is also referred to as statistical parity. It is a requirement that the protected groups should be treated similarly to the advantaged group or the populations as a whole.
: It is also referred to as statistical parity. It is a requirement that the protected groups should be treated similarly to the advantaged group or the populations as a whole. Individual Fairness: It is a requirement that individuals should be treated consistently.
It is a requirement that individuals should be treated consistently. Comparison between Group & Individual Fairness: Group fairness does not consider the individual merits and may result in choosing the less qualified members of a group, whereas individual fairness assumes a similarity metric of the individuals for the classification task at hand that is generally hard to find.
Group fairness does not consider the individual merits and may result in choosing the less qualified members of a group, whereas individual fairness assumes a similarity metric of the individuals for the classification task at hand that is generally hard to find. User Bias: This appears when different users receive different content based on user attributes that should be protected, such as gender, race, ethnicity, or religion.
This appears when different users receive different content based on user attributes that should be protected, such as gender, race, ethnicity, or religion. Content Bias: It refers to biases in the information received by any user. Take for example, when some aspect is disproportionately represented in a query result or in news feeds.
It refers to biases in the information received by any user. Take for example, when some aspect is disproportionately represented in a query result or in news feeds. Direct Discrimination: This consists of rules or procedures that explicitly mention minority or disadvantaged groups based on sensitive discriminatory attributes related to group membership.
This consists of rules or procedures that explicitly mention minority or disadvantaged groups based on sensitive discriminatory attributes related to group membership. Indirect Discrimination: This consists of rules or procedures that, while not explicitly mentioning discriminatory attributes, intentionally or unintentionally could generate discriminatory decisions. It exists due to the correlation of the non-discriminatory items with the discriminatory ones.
Accountability
Neither by omission nor commission should we accept systematic bias and inappropriate behavior either coded or learned by our systems. Providing guidance requires that we understand where these systems are deployed so that their behavior can be documented and monitored. Education of the engineers and product owners is essential in being able to understand how bias may impact the software we build out.
As intelligent systems increase in capacity we will likely face another question: “Can we hold the software accountable for the decisions it makes?” While the software itself and the author/provider might be parties we that eventually hold some accountability the immediate accountable party might best be the deployer who commissions the usage.
The guiding thought is placing the consumers first and by protecting our consumers and therefore protecting our brand. Forbes weighs in (https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2018/05/31/accountability-the-one-thing-you-cant-outsource-to-ai/#3b59627b7e18)
it is imperative to remember that we built the machines, and that accountability is the one thing we can’t outsource to AI
Transparency
Transparency requires us to understand and document in an audit-able manner the intent of our software systems, how they behave (including how they may have been trained) and how these systems are maintained. The HP video draws a line, “If you cannot explain what this program has done, it just should not be released”. And further explains transparency as:
Part of transparency is to be able to explain the logical steps that it went through to arrive at a certain recommendation
An engineer needs to understand the algorithms at play. The quote implies that blind use of black-box algorithms should be avoided. Some organizations have moved to avoid leveraging black-box algorithms, while some vendors (such as IBM) have pivoted to provide visibility into their black-boxes (https://www.computerworlduk.com/data/how-ibm-is-taking-lead-in-fight-against-black-box-algorithms-3684042/)
IBM is open sourcing software intended to help AI developers to see inside their creations via a set of dashboards, and dig into why they make decisions. …It promises real-time insight into algorithmic decision making and detects any suspicion of baked-in bias, even recommending new data parameters which could help mitigate any bias it has detected. Importantly, the insights are presented in dashboards and natural language, “showing which factors weighted the decision in one direction vs. another, the confidence in the recommendation, and the factors behind that confidence,” the vendor explained in a press release. “Also, the records of the model’s accuracy, performance and fairness, and the lineage of the AI systems, are easily traced and recalled for customer service, regulatory or compliance reasons — such as GDPR compliance.”
It is about the factors of the decision more (but not exclusive of) than the mechanics of the algorithm (https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609495/ai-can-be-made-legally-accountable-for-its-decisions/)
“When we talk about an explanation for a decision, we generally mean the reasons or justifications for that particular outcome, rather than a description of the decision-making process in general,” they say.
Selecting partners who provide visibility into the black-box is probably preferred than avoiding effective algorithms and should be factored into vendor selection criteria. There is also consideration of being transparent to end users when they may be interacting with autonomous systems, witness this forthcoming California Law (http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1001):
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to use a bot to communicate or interact with another person in California online, with the intent to mislead the other person about its artificial identity for the purpose of knowingly deceiving the person about the content of the communication in order to incentivize a purchase or sale of goods or services in a commercial transaction or to influence a vote in an election. A person using a bot shall not be liable under this section if the person discloses that it is a bot.
While some formal governance might help provide fair and equal guidance, UC Davis Law Review implies that if it comes it might be ambiguous:
Indeed, the unfolding development of a professional ethics of AI, while at one level welcome and even necessary, merits ongoing attention. History is replete with examples of new industries forming ethical codes of conduct, only to have those codes invalidated by the federal government.
Call To Action
What are your thoughts?
Is this an appropriate time to take action or are we early?
Do we even need to take action and form guidelines or otherwise?
Is there interest in studying the space?
What actions should we take?
Should we as engineers recommend guidance and governance?
What might that cover?
Selected References
These first two resources (IEEE and UC Davis Law) Review are fairly dense — but interesting reads. The Humane AI is a collection of links, many of which are more accessible.
IEEE Guidance
UC Davis Law Review (on AI Policy)
Humane AI Newsletter | https://medium.com/@akaphenom/is-your-ai-fair-transparent-and-accountable-61d636a4007a | ['Todd Brown'] | 2019-04-09 18:35:01.949000+00:00 | ['Fairness', 'Ethics', 'Morality', 'Transparency', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Subsets and Splits