title
stringlengths 1
200
⌀ | text
stringlengths 10
100k
| url
stringlengths 32
885
| authors
stringlengths 2
392
| timestamp
stringlengths 19
32
⌀ | tags
stringlengths 6
263
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
How to Say Thanks to Your Freelance Writer | How to Say Thanks to Your Freelance Writer
Many may not be aware, but it’s said that the 2nd week of February is considered Freelance Writer Appreciation Week. As a freelance writer myself, I consider this week as big a deal as my birthday (which if you know me personally is not a small thing). Many people don’t know or truly understand what it is I do so to think there’s an entire week dedicated to appreciating that rejuvenates my excitement for the type of work I’m in.
If you’re someone who’s hired a freelance writer before or currently (or even one of my clients!) and you’ve appreciated all that they’ve done for your business, why not take a moment this week to say thank you? If you’re not sure how to start, here are a few ideas:
K.I.S.S.
OK so the last “S” is a little harsh, but let’s focus on the first 3 letters: Keep It Simple. Shoot them an email that says how much you’ve appreciated what they’ve brought to your business. Maybe highlight something positive that happened as a result of their work. You could even go old school and send a thank you card because who doesn’t love getting something other than bills or junk mail?
Tell the World
The biggest compliment I would ever receive as a writer is a great recommendation. If you want to really help your freelance writer without any monetary effort, celebrate them publically. This can be done through a review on sites like the Better Business Bureau or a quick “thank you” on your social media channel that tags them or their business page.
Go All Out
If there are not enough words to express how grateful you are for your freelance writer, I’ll be the first to say honestly gifts are wonderful, too. If you’re like me and love to give gifts of great meaning, try something like Aqua Notes (because we all know inspiration comes in the shower!).
No matter how you choose to give accolades to your favorite freelance writer, they will truly appreciate it. I can’t speak for all of us, but I can bet that a great majority of us truly love what we do and love the clients we work for! Want to make me one of your favorite freelance writers? Check out my work!
To all my fellow freelance writers, I hope you truly know how appreciated you are this week and every week! #FreelanceWritersAppreciationWeek | https://medium.com/@copywriter.kkenyon/how-to-say-thanks-to-your-freelance-writer-9df388826124 | ['Kristi Kenyon'] | 2019-02-11 16:20:25.494000+00:00 | ['Writer', 'Freelancing', 'Copywriter', 'Hiring A Freelancer'] |
by Martino Pietropoli | First thing in the morning: a glass of water and a cartoon by The Fluxus.
Follow | https://medium.com/the-fluxus/sunday-porgy-716dc243f87a | ['Martino Pietropoli'] | 2018-08-12 00:36:01.142000+00:00 | ['Art', 'Female', 'Drawing', 'Sunday'] |
[XT] Daily Blockchain Newsfeed, Thursday, December 24 | [XT Exchange] focus on disseminating the most up-to-date, interesting and valuable cryptocurrency and blockchain industry news.
About XT.COM
XT.COM is the world’s first social infused exchange. Users can chat in communities while knowing the market trend to invest in. In XT communities, users explore valuable coins together.
XT.COM is building towards garnering loyalty and bring new potential for the development of the entire blockchain industry. To achieve better development, it is necessary to break the tradition with a fresh model.
XT Exchange not only empowers the blockchain industry but leads the industry with its innovation.
Connect with XT on Socials!
Website: https://www.xt.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/XTexchange
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xt-com-exchange/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/XT.comexchange/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/XTExchange/ | https://medium.com/xt-com/xt-daily-blockchain-newsfeed-thursday-december-24-a6dda8591c13 | [] | 2020-12-24 07:47:56.047000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Cryptocurrency News', 'Crpto', 'Cryptocurrency Investment', 'Blockchain'] |
カリタの電動ミル | Living in Shonan, Japan. I spend the weekends in the park and sea with my family. | https://medium.com/@takachan1019/%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AA%E3%82%BF%E3%81%AE%E9%9B%BB%E5%8B%95%E3%83%9F%E3%83%AB-b27468ca2aae | ['Takachan S Tools'] | 2020-12-10 11:17:38.096000+00:00 | ['Coffee', 'Tools'] |
New Homesteaders Find a Path Through the Pandemic | New Homesteaders Find a Path Through the Pandemic
Maggie Gilmore raised a pig for six months and than butchered it, to supply her and her husband with meat for a the year. (Photo by Morgan Bell)
On a warm fall afternoon, Maggie Gilmore, is in her grandfather’s work shed butchering a pig. She stands and stretches, surrounded by the remains of the pig, her dusty brown hair tied back and wrapped in a headband. Her glasses keep sliding down her freckled nose. She leans back in close to the table that is covered in a plastic wrap. With her blue latex gloves, she reminds me of a surgeon in an operating room.
As she’s slicing through the shoulder, all the while referring to printed directions on how to properly butcher a pig, her husband Eric calls. With her hands covered in pig guts, she throws them up and says, “do you mind answering that? It’s in the inside pocket of my jacket.” As I ruffle through her jacket and realize her phone is actually in her back-jean pocket, we both start laughing. I answer the call and press the speaker button.
“Hey darling,” he says. He tells her about plans for the following Friday. She tells him how well things are going with the pig. He tells her he will be back after supper to help finish the job. She informs me that the temperature must be cold, so the meat won’t go bad and that night it is supposed to warm up, so they have to finish. He asks if there is anything in town she needed, for supper specifically.
“I got supper right here,” Maggie says as she hacks a piece of meat off the shoulder and put it to the side.
“There, that’s supper,” she says, laughing. She ends the call turns to me and says: “We are no regular couple.”
When the COVID-19 global pandemic first swept into New Brunswick at the end of March, no one was prepared for what the year 2020 had in store. Toilette paper was flying off the shelves, flour was hard to come by and most cleaning products were scarce. There were reports of food supply chain disruptions, job losses, and small businesses shutting down.
While the world around her was turning upside down, Gilmore found her life remarkably unchanged. “It’s affected us a lot less than most people, because most of my life is on the farm,” said Gilmore, 25, who for the past two years has dedicated her life to sustainable living along with her husband of three years. She was so thankful to have her own garden and resources during a chaotic time like this. “I only need to go into town once a month,” she says. “I try to avoid going otherwise.”
GIlmore plants her garlic in late fall. It’ll be ready for her to harvest next season. (Photo by Morgan Bell)
When I drive down the long rocky driveway of Gilmore’s parent’s home, up the Carlisle road minutes outside of Fredericton’s northside, I’m greeted by two horses in the field, one of them being Gilmore’s sweet-sixteen birthday present, Rex.
In the space front of the fenced in field are newly grown berry bushes. Past the field is a small garden grown as an add-on for there was not enough room in the first one built. Past that is a fire pit and the pig pen. Straight ahead is the dirt road leading to their unfinished 600 square foot off-grid cabin.
Two barking dogs sprint out of the barn. The upstairs of the barn is where Gilmore and her husband are currently living in a one-bedroom apartment. Attached is Eric’s workshop, where Gilmore stores her food and plans on someday building a root cellar. To the right of the lot is an extended driveway to go to Gilmore’s parents’ home. I see the garden that has recently been harvested. Beside that are the chicken coops, the large coop belongs to her parents and the smaller one is Gilmore’s. She raises chickens for both laying eggs and meat.
Gilmore is an animal lover, so it is strange to see her hacking up a pig she raised for six months. “We know these pigs had a very good life compared to most pigs. Even though it’s hard to kill your own animals, it’s way better for the environment and for them.” In university she learned how bad the factory meat industry is for the environment and for the animals. She assures me that she never wants to be a vegetarian, so this is the best way for them to get their meat.
While she’s explaining to me the process and back story of the pig, she is also telling it to a camera standing on a tripod. Gilmore is filming this for her blog, backtothelandliving.com. It consists of three topics, farmhouse food, homesteading and handmade. She also posts on Pinterest and YouTube, in hopes of attracting people to her blog.
Gilmore filmed the process of butchering her pig for her blog, backtothelandliving.com. (Photo by Morgan Bell)
“People think were insane. A blog is something that people over 30 seem to see as a hobby and not a job, but I’m not looking for a job I’m trying to make my own job here.” She’s surprised by the number of younger people who think’s what she’s doing is “so amazing.”
Gilmore graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 2017 with a degree in environmental resource management. She and Eric got married the following September. A day later they fled west, stopping in each province along their travels as their honeymoon.
They arrived in High River just south of Calgary and lived there for a year in a basement apartment. “We thought we’d like to experience living somewhere else at some point in our life and it was easiest to go when we had no commitments.”
Gilmore and her husband Eric on their wedding day. (Submitted by Maggie Gilmore)
They returned to New Brunswick, moved into the apartment in the barn and gradually started their sustainable living lifestyle. She got a contract job at UNB as a sustainability officer but did not enjoy a 9 to 5 office job. After months of consideration decided to quit her job.
Gilmore started looking for ways she could make money from home, ultimately leading her to blogging. “I really love homesteading stuff, I love animals, I love making crafts and a blog is sort of artsy and I do enjoy art and visual stuff, I don’t mind technology and I love photography. Blogging combines all of those things.” It’s been a little over a year now and she has yet to make money but does not plan on giving up. “I really do believe it’s going to work.” In the past month her subscribers on YouTube have gone from 200 to 400, leaving Gilmore hopeful. However, her journey towards a blogging career has only begun.
When the pandemic struck, Eric was laid off from his cabinet-making company. He decided to start his own carpentry business and has been doing so for a couple months now. Maggie says he’s been doing well. With that income and her horseback riding lessons, they’ve been able to stay afloat. She almost feels that things closing down due to COVID has been a good thing for them. If it never happened her husband may not have started his own company.
“If we ever wanted to take a risk, now was the time … because we have no mortgage, no debt and no children,” she says.
Gilmore and her husband produce as much of their own food as they possibly can. They buy locally what they can’t produce.
“I rather buy locally,’ she says. “It’s way better for the environment because it’s not trucked anywhere and its better for me.” They realize that it’s impossible for them to be 100 per cent self-sufficient for there are things they aren’t able to produce; things like flour, gas, propane and sugar. Each year they add on new things to try. This year was the raising and butchering of a pig. Sometime soon, it will be bees. “We don’t have bees for honey but that is something we’d like to do some day.”
Gilmore calls herself a homesteader, for she grows her own produce, stores and cans her food for the year, raises animals for their production, works from home, will soon be living in an off-grid cabin in the middle of the woods and tries making most things by hand.
“Meats never going to taste so good,” she says. “We’ve put so much effort into this. We raised them, we gutted them, we butchered them.” This was their first time owning a pig. Normally they would have just gone to a local market to buy some meat. After watching a man from their church, who’s been raising and butchering pigs his whole life, they decided to give it a go. Now they will have enough pork for the year.
The one fallout from the pandemic that has reached them is the price of lumber. “The price of wood like tripled, it’s insane. Some people say it’s because a lot of people quit going to work because they could get the EI thing. They would rather stay home than going in the woods. So, they had less wood supplies, and the price went up.” This has affected the cost of their off-grid cabin. They are still managing to stay within their budget of $40,000.
Gilmore drews plans of their off-grid cabin. (Submitted by Maggie Gilmore)
“We had the classic save your money for down payment and buy a house thing, but we decided we did not want to be in debt for 25+ years.” They started organizing the plans for their home last winter, began building in August and will continue next summer — they hope to be living in their home by next Christmas.
As many supplies ran short due to COVID, Gilmore found seeds and canning supplies were hard to come by. People were worried of the unknown and looked to growing their own food. “I think it’s good for people to do these things, that’s what my blog promotes. It’s good for the environment and its good for them.” However, these are things she relies on for her way of living. Luckily, she bought her seeds early this year, expecting a wave of spontaneous gardeners to appear. A lady from their church gave her all of her canning supplies as she no longer needed them. Although it may seem like a big worry for a homesteader, the shortage in these supplies did not have much effect on her.
Gilmore tries to make posts weekly, but with the building of her home that has become more difficult. Now that winter is approaching and they can no longer do construction, she hopes to be back on track and works towards her goal of earning money for her blog. “If I was posting more often, I know I could be making money.”
It’s almost 2 P.M. and Gilmore has some barn chores to do, so she informs me that this will be the last cut for now. As she’s finishing up, I ask her what young animal loving Maggie would think of this, “I’d be crying,” she says, laughing. She recalls the time her father had taken her fishing and she did not realize the fish were going to die. “I couldn’t stop crying because I did not realize we were going to be killing fish in this fishing opportunity. I thought we’d be looking at fish not murdering fish.”
She explained to me prior that butchering these pigs was a trial run. “It’s sad, the first five minutes after killing was hard.” Gilmore’s father offered to kill the pig and he felt it was very difficult, physically and emotionally. In order to kill a pig, you must shoot them in the head three times and then slit its throat. That process cannot be easy. “Since we raised it; it was difficult to watch.” Gilmore does not know if anyone would be willing to do it for them next year. They would like to grow a couple more next year to sell. “We just need to find someone to kill them.”
We pack our things in the shed, getting ready to leave. Gilmore knows I have a dog from previous conversations and asks if he’d like a bone. I told her how much he loves bones and how fast he chews through them. She looks over in the bag of chopped-up bones and nonedible meat bits, picks a piece up and examines it closely. Noticing some skin on it, she slivers it off and then wraps it in a piece of the plastic wrap used to cover the table. I thank her and tell her to enjoy her fresh pork chops that she’ll be eating tonight. As I back out of the very long downhill driveway, I wave goodbye. I never imagined leaving an interview with a piece of a pig’s leg on my car floor, however, as Gilmore reminded me earlier, they are no regular couple. And these are no ordinary times.
Morgan Bell is a third-year Journalism student at St. Thomas University. Growing fond of journalism when taking courses in high school, she knew that was the career path for her. She enrolled at STU months after having her daughter at age 20, knowing it was time to pursue her dream job. Being a young mother and thriving student journalist, her hands are full. When she’s not swarmed with work, she enjoys spending time with family and friends. This story was written for the class, The Power of Narrative. | https://medium.com/see-it-now/a-homesteaders-journey-a-glimpse-in-a-young-couples-life-living-off-the-land-45fedbcfdcaf | ['Morgan Bell'] | 2020-12-13 16:07:47.324000+00:00 | ['Fredericton', 'Homesteading', 'Back To The Land', 'Farming', 'New Brunswick'] |
What’s the Difference between a Computer Scientist & a Coder? | Legend has it that computer science started off as a mathematics subject. Mechanical inventions and mathematical theories paved the way for computer concepts and systems.
The early history of computer science boasts of names such as Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and of course, Alan Turing. It might surprise you to learn then, that the term computer science did not actually appear on the scene till the 1950s.
But, since when has anything related to the world of computer science ever been easy? Even though universities across the world created departments solely for the pursuit of computer science — people were still arguing among themselves about what the term ‘computer science’ actually meant.
Then came the debate over software engineering and computer science, which further complicated the issue. And, unfortunately for us, the debate continues to this day.
But, that’s exactly why, asking what being a computer scientist entails, is kind of like trying to figure out what Elon Musk truly does for a living. Everyone thinks they know exactly what it is, but no two people will ever give you the same answer.
Nevertheless, I’m going to boldly venture where a bunch of people have gone before, and give you my take on what it means to be a computer scientist. So, let’s make like the Starship Enterprise and get on with it.
Problem Solving vs Language Proficiency
Being a computer scientist is more than just dealing with computers and programs. Computer scientists tackle real-world problems and figure out if these can be solved computationally.
They’re involved in developing techniques to make computing data more economical, they create and work with languages to find solutions, and they’re involved in building and designing computer systems that offer multiple services across a wide range of applications.
Think of computer scientists as wizards that can blend mathematical concepts with technology and build systems that can produce viable data. I suppose we could describe them as individuals who can create sense out of chaos.
That’s why when others say being a computer scientist is all about being proficient in programming languages — I disagree. Picasso said, ‘Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.’
Likewise, you can describe a computer scientist as an artist who can come with different styles of paintings based on the type of tool they use. Whoever heard an artist limiting himself to a single paintbrush?
Being a computer scientist is unlike being a coder. You don’t have to be bound to a particular language — rather at its core, being a computer scientist, is about being a problem solver.
Why Perspective Always Matters
As I said earlier, there’s a vast difference between how coders and computer scientists operate. I’m not down-playing the role of coders because they have their own distinct place in the world of computer science. In fact, both computer scientists and coders help drive the wheel of technology forward.
The difference between the two is a matter of outlook. Any artist worth his salt will tell you that what you create depends on your perspective. That’s why two people looking at the same still life can create compositions that look nothing alike — because one of them is standing too close to the object, while the other is standing at a distance.
The computer scientists of this world tend to look at the bigger picture. They face challenges that are bigger in scale and complexity, and they’re not picky about the tools they can use to reach viable solutions.
On the other hand, coders with their knowledge of a singular language or category of technology are more like specialists. They’re extremely skilled but will perform better on whatever expertise they’ve amassed. Some coders excel as Java developers, while others are MySQL developers.
Taking the art analogy further, a coder can be described as an artist who’s an expert who’s used to a very specific medium of art, or is devoted to a particular art movement. A computer scientist, on the contrary, would be the kind of artist who dabbles in all types of mediums and styles, and is more devoted to getting his vision across to the audience, rather than following the rigors of any one type of movement.
Sure, there’s a bit of overlap in what coders and scientists do, but it’s their perspective of things that sets them apart.
Scale and Complexity Make A Difference
Now that we’ve discussed why perspective matters in all walks of life, let’s move on to the concepts of complexity and scale.
Picture an electrician working on wiring a lamp, as opposed to one working on a grid that’ll eventually supply power to an entire city. If you ask them what they do for a living, their answers will be similar, they’re an electrician. However, the truth is there’s a world of a difference in how their jobs differ in terms of scale and complexity.
Likewise, compare an online website that promotes the goods and services of a small family-owned business to a company like Amazon. Both online businesses are involved in catering to online consumers and retail goods, but Amazon deals with 4000 transactions per minute.
The point of telling you all this is that certain things may share similarities in the real world, be it a job title or company purpose, but in the digital world, they’re eons apart based on operations and size.
But, what the heck does that have to do with being a computer scientist? Based on the scale and complexity of their work, a computer scientist is kind of like the Amazon of the digital world. They’re the people who’re more likely to be working on the proverbial power grid, rather than the lamp.
Being a computer scientist means you have to assess an issue or challenge from all sides and have all your bases covered. It’s invention, understanding, empirical experimentation, and many other things all rolled into one. The point is — a computer scientist is more involved in dealing with complex challenges or tackling issues that need resolutions.
So, do you need a Coder or a Computer Scientist?
Working in a recruiting firm has its set of advantages — one of which is being able to ask what industry leaders and firms are looking for in their ideal computer scientist candidate.
Most are on the lookout for people who’re more interested in solving problems rather than being focused on coding. As a scientist, you’re mostly judged by your ability to understand the problem of the business requirement, and whether or not you’re asking the right questions.
It’ll be surprising to know how much the questions you ask let on about your personality and depth of knowledge. If you’re hung up on a particular type of language or technology, then you’re not open to other avenues of advancement.
This isn’t a bad thing, but it’ll seem like you’re a coder that’s very fixated on a specific set of skills, tools, and technologies that you’re comfortable using. But, if someone’s looking to hire personnel that can fit under the heading of ‘fungible’ then you’re probably not gonna make their top candidate.
Think about it — if as a coder you’re somewhat taken with Scala as your language of choice, but the company’s looking for a recruit that’s more focused on solving problems for business requirements, then you’re gonna be the round peg trying out for the square hole.
Not to mention, challenging the limits of any problem is something else people tend to take into consideration when hiring a scientist.This is where understanding edge cases becomes crucial.
In programming, an edge case (or a corner test) is a situation where the values require scrutinization, or more simply, it involves testing the boundary conditions of an algorithm or function, etc. You need to know the boundary of any algorithm, method, or function of any software you present before you can be sure that it works on both ends of the magnitude spectrum.
A computer scientist needs to have the basics of working within the problem space down pat. The problem space is where all the elements of problem-solving converge to create a solution. So the question you should ask yourself is — do you understand the key aspects of algorithms, design, architecture, etc. in the digital world?
In a nutshell, people are looking for scientists that are interested in challenging the status quo and pushing the boundaries of invention and transformation. As Steve Jobs said — Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/whats-the-difference-between-a-computer-scientist-a-coder-e59f5c458d6 | ['Shane Shown'] | 2020-06-12 01:01:01.016000+00:00 | ['Computer Science', 'Software Development', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Interview', 'Software Engineering'] |
5 Selenium Test Automation “Hacks” You Will Probably Learn Only From StackOverflow | One Dark Pro theme on IntelliJ IDEA (on Fedora)
First is installing One Dark Pro theme on IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio Code. Kidding! Although One Dark Pro is both beautiful and useful for night owls like myself, this post is not going to focus on that. Let’s look at some things your university may not teach you therefore you have to learn it the hard way at work by Googling and skimming through Stack Overflow/ SQA - Stack Exchange.
Some might argue that these hacks are not best practices. Nevertheless, if you want to just get it done, it’s up to you. I’m a bad programmer and feel free to correct if there are mistakes here.
1. JavaScript Executor
Element not interactable. Very confusing at first. You double-check the XPath or CSS Selector just to make sure and don’t see anything wrong. You may even insert a shameless Thread.sleep(😴) and end up with nothing but the “Element not interactable” exception when you run your test. JavaScript Executor might save your arse in this case.
JavascriptExecutor is a Swiss Army Knife 🇨🇭🪖🔪
2. Disable Site Isolation Trails on Chromium
This is a tricky one and I didn’t even bother to understand why. You can read more about it here: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromedriver/issues/detail?id=2660
It occurred to me when working with a page with an iframe. Switching to iframe and thereafter switching back to default gave me headaches by failing to continue tests. Adding the following arguments to ChromeOptions magically fixed the issue.
— disable-site-isolation-trials
3. Faker
This is a gold mine. When there are tests you must enter names, addresses, etc. this library will automagically generate fake data. Faker has a collection of information from popular movies and tv shows as well. Your test data doesn’t have to be lackluster anymore.
Faker faker = new Faker();
Faker: https://github.com/DiUS/java-faker
4. WebDriverManager
This one is no secret to many. WebDriverManager manages drivers for web browsers, so you don’t have to download Selenium drivers and place them in a hard coded path of your project, especially when there are big updates to web browsers.
pom.xml (Maven)
WebDriverManager: https://github.com/bonigarcia/webdrivermanager
5. Jason’s friend “Gson”
Very helpful when it’s required to fetch input from a JSON file and also when required to write to a JSON file. When used in combination with get()/ set() methods in a POJO file, it’s possible to achieve a kick-ass, dynamic automation suite.
Example: Reading
Example: Writing
Gson: https://github.com/google/gson | https://medium.com/@thirddriver/5-selenium-test-automation-hacks-you-will-probably-learn-only-from-stackoverflow-94ff3ef59697 | ['Third Driver Madhawa'] | 2021-07-14 02:16:14.424000+00:00 | ['Selenium', 'QA', 'Test Automation', 'JavaScript', 'Java'] |
As a homeowner in Miami, FL, you are always looking for new ways to improve your home, including… | As a homeowner in Miami, FL, you are always looking for new ways to improve your home, including ways to lower utilities and energy consumption. In your attempts to find better ways to lower your home’s energy usage, you may have stumbled across two different terms: energy efficiency and energy consumption. While these sound similar, they are quite different. Energy efficiency betters your home’s usage through the use of technology, using present or installable appliances and parts of your home.
Energy conservation requires you and your household to take active steps in order to lower your energy consumption. Many people naturally use energy conservation techniques, such as turning off your appliances and setting your thermostat at a stable temperature, using this technique alone may not be enough to lower how much power you use. It depends on the individual to remember to follow certain steps, which is not always possible. On the other hand, increasing efficiency through the renovation of the home or replacement of appliances guarantees you a set rate of consumption that you can always predict.
What Are Some Benefits of Energy Efficiency?
Of course, many people choose energy efficiency for its ability to save one money and regulate the amount of energy used, giving their homes more predictable energy costs. However, improved energy efficiency does more than just lower your home’s utility bills: It can give you benefits that you never even considered. Many of the changes you can make to your home will ensure that you and your family are comfortable year round, preventing heat loss in the winter and retaining cooled air in the summer. They can also increase the quality of life within the home, lowering the chance of illness and pollutants within the home.
How Can We Improve Our Energy Efficiency?
While it may sound daunting, there are several ways you can improve your home’s energy efficiency. These can include home renovation projects and more simple actions. Some things you can do include:
Upgrade your appliances: Newer appliances now come with an energy rating that can directly inform you as to how much energy they will use, giving you the opportunity to choose the best one to fit your needs. Even air conditioners come with an EER rating, telling you what you can expect for those hot days!
Newer appliances now come with an energy rating that can directly inform you as to how much energy they will use, giving you the opportunity to choose the best one to fit your needs. Even air conditioners come with an EER rating, telling you what you can expect for those hot days! Consider new insulation: Insulation does more than fortify your roofing system. It actually helps control conditioned air loss in the home and prevent the outside from affecting your home. Getting it replaced or replenished will ensure continued air retention.
Insulation does more than fortify your roofing system. It actually helps control conditioned air loss in the home and prevent the outside from affecting your home. Getting it replaced or replenished will ensure continued air retention. Repair or restore your roof: If your roof is damaged, it may allow a slew of potential hazards as well as a loss of efficiency to affect your home. Quality repair can ensure this doesn’t happen. If your roof needs a little more than repair, restoration can renew your roof and even offer you reflective roofing through coatings. Reflective roofing repels UV rays away from your home, stopping your home from heating up.
If your roof is damaged, it may allow a slew of potential hazards as well as a loss of efficiency to affect your home. Quality repair can ensure this doesn’t happen. If your roof needs a little more than repair, restoration can renew your roof and even offer you reflective roofing through coatings. Reflective roofing repels UV rays away from your home, stopping your home from heating up. Change your lightbulbs: Even if your bulbs do not need replacement, consider looking into new bulbs for your lighting systems. Certain bulbs are rated to use less energy such as LED lights, meaning just by flicking on a light you will still save.
Why Is It So Important to Be Efficient?
When it comes down to it, many people do not know that energy efficiency can actually help the community and environment as well as their bills. Using less energy means that the already produced energy by power plants can go to power other homes in your neighborhood. This means the energy company will not have to utilize more natural resources in order to create extra energy. By choosing to be more energy efficient, you are taking a big step in not only helping yourself but others as well.
To learn more about our roofing services, call 305–900–8297 today!
Big Al’s Roofing is always available to assist you.
www.bigalsroofing.com | https://medium.com/@bigalsroofing/as-a-homeowner-in-miami-fl-you-are-always-looking-for-new-ways-to-improve-your-home-including-1db900503250 | ["Big Al'S Roofing"] | 2019-01-16 21:05:02.397000+00:00 | ['Homeownership', 'Homeowners', 'Energy', 'Saving Money', 'Energy Efficiency'] |
Humility — Religion and Rationality | Here in India, to be religious is to be humble (not necessarily of course) and to be humble seems hard to envision without having a belief in a deity or a god. The two seem inextricably tied. The submissive nature of worshiping a ‘higher’ entity lends itself naturally to a virtue as humility. Not surprisingly, denying the presence of such an entity, as atheists do, is to be arrogant. For many, to not believe in a god is to be on a high horse. This is, however, not true.
Humility can exist independent of any belief in a higher being. In fact, I would even argue that a humility resting on a more rational and scientific foundation can avoid many of the pitfalls that the pseudo-humility of the religious kind finds itself struggling with (I will come to that later). Now whether humility is actually a virtue or not is a whole another debate. Let’s for the moment assume that it is something worth striving for.
There are two very rational foundations for humility that do not require adherence to any doctrine.
The first one relates to the context and nature of your decisions.
Have you ever wondered how much of where you are is a product of decisions you consciously made and how much of the decisions that had been and were made for you? This is more nuanced than it sounds, with at least a few facets to consider. Did you choose the place, the family, the socioeconomic status you were born in? Did you have any control over the way you were raised or the way you were treated early at school? What intellectual faculties did you really have to parry the incessant onslaught of social conditioning?
Let’s take it a little further. When you made a certain decision and it turned out in your favor, was ‘you making the decision’ the only factor deciding the outcome? or were there other people, external circumstances well outside your control that were involved? Do you even have available, at any moment, data on all the factors that would decide an outcome, and even if you do, the intellectual faculties to comprehend how they would interact with each other?
If you honestly contemplate these questions, there are two things you should get to learn about your life. One, the start you got, your genetic makeup, your upbringing, the financial and social opportunities available to you, were not of your choosing, and these play a huge role in where you eventually end up in life, or at least what your ‘range’ is. Two, other than in the case of the simplest of decisions like picking up a glass of water, you really do not control the outcomes even one-tenth as much as you think you do. How could you not be humble knowing there is little to take credit for?
The second one relates to the vastness of the universe, and is, I believe, far easier to understand. The sheer magnitude of the universe should make you realize your insignificance. That you are no more than a speck on the huge canvas (not even that, speaking mathematically) should remove you from the center of existence. Neither are you even on the scale, nor even the center of anything (perhaps other than your own consciousness). As a physical entity, certain kilos of bone, blood and muscle, you and your actions are an insignificant part of the infinite reactions that universe is. To think otherwise is to live in delusion.
But… but, you may argue.. This seems like a perfect recipe for fatalism. It isn’t. It’s more of a honest admission of where we stand as individuals…. resizing, repositioning ourselves. For someone as minuscule as us, with no control over our birth circumstances, and hardly any over the outcomes of our decision, the only rational choice is actually to be humble. A worldview that takes these into account cannot be compatible with arrogance.
Now to the claim I made that religious promotes pseudo-humility. Humility in religious context is, for many, based on the fear of the outcome of not believing in a god, or on the guilt associated with not believing in an entity you have been told to never to question the existence, power or sanctity of. To name such ‘oppressive submissiveness’ humility is to, say the least, miss the mark. The involuntary nature of the religious indoctrination makes the religious brand of humility a closer relative of slavery than of humility.
The next time you feel yourself getting arrogant, and it bothers you, do not think of a god, look up at the vastness of the sky, or contemplate the journey of your life. You are sure to get a ‘healthy’ dose of humility. | https://medium.com/@sra.bathinda/humility-religion-and-rationality-2d4b4811c49c | ['Hardev Singh Sra'] | 2020-03-23 15:21:21.870000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Morality', 'Science', 'Humility', 'Rationality'] |
Merging Blockchain Technology with Traditional Banking Infrastructure Will Evolve Our Financial System to the Next Generation | Emerging class of monuments in urban landscapes
For better or for worse, most people are not very interested in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. And they don’t have to be. It’s a bit like the internet. Most people only care about what they can do with it, like interact with friends or use different services, while the tech works its magic in the background. This is why We at Sofitto are working on building the Last-Mile Solution for the financial sector unlike any other. We work in the background to help bridge the digital and analog world for ordinary people and crypto enthusiasts alike in a unique way: We are engineering next-generation blockchain-based solutions that look like traditional banking products.
With Sofitto, there is next to no barrier to entry for blockchain-based services for anyone. Right now, there are a number of notable ongoing projects working on harnessing the power of blockchain technology in the financial sector. Some of the most notable include those by card scheme operators like Visa, MasterCard and American Express, or consortia like the “utility settlement coin” led by UBS, IIN led by J.P. Morgan, R3 and Hyperledger.
However, these projects are currently designed for large sums of money (interbank payments) and thus mostly benefit banks and large corporations. At the same time, there are completely permissionless blockchain protocols being built that anyone can access, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS and many more. Some have been designed specifically to handle payments, while others allow for more complex designs and structures (e.g. smart contracts). By utilizing these payment protocols, users can send money instantly and without the need for middlemen, but, they have to have a very high level of knowledge about the technology itself.
With Sofitto solutions, ordinary individuals with no knowledge about cryptocurrencies or blockchain can benefit from this next-generation technology. We have made it our mission to make our solutions so simple that everyone can use them. Any blockchain in the palm of an ordinary individual. Always accessible and with a minimal inclusion barrier.
Sofitto solutions are blockchain agnostic, meaning they can operate on top of any blockchain technology. At the same time, Sofitto solutions can be embedded into the existing financial infrastructure. A good example of products for consumers is the Sofitto card that will be the world’s first mobile-native cryptocurrency hardware wallet compatible with banking terminals. Our card looks just like any other payment card out there. Hence, it is also designed to be used at existing ATMs and points of sale in the future.
Contactless, Mobile, Simple
On the corporate side we can help in several ways. We can support banks in bringing the advantages of blockchain technology into their infrastructure. We can support crypto projects connect to existing banking infrastructure using their blockchains or tokens. And, last but not least, we can support Central banks in their efforts to digitize cash on blockchain technology. Always keeping in mind our mission of simplicity.
The Sofitto solution does not rely on third parties. This allows us to propose a complete ecosystem on blockchain rails that has a fully transparent cost structure. The Sofitto card and mobile app, coupled with our backend solution on blockchain rails, are the foundations of our system. By processing payments, transfers and just about anything else to do with money, with our backend blockchain solution, we are able to get rid of the hoops money has to jump through to get to the end user. Overall, this means that money travels faster and transaction costs are lower. Because we integrate with existing financial infrastructure, this also means that physical infrastructure costs are negligible.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and sofitto.com | https://medium.com/sofitto/merging-blockchain-technology-with-traditional-banking-infrastructure-will-evolve-our-financial-bf9853c33eb6 | ['Alexander Vasylchenko'] | 2018-07-04 08:35:58.485000+00:00 | ['Fintech', 'Digital Currency', 'Blockchain', 'Banking Technology', 'Bitcoin'] |
8 Gift Ideas for Sex Workers | 8 Gift Ideas for Sex Workers
(Disclosure: This story contains affiliate links)
I wanted to put together this gift guide to help people who are in the industry find gift ideas for their friends. But I also wanted to help people who aren’t in the industry to understand that sex workers are just people and that they like the same things everyone else does.
So if you’re looking for a gift for someone in your life who is a sex worker or maybe even a gift for your favorite sex worker, here are a few ideas to inspire you:
1. Anti-Chafe Stick
Queen V Anti-Chafe Stick
I love this anti-chafe stick from Queen V. It’s great for all skin types and is meant to keep the skin hydrated and prevent chafing. As far as gifting goes, it’s inexpensive and easy. A good idea would be to add it to a self-care basket or gift with other Queen V products.
2. Candles
Apothenne Inner Child Collection Candle
Whether it’s this amazing smelling candle from Apothenne Inner Child Collection or this Cannabolish odor removing candle, candles make considerable gift ideas. They come in all shapes and sizes and some are even customizable. You just can’t ever go wrong with a candle.
3. Loungewear
FP One Adella Bralette
Yep, you read that right, loungewear. One because it makes a great gift for everybody and two because sex workers are people too. And I haven’t met one yet that doesn’t love a good set of comfy loungewear. Truth be told, I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t love comfy clothes.
4. Unbound On The Go Kit
Unbound On The Go Kit
This Unbound On The Go Kit is probably my favorite item on the list. I actually think I want to start gifting this to all of my friends, sex worker or not. It’s just so simple and convenient. And honestly, probably needed these days.
5. Pop The Bubbly Bath
Queen V Pop The Bubbly Bath
Who doesn’t love a good hot bath? I know I do. I can never have enough bubble bath. And this Pop The Bubble Bubble Bath from Queen V is poppin. So instead of those cheap $5 beauty sets from Walmart (no one wants those), consider this a gift idea. You won’t regret it.
6. Lovense Interactive Toys
Hush by Lovense
Now we’re getting into the fun stuff. Lovense Interactive Toys make amazing gifts for sex workers. These are often used in live shows and private shows to interact with fans. But they can also be a fun way to play with your partner when you’re not together.
7. Anal Beads
Lelo Luna Beads
Anal beads are a fun way to introduce anal play into the equation. They also make fun gag gifts for bachelors and bachelorettes.
8. Rainbo Multi-Mushroom Tincture
Rainbo 11:11 Super Multi-Mushroom Tincture
Ok, seriously mushrooms are life. Sex work comes with a lot of mental health-related issues, and taking certain mushrooms is one way to encourage better mental health. This Rainbo Multi-Mushroom Tincture has 11 mushrooms and is highly beneficial for everyday living.
Other Gift Ideas
These are just a few things I found while surfing the web. Things I thought would make amazing gifts. But what it all really comes down to is the person you’re shopping for. Because everyone is different.
So consider what they might like. Do they like to read? Grab them a book. Do they like going out to dinner? Maybe a gift card to their favorite restaurant will work. There are so many options because once you take their job out of the equation, they just become normal people. | https://medium.com/@penelope-blogs/8-gift-ideas-for-sex-workers-6087ca23f3cc | ['Penelope Banks'] | 2020-12-10 16:41:14.740000+00:00 | ['Gift Ideas', 'Gifts', 'Holidays', 'Lists', 'Sex Work'] |
What SaaS software do SMBs use every day? | Our SearchMyDocs product helps users select from an ever growing list of SaaS software platforms and have these form part of their personal (and corporate) universe which they can search across from the single SearchMyDocs location.
Examples would be users connecting Dropbox, Gmail, Slack, Evernote and more, and then being able to search across them all from SearchMyDocs.
As part of our product development, it obviously matters that we know which platforms are popular with our users and potential customers. We can then prioritise our upcoming integrations accordingly to continue building value for our users and prospects.
Survey of 40k small business users
To get a handle on what software matters to our users and prospects, we surveyed around 40k SMB business owners to see what software they use every day. The question was:
Q. Which are the five pieces of SaaS software you use most often?
The respondents for the survey are generally fairly tech savvy, and many users of recommendation and sales sites and so that skewed the results a little. Nonetheless, there was some really interesting data shared, some of which is included below in aggregate.
(% respondants using)
Most Popular CRM Platforms
1. Hubspot
2. Salesforce
3= Zoho
3= Pipedrive
5 Copper
Most Popular Communications Tools
1. Gmail
2. Slack
3. Hotmail/Outlook
4. Zoom
5. Skype
Most Popular Project Management Tools
1. Asana
2. Trello
3. Jira
4. Basecamp
5. Plutio
The Takeaways
Aside from the crude numbers, there were a couple of takeaways from the survey which are worth noting.
Firstly, there is no #1 undisputed king of SaaS. There is no one product that has a lion’s share of the usage. Gmail, the most used product, is deemed one of the most important pieces of software used daily by less than 10% of the respondents.
There are a few things to read into that.
SaaS is competitive. Every SaaS product has a number of competitors, many of which offer similar features and functionality. For every 10 users who rate Gmail as one of their most vital, 90 are using other solutions to achieve similar ends.
Utility rules. The lack of a single dominant player — although there were some dominant sectors — suggests that users are buying based on utility and proposition rather than ‘brand’ in the SaaS space. Vendors have to get the right balance of cost and benefit.
Secondly, and this leads from the learning above that users appear to value the right blend of cost and benefit proposition over brand, we were told several times that “Worth noting that my list seems to change every XYZ months”.
This was interesting to hear and points to the increasing maturity of the market. As SaaS software matures, there is increasing parity between the providers and users want to switch if it makes sense for them to do so from a usability perspective.
File storage, particularly, can be viewed as an increasingly commoditized space and with products such as our Cloud Storage Switching tool making it easier to move from one provider to another, the storage market particularly is becoming the utility sector of tomorrow.
Google Docs, Dropbox, Box, pCloud and OneDrive all made strong showings in our survey and as the broader SaaS space continues to mature the increasingly homogeneous nature of the file storage sector specifically — quality products going head to head with feature parity — must surely be reflected into other SaaS areas, such as CRM and Project Management.
Thanks again to all those who took part in the survey. | https://medium.com/searchmydocs/what-saas-software-do-smbs-use-every-day-bd7e9ba6799c | ['Sumner Douglas'] | 2019-11-27 14:30:05.034000+00:00 | ['Saas Tools', 'Startup', 'SaaS'] |
Wikonnect Bringing Digital Skills to Kenya’s Youth | Mobile connectivity has rapidly reached more than two-thirds of the world’s population. Yet a clear and persistent knowledge and skills gap restrict millions from using and leveraging mobile and internet technologies for improved well-being and economic livelihoods. To address this gap in tech skills, we at Tunapanda Institute — in partnership with Learning Lions, BRCK and GIZ — have been building an open-source e-learning platform to disseminate digital fluency to our users. The platform, dubbed Wikonnect, is inspired by Wikipedia’s model. Wikonnect is free and open for anyone to contribute to and learn from.
We are using a Human-Centered Design approach as we build the Wikonnect platform — and a community around it. As digital life reshapes Kenyan society at its core, Wikonnect is in this way helping to channel these changes in a positive, productive direction that respects local cultures while helping people from different backgrounds take part in the global digital economy.
At a Wikonnect Hackathon, building our Open Source Software Community
Wikonnect primarily aims to help individuals from vulnerable communities develop digital fluency. Whereas digital literacy is the ability to consume, share, and provide basic contributions to the digital realm, digital fluency involves conscious consumption and self-expression in the digital world, including the ability to safely coordinate activities with others around work and community development.
Wikonnect leverages mobile phones, the internet, community, and interactive H5P content to deliver bite-sized educational experiences at scale and at low cost. In this way, youth have easy access to digital literacy and fluency and can bring these skills into their communities. Wikonnect fundamentally tackles existing constraints to digital access, equipping people with basic internet skills and training to more effectively use the largest, greatest, and most powerful network of knowledge and information in world history.
Project Wikonnect has been ongoing for over a year now, having kicked off in October of 2019. So far, we have achieved the following:
Development of the core Wikonnect platform, enabling users to create and consume interactive learning content Creation of 10 core animated video lessons by the core content development team and 5 lessons by the open-source community Training of over 1500 participants in software development and digital content creation, tackling topics like cyberbullying, online scamming, and positive responses to the COVID-19 crisis. This was achieved by running 73 in-person (pre-Covid) and distanced (during Covid) trainings and hackathons. Onboarding of 4320 users onto the platform. Development of a robust monitoring and evaluation framework
In 2021, Tunapanda Institute’s and Learning Lions’ graduates in Kibera (very low-income area) and Turkana (very rural area) will be creating new educational video content under the guidance of more experienced professionals, which demonstrates that other people around the world can learn to do the same.
Additionally, working with the Keep Kenya Learning campaign, Wikonnect will soon support caregivers of Kenyan children who are out of school due to the pandemic. Via their mobile phones, the caregivers will be able to access guidance on at-home learning, as well as curated quality resources, both for the children’s use and theirs.
The Tunapanda Institute and Learning Lions teams have grown their competencies remarkably over the past year while working on project Wikonnect. This growth has been particularly rapid since April 2020, as we have all adjusted our working styles and skillsets to a socially-distanced world in the wake of Covid-19. Through Wikonnect, the communities around us have enjoyed getting to learn and implement digital skills in virtual settings which have encouraged togetherness despite the difficulties of being physically apart. More than ever before, we are certain that the work we are doing is meaningful — and arguably crucial — as it is teaching those from at-risk communities around us to forge forward and thrive in an increasingly digital world.
Special thanks to Jay Larson and David Richmond for their contribution to this article, especially through their thoughtful editing. | https://medium.com/tunapanda-institute/wikonnect-bringing-digital-skills-to-kenyas-young-f8c2bde5dae7 | ['Daphne Kabeberi'] | 2020-12-24 07:38:31.542000+00:00 | ['Kenya', 'Wikonnect', 'Youth', 'Technology', 'Digital'] |
If It Doesn’t Make You Crazy, It Will Make You Strong | There’s an old teaching called “Two Pockets” that an old friend told me about a long time ago. The idea is that everyone in the world has two pockets. In one are the words “For my sake the world was created,” and in the other are the words “I am but dust and ashes.” The first is meant to remind us that anything is possible; we are capable of greatness. The latter keeps us humble, understanding that we are just one piece of a vast universe.
Two contradictory ideas. A tale as old as time.
It takes a long time for things to come full circle. When I first heard the Two Pockets story, it really stuck with me. The idea that you have to allow for good and bad, greatness and failure, light and dark — balance — to be centered seemed logical enough, but I hadn’t put it to practice yet.
It was a couple years later when I heard Bruce’s speech for the first time. Two contradictory ideas in your head and heart sounded like madness. But again, I kind of understood. Heart stuff, and brain stuff are never the same. Getting those two to agree is a rare thing. Wisdom is being able to hear them both, really listen, and move your feet anyway.
Bruce at SXSW, 2012
I am by no means “wise,” but the older I get, the more I understand that you have to have two pockets, two contradictory ideas, and believe them both. You need boundaries to achieve freedom. You can give love, and give space. You can be an adult, with childish tendencies. You can question what you’re doing, and know you’re exactly where you’re meant to be. You can try your best, and not be your best.
It’s a complicated thing to recognize, and a gut-churning practice to hold. But this is the hard stuff that makes us grow. Figuring out how to be comfortable in this in-between space of uncertainty, this liminality, is where we become more of ourselves. This is how we level up. And wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say, each year, that we slowly became more of who we are? And that the hard stuff helped with that?
“You are the baddest ass in town, and, you suck!” Bruce said. I am but dust and ashes, and the world was made for me.
It’s not one or the other, it’s both. All the time. | https://medium.com/side-streets/if-it-doesnt-make-you-crazy-it-will-make-you-strong-595202eb4310 | ['Alex Lane'] | 2018-06-08 13:46:01.963000+00:00 | ['Bruce Springsteen', 'Music', 'Advice', 'Life Lessons', 'Philosophy'] |
Geektrust update - we’ll build your product for you. Interested? | So, COVID-19 huh?
For a bootstrapped company like us that plans with a 3 month runway, this is a deathknell. However in the larger scheme of things with the loss of lives and livelihoods all around us, we are grateful for our health and our homes. Businesses can always be rebuilt.
COVID effect. The number of interviews is our north star metric. That has plummeted of late.
But enough of our worries! Here we are, offering a world-class tech team to help build and take your product to the market for you. We are committing a time period of upto 6 months to work with you.
What’s the team?
We’ve spent majority of our working lives at ThoughtWorks. 4 of us have spent close to 10 years there. We’ve built world-class software across domains and tech stacks. Go, NodeJS, Java, Python, AngularJS are what we’ve worked on mostly, but we see new tech as something that can be picked up fairly quickly.
We have a 5-member team available — 3 developers, and 2 of us who are good with product and marketing.
Dhanush Gopinath, CTO at Geektrust who loves & lives to code. Ex-ESPN & Altair. Big time proponent of Go (we use Go at Geektrust). Has worked on Java, NodeJS, Python, Groovy and Angular.
Alok Simha, Principal Developer, ex-ThoughtWorks, ex-Scripbox. Has worked on Java, C#, Go, NodeJS, Angular. Worked at ThoughtWorks locations across the world.
Gaurav Aditya, Developer, IIT-Bombay post grad, ex-eClerx, ex-Brillio. Joined Geektrust a year ago. Has worked on NodeJS, Go, and Angular.
Sneha Jain, CPO at Geektrust. Product manager & project manager at ThoughtWorks before Geektrust. Managed products for clients in India, UK, Singapore and the US.
Krishnan Nair, CEO at Geektrust, ex Head of Delivery at ThoughtWorks. Worked at Bangalore, London, San Francisco, San Antonio as agile consultant for ThoughtWorks in the past.
In the not-so-distant past, we’ve helped a leading Indian fintech startup build some key parts of their product. If you’re interested, you can reach us at [email protected]. When you write in, do write in detail about yourself, your company and the product. Thank you! | https://medium.com/@krishnannair/geektrust-update-well-build-your-product-for-you-interested-d71e969d41a1 | ['Krishnan Nair'] | 2020-04-23 09:46:29.352000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Software Development'] |
“Daisies" | He loves me,
He loves me not,
He loves me,
He loves me not.
I counted the petals in my head
I knew the out come,
I just hoped i was wrong
Maybe he loves me.
-M.M | https://medium.com/@madisonmundy/daisies-d25052c35137 | [] | 2020-12-18 12:11:35.585000+00:00 | ['Flowers', 'Heartbreak', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Poetry', 'Love'] |
Cities Should Look At Los Angeles’ History of Big Data Policing and Avoid Its Mistakes | Los Angeles adopted a big data policing program without having a proper framework in place first.
Nearly ten years ago, the Los Angeles Police Department was at the forefront of what was called a “data revolution” in law enforcement techniques. The strategy was ambitious-combine machine learning, data mining, and predictive analytics to predict certain crimes , “much like scientists forecast earthquake aftershocks”.
At a time when bulk data collection and analysis was experiencing by rapid growth , “predictive policing” offered police departments a new tool to help better direct their resources. Predictive programs would display “hotspots” around the city where the algorithm predicted a crime was likely to occur. Prior to Los Angeles’ formal adoption of the program, the Santa Cruz Police Department did a trial run for the predictive policing program in 2011. It was seen as a revolutionary step forward in the evolution of law enforcement and was even named one of the best inventions of the year Time Magazine.
Los Angeles’ quickly became the national poster child for predictive policing, which made the police department inspector general’s recent admission that the program may have had no effect on crime all the more stunning. Los Angeles is far from alone in that regard. A few California cities have already dropped out of using predictive techniques after weighing the costs and benefits , having found little reason to believe the program was worthwhile.
Inefficacy and Bias In Predictive Policing
This admission by the police department emboldened privacy activists who were critical of the program and the possible racial biases inherent in the system. Critics of big data policing have long pointed out that while the algorithms themselves are digitally generated, the data for the algorithms relies on human collection. This makes the predictions subject to a number of potential problems.
Of particular concern for predictive policing, identified by The Electronic Frontier Foundation , is a vulnerability to “feedback loops”. That is, when one feeds a predictive model historic data, it can amplify any potential biases in that data set. This can happen when suspects are not treated equally . For example, black drivers are generally stopped by police at a higher rate than white drivers and some police departments disproportionately dispatch license plate cameras to places of worship or to low income areas . Because these populations are subject to police interactions at a higher frequency, a self-fulfilling prophecy of criminal suspicion can occur.
To the extent that communities are patrolled at a higher rate relative to other communities, that data will be overrepresented in the statistics. The algorithm is then liable to direct police officers to patrol such areas more heavily, and the cycle continues. For instance, if the predictive model is trained on the data of minority male criminal suspects, the output “ will inevitably determine a 19 year old black male from a poor neighborhood is a criminal” , irrespective of that individual’s true propensity for crime.
When this happens, the predictive output of the algorithm effectively becomes a new input for the algorithm. This could lead to a higher prediction of criminality in low income communities, ethnic enclaves, or religious or political minorities, even if their actual crime rate is low. A ProPublica found that offender based modeling, which is used to predict recidivism, frequently misidentifies low-risk black defendants as high-risk for reoffending.
The predictive policing civilian oversight committee in Los Angeles specifically raised this concern, questioning whether or not the program disproportionately targeted black and Latino residents . The sentiment was echoed by members of the police commission, who also questioned why more information on the program was unavailable. In response, Los Angeles Police Chief Moore said he disagreed that the program targeted certain racial groups, but that the police department would adopt reforms when needed .
Despite these concerns, the trend of using machine learning and analytics for law enforcement purposes shows no signs of slowing down. A recent report found that the rate at which artificial intelligence equipped surveillance technology was adopted by law enforcement agencies exceeded expert projections . A 2014 survey of police department representatives reported that 70 percent of departments expected to implement the PredPol program within the next five years. With the wide scale adoption of predictive policing, safeguards are necessary and other cities should take note of Los Angeles’ reforms as a guide in what not to do.
Proposals for Reform
In response to the inspector general’s report and concerns over potential biases, the Los Angeles Police Department announced it would be implementing reforms in the coming years and maintain program oversight.
Yet, the proposed changes lack teeth. In addition to creating a new unit to seek input from community groups before considering new data programs, the only other change of note is that officers will no longer log onto computers to record the time they spend in the “hotspots” of the predictive crime “heatmap”.
The “changes” proposed by Los Angeles Police Department leaders do not adequately address the issue of efficacy or potential biases. Advocates of predictive policing downplay the risk of systematic bias by insisting that demographic information is not fed to the algorithm. However, this objection is of little relevance when predictive policing is specifically concerned with directing police resources to specific parts of the city. People who share the same ethnicity, income, religion, and political affiliation tend to live in proximity to one another. Not entering the timestamp on an officer’s computer when they are in a hotspot does nothing to address this issue.
Instead, best practices of other types of municipal data collection and surveillance should also be applied to predictive policing. There needs to be transparency. The public should be confident that the methodology used is not relying on pseudoscience . If there are no regular disclosures of internal audits and independent oversight, there can be no assurance that the program is effective.
Second, collected data should be limited and its retention capped. Other types of data, such as biometrics like facial recognition technology or license plate reader technology should not be stored on the same database . The combination of different datasets enables invasive surveillance and should be limited to specific investigations. Furthermore, data should not be kept in perpetuity. This helps mitigate the effects of possibly tainted historical data from skewing the algorithm. Basically, data needs to be regularly “cleared”.
Herein lies the ultimate problem: Los Angeles adopted a big data policing program without having a proper framework in place first. Cities should instead be proactive in crafting policies that govern the use of these technologies prior to adoption. Policies that protect people’s rights and require government accountability should be required before implementation. Ineffective and liberty-threatening programs should not be beta tested on residents. Cities should also note how municipalities without these policies put taxpayers at risk by exposing the city to big lawsuits. | https://medium.com/swlh/cities-should-look-at-los-angeles-history-of-big-data-policing-and-avoid-its-mistakes-e64d96760e15 | ['Jonathan Hofer'] | 2019-11-12 19:51:49.120000+00:00 | ['Predictive Policing', 'Surveillance', 'Data Ethics', 'Police', 'Racial Profiling'] |
Alfred T. Mahan’s Wrong Prediction | Alfred T. Mahan’s Wrong Prediction
The Great White Fleet Passing Through Magellan Straits by Henry Reuterdahl / Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
In 1890 American Naval Captain Alfred T. Mahan published one of the most influential books ever published on naval history. In The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660–1783, he brought attention to how controlling the seas had a profound effect on the outcome of wars and history in general.
While much of the book is extremely thought-provoking and shows how important controlling the sea has been not just from 1660, but even from Ancient Athens and Rome, when it came to the future, he made a terrible prediction in the introduction of his book:
“As the United States has at present no aggressive purposes, and as its merchant service has disappeared, the dwindling of the armed fleet and general lack of interest in it are strictly logical consequences. When for any reason sea trade is again found to pay, a large enough shipping interest will reappear to compel the revival of the war fleet. It is possible that when a canal route through the Central American Isthmus is seen to be a near certainty, the aggressive impulse may be strong enough to lead to the same result. This is doubtful, however, because a peaceful, gain-loving nation is not far-sighted, and far-sightedness is needed for adequate military preparation, especially in these days.” (Alfred T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History)
Alfred Thayer Mahan, one of the most influential thinkers in American naval history / Source: britannica.com
The short summary is something like this: Mahan saw it unlikely that his government would be willing to fight if there was any threat to the Panama Canal. He based this view upon the fact that at the time of his writing the United States didn’t seem particularly interested in becoming a naval power.
While at the time it might’ve seemed as if the United States would not pursue overseas ambitions or have a significant navy, there was one person who paid particular attention to Mahan’s views. That was Theodore Roosevelt, who became the President of the United States in 1901. Under his two terms, the United States increased the size of its navy to the point where it became the third-largest in the world after Great Britain and France.
How he was wrong
US President Theodore Roosevelt, one of the fathers of the US Navy / Source: US Library of congress
Ultimately, it was this shift in American strategic thinking that resulted in the United States (US) opting to support Panama militarily in its struggle for independence when negotiations about the Panama Canal broke down with Colombia. The United States, contrary to what Mahan predicted, was willing to go to war over its commercial interests. The interesting paradox is that Mahan’s book had a profound influence on Theodore Roosevelt and his aim of making the US a real naval power.
This naval expansion was crucial for America, as the Spanish-American war of 1898 forced the US Navy to go beyond its previous role of defending the US coastline to take the fight to the enemy. The overseas territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines) taken from Spain at the end of this war and the annexation of Hawaii also made a larger navy necessary to guard lines of communication between these territories and the US mainland. Roosevelt and his contemporaries realized this necessity and built a formidable navy that was capable not only of defending the coastline but also of deploying thousands of miles from home.
The most symbolic moment of this transformation of American naval doctrine was the voyage of the ‘Great White Fleet’: 16 battleships and their escort vessels from America’s Atlantic Fleet circumnavigated the globe between 1907 and 1909. In terms of foreign policy this was intended as both a show of force to potential rivals and as a diplomatic mission: although it was a fleet of warships, white was the peacetime paint for the US Navy and the twenty port calls were mostly friendly courtesy calls — a common practice in diplomatic relations at the time. The voyage also served as practice for the tens of thousands of seamen serving aboard these vessels. Decisionmakers understood that having extensive sailing experience was crucial for an effective navy in wartime.
In the decades following the Great White Fleet’s voyage, the United States took over Great Britain as the largest naval power in the world. Today, America operates half of all aircraft carriers and by far the largest fleet of cruisers as well as naval bases in 17 different countries in addition to US overseas territories. Alfred T. Mahan remains one of the most influential strategic thinkers when it comes to seapower and naval strategy — that is due to both his historical analysis and practical recommendations contained in his book. | https://historyofyesterday.com/alfred-t-mahans-wrong-prediction-4c2145c1ee7b | ['Márton Ujvári'] | 2020-12-22 18:02:23.883000+00:00 | ['Warships', 'History', 'Theodore Roosevelt', 'Navy', 'American History'] |
Set Your Intention → Take 2 | So this week ended up not really being what I had intended at all . . . today in particular, has taken me what seemed like forever to get to finally start working on the blog . . . for various reasons, which I will get into a little later.
Monday and Tuesday were both crazy work days with it being a shorter week and tight deadlines, I ended up having to put in more hours of work to meet the relevant deadlines . . . so I ended up not training on either of these days . . .
Although Wednesday was a public holiday, I still got up early so I could catch up on my courses which I am busy with and don’t want to fall behind. By 6am Mom and I were on the road for a 5km walk and the rest of the day was spent really just relaxing along with a little bit of work as well.
Thursday was of course my training-highlight-day because I get to spend time with 3 of my favourite girls . . . Tammy had a hectic workout planned for us — surprise-surprise! It was a 25 Minute workout, to get as much as possible done of 120 16kg Kettlebell Swings, 60 Calorie Row, 40 Burpee Box Overs (step overs for me, Jump overs for Dee & just Burpees for Jilly because of a knee injury preventing her from doing the step overs or jumps) and ending with 20 Heavy Power Cleans. We could choose in what order we wanted to do this, but we could not split it up, once we started with any movement, we had to complete all the reps for that movement before moving on to the next one. I opted to start with the Burpee Box Step Overs because I knew this was going to slow me down and if I was fatigued, it would be even worse. Followed by the Kettlebell Swings, then the Row and then the Cleans. We got warmed up and then got going . . . I was right about the Burpee Box Step Overs, this was damn hectic and I fell so far behind Jill and Dee on these . . . but kept going . . . When it came to the Kettlebell swings, I was a little worried . . . although I have done Kettlebell Swings with a 16kg before, I have not done 120 reps of this . . . to my surprise, I actually managed to get through this . . . I broke it up by doing 5 at a time so I don’t kill my arms and shoulders, knowing that I still had the Row and the Cleans to do . . . time was running out though . . . Jill and Dee were almost done with their Row by the time I had finished the Kettlebell Swings . . . as I was finishing this, and actually quite looking forward to the row, Tammy told me to skip the Row and get straight onto the Cleans . . . which I did and managed to complete 12 reps of 40kg Cleans . . .
Right, so I didn’t get to complete all the movements or reps within the timeframe, BUT I am super happy with what I had managed to achieve because all of what I had done was a Personal Best!! I have never done Burpee Box Step Overs, let alone 40 of them . . . I have never done 120 reps of 16kg Kettlebell Swings . . . and finally . . . the heaviest Cleans I have ever attempted was 35kg and today I didn’t just attempt 40kg, I completed 12 reps! So, I am not complaining at all!
Friday had another early start, again catching up on my courses and again out on the road by 6am for another 5km walk with Mom! The day was spent looking after a friend of mine’s kids while she was working, which actually ended up being a rather chilled day. I helped them organize a Christmas pressie for their mom too, since she is a single mom and also deserves to have a pressie under the tree. The highlight of my day was when my husband arrived home and told me that he had an early Christmas present for me . . . he had bought me a pull up bar! This is simply too awesome and I am beyond excited about workout out next week because I am now going to be able to do so much more in working to improve my strength and hopefully eventually get to do an actual pull up! Friday ended with a boerie roll braai (sausage roll braai for the non-South-Africans) and just had a very relaxing evening . . .
Saturday started with Mom and I out on the road, again by 6am for a 5km walk . . . this is actually just such an awesome way to start the day, I must say . . . today is a very special day, because it is Dee’s 40 thbirthday and we get to celebrate with her tonight! Hubby and I first went to get school uniform for our youngest son starting High School next year, after which Mom and I went and did a bit of Christmas shopping . . . then for the celebration . . . around 25 of us met at Mozambik Restaurant in Big Bay from around 5pm to celebrate the amazing Dee’s 40 th! It was such a fun evening with so many amazing people and I thoroughly enjoyed it . . . in fact, I may have enjoyed it a little too much . . . LOL
Last week I was telling you guys about ‘Setting your Intention’ over the Christmas period . . . well . . . it seems that I had so much intention to have fun that I did not actually set the intention of how I wanted to feel when I woke up this morning . . . After a few too many G&T’s, I woke up not feeling to ‘hot’ today . . . it took me up to around 11:30 to eventually get my butt in the shower so that I could go to the shops to do the necessary grocery shopping done, and this all happened in super slow motion . . . when we got home I of course had to unpack everything still and felt horrendous . . . this obviously added to the delay in getting the blog done today . . . It naturally got me thinking . . . I HATE feeling like this! And I BETTER be setting my intentions properly for Christmas and New Years because I do NOT want to wake up feeling like this again any time soon!
I have also decided this week that although I am wanting to continue working toward my long term goal over this silly season, I am going to enjoy relaxing a little bit whilst maintaining my current weight by being conscious of what I am consuming but not overdoing it on the bad stuff and continuing to train as often as possible . . . but come 1 January, I am ready to make some serious progress in reaching my long term goal and will be ready to smash every short term goal I set out to achieve where my health and fitness is concerned.
On that note, I wish you and your families a blessed Christmas this coming week . . . have fun, appreciate this special time with each other . . . and remember to set your intention, unlike what I did this week!
Dee’s 40th Celebrations — what an amazing evening with some of my favourite peeps! | https://medium.com/@mercia.basson/set-your-intention-take-2-257055c09794 | ['Mercia Basson'] | 2020-12-20 15:49:49.696000+00:00 | ['Weight Loss Motivation', 'Healthy Lifestyle', 'Nutrition', 'Fitnessmotivation', 'CrossFit'] |
Facebook removes inauthentic assets connected to Georgian far-right group Alt-Info | On October 23, 2020, Facebook removed 130 assets linked to Alt-Info, a Georgian far-right group that used the platform to distribute partisan and anti-Western content. The DFRLab’s analysis of these assets showed that Alt-Info was using an inauthentic network of Facebook accounts, groups, and pages to disseminate its content. Facebook previously removed Alt-Info assets in 2019, but, despite the setback, Alt-Info created new Facebook pages and expanded this distribution network.
The latest Facebook takedown took place one week before the October 31 parliamentary elections in Georgia in which several far-right parties ran for seats in the next parliament. The ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory, with the Central Election Commission determining that it had received 48.07 percent of the votes, well above the 27.12 percent given to the United National Movement, the largest opposition party. The results, however, triggered protests and led the eight opposition parties to declare that they would boycott the parliament.
In its announcement, Facebook stated:
This network used fake accounts to post and comment on their own content to make it appear more popular than it was, and manage Pages, some of which posed as independent from one another. Some of these Pages have gone through significant admin changes and appear to have been purchased. This network focused primarily on amplifying and engaging with Alt-Info’s Page and its content, and commenting on local news media Pages. This network posted primarily in Georgian about news and current events in the country including EU and Russian politics, Georgian parliamentary election in 2020, political figures, criticism of local media and liberal politicians such as representatives of European Georgia party, immigrants, minorities and LGBTQ communities. Some of this activity included posting hate speech and information rated false by independent fact-checkers in Georgia.
Background
In November 2018, Alt-Info announced the creation of an internet television channel to oppose “liberal propaganda” in Georgia by providing a conservative viewpoint about ongoing events in the country.
Georgian fact-checking organizations have reported many times that Alt-Info spreads manipulative information and promotes biased viewpoints; it also disseminates false information. Alt-Info pushes anti-Western messages and frequently promotes anti-immigration discourse. On top of this, it frequently puts forward pro-Russian narratives that are fully in line with the Kremlin’s strategic goals toward Georgia.
The DFRLab previously reported that Alt-Info tried to fuel anti-LGBT sentiments in Georgia in the context of 2019’s Tbilisi Pride event. Alt-Info TV presenter Zurab Makharadze argued that his organization is openly spreading anti-liberal, anti-immigration, and anti-LGBT narratives because it is an official position of Alt-Info as a conservative group that has nothing to hide.
In August 2020, ISFED published a report about Facebook assets spreading Alt-Info content. After ISFED’s report, Radio Free Europe’s Georgian bureau contacted Makharadze to ask whether the assets were linked to Alt-Info. Makharadze confirmed that some of the Facebook pages were run by Alt-Info, but others identified were unrelated but supportive of Alt-Info.
LTD Alt-Info and Alternative for Georgia
The legal entity behind Alt-Info is LTD Alt-Info, which registered with Georgia’s National Agency of Public Registry on January 28, 2019. LTD Alt-Info is owned equally by Shota Martinenko and Tsiala Morgoshia. Martinenko is a board member of “Alternative for Georgia,” a non-commercial legal entity connected to Alt-Info.
Zurab Makharadze is also a board member of Alternative for Georgia board, along with Konstantine Morgoshia, Shota Martinenko, Irakli Kizilashvili, and Giorgi Kardava. Morgoshia’s investment company, the Konstantine Investment Group, has a logo featured prominently on the Alt-info.com website. Morgoshia was previously a member of pro-Kremlin Alliance of Patriots of Georgia party and was also affiliated with extremist pro-Russian Georgian March party members. Other members of Alternative for Georgia were presenters on Alt-Info’s TV channel. Facebook removed individual accounts of all these individuals as well as their accounts on Instagram. | https://medium.com/dfrlab/facebook-removes-inauthentic-assets-connected-to-georgian-far-right-group-alt-info-f560f5c121a1 | [] | 2020-11-06 06:03:25.074000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Facebook', 'Government', 'Georgia', 'Social Media'] |
The Beauty of Snow | The Beauty of Snow
A story
Photography by author
There’s nothing quite like you, fresh fallen snow. The way you tumble out of the sky, quiet — a feathered slow. When the sun strikes your crystal radiance, you sharpen its shine. Your immaculate tiny white orbs attract the sun rays to reflect intense brightness — earth’s grounded moonlight.
You sparkle like an infinite forest of diamonds. You sleeve the branches of the trees and wedding dress them as they miss adorning leaves. You settle on the pine cones making them your own — adding a gorgeous twinkling overtone.
A layer of your dust transcends the ground into a dazzling unpaved road. For a while, the earth holds not a single footstep, an endless roam. There is a sheet of love, up to the tallest mountains glazed in your glow. You express infinite freedom in a spectacular sun-kissed show.
Watch as the darkness runs for cover when invaded by your scintillating presence, diminishing human worries in a neat instance. Your freeze-dried droplets remind me to stand still and admire your cold, airy thrill. Even when inside, you attract a gaze of amazement from a window sill, getting lost — until.
You are the wet lush that can rouse a wise imagination, sparking memories of simple and joyful days, a visual fixation. Untouched and innocent, you are the sky’s present. When unwrapping you, a sweet reminder, how you always listen.
Entranced children watch from the window as you gather with grace. Gliding with the wind, there is no hang on your embrace. You, a fairy tale, land as far as the magic, and altogether settle near — kissed eyelashes and smiles in you, snow. All of a sudden, not only surrounded by your light but now profoundly connected to your joy.
There is a heaviness to you; it reminds me that we don’t carry our weight alone. That feeling you give brings people together and makes their hearts lighter. There’s nothing more special than your ever-loving throne.
You touch the hearts of many and inspire their inner child. They make hot chocolate, light a fire, and snuggle up under a blanket with another heart beating next to theirs. Then, watch you glisten their outside world — purify an inside world. Eyes are captivated in your sight, and worries are buried.
There is an abundance of dreams in your shade; you bring brighter days.
Fascination continues to drop. White boulders, three to build up your height. You take the shape of a man with never-ending feet, cultivated by his hands. You chill, know how to hang-out with no other plans.
The children hurry to step out of the door and into your wonderland. The cold is no match for your magnetic force. They shovel you into miniature mountains to take cover and hide. Then, they squeeze and round you to pack a good punch. They launch and dodge to escape from your fastball. Then, listen for the one that got away, shout out in glee. “You didn’t get me; you didn’t get me!”
They point out their pinks to drive the loss home, but then you land softly reminding them, you are the gift of snow.
You are snow-white, asleep as people walk with their feet and open their eyes to a deep state of heavenly dreams — the laughter echoes in your fallen state of peaceful serene.
Angels in the sky, angels in the snow, look up, look down, angels on the go.
Snow Angel; Photography by author
Your profound bright canvas flurries through the land, inspiring us to live and forget about our plans.
You are quicksand, a gentle reminder to slow down and take a snowy stand. | https://medium.com/genius-in-a-bottle/the-beauty-of-snow-68aa176e66a3 | ['Melissa Bee'] | 2020-12-28 18:52:29.947000+00:00 | ['Nature', 'Short Story', 'Poetry', 'Fiction', 'Photography'] |
Amputated Dignity | Being treated with dignity and respect is seen to be a minimum expectation. Who is it that has given up the right to be treated with honour and dignity? Is it from human right documentations or does this basic right stem from much more important teachings?
“And indeed We have honoured the Children of Adam” (Qur’an 17:70)
Dignity of an individual is removed in a number of ways by society; ridiculing an individual, isolating them, failing to provide for their needs all hinder the development and recovery of those who suffer from mental health problems. The circles around you, be in family, friends, colleagues, neighbours or the general community, are all key in any journey, especially one of recovery and adaptation. Society plays a big role helping to rehabilitate a man who has had a leg amputated. The young man who gets up to offer his chair on the bus, the elderly man who hold the door open from him through the corridor and the teenage neighbour who is fascinated to see how his prosthetic leg works all help rebuild this individual’s character, confidence and capabilities. Does society treat the whom is rehabilitating after a psychotic illness or depression relapse in the same way? Simply — how many people would want to sit next to the lady talking to herself on the bus? How many of us dare to ask the man crying the entire hour ride on the train what is wrong? We as a society are moulded to turn our backs on those who carry a taboo label. Thus, instead of assisting we further push these people into darkness, isolation and fear.
An amputated leg is easy to understand: an accident or illness led to a non functioning limb that had to be removed. The recovery process is clear: learning to adapt to life with a fake leg. Understanding the mind is a much more complex problem that is difficult to visualise or comprehend the limitations.. The only aspect you view with your senses is odd behaviour that we feel is contrary to how someone should act in public. We understand the amputated leg to be the result of an unfortunate even yet the erratic behaviour of someone in a psychotic episode is seen to be their problem and a nuisance to us. The real problem is the prejudice, lack of understanding and failure to tackle the taboo surrounding mental health. With 1 in 4 people in the UK suffering from depression, mental health issues are more likely to affect you or someone you love than an amputation of a limb. Yet, if we thought like this maybe we would treat those we encounter with more dignity. After all, every individual is human and each health worry, physical or mental, is a test imposed upon them by Allah:
Anas narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:
“The greatest reward comes with the greatest trial. When Allah loves a people He tests them. Whoever accepts that wins His pleasure but whoever is discontent with that earns His wrath.” (Ibn Majah)
By looking upon those with mental health issues with a different attitude than those with a physical ailment, we are treating them different based upon a trial that has been given to them by Allah swt. Mental health problems do not lessen the value of an individual nor does it make them have less worth. Whilst society has extreme or unattractive views and behaviour towards the treatment of those who may have psychological problems, one should always remember our true value is in the eyes of Allah.
This should be taken into consideration in two ways. If you find yourself holding negative views or treating people differently based on their psychological capabilities, remember that you as an individual play no role in given them value. Truly, oppressing others is a way to decrease your own scale of good deeds. Is it worth it? A hadith that is fundamentally important to remember in such a discussion is:
Anas narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:
“None of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” (At Tirmidhi)
If you suffer from a problem, remember no matter how difficult it gets Allah is always there to listen and accept your supplication. His love for your is not decreased based on how the rest of creation looks at you. When it feels like nobody on this planet understands, hold firm on to the fact that Allah loves you; this is not based on your looks, abilities or societal value. It is based on your level of rememberance. Ultimately, your true values lies in His eyes as the creation have no right nor status in labelling an individual. Whilst the world can seem like an ocean full of disapproving looks, difficulty and oppression, the ultimate goal is Jannah and the way to attain this is through strengthening your relationship with Allah.
Abu Said and Abu Hurairah report: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, | https://medium.com/inspirited-minds/amputated-dignity-dfd29dce4401 | ['Inspirited Minds'] | 2016-01-09 22:58:59.098000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Islam', 'Dignity'] |
Sadhguru | 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/sadhguru-jv/sadhguru-3c5ee0a56a89 | [] | 2020-12-26 13:13:59.532000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Yoga', 'Life Lessons', 'Meditation', 'Quotes'] |
Sir Keith Park — World War II. The unsung hero of the Battle of… | Sir Keith Park — World War II
The unsung hero of the Battle of Britain
German Heinkel He 111s which went into service in 1937. Some 6000 Heinkel He 111s were built but were found to be a poor match for Hurricanes and Spitfires during the Battle of Britain. From Wikipedia.
In the wake of Germany’s rapid conquest of France, the Luftwaffe launched a brutal air campaign against Great Britain that came to be known as the “Blitz.” Germany hoped the campaign would force Britain to negotiate a peace settlement and bring an end to the war on the Western Front.
However, the British put up fierce resistance and handed the Germans their first defeat in World War II at the Battle of Britain. This battle raged from July to October of 1940 as the Luftwaffe attempted to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF).
The man behind Britain’s defense
At the heart of this heroic defense of Britain stood Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, commander of №11 Group RAF. Park’s group was responsible for the protection of London and Southeastern England. As a result, they bore the brunt of the Luftwaffe’s unrelenting, around the clock assault.
Rather than leading from the safety of a bunker, Park led from the frontlines in his personalized Hawker Hurricane. From the cockpit, he earned his reputation as a shrewd tactician, and his hands-on approach to leadership made him popular among his men.
His aggressive tactics and intelligent management of the №11 Group were decisive factors in Britain’s victory. The Luftwaffe failed to neutralize the №11 Group, forcing Germany to shift its focus to bombing London.
Here again, Park’s leadership saved the day. Having kept his group intact, he was able to meet this new threat by the Germans head-on. By October 1940, the Luftwaffe abandoned its attempts at obtaining air superiority and suspended daytime raids on England.
The stiff resistance by Park, his men, and other British air groups had forced the Germans to call off their planned invasion of England, known as Operation Sealion.
Park, in front of his Hurricane on Malta. By Royal Air Force official photographer. From Wikimedia.
Park encounters controversy
Although Park received numerous accolades for his successful actions in the Battle of Britain, a rivalry had developed between him and the Air Vice-Marshal of the №12 Group, Trafford Leigh-Mallory.
Friction erupted between the two commanders during the Battle of Britain due to significant differences in their tactics. Central to their dispute was their failure to coordinate their actions. Some speculate that one significant contributing factor was Leigh-Mallory’s envy of Park. While Park’s group was at the forefront of the battle, Leigh-Mallory’s group had been tasked with protecting Britain’s airfields.
Leigh-Mallory and his supporters in the RAF argued that the tactics employed by Park and his commander Dowding were too cautious. Park would assemble smaller formations comprised of one to two squadrons. Leigh-Mallory called these small formations “penny pockets.” Leigh-Mallory, on the other hand, preferred large formations called “Big Wing.”
This disagreement between the two commanders was disruptive to their efforts, as neither were willing to support the other. Leigh-Mallory’s №12 Group often barged into the middle of fights where Park’s №11 Group was already engaged, causing degradation in their ability to fight effectively.
Despite their differences, history has judged that both approaches had their merit. They would have found even greater success had they been willing to coordinate their efforts.
Leigh-Mallory’s approach destroyed a greater number of German bombers. However, the time it took to assemble his Big Wing formations meant these bombers had already struck their targets and were on their return flight.
Park’s approach using a smaller formation meant they could strike swiftly, reaching the German bombers before hitting their targets. This Fabian strategy effectively reduced the amount of damage caused by the bombers at the cost of fewer bombers destroyed.
No one could see the benefits of coordinating their differing approaches during that time, and the friction between Park and Leigh-Mallory boiled over. Park and his commander Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, had little interest in the politics of the RAF. As a result, the commands of both men succumbed to the political maneuverings of Leigh-Mallory and the supporters of his Big Wing tactics.
Park was demoted and placed in command of a training wing until 1942 when he was again called upon to mount a defense of Malta, the “most bombed place on earth.” As before in Britain, Park demonstrated his keen ability to lead an air defense. His defense of Malta was a success, and he once again defeated the Luftwaffe.
After the war
Several individuals sang the praises of Sir Keith Park and his contribution to the war effort. Battle of Britain fighter pilot Douglas Bader said of Park, “the awesome responsibility for this country’s survival rested squarely on Keith Park’s shoulders.”
Air Vice-Marshal James Edgar Johnson said, Park “was the only man who could have lost the war in a day or even an afternoon.”
Chief of the Air Staff Arthur Tedder, said of Park:
“If any man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I do not believe it is realized how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgment, and his skill, did to save, not only this country but the world.”
Despite these and other accolades, Sir Keith Park has faded from the public’s memory. Nevertheless, efforts have been underway for some time to bring his heroism and contributions made in the world’s darkest hour back into the light.
The Statue of Sir Keith Park unveiled in 2010. Photo by Peter Trimming.
In 2007, private individuals launched the Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign, and in 2010 the campaign unveiled a statue of Sir Keith Park at Waterloo Place in London, England. This campaign and other efforts help preserve the memory of Britain’s unsung hero of the Battle of Britain. | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/sir-keith-park-world-war-ii-345122707dae | ['Jed Graham'] | 2020-10-05 08:03:12.374000+00:00 | ['World War II', 'Politics', 'World', 'History'] |
Blossom Like a Badass: How Do You Measure Actually Living Your Best Life? | Wishing such quantifiable evidence existed for empowerment!
I knew my partner really loved me when I was very sick and didn’t know if I sharted myself and he checked. Yes, in fact I had sharted myself. He was kind enough to clean my sweet behind. I knew God really loved me when I miraculously made it to my father’s bedside 15 minutes before he died. It’s easier to know when others love us, but how do we know when we really love ourselves? How do you measure it? What evidence will be proof you really believe? Loving yourself is the foundation upon actually living your best life.
I live in data obsessed Silicon Valley, but nothing like Google Maps yet exists for my empowerment journey. When I restart my computer after it gets an update, I get an affirming message that my computer is 50 percent updated and I see a spinning wheel telling me to wait and that more updates are being processed. I wish such data existed for my life’s transformation! You are 80 percent ready for that promotion. You are 60 percent ready to have a child. You are 25 percent prepared for a new romantic relationship. That would be awesome to know with some certainty!
For the last ten years, I have been on a deep empowerment journey of learning to love myself. I have been fiercely trying to define success and happiness on my own terms, not on what society forces down my throat on a daily basis. It’s been one hell of a ride! I have seriously wanted to give up entirely and just settle for a game over.
So how do you know when you’re actually living your best life? Living your best life is not measured by how many followers you have on social media. It’s not how rich you are. It’s not how famous or important others deem you are. This is what society tells us a million times a day, but it’s not the truth.
As 2020, the worst year ever is about to close, I am eager to create a positive vision of hope for 2021. There are so many new possibilities I would like to create for myself and the world. I know that with the grace of God and commitment on my end, new opportunities will arise for my happiness and contribution to the world.
Validation and Affirmation
External validation is the false pretense of happiness and success. But it is so easy to default and conform to societal norms. What is more challenging is to define these on your own, perhaps against what society values or tells you who you should be. This is even more difficult if you identify as a part of an underrepresented community such as women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA, or differently abled. We receive so many messages telling us daily that we are not enough in every way.
Living your best life means you love yourself fully and completely for who you are in this moment, wherever you may be. Rather than depending on external validation, you embody self-validation. You fill up your own cup. I dress up just for the joy of it, to feel cute, and to look at myself in the mirror and smile at my pretty self. I don’t need recognition from my boss or co-workers to know I am rocking it at my job. My friends may have what I want but do not yet have, and I can still be sincerely happy for them.
You embrace your greatest weaknesses. In fact, you fully own both your successes and failures. You take complete responsibility for your life and harness your ability to make choices for yourself. You actively create new possibilities for yourself. You are not a victim to circumstances and just react out of default patterns but can powerfully respond to life. You do not compare yourselves to others. Above all, it is the power to be able to authentically laugh at yourself with kindness and love.
Evidence of not loving myself
For decades of my life, I had no evidence of self-compassion. As a young politico in Washington, D.C., I was an ambition addict. All I focused on was how fast I was climbing the career ladder. I sought prestige and based my entire identity off a job title.
My head was filled with evil self-talk. Every moment, I beat myself up with the most critical judgment. I told things to myself I would never tell another person. I doubted all my actions. What did others think? Why did I do that? How could I mess up like that again? I operated in relentless perfectionist mode exacerbated by a fixed mindset. Mistakes were proof of my inadequacy. I’ve never been good at any of this. I’m not cut out to learn these kinds of things.
I only accepted compliments and praise when it came from another person. I did not say such things to myself. Or if one kind thought did occasionally pop in my head, I never believed it. My value came from my fancy job title, who I knew, how important they were, or who I dated. I depended on others to make me feel wanted, desired, pretty, smart, and funny.
I never trusted myself. My inner intuition was never listened to. I fully doubted my own judgement. I would ask twenty friends for their opinion before I made a decision. I never just went with my gut.
Before the age of 30, I had achieved my dream job as the executive director of a national nonprofit. While my friends were still aimlessly dating, I thought I had found my dream husband. But shortly, both core false foundations of my façade of happiness were suddenly taken from me. I hit rock bottom both personally and professionally. I didn’t know who I was or how to survive.
It was only after I had crashed and fully burned that I begin the journey of how to love myself. I finally started therapy to address my traumatic childhood. I took classes at Landmark Education to unlearn my flawed life framework. I expanded my views on religion to maintain my Catholicism while embracing aspects of Judaism. I worked with a coach to game plan my professional comeback. I learned how to relax and slow down with yin and restorative yoga. I leaned on my friends for support.
Even though I had done a tremendous amount of healing work, there were still some serious obstacles to overcome. I had not learned my lesson, so God made sure I would. On the eve of my thirtieth birthday, although sadly single, I would finally make six figures for the first time, while working for a famous philanthropist, a premier thought leader in my field. But it was like God was trying to tell me, “Hey girl, um I tried to tell you a job title and money isn’t the key to happiness, but I don’t think you really got it!” This too did not work out as planned.
So, to keep the brand new Prius I just bought, I became an Uber, Lyft, and Shuddle driver to make ends meet. I slowly regained my confidence by tutoring high school students for the SAT and their AP classes. I straight up hustled and learned to cherish what really mattered to me, spending cherished time with loved ones and giving back to others. Being a good friend, daughter, sister, and aunt were the titles that were most important.
So those are multiple examples of when I clearly didn’t love myself and therefore wasn’t living my best life. Those were the times when I compared myself to others, when my relationship status or job title falsely were the main factors in how I based my self-worth.
Evidence of loving myself
Thank God, after embarking on this deep empowerment journey of how to love myself, I now have multiple data points that serve as evidence that I am actually living my best life. Of course, it’s not perfect and I am always striving for new opportunities, but I am still happy in the pursuit, joyful right now in the present moment. It’s not like, “When I find the right man and get married, I will be happy.” It’s not, “When I make ___ amount of money, I will be successful.” My ambition is no longer an addiction. I do not need those future aspirations to have been achieved to be fulfilled. I accept and love my life as it is right now. I continue to be an ever- evolving version of my best self.
I began my empowerment journey by leaving a seven-year relationship with my college sweetheart. Finally having the courage to step away was my first indication I was committed to loving myself. It was the start of a long, deep, and painful journey of healing.
My strongest data point of loving myself is when I transformed my greatest weakness into my superpower and got sober from alcohol. For about 16 years of my life, alcohol was my most significant coping mechanism. I used it to numb my pain. During Greek life at college, binge drinking was glorified. As a politico in my twenties in DC, drinking everyday was just a part of the job as you went to networking events and happy hours. But when I moved to the suburbs of Silicon Valley and had to drive to and from my drinking romps, when the monthly pilgrimage to Napa wine country ended with a sprained ankle, and when my closest friends of over fifteen years started to no longer tolerate my drunken behavior, I started to realize maybe my drinking wasn’t quite so normal. After multiple attempts to get sober, I finally made it. Every drink I say no to is saying yes to loving myself. I was fortunate to have achieved a year of sobriety right before my father’s death. I have no idea how I would have gotten through his passing without this newfound strength.
Always check your junk mail. Another strong piece of evidence of loving myself is when given a sudden windfall of money, I didn’t make any major changes to my current lifestyle but was happy where I was in life. Completely unexpectedly, shortly after my father died, in what I thought was just a piece of junk mail, I received a significant amount of money. If this had happened a year earlier, I would have quit my job and traveled the world. But I really loved my current job and didn’t want to quit. I actually enjoyed what I did. It wasn’t about the money. Ironically, around this same time, my current roommates were about to move out and I was deciding where to live. Now, I could have afforded my own place, or at least chosen to move into a fancy apartment in San Francisco. I had already made plans to move in with my best friend into my old house on a beautiful lagoon. Even with this new financial freedom, I decided I still wanted to go with that original plan. So, with this life changing amount of money, I didn’t make any major changes to where I was. I kept the same job. I chose to live in my original plan for housing. I was happy where I was in life.
Lastly, I knew I loved myself when I reclaimed sovereignty of my body. I have a M.A. in Applied Gender Studies and have volunteered for years as a rape crisis counselor. During the many drunken nights in my past, I had a variety of unwanted sexual experiences. I brushed these off as not a big deal. I normalized the violation because I did not stand up for myself. But about two weeks before #MeToo went viral, I finally found the courage to call my rape a rape. Moreover, as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professional, I felt morally obligated to speak out. I made a Facebook Live from the emergency room explaining the process to survivors and encouraging them to utilize this resource. Yes, I felt guilt and shame, but I did not allow those feelings to overwhelm me and prevent me from speaking my truth. Similarly, a few years later, I decided to utilize the egg freezing benefits my company generously offered. Once again, when even though I felt embarrassed I was thirty-five, single, and freezing my eggs, I decided to have fun with it and publicly celebrate this reproductive choice.
Even in writing this, I am scared out of my mind of the mean comments that could come, how this could impact future employment or dating, or how others will judge me. But here it is, baring my soul on the Internet, hoping it brings you some solace to know you are not alone in your journey! I too have struggled like hell but keep trying everyday to love myself.
Questions to explore your empowerment
So, what metrics will you use for yourself to gauge when you fully love yourself? Your measurement may be different from mine. There is no absolute truth, only that which you know in your deepest core to be true to you. Trust yourself. Believe in yourself.
Below are some deep questions to ask yourself. Every year, I love taking a few hours to do a deep dive reflection into the past year to create a strong vision for the new year using the free Year Compass guide. Another great reflection tool is The Soul Communion Workbook by Monique Mitchell. Throughout the year, I use the Passion Planner daily.
To learn more about loving yourself, I highly recommend checking out the work of Audre Lorde, Kristin Neff, and Jen Sincero. Let’s stay connected on this journey through #BlossomBadass!
Cheers to creating amazing new possibilities in 2021! Happy New Year!
· What does it mean to you to blossom like a badass?
· How do you define living your best life on your own terms, not just on what society tells you what that should look like?
· How do you really know that you love yourself?
· What does happiness and success mean to you?
· Rather than default to conformity of external validation, how do you fill up your own cup each and every day?
· How can you learn to be present and not stuck in the past or too attached to the future?
· What’s in your self-care toolkit? What resources or support could help you on your journey? How can you get more comfortable with asking for help?
· What do you think is your greatest weakness? How can you transform that into your superpower?
· What new possibilities do you want to create for yourself in 2021? What are you calling in? What are you letting go off?
· What surprised you the most about yourself during quarantine in 2020? What were you most proud of accomplishing from 2020? Which of those are strengths you want to bring with you into the new year? | https://medium.com/@olearypd/blossom-like-a-badass-how-do-you-measure-actually-living-your-best-life-b14785439290 | ["Pamela O'Leary"] | 2020-12-27 21:43:57.013000+00:00 | ['Empowerment', 'New Years Resolutions', 'Womens Rights', 'New Year', 'Women'] |
I spent Christmas Alone this Year. That Was the Biggest Gift. | I spent Christmas Alone this Year. That Was the Biggest Gift.
You can’t manufacture joy, giddiness and seasonal silliness
Fake trees, originally priced at almost $450, are being ushered out the door at my local Home Goods for $35.
I looked. Walked on by. Nah.
Used to be, many moons ago, that my house was a veritable orgy of decorations. Took me two days to get everything up. And another two or three to get it all down. I rarely in all my 67 years ever had company for Christmas. Maybe three times. Who on earth was all that for other than the retail industry? Nobody came through to ooh and ahh. I did, once, when I hurt my back taking stuff down.
Said quite a few very un-jolly things, too.
I bought thousands of gifts for bewildered people who had no idea what I was trying to say. On very rare occasion, I had time with folks I cared a lot about.
For years I tried very hard to force festive feelings into my life, a false bonhomie and the appearance that all was well, all was calm, all was bright.
No, it wasn’t. Because you can’t manufacture feelings just because It’s That Time of Year.
The last nearly twenty years, I had a seasonal trip to the Pacific Northwest, where a friend’s family kindly made a place for me at their table.
That went the way of the dodo bird this year, as I did what Kristi Keller discussed in a recent piece, a friend purge. Didn’t begin that way. But it did end that way, as I sought to set boundaries with people who said things like:
Who would want to read your memoir? (the ex-friend)
and
Nobody wants to read your fucking stories (the ex-BF)
Those were a few from last decade/year. Those made up part of the highlight reel of the decade, as I counted down to January 1st. Boxes of junk weren’t the only things I left on the sidewalk. Pieces of my heart, as well, as I had to bid goodbye to longtime friends who felt it perfectly acceptable to bleed me as they wished. I have no idea why; that is their journey.
But it is mine to choose quiet time to myself rather than be fearful a beloved friend is going to carve a new hole in my heart for reasons that I have yet to comprehend.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Sometimes the end of the year is as much about getting rid of as it is getting. Nobody asks me what I got for Christmas. Those who know me best understand that this is a silly question.
The silly season is just that. As much as I suffer from temporary early giddiness when October lands, and the stores are already stuffed with Santas (and have been since late August), these days I am far happier having released my compulsive need to MAKE THE SEASON GREAT. Sometimes the season sucks. Kindly ask those families up in Sandy Hook, for example. Each of us experiences this time of year through very specific lenses. Loss, tragedy, recovery, falling in love, getting engaged, having a child, losing a child.
Or to have to worry about some freaknut attacking your church/mosque/temple/ house because he doesn’t happen to like your beliefs or language or skin color. Or your sneakers. Who knows.
Just because it’s That Time of Year is in some ways meaningless. For the trees in my yard (and to all the trees that didn’t get chopped down this year) it’s just another day. The deer could care less that I stuck another big block of compressed deer food out for the fam. It’s there. We’re hungry. Let’s eat.
Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash
I read all kinds of Medium stories from folks who felt a push to feel something they just didn’t. Well, kindly, why should they? Just because there’s extreme pressure to be happy and joyful during the one time of year (in the Northern Hemisphere at least which traditionally was the most terrifying), why should you?
Seasonal Affective Disorder is a thing for a reason. People were terrified of the short, dark nights for a reason. The cold and often lonely days around proscribed “happiest times” can make us feel like fucking losers.
Until, and unless.
Stay with me here.
This year I hadda say goodbye to my house of 14 years, and my city and state of 47. The house, now HUGE again since I have packed all my stuff away, has more dust bunnies than decorations. Shorn of all the memories, the chalkboard of its walls wiped clean of the pictures and photos and masks that had given the place my unique stamp, I was finally able to walk by Certain Places without pain.
The kitchen wall where the abusive ex first kissed me, a kiss that lasted nearly an hour and left us both exhausted and my poor feet screaming at me. I think the man had an erection for three days and that was without Viagra. Remember how it feels when you remember back when we first…?
That kind of pain.
The bedroom where…well, you know. That. Whole lotta shakin’ went on in there.
I hung a single ball from Taos from my mantle. Played Mannheim Steamroller, my one concession to the season, and the happiest. The rest of the time I worked, packed, threw away, donated, dumped and otherwise continued to clean house. March is the deadline.
Photo by Anthony Cantin on Unsplash
A few friends came by, a few had to cancel due to flu. That didn’t hurt at all. In fact, their cancellations were also a gift. I had more time to be in my home-not-home-any-more. 2019 was the first holiday season I had been in my own house. People made themselves available such as they could, in many cases because this is my last.
Dear god how grateful I have been for such a beautiful place.
Dear god how grateful I am to have a house to sell so that I have a financial nut, a nut (please forgive the pun) that I can turn into trees around my new place somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
Dear god how grateful I am to be able to finally grow a set of balls, to say to abusers and users and unkind friends, kindly, there’s the door.
I no longer care that it’s taken me 67 years. I have the rest of my life to enjoy what comes next.
I finally had time to catch up writing so very many stories that had languished (even my dedicated buddy Ann Litts could barely keep up), a flow that continues if for no other reason than I have the time.
Besides, writing stories for pay is a great excuse to avoid doing more mundane work but I digress. It’ll get done. Always does.
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
In the soft light of a candle that one friend gave me for Christmas (which has, of course spawned many more, if nothing else to cover up the smell of fourteen-year-old dust), I got to just BE.
For many of us that’s the one thing that’s hardest to do. Not only in life in general, but during holidays. All of them, from Kwanzaa to Christmas, it’s nonstop.
And it’s the single most important time that you and I most need - as we traditionally acknowledge the ending of a year. Especially in this case, a decade. It’s incumbent upon us to take the time to acknowledge who and what have gone, what we have learned, what we’re grateful for, what we are sad that has passed. Honor and bless and kiss goodbye all those things that must be sent down the River of Life.
That’s what this dark night is all about. Yet most of us are so busy, or too sad, or too lonely, or overwhelmed that we cannot carve out time to care for ourselves. To notice. And by noticing, make choices. That kind of careful consideration is what also drives thoughtful redirects, otherwise called resolutions. In the dark of the solstice, we face ourselves, our fears, our heartaches. And we choose.
Given time and reflection, the gifts of a dark night, we can make better choices.
Then as we always do, the moment the days have passed their darkest, we turn our attention towards the new year, the new day, the coming spring, and all the promise that a warming sun and longer days can carry.
I had all that. All that and so very much more. Because I spent Christmas alone.
Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash
My new friend Margaret Kruger told me that over the course of her 67 years she had spent plenty of Christmas holidays alone. She knows how to do this. Now I do, too.
Such times are such a gift. Not to be caught up in the notion that we “should” be with family. “Should” be happy and joyful just because it’s the season.
Rather, to be with ourselves, in the deep quiet and warm places where wounds can begin to heal. In ways only we can do for ourselves.
Where the sweet smell of a Christmas candle is for us and us alone, offering the promise of healing and hope. | https://medium.com/crows-feet/i-spent-christmas-alone-this-year-that-was-the-biggest-gift-4b5afce89e91 | ['Julia E Hubbel'] | 2020-01-06 02:03:52.441000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Society', 'Culture', 'Life', 'Christmas'] |
The challenges of rural-urban migration | Photo by Zeyn Afuang on Unsplash
Rural-urban migration can be defined as the process of movement of people from rural areas to cities. Migration indeed is a challenging process and therefore there have to be more or less major reasons behind migration that makes people leave their respective places and move into an all-new place. These reasons could be mainly economic, political, social and environmental. Out of these, the economic reason is the most prevailing because of the financial grievances they face in their respective rural areas. This makes them migrate to cities to find work or improve their career.
Second of all is social migration which happens when people move to cities for a better quality of life and healthy surrounding. The third major reason behind urban migration is- the environment which includes natural disasters such as flooding, drought etc. The urban migration pulls a number of people for employment, sanity, better healthcare and education, protection, technological and various other facilities and better opportunities for people. Thus, it explains that a large number of people move to urban areas for a reasonable number of pros mentioned above.
Talking about the impact of covid 19 on migration, it goes without saying that they were among those people who suffered the most. Immigrants are potentially in a more vulnerable position in the labour market due to their generally less stable employment conditions and lower seniority on the job. Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic have faced multiple hardships. With factories and workplaces shut down due to the lockdown imposed in the country, millions of migrant workers had to deal with the loss of income, food shortages and uncertainty about their future. A number of migrants started moving to their respective home without any means of transport due to lockdown. The distance learning measures put children of immigrants at a disadvantage. Such children are also less likely than students with native-born parents to have access to a computer and an internet connection at home.
In response, the Central and State Governments took various measures to help them and later arranged transport for them. More than 300 migrant workers died due to the lockdown, with reasons ranging from starvation, suicides and exhaustion.
The Covid 19 also majorly affected the socio-economic structure of India. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth had been estimated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at 6.2% in 2019–20. The International Monetary Fund, however, lowered India’s growth forecast by 1.3% points to 4.8% for 2019–20 and stated that India’s growth had slowed sharply. It is self-evident, therefore, that an economy already affected by slow growth in the previous fiscal year would be severely affected by the lockdown as a result of the pandemic. The Small and Medium Enterprises market ratings project that the nationwide lockdown is expected to incur losses of over $4.5 billion (₹ 35,000 crores) every day during the lockdown. The healthcare sector, the fourth-largest employer in the country, and specifically the private sector which provides nearly 80% of out-patient care and about 60% of in-patient care is currently facing 90% losses due to decreases in out-patient attendance, elective surgeries and international patients.
During the current pandemic, the economic downturn has greatly affected people from the lower socio-economic stratum (SES). The distressing media visuals of migrant labourers going to their native places from the cities on foot during the lockdown has been critically debated. Remittance of money to the home country, which many migrant Indian workers popularly do, is another way of poverty reduction, economic development and increase in GDP.
Contributed By- Anushka Rathore, Content Writer Mitti Ke Rang | https://medium.com/@mittikerang/the-challenges-of-rural-urban-migration-65916cbcfc56 | ['Mitti Ke Rang'] | 2020-11-22 08:23:13.930000+00:00 | ['Urban', 'Migration', 'Rural'] |
Moving your content to a new website? | These tips can save you time — and lead to happy users.
I’ve recently had the privilege of working with several city and county governments that are upgrading their websites. As a content strategist, I love these projects because they provide an opportunity to improve the user experience.
Website upgrades often involve moving content from an old website to a new one — a process called content migration. It can be a daunting undertaking that requires inter-department collaboration and a willingness to change — two things that don’t always come naturally to government institutions. And even a logistically flawless content migration (assuming such a thing existed!) could still result in a confusing website.
Luckily, there are things you can do early on that will help you coordinate efforts across departments and — best of all — lead to a more consistent and engaging user experience.
Develop criteria for content worth moving
Planning a content migration means deciding the fate of every existing page on the current website. Will it make the move, or will it get retired? Each department will need to review its web pages and decide their fates.
Before asking departments to flag content for migration, develop clear, written criteria to guide their decision-making. While content has probably been developed in silos — and realistically may be maintained that way in the future — this is the time to take a holistic look at the site.
Should this page be archived?
When in doubt, throw it out. Seriously. If you’re not sure who would read it, why they’d read it, or who would notice if it disappeared, archive it. (You can always save a “just in case” version somewhere if it’ll help you sleep at night.)
Some teams use the “ROT” framework to decide what to archive. If content is redundant, obsolete, or trivial, get rid of it. But it’s a good idea to provide your team with specific examples that meet these criteria, since they can be open to interpretation.
Is this page critical for launching the site?
A spot on the new site needs to be earned — migration shouldn’t be the default action for any content. Content is migration-worthy if:
It has a clear purpose that meets a user need — it helps them complete a task or provides information they can only get from your site
You’re legally required to post it
You can add to this criteria to meet the needs of your site and community. But be choosy. And avoid the temptation to migrate content now and deal with decision-making later.
Tip: The less you migrate now, the less you’ll have to maintain.
Could you wait and see?
If content needs an overhaul and it’s not launch-critical, make a couple of notes on what you’d like to change. Then set it aside for later. If you don’t go looking for it in the first 6 months after launch, it’s likely time to let it go (just like those boxes you’ve yet to unpack…).
Organize content to benefit users
When we work in government, we adapt to bureaucracy out of necessity. The unwieldy workarounds start to make sense to us, and we often need to know who does what in order to get our jobs done.
So it’s pretty understandable that governments historically organize their web content based on the department that oversees it. However, users shouldn’t need an org chart to find what they’re looking for. Instead, put information and services in context of who’ll need them and when.
For example, one community I worked with had a number of services for older adults — from fitness classes to social events to transportation. These services were provided by different departments, so users had to visit separate pages to gather information. For the new site, we created a category called “For Older Adults,” to allow users to see all of the city’s related content in one spot. | https://medium.com/pollinator/moving-your-content-to-a-new-website-4f6c9be41995 | ['Megan Freedman'] | 2021-01-22 20:53:42.320000+00:00 | ['Website', 'Website Redesign', 'Content', 'Content Migration', 'Content Strategy'] |
Data Platform Squad Interactions and Way of Work | Hi,
We are the Data Platform Squad
And today we’ll tell you about how our squad work everyday.
We use Scrum as our Agile Methodology with 2-week sprints.
The reason of this short sprints is that we can deliver and get feedback from the users as fast as possible.
Although we have defined roles for each one, we are an autonomous team, where everyone is responsible for work in your tasks, provide approaches to solve and deliver the features.
We stimulate criativity, exploring news tools and techniques where they can find ways to make our day-to-day challenges more efficient and growing their own professional skills.
Part of our job is to communicate and align with others squads to provide what is most important for us: the business value to our clients.
The excitement part of this is that each challenge is a whole new page to write ourselves.
We can name some exciting things we are working:
UX, Figma, Python, Pandas, React, Redux, CI/CD, Product Development
But, you don’t have to hear just from the person who is writing this article.
Listen to the comments from our squad members: | https://medium.com/shape-digital/data-platform-squad-interactions-and-way-of-work-ccf928e53447 | ['Itiro Inazawa'] | 2021-06-18 16:46:06.190000+00:00 | ['Teamwork', 'Hiring', 'Scrum', 'Agile Methodology', 'Startup'] |
Going Over the Falls in a Barrel | Thank you to the editors of Ponder Review at the Mississippi University of Women in Columbus, MS, who published five works from my series Veronica’s Cloths in Volume 4, Issue 1. When I look at the works selected, I think about Annie Edson Taylor. At 63 years old, she was the first human to go over the Niagara River falls in 1901. Amazingly, she did it inside a pickle barrel padded with pillows. When she emerged at the base of Horseshoe Falls, she is said to have remarked, “No one ought ever do that again.” That’s how I think about the content of my artwork — I hope that no one has to go through what I went through at my last job.
Annie Edson Taylor makes me think about tipping points and courage. What made her look at something as overwhelmingly dangerous and gargantuan as Niagara Falls and say I’m going to take it on? She knew it could kill her. Tear her apart in the process. She could be annihilated, and her body never found. And yet, she did it anyway. Some called her crazy. But that is a dismissive explanation. I think a choice like hers is much more psychically profound. Her decision is about a tipping point where there is nothing left to lose. You have to do something to get unstuck from the place you live (physically and emotionally). You have to try to do something extraordinary to make a change in the world.
Deciding to fight against the threats, harassment, sexual assault, discrimination, retaliation I was subjected to in my last job was like deciding to go over the falls a barrel. It was something I needed to do even though I was going up against an institution and people of formidable power. Fighting against what I experienced had to be done. There was no other choice. What happened to me had to stop. No one else should experience what I experienced. As I imagine Annie Edson Taylor in the confines of the pickle barrel in the turbulent rushing water, I relate to being alone, in the dark, groundless, and not knowing which end is up. When I experienced retaliation and defamation following my complaints of discrimination, I relate to Taylor’s feeling of being thrashed from side to side without adequate cushion or comfort, heart beating fast from adrenaline, and feeling like I couldn’t breathe.
The pieces selected by Ponder’s editor make me think about Taylor — overcoming fear through courage (“In the Pit of My Stomach (Fear)”), being subjected to scrutiny and judgment (“Vulnerability (Tears)”), taking the plunge and feeling groundless (“The Last Thing I Remember”), feeling beaten up during the long journey toward justice (“I See Spots (Knock-Down, Drag-Out)”), and battling powerful, destructive forces alone (“Abandoned by St. Amabilis”).
See more Veronica’s Cloths: www.kjohnsonbowlesart.com
K. Johnson Bowles | https://medium.com/@kathyjohnsonbowles/going-over-the-falls-in-a-barrel-5cb9daffa33c | ['Kathy Johnson Bowles'] | 2020-12-19 00:09:03.472000+00:00 | ['Social Justice', 'Art', 'Courage', 'Feminist Art', 'Confronting Fear'] |
Linda’s Last Flight | Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash
He’d started the letter to his brother twice now. He opened the bottle of Southern Comfort an hour ago and already it was half gone.
Jesse Wagner lived in a squalid ground floor apartment so old the floorboards were the color of dirt. He never cared much about the place. It didn’t matter to him where he lived, he was out on the road most of the time.
Normally.
None of it mattered now anyway.
Jesse took another long pull from the bottle before shrugging into his coat and heading out the door. He needed to buy some more before the liquor store closed. He made his way down the uneven sidewalk not caring how steady his walk appeared to passers-by.
None of it mattered now anyway.
Shep was behind the counter when Jesse finally made his way down the street and into the distressed storefront. He bought another bottle of Southern Comfort and added a bottle of Scotch. Shep raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as he wrapped the bottles up in paper bags and handed them over. Jesse recognized two other men loitering off to one side but said nothing. Usually, he enjoyed his trips down to the store when Shep was there and had spent more than one long afternoon in the company of the other customers there. But today Jesse said nothing and the other men treated him with arm’s length compassion, watching him quietly as he skulked out the door and into the early evening street. No one had said much to Jesse since he’d returned from the bike show.
Since the accident.
Four days earlier he and his girlfriend, Linda, had jumped onto Jesse’s bike for the ride back into the city after spending a weekend at a camping site along with dozens of other bikers. The weekend had been drenched in alcohol and laughter. The show had been a particularly good one and Jesse had been relieved to see Linda laughing more than once, something she hadn’t done in the months preceding the rally. Jesse had tried to get her out of her funk several times, but no dice. She kept insisting she was fine, that she was just distracted.
Jesse let himself back into his apartment and tossed his keys onto the nicked wooden table inside the door. He shuffled back to the wooden bench he used as a worktable and sat down, placing the bag down with a heavy thud and staring out the window. Linda loved sunsets. Often, they’d wander the streets together as the sun went down, circling the sprawling city blocks well into the night. Jesse sighed again and rubbed his red-rimmed eyes with a shaky hand. He realized his first bottle of Southern Comfort was empty and he set about opening the one he’d just brought home. Once he had the cap off and another pull, he got out a piece of paper and, for the umpteenth time that day, started the letter to his brother.
The brothers had been born to a tough woman who’d grown up in the dusty slums of West Virginia before moving to the gritty streets of Detroit. She’d named both her sons after famous outlaws, christening them Jesse James and William Hickock Wagner. They’d been a surly pair as youths, graduating from terrorizing neighborhood girls with worms and snails to terrorizing them with fast cars and fistfights. Jesse had elected to go to a Vo-Tech school and had fallen in love with mechanics, eventually earning a degree and securing steady, albeit hard, work in a local garage. William, called Billy by most, had never lost his love of crime, the temptation of an easy buck proving too strong too often. He was currently serving a three year stretch in prison for a botched burglary he’d carried out in a drunken stupor. He had no idea what had happened.
Linda and Jesse had met soon after he’d landed his job. She had come in to have her bike tuned up and she and Jesse had gone off together to a rally two weeks later. As they were getting ready to leave it began to rain. Jesse had his leather jeans but Linda hadn’t brought any and the prices the vendors were selling them for were nothing short of highway robbery. Linda had solved the problem by wrapping her jeans in several thick layers of duct tape. As Jesse watched her rolling the tape over her legs he knew he’d found the woman of his dreams.
That was two years ago.
Jesse took another long drink and began writing.
This past weekend had been perfect. They’d explored the woods together and made love near a small stream they stumbled upon one afternoon. They sat up all night watching the stars and lying happily on the grass. When they were preparing to leave Linda had hugged him tightly, kissing him on the lips and smiling into his eyes. Jesse had been thinking of getting home and into bed.
Jesse had always loved riding with Linda snuggled close behind him, her legs gripping him around the hips, her arms crossed tightly over his chest. She leaned into him until they were almost one person. He never worried about going around tight curves or dodging in and out of traffic when she was on the bike. She leaned with him around turns, tightened her legs around him as they dipped around cars and swerved around trucks. Jesse often got lost in the sensation of her body against his, gripping him tightly, literally holding on for dear life as the needle of his speedometer wavered past 100. Fuel-injected exhilaration, she called it.
As they got on the bike Sunday, he’d felt her hands sliding over the back of his jeans, tucking her fingers quickly into the waistband. Jesse had smiled, happy to feel her soft flesh against him, if only for a moment. As they set off she braced herself around him as she always did, squeezing his body tightly for a moment as the bike roared to life.
Jesse drained the bottle of Southern Comfort down to the quarter mark and steadied his hands. He stood and stretched, walking over to the stereo and flipping it on, letting a stream from the local radio station fill the apartment. He walked into the kitchen and searched for the bag of dry roasted peanuts he knew he had. He finally found them in the refrigerator. He ate a handful without thinking about it as he walked back to the table and sat down again.
Around five miles or so before their exit on the highway, Jesse had felt Linda squeeze him tightly. Her strong thighs pressed against him and her surprisingly strong arms seized him tightly for a moment. Jesse smiled to himself and wished he could return the gesture. He squeezed the accelerator instead, eager to get her home. But then, in an instant, everything changed. He felt Linda’s legs pushing down, felt the resistance of her arms spreading open, and then the bike fishtailing, the sudden absence of weight. A morbid symphony of squealing tires and honking horns exploding behind him.
Jesse managed to control the bike long enough to pull over and throw a desperate glance over his shoulder. Behind him a truck had come to a squealing halt, throwing its back end across the other lane of traffic. Among the cars stopped in front of the truck, stood a small, yellow VW Beetle.
Linda was sprawled across the dented hood and shattered windshield.
Jesse could see nothing else. He stumbled off his bike, letting it crash onto the ground as he made his way through stopped cars and people running towards him. He barrelled through them, shoving them out of the way. By the time he made it to Linda, he could already hear the approaching sirens. He took his helmet off and fell to his knees beside the small car, his chest heaving, his mind blank.
Other motorists gave the description required by police. Linda had launched herself off the bike in one fluid movement, spreading her arms wide and pushing off with her legs. The wind had picked her up and sent her sailing directly into the windshield of Robert Mitchell’s VW Beetle. She’d never looked behind her, never waved her arms. Robert had described it as a bird taking off into flight to the investigators as he shook under the scratchy green blanket an EMT had placed around his shoulders.
Jesse sat with an anxious looking patrolman, watching as medics zipped Linda up into a long, black bag. Eventually, he was taken home in a patrol car, his bike delivered later that day with silent condolences from his boss.
Jesse hadn’t spoken to anyone since the day of the accident and he didn’t feel much like starting anytime soon.
But he wanted to tell Billy what had happened. Linda had sent Billy regular letters updating him about the rallies they went to, complete with pictures. She’d been the one to remember the care packages on his birthday and at Christmas. Jesse wasn’t sure how to tell him those regular acts of thoughtfulness would be ending.
Jesse opened the Scotch. | https://medium.com/@einsteinshrugged-92813/lindas-last-flight-e368a0ac150a | ['Einstein Shrugged'] | 2020-12-09 02:11:46.203000+00:00 | ['Suicide', 'Death', 'Dark Fiction', 'Fiction'] |
Sneak (Chart) Peaks: 20 Greatest Hits and Not One Signature Song | Sneak (Chart) Peaks: 20 Greatest Hits and Not One Signature Song
For some superstars, the biggest singles weren’t the ones most likely to still be playing 20 years later.
Photo: flickr
I have a theory: The more hits a superstar act has scored, the more likely the biggest one of those swinging singles is to be a totally unexpected home run.
Take the greatest band — and one of the top hitmakers — of all time. “Hey Jude” spent more weeks (nine) at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 U.S. singles chart than any other single by The Beatles, but is it the first song fans think of when they think of the Fab Four? Is the 1968 classic synonymous with The Beatles over “She Loves You,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” or “All You Need Is Love”?
The quartet racked up a number of signature early, mid-, and late-period songs, and it’s hard enough to choose one from each era, so I won’t even attempt to pick one overall. But if I had to single out one track that defined The Beatles in their later days, it might be their penultimate number one, 1970’s “Let It Be,” or even “Revolution” (the B-side of the “Hey Jude” 45), or several songs that were lesser hits than the monster smash Paul McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon’s son Julian after his parents’ divorce.
As for the four chart-topping solo acts The Beatles spawned (five, if you count honorary Beatle Billy Preston), Lennon had the strangest chart career. One might have expected it to produce more than four Top Tens on the Hot 100 in the decade before his death.
I remember how huge the six-weeks-at-number one “(Just Like) Starting Over” was in the aftermath of Lennon’s 1980 murder. But even now, I have a hard time accepting that his posthumous chart-topper as well as “Whatever Gets You thru the Night” (number one, 1974) and “Woman” (number two, 1981) were all bigger than “Imagine” (number three, 1971). Imagine that.
Now consider fellow ex-Beatle McCartney. His longest-running post-Beatles number-one wasn’t “Band on the Run” or “Silly Love Songs” (Billboard’s top Hot 100 single of 1976) or any of his other ’70s radio staples. It was “Ebony and Ivory,” his 1982 duet with Stevie Wonder that ruled Billboard’s Hot 100 for seven weeks, which is as long at the top as the number-one runs of Wonder’s “Superstition,” “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” “You Haven’t Done Nothin’,” “I Wish,” and “Sir Duke” combined.
Here are 16 other superstar acts with surprise biggest hits.
Bee Gees
Along with the aforementioned McCartney and Wonder, as well as Elton John (see below) and (for the first half of the decade) Carpenters, the brothers Gibb pretty much ruled Billboard’s Hot 100 in the 1970s. Barry, Robin, and Maurice scored more chart-toppers (nine) and spent more cumulative weeks at the summit (27) than any other act.
Now, quick — name the biggest Bee Gees song of any decade!
Like most people who were alive for Saturday Night Fever mania or caught the disco bug during a subsequent outbreak, you probably thought “Staying Alive” — and you thought wrong. It certainly would qualify as the trio’s signature song, but “Night Fever” spent twice as many weeks at number one. Eight weeks on top isn’t such a big deal these days, but it was virtually unheard of in the ‘70s.
In fact, only two other singles matched it all decade: Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night” (see below), which also logged eight weeks at the top between 1976 and 1977, and Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life,” which spent 10 weeks there in 1977, before being replaced by Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love,” which spent three weeks at number one.
Crosby, Stills, Nash and (sometimes) Young
“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”? “Woodstock”? “Teach Your Children”? “Ohio”? None of them rank as the biggest single recorded by the harmonizing supergroup. That honor would go to 1977’s “Just a Song Before I Go,” the Crosby, Stills and Nash single that hit number seven and out-charted anything else that David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash would ever do together or solo, including Stills’ number-14-peaking 1970 single “Love the One You’re With.”
Depeche Mode
Depeche diehards may have an assortment of favorites, but for fans between diehard and casual, either 1981’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” (which didn’t even chart on the Hot 100) or 1984’s “People Are People” (number 13) would probably be the song that comes to mind first when anyone brings up the synth-pop band.
However, their biggest hit is neither of those new-wave classics but rather, “Enjoy the Silence,” the band’s lone U.S. Top 10, which climbed to number eight in 1990, the year after the decade most associated with Depeche Mode ended. (Interesting fact: Despite their reputation as an ’80s highlight, DM enjoyed more global commercial success — and their only U.S. number-one album, 1993’s Songs of Faith and Devotion — during the next decade.)
Duran Duran
The premiere pin-up band of the ’80s went to number one for two weeks in the U.S. twice (with 1984’s “The Reflex” and “A View to a Kill” the following year). But the words “Duran Duran” are probably more closely identified with their 1983 U.S. chart debut “Hungry Like the Wolf” (number three) and “Girls on Film,” which never even made it to the Hot 100.
Shocking fact: “A View to a Kill” is the only James Bond theme to top the pop singles chart in the U.S., accomplishing what Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” (number eight), Paul McCartney and Wings’s “Live and Let Die” (number two), Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better” (number two), Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only” (number four), and Adele’s Oscar-winning Skyfall (number eight) couldn’t.
Dusty Springfield
Would Dusty Springfield be the blue-eyed Brit soul icon she is today if she had never recorded her 1969 album Dusty in Memphis , which included “Son of a Preacher Man,” her best-known song? We’ll never know for sure, but although it climbed to the bottom rung of the Top 10, three Dusty singles went higher: 1964’s “Wishin’ and Hopin’” (number six), 1966’s “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” (number four — and her all-time greatest solo success), and “What Have I Done to Deserve This,” her 1987 collaboration with Pet Shop Boys (number two).
Elton John
Even if you don’t count “Candle in the Wind 1997,” which spent 14 weeks at the top and was a monster by association (with Princess Diana’s untimely death), the Elton single that spent the most weeks at number one in the U.S. wasn’t either of the two arguably most associated with him. Neither of those even went Top 5: “Your Song” peaked at number eight and “Rocket Man” at number six.
Elton’s biggest hit not tied to the death of British royalty was — surprise! — “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” his duet with Kiki Dee. It spent four weeks at the Hot 100 summit in 1976 and was the number two Billboard single of that year.
Curiously, although Elton is most highly regarded for slower, more contemplative ’70s tracks like the aforementioned “Your Song” and “Rocket Man,” as well as “Daniel,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” “Tiny Dancer,” and “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” with the exception of his cover of The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” his number ones in the ’70s (“Crocodile Rock,” “Bennie and the Jets,” “Philadelphia Freedom,” “Island Girl,” and “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”) were all uptempo.
Fleetwood Mac
“Dreams” may have been the band’s only U.S. chart-topper, but it’s probably not even Stevie Nicks’ signature FM song, an honor that would more likely go to “Rihannon” (number 11), “Sara” (number seven), or the non-single “Landslide.” I’d go so far as to argue that it’s the fourth most-essential song on Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 magnum opus Rumours, after “Don’t Stop,” “The Chain,” and “Go Your Own Way,” barely edging out Nicks’ own “Gold Dust Woman.”
Gordon Lightfoot
“Sundown,” the Canuck singer-songwriter’s only U.S. №1, is a fantastic song, but am I the only one who would have expected “If You Could Read My Mind,” which Barbra Streisand covered on her 1971 album Stoney End and which resurfaced as a ’90s dance hit by Stars on 54, to have been a much bigger one? It only got to number five in 1971, making it Lightfoot’s third-biggest hit (after 1974’s “Sundown” and 1976’s number-two “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”) in the land down under Canada.
The Hollies
The Manchester band that featured Graham Nash may have been considered a second-tier British invasion act, but they still nabbed a space in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
Although they never topped the Hot 100, they recorded at least two timeless pop classics, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” a 1969 number seven, and “The Air That I Breathe,” which hit number six in 1974. Two years earlier, they released what would be their biggest hit: “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress,” a song that lives up to the fabulousness of its title but is still more or less forgotten today.
Interestingly, the track sounded less like a Hollies hit than one by Creedence Clearwater Revival, even peaking in the same runner-up spot as five CCR singles.
Madonna
“Holiday” never made the Top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100; “Material Girl” stalled in the runner-up slot; and “Into the Groove” was never even a U.S. single. The Madonna song that spent one more week at the top than 1984’s “Like A Virgin,” which claimed the throne for six, was a now-all-but-forgotten ballad written by Babyface.
And when was the last time you heard “Take a Bow” (not Rihanna’s 2008 number one with the same title)? Well, today’s your lucky day. Press play below.
The Pretenders
The Chrissie Hynde-led band’s third single “Brass in Pocket,” first released in 1979, topped the UK singles chart and went on to become their signature, but it stopped at number 14 in the U.S. The Pretenders would have to wait until 1983 to score their biggest Stateside hit with “Back on the Chain Gang,” which, intriguingly, only rose to 17 in the UK, where most Pretenders singles charted considerably higher than in the U.S.
Queen
Time has been much kinder to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” We Will Rock You,” and “We Are the Champions” than it has been to Queen’s two U.S. number ones, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites the Dust.” The former, an ode to Elvis Presley that was more rockabilly than the band’s typical glam and art rock, reigned for four weeks in 1980 (compared to three for the latter that same year), making it Queen’s highest-ranking chart hit in the States.
Rick James
“Super Freak” is not only the song for which the King of Funk Punk is best known, but it also launched MC Hammer’s short burst of superstardom in 1990 (via a sample in “U Can’t Touch This”). Now, here’s the really weird part: “Super Freak (Part 1)” only peaked at number 16 on the Hot 100 in 1981, eight notches lower than Hammer’s hit, and, unlike four other James singles and “U Can’t Touch This,” it didn’t even top the R&B singles chart (peak: number three).
“You and I,” the soul auteur’s breakout disco hit from 1978, was his first to make the pop Top 20, peaking at number 13, and it was also his first to claim a sweet spot atop the R&B hit list.
Rod Stewart
Most fans would probably consider 1971’s “Maggie May” or 1979’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” to be his signature hits, but they spent five and four weeks at number one, respectively. “Tonight’s the Night,” which Billboard declared the top pop single of 1977, was as lucky as Stewart ever got — on the Hot 100, that is.
U2
Strong signature-song arguments could be made for “One,” “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” or even “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” the Irish band’s second and final U.S. number one. Few, though, would probably go to bat for “With Or Without You,” which ruled the Hot 100 for three weeks in 1987 and will go down in history as U2’s biggest U.S. hit.
Van Morrison
Ireland’s greatest male vocalist (sorry, Bono) is better known for his intricate ’60s and ’70s albums like Astral Weeks, Moondance, His Band and the Street Choir, and Tupelo Honey, but he did manage to place five songs in the U.S. Top 40. The biggest, “Domino” (number nine, 1970), bested his 1967 signature “Brown Eyed Girl” by one notch. Who said Americans have poor taste in music? Well, I occasionally do, but the chart triumph of “Domino” (and the number 23 placing of its flawless follow-up “Blue Money”) proves that we occasionally get it right.
Other surprising greatest hits that aren’t quite signature songs
Bob Marley Biggest: “Roots, Rock, Reggae” (number 51, 1976, previously discussed here and here) Signature: “One Love” (failed to chart in the U.S.)
Chuck Berry Biggest: “My Ding-a-ling” (number one, two weeks, 1972) Signature: “Maybellene” (number five, 1955)
Def Leppard Biggest: “Love Bites” (number one, one week, 1988) Signature: “Pour Some Sugar on Me (number two, 1987)
Donna Fargo Biggest: “Funny Face” (number five, 1972) Signature: “The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA” (number 11, 1972)
Eric Clapton Biggest: “I Shot the Sheriff” (number one, one week, 1974) Signature: “Layla” (number 10, 1972)
Janet Jackson Biggest: “That’s the Way Love Goes” (number one, eight weeks, 1993) Signature: “Control” (number five, 1986–87)
Journey Biggest: “Open Arms” (number two, 1982) Signature: Don’t Stop Believin’ (number nine, 1981)
Kelly Clarkson Biggest: “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” (number one, three weeks, 2012) Signature: “Since U Been Gone” (number two, 2005)
Loverboy Biggest: “Lovin’ Every Minute of It” (number nine, 1985) Signature: “Working for the Weekend” (number 29, 1981)
Paul Simon Biggest (solo): “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (number one, three weeks, 1976)*
The Who Biggest: “I Can See for Miles” (number nine, 1967) Signature: “My Generation” (number 74, 1965–66)
*”Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the biggest Hot 100 hit with Simon’s name attached to it (number one, six weeks, 1970) is his signature song, even though Art Garfunkel sings lead on it. | https://jeremyhelligar.medium.com/sneak-chart-peaks-20-greatest-hits-and-not-one-signature-song-3aefae868fde | ['Jeremy Helligar'] | 2018-08-01 14:05:10.323000+00:00 | ['Music', 'John Lennon', 'Paul Mccartney', 'Madonna', 'The Beatles'] |
Europe vs Apple: what you need to know | Europe vs Apple: what you need to know
5 must reads on Apple’s $14.5 billion EU tax ruling
1. A Message to the Apple Community in Europe
Letter by Tim Cook, Apple
2. Ireland gave illegal tax benefits to Apple worth up to €13 billion
Press Release by the European Commission
3. Irish Government disagrees profoundly with Commission on Apple
Press release by the Irish Department of Finance
4. Apple Must Pay Billions for Tax Breaks in Ireland, E.U. Orders
by James Kanter and Mark Scott, The New York Times
5. Apple must now pay its taxes. This is a vindication of protest
Opinion by Owen Jones, The Guardian | https://medium.com/hackernoon/europe-vs-apple-what-you-need-to-know-e23d3bbf76ad | ['Andreas Sandre'] | 2017-07-13 22:29:47.877000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Europe', 'Apple', 'Ireland', 'Antitrust'] |
Are Facebook Ads Profitable For Your Business In 2022? | Facebook Ad Slayer 1.0
Are Facebook Ads Profitable for your business?. Are you still struggling to work out either where to begin with Facebook ads, or why your campaigns just don’t seem to get the results you need?
Well, did you know that less than half of all those that start advertising on Facebook will succeed?
Perhaps they’ve dabbled in a few things and simply cannot gain the success they desire. They’re unsure of what strategy will work best for their business, how to target effectively and what the best form of creativity is going to get them the results.
And when you think of it like that, it’s no wonder people become so fed up and frustrated at trying to get their ads to work. Perhaps you can relate?
Well, there is some good news….If you run ads, have thought about running ads or are about to start running ads, there are a few professional methods out there that will significantly improve the chances of your ads’ success.
Grab this facebook slayer today and begin setting up your facebook ad the right way. (see how this course has helped other online entrepreneurs just like you succeed with facebook ads!) | https://medium.com/@jadetechreview/are-facebook-ads-profitable-for-your-business-in-2022-afc4a6dde2f5 | ['Jade Thomas'] | 2021-12-30 18:05:26.601000+00:00 | ['Online Marketing', 'Facebook Ad Slayer', 'Facebook', 'Facebook Ads', 'Facebook Marketing'] |
Why Sweatcoin is a Scam | Why Sweatcoin is a Scam
Not every scam looks the same
Photo by Tegan Mierle on Unsplash
A fitness trend that became popular in 2019 and is growing in 2020 is the fitness-assistance market.
These are products that help us work-out while having non-fitness related benefits as the carrot that drives us to keep going.
My favorite example of this is fitness video games.
Games such as Nintendo’s ‘Ring Fit Adventure’ is a way for gaming enthusiasts who would otherwise never work-out to get in some exercise without leaving the living room.
Sweatcoin is an app that promotes itself as a way to lose weight while also making money, an exciting premise that feels almost too good to be true.
According to Sweatcoin, the motivation to make a profit will encourage us to walk more than we usually would, helping us to lose weight while making money.
Some people have gone as far as to call this app a “passive income,” a claim that immediately set the alarm bells ringing in my head.
Photo by Arturo Castaneyra on Unsplash
Getting Started
Upon downloading the app, you’ll become familiar with the sweat economy very quickly, because the system couldn’t be more straightforward.
For every 1,000 steps you make, you’ll earn 0.95 sweat coins.
I’m someone that gets in roughly 17,000 steps a day for my job, an amount that can make me approximately 16 Sweatcoin a day (484 a month).
This level of earning depends on my willingness to keep the app open all day, with tracking settings left on, of course.
This earning potential also relies on me upgrading my membership tier to ‘Quaker,’ as the base membership level only allows me to earn 5 Sweatcoins per day.
The levels are -
Mover — Costs nothing and allows earning potential of 150 Sweatcoins a month
Shaker — Costs 4.75 Sweatcoins per month, bumps earning potential to 300 Sweatcoins per month
Quaker — Costs 20 Sweatcoins per month, bumps earning potential to 450 Sweatcoins per month
Breaker — Costs 30 Sweatcoins per month and caps total potential earnings at 600 Sweatcoins per month.
This means that earning potential is capped at 570 Sweatcoins per month.
With the value of one Sweatcoin ranging between 5 cents and 10 cents, this means earning potential is capped between $28.50 and $57 per month.
But have you really earned that money?
Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash
Getting Paid
When I used Sweatcoin, I never saw a way to cash out. But after watching reviews online, I’ve been seeing different reports of people saying that you can cash out once you’ve reached specific values.
Of those that claimed to be allowed to cash out, the most consistent report is that you can cash out 20,000 Sweatcoins and receive $1,000. If that’s true, it’s in-line with the lowest estimated value of the currency at 5 cents per Sweatcoin.
But if they’re dolling out $1,000 payouts to everyone who reaches 20,000 Sweatcoins (which would take years to achieve), how can they afford it?
The first way is through their store.
Sweat Store
Once you’ve downloaded the app, Sweatcoin encourages you not to think of their currency as a path to actual dollars. Instead, they want you to earn and then spend your money on the store inside the app.
This store has a lot of the same products you see on scammy websites that want your credit card in exchange for free and discounted stuff.
Stuff that can include vouchers for yoga classes, exercise swag, and gift cards. The items on the store are contingent on the deals they’re able to make with retailers.
Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash
What Defines a Scam
A scam isn’t always a system in which the scammer is the only beneficiary, while the person being scammed gets nothing. While those scams are the most well known, they’re also the most likely to be shut down for being predatory.
The scams that stick around are the ones that give the victim just enough to keep them around and happy, while finding the most efficient path to the motherlode.
These scams only work because all too often we have no idea what we’re worth.
Scammers find a need, then find other people who’ll fill that need while both sides direct all the money back to them.
Photo by Alicia Steels on Unsplash
Becoming Known
Retailers are desperate to get products into your hands, even if it comes at a loss.
If you’ve received a product for free from a particular brand and are enjoying it, you’re a lot more likely to go back and spend money.
You feel grateful that it was free, but best of all, you’re aware of who they are and may talk about them.
99% of brands would kill to have name recognition. Only a tiny fraction of brands that exist are brands that are well known by the public. For every McDonalds, there are a million burger places that wish you knew who they were.
Brands are only too happy to pay Sweatcoin to be featured on their store and have the opportunity to give their products away to you. You benefit because you’re getting a free or discounted yoga mat, and Sweatcoin benefits by making money from the retailer.
Sweatcoin would like to track your location… Allow once? Allow while using the app? Allow always?
By far, the most significant way an app like Sweatcoin makes money is by tracking and then selling/boasting about your movements.
It’s not something they like to talk about, because it feels icky when it’s brought into the light. Apps benefit a lot by being used every day, and this is a monetizable asset.
Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash
The Value of Value
Apps track downloads, the percentage of users who use the app every day, and how long they use the app every day. (Every minute the app is open in the background and is tracking your steps counts towards time spent using the app).
All this data is tracked and then used to determine the value of the app and the value of the developer of the app.
Having an app that is opened by its users every day is precious, and increases the value of the app for resale.
It also increases the value of the developer who may be looking for financing or a job.
He might need investor confidence to develop another app and will use the statistics of this app to convince a venture capitalist of its worth.
But tracking you isn’t just boosting the value of the app, unlike the Sweatcoin users, tracking data generates stone-cold cash.
Tracking = Marketing
Information about where people go and how long they spend in different locations is exceptionally monetizable information.
If this app can determine that I go to a Dunkin Donuts every day and bypass a Starbucks to do it, this is a goldmine.
You’re generating a fortune through your phone, and you’re not being compensated even close to what it’s worth.
If you were to save up for years and cash out $1,000 (in exchange for 20,000 Sweat Coins), you’d have generated tens of thousands of dollars for Sweatcoin in the process.
This level of disproportionate compensation is what makes this operation a scam.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
The Modern Age
We’ve moved into an age when the only apps worth funding are the ones generating enormous revenue through data trade and marketing (and micro-transactions).
The more we prioritize privacy and try to lock them out, the more valuable the ones become who can crack through with offers of free money and yoga mats.
If Sweatcoin is still valuable enough for you to use it then by all means, please go ahead.
But use it with the freedom that comes with knowing who’s benefiting from your activity and why.
Because information isn’t just power anymore, it’s also unbelievable amounts of money. | https://medium.com/money-clip/why-sweatcoin-is-a-scam-43f3d142ec82 | ['Jordan Fraser'] | 2020-02-06 06:14:37.336000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'Apps', 'Money', 'Business', 'Blockchain'] |
10 Frequently Asked Questions About Electric Vehicles | Today, the electric vehicle market has been getting a lot of media attention and generating a lot of interest. But, there are still a number of questions and false perceptions about electric vehicles by the vast majority of the public. Much of this seems based on social media hype that may or may not be true. So, I wanted to discuss the 10 most frequent questions I get about owning an electric vehicle.
Without a doubt, YES. Driving an electric vehicle produces ZERO harmful emissions, which is one of the primary issues associated with internal combustion engine (ICE) cars where research has shown that one-fifth of all emissions in the United States, emitting around 20 pounds of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases for every gallon of gas.
But, when the manufacturing process for production, transport, disposal, and other factors are taken into account there are currently still significant impacts on the environment. The largest of which is in the production of the battery packs, which requires mining for raw materials such as cobalt. You also have to factor in the recycling or disposal of the vehicle at the end of its life and the fuels used by the power-plants to create the electricity to power the cars. However, when you factor in the typical lifecycle of a vehicle, an EV still produces 55% fewer emissions than an ICE vehicle.
Many nations are quickly moving away from fossil fuels for energy production and leveraging alternative production methods. For example, at the beginning of May 2019, the United Kingdom became the first industrialized nation that has gone an entire week without the use of coal for energy production since January 1882. The UK also did this several more times over the following months, including 14 consecutive days later in that same month of May 2019.
If this trend continues, the difference in overall emissions for the life of a vehicle will only continue to become increasingly positive for EVs.
It is true that an EV currently costs more than a feature comparable ICE vehicle today. But that gap continues to shrink as the cost of batteries continues to decrease. According to a Bloomberg article in December 2019, the cost per kilowatt-hour in 2010 was $1,100. By the end of 2019, they were $156 and are expected to be around $100 by 2023, which is widely considered the price point where electric cars are equivalent to internal combustion cars in price. It is believed that Tesla and VW are already nearing that $100 per kilowatt-hour target.
But there are long term financial benefits that make purchasing an EV attractive. For example, in the United States, the Federal Government is offering a $7,500 tax credit for buying an electric vehicle. This does not reduce the initial purchase price of the car, but as long as you have a Federal tax liability of at least $7,500 you will get all of that money back when you file your taxes for the year in which you purchased the vehicle. This incentive is only good for the first 200,000 vehicles delivered by a manufacturer at which point starts to reduce in the 3rd quarter after reaching this delivery number. Currently, only Tesla has achieved this level of production and is no longer eligible for the federal tax credit.
In addition, many states also have incentives that vary greatly, which provide additional refunds/credits to lower the total cost of ownership of the vehicle. Check with your specific state for what is available, but the incentives range from a $4,000 tax credit for Colorado residents, a break on the licensing tax/fees for registration. Some states also offer rebates for home charger installations.
The savings in operating an electric vehicle is where most consumers really notice a difference. According to Energy.gov as of December 2020, the average per gallon of fuel is $2.16. Meanwhile, the average eGallon equivalent is $1.23.
Over a year, this means a typical car driven the US national average of 13,500 miles at 24.8 mpg, would be about $1,175. While an electric car getting 250wh/mil would be about $490 for the same 13,500 miles, a savings of about 60%.
Another cost savings advantage for an EV is that it does not require the same maintenance as an ICE vehicle due to having fewer mechanical parts. There are no oil changes and brake pads last 75% longer thanks to regenerative braking.
The average person drives less than 50 miles per day. With an electric car, you can fuel up every night at home while you sleep and have a full charge ready by the next morning. Do note that it is best to charge to no more than 90% on a daily basis and save charging to 100% only for long trips. On a 120v outlet those 50 miles, on average, would take about 16 hours which averages to about 2–3 miles per hour. But, if you install a 240v outlet that would take less than 2 hours or about 30–32 miles per hour.
This biggest issue is really only for when you want to go on long distant trips, which for most people only occur 2–3 times per year. The reality is that it will take longer to fuel an EV than a gas-powered vehicle today. But, the time difference is decreasing rapidly with advancements in battery technology and new “fast charging” Direct Current charging stations such as with Tesla Superchargers and Combined Charging System or CCS locations such as on the Electrify America charging network.
These types of charging stations can deliver 150–350 kW of electricity reducing the time to charge to about 15–20 minutes to get to 50% battery capacity or 30–40 minutes for 80%. Yes, this is longer than a gas fueling session, but when traveling long distances most people are often ready for a rest and food stop anyway after a couple of hours of driving. Often, this takes the same amount of time needed to charge the car. Over the last several years, we have seen charging times reduce by 25% and I would expect to see that trend continue to where you will one day be able to fast charge a car from 10 to 90% in about 15 minutes, maybe less.
Like your phone, most EVs use lithium-ion battery technology but it’s the chemistry within the battery that makes the difference. Smartphones typically use a combination of Lithium-Cobalt Oxide while EVs typically use a combination of Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminum. So what does that mean? Each battery type is designed for so many charging cycles from completely empty to full. For most smartphones, they have been designed to maintain at least 75% of their charge after about 400 complete cycles, which typically takes 2–3 years. While EVs chemistry is designed to provide the same 75% charge potential after about 1,500 cycles which typically lasts 8–10 years or about 250,000 miles.
EV manufacturers are continually working on increasing the number of cycles to maximize the longevity of batteries and using new chemistry types to extend their life. Tesla recently announced they are working on next-generation battery technology that they are trying to achieve a battery life of 1,000,000 miles or 4,000 charge cycles.
Currently, with today’s technology, it just wouldn’t be feasible as the math and physics don’t work because of energy density which calculates how much solar energy shines on a surface relative to how much is consumed. 1 kilowatt (kW) of solar energy falls on a square meter of the Earth’s surface on a clear day, but only about 25% of that solar energy can currently be converted for use as electricity. The average car may have approximately 3 square meters of “solar panel space” which would translate into about 5–6 kilowatts of energy. That would provide at best 20 miles for the entire day if you do not drive it at all, there are no clouds and you are not blocked by other things like trees, buildings, bridges, etc. It just is not currently efficient or effective.
The answer to this question varies depending on the EV being discussed. The key to EV travel distance is the level of efficiency and the size (kW) of the battery pack. For example, as the best selling EV in 2018 and 2019, the Tesla Model 3 has an advertised range of 322 miles for the Long Range vehicle. To be able to achieve that you must keep the amount of energy being used at about 230 wh/mile based on its 75kW battery pack size. In comparison, the 2020 Hyundai Kona Electric states they can go 258 miles with a 64 kW battery pack which equates to maintaining the efficiency of 248 wh/mile.
However, if you are a sporty driver, like to accelerate rapidly, brake aggressively, or do not use regenerative braking you will see that energy consumption rise dramatically, and decrease how far the car can go. Weather conditions also become a factor in real-world EV max range, as wet roads, windy conditions and cold temperatures all play a factor in how efficient an EV will be, sometimes by as much as 25–50%.
Some studies in recent years have shown that EVs and hybrid cars can increase the risk of striking a pedestrian while driving at lower speeds — especially if the pedestrian suffers from visual impairments. It is important for EV drivers to ensure you are aware of any pedestrians and be ready to react as necessary if they enter the driving line.
In 2010, the United States Federal government proposed legislation that would require electric vehicles and quiet hybrids, to add sound when vehicles are traveling below 18.6 miles per hour. The implementation of the legislation had been delayed numerous times but was finally required to add sound to at least 50% of electric or hybrid vehicles by September of 2019. Beginning with 2020 model year vehicles, 100% of EVs must produce a sound. The rules don’t specify any particular sounds, so automakers may be allowed to program a few different sounds that can be selected by the owner.
Batteries are usually recycled into other metal products such as rebar or angle iron and/or shredded and sent to steel mills for reuse.
In some cases, car manufacturers are developing in-house recycling processes and recover critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt along with the recovery of metals used in the battery cell, such as copper, aluminum, and steel. All of these recovered materials will then be recycled for new battery cell production.
In short, the primary difference between a hybrid and an EV is that the hybrid car derives some of its power from a conventional internal combustion gasoline engine. Meanwhile, the EV gets all of its power from electrical sources, typically batteries.
Hybrid cars, also known as Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles or PHEV for short, have small batteries intended for city driving and usually only work up to a maximum of 50 miles before the gas engine would be used. Hybrids do provide increased miles per gallon as compared to fully gas-powered cars and provide a good alternative to those not ready for the transition to a fully electric vehicle.
No. Electric cars have the benefit of nearly instant torque from their single gear electric motors and provide outstanding acceleration and response, making them extremely fun to drive.
Because EV’s do not emit any sounds like the growl and aggression of a V8 engine people often overlook how quick and exhilarating they are to drive.
Some examples of 0–60 times for a few EVs:
Tesla Model S Long Range w/Ludicrous Mode — 2.4 seconds
Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Long Range — 4.4 seconds
Audi E-Tron — 5.5 seconds
Jaguar i-Pace — 4.5 seconds
Chevy Bolt — 6.5 seconds
BMW i3–6.8 seconds | https://medium.com/@thunder7ga/10-frequently-asked-questions-about-electric-vehicles-3789efc755f2 | ['Electric Motoring W Dave Clark'] | 2020-12-22 12:02:28.540000+00:00 | ['FAQ', 'Electric Vehicles', 'Electric Car'] |
What’s Happening with Pennsylvania’s Mail-in Ballots? | Highlights:
Researchers from MIT and Stanford take a deep dive into Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot data to understand weekly trends, demographic and party breakdown, and where the battleground state stands in requests and returns.
As of this past week, a cumulative 2.9 million mail ballots have been requested across Pennsylvania, compared to 230,000 in 2016. This is a more than 12x increase over four years.
mail ballots have been requested across Pennsylvania, compared to 230,000 in 2016. 1,455,351 ballots have been returned, which is roughly half of total requested ballots (50.17%).
In total, 1,445,560 mail ballots have yet to be returned (roughly 50%).
In the week of October 18 alone, 289,701 mail ballots were requested, and 49,546 were returned.
Black voters have the highest percentage return rate among requests, at 55%.
Registered Democrats dominate the cumulative requested and returned mail ballots.
Distribution of ballot requests are roughly proportional by race relative to registered voters.
With the election less than a week away, researchers from the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project analyzed the mail-in voting trends across the State of Pennsylvania, a heated battleground for candidates.
Notably, as of this past week, a total 2.9 million mail ballots had been requested across the State of Pennsylvania, compared to 230,000 in 2016 — this is a more than 12x increase in mail ballot requests from the 2016 election.
As of last week, roughly 50% of all mail requests had been returned (1,455,351, to be exact). Registered Democrats have dominated the cumulative requested and returned mail ballots, and overall, the distribution of ballot requests are roughly proportional by race, relative to registered voters.
Breakdown by Race
When looking at the numbers by race, White voters have requested the majority of total mail in requests in Pennsylvania, and have also returned the majority of them. However, when analyzing within each race, Black voters have the highest rate of return relative to requests.
Here are the highlights:
White voters make up the majority of total mail in requests : 74% White, 12% Black, and 14% Other
: 74% White, 12% Black, and 14% Other Black voters have the highest percentage return rate among requests at 55%, followed by Whites at 50%, then other races at 47%
among requests at 55%, followed by Whites at 50%, then other races at 47% Cumulatively, Whites make up the largest ballot return percentage at 76%, followed by 14% from other races, and 10% from Blacks
For the week of October 18, the requests by race were:
White: 202,464 (70%)
Black: 30,489 (10%)
Other: 56,749 (20%)
For the week of October 18, the returns by race were:
White: 34,814 (76%)
Black: 4,171 (10%)
Other: 10,561 (14%)
Breakdown by Party
When looking at the numbers by party, Democrats make up the largest proportion of both ballot requests and returns.
Here are the highlights:
Democrats make up the majority of total mail in requests : 64% Democrat, 25% Republican, 11% No Affiliation
: 64% Democrat, 25% Republican, 11% No Affiliation Democrats have the highest percentage return rate relative to requests at 56%, followed by 40% among Republicans, and 40% for those with no party affiliation.
relative to requests at 56%, followed by 40% among Republicans, and 40% for those with no party affiliation. Democrats make up the largest ballot return percentage at 71%, followed by 20% Republicans and 9% for those with no party affiliation.
For the week of October 18, the requests by party were:
Democrats: 157,688 (64%)
Republicans: 86,367 (25%)
No Affiliation: 45,646 (11%)
For the week of October 18, the returns by party were:
Democrats: 33,470 (66%)
Republicans: 10,879 (24%)
No Affiliation: 5,197 (10%)
Ballot Rejections
In some instances, mail-in ballots can be rejected (whether due to a signature mismatch, or other reason).
In total, 0.6% of Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots have not been accepted. Of these rejections, 0.65% have been from White voters, 0.36% from Black voters, and 0.54% from other races.
For the week of October 18, 0.78% of the ballots returned for counting were not accepted (0.81% from White voters, 0.59% from Black voters, 0.74% from other races).
For a visual breakdown of the data and analysis, visit the full report here. | https://medium.com/mit-election-lab/whats-happening-with-pennsylvania-s-mail-in-ballots-b06142edcd01 | ['Mit Election Lab'] | 2020-10-30 21:01:13.085000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Pennsylvania'] |
Does Social Opinion really matter? | When I told my mom that I want to marry a girl outside my caste, I could see crinkles growing fast on her head, like a stream of water flowing in to fill the gaps. I asked her, why are you so worried? She replied, “Char log kya kahenge?” (What will people say about it?).
It’s beyond my logical thinking that I take such life-changing decisions based on what people think about it. Contrary to that, almost everyday I count on the opinions of my friends, and even random people at times, before I take decisions. Decisions like, which phone to buy? which movie to watch? where to travel? which book to read? Marijuana: good or bad?..(OK, may be not this one!) and so on.. are majorly driven by people’s opinion. It is actually the reason why reviews and ratings are the heart of so many tech companies ( IMDB, Tripadvisor etc).
The thought has been stuck in my mind for a while — Does social opinion really matter?. Being in my late 20’s, it’s about my age that I should take a stand on such “philosophies” of life. Rewinding back, I recall a whole bunch of my childhood memories revolving around “Char log kya kahenge?” which somehow faded as I aged. The wise man grew in me, who could take his own stand on bigger choices of life, yet running around asking for opinions on rather smaller things.
The mystery here lies in the line you draw between your personal space and social space. That boundary is already defined when your emotions overtake the mind. And when that happens, the opinion is rather a judgement of the society. However, when it comes to this consumeristic world, you seek for a “social validation” before you make a choice. It is rare to go against the masses, when choosing a product (or service). More I think about it, more I realise the importance of social opinion, and it’s quiet presence in my life.
Isn’t it in the power of social opinion to make or break governments, companies, religions, markets…? I wish to see a world where society itself can drive its future, a world where every individual is visible, counted and considered. In the era of smartphones and social media platforms like facebook, I see us heading in the right direction. It’s just a matter of time that our society will start listening it’s own voice! | https://medium.com/sociale-blog/does-social-opinion-really-matter-41aabf91a03f | ['Akhilesh Lahoti'] | 2015-12-24 14:26:08.488000+00:00 | ['Social Media', 'Philosophy Of Life', 'Opinion'] |
Her Side. | It is currently 4:45am on this cold morning. I haven’t slept at all. Why does this always happen to me? I got attached to fast again.
I know that I’m mature for my age but why does this have to happen every time? I am perfectly fine with being alone but it’s different this time. I really thought it would work out. I guess I’m dumb for that. All I want is someone that will pretend to care, it doesn’t matter if they don’t actually mean it. Just someone to pretend.
My world is crumbling at my feet. My heart. It feels like it has been shattered like a mirror when punched. He came, dug his fingers through my skin, gave me hope then ripped it out and slammed it on the ground. Of course. My heart is made of glass, shattered into a million pieces.
I physically can’t move. There is a knife through my body. One through my heart, one through my stomach, ropes tied to my feet and hands so that I cannot move. It demands to be felt. I can’t do this. Trembling when alone. Now to only keep the trembles in check around my family. They can’t know! I don’t want their pity. I want him. Only him.
I want him to tell me that he was kidding, that he loves me. That we aren’t just friends, that his body aches to be around me, that he thinks of me. No he is a dumb boy, probably never even thought of me until I said I like you. Never stopped to think, she’s been short with me. I hope she’s okay. Never asked to hang out. Never actually cared. Why doesn’t anybody care about me? | https://medium.com/@heyitsz/her-side-5d94900103c6 | [] | 2020-12-25 07:38:20.580000+00:00 | ['Heartbreak'] |
Swimmer’s Sonnet | Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash
2017. for Kerry Kletter
Aqueous heart, I call the waves to me
and sing the hymns writ large on sandy shores.
O, ocean, tell me how to live, to be;
how do I bring myself to open doors?
For I have drowned, a million times and one
and rise again, my lungs are unfatigued.
And still I dream this life has just begun
perhaps these bones are more than I believed.
My heart upon my cheek in iron ink,
I cannot hide my hand, these eyes betray.
Must I surrender all the walls I think
to stone? — Away, away! Behold the day.
Behold the wonders of this driftwood heart,
beloved by tempests, gnarled work of art. | https://zachjpayne.medium.com/swimmers-sonnet-c6858398af3e | ['Zach J. Payne'] | 2019-01-13 02:49:39.623000+00:00 | ['Lov', 'Survival', 'Life Lessons', 'Poetry', 'Life'] |
Dr. Eve Crane | When Dr. Eve Crane was just five years old, her father became gravely ill with what was eventually diagnosed as an aggressive form of multiple sclerosis. It eventually rendered him a quadriplegic and tragically led to his early passing. It was during this period Eve made up her mind that she was going to grow up and dedicate her life to finding a cure for her father’s illness. She turned her family’s tragedy into a true triumph of the human spirit. It’s an inspiring and heartwarming story.
Born and raised in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Eve Crane graduated summa cum laude from Rice University in Chemical Engineering and received her M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She pursued postdoctoral work at MIT as well as three years of surgical training. However, after some deep soul searching, she realized that she simply had to return to her true professional passion — her calling — of pathology. She completed her residency in anatomic pathology, a clinical fellowship in hemopathology at Johns Hopkins Hospital and is board certified.
Recently, she also completed a post doctoral fellowship with world renown stem cell researcher Dr. Sean Morrison, who was also a guest on a previous episode of The WorkNotWork Show. In fact, it was through our interview with Dr. Morrison that we met Eve. The microscopic slide image of neural crest stem cells used for Dr. Morrison’s episode was one she helped prepare. It was a happy coincidence because once we heard her entire story we knew that she would be a perfect future guest. While it took a while to find a slot in her packed schedule, we finally managed to sit down. Our expectations for the episode were high — but easily and instantly exceeded just as soon as she started to talk.
Eve represents a new generation of medical practitioner trained in the connected era and enabled by social media. Not only does she thoroughly understand and embrace this technology, she believes it to be a key enabler of her career going forward. She talks in considerable depth the role it plays and the exciting future potential it has both for her and for her profession.
Eve now feels she has completed the training phase of her career and recently accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Rochester. New York. She can be found there, of course, and on a social media platform near you. We spoke with Dr. Crane at her home in Rochester. | https://medium.com/the-worknotwork-show/dr-eve-crane-1c3dba98f876 | ['Terence C. Gannon'] | 2018-01-07 17:27:17.931000+00:00 | ['Pathology', 'Interview', 'Medicine', 'Careers', 'Podcast'] |
How to find your Signature Style as a Surface Pattern Designer — or any Creative, really | Photo by Andrew Ridley on Unsplash
Hint: You don’t find it — it finds you
How do you find your Signature style?
I’ve been practicing surface pattern design informally for fourteen months, and more seriously for the last six — and during that time I have asked myself over and over; ‘What’s my signature style? When will I find it?’
The secret is that I have no idea what my signature style is — and crucially, I’ve learned that it’s okay.
I do understand that the ‘Holy Grail’ of finding your signature style is important for a long career in pattern design (and realistically every other creative discipline too) and will allow your customers/consumers/viewers/audience/grandma to get that instant feeling of knowing and familiarity when they look at your creations.. And that is specifically why, as a beginner like myself, it’s important not to rush to the finish line before really building and understanding your own skills, techniques and passions. The adage goes ‘don’t try to run before you can walk’ and that is 100% accurate, especially in a creative industry where your style is intrinsically linked to both your persona and personality.
After wrestling internally for months on the question of ‘what is my signature style?’ I gave myself grace and time to really explore and develop my skills first to build a strong foundation of knowledge and capability as I wasn’t progressing as an artist while I was stuck worrying about something that didn’t yet exist.
In order to continually develop and grow as a designer, ask yourself these questions:
What do I enjoy — the final result, or the process of creating? For me, it’s about the process. I virtually never have an end result in my mind that I want to recreate and that means I have no pre-defined ideas about how a pattern or illustration should come out.
The most exciting part of the creative design process is having a blank page that I can fill.
What medium do I want to work in, right now? When deciding on a medium, I look for something that I am excited to create with. Currently I am loving the process of gouache — having started with watercolour, I wanted a delicate water based stroke with a bit more opacity. I like to apply them thickly in places for depth, and thinly with stroke marks and splashes in other places — this feels natural and it’s something I enjoy working with.
If you don’t know where to start, begin with what brings you enjoyment.
What media do I want to try? My latest experiment (though not a bold leap from what I’ve used previously) it’s using pastel with gouache. I watched a number of Ohn-Mar-Win’s Insta stories where she created patterns in watercolour & gouache over white pastel to add texture and dimension. I loved it! You might be surprised how natural it feels after a little practice, and how this develops your creative process. (https://www.instagram.com/ohn_mar_win)
Take yourself out of your comfort zone, and work with a medium that you’ve never used before.
What makes me excited to create? This is simple — find something you are inspired by, and let loose. I keep a photo diary of the walks I take with my dogs — there are some spectacular views close by, and there are fab flower beds and gardens locally which change with every season. Taking cues from nature makes me want to create, and this helps the process along — if I’m stuck for my next theme then I’ve got a camera reel full of inspiration. Apply this to your own passions and interests.
What excites you?
Who can I learn from? Learn from as many artists and creators as you can, especially when you’re still working out the nuances of your own style. There are many incredible teachers out there who can guide your surface pattern design journey. Think outside of your comfort zone, and even outside of your design discipline — I personally love the straight forward lessons and simple patterns from Maja Faber (https://majafaber.com/), the globetrotting business powerhouse who is a gouache girl through and through, Cat Coq (https://catcoq.com/) and the works of the amazing figurative oil painter who combines pure skill with mythology and abstract impressionism, Marco Grassi (http://www.marcograssipainter.com/).
Make sure to listen to and learn from as many artists as you can, and find out ways of working and creating that suit you.
How do other artists so clearly know what their style is? Practice, repetition and experience. Since you can’t fake your way to any of them, just focus on creating regularly, creating often (even if that is something small) and exploring art. Exploration means surrounding yourself by inspiring content from other creators in plenty of disciplines — surface pattern design, architecture, illustration, photography, ceramics or anything else that takes your fancy. Trust me when I say you’ll be able to find so much content that you like in just about every discipline, and the act of surrounding yourself with creativity in this way will help you understand what you really like in design, how you most enjoy working, and ultimately what your own style is. Check out my Pinterest board ‘Exploration’ for the art that I surround myself with (https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jessrosedraws/exploration/)
Creativity is a muscle to be flexed and explored.
How long will it take to develop my own style? That’s an impossible question to answer, and anyone who claims to is probably trying to sell you something. There are millions of google hits on this subject, and commonly it’s said that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master in any given discipline. It is also said that mastering a craft can take between 6–10 years, and to learn a new skill takes 6 months. The common theme here is time, and importantly: practice.
Instead of how long it’ll take, ask yourself; how much time and effort are you willing to put in to develop your skills?
Will I have to stick to my signature style once I’ve found it? Doubtful — everyone develops and grows as a person during their lifetime based on lived experiences, and the chances are that your signature style will do the same. My advice is to simply make the most of the process of finding out what your style is.
The chances are that you’ll enjoy the process so much that you’ll suddenly wake up one day and realise that your signature style has found you — and that it too develops as you learn and change.
Take it easy on yourself — but remember to put the time in to your passion and your craft if you want to see meaningful results, whatever they might be. There is not an artist in the world who has arrived at their own signature style without a lot of practice and hard work. There is no substitute and if anyone tells you otherwise, as I’ve already said… | https://medium.com/@hellojessrosedraws/how-to-find-your-signature-style-as-a-surface-pattern-designer-or-any-creative-really-5f5bdfd5e3f0 | ['Jess Rose Miller'] | 2020-12-19 18:28:56.836000+00:00 | ['Artist', 'Growth', 'Life Lessons', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Creative'] |
Why I Chose to Major in English | By the end of January, I will be finished with my undergraduate career. I will then be separated from my identity as an “English major” and for the first time, exist in the “real world.” My college career has been nothing I expected—perhaps I will write another piece on some of the slightly chaotic experiences I had. A part of this unexpected journey was in my decision to declare English as my major at a school known for business.
When a big change in my life is imminent, it oftentimes takes over my thoughts; endless questions, scenarios, plans, plans, plans twirl around my mind! Early in my junior year of high school, I was non-stop thinking about where I would go to college and what I would study. At that time, I was set on becoming an environmental designer. I wanted to build living structures that do not disrupt their natural surroundings. During the summer before my senior year, I worked as an assistant landscaper at Manitoga, the late Russel Wright’s estate in Garrison, NY. He had designed his house into the natural formations of the surrounding land which was well-preserved. The house blended into the environment and being there every day that summer made my excitement for environmental design grow.
The University of Vermont was the best college choice for any sort of environmental degree. As an always-anxious-for-the-future person, I applied for early admission. I got in and was thrilled. But as the months progressed, the realizations of what college life would be like set in. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be a part of a “traditional” college. I’ve always been quite independent and never related to the culture of college campuses. Plus, I don’t ski! New York City became intriguing to me. There, I would be able to live in an apartment with my own room! Plus, with roommates, it would cost a fraction of room and board fees on campus. I also would only be an hour and a half train ride away from my parents; I don’t think I was ready to be far away from them. There were a couple of other reasons, but it was settled after I got into The New School (regular admissions). Struck, yet happy, with the change, I found myself in a sort of “let’s just see where my life takes me” mode. My environmental design dreams faded away, but who knows, maybe I’ll find myself doing something like that in the future.
At the New School, I took a variety of liberal arts classes that had sparked my interest when creating my schedule. Being able to choose what I would learn felt freeing to me, and was a satisfying difference from my high school career. I took creative writing, literature analysis, and religion courses. The Socratic style of the New School allowed me to have my own ideas and opinions, and for those ideas and opinions to be respected and contemplated. I absolutely loved this time and treasure everything it gave to me. However, during the summer after my first year, I started feeling some societal pressure. I felt like I had to study something that would produce a clear, wide-open door to a steady career. So, I decided to transfer to the Baruch College business school.
Honestly. I was in Baruch’s business school for one semester until I switched to their liberal arts school. I have a ton of respect for those business students; it is tough work. Though, I’m sure that those who love it and find it inspiring don’t mind the workload as much. (I mean, I’m sure that those who do not have a particular affinity towards literature would cringe at the thought of a class solely on Shakespeare.) Business school just wasn’t for me. I found myself back at square one, lost in all the different choices and paths. At this time, I was interested in and was able to see myself doing anything. I still find it both exciting and terrifying that there are so many different things one can do with their life. I’m glad that I’ve found a niche that I truly love, finally. But it has taken some time.
The date to declare a major was steadily approaching. My first idea was to create an Ad Hoc major which my college offers. I had developed a “Song Writing and Music Production” major which included a mixture of classes in the English and music departments. The person I had to go to in the music department to approve this major did not like it, though. That was the end of that, but I took the English classes anyway. I felt myself gravitating back to the creative analytical style of learning that I had loved so much at the New School. Still figuring out what I would declare, I remembered something I had done in high school.
When I was a senior, my English teacher gave me a flier to a book club at a local library. The group met for a semester’s length where each section of time was dedicated to a different topic of literature. This particular topic was on the “Great Works.” The flier provided a list of texts including The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Bhagavad Gita, and King Lear. I was the only member under the age of 70 except the leader of the book club, a New York University professor whose name, unfortunately, has escaped my memory. In the basement of that library was where I traveled to Uruk, analyzing humanity’s first attempts at understanding morality. I sat with Arjuna, contemplating the ethics of warring with blood relatives. I found myself tapping into these memories, the ones with my writing and reading groups at the New School, and all the other times when the English language invoked feelings of complete fascination and curiosity. Those moments were also coupled with a feeling of being present and free. I had a realization that when I worried about the future—might I add, a future not necessarily guaranteed, speculative—I ended up putting myself in places where I was unhappy. When I wasn’t worrying, I found myself diving into the depths of reality, the tenets of humanity, and the underbelly of craft.
It felt like a weight was lifted off of me when I declared English as my major. Partially because I had finally made a decision, but mainly because I relieved myself from feeling like I needed to fit into a box that was simply not made for me. Besides, after being a part of the English world for the rest of my college career, I realized how many useful, professional skills are taught in these courses. I believe that anything anyone does can add something to their professional life, even if that thing does not clearly identify itself as a life skill.
In declaring my major as English was a realization that I had neglected a huge part of my identity and happiness for the image of stability. It seems like new or soon-to-be college students are told or have this idea that college must be used only for the sake of securing a well-paying, stable job. I definitely felt that pressure. But the reality is, especially if you are going to college straight out of high school, you are most likely still developing your identity. College should be a time to explore, try new things, test what works and what doesn’t. I only regret not having this realization sooner so that I would have had more time being in the classes that I actually enjoyed. I hope this piece inspires those of you starting your college careers to just follow your curiosity; follow what inspires you and makes you happy. You have so much time until you need to think of a salary, use it to find what makes you, you. Thank you for reading!
Like what you’re reading? You’ll love Buibui — Have you tried reading from there lately? Click here to learn more | https://byrslf.co/why-i-chose-to-major-in-english-39da79c78967 | ['Sophia Carnabuci'] | 2020-12-31 05:27:21.891000+00:00 | ['Literature', 'Beyourself', 'Academia', 'Advice', 'English'] |
Choosing colors: Red for bad, green for good? | Figure 1. Abstract illustration using shade colors
A brief start about color
We consume red strawberries and wait for the white ones to mature. A bar chart containing a red bar might indicate an alert while white bars mean regular activity. Colors give meaning to our context. Colors help us take better decisions. They have both psychological and physiological impacts on us. In the end, how well do we use them?
In this article, we will have a glimpse of what Color Design, Color Theory is, see a few tips for choosing a color scheme, and apply colors to a Widget.
A rollback in (pre)-history
Figure 2. Red pigment
Our conscience already developed awareness about colors. According to “ The Secret Lives of Color” [1] Minerals have been used as colorants since prehistoric times. Ancient civilizations left their mark even today with the colors they created such as the well-known Egyptian blue. Since then, colors are chosen and used in almost every area of human activity from religion, to arts and science.
The way colors are used in these areas shows us that some colors seem to “ fit “ better with other ones depending on various factors.
Let us explore the design of colors and the theory.
Color Design: Essentials
Design from Latin designare “ mark, out, point out” means to make shape.
In order to give a visual message, we need to design our visual. Color is one of the elements of design among shape, size, texture, and value. The article “ The Art of Color and Design” cites that [2] All designs are built with these elements.
Speaking of color, let’s discuss Color Theory.
Color Theory
In visual arts
Harmony, contrast, schemes, complementary, warm, cool, achromatic, monochromatic, tints, and shades. All these words are used to define the way colors are designed together. Color Theory in visual arts is a whole field of study that we can discuss in an upcoming article.
Just to get an overview of what Color Harmony can be, let’s compare the two figures below.
Figure 3. Color shades of hex code # 7B59D9
In figure 3, we have shades of purple. A shade is a darker or a lighter version of a “ Color “. As we look at the shades, our eyes seem to “ accept “ them.
Figure 4. A custom color palette of hex code # 7B59D9
This time, we have a custom color palette prepared randomly. You can notice that this palette does not have harmony. Indeed, the colors don’t seem to fit together as we look at them.
In physiology
We perceive colors through a complex visual system involving our eyes and our neurons. To summarize, our eyes contain photoreceptors stimulated by light. Then our eyes transmit information to our brain in order to visualize an image. All this process consumes energy and can cause eye fatigue depending on the wavelength we receive. That’s why choosing the right colors in visual arts is important for our audience.
In psychology
According to “Selecting Semantically-Resonant Colors for Data Visualization” [4] Colors are also charged with rich associations. Theories are proposed to understand the relation between colors and our emotions, cultures, and personalities. One of the well-known research is Goethe’s “ Color Theory” book. In this book, he associates colors with emotions based on intuition and social observation. One of the classic associations we might know is red associated with love, romance, or green associated with a successful process in engineering.
Speaking of color associations, we shall now see a quick few tips to associate colors to widgets in Dashboards.
Applying Colors to Widgets
Everything that deserves space on a dashboard is important, but not equally so the viewer’s eyes should always be directed to the most crucial information first. — Stephan Few
Notions
First things first, let’s set the notions!
A Hue is a color visualized using primary colors belonging to the Color Wheel without any tint or shade. It is basically any selected color on the circle without any dark or white color blended into it.
The color wheel is a circle that illustrates the organization of color hues.
Figure 5. Color Wheel representing Hues
A Tint is a hue lightened with white color.
A Shade is a hue darkened with black color.
A Color scheme is a set of colors we choose when we wish to design something.
Figure 6. Custom made color scheme.
Tip: We can find carious scheme designers on internet such as:
Complementary colors: are colors on opposite sides of the color wheel.
Figure 7. An example of complementary color scheme
Monochromatic colors: are representations of a chosen color varying the tint and the shade of it.
Figure 8. An example of monochromatic color scheme
Let’s get into action!
In this part, we will share few tips for applying colors to a Widget.
Know your audience
Colors influence the mood of a person and the mood of a person influences how he reacts to colors. But we can’t only base ourselves to only that factor.
Culture influences our choices too. For example, in a widget containing a Sankey diagram, the flow of water used to supply a machine should be represented in blue as we generally associate this color in most cultures. It is important to choose colors accordingly to the culture of your environment. For instance, red in the USA represents power and courage whereas it symbolizes luck happiness, and joy in China.
The environment in which our audience rallies is also crucial. For instance, we should choose the best moment, the best screen, and luminosity when presenting a dashboard in a meeting room.
Lastly, we must go further and consider the possibility of receiving an audience with visual disabilities. In “ Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals “ Knaflic indicates that [5] Roughly 8% of men […] and half a percent of women are color-blinded. How could we replace green if a top manager perceives it as black in our dashboard?
One common rule for color-blinded people is that we should avoid using red and green on the same widget: | https://uxdesign.cc/color-design-red-for-bad-green-for-good-f7b7e6a79fde | [] | 2021-07-09 08:32:51.270000+00:00 | ['UI', 'Dashboard Design', 'Charts', 'Color Theory', 'Data Visualization'] |
A Bodily Reckoning Amidst Coronavirus | Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee found that novel images of snakes and flowers provoke more amygdala activity than repeated images of snakes and flowers.
“…this need to evaluate novel stimuli for threat signals is influenced both by the content of the stimulus and by the context in which the stimulus is presented. Under safe conditions, the amygdala evaluates only ‘biologically-relevant’ novel stimuli, while in unsafe conditions, the amygdala evaluates all novel stimuli.”
In short, our brains are madly ringing the alarm in warning of other people’s bodies. And our own. The result is a kind of perpetual low-grade exhaustion in which we pine for control over a situation that by definition we can’t solve or mitigate any other way than being as physically isolated as possible. But this cloistered life is in direct opposition to our fundamental need for physical contact and community and so we’re left in a kind of liminal strain between safety and sanity.
A body suspended.
Quarantine — despite all the introverts quietly deriving a tremendous if quiet joy from this mandatory respite — is traumatic. It’s predicated on trying to mitigate danger, but the very thing that will kill you is the very thing you’re housed inside.
Quarantine comes from the Italian quaranta giorni — forty days — which in turn stems from the Venetian policy of keeping ships hailing from plague-ridden countries off its port to assure no cases were aboard.
United Christian Hospital psychiatrist Ivan Mak Wing-chit says that many SARS patients developed PTSD as a result of being quarantined; their bodies healed, but the mind continued to suffer. Here the body and brain combine in a kind of haunted memory palace — the pain of once-lost breath and the pain of loneliness drag their iron chains round and round the mind as mournful and noisome as Marley’s ghost.
The body as prison. As enemy fire. A sweeping sickness of this magnitude is a recognition of our collective bodily weakness. Our constant proximity to death. Our lack of bodily control even as we tell it to walk forward, lie down, and compulsively wash itself with hot soap and lysol.
And of course, when we invert this strange dialogue we find prisons — heaving cement and curled barbs of wire — as a means of punishing criminalized bodies through isolation. Yesterday Harvey Weinstein tested positive for COVID-19 — while in prison — which reminds me that we not only penalize bodies with social suspension, but by subjecting them to unsanitary conditions poised for the mass-spreading of disease.
The profound inhumanity of the 10 million people incarcerated worldwide is further compounded by their forced physical vulnerability; jail officials expect the number of infected inmates to rise exponentially.
Bodies imprisoned by other bodies.
As a lifelong and dogged nail biter, my gut has been rendered a tangle of knots. And I’m anxious so I am biting even more. I’ll feel my hands rise to my mouth as I linger in the cheese aisle considering my options — trying to delight in a rare outing and proximity to other humans — when my boyfriend shout-mumbles, Katie! his eyebrows pinched.
And I’m frozen in a grimace, the sharp tang of my pink-raw cuticle stinging my mouth. My tongue lingers at the edge of my fingertips, and I’m thinking fuck it, it’s already too late.
Akiko Busch’s book also talks about all the different traits we imbue invisibility with — many of which are negative, even as every one of us has longed to disappear, to dissolve into the ether or prowl our earth unseen.
“Invisibility is often believed to be about transgression,” she says, “the ability to wrong, to get away with something, to cheat, lie or steal.”
We emotionally anthropomorphize the disease, we take it personally. We’re suddenly at war and the body count rises.
COVID 19 marks the third zoonotic coronavirus in the past three decades — it joins SARS and MERS — to leap from animals to humans. Coronaviruses are divided into four groups: alpha, beta, gamma, and delta. Gamma and delta primarily infect birds, while alpha and beta mostly reside in mammals. It’s believed that the virus originated at a “wet market” in Wuhan, China where animals are butchered alongside the living.
There’s something darkly prescient there. And cyclical.
Cell bodies poisoning animal bodies that infected human bodies that were trying to consume the animal bodies. Those human bodies will perish and return to the earth body to be eaten by their own bacterial body.
And I’m reminded that there is nothing unnatural about what’s happening at all. But that makes me all the sadder somehow. The solace of that cycle has yet to pierce my survival instinct. My love for all these human bodies. | https://medium.com/pulpmag/a-bodily-reckoning-amidst-coronavirus-cc4fb2ab4e76 | ['Katie Tandy'] | 2020-03-30 19:46:25.725000+00:00 | ['Quarantine', 'Covid 19', 'Coronavirus', 'Isolation', 'Disease'] |
Week 7 : Defining Voice and Tone. It’s all about personality | It’s all about personality
In the previous post, I shared about user research — getting to know your users, the words they speak, the way they interact with your product and so on, in order to tailor your product copy to suit them and meet their needs.
This week I’m sharing a little about product voice. This voice is your brand’s identity in writing— how people recognize you, what sets you apart from your competitors, what you stand for.
The words a product uses is what communicates the product’s brand to its customers.
One of my favourite sources for building voice is ‘Microcopy — The complete guide’ by Kinneret Yifrah.
Language makes digital products more human-like, but it has to be authentic and natural.
If a company positions itself as being young and tech savvy, then the way its product speaks — via its words — should reflect that. Same if a product’s target market is children and its brand is ‘playful’, you’d expect them to use words that kids understand and relate with.
Writing copy according to a product’s voice is made possible with brand documents, content style guidelines, and other documentation that convey the product’s personality.
Product voice is not limited to microcopy though, it affects all forms of writing and communication that is done on behalf of the company.
Developing product voice
Suppose there’s no defined voice yet, or you’re creating a product voice for your portfolio,? here are some tips I picked up from UX Writers.
Vision & mission
What is the company’s vision and its values? What drives the company? The language a company adopts most often aligns with its purpose.
This vision influences the type of content put out, as well as help shape the personality of the product.
2. Personality
Memorable digital products have personalities. Imagine the product was a person. How would you describe it? Funny or serious? are they fashionable or biased towards basic comfort clothes ? are they friendly and open to everyone or do they move in close-knit circles?
Personality scale developed by Big Brand System
By humanizing products, it’s easier to decide how the product would naturally sound. This helps the copy and other content align with the product’s identity to create an authentic product voice that users can relate to. It’s based on this adopted personality that the product voice is shaped.
In building the product’s voice, what your colleagues think the product sounds like, how it should sound (based on personality), and how users perceive it, should be taken into consideration.
Tips for writing according to voice | https://medium.com/ux-writers-learn/week-7-defining-voice-and-tone-679e869a3962 | ['Uzoma Ibekwe'] | 2021-07-06 13:31:46.969000+00:00 | ['Ux Writing'] |
Decision Trees | In this post, we are going to talk about one of the most important algorithms in machine learning, which is called Decision Trees. They are important because without them other state-of-the-art algorithms like Bagging and Boosting wouldn’t have been invented.
First, Let’s talk about the Pros and Cons and then paraphrase them one by one as we go along.
Advantages:
1- Can be used for both classification and regression
2- Can be displayed graphically therefore they are easily interpretable
3- Non-parametric
4- Features don’t need scaling
5- Automatically account for interactions
Disadvantages:
1- Tend to not perform very well compared to the state of the art ML models
2- Recursive binary splitting makes “locally optimal” decisions that may not result in a globally optimal tree (at each step it decides what is the best split, there might be different combinations that result in an overall better result but it wouldn’t know that)
3- Easy overfitting
Let’s discuss the advantages in more detail:
1- Decision Trees can be used for both regression and classification.
Regression Trees:
This is a scatter plot of 2 feature dataset:
the x-axis is feature X2 and the y-axis is feature X1
The idea of a decision tree is to find out how to split your dataset into different parts. To do that we have to divide the space into distinct and non-overlapping regions. The values of the predictions that you can see on the regions are the mean values of each region derived from terminal nodes. (I will talk about these terminologies shortly)
For instance, look at the decision tree in the following picture
The first thing it will take into consideration is that whether X2 is less than 0.302548 or not? If yes, is X1 less than 0.800113 or not? And if no, is X1 less than 0.883535. In addition, the questions asked are all in a True/False form. For each true and false answer, there are separate branches. No matter the answers to the questions we eventually reach a prediction (leaf node). Start at the root node at the top and progress through the tree answering the questions along the way.
The first question that comes to mind is that how to decide on the best splitting decision? here is where the cost function can help us.
The cost function used to train regression trees is Mean Squared Error (aka MSE) and the formula is:
The best split is decided where the overall MSE is lowest:
I know these formulas are a little bit intimidating, but let me explain how they work. After each split, we take the average value for both sides of the split (R1 and R2) and we come up with a value (ŷR1 for R1 and ŷR2 for R2). Next, we are going to subtract all of our data points in each side from the average value of that exact side and square it (for R1 it would be (yi — ŷR1)²), and then sum up all values. Wherever the overall MSE is lowest that’s the best place to split.
Note: the approach is top-down and greedy. Top-down means you are going from big to small and you can only split regions that have been split. Therefore, each split gets smaller and smaller (if you have a lot of splits you tend to overfit)
Greedy means it’s going to decide where the best split is at only that particular moment in time.
Classification trees:
the difference between classification and regression is the nature of your output. In Classification your outputs are categories or discrete variables but in regression, you are predicting a continuous variable.
This is again a scatter plot of only 2 features of the iris dataset:
The X-axis shows petal width and Y-axis shows petal length and our target variable is the species of flowers which shows by color (3 shades of purple for 3 species)
The question is what is the best split? The question again leads us to two cost functions for classification trees. First is the Gini cost function which ranges from 0 to 0.5 and the second is Entropy which ranges from 0 to 1. The main idea of these two cost functions is you are trying to maximize purity after the split. It is going to try different splits and measure the Gini or Entropy with each split and determine where the best split is.
Splits using Gini:
On the scatter plot would be:
2- They can be displayed graphically. Therefore, they are easily interpretable. If you don’t have a super deep tree it can be easily visualized. Since we are talking about how we can graphically display Decision Trees let me introduce you to some useful terminologies of Decision Trees:
- Root Node: It represents the entire population or sample and this further gets divided into two or more homogeneous sets.
- Splitting: It is a process of dividing a node into two or more sub-nodes.
- Decision Node: When a sub-node splits into further sub-nodes, then it is called a decision node.
- Leaf/Terminal Node: Nodes do not split is called Leaf or Terminal node.
- Pruning: When we remove sub-nodes of a decision node, this process is called pruning. You can say the opposite process of splitting.
- Branch / Sub-Tree: A sub-section of the entire tree is called a branch or sub-tree.
-Parent and Child Node: A node, which is divided into sub-nodes is called parent node of sub-nodes whereas sub-nodes are the child of parent node.
3- Non-parametric means this algorithm does not make any assumptions of the underlying distribution of data.
4-Features don’t need scaling because it is looking for where you can best split your data, so the scale of your data really doesn’t matter.
5- It automatically accounts for interaction because whenever is trying to make a decision it would be between two features of our dataset, so with a combination of different features which are above or below certain results you end up with a different prediction (randomness involved). | https://medium.com/@ali-mahzoon-68/decision-trees-ef304a4a97ce | ['Ali Mahzoon'] | 2021-07-06 14:28:19.611000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Machine Learning', 'Decision Tree', 'Algorithms'] |
Consent in Art | It’s irritating how irrelevant consent becomes to people when it comes to art, especially art available (for free, if you know where to look) online. Many seem to think they have any right to decide on an artist’s priorities, or that they have any “right” on the art itself without going the way the artist wants them to, like paying, or using an online portal the artist consented into supplying their art.
Consent, people. It’s not hard! Does the artist explicitly say you can use their art in the way you want to use it? Yes -> Go ahead. No -> Not your decision. No matter how small and irrelevant the use, no matter how much you (think you) need it. It’s not your choice! They decide on their own priorities — everyone decides on their own priorities. Apply your logic to _any_ field outside of art and you quickly see how ridiculous and away from reality, and also common sense, it is.
I’m not creative in any way myself. Hell, I rarely ever created anything artistic all by myself. But even artists sometimes think that way. It’s ok to not think of everything by yourself but it’s not ok to discuss on this beyond education just because you somehow think it’s different for art. Consent is not up to discussion. Ever. In any context. If someone can’t consent, you don’t do stuff to them outside of saving their life or preventing them from having great pain.
Ask any webcomic artist what they think of 9Gag or iFunny. Ask any movie producer what they think of movie piracy. Ask any music interpret what they think of sharing platforms. If you think they wouldn’t care, ask them. No answer? Not your call! They give consent (some even do!)? Go ahead! They say No? You were wrong and have no right on their art, no matter how much you like it. The art is too expensive? Same thing! The artist behaves morally questionable? Don’t support that. The art is not available in your country or any platform you can access due to legal reasons? Ask them to offer it in your country — and try to change the law. Participate politically. Don’t like the situation? Try to change it according to active laws and political structures.
This, of course, applies to every situation, even just sharing webcomics on facebook, altered/translated or not. Dig up the original and embed or link it with credit — it’s not hard. Every small consent violation makes a difference, because it normalizes that. Catcalling, wide-spread and often “well-intended”, hurts. Guys often don’t realize that; many even argue that they’d like, or even want it — even if that’s true even if it happened as often as it does for women, it is not your choice to decide on what anyone else wants, likes and prioritizes. Even victimless crimes, like taking an empty seat you didn’t pay for in a cinema, or pirating art, are drops of water on the heads of integrity and consent. Do you not go voting because your vote “doesn’t make a difference anyway”? No. And if you don’t, you don’t get to complain, that’s common knowledge.
Even small things add up. Everything works this way, still many people think contrary, act according to that and normalize it further. It’s called conditioning, which works with everything in the universe. It’s a good thing small things add up in elections, or for the goals of a torturer that water drops on the same spot for too long drive people beyond their capacities, but people consented into democracy. If you don’t like it, move somewhere else which fits your political views more, but you won’t find a country that’ll let you do all decisions since humanity is advanced enough to know that noone is smarter than everyone else, and noone can sustain themselves on their own either if they want to hold any standard of living higher than Tarzan.
Just like with art. Don’t like the circumstances? Too bad, not your decision, do not use it. Use something else which fits your needs. Noone needs specific, individual art to survive. For comfort, yes, for sanity, in some cases, but there’s consented-to-be free or really cheap art of every major genre in every kind of art you can fall back to if you think you can’t live without it, but can’t afford the art, or don’t want to support the artist. | https://medium.com/consent-culture-a-conversation/consent-in-art-cc6d37c1dd97 | ['Jannis Tenbrink'] | 2020-08-04 22:46:40.430000+00:00 | ['Movies', 'Music', 'Consent', 'Media', 'Art'] |
Tackle Today: Delta or Theta? | Tackle Trading | ≈ Which strategies do you use most often? ≈
Traders,
When choosing which product and strategy to trade, how do you determine if you are going to use options, stock, futures or forex?
Delta trading allows you to trade directional setups based on technical analysis, trends, and price action. You can use Stock, Options, Futures or Forex to play Delta trades.
Theta trading, on the other hand, allows you to build trades that benefit (positive theta) from time passing. Positive theta trading strategies include Covered Calls, Naked Puts, Credit Spreads (Bull Put or Bear Call) as well as Iron Condors.
There are more theta strategies though, and you can review all of the theta strategies (as well as delta and/or vega strategies) in our playbook: https://tackletrading.com/store/tackle-trading-playbook/
Learning to trade different trading strategies so that you can take advantage of different market conditions is a valuable skill to have. In your own education, have you spent more time studying Delta, Theta or Vega strategies? Whatever your focus has been, consider spending some time learning another style so that you have a well-rounded approach to the markets.
#TeamTackle
Chart of the Day
AAPL Daily Chart
Apple Inc. (Ticker: AAPL) is up +2.8% in early trade on Tuesday. There are reports the company will increase iPhone production by 30% on a year-on-year basis in the first half of 2021.
Video of the Day What is Theta?
Time passing will impact an Options contracts price. Theta measures the impact of time passing on your options. Watch this video tutorial from Coach Noah to better understand the concept of Theta.
Financial freedom is a journey
The Tackle Today series is brought to you by Tackle Trading.
Sign up now and gain unfettered access to all of the quality content and powerful Scouting Reports that our Pro Members enjoy for 15-days absolutely free with no strings attached and let us show you what your trading has been missing.
Legal Disclaimer
Tackle Trading LLC (“Tackle Trading”) is providing this website and any related materials, including newsletters, blog posts, videos, social media postings and any other communications (collectively, the “Materials”) on an “as-is” basis. This means that although Tackle Trading strives to make the information accurate, thorough and current, neither Tackle Trading nor the author(s) of the Materials or the moderators guarantee or warrant the Materials or accept liability for any damage, loss or expense arising from the use of the Materials, whether based in tort, contract, or otherwise. Tackle Trading is providing the Materials for educational purposes only. We are not providing legal, accounting, or financial advisory services, and this is not a solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any stocks, options, or other financial instruments or investments. Examples that address specific assets, stocks, options or other financial instrument transactions are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to represent specific trades or transactions that we have conducted. In fact, for the purpose of illustration, we may use examples that are different from or contrary to transactions we have conducted or positions we hold. Furthermore, this website and any information or training herein are not intended as a solicitation for any future relationship, business or otherwise, between the users and the moderators. No express or implied warranties are being made with respect to these services and products. By using the Materials, each user agrees to indemnify and hold Tackle Trading harmless from all losses, expenses and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or resulting from user’s use of the Materials. In no event shall Tackle Trading or the author(s) or moderators be liable for any direct, special, consequential or incidental damages arising out of or related to the Materials. If this limitation on damages is not enforceable in some states, the total amount of Tackle Trading’s liability to the user or others shall not exceed the amount paid by the user for such Materials.
All investing and trading in the securities market involves a high degree of risk. Any decisions to place trades in the financial markets, including trading in stocks, options or other financial instruments, is a personal decision that should only be made after conducting thorough independent research, including a personal risk and financial assessment, and prior consultation with the user’s investment, legal, tax and accounting advisers, to determine whether such trading or investment is appropriate for that user. | https://medium.com/@tackletrading/tackle-today-delta-or-theta-tackle-trading-94d15e4c287c | ['Tackle Trading'] | 2020-12-17 08:03:49.216000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Tackle Trading', 'Stocks', 'Investing', 'Stock Market'] |
Causal inference (Part 2 of 3): Selecting algorithms | By Jane Huang, Daniel Yehdego, and Siddharth Kumar
Introduction
This is the second article of a series focusing on causal inference methods and applications. In Part 1, we discussed when and why causal models can help with different business problems. We also provided fundamentals for causal inference analysis and compared a few popular Python packages for causal analysis. In this article, we dive into details of various causal inference estimation methods and discuss algorithm selection for your own problem settings. Causal inference can be used on top of A/B tests in multiple ways to extract insights, but this article focuses mainly on estimation methods under unconfoundedness or on quasi-experimental bases when a randomized control trial (RCT) is not feasible.
Algorithm selection
As discussed in Part 1, RCT is the traditional gold standard that enables unbiased estimation of treatment effects. However, in observational studies, the possibility of bias arises because a difference in the treatment outcome may be caused by a factor that predicts treatment rather than the treatment itself, known as confoundedness. As a result, it’s desirable to replicate a randomized experiment as closely as possible through various strategies.
Causal inference consists of a family of statistical methods. In this article, we introduce two types of estimation methods: Estimation methods under unconfoundedness (also known as conditioning-based methods), and estimation methods for quasi-experiments (a research design that looks like an experimental design but lacks the key ingredient — random assignment of the treatment — studying instead pre-existing groups that received different treatments after the fact).
In quasi-experiments, commonly used approaches include simple natural experiments, instrumental-variables (IV), and regression-discontinuity models. We will dive into IV approaches in a later section of this article and briefly introduce the other two here.
For natural experiments, rather than assuming ignorability over the entire dataset, we need to find subsets that approximate an experiment. A few common sources are by lottery, from prior A/B tests, and so on. Natural experiments allow common courses of treatment T and outcome Y, as long as the source is not affected by them. They exploit “as-if random” assignment of treatments to measure outcome. In other words, when the assignment of treatment is unrelated to the measured outcome and their common causes, we can treat it as if it is a randomized experiment. We need to keep in mind that as-if randomness is usually hard to find in practice. The causal estimates will be very sensitive to the violation of exclusion assumption.
A regression discontinuity model elicits the causal effects of treatments in situations where candidates are selected for treatment based on whether their values exceed a sharp cutoff or threshold. In most business problems that we are working with, a sharp cutoff for treatment assignment doesn’t always exist, but this approach is widely used in social policy studies and medical domains.
Most algorithms that we discuss in this article mainly look at one snapshot of the outcome for treatment effects rather than at repeated observations of outcomes over time. We have carried out separate research to estimate the delay and decay of treatment effects over time, which we won’t discuss in this article due to length constraints. If you would like to include repeated observations of outcome over time into your causal research design, depending on whether you have control time series data from a non-treated unit, you can consider approaches like difference-in-difference and interrupted time series synthetic control, among others. Uber has also discussed various causal inference methods for time series observations in their post.
Figure 1 shows high-level workflow recommendations for causal algorithm selection for an observational study with one snapshot of the outcome. Please keep in mind that the list is not exhaustive, just a small representation of the approaches that we use on the Customer Growth Analytics team here at Microsoft.
Figure 1: Flow chart for causal algorithm selection in an observational study
Estimation methods under unconfoundedness
Many heterogeneous treatment effect estimation methods are theoretically valid only when all potential confounders are observed. These methods attempt to approximate the gold standard of RCT. We refer to them as causal estimation methods under unfoundedness. It’s important to note that any attempt to use these methods without observing potential confounders can reduce, but not eliminate, bias relative to raw correlations.
Matching methods
Matching methods parallel the covariates distribution that predicts the treatment assignment and create a “pseudo-population” in which the treatment is independent of the measured confounding variables. They first look for units with control variables that have the same values but receive different treatments, which can be done post hoc by taking a treated unit and then finding a non-treated unit with very similar values. That pair is called a match. The next step is to write down the difference in outcome between the treated and untreated unit in that match, a process that can resemble RCT. As such, matching can be used to reduce or eliminate the effects of confounding variables on observational data when estimating a treatment effect. To compare the closeness between two units, a wide variety of distance metrics can be used, such as Euclidean distance and Mahalanobis distance. Generally, distance metrics can be represented using the following equation:
where xᵢ and xⱼ denote the features of the iᵗʰ and jᵗʰ unit.
Some matching methods develop their own distance metrics depending on the transformation function f. One of the commonly used transformation methods is propensity score-based transformation. In propensity score matching, we first estimate the propensity score, which can be thought of as the likelihood or probability that an individual unit receives the treatment. Estimating the propensity score can be done in different ways, but typically it is done using multivariate or binary classification models such as logistic regression, random forest, XGBoost, and LightGBM, among others.
But matching methods are not the only ones available. Several others are also explored below.
Re-weighting methods
Inverse propensity weighting (IPW): Like matching methods, re-weighting methods create a “pseudo-population” to address the challenge of selection bias due to different distributions of the treated and control groups. The main idea of weighting is to assign an appropriate magnitude to each sample in the observation dataset so that the distributions of the treated group and control group are similar. Then we can calculate statistics based on the re-weighted pseudo-population. When correctly applied, weighting can potentially improve efficiency and reduce the bias of unweighted estimators. If the propensity score e(x) is a conditional probability of assignment to a treatment given a vector of observed covariates x, then in the weighting method the outcome of the treated units is weighted by w(x) = 1 / e(x) while the control units are weighed as: w(x) = 1 / (1- e(x) )
Figure 2: Inverse propensity weighting example
After re-weighting, the IPW estimator of ATE is defined as (see A Survey on Causal Inference):
where n denotes the sample size, ê(x) is the estimated propensity score given features x, Tᵢ is the treatment assignment for iᵗʰ unit, and Yᵢ denotes the observed outcome for iᵗʰ unit.
Theoretical results show that adjustment for the scalar propensity score is sufficient to remove bias due to all observed covariates. However, IPW highly relies on the correctness of propensity scores, which can be remedied in doubly robust learning, as described in the next section.
Doubly robust learning (DR): Doubly robust learning is a method for estimating heterogeneous treatment effects when the treatment is categorical and all potential confounders/controls are observed, but there are either too many for classical statistical approaches to be applicable or their effect on the treatment and outcome cannot be satisfactorily modeled by parametric functions (see EconML API documentation).
Doubly robust methods reduce the problem by estimating two predictive tasks:
Predicting the outcome from the treatment and controls
Predicting the treatment from the controls
Unlike the double machine learning method, which we introduce in a later section, the first model predicts the outcome from both the treatment and the controls, as opposed to just the controls. Then the method combines these two predictive models in a final estimation stage, creating a model of the heterogeneous treatment effect. In contrast to inverse propensity weighting (IPW), the DR approach first fits a direct regression model, and then debiases that model by applying an inverse propensity approach to the residual of that model, rather than to a training sample directly. The approach allows for arbitrary machine learning algorithms to be used for the two predictive tasks, while maintaining many favorable statistical properties related to the final model (e.g., small mean squared error, asymptotic normality, and construction of confidence intervals). The latter favorable statistical properties hold if either the first or second of the two predictive tasks achieves small mean squared error (hence the name “doubly robust”).
Meta-learning methods
Algorithms called meta-learners can take advantage of any supervised learning or regression methods in machine learning and statistics to estimate a treatment effect, such as the conditional average treatment effect (CATE) function discussed in Part 1. In meta-learner methods, the treatment space must be discrete. Meta-learners build on base algorithms — such as logistic regression (LR), random forests (RF), XGBoost, Bayesian additive regression trees (BART), or neural networks, among others — to estimate the CATE. In this section, we briefly introduce four types of meta-learners, including S-, T-, X-, and R-learners (see Causal ML API documentation).
Currently, the S-learner, T-learner, and X-learner algorithms are available in both the CausalML and EconML packages for Python. R-learner is available in Causal ML, which is the same as the Non-Parametric DML CATE Estimator in EconML with different naming conventions. And more generally, all DML CATE Estimators in EconML are special instances of R-Learner. The following sections provide a quick walkthrough of the main ideas and formulation of each algorithm. Links to the raw papers are provided for those who want to go beyond the high-level introduction and learn more.
S-learner: This algorithm estimates the target variable using all the covariate features and treatment indicator, without giving the treatment indicator any special role. The estimate is done using a single algorithm estimator, hence the name S-learner. The estimation consists of two stages. First, a predictive model is built using the outcome as a target and control for both treatment and other features. Then the difference is calculated among the estimated values when the treatment assignment indicator is changed from control to treatment, with all other features held fixed. The difference among the estimated values is the CATE for an individual unit. Different regressors, such as XGBoost, can be used as a base regressor in stage 1, and the one with lowest error in terms of SMAPE or other error metrics can be chosen.
Stage 1: Estimate the average outcome μ(x) with covariates X and an indicator variable for treatment effect T:
Stage 2: Define the CATE estimate as:
T-learner: This algorithm estimates the response functions separately for the treatment and control populations. First, it uses base learners to estimate the conditional expectations of the outcomes separately for units under control and those under treatment. Second, it takes the difference between these estimates. We refer to the general mechanism of estimating the response functions separately as the T-learner, “T” being short for “two.”
Stage 1: Estimate the average outcome μ₀(x) and μ₁(x)
where μ₀ (x) = E[ Y(0) | X=x] and μ₁(x) = E[ Y(1) | X=x] using arbitrary machine learning models.
Stage 2: Define the CATE estimates as
X-learner: When real-world data contains more control group than treatment group, the likelihood of overfitting the treatment group when using T-learner is high. X-learner tries to avoid this by using information from the control group to derive better estimators for the treatment group and vice versa. Like S- and T-learner, X-learner can use arbitrary machine learning algorithms like XGBoost as a base regressor with the lowest error in terms of SMAPE. X-learner is built on T-learner and uses each observation in the training set in an “X”-like shape, hence its name X-learner (see Künzel 2017). X-learner consists of three stages:
Stage 1: Estimate the average outcome μ₀(x) and μ₁(x)
where μ₀ (x) = E[ Y(0) | X=x ] and μ₁(x) = E[ Y(1) | X=x ] using arbitrary machine learning models.
Stage 2: Impute the user-level treatment effects Dᵢ¹ for user i in the treatment group based on μ₀(x) and Dⱼ⁰ for user j in the control groups based on μ₁(x):
Then estimate τ₁(x) = E[ D₁ ∣ X = x ] and τ₀(x) = E[ D₀ ∣ X = x ] using machine learning models.
Stage 3: Define the CATE estimate by a weighted average of μ₁(x) and μ₀(x):
where g ∈ [0,1] is a weighting function.
X-learner uses a weighting function for variance minimization. It is recommended to use an estimate of the propensity score for g, but it also makes sense to choose g = 1 or 0 if the number of treated groups is very large or small compared to the number of control groups. This means that having accurate propensity estimates is not as important for X-learner.
R-learner: The two steps within R-learner include (as outlined by Nie2017):
Step 1 : Estimate marginal effects and treatment propensities to form an objective function that isolates the causal component of the signal.
: Estimate marginal effects and treatment propensities to form an objective function that isolates the causal component of the signal. Step 2: Optimize the data-adaptive objective function.
One critical component of R-learner is the R-loss function for treatment effect estimation using cross-fitting. Given n independent and identically distributed examples with (xᵢ, yᵢ, tᵢ), i = 1, …, n, where xᵢ denotes per-person features, yᵢ ∈ R is the observed outcome, and tᵢ is the treatment assignment. The potential outcome {Yᵢ(0), Yᵢ(1)} corresponds to the outcome we would have observed given the treatment assignment tᵢ = 0 or 1, respectively, such that Yᵢ = Yᵢ(tᵢ). Assuming unconfoundedness, i.e., the treatment assignment is randomized once we control for the features xᵢ, we estimate the CATE function 𝜏∗ = E{Y(1)−Y(0) | X = x }. The treatment propensity and the conditional surfaces can be represented as:
The CATE function 𝜏∗(x) can be re-written in terms of the conditional mean outcome as follows:
The first formula is called Robinson’s transformation for flexible treatment effect estimation, and builds on modern machine learning approaches. The main idea of R-learner is to use this representation to construct a loss function that captures heterogeneous treatment effects, so that we can accurately estimate the treatment effects by seeking a regularized minimizer of this loss function.
The formula can be equivalently expressed as (see Robins, 2004):
Then we estimate the heterogeneous treatment effect function 𝜏∗(.) by empirical loss minimization:
Sharing more details, we divide the data into K (e.g., 5 or 10) evenly sided folds. Let q(.) be a mapping from the i=1,…, n sample indices to K folds, and fit m^ and ê with cross-fitting over the K folds via methods tuned for optimal predicative accuracy. Then we can estimate the treatment effect via a plug-in version of the second formula:
Forest-based estimators
Forest-based methods utilize very flexible non-linear models of the heterogeneous treatment effect. They normally can perform well with many features. In addition, these methods can provide valid confidence intervals despite being data-adaptive and non-parametric. These methods are recommended if you have many features and would like to see the effect of heterogeneity and want confidence intervals. A few commonly used estimators are orthogonal random forests, causal forest (forest double machine learning) and forest doubly robust learner. For more details, please refer to Econ ML API documentation.
Stratification
To adjust selection bias, stratification (also known as subclassification or blocking) splits the entire group into homogeneous subgroups, where within each subgroup, ideally the treated group and the control group are similar under certain measurements over covariates. Then the treatment effect within each subgroup can be calculated using a method first developed on RCT data. With the CATE of each subgroup, the treatment effect over the interested group can be obtained by combining the CATEs of subgroups belonging to that group. For example, if we separate the whole dataset into j blocks, ATE for stratification is estimated as:
where Ȳₜ(j) and Ȳ꜀(j) are the average of the treated and control outcomes in the jᵗʰ block, respectively. Furthermore, q(j) = N(j)/N is the portion of the units in the jᵗʰ block to the whole units. (See: A Survey on Causal inference.)
Double machine learning
Double machine learning is a method for estimating heterogeneous treatment effects when all potential confounders are observed, but are either too many for classical statistical approaches to be applicable, or their effect on the treatment and outcome cannot be satisfactorily modeled by parametric functions. Distinct from doubly robust learner and meta learners, this method can be applied to both discrete and continuous treatment types. The method reduces the problem to first estimating two predictive tasks:
Predicting the outcome from the controls
Predicting the treatment from the controls
Then the method combines these two predictive models in a final stage estimation to create a model of the heterogeneous treatment effect. The approach allows for arbitrary machine learning algorithms to be used for the two predictive tasks, while maintaining many favorable statistical properties related to the final model (e.g., small mean squared error, asymptotic normality, and construction of confidence intervals). Mathematically, the double machine learning model is constructed as follows:
Stage 1:
Stage 2:
Linear regression on residuals:
Note: for 𝜃 constant, 𝜃 is the coefficient from
where Y is the observed outcome for the chosen treatment, T is the treatment, X represents the covariates used for heterogeneity, and W represents other observable covariates that we believe are affecting the potential outcome Y and potentially also the treatment T. We refer to variables W as controls. The variables X can also be thought of as control variables, but they are special in the sense that they are a subset of the controls with respect to which we want to measure treatment effect heterogeneity. We will refer to them as features.
If you are working with a continuous heterogeneous treatment space, double machine learning is recommended as the default algorithm for you to start with. Or, if you are working with a discrete heterogeneous treatment space, meta learners or doubly robust learner are worth checking out. We compare more fundamental details about meta learners with double machine learning methods in Table 1. In Table 1, the meta learner formulas were provided on two response surfaces Y(0) and Y(1) for illustration purposes, even though they can model on multiple response surfaces, Y(0) to Y(K), as well.
Table 1: Meta learners vs double machine learning.
Estimation methods with instruments
An instrumental variable is a random variable that influences the treatment but does not have any direct effect on the outcome, other than through the treatment. In practice, even when there are unobserved confounders (factors that simultaneously have a direct effect on the treatment decision in the collected data and the observed outcome), an instrumental variable (if it exits) represents an approach for estimating causal effects despite the presence of confounding latent variables. Instrumental variables (IV) can be used to cut correlations between the error term and independent variables in a model, hence conquering the problems related to endogeneity. The assumptions made are weaker than the unconfoundedness assumption needed in many other algorithms like double machine learning or meta learners. The cost is that when unconfoundedness holds, instrumental variable estimators will be less efficient. In the complex environment of the real world, the unconfoundedness assumption can rarely be satisfied. Unobserved confoundedness is a critical challenge of causal inference. Whenever instruments exist, it is better to prioritize the research design, but we need to be careful in model validation to make sure we have proper and strong instruments, otherwise estimates are very sensitive to violations.
In addition to the IV methods discussed below, there are a few new and important orthogonal IV methods for heterogeneous treatment effects like DMLIV (double machine learning instrumental variables), DRIV (doubly robust IV), and Intent To Treat DRIV available in EconML, which implement new methods for non-parametric estimation of CATE with instruments and arbitrary ML. For more details, please refer to Vasilis 2019.
Double least square: In the ordinary least square (OLS) method, there is a basic assumption that the value of the error term is independent of the predictor variables. When this assumption is broken, the double least square technique helps solve this problem. This analysis assumes that there is a secondary predictor that is correlated to the problematic predictor but not with the error term. Given the existence of the instrument variable, the following two methods are used:
In the first stage, we will obtain the predicted endogenous variable Ŷ₂ using OLS against all exogenous variables, including all of instruments. We should conduct an F-test on all instruments to see if instruments are jointly significant in the endogenous variable Y₂. Instruments should be strongly correlated with Y₂ to have reliable 2SLS estimators.
In the second stage, the model-estimated values Ŷ₂ from the first stage are used in place of the actual values Y₂ of the problematic predictors to compute an OLS model for the response of interest Y₁. All exogenous independent variables will be included in the second stage regression, but not the instruments.
Sieve two-stage least square estimation (2SLS): In contrast to the parametric nature of the double least square model, Sieve two-stage least square estimation (2SLS) is a nonparametric model. We must specify the sieve basis for T, X, and Y (Hermite polynomial or a set of indicator functions) and the number of elements of the basis expansion to include. For more details, please refer to Bruce 2014.
Deep instrumental variables (IV): The instrumental variables (IV) method is an approach for estimating causal effects despite the presence of confounding latent variables. The setup of the model is as follows:
Where E[∈|X,W,Z ] = h(X,W) , so that the expected value of Y depends on (T, X, and W). This is known as the exclusion restriction. We assume that the conditional distribution F ( T | X, W, Z ) varies with Z . This is known as the relevant condition. The heterogeneous treatment effects are what we want to learn:
The deep IV module learns the heterogenous causal effects by minimizing the “reduced-form” prediction error:
where the hypothesis class g represents neural nets with a given architecture.
This estimate is obtained by modeling F as a mixture of normal distributions, where the parameters of the mixture model are the output of a “first-stage” neural net whose inputs are (xᵢ, wᵢ, zᵢ). Optimization of the “first-stage” neural net is done by stochastic gradient descent on the (mixture-of-normals) likelihood, while optimization of the “second-stage” model for the treatment effects is done by stochastic gradient descent alone. The output is an estimated function ĝ. To obtain an estimate of τ, we take the difference the estimated function at t₀ and t₁, replacing the expectation with the empirical average over all observations with the specified x. For more details, please refer to Hardford 2017.
Conclusion
In this post, we went through details of various algorithms and provided insights into algorithm selection for different problem settings. One thing that we need to keep in mind is that for causal inference, we are aiming for robust and valid causal estimates. A more complicated model doesn’t always result in a more accurate treatment effect estimate in a causal context. Business goals and available data are the main drivers of algorithm selection. Then we can try and compare multiple estimation methods.
To validate the model, we do encourage trying multiple algorithms and comparing the estimates. We will introduce more details about model validation and application in the next article in our series. We hope this series helps you conquer your business problem through causal thinking. Please leave a comment to share your application scenarios and the techniques you are using today. We look forward to hearing from you.
We’d like to thank the Microsoft Advanced AI school, Microsoft Research ALICE team, Finance, and Customer Program teams for being great partners in the research design and adoption of this work. We also would like to thank Ron Sielinski, Casey Doyle, and Deepsha Menghani for helping review the work.
Related articles: | https://medium.com/data-science-at-microsoft/causal-inference-part-2-of-3-selecting-algorithms-a966f8228a2d | ['Jane Huang'] | 2020-11-19 19:19:44.791000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Causal Inference', 'Observational Studies', 'Meta Learning', 'Instruments'] |
Techniques used to boost PPC | Techniques used to boost PPC
Among the techniques, you might have taken into consideration is the use of PPC Services traffic. With a PPC Agency campaign, you can guide individuals to your blog site, hence boosting your positions with an online search engine and potentially increasing your conversion prices.
However, you could not know where to start when it comes to a Pay Per Click advertising and marketing campaign. Due to the fact that SEO can typically take a long time to take effect, you might be curious about how you can expand your blog site without having to depend on Search Engine Optimization.
Past social networks, how else can you enhance web traffic to your blog site and also translate visitors into dollars — and also do so rapidly? By the end of this post, you’ll be able to utilize a PPC project as an effective method of growing your blog in such a way that boosts your rankings on the internet search engines as well as promptly produces returns.
The lessee popular Pay Per Click networks include low-cost keywords that are waiting to be located. The one with a field of expertise in particular places of content marketing to mobile advertisements, no matter what’s brand-new or various other cheaper alternative there are plenty of superb PPC networks that you need to try
As a result of the substantial success of the PPC Agency in Bangalore, companies have ruptured right into the scene with their own system. Several firms want the taste of profits that results in limitless PPC networking pop-ups. Nonetheless, the most vital aspect that makes a paid advertising campaign successful, I think, is the key phrases you choose to bid on. Its keywords that make or damage a PPC campaign as this aspect determines who sees your ad and also who can’t.
Many people use Google for search, it’s the dreamland for putting paid search advertisements. These advertisement results appear on SERPs and include an “Ad” classification that reveals they are paid, not organic, listings. Google Advertisements, previously Google AdWords, is one of the most popular PPC search advertising and marketing service providers. due to these multiple platforms for pay-per-click advertising, the majority of marketers utilize Google Advertisements for their PPC search marketing campaign.
if your blog topics are not luring, people will not want to click your ads, no matter exactly how excellent your targeting abilities are or exactly how luring your advertisement copy. Doing so will certainly just result in you investing a lot of money on points like maximizing your ad text without being able to produce a return. The very best method is to take a look at existing web content in your niche that has actually done well and after that produce something that is much better.
But there’s no point in sending people to a blog site that doesn’t have great web content. Online marketing is all about material, of which blogging makes up a substantial component.
How do keywords work for PPC campaigns?
All the steps below will certainly provide you a comprehensive guide for the Pay Per Click keyword study. By specifying the best key phrases most appropriate to your service’s offerings as well as buyer search intent, you can bid to position your ads in customers’ search engine results for associated key phrases. As a marketing expert or local business owner, we require to be a lot more specific regarding the value of keyword research study on any online project. Spending a large budget to bid on high-volume keywords is not always wise, specifically for local businesses. With organizations aiming to produce conversion through PPC campaigns, the keywords selected for their advertisements must indicate high acquisition intent. On the other hand, the ads concentrate on improving the brand name’s presence and need to stick to eCommerce and also navigation terms.
However, this is less complicated stated than done. You need to go from the top of the channel with usual keywords with different techniques to detoxify the keyword list for the most affordable ones that can upgrade your PPC projects’ performance. Creating a well-working keyword phrase checklist requires lots of time and also sober study. The procedure of discovering important keywords similar to when you go through a funnel. The trick to all effective marketing campaigns is getting high-targeted keyword phrases for your goal. Also one of the most possible paid advertisements will certainly fail if they can enter front of the best audience group.
Steps to organizing your account -
Since you have the language and expertise to browse your Google Advertisements account, allow me to look at the very best ways to establish and maximize your projects. As stated earlier, your Google account has a structure of projects as well as sub-groups of advertisement groups within those campaigns. When you’re ready to release a pay-per-click strategy, begin by arranging your service into classifications.
to create a structure for an organization. for example, a shoe store and here are the structure
Project # 1: Men’s Footwear
Advertisement Group # 1: Sneakers
Advertisement Team # 2: Dress Shoes
Ad Team # 3: Sandals
It will certainly be simpler to establish your account when you have this framework. Planning out your marketing campaign will certainly likewise help you produce a lot more pertinent and also targeted ads with your Google advertisement teams.
conclusion
You require to target the appropriate key phrases and also continually update your approach to enhance your campaigns and also get the most out of your budget. PPC Services in Bangalore is an on-demand method to expand your digital visibility, boost website traffic, and also drive sales. With the information in this message as well as the pay-per-click marketing guide, you’re now better equipped to set up strategic PPC projects. devices can aid you to research your market and search phrases so you can have the information you need to establish high-performing pay-per-click advertising and marketing campaigns.
To know how to make fortune with PPC Click here! | https://medium.com/@surajmurali-webi7/techniques-used-to-boost-ppc-fade4fd3195c | ['Surajmurali Webi'] | 2020-12-10 05:18:26.287000+00:00 | ['Ppc Agency', 'Digital Marketing', 'PPC', 'Ppc Services', 'PPC Marketing'] |
3 essentials to acing a group discussion | 3 Essentials to acing a group discussion
I recently graduated with a masters in business administration (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, India. Business schools in India thrive on a strong culture of debate and discussions. Group discussions form a part of nearly every process, right from clubs and committee selections to student placements.
Being a part of the society which organised the Annual Festival at IIM Lucknow, group discussions were the only solutions to better decision making.
And often I found myself stuck in situations where the want for every member to put across his/her point led to prolonged debates and half baked conclusions.
2 years of incessant debates around every possible problem the society faced did make each and every one of us a bit wiser on how to effectively participate and contribute to a group discussion.
Here are my 3 essential learnings:
Its not always necessary to start!
Bust the belief that putting across your point as the first is the best way to make it reach every ear.
While addressing an audience even as small as a group of 12, it is imperative that you structure your thoughts, establish a coherence in their flow , and end it with the “crux” of what you wanted to convey.
2. Never break the flow
We all have that one moment in any problem-solving discussion when the solution strikes to us and you instantly experience a eureka feeling along with a strong urge to blurt it out. Should you ?
No ! park that solution aside for the right time.
If you interrupt in between it has 2 disadvantages.
Your solution might be wrong. It will be rejected by the group and moreover people will be disappointed with your eagerness to break the flow of the discussion. Even if the solution is right, you are still breaking the flow and clouding others thoughts . Better solutions which could have been reached are now out of the picture.
Wait for the right time and context, then strike!
3. Criticism is the key to success
Criticism is the most important key for making any discussion worth-wile. It helps in 3 ways:
a. Creates an atmosphere where in one thinks before speaking.
b. Defenses of criticism help you tackle contingencies which might actually arise.
c. Filters out garbage ideas and makes the group reach the solution early.
Happy discussing ! | https://medium.com/@siddygupta.92/3-essentials-to-acing-a-group-discussion-a5816fb381a0 | ['Siddharth Gupta'] | 2020-02-29 13:46:13.728000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Public Speaking', 'Self-awareness', 'Daily Thoughts'] |
Can Trump Get Justice in Pennsylvania? | In May this year a group called the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans filed a lawsuit that would force the state to expand the use of mail-in ballots and allow vote counting well beyond election day.
(Lawsuits like this were being filed across America earlier this year and they played a big part in the election day chaos that’s still with us today.)
One of the lawyers for the Pennsylvania Alliance of Retired Americans in that lawsuit was Adam Bonin.
I had seen that name before. Bonin is also the lawyer for the Democrat party as it fights lawsuits filed by President Trump.
He also used to chair the board at Netroots Nation, a prominent group of leftwing activitsts, and he’s a contributing writer at DailyKos.
Okay, no surprise there. Leftwing groups and political parties like to hire leftwing lawyers.
But it turns out that Bonin does a lot more than argue cases for the Democrat party and write for DailyKos.
Remember that election in 2015 for Pennsylvania’s supreme court?
When the Soros-funded Democracy Alliance funneled all that money into the campaigns of the three progressive judges, they used a local group called PA Alliance.
Guess whose name appears on the paperwork that founded PA Alliance.
Yep, Adam Bonin. His office was also the group’s first address.
So Bonin isn’t just representing the Democrat party and its affiliated groups in lawsuits to weaken Pennsylvania’s election laws, he also seems to be behind the election of some of the state’s most powerful judges.
And it goes beyond PA Alliance.
All three progressive judges elected to the supreme court in 2015 also received money from a group called Fairness PA.
Who was the treasurer of Fairness PA at the time?
Bonin again. | https://medium.com/@murphyfowles/can-trump-get-justice-in-pennsylvania-b6f43334f895 | ['Murphy Fowles'] | 2020-12-01 04:04:30.176000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Democratic Party', 'Politics', 'Trump', 'Us Politics News'] |
Zebpay crypto exchange is shutting down and Bitbns is here for the rescue! | Zebpay crypto exchange is shutting down and Bitbns is here for the rescue! Bitbns Follow Sep 28, 2018 · 2 min read
Today is a bad day for the Indian crypto industry and traders across India, as Zebpay, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in India, is shutting down its exchange business. From now on, Zebpay will offer its wallet service only.
We at Bitbns, understand the plight of hundreds of thousands of cryptocurrency holders and traders in this unfortunate hour, and that is why we are here to help Zebpay users migrate their funds to Bitbns.
Special Offer:
All the fee collected on crypto withdrawals from Zebpay will be waived off by Bitbns for selected tokens. Offer lasts indefinitely.
Note:
To receive the withdrawal fee refund, users must keep the entire migrated amount in Bitbns wallet for at least a week, or engage it in trading activities on Bitbns.
This is applicable for all deposits post 3 PM, effective from 28th September 2018 on each coin we support
To claim the withdrawal fee refund, post the screenshot of the transaction and write the Transaction ID (also called Hash ID) in the post description, along with this mandatory hash tag #MigrateToBitbns
How to Migrate
So, let us say you want to migrate your BTC funds from Zebpay to Bitbns. Follow these simple steps to complete the transfer:
Part 1 — What users need to do on Bitbns
- Login to your Bitbns account (Register if you haven’t yet).
- Go to ‘Wallets’ and click ‘All wallets’.
- Find BTC among the list of tokens and click the ‘Receive’ icon placed slightly on the right.
- A 34-character long wallet address will now be displayed. Click ‘Copy Address’ to copy the wallet address.
Part 2 — What users need to do on Zebpay
- Now login to your Zebpay account.
- Click ‘Send.
- Then, click on the blue-colored Bitcoin icon on the bottom right corner.
- Fill in your name and paste the Bitbns wallet address that you copied. Then click ‘Save’.
- Click ‘Send all’ to send the entire BTC amount, or enter the amount you want to send.
- Then click on the ‘Send’ icon on the bottom right corner.
- Check your wallet balance on Bitbns for confirmation.
That’s it folks! You have successfully migrated your funds from Zebpay to Bitbns. You can now resume your trading activities on Bitbns.
Check our video on Future of Crypto trading in India: | https://medium.com/bitbns/zebpay-crypto-exchange-is-shutting-down-and-bitbns-is-here-for-the-rescue-b5a01a519a97 | [] | 2018-09-28 14:45:58.838000+00:00 | ['Trading', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Win', 'Bitcoin', 'Blockchain'] |
CEZO (BEP-20 token) pancakeswap.finance listing | We are excited to announce that CEZO (Binance Smart Chain) is listed on pancakeswap.finance. We will soon announce additional exchange listings on centralized exchanges.
CEZO Token Details:
Name: bCEZO
Ticker: CEZ
Official Contract Address (BEP-20): 0xe03d5573f0c7fe0751ae94d6c65f24b35f7f2e6b
Website: https://cezo.io
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cezo_io
Telegram: https://t.me/cezo_io | https://medium.com/@cezo_io/cezo-bep-20-token-pancakeswap-finance-listing-398a8b14ddc1 | [] | 2020-12-25 10:18:32.611000+00:00 | ['Cezo', 'Uniswap', 'Pancakeswap', 'Binance Smart Chain', 'Dapps'] |
Amerika’da Freelance Ailesi Kuruyoruz | Get this newsletter By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Check your inbox
Medium sent you an email at to complete your subscription. | https://medium.com/t%C3%BCrkiye/amerikada-freelance-ailesi-kuruyoruz-fac78e9bf6c | ['Mustafa Gerdan'] | 2020-01-13 14:05:36.812000+00:00 | ['Freelancing', 'Türkçe', 'Wolony', 'Aile', 'Amerika'] |
Case Study for Financial Freedom App by IndianMoney.com | Problem Statement
Barring the pandemic, in today’s thriving market for increased job opportunities and raising applicants for higher education, people are able to afford better lifestyles than a decade before. Leveraging easy access to resources and better financial income, salaried personnel are found accustomed to the system of credit schemes, loans and often end up with no savings or investments at the end of every month. This is due to lack of awareness of financial education and management. To fill this gap of lack of awareness, the financial freedom app was created to reach anyone, anywhere at anytime, just at the tip of their fingers.
User Problems
Learn financial management.
Learn about stock market and mutual fund.
Avoid taking loans for higher interests.
End up investing in bad SIP and stock market.
Want to start a Business but no clarity on how and what to start.
Quit 9–6 job and start own business.
Need to escape from credit card trap.
How to achieve Financial Freedom?
The “Solution” for this
“Financial Freedom App” allows the users to learn Finance Literacy and solutions to all their related queries, we IndianMoney.com bring you the Financial Freedom App.
How will the Financial Freedom App solve your problems
Livelihood courses from real time mentors.
Farming related courses.
Learn how to invest wisely.
Learn money from the expert C S Sudheer.
Learn about how to start your own business.
Learn to hustle.
Learn how to make 7 ways of income.
How to increase money value of time.
Achieve Financial freedom.
Helps you achieve your goals and reach your Dreams.
My Role
UI and UX Designer
As a UX & UI Designer, my role was to design a solution for the end users. Before delivering the same, my primary role was to validate the problem statement and the solution. “Do people really have problem with financial education, investments and other financial problems” or “Do people want the mentioned solutions” ??
Design Strategy
My first step was to identify and list down the factors which will help me to create a better solution
01. Intention
Target all the citizens of India who needs Financial Education and start their own Business.
Financial literacy rate as per 2020 is 37% on average in India, these are seeking to save and invest more. Remaining 67% can be set as our targeted audience.
Provide our courses to schools and collages.
02. Targeted Audience
Targeted Age Group
Age Group of people from 18 years onward.
Who need help with Financial Education.
One who is looking for Financial Freedom.
Looking forward to start his own business.
03. Technology Constrains
Internet and Mobile
04. Cross Channels
Android and IoS
05.Business view & Stakeholders perspective
Designing a solution which even helps generate revenue to always keep on the help
User Research
The 6D Process
The 6D Process
#1 Discover
User Research
Qualitative and Quantitative
User research (Qualitative and Quantitative) to validate the ideas, Business Model and Targeted Audience.
Qualitative and Quantitative
#2 Define
User Profile
Based on Research, i have created a user persona and develop empathy map with the potential user.
To describe the targeted audience on my research and characteristics, I have created user profiles. The elements i have included in my profiles are User info, and Task profiles.
Top 3 User profiles from 30 profiles
User Persona
To clarify my thought process and for not building a biased solution, creating user persona had guided me to make better design decisions.
User Persona
Empathy Mapping
To get into users’ shoes, my target was to visualize how user thinks, what they see, what they hear and the things they will say or will do are on a given scenario.
Empathy map helped me know more to know about users. Especially their pain and gain points
Empathy Mapping
Gain and Pain points
Pain and Gain Points
#3 Dream
Story Board
In Empathy map I have defined my users. Now I have to form an idea from an idea on how our product/app will help our targeted audience.
Scenario
Scenarios helped me to understand how our users will interact with the product and how it will help them.
Rahul and Sachin just got graduated as Engineers this year and both of them are not interested in doing a 9–6 corporate job. Both of them are interested in starting their own business in their home town. As both Rahul and Sachin start their research on what is a good idea to start a business, Rahul comes across the Financial Freedom App on the internet and downloads it. As he starts his journey with the Financial freedom App he watches the intro video from the Financial Expert C S Sudheer. Rahul gets pumped up and starts watching all the courses. Later that day, he calls Sachin and informs him about the Financial freedom App and asks him to watch the courses available on the financial Freedom App. Both of them finish watching all the courses. As Sachin’s father had few acres of farm, he gets inspired with the farming course and starts his own Goat farming and Beekeeping business. But, Rahul gets inspired from other course and starts his own super market in his area. Both friends were really happy and satisfied with buying the App’s subscription which helped them to start their business from scratch.
Story Board
Based on the scenario, i have created a graphic illustration on paper
Story Board Sketches
#4 Design
User Flow
In this phase, I have designed a structure solution for “my users” and not for me.
I have created user flow to visualize the complete journey that the user follows throughout the whole solutions. Target was to figure out an easy journey for my users as I don’t wish them to get stuck or feel lost while completing the tasks like Payment
User Flow- Subscribed and Non subscribed Users
Well, the use flow remains same for both subscribed and non subscribed users, just the access for some content will not be provided.
User Flow
Wire frames
Only main screens have been displayed, there are about 50+ screens overall
With the Launch of New Design there was a rapid growth with the downloads of The Financial Freedom App.
Download Growth
#4 Design
UI Designing (Screens)
UI Design Strategies,choosing fonts, color scheme and Icons for the UI
Based on the user research conducted as well as the brand & Design styles, Wire frames interface below represents the outcome of the design ideas and decisions.
Here are some important screens of the Financial freedom App. Overall there are over 50 Screens
Walk through Screens
Splash Screen to Intro Video
Other Screens
Includes - Home screen(My page), All Courses, Get Advice, Course List Screen, Schedule a Call.
Dashboard Screens (Bottom Navigation Bar)
Refer and Earn
Popup, Take a Tour and On Screen Guidance
The Purpose of Creating Financial Freedom App is to make Our Country (India)citizens Financial Literate and | https://medium.com/fizday/case-study-for-financial-freedom-app-by-indianmoney-com-b0a295b8c416 | ['Chinmay G Puranik'] | 2020-11-24 11:07:03.203000+00:00 | ['Case Study', 'UX Design', 'Financial Freedom', 'Education', 'Finance'] |
Public Improvements Committee receives update on recycling pilot program | New recycling bin for pilot program, City Haul
On Tuesday, the Birmingham City Council’s Public Improvements Committee received an update on the City’s proposed recycling pilot program, City Haul.
The target launch date for the recycling program is April 1, 2020 and will service five neighborhoods across five districts — Roebuck, Forest Park, Crestwood South, East Avondale and Woodland Park. The pilot program will last six months and will feature 2,800 96-gallon refuse bins and 2,800 64-gallon recycle bins that will be distributed to the households within the footprint of the pilot boundaries.
Instead of having trash picked up twice a week, households within the new boundary will have trash and recycling pickup service once a week. However, the larger bins will allow for more trash and recycling to be placed in the secure containers that will prevent animals and inclement weather conditions from spilling their contents.
As it stands, less than 1% of trash that is thrown away in Birmingham is recycled. The goal of this new program is to have 25% or more recycled in the next 10 years. The initial cost of the program will be $247,000 for the purchase of the bins, which will be equipped with GPS chips to monitor their location and prevent theft.
Councilor Crystal Smitherman has been a champion for recycling efforts since taking office in 2019. She believes a major component of the new recycling program has to center around educating the public.
“The biggest thing should be the education piece because a lot of people need to know how to recycle,” Smitherman said. “There are certain things you can recycle. I just heard from a lady that said ‘I really want to recycle but I don’t know what I should recycle and what I should throw away.’ Anybody can still recycle, but this pilot will be for certain streets because of the routes and based on the budget we have…We can actually make money from recycling as well.”
There will be details of what can and cannot be recycled on the new bins that are distributed. The households that fall outside the pilot boundaries will not be impacted and trash and recycling pickup will continue without interruption.
The item dealing with the funding for the new recycling program is expected to come before the Budget and Finance Committee on Monday. | https://medium.com/@bhamcitycouncil/public-improvements-committee-receives-update-on-recycling-pilot-program-c077cf9922ea | ['Birmingham City Council'] | 2020-02-07 17:19:04.704000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Recycling'] |
Puro Sound Labs PuroPro headphone review: Comfortable, superb noise cancellation, safety from hearing damage | I’ve long advocated for protecting your hearing by limiting the levels you listen to. Long-term exposure to high sound pressure levels leads to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), which can greatly reduce your sensitivity to high frequencies and midrange frequencies that are fundamental to understanding speech. Another potential symptom is the constant annoyance of tinnitus (aka ringing in the ears), which can become permanent—and there’s no cure.
Puro Sound Labs addressed this concern with its PuroQuiet headphone, reviewed here, which is designed for children and limits its output level to protect them from NIHL. Now, the company has introduced an adult version of the same idea. The PuroPro purports to limit the sound pressure level reaching your ears while providing hybrid active noise cancellation, Bluetooth connection to your source device, and excellent sound quality. It’s remarkably successful in achieving these goals, with one minor caveat.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best headphones, where you’ll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.FeaturesThe PuroPro is a lightweight, over-ear headphone made mostly of plastic with protein-leather-clad earpads and adjustable headband. The earcups fold into a compact form that fits in the included travel case.
Puro Sound Labs The PuroPro folds into a compact shape that fits in the small included carrying case.
Interestingly, the PuroPro is shipped in a wood box. The wood is very light; it reminds me of the balsa wood used in the model airplanes I used to build as a kid. The company touts its “environmentally friendly packaging,” but I’m not sure how environmentally friendly this wood is compared with cardboard.
Mentioned in this article Puro Sound Labs PuroQuiet ANC headphones Read TechHive's reviewMSRP $199.99See it Each earcup houses a 40mm full-range, custom-designed dynamic driver with a frequency response specified to extend from 20Hz to 20kHz with less than 1% THD. The rated power delivered to the drivers is 10mW, and the wired connection has an input impedance of 32 ohms. The company touts its Puro Balanced Response Curve (see Fig. 1), which is said to deliver clear, crisp vocals and full, dynamic bass within the volume limit imposed by the headphone.
Puro Sound Labs The Puro Balanced Response Curve is based on Sean Olive's work at Harman investigating how to simulate the sound of speakers in a well-treated listening room on headphones.
Speaking of which, the PuroPro limits the sound pressure level of its output to help avoid—or at least reduce—noise-induced hearing loss. Unlike the PuroQuiet, you can select one of two limits: 85 or 95 dB SPL. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) specifies that workers can be exposed to an average of 85 dB SPL during an eight-hour day, while 95 dB SPL is safe for only 50 minutes. I guess Puro Sound Labs figured that adults can be responsible for time-limiting their exposure at 95 dB SPL, but I suspect that plenty of young adults will not heed that limit.
As with many wireless headphones, the PuroPro offers hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC) with four microphones (two per earcup) that pick up ambient sounds. The headphone’s DSP inverts the phase of those sounds and adds that signal to the original sounds, reducing the overall level thanks to phase cancellation. Interestingly, the PuroPro offers two levels of ANC: 32 and 15 dB. The word “hybrid” refers to the passive attenuation offered by the circumaural earcups.
Puro Sound Labs The PuroPro has several cool features.
Bluetooth 5.0 provides a wireless connection, and the PuroPro supports the high-quality aptX codec. The right earcup provides a 3.5mm analog audio connector for legacy devices, and the headphones come with a cable to connect them. Fortunately, the headphone doesn’t need the power to be on for this type of connection.
[ Further reading: The best high-res digital audio players ]On a full charge, the 750mAh lithium-ion battery can power the PuroPro for up to 32 hours with Bluetooth on or 28 hours with Bluetooth and ANC on. It takes about two hours to charge the battery from an empty state by connecting it to a 5V/1A power source using the micro-USB port at the bottom of the left earcup.
If you pair the PuroPro to a smartphone, it can be used to answer calls and issue voice commands. A single, separate microphone picks up your voice for these functions.
Puro Sound Labs There’s a lot of tech in each earcup.
User interfaceThe user interface is very simple. It consists of four buttons on the bottom of the right earcup. A power on/off button, which doubles as a music play/pause control and voice assistant activator, is located directly behind the 3.5mm audio connector. The ANC button is just in front of that connector. Pressing that button toggles between ANC off and 35 dB or 15 dB of attenuation, dubbed “ANC 1” and “ANC 2.”
An elongated rocker behind the power button adjusts the volume up and down, and pressing both ends together toggles between the 85 dB and 95 dB volume limit. Holding the “+” or “-“ end of the rocker skips to the next or previous track.
A tiny LED next to the micro USB port indicates charging status, while another tiny LED next to the 3.5mm audio connector indicates power and Bluetooth status. The ANC button has an embedded LED that indicates whether ANC is on or off.
When you operate these functions, you get an audible vocal confirmation, such as “Power on,” “Power off,” “ANC 1,” “ANC 2,” “ANC off,” “85 decibel max,” “95 decibel max.” When you power on the headphone, it also tells you the battery and Bluetooth-connection status. I like this much better than sequences of musical notes, which some products use.
Puro Sound Labs The controls and audio connection are located at the bottom of the right earcup. They include (L-R): volume up/down rocker (also toggles between limiter settings and skips tracks), power on/off (also play/pause and invoke voice control on connected device), 3.5 mm analog-audio input, and ANC (ANC 1, ANC 2, off).
PerformanceWhen I first put the PuroPro on my head, it felt exceedingly comfortable—earpads large enough for my big ears, lightweight, and low clamping pressure from the headband. As usual, I played tracks via Bluetooth from the Tidal Master library of high-res audio files using my iPhone XS.
First up was “In My Bones” from Jacob Collier’s fourth album Djesse Vol. 3. This is a super-funky, pop-infused track that really gets down. On the PuroPro, the sound was slightly veiled, especially in the bass. I listened with the limiter set to 85 and 95 dB, and found that the 95 dB setting was quite a bit louder and somewhat less veiled, though still not crystal clear.
I also tried the ANC settings (32 dB, 15 dB, Off) and listened for any differences in sound quality. (I’ll discuss how effectively ANC cancels noise in the next section.) Happily, the tonal balance and volume didn’t change much at all from one setting to the next, but turning ANC on did increase the veiled quality. I ended up preferring the 95 dB limit setting with ANC off.
“Judas” from Emily’s D+Evolution by Esperanza Spaulding has lots of deep bass—she’s a bass player, after all—and I heard the same slightly veiled sound, especially in the bass. But her voice sounded quite natural and smooth.
Speaking of vocals, Sam Smith sounds fantastic on “Young” from his album Love Goes. This is a beautiful a cappella track in which the lead is completely natural, while the background chorus is highly processed, creating a very interesting effect. On the PuroPro, the sound was still slightly veiled but very smooth, which works well on this track.
Puro Sound Labs The Puro Pro are very comfortable to wear.
I was a big fan of Yes in my college days; I heard them live on more than one occasion. So, when I found a new Yes album, The Royal Affair Tour (Live From Las Vegas), I listened to the classic “Roundabout.” Sadly, the playing is not as precise as in earlier days, and the mix is a bit strange with more rhythm guitar than I would have used. On the PuroPro, the sound was silky smooth but still a bit veiled.
For some solo piano, I played “Part XI” from Keith Jarrett’s Budapest Concert. This gorgeous composition sounded smooth on the PuroPro, though not as transparent as I would like.
The same was true of full orchestral music. I listened to the first movement of Franz Schmidt’s Symphony No. 2 as recorded by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under the direction of Paavo Järvi on the album Franz Schmidt: Complete Symphonies. Schmidt is a woefully underappreciated late-romantic/early-modern composer, and his second symphony is a joy to listen to. As I had come to expect, the PuroPro sounded smooth but slightly veiled, and the low end was a bit congested. The orchestral sections were not particularly well-defined and sounded a bit smushed together.
ANC and volume limitingTo test the PuroPro’s noise cancellation, I took it out to my garage and ran the clothes dryer, which makes a nice broadband, steady-state noise. With ANC off, I was amazed at how well the passive isolation of the earpads blocked the noise, especially high frequencies. Turning ANC on to its high setting (ANC 1, 32 dB attenuation) dramatically reduced low and mid frequencies. The low setting (ANC 2, 15 dB) was also very effective, though I could hear more midrange frequencies. Still, it was much better than with ANC off.
As I mentioned earlier, setting the volume limiter to 95 dB resulted in a significantly higher level than the 85 dB setting. So, I pulled out my calibrated measurement microphone (an iTestMic), which is designed to work with the AudioTools iOS app from Studio Six Digital.
Puro Sound Labs The brand might be unfamiliar, but these are quality cans for the price.
I used the SPL Graph module within AudioTools on my iPhone XS. The module measures SPL over time and provides various metrics, including Leq (average RMS level over the entire length of the measurement) and Lmax (maximum 1-second RMS level during the measurement).
For this measurement, I played “White Room,” by Cream, from an iPad. I cranked the volume to maximum and played the tune twice—once with the limiter set to 85 dB and again with the limiter set to 95 dB—while pointing the microphone directly into the center of the right earcup. The mic has a windscreen, so I let it rest on the inner surface of the earcup.
At the 85 dB setting, Leq was 73.3 dBA (A-weighted), and Lmax was 85.6 dBZ (flat). That’s barely above the 85 dB limit, and only momentarily. At the 95 dB setting, Leq was 82.5 dBA, and Lmax was 91.4 dBZ—a significant increase from the 85 dB setting, but it did not reach or exceed the 95 dB limit.
Comparison with the Cleer Flow IIThese days, my reference for Bluetooth ANC headphones is the Cleer Flow II, reviewed here. And at $179.99, it’s in the same price ballpark as the PuroPro, so I listened to each of the tracks listed earlier on both headphones.
From the first note to the last, the Flow II sounded clean, clear, and open with no hint of the slightly veiled quality I heard consistently from the PuroPro. On the orchestral track, the sections were more distinct and the loud brass section was more sparkling. The only negative I heard was a slightly harsh, strident quality on the Keith Jarrett solo piano track.
In terms of comfort, the PuroPro is the clear winner. The Flow II is heavier, its earcups are smaller, and its clamping pressure is greater. On the other hand, the Flow II seems quite a bit more substantial, leading to its extra weight.
I also compared the noise cancellation of the two headphones. The Flow II has no passive isolation; in fact, when its ANC is off, it pipes ambient sound into the headphone to make sure you hear the surrounding environment—a great safety feature if you’re wearing them while you’re out walking around. With ANC on, the Flow II is about as effective as the PuroPro’s ANC 2 setting, which is to say it’s not quite as good as the PuroPro’s ANC 1 setting, but still very good.
Bottom lineThe Puro Sound Labs PuroPro has a lot going for it. It’s supremely comfortable, and its hybrid noise cancelling is top-notch. I applaud the company for being concerned about noise-induced hearing loss and doing something about it by limiting the headphone’s output level. Increasing the level at the higher limit setting, however, is a strange choice IMO.
The sound quality is not bad by any means—it’s silky smooth, and vocals sound entirely natural. But it’s also consistently a bit veiled, especially in the low end, which leads to a slightly congested presentation.
By comparison, the similarly priced Cleer Flow II lives up to the company’s cleverly misspelled name—clear, clean, and open. And it feels more substantial, though that translates to being heavier. On the downside, it’s less comfortable than the PuroPro, with smaller earpads and greater clamping pressure. That’s not to say it’s terribly uncomfortable, just less comfortable, especially over long durations.
At $149.99, the PuroPro is quite affordable. If you place a high value on comfort, noise cancellation, and protecting your hearing, and you can tolerate slightly less-than-crystal-clear sound quality, the PuroPro is an excellent choice. On the other hand, if sound quality is paramount, the Cleer Flow II is the better alternative.
Updated shortly after publication to add an illustration of the headphone's response curve, and to add the fact that the headphone supports the aptX codec.
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/@david61997729/puro-sound-labs-puropro-headphone-review-comfortable-superb-noise-cancellation-safety-from-a233b8889b48 | [] | 2020-12-05 06:55:45.085000+00:00 | ['Entertainment', 'Electronics', 'Chargers', 'Consumer'] |
Multinomial Models for Nominal Data | The popular multinomial logistic regression is known as an extension of the binomial logistic regression model, in order to deal with more than two possible discrete outcomes.
However, the multinomial logistic regression is not designed to be a general multi-class classifier but designed specifically for the nominal multinomial data.
To note, nominal data and ordinal data are two major categories of multinomial data. The difference is that there is no order to the categories in nominal multinomial data while there is an order to those in ordinal multinomial data.
For example, if our goal is to distinguish the three classes of plants in the IRIS dataset, we need to treat the plant categories as a nominal outcome because there is no specific order in the classes of plants. However, if we want to predict the score at the end of the first half in an NBA final into three categories, “winning”, “losing”, or “tie”, we need to regard it as an ordinal outcome because the pairwise distances are not the same among the three classes.
Example of (a) nominal data and (b) ordinal data
Therefore, it’s necessary to figure out what the type of outcome is before the multinomial modeling.
In this post, I am going to briefly talk about the multinomial regression models for the nominal data. I hope it will help you in your real-life work.
The multinomial logistic regression model
As aforementioned, the multinomial logistic regression was specifically designed for the nominal data. The idea is very similar to that of logistic regression on the binary data, which is to link the probability of belonging to one of the categories to the predictors.
For those who struggle to understand the link functions, you can refer to one of my previous posts about it.
Let Yi be a random variable that can fall in one of the classes, 1, 2, …, J. And we define pij as the ith variable to be in the jth class.
so, we have
the formula above is for the general case, so when J=2, it becomes the case with binary data.
If we have the total number of observations as ni, then the multinomial distribution could be described as below.
In the multinomial logistic regression, the link function is defined as
where
In this way, we link the log odds ratio between the probability to be in class J and that to be in class 1 to the linear combination of the predictors. Now let’s take a look at the real data and coding of the multinomial logistic regression.
The example is from Faraway’s book, which describes the 1996 American National Election Study. The response variable involves three categories, Democrat, Republican, and Independent. The predictors include age, education level, and income group of the respondents.
# R code
> head(nes96)
## popul TVnews selfLR ClinLR DoleLR PID age educ income vote
## 1 0 7 extCon extLib Con strRep 36 HS $3Kminus Dole
## 2 190 1 sliLib sliLib sliCon weakDem 20 Coll $3Kminus Clinton
## 3 31 7 Lib Lib Con weakDem 24 BAdeg $3Kminus Clinton
## 4 83 4 sliLib Mod sliCon weakDem 28 BAdeg $3Kminus Clinton
## 5 640 7 sliCon Con Mod strDem 68 BAdeg $3Kminus Clinton
## 6 110 3 sliLib Mod Con weakDem 21 Coll $3Kminus Clinton
After some pre-processing of the dataset, we build the multinomial logistic regression in R as below.
# R code library(nnet)
mulmod = multinom(sPID ~ age + educ + nincome, nes96)
where “sPID” is the response variable, “age”, “educ”, and “nincome” corresponds to the age, the education level, and the income of the respondents, respectively. And nes96 is just the dataset name.
We then check the summary of the fitted model.
# R code summary(mulmod)
which yields,
## Call:
## multinom(formula = sPID ~ age + educ + nincome, data = nes96)
##
## Coefficients:
## (Intercept) age educ.L educ.Q educ.C
## Independent -1.197260 0.0001534525 0.06351451 -0.1217038 0.1119542
## Republican -1.642656 0.0081943691 1.19413345 -1.2292869 0.1544575
## educ^4 educ^5 educ^6 nincome
## Independent -0.07657336 0.1360851 0.15427826 0.01623911
## Republican -0.02827297 -0.1221176 -0.03741389 0.01724679
##
## Std. Errors:
## (Intercept) age educ.L educ.Q educ.C educ^4
## Independent 0.3265951 0.005374592 0.4571884 0.4142859 0.3498491 0.2883031
## Republican 0.3312877 0.004902668 0.6502670 0.6041924 0.4866432 0.3605620
## educ^5 educ^6 nincome
## Independent 0.2494706 0.2171578 0.003108585
## Republican 0.2696036 0.2031859 0.002881745
##
## Residual Deviance: 1968.333
## AIC: 2004.333
The estimated coefficients, as well as the standard errors, are reported by the model summary. The output is a little different from those in the linear models.
Only the statistics of “Independent” and “Republican” are listed in the summary because here “Democrat” is used as the baseline category and the regression is modeling the log odds ratio against this baseline category.
You may notice that there is no indicator to show the significance of the predictors in the model. We can evaluate them in two ways.
First, we can use the popular Z-score to evaluate the significance of the preditors.
# R code
z = summary(mulmod)$coefficients/summary(mulmod)$standard.errors
p = (1 - pnorm(abs(z), 0, 1))*2
This procedure is easy to implement because it has a simplified assumption of the normal distribution which holds for a rough estimation. Let’s look at the p-values.
## (Intercept) age educ.L educ.Q educ.C educ^4
## Independent 2.464850e-04 0.97722232 0.88951010 0.76893540 0.7489628 0.7905471
## Republican 7.107723e-07 0.09464069 0.06630235 0.04189165 0.7509449 0.9374990
## educ^5 educ^6 nincome
## Independent 0.5854128 0.4774294 1.751402e-07
## Republican 0.6505832 0.8539066 2.165977e-09
It seems that income is a strong preditor with no doubt, but not all the education variables are listed as significant. This is also a shortcoming of using Z-distribution to evaluate the coefficients, which makes it hard to interpret.
A more precise way is to build a new model with a reduced number of predictors and then check the change in the likelihood. First, let’s build the model without variable education.
# R code
mulmod_noedu = multinom(sPID ~ age + nincome, nes96)
Then we use a chi-squared distribution to evaluate the change in likelihood between the two multinomial models. The p-value could be calculated as below.
# R code
pchisq(deviance(mulmod_noedu)-deviance(mulmod),mulmod$edf - mulmod_noedu$edf, lower.tail = F)
which yields,
0.1819634
which indicates that the variable ‘education’ is not significant relative to the full model. If we do the same thing to the variable ‘income’, we will get the following result.
# R code
mulmod_noinc = multinom(sPID ~ age + educ, nes96)
pchisq(deviance(mulmod_noinc)-deviance(mulmod),mulmod$edf - mulmod_noinc$edf, lower.tail = F)
which yields,
1.267249e-10
These results indicate that “income” is a significant predictor in the full model.
The interpretation of the coefficient should be such: one unit change in some predictor will result in k unit change in the log odds ratio between the target category to the baseline category (“Democrat” in this example). I will not explore the details of this part.
Hierarchical or non-hierarchical?
Another very important check on the response variable before the multinomial modeling is whether the response outcome is hierarchical.
Let’s look at an example of the central nervous system disease data from Faraway’s book.
data(cns)
head(cns)
yields,
## Area NoCNS An Sp Other Water Work
## 1 Cardiff 4091 5 9 5 110 NonManual
## 2 Newport 1515 1 7 0 100 NonManual
## 3 Swansea 2394 9 5 0 95 NonManual
## 4 GlamorganE 3163 9 14 3 42 NonManual
## 5 GlamorganW 1979 5 10 1 39 NonManual
## 6 GlamorganC 4838 11 12 2 161 NonManual
Here, “NoCNS” means no central nervous system disease, “An” means anencephalus, “Sp” means spina bifida, and “Other” means other types of CNS. “Area”, “Water” and “Work” describe the features of the families.
If we want to model the CNS status using the features of the families, we can simply implement the multinomial logistic regression on the four categories.
However, we can see that “An”, “Sp” and “Other” are just subtypes of CNS and the response variable is dominated by healthy individuals (NoCNS). In such a situation, we’d better treat the response variables as hierarchical variables, where “CNS” and “NoCNS” form a binomial distribution and “An”, “Sp”, and “Other” form a multinomial distribution within the “CNS” category.
Let’s compare the codes and results.
Let’s first establish a binomial logistic regression between the “CNS” and “NoCNS”.
# R code
cns$CNS = cns$An + cns$Sp + cns$Other
binom_mod = glm(cbind(CNS,NoCNS) ~ Water + Work, cns, family=binomial)
summary(binom_mod)
which yields,
##
## Call:
## glm(formula = cbind(CNS, NoCNS) ~ Water + Work, family = binomial,
## data = cns)
##
## Deviance Residuals:
## Min 1Q Median 3Q Max
## -2.65570 -0.30179 -0.03131 0.57213 1.32998
##
## Coefficients:
## Estimate Std. Error z value Pr(>|z|)
## (Intercept) -4.4325803 0.0897889 -49.367 < 2e-16 ***
## Water -0.0032644 0.0009684 -3.371 0.000749 ***
## WorkNonManual -0.3390577 0.0970943 -3.492 0.000479 ***
## ---
## Signif. codes: 0 '***' 0.001 '**' 0.01 '*' 0.05 '.' 0.1 ' ' 1
##
## (Dispersion parameter for binomial family taken to be 1)
##
## Null deviance: 41.047 on 15 degrees of freedom
## Residual deviance: 12.363 on 13 degrees of freedom
## AIC: 102.49
##
## Number of Fisher Scoring iterations: 4
We can find that both “Water” and “WorkNonManual” are significant variables in predicting CNS or not.
Then, we perform the multinomial logistic regression on the subtypes of CNS.
# R code
cns_mod = multinom(cbind(An,Sp,Other) ~ Water + Work, cns)
z = summary(cns_mod)$coefficients/summary(cns_mod)$standard.errors
p= (1 - pnorm(abs(z), 0, 1))*2
p
which yields,
## (Intercept) Water WorkNonManual
## Sp 4.833577e-02 0.5234640 0.5791105
## Other 5.935107e-05 0.4511663 0.4052210
We can see that neither “Water” nor “WorkNonManual” is significant to distinguish different subtypes of CNS.
These results suggest that water quality and manual work do have an influence on the new births’ CNS condition, but neither of them explains the subtypes of the CNS.
However, if we throw everything to a four-category full model, the results are different.
# R code
full_mod = multinom(cbind(NoCNS, An, Sp, Other) ~ Water + Work, cns)
z = summary(full_mod)$coefficients/summary(full_mod)$standard.errors
p= (1 - pnorm(abs(z), 0, 1))*2
p
which shows,
## (Intercept) Water WorkNonManual
## An 0 0.066695285 0.02338312
## Sp 0 0.001835095 0.07077816
## Other 0 0.840643368 0.02348335
This time the predictors show some mixed results in interpreting the subtype of CNSs with different p-values. The fact that subtypes of CNS cannot be predicted by the two variables is not disclosed in the full model.
Takeaways
In summary, I introduced the multinomial regression model and its application situations. The most important point is to check the response variables before the modeling.
The multinomial logistic regression can only be applied to the nominal data instead of the ordinal data. The response variables with potential hierarchical structures should be treated carefully. Pooling everything together to a full model is not optimal sometimes.
References
Faraway, Julian J. Extending the linear model with R: generalized linear, mixed effects and nonparametric regression models. CRC press, 2016.
https://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml/datasets/iris | https://towardsdatascience.com/multinomial-models-for-nominal-data-8b7467201ca9 | [] | 2020-10-12 18:07:18.123000+00:00 | ['Logistic Regression', 'Multinomial', 'Regression', 'Data Science', 'R'] |
AI in Supply Chain management | AI technology is critical in almost every industry, especially when business operators have good plans and when they have the effective strategies as a fundamental structure to run its business, such as; Supply Chain management.
Supply chain comprises of steps starting from raw material acquisition, raw material storage, production planning, goods and products to storage and logistics.
I believe all business owners bring the best intentions on every step of work and execute the best plan to its business. However, AI seems to have something to offer virtually for every step of the working process in each business.
Photo from: Unsplash
When we have a sufficient amount of data collected (should be collected at least for 2–3 years) along with expertise and experienced professionals in a company, AI technology will help increase accuracy of work and effectively drive operational performance in a company.
Demand Forecasting
AI technology has the ability to help humans forecast future scenarios such as customers demand, upcoming sales, trends and can predict the deterioration of the machine in a factory (the accuracy degree of prediction result is 5–10% accuracy increased when using more data).
The accuracy of forecasting will help the business to manage and prepare its product or service more efficiently, and will increase sales, while decreasing the budget, stock, space, waste, and time that will occur.
Production Planning
Manufacturing or production process normally uses up to 3 days to analyze and summarize data information in a factory in order to plan ahead with other teams with the upcoming production for the following month or week which it will take up more time to manage and solve the problem.
Unexpected problems may occur in any time, such as; product order changes, machine breakdown, delivery accidents, or shortage of staff.
The technology for this can make everything better, work can be done within 10 minutes with a high level of accuracy, as well as providing suggestions and back-up plans to cope with the same scenarios.
Logistic / Distribution Planning
Logistic and distribution in a business has its level of complications, for example, planning of delivery routes to deliver the products to each store by calculating the routing by workers. Nowadays, AI is able to make all the process more efficient for workers to run through the delivering process. The workers will have more time to manage other tasks efficiently as well.
Technology nowadays is becoming increasingly involved in businesses to help optimize the working process and operate businesses in more efficient ways. What’s more, not only automating tasks AI helps in a business but also the work in the whole supply chain. | https://medium.com/@sertiscorp/ai-in-supply-chain-management-9dba731060a3 | [] | 2020-12-30 10:26:52.299000+00:00 | ['Supply Chain', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'AI', 'Future', 'Technology'] |
Geeks on a Train | Geeks on a Train starts today!
This afternoon I’m leaving Dalian, Liaoning, China for a 10-day journey across China’s tech ecosystem with a bunch of awesome startup founders. By train. Because planes and buses are so last year.
With stops scheduled in both Beijing and Shanghai and a number of events on the schedule including tech meetups, company visits, mentor meetings, and a 10x10 mini conference in each city, it’s bound to be a fun — and delightfully chaotic — experience. I’ve really been looking forward to it.
Geeks on a Train (affectionately referred to as “GOAT”) is part of the Dalian-based Chinaccelerator program, which is a Chinese startup accelerator run by program director Cyril Ebersweiler and the good folks at SOS Ventures. I was fortunate enough to meet them through TechStars in 2010 and am really honored that they invited me over to work with some of the young teams that were accepted into the program this year. How could I say no?
Chinaccelerator itself is much like TechStars, but with a brilliant international twist. The startups here aren’t just from China, they’re from all over the world, with founders from Malaysia, Canada, Italy, the Phillipines, India, and England, as well as China and the United States. It’s really fascinating to experience both the similarities and differences of startup life on the other side of the world, but a couple philosophies remain as constants: heartfelt motivation and JFDI are key.
In the two weeks I’ve been here thus far, I’ve seen the founders produce some truly great work and make impressive progress. It’s good stuff. There’s nothing more inspiring than being trapped in a room full of crazy entrepreneurs with wildly different backgrounds who are trying to change the world.
But I can only imagine what it’s going to be like trapped on an overnight train with them :). | https://medium.com/zerosum-dot-org/geeks-on-a-train-c30f751e8bd0 | ['Nick Plante'] | 2017-11-04 17:29:10.212000+00:00 | ['China', 'Startup'] |
Private Tutors: Reasons for a Multibillion Industry | Nerdify team of college tutors and nerds has conducted a research to find out why private tutoring is booming nowadays. When our research Nerds approached experts from industries far from education and explained the topic of this research, they were confused. Colleges and universities are designed to teach students knowledge and skills, and the very idea that many people could pay for additional tutoring seems unnatural for many. Moreover, when our interviewees found out that private tutoring market, according to some estimates, grows 7–9% per year and will reach $128 billion per 2020, some could not find words and ask Nerds “Why?”
Given the hefty price of the education, why students demand private tutoring if they already pay for professional services of college tutors?
Indeed, the motivation for the student to pay for extra education may seem obscure, considering how much is spent for school. For an undergraduate degree, the very minimum tuition fee is ~$4,000 per year in a community college. This applies if you study in your state and choose the cheapest option. Should you add a room, board, and other living expenses, sum increases to $12,000.
However, on average — and the average is what the majority faces — you may expect to pay $9,000 per year for a state public college, and $30,000 for a private non-profit institution. If you are an international student, then your tuition price tag will average $25,620 per year, with room and board on top.
Given the hefty price of the education, why students demand private tutoring so badly if they already pay for professional services of college tutors? Nerdify interviewed tutors, students, and researched literature — the answer was far from expected.
Private Tutor Is a Lifeline Against Expulsion
As we started our research on money, the financial aspect is one we begin with. The fact is — if the student is expelled from the college, her fees are non-refundable. Moreover, if the student also has a student loan, it should be repaid even if she failed to graduate. Therefore, acquiring the help of a professional private tutor, even for a price, may be needed to save the educational investment from poor grades.
While the expulsion due to academic performance in its legal meaning is an uncommon practice in the U.S., universities have found a way around to hold paid fees on their accounts. According to Gene Spafford, the professor at Purdue, in case of poor grades, universities will not drop the student out immediately — instead, they will let a poor student complete a semester. Then, however, the student will not be allowed to take further classes, and fees for a spent semester will not be returned.
It’s quite hard to get back all the tuition fees. Students still need to repay students loans right after ending the education, even if expulsion brought the end.
Even in the case of mid-semester expulsion, it’s quite hard to get paid the money back. Some universities would return fees for unused days only if student utilized less than 60% of course duration. This, however, excludes technology fees and other course-associated payments, which are non-refundable. Student loan borrowers should also be aware that after they end education — either after graduation or expulsion — they must begin the repayment of the debt. According to Federal Student Aid, repayment applies even to those who were under 18 at the beginning of education, and it’s quite hard to receive debt forgiveness. Hence, there is no surprise that students are ready to pay for anyone who can save them from expulsion.
Private tutors help to manage academic underachievement, boost up failing competencies. Also, they bring moral relief to students scared by sudden warning letters.
Richard Byrne, a Business Nerd at Nerdify, who specializes in emergency homework help, says that colleges never care about students who cannot keep the pace until the finals bang on the door.
“When students come to us, they usually have a paper due tomorrow, a couple of failed quizzes and total anxiety and confusion,” he said. “Academic advisors wait the end of the semester to approach with bad news and leave very tight time frames for fixing issues. Students are literally forced to fight for saving their tuition fees, and panic never helps in improvement of grades.”
Byrne says Nerd’s work would be much easier if colleges took better care about appropriately warning about academic performance issues. Right now, new students are usually guided to retrieve all the information on their academic problems first, and then Nerds start helping them to address the most critical tasks. On, online tutoring platform, Nerds often deal with revisions of course papers, help with literature reviews or mentor academic writing.
“Still, if students were warned about their problems in time, they’d have much better experience even on collaboration platform, as well as save quite a lot,” Byrne admits.
Private Tutoring is Money-Time Tradeoff for Working Students
However, only about 24% of private tutors’ clients on Nerdify are students with academic issues — the majority of client approach Nerds long before term exams. A vast share of these prudent students is those who have a job — either part-time or even full-time. Interestingly, the problem is not just in the lack of time.
College students spend 30 hours studying a week. Homework takes 17 hours more. Add the job on the top, and you’ll imagine the hard life of the working students.
According to the study by Association of American Colleges and Universities, full-time college students spend 30 hours studying per week to meet credit requirements — that is similar to four days of 9-to-5 employment. For online students, that is more manageable, but don’t forget about homework. According to Quorans, homework extends time expenses to 65 hours per week, which pretty matches the National Survey of Student Engagement, which says that homework wastes 17 hours on average for college students.
Even 50 hours per week, though, is like a 10-hour job, and the working students bear even more. | https://medium.com/nerdify/private-tutors-reasons-for-a-multibillion-industry-12cebea4248f | [] | 2019-02-01 21:41:01.992000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Education Technology', 'Students', 'Facts', 'College'] |
Let the dead past bury its dead. | It’s time i’m in a storm or maybe about to enter one.
Things been rough for a while now, rough — it’s a good analogous for bad times but not the best to explain all my snowballed emotions in a single word. I remember all those good days in the past few weeks before or even days.
I didn’t put my all in my writings for the past few days; if you are my kind curious follower you might as well guessed them. Recently i lost some things which i’d never wished to; but time it is indeed a strong thing by nature. It creates storms abruptly and also prepares us for a cool autumn breeze after a while.
I can’t really say things been going all rough, they are someway sideways. This kinda not-all-rough but sideways feeling only because of people around me; my dear close people who care and show me compassion.
Well yeah, i may have lost some immaterial things that were closest to my heart or you can say somethings which have got me affected mentally. But again as i added before, time is a powerful thing. It may have got me into some unreasonable weird situations; maybe into not some things which i never expected before.
Oh boy; i’d tell you this, the same thing has the power to turn tables. And with that all my strength to overcome the worse of my nightmares are here with me to stay; my people won’t let me down and i will make sure we hustle as a team.
I don’t care anymore if the storm has started or here to stay; im here to evolve and grow into those fiercest of storms. To a magnitude of stuff which i will have never achieved earlier.
And whatever is waiting for me ahead, i’m gonna go straight through it and come back defeating my defeat.
It’s time to press my personal reset button and start stuff from scratch with all my heart and mind into it this time.
If you are reading this now, i can promise you this. Hold on to your seat belt this is going to be one heck of a journey ahead, i’ll make sure to make both of our lives sublime as we progress.
Fuck, life is exciting. | https://medium.com/@abishekbabu/let-the-dead-past-bury-its-dead-5d1035e6e580 | ['Abishek Babu'] | 2020-12-19 16:03:08.420000+00:00 | ['Exciting', 'Life', 'Challenge', 'Defeat', 'Hard Work'] |
Why Bitcoin is As Good As Gold | Why Bitcoin is As Good As Gold
Actually it's better
Note: I am not a financial advisor and this is not to be considered financial advice, it is merely my opinion and any investment should not be be taken without speaking to a qualified professional first.
What exactly gives an asset value?
For a traditional asset like a stock, it’s the partial ownership in a company as well as possible claim on their cash flows through a dividend. For a bond, it’s the stream of payments promised. You can easily value these assets by taking the future streams of cash flows and discounting them to the present.
For a commodity like oil, the value lies in the usefulness across a wide range of industries. The price becomes the cost of acquiring, transporting, storing the asset plus the markup the various entities charge along the way. These examples are very intuitive and you won’t find much debate regarding the underlying valuation and metrics.
Assets that act as stores of value like gold are different however. There are no cash flows and the price is substantially higher than the marginal cost to acquire, transport, and store the asset like other commodities. Let’s now take a look at exactly what gives gold its value:
Historical Value Attributed
It may sound like circular logic but this premium exists simply because we’ve ascribed value to gold. For thousands of years, gold has held substantial value because there has been general consensus that it has value. No one questioned it and there has been no reason to doubt it. This has had a compounding effect as the more people who decide gold is a store of value, the more valuable it becomes further solidifying itself as a store of value.
Scarcity / Steady Supply
The main reason gold has been able to maintain this perceived value is because its scarce. Simply put, if everyone had it, it wouldn’t be as valuable. It is also a time consuming, expensive process to mine gold out of the ground and this has created a relatively stable increase in the supply of gold preventing any rapid depreciation in the value from a supply shock.
Actual Usage
The only underlying usage for gold has been in jewelry (and recently in electronics.) While this is a tangible value driver it is by no means what makes gold an effective store of value. A century ago, the U.S. and other major world powers did not have their national currencies backed by gold because it was shiny. For this reason, we can discard the actual use cases of gold in analyzing its value.
How bitcoin compares
Bitcoin has not even been around for a decade, so it does not have much value attributed as a result of historical consensus. Gold has obviously been around for quite some time and its ability to retain value throughout the ages is a big part of why it is a nearly $8 trillion market now. That being said, it is by no means a predictive measure as to how much value gold will hold in the future. If there was somehow a scarce asset that people believed held value and would continue to do so, the possibility exists to overtake gold as the primary store of value asset. People have argued that because gold has held this role for so long, it will never lose it. I disagree.
Let’s take an easy example… In the 19th century people were happy getting around by horse. It was an effective means of transportation that was used for centuries. It allowed you to travel longer distances at a faster pace than on foot and you could always attach a carriage to carry more people.
Then in comes this new piece of metal on wheels, the automobile. It’s dangerous, expensive and loud, why in the world would anybody switch? At the time that was a valid thought, the current means of transportation were working just fine.
Long story short, we all know how that turned out and so it brings me to my point: Just because something has worked in the past, doesn’t mean it can’t get turned on its head by something better.
I argue that bitcoin is better in nearly every way compared to gold (This article came out after I started writing and presents this argument in a more articulate manner than I do). To summarize:
The supply of bitcoin is known with exact certainty therefore there will never be fluctuations. Gold on the other hand still has variability in the amount mined each year.
Bitcoin is easy to store, you can have millions of dollars’ worth in a USB drive that no one can touch so long as you keep your private keys safe. Gold, especially large amounts, is expensive and difficult to store.
Bitcoin is divisible to fractions of a penny and can be sent quickly anywhere in the world. Try cutting your gold bar in half to send to your relatives in another country.
Gold is susceptible to government regulation, there are many examples of governments controlling the use, acquisition, transportation and possession of gold. Bitcoin is censorship resistant meaning no entity can control your funds, you are truly free to spend your money however you wish. The only governmental risk would be a global effort to shut down every exchange making the acquisition of bitcoin very difficult (This is highly unlikely).
It appears that it is only a matter of time before bitcoin starts noticeably eating into gold’s share as the global store of value.
Volatility
When there is an elephant in the room… Introduce him
What scares a lot of people away from bitcoin is the volatility. This is a very legitimate concern as people have trouble putting their money in an asset that fluctuates at the level bitcoin does. The market cap of bitcoin is currently ~$200 billion which may sound like a lot but in the financial world is a drop in the bucket. This leaves the price susceptible to large players and attention grabbing headlines such as “China is banning bitcoin” for the 1000th time causing dramatic shifts.
You have to remember though, that bitcoin is still in its early days, and as more money comes in the volatility will decrease. This has been evident in the last couple of years. The chart below maps the monthly standard deviation as a percentage of the average price that month.
It is evident that since the early days, the volatility has been decreasing over time. As you can see, it has increased over the last year, but that has been a result of the drastic rise in price which isn’t detrimental to the store of value use case. Of course, there was a big drawback from the highs of around $19,000 but that was a result of irrational exuberance in the market due to bitcoin and the cryptoasset class as a whole finally gaining mainstream attention. (CNBC “Fast Money” talking about the crypto craze/carnage every other day).
Nonetheless, as more money continues to enter space, the volatility will subside creating a snowball effect as more people will see the merit in bitcoin as an efficient store of value.
Conclusion:
What gives an asset like gold its value is primarily psychological and results from the opinion of the masses culminating over time. Gold has served this purpose for thousands of years, but in the last decade an asset with properties never before seen has come to light and threatens gold’s standing as the global store of value. It won’t happen overnight, but I am confident along with many others that people across the world will start looking to this new, digital gold to store their wealth.
If you liked what you read, please feel free to “clap”, it helps me get exposure! I also love hearing feedback so comments are always appreciated.
For more information I strongly recommend reading this series of articles that presents a lot of the ideas here in more detail. | https://medium.com/coinmonks/why-bitcoin-is-as-good-as-gold-3a4d525dadc2 | ['Jack Purdy'] | 2020-10-16 10:53:35.630000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Investing', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Finance'] |
World’s First Car with Huawei 5G Technology Soon To be Released | The General Manager of the GAC Ion brand Gu Huinan stated that the benefits of 5G technology to smart electric vehicles are mainly reflected in three aspects:
First, 5G technology empowers urban roads and other application scenarios and promotes autonomous driving through V2X vehicle-road collaboration technology. Accelerate development.
The second is to promote the development of smart cockpits.
The Third is to help upgrade the software of OTA software.
Li Gang, the vice president of GAC Research Institute, believes that 5G+V2X technology will solve the pain points of assisting autonomous driving. Sensors and cameras are seriously affected by the environment, and the recognition rate is greatly reduced in wind, sand, rain, and snow, and the sensing range is limited.
The Sensors and cameras are the eyes and nose of a car, but they cannot replace the mouth and ears. Only a car that can communicate can achieve complete autonomous driving.
Currently, GAC Group is accelerating the development of smart electric vehicles. From January to November this year, GAC Group sold 1.835 million vehicles, down 2.2% year-on-year.
During the same period, the cumulative sales of GAC Aian New Energy Vehicles under the GAC Group was 53,000, a year-on-year increase of 62%
In an interview with the media a few days ago, GAC Chairman Zeng Qinghong publicly stated that intelligent networked new energy vehicles will be a huge “incremental” market.
It is planned that the sales of GAC Aian will account for 36% of the sales of GAC’s own brands in 2025, becoming a domestic market.
The top three high-end smart pure electric brands in the independent brand industry
Not only Guangzhou Automobile Group, but also SAIC, Dongfeng Motor, Changan Automobile, and BYD are also accelerating the pace of smart electric vehicles. Automobile manufacturers and Internet technology companies have seized the smart car market.
At present, Huawei has reached cooperation agreements with SAIC, Guangzhou Automobile Group, Great Wall Motors, BAIC Group, BYD, Chery, and many other independent car companies on smart car solutions, and has cooperated with Vodafone in the fields of software and “5G Auto Alliance.”
Nokia, Intel, Daimler, and others reached cooperation. Huawei does not build its own cars, but mainly provides smart car solutions for auto companies, and provides technical support in 5G, big data, and autonomous driving.
Wireless communication technology and semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive 5G platform has also been launched at the 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC).
This platform is a new application of Qualcomm’s 5G technology in the automotive industry and can provide a completely integrated C-V2X solution
Counterpoint’s latest research report shows that by 2025, China’s 5G connected car sales will jump to 7.1 million, accounting for 40% of the country’s total connected car sales. Currently, 4G products dominate China’s connected car market.
By 2020, the sales of 4G connected cars are expected to reach 7.8 million, accounting for 95% of China’s total sales of connected cars. However, with the rapid promotion of 5G in China and the rapid development of the automotive industry from 2021, the share of 5G connected car sales will grow rapidly.
Xiao Yong, Deputy general manager of GAC Aian, said in an interview with China Business news and other media that smart cars have created opportunities for autonomous car companies to overtake on corners.
Huawei is working with many car companies to study and explore innovative 5G application scenarios. Thanks to the support of policies and the rapid development of China’s electric vehicles, 5G, and autonomous driving technologies.
Huawei, which has a dual-pronged approach in hardware and software, will be one of the most powerful competitors on the global smart electric vehicle track, with smartphone applications.
The situation is similar to that of Android and iOS as the main operating system. There will not be too many basic operating systems for smart cars in the future, and Huawei is expected to have a place
However, autonomous car companies have some bottlenecks and problems on the road of smart car development, including chips. Currently, Huawei is in short supply of chips.
The only 200 latest-generation 5G vehicle modules (Barong 5000 chips) on hand have all been given to GAC Aion.
Xiao Yong believes that this means that there are only 200 AION V, the world’s first mass-produced 5G car, and the plans of other autonomous car companies for 5G mass-production cars will also be affected, and the chip problem needs to be solved urgently.
At the World Smart Car Conference held in Guangzhou on December 3, Huang Yong, Director of the International Cooperation Center of the National Development and Reform Commission, publicly stated that to release the innovation-driven efficiency in the high-quality development of smart cars, the development of smart cars must focus on to develop basic technologies.
We must also focus on innovation and practical applications, focus on building independent technologies and basic brands, work on the underlying technology, and accelerate the formation of China’s independence.
The controllable standardized automotive technology system and architecture system, and solve chips, hardware, and software, and system components. And other kinds of stuck neck and bottleneck problems.
Gain Access to Expert View — Subscribe to DDI Intel | https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/worlds-first-car-with-huawei-5g-technology-soon-to-be-released-ec20c8e5b683 | ['Arslan Mirza'] | 2020-12-27 17:02:18.854000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', '5g', 'Huawei', 'Cars', 'Machine Learning'] |
(Robot) data scientists as a service | A primer on symbolic regression
“94.7% of all statistics are made up.” — Anonymous Data Scientist
We will spend no more than three minutes introducing the intuition beyond symbolic regression with a simple example (the reader familiar with it — or just not interested in the nerdy details — can safely skip to the next section).
Consider the following X-Y plot:
The familiar image of a scatterplot: what is the relation between X and Y?
Looking at the data, we can take out pencil and paper and start making some reasonable guesses on the relation between X and Y (even just limiting ourselves to simple polynomial options):
Y = bX + a (linear)
Y = cX^2 + bX + a (quadratic)
We measure what is the best one and take what we have learned to produce even better estimates:
Comparing two hypotheses: R-squared is 0.65 and 0.74 respectively.
It seems that we can try an even higher-degree polynomial to achieve a better fit:
R-squared for a third-degree polynomial is 0.99 (it looks like overfitting but we swear it’s not).
It sounds like a reasonable strategy, doesn’t it?
In a nutshell, symbolic regression is the automated version of what we did manually with few functions and two “generations”.
That is:
start with a family of functions that could fit the dataset at hand; measure how well they are doing; take the best performing ones and change them to see if you can make them even better; repeat for N generations until satisfied.
Even with this toy example, it’s clear that fitting data patterns by intelligently exploring the space of possible mathematical functions has interesting upsides:
we don’t have to specify many assumptions to start with, as the process will evolve better and better candidates;
the results are readily interpretable (as we can produce insights such as “an increase of aX will lead to an increase of bY”), which means new knowledge is sharable across all business units.
As a downside, evaluating large populations of mathematical expressions can be time consuming — but that is not a problem for us: our robots can work at night and serve us predictions the next day (that’s what robots are for, right?).
The crucial observation for our purposes is that there is a fundamental trade-off between model expressivity, intelligent exploration and data fitting: the space of mathematical relations that could potentially explain the data is infinite — while complex models are more powerful, they are also prone to overfitting and, as such, should be considered after simpler ones fail.
Since relations are expressed in the language of math, why don’t we exploit the natural compositionality and expressivity of formal grammars to navigate this trade-off (yes, at Tooso we do love languages)?
This is where we combine the intuition of symbolic regression — automatically evolving models to get better explanations — with the generative power of probabilistic programming. Since models can be expressed as domain-specific languages, our regression task can be thought as a special instance of “ Bayesian program synthesis”: how can a general program write specific “programs” (i.e. mathematical expressions) to satisfactorily analyze unseen datasets?
In the next section we will build a minimal formal language to express functions and show how operations on language structures translate to models that efficiently explore the infinite space of mathematical hypotheses (the faithful reader may recall that we solved in a similar fashion the “sequence game” introduced in a previous post). In other words, it’s now time to build our army of robots.
[ Bonus technical point: symbolic regression is usually done with genetic programming as the main optimization technique; a population of functions is randomly initialized and then algorithmic fitness dictates the evolution of the group towards expressions well suited for the problem at hand. We picked a probabilistic programming approach for this post as it nicely fits with some recent work on concept learning and lets us share directly in the browser some working code (a thorough comparison is beyond the scope of this article; for more comparisons and colored plots, see the Appendix at the end; while proof reading the article, we also discovered this very recent and pretty interesting “neural-guided” approach). The non-lazy and Pythonic reader interested in genetic programming will find gplearn delightful: a good starting point is Jan Krepl’s data science-y tutorial.]
Building a robot scientist
“Besides black art, there is only automation and mechanization.” — F. G. Lorca
As we have seen in the previous section, the challenge of symbolic regression is the vast space of possibilities we need to consider to make sure we are doing a good job in fitting the target dataset.
The key intuition to build our robot scientist is that we can impose a familiar, “linguistic” structure on this infinite hypotheses space, and let this prior knowledge guide the automated exploration of candidate models.
We first create a small language L for our automated regression tasks, starting from some atomic operations we may support:
unary predicates = [log, round, sqrt]
binary predicates = [add, sub, mul, div]
Assuming we could pick variables (x 0, x 1, … x n), integers and floats as our “nouns”, L can generate an expression such as:
add(1, mul(x0, 2.5))
fully equivalent to the more familiar:
Y = X * 2.5 + 1
Plotting the familiar mathematical expression “Y = X * 2.5 + 1”
[ We skip over the language generation code as we discussed generative language models elsewhere. For an overview of scientific problems through the lenses of probabilistic programming, start from the fantastic ProbMods site.]
Since we can’t directly place a prior over an infinite set of hypothesis, we will exploit the language structure to do it for us. Since less (probabilistic) choices are needed to generate the linear expression:
add(1, mul(x0, 2.5))
compared to the quadratic expression:
add(add(1, mul(x0, 2.5)), mul(mul(x0, x0), 1.0)))
the first is a more likely hypothesis before observation (i.e. we obtain a prior favoring simplicity in the spirit of Occam razor).
A simple WebPPL snippet generating mathematical expressions probabilistically.
The final detail we need is how to measure the performances of our candidate expressions: sure, a linear expression is more likely than quadratic before data points, but what do we learn through observation? Since we framed our task as a Bayesian inference, Bayes’ theorem suggests that we need to define a likelihood function that will tell us the probability of obtaining our data points if the underlying hypothesis is true ( posterior ~= prior + likelihood). As an example, consider the three datasets below:
Three synthetic datasets to test likelihood without informative prior beliefs.
They have been generated by adding noise to the following functions:
f(x) = 4 + 0 * x (constant)
f(x) = x * 2.5 (linear)
f(x) = 2^x (exp)
We can exploit the observe pattern in WebPPL to explore (without informative priors) how likelihood influences inference, knowing in advance what is the mathematical expression that generated the data.
A simple WebPPL snippet to test the likelihood of some generating functions against synthetic data.
As clear from the charts below, with as little as 25 data points the probability distribution over possible mathematical expressions is pretty concentrated on the correct value (also note that the constant parameter is narrowly distributed over the true value, 4, and the same holds true for the exponential example).
Our final robot scientist is then assembled combining (language-based) priors with likelihood (if you’re interested in a small-and-hacky program that puts everything together, don’t forget to run the snippets here).
Let’s see now what our robots can do.
Putting our robot scientist to work
“Humans turn me on.” — Anonymous Robot
Now that we can create robot scientists, it’s time to see what they can do on some interesting data patterns. The chart below represents datasets built out of a simple language for mathematical expressions (such as the one described above), showing, for each case:
a scatterplot with the target data points;
the generating mathematical expression (i.e. the truth);
the expression selected by the robot scientist as the most likely to explain the data (please note that when running the code, you may get several entries for different, but extensionally equivalent expressions, such as x * 4 and 4 * x ).
Four synthetic datasets (left), the underlying generator function (center, in red), and the best candidate according to the robot scientist (right, in blue).
Results are pretty encouraging, as the robot scientist always made a very reasonable guess on the underlying mathematical function relating X and Y in the test datasets.
As a finishing touch, it just takes a few more lines of code and some labelling to add a nice summary of the findings in plain English, so that the following data analysis:
From data analysis to an English summary: we report model predictions at different percentiles since the underlying function may be (as in this case) non-linear.
gets automatically summarized as:
According to the model '(4 ** x)': At perc. 0.25, an increase of 1 in cloud expenditure leads to an increase of 735.6 in revenues At perc. 0.5, an increase of 1 in cloud expenditure leads to an increase of 9984.8 in revenues At perc. 0.75, an increase of 1 in cloud expenditure leads to an increase of 79410.5 in revenues
Going from model selection to explanations in plain English is fairly straightforward (original here).
Not bad, uh? It seems that our data science team can finally take a break and go on that deserved vacation while the robots work for them!
While the non-lazy reader plays around some more with the code snippets and discovers all sorts of things that can go wrong with these robots v1.0, we shall go back to our enterprise use cases and make some parting notes on how to leverage these tools in the real world.
What’s next: scaling prediction across enterprise data
“The simple truth is that companies can achieve the largest boosts in performance when humans and machines work together as allies, not adversaries, in order to take advantage of each other’s complementary strengths.” — P. R. Daugherty
Let’s go back to our prediction problem: we had data on how cloud services impact the revenues of our company and we wanted to learn something useful from it.
Our X-Y chart: what can we learn from it?
Sure, we could try and use a machine learning tool designed for this problem; if we buy into the deep learning hype, that has obvious downsides in terms of integration, generalization to unseen datasets and interpretation. We could try and deploy internal resources, such as data scientists, with downsides in terms of time-to-ROI and opportunity costs. Finally, we could try to prioritize speed and run a simple one-fit-all model, sacrificing accuracy and prediction power.
In this post, we outlined a very different path to address the challenge: by mixing statistical tools with probabilistic programming we obtain a tool general enough to produce interpretable and accurate models in a variety of settings. We get the best out of automated A.I., while keeping the good part of data science done right — explainable results and modeling flexibility.
Science-wise, the above is obviously just a preliminary sketch on how to think outside the box: when moving from a POC to a full-fledged product, a natural extension is to include Gaussian processes in the domain-specific language (and, generally, exploit all the nice things we know about Bayesian program synthesis, in the spirit for example of the excellent ).
Product-wise, our experience with deploying these solutions with billion dollar companies has been both challenging and rewarding (as enterprise things often are). Some of them were skeptical at first, after being burned by pre-made solutions heavily marketed today by big cloud providers as “automated AI” -as it turns out, those tools can’t solve anything but the simplest problems and still require non-trivial resources in time/learning/deployment etc.. But in the end, all of them embraced both the process and the results of our “program synthesis”: from automated prediction to data re-structuring, customers love the “interactive” experience of teaching machines and work with them through human-like concepts; results are easily interpretable and massive automation is achieved at scale through serverless micro-services (for our serverless template for WebPPL, see our devoted post with code).
At Tooso, we do believe the near-term A.I. market belongs to products that enable collaboration between humans and machines, so that each party gets to do what it does best: machines can do the quantitative legwork on data lakes and surface the most promising paths for further analysis; humans can do high-level reasoning on selected problems and give feedback to the algorithms, in a virtuous loop generating increasingly more insights and data awareness.
All in all, as fun as it is to dream of evil robot armies (yes Elon, it’s you again), there is still plenty of future that definitely needs us. | https://medium.com/tooso/robot-data-scientists-as-a-service-eea4a6f9a | ['Jacopo Tagliabue'] | 2019-05-21 18:58:01.086000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Statistics', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Automl'] |
Future.Works Tech Conference 2020 — A Tale of Two Days | It’s been roughly a week since we held the first edition of the Future.Works Tech Conference. In 2020, this was the first time that we decided to create an event focused on specific technologies. It was a new experience for us but we believe it went quite well.
The two programming languages that were the focus of the conference are Java & JavaScript.
We managed to get a cool lineup of speakers for both days with a broad range of topics and insights about these two. Let’s take a look at what we’ve learned?
1st Day — Java
On December 9, we started the conference with our eyes on Java. The keynote speaker of the day was Venkat Subramaniam, Founder @ Agile Developer, Inc. His presentation was focused on Java Functional Programming Idioms. It was a keynote based on a demo, and Venkat went through the session by showcasing how we can improve our coding style if we look at it as idioms. It was a great comparison between what we see in our native languages and the programming languages we use.
On that day, we would like to also point out also the talks from Mary Grygleski and Nicolas Frankel, together with the Live Coding Session by Edward Ciggaar. Mary took us through an introductory talk to Reactive Java, while Nicolas shared 3 easy improvements you can make in your Microservices Architecture. To close the day, Edward invited everyone to join him on a Live Coding session where you could learn how to Go Serverless with Java & Quarkus.
This first day was sponsored by Autovision and we recommend you to check their current job opportunities. | https://blog.landing.jobs/future-works-tech-conference-2020-a-tale-of-two-days-924e72eb2659 | ['Pedro Saraiva'] | 2020-12-16 16:35:07.732000+00:00 | ['Tech', 'JavaScript', 'Java', 'Conference', 'Technology'] |
How Avalanche Wins: A New Roadmap For 2021 | Today, Avalanche has a new roadmap defining the key areas of engineering, ecosystem development, and constant iteration that will make the platform better than ever. Through the end of 2021, the Avalanche community will see upgrades to:
User Experience
Platform Features & Performance
Liquidity & Ecosystem Growth
The full roadmap is available here, but let’s dive into a few highlights from each:
User Experience: Avalanche Wallet Overhaul & Industry-First Bridge
Wallet Experience
Multi-chain wallets are expanding to support Avalanche, but the Avalanche Wallet is still the primary gateway for users to access all of the core functionality of the Avalanche platform.
Starting in Q3 and throughout Q4, the Avalanche Wallet is undergoing a complete facelift to consolidate the most common workflows to make Avalanche more accessible to new crypto adopters, enhance security features, and fix common user issues like balance refresh and imports.
The Avalanche Wallet will also be coming to your mobile devices, and accessible as a browser extension to provide a tailor-made DeFi experience for users to seamlessly access the rapidly expanding ecosystem on Avalanche.
Novel Bridge Technology
Another common pain point for users wishing to move assets to Avalanche has been the complexity and fees related to the Avalanche-Ethereum Bridge (AEB). As we’re seeing with multi-chain wallets, more bridges are supporting Avalanche, but in Q3 users will have an industry-first secure bridging architecture that is 5X cheaper and 2X faster than the AEB. And there are plans to extend this bridge to support other EVM compatible chains and non-EVM chains like Bitcoin.
Platform Features & Performance: Apricot Performance Upgrades, P-Chain Governance, and Sneak Peek at Blueberry
The Avalanche platform has rapidly evolved to not only add new features, but also significantly improve stability, performance, and fees for all users and developers.
Through the rest of Q2 and Q3, the platform will complete the next two phases of the Apricot upgrades. These upgrades implement dynamic fees for smart contract transactions on the C-Chain, add governance to the P-Chain, and further optimize the network for scaling to meet the precipitous growth of user demand.
These phases will also improve the experience and efficiency for all Avalanche validators. Implementing epochs on the X-Chain and fast sync capabilities for the P-Chain and C-Chain will enable new validators to get up-to-speed in a fraction of the current time, while also reducing the load on each validator.
In Q4, Apricot Phase 5 will bring dynamic fees, state pruning, and fast sync capabilities to the X-Chain, completing the first major upgrade to Avalanche and making the X-Chain the most powerful and efficient peer-to-peer asset transfer chain on the planet.
Q4 will also mark the beginning of the Blueberry Upgrade, which unlocks subnets as the next growth engine for Avalanche and the crypto ecosystem.
Blueberry will enable the creation of independent blockchains with custom virtual machines and rulesets. Subnets are the foundation for increased activity from enterprises and institutions who require complete control over their development and data.
Subnets also enable Avalanche to scale even further. Developers and projects can build independent, high-throughput chains run by dedicated resources, but still connected to the broader Avalanche ecosystem. This empowers greater value creation across the ecosystem, while maintaining the seamless transfer of value.
Liquidity & Ecosystem Growth: Exchange Integrations, C-Chain Support, New Applications, and Ava Labs Expansion
Since mainnet launch, AVAX has been added to leading trading venues all over the world to enable quick, reliable access to AVAX where and when people want.
Exchange integrations and due diligence take time, but in Q3 and continuing into Q4, Avalanche will be available on more top-tier venues. These include venues in the most active geographies in DeFi, including the United States, to unblock the many users that have been interested in accessing Avalanche’s ecosystem, but unable to access AVAX.
These on-ramps, and existing venues supporting AVAX, are pushing to support the C-Chain so their users can go directly from their accounts into DeFi apps on Avalanche without cross-chain transfers.
The Avalanche Community will continue to welcome new infrastructure integrations and DeFi functionalities, including Chainlink on mainnet, liquidity protocols like BenQi, launchpads like Avalaunch, and flagship NFT marketplaces. It will also see the launch of a new, first-of-its-kind asset class, Initial Litigation Offerings (“ILOs”).
Collectively, the liquidity and ecosystem growth will further Avalanche’s position as a premier platform for DeFi users and developers just one year after launch.
To support this rapid growth across the ecosystem, the Ava Labs team has rapidly expanded with over 80 new hires in the last year, and over 30 since the beginning of May 2021. These hires have focused on experienced leaders who expand Ava Labs ability to deliver top-quality projects across engineering, business development, and marketing.
More than 110 people now work within Ava Labs, with almost half dedicated solely to technical research and development. The Ava Labs team is more equipped than ever to expand Avalanche’s technical edge over other platforms, while also supporting the projects building on Avalanche with operational capabilities and strategic guidance.
Answering the Call
The roadmap for the remainder of 2021 is ambitious and will require each member of the Avalanche community to do their part. Whether that’s contributing to the core platform as a developer, building a new application, or providing feedback as a user, Avalanche grows stronger with every addition.
But there’s one more request, and a contribution each of us can make.
Avalanche has always been focused on building real technology that can scale to global demand. Now it’s on all of us to help our friends and families, peers and projects join the Avalanche community.
Spread the word. The Avalanche is coming. | https://medium.com/avalancheavax/how-avalanche-wins-a-new-roadmap-for-2021-2d237e785b56 | [] | 2021-06-28 17:24:03.664000+00:00 | ['Smart Contracts', 'Avax', 'Blockchain', 'Crypto', 'Avalanche'] |
These 10 Women are Driving Detroit’s Entrepreneurial Growth | Last week’s report about the state of women leadership in Chicago tech was a powerful reminder of where our successes are and where we can continue to improve. The data creates actionable opportunity for everyone — from individual contributors, to executives, to investors — to catalyze our city and industry toward fostering a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem for all underestimated, and thus underrepresented, minorities in tech.
When thinking about the successes that we, as an ecosystem, can build upon, I was reminded of an entrepreneurial ecosystem where I continually see significant leadership among women: our fellow Midwestern city of Detroit. Although Quicken Loans CEO Dan Gilbert receives a great deal of recognition for driving the city’s economic resurgence (understandably so), there are a number of women whose initiatives are powerful winds behind Detroit’s sail. So in the spirit of highlighting successes and in honor of International Women’s Day, here are 10 women who are at the helm of fueling an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Detroit:
Talent Incubation
April Boyle, Founder & Executive Director of Build Institute
Kicking off our list is April Boyle, the Founder and Executive Director of Build Institute. Founded in 2012, Build Institute provides classes, events, funding, and mentorship to help aspiring entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful companies. April and her team are doing their part to foster a more equitable and inclusive entrepreneurial community in Detroit. More than 80% of their aspiring entrepreneurs are women, more than half are ethnic minorities, and nearly 75% come from low- to moderate-incomes. Build then helps these graduates launch companies through a small business microloan program, which has a 98% repayment rate.
Amy Kaherl, Director of Curation at Ponyride & Co-Founder of Detroit SOUP
Next on our list is Amy Kaherl, who helps run Ponyride, a Detroit non-profit focused on making success a realistic opportunity for all. Amy and the Ponyride team make Detroit’s space accessible to artists, non-profits, and entrepreneurs who are working on social missions. Their space offers resources, community, diversity, and collaboration to help make Detroit a better place to thrive in all aspects of life. Amy also co-founded Detroit SOUP, which is a community-driven microgranting dinner where Detroiters support fellow Detroiters in funding projects across a variety of sectors. Winners of these dinners have gone on to create non-profits, businesses, after-school initiatives, and more.
Amanda Lewan, Co-Founder & CEO of Bamboo Detroit
Also incubating talent is Amanda Lewan, the Co-Founder and CEO of Bamboo Detroit. Bamboo was the first co-working space in the heart of downtown Detroit and has been recognized as one of the country’s top shared office spaces. Bamboo’s entire mission is centered around fostering inclusive entrepreneurship and economic impact. Amanda and her team execute this by helping companies of various sizes to launch, learn, and expand in Detroit. And when those companies outgrow Bamboo, Bamboo connects them with partner resources that help companies secure spaces that will take them to the next level.
Capital
Patti Glaza, Managing Director of Invest Detroit Ventures
It’s not enough to simply have an idea and the talent to strategize it, of course; entrepreneurs often need capital to help them execute on their strategy. In recent years, Detroit’s capital has increased to support its entrepreneurs. A notable leader in this is Patti Glaza, the Managing Director of Invest Detroit Ventures, which has invested in more than 100 Michigan-based companies in the last eight years. Patti and the ID Ventures team focus on supporting Michigan’s high-technology startup ecosystem. They do this not only through venture capital funding but by managing the Hacker Fellows program, which connects software developers to Michigan startups, and the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, which brings together key ecosystem stakeholders for the purpose of catalyzing entrepreneurial growth through both expert mentorship and capital.
Pamela Lewis, Director of New Economy Initiative
While Detroit has seen an influx of venture capital, there are other programs that infuse significant capital into the growing ecosystem as well. Pamela Lewis is the Director of the New Economy Initiative, which is a $159 million philanthropic program that drives inclusive entrepreneurship and small business growth in Southeast Michigan. Pamela and her team award grants to a wide array of initiatives, from small hackathons, to university research parks, to venture capital funds. NEI’s support of more than 100 organizations has in turn helped nearly 10,000 businesses in the region either start or scale their operations.
Monica Wheat, Managing Director of Backstage Capital Detroit
Working on a new initiative to drive venture capital to Detroit is Monica Wheat of Backstage Capital Detroit. Monica has a deep history of supporting inclusive entrepreneurship throughout the city. As the Diversity & Inclusion Advisor at Detroit coding bootcamp Grand Circus, which focuses on giving individuals of all backgrounds access to tech jobs, Monica has helped support tech diversity for many years. As such, it is no surprise that she would lead Backstage Capital’s new Detroit accelerator. Officially launching in Detroit next week, Monica and the Backstage team are strategically building a bridge between the Bay Area’s financial resources and the underrepresented entrepreneurs driving Detroit innovation.
Ecosystem Support
Olivia Guterson, AfroTech Organizer
In addition to those women working to increase Detroit entrepreneurs’ access to capital and talent resources, there are women leaders in the community who strategically work to support the region as a vibrant hub of innovation. One of them is Olivia Guterson, who organized the first ever AfroTech conference held outside of the Bay Area. AfroTech’s mission is to support the black tech community, and after attending its San Francisco conference in early 2018, Olivia strategized to host the event in Detroit just a few months later. A community builder, former startup employee, and artist, Olivia is on a mission to leverage Detroit’s strengths to make it the black tech capital of the country.
Emily Heintz, Founder & Managing Director of EntryPoint
Also supporting Detroit-based events (among other key initiatives) is Emily Heintz, the Founder and Managing Director of EntryPoint. EntryPoint’s mission is to promote inclusive entrepreneurship in Michigan. Although based in Ann Arbor, Emily and her team at EntryPoint have spent the last year putting a special emphasis on Detroit. They partnered with Invest Detroit to run the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, which I mentioned above. EntryPoint also conducted a significant research study that culminated in the 2018 Detroit Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Report. This report is the first of its kind for the city and allows investors, civic leaders, startup operators, and community supporters alike to better understand the entrepreneurial opportunities that exist in Detroit.
Lauren Hood, Community Development Consultant
In the same vein of supporting how people think about growing Detroit’s entrepreneurial community is community development consultant, Lauren Hood. A Detroit native, Lauren focuses on helping the city’s economy grow equitably by increasing awareness about how to enter Detroit thoughtfully and respectfully. Leveraging her expertise in both community engagement and economic development, Lauren empowers organizations to thoughtfully strategize how they can preserve the city’s rich heritage and build with the long-standing Detroit community, rather than displace it.
Jeanette Pierce, Founder & City Institute Director of Detroit Experience Factory
Also native to Detroit, Jeanette Pierce founded Detroit Experience Factory (DXF) with a goal of helping both Detroit locals and visitors have a deeper respect for and understanding of the city’s roots and growth. Jeanette and her team offer free, ticketed, and custom private tours that are led exclusively by Detroit local experts. These experts give attendees insight into the city’s rich history, its development, and how that development has impacted the local community. Of note is their Innovation tour, which takes attendees to some of Detroit’s most innovative hubs in order to highlight the city’s burgeoning entrepreneurial talent and traction.
Each of the women in this list contributes meaningfully and substantially to Detroit’s entrepreneurial resurgence in their own ways. What is special about them, however, is that they also work together. These leaders are helping Detroit build on its existing strengths through the collaboration of its talents, the sharing of its resources, and the common value of fostering an inclusive entrepreneurial community. They’ve had an undeniable impact on nurturing Detroit’s ecosystem of resources, and the city’s entrepreneurs — as well as our broader Midwest ecosystem — are better for their vision and leadership.
Originally featured in American Inno. | https://medium.com/@hydeparkangels/these-10-women-are-driving-detroits-entrepreneurial-growth-e8032c312a9e | ['Hyde Park Angels'] | 2019-03-17 17:10:47.973000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Diversity', 'Inclusion', 'Detroit'] |
Tools to forecast fire spreading behavior | In the past year alone, the world has been witness to a worrying burst of forest fires: bushfires in Australia and the Amazon gained notoriety in late 2019, but other areas like Central Africa and Patagonia have large forest fires every year. Most recently, wild fires have been raving throughout almost every region of the world: Bolivia, Algeria, Canada, Brazil and North-eastern Argentina, most of Western Europe, Turkey, Russia and the list sadly goes on and on.
Forest fires are sadly here to stay, and the best and only thing we can do is figure out how to fight them.
Developed between November 2019 and February 2020, ForestFires.tools combines UAVs, embedded computing boards, visible spectrum imagery, machine learning classification of vegetation types and fire-frontier detection, in a mobile frontier mathematical model to give first responders the resources they need to fight large scale forest fires at an affordable cost.
An unusual solution
This set of fire-fighting tools was developed for the Unusual Solutions Competition, a global competition organized by WeRobotics, that invites individuals and teams from all over the planet to submit solutions on how to best tackle social, environmental and scientific challenges with technology.
The goal of the project was to aid fire responders in the planning of their efforts. But also, considering that many of the countries with the largest forest areas are in the global south, and are collectively less wealthy than their northern counterparts, we focused on putting together a solution that has a cost of around 600 USD, making it affordable to as many groups as possible.
In future iterations, we plan to work with local UAV groups and maker-spaces in all countries, so that the product, training and support can be offered at an even lower cost.
How it works
There are 5 key elements that make this solution different to anything else out there:
Multispectral imagery updated often with the use of UAVs Machine learning algorithms: one to classify the terrain according to vegetation, and one to detect the frontier of the fire A small, purpose built, portable weather station Mathematical modeling of the fire The solution works offline, generating near real-time forecast
All of these components combined enable us to build an accurate, local and almost real-time forecast of wildfire spreading.
By combining multispectral aerial images collected by drones with meteorological variables obtained by the portable station, like temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, ForestFires.tools can create a more accurate, local, near real-time fires forecast, that allows firefighters to better understand and respond to forest fires.
The data sources gathered by the UAVs are then processed by an inexpensive, portable computer that doesn’t require an Internet connection to prepare a fast fire model capable of forecasting the spread of the fire. This is a key feature of the product: it works locally and offline to give fire responders maximum value with minimum constraints.
Applying machine learning algorithms to the imagery, the model classifies vegetation according to type (grass, trees, water) and to current state of dryness/humidity. With this classification plus experimental data from other researchers, we were able to gather the necessary data to integrate evaluations such as conductivity, thermal diffusion or vegetation density into our model. This imagery also allows us to detect the coordinates of the fire sources that will later become our initial conditions.
Combining all of that data in a finite element model with a moving boundary of the heat equation, we can forecast the fire spreading in the short term, which provides responders with more accurate and real-time information for decision-making. This gives firefighters autonomy on the field, without losing access to accurate, timely information.
Equation used for fire modeling, where each term (p, k, T) corresponds to a matrix obtained from the image processing, modified by climate conditions (w)
Approach & components
The toolset allows first responders to better understand where and how fast fire will spread, and use that information to make better decisions on resource allocation.
Planning for firefighting is based on a triangular model: topography - fuel -weather
After validating the need and approach with potential users, we focused on reducing uncertainty around the technical feasibility of the solution. For that we built several small prototypes of the key components:
Fire boundary detection: We used TensorFlow Object Detection API to train a machine learning model that detects the coordinates of fire spots. We obtained training and validation images from multiple videos of forest fires captured by drones. With only 30 images in the training set (which we tagged manually), we obtained an 83% average precision on fire coordinates detection. As the basis for the model, we used a pre-trained COCO-faster-rcnn and ran the training on a Nvidia Tesla K80. Classification of ground coverage: we applied NDVI, an algorithm that enables the detection of vegetated areas and other types of surfaces, such as rock, water and soil. More importantly, NDVI allows us to classify how green or dry the vegetation is, which improves the accuracy of the fire spreading forecasts. Running an NDVI analysis requires aerial imagery captured with an infrared camera. Spread forecasting: we started from the basic heat equation in 2D and iterated to incorporate additional parameters into it:
a. Initial coordinates of fire spots.
b. A map of underlying types of ground cover that determine the combustibility of the material.
c. Weather conditions
That model enabled us to forecast the action of the wind in the fire spreading and how the materials burn, predicting the final shape and area of a fire over specific periods of time.
We also optimized the model to be run on a GPU (we are planning on using an Nvidia Jetson), so that we can provide an offline, affordable and portable platform to run the forecast. Components for the weather station: we researched and evaluated different components for the weather station and optimization box, and came up with a minimum viable budget for it. The alternatives are quite promising, with viable options starting at a cost of 240 USD.
We leaned towards using Raspberry PIs in combination with the Nvidia Jetson to run offline imagery processing. The imagery processed using a lightweight optimized AI algorithm for shadow analysis can be used to build a Digital Elevation Model, a key component in the analysis of the spread of forest fires. Assessment of fuel moisture could also be done with similar methods.
In addition to that, information from a portable weather station provides temperature readings, humidity and wind speed and direction. That component is essential, partly because lack of connectivity means no access to remote weather stations, but also because fires create their own nearby weather conditions. A fire propagation model would then use that input data to forecast potential scenarios. The Jetson board is a perfect fit for all these tasks and comes at an extremely reasonable cost of 99 USD.
For image processing purposes, we based our code on an integration or extension of OpenDroneMap. For the Weather Station we think the best approach is using and interconnecting with the Raspberry PI Weather Station, These guarantee we build on existing open source and open hardware efforts, significantly reducing development costs and increasing long-term sustainability.
The resulting toolset
These wildfire behavior forecasting tools deliver an hour-by-hour machine learning assisted forecast of forest fires shape and area. The outcome is precise and timely knowledge in the hands of firefighters, which significantly improves their ability to allocate resources and make decisions, as efficiently as possible.
The potential impact of this project is a more focused and efficient use of resources during forest fires response efforts. If responders have a better understanding of the likelihood of the fire spreading in certain directions and at certain speeds, efforts can be better focused, and evacuations –if necessary– could be planned with more time.
Next steps
ForestFires.tools was developed as a concept for the Unusual Solutions Competition, and has not yet been deployed in a real setting. However, it is as close to completion as possible without financing.
Our roadmap to a complete and successful implementation is as follows:
NDVI expansion
The NDVI analysis provides a good basis to understand the type of ground coverage and is widely used to assess crop health in agriculture and forest coverage from satellite remote sensing. In order to provide more accurate fire behavior forecasts, we need to expand on that and use machine learning to classify types of vegetation. The input to such a machine learning classifier is the multispectral imagery (both infrared and visible imagery). Real-world testing
Testing the spreading model, first without weather input. Using real imagery captured from past fire events, both aerial or satellite, and infrared spectrum, we can run our model and compare its predictions with the actual spreading. Those cases can be used to iterate and improve the model until the results are accurate enough. Portable weather station development
The portable, local weather station needs further development and testing, and to incorporate the output to the model. While this whole solution can be used with an off-the-shelf weather station, that single component is what increases the total cost the most. To improve on affordability, we have researched a few alternatives of wind sensors that can be integrated into a small, portable and affordable weather station that can be connected to the proposed solution. NDVI testing on well-known terrain
Run further tests on NDVI analysis using multispectral imagery captured with UAVs and the subsequent machine learning classification on well known terrain. We want to evaluate and compare lower-end infrared cameras against more expensive ones to determine the most affordable feasible option. Contrasting accuracy in real setting
Join a fire event response and test the whole solution, without acting on the forecasts, but contrasting them with the actual progress of the fire. We have already got clearance to do this in Patagonia.
We are very confident about the potential of this project and the value these tools can deliver to fire responders all over the world. As forest fires keep decimating key resources in our ecosystems, there is much we can do, and this feels like a good place to start. | https://medium.com/manas-tech/tools-to-forecast-fire-spreading-behavior-67cbfc7b922d | ['Franco Nicolas Bellomo'] | 2020-12-04 14:47:29.515000+00:00 | ['Environmental Impact', 'Mathematical Modeling', 'Forest Fires', 'Drones', 'Machine Learning'] |
Case Study: Archibald Sister’s Website Redesign Concept | This project was done as a student for General Assembly. It is not anyway affiliated with Archibald Sisters.
My Role
User Researcher, Sketch & Wireframing, information Architecture and Visual Design
Client
Archibald Sisters (Student Project)
Duration
Two Weeks
Overview
Archibald Sisters is a local business in Olympia Washington that is known as “sassy, funny and quirky.”
The business itself has been around since the 1970s. Since 1991, Archibald Sisters is currently in Olympia Washington and has a second location in Portland Oregon that opened in 2012.
The Challenge
The main objective for the project was to Improve the user experience whether that be through the layout of the website or rearranging products.
My overall goal for this business was to Improve it’s website visibility for online shoppers and increase product sales. To do this, I would need to improve the Archibald Sister’s flow by improving the way fragrances are selected by users and to add images and descriptions of the products and fragrances.
Discovery and Research (Crucial Insights)
The original main website page.
User Interviews
Most users typically shop for similar products in person and would like to know what items smell like before buying the product.
Another user preferred shopping online for their products because of easability Another user said they like to support local businesses.
Familiarity with product and stores are important for users.
Affordability of the products are also an important piece.
Contextual Inquiry
All users agreed that the main issues of the site was the lack of fragrance list descriptions and images of products.
The list of fragrances were too long for a user to choose from.
There are not as many products available on Archibald sisters compared to other websites.
Card Sorting
From cards sorting the products were fine as they were but some products can be put into other categories.
The main issue with Archibald Sister’s website is how they arranged the fragrance list beside the product. With over 150 fragrances they need to be sorted in a way to make it easy for the user to scan through. | https://medium.com/@mackenzieevangelistadesign/student-website-redesign-case-study-2c9fbdb83db2 | ['Mackenzie Evangelista'] | 2020-12-24 00:15:10.885000+00:00 | ['Archibald Sisters', 'Case Study', 'Student Work', 'My Work'] |
Sing To Me, O’ Sweet Death. | In the far, far away future, there could be a time when we stand back in amazement to gaze at the horizon, as tidal waves taller than skyscrapers come barrelling towards us, and huge meteors rain from the sky. Some panic and run about with hands in the air, pondering exasperatedly over what they should do next, while others stand quietly offering prayers and meditations. By now, nothing can be done.
Others are probably sitting comfortably in their bunkers, waiting for apocalypse to simply pass on, before emerging once more to rebuild society. This then, is a general idea of how movies, books, and video games depict how the world might end; a feeling of utter chaos and hopelessness. Imagine the crushing roar of asteroids punching through the atmosphere, the howling winds, and thunderous hailstorms.
The distant bellow of tornados sends a chill down your spine, as cracking embers of forests and buildings on fire tells you that there’s no place to hide from what’s coming at you. If I could somehow summarise it into one particular sound, I think this 13-minute long video of a rare Ferrari F50 GT being hammered around the Yas Marina Circuit should give you a good idea of what to listen for, when life as know it, comes to an end.
A Black Sheep? | https://medium.com/@zacknorman97/sing-to-me-o-sweet-death-c3be1a707654 | ['Zack Norman'] | 2020-08-09 15:41:38.993000+00:00 | ['Automotive', 'Audio', 'Ferrari', 'Auto', 'Cars'] |
Control Freak. | Nancy do you fancy giving us a check
No I don’t I’m not a true democrat heck
I’ll let you starve on my guard
Don’t winge and cry about this facade
Control is my game Pelosi my name
I’ll give you nothing that’s my fame
So we’ll die in the streets they don’t care
Forty plus million face evictions unfair
These drugged up fakes must go to bed
We don’t need this like a kick in the head. | https://medium.com/politically-speaking/control-freak-1b685dab49ce | ['Mara Annalitickah'] | 2020-12-07 20:57:22.690000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Poetry', 'Pelosi'] |
Why Babies Are More Resilient Against Covid-19 | Why Babies Are More Resilient Against Covid-19
Understanding infants’ peculiar response to the virus may be a key to finding new treatments Satti Dec 4, 2020·7 min read
Photo: Sirapat Saeyang/EyeEm/Getty Images
Babies make up a tiny percentage of all diagnosed cases of Covid-19. In the United States, where 1.2% of the population are children under one year of age, they account for only 0.27% of the positive tests, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. It’s not clear if babies are getting infected at a lower rate compared with other age groups or if they are just not being tested as much. But what is evident is that the ones who are diagnosed have, in general, significantly milder illness compared with adults.
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Force-v-State.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Force-v-State1.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Force-v-State2.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Force-v-State3.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos1.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos2.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos3.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Id-v-acr.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Id-v-acr1.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Id-v-acr2.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Id-v-acr3.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/St-K-P.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/St-K-P1.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/St-K-P2.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/St-K-P3.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Texa-v-Saint.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Texa-v-Saint1.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Texa-v-Saint2.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Texa-v-Saint3.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Mon-v-Sou.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Mon-v-Sou1.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Mon-v-Sou2.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Mon-v-Sou3.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/u-s-af00.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/u-s-af01.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/u-s-af02.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/u-s-af03.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/u-s-af04.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/u-s-af05.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/u-s-af06.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/u-s-af07.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/M-s-U00.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/M-s-U01.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/M-s-U02.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/M-s-U03.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/M-s-U04.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/M-s-U05.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/M-s-U06.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/M-s-U07.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/T-v-S00.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/T-v-S01.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/T-v-S02.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/T-v-S03.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/T-v-S04.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/T-v-S05.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/T-v-S06.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/T-v-S07.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-01.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-02.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-03.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-04.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-05.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-06.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-07.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-08.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/axz/Utah-v-Air-liv-09.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos-li-01.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos-li-02.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos-li-03.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos-li-04.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos-li-05.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos-li-06.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos-li-07.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Flo-v-Bos-li-08.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Ida-v-Sacra-01.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Ida-v-Sacra-02.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Ida-v-Sacra-03.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Ida-v-Sacra-04.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Ida-v-Sacra-05.html
https://www.alliedacademies.org/supplementary-files/mcv/azx/Ida-v-Sacra-06.html
The reason behind babies’ apparent resilience to Covid-19 is being intensely investigated by scientists. Getting to the bottom of that mystery could inspire the development of new treatments, potentially benefiting people of all ages.
What’s known so far about the outcomes of babies infected with SARS-CoV-2 comes from reports such as the one published in this month’s edition of The Journal of Pediatrics by physicians at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The study, which included 18 previously healthy children under 90 days old who tested positive for Covid-19, showed that none had severe symptoms. Nasal congestion was seen in 28%, cough in 44%, and vomiting or diarrhea in 22%. The study sample is very small (again, the number of infants who test positive is a low figure overall), but the researchers say the early findings provide some potentially important insights.
“It’s notable that a large percentage of them had fever as maybe even the only symptom,” says lead author Leena B. Mithal, MD, a pediatric infectious diseases expert from Lurie Children’s and assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “None of the babies required any oxygen or any respiratory support at all,” she adds. “This is a small series, but what we saw during that period has remained true moving forward in the cases of previously healthy infants.”
Scientists have a few theories that could help explain why the novel coronavirus is mostly harmless to healthy babies. One of them has to do with the receptor that SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter human cells. The expression of this receptor, called ACE2, varies with age and is less present in babies and children compared with adults. The hypothesis is that, in the youngest people, the virus finds fewer keyholes it can unlock to get inside the cells and replicate.
“An additional hypothesis proposed for the mild infection in young children is their strong ability to mount primary immune responses mediated by T-cells,” says pediatrician Petter Brodin, MD, PhD, a researcher at the department of women’s and children’s health at Karolinska Institute in Sweden. T-cells, along with antibodies, are part of our adaptive immune system, whose function is to target pathogens like SARS-CoV-2. The fact that babies have a large repertoire of naive T-cells, which are able to recognize new invaders and develop into mature killer cells, is probably important to explain their effective response to the virus, Brodin says.
Brodin also notes that, at least until puberty, children’s immune systems are calibrated differently from those of adults, and this could protect them from the sequence of events that usually leads to severe disease, including a poor initial response by interferons (proteins that act as “first responders” against viruses), a poor response of the adaptive immune system with T-cell exhaustion, and hyperinflammation driven by massive tissue damage.
Another theory is that young children, including infants, might have more recent exposure to common cold coronaviruses, which could potentially modulate their immune response to SAR-CoV-2 infection. “Although adults have likely been exposed to those coronaviruses as well, it’s common to get many colds in the first decade of life and there may be some cross-protection,” says Mithal. It’s not clear, though, if babies are currently as exposed to these other coronaviruses as they normally would, given the social isolation measures in place.
Although these theories are yet to be proven, at this stage of the pandemic there is enough epidemiological data to confidently state that infants are in general protected from severe illness. So much so that the American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its recommendations regarding newborns and mothers with symptomatic Covid-19 at the time of delivery. AAP now does not recommend universally separating babies from Covid-19-positive mothers, as long as they are well enough to take care of the baby and take the necessary precautions to decrease transmission.
“Over time, it seems that babies who went home with moms infected with SARS-CoV-2 at the time of delivery did not do significantly differently or have worse outcomes than babies who were separated from their mothers in the initial postpartum period,” says Mithal. “This speaks to the fact that, of these babies at risk of exposure and infection in the household, only a small subset may have symptomatic infection and further problems.”
Observing how children and infants respond to the virus may lead to new therapies for Covid-19.
This doesn’t mean that babies cannot get severe symptoms. Alvaro Coronado Munoz, MD, a doctor specialized in pediatric critical care and an assistant professor at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston, learned that lesson when he and his colleagues treated a three-week-old boy who was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit in with low blood pressure, tachycardia, rapid breathing, and hypothermia. He had presented nasal congestion for two days and had an X-ray consistent with Covid-19 infection. A nasal swab confirmed the diagnosis.
“It was one of the first cases reported in the U.S. of critical care admission of a pediatric patient with Covid-19. It was very early in the pandemic and there was all this information regarding the fact that pediatric patients were less affected, so it was a little bit of a surprise,” says Munoz. The boy had to receive mechanical ventilation for five days and survived after intensive care. “This case was very important to recognize that an infant can become as sick as adult patients. So, don’t just assume that it’s something else.”
Observing how children and infants respond to the virus may lead to new therapies for Covid-19. One of the treatment strategies that is being explored is how to combat a harmful type of inflammation sometimes seen in the acute phase of the infection. “We hope to learn from ongoing studies that certain inflammatory pathways are differentially activated in children with mild infection compared to adults with severe disease. Maybe then we can develop more targeted immunomodulating therapy that we can apply to those with more severe illness, including adults,” says Mithal.
Another avenue of research is looking at the strong initial interferon response, which is probably critical for early antiviral defense and is a system that the SARS-CoV-2 directly interferes with, according to Brodin. This is most likely a mechanism that protects babies and children and it is possible that triggering the same response in adults could help protect them as well. | https://medium.com/@sattiyasanju837387378/why-babies-are-more-resilient-against-covid-19-486f3bd03fa7 | [] | 2020-12-04 01:58:08.394000+00:00 | ['Babies', 'Covid 19', 'Science', 'Coronavirus', 'Health'] |
Qtum(QTUM) in our workplace? | Blockchain is a vast topic and has many cryptocurrencies under its wing. Every month a new one enters the market. We all know about the most popular cryptocurrencies; Bitcoin and Ethereum which are widely used for mining. Another important cryptocurrency of Blockchain is, Qtum(QTUM). It was launched in 2017 and since then has become a part of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world. Qtum takes the security of Bitcoin and combines it with ethereum’s smart contracts. An important point to note is the usage of Qtum is designed specifically for business.
“four round silver-colored and gold-colored Bitcoins” by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
While I covered major benefits of Blockchain Protocol, my classmate, Collier Hansen’s blog on “ 2019 Blockchain Baddies” has also provided more insight on my research questions. We are already aware of the different Blockchain currencies in the market and day by day new competitors are aiming at becoming the leading blockchain currency. The global cryptocurrency market is definitely not slowing down anytime soon(Hansen, 2018).
Qtum’s new features enables an user to code in any language which makes work faster than before. All these plus points are attracting people and encouraging “A multitude of other companies to make equally as proactive moves towards a more mainstream and efficient blockchain” (Hansen, 2018). What the author means is how Blockchain will give an opportunity to any kind of firms, start ups to compete on an equal and same platform. As, all companies will be using this technology, it will be interesting to see which one of them uses Blockchain in an efficient way to maximize their profits.
I cannot wait for businesses to start using Blockchain. Very soon every employee will be “Blockchain savvy!”
Hansen, C. (2018, September) 2019 Blockchain Baddies. Retrieved from https://medium.com/universal-currency/2019-blockchain-baddies-320e4b89f885 | https://medium.com/blockchain-protocol/qtum-qtum-in-our-workplace-aeef067d2dbb | ['Ishana Pandit'] | 2018-10-03 22:32:34.550000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin'] |
NIIT Ghana Donates 500 Pieces Of Face Masks To The Head Potters (Kayayei) Association of Ghana. | Mrs. Joana Abbiw, Center Manager of NIIT Tema branch said, “We all know that Kayayei people are living in a poor condition with minimal income. Mostly, they are unaware of things happening outside the market, Hence it is our responsibility to create awareness among them and support them with necessary materials to safeguard their life.”
She also appreciated the founder of the association for rendering us the needed support in reaching out to the community. Ms. Joana Abbiw and Mr. Asadullah presented the masks to the founder of the association, Mr. Mohammed I. Salifu, and a couple of delegates of the porters at their office in Agbogbloshie Accra. Mr. Salifu was thankful to the NIIT group for their kind gesture and said it will go a long way to help the porters who are for the most part of their lives exposed to all manner of diseases including the COVID-19 in their day to day activities.
Two weeks ago, the NIIT Kumasi branch donated to the people of the Atonsu community, Kumasi in the Ashanti Region to aid in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Omnath Tiwary, the Center Manager for NIIT Kumasi Branch urged the school children to make use of the online platforms and learn wisely. He also appreciated the initiatives of the government in conducting virtual classes for the SHS students through a dedicated TV Channel. | https://medium.com/@openlabs/niit-ghana-donates-500-pieces-of-face-masks-to-the-head-potters-kayayei-association-of-ghana-87f44118dcf6 | ['Niit Openlabs Ghana'] | 2020-05-05 17:42:51.934000+00:00 | ['Csr', 'Education', 'Covid 19 Crisis', 'Technology News', 'Niit Ghana'] |
How Many Sexual Partners Are Too Much, Just Right, or Not Enough? | It comes up. Inevitably when you’re dating someone new, or when you are chatting with gal pals or whatever you call those friends, a lot of people want to know if they’re adequate, average, or what. Have they had too many partners or too few?
It’s a number that a lot of people get hung up on. My LGBT+ friends will have to chime in about any stigma when it comes to doing their math. But in heterosexual dating, guys are more likely to wear their numbers like a badge of honor. Some might even fluff ’em up. Women, on the other hand, may be more likely to whittle down their numbers for fear of appearing… overeager.
“Overeager in bed” means different things for men and women. Different kinds of stigma. One means trying too hard, while the other means something’s potentially wrong with you. Of course, it can also mean “slut,” a slur that far too many people love to hurl at any woman.
If you grew up like me with lots of guilt regarding sex and religion, the numbers game can be especially disturbing. The way we’re taught to approach sex means we don’t like to think about the fact that the person we’re currently dating had any kind of sexual life before us.
But they did. Usually.
And we have a past too. We’ve all got some type of baggage or hangups whether or not we were even having sex before our current person. We may have loved someone else last year or many moons ago.
It’s all just experience, and what matters most is what we’ve learned. If we’ve learned anything at all. Because the real red flags to watch out for aren’t in people with too little sexual experience. It’s in those people who get into relationships and learn absolutely nothing.
Those are the people who just keep repeating the same damn mistakes in every single relationship. And those kinds of people are dangerous, regardless of their number.
I think my number is 7. But that includes a couple of relationships from my awkward, vaginismus years. If I take them out, it’s more like 5. If I include other relationships that had any element of sex without actual intercourse, then it’s more like 11.
However I do the math, somebody won’t like it. Some readers are going to be offended that I dare write about sex since I’m not experienced enough. They’ll have to leave me a note about the number that will make my writing about sex “more appropriate.”
Of course, in the Christian world of my past, my number is way too many no matter how I slice it.
To me, it only matters how I look at it. And what I’ve learned. With at least 2 of the 5, or 3 of the 7, I felt pressured in ways I wouldn’t ever allow today. But being more experienced and better educated today makes all the difference. To me.
Over these past couple of years, I’ve learned enough to talk about sex without dying from embarrassment. Most of the time. I’m not lost in confusion anymore. And I don’t let myself get pushed around like I did in the past. Plus, I understand how greatly preferences vary. I even understand how sex can encourage feelings to grow for someone you weren’t that attracted to in the beginning.
#ThingsTheyDon’tTeachYouAtChurch
Happily, I’ve learned a lot about what I need as a demisexual and individual in my own sex life. Despite my rigid upbringing. I’ve discovered which kinks are and are not up my alley.
I dated one guy who preferred anal sex and I discovered that for me… it’s a hard pass. But some people talk about it like a girl isn’t selfless enough in bed if she isn’t into anal sex. Like she’s not open-minded.
Over the years I’ve found out that I’m a lot more open-minded than most people. But I also know what I like and don’t like because I’ve been open minded enough to try things out. And do my research.
Research, of course, that most people in the church will tell you is wrong. But coming out of the church, there’s a whole lot to be said for learning about sexual compatibility. Or you could wind up stuck with a partner who won’t even consider your preferences.
Through experience I’ve learned that some people are seriously set in their ways about sex. That’s how one ex, Mr. INTJ was. But INTJs are pretty much the old men of MBTI and this one wasn’t particularly mature for his age. Cough, 42. Which meant he had all the rigid behavior of an old man but couldn’t compromise much for the needs of others. Like me, his girlfriend.
We were not sexually compatible. We enjoyed our time together outside of the bedroom, but were into different things in bed. It’s not like I don’t have my own kinks, but his were nearly in direct violation of mine. He enjoyed talking about getting me pregnant. During sex. Nope. Nope.
Not my thing.
Just… no.
I like listening to music in bed, but I only know that because I’ve experimented. And some guys don’t like any music! Or some don’t like mine. Mr. INTJ didn’t like music with lyrics, which is mostly what I prefer. Hint: one of my favorite songs for sex is Simple Math. Perfect, right?
Despite my many years of inexperience, I’ve dated a few people who say I put too much of an emphasis on sex in a relationship. But I’d say those are also the people who don’t like to talk openly about sex.
The truth is, sex is a very important aspect to me. But keep in mind, I know what it’s like to believe sex is bad and evil. It’s not like I’m making up for lost time, but I do take sexual expression and freedom very seriously after leaving that shame and guilt behind me.
Besides, physical touch is one of my love languages.
Still, I can’t just do it with anyone. The demisexual in me isn’t DTF.
And that’s okay. I am alright with being out of place among Christians and secularists.
I know I don’t exactly fit into this whole made-to-order dating app world since I need to sense a deep connection first. The numbers are just a piece of my story, but they don’t give the big picture. For a long time, having sex was about gaining experience and shedding my shame.
Today, it’s all about the relationship and depth of connection.
The point here is simple. You don’t have to get hung up on what your partner’s numbers might mean. Instead, you could talk to them about what they do and don’t mean, and how the meaning has changed over time.
In the end, it’s just like the song says: Simple math, it’s how our bodies even got here. | https://medium.com/awkwardly-honest/how-many-sexual-partners-are-too-much-just-right-or-not-enough-8c6ca6f88f1d | ['Shannon Ashley'] | 2019-01-12 16:06:53.324000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Sex', 'Dating', 'Religion', 'Life Lessons'] |
Low-Code Founders: Tracy Smith, founder of Vipii | Low-Code Founders: Tracy Smith, founder of Vipii
Inside the mind of an entrepreneur: our founder of the week tells us about the remote queuing solution he developed on Bubble to reduce physical queues in stores and lower the number of high-risk interactions.
What led you to entrepreneurship?
I’ve always been attracted to entrepreneurship, that’s why I’ve always done side projects alongside my studies. Even though I have a lot of ideas, I still can’t devote as much time to it as I would like.
I studied product management and am now an IT tech consultant. Although I’m not a developer from the start, I was able to extend my field of action and my skills thanks to Bubble which allowed me to develop new projects such as Vipii.
Can you introduce us to Vipii?
During the quarantine, many local stores had to close, preventing people from obtaining goods they needed. When they reopened, I noticed that people were flocking to the stores and there were a lot of queues, which was not very Covid friendly. I figured that these owners and people were in need of a queuing solution to limit these high-risk social contacts.
After doing market research to see what solutions already existed and especially their prices, I realized that they were not accessible to everyone, especially small businesses. That’s why I decided to develop a cheaper remote queue solution that would be simple to use. This idea is not revolutionary in itself, its real added value is its small price which allows everyone to have access to it in these difficult times.
To benefit from it as a business, you just have to register your venue on the application. As a visitor, all you have to do is search for the store you wish to visit and register directly on its page, without having to signup or download anything. The application then announces you when the way is clear.
What challenges have you encountered?
From a technical point of view, it has not always been easy to take Bubble in hand. Responsiveness and application optimization are particularly hard to achieve. The ideal would be to develop a very complete library of responsive elements in order to save time and gain fluidity, as you probably already have at Cube.
Then, there’s a lot of testing and fixing work to be done to make sure that everything works well, that there are no bugs and that the different solutions used to build the application (Twilio in my case) are well connected. It took me several days of viewing online tutorials, reading manuals and instructions for each solution used to feel comfortable with it.
How was the learning and development process on Bubble?
I liked the tool very much right away. I trained with it for a year and a half and I am now convinced that it will have a major role to play in the future.
Originally, I had some experience in backend development and it helped me a lot to understand how to work with Bubble. On the other hand, the ability to build a responsive application is not innate and I had a hard time with that part. I also had to use code to be able to put all the features I wanted, so I bought plugins and integrated them.
Today, I know that if one day I leave my job to start my own project, I will use Bubble to develop my product because I really appreciate the fast and simple iteration capacity that the tool offers compared to traditional code (with which it takes at least 2 weeks to fix the slightest bug when you can do it in a few seconds on Bubble).
I even talked to some developer friends who tested it, and they really liked the tool. They find that it allows them to focus on the things that really matter and add real value.
What advice would you give to those who are hesitant to embark on an entrepreneurial project?
The most important thing is to take the plunge and get your idea validated before spending too much time on Bubble to build the product. Because you have to be sure that the solution you bring will meet someone’s problem, that there are real needs. Otherwise, it is risky to invest time (and therefore money) in it.
This is true even if you want to develop a simple landing page: you must always have your idea validated beforehand by talking about it to get feedback. | https://medium.com/cube-insider/low-code-founders-tracy-smith-founder-of-vipii-94f37ce425ef | ['Melanie Bialgues'] | 2020-12-29 08:16:14.964000+00:00 | ['No Code', 'Queue', 'Low Code', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Bubble'] |
Israel’s Hegemony Explained: The Case of Palestine’s Olive Harvest Season | Report by NADPLO
Introduction
The annual olive harvest season, a momentous event on social, cultural, and economic levels, is a much anticipated and celebrated occasion that involves whole families and communities across Palestine. There are around one million dunums of Palestinian agricultural land, with around 100,000 Palestinian families benefiting, directly or indirectly, from the olive harvest alone[1]. The olive tree is a symbol of Palestine’s existence, resilience, and potential. Throughout history, Palestinians have continued to harvest their groves and fields to provide the country with olives and oil and celebrate our national identity and connection to our ancestral homeland.
Under the military rule of Israel, the occupying Power, harvesting olive trees has turned into an act of resistance. As Israel continues to grab more Palestinian land to expand its colonial settlement enterprise, and within the past decade alone, the Israeli occupying forces and settlers have destroyed more than 165,000 olive trees, the majority of which are centuries old, causing tremendous economic losses to farmers and the Palestinian economy amounting to $50,849,265[2].
This media brief highlights the Israeli restrictions and Israeli settlers’ violence against Palestinian farmers during the 2020 olive harvest season between October and November.
Access to Agricultural Land
Not only did Israel seize Palestinian land for its illegal settlements, annexation wall, and movement restrictions, but it has restricted the access of Palestinian owners and farmers to further lands that were subsequently isolated and closed with tens of military gates. At least 40,000 dunums of olive trees, in close proximity to Israeli settlements or cut off behind the annexation wall, were declared closed military zones.[3] Palestinian farmers are forced to obtain an access permit that, if granted, would only allow them a limited number of days annually that are not enough to harvest their fields properly. In 2018 alone, Israel rejected 72% of permit requests to Palestinian farmers.
Access to Water Resources
Most olive trees in Palestine are rain-fed. When the rainfall is below the yearly average, Palestinian farmers face drought that causes a substantial olive production decrease. As Israel continues to fully control our water resources and implement discriminatory policies that deny us the right to access adequate water supplies, Palestinian farmers cannot use other irrigation techniques to improve crop generation.
While Palestinian farmers are mainly dependent on freshwater springs and groundwater for irrigation, Israel continues to control more than 150 springs in the occupied West Bank due to ongoing confiscation of privately owned Palestinian lands for the expansion of its colonial settlement enterprise. The groundwater resources also remain under full Israeli control. The largest is the Mountain Aquifer, with about 80% of its water coming from the occupied West Bank. Nevertheless, Israel annually extracts 89% of the water from this aquifer, leaving only 11% for Palestinian use, even less nowadays due to Israeli settlements’ ongoing extractions and the drought over the past ten years.
It is important to note that for irrigation use only, Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank need 250 million cubic meters of water per year, of which they only receive about 20 percent or about 50 million cubic meters. This, in addition to Israel’s colonial-settlement expansion, has provoked a sharp decrease in the agriculture sector’s contribution to GDP in the occupied Palestinian territory, from 36% in 1970 to 9.5% in 2000. In 2019, it was less than 3%.
“If the olive trees knew the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears.” – Palestine’s poet Mahmoud Darwish.
Olive Oil and Israeli Settlement Products
Israel’s olive oil production from its illegal settlements has been growing over the past few years, including in the Arab Syrian Golan and the West Bank in Palestine.[4] The stolen Palestinian produce is, in several cases, then taken to Israel proper to be processed and labeled as “Made in Israel” for all international markets. Other producers are based in illegal Israeli settlements, including “Tura Winery” in the illegal settlement of “Rehelim,” built on lands belonging to the Palestinian village of As-Sawiya, which recently announced what it described as a “historic” move by signing an agreement to distribute their wine and olive oil in the United Arab Emirates. The company’s website offers worldwide shipments, and their olive oil is being sold in Germany, UK, USA, and Hong Kong.
Another Israeli company is called “Land of Choice Olive Oil”, which operates in the illegal settlement of “Shilo” with an olive press located in “Achiya” settlement. According to the company’s website, some of its consumers are prominent Israeli hotels and restaurants, including the Waldorf Astoria in Jerusalem, David Citadel Hotel, and the Dan Hotel. Internationally, their products are available in China, Russia, Switzerland, and the UK. The company has also participated in international festivals used as part of the Israeli government’s propaganda to normalize its illegal occupation.
There is another Israeli producer of olive oil in the illegal colonial installation of “Einot Kedem” in the Jordan Valley. Certified by the Israeli Ministry of Health, it also offers shipments abroad. Other producers operate in the illegal colonial settlements of “Kedumim,” “Nokedim,” and “Elkana.”
The olive trees in “Canada Park”, built over the ethnically cleansed and destroyed Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalu, Bayt Nuba, and Dayr Ayoob in the annexed Latrun Valley is promoted as a touristic attraction. In the eastern part of Bethlehem Governorate, visiting an Israeli settler producing olive oil in the illegal colonial-settlement of “Nokdim” is presented as an “educational and agricultural experience”.
Israeli Attacks
Fully backed and protected by the occupying forces, Israel’s settlers often intimidate and physically assault the Palestinian farmers while in their fields. They also burn and uproot their olive trees and, in many cases, steal the farmers’ produce. The Israeli Human rights organization Yesh Din found that between 2005 and 2019, 91% of investigations into settlers’ attacks against Palestinians and their properties were closed without holding the perpetrators accountable for their terror attacks.
An explicit example took place during the olive harvest season in 2019 in Nablus Governorate that usually accounts for the highest rate of Israeli settlers’ attacks. The Israeli occupying soldiers collaborated with the settlers to disrupt the Palestinian farmers’ work in the villages of Qaryut and a-Lubban Ash-Sharqiya for five consecutive days and deny them access to their lands. During this time, Israeli soldiers defended the settlers of “Eli” settlement and demanded that Palestinian farmers leave their lands using the pretext of a “closed military zone.” When the farmers resisted, Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades and tear gas canisters.
Since US President Trump took office in 2017, Israeli settlers committed over 2,200 attacks against Palestinians and their properties[5]. The year 2019 witnessed the highest rate of settlers violence with at least 48 attacks against Palestinian farmers and their olive trees, half of which occurred in Nablus Governorate, damaging more than 1,700 olive trees[6].
In 2020, since the beginning of the olive harvest season in October, Israeli settlers carried at least 40 attacks, nearly half of them in Nablus Governorate, resulting in the injury of 26 Palestinians, the damaging of more than 1,700 olive trees, and the theft of olive crops of more than 1,800 trees.[7]
Selected Major Incidents During the Palestinian Olive Harvest Season in 2020[8]
On 7 October, farmers from Huwara town (Nablus Governorate) were attacked by settlers who threw stones and beat them up with sticks. The Israeli occupying forces did nothing to the settlers but fired tear gas canisters at the Palestinian farmers. One farmer was pushed to the ground by an Israeli soldier and subsequentially beaten by settlers[9].
On 9 October, Israeli settlers from “Mevo Dotan” settlement, illegally built on Palestinian land south of Ya’bad town (Jenin Governorate), set on fire around 446 olive trees in the nearby Palestinian field. The settlers also prevented Palestinian farmer Rafa’ Abu Baker, a resident of Ya’bad town, from harvesting his field located near the settlement.
On 12 October, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in Burqa village (Nablus Governorate), resulting in light injuries to five of them. At the scene, Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets, sonic bombs, and tear gas canisters at the farmers while the settlers were pushing them out of their lands.
On 12 October, Israeli settlers from “Etz Efraim” settlement, illegally built on stolen Palestinian land in Masha and Bidiya villages (Salfit Governorate), stole the olive harvest. They destroyed the branches of around 60 olive trees, isolated by the annexation wall, belonging to Masha villagers.
On 14 October, Palestinian farmer Khaled Masha’leh from al-Jab’a village (Bethlehem Governorate) discovered that Israeli settlers uprooted 200 olive trees from his field located to the north of the village.
On 12 November, the Israeli occupying forces assaulted with their guns an elderly Palestinian man, Muhammad Salibi, 77 years-old, while he was harvesting his olives in his land near the illegal settlement of “Beit Ain”, illegally built on land belonging to the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar land (Hebron Governorate). Israeli forces brutally beat Salibi after refusing orders to leave his land.
Conclusion
The Government of Israel and its settlers, encouraged by an unprecedented culture of impunity, continue to push the agenda of annexation and forcible displacement/ transfer of Palestinians to further expand their settlement enterprise. To this end, Israeli violence and terror attacks against the Palestinian farmers and fields during the olive harvest season, which has also become a Palestinian symbol of steadfastness, aim to threaten Palestine’s national identity and existence.
It has been four years today since the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 2334 that reaffirms Israel’s obligations as an occupying Power under the Fourth Geneva Convention and the illegality of Israeli settlements. The resolution demands full cessation of Israel’s settlement activities, respect of international law, specifically Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law. It also requires member states to abide by their legal obligation and distinguish in their official dealings between the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.
In addition to holding Israel accountable for its well-documented violations and impunity granted to those responsible for attacking the people of Palestine, the international community has a legal and moral responsibility to ban all Israeli settlement products and services, including, in this case, the settlers’ olive oil production. | https://medium.com/@thepalestineproject/israels-hegemony-explained-the-case-of-palestine-s-olive-harvest-season-23c6ecf4e339 | ['The Palestine Project'] | 2020-12-25 13:09:30.049000+00:00 | ['Military Occupation', 'Palestine', 'Israel'] |
Join “Double Trading Contest with VALOR” to win over $12,000 | We are thrilled to announce “Double Trading Contest” with VALOR token on KyberSwap (round 1) and Smart Valor Exchange (Round 2), with numerous activites and over $12,000 to be won.
After a successful trading contest with Indorse, KyberSwap comes up with another exciting trading contest with Smart Valor. Starting from 13 November to 05 December 2020, this will be several activities in a row:
13–16 November — Learn & Earn: Read the exclusive interview with Smart Valor team, answer a Quiz to have a chance to win $50 reward.
Read the exclusive interview with Smart Valor team, answer a Quiz to have a chance to win $50 reward. 16–26 November — VALOR Trading Contest on KyberSwap (Round 1): Trade VALOR token to win 1/100 prizes with over $9,200 in rewards.
Trade VALOR token to win 1/100 prizes with over $9,200 in rewards. 16–26 November — Retweet Campaign: Follow KyberSwap and Smart Valor on Twitter, tag 03 famous traders, retweet a pinned tweet with #swapVALOR and $VALOR.
Follow KyberSwap and Smart Valor on Twitter, tag 03 famous traders, retweet a pinned tweet with #swapVALOR and $VALOR. 26 November to 05 December — VALOR Trading Contest on Smart Valor Exchange (Round 2): Trade VALOR token to earn more guaranteed prize (total prize pool is $2,000 upto $20,000). Click HERE to read more details.
I — Learn & Earn (ended)
KyberSwap incentivized users to learn about Smart Valor and VALOR tokenomics via an exclusive interview with Smart Valor team. That could be considered as a good preparation for the upcomming VALOR Trading Contest on KyberSwap.
Learn & Earn program ended on 16 November 2020. However, we encourage any participant to read it at least one time to get better trading strategy in the contest.
II — VALOR Trading Contest on KyberSwap (Round 1)
Top 100 traders will share the total prize pool of 25,358 VALOR token (~ $9,200) of rewards. Please note that to accumulate points, one of the tokens traded must be VALOR (any token → VALOR or VALOR → any token). No minimum trade amount. Limit order for VALOR is not available for this contest:
Duration
From 16 November 2020 21:00 to 26 November 2020 00:00(GMT+8)
100 Prizes in total
🥇1st place: 5,510 VALOR (~$2,000)
🥈2nd: 2,755 VALOR (~ $1,000)
🥉3rd: 1,791 VALOR (~$650)
⚡Next 47 places (rank 4–50) — 179 VALOR each (~65 USD)
⚡Next 50 places (rank 51–100) — 138 VALOR each (~50 USD)
How to win
Sign in to your KyberSwap account via email, FB, Google, Twitter, or Telegram. No KYC needed. Perform a token swap, with one of the tokens being VALOR (any token → VALOR or VALOR → any token). No minimum trade amount. Trading amount will be converted to ETH, and for every ETH, the user will be awarded 1 point. Up to 4 decimal places. User must be logged in to KyberSwap in order to accumulate points. No KYC needed.
BIG tip: you can hold 2,000 KNC in your wallet to get 20% more bonus points for every VALOR trade. Trading VALOR on our Android or iOS app will yield you another 20% bonus points.
Download our app on Android / iOS
Click HERE to participate in the Round 1.
III — VALOR Trading Contest on Smart Valor (Round 2)
Moreover, participant in Round 1 can continue their joiney with Trading Contest (Round 2) which is hosted independently by Smart Valor team on their Exchange to earn more guaranteed rewards.
Duration: 26 November to 05 December 2020.
Please click HERE to read more details and participate in the Round 2.
IV — Win even more by retweeting about this contest
10 lucky Twitter winners will also get $30 each after they:
Follow @SmartValorInc and @KyberSwap on Twitter;
Retweet our pinned tweet about the VALOR trading contest.
Tag 3 famous traders in the comments, with the hashtag #swapVALOR $VALOR
Duration: 09 November 21:00 to 29 November 23:59 (GMT+8).
10 lucky winners will be chosen randomly after the contest ends to receive $30 each.
About Smart Valor
Vision: To become the World’s First Token Exchange for Alternative Investments
Mission: “To build the new financial market infrastructure which will democratize access to wealth and make exclusive investments widely accessible.” — Olga Feldmeier, CEO, Smart Valor
Innovators: acknowledged by Forbes as top 10 European most exciting technology start-up, Smart Valor is a team of dedicated professionals with a unique combination of skills in blockchain technology, cryptography, banking, regulation and software development.
Global shapers: for the last years Smart Valor has been shaping the blockchain regulation in Switzerland and around the world. CEO Olga Feldmeier is among the top 100 Digital Shapers of Switzerland.
Acknowledged by leading brands: Smart Valor was selected out of hundreds of applicants as top 5 startups to join Thomson Reuters Incubator 2017–18 in Switzerland.
Community builders and thought-leaders: Smart Valor established Europe’s premier blockchain conference CRYPTO SUMMIT — the 3rd edition became the largest blockchain conference in Switzerland.
VALOR Token
Native Exchange Cryptocurrencies is the new revolutionary way to own the next generation capital market infrastructure. VALOR is the native cryptocurrency of the SMART VALOR exchange. Services related to VALOR token are managed by a Swiss entity. VALOR creates a circular token economy where the value of the token increases alongside the scaling of the platform. VALOR is an ERC-20 Ethereum utility token.
Learn more about KyberSwap
👉🏻Get started on Ethereum with KyberSwap
👉🏻Tips for trading on KyberSwap
👉🏻Follow KyberSwap Twitter Announcements
👉🏻Download KyberSwap iOS TestFlight
👉🏻Download KyberSwap Android App
👉🏻Website: KyberSwap.com
👉🏻Transaction Debugger Tool | https://medium.com/kyberswap/join-double-trading-contest-with-valor-to-win-over-12-000-d1ae1839282c | ['Jason Krystal'] | 2020-11-16 14:57:47.482000+00:00 | ['Kyberswap', 'Featured', 'English'] |
What My Puppy Taught Me About Life (Warning: It is a little gross) | We have the best puppy in the world. Her name is Remy and she is a small black lab. She is funny, sweet, energetic, and beautiful. And….she eats poop.
I tell you this because it has been a source of angst for me since we brought her home. She will eat her own if no one is around and she will hunt down nuggets that have been left behind by other four-legged friends. It’s gross.
When we walk on the beach each morning, she finds little gifts that other dog owners have failed to pick up. This ignites my self-righteous indignation about the thoughtlessness of others. So, my peaceful morning routine has been filled with vigilance and judgment. Nice.
I should also mention that we have tried all kinds of interventions — prescriptions from the vet, over the counter solutions, internet remedies of all kinds. We have exhausted the list of responses and found no way to keep this from occurring.
Last night, when my wife, Marnie, and I were taking Remy for a walk, she turned to me and said “You know, this really is a strength of hers. She has a gift for finding poop.” Something about that way of framing the situation changed everything.
We treated her like a tracking dog and allowed her to go on her search. We followed with flashlights, intercepted when she was close, and picked up the droppings that had been left behind. It felt like an adventure and a community service.
This morning at the beach, I continued the practice. Instead of internally resenting and ruminating about what others had left behind, I simply picked up what Remy found. It was actually kind of fun. As we left the beach, I threw several bags of remains into the trash and actually felt that I had done a little something for others.
Would I rather that Remy stopped engaging in this habit? Absolutely. Do I need to suffer over it? Absolutely not. Would I rather that everyone picked up after their dogs? Absolutely. Am I helpless? Does fueling my judgment help? Absolutely not.
I was struck by how reframing a situation I could not control completely shifted my relationship to it. I am so grateful to Marnie for her ability to do this in so many areas of life. We are not ignoring the reality — we are working with it as skillfully and joyfully as we can.
Don’t we all have situations in life that we wish were not as they are? Don’t we all spend time resenting, complaining, blaming, and ruminating about these? What if we found some acceptance for it? What if we found a response that allows us to let go of some suffering around it? What if we used it as an opportunity to be kind, graceful, loving, or of service?
One of the great truths of life is that there will always be stuff in life we do not like and would not choose to experience. We do not have to pretend that everything is always rainbows and chocolate chip cookies. We also do not have to behave as if we are victims when life is not the way we want it to be.
Whatever is happening in life is our practice field. We can use every bit of it as an opportunity to express our deepest values, to build relationships, and to cultivate well-being — even dog poop. | https://medium.com/@dwmochel/what-my-puppy-taught-me-about-life-warning-it-is-a-little-gross-904862b49be6 | ['Dave Mochel'] | 2020-12-17 20:02:04.347000+00:00 | ['Emotional Wellbeing', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Happiness', 'Stress And Anxiety', 'Mindfulness'] |
Refactoring Aplikasi Flutter Sederhana Dengan Implementasi BLOC | zona284/news_basic_app
A News Basic Flutter application. A few resources to get you started if this is your first Flutter project: [NEW] BLOC… | https://medium.com/@rakhamauludi/refactoring-aplikasi-flutter-sederhana-dengan-implementasi-bloc-226808c78f3d | ['Mohammad Rakha Mauludi'] | 2020-12-20 13:39:20.357000+00:00 | ['Flutter App Development', 'iOS App Development', 'Bloc', 'Mobile App Development', 'Android App Development'] |
The Rules of Stupidly Assigned Roles | I’ll be 73 years old next week, and only now am I starting to understand my dad . . . starting . . .
Author much younger with parents, Image courtesy of author’s private pics
My Father
I miss my dad.
not that whole
dewy-eyed,
sentimental,
made-For-TV
kind of miss him.
Not Disney
or sitcoms
or the
hero of the story
whose kids
all adore him
(though none
of them have any speaking parts
so who can tell for sure?)
I don’t
miss his constant wisdom
(if there ever was any)
or witty
lessons
(if he ever offered any)
and I don’t miss
our long walks/
talks/fishing trips
(because we never had any)
or throwing a ball
or his wise sayings about life
ectetcetc
blahblahblah
I don’t miss the feeling
of being afraid of him
or later,
I don’t miss
feeling glad or bad
about disappointing him,
which were major emotions for me
with him
and are permanent
memories
of our
‘Relationship,’
such as it was.
I don’t miss his corrections,
sometimes
sarcastic and
caustic,
sometimes just
flat-out cruel.
Nor do I miss the very few times
he angrily laid hands on me
his face twisted into
something,
between
exasperation
and hateful rage —
So,
I miss him?
Really?
How? Why?
What I miss
is what I imagine
he and I might have been
together
if our roles,
father and son
hadn’t been so
stupidly
assigned
and accepted —
I miss
how we might have been
friends
if we’d been
just a couple guys,
who met under
different circumstances,
like two strangers
in a bar
flirting with a couple
pretty women,
good looking blond sisters,
and this stranger and I
realizing,
we need to work together
to pull off
anything good
before ‘Last call’.
In other words,
I miss my dad,
my father
not for who he was
but for who we might have been —
I miss the guy
he couldn’t be with me
and I miss
the guy I could never be with him.
The best I can manage now
is to confess that
if all the rules about
loving family
weren’t real
(and I think they aren’t)
I’d still miss my old man,
for reasons I don’t begin
to understand —
or need to.
***************************************
Wikipedia & Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Trueman
The poem My Father is in this book, available at Amazon and some other places like Latahbooks.com | https://medium.com/illumination/the-rules-of-stupidly-assigned-roles-a393ab6727a8 | ['Terry Trueman'] | 2020-12-12 16:23:42.024000+00:00 | ['Childhood', 'Poetry', 'Family', 'Fatherhood', 'Love'] |
Data Virtualization Software Market Research 2020: Key Players- SAP, AtScale, AWS, Informatica, OpenLink Virtuoso, Oracle, IBM | Data Virtualization Software Market
Data Virtualization Software Market: Classification, Opportunities, Types and Applications, Status and Forecast to 2027
The Global Data Virtualization Software 2020 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of Data Virtualization Software Market.
The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions and classifications. The Data Virtualization Software analysis is provided for the international markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.
The report discusses the various types of solutions for Data Virtualization Software Market. While the regions considered in the scope of the report include North America, Europe, and various others. The study also emphasizes on how rising Data Virtualization Software threats is changing the market scenario.
Request a sample Report of Data Virtualization Software Market @ http://bit.ly/39cHc8K
Top Key players@ SAP, AtScale, AWS, Informatica, OpenLink Virtuoso, Oracle, IBM, Vmware, Denodo, Data Virtuality, Red Hat, Stone Bond, TIBCO, and Actifio
This report provides pinpoint analysis for changing competitive dynamics. It offers a forward-looking perspective on different factors driving or limiting market growth. It provides a five-year forecast assessed on the basis of how they Data Virtualization Software Market is predicted to grow. It helps in understanding the key product segments and their future and helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segments.
Key questions answered in the report include:
What will the market size and the growth rate be in 2027?
What are the key factors driving the Global Data Virtualization Software Market?
What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Data Virtualization Software Market?
What are the challenges to market growth?
Who are the key vendors in the Global Data Virtualization Software Market?
What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Data Virtualization Software Market?
Trending factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, APAC, Europe, and MEA.
This unique market intelligence report from the author provides information not available from any other published source. The report includes diagnostics sales and market share estimates by product as well as a profile of the company’s diagnostics business.
The report, focuses on the global Data Virtualization Software market, and answers some of the most critical questions stakeholders are currently facing across the globe. Information about the size of the market (by the end of the forecast year), companies that are most likely to scale up their competitive abilities, leading segments, and challenges impeding the growth of the market are given.
Analysis tools such as SWOT analysis and Porter’s five force model have been inculcated in order to present a perfect in-depth knowledge about Data Virtualization Software market. Ample graphs, tables, charts are added to help have an accurate understanding of this market. The Data Virtualization Software market is also been analyzed in terms of value chain analysis and regulatory analysis.
The report includes six parts, dealing with:
1.) Basic information;
2.) The Asia Data Virtualization Software Market;
3.) The North American Data Virtualization Software Market;
4.) The European Data Virtualization Software Market;
5.) Market entry and investment feasibility;
6.) The report conclusion.
Reasons for Buying this Report:
This report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamics
It provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growth
It provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to grow
It helps in understanding the key product segments and their future
It provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitors
It helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segments
TABLE OF CONTENT:
1 Report Overview
2 Global Growth Trends
3 Market Share by Key Players
4 Breakdown Data by Type and Application
5 United States
6 Europe
7 China
8 Japan
9 Southeast Asia
10 India
11 Central & South America
12 International Players Profiles
13 Market Forecast 2020–2027
14 Analyst’s Viewpoints/Conclusions
15 Appendix
Request a Discount Report of Data Virtualization Software Market @ http://bit.ly/39cHc8K | https://medium.com/@pickachuupika/data-virtualization-software-market-research-2020-key-players-sap-atscale-aws-informatica-a0ee432f2e8d | ['Pickachuu Pika'] | 2020-02-07 04:10:07.893000+00:00 | ['Software', 'Virtualization', 'Data', 'Market'] |
Audio signal feature extraction and clustering | Code
We firstly import all the necessary libraries in our jupyter-notebook. This is mine.
Follow along.
import tensorflow as tf
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd from pyAudioAnalysis import audioBasicIO #A
from pyAudioAnalysis import audioFeatureExtraction #B
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import os #C
#A — This function is used to extract audio data like Frame rate and sample data of the audio signal.
#B — This function is responsible for extracting all the features from the audio signal that we talked about earlier.
#C — This is basically used to iterate through the music files in the file-system.
This is where we get our hands dirty. Let us start with the first point in our objective — Extraction. We start by defining the utility functions.
def preProcess( fileName ): [Fs, x] = audioBasicIO.readAudioFile(fileName) #A
#B
if( len( x.shape ) > 1 and x.shape[1] == 2 ):
x = np.mean( x, axis = 1, keepdims = True )
else:
x = x.reshape( x.shape[0], 1 )
#C
F, f_names = audioFeatureExtraction.stFeatureExtraction(
x[ :, 0 ],
Fs, 0.050*Fs,
0.025*Fs
)
return (f_names, F)
This function takes file name as an argument.
#A — We call the function provided by the library to read the audio data. This returns Fs and x. Fs is the framerate of the audio sample and x is a numpy array representing the sample data that you see in any music editing software.
A visualization of an audio file in Audacity
#B — Did you notice that the picture I provided above has two sample data( The yellow wave live thing ) for same song. This is because it has two channels, one for the right and the other for left (Stereo). But we can only deal with a single channel (Mono). So we basically check if the sample data in fact has data for two channels, and if it does, then we take the mean of the two channel data.
#C — This function extracts all the 11 features that I had listed earlier and returns the feature names and their values in a numpy matrix. The f_names (feature names) will not be really useful as we know which row of the F matrix holds which data. The first argument is the sample data itself. The second and third argument are the window size ( 50 msec ) and step amount ( 25 msec ) respectively.
Lastly we return the the data from this function.
def getChromagram( audioData ):
# A
temp_data = audioData[ 21 ].reshape(
1,
audioData[ 21 ].shape[0]
)
chronograph = temp_data
# B
for i in range( 22, 33 ):
temp_data = audioData[ i ].reshape(
1,
audioData[ i ].shape[0]
)just say you love me
chronograph = np.vstack( [ chronograph, temp_data ] )
return chronographjust say you love me
Like we discussed earlier, we are planning to use only the chronagram feature of the audio signals hence we will separate out that data from the rest of the function.
#A — We pick the “chroma_1” feature from the audioData numpy matrix and create a new numpy matrix.
#B — We loop through the rest 11 chroma and stack them vertically on top of each other.
This is how the final matrix looks like
def getNoteFrequency( chromagram ):
numberOfWindows = chromagram.shape[1] #A
freqVal = chromagram.argmax( axis = 0 ) #B
histogram, bin = np.histogram( freqVal, bins = 12 ) #C
normalized_hist = histogram.reshape( 1, 12 ).astype( float ) / numberOfWindows #D
return normalized_hist
Like we discussed earlier, now we need to find the most prominent note in each window, and then we wish to find the frequency with which each of the 12 notes are hit.
#A — Total number of time frame aka windows. This will be useful while normalization step.
#B — Find the index of the most prominent note in the vertical axis ( axis = 0 ). This gives us a number between 0–11. The output might look something like this:
[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 3, 9, 9, 11, 0 …number of windows]
#C — Now we basically get the count of each note using the inbuilt function.
#D — Finally we normalize the data for the reason we mentioned above. This is the final feature vector which will define our data point. This will be a (1x12) vector — The relative frequency for each of the 12 notes.
Note: The plotting functions are trivial and can be directly copied from matplotlib examples page. You can play around with these functions and different files to see how the chromagram and frequency plot changes with different genre of music.
fileList = [] def getDataset( filePath ):
X = pd.DataFrame( )
columns=[ "G#", "G", "F#", "F", "E", "D#", "D", "C#", "C", "B", "A#", "A" ]
for root, dirs, filenames in os.walk( filePath ):
for file in filenames:
fileList.append( file )
feature_name, features = preProcess(filePath + file )
chromagram = getChromagram( features )
noteFrequency = getNoteFrequency( chromagram )
x_new = pd.Series(noteFrequency[ 0, : ])
X = pd.concat( [ X, x_new ], axis = 1 )
data = X.T.copy()
data.columns = columns
data.index = [ i for i in range( 0, data.shape[ 0 ] ) ]
return data
Nothing special in this, we are just iterating over all the files in the filepath directory. We have finally created a pandas Dataframe out of our feature vector. The reason I prefer pandas dataframe over numpy matrix is because it makes the data look beautiful with column names and indices. I believe in making my work look pleasing so it is totally fine if you disagree and stick to numpy. Here is my dataframe. | https://medium.com/heuristics/audio-signal-feature-extraction-and-clustering-935319d2225 | ['Aakash Mallik'] | 2020-04-10 05:44:51.023000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Clustering', 'Unsupervised Learning', 'TensorFlow', 'Coding'] |
Practicing Minimalism: | In my last article, I talked about “slow living” concept which is getting more and more popular these days during covid outbreak, today we’ll talk about the first step towards a slow living, which is adopting a minimalistic lifestyle.
The rule is simple,
Keep only and only the absolute necessary things that you need in your space.
Quality over quantity.
It's essentially de-cluttering your home and keeping only few things around.
I have always been a person who likes to collect a lot of things in my room and it's all a big mess. Even if I don't need something, I tend to hold on to it and keep it around, for the time when I might need it!
But over the period I’ve realised that this is very ineffective way to lead your daily life, it makes you feel confused, un organized and unfocused.
Plus it makes cleaning your room a pain in the ass.
Minimalism let’s you focus on working on your skills, on learning, earning diverse experiences rather than collecting things, and teaches you getting along with fewer stuffs.
It’s a lifestyle choice for the people who have dedicated their life to a greater purpose, and they need more and more time to work on it, to hone a particular skill, to create new inspiring things.
So this December I've decided to take on minimalism as a lifestyle and to gradually work towards "slow living"
Now don’t mistake me here when I say living slow for being lazy or giving excuse to not working hard!
It’s exactly the opposite,
It’s for making your focus laser sharp, it’s choosing your own battle, your own timeline for achieving things, and which things to achieve too!
I’ve already de-cluttered my space, discarded a lot of things that were just lying around and only kept things which are required for my daily work.
I still have a long way to go with minimalism, but let’s see, I’m taking it up as a experiment.
And experiments are vital to grow in your life..
I'll keep you guys updated with my experiment with minimalism, and my findings and experiences with it.
This is Akash kharote signing off,
Until we meet again! | https://medium.com/@resoluteakash/practicing-minimalism-355bb6ec5679 | [] | 2020-12-14 15:14:32.785000+00:00 | ['Minimalism', 'Less Is More', 'Organization', 'Minimalist Lifestyle', 'Slow Living In The City'] |
How to deploy a cross-cloud Kubernetes cluster with built-in disaster recovery | Kubernetes is hard, but you know what’s even harder? Multi-cloud, multi-cluster Kubernetes, which is inevitably what you end up dealing with when running Kubernetes in production.
Typically you will deploy two clusters at a bare minimum for any production setup: one as the live environment and one for failover (disaster recovery). This may lead you to wonder:
“Why do I need two clusters to handle disaster recovery? I thought Kubernetes has a distributed architecture?”
Correct! Kubernetes is distributed! It’s distributed inside of a single data center/region. Outside of that…not so much.
Typically, to have a “highly available” infrastructure, you end up deploying two clusters (or more), and on top of that you have to deploy automation tools to move and copy applications between the clusters, along with some sort of mechanism to handle failover when a cluster goes down. Sounds like fun, right?
Stick with me, and we’ll walk through a less painful way to handle disaster recovery (and hybrid workloads, for that matter), a method that requires no additional tools, and can be performed with a single cluster.
The Distributed Cluster — MicroK8s and Netmaker
There are three limitations that would typically prevent you from using a single cluster across environments:
Etcd: It is the brain of your cluster and is not latency tolerant. Running it across geographically separated environments is problematic. Networking: Cluster nodes need to be able to talk to each other directly and securely. Latency: High latency is unacceptable for enterprise applications. If a microservice-based application spans multiple environments, you might end up with sub-optimal performance.
We can solve all three problems with MicroK8s and Netmaker:
Etcd: Etcd is the default datastore for Kubernetes, but it’s not the only option. MicroK8s runs Dqlite by default. Dqlite is latency tolerant, allowing you to run master nodes that are far apart without breaking your cluster. Networking: Netmaker is easy to integrate with Kubernetes and creates flat, secure networks over WireGuard® for nodes to talk over. Latency: Netmaker is one of the fastest virtual networking platforms available because it uses Kernel WireGuard®, creating a negligible decrease in network performance (unlike options such as OpenVPN). In addition, we can use Kubernetes’ built-in placement policies to group applications together onto nodes in the same data center, eliminating the cross-cloud latency issue.
So, now we have our answer. By running MicroK8s and Netmaker, you can eliminate complex, traditional, multi-cluster deployments. You can achieve the same results with less work and a more simple architecture.
Enough talking, let’s put this into action!
Setting up our environment
We’re going to use three environments. This ensures that if any one environment goes down, our masters can still form consensus.
You’ll notice that we don’t differentiate between masters and workers going forward. That’s because in MicroK8s, every node has a copy of the control plane, so there really isn’t a distinction.
Our Cluster Layout
Data Center: 2 Nodes (datacenter1, datacenter2) DigitalOcean (region 1): 1 Node (do1) DigitalOcean (region 2): 1 Node (do2)
We have two data center nodes and two cloud nodes which can be used in case of failover.
We’re using DigitalOcean for our cloud nodes because they have the lowest bandwidth costs. Data transfer costs can add up real fast depending on your cloud provider. DigitalOcean’s bandwidth pricing is very reasonable and you should be able to run your cluster without incurring excess costs at all.
All of our nodes are running Ubuntu 20.04, and every node should have WireGuard® installed before running this tutorial.
apt install wireguard wireguard-tools
Node 1: The Seed
SSH to your first node, which will act as the “seed” for your cluster, because it will setup Netmaker and establish the network which will run on the other nodes. This node should be publicly accessible. We’re using do1:
ssh root@do1
snap install microk8s --classic
microk8s enable dns ingress storage
*You’ll note we’re using the built-in MicroK8s storage. For a production setup you will likely want something more robust like openebs, another MicroK8s plugin.
Next, make sure you have wildcard DNS set up to point towards this machine. for instance, in Route53 you can create a record for *.kube.mydomain.com pointing to the public IP of this machine.
After this is done, let’s set up some certs:
microk8s kubectl create namespace cert-manager microk8s kubectl apply --validate=false -f https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager/releases/download/v0.14.2/cert-manager.yaml
Then create and apply the following clusterissuer.yaml, replacing the EMAIL_ADDRESS placeholder with your email:
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
name: letsencrypt-prod
namespace: cert-manager
spec:
acme:
# The ACME server URL
server:
# Email address used for ACME registration
email: EMAIL_ADDRESS
# Name of a secret used to store the ACME account private key
privateKeySecretRef:
name: letsencrypt-prod
# Enable the HTTP-01 challenge provider
solvers:
- http01:
ingress:
class: public
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1alpha2kind: ClusterIssuermetadata:name: letsencrypt-prodnamespace: cert-managerspec:acme:# The ACME server URLserver: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory # Email address used for ACME registrationemail: EMAIL_ADDRESS# Name of a secret used to store the ACME account private keyprivateKeySecretRef:name: letsencrypt-prod# Enable the HTTP-01 challenge providersolvers:- http01:ingress:class: public
It will take a few minutes for the cert manager to become available, so this command will not succeed immediately after the above steps:
microk8s kubectl apply -f clusterissuer.yaml
Now, we’re ready to deploy Netmaker. First, wget the template:
Next, insert the domain you would like Netmaker to have. This must be a subdomain of the DNS you set up above, for instance, if your external load balancer is pointing to *.kube.mydomain.com, you might choose nm.kube.mydomain.com. The template will then add the following subdomains on top: dashboard.nm.kube.mydomain.com, api.nm.kube.mydomain.com, and grpc.nm.kube.mydomain.com.
sed -i ‘s/NETMAKER_BASE_DOMAIN/<your base domain>/g’ netmaker-template.yaml
And now, install Netmaker!
microk8s kubectl create ns nm microk8s kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=nm microk8s kubectl apply -f netmaker-template.yaml -n nm
It will take about 3 minutes for all the pods to come up. Once they are up, go to the dashboard (“microk8s kubectl get ingress” to find the domain):
microk8s kubectl get ingress nm-ui-ingress-nginx
Create a user and log in. You will see a default network:
Delete this (go to edit → delete) and create a new one, which we’ll call microk8s. Make sure the IP range does not overlap with microk8s. We’re giving ours 10.101.0.0/16:
Now we need a key for our nodes to securely connect into this network. Click on “Access Keys,” generate a new key (give it a high number of uses, e.g. 1000), and click create. Make sure to copy and save the value under Your Access Token. This will appear only once.
This is all we need to do inside the Netmaker server. Now we can set up our nodes with the netclient, the agent that handles the networking on each machine.
But first, a MicroK8s caveat! MicroK8s requires node hostnames to be reachable from each other in order to function properly. For instance, if you log into your machine and see root@mymachine, mymachine should be a resolvable address from the other machines. Netmaker will handle this, provided we set our hostnames correctly.
Node hostnames should be of the format nodename.networkname. Since our nodes are on the microk8s network, every hostname must be of the format <node name>.microk8s.
On our “seed node”, let’s set the hostname to do1.microk8s. That way we know it’s a Digital Ocean node.
hostnamectl set-hostname do1.microk8s
Okay, now we’re ready to deploy the netclient:
wget https://github.com/gravitl/netmaker/releases/download/v0.5.11/netclient && chmod +x netclient ./netclient join -t <YOUR_TOKEN> --dns off --daemon off --name $(hostname | sed -e s/.microk8s//)
You should now have the nm-microk8s interface:
wg show #example output
#interface: nm-microk8s
# public key: AQViVk8J7JZkjlzsV/xFZKqmrQfNGkUygnJ/lU=
# private key: (hidden)
# listening port: 51821
We could have deployed the netclient as a systemd daemon, but instead, we’ll use a cluster daemonset to manage our netclient. This allows us to handle network changes and upgrades using Kubernetes.
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gravitl/netmaker/develop/kube/netclient-template.yaml sed -i ‘s/ACCESS_TOKEN_VALUE/< your access token value>/g’ netclient-template.yaml microk8s kubectl apply -f netclient-template.yaml
This daemonset takes over management of the netclient and performs “check ins”.
If everything has gone well, you should see logs somewhat like the following:
root@do1:~# microk8s kubectl logs netclient-<id>
2021/07/13 17:11:16 attempting to join microk8s at grpc.nm.k8s.gravitl.com:443
2021/07/13 17:11:16 node created on remote server...updating configs
2021/07/13 17:11:16 retrieving remote peers
2021/07/13 17:11:16 starting wireguard
2021/07/13 17:11:16 joined microk8s
Checking into server at grpc.nm.k8s.gravitl.com:443
Checking to see if public addresses have changed
Local Address has changed from to 210.97.150.30
Updating address
2021/07/13 17:11:16 using SSL
Authenticating with GRPC Server
Authenticated
Checking In.
Checked in.
The node should also now be visible in the UI.
Nodes 2 through X
For all subsequent nodes our task is straightforward. Run through these steps on each node (one at a time, not in parallel), and be patient: you don’t want to rush through the steps before any previous steps have had time to finish processing.
0. Change the Hostname
On the joining node, run:
hostnamectl set-hostname <nodename>.microk8s
Join the Network
Use the same commands and key you used on the seed node to install the netclient and join the network:
wget https://github.com/gravitl/netmaker/releases/download/v0.5.11/netclient && chmod +x netclient ./netclient join -t <YOUR_TOKEN> --daemon off --dns off --name $(hostname | sed -e s/.microk8s//)
Confirm the node has joined the network with wg show:
root@datacenter2:~# wg show
interface: nm-microk8s
public key: 2xUDmCohypHcCD5dZukhhA8r6BGWN879J8vIhrcwSHg=
private key: (hidden)
listening port: 51821 peer: lrZkcSzWdgasgegaimEYnrr5CgopcEAIP8m3Q1M7+hiM=
endpoint: 192.168.88.151:51821
allowed ips: 10.101.0.3/32
latest handshake: 41 seconds ago
transfer: 736 B received, 2.53 KiB sent
persistent keepalive: every 20 seconds peer: IUobp84wipq44aFGP0SLuRhdSsDWvcxvBFefeRCE=
endpoint: 210.97.150.30:51821
allowed ips: 10.101.0.1/32
latest handshake: 57 seconds ago
transfer: 128.45 MiB received, 9.03 MiB sent
persistent keepalive: every 20 seconds
2. Generate Join command
On the “seed” node, run microk8s add-node. Copy the command containing the private IP Address created by Netmaker:
root@do1:~# microk8s add-node
From the node you wish to join to this cluster, run the following:
microk8s join 209.97.147.27:25000/14e3a77f1584cb42323f39ce8ece0852/be5e4c7be0c6 If the node you are adding is not reachable through the default interface you can use one of the following:
microk8s join 210.97.150.27:25000/14e3a77f1584bc42323f39ce8ece0852/be5e4c7eb0c6
microk8s join 10.17.0.5:25000/14e3a77f1584bc42323f39ce8ece0852/be5e4c7eb0c6
microk8s join 10.108.0.2:25000/14e3a77f1584bc42323f39ce8ece0852/be5e4c7eb0c6
microk8s join 10.101.0.1:25000/14e3a77f1584bc42323f39ce8ece0852/be5e4c7eb0c6
3. Join the Cluster
On the joining node:
microk8s join 10.101.0.1:25000/14e3a77f1584bc42323f39ce8ece0852/be5e4c7eb0c6
Wait for the node to join the network. Here are a few commands to run that will help you determine if the node is healthy:
microk8s kubectl get nodes: should show node in Ready state
microk8s kubectl get pods -A: all pods should be running
microk8s logs netclient-<id>: get the logs of the netclient on this node
Repeat steps 0 through 3 for each node you are adding to the cluster. Be patient. Wait for each node to join the network and cluster before moving on to the next step/machine.
At the end of this process, your cluster and your Netmaker instance should look similar to this:
root@do1:~/kube# microk8s kubectl get nodes -o wide
NAME STATUS VERSION INTERNAL-IP EXTERNAL-IP
do2.microk8s Ready v1.21.1-3+ba 10.101.0.2 <none>
datacenter1.microk8s Ready v1.21.1-3+ba 10.101.0.3 <none>
do1.microk8s Ready v1.21.1-3+ba 10.101.0.1 <none>
datacenter2.microk8s Ready v1.21.1-3+ba 10.101.0.4 <none>
Congratulations! You have a cross-cloud Kubernetes cluster, one that will transfer workloads if an environment fails.
Testing for DR
now that we’ve got our cluster set up, we can test out a DR scenario to see how it plays out. Let’s setup an application that runs in the data center. First, add some node labels so we know which node is which:
microk8s kubectl label nodes do1.microk8s do2.microk8s location=cloud microk8s kubectl label nodes datacenter1.microk8s datacenter2.microk8s location=onprem
Now, we’ll deploy an Nginx application which lives in our data center:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gravitl/netmaker/develop/kube/example/nginx-example.yaml #BASE_DOMAIN should be your wildcard, ex: app.example.com #template will add a subdomain, ex: nginx.app.example.com sed -i ‘s/BASE_DOMAIN/<your base domain>/g’ nginx-example.yaml microk8s kubectl apply -f nginx-example.yaml
Run a “get pods” to see that all instances are running in the data center. This is due to the “node affinity” label in the deployment. It has an affinity for nodes with the label location=onprem.
root@do1:~# k get po -o wide | grep nginx
nginx-deployment-cb796dbc7-h72s8 1/1 Running 0 2m53s 10.1.99.68 datacenter1.microk8s <none> <none>
nginx-deployment-cb796dbc7-p5bhr 1/1 Running 0 2m53s 10.1.99.67 datacenter1.microk8s <none> <none>
nginx-deployment-cb796dbc7-pxpvw 1/1 Running 0 2m53s 10.1.247.3 datacenter2.microk8s <none> <none>
nginx-deployment-cb796dbc7-7vbwz 1/1 Running 0 2m53s 10.1.247.4 datacenter2.microk8s <none> <none>
nginx-deployment-cb796dbc7-x862w 1/1 Running 0 2m53s 10.1.247.5 datacenter2.microk8s <none> <none>
Going to the domain of the ingress, you should see the Nginx welcome screen:
Simulating Failure
Simulating failure is pretty easy in this scenario. Let’s just turn off the data center nodes:
root@datacenter2:~# microk8s stop root@datacenter1:~# microk8s stop
It will take a little while for the cluster to realize the nodes are missing. By default, Kubernetes will wait 5 minutes after a node is in “NotReady” state before it begins to reschedule the pods.
For scenarios where uptime is ultra-critical, you can change the parameters to make this happen much faster.
Check in on the node status:
root@do2:~# k get nodes
NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION
do2.microk8s Ready <none> 77m v1.21.1-3+ba118484dd39df
do1.microk8s Ready <none> 106m v1.21.1-3+ba118484dd39df
datacenter1.microk8s NotReady <none> 62m v1.21.1-3+ba118484dd39df
datacenter2.microk8s NotReady <none> 40m v1.21.1-3+ba118484dd39df
Eventually, you should see the old pods terminating and new pods scheduling on the cloud nodes:
And just like before, our webpage is intact:
So, without multiple clusters or custom automation, we successfully set up a single cluster that will handle DR for us!
Conclusion
What did we learn here?
Scenarios such as DR historically required a multi-cluster deployment A multi-cluster model is not absolutely necessary You can enable multi-cluster patterns with a single cluster Enabling these patterns requires tools like MicroK8s and Netmaker
There are many other use cases this approach enables. For instance, you can burst an application into the cloud, deploy nodes to the edge, or access resources in a cloud environment using a single node. We lay out some of those patterns here.
There are also many pitfalls to consider when deploying this sort of system. The networking can get complicated, and we did not cover what can go wrong, how to fix it, or how to optimize this system.
If you are interested in learning more, check out some of the resources below, or email [email protected].
Resources
https://gravitl.com/netmaker
https://www.wireguard.com
WireGuard and the WireGuard logo are registered trademarks of Jason A. Donenfeld. | https://itnext.io/how-to-deploy-a-cross-cloud-kubernetes-cluster-with-built-in-disaster-recovery-bbce27fcc9d7 | ['Alex Feiszli'] | 2021-07-27 12:44:36.475000+00:00 | ['Cloud', 'DevOps', 'Kubernetes', 'Docker', 'VPN'] |
My journey to becoming a front end developer | Photo by Julien Lavallée on Unsplash
Hello world. after struggling with myself for a long time, finally, I decided to write, write about many things but especially programming. what happened that I became a front-end developer. where do I come from and so on…
I think it worth listening to my story.
First of all, I should say that English is not my main tongue. so sorry if I write a little awkward. But I will learn and improve my skills after a period.
I was born in 1999 at the end of the second millennium. in a very hot and far desert, in South Khorasan, Iran. far from any form of growing new technologies, playing under the beautiful blue sky, grown up with the old type of technologies. as the days passed and I became 12 years old, I should move to another city to study. That days everybody believes that the only way of salvation is to study, learn and then move away, to bigger cities, to better countries. nowadays they have the same opinion.
So I studied hard and went to a school in another city, we went to school the first day of the week and then we come back home at the end of the week. 6 days far from family in the student dormitory. Then my first sparks of inspiration happened. I saw a computer. with a huge case and an unordinary monitor, a big one, with a huge tumor on the back. my friends were hiding CDs in their bags and installing them secretly on the computer and at the night they sneaky went to play. one night I participated in their criminal activities and went to watch a movie. The TERMINATOR, I drowned in every scene of that movie. at a glance I was in love with the computer. some weeks later I saw my friend with a laptop working on a presentation. I saw that he changed the angle of a slide title, at the time I didn't know that a computer can do that much. I found myself more in love with the computer.
At the end of the week, I get back to my homelands. I had a cousin older than me, he was the only man in the family that was able to understand me, I talk to him about computers and my love to them. He said that in their university they have many computers and they are allowed to work with them and use something strange named the internet, an unlimited source of knowledge and entertainment. at the moment I was dying for the computers, suddenly he screamed at me that a professor in their classes teaches them to program the computers, he told me that he built a clock last weak.
For the first time, I saw myself lost in strange feelings I was sad, I never experienced something like that. I knew if I say my father to buy me a computer he will refuse, in that era, the computer was a device that the devil developed to take us to hell with it. only God knows that how much I begged for a computer it took 2 years for my parents to buy me a computer. They bought a Sony Vaio. I can't remember the model but I know that the laptop had 128Mb of graphic/VGA. That was a beast.
For the next year, I searched for the programming books and learning materials that my cousin brought for me. that wasn't enough, I asked for internet from my parents… There wasn’t internet, there was no internet provider. I was disappointed after a month or more, I saw my cousin again, he told me about a new thing, named dial-up. Once again I was filled with hope, I asked for a dial-up modem. They bought it for me, for about a hundred dollars, that was expensive, that money required too much begging. but finally, I had a computer, an internet modem and the best part, the internet connection. can you imagine how much I was happy?
I will continue this journey in another post later.
These days I cooperate with an NGO, to teach boys and girls who are locked in a far and poor zone, to help them catch their dreams and change their future. And that has a great feeling. I'm satisfied and proud.
Good luck dear reader. wish you the best… | https://medium.com/@ammi1378/my-journey-to-becoming-a-front-end-developer-a12f49125c1d | ['Amir Mohammadi'] | 2021-02-07 04:10:52.211000+00:00 | ['My Journey', 'Helping Others', 'Programming'] |
THERE VND THEN | A fashion collective based in HCMC, Vietnam.
Had a privilege to collaborate with the dopest team in town and capture behind the scene outtakes during the fashion shoot we had in Saigon, Vietnam.
____________
Archive:
2018.12.12
A G N U U S H
____________ | https://medium.com/agnuush/there-vnd-then-fashion-editorial-a1d2554e91fb | ['A G N U U S H'] | 2020-11-16 16:51:40.789000+00:00 | ['Backstage', 'Photojournalism', 'Fashion', 'Archive', 'Homepage'] |
Bitfolio — April update | Are we out of the tunnel yet? 🤔
In the past couple of weeks cryptos are gaining momentum again.
Will it last? 🤷♂️ Will it crash? 🙅♂️
We surely hope they will keep growing, but just in case we recommend you to enable “Crash Blinders” in Bitfolio’ settings!
As stated in the last month update, development on the Android app has begun and a web version is under development as well.
Soon you will be able to access your portfolio and check your investment on any device. 🙌
What’s new
We released two big updates in April and finally introduced multiple portfolios support.
And for the sake of our hearts, we introduced “Crash Blinders”, when the value goes below a certain number, better not see it. 🙈
Also introduced in April:
Historical trends
More portfolio insights
Coinmarketcap support
BTC value
What we are working on
Android version
Web version
Exchange sync
In app news
Live tickers
Reports
And much more, check out the Bitfolio roadmap on trello, you can vote on your favorite feature and keep an eye on the development. 👍
Useful Links
Thank you ❤️
We’ve received a lot of feedback and we love it, please keep it going, keep sending feature requests and if you see a bug or an issue, send a complaint! (but please don’t be rude 😉).
Please consider sharing Bitfolio with your friends and coworkers, it would help us tremendously.
Again, thank you ✌️ | https://medium.com/bitfolioapp/bitfolio-april-update-b1708fb5018a | ['Francesco Pretelli'] | 2018-04-30 06:41:45.314000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Apps', 'Bitcoin'] |
Introducing Berlin’s Insane Crypto Market | Intro
The wild and free-spirited Berlin has been popping coins like mints over the past five years. While some of the world’s most powerful countries are struggling to “stay clean” by introducing crypto bans and bulletproof regulations, Germany is on the verge of an “overdose”. Blockchain technologies and digital currencies are supporting a growing community of savvy investors and crypto-related startups hunting for ways to make cryptocurrencies accessible to daily consumers.
With Bitcoin being recognized as “Rechnungseinheiten” aka “units of account” since 2013 by the German Ministry of Finance, the digital currency is subject to value-added sales tax; meaning any profit made from trading bitcoins is seen as income; hence, tax deductible.
Berlin is home to some of the world’s most innovative and profitable crypto companies. Co-founded by 21-year old Dominik Schiener, IOTA is the perfect example of a Berlin-based startup trying to fix the massive computing power consumed by Bitcoin (fun fact: Bitcoin consumes as much energy as the whole Ireland in one year). As automation partners with the Internet of Things to reach new dimensions, IOTA aims to leverage the potential of the IoT to make machines pay each other.
When it comes to gambling with digital coins, Berliners have been caught in the trend long before any other European country. In 2013, The Guardian was the first to name the German capital “Europe’s Bitcoin Capital”. Since then, increasingly more businesses have been dying to make cryptocurrency an alternative payment method.
In Berlin, people book holidays, buy cars and apartments, eat and drink at fancy bars and can even pay for education with digital coins like Bitcoin. Several appealing features of Bitcoin make it an attractive payment method. The main one is the Blockchain technology lying at its core — the decentralized factor, immutability, transparency, and security. Regardless, investing in Bitcoin is not meant for the weak — the price has fallen from a whooping $20,000 in December 2017 to $7,6800 in June 2018 ( the time of writing this post).
In the following lines we’ll talk about the main elements that describe Berlin’s insane crypto market.
The meetups & the co-working spaces
Recently launched this year in March, Full Node aims to become Berlin’s top-notch workspace for Blockchain-based and crypto-related companies, startups, freelancers, investors and more. The mission is to build a community where crypto fans can learn, work, grow together with other companies and jump on the mission to frame the thriving Berlinese Blockchain-based future. Blockchain accelerator and ICO fund Catena Capital launches Cryptotank, yet another co-working hub in Berlin that welcomes crypto enthusiasts to join a close-knit Blockchain-based community.
Because there’s a growing need for Berliners to stay updated with everything that’s happening in the crypto-space, there are several meetup groups that people can join to exchange thoughts and ideas with like-minded enthusiasts. Organized by Brian Fabian Crain, co-founder of Epicenter, Blockchain Meetup Berlin brings together workshops, events, and weekly social meetups to encourage networking in the crypto space.
Berlin’s Blockchain Enablers
Berlin is doing a great job at putting Blockchain and its entire ecosystem up on the open market. Its growth depends entirely on the active contribution of stakeholders eager to jump on the mission, too. Better defined as “Enablers”, these stakeholders are contributing to the expansion and growth of Berlin’s Blockchain Ecosystem.
Who are they?
The Blockchain Hub started in 2015 as a Berlin-based community hub. Three years later, it expanded into a network of independent hubs operating from different countries but sharing the same vision: to spread the word on the potential of blockchain technology, decentralization, and smart contracts. As a non-profit organization, The Blockchain Hub centers on organizing different activities, including workshops and Blockchain-based events for crypto fans and beyond.
German-based multinational software corporation SAP jumped on Blockchain in 2017, when it rolled out its own initiative called “Cloud Platform Blockchain Service Initiative”. The company’s goal: to disrupt industries like digital supply-chain management, manufacturing, and the IoT.
Formed in 2017, decentralized German federation Bundesblock jumps on a journey to promote the technology all across Germany, challenging the current status quo of all Blockchain-related activities in the country. Their mission is to fight for innovation-friendly rules and regulations in the global crypto scenario.
The successful startups
According to a recent report, Germany hosted 300 tech companies that raised an astounding 613.8 million EUR in 2017. The fintech scenario is dominated by Berlin, currently serving a 27% of Germany’s fintech industry, followed by Frankfurt with 25% and Munich with 15%.
Berlin-based startup IOTA broke records in 2014 with its unique concept that leverages an innovative distributed ledger powered by the Internet of Things to empower the global community to develop a new shared economy. The IOTA cryptocurrency quickly grew as one of the most powerful cryptocurrencies on the market. Other successful ICOs in Berlin worth mentioning:
Lisk — Lisk makes decentralized applications easy to deploy and develop on the Blockchain using JavaScript. As opposed to the Proof of Word used by Bitcoin or Proof of Stake used by Nxt, Lisk leverages a simplified integration of BitShares’ consensus algorithm, also known as a Delegated Proof of Stake. This way, all LSK token holders can choose mainchain delegates by voting, thus securing the entire network.
During its ICO, the startup raised $6.3 million in just 4 weeks.
BigchainDB — Blockchain database BigchainDB welcomes developers and companies to deploy apps, platforms, and Blockchain-based proof-of-concepts within a decentralized database that supports a variety of industries including supply chain, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, and the IoT.
Bitwala — Rather new to the decentralized startup scenario in Berlin, Bitwala’s mission is to provide a borderless banking solution that blends both fiat and cryptocurrency. The team aims to launch the product at the end of August, following which the ICO will begin.
Herdius — With a goal to become “a state-of-the-art distributed system”, newly launched platform Herdius aims to take the Berlinese crypto scene by storm with its infrastructure layer built on top of all blockchains. The project aims to tackle issues such as interoperability and identity, as well as develop a decentralized crypto asset exchange. Herdius plans to launch their ICO at the end of this year’s Q1.
The Blockchain-based conferences
In the tumultuous crypto scene of Berlin, networking is key. The German capital prides with a jam-packed community of startup founders, investors, advisors, wanna-be entrepreneurs and avid fans of Blockchain technology, each with their own version of the perfect idea for a decentralized startup.
Scattered across the coworking spaces, incubators, public meetups, and secret gatherings, Berlin’s crypto entrepreneurs never miss an opportunity to connect, talk, share ideas, and form collaborations. To bring everyone together in one place, the Blockchain-based conferences have tremendous traction. If you’re looking for a top-notch Blockchain event to attend, this is where you’ll find the creme a la creme of the crypto world.
C3 Crypto Conference
Over 2,500 participants attended this year’s C3 Crypto Conference in Berlin. The 2-day event gathered over 50 international speakers who jumped on stage to talk about their projects, but also about what the future holds for Blockchain technology. Organized by Paranoid Internet, the conference also covered a trade fair, welcoming crypto enthusiasts to gain insights into a variety of topics like crypto exchanges, ICOs, go-to marketing strategies, and a lot more.
The highlight of the conference was the live pitching event, where selected participants joined a dynamic competition to wow the judges with their ICO ideas. Decentralized project TV-Two, was awarded 1st place (25,000 €) for their TV ecosystem that allows users to earn crypto while watching TV.
BlockShow Europe
Powered by CoinTelegraph, the first edition of BlockShow Europe in Berlin gathered over 3,000 attendees, 93 startups and over 90 supporting companies who participated as sponsors. The international conference covered major topics in today’s Blockchain scene, including “Governmental Blockchain Initiatives within the EU (and Beyond)”, “Next-Gen Blockchain: How Innovators Discover New Dimension of Decentralized Solutions”, “Blockchain in Enterprise Environment: Corporate Giants are Stepping In”, and a lot more.
One of the most interesting aspects of the event was the BlockShow Oscar competition. Shelf.network took home a grand prize of 50,000 € for their idea to develop an asset distribution network powered by Blockchain.
CryptoSpace Berlin
Yet another event exclusively dedicated to fans of the crypto world kicks off on July 9, at Vienna House. CryptoSpace Berlin will focus on talks about the benefits and opportunities of the Blockchain, regulation at a national level, cybersecurity concerns, the sharing economy, and a lot more. International speakers will join the conference to talk about their journey building successful Blockchain-based startups in the tech era. Over 1,000 attendees are expected to join CryptoSpace Berlin this July.
2B Blockchain Conference
Last but not least, the 2B Blockchain Conference in Berlin is scheduled for October 18. The upcoming event is dedicated to presenting the latest trends in Blockchain technology, banking, finance, cryptocurrencies, and other innovations. The conference will feature top keynote speakers (to be announced), an exhibition, a rich networking program, promising projects, and more. Over 300 investors, company leaders, top journalists, regulators, and fans of the crypto world will be invited to join open discussions on “Cryptocurrencies ups and downs”, “Token Sales: Good or Evil”, “Regulation in the field: To Be or Not to Be”, and additional Blockchain trends and uses cases.
The friendly rules & regulations
With the United Kingdom leaving the EU, Germany is getting closer and closer to becoming Europe’s FinTech capital. Frankfurt is well-known for its stable finance industry, but Berlin is big, affordable, vibrant, and better equipped to face challenges linked to one technology in particular: Blockchain.
With projects like IOTA and conferences that amass over 3,000 attendees, Berlin has viable chances of becoming “the world’s Blockchain capital”. We’ve talked about ICOs popping up daily and about weekly meetups in the crypto space. But what exactly makes Berlin’s crypto market so insane? The plain answer: friendly rules & regulations.
In 2017, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, aka BaFin, issued an official statement that covered regulation around cryptocurrency tokens and ICOs. At first, it seemed like a warning targeted at investors; but at a closer look, it was an announcement centered on crypto volatility, permitting everyone to trade cryptocurrency at their own risk. In summary, the interpretation of BaFin’s official statement beats other popular jurisdictions like Switzerland, making Germany’s the perfect domicile to pay with digital coins, found ICOs, and engage in crypto trading since:
“cryptocurrency tokens constitute financial instruments (units of account) within the meaning of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz — KWG).”
What does this mean for the average startup founder and crypto investor? Cryptocurrencies in Germany cannot be harmed by security regulations; putting the country in a better position than the US where digital coins were classified as “securities under the US law”. German regulations on the crypto market are not only softer, but better defined than the Swiss regulations — where, in theory, most of them are securities with a few exceptions for utility tokens made by non-profit corporate structures.
In layman’s terms, in Switzerland there are certain exceptions from the rule. In Germany, all digital coins are “units of accounts” and not securities. Therefore, all crypto exchanges with a physical location in Germany become exchanges of units of account.
What does this mean for an entrepreneur who wants to establish a crypto exchange business? It means you need to get a license; the easiest one to obtain that looks much like a broker’s license. The following 3 criteria must be met:
You need capital to start your business (25k — 200k € )
You need to prove that you have the skills to run the business (e.g. having worked for 3+ years in a bank or have had some leading position in a financial institute)
You need a professional liability insurance policy
The US regulation TheDAO report published by SEC says cryptocurrency exchanges are most likely trading securities that are unregistered; making the practice a criminal offer in the US and you could go to jail for opening a crypto exchange. In Germany, BaFin’s regulation simply makes crypto a Safe Haven for the entire community.
Takeaway
Berlin’s Room 77 is the world’s first bar to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment. It happened back in 2011 when the owner, Joerg Platzer, agreed to accept Bitcoin in exchange for a beer. The German bar is also home to a monthly event called Bitcoin-Stammtisch, where people gather around to talk crypto.
In 2014, Joerg Platzer said that:
“Bitcoin is still an experiment. That’s why I think it is funny that people demand stability. You can’t demand things from an experiment. Just go and pay with your MasterCard if you want stability.” 4 years later MasterCard jumps on Blockchain, too.
Things have changed a lot in the crypto space over the years; and are still changing. Right now, there are museums, coffee shops, and even clothing stores that accept bitcoin as payment. Berlin’s business ecosystem is ruled by ICOs, crypto investors, traders, and fans of the crypto market. The events, the conferences, the meetups, the Blockchain-based businesses, and ultimately, BaFin’s soft regulations, make the city a Cryptocurrency Mecca worth exploring inside out.
Follow us on our Telegram account: https://t.me/occurrency | https://medium.com/occurrency/introducing-berlins-insane-crypto-market-7b5426958567 | ['Georgiana Ghiciuc'] | 2018-06-26 07:45:59.917000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency News', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin Wallet'] |
React Router transitions with Lazy Loading | This guide builds upon my previous guide, where I explain how to get route transitions/animations with react-router-dom and react-pose.
It’s a fairly simple setup. When you start scaling your application, and your code base starts growing, you might want to add some Lazy Loading to the components. With Create React App this is really easy. You just add a Suspense wrapper and import the component the Async method:
const LazyComponent = React.lazy(() => import("./Component")); return (
<React.Suspense fallback={<div />}>
<LazyComponent />
</React.Suspense>
)
However, this breaks the initial route animation when you refresh the page, because the async operation uptakes the single-threaded run time in JavaScript.
So what can we do to fix this? The solution is pre-loading components at an earlier step. This is actually the only solution I’ve found to handle this problem, so bear with me because this might look like a hack.
Before adding Pre-Loading
Click the “Two” page and see how it skips the animation, because the component needs to pre-load before actually animating in.
After adding Pre-Loading
We still get Lazy Loaded components, and the animation is intact.
Implementation
In essence, you need to load all your Lazy Loaded components in a hidden div early in your render prioritization. In this case it’s wise to have your route paths and Components in objects of an array. This way, you can export them to both your actual React Router <Switch> component, and the PreloadLazyComponents.js file.
The timeout of this implementation is for removing the components from the DOM as soon as we know they’ve all been implemented. Also, we’re passing the preload prop to all components being pre-loaded. This is to control that it doesn’t perform any API requests in the sub-components, e.g. Page1.
Imagine that Page1 has a useEffect which calls an API. You don’t want to do this prematurely, so the useEffect would have to be rewritten to
!preload && useAsyncFetch("/api")
Also, your component might be depending on data in a Redux which is not used yet. Therefore, you must make sure that the component doesn’t crash without having the data. I advise that you render the PreloadLazyComponents before rendering anything else. However, this might mean you don’t have your data ready in the components you are pre-loading. I solved this by always checking if the variable exists.
const Page1 = () => {
const user = useSelector(state => state.user); if (!user) return null;
else return <div> page 1 says hi to { user.name }! </div>
}
or
const Page1 = () => { const [ data, setData ] = React.useState(null)
const user = useSelector(state => state.user) React.useEffect( () => {
setData( user ? fetchDataByUserId(user.id) : null ) } return <div>{data}</div> }
Basically, you need to make sure your components can render without data. I solved this by using react-testing-library to add tests for all my components, with an empty state in all my reducers. Of course you can use Enzyme or your preferred library to test this. Just render the component without any expected state and assert that it doesn’t crash.
test(`<Overview/> renders without data`, async () => {
// All reducer states are initial and empty
const store = mockStore(mockInitialReducer);
const { container } = render(
<ReduxProvider store={store}>
<Router history={history}>
<React.Suspense fallback={<div />}>
<Overview />
</React.Suspense>
</Router>
</ReduxProvider>
);
expect(container).toBeInTheDocument();
});
Conclusion
Well, I know a lot of people thinks that this is over-engineered. Having to check all variables on your lazy loaded components is just messy code. Loading a ton of components early in your application just to remove them seems like a hassle. However, if you want to Lazy Load components and keep your beautiful animations on each navigation, this is the only solution I found, by asking a lot of maintainers of these libraries. If you have a better solution, I would love to see or hear about them. | https://medium.com/capgemini-norway/react-router-transitions-with-lazy-loading-a0b5775c2507 | ['Jørgen Lybeck Hansen'] | 2019-11-08 11:55:07.096000+00:00 | ['React', 'Animation', 'JavaScript', 'Router', 'Tutorial'] |
The Gou, the bad and the ugly: what the Peggy Gou furore says about electronic music’s pandemic of misogyny. | Four months ago, I had a rude awakening about the magnitude and virulence of misogyny in electronic music. I knew that women, trans people and non-binary people had always been undervalued in the scene, but I had no idea of just how insidious and widespread the problem was until I witnessed the online response to the death of chronic sexual predator Erick Morillo. Recently charged with rape, he was publicly mourned and celebrated following his passing — even after many victims shared their stories of his abuse, supported by witnesses.
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-udine-v-croto-it-01.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-udine-v-croto-it-02.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-udine-v-croto-it-03.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-udine-v-croto-it-04.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-udine-v-croto-it-05.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-udine-v-croto-it-06.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-udine-v-croto-it-07.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-udine-v-croto-it-01.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-udine-v-croto-it-02.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-udine-v-croto-it-03.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-udine-v-croto-it-04.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-udine-v-croto-it-05.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-udine-v-croto-it-06.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-udine-v-croto-it-07.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-udine-v-croto-it-01.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-udine-v-croto-it-02.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-udine-v-croto-it-03.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-udine-v-croto-it-04.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-udine-v-croto-it-05.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-udine-v-croto-it-06.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-udine-v-croto-it-07.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-udine-v-croto-it-01.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-udine-v-croto-it-02.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-udine-v-croto-it-03.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-udine-v-croto-it-04.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-udine-v-croto-it-05.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-udine-v-croto-it-06.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-udine-v-croto-it-07.html
https://awf.com/fom/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://awf.com/fom/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://awf.com/fom/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://awf.com/fom/Video-udinese---crotone-Seria-b-bopa-i211.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv00.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv01.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv02.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv03.html
https://www.oscarwildetours.com/wild/epo/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv04.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv00.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv01.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv02.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv03.html
https://nm-aa.org/cvo/cxv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv04.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv00.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv01.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv02.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv03.html
https://www.startupeuropeclub.eu/club/duv/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv04.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv00.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv01.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv02.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv03.html
https://awf.com/fom/video-Wolves-v-Chelsea-live-uk-tv04.html
Daniel Wang’s Facebook post this week — describing his elation at the fact that Peggy Gou had moved out of his Berlin apartment building — and the online response to it was a further study in ingrained misogyny. To date, 11,000 people have liked Wang’s laundry list of Gou’s crimes spanning her excessive makeup and perfume, expensive designer clothes and hundreds of pairs of shoes; her alleged ghost producing; kleptomania and mental illness; playing plague raves; planning to donate large sums of money to the club whose part-owner produces her merch; her obsession with Instagram, and lots more. Daniel Wang has 5000 Facebook friends, and 7500 followers on the platform.
By comparison, articles posted over the past four months to Facebook by Mixmag (1.9 million Facebook followers), Resident Advisor (695,000 Facebook followers) and DJ Mag (3.04 million followers) about the decades-spanning sexual assaults by hugely successful DJs Erick Morillo and Derrick May, as told by multiple victims, have received no more than 500 likes each.
The fact that Wang’s post received 22 times as many likes as the sexual assault stories speaks volumes about what people, and mostly men, see as the most pressing threat to our industry. Not the ongoing abuse of thousands of women, but the “unfair” success of one. All this fuss over a successful woman’s diva-like, possibly abusive behaviour, her social media savvy and the fact that maybe she’s not as good a DJ or producer as hundreds of blokes who have been toiling away in the shadows for years. Diddums.
I have mentioned this week that I was under the impression Wang was a decent guy based on my recent communication with him and according to many other people who I believe to be good judges of character. I don’t necessarily think that Wang is a misogynist, but the language in his post certainly is, as well as being ableist, and the fact that he has allowed and even encouraged so much flagrant sexism and misogyny in the responses to his diatribe severely undermines his argument that he is an ally of women.
There seem to be several other accounts supporting the idea that Gou has been unpleasant and even abusive. You would hope that such behaviour would lead to people deciding not to work with her, which would diminish her power in the industry as word of her poor character spread. Her performances at plague raves, especially considering her wealth, and a dodgy planned donation (from Jägermeister, for whom Gou was a brand ambassador, to Sub Club, whose part-owner Usman Khushi was 100% owner of Gou’s merch company) were rightly criticised. But this story is much bigger than Peggy Gou’s bad behaviour, mistreatment of people, or “fake talent”. It’s about the language used in the post, the palpable glee of the mostly male respondents as they sought to tear her down, and the fact that so many of them are chomping at the bit to attack Gou, but won’t say a word about the industry’s worst kept secret, the rampant abuse of womxn.
Wang has sought to defend himself against some of his detractors. But his post, especially the original version before criticism caused him to make some edits, was equally as troubling as Gou’s alleged malfeasance. “I tried my best to be nice to her at first, ignoring the outfits of Escada mixed with Supreme on top of Tommy Hilfiger (anything with a pricey label!!) the bad makeup and overpowering perfume (red alerts for mental illness, hello?),” he wrote. He later said that he was merely painting a picture of her histrionic personality disorder (we’re yet to see a diagnosis from a psychiatrist), but it came across as a petty assault on her appearance, scent and clothes. He shared an anecdote about her alleged theft of Eames chairs while acknowledging that it might be the result of a mental health disorder. He reported that an old friend “says he could tell me who really produced her releases”, going on to say “I haven’t verified that!”, then takes a shot at her DJing via the Berghain booker who supposedly told him, “Peggy Gou was nothing like what we expected. We will certainly never book her again.”
One of her shocking offences while working at a record store in Berlin was “to take pictures of herself among the record bins to upload to Instagram!” Wang was particularly outraged by Gou’s Instagram tributes to the late Mike Huckaby and Andrew Weatherall, in which she was “saying how much they admired HER as a DJ. THAT’S MENTALLY ILL.” First of all, it’s a massive stretch to assign her comments to mental illness, secondly, if you read Gou’s posts, she says many kind things about both men before expressing how much their support meant to her. “Back in 2015, he said he liked my voice and asked me to speak on “My Life With the Wave vol2 ” — this is a privilege that will stay with me forever,” she wrote of Huckaby. Of Weatherall, she said, “He also complimented on one of my mixes that was only few years ago but it meant so much to me and couraged [sic] me to an extent I will never forget that.” I don’t detect any mental illness in those words.
Worse than Wang’s post itself is the outcry that it has provoked, with men (and women, but overwhelmingly men) weighing in on this “talentless Instagram-whore.” Wang has allowed for many of their posts to be published on his own Facebook page, maximising the opportunity for them to be read and shared (he actually said, “Please feel free to share, to screenshot…” in his original post and tagged many industry people to ensure they would read about and hopefully circulate the stories of Gou’s evils).
Vakula, one of the scene’s most notorious misogynists, shared his own experiences with Gou, opening with the line, “I had a close relationship with her as I f… her two time so I agree with every word you say,” going on to attack her “fake” DJing, etc. Wang responds, “Whoooa!!! Thanks for this…”. In the comments, Wang recommends that people watch a section of a video interview with Vakula where he slanders Gou, and likes a comment that praises Vakula for telling “the truth about her behaviour and marketing approach…but at the time, everyone (excepted me, real artists and smart ppl) were unfairly spitting on his [Vakula’s] face…” Other comments liked by Wang refer to Gou as “this bint” and “irrelevant bitch”, and he likes another comment that reads, “Hahaha, psychos are always ‘funny’ somehow (and hateful of course) !”
When one commenter said of Wang, “personally, I hope he keeps this energy and exposes some abusers”, referring to sexual predators, Wang says, “Yes, I have read about and spoken with women who were assaulted by Derrick May. But I have no personal contact or experience with him, so I support the victims, but I cannot speak for them. Based on what I’ve heard, I would guess that he is a true predator. I feel as disgusted by the predators as you are…let justice be served! :)” And yet, when news surfaced about Morillo and May and their many victims, Wang felt no such compulsion to share his disgust on his Facebook or Instagram profile.
I found Wang’s post hard to reconcile with my (admittedly limited) experience with him and the positive things that so many ostensibly good people say about him, and it might be true that his experience with Gou “pushed him to the edge”. But to maintain and revel in the onslaught of vitriol directed at Gou, much of which targets everything but her alleged abuse, is extremely problematic.
So too the responses of other artists I respect, including Detroit-born techno producer and DJ Alan Oldham, someone I was delighted to interview earlier this year. I’ve been bothered by his reaction to the Derrick May allegations, ranging from silence to support (he’s a long-time friend of May), and the comments that he supported on Wang’s post were deeply disturbing. He laughed at a guy who said, “I’d still hit that” of Gou, and at another guy who said, “Classic millennial bitch.” I admired both Wang and Oldham as DJs and producers until this week. Now, as with so many men in the scene who have revealed ugly sides of their character this year, I just feel disappointed in them.
Some of the points Wang raised in his post are valid — I’m no fan of superficiality either, and it’s a shame that there are many DJs far more talented and hard-working than the ones making all the millions, who have the Instagram followers to match. I agree with the sentiments of his closing paragraph: “And I hope that, in 2021 and beyond, we treasure real music-lovers and dancers who do it for all the right reasons — for sheer joy, spirit, community… and not for the money, the cocaine, the attention, and spitting on your neighbors and all the people in the nightlife business who built this crazy thing up from dreams and ideals in the first place.”
But Wang’s claims that he has nothing to be jealous of don’t quite ring true. Gou probably made more money in one year than he did in twenty years of touring. He’s certainly respected as an artist, but he has never received a fraction of Gou’s fame and fortune. Is that unfair? Maybe. But what Wang has incited makes him no better than what he’s accusing Gou of. His post, and the response to it, has simply reminded us yet again of how rampant misogyny is in our scene.
POSTSCRIPT
To clarify for those having fits: I am not absolving Gou of any guilt or responsibility if she has in fact been abusive and I do not think that anyone should get away with abusing others, irrespective of their gender. People who may have been abused by Gou have my sympathy and deserve support. But Wang calling out Gou’s alleged abusive behaviour was not the problematic part of his post. It was the misogynistic and ableist language contained within, the misogynistic responses to the post that Wang sometimes encouraged, and the general reaction to the post versus the reaction to sexual assault stories. If everyone’s so outraged about Gou allegedly abusing people, where was that same energy when stories emerged about the DJ serial rapists and sexual assaulters? There is a plague of them. This was always my main point of contention. | https://medium.com/@ashburnlyman/the-gou-the-bad-and-the-ugly-what-the-peggy-gou-furore-says-about-electronic-musics-pandemic-of-d5cf40eccafe | [] | 2020-12-15 17:00:14.066000+00:00 | ['Media', 'Electronic Music', 'Misogyny', 'Sexism Social', 'Sexual Assault'] |
Illusion | everything is an illusion
the illusion of being loved
the illusion of being accepted
my hands touch my throat and I can’t figure out why the air comes with such pain
the feelings I have bring me shame,
I still fall for the illusion of acceptance
I want to be lost in a crowd
be more of the same
I want to be so common you just walk past me, no side eyes
no head turns
I’ll rather live in the illusion of love
If it means I can stay hidden
there are pictures in my walls, they seem to speak to me
“why are we all here?”
and I don’t know
there’s so much color inside my room and so much space inside my heart but I feel so so weak
I want to be saved by an idea, I want to be fulfilled by the fantasy of love
but it’s ludicrous
there’s no saving
I want the illusion of life
the happy ending we find in books
I want the illusion of things
because I’ve lost the grasp of my reality
and nothing is hard in make-believe. | https://medium.com/@spacewoman/illusion-66f2fd27b245 | [] | 2020-12-17 03:26:36.764000+00:00 | ['Illusion', 'Poet', 'Poetry'] |
Why Are People Often Reluctant to See a Psychiatrist? | People living with mental illness may be eager to seek relief for their condition yet decide to avoid visiting a psychiatrist. Of course, psychiatry is not the only field that deals with the treatment of mental health conditions but it is the institution that specifically exists to diagnose, prescribe treatment for, and treat conditions that psychiatry itself delineates.
Continue reading… | https://medium.com/@samwoolfe/why-are-people-often-reluctant-to-see-a-psychiatrist-5a381044cbfc | ['Sam Woolfe'] | 2020-12-23 11:32:33.388000+00:00 | ['Mental Illness', 'Mental Health Awareness', 'Mental Health', 'Psychiatry', 'Drugs'] |
Ask this bot to solve your dilemmas | Ask this bot to solve your dilemmas
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels (please tell me you got the reference to Hamlet!)
Life is full of dilemma and tough choices for our greatest enjoyment. Well, some might be annoying to resolve. So I present to you the contribution from machine learning in the direction of relieving ourselves the burden of having to make choices in our lives.
You probably have played a popular game named “Would you rather” in which two options are considered and only one should be chosen. It can be between two equally unwanted things: would you rather “lose the ability to feel emotions” or “be physically paralyzed”. It can be between two super abilities: would you rather “control the elements” or “control time”. And so on. The best ones are those that makes the choice so hard, you can’t even decide. But have no fear, algorithms might help you there.
As a fun project for testing out word embeddings, I implemented a neural network which choose between two given statements and called it Pierre Corneille Bot, in reference to the french dramaturgist (1606–1684), well-known for putting his characters in front of undecidable dilemmas. In this article I will go through the steps for realizing this project.
Pierre Corneille (1606–1684). Credit: Giogo, Wikimedia Commons
The dataset
I first built a dataset of “would you rather” style questions. But to turn this into a supervised learning problem, I scraped the data from either.io website, in which you can actually see the vote count of people. On this website, you have a “blue” choice and a “red” choice, and when you choose, the vote count is displayed.
The website is lacking an API or some way to retrieve its database, so I scraped it using python library selenium , which lets you automate a web browser by performing action chains. This code will iterate over the questions on either.io .
Setting a time.sleep(2) is a hacky way to deal with latency from the web browser, waiting for elements to be displayed.
The dataset I collected has 1343 “Would you rather” dilemmas.
The model
With the dataset ready, the supervised task becomes simple: predicting the ratio of blue votes over red ones.
A neural network predicts this ratio and updates its parameters with gradient descent when training on the dataset. Technically, I used a siamese network with LSTM on top an word-level embedding layer frozen to GloVe embeddings.
The model is quite small and trains fast. Even on my old CPU laptop one epoch is done in about 12 seconds.
Epoch 1/20 2686/2686 [==============================] - 13s 5ms/step - loss: 0.1275 - acc: 0.0000e+00
Epoch 2/20 2686/2686 [==============================] - 12s 4ms/step - loss: 0.1165 - acc: 0.0000e+00
Epoch 3/20 2686/2686 [==============================] - 12s 4ms/step - loss: 0.0974 - acc: 0.0000e+00
Epoch 4/20 2686/2686 [==============================] - 12s 4ms/step - loss: 0.0876 - acc: 0.0000e+00
Epoch 5/20 2686/2686 [==============================] - 12s 4ms/step - loss: 0.0828 - acc: 0.0000e+00
[...]
We’ve got some intense learning happening here.
Pitfalls
I ran into various difficulties to implement this project and list here solutions I found to these:
Blue/red choices should be mixed when neural net is training, else it overfits to a specific answer
Use a sigmoid activation function on the output layer, instead of a tanh function, else the neural net choose to never decide (prediction close to 0). This behavior intrigued me, and I’d welcome your insight on this, please feel free to comment!
Testing
The bot quickly overfits to the dataset, as it is small (only a few thousands of samples). On new dilemmas, it tends to predict 50–50 value and cannot really decide. But it depends on cases, and I got interesting outcomes for some, where it was able to make arguable decisions. I noticed the system tends to be more decisive on dilemma with long-sentence options and output 50–50 decisions when options are short sentences, or even words. See some examples here.
The system output favors blue if the number is close to 1, otherwise red if it is close to 0.
Conclusion
You can have fun with Pierre Corneille Bot and try it on your toughest dilemma in live here: https://pierre-corneille-bot.herokuapp.com/ I am also releasing the source of this project under MIT license, you can check the code on my github. I’d be happy to hear your feedback on the bot! | https://towardsdatascience.com/ask-this-bot-to-solve-your-dilemmas-32606a136825 | ['Adam Oudad'] | 2020-11-20 14:07:16.812000+00:00 | ['Would You Rather', 'Hamlet', 'Keras', 'Machine Learning', 'Dilemma'] |
Welcome to the “Unpolished Era” | Originally published in February 2021 on Muse by Clio.
Do you remember when you first encountered Fast Food Twitter? It felt unhinged. It felt risky. But soon, brand mascots swapping postmodern quips about depression started to feel stale. Other companies joined the party and the content became increasingly contrived-which ruined the fun.
Today, we’re seeing this cycle play out at scale. People demand authenticity everywhere, not just on Fast Food Twitter. We’re increasingly suspicious of anything that looks polished or planned-especially online, and especially from brands. This cultural shift will only gain steam in 2021, creating a new brand playbook for what works on social. And what doesn’t.
Authenticity won 2020.
Last year, brands that followed formulas, failed. People mocked corporate soundbites like “in these unprecedented times,” but celebrated grassroots efforts like hand-scribbled window signs on local businesses. When the police killing of George Floyd sparked global activism, actions like Sephora’s commitment to Black-owned businesses resonated, while empty black squares in social rang hollow.
Meanwhile, “unpolished” content reigned supreme online. Cultural critics observed the end of the color-corrected and impeccably staged “influencer aesthetic.” People filled their feeds with indulgent photo carousels of messy, in-between moments. Rather than debate the perfect two-line quip, many wrote captions that felt like journal entries: personal, meandering, and intentionally real.
This makes sense for a year where our work uniforms came to include sweatpants and our offices often doubled as our bedrooms. Maybe people needed a surge of transparency in 2020, and soon we’ll get back to normal. But I don’t think so.
We see behind the curtain now.
The realness we’ve demanded online has extended to the way we talk and think about the role social media plays in our lives. People swap jokes about the “FBI agent” who monitors activity on their phone: “How did my FBI agent know I was looking for toothpaste?!” TikTok users discuss being “on alt TikTok” or “on Harry Potter TikTok.” They interact with content deliberately, attempting to change how the algorithm serves up information.
Our filters for manipulation have become more sophisticated. Though people joke, they’re suspicious. We live in a cynical America, where trust in systems is at an all-time low and documentaries like The Social Dilemma have directed that cynicism to social media. We used to live for Wendy’s snarky Twitter one-liners. But today, attitude alone isn’t enough to keep us hooked.
Perfectly scripted messages, especially from brands, put people on the defensive. That’s why what’s happening on social today is more than a surface-level embrace of scrappiness-it’s a paradigm shift. In transparency, we see the comforting evidence of truth.
So, what does this mean for brands?
Authenticity on social platforms has always been a fine line for marketers: How branded should we be? How should our voice change? Ultimately, brands today need social creative that allows people to put their healthy skepticism aside, and engage emotionally with a message.
There are a lot of different ways a brand can do this well. Netflix uses multiple accounts to give different voices to different parts of its business. It acknowledges that it’s a brand-and we laugh along. The Los Angeles Chargers borrow language and emoji conventions to make captions and tweets feel spontaneous. The Cut “breaks the fourth wall” and acknowledges its audience in captions and stories, making social feel like an extension of its editorial voice. | https://medium.com/@bennerrachel/welcome-to-the-unpolished-era-6bce923e343a | ['Rachel Benner'] | 2021-07-16 12:35:04.994000+00:00 | ['Social Strategy', 'Creativity', 'Advertising', 'Social Media', 'Brands'] |
用 React 和 Electron 開發多國語系的應用程式（i18n） | 首先，完成 React & Redux 的部分
使用 create-react-app 來初始化 React 專案
npx create-react-app react-electron-i18n-example
cd react-electron-i18n-example
安裝 Material UI
Redux
安裝 Redux
npm install --save-dev redux react-redux redux-observable redux-devtools-extension electron-devtools-installer
建立 Redex Store
src/redux/stores/index.js
import { createStore, applyMiddleware } from 'redux';
import { createEpicMiddleware } from 'redux-observable';
import { composeWithDevTools } from 'redux-devtools-extension';
import rootReducer from '../reducers';
import rootEpic from '../epics';
const epicMiddleware = createEpicMiddleware();
const configureStore = () => {
const store = createStore(
rootReducer,
composeWithDevTools({ trace: true })(applyMiddleware(epicMiddleware)),
);
epicMiddleware.run(rootEpic);
return store;
};
export default configureStore;
建立 Redux reducer，並且先建立一個 root 的 reducer 作為範本
src/redux/reducers/index.js
import { combineReducers } from 'redux';
import root from './root';
const reducers = { root };
export default combineReducers(reducers);
src/redux/reducers/root.js
const initState = {};
const root = (state = initState, action) => {
const {type} = action;
switch (type) {
default:
return state;
}
};
export default root;
建立 Redux epic
src/redux/epics/index.js
import { combineEpics } from 'redux-observable'; export default combineEpics(...Object.values({ }));
Container & Component
安裝 React Router
npm install --save-dev react-router react-router-dom react-loadable
建立主要頁面的 container，用來設定 router、props 和 translation
src/containers/AppFrame/index.js
import { compose } from 'redux';
import { connect } from 'react-redux';
import { withRouter } from 'react-router';
import { withTranslation } from 'react-i18next'; import AppFrame from '../../components/AppFrame'; const mapStateToProps = state => ({ }); const mapDispatchToProps = dispatch => ({ }); export default compose(
withRouter,
connect(
mapStateToProps,
mapDispatchToProps,
),
withTranslation(['common']),
)(AppFrame);
src/containers/index.js
import React from 'react';
import Loadable from 'react-loadable';
import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
import { Route, Switch } from 'react-router-dom';
import { startIPCEventListener } from '../event/ipc-event-listener';
import configureStore from '../redux/stores'; const store = configureStore();
// Import IPC event listener
startIPCEventListener(store); const Index = (props) => {
const match = props.match;
const AsyncAppFrame = new Loadable({
loader: () => import('./AppFrame'),
loading: () => [],
});
return (
<Provider store={store}>
<React.Fragment>
<Switch>
<Route exact path={match.url} render={() => <AsyncAppFrame />} />
</Switch>
</React.Fragment>
</Provider>
);
}; export default Index;
主要頁面的 component，這邊將頁面分為上方、左邊和右邊，總共三個區塊，並且在上方和右邊區塊中留有內文變數（t(‘TopBar’) 和 t(‘RightPanel’)），來做為後面切換語系的 Demo
src/components/AppFrame/index.js
import React from 'react';
import { withStyles } from '@material-ui/core/styles';
import styles from './styles';
const AppFrame = (props) => {
const classes = props.classes;
const t = props.t;
return (
<div className={classes.container}>
<div className={classes.topBar}>{ t('TopBar') }</div>
<div className={classes.main}>
<div className={classes.leftPanel}>
</div>
<div className={classes.rightPanel}>{ t('RightPanel') }</div>
</div>
</div>
);
};
export default withStyles(styles, { withTheme: true })(AppFrame);
src/components/AppFrame/styles.js
const styles = theme => ({
container: {
height: '100vh',
width: '100vw',
display: 'flex',
flexDirection: 'column',
},
main: {
width: '100%',
height: '100%',
display: 'flex',
flexDirection: 'row',
},
topBar: {
minHeight: 56,
width: '100vw',
},
leftPanel: {
minWidth: 234,
},
rightPanel: {
minWidth: 234,
}
});
export default styles;
最後完成 App.js 和 index.js 就完成 React 頁面的部分了，接下來就是 Electron 和 i18n 的工作
src/App.js
import React from 'react';
import { Route, Switch, Redirect } from 'react-router-dom';
import { Router } from 'react-router';
import { createBrowserHistory } from 'history'
import Root from './containers';
const history = createBrowserHistory();
export default () => (
<Router history={history}>
<Switch>
<Route path="/" component={Root} />
<Redirect to="/" />
</Switch>
</Router>
);
src/index.js | https://medium.com/@michael-hsu/%E7%94%A8-react-%E5%92%8C-electron-%E9%96%8B%E7%99%BC%E5%A4%9A%E5%9C%8B%E8%AA%9E%E7%B3%BB%E7%9A%84%E6%87%89%E7%94%A8%E7%A8%8B%E5%BC%8F-i18n-eea392eeb7d8 | ['許聖泉 Michael Hsu'] | 2020-04-23 15:45:07.094000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Electron', 'React', 'Redux', 'I18n'] |
Top Importance of Impression Management | Impression management is a key important factor for improvement and success. It is also an effective instrument for handling criticism and negativity.
Photo by History in HD on Unsplash
Impression management refers, the demeanor of any individual that comprises the goal of governing the impression and epithet timbered of that individual by others.
In diurnal life, we try to manage our impression to face the world. People manage their impressions for many reasons.
In his research, Identities, the Phenomenal Self, and Laboratory Research, David J. Schneider mentioned- There are two types of impression; The Calculated Impression & The Secondary Impression The calculated impression means the embodied sum of the presumption a person wants the target to attract from his self-presentation. The secondary impression refers to an undesired impression from target inferences that a person didn’t specifically intend.
‘The calculated impression’ can define more simply as the desired number of impressions from the target by a person from his or her self-presentation. While ‘the secondary impression’ is opposite in the matter of desire because ‘the secondary impression’ is not desirable by the anchor. ‘The secondary impression’ is a more voluntary approach by the target towards the anchor.
Life has two sides. One side is called a personal life, and another side is called a professional life. We all do some roleplay based on situations. The word roleplay is a substitute for impression management.
In our personal life, a roleplaying attitude is not necessary for anyone. But professional life is different from personal life.
In personal life, we all display our real nature. In our personal life, where we can maintain our privacy from the outside, we don’t need to play any artificial role. We can stay in our unique mood in our private life. We appear in our true nature when we stay, meet, and communicate with our family and friends.
Professional life has some guidelines that we all do-follow. The profession is a subject that has a relation with impression management. Profession change or affect individual impression. Nobody will attempt to parade a sullen or gray impression of them in their professional field. In professional life, we can not exhibit the unique nature that we got naturally. In professional life, people have to adapt the different characters to deal with the professional world. To deliver service or govern any specific post, we all act based on our profession. In the profession, an individual will be-restricted from showing his or her real behavior. From a conscious or unconscious mind, we all try to manage our impression based on our trade when we come out from personal life. | https://medium.com/illumination/top-importance-of-impression-management-97df574a92fa | ['Mohammad Hassan'] | 2020-12-26 21:34:36.480000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Education', 'Business', 'Psychology', 'Life'] |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.