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5 Tasks for adaptation communications | THE ADAPTIVE CO: Don’t face your (climate changed) future without them
Climate risk is a team sport. Play to win, with communications and org culture. (Commons image by Pixabay.)
“That can’t be,” said your store manager. “We’ll be fine. It won’t get that bad.”
When you sent him a memo and told him in a conference call and later personally at a meeting, that he and his 100 employees, plus the store’s local service vendors and suppliers, had to align with corporate’s new climate-adaptation plan, he and his principal lieutenants balked.
Oh, they carried out the plan, to some extent — it was that, you said, or else — but with hesitation, unmoved by your presentation, unwilling to go all the way, worry employees, change suppliers, relocate facilities, distract from higher priorities, add operating expenses, hurt their numbers. Go through that much trouble? To avoid a scenario they can’t be confident about?
Up the chain of command, the regional manager agreed. Up a couple of layers, so did the VP at HQ. Some regions, they noticed, were carrying it out better. But most weren’t.
Up further, the board and CEO had approved and launched a TCFD process to assess and disclose the company’s climate risks, which in turn led to the memos, calls and meetings to go beyond disclosure and actually execute a far-reaching, transformative plan.
An ambitious change-management program was underway, but like most at this scale, yours ran into organizational obstacles that flustered results.
And that’s assuming you got the climate science right to begin with! If not, if your TCFD team underestimated the immediacy and severity of tipping points and socioeconomic risks, which McKinsey made clear in this recent report, even full engagement and participation by everyone in the company would be falling significantly short of the adaptation truly needed, and your company would remain at risk.
Because here’s the fine point of it. For a complete adaptation plan to fully protect your company and secure a brand and organization for the climate-challenged future we will all face, you have to go enterprise-wide. The TCFD process is but the start.
When you move to address the risks and capitalize on the opportunities informed by a TCFD assessment, you quickly realize it takes everyone everywhere in the company, mainly because climate impacts happen locally, and your people and suppliers must be ready, as must everyone in the support units up the chain, all the way to the very top.
The trick is overcoming the trouble-confidence equation. Each of your 15 relevant stakeholders — board members, investors, senior leaders, the TCFD adaptation lead team itself, mid-level and unit managers, rank and file employees, suppliers/vendors, collaborators/partners, the upstream and downstream trade, bankers, insurers, the relevant government agencies, communities, NGOs and, of course, your customers—must see the adaptation plan not just as totally up to the task, but also outweighing the pains, costs and hassles of executing it.
That trouble must be seen as far less burdensome than the horrifying troubles (climate consequences) that will befall them and the company if they fail to adapt. And the opportunities, along with the challenge of this entire process, must be seen as an exciting journey, one to welcome, not fear or avoid.
That, in turn, is entirely a communications and organizational-culture exercise, which you can meet by executing five tasks, and that you logically must launch first, so your best-laid plan can be implemented across the organization. It enables the plan, since people must buy in first before they act with the agency, urgency and commitment needed.
This framework is the result of a one-year deep dive I led with a collaborative agency and consulting team at COMMON, a leading global network pursuing global change through social enterprise (my firm is an affiliate), informed by learnings from the Center for Public Interest Communications at the University of Florida, where I’m pursuing a graduate degree.
It is a unique combination, first of its kind anywhere in the world, of the latest climate science and leading-edge behavior science, the latter focused on overcoming human biases, all applied to corporate communications and culture for deep, sustained organizational change. This column provides a summary of the five tasks to implement.
We begin by reiterating the basic principle: this is enterprise-wide, everyone-everywhere change management, but change management you can’t afford to get wrong.
The stakes cannot be higher, and you will likely have this one chance to get it right before climate change spirals out of control later this decade and adaptation becomes moot.
1. Paint a new Future Picture
The very first communications task is to help people envision the future as it will likely unfold from the 2020s to century’s end. The climate science of RCP 8.5 plus tipping points, as McKinsey explains it, yields a future dramatically different from what your 15 stakeholders expect based on what they know from present and past. This is fundamental.
Unable to envision a scenario so unknown or outside their frames of reference, there is no way for them to react appropriately to news of this future and prepare fully.
That’s called the Representative Bias. The Ambiguity Bias, Availability Bias and Status Quo Bias are at work here, as well; when people can’t comprehend something, the natural tendency is to stay in the known and familiar, in what is available to the mind, in your status-quo comfort zone.
Therefore, unless the future projected in scientific reports is decoded and simplified, something news reports generally fail to do, it remains a thick cloud of complexity, and our minds do not think it through.
This has become basic Behavior Science 101. Biases and heuristics (mental shortcuts) get in the way of logic all the time, even when the logic should compel self-preservation and organizational optimization behavior.
Your memos, conference calls and meetings haven’t produced the expected response? Are you presenting the future in ways that overcome these biases? It is a task not to be underestimated, or executed timidly. Biases are very stubborn things. They must be attacked in big and bold, yet nuanced ways.
How? Start by painting a clear picture of this future for your stakeholders. Create a new mental prototype that replaces or complements their present-and-past references in a way that grabs their attention, makes sense to them, and provokes interest. That includes walking them through (decoding) the likely scenarios from here to there.
This can be done with virtual-reality animations, smart videos, art, storytelling, and other communication strategies. Do this creatively enough and deliver it persistently enough to everyone, everywhere, and before you know it your 15 stakeholders will get the new-future message. (More on messaging in a bit.)
This should, in fact, mark the official launch of your adaptation initiative. Brand it, name it, like you would the launch of any product or social brand.
2. Provide Support. Manage Engagement
As your stakeholders become exposed to the Future Picture, you’ll see various reactions. The best one is from those who have been reading the climate news, have grown concerned, and know adaptation is the way to go but have not acted on it.
The Future Picture and your whole adaptation plan will give them what they’ve been longing: clearer information, how it applies to them and the company, a pathway there, and the license and empowerment to get involved. The leaders of your adaptation initiative will likely come from this group across the organization.
In How Change Happens, Dr. Cass Sunstein presents numerous social-change movements around the world that only tipped into acceleration and effectiveness when a critical mass of believers like this was empowered and activated by a trigger event or organized effort. Your plan “movement” would fill that role in this instance.
Then there are those concerned, as well, but not as much. They’ve been passive avoiders this whole time, knowing there’s a climate there-there, but preferring not to go there. They generally suffer from a combination of Optimism Bias and Confirmation Bias. In the first, people can’t help but have a rosy expectation of the future, in dissonance with the truth, and mis-plan accordingly. In the second, they take it one step further and rationalize their choices based only on sources and news accounts that agree, while ignoring actively or subconsciously those that anticipate a more dire outcome.
When confronted with the truth, they tend to fight it by entering the Kubler-Ross Cycle of Grief, which begins with denial and goes through several stages of resistance, until the person accepts the inevitable and moves toward proactive action.
Others are overtaken by fear, which tends to impede the effective action called for in your adaptation plan. It is a neuro-hormonal reaction known as the Amygdala Hijack, referring to the part of the brain that handles stress, in this case blocking the resourcefulness and initiative your people will need.
Some of these reactions will overlap. The mission from a communications and organizational-culture perspective is to manage and redirect them, and that calls for a stakeholder-engagement project that should be placed in the hands of a capable Engagement Team at the company.
What will they do? Several things, and this is not an exhaustive list, instead meant to give you an idea of scope and scale:
Identify, segment and engage people as they start showing their biases and reactions. This entails a robust internal CRM system, similar to CRM programs used for external audiences, mainly customers, but in this case to finely segment all 15 stakeholders, starting with your board, senior team and TCFD team. They are the first who must get the science and Future Picture right to approve, champion and carry out the best possible plan.
Launch a Forum, much like the ones we’ve become accustomed to in social media and corporate intranets. It is a fantastic way for people to connect directly, express what they’re feeling, advise each other, and coordinate collaborations across the organization. Engagement Team members would be there to move these conversations along, flag the folks who need special attention, and connect them with resources that provide it.
members would be there to move these conversations along, flag the folks who need special attention, and connect them with resources that provide it. Run sense-making dialogues. This, too, runs deep in behavior science. It’s a directed process to have people in an organization think through an issue, crisis or challenge. As the name implies, the goal is for a solution to make inherent sense, so that a person will act on it from his/her own agency and volition.
Create and manage an event calendar throughout the year and across the organization— seminars, webinars, conference calls, physical events, others — to communicate your adaptation program and create the sort of personal networking and engagement that leads to bias-breaking understanding and action hubs.
In all of the above and other Engagement Team initiatives, pay special attention to high-transitivity, highly networked influencers and leaders at every level, across all 15 stakeholder categories. Voluminous behavior research shows that difficult change does not happen rapidly or at all — and this certainly qualifies as difficult behavior change!—unless these influencers and leaders buy in and join the effort. Call it Horizontal Leadership, New Power Participation, Connected Networks, or any of its many iterations, the essence is the same: you can flag these folks — using the CRM, and including Sunstein’s activated believers — and get them not just to embrace your adaptation plan, but to do so with leadership zeal, enterprise-wide.
3. Deliver the right Content & Creative
What will the Engagement Team use to communicate? This is where the creative and content parts enter the picture. Other experts would probably have started this column with this. We figure it’s better to first understand the imperative, purpose and mechanics of the Future Picture and Engagement Team, so you may then instinctively place this component.
It’s what a Corporate Communications Department does, along with Public Relations, Investor Relations, Marketing and their external agencies. When a project team is assembled to manage something like TCFD execution and yields a “product” like your adaptation plan, you usually ask these communication colleagues for help in creating the messaging, artwork, creative pieces, media and channel plan, social-media community management, and other such executions, as part of a coherent multi-stakeholder communications strategy. Relatedly, TCFD includes opportunities to innovate and launch adaptation-related products and services, which Marketing is called on to promote and scale.
A tweak on that approach will probably serve you well. Given the highly specialized nature of RCP 8.5 + tipping-point climate science, the science of high-difficulty behavior change, the complex TCFD structure, and the far-reaching, profoundly transformative adaptation process that must stem from it, this is one change-management project better matched with its own, equally specialized communications group. In this column, let’s call it your Messaging & Creative Team.
Again, the difficulty bar is really high. You get one shot to get it right, given the daunting climate-change timing. Better to go with a specialized group.
Much of the daily work, mind you, may still be done by your regular comm resources, internal and external. The big need filled by Messaging & Creative is strategy, direction and coordination. Members will huddle with existing strategists at Corporate Comm, PR and IR to segment the stakeholders and decide on messaging and approaches for each one, a best practice of robust similar efforts. There’s always an umbrella message, but it must be tailored for each audience and delivered across the channels each one uses.
Likewise with artwork and creative, including, importantly, the design of the Future Picture! The Engagement Team, for one, will need a highly coordinated stream of speeches, event materials, sense-making materials, training materials, fact sheets, slideshows and videos for key meetings and presentations, mini-documentary films, on-premise posters and materials, intranet and social-media videos and posts, related news and storytelling pieces, and more.
Taking the Optimism Bias as an example, they’ll use these tools to redirect motivation to a code driven not by outcomes (which the world now knows will likely be dire), but by the four drivers of new climate optimism:
Adaptation as the one big hope.
Doing the right thing — focus on ethics and compassion, not outcome.
Being comfortable focusing on probable scenarios we can envision, instead of fearful blurry outcomes.
Framing the excitement and adventure of facing down this new reality and emerging as one of the brands and companies that drives it.
In pop culture, this is already happening. It is called Hopepunk, explained nicely in this recent article. Again, the hope is in the attitude and adaptation, not in the outcomes. Your Messaging & Creative Team can draw from the storytelling of this popular movement and create something special for your 15 stakeholders.
Because the future will be hard. You’ll want to be one of the corporate beacons of hope, but that hope must be grounded in truth, not based on false expectations that are bound to crash and undermine your business and reputation.
4. Build an Adaptation Culture
To achieve enterprise-wide buy-in, enable everyone everywhere to join with excitement and commitment — from the board and senior team down to the parking attendant and concierge, and over to the most remote supplier — without falling into the uneven, here-yes there-not-so-much gaps of most change management projects, you’ll need a fourth component: an organizational-culture initiative.
There are dozens of models. You may be familiar with or have had a good experience with one or two. If so, wonderful. Perhaps you can apply the model to this challenge. For the sake of illustration, let’s use a framework by NOBL, a leading American org-culture firm and COMMON member. They feature five culture levels:
Environment , the conditions in which your company operates (local economies, competitors, technologies, partners, etc.). Today, no assessment or management of this environment is complete without including our shared climate future using RCP 8.5 and tipping-point scenarios.
, the conditions in which your company operates (local economies, competitors, technologies, partners, etc.). Today, no assessment or management of this environment is complete without including our shared climate future using RCP 8.5 and tipping-point scenarios. Purpose , the reason behind the work you do in response to and within that environment, including the corporate values everyone in the company is supposed to live by. Adaptation should be inserted as one of those values, along with the usual suspects: teamwork, quality, safety, sustainability, others.
, the reason behind the work you do in response to and within that environment, including the corporate values everyone in the company is supposed to live by. Adaptation should be inserted as one of those values, along with the usual suspects: teamwork, quality, safety, sustainability, others. Strategies , the bets you make to fulfill the purpose. The whole TCFD process is designed to land in a strategic planning process that manages every risk and capitalizes on every opportunity. To the extent it’s integrated seamlessly into your pre-TCFD, pre-adaptation corporate strategy, and enhances it to secure an adapted future, you win.
, the bets you make to fulfill the purpose. The whole TCFD process is designed to land in a strategic planning process that manages every risk and capitalizes on every opportunity. To the extent it’s integrated seamlessly into your pre-TCFD, pre-adaptation corporate strategy, and enhances it to secure an adapted future, you win. Structures , the distribution and allocation of resources you need to execute the strategies, including budgets, chain of command, board and C-suite leadership, etc. This step dictates the resources enterprise-wide allocated to your adaptation project.
, the distribution and allocation of resources you need to execute the strategies, including budgets, chain of command, board and C-suite leadership, etc. This step dictates the resources enterprise-wide allocated to your adaptation project. Systems, the tools and steps that align organizational change to all of the above. For new adaptation behaviors, particularly considering the hard-to-break biases you must overcome, this includes such things as employee hiring, training, networking, recognition, Kubler-Ross grief management, and empowerment, plus risk management processes (financial, insurance, socioeconomic, others), facilities management, supply-chain management, IT systems, innovation feedback loops, and more.
Some of this you may already be pursuing in your TCFD or other adaptation process. And just as the Messaging & Creative Team would work with existing internal and external comm folks at the company, so too would this new Culture Team get in sync with your existing efforts and resources, in this case with the objective of scaling adaptation enterprise-wide, and here again, deploying specialized expertise to secure optimized and rapid results.
The Communications and Engagement teams, for their part, would work in total collaboration with Culture, the first to provide the needed messaging and materials, the second to “distribute” the systems, structures, strategies and values to the whole organization.
5. Capitalize on Trigger Events
I mentioned earlier that Cass Sunstein’s How Change Happens research documented how certain incidents and events, most of the time spontaneous and unpredictable, have sparked successful change movements across history by turning theretofore passive believers into a determined mobilization.
People, he discovered, tend to keep quiet about opinions boiling inside, until some event awakens them from passivity and they decide to burst onto the scene. As others do, as well, and they realize the number of silents was far greater than they assumed, they grow in number, confidence and action. So it is within companies.
There is absolutely no reason to believe your employees and other stakeholders have a different belief level than the rest of society, which polls indicate are in large and growing majorities concerned about the present and future effects of runaway climate change that can no longer be solved. This fifth task is one more way for you to take advantage of that and awaken your people into action.
How? Climate-related trigger events happen all the time, mostly across three categories: a) climate impacts themselves (storms, floods, fires, droughts, heat or cold waves, others); b) policy and legal, as when a law is enacted or a judge rules on a related issue; and c) industry and corporate, when you announce a major corporate policy change or a trade association launches a related initiative.
This task would have you assemble a fourth and final group, the Trigger Events Team, to serve like a war room or a rapid-reaction force to: | https://medium.com/predict/5-tasks-for-successful-corporate-adaptation-a49916ef131c | ['Alexander Díaz'] | 2020-03-02 13:49:55.345000+00:00 | ['Management', 'Sustainability', 'Future', 'Climate Change', 'Predict Column'] |
2020: The year in review | Firstly, I hope you’re keeping well and looking forward to the holiday season. This has been a difficult year for many, but I’m pleased to say progress has continued unabated here at Nuggets. In fact, we’ve made some significant strides forward.
We’ve all been working remotely for the past 10 months, with no in-person events since early March. But everyone has adapted well, and the pandemic restrictions haven’t held us back.
Looking back at some of the highlights from the last 12 months, I’m extremely proud of what we’ve been able to achieve — and enormously excited for 2021.
Here’s a quick recap…
Product
Our big product news this year was the iOS and Android releases across Europe in May, and shortly after in Australia. This was a huge step for us: making Nuggets available to any business that wants to protect its customer data. Now, anyone can enjoy the privacy, security and simplicity of Nuggets.
across Europe in May, and shortly after in Australia. This was a huge step for us: making Nuggets available to any business that wants to protect its customer data. Now, anyone can enjoy the privacy, security and simplicity of Nuggets. We also launched our own demo store , which allows businesses to test the platform in a live environment. Any business can download Nuggets and experience the onboarding, log in and payment flows — without sharing or storing their data. It gives potential partners a full overview of exactly how the platform works, and allows them to run through the user experience.
, which allows businesses to test the platform in a live environment. Any business can download Nuggets and experience the onboarding, log in and payment flows — without sharing or storing their data. It gives potential partners a full overview of exactly how the platform works, and allows them to run through the user experience. Our engineering team grew this year — and will again in 2021. As always, there’s been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes.The team has been hard at work on UI/UX, infrastructure and architecture updates, continually improving the platform’s resilience, robustness and functionality. This puts us in a great position for the exciting things we have lined up for 2021.
this year — and will again in 2021. As always, there’s been a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes.The team has been hard at work on UI/UX, infrastructure and architecture updates, continually improving the platform’s resilience, robustness and functionality. This puts us in a great position for the exciting things we have lined up for 2021. In June we created a liquidity pool for NUG on Uniswap, meaning NUG is now available to swap with any other ERC20 token available on the platform.
Partnerships and memberships
We announced our commercial partnership with LexisNexis Risk Solutions in November, after working with them for some time. This is a big one. LexisNexis is one of the world’s largest protectors of private and confidential data, and one of the biggest risk and fraud companies in the world. And this partnership has huge, positive implications for us. Specifically, we’re working together to deliver self-sovereign digital identity (SSI) solutions for existing and prospective customers. There’s more on this on Alastair’s blog.
in November, after working with them for some time. This is a big one. LexisNexis is one of the world’s largest protectors of private and confidential data, and one of the biggest risk and fraud companies in the world. And this partnership has huge, positive implications for us. Specifically, we’re working together to deliver self-sovereign digital identity (SSI) solutions for existing and prospective customers. There’s more on this on Alastair’s blog. We joined the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) earlier this year, complementing our existing membership of the Decentralized Identity Foundation. Formed in 2010 to address the increasing challenges of building trust in online identity, OIX is uniquely dedicated to ID Trust. As a member, we’re collaborating on thought leadership initiatives and getting involved in sector-specific working groups. Fellow members include companies such as Barclays, Microsoft, LexisNexis and HSBC. We’ll also be able to support pilot projects, working alongside other members. For more on OIX, read my blog from September.
Awards and recognition
We’ve done well on this score in the past, and thought last year would be hard to beat. Little did we know! We don’t celebrate these accolades just to show off — they’re important evidence of the impact we’re making.
Let’s start with the awards:
We were nominated for other awards too:
We were named as one of the 10 Best Payments Startups globally in Efma-Capgemini’s Financial NewTech Challenge 2020
globally in Efma-Capgemini’s Financial NewTech Challenge 2020 We were nominated for ‘Best Enterprise Security Product’ at Computing.co.uk’s Technology Product Awards, and were up for a Financial Services Forum’s Product and Service Innovation Award, in the Security category
There was plenty of high-profile recognition for Nuggets too:
Team
Our sales team grew this year, and we were delighted to welcome Ben Geleit as Director of Partnerships and Alliances. Ben’s been driving all the end-to-end go-to-market activity and commercialisation. We’re now working through a number of great opportunities, and hope to reveal more in the new year.
Events and media
We haven’t been to as many events as previous years — for obvious reasons! But we did manage to get to a few at the start of the year.
I took part in a fireside chat as part of the European Women Payments Network Meetup, held at legal firm Allen and Overy’s offices in London in February.
Meetup, held at legal firm Allen and Overy’s offices in London in February. In January, I was invited by MasterCard to speak at Paris FinTech Forum . I showcased Nuggets during a session entitled ‘Building trust in the future with…Data’.
. I showcased Nuggets during a session entitled ‘Building trust in the future with…Data’. I was also involved in a panel discussion at February’s Women in Identity Meetup, where the discussion focussed on ‘Diversity and Identity’.
Meetup, where the discussion focussed on ‘Diversity and Identity’. Our last event before the lockdown was in March, when Alastair took to the stage at London Blockchain Week — twice! On Day One he was on a panel on Decentralised Finance. Day Two saw him discussing data sovereignty on the Decentralised Data Marketplace panel.
Once again, there’s been a huge amount of media coverage throughout the year. We’ve been in titles like CoinDesk, RetailWeek, Cointelegraph (here and here), TechRadar, The Fintech Times, Ledger Insights and Biometric Update, to name but a few. Visit the Media page on our website for a full list of this year’s coverage.
Alastair continued to publish his influential thought leadership articles on Forbes. This year’s highlights included:
What’s next…
With positive news on vaccines, we’re all hoping for a return to some form of normality in 2021. What that will look like is still uncertain, but we’re more sure than ever of the need for Nuggets.
Millions of people have moved large parts of their lives online this year. And this accelerated switch from physical to digital is unlikely to be reversed.
Unfortunately, if unsurprisingly, this has led to an increase in various types of fraud across sectors like banking, payments and logistics. The need for Nuggets is more pressing than ever. We’re in a fantastic position to help businesses and consumers transact safely online, protect their privacy, and take control of their data.
Nuggets has gained real momentum in 2020, and we’re incredibly excited about 2021. We’ll be enabling more partners and customers, and expanding the team. As consumers’ demand to take back control of their data grows, we’ll be able to offer our platform to new customers in more territories.
Thanks again for your continued support, and here’s to a healthier, happier, and even more successful new year. | https://medium.nuggets.life/draft-1-2d390f6ee54a | ['Seema Khinda Johnson'] | 2020-12-18 13:27:46.223000+00:00 | ['Identity', 'Blockchain', 'Payments', 'Fintech', 'Privacy'] |
HTTP Strict Transport Security for FT.com | Since October 2016, when we launched the new site, FT.com has only been available over https:// .
However, we still have many insecure links pointing to our site, leaving users at risk from session hijacking and protocol downgrade attacks.
Over the past few months we’ve implemented the HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) specification on FT.com, to ensure that our users will only ever talk to us over a secure connection.
This is the story of how we got there, and the hurdles we hit.
What is HSTS?
HSTS is a declaration websites can make using HTTP response headers, that tells browsers to only use secure connections when talking to the site.
This is mostly defined in the IETF RFC 6797, but there is one additional directive we use that’s not included, preload .
What is preloading?
We include the preload directive to protect users that make an initial insecure request to FT.com.
It states that we are happy for FT.com to be included in a list of secure sites distributed in all major browsers.
This means that even an initial insecure request will be upgraded to a secure connection automatically by the browser.
For more information on preloading, check out the HSTS Preload List Submission site maintained by the Chromium project.
Our setup
For insecure requests to FT.com, there is only ever a redirect response.
$ curl -I -X GET http://ft.com
Retry-After: 0
Location: HTTP/1.1 301 Moved PermanentlyRetry-After: 0Location: https://ft.com $ curl -I -X GET http://www.ft.com
Retry-After: 0
Location: HTTP/1.1 301 Moved PermanentlyRetry-After: 0Location: https://www.ft.com
But why does http://ft.com redirect to https://ft.com , would it not be one less redirect to send users straight to https://www.ft.com ?
The reason is that you want users to have HSTS policies set for both hosts, which would not be the case if users never visited https://ft.com .
We actually supply two different Strict-Transport-Security headers, depending on the host.
$ curl -I -X GET https://ft.com HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=63072000; preload $ curl -I -X GET https://www.ft.com HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains; preload
Pulling apart the headers, there are a few directives we define.
max-age states how long a user agent should respect the policy. Each new response including this header will reset this time back to the max-age value.
includeSubDomains means this host, and all subdomains of this host should be covered by the HSTS policy.
Finally the preload directive is as we described earlier.
The difference is that we don’t include includeSubDomains for requests to https://ft.com . This is very intentional.
There are a number of legacy systems at the FT using subdomains that don’t support secure connections. There are also a number of other subdomains that are secure, but the teams running them may not be prepared for HSTS.
This combination of headers and directives means that we limit this policy to only ft.com and www.ft.com and all its subdomains (i.e. *.www.ft.com ), while still allowing insecure connections to several *.ft.com subdomains.
The hurdles
We started launching the new site long before October 2016, but have only started to declare HSTS support since January 2018. Legacy systems running on www.ft.com were the main hurdles we had to work with.
Biggest of them all was the old site, in launching we gradually rolled out the the current FT.com to a percentage of users until we hit 100% in October 2016. Until then we needed to support insecure connections for the previous FT.com.
We also had a number of systems running off www.ft.com under various paths that didn’t support secure connections. One such example was the previous live blogs system, which was updated to work over secure connections.
For your typical site, you cannot get onto the preload list unless all requirements are met. However, we don’t actually conform. After sending a kind email to the HSTS project asking for an exception to be made for FT.com, we can now protect our users while working on the long tail of subdomains.
What’s next?
Serving the includeSubDomains directive on requests to https://ft.com is the ultimate goal.
Our user facing sub-sites like myaccount.ft.com and markets.ft.com will be our next focus to start protecting.
Longer term, rolling out HSTS to the many hundreds of domains that belong to FT Group will not be trivial.
Making it the default for new domains, however, is a no-brainer. | https://medium.com/ft-product-technology/http-strict-transport-security-for-ft-com-68b3cb689e37 | ['Samuel Parkinson'] | 2018-03-06 14:48:05.310000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Web Development', 'Security'] |
How to Extract Sentences from a String in Python with NLP | NLP can do a lot of powerful things these days, and today we are going to apply it to separating any string into its component sentences. Before you start worrying about how long this is going to take, let me assure you: this is going to be incredibly simple. Allow me to show you.
Install the API client we are using with this command:
pip install git+https://github.com/Cloudmersive/Cloudmersive.APIClient.Python.NLP.git
Then our function, segmentation_get_sentences, must be called, which you can set up as follows.
from __future__ import print_function import time import cloudmersive_nlp_api_client from cloudmersive_nlp_api_client.rest import ApiException from pprint import pprint # Configure API key authorization: Apikey configuration = cloudmersive_nlp_api_client.Configuration() configuration.api_key['Apikey'] = 'YOUR_API_KEY' # Uncomment below to setup prefix (e.g. Bearer) for API key, if needed # configuration.api_key_prefix['Apikey'] = 'Bearer' # create an instance of the API class api_instance = cloudmersive_nlp_api_client.SegmentationApi(cloudmersive_nlp_api_client.ApiClient(configuration)) input = cloudmersive_nlp_api_client.SentenceSegmentationRequest() # SentenceSegmentationRequest | Input string try: # Extract sentences from string api_response = api_instance.segmentation_get_sentences(input) pprint(api_response) except ApiException as e: print("Exception when calling SegmentationApi->segmentation_get_sentences: %s
" % e)
Now let’s input a long string with multiple sentences and let the API work its magic. Our return will include an array containing the constituent sentences. | https://cloudmersive.medium.com/how-to-extract-sentences-from-a-string-in-python-with-nlp-fde920fcac72 | [] | 2020-06-06 03:17:24.063000+00:00 | ['String', 'Extract', 'NLP', 'Python', 'Sentence'] |
3 Ways to Use the Sun to Your Advantage | As the sun sensibly shines down on Earth in the day time, besides providing sunlight around the world so we can see the beauty around us and to warm us up a bit, there are 5 other ways that you can use the sun to your advantage.
1.Vitamin D — Besides vitamin supplements, milk and salmon, the sun is your best source of Vitamin D on the planet. The ultraviolet B rays from the sun is the key. Once they make contact with your skin, it also makes contact with cholesterol in the skin, which then provides energy for Vitamin D synthesis to happen. Definitely around noon, when the sun is at its highest peak, is the best time to expose yourself to the sun for Vitamin D benefits: stronger bones, teeth and muscles.
2.Mood — To feel more calm and focused, the sun aids in increasing the release of serotine in the brain. This hormone is the key to improving your mood. In addition, serotine is a key to decreasing depression.
3.Lower Blood Pressure — When sunlight hits the top layer of the skin, which stores nitric oxide, it causes the blood vessels to expand. This expansion is what causes your blood pressure to lower.
Because of the pandemic, many of us is subjected to locking ourselves in our homes and seldomly coming out, unless it’s urgent. Getting some sunlight can definitely make us smile a little more through this tough time in the world and improve our health in the process.
Smoak Firewood — Kiln Dried Premium Oak Firewood (Includes Firestarter) (Large (16inch Logs) 60–70lbs)
Nintendo Wii Black System HD Ready + Wii Fit Plus, Balance Board Mat Bundle
Resources:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-from-sun#:~:text=The%20Sun%20Is%20Your%20Best%20Source%20of%20Vitamin%20D&text=When%20your%20skin%20is%20exposed,for%20optimal%20health%20(2).
https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/benefits-sunlight#mental-health
https://www.flushinghospital.org/newsletter/can-exposure-to-the-sun-affect-your-blood-pressure/#:~:text=Recent%20studies%20have%20indicated%20that,in%20turn%2C%20lowers%20blood%20pressure. | https://medium.com/@jasondickson-14791/3-ways-to-use-the-sun-to-your-advantage-328ae5d0875e | ['Jason Dickson'] | 2020-12-24 04:43:56.491000+00:00 | ['Space', 'Sun', 'Noon', 'Astronomy', 'How To'] |
Facebook is Shiri’s Scissor | There are a lot of reasons to hate Facebook.
They collect data on you, and sell it. They even do it when you’re not logged in to Facebook. They do it even if you don’t have a Facebook account. They manipulate their users with political bias. Their advertising algorithms promote virtual redlining, which is about the clearest possible example of “systemic racism” I can think of, given that it’s a system which requires no actual racist individuals to perpetuate. Their users are more vulnerable to identity theft. They lie to their advertisers, allegedly. They lie to Congress, allegedly. The Russia thing is popular these days.
That’s a lot of reasons. One might argue that many of those aren’t intentional, they’re just a function of the impossibility of managing and operating a platform as big as theirs. But you must admit, that’s way more reasons than MySpace had when it tanked.
But even all those reasons, in aggregate, are barely a scratch compared to the magnitude of the next one. To understand it, we need to spend a little time parsing ubernerd horror fiction.
Grokking the Scissor
Halloween 2018, a (thoroughly fictional) anonymous and highly distressed reader (this isn’t real) sent Scott Alexander (Slate Star Codex) a whale of a tale to put on his blog. (Scott wrote the story) The narrator of the story was a software developer in a software advertising company. Their firm had cooked up an idea that they should use deep learning artificial intelligence algorithms to discover the most controversial statement possible.
You should really go read this thing and come back. It’s fabulous. But if you’re time constrained, I’ll give you the gist in quotes.
[…] We trained a network to predict upvotes of Reddit posts based on their titles. Any predictive network doubles as a generative network. If you teach a neural net to recognize dogs, you can run it in reverse to get dog pictures. If you train a network to predict Reddit upvotes, you can run it in reverse to generate titles it predicts will be highly upvoted. We tried this and it was pretty funny. I don’t remember the exact wording, but for /r/politics it was something like “Donald Trump is no longer the president. All transgender people are the president.” For r/technology it was about Elon Musk saving Net Neutrality. You can also generate titles that will get maximum downvotes, but this is boring: it will just say things that sound like spam about penis pills. Reddit has a feature where you can sort posts by controversial. You can see the algorithm here, but tl;dr it multiplies magnitude of total votes (upvotes + downvotes) by balance (upvote:downvote ratio or vice versa, whichever is smaller) to highlight posts that provoke disagreement. Controversy sells, so we trained our network to predict this too. The project went to this new-ish Indian woman with a long name who went by Shiri, and she couldn’t get it to work, so our boss Brad sent me to help. Shiri had tested the network on the big 1.7 billion comment archive, and it had produced controversial-sounding hypothetical scenarios about US politics. So far so good.
Let’s pause the story for a moment, and talk about artificial neural networks, or ANNs. I have no training in these things save one grad school class a decade and a half ago, and I’ve never used them since. I’m no genius, but I can present a muggle’s view of how they work.
Image Credit: (link)
You have nodes. The data in the nodes on the left-hand side is input, like college football statistics. Just slap them in. Then there are layers of hidden nodes, each of which houses a mathematical function, with several variables you can monkey with like twisting a knob. Each operates on its input, turning it into a different number, and passes that number on to the next node. Maybe another hidden node, maybe the “output layer,” which is the answer you’re looking for, like the score of a college football game. Sometimes the node structure can be set up in a tangled way.
You input the statistics for the 2017 Alabama Georgia game, and it gives you the wrong score, so you go back into each of the nodes and monkey with those knobs until it gives you the right score. Then you stick in the statistics for the 2014 Clemson Syracuse game and it gives you the wrong score, so you tinker with the knobs again until it can spit out the score for both games reliably.
But since computers think very fast, you feed it every college football statistic from the last 50 years, as well as every result, in computational batches. You write another program to tweak the knobs for you, and you hit ‘go.’ Let it optimize for a week and it’s learned to predict college football scores, within some confidence interval. If Vegas hasn’t done this yet, call me.
The Shiri’s Scissor story is about building a network of these little nodes that takes the topic or title of a reddit conversation, runs layers of mathematical functions, and estimates how controversial the statement would be. Then, as the story goes, they run it backwards to generate perfectly controversial statements.
I’m not sure the ‘backwards’ thing really works, particularly in this context, but it’s a story so we suspend our disbelief and move on.
[…] Shiri’s problem was that she’d been testing the controversy-network on our [corporate] subreddit, and it would just spit out vacuously true or vacuously false statements. No controversy, no room for disagreement. The statement we were looking at that day was about a design choice in our code. I won’t tell you the specifics, but imagine you took every bad and wrong decision in the world, hard-coded them in the ugliest possible way, and then handed it to the end user with a big middle finger. Shiri’s Scissor spit out, as maximally controversial, the statement that we should design our product that way. We’d spent ten minutes arguing about exactly where the bug was, when Shiri said something about how she didn’t understand why the program was generating obviously true statements.
Here, the story gets creepy, because nobody in the room thought the idea was at all controversial until they started sharing their views of it with each other. When they did, they get into the conversational equivalent of an Asian Land War, which ends with Shiri’s termination of employment as well as another coder named David who sided with Shiri in the argument.
Only after that, did they realize that yes, indeed, Shiri’s Scissor (as they called it) had worked.
On them.
They had inadvertently discovered their first “Scissor Statement.” A statement so controversial it was guaranteed to tear a social group apart. Their social group. And they could train the AI to any data pool.
They called up DARPA and told them they had a superweapon. Shiri and David sue the company for wrongful termination. The company destabilizes Mozambique for the Army demo. The CEO gets in a fistfight with David, and the company is destroyed because of the one internal leak of that one original Scissor Statement, about how they should write their code. Ripped each other apart over an AI derived statement of maximum controversy. The story continues,
[…] We got off easy. That’s the takeaway I want to give here. We were unreasonably overwhelmingly lucky. If Shiri and I had started out by arguing about one of the US statements, we could have destroyed the country. If a giant like Google had developed Shiri’s Scissor, it would have destroyed Google. If the Scissor statement we generated hadn’t just been about a very specific piece of advertising software — if it had been about the tech industry in general, or business in general — we could have destroyed the economy.
The narrator gets a new job doing something unrelated, sits on what he knows, and hopes the whole thing has blown over.
[…] Then came the Kavanaugh hearings. Something about them gave me a sense of deja vu. The week of his testimony, I figured it out. Shiri had told me that when she ran the Scissor on the site in general, she’d just gotten some appropriate controversial US politics scenarios. She had shown me two or three of them as examples. One of them had been very specifically about this situation. A Republican Supreme Court nominee accused of committing sexual assault as a teenager. This made me freak out. Had somebody gotten hold of the Scissor and started using it on the US? Had that Pentagon colonel been paying more attention than he let on? But why would the Pentagon be trying to divide America? Had some enemy stolen it? I get the New York Times, obviously Putin was my first thought here. But how would Putin get Shiri’s Scissor? Was I remembering wrong?
The narrator rebuilds the Scissor in his spare time and confirms that not only was Kavanaugh in the list, so was Kaepernick, the Ground Zero Mosque, and the gay wedding cake baker. The story doesn’t mention the North Carolina transgender bathroom law, but I imagine it would qualify. Topics which are obviously true or obviously false until you speak to someone else who holds the opposite opinion.
[…] If you just read a Scissor statement off a list, it’s harmless. It just seems like a trivially true or trivially false thing. It doesn’t activate until you start discussing it with somebody. At first you just think they’re an imbecile. Then they call you an imbecile, and you want to defend yourself. Crescit eundo. You notice all the little ways they’re lying to you and themselves and their audience every time they open their mouth to defend their imbecilic opinion. Then you notice how all the lies are connected, that in order to keep getting the little things like the Scissor statement wrong, they have to drag in everything else. Eventually even that doesn’t work, they’ve just got to make everybody hate you so that nobody will even listen to your argument no matter how obviously true it is.
This may sound familiar, in the wake of the midterms.
[…] You guys, who haven’t heard a really bad Scissor statement yet and don’t know what it’s like — it’s easy for you to say “don’t let it manipulate you” or “we need a hard and fast policy of not letting ourselves fight over Scissor statements”. But how do you know you’re not in the wrong? How do you know there’s not an issue out there where, if you knew it, you would agree it would be better to just nuke the world and let us start over again from the sewer mutants, rather than let the sort of people who would support it continue to pollute the world with their presence? […] Delete Facebook. Delete Twitter. Throw away your cell phone. Unsubscribe from the newspaper. Tell your friends and relatives not to discuss politics or society. If they slip up, break off all contact. Then, buy canned food. Stockpile water. Learn to shoot a gun. If you can afford a bunker, get a bunker. Because one day, whoever keeps feeding us Scissor statements is going to release one of the bad ones.
Great ending. Super spooky. I love it.
It’s bullshit of course. The technology wouldn’t work. Reddit is not a great database to do this sort of thing because what divides people in controversy is more complicated than a title, so you’d need the AI to understand what it was reading. Also, it’s difficult to run these things in reverse and get results that aren’t nonsense.
But that got me thinking, if that doesn’t work, what could work?
Dr. Evil’s Folly, a Love Story
Dr. Evil wakes up one day, hungover from a late-night bender of attaching laser beams to the dorsal fins of ill-tempered sea bass. Typical Monday. And he says, “my nukes are wet, my ICBMs are rusted, my germ warfare division wet the bed in the ’08 crash, and there’s no such thing as a Nude Bomb.”
“What could I do to destabilize all of Western Society? I need one of them Shiri’s Scissor things. Except real.” And he sets to putting it in motion.
Evil Inc. Software Development Plan:
The first big problem with the fictional account of Shiri’s Scissor is that AIs really aren’t that good at giving us cohesive, creative results. They’re either one or the other. It’s either emulating results it’s been trained to emulate, or it has these creative outbursts that are sometimes compelling but still very foreign to humans, such as disturbing eyeball dogs.
Image Credit: Google Deep Dream, recovered from here.
So Evil Inc. breaks the problem into layers, with humans serving as nodes in the ANN. Evil Layer 1 is the content layer, where 1000 highly trained creators constantly spit out the most controversial content possible to serve to Layer 2. And because Evil, they pay these creators on commission based on how controversial their content is.
Evil Inc. then populates Layer 2 of the ANN with humans as well, but because Evil, they get these nodes off Craigslist.
A million of them.
Each content evaluator node is set up with a computer, an outrage feed from Layer 1, and a button that says “outraged” or “not outraged.” Then the ANN nodes are crosslinked, so any content flagged as “outrageous” gets forwarded on to another node in the layer. The same content might spill through multiple nodes, depending on how outrageous it is, increasing the commission for the people working in Layer 1.
Then, because don’t forget Evil, they decide they’re not even going to pay these poor sops from Craigslist. They hook a tiny IV to each of their arms, that injects an extremely small dose of a drug cocktail brewed up by Evil Inc. It’s a weak blend of heroin and cocaine, polished off with a chemical warfare thing from the 1970s that converts the concoction to pure unpolluted dopamine. But it’s a tiny dose.
The Craigslisters end up spending all their spare time giving Dr. Evil free labor in return for the dopamine hit, because they develop an addiction.
To tune this human powered Shiri’s Scissor, Evil Inc. sets up an algorithm where unused connections between the nodes fade out, and heavily used ones grow stronger. After this optimization, the most possible outrage will travel through the system. This causes the outrage evaluation nodes to bunch up. The tighter the groups draw, the better they can zero in on the outrage.
For the final evil architectural choice, they up-connect Layer 2 to Layer 1 in the hottest bunches, feeding the most outrageous content back to the content layer for reprocessing. It is the perfect outrage engine, and it takes Evil Inc. a decade to develop.
When Dr. Evil is finally ready to go live, he looks out the window of his volcano lair, and to his shock and dismay Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey beat him to it, with a human powered outrage engine a thousand times bigger.
Barely a Scratch
This is what Facebook and Twitter are, except with every media outlet in the world providing the content layer, on advertising commission, and nearly two billion dopamine addicted users providing the evaluation layer, for free.
Read that again.
They didn’t do this on purpose. It’s nobody’s fault. They made platforms for people to share cute videos of their cats, and that remains a large part of the content, but buried within it is Shiri’s Scissor.
The content layer is made of creators in the media which are paid by the click, view, or subscription. The evaluation layer consists of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media users, who get a tiny dopamine fix every time someone likes their post. They operate exactly like a neuron in a brain. They catch stories via their dendrites, which is their social media feed. If it outrages them, they share it, which fires it down their axon to other dendrites in the network.
This is the procedure ANNs simulate. Facebook and Twitter are simulating it too, almost identically.
Image Credit: Wikipedia, annotated
Then the social media platform adjusts itself to populate your feed with stuff you’re more likely to share, and its learning algorithms strengthen these connections into what Dr. Evil knows as his tuned subclusters of nodes, but what we know in the media as echo chambers. The echo chambers are a result of social media neuroplasticity.
This is what Dr. Evil’s optimization engine might look like, but we know through social media data analysis as an “echo chamber.”
And then for the icing on the cake, Twitter users can occasionally feed outrage back up the chain to the media, which can then literally run outrage stories to feed to the evaluation layer about Twitter feeds. Like this:
It’s all there, right down to the dopamine cocktail drip.
It doesn’t feed us the perfect, AI derived Scissor Statement, but it feeds us the nearest possible analogue, constantly, in real time. The ugliest feature about Zuckerberg’s Scissor is that by the time it’s identified the perfect Scissor Statement, the statement is already deployed, because the target destabilization group for the Scissor Statement is the Facebook users themselves.
And this isn’t just speculation. A 2011 study in the Journal of Marketing Research farmed a month of New York Times articles and did an analysis on this very topic — “what goes viral.” After controlling for variables such as article placement, author reputation, time on the front page, and such, they determined that anger and anxiety were two of the top three predictors for secondary article sharing. This is the Scissor at work. You can track it with mathematics.
Were they to replicate the analysis for 2018, which is far more toxic than 2011, and for Vox or Fox instead of the Times, and for Facebook and Twitter instead of email sharing, I suspect the profile would be tremendously worse.
This is a recipe for disaster. What happened in Myanmar can happen anywhere. It’s not “bad actors,” it’s the system itself. Everybody needs to quit using these things. | https://medium.com/handwaving-freakoutery/facebook-is-shiris-scissor-e78413457d2c | ['Bj Campbell'] | 2018-12-13 18:53:38.474000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Facebook', 'Culture War', 'Social Media', 'Culture'] |
Connecting to Agora with Tokens — Using Unity | Security within video chat applications is necessary now that remote working and virtual events are part of the workplace. In the Agora platform, one good way to add a layer of security on your stream is to add a token service. A token is a dynamic key that is generated using a set of given inputs. The Agora platform uses tokens to authenticate users.
In this tutorial, you learn how to fetch an Agora token from a web service running an Agora token server, using Unity and C#.
To jump straight to a full working example, see the following repository:
The project in this repository with the token example is video-sample-token.
Prerequisites
An Agora developer account (see How To Get Started with Agora)
A basic understanding of C# and Unity
Unity
An Agora token server, either local or remote (see Agora Token Service)
Project Setup
Create a Unity project by following the steps in the Quickstart Guide, or go straight to the example project on GitHub.
A previous article on how to create a token server can be found here. To quickly launch a token server, this GitHub repository has all the necessary code laid out:
When you have your token server set up, you need to generate and fetch a token into your application. This tutorial shows you how to do this with Unity.
Fetching the Token
You need to determine the full URL to reach your token service. In my example, the service is running on the local machine, which is why I’m looking at "http://localhost:8080/..." . I’m also using my-channel as the channel name and 0 as the userId.
The example found in the Agora-Unity-Quickstart project calls a method found in tools/RequestToken.cs:
The FetchToken method above makes a request to the token server and passes the response as a string into the callback method. The callback method allows greater control of how to handle the received response. For example, in one instance you might need to connect to the channel. Or you might use the method within the OnTokenPrivilegeWillExpireHandler event to update the token for a channel you’re already connected to.
I’m using UnityWebRequest for the GET request. For information on this class, see Unity’s documentation on UnityWebRequest.Get.
Connecting to a Channel
Connecting to a channel with a token in Unity uses the JoinChannelByKey method, like so:
mRtcEngine.JoinChannelByKey(channelToken, channelName, "", 0);
Staying Connected
Tokens have an expiration by design. Once a user’s token expires, they are removed from the channel. Using the example token server, the token lifetime can be set as a default value by the token server or as a parameter sent in the request.
Once the user connects with the token, they will need to keep that token updated to remain in the channel. In order to have an uninterrupted session in the channel, the OnTokenPrivilegeWillExpireHandler is called 30 seconds before a token is set to expire. From there you can contact the token server again and request an updated token. The returned token can then update the current status of the user with IRtcEngine.RenewToken().
Here’s an example of the token expiring handler and RenewToken being used in C#:
Testing
Full Example
Other Resources
For more information about Agora.io applications, take a look at the Agora Video Call Quickstart Guide and Agora API Reference.
I also invite you to join the Agoira.io Developer Slack community. | https://medium.com/agora-io/connecting-to-agora-with-tokens-using-unity-13a4a9c9cb02 | ['Max Cobb'] | 2021-03-01 18:35:44.209000+00:00 | ['Video Call App', 'Agora', 'Rtc', 'Unity', 'C Sharp Programming'] |
Automation Testing Expectations | Introduction
Many companies try, struggle, fight, and many ultimately fail at adopting a successful test automation strategy, and as a result come to the wrong conclusion that test automation doesn’t work, when in fact, it is just not effective in the way they are trying to implement it. One main reason I have seen test automation fail, is due to unreasonable expectations or expecting the wrong things from automation. So, with that being said, and in order to avoid these common pitfalls, here are a few recommendations you can follow.
Define Realistic expectations.
Clarity of the benefits.
Make sure everyone is onboard.
Identify what’s good to be automated.
Pick the right automation strategy.
Define Realistic Expectations
You can expect your automated tests to save your team time, and the headache of having to test everything manually. However, you cannot completely rely on automation when it comes to software testing as not everything can be automated, or even should be. When you automate testing, you are really just having a computer program checking the system in ways that were predetermined ahead of time, but humans are still needed to do the non-automated aspects of testing. Also, keep in mind that you must have your manual testing done before, at least the test designs, so that you know what you’re automating in the first place. Crawl, walk, then run!
It’s important to remember that the value of an automated test comes from the information that it uncovers about software quality, not from the number of tests executed, nor the frequency with which they’re run. What’s essential is to obtain the right information that will be shared with the team upon which they can make critical business decisions. So, don’t expect that by automating everything, all of your problems will disappear.
Additionally, once your automation is done, there will still be a considerable amount of man-hours required to maintain scripts due to application changes, data updates, etc. Automation is hardly a “set it and forget it” way to test.
Targeting 100% Automated Testing
We all know that 100% testing is not possible. This is directly proportional to the design of the test, and the application development. It is advisable to aim at functionality of the testing that is what matters most to any organization. There is no automation tool that is able to do everything. Therefore, at the level of a simple test it's not difficult to automate, but at an integration level with several more sophisticated tests, that requires different test types, it will become complicated.
Even if you managed to automate all of your testing (which as it was mentioned it is unlikely to happen), you still need testers around to manage those automated tests. The application is constantly changing and growing, and as a result, you’ll need to update your tests as the application changes and add new tests as well. On top of that, it’s not usually cost effective to automate all of your testing. Non-functional testing aspects like usability, layout, accessibility and more, are incredibly difficult and expensive to automate all aspects of. Typically, it’s much cheaper to automate parts, and manually examine the rest.
Clarity of the Benefits
One of the biggest myths about test automation is that automation will create a downfall in the number of resources. Test automation tools will need people to support and script development. Test automation cannot replace manual testing. Manual testing is absolutely essential. Since test automation will follow manual testing, it needs to really embody this perspective. So, it’s not correct that in an organization automation will reduce your manual team.
What ends up happening, as a result of this misconception, is that managers and companies do not get the value they were expecting out of automation. They were expecting major cost cutting in personnel, but that didn’t happen. So even if you have succeeded in writing a fantastic framework, and automating all the things, you’ve failed. Instead, you need to set the expectations properly. No, we’re not going to fire all the testers, instead we’ll use their time more efficiently. Because what you will find is that when you don’t need to test X all of the time given it is automated, you can finally get around to test Y. We have limited time, and I have never met a tester who has enough time to test everything they want, automation can enable them to free up some time to get that overlooked work done. That in turn produces greater test coverage, which can lead to a better (and hopefully lower) risk profile when it is time to release.
A side effect of being able to expand coverage, is that more bugs should be able to be found sooner. This in turn saves money.
This added automation can also reduce development time, whether it is by speeding up CI, fewer deploys to QA, or even just a shorter regression cycle; it is an immediate productivity boost for everyone. While these things will take time to achieve, there are benefits, just not the ones your boss might be expecting. So it’s important to make sure to outline the real benefits, especially if you hear people expressing the wrong expectation. Reducing the repetitive tasks will also enable the team to perform better, impacting positively on their motivation.
Make Sure Everyone's Onboard
For any project to be successful, it needs the full support of all of the people and areas involved. Maybe, instead of your boss being the one to insist on implementing test automation, it’s the other way around. Perhaps you need some help to get the team and your leaders to realize the value of test automation. You might also need to get your developers on board with getting in the habit of automating unit tests, as those will give your team the greatest bang for your buck.
If that’s the case, you can present some information about the possible return on investment of test automation.
Remember to be very transparent with the team and make sure everyone shares the same realistic expectations that you set for the automation project. Don’t mislead them by asserting that automation doesn’t require much effort and resources upfront, because it certainly will.
Identify What's good to be automated
Now that we know that not everything can or should be automated, that begs the question, what should we automate?
Automation is particularly useful when your software has accumulated a lot of technical debt, when tests are very time consuming, and when you are working with several complexities, in a long-term context.
That's why, most teams start out by automating smoke tests, followed by regression, given the situation in which they already have a defined test suites that must be executed periodically before each product release. In this case, the effort to run them manually becomes repetitive and takes time away from other tasks that are not as easily automatable, yet highly valuable, like running accessibility tests.
Pick the Right Automation Strategy
More important than any tool you may choose to automate with, it’s important to follow a well-thought-out strategy to guide your automation. There are two that I’ll mention here: the test automation pyramid and risk-based testing.
Test Automation Pyramid
The agile test automation pyramid improves the ROI of automation and sets a guideline for receiving the most benefits from it.
The pyramid states that most testing should take place in the development stage, with developers running their own unit tests after every build. These tests are the easiest, cheapest, and fastest to complete. Here, any existing bugs will have the shortest life span, as developers can find and remove them almost immediately. After running unit tests and all of them pass, the pyramid suggests moving into the API/integration/component testing phase.
This is where the logic and business processes are tested without having to go through the UI. Compared to testing on the UI level, here you’ll have fewer problems, easier maintenance, and faster test execution. Lastly and least often, automate some UI tests. Run as few of these as possible since they’re the most costly, time-consuming and fragile. Be careful with these tests as they are the most likely to provide false positives and negatives. After reaching the top of the pyramid, manual and exploratory testing can be conducted.
Risk-Based Testing
Along with the test automation pyramid, it’s a good idea to consider risk-based testing. This test strategy places a higher priority on testing elements of the system that are the most at risk of failing and whose failures would be most critical to the business.
To get started with this strategy, it’s needed to run a risk analysis to decide which test cases to automate, taking into account different factors. For categorizing tests by priority, a widely used method is MoSCoW, which is an acronym for Must, Should, Could and Won’t. Once the priority of the tests has been established, it’s advisable to check them every once in a while, given that the business or client requirements might change.
Final thoughts
Having a successful automation project is not only about selecting an automation tool and starting coding. Sometimes it is even more important to have everyone on-board with clear/specific expectations and targets. Defining the right Strategy is as important as the experience of the automation engineers and tool selected, so, do the homework before starting, and do not rush to the code. | https://medium.com/globant/automation-testing-expectations-bfd377117279 | ['Franco Santi'] | 2020-12-21 12:30:23.215000+00:00 | ['Automation Testing', 'Testing', 'Automation Software', 'Test Automation Strategy', 'QA'] |
About Me — Mary DeVries. I write. I wander. I read. I remember. | About Me — Mary DeVries
I started writing my first novel at age eight. It was about a family of pencils that came alive at night and wandered around the classroom having various adventures. I was several chapters in when a well-meaning adult asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.
“I want to be a writer. In fact, I’ve already started writing my first novel,” I told her.
“Oh, that’s so cute. Being a writer is hard work you know. Most people never make it.”
This was news to me. I had assumed the only tough part about writing was plot development and getting the words down on paper. I went back to my half-written opus with a new and critical eye. Was this really worth publishing?
I put it and my dreams of being a published writer aside for several decades. I still wrote plenty I just rarely shared it.
No more. I’m embracing my childhood dreams. I’m writing for me but I want to share it with the world.
If you want to get to know me, read my writing. I’m sharing more about who I am each day.
I’ve lived a variety of experiences so I write on a variety of topics. Humor, Parenting, Medium Specifc and General Writing Advice, Travel, Self Help, Aging, Relationships, Loss of a Loved One, Practical Advice, and Topical Commentary.
Click on any of the above to go to a listing of the stories I’ve written on these topics. Be warned, just like in life, the categories are a bit blurred. My travel stories may involve parenting lessons. My topical Commentary may include self-help advice. Almost all of it involves at least some humor.
Here are some of my favorite things I’ve written. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Sign up here to receive an email from me once a week with links to my latest writing so you don’t miss a thing. | https://medium.com/about-me-stories/about-me-mary-devries-dab33e4078d1 | ['Mary Devries'] | 2021-02-25 17:23:04.625000+00:00 | ['Writer', 'Introduction', 'About Me'] |
Overfitting (What They Are & Train, Validation, Test & Regularization) | I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus because I’ve been busy with school and other things and I’ve been spending time learning more ML/DL stuff. Here’s another article! We’ll explore what overfitting is, why it is bad, and the solutions that exist to reduce it.
What Is “Overfitting”?
We must first review what a typical machine learning task looks like. I explained in a previous article that, in a typical machine learning task, the researcher divides the dataset. There are two methods people like to go about doing this.
Train & Test
This method is simple: divide the data to a separate training set and a testing set. The training set is where the machine learning algorithm learns from and the testing set is the one used to evaluate the performance of the program. I like to keep a 4:1 ratio, 4/5 of the data dedicated to training the program and 1/5 of the data dedicated to testing the program. The separate testing set should be foreign to the machine learning algorithm and the purpose of it is to test if what it learned can really go out and do useful things accurately(e.g. making predictions on data). The researchers would have to make sure the testing data contains no data that the program has seen previously in the training phase, as otherwise it’d be a skewed test (like giving a test to a student when the student has already seen the test and studied from it).
Train & Validation & Test
This is a similar idea but we have another component: “validation set”. The testing set serves the same purpose: testing the program in the end to gauge its performance as statistics for others to review. Unlike the testing set, the validation set is a dataset that the program will encounter. Here’s the thing: in the training phase, the program could be learning all the wrong things. When we learn concepts, we also make mistakes — we might sometimes extrapolate from what we are studying and convince ourselves about all the incorrect ideas about the world. Programs are prone to do the same thing — recall that all these programs have as teachers are only separate programs that tell it if its guess was right or wrong and forcing it to learn from its mistakes. The validation set comes in to tell the program in the middle of its learning phrase to test if it’s doing the right thing. If it is not, and it keeps getting the predictions wrong in the validation set during the training phase, we know something is going wrong in the learning process and we can fix the necessary hyper-parameters. After its training from the designated training set and the validation set that tests the program and makes it learn from more data, the testing set comes in just like before to test how well the program performs and the program should not learn from its mistakes in the testing set (because that implies even more learning and its performance might be a lot more different after learning from the testing set).
Overfitting
I mentioned a little about mistakes a program can make during the training phase, in analogy to how we learn ourselves. This learning error is largely attributed to what is called “overfitting”. The following image from an Andrew Ng’s lecture makes it clear what overfitting is:
From here.
Forget about the complicated looking math formulas below and just simply look at the graph. Refer back to the article about SVM to view this in context of having decision boundaries; in this example, we want to make it so that if a new unseen data point is on the right of the decision boundary, it will predict to be blue and it will predict to be red if it is on the left.
The given here is that the second graph shows the best decision boundary. Most people should feel that this type of curve represents the best division between blue and red points, albeit small exceptions. Consider the first image. It does a pretty nice job of dividing the dataset but it could be better; a linear line is not the best decision boundary for this particular dataset.
The third graph is what we would say is representative of the program overfitting to the training set. Recall that the primary objective of a machine learning algorithm is to minimize mistakes. In the training phase, the program makes guesses and improves upon its mistakes to better guess in the next data points it receives. So what it will naturally incline towards is the third image. Notice that in the third image, everything on the right of the decision boundary is blue and everything on the left of the decision boundary is red; it technically performs better than the classifier in the middle. But something doesn’t feel right about it.
Generalizing
Your gut feeling is right; the problem is that it does not generalize. We want to train a model that ultimately predicts the category of a future data point. We see that with the learning shown in the third image, this is difficult. We need to accept that datasets have outliers and must strive towards understanding the general patterns that emerge from these data points instead of fitting to every single one of them; if we agree that the second graph is the better model to learn, there are a number of points in the third graph that we would think to classify to be blue but the model in the third graph would not.
Very often, this is the mistake that the validation set wants to test for. During the training phase, even if it is accurately classifying all the data in the training set, if it keeps getting things wrong in the validation set, we can safely assume that it is overfitting to the training set, because that would mean that it is not generalizing well to points it hasn’t encountered.
Real-Life Example
Think of the example of taking tests from before. Imagine a test with only two options, A and B, for its multiple choice questions. We take a different test of this format on and on again and are able to see how we performed every time. Just out of coincidence, it happens to be that odd questions are very likely to have the answer of A and even questions are very likely to be answered by B! We will learn this eventually and do really well as we do more tests and get really good grades. But given a new test without this little cheat to it, we will fail miserably. This would be because we learned all the wrong things from the test; we were supposed to learn the contents in the tests that could generalize to any questions but we instead learned about very specific aspects to the tests given to us and failed to generalize to tests we haven’t seen before. This is analogous to overfitting in the sense that we want to learn a model that can be applied to all data points instead of what is true in our given training set and it is okay to be a bit more incorrect in the training set if that means it will generalize better in the future.
Reducing Overfitting (Regularization)
So how do we reduce these mistakes? One of the most applied ways to do so is using regularization terms and dropout in neural networks. Regularization terms are used in integration with gradient descent.
Gradient Descent
I didn’t explain in the previous article the mathematical formulations of gradient descent but I feel that it is necessary to bring it up here:
Screenshot from my paper but by no means unique or original at all
This looks complicated! Let’s unpack what is going on here. The first half should look familiar to you if you looked into the further exploration section in my previous article. L(WTx + b, yi) refers to the loss function.
The loss function computes the error of our program. This is an operation by which we update the weights ‘w’ based on the error computed by the loss function, and the partial derivatives are signifying how it should update the weights to give a lessor error next time. The weights are essentially what the program is actually deriving when we say a program learns from data. What we want is is this for example:
W = [1,2,3] // weights X = [
[-1,-2,-1],
[4,2,5]
] y_true = [
[0],
[1]
] // y_true is the collection of real categories specified in binary of the datapoint // in the corresponding index in X. W*X[0] = 1*(-1) + 2*(-2) + 3*(-1) = -1-4-3 = -8
W*X[1] = 1*(4) + 2*(2) + 3*(5) = 3+3+15 = 21 If W*X < 0:
predict 0;
Else If W*X>0:
predict 1;
These given weights will predict the data points in X to be the correct classes specified in y_true. Try making the weights different, maybe making them all negative and see what happens (it will be wrong in both cases).
The goal of the training would be to learn the right set of weights ‘w’ that will get us the right answers. Look at the loss function L again: the first parameter is what the model will predict (its weights times the inputted data plus bias) and the second parameter is the actual category of the data points and the function computes how incorrect it was. The program finds those right set of weights by updating its current weights based on how incorrect the program was in its decisions in every step of the process.
This is what we call gradient descent, the intuition of which was covered in the previous article.
Regularization
But what is that R(w) term? That is the regularization term and that is what will let us reduce overfitting. Here’s the idea; look at the graph shown below:
Take a look at this oddly complex function and imagine it being the decision boundary. This bares resemblance to the third image of the image we saw earlier. The outcome of overfitting is usually that it creates an unnecessarily complex function that fits almost every data point. Our objective is to simplify the function to allow it to generalize better. In order to do this, let us first see what the function of the graph is:
Think of the coefficients of the graph as being the weights. Look at the weights example I’ve shown before; you can see the direct relation in terms of how you’re multiplying the coefficient with the x terms.
Now let’s take a look at a more simple graph (colored in blue) that generalizes better:
The function of the function in blue is the following:
Notice that the coefficients are smaller than those from the previous example. The weights are smaller than before. We have penalized the weights, the effect of which is that the influence of the weights are lesser than before. By penalizing the weights, we decreased how specific the model is, allowing it to compute a more simplified graph that probably generalizes better.
This is (kind of) what the regularization term is doing:
Repeated from above
First, to clarify, on the left of the arrow sign is our newly updated set of weights and the ‘w’ on the right of the arrow is our current set of weights that we are about to adjust with gradient descent. The arrow symbolizes an update. Notice that the extra R(w) term makes it so that we subtract MORE from ‘w’ than it would if we didn’t have the R(w) term in there. This makes the new weights smaller than it would be if the regularization term was not there, the same way we get a simpler graph by decreasing the coefficient. The alpha sign in front of the regularization term specifies how big this penalty would be; in some cases the regularization might just make some weights zero completely. This could imply that the function might change to something like this:
The graph of which looks like the following (color in green):
With some coefficients going to zero, the terms from power of 3 to above are completely taken out, which would drastically simplify the function (maybe to a point where the model is under-fitting, where it is not specific enough).
Further Exploration
We see that there is a regularization term but we don’t see the real function that it represents in the equation above. There is a number of functions it could be. In my own research, I used the following:
This is something you can go explore on your own online. | https://medium.com/machine-learning-intuition/overfitting-what-they-are-regularization-e950c2d66d50 | ['Chan Woo Kim'] | 2018-04-16 12:32:11.602000+00:00 | ['Regularization', 'Machine Learning', 'Gradient Descent', 'Overfitting', 'Deep Learning'] |
Ravencoin — Gift Cards. One of the simple uses of assets… | Ravencoin Gift Cards
One of the simple uses of assets (tokens) is a gift card. A gift card is simply a pre-paid item or pre-paid value. You see them hanging in the grocery aisles and redeemable for $25 Cold Stone Ice Cream, $15 Starbucks, or $50 for Home Depot.
These cards you see are just a unique number that’s in a database. It is like a pre-paid Visa card, but only good at one retailer. As soon as that number is used, it debits the $ amount. Somebody has to run that database. Ravencoin does it better.
Ravencoin Tokens as Gift Cards
Ravencoin lets you create redeemable tokens or value. The tokens can represent whatever you’d like. Each 1CUP_LEMONADE token can represent one cup of lemonade when redeemed at the lemonade stand. Or, when the lemonade stand starts selling cookies a new 1COOKIE token could be used, or each 1USD_LEMONADE token could instead represent one US dollar when redeemed at the lemonade stand.
You, the token creator, determine the redemptive value of your token. I’d recommend that you take advantage of the branding power possible with the Ravencoin network, and create a really nice PDF about your goods or service and attach that via IPFS when you create your tokens. That way it is very transparent and obvious what your gift token represents.
Let’s extend the lemonade story.
Gift Card Branding
First, create a beautiful PDF of the lemonade stand, and an explanation of how each token is good for 1 cup of lemonade. This will serve to brand your business and to inform the token holder of what the associated token represents.
Add your PDF to IPFS. This will return an IPFS content identifier (aka hash). It will look like this: QmTqu3Lk3gmTsQVtjU7rYYM37EAW4xNmbuEAp2Mjr4AV7E
Keep a copy of your file. The Ravencoin network is keeping track of IPFS files for now, but that may not be true forever, so you might need to use a service to pin the file, or pin it yourself. You can always PIN it later, or again if you have the EXACT file.
Creating Gift Card Tokens
There are several ways to create your tokens. One of the easiest is at MangoFarmAssets.com, but you can also use the Ravencoin core client, or one of the RVN Mobile Wallets.
Now, we choose how many tokens we want to create. We think our lemonade stand is going to be massively successful, so we will create 1 billion 1CUP_LEMONADE tokens. We have big franchising plans, so we’re going to leave it re-issuable just in case we need to create another billion tokens. Also, we don’t want to sell 1/2 cups of lemonade, so we’re going to set the Units to 0, so the tokens are not divisible. If we instead did 1USD_LEMONADE that represents a dollar at our lemonade stand, then we’d probably choose Units as 2, so that we have two decimal places and can divide to 0.01 (a penny).
Enter that IPFS hash here to link your PDF to the token on creation.
Now we, as the owner of the lemonade stand business, have 1 billion non-divisible tokens that each represent a cup of lemonade. We’re ready to sell them online, or in person.
Receiving a Gift Card
The recipient of the gift card needs a Ravencoin wallet. They could use the RVN Wallet for mobile, but those require syncing, and that can get frustrating if you’re waiting in the hot sun for a cup of lemonade, so I’d suggest either using MangoFarmAssets.com wallet on mobile, or Zelcore wallet. These are faster. The community is working on another quick wallet for Ravencoin assets, but it’s not ready yet. The recipient shows their Ravencoin address barcode or enters a Ravencoin address (when buying online), and the 1CUP_LEMONADE token is delivered.
Redeeming Gift Card
At every one of our lemonade stands, the highly-trained staff displays a QR code of a Ravencoin address that the customer scans when they hit [Send] on the 1CUP_LEMONADE token, and seconds later they’re sipping on sweet lemonade. A tiny bit of RVN is needed to send the gift card tokens. The easiest is if the gift-card issuer sends a tiny bit (0.005 RVN) to each gift-card holder.
Gifting a Gift Card
With gift cards, it sometimes pays to buy in bulk. Buy five, get one free, and that sort of thing. If you want to give a gift card to someone else and keep some for yourself, just send one the same way you’d send it to the lemonade stand. The recipient gets their own Ravencoin wallet (MangoFarmAssets, Zelcore, Ravencoin Core, RVN Wallet), and displays their QR code to the gifter, and receives their lemonade gift token.
Why is RVN needed?
The network is powered by RVN, so a tiny amount of RVN is needed to send. The need to think about it can be automated away with a GAS station. This would be a script that runs and sends a tiny amount of RVN to any holder of 1CUP_LEMONADE. 0.005 RVN should be enough to send a gift token.
The Future of Gift Cards
This isn’t ready yet, but I’d like to paint the picture because I think it is coming. Open your phone, search for Lemonade, and up pops the custom Sandy’s Lemonade Gift Card app. This custom app is really just a simplified Ravencoin wallet with a custom icon, custom colors, custom lemonade stand logo, and limited to just RVN, 1CUP_LEMONADE, and 1COOKIE tokens. There’s no need to carry a bunch of easy-to-lose cards. And the app is custom to the store and its two gift card tokens. This can be done with a customized thin-client wallet. There may be a small up-front cost to customize the app and put it into the Apple and Play Store, but now your store has its own mobile app. | https://medium.com/@tronblack/ravencoin-gift-cards-6a3e4824ec02 | ['Tron Black'] | 2021-03-16 22:08:03.819000+00:00 | ['Ravencoin', 'Wallet', 'Gifts', 'Bitcoin', 'Assets'] |
The NFT Market | While the NFT market is a relatively new phenomenon, it is quickly becoming one of the largest online marketplaces. Founded in 2016, it is a platform for trading NFTs and other cryptos. While a majority of the market participants are unwhitelisted, some platforms are designed to cater to whitelisted buyers only. The downside to buying and selling NFTs on these platforms is the hidden fees that can be prohibitive. Mintable, for example, charges a ‘gas fee’ for each transaction, which represents the energy required to complete the transaction. The fees can be substantial, exceeding two times the cost of the purchase and the investment itself.
The NFT market is a unique, decentralized asset that has an intrinsic value in every data unit. As such, they are suitable for those who are interested in collecting rare collectibles. For example, a digitally signed copy of the first tweet from the Twitter CEO is a rare and valuable item. Similarly, the NFT market is a great place for those who want to collect and sell collectibles.
In the NFT Market, collections are an important concept. They represent a network structure. These networks are composed of traders who specialize in a specific area. As such, the prices of NFTs can fluctuate rapidly. However, there is a limit on the number of NFTs a single person can own. There are no limits to the number of NFTs a single individual can own. Moreover, the NFT market is a dynamic one, with more sellers than buyers.
Value of A Particular NFT
The NFT market is a volatile space where the value of a particular NFT can fluctuate significantly. During certain drops, an NFT can drop to a new high, resulting in a mad-cap frenzy of buyers. In order to buy an exclusive NFT, a buyer must register and have his wallet ready to spend. A popular example of an NFT in a video game is Beeple’s Everyday series, which is a digital mosaic of images that the developer made in 3D, exported in 3D, and built in a digital environment.
The NFT market is increasingly popular with firms and individual creators alike. While some sellers have set up their own NFT marketplace, most have found it to be more efficient to partner with a third-party platform. Not only does it offer a larger audience, but it also offers the added benefits of additional services, such as a marketplace. In general, this means that a third party platform provides the majority of the support for the cryptocurrency in question.
Despite a generally dead-end NFT market, the NFT market has risen from its long sleep to become a profitable venture. In July, the CTO Atallah’s company processed million in NFT trades, and in August, the company raised a billion valuation. In August, the company’s volume jumped to billion and generated more than $85 million in commissions. The company’s revenue grew more than ten-fold, and the founders had a dominant share of the market.
World of Cryptos
The NFT market is a growing phenomenon in the world of cryptos. The idea behind the NFTs was to allow artists to assert their digital rights, but today the fees involved are prohibitive for most people. Now, the NFT market is a playground for the rich, and for a long time it has been. And it’s here that the most profitable projects were. In this manner, the NFTSs became more widely accepted, and the value of the tokens soared.
An NFT is a new class of digital assets that is open to anyone. Its creators can decide how many replicas to sell, and there are some markets that focus on specific non-fungible assets. There are many types of NFTs and there are niche and universal NFT marketplaces. A universal NFT market lists all non-fungible assets. If it is a niche NFT market, it will feature specific non-fungible items.
NFTs are sold through online auction sites. Some are available for sale in virtual worlds, while others can be bought and sold through websites. Some of these assets are also playable. In addition to currency, they are also useful as a form of in-game purchases in video games. They can be a unique form of asset. If you’re looking for an interesting collectible, NFTs can be a great option for you. | https://medium.com/@jacomjames/the-nft-market-31ed1be92038 | ['Jacob James'] | 2021-12-30 12:45:52.376000+00:00 | ['Nft Music Platform', 'Cryptoart Platforms', 'Nft Marketplaces'] |
The Truth About The Writing Dream | The Truth About The Writing Dream
There is so much more to writing well than churning out content
Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash
I don’t want to be a writer who churns out “content.” That is a job. I want to do more.
I want to stir your soul, not your ego. I want to appeal to your humanity. I want to breach your emotional firewall and poke at your vulnerabilities. I want to get under your skin and make you think. That is what good writers do. They get in their reader’s heads and leave something behind.
When you see yourself somewhere in my experiences or are affected by my opinions, we have made a connection. I have succeeded. In order to reach you, I have to be able to write. If I am not engaging, you will move on.
How do writers write these types of stories? The ones that make a connection so strong, they refuse to let their reader go?
Be true to your story
Honesty breeds trust. That’s simple math. When I make it as a writer, that will be my cornerstone. If I deal in half-truths to impress, or worse, present myself as someone I am not, I run the risk of losing you.
A half story is a half-truth — a half-truth is a lie. You are giving me your time and deserve better. The uncomfortable detail is what makes a tale compelling. Great writing does not shy away from the raw pain of life’s universal experiences.
Take The Bell Jar, for example. What if Sylvia Plath sugar-coated her depressive descent? Would it be the classic it is known to be today?
My own story of recovering from addiction would be incomplete without the sordid details of the fall. It is vital to be true — even if that truth makes others uncomfortable. The people who need to read your truth will thank you for it, because whilst they read your vulnerable writing, they will feel less alone.
Good writing is straightforward, concise, and honest, and makes people feel understood.
Edit, edit, edit
As a woodworker spends most of his time sanding and finishing — a writer spends a good deal of his time editing.
Ray Bradbury wrote a collection of essays called Zen, the Art of Writing. In it, he describes his short story routine. First draft Monday, followed by five more drafts, one each day until he mailed the sixth and final draft off on Saturday at noon. That is a lot of editing! And if Ray Bradbury feels his stories require that much polish — maybe mine do too.
As I look back on my work, several pieces would have benefited from one more look.
Whether you’re eliminating words or sharpening a phrase, there is always something to improve. If a sentence or paragraph doesn’t sound right, it isn’t. It should be reworked until it clicks.
Get it right before showing it to the world.
“The first draft of anything is shit.” — Ernest Hemingway
Read more and practice more
There is no such thing as perfection in writing (well, maybe if your name is Hemingway or Vonnegut). But for mortals like myself, there will always be room for improvement. Always! Willingness to put in the time is imperative. Story after story, year after year, if I keep at it, I will improve.
How else can I experiment with style and technique if I don’t put it down in black and white and show it to you? Of course, talent helps. But, there is no realizing talent without PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. We are like athletes improving with every hour spent in the gym.
“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” — Kurt Vonnegut
Good coaching is also a key element. Michael Jordon was guided by Dean Smith, Jabbar by Wooden, and Brady by Belichick. So who do I turn to for guidance? Styron, Cheever, and Steinbeck come to mind — as do Dostoyevski, Dickens, and Murikami.
Our libraries and book stores are full of coaches. Go to the writers who inspire you the most for encouragement, spend some time with them by reading their stories, because reading is as important as writing. | https://medium.com/the-brave-writer/the-truth-about-the-writing-dream-193f7684ca88 | [] | 2020-12-29 13:03:15.289000+00:00 | ['Writing Tips', 'Motivation', 'Self Improvement', 'Writing'] |
Being Acquainted With The Night, And Being Acquainted With Death | Photo by guille pozzi on Unsplash
“I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain-and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.”
In this article, I will unpack and apply another Robert Frost classic, “Acquainted with the Night.” It is one of the saddest Robert Frost poems, one that is very often interpreted to deal with issues like depression and suicide. “I have been one acquainted with the night,” indicates a person familiar with the night’s darkness, of having a lack of light present in their lives. The sun may also rise, but at the end of the day, darkness and the night will win. The night means death, and is an acknowledgment that all of us will one day die, and be acquainted with the night. To be acquainted with the night means to be acquainted with death.
The narrator next says that “I have walked out in rain — and back in rain,” suggesting that he has been through a fair deal of horror in his life. Chilly detached, he has found darkness, and perpetual darkness almost everywhere he goes, almost numbed to the “furthest city light.” The narrator’s adverse circumstances show that any further circumstance means nothing to him, that he has been through so much that he is numb, and almost immune to anything else that may phase him. He is at peace, much more so than any person we know.
“I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.”
The narrator further compounds upon his weary peace, that he has been through “the saddest city lane.” Emotions like guilt and shame are pervasive in his mind, as any person he walks past, like the watchman, is “unwilling to explain” these emotions. He drops his eyes constantly, staring down at the ground that there are no explanations for the situation or behavior that the narrator finds himself in.
“I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,”
It may be a misinterpretation, but I read that the narrator is somewhat of a pariah, a person that stops the sound of feet when he passes people by. He has been through some obscene tragedy that others cannot possibly comprehend, and thus try to avoid. I read him almost like protagonist Lee Chandler in Manchester by the Sea, who witnesses and is partially responsible for his two children dying in a house fire.
There is a voice that beckons at the narrator, that transcends houses and distance. The voice is a cry, that has strong emotion behind the urge, even if we don’t know what it says. The voice doesn’t want the narrator to take his life or just die. He is one acquainted with the night. He lives as if he’s already dead.
“But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky”
The voice doesn’t tell the narrator to change anything, for the voice does not “call me back or say good-bye.” It is a voice that urges the narrator to press on and keep living with the status quo, as painful as it may be, and as much as the narrator himself may not want to keep on going on.
The luminary clock against the sky is the only light we see in this poem, the only light in the middle of the night. It is almost holy or biblical, what the narrator looks to for guidance, as it isn’t of the Earth. It is at an unearthly height, symbolizing almost heaven, but to say so is a stretch. The final two lines proceed like this:
“Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night.
The world of the luminary clock at the unearthly height beckon at the narrator, but not yet. Maybe he could go to it, because the time is not wrong. But it’s also not right, and that may mean that Robert Frost meant to impart a message that death never happens at a wrong time, nor a right time. It happens arbitrarily, when we expect it least.
The narrator is still someone who is “acquainted with the night,” someone who is ready for death, no matter when or how it comes. He is at peace in ways that I even envy, in ways that allow him to live freely, one day at a time, not worrying about what tomorrow and the future hold. And so I say that I, too am one acquainted with the night. And that gives me the freedom to live without fear, with hope. | https://ryanfan.medium.com/being-acquainted-with-the-night-and-being-acquainted-with-death-102e3b1f3c5d | ['Ryan Fan'] | 2019-04-29 05:35:32.004000+00:00 | ['Death', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Robert Frost', 'Night', 'Poetry'] |
[Python] gRPC Performance Test with Locust | Generate gRPC Code
python -m pip install grpcio
python -m pip install grpcio-tools
Folder Structure
grpc_demo
├── grpc_perf.py
└── protos
├── __init__.py
├── helloworld.proto
└── proto_helloworld_python
├── helloworld_pb2.py
└── helloworld_pb2_grpc.py
Create a file named helloworld.proto
Define a RPC service named “Tester”，The RPC method is “SayHello” and the input arguments is “HelloRequests” and output value is “HelloResponse”. In each message include three properties: type, name and index.
python -m grpc_tools.protoc -I protos --python_out=./proto_helloworld_python --grpc_python_out=./proto_helloworld_python protos/helloworld.proto
Assuming the gRPC server already implement completed !
So, we need to prepare Locust python code with gRPC client.
Here we go ~:D
First, we should give a __init__.py file into protos/ let it as a python module. include the following code. (To avoid import error)
Locust
python -m pip install locustio
Perf test code grpc_perf.py
The first class in file is a client instance for gRCP client to send request and it have one method named “say_hello” and the second method “get_grpc_metadata” is a static method to generate gRPC headers. (Line 13-33)
The next class is a Locust performance task set object, it be used to generate request tasks. It have “on_start” and “on_stop” methods for setup and teardown step and I create a method for Locust request data collection at line 49, it can help to generate Locust performance reports.
In the final class is a user simulator, it should define self.client parameter into the object and setting the tasks definitions. (line: 74)
Start to Run Locust
# Use the following command to launch Locust #> locust -f grpc_perf.py
[2020-12-27 22:55:31,007] tw-wischang/INFO/locust.main: Starting Locust 1.4.1 [2020-12-27 22:55:30,998] tw-wischang/INFO/locust.main: Starting web interface at http://0.0.0.0:8089 (accepting connections from all network interfaces)[2020-12-27 22:55:31,007] tw-wischang/INFO/locust.main: Starting Locust 1.4.1
Open the browser and typing http://0.0.0.0:8089 , you will see Locust console and setting the request parameters to do load testing.
Some fields show on Locust console, the first is “Number of total user” in my test I given 5 users for it and given 20 Spawn rate for it. I know the value not really made sense, it just for demo. In your cases, you need to think about what value could match your scenarios and click “Start swarming” button the request will like Locust to swarming.
Test Report
For a while, you will see the requests status on Locust dashboard and navigate tabs Charts, Failures, Exceptions, Download Data what you want to check the code exceptions and charts of requests. When you click stop button you can download load test report from the “Download Data” page.
Hope you enjoy this article ~ :D
Reference | https://medium.com/drunk-wis/python-grpc-performance-test-with-locust-b57579cde436 | [] | 2020-12-28 09:33:49.003000+00:00 | ['Google', 'Python3', 'Performance', 'Python', 'Grpc'] |
Exit strategy for dummies | Exit strategy for dummies
Yes, you would be a dummy if you left something you loved. If you love it, why exit. Do you love your husband/wife? Assuming yes, then why leave. Do you love eating a gourmet pizza? If yes, then why change. I am not saying you must eat pizza all the time, but you understand what I mean. Why stop doing anything that you love. If you love going for walks, do you plan to stop? Why exit something or someone that you care about? I don’t really get it. But perhaps I am just a dummy.
To be driven by a sense of purpose, a calling, can be beautiful and liberating, and at the same time, painful and exhausting. Passionate people do sound inspired, and then you get obsessed people, which is a whole other level of intensity. Whatever the magic is that your soul has to explore, how does one exit something that they feel so strongly about? Or was it only about money. I find that very hard to believe. Or perhaps it becomes about money. And maybe the number is also what confuses people. Imagine you help build a company, and you love it, with all its challenges and sleepless nights, and then someone offers you a billion dollars for your share. For sure, this can confuse even the smartest people.
Starts-ups are hard. I know. Stress, lack of sleep, cash flow, finding talent, retaining talent, landing customers, keeping customers, competition … it never ends. And if you keep at it, and work hard, and have some luck, then perhaps the venture will develop into a rock solid company. So let’s say you manage to become a self-sustaining company and that business is good. You grow and grow and grow. Perhaps you also expand into new areas and build new products and services. Yeah, you are living the dream. You are in control of your own destiny, and if what you offer the world is good, useful, of high quality, and is well priced, etc., then for sure, you are making a difference. Then what? You love it, right. You have purpose. Yeah. And for sure, you are getting paid each month, probably making a good living. So, if you are doing all this and you love what you do, and you do what you love, why would you want to exit? Do you want to then try another start-up, with that pain all over again. Seriously, is there a simple answer?
I like Woody Allen films. Not all of them, but most of them. I loved some of his older work, like Take The Money And Run. The name of this movie says it all. Sounds like an exit. I think I need to watch this film again. I sure could use a laugh. This has been a helluva soul searching year.
Finding something you love to do is not as easy as it sounds, especially something that perhaps could pay your bills. So, if you are fortunate to discover a purpose that is financially sustaining, then why would you ever want to change that. I understand, someone comes along and offers you a lot of money for your share so you cash out. But you were making a good living, and the company was growing, and you believed in the mission, so why then give it all up?
If you don’t need the money, and you love what you do, why exit? I know, it is conundrum, and it stumps many folk. Myself included. | https://medium.com/@ronnieapteker/exit-strategy-for-dummies-c8203e92134 | ['Ronnie Apteker'] | 2020-12-18 07:45:28.107000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Truth', 'Purpose', 'Passion', 'Entrepreneur'] |
The Roar of Tippoo’s Tiger | [Popular Feature]
The tiger snarled and roared at the man lying helplessly under, groaning and moaning in great pain. The eerie and gruesome sounds surcharged the atmosphere. The magnificent pillared hall reverberated with strange echoes.
The act in itself, which must have lasted only for a few minutes, nevertheless generated a feeling of intensity among the spectators specially invited to witness the last act. The show had put an end to the roar of the tiger and the moans of the man.
Some in the gathering, who had witnessed the acts earlier, however felt that over the years the roar and the moan had grown relatively feeble. The BBC team who were covering the event were rather disappointed by the poor sound effects.
The earlier recordings with better effects in possession of some private individuals, ultimately came to the rescue of the television team. The last act was finally televised by BBC on July 6 this year(1990) in the evening programme.
The occasion was of great significance as the automaton, popularly known as ‘Tippoo’s Tiger’, which has been adorning the gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as a prime attraction for the past few decades was to perform for the last time.
The near life-size model of Tippoo’s Tiger is a construction in wood. The stylized stripes painted in conventional colours of red and black. The craftsman, whoever he was, has cleverly provided vents, by carving out openings on the upper part of the neck of the tiger, to enable the sounds to escape.
The striped tiger motifs known as duéris, artistically camouflage the hole. The ferocity of the tiger, the pink face of the struggling victim in red uniform, indicates a very realistic approach and an accurate rendering of the concept.
The exhibit is highly symbolic. The tiger mauling a soldier represents Tippoo Sultan’s initial successes over English hegemony. The fallen soldier under the clutches of the tiger signifies the temporary downfall of the English power in Mysore.
Set against the 18th century background and in the context of the historical perspective, Tippoo’s Tiger was more than a mere wooden contraption. Fitted with a miniature organ with a keyboard and bellows specially designed to simulate the roar of the tiger and the groans of the man, it could be considered as an ingenious piece of workmanship.
It is possible that Tippoo Sultan, who was well known for his fertile imagination, thought of this concept and persuaded his friends in the French army to fix the technical devices. Thus, with the turn of the key, the automaton went into action. It is believed to have been in full operation around 1789 AD in Tippoo Sultan’s palace in Srirangapatna.
It must have been an endless source of entertainment to the members of the royal family and the courtiers. At a time when anti-English feelings were widespread and were at its peak, the ferocious acts of Tippoo’s Tiger presumably sent one and all connected with the Sultanate into raptures.
In due course, the repeated operation made the automaton very fragile. Hence, the decision of the museum authorities to elevate it to the status of a treasured exhibit after its final performance.
Tippoo Sultan’s association with the tiger goes beyond the creation of the automaton. One is given to understand that as a boy he had an occasion to confront, struggle and slay a tiger.
The tiger, though vanquished by him, had made such a great impact on him by its valour, strength and agility that Tippoo Sultan had adopted the tiger as the royal emblem. Soon the tiger stripes began to appear everywhere.
When he took over as the Sultan of Mysore, he had plunged into vigorous activity, involving the building of palaces, forts, mosques and laying of gardens. ‘This necessitated commissioning of artists and artisans to work on these various architectural monuments.
Bubris and other tiger motifs being a great obsession of Tippoo Sultan, they found their way into textile designs, manuscripts, prints, elaborate jewellery, arms and armour. They also formed part of the wall decorations and ornamentation in palaces and mosques.
The fame and popularity of Tippoo’s Tiger has spread so far and wide that in course of time it has infiltrated into the folklore of distant regions. One can easily identify the various version of the legend; one of which became the central theme of the novel titled Dannanayakana Kote by E.Balakrishna Naidu in Tamil. The fascination and thrill of the novel was so compelling that Shri Mathoor Krishnamurthi undertook to translate the book into Kannada.
This theme has also attracted research workers who have been making an in depth study of the subject. Anne Buddle, the Registrar of Victoria and Albert Museum, it is said, has spent almost a decade in research, concentrating on the decorative arts and surviving evidence of Tippoo’s court in his island capital at Srirangapatna.
After the siege of Srirangapatna and the fall of Tippoo Sultan during the last Mysore War, Tippoo’s Tiger along with the rest of the booty was carried away by the conquerors. Over a period of time, Victoria and Albert Museum was able to acquire this collection and put it on display.
On display along with the automaton is a plaque in an oval shape with a beautiful profile of Tippoo Sultan painted in water colour on ivory. It is ascribed to the last quarter of the 18th century. Done by an unknown artist, it reveals certain traits very commonly met with in the later versions of the Mughal miniatures.
Another interesting exhibit is the Sword of Tippoo Sultan. Long and a well-made weapon in steel, overlaid with decorative designs in gold, within a rectangular panel is inscribed the name of Tippoo Sultan.
Also on display is the gold watch believed to have been found on the person of Tippoo. According to the inscription at the back, it was handed over to Lt.R.McDowell on May 4, 1799. Subsequently, it is said to have passed on to his daughter who was married to Colonel E.F. Waterman of Madras Staff Corps.
On her special request, the Colonel has presented it to the Indian Museum, from where it finally landed in Victoria and Albert Museum. The watch bears a London hallmark with inscription which reads: “Elliot, London’.
A gold broach set with diamonds and turquoise of European workmanship, made between 1830–1840 AD has also relevance to the fall of Tippoo. It is believed that the diamonds and the turquoise originally formed part of decorations of Tippoo’s turban.
One is given to understand that they were collected by one of the officers who had participated in the siege of Srirangapatna. Later, they were made into a broach and a necklace for his daughters. According to the information furnished about the exhibit, the possibility of these being part of the loot of the royal treasury cannot be ruled out.
A brass mount of the largest section around a telescope bears the inscription “Colonel Tippoo Sahib at Sringapatam, May 4 1799”! Covered by brass and wood, the leather strap also has ‘Ramsden, London engraved as makers of the watch.
Among the exhibits is a sleck, elegant walking stick which belonged to Tippoo Sultan with a repousse gold handle, silver ferrule and steel tip. It is made of Malacca cane in the 18th century.
A silver medal struck to commemorate the sad fall of Tippoo Sultan in Srirangapatna in 1799 was presented by J.O Malley. Embossed on the obverse is a lion attacking a tiger and over powering it, meant to symbolically the victory of the British and fall of Tippoo the Tiger.
An inscription in Arabic refers to this as “victorious lion of god”. The reverse shows a view of Srirangapatna with an inscription in Persian stating that “God delivered Seringapatam”
These, along with 33,000-odd objects, in very good state of preservation, will form part of the Nehru Gallery of Indian Art 1550–1900, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, opening in November, 1990. | https://medium.com/@arts-angle/the-roar-of-tippoos-tiger-f436303c6606 | ['Arts Angle'] | 2021-01-16 06:43:00.302000+00:00 | ['Art', 'Indian', 'Freedom', 'History', 'British'] |
When Does More Become Too Much? | If you just picked up on the concept of hygge, you’re behind. The newer design trend is called Lagom, which is the Scandinavian concept of having just enough, as in a sufficient, perfect amount. Kind of like a Goldilocks concept — it’s juuuuust right.
Lagom isn’t quite minimalism, but it’s also not having a back-up coffee maker like many of my friends’ parents tend to have in their basement. I think it applies just as much to money as it does to designing a trendy home. As a society we have an obsession with more, but many are starting to realize that more is not always better.
More stuff does not equal more happiness
As I contemplated this trend (which would be a struggle for me to personally embrace, as I love a cozy home), I was reminded of an interview I watched several years ago with Tom Shadyac, the filmmaker behind the documentary “I AM,” but also the director of films like “Liar, Liar” and “Bruce Almighty.” He said something that really struck me about the excess he had accumulated during those successful years.
He said, “I was standing in the house that my culture had taught me was a measure of the good life, and I was struck with one very clear, very strange feeling: I was no happier.”
He went on, “I had a full-time housekeeper, I had a full-time gardener, I had a landscape architect, … I had a house manager, a business manager, a money manager, a career manager. I needed a manager for my managers.” He had tapped out on the more equals happier scale.
The trouble with always wanting more is that eventually it gets to be too much.
The Universe says that great joy leads to great abundance but that this is not true in reverse. I fully believe that — we can get so caught up in making sure we have an abundance of stuff or money, but that doesn’t lead to joy. However, when we pursue joy for the sake of pure joy, we often find that the things we really need are there in abundance anyway.
Lagom = more joy?
How much of our focus in life is about accumulating more? More money, more clothes, more toys, more square footage, more likes. But do we ever stop to consider whether the moremoremore is bringing more happiness? Often it just brings more obligations that cancel out any added enjoyment.
Breaking the cycle
The next time you find yourself caught up in the cycle of wishing for more and therefore not enjoying the current enough, stop to consider whether the added responsibility of more will be worth it. You may just find that enough is enough. And that wouldn’t be such a bad thing now, would it? | https://medium.com/swlh/when-does-more-become-too-much-ee0102374382 | ['Kelley C. Long'] | 2019-08-21 07:51:24.003000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Design', 'Happiness'] |
Stages of a Love Story drafted with 5 Songs of S.P. Balasubramaniam | If you ask me the Three Magical words, it would be SPB rather than ‘I Love You’, it is the magic of this Legendary Singer for various reasons. We have lost this Musical Soul on 25th September 2020 due to COVID 19 as his condition deteriorated further and he suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest. May his soul Rest in Peace. Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmaniam, recipient of civilian awards such as Padma Shri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2011) has garnered six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer for his works in four different languages; Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi. He has recorded over 40000 songs in 16 Indian languages. It’s a world record that will be soon entering into the Guinness Book of World Records. Blown already? Just wait for the next one, SPB once recorded 21 songs in a span of 12 hours for Kannada composer Upendra Kumar!!!
Well, I don’t understand other languages but his Bollywood melodies got right into my veins, the moment I have listened to them. He was popularly known as the voice of Salman Khan. But, he doesn’t even know the Hindi language. The Lyrics were given to him in Tamil or Telugu, he then used to sing the song. Now, You must agree, why I said him magical, or I have to say more? (Aap Convince ho Gaye, ya Main Aur Bolu).
Jokes aside, Today, I am going to tell you stages of a love story through his 5 Superhit Bollywood Songs.
Pehla Pehla Pyar Hai — Hum Apke Hain Koun
It’s a very Old School feeling of falling in love for the first time. This song did justice to that feeling. The pure and innocent feeling of First love is best described in ‘Chhup ke Kare jo Wafa, aisa Mera yaar hai’. The First stage of any love story is obviously Falling in love for the first time. Listening to this song makes me wonder when will someone sing ‘Woh hai Nisha, Woh hi meri Zindagi ki Bhor hai’ for me.
2. Dil Deewana — Maine Pyar Kia
When we are madly in love, how can our Dil not become Deewana? Here comes the second stage, when our heart craves for that someone special. The stage where we make promises of forever, promises to fight for our Love, and whatnot. No matter how hard you try not to do those stupid cute things, there is no way back as ‘Yeh Pagla hai, Samjhane Se Samjhe Na’.
3. Mujhse Juda Hokar — Hum Apke Hain Koun
There is a Saying, You only realize the importance of someone in your life, when they are not around/gone. It is very important to give someone the importance they deserve But in the matter of love, this importance is often earned by separation, it could be a forceful or situational one. Yeah, you guessed it right, the third stage is Separation, a painful and long but fruitful stage for the long run. If you are also going through this stage, trust me, this song will cheer you up and will make you realize, ‘Pal Bhar ki Judaai, Phir Laut Aana Hai’. Also, if the separation is due to a misunderstanding only listening to the song will not work, put the right efforts if you really want to make it last forever.
4. Maine Pyar Kiya — Maine Pyar Kiya
After you have experienced the separation and other hardships, You have either realized that she/he is the one or not the one. You are now more mature, clear, and stronger about your Love. If you have done that, listening ‘Dil Deke Dard-e-Mohabbat Liya Hai, Soch Samjhke Yeh Sauda Kiya Hai’ will give you goosebumps for sure. Now you are in Stage Four which is Declaration, you make it clear to everyone about whom you want for life and will do anything for that. Surely, you have to convince a lot of people to pass this stage but once you do that, you will get THE ONE FOR LIFE.
5. Wah Wah Ram Ji — Hum Apke Hain Koun
Kudos to you, as you have made it to the Final Stage which is Acceptance. Now just Celebrate your win with this song. Make your love official, exchange the Rings with blessings of family and friends.
I must say ‘Wah Wah Ram Ji, Jodi Kya Banayi’ for my readers that you have read it till here. I hope you will continue this Writing-Reading pair Always. | https://medium.com/@pujabishtwrites/stages-of-a-love-story-drafted-with-5-songs-of-s-p-balasubramaniam-680a6850846a | ['Pooja Bisht'] | 2020-10-10 11:37:08.552000+00:00 | ['Songs', 'Lovestory', 'Spb', 'Bollywood', 'Retro'] |
Sacred Androgyny & the Bible | The Gospel of Thomas is rarely read by traditional Christians, and for good reason? Here is a Jesus, as Janet S. Everhart notes, who “constructs, deconstructs, and reconstructs gender with the result that the gospel supports multiple possibilities, without arriving at a fixed notion of gender.”
I consider it, at least in part, a set of advanced teachings that Paul, likely, has in front of him, and is trying to break down for his readers.
In saying 22, for example, Jesus is asked when he’ll return.
“When you make the two one and make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside and the above like the below, and that you might make the male and the female be one and the same, so that the male might not be male nor the female be female . . .”
Let’s think about that.
When you make the two one . . .
The ‘one flesh’ concept of Genesis 2:24, as Paul notes in Ephesians 5:31, does not in fact concern human marriage, but “a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
The marriage of Jesus and humans. The marriage of heaven and earth.
The two become one when we accept Jesus as husband, when we become ‘one’ with him . . . which is accomplished through the difficult step of loving fellow humans (John 13:34).
All of them. Male and female. And everything in between. Let’s continue with the Gospel of Thomas:
you might make the male and the female be one and the same
Humans, male and female, are to become ‘one and the same’.
Note 1 Corinthians 12:12: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”
Paul is just elaborating, explicating, Jesus’ mysterious language. The teaching is: become ‘one’ with each other. By this, we become ‘one’ with Christ.
so that the male might not be male nor the female be female . . .”
This is the marriage Jesus and the Bride. He is the ‘male’, she is the ‘female’. In their interweaving, neither become male or female.
They become ‘married’.
Note the dispute over Mary Magdalen in the Gospel of Thomas, saying 114, which is typically read very incorrently.
“Look, I will gather her in so I may make her male, so she may also be a living spirit resembling you males: for any woman who makes herself male will enter the Realm of Heaven.”
Jesus is not diminishing Mary or saying that maleness is the key. He is adding a ‘male’ spiritual energy to the human female — bringing her into an androgynous perfection.
He does the same with the disciples !— adding in femaleness to the maleness they have. The prompt for he human is to be both.
They’d enter, together, a dynamic, multivalent—I am tempted to say Tantric—engagement with the divine. | https://medium.com/belover/the-bible-sacred-androgyny-93f31e4e6d0e | ['Jonathan Poletti'] | 2020-05-02 06:31:23.943000+00:00 | ['Religon', 'LGBTQ', 'Christianity', 'Feminism', 'Sex'] |
Why we don’t run off of solar energy | Why we don’t run off of solar energy
Climate change can be helped if we change to 100% renewable energy, but what is stopping us? In the United States, about 46 percent of greenhouse gases are made by fossil fuels and a lot of fossil fuel production is used to make energy. With pollution and climate change, some may think that the main cause is cars and transportation but energy contributes more than most will imagine . So why don’t we just use renewable energy such as solar or wind? There are a few factors but you would need a much longer article to cover all of that.
Well, solar isn’t as accessible as you would imagine considering the sun shines on the earth 24/7. Welllll, if it is not shining on one part then it’s shining on another. So if it is always shining on one part then why can’t we have solar power as our primary source of energy?
Here’s why. Basically, during the night weather, say you’re on one part of the earth, in the night the sun won’t shine there even though it is shining on the other side. So how about sending energy from the other side of the earth when the other one does not have sunlight? Well to transport energy from one point to another, it would take up more energy than one might imagine.
So what if we did transport energy from sunny places to places where there is no sun or it is cloudy? Say we place solar panels in deserts and use connected electrical energy systems for places around the world. That is not as easy as you would imagine, trust me it is not as easy as just hooking up some wires and placing some mat things. First off, the costs would be astronomical. The power lines today lose 6–8 percent of electricity when it goes from one point to another — imagine if they had to go across the world.
There is the solution of superconductors. Superconductors transport energy without dissipation amazingly but now it is not that easy to use essential and it uses energy. Superconductors only work effectively in cold temperatures and it would take up energy to cool the power lines which essentially defeats the purpose.
With the astronomical advancements in superconductor technology, there is a future where we can have a more efficient means of transportation. For now, you can help by installing solar panels in your own backyard or roof. There are many positives to using solar power and some obstacles that need to be overcome. | https://medium.com/@srajaya02/why-we-dont-run-off-of-solar-energy-e52183bf0746 | ['Jaya Sra'] | 2020-12-12 16:18:30.719000+00:00 | ['Energy', 'Problems', 'Renewable Energy', 'Solar Energy', 'Climate Change'] |
Electron vs. The Native Windows Frameworks | Electron vs. The Native Windows Frameworks
Electron is starting to be used in many different popular applications, such as VSCode and WhatsApp, simply because of its cross-platform feature. But is that the only advantage that Electron provides?
As we will see by the end of this article, it is not the only benefit. We will look at how simpler it is to write a Windows app in Electron vs. native frameworks such as C++/C# WindowsForms and WPF. Why just Windows? Because the vast majority of programs are written for it, so for many categories of programs (e.g. games) there is a standardized library stack that’s used.
Background (tray) apps that display modal dialogs
Electron is probably overkill for this category. Modal dialogs are simple to create using WindowsForms, and C# also makes minimizing windows and displaying their notification (tray) icon very simple. This can also be done in Electron, but with a little more work.
Apps with a custom theme
Because WindowsForms does not support making custom window themes, developers use the WPF framework when they want to create a custom theme for their C# app. This process could take a lot of time, depending on the complexity of the theme.
Of course, theme-designing in Electron also takes time, but it’s helped by the abundance of HTML UI components that can be installed and inserted directly from npm , the NodeJS package manager. Only some WPF UI controls are free to use, while the vast majority remain closed-source, internal, and private, away from the public eye. While most HTML UI components are open-source and easy to obtain from Github.
Apps with heavy API/web service integration
Messaging clients such as Discord, Telegram, and Slack fall into this category. On C#, networking is done using the System.Net namespace, or more usually, with the ASP.NET framework. In C++, more low-level socket functions are used, hence why complex networking is traditionally done in C#.
System.Net has classes to manage cookies, network credentials, requests and responses, and HTTP listeners, among others. When used correctly, formidable network-enabled C# programs can be developed.
A positive trait of C# networking classes is that the compiler will detect most of the incorrect usages of these classes, which can save you hours of runtime debugging. This is not the case for Node.js and Electron apps, where all code is evaluated at runtime, and could silently fail then.
Worse (for Electron), as the bundled code is usually minified, it is difficult to get a stack trace that corresponds to your source code.
That is not to say that Electron is not good for building network apps. On the contrary, libraries such as Axios and node-fetch take care of networking very well. Asynchronous requests are also (slightly) easier to perform on NodeJS due to the language architecture. Additionally, NestJS is often used to make entire back-end APIs.
Video games and other GPU-intense apps
While HTML5 games built using WebGL-emitting game engines such as Unity are starting to emerge, C#/C++ and WPF still dominate the video game industry, due to the heavy use of graphics frameworks such as DirectX and OpenGL. In particular, there is no easy way to integrate Electron and DirectX, because the latter is a Windows-specific technology.
CAD & designer programs, and other kinds of graphics-accelerated programs, make use of OpenGL instead of DirectX, and since Electron apps can use WebGL, the level of difficulty of developing these kinds of applications in both platforms is about the same.
Microsoft Store apps
Here is a surprise: You can publish Microsoft Store apps that are built with Electron. They will need at least Windows 10 1607 to run, and they will compile to AppX packages that you can publish on the Store after Microsoft manually verifies the application.
So in this area, it doesn’t look like there are advantages or drawbacks to using either language, because the end-product is the same — with the exception that C# can make UWP apps, but Electron can’t, but to be fair, most people are not running UWP apps on the alternate platforms such as Xbox anyway. | https://medium.com/codex/electron-vs-the-native-windows-frameworks-4a7e529af0e5 | ['Ali Sherief'] | 2021-09-13 11:15:21.623000+00:00 | ['Cpp', 'Electron', 'Nodejs', 'Windows', 'Csharp'] |
Why Poor Republicans Vote the Way They Do | Photo by Craig Whitehead on Unsplash
Why do poor and middle class Americans vote for Republican candidates against their own self-interests? It’s a question that has confounded the Left for decades.
Many wrongly assume that less-fortunate Republicans are single issue voters. Yet time and again, their promised reforms fail to materialize even when their party holds the White House, Senate and US House of Representatives. Despite no progress made on their pet issue, they cast their ballot for the GOP candidate in the next election.
It’s not that they are ignorant about their Party’s failure to make good on their promises. The Republican voters understand exactly what they are doing.
These GOP members don’t care about smaller government, fiscal responsibility, or even abortion. The “single issue" is a placeholder — an excuse they offer to conceal the real reason they cast their ballot for the candidate who is least likely to help them.
Why Someone Like Trump?
Democrats would be wise to understand the motivation for supporting a candidate like Donald Trump.
As millions of Americans lost their jobs to the pandemic, poor Americans voted for the candidate who promised to obstruct an extension of benefits while further lining the pockets of bloated corporations. To the rest of us, it didn’t make sense they supported the ruling elite over their own working class. They voted for the boot on their neck.
“I vote for more oppression,” they said.
Democrats wondered why these struggling and downright destitute Americans did not support the candidate who would provide a social safety net for them.
What’s the motivation?
When Biden talked about fairness and the great land of opportunity — the type of messages that play well to most of the nation and the world, he was not appealing to poor and middle-class Republicans. Trump screaming about locking up his enemies did.
The Left wondered how voters could ignore their own self-interest to support a bully ranting about his personal revenge while ignoring an economy in meltdown and the death of 250,000 Americans.
All along, Liberals have been asking the wrong question.
It’s not what poor and middle class Republicans were voting for, it’s who they were voting against.
“I vote for more oppression,” they said. “For the other guy.”
In the world of tribal politics, these GOP voters only win when their enemies lose.
It was not so important that Trump won re-election, or if they secured an opportunity to further their party’s agenda. All that mattered was making Joe Biden lose because Trump’s message resonated with his supporters innermost desire.
They didn’t necessarily object to the Democratic platform, and most don’t even know what it is, nor do they care.
Because voting was never about an agenda or what was best for America. It wasn’t even about what was best for them.
It was about making someone else lose.
This is why they became known as the “fuck your feelings" crowd — they relish in making the other guy suffer.
When Republicans adopted the slogan “Winning”, they were not referring to how they felt about their party. The party was making a statement about their number one priority.
What’s at stake
Make no mistake, the GOP voter is willing to sacrifice their self interest along with 250 years of this nation’s proud history in order to “own the libs.”
Nothing is off-limits to secure victory. Undermining the election process is acceptable. They will openly talk about a coup. Sedition is still on the table.
They would torch the constitution and hold a parade for the Russian military if it meant Biden loses, as does their enemies.
Evangelical Christians embrace Trump while refusing to support a devout Catholic candidate because ultimately even faith is second to revenge. Their God isn’t about love and forgiveness. It’s a networking club that promises to punish non-members for all eternity. And this is why they are flag-waving followers of the GOP.
These folks do not want everyone’s life to improve even if it means they won’t get ahead either.
This is why they support gutting education while hurting their own children.
They oppose reforms to healthcare because it also helps the other guy. This is why they support spending more on our military at the expense of every social program that would help them — because kicking ass is more important.
Once you understand the goal of the Republican voters is about punishing others, it all starts to make sense. | https://medium.com/@shellyfaganaz/why-poor-republicans-vote-the-way-they-do-974e04354360 | ['Shelly Fagan'] | 2020-12-30 17:13:23.574000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'Republican Party', 'Life', 'Politics', 'Voting'] |
In a Better World: A Movie Review | MOVIES
In a Better World: A Movie Review
“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!” said the Villager.
“Very good. That way the whole world will be blind and toothless,” Tevya replied. — Fiddler on the Roof Ed Newman Dec 26, 2020·3 min read
Photo by Kamal Bilal on Unsplash
I’m sure you’ve had this experience. The very first sequence of a movie produces in you a strong sense that this is going to be an extraordinary film. It happened for me with Run, Lola, Run. It happened with There Will Be Blood. And when I first ot, I knew right off that In a Better World would be a thought-provoking and painfully powerful film to watch, the kind of pain that comes from art. The opening film score and landscape shots alone conveyed that mix of beauty and pain which elevates it to something almost transcendent.
It’s a Danish film directed by Susanne Bier, whom you may know from Things We Lost In the Fire and After the Wedding, films I’ve heard of but have not yet seen. The story takes place in Darfur, centering primarily on two families. It’s a drama that looks at the problem of vengeance from an assortment of angles.
We meet Anton, the first main character, at a small outpost hospital where he is the doctor. A woman is rushed in with her stomach cut open and they begin the emergency surgery that they hope will save her. We hear that the “big man” did this, and the horror of it is this. The “big man” likes to take pregnant women and bet whether she is carrying a boy or a girl child. Then they cut her open to see if he won the bet.
Once you hear this story, you’re almost certain that we’ll be meeting the “big man” later in the film, and indeed we do.
Anton has a son Elias who is victimized by bullies in the school he attends. This son and a new friend named Christian will be a central piece in the story. Christian becomes the new kid in this tough school because his mother has died and father brought him to a new place. Like the bigger world where Anton’s dad works, this bullying situation is a microcosm, with its own “big man”…
Photo by the author.
What is the response to these bullies? What is the response to violence? When Christian sees the school bully corner his friend Elias in a basement bathroom, he chooses violence to subdue the kid, and threatens him with a knife.
In another confrontation Anton attempts to teach the boys that there is an alternative to revenge. By turning the other cheek we demonstrate our strength and the other person’s foolishness. This lesson doesn’t sink home with the boys, however, and they make other choices in response to things going on.
This inadequate summary is meant to simply hint at the variety of ways violence is examined in this film. The acting is top-notch, the pace is good, the story remarkable.
This is not the kind of film you will balance a checkbook to. Besides, much of it requires reading subtitles. It is the kind of film that will move you if you engage it. We live in a broken world. How do we respond to the violence that is tearing us apart? | https://medium.com/@ennyman/in-a-better-world-a-movie-review-d06a110e2b41 | ['Ed Newman'] | 2020-12-26 19:19:43.016000+00:00 | ['Revenge', 'Movies', 'Life Lessons', 'Movie Review'] |
History of WordPress | History of WordPress
WordPress started as absolutely nothing more than a pet project for Matt Mullenweg as well as Mike Little, two young developers who wished to create an open-source blog writing platform after b2/catalog, the platform they utilized, stopped upgrading its code. Thanks to WordPress’s appeal, it’s risk-free to say that without it, much of the Web as we understand it today wouldn’t function as it does. From this innocent beginning, WordPress grew to the point where today, firms as diverse as Zoom, The Walt Disney Business, and also Zillow use it daily to power their blogging efforts. Media titans like Vogue, Techcrunch, as well as Rolling Stone see WordPress as far more than a CMS, yet as the core of their entire online procedures. Creating an internet site with WordPress has ended up being the sector requirement. Read any guide on starting a site. Producing an internet site with WordPress has actually ended up being the sector standard. Read any guide on beginning a website,
get an inexpensive blog site holding company
mount WordPress in one click
set up a WordPress motif
personalize it
include web content
introduce your website
Not having a one-click WordPress installation didn’t help. Yet after I followed each of the actions my hosting company shared, I got my first WordPress-powered site up and running. To me, that was the beginning of a durable connection with WordPress — one that I remain to keep up until today. As a non-technical individual, I remember when I produced my initial internet site around 2010. It was discouraging, even a bit scary.
Working so carefully with PHP seems like cleaning up the engines of a submarine while immersed deep undersea; you believe that if you touch the incorrect screw, the whole ship can sink. That’s not to say that installing and also making use of WordPress for non-technical individuals like myself is easy.
This tight-knit area is one reason, regardless of its technological nature, WordPress continues to remain prominent among non-technical people. Automattic, the business behind WordPress, comprehends these concerns effectively, which is why it has actually established a substantial neighborhood of professionals as well as enthusiasts that guide non-technical people like myself in the best instructions whenever they run into any problems. For example, if you need a call kind, you can mount a cost-free plugin like WPForms in a couple of clicks. There’s no demand to open up the engine and also code a kind with HTML and PHP. With over 57,000 plugins, programmers have transformed WordPress from a mere blogging system into a versatile one with the ability to satisfy nearly every site proprietor’s needs
Nevertheless, this hasn’t stopped it from permitting others to establish distinct ad-hoc features whenever they require them. If we look past the brand names and frustrating stats, WordPress’s functionality is rather limited. It was developed as a blogging platform, and also it continues to be so.
Matt Medeiros, a WordPress entrepreneur, and industry expert has observed that WordPress has actually quit being the most effective option for entrepreneurs due to the technological obstacles setting up a WordPress-based internet site.
Transforming a style’s visual appeals or including one-of-a-kind functionality that no existing plugin offers requires hiring developers — individuals whose high-value services come at a high cost. WordPress’s constraints emerge when you require comprehensive customized modifications, either on the front or the back end.
Yet none of these rivals have actually been able to stop WordPress from ending up being the key alternative for internet site owners and also designers. For virtually 15 years, WordPress has seen competitive competitors from Drupal and Joomla in the CMS area to Squarespace and also Wix in the web page contractor sector to the conventional HTML template sites located in ThemeForest.
This is due to the truth that the material designs at the WordPress TinyMCE editor are fairly varied from one at the front-side. The layouts in the front-side come from the theme styles.css, while the editor layouts are defined from the WordPress core feature. Before variation 3.0, where this attribute was first introduced, you regularly need to freshen your web page to see how your post resembles on the front side.
WordPress is updated frequently, about 2 or 3 times a year. In each of its new releases, it introduces either some brand-new function additions or some improvements to the existing ones.
Resources -https://surajnaveen.blogspot.com/2020/12/history-of-wordpress.html | https://medium.com/@surajnaveen45/history-of-wordpress-bef8566ebfb4 | ['Suraj Naveen'] | 2020-12-27 06:02:57.437000+00:00 | ['Wordpress Web Development', 'Wordpress Development', 'Words', 'Wordpress Plugins', 'WordPress'] |
Choosing a Bench Power Supply | Choosing a bench power supply is a vital part of your test setup. You need a reliable unit that can provide both input and output voltages with accuracy. It should have at least two output channels and preferably three. A good bench power supply will have a response time of at least 10 seconds. This refers to the amount of time it takes to ramp up and down. This is an important feature because it will determine the accuracy of your output voltage.
A bench power supply will provide clean, constant power. This feature will save your circuit from damage due to the sudden fluctuations in the AC line’s frequency and voltage. The output voltage and current will remain consistent. If your circuit changes mid-project, this feature will keep it from causing damage. A bench power supply will also show you whether your circuit is consuming the correct amount of current or voltage. With the right bench PSU, you can perform more tests with more confidence.
Features of a Bench Power Supply
A bench power supply has several features to help you conduct your tests with more precision. It has constant current and voltage control options, so you can customize the output to fit your needs. A current-controlling bench power supply allows you to control the voltage and current. This makes it much easier to control and monitor the output voltage and current. It can also come with multiple or single outputs and has a fan to dissipate excess heat.
A bench power supply should have a current-limiting capability to control the output current. This is essential because it can change its output voltage during the process of working with your circuit. An adjustable current-limiting bench power supply allows you to choose the right value. It also has multiple outputs and has the ability to dissipate heat. This will make it easy to use the bench to power other devices. Moreover, a good bench power supply should have a fan to dissipate heat.
A good bench power supply should have load regulation. This refers to the unit’s ability to maintain stability even when the input voltage and frequency fluctuate. It is also important to check if the bench power supply is protected against overheating and overcurrent. If it has a built-in fan, it is a safe bet that the unit will be more stable when it is operating. This is essential for test purposes, as it is a critical component in your circuit.
LT3081 Bench Power Supply
The LT3081 bench power supply has a current-limiting feature that keeps it from overheating. This feature helps you to determine what current is needed to ensure the safety of your circuit. Likewise, a LT3081 bench power supply should have current-limiting capabilities that can be adjusted to suit your needs. The LT3081 has a constant-current feature that enforces a sharp cliff at 3.1A. This is essential for safety purposes.
A bench power supply should have a load-regulating feature. A load-regulating bench power supply can be a great option for test engineers. Its output voltage and frequency can fluctuate as the project progresses, and the voltage and the current limit of the bench power supply are important to ensure your safety. It should have current-limiting capabilities to prevent the overheating of devices. A high-quality bench power supply should allow for easy testing.
Types of Bench Power Supplies
Various types of bench power supplies have different power envelopes. A hyperbolic envelope is more stable and provides a smooth transition from one range to another. The current envelope of a bench power supply depends on the device that is under test. The maximum output power might be required in certain situations, such as when it is needed at a particular point in the frequency spectrum. If the device is sensitive, a load regulation feature should allow it to be regulated in the correct manner.
DC Bench Power Supply
A portable DC bench power supply should have a current limit control. This will allow you to adjust the output voltage and current and avoid overheating of equipment. A bench power supply should also have a switch for voltage limiting. The switch should be placed where the voltage is needed. Depending on the manufacturer, a programmable unit can be used for the test. The output voltage of the battery-powered unit is determined by the current-limiting function of the device. | https://medium.com/@rebeccaroseuk123/choosing-a-bench-power-supply-8abbee6b776d | [] | 2021-12-17 11:40:37.739000+00:00 | ['Hardware', 'Electronics'] |
Talk Finance To Me: How Communication Changed The Way I Think | Christmas symbolizes a time for family. This year when so many of us are unable to see loved ones, I find myself reflecting on the people I grew up around and the people who raised me a little more than I usually do.
After all, it is well known that the people you grow up around- whatever your relationship with them may be- have a significant impact on one’s adulthood. It impacts how you keep your apartment, the food you cook, and- of course-how you think about money.
A recurring theme in the literature about finance is the importance of money not being a taboo topic. It is a common phrase that classy people do not talk about politics or money. Growing up, at the dinner table, my family apparently decidedly dissed the idea of being classy. I would have intense discussions about those very two things.
I remember that when we had guests- the poor spectators- would often be shocked. How could my parents- especially my dad- indulge my opinion on difficult politico-economic topics? How could they let me disagree? After all, I was a child. And for the more conservative ones, I was a girl.
I grew up with parents who were also small business owners. For as long as I can remember, and despite my mother’s ultimately futile efforts to keep work out of the home, my dad would inevitably say something about the business. I would listen in and ask questions. And they would patiently explain to me what the terms they were talking about- lending, selling, taxes, profits, and even recessions- were. They never hid the realities of owning a business from me- even the harsher financial ones. Most importantly, they didn’t shut my opinion down even if we disagreed.
I was afforded a strange freedom- that of knowledge about what was happening with money in my family, the things we could afford, and the things we could not. Better, my questions about how money could be managed and grown were answered. It was not a topic that was shrouded in secrecy but a continual conversation that we rather unknowingly had.
In my research, I chanced upon a study by Personal Capital that concludes that most parents only ever talk to their children about their general financial standing, evading the scarier aspects of finance. Moreover, children tend to imitate the spending habits of their parents. Important topics like investing were seen to be mostly glossed over with men being 35% more likely to be taught by their parents to invest than women.
Additionally, the respondents in the study that were seen to have a higher net worth also had parents who talked to them about investing and recessions.
I think of this a lot- especially with all the uncertainty we are surrounded with now.
I begin to think- should we limit this to parents and children? What about our friends? What about our community? How do we get “money talk” inside our home? How do we extend it outside? Isn’t communication the first step to empowerment and education? Can it help create a more financially equitable world? Can it help us feel less alone?
* I also recommend checking out this Forbes article by Liz Fraiser. It does a great job of summarizing the study I referenced and provides unique insight into how to talk to children about the difficulties we are facing. | https://medium.com/@ahanasamat/talk-finance-to-me-how-communication-changed-the-way-i-think-3e5fe368773a | ['Ahana Samat'] | 2020-12-21 17:13:21.466000+00:00 | ['Family', 'Women In Business', 'Children', 'Financial Literacy', 'Finance'] |
Best Buy says goodbye to Mexico Due to Covid. | Best Buy closes all stores in Mexico December 31st 2020
Covid-19 continues to strike unexpectedly. Today on November 24th 2020, Best Buy in Mexico decided to soon be closing their doors for good after a 13 year long run in the country.
Best Buy will officially close it’s total of 41 stores in Mexico as of December 31st 2020. Due to the effects of Covid-19.
According to El Financiero, a very reliable newspaper publishing. They ensure the public that the company would formally announce it’s departure from the country investors. According to the paper, Best Buy will order the closings and provide support to it’s collaborators so that terminations are made according to law.
As of today (Tuesday) Best buy has a meeting call with the investors to give the results of the last quarter of it’s fiscal year. Which will clearly show that Covid-19 impacted it’s operations. The company’s decision to leave is to improve it’s organizational structure and strategic focus.
Best Buy Revenues
The quarterly report has stated that it is apart of $111 Million restructuring in the third quarter of it’s fiscal year.
“Despite it’s extraordinary work of our collaborators, the effects of the pandemic have been severe, and it is not viable for us to maintain our business in Mexico.” Stated Fernando Silva, President of Best Buy Mexico.
Silva then assured the public that this decision does not reflect the efforts buy his team of collaborators.
Best Buy has said they would offer helpful workshops to the employees being effected. They will have use of different job searching platforms, resume creations and job interview simulations to better help one to find a job.
Thankfully, Best Buy has even assured it’s employees effected that they will cover life insurance throughout 2021. They will also extend all major medical insurance to workers who have it for the same term. | https://medium.com/@cstifel1/best-buy-says-goodbye-to-mexico-due-to-covid-b5b6d8f2b674 | ['Conner Stifel'] | 2020-11-24 22:06:29.987000+00:00 | ['Mexico', 'Best Buy', 'Electronics', 'Closing', 'News'] |
Dear Black Girl Who Attended a PWI: This Is Why I Need Both Black and White Friends to Thrive | A few nights ago, I found myself reflecting on my friendships during a FaceTime call with a close friend:
“I don’t know, it’s just so weird. Most of my friends from childhood are White and most of my friends from college are Black. But I couldn’t imagine life without either group because they cater to different parts of my identity that I need,” I told her candidly.
It’s a privilege to say that some of my closest friends from childhood are still my girls for life. Attending all-girls school together for most of our life is what sealed the deal. Starting from elementary school, we ate together at lunch religiously and we had frequent sleepovers where we stayed up all night in our sleeping bags laid in a circle on our parents’ living room floor sharing “secrets” throughout the night. We made it a point to be front and center during sports games and dance recitals and celebrated each and every birthday like it was the last — with cards, baked goods, and Facebook posts decked out with kind words and throwback photos. As we got older, this established bond became more pertinent: we didn’t just like to hang out, we needed each other. We defended each other in front of bullies and popular girls, we counseled each other through every crush and heartbreak, and we felt the magic of our bond. And although we had our fights, as the one of the only Black girls in the squad, I can truly say that I’ve never felt tokenized, I’ve never felt overlooked, and I’ve never felt that different, with this group. I was wanted and I belonged. Because our roots grew together as one, from Day 1, there was never a question.
When I moved onto college, however, and started my tenure at a another PWI, I gravitated towards people who looked like me: mainly Black women, as well as other women of color. I’m not sure why, but it felt necessary, and it felt natural. With my Black friends, I went through the same motions that built our friendships as I had at my PWI lower, middle, and high school — but it was different. Through dorm room hangouts, study sessions, campus activities, and parties they showed me how richly diverse the cultures of the African Diaspora are and they made me more confident in my body, knowledge, and individuality. I no longer just accepted inequality or injustice towards my Black body and mind, but instead I challenged it. On all fronts. Sitting with my Black friends in the dining hall or walking with them into a party made me feel powerful and made me feel seen for who I am. The conversations we would have about our shared experiences as Black at the institution, and in other environments, tapped traumatic or difficult racial and gendered experiences that I forgot I had and made me understand them in a new light. It was healing. Granted, race and gender was not all we talked about, but being around these women made me walk into class with a different sense of importance and urgency, and made me more intentional with how I expended my energy.
So coming home for breaks were…confusing, sometimes, if we’re being honest. The power that I felt with my Black friends was suddenly reduced and instead replaced with a sense of kindred bond that sometimes didn’t feel as passionate. My conversations with my White friends reminisced on our past experiences, our families, our immediate future, and centered around just hanging out. While, I, never one to bite my tongue, would lecture my friends on critical race theory and quickly point out how our college experiences were different on the basis of their White privilege just because I had knowledge that I wanted to give, we mostly did what we were used to and there were no hot racial or political debates or heavy feeling of racial empowerment on my end — but this was okay, even if different from what I was used to with college friends, because they supported (and still support) so many other aspects of my identity that I would be lost without.
Now, especially in an era where it can be harder and harder to connect with friends (regardless of race) in general, I realize that I’m so blessed that I have these two types of friend groups. Because the reality is — without my White friends that I grew up with, I wouldn’t have an initial sense of love or care for others who don’t look like or identify as me. Without having practiced so many values and social skills through my friendship with them, I wouldn’t be me — someone who describes themselves as a person who’s life goal is to connect with and understand others (duh, that’s why I studied cognitive science and psychology!). But I unwaveringly recognize that I also wouldn’t be me without my Black women friends who time after time told me that being a Black girl is always and will always be enough. They showed me through words and actions, in spaces that were never meant for us, to make a big splash anyways. This made college liberating and fueled my education in order to take this first big step into adulthood.
Without either group — my White friends from childhood or my Black friends from college — I wouldn’t be me. They have both contributed so much to who I am in their own way. I am so grateful to have friends who support me regardless of my identity, because it is such a blessing to feel loved in so many ways and in ways that touch different parts of my wholistic identity. And what is even more is that I am unbelievably grateful to have friends who amplify my voice in the fight for racial justice and take it upon themselves to be better allies, better friends, better humans. You know who you are.
To this day, my dad puts it perfectly by explaining that diversity of ideas, experiences, people, places, languages, and so many more categories is truly what makes the world go round. Without that diversity, life is, well, completely boring. Homogeneity whether it be race, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, or religion yields no learning, no excitement, or no substantial good. We need other people and we need what they bring with them.
So in reference to one of my best friends (who happens to be White) coming to our house to hang out by the pool one sunny summer afternoon, my dad referenced his “diversity philosophy” and stated to her: “my life is much richer having you with us. Knowing that you two are friends.”
And I agree. Although I have just outlined one way in which my life is so much richer by being able to connect to friends specifically from different races, I truly strive to embody this notion by inviting and including people of all backgrounds into my life. So the takeaway: Let’s continue to be loved and express love from endless sources. You have something to offer to someone else with your very existence because its different from theirs. Never conform, only celebrate. The more we connect, the better we feel. | https://gracelrgreene.medium.com/dear-black-girl-who-went-to-a-pwi-this-is-why-i-need-both-black-and-white-friends-to-thrive-c47ee75468ba | ['Grace Greene'] | 2020-08-21 19:46:21.220000+00:00 | ['Diversity', 'Black Girl Magic', 'Friendship', 'Women', 'Self Love'] |
Indicted — How to Analyze Your Legal Exposure | Lawrence Hartman is a Columbia Law School graduate and the author of GUILTY TILL PROVEN INNOCENT: A Shocking Inside View Into America’s Failing Justice System (now available online at Amazon). You may contact him at [email protected] to assist with your legal mitigation needs.
So, you’ve either been indicted or are in fear of indictment. The prospect is terrifying, with even just a short stint in prison feeling like the end of the world. That’s understandable. Most people, therefore, feel a strong desire to proclaim their innocence and put this whole chapter behind them. Beating the Feds, however, is a daunting task, and most people are better served by trying to minimize the damage. After all, there’s a huge difference between a long and short sentence, both personally and professionally. To that end, it’s critical to understand exactly how this process works and how to best navigate it to suit your purposes.
There are two things that impact how much time you’re looking at: (1) the charge(s) that may be brought against you, and (2) the level at which you score out to on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
A charge is something like possession, distribution, money laundering, wire fraud or conspiracy to commit an act, for example. It’s basically a claim that you broke the law. Each specific charge carries a maximum sentence for a set period of years, typically 5, 10 or 20, depending on the alleged law broken. Charges themselves are often stacked, with multiple charges made for the same single activity. While there are certain general guidelines governing how the prosecutors should charge, the reality is that there’s no rhyme or reason behind how that works. It’s at the discretion of the AUSA assigned to your case. My case, just to give you an idea, involved 35 separate charges, while someone else might only get hit with one or two for the exact same activity.
The number of charges can be unbelievably terrifying, especially when you don’t understand how all this works. Based on my situation, you’d think I was looking at 350 years and, theoretically, I was. Judges, however, will almost always run sentences concurrently (at the same time) instead of consecutively. That’s why AUSA’s are prepared to drop numerous charges as part of any Plea Deal, because all they really need is one. Still, just that one charge does a heck of a lot of damage. 10 years for me, 20 to 30 for others.
The second part of the analysis requires a review of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, a strict and onerous standard birthed during the law and order 1980s, designed to take decision making away from the liberal judges deemed too soft on crime. It created hard and fast rules leading to extreme results, but no one paid much attention at the time since so few people were affected. Well, thanks to these changes, the federal prison population bloated ten-fold and sentence lengths soared into the stratosphere.
You start off in a Category, depending on your criminal history. These Categories range from 1, for someone with no criminal history, all the way up to Category 6. As you can imagine, a prospective sentence gets progressively harsher, depending on your history. You’re then assessed points based on the relevant factors of your case. These include such things as the alleged dollar amount or volume of drugs, number of victims, and whether you used sophisticated means or a firearm was involved, among numerous other variables. The rules for this exercise are vague, overly inclusive, arbitrary, subjective and open to manipulation, ensuring they can add up quickly. The Guidelines also recommend obscenely longer sentences the higher up you go. So, one extra level at the low end, from 16 to 17, let’s say, will result in just 3 extra months, while that same one level at the high-end, from 35 to 36 tacks on an additional 22 months. This helps to explain how even first-time offenders can get ridiculously long sentences. Anyway, you then total those points and it corresponds to a recommended sentencing guideline range (i.e. 57–71 months, or 110–121 months). This analysis is done by the Department of Probation which then sends it to the judge who exercises the ultimate decision but requires a solid presentation to sentence below the Guidelines, out of fear of being overturned on appeal.
So, the question then is, how does this all interact? Well, when all is said and done, after a Plea Agreement has been signed, or you’ve had and lost your day in Court, there is a Sentencing Hearing before the judge. That’s where all this gets fleshed out for good and I’ll cover that later in greater detail in subsequent articles. | https://medium.com/@justicefailing/indicted-how-to-analyze-your-legal-exposure-7783b7d4001b | ['Failing Justice'] | 2020-10-24 11:46:53.088000+00:00 | ['Arrest', 'Criminal Justice Reform', 'Prison', 'Criminal Justice', 'Prison Reform'] |
What Covid-19 taught us about Climate Change | What Covid-19 taught us about Climate Change
Photo by David von Diemar on Unsplash
For three years in a row, the World Economic Forum’s risks report has ranked climate change as the biggest global threat of our time. This is particularly relevant because in previous years economic problems were deemed the biggest threats to mankind. Many actions have been taken to tackle the issue. In 2015,the Paris Agreement set out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. The pact provided a pathway for developed nations to assist developing nations in their climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Despite its many flaws, the Paris Agreement represented a necessary first step. And then came 2020; an unexpectedly difficult year which offered a unique opportunity to collect valuable data assessing our efforts to realistically meet the Paris targets.
Up to this point, you’re probably wondering what exactly this article has to do with Elon Musk. We get it; climate change is a big deal! Nearly every nation agreed to cut their climate-altering pollution and to strengthen those commitments over time. However we’ve seen on many occasions that the commitments are very fragile and vulnerable to special interests and different ideologies. This is exaclty where the genius of Elon Musk comes into play. He anticipated all the possible scenarios and addressed the vital few. Every venture he embarks on, with maybe the exception of Neuralink , ultimately is a potential best solution to our climate challenge.
Tesla
Before covid-19, carbon dioxide emission has been on the rise by about 1% per year over the past decade. During that time, renewable energy production expanded worldwide with solar power taking the lead. Fossil energy , however, continued to be deployed and emissions from surface transport continued to rise.This is due to the increasing demand both in electricity and surface transport worldwide as people and countries gradually come out of poverty. In a recent article published by Le Quere in Nature analyzing activity data up to april 2020 which coincides with the peak confinement period worldwide, some surprising results were revealed in relation to the changes in daily activities due to the pandemic and global CO2 emission.
During confinement, the aviation sector saw a decrease in daily activities of -75% while surface transport experienced a reduction of -50% . Other sectors such as industry and public sectors (-35%), Power (-15%)and residential sector (+5%) were also studied. The overall effect of the confinement up to april was to decrease daily global CO2 emission by -17% relative to mean level of emissions in 2019. With the extreme measures and circumstances, this represented by far the most impactful and positive human contribution to climate change ever. For this to happen, global emissions from surface transport fell by –36% and made the largest contribution to the total emissions change. Despite a decline of -60 % in the aviation sector, which underwent the highest anomaly of any sector, this decrease only accounted for 10% of the global decrease in CO2 observed during that period. (Find full article here).
All of this means that surface transport is the bottleneck to our climate change problem and Tesla has figured out half of the answer.Two decades ago, very few perceived electric vehicles as cool. In fact, the first electric vehicle to have crossed the 100 km/h mark (in 1899) was named “Jamais Contente” which means never happy in french. This further illustrates how depressing and boring the sector has been for years. Today, it feels cool to own a Tesla. Although I can’t afford a Tesla at the moment, I fancy the idea of owning a model 3, a cybertruck or a roadster as much as I do for any other luxurious car. This shift in perception constitutes a major part of the transition towards mass production of electric vehicles. Looks and performance are now a new normal. Tesla made most of that possible. We should not expect 50 % of the global population to drive a Tesla by 2050 (as it could be the case in Norway). Also, Tesla’s plan to make more affordable cars in the future is quite hazy. Not every one can afford Jordan’s but there sure is a Nikey gear or shoe in most closets around the world. Will Elon mould Tesla into something similar? In any case, Tesla has gifted something major to any potential EV manufacturer: this product is cool and increasingly normal.
So far we’ve explored only one half of the surface transport equation. Energy production for EV manufacturing and storage make up that other half. There again, Tesla has half of their approach right. Their battery technology is top-notch and can eventually be applied in other fields outside of EVs. A complete life cycle analysis of a Tesla car could quickly become a strenuous feat due to the complexity or secrecy of certain manufacturing processes and raw materials formulations. However, from what’s been made publicly available, the company has embraced new technology and efficient production technology for production of its parts. The effort for production efficiency is justified in part by the use of robots to eliminate wastes and the company building its own battery manufacturing facility. As it is often the case in renewable energy technologies, there exists no absolute solution to our global warming challenge. For each sector, the best solution is the one that triggers a fundamental shift in our approach and perception of the problem. Tesla has succeeded in that.
Solar City/Tesla Solar
Since the annoucement of Powerwall 2 and Solar roof, there has been very little news from Tesla about new technology for sustainable energy generation. For a man who loves wearing different hats, it’s fair to say that Elon Musk in recent years has been less prolific in large scale power generation technologies. Maybe this is simply a calculated choice. Maybe he has something up his sleeve that we have yet to know about.
Space X
To some extent, we’ve all experienced the complexity of the climate change challenge. Even if the most fervent advocates of climate change were to consciously dedicate their daily activities towards a reduction of CO2 emission and governments around the world met their NDC targets, there would still be a high probability of failure.It is a possibility that our best measures and policies fall short of the expectations to stop global warming. What is the next best solution other than an escape plan?
Elon Musk created Space X in the hopes of revolutionizing the aerospace industry and making affordable spaceflight a reality. In 2020, Space X became the first private company to send astronauts to orbit and to the International Space Station. That hope has now evolved to a believable desire to colinize Mars. Before writing this article, I have watched as many Elon interviews as i possibly could and I have yet to find out why he thinks we would need to leave earth at some point. Yes, exploring a new planet, pushing human boundaries are obvious answers. But we’re talking about a man who went broke to save his companies. Sending a few rich folks to space can’t be the real goal here, can it? My gut feeling tells me it’s climate change.
Conclusion
Covid-19 has taught us many valuable lessons. It has showed us the importance of recognizing the true purpose of all our businesses and economies, our political parties and governments, our local civic associations and our international organizations, our conventions and ideologies, and all our other systems. It revealed to us the magnitude of global warming challenge. Even with our best efforts, we could still fall short of the targets and deny future generations the right to call this planet home. Climate change requires bold ideas. Elon has made billions capitalizing on bold ideas to tackle the world biggest challenge. It’s okay to follow suit. | https://medium.com/@marcovenst/covid-19-and-global-warming-586be88485f2 | [] | 2020-12-26 10:06:23.729000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Covid 19', 'Pandemic', 'Tesla', 'Climate Change'] |
As The Curtain Finally Falls On 2020—A December To Remember! | As The Curtain Finally Falls On 2020—A December To Remember!
In my Washington Post letter of December 21, 2020 headlined, “Republicans’ tone-deaf fealty,” I had said, in part:
“One wonders whether Republicans in the United States fear President Trump more than Russians fear their president, Vladimir Putin. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) finally congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his victory — only after Mr. Putin had done so early on Dec. 15. Is it possible that Mr. McConnell surmised Mr. Trump couldn’t do much damage to the Republican flock once Mr. Putin had thrown in the towel?”
Trump must feel a sense of betrayal, but Putin has proven to be smart at realpolitik and prioritizes Russia’s interests accordingly. My letter had concluded by saying:
“… it’s a shame that Republican holdouts are proving to be more tone-deaf politically — not only on domestic realpolitik but also on how our democracy actually works.”
The times they are a-changin’
But then, it’s not only Republicans that will need to adjust to the realities of a post-Trump world, but also major conservative media outlets — such as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, controlled by media mogul, Rupert Murdoch — will have to adapt, if they want to remain relevant during a Biden-Harris administration. In this regard, it was appalling to read Joseph Epstein’s December 11, 2020 op-ed, “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.” in the WSJ. There is no way to justify this ridiculous piece of misogynistic claptrap and Mr. Epstein’s opening paragraph might provide a clue as to why:
“Madame First Lady — Mrs. Biden — Jill — kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you might drop the “Dr.” before your name? “Dr. Jill Biden” sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic. Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title “Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs.” A wise man once said that no one should call himself “Dr.” unless he has delivered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc.”
The buck stops there, somewhere…
After the mainstream media and the Twitterati lit up with outrage, WSJ editorial page editor, Paul Gigot, cried foul and defended the op-ed a couple days later in his response, “The Biden Team Strikes Back.” But it became apparent that Mr. Gigot didn’t comprehend the difference between, what he called, a “provocative” piece and what most saw an “offensive” one. Instead of following the maxim, “when you are in a hole stop digging,” Mr. Gigot decided to go Trumpian in his defense of an op-ed piece that had clearly offended across the ideological spectrum.
It’s a sign of the times that the WSJ editorial page — which took repeated umbrage over issues of character, honesty, integrity, misogyny, sexism, et al. during the Clinton years — now refuses to admit that it made a mistake, much like our current president, who never does. Instead, Mr. Gigot chose to use conservatives’ go-to line of defense by citing “identity politics.” In framing the matter in race and gender terms, Mr. Gigot played to his readers’ base, much like Trump does. One fervently hopes that when President-elect Biden assumes office, “the buck stops here” once again becomes the guiding principle for chief executives in all professions across the nation.
Can’t accept the count, then count on a coup to stay in power?
By highlighting the fear of Trump at the highest levels of the Republican party and simultaneously pointing out the effects of Trumpism on a highly respected conservative publication in the country, we can hopefully comprehend the extent of the deleterious effects that this president has had on our democracy, including on the first branch of our government and on the First Amendment to our Constitution. Trump’s noxious behavior has plunged to new lows since the 2020 presidential election was accurately called in favor of Joe Biden. Despite multiple recounts, an official certification of the Electoral College results by the states, and a complete rejection by various courts of 59 election-related lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign throughout the country, Trump will not let it go. He is making a last-ditch attempt to block a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021 from conducting its ceremonial role of opening and counting certificates of electoral votes. All it requires is one member of the House of Representatives and one senator to object to this formal certificate counting process from going forward. If an objection is raised successfully, the House and Senate must vote separately to confirm or deny the objection. The objection is almost certain to be rejected by both chambers, but Trump still insists on going through the motions. In fact, during a caucus call on Tuesday, December 15th, McConnell told his colleagues that they must not object to states’ electoral votes at a joint session of Congress in January.
In the interim, it’s the bizarre goings-on at the White House — which seems to be oblivious to the raging coronavirus pandemic and the economic toll that it is wreaking on the American public, as it continues to focus on trying to overturn a settled election outcome — that has everyone very concerned. Especially given that significant events have occurred in this month that should have put the kibosh on Trump’s attempts at overturning a legitimate election result. He should have instead refocused, in the waning days of his presidency, on critical national security issues and the increasingly deadly coronavirus pandemic. The following timeline — of a December to remember — makes my point.
A December to remember — here a hack, there a hack, everywhere a hack!
On December 8th FireEye, a cybersecurity firm, alerted the world that its network had been breached and the hacking tools that it uses to test clients’ networks defenses had been stolen. In a December 14th blogpost, FireEye confirmed that hackers had “gained access to victims via trojanized updates to SolarWind’s Orion IT monitoring and management software. This campaign may have begun as early as Spring 2020 and is currently ongoing.” On the same day, the Washington Post reported, “Russian government hackers breached the Treasury and Commerce departments, along with other U.S. government agencies.”
An official acknowledgement followed on Wednesday, December 16th, when the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint statement — on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), CISA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) — which confirmed that they had “become aware of a significant and ongoing cybersecurity campaign.” The statement acknowledged that the “compromise has affected networks within the federal government.” The following day, December 17th, Politico reported, “The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation.”
Then on Friday, December 18th, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo put the blame for the hack squarely on Russia. Per the Wall Street Journal’s reporting, “‘This was a very significant effort, and I think it’s the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity,’ Mr. Pompeo said in a Friday night interview with radio host Mark Levin.”
However, placing the blame on Russia did not sit well with Trump, who took to Twitter the very next day on Saturday, December 19th, to downplay Moscow’s role in the hack. In its report, “Trump contradicts Pompeo in bid to downplay massive hack of U.S. government, Russia’s role” the Washington Post said:
“In a bizarre outburst on Twitter that Trump’s critics condemned for its alarming disconnect from the facts, the president contradicted his top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who on Friday pinned the breaches that have afflicted at least five major federal agencies ‘clearly’ on Russia. Rather, the president baselessly suggested that the true culprit ‘may be China (it may!)’”
Dissent within the Trump administration continued to rise, when long-standing loyalist, Attorney General Bill Barr delivered a trifecta of positions that were at odds with Trump. Per an Axios report, at his final press conference on Monday, December 21st, Barr told reporters:
“…that he sees no reason to name a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, there is no basis for the federal government to seize voting machines, and that he agrees with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s assessment that Russia was behind the massive recent hack of federal agencies”.
Yes, Russia has clearly been listening!
So, we’ve come full circle with the Trump presidency. It began with Russia hacking into our 2016 election and it ends with Russia hacking into several of our federal agencies. While CISA was busy overseeing our 2020 elections, one it called “the most secure in American history,” it was blindsided by Russia on what Putin — the aforementioned “smart at realpolitik” guy — was really after. Putin’s intelligence units probably discerned early on — around the time coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. and Trump then quickly botched the handling of it — that Trump was likely to lose his reelection bid. That’s when Putin probably directed this alternative and more substantive hacking campaign to begin, “as early as Spring 2020,” per CISA’s acknowledgement of when it started. It was a recognition of the fact that Putin would no longer have his preferred U.S. president starting 2021, so it was like, “let’s grab all their good stuff before he is outta there.”
A December to remember — the deadliest month yet of the pandemic!
Meanwhile the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the nation. The Atlantic’s December 23 report, “December Is Now the Deadliest Month of the Pandemic,” provides this somber analysis:
“Each month added to the country’s tragedy, and December began with 259,697 dead since the pandemic’s beginning. On December 23, the total was 317,513. That puts the total deaths reported so far this month at 57,683 — over April’s record, with another week left in the year, during which the country is likely to record more than 10,000 additional deaths.”
Despite this tragic loss of life, Trump has been AWOL on the pandemic since he lost his reelection bid. The only thing pandemic related that Trump has mentioned concerns the Covid vaccines — a couple of which received emergency use authorization by the FDA in December and started shipping across the country — for which he made sure to claim credit.
Trump’s parting “let them eat cake” message to the American people.
But the real Trump spoiler — à la the Grinch who stole Christmas — came on December 22nd. An NBC News report, “Trump threw a wrench into Covid relief. What could happen next?” described it as follows:
“President Donald Trump on Tuesday threw a wrench into the massive year-end spending and coronavirus relief bill, leaving the country on edge as the threat of a government shutdown and expiring Covid-19 protections loom over the holiday season.”
To make matters worse, Trump then headed down to his Mar-a-Lago resort and was seen golfing on Christmas Eve, even as the fate of much of the nation hung in the balance. It’s almost impossible to fathom how this man thinks or operates, but we can only thank our stars that come January 20, 2021 this nation will be free of what could arguably be one of the worst presidents in its 244-year history. On that hopeful note, here’s wishing all of you a merry Christmas, happy Holidays and a very happy New Year! | https://medium.com/@jnargundkar/as-the-curtain-finally-falls-on-2020-a-december-to-remember-776843fd935d | ['Jack Nargundkar'] | 2020-12-26 01:20:59.663000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Politics', 'Leadership', 'Trump', 'Republican Party'] |
ANCA and HALC welcome NDAA provision mandating sanctioning of Turkey for purchase of Russian S-400s | WASHINGTON–The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) lauded the completion of the 60th Annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2021 included a provision that effectively mandates that the United States imposes sanctions on Turkey.
In the 115th Congress, ANCA and HALC launched a joint advocacy initiative to remove Turkey from the F35 program and to hold Turkey accountable for violating the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The ANCA-HALC advocacy campaigns warned members of Congress against the dangers of failing to hold Turkey accountable and allowing it to have weapons that he may turn against our allies — including Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and Armenia — and possibly even U.S. forces.
Senator Bob Menendez, who played a key role in the NDAA amendment, tweeted: “Incredibly proud to have helped secure inclusion of a provision in the NDAA to do what President Trump refused to do: Officially determine on behalf of the U.S. government that Turkey took delivery of Russian S-400 defense systems and therefore will be sanctioned under existing law.”
Endy Zemenides, HALC’s Executive Director praised Senator Menendez’s leadership and noted: “It took a while but the days of whitewashing Turkey’s consistent destabilizing behavior, violations of American and international law, and lack of reliability as an ally are over. Congress is sending a clear signal to the incoming Biden Administration that ‘Accountability’ and not ‘Appeasement’ must be the key to US-Turkey policy.”
“The adoption of this key NDAA provision — long sought by the ANCA and our HALC and IDC allies — holds Erdogan accountable for his increasingly reckless and anti-American actions,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “It is our hope that the incoming Biden Administration will reflect and reinforce this broad bipartisan consensus, bringing to an end a shameful era in which the first instinct of U.S. diplomacy has been to erase every Turkish sin, excuse every Turkish offense, and appease even the most irrational Turkish demand.” | https://medium.com/@hellenicleaders/anca-and-halc-welcome-ndaa-provision-mandating-sanctioning-of-turkey-for-purchase-of-russian-s-400s-ee442ec1f455 | ['Hellenic Leaders'] | 2020-12-04 22:36:46.996000+00:00 | ['United States', 'Russia', 'Congress', 'Turkey', 'Foreign Policy'] |
Dynamically Adding Lines to a Plotly Plot in R | Since Plotly made their interactive graphing platform available for R, I’ve been trying to incorporate it into more of my projects. Recently I was working on a graph that included the price of a particular stock as well as multiple moving averages and thought it could be useful to use vertical lines to help better define buy and sell points for the viewer. While ggplot2 allows users to pass a single vector of values into the geom_vline() argument to do this, Plotly appears to require a separate list of arguments for each line (possibly as a result of the complete control they give you over the positioning of shapes). Below is a snippet of the data I used to build the graph. Full data available here.
A snapshot of the full GE price dataset
Below is an example of the arguments necessary to build a vertical line from the x axis to the adjusted price for GE on 2–11–1997.
p <- layout(p, shapes = list(type = “line”, fillcolor = “blue”,
line = list(color = “blue”),
opacity = 0.3,
x0 = “1997–02–11”,
x1 = “1997–02–11”,
xref = “x”,
y0 = 0,
y1 = 10.22,
yref = “y”))
Obviously drawing more than a couple lines in this manner would be very clumsy. My goal was to point out crossover points between the 2 EMAs, which means a non-programmatic approach would be very impractical. To make this task easier, I created a simple “for” loop to identify crossovers indicating a “buy” (in green) or a “sell” (in red).
First I used dplyr to filter out all the days where the EMAs did not cross:
line_dat <-
dat %>%
filter(dat$signal != '--')
Then I created a list of lists, with each of the nested lists containing the arguments for one line. To make it easier for the end user to distinguish between “buy” and “sell” days, I used an if-else statement to alter the line color for each iteration depending on the signal.
line_list <- list()
for(i in 1:nrow(line_dat)){
line_color <- ifelse(line_dat$signal[i] == 'buy','green','red')
line_list[[i]] <-
list(type = “line”,
fillcolor = line_color,
line = list(color = line_color),
opacity = 0.3,
x0 = line_dat[[1]][i],
x1 = line_dat[[1]][i],
xref = “x”,
y0 = 0,
y1 = line_dat[[2]][i],
yref = “y”)
}
Below is the resulting graph
I’ve already found other uses for Plotly at work, and I’m excited to see how I can work it into my R workflow. | https://medium.com/zappos-engineering/dynamically-adding-lines-to-a-potly-plot-in-r-546ace6e626b | ['Raphael Fix'] | 2016-02-16 20:14:50.507000+00:00 | ['Plotly', 'R', 'Data Visualization'] |
Ruins, 2005 | The Whispering Gallery is the first of three to the top of the dome, and no one’s there when I finally reach the stone circle of a walkway. Without the frenetic hush of other people’s voices, the idle silence is almost disappointing, the walls close to ordinary.
I’m halfway around the gallery when I hear someone spit out my name. I know it’s Walt before I turn around. He’s leaning against the tendriled iron railing, his elbow dangling ten stories above the checkerboard marble floor below.
Hey Mischa, he says, and it hums around the hall, violent and flickering. There’s a deliberate half-grin on his face, a rehearsed casualness from a bad high school play. I take a step back, the sound amplified and mortifying. We’re both too old for this.
Hey, I say, is there something you need?
Just saying hello. He keeps his hand on the railing as he starts to come closer, with his math book in the other. Nothing against saying hey, like he’s resuming an old debate.
Yeah, sure, Walt, I tell him. That’s a thing you can do, I guess. Our words echo around us in the empty hall, exhaling and breathless.
I saw it earlier today, you know, Walt says when he’s close enough for normal conversation.
I don’t know what you’re talking about? I reply with enough of a question to make it seem like Walt is seeing things and should be contrite for even mentioning them, for making shit up. But inside panic stuffs my throat and I’m thinking of Cassie, of my careful constructions and hesitations. If this is how little it takes for the empire of myself to begin its tumble into ruins.
Come on, says Walt, sing-songing with the upper hand. Are you really going to pretend like I didn’t see it? Seriously?
I tell him I don’t know what he’s talking about — at least I think that’s what I say, the words too thin to recall. His hand is still on the rail, almost touching my arm.
It’s obvious, he goes on. With you and that girl. The one in our group. Did you think you were hiding something?
What? Are you calling me a dyke? When I blink, there’s Ellie in my bed, staring anywhere but at me. Her voice. So stupid, so stupid.
Walt shrugs. You said it, not me. I haven’t noticed it until now, his hand, how he’s holding onto me in a way I can’t quite call grabbing. There’s an inscrutable purpose to him, the way his knuckles cleft under his skin. Walt doesn’t have to say anything for me to know what I’m supposed to do next. The hall murmurs, susurrus. Prove it.
I’m not in the mood for whatever the fuck, Walt, I tell him, shaking him off. It’s only now that I begin to wonder if the neo-Nazi thing is actually true, if he wants whatever he wants from me.
A lesson: this is how easy it is to forget that history happens all at once.
Too bad. Walt seizes my arm again, and I don’t realize he’s knocked me back-first into the wall until I my knees buckle. He’s all sweat and bleach and hunger, with the look someone gets before they want to break through a door.
A beat after he’s pinned me, the look on his face thaws into something like shock. It’s the look of a dark fantasy hidden in your journal being recited by a popular kid at a school assembly. Walt doesn’t let go but doesn’t go further. This, I think, is where terror lives.
We’re almost nose-to-nose, and still, the world doesn’t shake.
What are you doing, I say. My voice rises, circles us. From every corner, it gathers in our ears.
Years later, I will remember looking to Walt’s eyes, and I will know what the feeling is. It’s not forgiveness or sympathy or empathy, but something closest to the idea of forbearing, of understanding without absolution. I’ll think of Walt and the men who brought bombs with them below where a city breathes, and I will wonder what it’s like to love and to hate so much that you can’t stand to stay inside of your skin. To be so torn and incomplete that it can only be assuaged by obliterating every brick before you on the sidewalk, making the heart chambers of others implode.
Walt doesn’t answer, so I say it again. What are you doing, Walt?
What I’m really saying: This is where we are, and here is what made us. Now what do we do?
I’m scared, says Walt, his breath gutting him from the inside out. Are you?
He backs away, letting me go, his hands shaking. They’ve been shaking for some time. He picks up his math book, walking fast to the exit. It’s only after I hear the faint call of Cindy gathering our group that I begin to move, my wrists throbbing. When I start to walk down the stairs, it will be as if nothing happened at all. | https://medium.com/little-fiction-big-truths/ruins-2005-1c4c39281ead | ['Little Fiction'] | 2019-11-07 13:41:42.412000+00:00 | ['LGBTQ', 'Short Story', 'London', 'Fiction', 'Education'] |
Azure Lighthouse — Deployment Error (data actions not allowed) | I’ve been designing some templates for Azure Lighthouse deployments recently to delegate access and allow customer subscriptions to be managed from a central location.
Orginally I had the following groups defined in the template to delegate access to Key Vault and Storage Account File Shares and Blobs:
{ "principalId": "a627a78f-c2f2-4b34-b13c-9bbf46a768a8", "principalIdDisplayName": "KVCertificates", "roleDefinitionId": "a4417e6f-fecd-4de8-b567-7b0420556985" }, { "principalId": "264f0c6d-851f-4e18-b511-b64aaa3be3e9", "principalIdDisplayName": "KVSecrets", "roleDefinitionId": "b86a8fe4-44ce-4948-aee5-eccb2c155cd7" }, { "principalId": "89e8f1c2-5260-4041-a837-688b2ab79e39", "principalIdDisplayName": "KVKeys", "roleDefinitionId": "14b46e9e-c2b7-41b4-b07b-48a6ebf60603" }, { "principalId": "2e4a624d-c9f5-49f8-9e78-16ce9ed09628", "principalIdDisplayName": "SAFileShareContributor", "roleDefinitionId": "0c867c2a-1d8c-454a-a3db-ab2ea1bdc8bb" }, { "principalId": "f231666f-77e8-4b82-9fe2-32cb8907e947", "principalIdDisplayName": "SABlobDataContributor", "roleDefinitionId": "ba92f5b4-2d11-453d-a403-e96b0029c9fe" },
And swiftly ran into this error when deploying the template:
New-AzSubscriptionDeployment : 16:28:54 - The deployment 'lighthouse' failed with error(s). Showing 1 out of 1 error(s). Status Message: The role definition 'ba92f5b4-2d11-453d-a403-e96b0029c9fe' with data actions not allowed for registration definition '263f62fb-ac4e-5c57-b9ba-67cb6a1717a3'. Only built in role definitions without any data and notData actions are allowed. (Code:InvalidRegistrationDefinitionCreateRequest) CorrelationId: f22f3e57-5cf5-459b-aba0-d08bc3a3aacc At line:1 char:1 + New-AzSubscriptionDeployment -Name lighthouse -Location uksouth ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [New-AzDeployment], Exception + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.Azure.Commands.ResourceManager.Cmdlets.Implementation.NewAzureSubscriptionDeploymentCmdlet
Turns out you cannot use Lighthouse with role definitions that have data actions (i.e. allows access to the data plane rather than the resource itself).
Worth bearing in mind when designing your access model, AAD group structure and lighthouse templates! | https://medium.com/@jackwesleyroper/azure-lighthouse-deployment-error-data-actions-not-allowed-67937c30a103 | ['Jack Roper'] | 2020-12-24 08:53:05.568000+00:00 | ['Azure Lighthouse', 'Azure'] |
Hi, Noha ! | Hi, Noha !
Thank you very much for following me in Medium. I really appreciate.
I am reading your stories and liked them a lot. This parenting recommendations article is very good.
I was surprised you are a Software Engineer when reading your story about C++. Though I know what it is, Programming is difficult for me. I am very good at computers, but only as an user. I can learn how to work with a program, but doing it . . . is another words.
I congratulate you.
I follow you as well. I will read your work more.
Thank you so much again. Merry Christmas and all the best for you and your loved ones. Louisa. | https://medium.com/@louisa-free/hi-noha-18d741ce2281 | ['Louisa Oliveros'] | 2020-12-24 02:04:08.709000+00:00 | ['Parenting', 'Kids', 'Advice', 'Life', 'Experience'] |
The Success Trifecta for Growing Your Business | There will always be times in your business when growth slows and you hit a plateau. The important thing is to know how to identify why it’s happened and then quickly identify your greatest opportunity for catalyzing new growth.
These opportunities for growth fall into one of three areas. I call this the Success Trifecta. I use this framework to quickly assess the status of my clients’ businesses, determine the barriers to growth, and get things on an upward trend again.
THE SUCCESS TRIFECTA
In twelve years of helping influencers grow their businesses, I’ve found that a lack of growth always comes down to one of three things (it doesn’t matter if you are just getting started or you already are making seven figures).
To accelerate growth, you have to identify which of these three is the biggest sticking point and/or greatest opportunity for growth, then make key tweaks to unlock a new level of progress and results.
1) VISION
If you don’t have a clear vision about what you want to accomplish, you won’t be able to take deliberate, focused action that leads to your desired outcomes.
I always make sure that my clients and I start with a crystal clear picture of the life, business and impact that will bring them the greatest momentum, fulfillment, and growth — now and in the future.
Questions to ask:
Do you know what you want things to look like three years from now?
Have you planned milestones to get you there?
Do you know what your one or two most important objectives are this quarter? this year?
Are you clear on what you need in the present in order to stay focused and maintain momentum?
This goes beyond your basic “vision board”-type exercises. I find that a lot of people set lofty goals, but fail to consider how that vision contributes to creative, momentum and motivation in the present. This also relates to mindset, since our mindset directly impacts our ability to be creative and see possibilities.
2) STRATEGY
If you’re executing on the strategies that are ill-fitted to your vision, values, strengths or present circumstances, you’ll experience lackluster results, frustration and overwhelm.
Even worse, if you’re chasing tactics without a clear strategy, you’re burning your limited resources without commensurate payoff.
Questions to ask:
Are you chasing tactics or do you have a clear strategy to guide your daily actions?
Have you limited yourself to pursuing just one or two primary strategies over the next 90 days?
If you have a clear strategy, is it working? Are you confident in it?
Is your strategy the right fit for you and your vision?
Do you frequently switch strategies before you get results, create systems and outline procedures?
3) LACK OF FREQUENT AND FOCUSED EXECUTION
To succeed faster and more frequently you have to take consistent and deliberate action. It’s easy to fall into a pattern of either not taking enough action or taking action on too many things at once.
The former will erode your confidence and keep you stuck, the latter leads to overwhelm and burnout.
Questions to ask:
Are you progressing daily towards your most important objectives?
Are you clear on what metrics you can measure today in order to predict your future results?
Are you measuring those key metrics?
Do you have systems and routines to keep you focused and operating at peak performance?
Are you overwhelmed or overloaded?
A LACK OF CLARITY AND CONFIDENCE COST YOU DAILY
VISION, STRATEGY, and EXECUTION are the success trifecta when it comes to growing your income and impact.
It comes down to this.
The results you reap three months or a year from now are a direct reflection of your vision, strategy, and execution today.
You can’t afford another day to pass without confidence and clarity about your vision, strategy, and execution. It costs you fulfillment, impact, and income.
Whatever it takes to get clear in these three areas, that is your priority. My hope is that simply being aware of these three areas will help you identify where you can make the most progress right away.
If you’d like an additional perspective, I’d love to help you get clear in all three areas. So here’s what I propose.
LIMITED SPOTS FOR FREE STRATEGY CALLS WITH ME
Each month I open a limited number of slots reserved next week for free 30-minute, one-on-one strategy calls.
Yes, it’s FREE even though I normally charge up to $1000 an hour for consulting.
So, what’s the catch?
Well, there are two things.
FIRST, because I have a limited number of slots, there is a short application you need to fill in to qualify. This helps me ensure that it’s the right fit and that we get the most from our time.
Also, the information you give me in the application helps me to quickly laser in on your biggest opportunity for growth.
In order to qualify for a call, you must have:
A business where you are building a personal brand as an influencer
An email list that is growing consistently
Consistent monthly income from your business
SECOND, if I see an opportunity for us to work together more long-term, and you are interested, we’ll talk about that as well. But my primary goal is for you to walk away from the call with new clarity and confidence as well as actionable advice no matter what.
Sound good? So if you’d like a free strategy call with me, apply here now.
I’ll review the applications in the order they come into book available spots. Once the slots fill up, that’s it.
I look forward to chatting.
This article was originally published here on JasonVanOrden.com. | https://medium.com/@jasonvanorden/the-success-trifecta-for-growing-your-business-f25be755445 | ['Jason Van Orden'] | 2019-11-15 10:26:01.187000+00:00 | ['Business Mindset', 'Business Growth', 'Startup', 'Marketing', 'Business Success'] |
Why I Chose the Tesla Model 3 | Base cost
First off, let’s go over the overall cost. Now there are already a lot of Youtube videos out there talking about the total cost for buying a Tesla, but since this is one big factor in why I chose to buy a Tesla, I had to include it. We bought the car in May 2019, so the prices and options are slightly different. Back when we ordered the car, we had quite a few options. We could choose Standard Range, Standard Range Plus, Long Range RWD, Long Range AWD, Performance. Full Self Driving was available at the time for $5,000 USD. I will cover the new prices later, but since this is an overview of why I chose the Model 3, I will use the prices for when I bought the car.
At the time, Standard Range cost $35,000, Standard Range Plus cost $37,500, Long Range RWD cost $44,500, Long Range AWD cost $48,500, and Performance cost $59,500. Now we knew that electric cars were all about range, so we were debating between Long Range RWD and Standard Range Plus. Interestingly, two days before we actually placed the order, Tesla changed the pricing and options. Now, they increased the price of the Standard Range Plus by $2,000 and Long Range AWD by $1,000, added Autopilot as standard, and removed Standard Range and Long Range RWD (you could still call in to order these, but you would have to pay an extra $3,000 to get Autopilot, at which point it didn’t make sense). Now our options were between Standard Range Plus and Long Range AWD. We didn’t need AWD and that cost more, so that was out of the picture. So, we settled on Standard Range Plus.
Despite Tesla having very few options to pick from, we weren’t done. Now that we picked the car, we still needed to pick the interior and exterior color as well as whether or not we want FSD. We decided that the black color was too dark at night and made the car look too small, so we paid an extra $1,500 for White exterior (now free) and that was it. We didn’t think FSD was worth it even though we knew that Elon Musk said that the price would keep increasing, and we didn’t want the white interior. So that brings our total cost to $41,000. Add on all taxes and fees, and the total cost was $46,643.50. This covered documentation fee, destination fee, taxes and registration.
So, $46,643.50. That sounds way more than the original $35,000 that Elon Musk advertised for the cheapest Model 3. That’s also paying a lot for new tech even though I said I don’t like paying for new tech. So why did we still go for it? We aren’t done calculating the overall cost just yet. | https://medium.com/@patarklee/why-i-chose-the-tesla-model-3-eac4d4a63896 | ['Patrick Lee'] | 2020-12-20 19:07:37.286000+00:00 | ['Tesla Model 3', 'Cost', 'Tesla', 'Cars'] |
Why Embracing Your Demons Is The Only Way To Overpower Writer’s Agony | Photo by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash
It’s easy wanting to be a writer. But it’s stupendously hard to sit through the ordeal of crafting a compelling read. Something so riveting that keeps readers gliding effortlessly from one sentence to another. Something that strikes such an emotional chord that they hypnotically nod their head in agreement while devouring every single word.
To achieve this level of mastery in non-fiction writing is a task of biblical proportions. The writing has to be meaningful and creative and profound. And these very things, especially the one about sounding profound, make writing astonishingly hard.
The need for sounding profound plays devious psychological tricks, you know. You want the readers to walk away learning something new. Or at least learn a new perspective about an old culturally pervasive idea.
And this self-inflicted cognitive burden critiques and banishes ideas the moment they are conceived. Even when the ideas are important, you restrain yourself lest you were to say something banal or, something that doesn’t resonate with the readers.
Gosh! What if I was to make a fool of myself? What if it turns to be drivel? Worse, what if I get trolled? These are some serious stress inducing rumination that can make even a Stoic melt to a squishy ball of slime. Then what chance do muggles like me have to quell these dementor-like-questions?! (Yes, I know. I know only wizards and witches can see dementors, not muggles.)
It’s the same GroundHog day affair that I live through whenever inspiration strikes — I write the idea down on an index card and commit to creating the piece after my work day is over. Like a teenager inflamed with first love, I get seduced through the day by the idea of creating my masterpiece — I visualize my fingers floating over the keyboard creating soul stirring words like I was Mozart reincarnated. I see myself as an artist, and the idea my muse, to create the most invigorating story ever told.
But when I sit down to write, the words don’t come to roost — in a twisted tale of fate, my muse turns into an estranged bedfellow. Even when I’m able to string along a few words, it seems so vapid that I delete them out of judgment. The writing process that was supposed to be invigorating becomes a sheer purgatory of self esteem.
I have now realized after a few hair tearing meltdowns (how I would love to blame my balding to it, but who am I kidding!) that the problem is not with my writing but the expectations that I put on myself. The negative visualization results in a crushing assault on my self esteem leaving me debilitated. And this obsession of how will it be received by others swaps the exhilaration with the exhaustion.
I wish it wasn’t like that, and we could be in a non-judgmental state — pursue writing for the sake of sharing our thoughts with the world. I wish we wouldn’t put pressure on ourselves to be “interesting” or “profound” all the time.
And philosophically speaking, couldn’t interesting for one be completely unimaginative for another? Then why tie yourself in knots imagining the worst possible outcome?
The best writing happens in the moments when you don’t have any ulterior motive of sharing ideas to become famous, or to sound wise. Or, when you are not flagellating yourself with the mediocrity of your perceived writing skills. Or, when you are not tearing yourself apart with comparison of others brilliance.
The best writing happens when you are free from all this pressure. When you internalize that writing isn’t about being perfect but settling in for perfectly imperfect. In that flow, fingers work their magic over the keyboard to morph thoughts into sparkling black ink poetry over the serene white background of a Google Doc. | https://medium.com/the-brave-writer/why-embracing-your-demons-is-the-only-way-to-overpower-writers-agony-262e0649ac3e | ['Tarun Kohli'] | 2020-12-21 03:00:28.121000+00:00 | ['Reading', 'Writing', 'Writing Tips', 'Writers On Writing', 'Writing Life'] |
The Century Of The Self (Ben Devri) Belgeseli Üzerine | 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/the-century-of-the-self-ben-devri-belgeseli-%C3%BCzerine-40fec70d085f | ['Kübra Şahin'] | 2020-05-04 18:41:00.634000+00:00 | ['Tüketim', 'Politika', 'Türkçe', 'Demokrasi', 'Belgesel'] |
USDZ共有:サイ | 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/bs3-3dmodel/usdz%E5%85%B1%E6%9C%89-%E3%82%B5%E3%82%A4-824158fb2862 | [] | 2020-11-25 06:26:25.998000+00:00 | ['Augmented Reality', '3d Modeling', 'AR'] |
Drug Discovery Outsourcing Market Worth $4.4 Billion By 2025 | The global drug discovery outsourcing market size is expected to reach USD 4.44 billion by 2025 at an 8.14% CAGR, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Urging need to identify potential drug candidates for various chronic diseases is anticipated to fuel growth.
Technological advances in in silico drug designing and accelerating integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in drug discovery are driving industry progress. Multiple applications of AI algorithms in drug design and discovery provide opportunities for players to offer specialized drug discovery services. It is useful for processes such as target and compound selection, predictive analytics, screening, and drug repurposing.
Projected rise in adoption of outsourcing over the forecast period is expected to boost market revenue generation. Half of the drug discovery processes are anticipated to be outsourced, thereby creating massive opportunities for CROs, CMOs, and CDMOs to expand their market presence.
Number of collaborations among these organizations, key pharmaceutical players, and several universities has increased over the past few years. This rise in alliance further supports the projected increase in growth potential.
High cost and high risk of drug failure are major challenges faced in drug discovery. However, advances in technology that increase efficiency of drug discovery, coupled with increased adoption of highly advanced technology to provide specialized services, allow outsourcing companies to overcome these challenges.
Click the link below:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/drug-discovery-outsourcing-market
Further key findings from the report suggest: | https://medium.com/@marketnewsreports/drug-discovery-outsourcing-market-7b9124b12346 | ['Gaurav Shah'] | 2020-02-20 11:29:51.742000+00:00 | ['Drugs', 'Germany', 'Japan', 'Pharmaceutical', 'Brazil'] |
Covid Love Despite Trump Loses (Artist own image) | Covid Love Despite Trump Loses (Artist own image)
The short chubby older woman who still had some sexy about her, vacuuming in her little bra and cross strapped overalls, lips pouted and crimson as she moved all the messages back out of archives into his new folder how can you be so in love and enchanted like this feeling the artist motivation nearing a call to paint quite likely soon, thrilled maybe her country wasn’t going to collapse into fascism after all and more forgiving of it’s bloody greedy history given how much worse it was becoming and could she had so much mixed up ancestral blood in her heart crying for being in love grateful for so much abundance when so many had little living in makeshift tents all over the streets of Portland…. | https://medium.com/@fibonacciboots/covid-love-despite-trump-loses-347b97b2472c | ['Sally Jaguar'] | 2020-12-28 01:01:50.851000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Artist', 'Life Lessons', 'Relationships'] |
China’s Rise in Robotics | Alternative Labor…
All the greatest economies in history have experienced cyclical slowdowns and China is no exception. China’s economy grew annually at a rate of 8.7 percent from 1980 to 2015. Since 2015, their economic growth rate has slowed to roughly 6–7 percent. China’s economic success has been due to their access to cheap labor and export growth. China’s export growth is the result of strategic partnerships with the United States and Japan.
Recently, China has begun to experience a decline in working age population (age 15–64). This is a direct result of their strict one-child policy laws. China’s wages have almost triple that of India, meaning, their manufacturing wages have doubled 14 times since 1980. China’s “Made in China 2025” campaign, details exactly how China intends to double down on robotics to maintain low manufacturing costs, optimization of assembly, and supplementation of labor.
Industrial Composition of Operational Robot Stock in Major Countries 2016
China currently owns 30 percent of the world’s robots in order to prioritize efficiency through innovation and technology. China’s claims they intend to triple their robotic density in manufacturing facilities, resulting in approximately, 150 robots per 10,000 workers. “Made in China 2025” prioritizes the challenges presented by the increase in labor costs and shortages. China plans to solve these challenges with aspirations of “worker-less factories” as they lead the new wave of Industrial Revolution.
China’s attempt to transform its economy to a “global high-tech leader” is the key to surpassing the United States as the primary beneficiary of the next-generation economy. This transition has presented a new additional labor challenge. The Chinese do not have enough skilled labored to operate their robots. There has been an insufficient amount of in-house training offered to support the increased demand for highly skilled robot operators. As a result, China has been rapidly implementing Robotic Vocational Schools.
China has responded by producing a skilled labor force totaling 63 million. Despite their efforts, there remains a staggering 20-percent shortage from the current demand of 79 million. China has chosen to solve their additional labor shortage by outsourcing to local economies. This will be made possible by China’s “Belt and Road” initiative. | https://medium.com/@sammwigginsjr/chinas-rise-in-robotics-6a19f3b27847 | ['Samm Wiggins Jr.'] | 2020-12-23 21:46:51.131000+00:00 | ['Robots', 'Economics', 'China', 'United States', 'Manufacturing'] |
You left out the part where, in Genesis, the Divine Feminine archetype(represented by the serpent)… | You left out the part where, in Genesis, the Divine Feminine archetype(represented by the serpent) gets crushed in favor of the Divine Masculine archetype, which generated witch hunts in the past and currently causes issues like misogyny, partner violence, rape culture, and a host of other ills.
And what about the psychopathy displayed by a god who advocates the slaying of one’s own children, genocide, and rape? And what about the fact that Christianity is a system that uses toxic shame for behavior control? As a mental health coach, I’ve worked with people who grew up imbedded in Evangelicalism (such as pastors’ and missionaries’ children) who now have anxiety disorders and clinical depression from being programmed from birth that they were “born bad” and only Jesus could save them. (Some clients even have PTSD from this.)
I am not against people having a faith or a spiritual path. But modern Christianity is giving those of us in the American mental health field a steady supply of patients. Particularly disturbing are the large numbers of people who have been sexually abused or raped by pastors, priests, and church elders. Rather than believe and support these victims, congregations defend the perpetrator (even in cases where proof came to light) and shame the victims. I know if only one case of a church that called the police on a predator pastor.
How did Christians develop THAT psychology? | https://medium.com/@larsonstoll/you-left-out-the-part-where-in-genesis-the-divine-feminine-archetype-represented-by-the-serpent-f9c6ab553847 | ['Jane Stoll'] | 2020-12-20 17:38:22.318000+00:00 | ['Psychology', 'Christianity', 'Abuse', 'Misogyny', 'Rape Culture'] |
An Overview of AWS Organizations | For example, let’s assume you want to deny a specific service to your organization for some reason. For our example, let’s deny access to DynamoDB.
Enter a name and description for the policy, and then navigate through the service list on the left to find ‘DynamoDB’. After selecting DynamoDB, a list of actions is displayed. If you want to deny specific actions, select those, but for our example, we are going to deny all actions in DynamoDB, effectively removing an account’s ability to access the service.
Before we can submit the policy, we have to select the resources to apply the policy too. In this case, we want to apply this policy to DynamoDB.
We have to select DynamoDB as the service, select all of the resources, and because we are opting to deny DynamoDB completely, leave the ‘*’ in the ARN field.
Once we have defined everything in our SCP, the resulting JSON looks like
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "Statement1",
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": [
"dynamodb:*"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
}
]
}
This has the effect of denying all actions associated with DynamoDB.
As mentioned previously, we should not apply this policy against the master or root account until we are sure it provides the desired result. Once we have validated the result, we can apply the SCP to the appropriate OUs or accounts.
Testing the new Policy
Before we apply this policy to all of our accounts, AWS recommends verifying you get the desired result before implementing it everywhere.
First, let’s validate the other account can access the resource we are going to block, in this case, DynamoDB. We do this by logging into the master account, and using the switch role feature to switch to the target account.
If you have never switched roles before, click on the “Switch Role” item, which displays this page:
You have to enter the target account ID, and the target role, which is the “OrganizationAccountAccessRole”, which was created in the target account when the organization was defined and the target account was linked to the master account.
Because I have already accessed the other account using the Switch Role function, it appears in the Role History above the Switch Role item. After you switch roles, the view in the target account matches where you were in the console in the original account. For example, because I was in AWS Organizations when I switched roles, I am in the same view after switching roles.
Let’s go create a table in DynamoDB.
With our table created, we can see the table details.
Now, let’s go back to the Master account and apply the DenyDynamoDB policy.
Before we can apply the Service Control Policy, we have to enable this feature on the root or master account.
Click on “Enable” next to Service Control Policies to enable SCPs on the root account. This shows Service Control Policies are enabled, and we can add our policy to our target account by selecting the target account in the view, and then clicking on Service Control Policies on the right side of the page.
After clicking on “Attach”, the SCP is attached to the account, and when we access the alternate account, we should not be able to access DynamoDB now.
After switching roles, and accessing DynamoDB, we are presented with the DynamoDB Getting Started page. Click on the arrow at the top left of the page.
When we click on the Tables item on the left of the page, we get an access denied message because the Service Control Policy is in place. All DynamoDB actions are denied at this point, making usage of the service for this account impossible.
If this is the desired action for all of the accounts in the organization, then applying the policy to the root account will apply the policy to every account in the organization.
SCP Interactions
The principal thing to remember with Service Control Policies is to attach them to an Organizational Unit and not to account. By attaching the SCP to the OU, the SCP is propagated to every OU in the hierarchy.
The second key point is that SCPs define the maximum permissions for the service. Even if an IAM Role or user has more extensive permissions, they will not be granted to the user or role because of the SCP.
Settings
The Settings view allows you to view the details for the organization, including the master account information and the trusted services configuration. Trusted services can access information about the accounts, OUs, polices for the organization.
AWS recommends adding the desired trusted services to the account using the console so other tasks that must be performed to enable the access are also performed.
Deleting An Account
At some point, it may be time to remove an account from the organization. To do this, go to the AWS Organizations dashboard view, and select the account. At that point, you can remove the account.
This is best done from the account leaving the organization, as it may be necessary for additional information such as contacts and billing information to be provided.
AWS Organizations Pricing
There is no cost to using AWS Organizations itself, but any resources created in the accounts associated with the organization may incur charges as defined in the pricing structures for those services.
Automation
If you are considering the use of AWS Organizations, it is advisable to develop either parameterized CloudFormation templates or a custom application using the SDK to add/remove accounts in the organization.
The advantage to this becomes clear as you add Service Control Policies to control and limit the maximum permissions for various AWS Services, or as illustrated in this article, prevent the use of a service altogether. This way you can ensure when accounts are created, the process is consistent, they can be assigned to an OU, and the appropriate SCPs are applied immediately.
AWS Control Tower
This is a topic for a future article, but it needs to be mentioned in this context.
Designed to assist organizations to create, manage and control a multi-account AWS environment, Control Tower helps by applying the best practices established by AWS through their experience in supporting organizations as they migrate to the cloud. According to the product webpage AWS Control Tower “can provision new AWS accounts in a few clicks, while you have peace of mind knowing your accounts conform to your company-wide policies”. I will dive into AWS Control Tower in a future article.
Best Practices
Here are some things to consider when getting ready to move beyond your one account and start setting up AWS Organizations.
How to organize accounts
You must give serious consideration to how you will get organized. There are several options: — Organize by functional domain. Just like we organize people and process your function, we could do the same for accounts.
— Organize by development phase. You may want an account for developers, along with corresponding VPCs for development and testing, along with a separate account for production. This eliminates the separation of duties issues by ensuring users with access to the development account can not access the production account. — Organize based on data classification. This is another situation where you may need to create OUs for your most sensitive information, regardless of which part of the organization.
What works in one situation, may not work for another. I would suggest creating OUs based upon business function. For example, finance apps and users are in the finance OU, and each OU has several accounts, one for each of the development phases, and one for production. This has the benefit of keeping the applications and data for that business unit together.
For example, general ledger and related functions would be used by finance users, and typically no one else in the company. Those same functions are likely implemented in software and need to communicate with each other, by keeping them in the same OU and different accounts for development and production, you can limit who has access to this important resource.
Other SCPs to consider
Aside from denying specific services such as our DynamoDB example earlier in the article, you may also want to consider Service Control Policies extricating what actions can be taken for the security and IAM services. The important thing to remember is you will have to decide what is allowed and not allowed within your specific organization and it’s specific rules and legal obligations.
For example, you may want to prevent users from disabling services like CloudTrail and CloudWatch, prevent configuration changes on services, prevent VPCs from getting internet access, etc. AWS has defined several scenarios and provided sample Service Control Policies to implement them. These are worth examining and applying to your organization if they make sense.
Additional Best Practices
Some additional best practices to consider when setting up AWS Organizations: — It is strongly recommended you do not create any resources (with one exception) in the Master account. This makes it easier to make high-quality control decisions, and make it easier to understand the charges on your AWS invoice. — The one exception is CloudTrail. You should set up CloudTrail in the Master Account so you can track all AWS usage across the member accounts.
— Every account/OU should be set up to have the least privilege possible, even if you are going to further reduce the privileges using IAM. For example, users who are in the development OU should not have access to the production VPCs and OU. Even then, you may want to limit who can create, modify and delete resources.
— Assign Service Control Policies to the OU rather than the accounts. This allows for a better mapping between the organizational structure and the level of access needed within AWS. — After creating a new Service Control Policy, validate operation in one account before implementing it across all of the OUs. This makes it easier to rollback should the result be something other than anticipated. — Automate the creation of accounts. Create a CloudFormation template so every new account is created and configured for the organization. This template can create the account, assign to an OU, attach Service Control Policies, create VPcs, IAM roles, etc. Just as we implement resources using infrastructure as code (e.g. CloudFormation), so should we consider the creation of an account and OU as a similar process.
Conclusion
AWS Organizations can be invaluable to enterprises who need multiple accounts to segregate work, and apply either unique SCPs to an account, or more specific IAM roles for specific use cases. It also provides consolidated billing through the master account, so volume discounts can be achieved which might otherwise not be attainable at the individual account level.
Additionally, using multiple accounts also allows for the separation of development, test and production environments aside from VPC separation, as more granular control can be achieved at the account level through IAM roles than at the VPC level.
Enabling additional trusted services, and simplifying logins to the organization through the AWS Single Sign-On (SSO) service is also possible.
In conclusion, using AWS Organizations is a must for anyone needing more than a single account or VPC and is a best practice for managing the services and resources in your AWS environment.
References
AWS Control Tower
AWS Organizations
AWS Organizations Tutorials
Enabling All Features in your AWS Organization
Example Service Control Policies
IAM JSON Policy Elements: Condition
Managing the Accounts in your AWS Organization
Service Control Policies
Strategies for using Service Control Policies
About the Author
Chris is a highly-skilled Information Technology AWS Cloud, Training and Security Professional bringing cloud, security, training and process engineering leadership to simplify and deliver high-quality products. He is the co-author of more than seven books and author of more than 70 articles and book chapters in technical, management and information security publications. His extensive technology, information security, and training experience makes him a key resource who can help companies through technical challenges.
Copyright
This article is Copyright © 2019, Chris Hare. | https://labrlearning.medium.com/an-overview-of-aws-organizations-92689b93f4ad | ['Chris Hare'] | 2019-10-21 10:54:19.511000+00:00 | ['AWS', 'Cloud', 'Governanve', 'Cloud Governance', 'Technology'] |
How to Merge Adapters Sequentially in Android | Working with MergeAdapter
Let’s take a basic use case. We need to show a header layout, then a list of topics, and a footer showing either loading or error. We have three different adapters, one for each type — HeaderAdapter , TopicAdapter , and FooterAdapter .
We want to merge these three adapters using the merge-adapter constructor and set the result MergeAdapter instance to recyclerview . The first here is to merge three adapters as shown:
val headerAdapter : HeaderAdapter = …
val topicAdapter : TopicAdapter = …
val footerAdapter : FooterAdapter = … val mergeAdapter = MergeAdapter( headerAdapter , topicAdapter ,
footerAdapter )
The views in the recyclerview will render according to the order of adapters in the MergeAdapter constructor. After that, as usual, we need to invoke setAdapter and pass the mergeAdapter` instance, as shown below:
recyclerView.adapter = mergeAdapter
In this way, we achieve separation of concerns: | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-to-merge-adapters-sequentially-in-android-11914eac53d | ['Siva Ganesh Kantamani'] | 2020-05-20 10:54:12.391000+00:00 | ['AndroidDev', 'Android', 'Mobile', 'Recyclerview', 'Programming'] |
Entry, “:CFBundleIdentifier”, Does Not Exist | After updating Xcode to the latest version 12.x and running the App using react-native run-ios, received this error message:
An error was encountered processing the command (domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain, code=2):
Failed to install the requested application
An application bundle was not found at the provided path. Provide a valid path to the desired application bundle.
Print: Entry, ":CFBundleIdentifier", Does Not Exist
error Command failed: /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c Print:CFBundleIdentifier
Print: Entry, ":CFBundleIdentifier", Does Not Exist
Looking at the error (screenshot above) I have noticed that the app path is different than it was built:
Build path: “/Users/MyUser/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/MyApp-eomrrfplnwdaolevrnjtypyrwyci/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/MyApp.app”
Installing path: “/Users/MyUser/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/MyApp-eomrrfplnwdaolevrnjtypyrwyci/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/MyApp Staging.app”
For some reason react-native cli is trying to install different name of the app than it supposed to be. A quick workaround is just to change Product Name under Packaging in the Build Settings of Xcode:
Product Name
The downside of this quick fix is that your app might not run on Xcode and you end up receiving some other issues. The proper solution is to update react-native cli to the latest version: https://github.com/react-native-community/cli#updating-the-cli
I have removed all entries of @react-native-community/cli from yarn.lock file, removed node_modules and run yarn install. In addition, I had to install @react-native-community/cli and react-native-community/cli-platform-ios packages using:
yarn add @react-native-community/cli
yarn add @react-native-community/cli-platform-ios
Just make sure you have installed the latest version of React Native CLI by running:
And do not forget to update pods with pod install in the ios folder.
Done, now the React Native CLI recognises the app path and is working again! | https://medium.com/@amala-gopal/entry-cfbundleidentifier-does-not-exist-6098b90516f6 | ['Amala Gopal'] | 2021-02-05 12:34:25.131000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Xcode', 'React Native', 'Error'] |
Ending The Secrecy, Israel Says It Bombed Syrian Reactor In 2007 | Wednesday proved to be a tough one for the Israelis as they awoke to breaking news on their TV screens of a video of Israel warplanes destroying the Syrian reactor on September 6, 2007, under a mission named ‘Outside the box’, displayed on their screens.
It has been seen as quite odd that this news came up after a decade of the actual event. According to Israeli local news organizations, they were barred by the government and not allowed to release this news as “it may bring in massive insults and hatred from all over the world”. Officials released justification regarding the ban on the news as “it was censored to avoid humiliation and retaliation”. The publication of the news has caused international tension on the situation of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The released stated purpose of breaking the silence was to warn all who threaten the existence of Israel. It has been said it was done to show that none of such establishments would be allowed to continue any longer. And an intended move by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on releasing the video, was to urge the US and others to take a more severe action on Iran. With this, Israel gave an open threat to Iran and its ongoing influence in Syrian politics.
However, the backlash started a huge blame game among former officials to protect themselves from the constant rebukes and disagreement concerning this move. It has been stated that few people knew about the reactor in Syria and so, in a bid to use the information to their advantage, Israeli officials took a cunning step with the release of the video but it then caused an uproar. | https://medium.com/bvity/ending-the-secrecy-israel-says-it-bombed-syrian-reactor-in-2007-58062b13393e | [] | 2018-04-09 04:00:18.913000+00:00 | ['Isreal', 'News', 'Politics'] |
My Game, My Rules | 1. Application Process
From traditional job portals to a hidden job application link in a website’s source code, there are various channels to apply for a job. Let’s discuss the effectiveness of each channel for different companies based on my experience.
Google
Career page: Google has numerous offices worldwide, so it’s a delight to scroll through its career page full of job openings. A lot of people do get hired through Google’s careers page. You may not get a response immediately but your resume remains in Google’s database and you may get a reply after some time (2 years in my case). I would say it is a good source to apply for both internship and full-time opportunities.
Employee referral: Referral is a good way to stand out among applicants. Google sends a mail after an employee puts referral, to choose three job openings and apply. But it may take some time to hear back from a recruiter.
Response to Employee Referral (Source : Vaibhav Devmurari)
Foobar challenge: This is Google’s secret hiring channel where browser speaks to the “chosen ones.” The exact triggering condition is not known but roughly, it is based on user’s searched keywords on google search engine. Once the challenge triggers, some funky animation happens on the browser and you are presented with with five problems to solve. The interesting part is, after solving problem three you can share your details with a recruiter and opt in for career opportunities.
Note: People have come up with tricks to trigger the challenge so this channel isn’t so secret now and may not be as effective as it used to be. The video below shows one of the tricks to start the challenge.
How I triggered Google foobar challenge
Facebook
Employee referral: A referral guarantees that recruiters will look at your resume but doesn’t guarantee your progress to a recruiter call. You will receive an acceptance or rejection mail according to your suitability for the applied role.
Reaching recruiter on LinkedIn: A trick that worked for me was to write mail or message to a recruiter (Information can be found on recruiter’s LinkedIn page) on LinkedIn.
Tip: Often, recruiters mention which teams they’re hiring for on their LinkedIn profile (About and Experience section). When you contact them, include a project or your skill set aligning with team’s work in order to improve your chances of getting a reply.
About section on LinkedIn
Tip: Approach a team manager instead of recruiters if you are applying to Microsoft. They’re more responsive and get your interview process started with a recruiter. Referrals and job portals don’t work well for Microsoft. | https://medium.com/better-programming/my-game-my-rules-386cf151d3d | ['Kriti Joshi'] | 2020-06-17 18:52:52.495000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Facebook', 'Programming', 'Interview', 'Job Interview'] |
Atlantis | The #1 light weight caching library
Problem We’re Solving
The industry standard for RESTful architecture has naturally relied on the Request/Response cycle for years. This is has proved reliable over time but inefficient. The standardized RESTful routes create a situation in which data is ALWAYS over fetched.
Enter GraphQL. A new way to specify EXACTLY what you want to receive back from the database. GraphQL is a database agnostic query language for querying your API. Meaning it can be used with relational or noSQL DB’s, no problem! GraphQL requests do away with all the CRUD routes and leave you with one clean endpoint.
The problem here now lies within caching. the Request/Response architecture has caching built in, as the CRUD methods are standardized and easy to update. GraphQL does not have this luxury out of the box as the queries to the API become highly specific. Caching is undeniably an invaluable tool, so with GraphQL’s popularity ever-increasing, developers have set out to solve this issue.
Solution
Atlantis is a light-weight library that solves the issue of storing and maintaining deeply-nested GraphQL queries.
This ensures the client always receives the most relevant data as mutations are made to the database.
Saving Time
Atlantis leverages Redis’s ‘in-memory’ quick lookup time to rapidly serve up cached graphQL responses regardless of size or structure.
Redis integration along with Pub/Sub architecture also allows for scaling as your needs grow and you require more cache space or backup cache workers.
Saving Space
New queries that bare resemblance to previous queries, are intelligently pulled from the existing cached nesting instead of creating a new key/value entry
How to Get Started
Alright now that we have our solution, lets walk through the easy install!
__________________________
After a quick npm install, require-in Atlantis to you’re backend as seen below.
The only requirements for Atlantis are Redis and a Schema.
That’s it!
__________________________
Code For Backend:
import express, { Application } from 'express'; import redis from 'redis'; const schema = require('./schema/schema'); const { atlantis } = require('atlantis-cache'); const redisClient = redis.createClient({ host: 'localhost', port: 6379, }); const app: Application = express(); app.use(express.json()); app.use('/atlantis', atlantis(redisClient, schema), async (req, res) => { return res.status(202).json({ data: res.locals.graphQLResponse }); });
After installing Redis and setting up your schema, pass in the redisClient and schema as the only two required arguments. This simplicity was, at the core focus of our product. Quite literally, “plug and play” and your good to go!
Check out the power of Atlantis for yourself! Visit our site findatlantis.io for a demo to see your potential speed gains!
Contribute
At SeeC Labs, the makers behind Atlantis, would love to hear any feedback and are always looking for passionate developers to contribute to products that impact the daily experience. If you’d like to contribute or collaborate, feel free to check out our GitHub and reach out!
If you have any questions around implementation we highly encourage it!
SeeC Labs
Coral Fussman — GitHub / LinkedIn
Sett Hein — GitHub / LinkedIn
Erik Matevosyan — GitHub / LinkedIn
Erik Rogel — GitHub / LinkedIn | https://blog.devgenius.io/atlantis-47639b78d34d | ['Coral Fussman'] | 2021-06-19 23:55:01.040000+00:00 | ['Cache', 'Nodejs', 'Docker', 'GraphQL', 'Redis'] |
The Best Content Marketing Managers Use These 10 Essential Marketing Tactics | Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Content marketing is such a broad and multifaceted discipline, it’s maddening to try and reduce it to any one block of advice. Even in specific industries, it’s hard to find a one-size-fits-all approach that works for everyone — different industries, business sizes, and brands require fine-tuning for their circumstances and demographics, and what objectively works well for one business may not work at all for another.
Still, regardless of your individual position, there’s always room to make yourself a better content marketer. I’ll illustrate this with an analogy: it’s impossible to find a dish or a meal that everybody’s going to like, but some cooks are better than others, and it’s always possible to make yourself a better cook by widening your skillset and using better techniques.
In the content marketing realm, these are the techniques you need to be using if you want to be a better marketer:
1. Market research. Market research is essential if you want to know who your customers are. You need to know who the best demographics for your brand are, where they live, how they live, and what they need and want. Without this information backed up by objective data, you’ll be flying blind or relying on your biased, unreliable instincts to direct your campaign. Market research doesn’t have to be expensive or even that intensive; you can access census data for free.
2. Competitive research. You need to know who you’re up against if you want to be successful. With competitive research, you’ll learn what areas your competitors are dominating, so you can find alternate routes to success, weaknesses in their strategies to avoid, and strengths to improve upon. You’ll figure out what’s currently working and not working for your industry and demographics, and you’ll get inspired by what your competitors are doing (or not doing) in their respective strategies.
3. Written content. There’s a reason why content marketing budgets are continuing to increase,. Written content helps you optimize for search engines, retain customers you already have, attract new ones, increase conversion rates, and fuel other strategies like email marketing and social marketing.
4. Visual content. Written content is on a bit of a decline in some industries, however, as visual content is rising in popularity to the average user. Images and videos are a bit more difficult to produce, but they tend to have much higher viral potential. The good news is that video content is getting easier and easier to produce, so there’s not much stopping you from incorporating it into your campaign.
5. Personal branding. People don’t love or trust corporations; they love and trust people. If you want any of your marketing strategies to be effective, it has to have a personal touch. One of the best ways to do this is by leveraging the power of a “personal brand,” or an individual identity affiliated with your corporate brand. You can use this to build a reputation, gather individual connections, and syndicate content related to your main brand. It can also serve as a good resume if you end up changing paths in your marketing career.
6. Guest posting. Guest posting is an extension of your personal branding strategy in many cases, and involves producing content for external publishers. It’s a fantastic way to get more visibility and a better reputation for your brand, and it can send both direct traffic and domain authority (for SEO) your way. Without it, your content strategy will exist in a vacuum. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it.
7. Customer service. Don’t forget that customer service is a major element of your content marketing strategy, or should be. Customer retention is just as important, if not more important than customer acquisition, and increasing customer knowledge through content is one of the best ways to preserve that rate. For example, include FAQs, guides, tutorials, and troubleshooting documents — and make sure that information is readily available to anyone who needs it.
8. Influencer marketing. Industry influencers hold the key to so many different benefits — they can help you get your content to go viral, they can boost your reputation just by mentioning you, and they might even be willing to give you some advice about your campaigns. There’s not much of a science to engaging with influencers, but it is a tactic that requires development over time.
9. Social distribution and syndication. Social media channels are free to claim and free to post on, so if you aren’t using them, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Every piece of content you publish should be shared via your social media channels to get it in front of more potential users, and most of your content should be worked into an ongoing syndication schedule to keep your social feeds from getting stale. The audience building benefits are extraordinary.
10. Email marketing. Believe it or not, email marketing is one of the most effective marketing tactics available. According to a survey of 357 marketers that I conducted, email marketing was rated the second-easiest tactic to execute, and the 5th-highest in terms of ROI (out of 10 tactics surveyed). B2C companies, B2B companies, and everything in between can make use of promotional and informative emails — it just depends on what you’re promoting and how you’re promoting it. People won’t stop using email anytime soon, so learn how to leverage it for your brand.
Take a look at the strategies of some top-performers in content marketing, from inbound marketing specialists like Hubspot and Moz, as well as corporate brands like Chipotle or Coca-Cola. You can see them using these tactics to promote their brands, invariably. These are the tactics that turn content team members into team leaders, and turn small businesses into nationally established ones. Learn to master them, through experience and constant education, and you’ll find success in almost any content marketing application you desire. | https://jaysondemers.medium.com/the-best-content-marketing-managers-use-these-10-essential-marketing-tactics-74dbab37c176 | ['Jayson Demers'] | 2020-04-18 21:29:16.753000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Content Marketing', 'SEO', 'Content Strategy', 'Online Marketing'] |
LIFE IS WEALTH | More now than ever in this year 2020 we realise that life is wealth.
Two days ago, it just seemed like there was bad news all over social media. A young lady attempted suicide apparently because she wasn’t recognised for her work, a bodyguard of a famous artiste died, a young lady and her two kids were killed in a fire. It all seemed too tragic. I am usually off social media on Mondays and I really shouldn’t have checked my feed that day.
In actual fact that same evening, God saved us from a fire hazard. Not too long after I had seen all the bad news, it was time for bed, but I decided to praise God. As I was about to start my baby woke up to breast feed. Normally I would lie down and breastfeed him and probably fall asleep but that night I decided to sit on my rocking chair so that I could praise while breastfeeding. I was nodding off after awhile when my husband came into the room and so I asked him to hold the baby so I could go to the restroom. He did and after I was done, I started looking for my air pods so I could worship. I looked and couldn’t find them, so I decided to use my daughters and then went back into the room. At that point my hubby got up to leave and then just as he did, we heard a spark. It happened like three times and I finally saw where it was coming from. It was a plug for our CCTV that was near so many other plugs, TV, cabinet, carpet etc. Thankfully my husband was able to fix it. I shudder to think of what may have happened if my son didn’t wake up and I didn’t hear the spark or if my husband didn’t come into the room or if I was asleep.
Last month at the time when we should be in bed the fuse box at the entrance of our bedroom started smoking. Thankfully my husband and I were still awake. I started to pray immediately because I remembered that the week before I was praying with two ladies and one of them saw a fire and so we prayed against fire. The fuse box stopped smoking on its own and went from warm to cool. I knew it wasn’t random. The next day when the electrician came, I asked him if it could have caused a fire and he said yes.
I am so thankful for the gift of life especially in a pandemic when so many people have lost their lives.
Life is precious. Life is fragile. Life cannot be valued in monetary terms. It cannot be recovered if lost. You only get one chance at it. If you have life you are wealthier than the richest man in the world that is in the graveyard. Whilst you may not have money, you can always get money once you have life but if you have no money and no life, you can never get life and your money becomes worthless.
We also don’t have control on when our life starts and we don’t know when it will end.
We must value our lives and put our lives as priority. We must invest in our lives. We must also use our lives very well and as some people say die empty.
I remember a quote that said that the graveyard is one of the wealthiest places on earth because it is filled with so many dreams that were not fulfilled. This is actually very sad to think about. Buried dreams have no value. We ought to live and die empty where we have poured out to humanity and to the world all that has been deposited in us.
You may think well there is nothing in me. I have nothing to offer the world.
Let me prove that you are wrong and show you that you posses so much more than you think.
If you have noticed most of the fruits, we eat contain seeds. If you take an orange and cut it into two equal halves you will notice that there are at least a dozen seeds in each orange. Each seed has a potential to become a tree, bearing fruits which contain seeds of their own. So, assuming an orange has a dozen seeds, this means this orange has the potential to produce a dozen trees with countless number of oranges and seeds in its lifetime. The same logic can be applied in other fruits like apples, watermelons, pawpaw etc.
In Genesis 1:11 God said “let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to its kind, upon the earth”.
Now if God took time out to put so many seeds in a common fruit, how much more would He do for us who are created in His image.
According to Genesis 1:27–28 “God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them: and God blessed them, and said to them, be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth”.
The first command or role given to man is to be fruitful and multiply. If God says we should be fruitful and multiply, it means he has deposited many seeds of greatness in us, just as he has done in the case of an orange.
When God created you, He blessed you and said you should be fruitful and multiply. It is a command that must be obeyed. There are hidden resources in you. You cannot even imagine the potential you have. Just visualize the seeds in a single orange fruit and imagine what your own seeds of potential are.
You are greater than that orange, you are not just greater, you are created in the likeness and image of God. Imagine the hidden potential in you. Imagine the great things you have been equipped to do. The greatest men that have walked the earth weren’t born with a cape, special DNA or two heads. The difference is that they were aware of their potential and did something about it. They obeyed the command to be fruitful and multiply. We are all gifted and our gifts represent the seeds of greatness God has deposited in every one of us.
Accordingly, it is not enough to just have seeds in us, those seeds must be put to work. They must be sewn. Unless the seed of an orange is put to the ground, it becomes useless and dies with all its potential. There is a story in a book by Joyce Meyer titled book “A leader in the making”, that emphasizes the need to develop our seeds/potential.
“There is a gold mine hidden in every life. A young man found a vein of gold in a mountain. He tried to get it out himself but kept failing repeatedly. He felt like giving up, but instead he went into town and asked a mining agency to come take a look at it. The mining company surveyed the mountain and the vein of gold and wanted to buy it. They offered the young man a large amount of cash if he would sell it to them.
The young man thought about it and decided that rather than selling it to the mining company, he would keep it and learn all he could about mining. Over the next year he studied practically day and night. He read every book on mining he could lay his hands on, took every course on it he could find and talked to every person who would give him any information about it. He did nothing else for that entire year but learn about mining. He laid aside everything else in his life in order to devote his entire attention to learning how to mine gold.
At the end of the year, he went back to the mountain and began to dig out the gold, it was tremendously hard work, but in the end, he had millions and millions of dollars.”
Truly, there is a gold mine hidden in every one of us. As we have started a new year, I implore you to take time out to discover your “seeds” and put them to work and to be fruitful and multiply in all areas of your life. You have the seeds in you to bear the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. God has deposited the Holy Spirit in you, to be able to manifest the fruit of the spirit. You have the seeds in you to be the best father or mother to your children and the best spouse to your loved ones. You have the seeds in you to make a difference in this world and achieve great milestones. It is up to you to obey the command given to you by our creator which is to be fruitful and multiply.
Inspirational Story
I would like to dedicate today’s post to someone who impacted my life greatly and who I would say used her life fully.
This year the world, particularly Nigerians lost a gem. I don’t think we all realised how much of an impact she made in her life until she died. She literally broke the internet when she passed away and so many people expressed how much she impacted their lives. She lived intentionally as though she knew her time on earth was short. She turned her pain into purpose. She struggled with fertility and it was said that she had about 11 IVF’s. Even though she never conceived her own biological children she had a foundation that helped many women conceive.
For her 40th birthday, which was just about a month before her death, she had said she wanted to give 40 women the ability to conceive their own children. This was her last message to her friend, and she died shortly after. Therefore, her last thoughts on earth was about impact. She adopted two beautiful children that look like her own biological children. She had a thriving event planning business and made so many brides happy.
It’s Christmas time and I can’t help but think about her because she used to decorate many of the major streets, and it gave us all a sense of Christmas. She was absolutely stunning and took so many pictures. I remember when she surprised me during my 2018 Do It Afraid Conference. She came to the event without telling me and spent sometime there. She came to surprise me and it made me cry tears of joy because what she didn’t know is that I had been feeling a bit down because that particular year many of my old friends didn’t come because our relationship had been strained since I wrote my first book The Richer Woman. I had actually felt the vacuum and it was like her surprise was a gift from God to me. I was outside taking pictures when I saw her car drive in.
Oh, I would do anything to be able to call her right now and give her a big hug. I had planned to go and visit her but never got around to doing it. I wish I checked up on her more. I remember a message a fried of mine sent me that she sent her asking her to thank me because I stood up for her on social media when some people were saying negative things to her. I’m glad I got the chance to make her smile during her time here on earth.
A few years before I had misjudged her based on third party information including information in media and after the first time we met, the Lord led me to apologise to her. I had apologised about two years via direct message on Instagram but she never saw the message, so I felt the Lord gave me another opportunity to apologise and she was so happy. I heard her story for the first time from her at the event wehre we met where we were both speakers and I realise that she had been through so much. We truly must never judge anyone. I am comforted that one day I will see her again in Heaven and oh what a mighty big hug I would give to her. this gem we lost is Ibidun Ighodalo.
How do you maximise the life you have been giving?
I’m sure I have mentioned before how I love the quote that says, “Where the purpose of a thing is not known abuse is inevitable”.
Do you just wake up every day and just go through the motions or are you aware of how your life fits into Gods perfect plan?
About this time 10 years ago I was going into the decade of my thirties and I wanted my life to have some kind of meaning. I wanted to fulfil purpose. I wanted to fulfil the purpose that I was created to fulfil here on earth. Purpose is now a buzz word, and everyone wants to fulfil purpose. Prior to this I was just existing.
In my search I realised that we don’t have our own purpose in life contrary to what most motivational speakers will tell you or what most people think.
There is only one purpose in life and that is Gods purpose. God is at work on the earth and it is our duty to ask Him where He is at work and where He wants us to join Him. This is what I did and He showed me that He was working in His Children’s lives to ensure they live The Richer Life and so He gave me His vision for my life which is to inspire humanity to live the richer life which includes a life of purpose and success in every area of life.
I started this journey after I resigned from my job in investment banking in 2013. I left my own purpose for my life and decided to follow God’s plan. I am on a mission to ensure that I inspire humanity to live the richer life and I have created a vision strategy document based on this plan and also business plan based on this plan.
What’s the point of spending your life climbing to the top of a building only to find out that you are on the wrong building? Sadly, this is the case for far too many people. I remember a skit I watched based on the book “Driven by Eternity” by John Beverly.
There were three characters. A mother, a successful accountant and a successful Pastor. In Gods eyes the woman was successful because His plan for her was to raise her sons and she obeyed Him and her sons grew up to impact about a million people. In God’s eyes the accountant was unsuccessful because He was supposed to be a Pastor and the Pastor was unsuccessful because He was supposed to be an accountant.
My prayer for everyone reading this is that at the end of your life you die empty and you lived the life that God called you to live not the life that you wanted to live or that other people wanted you to live.
Tips to investing in your life
1. Appreciate the gift of life no matter how dire your circumstances are. Many who have died would give anything to come back to life. You just never know what tomorrow would bring. It could be the day you have been waiting for all your life.
2. Ask God to show you what His plans are for your life. Ask Him what He is doing on the earth and where He wants you to join Him.
3. When God has given you the vision, write it down and then create a plan around it and set SMART goals.
4. Be intentional about how you spend your time
5. Life is like a seed that has been giving to you. Be determined to return adequate returns to the giver of life.
6. Do it afraid. Don’t bury your God given talents. Fear is an illusion. It truly is the acronym for false evidence appearing real.
Retirement planning
The moment you are born you are growing older. Time waits for no one. Your youth is the time you can use all your energy and efforts to create wealth. It is very important to plan ahead. Unless you are living The Richer Life, there will come a time when you would no longer be able to work and the investments you make now is what will see you through that time. The time is now and not when you are close to retirement.
One of the financial goals you should consider setting when you are young is to own your own house or houses. You should get to a point when you are no longer paying rent but earning rent. In your old age you don’t want to be thinking about rent.
Healthcare is another major expense during retirement age. You should have health insurance to cover your medical expenses.
If you are an employee, you should ensure that your employer provides a pension plan for you. This is where the employer makes contributions on your behalf into a fund that is invested on your behalf for future use. The earnings generate income for the employee upon retirement. In some countries like Nigeria, the workers are also required to make a contribution towards their pensions.
Typically, you are not allowed to access your pension funds until you retire however there are some exceptions for example in Nigeria if you have been out of employment for more than 4 months you can withdraw 25% of the value of your pension fund. You cannot access the rest until you are over 50.
If you are an entrepreneur, it is important that you develop a pension plan for yourself and your employees.
You can also decide to open a separate Retirement Savings account and save towards your retirement.
The official retirement age in Nigeria is 60 however many millennials want to retire much earlier. Some say before they are 40, some say by 30. Often times those that say they want to retire at a young age mean that they want to leave paid employment and start their business by 30 or 40. They want to begin to live the life of their dreams when they turn 30 or 40. The thing is when you love what you do, you will never want to retire.
You see many old people especially those who own their businesses working way into their 70’s and even 80’s. Some even start businesses in their old age like the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I personally would like to keep working till I die. This is because I am living the life of my dreams.
The goal now is to ensure I take care of my body so that I am strong, healthy and able to do so.
Things have changed and this is good. We are no longer the generation who works to earn a living so that they can retire and live the life of their dreams. We are the generation who live the life of our dreams and never retire.
It is important to take care of our health, so we don’t need health insurance and also important to do what you love so you never have to retire.
Declaration: I live the life of my dreams and I never retire. | https://medium.com/@omilola/life-is-wealth-a871b1b8a9d1 | ['Omilola Oshikoya'] | 2020-12-24 16:47:21.615000+00:00 | ['Wealth', 'Richerlifeseries', 'Lifeiswealth'] |
The True Christmas Dinner | The True Christmas Dinner
On what breaking bread really means this time of year
Shit. I don’t have plates. They’re packed.
Melissa and I guffawed.
I had asked her over to have Christmas dinner with me, the one and only time I’ve ever had a guest for a meal at my house (other than a few aborted times with the ex).
She was checking on me. It’s my first solo holiday in twenty years, the result of the ending of a long friendship.
As is her habit, she was making sure I was okay (very much so) and that we were still on for dinner. Such as I could provide, that is.
This is what real friends do. They make sure you’re good during emotional holidays.
However, I am leaving in spring, and right now is staging time. I have been so good at packing away everything I don’t use that I managed to spirit off every damned dish in the house but for a few cracked cake plates.
Right when I invited Melissa over for dinner.
As usual, my timing is impeccable.
I did have a few pots, in which I had created Julia’s Famous Turkey Whatever, which is combination of summer squash, Portabello mushrooms, ground turkey (all cooked in olive oil) and Rao Marinara Sauce.
Just no plates, bowls, or spaghetti.
I have spaghetti. And I’ll bring plates, she offered.
I also packed all my napkins, napkin rings, placemats.
Paper towels?
We giggled.
Sounds like college, when we used to use concrete bricks and wooden planks to make shelves.
Mature grownups in their sixties don’t do this shit for Christmas.
Do they?
Yah. We do. Of course we do. That’s the whole point.
Those of us who are untethered from family for whatever reason, who find themselves solo during silly season, whether we celebrate Kwanzaa or Christ, all can use a little love around the dinner table.
That is, if i haven’t broken down and packed the damned thing away by the time she gets here.
To say nothing of those who are homeless, or hearthless, or otherwise badly inconvenienced by life. By comparison, I am monumentally lucky.
I still have a table, a roof over my head, and options.
Even if said dinner table is the last remaining place in the house where I can get work done. Everything else is sold, donated, packed away or currently covered with bubble wrap.
Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash
What do real friends do?
Yesterday one of my dearest, longest-standing friends and I had Christmas lunch. We laughed at the absurdity of our lives after sixty, said goodbye to several sports that we have had to curtail (in her case, forever) due to injuries or changes in our bodies, and found beauty in each other’s aging faces. For Lisa’s eyes sparkle with good humor more brightly than any Christmas star, and her laughter is the kind of music that in so many ways is sweeter to me than just about any other sound. Lisa has, as have we all at this age, her share of pain and heartache. Yet that laugh, and those merry eyes.
Last week, one of my other longest-standing friends and I had Christmas dinner, and Friday we are going to a matinee. She has stood by me through so many exes, and has laughed uncontrollably with me when she lived as my roommate for two wonderful years in this house. I stood with her through the funeral for her mother this past year, and was one of the few at her wedding. Passages have made us the best co-passengers in life.
Today my best male buddy, Dave the fireman, dropped by with his aging dog. Chaco vomited on my floor (that will bring friends together), as she has a throat infection. My scrambled eggs went down and stayed down. Dave and I shared stories and sadness about his aging parents, who, as they near 90, are declining fast. In the early 2000s Dave sat out a terrible half year in jail for multiple DUIs. I stood by him. Years later, he is today the best leader at his local fire department. Clean and sober, funny and capable, a success story if there ever was one. An ornament on my tree, and I am one of his.
Tomorrow I have a riding lesson with my trainer, my Christmas gift to myself. Time in the saddle and extra time for the local furballs, with apple biscuits in hand. I will celebrate the Big Day doing what I love the very, very best. I will come home filthy, fingernails broken, smelling of horse, horse shit in my shoe tread, and deeply satisfied.
Photo by Wout Vanacker on Unsplash
What interests me is that all these people were very concerned that the ending of my long-standing connection which had provided a place to be for the holidays would leave me bereft.
No. In fact, if anything, having the two weeks to myself, not spending the sometimes too-much money on gifts and travel to be there, not being tempted to buy even more stuff I don’t need in the local stores, all offered me some critical down time.
To contemplate the end of my life in this house after fourteen years. The end of my life in Colorado after nearly fifty. Those are Very Big Goodbyes.
To consider the importance of a quiet, candle-lit house warming in a wholly different sense of the word. To warm my house one last time for me, and to prepare it for a warm welcome for who comes next, like the family before me did for me with such incredible grace. Pay it forward.
To focus on the coming year, its promises and portents, and the leaving behind of a great many things that did not, and never would, work out. Proximity to the ex is one of them; he moved back and is living very close by. His brother’s even closer, so for Christmas, he will be quite literally just down the street.
I don’t need it. I need to finally, finally forgive myself for what happened in this house, to love myself for what I learned in this house, and celebrate the safety and joy that this house gave me.
Which is why I wanted Melissa to join me for dinner.
I didn’t expect, but got, far more than that. A perfect parade of friends who care deeply, who don’t shower me with gifts I neither want nor need, but who give of their time and laughter, which I do.
Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash
I didn’t realize that so many people had a stake in whether my holiday was happy. I was usually so invested in whether other folks were happy that I never noticed. Until of course, it really mattered this time. Holy cow did people show up.
Not only did this uplift my spirits, it reminded me that I’m loved, often in ways I don’t always know or understand, and in all ways loved far more than I think I am.
So on Boxing Day, at 4 pm, my Thai masseuse buddy Melissa is going to schlep over some plates and a coconut cake (my request, hey, it’s Christmas, dammit). We’ll put nicely smoothed-out cheap Costco paper towels on my table (after I have cleared off the computers, the piles of paperwork, the notes, the project lists….). Put borrowed plates with (with any luck) delicious food on them.
The banging and stirring and kitchen noises will echo off my empty walls. Our footsteps will echo off the bare walls. It’s a shell of a house.
But there will be candles, thanks to my friend Sonja.
There will be plates.
There will be good food.
There will be coconut cake for dessert.
But above all, the only thing that matters, is that there will be love. And because of that, I will have a very full house indeed.
A house and life that is full of the love of friends, a heart full of memories, lots of excuses to come back and visit, and a final Christmas to remember. | https://medium.com/crows-feet/the-true-christmas-dinner-368ab676ac8d | ['Julia E Hubbel'] | 2019-12-25 02:59:10.871000+00:00 | ['Gifts', 'Love', 'Friendship', 'Christmas', 'Life'] |
Россия хочет возглавить блокчейн | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/skrumble-network-%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F/%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F-%D1%85%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%82-%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BD-c63d220aadb4 | ['Jonathan Williams'] | 2018-07-11 19:59:13.349000+00:00 | ['Communication', 'Decentralized', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Russia'] |
Is Apache Kafka Right for You? | What Are the Benefits of Apache Kafka?
Kafka has a number of advantages when it comes to handling event streaming. Here’s a quick rundown of the key points:
01
Scalability
Scalability is a key strength of Kafka due to its distributed architecture, which uses partitions and replication to streamline development for more substantial projects. It was designed with larger companies in mind, and its high throughput, low latency, and fault tolerance all support this.
02
Special pull model
Kafka’s pull model allows producers to push data into topics, which Kafka’s consumers can then pull when needed. This enables multiple consumers to consume messages at different speeds and lends itself to aggressive batching of data.
03
Large volumes, high velocity
Kafka’s high throughput is achieved using a cluster of machines that are capable of latencies of 2ms. This means that Kafka deals well with large volumes of data at high velocity.
04
Fault tolerance
Fault tolerance is ensured through Kafka’s distribution of topics across many machines in a cluster. In the event of a server failing, other servers will take over tasks to maintain uninterrupted operations without data loss.
05
sending thousands of messages per second
Kafka is capable of sending thousands of messages per second. This high concurrency ensures an application runs smoothly.
06
Interface integrates with hundreds of event sources
Kafka’s Connect interface integrates with hundreds of event sources and sinks, including Postgres, JMS, AWS S3, and more.
07
Regularly updated and well-maintained
As one of Apache Software Foundation’s most active projects, and as an integral part of LinkedIn’s stack, commitment to Kafka is high. This means that Kafka is regularly updated and well-maintained, making it a reliable choice for developers.
Who Is Using Apache Kafka?
Thanks to Kafka’s scalability, many well-known industry leaders leverage Kafka to manage data streams. Let’s take a look at a few of the most prominent examples:
LinkedIn runs Apache Kafka as an integral part of its stack. Its developers said that “Kafka is used extensively throughout our software stack, powering use cases like activity tracking, message exchanges, metric gathering, and more. The total number of messages handled by LinkedIn’s Kafka deployments recently surpassed 7 trillion per day.”
American web service provider Yahoo utilizes Kafka in their real-time analytics pipeline. To simplify their Kafka clusters, the developers created a web-based tool, Kafka Manager, which has been open-source since 2015. The manager assists users by identifying partition leaders or topics which are distributed unevenly across the cluster, supports management of multiple clusters, provides a quick aerial view of the software, and more.
In an article from 2015, engineers from music-streaming service Spotify explained how they use Apache Kafka in conjunction with Apache Storm, alongside Cassandra, Zookeeper, and other sources and sinks, to build applications with excellent scalability and high performance. These factors are essential to ensure that Spotify’s applications function smoothly — they currently have well over one-hundred million subscribers.
Television and movie streaming service, Netflix, has over one-hundred-and-ninety-million subscribers globally. The Content Finance Infrastructure Team utilizes Kafka when working with events. With an estimated fifteen-billion dollars invested in producing original content, it is essential for Netflix to ensure that content is tracked, analyzed, and accounted for. A Netflix distributed systems engineer stated that “[Kafka] is at the heart of revolutionizing Netflix Studio infrastructure and with it, the film industry.” | https://medium.com/scalac/is-apache-kafka-right-for-you-5e5ba94548fc | [] | 2020-12-03 19:08:10.846000+00:00 | ['Scala Programming', 'Functional Programming', 'Kafka', 'Apache Kafka', 'Scala'] |
Regen Network Community Update | Regen Network Community Update
To prepare for main net, this blog is a guide for our community about what is being built and what changes from the whitepaper have occurred.
Introduction
When a small group of humans, passionate about Regenerative Agriculture and ecological integrity set forth in early 2017 to create a planetary health accounting system to transform our global economy from extractive and degenerative, to regenerative, we were as naive as we were ambitious and passionate. In the 4 years since, we have learned, grown, and built. We have survived and thrived through a crypto bear market, political turmoil, and a global pandemic. Above all, we have remained dedicated to our lofty aim of nothing short of planetary regeneration. We have also become very pragmatic about the systemic, market-based interventions needed to steer our global economy toward a mutualistic and regenerative relationship with biosphere health.
The guiding principles that serve as the foundation for Regen Network’s approach to creating a decentralized and public infrastructure for ecological data, claims, and markets are the following:
Out cooperate the competition.
If you find something that needs to be done, do it.
Uplift and support the agency of stakeholders and network participants.
Agile development.
Holistic scientific rigor and replicability.
This blog is an outline of where we have been, and where we are going. It is a letter to our community that will reference the whitepaper and show what things have changed as we have experimented, learned, brought products to markets, shipped code and created cutting edge ecological monitoring methodologies like the CarbonPlus Grasslands which was the methodology behind our large credit sale to Microsoft. This blog will outline the evolution in our approach, show the growth of a community far beyond the bounds of a single company, and outline our suggestions for what comes after mainnet launch. This blog is one-part logistics overview to coordinate the community for the upcoming decentralized main net launch and one-part retrospective reviewing how our approach, technology and focus has evolved. And finally, this blog is one-part invitation to co-create a bold approach to public infrastructure that accounts for and creates contracts, assets and market solutions to our environmental challenges.
This blog also includes:
A pre-launch timeline and checklist,
Launch ceremony overview,
Summary of important whitepaper points and how our approach has evolved.
Please consider this is an update in approach and an overview of the evolution that has taken place as we continue to iterate towards the vision laid out in the whitepaper.
Roadmap to Mainnet
We are quickly marching towards our mainnet launch date. We are still on track for an April 15 launch date.
Tuesday, March 30: Genesis Candidate Chain Live
Wednesday, March 31 Mainnet GenTX Submissions Open
Tuesday, April 6th: Candidate Chain Closes, GenTX window Closes
Thursday, April 15 1500 UTC Mainnet Launch Time.
April 15 is our target genesis date and mainnet launch. However, there is a review window for the genesis file candidate. If any changes must be made to the genesis file or Regen Ledger software, we will create a new candidate, and run that candidate for 48 hours, followed by a 24 hour pause before mainnet launch. This means that at any time between the launch of the candidate, the community audit ceremony outlined below, and mainnet launch, we may postpone mainnet and each postponement will mean a minimum of 3 day extension of the process.
It takes a village to launch a blockchain!
How to get involved:
Join the Genesis Prelaunch Devnet!
On Tuesday March 30 we will be launching our final internal testnet called the “Prelaunch Devnet”. This network will have an identical genesis file to that of our mainnet, with the exception of GenTx and initial validator-set being restricted to team nodes, and core validators. Validators are encouraged to self delegate and initiate a validator on our Prelaunch Devnet once the chain is running so they can join the network and verify their REGEN balances.
The genesis file can be found in our mainnet repo, and instructions to join the prelaunch devnet will be posted on github once the chain is live.
Of particular note: We will be reusing a previous chain-id for our Prelaunch Devnet, “regen-devnet-5”. This is to make the checking of wallet balances easier for our token holders, who all connected their Keplr browser wallets to a previous devnet in order to submit their wallet addresses to us.
Check your token balance.
Investors and token holders will be able to check balances in one of two ways:
Checking your balance in Keplr. This can be done via the same “Regen Devnet” chain that you connected to when registering your address Entering your address on our Prelaunch Devnet block explorer. This will be available at prelaunch.regen.aneka.io once the chain is live
In addition to checking your individual token balance, token holders and validators are encouraged to audit our proposed genesis file against the token distribution scheme described later in this blog in the “Token Distribution at Mainnet Launch” section.
This process will serve to give the community the ability to check your wallet address with your allocation, and to audit other allocations, and compare with published allocation schemes. This is the software version and the allocation that is being run in genesis. After this, the Devnet will be halted, and there will be a period of at least two days for RND to update the genesis file — either in the instance of errors, or if the community feels there needs to be a reallocation.
Only token holders will be eligible to vote on the allocation scheme. Any questions regarding discrepancies in personal allocations for testnet participants, contributors and network founders via the private sale, or other contributors to the community process of launching Regen Network can be sent to accounting [at] regen.network. Please see the following blog posts for setting up Keplr for use with REGEN tokens and Regen Network security best practices.
GenTx Submission
For anyone wanting to join our mainnet as a validator at genesis, we will open a GenTx submission process on our mainnet repo from Wed March 31, 2021. GenTx submissions
Launch Ceremony
We will host a live ceremony on the day of our mainnet launch. Genesis will take place at 11 am eastern daylight savings time, 1500 UTC, and is currently planned for April 15th. The launch ceremony will start an hour earlier, and go two hours later than that time. We will be hosting a vibrant conversation with our community. Join the scientists, engineers, land stewards, validators, and community leaders coming together to launch Regen Network! We will announce more details about the ceremony in the lead up to launch.
Now, we’d like to review the details of what is being launched.
Regen Network Whitepaper:
What we said, and what is Actually Happening
Summary:
We have learned a lot while also staying committed to the core principles and mission of Regen Network. We have documented our process of vetting tech stacks to choose a third-generation blockchain solution, our contributions to the Cosmos SDK, and the process of becoming one of the core maintainers. This unexpected arrangement has proven to be a deeply mutualistic relationship. We will go over key points from our whitepaper and give quick updates and links pointing out where we are at with each point.
Ecological State Protocols to Digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification
In our original whitepaper and for a year or more we referred to the process of monitoring, verifying and reporting on ecological health, and the quantification of outcomes as ESP, or ecological state protocols. We have shifted our language to be more in keeping with the general climate accounting and carbon market jargon of MRV or Monitoring, Reporting and Verification. We use the term dMRV to denote that our system is a digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification approach. Our team has pioneered the use of open source data combined with simple in field sampling to create rigorous MRV systems for monitoring and quantification of Soil Organic Carbon and used our now public and automated methodology to underpin the sale of over a million USD worth of soil carbon to Microsoft in a groundbreaking pilot (Here is a list of press coverage and articles about the pilot). We have created an open processing pipeline that is custom built to enable digital signatures at each significant stage of a MRV process to create verifiable claims that can be cheaply audited.
What has not changed is our attention to integrating cutting edge remote sensing, machine learning, and earth observation science into the stateful data graph of a blockchain for verifiable claims and asset creation.
Now there is a large community of contributors. Not just the Core Dev team of RND, Inc, but an increasing community of validators, and developers outside of our core team.
Our Github contributors!
I will walk step by step expanding on the core functionality that Regen Network is working towards and give an update about how we are accomplishing it, what might have changed since the whitepaper, and point out places we have evolved, or changed direction. This section will be fairly technical and is an exploration of how our design and approach to building Regen Network has evolved since the writing of the whitepaper. For contributors to the projects such as validators and REGEN token holders please consider this is a disclosure of changes in approach.
How we are building ecological contracts:
Cosmos SDK Modules written in Golang and CosmWasm Contracts
Our Eco-Credit Module allows users to mint unique batches of eco-credits, send those credits to an arbitrary address and retire the credits after they have been used. This module is closely tied to the Eco-Data Module to ensure a structured representation and verifiable claim backed asset issuance protocol for carbon credits and other natural capital assets issued on Regen Ledger.
We are planning on adopting CosmWasm, which CTO Aaron Craelius helped architect and the amazing team at Confio has built as a cutting edge interchain smart contracting system. We (core team and community) have created a set of smart contracts such as the eco-data payout module and the quadratic funding contract to show interactions between credit issuance, and more complex contract logic.
Data: our Eco-Data Module and our Data Schema approach have continued to follow the principles outlined in our whitepaper to ensure data integrity and quality are both underpinning the claims and asset functionality of Regen Ledger. The Eco-Data module allows users to anchor, store and sign data on the blockchain. This is all being created while keeping track of the merging IID (Interchain Identification Descriptor standards and DiD (Decentralized ID) standards being generated by the www.internft.org working group. Active discussions abou the 2.0 approach to our data module is underway here.
Supply Protocols: Supply protocols will be possible in the future using the Eco-Data Module and we are assessing an NFT based certificate system for non-transferable certificates to track claims that are not assets, but instead must be attached to an identity on the ledger.
Regen Registry: progressive decentralization strategy for DQP (Data Quality Protocols).
Our early vision was to have a fully decentralized data quality management protocol. That has been found to be not only technically infeasible, but socially unreasonable. Quality and trust emerge out of social relationships. The backbone of the data quality assurance system we are building is governance, curation and reputation. Our registry system requires known people to register and vet credit classes, and allows for governance over the registry and even specific credit classes. In this way the community can progressively build more and more control and influence over what gets listed on the registry. For a deep dive into the existing Regen Registry system have a look at: The live project pages where projects that have approved credit methodologies are listed live now, and the documentation for project and credit developers, monitors and verifiers to follow in getting credits listed in the registry.
Identity, organizations, key management, and arbitration
The land tenure verification system follows the same logic as all of the verifiable claims infrastructure in the whole logic of Regen Network. For more in depth understanding this work we would suggest looking at the draft RFC-009 on interchain DiD standards which outlines the high level approach we are also taking. Generally a credit class, or any other verifiable claim, can program in thresholds to pass for accepting a claim such as ownership of a parcel and the right to issue credits. For instance there can be an identity in the system such as a county government officer with the exclusive ability to grant or revoke a certificate of ownership. Or there can be decentralized approaches where if a threshold of actors verify you are who you say you are and you own the rights to an asset or address (like the digital representation of a title of land and it’s associated rights) that gives you the ability to issue on behalf of that address. We are working on key pieces of infrastructure to allow this system to work in a flexible way that follows object capabilities logic and allows for the delegation of rights and permissions in the generation of verifiable claims. A key part of this is the groups module, which allows governance over specific rights and capabilities intrinsic to a specific address or key pair in the Regen Network protocol.
Within the OpenTEAM community context we are working on the concept of a meta registry system or “clearing house” for claims assets and data to allow for interoperability between different services, blockchains, databases and even data schemas.
Foundation and Network Governance, Consortium
Regen Foundation received its charitable status from the US Internal Revenue Service in 2020. 2021 will be Regen Foundation’s first year in operation. With a cash donation from Regen Network Development, Inc., Regen Foundation has hired an outstanding Executive Director. Revathi Sharma Kollegala has extensive experience in digital p2p governance, and will be leading the Regen Foundation efforts to execute the initial priority of getting the Community Staking DAOs up and running. (In addition to a million other things!)
As a blockchain entity, Regen Foundation has a commitment to transparency. We want our token holders and other network stakeholders to be able to see the legal documents to which Regen Foundation is held to account, as well as being able to see who can edit them, and track what has changed and when. For these reasons, Regen Foundation has published their By-Laws, Conflict-of-Interest Policy, Treasury Management Policy, and Financial Management Policy on GitHub via LaTeX.
Although Regen Foundation has a group of founding Consortium members, the Consortium has not yet been very active. After mainnet launch, the consortium governing Regen Foundation’s board will be re-engaged.
Regen Ledger will launch with staking reward economics identical to that of Cosmos.
Notice of minor change to token economics:
As outlined in section 5.7 of the Regen Token Economics Paper, the RND, Inc. team had originally intended to shorten the period for block reward inflation to rise and fall from a 1 year curve to a 1 quarter curve. We still hope to be able to change that parameter, but it has proven to be a larger engineering feat than anticipated and we chose to focus our attention on keeping a launch timeline and building out the core feature set of Regen Ledger. We encourage the community to engage in governance to determine if this small adjustment we had suggested in the Regen Token Economics Paper is needed.
Launch Functionality:
We will be launching with full staking, governance, and REGEN token functionality, as well as a fully funciotnal IBC module. As a community we are planning upgrades to enable transfers, ecocredit module, ecodata module and groups module. At launch token holders can stake and participate in governance to make decisions around transferability, enabling IBC and adoption of the feature modules that are either done, or nearly completed. REGEN token holders (after transfers are enabled) can also manage the 2million REGEN community fund (that also receives 2% of total block rewards per block)
We will also engage in governance decisions to signal direction and future module development.
Research into future functionality
Research is underway by th community on an NFT module for eco-art, an asset wrapping module for vaulting btc and offsetting btc and other assets to achieve carbon negative DeFI assets.
Token distribution at mainnet launch
This section gives more details of the REGEN Token sale, an overview of the pools, allocations and timelines as they currently exist. Regen Network Development, Inc is overseeing the launch and ensuring that all measures are taken to ensure a secure and successful launch.
Total Supply and Market Cap
The total supply at mainnet launch is set at 100 million tokens.
It’s important to note that 35% of this supply is allocated toward Regen Foundation and the Community Staking DAOs and will be permanently locked and though these tokens give the DAOs the right to participate in governance, can be staked, and earn block rewards, when calculating circulating supply and market cap, they should be excluded as they cannot ever be traded or sold.
The prices for the tokens in the most recent round of the private sale were $0.46 per token with the three-year lock up terms and $0.63 per token with the one-year lock up terms. If we apply the $0.63 price multiplied by the 65 million implied circulating supply (not counting inflation mechanism) we arrive at a pre-public market cap of $40.95 million.
35 million (non-tradeable) REGEN tokens — Community Staking Pool and Regen Foundation
As mentioned above, these tokens are not tradeable or transferable, as so act like a different class of token that plays an important role in governance and security of the chain, but should not be considered in calculations of circulating supply or market cap.
5 million of these tokens will be staked and managed by Regen Foundation
30 million of these tokens will be initially held by the foundation with the express purpose of engaging specific stakeholders to participate in governance.
Details about the community staking Dao allocation can be found in the Token Economics paper, this blog, and this presentation. The community staking dao program, and distribution is managed by Regen Foundation.
23 Million Non-Sale Allocation
These tokens have been allocated to the founding team, advisors, and were used to bootstrap the convening of the community.
15 million — Regen Network Development, Inc
Half of this will be company discretionary funds, aligning the company with the health of the network for the long run.
These tokens are locked up for in the 3-year vesting schedule that begins to unlock one year after mainnet and completes at the end of three years after mainnet.
Half of this has been allocated to a team member compensation pool. At the time of launch, 5,325,948 are being directly distributed to the individual team members at genesis and 2,174,052 remain in the pool as unvested team tokens and compensation for future hires.
Almost all of these tokens are locked on a 3-year vesting schedule.
5 million — Network Bootstrapping Fund
1,760,535 tokens have been distributed to validators via incentivized testnets and token contracts.
1,239,465 will be stewarded by RND at launch to continue swift deployment of tokens for community building (for hackathons, bounties, incentivized testnets and token agreements for development work from community members.)
2 million tokens will be allocated to the community spend pool.
The community spent pool accrues 2% of the total network block rewards into an account that can be distributed by a governance vote.
We will follow the same pattern as the Cosmos Hub community spend pool.
3 million — ATOM holder airdrop
RND inc will steward the 3% of the token allocation earmarked for an ATOM holder airdrop in order to execute a compliant stake-lock or worklock airdrop. We may socialize other options for this allocation with the community and will either execute to the letter of what is stated in the whitepaper (a compliant airdrop) or follow community wishes.
42 Million Public Sale Allocation
Regen Network Development, Inc carried out the execution of the public sale of REGEN tokens, through two simultaneous sales, one which was in accordance with Reg D regulations for US accredited investors only, and the other in accordance with Reg S regulations for non-US persons only. All SAFTs are considered unregistered securities and have a moratorium on their sale for a minimum of 12 months after the signing of the SAFT.
The sale was conducted through the following rounds and terms.
Friends and Family Round, — 6,882,568 tokens sold
Dates: 4/24/2018–5/14/2019
Lock up terms: 1-year lockup — all fully vested at mainnet (except for one participant who agreed to a 3-year lock and so has about a year to go).
Price — variable, but most at $0.10 per token.
12 unique investors
Phase 1 Private Sale — 5,775,029 tokens sold
Dated: 5/15/2019–12/31/2019
Lock up terms: All but one participant chose the 3-year lock up
Price: $0.21 (3-year lock) and $0.49 (1-year lock)
19 unique investors — 2 follow-on investors adding to their earlier allocation
Phase 2 Private Sale, — 2,101,913 tokens sold
Dated: 3/01/2020–9/30/2020
Lock up terms: All but one participant chose the 3-year lock up
Price: $0.35 (3-year lock) and $0.56 (1-year lock)
15 unique investors
Phase 3 Private Sale — 22,303,521 tokens sold
Q4 2020 — Q1 2021 (Just closed last week)
Price $0.46 (three year lock) and $0.63 (1-year lock) -
mixed between 3-year lock-up and 1-year lock up
25,000,000 total allocation
216 unique investors and 13 follow-on investors adding to their earlier allocation
One Small Planet Capital was the lead investor on the round.
*Note: All but 295.49 tokens were sold out. To distribute the remaining tokens, first we rounded every participant’s allocation up to the nearest whole number and then we distributed the last 217 tokens by giving 5 token bonuses to 42 wallets and one 7-token bonus starting with those wallets having the smallest allocations.
*A brief note on lockups. Locked tokens can still stake, receive block rewards and fees, and participate in governance. They simply cannot be transferred until the locking period ends.
The lockup periods:
1-year lockup cliff lock. You receive your tokens at mainnet and can stake, but no transfer until 12 months when all tokens are unlocked
3-year lockup — You receive your tokens at mainnet and can stake, but tokens are locked for 12 months at which point tokens begin to unlock monthly until the end of 36 months.
Public sale
4 million REGEN Tokens have been set aside for the public sale, which is anticipated to take place within the next 2–3 months and will kick off the provision of liquidity so that community members can access REGEN tokens as needed. Regen Network Development, Inc is collecting a list of those who would like to be notified about the sale. To be added to that list, go here.
Our Vision for Governance of the Protocol
At launch we will have a central threaded discourse forum running at http://forum.regen.network.
This forum will also be linked to a #governance discord channel on the Regen Discord Server, which is our community communications hub. This is a simple approach to clear communications about protocol governance for the community. This infrastructure will be hosted and maintained by RND, Inc. at the beginning, with a commitment to progressively decentralize the stewardship of these key community spaces.
We are researching integrations with Hylo, loomio and looking into democracy.earth, commons stack and various leading governance protocols and approaches to determine the best way of building direct digital democracy governing Regen Network as well as offering tools for the Community Staking DAOs, eco-credit developers and all Regen Network stakeholders. A central part of our strategy will be centered around building tools for the new Cosmos SDK Groups Module that the Regen Engineering team is currently working on for the whole cosmos community.
Protocol Charter
Inspired by the Confio team’s work with Tgrade, we intend to work towards publishing a protocol constitution shortly after mainnet launch, and will use the discourse and Discord forums to socialize ideas, and consider off-chain voting mechanisms for signalling and engagement before bringing a constitution to the community for ratification.
Wrap Up
With nearly 500 community members in our genesis file at launch, active carbon credits already being bought and sold, a suite of new pilots, independent teams developing integrations, applications and modules on Regen Ledger right after launch, and a core team dedicated to ecological regeneration and social empowerment, the regenerative future we are all working towards has never been closer. Regen Network has always been a huge, and long term project…and mainnet launch is only the beginning! It’s been a long windy road to build the technology, science, and more importantly community that is now coming together as Regen Network. | https://medium.com/regen-network/regen-network-community-update-65fb4f445187 | ['Gregory Landua'] | 2021-04-08 22:03:22.351000+00:00 | ['Regen', 'Regen Network', 'Report', 'Mainnet'] |
Tensorflow vs PyTorch for Text Classification using GRU | Preprocessing
The dataset contains some columns that are not important for this problem and they were dropped. This is how the data frame looks like.
We apply some preprocessing to facilitate the data modeling, thus contractions, punctuation, non-alphanumeric characters, and stop words are removed using regex.
import re
from nltk.corpus import stopwords def decontract(sentence):
sentence = re.sub(r"n\'t", " not", sentence)
sentence = re.sub(r"\'re", " are", sentence)
sentence = re.sub(r"\'s", " is", sentence)
sentence = re.sub(r"\'d", " would", sentence)
sentence = re.sub(r"\'ll", " will", sentence)
sentence = re.sub(r"\'t", " not", sentence)
sentence = re.sub(r"\'ve", " have", sentence)
sentence = re.sub(r"\'m", " am", sentence)
return sentence def cleanPunc(sentence):
cleaned = re.sub(r'[?|!|\'|"|#]',r'',sentence)
cleaned = re.sub(r'[.|,|)|(|\|/]',r' ',cleaned)
cleaned = cleaned.strip()
cleaned = cleaned.replace("
"," ")
return cleaned def keepAlpha(sentence):
alpha_sent = ""
for word in sentence.split():
alpha_word = re.sub('[^a-z A-Z]+', '', word)
alpha_sent += alpha_word
alpha_sent += " "
alpha_sent = alpha_sent.strip()
return alpha_sent def removeStopWords(sentence):
global re_stop_words
return re_stop_words.sub("", sentence) #removes characters repeated
data['Text'] = data['Text'].apply(lambda x: re.sub(r'(\w)(\1{2,})', r'\1',x))
Now the text is cleaner, and we can transform the data into a form that is interpretable to the neural networks. The form we are going to use here is word embedding, which is one of the most common techniques for NLP.
Word embedding consists of mapping the words in the form of numerical keys resembling the Bag of Words approach. The vectors created by Word Embedding preserve similarities of words, so words that regularly occur nearby in the text will also be in close proximity in vector space. There are two advantages to this approach: dimensionality reduction (it is a more efficient representation) and contextual similarity (it is a more expressive representation).
There are a few ways of applying this method, but the one we use here is the Embedding Layer, which is used on the front end of a neural network and is fit in a supervised way using the backpropagation. To do that, it is necessary to vectorize and pad the text, so all the sentences will be uniform.
The dataset is hefty (almost 600000 rows), and a portion of the text has a high quantity of tokens — the 4th percentile varies from 51 tokens to 2030 tokens — which adds unnecessary padding to the vast majority of observations and, consequently, it is computationally expensive. Thus, I remove the rows with more than 60 tokens and sample 50000 observations because a sample size bigger crashes the kernel.
data['token_size'] = data['Text'].apply(lambda x: len(x.split(' ')))
data = data.loc[data['token_size'] < 60] data = data.sample(n= 50000)
Then we build a vocabulary based on the sample to build the Embedding Layer.
# Construct a vocabulary
class ConstructVocab():
def __init__(self, sentences):
self.sentences = sentences
self.word2idx = {}
self.idx2word = {}
self.vocab = set()
self.create_index()
def create_index(self):
for sent in self.sentences:
self.vocab.update(sent.split(' '))
#sort vacabulary
self.vocab = sorted(self.vocab)
#add a padding token with index 0
self.word2idx['<pad>'] = 0
#word to index mapping
for index, word in enumerate(self.vocab):
self.word2idx[word] = index + 1 # 0 is the pad
#index to word mapping
for word, index in self.word2idx.items():
self.idx2word[index] = word inputs = ConstructVocab(data['Text'].values.tolist())
Vectorize the text
input_tensor = [[inputs.word2idx[s] for s in es.split(' ')] for es in data['Text']]
Add padding
def max_length(tensor):
return max(len(t) for t in tensor) max_length_input = max_length(input_tensor) def pad_sequences(x, max_len):
padded = np.zeros((max_len), dtype=np.int64)
if len(x) > max_len: padded[:] = x[:max_len]
else: padded[:len(x)] = x
return padded input_tensor = [pad_sequences(x, max_length_input) for x in input_tensor]
Binarize the target
from sklearn import preprocessing rates = list(set(data.Score.unique()))
num_rates = len(rates)
mlb = preprocessing.MultiLabelBinarizer()
data_labels = [set(rat) & set(rates) for rat in data[['Score']].values]
bin_rates = mlb.fit_transform(data_labels)
target_tensor = np.array(bin_rates.tolist())
Finally, we split the data into training, validating, and test sets.
from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split
X_train, X_val, y_train, y_val = train_test_split(input_tensor, target_tensor, test_size=0.2, random_state=1000) X_val, X_test, y_val, y_test = train_test_split(X_val, y_val, test_size=0.5, random_state=1000)
GRU — Gated Recurrent Unit
Gated recurrent unit (GRU) is a type of recurrent neural network (RNN), and this type of artificial neural network, in which connections between nodes form a sequence, allowing temporal dynamic behavior for a time sequence.
The GRU is like a long short-term memory (LSTM) with forget gate but has fewer parameters than LSTM, as it lacks an output gate. GRU’s performance on certain tasks of polyphonic music modeling, speech signal modeling, and natural language processing was found to be similar to that of LSTM. GRUs have been shown to exhibit even better performance on certain smaller and less frequent datasets.
The model we are going to implement is composed of an Embedding Layer, a Dropout layer to decrease the overfitting, a GRU layer, and the output layer as represented in the following diagram.
Neural Network architecture
On Kaggle, we have available GPUs, and they are more efficient than CPUs when it comes to matrix multiplication and convolution, so we are going to use them here. There are some parameters that common to both frameworks, and we are going them.
embedding_dim = 256
units = 1024
vocab_inp_size = len(inputs.word2idx)
target_size = len(target_tensor[0])
Tensorflow
In newer versions of Tensorflow, there is a bug due to deprecated methods, and it is necessary to make an adjustment to use the GPU in the backend.
import tensorflow as tf
import keras.backend.tensorflow_backend as tfback
from keras import backend as K
def _get_available_gpus():
"""Get a list of available gpu devices (formatted as strings).
# Returns a list of available GPU devices.
"""
#global _LOCAL_DEVICES if tfback._LOCAL_DEVICES is None:
devices = tf.config.list_logical_devices()
tfback._LOCAL_DEVICES = [x.name for x in devices]
return [x for x in tfback._LOCAL_DEVICES if 'device:gpu' in x.lower()]
tfback._get_available_gpus = _get_available_gpus K.tensorflow_backend._get_available_gpus()
Here is the function for the model creation:
from keras.layers import Dense, Embedding, Dropout, GRU
from keras.models import Sequential
from keras import layers def create_model():
model = Sequential()
model.add(Embedding(vocab_inp_size, embedding_dim, input_length=max_length_input))
model.add(Dropout(0.5))
model.add(GRU(units))
model.add(layers.Dense(5, activation='sigmoid'))
model.compile(loss='binary_crossentropy',optimizer='adam', metrics=['accuracy'])
return model
We also implement a callback function, so we can know the time spent in each epoch of the training.
class timecallback(tf.keras.callbacks.Callback):
def __init__(self):
self.times = []
# use this value as reference to calculate cummulative time taken
self.timetaken = time.process_time()
def on_epoch_end(self,epoch,logs = {}):
self.times.append((epoch,time.process_time() -self.timetaken))
Now we can train the neural network in batches.
timetaken = timecallback()
history = model.fit(pd.DataFrame(X_train), y_train,
epochs=10,
verbose=True,
validation_data=(pd.DataFrame(X_val), y_val),
batch_size=64,
callbacks = [timetaken])
We train for 10 epochs, and the net already starts to overfit. The accuracy of the model with the test set is ~89% and takes ~74s/epoch during the training phase. The accuracy seems high, but when we have a better look at the confusion matrix, we notice that the model struggles with the medium rates (between 2–4). The model falsely classifies 2 as 1 and 4 as 5, having a high percentage of false positives.
Confusion matrix of the Tensorflow model
PyTorch
The PyTorch is not so straight forward, and it is a deeper preparation of the data must be implemented before transforming it into tensors.
# Use Dataset class to represent the dataset object class MyData(Dataset):
def __init__(self, X, y):
self.data = X
self.target = y
self.length = [np.sum(1 - np.equal(x,0)) for x in X]
def __getitem__(self, index):
x = self.data[index]
y = self.target[index]
x_len = self.length[index]
return x, y, x_len
def __len__(self):
return len(self.data)
We create the MyData class, and then we encapsulate it with DataLoader for two reasons: organization and avoid compatibility issues in the future.
import torch
from torch.autograd import Variable
from torch.utils.data import Dataset, DataLoader TRAIN_BUFFER_SIZE = len(X_train)
VAL_BUFFER_SIZE = len(X_val)
TEST_BUFFER_SIZE = len(X_test)
BATCH_SIZE = 64
TRAIN_N_BATCH = TRAIN_BUFFER_SIZE // BATCH_SIZE
VAL_N_BATCH = VAL_BUFFER_SIZE // BATCH_SIZE
TEST_N_BATCH = TEST_BUFFER_SIZE // BATCH_SIZE train_dataset = MyData(X_train, y_train)
val_dataset = MyData(X_val, y_val)
test_dataset = MyData(X_test, y_test)
train_dataset = DataLoader(train_dataset, batch_size = BATCH_SIZE,
drop_last=True, shuffle=True)
val_dataset = DataLoader(val_dataset, batch_size = BATCH_SIZE,
drop_last=True, shuffle=True)
test_dataset = DataLoader(test_dataset, batch_size = BATCH_SIZE,
drop_last=True, shuffle=True)
Pytorch differs mainly from Tensorflow because it is a lower-level framework, which has upsides and drawbacks. The organizational schema gives the user more freedom to write custom layers and look under the hood of numerical optimization tasks. On the other hand, the price is verbosity, and everything must be implemented from scratch. Here we implement the same model as before.
import torch.nn as nn
class RateGRU(nn.Module):
def __init__(self, vocab_size, embedding_dim, hidden_units, batch_sz, output_size):
super(RateGRU, self).__init__()
self.batch = batch_sz
self.vocab_size = vocab_size
self.embedding_dim = embedding_dim
self.hidden_units = hidden_units
self.output_size = output_size
#layers
self.embedding = nn.Embedding(self.vocab_size, self.embedding_dim)
self.dropout = nn.Dropout(p=0.5)
self.gru = nn.GRU(self.embedding_dim, self.hidden_units)
self.fc = nn.Linear(self.hidden_units, self.output_size)
def initialize_hidden_state(self, device):
return torch.zeros((1, self.batch, self.hidden_units)).to(device)
def forward(self, x, lens, device):
x = self.embedding(x)
self.hidden = self.initialize_hidden_state(device)
output, self.hidden = self.gru(x, self.hidden)
out = output[-1, :, :]
out = self.dropout(out)
out = self.fc(out)
return out, self.hidden
After the model is implemented, we use the GPU in case it is available and write the loss function alongside the accuracy function to check the model performance.
use_cuda = True if torch.cuda.is_available() else False
device = torch.device("cuda:0" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")
model = RateGRU(vocab_inp_size, embedding_dim, units, BATCH_SIZE, target_size)
model.to(device)
#loss criterion and optimizer
criterion = nn.CrossEntropyLoss()
optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters())
def loss_function(y, prediction):
target = torch.max(y, 1)[1]
loss = criterion(prediction, target)
return loss
def accuracy(target, logit):
target = torch.max(target, 1)[1]
corrects = (torch.max(logit, 1)[1].data == target).sum()
accuracy = 100. * corrects / len(logit)
return accuracy
Finally we are all set to train the model.
EPOCHS = 10
for epoch in range(EPOCHS):
start = time.time()
total_loss = 0
train_accuracy, val_accuracy = 0, 0
for (batch, (inp, targ, lens)) in enumerate(train_dataset):
loss = 0
predictions, _ = model(inp.permute(1, 0).to(device), lens, device)
loss += loss_function(targ.to(device), predictions)
batch_loss = (loss / int(targ.shape[1]))
total_loss += batch_loss
optimizer.zero_grad()
loss.backward()
optimizer.step()
batch_accuracy = accuracy(targ.to(device), predictions)
train_accuracy += batch_accuracy
We also train for 10 epochs here, and the overfitting problem previously faced repeats itself. The accuracy is ~71%, but in terms of speed PyTorch wins by far with ~17s/epoch. The accuracy here is considerably lower, but this is misleading because the confusion matrix is similar to the Tensorflow model, suffering for the same pitfalls.
Confusion matrix of the RateGRU
Conclusion
Tensorflow and PyTorch are both excellent choices. As far as training speed is concerned, PyTorch outperforms Keras, but in terms of accuracy the latter wins.
I particularly find Tensorflow more intuitive and concise, not mentioning a wide access to tutorials and reusable code. However, I am biased because I have had more contact with Tensorflow so far. PyTorch is more flexible, encouraging a deeper understanding of deep learning concepts, and it counts with an extensive community support with active development, especially researchers. | https://medium.com/swlh/tensorflow-vs-pytorch-for-text-classification-using-gru-e95f1b68fa2d | ['Rodolfo Saldanha'] | 2020-05-27 15:34:20.624000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Neural Networks', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Deep Learning'] |
Age of Empathy is honored to be publishing top-notch personal essays. | Age of Empathy is honored to be publishing top-notch personal essays. Creative nonfiction can be a difficult genre to master. I want to share some of the stand out work we’ve published over the last few months.
Do drop a note after you’ve read these works. Authors appreciate claps and words so very much. | https://medium.com/everything-shortform/age-of-empathy-is-honored-to-be-publishing-top-notch-personal-essays-c9717d4da1af | ['Aimée Gramblin'] | 2020-12-22 21:32:34.443000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Nonfiction', 'Age Of Empathy', 'Reading', 'Short Form'] |
Flight to Recovery: Aviation Industry Updates | Flight to Recovery: Aviation Industry Updates
Just when everyone thought the aviation and travel industries were slowly opening and tailoring their services to the new normal (an empty airport, passengers’ own safety precautions), then comes a new UK variant of COVID-19, placing new restrictions in the aviation and travel industries. The Philippines is not alone with all the restrictions imposed to ensure the safety of everyone.
The above-mentioned interesting and timely topic was tackled during the AMCHAM Philippines webinar last January 19, 2021 entitled “Flight to Recovery: Aviation Industry Updates” with guest speaker Rob Bradshaw, Country Manager of Cathay Pacific Airways.
From the title of the webinar itself, despite all the happenings due to the pandemic, the aviation industry is positioned to embrace the new normal as they continue to provide services to the travelers. Rob enthusiastically shared with the participants the ins and outs nowadays in Philippine aviation, as well as a glimpse of the other nearby countries in the region.
Rob cited that the unprecedented pandemic was the cause of a big drop (-44% to -80%) in international passengers in 2020.
The previous outbreaks also made an impact on air transport in Asia/Pacific; but really, COVID-19 has already surpassed previous outbreaks such as SARS (2003), Avian Flu (2005 and 2013), and MERS Flu (2015).
The following made a massive impact on Cathy Pacific:
· November 2020 data shows stalling of global air travel
· Domestic recovery stopped in November
· International air travel recovery mostly absent and
· Bookings weakening despite vaccine news.
As such, Cathay Pacific needed to restructure with government support as a mandate. All other airlines went through a similar exercise.
Cathay Pacific even started conducting a survey every 3 months to 4,700 international travelers to help them understand better their customers.
· How risky is air travel for catching COVID-19 versus other locations and activities?
Perception: traveling is dangerous. The aviation industry acknowledged high hurdles before people can feel comfortable.
· What measure would indicate to passengers that it is safe to fly again?
Top indicator: A vaccine to prevent people from getting the virus.
And for some facts shared:
· Flight-associated spread: up to 44 people in 2020 (1.2 billion pax)
· How good is cabin air?
Cathay Pacific think aircrafts are safe as they practice safety from departure to arrival.
At one point during the webinar, Rob acknowledged all those who are into online shopping. Why? The airline cargo component is moving faster compared to the passenger airline because of all the online shopping transactions where cargo passenger is involved in the cycle.
So would you still travel despite the COVID-19 restrictions? The perception for some is that traveling is dangerous. Cathay Pacific is aware of the high hurdles before people feel comfortable going back to traveling. People are scared of all the news. Rob also shared some tips to those people who still need to travel by air:
And finally, Cathay Pacific Airways is known for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine around the world with their dedicated 747 Freighter Fleet, and it is such a critical role to play in these days of the pandemic.
With all that has been discussed and shared in this article, would you still want to travel by air despite the pandemic? | https://medium.com/the-looking-glass/flight-to-recovery-aviation-industry-updates-857233706238 | ['John Clements Consultants'] | 2021-01-27 15:21:11.506000+00:00 | ['Traveling', 'Aviation', 'Air Travel', 'Covid 19', 'Cathay Pacific'] |
B@B Business Consultants receive funding for CBDC, and Energy research from the Berkeley Haas Blockchain Initiative | In June 2018, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business announced its participation in the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI), a new program founded by Ripple, a blockchain industry leader. As a leading partner in the UBRI, Berkeley Haas was awarded a multi-year, multi-million-dollar grant to support research in blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments. The grant is housed in the Institute for Business and Social Impact (IBSI) at Berkeley Haas.
In January of 2019, the first group of UC Berkeley students to be awarded research grants from the new Berkeley Haas Blockchain Initiative was announced. The group included Blockchain@Berkeley’s, Bosun Adebaki, Kate Tomlinson, and Sarah Reynolds.
Central Bank Digital Currency
Bosun Adebaki is a Business Consultant at Blockchain@Berkeley and an MBA student at Berkeley Haas
A Business Consultant for Blockchain@Berkeley and a second year MBA at Haas, Bosun will be carrying out research into the Merits of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
For a number of years, central banks have been examining the extent to which digital currencies may be used to increase competitiveness and enhance efficiency (see cases such as M-Pesa). Whilst the development of central bank use cases has increased pace in recent years, there is a lack of detailed analysis into the viability of CBDC, with particular focus on the challenges of the 2.5bn underbanked.
Bosun’s research will seek to understand and explain CBDC use cases, particularly those that focus on increasing economic inclusion for the financially underserved. It will consider the relative success of CBDC pilot studies carried out by a number of central banks across the globe, and will seek to provide clarity on the impact that CBDCs may have on existing monetary systems. | https://medium.com/blockchain-at-berkeley/b-b-business-consultants-receive-funding-for-cbdc-and-energy-research-from-the-berkeley-haas-9d364354f205 | ['Blockchain At Berkeley'] | 2019-02-03 01:51:12.340000+00:00 | ['Blockchain At Berkeley', 'Bitcoin', 'Energy', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain'] |
The “How” of Cloud Native: People and Process Perspective | Kyle Brown and Kim Clark
Note, this is part 2 of a multipart series. You can find part 1 here , or jump to Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.
In the previous article, where we discussed what cloud native actually means, we established that to achieve the desired benefits from a cloud native approach you needed to look at it from multiple perspectives. It is about not only what technology you use and where your infrastructure is located, but also how you architect your solutions. But perhaps most importantly, it is about how you organize your people and what processes you follow. In this and the next two articles we are going to walk through what we have seen to be the most important ingredients of successful cloud native initiatives, taking a different perspective in each. A summary of the themes in this series is shown in the diagram below:
The components of cloud native
Let’s begin by looking at perhaps the most overlooked perspective — how cloud native affects the people involved, and the processes they are part of.
The people and process ingredients of cloud native
The people component outweighs any of the other parts in getting to cloud native success. In order to achieve the business value of cloud native, teams need to be able to rapidly coordinate between business and IT, have a “low touch” way of getting their changes through to production, and be passionately accountable for what they deliver. No amount of new technology, or modern architecture approaches will accomplish this on their own. Teams need to invest in moving to agile methods, adopt DevOps principles and software lifecycle automation, adopt new roles (such as SREs), and organizations must give teams an appropriate level of autonomy. We show some of the most important people aspects of cloud native in the diagram below:
The People and Process Ingredients of Cloud Native
This list is by no means complete. We would also assert that there are other people based aspects that improve team resiliency and cut across all the ingredients below such as a move to a no-blame culture, and encouraging a growth mindset. In the next sections we’ll dive into each of the ingredients in the above diagram in depth.
Agile methods
Cloud native infrastructure and microservices-based design enable the development of fine grained components that can be rapidly changed and deployed. However, this would be pointless if we did not have development methods that can leverage and deliver on that promise. Agile methods enable empowered (decentralized) teams to achieve rapid change cycles that are more closely aligned with business needs. They are characterized by the following:
Short, regular iteration cycles
Intrinsic business collaboration
Data driven feedback
Agile methods are usually contrasted with older, “waterfall”, methodologies. In a traditional waterfall method, all requirements are gathered up front, and then the implementation team works in near isolation until they deliver the final product for acceptance. Although this method enables the implementation team to work with minimal hindrance from change requests, in today’s rapidly changing business environment the final delivery is likely to be out of sync with the current business needs.
Agile methodologies use iterative development cycles, regular engagement with the business, combined with meaningful data from consumer usage to ensure that projects stay focused on the business goals. The aim is to constantly correct the course of the project as measured against real business needs.
Work is broken up into relatively small business relevant features that can then be prioritized more directly by the business for each release cycle. The real benefit to the business comes when they accept that there cannot be a precise plan for what will be delivered over the long term but that they can prioritize what is built next.
Agile itself is becoming an “old” term and has suffered over time, as many terms do, from nearly two decades of mis-use. However, for the moment, is it perhaps still the most encompassing term we have for these approaches.
Lifecycle automation
You cannot achieve the level of agility that you want unless you reduce the time that it takes to move new code into production. It does not matter how agile your methods are, or how lightweight you have designed your components if the lifecycle processes are slow. Furthermore, if your feedback cycle is broken, you cannot react to changes in business needs in real time. Life cycle automation is centered around three key pipelines. These are:
Continuous Integration — Build/test pipeline automation
Continuous Delivery/Deployment — Deploy, verify
Continuous Adoption — Runtime currency (evergreening)
We show the interaction of these in the diagram below:
Pipeline automation (CI/CD) is fundamental groundwork for DevOps and agile methods
Continuous Integration (CI) means that as changes that are committed to the source code repository often (“continuously”) and that they are instantly and automatically built, quality checked, integrated with dependent code, and tested. CI provides developers with instant feedback on whether their changes are compatible with the current codebase. We have found that Image-based deployment enables simpler and more consistent build pipelines. Furthermore, the creation of more modular, fine-grained, decoupled, and stateless components simplifies the automation of testing.
CD either stands for Continuous Delivery or Continuous Deployment (both are valid, although Jez Humble’s book popularized the term Continuous Delivery, which covers both). Continuous Delivery takes the output from CI and performs all the preparation that is necessary for it to be deployed into the target environment, but it does not deploy it, leaving this final step to be performed manually in controlled, approved conditions. When an environment allows the automation to deploy into the environment, that is Continuous Deployment, with advantages in agility balanced against potential risks.
Continuous Adoption (CA) is a less well known term for an increasingly common concept; keeping up to date with the underlying software runtimes and tools. This includes platforms such as Kubernetes, language runtimes and more. Most vendors and open source communities have moved to quarterly or even monthly upgrades. and failing to keep up with current software results in stale applications that are harder to change and support. Security updates as a minimum are often mandated by internal governance. Vendors can provide support for a minimal number of back versions, so support windows are getting shorter all the time. Kubernetes, for example, is released every three months and only the most recent three are supported by the community. CI/CD, as noted above, means code changes trigger builds, and potentially deployment. Enterprises should automate similar CA pipelines that are triggered when vendors or communities release new upgrades. For more information about CA, see Continuous Adoption.
Its worth noting that lifecycle automation is only as good as efficiency of the processes that surround it. There’s no value in working to bring your CI/CD cycle time down to minutes if your approval cycle for a release still takes weeks, or you are tied to a dependency that has a lifecycle measured in months.
DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering
As we can see from the figure above, lifecycle automation lays the groundwork for a more profound change to the way people work. As we simplify the mechanism between completion of code, and it’s deployment into production, we reduce the distance between the developer and the operations role, perhaps even combining them.
This is known as DevOps, and has some key themes:
Collaboration and combination across development and operations roles
“Shift left” of operational concerns
Rapid operational feedback and resolution
In traditional environments there is strong separation between development and operations roles. Developers are not allowed near the production environment, and operations staff have little exposure to the process of software development. This can mean that code is not written with the realities of production environments in mind. The separation is compounded when operations teams, in an effort to protect their environments, independently attempt to introduce quality gates that further impede the path to production, and cyclically the gap increases.
DevOps takes the approach that we should constantly strive to reduce and possibly remove the gap between development and operations so that they become aligned in their objective. This encourages developers to “shift left” many of the operational considerations. In practice this comes down to asking a series of questions and then acting on the answers:
How similar can we make a development environment to that of production? Can we test for scalability, availability, and observability as part of the earliest tests? Can we put security in place from the beginning, and not just switch it on at the end for major environments?
Platforms elements such as containers and Kubernetes can play an important role in this, as we will see from concepts such as image based deployment and infrastructure as code that we will discuss later.
Clearly, the shortening of the path between development and production by using CI/CD is a linked to DevOps as is the iterative- and business-focused nature of agile methods. It also means changing the type of work that people do. Software developers should play an active role in looking after production systems rather than just creating new functions. The operations staff should focus on ways to automate monotonous tasks so that they can move on to higher value activities, such as creating more autonomically self-healing environments. When these two are combined, this particular role is often referred to as a Site Reliability Engineer to highlight the fact that they too are software engineers. Key to succeeding with this is the need to accept that “failures are normal” in components and that we should therefore plan for how to manage failure rather than fruitlessly try to stop it from ever happening.
In a perfect world, software development and operations become one team, and each member of that team performs both development and operations roles interchangeably. The reality for most organizations has some level of compromise on this however, and roles still tend to become somewhat polarized toward one end of the spectrum or the other.
Team Autonomy
If we make the methods more agile, and the path to production more automated, we must no then stifle their ability to be productive and innovative. Each team is tackling a unique problem, and it will be better suited to particular languages and ways of working. We should give the teams as much autonomy as possible through:
Decentralized ownership
Technological freedom
Self-provisioning
If we’re going to rapidly iterate over more fine grained components, we need to decentralize “one-size-fits-all” policies and allow more local decision making. As we will discuss later a good cloud platform should naturally encourage standardization around build, deployment and operations, so long as components are delivered in a consistent way (e.g. container images). To be productive, teams then need to have freedom over how they implement those components; choosing their own technologies such as languages and frameworks. Equally important is to ensure the teams can rapidly self-provision the tools and resources they need, which of course aligns well with the very nature of cloud infrastructure.
There is still a need for a level of consistency in approach and technology across the enterprise. Approaches like the Spotify model, for example, often approach this need through “guilds”, groups made from individuals from the teams that focus on encouraging (rather than enforcing) common approaches and tools based on real world experiences in their own teams.
Of course, a caveat is that decentralization of control can’t typically be ubiquitously applied, nor can it be applied all at once. It might make sense for only certain parts of an enterprise, or certain types of initiative in an enterprise. Ultimately, seek a balance between enabling elements of a company to innovate and explore in order to retain market leadership, and ensuring that you do not compromise integrity of the core competencies of the business with constant change and increasing divergence.
In the next part of this series we’ll look at what architecture and design choices we need to make in order to best leverage the cloud environment. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about any of these issues, visit the IBM Garage Method website, where we cover many of these topics in more depth in the context of an end-to-end method. | https://kylegenebrown.medium.com/the-how-of-cloud-native-people-and-process-perspective-a50852b50aa2 | ['Kyle Gene Brown'] | 2020-12-21 19:32:04.269000+00:00 | ['DevOps', 'Agile Development', 'Cloud Native', 'Site Reliability Engineer', 'Automation'] |
Samaritan to the car guards in South Africa | Samaritan to the car guards in South Africa
Car guards in South Africa
If you’re a South African resident, you will know that in almost every parking lot, you will find people who guard your car. These people stand guard to make sure that criminals don’t steal your car when you visit the store. They are called car guards. These people are placed at certain locations by a company that asks them a fee of R40 ($3) per day to be placed at certain locations to work as a car guard. Many of these car guards are people who live under the bread line, they are very poor.
As we’re sitting in our car in a parking lot, we see a black male with a golf cart driving up to the car guards on duty. He stops at each car guard and allows them to take a croissant from a big plastic bag. This is charity, they are given this for free. The black male who drives the golf cart stops at certain car guards and chat with them. He obviously knows them.
There are many poor people in our world, not just South Africa and it’s not our place to judge. We have a responsibility to reach out to others who do not have much. If we have enough, then we can give to others. There are many ways. For example, if there is food leftover, place it in a plastic container. Those yogurt or margarine containers, place the leftovers in that. Take it with you the next day and give it to someone who guards your car or who begs for help on the street corner.
The other thing that you can do, is taking that old clothes that you don’t want anymore and place 2–3 garments in a plastic bag. The next poor or homeless person you meet, give that to them.
There are many ways that you and I can help others who have less than we do. And some of them aren’t far away. Some of them are even your own extended family members. | https://medium.com/@southafricandiaries/samaritan-to-the-car-guards-in-south-africa-8783a1cdb16c | ['Kate Marcus'] | 2021-12-29 12:08:59.937000+00:00 | ['Charity', 'South Africa', 'Car Guards', 'Criminals', 'Samaritan'] |
Use the Kübler-Ross Model to Become a Good Programmer | Use the Kübler-Ross Model to Become a Good Programmer
Acting as if it were impossible to fail is the formula that transforms us into unstoppable programmers
Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash
There are many definitions, characteristics, and qualities of a good programmer, and a lot of talented programmers and writers have already explained the same thing — succinctly — in various mediums. So there’s no point in me adding my two cents to the plethora of information available all around.
But what I’d like to say here is a simple one-liner given by a mentor a few years back, when I stormed into the software industry.
“Good programmers are smart, not clever.”
A smart programmer combines natural intelligence with an ability to judge the consequences of their actions in the future. They know exactly what code they’re writing, why they’re writing it, and how the code will impact the world in the long run. They believes in fixing the disease permanently rather than applying duct tape to hide the rot.
A clever programmer, on the other hand, knows all the dirty tricks in the world to make code work. But over time, the bandages and duct tape (read: the quick fixes) become humongous and unmaintainable, and then one fine day, the code simply crashes along with the reputation of all the programmers who had worked on it.
And good, smart programmers follow the complete cycle of the Kübler-Ross model to conquer problems, find solutions, learn from them, unlearn certain things, and relearn again. And this cycle goes on and on until they become better and better in their work.
Let me explain.
The Kübler-Ross model was proposed by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book called “Death and Dying.” It outlines the stages of emotions experienced by a person in relation to grief. This concept has since been extended and applied to any situation related to change and betterment.
And in software development, a modified version of the model is as follows.
Image Credits: Kubler-Ross-Change-Curve-adapted-from-Optima-Training-UK-Limited-Research Gate
Kübler-Ross said the stages can last for different periods of time and will replace each other or exist side by side at times.
In fact, she called them defense mechanisms or coping mechanisms that we need to move forward and become better in our jobs. And the mark of a good programmer isn’t to get stuck in any stage but to persist on until the Integration stage of knowledge acquisition and problem-solving is reached.
Let’s look at how good programmers react in each of the stages. | https://medium.com/better-programming/use-the-k%C3%BCbler-ross-model-to-become-a-good-programmer-7184471bedd2 | ['Mythili The Dreamer'] | 2020-06-17 12:17:42.884000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Software Engineering', 'Psychology', 'Programming', 'Productivity'] |
Change College Football Needs; Restoration of Rivalries, Elimination of Bowl Games | When an exhibition game is cancelled because a 2–8 team can’t attend, or it takes a virus for a 9–2 team to get an invite instead of one with a 3–7 record, they are obsolete. That’s happening now. Here’s a better alternative for all involved.
Marky Billson
College football bowl games haven’t just become obsolete. With so many losing, let alone less-than-outstanding, teams in them they’ve become comical.
They are postseason consolation games, nothing more, nothing less. They are kept alive by networks’ demands to have sports programming around the holidays, when we realize the NBA and NHL are cult sports, the NFL plays on weekends, and regular season non-conference college basketball is practically meaningless.
Bowl games were originally a reward. The Rose Bowl pitted the best team in the east against the best in the west, and offered sunshine in the winter during Christmas break and a glamorous trip to southern California for the participants. The winner would be looked at as the best team in the land!
Shot from an early Rose Bowl parade.
But that went out with the single-wing offense and the Dunkel Index. Today bowl games promote a mentality of mediocrity, where 6–6 (or worse) is worthy of the postseason.
We’re told bowl games are important for the participants because of the extra practice time. Poppycock. If a team doesn’t have it by December, they aren’t going to get it, and frankly then they wouldn’t be good enough for a bowl bid to begin with.
If you’re looking ahead to next year, it is better for the returning players to have time off to study for finals and heal than it is to go through a football practice. That’s why 15 teams, including undefeated Coastal Carolina and Big Ten West champion Northwestern, who are slated to participate in bowl games this year did not last season.
So with the fundamentals down pat, coaches usually use the time to install trick plays, which is why one sees so many of them in bowl games.
Tell us how, again, a practice in 2020 helps in 2021?
Especially when a quarter of the team in 2021 hasn’t arrived yet.
But there’s that thing about how the conferences take in the bowl payout money. The programming for ESPN. Keeping the interest factor of 5–6 teams alive late in the season.
So here’s an idea. Instead of bowl games, why not schedule games fans really care about and revive, or create, rivalries based on tradition and geography, destroyed by conference realignment in recent times?
Before bowl games became participation trophies, who won or was going to win the season finale against the in-state rival was all the rage around the Thanksgiving table. Even a losing season by Home Team U could be salvaged if victory was achieved against the hated team from nearby, and bragging rights in the schoolyard or office were secured for the next year.
Pitt v. Penn State. Texas v. Texas A & M. Louisiana State v. Tulane. Florida v. Miami. Boston College v. Holy Cross. All rivalries that once defined the schools that played in them. Now on hiatus.
Maybe national championships won’t be on the line if Pitt and Penn State play again. Or maybe, the reason the teams don’t contend for such riches anymore is they no longer play annually.
Or how about Clemson v. Georgia? Kansas v. Missouri. Virginia Tech v. West Virginia, Maryland v. Virginia, Nebraska v. Oklahoma. Tennessee v. Georgia Tech. Arkansas v. their old Southwest Conference foes, and countless other rivalries fans legitimately care about that have been eliminated by conference greed could be played in a home-and-home or neutral site basis instead of bowl games, creating a more profitable and popular alternative.
No game can expect to have this much hype every year. But a geographic rivalry like Clemson-Georgia doesn’t have to pit the national champs of the past two seasons to be interesting.
And even if you’re, say, Kentucky, which has wisely revived their once-dormant in-state rivalry with Louisville, why not create a new rivalry?
Why not Indiana, coupled with a basketball game?
Imagine the feel of the Wildcats and Hoosiers playing football at one campus in the afternoon and basketball in the evening at the other!
Imagine if all of the schools listed above did that!
Doesn’t that sound better than going to Detroit the day after Christmas?
Hard to tell if this is a pandemic or the Quick Lane Bowl. That’s the one in Detroit. MAC vs. ACC.
Practically every school has a geographical rival they don’t play anymore or they should start playing.
The only people watching bowl games are the fans of the teams involved. But what’s going to draw a bigger crowd of fans, a game against the arch-rival played on campus or a game played hundreds of miles away against a mediocre opponent from another region?
And why are colleges trying to support the coffers of merchants in Orlando or Charlotte when they could be doing the same in their own community?
Show some independence from conference masterhood. Instead of sharing revenue with a dozen or so teams, keep it between you and your opponent. If conference by laws prohibit this, show some solidarity and change the by laws!
Play the when the bowl games currently are scheduled. Negotiate your own television contracts, be it network, cable, or regional syndication. Sell naming rights to a local company. And give the fans a game they’d care about!
Heck, give PLAYERS a game they would care about! Think a pro-bound Aggie or Panther is going to sit out the chance to beat a Longhorn or Nittany Lion?
There’s no way of knowing for sure, but considering most players with an eye on the NFL Draft only leave their teams for bowl games and this arrangement eliminates the exhibition mindset college football postseason currently for a “biggest game of the year” type feel, it would seem less likely.
If a team was slated to be in the postseason, alternative opponents could be found. Say, Clemson (or, for that matter, Holy Cross) is in the playoffs and Georgia (or Boston College) isn’t. Georgia State (or UMass) would jump at the chance to take their place, establish their identity, and get a slice of such revenue.
Bowl games would become extinct, but who cares? Even the New Year’s Six is nothing but college football’s version of the National Invitational Tournament, which itself needs to go away.
Calling №69 a champion is not what competition is supposed to be about.
Besides, who won the NIT the last year?
I’ll save you the trouble. It was Texas.
And there isn’t a single Longhorns fan who wouldn’t trade that meaningless title, or this season’s Alamo Bowl bid against Colorado, for the chance to beat A & M on the gridiron one more time.
No, Wynn Everett. This just means more!
Follow Marky Billson on medium and subscribe to his You Tube channel! | https://medium.com/@markybillson/change-college-football-needs-restoration-of-rivalries-elimination-of-bowl-games-97d3d7515f30 | ['Marky Billson'] | 2020-12-24 17:26:00.473000+00:00 | ['College Football', 'Football', 'NCAA Football', 'Rivalry Games', 'Bowl Games'] |
The Scratched Neck of a Sea Turtle | The Scratched Neck of a Sea Turtle
Photo by Travis Colbert on Unsplash
A couple of days ago, I was impressed by a picture from a website. The picture was of a sea turtle that was caught up from the sea by the fishermen occasionally. One day, the fishermen caught a pile of fish, and they were surprised to find a sea turtle. When they put the tortoise on the deck, they found that the middle part of the sea turtle’s neck was very thin, and it moved very slowly. His timid eyes seemed to indicate that he had suffered a very painful process. After looking at the neck carefully, they found out a thin string was tied around into the neck tightly. The fishermen were shocked and angry. They sent the sea turtle to the animal protection agency. After studying, they found that the sea turtle was at least 50 years old. The hurt must come from the string or cord, which had prevented his normal growth.
Actually, I am not an animal protectionist. However, I won’t forget the sight of the survival sea turtle. Who needs to take responsibility for this harm?
Both animals and humans have the same right to live on earth. Humans might kill animals because of their own needs. Animals are innocent and hard to survive. For a long time, humans have exploited too much from nature, and the ocean has been overfished. They can put the fishing net where they can catch the seafood. Not all of them care for the animals in the sea. At the same time, the ocean has been polluted by humans. A lot of trash has been pulled down into the sea. Some people who live nearby to the seaside throw the waste every day without careful treatment. Tourists put the bottle on the beach that can flow over the surface of the sea, even there is the leakage of crude oil and chemical materials from large cruise ships, which have been worse in recent years. It seems the ocean has become a huge trash factory. In return, some people die from polluted water. Consequently, People should account for these things.
Volunteers testing the water of a river. Photo by Zhonghui Xie (2019)
One day I caught some white bass in the river of Elizabeth Park in Detroit, and I cooked them for dinner. My friend asked me if I had read the report for fishing after she knew I cooked the fish from the river in Elizabeth Park. I realized it was very serious if I ate the polluted fish. Meanwhile, I found the government had taken action for preventing contamination. For one example, there are many boards, which warn people of fishing size and category. For another example, the Huron River Management Bureau organizes the volunteers every year to test the water of the pointed river channel. They will analyze the heavy metal content in the water sample, then they will judge if the river is polluted and locate the place accurately. All these help people to build up a common sense of nature protection.
Photo by Zhonghui Xie (2020)
Ann Arbor is a city that is famous for its lush hills and clean river. The government has invested plenty of money in water treatment facilities which benefit water resources and recycling.
In my opinion, people have realized recently that it is the right to take action. As an individual, first, people should have good habits for trash collection. They should take away the trash after they leave the park or the riverbank. Second, people need to report to the River Bureau when they find the pollution in the river. Third, the government needs to inspect all the processes when industrial companies deal with sewage disposal. The water is the base for life. Although people have improved the environment, more actions should be added in order to get long benefits for generations. | https://medium.com/@finnlanny/the-scratched-neck-of-a-sea-turtle-bf322b4a8c00 | ['Lan Feng'] | 2020-03-11 17:06:24.982000+00:00 | ['Protection', 'Board', 'Environment', 'Cruise Ships', 'Pollution'] |
The 3 Types of Time Blocks You Need to Schedule for a Productive Week | I’ve known about the importance of time management for a long time. I’ve understood that you need to schedule time to do the work that you know needs to get done. But what I didn’t fully realize until recently is that effective time management means more than just blocking out time to get tasks done. It requires scheduling time to do 3 entirely different — but entirely necessary — kinds of things each week over and above simply getting things checked off your to-do list.
To effectively use the time you have, you need to block out 3 key types of time. In their book The 12 Week Year, Brian Moran and Michael Lennington spell out 3 basic types of time blocks you need to schedule during your week in order to make the most of it: buffer blocks, strategic blocks, and breakout blocks.
The trick is to both schedule them in the right lengths, total amounts of time per week, and to prioritize them correctly. As I’ve begun doing this, the effect it’s had on my productivity have been significant. Once you understand these blocks of time, and what they can do, it’s hard to go back to any other way of looking at your days and weeks.
Buffer Bocks
Buffer blocks are the blocks of time most of us are familiar with, but usually don’t schedule. They’re meant for low-level activities, like checking email, messaging services like Slack, and other information and communication fees that can tend to be a source of work or vital information for you. It’s the time we spend catching up with what might have gone on while we were doing other work — deeper work.
And while we tend to do these sorts of things quite often, because we don’t schedule them, two things happen. First, we’re fragmented in how we deploy the time. We often revert to checking email while we’re trying to do deep work on a project. When we get stuck on that deep work, we hide away by checking email. But we’re rarely ever checking email in a meaningful way. We’re not processing the email. We’re not putting into our prioritization system, or integrating the information from that email into our project planning document. We’re usually cherry-picking the easiest emails, replying to them, and moving on.
Scheduling a buffer block allows you to take care of things like emails, phone calls, chatting with people — whatever comes up. And it allows you do so while being present, not being guilty, and with the goal of taking care of whatever it is that you’re working on.
According to Moran and Lennington, these blocks should be 30 minutes to an hour long, and happen 1 to 2 times a day. I see no problem with 3 times, for those of us who tend to handle urgent customer-facing issues on a regular basis. Ultimately, you can judge what works. You’ll know after a while.
Strategic Blocks
The most important blocks of time to schedule are strategic blocks. They’re exactly what they sound like. They’re blocks of time for thinking and planning for the big, important stuff in your life and work. When you schedule your week, these should be scheduled first — because they are the most important.
I shouldn’t say ‘they’ because you only really need one strategic block per week — so long as it’s 3 basically uninterrupted hours. Yes, you read that right: 3 hours. 180 minutes of thinking, prioritizing, planning. 180 minutes spent building out your next week, month, quarter, and year.
While you may feel like you’re doing work during buffer blocks, the real work is done in the strategic blocks. There may not be a lot of typing or mouse clicking going on. It may not be fast-paced, but the most effective thinking in slow and free.
The important thing about strategic blocks is the when and the how. When you schedule the time is important. It needs to be when you’ve got enough energy to think and assurance that you’ll be uninterrupted for 3 hours — which is no small request.
What you do during the time is up to you, but there is no shortage of suggestions out there. My go-to is a weekly review — a la the GTD system. Another good choice is a Shultz Hour, where you spend 60 minutes just writing down things as they come to you, and think through what’s going on in your head. If you’re a Bullet Journal adherent, go through your journal.
Whatever your chosen organizational methodology, spend time deliberately working through it. Review, rethink, reflect. This is where the big things start, where the big decisions are made.
Breakout Blocks
When you work hard, it’s important to recharge. And the harder you work, the more recharging you need. Ideally, this time should come in a big block, just like your strategic block. And like your strategic block, it’s a big part of sustained high-performance and productivity. Also like strategic blocks, we tend not to prioritize scheduling them, because we don’t see them as vital. But we should.
Breakout blocks are time for you to decompress. They’re blocks where you can explore hobbies, pursue relaxing interests, or just unwind. The idea is to get your mind off of work and other demanding stuff in your life for a decent chunk of time.
Moran and Lennington suggest that like your strategic block, your breakout block be about 3 consecutive hours. While it may seem self-indulgent or unproductive to spend a block of time like that on essentially leisure, the benefits are real. Taking time away from demanding work and personal projects helps you more effectively address them when you get back.
But that time has to be significant and not punctuated with other projects. Hence the 3 hour block. Schedule the time, so that you don’t feel like you don’t feel like you should be doing something else. So you can truly relax. You need to immerse yourself in something else, and relieve your mind of the weight of all the other stuff you normally exhaust yourself on. You may often find that you come back to your work with truly productive and creative energy after such breaks.
So be sure to schedule a breakout block, and stick to it. The benefits will show themselves in short order.
Making the Time
These blocks should all be scheduled in the following priority order:
a strategic block first — whenever you can fit in a 3-hour long block that probably won’t get interrupted.
a breakout block second — whenever you feel you could comfortably check out of work for 3 hours or so and play or recharge in a constructive way.
buffer blocks last — because on most occasions, they tend to schedule themselves almost automatically. And once you’ve scheduled and executed the other 2 blocks of time, you’ll be more likely to be efficient in your buffer blocks.
Once you’ve scheduled those blocks, you can pencil in everything else. I’ve found that scheduling these 3 blocks each week gives me a feeling of control over my week. It makes me less anxious about my work, and it makes me feel like I actually have more time. | https://medium.com/@mikesturm/the-3-types-of-time-blocks-you-should-schedule-for-a-productive-week-128820cb4b21 | ['Mike Sturm'] | 2020-12-27 06:31:38.210000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Growth', 'Self', 'Time Management', 'Work'] |
Argentina Performance Art: La primera plataforma de investigación teórica sobre performance nacional | 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/leedor/argentina-performance-art-la-primera-plataforma-de-investigaci%C3%B3n-te%C3%B3rica-sobre-performance-5eed323cb0c6 | ['Camila Stehling'] | 2020-12-27 21:24:12.387000+00:00 | ['Artes Visuales', 'Leedor', 'Performance', 'Archivo', 'Investigación'] |
VR and AR Technology | 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/ristex/vr-and-ar-technology-b04e9b82530e | ['Qurrata Ayuni'] | 2020-12-01 13:34:04.673000+00:00 | ['AR', 'VR', 'Technology'] |
A Little Laughter to Lighten Your Day | Who doesn’t like a good laugh? Did you know humor and laughter are good for your health? About 3000 years ago, the wisest man to ever live, Solomon said:
“A happy heart is good medicine and a joyful mind causes healing” Proverbs 17:22a AMP
Today, humor and laughter are known to have many positive psychological and physiological health benefits. In addition to providing health to the body and mind, humor also has the benefit of improving learning! As Solomon said, a merry heart (laughter) is good medicine!
I’ve assembled a little humor, some of which includes practical advice for my many writer friends. May it bring you joy and health!
For fellow writers and authors
“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.” — Christopher Hampton- “A woman in labor suddenly shouted, ‘Shouldn’t! Wouldn’t! Couldn’t! Didn’t! Can’t!’ ‘Don’t worry,’ said the doc. ‘Those are just contractions.’” — Unknown “If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.” — Kingsley Amis
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“I am a writer. If I seem cold, it’s because I am surrounded by drafts.” — Unknown “People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do” — Isaac Asimov “As far as I’m concerned, “whom” is a word that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler.” — Calving Trillin
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“I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.” Steven Wright “I wrote a few children’s books. Not on purpose.” — Steven Wright “It takes an awful lot of time to not write a book.” — Douglas Adams
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“There are two kinds of people who sit around all day thinking about killing people…mystery writers and serial killers. I’m the kind that pays better.” — Richard Castle “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.” Mark Twain “The dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he’s given the freedom to starve anywhere.” S. J. Perelman
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“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” — Douglas Adams “The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.” Terry Pratchett “It’s a funny thing that when a man hasn’t anything on earth to worry about, he goes off and gets married.” Robert Frost
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“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” Oscar Wild “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Stephen King “It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.” Jack Kerouac
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“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.” — Winston Churchill “The freelance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or per haps.” Robert Benchley “The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.” — Mary Heaton Vorse
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“This is how you do it: sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.” Neil Gaiman “People think that I must be a very strange person. This is not correct. I have the heart of a small boy. It is in a glass jar on my desk.” — Stephen King “A poet can survive everything but a misprint.” — Oscar Wilde
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Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”, your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” Mark Twain “A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.” — Baltasar Gracián
Final words
How can you add some humor to your day?
Jokes are far more available than you may realize. They are available almost everywhere!
If you have a smart speaker type of device with Alexa, ask it to tell you the joke of the day. Sure, they are corny, but the jokes still lighten my mood when I hear them.
Another way is to simply type “joke of the day” into any browser, and you will find plenty of great material to make you laugh.
You can also find many humorous articles written by some great writers on Medium.com.
And lastly, Youtube has thousands of humorous videos, ranging from stage performances to pranks.
If you can add just one laugh into your day, you will improve your health and disposition. While you are at it, why not add some humor to the day of someone you care about, as I can almost guarantee they will appreciate it.
For you and those around you, try it, you’ll like it! In fact, for a quick laugh, check this short video out with the original “Try it, you’ll like it.” bit!” | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/a-little-laughter-to-lighten-your-day-e6ddc6b291ec | ['Bill Abbate'] | 2020-12-09 21:31:25.135000+00:00 | ['Funny', 'Life', 'Inspiration', 'Humor', 'Laughter'] |
State of the Map Asia 2019: My First International Conference | I had been following SotM since 2017. Being involved in OSM through the medium of YouthMappers and Kathmandu Living Labs(KLL), I was extremely interested to attend the 2019 conference as soon as I heard about it. The conference being held at Bangladesh was another attraction. I had heard a lot about the dazzling streets, yummy food and amazing people of Bangladesh yet had not got the chance to witness it myself.
The journey of SotM started luckily with being awarded a scholarship covering all my expenses. Excitedly, I researched more about Bangladesh to aid my 5-days stay of learning and experiencing.
I, along with my three colleagues from Kathmandu Living Labs traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh on the 31st of October. I was excited and looking forward to meeting people from all over the world working on OpenStreetMap (OSM) and its vicinity. I met my fellow scholars from India and Japan in the hotel where I had this opportunity to learn about them and status of OSM mapping in their respective countries. On the first day, I was enormously excited to see many renowned experts working on the OSM domain.
The conference started with the opening ceremony and welcome speech from the organizers followed by keynote speech from David Garcia . Also talks from Dr. Nama Raj Budhathoki and Taichi Furuhashi were interesting. The ambience of the hall was energized with all the mapping enthusiasts .
Photo Source: SotM Asia 2019 Organizers
There were many interesting sessions over the course of the two days. I had two presentations where I talked about my YouthMappers chapter Geomatics Engineering Students’ Association of Nepal (GESAN) and my Digital Internship and Leadership Program (DIAL) experience. I also got an opportunity to share panel with fellow mappers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines and Indonesia where we talked about our chapters, its activities, experiences with mapping, etc.
This conference was ample opportunity for me to expand my network with people from other countries and learn from them. The whole conference was quite an experience as it helped me to broaden my perspective on OSM . I was really inspired by young people who were an integral part of the organizing team.
Youthmappers Panel Discussion ( Source: SotM Asia 2019 organizers)
Bangladesh and SoTM Asia 2019 was a complete new experience for me. I found the people of Bangladesh very humble and hospitable. I met some amazing youngsters like Sawan Shariar, Shaikh Solaimon and others who have become my good friends after the conference. Last but not the least, I would like to extend my congratulations to the organizers for organizing such a great event.
See you again, Bangladesh!!!! | https://medium.com/@rabenojha/state-of-the-map-asia-2019-my-first-international-conference-8cf2063b56d4 | ['Rabin Ojha'] | 2021-01-07 11:11:02.510000+00:00 | ['Openstreetmap', 'Bangladesh', 'Dhaka', 'Maps', 'Nepal'] |
5 Ways to Improve Data Entry Process | Data entry is one of those mundane functions in a business deep down in the list of priorities that people hardly ever pay attention to. But like many other routine jobs, data entry when done offhandedly can affect decision-making at the highest level of the organization. So organizations and leaders who take the time and effort to perk up the efficiency and accuracy of their data entry process will reap the benefits in their overall organizational efficiency, decision-making, and ultimately in their revenue accounts. But how exactly can they improve data entry efficiency?
At Rannsolve, we have been handling data entry, data conversion, and analysis for diverse clients across the globe for more than two decades. And through our experience, we have come up with ideas or practices that have helped us streamline our data entry process for maximum efficiency. We have put them together for you below so you can implement them in your organization with the same satisfying results.
1. Educate Employees on the Significance of Their Contribution
Data entry as we discussed earlier is most often seen as insignificant and banal not only by those higher up in the organizational hierarchy but by data entry operators themselves. This lack of excitement will reflect on the work they do. So organizations must take the efforts to make data entry employees aware of the significance of data quality to the success and growth of the organization. When employees see how their work quality and productivity impacts your business and your customers, and how their contribution is central to the other more visible functions, they are more likely to perform better.
2. Make the Work Environment Conducive for Quality
This point again is an off-shoot of the first. It is not only important to tell employees how important their job is but to follow it up with solid actions that support that message. Create a work environment that makes it effortless for your data entry operators to give their best. This may involve providing ergonomic chairs, desks, and systems that ease the discomfort of the long sitting hours that data entry demands. Permit regular breaks and opportunities to refresh that helps employees stay alert and energetic throughout the day as accurate data entry can get tedious after a point. Also, ensure that the work area is sufficiently lighted and ventilated to minimize strain on the eyes and to beat work stress.
3. Set Clear Expectations on Performance
Performance targets are necessary to gauge and improve productivity. But unfortunately, Data entry jobs in most companies are monitored with unrealistic performance targets. These are counterproductive and can make your employees feel undervalued and dissatisfied. So it is important to set clear, realistic, and achievable targets that factor in both the quality and accuracy of the work done. Organizations must also remember that they must not stop with setting these goals but reward employees appropriately and consistently when they reach these goals. This will help them draw a clear plan for their personal goals and when they achieve those goals those of the organization are met too.
4. Incentivize Accuracy and not just Speed
It is a common practice in organizations to give awards and appreciation based on the volume of work done and not the quality. So data entry operators generally tend to be in a hurry to finish the volume needed to meet the bonus criteria and so the quality of their work suffers. In Data entry, accuracy is the top priority and overrides the need for speed. So businesses must develop a system to measure and reward accuracy as much as or perhaps more than they reward productivity in terms of volume.
5. Provide In-built Error-detection Mechanisms In Your System
When operators are entering hordes of data into a computer system, they are likely to commit two kinds of errors — transcription errors like typos, repeated entries, or missed entries or transposition errors that involve entering characters in a wrong order. These can be minimized by leveraging technology. Softwares are now available to easily identify repeated entries or typographical errors. Data entry fields can also be customized to only accept correctly formatted inputs. Investing in these technology solutions will help you build accuracy into your system and bolster human efforts for improving accuracy.
Implementing these practices in your data entry process can improve productivity and enhance the quality of your data by leaps and bounds. In the present age of information where data is considered an invaluable business asset, it will pay you to focus adequate attention on your data quality.
If you are looking for more insights on improving your data entry process or for competent assistance with your data entry projects, contact us today. We have a team of energetic, highly-experienced, and motivated data entry specialists who can handle your data with both promptness and precision. | https://medium.com/@rannsolve/5-ways-to-improve-data-entry-process-5aff796e7e4b | ['Rannsolve Inc'] | 2020-12-17 04:47:01.345000+00:00 | ['USA', 'Bpo Companies', 'Document Management', 'Texas', 'Bpo Services'] |
Gambling Is My Trade | Satire
Gambling Is My Trade
EXCLUSIVE TO MUDDYUM: A Frank Gould Story
Photo by Keenan Constance on Unsplash
I don’t have the brain for games. Never lucky at cards or any type of gambling. I had streaks. Everybody has streaks. But no genuine luck. I didn’t gamble much until I hit my golden years. You know, eighteen, nineteen.
Those wonderful golden years. Brain like a brick painted gold.
wikicommons.org
During that time, out of a rudimentary necessity, I encountered my first loan sharks and one of them turned into a friend. It’s funny when you do business with a loan shark who is also your friend. It’s like having a lawyer who is also your friend. One moment it’s business, the next not, but the business time is…different.
On Saturdays we would have a friendly dinner at this French bistro on Lexington Avenue. Just a couple of blocks away he had introduced me to his tailor at the Saint Laurent store who, in turn, had introduced me to Marlene Dietrich who lived in the swanky apartment building above and didn’t know me from Adam but seemed to think me cute. She looked me up and down and smiled. Yeah, me.
imdb.com
Anyway, he began to reveal that, for me, losing wasn’t an absence of luck — obviously, right? — but the presence of a kind of stupidity or blindness in the way I played cards. I didn’t pay enough attention, he explained. Other games were more a question of chance, but cards — particularly poker, my game of choice — could be studied because you were playing with a limited deck and, if you looked around, you might notice you were playing against people. People, too, could be read.
Those being my golden years, the information basically reflected off that golden block.
Later in life, during my doldrums of depression before I started sweeping my Berkeley driveway again, playing solitaire on the computer and noticing how I lost all the time, I remembered that it wasn’t bad luck or the computer program. I wasn’t paying attention to the cards. Or the people playing.
Marguerite would come by and comment. “How can you lose that miserably all the time,” watching me sit there at the computer.
pinterest.com
I’d make some stupid remark to get her off my back, like, “I’ve only been doing this for a few days. I thought a dropdown menu had something to do with porn.”
You would be correct in assuming one high function of my brain, gold brick or not, never let me down, even in the worst of times.
When he was a child, the Buddha was a spoiled brat. It’s important that we know and understand this if we are attempting to study Buddhism, especially if one is trying to be a Buddhist. That rotten kid went on to find wisdom and Enlightenment. He turned into a wonderful human being. That’s the whole point.
Photo by Manuel Cosentino on Unsplash
99.9999 percent of the Christians in the world have no earthly idea who the heck Jesus was as a child. However, it turns out he was, to turn a phrase, Satan’s spawn. If you looked sideways at him, he’d put a spell on you, and you done. Done. Cooked. He mocked his elders to the point where they contemplated suicide by tossing themselves off a cliff and then he invited them to jump. The hidden stories known only to the church scholars make you think crucifixion was too good for him. He should have been drawn and quartered, splayed, skin ripped off an inch at a time. Trust me. But…he ended up a pretty decent guy.
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
So they say.
Everything is apocryphal. As far as I’m concerned, just about all such stories are apocryphal until Marconi. Then most of them merely became lies. For money.
People get twisted by anger. Gambling, losing, makes people angry, most of them. If they’re smart.
Both the Buddha and Jesus talked about this quite a bit, as did many others way back in the day. Not the gambling, specifically, but the anger.
People still do, apparently because those two guys, and the others, did not quite get the message across. But the worst part is that people feel the source of the anger twisting them, and react to it, often never understanding that source. Sometimes they come to regret their reactions, and they turn that regret against themselves, or others, again in some sort of anger or self-inflicted pain. This happens to nearly everyone on occasion.
Most people cannot focus continuously and lose focus because of such anger. Of course, that doesn’t apply to psychotics. Psychotics focus continuously but very narrowly. That’s what identifies them. The twisted nature that drives them, provides their focus, defines their lives. If you have the radar for it, that’s how you spot them.
The misconceptions of others, as in the overwhelming majority who have no radar but suffer under the misconception that they do, the definitions that others give to people that define others often lead us astray into believing people are something they aren’t, though. It gets confusing when you don’t know people well enough, and we usually don’t know people as well as we should. At least not before we judge them.
Any tales about misunderstood old people, like the movie UP for example, will explain that old saw.
Photo by Abby Anaday on Unsplash
There’s a polite knock first. Always quick, meaningless. Then the door opens.
The white smock cannot hide Morris’ fattening belly. Don’t you really trust fat doctors? “So, Frank, how’s the shoulder? And the leg?” Somehow, he always looks happy when he walks into the room.
I wonder if they teach a class in that?
I shrugged. “Shoulder? Slow and steady. Leg? Just slow.”
He puts my chart down and picks up my wrist like it was his morning coffee. “They told me at the clinic you never went back after the first visit. You were supposed to keep up with those shoulder exercises. Not to mention the leg. Did you?”
“Nope, I didn’t mention the leg to anyone.”
He stared at me dryly while the sleeve puffed up then deflated.
“Sure, Morris. Like I said, slow and steady.” I stood up. “Look, I can almost do that full Shirley Temple again.”
He stared at my modeling over his glasses. “I’m impressed. Sit down.” You notice when people never say please or thank you. “I set you up with that nice-looking young therapist for a reason…”
“Yeah, and it did wonders for the wrong organ. I don’t like those places. If I were rich, thin and had lots of time on my hands, maybe it would be different. Plus, I’m just a scoonch neurotic. Maybe you’ve noticed over the years? No offense, but I don’t even like coming to see the doctor. You’re a doctor, aren’t you? So, these amateurs really scare me…”
“You’re rich and thin enough. They aren’t amateurs, Frank, they are well-trained…”
“They touch you everywhere, even the men.”
“That’s their job.”
“Well, they can do it to someone else.”
He came over with the sleeve. “Let me take your blood pressure before it gets too high.”
“When I had this shoulder problem back in Tennessee, all I had to do was lift fifty-pound sacks of grain every day. Slow and steady. It was gone.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Didn’t need any clinics. Didn’t have to go to a doctor. My neighbor, Dave, told me.”
“A veritable mountain man.”
“It was hill country, Morris.”
“Be quiet for a minute, will you?”
“Morris, are you ever going to remarry?”
“Nope. I like being a bachelor.”
“You didn’t like all those years with Rebecca?”
“Of course I did, I was very much in love with Rebecca.”
“So…”
“So, Rebecca is gone. Things change.”
Things change. “Yeah. I guess they do.”
“Be quiet while I check your lungs. Just breathe in deep. If you don’t shut up, you’ll make me late for my tee time.”
Doctors are invariably psychotic because they are focused on golf. Golf is undeniably a game. I don’t even understand why rich white men play. Unless they are despicable people like politicians and gangsters. Ah, there I go, being redundant again.
We had to walk by a golf course in Douglaston all the time when I was a kid. I was a big walker, walked down Northern Boulevard to the movie theater in Bayside. Was kicked out of seeing Elmer Gantry there. Walked down to Flushing to the RKO Theater to see The Great Escape, The Guns of Navarone and The Magnificent Seven. To the UA Theater in Forest Hills for the newest James Bond movies.
Quite the walker. That should make me a golfer, since nine of ten golfers play for the walking. They say. But, no. They say baseball is boring. Golf is boring. The moment of tension, if it ever comes, trying to get that ball in the cup. It creates more stress for you than all the walking could ever release.
And the mental energy wasted while walking on, thinking about what golf club to use next or how to cajole your caddy into a piece of advice. Better your cerebellum churned over what was going on around you, on the other side of the fence enclosing that golf course, or even inside you, rather than something so inconsequential.
What’s it all for? Gambling. That’s what.
Pfft. Gambling, just another traditional institution.
Speaking of golf and institutions, my wife hated Bob Hope. Something slightly painful between us at moments, like on movie night. It was an intense dislike she inherited from her father, her mother as well, as far as I knew, never having met her mother. She never had to talk about it at length, I could gather the impressions.
Photo by Paul M on Unsplash
Her eyes, mostly. I understood it as plain as a piece of pound cake. Something completely political. The way she and Willard saw politics in black and white. Like a cookie. In terms of what they saw about this question of hypocrisy on an emotional level, too.
I suppose I had my difficulties with Hope when I was younger, but those didn’t last very long. I can’t claim that I personally had the courage, if that’s the right word, to climb up the ladder, if that’s what it was, that people like Hope scaled. Because maybe he was better than I am. I don’t know. I seriously doubt I’m better than he was.
I look at what he did and what I’ve done. Was he a hypocrite? Of course. But certain hypocrisies are necessary, some lies have to be told. You accomplish nothing without them. In order to keep faith with certain people you have to be able to suck it up, smile that gruesome smile, rather than gambling on showing your true feelings.
Willard and Robin didn’t agree. A lot of people don’t. You know what? They were both liars. Myself, I don’t like people based on the people they associate with. That’s my flaw. One of them. My wife was a social liar. That was her flaw. She actually did not have many. Guess how many social liars there are? You’ll lose count quickly.
Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash
I can’t do it most of the time, myself. I try to laugh things off. My true feelings come out, sometimes they cripple me, and I just can’t deal with situations. Mrs. Manness told me never to play poker. That was the second grade. It’s been obvious at least that long. That’s why people like Hope are heroes in many ways, icons, role models, because of their natural hypocrisy. Their gift for fooling us.
Forget about whatever we might be thinking about politics, they might be fooling us there, too, for our own good. Maybe not. What does it matter? Politics come and go; they change on a whim for most people.
Real politics for most people has to do with their stomachs, the roof over their heads, the future of their kids. Those folks don’t want to gamble with anything if they know what’s good for them. Unlike my folks.
You think of it in terms of anything else, the way I used to, the way Willard and Robin did, you’re an elitist idiot. I could never successfully argue this point with Robin, she stood her ground. I loved her for standing her ground. That was not a flaw, just a disagreement. But you know me, I’m stubborn, too.
c RKO
c Warner Bros
When I was a kid, learning to love Hope because he was the creative ideal for Bugs Bunny, among other things, I was learning to hate Plato because I thought Plato was a capitol F Fascist, down as he was on democracy.
But, over time, as I read Plato more closely, and came to understand that he merely better understood the outcome of things, the very nature of things, and saw that everything was temporary, and that, from his perspective, completely built in to democracy was its own doom, I understood that Plato wasn’t a Fascist but, from his perspective, a Realist.
What’s a Realist? Someone without kids who still doesn’t want to gamble.
Was Hope a part-time philanderer, a liar about his wealth, a shameless marketer? Everything is temporary, and everything is flawed.
I’ve lived a long time now. I look myself in the mirror, most days more than once. I don’t know how you do these balancing acts, no, I still don’t. Everyone has good and bad in them. How does it work?
By François-André Vincent — Musée Fabre (brochure), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32949659
Take a look at Anthony Wiener. There’s an extreme case. He is our country’s, our century’s Alcibiades. Maybe. Couldn’t keep his cock off the phone. Maybe even worse than that.
But he devoted his life to serving the best interests of poor people, every living day.
How do you deal with that balancing act? I don’t know the answer for people like that or myself. I don’t know if there can be an answer, do you?
There’s this old saying: You pays your dues, you takes your chances.
Don’t judge?
Don’t judge.
Alan Asnen copyright 2019 | https://medium.com/muddyum/gambling-is-my-trade-7946db28ae29 | ['Alan Asnen'] | 2019-11-19 02:29:42.038000+00:00 | ['Humor', 'Fiction', 'Short Story', 'Gambling', 'Satire'] |
SpotCam Eva 2 review: a much-improved security camera | The original SpotCam Eva, which we reviewed in 2016, was a pretty clunky camera, both in terms of its bulky design and its unpolished performance. It was apparent, however, that it contained the seeds of something better, and those have come to fruition in the SpotCam Eva 2.
The rebooted camera has a “snowman” shape that’s neither particularly attractive nor an eyesore, but it’s smaller and easier to hide in plain sight than the original. It also has a wider field of view (130 degrees) and adds a built-in siren and two-way talk capabilities, Amazon Alexa and Google Home integration, and it supports automatic person tracking. Pan-and-tilt is still its core feature, but this feature works much better than it did in the previous iteration.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best home security cameras, 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.The first evidence that the Eva 2 had improved on its predecessor surfaced during the setup process. There are no switches to flip or modes to toggle, just a few app-prompted steps to connect the camera to your network. I got the camera up and running in about a minute. I set the camera on a shelf in my living room, but it can also be used outdoors. It has an operating temperature of 14 degrees to 122 degrees Fahrenheit and comes with anchors and screws to mount it to an exterior wall or fence. Keep in mind it uses AC power, so you’ll need proximity to an outdoor outlet or an accessible indoor one if you deploy it outside.
SpotCam SpotCam Eva 2 is leaner and performs better than its predecessor, but it still provides the same 1080p video resolution.
The SpotCam app hasn’t changed much since I used it with the first Eva. Once you select the Eva 2 from the home screen, you’ll see the live feed with camera controls below it, including a speaker mute button, another for taking snapshots of the live feed, and a 30-second rewind. You can scrub through live video on a horizontally scrolling timeline displayed below this toolbar. At the very bottom are buttons for viewing recorded video clips of detected sound and motion events, triggering the microphone, and returning to the live feed. Options for customizing sound- and motion-detection sensitivity, alerts, and other features are accessible through a cog icon at the top right.
[ Further reading: The best video doorbells ]The camera captures a sharp, vibrant image in daytime mode and provides about 32 feet of illumination with strong contrast when night vision is activated. When it detects sound or movement, it pushes a notification to your device with a snapshot of the feed included in the alert. These were accurate in my tests and arrived quickly, suggesting I’d be able to catch an intruder in the act during an actual break-in. Though these generic alerts work well enough, it’s worth enabling human tracking on the Eva 2 for $5.95 per month. It will help you reduce unwanted notifications by only alerting you when a human is identified, and it will lock onto the person and follow their movements so you don’t lose sight of them as they move through or around your home.
That last feature is pan-and-tilt. Even without human tracking, you can can pan the camera 345 degrees and tilt it 90 degrees in small increments by swiping directly on the screen. You can hear the buzz of the motor clearly with each movement, but the camera is very responsive and precise, two things the original Eva’s pan-and-tilt wasn’t.
Michael Ansaldo/IDG The SpotCam app lets you scrub through the Eva 2’s live footage.
The Eva 2 stores all captured video in the cloud. It comes with the tantalizingly-titled Free Forever package, which includes what are actually pretty standard offerings: live streaming video, motion and audio detection, event alerts, and the ability to share live video and snapshots. You do get one-day rolling video history as well, but you must “subscribe” to this free feature in the app for the camera to start recording video clips.
If you want to view more than a single day’s worth of recordings, you can upgrade to a 3-, 7-, or 30-day plan for $3.95, $5.95, or $19.95 a month, respectively.
Though you can view recorded videos with any of these plans, you can’t download them. As with the original Eva, you must create a separate video for exporting from your surveillance clips if you want to have a file you can share via email or flash drive. This requires that you select either a “normal” or time-lapsed video and set parameters such as the video start time and clip length. The final product is saved to a separate tab called My Film, and you can download it to your local drive from there.
This lingering limitation aside, the Spot Cam Eva 2 successfully eliminates the shortcomings of its predecessor and improves upon its strengths. Its easy operation and accurate AI features make it a great security solution for most scenarios. To get the most from it, though, you’ll likely want to upgrade the cloud storage plan and add the human-tracking features, so be sure to factor those costs into your purchase.
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/@elizabe23512948/spotcam-eva-2-review-a-much-improved-security-camera-305af16418e3 | [] | 2020-12-25 04:01:49.885000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Lighting', 'Audio', 'Tvs'] |
What is ecommerce logistics? An overview | Logistics is a flow that starts from origin to consumption, to put it mildly. Since we are going to go into detail about what is logistics , let’s first look at logistics and its origin. Logistics term was originally coined by military personnel, extensively used while military goods transportation. In the beginning , Mules were one of the first carriers that were chosen for transporting military goods as mules were more flexible and cheaper. But the term logistics has been gaining increased momentum as times go by because it’s more relevant today than it was then given the background of the e-commerce revolution.
Logistics verticals
Logistics takes care of warehouse to destination movement of goods in a timely and cost effective manner. Many firms that specialize in logistics give support to companies, industries and small organizations for fulfilling their needs, whereas giant companies have their own logistics system to take care of their needs, owing commercial flight services, big warehouses and even robotics.
Given the complexity and richness of a large logistics ecosystem, even big fishes can’t even prioritize their long ending dilemmas, and they opt for third party logistics.
Why logistics is so important in ecommerce
All the hard work that goes into getting an order may go haywire if your order doesn’t reach the customer. The more assiduously companies put in efforts to best meet the customer requirements, the better they satisfy the customer needs, so logistics play an integrating role in filling the gap between getting an order from a customer and placing it successfully.
Functions of logistics
Warehousing and transportation are two major aspects of logistics. Warehousing is the storing of inventory before they reach last mile delivery. In a warehouse, the inventory is processed and packed for delivery. Moreover, the goods are protected from potential damages such as decay, theft or package pilferage.
Transportation is the movement of goods among warehouses, retail locations and customers, and transportation modes such as road, rail, air and ocean are chosen after customizing cost and delivery date. Novel and seminal solutions are fundamental to deriving an optimized route and channel for product delivery in a timely manner. For a perspective, it can also extend to order management and inventory planning that prelude to freight management vis-à-vis transportation, which is so vital since the availability and cost of carriers will make or break a plan.
Logistics management involves some of the following
Planning
Warehousing
Materials handling
Order management
Inventory management
Freight management
Logistics planning
Different types of scenarios and routes are chosen after carefully considering all possible scenarios.
Transportation plan optimization — including multi-modal, LTL, FTL, and multi-hub trips — that reduce costs and increase resource utilization and services
Customer demand is measured effectively.
Inbound and outbound transportation networks should be given more visibility.
Rapid interruptions in transportation are managed by a secondary feeder facility.
Warehousing: Storing of physical goods is the purpose of warehousing .Warehouses securely store products in an orderly manner so that it can be organized, tracked, and accessed so easily when a new order arrives
Till an order is placed, products are kept in a warehouse. The product is shipped directly to the consumer when receiving an order
Materials handling: materials handling involves handling of goods from source such as a warehouse to a transportation vehicle, and it is achieved using various automated, semi automated and manual instruments. It allows the convenient and safe transportation of materials
Order management: An order management system is a digital way to manage, track and fulfill orders. All the information and processes get tracked by the system, including order number, inventory , fulfillment and after delivery
Inventory management: Usually, inventory management is used to arrange and track company’s stocks and it helps anticipate the products order cycle and demand etc. Managing the inventory is done using re ordering, setting stock threshold etc.
Freight management: It involves efficient and logical coordination between carriers and shippers to ensure that orders are fulfilled on time and on budget. It also helps to streamline the tracking and tracing process | https://medium.com/skartio/what-is-ecommerce-logistics-an-overview-55f06e3260f5 | ['Aneesh Kumar'] | 2020-12-26 06:58:41.198000+00:00 | ['Logistics', 'Ecommerce Logistics', 'Ecommerce', 'SaaS'] |
I Don’t Owe You My Friendship | I Don’t Owe You My Friendship
It’s not my job to spend my time listening to bigoted ideas so someone feels heard.
Image by DanaTentis from Pixabay
When I published my piece about why I wasn’t going to share that Ellen kindness video going around, it was clear from some of the responses that people were struggling with my decision. Nearly everyone I got into a dialogue with conflated kindness, basic decency, friendship, and politeness.
Ideas like “you cannot fight hate with more hate” and “hate the sin, not the sinner, love all” were in good supply. On the surface, I don’t disagree with these sentiments. I agree that you can’t fight hate with hate, and that people generally deserve compassion. But there are a lot of options that seem to be getting ignored on the path from hate to love. Americans love the binary. We love separating things into either-or choices when in reality our choices are plentiful.
There are a lot of options getting ignored on the path from hate to love.
Being a decent and polite human being, being kind, and being actively friendly are three different things; options along a line that stretches from tolerance to hatred to apathy. Unless you have been intentionally cruel or harmed me, I’m going to be polite to you, and probably superficially friendly. We can chit-chat about whatever, and I’m not going to say anything to hurt your feelings or say or imply that I don’t really like you.
However, I don’t feel the need to be overly kind or to actively pursue friendship or connection with every person I meet. I don’t feel bad about the fact that I can’t be friends and devote time and energy to making every person I meet feel good about themselves. Resources are finite, and part of being an adult is learning how to best invest your resources to live a happy, fulfilling life.
This weekend, I had an extended exchange with a reader over some things in one of my articles. It expanded to the person emailing me, and in the process sharing some views that I find reprehensible and bigoted. After I received a very long email from them, I replied simply with “I am not interested in further discussion with you. Have a nice life.”
The email I got back then called me “an enlightened kinky chick” and asked me to block him and unsubscribe him so that he wouldn’t be reminded that he “got my proverbial face slapped by someone I tried with great sincerity to befriend.” This particular person tried hard to play the guilt card on me, baiting me to defend myself or explain myself to them, neither of which I cared to do. Since I declined to respond, he said:
Just because I hold the views that I do, you’ve deemed me useless to your life. I get it. I guess you’ve learned the “art” of rejection quite well.
He continued on to call me a closed-minded idealogue, told me it was “heartbreaking” that he devoted time and thought to me and then I judged him on his bigoted ideas. Okay, that part is true, I DID judge him on his bigoted ideas. Which is my prerogative.
Here’s the things, my dude, and all other dudes: I don’t owe you friendship. I don’t owe you discussion, conversation, or discourse. I am sincere in the wishes I offer that you will have a nice life, that you will find the friendships you’re looking for, and that you will be happy. I didn’t say anything mean. I just don’t choose to delve into arguments or friendships with people who have ideas that I find reprehensible.
I don’t owe you my time or attention.
Making a judgement call that someone is not going to add positive value to my life, and then not spending time fostering a connection with that person is a good decision. It’s better for my mental health, and my soul. The idea that I should try to search for the value in these types of exchanges feels a lot like some great extension of the nice guy phenomenon.
In my article about the non-existent friendzone, I explained:
But wait, there’s more! Courtesy of Amanda Marcotte: Passive aggressively lingering around someone who is trying to find away to politely tell you to buzz off is one Nice Guy® tactic, and that’s intensely rude and not nice at all. Giving overly extravagant gifts and putting someone on the spot? Also rude. Guilt tripping someone for not wanting you? Super rude. Assuming, without evidence, that a guy that a woman is dating must be an asshole because he’s not you? Nasty. Spinning out bullshit theories accusing women of being incapable, as a sex, of wanting what is good for them? Awful. I could go on, but you get the drift. If you really want to know why women don’t like “nice guys,” here it is. They are not nice. When you say “women don’t like nice guys” you are really saying “women are too stupid to recognize how amazing I am and appreciate me.” The possibility that someone is just not attracted to you or that you might not be right for each other doesn’t exist.
The bottom line is that I don’t owe you my time or attention. You are in control of your own behavior. If you choose to spend a bunch of time composing emails and comments to me, that doesn’t automatically give you some right to be a part of my life.
When you turn around and accuse me of deeming you useless, you are purposely using language to try and make me feel bad about not engaging. There was a time in my life where it may have worked, where I would have fallen for the ingrained desire to defend myself to a stranger on the internet, but that time has passed.
Beyond politics, beyond social issues, beyond moral issues, sometimes I just don’t like people. It is impossible to get along with everyone all of the time, and that’s okay. People have different energies that surround them, their brains and personalities call fall anywhere across a huge spectrum. Sometimes, people are just not my cup of tea. And that is perfectly okay.
The idea that it’s my job to spend my time listening to racist, sexist, phobic, or bigoted ideas so someone feels heard is ridiculous.
Twisting someone else’s feelings into an action they are taking against you is a type of emotional abuse. It’s manipulative, and it’s one person trying to convince another that their feelings and mental health and self esteem are more important. People are not being assholes by not engaging with you because they don’t owe you anything. Not friendship. Not witty repartee. Not attention. Not any of it.
I am not going to be mean to you, I believe in being polite and civil. In fact, until you prove otherwise, I will assume you are a good person and treat you as such. But the idea that it’s somehow my job to spend my time listening to racist, sexist, phobic, or bigoted ideas so someone feels heard is ridiculous. The world expects a lot of emotional labor from women, and this is one area where I’m definitely saying no to that. I am allowed to say “no thank you,” and I don’t owe any explanation beyond that.
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You might also enjoy… | https://medium.com/rachael-writes/i-dont-owe-you-my-friendship-74fa875d1fed | ['Rachael Hope'] | 2019-11-04 20:12:22.344000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Humanity', 'Friendship', 'Culture', 'Relationships'] |
And a Lonely Stranger Spoke to Me | And a Lonely Stranger Spoke to Me
Even a quick conversation can be an act of kindness
All rights © Christian Linneman
When I saw the old man waiting by the pond with his camera my heart fractured a little along the faultlines, already weak, still vulnerable. He was waiting for the mating beavers, swooping under the surface, staying underwater longer than you’d think they could possibly hold their breath.
They trapped the nutria past the dam over there, he said, pulling his camera aside with one hand, pointing across the Delta Ponds with the other. They’re trapped between the two ridges of trees. There’s a male beaver with two females. His nicotine-stained mustache didn’t move when he talked.
All I had said was hello, as strangers to do in public spaces when proximity obliges politeness. He didn’t say hello back, responded instead like he was continuing a conversation in medias res.
In just a few sentences he revealed more to me than just his observations. That he comes to these ponds often enough to know that the cormorants are here, exactly where they are. He comes often enough to watch the neighborhood of this little ecosystem change with the seasons. He knows these wetlands, they seem to be a reprieve for him too. He seems lonely, not just a nature-lover.
That’s an emerald ash borer, he says, not exactly smiling, but getting more animated. It’s an exquisitely iridescent beetle, a deeper green gem-toned emerald than an actual emerald — not surprisingly a type of jewel beetle. Some larvae take up to two years to emerge as adults from the bark of the ash trees.
He tells me the city is monitoring the trees for the Asian jewel beetle — an invasive and ravenously destructive insect outside its native habitat. I wondered how they got here, how any of us get anywhere, and I assumed he could probably tell me if I asked but I didn’t want to stay in this moment much longer. He was kind enough, talkative without being overbearing. And I thought maybe he was one of the lucky loners who preferred being alone. Maybe he even had a loving companion waiting for him at home, someone who would lovingly pour over his photography with curiosity and admiration.
While he was talking about the two female beavers, each of which had had two pups this season, I appreciated this man’s appreciation for nature, the patience to wait for the perfect moment, the sun setting behind the cattails and a woodpecker resting.
Though I suspected he was lonely I wanted to keep walking. I wanted to see the turtles lined up on logs like they do before the sunset. But I also suspected our brief chat about bugs and birds might be his only interaction today. Or this week. I had no way of knowing but I remembered how many unexpected moments had pulled me out of my darkest places, how grateful I was to be saved from myself.
Though not miraculous, maybe a moment, like seeing the iridescent green of a beetle’s wing is enough beauty, even in its brevity, to create a connection. A flash of color not between us but between synapses. A spark of joy, a small whoosh of warmth that tells him to keep going, to keep waiting for the beavers, to get the perfect picture of the cormorants in their Christlike perches drying their wings for flight.
I knew I couldn’t take away the invasive loneliness of a stranger, especially if it’s lying dormant beneath the bark. But maybe I could distract him from it for that moment like a bird alighting on a branch, catching his photographer’s eye. I remembered that even a little bit of conversation can feel like companionship. And at the very least we could pause from our own lives to acknowledge the parallel lives of these animals not abstractly analyzing each other’s. | https://heathermedwards.medium.com/and-a-lonely-stranger-spoke-to-me-49ff0584a718 | ['Heather M. Edwards'] | 2020-08-15 08:31:32.897000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Depression', 'Relationships', 'Nature', 'Life'] |
Join gigHire — be an Alpha! | Freelancing… can be frustrating. Especially when it comes time to find your next opportunity. With 100+ years experience designing, executing and staffing events, we totally understand the event marketing industry and how you, the skilled professional is key to successful experiential productions.
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Advantages of The gigHire Freelancer… | https://medium.com/gighire/join-gighire-be-an-alpha-885d88896262 | ['Erika Weinstein'] | 2018-07-06 23:26:25.333000+00:00 | ['Jobs', 'Freelancing', 'Events', 'Event Marketing', 'Event Planning'] |
LightGBM for Quantile Regression | LightGBM for Quantile Regression
For regression prediction tasks, not all time that we pursue only an absolute accurate prediction, and in fact, our prediction is always inaccurate, so instead of looking for an absolute precision, some times a prediction interval is required, in which cases we need quantile regression — that we predict an interval estimation of our target.
Loss Function
Fortunately, the powerful lightGBM has made quantile prediction possible and the major difference of quantile regression against general regression lies in the loss function, which is called pinball loss or quantile loss. There is a good explanation of pinball loss here, it has the formula:
Where y is the actual value, z is the prediction and 𝛕 is the targeted quantile. So the first sight of the loss function, we can see that besides when quantile equals to 0.5, the loss function is unsymmetrical. Let’s have a visual on it:
The implementation can be found on my Git Repo. In the graph, three different quantiles were plotted, take quantile 0.8 as an example, when the error is positive ( z > y — predicted value is higher than the actual value), the loss is less than that when error is negative. In another world, higher error is less punished, this makes sense in that for high quantile prediction, the loss function encourages higher prediction value, and vice versa for low quantile prediction.
Generate Sample Dataset
Now let’s generate some data for lightGBM prediction.
Here we use a sin(x) function with some additional noise as training set.
LightGBM Prediction
Initiate LGMRegressor :
Notice that different from general regression, the objective and metric are both quantile , and alpha is the quantile we need to predict ( details can check my Repo ).
Prediction Visualisation
Now let’s check out quantile prediction result:
We can see that most noisy dots are located in the prediction range, where the green line is the upper bound of 0.9 quantile and blue is the 0.1 quantile.
This post is originally inspired by this, which is a great entry point quantile regression starter. | https://towardsdatascience.com/lightgbm-for-quantile-regression-4288d0bb23fd | ['Jeremy Zhang'] | 2020-10-03 17:05:57.572000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Regression', 'Lightgbm'] |
Groups partner for photo legacy project | Groups partner for photo legacy project
Who needs to capture time in a bottle when there are photos?
Creating their own time capsule of sorts, the Haddonfield Civic Association and The Haddonfield Tricentennial Committee are partnering to create a historical account of Haddonfield’s tricentennial told completely through photos, an initiative which has been dubbed the Haddonfield Photo Legacy Project.
“It’s such a fun way to get involved with the community,” said Maureen Eyles, executive director of the Haddonfield Tricentennial Committee.
Collecting photos of businesses, historic buildings and places of worship, the Haddonfield Tricentennial Committee and the Haddonfield Civic Association are beginning to construct a full-color photo album, chronicling Haddonfield at the time of the tricentennial.
“It’s a real opportunity to show what life was like in 2013,” Eyles said.
Serving as the final initiative of the Haddonfield Tricentennial Committee, she said many of the ideas for tricentennial projects and events came from The Historical Society of Haddonfield’s records of Haddonfield’s bicentennial celebration.
Eyles said the book would serve as a way for future Haddonfield generations to look back in time to see who previously resided in their homes and to find their relatives.
“We have that culture here in Haddonfield,” Eyles said.
Eyles said the idea for the project came from Haddonfield Civic Association member Chris Thomas.
She explained that in addition to photos of businesses and historical sites within the borough, the Haddonfield Tricentennial Committee also has the undertaking of collecting photos of families in front of their homes. It’s no easy task, Eyles explained, with 4,600 homes in the borough.
“We really need all the help we can get,” she said.
Eyles is currently recruiting block captains who will assist with the project, scheduled to begin on Nov. 28 and wrap up around Dec. 15.
Eyles said block captains could be any resident inside the borough who has a knack for photography and would like to participate in the project.
Using the volunteer’s location as a guideline, Eyles said the block captain would then be given a list of names and addresses to work from, photographing those families who wish to be included in the project.
“We’re hoping through that initiative people will participate,” she said. “We’re trying to make it as easy for all 4,600 households to participate.”
In addition, Eyles is also looking for volunteers to manage those photos that are submitted through haddonfieldphoto@ gmail.com. These volunteers will have a specific day in which they will have the responsibility of dropping submitted photos into the album and organizing all captions. She explained that with daily upkeep, families will know right away whether the photos are good enough for publication.
“The communication will be immediate,” Eyles said.
Those who wish to submit photos without the assistance of a block captain can do so by first visiting Haddonfield’s Tricentennial website for submission instructions. Along with instructions, residents can also view a sample submitted photo of the Goodworth family, shot by Gwen Isner Photography, who currently resides on a property originally settled by Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh.
“It really gives a good example of how we want our photos to look,” Eyles said.
Both digital and print photos will be accepted, however print photos must be mailed to borough hall and cannot be returned.
Once all photos are collected, the final phase of the initiative will involve sending the photos and captions to be laid out into a photo album that will then be given to The Historical Society of Haddonfield where it will be put on display for all who wish to view it.
Eyles added there have been talks of reproducing the photos in other ways, with suggestions of using thumbnail versions of each image to create a large image to display. However, she said those plans are still in their infancy.
“That will definitely be a project of 2014,” she said.
In addition, she explained the album would not be completed until the spring in an attempt to deliver the album on Estaugh’s birthday in May.
For more information on the photo legacy project or to volunteer, contact Eyles at 795–9927 or via email at [email protected]. Instructions for submissions are available at haddonfield300.org/event/photo. | https://medium.com/the-haddonfield-sun/groups-partner-for-photo-legacy-project-19c20334312c | [] | 2017-01-10 15:23:25.219000+00:00 | ['Families', 'Headlines', 'Photos'] |
เมื่อไหร่จึงควรใช้แผนภูมิวงกลม (Pie chart) | Written by
Data Experience @airbnb / Prev: Turn data into pixels @twitter • Invent new vis @UofMaryland HCIL PhD • From @Thailand • http://kristw.yellowpigz.com | https://medium.com/skooldio/%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B7%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%AD%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B6%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%83%E0%B8%8A%E0%B9%89%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%9C%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B9%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%A1-pie-chart-3ac273e24463 | ['Krist Wongsuphasawat'] | 2017-03-14 17:29:14.588000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Business', 'Visualization', 'Data', 'Charts'] |
A Necessary Nihilism. “Natural science produces ancestral… | “Natural science produces ancestral statements, such as that the universe is roughly 13.7 billion years old, that the earth formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago, that life developed on earth approximately 3.5 billion years ago, and that the earliest ancestors of the genus Homo emerged about 2 million years ago. Yet it is also generating an ever-increasing number of ‘descendent’ statements, such as that the Milky Way will collide with the Andromeda galaxy in 3 billion years; that the earth will be incinerated by the sun 4 billions years hence; that all the stars in the universe will stop shining in 100 trillion years; and that eventually, one trillion, trillion, trillion years from now, all matter in the cosmos will disintegrate into unbound elementary particles. Philosophers should be more astonished by such statements than they seem to be, for they present a serious problem for post-Kantian philosophy.“ -Ray Brassier, Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2007), 49–50.
Ray Brassier may be the rightful heir to Friedrich Nietzsche’s wrestle with nihilism, in no small part because I think Brassier possesses a far more articulate and considered version of nihilism than most.
When many use the term, I think they usually mean pessimism, which is not necessarily nihilistic as pessimism assigns value to the universe; even if that value is in the negative, it is still a valuation, and not genuinely nihilistic. Brassier grasps this: if the universe persists as is, earth will die in the expansion of our sun into a red giant, then the sun itself will evaporate. The last stars, all red dwarfs in the end, will each blink out of existence. Then the universe will then expand into a thin nothingness and beyond.
I believe Brassier is correct that, as Western philosophy now stands, few if any have sufficiently addressed this conundrum: that, as things now stand, the universe is simply bound for extinction, evaporation, all our lives, cares, worries, values, meanings to vanish with it. I think Ray Kurzweil expresses a uniquely transhumanist hope that our distant descendants, more advanced than us as we are than our pre-human ancestors, will decide what to do when that time comes — -for now, it’s irrelevant. I largely agree with Kurzweil, if only in saying that this extinction only seems inevitable to humanity at present, but that this delusion plays into the naive belief that evolution stops with us, Homo sapiens. Evolution carries on and up, or it collapses; it never stops.
I’m still ambivalent, though: there’s some “pie in the sky” to assuming our descendants will fix things down the line, and maybe some futility in planning for an event I don’t plan to be around for. My extinction will come long before that of the last stars. What about the prospect of genuinely ultimate cosmic extinction that captivates me, though? If it’s an inevitability, then, as Brassier says, in logical space-time everything is already dead. There’s no argument to be made against it. Maybe it’s how one wishes to respond, then.
Total cosmic extinction seems only depressing if one sticks to what the Bhagavad Gita calls karma, which despite its Western bastardizations is not “you get what you put out,” but the attachment to valuing action based on results. Depressing though it may (initially) seem, extinction only scalds the soul if one sees the value in his or her actions in their results. But there are actions which are valuable in themselves, the Gita insists, not because they leave a lasting effect but because they are.
The pessimism of extinction comes from mourning for lost possibilities, perhaps; but what alternatives are there to an inevitability? What’s to be said of a universe bound for nihil yet capable of producing affectation so powerful one may end or begin life because of it? I’m not pompous enough to give a verdict on where the universe will be in trillions of years, or to suggest how one should respond, but I will say I’m unconvinced that depression or pessimism must go hand-in-hand with nihilism, or that nihilism cannot possess beauty, wonder. Brassier’s nihilism, at least, seems to me not antithetical to these things. He’s against attempts to re-instill the universe with meaning after our collective disillusionment, but I”m unsure what ‘meaning’ he wishes to eschew. At the very least, if absolute extinction is the total future, inevitable, perhaps the Gita and Eastern thought may have something to say here: don’t find value in ‘the winding-up scene’; even if you eschew ‘value’ and ‘meaning,’ act for action’s sake, be for being’s sake.
A scene from Nietzsche’s The Gay Science may be apropos: the mad man coming to tell the laughing masses that God is dead and they’ve killed him. He’s a panicky, hopelessly nostalgic fool who can’t deal with the death of his old scheme of meaning, but the crowd is not innocent. The crowd scoffs, but only at the madman; they can’t quite laugh off his point. The Gay Science’s thesis seems to be not just that our old system of meaning is no longer viable, but that, with the gift of science, we’ve uncovered a world we no longer know how to live in.
Modern science since the nineteenth century has only exacerbated Nietzsche’s thesis. We’ve dislodged ourselves (for the most part) from inadequate systems of meaning, but in stumbling from the bind we’ve yet to catch our balance. | https://medium.com/interfaith-now/a-necessary-nihilism-facing-the-elephant-in-the-room-with-ray-brassier-41618150bcd | ['Nathan Smith'] | 2020-12-20 10:33:55.418000+00:00 | ['Science', 'Nihilism', 'Ray Brassier', 'Philosophy', 'Hinduism'] |
The Most Important Paragraph in Every Story You Ever Write | The Most Important Paragraph in Every Story You Ever Write
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
There’s a reason why all my best-performing stories start with a single sentence first paragraph.
I want my reader to be asking themselves, “Is this story about to deliver on the promise in the headline?” Your first paragraph has to get your reader believing that they are going to get something of value. You have to give the reader the urge to go on reading. For instance, you might say:
“I nearly died on 3rd September 1993.” Your reader will be gagging to know what happened, what nearly caused your death. They will read on. And that’s your purpose, to get your reader involved in your story.
Why numbers work so well in articles
When readers click on a headline like The 4 Essentials of Magnetic Headlines That Attract Thousands of Views Like My Top Earning Story they are already programmed to look for “The 4 Essentials.”
They have been pre-conditioned to scroll down the page to find each of the “4 Essentials”. So, simply by using a number in your headline, you have started your reader on their journey through your article. Perhaps it’s because there’s an instinctive interest in numbers. Or perhaps it’s because numbers suggest credibility.
Fifty percent of my top-performing articles use numbers, in some form, in the headline. But that puts pressure on the first paragraph which has to keep the reader engaged.
First paragraphs that arouse readers’ self-interest
One of my most popular articles Writer Bios That Attract Hundreds of New Readers Work Like This starts with a paragraph designed to spark the self-interest of readers. What I wrote was:
“In the last two months, my followers have increased by 620% from 59 at the end of July to 424 by the end of September.” Any reader worth their salts wants more followers. They want to know, “How the heck did he do that?” And, more importantly, they want to know, “What’s the secret that I can use to achieve similar results?”
The thirst for knowledge drives writers who want to become successful. They will find a way to improve their writing. And, if they’re anything like me, they will never stop looking. So they, like me, will always read articles that offer to tell us how we can get better.
First paragraphs that arouse readers’ curiosity
The article I wrote for the top publication Start It Up under the headline The Safe Way To Quit Your Job and Be Your Own Boss starts with this first paragraph:
When you reach the “fu** it” moment — jump.
Do you, or do you not want to know what is the “fu** it” moment and what happens next? You’re hooked. And that’s the point of a first paragraph that is designed to arouse a reader’s curiosity. Readers want to know what happens next. They want to find out.
That’s the job of your first paragraph, to get them involved and then to deliver on your promise.
First paragraphs that are newsy
My only self-published article that has done well is, My 5 Top Earning Medium Stories This Week.
The words “This Week” have an immediacy about them. Just those two words say that this is something new. The first paragraph of this article is also newsy. The article is pinned to the top of my bio. This is the current week’s first paragraph:
I’m excited to have a new number two this week.
I then go on to embroil the reader in the news by quickly getting into the second paragraph that begins with the sentence: “The Safe Way To Quit Your Job and Be Your Own Boss is moving up fast on the established number one.”
Readers are accustomed to reading news. As a result, first paragraphs that have news value are a good way to gain a reader’s attention and pull them into your article.
First paragraphs that suggest a quick and easy way
My article Top Writers Get Thousands of Readers Using This I.T.A.K. System For Writers starts with a long first paragraph that says:
If you’re a writer struggling to get enough eyes on your words it’s probably because you’re missing some of the tricks the top writers use.
We all want inside information on what successful people do. So what I am suggesting to readers of this article is that I am about to show them the secrets of top writers. Then all the reader will have to do is copy the top writers’ formula. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
Should first paragraphs be short or long?
You may have noticed that I have a preference for single-sentence first paragraphs.
I have now published over a hundred articles and stories on this platform. I have noticed that single-sentence paragraphs work well. I have also noticed that many of the top writers whom I follow also use single-sentence first paragraphs.
However, I subscribe to the principle that rules are made to be broken. So don’t be surprised if you come across one of my articles or stories that starts with a multiple-sentence first paragraph. When a multi-sentence first paragraph is needed to gain my reader’s involvement I will use a multi-sentence paragraph.
An apology
In principle, I am against articles that are stuffed with links — clickbait. However, I have included links to several of my own articles in this story because it seemed to me that some readers might like to see “the real thing in action.” | https://writingcooperative.com/the-most-important-paragraph-in-every-story-you-ever-write-682d3fafc6e4 | ['David Ferrers'] | 2021-11-25 12:03:12.120000+00:00 | ['Important', 'Headlines', 'Clickbait', 'Stories', 'Write'] |
What’s My Prompt? Day 26: Growing Up Haitian | Sometimes you’re left asking “what did I do?”
And 7 seconds later in the corner you ajenou
Then you stand up and exhale with pain in your knees
Better do well in school, we don’t send you there for B’s
But there’s nothing but love and culture to learn
The love’s unconditional the praise? you gotta earn
The village raises you, generations of fam
And without Haitian parents I wouldn’t be who I am | https://medium.com/@jeffjohnson/whats-my-prompt-day-26-growing-up-haitian-b1d05a8dec84 | ['Jeff J.'] | 2020-12-26 17:03:24.255000+00:00 | ['Haiti', 'Creative Writing', 'Writing Prompts'] |
Today I Will Just Write | Today I Will Just Write
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
I started writing on Medium because I wanted a platform to be able to express myself in writing. Inertia induced by the technicalities of setting up a website meant that I had been putting it off indefinitely.
I felt like I had things to say and I wanted to be able to develop my writing skills in a structured way. The appeal of turning the ever-present internal monologue into a polished piece of work was undeniable. Instead of yelling at the television, I could channel my frustrations through the written word.
So I started. I wrote about whatever issues happened to be passing through my internal landscape at any given time: dating, relationships, mental health, parenting. When I was diagnosed as autistic, it was a way of processing what that meant for me.
Then something happened. I think it was because I was digging deep to tap into my truth and bring it to the page. It was authentic and real and it resonated with people. I got positive feedback about the way I had articulated my experiences.
But I don’t want everything to be an emotional dredging. It’s exhausting and it makes me feel like I’m imploding. I want to be able to engage with the world around me and bring a unique perspective to what I see. Being authentic within yourself is one thing, but I want to be authentic in the world.
It’s relatively easy to have an opinion about yourself. It is the one area in which I can claim expertise, if only by virtue of hours spent immersed in the subject area. It’s a leap of faith to put yourself out there, to offer up your take on the world in a sea of other voices.
Writing on Medium has made me feel that I have a voice. In a lifetime of being silenced, it’s something I have control over. But it’s easy to get side-tracked by comparing myself to other writers. Better to just realise that they have found their voice and have become very good at articulating it.
Being accepted to write for Medium publications has been validating and has encouraged me in my development as a writer. But it can’t be the end goal because that only takes the focus off the main game. The validation I need to consistently articulate my voice needs to come from within.
I have a chance to develop my voice in the most honest, authentic way that I can. That is why each day, I’m just going to write. I’m going to be present with whatever is on my mind and tap into it. I’ll give voice to what I really feel rather than grasping for the words that seem to make sense.
There’s a beautiful flow that comes from the confidence that you are truly inhabiting your voice. That what you say matters because you have managed to give shape to a perspective that is unlike anyone else’s.
So I commit to writing each day, for no reason other than honouring my voice. | https://medium.com/@justinel999/today-i-will-just-write-973b3f8666a4 | ['Justine L'] | 2020-12-13 22:46:41.011000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Writing Process', 'Self Development', 'Authenticity', 'Writing On Medium'] |
Menstruation, Shamans, and Context | For the past few years, we’ve seen more and more movements, campaigns, and both loud & discrete shifts in how women (and society) are talking about menstruation. And during this time, I’ve been trying on different contexts — like trying on different jackets — to feel into how I want to view my time of the month.
I was brought up in an environment where it was gross, to be kept secret, and a source of pain. I never quite bought into this framework; I found it to be a sort of resilience training for labor, given the extremity of my cramps. In my best moments, I laughed about how tough it made me.
And then, one of Kim Anami’s most recent podcasts illustrated how, historically, menstruation used to be looked at as a power portal, when women could access other dimensions of existence. Their periods were a time to retreat, reflect, be more spiritually connected. During this time, they were seen as shamans that would bring back knowledge from other worlds.
It just so happened that at the very time of my run on that crisp Texas morning, being thrust into this ‘other world’ with my son, it was the first day of my period.
Now, I’m not saying that menstruation gives women mystical powers. However, I’m also not saying that it doesn’t; and I don’t believe that’s the point.
Hearing about this particular history of menstruation, I tried it on for myself as the new lens through which I see Aunt Flow. Quickly, it became my own new empowering context for menstruation. Suddenly, it became a life-changing context for me where my period gets to be a realm of possibility, not an inconvenience. My period can be an invitation to be a shaman, instead of a sore, cranky sloth.
I’m calling it my “positive period story.” The story I tell myself, the empowering context, the chosen interpretation, I choose to have about my period.
The reason I share this story is because, like anything, you get to choose the lens through which you see your circumstances. And despite history being Truth or not, I choose to see my period as a powerful, spiritual experience. By my mere choosing of this context, my period gets to be bearable — nay, enjoyable — and I’ll use it as a time for reflection and exploration going forward. And, I’ll be able to make sense of the moments I receive visions of my future, as that’s all I can understand them to be.
To all you lovelies who menstruate, I wish you a positive period story. | https://medium.com/@leighannamanda/menstruation-shamans-and-context-620e48c492bb | ['Leighann Amanda'] | 2020-03-01 20:29:23.902000+00:00 | ['Sexual Health', 'Body Positive', 'Women', 'Mindset', 'Self Love'] |
Flutter : Adding Shimmer Effect To Your App | Let’s Start
A shimmer effect is used to enhance the UI of our app while fetching data. A package provides an easy way to add shimmer effect in Flutter project.
Yeah ! …. That’s what I’m looking for.
Let’s create a shimmer,
Add package to your pubspec.yaml
pubspec.yaml
shimmer: ^1.1.2
get dependencies using,
flutter pub get
imports
import 'package:shimmer/shimmer.dart';
Now, let’s apply the shimmer widget.
Shimmer.fromColors(
baseColor: Colors.grey[300],
highlightColor: Colors.grey[100],
enabled: _enabled,
child: // your child,
);
Use like that for better user. (List)
Shimmer.fromColors(
baseColor: Colors.grey[300],
highlightColor: Colors.grey[100],
enabled: _enabled,
child: ListView.builder(
itemBuilder: (_, __) => Padding(
padding: const EdgeInsets.only(bottom: 10.0),
child: Row(
crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
children: [
Container(
width: 48.0,
height: 48.0,
color: Colors.white,
),
const Padding(
padding: EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 8.0),
),
Expanded(
child: Column(
crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
children: <Widget>[
Container(
width: double.infinity,
height: 8.0,
color: Colors.white,
),
const Padding(
padding: EdgeInsets.symmetric(vertical: 2.0),
),
Container(
width: double.infinity,
height: 8.0,
color: Colors.white,
),
const Padding(
padding: EdgeInsets.symmetric(vertical: 2.0),
),
Container(
width: 40.0,
height: 8.0,
color: Colors.white,
),
],
),
)
],
),
),
itemCount: 20,
),
)
Just user this instead of loader. Make a widget for better use & apply.
Thanks me later.
For reference click on the link here
If you liked this article, just give me a Clap
Happy Coding ! | https://medium.com/@akshypapnjs/adding-shimmer-effect-to-your-app-flutter-1d894ac2dccc | ['Akshay Papneja'] | 2021-01-07 18:36:24.069000+00:00 | ['Flutter', 'AndroidDev', 'Coding', 'Apps', 'Programming'] |
Getting closer to your Mega project | We can help poor people by: Give them support, give them a hand or a hug. Give them moral support, show love, respect and make them aware that someone really cares about them. Give them economic support: Ordinary people can help poor people by giving economic support.
Today I am going to share my experience of meeting poor but skilful women of our society who live their lives with proud by working to support their families.
skilful women
Few minutes of last year has totally changed my life. Here I share my story of being inspired by some skilful women of backward areas.
My mother was a school teacher and she used to go to teach in a backward area where people did not know about the concept of education specially women were unaware of their rights because there was no school there before and my mother was first person who opened the school in that area.
One day, I visited my mother’s school for helping her in the school and I accidently met mothers of students there. They took me with them to their houses and I saw that they were living in that area with proud and happiness that no one knows how they fulfil their needs of life. After some discussion they told me that they could sew clothes of different designs and asked them if they want they could show me their clothes. They became very happy and excited and ran to show their clothes which they sewed. They sewed them beautifully with modern designs. I was very impressed by them that they did not learn that skill from any professional institute but they made such a good and professional designs. I appreciated them a lot and saw smiles on their faces which make me realise that we never thought of such people who did not able to go to school and did not have any kind of support to live a good life. They live their lives by working in other people’s houses and did not asked any one for help. After listening their stories and seeing their beautifully designed dresses I came back home. | https://medium.com/@alisha-shabbir193/getting-closer-to-your-mega-project-88db971b15d8 | ['Alisha Shabbir'] | 2021-04-09 05:19:05.761000+00:00 | ['Help', 'Amal Mega Project', 'Helping Others', 'Megaprojects'] |
Make LinkedIn Part of Your Content Promotion Strategy to Increase Your Reach | 3. Distribute Your Content in LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn has a plethora of interest groups that you can join and take part in.
Since these groups are tied to specific interests, industries, and demographics, they contain an already segmented audience to target.
This can help increase your influence within a specific area, as well as establish thought leadership.
Share Your Content in Groups as a Link Post
This one can be a bit tricky, but it can also be rewarding when done correctly. The first part is choosing your groups wisely.
You need to pick groups that aren’t so unmoderated that they are nothing but spam, but not so moderated that they don’t allow you to share your content at all.
Ideally, you want a group that fits your content so well that when you do share your content, it isn’t considered spam. It’s considered helpful.
One way to ensure your content is seen as helpful and not spam is to interact with group members before dropping in content links. Another is to interact with the group members that do like and comment on your content when you do share.
LinkedIn groups will give you what you put into them. Engage with members who have high-quality content like yours, and they will likely do the same when you start to promote your content.
Share Your Content in Groups as a Link in a Comment
For the groups that are so heavily moderated that you can’t actually start a link as a group discussion, try sharing your content as a comment in the group instead.
Once you’re in the LinkedIn group, use the search box to see if there are any questions that relate to your content. If you find any, see if you can create an answer that leads to a link to your content.
At a bare minimum, the person who posted the question will get notified of your answer. If you provided a valuable answer, they might reward you with a thank you and a share of your content outside of the group. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/make-linkedin-part-of-your-content-promotion-strategy-to-increase-your-reach-2632f16af48d | ['Esat Artug'] | 2020-12-08 21:52:01.861000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Writing', 'Business', 'Social Media', 'Freelancing'] |
This is why you need a buyer’s broker | With so many online tools and resources to find that perfect condo, you may wonder if you really need a broker to purchase a condo. After all, you can easily go online to find out what apartments are currently on the market and when the next open house will be held. But truth be told, that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to finding a home. Working with a buyer’s broker gives you access to many more listings — many of which are not listed on the market — along with mitigating some of the risks associated with buying in New York City and the negotiations to ensure you get the best deal.
Let’s start with…
What is a Buyer’s Broker??
As you may know, a seller’s broker represents the seller and offer a range of services, such as listing your unit, scheduling open houses, and ultimately, ensuring that you get the best offer on your home. As for buyers’ brokers, they represent buyers and offer a completely different set of services. They help buyers find listings, get into open houses, and make a viable offer.
What does an Outstanding Buyer’s Broker Offers
The New York City real estate market is extremely competitive, complex, and especially for first-time buyers, it can be extremely stressful. If your buying power is limited by financial constraints, you’ll face even more hurdles. If you’re looking to buy in a co-op, you’ll need to navigate even more financial hurdles and a board interview, and the experience of buying a home may be even more challenging. This is where an outstanding buyer’s broker can make a world of difference.
When you work with a buyer’s broker, you’ll get unbiased representation. Also, a buyer’s broker may be more invested in closing the deal quickly, as opposed to working with a dual agent (an agent that represent both the buyer and seller), who knows they’ll get compensated whether or not your own offer is ever accepted. Lastly, a buyer’s broker is only working with you, which means that they will be available to offer things that may go above and beyond what a dual agent can do. For example, they would be able to offer tips on how to navigate a tricky co-op board meeting. This has everything to do with the fact that they aren’t just invested in closing the deal but specifically invested in you closing the deal.
The Cost of Working with a Sellers’ Broker versus Buyers’ Broker
The great news about working with a buyer’s broker is that most of the time, it should come at no cost you. Most of the time, the broker’s fee is paid by the seller. If a buyer’s broker is involved, then the broker fee is usually split between both the seller and buyer’s broker. Having said that, it should be a no-brainer to have a buyer’s broker since it would come no cost to you while being able to have someone who has your back at all times.
How to Find a Buyer’s Brokers
There are clearly many advantages to working with a buyer’s broker, especially if you happen to be buying in a highly competitive market. But first, you need to find a buyer’s broker. It’s not that brokers don’t like buyers — helping someone buy their first home and even a subsequent home can be a phenomenally satisfying experience — but it is generally a lot more work than working with sellers. When brokers sign on to represent buyers, they are often committing to a relationship that will last for months. On the sellers’ side, it’s a different story — sellers’ brokers often close deals in just a few weeks. Still, it is possible to find a great buyer’s broker, if you know where to search.
An experienced broker, such as myself, will have access to more listings, more data on the local housing market, and most importantly, be better equipped to guide you through the many stages of buying in New York City.
If you have any questions, reach out to me and let’s talk at [email protected]. | https://medium.com/@albertmoyrealestate/this-is-why-you-need-a-buyers-broker-dce8d1d9f03b | ['Albert Moy'] | 2020-12-25 18:04:44.113000+00:00 | ['Real Estate', 'Broker', 'Buyers Broker Nyc'] |
Justice League vs. The Avengers: Who Would Win & Why It Doesn’t Matter | As an avid comic book reader, I loathe this question. Let me explain why…
Imagine this. Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and the rest of the Justice League descend onto an open field. About a football field away, you see Captain Marvel, Captain America, Thor, and the rest of the Avengers walk through a Dr. Strange-like portal. The greatest superheroes of all time are about to face off in a battle-to-the-death. It sounds amazing (well, amazing to watch at a safe distance anyway).
But who would win?
Let me ask you another, more relevant question:
Why does it matter?
I’ve read about or heard of this event from time to time, and have even discussed at length with a few of my friends who are also comic nerds.
TLDR, it was 4 votes out of 4 for the Justice League. But, we also determined that the question itself was pointless. In any event, let’s entertain this epic battle for a few moments.
Before all the elitist Marvel fanboys say anything, I’m very indifferent towards either the Justice League or The Avengers, whether it’s the movies or the comics. I watch both, I read both, they’re both awesome. I’m not apt to pick one over the other — they both have their fair share of strengths and weaknesses, so let’s put that argument aside. Watching any of these heroes go toe-to-toe would be absolutely awesome.
Reel it back. Let’s keep things in context and go with current comic book teams. The lineups are:
Justice League
- Batman
- Superman
- Wonder Woman
- Green Lantern (John Stewart)
- The Flash (Barry Allen)
- Aquaman
- Cyborg
The Avengers:
- Black Panther (T’Challa)
- Captain America (Steve Rogers)
- Iron Man
- Thor
- Captain Marvel
- She-Hulk
There are some notable exclusions here for those who do read comics, like Martian Manhunter and Bruce Banner’s Hulk. These are the current core teams at this very moment.
For the sake of equality, we’ll take Cyborg out of the fight, leaving teams balanced at 6 against 6. We can take a few stabs at 1v1 scenarios, such as Batman vs. Iron Man; Thor vs. Wonder Woman; Aquaman vs. Black Panther; all great fights, but there’s a pivotal problem here:
If this were truly a fight to the death, Superman and/or Wonder Woman would likely take out any Avenger.
Stay with me here and think about this for a minute. Thor is easily the most powerful of all Avengers in this lineup, followed by Captain Marvel and She-Hulk. However, when Thor is faced with any emotional backlash or strife, he immediately breaks down and wallows in his own guilt. After Wonder Woman hits him with the Lasso of Truth to face his demons, he’s done. Yes, it really is that simple for the Amazonian princess.
On top of that, it was revealed during a past crossover (and a Jane Foster Thor issue) that both Superman and Wonder Woman can wield Mjolnir.
The two snippets on the right of this scene reveal what appears to be Superman and Wonder Woman holding Mjolnir.
Whether they are still worthy to do so, and whether they would use this to their advantage, is another question. But I would place my bets on, at the very least, Wonder Woman being able to wield the thunder god’s hammer. Now, even without his hammer, Thor is still incredibly powerful. He has proven time and again that it’s not the hammer that makes him who he is. He’s just…not Superman and Wonder Woman powerful.
Aquaman vs. Black Panther would be a hellofa fight to watch. I give a slight edge to Black Panther because of his intellect, suit, and sheer fighting ability, but we would have to consider that Aquaman is some 150 times stronger than the average human. On top of that, we need to consider the venue of said fight. Is this in or near the ocean? If so, Aquaman wins. Is this on dry land? In that case, T’Challa wins.
Next up are the genius-level billionaires, Batman vs. Iron Man. Here’s where things get tricky. Two men, Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark, both without actual powers, but with more than enough money and smarts to buy them superhero getups. Batman always has a contingency plan. Iron Man’s many suits are considered top-level Earth nanotech. In many ways, both men allow their egos to get in their own way. What do you get when two men with giant egos and plenty of money go head to head? Destruction. A lot of destruction. I’ll call this one even with an edge towards Batman, the man with the (backup) plan. Even if he were beaten, I’m sure there would be one final ace up his batsuit sleeve.
The next few contestants in our fight are a little harder to match up. We have Captains Marvel and America with She-Hulk, against Superman, The Flash, and Green Lantern. Let’s go with a 3 vs. 3 here.
Superman and The Flash’s super speed and The Flash’s connection with the Speed Force make this a no-brainer in contest with She-Hulk and Captain America. I know Steve Rogers is the guy that never gives up, and I have a lot of respect for him, but he’s simply no match for either Superman or The Flash. Again, we can go into where this action takes place — if this were Earth-616 (the Marvel Earth), The Flash loses his connection to the Speed Force and is left in a much weaker state — but overall, ol’ reliable is not up to par with these two Justice Leaguers.
Though she does get stronger the angrier she gets and is arguably the strongest Avenger in terms of pure strength, She-Hulk would likely fall to Superman alone. When Jen Walters does fight as She-Hulk, it’s often unabated anger that has no clear direction, something Superman is all too familiar fighting against. Against The Flash, she’s far too slow. It would almost take a lucky swing to land a hit on Barry. Then again, the question remains on whether The Flash would be able to do any damage to She-Hulk. With Barry Allen’s high IQ, I’m sure he’d figure it out.
Captain Marvel is easily one of the most revered super heroes in the Marvel universe. Her immunity to toxins and energy absorption abilities bring her up to par with some of the top-tier superheroes. Captain Marvel would be carrying this team of 3 Avengers, but it simply wouldn’t be enough. We haven’t even factored in Green Lantern, who’s ring is considered one of the most powerful objects in the DC universe. This fight goes to the Justice League.
The next question I’ve brought to the forefront — does this argument even matter?
It doesn’t. There would never be a moment, without being force-fed to fans, that these two teams would go against each other in a fight to the death. If anything, they would work together as they’ve done so in the past even if they do clash for a fight or two. As such, this is all speculative and debatable material. I’m sure I could be countered into a viable Avengers-winning argument, an argument I’m open to. There are so many revolving members for both teams that it’s tough to keep tabs on who is part of the team and who is not at any given point in time. On top of that, there are several off-shoots of both teams: Savage Avengers, West Coast Avengers, Secret Avengers, Dark Avengers, Justice League Dark, Justice Incarnate, Justice League Beyond, etc. etc. etc.
It’s fun to think about, perhaps even aggravatingly fun for some. But for now, I’ll continue to enjoy my comics for what they are — some of the best stories ever made. | https://medium.com/@jprestonofficial/justice-league-vs-the-avengers-who-would-win-why-it-doesnt-matter-db7244641590 | ['J Preston'] | 2020-12-17 15:11:55.024000+00:00 | ['Comics', 'Justice League', 'Avengers', 'Marvel', 'Dc'] |
Installation process, Setup, and How to use Vue.js? | Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash
Vue js is easier to install and setup on your machine. The installation process is more easier than other popular front end frameworks like react and angular.
Vue.js have 4 type of installation
1. As an external <script> import or locally setup
Simply download Vue and include a script tag on your HTML file. Vue will be registered as a global variable.
vue have two type of versions:
Development Version — click here for download
Production Version — click here for download
<html>
<head>
<script src="vue.js">
<head> <body>
</body> <script>
const vue_app = new Vue()
</script>
</html>
Script import must be above the Vue object declaration, the best way/practice is to include the script in the head tag and declare Vue object bellow body tag with<script></script> tag.
Don’t use the minified version during development. You will miss out on all the nice warnings for common mistakes!
2. CDN
For prototyping or learning purposes, you can use the latest version with:
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/vue/dist/vue.js"></script>
For production, we recommend linking to a specific version number and build to avoid unexpected breakage from newer versions:
If you are using native ES Modules, there is also an ES Modules compatible build:
<script type="module"> import Vue from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/vue.esm.browser.js' </script>
Vue is also available on unpkg and cdnjs (cdnjs takes some time to sync so the latest release may not be available yet).
CDN script acts like a similar with locally imported script, the best way/practice is to include the CDN in the head tag and declare Vue object bellow body tag with<script></script> tag.
for more about CDN visit here
3. NPM
NPM (Node Package Manager) is used to install packages. You can use it to install Vue within either a new or existing project.
You will need to ensure you have node.js installed on your machine along with access to NPM, to download and install node.js for Windows/Linux/Mac click here
To check availability those two open up your console and type:
node -v
npm -v
Both of these commands should provide you with version numbers.if any problem or error occur then intall node.js properly and try again
In order to save our project dependencies based on what we install with NPM, we need to create a package.json file.
npm init -y
Next, we will use npm to install Vue:
npm install vue --save
A folder will be created named node_modules in the directory where you run this npm init -y command
At this point, you could create an HTML file with the same exact contents as the locally setup example above, except change the <script src to node_modules/vue/dist/vue.js, and it will work just the same.
<script src="node_modules/vue/dist/vue.js">
4. Vue with the Vue CLI
after a successful install of node.js, you can access npm to install vue-cli.
npm install -g @vue/cli
After installation, you will have access to the vue binary in your command line. You can verify that it is properly installed by simply running vue, which should present you with a help message listing all available commands.
You can check you have the right version with this command:
vue --version
then you have to go to the project directory and run this command:
vue init webpack-simple vue-cli
here webpack-simple is the name of the template that is provided by vue official and vue-cli is the name of the project folder, you can choose your folder name on your own.
Here is the link for official available template or you can use the command to find out the official template list, to find out just run:
vue list
then some information should be needed like project name/ description etc, you can use default or you have an option to modify these things.
Then execute some command to run you Vue project:
Enter the vue-cli folder or your own chosen name folder then install npm to pull down all the dependencies for development and then start a development server for use and it will keep running, so keep this process running and will automatically recompile everything and reload our server automatically whenever we change a file.
cd vue-cli
npm install
npm run dev
Thank you! | https://medium.com/@juwelariful1/installation-process-setup-and-how-to-use-vue-js-aa78972b9c38 | ['Ariful Islam Juwel'] | 2020-06-24 07:43:38.300000+00:00 | ['Vuejs', 'Getting Started', 'Installation'] |
The Best Men’s Wallet Brands to Choose From | There are a lot of best men’s wallet brands out there to choose from. But sometimes it can be difficult to know which best men’s wallet brand is best for you, and the best way to find that out is by doing some research.
That said, we have compiled this list of the best men’s wallet brands on the market right now so that you don’t have to waste your time researching them yourself!
Bellroy
The Bellroy is one of the best men’s wallet brands on the market! They design their wallets with a sleek look that can fit into any man’s lifestyle. Each one of their wallets has been designed with different features depending on your needs. You can choose from an elastic banded card holder, or a bi-fold leather wallet with RFID protection for easy use at airports and other places where cards are scanned electronically. No matter what kind of guy you are, there is something for everyone in this brand!
Billykirk
Wallet brands are not created equal and it can be hard to tell what you’re getting. It’s important that your wallet is something you will use, so it’s worth taking the time to look for a quality one. Billykirk offers wallets made with high-quality materials and construction. They offer their customers a lifetime warranty on all of their products, which is unheard of in this industry. These are just some of the reasons why they should be your first choice when buying a new wallet.
Andar Wallet
Andar is a men’s wallet brand. They offer two styles of wallets: the Andar Slim Wallet and the Andar Classic Wallet. The slim wallet is made from high-quality Italian leather and has an elastic band to hold your cash in place. The classic style is made from full grain leather, which ages beautifully with time, but stands up well against wear and tear. Whichever you choose, they know you’ll love carrying around something that will last for generations!
Pioneer
Pioneer is one of the best wallet brands for men. They have a wide selection of wallets, from money clip wallets to trifold wallets and more. Their products are made with high-quality materials that will last you years to come. Pioneer wallets are a family business that has been providing men with quality, handmade leather goods for over 80 years. They have an array of styles and colors to choose from including: bi-fold, tri-fold, card wallet, money clip and checkbook cover. All Pioneer products come with a lifetime warranty so you never have to worry about breaking your wallet!
Ridge Wallet
The Ridge Wallet is another best men’s wallet brand. This type of wallet has a minimalist design and it is made with durable materials that last for years. The Ridge Wallet also features RFID technology which protects your credit card information from being stolen by hackers. One of the great things about this product is that you can order it in two different styles. One with money clip and one without as well as three colors: black, brown or mahogany. This wallet is perfect for any man looking to carry their cash and cards securely!
Shinola
Shinola is one of the best men’s wallet brands because they create products that are durable and last a lifetime. They also have a wide variety of different types of wallets to choose from, including trifolds, card holders, money clips, billfolds and more. Shinola has been around since 2011 when their first shoe polish was created in Detroit Michigan. These days Shinola produces leather goods such as watches and messenger bags. But still maintains quality with each product they make no matter what it may be. They make high-quality leather wallets and other products that are built to last. The company focuses on providing a quality product for a fair price. And that makes Shinola one of the best brands in this niche market.
Tanner Goods
Tanner Goods is a company that sells high-quality leather goods for men. They have been around since 2006 and they are still going strong because of their commitment to quality products and customer service. Tanner Goods has an excellent reputation in the industry, with many people claiming it’s the best men’s wallet brand out there (and we agree). Their wallets come in different sizes, colors, styles and materials so you can find one that suits your needs perfectly. If you’re looking for a new wallet or want to try something new, check out Tanner Goods today!
Distil Union
Distil Union has been a leading men’s wallet brand for the last 10 years. With over half of their sales coming from repeat customers, and none of them being paid endorsers, we know that they’re doing something right. They’ve also got an A+ on Better Business Bureau. And that means they’re committed to quality customer service and treating their customers well. They have a variety of different styles to choose from. And each wallet comes with a lifetime guarantee and is made right here in the USA. Distil Union has been featured on CNN, Fox News, NBC’s Today Show as well as many other TV shows and magazines. Because they are one of the best men’s wallets brands out there!
Troubadour Goods
Troubadour Goods is a brand that specializes in men’s wallets. They have been in the business for more than 20 years. And they are dedicated to providing our customers with high-quality products at affordable prices. Their goal is to make sure that you can find the perfect wallet for your needs, no matter what they may be.
They offer a wide range of options so that you can find the perfect wallet for any situation or occasion. Whether you’re looking for something stylish, rugged, designer, or made of genuine leather-you will be able to find it! All Troubadour goods come with a lifetime warranty and an easy return policy which helps ensure customer satisfaction throughout every purchase.
Bexar Goods Co.
Bexar Goods Co. is the best men’s wallet brand for those who need a durable, high-quality product that will last them for years to come. Their wallets are made of quality materials and with great craftsmanship. And that means you won’t have to worry about your wallet falling apart on you any time soon. They have been designing quality wallets for over 10 years! If you are looking for a new wallet, then they have just what you need to find your perfect match. Their team of designers work hard every day ensuring all their customers have an excellent experience with them. All these reasons make Bexar Goods Co. the best men’s wallet brand!
Conclusion
With the right wallet, you’ll not only have a functional accessory to hold your essentials but also one that will make a lasting impression. Whether you need to find the best men’s wallets for everyday use or something more formal for special occasions, these best men’s wallet brands are sure to suit all of your needs!
Anyway, we hope this article has been helpful in your search for a new wallet! Let us know at SenseOrient what you think of these wallets or if there is anything else we can do for you — our team would love to hear from you! | https://medium.com/@hooswilliams/the-best-mens-wallet-brands-to-choose-from-5a84a6c75fef | ['Sam Williams'] | 2021-07-25 12:54:32.366000+00:00 | ['Fashion', 'Mens Style', 'Mens Fashion', 'Wallet', 'Menswear'] |
Why Mainstream Media Botches The Coverage of Terror Attacks In Non-Western Countries | Two women reacting to the loss of a family member who died in the Kenya terrorist attack
The way mainstream media covers terrorist attacks in the Western world versus “Third world” countries or the nations that Trump prefers to classify as “shitholes” is astoundingly biased.
There seems to be an almost barbaric approach to the messaging when these horrific bomb attacks are levied on the areas of the world, that have been designated as “commonplace.” In other words we are used to the notion that pain, suffering and death are the key attributes of Syria, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya and all the other territories that fall into that category — and so there’s a lack of general empathy from viewers or the dignified reporting from news organizations who lazily allow the graphic goriness to do all the work.
This infuriating observation prompts me to write about the vast differences in delivery when opulently romantic cities like Paris or Brussels are hit with the tragic reality of existing in the hell of activated terrorism, and how the utter violence that results in mass destruction and loss of lives, is systemically humanized with images of broken cities persevering in the bloody aftermath.
We’re also treated to the never-ending photo albums that depict human beings who inexplicably met a violent death.
There is also a global mourning that ensues with #PrayFor hashtags dominating timelines, as celebrities express shock and dismay at the audacity of their beloved vacation spots being brutally vandalized by callous brutes, who will never win the war of reducing iconic havens to rubble.
However, when countries that have been regulated as disposable by the well-traveled and those who’ve been tasked to provide fair and honest reporting, are also hit with extreme violence — there’s no homage to the victims, and there’s no incentive to present dignified coverage on behalf of the dead, dying, wounded, or inconsolable natives.
Bombings in Pakistan and Yemen, are reported with clinical and passionless segments, that hardly bother with the operatic narratives that tug at your heartstrings with the parade of names and smiling faces of the dead. We don’t get a humane view of how global terror can paralyze a once-thriving community, that’s heroically attempting to recover from the deadly chaos.
Back in 2009, when Boko Haram began it’s now decade-long regime as helpless Nigerian soldiers under an incompetently nonchalant head-of-state, failed to ward off the influx of jihadist militants, there was very little coverage of the grazed villages and displaced villagers.
But once the crusade to #BringBackOurGirls became the viral sensation in 2014, that employed the rich and famous to proudly pose next to the trendiness of kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls being ripped away from dormitories in the dead of night — that’s when the world finally gave a fuck about the terror of Boko Haram.
Red carpet activism
That’s when it was permissible to care about modest villages in Northern Nigeria, that had already spent four years unsuccessfully managing the round-the-clock attacks that had finally become a global outcry — thanks to the hashtag that wouldn’t quit.
It’s only in those instances that we get to collectively mourn the death count of Black bodies. Even in the United States, there’s a tendency to spend weeks — covering the mass shooting in Jewish synagogues with the dramatics that reveal sobering details, and the heart-wrenching testimonies of the bereaved loved ones.
And while that habitual need to pay homage to a disheartened community is an absolute necessity, it also reminds of how little Black lives matter in the context of how that long week of domestic terrorism in late 2018, seemed to be missing the breaking news of the two Black victims who were gunned down by a White man in front of a grocery store in Louisville, Kentucky.
The glaring omission was offensive, especially when you consider that the theme of cable news networks was the rising occurrences of hate crimes.
And while the death count at the death scene around the Kroger grocery store wasn’t impressive — the actual crime itself was the chilling evidence of how White male terrorists operate when they let White people live, based on their obsession with Black and Brown targets.
Why wasn’t it mandatory to interview witnesses and even extend airtime to the families of those two Black victims? Why isn’t it considered a worthwhile endeavor to humanize Black victims of hate crimes, who also leave behind friends, families and legacies that could also prove why their loss is unbearably tragic?
Why is Black pain or the unimaginable circumstances that descend upon certain parts of the world not received with the same reverence and global concern as White pain — that’s given the extended shots of stoic beauty among the ruins — that will definitely rise again with practiced defiance?
The answer lies in the comfort level of watching enough viral videos of Black women being assaulted by police officers or the Black man moaning in defeat as he bleeds out in the driver’s seat of the car containing a Black toddler.
It’s in the way we’ve been programmed to only allot emotions to the disaster zones that don’t typically appear in the form of war torn countries. And because this isn’t the norm for idyllic locations — there’s an urgency to highlight the devastation with the methodical adherence to how European territories don’t deserve the slaughtering.
But when bombs and gunfire blast though an upscale hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, major networks like CBS, are required to cover the mayhem, especially if there’s the likelihood that some of the casualties are Westerners.
The coverage would have been more dignified if there were more White bodies on the ground, but because it was strictly a local view, there was no attempt to warn viewers of the graphic nature of what was about to be unleashed.
CBS Evening News did a terrifically bad job with the casual way in which it introduced the scenes of bloodiness and slumped bodies, and fiery debris mixed with what could be assumed to be body parts.
The segment was shockingly disgusting and grossly inappropriate, and the timing was epically miscalculated as dinnertime meant chopping on the bits that resemble what you were possibly taking in, with red sauce as topping.
If the horrific act of violence had transpired in Berlin, Evening News anchor Jeff Glor would’ve cautioned us to be prepared for the grisliness of death scenes, since civilized nations tend to be romanticized to the hilt.
African nations and other countries that are shitholes, are forever framed in the violence that doesn’t deviate from the norm, and so we don’t need to be warned about the Black bodies on fire or the limbs that are hanging over what used to be chairs, because it won’t evoke anything other than the distant recording of what we’re already used to consuming.
The only mentioned victims of the terrorist attack by the militant group al-Shabab, that has so far claimed 15 lives, are two White men — one American and one British.
Jason Spindler was a US businessman, who had miraculously survived the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, only to perish in the recent bombings in Nairobi. The touching tributes confirm what a loss he is to those who loved him.
Luke Potter is the British man who also died in the attack, and his resume is bloated with charitable services and his devotion to “helping some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world.” Again, his loss is understandably painful for those who relied on his seemingly powerful presence.
We currently don’t have any smiling Black faces with glowing biographies illustrating their selfless pursuits, and how their untimely deaths will affect the ones they’ve left behind.
These are the ways in which mainstream media botches the coverage of terror attacks in non-Western countries by making the ugliness in Brussels a lot harder to shake off, while enhancing the unsightly scenes in Nairobi with the extra boost of how Black pain can be exaggerated with graphicness — and still not incite global rage and empathy.
Until White pain stops overpowering the narrative with the righteousness of why White bodies are sacred enough to be invisible from the attacks that disfigured them, while Black pain isn’t relevant enough for cautious camera shots that consider the the bloody mess of Black bodies — we can expect the status quo to stay in place.
When you have White victims being exalted in a death scene that’s stationed in a shithole country — that’s when you know blatant inequality in all realms is real.
FYI: It’s worth noting that President Trump hasn’t acknowledged the terrorist attack that took place in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed at least one American. Clearly shithole countries don’t count. | https://nilegirl.medium.com/why-mainstream-media-botches-the-coverage-of-terror-attacks-in-non-western-countries-e9367c0dcd09 | ['Ezinne Ukoha'] | 2019-01-17 13:04:52.561000+00:00 | ['ISIS', 'World', 'Media', 'Equality', 'Terrorism'] |
ACA vs FOR Dream11 Prediction Today with Playing XI, Pitch Report & Player Stats | ACA vs FOR Dream11 Prediction Today with Playing XI, Pitch Report & Player Stats
ECS-T10, ECS Greece, 2021, 9th and 10th Match, and The match are going to be played between Dekathlon squaring off towards Kallithea Sixers Athens at Marina Cricket Ground, Corfu This match can be going down on Wednesday, 20 Oct, 2021, at 05:00 PM
Preview
Athens Cricket Academy has played 2 matches so far in this series and lost both the matches and their recent form is very good and currently occupy the 5th position in the table toppers list.
On the other hand, Forge has played 2 matches so far in this series, won 1 match and lost one match, and their recent form is very good and currently occupies the 2nd position in the list of table toppers.
Pitch Report — DEK vs KSA
The pitch at the Marina Cricket Ground in Corfu is likely to be solid for batting, and the batsmen get a lot of support. Although the new ball may see some movement for the fast bowlers, the team winning the toss will bat first. Each of the five ECS T10 Corfu games played on the first day was won by the teams batting first.
Probable Playing XI — ACA vs FOR
Athens Cricket Academy Playing XI :-
- Akif Khan :- (M-2, R-4, Ave-2, W-1)
- Abdul Hayee Abid :- (M-2, R-3, Ave-3, W-2)
- Saleem Mahar(c) :- (M-2, R-1, Ave-1)
- Qasir Amin :- (M-2, R-40, Ave-20, W-3)
- Muhammad Arfan :- (M-2, R-10, W-1)
- Humayun Safdar :- (DNB)
- Zubair Ashraf :-(M-2, R-14, Ave-7, W-3)
- Sayed Mohammad Aqeel(wk) :- (M-2, R-22, Ave-11)
- Zaryab Abbas :- (DNB)
- Zain Ali Haidar :-(M-2, R-40, Ave-20, W-1)
- Muhammad Tahir :- (M-2, R-0, W-2)
ForgePlaying XI :-
- Amjad Amboo :- (M-2, R-2, Ave-1, W-1)
- Issa Muhammad(wk) :- (M-2, R-4, Ave-4)
- Ali Asghar :- (M-2, R-4, Ave-2, W-2)
- Shabbir Arslan :- (M-1, R-17)
- Nasir Mommandi(c) :- (M-2, R-28, Ave-14)
- Omid Niazi :- (M-2, R-19, Ave-9.50, W-2)
- Umair Javid :- (M-2, R-34, Ave-34, W-0)
- Sajid Mehar :- (M-2, R-1)
- Nemat Logaree :- (M-2, W-3)
- Shabbir Hussain :- (DNB)
- Yaqub Ahmadzai :- (DNB)
Best Performance :- ACA vs FOR
(ACA) Qasir Amin :- Kasir Amin is a left-handed batsman and also bowls left-arm spin. He has so far scored 40 runs at a strike rate of 20 and also picked up 3 wickets in the series. He is an important player in his team
(ACA) Zain Ali Haider :- Zain Ali Haider is a right-handed batsman and also bowls right-arm medium. He has so far scored 40 runs at a strike rate of 20 and has also taken 1 wicket in the series. He is an important player in his team
(ACA) Zubair Ashraf :-Zubair Ashraf is a right handed batsman and also bowls fast with right arm. He has so far scored 14 runs at a strike rate of 7 and also picked up 3 wickets in the series. He is an important player in his team
(FOR) Nasir Mommandi :- Nasir Mommandi is a right handed batsman and also bowls off break. He has so far scored 28 runs at a strike rate of 14, he is an important player of his team.
(FOR) Umair Javid :- Umair Javid is a right-handed batsman and also bowls right-arm medium. He has scored 34 runs so far at a strike rate of 34, he is an important player of his team.
(FOR) Omid Niazi :- Omid Niazi is a right handed batsman and also bowls through right arm. He has so far scored 19 runs at a strike rate of 9.50, and has also picked up 2 wickets in the series, a key player in his team.
Most Picks Players:- ACA vs FOR
PlayersStatsDream 11 PointsQasir Amin(M-2, R-40, Ave-20, W-3)154Nemat Logaree(M-2, R-0, W-3)133Omid Niazi(M-2, R-19, Ave-9.50, W-2)128Zubair Ashraf(M-2, R-14, Ave-7, W-3)124Zain Ali Haidar(M-2, R-40, Ave-20, W-1)98Umair Javid(M-2, R-34)75
C & VC Selection :- ACA vs FOR
Safe Options :-
- Qasir Amin
- Zain Ali Haidar
- Omid Niazi
Risky Option :-
- Umair Javid
- Zubair Ashraf
- Nemat Logaree
Sunggested XI :- ACA vs FOR
The team for this match and all T10 matches and also local matches teams will only be provided on our BabaCric Prime channel. If you want to become our Prime member you can contact us through this–https://wa.link/463tj6
Team:- 1
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Barbaric Telegram Channel | https://medium.com/@babacric/aca-vs-for-dream11-prediction-today-with-playing-xi-pitch-report-player-stats-d051f62bcc13 | ['Baba Cric'] | 2021-10-20 07:21:51.222000+00:00 | ['Cricket'] |
Build Your Business Brand on LinkedIn | 5 Ways to Build Business Brand
build your brand on LinkedIn
LinkedIn can be an important part of your social media marketing mix. Consider it a primary lead generation and connection-creating tool that also acts as an essential business branding tool.
In many of the latest social media industry reports, LinkedIn ranks among the top places for enhancing brand recognition, especially among Business to Business (B2B) specialists. Business entrepreneurs and professionals recognize LinkedIn’s strategic marketing value in this respect, as well as in other aspects of branding. And timing is everything.
Here are five ways you can use LinkedIn to build your business brand.
1. A Powerful Alternative for Product Launch Marketing
In the recent past, product launch promotion meant e-mail marketing, press releases, and banner ads. Not anymore. Thanks to LinkedIn, B2B companies, in particular, have a platform that acts as an ideal distributor of new product information to interested parties (e.g. bloggers, consumers, media, etc.).
Furthermore, more businesses are showing confidence in LinkedIn product launches than for Facebook and Twitter equivalents, even if the latter two giants are more popular among the general population.
2. Recruitment of New Talent Made Simpler
Perhaps a non-issue for confirmed solopreneurs, but if you are in expansion mode and need professional help, there are few social networks that match LinkedIn’s quality reach.
Whether from your immediate connections, LinkedIn discussion groups, or general talent search, you are probably going to come across a slew of qualified candidates rather quickly. Professional social networking has taken off in the past decade, and have arguably become more effective than traditional job boards, staffing agencies, and career websites.
3. A Viral Lead Generation Tool
LinkedIn can be an effective lead generation tool for online entrepreneurs looking for alternatives to e-mail marketing, squeeze pages, and banner ads. As a website recognized for B2B and business to consumer (B2C) interaction, both your visitor-to-lead conversion rate and cost per (lead) acquisition rates will improve by using this networking space.
4. A Content and Content Marketing Juggernaut
LinkedIn members not only savor rich content, but they bookmark profiles that provide it and are keen to spread the word to others. Thus, effective content distribution through LinkedIn becomes one of the most viral branding enhancement options for your business. Consider the following benefits:
Unimpeded sharing of content with your current followers and connections.
Better access to potential clients and industry influencers via LinkedIn advertising.
Before you know it, your insights and experiences can be in front of hundreds — if not thousands — of enthusiastic people on a daily basis.
5. Making Yourself More Searchable
It’s no secret that the chances of success in online marketing are enhanced with better search engine visibility. LinkedIn can be part of the solution since an optimized LinkedIn profile (profile, company page) makes it easier for prospects and like-minded business people to find you.
Doing a few things well can enhance your brand, like:
Making your business title and company name stand out with action words.
Describing your enterprise and yourself completely in your profile.
Using the right keywords in your biography and homepage description.
Linking back to your website and/or blogs in your profile, description and latest posts.
Final Thoughts on Branding Your Business on LinkedIn
LinkedIn branding should come naturally to both novice and experienced business people. Take the opportunity to showcase your current positioning in your niche market, past accomplishments, and what you can do for others given the right set of circumstances.
LinkedIn should be considered a good business investment for upwardly mobile entrepreneurs looking to extend their brand both locally and on a global scale. It has the potential to become a one-stop social media hub for making more connections, attracting new clients, and distributing vital information to folks who value your contributions. | https://medium.com/@socialmediamarket/build-your-business-brand-on-linkedin-d8c8931922a7 | [] | 2020-12-19 12:18:57.540000+00:00 | ['Online Marketing', 'Business', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Social Media', 'Social Media Marketing'] |
Decision Control Statement in Python | Today we are going to familiar with the concept of Decision control statement in Python. Here you will learn about -
What is Decision Control Statement
Types of Decision control Flow?
If
If -Else
If-elif Statement
What is Loop?
Why we need to use a loop?
Types of Loops
What is Decision Control Statement?
Decision Control statement is a statement that determines the control flow of a set of instructions. means D.C.S decides the sequence in which instruction in the program is to be executed.
The three fundamental methods of control flow in a programming language are -
Sequential Control Selection Control iterative Control
Here we will learn about only two methods of control flow.
Sequential Control
-When the program is executed line by line means from the first line to the second line then from the second line to the third line and so on. This method is called Sequential Control.
Selection Control Statement
- When we execute only a selected set of statements then we use the Selection control statement. It usually jumps from one part of the code to another depending on whether a particular condition is satisfied or not.
In Selection Control Statement we learn about -
If statement
If -else statement
If-elif-else statement
If Statement
- The if statement is the simplest form of decision control statement that is frequently used in decision making.
Syntax of If Statement
if (test_expression) : statement1 ………….. statement n statement x # Program to increment a number if it is positive x = 10 # Initialize the value of x if (x>0): # test the value of x x = x+1 # Increment the value of x if it is > 0 print(x) # print the value of
If — else Statement
The use of If — else statement is very simple. When you run your program, The test expression is evaluated and if the result is True, the statement followed by the expression is executed, else if the expression is False, the statement followed by the expression is executed.
Syntax of If — else Statement if ( test expression ) : statement block 1 else : statement block 2 statement x
If — elif — else statement
Python supports if — elif — else statements to test additional conditions apart from the initial test expression. The if- elif — else constructs works in the same way as usual to if-else statement. One more thing to remember that it is not necessary that every if statement should have an else block as python supports simple if statements also.
Syntax of If — elif — else statement
if ( test expression 1): statement block 1 elif ( test expression 2 ): statement block 2 ………………………… elif ( test expression N ): statement block N else: statement block X Statement Y
Introduction of Loop
- A loop is a programming function that repeats a statement or condition according to the specific condition.
The loop repeats a certain statement until the condition given by the programmer is True.
Let’s understand the loop through an example -
Suppose you went to the market to purchase a T-shirt. Now, you will visit each and every single shop until you get your desired T-shirt and when you find it you return to your home.
That’s how loop work, It will also perform the task until the condition will not be met.
Why we need to use a loop?
Now, for understanding the use of loop let’s take also an example -
Here, You need to purchase some fruits from markets. You have the list of fruits in which you have to purchase -
Mango
Guava
Banana
Apple
Water-melon
Now, you have to option to purchase all these fruits -
You told an individual person to purchase an individual fruit from the market. Like — You told you, dad, to buy mango and to Mom, you said to buy banana. And, the other option is, you go to the market and purchase all fruits on your own.
It is not wrong if I said you choose the second option right.
Now, the use of a loop is also like this. Look at the two different programs to solve the same problem.
In both pictures, we are print the Table of a certain number with loop or without loop
On the Very first program, we choose option 1 of our example and called different print functions for doing the same task. But, In our second program, we apply our second option and perform all activity by only one print function.
so, this the use of loop I hope you will understand it.
Types of Loop
In python programming language, loops are usually three types -
For loop While loop Nested loop
What is For Loop?
- Basically ‘ for ‘ is a keyword of the python programming language used for repeat a task until a specific condition becomes True.
Syntax of ‘ for ‘ loop -
for < variable > in sequence:
statement block
An example of ‘ for ‘ loop
In the above example, we take a variable name, ‘ i ‘. which stores the value and with the help of print function it shows us the first 10 natural numbers.
Now, the above example we use a function name range ()
Range() Function
- The range() is a pre-defined function in python programming language used to iterate over a sequence of numbers. The syntax of range() is :
range( beginning, end, [step] )
NOTE:- One important thing about range function is, it prints one less value of its last value. means if you write a program like — range( 1, 10) then, it only prints the number from 1 to 9.
What is While Loop?
The while loop also works the same as for loop. The difference is only their syntax.
Syntax of while Loop
statement x while ( condition ):
statement block statement y
An Example of while loop
In the above example, we print the first 10 natural numbers using a while loop.
At very first we initialize a variable named ‘ i ‘ and store a value 1 in it. After that, we create a while loop and put a condition over there that the loop works continuously until the value of ‘ i ‘ is not greater than 10 and print the all value of ‘ i ‘ until condition is not True.
Nested loop
- Nested loop is nothing but a loop under a loop means you can also execute a loop under another loop.
see this example :
So, in the above example, you can see that how we can use a nested loop.
What is break Statement and continue Statement
The break statement is used to terminating the execution of the loop at a specific point. For example -
So, in the above example, we execute a program in which we give a statement to run until the value of ‘ i ‘ is not equal to 10 but after that, we realized we only need 4 value of ‘ i ‘ then we use break command to terminate the program.
Continue Statement — When we add a continue statement in our loop then the condition written under the ‘ continue ‘ statement will not be shown and execute. For example -
You can see that in the above example the value ‘5’ is not shown in the output. | https://coderadvice.medium.com/decision-control-statement-in-python-25891ebb94d7 | ['Coder Advice'] | 2019-12-19 18:49:10.075000+00:00 | ['Python Programming', 'Python3', 'Python', 'Loop', 'Programming'] |
Netgear’s new Meural WiFi Photo Frame focuses on family snapshots | Until now, Netgear’s line of high-end Meural photo frames has been primarily geared toward bringing the world’s masterpieces into your living room. The latest Meural frame is designed more for family snapshots than it is for great works of art (not that it can’t display art, mind you).
Mentioned in this article images/I/41wN9sAschL.jpg" class="lazy" loading="lazy">Meural Canvas II (wood frame) (wood frame)" data-vars-product-name="Meural Canvas II (wood frame)" data-vars-link-position-id="005" data-vars-link-position="Product Sidebar" data-po="amazon-ajax" data-product-id="1444361" data-vars-product-id="1444361" data-bkc="HomeTech" data-bkmfr="Netgear" data-vars-bkmfr="Netgear" data-bkvndr="" data-vars-bkvndr="" data-amazon-ajax-link="true" data-amazon-ajax-link-loaded="false" data-amazon-ajax-link-asin="B07S7ZCC38" data-amazon-ajax-link-subtag="US-003-3572315-005-1444361-web-20">See it On sale now, the 15.6-inch Meural WiFi Photo Frame is not only smaller than the existing less-photo-frame.html">Meural Canvas II (which comes in 21- and 27-inch sizes), it’s also less expensive, with the new family-focused frame priced at $300 versus $400 and $600 for the two Meural Canvas II models.
Equipped with a full-HD (1920 x 1080) IPS anti-glare display, the wall-mountable Meural WiFi Photo Frame comes with a wood-grain trim and a removable metal stand that allows for placing it on a flat surface in either portrait or landscape mode.
[ Further reading: A smart home guide for beginners ]Capable of connecting to dual-band Wi-Fi networks, the Meural WiFi Photo Frame can be synced with photo albums on your iPhone or Android phone, and any new snapshots added to a synced album will automatically be uploaded to the frame. That said, the frame doesn’t offer integrations for Facebook or Google Photos.
Besides uploading photos from your phone, you can also upload images to the frame via a web interface, as well as invite family and friends to share photos to the Meural. Unfortunately, the frame can’t notify you when friends share new snapshots.
Netgear offers up to 4GB of Meural cloud storage for free, or you can increase the storage cap to 20GB by signing up for a $8.95-per-month subscription plan. The storage plan also includes access to more than 30,000 works of art, just as it does for Meural’s larger frames.
The frame’s 16:9 display is designed to automatically display images in the correct orientation, meaning that if you’ve placed or mounted the frame in portrait orientation, you’ll only see portrait photos; conversely, if the frame is sitting in landscape mode, you’ll only see landscape-oriented images. An light sensor adjusts the display brightness according to the ambient light in the room, and it also turns the frame off when the room goes dark.
You can wave your hand at the Meural WiFi Photo Frame to switch to the next or previous photo, while gesturing up will display details about the image, including when and where it was snapped (based on the metadata contained in the image file).
As with other Meural photo frames, the Meural WiFi Photo Frame supports basic voice commands (such as “turn on Meural” and “next on Meural”) via Alexa, but there’s no support for Google Assistant or HomeKit.
We’re expecting a sample Meural WiFi Photo Frame to arrive soon, so keep your eyes peeled for a full review.
Note: When you purchase something roomadventures.us/sitemap_0.xml">after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliates.html">affiliate link policy for more details. | https://medium.com/@Shane53053935/netgears-new-meural-wifi-photo-frame-focuses-on-family-snapshots-9e5d4ec6863e | [] | 2020-09-02 07:16:21.998000+00:00 | ['Connected Home', 'Internet', 'Deals'] |
How To Market Your Committees’ Achievements | Promoting the accomplishments of your committee is important in building the image of the group to continue having the support of your donors and volunteers. However, this is always an overlooked aspect because most of the time, the resources of the group is allotted to other areas like operations or fundraising.
This is also because the term marketing is often not viewed as a purpose of the committee, is sometimes confused with advertising, and assumed to take a lot of time, effort, and money. It is true that marketing the achievements of your committee does take a lot of hard work, it can be done in an easy and cost-effective way. As long as you understand the fundamentals of doing so.
Marketing Success
To be able to market anything successfully, consistency and engagement are key. It means that you have to do it regularly and it has to be enticing enough for your target market to take notice and participate. This will only happen through solid and good planning.
Steps to Market Your Achievements
1. Know your objectives
Think and brainstorm about what the committee wants to achieve through marketing in the short and long term. Are there marketing objectives set? If there is none, then talk to the team and create your goals and objectives.
Identify as well what behaviour changes or action does the committee want to achieve upon implementing the marketing plan.
2. Analysis
Identify the internal and external factors that can affect the implementation of the marketing plan. What resources would you need? Which people in the group should participate? Once you have identified the answers to these questions, then you’ll be able to implement the plan continuously which is important in the success of any marketing plan.
3. Target Market
Create a profile of the people that you want to attract with the marketing plan. It is a common practice to try and target everybody, while this sounds like a good plan it does not speak to anyone in particular and becomes ineffective.
It is better to study more about the marketing language that your target market understands and accepts, otherwise, they will just repel or ignore your message.
4. Message
Once you have the objectives, resources and target market, it is now time to create your message. Take the time and consider the following factors:
Achievements that you want to promote
The format of the promotion (creative graphics, written visuals, memo type)
Participants who contributed to the accomplishments
What will make it relevant to the reader?
What is the tone of the announcement?
5. Channels
Once you have your announcement format, select channels where you want to promote it. Be sure that the channels you employ are reachable and familiar to your target market. It can be done, but not limited, through the following:
Social Media
Email Blasts
Newsletters
Group Boards
Or all of the above!
The best way to start your marketing plan, especially if it is the first one, is to employ a simple and straightforward method. This is much easier for your target audience to absorb because they can easily repel it if it doesn’t talk to them or if it annoys them.
Gathering as much information as you can in terms of your target market is key. Once you are familiar with these, then moving to your next marketing plan will be easier, faster and more effective. | https://medium.com/process-pa/how-to-market-your-committees-achievements-c6bfed8ad900 | ['Process Pa Team'] | 2019-02-06 01:01:01.111000+00:00 | ['Management', 'Leadership', 'Marketing', 'Meetings', 'Governance'] |
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