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Tukey’s forgotten techniques | Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash
One of John Tukey’s landmark papers, “The Future of Data Analysis”, contains a set of analytical techniques that have gone largely unnoticed, as if they’re hiding in plain sight.
By Ron Sielinski — 16 min read | https://towardsdatascience.com/tukeys-forgotten-techniques-25707513800e | ['Tds Editors'] | 2020-08-24 13:24:39.766000+00:00 | ['The Daily Pick'] |
Cypress vs Selenium & Getting started with Cypress | Cypress.io aka Selenium Killer has become the current trend in test automation. It has been able to standout from Selenium featuring better performance in many aspects. Let’s first speak on the current situation before getting in to the depth..
Before I go into this, I want to emphasize that this post is not about one particular project or any automation testers that I have worked with. I have experienced this behavior in a recent project with 10,000+ test cases.
Majority of the test automation engineers has written in selenium despite nearly everyone having a pretty grim experience due to the inherent known issues that I will state later.
Selenium tests might be difficult to write, but they are straightforward to copy and paste, which will, of course, lead to all sorts of problems.
We often hear, “If it moves, write a selenium test for it”. Automation tests must be written for the API, the frontend, the backend, the middle-end, the happy path, the sad path, the upside-down path, etc.
We won’t have any time for manual testing, how could we? We have all these flakey selenium tests to write and maintain. We are already late for this sprint, and every story must have an automation test.
After a year or so and an insanely long build, we will decide that this was a bit silly and delete them all or, worse, start again.
Why does majority use Selenium despite the problems?
It is the industry standard, lots of online resources and a vast community to lean on
It works across multiple OS, and multiple languages, your language and platform of choice are more than likely covered
Cross-browser testing. Selenium supports all the major browsers so you could test on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE, Edge, and many more
What is the problem with Selenium?
The problems with selenium can be expressed in one word, timing.
Before we can even start writing code to assert that our test is correct, we need to ensure that whatever elements we need to interact with are visible and are in a state to accept simulated input. Remote APIs calls will need to have resolved, animations and spinners need to have concluded. The dynamic content that now makes up the majority of our apps will need to have finished rendering from the currently retrieved data of the API calls.
So what do we do while this macabre pantomime of asynchronicity is occurring? How do we stop our tests from just finishing or bottoming out because a particular text input is disabled until an API call has finished or a beautiful SVG spinner overlay has put a veil of darkness over our virtual world?
In layman’s terms, we wait for the HTML elements to be in a ready state, in selenium speak, we write many custom waitForXXXXX code helpers. :(
One of the worst crimes to commit is to use Thread.sleep . This is a heinous crime where a random number is plucked from thin air and used as a wild guess for when we think the UI is in a ready state. Please, never do this.
Below are my all-time favorite selenium exceptions that I have found while wading through a CI build report:
NoSuchElementException
ElementNotVisibleException
StaleElementReferenceException
TimeoutException
WebdriverException
Oh hoo.. I see you smiling! You have come across these so often right..? One of the most soul-destroying moments that I have experienced is having a build fail due to a failing automation test only for it to magically pass by just rerunning the build again. This phenomenon or zombie automation test is often referred to as a flake. The main problem with the flake is that it is non-deterministic which means that a test can exhibit different behavior when executed with the same inputs at different times. You can watch the confidence in your regression test suite go up in smoke as the number of non-deterministic tests rises.
A flakey test is more than likely down to timing, latency and the macabre opera of asynchronicity that we are trying to tame with our Thread.sleep and waitForAHero helpers that we need to keep writing to try and keep sane.
Just think how much easier this would be if we could somehow make all this asynchronous programming go away and if our world started to behave linearly or synchronously. What a natural world to test we would have. Cypress is just there to do that!
Cypress
One of the main differences between cypress.io and selenium is that selenium executes in a process outside of the browser or device we are testing. Cypress executes in the browser and in the same run loop as the device under test.
Cypress executes the vast majority of its commands inside the browser, so there is no network lag. Commands run and drive your application as fast as its capable of rendering. To deal with modern JavaScript frameworks with complex UI’s, you use assertions to tell Cypress what the desired state of your application is.
Cypress will automatically wait for your application to reach this state before moving on. You are completely insulated from fussing with manual waits or retries. Cypress automatically waits for elements to exist and will never yield you stale elements that have been detached from the DOM.
Comparison
Cypress Cons
Of course there are drawbacks! Still Cypress is new and developing.
Cypress is relatively new, and it does not have the vast community that selenium does
No cross-browser testing, this is huge and will cause less adoption until it can be cured
As stated earlier, it’s JavaScript or bust. You won’t write cypress tests in the tired old static languages of C# and java
There is no cross-browser support other than Chrome and Electron
When it comes to some drawbacks, the Cypress creator Brian Mann has stated that they are working on the main draw backs. So let’s give it some time huh..
Getting started with Cypress
Easiest way to install Cypress is via npm. Make sure you are done with installing Node.js on your PC.
Open up a terminal and navigate to your desired project folder Enter the following command to initiate the project
npm init
3. Then enter the following command to install cypress on the project folder
npm install cypress — save-dev
This will install Cypress locally as a dev dependency for your project.
Opening Cypress..
Run either of the following commands to open Cypress from the root folder of your project:
./node_modules/.bin/cypress open
or using npx
npx cypress open
After few seconds Cypress Test Runner will open up.
Cypress has few test scripts bundled up for you to test. Try running them using the test runner and experience the difference!
We’ll meet on another article to take you deep into this tool.. | https://medium.com/@schathurangaj/cypress-vs-selenium-getting-started-with-cypress-48abbb886193 | ['S Chathuranga Jayasinghe'] | 2019-12-22 13:44:21.369000+00:00 | ['Selenium', 'Cypressio', 'Selenium Webdriver', 'Cypress'] |
From Girl To Woman: How Childhood Bullying Manufactures Misogyny. | My Childhood As ‘The Smart Girl.’
I am not unlike many other women and girls who had to endure bullying from their classmates as a child. I have always known that this greatly impacted my life in negative ways, but until now I haven’t been able to fully quantify the dynamics of what happened to me growing up. After careful reflection, I am ready to share that story with the world now.
I was bullied throughout my childhood for being intellectually gifted.
I had been an exemplary student until I reached my pubescent years. But then, something changed.
I was suspended in 7th grade for dressing in black and giving one of my bullies, the principal’s son, an “evil look.” He said I threatened him.
I fought back against violence with my mind, and I was punished.
In 8th grade, I became the class clown, and I refused to do classwork to cause social disruption. I didn’t agree with the unfair treatment I saw of students based on bias.
Until then, I’d made 100 on my assignments; my standardized test results were always above the 99% percentile.
Why in the world would such a student behave in the ways I did? At the time, I wasn’t fully aware of what was motivating me to take the actions I did, but looking in retrospect, my intentions were clear. | https://medium.com/we-are-warriors/from-girl-to-woman-how-childhood-bullying-manufactures-misogyny-ac2b7e375320 | ['Samantha Clarke'] | 2020-08-23 18:41:20.127000+00:00 | ['Bullying', 'Feminism', 'Mental Health', 'Children', 'Relationships'] |
Why all Product Managers should apply Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to drive product success | I first came across Objective and Key Results (OKRs) when working for a $100M start-up in 2018. We had discussed the need for a goal setting framework like OKRs but it was never put into action as we wanted to run fast and complete other “high priority” work. In hindsight, not pausing to set goals was a big mistake as without clear objectives, people didn’t know what to focus on or what to aim for. This was particularly detrimental for the product team as we were extremely busy building features but no one knew why we were building it and how it tied back to it the company objectives. The start-up eventually failed in late 2020. There are many reasons why it failed but in my view, the rush to quickly build products without defining and aligning to the business objectives is a key contributor to the failure. The book Measure What Matters by John Doerr provides excellent insights into how the OKR system was adopted by various companies in Silicon Valley and transformed their business. I wish the book was available back in 2018 — perhaps if we had adopted the ORK framework, there will be a different outcome for the start-up today.
What are OKRs?
OKRs is a goal setting system that helps the company to focus its efforts on the most important issues throughout the organisation. It was first developed by Intel’s CEO, Andy Grove, who used it to drive Intel’s organisational change in 1970s. It was later adopted by various companies in Silicon Valley such as Google, Adobe and Netflix.
OBJECTIVE = is the “What” to be achieved. It is significant, concrete, action orientated and inspirational.
KEY RESULTS = are the “How” to get to the objective. KRs must be measurable and verifiable. Effective KRs are specific, time-bound, aggressive yet realistic.
For example, an objective is a direction for the business “Increase the number of stores by 20%”, and the key results are the milestones that are measurable:
Select 40 new franchise candidates by March
Train 30 of them before June
Sign contracts with 25 of them before September
Open 20 stores before December
The OKRs is an effective way to apply manufacturing production principles to “soft professions” that use knowledge to drive output. In a manufacturing assembly line, it is easy to distinguish output from activity but this is not easy when employees are paid to think. The “soft professions” can easily fall into the activity trap where they’re constantly doing things but not necessarily driving output. This is where the OKRs can help — defining a clear objective and measurable key results enables the teams to focus on and produce outputs. ‘Stressing output is the key to increasing productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.’ — Andy Grove.
John Doerr’s famous football analogy of the OKRs
John uses the football analogy to explain the OKR framework in his book. It is the same analogy that he told Google executives and successfully convinced Google to adopt the ORK system. There is a factitious football team called The Sand Hill Unicorns and the team’s general manager has one objective “Make money for the owner” and two key results: 1. “win the Super Bowl”, and 2. “Fill the strands to at least 90% capacity”. The OKRs are cascaded down the team as the following:
The general manager cascades his goal down to the next level of management; the head coach and the senior vice president (SVP) of marketing. The general manager’s key results become their objectives.
The head coach has three key results that are cascaded down as objectives to his top three executives; offense coach, defense coach and special teams coach.
The offense coach, defense coach and special teams coach devise their own lower level key results.
Meanwhile the SVP of marketing has derived her objective from the general manager’s other key result “Fill the stand to 90 percent capacity”. The SVP crafts his own three key results which become the objectives of his direct reports: the marketing director, publist and merchandise manager.
The difference here is that the marketing director, team publicist and merchandise manager do not devise their own key results — instead these are cascaded down to them by the SVP of marketing.
The head coach’s side of OKRs are clear, specific and easily measurable and it also provides autonomy to offense coach, defensive coach and the special teams coach. But what’s wrong with SVP of marketing side of the OKRs? Firstly, the key results are unmeasurable, not specific or time bound. Furthermore, the goal setting approach is not optimal because the lower level key results are cascaded down from the SVP to the marketing director, team publicist and merchandise manager rather than them devising their own.
OKRs are transparent throughout the organisation so they can be shared without cascading down the hierarchy all the time. Instead of laddering down from the CEO to a VP to a director to a manager, an objective might jump from the CEO straight to a manager, or from a director to an individual contributor. A healthy OKR environment strikes a balance between alignment and autonomy. An optimal OKR system allows the contributors to set some of their own objectives and most (or all) of their key results. When people set their own OKRs, they are led to stretch above and beyond, set more ambitious targets and achieve more. ‘People who choose their destination will own a deeper awareness of what it takes to get there. When our how is defined by others, the goal won’t engage us to the same degree’ — John Doerr.
Andy Grove’s Basic OKR Hygiene
Andy designed the OKR system based on the following key principals:
Less is more: a limit of three to five OKRs per cycle leads companies, teams and individuals to choose what matters most. Each objective should be tied to five or fewer key results. Set goals from the bottom up: Teams and individuals should be encouraged to create roughly half of their own OKRs, in consultation with managers to promote engagement. When all goals are set top-down, motivation is corroded. No dictating: Collective agreement is essential to maximum goal achievement. Stay flexible: If the environment has changed and an objective is no longer relevant, key results can be modified or discarded mid-cycle. Dare to fail: OKRs should include “stretch goals” that should be uncomfortable and possibly unattainable to drive team’s peak performance. A tool, not a weapon: A OKR system is not a legal document to base a performance review. To encourage risk taking and prevent sandbagging, OKRs and bonuses are best kept separate. Be patient; be resolute: An organisation may need up to four or five quarterly cycles to fully embrace the OKR system.
How Google uses OKRs to drive success
John introduced the OKR framework to Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1999 when Google was less than a year old. Ever since then, Google has been using OKRs and even developed its own playbook. ‘We use OKRs to plan what people are going to produce, track their progress vs. plan, and coordinate priorities and milestones between people and teams. We also use OKRs to help people stay focused on the most important goals, and help them avoid being distracted by urgent but less important goals’ — Larry Page.
Google sees ORKs as big, not incremental. They don’t expect to hit all of them as if they do, it means their goals are not aggressive enough. Google divides its OKRs into two categories:
Committed goals: tied to Google’s metrics; product releases, bookings, hirings, customers. Generally these are to be achieved 100% of the time within a set time frame. Aspirational (or “Stretch”) goals: reflect the bigger picture, higher risk and more future tilting ideas. These should be challenging to achieve. Failures at an average of 40% are part of Google’s territory.
When OKRs were first implemented at Google, it took courage for their product teams to come up with OKRs that might well fail but they knew it needed to be aspirational if they wanted to be great. This was possible as Google fostered a culture of setting risky, aggressive goals and making it okay to fail against them. ‘A ten percent improvement means that you’re doing the same thing as everybody else. You probably won’t fail spectacularly, but you are guaranteed not to succeed wildly. If you set a crazy ambitious goal and miss it, you will still achieve something remarkable’- Larry Page.
Google uses a simple scoring method and a colour scale to track their ORKs. Each objective is scored by averaging the completion rate of the key results and it is given a number between 0 to 1.0 and a corresponding colour (green, yellow, red).
0.7 to 1.0 = green (delivered)
0.4 to 0.6 = yellow (made progress but fell short of completion)
0.0 to 0.3 = red (failed to make real progress)
OKRs at YouTube
In November 2012, YouTube announced a massive stretch goal to kick off the coming year: one billion hours in daily user watch time by 2016. The watch time was chosen as the key metric, not the number of views or clicks because YouTube believed that this was the best metric to gauge the quality of the YouTube experience. The billion-hour OKR was a religion at YouTube and they never did anything without measuring the impact on watch time. In October 2016, YouTube hit the one billion daily hours. According to Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, they were able to reach the goal within the timeframe because they had the process, structure and clarity of the OKR. What did YouTube do that allowed them to achieve the one billion daily hour ORK?
Make people believe in the goal: While one billion daily hours sounded like an awful lot, it represented less than 20 percent of the world’s total television watch time. YouTube leadership provided this context to staff as stretch goals can be demotivating if people don’t believe they’re achievable. Assign accountability to each OKR: People’s names were put next to each objectives with colour bars denoting progress: green, yellow, or red. YouTube’s Vice President of Engineering, Cristos Goodrow, was the responsible staff member for the billion-hour OKR. Leadership commitment: There was so much commitment from the YouTube’s leadership team that the Cristos announced he will resign from Google if they fail to achieve the objective by 2016. Continuous progress monitoring: Watch time graph was monitored every day, seven days a week. If there was a lag, the team reprioritised their work to reaccelerate watch time.
‘In a fast growing company, it’s a challenge to get everybody to align and focus around the same objective. People need a benchmark to know how they’re performing against it. The catch is to find the right one. The billion hours of daily watch time gave our tech people a North Star.’ — Susan Wojcicki
Continuous Performance Management: OKRs and CFRs
Annual performance management is an outdated system that is costly, exhausting and mostly futile. In the book, John recommends the need for companies to move towards a continuous performance management system that involves using OKRs combined with Conversations, Feedback and Recognition (CFRs) framework.
Conversations: a verbal exchange between manager and employee that drives performance, covering employee development, engagement, behaviours and competencies. Five critical areas of conversation are:
Goal setting and reflection
Ongoing process updates
Two-way coaching
Career growth
Lightweight performance review
Feedback: Communication up, down, and across organisational lines that assesses behaviours and outcomes, and guides improvement. Today’s people want to be inspired and empowered, not told what to do. They want to provide feedback to their managers not wait a year to receive feedback from their manager. Two-way and peer-to-peer feedback are important part of the continuous performance management.
Recognition: The demonstration of appreciation for effort, attitude, and achievement. Examples:
Weekly all hands meeting concludes with shout-outs from anyone in the organisation to anyone who’s done something remarkable
Replace employee of the month to achievement of the month
Celebrate smaller achievements
As John explains the CFR is a “delivery system” for the OKRs. In other words, CFR helps to turn the goals into actual results. Achieving success with OKR takes a lot more than simply setting and tracking the objectives and key results. CFRs should be happening throughout the OKR cycle in 1:1 meetings and at the end of an OKR cycle. OKRs can only be graded with “complete” or “incomplete” whereas CFRs give a “human voice to the OKRs” by providing opportunity to review and reflect performance and plan better for the future goals.
Football analogy of the CFRs
Let’s say objectives are the goalposts, the targets you’re aiming for, and key results are the incremental yard markers for getting there. To flourish as a group, players and coaches need something more, something vital to any team work. CFRs embody all the interactions that tie the team together from one game to the next. They’re the Monday videotape post mortems, the midweek intrasquad meetings, the preplay huddles — and the end-zone celebrations for jobs well done.
Final thoughts
OKRs are different to other goal setting techniques because it aims to set ambitious goals while establishing specific and time bound key results. OKRs can be easily adopted by organisations as the framework is highly adaptable and flexible. ‘There is no dogma, no one right way to use them. Different organisations have fluctuating needs at various phases of their life cycle. For some, the simple act of making goals open and transparent is a big leap forward. For others, a quarterly planning cadence will change the game It’s up to you to find your point of emphasis and to make the tool your own.’ — John Doerr.
OKR is excellent at providing focus for a company because it links company goals to individual team member’s goals. While OKRs help the teams to answer the question “What will we accomplish?”, it is not enough to maximise team’s performance. CFRs should be used with the ORKs as CFRs help the company to answer the question “How will we develop and motivate our people in order to accomplish it?”.
I wish we had implemented the OKRs and CFRs at the start up I worked in. ORKs are especially useful for young companies that have limited resources and investment as it’s even more vital to be clear on where you’re going. In my view, OKRs is a must for every product teams as it allows the align the product success metrics to the company objectives and enables the teams to laser focus on the most important thing to build. If you’re in product management and haven’t yet read the book Measure what matters — I highly suggest you pick up the book and read it for yourself :)
Julia the product gal | https://medium.com/@awesomeproductsquad/why-all-product-managers-should-apply-objectives-and-key-results-okrs-to-drive-product-success-4af597b68cd | ['Julia Park'] | 2020-12-26 21:10:46.044000+00:00 | ['Product Success', 'Performance', 'Product Management', 'Goal Setting', 'Okr'] |
Seven steps to decide if AI suits your business workflow | By using the right AI technology for your company, you can accelerate your growth. However, business leaders should not forcefully include AI in their operations; instead, they should find specific workflows in which AI can provide maximum value. For example, if you’re in a restaurant company, you might want to use AI to produce weekly analytics by processing electronic bills.
Many executives have a trust issue with up-and-coming technologies like AI about how they fit into their business ecosystem. If you are interested in adopting AI but are not sure whether or not it can fit into your business, below are steps to help kick-start the process of using it in your workflow.
Identify the areas where AI can provide maximum value for your business.
Business is a complex set of intertwined processes that run like a well-oiled machine, so integrating new technology into an existing workflow is not straightforward. Implementing AI comes at a cost and, therefore, value analysis is essential to ensure that your investment gives you maximum returns.
First of all, understand the need for AI in your business. For example, Domino uses AI as part of its infrastructure to boost its pizza delivery.
Real Talk with Data Scientist and Advanced Analytics Manager | skills required for a data scientist
To find out whether your company will benefit from AI, ask yourself a few simple questions:
• What is the size of your company digitized? Company digitization requires the transfer of a raw source of data to a digital format. This can include pictures, numbers, etc. Digitization can help a company to scale. For example, if a shopkeeper sells clothing locally, the reach of the business is limited to a specific demographic. On the opposite, if the shopkeeper wanted to digitize by creating a website, the company could reach out to more customers, sell more clothes, and grow. One example of the potential benefits of digitization is Aim, which saw its stock increase by 66 percent over its 8-year digital transformation initiative.
Digitization brings monetary benefits and helps to track various critical areas of business in order to reduce risks, such as accounting, financial management, inventory management, etc. One will need enormous human capital to carry out all these activities.
AI is efficient when we give it the right amount of digitized data. AI‘s promise lies in discovering secret patterns of data that are not visible to a human being. Digitized data, therefore, plays a vital role in transforming AI sector. If your organization lacks digital data generation, AI may not be needed in the first place.
• What are the different forms of digital data that your company collects, and how do you store it? If AI is a vehicle, then the fuel is the digital data.
• Would AI provides a better return over time for the investment of time and money required?
Speak to your engineers to see how AI can solve your business problems
Unplash
Engineers bring a different perspective to your business challenges and can help with valuable suggestions. Consult your in-house engineers to understand the scope of the particular problem and the timeframe to solve it. It is crucial to take advice before any commitments are made because they know the depth of the problem. They can also help you narrow the reach of AI in your company and help you start the creation process.
Determine the implications of AI for your revenue model.
Revenue is a key indicator of growth for any company. The defined use of AI cases and their expectations should be evaluated in order to ensure that they do not limit long-term development.
Understand the cost implications of AI for your business.
The AI is still in a growing phase. We see major progress and successful research in AI every year. However, it would be naive to regard it as a low-cost proposition. The cost implications depending on your use case, but they won’t come at a low price. The internet, for example, was costly during its development process. If your company can afford an AI-based solution that can offer a decent value proposition and improve performance, you can opt for it.
Find out how AI is going to help the workers.
Employees are vital to the success of every organization. AI will simplify workflows, enhance decision-making, and create knowledge that can allow workers to concentrate on more challenging tasks. For example, in a call center, workers can benefit from AI handling simple language queries without human interference. It can also help to identify and avoid spam calls. Chatbots are another great example that has become the standard in the service industry these days. There are countless possibilities where AI can support and not replace the workforce.
Real Talk with Data Scientist and Reinforcement Learning Lead | skills required for data scientist
Consider the legal and ethical implications of the implementation of the AI.
Keep in mind that AI is a new technology. It is evolving at a rapid pace and can raise some unforeseen challenges and ethical questions. There is an ongoing discussion on the ethics of AI and the extent to which it should be regulated. You need to make sure that your business is not affected by such external forces.
Enhance your learning of AI.
A common misapprehension of AI among business owners is that AI is capable of solving any problem with little or no human interference. The present state of AI is nowhere near general intelligence. To realize the true value proposition of AI in your company, keep up to date with current AI advancements.
Prerequisite for Data Science: It’s Not What You Think It Is | 4000° PLASMA LIGHTSABER BUILD
Initially, spend as little as possible and try to get a working prototype ready. Set short-term targets and assess progress when evaluating an AI solution. It is important to increase your understanding of AI through this process and to have trust once you know its challenges. If you want to accelerate your business growth with AI, you should be willing to learn and adapt quickly to changes.
My advice to you is to be open-minded and think outside of the box while you are looking for a career in data science. It will give you a competitive edge in your career in data science.
Bio: Shaik Sameeruddin I help businesses drive growth using Analytics & Data Science | Public speaker | Uplifting students in the field of tech and personal growth | Pursuing b-tech 3rd year in Computer Science and Engineering(Specialisation in Data Analytics) from “VELLORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY(V.I.T)”
Career Guide and roadmap for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence &and National & International Internship’s, please refer :
More articles for your data science journey: | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/seven-steps-to-decide-if-ai-suits-your-business-workflow-6b8518969303 | ['Shaik Sameeruddin'] | 2020-10-20 12:41:27.686000+00:00 | ['Data Visualization', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Technology'] |
The 5 functions you need to know | Knowing the following set of functions helps you to describe the change in income, the growth of your company, the number of COVID-19 cases, …
Logarithmic Functions
Logarithmic functions are also monotonically increasing, but after a quick initial phase they are only increasing very slowly:
Image by Martin Thoma.
Logarithms have a base. In the example above you can see two examples with base 2 and one example with base 10. The higher the base, the slower the function grows. Logarithmic functions have two phases:
0 < x < 1: Negative phase. The closer to get to zero, the more negative the logarithms value becomes.
x = 1: The logarithm of 1 is zero for all bases.
x > 1: The logarithm keeps growing.
One invariant to know is
This means the logarithm to base b reverses the exponential function to base b.
In computer science, this kind of growth behavior is associated with trees:
A binary search tree. Image by Martin Thoma
At every node in this tree, the left subtree is smaller or equal to the node and the right subtree is bigger than the node. If you want to check if a value is there, you can make a series of checks. If that tree was a balanced tree — meaning you have the same amount of nodes at the left as you have on the right, then the number of checks you have to perform grows logarithmically with the number of elements:
1 element → 1 check
2–3 elements → 2 checks
4–7 elements → 3 checks
8–15 elements → 4 checks
16–31 elements → 5 checks
This is extremely relevant to design fast algorithms. If you see O(log(n)), very likely a binary search or a binary tree is involved. If you see O(n log(n)), very likely sorting is done.
Linear Functions
Linear functions are described by f(x)=m⋅x where m is called the slope.
Three linear functions with different slopes. A slope of 2 means the value increases by 2 with every increase of x. A slow of 0.5 means the values increases by 0.5 with every step. Image by Martin Thoma
A typical workers wage is a linear function over the time. This means the x-axis represents the time and the y-axis represents the money the worker earned. If they work double the time, they get double the income. If they work half the time, the income halves.
As a developer, one might think that a lot of the resources also show linear growth: If your website has double the amount of users, you need double the amount of machines to show a similar performance. In reality, due to caching or inefficient algorithms it might be more complicated.
A slightly more complex version of a linear function is called an affine function: f(x)=m⋅x+t —but pretty often, one does not make this distinction and calls affine functions also linear functions. The parameter t is called the intercept. The intercept just pushes the whole function up or down.
Fuel consumption for driving x kilometers is another real world example of a linear function: If you drive double the distance, you will approximately need double the fuel.
Quadratic Functions
3 quadratic functions. In computer science, you’re usually only interested in the part x>0 of the red line. Image by Martin Thoma
Quadratic functions have the form
The x² leads to the characteristic behaviour, that a doubling of x means the value increases by a factor of 4:
x ⋅ 2 → f(x) ⋅ 4
x ⋅ 3 → f(x) ⋅ 9
x ⋅ 4 → f(x) ⋅ 16
In software development, it typically happens when you need to look at all combinations of a set. For example, if you had a dating platform and you wanted to check for every pair of users if they are a good fit. This quickly grows out of hand, although today's computer can deal with astonishingly big numbers.
Linear and quadratic functions belong to the bigger family of polynomial functions. Polynomials are described like this:
n is the degree of the polynomial. A linear function is a polynomial of degree 1, a quadratic function has degree 2. The constant a_n has to be different from zero, but can be negative. All other constants a_i can have an value.
Polynomials are important in a variety of different applications in computer science and mathematics, but for describing growth it’s usually fine to just know cubic, quadratic, linear, and constant functions.
Exponential functions
Image by Martin Thoma
Exponential functions multiply their value by the base with every unit step. Exponential functions are typically used to calculate unlimited growth of bacteria and viruses under ideal conditions.
For base 2 — the red line in the image above — some of the values are:
x=-1→y=0.5
x=0→y = 1
x=1→ y=2
x=2→ y=4
x=3→y=8
x=4→y=16
You can see how this becomes extremely huge after a while. This is also visualized by the wheat and chessboard problem.
Sigmoid functions
Image by Martin Thoma
Exponential growth only describes the growth of bacteria under ideal conditions. This is true for the starting phase, but the world’s resources are limited. At some point there will not be enough food to continue growth. The curve flattens out.
Sigmoid functions capture this behaviour of limited growth. They have an initial phase where they grow very slowly. Closely around their symmetry point — at x=0 for the red and the blue line and at x=1 for the green line in the image above— they look linear.
Logistic functions are a very typical subclass of the sigmoid functions. Logistic functions are described by the following equation:
L defines the upper boundary. In all shown examples, the functions approach y=1
The function has a symmetry point at (x_0, L/2)
The bigger k, the more steep the function is
Other important sigmoid functions are the hyperbolic tangent and cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) such as the CDF of the normal distribution.
Both, logistic functions and the hyperbolic tangent are used as a core ingredient in artificial neural networks.
Summary and Outlook
You’ve just seen 5 classes of functions which are relevant when talking about growth. Logarithmic functions are always increasing, but very slow. Faster are linear and quadratic functions. Exponential growth is crazy and does usually only happen for a limited amount of time until a threshold is reached. Then the curve flattens and you see a sigmoid shape.
There are, of course, way more functions and more general properties. Let me know if you want to know more about function properties, distributions or just some awesome and astonishing functions I’ve seen during my computer science / math classes. | https://martinthoma.medium.com/the-5-functions-you-need-to-know-602e06d6b86 | ['Martin Thoma'] | 2020-08-05 18:11:26.650000+00:00 | ['Mathematics Education', 'Programming', 'Software Engineering', 'Mathematics', 'Complexity'] |
The Principle of Feedback | This episode continues our discussion on the Three Ways of DevOps. The previous episodes introduced DevOps, the “Three Ways”, and the flow-the first way. This episode covers the second way of DevOps: Feedback.
The DevOps philosophy works by establishing ways of working that feed back into each other. The first way establishes fast from flow development to production, or in other words, high velocity. Organizations can’t stop there. Imagine yourself driving a car but with one catch: there’s no speedometer, fuel gauge, or other indicators. You could accelerate to a point, but eventually you’d need to know how fast you’re driving so you can speed up or slow down; or you’d need to know how much fuel is left so you can stop to fill up or not.
This is the principal of feedback in action. We need telemetry about our ongoing actions to make subsequent decisions. Driving a car reliably without a gas gauge would be pretty hard. The same idea also applies to software. Production systems provide a wealth of information about them. Let’s call this information telemetry. Telemetry may be time series data, alerts, or logs; it’s any data that provides insight into operational conditions. Once teams have telemetry, then they can use as the basis for subsequent development.
This usually take two forms: using telemetry to automatically detect error conditions and page an engineer or as maintenance work.
Here’s an example of each: automated monitoring detects a critical job hasn’t run in 48 hours then pages an engineer; Engineers observe telemetry to detect increased memory then decide to allocate more memory to prevent future out-of-memory errors.
Both these examples are technical. Teams tend to focus on these areas, but they need to aim higher. The Principal of Feedback must be applied to all layers in the value steam, so that means the business too.
Good businesses track their “success” metrics. They’re likely enumerated by quarter in some huge Google Sheet. They’re numbers like “new user signups”, “monthly recurring revenue”, or “minutes watched”. Management deeply cares about this telemetry since they driving short, medium, and long term planning.
Plus, this telemetry has something that technical telemetry does not: it’s much easier to understand. That makes it a rallying point for more people in the organization. Let’s face it. It’s just harder to rally an entire business behind”Let’s drop the frontend to backend latency!” compared to “Let’s boost our signups!”.
There’s another important point here: something may only be improve if it’s measurable. This is where DevOps overlaps with the “Lean” philosophy. I’d like do a future episode on lean because it’s so powerful and fits nicely along side the second and third way of DevOps. For now let’s focus on lean and it’s relation to the second way of DevOps.
Lean proposes thinking about business as a series of hypothesis validated by real world experience. A common example is first putting up a landing page for a non-functional product, then seeing if the landing page converts users. If the page converts users, then there is interest so it’s worth subsequent experiments to further validate the idea. If the page does not convert, then try something else. Repeat as many times as necessary. This example demonstrates the principal of feedback. In this example, the team is measuring the conversion rate, then plotting a course according to empirical data.
I cannot over emphasize the importance of empirical data. If we are not using empirical data then we’re effectively guessing — and that is dangerous! Here’s one of my favorite passages from the DevOps Handbook:
The outcomes of A/B tests are often startling. Ronny Kohavi, Distinguished Engineer and General Manager of the Analysis and Experimentation group at Microsoft, observed that after “evaluating well-designed and executed experiments that were designed to improve a key metric, only about one-third were successful at improving the key metric!” In other words, two-thirds of features either have a negligible impact or actually make things worse. Kohavi goes on to note that all these features were originally thought to be reasonable, good ideas, further elevating the need for user testing over intuition and expert opinions.
Whoa, scary right! So, if Microsoft only had 1/3 success rate for well designed experiments, imagine their luck if they were shooting from the hip.
As scary as it seems, this is great rallying point for the principal of feedback. The Principal of feedback calls for establishing automated telemetry across all phases of the value stream — from planing, development, and into production — so that teams can monitor their health across the value steam, then ultimately their progress towards business objectives. In other words, if teams have telemetry about their current course, they’re able too — and hopefully more likely too — take a step back and see if things are moving in the right direction.
That’s a good stopping point because we can pick up this conversation again with the Third Way of DevOps in the next episode. Head over the podcast website smallbatches.dev for a transcript and show notes. If you enjoyed this episode then please tweet it and share with your friends and colleagues.
Until the next one, good luck our there and happing shipping. Adidos! | https://medium.com/small-batches/the-principle-of-feedback-f8f7045cdbfc | ['Adam Hawkins'] | 2020-03-23 18:13:10.292000+00:00 | ['DevOps', 'Continuous Delivery', 'Software Engineering', 'Monitoring', 'Software Development'] |
Deploy smart contract on XinFin Testnet through XinFin Remix and XinPay. | Deploy smart contract on XinFin Testnet through XinFin Remix and XinPay.
Step by step guide to deploy the smart contract on XinFin Testnet (Apothem) through XinFin Remix and XinPay.
Stage 1: Setup the Environment
You can find the XinFin remix at remix.xinfin.network. After this, you need to select the environment according to your contract.
After selecting the environment according to your contract you need to create a new file and name it.
Then you just need to paste your contract in the new file which you have created and select the compiler version as per your contract.
And then compile your contract.
Stage 2: Add XinPay in Chrome
After compiling your contract, you need to deploy it.
You would need to download XinPay in order to further deploy your contract.
in order to further deploy your contract. Afterwhich, you can simply XinPay as an extension in your Google Chrome browser.
For more details on how to get started with XinPay Crypto Asset, click here
Once you accept all the terms and conditions, enter a strong password, and remember your password as every time you would need to feed in the password in order to access XinPay.
After that, you will see a seed with which you can access your wallet. Make sure you take a proper backup of your Keystore as XinFin network is decentralized.
Post this, you would need to select the XinFin Apothem network where you can get the test token from Faucet.
Stage 3: Deploy the contract
After getting the test token on XinPay, you can deploy the token from XinFin Remix and submit the required transaction.
and submit the required transaction. If the user wishes to deploy a smart contract on XinFin mainnet user will just require to change the network on XinPay and follow the same steps. Note: To deploy smart-contract on XinFin Mainnet users must have real tokens.
Post the deployment of the contract you can check the tx hash on the XinPay. This means you have deployed your contract successfully and you can check it on XinFin Scan.
Stage 4: Interact with contract
You can also interact with your smart contract on the XinFin remix.
For Telegram Support Join: https://t.me/xinfintech
Watch the video for visual assistance.
About XinFin
XinFin is an open-source enterprise-ready Hybrid Blockchain for Global Trade and Finance.
XinFin network capabilities allow all types of enterprises to connect their legacy systems with a Blockchain Network via XDC Protocol and messaging compatible with ISO20022 standard. It combines the power of Public and Private Blockchains with interoperable smart contracts. XinFin is fully EVM compatible. For more information on XinFin, please visit www.xinfin.org or learn more about XinFin in this video.
Useful link for XinFin Masternode
Steps to Setup Masternode on XinFin MainNet
XinFin Mobile Wallet
XinFin Web Wallet
Steps to resign master node
Step by step guide to issue your own token on XinFin network
Step by step guide to swap token on XinFin network
Guide to setup node with one click installer
Watch the video to Setup XinFin Masternode with One-Click installer
Follow XinFin on:
Twitter: ( @ ) XinFin_Official
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xinfin/
Telegram: https://t.me/xinfintalk | https://medium.com/xinfin/deploy-smart-contract-on-xinfin-testnet-through-xinfin-remix-and-xinpay-dfbbf9dcc3f7 | ['Xinfin Xdc Hybrid Blockchain Network'] | 2020-05-04 06:37:46.534000+00:00 | ['Xinpay', 'Smart Contracts', 'Blockchain', 'Xinfin', 'Xinfin Remix'] |
How to Tender for Building Work: Tips from the Experts | Have you got questions on how to tender for building work? We have the answers…
When you’re looking for how to tender for building work, you may have several questions. The more you learn, the more questions may arise. Luckily, we aim to offer as much advice as we can. If you have questions, we will use decades of experience and our 87% success rate to offer support.
Let’s get into how to tender for building work.
Finding building work opportunities
When you want to search for bid opportunities, the easiest and best way is through portals. This is the first stage of how to tender for building work. There are several sites, ours included, that offer streamlined experiences to help make finding contracts easy. The UK has a contract finder, for example, that allows users to use filters. These filters can be selected to show results that are suitable for SMEs or from certain periods of time. You can also discover awarded contracts. It is a great tool for finding contracts.
As mentioned, there are lots of sites that host portals for tender opportunities. These portals make it much easier to find contracts. So, instead of going through dozens of websites and painstakingly searching, you can easily find the information you need. One aspect that sets our portals apart from the rest is that we don’t use CPV codes. This means we check all opportunities as we upload them to our portal, so no contracts will be missed.
Since we are focused on how to tender for building work, we recommend our construction portal.
It is important when searching for opportunities that you check your eligibility. Many businesses will bid for work they cannot actually deliver. This is a huge waste of time, money, and resources. If you hire bid writing services, these experts will be able to help you break down a bid, checking your eligibility.
Writing the bid
Once you have selected the opportunity you wish to pursue, you can begin to write your bid. A lot of people may worry at this stage. A lot goes into bid writing, so it can be better to hire an expert. Professional bid writers can take the stress out of the process for you by handling the entire thing. They may even submit the bid on your behalf. Whether you choose to write it yourself or hire an expert, here’s what needs to be implemented to ensure success.
Break down the documents
The first stage of writing your bid is to break down the buyer’s documents. This is important so you know exactly what is required. This is often done when checking for eligibility as you can see whether you can deliver the required work.
2. Use excellent writing and communication skills
Writing a bid does require excellent writing and communication skills. This is why so many businesses outsource to bid writers. It is their job to do it well. Your bid needs to be well written and communicate clearly your ideas and concepts.
3. Proofreading abilities
Your bid is your opportunity to stand out and impress the buyer. You won’t do this if your bid is full of errors. It gives the impression you are not thorough with your work. So, it is important to proof and edit your work, so it is as close to perfect as possible.
4. Time and project management
Since tenders often have several deadlines, it is important to be organised. This is why it is important to break down the tender. This way you can work out exactly what needs to be done, and when to do it by.
Summary
In summary, the process of how to tender for building work is broken into two parts:
Finding the opportunities
Writing the bid.
These are some of the skills needed to increase your chances of success:
Breaking down the documents Using excellent writing and communication skills Proofreading abilities Time and project management.
If you still have questions on how to tender for building work, don’t hesitate to contact us. We aim to help however we can, and we are confident we can support you.
Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including:
Our services
Tender Writing
Once you’ve found the perfect bid for your business, send it our way. Our Bid Writers can take care of the whole thing for you they’ll even submit it on your behalf. They’ll let you know what they need from you, providing you with a full Tender Writing breakdown.
Tender Ready
Our Tender Ready 4-week programme is perfect for businesses that have never tendered before. A Bid Writer will work with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully. They can also help you better understand the tendering process. Tender Ready offers your business:
A 12-month subscription to one Hudson Discover.
Access to Global Bid Directors and Senior Bidding Professionals.
An Organisation-wide Bid library, including 3 case studies, 5 CVs and policies.
Additional flexible benefits.
Tender Improvement
If you’ve been tendering but aren’t seeing success from your current efforts, our Tender Improvement package can help. Our Bid Team will assess your previous responses and tender documents. They will work with you to improve for future submissions. This package includes a 12-month subscription to a Hudson Discover portal and additional tendering development services.
Tender Mentor
If you’ve written your own tender response and need it double-checked for errors, Tender Mentor can help. A Bid Writer will proofread your work for any inconsistencies, grammar or spelling mistakes. They will also ensure it’s in line with the specification before you submit. This can help you formulate a winning submission.
Additional support
If you only need the assistance with PQQs or SQs we can help. Send the information over to us and we can provide you with a quote for the work involved.
Discover Elite
Upgrading to Discover Elite can help optimise your tendering efforts — even when you’re busy. Our two new time-saving tools can improve your competitor awareness and success rate when bidding for a contract.
The Ultimate Time Saver package offers your business:
A maximum of five tender breakdowns per month.
An annual subscription to a maximum of two Hudson Discover sector-specific portals. This option can help businesses that overlap two industries such as Healthcare and Technology, for example.
Pre-market and award engagement notices monitored on your behalf.
Buyer portal management, including registration, password management, downloading documents and assessing viability based on your bid or no-bid strategy.
Weekly phone calls with your dedicated Account Manager to discuss viable tendering opportunities.
The Become a Pre-Bid Master package also includes:
All of the above.
Up to seven tender breakdowns per month.
A Bid Strategy delivered by a Senior Bid Manager with a minimum of 5 years of experience. It will also be managed by our Global Bid Director.
Contact us to find out how we can help your business grow. | https://medium.com/@hudsonsucceed/how-to-tender-for-building-work-tips-from-the-experts-c11961c1dc05 | ['John Hudson - Hudson Succeed'] | 2021-12-22 13:00:29.137000+00:00 | ['Procurement', 'Business Strategy', 'Outsourcing', 'Business Growth', 'Business Development'] |
US Civil war or Revolution? — Putin’s heaven. | The narcissist and his victims — The $50 trillion steal from America’s suckers, you know…the workers.
President Donald Trump as he returns to the White House after posing for photographs in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church on June 1, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Source: TheNation
For Trump and the elite, it is better to set up 99% of the population against each other than to have the 99% revolts against the 1%
So the mad man, who has been latching onto any and all conspiracy theory, and adding a few of his own, (the ‘stolen election’, based on nothing but the President’s wish, a brazen beauty), is on his way out. The Grand Old (White, as conservatives like to keep traditions) Party waits until their authoritarian cult-leader has burned-down as much of US democracy as he can, whilst simultaneously pretending to protect it. His followers believe both: Trump protects democracy and destruction of the democratic institutions is the right thing to do.
A narcissist can get his victims to act against their own interests.
This acceptance of contradictory statements is an important characteristic of the relationship between the narcissist and their victims. The narcissist makes one claim and also claims the opposite in the same sentence, or he acts in direct contrast to the claim they just made. This results in cognitive dissonance in the mind of the victim who will justify both contradictory claims. They cannot align the love they feel for their leader with his claims and actions, so, discombobulated as they are, they double down on the love for their leader and justify his behavior: “You don’t understand. He does this out of love for me”. As a result, the victims let go of logic to the point of denying evil when they see it. They lose all mental control over themselves. They have become cannon fodder for their narcissistic leader. Cults function this way. And Churches. And Terrorism. And the Republican party under Trump.
The President and some of his 2nd level cult-representatives mocked mask-wearers during the pandemic; Trump calling their responsible behavior ‘politically correct’, to much laughter and disdain from his audiences who only want to hear what they want to hear. They don’t see the virus so they believe it doesn’t exist. If you believe that it does exist then you have to act on it. Rather not act on it? Just deny it. And here is a President who tells you that you are the clever one! Such a relief.
As such Trump is co-responsible for the deaths that have occurred as a result of his followers acting unaware of the risks they posed to themselves and others.
After having checked that his followers are happy to walk unprotected into a pandemic, risking their own lives and that of their families, Trump and his enablers are now asking that their followers be prepared to die for their country. It’s only a small, and logical step after you have already bought into virus-denial and denial of all responsibilities to yourself and your fellow man. Arizona GOP quotes Rambo: “This is what we do, who we are: Live for nothing, or die for something.” (Forbes). It is the same call to arms of Al-Qaeda.
Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kelli Ward, with husband Michael Ward and other family members by her side, concedes the primary in a speech to supporters at an election night event on August 28, 2018, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Source: Forbes — Getty Images
It’s apt. Trump-voters feel empty and angry. They love their Leader. He is the only way out of their desperate situation. It should be noted here that many in the US are indeed in a desperate situation as the buying-power of their pay-packets has been diminishing over the past 45 years whilst that of the top 1% has been increasing exponentially. Trump appears to give them a simple way out. He asks them to sacrifice themselves for their country. He is giving them a mission. They can now die believing that they are heroes. They are too exhausted to see that the 1% is setting up the 48% to pick up their guns and fight the other 51%.
American against American. Putin is in heaven.
If you have been working hard over the past decades and you have seen the increased GDP go to the elite year after year, whilst you earn less and less and the cost of living keeps increasing, you become frustrated and desperate. It doesn’t help if you do not have the ability to look at the complexity of the powers of government, the workings of the economy, and of societal change. Even the brightest and richest among us don’t have the time or capacity to get our head around these complex forces. We trust the democratic institutions. The checks and balances. Until we get so angry that we don’t. We project the cause of our dire situation onto others. And as we will see in this article: so we should.
The only thing is that those angry enough to pick up their guns believe that their enemy is the other 50%. Instead, it is the 1%. It has always been the 1%. The 1% is the enemy of the People.
Fight the enemy! Finally a cause out of my daily misery.
A Rambo quote and slogans like “America First”, “Clean Coal Jobs”, “Covid is not a problem”, “Democrats want to steal your Freedom”, are a good outlet for the frustrations accumulated over the last half-century for almost 50% of Americans. Maybe it feels good for more than 50%, but a faction is educated and intelligent enough to understand that these simple slogans do not provide structural solutions. These slogans do the opposite. They deflect from the real problems. To many Americans divisive slogans give a feeling of relief: it’s not my fault; it’s Mexicans, Jews, Black people, Democrats. We point the finger to others. Our Leader shows us whom to blame. No more abstract stuff. Just more money. It’s simple after all. “Mexicans are rapists”. Away with Democrats and their abstract shit that never results in a dollar more in our pay-packets. At least Republicans have changed under Trump. “Trump may not always be right, but he says it like it is”. “Trump no longer make deals with the elite because he doesn’t need to, he’s a billionaire after all”.
The reality is that there is no need for politicians to make deals with the elite: the government is the elite.
“Long live the elite!”, shout the Trump supporters. Only they don’t know it. At the same time that Trump c.s. are helping themselves and the others in the top 1% to even more money and more power, Trump supporters are now so vested in their beliefs that they must ignore that this is happening at the expense of the 99% to which they belong. Trump supporters must ignore this, or there would be no hope for them left. When they do admit it, they must justify it: “That is the American Dream. That’s what makes America great! We have the most Billionaires in the world!” Also, they cannot simply negate the feelings of love they have vested into their President.
Like bin Laden, Trump and his vasals are creating a willful army of suicidal fighters. They make their vasals believe that it is better to die for their beliefs than to identify and face the real problems.
Admitting reality, that life for the unprivileged can be shit, that they have been taken for a ride by the privileged elite and that their Leader, Trump, is the champion of this elite, it is too much, too hard to admit!
If desperate and without hope, then dying for a cause sounds good. Dying a hero. Romantic. You see yourself as a hero, a winner. Better than living and dying a loser (conveniently forgetting that Trump will call you a loser afterwards anyway). The cause is the solution. The cause is fighting the enemy. The enemy is those who do not love the Leader. Allah Akbar!
You can hardly blame the elite.
The people who vote for such simple ‘solutions’ deserve what is coming to them.
This is how the elite justifies misleading their followers. Followers = suckers. Trump’s followers believe this wholeheartedly. The irony escapes them.
People with money and power, who also view the world through a binary lens, see the ones with money and power as winners, and the rest, especially followers, as losers. It’s no surprise that Trump calls soldiers, who died for their country, ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’ (The Guardian). Winners send people into battle but do not take any risk themselves. Trump will send his followers onto the barricades, but he will be on the golf course. Why would they fight? They have no reason and nothing to gain by fighting themselves. Again: winners stay away from the battlefield. The battlefield is for suckers. Anyone surprised that Trump calls former Presidential candidate and Republican senator McCain a ‘dummy’ for being captured by the Viet-Cong, and adding “I don’t like losers”.
Trump himself obviously never served in the military and got out of the draft because of hypothetical ‘bone spurs’ that were added to his medical record after his previous medical didn’t put him at the bottom of the draft-list (Politifact). Trump: a draft dodger who regards fallen and captured soldiers as losers, suckers, and dummies. That’s the man representing the true Republican spirit.
His followers and his Republicans let go of their tradition of honoring the military, instead they revere the draft-dodger. They love him. They depend on him. The Republican party used to view senator McCain as a war hero, but they did not defend his reputation against a draft dodger’s cheap, underhanded attacks. Republicans needed Trump’s base as a platform for the elite to seize more power and the time was ripe for an extremist authoritarian to undo American democracy in favor of the 1%. Without Trump, the Republican base was crumbling even faster than that of the Democrats.
How could half of America let go of the things they stood for and applaud a vile, selfish, narcissistic if not psychopathic, man?
Glad, you asked.
It is true that American governments, Democrat and Republican, have conspired to direct the totality of the GDP-growth of the last 45 years to the top 1% (or more precisely: to the top 0.1%). A new report by RAND Corporation found that (see: Business Insider):
$2.5 trillion is redistributed from the bottom 90% of Americans to the wealthiest 1% of Americans every year.
The median college-educated American worker would have seen their annual pay double without this theft.
The Democratic party has continuously been shifting to the right since the early 1970s, as it distanced itself from the anti-war progressives, the hyppies, the anti-establishment protesters questioning capitalism, the very foundation of American Freedom (and justification for the existence of the ultra-rich). The Democratic Party became, in fact, a party that catered to the elite but kept throwing moral platitudes and high-brow rhetoric to the voters. The Clintons embodied this two-faced spirit of serving the elite whilst pretending to serve the 99%, like no other Democratic leaders. It is no accident that Hillary Clinton referred to the non-intellectual strugglers as ‘Deplorables’. She spoke her true feelings. The Bushes were, as Republicans used to be, much more upfront about their objective to serve the elite. Conservatives want to conserve the elite and the working class.
Professional politicians, and Trump is right on this, decided that truly representing the working class was less beneficial than leveraging their voting base to the elite. The Republicans have been more blatantly honest: “hey! we are here for the rich people!”, and they told the poor “you want the rich to be protected because you don’t want what you have to be taken away either!”. “That’s what socialists want: to take away what you have. Even your freedom to believe in the American Dream. Your dream of one day becoming rich should never be extinguished.” False hope to the people whilst consolidating the position of the elite. That’s conservatism if you strip away the rhetoric. After all: ‘conservative’, that doesn’t really shout: let us have a more equitable distribution of the wealth generated by the nation now, does it?.
The Democrats’ shift to the right meant that the Republicans could move even further to the right, to distinguish themselves. So far to the right as to endorse authoritarianism (“Maybe I stay longer than 8 years”), racism (“Mexican rapists”, “good people on both sides”), male chauvinism (“grab’m by the pussy”, and “Proud Boys stand by”), violence (“Free Michigan”, “Stop the Steal” rallies that said: “I am willing to give my life for this fight.”, see Forbes) and deceiving the American people by spreading lies to the point that many Americans believe that Covid is a hoax and that Democrats are evil Satanic cannibalistic pedophiles (“I don’t know much about QAnon but they support me and they are against pedophiles so that sounds good to me”).
Republican supporters repeat anything their leader says, justify it or think it is funny. Voters so desperately need something different from the previous decades of governmental deceit that they have put all their hopes into The One Who Is Not A Politician. They are prepared to accept anything he says as long as it is a radical break from the same-old-same-old politics. From “lock her up” and “Democrats are Satan-worshipping pedophile cannibals” to“if Trump loses, it is because the elections are rigged”, they will heed his call. At least it is not that same old abstract shit the Democrats push onto people only to increase taxes. All their leader needs to do is repeat the slogans for his followers to believe. The enemy is the Democrats and everything related to the establishment and politics, everything that is complex, everyone who tells you to do things you don’t want to do, everyone who thinks differently from you.
In the mean-time, Putin sees the US crumble and all he has to do is flood the social networks with outrageous conspiracies. They cannot be outrageous enough. Trump will fan the flames of discord by amplifying these conspiracies. People will clash. Politicians place their bets after social network analytics show them how many believe this or that conspiracy.
Al-Qaeda taught us that desperate people need to believe. The more desperate, the more they identify with their belief and the more outrageous their belief can be. 72 virgins forever? And they remain virgins after penetration? And what did those virgins do to be rewarded like that for eternity? For Americans, a simple: “die for your country”, will do just fine, even though your President will call you a sucker after you died. Their belief gives them a mission, and if you don’t have anything else, a mission will make you a hero. Well-educated people were led to believe that they needed to die for Allah. They flew planes into buildings. Now, hard-working Americans are happy to die from Covid-19 or in a civil-war against Democrats and the very institutions that make up America. They would do so, even knowingly, for the elite. At least they have a mission. No matter how misguided.
Republicans perceived that the lower-classes were disgruntled with politicians and with Democrats in particular. They saw politicians (even though they themselves were no different), lining their pockets by catering to the elite. They believed, not without cause, that America consisted of a rich and powerful elite that is well-educated and self-serving and that politicians and the Media were spreading false information. Democratic Presidents talked about complex issues and made arguments that most of the working class found difficult to follow, if not against their interests; arguments about a changing world-economy and about climate change for example. What’s in it for them? Fewer jobs and higher taxes. Higher taxes, anti-gun, pro-abortion, health-care for all, and equal rights for all is not what they, the white strugglers want to hear. And remember, the whole of the middle-class is now struggling, even those on an income of $150,000 have difficulty paying their bills. Even in their current privileged position, white strugglers feel they can hardly cope. Democrats ignored that blue-collar and middle-income Americans were working harder and more hours than ever, yet end up with less money in their pocket year after year. This whilst GDP had been growing year on year. The most pressing issue to many Americans was: “why is it more difficult year after year to make ends meet?”. Their attitude became: “piss-off with your stories about the economy and climate change and equal rights. Make sure that I have a well-paying job and lower my taxes! It is ME-time!”
Trump honed into this discontent and the working class’s inability to understand the complexities of the changing times. There is enough reason to doubt Trump’s own understanding of complex issues but that happens to play in his favor as it is easier to publicly espouse simple ideas that you already believe and spout them to your frustrated audience. It makes him come across as authentic.
Coal-plants are no longer as financially sustainable as they once were, but miners only see their jobs disappear, they don’t have an MBA to analyze the changing energy infrastructure, or to understand the economic analysis that comes to one simple conclusion: coal is shrinking as a major source of energy so jobs in this sector disappear. “Coal-mining stays” is all they want to hear. And Trump just says it. Democrats keep ‘educating’ an increasingly angry population who doesn’t want to be taught.
Republicans decided to use Al-Qaeda marketing to gain the souls of voters. Repetition = Truth. The word ‘Democrats’ is replaced with ‘Radical Left’. Anything against Trump is ‘Deep State’ or ‘Radical Left’. Allah Akbar!
Trump appeals to this audience with simple bumper-sticker messages such as: “America First!” and “Clean coal!”. It’s enough to win the strugglers’ vote. It doesn’t matter that the messages ignore the complexity of reality, nor that they are meaningless and do not deliver better outcomes for voters. The desperate vote is wishful thinking. A simple message that reflects their wishful thinking will get their vote. Hence: “Beautiful clean coal” and “America First” and “Democrats are the radical left”. Trump and his party decided to ignore reality and provide the American people with a clear enemy and with the slogans that they want to hear: “Build the Wall”, “Lock her up!”, “Democrats are pedophiles”. Anything will do. Repetition = Truth. Allah Akhbar!
Republicans have been talking to “deplorables” since talk-back radio was invented. Republicans simply amplify discontent.
In the meantime, Democrats kept believing that the American people are, by and large, intelligent, educated voters who understand complexity and arguments based on facts. This reflects the Democrats’ ivory tower. Trump’s campaign manager had done his research. The analytics showed that discontent due to continuous reduction of buying power didn’t exist just in the traditional deplorables’ red mid-west and southern states, but also in the richer blue states where higher earners like the ones earning say $150,000 were finding it harder and harder to pay their bills.
The Ivy League Democrats have lost their ways a long time ago and now have no idea how to talk to the poorer, less educated classes. Republicans (also Ivy League by the way) do: they don’t try to educate them, they just amplify their discontent.
They have been talking to, and with, the so-called ‘deplorables’ since radio was invented. Through the radical Republican mouthpieces of talk-back radio and, since 1996, Fox News, Republicans have been amplifying the discontent of taxi-drivers, plant-workers, meat-packers, and any other workers in low-intellect, physical industries. It provides their listeners and viewers with a channel to spout their frustrations, hear like-minded talk-show hosts not only agree with them but also fan the flames of anger and direct that anger to their political enemies. The Republicans channel frustration, fear and perceived unfairness even though the party represents only one thing: the interests of the elite. This base has increased with the discontent resulting from the great sub-prime recession when many well-educated middle-class professionals lost their jobs and became the well-educated deplorables. They never got back to where they were before 2008. They are frustrated too. Brad Parscale’s first Presidential campaign was able to hone into this broader, deeper and overall discontent with the political establishment. Even after Trump had shown all of his weaknesses and his campaign was less powerful than his first one led by Parscale, Trump support in the 2020 election increased from 52% to 55% under white males and from 30% to 35% under white women.
Who needs a Goebels when you have a President with Twitter and an angry audience who adores their Leader and doesn’t care about facts and reason?
People became exhausted because they had to work harder but ended up with less money in their pocket (see below). With less time and energy to understand the changing world and the difficulties confronting society, the bumper sticker messaging of the Republican party became the only messages that got through to these voters. “It is not your fault! It is the Radical Left!”. Repeat ad infinitum.
Republicans dominate the airwaves with their binary view of the world. Fox News, a channel dominated by extreme partisan hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity who have no compulsion to tell the truth, has become the main channel of influence for those too tired to listen to facts, analysis, debates and arguments. Sure CNN and MSNBC are biased, but they use fact and reason to make their arguments, and thus find no reception among angry voters. Fox News (exceptions like Chris Wallace aside) are happy to amplify discontent, feelings and unreasonable conspiracy theories to stay connected to their audience. On top of that they present simple, but fake and dangerous ‘solutions’, and I am not talking about shining UV-light inside your body here.
The Republican Party is the American Conservative Party. Conservatism, political doctrine that emphasizes the value of traditional institutions and practices.
“Conservatism is a preference for the historically inherited rather than the abstract and ideal.” (Britannica). What did we inherit? That’s right! An elite of 1% who owns more than the upper and middle-classes COMBINED! (Bloomberg)
The foundation of the conservative-values is based on the idea that ‘we must defend what we have (the traditional) and if there is to be change then it should be demonstrably practical (to be determined by the elite), implemented slowly and steadily whilst minimizing disruption to the status quo.’ In other words: the elite is to be kept safe and must grow richer and more powerful; the rest stays where they are or should retreat. As you were soldiers!
It looked like the Republican Party would lose the 2016 Election whilst voters were tiring of the political establishment. Voters were not enthused for either party. Hillary Clinton seemed to have the upper hand, and the Republican Party failed to find an inspiring representative.
In comes Donald Trump. A guy who presented himself as a successful businessman. The Republicans and the Democrats dismissed him believing that the American People would be far too clever to vote for a shambolic reality-star, who inherited a fortune from his father and then went bankrupt multiple times so all he had left was to rent-out his fathers’s name and join a reality television-show to lift his brand and ailing bank-account (again, the name he inherited from his father).
Republicans slowly came to understand that Trump’s lack of political background and his political incorrectness, resonated with the people tired of politics. No-one saw this coming, but it looks like he became President because of his ‘pussy-grabbing if you are famous’ statement, not despite of it.
Voters had lost faith not only in the political establishment but also in the other democratic institutions such as Education, Health, the News, the Law, Science, Civility and simple decorum. Insults instead of reasoned argument became the new normal. Trump would be a breath of fresh air who would fan all their anger and frustration and channel it against Democrats. We have reached the point where ‘if you have nothing positive to say about yourself just dump shit on your opponent’ has become a standard approach to politics. Democrats expected that the majority would not fall for it. They were wrong.
The conservative political establishment initially didn’t want him either. He doesn’t stand for ‘keeping dear what we have and minimal change’. Unlike the original conservatives, he doesn’t care about the establishment at all. He doesn’t care about institutions, rule of law, education, health, science, civility nor decorum. These are difficult subjects that require focus, intelligence and reasoning. None of these faculties have been apparent in Trump’s dealing with complex issues, e.g. “We have the best doctors” — then sidelines them because they don’t agree with him, or: “I am a successful businessman and I surround myself with the best people”— then either firing them or they are indicted, jailed and subsequently pardoned by him. And so there are countless other examples.
Trump cares about power. His power. Power should come with his name and with his alleged fortune. Not with reason, facts, intelligent argument and discussion.
The Republican Party understood that with him they could seize victory out of Clinton’s grasp if they doubled down on his divisive bumper-sticker messages. With an authoritarian right-wing President and the Senate in Republican control they could do damage to the democratic foundations that would hand more power and wealth to the top 1%. Even if that meant that they would burn down the traditional institutions that the GOP holds dear (in name only as has now become more than apparent). Republicans would have to destroy their own house. If with Trump they can strengthen their power on the Republican voter-base consisting of the disgruntled, the bikies, racists, ‘deplorables’, the uneducated, the religious and the ultra-wealthy, and also the educated strugglers, then Republicans would sign for it.
They had to gamble or they would have lost against Hillary Clinton. They won, even though they needed the American electoral college system, which favors Republicans (see: Newsweek), to overcome their popular vote-defeat.
Five times a president came into power without the majority of the popular vote, Five times a Republican. Twice the chosen Republican President had neither the majority of the popular vote nor the majority of the electoral vote. (History.com)
It is not surprising that, when the elite makes the rules, that the Republican party that represents the elite first and foremost, finds its way to the Presidency. Today the Conservative Party has become the Trump Party. The Republican voters want Trump, not the old Republican party. Voters want non-politicians. Hence the Conservatives had no choice but to give away the house with all the furniture. They now are the right-wing revolutionary corporate party of Trump and his elite that sees democracy as an obstacle to furthering their personal interests and the disgruntled voters as their tool to get rid of this obstacle.
Biden is not as bad as the mad-man. The Democrats keep their same-old-same-old rhetoric based on fact, reason, and progress, but will keep doing so hand-in-glove with the elite. The elite wouldn’t be the elite if they didn’t have great influence in both parties. Who do you think is financing both these parties? The Dems were not that different from the pre-Trump Republicans, except that the pre-Trump Republicans were much more open about it and catered to antique beliefs such as guns and pro-life and hetero-marriage and … serving elite interests. Republicans also sold corporate-deals and corporate tax-cuts as a feature to the American People whilst Democrats called it a bug that needed to be addressed (but then they never did address it when in power). Now the Republican Party is the tool for Trump’s personal interests even more than the elite.
If it’s good for Trump, then it is good for the elite and for the Republican Party and therefore it is good for the USA. Almost 50% of Americans agree.
Even if they have reservations about him, they hate the Democrats (the Radical Left as it exists now in their minds thanks to Presidential repetition) with such vigor that Trump could ask them to send him their hard-earned money so he can become richer and continue his fight against Democrats after having lost the election. Trump doesn’t concede so he can keep asking his followers, his believers, for more money to keep up the good fight. And he did just that (Reuters). He raised more than 200 Million in the month AFTER LOSING the election. That’s more than double what he raised i the month before the election. Brazen? That’s what Trump supporters like about him! Whilst they are extremely frustrated about not making enough money they send the little money they have to their billionaire leader. How’s that for cognitive dissonance?
Trump voters cognitive dissonance is the same as that of the victim of the narcissist. What he says must be right. He wouldn’t be so cruel and lie to us, we who love him. He loves us. If he asks for help we must help him. If we feel hurt by him, it must be because we do not understand how it is actually good for us.
The mad-man is obviously bad for America. We (but not his followers) can see that he is in it to win it, for himself. The job is to serve the American People, but Trump is in it for himself, not even as President, but for his own ego, and he shows it openly. In the eyes of his many followers, this is the very winner’s attitude that they admire. Fight and never give up. Even in a boxing ring, if you lose, then take your opponent out by shooting him. That’s not treachery! That’s winning! This is the new normal. It is the will of Christ for you to be rich, no matter the cost to others (hence Trump’s appeal to evangelicals). It’s the American Dream. We might say that it’s this attitude that got him into myriad bankruptcies, why he had to pay-off prostitutes, why he got impeached. We might say that he uses the tax-funded office of the Presidency to prop-up the revenues of his resorts, to spend more time and tax-money on his own golf-courses (instead of in cabinet-meetings to help combat the virus), and he even asks his voters for what are poorly disguised personal financial donations. Yet his followers justify it: “well if I were so rich and boss of the country, I would like to enjoy myself on the golfcourss instead of going to the office. Good on him!”.
President Trump bragged about grabbing women by the pussy which, as he pointed out, “you can get away with when you are famous”.
He dodged the draft and ridicules dead and captured soldiers, naming them losers and suckers. Then he asks the military to vote for him.
He told the American People that he was so successful in business because he surrounded himself with the best people and he promised he would do so in government, only to have to use his Presidential pardons to free his associates from jail after they have been convicted of criminal offences.
He told the Ukrainian President to dig -up dirt about his perceived nemesis if he wanted critical US military support against Russia and he got impeached.
He openly supports right-extremism (“Proud boys stand back and stand by”), whilst labeling anyone who disagrees with him as ‘Radical Left’ or ‘Dumb’.
He was a close friend of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and wishes Epstein’s indicted partner-in-crime, Gilaine Maxwell, all the best in her legal battle.
This person is supported by evangelicals, white men and women, Blacks, Latinos, the wealthy, and the poor.
How is it possible that people buy-in to this you ask? Again, I am glad you ask.
The People of the United States believe that there is something rotten in the US. They feel that they are being robbed. US GDP has been growing year over year for the past 50 years and they ask themselves: “Why am I not earning more? Why do I have to work twice as hard to make ends meet?. If the whole country is earning an increase of 3% year on year (GDP increase), then why does it feel that it is harder for me to pay for food, energy-bills, health-care, and rent?”
You are not earning more because the 1% have stolen 50 trillion dollars over the past 45 years. All the profits of the National GDP growth has ended up in the pockets of the elite. The Democrats and the Republicans are complicit to that robbery of the people. (RAND Corp)
It is this feeling of being robbed that has lead them to distrust poliics and the institutions such as News-channels, Science, Education, Healthcare, the Law. They are tired. They are desperate. They are disillusioned. They hate career-politicians. They want to tear it down.
Trump and Q-Anon question everything, espescially facts and reason. From the moon-landing, to the existence of viruses. There are no more facts. Facts are an illusion. Trump says: “Don’t believe what you see!”.
And it feels like it is harder to survive because it is harder to pay your bills. You earn less comparatively than 45 years ago and your money’s value is lower so you can buy less with it. But the top 1% of the nation has never been as rich as they are today.
The Trends in Incomes from 1975 to 2018 report by the RAND Corporation shows that this is truly the case. And before anyone starts, let me clarify for those who do not know RAND Corp.: you don’t get a much more right-leaning corporate think-tank than RAND Corporation. A think-tank that is as far to the right as is legally allowed: pro-corporations, pro-business, pro-profits (although it is a non-profit), pro-military, etc. Anyone still saying that this organization has a left-leaning, altruistic, empathetic, or any other such ‘socialist’ bias? Didn’t think so. Here is what the RAND organization reports:
We document the cumulative effect of four decades of income growth below the growth of per capita gross national income and estimate that aggregate income for the population below the 90th percentile over this time period would have been $2.5 trillion (67 percent) higher in 2018 had income growth since 1975 remained as equitable as it was in the first two post-War decades. From 1975 to 2018, the difference between the aggregate income for those below the 90th percentile and the equitable growth counterfactual totals $47 trillion. (Trends in Income From 1975 to 2018 by Carter C. Price, Kathryn A. Edwards)
To put the above in a more digestible form, let me refer to the Business Insider report URL:
Their URL actually states the point clearly: “Wealthiest 1% has stolen $50 trillion […]”.
The RAND report says that the $50 trillion was stolen over the period from 1975 to 2018 (that is just the last year in the analysis, not an indication that after 2018 this problem has been addressed!). Thatcher-Reagan Neoliberalism anyone?
What does it actually mean that $50 trillion has been taken out of the pockets of the lower 99th percentile? Yes, you read that right. 99th-percentile! Only the top 1% benefited. They amassed all the wealth produced by the nation. No trickling down. Even the people making $150,000/year did not benefit. Let us forget about them, they are ok after all. What about the person earning around $50,000?
If the ultra-rich hadn’t rigged the system in their favor, your annual pay would be doubled — somewhere between $48,000 and $63,000 higher per year.(Goldstein, Business Insider)
If the top 1% hadn’t stolen the increases in National Income over the past 45 years, then those who are now earning $50,000/year would actually be earning $100,000 a year now. Those earning $70,000/year would be earning around $120,000, Those on $35,000/year would now be on $85,000. Not only that, but you would have earned about 10% more every year before 2018 too. Say that on average you would have earned $5,000/year more over this period. That is: $225,000 over 45 years! And this is too conservative, as the RAND publication says it is: $450,000 each of us has handed the top 10%!
So, not only would you be earning $50,000/year more now, you would have earned $450,000 more over the past 45 years. That’s a nice mortgage. Those people who told you that they worked hard to get rich lied to you. They want you to believe that if you work hard you would become rich too. You worked hard but you are not rich. They are rich and but didn’t work hard. Look at Trump. Did he have a headstart? How about Murdoch? The game is rigged. That $450,000 you worked for ended up in their pockets.
So yes my friend, there have been a few people pocketing your $450,000!
Thanks to the proliferation of trickle-down policies like tax cuts, wage suppression, and stock-market deregulation, 90% of all Americans are demonstrably worse off financially than they were 45 years ago. (Paul Constant, Business Insider, 19 September 2020)
What to do now that you know that you have been conned? You embraced the ‘trickle-down-economy’ hoax. The trickle-down-economy was sold to us as: ‘if we make the rich richer, then they will spend more, which creates more job opportunities and higher salaries’. We voted for this. You voted for Reagan (and Thatcher in the UK). We all, the 90%, paid the price of it ever since.
The rich believe that they are rich because they are better with money than you and me, that’s why they are rich and that’s why they should handle the money. And it’s just a side-effect that if they control the money flow, the money will end-up in their pockets. Oh dear me. We deserve to have lost those $450,000. It’s not like they didn’t tell us. Trickle-down economy of the top 10%. After 10 Mansions, 5 super-yachts, 20 luxury sports-cars, 4 personal trainers, 5 chefs and 100 staff they are not going to buy more stuff.
They buy shares in companies with their (your) extra cash, and as the companies become overvalued (say the NYSE passes 30,000) that part that has no productivity value goes to the CEO and the Board, who…that’s right…are in the top 10%. With the extra cash companies do stock buy-backs which increases stock-prices which increases the wealth of those holding the stock, which is the, you guessed it, the 10%. If you are in the top 10% you buy real-estate, you own energy companies, medical/pharmaceutical companies, communications companies. Stuff people need to survive. Then you combine forces and you tell governments that they have to be lenient with taxes and with money-flows because else they will take their business elsewhere. Governments acquiesce because they want the jobs. Without jobs, people create problems and do not vote for you. Companies siphon the profits, without paying taxes, to their owners, the shareholders. At the same time the salaries paid by the corporations don’t increase in line with rising prices and increasing taxes. That’s why you earn less and the extra money keeps flowing to the top 10%. To make things worse inflation ensures that every year your money loses 2-3% of its purchasing power. In 10 years you have lost a good 20% of purchasing power. The fact that those in government are also in the top 10%, if not the top 0.001%, ensures that not only do they have a requirement from a political perspective to keep the 10% happy because they finance their political campaigns, but they are all lining their pockets by keeping the system going. Remember that Conservatives like to keep things as they are. Politics is a great way to preach for your own parochy.
Trump made it clear to his voters: “I want people in my cabinet who have made a fortune!”. And he was truthful, even though many, like Betsy deVos didn’t make their fortune but inherited one fortune and married into another to consolidating into her billions.
Or Elaine Chao, who inherited from her mother and splits it with her husband, oh look! that happens to be Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell! The most powerful politician in Congress.
The others in his administration were also all born with a golden spoon and are intimitaly connected with the others in the elite Ivy League. Here’s the wealth in Trump’s cabinet (source: Forbes):
Besty deVos — secretary of education: Net worth — 2 Billion Wilburr Ross — secretary of commerce: Net worth — 600 million Steven Mnuchin — secretary of the treasury: Net worth — 400 million William Barr — general attorney: Net worth — 40 million Robert Lighthizer —US trade representative: Net worth — 25 million Ben Carson — secretary of housing & urban development: Net worth — 20 million Elaine Chao— secretary of transportation: Net worth — 20 million Alex Azar — secretary of health and human services: Net worth — 15 million
Voters, or as Trump privately refers to his base: suckers, believe that these rich people born with a silver spoon and marrying to consolidate capital for increased power, are the people looking out for the common people, the strugglers and the deplorables. The only thing they do is to faithfully execute the mandate their voters gave them: to make Billionnaires richer.
So what is the lesson from Al-Qaeda learned by the GOP?
Repeat the same vile stories about your opponent, tell them the worst stories you can imagine, the frustrated and the poor will be happy to finally have a cause. They will be happy to die for their leader. In the mean time line your pockets and make sure you enrich your powerful friends. That’s success. Allah akbar is for the desperate who need a cause to provide meaning to their hopeless lives.
In the mean time Putin has taken over the Middle-East, America is now an unreliable partner on the world-stage and Putin is starting to exploit his cybersecurity-attack 4 years in the making. It has been 4 beautiful Christmasses for Putin and the gifts of a weak, divided, insecure America will continue to deliver gifts to him for years to come. Certainly if Trump runs for the presidency again. Putin will be in Trump’s corner. Such an idiot comes by once in a milllenium, and the American People have made it all possible.
Putin is grateful to the American People. | https://medium.com/@mitchinoz/the-50-trillion-steal-from-americas-suckers-you-know-the-workers-7125978f8139 | ['Mitch Inoz'] | 2021-01-12 18:38:35+00:00 | ['Trump', 'Economy', 'Democrats', 'Putin'] |
Loopring and Chainlink Fireside Chat | Last week, Loopring’s Chief Architect, Brecht Devos, sat down to chat with Chainlink’s Johann Eid and Rory Piant in a live video chat. They spoke about ZK Rollups, DEX scaling, and the use of Chainlink oracles to secure a component of LRC staking. The video can be found here:
In addition to the chat between teams, the community asked questions via the Pigeonhole app, but not all had time to be answered in the video. To leave no one wondering, we responded to most of the questions after the fact. If a question from the app link above is not answered below, it was either answered in the video, or effectively answered in the course of responding to others. We initially recorded our responses on reddit.
Q&A Responses
bad ger
Q: Why do you favor an Orderbook model over a Person-To-Contract model as seen in the Synthetix ecosystem? What are the benefits to an Orderbook model?
A: Hi bad ger. It’s a good question. I don’t think we view it as so much favouring per se — they both have merit — just different markets, or market structures to be exact. But I guess at the end of the day, building one way means that is your favoured target :). As you know, Orderbook exchanges are how the vast majority of real-world assets, (or at least securities / other financial assets), are traded. They are effective at coordinating attention and liquidity around assets, and most people are familiar with them — from trading equities, or indeed, cryptoassets. The best answer I’d give is really expressed in a post we wrote a month ago that contrasts Orderbook exchanges vs the simple swap, on-chain types (Kyber/Uniswap). What we call ‘real trading vs simple swaps’. (I suppose Synthetix is in the ~same bucket as Uniswap re: P2C). But broadly, we are fans of the P2C model — which is uniquely enabled by blockchains! (and specifically DeFi on Ethereum). However, we think Orderbook trading isn’t going anywhere, and is how the bulk of financial assets will trade, so we are looking to be the most performant infrastructure for that market structure.
Lin K. Marine
Q: Are you gonna use chainlink oracles to facilitate external payments via SWIFT or leverage automatic trading routines driven by data in google cloud?
A: In terms of SWIFT, this is something we have not given too much thought, but it is certainly interesting and important. We recognize the need to bridge the external, legacy systems (fiat on/off ramps) and indeed, will be pushing into the product sphere (as opposed to pure protocol) in 2020. We have built a smart contract wallet firmly focused at onboarding Chinese users into the DeFi ecosystem, and most prominently, Loopring v3 DEXes. For automatic trading routines — we actually kind of referenced this in the video, and in our integration article with Chainlink — we most realistically will use their oracles to provide external signals for advanced order types (stop loss, etc), and more complex automated routines.
DrProfit
Q: Can you explain the usage of Chainlink nodes in conjunction with the loopring ZK rollups? Are they needed for each batch of transactions?
A: Hi Dr. Assuming you may have read the Loopring — Chainlink integration post, (or if not please do :), you’ll see a Chainlink node is not “needed” for our ZK Rollup to work. All that is needed for that is Ethereum, and Zero-Knowledge Proof cryptography. That is all the Loopring protocol builds on, and how we maintain 100% Ethereum-level security. Chainlink factors in by helping out with a sort of ‘interim’ level of economic security, while the zkSNARK proof is being generated (because it is not instant). LRC is staked to ensure good behaviour by the Relayer *while* the batch of trades are not cryptographically proven yet. While not ‘needed’ for our ZK rollup, it’s still a big part of the design.
JuanSnow
Q: If we stake LRC, how long do we have to wait until we see any rewards?
A: Hi Juan. LRC staking has minimum period of 90 days. After which, stakers can withdraw, or roll it over, with the rewards they earned from the past 90 days being added to their stake. So technically the answer is 90 days. But you may be asking when can you “really” expect any rewards :). Of course, it is non-deterministic and primarily dependent on volume running through the Loopring protocol. However, it is not solely dependent on volume — LRC will also be rewarded to stakers from the economic bond which is staked by DEX owners (the type of staking that Chainlink’s price feed is used for). When a DEX spins up, they must make a minimum stake (250k currently), and this goes to LRC stakers. So, by virtue of WeDEX, and the coming Hebao DEX… that is an effective 2% yield by March based on the current amount staked by users (23 million LRC). Please see the very bottom of this post for more info on that.
bstr156
Q: What kind of performance tests have been performed, and were these within testnet or mainnet? Are any objective reports available which thoroughly document methodologies employed and the results?
A: This one was answered by Brecht on Twitter :). You can see how we came up with our throughput numbers in our protocol design document. We also have actual numbers currently achieved in a closed beta on mainnet: deep dive of the data.
Sasha
Q: Is something like high frequency trading possible on a DEX? Are there analogous exploits that can be carried out on a DEX running on Ethereum? (That is, exploits that are unique to such a platform.)
A: Hi Sasha. Good question. Up to this point, no. Part of Loopring’s whole push into scalability with v3 is that real HFT was impossible on Ethereum DEXes before, because they were so slow/expensive, as you likely know. Now, I’d say it is becoming feasible. I may be misunderstanding your next phrase, but one small point — I wouldn’t call HFT an “exploit” outright. In fact, that is a perfectly legitimate (and popular) strategy for several traders, and especially market makers/liquidity providers. So v3 making it possible is a good thing :). We need the speedy traders to be able to trade on DEXes if we are to overthrow the centralized ones. I feel you may be referring to something associated to HFT which can indeed be nefarious — front running (am I correct to infer that?). Front running — or jumping in front of others’ trades after you’ve gathered some info — can be bad for markets, and dissuade participation. You’re right — that was/is a BIG problem on many (~all) on-chain DEXes such as Uniswap, or Radar Relay, because the intent of the trader is perfectly visible for anyone to glean and trade against! (by increasing their gas price to fill it quicker). You’re also right this was unique to DEXes. Loopring v3 does NOT face this problem, however, because orders are not placed/filled on chain, but via an off-chain Merkle tree, and then proven in a ZKP, which is then submitted on-chain. Thus, only the DEX (Relayer) sees the trades, has the ability to match them, prove them, etc… no unknown party can front run settlement at all. So in short, HFT possible, front-running is not :)
FastLane
Q: Who are the other oracle players in the decentralized field? Doing your due diligence why did Loopring choose LINK. What advantages did Link have over said other oracles?
A: We looked at some other decentralized ones including those that are not necessarily oracle providers by design, but produce semi-reliable price feeds as a by-product, such as using the LRC/ETH price from Uniswap, Kyber, etc. That would have been possible. But as you know, would likely be more manipulatable than having an aggregated, redundant source such as Chainlink. (Which pulls from those sources perhaps, and others…). So we viewed Link as having a more robust feed that could defend against future attacks. We’ve gone through so much R&D and “trouble” to ensure Loopring v3 is absolutely the most secure in its design, vs other layer 2 scaling solutions available (i.e. we use ZK Rollup vs Optimistic, and on-chain data availability vs off-chain data), so we wanted this other ‘link’ in our system to stand up strong to potential attacks as well :).
Maple Syrup
Q: It seems that a trend popping up is to try to move as much of the computing process off-chain to improve scalability. Is there a point where this begins to hinder decentralization, or am I off base?
A: Hi Maple Syrup, good question, but it is slightly off base, at least in our case :). The off-chain computing we do is often referred to as ‘verifiable computation’ because it is correct by construction — its faithfulness guaranteed by Zero-Knowledge Proof cryptography. Without sounding too simplistic, it is math — the ‘state’ of anything is either provably true or false… no questions to its validity. So, decentralization is not sacrificed at all, because the validity itself is mathematic, and the proof is being verified by Ethereum ITSELF… so absolutely no compromise on layer 1 guarantees. But actually, there are competing off-chain constructions which do sacrifice decentralization, that is just not something we are willing to do :). As mentioned above, the big design choices are ZK Rollup vs Optimistic, and on-chain data availability vs off-chain data availability. We take the former in each, which means Ethereum-level security. If someone deviates from those choices, you are right — they are sacrificing decentralization to some degree, by relying on some combo of fewer nodes/people, cryptoeconomic security, etc. This short article may be very helpful to understand why Loopring v3 does not hinder decentralization: always choosing security over marginal scalability.
Sasha
Q: With DEXes, will the creation of new financial instruments be as simple as writing up a smart contract?
A: I’ll keep this one short: Yes :). It’s actually even simpler than ‘writing up’ a smart contract. It can be as simple as calling one function on an existing smart contract…and boom, you have some new instrument, market, etc. What web2 did for information, connecting people, etc, Etheruem / web3 will do for finance and value. To be clear, these instruments will likely live outside a DEX (and be powered by protocols with a specific functionality — derivatives, loans, etc) and they will be traded on DEXes.
LINK fan
Q: Do you expect to use further aggregators and new pairs any time soon? What pairs? With which frequency can we expect job requests?
A: We do. Other pairs will be needed for the advanced order types (stop loss, etc) referenced in the video. Any asset / pair we want to endow with that capability will require a faithful price feed. Also, other price feeds will be needed for the smart contract wallet, to set allowances for certain user activity.
Sasha
Q: How confident are you that Ethereum remains the primary smart contract platform for the foreseeable future?
A: I’ll keep this one short too: Very :). That is my personal opinion (and that of the Loopring team), but we feel that thesis getting stronger every day. I want expound too much, but I just find it will be very hard to beat the mix of: developers, head start, actual usage, composability, community, DeFi, ETH being a valuable base layer money, mindshare, ethos, pace of innovation, flexible yet focused monetary policy (minimum viable security), etc… Of course, cannot rest on its laurels, but I see zero signs of that.
FastLane
Q: what does the LRC token do for Loopring? What do you see token doing going forward?
A: Hi Fastlane. The LRC token is a staking token, used in 3 different staking mechanisms (depending on whom is doing it, and their goals). Please read here for info, but briefly, they are:
Anyone can stake LRC to earn part of 70% of the protocol fees of all exchanges built on top of Loopring. (20% will fund the Loopring DAO and the remaining 10% will be burned). An exchange owner needs to stake LRC for economic security & reputation. LRC can be staked to lower the protocol fees on a specific exchange by an exchange owner, market makers and high-frequency traders.
Chainlink of course is helping make LRC staking type 2 (DEX security bond) more robust with a reliable price feed. | https://medium.com/loopring-protocol/loopring-and-chainlink-fireside-chat-fd007886a557 | ['Matthew Finestone'] | 2020-01-14 16:19:23.435000+00:00 | ['Lrc', 'Loopring', 'Staking', 'Chain Link', 'Decentralized Exchange'] |
Auto-Encoder: What Is It? And What Is It Used For? (Part 1) | Auto-Encoder: What Is It? And What Is It Used For? (Part 1)
A Gentle Introduction to Auto-Encoder and Some Of Its Common Use Cases With Python Code
Background:
Autoencoder is an unsupervised artificial neural network that learns how to efficiently compress and encode data then learns how to reconstruct the data back from the reduced encoded representation to a representation that is as close to the original input as possible.
Autoencoder, by design, reduces data dimensions by learning how to ignore the noise in the data.
Here is an example of the input/output image from the MNIST dataset to an autoencoder.
Autoencoder for MNIST
Autoencoder Components:
Autoencoders consists of 4 main parts:
1- Encoder: In which the model learns how to reduce the input dimensions and compress the input data into an encoded representation.
2- Bottleneck: which is the layer that contains the compressed representation of the input data. This is the lowest possible dimensions of the input data.
3- Decoder: In which the model learns how to reconstruct the data from the encoded representation to be as close to the original input as possible.
4- Reconstruction Loss: This is the method that measures measure how well the decoder is performing and how close the output is to the original input.
The training then involves using back propagation in order to minimize the network’s reconstruction loss.
You must be wondering why would I train a neural network just to output an image or data that is exactly the same as the input! This article will cover the most common use cases for Autoencoder. Let’s get started:
Autoencoder Architecture:
The network architecture for autoencoders can vary between a simple FeedForward network, LSTM network or Convolutional Neural Network depending on the use case. We will explore some of those architectures in the new next few lines.
1- Autoencoder for Anomaly Detection:
There are many ways and techniques to detect anomalies and outliers. I have covered this topic in a different post below:
However, if you have correlated input data, the autoencoder method will work very well because the encoding operation relies on the correlated features to compress the data.
Let’s say that we have trained an autoencoder on the MNIST dataset. Using a simple FeedForward neural network, we can achieve this by building a simple 6 layers network as below:
The output of the code above is:
Train on 60000 samples, validate on 10000 samples
Epoch 1/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 103us/step - loss: 0.0757 - val_loss: 0.0505
Epoch 2/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 96us/step - loss: 0.0420 - val_loss: 0.0355
Epoch 3/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 95us/step - loss: 0.0331 - val_loss: 0.0301
Epoch 4/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 96us/step - loss: 0.0287 - val_loss: 0.0266
Epoch 5/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 95us/step - loss: 0.0259 - val_loss: 0.0244
Epoch 6/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 96us/step - loss: 0.0240 - val_loss: 0.0228
Epoch 7/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 95us/step - loss: 0.0226 - val_loss: 0.0216
Epoch 8/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 97us/step - loss: 0.0215 - val_loss: 0.0207
Epoch 9/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 96us/step - loss: 0.0207 - val_loss: 0.0199
Epoch 10/10
60000/60000 [==============================] - 6s 96us/step - loss: 0.0200 - val_loss: 0.0193
As you can see in the output, the last reconstruction loss/error for the validation set is 0.0193 which is great. Now, if I pass any normal image from the MNIST dataset, the reconstruction loss will be very low (< 0.02) BUT if I tried to pass any other different image (outlier or anomaly), we will get a high reconstruction loss value because the network failed to reconstruct the image/input that is considered an anomaly.
Notice in the code above, you can use only the encoder part to compress some data or images and you can also only use the decoder part to decompress the data by loading the decoder layers.
Now, let’s do some anomaly detection. The code below uses two different images to predict the anomaly score (reconstruction error) using the autoencoder network we trained above. the first image is from the MNIST and the result is 5.43209. This means that the image is not an anomaly. The second image I used, is a completely random image that doesn’t belong to the training dataset and the results were: 6789.4907. This high error means that the image is an anomaly. The same concept applies to any type of dataset.
2- Image Denoising: | https://towardsdatascience.com/auto-encoder-what-is-it-and-what-is-it-used-for-part-1-3e5c6f017726 | ['Will Badr'] | 2019-07-01 07:09:48.367000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Neural Networks', 'Data Science', 'Deep Learning'] |
Ford Escort in the 1980s: a tale of three sedans | 1980 Ford Escort Coupé (Europe)
The concept of car family basically consists of a manufacturer developing several car models using one project so as to reduce costs. In general, this project unifies all mechanical components of those cars, such as engine and suspensions, and leaves the creation of almost all stylistic parts free. The downside of this strategy is limiting which models to create from this single project, since they can’t be too different — it would be impractical, for instance, to develop a large SUV and a compact sports car that way. All things considered, the biggest challenge here usually is to create a family whose members are similar enough to be cheap to produce, but different enough not to compete with one another. Usually.
As you can imagine, manufacturers have a series of other variables to juggle in order to keep their lineup competitive and viable. Each car model has its own production requirements, each factory has its own capabilities, each population has its own preferences, each government has its own laws… In theory, industrial efficiency is achieved by unifying the lineup, while consumer satisfaction calls for individual products. As a result, what manufacturers actually do is execute one of the infinite intermediate combinations of those extreme scenarios every time. Experience makes them use some solutions way more often than others, so the few exceptions which managed to get through became quite interesting.
In Europe, hometown of the Escort, Ford executed some renovations in the early 1980s. The Cortina and the Granada families were gradually replaced with those of Escort (third generation) and Sierra, which were smaller and relied on aerodynamic designs to improve fuel efficiency. Initially, Ford created multiple body styles only for the Sierra, in order to compensate the reduced size. Since that turned out to attract more customers, it decided to expand the Escort’s lineup as well. The Orion was released in 1983 with more conservative front fascia and larger trunk, which was basically a stretched version of the Escort’s signature notchback. It quickly made success of its own, apart from the base model. | https://medium.com/cardesignchronicles/ford-escort-in-the-1980s-a-tale-of-three-sedans-4f7d6f13be3c | ['Danillo Almeida'] | 2017-10-07 12:43:20.511000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Style', 'History', 'Cars', 'Trends'] |
They Call Me Tree | A well of life to them that seek.
The morning dew and food-light freshen my core.
Inspired.
My thousands shake in the breeze, little leaves, little leaves.
How I love you each and every one.
Breathing into the ocean of atmosphere on this orb sustaining all life,
an afterthought for a dog to piss on.
But, even so, my process is chemical wonder and the piss will be used as sustenance.
I am mighty.
My shade is a blessing.
Give all of my being for every one of those human bugs.
Gnawing away at the hand which fed them from their puny existence.
My countenance overlooked but by a few.
Meditation and patience are in every fiber, my every fiber.
Strong and tall, flexible and wise in each limb and branch.
I am home to every creature.
Behold beauty in all my forms and ways. | https://123gjprince.medium.com/they-call-me-tree-d020d43ba86e | ['Greg Prince'] | 2019-04-20 06:29:31.626000+00:00 | ['Short Fiction', 'Poetry', 'Nature', 'Flashfiction', 'Microfiction'] |
How I Landed a Job at Amazon Luxembourg | Online Assessment
After a month, I received an email from the Amazon recruitment team about next steps. Many of my friends had already done similar assessments and never heard back, so I was expecting the same. Nevertheless, I decided to take the assessment. It was divided into three parts.
Part 1, Debugging Round (20 mins): In this part of the online assessment, I was asked to find bugs in seven pieces of code.
Part 2, Coding (70 mins) and Work Style Assessment(30 mins): This part of the online assessment consisted of a coding section using Java, Python, C#, or C++. Besides the coding section, there was also a work style assessment, built around Amazon’s Leadership Principles.
Part 3, Work Simulation (150 mins): The assessment consists of a work simulation and a logical ability test. The work simulation section of the online assessment was an interactive video simulation of a day in the life of an SDE at Amazon. I was presented with various scenarios and was asked to select options for how I would respond.
After a month, I received an email stating I was shortlisted for an on-site interview in the Amazon Luxembourg office. My interview was scheduled during the 2nd week of January but was shifted to the 1st week of February thanks to the unavailability of slots.
Reason for being shortlisted
I’m not very sure about that. Doing well in all three rounds was a significant factor. My open-source contributions and internships also helped. Having good projects and leadership roles in my resume was an added advantage. | https://medium.com/better-programming/how-did-i-land-a-job-in-amazon-luxembourg-e3a7bf0731a | ['Krishna Kumar Dey'] | 2020-09-02 16:25:38.381000+00:00 | ['Interview', 'Careers', 'Coding Interviews', 'Programming', 'Amazon'] |
Advanced nomination guide for Polkadot and Kusama | This article was written by Mario Pino Uceda, a software developer at Lunie and also the creator of Polkastats. The post was edited by James Ryan Moreau.
Introduction
In this guide we are going to explain how to optimize the performance of your stake in Substrate blockchains like Polkadot and Kusama, its canary network.
If you have just arrived to the Proof of Stake world, I recommend that you start with the article published by DerFredy: “Which Polkadot and Kusama validators should I choose.”
If you are already familiar with using wallets to transfer funds and participate in the network in a basic way, let’s go!
Polkadot time periods
Before we start, we need to know the different time periods that govern Polkadot:
Kusama time periods
Kusama is 4x faster than Polkadot, except for the block time, which is the same.
Rewards
Polkadot is a NPoS or Nominated Proof of Stake blockchain that incentivizes decentralization with two primary mechanisms. The first is that since validators are paid the same regardless of stake level, validators with less stake will generally pay more to nominators per-DOT than pools with more stake. We thus give nominators an economic incentive to gradually shift their preferences to lower staked validators that gain a sufficient amount of reputation. The reason for this is that we want the stake across validators to be as evenly distributed as possible, to avoid a concentration of power among a few validators.
The reasoning is that validators with more stake tend to have more resources such as system administrators, developers, hardware, redundancy, etc. to keep their infrastructure in perfect working order.
Against intuition, we can also see the opposite, with small validators that supplement their lack of resources with a lot of effort and imagination, frequently innovating more than other validators with more resources.
Era points
For every era (a period of time approximately 6 hours in length in Kusama, and 24 hours in Polkadot), validators are paid proportionally to the amount of era points they have collected. Era points are reward points earned for payable actions like:
Issuing validity statements for parachain blocks.
Producing a non-uncle block in the Relay Chain.
Producing a reference to a previously unreferenced uncle block.
Producing a referenced uncle block.
NOTE: An uncle block is a Relay Chain block that is valid in every regard, but which failed to become canonical. This can happen when two or more validators are block producers in a single slot, and the block produced by one validator reaches the next block producer before the others. We call the lagging blocks uncle blocks.
Payments occur at the end of every era.
In principle, for each session each validator should obtain the same long-term era points. However, in practice this is not the case, because the validator can be offline and lose its turn and due to other reasons such as differences in the used hardware. That is why any nominator who cares about the performance of his participation will study the era points that each validator obtains in the long term, avoiding all those in which it is less regular.
Era points generated in the last 84 eras by DragonStake validator in Polkadot, you can see the regularity of the points obtained in each era
Reward calculation
As we have seen, each era the validators accumulate points based on their activity, but some questions may arise: How are the rewards calculated? How are they distributed? How does Polkadot incentivize decentralization in validators?
Each era we have a certain reward that must be distributed to validators and nominators.
Each validator with its nominators forms a group
The era reward is divided among all groups based on the era points accumulated by the validator
The validator subtracts its commission
The remainder is divided among the group’s nominators in proportion to their participation.
Polkadot incentivizes decentralization among active validators by using a selection algorithm called Phragmen, which is run before the change of era to select active validators from all possible validator / nominator candidates.
As we already know, in Polkadot as a nominator it is possible to choose up to 16 validators, but in each era only one of them will be active, providing rewards for that nominator. The Phragmen algorithm always tries to maximize the representation of validators and will calculate the necessary nominations to prioritize the validators with less participation.
In each era we therefore have a number of validators, who with their nominators will form a group ordered by their participation or stake. Given that all validators do the same work and receive the same reward, it stands to reason that the validators and nominators at the bottom of that table receive a higher return per engagement than those at the top of the table.
This causes that nominators who try to maximize their profits will always try to choose validators who are positioned at the bottom of the validator table, but if many nominators follow the same strategy, that validator will increase their participation and rise in position, being slightly less profitable.
The dynamics of participation thus encourages the emergence of new validators waiting to be selected by the nominators with the promise of improving their benefits. As validators at the bottom receive more engagement, their profitability decreases and nominators switch to more profitable validators at the bottom of the table.
As we have commented, we always have to take into account the risks:
Unrecognized validators with unexpected behaviors
Their commission (and if/when it changes)
Slashes
Risk that all the selected validators are left out of the era, leaving the nomination inactive, without generating rewards.
Knowing the risks we can establish the participation strategy that best suits our needs. More conservative nominators will try to choose community-recognized validators, with reasonable commissions and a good track record, even if they are not the highest earners. Other more adventurous nominators will try to select validators at the bottom edge of the table, always trying to adjust their nominations for maximum benefit.
Reward payout
Polkadot and Kusama make stakers claim their rewards for past eras by submitting a transaction. This naturally leads to spreading out reward distribution, as people make transactions at disparate times, rather than updating the accounts of all stakers in a single block. Even if everyone submitted a reward claim at the same time, the fact that they are individual transactions would allow the block construction algorithm to process only a limited number per block and ensure that the network maintains a constant block time. If all rewards were sent out in one block, this could cause serious issues with the stability of the network.
Simple payouts require one transaction per validator per era to claim rewards. The reason Polkadot requires this is to avoid an attack where someone has several thousand accounts nominating a single validator. The major cost in reward distribution is mutating the accounts in storage, and Polkadot cannot pay out several thousand accounts in a single transaction.
Polkadot stores up to 84 eras of reward info like maps of era number to validator points, inflationary rewards, and nomination exposures. Rewards will not be claimable more than 84 eras after they were earned. This means that all rewards must be claimed within 84 eras.
Anyone can trigger a payout for any validator, as long as they are willing to pay the transaction fee. Someone must submit a transaction with a validator ID and an era index. Polkadot will automatically calculate that validator’s reward, find the top 64 nominators for that era, and distribute the rewards.
Keep this in mind if you don’t want to lose your rewards! Another option is to choose validators that implement an automatic reward payment system, which is usually daily. These validators, such as PolkaStats or DragonStake, perform the necessary transactions on a daily basis so that the rewards reach your account without having to worry about it or pay commissions.
Slashes
Slashes are the main risk that a nominator (or validator!) faces, as it is possible to lose a percentage of a nominated balance.
When a validator misbehaves they suffer a Slash event, which is a punishment for not following protocol. The penalty is applied to the validator and all its nominators. Downtime and signature errors are the most common causes of a slash event. The only way to protect yourself from slashing is by carefully choosing the validators you are nominating.
Another measure of the network against centralization is that it punishes clusters (many validators with the same name) more strongly than independent validators. So the more validators make a mistake at the same time, the greater the punishment. Thus, nominators are encouraged to “NOT Nominate” these clusters (usually exchanges and large pools) and instead choose independent validators.
Oversubscribed validators
Oversubscribed validators are a frequent problem in Polkadot (although still rare in Kusama at this moment) which may cause you to stop receiving rewards. A validator is oversubscribed when it has more than 64 nominators, in which case only the first 64 nominators, ordered by stake amount, will recibe rewards.
You can see oversubscribed validators in the Polkadot JS Portal, in the Staking section: https://polkadot.js.org/apps/#/staking. The validators with a red circle with number 64 are oversubscribed. You will also see in those validators the nominators that will not receive rewards (in red).
Never select those validators for nomination, especially if you have a small amount at stake. If you do you are putting your rewards at risk if any of them become active.
NOTE: There is currently a pull request on GitHub to increase nomination limits up to 128 nominators in Kusama and 256 nominators in Polkadot which you can see here: https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot/pull/1668/files
How to choose your validators
Once the previous concepts are clear, we will see how to use the available tools to select the validators that best suit us to maximize our benefits as a nominator. If we do it with certain principles, we will also be helping to make the Polkadot and Kusama networks less centralized!
Targets
Open PolkaStats Targets page in your browser for the network you are participating in:
Polkadot: https://polkastats.io/targets
Kusama: https://kusama.polkastats.io/targets/
Here we can see the list of active validators, ordered by Estimated annualized rewards. Keep in mind that annualized profitability is extrapolated from profitability in the last era.
Choose a page size of 20 and choose 16 validators considering these factors:
Profitability
Current commission
It is not part of a cluster
Does it have an identity? Or is it just an address you don’t know anything about.
Are they known in the community?
History of era points, rewards, slashes and commission
Election prediction
As we said before, the validators for the next era are selected by Phragmen algorithm, but When?
In Polkadot and Kusama there is an election period in the last quarter of the last session of the era. In this election period, it is NOT possible to carry out any staking activity: you cannot select or change your validators and you cannot claim rewards. This is due to the fact that based on the current information of validators and nominators, the Phragmén algorithm is executed offline to select the validators and nominations of the next era.
Is there a way to know what the Phragmen calculation is based on the current staking information? Yes, and we can find it in PolkaStats.io, which runs the offline-election software every 10 minutes to calculate the prediction of selected nominators and validators for the next era. In this way we can anticipate changes in the situation and we can optimize our positions just before the election period begins and it is no longer possible to make any changes.
Polkadot: https://polkastats.io/election-prediction
Kusama: https://kusama.polkastats.io/election-prediction
Conclusion
DYOR
Polkadot and Kusama are very dynamic networks, in which participation can change quite a bit from one era to another. It is always recommended to analyze the performance of the validators that are included in your set, preferably before the beginning of the election period so that you can make the necessary changes.
We also need to take into account:
Changes in validator profitability (tracking era points)
Inactive validators
Commission changes
Slashes
Validators with a low proportion of era points
Some sources of data to perform validator research are:
Polkadot:
Kusama:
We only have to search by address or name for the validator that we want to review and review the graphs. It is advisable to do it frequently, as much as we are interested in optimizing our performance.
Don’t Let Your Rewards Get Stale
As we have already discussed, you should worry about claiming your rewards, as it will not be possible to claim them after 84 days in Polkadot (21 days in Kusama).
References
Learn Staking:
https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/en/learn-staking
Intro to Nominated Proof-of-Stake:
https://w3f-research.readthedocs.io/en/latest/polkadot/NPoS/index.html
Sequential Phragmén Method:
https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/en/learn-phragmen
Simple Payouts: | https://medium.com/luniehq/advanced-nomination-guide-for-polkadot-and-kusama-8b6129b2e27f | ['James Ryan Moreau'] | 2020-09-11 17:16:23.771000+00:00 | ['Polkadot Network', 'Lunie', 'Proof Of Stake', 'Kusama Network'] |
The ICONOMI Digest | Welcome to the first ICONOMI Digest. This update series is a continuation of our Weekly Update series and will be published on a biweekly basis. Our new name was chosen by the ICONOMI community in a Twitter poll.
DAA Overview
On July 5, we published an overview of DAA performance in Q2. All three of the top DAAs outperformed bitcoin.
DAA Manager Interviews
The day after publishing our Q2 DAA performance overview, we released interviews with the managers of each of the top three DAAs. Cain Ransbottyn of Trade, Elad Shtilerman of Cornucopia Index, and Sven Van de Perre of Exponential Age Array had a lot to say about their management strategies, the crypto landscape in Q2, and many other topics.
50k Twitter Followers
To celebrate the 50k Twitter followers milestone, on Wednesday, July 18 we will randomly select 20 followers of the official ICONOMI Twitter account to receive ICONOMI branded hats.
ICONOMI is Hiring
As part of our efforts to expand our marketing department, we are hiring a marketing assistant. Apply here. You can always find open positions at ICONOMI on our jobs page.
Android Activity Page
The Android app now has an Activity section, enabling users to track their platform activity directly from the app. Download the latest version from the Play Store.
New DAA: Tactical Gains Array
Our first DAA from Italy, Tactical Gains Array (TGA), is live. TGA is “a diversified DAA composed of tokens that provide liquidity and high capitalization with the aim of ensuring stability and constant growth with a long-term perspective.”
Media Highlights
Bitcoin Pizza Day 2: How A Lightning Payment Made History, by Rachel Rose O’Leary and Bailey Reutzel, CoinDesk
“Like Hanyecz’s 2010 purchase, this most recent one may be only a small blip today, but its symbolic value could prove just as far-reaching. For one, it says much about bitcoin’s technical direction, and the recent debates over this roadmap.”
Meet Oasis Labs, the blockchain startup Silicon Valley is buzzing about, by Mike Orcutt, MIT Technology Review
“The system Oasis Labs hopes to launch next year will offer both [high-performance computing and foolproof confidentiality], Song says, by separating smart-contract execution from blockchain consensus. Using the platform, she says, it will be possible to do things like assure the confidentiality of sensitive health data while using it to train a machine-learning model.”
Sneak Peek
This Sunday, Janez Kravcar, ICONOMI Head of Legal, will be speaking on a panel at the CoinAgenda Europe event in Malta, where he will be discussing managing risk, reward, and regulation in blockchain.
Follow our official channels for more updates and news:
Facebook / Twitter / Reddit / Medium
Subscribe to our mailing list | https://medium.com/iconominet/the-iconomi-digest-3185b1eb868 | [] | 2018-07-13 15:00:02.116000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Iconomi', 'Blockchain', 'Update', 'News'] |
How Do COVID-19 Vaccinations Differ Around the World? | There are at least 217 countries and territories offering COVID-19 vaccines. They’re all part of the largest vaccination effort in the history of the world. And although they all share a common goal to vaccinate their populations, they have different ways of doing so.
What vaccines are out there?
The U.S. has three FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines available: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. These are three of the 18 vaccines currently in use worldwide. Another 265 vaccine candidates are currently in development, with 95 in clinical testing. While that sounds like a lot, it is absolutely crucial to have this variety in order to vaccinate the entire world.
Rigorous testing is done before vaccines are given to the public, and many vaccine candidates don’t make the cut. All vaccines recommended for use in the U.S. have successfully completed clinical trials and were confirmed as safe and effective.
You can read about which vaccines are available around the world here.
Are there globally authorized vaccines?
Each country has its own authorization and approval process. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the use of vaccines, including COVID-19. Other countries have their own national or regional regulatory agencies that can authorize or approve use.
While the World Health Organization (WHO) does not approve vaccines, vaccine makers can request prequalification by the WHO — a process to determine quality assurance. The WHO similarly maintains an emergency use listing (EUL) for unlicensed vaccines and other medical products during a health crisis. This allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines.
Seven vaccines currently have a WHO EUL.
What are vaccination rates like in other countries?
Over 5 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, and that number is climbing by hundreds of thousands each day. While that’s great progress, we still have a long road ahead. Just 16% of the global population is fully vaccinated.
In the U.S., we’re fortunate to have such a good supply of vaccines. We’ve already fully vaccinated about 50% of the U.S. population. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for many people in other countries.
Only 1.4% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. In some places, front-line health workers haven’t even received their first shot yet.
Even though international efforts are trying to improve vaccine access around the globe, estimates show that some countries may not reach needed vaccination levels until 2023. Increasing the number of vaccines in development will help address some of the inequities around vaccine supply.
Am I still considered fully vaccinated if I got a vaccine that’s not available in a country I’m traveling to?
It’s ultimately up to the country where you’re traveling to decide. That said, if you are an American traveling internationally, your fully vaccinated status will probably be adequate.
The WHO urged all countries to recognize its EUL vaccines, including the three available in the U.S., but the countries and regions have the final say. For instance, the European Union approved four vaccines for travelers: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Vaxzevria (Oxford/Astra Zeneca).
If you’re considering international travel, your best bet is to first check with the U.S. Department of State and your destination’s Office of Foreign Affairs or Ministry of Health. When traveling, be sure to bring your vaccine card and consider taking a cell phone picture of it for easy access. If you’re already enrolled, you can visit MyIR if you lose or misplace your card.
And remember, you are required to show a negative COVID-19 test result, or documentation of recovery from COVID-19, before boarding a flight to the U.S.
What about my friends and family who are traveling to the U.S.? Will they be considered fully vaccinated?
It depends. There are still significant restrictions in place for people from other countries traveling to the U.S. We expect to learn more about this soon, once restrictions loosen. If people are traveling to the U.S. on a visa (college students, workers, etc.), we recommend checking with their school or employer for guidance.
Once in the U.S., fully vaccinated visitors SHOULD NOT get vaccinated again. The CDC does not recommend revaccinating patients who completed a COVID-19 vaccine series authorized by the WHO. Learn more about what the CDC recommends for people vaccinated for COVID-19 outside of the U.S.
However, the CDC does recommend FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines for those who:
only partially completed a WHO authorized COVID-19 vaccine series.
received any partial or full COVID-19 vaccine series not authorized by the WHO or the FDA.
Are there other precautions international travelers should take?
Absolutely. COVID cases are increasing worldwide, so it’s important to be extra cautious when traveling. It’s also important to look at local guidance to ensure you’re in compliance with their policies. And if you’re still worried, you can always take some additional steps to protect yourself.
Be diligent about your W’s — especially if you’re unvaccinated: wear a mask, wash your hands, watch your distance. And for people traveling to Washington, there’s a fourth W — enable WA Notify. It’s a free, anonymous COVID-19 exposure alert for your smartphone. | https://medium.com/wadepthealth/how-do-covid-19-vaccinations-differ-around-the-world-9bb84c333cd3 | ['Washington State Department Of Health'] | 2021-09-15 23:17:08.530000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Public Health', 'Covid 19', 'Covid 19 Vaccine', 'International'] |
Global Inserts & Dividers Industry Analysis By Geography | Stratistics MRC’s Inserts & Dividers Market report explains company profiling, key segments, market trends, top players and regional, country-level segments.
Inserts and dividers are the partitions made in cartons and boxes to efficiently pack fragile products. The big cartons or boxes are divided into suitable size cells that can best hold the product to be packed and maintain a desirable space between the products to minimize the breakage and damage of the product during transportation and logistics.
Browse complete “Inserts & Dividers Market” report with TOC @ https://www.strategymrc.com/report/inserts-and-dividers-market
By geography, the Asia Pacific is going to have a lucrative growth during the forecast period due to the increasing population and the emerging pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and cosmetic industry.
Some of the key players profiled in the Inserts & Dividers Market include Mondi Group, DS Smith, Cascades, International Paper Company, Innerpak, Storopack Hans Reichenecker GmbH, Smurfit Kappa Group plc, Packaging Corporation of America, NEFAB Group, Myton Industries Inc., Multicell Packaging Inc., Mount Vernon Packaging, Inc., Micor Packaging Pty Ltd, M & M Box Partitions Co, Kraft Group, LLC., Innerpak Inc., and GWP Group.
Request a Sample of “Inserts & Dividers Market” @ https://www.strategymrc.com/report/inserts-and-dividers-market/request-sample
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Benchmarking of key players based on product portfolio, geographical presence, and strategic alliances
For more information about this report visit https://www.strategymrc.com/report/inserts-and-dividers-market
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Website: https://www.strategymrc.com | https://medium.com/@srinath.smrc1/global-inserts-dividers-industry-analysis-by-geography-b14f6cccbc36 | ['Srinath Smrc'] | 2021-12-22 04:39:03.423000+00:00 | ['Packaging', 'Report', 'Market Research Reports', 'Market', 'Business'] |
JavaScript Function Expressions and Function Declarations — a beginner's guide to what’s what. | Programmers are in no shortage of tools when it comes to building their next product but it turns out the flexibility means that knowing which tool to use for the right situation is a huge skill in programming.
Since JavaScript supports multiple ways of function declarations and invocations, many programmers are still confused about what the right tool for the job is, and sometimes how we create functions is down to pure preference.
Photo by Barn Images on Unsplash
Function Declarations
How to identify a function declaration:
They always begin with the word ‘function’
Invoke the function by calling the function name followed by parenthesis e.g. smile()
The work contained inside a function declaration is ‘saved’ for later. It kind of hangs around in isolation until you call or invoke the function.
It is a named variable without a variable assignment
They load before any other code is executed. This is because JavaScript hoists declarations to the top of the current scope (global or function) by default. Therefore, you can still call/invoke the function before the function is declared without any errors being thrown at you
Benefits of using function declarations?
Less chance of errors— In situations where you have called the function before it is declared, hoisting will help the function still run as intended. In the code below, we can see that the call on hello(“Grace”) still ran in the console despite being invoked before the function was declared.
left: code / right: console output
Since all function declarations are hoisted and go straight to the top of whatever scope it is in, it may call for cleaner code if you place these functions at the top of your code. This can help avoid confusion when you look at your code the next time around and see a floating function call way above its declaration.
Side note — hoisting is JavaScript’s way of moving declarations to the top of their current scope (global/window or function) and allows us to define a function before calling it. There’s a great resource here on it.
Example of a call after the function is declared
Function Expressions
How to identify a function expression:
They do not begin with the word ‘function’
They can be assigned to a variable (using let or const)
Function expressions load only when the interpreter (running from top to bottom) reaches that line of code. Therefore, unlike Function Declarations, invoking the function before it is declared will throw an error
They do not have a function name associated with it (if assigned to a variable, the variable name would usually take the place of a ‘name’)
Functions declared with let and const are not hoisted, therefore the function must exist before the function is invoked
It is defined as part of a larger expression
Anonymous functions, callback functions, and higher-order functions are some examples of function expressions
Benefits of using a function expression?
Function expressions are more versatile
They can act as callback functions
Can be passed in as arguments (higher-order functions)
Can be used as Immediately Invoked Function Expressions (IIFE)
Can create closures
Example of an IIFE. The parenthesis at the end invokes the function
The fact that JavaScript is a functional language makes it no surprise that a) there are many function types and b) there is flexibility on its use. Mastery is knowing that there is a distinction between the tools available and what they are. This is an invaluable skill that I hope to master one day as I continue on my JavaScript journey. #goals | https://medium.com/@gracet37/javascript-function-expressions-and-function-declarations-a-beginners-guide-to-whats-what-451608d911a1 | ['Grace Tan'] | 2019-08-22 14:04:26.990000+00:00 | ['Functional Programming', 'Coding', 'Flatiron School', 'JavaScript'] |
Fantastic Ideas About Facebook Marketing That Anybody Can Use | Everybody all around the world appears to be hooked on Facebook nowadays. You’re able to reach a lot of individuals through Facebook advertising. If you would like to learn more about Facebook Marketing, this guide will be of assistance.
It’s quite a fantasy that each company must be on Facebook. The expense of the time required to plan your campaigns, keep your webpage, communicate with buffs, and promote can develop into a significant burden on a small business owner.
Attempt to add relevancy and value to every one of your Facebook articles. In other words, your articles must benefit your readers somehow, if it is helpful or tips advice on a subject. Do not create every post an advertisement, however.
When you receive information about “the top” of something, like the very best sort of article, or the very best sort of articles, or the ideal time to the report, it’ll no more be the ideal. Why? Since your contest has read this article also and will be after it. Research your target market and determine your own “bests.”
Gather a Facebook competition. It is among the things which makes the social networking website so very unique. It is not that difficult for your business or brand to gather a competition, and it really can open up the participation amount of your area.
Read Complete Article Here: Visit Now! | https://medium.com/@onlinepixelz/fantastic-ideas-about-facebook-marketing-that-anybody-can-use-b53ef16f4e79 | ['Rohit Kumar'] | 2021-04-25 16:58:41.624000+00:00 | ['Facebook Marketing', 'Facebook Marketing Tips', 'Facebook Messenger', 'Facebook Marketing Ideas', 'Facebook'] |
My Life in Fur (Part 3) | Show Biz Is was a musical revue of the history of show business featuring the Kids of the Kingdom singers and dancers, with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale in cameo appearances, all accompanied by a live band. The show began with an overture and an opening number that reminded audiences what they liked so much about “show biz.” This was followed by a tribute to the circus; a rousing tap number that segued into an homage to silent movies; then a high-kicking, banjo-strumming number from the musical Show Boat. During all those numbers, I sat in the wings and waited for my first entrance in the show as a film director at the top of the “Hooray for Hollywood” section.
One day I was bored and the cast was worn from performing five shows a day in the sweltering Florida heat and humidity, so I decided to liven up things with a practical joke.
The plan was this: at the beginning of the silent movie tribute, while all the dancers were on stage, I (with the aid of the show’s prop master) would hop into the steamer trunk that was to be rolled onstage by a female dancer dressed as Charlie Chaplin. At the choreographed moment, she would open the trunk and when she went to pull out a pink corset — surprise! — she’d see me lying in the trunk, slam the lid closed, and slowly wheel the trunk to a downstage corner where she would join the other dancers for a heart-wrenching rendition of “Smile.” After the song, the trunk would be hurriedly shoved into the wings, leaving me one minute to get out of the trunk and into my Donald Duck costume, and traverse a four-foot-tall staircase for my big entrance. And the show would go on as written.
That was the plan. It was foolproof.
What could go wrong?
Any number of things.
The trunk could tipped over and a small black man in a T-shirt, shorts, and yellow tights the same color as Donald Duck’s legs and bill would fall out onto the stage in front of hundreds of guests. And what was the possibility of the guests putting two and two together? Very likely. Any eight-year old would have been able to figure out that the small Black man in yellow tights running into the wings was Donald Duck. Given how tight-lipped Disney was about the Characters, if that happened, I would surely be fired.
Nevertheless, I figured what the heck? I fancied myself to be a thrill-seeker.
Trying to keep a secret around the Tomorrowland Theater was a feat unto itself. So I told no one, except the prop master and our dresser. But when the show started and I hadn’t begun getting dressed, my fellow characters suspected something was up.
When the time came, everything went according to plan. Unnoticed by the dancers onstage, I slipped into the open trunk and the prop master closed the lid. I was cool as a cucumber as I got wheeled into place in the wings.
“Charlie Chaplin” came over and comically pushed the steamer trunk to center stage, with me inside. My heart was racing a mile a minute. I prayed to God in Heaven to keep the trunk upright.
Mr. Chaplin flipped the trunk open, swung around, and grinned at the audience. By then, word had spread backstage and everyone had crowded into the wings to watch the prank unfold. At the precise moment she turned her attention upstage to the trunk, I yelled “boo!” and tossed the corset in her general direction. The poor gender-bending female dancer let out a piercing scream and the cast and crew erupted in laughter. She slammed the trunk’s lid closed and wheeled the trunk downstage while she and all the dancers on-stage tried in vain to suppress their laughter during the song.
They failed miserably. They couldn’t sing a single word of the song. At the end of the number, the dancers hurriedly shoved the trunk (with me inside) into the wings. This marked the beginning of my work. I had to get into my costume and make my entrance on-stage. I catapulted myself out of the trunk to the cheers of my fellow characters and the backstage crew and wondered What the hell have I done? I tripped and fell as I ran back to my dressing station. If I missed my entrance I was doomed. The Donald Duck voice was a part of the pre-recorded soundtrack. If that voice boomed throughout the theater with no Donald on the stage —
“Clay, why did you miss your entrance?” the stage manager would ask.
“Uh, I was playing a practical joke?”
The potential was there for the stage manager to have my head on a platter seconds after the curtain came down on the performance if I didn’t make my entrance. My stage manager was not one to be toyed with. Ever. I was doomed whether I made it or not.
A two-man team of faithful dressers jammed the requisite costume parts onto my body; then velcroed, hooked, and snapped everything in place without a second to spare as I ran up the steps and made it onstage in time for my lines, “Lights! Camera! Action!”
After the show, my stage manager gave me a stern look tempered with a half-smile. He and I never spoke of the incident, thank God. That stunt pretty much sealed my reputation as the mischief-maker to count on when things were a little dull.
And I never pulled that prank again.
With that particular cast.
Excerpt from “Walking Tall: A Memoir About the Upside of Small and Other Stuff” by Clay Rivers. | https://medium.com/clay-rivers/backstory-show-biz-is-and-one-memorable-onstage-prank-6d2e85c993a8 | ['Clay Rivers'] | 2019-07-13 18:10:01.530000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Disney', 'Memoir', 'Nonfiction', 'This Happened To Me'] |
She’s a Bad Employee and Her Pussy Gets Punished. | “What do you mean I’m fired?” Lisa yelled at her boss.
When she had gotten to work that morning, this was the last thing she had expected to hear.
“I’m sorry Lisa. I just have to let you go,” he apologized.
His voice was filled with uncertainty. As if he wasn’t sure this was the right thing to do. Lisa was one of his best employees if you ignored the bad attitude.
“You can’t do this,” she said her voice suddenly low and venomous. If Leon were any other person, he would have immediately taken that as a threat and cowered.
However, it seemed that he was the only person capable of standing up to Lisa and her ill temper.
“I just did,” he said his voice matter of fact, “pack your things and leave the building or else I’ll be forced to ask security to escort you outside.” The threat in his voice was very clear and if Lisa was being honest with herself, it scared her to hear her boss take such a tone with her. This had never happened before.
Of course he had also never done anything more than threaten to fire her before. She had to wonder what had caused his change in heart all of a sudden.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked tearfully. “It’s about that janitor woman, is it?”
“That janitor’s name is Wilma and both of us know that it was wrong of you to insult her in front of our clients,” he pointed out.
He had never seen her look so emotional before and it surprised him. He’d always thought of Lisa as having a heart of stone. The tears running down her cheeks seemed to be proving him wrong.
“Don’t do this. I promise I’ll change. I’ll apologize to Wilma if you want,” she begged though it was still pretty clear from her voice that she felt nothing but hate for the janitor.
“You don’t seem very apologetic right now,” he pointed out.
“I said I’m sorry. What else do you want from me?” Lisa just couldn’t help her outburst.
“I want you to mean it,” Leon replied harshly.
“Fine. What do you want me to do? I’ll do anything,” she said and regretted her words immediately she did. Saying that you’d do anything usually didn’t go very well.
“Anything?” he asked a little amused.
Lisa felt herself shiver at the smile forming on his face. She’d never seen Leon look so mischievous before and she had a feeling that this was not going to be good for her. | https://medium.com/lusty-stuff/shes-a-bad-employee-and-her-pussy-gets-punished-bd9c47c0e65b | ['K. Love'] | 2020-09-15 11:31:08.375000+00:00 | ['Erotica', 'Short Story', 'Sex', 'Love', 'Romance'] |
Day 274: Survival Preparation. GPS and Maps. Tasks 15 | GAIA
Do you have a physical road map in your car?
A key step in conducting an Area Study is to have maps. Actual, physical maps. We are a society that is overly reliant on technology in many ways. Cell phones for communication are one. GPS for navigating is another.
GPS stands for Global Positioning System. A basic understanding of GPS is useful so we understand what it can and can’t do.
Let’s get a little geeky. The GPS receiver gets a signal from each satellite with the exact time it is sent. By subtracting the time the signal was sent from the time it was received the GPS receiver can calculate how far it is from the satellite. The receiver knows where the satellite is in orbit so it has a fix on that satellite. For our GPS receiver to work it needs to make contact and get a fix with at least 3 GPS satellites for a two dimensional fix (latitude and longitude) and 4 satellites for a three dimensional fix (adding in elevation). If you are only getting 3 satellites and aren’t at sea level, your actual location could be different from what the GPS is showing. If you’re up at a high altitude in the mountains, this can become significant. Usually, though, this isn’t a problem. Of the 31 active GPS satellites, there are usually 6 in range from most places on the Earth’s surface.
Ever notice that it takes your GPS varying amounts of time to get a fix? If the GPS hasn’t been on recently it could take as long as 30 seconds. Tall buildings or other obstructions can also make it take longer. Most GPS accuracy is to within 5 meters.
Cellphone GPS units act a bit differently incorporating Assisted-GPS to get a fix quickly. They use cell phone tower data to assist. Sometimes they can give you a fix without even accessing satellites. This only works though it you are in cellphone and Wifi coverage.
Another thing to consider is whether the map coverage you’re using is in your device’s memory or downloading. Ever have the GPS map become blank when you’re out of coverage? We should always download our local area tiles for whatever mapping GPS we use. When I plan trips, I download the map tiles into memory for the route and destination. This allows the GPS to work faster and gives me a map even if I can’t download it live. For your vehicle’s GPS, are the maps you’re using in the memory or downloading? Put them in the memory.
I’ve noticed when biking and using GPS that every so often it will tell me it has lost the signal. Some of these ‘dead spots’ are the same, but others seem random. Which brings me to this significant point: you can’t count on GPS!
There are other problems with GPS:
They need the satellites working. EMP — electro-magnetic pulse, whether natural (solar flare) or man-made (nuclear weapon) can wipe those satellites out.
The GPS receiver, whether in your vehicle, a cell phone or handheld GPS receiver, requires power to work. Cell phones and batteries can die. Commercial airplanes are required to have backup navigation to GPS. Just in case. We need to do the same.
Sadly, many people no longer carry paper maps in their car. Beyond that, many don’t know how to read a road map, never mind a topographical one.
When I was a brand new butter-bar second lieutenant in the First Cavalry Division, I was told succinctly that a platoon leader had to do two things well: Maintain communications on the radio and navigate. Failing either of those two and your time as leader was limited and your career in the Army over.
In a survival situation, especially moderate to extreme, it is highly likely you will have to move from point A to point B. It also possible you won’t have a GPS to do that with.
Have a road map as a backup. I keep a Rand McNally binder with maps of North America inside my Jeep. It gets used so much (even when I have GPS because I like to wander) that I buy a new one every year because a few heavily perused pages get worn out and torn, not that I’m blaming Cool Gus (my yellow Lab) who sometimes sits on it in the passenger seat, but I’m blaming Cool Gus.
While Rand McNally is great for your car, get topographic maps of your locale. The scale you want for local area is 1:24,000. You can download and print out maps at this scale for free from the sites below. You can also buy a large map book of your state with topographic maps.
For the National Geographic maps it’s pretty cool because you can download the maps in sets of five where the first is an overview of the quadrant, then the other four are printer sized. Print out in color!
You can also get maps from USGS. These maps allow you to pick the details you want. You can get different scales. 7.5 minute is 1:24,000. Which means one inch on the map equals 24,000 inches on the ground or 2000 feet. 15 minutes is 1:63,360.
Task Fifteen
Mild: GPS/Map Checklist
Get a road atlas for each car
Rand McNally Road Atlas. https://amzn.to/36IVqA9
National Geographic Maps:
http://www.natgeomaps.com/trail-maps/pdf-quads
USGS Maps: http://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/
Get a waterproof map case to put your topo maps in, with dummy cord.
Waterproof map case. https://amzn.to/34yYE6N
Get a topographic atlas of your State
DeLorme Tennessee Atlas & Gazetteer: https://amzn.to/3dbMyo8
Download the map tiles for your area of operation for your car GPS (if possible), your phone, and handheld GPS (if used).
The topographic maps should include your immediate area. If you believe you are going to have to evacuate, get maps covering the route and your BOHS. Then get a waterproof map case.
Get a dummy cord (a piece of 550 cord works fine) to tie the map off to you. The one above already comes with a cord. Seriously. I can’t tell you how many times that dummy cord kept me from being stupid and losing my map. In fact, tie off all important items. I clip my Jeep key to the loop on my pants every time I get out of it when I’m out in the wilderness. I don’t trust putting things in my pockets.
You can order laminated, waterproofed maps, but they are more difficult to carry because of limited folding. This is a judgment call on your part. I prefer the paper map inside of a waterproof map case. For geeks, you can get a pocket protector and alcohol pens to write on the case and the special eraser for the writing when you’re done drawing and then . . .
You can order topographic maps by states. I keep this in my Jeep to back up my road map. You can also go to your local camping store or local bookstore and you should be able to get the pertinent sets of maps. I also own maps of National Forests and National Parks I visit.
There are numerous navigation apps. Google Maps is familiar to almost everyone. There are several topo map Apps you can get. I’ve used a number over the years but the best one I’ve found is Gaia. The basic app is free and then there are two levels of membership. The premium, which is discounted 20% via my affiliate link, (donated to Special Operations Warrior Foundation) is $32 for a year but for the number and types of maps you get, it is definitely worth it. One useful thing to using any map app is to download the map tiles you want to use beforehand (when you’re out in the wilds with no signal) and you learn how to use the app.
Gaia also sends interesting email updates on various outdoor activities that are very informative from outdoor experts.
Land Navigation is covered in Survival.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed about the Area Study? Here’s the easy way to do it. Start from your house. Then move outwards. Do the same with your work. Look at the route from home to work/school. And your Emergency Rally Point. And BOHS. A lot of the information will overlap.
Check one thing at a time. Write down your observations. You’ll be surprised at the amount of information you end up with and how much wiser and mentally prepared you will be than you were. Make sure you ‘disseminate the information’ to your A-Team. Actually, what’s best is if you break down the Area Study and have different members of the team do different parts. Then brief each other. This can be an enlightening and fun exercise.
Once you have the Area Study done, adjust your planning and preparedness to fit the order of likelihood of emergencies and disasters. I cover emergency route planning, which is critical in the Preparation Guide.
The Green Beret Pocket-Sized Survival Guide
Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide. | https://medium.com/@bob-mayer/day-274-survival-preparation-gps-and-maps-tasks-15-bbd66a3cfcb6 | ['Bob Mayer'] | 2020-12-09 22:37:23.211000+00:00 | ['Preparation', 'Maps', 'Life Hacking', 'Pandemic', 'Survival'] |
Chaplain Bruce Fowlkes | I remember the excitement I had when I was first hired. I received a phone call from President Arnold about the job. I remember coming on campus for the first time, in the dead of winter, and driving on the campus and then all of a sudden being on the end of Burgess at the T there and saying, “That’s it.” I remember just being utterly charmed by the place. I had been wanting to get back into campus ministry, and this seemed to be the perfect kind of job for me. I could be a chaplain all the time, and in a small town much like the town my parents live in in Sheridan, Arkansas. So it felt like home and my people.
Some of my richest memories, the most vivid memories since I have been here have been trips with students. One of the first ones we went to was to the Good Samaritan Ministries in South Texas, and taking a group of students down there. We flew from Houston and drove a rented a van from here. We spent a week working for both Good Samaritan and also across the border in Mexico. So the students were doing their work and in that area for the first time in their lives. We’re talking about Colonias and communities that are right along the border and the kind of realities they were in. The students experienced shopping in a really nice mall in Mexico and then driving into the kind of poverty that I’ve never experienced before and then talking with the students about it. That was a rich experience and also the joy of being with them and living with them for a week and watching their eyes and their awareness that comes from getting out of your comfort zone and being in a new place.
So we went there and also to Yakima, Washington, to the Yakima Nation, and spent a week there at the log church for the Yakima Mission. I remember vividly the end of that week. We had purchased food for the week and had made our own meals and such, and we had all this left over food.
And Kathy Whitson — Doc Whitson — wanted to talk to me about something so we went outside. All the students were cleaning up the kitchen and trying to figure out what to do. We started to have a conversation about how we live in a world of so much — so much plenty — and we were working in a community with so much need, not just members of the Yakima Nation but others in that area. It’s a farming community, so you have a lot of migrant workers and so they are living hand to mouth. And just as we started that conversation, a man was walking down the road on the other side of the fence, down by the driveway, and he raised his hand and yelled “Hello!” It was out in the country and seeing someone walking along the road gets your attention. And he asked over the fence, “Do you have any food?”
And I paused because it was kind of amazing that it happened at that very moment when we were discussing that topic. And I said, “Yes, Come on in.” So I went and opened the gate. He went downstairs and was telling us a little about himself. He was walking from his home to town to catch the bus, and he just needed a little food. So we just made some sandwiches for him and stuffed his pockets with apples and bananas so he would have enough to take with him. Then he asked us if we wanted to pray. So we all stood around in a circle, Doc Whitson, the students, and I. Since I am a chaplain, I am expected to say the prayer, but I didn’t even get the words out of my mouth before he started praying. And so he prayed for us and not himself. He actually prayed for us. That was the end of the week. It was a wonderful way of wrapping up, making all the stories come together, like pulling all the loose ends together. So we talked about a lot of different ways people live and survive, how they live through the difficult times of poverty, culture clashes, colonialism, and the local concepts of mission.
So those kinds of moments were remarkable.
We went to Costa Rica for spring break. It was a similar thing in that we experienced a different culture, and it was one culture sitting right next to the other. — the well-off culture sitting right next to the impoverished neighborhoods. We could easily see that contrast. You can see that kind of contrast in America, too. But many of our students do not come from that stark reality. So while we were in Costa Rica we worked for a congregation that built a handicapped accessible bathroom. The government had mandated that all churches had to have a handicapped accessible bathroom. So this was a poor congregation that didn’t have the money to build such a bathroom. We built a stand-alone accessible bathroom. That was an eye-opening experience because that country has different construction methods. We had to understand how that worked. We did manual labor and mixed cement using big piles of sand that were dumped on the front porch of the church. We mixed cement by hand. We dug the hole for the sceptic system, which is what it basically was — a hole in the ground. We covered it over. Ernie Potter was with us, and he was the hardest working person the whole week. He was just an amazing man. He saw by the end of the week that we couldn’t finish the project. He wanted it done, so he talked to the leadership of the church to find out what was needed to get the project completed. They told him all of the stuff that needed to be secured, and he started writing it down. And he said, “Let’s go ahead.” He went to some of the leaders of the church and they purchased everything that was needed to finish the project because as a congregation they were living on the edge and didn’t know where their next bit of money would come from. It was important to finish the job. Ernie saved the day for those people.
The mission trips, I believe, were started by Terry Ewing. He would take groups of students on mission trips during spring break. Since then the trips have become a tradition. Students have expectations and get excited about where are we going to go and questions of that nature. Students get involved in the planning of the trip because it is their project. I am the advisor of the event, but I get students who research the location, make the budget, write the grants, and appeal to funders.
Students volunteer for these projects. They have to raise their own money. We try to make it very affordable for them. We receive support from a lot of local churches — Eureka Christian Church and a church in Litchfield have been very generous. Other churches in the area have been generous. Week of Compassion, the Disciples relief organization, has also given us grants. We have several different pieces of funding that come from various places. | https://medium.com/studs-terkel-project/chaplain-bruce-fowlkes-572c0fed3578 | ['Eureka College Alumni'] | 2015-09-24 15:24:10.348000+00:00 | ['Christianity', 'Travel'] |
How Can We Affect Meaningful, Evolutionary Change? | How can we affect positive, meaningful, and evolutionary change?
As for my contributions, I’ve been on a binary/ego trip of late, meaning that I’ve been looking at the roots and the reasons for the state of the the world we find ourselves in. Th-Ink Queerly is absolutely a place for us to discuss how we can lead ourselves to better lead others, and how we can defuse and reduce prejudice over time. The binary is a social construct, and at it’s most base level it expresses one side over the other. Even in Taoism we see a basic binary in Yin and Yang — one does not exist without other other, but both exist because of the other. Imbalance happens when express too much of one of the elements. Toxic imbalance happens when we spend all of our time only in one element.
“How do we affect positive, meaningful, evolutionary change?” is a question I ask myself every day. The answer is that we must first seek to understand. We are all human, even the person who appears to hate us. In no way do I condone hatred or prejudice, but we need to own our emotions and behaviours. How often have you lashed out at someone for the most seemingly innocuous reason? If we can lose it over something that we can later deem unimportant, that is a place we can come from to recognize our own fallibility. This may not be easy, but practice makes for improvement.
The first step is to recognize and help other realize that ignorance is not bliss — it’s a human rights issue. Ignorance in this sense is based on a lack of relevant education, or a life lived under the dogma of an ideology — a religion or a social/political structure where the messages taught about humanity are hegemonic and patriarchal, and limited by a reinforced binary. Listen to my thoughts in, Destructive Emotions Are Related to Ignorance.
We have unique and vital insights to teach others.
We have a different insight than straight people. Hence the word queer, meaning different or odd (as in not the status quo). This is how you can Use Your Difference to Make a Difference.
Perhaps one of the most difficult challenges we deal with as LGBTQ people is that of religion, and how more countries in the world are using “Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs” as a specious defence of prejudice. I attempt to navigate these contentious waters and ask that you read with an open mind in, Were Religions Invented to Control Fear of the Other? | https://medium.com/th-ink/how-can-we-affect-meaningful-evolutionary-change-fcc01c634dc6 | ['Darren Stehle'] | 2019-04-12 14:23:30.070000+00:00 | ['Gender Fluid', 'Social Justice', 'Toxic Masculinity', 'LGBTQ', 'Religion'] |
‘Hell Bent Heaven Sent’ A Novel | Chapter three: The Dream
“I had a dream last night.”
“Go on.”
“I was the protagonist. I was absolutely in my element.”
“In your element…what exactly does that mean?”
Allie struggled to explain. She knew he wouldn’t understand. Much as she loved him, she recognized that Brad just lacked the empathy, and the imagination that she sometimes craved. To him, her thinking was like a complicated algorithm that he just couldn’t crack. What was that quote about opposites attracting?
“Go on, I’m waiting.”
“I was a fortune-teller,” she blurted out, and rushed on before Brad had time to collect his thoughts. “And to be honest, I’ve never been so happy. I felt that I was truly helping people. They came to me looking for hope, and they left totally inspired. When I woke up, I realized that this was something I would be good at!”
“And?”
“What do you mean, ‘and’?”
“I’m presuming that there’s more to this.”
“Well, I’m just telling you I’m convinced I’ve found my calling. I was happier than I’ve been in a long time. It seemed…appropriate, something I could do…something I was MEANT to do and be…something…something that aligns perfectly with my personality.”
“Fortune-telling…well, that certainly is ‘something’, as you keep saying. Now why didn’t I think of that? That’ll keep the wolves from the door.”
“No need to be sarcastic.”
“Why do I have the distinct notion that you’re trying to break some earth-shattering news to me Allie? It was no more than a dream after all.”
“It pays better than you would imagine Brad.”
“Oh come on! You’re not really SERIOUS about this! Are you?”
The ominous silence held yet another story. It was the kind of silence that he knew in time, maybe much later, that he’d learn from. The hush had a scary force to it, a strength that might be enough to split them apart, given the right setting.
In time and with reflection, he might come to realize he could have left it there, but right now, common sense eluded him.
For the first time in their marriage, Brad embraced a creative side she could never have imagined, as he strode dramatically onto his pretend stage.
“Ah I can picture the two of us now, at our annual Board of Architects’ dinner, if you’ll be able to drag yourself away to spend an evening with me, that is. Let me see. Maybe it would go something like this. ‘Dear colleagues, allow me to introduce my lovely wife Allie. These days she works as a fortune-teller. She used to be a top sales executive, but you know how it is, working seven days a week, never having any time off. It got to her, and to me, if truth be known, so eventually she gave it all up to pursue her passion. Yes, she truly is a fortune-teller now. It’s been a life-long dream of hers, a career that will most certainly help others understand and be buoyed along by the promising futures she can offer them.
‘But don’t all line up at once ladies and gentlemen. If you need her advice you will have to wait for it. She can’t possibly fit you in right now. My lovely wife is way too busy, too sought-after for that. You see she’s a specialist psychic. She’s no fly-by-night clairvoyant. No no! She can and will make ALL your dreams come true.
‘Let me assure each and every one of you that her skills take time and patience, so, if by chance any among you would like a consultation, and I’m sure there are many, any time after the next six months would be just perfect’.”
“Good one Brad! I loathe sarcasm. It’s a cheap come back.”
“Oh fair crack o’ the whip Allie. I just can’t see you're doing such a job and feeling good about it. Besides, it’s a pseudo science.”
“Says who?”
“I just know. There’s absolutely no scientific underpinning for it. And because a person often reacts to whatever they’re told, or sees a connection they can relate to, psychics use that as proof.”
“Well, you seem to know an amazing lot about this non-science. But you know what? I just realized something too. You’re a bleeding snob Brad. You’re supposed to love me for better or worse.”
“Ah yes, but I never imagined worse being this bad.”
“This bad…is that how you view it? So, let’s see. What would happen if I were to pursue another avenue for making money? What about if I became a check-out chick, a factory worker…or…or…or a domestic? Would any of those be ‘THIS BAD’?”
Brad opened his mouth to respond but she cut straight through his first effort to inhale.
“PLEASE! Don’t even answer. I already know! You’d be ashamed, wouldn’t you? And again, don’t waste your energy thinking about it. It was nothing more than a rhetorical question.”
Brad’s body language was enough to convince her that she was right. Jaw stiffly set, torso as tense as a newly-coiled spring, his eyes held tightly shut, she was suddenly aware that this was a battle that could augur badly for each of them, but she was on fire, she was more angry than she’d been in a long time, so like a locomotive gathering steam she continued her relentless attack.
“Great! Now I have just discovered that my husband of three years is little more than an elitist pig!”
“That’s unfair. I was just trying to…”
“Don’t even try to justify yourself Brad. I get your point. You know what upsets me about your attitude?”
“No! Fill me in.”
“You’re not even prepared to hear me out…to give me a chance to explain. And guess what again? I anticipated your reaction to this. I could have said nothing about my feelings and gone on being your super sales executive partner, miserable but ‘successful’. I know where that would have led each of us. Sadly, you don’t! You just don’t get it.
“But just hear me out. Whether you believe it or not, let me tell you this. LOTS of people’s lives have been turned around by the hope that fortune-tellers have given them, and all you can do, Mr. Middle-Class Know-It-All is spit on the idea.
“You know what’s really behind your reaction? It’s your mother, your snobbish middle-class mom. You always were in her shadow. I bet right now you’re wondering how you’d explain your wife’s career change. What words would ever convince her that she doesn’t really need to be affronted, that she will be able to raise her head again in society…one day…when I’m earning enough money to plaster the façade of her house in hundred dollar bills?”
She watched with satisfaction as Brad withdrew from the conversation. His face, grim and taut, told her she was on the money.
“See, I know you better than you know yourself. Am I right? Is that your biggest hurdle? She’s only managed to temper her disapproval of me over the years because I’m successful. When she first met me all she could concern herself with was that I was a little office girl working in real estate, going out with her son.
“And then, when she realized how wrong she was, that you and I could actually team up with each other in business, if we wanted to, she’s spent the last couple of years trying to sweeten the pill to her friends. She IS your biggest hurdle isn’t she?”
“No, I don’t agree. I know my mother gave you a rough trot when we first met, but she ultimately became your greatest admirer. AND I think she learned from that. It doesn’t make it right of course, but we can’t go back and replay our lives, and our reactions, however much we’d like to.
“I would NEVER allow Mom to do what she did before, no matter your choice of profession. I love you for who you are. Becoming a fortune-teller is NOT the reason I am against it. What would worry me more than anything is that you’d be giving people false hope Allie, and you know that. Worse still, you’d be charging for it! From where I’m standing that’s pure and utter deception.”
“Hey! What gives? I already do that. Every damned, bloody day I do it! What are all those magical house makeovers about? If you’re looking at deception, that’s where you will find it, pure and utter trickery at its worst. And yet, here you are, conscience-stricken about my earning money by reading people’s futures…and just maybe giving them hope and the strength to move on.
“And, even if it is chicanery in a way, it’s also true that through psychic readings, many people have been able to pick up the pieces in their lives, bind them together with some anticipation and hope that they might not otherwise have had. I’ve even read about people whose terminal cancer has been cured, purely because their belief systems were changed.”
“Oh for god’s sake! Read about them did you? In ‘Woman’s Day’ or ‘Mama Mia’, or some other reputable source? Sorry, I’m not convinced.”
“Listen to yourself! It’s not FOR you to be convinced. Fortune-telling is not for people like you. The cynics of this world tread their own lonely paths. Good luck to them and YOU! But whether you believe it or not, it DOES meet a NEED. People ELECT to have their fortunes told. Besides,” she said, looking at him challengingly, “sometimes they do it just for fun too. I sure could use a slice of that right now!”
Brad stood motionless, caught up in the dilemma of where to from here, but then quickly reasoned that the whole idea could blow over in a day or so if he could change the tone of the discussion.
“Anyway, what would YOU know about fortune-telling?” he asked in an effort to be flippant.
“More than you might imagine.”
“You realize you need a license, don’t you!”
“I have one!”
“What?”
“Well, all those afternoons when you thought I was having coffee with friends or whatever else, I was studying online. I’ve learned so much about palmistry, dabbled in astrology, and I can read faces, tarot cards, crystal balls and, my favorite, the one I love most, tasseography!”
“Tasse what?”
“Tasse — it’s French for cup. It’s to do with teacup reading.”
Brad recognized a renewed animation in her voice. He knew this wasn’t going to blow over as easily as he’d thought, but before he had time to worry about that, Allie forged on.
“Of course it doesn’t work with tea bags, so you have to make real tea for your clients. Then you read the person’s fortune through the dregs left in their cup. I found a formation of the Eiffel Tower in a woman’s tea leaves a few weeks ago. She was so excited because she was flying to Paris the next week. She’s booked me for another session when she comes home AND she’s referred a number of her friends to me. In many ways this is a word-of-mouth business.”
“Oh my God Allie…you’re serious about this aren’t you!”
“Never been more so but I’d like to think you might support me.”
“I’m just not comfortable with it on several counts. For a start, everybody would know you were doing it, I’m not convinced that you can make money, and…well it’s just downright embarrassing. Not in a million years would I have…”
“Would you have what? Married a fortune-teller? And neither would I have wed a class-conscious, pompous swine had I known. See, I haven’t changed, but you’re not the person I thought I married. The only difference between the one YOU married and the one you see NOW is that once I was a fortune CHASER. Now I just want to be a fortune TELLER. There’s only a subtle difference when you think about it.”
“Now you’re playing with words. The concepts are poles apart and you know it!”
“Bull dust! I knew I’d come up with some stiff opposition from you Brad, so that’s why I had to go this alone.”
“What do you mean, ‘go this alone’?”
“I’m not sure we should continue the conversation right now.”
“Believe me, it won’t be any easier tomorrow or the next day…might as well spit it out.”
Chapters one and two below. | https://medium.com/illumination/hell-bent-heaven-sent-a-novel-8da7177b4f8 | ['Maria Rattray'] | 2020-12-23 02:52:32.498000+00:00 | ['Husband Wife Problem', 'Fiction', 'Conflict Resolution', 'Career Change', 'Fortune Telling'] |
THE CONSPIRACY | It was time. Time to kill or be domesticated by the creatures we had raised as livestock for human consumption… Birds.
It all started five years ago when intelligent scientist, Dr. Chris Rogers in the year 2077 on March 10th, created a serum in order to improve the taste and production rates of poultry as science advanced. We just never knew science was evolving even the pint sized brains of birds.
The new generation of birds became intelligent, outsmarting the humans and injecting the serum to more of their species to create an army large enough and strong enough to take over every technology, weaponry and politics to win the world over.
The captured humans turned into what the birds once were, treated as scratching post and degrading objects. My parents have been missing since but I haven’t given up on finding them.
All is not lost; there is hope for humanity.
One day, humans will rise again and be the dominate species we were created to be; we existed to be that is why we are seizing the war and we are taking it today!
“Commander they’ve found us!” Two informed and saluted.
The four generals that were in-charge of the four units said as we all stared at each other and saluted each other.
“For humanity.” I said.
“For humanity!” They all replied and we scattered to our various units.
I was the ring leader so I was in the front field as my courage was what was needed.
We knew this day would come and we had expected it anytime soon so the panics in the hearts of these warriors who were risking their humanity, their lives, their hopes was all the strength I needed to ensure that we would win back our world from the feathers of poultry.
I walked up to my station as I tied my head with a red band. I took a bowl of black and red paint, creating symbols to remind me I was not alone. We were not alone.
There is one thing humanity has that no other species in the planet can ever have… Spirit.
Our minds might be broken, our homes taken, our people slaughter, our humanity insulted but our spirit never. The tears we shed, the laughter of home, the anger in our blood for the traumatized and the commitment to restore things back to the natural order.
Man is meant to rule over every creature on the earth.
We stood face to face with the creatures that had our home taken. They carried the science we knew perfectly well how to manipulate and we had our weapons combined with our hearts and spirit; to see our loved ones.
“Surrender Number Seven! You and the humans are powerless against us birds!” Captain Cluck, held a speaker as he sat on an ostrich like nothing mattered.
“So you can turn us into objects?! Even animals had rights than the humans now! We have nothing but to fight!”
“Or die trying!” Captain Cluck clucked as all the humans laughed.
“Silence!” He shouted in embarrassment as well humans kept on laughing.
Captain Cluck was a rooster and he was pet since I was a country farmer girl. I loved him so much as mine but after his intelligence improved, he had changed from the rooster I loved into a cock I despised.
“You have a choice Chloe. I can help you and promise you safety.” Captain Cluck said as I furrowed a brow.
“What about my companions? What about the humans whose rights were stolen from them?!” I asked but he was silent with a straight face. “You can keep your sympathy, we don’t need it!”
“You leave me no choice Chloe. Engage battle!” Captain Cluck said as I screamed.
“Release the traps!” I shouted as the intelligence unit of our groups took position and started taking down the ostrich’s they could get.
Ostrich run 70km per hour and with the weapons we have here, we can only take out fifty in a battle u til we complete our nuclear power.
“Unleash the cats!” I shouted as domestic cats of different ran towards the battlefield.
“Attack!” I screamed as the humans cheered before we charged at the poultry.
Archers and hunters took care of the birds of the air as we slaughtered as much as we could take down.
Boulder, my enthusiastic best friend held no weapons in his hands as he caught birds after birds, crushing their skulls or pulling their head off with a look of satisfaction.
The sight of pesky birds blood stained all over his body like the African man he was had the adrenaline in his body in perfect orgasm.
“Cluck!” I shouted when I saw her was about to turn his back on his breathens.
“You disappoint me Chloe.” Cluck said as he shook his head and stared with contempt at my blood stained body.
I glared at him with anger as I ran to where he sat, short and proud on his ostrich like it had no dignity.
I took my sickle, murdering every chicken that stood in my way from Cluck.
He was mine to kill and I would take his head as much trophy.
I stood opposite Cluck after much effort as I breathed hard and my eyes clearer than it had ever been.
“Where are my parents?!” I asked as I dropped my broken sickles on the floor.
“I don’t know and if I knew, I would never tell you. This isn’t who you are Chloe, come home with me and I will make you happy.” Cluck requested as he stretched his feather towards me.
“Four words Captain Cluck. Cock a doodle chicken.”
“How dare you?!” He asked as he charged with a light sword as I grabbed my spear.
The sound of metals clashing each time our weapons touched to the dance of our movements caught everyone’s attention.
Humanity needed me, needed our victory and as the leader of sector Seven, I will win!
I hit Cluck’s sword off his hand and was going straight for a kill when I heard gunshots from behind heading to my direction.
I moved away quickly as I ran, avoiding the multiple bullets and took cover.
I watched as the pilots of a plane, penguins escorted Cluck into the helicopter as I removed the safety of the small gun I had in my hand.
“You won’t go unscathed!” I pulled the trigger while the surviving birds fled.
The bullet hit Cluck’s left wing before they shot at me and successful scrapped my face a little as it bleed lightly.
“This isn’t over number seven! You haven’t seen the last of me yet!” Cluck screamed in pain as the helicopter flew away.
You haven’t seen the last of humanity yet cluck.
The best thing about war was the feast.
However the poultry might be in enmity with humans, Poultry will always remain one of American’s tastiest treats.
I gasped as I sat up from the bed and quickly climbed down from my bed.
I ran to my parents room and opened the door. I breathed in relief when I saw dad before I could smell mom’s cooking in the kitchen and I was still stuck in my fifteen years old body.
I went back to my room and opened the window and breathed in the beautiful morning air.
Everything looked sane and normal even the roosters that rose in the morning.
“It was only a silly dream.” I whispered to myself.
Or was it?
The conspiracy. | https://medium.com/@onuoramichelleifunanya/the-conspiracy-6140cd04cf20 | [] | 2020-12-09 22:22:10.701000+00:00 | ['Conspiracy Theories', 'Birds', 'Humor', 'Fiction Writing'] |
Forever Brands | If we are to believe the mythical anticipation books and films of the last century, brands have a much brighter future than men.
In the famous Minority Report movie, they offer guided, immersive, real-time experiences to passers-by who are no longer at all anonymous. In 2054, these are two emblematic brands that invite themselves on the path of John Anderton: Guinness and American Express, two brands that we can easily imagine active in few decades. In Blade Runner this time, brands preempt public space with grandeur and optimism in a world where men wander hopelessly in relentless rain. A PanAm hostess invites you to escape without an airplane, a sign of the future swing of tourism into a 100% neuronal experience. The brands are becoming excuses to the imaginative future building projections of the writers.
All these representations from the imagination of Philip K. Dick illustrate the fact that brands are the image of the society described in them: in a predictive world, they offer predictive experiences. Whether young or old, yesterday or tomorrow, brands are still deeply rooted in the present and in people’s lives. Is this the sign of an eternity?
I had the pleasure the have a talk lately about post-COVID attitudes to brand (using a methodology from Neon42 https://neon42.com) and I named it ‘Sleeping Beauties — post COVID brand strategies’. I think I wanted to make a point — maybe — that brands can never really die. Brands have a power forbidden to humans: immortality. Many old, forgotten or backward-looking brands have thus resuscitated.
You have so many examples of brands that came back from the past. I’m not even sure that we can make a clear list that would satisfy everybody — because those brands will touch people differently or would have mutated to fit better the times — they would feel different for what they’ve been famous for, sometimes a century ago. After having known dark hours in our cupboards, Champions is becoming again a must-have in your streetwear style. After being the cool guys in town with their hoodie, they quickly became synonymous with bad taste and poor budget. So, they did the only thing they could do: be cool again by hanging out with the cool kids. In 2010, they partnered up with Supreme (a growing brand attracting all the hype) to collaborate on some products — which were successful. And those partnerships led us to some worldwide influencers like Kanye West and other fashion icons.
.
Being part of the cultural heritage, having succeeded in creating strong and lasting popular imagery often with the help of talented advertisers. And have achieved major economic success thanks to an iconic product or service. This branded “mythology” is a risk insurance against oblivion. Whoever wants to resurrect or survive. For this, the brand must have a “plasticity”: the power to stay up to date while preserving the authenticity of its capital. A constituent element of past communication, founding myth, world view or unique product mix … capital is not everything. In addition, essential exogenous elements are added: the adequacy of the brand’s “purpose” with the current society, the ability of its owners to maintain and grow this capital, but also the temporal, industrial and financial resources available — the brand is a spendthrift.
That’s why, in Neon42, we created a specific methodology that we named James Bond tool — one of the brands around that never got old. It’s really about identifying the core assets and values of the brand and make the exercise to filter them through the nowadays context and understanding. Have a look there for more explanation.
The brand’s spirit remains, its body evolves. Let’s not go too far: let’s say, in 2026. The currency has completed its digital transformation, Visa is still a strong brand. Instead of cards that have now disappeared, Visa is buried in our smartphone or directly inserted in a nanochip in our body. No more physical existence, therefore, only a logo guarantee and pledge of quality. Looking back this time, Google is announcing that it is embarking on the autonomous car: a 100% physical product from our old industry. Is it credible? Yes. Because Google’s value proposition lies in its ability to build intelligence from data. What matters is not the “car” object but the ability to design a future model of autonomy. This demonstrates the strength of a brand capable of opening up several different markets.
But the role of innovation is really key in making brands lasting for good. Innovation refers to the introduction into the market of a new or significantly improved product or process compared to those previously developed. So to be clear, it’s a bout product innovations (goods or services) and process (including organizational and marketing innovations). And if you think deeply about the latest, then, you understand that brands are here to stay, in a way or form or another. Keep moving. And being well alive. | https://medium.com/@dirrtyfrank/forever-brands-814d42d1c0ed | ['Franck Vinchon'] | 2021-06-17 07:53:51.147000+00:00 | ['Strategy', 'Brand', 'Methodology', 'Neon42', 'Forever'] |
光復香港 時代革命 (Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times) | We experienced so much heartbreak in the past 18 months.
Since June 2019, we threw ourselves into the protest movement, at home and globally. When the Hong Kong authorities try to break us, we remained strong and optimistic, even when we have lost so much to state suppression and violence. And now, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is now stripping Hong Kong of any reminiscences of human rights and liberty.
When I was younger, I believed that Hong Kong would have 50 years of autonomy. Growing up to the horror stories of violent suppression in mainland China, I remember feeling blessed that I lived a border away from tyranny. Oh, I was a naive child.
Deep underneath, I knew this day would come, but not this soon.
We started this year with high hopes, but not everything worked in our favour. The CCP has tossed its full weight to crush Hong Kong, stripping away everything from education, civil service, private sector, banking, media industry, to the freedom of movement. Our home has disappeared right in front of us, and there was nothing we could have done to stop it. Even though Hong Kong is nothing like the city I grew up in, I miss it so much.
In this joyous season, I am filled with sorrow and survivor’s guilt. Over the years, I spent most of my Christmas in Hong Kong. Even after a decade of living in Canada, it still feels strange to be away from home during the holiday season. This year has been particularly difficult. I think about the 12 Hong Kong youths who are captured in China, facing a secret trial without just representation. The countless activists tortured, jailed, detained, or killed; and we don’t even know their stories.
Repeatedly, I think to myself: what must we do to survive this regime?
We can choose to conform and obey in silence. That is not a life I wish for anyone. Hong Kongers refused to conform to the CCP’s authoritarian regime. We know there is no justice until we are freed from the oppressors in Beijing.
I dream of the day when I can go home again, to a democratic and liberated Hong Kong. But dreaming will not change the minds of our oppressors. It will be hard work and struggle to continue the movement that we started together a year and a half ago.
Our hearts may break again and again. We may feel small joys before we are reminded of the cruel reality, and the joy fades away again. Despite the heartaches and joylessness, there is no other choice but to fight for a life that is free from oppression.
And maybe one day, we can feel joy again.
=====
In solidarity with Uyghurs, Tibetans, Mongolians, and communities marginalized by the Chinese Communist Party. | https://medium.com/@chercywong/%E5%85%89%E5%BE%A9%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF-%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3%E9%9D%A9%E5%91%BD-liberate-hong-kong-revolution-of-our-times-d839b97d8453 | ['Cherie Wong'] | 2020-12-25 21:20:35.176000+00:00 | ['Democracy', 'Hong Kong', 'China', 'Social Movements'] |
Bezoar | It is early on a Tuesday morning, in an out-of-the-way observation room at LAX airport. The sun is beating down hard outside, but within the room, the air-conditioner hums monotonously as it pumps in cold air. The linoleum floor smells of disinfectant, and the accumulated despair within these walls is quite palpable. A clock ticks quietly above the door, minute and hour hands thin as spider-legs.
Two TSA agents are observing, through a one-way mirror, a young girl who has no name. They sip lukewarm de-caff from paper cups, and they stare at her through the silver mist of the mirror and watch as she fidgets with her hair. Her long, dark, matted locks almost touch the floor. Some of her hair is wrapped around her neck, like an oily black snake. The rest is piled over her shoulders and down her back.
It must all weigh a ton, the two agents comment to one another; how can she even stand up straight?
They watch and sip their coffees (two sugars, two creams) as the hours tick away, and the girl in the interview room plays with her hair. She runs split ends between her small, aching fingers, occasionally twisting a strand and sucking on it like a pacifier.
Oral fixation, one agent whispers to the other.
This must be some truly screwed-up kid.
She has come through the gate with her papers in order, but there is something about her that is off. It hasn’t taken long to figure out she doesn’t speak English, or any language spoken by the half a dozen agents at the airport. They had called in a translator who, after a few hours, shrugged, saying the girl had to be mute.
And now, she just sits there, like a child lost at the mall. Blinking in confusion at all the fuss being made over her.
She has arrived alone, the last stop in a series of connecting flights over the past six days (Singapore to Hong-Kong, Moscow to Dubai, Rio to Mexico City). She is here legally; all the paperwork checked out. And yet, there is something wrong. Something that they cannot quite put their finger on.
Her suitcase is practically empty, not even a spare pair of underwear packed. She smells of stale sweat and in-flight dinners, and her clothes are cheap, plain and unflattering. Perhaps this is intentional, so she cannot be identified in a crowd. Only her long, dark hair would give her away.
And now, the two TSA agents, who feel utterly out of their depth, pretend to make observation notes on their tablets while muttering and shifting in their seats. They don’t know what to do with this girl, but they know something isn’t right. They will keep her here, under observation, until such time as someone comes to claim her, like lost luggage. | https://medium.com/beingwriters/bezoar-7735f03b7914 | ['The Somnambulist Society'] | 2020-11-29 18:08:49.109000+00:00 | ['Grimms Fairy Tales', 'Horror', 'Fiction', 'Speculative Fiction', 'Weird Fiction'] |
Petr Kellner Bitcoin Master — Analysis | “Bitcoin Trader Petr Kellner” Click Here To Join!
Check out my analysis to see how we compare to other auto-traders in the crypto industry.
Here’s my brief review of my Bitcoin Dealer.
I got together with Bitcoin Trader to keep it quick, and I added $250 to my account because it’s the sum recommended to maximize your earnings ultimately. Today is my sixth day using the software, and I was able to hit $11,000+, but I’m still trying to reach my $21,000 target by the end of the week.
My Honest Analysis of Bitcoin Auto Trader:
Bitcoin Dealer has a super-speed program that exchanges a large number of trades every day. The framework uses the existing business establishment and rapid AI, which gives this program a favorable position over the other systems.
This item has an unfortunate speed of just .07 percent after more than six years of automatic trade. This means you’d have a very low chance of losing your cash, like less than 1% of the probability of misfortune. Take the divider lane!
The machine signal carries out transactions with 163 exchanges in 35 countries, and the amount of trades it is getting to is disconcerting-4 million!
After looking at the association behind this signing scheme, I found that it was on favorable terms. In 2018, this Trading Application earned $723 million in benefits, which was 11 percent more than the Merchant of 2019. A beautiful return.
This year, regardless of how the market sectors are in a state of unrest, this bitcoin merchant has determined that he will start picking up $650 million in benefits amid immense misfortunes on world securities exchanges.
I’ve been wildly looking for some real technique to pick up money online from home for as long as two years. I was looking for a dream that I couldn’t get my all-day pound by working my hours and making shrewd speculations. So when I caught the breeze of the broker robot on my Facebook channel, the thought provoked my curiosity.
How does it work?
You start by opening a record to use Bitcoin Dealer. At the hour of my registration, they provided a record master to walk you through the cycle and “hold your hand” for your first projects. For the calculation to make trades, it needs assets to work with, so I just stacked the base to start with $250. In any case, writing this out of what’s to come, I’m thinking about how much better my earnings would have been if I had started higher. When I stacked the assets, Bitcoin Broker dominated and started to do business for me!
Having used Bitcoin Merchant for a couple of days, I’m very excited about the performance. Bitcoin Broker can consistently trade when the conditions are acceptable, but it is inactive as a general rule. However, I’ve found out on the off chance that you’re only keeping your PC running with the intention that it can do business at whatever point it needs to, you have the best results. So I just let it go and let it get me some cash while I’m resting!
My Score of Bitcoin Trader: 4.75 /5
On the off chance that you need to start, click this link to start making the most of this Bitcoin Broker in 24 hours! Click Here To Join!
“Bitcoin Trader Petr Kellner” | https://medium.com/@ashwinlyons/petr-kellner-bitcoin-master-analysis-e01e8c899c64 | [] | 2021-03-04 08:45:34.074000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Bitcoin Wallet', 'Bitcoin Mining', 'Bitcoincash', 'Bitcoin News'] |
Local Neighborhood Mochi | I make comics about things that interest me: history, food, dreams, and more. https://www.samnakahira
Follow | https://medium.com/spiralbound/local-neighborhood-mochi-95eb059e6b56 | ['Sam Nakahira'] | 2019-01-11 13:50:31.183000+00:00 | ['Sam Nakahira', 'Japanese Food', 'Mochi', 'Japan', 'Comics'] |
Mocking Moment.js in Jest — A Simple, One-Line Solution | First Unit Test
Mocking a component’s call to Moment.js seems like a great candidate for our first unit test in Jest. However, it‘s not as straightforward as you might think. You could use a manual mock placed in a __mocks__ directory. But that’s not very elegant. Here, we show a simple, one-line solution in a basic test scenario.
Stateless Functional Component
To get started, we have a stateless functional component which calls Moment.js to get the current timestamp.
import React from 'react';
import moment from 'moment'; const Clock = () => {
return (<h1>{moment().format()}</h1>);
}; export default Clock;
Snapshot Test Case with Mock
We use React Test Renderer to compare the component to the previous snapshot. If we don’t mock the Moment.js call, the timestamp will change each time the test runs, and the test will fail.
The Jest documentation states:
jest.mock(path, moduleFactory) takes a module factory argument. A module factory is a function that returns the mock.
Therefore, the second argument to jest.mock needs to be a function (first arrow function) which returns a another function which corresponds to the moment() call (second arrow function). This returns an object with one element, the format function, which returns a fixed, arbitrary timestamp when called.
import React from 'react';
import renderer from 'react-test-renderer';
import Clock from '../../component/Clock'; // Return a fixed timestamp when moment().format() is called
jest.mock('moment', () => () => ({format: () => '2018–01–30T12:34:56+00:00'})); it('matches snapshot', () => {
const tree = renderer.create(<Clock />).toJSON();
expect(tree).toMatchSnapshot();
});
Same Test Case using Shallow Renderer
There are a lot of options available for shallow rendering React components, but the React Test Renderer’s shallow renderer works just fine and doesn’t require additional config or dependencies. This is the same test case as above except for the use of the shallow renderer. | https://medium.com/front-end-weekly/mocking-moment-js-in-jest-a-simple-one-line-solution-61259ffaaa2 | ['David Good'] | 2018-11-09 16:44:07.024000+00:00 | ['Jest', 'React', 'JavaScript', 'Testing'] |
Whose Child Are You? | Whose child are you?
Catriona Seth FBA, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature, All Souls College, University of Oxford
Introduction
An early 20th-century postcard depicts a small child staring solemnly into a mirror. The caption reads ‘Whose little girl are you? / De qui es-tu la petite fille?’[i]. This has as much resonance today as it would have done decades or even centuries ago. The Council of Europe’s most recent guide to the European Convention of Human Rights’ article 8 states: ‘The Court has recognised the right to obtain information in order to discover one’s origins and the identity of one’s parents as an integral part of identity protected under the right to private and family life.’[ii] This optimistically suggests that answering the question posed in the picture should not be a problem. Here are some areas in which that might not hold true.
Artificial insemination
At a time when DNA is regularly used to determine whether some popstar, sportsman or princeling has fathered a child he refuses to recognise as his own, artificial insemination is creating biologically parentless children. Not only might they never discover who their father (and sometimes mother) is, in genetic terms, and therefore what their origins or risks of certain pathologies might be, but they could end up, in extreme cases, falling for a stranger who has the same donor’s genes — a de facto sibling. Is this fair? The genetic material is given by a consenting adult, who is sometimes paid and often demands anonymity. There are options for lifting this anonymity, but no guarantee it will be done. Children can thus remain ignorant of their biological make-up, incapable of knowing whether, for instance, they are carriers of a condition which could threaten their own posterity, and of the identity of the individual(s) from whom their DNA has come. Surely this calls for more control of artificial insemination using donor sperm and / or eggs, and at least a partial end to the assurance offered to donors that they will never be named to their offspring, even if this might be followed by a drop in the number of people willing to be involved.[iii] Transnational surrogacy has further complicated such issues.
The perils of DNA tests
What do you give the woman or man who has everything? How about a do-it-yourself DNA kit! These can lead to surprising — and sometimes unwelcome — revelations. In families where there has been a culture of secrecy or where a child is the product of an extra-marital affair, the first clue that one’s genetic identity differs from one’s birth certificate’s indications can come from what is billed as a fun way to find out if you are a Viking or a Pict. We need to think seriously about how to handle children (even grown-up children)’s reactions to such news: they deserve some protection from the potential fallout. Should DNA kits carry warnings like cigarette packages? Could one tax laboratories and pharmaceutical firms and use the proceeds to fund counselling? This might be hard to implement for all sorts of reasons including the ease with which tests can be ordered from foreign companies over the internet. Questions can also arise when routine analyses in a hospital uncover illegitimacy. Should health professionals flag up risks of which we are unaware if they discover something of the kind, and if so, how should they inform the child and / or the parent? There are dangers both in doing nothing (e.g. in not indicating the presence of particular genetic markers) and in making revelations which could for instance break up a family. Medical concerns on the one hand and the right to privacy on the other might lead one to imagine different approaches to the same problem.
Abandonment and anonymity
Archival evidence shows that abandonment is not a matter of choice but is generally seen as a last resort.[iv] In the United Kingdom, it is illegal. Provisions are not made for someone who wishes to give up a child without declaring her identity, whatever her reasons. It seems paradoxical that an anonymous sperm donor can provide genetic material used to create life, but a woman whose pregnancy might result, in extreme cases, from rape or incest, may not surrender her infant without being forced to identify herself. She risks up to five years’ imprisonment if she abandons the child.[v] The press has field days when babies are found in a public place where they might suffer, e.g. from the cold, often after a birth without medical supervision. Such infants are exposed to physical dangers and deprived of any knowledge of their origins. Neither is desirable; at least one might be avoided. How might this be done?
One solution could be to install ‘babyboxes’, similar to those found in Germany[vi] — heated cribs in public places which are the equivalent of a foundling-wheel in early-modern cities like Naples. Babyklappe or Babywiege ensure that a child is left in a place of safety and will be handed over to maternity nurses. Moralists long objected to foundling-wheels claiming they encouraged debauchery. Their modern equivalent is sometimes described as allowing parents to get rid of unwanted children. Figures tend to indicate that this is not the case. If a mother is at risk because of her pregnancy — and so-called ‘honour killings’ in certain communities show this can happen even today — surely her safety must be taken into account along with her child’s. Better a living — though (perhaps temporarily) separated mother and child — than that either (or both) of them should risk dying. The system has its limits: it would be costly to install and maintain baby hatches across the breadth and width of the country, and there is no guarantee that one would be in the vicinity for a woman who might have had to hide her pregnancy. It would also be possible to adopt another approach and to designate specific places — fire or police stations, for instance, as safe areas in which children could be surrendered without question.[vii] These would serve as intermediate stages before the infant was handed over to specialist care.
Elsewhere, anonymous childbirth is possible in a medicalised environment. I am thinking in particular of the French ‘secret’ confinement, commonly known as ‘accouchement sous X’.[viii] It compels hospitals to receive any woman who is about to give birth, even if she refuses to declare her identity — and this in a country which, unlike the United Kingdom, has identity cards. It was initially designed to shield the reputation of families when women had become pregnant out of wedlock or with adulterous children if their husband was away fighting for instance. The Observatoire National de l’Enfance en Danger (National Observatory of Endangered Childhood)’s figures show that on average in France, every day, one or two children are born ‘sous X’. Although there is no standard ‘type’, women who choose this option are generally young, not living with the father, not financially independent and sometimes have health issues.[ix] The ‘sous X’ dispositions offer the best possible guarantee for the baby and the mother’s physical wellbeing.
Women who choose this form of secrecy are briefed about the legal consequences and the importance of origins in the constitution of an individual’s identity. They are encouraged though not obliged to provide information about their health, that of the father, their country of origin and residence, profession, family situation etc. along with any further details they might like to include and which do not make it possible to identify them.[x] They can add to this at any stage. They are also invited to leave their name in a sealed document. The new-born is considered temporarily abandoned for the first two months which allows the parents (mother and / or father) to recognise and collect him or her during this period.[xi] Thereafter, the child can be put up for adoption.
What of the child born ‘sous X’ and adopted? France has a mediator, the Conseil National pour l’Accès aux Origines Personnelles (National Council for Access to Personal Origins) created in 2002 under the ministry of Ségolène Royal. It intervenes to regulate questions of origins and personal identity for adopted children who can ask to find out about their birth mother. It also allows parents who might not have given their name or left a sealed envelope when the infant was born to lift the secret by indicating who they are should their offspring wish to find out.[xii] The child, not the parent, is the one who can request information. It might be difficult to accept that your mother left nothing for you, even given the opportunity, or that your son or daughter is not interested in discovering who you are, but it does seem to be an acceptable half-way house — indeed the European Court of Human Rights has ruled in France’s favour in this respect.[xiii] Some lobby-groups however feel that women should be compelled to give their name but could opt to have it kept secret until the child reaches adulthood.
Overseas connections
Article 7 of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that: ‘The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.’ As the wording indicates, the last part of the article sometimes poses problems. There are, fortunately, many cases of successful adoptions. Being sure that the birth parents have voluntarily given up the child is essential. Foreign adoptions do not always offer the requisite guarantees, particularly in countries where families may have become separated for instance through conflict. The case of Chifundo ‘Mercy’ James, brought over to the West from Malawi by the singer Madonna highlights this. The girl now lives a life of luxury with trendy clothes galore and foreign trips, her physical well-being indubitably a priority. After she had initially left Africa, it became clear that though her mother was dead, her father was alive and had not given her up for adoption. A legal case ensued in which the American adopter’s fame and fortune no doubt played a part.[xiv]
To someone, like me, who works on the 18th century, such adoptions bring to mind the fate of Zamor(e)[xv], born in Chittagong, in current Bangladesh, around 1762 and ‘gifted’ to the Comtesse du Barry, the King of France’s mistress who, along with a royal prince, became one of his godparents when he was baptised ‘Louis-Benoît’. A portrait by Marie-Victoire Lemoine shows him in silks and lace, the forerunners of the modern designer brands in which young Mercy is clothed. He was given an education and treated as a trophy or fashion accessory by Madame du Barry. When the Revolution broke out, he sided against the nobility and betrayed the Comtesse to the authorities. I cannot help but see this as a warning. Striding into a foreign country and removing children to give them ‘better’ prospects — which too often equate quality of life with its purely material aspects and with Western values — might be construed as a form of neo-colonialism and is, I suspect, something about which future generations will be critical in part because it means that many adopted children are dispossessed of their background (including their name) and taken away from the society, language and civilisation of their origins.
Identity is complex and shaped by circumstances. If we look at it right at the start of the child’s existence, double-standards in the treatment of sperm or egg donors and reluctant mothers seem indefensible. The lack of provision for anonymous confinements and / or the safe surrender of infants puts the lives of mothers and babies at risk. Depriving children in international adoptions of contact with their culture in the name of assimilation often removes the only link they might have with an essential part of who they are and restricts their possibilities of engaging (or not) with this aspect of their origins in later life. Changes in legislation which could bring about improvements in these areas are long overdue. | https://medium.com/reframing-childhood-past-and-present/whose-child-are-you-132d5641c48d | ['The British Academy'] | 2020-05-11 08:53:30.038000+00:00 | ['Dna', 'Parenthood', 'Children', 'Identity', 'Childhood'] |
Stock Market Clustering-Data Science Projects | In this project, we will be extracting live Stock Market data from yahoo finance. We will find similarities amongst various companies using their stock market prices and then cluster them into different clusters using the K-means algorithm.
Note that is an unsupervised machine learning problem and will use an unsupervised machine learning technique with the help of the K-means algorithm.
NB: “pandas_datareader” extract data from various Internet sources into a DataFrame. Currently, the following sources are supported:
Yahoo! Finance
Google Finance
St.Louis FED (FRED)
Kenneth French’s data library
World Bank
Google Analytics
….and few others
Before we start, please note that this tutorial is part of the Data Science Project Mastery Program, which is a practical hands-on data science tutorial for anyone to learn data science right from the basics to advance by building projects and great Data Science Portfolio. Feel free to check it out.
In order for you to make the best out of this tutorial, I have put this tutorial in the form of a video for better understanding
Watch and work along
INTRODUCTION | https://medium.com/total-data-science/stock-market-clustering-data-science-projects-6eb275796297 | [] | 2020-08-29 07:37:46.653000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Projects', 'Data Science', 'Data'] |
Please Join Zoom Meeting In Progress | “Hello. Is everyone here?” the Professor asks.
A dozen students on the screen are framed in equal rectangular boxes, stacked neatly together. Some students reply by shaking their heads, some unmute their microphone to say, “Yes, Professor,” some stare blankly into the camera, and a few have their video switched off entirely. But they aren’t here. They are sitting in their childhood bedrooms, at the kitchen table, or in front of worn study desks. They are home, or somewhere else, with their families, or without. One student sits in front of a wide-open window and bathes in the blue morning air. Another rests beside warm lamplight in the quiet of the evening. Not long ago they faced each other at a classroom table; now they meet again, wherever it is quiet and connected to the internet.
“Can you all hear me?”
The chorus agrees. Some students wear headphones. Some have their computer speakers on full volume; so that outside their room, a sibling passing by the door hears unfamiliar voices. Some students can hear, but divert their attention to their phones, hidden from their web camera’s view.
“All right. I hope everyone is doing well, wherever you are,”
Some students are doing well. Some have forgotten the way days begin, how long they last, and when they are supposed to end. Some are anxious, some are apathetic. They are deciding if it is better to reminisce the past or long for the future. One student has baked carrot cakes for three consecutive days. Another has been sanding his father’s wooden furniture in the backyard.
“And, I hope you are staying safe and healthy during this time.”
The students smile assuringly, they continue a blank stare, or they continue to have their video switched off. They are still not accustomed to the normality of this greeting, which appears at the beginning of every email, in texts with loved ones, or in the mouths of government officials on broadcasted news.
So the lesson begins: some students listen, some attempt to listen, some revel in the pretension of listening. There’s a student who earnestly watches the professor speaking, scribbles down notes, and contributes occasional profundity to the discussion. There’s a student checking themself out in their video thumbnail. There are two students sending private messages to each other, noticing each time the other appears to smile on their screen.
There was a time when the Professor sat before them with talkative hands and a furrowed brow, who every so often made acrobatic leaps to the whiteboard and drew imperfect illustrations of theoretical concepts. A time when the student must consider how upright to sit, how long gazing out of the window can go unnoticed, or how often to sip coffee from their cup.
Now, the Professor appears on the screen slightly blurred, their cadence slightly altered; the Students can drag the Professor across their desktop, they can expand or minimize the amount of space the Professor occupies on their screens. Each student manages the two-dimensional plane before them, yet also exists within their classmates’ and the Professor’s computer display. All have the Zoom application opened. Some also have digital files of reading assignments or typed-up notes open. Some habitually glance at social media posts. Some scroll through online retail websites, because the global pandemic has been great for sales.
Regardless of their computer’s design or model, it is certain that at one corner of each of their screens, a digital clock quantifies every passing minute. Another minute of speaking, listening, watching, concentrating, ignoring, avoiding; another minute of the morning or evening; another minute spent in the endless uncertainty of the present. | https://medium.com/@cjv306/please-join-zoom-meeting-in-progress-49b2be5789a6 | ['Chloe Venn'] | 2021-01-24 14:00:01.468000+00:00 | ['Covid', 'Story', 'Zoom'] |
Systemic Intelligence: the emerging competence 4.0. in work teams. | Today, work teams are consolidating as a cornerstone for our organizations. In this sense, individual performance is necessary but not sufficient to guarantee success in companies. The focus should be more on teams as an organizational unit. Understanding what a team is, how it works, what challenges it faces is therefore key for our organizations. It requires new and different skills not only for those who have to lead them, but also for all the professionals who are part of the teams.
The regular leadership programs, coaching and team development programs offered in the market give already a response to these new skills. Purpose, results, organization of the task, climate, trust, culture and communication, among others, are essential topics to consider when we talk about teams. Recently, with the incorporation of the systemic approach, it is also becoming more common to look at the invisible dynamics that regulate energy. These dynamics operate as a continuous ‘background program’ and determine a big part of the functioning and performance of organizations.
The systemic approach looks at teams as living systems with basic needs common to all systems. We are talking here about the need to be complete and include everything that belongs, the need to observe an intrinsic order according to the nature and purpose of the system, the need to be in a dynamic relationship of exchange and the need to reach its destination, to survive in order to unfold into what has to be. When these basic needs are not balanced, they’ll generate compensatory functional patterns which are manifested as ‘symptoms’ in the visible part of ‘the iceberg’. Problems, conflicts, lack of performance or unwanted results can be symptomatic expressions of these underlying compensatory mechanisms. Perceiving them, identifying them and knowing how to intervene on them without just ’managing the symptom’ is, without a doubt, an essential emerging competence.
But I believe that this is not enough either. The focus should not be limited only inwards but also outwards. All of us simultaneously are a part of many contexts with large ranges of diversity between them. Our context “team” or our context “organization” is nested in larger contexts, which influence us and which we inevitably influence as well. This means that the invisible dynamics that often unconsciously determine our behaviour at work , could come from other contexts to which we belong and we might not be aware of.
We are simultaneously a whole and a part: an autonomous unit and, at the same time, an element that is part of a larger context. So something that happens and impacts us here and now in this team can be perceived and analyzed from different contexts or to put it in a systemic way: from different conscience levels. There will be a different storyline if a person or a team talks about what is going on from a “me or we” position (the conscience of unit), or an explanation of from the perspective of “part of a bigger whole”. In that case the same event could be a conscious or unconscious contribution to a higher agenda, playing a role in a bigger move, where others are involved or even are co creators (the collective conscience or system conscience). Finally, from a dettached, distanced, wide and evolutionary witnessing position, there would be an ultimate integrating and all-encompassing narrative that would give everything a reason of being (the conscience of evolution or evolutionary force conscience).
Identifying these higher invisible dynamics and having the capacity to perceive and explain what is happening from multiple perspectives is what I understand as systemic intelligence. In my opinion this is the key and radically fundamental competence to go along with the future that has already reached us. Integrating and developing it in our teams and organizations is an ‘must’ to be able to evolve. | https://medium.com/@noemiviedma/teams-and-systemic-intelligence-the-emerging-competence-4-0-508b6dcbda74 | ['Noemi Viedma'] | 2019-11-11 02:36:51.630000+00:00 | ['Systemic Approach', 'Systemic Inteligence', 'Systems Thinking', 'Teams And Teamwork', 'Leadership Skills'] |
In a nutshell: Elisa Bailey | Can you share a few highlights from your career?
I don’t view a career as a linear progression so much as a collection of exciting and interesting experiences and projects. I have loved nearly all my roles and, even if I have sometimes put in 90 hours a week, I don’t feel like I have truly ‘worked’ a single day. It sounds like a cliché, but I say this with sincere gratitude to all my employers and colleagues.
‘You Say You Want a Revolution?’ exhibition in Milan during its world tour
My time at the V&A was a highlight as I was in the Theatre and Performance Department; the most creative, energetic team I have ever known, under the directorship of the man who has had the greatest impact on me professionally of anyone in my life. As Assistant Curator on the exhibition ‘You Say You Want a Revolution?’ I got to meet some incredibly important personalities from those times, and as Curator at the BFI I loved putting together my own exhibitions, initiating a Refugee Week project and caring for an incredible poster and design collection.
Most recently I was based in Muscat, Oman, preparing Content and Interpretation for a new multi-media mega-museum commissioned by the Sultan!
The building site of the museum in Oman
The perks of working in museums are certainly not the pay or hours. Instead you form wonderful friendships and share team leisure experiences, and sometimes you’re the only person left inside a beautiful, world-famous institution at night, long after the public has left.
Did you ever want to work in a different sector when you were younger? If so, what did you think you’d be doing?
There were two career dreams I had as a child: to ‘be’ Julie Andrews (!) and to be an artist. I grew up spending a lot of time drawing and painting, initially beside my grandfather, an artist and craftsman, and my uncle, who had the most incredible imagination of any grown-up I’ve met.
Elisa and her first artwork, surrounded by her uncle, grandfather and dad
I soon realised I probably didn’t have the patience, drive and warrior spirit that an artist usually needs to be able to survive off their work, and now drawing is a hobby that I admonish myself for not finding time for.
Tell us more about your role as Programme Designer and Manager at Benefactor Consultants.
‘Mademoiselle Kitty’
My current role is a dream job in that it mixes the things I love best: travel, meeting people, art and museums. From our beautiful offices — which come with a 17th century wine cellar and the most seductive cat I have ever seen — in a medieval walled town in Burgundy, we plan cultural trips for the patrons of many of America’s greatest museums and institutions.
The decision for where a group should go takes into consideration the client’s interests in particular collections alongside our advice on which destinations might be particularly fitting at the preferred time of the trip, from the cultural programming on offer down to predicted weather conditions. The individual trip manager is chosen based on appropriate language skills and familiarity with each destination, as aside from designing the programme (visits, hotels, restaurants and activities), we also accompany the group on every element of it to ensure that everything goes smoothly from the moment the clients land.
Elisa and one of her best friends inside the crumbling Socialist building Buzludzha, on a peak in the central Bulgarian mountains. Beautiful but damaged mosaics telling the story of Bulgarian Communism circle the auditorium.
What is your personal idea of a perfect holiday?
I actually travel more than I spend at home now with over a hundred flights and long-distance bus and train journeys taken on some 70 trips since the beginning of 2018 for both work and pleasure (I try to offset my travel by recycling obsessively, but I know it will never be enough). I am incredibly lucky to have a saintly portable boyfriend, who has his own company and lots of airmiles, so my perfect holiday is anywhere with him or with good friends.
What are your interests outside of work?
Outside of work my main passions are my socio-political graphics collection, travel and looking at lampposts (sometimes while travelling)! The latter is in the name of spotting socio-political stickers, posters, graffiti or any other commentary, which I photograph — never remove (they are the property of the people) — and share on my Instagram account. Now that I live in France, I should also admit that a great deal of my spare time is spent consuming wine and cheese, too. | https://medium.com/@stjohnscamalumni/in-a-nutshell-elisa-bailey-74b11d72638d | ['St John S College', 'Cambridge', 'Alumni Blog'] | 2019-11-15 13:55:34.971000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Museums', 'Career Advice', 'Culture', 'Art'] |
Height of Laziness explained in 5 lines sitting on the couch the whole day was Mr. Lee resisting all the time his natural urge to pee soon he felt thirsty putting himself in a perplexity for drinking… | Height of Laziness explained in 5 lines
sitting on the couch the whole day was Mr. Lee
resisting all the time his natural urge to pee
soon he felt thirsty
putting himself in a perplexity
for drinking water might force him to get up and pee
“I’m not only lazy myself but I inspire laziness in others”― Marty Rubin
A humor piece: | https://medium.com/everything-shortform/sloth-75c384c21e40 | ['Pretheesh Presannan'] | 2020-12-15 07:45:58.663000+00:00 | ['Limerick', 'Creative Writing', 'Humor', 'Laziness', 'Short Read'] |
5 Extremely Useful APIs for Your Next Projects | 5 Extremely Useful APIs for Your Next Projects
Introduction
APIs allow developers to save time by taking advantage of a platform’s implementation to perform some useful tasks. This also helps to reduce the number of code lines developers need to write for their programs. Because APIs give you access to the data that you will need for your application.
In this article, we will discover some amazing and useful APIs that you should know. All the APIs that I will mention are REST APIs that you can run using simple POST and GET methods. Let’s get right into it.
1. Responsive voice TTS API
The responsive voice is super easy to use, it is a text-to-speech API where you can even change the speaker’s accent, language, gender, etc. This is a great API because it allows you to easily transform any text into a speech.
You can check their website if you want to explore more about the API.
Here is a Codepen example to check out:
The responsive voice API.
You can change the text in the input above and click the “Speak” button to test it out.
2. The AcoBot AI chatbot API
The AcoBot API allows you to add AI chatbots to your website. This amazing API is ranked 9/10 in popularity and it’s totally for free. You can check their documentation if you want to explore more about this fun API.
Here is a Codepen example:
The chatBot API.
3. Codex code compiler
CodeX is an online compiler for various languages like Java, C++, Python, etc. You can execute code in various languages on your own website for free with the CodeX API. Of course, there are various APIs on the market to compile and execute code but none of them is completely free, unlike the Codex API.
You can also check the Github repository if you are interested.
In the Codepen below, you can compile, execute, and store your code just by clicking on New Class .
Codex.
4. The CountAPI
This API allows you to make simple numeric counters. It’s a very useful API to track the number of hits a page had or to know the number of users that clicked on a button for example.
You can check all the information about this API on their documentation if you want.
Here is another Codepen example that counts the number of views a page had:
The CountAPI.
5. The MovieDb API
This movie API gives you access to a list of movies, TV shows, actor images, and all the data about movies. This API is a system that is provided for you and your team to programmatically fetch and use data within that API.
You can check their website if you want to explore more about this fun API.
In the example below, we used the moviedb API to build a simple movie app that shows a list of movie titles and images. You can also search for a movie and it will get you the data you requested from the API.
The movie API.
Conclusion
As you can see, it was just a list of some extremely useful APIs that you can use on your next projects. As a developer, using APIs can give you a lot of benefits because you will take advantage of such useful features of an API.
Thank you for reading this article, I hope you found it useful.
More Reading | https://javascript.plainenglish.io/5-extremely-useful-apis-for-your-next-projects-43647920a3e4 | ['Mehdi Aoussiad'] | 2021-02-18 20:11:46.996000+00:00 | ['Javascript Tips', 'JavaScript', 'Web Development', 'Programming', 'Coding'] |
If You Can Give Up These 8 Things, You Can Become a Better Writer | Photo by Alejandro Escamilla on Unsplash
If You Can Give Up These 8 Things, You Can Become a Better Writer
I get it. Really, I do.
I sincerely believe you have the desire to become a better writer, grow your audience, make a living, whatever it is you want to do. But, it’s just tough sledding period.
I’ve been doing it for so long that I forget just how much work it took to get here. To many of my readers, it feels like I’ve been at this level forever. Honestly, it feels the same way to me. I hardly remember what it was like to be a beginner and looking back, the amount of sheer writing I had to do to get here seems unbelievable. It doesn’t even feel like I did it. But I did.
And I was only able to do that because I was willing to make certain sacrifices. I made products and teach people about how to make a living writing, but I don’t try to overly encourage people to do it. It’s hard. Writing isn’t the greatest way to make a living. If you’re in it solely to make a living, there are much better routes. If you, however, do have it in your mind that you want to make this writing thing work, you will have to give something up. Maybe not every single item in this list, but something.
Your Sense of Entitlement
Why should anyone want to read your writing, visit your website, or buy your book?
Are you a diligent writer? Are you making an effort to connect with people who’d be interested in your writing?
No?
Let me guess, you think people should read your writing because you wrote it. That’s a horrible answer. If you’re trying to make a living with your writing, your words are — by definition — a product. You have to create your best work and get it in front of the right eyeballs.
Nobody owes you their attention.
To be fair, sometimes you can write great quality work that audiences aren’t receptive to. Sometimes, other writers can pass you up through sheer luck (actually, this happens often).
But feeling entitled to something you don’t have simply isn’t going to help you get it. Even if you have to go the extra mile to earn it and the process seems unfair, it still might be the only way. | https://medium.com/blankpage/if-you-can-give-up-these-8-things-you-can-become-a-better-writer-6fe6d0e5efe2 | ['Ayodeji Awosika'] | 2020-12-21 15:46:00.544000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Content Marketing', 'Writing Tips', 'Productivity', 'Writing'] |
How to Leverage your Instagram Influencer Profile and Monetize. | Gaining and engaging the audience has to be done by implementing some well-known techniques that have been proved to create a good first impression. If you are expecting monetary returns, there are certain prerequisites to have a profile that is worth the money you are expecting.
1. Influencer’s following
The most important aspect of why brands choose influencers to take their product forward to consumers. Brands have to be convinced and assured that; you are the right influencer for their brand.
In the business of Influencer marketing, an Instagram influencer’s IG profile becomes their CV. The number of followers they have garnered, frequency of posts, variations in the content and steps taken from influencers’ end to keep the audience engaged show your skills as an influencer.
Brands and business choose you to use you as a medium to get to the masses. Coming up with path-breaking strategies and concepts alone does not assure an engaged audience. Trying to take them into the equation while considering what kind of concept works for your niche, will do. Instagram offers tools to track and assess your posts’ performance and how they are being received after it surfaces on your followers’ feed. Instagram provides insights as to when is the right time to upload a picture or a video on Instagram for maximum viewing. Everything that takes to make the audience engage in your content is offered by Instagram all you have to concentrate is on your content.
It is imperative to stick to your niche from day 1. Your niche increases the chances of being identified by certain brands looking forward to collaborating with influencers. Brands do not wish to be promoted by an influencer who specializes in another niche different from theirs. Which makes posts about their products appear as the odd one out.
The reason behind sticking to a niche is making sure that your audience will be able to consume the products you promote through your Instagram profile. This certainty gives brands the assurance that you are the right person to get the job done. | https://medium.com/@hobovideo/how-to-leverage-your-instagram-influencer-profile-and-monetize-6ac27bc29654 | [] | 2021-02-12 17:31:18.058000+00:00 | ['Instagram', 'Instagram Marketing', 'Influencer Marketing', 'Monetization', 'İnstagram'] |
Decentralization and Blockchain | Here, we want to describe a common term that is more than a buzzword nowadays: “Decentralization”. So What the heck is Decentralization anyway?
According to Wikipedia, Decentralization is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Decentralization means that the complete authority of any system is not with a central or a single entity. It means that the power and control are distributed across a network of participants on the basis of consensus.
Let us suppose that there is a search engine equally powerful as Google. What Google does is that it records a user’s activity that is linked to his/her Gmail account. If we replace the role of Gmail here with a unique id that a person is identified by like a 16 digit unique number then we can store our search information with that ID. The whole purpose of our decentralized search would be to fetch data corresponding to that 16 digit ID and show us the search results. And the most important thing is that the data will be stored in a decentralized and immutable manner.
The above example shows that a person can have complete accountability of his personal data without having a central authority to store or use that data for their own benefits.
The data can be stored in a decentralized manner with the help of a technology called Blockchain where it stays unchanged forever.
Decentralization is the future as rage against monopolies has already started stirring up. We will surely witness the rise of Web3.0 to the massive adoption of what Web2.0 is now.
We try to present blockchain & crypto concepts in as few words as possible. Our motto is to ignite & inspire the thirst for crypto knowledge by writing on key topics which are not available in mainstream articles.
This article is co-authored by Abhishek and dhruvbodani. | https://medium.com/twindevs/what-the-heck-is-decentralization-820be5b1a89 | ['Dhruv Bodani'] | 2021-06-17 04:25:09.089000+00:00 | ['Web3', 'Decentralization', 'Blockchain', 'Future'] |
Using Google Analytics from a Rust Wasm Front-End Web App | TL;DR: I went on a journey to figure out how to use Google Analytics from Rust front-end Wasm code. On the way I learned how to call JavaScript code from Rust using Wasm-bindgen and made a crate to wrap Google’s gtag.js framework.
Let’s jump right in. I’ve been experimenting with using Rust for front end web development for the past year or so and I recently realized that I’m going to need analytics for the prototype I’m building. I’d heard of Google Analytics so I decided to start there.
The challenge I faced, was calling Google’s JavaScript code from my Rust front-end Wasm code. Google’s instructions recommend using their global site tag (or gtag.js) framework to integrate with Google Analytics, but I had no idea how call random JavaScript code from Rust and Wasm. Read on to discover how I did it.
First Attempts
The first thing I tried was Rust’s #[link(wasm_import_module)] attribute. The Rust WebAssembly documentation mentions using this to interop with JavaScript code, but it appears to only work with ES6 modules. The gtag.js code is not an ES6 module, it is distributed as a JavaScript file and initialized using a <script> tag. I wasn’t able to figure out a way to make this work. Next, I found the google-tagmanager2 crate that provides access to the Google Tag Manager API via Hyper. In theory, this could work for what I needed, but I wasn’t sure if Hyper works with Wasm and I couldn’t figure out how to use this API with Google Analytics anyway (according to the docs, it should be possible though). Eventually, I stumbled upon a solution in the form of #[wasm_bindgen] .
Wasm-bindgen provides a way to generate bindings to bridge the gap between JavaScript and Rust. The included #[wasm_bindgen] macro is much more flexible than the #[link(wasm_import_module)] directive, as it works by generating JavaScript code to interface with Rust and Wasm. This allows access to globals, classes, and various other things from Rust while taking care of all the details of marshalling and unmarshalling data along the way. That glue adds some overhead, but as Wasm matures, some of that glue code is expected go away. This was just what I needed.
Wasm-bindgen
Binding to gtag.js’ gtag() function is almost trivial using #[wasm_bindgen] . My first attempt looked something like this.
use wasm_bindgen::prelude::*; #[wasm_bindgen]
extern {
pub fn gtag();
}
I compiled the code and called my gtag() wrapper function and it didn’t blow up. A promising start! But the gtag() function in the gtag.js code takes parameters. One variant takes two strings and one variant accepts two strings and an object. Let’s ignore the second variant for now.
use wasm_bindgen::prelude::*; #[wasm_bindgen]
extern {
pub fn gtag(cmd: &str, id: &str);
}
With this, I was able to call the function and see the result in the Google Analytics dashboard. Excellent! Now let’s tackle the second variant that accepts three arguments. Rust doesn’t support function overloading or variadic functions, so how can we bind twice to the same gtag.js function? Lucky for us, the Wasm-bindgen authors thought of this.
use wasm_bindgen::prelude::*; #[wasm_bindgen]
extern {
pub fn gtag(cmd: &str, id: &str); #[wasm_bindgen(js_name = gtag)]
pub fn gtag_with_parameters(cmd: &str, id: &str, params: &JsValue);
}
Using the js_name parameter, we can tell Wasm-bindgen to bind to the gtag() function on the JavaScript side while using a different name on the Rust side. Also notice the JsValue type as the argument for the third parameter. This type can map to JavaScript objects, among other JS types. JsValue provides a from_serde function that can convert things implementing Serde’s Serialize trait into something that JavaScript can understand. This dance is a little clumsy to repeat everywhere, but it works.
A Rustic Detour
Ok, we have some working code, but it’s not very easy to use, so let’s wrap it with something more rustic. First, we always pass the same ID when calling the gtag() function, so let’s store that in a struct so we don’t have to repeat it everywhere.
struct DataLayer {
id: String,
}
Now we need to provide a way to call our gtag() function.
impl DataLayer {
fn push(&self, cmd: &str, params: &JsValue) {
gtag_with_parameters(cmd, &self.id, params);
}
}
Next, let’s make it easier to pass the parameters. The user shouldn’t need to worry about generating their own JsValue all the time.
impl DataLayer {
fn push(&self, cmd: &str, params: &impl Serialize) -> Result<()> {
gtag_with_parameters(cmd, &self.id, &JsValue::from_serde(params)?);
Ok(())
}
}
Great, that’s everything we need. This is how you call it.
fn main() {
let gtag = DataLayer::new("GA_MEASUREMENT_ID");
gtag.push("config", json!({
"page_title": "homepage",
"page_path": "/home",
}).unwrap();
}
(The json!() macro is provided by the serde_json crate and allows you to embed JSON objects directly into your Rust code.)
I’ve published the gtag.js wrapper code I wrote as a low level gtag-js-sys crate and a higher level gtag-js crate. The code snippets above are taken almost verbatim from these crates. Using either of these crates requires importing the gtag.js framework as described in the documentation here.
And that’s it! If you want to use Google Analytics from a Rust Wasm app, I’ve got you covered. If you have some other JavaScript library you want to use, hopefully this information can start you on the path to writing your own wrappers. Good luck! | https://medium.com/@codemaker/using-google-analytics-from-a-rust-wasm-front-end-web-app-12840c420dad | ['Matthew Nicholson'] | 2020-02-21 17:43:57.979000+00:00 | ['Google Analytics', 'Webassembly', 'Front End Development', 'Rust'] |
There’s nothing to be afraid of… | What really makes people scared? Leave people to their own devices, and perhaps they will worry about any old thing, even if it is not remotely dangerous. Clowns, perhaps, or friendly British spiders. We know people readily swallow new dangers — Brass Eye’s Cake skit, where celebrities were fooled into giving straight-faced lectures on the danger of the imaginary drug Cake, being a prime example. Can people be trusted to know what’s harmful for them?
The original fake news
A growing group of people seem to believe the same is true of COVID-19 — that the population at large has been spooked into unnecessary draconian measures for a disease that is simply not that harmful. Using Sandman’s formula Risk = Hazard + Outrage, is it true that the outrage surrounding COVID-19 has caused an overblown perception of risk? Are people being irrational by worrying more about COVID-19 than a bad influenza season?
Tl;DR — I don’t think so.
First, let’s look at another example where supposedly unfounded fears were put through the risk wringer — the fears of American parents on guns.
Think like a Freak?
In their hugely influential first Freakonomics book, and in future productions, Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner talk about the comparative risk to children of swimming pools and guns in the US. Steve Levitt tells us that any given parent that he knows would be more worried about sending a child to a house with a gun in it than a house with a swimming pool.
The kicker; they reveal to the audience that the risk of death to a young child from a given swimming pool is 100 times greater than that of a given gun. “People are terrible at risk assessment generally”, conclude the duo.
It’s a compelling example of something the average person might think of as scary (the loud, violent gun that features heavily in news reports) and what is truly scary (the silent, still swimming pool). There’s an accompanying intellectual rush for those consuming the books and podcasts that they, possessed with this information, are smarter than the average person, and better understand their risk. But do they?
1. Is it a fair comparison?
A 2019 NEJM study looking at CDC and other sources of US data found that deaths from firearm injuries far outweighed those of drowning (note: not just backyard swimming pools, drowning). Freakonomics had played a statistical trick, dividing firearm deaths by the number of individual guns in households (lots of households in the US have gun collections in the tens or even hundreds) and then divided drowning deaths by the far rarer swimming pools, which has the distorting effect of making swimming pools seem much riskier.
Road deaths are a far fairer comparator, but the magnitude of difference between the two is not particularly large. They are the leading contributors to child and adolescent death in the US and are extremely pressing and valid issues for both parents and children to worry about.
2. Different populations, different risks
For children in large swathes of America’s cities, death by garden swimming pool is about as likely as death by asphyxia in space. Few people they know will have more than a few metres of yard, let alone tens of thousands of pounds to put into a monumental garden water feature.
Guns, however, are a real and present risk in their communities. Parents and their children will largely be aware of this. They will likely know of people who have been shot at or people who have shot at others. They may well have heard a gun go off in anger. They and their families shouldn’t face chastisement or mockery for being overly concerned about guns.
The Freakonomics pair were largely thinking of people like themselves when considering how to frame this risk. Risk is different for different populations. And as Hans Rosling argues in Factfulness, if we draw a conclusion about a group or population we don’t know very well that leads us to believe they are idiots, we probably haven’t understood their context.
3. There’s more to life than not being dead
It is often said but equally often forgotten that deaths are not the only thing worth measuring or caring about. The pooled wider effects of guns on the lives of children and young people in America are far beyond anything caused by backyard swimming pools.
· Children lose parents to suicide or murder
· Children lose parents to incarceration for illegal gun possession or misuse.
· Children or their families lose limbs or experience other lifelong injuries due to accidents or deliberate shootings.
· Children fear to travel to certain areas of cities because they will be at greater risk of gun violence.
· The long-term mental health impacts of exposure to guns and gun violence
Just as a swimming pool drowning might not always make headlines, neither do the disrupted and troubled school days of a child whose parent has been incarcerated for illegal possession of a firearm.
4. To COVID-19 — it’s not that simple…
Tim Harford is a bit of an idol of mine; a man who gets across complexities of statistics and risk through the medium of punchy, accessible radio programmes, books and podcasts. Even he has slipped up in COVID-19, comparing the risk of catching and dying of COVID-19 to that of the risk of dying whilst a bath (although, in true Tim Harford fashion, he quickly and fully corrected his own statistical mishap.)
The interesting aspect was how quickly this was picked up and sprayed across newspaper headlines. It highlights the risks of ‘overcorrecting’ what is seen as an overblown public perception of risk. Clinicians and public health professionals often despair at headlines with overblown claims of health harms (Sun Avoidance Is As Risky As Smoking) but this highlights a claim in the opposite direction, particularly for a topic like COVID-19, can prove to be equal media dynamite.
Giving people who are soliciting advice based on research on what may harm seems like a straightforward, common sense idea. But risk communication is a very difficult business. As David Spiegelhalter discusses in the BMJ, this is especially true at population level. There are some easier risks to quantify, backed up with years of evidence; the personal risks of smoking, for example. But most of the time, risk communication is compounded in several ways:
· Where the population faces significantly different risks (US children by neighbourhood and guns)
· Where the risk is not just personal but public (being infected with COVID-19 and infecting others, alcohol abuse and violence)
· Where there is little the individual can do about it (the child living in a high-gun crime neighbourhood does not benefit from being told guns are risky)
· Where the risk communicator does not emphathise with the person they communicate with
· Where benefits of activities are not acknowledged (the fun children have whilst swimming together, the personal enjoyment derived from drinking alcohol)
· The uncertainty surrounding the risk (e.g. drowning deaths are relatively straightforward to monitor and report, deaths related to air pollution much less so, and the morbidity associated with air pollution even less so)
· Quantifying wider harms (emotional and mental health harms
· Deciding whether an activity is “safe” or low-risk (personal and community risk appetite will play a role here)
· Where the risk is emerging (COVID-19 sequelae, reinfection unknowns)
· When a risk may rapidly change (COVID-19 risks to individuals in September will sound reassuring against what they might be in November)
5. Respect and COVID-19
We will glide swiftly by those who use the pejoratives “bedwetters”, “face-nappies” and “mindless sheep” on Twitter.
The more thoughtful and professional members of those who believe the response towards COVID-19 is disproportionate would never use such terms. However, they do sometimes lean towards framing their response as “rational”, even “grown-up”, and contrast this with “emotionally-driven” responses of others.
There are debates to be had on the harms of restrictive measures and how to minimise this. It is also true being worried about the effects of further restrictions on the lives of others should not be automatically be categorised as having a disregard for life. One thing that cannot be brushed aside is the severe psychological impact COVID-19 has had on communities across the country, the 50,000 COVID-19 deaths and associated bereavements, and the longer-term impacts of the disease. Anyone in the UK can justifiably be afraid of COVID-19 — including the young and “healthy”.
Any risks for individuals, populations or given in the public sphere must be carefully thought through, empathetic, emphasise what the uncertainty of the estimate is, and emphasise what is not included in that estimate.
There is a lot left unsaid behind a population ~0.6% infection fatality rate. Think very carefully before telling the world there is nothing to be afraid of. | https://medium.com/@nathanpdavies/theres-nothing-to-be-afraid-of-84083d7bbcf9 | ['Nathan Davies'] | 2020-09-23 12:07:50.569000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Communication', 'Risk'] |
Recruitment Process at CodeAssembly | #Dedicated Teams
Selecting the ideal individual with significant and demonstrated aptitudes is a wild and time-taking assignment. It might require months attempting to locate a prepared proficient with this skill, yet customers don’t stand by. Hence any association endeavours so rapidly and effectively as conceivable to fill the opportunities with experienced and capable people. However, it is some unacceptable second to hustle through the determination cycle. It will be a blowback when you select representatives in a rush and hustle. At CodeAssembly, we have assembled a thorough exploration cycle to pull in and utilize the best gifts and ensure that this doesn’t occur to our clients. In this short article, nitty-gritty and inside and out data with respect to finding and employing the far off programming group is given in an expert way. Each progression of the cycle of enlistment of workers in CodeAssembly is additionally plainly portrayed.
Finding the best remote experts on the web
Application advancement reevaluating is turning into a worldwide part of programming improvement. It has demonstrated practical and adaptable for programming improvement projects since developers esteem the opportunity to work basically. In any case, where are you starting to look? We got an answer.
Web-based outsourcing stages
It is simpler to utilize a work board or site on the off chance that you decide to utilize a virtual developer rather than a group. During the most recent decade, the administration area has started to incorporate a few respectable stages where conveyed fashioners and designers search for new chances or tasks. The significant outsourcing stages that give programming advancement administrations incorporate Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal, Guru, People every hour, and so on
Business to business advertising organizations’ sites
Advertising with B2B is as solid as could be expected. Organizations produce unimaginable amounts of the substance to illuminate likely shoppers — web journals, web recordings, surveys, research papers, and so forth So you are bound to have an excessive amount to experience than to have nearly nothing in case you’re prepared to utilize a distant engineer. The substance can be on their web journals, on their industry-explicit writing, or on media channels. You will likewise discover contribution from purchasers, data about the staff, and considerably more as you burrow through the material. You should all know about the market position and development experience of the association. The most ideal approach now will be to unequivocally address the organization individually.
B2B research stages for enrollment organizations
B2B research networks assess innovation firms and show them. Exploiting a product plan firm or a devoted group’s insight and designing abilities is an ideal other option. You utilize their inclining to select the designers you like. The site does the examination. You may likewise normally utilize an association through the stage. Some significant such stages incorporate Clutch, Wadline, GoodFirms, VenturePact, and so on
Purposes behind the disappointment of custom programming projects
We will address some regular dangers that can be confronted with your redid programming during the advancement cycle. Likewise, in little corner stores and the computerization technique is presently utilizing computerized innovation and paces up the work process of basically every association on the planet, programming engineers can likewise realize all the expected obstacles ahead of time to forestall them horrendously and proficiently. The absence of trust or more trust in the undertaking is definitely not a solitary factor that adds to the everyday disappointment of programming improvement projects. Huge defects in genuine framework projects have propelled the accompanying rundown.
Miscommunication
At the point when we are discussing solid, proficient correspondence, we centre around outside interchanges with clients, yet inside correspondence is similarly significant among the divisions, particularly when they work on a similar venture. No having a protected workplace is something that could lead the venture to disappointment, so it is bound to construct a decent working organization with its customers if the group keeps on sharing a skill, trade data and thoughts uninhibitedly and cheerfully.
Uncertain objectives and targets
Numerous ventures are continuously developing, and chiefs rely upon moving wave arranging in these situations. In result, because of lacking models in the undertaking definition measure, the reason for the task must be incompletely obvious. In these occurrences, it is hard to precisely portray the extension and season of the task since their objectives are equivocal. Clear venture particulars can take a ton of time and coordination to distinguish.
No cooperation of end-clients
Your venture could appear to be a splendid thought, it very well may be a smooth improvement measure, but then the outcome would be ineffective if the interest of end-clients was not considered. It is anything but difficult to understand what your labourers need when utilizing the application in your business or ask about their assumptions. Be that as it may, make sure to never take something if the product is to be utilized by an outsider. The achievement of your undertaking relies upon how straightforward the program is to utilize, not the highlights, regardless of the number of or how complex they are.
Time and spending error
Customers are as yet intrigued by their activities being finished at rates as expected and even before the time indicated. By and large, the customer’s insight drives designers to agree to the undertaking conveyance at lower rates for an extremely short or absurd and non-debatable time period. Along these lines, software engineers can’t create the task on spending plan.
Low-quality testing
The benefit of coding isn’t appended to testing in many undertakings. Testing honestly requests more trustworthiness and significance for the whole lifecycle of programming creation. Easygoing testing, non-continuous testing lead to the deficiency of testing. In live creation conditions, bolder organizations test their plans.
Helpless turn of events and usage
Few out of every odd programming organization rehearses best, and much of the time, the achievement of your custom new arrangement can be genuinely obstructed. On the off chance that the organization isn’t firmly committed to understanding the business and is regularly inaccessible for help and uphold or doesn’t meet and utilize industry assumptions, the product will likely endure. The reason for a program isn’t cultivated similarly as the arrangement has been created. Considerable endeavours should be made to guarantee labourers comprehend the most recent timetable and use it. In the event that labourers are not intrigued, and their criticism isn’t viewed as losing interest and contradicting changes.
Valuable tips for recruiting a far off programming advancement group
You need to pick a hard alternative to utilize a temporary worker on the off chance that you intend to construct a customized arrangement. To diminish hazards, we recommend that you select groups with explicit mastery in expert turn of events. Tens or thousands of dollars could cost some unacceptable choice. Ensure your group furnishes you with the most important methodology, altered to your business needs. This is what the most gifted group ought to do to pick:
Start by indicating the prerequisites
On the off chance that you don’t have a clue what your task needs are and, along these lines, what aptitudes and information your improvement group needs, you can’t successfully employ the best distant engineers. Kindly recall and systematize your determinations in a careful work prerequisite. A few errands are as exact as you should be and include profoundly nitty gritty sets of expectations — with programming language capacities, structures, and stacks.
Pick your dependable group
Arrange a rundown of proper groups to begin. In topical envelopes like GoodFirms, you can do that. Pick organizations with high evaluations yet additionally deliberately read client criticism. Discover coherence in the manner the product items’ group has planned. Focus on purchaser input and guarantee that the negative audits go out too.
Select the engineers with the correct abilities
Just in the wake of characterizing the determinations and the work entries begin to come in. Above all else, an arrangement or a meeting cycle ought to be created. Without following a characterized responsive strategy, meeting a ton of applicants would make it hard to dispassionately analyze up-and-comers. A conventional methodology additionally makes way for a profession. We recommend starting the meeting cycle utilizing a video associated with an underlying screen. It’s an opportunity to feel an applicant and feel if a competitor suits well. Your meeting additionally features any overwhelming language or social difficulties. Proficient selecting implies that you should assess the candidates’ specialized aptitudes. You can do it from various perspectives. For specific specialists, a short, archived 30-minute test could just function admirably.
Onboarding the far off colleagues and start work
Unquestionably, from the very beginning, we as a whole anticipate that recently recruited employees should add their commitment. However, the drawn-out presentation of your distant engineer is driven by tenacious onboarding and continuous administration. Setting aside an effort to meet your new engineer merits spending. Be clear about the objectives of the venture and offer bits of knowledge into the task history. Certainty issues likewise assume a vital part in cooperation and undertaking pioneers. Set aside the effort to incorporate your new designer into the entire group and clarify who is liable for what to do to make the best inquiries for your new arising business. Each newcomer ought to have a sensible opportunity to get included, yet you would prefer not to prepare engineers or raise the assurance of a specialist who has a hard battle. You need quick outcomes, and you should shoot rapidly also.
The assessment enrollment cycle of the candidates at CodeAssembly
It is trying to locate a promising youthful ability, yet its result worth the exertion. While picking the best work candidates, we test them at varying stages to assess their hard and delicate abilities and for distant groups, on the off chance that they suit well for the undertaking of a particular customer. This is the means by which we do it.
1. Beginning Screening of candidates
The cycle of choice starts with an investigation of the CVs of the candidates. This is the primary stage where we distinguish the up-and-comers with suitable expertise and experience. A video meeting with an enlistment organization will at that point be welcome to the candidates picked. To audit their delicate abilities, our HR experts call an individual to illuminate them about our organization and get some information about their needs. In the event that it is a match, the individual shows up at the following phase of choice.
2. Assessment of English of the candidates
For the accomplishment of any task, compelling correspondence is a significant essential. Here at CodeAssembly, we work with clients from around the world to ensure our designers comprehend them effectively and can respond to every one of your inquiries without any problem. Clearly, great English information is an absolute necessity for our business. We have an educator of English in-house who can uphold us in evaluating the degree of candidates in English.
3. Eye to eye meet
The shortlisted up-and-comers need to breeze through a more itemized specialized assessment if the candidate has passed the past stages successfully. The following phase of choice will be the gathering with our senior designers/QA engineers/project administrators to audit the up-and-comers’ hard abilities. Down to earth tests are frequently included to perceive how competitors play out genuine work.
4. Assessment of references
A candidate might be the top individual for the work, however, how they associate with the group is likewise basic. This is the reason the individuals who have finished assessments and meetings adequately are mentioned to send their expert references with names and contact data of at any rate 2–3 people. Managers contact certain people to give information and remarks to likely records.
5. Last meeting with the CEO
In the event that the individual has finished all the stages, and the determination group has done a reference audit, we will hold the last meeting with our CEO to settle on the terms and conditions. We will design and advance to the candidate a work offer if it’s yes.
Outline
Eventually, it very well may be appropriately presumed that the choice of right specialists in the group guarantees a high calibre of work and a protected working environment in a compelling and proficient manner for the accomplishment of the association. At CodeAssembly, our employing cycle is comprised of different strides to assess the pool of candidates and select the best one with the correct capacities and aptitudes. We have made every candidate comprehend not just whether they are beneficial for us however to ensure we regard them across various evaluation stages. Along these lines, we create solid groups that offer our customers the best results. | https://medium.com/@codeassembly/recruitment-process-at-codeassembly-codeassembly-72d8a740e1eb | [] | 2021-01-11 15:42:52.210000+00:00 | ['Hire', 'Recruiting', 'Codeassembly', 'Developer', 'Recruitment'] |
Turn Around Your Burn Out Feelings | 9 productive ideas on how to find purpose through the burnout hump
I was at a job that started out good. I didn’t know where it would land, but it was the calling opportunity I had in my hand.
With the work, I was in a rhythm and was confident with my abilities. Then one day a few years later, I slowly felt I was reaching a dead end. My work required talking to customers, and I was getting restless.
Have you ever felt that way?
…Sometimes I said things I didn’t, and I heard myself repeating words.
Fortunately, I saw signs of my own burnout. It was better having self-awareness, catching myself before someone pointed out to me.
I knew I had a choice to either change course or watch myself and my work suffer. There are always options. I could have asked the owner (my manager) to re-define my role as she liked my work, and thought I was one of their best salespeople.
In the end, I decided I was in a position with limited growth possibilities working for an established, but struggling family business with constant ups and downs.
My options were to stay, endure, or leave the position. I decided that there was a better opportunity on the horizon.
I took a sabbatical as I knew it was my time to move onto something that would be more aligned with my highest and best use. But I wasn’t ready to embark on anything new — just yet.
If you’ve been working for decades as I had, sometimes this makes sense so you can catch a breather before (and to explore) your next opportunity.
I needed some time off from the constant go-go-go, sometimes 12 hours workday roller coaster I was still on. And no vacation for the past few years. Life is too short to burn out from exhaustion.
Even though I left that one position, there were times in my career when I stayed despite burn out feelings. In those cases, I reinvented myself with the role and title changes. Each situation is different.
Most jobs have hope for renewal and resurrection. But just to make sure you know where you are, you should take a look at the pros and cons to staying in any position.
Pros:
You’re building longevity, stability and doing what makes sense to others and perhaps yourself. If there are possibilities to move upward or sideways, then you may want to stay. You probably remember what hoops you jumped through to get the job or build your credibility that comes with time.
You already mastered the hardest learning curves when you first arrived. This knowledge and experience make you more invaluable to your employer.
Cons:
You may be giving up your potential in a position that won’t use half (or any of) your talents. If you stay in a dead-end position, you are most likely coasting or giving up the chance to do the most with your life. You could have stress, be miserable, or your health could be suffering.
And you could be wondering, is this the best use of time? Only you can answer that.
When you have golden handcuffs at the position (making it harder to leave) or you have to support yourself and your family (extenuating circumstances), you sometimes don’t have the luxury to leave a position.
When you don’t know what to do, it’s wise to do nothing new. It’s smart to not leave until you have another opportunity lined up.
How You Can Make the Most (and Find Purpose) From Your Burn Out
Find new tasks. Let your manager know so they can help you find solutions. They are usually for you, have invested in you (and especially understand if you have a job with repetitive tasks). They may not be ready to promote you, and that should not be what your conversations should be about (unless your manager brings that up).
Your conversation should be about how you optimize your role and your talents in your position, based on company needs. You could find a new purpose at your work.
Plan a vacation. This will give you something to look forward to. Something to work towards. Use your accrued vacation time when you can. Rest, stay-cations and vacation trips can help your mental health.
During your time away from work, you may have the chance to redefine your purpose in life and your work.
Change an aspect of your routine work life. Ask to work one day a week from home, or work four long days instead of five days, for a long 3 day weekend. Mix it up to provide variety and break up the daily monotony. You could also be more productive this way with fewer interruptions.
Work in a different spot from the one you normally do. You could work in a busier or less busy space that changes your environment. If your work is operational and there are multiple locations, maybe you can switch it up and work from another physical location. That would make the day go by quicker.
These changes could give you a new perspective about your work’s meaning and purpose.
Take a regular walk during lunch. Clearing your mind on break could change your outlook. Even the most enjoyable activities can be too intense and is best for you to walk away and come back to.
When you return to your desk, you may have a new insight on your task at hand and may feel like you have a renewed purpose.
Start an interest group (with co-workers). This is often looked at favorably at workplaces because you’re team building and collaborating. It shows your interest in your workplace.
Or, you may be able to find workgroups on your intranet. This could develop a new (secondary) purpose.
Get training. Check to see what your benefit and educational offerings are. If you attend off-site training, that could make the week fly by faster, and be stimulating to your mind and body.
Getting external information and interaction from others who are trying to learn the same things as you, can give new direction and ideas to your projects.
Try a new class at your gym. This could be invigorating to your soul. This could give you the energy and oomph to get you through hard days. You could develop a new intention.
Explore other extracurricular activities. Find permissible outside work, activities, or a new outlet. Whether it’s creative, active, or just letting off steam or stress.
These enjoyable past times can activate positive feelings, that give you a new work outlook. You have something to look forward to working on in the evenings and weekends.
Develop one of your gifts or hidden talents. Develop a side hobby or project using your gifts. Unlike an extracurricular activity (for de-stressing), a gift is something you can work on to add or contribute to the world.
Find a way to work on your natural hidden talents. This could show you a future purpose, insight about you, or a new outlook on your workplace (you have multiple talents that can be used in more than one basket).
Burn Out Outlook
The good news is nothing stays the same. On the other side of your burnout, there’s a silver lining. You could start to see your position differently.
Sometimes you could be going through a season of moods, work difficulties, or home situations that could cause stress and impact your feelings at work.
Nothing stays the same. The situation at work is constantly changing, even if it looks slow or unnoticeable. Good change produces growth and variety from the monotony.
The uncertainty factor can create a gamut of possibilities.
Work changes can make a world of difference if you’re feeling burned out. Underneath the dynamics, you may be able to re-define your role even if your title stays the same. And that can give you a whole new outlook on your workplace. | https://medium.com/live-your-life-on-purpose/turn-around-your-burn-out-feelings-c2370a231362 | ['La Dolce Vita Diary'] | 2019-12-23 03:01:01.297000+00:00 | ['Purpose', 'Work', 'Life Lessons', 'Productivity', 'Self'] |
Transmen Also Suffer Under Toxic Masculinity and Homophobia | Transmen Also Suffer Under Toxic Masculinity and Homophobia
Toxic masculinity and homophobia are as rampant within the FTM (female-to-male) transgender community as they are in the general male population
Photo by Christian Erfurt on Unsplash
This may come as a surprise to some people, but toxic masculinity and homophobia are as rampant within the FTM (female-to-male) transgender community as they are in the general male population. That doesn’t mean every transgender man is toxic or homophobic, but it is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Toxic Masculinity
What is toxic masculinity? This is an oft-debated topic, but when used academically, it refers to traditional stereotypes that can lead to the excusing of harmful or toxic behaviors, including bullying or even sexual assault. Men aren’t the only ones to blame for this because even some women perpetuate the toxic masculine stereotypes. In some cases, men can’t even order dessert without being viewed as something lesser.
Yet, many people — mostly men — deny that toxic masculinity even exists. Those who do often become defensive and make excuses, stating that not every man is toxic. Those who deny its existence often are guilty of it themselves and fail to understand how toxic their behavior is.
However, what has surprised me is how many transgender men display toxic behaviors towards other transmen and sometimes even towards men in general. Many transmen experience this backlash, especially online. Everything from being belittled for not wanting to do our own hormone injections to wanting to wear nail polish. Some going so far as to dictate how all transmen should behave as if we were all clones.
Homophobia
Another rampant problem within the FTM community is blatant homophobia, especially against other transmen who are attracted to men and identify as gay. Personally, I have been accused of not being transgender, merely because I am not attracted to women. No one’s sexuality invalidates their gender identity.
The fact that any man is viewed as less of a man just for who he’s attracted to has always struck me as wrong. As transgender men, we already face enough discrimination from the cisgender community, without trying to invalidate each other.
We need to remember that our gender identity isn’t tied to our sexuality. While most transgender men are attracted to women and identify as straight men, some of us identify as gay and are attracted to men. Still, others are bisexual, pansexual, or even fall somewhere on the asexual spectrum.
Transgender men are born with as much sexual diversity as our cisgender counterparts. None of these sexualities makes anyone less of a man. We are already part of a marginalized group, so we shouldn’t be marginalizing each other.
Fight your insecurities
A big driver behind this division in our community comes down to personal insecurities. Many transmen fight to be viewed as men in society, especially early in their transitions. This can lead them to overcorrect and turn to hyper-masculine stereotypes to feel valid.
However, lashing out at fellow transmen does no one any favors. This isn’t a competition to see who can be more manly. By tearing down other transmen just because some of us may have retained some of our feminine traits or identify as gay or bi will neither make you appear more masculine nor validate your gender identity. The only thing that can validate your masculinity is how you view yourself.
Some of us may find anything remotely feminine uncomfortable, but this does not give us the right to belittle those transmen who still enjoy more stereotypically feminine things. Cismen can enjoy shopping, wear nail polish, dress in drag, order dessert, or be gay. So can transmen.
Humans are a diverse species. That diversity is seen within all levels of society. While stereotypes have some basis in fact, many of us don’t fit perfectly within any given stereotype. What a boring world would this be if we did?
Let’s work together to set a better example for all men
As a community, we can do better. We must do better, to set an example for all men. Many of us experienced toxic masculinity, especially prior to our transition. Instead of emulating that behavior, we can set an example of how men should behave.
Let’s not give in to our insecurities and conform to the norm. Instead, let’s rise up and be shining examples of positive masculinity. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/transmen-also-suffer-under-toxic-masculinity-and-homophobia-a7c243ff2a90 | ['G. L. Balend'] | 2020-05-25 23:46:21.410000+00:00 | ['Equality', 'Homophobia', 'LGBTQ', 'Toxic Masculinity', 'Transgender'] |
The #GirlDad Hashtag Benefits Dads Even More Than It Does Girls | The #GirlDad Hashtag Benefits Dads Even More Than It Does Girls
Fatherhood on Friday: Disputing whether dads are more important to daughters or sons establishes the central point that dads are important, period. Dad 2.0 Feb 7, 2020·4 min read
When Kobe Bryant and his daughter were killed, ESPN’s Elle Duncan described a discussion with him about his four daughters, and how he’d have five more if he could, because he saw himself as a “Girl Dad.” And after thousands of dads responded with #GirlDad photos on Twitter came the predictable backlash: What about boy dads? What about dads of nonbinary kids? What about all this whataboutism?
If you don’t have daughters, and the #GirlDad gushfest left you feeling a little marginalized, you might want to read this piece by Rebecca Hains, who provides some longer-term context for the still shockingly-new idea that fathers should treat their daughters and sons as equally capable of achieving whatever they want. Kobe was a specific proponent of that, having stated confidently that Gigi was talented enough to carry on her father’s legacy on the court.
There’s also the important proviso by educational psychologist Lori Day that #GirlDad represent “mutual trust and respect — not old-fashioned paternal overprotectiveness — making space for their daughters’ own agency.” So we can finally give a proper Viking burial to all those tired memes about a dad threatening his daughter’s boyfriends.
There are two more important takeaways here as well:
An outpouring of sentiment about fatherhood is a unilaterally great thing. Disputing whether dads are more important to daughters or sons establishes the central point that dads are important, period. Dads are building their own agency to form and express their opinions about how they function as parents. (For example, we can go back to Ms. Hains and list all the reasons why the term #BoyDad is by no means “redundant.”)
Disputing whether dads are more important to daughters or sons establishes the central point that dads are important, period. Dads are building their own agency to form and express their opinions about how they function as parents. (For example, we can go back to Ms. Hains and list all the reasons why the term #BoyDad is by no means “redundant.”) Identity parenting is tiresome, but it’s also encouraging. Whenever a discussion topic invites a confluence of passionate opinions, the forming of mini-alliances is inevitable. We’ve seen it happen in our politics, and it’s been a staple of online motherhood for years. “Identity parenting” is a common growing pain in any movement, and if you’re feeling the pain, you’re also experiencing the growth.
We’re not worried about Daddy Wars, because they’ll always be minor skirmishes at best. Deep down, we know we can all celebrate our differentness without losing sight of the simple fact that caring for a kid is a singular miracle of privilege.
IN THE NEWS
What must it be like to have lost both your sons to drug overdoses? “Once a week at least, I go someplace alone and have a good cry when I’m reminded of something.”
Another Scandinavian country steps up to set an impressive example of paid leave : In Finland, paid allowance will increase to a combined 14 months, which works out as 164 days per parent.
Chris Askew planned to post a daily dance video on t iktok until his preemie son was strong enough to leave the NICU. It got 500,000 views on its first day.
His dad’s advice: “There may come a time in your life when the only one left who believes in you is you. In those times, you have to will yourself forward. You have to be relentless. “
On World Cancer Day, this kid got the perfect birthday gift five days after his dad passed away from lung cancer.
A wonderful moment in the aftermath of Super Bowl LIV between You’ve worked so hard all your life.” Travis Kelce and his dad: “I’m so happy for you.
Defining what makes a good father is more complicated than ever. To “be present” and “keep showing up” are common responses, but we also like the idea of “ be strong enough to bend.”
Dads need to manage stress in front of our toddlers — especially our sons. And if we can’t, we have to figure out why.
Among these suggestions to be a better parent is to build “intrinsic motivation” for your kids to behave wisely, and to be prepared to react soberly when they don’t.
PORCHLIGHT POSTS
“Thousands of men will go through a similar situation; I want them to know that it is hard, and it’s completely normal to be affected.” — Carl MacDonald, Traumatic Births Can Be Hard For Dads Too. We Need To Talk About It
“I wasn’t just being judged for my hairstyling skills. The only person who calls me Poppa was judging me as a father — one with a history of deficiencies when it came to hair.” — Nevin Martell, The Importance of Learning To Style My Multiracial Son’s Hair
“I bring it up now to show why the prospect of my daughter beginning to cut haunts me more. Up to now, I haven’t told you my ex-wife is a cutter.” — David Elliott, The Horrors of Cutting; Five Reasons Teenagers Cut Themselves
“This is hard. There’s no explanation he will understand and even if he could, nothing would help.” — Paula Ramsay, Dad Forgets Mom Died, but Sometimes That’s A Blessing
“Will my son remember the greatest adventure of our lives with such clarity? Twenty years from now, will he even remember it at all?” — B.J. Hollars, Risks Can Make the Best Memories
‘GRAM OF THE WEEK
Do you receive the Dad 2.0 Summit Newsletter? You should! In it we share all kinds of information and news about the Dad 2.0 Summit. Add it to your inbox! It’s the perfect way to start planning for our ninth summit, coming to Washington D.C. in 2020!
Share your fatherhood news and/or stories with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Medium using the #FoF hashtag!
Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash | https://medium.com/@dad2summit/the-girldad-hashtag-benefits-dads-more-than-it-does-girls-f15d1dde7ec9 | [] | 2020-02-08 00:36:59.816000+00:00 | ['Dads', 'Social Media Marketing', 'Girls', 'Fatherhood', 'Parenthood'] |
5 reasons why Zenduty is a great alternative to Opsgenie, Pagerduty, and VictorOps(O/P/V) | Reason 1: Zenduty’s Custom Routing Rule(s)!
Every integration(with a monitoring source) within O/P/V sends alerts according to a single escalation policy that is linked to that monitoring source(service), no matter what the nature of the alert is, what time of the day or week it is triggered, what the severity of the alert is, which component is affected.
Pagerduty’s routing options
Paagerduty’s action options
For instance, if you have a Prometheus/Grafana monitoring system that is monitoring components built or maintained by multiple teams, and you integrate that alert source with O/P/V every alert generated by Prometheus will always go to the same escalation policy and alert to standard on-call rotations. If the on-call engineer does not have the expertise in dealing with the incident, he or she will have to bring in the team or the person that’s responsible for the component/service affected. While O/P/V might let you filter the alert, the custom actions are limited to suppressing the incident depending on the alert message.
But what if, depending on the alert data that the monitoring source sends, the alert also went to a specific team with the subject matter experts and the on-call engineer? Or what if the alert automatically bypassed the on-call engineer and went straight to the team?
Enter Zenduty’s Custom Routing Rules.
Routing rules in Zenduty
Payload Search — Every alert from a monitoring integration sends its own custom payload along with the alert parameters. For example, a critical alert from Jenkins will also contain a payload like — {“job”: “build-prod”, “job-number”:5, “status”: “SUCCESS”}. You can run a key search on the alert payload and use the above operators on the value Incident Message and Incident Summary — Route if you find a keyword in the alert message or summary Alert Time of the day — Route depending on the time of the day Alert Day of the week — Route depending on the day of the week Alert Date — Route if the incident falls on or between specific dates Alert Type — Route depending on the type of the alert(critical, error, warning, acknowledged, resolved and info)
Following are the actions you can take if the alert routing conditions are met:
Suppress — Suppress the incident Add Note — Automatically add a not to the resultant incident that will help the on-call engineers and incident commander to determine the RCA and triaging steps Route to a custom Escalation Policy — Route to an escalation policy that is not the default on the service affected. This may be useful in cases where you might need a more aggressive or less aggressive escalation depending on the type of alert that has come in. Assign to a specific user — Assign the incident to a specific user. This is useful where a known component is affected and the fastest way to resolve the incident is by assigning it to a known subject matter expert Change Incident Urgency — change the urgency of the incident. If the alert creates a low priority incident and your conditions detect a potentially high priority incident, you can conditionally change the priority to high and vice-versa. Change Alert Message — create your own custom Incident Title from the alert payload Change Alert Summary — create your own custom Incident Summary from the alert payload Change Alert Entity ID — change the alert entity_id to implement custom deduplication Assign Role to User — after the alert creates an incident, assign a particular role to a particular user Assign incident tag — automatically add a tag to the newly created incident depending on the matching condition. For example, if a backend component is affected, add a tag “backend” Add incident task and template(coming soon) — Automatically add an incident task template or a task to the incident
The Zenduty Alert Rules allow you to fine-tune your incident alerting at many levels and make sure that the right team members are alerted when specific conditions are met, add notes and tags, route the incident alert to a different escalation policy than the service default policy, customize the incident title and summary, and most importantly suppress the incident.
Reason 2: Zenduty offers a solid and frictionless path to incident resolution
Every critical incident has four main stages: The detection, the alert, the response(triage->investigate->mitigate), and the postmortem. While Opsgenie/Pagerduty/VictorOps(O/P/V) have done a great job with incident alerting, escalations, and on-call scheduling, they never really focused on the incident response side of things. It is no wonder that 79%+ of SREs feel anxiety and stress during and after an incident. What do you do once you receiving that dreaded page? For one, you can stop dreading those pages by improving your preparedness and by having a solid incident response process in place.
Companies like Google, Dropbox, Slack, and Shopify have pioneered the incident response by borrowing best practices from the Incident Command System(ICS) developed by the US National Incident Management System(NIMS). Here’s a video featuring Honeycomb’s Liz Fong Jones and Google’s Seth Vargo explaining the ICS practiced at Google.
At Zenduty, we took a good look at the incident response best practices by the companies that we and the world admire for their reliability and brought those best practices into our product, which we collectively refer to as the Zenduty ICS.
There are four central pieces of the Zenduty ICS: Incident Roles, Tasks, Tags, and Task Templates. These four pieces combined will give anyone the entire high-level overview of the progress of any incident. Whenever an incident is triggered in Zenduty, the on-call engineer, after receiving the page, may acknowledge the incident and then claim the incident commander or ask someone else to take command. The incident commander will then add relevant responders, invite users to take up specific roles, assign tasks to those roles and update the incident status on the go.
Depending on your org structure and business, you can define roles like :
Incident Commander — leads the incident, and assigns roles and tasks to different people Comms Lead — communicates about the incident to customers and stakeholders Ops Lead — making changes and pushing the fix
Incident Tags
Incident tags let you classify the incident based on component, service, priority, customers or any other segment. These tags can then be used in your analytics dashboard to measure tag-wise service, team, and user performance.
Incident tagging for better classification
Reason 3: Task Templates(Incident Playbooks)
A sample checklist of tasks auto-assigned for incidents for a service
The task template is the starting point for any incident. In the task template, you can define standard operating procedures and point them to specific roles. When a particular service encounters an incident, the task from the task template will automatically be added to the incident task list and after the incident commander assigns roles to specific individuals, these individuals will automatically inherit the tasks in the incident. At any given point, anybody in the team or company will know exactly who is leading the incident and who is dealing with specific aspects of the incident.
Reason 4: End-to-end incident management in Slack and Teams
Zenduty’s Slack and Teams integrations/bots allow you to manage your incidents end-to-end from your favorite chat application. Track your incident tasks, assign roles, fetch alerts and context, add responders and ack/resolve incidents.
Zenduty — Slack Incident Command System integration
Easy links for Incident communications
Reason 5: Fair and affordable pricing
Starting at $0(Freemium), $5(Starter), $15(Growth), and $21(Enterprise) per user per month, Zenduty is the most affordable alternative in the market. Zenduty offers you all the alerting capabilities offered by O/P/V in addition to powerful incident response capabilities. Compare with Pagerduty, Opsgenie, VictorOps.
If you’re looking for an end-to-end incident management platform with awesome alert routing and response management capabilities, do give Zenduty a spin and leave us your feedback in the comments below.
And finally, be zen!
P.S: Check out the feature-wise comparison — Pagerduty, Opsgenie, VictorOps | https://medium.com/zenduty/5-reasons-why-zenduty-is-a-great-alternative-to-opsgenie-pagerduty-and-victorops-o-p-v-9befbedddf8f | ['Vishwa Krishnakumar'] | 2021-01-07 07:17:42.763000+00:00 | ['Incident Response', 'Slack', 'Software Development', 'DevOps', 'Programming'] |
Node.js Express Word Docx to PDF Converter App Using LibreOffice Library Deployed to Website | Node.js Express Word Docx to PDF Converter App Using LibreOffice Library Deployed to Website
Hi friends today in this blog post we will talk about my online converter app that I developed using node.js and express which is docx to pdf converter which is deployed on my website | https://medium.com/@geekygautam1997/node-js-express-word-docx-to-pdf-converter-app-using-libreoffice-library-deployed-to-website-77f546bdae01 | ['Coding Geeks'] | 2020-11-14 07:18:01.386000+00:00 | ['Coding', 'Nodejs', 'Tools', 'Expressjs', 'Programming'] |
Lessons learned from vaccines roll out — It’s Necessary to Stablish a Transparent Process for Priority Setting and Monitoring | Lessons learned from vaccines roll out — It’s Necessary to Stablish a Transparent Process for Priority Setting and Monitoring health journal Apr 9·5 min read
Italy’s botched vaccine rollout highlights Draghi challenge
PM seeks to repair previous government’s errors that led to elderly missing out on jabs
Financial Times, APRIL 9 2021
Miles Johnson in Rome
After the authorities in Italy’s Puglia region asked Antonio La Scala to conduct an audit of everyone who had been given a coronavirus vaccine, the findings left him in shock.
Of the 140,000 people in the region who had received a jab having been classed as priority medical workers, thousands appeared to have no links with the healthcare industry.
“We could immediately see the numbers didn’t add up . . . Puglia doesn’t have this many healthcare workers,” La Scala, head of the region’s medical inspection unit, said of his research carried out in mid-February.
“We cross referenced the data with social security information and found there were many people getting doses with no right to them: friends of friends, associates, parents,” said the 52-year-old dubbed the “007 of vaccines” by the local press for his investigative skills.
Puglia is perhaps the most vivid example of the dysfunctional vaccination rollout that has plagued the EU’s third-largest economy since Covid-19 jabs became available early in the year. As of the end of last week, 98 per cent of people in Puglia aged 70–79 were still waiting for a first dose, along with almost half of over 80s.
The stark numbers underline the challenge facing prime minister Mario Draghi as his government seeks to repair the mistakes made by Italy’s previous government to ensure the country’s limited vaccine supplies go to the elderly and most vulnerable as quickly as possible.
“We’re working around the clock,” said La Scala, a former inspector in the Italian financial police. “We’ve found people who wrote nothing on their self-certification forms about their reason for getting a priority vaccine . . . It’s absurd.”
His unit has handed its preliminary findings to Italian law enforcement and he hopes that those who illegally jumped the queue will be prosecuted.
Italy’s predicament can be traced back to decisions made by the previous government of Giuseppe Conte to prioritise healthcare workers, as well as those working in education. The logic was this would limit transmission in hospitals and protect front-line workers.
Yet with the detail of how to achieve this devolved to the country’s 20 regional governments, disparities quickly emerged as to what counted as a priority. The uncertainly left the system open to abuse and prompted jostling for position among privileged guilds of workers, including lawyers, judges and journalists claiming essential-worker status.
Antonio La Scala, head of the medical inspection unit for the Puglia region, has been dubbed the “007 of vaccines” by the press for his investigative skills
The lobbying has not been confined to the southern Puglia region.
Nicola Zingaretti, head of the Lazio region that includes Rome, acknowledged in a newspaper interview on Thursday that “we too have received pressure” to divert vaccines to different interest groups.
By the time Draghi, a former European Central Bank chief, had relaunched the vaccine strategy in February with a call to Italians to “wait their turn”, just two in every ten doses administered in the country were being given to people aged over 70, according to government data.
By February 20, Italy had administered a single vaccine dose to just 6 per cent of people aged over 80.
In Germany and France, more than a fifth of people in that category had received a first shot by the same date, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and Robert Koch Institute.
“There’s been a focus on [the limited] vaccine supply but we had the same amount of doses as France and Germany,” said Matteo Villa, a research fellow at the ISPI think-tank. “Italy was the only large country in Europe to follow this strategy.”
Significant progress has been made since Draghi refocused the rollout. The number of doses going to the over 70s had risen to above six out of every ten administered by the start of April.
However, 43 per cent of Italians aged above 80 are still waiting for a first vaccine dose, as of data up to the end of last week, and 88.9 per cent of those aged 70–79.
Almost as many Italians aged 30–39 have received a jab as those in their 70s.
There are also large regional disparities, with 60 per cent of over 80s in Sicily not having been jabbed, while just 30 per cent in the northern region of Veneto remain without a single dose.
More than 1m doses out of a total of 11.7m administered as of Wednesday have also gone to educational workers even though most schools and universities remain closed.
Academic researchers, many aged below 40 and working from home, have also been given vaccines.
Draghi on Thursday acknowledged the problem. “Enough vaccination of this expanding group of healthcare workers,” he told a press conference. “We need to vaccinate as a priority all people aged over 70.”
But with Italy recording 627 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, the largest daily increase since early January, experts say it continues to pay a heavy price for its previous strategy.
Villa estimated that the decision to prioritise younger workers over the elderly cost as many as 7,000 avoidable deaths, based on the mortality rates for each age cohort since the vaccine rollout began. While impossible to know with precision, this would make up 6 per cent of the 111,000 people who have died from the virus in Italy.
La Scala said he hoped the queue jumping had come to an end. “These are not intelligent people, they are disloyal people who’ve taken vaccines while the elderly and vulnerable were left behind,” he said. | https://medium.com/@health-journal/lessons-learned-from-vaccines-roll-out-its-necessary-to-stablish-a-transparent-process-for-981644920f86 | ['Health Journal'] | 2021-04-19 23:55:54.228000+00:00 | ['Requirement', 'Vaccines Roll Out', 'Transparency'] |
Why 2020 was the best year for blogging? | Why 2020 was the best year for blogging?
Covering my past one year of blogging in a capsule and also a throwback to my posts of this year. I write on Socio-Politics, International Relations, Law, Technology, MUN etc.
This year 2020, is coming to an end. It has treated us in different ways. For most of us, it might be negatively while for others it might be positive. But we can’t disagree that this year has helped us to recognise small things which gives us utmost happiness and which we have been ignoring for many years. I am here to give my perspective on the ‘2020’s effect on the blogging field and how it has been my best year.’
Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash
When we engage with bloggers and content creators online, we realise that the online activity of people has skyrocketed. Medium writers are getting thousands of views, our articles are going viral more than usual. My article on lockdown days itself is an example of that.
Read-
Do comment your best write up of this year.
I am part of the writing field from 2017 onwards and now I have nearly completed four years. In blogging to be specific I have completed two and a half years on Medium. I have never before 2020 realised the extreme potential this platform has. Till lockdown being initiated this year, Medium was just like an ordinary platform where I posted regularly, i.e once in a fortnight as part of my monthly blogging series.
Read my story of blogging- Why I write?
Before coming to Medium I was writing regularly on Quora, now I have a new Quora space as well. For contest purposes, I had started an account on Youth Ki Awaaz blog and started writing there as well. For college blog, I had been part of Paperkin Publication, and also was nominated to Tech Bridge. In June 2019, I and my friends in MEC MUNSOC started the MUNner’s daily Publication. It has been a really successful venture where a lot of writers have contributed to our publication. This year in April I also had an opportunity to start a new Blogspot named Infodaily where I share more short write-ups, do podcast summaries, feedbacks etc. I have also made a Telegram Channel as well as a Quora space for sharing stories and informative facts.
About my Niche
I started writing on Medium for my niche only. But later I shifted other topics like Journal based writing, technology, etc. as I saw that we can write on any given topic. My primary niche is socio-political issues and it’s analysis. I am a fan of long write-ups, mainly for two reasons. First, I publish a story only once in a fortnight, so I appear in people’s mind only for 10 minutes maximum, that is all I demand from people. Second being that my stories are summarised, from a large issue I’m presenting to you A to Z, which will help the reader understand about the topic very well. He/she needn't refer to multiple articles so that 10 minutes or so is more than enough. That is the output of my 5–6 hours of research and publicity for every article. Although the average readership time still remains to be around 2–3 minutes.
Ever since Covid-19 lockdown was initiated I have successfully published one article every weekend. I was able to publish over 60+ stories total on Medium itself and the majority come from this year only.
Best Collection of this year
Now, I am here to convey the hall of fame of my articles of the year 2020, which I consider my best.
First and foremost will be my signature post of the year which I discussed before- How do I spend my lockdown days?. That post has crossed around 165K views in total.
This article has received 99% of its traffic solely through Google and I can see that Medium is one of the high ranking pages and it will never disappoint you if you have done your part in SEO.
Research and informative
In this article, I have made my stance clear on why we should oppose this barbaric practice we follow. Covered a lot of both scientific, criminal and ethical issues which are in favour of my argument. I have also addressed many of the concerns raised by those who support it as well.
Political Science Theory
Mainly covers various interpretation of secularism and how it is implemented and followed in various places. I have given examples of the same from various notable countries- France, Turkey, India, US etc.
International Relations-
I believe that covering this topic was essential despite this not being my best researched or not even the one where I had dropped in a lot of information or hard work. I’m glad that this brief war, which happened between both these nations, has stopped through a cease-fire brokered by Russia.
Since IR is also one of my key fields I would also suggest you go through my post on Islamic bloc’s foreign policy with respect to India.
Law and legal issues
In lockdown days, the biggest problem we face is the increase in screen time and the use of the internet. Along with those we can see a significant increase in cyber crimes reported. I have made an analysis of our various security concerns, laws which protect us, and also the legal remedies.
Science and Technology
I covered a lesser-known topic- Optical circuits. It is a topic, where electricity is replaced with light. This will lead to a big efficiency in the majority of circuits which we already use at present.
MUN based
Coming to Model UN, I have written an article on how to research for MUNs. It is based on pure methods which I feel is good and how I generally do it. I have included a lot of tips and tricks as well.
Election based Analysis
This is an article which has crossed 100+ fans in a very short time and is recorded to be my longest article as well. I have made sure that I cover A to Z regarding the US Presidential Election results.
Before I could conclude about the past one year’s blogging activity, I would love to thank MUNner’s Daily publication followers for all the support they have given me. I have officially stepped down as the Editor in Chief and handed over the charge to my Juniors. I believe they will really do a good job of maintaining the standard of the content published there. | https://medium.com/illumination/why-2020-was-the-best-year-for-blogging-c34a6d7ddcc8 | ['Jairam R Prabhu'] | 2020-12-28 14:50:28.741000+00:00 | ['Blogging', 'Médium', 'Journal', '2020', 'Writing'] |
Too Late to Pick Flowers | To pick flowers for her
He got up before the sun
He tried to imagine
That it was a lot of fun
He remembered when he did that
Almost every single day
So very long ago
When everything was play
He wondered why he stopped
Did it become a chore?
Was his love replaced
By a desire for something more?
He wondered what was missing
What fell through the cracks
He thought his love was solid
But it somehow left the tracks
With the flowers in the vase
And a smile on his face
Her morning face told him
She was not in his space
And he was not in hers
He was outside looking in
The separation was complete
He could not undo his sin | https://whitefeather9.medium.com/too-late-to-pick-flowers-b976dc1b6710 | ['White Feather'] | 2019-03-23 15:45:10.838000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Romance', 'Love', 'Loss', 'Poetry'] |
I Hide you Everywhere | There are the times when I can feel the corners of my mouth spontaneously lifting upward before I break out into a smile, the one where the eyes sparkle.
Those smiles are as random as they are frequent now, triggered by nothing more than a burst of gratitude for still being alive.
A smile acknowledges a moment so that I might take stock of how precious this love is, how it demands protecting as much as sharing. And how it makes everything glow with gentleness, bestowing an aura of benevolence upon the world and everyone in it.
This love is the drug we all need, not to get out of our heads and have the trip of our lives but to survive and thrive together, as individuals and as a species.
It is as essential to human life as air and water.
And you can’t buy it, steal it, or demand it; you can only make it. | https://asingularstory.medium.com/i-hide-you-everywhere-bcea93c44d11 | ['A Singular Story'] | 2019-12-27 13:49:15.527000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Philosophy', 'Social Media', 'Love', 'Mindfulness'] |
📢 Coinpedia & Cloudbit are now partners | 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/cloudbit-token-cdb/coinpedia-cloudbit-are-now-partners-4800aa3b667e | ['Cloudbit -', 'Cdb'] | 2021-02-25 22:30:08.127000+00:00 | ['Coinpedia', 'Partnerships', 'Cryptocurrency News', 'Cloudbit', 'Crypto'] |
7 Ways That React Native Is Better Than the Web | 7 Ways That React Native Is Better Than the Web
React Native had 20 years to learn from the web. Here’s why it’s better
Photo by the author.
“It makes no sense to compare two technologies that are meant for two different things and whose initial designs are 20 years apart,” you might say. But since their end products look and feel so similar, you’d expect their ways of achieving them to be quite similar too, right?
Wrong. Having spent my last few years in the React Native world and occasionally coming back to the web, I can’t help but notice how much less sense the web makes.
One can only imagine how good the web could have been had it not been designed in mediocre fashion initially and then patched over and over throughout the years.
So, considering React Native’s 20 or so years of learning from the web’s (and others’) mistakes, let’s see what advantages it brings to the table. | https://medium.com/better-programming/7-ways-in-which-react-native-is-better-than-the-web-61ac784df9c | ['Iuliu Vișovan'] | 2020-09-07 16:59:55.562000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'React', 'React Native', 'Web', 'Programming'] |
5 Mind Hacks To Stop Overthinking | I will share with you 5 easy and simple steps for you to stop overthinking right away and start living again. Every simple mind hacks almost change our state of awareness around who we are, and they’re effortless to implement into your life right away.
Overthinking
1- Breathe techniques
The first one is just to breathe. I mean by this that there’s a profound realization that many Buddhist masters and spiritual gurus have come to, which is that fundamentally all we have is up breath.
It’s the one constant that’s going to be with us for our whole life. And as soon as you can become aware of your breath in different moments and how you’re breathing, that’s a beautiful way to get present at the moment.
You see, we’re not going to just focus on getting present in the motor. It’s going to focus on experiencing the breath over and over. And for me, it’s been the most potent half as soon as I’m feeling stressed to get into awareness of my breath simply.
2- Do daily exercise
The second powerful hack is around exercise. Now you’re not going to try to exercise to defeat overthinking. Still, instead, I think that if you’re overthinking a lot and is causing you’re stressed, then introducing exercise as a daily routine into your life is a beautiful way to help your body start to breathe much more deeply.
So if you combine steps one and two, you begin to have a different relationship with the body. You get your heart rate up, and you much more aware of all the bodily processes. This is the basis on which you can start to stop overthinking from taking over your life.
3- Ask questions yourself
The third mind hack is something I learned from Charmin Rooter. Whenever you start to question yourself, it’s okay to see that multiple identities live inside you. There are various personalities, so what is useful is to begin to get into a conversation with the different versions of you.
So let me give you an example, imagine I was going on a date tonight, and I was nervous right now about the date, and I started to wonder whether she’s going to think. I’m good enough for her. If she’s going to wonder whether I’m dressed well enough, and so I start to identify that there is an insecure version of me, but then at the same time, I realized that I’ve gone out with this girl three times in a row. Now that we generally just laugh all of the time.
We only have a perfect time together. I realize it has a pretty relaxed and easygoing person. When I’m with this particular person I’m going out tonight, I start to see that there is a very relaxed version of me.
So instead of trying to defeat the insecure Justin and just aggressively to push towards the calm Justin. It’s okay only to accept that the insecure Justin is real that real person needs deep down inside and give him space and start to listen to the voices coming from means to Justin alongside the relaxed Justin.
4- Do meditation
A fourth mind hack is a different approach to meditation that I learned from Alan Watts. So with this meditation, what I do pretty much every day is that I just stand or sit still or I lie down on the bed, and then I start to listen to all of the noises around me, and I just sort of like sit there and listen without actually putting labels on it.
I stop placing judgment on, and I let the thoughts come to the ideas. Like my friend, I see they’re just a dance that’s coming through, almost like music to my ears. And I just don’t care anymore. If it’s jealous thoughts, insecure thoughts, angry thoughts, toxic thoughts, it just doesn’t matter. I don’t care at all about these thoughts that are coming through.
I put a lot more thought into things, and I think that being a thoughtful person is one of my greatest assets and I’ve started to enjoy the struggle of being an over-thinker.
5- Set a goal
The last step is to focus on your goal or focus in general, so something like overthinking somebody in the business who slid you or maybe overcharged you. It may be something like that that might infuriate you or make you think what the heck why or like how could I’ve done it differently or how could I avoid this situation.
I realized that my time and energy wasn’t worth that and calculating the time on a financial level. It wasn’t worth it to just walk away and say okay. I would consider a healthy or a professional and respectable response.
It was confirming to say, wow, I was overthinking this. I spent a lot of extra time trying to overthink for a specific outcome and result, and really focused and turned back towards that focus of what will create the most ease and balance in my business. My personal life was just walking away and letting the money go. And so I really felt like, whoa, like this is awesome than for the first time like I didn’t overthink this.
Read more about overthinking solutions here: 50 Strategies To Stop Overthinking
If you can embrace those five hacks and implement them into your lives if you’re struggling with overthinking, you’ll start to lose the charge associated with always questioning yourself and still being frustrated. And hopefully, you’ll live to begin to live a much more satisfying life. | https://medium.com/@vckssmith/5-mind-hacks-to-stop-overthinking-d3c10fe2ce13 | [] | 2020-12-26 07:41:06.917000+00:00 | ['Overthinking', 'Motivation', 'Mind', 'Mindset'] |
Simple CSS Loading Animation | As i said adding a CSS class should change the UI from first to the other one. So lets start. You can follow along using the below code pen.
Starting Template
So we have a div with some text content and a button which will toggle the class loader. The div has style of height, width and background color.
<button onclick="addLoaderClass()">Add Loading Animation</button>
<div class="container">
<div>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Laboriosam excepturi quis dignissimos ab quisquam ducimus eos quo error odio doloremque. Assumenda, facilis eligendi ut saepe optio rerum vitae cupiditate quam.</div>
</div> <style>
.container {
height: 400px;
background-color: lightblue;
width: 500px;
}
</style> <script>
function addLoaderClass() {
const container = document.getElementsByClassName('container')[0];
if(container.classList.contains('loader')) {
container.classList.remove('loader');
} else {
container.classList.add('loader');
}
}
</script>
First Trick — PSEUDO ELEMENTS
So lets start by understanding Pseudo classes, Pseudo elements and it’s difference. Pseudo classes are used to style the elements when they are in certain state. Here by state i mean Hover, Focus, Full Screen etc. Pseudo elements are similar to Pseudo classes but style certain part of the element. Here by certain part i mean First Letter, First Line, Selection. So now we’re going to use ::after Pseudo element.
::after is a Pseudo element which can be used add extra content to a element. For example if you want to add * to all required fields in a form, you can use it. In our use case both ::after and ::before should work fine.
So lets create a class with Pseudo element called .loader::after{} . For after to work we need to add property called content which takes string or media as input. So let add content with a string loading…
.loader{ } .loader::after {
content: 'Loading...';
}
Now if you add this class to an element you’ll be seeing the text at bottom of the element. Lets style it.
Second Trick — Positioning
So let position the text absolutely so that we can get the desired out come.
.loader::after{
content: 'Loading...';
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
}
Now the text goes somewhere above. So to make this work we want the parent to be relatively positioned which can be done by adding position: relative; But what is the parent of the pseudo element? Does after means, after the current element or after all the child elements. Well lets have a look at DevTools.
DevTools displaying ::after
So now we know that the latter is true. So we’ve to set the position relative to the actual element where we’re adding the loader class.
.loader {
position: relative;
}
.loader::after {
content: 'Loading...';
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
}
Now the text moves inside the container. As part of this lets add some color to make it look good. Also make it take full space.
.loader::after {
content: 'Loading...';
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
background-color: rgba(0,0,0,.7);
color: white;
height: 100%
width: 100%
}
I’m using rgba so that i can control the opacity. Now lets center the Text.
Third Trick — Aligning content
Well this is a simple thing, just set the text-align: center; and vertical-align: middle; But vertical align might not work here. So lets use the flex box 😍. So we’ll set the display property to Flex and justify, align content to center.
.loader::after {
content: 'Loading...';
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
background-color: rgba(0,0,0,.7);
color: white;
height: 100%
width: 100%
display: flex;
justify-content: center;
align-items: center;
}
Completed Pen
That’s it we’ve reached our end goal. Now this CSS class can be dynamically toggled in the element loading. Now this can be improved in many ways like
Add a spinner image/GIF/SVG as background image to show determined or undetermined progress updates.
Update the content text dynamically to show user what exactly is happening behind or just ask them to Breath…In…Breath…Out.
Have both Image and text
Will this work in all scenarios — No. It works only when the container is relatively positioned. Can this be improved to work all scenarios — Your imagination is the Limit.
Conclusion
Well this is my first article, so please go easy on me 😅. For people who found it useful please let me know by sending some claps or adding a comment which’ll motivate me to blog more. Thank you for staying with me till the end. 😃 | https://medium.com/techtrument/simple-css-loading-animation-bafe96a384ce | [] | 2017-12-21 14:00:39.798000+00:00 | ['HTML', 'Html5', 'Web Development', 'CSS'] |
Reading: The Tools to Write, Part One | Reading: The Tools to Write, Part One
Photo by iam Se7en on Unsplash
“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the tools to write.”
— Stephen King (On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft)
Toward the end of 2018, I announced in Lessons from the Goodread Challenge my intention to read more deliberately — and slowly — in 2019. At the time of that article, I had recently finished As Close to Us as Breathing, by Elizabeth Poliner and was reading The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai, which was the first book I finished in 2019.
It’s time to look at how I’m doing with my reading plans for 2019, and, how my more deliberate, thoughtful reading helps my writing life.
The Books I’ve Completed — First Quarter, 2019
The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai
The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson
Arcadia, by Lauren Groff
before you suffocate your own fool self, by Danielle Evans
A Disobedient Girl, by Ru Freeman
A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan
Bottomland, by Michelle Hoover
In examining my book list above, I’m happy with the mix of stories and the fact that the authors are women. (Yes, Writers Must Read, Read, Read: Ideas on Varying Your Reading or, #ReadMoreWomen) These were all great reads — they covered a variety of subjects, styles, and places in the world. And, for my goal of reading more deliberately and purposefully, they also offered some deep dives into structure, setting, point of view, and voice.
A Writer’s Responsibilities After Reading Other Authors’ Books
While we read for enjoyment, escape, and certainly to improve as writers, we should not be done when we close the book. I believe writers have some simple required follow-through to complete during and after reading books. That follow-through has two primary goals:
to learn as much as possible about craft — I will be sharing a post soon about how I use a reading notebook to help me focus on language particulars. I’m not looking at structure or setting or point of view in that notebook — I’m simply focusing on words, phrases, sentences that sing for me. Expect that post soon: Reading: The Tools to Write, Part Two to be a good literary citizen and spread the word about good books — I only today caught up on posting Goodreads reviews about each of these books. I’d like to do more on social media for all of my reads, as I’m reading. A quick quote on Twitter, a book cover on Instagram — there are many different ways to easily and quickly share the book-love. Books can become bookclub books and gain sales traction when readers are able to help sustain, or reboot, a buzz.
Growing in intentionality with our reading as writers can help build our tools for writing. But, we must remember to also do our part and support the authors of those books we are enjoying.
#happywriting | https://writingcooperative.com/reading-the-tools-to-write-part-one-d66dd7326cc9 | ['Pam Parker'] | 2019-04-12 16:31:00.742000+00:00 | ['Reading', 'Writing', 'Authors', 'Learning', 'Responsibility'] |
‘Witness’: Why Katy Perry’s Transformation Was Impossible To Ignore | Mark Elliott
The anxiety that’s plagued the world mood following 2008’s economic crash and the subsequent rise of headline-baiting politics was shared by as she collected her thoughts ahead of the creation of her fifth solo album, Witness. She’d finally taken that long sabbatical she’d been promising herself since her breakthrough almost a decade earlier, but there was a sense that the boundaries she’d been gently pushing in her work now needed a bit more pressure. It was time to be brave and apply more force to mix up the formula that had, thus far, served her so well.
Listen to Witness right now.
Released on 9 June 2017, Witness was planned to be a record that lurked in the shadowy corners of the dancefloor. The energy so central to Katy’s work to date was inevitable but, alongside the euphoria of those beats and bright lights, there needed to be cooler air to observe, question and — at times — maybe catch a sudden chill.
Could fans stay the course?
Max Martin, who’d helmed so much of what went before, supported some of the tracks again, but longtime collaborator Dr Luke had gone. Across 15 songs, Witness planned to surprise from the start: the title-track opener is again dominated by Katy’s powerful vocal, but there’s no cartoon persona to ease us in this time. An icy and insistent welcome, it was nevertheless framed by that trademark melodic integrity.
‘Hey Hey Hey’ offered an intense Goldfrapp-meets-ABBA cocktail that clearly wasn’t going to carry much currency with traditional radio programmers. ‘Roulette’, as the album’s third track, makes much of its 90s house shuffle, though finally offers a few of those pop peaks we expected.
It’s telling that Witness’ most commercial cut — and obvious first single — ‘Chained To The Rhythm’ arrives ninth in the running order. It’s almost as if Katy was willing us to abandon her for easier options… testing her KatyCat fans to see if they were willing to stay the course.
A tighter sense of artistic purpose
That’s in no way to suggest Witness is defiantly difficult. In fact, it’s actually Katy’s most satisfying album so far, but it demands more attention and certainly more courting: there’s no putting out on this first date. Take ‘Swish Swish’, which features Nicki Minaj: first impressions suggest a choppy, catchy dance groove and little more. But across its gentle journey to become one of 2017’s summer anthems, its subtler melody wriggled its way free until you couldn’t get it out of your head. The song became one of Katy’s slickest . ‘Power’, with its neat sample of Smokey Robinson’s ‘Being With You’, was also a slow burn at first — sharing a similar seduction style to ‘Swish Swish’ — but stick with it: the tease is worth the wait.
‘Bon Appetit’, featuring Migos, is more immediate and was picked as Witness’ second single but, despite another strong video (up there with the career-best clip for ‘Chained To The Rhythm’), it became largely overlooked by the wider public. But while Witness ‘ sales figures wouldn’t match the likes of , it boasts a tighter sense of artistic purpose and a more cohesive sound that’s built on the foundations of Katy’s pop formula but decorated with more experimental electronica.
‘Miss You More’ is the stripped-back ballad that, on previous albums, would be drenched with somewhat synthetic drama. Here, however, it’s a strong signal that Katy was dressing this album in a more authentic, honest costume, despite the rather mannered direction of the artwork and some of the more obvious dance-club nostalgia engineered to demonstrate Witness ‘ tighter definition.
Sharing darker moments
Today’s universal Swedish pop influence is, of course, easily traced back to those trailblazers: ABBA, Ace Of Base and Robyn. Their influence is apparent on Witness, but the album is no pastiche. Few of us can know the real Katy, but there’s a sense that this is the closest we have been let in yet. She can be the life and soul of the party, but here she wanted to share her darker moments too.
On ‘Pendulum’ — a glorious 80s pop-dance throwback — she pleads with us to “just stay classic”. It all comes back around, she says. Maybe her out and out pop nous will return. In the meantime, Witness is evidence of the fact she’s not chained to any sort of rhythm or crude measure of success.
Witness can be bought here.
Listen to the best of Katy Perry on Apple Music and Spotify.
Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @uDiscoverMusic | https://medium.com/udiscover-music/witness-why-katy-perrys-transformation-was-impossible-to-ignore-1b5e4f705836 | ['Udiscover Music'] | 2019-06-09 17:09:29.296000+00:00 | ['Pop', 'Pop Culture', 'Features', 'Music', 'Culture'] |
Magic of Chromecast under the hood | Humans sometimes are lazy enough to take things for granted, and their curiosity takes a toll because of it. We even forget our over-enthusiasm and curiosity as a child who wants to know it all. But there always comes a time or event which makes you think, “How exactly this stuff work?”
The same happened to me too. It was a fine day, me and my husband sat down to watch a movie. We were trying to cast Netflix to our TV and nothing was happening. What was wrong? The wireless engineer in me became curious to figure out the issue, to know how the Chromecast works, how we cast to the TV. How this magic happens!!!
And then, I took my laptop, started a packet capture(my best buddy :)), and started looking into the thousands of packets to resolve the mystery.
So here it is all about Chromecast, its communication with other devices, various protocols involved.
Chromecast, I don’t think it needs any introduction. Everyone is aware of what Chromecast is, may have been using it, or might have thought of buying it after a friend’s suggestion. This small magical device lets you watch videos, listen to music, play games, and use other types of apps from the Internet on your TV.
Coming to the part on how it works, so it all starts when you turn on your TV. The Chromecast powers up and try to connect with the Wi-Fi.
It connects to the Wi-Fi in a similar way how a wireless device connects with Wi-Fi using 802.11 Protocol.
Below is the snapshot of packet capture that shows the Authentication and Associations packets between the access point and the Google Chromecast, followed by a 4-way key exchange. The Auth method used is WPA2/PSK.
Authentication process with WiFi
Now every device that needs to do communication over the Internet need an identity, yes you guessed it right, an IP address. Next, the Chromecast communicates with the DHCP server and gets an IP address.
My Chromecast gets an IP address of 192.168.1.2.
DHCP Process
Now the Chromecast has an IP address. It cannot sit idle, it wants to go out and see around the world. It tries to find the way out. It tries to find the physical address of the default gateway.
ARP for Gateway
Now the mother of Chromecast or his creator would have provided him some URLs to reach out once he is awake and has a way out to the Internet.
There are a few URLs for which the Chromecast tried to resolve DNS.
DNS requests to various google URLs
connectivitycheck.gstatic.com: It is the check for internet connectivity after joining a WiFi network. Every Android device requests https://connectivitycheck.gstatic.com/generate_204 after connecting to a wireless network.
Check the below page for more information:
https://malv.in/posts/2018-11-08-self-hosting-the-wifi-connectivity-check-for-android.html
2. time.google.com : It is a google public NTP server. Chromecast uses the NTP protocol after it rebooted to get the current time through an NTP server.
Chromecast use SSDP and DIAL protocols for device discovery, NTP for time synchronization, TLS for encrypted communications.
Below are more URLs that Chromecast tried to resolve DNS. I tried to google to check what these URLs do or why they are used for but did not find any concrete answer.
clients1.google.com
tools.google.com
After resolving DNS, it established a TCP connection with these endpoints.
Chromecast uses TLSv1.2 for communicating with TLS capable servers. For example, Chromecast communicates over TLSv1.2 while downloading an image to display during idle. After getting the IP address of the content server from Google DNS, Chromecast and the content server does the 3-way TCP Handshake, which is followed by Client Hello and Server Hello TLS messages.
Below is the example for connectivitycheck.gstatic.com.
TCP connection
Till now, it was all about how Chromecast connects with WiFi and how it communicates with the Internet and establish TCP connections with the google endpoints.
After you power on your TV, you open Netflix or youtube sees that small cast button. Once you click on that button, it shows you the name of your Chromecast that you would have configured while setting up the Chromecast device, and Ta-da, the Chromecast is in your service, and now you can just cast anything on the TV.
Let’s see the networking behind this.
Two things that work behind the curtain are Google cast SDK and Google Cast Protocol.
The Google cast SDK : Check this link on detailed information https://developers.google.com/cast
2. Google cast protocol: It is used to discover the receiver device.
Chromecast uses a simple multicast protocol for Discovery and Launch that enables users to mirror their devices on a second screen.
mDNS packets
Multicast DNS(mDNS) — The Chromecast says to the router — please send this message to all interested devices on the network. You open the app on your phone and tells the router, “I’m interested in messages about the Chromecast”. When the router receives a message from the Chromecast — it goes “I have 5 devices that are interested in these messages” and sends the message to all the devices.
Source — https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/4da89i/how_does_chromecast_work/
192.168.1.2 is the IP for the Chromecast device, and 192.168.1.3 is my mobile device. The mDNS packets can be seen from my mobile also.
mDNS packets from the mobile device
SSDP protocol: Simple Service Discovery Protocol is a discovery protocol used to determine what services are available on a network.
Chromecast and devices on the same network with Chromecast communicates via DIAL protocol to discover each other. Both devices send multicast SSDP messages over UDP to IP address 239.255.255.250 on port 1900. M-SEARCH *HTTP/1.1 packets are multicasted by clients for Chromecast discovery, while the Chromecast device sends NOTIFY *HTTP/1.1 packets to announce the IP address and port it is listening to and the location of its device description XML file. According to NOTIFY * packets sent by Chromecast, device description file is found at http://local-chromecast-ip-address:8008/ssdp/device-desc.xml.
SSDP packets
YouTube app in Android tablet has a cast to Chromecast button enabled if the mobile device has previously discovered a Chromecast device in the same network. Once tapped, the tablet would stop showing the video on the small screen and start streaming the YouTube video to the Chromecast attached larger screen. The tablet device becomes a remote control. In this setting, the control packets such as play, stop, pause, etc. are sent through clear-text over HTTP from tablets to YouTube servers. The video control packets are sent from the mobile remote device to YouTube servers and video is streamed directly to the Chromecast. When looked closer to the control packets; they use HTTP POST, HTTP GET methods to control the video played on Chromecast attached screen.
Source — https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283804043_A_closer_look_into_privacy_and_security_of_Chromecast_multimedia_cloud_communications
Below is the example of a youtube HTTP request
This is the journey of Chromecast from the time it powers up to the time you start watching your favorite video or movie on your TV screen. We saw how it connects with the Wifi, what protocols are involved, how devices discover each other, and how you can cast on the TV from your device. | https://medium.com/@imdeepika/magic-of-chromecast-under-the-hood-f7418d895bd3 | [] | 2020-09-17 09:38:30.996000+00:00 | ['Wireshark', 'Chromecast', 'Networking', 'Wireless', 'Packet Capture'] |
A century-old stereotype still dictates how far a Latina immigrant can go in America | When you live abroad, sticking to your identity can anchor you through rough times. But what if your identity is associated with belittling stereotypes?
I don’t look like Mexican actress Dolores Del Río on most days.
As a Latina who arrived in the U.S. in her late 20s looking for a new life, I’ve received a lot of unsolicited advice on immigration. By far the most frustrating were the men — and women — who suggested I simply enter a fake marriage. Whether a friendly suggestion or racist joke, the idea of the “green-card marriage” actually perpetuates a century-old eroticized stereotype that makes women from Latin America vulnerable to scams and domestic violence.
When my visa nearly expired a couple of years ago, I received five unsolicited marriage proposals in three months. It was a shock; back home in Brazil, I couldn’t lock down a boyfriend, let alone a husband. But in the U.S I suddenly had more proposals than I could handle.
I knew people paid sham “spouses” to obtain green cards. These arrangements could cost as much as $15,000, according to friends who had been in the U.S. longer. But in my case, the men were not asking for money; they only wanted me to give them a “chance.”
When I did not look convinced, one of them played the Trump card, trying to use the president and his strict immigration policies to scare me into marriage. He added feelings of vulnerability and helplessness to a pot already cooking stress and shame.
I was impressed by their assumption that I could force myself into a relationship as a form of payment. And why did people assume that my path to residency in the U.S. had to involve marrying a citizen?
I realized then how toxic the green-card marriage narrative is for Latinas trying to legalize their immigration status in the U.S. In the wake of the #MeToo and intersectional feminist movements, Latinas are still expected to rely on their sensuality to achieve success.
Movies and the TV are a big part of the issue. While Latino men have been portrayed as a lazy, aggressive, flirty bunch, women have been eroticized for generations. From Mexican actress Dolores del Rio, the first personification of the Latina lover stereotype in the 1920s, to Sofia Vergara playing Gloria in the TV show “Modern Family,” people in America have been hammered by the association of Hispanic women with sex.
Like most Brazilians, I didn’t consider myself Latina until I came to the U.S., so the fiery Latina thing was never part of my identity. Hispanic America and Brazil do share a history of violent colonization at the hands of Iberian countries, but both have their own culture and heritage.
When I arrived in the U.S., I identified as a white woman. I had two degrees, almost 10 years’ experience as a journalist and the awareness of being privileged.
But I quickly noticed I was perceived differently here; I was Latina, which meant that if I wanted to pursue my American dream, I should forget about my resume and get a gig as a babysitter or bartender.
In that process, I stopped seeing myself as a white woman — at least, while on U.S. soil. It definitely helped me bond with the Hispanic community and have a sense of belonging, something you long for in a foreign country. But in retrospect, I think I also lost sight of who I was.
It never crossed my mind to research the requirements for an EB-1A green card for high achievers, for example. Those are available for foreign nationals who have earned awards, been on a jury for an award, are members of professional organizations and produce internationally acclaimed work. Sounds hard, I agree, but not impossible for someone who has worked in the media for a decade. The Chinese designer Stella Guan did it in eight months.
Did you know Latinas can do a lot more than help selling beer?
I forgot to bring my talents to the table because I didn’t know they meant anything in the first place. The narrative for Latinas revolving around the cleaning lady or the hot senorita really got me.
For some women, it can lead to a life-threatening situation.
Stephanie Mulcock, a New York immigration lawyer specializing in domestic violence and family justice, said many Latinas without legal status marry their boyfriends prematurely or buy a marriage to adjust their immigration status. “Both situations put them at a great risk of different forms of abuse, from domestic violence to blackmail,” she said.
(If you want to know more about the issues influencing domestic violence in the Latina immigrant community, take a look at my interview with domestic violence specialist and attorney Michelle Viana.)
For women who marry for love or convenience and find out they are sleeping with the enemy, there is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). If the Senate renews it this year, a woman who proves to Immigration that she has been a victim of abuse by an American spouse can obtain a visa and later a green card. In 2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processed 11,034 VAWA petitions by spouses. But if you know anything about violence against women, you know most of them won’t report it, especially if they feel disempowered.
Recalling my own marriage proposals, I knew I had dodged some potentially fatal bullets. It was always clear that my biggest risk wouldn’t be getting caught by Immigration but handing control of my life over to a man whose motives I didn’t trust in a country that was not my own.
Plus, I was not desperate enough.
Many women will marry for green cards because they are supporting their families back home and want their children to have a better life. I know some of those people.
By the time I had saved enough money to start graduate school in New York, many Brazilians I had met had already married U.S. citizens — for love or a green card. To my face, they tell me I am brave for giving up the opportunity to buy a marriage and choosing to pay a grad school tuition, which won’t grant me the right to immigrate.
I know many think I am just a dumb Latina.
But after four years navigating race and coming to terms with this new identity, I find my version of Latina much more representative of the immigrant community: hard-working, honoring the education I received from my parents, and believing I can do better than being someone’s wife — fake or real. | https://medium.com/invisible-voices/a-century-old-stereotype-still-dictates-how-far-a-latina-immigrant-can-go-in-america-7f9a52da588f | ['Isadora Varejão'] | 2019-09-26 14:56:30.062000+00:00 | ['Machismo', 'Latina', 'Sexism', 'Immigration', 'Green Card'] |
Tyrese Haliburton, the Kings 1st round pick, was a hidden gem. | To many casual fans of the NBA who don’t follow college basketball very closely, Iowa State Cyclones point guard Tyrese Haliburton may not have been a big name on their radar heading into this years draft. Drafted 12th by the Sacramento Kings, he has the tools to become a top 3 player in his class.
The 2020 NBA draft was not one to look forward to as a GM in need of an instant-impact player. The top 3 prospects headed into the draft, Lamelo Ball, James Wiseman, and Anthony Edwards, all had major question marks that were potential red flags. Anthony Edwards, from the University of Georgia, ended up being taken number 1 overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves. While his elite athleticism, above average defensive IQ, and ability to score seemingly at will are all tantalizing, his drive was questionable. While his trainer insists the opposite, Edwards had an interview a few days before the draft where he says he’d choose to play football if given the opportunity. Additionally, almost everything that scouts love about Edwards they said about Andrew Wiggins, the 1st overall selection in 2014. Wiggins, while having all of the physical tools to be elite, is wisely seen as someone who has yet to live up to his expectations. I mean, he has one of the best High School highlight tapes in recent history.
James Wiseman, picked 2nd by the Golden State Warriors, is a center from the University of Memphis. At Memphis, Wiseman was in the center of a massive scandal involving receiving a payment of $11,500 dollars from current Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway. Being the definitive number 1 recruit coming out of High School, he only played 3 games in college, skipping his season after serving a 12-game suspension. In those 3 games, however, he looked worthy of being the top pick, averaging nearly 20 points and over 10 rebounds. Just like Edwards, his physical tools are impressive, standing at 7’1 with a standing reach of 9 feet 6 inches. He moves like a guard, and can be an elite rim protector, but just like Edwards, his drive is questionable. In the modern NBA, if you’re a big man who can’t shoot, your value diminishes greatly. As a back-to-basket center, it’ll be interesting to see where he can fit, and whether he can add a jump shot.
And then there’s Lamelo Ball, who was taken 3rd by the Charlotte Hornets. Lamelo, brother of UCLA Bruins star, former 2nd overall pick, and current New Orleans Pelican Lonzo, has been in the media limelight for years. His father, a very passionate Lavar, is notorious for being… for lack of a better term, obnoxious. Here’s Lonzo with a quick summary.
Lamelo is the biggest question mark of the three. Standing at 6’8, he has the size and athleticism to succeed. His playmaking is also a strong suit, but that’s about where it ends. Skipping college to play in Lithuania with his brother LiAngelo (because Lavar made them after LiAngelo got caught stealing in China….. yeah, this family is full of drama), he later landed in the NBL, Australia’s professional league. Not pulling any punches, he was a dismal shooter, an even worse defender, and has questionable professionalism. He’s a project at 3.
And then, outside of the top 3, there were good prospects like Frenchman Killian Hayes, taken 7th, Obi Toppin, taken 8th, and Israeli Deni Avdija, taken 9th. But none of those drew my attention quite like Haliburton. A 3-star recruiting out of OshKosh, WI, his freshman year at Iowa State was nothing too impressive, averaging just shy of 7 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds per game. In the offseason, he represented the US in the FIBA U19 World Cup, winning gold. His sophomore season, this past year, had his stats see a meteoric rise. He averaged over 15 points, 6.5 assists, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.5 steals per game on a 59/42/82 split. He blossomed into a swiss army knife of a player, able to control the game with the ball in his hands or sit back and stay effective off-ball.
Two big questions with him, however, are his size and shooting form. Standing at 6’5, 175 pounds, he’s underweight by NBA standards, and definitely on the weaker side of the spectrum in this draft. Due to coronavirus concerns, the NBA Draft Combine was held virtually, so important strength tests like bench press were not officially recorded for him. If he can put on muscle like most players do when they enter the league, he’ll be even more effective at absorbing contact and finishing at the rim, and it opens up the possibility of him guarding multiple positions on the court. Joining a back court of De’Aaron Fox (6’3 185) and Buddy Hield (6’4 225), he’ll need to bulk up to prevent teams from switching to abuse a mismatch if all three are on the court at the same time.
Despite shooting 42% from 3-point range in college, his shooting form is very questionable. Lonzo Ball, mentioned above, shot 41% in college but is shooting a pedestrian 34% in the NBA. Both of them have questionable shooting forms that were obvious wouldn’t translate well to the NBA. Lonzo’s shot, in which he brings the ball across his body, was inconsistent do to a lot of moving parts. Haliburton’s, while ugly, is repeatable, which is promising. A good indicator of whether someone’s shooting prowess will translate well to the next level is their free throw %. While Lonzo shot an abysmal 67% at UCLA, and continues to struggle in the NBA, shooting a horrendous 49%. Haliburton hit 82% of his free throws while playing for the Cyclones, which means that he at least has the mechanics that can be built upon with a good shooting coach.
Something that I’m personally concerned about with Haliburton is his fit on the Kings. Like I mentioned, he joins an already young, promising, and highly-paid backcourt of De’Aaron Fox (who just signed a 5yr/$163mil contract) and Buddy Hield (who signed a 4yr/$94mil contract in 2018). Unless one them gets traded (I would assume Hield gets moved at some point during this season), he’s going to be fighting for minutes in an offense that doesn’t necessarily excite me. In the 2018–2019 season, the Kings had the 5th highest-paced offense in the league, and finished 39–43. After firing coach Dave Joeger for former Warriors and Lakers coach Luke Walton, their pace fell to 20th in the league, and finished with a worse record. According to Synergy, a basketball statistics engine that breaks down players games, Haliburton averaged 1.766 points per possession, factoring in assists, in transition. That’s better than 98% of every other college player last season.
So, yeah. In a draft filled with uncertainty at the top, Tyrese Haliburton is a name to watch. I had him going top 10, but as a fan of the Kings, I’m certainly not complaining that he fell to 12. If I had to compare him to a player in today’s NBA, I would go with a Lonzo Ball who can shoot, or a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. If he can put on weight and get stronger, I could see him becoming a perennial fringe All-Star candidate in a crowded Western Conference. | https://medium.com/@cforcier3/tyrese-haliburton-the-kings-1st-round-pick-was-a-hidden-gem-b9ce3b99f1ca | ['Cameron Forcier'] | 2020-12-27 01:03:48.043000+00:00 | ['Basketball', 'Draft', 'NBA'] |
We Go Together | We go together
Like left and right
Can’t seem to find the center
I guess that means we’re rotten to the core
But it’s alright
We will overcome
Before all is hopeless
And then we will cower
Desolate
Decrepit
No holds barred
The remains lie ashen
Ritualized
Let’s form a new religion. | https://medium.com/@lstenger7/we-go-together-40dc38490d88 | ['Luke Stenger'] | 2020-12-20 01:07:56.371000+00:00 | ['Poem', 'Poetry Writing', 'Poetry', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Poetry Sunday'] |
Ian Fleming — A Life. Journalist, Wartime Intelligence… | Ian Fleming — A Life
Journalist, Wartime Intelligence Officer & The Creator of James Bond
Fleming Reading Casino Royale. Image: bondfanevents.com
Ian Fleming may be dead but his famous literary creation, James Bond, continues to live a full and active life, either between the covers of books, which include the 14 original novels by Fleming (which some years ago received the accolade of becoming Penguin Modern Classics), the 22 continuation novels by such distinguished writers as Kingsley Amis, John Gardner (who had already created his own hilarious secret agent, Boysie Oakes), and the Texan born writer, Raymond Benson (the author of The James Bond Bedside Companion, and the founder and Director of the Ian Fleming Foundation), plus the 7 novelizations of screenplays, mostly written by Gardner and Benson, with two early ones by Christopher Wood (who later wrote a couple of Bond screenplays). Some recent additions to this extensive publishing list are The Moneypenny Diaries, written by Dr Kate Westbrook (AKA Samantha Weinberg),and the superb “Young Bond” series of novels written by Charlie Higson. More recently, two new novels by Anthony Horowitz, Trigger Mortis, and Forever and a Day, and William Boyd’s Solo.
Apart from the books (and I haven’t even mentioned the spoof biographies of Bond, and the many biographies of Fleming) there are the ever growing number of Bond DVDs (the original videos are now very collectible) and the continuing recreation of Bond on the cinema screen, with the screening of the latest, No Time To Die, delayed by Covid-19 until April 2021.
R Type Bentley Continental
Almost exactly twenty-four hours before, James Bond had been nursing his car, the old Continental Bentley — the ‘R’ type chassis with the big 6 engine and 13:40 back-axle ratio — that he had now been driving for three years, along the fast but dull stretch of the N.1 between Abbeville and Montreuil that takes the English tourist back to his country via Silver City Airways from Le Tourquet or by ferry from Boulogne or Calais. He was hurrying safely, at between eighty and ninety, driving by the automatic pilot that is built in to all rally-class drivers, and his mind was totally occupied with drafting his letter of resignation from the Secret Service…
The above is the opening paragraph of chapter two of Ian Fleming’s 1963 James Bond novel, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which is a superb example of Fleming’s hard writing style that encapsulates, in less than one hundred and twenty words, what a James Bond novel is all about: fast cars (and the distinction between himself and, in this case, the average ‘tourist’), which are invariably described in the same matter of fact way Fleming often describes his women, who are, of course, another vital part of any Bond novel. It also tells us, at the very end, that Bond works for the Secret Service, which is a reference that immediately suggests to us, the reader, adventure, intrigue and danger, and not least the possibility of violent death. But it is also a piece of writing, the style of which has its origins not in spy thrillers, but in the ability and requirement to write short, pithy, and accurate intelligence reports and directives; something for which Fleming was renowned in the years he spent as a naval intelligence officer during World War II.
Fleming also wrote a couple of hugely popular non-fiction books, with the first, The Diamond Smugglers, published in 1957, an amazing literary investigation into the post war diamond smuggling that went on between South Africa and Europe and tells at break-neck speed the story of a secret agent who penetrated the highly organized, and very dangerous, smuggling gangs. It reads today more like an early Frederick Forsyth novel than it does a Fleming and proves that the creator of 007 was a writer of immense journalistic skill. His next, Thrilling Cities, published in1963, is a travel book that is a world tour that takes us from London to New York, then, via Chicago, to Berlin and Vienna, and all points east. If you want to rediscover that vanished world of the late 1950s and early1960s — the world in which James Bond moved —and you can find a copy, it’s worth a read.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Source: thefix.com
Of course most people will have heard of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and if they haven’t read Fleming’s original novel, published in 1964, they will probably have seen Ken Hughes’ 1968 musical film version (with songs by Richard and Robert Sherman), that has an inventive and amusing screenplay by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes, with additional dialogue by the New York born screenwriter, Richard Maibaum, who has also been responsible for eight Bond screenplays.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang starred a wholly implausible Dick Van Dyke as the crazy inventor, Caractacus Potts, with the younger Lionel Jeffries playing his grandfather. And many of those who have read the novel, and seen the film, might also have enjoyed Jeremy Sams’ stage adaptation of 2002 — directed by former RSC artistic director — Adrian Nobel, which ran for many years.
Read the novel now and it soon becomes apparent that Fleming created, in the magical flying car, a kind of automotive James Bond (which is appropriate given Bond’s love of motor cars) who, with the help of Caractacus Potts (undoubtedly “Q”) and Truly Scrumptious (a not untypical Bond girl) they go after big time baddies Joe the Monster, Man-Mountain Frank, and Soapy Sam, who are dead-ringers for Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Hugo Drax, and Auric Goldfinger. Like the Bond novels it is a tough and simply written piece of work that, again like the Bonds, and Fleming himself, has many literary and psychological layers.
Ian Lancaster Fleming was born at 7 Green Street, Mayfair, London, on May 28th 1908. His father was the wealthy Scottish banker, Valentine Fleming, and his mother the beautiful socialite, Evelyn St. Croix Rose Fleming. Ian’s brother, the travel writer Peter Fleming, had been born a year earlier, and two younger brothers, Richard and Michael, came in quick succession after Ian. In 1910 Valentine Fleming was elected MP for South Oxfordshire and moved his growing family to a much larger house on Hampstead Heath.
Valentine Fleming. Image: pinterest
Ian’s first boarding school was Durnford, near Swanage, followed by Eton College (James Bond’s college, of course, where the headmaster asks, according to Charlie Higson, for his new student’s name, to receive the inevitable, and famous, reply); this was followed by Fettes College (where Ian seems to have spent most of his time reading thrillers by Sapper and John Buchan) and Sandhurst Military Academy.
With the outbreak of the First World War Valentine Fleming joined the Oxfordshire Yoemanry and fought bravely in France (he was promoted to major in the field) dying in action on the 20th May 1917. He received a posthumous DSO and an obituary in The Times written by his old friend and wartime comrade, Winston Churchill, a copy of which Ian kept framed on his desk for the rest of his life.
Ian’s mother inherited her husband’s substantial estate but only with the proviso that she did not re-marry, which made it inevitable that she would, in John Cork’s words, “…remain forever Valentine’s widow.” What it also meant was that Evelyn took several lovers, one of whom was the painter Augustus John, the result of which was the birth, in 1925, of their daughter, Amaryllis Fleming, who went on to become a world renowned cellist (she doubled for Bette Davis in the 1970 film Connecting Rooms, where Davis plays the part of a cellist) dying in 1999. Amaryllis was also a great inspiration for many of her half brother’s female characters, most especially the beautiful Judy in the short story ‘For Your Eyes Only’.
Amaryllis Fleming. Image: Rosamond Press
After Sandhurst Ian Fleming moved to the Continent to study languages at Kitzbühel in Austria, and then Munich University, followed by a stint at Geneva University. After finishing his studies, and failing his entrance exams for the Foreign Office, he managed to get a job as a journalist with Reuters where he especially enjoyed covering several espionage trials in Russia. On his return to London he gave up journalism to become a stockbroker. Then, in 1939, everything changed.
Early in 1939 Fleming returned to Russia as a journalist with The Times to cover and report on a British trade mission. What he was actually doing was spying for the Foreign Office. In fact it seems that ever since failing his entrance exam for the FO he had been working for them as a spy, indeed his failure to gain an official position with them may have been a cover for his espionage work.
In May 1939, with the threat of war growing daily, Fleming became formally attached to Britain’s intelligence services and began working with Naval Intelligence, taking the rank of Lieutenant (RNVR). With the outbreak of war in September Fleming took on the rank of Commander (Bond’s rank) and became the Personal Assistant to Rear Admiral John Godfrey, Director of Naval Intelligence in Room 39 of The Admiralty, where Fleming was given the personal code number of 17F, and a desk in front of the glass door that led to Godfrey’s office overlooking Horse Guards Parade.
Commander Fleming. Source: Diletant.media
Fleming made his presence felt immediately and became a major influence on the future wartime work of Naval Intelligence. His energy and inventiveness knew no bounds, with plans and ideas to wrong-foot and deceive the enemy flying from his typewriter like sparks.
In 1940 he was sent to a France that was on the brink of collapse to organise the escape of troops and intelligence operatives from Dieppe. He spent his last evening in the town eating and drinking at a local restaurant that became one of his favourites after the war. One of the last people he managed to get out of France before the German’s marched into the port was the infamous King Zog of Albania.
In an article for The Ian Fleming Foundation, screenwriter John Cork outlines Fleming’s invaluable contribution to Naval Intelligence and the so called ‘Fleming Flair’:
“ The ‘Fleming Flair’ proved to be his greatest strength in Naval Intelligence. He dined at Scott’s, White’s, the Dorchester, plotted intelligence operations, many of which were absurd, and many of which proved ingenious. Yet, Fleming understood the business side of the war. He understood his practical job, and the tight constraints of man-power, money and supplies. He did not take his assignments lightly, always gravely aware of the real human risks involved…The ‘ Fleming Flair’… also proved valuable in one other respect: writing. As assistant to Admiral Godfrey, Fleming wrote countless memos and reports. His style and elegant arguments, plus his seemingly limitless knowledge of his subjects made the usual dry missives a pleasure to read. Eventually, Fleming wrote memos to William ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan on how to set up the OSS, forerunner to the CIA. For that bit of work, Fleming received a revolver engraved with the thanks: ‘For Special Services.’ ”
In 1942 Fleming helped set up 30 Assault Unit (based on the German Intelligence Commando Units) that was made up of men from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, whose purpose it was to accompany regular commandos on raids behind the enemy lines, with the aim of obtaining as much intelligence as possible, including new weaponry, cyphers, and occasionally prisoners. Fleming planned the operations and saw the men off personally, having to remain desk-bound himself. Thirty AU were effectively Fleming’s private army and they proved highly effective throughout the war.
Fleming was not always desk bound, with missions undertaken to France, Spain, North Africa, Ceylon, Australia, Cairo, Tehran, and late in the war Jamaica, an island that captivated him and where he later made a home. On one such visit to Gibraltar he conceived Operation Golden Eye, which was a plan to defend Gibraltar should the German’s mount an invasion through Spain.
Fleming also accompanied Admiral Godrey to Washington where he met the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, and a little later, in New York, the Canadian, William Stephenson, who had joined the British Secret Intelligence Services (SIS, which includes MI5 and MI6) in 1940. Stephenson was then sent to New York to head the British Security Coordination, where he worked closely with the aforementioned William Donovan in setting-up the OSS, an organisation J. Edgar Hoover distrusted and tried desperately to close down.
There can be no doubt that Ian Fleming was, at that time, a very important and large cog in the intelligence wheel, who was not only at the heart of British Intelligence but in at the birth of the US Intelligence Services that would culminate, in1947, with the creation, by President Truman, of the CIA. Throughout the Bond novels there is a deep respect for the CIA, plus a bit of leg pulling, with the character of CIA agent, Felix Leiter, wholly sympathetic and likeable.
After the war Fleming headed for Jamaica were he bought a run down property, designed a new house which, when complete, he called Goldeneye in honour of his days at Naval Intelligence. There was no hot water, or glass in the windows, and it was considered by many who went there as extremely uncomfortable; but Fleming loved it and spent most winters there swimming, entertaining his lovers and such literary worthies as Noel Coward, Eric Ambler (who was a great influence on Fleming as a writer), Patrick Leigh-Fermor (writer and wartime intelligence officer), and that great editor and writer, Cyril Connolly. It is not difficult for us to see Fleming enjoying the life of a wealthy bachelor with a taste for fine wines, fast cars, and hand made cigarettes — the very prototype of James Bond.
Only in 1952, when his married mistress, Lady Anne Rothermere, became pregnant by Fleming did he, aged 44, decide at last to settle down. And as he waited in his island paradise for Anne’s divorce to come through back in London he started to write what became James Bond’s debut novel, Casino Royale.
This first Bond novel was like nothing else on the bookshop shelves and was soon being criticised for its sex and violence, with the latter still quite hard hitting (literally) today. There had been spy novels before, with Sapper’s Bulldog Drummond (although not strictly a spy) perhaps the nearest equivalent to Bond.
The plot of the novel is simplicity itself (always the hallmark of a Bond adventure) with Bond sent to a casino in Royale-les-Eaux, in Northern France, to disgrace the deadly Soviet agent, Le Chiffre, by ruining him at the tables and forcing his Soviet spy masters to ‘retire’ him. Naturally things don’t initially go to plan, with the beautiful Vesper Lynd leading Bond into increasing amounts of danger. Bond wins out in the end of course. As a spy thriller it works superbly well and set the blueprint for all, and every, spy thriller that followed. It would not be going too far to say that Ian Fleming, with that single novel, changed popular culture forever, as John Buchan had years before with The Thirty-Nine Steps.
Casino Royale was published by Jonathan Cape in 1953, with the dust jacket designed by Fleming himself, which is, in the words of editor Crispin Jackson, “… a curious concoction…[with a]…Wedgewood blue background, decorated with nine bleeding hearts and a ghostly white wreath bearing the motto: ‘A whisper of love, A whisper of hate.’ ” It is indeed a strange cover, and if you come across that cover, and a first edition of the book inside it today, and it’s in good condition, you might have to pay around £10,000 to £12,000 for it. If you come across it in fine condition you’ll need to stump up anything between £15,000 to £20,000! Even a first paperback edition of that novel, in fine condition, will set you back a couple of thousand pounds.
When, as a young teenager, I first started buying James Bond novels back in the 1950s I would order them from W.H. Smiths to ensure I got a first edition, with each one costing, if I remember correctly, sixteen shillings. And by then they had those superb covers by Richard Chopping, and its hard to describe the sheer joy of collecting my new James Bond novel and spending my hard earned newspaper delivery money. I sold them all many years ago with each one fetching around £50 to £100. Of course the prices went through the roof the minute I’d sold mine.
After Casino Royale came Live and Let Die (1954), followed by Moonraker(1955) and Diamonds are Forever(1956), then From Russia with Love(1957), Dr No(1958), Goldfinger(1959), For Your Eyes Only(1960), Thunderball(1961), The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) (where Bond only appears in the last quarter of the book), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service(1963) (my favourite), You Only Live Twice(1964), The Man with the Golden Gun (1965), and Octopussy/The Living Daylights (1966).
Image: mansfinelife.com
Throughout the 1950s Fleming continued to write for The Times. But by the end of that decade he was a publishing phenomena, and by the early 1960s, with the first Bond film, Dr No, in the can, he was an international celebrity. But the good life of rich food, fine wines, and cigarettes, was catching up with him and in 1964, having suffered a dreadful chest cold, and later pleurisy, he attended, against his doctors orders, his mother’s funeral. The ordeal brought him to an emotional low point and he never really regained his health. On the night of August 11th 1964 he suffered a heart attack and began to bleed to death internally. In the early hours of August 12th he died, aged 56.
His wife, Anne, died in 1981, and their only son, Casper, died from a drug overdose in 1975. All three are buried together in Sevenhampton.
Ian Fleming left a legacy of steadfast service to his country and fourteen famous books that have weathered the test of time and are undoubtedly worthy of classic status, Penguin or otherwise.
Source: Curbside Classics
Acknowledgements to John Pearson’s — The Life of Ian Fleming; Andrew Lycett’s — Ian Fleming: The man who created James Bond 007; Keith Jeffry’s — MI6; Book & Magazine Collector; Ben Macintyre’s — Cross and Double Cross & A Spy Among Friends; The entire works of Ian Fleming; Andrew Roberts — The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War… | https://medium.com/books-are-our-superpower/ian-fleming-a-life-f35d6d0efa3f | ['Steve Newman Writer'] | 2020-10-13 18:10:35.681000+00:00 | ['Writers Life', 'Espionage', 'History', 'Biography', 'Books'] |
Broken Earth continues to do things with white wine that sounds great on paper and translates well… | Broken Earth continues to do things with white wine that sounds great on paper and translates well into the glass. Their new inert press I was skeptical of at first, thinking old-fashioned-ly wines need a little oxygen. Then I visited some places in Italy and found them to be a lot more commonplace and definitely utilized to preserve delicate fruit structures. A couple of the early wines of this method I tasted from this producer I felt almost awkwardly austere, but this one is far from it.
Almost clear, just a hint of legal pad to confirm you’re not drinking water. Graphite, pitch, and wet chalkboard greet you in the nose, hints of melon, banana, tomato vine and surf mist lie deep in the background–along with slight sulfur. Earthy and loamy, the minerality just GLOWS–and doesn’t really take on any citrus personalities as usual. There’s a roundness to the nose, though: a bulkhead of ripeness tip-toeing on buttery, but more cold honey-butter–with a tarragon twist.
In the mouth, a richness nearly approaching Chardonnay-levels cleanses you of all that steely grate. Tropical fruit indulges you in perceived sweetness even though the wine is bone-dry. Lychee and guava–peachy and round–create a white-grape-juice canned-fruit syrup which cruises sailingly across the palate, deftly avoiding the potholes of acid but clipping a few of them gently. There’s just too many to miss, and it swells up all that minerality, depositing the ridiculous structure all over in ways that would make Riesling blush. In the finish, the lush fruit again makes an argument for RS, and the encroaching cellar-floor turns the whole package surprisingly old-worldy. Didn’t really see that one comin, but it WORKS. And there’s TANNIN. Lots of tannin. This would be a fun wine to *lose* a few bottles for a decade. Bet you a million bucks it would go the distance.
2019 BROKEN EARTH ‘Anonymity’ Torrontes Paso Robles 12.4
https://www.brokenearthwinery.com/ | https://medium.com/@zvoiture/broken-earth-continues-to-do-things-with-white-wine-that-sounds-great-on-paper-and-translates-well-96ee6e4567 | ['Stephen Mcconnell'] | 2021-04-09 02:40:40.417000+00:00 | ['California', 'Paso Robles', 'Food And Drink', 'Wine', 'White Wine'] |
The Python Data Model | 介紹
這個章節主要介紹python中的一些magic methods，顧名思義就是擁有魔法一樣，不需要去重新定義或架構一個方法，直接使用即可。例如，假如有一個a = [1, 2, 3]，想知道它的長度，可以直接使用len(a)=3，這是因為type(a)是list，list這個物件的class裡面已經有定義 __len__這個function，所以只要使用len()就直接呼叫__len__這個function。這些magic method的命名方式都是用__x__。
若想知道某個class有哪些magic methods，可以這個程式碼查看，例如想知道int class的magic methods
dir(int)
可以得到下面的magic methods
['__abs__', '__add__', '__and__', '__bool__', '__ceil__', '__class__', '__delattr__', '__dir__', '__divmod__', '__doc__', '__eq__', '__float__', '__floor__', '__floordiv__', '__format__', '__ge__', '__getattribute__', '__getnewargs__', '__gt__', '__hash__', '__index__', '__init__', '__init_subclass__', '__int__', '__invert__', '__le__', '__lshift__', '__lt__', '__mod__', '__mul__', '__ne__', '__neg__', '__new__', '__or__', '__pos__', '__pow__', '__radd__', '__rand__', '__rdivmod__', '__reduce__', '__reduce_ex__', '__repr__', '__rfloordiv__', '__rlshift__', '__rmod__', '__rmul__', '__ror__', '__round__', '__rpow__', '__rrshift__', '__rshift__', '__rsub__', '__rtruediv__', '__rxor__', '__setattr__', '__sizeof__', '__str__', '__sub__', '__subclasshook__', '__truediv__', '__trunc__', '__xor__', 'bit_length', 'conjugate', 'denominator', 'from_bytes', 'imag', 'numerator', 'real', 'to_bytes']
關於magic methods介紹可以參考：https://www.tutorialsteacher.com/python/magic-methods-in-python
建立一個 class A Pythonic Card Deck
以下是以撲克牌為例子：
class FrenchDeck: ranks = [str(n) for n in range(2, 11)] + list( 'JQKA')] # ['2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J',
'Q', 'K', 'A'] suits = 'spades diamonds clubs hearts'.split() # ['spades',
'diamonds', 'clubs', 'hearts'] def __init__(self):
self._cards = [Card(rank, suit) for suit in self.suits for
rank in self.ranks]
def __len__(self):
return len(self._cards) def __getitem__(self, position):
return self._cards[position]
接下來使用collections.namedtuple來定義一個class，collections.namedtuple的好處是可以為class命名，增加可讀性
import collections Card = collections.namedtuple('Card', ['rank', 'suit']) print(Card)
可以得到：
Card(rank=’7', suit=’diamonds’)
接下來實體化FrenchDeck()，透過len(deck)可以得到撲克牌的所有花色及大小
deck = FrenchDeck() print(len(deck))
長度為52
這邊可以使用len()是因為在class FrenchDeck有定義__len__，若是將__len__拿掉會得到：
TypeError: object of type 'FrenchDeck' has no len()
若是使用 index查看deck裡的element:
print(deck[0])
可以得到Card(rank=’2', suit=’spades’)，這也是因為class FrenchDeck有定義__getitem__
Card(rank=’2', suit=’spades’)
deck[:3]
[Card(rank=’2', suit=’spades’), Card(rank=’3', suit=’spades’), Card(rank=’4', suit=’spades’)]
for card in deck:
print(card)
Card(rank=’A’, suit=’hearts’) Card(rank=’K’, suit=’hearts’) Card(rank=’Q’, suit=’hearts’)
所以說當有一個字串’123’或是一個[1, 2, 3]可以使用len()或是index就是因為class string, class list有__len__及__getitem_，可以用dir(str), dir(list)查看。
How Special Methods Are Used
這些magic methods都有一個共通點，就是它是透過Python interpreter主動呼叫，而不是透過使用者自己呼叫，所以上面的例子我們只需要使用len()，而不需要deck.__len__()。但是其實我們在寫程式時，不太需要去直接去呼叫這些特殊的方法，有一個例外的方法就是__init__()，相信對於class有一點概念的大概都會知道，使用__init__()目的是為了做初始化的動作，可以看上面的class FrenchDeck，當實體化一個物件時，它會呼叫__init__()。
盡量避免隨意定義特殊方法，其實命名特殊發法也是一門學問，在這邊就不做介紹，詳細內容可以參考：https://aji.tw/python%E4%BD%A0%E5%88%B0%E5%BA%95%E6%98%AF%E5%9C%A8__%E5%BA%95%E7%B7%9A__%E4%BB%80%E9%BA%BC%E5%95%A6/
Emulating Numeric Types
首先定義一個class Vector
class Vector: def __init__(self, x=0, y=0): self.x = x self.y = y
def __repr__(self):
return 'Vector(%r, %r)' % (self.x, self.y) def __abs__(self):
return hypot(self.x, self.y)
def __bool__(self):
return bool(abs(self)) def __add__(self, other): x = self.x + other.x y = self.y + other.y return Vector(x, y) def __mul__(self, scalar): return Vector(self.x * scalar, self.y * scalar)
Figure 1–1. Example of two-dimensional vector addition; Vector(2, 4) + Vector(2, 1) re‐ sults in Vector(4, 5)
v = Vector(3, 4)
Vector(3, 4)
abs(v)
5.0，這邊可以跟前面相呼應，直接使用abs() Python interpreter就會去呼叫__abs__()這個special method
v1 = Vector(2, 4)
Vector(2, 4)
v2 = Vector(2, 1)
Vector(2, 1)
v3 = v1 + v2
Vector(4, 5) | https://medium.com/chung-yi/the-python-data-model-74e0ccb1e033 | [] | 2020-04-04 15:46:12.088000+00:00 | ['Python'] |
Basketball without cable: A cord-cutter’s guide to the NBA | NBA norms have been upended like virtually everything else this pandemic-plagued year. The 2020-21 NBA season is set to start Dec. 22, just two months after the conclusion of the interrupted 2019-20 season.
The number of games will be reduced again—the league is aiming for a 72-game season running through May 16—but teams will return to playing in their home arenas (and receive daily COVID-19 testing), with the exception of the Toronto Raptors, who will play indefinitely in Tampa, FL, due to Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Updated December 16, 2020 to report all your streaming options for the 2020-21 NBA season.
Although there has been talk of teams allowing some fans back in the stands, the safest place to view games this season if from your own home. Fortunately, there are plenty of options for cable cutters to stream games. As in the past, big matchups will be broadcast nationally on ABC, ESPN/ESPN2, TNT, and NBA TV; you can get most, if not all, of these covered with a single streaming package.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the regional sports networks (RSNs) that air the bulk of teams’ games. Fox Sports, NBC Sports, YES Network, Marquee Sports Network, and other RSNs have been dropped from YouTube TV, Hulu With Live TV, Sling TV, and fuboTV, because of disputes with providers. If you’re mainly interested in following your local team through the season, your best bet is to determine which streaming service has an agreement with your team’s regional network and go with that one. Chances are it will also stream some or all of the cable networks mentioned above. A few teams can still be found on over-the-air channels—the Chicago Bulls on the windy city’s WGN, for one—but that arrangement is rapidly going the way of the two-handed set shot.
Over the air Martyn Williams/IDG Winegard’s Flatwave Amped antenna (model number FL-5500A) is one of our favorite indoor antennas.
The good news is you can access ABC for free if you have an over-the-air TV antenna (you’ll find our top antenna picks here) and are within the radius of a local ABC affiliate’s broadcast tower. The bad news is the network is scheduled to air only 10 of this year’s nationally televised games. These, however, include some of the league’s marquee matchups, including three Christmas Day games: Warriors vs. Bucks, Nets vs. Celtics, and Mavericks vs. Lakers.
You can watch the remaining games with some combination of the following services.
Sling TVThe easiest way to catch many of the cable telecasts is with the Sling TV streaming service, but you’ll need to pony up for a monthly subscription. For $30 per month, Sling’s Orange package will get you ESPN/ESPN 2 and TNT. With a digital antenna to catch the ABC broadcasts, that leaves only the NBA TV games to account for.
AT&T TV NowYou can also get ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and TNT with AT&T TV Now. All you need is the basic Plus package for $55 per month. But upgrading to the $80-per-month Max package will get you those networks as well as a host of regional sports networks including NBC Sports, YES Network, MSG Network, and Fox Sports.
Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TVBoth Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV give you access to ABC, ESPN/ESPN2, and TNT, though as with other services, the exact channel lineup varies by market. But only YouTube TV offers NBA TV, making its slightly higher monthly price—$65 per month compared to Hulu with Live TV’s $55 subscription—worth the expense for hoops fans. With only the one channel package, though, you don’t get the customizability of Sling TV or AT&T TV Now, so keep that in mind if you plan to use your subscription beyond basketball season.
Jared Newman / TechHive YouTube TV uses a small number of menu sections to make navigation easier.
FuboTVFuboTV recently added ABC and the ESPN channels to both its Family and Elite bundles. Unfortunately, it also dropped TNT, and earlier in the year, Fox Regional Sports networks. If you’re a fan of the Kings, Warriors, Lakers, or Clippers, you might want to opt for the $80-per-month Elite package as it also includes regional networks NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California. You can add NBA TV by purchasing the Sports Plus add-on for an extra $11 per month.
FuboTV Fubo has lots of appeal to sports fans, and it includes NBA TV. But your subscription won’t give you access to ABC, TNT, or ESPN.
NBA League PassIf you’re truly hardcore for the hardwood, you should consider a subscription to NBA League Pass, the league’s official streaming service. For $200 a year or $29 per month, you can watch every live out-of-market game that isn’t being broadcast nationally on one of the four networks we’ve mentioned.
A League Pass subscription allows you to watch up to four games at once in HD, and it works on computers, tablets, smartphones, and streaming devices. Games originally broadcast on ESPN, TNT, and ABC are available 24 hours after completion in the video archives. You also get anytime access to a curated selection of “classic” games.
For $250 a year or $40 per month, you can upgrade to NBA League Pass Premium, which adds an in-arena stream during game breaks.
NBA Media Ventures, LLC. With an NBA League Pass subscription, you can stream live out-of-market games to your TV, computer, or mobile device.
NBA Team PassTwo bills is a big investment if you only want to follow your favorite team. NBA Team Pass is one less-expensive alternative. For $120 a year or $18 per month, you get access to all your squad’s local broadcasts for both home and away games.
The rub is that NBA blackout rules still apply. If you live in your team’s “home” market—a Warriors fan residing in the Bay Area, for example—you still won’t be able to watch their games even with a Team Pass subscription (this goes for League Pass as well). Your team’s home market, however, isn’t necessarily defined by your town’s city limits.
In the NBA’s own words, the league determines blackout zones “using zip code (if watching via a satellite television provider), a combination of zip code and cable system distribution territory (if watching via a cable television provider), or by the IP address associated with your internet connection or your mobile device’s GPS coordinates.”
What that means is this isn’t a cord-cutting option for everyone. The only way to be sure of your situation is to enter your zip code in the Blackout Notice in the middle of this page before you sign up for one of the NBA subscriptions.
NBA streaming is still 50-50 ballStreaming live NBA games continues to be a mixed bag for cord-cutters. The availability of national broadcasts through streaming services gives you a courtside seat for some of the biggest matchups of the season. But local fanbases who want to follow their team continue to be left on the bench, for the most part. Until streaming options for regional sports networks become more widely available, you might want to dust off your radio.
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/@stacey68947378/basketball-without-cable-a-cord-cutters-guide-to-the-nba-abd5d60ee048 | [] | 2020-12-23 20:50:46.828000+00:00 | ['Mobile', 'Security Cameras', 'Home Tech', 'Entertainment'] |
Why network? | Every successful (or even unsuccessful) entrepreneur says that number one priority for people like him should to be network like mad.
So why do entrepreneurs network so vigorously? Well, some studies show that 70% of the deals funded come through referrals. Some VCs even insist that all the business plans that come to them directly (through email) usually end up going to either spam or trash folder. Neither folder is a good destination. So moral of the story is: if you *ever* want to get venture funding in your life make sure you know a couple of people who know VCs. And what better way to know these people except going to conferences, having a chat and then exchanging business cards with them.
But it doesn’t just end here. Come on, now admit that of all business cards you have, how many people you actually know and how many would you like to refer to somebody in future. Chances are that the number is zero. In India, people just dole out their business cards at every opportunity possible (even I do that!). With this deluge of business cards pouring in to the person you want to network with, how do you make sure that he actually remembers you?
The answer is two-fold: have a non-standard card which stands out of the bunch and follow up with the person honestly. Following up is much important than having an oval shaped magenta colored card. After you hand over your card to someone, graciously ask for her card. And then after 1–2 days, email her saying that you enjoyed meeting her and then end the email with a broad question. This will force her to reply so that you can continue with the conversation for weeks to come and form a strong relationship.
And even generally, if you come across someone’s homepage who is interesting, just shoot him (for example, me) a mail and form a connection. Trust me, this would really, really help you in long term. | https://medium.com/@abishekbabu/why-network-9d8fb697e05f | ['Abishek Babu'] | 2020-12-22 18:51:57.261000+00:00 | ['Entrepreneur', 'Networking'] |
How to access Power BI resources from client application (first and third party embedding) | Source: http://vunvulearadu.blogspot.com/2019/02/how-to-access-power-bi-resources-from.html
In this post, we will talk about different ways on how we can authenticate and authorize our applications to access our Power BI Reports. Things become a little bit confusing because there are reports that can be owned by the users that access them or by another user. Additional to this there are cases when the users own the report, but not the data that are displayed.
Before jumping to the solution, we need to understand a few concepts related to how Power BI works when you use embedded functionality. The basic idea of Power BI embedded functionality is the ability to integrate an IFRAME inside your application. Inside the IFRAME we can display any content we want from reports to dashboards.
The IFRAME content is loaded directly from Power BI services using an URL and a security token. The security token can be obtained from Azure AD thought your application.
This involves two steps for authentication. The first step is happening when you call directly or indirectly the Azure AD to obtain an access token to access Power BI. The second step is done using the access token that it is used by your application to call the Power BI and load the IFRAME. Inside the IFRAME the Power BI can load all requested content, including controllers.
First-Party Embedding
The access mechanism presented above is called First-Party Embedding. The access to content it’s smooth and is customized for each user. Each user that access the Power BI has a Power BI ‘account’ where you can manage what the user is able to do. Even so, each user needs to be a Power BI user and owns the data model (user-owns-data model). It is a great solution for applications and reports used internally inside an organization.
Anonymous access is not supported using this approach.
Third-Party Embedding
For cases when you need to provide access to your reports or Power BI resources to users that are not part of your organization or anonymous users, the approach needs to be a little different. You will not need to authenticate each user in front of AD and get obtain the security token.
In this scenario, you will need to authenticate to Power BI to obtain an embedded token. The embedded token can be used to access resources from Power BI, but keep in mind that each embedded token is generated for every single resource. It means that if you want to display two different reports, you will need to obtain two embedded tokens from Power BI.
This is possible using master accounts, that is allowing us to get the embedded token directly from Power BI. The problem with master accounts is the way how it works. They are offering access to a wide number of resources and data inside Power BI. Because of this people tends to create multiple master accounts, for each user type. This approach is not only non-scalable but it’s hard to manage and control.
The recommended solution is to use the roles that the user has and add them to the embedded token inside the EffectiveIdentity field. Using this information, the roles based on access to different data sets will work the same as it works for First-Party Embedding.
Samples
At this step, we have a base understating related to how Power BI works when we want to use embedding functionality. Let’s take a look at some samples related to how we should to the authentication and authorization.
Code source: this
(1) Third-Party Embedding without user interaction (console app)
The first step is to provide access to the master user account from the Azure AD Application.
...
private static string aadAuthorizationEndpoint = "https://login.microsoftonline.com/common";
private static string resourceUriPowerBi = "https://analysis.windows.net/powerbi/api";
private static string applicationId = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["application-id"];
private static string userName = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["aad-account-name"];
private static string userPassword = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["aad-account-password"]; private static string GetAccessToken() { AuthenticationContext authenticationContext = new AuthenticationContext(aadAuthorizationEndpoint); AuthenticationResult userAuthnResult =
authenticationContext.AcquireTokenAsync(
resourceUriPowerBi,
applicationId,
new UserPasswordCredential(userName, userPassword)).Result; return userAuthnResult.AccessToken;
}
...
(2) Third-Party Embedding inside a web app where user already auth
The below sample adds to the embedded token the user roles. This information can be used later to restrict content accessed by a specific user.
string currentUserName = HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.GetUserName();
ApplicationDbContext context = new ApplicationDbContext();
var userManager = new UserManager<ApplicationUser>(new UserStore<ApplicationUser>(context));
ApplicationUser currentUser = userManager.FindByName(currentUserName); var roleManager = new RoleManager<IdentityRole>(new RoleStore<IdentityRole>(context)); List<string> roles = new List<string>(); foreach (var role in currentUser.Roles) {
roles.Add(roleManager.FindById(role.RoleId).Name);
} string accessLevel = HttpContext.Current.User.IsInRole("Admin") ? "edit" : "view"; PowerBIClient pbiClient = GetPowerBiClient(); var report = await pbiClient.Reports.GetReportInGroupAsync(workspaceId, reportId);
var embedUrl = report.EmbedUrl;
var reportName = report.Name;
var datasetId = report.DatasetId; GenerateTokenRequest generateTokenRequestParameters =
new GenerateTokenRequest(accessLevel: accessLevel,
identities: new List<EffectiveIdentity> {
new EffectiveIdentity(username: currentUser.UserName,
datasets: new List<string> { datasetId },
roles: roles)
}); string embedToken =
(await pbiClient.Reports.GenerateTokenInGroupAsync(workspaceId,
report.Id,
generateTokenRequestParameters)).Token; return new ReportEmbeddingData {
reportId = reportId,
reportName = reportName,
embedUrl = embedUrl,
accessToken = embedToken
};
(3) First-Party Embedding
Source: https://github.com/Microsoft/PowerBI-Developer-Samples/blob/master/User%20Owns%20Data/integrate-report-web-app/PBIWebApp/Default.aspx.cs
Source: http://vunvulearadu.blogspot.com/2019/02/how-to-access-power-bi-resources-from.html | https://medium.com/@raduvunvulea/how-to-access-power-bi-resources-from-client-application-first-and-third-party-embedding-7700946f7f2d | ['Radu Vunvulea'] | 2019-02-12 13:40:44.243000+00:00 | ['Power Bi', 'Oauth', 'Azure Ad B2c'] |
Amal Totkay | Developing A Growth Mindset
Totka is an Urdu word that means a charm superstitiously believed to embody superstitiously believed to embody magical powers.
Here I am going to discuss about Amal Academy Totkay,(this is an international and professional platform) which help us in our personal and professional mindset growth.
These are given as:
Self Talk Get out of your comfort zone Create New Habits Ask People Help Fake it till you make it
1- Self Talk:
A direct conversation with yourself, according to me its a self confidence if you talk with yourself that you can’t achieve your goal its not possible to achieve your goal and if you talk with yourself to achieve your goal you can get it because now you have hope and this hope will boost your hard working ability to achieve your goal.
2- Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone:
To get command on your goal, you should get information, make changes to your daily routine, become delegator this one may make you uncomfortable. Through this you find no other way except to rise yourself.
3- Create New Habits:
Start with an incredibly small habit.. Make it so easy you can’t say no. Increase your habit in very small ways.. Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day. As you build up, break habits into chunks.
4- Ask People Help:
Make small requests Ask people you trust Be clear about what you’re asking Focus on the end result Remove any judgement
By this you may get proper feedback for your growth mindset.
5- Fake It Till You Make It:
Bringing yourself out of your comfort zone in order to achieve your targets to adopt a behavior which will lead you towards a better future.
My Takeaways from these Amal Tokays:
For the development of a growth mindset; honesty, determination, hard working and determination with self improvement are very important.
My Favorite Tips:
Visualize What You Want.
Break It Down.
Enlist Help.
Be Flexible.
Reward Yourself
What have they started implementing already:
Knowing what you want to achieve is the first and most important step in setting your goals. Have a vision for your life. Visualize where you want to be at various stages of your life and the relevant goals that you would have liked to achieve. Remember, it’s important to set goals that are important to you personally and not others.
What can they do to develop a Growth Mindset beginning from today?
Surround yourself with the right people
Take the courses you always wanted to do
Go ahead and try
Focus on what you can improve yourself rather than see the bad in others
In every family there are stories that it would be better not to repeat. A swindler uncle, a libertine cousin, an unfortunate serial entrepreneur, a prodigal son. The point is that those ghosts do not make us believe that by belonging to that family tree we are condemned to experience similar things.
Pay attention to the anecdotes and stories at the family Sunday table. If many of them show failures, obstacles and complaints, even if they are in a tone of laughter, do not let them take you, making you believe that you are part of a clan of people who will never get anywhere. | https://medium.com/@syed-moman167/amal-totkay-aa636707f133 | ['Syed Moman'] | 2020-12-25 10:16:43.276000+00:00 | ['Amal Academy'] |
Wow. I’ve always feared the system theyve done me wrong so many times, but have only experienced 24… | Wow. I’ve always feared the system theyve done me wrong so many times, but have only experienced 24 hours in a county medical unit with private cells, in South Carolina. Funny enough, I get along best with the black guys too. Always have and I played chess with this dude who was a genius, but didnt talk. He blew me away in 3 chess matches in 30 minutes. He was fast too. I said geez dude you play a lot of chess I guess, and mumbled yeah with a little smile. Another guy did his best to curb my temper the evening I was put in and kept me informed on things I was demanding to know. Like I was some king in jail, or something. Lol.
I truly appreciate reading your story. I am sorry you fa ed this horrible justice system that way. I hope you never fo through it again, brother! | https://medium.com/@colinmunrowood/wow-ive-always-feared-the-system-theyve-done-me-wrong-so-many-times-but-have-only-experienced-24-8a952bd0a1ed | ['Colin Munro Wood'] | 2020-12-01 03:24:33.447000+00:00 | ['People', 'Mindfulness', 'Life', 'Justice', 'Prison'] |
Biden & Africa: Status Quo or New Dawn? | President Donald Trump and a few leaders from Africa. (Reuters)
What’s the Chop?
Now that US President Donald Trump will be shown the door come January 2021, all eyes are on President-Elect Joe Biden, in anticipation of what the next four years might mean for Africa.
Why is American politics so important for Africa?
The fact is, America is the global world leader — much of what they do impacts most countries across the world. America’s influence on Africa in particular covers everything from social to economic to political to even cultural affairs. America also helps to keep African leaders in check (although, they sometimes look the other way when the leader in question is an ally), and they have the power to intervene in matters related to security and counterterrorism.
How did Africa fare with Trump?
The whole world is generally in agreement that Trump was one of the more unorthodox, unfiltered leaders that America has had. For Africa, the perception wasn’t that different, and no prizes for guessing why — Trump openly regarded Africa as a continent with “shit-hole countries”. Yet, the Trump administration didn’t really shake the table across US-Africa relations beyond imposing stricter immigration laws against specific African countries; cutting funding for family planning and reproductive health programmes and increasing the number of US bases on the continent, supposedly in a fight against terrorism.
And though he has sometimes seemed directly antagonistic — his administration often interfered with decision-making and leadership at international organisations like AfDB and WTO, and on issues on the continent — he didn’t undo the constructive programs and policies that had been put in place by his predecessors. People also say that Trump’s whole Africa strategy was basically one big chess game against China. America has been eyeing China’s influence everywhere, including Africa, and they just wanted to win. Spoiler: China called checkmate.
What can we expect from Biden?
This isn’t Joe Biden’s first turn about the White House, so his track record is semi-visible; he was Vice-President to President Barack Obama, from 2008 to 2016. During their run, they set up policies like: “Trade not aid’’- an economic policy approach which led to the creation of several initiatives like the US-Africa Business Forum, Power Africa, and the Feed the Future Initiative, aimed at increasing the economy of Africa. So, there’s hope that Biden would follow this trend.
Biden’s first task will be the US COVID-19 response — for starters, the U.S has not joined COVAX — the global effort to make the COVID-19 vaccine available to the poorest countries. With Trump gone, the US may halt her withdrawal from the WHO and Biden may be open to resuming US Santa Claus duties for Africa (God, please). Biden is also likely to be more liberal on immigration — he pledged to rescind Trump’s ban on 7 African countries. He has also promised to stop America’s “forever wars” which would mean withdrawing American troops but continuing to support counter-terrorism efforts with funds.
How has Africa responded to Biden’s win?
Hope is definitely alive at home. The South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, spoke of the two countries deepening the bonds of friendship and cooperation. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari congratulated Biden on his election at a time of uncertainty and fear in world affairs. On the other hand, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni gave a muted congratulations to the President-Elect; Museveni is an ardent supporter of Trump and has been reported to have said, “America has got one of the best Presidents ever … I love Trump because he tells Africa frankly”.
Your Takeaway.
Despite his Trumpian inclinations, Museveni wasn’t too far off: “It’s high time Africans realise they need to solve their own problems.” The fact is, our outward focus stunts our growth and development. While Africa can hope for improved immigration terms, WHO aid, impactful climate policies, and a bunch of potentially positively-impactful policies under Biden, remember that he is first and foremost an American president and his main goal is to secure the bag for the US and its multinationals. The onus is on us to address the question of how we might begin to prioritise and serve ourselves without relying so greatly on our perpetual American Messiah. | https://medium.com/@thesmallchops/biden-africa-status-quo-or-new-dawn-e3ca8034c2ae | [] | 2020-11-27 10:33:43.147000+00:00 | ['Donald Trump Vs Joe Biden', 'Donald Trump', 'Foreign Policy', 'Us Africa Relations'] |
The Epitome of Vague | The Epitome of Vague
Photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash
You know the only challenger to have any kind of success against the Irresistible Force and the Immovable Object is the Epitome of Vague. Our boy Gord sang about it often, raved and rambled on about it in concert — you know that Tragically Hip tune “Poets”. What I am trying to say here Karen, is you got to scatter those data points so far and wide that Pythagoras can’t even plot them, let alone find their correlation. Gotta spread that binomial distribution thin Karen, like butter on toast.
How long is a piece of string? Well that really depends now, doesn’t it? The questions to the answers in your mind have yet to be asked. You have a duty of care here Karen, to send those sniffer dogs to the far edges of the galaxy. You know where the Black Holes and Supernovas lay back in their Lazy-Boy recliners, sipping lagers and talking shit about us.
Meanwhile back on planet Earth, you and Brad are back in marriage counseling. His biggest complaint about you Karen, is that you are just too god damn cold and distant. Your biggest complaint about bad-Brad, he’s been banging his co-worker Linda for the past 18 months. Cold and distant? He’s so fucking lucky I haven’t shoved that 9-iron I got him last Christmas up his ass. Anyways, if it wasn’t for the kids I would have ended it when I first found out about Linda six months ago. Truthfully my biggest complaint about Brad is the amount oxygen he consumes while in my presence. He’s a fucking air-hog, waste of space, walking mid-life crisis looking for a place to happen. A fucking shell of his former self. A shell, I wish would just wash back out to sea to get shit on by seals, sea turtles and the like.
Photo courtesy of originalconcertposters.org
Well like they say, “The Winner takes all,” — but in the case of the Irresistible Force, the Immovable Object and the Epitome of Vague, it’s a 3-way gone tragically wrong and no safe word “Yelps!” gonna help ease this pain. It’s a game of Fuzzy Statistics, Snowball Sampling, Inverse Normal and Dignity Regression and unlike that night, at the Cobo Arena in Detroit, listening to the Rheostatics — we are all poorer for witnessing these Hunger Games play out. | https://medium.com/scuzzbucket/the-epitome-of-vague-7e88abcd55cd | ['Jeff Langley'] | 2020-12-24 23:02:40.584000+00:00 | ['Prose', 'Humor', 'Scuzzbucket', 'Tragically Hip', 'Statistics'] |
13 Tips to Losing Belly Fat in Record Timing | Photo Credit: AbsExperiment
Most people get a gym membership after they’ve made a firm decision to lose the excess weight, however most them give up way easily and early in the process.
The main reasons for this are a combination of a lack of motivation, knowledge and having the right guidance which will never make them transcend their biggest obstacles and get the physique they’ve always dreamed about.
Having extra fat on you and acquiring unhealthy habits can be one of the main reasons for having dangerous health conditions like high blood pressure, type II diabetes, obesity and many others.
If you want to avoid all this thing, you may want to consider this list of 13 quick fixes that will help you lost the belly fat as fast as possible!
1. Eat Protein During the Entire Day
The most important thing to do increase your protein intake. Protein is the most important nutrient needed to build muscle and it can help you tremendously in burning off the excess fat. That’s because it has a very high thermogenic effect, which means that the body spends a lot of calories trying to digest it since it’s much harder to absorb it in comparison to carbs and fat. By spending more calories to digest it, the body expends more calories and energy, thus aiding in weight and fat loss.
2. Start the Day with Fat
This might sound illogical but if you plan on burning off fat during the entire day you need to start it off by filling your breakfast with fat rich foods Eating them first thing in the morning practically tells your body to use fat deposits as the main energy source for the rest of the day.
Hypertrophy specific exercises are an excellent tool to keep the heart rate elevated during the training session. When you do this type of workout, you do the sets within the 8–12 rep range, resting maximum one minute between sets. This will rev up the metabolism and speed up fat burning. And you should do this consistently.
4. Avoid Processed and Junk Food
The food you consume will be the greatest indicator of the body you will build. To build an impressive physique, you need to eat the proper food. Processed food is the worst type of food to eat. Or as it is usually repeated in the fitness world: “If you saw it on TV, don’t eat it”.
5. Incorporate Cardio into Your Training Program
Cardio should become a part of your training regimen if you ever plan on losing the excess weight. There’s no way you will see a drastic body transformation if you don’t start doing it. If losing fat is your primary goal, you should do 15-minute workouts on the treadmill, bike or the elliptical pre-or post-workout.
6. Eliminate Alcohol
The main reason why you have that inflated belly is because you drink too much alcohol especially beer. We are sure this might be bad news for you if you love drinking beer, but unless you stop drinking it your stomach will get bigger and bigger. That’s why it’s named ‘beer belly. When you or on a cutting regimen, you should eliminate alcoholic drinks altogether.
7. Eliminate Sodas and Soft Drinks
There are a lot of people who love to drink soda with their meals. These are the same people you will hear complaining that no matter how hard they try they never seem to lose weight. If you happen to be one of these people, now you have the answer to one of the questions why you cannot lose weight.
Saying that all fats are bad for your health is plain wrong. Even though some of them such as trans fats are indeed bad, other kinds like unsaturated fats play a vital role in many essential body processes. Ensure that you eat enough unsaturated fats like sesame and olive oil, peanut butter etc.
9. Add More Fiber to Your Diet
It’s much more likely that you will accumulate fat deposits if the body does not use them for various essential processes. Incorporate viscous and soluble fiber in the diet, because it will ease the digestion process. These fibers bind with the water in the intestines, thus forming a thick gelatinous substance that will remain longer in your gut. This will slow down the metabolism and will make you feel fuller during the entire day.
10. Decrease Carb Intake
Decreasing your carb consumption is one of the most effective methods to lose excess fat and this has been supported numerous times by lots of studies. When you decrease carb intake, your appetite slowly begins to decrease and you start losing weight as a result. It’s been shown that diets that have low carb intake can increase weight loss by two to three times more in comparison to low-fat diets.
Stress is not only detrimental to your mental health; it is also detrimental to physiological health. The more stress you experience the more cortisol is released in your body. Cortisol is also called the ‘stress hormone’. Cortisol increases appetite and stimulates storing of fat in the midsection area.
12. Drink More Green Tea
Green Tea is one of the most effective beverages for those wanting to decrease their body fat. It is filled with antioxidants and caffeine, which can rev up your metabolism, which will result in increased body fat burning even when you are resting.
13. Sleep More
Sleep is the time when both muscle gain and weight loss occur. Even if you follow all the previous things listed you will not experience weight loss, unless you sleep at least 7–8 hours every night. Research has shown that people who lack quality sleep tend to gain a lot more weight.
If this blog offered you any value, please recommend it and share it with others!
Also please connect with me on my website, Facebook page, and Instagram if you want to stay in touch or give me any feedback! | https://medium.com/gethealthy/13-tips-to-losing-belly-fat-in-record-timing-99c92bea0c2f | ['Jeremy Colon'] | 2017-02-22 04:49:02.160000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Fitness', 'Nutrition', 'Metabolism', 'Weight Loss'] |
React vs Vue.js vs Preact — Which one should you use? | React
React is a widely popular and well-maintained web framework created by Facebook. It has garnered a strong following of developers and contributors. One reason to choose React over the others would be its massive community support.
JSX is a syntax extension to Javascript, and is recommended to be used in React. This is how it looks like
const myImage = <img src={gallery.flowerUrl}></img>;
This allows developers to separate their codes into independent and reusable pieces of UI called components that contain markup and logic.
Here are the dependencies installed via npm
"react": "^16.13.1",
"react-dom": "^16.13.1",
"react-router-dom": "^5.2.0",
"react-scripts": "3.4.1"
The generated bundle had the largest size among the three frameworks, taking up 168KB. The average loading time of the website was 188.8ms, finishing in a close second place, at around 5% faster than Vue.js.
Vue.js
Vue.js is a progressive framework designed by Evan You, an ex-Google employee. It is used for building user interfaces. Vue.js is said to be easier to learn than React, as it builds on HTML which most web developers would already be familiar with.
Templates in Vue.js are written in HTML, which are the counterpart to React’s components. Thanks to this, Vue.js is more easily integrated into existing projects without too much overhead. This is how a template looks like
<ul>
<template v-for="item in cart">
<li>{{ item.itemName }}</li>
</template>
</ul>
Here are the dependencies installed via npm
"core-js": "^3.6.4",
"vue": "^2.6.11",
"vue-router": "^3.1.6"
The generated bundle had a size of 110KB, which is around 35% smaller than React. The average loading time of the website was 200.6ms, the last of the bunch and around 5% slower than React.
Preact
Preact is regarded as the lightweight alternative to React that uses the same API. Its selling point is that existing React applications can be easily converted to Preact by using preact/compat. It is a thin layer over Preact that attempts to achieve 100% compatibility with React.
Preact adds a few convenient features as compared to React, one of them being allowing arguments in Component.render()
class Foo extends Component {
state = { age: 1 }; render({ name }, { age }) {
return <div>Name: {name}, Age: {age}</div>;
}
}
The same code would not work in React, and the values will need to be passed in via state or props.
Here are the dependencies installed via npm
"preact": "^10.3.2",
"preact-render-to-string": "^5.1.4",
"preact-router": "^3.2.1"
The generated bundle only had a size of 36KB, which is a whopping 78% smaller than React. The average loading time of the website was 155.2ms, which is around 17% faster than React, and the fastest of the bunch. | https://medium.com/swlh/react-vs-vue-js-vs-preact-which-one-should-you-use-d3b3ba809ec1 | ['Hong Yong'] | 2020-05-15 19:02:11.687000+00:00 | ['Vuejs', 'React', 'JavaScript', 'Technology', 'Web Development'] |
Deploying a Rails/React App | Deploying a React Frontend to Netlify
In the script section of your package.json , in "build" , add “react-scripts build && echo ‘/* /index.html 200’ > ./build/_redirects” . This script ensures that if you had chose to use something for routing (for example, React Router), the app will serve index.html instead of giving a 404 error, no matter what route you might be accessing the app from. To read more on this, please visit the Netlify documentation.
...
"scripts": {
"start": "react-scripts start",
"build": "react-scripts build && echo '/* /index.html 200' > ./build/_redirects",
...
2. Create a Netlify account.
3. Under the Sites section, click “New site from Git”.
4. Select “Github”.
5. Select your project.
6. Select a branch of your project to deploy.
7. Set up environment variables to be available in Netlify. To do so, click “Site setting”, on the side bar, click “Build & deploy”, click “Environment”, then input variables according to what you have stored in your local .env file. This could be various sensitive API keys, for example. Next, add key CI and set the value to false as one of the environment variables.
8. Go to “Deploys”, click “Trigger deploy”, and select “Clear cache and deploy site”.
Congratulations! You should now be able to access your frontend via the link Netlify has provided. | https://medium.com/@vuonganht/deploying-a-rails-react-app-ca2036dc4170 | [] | 2020-12-21 05:20:56.537000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Heroku', 'Programming', 'Rails', 'React'] |
5 signálů, že vaše logistika může být efektivnější. | 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/wereldo-com/5-sign%C3%A1l%C5%AF-%C5%BEe-va%C5%A1e-logistika-m%C5%AF%C5%BEe-b%C3%BDt-efektivn%C4%9Bj%C5%A1%C3%AD-a2af49986333 | ['Tereza Blažková'] | 2020-12-17 14:48:13.393000+00:00 | ['Supply Chain', 'Logistika', 'Warning', 'Logistics'] |
Data Nurturing con pandas. Procedimientos básicos | Ironhack is a global tech school with campuses in Miami, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Mexico City & Sao Paulo. We offer courses in Web Development, UX/UI Design and Data Analytics. With more than 3000 graduates and an extensive global network and partner companies
Follow | https://medium.com/ironhack/data-nurturing-con-pandas-procedimientos-b%C3%A1sicos-5b3932d4af65 | ['Patricia Carmona'] | 2020-03-16 16:42:52.012000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Pandas', 'Data Analysis', 'Data Science'] |
The Night | Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash
The Night
how does it matter,
how quiet is the night?
tonight my words won’t rhyme.
we write to awaken, the stars
buried under the moon, how does it matter
if the poem will be lost with time? | https://medium.com/blueinsight/the-night-180ec188e395 | ['Priyanka Srivastava'] | 2020-12-21 20:45:18.692000+00:00 | ['Writing Life', 'Blue Insights', 'Night', 'Writing', 'Poetry'] |
Transgender/Transracial: | Transgender/Transracial:
George Orwell said it best: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
America is a culture where people believe they can have what they want. If they fall on the right side of power, it’s possible. Scholar Lyn Weber argues race and gender as social systems that are “contextual power relationships…simultaneously expressed and experienced at both the macro level of social institutions and the micro level of individual lives.”
It is in the interaction of race and gender that reveals the socio-cultural and historical locations of power and oppressions.This is clear in the different cultural response to transgender versus transracial identity politics. Both are rooted in dysphoria, a state of dissatisfaction with the gender or racial identity aligned with the cultural prescriptions assigned to the biological and physiological characteristics exhibited at birth. Once a person expresses as transgender or transracial, the underlying genetics remain unchanged no matter the medical or psychological treatment. For example, if one identifies as male but genetically female, no matter the transition or surgical reassignment, DNA is unchanged. The same applies for transracial identity, but with accessible DNA tests, race is no longer bound by arbitrary categories like White, Black, Hispanic, Asian and so on. Genetic results can reveal a racial or ethnic make up that may not be visible. Transracial identity can in some cases be supported by genetics.
Caitlyn Jenner — Rachel Dolezal
It is the unequal treatment of those who express a transracial identity that reveals how politics and power determine what is and isn’t legitimate in American culture. As transgender scholar and activist Kai Green explains, “Race and gender are not the same, but they are both bio-social-historical categories that help to facilitate and enforce the unequal distribution of power and wealth… We must ask ourselves: What are the similarities between gender and race? What does this relationship reveal to us? How, why and when does it make us uneasy?”
The unease is clear as transracial identity is condemned as fake, while law and culture legitimize transgender identity. Insurance coverage for transgender health services illustrates this. Extensive coverage is available in some cases, whereas transracial health services are non-existent. Many private insurers and government-based providers Medicare, Medicaid and Tri-Care provide coverage for transgender health. Transition services vary depending on the individual and the source of funding. The extent of services varies across states and can include the cost of reassignment surgery. Recently, the military facilitated policies to support transgender healthcare for service members, including hormone therapy and reassignment surgery. Of the approximately 1.3 million active service men and women, between 2,100 and 10,700 identify as transgender, thus the recent policy is criticized as privileging limited healthcare dollars to a few rather than the whole, especially when many service people lack quality basic care.
Chart 2016 v 2018
The most controversial issue regarding insurance coverage and liability in transgender health services relates to the treatment plan for transgender children. A requisite diagnosis of gender dysphoria precedes the possibility of receiving hormone therapy that halts puberty in trans children who often suffer bullying, humiliation and a much higher rate of suicide than the mainstream population. As HRT treatment can render the child sterile, this procedure is the subject of intense debate within the medical community, especially the question of liability if the child at 18 does not reassign.
Moreover, the controversy about hormones impacts sports. The Caster Semenya ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sports reveals the arbitrary nature of legal rulings in the case of biology and sports. She is a female runner with intersex traits and by law must now lower her biologically high levels of testosterone to compete. Likewise, male to female transgender runners must meet an equal threshold of the hormone in order to compete. Protests abound, but the the governing body of international track- the IAAF argued “such discrimination is a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means” of “preserving the integrity of female athletics.” The rise of dominant sprinters in female track who are MTF transgender has led to resentment and lawsuits at the high school level. Despite the debates, huge strides have been made to provide equality under the law, healthcare and support for transgender people.
This is not the case for transracial people. The meaning of race, like gender, is culturally constructed, learned and specific to a cultural context. And race, like gender, is a fluid and arbitrary category. Angelica Dass’ HUMANAE project brilliantly shows the fluidity of race in contrast to rigid racial categories (https://www.ted.com/talks/angelica_dass_the_beauty_of_human_skin_in_every_color).
HUMANAE Project
Two cases reveal the precarious nature in which the public engages transracial identity. When the NAACP in Spokane realized Rachel Dolezal was white, not black, she promptly lost her position. Although Dolezal lived as an African-American woman, when it came to light that she was a white woman pretending to be African-American- a “race faker”- the public crucified her. Among the most vicious attacks addressed her use of self-tanner and hair weaves to appear black, what some critics referenced as dressing in black face. Refusing to back down, she recently claimed, “If somebody asked me how I identify, I identify as black. Nothing about whiteness describes who I am.” In contrast, the treatment of Senator Elizabeth Warren (former presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination) is striking in the public’s willingness to overlook her use of an oppressed and marginalized group’s identity to advance her career- one built on the premise that she is an American Indian (her term, not mine). Although she is not a Cherokee, not only did she claim to be one on her Harvard application and on her Texas bar license, she also wrote a cookbook, Pow Wow Chow, to advance the myth of her heritage, a heritage based on a picture of a relative and family lore. Her appropriation of Native American identity gave her access in ways whiteness and womanhood did not fifty years ago, and she continues to justify her identity claim despite DNA proof otherwise.
Both Dolezal and Warren’s appropriation of a racial identity can be criticized as white privilege reinforcing racism, and yet Dolezal’s choice to be black is a far bigger no-no than Warren’s claim to be Native American. The difference: Warren gets a pass, Dolezal is out. Is it because Warren chose Cherokee instead of black as her identity? If she chose to identify as African-American, then would the outcome be different? Where is the discussion of white privilege in the appropriation of identities of marginalized groups by white women whose personal advancement stem from racial posturing? Just recently at the 2020 Diversity Forum, the author of White Fragility Robin D’Angelo was paid four thousand dollars more than a black counterpart hired in the same capacity. For a white woman who hates capitalism and racism who is now the guru of teaching white guilt seminars to the tune of 20K per gig, she’s profiting nicely off her privilege awareness and Kafkatrap of a theory.
Race is different than gender, clearly. Kai Green claims: “No, it’s not the same. But, yes there is some overlap and the discussion needs to be had. We need to put on our thinking caps (critical analysis) first. It’s not as simple as #rachelDolezal gives us Trans–racial and #caitlynjenner gives us Trans–gender. The latter we are to applaud and commend while the former we are to condemn to ‘mental illness’ and ‘inauthenticity.’ Something isn’t right here which is why I’m putting my thinking cap on.”
It is fair to say few people would have considered identifying as transracial in the nineteenth-century as Asians, Hispanics, some immigrants, and black people routinely faced legal and social discrimination (not to mention enslavement)strictly on the basis of race. Remember the Chinese Exclusion Act? Chattel slavery? Barrios? Transracialism is a recent cultural expression that is most likely tied to the success of transgender efforts to acquire access, equity, money and public policy support. Yet, for a white person- privileged simply by virtue of being white (at least this is common understanding)- to appropriate the identity of a marginalized group is considered illegitimate in American culture because they did not live the complex experience of that group yet benefit from pretending membership in said group. If this process is labeled transracial rather than inauthentic, racial appropriation, will the response eventually be acceptance? Normalization? Legitimization? Elizabeth Warren‘s base seems to have acquired this level of understanding, maybe because the transracial identity of Warren is Native American, a politically weak group in terms of identity politics, rather than a more politically charged and powerful one like African American. Racial history matters in the analysis of power, but the powerless don’t seem to impact politics or the racial justice barometer.
In contrast, transgender identity is legitimate and culturally normalized, even though MTF trans people face resistance from some feminists who see MTF as usurping the female experience. Rad Fems consider MTFs misogynists who employ extreme examples of male eroticism in their existence as women. By living as women, trans men appropriate female existence and the female body from women, and Rad Fems condemn this as seeking to have an erotic fixation indulged. Rad Fems today are lambasted as transphobic hypocrites. Wow- who knew?
How shall culture reconcile these complex differences and the complicated issues that extend from them? Scholar Patricia Hill Collins’ theory of outsider within is a cornerstone of black feminist thought. Originally, it defined the location of individuals in the border space between groups who no longer had clear membership in any one group. Collins later modified the term to “describe social locations or border spaces occupied by groups of unequal power.” Likewise, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, a foundation of critical race theory, examines overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. If there is overlap in the analysis of race and gender, and in turn common ground between transracialism and transgenderism, these theories can provide the scaffolding to identify similarities and ground dialogue about why the differences exist in the public response to these expressions.
And, move culture beyond labels and categories and make Orwell’s animals equal. | https://medium.com/@marymacogden/transgender-transracial-6e5548177b30 | ['Mary Mac Ogden'] | 2020-12-14 01:11:45.780000+00:00 | ['Discrimination', 'Transracial', 'Identity Politics', 'Transgender', 'Healthcare'] |
The guide to giving cryptocurrency as a Christmas gift | As the holiday season quickly approaches, the urge to give creative and inspiring gifts goes stronger than ever. After all, there are a number of typical gifts people have come to expect come Christmastime: mugs, socks, neckties, and gift cards for example. While it’s certainly the thought that counts, do these really excite anyone?
Why not then consider giving cryptocurrency as a Christmas gift?
Aside from the fact that it’s certainly unique (although the past few years have seen it slowly entering the mainstream, as more and more shops are accepting Bitcoin as payment, you’d be giving someone a great way to grow their assets. It’s been pointed out, for example, that certain cryptocurrency could be a better store of value than paper money especially as worldwide inflation threatens to reach unprecedented levels because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adding to this argument is the fact that one Bitcoin recently reached a record market value of over $ 24,000, a trend that looks upward in the long term due to the limited supply.
Sharing is caring if you already are a cryptocurrency holder. Thus, there’s more reason than ever to gift cryptocurrency to your loved ones. In the article below, we’ll be covering the best ways to do exactly that.
Use Telegram to give (and receive) cryptocurrency gifts
The first and most practical way to introduce someone to cryptocurrency is to simply give them the coins themselves. With 400 million monthly active users around the world, it isn’t far-fetched to think that you or someone you know uses Telegram regularly.
The good news here is that the messaging app has proved user-friendly to cryptocurrency in the past, from discussing cryptocurrency projects to build a blockchain network and eventually a currency of their own. We see further collaboration between widely-used messaging apps and cryptocurrencies.
XWallet has a feature that allows Telegram users to gift each other cryptocurrency. With Crypto Gift, XWallet users can use Telegram chat to send and receive cryptocurrency as easily as send a simple message through chat. This eliminates the hassle of keying in and confirming the long wallet addresses.
Use a crypto exchange
If your loved ones are interested in acquiring more cryptocurrency, you can teach them to sign up on a credible online digital currency exchange such as Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and others, connecting your bank account, debit, or credit card. If they prefer face-to-face interaction, visit one of our XPOS merchants to buy.
Once the above steps are done, you can send Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other coins to another account registered on the currency exchange or wallet addresses. With free cryptocurrency now at their side, it will surely open the door for the rest of their journey into the crypto world.
Give a physical wallet
This option is best if you’ll be giving your gift in person as it’s exactly what the name implies — a physical crypto wallet that contains all relevant information needed for spending the coins. You can choose to give an XPASS card that the crypto can be deposit from a XPOS merchant.
Or you can give a paper wallet that the public and private keys needed for making transactions printed on the paper, allowing the two of you to set up the wallet together.
Of course, the only downside to a paper crypto wallet is that the information can be seen by anyone so be careful when wrapping this gift and/or handing it over.
Give a hardware wallet
The alternative to a paper wallet is a hardware wallet, with the key difference being that they are more advanced than paper wallets or XPASS card because they have a micro storage device backup and QR code scan camera. Additionally, although hardware wallets are also physical devices not connected to the internet, it is suitable for those who look for a safer option to store a large amount of crypto offline.
Overall, there are now more ways than ever to have a holiday season peppered with the gift of cryptocurrency. Where people once gave each other cash and gold, it may not be long before people realize cryptocurrency is a better store of value — and there’s hardly a better gift than helping someone move that much closer to access to the digital assets built on the future-proof technology. | https://medium.com/pundix/the-guide-to-giving-cryptocurrency-as-a-christmas-gift-1da1f5c90546 | ['Pundi X', 'Writers'] | 2020-12-21 12:00:02.136000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Gift', 'Christmas', 'Xpos', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
How you can effectively promote your content from our Writing Challenge | “Remember… only the best masters in the world choose 8–10 hashtags on Instagram.” — Bruce Lee
For those that have taken time to participate in the Dallas Design Sprints 30 minute writing challenge, you’ve probably created an article or two in the past week.
For those of you who hate writing or find it a challenge (especially if English isn’t your native language), consider these first few attempts a really good start. A lot of people just struggle with getting out the gate, trying to find that level of quality they’re comfortable showing to the rest of the world.
If you’re getting okay with being ‘good enough’, you may start wondering how you can showcase your content to a wider audience. You could be writing on an initial platform like Medium, but speculate on how to spread the word for more attention. Or, maybe you just want to be on Instagram but really step up your game with hashtags.
Whatever your situation or desired end state, there’s a proper way to get it done. Let me show you what I would generally recommend. | https://medium.com/dallas-design-sprints/how-you-can-effectively-promote-your-content-from-our-writing-challenge-9d50edd66c77 | ['Robert Skrobe'] | 2019-06-17 15:09:39.603000+00:00 | ['How To', 'Social Media', 'Writing Challenge', 'Kung Fu Writing', 'Marketing'] |
The Incestuous Couple Who Murdered Their Children | Though social services were unaware of these threats, the reports from Martyn and the children’s poor behaviour at school made them deeply suspicious.
Indeed, Sarah knew social services were closing in — it was only a matter of time before the children would be taken away. She also knew that with increased scrutiny from social services, her incestuous relationship was likely to be exposed.
The combination of these two factors pushed Sarah over the edge. And from her perspective, murdering her children and committing suicide was better than losing her children and being shamed for her incestuous relationship.
The murders
On the 23rd of May 2019, Sarah and Brandon collected a bunch of medication from around the house and forced their children to consume it. They hoped the drugs would make them overdose during the night.
But the plan didn’t work — the kids were still alive the following day. So, at seven o’clock in the morning, Sarah started researching other methods of killing via the internet. Soon after, she and Brandon decided that suffocation was their best option.
Using the cord of her dressing gown, Sarah strangled thirteen-year-old Tristen whilst Brandon used his bare hands to strangle fourteen-year-old Blake. When both of them were unconscious, Sarah and Brandon finished the job by wrapping bin bags around the boys’ heads.
Though they had every intention of murdering the other four kids as well (who, for legal reasons, haven’t been named), no one else was killed.
After trying and failing to drown one of the surviving children in the bath, Sarah lost her head completely and changed the plan. Originally, Brandon was supposed to ‘discover’ all seven of the bodies once the children were dead and Sarah had committed suicide.
Instead, Sarah barricaded herself in her bedroom with the four surviving kids and attempted to frame her half-brother. She left a note on her phone saying she loved her children and that Brandon was trying to kill them. Sarah then sent a text message to a friend: ‘He’s trying to kill us and Tristan and Blake are already dead.’
During this time, she also contacted the police. And when the officers arrived, Sarah repeated her lies in the hope of avoiding prison. But her story was immediately undermined by the surviving children who revealed the truth to the police.
After years of neglect, they had no desire to go along with their mother’s pathetic attempts to escape justice.
Trial and sentence
Sarah and Brandon’s trial took place at Sheffield Crown Court in November 2019. They were tried for murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to murder.
The forensic evidence, the surviving children’s testimonies, Sarah’s internet history, and Martyn’s frequent reports to social services meant that no one had any doubts about the truth.
Though Brandon was also found guilty, Mr. Justice Goss (the judge) believed Sarah was the primary instigator. He said the fear of being parted from her children had made her think she was entitled to take their lives as well as her own.
Both Sarah Barrass and Brandon Machin received life imprisonments with a minimum of thirty-five years.
Sources: | https://medium.com/crimebeat/the-incestuous-couple-who-murdered-their-children-60223f6916cd | ['Jacob Wilkins'] | 2020-12-29 15:27:26.788000+00:00 | ['Domestic Violence', 'True Crime', 'Murder', 'Family', 'Crime'] |
E-commerce CRM: Best Solutions to Use Right Now | With the increase in competitors, it is essential to find the right approach to customers in any business. But it is pretty difficult to please everyone in such an information flow. This is why modern CRM systems were created.
CRM means customer relationship management. It is a business management software that helps you increase profits, reduce costs, and speed up order processing in your online store.
But with so many CRM options available, choosing the right system becomes a difficult decision. So how to choose the right CRM for your company?
The following two CRMs are now widespread in the e-commerce market:
Software as a Service (SaaS). It is a type of software that operates on a subscription basis and is licensed per user. The user gains access to the leading software service through a browser or API, and all technical support and hosting are entirely under the supplier’s responsibility. By purchasing this type of CRM, you do not need to worry about training a team or hiring developers. All you need to do is install it and customize it to fit your needs by installing extensions and integrating with third-party applications. This type includes CRMs like Zoho, Salesforce, Pipedrive, etc.
Open source CRM. This type of solution involves the creation of software that will be fully adapted to the needs of the business and the customer with the possibility of further modernization and adding new functions. However, the installation and configuration of such CRMs require third-party specialists’ involvement. Top examples of open source CRM include HubSpot, OroCRM, Odoo, and others.
Each of these types has its characteristics and is suitable for specific purposes. To avoid making a mistake in choosing, read this article; it will help you understand this topic in more detail. Don’t miss it; there are many important things! | https://medium.com/@dinarys/e-commerce-crm-best-solutions-to-use-right-now-42c88dee0ee | ['Jane Vyshnova'] | 2021-12-24 13:12:27.179000+00:00 | ['Crm Solution', 'Crm Software', 'CRM'] |
Iran, Turkey at loggerheads in Azerbaijan over Erdogan’s poem | Iran and Turkey have a history of conflict dating back a long time. Despite the fact that the two countries have been collaborating on several topics, the fighting in the northeastern Kharabakh area and the abduction of former Iranian opposition leader Habib Chaab have resulted in new conflicts.After Iran arrested Turkish civilians and accused them of having ties with the Baron group in Iran and the abduction of the former Iranian opposition leader, abducted by Iranian intelligence in Istanbul, tensions between the two sides escalated.
Following a poem recited by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a visit to Azerbaijan accusing the President of endorsing the ethnic secession of Azerbaijan into Iran, Ankara condemned a series of “aggressive” remarks made by Iranian officials. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Saturday: “Iran’s baseless allegations against Turkey and the Turkish president are intolerable,”
One day after Erdogan’s account, Iran summoned the Turkish Ambassador to Tehran to report the incident to Derya Ors. The State Department said his comments were “unacceptable and erroneous,” demanding an explanation. On Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went on to confirm that the poem was “intended to forcibly separate the northern region and Iran’s homeland. Did he not know it would undermine the sovereignty of the Azerbaijani Republic?”
This incident comes two days before 11 individuals were detained in connection with drug trafficking in Turkey by the Turkish National Intelligence Service, MIT, and police. The arrests come after the suspected abduction of Habib Chaab, the former Iranian opposition leader. According to Turkish officials, Habib was abducted in Turkey and transferred to Iran.
Meanwhile on Saturday, Turkey called for an ambassador to Iran in Ankara because of the Iranian president’s “fault” reaction, which Tehran has seen supporting the ethnic Azeri secessionist elements in Iran. We’ve generated rage within Iran at the same time. Erdogan, a staunch supporter, had increased political tensions between neighbouring Iran and Turkey with words that Iran interpreted to be a breach of Iran’s sovereignty.
Turkey provided Azerbaijan, which had won the war against Armenia, with military assistance. Turkish interference, seen as unconstitutional, hastened Armenia’s defeat. | https://medium.com/@benjaminrichards707/iran-turkey-at-loggerheads-in-azerbaijan-over-erdogans-poem-2cf1f7e27370 | ['Benjamin Richards'] | 2020-12-15 16:47:35.552000+00:00 | ['Iran', 'Azerbaijan', 'Turkey', 'Erdogan'] |
How to create a docker image for containerizing an ASP.NET Core MVC 5.0 Web Application | Docker — ASP.NET Core
In this tutorial, you will be learning about how to dockerize an ASP.NET Core MVC 5.0 web application to build a docker image for a production build.
Normally, you may find several articles on dockerizing simple ASP.NET Core projects. Even if you try to use a Visual Studio feature for adding docker support to a project, it will generate a simple docker file which may not work if you have a complex project structure. In this article, I will explain using a docker file that can be used for a production build.
What is the need for Dockerization?
You may think, why do I need to dockerize, if I can just host my project in Windows IIS, Azure Web App, or in Linux VM. You may be right if you are just running a personal project or a small project for a single company. But for running a scalable product for a large scale enterprise or a high traffic website dockerization would benefit you. I will list some of the benefits of dockerization.
Benefits of Dockerization
Building scalable apps
Reduction in cost by running apps in containers
Reduction in infrastructure and system resources for running multiple instances
Easy distribution of apps to customers
Running apps in Kubernetes
Running apps in Azure Web app for containers, Google Cloud Run
Technologies used in sample ASP.NET Core project
In this tutorial, the ASP.NET Core MVC project used for dockerizing uses the following technologies:
Separate .NET Standard class library project as a dependency
TypeScript
Sass (Scss) instead of CSS
Node modules
Sass to CSS conversion using gulp
ts to js conversion using gulp
Minification using gulp
Webpack
Basically a project setup similar to how your production-grade real-time project would look like. In this post, I have demonstrated using an ASP.NET Core MVC project, dockerizing an ASP.NET Web API project is much simpler. You can remove the node and gulp related codes from the docker file.
Prerequisite
In this sample, I will be explaining using a Windows machine, building a Linux docker image. You may even use a Linux machine.
This tutorial requires that you have basic knowledge of working with ASP.NET Core.
Ensure you have the following software installed on the machine.
Steps for Dockerizing ASP.NET Core app
Step 1: Clone a sample project from GitHub
You can find a complete working project hosted on my GitHub repo
https://github.com/bharatdwarkani/asp-net-core-mvc-docker-sample
Check out the Microsoft guide if you want to create a new project.
Step 2: Building a project using Visual Studio
Build a project in Visual Studio 2019 latest version supporting .NET 5. This step is just to ensure that project builds and runs locally without any issues.
Once successful, you will see this page in the browser
Sample web app
Troubleshooting steps if you face an error while running a project in Visual Studio
Node SaaS binding issue
If you face an error as shown in the screenshot below, then open your project folder in windows explorer. Run this command in cmd prompt rebuild node-sass -force
Node Saas binding issue
Ensure task runner explorer loads gulp tasks
This project uses gulpfile to build client-side dependencies and minification, so ensure this is loaded. If tasks are not listed, hit the refresh button. Make sure gulp is installed at the global level (npm install gulp -g) if you face an error even after refresh. Cross-check, npm packages are installed in the project.
Task Runner Explorer for Gulp
Prebuild Events
Gulp build is triggered using an MS pre-build event. For switching debug/release mode in webpack configuration file, the node environment variable is used. Environment configuration is also used in the gulp file.
MS Build Prebuild event
If npm packages (node_modules) are not installed automatically in your project, ensure that settings are enabled in visual studio to install the missing package on the build.
NPM restore settings
Step 3: Prepare a docker file for your project
A sample project containing the docker file can be found here
https://github.com/bharatdwarkani/asp-net-core-mvc-docker-sample/blob/master/Dockerfile
Some tips for dockerizing
It is good to use mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/aspnet:5.0- alpine Linux image as a base since it will create small size images. At the time of writing this article, the alpine image was not available for .NET 5.
Linux image as a base since it will create small size images. At the time of writing this article, the alpine image was not available for .NET 5. To utilize caching, the docker file used here uses a multi-stage build feature of docker. This will speed up the subsequent build process.
The environment variable passed in the docker file overrides the configuration value used in the appsettings.json file.
ENV AppSettings__EnableHTTPS=”false”.
Secret credentials/settings are better to use through the environment variables rather than hardcoding in code or app settings. So that you don’t have to build separate images for dev, staging, and production.
Use the .dockerignore file to skip unwanted folder copying in the image. This will reduce the size of the image and build speed.
Some Best practices for building containers by google.
Never include secret credentials in your container images.
Scan images for vulnerabilities, there are various tools available, some cloud vendors offer vulnerability scanning feature in built-in their container registry service.
Step 4: Building a docker image
Make sure Docker Desktop (Linux) mode is up and running. I am going to use the VS Code for building images.
Open a folder in VS Code.
Type this command in the terminal to build a docker image.
docker build -t sample-app .
sample-app is the image tag name. After a few minutes, docker image will be built and ensure it is success
Building Docker file
Step 5: Running a docker image
To run a docker image, run this command
docker run -p 8080:80 sample-app
sample-app — image name built-in last step
8080 — is the actual port exposed outside
Open this URL in browser http://localhost:8080
If you see this page, then you have successfully containerized your app.
Dockerized source web page
Some more useful docker commands checkout Docker cheat sheet
Container Registries for Docker
If you want to distribute your app or use it in K8s. You can push your application image to central container registries. There is an option to make images public/private. I would recommend setting permission as private for apps that are not going to be distributed to the public.
Running your image in Cloud
There are various ways you can run your containers, some of them are listed below
Conclusion
I hope, this article helped you in dockerizing an ASP.NET Core MVC app for running in production. In my next post, I will explain how to publish this docker image in Google Kubernetes Engine. | https://medium.com/@bharatdwarkani/how-to-create-a-docker-image-for-containerizing-an-asp-net-core-mvc-5-0-web-application-2ccfaa2b8b5f | ['Bharat Dwarkani'] | 2020-11-27 15:20:44.665000+00:00 | ['Aspnetcore', 'DevOps', 'Docker', 'Web Development', 'Dotnet Core'] |
The 6 Stages of Data Processing Cycle | What is Data Processing?
Data processing is simply the conversion of raw data to meaningful information through a process. Data is technically manipulated to produce results that lead to a resolution of a problem or improvement of an existing situation. Similar to a production process, it follows a cycle where inputs (raw data) are fed to a process (computer systems, software, etc.) to produce output (information and insights).
Generally, organizations employ computer systems to carry out a series of operations on the data in order to present, interpret, or obtain information. The process includes activities like data entry, summary, calculation, storage, etc. Useful and informative output is presented in various appropriate forms such as diagrams, reports, graphics, doc viewers etc.
Stages of the Data Processing Cycle:
1) Collection is the first stage of the cycle, and is very crucial, since the quality of data collected will impact heavily on the output. The collection process needs to ensure that the data gathered are both defined and accurate, so that subsequent decisions based on the findings are valid. This stage provides both the baseline from which to measure, and a target on what to improve.
2) Preparation is the manipulation of data into a form suitable for further analysis and processing. Raw data cannot be processed and must be checked for accuracy. Preparation is about constructing a data set from one or more data sources to be used for further exploration and processing. Analyzing data that has not been carefully screened for problems can produce highly misleading results that are heavily dependent on the quality of data prepared.
3) Input is the task where verified data is coded or converted into machine readable form so that it can be processed through an application. Data entry is done through the use of a keyboard, scanner, or data entry from an existing source. This time-consuming process requires speed and accuracy. Most data need to follow a formal and strict syntax since a great deal of processing power is required to breakdown the complex data at this stage. Due to the costs, many businesses are resorting to outsource this stage.
4) Processing is when the data is subjected to various means and methods of powerful technical manipulations using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence algorithms to generate an output or interpretation about the data. The process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that simultaneously execute instructions, depending on the type of data. There are applications like Anvesh available for processing large volumes of heterogeneous data within very short periods.
5) Output and interpretation is the stage where processed information is now transmitted and displayed to the user. Output is presented to users in various report formats like graphical reports, audio, video, or document viewers. Output need to be interpreted so that it can provide meaningful information that will guide future decisions of the company.
6) Storage is the last stage in the data processing cycle, where data, and metadata (information about data) are held for future use. The importance of this cycle is that it allows quick access and retrieval of the processed information, allowing it to be passed on to the next stage directly, when needed. Anvesh use special security and safety standards to store data for future use.
The Data Processing Cycle is a series of steps carried out to extract useful information from raw data. Although each step must be taken in order, the order is cyclic. The output and storage stage can lead to the repeat of the data collection stage, resulting in another cycle of data processing. The cycle
provides a view on how the data travels and transforms from collection to interpretation, and ultimately, used in effective business decisions. | https://medium.com/@peerxp/the-6-stages-of-data-processing-cycle-3c2927c466ff | ['Peerxp Team'] | 2017-10-17 20:22:33.899000+00:00 | ['CRM', 'Information Technology', 'Big Data', 'Management', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Are We Being Ripped Off With Over-Medicalised Births? | Can giving birth be an ecstatic, rather than a traumatic and disempowering, experience?
I am writing this on the morning of the ‘due date’ (or shall we say ‘guess date’) of my second child. I am in eager anticipation, not just of finally meeting my new baby and holding her in my arms, but of the actual birthing process itself. I rarely tell anyone this but my first words after giving birth to my son, naturally at home three years ago, were ‘I want to do it again!’ I meant giving birth itself, not just the end result of it.
Was it quick? No. Was it easy? No! It was the most challenging, intense experience of my life and there were both sweat and tears, but it was also the most rewarding, magical, empowering, and life changing event — not just because I ended up with the new love of my life in my arms. It was the experience of giving birth itself that was ecstatic. Unaltered, undisturbed and completely primal. I was at home, in my safe space, with my few chosen people to relentlessly support and nurture me. I had the most soothing beautiful music I’d chosen, candles, essential oils, and lots and lots of love and tenderness surrounding me. The birth unfolded beautifully with the help of all that. Yet, it wasn’t just these factors which made it so special.
A rite of passage
After my son was born, I was naturally high from the actual birthing experience for months. I thought about it every single day, with euphoric awe. The best I can describe it as, is a rite of passage that prepared me for my new life as a mother. (And I had always been told by various doctors that I couldn’t get pregnant naturally, if at all… but that is another story!)
So why has birth become such a pain, a ‘necessary evil’ — sometimes so much so that we would rather have invasive and risky abdominal surgery just to avoid having to go through it? (Without taking away from the fact that sometimes, though much less frequently than performed, surgery is indeed necessary.) Why have we come to believe that giving birth is a medical emergency, rather than a natural process that the body knows how to carry out quite effectively? This is a trick question, for the question is also the answer: because the belief that birth is a painful medical event that needs to be managed and controlled with medical procedures, has made it a reality! It is the very mistrust in our own bodies, the expectation of pain, difficulty, and complications and the presence of excessive monitoring that brings about the need for more interventions. How?
Expectations
A few generations ago, birthing was a family event. It happened most often at home (in my country of origin, Finland, usually in the sauna). There were other mothers, grandmothers, and perhaps older siblings present — the nearest and dearest womenfolk to support the birthing mother. Perhaps a midwife if one was lucky. Most women, by the time they were giving birth themselves, would have already witnessed a natural birth.
Most of what we hear from each other and see in the movies and on TV these days is pain and agony. I remember seeing a video in primary school of a woman giving birth, and I still remember that woman lying on her back in stirrups, screaming with a twisted face and her jaw clenched with tension, with a male doctor next to her telling her to push. It looked like the opposite of empowering, magical, and joyful. It seemed more like humiliation and torture! The sad thing is that this is what most of us these days have come to expect.
The fear-tension-pain syndrome
It is the fear and expectation of pain that produce excessive amounts of true pain because of the pathological tension it creates in the physical body. This is called the Fear-Tension-Pain Syndrome (FTPS). When this vicious cycle is established, it creates a crescendo of events which are experienced as true pain, which justify more fear and stronger resistance, which contribute to even more pain and more difficult labour… “The most important contributory cause of pain in otherwise normal labour is fear.” [Read.G.D.]
This doesn’t mean that the pain women experience during labour isn’t real. Quite contrary: it is very real indeed. But it doesn’t have to be so! Our body is beautifully designed to create a nothing less than mind-blowing cocktail of hormones that can help us experience intensity, even ecstasy, instead of pain.
Better than all the drugs on the planet
These hormones can see us through normal childbirth without pharmaceutical drugs that have a not-so-great effect on the body’s natural processes (in a same kind of way the anaesthetic a dentist applies to your mouth affects your ability to speak, eat or drink normally) and that also end up in the baby, and thus affect the bonding process and establishment of breastfeeding.
But in order for these incredible hormones, namely oxytocin (the ‘love hormone’), endorphins (natural opiates and analgesics, hormones of pleasure and transcendence) and prolactin (hormone of mothering and surrender), to exist at the required peak levels to make the labour smooth and enjoyable, the woman needs to feel private, safe and unobserved. When adrenalin and noradrenalin (the fight or flight hormones, also needed in the later stages of birth) kick in too early they reduce the production of the ‘feel good’ hormones and significantly reduce blood flow to the uterus and placenta. This can cause adverse fetal heart rates and more fetal distress. Stress-induced adrenalines (for example if the woman feels disturbed in her environment or is under pressure with time) can stall and stop the whole birth process. This often triggers a cascade of interventions.
The ‘Law of the sphincter’
Labouring attached to machinery or IVs that restrict our movements, under bright lights and observation by people we barely know (in the worst case scenario, people we have never met before), having frequent internal checks performed, who can feel private and unobserved? Again, sometimes they are necessary, but in most low-risk births they are not. It is often the very things that are supposed to protect us from the dangers of childbirth that actually make it more complicated, painful and difficult. How? Can you imagine trying to do a number two on the toilet, with bright lighting and having your nether regions observed by strangers who are timing and measuring your progress, giving you a deadline by when you need to have finished your business?! Ok, point made, but what does having a poo have to do with giving birth, you may ask…
Ina Mae Gaskin, the most famous midwife and childbirth educator of all times, refers to it as the ‘Sphincter Law’:
Sphincter muscles of both anus and vagina do not respond on command. Sphincter muscles open more easily in a comfortable, intimate atmosphere where a woman feels safe. The muscles are more likely to open if the woman feels positive about herself; where she feels inspired and enjoys the birth process. Sphincter muscles may suddenly close even if they have already dilated, if the woman feels threatened in any way.
Medical support
Of course there are times when medical intervention is required and when it saves the lives of babies and mothers. We are lucky to have access to advanced medical support when we need it. And many women indeed feel safest giving birth in a hospital, which makes is the best place for them to birth. But all too often, the current medical model is simply in the way of the natural process because of strict hospital policies, time limits and protocol, which feed the lack of belief in the body’s capability to do it on its own. One intervention leads to another, and birth easily becomes a traumatic medical event where women feel at the mercy of the hospital staff and procedures. Perhaps the medical model could better support the natural ability of a woman to give birth and apply the principle of ‘leaving well alone.’
What can we do?
The best thing we can do as women is to educate ourselves on the physiological processes of the birth and of the pros and cons of different interventions in different situations. This way, we can approach birth without unnecessary fear and make educated choices for ourselves and our babies. It is necessary to remember that we always have a choice to decline any procedure that we consider unnecessary — even if the hospital staff make it sound like we don’t.
-We can practise inducing the relaxation response in the mind and body through guided relaxation and breathing exercises.This helps keep muscle tension to a minimum, allowing the body to birth in the optimal way.
-We can eat well and exercise during pregnancy to be fit and healthy for birth.
-We can choose as our caregivers professionals who trust in our ability to birth naturally. Caregivers who are willing to wait and do nothing if no intervention is necessary, who understand the importance of our emotional well-being before and during birth, and who are willing to support us in the way we want to birth our children. (I highly recommend pre-natal education courses such as CalmBirth or SheBirths for all of the above.) | https://medium.com/@liisahalme/are-we-being-ripped-off-with-a-medicalised-conveyer-belt-births-8589a874bae | ['Liisa Halme'] | 2019-11-16 21:04:18.818000+00:00 | ['Birth', 'Birthing', 'Homebirth', 'Birth Trauma', 'Pregnancy'] |
Ever Wonder about the 2020 Cost of the 12 Days of Christmas? | Source uncertain; maybe PNC
The cost of the fanciful mix of gifts described in the classic carol, The 12 Days of Christmas, has been tracked for over a quarter of a century.
The good news is that since last year, the true cost of Christmas has come down dramatically.
The bad news? Four of the 12 items are not available in 2020.
I examine this every year … just for fun … and for the last 5 years, the total cost of the basket was approaching $40,000.
Not that there’s anything wrong with a basket of assorted swans, geese, French hens and turtle doves … I’d prefer a beef tenderloin myself … but who would have expected to spend almost $40,000 for the entire basket?
The COVID-19 Pandemic Made a Huge Difference
PNC
PNC Wealth Management has carefully tracked these costs for more than 25 years. Each year, they expand the offerings with gifts, activities and associated crafts. You can find all of the 2020 details here.
So, What Did All This Goodness Cost in 2020?
As you might expect, the COVID-19 pandemic we’re all living with has triggered changes throughout the economy, many of which resulted in the cancellation of most live performances, which is the source of some of the most expensive items in this bundle.
What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day. ~ Phyllis Diller
You can see from the PNC Graph below that since 2004, the cost of the index has gone from around $24,000 to just short of $39,000 last year, a 66% increase over that period. It has barely changed over the last 5 years … until now.
In this crazy 2020 year, PNC summarized the results this way:
The goods and services in the PNC Christmas Price Index® are far more whimsical, of course. And most years, the price changes closely mirror those in the U.S. Consumer Price Index. This year, the approach to PNC’s CPI takes into account the sociopolitical environment brought on by the pandemic by using the Index to provide an analysis of current market conditions, while including the impacts of COVID-19 as highlighted by the data.
Four of the Most Expensive Items are Missing This Year
Sadly, the last 4 items aren’t available this year since the pandemic limited most live performances.
As a result, the cost of the total basket is only $16,168.14, a drop of almost 59%.
Although PNC didn’t present this calculation, my mathematical inclinations led me to calculate the comparative cost of only the items that were available.
The cost increase is only modest for the 8 available items, coming in at only 3%. For the record, the largest increase was for Two Turtle Doves, climbing 50% to $450.
Historically, the most expensive item by far has been Seven-Swans-A-Swimming, last year costing over $13,000. This year? Not available … and neither are the Nine Ladies Dancing, Ten Lords-a-Leaping or Eleven Pipers Piping. (Things you always wanted for Christmas, right?
Last year, Ten Lords-A-Leaping would only set you back $10,000, a few grand more than Nine Ladies Dancing. Cheaper to just get Eight Maids-A-Milking for a measly $58. (At that price, make it a dozen!)
“Ready to buy all of the presents in the 12 Days of Christmas? Got $100K?.” ~Lary Kirchenbauer Click to Tweet
Are People More Expensive? Alas, not.
The biggest item among the eight that are available is for Seven Swans-a-Swimming. Their cost of $13,125 is unchanged over last year, but they represent over 80% of the entire package, which is why the overall cost has barely changed.
What is the Total Cost?
If you count each repetition in the song for each gift, it would be 364 presents and this year it would cost $105,561.80, down 38% over last year, again largely because of the four missing items.
I’ll keep checking my mailbox if you’re sending this package my way. It’s cheaper than it’s ever been, or likely will be, so don’t miss this special opportunity.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! | https://medium.com/@lary/ever-wonder-about-the-2020-cost-of-the-12-days-of-christmas-7307be91b9df | ['Lary Kirchenbauer'] | 2020-12-25 06:38:06.186000+00:00 | ['Christmas', 'Shopping', 'Holidays'] |
There is no devil in hell | From Gary Larson’s “The Far Side” (1988)
For all of our concerns about hell (and they are legion!), one of them is the presence of the Devil: will non-believers meet Satan upon their arrival? The heretical vision of hell is filled with misconceptions, shoddy theology, and pitiful Biblical exegesis that has resulted in us believing God “sends” people to a fiery domain to be tortured forever under the reign of a red-and-black tailed angelic being with horns. Is any of this true?
There is nothing about the aforementioned picture that is accurate in Scripture. I am not here to write an essay about all of that because there’s already a perfect book about these heresies: so go read Joshua Ryan Butler’s The Skeletons in God’s Closet. Hell is real, but it is very, very different from Western pictures of it. I am here, however, to touch on just one misconception that is not covered completely in Josh’s book (I don’t think), nor is it discussed much: the fact that, right now, there is no devil in hell.
Looking at the totality of Scripture, you will find it difficult to show me one passage where Satan — the fallen, angelic being who accuses and tempts the people of God alongside a troop of similar spiritual swindlers — is actually in a domain like the “hell” we believe in. Nowhere is Satan hanging out in a fiery furnace or some underbelly of the earth where future sinners face judgment and drink cold coffee. Nowhere in the Scripture is he the one executing any kind of judgment in such a place. There is nothing in the Bible that teaches that he lives there or reigns there or holds court in such a place. And this is because there is no devil in hell — at least for now.
Satan taking a stroll on earth
Scripture does not show us a picture of a devil in hell, but one loose on the earth. In fact, this is where we first meet “the serpent” (later, in Revelation 12, quite clearly identified as “Satan”): he is “more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1). Satan is a created being that is wandering the earth. For his judgment, God curses him to his “belly” and tells him he “will eat dust” (Genesis 3:14, “dust” here is the Hebrew word translated as “earth” in seven other occurrences). Our first picture of Satan is on earth and his curse seems to bind him here in some fashion.
Later, in his most pronounced appearance in the Old Testament, Satan approaches God when the rest of the heavenly hosts “came to present themselves before Yahweh” (Job 1:6, again, Satan is seen as accountable and created). Before the two discuss the future of Job, God’s righteous servant, Yahweh asks Satan where he has been. “From going to and fro on the earth,” Satan replies, “and from walking up and down on it” (Job 1:7). This same line is repeated in the next chapter when Satan attacks Job’s health (Job 2:2). Here, Satan is taking a stroll on earth, meandering about as he plots his next evil. This seems to underscore not Satan’s presence in some kind of “hell,” but rather his presence on the very earth upon which we also walk “to and fro.”
The only other passage in which Satan appears is in a prophetic vision — an almost dream-like revelation — in the book of Zechariah (Zechariah 3:1–3). It is not clear where precisely that location is, but given that it is clearly a vision or dream, and that Satan is standing at “the right hand” of Joshua, the high priest, to “accuse him,” I see no evidence that this would be a “hell” of any kind.
The next place we see Satan is, you guessed it, once again on earth. He is “in the wilderness,” tempting Jesus Christ, the Son of God, right after a baptism in the Jordan River (Matthew 4:1). In the ministry of Jesus, Satan is extremely active on earth and never referred to as “in hell.” Satan is at work in false thinking (Matthew 16:23), exorcisms (Mark 3:23), demonic possession (Luke 16:13), temptation of disciples (Luke 22:31), and, of course, the life of Judas Iscariot (Luke 22:3, John 13:2, 27). All of these events take place on our planet and in our system of reality, not somewhere else and definitely not “in hell.”
Snares, schemes, and stands
After Jesus’ resurrection, the repeated warnings from the New Testament emphasize not Satan’s potential future dealings with us “in hell,” but rather his present dealings with us on earth. We are told to withhold from anger and sin to “give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27) and to “[p]ut on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). Twice Paul tells his pastoral protege, Timothy, to beware of “the snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7, 2 Timothy 2:26). James and Peter tell their churches to “resist” the devil (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:9) because, according to Peter, he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8, emphasis mine). For all of the places we may picture Satan, the apostles seemed to understand he was closer than we think.
The lie that Satan is “somewhere else,” wreaking havoc in his own torture chamber called “hell,” releases us from a much more important reality: that hell is being done on earth. Satan does not need his own hellish domain because he is issuing evil, temptation, destruction, and death upon the earth. Hell, in some ways, is here. In fact, the New Testament repeatedly acknowledges that Satan holds some level of power here on earth, not “down there” in hell. Satan’s domain of influence isn’t hell, it’s earth. Most dramatically, John tells us “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). Paul refers to “the god of this world” (certainly a reference to Satan) as the one who has “blinded the minds of unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and tells us the gospel has freed us from service to “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), another reference perhaps to the devil or at least some kind of demonic thinking.
The final defeat
Finally, through the lens of eschatology and the things that will come, Biblical writers pronounce the complete destruction of Satan and his banishment from the earth. In the last things, God brings heaven to earth and, in Josh Butler’s words, gets “the hell out of earth.” Hell is not Satan’s current domain; hell is Satan’s final resting place. In the final reckoning of all things, God will punish Satan and remove his influence over the earth and finally place him where he belongs but has never been: hell (Revelation 20:7–10). Jesus Christ came to destroy the works, plans, schemes, and power of Satan (Colossians 2:13–18, 1 John 3:8). It will be on earth where God reigns fully, where his glory is not shared with another, and where no evil will exist or persist. Nor will there be any doubt of who is King, Lord, and Master of all planets, including this one (Revelation 21:1–27). God wins.
Satan tempts, lies, and thwarts the plans of God through his various schemes — and they are various — but his defeat is sure. While Satan spends most of his time (it seems) here on earth, his final destination is to the hell he has never been, but tempts people to approach all the time. Satan is scared of hell because he knows that is precisely where he belongs, but not where he currently resides. Until this judgment, we should be on guard and stand in the mind, truth, and Spirit of Jesus Christ, not because we are scared to meet the devil one day in a fiery hell, but because he’s working to create one right here. | https://medium.com/@chrisnye/there-is-no-devil-in-hell-f82e77701d43 | ['Chris Nye'] | 2021-09-13 16:22:07.581000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Bible', 'Christianity', 'Theology', 'God'] |
Powerful, and completely aligns with my experience. Thank you for writing this! | Powerful, and completely aligns with my experience. Thank you for writing this! | https://medium.com/@J6n9/powerful-and-completely-aligns-with-my-experience-thank-you-for-writing-this-6ae4c27579bc | ['Jennifer'] | 2020-12-03 12:50:37.655000+00:00 | ['Equity', 'Diversity', 'Inclusion'] |
Dash Thailand Partners with Consentium the Crypto Wallet, Chat and Community App | Dash Thailand announced a new partnership with Consentium, which provides a socializing and messaging platform where individuals can transfer cryptocurrencies between each other and rewards community organizers with cryptocurrency.
#Dash #Thailand signs under it’s new brand Dash #Next a MOU with #Consentium. This is a huge step initiating a long term partnership project between Dash & Consentium with the final integration date 1. Nov 2019. Official announcement https://t.co/e4KkdmAolw@Dashpay @DashpayNews - Dash Thailand (@DashinThailand) July 8, 2019
Consentium’s website says their “chat feature allows users to regularly communicate with each other, create groups, join channels, send photos, files, audio messages, and even crypto transfers”. They also enable “[t]exts and recorded audios [to] be sent as normal messages or be set to self-destruct within seconds, allowing for enhanced privacy settings”. The platform’s Chat Community Monetization (CCM) Model charges a 1% fee on all transactions on their platform, split evenly between sender and receiver, which is deposited to a redistribution pool and then allocated to chat and community organizers.
“[T]he biggest use of Consentium, on top of chat, is on day to day transaction such as paying for coffee, groceries, splitting your uber bill with a friend. Dash, in its ability to transact at lightning speed and low fees is a necessary product offering in our ecosystem in other to fulfill this mission”.
Consentium discussed their reasoning for wanting to integrate Dash to expand consumers’ usability of the platform. They currently support Bitcoin, Ethereum, and their own CSM coin. Dash will be fully integrated on Consentium by November 1st, but is currently available for trading on their partner exchange, Exonium.
Building cryptocurrency communities to increase adoption
Cryptocurrency carries a lot inherent benefits for individuals in nations that lack banking access or individuals that crave sound and private money. However, for many consumers that care little about the technical aspects of cryptocurrency, they may not be able to see the advantages over traditional debit/credit cards. Thus, there has to be additional incentives to motivate these consumers to adopt cryptocurrency. Consentium attempts to fill this gap by “creating the necessary architecture to support communities” rather than just another wallet.
“Communities all around the world are hosting their groups on whatsapp, telegram, slack and the likes without being rewarded in any way and transactions are happening on external wallets right now.”
Additionally, Consentium plans to increase the number of merchants accepting cryptocurrency and Dash. They plan to catalyze this by introducing “a series of stablecoins into [their] ecosystem”, which “should allow any merchant who wants to accept Dash but want[s] to avoid risks of volatility to transact and hedge freely within [the] app”. Consentium already has “merchants adopting Consentium tokens in both retail and f&B stores in China” and are “the official currency for Huobi Singapore’s end of year event in 2018”.
Dash also building communities around its innovations
Dash Thailand has recognized the need to build communities as being key to increasing adoption and has thus been focusing on hosting Dash events and on-boarding merchants in Thailand that cater to travelers. They also just launched Dash Next to focus on growing Dash in Asia and beyond. This then helps advocate for Dash by showing potential users the fun and excitement around using digital cash that confirms in seconds for less than a penny fee and can be instantly respent.
Dash, as a wider network, also recognizes the importance of building communities around usage and thus many groups within the Dash community have remained committed to keeping the community informed such as regular Dash Core Group updates, Dash Watch reporting progress of projects, Dash Discord channels, and Dash News informing the community of regular news. The Dash is also planning to further enhance its developer community, and thus, features for users with the launch of its DAPI and Dash Drive features in the future. | https://medium.com/@DashNews/dash-thailand-partners-with-consentium-the-crypto-wallet-chat-and-community-app-4f3fea2aded5 | ['Dash News'] | 2019-07-10 14:00:08.031000+00:00 | ['Thailand', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Dash', 'Consentium'] |
SPLASHDOWN — SpaceX Crew Dragon returns to Earth | SpaceX marked the end of its DM-2 mission on August 2nd, with a successful splashdown. This was the first crewed mission by a commercial space company and the first time in 9 years that NASA launched astronauts. It was a huge triumph for the SpaceX team and Elon Musk to accomplish this feat successfully. Splashdown was the final task before NASA certified SpaceX for carrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on regular rotational missions. The astronauts on the demo 2 mission Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley had named the capsule ‘Endeavour’ returned to Earth healthy. It was the third time for both of them in space and a first time on a private space company’s capsule. Endeavour splashed down off the coast of Pensacola, Florida at 18:48:06 UTC.
SpaceX Endeavour took flight on board a Falcon 9 rocket the workhorse for SpaceX on May 30th, 2020. After spending 62 days in space with 3 other astronauts from Expedition 63, Bob and Doug undocked from the ISS on August 1st, up until now everything went along smoothly without any issues but this was going to be the most nerve wrecking part of the journey. As the crew capsule undocked the SpaceX flight directors huddled into the SpaceX control room in Hawthorne, California to what was going to be a 19-hour return journey to Earth. As the capsule continued its de-orbit trajectory and neared Earth the pressure grew for the team.
The crew had a good sleep on their way home which helped them stay active during the final descent phase. The deorbit burn began with a 6-minute communications black out due to the build-up of plasma on the outside of the capsule and this was the longest 6 minutes in this whole journey. And just as communications were restored a bright white crew dragon capsule was seen breaking its way through the atmosphere and headed towards the surface of Earth at 17500mph this was followed by deployment of two small parachutes followed by four main parachutes that slowed the capsule to speeds of 15mph. It slowly glided to the surface of the water and gently splashed down. Loud cheers and standing ovations were seen from the control room at SpaceX followed by a message broadcasted to the crew from SpaceX comms saying “On behalf of the SpaceX and Nasa teams welcome back to planet Earth, thanks for flying SpaceX.”
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley had launched from America, docked with the ISS, stayed there for 2 months and completed multiple missions and finally returned home on a commercial spacecraft for the first time in history. The astronauts were healthy and after initial checks on the recovery vessel they were airlifted to Cape Canaveral and later reunited with their families. This was the beginning of a new in era in the spaceflight industry and this concluded the LaunchAmerica mission. THANKS TO SPACEX AND ELON MUSK FOR BRINGING CREWED LAUNCHES BACK TO AMERICA | https://medium.com/@imaadahmed223/splashdown-spacex-dm-2-crew-dragon-returns-to-earth-ede98e296005 | ['Imaad Ahmed'] | 2020-08-20 16:18:06.724000+00:00 | ['NASA', 'America', 'Space', 'Astronauts', 'Elon Musk'] |
Money Lender and Mine | In this article we looks at money lender and mine two cards from the base set of the deck building game Dominion
You are a monarch, like your parents before you, a ruler of a small pleasant kingdom of rivers and evergreens. Unlike your parents, however, you have hopes and dreams! You want a bigger and more pleasant kingdom, with more rivers and a wider variety of trees. You want a Dominion! In all directions lie fiefs, freeholds, and feodums. All are small bits of land, controlled by petty lords and verging on anarchy. You will bring civilization to these people, uniting them under your banner. But wait! It must be something in the air; several other monarchs have had the exact same idea. You must race to get as much of the unclaimed land as possible, fending them off along the way. To do this you will hire minions, construct buildings, spruce up your castle, and fill the coffers of your treasury. Your parents wouldn’t be proud, but your grandparents, on your mother’s side, would be delighted. This is a game of building a deck of cards. The deck represents your Dominion. It contains your resources, victory points, and the things you can do. It starts out a small sad collection of Estates and Coppers , but you hope that by the end of the game it will be brimming with Gold and provinces. You win by having the most victory points in your deck when the game ends.
source: https://www.riograndegames.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/09/Dominion-2nd-Edition-Rules.pdf
Moneylender
When you play money lender you trash a copper from your hand and gain a gold.
As with every other card in Dominion, the value of the card is dependant upon the kingdom.
There are many different ways to win at Dominion. One of the ways is to play your money lender trash your coppers and fill your hand with more valuable cards such as gold, action cards, and eventually provinces.
There are other routes to victory for example filling your deck with gardens and as many cards as possible before your opponent is able to buy provinces.
In the early part of the game, money lender works quite well as there are lots of coppers to trash. However, as the game progresses you will fill your deck with other cards and trash your coppers which will make your money lender useless.
When considering buying a money lender look for an appropriate trasher.
If chapel is in the kingdom it is generally more efficient to use it to trash your coppers and your estates and forget about buying money lender.
Buying coppers to feed your money lender is usually not a great idea. However, in a kingdom that generates lots of extra buys, extra actions, and has an appropriate trash for benefit card, such a strategy could work well.
Moneylender makes mountebank a less attractive attack.
Pirate ship on the other hand becomes more attractive if the opponent has a money lender.
Mine
When you play mine you trash a treasure and gain a treasure costing up to 3 more than it.
One of the disadvantages of mine is the cost. there are usually more powerful action cards available that cost 5
Mine is more flexible than money lender especially if there are treasure cards other than copper, silver and gold.
With potions in the kingdom, mine is often very useful.
If platinum and colonies are in the kingdom mine is a great card as it can turn gold into platinum. Moneylender on the other hand is often a very poor choice when there is platinum. If you can not trash your money lender you will have a useless dead card for a longer period of time.
A big advantage of mine is that the gained card goes directly into your hand rather than your discard pile and can be used during your buy phase this turn.
In general, moneylender favors strategies in which getting high-value cards early is important. Mine favors slower strategies. It is often purchased later in the game for turning silver into gold. Turning coppers into silver is okay but there are usually better options available. | https://medium.com/imperfect-words/money-lender-and-mine-ec19936c96be | ['Jim Mcaulay'] | 2020-12-03 17:17:26.389000+00:00 | ['Dominion Game', 'Humor', 'Jim Mcaulay', 'Imperfect Words', 'Humour'] |
This Is Goodbye | Summa to Join Celo 🎊
Today, we’re thrilled to share that Summa will be joining cLabs to help Celo realize their shared mission of financial prosperity and inclusion for all. Through our journey, we’ve become one of the foremost providers of cross-chain architecture. Leveraging our unique expertise, we aim to help connect Celo to various other chains throughout the space.
“Through our work with Celo on Bitcoin relays, we discovered a shared passion for creating financial inclusion and prosperity. We’re excited to join their team to further connect Celo to the broader blockchain ecosystem.“
— James Prestwich, Founder at Summa
Joining cLabs will allow us to bring the benefits of our technology to a broader audience, expand our open-source work with wider application, and deliver value to end-users more directly. Through our combined efforts, we hope to bring the ecosystem a step closer to financial inclusion for all.
“The technical and interoperability expertise the Summa team brings to Celo will enable the Celo Reserve to be further diversified and decentralized in a permissionless way. This represents a significant milestone for the Celo community”
— Markus Franke, Partner at cLabs working on the Reserve
Finally, we want to give a special thanks to Mark Tyneway for his work on bcoin-relaylib, and Harsha Goli for his contributions to Riemann.
We’re excited about what’s next and can’t wait to see you on the other side.
With Love and Fabulous Hair,
The Summa Team
Summa provides cross-chain architecture and interoperability as a service solutions. We work actively with Ethereum (EIP-152), Keep, The Electric Coin Company (ZIP-221), and the Zcash Foundation. Our partners include Cross-Chain Group, Interchain Foundation, Nervos, NEAR Protocol, Agoric, and Celo.
Stay up to date with Summa on Twitter | https://medium.com/summa-technology/this-is-goodbye-452e44db81ac | ['Matthew Hammond'] | 2020-08-13 15:48:18.351000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Ethereum', 'Crypto', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
Thanksgiving for Every Wrong Move | “Sometimes, like Thanksgiving, I miss the people that have inhabited my past like nothing else in the world.
But the past is a country that we will never visit again. Get letters occasionally, yes!….scrapbooks, photographs, and tall tales.
To the future, we are foreigners that do not yet speak the language. It is ours to create (and be created) from the present in which we live.
The balance lies not in the polarity of the external dialogue, but in having the internal buoyancy of gratitude outweigh the lump of sorrow for the lives gone from ours.
Thank you for sharing part of your life with mine.
Let this gratitude give us the clarity and courage to grow a little wiser…a bit less regretful…and a whole lot more joyful!” | https://medium.com/@joshuajacobs-16092/thanksgiving-for-every-wrong-move-c28e47710088 | ['Joshua Jacobs'] | 2020-12-04 15:25:41.285000+00:00 | ['Gratitude', 'Thanksgiving', 'Community'] |
VPAT®: Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (Procurement and Vendor Guide) | VPAT requests in the private market will skyrocket in 2021.
A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®) is a template that vendors fill out and deliver to procurement officers (as the material part of an ACR) to officially speak to and represent a product or service’s accessibility.
A VPAT comes into play whenever buyers and sellers are dealing with information and communications technology (ICT) products and services with accessibility features.
In the United States, a VPAT has traditionally been a document created in response to vendors contracting with government agencies under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
However, as accessibility has risen to the forefront in recent years, we can expect procurement departments to increasingly demand VPATs in the private market in 2021, particularly in B2B transactions.
ACR
The term VPAT is technically only meant for the fill out-able blank accessibility template but it is often used interchangeably with the term ACR which stands for Accessibility Conformance Report.
An ACR consists of both the completed VPAT as well as the essential information needed to complete the report (see details below).
For the purposes of this guide, I’ll commonly refer to an ACR as a VPAT.
This is technically incorrect but commonplace in the market so I will reflect the practical reality here.
Details
There is a handful of key information that must be included in each report:
Report Title: “[Company Name] Accessibility Conformance Report”
VPAT version
Name of Product (and version, if applicable)
Product description
Date of Publication
Contact information
Evaluation Methods Used
Applicable standards: WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, Revised Section 508, EN 301 549
Contents
The primary content of the VPAT is the table where each WCAG success criteria is addressed.
There are three columns in a VPAT:
Criteria
Conformance Level
Remarks and Explanations
Criteria
The first column, criteria, is for listing out each WCAG success criterion that is being addressed.
Conformance Level
Directly across from each success criterion, a conformance level column will be filled out to indicate whether the product or service:
Supports : The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation.
: The functionality of the product has at least one method that meets the criterion without known defects or meets with equivalent facilitation. Partially Supports : Some functionality of the product does not meet the criterion.
: Some functionality of the product does not meet the criterion. Does Not Support : The majority of product functionality does not meet the criterion.
: The majority of product functionality does not meet the criterion. Not Applicable: The criterion is not relevant to the product.
Remarks and Explanations
Next to this column there is a column for remarks and explanations. This is where you provide any elaboration for the answer provided in the “support” column.
When the conformance level is ‘Partially Supports’ or ‘Does Not Support’, the remarks should identify:
The functions or features with issues
How they do not fully support
If the criterion is not applicable, you’ll also need to explain why.
Versions
There are many different versions of a VPAT.
The current version is VPAT 2.4.
You can download version 2.4 from ITIC.org.
Editions
There four different editions of the VPAT. This is so ICT manufacturers and vendors can create Accessibility Conformance Reports relevant to their target markets and contract requirements:
VPAT 2.4 508 : Revised Section 508 standards — the U.S. Federal accessibility standard
: Revised Section 508 standards — the U.S. Federal accessibility standard VPAT 2.4 EU : EN 301 549 — the European Union’s “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe”
: EN 301 549 — the European Union’s “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT products and services in Europe” VPAT 2.4 WCAG : WCAG 2.1 or ISO/IEC 40500 — W3C/WAI’s recently updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
: WCAG 2.1 or ISO/IEC 40500 — W3C/WAI’s recently updated Web Content Accessibility Guidelines VPAT 2.4 INT: Incorporate all three of the above standards
vs. Accessibility Audits
A VPAT / ACR is not an audit.
An audit goes into much greater detail than a VPAT.
The good news is that if you have an audit performed, you can usually get a VPAT at a much lower cost, if not included with the price of the accessibility audit.
Independently Issued vs. DIY
It’s much better to have an independent, expert third-party issue your VPAT vs. creating your own VPAT in-house.
As markets continue to evolve, internally produced VPATs will see their value dwindle.
Of course, having a VPAT is better than having none at all (unless your VPAT is deceptive) but to stay competitive in 2021, your organization needs to have VPAT documentation.
There are several reputable third-party companies who can issue accurate VPATs for your organization.
Websites
VPATs are not for websites or mobile apps but for products and, sometimes, services. Software is a great example of where a VPAT is called for.
For non-product websites or apps, you’ll want to ask for a conformance statement that states that your website or app meets all WCAG success criteria.
Services
There are a handful of reputable companies that offer VPAT / ACR services for organizations that need to provide accessibility status on products.
Related services typically include documentation, manual digital accessibility audits, user testing, remediation and/or tech support, and legal support. | https://medium.com/@krisrivenburgh/vpat-voluntary-product-accessibility-template-procurement-and-vendor-guide-8a131abbf461 | ['Kris Rivenburgh'] | 2020-12-29 23:57:09.602000+00:00 | ['Procurement', 'Ada Compliance', 'Accessibility', 'Section 508', 'Vpat'] |
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