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Case study: Building a B2B community feature | Goals 🎯
Making a B2B Client Community Feature to increase client engagement and interaction.
Deliverables
UX Research Low Fi Wireframes High Fi + Prototype
UX Research 🔭
Objectives
To learn and understand why is it important to have a Client Community Feature for B2B company. To understand the design process of other B2B companies who has client community feature.
Secondary Research
I went through many blogs as well as Case studies of B2B community apps, it helped me lay foundation to my design process.
Key Takeaways 🎁
Companies use community feature to scale Self Service.
Companies leverage community as a support channel, with self-service companies, reduce/save a lot of financial investment in bots, sales support, customer support. All customers combined probably know a lot more about a product than we think — and what’s more, many of them are willing to share their expertise. So offer your community as the first line of contact. If the answer is not there, and people start asking, get in-house experts involved, and have their answers benefit many users well into the future rather than just the one user who is asking right now.
2. Community feature helps boost Product Adoption.
Successful product adoption is integral to long-term success for B2B software companies.
Lean on your super users! Those most active and dedicated members of your community are an integral part of your team — use them! They know your product inside out and can take the pressure off your support team by providing answers to other users during product adoption.
Those most active and dedicated members of your community are an integral part of your team — use them! They know your product inside out and can take the pressure off your support team by providing answers to other users during product adoption. Make announcements. As we know, especially in the product world, users can be afraid of change. Using your community to make ‘pre-announcements’ to your users can go a long way to alleviating users’ fears around product changes. People fear the unknown — enlighten them using your community!
As we know, especially in the product world, users can be afraid of change. Using your community to make ‘pre-announcements’ to your users can go a long way to alleviating users’ fears around product changes. People fear the unknown — enlighten them using your community! Direct new user questions to your community and avoid your product or support teams answering queries over and over again. The more questions that are answered in your community, the larger your knowledge base becomes and the easier customers can find resolutions to their problems. Keep building your knowledge base — it’s a gift that keeps on giving.
3. Community feature helps build Product-community Feedback Loop.
General insights — feedback on new releases and creative use cases.
— feedback on new releases and creative use cases. Product ideation — tap into the expertise of your users and create a transparent process to help shape your product roadmap.
— tap into the expertise of your users and create a transparent process to help shape your product roadmap. Product adoption — use private communities to beta test new features with the help of your customer advocates.
4. Companies use Gamification to drive user engagement in communities
The motivation for community members can be divided into two main categories; intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is driven by interest or enjoyment in a task itself, without any external pressure or desire for reward. For example, a member that comes to the community for intrinsic motivations comes because he enjoys participating in a discussion about specific topics.
In contrast, extrinsic motivations are triggered by external factors, such as a prize or recognition from others. Community experiences trigger intrinsic motivations, which are then followed by extrinsic motivations, resulting in an increase in engagement from community members, as well as influencing their customer behaviors.
Few Gamification tools-
Likes
Ranks
Badges
5. Companies deal with negative feedback via Content moderators.
Managing conflict is never fun, but it is a task that community moderators will have to roll up their sleeves and jump into from time to time. Here is some advice for specific situations you may encounter, which will help find better ways to handle negative users and feedback.
6. Companies measure community success via 3 Metrics.
Community Growth, it may sound pretty self-explanatory, but first of all, B2B community needs to grow healthily. This means that organization should have plenty of visitors, content, and activity.
it may sound pretty self-explanatory, but first of all, B2B community needs to grow healthily. This means that organization should have plenty of visitors, content, and activity. Community Value, the community should be valuable to both your customers and your organization, but it’s surprising how much ‘junk’ can build up over time. This is particularly true in the B2B software space, where regular feature updates mean community information can become out of date quicker than you realize — remember, clean up your community!
community should be valuable to both your customers and your organization, but it’s surprising how much ‘junk’ can build up over time. This is particularly true in the B2B software space, where regular feature updates mean community information can become out of date quicker than you realize — remember, clean up your community! Community ROI, In the end, organization need to be aware of both its community growth and its community value in order to determine what kind of ROI you are getting.
Wireframes 📃
I know my sketching and handwriting skills are bad 🐒
Information Architecture 📈
Visual Design 🦋
I know it looks similar to “Twitter UI”, I made that on purpose because of Jakob’s Law.
Design Thinking around the above screen:
The search features can help search tags, questions, posts, and people on a community app. Prioritizing company’s blogs and support in order to help newbies on how the product works. You can post a question or announcement.
Design Thinking around the above screen:
Users can either ask a question or make an announcement. Tags help users to search for the content they are looking for.
Design Thinking around the above screen:
More the level, higher the rank and better the tick. Every IT employee checks his/her mails everyday. App incentivizes user to subscribe and level up. So that email notifications can be activated. Leaderboard helps rank the active user’s on top of the list.
Design Thinking around the above screen:
Ticks could act as social proof, just like it's on Twitter and Instagram but here the context is - more valuable content user’s puts on the community, better ticks he/she gets. Ticks range from bronze to diamond.
Did you know 😲
You can give up to 50 Claps for an article? Click/Tap and hold the clap button for a few seconds and BAM! Try it out 😋
Thank you so much for Reading ✨ | https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/case-study-building-b2b-client-community-feature-86a718d26677 | ['Vaishnav Ramayan'] | 2021-01-01 13:53:56.293000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Case Study', 'B2B', 'UX Design', 'UI'] |
An Introduction to Linear Regression & Gradient Descent | Linear Regression is one of the most popular supervised machine learning. It predicts values within a continuous range, (e.g. sale prices, life expectancy, temperature, etc) instead of trying to classify them into categories (e.g. car, bus, bike and others). The main goal of the linear regression is to find the best fit line which explains the relationship between the data.
Fig.1: Linear regression simulation.
The best-fitting line (or regression line) is represented by:
where m is the slope of the line known as angular gradient and b is the point at which the line crosses the y-axis also known as linear gradient.
The main challenge to find the regression line is to determine the value of m and b, such that the line corresponding to those values is the best fitting line, therefore, the line that provides the minimum error.
How to find the best m e b values?
A possible alternative would be to use methods like Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) — which is an analytical and non-iterative solution. OLS is a type of linear least squares method to estimate the unknown parameters. The OLS is defined by:
where x is the independent variables, x ̄ is the average of independent variables, y is the dependent variables y ̄ is the average of dependent variables.
The OLS can be a good option to solve the problem of linear regression, because it has coefficients and linear equations. Nevertheless, apply OLS to complex and non- linear machine learning algorithms, such as Neural networks, Support Vector Machines, etc. will not be feasible. This is due to the fact that the OLS solution isn’t scalable.
Instead of OLS we will find the numerical approximation by an iterative method. The Gradient descent is one of the best optimisation algorithms that approximate a solution by an iterative procedure able to efficiently explore the parameter space, instead of obtaining an exact analytical solution.
Understanding Gradient Descent Concept
Suppose you’re at the top of a mountain, and you have to reach a lake which is at the lowest point of the mountain. A twist is that you’re blind. Therefore, what will you do to reach the lake?
This is exactly the main idea behind the Gradient Descent does. Its goal is to reach the lowest point of the mountain. The mountain represents the data plotted in a space, the size of the step you move is the learning rate, feeling the incline around you and decide which is higher — is calculating the gradient of a set of parameter values. The chosen direction is where the cost function reduces. The lowest point in the mountain is the value -or weights- where the cost function reached its minimum (the parameters where our model presents more accuracy).
Illustration of how the Gradient descent algorithm works.
Let’s understand Linear Regression algorithm step by step
Suppose the regressor algorithm was given as input a set of points. After replacing the values of all points in Eq. (1), the algorithms returns the optimal values for m and b. You might ask yourself how did the regressor find this solution? We will describe below the steps normally employed by a regressor algorithm to find the best fitting line using Gradient Descent.
Step 1: In the beginning, m and b receive random values to begin with. These values are then replaced in Eq.(1).
Step 2: It’s very likely that the line found in [Step 1] is wrong. To determine how much this line is incorrect, we will calculates the total error of this line using the cost function. We can calculate the cost function using different methods such as Mean Square Error, Quadratic loss, L2 Loss Mean Square Error (MSE), etc. The cost function can be defined by:
the cost function above measures the squared difference between an observation’s actual reg and predicted value y (corresponds the points of the data).
Step 3: Now that we know how wrong our function is, we need to adjust the function to minimise this error. To minimise cost function we use will Gradient Descent . By replacing the y value (Eq. (1)) in Eq.(3), we obtain:
There are two parameters (coefficients) in our cost function we need to adjust: m and b values. Therefore, we will use the Partial Derivatives to determine the impact each one has on the final prediction. To adjust the m and b values we will use the following equations:
Updating the m value
We will start by calculating the derivative of the cost function in relation to m in Eq.(4). Remembering the cost function presented in Eq. (3):
Thus:
Applying the chain rule:
We obtain:
Replacing (reg = mx + b) in the above equation, we get: | https://medium.com/@lolyne.pacheco/an-introduction-to-linear-regression-gradient-descent-dee84865cbf7 | ['Caroline Pacheco Do E.Silva'] | 2020-08-16 16:54:17.918000+00:00 | ['Linear Regression', 'Gradient Descent', 'Inteligencia Artificial', 'Mathematics', 'Machine Learning'] |
A Green Recovery Plan for New York City | New York City is at a critical juncture when it comes to how we respond to the climate crisis. The decisions we make now will affect all of us, determining the future of the city we love and the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers for generations.
It is an urgent and ever-mounting question. Yet, we can take bold and immediate action against the serial polluters actively endangering our environment; we can better prepare for future storms; and we can support and fight alongside longtime neighborhood activists to ensure that our environmental priorities are equitable and fully realized in our communities.
We have a responsibility to ensure our environmental policies and our climate action plan occur within the frameworks of racial and social justice. Our city’s marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change, and if we fail to secure a greener, more just future for all of us, then we have failed in our mission to rehabilitate our environment.
Together, we can take the necessary steps to curb the effects of climate change in New York. This is what we have to do:
Citywide Resiliency Planning
Implement comprehensive citywide resiliency planning. District 33 is a waterfront district that requires extensive planning along the waterfront, with much of it in a flood zone that faces consequences from rising waters.
Invest in ‘sponge city infrastructure’ of permeable pavements, green roofs, underground stormwater basins, and bioswales in flood prone areas to absorb stormwater and reduce carbon emissions.
Enact CEQR reform before starting any new flood plain development, exploring ways to rezone heavy flood areas as open spaces, resiliency projects, or wetland restoration centers.
Work with the federal government to utilize and green our ports for resiliency planning, and establish storm protections along the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Public Power + divestment from fossil fuels
Halt the North Brooklyn fracked gas pipeline and stop the expansion of the LNG facility in Greenpoint: National Grid’s fracked gas proposal in North Brooklyn is an attack on the wellbeing of our communities and benefits shareholders, not ratepayers. North Brooklyn has been under attack from these corporations for 150 years; Brooklyn Union Gas’ site is 100 years old and is just one of many facilities that divide the community from Newtown Creek.
Implement a publicly owned energy system for New York. The time has come for public power and I’d support providing a home rule request if needed for any state approved action.
Deepen our investment in renewable energy, including geothermal heat pumps and wind and solar energy locally.
Ramp up our NYC Solar implementation on city-owned buildings — which is significantly behind requirements as per NYC law.
Require green roofs on all publicly-owned buildings in New York City, prioritizing schools buildings and public housing. Provide incentives for large buildings in industrial areas that want to install green roofs because of their scale and size.
End the reliance on peaker plants in New York City, by building neighborhood energy hubs for smart grid battery storage and enacting controls on peak energy demand by commercial buildings.
Pass the NYC Council plan for a Renewable Rikers, and ensure the communities harmed by incarceration and environmental racism are central to the planning of the island’s future. Solar developed on the Island needs to be used for community solar projects and support neighborhoods that have been impacted by the carceral system.
Green Space for District 33 and Beyond:
Complete the connection of the Brooklyn Greenway to bring together the waterfront and build out fully protected bike path infrastructure
Significantly increase investment in our parks and work with other agencies to expand public access to open space where parks are not available, such as through the Design for Public Space. More than ever we need open green space and expanded waterfront access.
Create community planning around public space and seize opportunities for expanded access through parks under bridges at the Pulaski, and Williamsburg bridges, as well as street end parks and the acquisition of land on Newtown Creek.
Use community-led partnerships to implement Make Meeker Move and BQGreen. Build a network of connection between green spaces in the District and safe corridors.
Invest in a permanent open streets program and expand the NYC Parks budget. While other major cities fund parks well over 1%, New York City’s Parks budget is just .5%, and even saw a decrease when New Yorkers need parks most.
Fully fund Bushwick Inlet Park as promised by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Address Sewage Overflow in our waterways
Eliminate combined sewer overflows (CSOs), reducing sewage overflows into the New York Bay 100%. We are in the midst of a climate crisis and need to fully address the pollution in our waterways. CSO reduction plans must take into account projected changes in sewer overflow when projects will be completed. Current plans are using rainfall totals from 2008 as projection for infrastructure that is supposed to address stormwater capture in the 2040s.
Utilize public land along Newtown creek for permeable surfaces, public parks, creek access, and environmental restoration in some of the areas most damaged by industry and most inaccessible historically to the public. Public land is our frontline infrastructure and should be the proving ground to the community that this can work.
Expand green and blue roof production citywide to assist with sewage overflow reduction and provide greater grant incentives for green roofs.
Invest in permeable surfaces in areas that are flood prone, and have combined sewage overflow issues, to absorb stormwater.
Create bioswales on streets along the waterfront, which are cost-effective measures to absorb runoff and mitigate flooding and create maintenance agreements with existing waterfront developers.
Meet New York City’s goal of zero waste by 2030 | https://medium.com/@elizabethadamsnyc/a-green-recovery-plan-for-new-york-city-93e46424b2d4 | ['Elizabeth Adams'] | 2020-12-18 01:22:03.292000+00:00 | ['Brooklyn', 'New York City', 'Covid Recovery', 'Environmentalism', 'Environmental Justice'] |
Crypto ≠Safe Haven (Feb 26th) | In times of crisis, when trust is skulking in the shadows and blood is on the streets it is, according to the 18th Century financier Baron Rothschild, time to buy.
He was referring, of course, to the contrarian view that the intelligent investor (apologies to Benjamin Graham) should accumulate when the mob is selling, and then embrace the corollary of selling when those same people have turned buyers.
In our current panic-stricken climate then, what lessons should we take from the performance of cryptocurrencies?
The coronavirus epidemic has caught financial markets on the hop. US equities were preemptively celebrating the coronation of Trump 2.0 as the Democrats committed slow-motion harakiri, when, all of a sudden, a Black Swan, literally straight out of a Steven Soderbergh movie, came in to land.
With the Dow Jones index flirting with the 29,500 level (only a 3.5 times increase from its lows just over a decade ago — who said we were a “now” society?) and precious metals gently ticking up one could have been forgiven for thinking that the strong performance of the crypto complex since the middle of last December was a sure sign that Bitcoin and co. had entered the investment mainstream.
Unfortunately they have been found wanting.
When the buying opportunities that Baron Rothschild sought come around it is the brave and the often foolhardy that prosper. They purchase from the crowd, deploying funds againt the liquidity of escaping, panicking sellers driven to take any cash for their fast dwindling paper wealth. When the screw really turns it is food, clothing and shelter (and often weapons) that attract the premium prices, but amongst the desperation portable, concealable and useful items also command a surcharge. The poster child of this asset class is, of course, gold (up 5% from the 12th Feb when the financial markets started to take notice of the virus’s economic impact).
One of the main tenets of crypto currencies was their separation from the established monetary system. On the basis that there is no centralised issuer or promissory, that is a given. Their other feature (bug?) was their ease of transfer and cloak of anonymity. In a world where a deadly virus can lurk on a surface, waiting up to 48 hours for a stray hand to brush by and inevitably infect its owner, surely a means of exchange that requires zero person to person contact, an asset that can be swapped via an internet link or simply traded using ones and zeros across the web should have more than held its own?
Unfortunatley crypto has failed its first major stress test. Neither crypto-forks nor “51% attacks” have made many ripples beyond the crypto cognosenti but surely the Coronavirus episode is tailor made for crypto to shine?
Gold jewellry needs to be touched, weighed, appreciated and all the while it might just harbour a naughty corona germ. Bank notes, rare books, tulip bulbs, miniature portraits and even tooth fillings have all been stores of value in hard times gone by, they all share that common bug (feature?) — physical items potentially harbouring the bug you just dont want.
In this climate then, we should expect Bitcoin and its relatives to fly, unfortunately they have done the opposite. Bitcoin is down almost 18% since the 12th of February, the Crypto 10 index of the largest market cap weighted crypto coins is down over a third.
Unfortunately the hunt goes on for investors looking for a state free, germ free disaster hedge. | https://medium.com/@spoonus/crypto-safe-haven-feb-26th-53f2c7600b3 | ['Guy Winterflood'] | 2020-04-23 14:56:27.466000+00:00 | ['Coronavirus', 'Gold', 'Finance', 'Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency'] |
How IBM Sees The Future Of Artificial Intelligence | Ever since IBM’s Watson system defeated the best human champions at the game show Jeopardy!, artificial intelligence (AI) has been the buzzword of choice. More than just hype, intelligent systems are revolutionizing fields from medicine and manufacturing to changing fundamental assumptions about how science is done.
Yet for all the progress, it appears that we are closer to the beginning of the AI revolution than the end. Intelligent systems are still limited in many ways. They depend on massive amounts of data to learn accurately, have trouble understanding context and their susceptibility to bias makes them ripe targets for sabotage.
IBM, which has been working on AI since the 1950s, is not only keenly aware of these shortcomings, it is working hard to improve the basic technology. As Dario Gil, Chief Operating Officer of IBM Research recently wrote in a blog post, the company published over 100 papers in just the past year. Here are the highlights of what is being developed now.
Working To Improve Learning
What makes AI different from earlier technologies is its ability to learn. Before AI, a group of engineers would embed logic into a system based on previously held assumptions. When conditions changed, the system would need to be reprogrammed to be effective. AI systems, however, are designed to adapt as events in the real world evolve.
This means that AI systems aren’t born intelligent. We must train them to do certain tasks, much like we would a new employee. Systems often need to be fed thousands or even millions of examples before they can perform at anything near an acceptable level. So far, that’s been an important limiting factor for how effective AI systems can be.
“A big challenge now is being able to learn more from less,” Dr. John Smith, Manager of AI Tech at IBM Research, told me. “For example, in manufacturing there is often a great need for systems to do visual inspections of defects, some of which may have only one or two instances, but you still want the system to be able to learn from them and spot future instances.”
“We recently published our research on a new technique called few-shot or one-shot learning, which learns to generalize information from outliers”, he continued. “It’s still a new technique, but in our testing so far, the results have been quite encouraging.” Improving a system’s ability to learn is key to improving how it will perform.
Understanding Context
One of the most frustrating things about AI systems is their inability to understand context. For example, if a system is trained to identify dogs, it will be completely oblivious to a family playing Frisbee with its beloved pet. This flaw can get extremely frustrating when we’re trying to converse with a system that takes each statement as a separate query and ignores everything that came before.
IBM made some important headway on this problem with its Project Debater, a system designed to debate with humans in real time. Rather than merely respond to simple, factual questions, Debater is able to take complex, ambiguous issues and make a clear, cogent argument based on nuanced distinctions that even highly educated humans find difficult.
A related problem is the inability to understand causality. A human who continues to encounter a problem would start to wonder where it’s coming from, but machines generally don’t. “A lot of the AI research has been focused on correlations, but there is a big difference between correlations and causality,” Smith told me.
“We’re increasingly focused on researching how to infer causality from a large sets of data,” he says. “That will help us do more than diagnose a problem in say, a medical or industrial setting, but help determine where the problem is coming from and how to approach fixing it.”
Focusing On Ethics And Trust
Probably the most challenging aspect of AI is ethics. Now that we have machines helping to support human decisions, important questions arise about who is accountable for those decisions, how they are arrived at and upon what assumptions they are being made.
Consider the trolley problem, which has stumped ethicists for decades. In a nutshell, it asks what someone should do if faced with the option of pulling a lever so that a trolley avoids killing five people laying on a track, but kills another person in the process. Traditional approaches, such as virtue ethics or Kantian ethics, provide little guidance on what is the right thing to do. A completely utilitarian approach just feels intuitively lacking in moral force.
These basic challenges are compounded by other shortcomings inherent in our computer systems, such as biases in the data they are trained on and the fact that many systems are “black boxes,” which offer little transparency into how judgments are arrived at. Today, as we increasingly need to think seriously about encoding similar decisions into real systems, such as self-driving cars, these limitations are becoming untenable.
“If we want AI to effectively support human decision making we have to be able to build a sense of trust, transparency, accountability and explainability around our work,” Smith told me. “So an important focus of ours has been around building tools, such as Fairness 360, an open source resource that allows us to ask questions of AI systems much as we would of human decisions.”
The Future Of AI
When IBM announced its System 360 mainframe computer in 1964 at a cost of $5 billion (or more than $30 billion in today’s dollars), it was considered a major breakthrough and dominated the industry for decades. The launch of the PC in the early 80s had a similar impact. Today’s smartphones, however, are infinitely more powerful and cost a small fraction of the price.
We need to look at AI in the same way. We’re basically working with an early version of the PC, with barely enough power to run a word processing program and little notion of the things which would come later. In the years and decades to come, we expect vast improvements in hardware, software and our understanding of how to apply AI to important problems.
One obvious shortcoming is that although many AI applications perform tasks in the messy, analog world, the computations are done on digital computers. Inevitably, important information gets lost. So a key challenge ahead is to develop new architectures, such as quantum and neuromorphic computers, to run AI algorithms.
“We’re only at the beginning of the journey,” IBM’s Smith told me excitedly, “but when we get to the point that quantum and other technologies become mature, our ability to build intelligent models of extremely complex data is just enormous.”
An earlier version of this article first appeared on Inc.com
Image courtesy of IBM
Previously published at www.digitaltonto.com. | https://greg-satell.medium.com/how-ibm-sees-the-future-of-artificial-intelligence-b1cb70b41887 | ['Greg Satell'] | 2019-03-10 11:32:36.517000+00:00 | ['Artificial Intelligence'] |
分散ガバナンスの重要性 | DAOstack is designed to catalyze the future of collaboration. It's a platform for decentralized governance that enables collectives to self-organize around shared goals or values, easily and efficiently.
Follow | https://medium.com/daostack/%E5%88%86%E6%95%A3%E3%82%AC%E3%83%90%E3%83%8A%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%81%AE%E9%87%8D%E8%A6%81%E6%80%A7-c384e66f55a1 | ['Stratis Karadakis'] | 2018-11-20 08:57:58.370000+00:00 | ['Governance', 'Japanese', 'Ethereum', 'Decentralization', 'Blockchain'] |
Articles That Touched a Nerve | Articles That Touched a Nerve
Will they affect you?
Image per author
These are a few of my articles that seemed to touch a nerve.
I am just tired of pretending to be happy.
Just Fuck IT-itus.
Ready to call it a day and be real.
When a cookie is NOT better than sex.
I don’t care what food group, it’s a no brainer. Sex wins.
When lovers disappear.
Surviving a drought.
This year was the toughest, driest desert I had been in since starting affairs.
My body. It’s been a battleground of self-acceptance.
I’ve won and lost many times through the decades.
I’m desirable and then I’m not. I value myself only when men want me.
Wasting time.
I have wasted far too much.
Looking for a lover has left me tired and jaded. It’s not worth it, I conclude.
Until, I get horny again.
I’m way too picky, I’ve discovered. I want what I want in a lover.
And I’m tired of not finding it. | https://medium.com/the-scarlett-letter/articles-that-touched-a-nerve-1e88fc723c1b | [] | 2020-11-29 18:06:57.337000+00:00 | ['Sexuality', 'Infidelity', 'Love And Sex', 'Cheating', 'Affairs'] |
7 Days | May 2002
Day 01: One
It is the last week of my summer vacation, I & my friends planned to go to Goa we were so excited to do this, it was one of the items on the bucket lists. We decided to meet up in our hostel (checkpoint) & then leave to Goa from there (Monday evening). I took the train on Sunday evening to Bangalore(hostel) & reached the next morning as it was a hectic ride I didn’t get much rest so I went directly to the hostel instead of waiting for my friends to arrive at the station, As soon as I got to the hostel I hit the bed and slept like a panda. Around 1:00 PM I awake, didn’t feel like getting up from the bed but need to check on my friends as Goa is a priority than sleep, went to their rooms to check on them but their rooms were locked, they were supposed to be there by 10:00 AM, thought they would have gone for lunch but that also seemed out of place cause they would have wake me up to join them, I got confused what to do, so sat there for few minutes with these thoughts then after a while got up grabbed my wallet and went to the Tea stall(the usual hangout spot of our squad) went inside the telephone booth near to the stall called my buddy Joseph [Joseph is the rich kid in our squad his father runs a hotel in Dubai & he is the only one who owns a cellphone in the gang, not only that he is the one who is sponsoring this trip so that makes him the critical member & the captain of the gang] He didn’t pick the call I tried ringing him for an hour but he wasn’t picking the call it really made me lose my temper I smashed the handset back to the holder few times & walked out of the booth the stall owner gave me a look of anger for the mess I created in the booth so to calm him I ordered a pack of Marlboro cigarette & a Boomer bubble gum while smoking I thought of the situation I am in, it’s like I don’t know what happened to Joseph or Is our trip still green light or what happened to others why aren’t they here yet. I went back to the hostel, warden reach me out before I went into my room said Mahesh had called enquiring whether joseph came to the hostel or any of his classmates came in, hearing it kinda relieved me so I asked the warden whether I can him back with his phone he said okay I called up Mahesh his mom picked the call & then later handed over to him I asked him why the hell are you at home why isn’t anyone at the hostel as planned, what happened to joseph why is he avoiding calls, Mahesh understood my anger & clammy replied me with a question that when was the last time you had a conversation with joseph I got more pissed cause this guy not only, not answering my question but ask me a question back I started cursing him. Mahesh again calmly said yo dummy joseph is on “Roll”[joseph sometimes travels somewhere in his motorbike without informing anyone we call this activity of his Joseph on roll] it made sense to me cause if he is on roll the whole trip is haywire without him(sponsor) we can’t afford this trip. Mahesh said he informed all the other friends about this on Sunday, as I didn’t have a telephone@home or a mobile he couldn’t get a hold of me. Later that call I went into the room dropped & smashed a few of joseph's stuff in the ground & smoked a whole pack just to get over the Goa trip. My tummy started making sound & I knew it was craving for some goa food but instead, it is destined to have the rice & sambar. After getting my body recharged I went to a tea stall & bought a cigarette started smoking as the college is on vacation the place was not crowded & in a sense, it was peaceful [usually it isn’t] while smoking I noticed a kid staring at me. Suddenly my hand moved & handed over a boomer to the kid, he took it & gave a cute smile somehow with all these tensions how to manage whole week alone at the hostel, flop goa plan, frustrated at joseph, this kid’s smile just break the stress in me.
Day 02: Nostalgia
Shocking of the day I got up at 6:00 am sharp, I only get up this early during exams. I had no mood to fresh up as I didn’t have any better things to do, so I just stayed in bed but the brain is such an annoying thing it just brought back all this memory of yesterday I felt pissed so to avoid this I had to get up & do something. I went out to tea stall[Thinking I would see that kid] I saw that kid playing with his friends nearby to the stall I went in & got my usual stuff when I was about to finish my last puff the kid noticed me & ran towards I knew he would come to get boomer[kids always like stuff like toys, snacks or anything which gets them curiosity I know this cause I was a kid once:P] As he came near me I handed a boomer to him but this time that smile didn’t do any magic, he sat near me & started talking, he asked me like a ton of question like about my beard, my stay, my studies but the strange one was the last question that he asked me. He said how does a cigarette taste like? that left me speechless after some minutes he walked away to his friends. I really got taken back I wasn’t expecting it, I got back to my room & went to sleep with this thought, it kinda brought back old memories I think it was 11 or 13 years back my father was working as labor in the USA, the company which he was working went bankrupt & he lost his job so he had to come back. At the same time mom died due to some health issue it was kinda dark days for my family I was only used to see my father a month in a year but now the situation changed it was total awkwardness between me & my father for few months we managed with his saving money. After that, he needed a job but around here he & mom had given an impression like he was working as a manager for a big company so he was a big shot around here so he couldn't go for some small jobs cause that would make people gossips & that haunts his pride[truth is he was just labor over there only the pay was good for us to live a luxury life here] So he & few his friends together started smuggling items like cigarettes, perfumes, liquors & sold here for a low price. One day while playing I got his bag & opened it & found a videotape I soon took it to neighbor's house as they had a video player & I played it, it was a clip for Marlboro cigarette advertisement[CLICK_HERE}. It really had me hooked I use to watch it minimum once a day, the video was just about a cowboy & a horse & 11 or 15-sec screen presence of smoking I used to think it was a movie & dress up as the cowboy & hold choke piece in my mouth as a cigarette, use a long stick as a horse. I played like this forever during my childhood even once in school when my teacher was asking what everyone want to be when grown up, I answered I want to be a CowBoy most of my friends didn’t know what it meant & my teacher thought I made up a superhero name like Shaktiman, what a dummy but the fact is even I don’t know what it means. I just loved the swag & style so much. It didn’t take many days for me to find a Marlboro cigarette smuggled packet in one of his bags, one of the bags contained a lot of it that I thought taking one would not make a difference. I took one cigarette & placed in my mouth & showed off in front of my friends it really got me the vibe of a cowboy but it didn’t last many days. My friends got bored seeing me doing this routine, so one day I light it up & acted like smoking[I was just lighting it & keeping it in my mouth but didn’t try to suck in]to get back their attention but as days gone I learned how to smoke, the day I smoked one completely I got sick, dad was psyched cause he didn’t know what to do but I was scared that if dad gets to know how I got sick he gonna kill me & hospitalize & then kill me again. I prayed to God that if he doesn't find how it happened I will stop smoking. My luck, I got well soon & he didn’t have a clue what I was doing on his back but it got him sad that he felt he isn’t a good father, can’t blame him the whole maintaining a child along with smuggling stuff is new for him so he decided to shift me to hostel & study from there so most of the time I lived all alone & I hated that. And yes I started smoking again cause now nobody will know, the next thing I know I used to smoke after every meal, every snack time, So when I was lying in bed remembering these stuff I realized I don’t care how it tastes but I am pretty sure how it makes me feel & that’s a great feeling for me [It was kinda in my PUC I got to know that when USA announced cigarette cause cancer in 11–01-1964 a loss of 10 billion happened for tobacco companies but Marlboro was intelligent enough they came up with that ad, other market strategy & changed the whole market and made profit within a year & recent survey it proved that Marlboro has got more consumers than its next 10 competitors combined & I’m proud to be one, I know it's stupid but admit it sounds cool].
Day 03: Sin
I was so happy about yesterday I wanted to get that kid something for making me remember old stuff so during lunch I went near the tea stall & purchased a Honey cake & cigarette waited outside for the kid to come by. My college Lecture passed by the store & noticed me in a flash I push the cigarette to my pocket & went up to him to have a casual talk & it was strange to hold cake & converse so I partitioned the cake & shared the half with him[Mom always used to say when someone stares at the food you better share it or else you will get a stomach ache I don’t know why but I didn’t have the courage to dare this concept] lecturer hesitated when I gave him a piece of cake but while in conversation he was completely locked on to the cake. After a while he left, as soon as he was out of the scene I tried to pull out the cigarette from the pocket but couldn’t find it [The detective in me got out] I literally swept the whole place to find it, seeing me the stall owner asked did you lose anything I nodded back. he replied the kids were playing around there they might have found it ask them, I asked him where can I find them he gave me directions to the nearby ground where they usually hang out. It took me few minutes to reach there & I saw the kid, he had the cigarette in his mouth & trying to light it with a match stick seeing him like that I did what any adult would do Smashed him in the head & snatch the cigarette from his mouth. It really pissed him off he started crying & shouting, his friends were trying to calm him, I asked why did you steal the cigarette & what were you trying to do smoke it ah? he shouted back he didn’t steal it, he found it lying in the road & who am I to judge what he was doing he went on like that blah blah blah blah & then started cursing me that hit my nerve so I hit him again [I knew this time I hit him hard cause even my hand was in pain] he started screaming & grab the mud from the ground & throw at me & flee. I thought to myself what a stubborn kid.
Day 04: Salvation
Being in the hostel all alone started to take a toll on me I started smashing stuff in my room & running around like a ghost in the hall until it got me tired, I sat in the hall thinking about college reopening, new semester, trolling friends but as I said before the brain is such an annoying thing it made me remember about yesterday, till then I thought I did the right thing by beating him but now I’m having second thoughts, thinking about it made me realize that the kid did exactly what I did when I was a kid, try to smoke a cigarette to showoff & if someone caught me doing it & hit me when I’m around with my friends back then I would have also started cursing & shouting. Now I started feeling guilt for the thing I did to him, the crying face was the only thing that was running in a loop in my mind, I couldn’t stop thinking about him just to stop feeling guilt I decide to punish myself by fasting for the whole day[I know it sounds lame but I needed to fool my brain somehow to get this feeling out of my chest]. It worked somehow till the evening then my stomach started fighting for some food this really put me in a situation[I don’t know whether anyone has experienced like this being alone with guilt, it really haunts you] I remembered a philosophy of my father, which he told me when I was 15 or 16 I fought with one of my classmate in school I thrashed that poor guy & my father had to come to the principal chamber to negotiate the punishment after getting scolded from my teacher, principal, his parents it was finally my dad’s turn he said I know you feel what you did is right & hitting someone is alright but what you did is just overpowered a person who couldn’t fight, it’s human nature to always look down on people who are low in the hierarchy may it be at home or with friends or age-wise or knowledge-wise or according to power, we always try to step on them with conscious or not, I know it's hard not to do it but remember it is not the right thing to do. Back then it didn’t make any sense but now it’s a different story. While I was lost in thoughts my tummy got me back to the present & I couldn’t continue to fight my tummy any longer so I made a deal with the devil[brain] that the first thing I do tomorrow is going to apologize so that now I can go out & feed some food.
Day 05: Bonding
As soon as I wake up I didn’t waste any time went into the bathroom to fresh up & scripted the whole sorry speech which I wanted to say to the kid, as I headed out the warden called me & said joseph is in the clinic, he had an accident & need me to pick him up. Hearing it my sorry ass turned to angry one, I walked to the clinic which is 5-7 km away from the hostel with rage. I reached the clinic & saw him sitting in the corner with bandage all around his right arm I went near to him & was about to punch him in the face, the nurse came in for informing him about the medication & said he was lucky that he didn’t get hurt much hearing those stuff, I hold on to my anger for a little while. Took key of the motorbike from him & said to him lets get you to your kingdom. We got back to the hostel room, he didn’t speak much he was gazing at the room I said I’m sorry about a few of your stuff got damaged the other day when I was cleaning. He said that’s alright we sat there for a while without talking that was a bit weird for us, I didn’t know what to do whether to ask about the accident or let my anger out for ditching the goa trip. After some time he started talking to me, he was sorry for screwing the trip [As I heard it I was about to let the anger out] without pausing to let me speak he continued with reasoning, saying that his girlfriend dumped him & got engaged to some businessman & he got depressed knowing it, he didn’t know what to do, so he wanted to get out of there & go somewhere like solo ride[In my mind I was confused cause he was in a relationship with 2 girls currently I didn’t know which one is he talking about & he said he wanted to get out, then Goa was perfect destination so why did he ditch that] he kept on saying how much he cared about her, what she meant for him, what all they planned together for the future. I literally zoned out I’m thinking what an asshole is this guy, he has perfect life-money, knowledge, good looks & 2 girlfriends(one now) but still complaining, whereas I was always jealous about him felt like a loser when comparing to him I should be the one whining. He kept on going & suddenly I saw something miracle he started crying this would make any other person in my position feel sorry for him but I didn’t. I let the anger out on him gave a pat/slap in the back & said you know what you're saying right, you’re depressed seriously you want me to believe that, if she didn’t dump you one of these days you would have, cause you always do this to other what special this time, why this change of heart suddenly, you’re an asshole & you deserved every bit of this so stop whining[After saying this I kinda felt kinda cool, walked away & went to terrace]. It turned noon & the Devil started his work I started to feel a bit bad for being harsh on him, I still stand by my words but the way I said to him was savage I could’ve been assertive. I was already on a guilt trip now one more of this what a day. Felt like I was a guileful person[In a way we all are right! we all make friendship for selfish reasons like for company, for help in studies, to spend money for us, to avoid bullies, to play with, etc(et cetera)]. Now I was in thought whether what I said due to the jealousy & for dumping the trip.[He walked in & sat beside me] I was about to say sorry, he looked at me & asked you are not gonna say you’re sorry right [man I should stop thinking loud] I replied no way, he smiled & said well good cause what you said really brought me back to my senses [we laughed]. I asked what’s with the accident don’t tell me you plan to kill yourself. He replied just when I thought you said something smart you ruined it by this dumb question, do you really think I’m that brave(laughs) Nah man; It was 3 guys on a bike I think they were in some rush, they were speeding at 100kmph & got in my way so I couldn't put brakes on the right time & hit the pole in the corner of the road[we stayed up some more time there talking bullshit & later went for lunch].
Day 06: Death
Yesterday we roamed all night & went to sleep in the early morning, we were so tired that we slept till 11:30 in the morning. when we got up he said let's go out for brunch, I totally agreed if it's biriyani. As we heading out I saw his girlfriend-02 standing near the gate waiting for him I started walking slowly so that he has enough time to catch up till I get there but to my shock, he ended their conversation in 5 minutes I asked him what’s up, did you just break up or what? he replied Yes, that response shook me, I stopped him before getting to the bike & asked him to tell me what really happened. He replied hey man you gave me a big lecture yesterday so I felt I need to do the right thing from now on so ended my casual relationship[I was taken back a moment hearing it]. I replied saying if ending a relationship is this easy even I wanna do it[he laughed] he said to do to that you suppose to have one first[when he counters he just slays]. We finished our brunch & went to the tea stall ordered our usual stuff as I was having my tea I asked the owner about the kid [he looked pale when I asked him that] owner responded saying that the kid has died & his funeral was yesterday, I thought I misheard him for a moment cause I just saw the kid the other day he was looking fine as new. I was in shock I didn’t respond but Joseph asked directions for the kid’s home [I told him about the kid earlier] Joseph said let's go by the kid’s house & later go to the hostel, I nodded back. As we reached the kid's house I realized that I don’t even know his name & my went completely blank. Joseph poked me & said we should go in & express our condolence to his parents, at the same moment I saw one of the kid’s friends walked out of the house I stopped him & asked what happened, he took a long pause & then replied Alex got in a road accident & died, Joseph, noticed something strange with this kid & took him aside & said something to him to make him get on the bike & asked me to hop in then he drove back to the tea stall. He bought a honey cake for that kid & asked him to tell me what’s your name, the kid replied it’s Raj[joseph handed over the honey cak] Now tell me what happened to Alex & when did you last saw him, Raj looked bit confused but somehow he felt certain comfort with joseph so he started talking, Raj said a few weeks back he & Alex saw someone in this store smoking & making rings in smoke Alex got so fascinated by it, He wanted to know how he does it but he couldn’t talk to him as we were late for tuition. A day before we saw the same guy with some of his friends near the ground Alex said he would go & talk to them but I didn’t want to accompany him cause they looked scary so I went back home, Later in the evening I gotta know about his accident. The store owner was eavesdropping on the whole conversation & his face indicated he was simulating all this information in his mind, he suddenly jumped into the conversation & asked Raj to describe the face & personality of the guy who Alex went to have converse with, Raj replied with an average description & also said that guy had 2 more friends with him [Raj finished eating the honey cake & left] Joseph asked the owner whether he knows these guys, the owner replied if I am not wrong the description matches to stoner who sometimes drop by the store & shared his thought about the accident by saying what if they gave some kind of drug to Alex that made him lose his mind, Joseph soon asked what makes you say that. The owner replied that the bystander said Alex was running all over the main road like crazy, few vehicles managed not to hit him but the truck couldn’t, he was running right towards it that’s how the accident took place. People in the tea stall also joined into the conversation & shared their thoughts on the topic[One thing about starting a rumor in a tea stall is that it will soon gonna end up being the talk of the town], As they all got busy in the discussion I sat there in shock & didn’t know what to think or to do about it.
Day 07: Sunday
Saturday midnight I couldn’t sleep I kept rolling over in bed but it seems I was disturbing joseph he was in deep sleep, So I got up & decided to go for a walk. The streets were peaceful so I went around campus until I saw a dog, It kept staring at me like it was about to hunt me down I got scared & ran like no tomorrow towards the hostel. I went to bed but still couldn’t sleep, I was in pain that I couldn’t find anyone to blame for Alex’s death. As thoughts started pouring into me I thought if I had made a blind eye on him the other day & let him try smoke would that have changed anything, will he be alive, I couldn’t stop the idea that if I had done something different would this never happen, I was confused what would been the right decision that I could have taken, but slowly my thoughts shifted to stall owner’s theory what if those bastards gave or forced Alex to do drug which led to the death it is pretty convenience theory & easy way to put blame on others & escape from this feeling of guilt. [I got up from the bed as I was feeling thirsty so went to get some water & saw the time it was 3 in the morning]I went back to bed thinking I had never been this much sleepless not even during exams, Now as I had someone to blame on I thought, I will be able to sleep but I couldn’t because the last thing I did to him is thrashing him & the guilt came right back at me, so I was right back to zero. The brain is such a strange thing it puts you in a prison & also lets you escape from it & plays it in the loop. As I was playing this blame game between me & those guys suddenly a thought came across, what if this whole thing happened to him because of his curiosity what if he went to ask those stoners to teach him to do the ring smoke but ended up by stealing a drug from them & used it which made him go nuts, I know thinking this very thought makes me sounds like evil but I was not able to neglect the chances for this possibility, cause drugs ain’t cheap even stoners won’t give to kids that easily unless they are pure evil but still I can’t be sure of it, If those guys get caught also first thing nobody would care to listen to them but if anybody did care then also we never know whatever their explanation is true or not cause there is no truth in this world without some masala in it or a lie without some truth in it. I could not stop thinking that Alex's curiosity may have led to this scenario, I am not blaming him but it made more sense to me cause curiosity is the very thing that led humans to evolve to this level & it's the same thing that leading to destruction. As infinite amount of theories & thoughts ran past my brain I started feeling sick, all this emotion started eating me, what I was going through was just make me think that I am not one of the reasons which led Alex to die. I remembered a quote said by my friend that from the moment of birth every emotion & thought are influenced into us by others it takes time to mature out of it & start to think & act by ourselves, so I realized that yes I was a bad influence to Alex no matter however I look at it & I can’t do anything about it now. My thoughts were moving towards the conclusion that we can’t choose how others take our act[Alarm clock started beeping] I realized it’s 6:00 am already & Joseph was getting ready for his morning jog he saw me how pale I looked, he realized I didn’t sleep well so he pulled me out of bed & made me join for the walk. As we were walking I saw the dog which stared at me yesterday, as today I had joseph with me I acted all tough as if the dog gives a damn. It started raining from nowhere we ran towards the tea stall for shades, we both sat there suddenly a man came running towards the store & started speaking gibberish the Owner said to him take a moment breath & talk slowly. The stranger said that someone at the bus stop caught those stoners they were trying to escape from the city. As soon as people in the stall heard him saying this all of them turned ON their rage & they were ready to go to the bus stop to thrash those guys even Joseph got up & went to join them, I don’t know whether the philosophy or the adult who always escapes from the world problems took over my senses I pulled back joseph & said let it slide its SUNDAY. | https://medium.com/@ajith.kumaruk96/7-days-6b7e39907b56 | ['Ajith Kumar U K'] | 2021-09-11 14:46:10.684000+00:00 | ['Beginner', 'Thoughts And Feelings', 'Fiction', 'Life', 'Short Story'] |
How to eat an elephant | Data journalism meets digital forensics
The brutal assassination of Martina Kušnírová and Ján Kuciak in 2018 shook Slovak politics. Kuciak, a 27-year-old investigative reporter, had uncovered multiple cases of corruption and fraud. A Slovak court has since found two men guilty of committing the crime, even as businessman Marian Kočner, accused of masterminding the attack, was found not guilty.
In late 2019, reporters at the Ján Kuciak Investigative Center in Bratislava and the Czech investigative reporting platform Investigace.cz, both OCCRP member centers, were given access to the complete police case file on the two murders. Slovak police and Europol had collected a total of 53 TB of material. The full archive included digital copies of seized computers and phones, footage from security cameras and other evidence. This is when OCCRP’s data team got involved, helping to transfer and analyze the information.
The volume and nature of this data forced us to study and apply multiple digital forensics techniques in order to make the material accessible to reporters. It has also given us a more systematic understanding of how experts in related fields — especially law enforcement — handle evidence. We’re writing some of these lessons up here, in the hope that other projects may benefit from them.
1. Data has gravity
The first thing we realized was that even in 2020, large volumes of data move slowly. Copying or verifying 53 TB of data takes days and weeks. Even a plain listing of filenames and checksums would come out at 5 GB — a DVD’s worth of data.
After multiple rounds of traveling from Bratislava and Prague to Berlin with backpacks full of data, we decided to rent the largest server we could find and use it as a central staging ground. (Special thanks to CZ.NIC for letting us upload the source drives directly from their internet backbone!).
Instead of thinking of data as immaterial and global, the logistics of this project forced us to accept that data has gravity. In fact, sometimes it’s easier to move a few people than a lot of files.
2. Getting an overview
We received data on eight source drives, to which we assigned radio codes: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and so on. To get an overview of what was on them, we ran `hashdeep`, a command-line tool that will traverse a directory of files and generate file sizes and checksums for each of them.
The resulting list of files showed that the two largest chunks of data were security camera footage and imaged copies of computers and phones (and xboxes, drones or night vision cameras) seized by the police. A smaller part were data collected by external parties such as bank account details or phone logs.
3. Working structure
Before proceeding to extract this data, we decided to put an overall strategy in place. After some discussion, we discarded the option of loading the whole dataset into Aleph. We also rejected a plan to build a custom web application to let reporters search the file metadata. This was mainly in the interest of time: A simpler solution was needed.
Instead, we ended up creating a folder structure with three main sections: `original/` would contain a read-only copy of the files as received, while `work/` would contain a full copy of the data that we incrementally unpacked and cleaned.
A third folder, `desktop/`, would provide a landing page for reporters accessing the data. Here, our data reporter Ada Homolova would generate file system symlinks with speaking names (for example, `work/bravo/011/048/IMG.E01.unpacked` might be linked to `desktop/Suspect 1’s laptop`).
4. Where’s the meat?
The reporters in the project let us know that the contents of phones and computers were crucial to their investigation. So we set out to unpack the images so they could be browsed without additional tools.
The images were in two main formats: Cellebrite UDFR and EnCase Expert Witness Files (E01).
The images from Cellebrite, a tool used for data extraction from cell phones, proved a simple target: they were renamed .zip files. In each UDFR file, there would also be an XML manifest and a SQLite database that contained contacts, messages and other metadata from the phone. We couldn’t resist making a conversion tool that turns Cellebrite data into Aleph’s FollowTheMoney format.
But a larger part of the evidence consisted of about a hundred binary disk images in EnCase Expert Witness format. We ended up with a manual process for pulling the files out of each partition in the files, using the command-line `ewf-tools`
mkdir extracted mounted partitions ewfmount *.E01 partitions/ partx -av partitions/ewf1 mount /dev/loop{N}p{N} mounted rsync -r mounted/ extracted
We also found a significant number of .ISO files in the evidence, representing CD or DVD media. This script extracted all of them at once:
#!/bin/bash BASEPATH=$PWD TMPDIR=”$BASEPATH/__uniso”; find . -type f -name “*.iso” -print0 | while IFS= read -r -d ‘’ FILE; do rm -rf “$TMPDIR”; mkdir -p “$TMPDIR”; DESTFILE=”${FILE%.*}”; 7z x -o”$TMPDIR” “$FILE” && rm “$FILE” && mv “$TMPDIR” “$DESTFILE”; done
We repeated this process for UDFR and ZIP files.
5. Cleaning up house
At this point we had extracted most of the package formats in the investigation, but we were running out of disk space.
We decided to conduct another run of `hashdeep` to identify files that could be removed. This included all files with no content, very small image files (i.e. icons), and a large collection of pirated ’90s Hungarian made-for-TV movies (impressive mustaches).
We also decided to manually delete some specific files by name and extension:
find . -name desktop.ini -exec rm {} \; find . -name *.dll -exec rm {} \;
Taking this one step further, we decided to use the NIST Reference Data Set (RDS) hash list: a public list of every file known to be included in commercial software and operating systems that is published by American authorities.
While there is software available to apply such hash lists, we decided to use a PostgreSQL database to keep things simple:
# Download the hashes and load them all into a single table: pip install pgcsv pgcsv — encoding latin-1 — db postgresql://localhost/project hashes android/NSRLFile.txt pgcsv — encoding latin-1 — db postgresql://localhost/project hashes ios/NSRLFile.txt pgcsv — encoding latin-1 — db postgresql://localhost/project hashes rds/NSRLFile.txt # Load the hashdeep output after manually removing the hashdeep header and putting in CSV column headers: pgcsv — encoding latin-1 — delimiter “|” — db postgresql://localhost/project files hashdeep.out.psv
Some data prep allowed us to find all the deletable files using a simple JOIN statement:
— — De-dupe hashes: ALTER TABLE hashes ADD COLUMN id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY; DELETE FROM hashes a USING hashes b WHERE a.id < b.id AND a.sha_1 = b.sha_1; — — Convert hashes in hashdeep to uppercase: ALTER TABLE files ADD column sha1up TEXT; UPDATE files SET sha1up = UPPER(“sha1”); — — And then find the overlap: SELECT f.filepath FROM files f JOIN hashes h ON h.sha_1 = f.sha1up;
That list could finally be turned into deletion commands like this:
while IFS= read -r file ; do rm — “$file” ; done < delete.list
We also considered using `fdupes`, a command-line tool that deletes duplicate files from two folders. Eventually we decided against using `fdupes` on the police file because deduplication would have made information harder to find by navigating the folders. The following command has served us well with other document sets, though:
fdupes -r -m -S SOME/ OTHER/
Finally, the deletion process had left us with a number of empty directories that we could delete by running the following command a few times:
find . -type d -empty -delete
Data before cleaning
Data after unpacking and cleaning
6. Mapping the structure
The data was organized in a folder structure that didn’t reveal anything about the content. So as we were cleaning and unpacking, we were also going through the data, folder by folder, to identify the content. Many of the folders contained data from one of the suspects’ devices, so we noted their names and device type in a spreadsheet. Using the sheet, we finally created a new folder structure that identified the owner of each device. This allowed journalists to dig deeper into the aspects of the evidence they found most interesting.
7. Guessing a lot
Another line of work was a set of password-protected files in the evidence. Details of how we reverse-engineered some of these passwords exceed the scope of this post, but two things must be said: It’s nice to have GPUs; and the US prosecutors’ strategy of charging Julian Assange for attempting to crack a password will have chilling effects for journalists around the world.
8. Access room
While the work of cleaning the data and creating a meaningful index of the material was ongoing, we also needed to address another question: How are reporters going to access this material?
This discussion was dominated by concern that uncontrolled release of the material could infringe the privacy of those involved in the ongoing court case, and also threaten the case itself.
Eventually, we settled on the idea of a data access room (later dubbed “Kocner’s Library”). We discussed operating the room in Vienna, Prague, or on diplomatic grounds, but finally found a secure location in Bratislava.
Inside the room, we set up a group of journalist viewing stations based on Silverblue, an immutable Fedora-based Linux distribution. The stations are laptops that are physically stripped of wifi, bluetooth, and gsm cards, and have their USB ports disabled. A router connects them to a data server via a `wireguard`-based VPN, but does not allow access to the public internet. The viewing stations mount the evidence into their local file system using `sshfs`, which required a fair bit of tuning:
sshfs -o follow_symlinks -o idmap=user -o cache=yes,cache_timeout=3600 -o kernel_cache -o Compression=no -o ServerAliveCountMax=3 -o ServerAliveInterval=15 -o reconnect -f user@server:/ ~/Desktop/evidence
9. Guidance and take-out
Access to this room was offered to a group of select media organizations from Slovakia. Their reporters were welcomed by a “librarian,” a member of the OCCRP or ICJK teams who provided guidance on how to use the setup and allowed the journalists to take data out of the system for offline study.
Reporters could select a set of files into a “shopping cart” and then check them out via a special laptop held by the attendant that would copy them onto an encrypted USB drive.
This proved to be one of the most challenging aspects of the project to implement in practice, not least because of bugs in the VeraCrypt disk encryption utility. VeraCrypt also proved to be a bad home for large volumes of data in other parts of the project. Future OCCRP projects are going to favor operating system mechanisms like Linux’s LUKS or Apple’s APFS for larger datasets.
10. Collaboration
Alongside this access room, we also operated a secure Wiki that let people share their findings from the evidence, and we uploaded some curated subsets of the material into Aleph to make them searchable from any location.
A lot of the interesting data was in the form of instant messages from many sources: WhatsApp, Viber, Threema, SMS, and iMessage. In order to emulate the most natural way of reading a chat conversation, we exported these chats from the phones, and our member center investigace.cz created an offline chat viewer to read them in.
Smartphones created a lot of location data, but there wasn’t a way to view it without uploading it into a cloud. To prevent data breach, we built a simple, (nearly) offline map viewer. Data is stored locally, but the underlying map tiles are from an online source. Source on github.
People take pictures with their phones constantly. On some of the devices in the leaked data, we found folders with as many as 50,000 pictures. To filter out the screenshots and photos of documents we used this neural network. It does a great job in filtering out pictures of documents and screenshots from a folder of photos.
Conclusions
Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Doig once said, “Data journalism is social science on a deadline.” Many of the decisions we made in this project were owed to a need to make the most of a massive dataset in a short amount of time (ca. 6–8 weeks).
What allowed us to make good progress in that time frame was a commitment by OCCRP leadership to provide the necessary resources (a single set of the source drives required 4,500 euros worth of hardware). I’m not aware of any broadly available emergency funds that would provide support for projects like this.
In retrospect, we should have invested more time in identifying the most relevant sections of the dataset at the very beginning. The vastness of the material demanded a depth-first approach over a breadth-first processing of the whole archive.
However, this wasn’t easy: We didn’t start off with an index of what was in each device, and we had no idea what organizing principle police had applied to the drives.
Of course, the description of the project in this post is extremely limited: it doesn’t speak to any of the findings from the data, and it ignores the incredible ingenuity that the reporters on the project have shown in tackling parts of the data on their own. In an effort like this, everybody becomes a data wrangler.
What it makes clear, however, is that journalists — especially those involved in large-scale leaks — can learn a lot from the digital forensics community in law enforcement and the private sector about how to tap into corpora of valuable but chaotic evidence. | https://medium.com/occrp-unreported/how-to-eat-an-elephant-9da7e146e475 | ['The Occrp Team'] | 2020-09-30 13:49:15.749000+00:00 | ['Journalism', 'Bash', 'Tech', 'Data Journalism', 'Sql'] |
Long Lost Skills | A member of Mutrack and Inthentic. I lead, learn, and build with vision, love and care. https://piyorot.com
Follow | https://medium.com/people-development/long-lost-skills-a463234b1083 | [] | 2016-08-16 12:15:09.750000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Self Improvement', 'Life'] |
5 Historical Figures Who Died Following Their Crazy Principles | The Other Theorem of Pythagoras
Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash
Does that bowl of beans look scrumptious to you? It wouldn’t to the famous Pythagoras (think back to math class).
One of the tenets of his life was to never eat animals, fish — or beans as he considered them extremely unclean.
Towards the end of his life, Pythagoras ran a school of followers which might be considered a cult in today’s world. And just like many cult leaders, his teachings didn’t quite gel with everyone in society at the time.
His school was founded in the city of Croton and the townspeople generally loved him. That is until they decided they wanted to institute a form of democracy as a new basis of governing.
And Pythy was no fan of that.
The Crotonians turned on all of his followers and proceeded to murder most of them.
Just how Python died, in the end, is disputed. But one of the more interesting stories is that he fled the village and almost escaped with his life.
Until he came across a bean field — oh the terror.
Rather than violating his own teachings and coming in contact with the vile beanstalks, he decided to stop and stand in place. And was promptly murdered.² | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/5-historical-figures-who-died-following-their-crazy-principles-6cf368bd619c | ['J.J. Pryor'] | 2020-12-04 15:38:53.336000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Death', 'Lessons Learned', 'History', 'Politics'] |
Provide alternative ways, flexible education and training services to develop new and rapidly… | Provide alternative ways, flexible education and training services to develop new and rapidly changing skills needed for the 4th Industrial Revolution’s affected jobless employees.
Problem statement
In advancement of technologies, there are a vast amount of employees and worker are being jobless due to implementing the new technologies in industries and organizations. So there is need to find an alternative ways to give jobs to worker in spite to fire them and we should make a proper way to give proper counseling to workers to develop new and rapidly changing skills so they can engage with organizations and industries.
From first industrial revolution to now on 4th industrial revolution, Human force are reducing his potential to work in industries because their jobs is replaced with machines. So we have build a mechanism in which we can fit these fired labors.
There are a lot of examples in which we can see that a lot of workers are fired because their places are taken by machines and technologies. For example in Amazon, while implementing Artificial Intelligence Machines a huge amount of worker are fired but these are not provided with alternative job. A big strike is given by workers but did not given then importance.
If we look at services like uber or careem. However they have lot of benefits for us but on the hand this is also causes a trouble for normal car and riksha driver who are not aware of such technologies. So,there are lot of example in which by coming technology, causing unemployment of workers.
So, We have to figure out proper solution in which we can make a proper alternative for unemployed workers effected by technology and we also figure out how we can make proper guideline for counseling, educating and training services to develop new and rapidly changing skills needed for the 4th Industrial Revolution so they can get job back.
My Amal fellows Problem statements: | https://medium.com/@syed-qulzam164/provide-alternative-ways-flexible-education-and-training-services-to-develop-new-and-rapidly-48a1ef74c283 | ['Syed Qulzam Abbas'] | 2020-12-25 21:43:07.469000+00:00 | ['Amal Fellowship', 'Amal Academy', '164', 'Amal Mega Project'] |
What I Learned From My First Year Working Remotely | Almost a year ago, I started my journey working remotely when I accepted a marketing job offer from Northpass (an enterprise learning platform for modern teams — built for ease and flexibility.)
The opportunity to start doing everything I love to do from the comfort of my home. How could I say no?
I dove into remote work head first and haven’t turned back since.
As I’ve acclimated myself to this new phenomenon of working from wherever there’s an internet connection, I thought I’d share my thoughts on what I’ve learned so far.
Communication is Key
Collaborating on a project in Slack.
Having strong communication skills (particularly writing) have proven to be essential for success working remotely. The online relationship you have with your team is everything.
When you’re not able to walk over to someone’s desk and ask them a question, you need to find a way to accomplish the same task virtually.
This usually ends up being a quick Slack message or Zoom call, but regardless — you need to find a way to communicate with your team.
This can happen a few different ways:
Asynchronous communication
This is where the magic happens for most distributed teams (especially those spread across multiple time zones.) This type of communication is done without live conversations. Instead, it’s a back-and-forth exchange, which happens as each individual’s schedule allows.
For remote teams where almost all collaboration happens primarily online, asynchronous communication would most look like one person leaving a note in a messaging app or Google Doc, so their teammates can read, reply, and edit at their convenience. For that reason, this method is best used for issues or conversations that aren’t time-sensitive.
Some examples of asynchronous communication include — email, direct messaging (Slack), posting updates or issues on project management platforms (GitHub, Trello, Basecamp, Google Docs, etc.)
Synchronous communication
Synchronous communication is comprised of two or more people agreeing to communicate using the same method at the same time.
The original synchronous communication method was phone calls or talking in person, but modern technology has given us plenty of other options.
Synchronous communication is a good option when things need to happen more quickly, or when it’s important to ask questions and get immediate answers or enable participants to bounce ideas off each other and get active feedback.
Some examples of synchronous communication include — live chat (Slack), video calls or meetings (Zoom), online voice calls, phone calls.
See a list of online collaboration tools for remote workers from InVision.
Big Picture Items Call for In-Person Events
Team Northpass attempting an escape room as a team bonding exercise in Parsippany, NJ (Northpass HQ)
I know, I know, we’re talking about remote work, and I just said meeting in person is important. But let me let you in on a little secret… IT IS!
Let me lay it out for you this way. Collaborating online is very effective from an execution level, but from a strategy level — it’s hard to beat in-person events.
This is why we come together once a quarter to review our goals and plan for the next quarter. It’s incredibly refreshing to be able to do this in person, rather than through a doc.
The in-person even helps to:
Build team camaraderie
Meet new team members in person
Motivate employees
Relax and have some fun
(Even bigger remote teams like Buffer, HotJar, and Zapier do in-person events on a regular basis.)
After setting your high-level goals and ensuring everyone is on the same page, you can disburse and start executing.
The Pros and Cons of Isolation
My dog Pando and I hiking Sams Throne, AR.
Isolation is a new topic for me because I’ve always been surrounded by people. I’ve never really experienced long periods of physically being by myself.
After a few months of working remotely, I suddenly realized that I might go a week without leaving the house or talking to anyone in the real world.
This new habit sort of fell into place as I didn’t really need to leave my house anymore. Everything I needed to do, I could do from home.
My new realizations made me start to put in a conscious effort to not be so isolated. Human interaction is the ultimate form of empowerment.
To help combat this isolation, I got a dog named Pando (pictured above.) We hang out every day while I work.
I also made a self-promise to start hiking every weekend with friends to get out of the house.
(If I didn’t get out or have any human interaction, I’d spend my whole life trying to find creative ways to get more Bitcoin.) 😅
Living Your Own Life | Being The Best You
Me, my brother, and my cousin hiking Chimney Tops in the Smoky Mountains National Park.
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. — Friedrich Nietzsche
I thought it was pivotal to start this section with this quote because it’s just so damn important.
We all have our own ‘why’ in life, and everything we can do to be working toward that ‘why’ is where we find fulfillment.
Working remotely gives you the opportunity to have a flexible work life and concentrate on the things that are important to you.
Whether that’s family, travel, volunteering, etc. Working should provide you the means to focus on your ‘why’ not take it away from you.
If you want to find out more about this, I recommend reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
It’s Pretty Freakin Awesome | https://medium.com/hackernoon/what-i-learned-from-my-first-year-working-remotely-fc146c403a3f | ['Peter Schroeder'] | 2020-03-12 14:49:00.143000+00:00 | ['Workplace', 'Work', 'Office Culture', 'Work Life Balance', 'Remote Working'] |
Launching the Facebook Map | At Stamen, we specialize in cartography and data visualization, helping our clients to communicate with complex data. In particular, we’ve spent almost two decades designing and building interactive web maps using open source tools, such as our popular Watercolor map style using OpenStreetMap data. For the past year and a half, it’s been our privilege to work on one of our largest and most ambitious undertakings ever: collaborating closely with a team of Facebook engineers, designers, and data experts to roll out a global, multi-scale base map for all of Facebook’s billions of users. In late 2020, this map went live, and we’re extremely proud of the results.
A Global Base Map
Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to build communities and bring the world closer together. Across the Facebook platform, maps are essential to bringing people together and are used in a variety ways, including checking in at a favorite park, searching a local community for cat cafes, or sharing location with friends.
just a few of the various places maps are used across Facebook
The Facebook map is a social map first and foremost. It’s meant to give a general sense of location through the lens of your community. Neighborhoods, parks, and social places are emphasized over “traditional” features like road networks.
Working as an embedded team with Facebook engineers allows us to bring cartographic experiences to the process of serving and scaling vector maps globally. This dynamic environment enables us to collaborate on data, tooling, and code around the entire map generation pipeline.
Part of what makes the map special is the team’s emphasis on open data to power this map. The primary data behind this map comes from OpenStreetMap (OSM), an open-source, global database of geographic features, often called “the Wikipedia of maps”. Without OSM, building this map would have been nearly impossible. Facebook recognizes the importance of open geographic data, and has become a major supporter of the OSM project. Facebook teams enhance existing OpenStreetMap data with quality and consistency checks from the Daylight mapping program, and even the data that is generated by FB internally, such as the building and road data from the mapwith.ai team is available to the OSM community through the RapiD tool. In addition to OpenStreetMap, at lower zoom levels our map builds on the foundation of Natural Earth, another open source curated dataset by and for cartographers (supported by Stamen and others over the years).
As cartographers and engineers, we are able to quickly iterate on this data on a global scale through a daily vector tile build. This feeds into our design process, which involves styling this data into the base map you see across Facebook apps. Before the map is released to the public, we work with Facebook’s quality assurance teams to ensure the map is free of bugs, glitches, and other unsightly data issues. Every week, we take an internal snapshot of the map for QA, with the goal of rolling out an updated map to the public every month, after it has been thoroughly reviewed. | https://hi.stamen.com/launching-the-facebook-map-8d028c4f0e0e | ['Jonah Adkins'] | 2021-02-25 20:50:17.874000+00:00 | ['Facebook', 'Cartography', 'Maps', 'Design', 'Openstreetmap'] |
The Future of Data Science, Data Engineering, and Tech | The Future of Data Science, Data Engineering, and Tech
6 experts’ views on tech in 2021
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.
As 2020 comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on all the changes in technology as well as look to see where things are going.
Whether you are looking at startups and their IPOs, improvements in technology, or you paid attention to Amazon re:Invent, we saw a year filled with companies continuing to try to push boundaries.
A personal favorite announcement from 2020 was AWS’s SageMaker Data Wrangler that is designed to speed up data preparation for machine learning and AI applications. This seems like a great move towards having more fluid machine learning pipelines that will hopefully further make machine learning more accessible to companies not focused on tech.
But 2020 is ending, so we asked people from various parts of the tech world to provide their insights into what they were looking forward to in 2021 — whether that be new startups, technologies, or best practices.
Let’s see what they had to say. | https://medium.com/better-programming/the-future-of-data-science-data-engineering-and-tech-7f0a503745fd | [] | 2020-12-17 18:33:07.658000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Python3', 'Data Science', 'Programming'] |
What Is the Walrus Operator in Python? | Before and After: Implementing the Walrus Operator
Let’s take a look at a simple use case and how we can implement the walrus operator to improve the efficiency of our code.
We’re going to check the length of a given list and print an error message that includes the length.
my_list = [1,2,3,4,5] if len(my_list) > 3:
print(f"The list is too long with {len(my_list)} elements")
In case you’re unsure about the f before the string in the print statement, that’s called a format-string literal, f-string for short.
Now, the walrus operator will eliminate calling the len() function twice.
my_list = [1,2,3,4,5] if (n := len(my_list)) > 3:
print(f"The list is too long with {n} elements") | https://medium.com/better-programming/what-is-the-walrus-operator-in-python-5846eaeb9d95 | ['Jonathan Hsu'] | 2019-11-14 10:45:57.586000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Programming', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'Technology'] |
Unlocking the Power of Robotic Process Automation | We have witnessed a dramatic digital transformation where robots have restructured the way of doing tedious manual tasks. The software world is now adopting this through Robotic Process Automation or RPA.
What is “Robotic Process Automation” [RPA]?
In simple terms, RPA is a software technology that is a union of machine learning and artificial intelligence targeting automation of tedious — repetitive business tasks. Robotic automation processes enable an easier way to build, implement and manage software robots that form a part of the “digital workforce” that can communicate with any system or application.
Tagged benefits of Robotic Process Automation:
RPA offers to businesses much-needed cost savings, speed of processing, and even accuracy. These mainstream benefits of RPA change the dynamics of enterprise operations, thereby making it a focal point of a digital transformation journey. RPA results in a beneficial snowball effect across different businesses because of its remarkable offerings. These mainstream benefits of RPA change the dynamics of enterprise operations, thereby making it a focal point of several enterprises’ digital transformation journeys.
Productivity Booster:
The processes are executed quickly and with high precision. RPA portrays scalability by fulfilling the evolving requirements of businesses. With tasks being automated, employees can focus on strategic initiatives benefiting the organization.
Non-Invasive Technology:
In instances of continuing with legacy systems, RPA technology leverages the current systems. Automation of routine tasks is ensured along with the fundamental technology program being the same.
Compliance:
With RPA, there is minimal contact between employees and sensitive data and hence the chances of compliance issues are sidelined. It also helps in maintaining an audit trail history.
Exploring some popular Robotic Process Automation tools:
Having a watch for digitization, now the question is how do we embed robotic automation technology into our businesses? The answer lies within the different intelligent products that facilitate robotic process automation services.
Automation Anywhere is an innovative and robust RPA platform offering cloud-native, AI-driven, and web-based facilities for automation.
Differentiating factors :
i. Provides a developer-friendly work platform.
ii. IQ bot automatically categorizes, extracts, and authenticates data from documents and email threads.
iii. Offers web-based control room for hassle-free and systematic maintenance, scheduling, and execution of bots.
iv. Supports multi-user and multi-device features.
UiPath is an industry-popular automation suite platform offering end-to-end automation solutions for business transformations.
Differentiating factors :
i. Facilitates both attended (initiated by user actions) and unattended (executed on defined schedules or provoked by logic in the process flow) automation.
ii. 300+ built-in automation modules aiding extensive automation solutions.
iii. Provides a user-friendly dashboard with an easy drag and drop feature.
iv. Supports browser and mobile accessibility.
Microsoft Power Platform is a constructive set of applications that empower business intelligence, process automation, data analytics, and virtual agents.
Differentiating factors :
i. Offers an ‘enterprise-grade’ platform making business process management easy.
ii. Furnishes a code-free platform making it friendly for non-tech users.
iii. It is a single suite catering to robust analysis, progress, design, and automation. This rules out the need for 3rd party dependencies.
iv. Apps on Power Platform can be used on any device ensuring device compatibility and remote working.
v. Equipped with Office 365 integration facilitating seamless data management and daily business process.
Appian is a versatile company offering PaaS [platform as a service] for developing applications & workflows. Appian RPA is an attribute of the Appian platform used for automating repetitive and rules-oriented processes.
Differentiating factors :
i. Allows quick BOT building & execution with the help of built-in design tools and reliable cloud domain.
ii. Provides both Windows & Linux environments for automation deployment resulting in efficiency surge.
iii. Supports dynamic case management, ad-hoc actions, no-code policy, and AI, thereby easing complex process automation.
Why choose Codenatives?
We at Codenatives believe that adopting RPA into business operations will result in boundless growth. Investments in automation tools become worthy only when handled by a superlative team in this domain. Codenatives RPA experts are certified in the leading RPA platforms. In addition, Codenatives is also IBM certified partners with certified RPA specialists in IBM Platform offerings. We have helped customers across different business areas in scaling up their automation, developing & maintaining existing BOTs in RPA platforms, offer RPA and AI tool recommendations based on business requirement evaluation, hence delivering optimal solutions.
Codenatives Data & AI team has a history of empowering business intelligence through improved data visualizations, data warehousing, governance, and its quality, better enterprise reporting, performance dashboards, and self-service reporting and analytics (Adhoc) in 50+ project engagements since 2020. We also provide high-grade training in robotic process automation tools to build a proficient skill pool for providing RPA services and solutions. RPA professionals at Codenatives have expertise in several robotic automation software and have helped customers across multiple domains.
We have recently helped automate mundane processes such as insurance claim processing, billing, consolidating data from different sources, report generation, and auditing with insurance. We also handled virtual assistance and integration with their enterprise tools.
Now, many organizations are driving towards digital transformation and adopting robotic process automation for its unlimited benefits. There is a want for a technology that can take automation across all business areas and guarantee success in the long run. Codenatives stand by the side of their customers in supporting and discovering excellent automation opportunities and managing automated workflows.
Explore. Accelerate. Optimize
https://codenatives.com/unlocking-the-power-of-robotic-process-automation/ | https://medium.com/@codenativesseous/unlocking-the-power-of-robotic-process-automation-d32941b92887 | [] | 2021-12-22 13:28:22.154000+00:00 | ['It', 'India', 'Chennai', 'Software Development', 'USA'] |
The Mess in the Middle | (image credit, Purple Milk Cap. Patricia Anne, 2020)
Tension is a creative force and life moves forward only in tension. This always feels uncomfortable. As a writing teacher I used this trope continually. I would say oh my students you are so uncomfortable. This is excellent. Now you grow. You walk out on that limb. You be brave. Let’s see what you can do there. I say don’t hold on. Just walk out there. Now move! And they did.
It was never lost on me that I encouraged the very things in my students that I could not do myself. How strange this is I thought. I am such an imposter but look at them grow. They are so shiny. They said ouch ouch ouch. We are brave. We are flying. This lasted some months and then it was over. When it was over some of my students said more please my teacher and I said yes you. You will come and work with me and we will continue this dialogue. Those were the best years of my professional life.
I want to talk about tension as the creative process, polarity, and the mess in the middle. We won’t ever be comfortable with this. That’s part of the point. At this juncture we must release our relationship with the binary. This is not the good or the bad. It just is. Sit with that. Feel the cognitive dissonance. The burning sensation in the front of your brain is your release. Out beyond ideas of rightness and wrongness there is a field. I will meet you there. Rumi’s field. This is where the magic happens and it is a magic multiplicity that arrives in all forms, high and low, large and small.
As above, so below. Let’s revisit this. The Hermeneutic Principle is that we exist in a world of duality yet this is illusion only. Duality exists only as a matter of the mind. To wit: we create it. When information comes to us as insight or inspiration, it is channeled through the mind and bifurcated. We split it as a matter of consciousness. This is the way we, as human consciousness beings, make ‘sense’ of that material that comes to us from the Divine. Of course this is absolutely corrupting and corrosive. The degree to which this corrosion happens or does not happen dictates the clarity of the thought and the purity of the vision.
When a human being is closed, or as the common parlance posits — sleeping or ‘not woke’ — inspiration from the Divine is not received. This is the blocking of the higher self, the blocking of spiritual guidance. Humans are ‘closed’ for many reasons. Chief among these is the matter of ego dominance. Ego dominance is a condition in which external information is privileged and favored over inner wisdom or guidance from the higher mind. This external information is received as programmes of thinking, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. This information is received and reified by the receiver. It is accepted as ‘self.’ Now these programmes can be positive — productive and generative in relation to the external world and its expectations — or these programs can be negative — deleterious and damaging — and of course all the markers in between these two poles.
All human beings run the continuum between being open and being closed. You can be a little open or a lot closed. It is a matter of personal and spiritual growth. You can be closed your whole life. Many people are. They can have fine, rich, and noble lives. This is not a binary. We are in Rumi’s field. Closed people are not bad. They are just closed. This is a description not a judgement. A critical distinction. Our penchant for binary thinking is so entrenched that I can make a descriptive statement like this and it will be received as a judgement. We must be vigilant against this.
Now the mess in the middle is the tension between open and closed. Closed is on the left and open is on the right. When you are very closed, you are in a state of stasis. It can be extremely comfortable there. It’s attraction is so magnetic. When you begin to nudge towards the right off this magnetic field, dissociation and discomfort set it. This feels alarming. We run back towards the pole of closed-mindedness. Why wouldn’t we? I wrote about this in Heal. I wrote retreat retreat retreat this feels terrible. Not these words but this was my communication. I said we are all busy with important and stressful lives. New ideas are bothersome things. We absolutely will reject them unless we are hogtied feet to the fire.
I was hogtied feet to the fire. Reader I was progressively ill for a decade. Over that decade I lost every marker of my external reality. I became not me. Not me anymore. Nobody. I sat frozen in that morass for five years. Five years of mostly still and silent hell sitting on my couch or lying in my bed. I had some reprieve from time to time and my family was not taken from me but other than that I was entirely stripped of my external lendings — off off you lendings. This is from King Lear on the Heath. Here we are at the lowest common denominator of ourselves, stripped of all our programmes, naked in a raging storm, alone, blinded, the unaccommodated man. Thou art the thing itself. See better, Lear.
Now I can only wonder why these lines, this play, would impact me so profoundly as a young woman barely out of her teens. I rarely taught Shakespeare as an English teacher and my reading of Lear was limited to an undergraduate class so why? Why these lines permanently engraved, so extraordinarily alive in full scenic regalia in my mind? I think because . . . now. That’s what I think.
This is a fine example of the mess in the middle too. It’s a big long extended metaphor, isn’t it? Wait for it, it says. This show is to be continued and we absolutely love this show. Or we should. But a life lived in a state of permanent unknowing anticipation of meaningfulness is challenging indeed. We want to know. We want surety. I get that too. What I think is that the creative tension allows for that too. It allows for both unknowing and knowing. It allows us to plan and dream and scheme and it also says be here, right here, be present now. Don’t think. Let go. Dream. Plan your future. Be certain. Don’t you even. Both of these things. Non-binary. We can hold both of these in our minds at the same time, parallel tracks. | https://medium.com/@parkgables63/the-mess-in-the-middle-a3158a137efa | ['Patricia Anne'] | 2021-09-04 16:34:44.757000+00:00 | ['Spirituality', 'Ascension', 'Manifestation', 'Spiritual Growth', 'Healing From Trauma'] |
Mayor Pete and the Value of Big Ideas | Mayor Pete Buttigieg
The most significant line of the last Democratic debate came from Pete Buttigieg. The discussion was focused on Elizabeth Warren’s ambitious Wealth Tax when the Mayor from Indiana chimed in.
“Right now I think we’re being offered a false choice. You either have to go all the way to the extreme, or its business as usual…I’ve proposed that we make college free for 80% of Americans. But it doesn’t have to be free for the top. If you’re in that top 10%, how about you pay your own tuition, and you save those dollars for something else. That we could spend [those dollars in areas] that would make a big difference, whether it’s infrastructure, child care, housing, health. On issue after issue, we gotta break out of the Washington mindset, that measures the bigness of an idea by how many trillions of dollars it adds to the budget, or the boldness of an idea by how many fellow Americans it can antagonized.”
What Buttigieg is highlighting is the true difference between the candidates in this Democratic debate. Democrats agree that there should be greater access to affordable education, to health care, and that climate change must be fought. But the question is how. How do we go about making change, and how do we explain that change to Americans?
I think there’s a lot to worry about with Buttigieg’s approach.
The Politics & Policy
There are two potential problems with Buttigieg’s approach to political challenges, and both these problems can be addressed by looking at the education plan he mentioned at the debate.
I’ve proposed that we make college free for 80% of Americans. But it doesn’t have to be free for the top. If you’re in that top 10%, how about you pay your own tuition, and you [taxpayers] save those dollars for something else.
Right off the bat, remember that later in this same quote Buttigieg criticizes the notion that we measure “the boldness of an idea by how many fellow Americans it can antagonize.” And yet, his 80/20 plan splits the country in two groups by design. The plan then says to the wealthier 20%, ‘even though you pay taxes like the rest of the country, your children are not going to be eligible.’
It’s worth reminding ourselves that throughout American history the most popular programs have been close to universally universal. Medicare, Social Security, and even national security decisions have all received tremendous support, in part, because there was this idea that the government was doing something for everyone–as opposed to taking money or opportunity from one group of people and giving it to another group.
By making a program universal, rather than trying to tinker at the margins of some financial cutoff like Buttigieg, you are able to make one of the most powerful political messages of all: this is for everyone.
The High Administrative Costs of Reasonable Plans
Let’s go back to another one of Buttigieg’s argument for his 80/20 education plan. That is, if you don’t spend the extra money on that last 20% of American’s tuition, then you will have more money for “infrastructure, child care, housing, health” or some other priority. But there is reason to believe that an 80/20 plan would be just as expensive or even more expensive than universal plans.
Think of it this way. If the government is going to say that people in the bottom 80% of Americans do get free tuition, but that those in the 81st percentile don’t get free tuition–whose job is it to determine whether a student is on one side of the fence or the other?
By creating this 80/20 split, you’re requiring there to be a new fleet of government workers whose job it is to police this split. Their job would probably require the handling of tax returns and financial records, making sure families right on the edge between these two figures aren’t underreporting their income and assets. There would also need to be manpower handling situations in which a student whose family was above the threshold one semester suddenly drops well below the threshold the next. We could go on, but the point is that administrative costs in these types of programs sky rocket because you need additional workers to take the effort of sorting Americans across financial groups.
Sadly, in an attempt to make a program seemingly more practical or moderate, you’re creating a scenario where the government has to go through the costly process of nickel and diming Americans.
Now look at this policy from the perspective of the schools themselves. By saying universally that public tuition at colleges is paid for, you’re able to drastically downsize the size and cost of Financial Aid offices inside universities across the country. But, if you say that for a whole 20% chunk of students, tuition still needs to be processed and paid for, then these Financial Aid departments have to remain mostly intact. This is a wasted opportunity for a trimming down of public university administration, which could allow for the hiring of more teachers.
U.S. Healthcare is split up into an expensive, messy pile from roughly 24 sources. Image Source.
Next, ask yourself what happens when a Republican administration returns into power after a President Buttigieg. Much like the recent efforts to bring work-requirements into Medicaid eligibility, it is easy to imagine a Republican-led government working to make it increasingly difficult for students and universities to qualify for their free tuition. This problem doesn’t exist under a universal system because everyone is eligible for higher education, and nothing other than a very unpopular congressional legislation would be able to change that.
This administrative cost issue isn’t just a problem with higher education. One of the reasons conservative estimates for healthcare suggest Medicare-for-all could cover more Americans at the same total cost is that administrative costs would go down substantially. Currently, America’s healthcare system is a clunky compilation of employer-based plans, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act plans, uninsured people going to the hospital, and so on. But if everyone is on the same healthcare plan, hospitals don’t have to waste precious time wading through a mess of paperworks, insurance contacts, and non-paying patients. Under a universal health care system, things aren’t perfect, but they are a lot simpler and cheaper.
[Note: it was worth taking that brief digression into healthcare because, as Buttigieg mentioned in the debate, he believes in his strategy “on issue after issue.”] | https://medium.com/politics-unusual/mayor-pete-and-the-value-of-big-ideas-ff0037c982b2 | ['Alexis Romero'] | 2019-12-21 07:20:16.531000+00:00 | ['Philosophy', 'Politics', 'Bernie Sanders', 'Education', 'Democracy'] |
Simulating Bird Flocks —Emergent Behaviour | This article is also available here.
If you’re interested in: simulations 🖥, how the universe works 💫, how an ant colony manages to gather 125kg of food a day 🐜, how bird flocks emerge 🦅, then natural systems modelling may be the topic for you.
One example of natural systems are bird flocks. Simulating a flock of birds is surprisingly simple. There are 3 basic rules:
Cohesion : Birds will try to move towards other birds
: Birds will try to move towards other birds Separation : Birds will try to avoid crashing into other birds
: Birds will try to avoid crashing into other birds Alignment: Birds will try to move in the same direction as other birds
Using these three simple rules, we can create impressively life-like simulations.
Boids algorithm example
The three rules mentioned above is known as the Boids algorithm, which was originally developed by Craig Reynolds in the 80’s and has been implemented countless times. From Wikipedia boid is defined as:
The name “boid” corresponds to a shortened version of “bird-oid object”, which refers to a bird-like object. “boid” is also a New York Metropolitan dialect pronunciation for “bird”.
This article is yet another tutorial on the amazing phenomena of emergent behavior based on simple rules.
1. Basic structure
I made a lightweight “rendering engine” for TypeScript that allows me to quickly prototype animations using the HTML5 Canvas. View it on Github. This is what I will be using here.
Let’s create our boids class which will hold our rendering engine, and all the birds tracked by the system.
In our constructor, we first define the canvas where the birds will be rendered with the call to “new RenderingLayer()”.
We then add a few hundred birds to simulate. These birds will first start at random locations on the screen.
We can then start the rendering by calling the start method on the engine.
1.1 Basic Bird Class
Each bird has a position, velocity and acceleration vector. Just as we’ve learnt in physics, position is calculated from velocity, which in turn is calculated by the accelerations. Acceleration is found by the following equation:
Force = Mass*Acceleration therefore Acceleration= Force/Mass. In a universe where there is no mass (our simulation), then Acceleration = Force.
The velocity here is initially given based on a random initial angle. The X component of our velocity vector can be found using the cosine of our angle, whilst the Y component can be found using the sine.
However since this is graphics based mathematics, angles are not given in degrees, they are instead in radians.
Therefore, we must convert our random 0–360° into radians.
We then normalize this vector so it is of length one. This is important, because without this, birds going at 45° angles will be displaced further than birds going at a 90°. (Hint: a²+b² = c²). However this unit vector means birds will travel 1 pixel, every 16ms (1000ms / 60fps = 16ms per frame). Let’s change that by multiplying by the bird speed. This will result in a velocity of: 100px per 1000ms. Or 100px/second.
To render the bird, we can simply attach a render function to our bird.
Since we want our bird to have an orientation based on their velocity, we must rotate the canvas, then draw the bird, then undo the rotation so that the next bird can be rendered properly.
Here a bird is represented by a simple triangle.
I opt to rotate by the opposite values instead of saving canvas states and restore canvas for performance.
We end up with a decently interesting random mess already:
Random bird placement
1.2 Adding velocity!
By using the engine, we can add velocity with ease. We add an update function (which is an optional method on the IEntity interface) and take into account the time since the last render to get a fluid movement. Using deltaTime is useful for framerates that may not be constant (i.e. going from 30fps to 60fps would calculate position badly).
The checkBoundary() function simply wraps the bird around to the opposite side of the screen.
Adding velocity to position
To get the position, we use the velocity and multiply by the amount of time this velocity was maintained. In this case, the velocity will be maintained for roughly 16ms, going at 100px/s the boid will have moved 1.6px.
Random movement of boids
And with this, we are now ready to change their behavior!
2. Implementing Boid Rules
In my implementation, performance is a big factor, especially because it is ran in JavaScript (we all know it isn’t very performant…).
The pseudo-code for Boids algorithm is originally of O(rN²) where r is the amount of rules, in this case 3. I opted to increase performance by removing consecutive inner loops. This is done with accumulators, they add up the values of each boid, before being calculated. This reduces the complexity to O(N²).
A new function to perform all maneuvers will help separate our code out:
Each frame the rule accumulators are reset, and re-calculated. The acceleration is defined as the sum of all boid rules.
Birds can only see other birds if they are close by as birds are not omnipotent.
The velocity is then calculated from the acceleration.
Setting the magnitude of our velocity to the maximum bird speed will ensure that the birds don’t end up going the speed of light ⚡.
2.1 Cohesion
Cohesion says that birds will try to move towards the center mass of nearby birds. This can be done by adding the position of nearby birds together and then finding the distance from the current bird’s position.
The position of the nearby birds are accumulated by summing their positions.
And then the rule is performed by dividing by the amount of birds seen, and finding the distance between the current bird and the center of mass.
A constant can be used to resist this cohesion force.
Resulting in a pretty satisfying animation already.
Boids cohesion rule
However there is one problem… all the birds just collide together and will form a single dot. This is where the 2nd rule comes in…
2.2 Separation
Separation fixes the problem that cohesion brings, it isn’t very natural for birds to just collide together and not to drop out of sky 💀. A new rule — separation — is created to keep birds a certain distance away from other birds.
In this case, we accumulate the distance between two birds (if they’re within separation distance).
We can add this value directly to velocity to get the separation factor.
Boids separation rule + cohesion
2.3 Alignment
Although we fixed the problem with cohesion by adding the separation rule, a new problem can be seen… The birds will just coalesce into a ball, and end up canceling the movement out. To fix this, we can add a new force aligning birds in the average direction of movement.
Alignment is defined as taking the average velocities of the nearby birds, and subtracting our velocity from this average.
The bird alignment eagerness constant is a meta variable allowing us to change the behavior of the flock from a constants file.
And there we have it. Add the three rules together… Change values for some meta variables… and we get flock simulation.
Boids alignment rule + separation + cohesion
3. Extras
Original research by Craig Reynolds — http://www.red3d.com/cwr/boids/
Further improvement ideas:
Hunger, exhaustion, maximum velocity change (before death), age; Predators, Mating, different rule weights based on behavior; Genetic algorithm! NEAT?;
I wanted to add a nice background for the birds, so I made one using Perlin noise.
Boids source code on Github — demo
TypeScript Render Engine on Github | https://medium.com/osedea/boids-e98093b3b4fe | ['Zack Therrien'] | 2020-10-12 00:42:45.376000+00:00 | ['Boids', 'Algorithms', 'Simulation', 'Physics'] |
With The Right Question, We Can Find The Answer to How We Want To Live Our Lives. | With The Right Question, We Can Find The Answer to How We Want To Live Our Lives.
Photo by Cherry Laithang on Unsplash
“Have you decided how you want to live?” It’s not what you will do for a living, but your holistic approach to life in general.
Late at night, I think it was around 2 A.M. I was laying down about to end my day, while I unanticipatedly had a crystal clear answer of how I want to live my life from now on.
Because of the plenty of time I have at the moment during the pandemic, the only activity I diligently do is Yoga to keep my body and mind healthy. At the Yoga class, I’ve met people who have become a parent and surely have more life experiences than me. The life stories they shared got me thinking “Is that how they want to live their lives?” Is that the path they had chosen? As a housewife, as a Yoga teacher, as a single mother, as a bachelor. | https://medium.com/illumination/with-the-right-question-we-can-find-the-answer-to-how-we-want-to-live-our-lives-a4fe5a11f288 | ['Andriani Carolina'] | 2020-12-02 13:39:41.889000+00:00 | ['Questions', 'Development', 'Survival', 'Life Hacking', 'Thoughts And Feelings'] |
Revolt of the Public: A Reconsideration and George Floyd | Revolt of the Public: A Reconsideration and George Floyd
Martin Gurri’s book now looks prophetic. It can teach us about the present crisis
In 2014, Martin Gurri published Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millenium. Gurri, a former CIA analyst, argues that the Internet did more than just enable new voices to be heard. He argued that it fractured any common notion of the public and dissipated authority. It was a brilliant book with exquisite timing. In 2014, most people still thought the Internet was primarily a tool for a certain type of protest: progressive and giving a voice to the unheard. Just a year later everything would change, starting with ISIS and barreling into Brexit and the Trumpocalypse.
It’s now 2020, and six years later we have a mountain of evidence, years of discourse with Gurri, and now a wave of protests following the murder of George Floyd. Gurri is now considered prescient and his thoughts have percolated throughout the ecosystem (supposedly, even Mark Zuckerberg has read it). Lots of people are now writing long-belated reviews, but now is time for something different: a retrospective, and a discussion of how we can move forward to make real change.
Uncertainty, institutions, and control
Revolt of the Public’s key argument is that the Internet has caused the public to revolt against elites, and the key lever of this loss of control is uncertainty. The Internet allows anyone to broadcast their thoughts and facts. This destroys the monopoly that the elites have on information, which means that sometimes they’re drowned out and sometimes, inevitably, they are shown to be wrong. The deluge of information provides some morsel of truth to support any possible position, making any side seem at least somewhat credible to someone. This creates uncertainty in what the truth is, which means that the elites can no longer persuade the masses, losing their only real method of control. Ironically, this uncertainty breeds certainty — certainty, among the public, that the elites are conspiring against them, that their mistakes are in fact calculated deceits, that there is a pattern of self-serving bribery. Gurri says that they’re right and that the ruling class never really trusted a public they think of as animalistic; all that’s changed is that this distrust is now returned in kind.
Revolt of the Public is most interesting in that it accepts the main tenants of Internet evangelists but turns them on their head by arguing that there are unintuitive implications. Techies have long talked about how the Internet “helps you find your tribe.” Revolt says “yes!” and then goes one step further, arguing that this means that there is no longer a single public but groups organized around “vital interests.”
Gurri’s insight is similar to the model of “stochastic terrorism,” first developed by Gordon Woo in 2002, where terrorist organizations put out messages in the hopes of radicalizing lone wolf attackers whom they will never meet or even communicate with. This is a distinctly Internet-driven phenomenon, it’s the method used most notably by Isis, which might be the only terrorist group in history to publish a high-gloss magazine, Dabiq, and put out ads for photographers. But it is also the strategy used by protest movements like Occupy Wall Street. Even some of the largest movements of the past few years, like Black Lives Matter or the Women’s March, aren’t exactly stochastic — they have leadership and 503(c)(3)s that accept donations — but they primarily serve to send out beacons to their supporters, not to push actual policies.
Due to this uncertainty, and the decentralized nature of the Internet, Revolt argues that these new movements are of a new kind. They are leaderless, they arise organically, and their demands are not very specific. Revolt of the Public deftly finds this common thread across many movements, from the indignados of Spain to the Arab Spring in Egypt. One great strength of Revolt of the Public is that Gurri supports these claims not by citing analysts but by quoting the movements in their own words. One weakness: Asian movements are notably absent from Revolt of the Public, partly because Gurri was not at an Asia desk, but I think it is also because Asian movements like the umbrella movement in Hong Kong don’t fully fit his model. They have leaders and specific requests despite being born on the Internet.
The most interesting, and distressing, example in Revolt of the Public is the Israel Summer of 2011. Young Israeli professionals protested throughout the country by setting up tents, focusing mostly on the rising cost of living in major metro areas, including food, healthcare, and rent. The movement was triggered by a single person, Daphni Leef, and their rhetoric reflected a greater desire to throw off the established order than to solve any particular problem. Most notably, Prime Minister Netanyahu established a commission that proposed concrete solutions to the stated problems, but the so-called “tent people” refused to engage and shifted their demands. In Gurri’s words, the tent people “weren’t prepared to declare victory on any terms.”
Shouting into the void
Paradoxically, elites now have more and less control than ever. They can’t stop uprisings, and they’re more destructive than ever, but there are also fewer threats to their actual control since movements are now neutered. Modern decentralized movements grow extremely quickly, which makes them impossible to contain, but in doing so they suck out the air for more organized, operational movements, killing them in the crib. With no leaders and no clear goals, decentralized movements also flame out more quickly, living in the ether of the Internet without much concrete change from elites. Gurri accuses contemporary movements of nihilism, not powerlessness. Yet in Egypt, the military is still in charge.
One inescapable curiosity of social media is that its most popular accounts and tweets are from establishment figures. According to Crowdtangle, the top 10 most popular stories on Facebook are almost always from well-known political entities who made their names outside of the Internet, like Franklin Graham and Ben Shapiro, or pre-existing institutions, like Fox News. Look at the Twitter accounts with the most follows and you’ll see politicians and a parade of celebrities — only one of whom, Justin Bieber, rose through the Internet (specifically, YouTube) and not the Hollywood machine. And those who truly dominate get absorbed by the existing masters instead of replacing them as their YouTube channels get bought, as with YouTube buying Pewdiepie’s production company. “We used to just have three channels” is a meme now, but when the new Walter Cronkites are still in business and are the most shared content creators on platforms allegedly composed primarily of user generated content, the old way isn’t exactly dead.
There is a difference between original content and responsive content. Original content is a video on YouTube; responsive content is the comments. There are two main differences between the media landscape of old and now. The first difference is the dramatic change in the cost and reduction of original content. This is the focus of Gurri and much of the existing discourse on the Internet. It’s true and important, but it’s not the whole story. The second difference is the creation of responsive content. Unlike original content, responsive content was created by the Internet out of whole cloth. And here’s what’s critical: everyone can hear them. That includes the other commenters and the content creators themselves.
There is indeed no more central, authoritative voice, but it is primarily not because it’s cheaper to create a competitor but because the Cronkites of today can hear their listeners talking back. The guy watching football on TV and yelling at the ref, who can’t hear him, is a comedic trope. But football would be different if the refs could hear twenty million fans yelling at them. We’re now living in the world where they can hear everyone, including every fan at home with a beer. Influencers are aware of this, and agitators like Sean McElwee have openly explained that they campaign on Twitter not to convince their fellow citizens but to influence the elite in politics and media who now take their cues from the online world. The elite response is to either be overresponsive or further insulated.
The free flow of information allows the public to see an unvarnished truth, which means a lack of control over claims to perfection; since all progress is messy, the fear is that the public never stops revolting. Yet, the free flow of information is also the cure to the public’s rage. Since imperfections are public, real progress is public too. Because the Internet is decentralized, policymakers can hear from every constituency, not just the ones with lobbyists. So instead of promising the sun, the moon, and the stars, real movements can move forward by promising progress.
The feeling of failure
Gurri goes out of his way, both in the book and in later responsive follow-ups, to argue that no tangible policies by the elite can quell the public, but Gurri seems to talk himself in a circle. Gurri acknowledges that the US government built the highway systems, and that it has been a great achievement, but then says no one believes the government can build them today, and even if it could that wouldn’t quell some subjective notion of discontent. Well, which is it — are the people angry because they don’t care about highways or because they’re crumbling and nothing is being done?
I contend that it’s the latter. We see this time and again in the US. The murder of George Floyd is so angering because, five years after a similar police murder of Eric Garner, nothing has changed. Indeed, Gurri describes the public’s revolt as ephemeral, with the main constant being rage at perceived corruption. For this reason, in the book and subsequent talks, the main remedy Gurri talks about is flattening government to bring it closer to the public. But the most consequential protests over the last few years have actually hewed to consistent themes — in the case of Black Lives Matter, even with the same slogans. If they’re of the Internet, how have they lasted so long? And how have they had such longevity with so little impact?
The problem is that Gurri describes these convulsions as “movements of revolt,” but they’re not movements — just revolts. As an example, take Greta Thunberg. Greta took the world by storm, but really, what was her message? It was mass outrage about climate change, not a set of policies. In 1964, those who were angry about racism attended a Million Man March in support of specific legislation, with leaders who could control the crowds. One of the reasons Congressional leaders were willing to negotiate with a Martin Luther King was that there was an implicit trade: if they gave him what he wanted, they could make the protests go away. Greta’s day of rage was larger, but it was also dramatically less impactful. There are no policies to support. Even policies inspired by her movement, like the Green New Deal, aren’t serious — its proponents say the GND is just there to expand the Overton Window, a declaration of values with no hope of practical impact. There is nothing that Greta offers for which she is willing to trade. It’s not even clear what she can offer since decentralized organizing means a new leader can take her place with new protests tomorrow. Instead, what we get is a primal scream.
Notably, there has been a successful Western movement birthed from the Internet: the global populist movement, or the “reocons.” Gurri’s analysis of Brexit and the Trumpocalypse in the second edition seems to confuse coalition-building with disorder. The global populist rebellion started as an online evolution of the Tea Party and has a mix of beliefs, but it is not incoherent. Go to the National Conservatism Conference and you’ll see a real movement with a distinct ideology, focused on reducing openness in general. That it is chaotic and devoid of facts reflects the low quality of the ideology, not a paucity of guiding principles; the fact that it has institutions doesn’t mean that it isn’t a revolt, just that it has evolved into a movement. Real movements co-opt and dilute by forming coalitions to not only obtain but also exercise power. What is so fascinating about Internet movements like Greta’s is that she has emerged as a recognized leader and could choose to do the same as the reocons by assuming control and evolving the movement to be as effective and developed as the reocons— yet she doesn’t. I’m reminded as well of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which started with 10 vague “demands” that quickly became a much longer list, many of which had nothing to do with the financial crisis.
Perhaps this is why the public keeps revolting. With a lack of a monopoly of information, leaders can rise to prominence purely by tearing down without building, and then they never get the chance to pivot to progress because they can’t control the information stream either so they have to keep bleating to fend off competitors. This means that the problems go unaddressed despite their being raised, causing persistent pain: as John F. Kennedy explained in his 1963 United Nations address, “peace cannot come without work and without progress.”
George Floyd, justice, and the moment
The George Floyd protests, so far, have followed the Revolt playbook. Like most other protests these days, these too are products of the Internet. They began because someone posted a video of his murder on Facebook. It was shared. People, on their own and congregating on the Internet, decided to protest. Those protests were tweeted, it has now spread throughout the United States without anyone ever organizing the successors. To make progress, in the immortal words of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, requires turning a moment into a movement.
There is a deep sense of pain and corruption. Why shouldn’t there be? The murder was captured on video, clear as day. Yet, the official autopsy report laughably concluded that he died of a drug-induced heart attack. It took days of riots for the officer to be arrested and an independent autopsy to state the obvious conclusion that he had died from asphyxiation. And once the officer was even charged, it was for third-degree murder, a charge so light that only five states have it on their books. This isn’t just imperfection or the curse of rising expectations; the George Floyd murder goes against everything Americans have been brought up to believe makes for a just government.
Revolt of the Public is not anti-institution. In fact, it reads like a lament, since Gurri takes the position of the Chicago Bulls’s Jerry Krause: what lasts is groups, not individuals. Compare:
“ Lasting authority resides in institutions rather than in the persons who act and speak on their behalf.” “Players and coaches alone don’t win championships, organizations do.”
Movements have several ingredients. They require actual leaders; the legitimacy to negotiate; specific sets of policies; some set of principles; and of course, critical mass. The various groups in Revolt of the Public affect change, but not progress, since all they have attained is critical mass without any of the other factors. The reason there is so much rage is that the public’s critical mass demands legitimacy, but is not channeled to the means that would operationalize it. That gap is bridged by professionalization, and to retain acceptable authority in an age of spontaneous revolt requires a new kind of professional class that is fast, responsive, composed of people from the revolt, and not filled with layers of bureaucracy.
The question, then, is how to turn decentralized convulsions into real movements. To move forward, we need three things.
First, the public needs leaders. Critical mass converts into movements when there are leaders who can communicate and negotiate specific demands. Modern decentralized movements do choose leaders. José Ortega y Gasset argued that these leaders are naturally “selected.” This is especially true in a world of decentralized movements where leaders must compete with other claimants to the throne. What we need to do, once such people are selected, is support their authority to deal.
Second, the public needs policies. Real, practical changes. Policies are more than just ideas. They are model codes, think tanks, legislation, executive action. They must be backed by evidence that they solve the problems at hand, which are real and material, to give the public confidence and to maximize the chance of impact. This looks more like Campaign Zero than Black Lives Matter. There are real bills being put out now, like Justin Amash’s bill to end qualified immunity, Rand Paul’s anti-chokehold bill, the federal anti-lynching bill, Brian Schatz’s bill ending 1033 sales, and a host of other reform bills. The movement needs to coalesce around these and other actual, tangible items, not just principles.
Third, the public needs to act. A movement requires its leaders to take the levers of power. This both means changing the balance of power in the halls of power, which means replacing at least some officials — As Eric Weinstein observed, “the Boomers redefined jobs as needing exactly as much experience as they had at any given moment” — and using those new members to work with the remaining officials. So, vote, run for office, donate, and build. And, unlike the tent people, be willing and ready to win.
We need a middle
Revolt of the Public ends with this: institutions get legitimacy from stories.
Every great institution is justified by a story. That story connects the institution to higher political ideals and ultimately to the moral order of the world. It persuades ordinary people — you and me — that, if we wish to do the right thing, we should act as the institution requires of us. The story bestows the authorizing magic I have called legitimacy.
Gurri is right, just as he is right when he says: “Politics is nothing like baseball. In the end, the most persuasive story wins, not the highest score.” But a persuasive story isn’t the whole ballgame.
With the institutional story, higher ideals are the beginning, and working with institutions is the ending — but every story needs a middle. The middle is actual, concrete change made visible. The characters of that story are leaders negotiating for actual policies. The narrative is the implementation of those policies. Our stories don’t need us to define a conclusion. What we’re missing is the meaty middle.
The lesson of Revolt of the Public, in its own words, is not that the Internet has made progress impossible. It has not changed the fundamental reality that once there is critical mass, the public can enact change. The question is whether that change is destruction without progress. That is up to whether we choose to build a movement. | https://medium.com/swlh/revolt-of-the-public-a-reconsideration-and-george-floyd-37ac09ef3785 | ['Evan J. Zimmerman'] | 2020-06-16 00:08:53.598000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Social Change', 'George Floyd', 'Book Review'] |
10 Ways You Can Help Online During COVID-19 | It’s a scary time in the world right now — we typically have some control over our daily routines, our employment, what groceries we eat and the company we keep, but it feels difficult to stay grounded when we’re surrounded by this much uncertainty. We’ve revisited old hobbies and started searching for our crinkled Post-It notes — ideas we’d get to one day if we had the time. Instead of a constant in the chaos, we’re finding the uncomfortable fact that we might come up short, or we can’t find the motivation to get started at all. But it’s ok to feel this way, and you’re far from alone. Volunteering and organizing digitally for a cause that you love can give you that same buzz from a high-energy fitness class, or that warm and fuzzy feeling that you’d get after driving back from a night with your best friends. And we’ll get those things back one day soon, but until then I want to show you why getting active online can help get you through this time — and how you’ll be able to continue your work when the world starts turning again.
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash
What you can do in your community
Now that the world is coming together to battle COVID-19, from essential workers on the front lines to the average citizen whose social distancing, many of us feel that we’d like to be doing more to help at home, but aren’t sure what opportunities are out there. You can make an impact right now — here’s how:
Donate Money or Medical Supplies
Reformation and Outdoor Voices, two companies that usually make women’s athletic clothing, have shifted resources to make masks for essential workers. By supporting these brands, you can donate 5 masks or buy a non-medical grade mask for yourself or a loved one.
If you want to design your own, you can also learn how to make your own mask! Use them to protect yourself or donate them to friends, family and those most at-risk in your community. Before mailing or dropping off masks to local organizations, 1 — Call first to make sure they’re accepting donations, 2 — Ask if there are any special instructions that you might need to follow before donating.
Advocate for Essential Workers
Every time we order supplies for our family, shop at a grocery store or support one of our local restaurants, we’re relying on essential workers. But unfortunately, many of these workers are employed by privately owned companies that either cannot provide personal protective equipment or can’t guarantee a safe work environment.
You can help protect essential workers by:
Calling your Senator to voice your support for important legislation. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ro Khanna are proposing an Essential Workers’ Bill of Rights, which guarantees workers on the front lines access to personal protective equipment, hazard pay, guaranteed sick leave of at least 14 days, and protections for those employees who speak out about dangerous working conditions.
Photo by Hannah Wei on Unsplash
Supporting local businesses by ordering for take-out and contactless delivery.
Wearing a mask and remaining six feet away from other people while you’re out and about.
Protect the Post Office
As the granddaughter of a post master, the United States Postal Service will always have a special place in my heart. But as a citizen, it is hard to imagine what a world without reliable access to mail could look like. The good news? Here’s what you can do right now to help the USPS:
Write a letter or send a care package. You can show your love and stay connected, all while helping a good cause.
Buy stamps or gifts. Did you know the post office sells books, stationery and tote bags? The USPS also comes out with limited edition stamps each year covering the National Parks, wildlife and historic scenes/sites. Stock up now and show your support!
Photo by Mathyas Kurmann on Unsplash
Sign a Petition. The USPS may become the only way we can safely and fairly conduct elections — from the presidential all the way down to city council — until the end of this pandemic. Show your elected officials how important this is by signing this petition online — it takes less than two minutes, and it’s a concrete way to make an impact.
Protect the Integrity of Our Elections
By registering voters, volunteering as an election officer, or stopping voter suppression in its tracks, you can help ensure that everyone who’s eligible to vote can cast their ballot.
Headcount is a non-profit that sees the opportunity to combine the excitement and community that defines live music with the opportunity to empower young people to vote. When social distancing is over, you’ll be able to see a Headcount booth at major music events near you. Until then, they’re organizing online voter registration drives — check it out here.
Photo by Eco Warrior Princess on Unsplash
Become an election officer. You can help check voters in, ensure order and privacy in the voting process, and make sure each vote is properly counted by working as an election officer, through your county’s office of elections. For more information, visit your county’s volunteer page or find the office of elections directly.
Fair Fight. Voting is a right to each US citizen, but voter suppression prevents multitudes of eligible voters from being counted in every election. Stacey Abram’s nonprofit Fair Fight works to address this issue by state, enlisting volunteers from across the country in the regions that are most heavily affected. Get a more detailed look at some of those opportunities here.
I hope this post leaves you with more hope about some of the little things we can all do for the world right now.
One person can make an incredible difference, and that person can be you. Thank you for reading and take care,
N.W. | https://medium.com/@natashaw3991/10-ways-you-can-help-online-during-covid-19-ab7386c88051 | ['Natasha Warcholak'] | 2020-05-07 13:44:33.767000+00:00 | ['Volunteering', 'Activism', 'Covid 19'] |
Financial Independence: A Definitive Guide To Achieve It In Stages | What is financial independence? It is a state where ones assets generate enough passive income to pay for the required expenses of life.
People also mention this state of independence as financial freedom.
In this state of independence, people need not work (do a job) to earn income. What they rely on is effortless automatic income (called passive income).
A State of Financial Independence
What is shown in the above flow chart is a state of financial independence.
Asset Base: These are those assets which has been accumulated overtime in form of investing. These assets can be a house property, stocks, deposits, annuity etc. Read: about asset building. Return on Asset: The “Assets” accumulated above generates regular returns. These returns can be in form of cash (like rent, dividend, interest etc), or capital appreciation (profit booked). Let’s say, these returns are getting credited periodically in a bank account. Passive Income: These periodic returns, are available for consumption. It is a form of income. As the income so generated is happening automatically, it is called as passive income. Read: about passive income. Required Expense: These expense requirements are met by consuming passive income. The lower will be the “required expenses”, lesser will be the demand for passive income. Read: Plan expense for early retirement. Re-Investment: It is also an important ingredient to maintain the state of financial independence. Re-investment increases the size of asset base. The bigger will be the asset base, more will be the return from these assets. Increasing returns, is essential to negate the effect inflation. Read: How to invest after retirement.
To reach the state of financial independence, the first step is to start accumulating assets. These assets in turn must generate income (passive income). The passive income will take care of different needs of life.
Process: To Achieve Financial Independence
It is necessary to follow a process to achieve financial independence. Why?
Because it is tough goal to achieve, and following a process makes it easy and quantifiable. How?
Preconditions: There are few things that needs to be done before one even attempts to attain financial independence. What are these things? These are such activities which improves ones financial health. These improvements in turn helps one to climb the peak of financial independence. Read more. Implementation: This is where the core idea of building financial independence (asset building & passive income generation) is implemented. Here we will discuss how one needs to map their minds to successfully implement the idea. Read more. Stages of Financial Independence: Financial independence is a dynamic goal. There are three stages of financial independence. In the first stage, people can independently afford “basic” necessities of life. Similarly in second and third stage, expenses of “comfort” and “luxury” in nature can be afforded. Read more.
To begin the journey of financial independence, one must start with the “preconditions”.
If these preconditions are implemented properly, it builds a solid foundation on which the infrastructure of “financial independence” can stand.
1. Preconditions: To Financial Freedom
Everyone must aspires to achieve financial freedom. But it also important to realise that this is not an ordinary goal. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to follow a process.
The process to achieve financial independence starts with the “preconditions”. Following these preconditions will strengthen one “financial health”. Read: Tips on money management.
There are three preconditions that one must take care:
#1.1 Emergency Fund Creation: Prepare self for the worst. Start building emergency fund. This fund basically consists of cash and insurance. How much cash, life cover, and health cover should be enough? The bigger is the emergency fund the better. But essential is to first build the minimum balance and take the next step. Read: Where to keep emergency fund.
#1.2 Becoming Debt Free : Debt is a financial burden. Best is to keep the debt burden at zero. Why? Because to reach the goal of financial independence, debt is the biggest hurdle. Why? Rich people avail loan to leverage their profits. We take loan to buy things we cannot afford. That is why it is a hurdle. Set a target to be debt free. How to be debt free? The easiest way is to list down all debt/loans that one is carrying. Start by paying off the costliest debt first. Read: Plan to become loan free.
: Debt is a financial burden. Best is to keep the debt burden at zero. Why? Because to reach the goal of financial independence, debt is the biggest hurdle. Why? Rich people avail loan to leverage their profits. We take loan to buy things we cannot afford. That is why it is a hurdle. Set a target to be debt free. How to be debt free? The easiest way is to list down all debt/loans that one is carrying. Start by paying off the costliest debt first. Read: Plan to become loan free. #1.3 Build Cushion Savings: Emergency fund and debt-pay-off serves a different purpose. What is cushion saving? It is that money which can be used to run daily chores of life in case of emergency. What type of emergency? Unexpected loss or reduction of income. What should be the size of cushion savings? Minimum 6 months worth of present expenses. Use? Example: In case of income loss, livelihood can temporarily run from cushion savings. Read: About paycheck to paycheck life.
2. Implementation: Financial Independence
Financially, our ultimate goal of life should be to become financially independent. How to do it?
The only way to achieve it is by generating “enough passive income”. Passive income must equal our expense needs.
Yes because till there is enough passive income, there can be no financial independence.
because till there is enough passive income, there can be no financial independence. No because till we have a correct “mind-mapping”, enough passive income cannot be generated.
So this brings us to this logical question. Generating enough passive income is enough to achieve financial independence? The answer is yes and no.
If one can first map their minds properly in favour of financial independence, building streams of passive income will happen automatically.
So let’s learn how to do mind mapping…
2.1 Mind Mapping: To Reach Financial Freedom
Mind mapping can be done by drawing of logical steps in a flow-chart style which explains the path to reach financial independence.
#2.1.1 Ideal Income Model : What is ideal income model? A state of being where the person (family) is living a ‘frugal life’ in tandem with consistent ‘income growth’. Read more.
: What is ideal income model? A state of being where the person (family) is living a ‘frugal life’ in tandem with consistent ‘income growth’. Read more. #2.1.2 High Savings : A combination of frugality, and increasing income results in higher savings. How? Because such people grow their income at a rate faster than their expenses. Read more.
: A combination of frugality, and increasing income results in higher savings. How? Because such people grow their income at a rate faster than their expenses. Read more. #2.1.3 Equity Investing : People must learn to enhance the power of their savings. How to do it? By investing the savings. Where to invest? When time horizon is long, equity investing is best. Achieving financial independence is a long term goal, hence equity focus will be suitable. Read more.
: People must learn to enhance the power of their savings. How to do it? By investing the savings. Where to invest? When time horizon is long, equity investing is best. Achieving financial independence is a long term goal, hence equity focus will be suitable. Read more. #2.1.4 Retirement Corpus (Asset Base #1): The idea behind investing in equity is build an asset base. When the asset base is big enough, it shall be used to build retirement corpus. This corpus will then generates streams of passive income. This will eventually lead to financial independence. Read more.
Such a flow chart is shown above. Let me explain in short the flow of ideas shown in the above mind map.
The most important step in the above list is #2.1.4. This is the step that is ultimately leading us to financial freedom.
But to implement this step effectively, all other steps must get equal weightage. Nothing can be neglected.
Let’s see these steps in more detail…
#2.1.1 Ideal Income Model:
Frugal lifestyle, and Continual income growth.
There are two components of an ideal income model:
How they become components of “ideal income model”? Because working in tandem, they can transform even a pauper into a financially independent person. How?
What is Frugal living? Maintaining a lifestyle which is way lower than what one can actually afford. What does it mean? Such people saves a higher portion of their income (say 50%).
EXAMPLE:
Combine frugal living with income growth, and it becomes a main driving force in attaining financial freedom. How?
Suppose there is a person who earns Rs.100,000 per month. He lives frugally (saving 50% of his income). His income increases at 10% per annum.
Let’s see his savings pattern for next 5 years.
In 5 years the savings of the person rose from Rs.50,000 to Rs.73,205 per month.
The person was anyways saving heavily (50%). But as the quantum of savings is increasing every year, its impact on financial independence is phenomenal. How?
Let’s read more…
#2.1.2 High Savings:
Frugality is a lifestyle which leads to more savings.
In the journey of financial independence, savings is the fuel. In this travel, less fuel will not serve the purpose.
Hence for a common man, practising frugality must be an acceptable compromise. After all, financial independence is no ordinary goal.
Tip: Calculate how much you are saving today. Try to increase the saving by 1% per month. Keep increasing the savings till you reach the coveted target of 50%. Please note, the start will be tougher. Once you cross the boundary of 25% savings, things will start becoming easier.
#2.1.3 Investing in Equity:
This is a very important milestone in the journey towards financial freedom. It must be implemented properly. Why? Because in equity investment, there is high risk of loss.
Then why to invest in equity? Because, if invested properly, equity can yield high returns. Moreover, investing in equity is also convenient.
High Return: How much return one should expect from equity? On an average, 12% p.a. from equity is considered good. But it is also possible to touch 18%-20% p.a. by practising long term holding strategy in equity. Read: How long is long term? Investing properly in Equity: How to invest properly? There are two ways to invest in equity: (1) direct through stocks, (2) indirect through mutual funds. To know about it read this article on direct equity investing. To invest properly through mutual funds, read this article on types of mutual funds. Equity is Convenient: Why? Because it is possible to start investing in equity even if ones savings is just Rs.500 per month. Compare this with gold, and real estate. It will not be easily possible to buy gold, or a real estate property with such low savings. Read: SIP in equity mutual funds.
So, three points that needs clarification:
[If you are new to equity and share market, I’ll suggest you to read this article on how to start investing in share market.]
What should be the objective of investor in this step? The investor must target to accumulate more equity over time. How to accumulate equity? By buying shares of companies, or units of equity based mutual funds. But care must be taken to buy only undervalued shares.
What is the benefit of equity accumulation? Equity appreciates faster in value. When undervalued equity is bought, it automatically appreciates in value with time.
Suppose one bought one share of worth $50. After passage of say 3 years, the same one number share will appreciate in value to become $70 (@12% p.a.).
#2.1.4 Creation of Asset Base:
In the above step, what is done is “equity accumulation”.
The duration of equity accumulation depends on the quantum of savings, and quantum of corpus required.
Suppose one needs to build Rs.2.0 Crore. His average monthly savings is say Rs.20,000. Consider return @14% p.a, how much time it will take him to accumulate two crores? 18.3 Years (use the below calculator).
Asset Base #1 (Retirement Corpus) : It consists of such assets which can generate streams of passive income. It must be remembered that not all asset types can generate passive income. Assets are suitable for income generation post retirement are shown here.
: It consists of such assets which can generate streams of passive income. It must be remembered that not all asset types can generate passive income. Assets are suitable for income generation post retirement are shown here. Asset Base #2 (Other Financial Goals): It consist of most debt based assets (like debt mutual funds, bank deposit etc). These are goals like buying a home, car, child’s higher education etc. In the pursuit of financial independence these goals cannot be compromised. Due importance must also be given to them. Read more.
Once the equity accumulation is complete, the next step is to convert equity in the following two asset bases:
Let’s summarise the step #2 (Implementation: of Financial independence).
We have created a mind-map which helps us to visualise how to convert “income from job” into an “Asset”. To achieve financial freedom, we require such assets which generates “passive income”. Here, we must not ignore the requirement of “other financial goals”.
This way one can achieve financial independence. But complete financial independence cannot be reached at one go. It can be achieved only in stages.
Let’s know more about the three stages of financial independence.
#3. Stages of Financial Independence
Breaking down financial independence in stages can help achieving it easily.
Financial freedom is a goal which is like a 42Km long marathon. One cannot sprint and reach the finish line. It can be achieved only slowly, in stages.
What is the logic? When the goal is difficult, it is better to break it down into stages — like taking one step at a time. How to do it?
Stages: It is a concept like braking down big goals into smaller milestones.
Stage 1 (Basic Independence): When it comes to financial security, people must first cover their basic necessities of life (like food, shelter, clothing, bills, education etc).
(Basic Independence): When it comes to financial security, people must first cover their basic necessities of life (like food, shelter, clothing, bills, education etc). Stage 2 (Comfort Independence): When their basic demands are getting taken care regularly, people then start spending on comfort.
(Comfort Independence): When their basic demands are getting taken care regularly, people then start spending on comfort. Stage 3 (Luxury Independence): After basic necessities and comfort comes luxury spendings.
There can be three stages of financial independence:
Everyone does not spend the same amount on basic goods, comforts and luxury. What is the pattern?
The pattern can be formed from looking deep inside ones basic necessities of life.
There are people who can spend as little as Rs.10,000 per month to cover their basic necessities of life. On the other hand there are people for whom the same basic necessities will need Rs.20,000.
In turn, these people will also spend differently on their comfort and luxury needs.
Why this difference? It’s because of the way they have been brought by their parents. Example: A kid who has always lived in an air conditioned home, will treat AC’s as basic goods.
Let’s see each stages of financial freedom in more detail.
Stage #1. Basic Independence.
This is the stage one (first milestone) of financial independence. What does it stand-up for? It tells people to first build enough asset to cover the basic necessities of life.
What does it mean? Building a large enough asset base, which ultimately yields so much income that it covers the basic necessities of life.
Food. Rent/EMI. Utility Bills. Communication. Education. Public Transport. Basic Clothing. Basic Health. Basic Emergency Cash. Basic Maintenance etc.
Which are the basic necessities of life?
How to calculate the quantum of basic independence? By using this formula:
Basic Independence = 200 x N
Example: Suppose there is a person whose basic requirements of life costs him Rs.50,000 per month. This person will need an asset base of Rs.1.0 Crore (200 x 50,000) to reach stage one. What is the calculation?
How to understand the calculation? By investing Rs.1.0 Crore in an investment option which yields an annual return of 6% p.a., will yield an annual income of Rs.6.0 lakhs (or Rs.50,000 per month).
Why 6% p.a. return and not more or less? A suitable risk-free debt based investment portfolio can easily yield an average return of 6% p.a.
Quick Tip: The trick lies is identifying the basic necessities of life. Categorise all your expenses. How to do it? Read more about expense tracking here.
Stage #2. Comfort Independence.
This is the stage two (second milestone) of financial independence. What does it stand-up for? It tells people to build more asset to also cover those requirements of life which makes them comfortable.
Here one will have to build a bigger asset base than in stage #1. This asset base will be so big that it will cover both basic necessities and comforts of life.
Household help. Internet. Basic Shopping. Entertainment. Person Vehicle Costs. Child Plan. Basic Investments etc.
Which are the comforting requirement of life? These are such spendings which cannot be tagged as luxuries, as they tend to become “basic necessities” in times to come. Few examples are shown below:
How to calculate the quantum of comfort independence? By using this formula:
Comfort Independence = 400 x N
Example: Suppose there is a person whose basic requirements of life costs him Rs.50,000 per month. This person will need an asset base of Rs.2.0 Crore (400 x 50,000) to reach stage two. What is the calculation?
[ Note: As per my observations, people spend equally on basic & comfort needs of their life, If a person spends Rs.50K on basic needs. He is likely to spend same amount of money (Rs.50K) on comfort needs as well.]
What does this calculation say? By investing Rs.2.0 Crore in an investment option which yields an annual return of 6% p.a., will yield an annual income of Rs.12.0 lakhs (or Rs.100,000 per month).
Quick Tip: People who spend on their comfort needs often overspend. Hence it is advisable to build an expense budget and spend accordingly. Read more about 50 30 20 rules of budgeting.
Stage #3. Luxury Independence.
This is the stage three (final milestone) of financial independence. What does it stand-up for? Here the asset base built by the investor is so high that all type of expense requirements of life is met.
Here one will have to build the biggest asset bases, more than what has already been done in stage one and two.
Luxury is costly.
Luxury is also tempting.
Generally people tend to spend much more on luxury than they do on basic goods and comfort needs. Why? Because of two reasons:
Hence the size of asset bases required to cover luxury needs of the person is quite high. The proportion can be like shown in the pie chart.
Purchase of bigger home.
Buying a bigger car.
Vacation.
Celebrations.
Donations.
Investing for net worth building.
Shopping.
Which are the LUXURY requirement of life? These are those spendings which people generally incur when they have excess cash in hand. People generally spend money here to uplift their standard of living.
How to calculate the quantum of luxury independence? By using this formula:
Luxury Independence = 1200 x N
Example: Suppose there is a person whose basic requirements of life costs him Rs.50,000 per month. This person will need an asset base of Rs.6.0 Crore (1200 x 50,000) to reach stage three. What is the calculation?
[ Note: As per my observations, people spend twice on luxury than what they spend on basic & comfort needs of their life.]
What does this calculation say? By investing Rs.6.0 Crore in an investment option which yields an annual return of 6% p.a., will yield an annual income of Rs.36.0 lakhs (or Rs.300,000 per month).
Quick Tip: People who can afford to spend on luxury shall take extra care in making their asset size grow faster. Why? Because it will further increase their monthly income. Read more about asset building here.
Importance of other goals of life
Car purchase.
Annual Vacations.
Home purchase.
Higher Education.
Marriage.
Achieving financial independence is an important goal. But there are goals which are equally important:
What about these goals?
It is equally important to manage other goals along with financial independence. Why? Because if not done, they will eventually eat-away your built ‘financial independence corpus’ anyways.
So the right strategy will be to put money proportionally in each goals separately. The idea is to keep the goal of financial independence isolated from other goals.
Final Words
Financial independence can be achieved when “required” income will continue to drip-in even when we are sleeping. We should not be required to work to generate income to manage our expense needs.
Income generated from job or business is not passive income. It is active income. The idea is to work and generate active income. Then divert at least 50% of the active income to accumulate equity.
But equity accumulation not enough. It is more important to convert equity into a “ passive income generating assets “.
Which are such assets? Few best examples of such assets are the following:
Quick Tip:
A sure way of becoming financially independent starts with living a frugal life. Frugality does not mean leading a life of misery. It means, diverting a bigger proportion of ones income towards net worth building.
A person who lives a frugal life, ensures that a big chunk of his/her income is available as savings. This is a huge advantage. Why?
Because this available liquid cash can be used to invest in equity.
First part of this corpus shall be used to manage “other financial goals” of life.
Second part shall be used for “retirement” (financial independence}.
As equity earns higher returns, over long term such investments can built a sizeable corpus.
Have a happy investing.
Originally published at https://getmoneyrich.com on October 17, 2019. | https://medium.com/@getmoneyrich.com/financial-independence-a-definitive-guide-to-achieve-it-in-stages-2019-f268ef582620 | [] | 2021-05-23 01:08:04.197000+00:00 | ['Financial Independence', 'Finance', 'Financial Freedom'] |
Choose yourself | Choose yourself
Dear Soulsister,
I have come to realize that relationships of any kind are the most self-reflecting aspect of our lifes. Irrespective of the nature of the relationship — parental, platonic, romantic, professional — the way we are in those dynamics, the way we behave give so much away of the kind of person we are.
Especially in romantic relationships, aka drama. The extent of vulnerability in such relationships directly pours into how emotionally involved we are; and most importanty the risk of being with with someone, where we compromise more than what makes us happy.
Being aware and realizing that is first half of the battle.
The second half?
Choose yourself, always.
I want to tell you that you are a beautiful person. Tell you more than any guy ever will till the time you are pink and brimming with love everywhere. You are my pillar of strength that you would be wrong to think you are not strong.
You’re strong to not easily give in, you’re strong to know your values and abide them. Those are weak who go beyond compromising to mend their ways to accommodate someone who don’t deserve their love.
Your love ought to be more than a relationship , where your love grows you both and the environment you both are in; and if haven’t felt that way previously, kudos you have learned.
You’re finding your way, stepping closer to let the right one find you. So that you are prepared when he’s here. So that you don’t overlook his love in lust of someone else’s.
Love is when you sing, love is when you write , love is in the family and friends and joy wherever you go. It is inherent in you.
And yes, love that moves away or fades or doesn’t stay takes time to regain its love ability. It takes time but it will.
Love and care for yourself, even if that means grieving to your heart’s content but never again after that. Letting go, makes it lighter.
And very important — don’t blame yourself. You have nothing to lose only to gain.
Choose yourself, always.
Love,
Always
Cheer
(To be continued…) | https://medium.com/@cheergirl/choose-yourself-df6d9a8381e3 | [] | 2020-12-05 12:38:58.421000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Love', 'Inspire', 'Letters', 'Friendship'] |
How Quitting Facebook and Instagram has Significantly Increased my Happiness! | Let’s take each separately.
Facebook
No more sucking and getting sucked into drivel
Truth be told, I really enjoyed FB for years (sharing photos of vacations, food, liking and commenting on other photos, where am I, what I am doing and so on)…until I changed as a person and FB was not for me anymore. I loved the Likes and the Comments.
All these interactions made me feel popular and belonged. I used to check-in to places until I realised all these are just artificial connections and interactions and was not making my actual real life any better.
All I saw on FB was —
People sharing the same post again and again — memes, motivation, other people’s enlightenment passing on their own, people sharing where they are holidaying, what and where they are eating, where they are partying after hours/weekends, people giving advise on others what they themselves should follow first. People liking and commenting on other people’s photos and activity whom will not see eye-to-eye in person.
Worst was holiday photos and check-ins, which was followed by hundreds of likes and comments.
After a point of time, these posts made me depressed and felt my life is so hollow and dull, compared to the colourful lives everyone else seems to be living. Honestly, I did the same for years and I apologise to everyone who felt the same as what I felt about my life. Each life is beautiful in its own right and any comparison is artificial and futile.
Probably the only thing I liked was Groups which I am missing as many professional groups are on FB Groups still. Though I am aware many Groups ARE moving away from it as it is not only me who is moving away from FB.
Add to it all the news for all the wrong reasons for which FB has been in the news is also probably adding and reaffirming that going off it was a prudent thing to do.
I am curious to know why people are still on FaceBook. What value are they getting from it? Genuinely asking?
If one wants to stay in touch, more personal and direct conversations on calls/WhatsApp are more long-lasting and enduring. On FB, people are merely acting that they are concerned about other people.
Why not do in private —
If you want to empathise with someone…
Praise someone…
Help someone…
Find more info about something…
If you want to build any long-lasting relationship without the limelight?
Let’s face it and be very clear…most people who “Like” any holiday-related photos are full of envy and desire that they were in your place. Consciously or subconsciously. Why add to anyone’s misery and be a cause for depression? And this has been proven in multiple studies.
I enjoyed Facebook till I was that person who enjoys it. But as a person, I have changed and hence Facebook is no more for me.
I had rather spend more time with few people than spend a little time with more people.
Instagram
Endless scrolling leads to endless misery
I loved Instagram! Probably even more than Facebook as this was easy to consume — no text, only pictures and videos and a joy to create — share pictures and have conversations on those pictures as a result.
Considering my interest in finding interest in random things, taking pictures and sharing, Instagram was flawless.
Considering I am a FOODIE, sharing pictures of food and trying new restaurants, Instagram was sent from heaven. I used to get a lot of likes and comments both offline and online.
The above two activities I may do say 2–3 times a week, so doing these including comments and conversations was not more than 2–3 hours max.
As a creator, Instagram was great. It was the consumer mind which was getting messed up.
It was impossible to not get hooked on to stories and keep browsing endless stories, 99% of which was useless.
A celebrity sharing holiday pictures…
A merchant sharing their new merchandise…most of it fakes/replica of shoes, watches, jackets, etc
Random people sharing random pictures with funky stickers, etc.
Random people speaking random things as if it was a sermon…
“Influencers” influencing us to get influenced to buy this or that…
I was hooked like a person hooked on to drugs…I knew it was bad and taking my mind for a spin but I just couldn’t resist.
All this was making me depressed and I finally pulled the plug and deleted the app.
Now I no longer spend most of my meals taking pictures. I spend quality time with family when we are eating out. Feel stupid I didn’t do this earlier. | https://medium.com/@anirudhbb/how-quitting-facebook-and-instagram-has-significantly-increased-my-happiness-b2a0d3bf06bf | ['Anirudh B Balotiaa'] | 2019-02-01 04:53:15.245000+00:00 | ['Facebook', 'Social Media', 'Addiction', 'Consumerism', 'Instagram'] |
Lessons Learned from My Divorce. | TBT: Circa 1990. Once upon at time I was married. I am honored and blessed to say I was married for almost 22 years. Never did I expect to not still be married. Being single for the past 8 years is still strange and foreign to me. I believe marriage lasts a lifetime and I am sad that we could not make ours work.
I am so thankful for although our marriage did not last, I was able to be a stay at home wife and mother. We raised four beautiful, sound, amazing children, who are now adults.
I want all the married couples, who knew me as Mrs, to know I pray for you earnestly. I am so thankful that you all have made it last and continue to make it work. Marriage is a full time job with lots of overtime. It requires the focus and dedication of both people. It gives me such joy to see that you are shining examples that love does survive and thrive.
To all of the newly married couples I know, I pray for your endurance and longevity. Love is a decision. Decide to work it out. Decide to communicate. Decide to put your spouse first. Decide to love each other forever. I know that is not easy. For I myself, failed at this regard. Looking back at this photo, I was a different woman. I am older and wiser now. I am still a hopeful romantic who believes in love and marriage. Your unity continues to feed that hopefulness. You all continue to inspire me that love and marriage do still exist.
Please take it from a woman who has learned from divorce. Never stop courting each other. Fall in love over and over again. Keep a special place in your heart that only your spouse may enter. Always, ALWAYS, see the best in your spouse. Take time out daily to give your spouse your full attention. Your spouse comes first even over self, both people have to do this in order for it to thrive. Cherish/Admire your spouse. Forgive quickly. Treat your relationship as sacred. No one is perfect, revel in their imperfections. Communicate, communicate, COMMUNICATE. Lastly, your spouse should be your best friend.
I still believe that one day I will marry again and he will be my best friend.
Love, peace and hair grease. | https://medium.com/@avery-loveslifeliveslove/lessons-learned-from-my-divorce-89649f0fed78 | ['Katrece Avery'] | 2020-12-23 01:32:41.352000+00:00 | ['Divorce', 'Marriage', 'Lessons Learned', 'Relationships'] |
Power’s off | Power’s off
a poem about PG&E’s decision to shut off power to hundreds of thousands of homes in northern California.
Photo by Joshua Newton on Unsplash
We have no power
in our town –
no water from the well,
no lights,
no toilets,
no refrigerator,
no stove.
The inconvenience
goes on and on.
But neither are
there tankers in the sky
or toxic smoke and embers
erupting from wildfire tornadoes
creating their own weather
like a surprise from hell,
no to-go bags in the car,
or worries that we won’t
get out in time.
So, I could not be more grateful
for the blue sky,
for a quiet day that isn’t
like the last one
for a California town
as the winds pick up. | https://antoinettenevitt.medium.com/powers-off-ef9d6503d601 | ['Antoinette Nevitt'] | 2019-10-10 21:15:43.391000+00:00 | ['California', 'Current Events', 'Poetry', 'Climate Change', 'Wildfire'] |
RIP Jim Lehrer. Just Don’t Take Your Style of Journalism With You. | Jim Lehrer got to be the kind of journalist we all should want, and most of us say we want, and many of us really don’t want.
Jim Lehrer on the ‘NewsHour.’
Jim Lehrer died Thursday, age 85, after a career mostly defined by 36 years as host or cohost of the various incarnations of the MacNeil-Lehrer Report, which in 1983 became PBS’s nightly news show.
Lehrer stepped down as host of what had become the PBS NewsHour in 2011, though he continued as a periodic contributor and as recently as last month guested on CNN to talk about the state of the media.
He was optimistic, which is not a unanimous view these days, but is consistent with what he said in a 2011 interview as he was stepping down from the NewsHour.
“It’s one thing to have access to unlimited news,” he said then, “and another to have it made available in a trustworthy, digestible form.
“Most people don’t want to sit in front of a computer screen all day. So there will always be an audience for aggregation like the NewsHour. It just has to be done by someone they trust.”
Lehrer began his career as a print journalist with the Dallas Morning News, crossed the street to the Dallas Times Herald, and then jumped over to public television at Dallas’s KERA. In 1973, he and his old colleague Robert MacNeil anchored nightly PBS coverage of the Watergate hearings, which was so popular that two years later PBS teamed them up for the first version of what would soon become the MacNeil-Lehrer Report.
Choosing PBS isn’t the way to get rich in broadcast journalism, and the prolific Lehrer supplemented his income by writing 20 novels, three memoirs and numerous other side projects.
PBS had irresistible upsides, though, Lehrer said in 2011, like being able to practice old-style journalism — the kind of inclusive reporting he had learned back in the newspaper game.
“You want all the information,” he said. “What are all the facts? What does the left think? What does the right think? Robert MacNeil always said to always err on the side of giving people too much information, not too little.”
Working for PBS, Lehrer said, also enabled him to focus on stories that had real importance, not just superficial glamour. He often noted that MacNeil-Lehrer covered O.J. Simpson’s arrest and the verdict at the end of his trial, skipping the daily courtroom drama that dominated other print and television coverage.
While he pointedly did not criticize other media or audiences, he noted the unbalanced news diet wherein channels on the right and left often seem to function primarily as cheerleaders for their side.
Popular and perhaps comforting as they are, their viewers don’t get the full context of important stories, Lehrer warned — “and without an informed public, you don’t have a democracy.”
A corollary problem, he added, is that as mainstream media shrinks and “does a lot of experimenting,” young journalist have fewer and fewer places to learn the craft.
“You need a place to come up,” he said. “It used to be you would start at a small newspaper and work your way up the chain. That’s harder today. It’s hard to find that first job. That’s why some young people start with blogs.”
It’s just difficult to learn actual reporting, he added, “when you’re sitting there with a laptop.”
Actual reporting, he suggested, requires an insatiable appetite for information — all information, not just whatever reinforces a pre-formed viewpoint.
“It’s a little like being a fireman,” he said. “You hear the siren and you wonder where the fire truck is going. If you don’t care, get out of journalism.”
Lehrer himself stayed in the game, full-time, until he was 77.
“It was a very quick 36 years,” he said, reflecting on MacNeil-Lehrer and NewsHour. “You look up, it’s Saturday, it’s Monday, it’s the ’90s, it’s Two Thousand and something.”
He wasn’t filling the time inconsequentially. He moderated 12 presidential debates. He interviewed the likes of President Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and Yasser Arafat.
On the air, he was known for a calm, measured tone that he traced in part to covering the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.
“One lone guy fired three shots and changed history,” Lehrer said. “No day has gone by since when I haven’t thought, ‘That could happen today.’ It’s part of what I am, that sense of just how fragile everything is.”
He finally decided to step back on his own terms, he said, and that was, in a sense, one final perc of having chosen the PBS route.
“I haven’t had to follow anyone else’s career or path,” he said. “I’ve been able to do my work the way I thought it should be done.
“I still hear the fire engine.” | https://dhinckley.medium.com/rip-jim-lehrer-just-dont-take-your-style-of-journalism-with-you-e46ae6c23350 | ['David Hinckley'] | 2020-01-24 06:03:51.158000+00:00 | ['Jim Lehrer', 'Pbs Newshour', 'Journalism', 'Pbs', 'Tv News'] |
Content Creation Will Reign King | Content Creation Will Reign King
At Basebone we believe in content creation. It is a competitive business, and we would dare to say that it’s the new entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship and the idea of becoming an entrepreneur dominated the world of business the last decade, and in this decade, young people want to be content creators.
The Passion Economy
The passion economy has changed the way that many of the new and future individuals going into the workforce view what it means to work.
Do you enjoy talking about culture and travel? Do you make money out of sharing vlogs about different cultures and travel? That’s the passion economy.
Do you run your podcast as a side gig? That’s the passion economy.
It’s about handing over your passions to yourself as opposed to working for someone else. It doesn’t matter where you are located, or how far you are from your consumer base. The passion economy offers low barriers to entry that allow you to diversify your content. From video content, written content, gaming, anything that fits a passion.
Take a more traditional job, a university professor. Before Udemy, Coursera, and similar platforms, the only options teachers had for the longest time ever was to work at a university campus.
Today professors can teach students on their own time, stay in control of their income, and offer so much more at a lower cost. Students now have access to courses and learning skills at various price points instead of a $100k+ MBA.
Young People to YouTubers
In 2019 a survey found that about 86% of young people in the United States were looking forward to becoming influencers and post sponsored content for money, and 54% would take the full-time option of being an influencer.
In a separate survey also conducted in 2019, kids in the US and the UK wanted to become YouTube stars. The incoming and near-future workforce wants to create content, be seen for it, and make a difference with that content.
Content Creator Platforms
TikTok’s success partly stems from just that. The popular social media apps algorithm makes it easy for aspiring influencers to have their content go viral and has created hundreds if not thousands of Gen Z influencers in its short lifespan.
TikTok set an example for what content creators like and will accept, and other platforms will have to accommodate content creators to succeed.
Read more about our own creator’s platform Baseplay Creators on Baseplay! | https://medium.com/@basebone/content-creation-will-reign-king-92a1c62d1d92 | [] | 2021-06-17 10:51:39.879000+00:00 | ['Creator', 'Content Creation', 'Baseplay', 'Content'] |
Diabetes And The Long Term Dangers | Diabetes And The Long Term Dangers
Diabetes has hidden dangers that begin before diagnosis and continue to worsen if certain steps are not taken to prevent the complications that are the true, “killers” in terms of diabetes.
Statistics show that there are around 18 million diabetics in America, both Type 1 and Type 2. It is amazing how many people, diabetics included, who have no idea what dangers a diabetic faces over their lifetime. A diabetic, all things being equal, lives almost 10 years less than their non-diabetic counterpart on average.
>> Discover the 1 Green VEGGIE that WORSENS Diabetes Type 2 Symptoms (New Information)
Why do diabetics life shorter life spans than non-diabetics? The answer is both simple and complicated. Simple in explaining in general terms, complicated in the medical sense. Without traveling the complicated route in this article, I will try to give a simple, straight forward answer to the above question. Diabetics live shorter lives than non-diabetics because of diabetic complications.
What Are Diabetic Complications?
Diabetic complications are chronic medical conditions that begin to affect the body of the diabetic. These complications are brought about mostly by a condition the medical community had named, “Advanced Glycation End products” which is simply, “excess sugar” saturating the inside of the cells of the body. This condition also called AGE for short includes coronary artery disease, vascular disease, blindness, kidney disease, retinopathy (blindness) and loss of feeling in the hands and the feet (peripheral neuropathy) among others.
Diabetes in the early stages does not produce symptoms. Unless found during a routine medical exam, it is possible for a diabetic to remain undiagnosed for years. It is during these years that the beginnings of diabetic complications can gain a foothold due excess sugar in the cells (AGE). The statistics show there is the possibility of as many as over 5 million people going about their normal lives while having undiagnosed diabetes.
Are Diabetic Complications A Certainty?
While the current consensus is that the formula for diabetic complications Diabetes + Time = Complications. What this means is there is a much higher potential of a diabetic becoming diagnosed with one or more diabetic complications over time. This is partly due to how well the individual monitors and controls his/her blood sugar.
>> 1 Green VEGGIE that INFLAMES Diabetes Type 2 Symptoms [New Information]
Drastic rises and falls of blood sugar can be hard on the body and the excess sugar present in the cells create havoc on the different nerves within the body as well as the capillaries, veins, and arteries. The evidence to date show that excellent control of blood sugar and an active lifestyle goes a very long way in preventing and/or slowing down the onset of diabetic complications.
The Different Types Of Diabetes
There are two types of diabetes — Type One and Type Two. Type One attacks children and young adults and is characterized by the pancreas failing to produce insulin which is a hormone that breaks down sugars and starches while converting them into energy. Type Two occurs usually later in an adult’s life and is characterized by the pancreas being unable to produce enough insulin due to several factors, obesity being one of them.
Around 10 percent of diabetics are Type One while the other 90 percent are Type Two. The major difference between the two being that Type One diabetics are completely dependent on insulin and take daily injections while the Type Two’s have both those who require insulin shots while others can rely on oral medication and/or changes in diet and exercise.
The Risk Factors Surrounding Diabetes
There are several risk factors that can push a pre-diabetic into full blown diabetes.
1) being overweight.
2) family history of diabetes,
3) lack of adequate exercise.
4) history of gestational diabetes (occurs during pregnancy and usually disappears after delivery).
5) certain ethnic groups
>> Discover the 1 Common Veggie to Avoid that SPIKES Blood Sugar Levels
People over 45 years of age and has one or several of the risk factors mentioned above should be screened for diabetes each year, preferably during an annual medical exam. It has been shown that people with these risk factors comprise the majority of diagnosed cases of diabetes each year.
What Tests Help Diagnose Diabetes Cases?
There are two, main tests used for determining whether or not a person has a glucose intolerance:
1) Fasting Plasma Glucose Test
2) Oral Glucose Tolerance Test
Both of these tests can determine glucose intolerance which is where blood sugar is higher than what is considered normal. This is not always an indication of diabetes however.
Can The Onset Of Diabetes Be Prevented?
People with the above risk factors can go a long way toward preventing the development of full-blown diabetes by making significant lifestyle change. What are lifestyle changes? Changing unhealthy diets to more blood sugar friendly ones, doing enough exercise to help offset increased blood sugar levels and keep the body healthy and losing weight especially if considered obese by the medical community.
If you are pre-diabetic you need to stay on a strict diabetic diet. Ask your healthcare professional for a diet that meets that criteria and limit cakes, candy, cookies, and other things made of simple sugars. Eat small, nutritious meals and eat 5 times a day instead of only three.
If you are already diagnosed with full-blown diabetes, you should follow the same diet while under the meticulous care of your healthcare professional. Keep your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar within proper limits and have your eyes checked every year.
Diabetes can contribute to blindness, kidney disease and heart disease. Complications caused nearly 70,000 deaths in 2000.
>> Unlikely “Diet Hack” REVERSES Diabetes Type 2 in Weeks | https://medium.com/@kitiruns/diabetes-and-the-long-term-dangers-d7c1eb29f472 | [] | 2021-03-08 07:55:19.191000+00:00 | ['Diabetes', 'Diabetes Solutions', 'Diabetes Prevention', 'Diabetes Newsblog', 'Diabetes Tipo 2'] |
Populism 201: Advanced Topics in American Democracy | Transcript
Bob Zadek: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Bob Zadek Show, the longest running live libertarian talk radio show on all of radio. We are always the show of ideas, never once the show of attitude. Thank you so much for listening this Sunday morning. Many observers, myself included, consider this to be one of the most important presidential elections of all time. This is the perfect time to discuss presidential politics. How did we get here and where are we going? This discussion requires so much inside-politics information, so who better to have on the show than an author and a true politician inside who has spent most of his adult life one way or another in Washington, either physically or professionally.
With that introduction, I introduce you to Bradford Kane. Brad has written an interesting book with a very interesting title: Pitchfork Populism: The Political Forces that Shaped an Election and Continue to CHANGE America. With that introduction, thank you so much for your book and thank you for joining us this morning.
Bradford Kane: Good morning, Bob. Thanks so much for having me.
Bob Zadek: Your book is Pitchfork Populism. An interesting title. “Populism” is used in political discourse but it can be used as a compliment or as a bit of a slur. Help us understand the term populism as you use it in your book. What are you referring to and why “pitchfork?”
Bradford Kane: There’s a long history of populism movements in the United States. Of course, one could argue that even the founding of our country in the 1770s was the outgrowth of a populist movement. But during the 1800s there was an agrarian populist movement and there were various economic populist movements. There was Jacob Coxey with Coxey’s army, marching from Ohio on foot to Washington, DC in search of veteran’s benefits. William Jennings Bryant and then Teddy Roosevelt, of course, when he tried to return to power there. There have been a lot of movements that are about empowering people, basically where people wanted their concerns to be addressed.
The reason I call this pitchfork populism is that it is actually not populism. It’s a distortion of populism. It’s a false populism. Basically, Donald Trump identified a disaffected, aggrieved cohort, and he embraced them and he mobilized them and energized them to empower him to carry out his transactional approach to governing, and we see the transactional approach everywhere. We heard the latest reference from John Kelly, former chief of staff to Donald Trump, where he basically referred to Trump’s transactional approach for everything. So basically, pitchfork populism is a false populism that uses the guise of that tradition, but really is all about Donald Trump.
Bob Zadek: The book was clearly written in the aftermath of the 2016 election, which appeared to have caused you some concern in terms of the direction of the country. You said populism is power to the people. Well, we get to vote for president. We get to vote for representatives in the house, we get to vote for senators. So we do have populism in our democracy. So what makes populism different? Is it a subset of democracy? Isn’t it fair to say we have had a populist society since our founding? You mentioned that Donald Trump rode the populist sentiment. I’d like to discuss that in a moment. But first, help us distinguish populism as a separate concept, independent of the kind of democracy we’ve lived in for 231 years.
Bradford Kane: Democracy is based on empowering the people. The notion of pitchfork populism was taken from the Frankenstein movie where the people are aggrieved and filled with resentment and rage and they storm the castle with pitchforks and torches. That’s where anger and fear and resentment and xenophobia kind of fuel the outrage. Getting back to your specific point. Democracy is basically empowering people. When you think about how the United States began, you had, as far as the white settlers, who came to what became the colonies, basically they were fleeing oppression in Europe.
“The notion of pitchfork populism was taken from the Frankenstein movie where the people are aggrieved and filled with resentment and rage and they storm the castle with pitchforks and torches. That’s where anger and fear and resentment and xenophobia kind of fuel the outrage.”
Those who originally came to the United States were kind of trapped in this situation, a kind of a caste society in Europe, where they were serfs. There were the serfs and then there were the lords and ladies. If one was not on the good side of the equation, there was no social mobility. They came to the United States for social mobility, and that’s where it was both a combination of liberty and equality. I can expand on those two different things which basically formed our national split-personality. It all comes from the same origin of basically wanting social mobility and giving power to the people. So yes, the essence of the United States is a populist country where a premium placed on power to the people, as you put it.
Debating the Dichotomy between Liberty and Equality
Bob Zadek: You mention correctly that in the founding era the main draw for America was social mobility. I would just supplement that Brad, and I’m sure you wouldn’t object, that it was both social, and perhaps even more importantly, economic mobility. In societies in Western Europe, which drew most of the immigrants in the early days of our country, it was economic mobility. Where you were economically in Western Europe was determined the moment you were born, and that was immutable.
You couldn’t change it except in the rarest of circumstances. America offered or and still offers to this day economic mobility, so that there are no built in structural barriers to be the best that you can economically. During the founding era, you reference equality. You create this dichotomy as if liberty and equality, or individualism versus collectivism were in tension. Somehow that Liberty was somehow at odds to some degree with equality. Tell us about the equality that you are referring to, that you see as tension even in the founding, and how liberty or individualism somehow works against equality.
Bradford Kane: Just a footnote on the previous discussion point there about why people from Europe initially came here. It is hard to distinguish between the economic and the social reasons because yes, some did come here because of the caste system and no opportunity for social mobility, and others came here for religious freedom. The two often went hand in hand, sometimes a little more of one, sometimes a little more of the other, but the two were very much drivers of how the colonies got started. When you talk about social mobility and opportunity and the reasons why people came to this new land, the next question is, for whom?
That’s where you get liberty and equality that go hand in hand and yet there is a bit of tension. And of course, our founding documents have different points of compromise built in. The idea is that with liberty and equality, that kind of fomented into individualism versus collectivism, or communal collectivism. And the idea is that if it is pure liberty, each individual should have full rights to do whatever they want and be unfettered by the government, and not even wanting the assistance of the government.
Well, that doesn’t work as an organizing principle of society, if it is unrestrained. Equality is vital, because if you don’t have a structure that gives rise to predators and oppression in commerce. So the idea for whom is very important because everyone benefits when everyone has the opportunity to benefit. That gives rise to the language of Mr. Jefferson when he said “all men are created equal.” That is the hallmark of the quality concept. So the two very much go hand in hand.
Bob Zadek: I am confused. You made a passing reference just a second ago to rugged individualism, and then you follow that with “that doesn’t work.” And in your book you use the word empathy, I think more than once, but why doesn’t that work? Shouldn’t government only exist to protect the rights we are born with to protect and ensure that our rights are not taken away from us by others who would do us harm?
Bradford Kane: It’s because unfettered — the notion of each person doing whatever they want — can lead to the notion of each person as an island. Empathy is very much part of the discussion. I’ve mentioned a couple times in chapter one, both historically, and in terms of the current administration, we are a society. A society functions based on rules. Otherwise, if every person is able to do whatever they want, then you’ve got anarchy and chaos. So obviously, there has to be some amount of rules. The question is, is finding the fulcrum? Where’s the right balance, so that people are not hampered and restrained from being able to be able to pursue their aims. But the idea is also that everyone should be able to have the opportunity to pursue the American dream in whatever way they see fit. But that requires a level playing field for everyone to have the opportunity to do so.
Discerning the Proper Role of Government
Bob Zadek: We’re a society. We need rules. And I agree with you. We need rules. But rules are not laws. Rules are norms of behavior. We would hope there is a moral foundation to behavior, we would hope that people are kind and caring. I couldn’t agree more. That’s an aspiration. And I think it’s mostly borne out. But rules are not laws. And you seem to be suggesting, and this is one of the items in your book that I was looking forward to having a conversation with you about — you seem to be seeking to enforce empathy, to mandate empathy with a law and that that is an appropriate role of government.
That is an area that I was hoping to get fleshed out. I agree with you, we need rules. I disagree that we want to legislate morality. People ought to be free to be rude if they choose to do so. They shouldn’t be required to be empathetic. How do you bring empathy or the need for empathy, the desire for empathy, into a discussion on the structure of government? Government shouldn’t care if people are empathic or not, as a matter of governmental policy, as a matter of legislation, that is a private matter, like religion is a private matter.
Bradford Kane: The whole issue is finding the fulcrum finding the right balance. So let’s make this tangible. There are laws about the financial market, there was the creation of the securities exchange commission. Prior to that, there were predatory practices, everything from monopolies to think about insider trading. Do we accept insider trading? No, we do not like the idea of corporate CEOs with insider information selling the stock and leaving normal shareholders facing huge losses. That’s an example of why laws are necessary. Same thing with automobiles, we have to have some regulations, otherwise you could have safety problems.
And you want to make sure that someone buying the car is comfortable that there is a certain amount of safety equipment. Let’s take food safety regulations. If you had that kind of unfettered libertarian approach without having a balance, then you take the chance of relying on good morals, and what if there is an outbreak of different different toxins and people die because some companies were scrupulous and others companies were more interested in driving up their profits and didn’t bother to clean their equipment? You don’t want to be overly prescriptive. But you do want standards.
Bob Zadek: You just tortured me a little bit by your reference to insider trading. If we were on a Zoom call or on television, you would have seen a bit of a smile on my face, as you made a somewhat passing reference to insider trading. Why did I perk up? I think the second or third show that I did 12 or 13 years ago. My guest was Don Boudreaux, a wonderful economist who does a daily column that I must read every morning called Cafe Hayek. The subject was insider trading. During this show I wished that insider trading was mandatory, not a crime. And in fact, criminalizing insider trading harms the market, harms investors, and harms everybody. We can’t discuss it, Brad, although it’d be a fun conversation. I would just in a crass kind of way refer our listeners to a show I did 12 years ago still available on insider trading. It is a cool, complex, interesting topic.
Revisiting the 2016 election: What does it say about 2020?
Bob Zadek: But now, as they say, back to our show with Brad. So Brad, of course, there is a role for governments in the marketplace. Because remember, a libertarian point of view seeks to find as about the most valid and appropriate role of government, to protect individuals from having their rights, which preceded government, protected from the bad acts of others, and to be protected against theft, physical harm, and fraud. That is a valid role of government, to protect us against fraud. So you and I have found a fair amount of common ground there. Now, Brad, your observations on the 2016 election and your feelings about the election seemed to be what prompted you to feel that you had something important to share. You mentioned in your introductory comments that Donald Trump was elected because a large number of voters felt that neither political party was looking after their interest.
These people became political orphans and they found a home in what Donald Trump was offering. That was what accounted for the rather strange unpredictable results of the 2016 election. I’d like to discuss that for a minute, because we have another election coming up, and your thoughts will help your readership understand the election we’re about to have. Tell us your analysis of where populism will fit into Trump’s election. I’d like to discuss that for a few minutes after you make your brief presentation. I may have a somewhat different spin. How did Trump get elected? What did that tell us about America in 2016, and perhaps America in 2020?
Bradford Kane: It definitely was a perfect storm combination of many different factors. It was kind of this weird convergence. The most important thing here is the question of the underlying forces that have been basically fomenting. It goes back to the origins of our country. And that’s what I saw in the book. It’s not just Donald Trump. He basically galvanized a lot of this. But a lot of it predates him. And then, of course, he took it in his own direction in ways which I would argue are rather dystopian, and we have seen that bear out. So the interesting thing is that if you go back to 2015–2016, there were a lot of people who felt forgotten and left behind. Partly this was because of the economic problems as of 2008–2009, from which they never recovered.
Some people had feelings about the Obama presidency. So basically, a lot of people felt that neither the democrats nor the republicans were serving my needs, so they wanted to try something different. The fact that Jim Comey did what he did a week before the election, which was rather reprehensible. Fast forward to today. I don’t believe there is a single person in America who can say they don’t know what Donald Trump is, or what he is about or stands for. It’s impossible after four years. One can have different opinions of it. Absolutely. So the interesting thing is, we have seen what he does. We have seen what he is doing and why he is doing it. Every other president in American history has been driven by policy and principles. Donald Trump has based his decisions and his actions based on his personality, his preferences, and his psychological needs. His needs change so his preferences change.
A lot of people who see what they see now and have reasons why they do not want to see him be president for four more years. Turn to the other side of the equation. Is there anyone who voted for the Democrats in 2016, who would now have reason to vote for Donald Trump? I can’t think of a reason why someone who voted for the Democrats in 2016 would now say Trump is my guy. In terms of what is America based on and founded on in terms of our founding documents, our founding principles of liberty and equality. We see Donald Trump calling into question and dismantling the credibility of our institutions, including our intelligence community, our FBI, or anyone who doesn’t say nice things about him. He comes out against what is damaging to the United States of America. So I think it’s an entirely different landscape in 2020 than it was in 2016.
Bob Zadek: I am a political outsider, just an observer. But that’s what I do. I’m sure I’m in a minority, but I have an entirely different spin on the 2016 election. And of equal importance, what the election of 2016 tells us about America in 2016 and America today. In my view, the 2016 election tells us nothing about how Trump got elected, and what was going on in the country. The many observers, most perhaps more informed than me, said that was a populist movement. There were disaffected voters and that’s what happened. My view is Trump won because his opponent was a horrible candidate and was the only human on the planet who could have lost to Donald Trump. The 2016 election was nothing other than the accident of the Democrats fielding a candidate who was proven to be unelectable by the country at large. She made tactical errors. Had she made better tactical decisions, she would have won. The point I am making is that the election tells us nothing about the country. In fact, Trump won with a minority of the vote.
It tells us nothing about the country. Because if Hillary would have ran a better campaign, she would have been elected. And you and I would not be on the show this Sunday morning talking about populism. The country doesn’t change based upon the quality of election tactics. So I say the election of 2016 tells us nothing about the country. It tells us only about how to operate and not to operate a political campaign. The only conclusion you can draw is our technical political issues, nothing about the country. Had Hillary won, the conversation in America about where we are going is entirely different. Well, America doesn’t change that much. America was America in 2016. America is America today. So I would just offer the observation that I do not draw any conclusions about the country based upon the 2016 election, other than Hillary ran a stupid campaign. It is that level of insignificance.
Bradford Kane: In my view 2016 was a perfect storm of many different forces and factors, one of which was that the Democratic candidate was very unpopular. That was absolutely one of the important factors. But I do think there’s a lot to be learned from 2016. One thing, for example, is that people believe that Trump has made comments tinged with what they consider to be racism and xenophobic, and that the MAGA movement is somehow hearkening back to a wistful notion a mirage, back in the 1950’s, where there was less equal opportunity. Donald Trump embodied that, showcasing that feeling in his rallies and the comments he makes. I acknowledge what you’re saying, that 2016 was sui generis, but the underlying forces do tell us something about the American people.
And I think Joe Biden is very conscious of this. When you look at America’s tradition, we are mostly somewhere somewhat centric as a people partly because of our split national identity that I talked about earlier, about individualism and collectivism and all the different areas that spring up from those. We are generally a centrist nation, we lean a little left, we lean a little right. There’s a pendulum swing between the two, but not toward the extreme. If you look at Biden’s policy principles, he also wants to see more job training and job creation, which is more centrist and reaches into Trump’s voter-base as well. I both agree and disagree that 2016 is definitely its own creation.
Bob Zadek: Just to respond, without inviting further discussion. I’m not so sure Joe Biden wants to represent all the people. He has a more collectivist worldview. Equality, as used in founding documents in governing principles, means equality before the law. It doesn’t mean everybody gets to be six foot one and thin and handsome. It means the government is not going to have their thumb on the scale and favor one group over another.
Bradford Kane: The question of equality of opportunity, not equality of results. Because different people have different pathways, different people have different aptitudes. But whatever it is, it is their chosen interpretation of the American dream and they should have the societal underpinning and access to capital and loan guarantees that all else should. I appreciate your comments with regard to the book. The focus of the book is not just the past. I use the historical so makes the point. The book is part path explaining what goes on every single day in America right now. But it’s also talking about the future. I put forth solutions in each chapter to deal with things going forward so that we can form a more perfect union as the expression goes.
Biden’s Equality: Not Equality of Opportunity, Equality of Outcome
Bob Zadek: Equality is a very important concept in your book. I would compare equality under the law, which we basically have in this country. We have that. So therefore, the concept of equality as promoted by Biden, with a different worldview than I have, is that he wants equality of outcome. If some people have more, and others have less, and dare I say, not enough, in his opinion, then it is appropriate for the government to force wealth transfers from those who have more than enough in the government’s opinion to those who do not have enough in the government’s opinion. If you want to know one fault line where Biden’s view only represents approximately half the country, but by no means all of the country, is in that concept.
By the mere fact that for whatever lawful reason some people have more and others have less, it is the government’s job to adjust that by interfering with people acquiring property lawfully in mutually beneficial exchanges throughout their life. It’s the government’s job, to merely by the dint of economic differences, put their thumb on the scale. In that decision, which is a clear distinction between perhaps progressives and even the founding generation, lies the fault line. That means that Biden cannot claim to represent more than half the people. The half he represents are for the most people who are in the have less group, and they want to enforce a wealth transfer so they have more at the expense of people who have more than enough and that seems to be Biden’s application of the principle of equality. That is a painful difference.
Bradford Kane: I take issue with that. I think that is not an accurate characterization of what Biden would be doing. I would like to address this in terms of both economics and in terms of rights. I don’t know how many people realize that the lion’s share of Donald Trump’s tax reduction went to corporations and to the wealthiest Americans. A small amount was a tax reduction to the rest of American and that was time limited. It goes away after eight years, whereas the rest of the breaks were for corporate Americans and for the wealthiest Americans.
What Biden is talking about is removing those cuts from the millionaires and billionaires that remain permanent. He will not raise taxes on those who make $400,000 or less. When corporations and the wealthiest Americans get an immense tax break in perpetuity, it means that people who work in hospitals, and teachers, and law enforcement folks, those are people who are paying their taxes and they are footing the bill so that the millionaires and billionaires get their tax break in perpetuity. So Joe Biden would correct that inequality.
Bob Zadek: I’ve done lots of shows on tax policy. Also way back, just a minor comment. The corporate income tax is perhaps the most misunderstood tax policy in the country. There should be no corporate income tax, because corporations pay the tax and since they have to make a profit or else they wouldn’t exist, they simply treat the tax as a cost. And they pass the tax along by paying low wages, or by paying less for the goods and services they buy. So in effect, corporations cannot pay taxes, they can collect taxes, because they pay taxes to the government and then collect it from their customers, vendors or their stockholders. So therefore, any sensible study will show that a corporation income tax is actually paid by the lowest 25% of the earners, because they spend the largest amount of their money on goods and services, and the least on savings. So therefore, a corporate income tax is simply a way for the government to tax individuals by hiding behind corporations. | https://medium.com/@rzadek/populism-201-advanced-topics-in-american-democracy-f74202cdd8bd | ['Bob Zadek'] | 2020-10-30 17:24:28.309000+00:00 | ['Trump', '2016 Election', 'Election 2020', 'Populism'] |
Culpability and Compliance in Jiří Weil’s ‘Mendelssohn is on the Roof’ | Mendelssohn is on the Roof is a story of both complicity and resistance during an era of Nazi-induced terror. It examines life in occupied Prague through a kaleidoscopic lens; the experiences of its many characters interact in such a way that they are reflected in and by each other, creating a bounty of small intersections and exchanges. Rather than progressing linearly, the novel jumps between, comes back to, and combines individual storylines, creating a labyrinth of linkages littered with discontinuities in time and in plot. Characters that appear in the beginning of the story often reappear unexpectedly later on, leaving the reader to contend with the connections between each appearance. Nuance and ambiguity emerge out of these instances of discontinuity as they create interesting associations and juxtapositions between different characters and events. One such discontinuity can be found by tracing the Head of the Central Bureau’s unnamed mother as she appears throughout the novel. Although a minor character, her inclusion in the story is intentional and significant. We are first introduced to her in an early scene in which her son, an especially cruel Nazi higher-up, works on finding the perfect gift for her birthday. Although not explicitly stated or emphasized, she quietly reappears as the screaming woman that Becvar, a Czech workman, heroically saves during a brutal air raid. This intersection of the two storylines associates Becvar’s resistance to Nazi power with the old woman’s motherly love for her Nazi son, revealing the unsettling truth that a single action can simultaneously double as one of resistance and of complicity.
Because the mother of the Head of the Central Bureau is nameless, it is initially ambiguous if she is the screaming woman in the air raid. Examination of a few key details, however, support the conclusion that they are the same woman. The first piece of evidence is simple; the women in both the gift-giving and air raid scenes are elderly and connected to power within the Nazi hierarchy. In the gift-giving scene, the woman’s son describes her as a “white-haired lady” (50) and an “old lady” (51). We know that her son has power because he knows the truth about The East and he is in charge of dealing with the fortress city and the transports. We learn that he uses this power to “sen[d] her weekly packages from the Protectorate” (51), establishing their relationship as one in which he can pull strings for her. The description of the woman in the bombing scene parallels this. This woman too is described as “an old dame” or “old woman” (154). She has the power to send Becvar back home because, as she tells him, “she has a lot of pull in the various bureaus…her son is some kind of general or marshal or something” (156). The second piece of evidence is that the women in both scenes are uniquely identified as vestiges of the past. The gift-giving scene reveals that “the old lady lived in her memories” (51), describing how she would spend her days gazing at her late husband’s portrait and reminiscing on her son’s childhood through his notebooks and toys. Similarly, the bombing scene describes how the woman is “all dolled up in old-fashioned clothing” and is wearing “the kind of bonnet on her head that they wore in the last century” (154). This attachment to the past is characteristic of both women, and so this detail helps confirm that they are indeed the same woman. The third piece of evidence explicitly places the Head of the Central Bureau’s mother in a bombing, clearing up any remaining ambiguity about whether or not the mother is the screaming woman. In an almost throwaway passage about the Head of the Central Bureau, “the city where his mother had lived hadn’t been spared bombing after all. The old white-haired lady had not been killed, thank God, but her villa was destroyed” (200). Together, these three pieces of evidence prove that the Head of the Central Bureau’s mother is indeed the screaming woman, thus creating a curious, yet undeniable linkage between their respective storylines.
By establishing this linkage, it is confirmed that Becvar saves a Nazi’s mother. While this action may be understood as something purely instinctual, thoughtless, and coincidental, it is further complicated by already established associations with his character. By tracing Becvar’s thread to the beginning of the novel when he is working on the Mendelssohn statue project, we discover a surprising fact– Becvar has a history of demonstrating small acts of resistance against the Reich. First, he blatantly opposes Nazi ideology when he confronts Schlesinger’s belief that “Jews and gypsies are a hostile element because they’re not Aryans” (88). He challenges this thinking by confronting Schlesinger: “I once read some kind of book… saying that the gypsies come from India and that in India they’re Aryans. Somehow the whole thing didn’t make sense to me” (89). This rejection of the definition of Aryan identity and of Nazi persecution of the Romani people is an example of a small act of resistance, demonstrating Becvar’s refusal to, at least fully, immerse himself in their racist ideology. Second, when the workmen are finally given orders to knock down the Mendelssohn statue, Becvar again acts in defiance against his Nazi superiors. As the men put the noose around the statue’s neck, “Becvar had an idea…That statue must be important since they’re making such a fuss about it. We’ve got to knock it down, obviously, but let’s do it real carefully…And then, when this is all over, our fellows can put it back up again…It came down so slowly that only a hand came off”(89–90). He saves this statue because he believes that, one day, it will be erected once more after the Nazi project has terminated. The intentionality of his actions shows how his disobedience is not meant to simply spite his superiors, but rather to take a meaningful stand against them. His small acts of resistance are thus revealed to be deliberate and powerfully political.
The establishment of Becvar as a source of internal political resistance in the novel reframes the rescue of the Head of Central Bureau’s mother as another possible example of his resistance. Interestingly, it parallels his resistive salvage of the Mendelssohn statue in both its depiction of the old woman as a statue as well as in the result of the rescue. When he encounters the old woman, she is standing on a wall with her mouth open, screaming, mirroring the image of Mendelssohn perched on the roof of the concert hall. The old woman’s body is “completely covered with plaster dust” (154), furthering the idea of her as a second statue in need of Becvar’s rescuing. Becvar saves the Mendelssohn statue in hopes that the famous Jew will be allowed to once again rise when Prague is freed of the Nazis and their ideas. In a similar manner, his rescue of the old woman preserves another form of resistive hope that is enshrined in her. The Head of the Central Bureau’s mother lives in her memories, in a more innocent past in which her husband is alive and her son is still her little boy. Because of this, she spends her days dusting her late husband’s desk and armchair and taking care of her son’s old toys and school notebooks. When she is transformed into a statue during the bombing, she comes to immortalize a pure love for her son and a lived memory of a time before their hellish present. In Becvar’s impulsive decision to rescue the woman, he thus preserves a naïve hope for a lost past, a pure, motherly love that stands in stark opposition to the gas chambers, the starving bodies, the happenings in the East. This single action can thus be understood to be one of resistance based on the recognition of the network of associations that intrinsically tie Becvar’s resistive past to the old woman’s propensity for the past. At the same time, however, this single action can also be understood as an example of Becvar’s complicity, of his supporting of, and even benefitting from, the Nazi project. Once labeled “a secret enemy of the Reich” (93) by Schlesinger after his involvement with the Mendelssohn statue, he ultimately leaves the warfront as a public hero of the Reich. He is rewarded with a document that allows his return home and that praises how “he had distinguished himself during the bombardment” (157). He is seen favorably in the eyes of the Reich because of his service to them; he rescued the mother of a powerful Nazi from near certain death. The moment in which he saves her can be read as a self-sacrifice– as he drags her to safety, thus completing the rescue mission, “he fainted. Suddenly life returned to the old woman” (155). His fainting represents a metaphorical death and it is revealing that it is immediately followed by the woman’s revitalization. The juxtaposition of his fainting “death” and her rebirth thus suggests that this action is transactional, that in this moment, he gives his life for the Reich, surrendering himself to its control. In this way, rescuing the old woman fully implicates him in the Nazi mission. Additionally, he bolsters their cause by directly serving the Head of the Central Bureau (by saving his mother), for which he is handsomely rewarded. The old woman, and thus the Reich by extension, compensates him with the opportunity to go home. The deals he makes and favors he accepts from the Nazis further evidence how his rescuing of the old woman can be clearly understood not as an act of resistance, but of complete complicity.
Mendelssohn is on the Roof integrates fractured individual narratives that, together, create a labyrinth of linkages amongst characters, events, and ideas. The lives of Becvar and an old woman become unexpectedly enmeshed during a bombardment, although there is ambiguity about the identity of who he has actually saved. Following the threads of key details about the old woman in the bombing reveals that she is the loving mother of the Head of the Central Bureau, a man whose life work is to realize Jewish extermination. Becvar’s proclivity towards resisting the Nazi project complicates his rescue of the mother of a Nazi, ultimately underlining how a single action can be understood both as an act of resistance and of complicity. This blurring of the distinction between resistance and complicity challenges conventional notions of culpability, forcing us, as readers, to realize the nuance in how we assign both guilt and honor, in how we delineate a good deed from a bad deed. | https://medium.com/@clairestratton_39862/culpability-and-compliance-in-ji%C5%99%C3%AD-weils-mendelssohn-is-on-the-roof-4de4050e9506 | ['Claire Stratton'] | 2020-04-23 23:03:15.375000+00:00 | ['Jiri Weil', 'Literature', 'Resistance', 'Nazis'] |
Wyze Noise-Cancelling Headphones review: Startlingly affordable | When you really want to zone out, leave humanity or your environment behind, you need active noise-cancelling headphones. Few headsets cancel noise better than these Wyze Headphones, which are also one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve worn.
You do pay a slight sonic price for this trick, but that simply means the sound goes from very good to merely good. The kicker: These phones cost just $50. Until I looked up the price at the end of my evaluation, I was thinking $150.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best headphones, where you’ll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.Design and featuresThe Wyze headphones I tested come in basic black, sport low-latency/low-power Bluetooth 5.0, and as I said, are among the most comfy I’ve tested. The ear cup pads are extremely plush, and my ears never came close to making contact with the speaker grills. The adjustable headband is firm, but not too tight, and the cushion for the top of your head is as comfortable as the cup pads.
Wyse The Wyze headphone controls are easy to reach and relatively easy to use. That said, after the joystick control on the Marshall Major IV, all headphone button arrangements seem primitive by comparison.
The one area where I’m now going to be critical of all headphones is controls. The controls on the Wyze (noise-cancellation button on the left, power/up/down/enter on the right) are as well placed as any I’ve experienced, but after the joystick on the Marshall Major IV, everything else seems dated. That’s not a knock on Wyze, just a plea for all vendors to adopt a superior design.
[ Further reading: The best high-res digital audio players ] Mentioned in this article Marshall Major IV Read TechHive's reviewSee it The left cup is home to the 3.5mm input jack, and the right cup houses the USB-C charging port. The outside of the right cup is also used as a touch surface to control your voice assistant. Wyze includes both audio and charging cables, as well as a simple carry bag. There’s no 1/4-inch adapter or airline adapter included.
Wyse Wyse’s headphones come in a carrying bag with a USB-C charging cable and a 3.5mm male-to-male cable for wired use.
I’d like to compliment Wyze on its quickstart guide, which is succinct, but thorough and far easier to read than some of the tiny booklets other vendors provide. Kudos as well for all-paper/cardboard packaging and no shrink wrapping. You can easily recycle everything but the phones themselves. (Although that’s also possible in most locales, if you take the trouble.)
There is of course an app that allows EQ’ing the unit and choosing the level of ambient noise reduction.
Performance (noise abatement and sound)There’s no arguing the efficacy of the Wyze ambient nose reduction. As these are over-ear headphones, they block a lot of noise without an electronic assist. With active noise cancellation (adding a phase-opposite signal to the audio) enabled, they become very, very quiet. If I were on an airplane, they’re definitely one of the sets I’d consider bringing along.
Mentioned in this article Sony WH-XB900N Extra Bass, wireless noise-canceling headphones Read TechHive's reviewMSRP $248.00See it On the other hand, activating noise cancellation slightly alters frequency response. The Wyze headphones sound very good without cancellation enabled, and merely good with it on. That’s the nature of the cancellation beast, but I will say I hear ever so slightly less difference in sonics between the two modes with my Sony WH-XB900H headset. Picayune.
IDG The Wyze Headphone app with noise-reduction settings and EQ.
Sans said noise cancellation, the bass was spot-on, round and punchy without sounding like a subwoofer. Unless of course, you’re a subwoofer fiend. (Is that still a thing?) Separation? They’re headphones. It’s perfect. The mid-range is clean and accurate, though I’d opt for just a tad more in the upper regions. There are just enough highs for my taste, though I wouldn’t say no to a pinch more. Younger ears will wonder what I’m going on about.
My above comments are on the default settings. The EQ seemed to work well with cuts and gain with the bass, but I didn’t notice huge gains in the mids or highs no matter how many dB I boosted. The sound doesn’t need much tweaking anyway, so no biggie.
Run time was very good, but I didn’t quite make the 20 hours Wyze claims. I saw around 16, but then I left them (off-ear) playing at a relatively high volume.
Overall, I’d have no problem using these headphones as my daily drivers if I wasn’t currently stuck on, yes the Marshall Major IV’s. But those don’t do noise cancellation, so I’ll take the Wyze on the plane, and they’re also in my listen-to-recording-mixdowns brigade.
ConclusionAs I’ve said several times now, the Wyze headphones are super comfortable and do a stellar job of shutting off the sound from the outside world. They sound good if not great in that mode, and very good when not cancelling noise. Head to head, I’d give a slight nod to the aforementioned WH-XB900n’s in terms of sound. Then again, the Sony’s are four times the price. $50. With an app. Sheesh. Buy ‘em.
User warning: For goodness sake, don’t use noise-cancelling/blocking headphones that don’t provide the option to pipe in ambient sound in any situation where missing an audio clue could cost you your life. Jogging, strolling downtown, riding your bike? No. Watching TV, listening to tunes at home? Okay.
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/@jean88537510/wyze-noise-cancelling-headphones-review-startlingly-affordable-aa9579f417d7 | [] | 2020-11-30 05:02:09.716000+00:00 | ['Security Cameras', 'Entertainment', 'Cord', 'Deals'] |
“I guess this is goodbye…” | “I guess this is goodbye…”
Last Wednesday, we arrived at school at precisely the wrong moment. Getting to school has been a bit tricky lately for my youngest. On this particular day it was almost noon by the time we’d made it into the car for the twenty minute drive to school. And so it was that we got there just as his friend — who is also only managing a few hours at a time just now — was leaving.
They were delighted to see each other. Ecstatic. Overexcited. After several boisterous minutes running around outside the school gates, it became clear that neither persuading my son into school nor convincing his friend to get in the car to go home was going to be simple. After about ten minutes, my son’s one-to-one worker gave up trying and headed back into school, telling me to bring him in when he was ready. That left me and the two carers from his friend’s children’s home, with the two lads.
An hour later, we were still outside school. Persuading my son to go into school while his friend was still there, was a lost cause. He was determined to make sure that his friend was safely in the car and heading home. However, his friend couldn’t bear to leave while my son was still there. More than once, my son persuaded him to get into his car, only for him to get out again. Cue more running around and boisterousness. No amount of cajoaling, persuading, patient entreaties or stern instruction was helping. The best efforts of three adults was making no difference whatsoever. We were stuck. My son’s friend was looking more and more sheepish as his carers issued instructions about getting into the car, but he still wasn’t going to comply.
So what was the problem? My guess, as I watched this scenario unfold, was that basically, he simply couldn’t bear to say goodbye. I knew there were likely to be parallels between my son’s experiences and those of his friend. I know nothing of his friend’s history, but you don’t end up in a care home without there having been losses along the way. It is almost certain that he has been shunted, unceremoniously, from one place to another, leaving behind homes, parents, carers, possessions, neighbourhoods, everything. Probably lots of times. And when that’s your history, you carry with you the knowledge, deep in your bones, that anything and everything could be lost at any moment. I remember once, when my son was much smaller, noticing him becoming anxious when his brother moved from the room where we were sitting to the one next door. I told him what I’d noticed. “I’m worried he won’t be my brother anymore,” he said. That was the moment I really understood why leaving anything or anyone to do something else or to go somewhere, could be so flipping difficult in our family. No wonder my son and his friend were reluctant to say goodbye.
Time was ticking by. One of the care workers was beginning to talk quietly to me about getting help from school staff to restrain them both. “I can’t see how else this is going to end,” she said. That didn’t sound like a good solution to me. Though given that we were into our second hour outside the school gates, I had to agree that it was looking a bit desperate. We needed to find a way to make saying goodbye less difficult. So I took a punt.
“Listen,” I said to my son’s friend, “if you get into your car, we will get into our car and we will follow you to your home, and we will wave goodbye as we drive past.” He looked at me. “OK then,” he said. Then he turned to my son, and with grave seriousness declared: “I guess this is goodbye.” They embraced. He took a leaf from the nearby hedge and handed it to my son, with all the tenderness of a sweetheart giving a memento to her war-bound lover. My son carried this precious token carefully to our car and, once I’d convinced the carers that yes, we were definitely driving straight past their house and no, I had absolutely no intention of stopping outside for a repeat performance of the long goodbye, our little convoy set off.
Watching the depth of their struggle and the tenderness of their parting, it struck me just how difficult seemingly simple things can be for my son and his friend and for so many other young people who live with the emotional legacy of trauma suffered early in life. And how sometimes, just a little bit of understanding and help can make all the difference. I’m sure we hadn’t made parting magically easy for my son and his friend, but we had made it possible. And that was all it needed. | https://medium.com/@catherine-cowell/i-guess-this-is-goodbye-d9bf05ed0de9 | ['Catherine Cowell'] | 2021-06-19 12:52:05.935000+00:00 | ['Trauma', 'Adoption', 'Parenting', 'Transitions'] |
iOS build, test and deliver using Bitrise — Part 1 [BUILD] | Prepare our first Workflow
The workflow Bitrise has prepared for us is primary , this flow has included build for the scheme we have selected and deploy the app to TestFlight.
Bitrise Workflow Editor
To have an efficient and automated workflow, we should always design our workflow for a specific scenario and minimise the number of steps required. So instead of having everything in one workflow, I would like to split it into two workflows:
build — This will build and run all test from the project, we will use this workflow when a PR has created to our main branch. release — This will archive our app and upload to TestFlight for us to release a new build to AppStore.
The reason I split into 2 workflows is because by splitting into 2 workflows we can keep our workflows optimise and efficient.
We can simply create a new workflow based on the default primary workflow.
Click + Workflow to add a new workflow
Before we changed the build workflow, let’s have a look at what the primary workflow is doing.
primary workflow
Activate SSH key — Bitrise setup the SSH key for current workflow. Git Clone Repository — Clone our repository. Bitrise.io Cache:Pull — Download build cache from Bitrise the speed up the build time. Do anything with Script step — This step allows you to run any custom script. Certificate and profile installer — Install Apple’s developer certificate and profiles Carthage — Install our Carthage dependencies. Xcode Archive & Export — Archive and export .ipa. Deploy to Bitrise.io — Deploy our app, logs and artifacts to Bitrise, it will show on the APPS & ARTIFACTS tab when the build has finished. Bitrise.io Cache:Push — Update our build cache on Bitrise for our next build.
As I mentioned previously, our build workflow only builds and run the test from the project. We can simplify the workflow by removing step number 4, 5, 7 and 8, we will add a new step call Xcode Test for iOS to run our test.
Your build workflow should be like this after editing:
build workflow
In Xcode Test for iOS, do make sure the Scheme name is correct (you can check the $BITRISE_SCHEME on Env Vars tab. Other than that, you also can change the device and specific the OS version you want in this step.
PS: For Xcode 12 and Carthage (As of 10th Nov 2020)
If you are using Xcode12, you will need some workaround to make it work, for more details on Carthage for Xcode 12 please check on the Carthage repository: Xcode 12 Workaround.
Here is what we need to do for Carthage to work on Bitrise with Xcode12 stack:
Commit and push the carthage.sh script for the workaround to your repository’s root folder. Delete Carthage step from the workflow. Add a new Script step and execute the script with sh carthage.sh bootstrap
This will be you build workflow with Carthage Xcode12 workaround.
Trigger a manual BUILD
Until here our build workflow is ready, we can Start/Schedule a Build on our app main page, to trigger a workflow manually. You will be able to specify the branch you would like to use and the workflow you would like to trigger.
Start/Schedule a build
Wait for the build to run a while, if everything goes well, you should see a green tick on your build.
Manual trigger build
Trigger a Webhook BUILD with PR
Moving forward to our end goal, we will need to set Bitrise to trigger the build workflow when there is a PR created. We can do this in the Workflow Editor -> Triggers tab.
There are three nested tabs inside the Triggers tab:
Push Pull Request Tag
By default, Bitrise has predefined a Push trigger for *(All) branch to run primary workflow. So we will need to remove this trigger.
Delete the pre-defined push trigger
After that move to the Pull Request tab, there is also a pre-defined PR trigger for when creating a PR from *(All) Target branch to *(All) Soruce branch to trigger a primary workflow. We will change the primary workflow to our build workflow.
Change to our build workflow
And Save it, we can try to create a PR to test our build now.
When you create a PR, you should be able to see the Bitrise build on your PR page, the below image is an example from GitHub.
GitHub PR with Bitrise build integration
You should be able to see a new build on Bitrise right after your PR has been created, the build should contain your PR URL and commit hash.
Build trigger by Webhook on PR trigger
That’s the wrap! We have our first workflow in Bitrise and will auto-trigger when we create a new PR. On the next article, we will focus on automation testing in Bitrise.
Some improvement can be done:
For the workaround script we are using sh carthage.sh bootstrap , ideally we can specify the platform with --platform ios to skip unnecessary platforms and shorter our build time but I’m having command error while adding it. There are two solutions I can think of:
Create another bash script (e.g carthage_bootstrap.sh) to run sh carthage.sh bootstrap -- platfrom ios then we can do sh carthage_bootstrap.sh in the Bitrise Script step. If you are using fastlane, you can create a new lane run the Carthage workaround bash script.
Example bitrise.yml: | https://medium.com/ne-digital/ios-build-test-and-deliver-using-bitrise-part-1-build-d210b8e60a2d | ['Li Hao'] | 2020-11-12 01:22:35.930000+00:00 | ['Process', 'Continuous Integration', 'Mobile', 'Bitrise', 'iOS'] |
Hands on machine learning deployment using flask in 5 min | Machine learning is a part of computer science,which helps to find future outcomes it can be predict the results.It provide some insights on the basis of previous stats.
In this blog,i am going to show you hands on demonstration of deploy a machine learning model using the flask on Heroku platform.
For this hands on implementation i am using car price prediction ml model, in which feature engineering and feature selection techniques are applied.
Apply ExtraTreeRegressor model. Extra Trees is an ensemble machine learning algorithm that combines the predictions from many decision trees. Each tree is provided with a random sample of k features from the feature-set from which each decision tree must select the best feature to split the data based on some mathematical criteria. This random sample of features leads to the creation of multiple de-correlated decision trees. Extra tree provisioning features are Year,Volume,mileage,fuel type and transmission.
▶Let’s start the deployment of machine learning model:
⪢First dump your machine learning model into pickle file.For this you need to import a pickle library in your python notebook.Pickle library is used to dump the ml model,Pickling is a way to convert a python object into a character stream this contains all the information necessary to reconstruct the object in another python script.
import pickle
Here i dump my model into “model1.pkl” file.This pickle file contain all the information of ml model, it used in the prediction.
⪢After that create a folder on your local which contain your file,csv file and pickle file.
⪢Create a template folder which contain all html files.
⪢Add app.py file,it use to get data from user, this input helps to predict car value.
Now add this code to your “app.py” file.In this i import various libraries, these libraries produce a final document which displays in users browser.
In this, render_template ->A template is rendered with specific data to produce a final document. Flask uses the Jinja template library to render templates. request ->The requests module in Python allows you to exchange requests on the web.That mean you can input and get the output on web server using GET and POST method. url_for-> use to create a endpoint url.
Apply conditions and convert categorical data into numerical form, provide the route of web on the local host.
⪢Before that insert all html files in template folder and give the placeholder, for linking.For an example create an index.html page and put into the template folder.
In this html file, there are two placeholder first for predict and second is for the dashboard which is on tableau.
Run your app on visual studio and the output will look like this.In this output we can predict the car price.
Result will be redirect on next page using render template,for accessing the result.html file, you can go on my git repository.
Lets bind up all the steps:
1️⃣ Dump ml model into pickle file.
2️⃣ Save all files in the folder. Pickle file , flask file, python file , csv data and add one more template folder; in this contain all html files.
3️⃣ After add code into the python file.
4️⃣ run this python file into your local server and check it works properly or not.
After that add some required file which help to deploy a web on platform,here we deploy a web on Heroku server which is platform as a service.
5️⃣ Add procfile and requirement.txt file into the root directory of your folder.
🔰 Proc file is a text file which explicitly declare what command should be executed to start your app.
🔰The requirements.txt file lists the app dependencies together. When an app is deployed, Heroku reads this file and installs the python dependencies using the pip install -r.
Before moving on to the final step , we create a dashboard on tableau,dashboard is a visualization tool which gives us better understanding of data and help to analyse it.
For this must you have an account on tableau, tableau is give 14 days free trial,you can use it. Upload your data on tableau and create a sheets, after that add your sheets on dashboard. You can add many features as well.
After finish the work of dashboard.
6️⃣ Copy this embedded code. And paste into your html page.Share dashboard on the web.
You can to other settings to make it more visible for others.
7️⃣ After embedding the code into the html page, create github repository and clone into local. Add all files and push it .
8️⃣ Open Heroku login page and follow some steps to deploy your final web-app.
Go to create app▶give the unique name to your app▶connect to github▶find the repository which you create ▶enable automatic deploys (if you do any changes in your github it will do automatic changes)▶deploy branch.
Wait for a while it takes time, after some time you can see deployment is done and you can able to access your Heroku web-app.
💥💥💥Now you have a link to access your first ml base web-app.😍😍
And its done,in this web app you can predict the car value and as well if you have access then you can see the dashboard.
So what we did, in just 8 steps we use ml model,deploy it,create html files for template and make web interactive.Use flask frame work to build a web on local server.Use tableau to add extra feature provide visualization of data🤩 to authorized users,push all these files onto the github and connect github repo to Heroku and deploy model.🥳🥳
Follow me on my github.
Follow me on linkdin. #connect network #share knowledge #grow.
#machine learning #deployment #web technology #flask #html # python programming #data science | https://medium.com/deploy-ml-model-on-heroku-in-5-min/hands-on-machine-learning-deployment-using-flask-in-5-min-8f0c4566667b | ['Smriti Jain'] | 2020-12-12 17:25:07.443000+00:00 | ['Deployment', 'Flask Framework', 'Data Science', 'Web Development', 'Machine Learning'] |
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Film, also called movie, motion picture or moving picture, is a visual art-form used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound, and more rarely, other sensory stimulations.[1] The word “cinema”, short for cinematography, is ofNETFLIX used to refer to filmmaking and the film Fast & Furious Spy Racers, and to the art form that is the result of it.
❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies specifically to telecommunications networks, as most of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio CDs). There are challenges with streaming conNETFLIXt on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the conNETFLIXt. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain conNETFLIXt.
Live streaming is the delivery of Internet conNETFLIXt in real-time much as live television broadcasts conNETFLIXt over the airwaves via a television signal. Live internet streaming requires a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the conNETFLIXt, a media publisher, and a conNETFLIXt delivery network to distribute and deliver the conNETFLIXt. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is.
Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the conNETFLIXt before watching or lisNETFLIXing to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to start playing digital video or digital audio conNETFLIXt before the entire file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can apply to media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are all considered “streaming text”.
❏ COPYRIGHT CONNETFLIXT ❏
Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[1][1][1][1][1] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is inNETFLIXded to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[1][1][1] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States.
Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is ofNETFLIX shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][1][3][3][3] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[3]
Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not exNETFLIXd beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsisNETFLIXt.[3]
Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 3 to 1 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[1] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration.
It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[3]
❏ GOODS OF SERVICES ❏
Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[1] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exNETFLIXsible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[1] Credit is exNETFLIXded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
‘Fast & Furious Spy Racers’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ NETFLIXween China, U.S.
NETFLIX’s live-action “Fast & Furious Spy Racers” was supposed to be a huge win for under-represented groups in Hollywood. The $1 million-budgeted film is among the most expensive ever directed by a woman, and it features an all-Asian cast — a first for productions of such scale.
Despite well-inNETFLIXtioned ambitions, however, the film has exposed the difficulties of representation in a world of complex geopolitics. NETFLIX primarily cast Asian rather than Asian American stars in lead roles to appeal to Chinese consumers, yet Chinese viewers rejected the movie as inauthentic and American. Then, politics ensnared the production as stars Liu Yifei, who plays Fast & Furious Spy Racers, and Donnie Yen professed support for Hong Kong police during the brutal crackdown on protesters in 311. Later, NETFLIX issued “special thanks” in the credits to government bodies in China’s Xinjiang region that are directly involved in perpetrating major human rights abuses against the minority Uighur population.
“Fast & Furious Spy Racers” inadverNETFLIXtly reveals why it’s so difficult to create multicultural conNETFLIXt with global appeal in 2020. It highlights the vast disconnect NETFLIXween Asian Americans in Hollywood and Chinese nationals in China, as well as the exNETFLIXt to which Hollywood fails to acknowledge the difference NETFLIXween their aesthetics, tastes and politics. It also underscores the limits of the American conversation on representation in a global world.
In conversations with seFast & Furious Spy Racersl Asian-American creatives, Variety found that many feel caught NETFLIXween fighting against underrepresentation in Hollywood and being accidentally complicit in China’s authoritarian politics, with no easy answers for how to deal with the moral questions “Fast & Furious Spy Racers” poses.
“When do we care about representation versus fundamental civil rights? This is not a simple question,” says Bing Chen, co-founder of Gold House, a collective that mobilizes the Asian American community to help diverse films, including “Fast & Furious Spy Racers,” achieve opening weekend box office success via its #GoldOpen movement. “An impossible duality faces us. We absolutely acknowledge the terrible and unacceptable nature of what’s going on over there [in China] politically, but we also understand what’s at stake on the Fast & Furious Spy Racers side.”
The film leaves the Asian American community at “the intersection of choosing NETFLIXween surface-level representation — faces that look like ours — versus values and other cultural nuances that don’t reflect ours,” says Lulu Wang, director of “The Farewell.”
In a business in which past box office success determines what future projects are bankrolled, those with their eyes squarely on the prize of increasing opportunities for Asian Americans say they feel a responsibility to support “Fast & Furious Spy Racers” no matter what. That support is ofNETFLIX very personal amid the Fast & Furious Spy Racers’s close-knit community of Asian Americans, where people don’t want to tear down the hard work of peers and Fast & Furious Spy Racers.
Others say they wouldn’t have given NETFLIX their $3 if they’d known about the controversial end credits.
“‘Fast & Furious Spy Racers’ is actually the first film where the Asian American community is really split,” says sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, who examines racism in Hollywood. “For people who are more global and consume more global news, maybe they’re thinking, ‘We shouldn’t sell our soul in order to get affirmation from Hollywood.’ But we have this scarcity mentality.
“I felt like I couldn’t completely lambast ‘Fast & Furious Spy Racers’ because I personally felt solidarity with the Asian American actors,” Yuen continues. “I wanted to see them do well. But at what cost?”
This scarcity mentality is particularly acute for Asian American actors, who find roles few and far NETFLIXween. Lulu Wang notes that many “have built their career on a film like ‘Fast & Furious Spy Racers’ and other crossovers, because they might not speak the native language — Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Hindi — to actually do a role overseas, but there’s no role being writNETFLIX for them in America.”
Certainly, the actors in “Fast & Furious Spy Racers,” who have seen major career breakthroughs tainted by the film’s political backlash, feel this acutely. “You have to understand the tough position that we are in here as the cast, and that NETFLIX is in too,” says actor Chen Tang, who plays Fast & Furious Spy Racers’s army buddy Yao.
There’s not much he can do except keep trying to nail the roles he lands in hopes of paving the way for others. “The more I can do great work, the more likely there’s going to be somebody like me [for kids to look at and say], ‘Maybe someday that could be me.’”
Part of the problem is that what’s happening in China feels very distant to Americans. “The Chinese-speaking market is impenetrable to people in the West; they don’t know what’s going on or what those people are saying,” says Daniel York Loh of British East Asians and South East Asians in Theatre and Screen (BEATS), a U.K. nonprofit seeking greater on-screen Asian representation.
York Loh offers a provocative comparison to illustrate the West’s milquetoast reaction to “Fast & Furious Spy Racers” principal Liu’s pro-police comments. “The equivalent would be, say, someone like Emma Roberts going, ‘Yeah, the cops in Portland should beat those protesters.’ That would be huge — there’d be no getting around that.”
Some of the disconnect is understandable: With information overload at home, it’s hard to muster the energy to care about faraway problems. But part of it is a broader failure to grasp the real lack of overlap NETFLIXween issues that matter to the mainland’s majority Han Chinese versus minority Chinese Americans. They may look similar, but they have been shaped in diametrically different political and social contexts.
“China’s nationalist pride is very different from the Asian American pride, which is one of overcoming racism and inequality. It’s hard for Chinese to relate to that,” Yuen says.
Beijing-born Wang points out she ofNETFLIX has more in common with first-generation Muslim Americans, Jamaican Americans or other immigrants than with Chinese nationals who’ve always lived in China and never left.
If the “Fast & Furious Spy Racers” debacle has taught us anything, in a world where we’re still too quick to equate “American” with “white,” it’s that “we definitely have to separate out the Asian American perspective from the Asian one,” says Wang. “We have to separate race, nationality and culture. We have to talk about these things separately. True representation is about capturing specificities.”
She ran up against the Fast & Furious Spy Racers’s inability to make these distinctions while creating “The Farewell.” Americans felt it was a Chinese film because of its subtitles, Chinese cast and location, while Chinese producers considered it an American film because it wasn’t fully Chinese. The endeavor to simply tell a personal family story became a “political fight to claim a space that doesn’t yet exist.”
In the search for authentic storytelling, “the key is to lean into the in-NETFLIXweenness,” she said. “More and more, people won’t fit into these neat boxes, so in-NETFLIXweenness is exactly what we need.”
However, it may prove harder for Chinese Americans to carve out a space for their “in-NETFLIXweenness” than for other minority groups, given China’s growing economic clout.
Notes author and writer-producer Charles Yu, whose latest novel about Asian representation in Hollywood, “Interior Chinatown,” is a National Book Award finalist, “As Asian Americans continue on what I feel is a little bit of an island over here, the world is changing over in Asia; in some ways the center of gravity is shifting over there and away from here, economically and culturally.”
With the Chinese film market set to surpass the US as the world’s largest this year, the question thus arises: “Will the cumulative impact of Asian American audiences be such a small drop in the bucket compared to the China market that it’ll just be overwhelmed, in terms of what gets made or financed?”
As with “Fast & Furious Spy Racers,” more parochial, American conversations on race will inevitably run up against other global issues as U.S. studios continue to target China. Some say Asian American creators should be prepared to meet Fast & Furious Spy Racers by broadening their outlook.
“Most people in this Fast & Furious Spy Racers think, ‘I’d love for there to be Hollywood-China co-productions if it meant a job for me. I believe in free speech, and censorship is terrible, but it’s not my battle. I just want to get my pilot sold,’” says actor-producer Brian Yang (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Linsanity”), who’s worked for more than a decade NETFLIXween the two countries. “But the world’s getting smaller. Streamers make shows for the world now. For anyone that works in this business, it would behoove them to study and understand Fast & Furious Spy Racerss that are happening in and [among] other countries.”
Gold House’s Chen agrees. “We need to speak even more thoughtfully and try to understand how the world does not function as it does in our zip code,” he says. “We still have so much soft power coming from the U.S. What we say matters. This is not the problem and burden any of us as Asian Americans asked for, but this is on us, unfortunately. We just have to fight harder. And every step we take, we’re going to be right and we’re going to be wrong.”
☆ ALL ABOUT THE SERIES ☆
is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[1] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exNETFLIXsible to a large group of unrelated people.
The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[1] Credit is exNETFLIXded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.
‘Hausen’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ NETFLIXween China, U.S. | https://medium.com/fast-furious-spy-racers-series-3-episode-1-4khd/watch-fast-furious-spy-racers-series-3-episode-1-online-1080p-hd-9462e0dd7102 | ['Alisha Fraser'] | 2020-12-25 18:35:24.157000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Lifestyle', 'Coronavirus', 'TV Series'] |
Why Are People Calling Oscar Nominated Korean Film ‘Parasite’ Better Than Godfather? | By Chirali Sharma:
Parasite, a South Korean dark comedy thriller movie has taken over the world and is being touted as one of the best made films of the decade.
The film directed by Bong Joon-ho who interestingly also wrote the film’s story and had a hand in the film’s screenplay is getting glowing response from not just critics but audience alike as being a masterpiece.
The film that released in South Korea last year in May takes a look at the poor Kim family which becomes employees at the ultra-wealthy Park family.
The way the film transcends from a type of home invasion to thriller along with having some elements of comedy, suspense and horror is truly something to witness.
I for one, was sorely disappointed that the film would not be available in Indian theatres, so I could experience it fully. However, that soon changed when news came out that the film would actually be releasing in India.
Parasite Getting An Indian Release!
Parasite has already shocked the movie industry around the globe with it getting multiple Oscar nominations in major categories.
No longer relegated to just the standard ‘foreign film’ category that most international films are limited to, it has also gotten nominated for Best Picture with Bong Joon-ho getting one for Best Director.
The film’s already shown its prowess by winning the the Palme d’Or, the highest award, at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.
The film will now be releasing pan India in 15 different cities on 31st January 2020 and is getting one of the widest releases for any foreign language films in India.
This is actually good news since Indian theatres release such few international movies that most of the times we can only see them on our laptops or OTT services.
The film releasing here will give more Indian people a look at some actually good cinema and perhaps give some pointers to our own Bollywood filmmakers.
Better Than ‘The Godfather’?
Frankly, I never really got the craze for ‘The Godfather’, a 1972 film based on the Corleone mafia family on the brink of a massive change.
While I did appreciate the cinematic brilliance of it and how it showed the mafia world, and the acting was phenomenal, however, during the entire viewing of the first film I felt as if I was simply watching a movie, that nothing about it was real.
While with ‘Parasite’ every single thing shown in it reeked of the very real society around us.
In fact, Jessica Kang in a Variety review very well said that, “Bong is back and on brilliant form, but he is unmistakably, roaringly furious, and it registers because the target is so deserving, so enormous, so 2019: “Parasite” is a tick fat with the bitter blood of class rage.”
Because that is what the film boils down to, class inequality and divide where the rich just seem to get richer and the poor get poorer.
More than anything, the film somehow fits into the Indian society itself, showing how the rich seem to step on the poor to get the luxuries and privileges that they feel entitled to because of their wealth.
There is a scene in the movie where the children of the poor Kim family, Kim Ki-woo and Kim Ki-jeong are trying to get free Wi-Fi since they cannot afford to have their own phone plan.
They are trying every nook and cranny of their house and finally get some from a nearby cafe. To do so though, they have to climb on a level right beside their toilet, and this image itself was so strong to me. The fact that their very toilet, a place where people are disposing of their waste, is a level above them shows their disadvantageous position.
It also reminded me of a project website by Rahul Advani, a computer science student in Pune, who built a site called ‘Life In A Metro’ taking a look at how the Indian youth uses internet.
In it, he observed how students coming from economically weaker sections would use their college Wi-Fi or get hotspot from their friends. They couldn’t even use the free Wi-Fi that so many trendy cafes use as an incentive these days, because as per Advani, “these venues however attract a specific clientele — one that is typically affluent, elite and English-speaking — a tiny fraction of the city’s population.”
He also pointed out how the middle class youth do not own any credit card, computer or cars and are not the type to be able to afford visiting such expensive cafes.
This also relates to a Quartz report from 2017 that pointed at how the income inequality rate in India is probably at its highest since 1922 which is when the income tax was introduced.
According to the World Inequality Report 2018, “The structural changes to the economy, along with changes in tax regulation, appear to have had significant impact on income inequality in India since the 1980s.”
There is a scene in the movie in which the street the Kim family lives on is getting fumigated, when the wife asks for the windows to be closed, the father stops them and instead says that it’s a good thing since at least this way their own house will get some of it and kill the many insects living there.
In 2014, the report said that just the 1% of wealthy population of the country controlled a massive 23% of India’s total wealth. This is in stark contrast to 1982–83 when the rich had only 6% of control over the country’s wealth.
The poor 50% of the section meanwhile, only control a meager 16% of the country’s income.
In a recent report by Business Today it was revealed that, “India’s top 1% of the population now holds 73% of the wealth while 67 crore citizens, comprising the country’s poorest half, saw their wealth rise by just 1%.”
In common life itself, I’ve noticed so many rich societies and areas being built to give luxury to the rich but their impact is felt on the poor. From improper sewage system to disrupting slum areas to create room for a luxury apartment building and more, somehow it feels like the wealthy constantly step on the backs of the poor to have a better lifestyle.
This is exactly what the film ‘Parasite’ touches upon so perfectly and why it’s actually great that it’s getting an Indian release. | https://edtimes-in.medium.com/why-are-people-calling-oscar-nominated-korean-film-parasite-better-than-godfather-8fe517951cde | ['Ed Times'] | 2020-01-27 10:28:37.646000+00:00 | ['Korea', 'Oscars', 'Movies', 'Parasite 2019'] |
This Empire must Fall Apart— Liao Yiwu | At the midnight of June 3th, 1989, Lv Peng, a 9-year-old naughty boy who was a primary school student in Beijing, sneaked out from home to watch the boiling street scene. Shortly a bullet came into his face, and he fell down, along with several civilians, among which he was the youngest one.
According to the testimony of individual researcher Ding Zilin, he was also the youngest victim during the entire Tiananmen Massacre. His chest was penetrated by the bullet with blood spewed out. He died on the spot. While his death spread around the city and ignited people’s angry fire. Even including those who’re indifferent to politics, numerous people in the sleep woke up, and came to the streets to build roadblocks, throw stones and petrol bottles to the armed soldiers, trying to stop the troops from approaching the square.
Lv Peng, his little body lying flat on the top of a convertible car, surrounded by protesters, like a hero, silently telling the brutal killing between streets. On that night, how many people were crying for this unidentified dead child? How many people immediately became the anti-government “mobs” when saw him?
Twenty-three years later, I re-announced the death of Lv Peng in the first line of the List of victims in Tiananmen Massacre in my new book Bullets and Opium, both in Chinese version and German version.
The cover of Bullets and Opium
He is forever nine years old. Hopefully, his death is a forever and last one.
Here, I myself, announce the Death of this Empire. As the Killer of its own Children, it must Fall Apart.
This is a tradition of ancient China.
More than 2,500 years ago, our great philosopher Lao Tzu, described two most soft and superior objects, Baby and Water, respectively symbolizing human reproduction and natural mobility, in his masterwork Tao Te Ching. Preserving children is preserving the vitality of the nation. Among the principles of the so-called Qigong in China, the fundamental one is to exclude the distractions, find peace in deep heart, and return to the state of chaos, just like a baby still in his mother’s body.
Lao Tzu further elaborated that the need of people coming back home and the old returning to earth is as important as a child need his mother’s arms. The division and integration of a country is to satisfy our daily needs, not the fake “national interest”.
As an ancient separatist, Lao Tzu propose a famous Utopia concept — “small country and few people”(小国寡民): “the neighboring countries help each other, the sounds of chickens and dogs echo together, people live on their land and don’t want to leave till death.”( 邻国相望，鸡犬之声相闻，民至老死，不相往来)
In short, his basic idea is that the smaller the country is, the easier the management is. If a country is as small as a village, citizens can easily find their president and drink together, pee together, or discuss politics together. How wonderful it will be! If you’re guests come from afar, especially the places even not heard by the locals, for example Germany and America, they will spread the news and welcome you excitedly. The Emperor Yao(尧) and Emperor Shun(舜), who ruled the country many years before Lao Tzu, were living among the common people. And they need to be diligent in not only administrative stuffs but also the farming works. Therefore, they win the eternal respect and love from Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Confucius, Mencius and all other intellectuals in any dynasty.
In the time of Lao Tzu and Confucius, the Spring and Autumn period (春秋时代), the land of today’s dictatorial China, naturally existed dozens of countries. During hundreds of years, although the wars between countries happened occasionally, that period is still the widely-recognized splendid era of culture, economics and politics in our history. At that time, people enjoyed freedom of speech, and scholars developed their own thoughts and schools without suppression, creating the historic scene of “Contention of a Hundred Schools” (百家争鸣).
However, the Chinese Communists Party (CCP) who did everything to destroy the traditions, now shamelessly steals the concept of the heritage of “Contention of a Hundred Schools” period, holds “Confucius Institute” all around the world. Did they really read carefully our ancient books? Did they forget that Confucius is not a “Chinese” but a citizen of Lu State (鲁国)? At the age of 56, he had to run away from Lu at midnight because of his political conflicts with his emperor. Then he started his exile between a dozen countries, and was finally allowed to come back home until 70-year-old. In this case, Confucius should be considered as the spiritual ancestor of all the political exiles in any dynasty. And the “Confucius Institutes” are supposed to change their names as “Confucius Exile Institutes”.
The outstanding romantic poet Qu Yuan of Chu State(楚国) in the Warring States period(战国时代), is also a Separatist Pioneer. His country was invaded by powerful Qin State who finally conquered the whole land at that time. As a patriot of Chu, he committed suicide in Miluo River before his country being destroyed by Qin.
He left many patriotic poems featured with strong and unique local colors, which are still popular even nowadays. While the country he loved, not the Qin Empire, the first centralized empire established through the bloody conquer, also the start of the 2000-year forced-unified miserable times, but his forever homeland around Dongting Lake in today’s Hunan Province.
“Although the road is long, I will go along up and down till death”(路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索), this famous quote shows his persistent love and faith to his country. In memory of this unyielding poet, people consider the date of his death as “Dragon Boat Festival”, in which they will row the dragon boats in rivers and put down the rice dumplings of Ba-Chu flavor, so that his soul could be pleased by his favorite food.
In the name of the Unification, there are countless bloody Slaughter in Chinese history.
The most famous example is Qin Shihuang, who spent his whole life conquering all other countries and established the first centralized empire --- Qin Dynasty. It is said that the population at that time was sharply reduced by two-thirds after his conquer.
After that, he did two more notorious things: one is rebuilding the Great Wall, another is burying the intellectuals and burning the books. The primary function of the Great Wall is to cut off the connections between inside people and outside world, so that he could make his whole empire as a huge prison. In order to complete this gigantic construction, numerous people were sent to the border and forced to work without any pay.
The aim of burying the intellectuals and burning the books is to isolate the people from their own traditions. At first, he released a “Recruitment for the Greatest Intellectuals”(招贤令) to get together about 460 most accomplished scholars all over the empire, who had great influence in their homeland and inherited their unique cultures. Then, they were all buried alive in the capital of this empire. The ancient classics along with them were also set on fire.
Two-thousand years later, the modern Tyrant Mao Zedong applauded for Qin Shihuang’s slaughter. He even said: Qin Shihuang only killed 460 scholars (which are too few), while we suppressed hundreds of thousands counter-revolutionaries, much more than his achievement.
The fact is, that Mao is too modest. According to their own recordings, in order to break the links between people and their own culture, which might develop into separatism, they launched the so-called “Land Reform Campaigns”, in which they advocated eliminating the “exploiting class”, and actually executed more than two millions landlords, squires and members of civil society. They were the elite class in the country, and most of them already submitted to the party. But the party didn’t trust them, suspected them “playing tricks behind”, or their “stubborn old heads cannot transformed into a new one that keep pace with this era”.
The Land Reform Campaigns.
The fundamental means of consolidating the party’s power is killing, which is unspoken but clear to every leader from Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping.(Now Xi Jinping also)
In so-called “Great Famine” from 1959 to 1962, nearly 40 million people died of starvation all over the country. While this “famine” occurred only because of Mao’s fear of political division and the loss of his own power. That was not a “famine”, but a disaster manufactured deliberately in the “Great Leap Forward Campaign” during 1950s.
In the “Cultural Revolution” from 1966 to 1976, two to four million people were tortured to death. This campaign was also out of the same concern of Mao.
“There is no worse disaster than ‘nation division and the death of the party’. ” This is the forever reminder from Mao. So that, it doesn’t matter if the people live in dire straits.
The similar teaching also came from Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Ceausescu, Kim Jong-il, Saddam Hussein and Kazambier, all the tyrants in the world. “United Country, Integrated Territory” is always the ultimate Trump Card of a dictatorship. Under this cover, numerous evil deeds become publicly accepted.
In June 1989, to cope with the political crisis, the party sent out more than two hundreds of thousands armed troops to blood-wash Beijing. When the armored chariots hovering in the streets, when the intensive gunshots spreading through radio waves, an old poet in Chengdu, a city far away from Beijing, was reading Chuang Tzu, buried himself in the ocean of ancient classics.
As time went by, I was in and out of the prison because of my reading of poem Massacre on the night of that slaughter. Then I met with this old poet whose name is Liu Shahe, who was also in prison as an enemy of the party on the suspect from Mao that his poems were “criticizing the party allusively” in 1957, the year when I was not born. He told me that, the people like us, who had suffered a lot in their destiny, our scars deep inside hearts would never be cured. Therefore, let’s give up becoming a poet, but a witness of history, he said.
He then recounted the testimony written by Chuang Tzu two-thousand years ago:
A hermit of Kia State called Lin Hui, was fleeing from the invaders with a precious Jade in his arms, among many others, with their enemies chasing after. Suddenly he heard the crying of an abandoned baby in the ruins they passed by. No one stopped to rescue the baby except Lin Hui. While his Jade was too heavy to carry along with the baby, so he had to make the choice. Without hesitation he chose the baby other than the Jade. Others were so confused, they said: “How fool you’re to abandon the Jade for a baby, which is a living burden.”
However, Lin Hui replied, this is the will of God.
So does the inheritance of the truth.
The rise and fall of a country, the unification and division of a territory, are just some chapters in the history books. While the inheritance of the truth runs throughout.
This kind of long-lasting recording habits, exist like the little baby in the story of Chuang Tzu, abandoned in the ruins with sorrow crying, when a country is about to break, when Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping are conducting their slaughters. This baby needs inheritors like “Hermit Lin Hui”, who’re willing to give up their own interests and pick it up, take it away from the hunting, and patiently bread it, sharpen its mind, until one day it is able to record what happened and pass down this habit in the dark.
I’m also continuing this recording habit. Through my writing, I publicize my study on the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre, and my thoughts about the split of China to the whole world, not only in Chinese, but also in German and English.
In a few years, I will come back to my beloved ancestors. Now I’m here, in the splendid St. Paul Church, in front of the elites of German society, I pay my tribute to them in advance, especially to the oldest master Sima Qian in this field. In order to pick up the truth vulnerable as a baby, he even lost his two testicles as a punishment from the emperor, in the false image full of singing and dancing of the Western Han Dynasty. Despite his loss of the fertility of the body, the fertility of his soul thrived after this humiliation.
His masterpiece Records of the Grand Historian accompanied me in the journey escaping the dictatorship of China, along with I Ching, another classic written by King Wen of Zhou when in the dungeon.
The baby and the truth are mixed with each other in the history.
When an empire goes to the point of slaughtering the children and obliterating the truth, it should be the ending of that empire.
While the sophisticated evildoer Deng Xiaoping proposed the strategy that tightening the politics while loosening the markets, to rescue the party, on his trip from Beijing to Shenzhen in the spring of 1992.
In Bullet and Opium, I wrote:
Many years after, I still cannot settle down in my home country. The sufferings are more and more severe, the hearts are more and more numb. However, along with the takeoff of Chinese economics, there is a popular international tone that, the economic development can push forward the political reforms, and turn the dictatorship into democracy. Therefore, the western countries which sanctioned the party for the Tiananmen Massacre, now rush to do business with these killers, although they’re still arresting and killing innocent people. The new bloods cover the old ones, the new atrocities disfigure the old ones. The common people are struggling their ways in these bloods and atrocities, and unavoidably become more and more shameless.
The cycle of shamelessness and sufferings dominates our past, present and future. After the Tiananmen Massacre, there were successive suppression towards the relatives of Tiananmen Massacre victims, Qigong and Falun Gong practitioners, democracy parties, mistreated petitioners, landless peasants, laid-off workers, human-right lawyers, underground churches, dissidents, the relatives of Sichuan earthquake victims, the signers of Charter 08, the participators of Jasmine Revolution, and also the brutal suppression in Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
The blood piles up, with the dictatorship intensifying. Maybe their first killing is with shaking hands, while now they have no fear at all since they have killed enough and get considerable economics increase after each killing. For example, if no Tiananmen Massacre, there would be no Deng Xiaoping’s southern tour, in which he invoked people’s desire to money instead of patriotism to this land (which is a big threat to the power of this party). Similarly, without the gangster-style forced demolition, cities could not crazily expand with the foamy real estate in recent years. Also, there would be less corrupted officials and cold-hearted real estate developers who launched the “Tofu-dreg projects” in order to get more profits.
The killers are winning during this long time, since all people in this country become their slaves, who are plundered and shackled arbitrarily by them, until the last drops of the marrow are squeezed out.
The killers also invite western business men come in to build factories, open companies and construct buildings. They said to western investors:
As long as you keep silence on human rights, you could do whatever you want and make a fortune in China. In your countries, there are laws, public opinions and criticism, so that what you can do is under strict restrictions. While in China, nothing is impossible, come here and follow us, let us do great business together.
There are billions of the cheapest labors all over the world, who’re willing to work as a machine day and night, just for a little payment and without welfare or insurances. There are plenty of rivers, lands, woods, grains and underground waters for you to utilize and pollute, we will not accuse you or punish you. And when most Chinese people get sick because of the heavy work and polluted environment, we can even make more money through the medical care industry!
In this largest landfill, there is always the biggest business potential.
In the name of free trade, many western consortiums hooks up with the killers to make this landfill together. The profit-first “garbage value” have increasingly affected the whole world. The ordinary people in China all know that, the killers and the westerners, they have money as well as the retreat. They can simply abandon this ruined country and move to the western countries with their whole family, to enjoy the pure air and sunshine, to embrace the freedom, equality and fraternity. They can even join the church after that, to make Jesus Christ, who was crucified by the ancient dictator, make atonement for themselves.
Once Chinese people figure out that, there is no justice and fairness for them even in the democratic western world, they will just follow the “glamorous examples” who are winners both inside and outside China — — the corrupted officials and cold-hearted businessmen. Thus, in the near future, there will be plenty of shameless Chinese scammers filling up the whole world.
The value system of this empire has completely collapsed. The only thing remaining to maintain this empire is their complicated interest collusions. While this evil chain of such interest is deep-rooted and inter-wined all over the world, making the free world of economic globalization speechless and helpless for the moment.
However, since that night its own people were killed twenty-three years ago, the destiny of this empire has been written down, that it must Fall Apart.
The list of the victims in Tiananmen Massacre, headed by nine-year-old Lv Peng, is becoming an epochal parable in human history, due to the persistent efforts of the Tiananmen Mothers led by Ding Zilin.
Vaclav Havel, who passed away recently, repeatedly emphasized “the power of the powerless”. While in China, when the desperate powerless couldn’t do anything violent against the brutal authority, the only power remaining to them is words passed one by one. This is also an ancient tradition. When people were forced to build the Great Wall for Qin Shihuang, they had no way to refuse or fight back, except spreading the story Lady Meng Jiang weeps the Great Wall as a curse to the emperor. Till now, the Great Wall is still a famous tourist attraction, but in folk fables, it had already collapsed long time ago, because of the crying of a young woman who lost her beloved husband.
Confucius once sighed at the bank of an endless river: is the flowing of memory just like this?
Are these two deaths also like this?
On June 21st, 2003, a three-year-old girl Li Siyi in Jintang County of Chengdu, starved to death at home because her mother were taken away by the police as a suspect of taking drugs and no one looked after her, during those 17 days without her mom.
On October 13rd, 2011, a two-year-old girl in Foshan, Guangdong, was knocked to the ground by a car when crossing the road, then run over twice by two different trunks. During this whole process, many passed by her while no one stopped to rescue her. According to a video taken by a witness, there were 18 passengers in seven minutes on the spot, but none of them cared about her. In the end, a kind-hearted granny who was a cleaner, picked her up and set her to the hospital. Unfortunately, it was too late to save her life.
The blood has cooled down, and the hearts have been hardened.
While when the nine-year-old Lv Peng was slaughtered, the bloods of Chinese people were still boiling.
Who wants to be such an idiot brainwashed by the killers’ economic strategy, named as “Chinese”?
In China, everyone is used to saying that, I’m from Sichuan, I’m from Shaanxi, I’m from Guangdong, and I’m from Beijing. Just like in Berlin, people are saying that, I’m American, I’m German, I’m Tibetan, I’m Romanian.
When a Taiwanese tells me that your China is always bullying Taiwan, I will answer that, the China you refer to has nothing to do with my Sichuan.
Right before my fleeing, I once had a chat with a farmer who lived at the border of Yunnan. He said, our home Yunnan is different from your home Sichuan. It’s easier for us to go abroad than for you to leave your province. Within a few blinks, we can arrive in Vietnam, Laos or Myanmar to have tea with local people. Therefore, Yunnan should merge with Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar as one country, in which case we can live more convenience than travel a long way to go to Beijing or Shanghai.
I said, is your idea a betrayal of the country (in Chinese, we use the phrase “selling the country”)? He answered, how much is the weight of a country? How can I sell it?
In ancient times, Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Taiwan were all exotic regions. Princess Wencheng of Tang Dynasty marrying to Tubo (ancient Tibetan Empire), was just the same sensation with goodwill as a woman from Shanghai marrying to America in the era of ROC.
Why do Tibetans burn themselves so often? If they are still an independent country that shares borders with Sichuan and Yunnan, and receive no suppression from Beijing, I’m sure this plateau nation who enjoy singing and dancing in everyday life will never think about burning themselves.
The possible map of East Asia after China Falling Apart.
This anti-human bloody empire, the source of all the disaster on this earth, the infinitely expanding landfill, must Fall Apart.
In order to prevent children from death in vain, this empire must Fall Apart.
In order to make mother no longer lose their children, this empire must Fall Apart.
In order to let Chinese people settle down in their own land, no longer run away to other countries to survive, this empire must Fall Apart.
In order to let the old be buried in their hometown, and the descendants remain their traditions, this empire must Fall Apart.
For the peace and tranquility of all mankind, this empire must Fall Apart.
At last, I want to sing a song I wrote for the victims and survivors of the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989.
July to September, in Berlin.(2012)
Tiananmen Mothers
My children, Do you feel well in heaven? Mother’s heart, Has blossomed in the fields. The gunshots are gone and your blood faded away. My dear, Please come back from your dreams. My dear, Are you still cold below the earth? The snow is so heavy that White all my hair. The river is running without stop Just as my tears. My dear, do you feel lonely in the underworld? Hey, mom! Whom are you talking to at the window? The long-lasting light, I shall let you to my kids to warm them up. The world is changing so fast, While the grass on your grave is always green. Hey, my dear mom, Is your crying helpful?
Translation: Mount. 07.2019. | https://medium.com/@sunlitmount/this-mpire-must-fall-apart-liao-yiwu-8ea4c3b73e21 | [] | 2019-08-17 22:54:38.069000+00:00 | ['Independence', 'Freedom', 'China', 'Communism'] |
Light Hunters : Heroes Guide — Nuriyah & Heliodoros | This article explain how are designed the heroes from the boardgame Light Hunters: Battalion of Darkness, available here: https://www.dtda.fr/light-hunters.html
Nuriyah
As a thousand-year-old horse tamer, she mastered death in order to fight from the Spectral world. Very versatile, she uses her destriers to influence the fight from the beginning to the end of the game.
Destrier
Nuriyah has 3 Destrier tokens which she can use offensively or defensively. Using the Great Escape skill, Nuriyah adds 1 Destrier token to the back of the allied Hero card of her choice, the hero can then use this Destrier token to avoid an attack, without taking damage. The token is kept until it is used.
Nuriyah can also place a Destrier token on the flank of the battlefield thanks to her Cavalcade skill, in this case the tokens are stacked until reaching the maximum of 3, which triggers an attack of 3 damage to every enemy heroes.Once used, the Destrier tokens are collected by Nuriyah for reuse.
Spectral Version
Once deceased, Nuriyah keeps playing using her Spectral version (black card). Her powers are then slightly altered, but she keeps her Spirit of Light cards, and the Destrier tokens already placed.
Nuriyah is the only hero who can play after she passes away, which makes her very competitive and fun to pick up.
Strengths
Destrier tokens are very versatile
Powerful even in her Spectral version
Weaknesses
Weak in short game
Her Destrier tokens are destructible
Strategies
Nuriyah’s main strategy is to make the best use of her Destrier tokens. At the start of the game, she will use her Great Escape skill to reduce the damage suffered by her allies and thus gain the advantage. In the middle of the game, Nuriyah will prefer to use her Destrier tokens for Cavalcades and thus devastate the opposing team. The tokens being stackable between the living and spectral version, Nuriyah becomes very intimidating if she switches to the spectral version with one or two Destrier tokens placed on the side of the battlefield.
Also very powerful in Spectral version, she may have an advantage to switch to this mode quickly in anticipation of using her Furûsiyya Al-Ulwiyya Illumination which is all the more devastating.
Counter
All the Destrier tokens placed by Nuriyah are destructible, which represents her main weakness. By choosing heroes with attacks that inflict 1 damage for 1 Ether such as Balder or Ludano, you will be able to destroy her ‘Great Escape’ and in particular Nuriyah’s ‘Cavalcades’ before she can reach critical numbers. Without her Cavalcades, Nuriyah’s options are less impressive.
If her team has low health points (on average less than 9 health points per hero), it will be better to kill her quickly in order to reduce her possibilities. Otherwise, it is better to target her last and focus on the Destrier tokens she will try to place.
Conclusion
Nuriyah is very impressive and has many possibilities that make her an interesting and enjoyable hero to take in hand, however she will have a hard time against seasoned players who know her weaknesses.
=== ===
Heliodoros
A legendary hoplite, Heliodoros is known to many souls in his world. Wielding the art of combat to perfection, his strong discipline grants him a great combat effectiveness.
Bronze Shield
By moving to the front line, he receives all damage from the next attack dealing 2 or more damage. This allows him to be decisive in critical situations.
Cuirass
His Flawless Cuirass allows him to be invulnerable to attacks as long as the token is on the back of his card. The Cuirass token can be destroyed by a targeted attack.
Strengths
Powerful even if he finds himself alone in battle
Good defense allowing him to hold many rounds
Weaknesses
Difficult to coordinate with other heroes
On average less powerful than other fighters
Strategies
Heliodoros’ main strategy is to alternate between attacking and defending. Thanks to the combination of the Bronze Shield and his Cuirass, Heliodoros can, from round 5, withstand the strongest enemy attacks without losing life points. While attacking, whenever he can, with his Phalanx which deals 3 damage to an enemy Hero, and his very effective Dory attack for its Ether cost. Heliodoros thus has the possibility of making the fight last for many rounds in favor of his team, by mixing attack and defense. But this technique requires good coordination with the other heroes of his team.
Counter
Heliodoros has good defense, but doesn’t have any particularly powerful skill at his disposal on its own. In particular, he will have difficulty against heroes who inflict several attacks of less than 2 damage, which will nullify his Bronze Shield or destroy his Cuirass token. Choosing heroes with a lot of health, and quickly targeting that hero before he can set up his attack / defense strategy is a good way to turn confrontation to your advantage.
Conclusion
Heliodoros is a well-rounded hero who adapts well to different situations, he is able to attack as well as defend effectively, the opposing team will have a hard time judging when to target him. He is a good hero who will be magnified by the player who masters him to perfection.
See you soon
Sergio Matsumoto | https://medium.com/@sergiomatsumoto/light-hunters-heroes-guide-nuriyah-heliodoros-5744c5a9596f | ['Sergio Matsumoto'] | 2020-12-24 08:46:22.635000+00:00 | ['Game Design', 'Card Game', 'Board Games', 'Gaming', 'Game Development'] |
What About Us! | Photo by sergio omassi from Pexels
Once one problem seems to rest,
Suddenly other problem comes sky rocketing,
Hitting hard in all angles.
What about us?
Do you not care ?
We know You to be bigger, wise and mighty,
Know doubt about that.
Are You always gazing from Your throne,
Just to catch us in our sins?
Friends and Your word tells us;
Of Your prosperity plans for us,
Directing us to a perfect end.
Only You knows our future.
We work harder and smarter,
But the lazy keep prospering.
They mock at our labor.
Acknowledging you in everything we do,
Seems to be futile.
You seem to;
Close Your ears to our cry,
Our worship seem to be heard by stones,
Come quickly Lord, come!
We’ re waiting,
Else we faint.
What about us?
*ClearThroat* | https://medium.com/@clearthroat/what-about-us-1fdbdf5b9f5 | ['Kelvin Fosu'] | 2021-01-23 09:18:47.511000+00:00 | ['Gospel', 'Christianity', 'God', 'Faith', 'Church'] |
Dividir Para Conquistar | 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/mami-2020/dividir-para-conquistar-4319cff506b4 | ['Rebeca Haddad'] | 2020-12-23 14:11:26.006000+00:00 | ['Math', 'Mami'] |
Last Night’s Company Holiday Party, Reviewed | by Foster Kamer
This year’s ______ holiday party was shocking, groundbreaking. It was-dare it be said-a gamechanging affair. Why? Food. Yes. Food. There was food there. Like, good food. Because whenever you go to a holiday party and get wasted, what do you want? Food! And what always happens? Either A) there’s no food, or, B) the food is passed around on trays and you have to elbow your way through packs of people or position yourself by the kitchen entrance in order to accost the servers who emerge from it to get the little mini-eggrolls and then after that whatever other horrid mini-thing (and what the fuck is a mini-egg roll? Like, really. People need to stop making unnecessary mini-things. Just make the big-sized things smaller) comes out of the kitchen that is greasy and typically not so great, but whatever, it’s free food, you’re gonna eat it because you’re trashed and hungry.
The party was at this two-story wine bar place on Division Street which is down by Canal Street-which an employee, ______, told me that he pronounces as “C-ANAL” street, which was funny-in the fairly smelly part of Chinatown, as opposed to the really smelly part of Chinatown, or just the kinda smelly part of Chinatown where you get pretty good dim sum. There are these surprising places down there like that, and this was one of them.
When you walk in, there were two tables full of the food. Beautiful food! And lots of people and a nice person standing around checking names off of a list, but that was really for semantics, because company owner ______ was sitting at the bar and basically saw everyone come through the door, so if, say, infamous terrible publicist ______ came through the door, he wouldn’t have made it in, because someone would’ve told him to leave or ______ would’ve punched him in the face. But back to the food.
After talking to lots of people I learned that, in the past, the presence of food at ______Holiday Parties were most frequently just more of the same mini-foodstuffs every other holiday party has, if at all. ______, who owns websites and kept various editors and chief honcho ______ from killing each other for a bunch of years, was in shock at the presence of actual food. If I knew there was going to be food, I wouldn’t have eaten before. Can you believe this? We’ve NEVER had food at these things. Why didn’t you put it on the invite? he asked ______, who is in charge of business things and dealing with people. I did, ______ told him. Did you read it? I don’t know if ______read it but I did and I kinda remember there being something about food but it certainly wasn’t any kind of SPOILER ALERT-type notice, you know?
Anyway, the one problem with eating all this great looking food-there was a cheese plate, but also, pumpkin risotto and risotto balls and these (OBLIGATORY) mini-meatballs and actual pieces of steak and breads with pricey-looking olive oil and asparagus with some kind of wonderful eggy thing on it and a green bean and radish salad which was DELISH-was that A) both floors were really crowded and B) there was really nowhere to sit. These were fairly tight, economical quarters. You had to squeeze through people to get anywhere. Now, it wasn’t impossible to get somewhere-certainly, by 10:30, this was much easier to do-but you definitely had to get your squeeze on to get to the bar. And then you had to find a place to put down your smallish-plate and smallish fork and eat. So, that part was kind of torture, but in the end, if you’re shameless and drunk and hungry, you don’t give a fig about tact and just kind of get down on some food. Especially when they bring out dessert, you’re just like, panna cotta? I’m in. And you are, because you’ve had lots of wine.
In fact, that was another funny thing! To get the “dark stuff,” i.e. hard booze, you had to ask the bar for it, but the glasses of wine were put out for easy taking, effectively making the pricey booze harder to reach. Like the well-measured size of the space: economical! Maybe even thrifty.
Nobody, to my knowledge, puked, but there were lots of tall people. ______ was walking around in a suit looking really tall. Do you have any idea how many tall people work there these days? Between ______, ______, ______, ______, and ______, who’s kinda taller than I remember, those guys could probably play a decent game of pickup! Not like Rucker Park-pickup, but you know, like, Equinox Gym pickup, if Equinox had basketball courts. [Both The Awl and ______ have had Equinox advertise with them so I feel okay with using their name and also it’s apt.] Funny that none of the tall people work at ______, which is run by a bunch of short guys who clearly masturbated too much as youths, thus stunting their growth.
Eventually the party thinned out but for the most part conversation was nice and casual and I’m sure lots of people met for the first time. Those ______ ladies are wonderful! Their honcho ______ was probably itching to go home to her RSS feed and ______ is very nice and ______ was dancing with her manfriend or whatever they call guys on ______ these days, and he was nice too. I think I saw ______, and ______ was there. Who else? ______, and her former longtime boyfriend ______-but you know that already-and the lady biz honcho ______ was there putting the fear of God into people like me, but not, because she was nice, too. ______ was drinking the entire time with his ladyfriend who was drinking too, and they both managed to position themselves comfortably the entire time, which was impressive.
The only “down” moment came when I was talking to a freelance design writer who told me he felt like an imposter here in “the face of all this ______ success,” considering I.D. closed this week, and basically, design writing is screwed and over. And he’s correct. To an extent.
I mean, what do you think of when you hear the words ______ Holiday Party? If it was a bunch of people popping bottles of Veuve and showering foamy champers in all directions, maniacally laughing about all the awesome ways they’ve survived all the people in media who’re totally screwed out of jobs-checkbook journalism and posting by the fistful and getting anonymous email-based tips up quickly and videos of ______ not really having sex-while doing blow by the tablespoonful arm-in-arm? Well. It wasn’t that. But you know what it was? Modest and nice. For being in the face of “all this ______ success,” you wouldn’t know is was anything more than any other holiday party, unless you were eating. But you had to make an effort. And if you did, you didn’t go home hungry. It was a pretty nice time.
After the party last night, I had a dream. In my dream, my friends and I all signed up for the I.D.F. While there was definitely the creeping feeling that you could be killed at any moment, for the most part, being in the I.D.F. kinda felt just like being on Jersey Shore. | https://medium.com/the-awl/last-nights-company-holiday-party-reviewed-5b930752eeea | ['The Awl'] | 2016-05-13 02:26:11.354000+00:00 | ['About Last Night', 'Holiday Parties', 'Christmas'] |
Why I stopped using Pocket | I used to be a heavy Pocket user. It has convenient integrations and works great as a central repository of stuff to read/watch later. Additionally, I would always keep a number of to read or to watch lists outside of Pocket, because they were more convenient given particular type of content.
Whenever I’d get down to catching up on reading, I would face several 100+ long reading lists (Pocket or otherwise) which make it no easy task to decide what to pick up next: | https://medium.com/itemsy/why-i-stopped-using-pocket-16d922c4c41d | ['I T E M S Y'] | 2019-08-26 15:25:48.337000+00:00 | ['Blog', 'Pocket', 'Newsletter', 'Productivity', 'Productivity Hacks'] |
Life in a Psych Hospital: Going from Green to Brown to Black | What we see when we don’t let ourselves turn around.
Cornfields look different before daybreak.
This is something you learn when you work at a locked, inpatient psychiatric hospital — that sits across the parking lot from a cornfield, that is. If you work at one that doesn’t, well, don’t worry — you’ll learn other things.
I worked there for five years. When I started I was thirty and, on my last day, I was ninety-four. And the cornfield that teased and mocked (“I’m MOCKING YOU, GABRIEL!” a particularly unpleasant patient would seethe in my face, from two inches away, just in case I was unsure about the sincerity of his Heil Hitler gestures) from across the way, like a flaxen-haired siren whose breasts heaved gently on the surface of the ocean, swayed and bent and beckoned and whispered my name in the twinkling, swirling, bluish breeze.
Iiiiiiii’m mooooccccking yooooooou, Gaaabbbrrieeeeel….
When you looked out the block-glass windows on the first floor — The Unit as we called it — the cornfield looked like Dali-esque and wrong. Like something that had known pain and had been wrestled to the ground amidst the chaos of keys and clipboards, flexed shoulders and taut veins. Corrupted and molested. Maligned and rejected. Even the staff members’ cars looked drunk through the warped glass. The warped behavior — of staff and of patient — what was documented and what was conveniently forgotten, lost to time.
“If you didn’t document it then it didn’t happen,” our betters told us repeatedly in red ink and in paper-trail notes. This admonition to be precise in our notetaking was also a tacit reminder to forget to write down what should remain forgotten.
I have documented the cornfield across the way, in stories and in photographs and on film. Because it happened. Because it happened to you, and it happened to me. I have walked in, silently, until it surrounded me, swallowed me whole, touched my skin and hair and I have mumbled prayers inside and fed you snow falling silently down into your mouth and I have run through those hallways with keys bouncing on my belt and I have thrown the clipboard down as the bell rang out and I have hurt and been hurt and you are there in the cornfield watching silently, bearing witness to the deformity and the corruption that inevitably takes place within cinderblock walls where the majesty of the cornfield has no chance.
On the day they took my photograph to put on my ID badge that read “GABRIEL N.” I looked as if I had seen a ghost. But, really, I had seen absolutely nothing yet. Knew absolutely nothing yet. I did not know that I was about to lose my virginity again and again and again and that I would bear witness to suffering and unite in unbreakable bonds of friendship and love with people I otherwise had very little in common with. I did not know that voices and faces and moments and sounds would permeate my consciousness in a thousand ways, dozens of times a day. I did not know that I would have to re-enter therapy, weekly, just to stay employed and alive. I did not know that, a year into my employment there, I would learn that I was going to have twins, and that I would, within a few short months of their being born, start to lose my effectiveness on The Unit as a group facilitator, that I would become listless, inattentive, unambitious, apathetic, and sometimes cruel.
Institutionalized, I believe, is the word most commonly used for what happens. My best friend, who was also a colleague of mine at the time, called it “going from green to brown to black.”
Maybe that happened to the cornfield, too. Maybe it looked green on my first day of work — beautiful and warm and kind. And I would park my car in front of it and I would sit on the hood and eat my lunch looking out at its endless swaying carpet and the comfort of the sky above, turning my back to whatever was going on behind me for 55 precious minutes. After a while, though, I found that I couldn’t look at it anymore. I would roar in at 5:15am — for my shift that started at 7:00am — and throw my car in some spot somewhere and just push myself into the building, almost resentfully shoving my key in the lock and throwing the door open, turning my back to it but making sure to listen to it slam with force.
Use-of-force.
Assisted patient to the floor.
Applied four-point restraints to patient.
Applied defensive maneuvers to patient.
If you didn’t document it, then it didn’t happen.
The cornfield happened, and it silently demanded to be documented, to be noticed, to be put down. To be restrained in some way. It was too beautiful, too fiercely loud and incongruous. What am I doing here, it asked, as my face asked when my photograph was taken on September 13, 2005.
Does the cornfield smile when I take its picture, or whisper its name? Am I getting this documentation right? Will the insurance companies grant me one more covered day after reading this? Will I be given my belongings in a brown paper bag with a bus token while “I’M MOCKING YOU, GABRIEL” booms in my ear as a door slams somewhere?
I want to believe that there was mysterious beauty somewhere in between those swaying bending stalks, that they led to something that was eternal, leaving something in their wake, my wake, your wake, other than just chalk or fire.
Maybe there is a part of me that is angry at them for not telling me that, after signing all those papers and forms and getting my picture taken and meeting the cornfield and going downstairs that nothing would ever be the same again — nothing — not lunch or keys or pens or clipboards or shoes, not family or friends, or driving a car or growing older, losing or loving, or maybe I’m more mad at myself for not being on-the-ball enough to have figured that out for myself.
Show, don’t tell. And I got shown.
I got shown a cornfield in the dark, and I am still looking for the way out. | https://nathanismylastname.medium.com/life-in-a-psych-hospital-going-from-green-to-brown-to-black-e79657ef51d6 | ['Gabriel Nathan'] | 2020-12-10 03:27:04.103000+00:00 | ['Memories', 'Mental Health', 'Essay', 'Creative Writing', 'Nonfiction'] |
Bonfire of the Proprieties | So this is where we are, America. Polarized. It’s Us versus Them in a battle royale, and we’re fighting tooth and nail over just about every imaginable topic. Few people are interested in finding common ground as a starting place to facilitate healing for our nation, or more importantly, its citizenry. But if you’re not raging at either end of spectrum, there’s a path to higher middleground.
The New C-Word
The public’s disdain for the lost art of compromise spans the country from sea to shining sea. Folks who will proudly apply the full weight of their jackbooted conviction on their opponents’ necks until they concede that their worldview is the one true vision for national salvation can now be found not only at both ends of spectrums once relegated as the playground of extremists, but they are also showing up in increasing numbers in spaces once occupied by moderates.
This jackboot-on-the-neck strategy has never worked for me. And not because I weigh in at 120 pounds.
Whether in face-to-face interactions or in online chats and posts, these tactics have much the same overall effect as a flamethrower in that the commentary is a controlled, accusatory, and passive-aggressive torching of others and their opinions, all under the guise of “adding their two cents to the conversation.”
Cases in Point
Example 1
A while back, I visited a friend of mine who was in the midst of having her kitchen remodeled. She and I chatted over coffee as the carpenter secured the cabinet boxes into place. Al Sharpton appeared on TV and gave an empassioned commentary about something or other.
The carpenter — a white guy — came to a dead stop, turned to us and said, “I can’t stand that guy. He’s a shit stirrer,” then calmly returned to installing the kitchen cabinets.
We both stood there gobsmacked.
Since when did the causes Sharpton regularly addresses — civil rights, gay rights, the rights of immigrants, or the rights of the marginalized — get downgraded to the level of “shit” whose raison d’etre was to be stirred to inflame the comfortable and coddled? I missed that newsflash.
Just so you know, both my friend and I are black, just like Al Sharpton. In all fairness, the carpenter had reliable vision. So he was fully aware that both my friend and I were black, just like Al Sharpton. Now, regardless of the carpenter’s opinions of Al Sharpton or his political, social, or religious leanings, it seems to me that the reasonable thing for the carpenter to do would have been to keep his opinions to himself out of respect for his black employer and her black friend.
Call it being unaware or socially inept. Or both.
This is the world we live in.
Example 2
I enjoy meeting different people. Learning the stories about the events and relations that have shaped them into who they are fascinates me to no end. In order for people to share their stories with anyone, it’s important for them to know that they are respected and will not be judged. I’ve found it’s good to treat everyone that way.
My Facebook Friends List reflects my affinity in that it consists of people from various walks of life of assorted ages, professions, ethnicities, nationalities, and religious affiliations. There’s even a few Nones and Dones also in the mix. So, it’s only natural that I strive to treat people in that same way.
My Facebook updates are meant to inform, amuse, and/or introduce friends to points of view they otherwise might overlook. My hope is to foster public dialog, but that seldom happens. I’m content having one-on-one discussions about topics. There is one ground rule as to what people post in the comments: treat others with respect and care. I can’t control what people think or how they act online, but I am the king of my Facebook page and I have the final say-so as to what gets posted there. My kingdom, my rules.
The first time a friend berates another friend of mine in a comment on my page, I don’t publicly call them out. I reach out to them privately via Messenger or send them a text message explaining the house rules and point out the specifics of how what they posted doesn’t fit with the environment I’m trying to create and we talk it out. I don’t ask them to remove their comment, I prefer that they come to that decision on their own. Usually, the person relents and 99% of them usually remove their comment, and we’re good.
No harm. No foul. No body count. And it’s never an issue again.
Usually.
But on those rare occasions when people choose to test me to see if I really mean what I say or they feel that my Facebook page, by virtue of its very existence, is an open drop-off point for them to leave incendiary comments despite my requests to the contrary … all under the premise of the pretense of “the marketplace of ideas” or “adding their two cents” … well, I’ll put it this way: it’s never pretty.
To address anyone in written or spoken word with a comment that opens with, “I don’t see how anyone could join that [insert your least favorite political or social or religious group]” or its equivalent to a person of that group is condescending, dismissive, and outright rude. That is not representative of the marketplace of ideas concept. It is talking down to someone without giving them the respect they deserve as a human being. It is an attack on who that person is much the same way as the carpenter’s “He’s a shit stirrer” comment.
For the other person to react in a manner in the vicinity of disrespected is not unfathomable, unreasonable, unfounded, or weak. It is human.
Oops, I Did it Again
Don’t think for a moment that I sit from a self-righteous perch banging out the post thinking I’ve never been a player on Team Scorched Earth. I’ve scorched and torched more times than I care to admit. We all have. But I make it a point to try and repair the breach, and try to not let it happen again. Christ requires it of me. (I’m a work in progress, so bear with me dammit.)
Most of the times a heartfelt mea culpa works and the relationship proceeds all the stronger. But there are those occasions when an apology won’t suffice and the only thing that will rectify the situation for the offended is a swift unfriending. I’ve done it. And it’s been done to me. In those instances, I’ve found the best thing to do is accept their decision and move on.
Seriously.
Telltale Signs
How do you know if you’ve crossed the line? It’s not a matter of “if,” but when. Unless you’re living in someone else’s head, it’s inevitable that you’re going to cross the line … hopefully, it’s inadvertently. If you’re engaging someone with these types of comments, you’ve crossed the line in my book.
Accusatory
Baiting
Closed-minded
Dismissive
Elevating your own point of view
Judgmental
Don’t fool yourself. These types of comments do not invite others into a respectful space for productive conversation. Remarks of this nature immediately put people on the defensive much like hitting someone in the face with a brick. To dismiss someone’s beliefs as stupid is a sure-fire way to set yourself up as uninformed and irrelevant.
The Take-Away
Call me old-fashioned, but I’ve always believed in the adage that “you’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar” or its variant “you’ll catch more ants with sugar than salt.” The meaning of either maxim is clear—
You’ll wield more influence with people if you’re pleasant as opposed to abrasive.
Yes, it’s disturbing to come to grips with the reality that our democratic process was tampered with. Yes, it’s disturbing to accept the fact that our friends, our loved ones, and even our selves — as well as the flames of more than a couple of fears — were not just fanned but stoked to become bonfires of suspicion and hatred directed at our fellow citizens. And the residual effects of those bonfires are only beginning.
If you genuinely have a desire to win people over to your point of view, engage the moderates, they’re willing to at least talk about things. Leave the hand-to-hand mortal combat to the extremists. | https://medium.com/clay-rivers/bonfire-of-the-proprieties-adec7411627c | ['Clay Rivers'] | 2020-10-15 03:32:29.160000+00:00 | ['Faith and Life', 'Raceinamerica', 'Social Media', 'BlackLivesMatter', 'Politics'] |
Limited Handshake Socks Now On Sale | Limited Handshake Socks Now On Sale
Decentralize the Internet, Look Cool Doing It
Welcome to the new Internet. Here are your socks.
My name is Alex Vela, creator of Handshake Socks! These are limited edition pairs you can buy with BTC/ETH/USD and HNS, so get a pair while they last.
I wanted to make something that allowed me to give back to the community and create opportunities to meet and get to know everyone. I first want to thank Steven McKie for introducing me to Handshake. Since then I’ve had a lot of fun winning TLDs on Namebase and stacking dollarydoos. My PC is almost ready to mine. Still might need some help with that one McKie.
My excitement about Handshake inspired me to design and manufacture the first limited edition run of Handshake Socks. These socks are made using the finest combed cotton sourced from the southeastern United States. They were designed in Austin, TX and manufactured in North Carolina. Only 60 will ever be made and shipping is free. Let’s spread the word on Handshake, and look good doing it, together.
Welcome to the new Internet. Here are your socks.
— 🧦 Official Site: Handshake Socks
— 📨 Email: [email protected]
Other Links: | https://medium.com/blockchannel/handshake-socks-45fec9d42d4b | ['Alex Vela'] | 2020-06-07 01:29:53.769000+00:00 | ['Bitcoin', 'Namebase', 'Socks', 'Handshake', 'Ethereum'] |
Threads vs Processes | Just a brief note to highlight the main difference between a thread and a process.
A Process
A process is an independently running instance of a program. If you open a same program multiple times, multiple processes will be utilized. These processes in an operating system share system resources such as memory and CPUs (processors) and when one program is waiting for some operation, another can utilize the resources.
A Thread
Within a process, you can have multiple threads simultaneously running your program flow. Even though each thread has it’s own stack and local variables, they do share the memory address space of their owning process. Because of that, threads that are in the same process share the objects allocated to it in the heap and will cause the program to behave unpredictably if access to the shared data is not coordinated properly with the use of synchronization.
A program with one thread in a multi processor system
Will run on only one processor at a time.
If the system has two processors this program will give up access to half of it’s available CPU resources. If the system has 100 processors, it will give up 99% of access to CPU resources (Brian Goetz et al, 2006).
A program with multiple threads in a multi processor system
Can run simultaneously on multiple processors and if one thread waits for some operation, another thread can run which makes this better than having a single threaded program, where the processor sits idle while waiting for some operation to complete (Brian Goetz et al, 2006).
References | https://medium.com/coderscorner/threads-vs-processes-a0b199f56c2d | ['Rukshani Athapathu'] | 2017-11-11 13:30:22.378000+00:00 | ['Software Development', 'Coding', 'Programming', 'Threads', 'Process'] |
How Leading AI Companies Strategically Use Data | Based on my experience in two leading AI organizations, I realized how data acquisition has become the main element of building an AI strategy. The way we think about acquiring data in such companies is highly advanced since it is a long-term plan with diverse sources of data. Above all, we do not expect to make money out of our data acquisition before several months.
In my opinion, data is perhaps the most underutilized asset of companies. Any application of AI and ML will only be as good as the quality of data collected.
The AI race highly depends on who owns the most relevant data. If we analyze some of the largest and most advanced firms in the field of AI, we can see how data collection has become central in their strategy. Uber, in its IPO document, details how the company is collecting data about cab demand as well as food demand. In reality, the company is profiling the demand for its market like no other transportation service ever has.
The need to forecast demand is not new. Its the scale that is different.
Local cab services might have focused on forecasting peak demand. But Uber looks more broadly than this.
Facebook is mastering facial recognition via its DeepFace Deep Learning application by virtue of owning the world’s largest repository of photos.
Google, the leading “AI-first organization” collects far more data than Facebook. Its vast portfolio of services, from Android to Google Search to Chrome to Google Pay, provides a large amount of data.
Almost all Google products or services are built with data acquisition in mind. The Android mobile operating system, Chrome web browser, applications like Search and Maps, and publisher tools like Google Analytics and AdWords can glean information from web searches, map inquiries, and other online activities without you knowing — or controlling.
In order to justify this heavy data collection process, Google has said in the past it uses much of that data to improve its products. The data collected can lead to more relevant search results, but also be used to feed AI algorithms…
Partnerships
Leading AI organizations do not only rely on a single data source… One of my missions within the AI team was to secure several strategic partnerships with organizations that could provide us with relevant data. The idea is to quickly secure those deals before the competition.
For instance, Google’s DeepMind has a five year deal with ten British National Health Service hospitals to process the medical data of 1.6m patients. Though more data doesn’t always give a linear return.
It is important to understand that data is the main competitive differentiator when it comes to AI.
Algorithms can be copied.
In most cases, I can assure you that it’s not that hard for most organizations to figure out what algorithms competitors are using. Our main focus when building AI strategies is data. Researchers have shown that given access to only an API, a way to remotely use software without having it on your computer, it’s possible to reverse-engineer machine learning algorithms with up to 99% accuracy. Small companies built around a single machine learning API could lose any competitive advantage.
I find out that leading AI organizations realize that data and analytics are unlike any traditional corporate assets. Data is a digital asset that never depletes and can be used simultaneously at near-zero marginal cost across an infinite business and operational use cases.
More Data
Our quest of data goes beyond the data we know about…
Have you heard about dark data?
Dark data: the information assets organizations collect, process and store during regular business activities, but generally fail to use for other purposes.
Indeed, large firms are more and more interested in dark data. The idea is that you probably want to collect as much data as you can afford, for as long as you can, while mitigating risk. Actually, we assume that data might prove valuable but most of the time, we do not know when precisely. With the maturation of AI techniques, that time when that dark data becomes useful may be very soon...
Dark data is valuable for two reasons:
- There’s so much of it
- It could be used to unlock business value.
The more data you have, the more you can learn about every aspect of your operations. The larger the dataset, the more accurate the analysis.
Leveraging dark data could become a new competitive advantage in the AI race.
We spend a lot of time trying to understand the true economic value of our organization’s data since it helps us prioritize technology and business investments.
Feedback loop & Unique dataset
In my opinion, companies don’t need to be a large tech firm to succeed in AI. Obviously, you need enough data upfront to start a solid project. This initial dataset will attract customers who, in turn, will create more data for the product. After a period of time, you might have enough data yourself to have a defensible business if you choose to focus on a very specific business issue.
And this actually makes their business, in my opinion, defensible because even the global giant tech companies, as far as I know, do not have a particular data asset for every possible situation/business issue, which makes their business at least challenging for the very large tech companies to enter.
Strategic data acquisition.
During my experiences, our main goal was to build a proprietary data set that our competition was unable to replicate. This goes beyond individual data collection processes and involves creating a virtuous data cycle by embedding data collection into the creation and industrialization of our products.
Propriety Data: Internally generated data that contain technical or other types of information controlled by a firm to safeguard its competitive edge. Proprietary data may be protected under copyright, patent, or trade secret laws.
For instance, we created a digital platform that encourages innovation and data sharing from internal and external partners.
Another crucial reason to start with gathering data is to gain first mover advantage in your industry. Large tech firms have dominated their industries because they were the first to begin building data sets. Their data sets have become so large, and their data collection and analysis so sophisticated that they are able to grow their competitive advantage.
With each iteration, they are putting more distance between themselves and the competition.
Specific dataset
All data sets are not created equal. Deep data sets focused on solving specific problems are better than large, broad data sets. Dynamic, constantly refreshing data sets are vastly superior to static data sets, typically regardless of their size.
Basically, the harder they are to access or replicate, the better it is for your company. Proprietary data will help you build a strong defensible competitive advantage in the market.
Defensible Position
I have seen too many times data collection considered as a series of one-off exercises used to inform company strategy. Data collection must be built into the core product itself. In other words, every time a user engages with your product, you must collect data from the interaction that will make future usage of the product even better.
The data captured must be designed precisely to serve the needs of your models, which are designed to serve the needs of the product functionality, which is designed to meet the needs of the customer.
This requires significant architecture (technical, legal and data security) to work, but is key to maximizing the value of the system.
Data value
Decision-makers tend to forget a few things about data. First of all, the size of the data set is only one part of the equation. The value of your data set is defined by context. Indeed, some applications require models to be trained to a high degree of accuracy before they can provide any value to a customer, while others need little or no data at all. In my latest AI project, the company shut down the project because we only reach 95% accuracy… The remaining 5% would have represented too many potential issues with final customers.
Some data sets are truly proprietary, others can be easily copied. When it comes to data in itself, some data decay in value over time…
Most AI applications don’t require 100 percent accuracy to create value. In general, the application determines the value of the data.
However, solutions, where AI is essential to the product, would likely need to equal the accuracy of the status quo (human-based) solutions. In this case, the goal is to match the performance of human experts, and an immense volume of data might be needed before even reaching the production stage.
A growing number of business issues can be solved with near 100 percent accuracy with a very small training set, because the problem being modeled is relatively simple, with few dimensions to track and few variations in outcome.
However, the truth is not every problem can be solved with near 100 percent accuracy. The amount of work from 90 to 100% accuracy is often underestimated. The volume and quality of data you have can’t solve some problems given the current state of the art and perhaps your specific business issue. It might sound easy to just say “let’s add more data” but actually it will you cost you a lot and require a tremendous effort from your team...
We call the amount of training data needed to reach viable levels of accuracy the performance threshold.
From a strategic point of view, I noticed that domains requiring fewer data to reach the performance threshold are not very defensible.
Basically, new entrants can easily gather enough data and create a similar solution. How do you protect yourself from an AI perspective? Obviously, data is not the only element to take into consideration…
With large tech firms making it easier to access AI toolkit, data sets are one of the most important ways to differentiate. A truly defensible data strategy cannot be the result of just gathering the largest volume of data. I believe that the best datasets are tied to a particular problem domain.
It’s data, not algorithms, that will decide who wins in the AI race. An AI company built around publicly accessible data isn’t defensible.
Regulation
I noticed that brands are prioritizing greater ownership and control over their data as they ramp up their investments in customer experience and personalized services, according to new research.
Global society is entering a new era of data ownership, and general data protection regulation (GDPR), Europe’s stringent new privacy law, is just the beginning.
For these reasons, as well as competitive concerns and long-standing habits, many companies choose to keep all of their industrial data proprietaries. They retain control of data and can govern how that data is used. It’s more secure and typically makes compliance easier.
AI winners will be those organizations that are the most effective at leveraging data to build strong defensible business models. | https://medium.com/predict/how-leading-ai-companies-strategically-use-data-9ee4f8b233e2 | ['Alexandre Gonfalonieri'] | 2019-06-10 13:34:15.082000+00:00 | ['Business', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Data Science', 'Startup'] |
How do you get 3 hours of your week back — every week? | When I was in college, I could focus 100% of my brain to the problems I loved solving. But ever since I entered the working world, so much of my brain is cluttered by random tasks, “Oh I forgot to respond to that email,” “Has that person responded to me yet?”, “I need to schedule that meeting.” Without even realizing it, I was letting hours of my time, but more importantly my attention slip away to scheduling meetings, picking times that made me seem busy enough but not so inaccessible the meeting would never happen. I wondered why we don’t all just use Calendly. The answer is that it feels impersonal and transactional.
We built Bobby to take advantage of technology that can actually save us time while keeping a bit of human flair in the equation.
As a quick recap, Bobby integrates with your calendar to automatically propose times and schedule the calendar event.
Every week Bobby already saves me 2–3 hours not having to check my calendar, convert time zones, and then type them all out into an email. I average about 10–15 meetings a week. I always tell people Bobby is an automated scheduler or a bot when adding Bobby to an email thread.
🙋 We know there’s a million of these little tasks out there and wanted to ask you to comment directly on what would be the most helpful:
What we’re imagining here is Bobby can reorganize internal / team meetings to maximize uninterrupted time for everybody.
Email Bobby and tell it you need 2 hours for project planning over the next three days and Bobby will block it off on your calendar.
Text Bobby a new to do item. Or reply to an email with “to do” and Bobby will add it to the list.
Or double down on just scheduling.
🙏 Let us know what you’d like in the comments below! If you comment below with your email along with your vote, we’ll give you access to Bobby for free. | https://medium.com/@jugaad010/how-do-you-get-3-hours-of-your-week-back-every-week-2a9640f0035e | ['Di Ye'] | 2020-12-15 17:03:07.785000+00:00 | ['Gender Equality', 'Productivity', 'Scheduling', 'Time Management', 'AI'] |
Crowdsourcing Business Model. The crowdsourcing business model… | The crowdsourcing business model implements the model by involving the contribution of the user to the product. Crowdsourcing touches across all social and business interactions. The revenue structure is quite weird and difficult to understand for most of the users. In other words, the process takes place by combining with other business and revenue models to create an ultimate solution for the user and to earn money. Thousands of users across the world are connected to the internet and have the authority to contribute their ideas and modify the existing ones by making them more efficient.
C rowdsourcing = Crowd acts as a source for a specific platform
Wikipedia is one of the best examples of a crowdsourcing platform. Wikipedia is a multilingual online encyclopedia, based on open collaboration through a wiki-based content editing system. It is the largest and most popular general reference work on the World Wide Web and is one of the most popular websites ranked by Alexa as of June 2019. It features exclusively free content and no commercial ads and is owned and supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization funded primarily through donations. Wikipedia was launched on January 15, 2001, by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger.
Key Partners
Key partners are the relationships that you have with other business, governmental, or non-consumer entities that help your business model work. These can be the relationships that your company has with your suppliers, your manufacturers, business partners, etc. Wikipedia has 30 lakh registered editors, 2 lakh active editors, organizations, publishers, collaborators and donors which act as its key partners.
Key Activities
Key activities consist of the activities that lead the company towards their goal with ease. The key activities include the content edition, review of changes, versions in other languages, updates, quality of writing, hardware operations and support, internal research and operational development.
Key Resources
Key Resources act as a building block describing the most important assets needed to make a business model work. The number of contributors over the globe act as a key resource.
Value Propositions
Value Propositions are the services or features or their innovations that make their product look attractive to the customers. Wikipedia is a platform that is editable by any person. It has around 40 million articles in 250 different languages which is the largest in the world. The number of unique visitors of Wikipedia is 500 million each month.
Customer Relationships
Customer Relationships describe the ways that a company will engage with its customers to improve the customer experience. Wikipedia maintains its customer relationships through community, online and learning resources.
Customer Segments
The customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that are similar in specific ways. Students, Researchers fall under each customer segment of Wikipedia’s Business Model.
Channels
Channels are through which the company provides its service to the customers. The internet, mobile application, websites, store.
Cost Structure
Cost structure refers to the types and relative proportions of fixed and variable costs that a business incurs. The cost structure of Wikipedia includes fixed and variable costs, technical development costs, fundraising costs.
Revenue Streams
A revenue stream is a source of revenue of a company or organization. In business, a revenue stream is generally made up of either recurring revenue, transaction-based revenue, project revenue, or service revenue. Wikipedia’s revenue works on the donation-based revenue model. The company gets most of its funds in the form of donations from the globe. The revenue streams of Wikipedia include donations and merchandising. | https://medium.com/@kapilkhanwani/case-study-crowdsourcing-business-model-3b9096b605ec | ['Kapil Khanwani'] | 2019-09-21 13:46:56.051000+00:00 | ['Business', 'Wikipedia', 'Entrepreneur', 'Crowdfunding', 'Entrepreneurship'] |
The Best Alexa compatible devices in 2021 | In recent years, voice recognition technology has improved in bounds and leaps. It has been integrated into a variety of products and brands. Smart homes allow you to control your smart devices through a speaker using your voice and a digital assistant. Also, Amazon Alexa is now compatible with a huge number of popular products. Here are the Best Alexa Compatible devices in 2021.
Amazon Alexa compatible devices
What is Amazon Alexa?
What are the best Alexa-compatible devices in 2021?
How do you make Alexa devices compatible?
How to choose the best Alexa-compatible devices?
How we test the best Alexa-compatible devices for you?
Comparison of the best Alexa compatible devices
What is Amazon Alexa?
Amazon Alexa is a virtual assistant AI technology. It is capable of music playback, setting alarms, voice interaction, streaming podcasts, providing weather, making to-do lists, etc. It also controls your smart home devices using itself as a home automation system. Thanks to the entrance of virtual voice assistants like Amazon Alexa.
What are the best Alexa-compatible devices in 2021?
There are lots of Alexa-compatible devices on the market. But you have to get in touch what are the best Alexa-capable devices. Here are some of the best Alexa-compatible devices in 2021.
The Best Smart Speaker of Amazon Alexa
Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation
Amazon Echo Dot 4th Generation
Amazon Echo 4th Gen smart speaker is the most famous smart speaker with premium sounds over the first three generations. Also, it is integrated with the Zigbee home hub. It has the ball shape, better audio quality, and respectable bass for a speaker.
Furthermore, it streams songs from Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, and more. Alexa is ready to help anytime. You can ask Alexa to play music, play the news, answer questions, set alarms, check the weather, control your smart home devices, and more. It also sills your home with sound by playing synchronized music across echo devices in every room. You can make your home simply by using a built-in hub.
You can connect two echo devices to create a stereo pairing. Also, you can connect your Dot with your Fire TV for improved audio. There has no screen or camera; hence it is a great option for those concerned about privacy.
The Best Thermostat of Amazon Alexa
Ecobee Smart Thermostat
Ecobee Smart Thermostat
Ecobee Smart Thermostat is the best smart thermostat. It is integrated with Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and SmartThings. It detects your present temperature and automatically adjusts temperature for energy serving when you are home or not at home.
The Ecobee app takes control of temperature from anywhere. Also, the thermostat has a built-in Alexa smart speaker. Hence, you don’t want a separate Echo device. You can be able to ask a question from Alexa just connect your thermostat.
The Best Smart Light of Amazon Alexa
Philips Hue White LED 4-Pack A19 Smart Bulb
Philips Hue White LED 4-Pack A19 Smart Bulb
Philips Hue White smart bulb is the latest version of Philips Hue. It works with Alexa and Google Assistant and compatible with Bluetooth and Zigbee. It is simple to get started with just the touch of a button on your smartphone or your voice assistant. Also, you can be able to add up to 10 Hue Smart Bulbs with the Hue Bluetooth app.
It can be easily integrated with your Hue ecosystem and will continue to work with your Hue hub. By using your Hue hub, you can easily control up to 50 lights throughout your smart home. Also, it can control your lights while away from home or add devices like Smart Switches and motion sensors.
The Best Video Doorbell of Amazon Alexa
Ring Video Doorbell 3 plus
Ring Video Doorbell 3 plus
The Ring Video Doorbell 3 plus is an upgrade from the original Ring Video Doorbell 2. It has added impressive new features like Pre-roll. It allows it to record up to 4 seconds of video before a real event is detected. Also, you can ask Alexa to please show me who is at the door. It is important for when you’re not at the home.
It is awesome! You received a mobile notification when anyone presses the doorbell. You can connect it to doorbell wires for constant power or power it with a rechargeable battery. Using the Ring app, you can easily set it up by connecting it to WiFi. Alexa is available to announce on your compatible Echo devices when anyone presses the doorbell.
The Best home security camera of Amazon Alexa
Wyze camera
Wyze camera
Wyze camera is with WiFi indoor Smart Home Camera with Night vision. Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are integrated with this. It has 1080p Full HD live streaming. Also, it lets you see inside your home from anywhere using your mobile phone.
Through the Wyze app, you can use two-way audio to speak with your family and friends. When sounds or a motion is detected, it automatically records and saves that video to the cloud freely for several days. Also, night vision lets you see in the dark using 6 infrared LEDs.
You can use your favorite voice assistant to see what your child is doing, who is at your door, or anything that you want to keep in touch with. But Wyze cam pan is only suitable with the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network, Android mobile devices, and Apple (iOS).
The Best Smart Lock of Amazon Alexa
August WiFi Smart Lock
August WiFi Smart Lock
You can control your front door lock from anywhere using the August WiFi Smart Lock key. It needn’t to additional bridge to connect to Wi-Fi. Hence, you can get full remote and voice access functionality. Using the August app, you can be able to send secure keys to family, friends, or people you trust.
Furthermore, using the app, you can track who is going and coming, and get alerts. It also has a biometric verification option. Using your smartphone’s facial recognition or fingerprint, you can add security verification before lock your door remotely. It also works with your existing deadbolt. Alexa will inform you when the battery is the law.
The Best Smart Screen of Amazon Alexa
Amazon Echo show 8 (2nd Generation)
Amazon Echo show 8 (2nd Generation)
This screen has an 8” HD touchscreen with stereo speakers and adaptive color. You can make video calls with a 13MP camera with auto-framing. It is amazing! You can simply ask Alexa to call your contact. Set timers, news updates, traffic updates, and updates lists are some of the features of this. It can be easily using your voice.
You can monitor compatible devices like lights and cameras. Also, you can ask Alexa to stream Apple Music, Amazon Music, or Spotify.
Moreover, you can put your memories on this display. Turn your home screen into a digital frame using Amazon Photos. It is also built with multiple layers of privacy control including a microphone off or on the button and a built-in camera shutter.
The Best Smart mini Plug
Wemo Mini Smart Plug
Wemo Mini Smart Plug
Wemo Mini Smart Plug is a small smart plug with a WiFi connection. It works with Alexa, Apple HomeKit as well as Google Assistant. Also, it can pair with built-in voice devices. You can monitor the lights with your smart plugin. For instance, it turns them on or off before you return and enter the home. It has a slim design, so you can easily fit two on a single outlet.
How do you make Alexa devices compatible?
You can connect compatible smart home devices easily, such as plugins, lights, and cameras. Firstly, you want to follow these steps.
Before you begin:
You want to check whether your smart home device is compatible with Alexa.
Then you can use the manufacture’s companion app or website to complete the setup.
After then, connect your device to the same Wi-Fi network
Download and install the newest updates for your devices.
To connect a smart home device, use guided discovery
Using guided discovery, you have to connect smart home devices in the Alexa app:
You want to select Add Device from the menu
After selecting the type of smart home device, you want to select
You can follow the instruction on the screen after selecting the brand.
Discover your smart home devices with a skill
Use the Alexa app to discover smart home devices using a skill.
Firstly, you want to go to the menu and select skills
Then, find the skill for the device and select Enable. You can follow the instruction on the screen to complete the linking process.
After that, ask Alexa to discover your device. You can say “Alexa, discover my device” or select Add device in the app.
How to choose the best Alexa-compatible devices?
If you want to pick the best Alexa-compatible device, there are few things that you want to consider.
Price
Sometimes, you will be preferred to cheapest smart home device. Often, the cheapest device is not the best. You have to verify that it meets your needs or not before buying this.
Functionality
Another thing you want to consider is the features of your smart home device. Is there any specific feature like a Home/Away feature? You want to consider that its feature satisfies your needs before buying.
Design
This is an important factor you want to consider. Is it has a comfortable design or not? Is this a well-made product or not? We all prefer to buy comfortable, smart devices. So, before picking the smart device, you want to think about design.
How we test the best Alexa-compatible devices for you?
When we test the best Alexa-compatible devices, we look at a few things. Following are a few things.
Performance — There are lots of smart home devices available. There are many functions in every device. But, does it work as they said? We test its performance using several conditions like is it easy to use or not?
Features — We test the features the device has and compare them with the other smart devices. Also, we test the price ranges of the smart devices.
Price — When compared to the similar smart home devices in the market, how expensive is it? It is the most desirable factor when choosing the best home devices.
Set up — Some devices are very hard to set up when compared to others. We test, “is it simple to set up or not compared to similar products.
Comparison of the best Alexa compatible devices
Comparison of the best Alexa compatible devices
Our pick
The Echo Dot 4th Generation is our first best option you to try. It is a very famous smart speaker around the world. If you care about sound quality, you can go with Echo Dot. But, if you don’t care much about the sound quality and want to save some money, you can get other Echo Dot varieties. Even still, this Dot is the best pick for the everyday Echo for most.
Also, Philips Hue White smart bulb is a really good option for you to light up your smart home. It is simple to integrate with your ecosystem and Hue smart light works with all Echo smart speakers and Google Nest devices. | https://blog.devgenius.io/the-best-alexa-compatible-devices-in-2021-d5ce4e9a2f9f | ['Ishara Fernando'] | 2021-07-05 07:28:33.937000+00:00 | ['Smart Home Device', 'Alexa', 'Smart Home', 'Amazon', 'Smart Home Automation'] |
PyQGIS — Join Table — International visitors in Natural Protected Areas in Ecuador | PyQGIS has given a great solution for managing automation in GIS processes. The National System of Protected Areas (SNAP) of Ecuador acquired the information of the international visitors in spreadsheets but not necessarily as a map. So if maps are required is soft to create them with one python/PyQGIS script that can output proper layers including the number of visitors in the protected areas. The SNAP layer can be downloaded in the geo-portal of Environmental information of Ecuador here.
In this post/tutorial I will show you how to automate Join Table into a Shapefile in Qgis 3.10. The best of this script, is that interacts with the user ( in this case, you) with QInputDialog() so the input you have to use is only the URL of your data.
So, let’s take a look at the product of this script. As is mentioned, this script produces a NEW LAYER, that contains the additional information of the number of visitors added to the shapefile of natural protected areas. If you are not familiar with Joins, take a look here.
Image by the author, choropleth map with joined information of the number of international visitors
To begin, you have to open the python console in Qgis and open the editor.
Image by the author, Python console with editor window ‘Untitled-0’ at the right
Our first task will be to open the shapefile and to open the table into the Qgis. The only thing you will need for this tutorial is to copy and edit the URL of your data. The URL for my example goes as follow: C:\Desktop\Pyqgis\data
atural_areas.shp
First, copy and paste the code below into your python editor, and run. Then, you will see that a new dialog window is open.
#Dialog
qid1 = QInputDialog()
title = ‘Write the URL’
label = ‘Shapefile url: ‘
mode = QLineEdit.Normal
default = ‘<shp url here>’
snapUrl, ok = QInputDialog.getText(qid1, title, label,mode, default) #Adding Layer
snap_layer = iface.addVectorLayer(snapUrl,’Natural Areas’,’ogr’)
Image by the author, Input box to add the URL of your shapefile
Then you will see how the shapefile is added to the table of contents like a layer. You add the shapefile you want only be aware to write correctly the URL of your computer, including the extension of shp.
(e.g. \…\…\areas.shp)
Image by the author, shapefile on screen.
As you can see, you are interacting with the python console. Basically, it is asking you what to open, and you are replying with an URL. The next step is to do the same process but including the table to the display, in this case, the .csv, to make the join with Natural Areas.shp. Remember, that to process the join table correctly you need to have a similar attribute on both sides. In this case, the shapefile and the table both have a column with a code of the natural area.
Follow the code below to open the table.
#Dialog CSV june
qid2 = QInputDialog()
title = ‘url of table’
label = ‘csv url: ‘
mode = QLineEdit.Normal
default = ‘<csv url here>’
juncsvUrl, ok = QInputDialog.getText(qid2, title, label,mode, default) #Adding csv june urljun = r’file:\\’+juncsvUrl+’?delimiter={}’.format(“,”)
juncsv = QgsVectorLayer(urljun, “June 2019”, “delimitedtext”)
iface.addVectorLayer(juncsvUrl, “June visitors”, “ogr”)
Image by the author, input inbox to add the URL of your CSV table
Then, you will see that the table is added to the screen. | https://towardsdatascience.com/pyqgis-join-table-international-visitors-in-natural-protected-areas-in-ecuador-7deb7ed8d868 | ['Bryan R. Vallejo'] | 2021-04-25 22:28:05.009000+00:00 | ['Join Tables', 'Qgis', 'Pyqgis', 'Ecuador', 'GIS'] |
Simplifying Redux | Let’s look at the API reference for Redux. The first item on the list there is createStore, which we’re going to implement right now!
createStore receives 3 parameters:
reducer initial state enhancers (for simplicity we will use only middlewares)
createStore returns an object with the following functions:
getState dispatch subscribe
First, we’ll create the wireframe for createStore :
OK, now that we have the wireframe, we can start implementing it step by step.
First of all, we need to add a local variable named state that is initialized with the initialState passed to the createStore function. Since getState just returns the state we can easily implement it:
let state = initialState;
return {
getState: () => state,
...
}
Another simple implementation is subscribe :
subscribe is a function that receives a listener and returns an unsubscribe function which will remove the listener so that it is no longer called on store changes.
const listeners = [];
return {
subscribe: (listener) => {
listeners.push(listener);
return () => {
listeners.splice(listeners.indexOf(listener), 1);}
}
},
...
}
Before we proceed to dispatch let’s implement the last step of our Redux implementation, which is evaluating the reducer, calling the listeners, and returning the new state:
let state = initialState;
const listeners = []; let dispatchAction = (action) => {
state = reducer(state, action);
listeners.forEach(listener => listener());
return state;
}
Now, dispatch is a function that receives an action and triggers state changes to the store. Basically, it calls the last step with the action it receives:
return {
dispatch: (action) => dispatchAction(action),
...
}
In the above implementation we used only the reducer to trigger state changes to the store, but what about our middlewares? What about all the side effects we want to execute before Redux changes the state? Before we do that let’s explore the structure of the middleware:
/* A */ (middlewareAPI) => /* B */ (next) => /* C */ (action) => {
....
return next(action);
}
A middleware is a function that returns another function that returns another function, and so on… But what’s interesting is that function B of the current middleware, receives a reference to function C of the next middleware in the array. This composition enables us to call the next middleware from the current middleware and so on until we cover all of them. Only then we can continue to the reducer evaluation. What we have here is actually a chain of middlewares!
Let’s dive into the most interesting part of our implementation:
let state = initialState;
const listeners = []; let finalMiddleware = (action) => {
state = reducer(state, action);
listeners.forEach(listener => listener());
return state;
} const middlewareAPI = {
getState: () => state,
dispatch: (action) => finalMiddleware(action)
} const newMiddleWares = middlewares.map(middleware => middleware(middlewareAPI)); for(let i = newMiddleWares.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
finalMiddleware = newMiddleWares[i](finalMiddleware);
}
Note that we changed dispatchAction to finalMiddleware . Don’t worry, it will all make sense when we finish everything!
First, we evaluate each middleware by calling it with the middleware API. Now newMiddleWares is a collection of functions with the following structure:
(next) => (action) => {
....
return next(action);
}
At the last step, we go over the new middlewares in reverse where we evaluate each middleware with the previously executed value. This part is a little bit confusing so let’s start with the last middleware.
The last middleware receives the first value of finalMiddleware , which is to evaluate the reducer, and it returns the last function in the middleware’s structure. finalMiddleware is now updated with that function.
The middleware before it will receive that function and return its last function in the structure. We repeat this process until we reach the first middleware.
At the end, the finalMiddleware will be the first middleware in the collection, so when we invoke dispatch it will call the first middleware. | https://medium.com/autodesk-tlv/simplifying-redux-f795b9d28c60 | ['Einat Bertenthal'] | 2019-05-06 10:23:42.195000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Middleware', 'Web Development', 'React', 'Redux'] |
Four reasons that low-code applications can help you to boost your productivity | Four reasons that low-code applications can help you to boost your productivity
How truly achieve agility on your organization focusing on what matters to your business and multiply the productivity of your development team
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Fashion is cyclical and the same thing happens in Software Engineering. We live in a world where each innovation seems similar to one in the past; we advanced some time ago. That’s because what we’re doing is just refining over and over solutions for the same problems.
We’ve lived for the last years a “developer is the new black” rise, where anything related to writing code is excellent. Even devs are now observed as a cool character like the ones from Silicon Valley (the HBO show) instead of the one you can make fun of like in The I.T Crowd.
But, now, it seems we’re going back to a new rise of what is called Low-Code (or No Code) Applications.
Low-Code Application is a piece of software that helps you generate your applications or services without needing to write code in any programming language, instead of doing that, you can drag & drop some boxes that represent what you’d like to do instead of write it yourself.
That has provided advantages that are now again on the table. Let’s take a look at those advantages in more detail
1.- Provides more agility
That’s clear. No matter how high level your programming language is, no matter how many archetypes you have to generate your project skeleton or the framework and libraries that you use. Typing is always slower than drag some boxes into the white canvas and connects them with some links.
And I’m a person that is a terminal guy and VI power-user, and I realize the power of the keyboard, But let’s be honest and ask you one question:
How many of the keywords you type in your code are providing value to the business and how many are just needed for technical reasons?
Not only things like exception handling, auditing, logging, service discovery, configuration management, but stuff like loop structure, function signature definition, variable definition, class definition, and so on…
You can truly focus on the business value that you’re trying to provide to your business instead of spending time around how to manage any technical capabilities.
2.- Easier to maintain
One month after production only the developer and god knows what the code does. After a year, just god knows…
Coding is awesome but it is at the same time complex to maintain. Mainly on enterprises when developers are shifting from one project to the other, from some departments to others, and new people are being onboarded all the time to maintain and evolve some codes.
And the ones that have been in the industry for some time, know for example the situation when people said: “I prefer not to touch that because we don’t know what’s doing”, “We cannot migrate this Mainframe application because we don’t know it will be able to capture all the functionality they’re providing.”
And that’s bad for several reasons. First of all, it is costly to maintain, more complex to do it, but second is also avoiding you to evolve at the pace that you want to do it.
3.- Safer and Cost-Effective
Don’t get me wrong about this: Programming can be as safer as any low-code application. That’s clear because, in the end, any low-code app ends up generating the same binary or bytecode to be executed.
The problem is that this is going to depend on the skills of the programmer. We live in a situation that, even programming and developers are a cool thing, as you need a big number of devs in your team that implies that not all of them are as experienced and skill as you want them to be.
Reality is much more complex and also you need to deal with your budget reality and find the way to get the best of your team.
Using Low-code application, you are guaranteed the quality of the base components that are verified by a company and that they’ve improved with dedicated teams incorporating feedback for customers all over the world, which makes it safer.
4.- As ready as a code-base solution for specific needs
One of the myths that are saying against Low Code is that it is suitable for generic workloads and use-cases, but it is not capable of being adapted and optimized for your needs.
Regarding this usual push-back, first of all, we need to work on the misconception of the level of specification our software needs. In the end, the times when you need to do something so specific that is not covered by the options available out of the box are so low that it is complex to justify. Are you going to make a slower 99% of your development only to be able to do it quicker than 1%? How much of your workloads are not similar to what other companies are doing in the same industry?
But even for the sake of the discussion, let’s assume that’s true, and you need a single piece of logic a low-code application doesn’t provide out of the box. Ok, Low-Code means that you don’t need to write code, not that you cannot do it.
Most of the platforms support the option to add code if needed as an option to cover these cases. So, even in those cases, you still have the same tools to make it specific without losing all the advantages of your daily activities.
Summary
Low-code applications are one of the solutions you have at your disposal to improve your agility and your productivity in your developments to meet the pace of the changes in your business.
The solutions working on that space are not new, but they’ve been renovated to adapt to the modern developer paradigms (microservices, container-based, API-led, event-driven…) so you’re not going to miss anything but to get more time to provide even more value to your business. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/four-reasons-that-low-code-applications-can-help-you-to-boost-your-productivity-f162e77fa108 | ['Alex Vazquez'] | 2020-07-14 13:55:45.945000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Development', 'Productivity', 'Technology', 'Software Engineering'] |
long break | Ever since finishing my job in medical field, I came back home and tried to do something new.
Unfortunately, not much update after then. Pretty much trying to adapt to the new life, the weather and the culture. I haven’t lived home for 10 years almost.
During the daytime, I picked up some planting pastimes. At the beginning, I planted some basil and lettuces. Though the basil died not longer after I harvested the leaves for some pasta. The lettuce on the other hand, grows super fast and it even blooms.
Lettuce isn’t found much in Asian cuisine, neither of my family or I wanted to eat it. The lettuce seeds come in a mixed package where it contains up to 1000 seeds, I casually planted them without making any plan in advanced. The one kind of lettuce I found interesting is called chovory. It has a saw like leafy lettuce that grows outward from the center. It grows really fast, soon it has became a big bush.
My neighbors are really good farmers. Sometimes they give useful advice to plant the greens. My neighbor came inspect my greens and told me the chovory is an eye- plant. It is good for the eyes.
I didn’t know what it was, so I asked her if she wants them. She harvested some of it and saying it could go well with omelette.
Other plants I have planted are okra, eggplants and potato.
Okra is a very popular vegetable within households. Introduced from Japan, where we as well eat it after boiling and dipping with soy sauce.
Potatos came from the old potatos that I didn’t eat, which it grows the roots within it. I seperated the potato itself into different sections, carefully planted them into the soil. The tricky part of planting potato is that, you’ll need to make a so called cover on the soil. Where the potato that grows underneath wouldn’t get much sun exposure. Too much of sun exposure would lead to the production of toxic greeny part of potato. | https://medium.com/@hsintilee/long-break-7764ce8a5ca4 | ['H. L'] | 2020-12-09 03:11:55.537000+00:00 | ['Taiwan', 'Potato', 'Farming'] |
Samsung’s 110-inch MicroLED TV brings The Wall to your living room | Samsung delights in scoring splashy headlines at CES with its mammoth micro-LED displays, with the company springing a humongous 292-inch model of “The Wall” on CES attendees back in January. But while its earlier micro-LED panels arrived in modules that needed to be professionally assembled, its new 110-inch MicroLED TV will come ready to watch, right out of the (giant) box.
Related product Samsung Q90T 4K UHD TV (55-inch model) Read TechHive's reviewSee it Slated to ship globally in the first quarter of 2021, the Samsung MicroLED TV is based on micro-LED display technology: self-emitting pixels that offer vivid colors and perfect blacks similar to OLED, because they can be turned on and off individually. Unlike the organic pixels in OLED panels, however, micro-LED panels are not susceptible to burn-in.
Samsung has been touting its micro-LED-based “The Wall” displays for a couple of years now, with the company offering sizes from a crazy-big 292-inch panel down to a more reasonable 75 inches.
[ Further reading: TechHive’s top picks in smart TVs ]Previous versions of Samsung’s micro-LED displays have been saddled with a couple of key problems. For starters, due to the difficulties inherent in micro-LED manufacturing, the displays usually arrive in separate modules that must be assembled by a professional installer. Second, Samsung’s micro-LED displays are prohibitively expensive (think six figures), which means they’ve been aimed mainly at business and luxury customers.
Enter the 110-inch MicroLED, a TV that promises to fix the first problem with Samsung’s micro-LED displays by eliminating the need to assemble multiple panels. Instead, the new TV comes as a complete, prefabricated unit, with Samsung boasting that it has developed a new production process to streamline micro-LED panel manufacturing. With this new set, you’ll need only to take it out of the box, plug it in, and turn it on—although, given that we’re talking about a 110-inch TV, removing it from the box could prove to be quite the operation.
Whether the MicroLED TV addresses the second problem with Samsung’s micro-LED displays—the exorbitant price tag—remains to be seen: Samsung has yet to reveal pricing. (Honestly, we’re not holding our breath for affordability.)
Samsung promises that the MicroLED will deliver “stunning,” “bright,” and “vivid” images, thanks to a new Micro AI Processor. It’s worth noting, however, that this 110-inch TV is only capable of 4K maximum resolution, not 8K like Samsung’s larger “The Wall” displays or its pricier LED-based QLED TVs.
The MicroLED will boast a near bezel-less display with a 99.99-percent screen-to-body ratio, Samsung says. In addition to watching one giant image, you’ll also be able to split the display into four 55-inch screens, ideal for NFL Sunday Ticket junkies.
Besides the images, Samsung says the TV’s integrated Majestic Sound System with Object Tracking Sound Pro functionality can crank out realistic (if virtualized) 5.1-channel sound without the need for external speakers.
All very impressive, but we’ve yet to see (or hear) the 110-inch MicroLED in action, nor do we know how much Samsung plans to charge for its giant new set. Given that Samsung’s 98-inch Q900 QLED TV, an 8K set based on traditional LED technology, goes for a breathtaking $60,000 (and that after a 40-percent discount), we’re steeling ourselves for the MicroLED’s eventual price tag.
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/@kim34989441/samsungs-110-inch-microled-tv-brings-the-wall-to-your-living-room-9e2d1dc79563 | [] | 2020-12-21 07:00:00.050000+00:00 | ['Lighting', 'Tvs', 'Internet', 'Chromecast'] |
CNN Basics — Part 2. In Part1, I have covered the mechanics… | In Part1, I have covered the mechanics of the convolution operation and how it helps with standard image processing tasks e.g. feature detection.
In Part2, I will be covering new types NN layers used for building CNN’s, and techniques to decrease computational load required for a CNN.
In a typical CNN we see three types of layers
Convolutional Layer (CONV)
Pooling layer (POOL)
Fully connected layer (FC)
POOL layers are mainly to reduce the size of representation to speed up computation as well as to make the features the CNN detects more robust. In an input nxn matrice, pooling operation carves submatrices of mxm out of the input matrix and applies a specified operation on the submatrices. e.g. for max pooling, the matrix cell with the maximum value is chosen and mapped to the output, or with average pooling we take the average of cells within the filter. That way a feature map is created that confirms the presence of certain features in the input image. Formulas in standard convolution operation for output dimensions still holds (n+2p -f )/s+1. Padding in general is not used with pooling operations. Typical filter sizes are n=2, s = 2 which reduces the output dimensions to half of the input matrix. In a CNN, typically nH and nW (height and width of the output matrix) of the input image decreases and the number of channels (nC) increases.
In a typical NN, the standard forward propagation for each module includes a linear operation z = w .a + b. Output is processed by a non-linear activation function (e.g. sigmoid, ReLU). The output is than fed as an input to the next layer. Operation can be depicted as below where z[l+1] is the output of each layer l.
z[l+1]=w[l+1] a[l] + b [l+1] , a[l+1] = g(z[l+1]) activation function
z[l+2]=w[l+2] a[l+1] + b [l+2], a[l+2] = g(z[l+2])
In RESNET’s, a[l] from layer l, is fed to a layer is deeper in the NN architecture. This makes a[l+2] = g(z[l+2] + a[l]), since a[l] is fed into l+2 layer. Because of NN regularisation, a[l+2] becomes close to a[l] which diminishes the affect of the added 2 convolution layers in the output. This means RNN’s can easily learn the identity function. If the additional 2 CNN blocks learn any useful feature it is reflected in the model output, otherwise the additional layers do not significantly detoriate the training performance as seen in very deep NN’s where training performance diverges after a certain depth of the NN.
1X1 convolutions are generally used to reduce the number of channels in the input.
If you would not want to commit to a single type of filter, you can use filters of different sizes and stack the outputs. This is called an “inception” network. 1X1 filters are quiet useful to reduce the reduce the increased processing requirements of an “inception” network since the convolution operation is repeated with many seperate filters of differing length. To reduce input dimentions a “bottleneck” layer of 1X1X [reduced amount of channels] is used for convolution, a second convolution will be required to reach the final output.
With pooling, Resnets, 1X1 convolution and Inception networks we practically decrease the compute requirements of running the CNN.
Next I will cover detection algorithms. | https://medium.com/@343544/cnn-basics-part-2-d516c2e7da75 | ['Ozgur Guler'] | 2020-12-20 14:02:06.263000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Convolutional Network', 'Image Processing'] |
Exploring Northern California’s Declining Bull Kelp Forests Using Satellite Imagery | Sea otters roaming amongst bull kelp in British Columbia, Canada. Photo by Kieran Wood on Unsplash
Background
Kelp forests in California have been in decline along the California coastline, with bull kelp [Nereocystis luetkeana] being especially sensitive to both climate change and an overabundance of sea urchins due to the 2013 sea star wasting disease [1]. Climate change is thought to be partially responsible for the degradation of these kelp forests but to what degree is still unknown. Researchers observed a period of persistent kelp loss from 2014–2019 along Northern California, and various West Coast institutions are investigating methods to enhance kelp monitoring efforts [3]. The purpose of this article is to investigate a subset of coastline thought to be affected, with publicly accessible tools and data.
As a former aerospace engineer, nature lover and overall data geek, I have been increasingly interested in the ways we can streamline access to scientific data for the environment, for both professionals and enthusiasts alike, while spreading a message I find deeply important; our world is changing and our tools are advancing, but how we use those tools will greatly determine our future on this planet.
Using ArcMap 10.7 software, this project explores the uses of publicly available satellite imagery to monitor changes in these kelp forests, which act as important habitats and nurseries for a variety of marine species. In addition to sea star wasting disease, the loss of predatory sea otters to feed on urchin populations could further affect the ecosystem balance, due to the loss of this apex predator. Additionally, large marine heat wave events have been observed during those years, adding to the list of stressors facing bull kelp forests.
For more background on the Landsat 8 satellite program, see here. Some knowledge of geospatial analysis and remote sensing is helpful for reading this article, and resources are widely available online.
Ok. Let’s get started…
Terminology
A few background terms are listed below, but a general familiarity with geospatial information systems (GIS) is useful for understanding the work in this article. A quick overview can be found here, and elsewhere on the web.
Buffer — In geographic information systems and spatial analysis, buffer analysis is the determination of a zone around a geographic feature containing locations that are within a specified distance of that feature, the buffer zone
Landsat — a joint USGS/NASA scientific satellite that studies and photographs the earth’s surface by using remote-sensing techniques. For background and resources on the Landsat 8 satellite program, see this overview from the USGS.
RGB — RGB (red, green, and blue) refers to a system for representing the colors to be used on a computer display. Red, green, and blue can be combined in various proportions to obtain any color in the visible spectrum
GIS — A geographic information system is a conceptualized framework that provides the ability to capture and analyze spatial and geographic data
NDVI — The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is a simple graphical indicator that can be used to analyze remote sensing measurements, often from a space platform, assessing whether or not the target being observed contains live green vegetation, by using reflected light in the visible and near-infrared bands.
Raster — In its simplest form, a raster consists of a matrix of cells (or pixels) organized into rows and columns (or a grid) where each cell contains a value representing information, such as temperature. Raster images are digital aerial photographs, imagery from satellites, digital pictures, or even scanned maps.
Mask — Masking is a technique used to clarify dense or detailed map content by having the features of one layer hide, or mask, features of another layer where they overlap.
Setup
For this analysis, Landsat 8 images for the peak kelp months of September thru November from 2015–2019 were retrieved from the USGS Earth Explorer (See this guide on retrieving Landsat Imagery, and this guide for raster band definitions for Landsat 8). During this timeframe, persistent kelp loss has been widely observed, following a severe kelp loss event in 2014 along Northern California, and the hope is to explore a subset of this region in detail. Scenes from Path 45/Row 33, were used at each date, as seen in red below.
Figure 1: Location of interest for kelp detection via USGS Earth Explorer
I chose this region because it was confined to one Landsat ‘scene’ from a single Landsat program, that primarily contained bull kelp [2]. Staying within one program, Landsat 8, eliminated the need to compare imagery across programs, which presents its own challenges. Landsat 8 was launched in 2013, but as of the writing of this article, there are plans for Landsat 9 to be launched late September 2021, that will provide continuous earth imaging in the coming years.
Historically, bull kelp has been more sensitive to urchin barrens and climate change due to its seasonal growth nature. Data over the peak kelp growth period — September thru November — was averaged to characterize kelp quantity for a particular year. Four files for each date, and three dates per year led to 60 files in total. They were chosen based on low cloud cover and follow the format listed below in Table 1.
Table 1: Example Landsat 8 file format for analysis. Four .TIF files for each date.
The images were buffered and masked from the coastline to include only water from 200 to 2000 meters offshore, in order to help minimize coastal classification errors from beached debris, sand, rocks, and other terrain that wasn’t kelp or water.
Additionally, clouds and smoke were masked out using the Band 1 and QA raster bands to further reduce errors in the data when classifying.
Methods
For simplicity, a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to detect bull kelp locations. I explored other kelp classification methods, and some relevant research papers on those methods are listed at the end for further reading.
The NDVI for Landsat 8 imagery, is typically used in farmland and terrestrial vegetation, and is derived from the visible Red band (Band 4) and the Near-Infrared (NIR, Band 5) in the following formula:
This results in an index that ranges from -1.0 to +1.0, with higher values indicating vegetation is present. The pixel quality (QA) and aerosol (B1) raster data was used to remove cloud and smoke pixels from evaluation, when possible.
Using ArcGIS Raster Calculator, the NDVI was calculated for each raster data set of interest, and low positive values in water were assumed to be kelp.
The results were “intersected” in ArcGIS with the buffered study area after masking out clouds and smoke. A preliminary NDVI map within the area of interest is shown below in Figure 2 as an example, with regions of vegetation shown in white. This was further developed into an ArcGIS Model using Model Builder and is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 2: Example of NDVI within Study Area in ArcGIS Desktop 10.7
Results
Although the general trend for 2015–2019 in this analysis is consistent with the reduction in bull kelp during peak growth fall months, these results are preliminary and should be compared to ‘ground-truth’ data, i.e. verified locations of kelp forest either through aerial imagery or diver surveys. Data was averaged across fall months, while several factors were not considered, that will need to be studied in the future. Some of these factors are listed at the end.
For reference, an American Football field is about 1.3 acres or 0.005 square kilometers.
Figure 3: Area of Kelp Coverage by Year in study area
Figure 4: Kelp Estimator tool I built in ArcGIS Model Builder
Discussion
Results from this analysis are mixed and a more thorough analysis would be needed to make more definitive conclusions. The assumptions and notes listed below should be considered for future study, including exploring other indices and cloud masking techniques. In general, 2019 shows a significant decline in total kelp detected, but while the data may support the conclusion that detectable kelp declined across the years surveyed, it’s highly subject to which portion of the data one looks at.
Still, it’s possible these results are an artifact of the years or months chosen for analysis. The broad spacing of dates surveyed, while intended to capture long-term variability, may instead be capturing a snapshot of the localized climate and ocean condition variation — 2014–2016 were El Nino years, and all years surveyed besides 2019, were considered California drought years. Analyzing a larger set of dates could help tease out these distinctions.
Figure 5: Landsat 8 illustration above Earth. Illustration from USGS
Another limitation is both the spatial (image pixel area) and temporal (time) resolution. Landsat 8 image data is captured every 16 days at a 30m resolution, meaning each pixel stands for a 30m x 30m area on the ground. As expected, bull kelp vegetation was hard to capture at this resolution, and it may not be suited to this task.
Sentinel-2A, on the other hand, has higher resolution imagery (up to 10m). Launched in 2015, Sentinel data may provide better images to estimate these types of changes as time goes on and more data is captured. Some differences between the two satellite’s image bands are summarized here, however, this data was difficult to obtain for the region and dates of study, and will need to be further explored. Higher resolution imagery is available from private institutions, such as Planet Lab’s PlanetScope satellites (up to 3m), and are being investigated as an alternative.
Figure 6: A purple urchin barren in Northern California. Photo courtesy of the Noyo Center, in Fort Bragg, CA
As mentioned earlier, there are many methodologies besides NDVI under current study at West Coast institutions, and are well summarized and tabulated in [3]. These include but are not limited to the Floating Algae Index (FAI), Scaled Algae Index (SAI), Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixing Analysis (MESMA), and Normalized Difference Algae Index (NDAI), and were outside the scope of this initial exploration.
In general, these methods of classification are consistent, but dependent on the underlying assumptions and training data. It’s possible that digitizing kelp habitat using these alternative methods, could yield more reliable results. A web map has been developed by UCLA KelpWatch project [4], and a goal to develop a similar map specific to bull kelp degradation, would be a future goal of this project.
A final map is shown below in Figure 5, highlighting a sub region in the area of interest from Galloway, CA to the Point Arena Lighthouse, which upon visual inspection, tracks well to the 2015–2019 Q3 data from KelpWatch [4].
Figure 7: Kelp Estimation during peak months in Northern California 2015–2019 in ArcGIS Desktop 10.7
This exploratory analysis just scratches the surface (pun intended 😜) and a list of notes and assumptions are listed below, that should be explored in future study.
Notes & Assumptions
Just a few of the challenges encountered are listed below.
1. Sparse or submerged kelp, can to be difficult to detect [3]. Based on [5] there was ~75% reduction in Sargassum (brown seaweed) detectability when observed in natural water habitat vs out of water. Similar assumptions were made for kelp detection in this study.
2. Other factors may also influence amount of detectible kelp, such as kelp length in water column, tidal height, turbidity/currents, bathymetry, and general water conditions.
3. Yearly weather anomalies (el Nino, high drought years, marine heatwaves) can also affect results. NOAA’s high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) data set is available here.
4. Variability in the time of sensor images taken, can influence reflected light captured.
5. Presence of phytoplankton in study area can be confused for kelp. This can be especially true for data between February and September.
6. Ground truth data is needed to validate this study. Historically, this is done through aerial imagery or diver surveys in the water.
7. Individual pixels (30m x 30m) are not ‘unmixed’ here and kelp can be hard to detect if it is in less than 15% of 30m pixel. MESMA is one such technique to do this [2].
What Now?
I learned so much working on this project, and outside of the scientific and technical challenges discussed already, there are many things I would like to see happen in the future to spread the message that kelp forests are at risk, while increasing access to kelp data for researchers and enthusiasts alike.
From a research standpoint, periodically revising the growing list of kelp assessment methods and standards such as [3], could help consolidate and streamline approaches to monitoring kelp across research institutions. GIS software licenses can be a resource challenge, but fortunately open source software exists today, such as QGIS, while GIS packages and libraries in R and Python can handle geospatial data processing. I was able to obtain a ArcGIS license through a geospatial analysis class I enrolled in.
Another challenge in exploring the data, was the large size of the Landsat image TIF file data. Analyzing a large number of high resolution images can overburden local machines, thus limiting individuals without good computing power and storage.
From a public facing standpoint, engaging the public on kelp is always a challenge for those who don’t live near the coasts or spend time in the ocean. Beach cleanups, group snorkel tours through kelp forests, or coastal hikes are just a few of the ways to help engage the public and raise community awareness.
Continuing to grow and foster partnerships between research institutions, non-profits and the community will be vital in monitoring our kelp forests. One such example already underway is the Greater Farallones Kelp Recovery Program, a joint program between the Greater Farallones Association, The Nature Conservancy, and other organizations, aimed at protecting and restoring kelp forests along the northern California coastline.
Figure 8: The Point Arena Lighthouse marks the north end of the study area. Photo by Bruno Wolff on Unsplash
As mentioned earlier, the KelpWatch project [4] has a map that gives a great overview of the kelp decline over the past few decades, and is a useful tool for the public to see kelp decline dating back to 1984. This map can serve as an example of ways to display scientific data to the public regarding climate change impacts over time, and can be applied to any ecosystem or species.
Finally, engaging students or enthusiasts to play with spatial analysis tools through free online workshops or training, by highlighting conventionally ‘popular’ topics, could help to engage more of the public. This could include whale and shark migration, invasive lionfish tracking, global coral spawning events to name a few. For geospatial analysis the possibilities are endless!
I’m hopeful that with the advances in technology and democratization of open-source tools and data we have today, we will be able to make better decisions for our future!
References for Further Study
[1] The Marine Detective. “Sea Star Wasting Syndrome Now Documented on NE Vancouver Island.” http://themarinedetective.com/2013/12/21/sea-star-wasting-syndrome-now-documented-on-ne-vancouver-island/.
[2] Dennis J.I. Finger, Meredith L. McPherson, Henry F. Houskeeper, Raphael M. Kudela, 2021. “Mapping bull kelp canopy in northern California using Landsat to enable long-term monitoring”. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112243.
[3] Sarah B. Schroeder a, Colleen Dupont, Leanna Boyer, Francis Juanes , 2019. “Passive remote sensing technology for mapping bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana)”: A review of techniques and regional case study. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. gecco.2019.e00683.
[4] Kelpwatch 2021. https://kelp.codefornature.org/.
[5] Dierssen, H.M., Chlus, A., Russell, B., 2015. “Hyperspectral discrimination of floating mats of seagrass wrack and the macroalgae Sargassum in coastal waters of Greater Florida Bay using airborne remote sensing”. Remote Sens. Environ. 167, 247e258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.01.027.
[6] Hamilton, S. L., Bell, T. W., Watson, J. R., Grorud‐Colvert, K. A., & Menge, B. A. (2020). “Remote sensing: generation of long‐term kelp bed data sets for evaluation of impacts of climatic variation”. Ecology, e03031. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecy.3031.
About the Author
Nikhil Das is a freelance engineer, data analyst, and writer with a love for all things nature. As a former aerospace engineer, he found it easy to feel small staring up at the sky and stars in space. However, lately he’s found an even deeper appreciation for his existence by gazing back down at earth, whether it be from hiking through mountain terrain, diving through vast oceans, and now exploring digital imagery for a bird’s eye view of our planet. He’s always looking for interesting projects, opportunities or just to swap nature stories, and can be reached via email at [email protected]. | https://towardsdatascience.com/exploring-northern-californias-declining-bull-kelp-forests-using-satellite-imagery-1cf4109b3e78 | ['Nikhil Das'] | 2021-07-15 20:42:20.149000+00:00 | ['Data Science', 'Geospatial', 'Space', 'GIS', 'Environment'] |
5 Weird Things About Elections in America | 1. An elected official who has not been reelected is called a “lame duck”
In the United States, the president upon being voted out — or finishing a second four year term — embarks on what is called a “lame duck period.” The outgoing president and president-elect then begin the transition of power.
In most recent cases, the lame duck president loses a lot of credibility — mostly thanks to Bill Clinton, who issued 140 pardons on his very last day in office (one of whom was his own half-brother).
The term was coined in the 18th century at the London Stock Exchange. It wasn’t until 1863 that the term transitioned to politics and used by the United States Congress.
I was somewhat surprised to learn that there are a handful of countries that recognize a “lame duck period,” including Vatican City and Venezuela.
2. The reason Inauguration Day is ten weeks away from Election Day is all George Washington’s fault…and then FDR
Photo by Dave Lowe on Unsplash
As I stated, this question was really what started this Google deep-dive. I knew there had to be a transition period, and that obviously the First Family has to have time to move out and such, but why two whole months?
It all started with George Washington. Washington was elected in 1788 when he ran unopposed as the first official President of the United States of America. Basically, since it was the late 18th century, travel took a really long time. In order to be sworn in as President, all members of Congress had to be present and because everyone lived in different places, Washington’s inauguration had to be set back a bit — to 30 April 1789 in fact.
It was set in the constitution though that all inaugurations had to happen on 4 March. That is, until 1933 with Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
See, when FDR was elected president during the Great Depression, America truly couldn’t wait until March to start rebuilding the economy that Hoover left in shambles. Therefore, FDR was sworn in early, in January. Thus, the 20th amendment to the constitution was adopted on 23 January 1933.
3. Vice President used to be the runner-up to the election, until we decided we didn’t like that
Anyone who has watched or listened to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical Hamilton knows that Aaron Burr became vice president because he was the runner-up in his election with Thomas Jefferson (they actually tied with Congress deciding that Jefferson would be president). This was actually the way that the Vice President was elected for a long time.
It wasn’t until 1804 that the 12th amendment changed this “runner up” vice presidency. This (in short) said that candidates for vice president would also run and be elected on their own. So one person would be voted President and another would be voted Vice President.
However, running mates didn’t become commonplace until later in the 19th century, and announcing a running mate didn’t emerge until the late 1960s:
As more and more states subsequently began to choose their electors by popular election instead of appointment (South Carolina being the last state to change, in 1860), candidates began to realize they could run together as a team for president and vice president instead of running completely separately for each office.
Bonus: It is not required, but recommended that a presidential nominee choose a running mate from a different state than his or her own, “because each elector can vote for no more than one candidate from his or her own state.”
4. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states in the country that don’t subscribe to the “all or nothing” method of electoral votes
Here’s a quick run-down of the Electoral College and how it works:
The Electoral College is a unique method for indirectly electing the president of the United States. It was established by Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution and modified by the 12th and 23rd Amendments. The Electoral College consists of a total of 538 members, one for each U.S. senator and representative, and three additional electors representing the District of Columbia. Each state has a number of electoral votes equal to the combined total of its congressional delegation, and each state legislature is free to determine the method it will use to select its own electors… …When voters in each state will select their presidential electors. The names of electors are not on the ballot in most states. Rather, when a voter casts a vote for a presidential candidate, s/he is also casting a vote for the electors already selected by the party of that candidate. If a majority of voters in a state vote for the Republican candidate for president, the Republican slate of electors is elected. If a majority vote for the Democratic candidate, the Democratic slate of electors is chosen.
Screenshot of the current electoral map by Associated Press as of 2:11pm 8 November 2020
48 states and Washington, DC use what is called a “Winner Take All” method, which means that the most popular candidate in that state wins all of the electoral votes for that state (for example, Maryland has 10 electoral votes and because Joe Biden won the popular vote in Maryland in 2020, he earned all 10 votes).
In Maine and Nebraska, though, electors follow the “District System:” “One electoral vote is awarded to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in each congressional district, and the remaining two electoral votes are awarded to the candidates receiving the most votes statewide.” This means that each district has it’s own popular vote along with the statewide popular vote, meaning that in theory the state could split the votes (which did happen in Nebraska in 2008).
With all that being said, electors are not required to vote in December the way that they are nominated. Electors who do not vote for the party that nominates them are called “faithless electors.” There are a lot of states that do attempt to bind their electors to their parties:
Screenshot from nscl.org
5. The “sore loser” statute
A few nights ago, I was curious about who all got votes in my state and I stumbled upon Jerome Segal; a candidate of the Bread and Roses party got 4,937 votes in Maryland. Which, sure, isn’t that many in the grand scheme of things but it was sort of surprising.
Which then led me to the Bread and Roses party. I had never heard of it. Segal created it in 2018 as a socialist political party after raising enough signatures per Maryland’s Board of Elections. Segal ran for Senate in 2018 but lost as a Democrat in the primaries. Later, Segal tried to run in the general election under the new Bread and Roses party but was prohibited due to Maryland’s “sore loser” statute.
This law prevents losing candidates in a primary election to run under a different party in the forthcoming general election. When I saw this law, I wrongfully assumed it was a Maryland law but most other states have similar statues with the exception of Connecticut, Iowa, New York, and Vermont.
I just get a kick out of the law being called a “sore loser” statute.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
The more I learn about my country, the more intrigued I am by how outdated everything is. Maybe the Biden-Harris Administration will shake things up. | https://medium.com/stupid-learning/5-weird-things-about-elections-in-america-38a67fecf9ca | ['Megan R. Clark'] | 2020-11-08 19:41:49.624000+00:00 | ['Learning', 'History', 'Culture', 'America', 'Elections'] |
Pregnancy and Physical Disability | A lack of accessibility in the healthcare industry
“More than 60% of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States are preventable” (Slomski, 2019) . Poor data tracking, medical errors, lack of care coordination and harmful hospital cultures have resulted in the United States reporting the worst maternal mortality rate in the Global North. Spanning from prenatal care to postpartum care, mothers have struggled to gain the cultural and technical requirements for a safe pregnancy. The overlap between the sections of technical innovation and culture is interesting. The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (AIM) has called for nation-wide “bundles” of best practice to be implemented in U.S hospitals, such as emergency carts prepared with the required drugs and equipment for maternal hemorrhaging (Slomski, 2019). The required drugs and equipment for maternal hemorrhaging does not differ from any other hemorrhaging. The difference is that young, healthy women uncommonly show typical bleeding signs, but the likelihood of the circumstance is greater than for those who are not pregnant. An emergency cart for maternal hemorrhaging is not a technical innovation, it is a change in the hospitals culture, reflecting patient safety prioritization. Luckily, Canada reports a lower rate of maternal mortality, at 7.3 per 100 000 live births, compared to 26.4 in the United States (Slomski, 2019). These improved numbers may be due to a variety of factors — potentially greater access to healthcare or longer maternity leaves. However, focusing on the technological overlap with social factors of poor maternal care in the United States presents a strong comparison to a more specific group, within North America as a whole: pregnant women with disabilities.
My interest in healthcare, women’s empowerment and biomechanical engineering all tied together last year when I contacted the author of a paper related to unmet needs of pregnant women with disabilities and the director of a local pregnancy clinic specialized for accessibility. Both women were extremely passionate about improving the health of women with disabilities and provided thoughtful insight into the required societal and technical shifts for improved access to healthcare. These contacts opened up to a network of technologists, nurses, and a mother with cerebral palsy, all involved with pregnancy and disability. These streams of information made it clear that the gap in North American healthcare for pregnant women with disabilities was built on the overlap between cultural and technological needs, and strongly reflect current issues with maternal health in the United States.
The Culture
When researching issues within pregnancy and disability on paper, minimal information can be found. Throughout research, a mother commented that, as modern medicine improves quality and longevity of life, more women are choosing to have children. The circumstances of pregnancy and mothers with disabilities is now overlapping at a higher frequency than in the past. The lack of attention on pregnancy with disabilities may have caused a lack of education for healthcare professionals. A study done on the unmet needs of women with disabilities during pregnancy included the reflections of several women’s experiences. One woman reported being thought of as “asexual, incapable of bearing children and being a mother” (Mitra et al., 2016). Another reflection stated “You have to advocate, you have to do your homework, you have to know, you know, what you need so that you can explain it to them and know when they’re off base.” (Mitra et al., 2016). Lastly, the mother I connected with commented that healthcare workers are geared to cure those who are unhealthy. Training to care for those who do not require a cure is an unbeaten path. A need for improved education on disability awareness is essential in healthcare settings. The requirement for women to self-advocate and remain assertive throughout their pregnancy cries for more education of healthcare workers on the subject.
The Technology
Women with physical disabilities are at higher risk for preterm birth. Transvaginal ultrasounds are an effective measure to help proactively identify risk to take preventative medical action. Currently, to receive a transvaginal ultrasound, women bend their knees and put their feet either on the ultrasound table or onto flimsy foot supports that extend from the table. With no actual leg support, women with limited mobility require 2 extra assistants for support, in addition to the ultrasound technologist. That’s 3 medical professionals for a procedure that otherwise would only require 1 — talk about room for optimization. Hospital staff have even tried, and failed, to move birthing beds with leg stirrups to the ultrasound room for support. A technical solution is begging to be implemented. Furthermore, think about the mental state of the patient. A transvaginal ultrasound is not a procedure that should be complicated, messy, and popularly attended. When speaking to one mother who has gone through this process, she recalled “You leave your dignity at the door.”
This is one example of the many technical struggles women with disabilities face in the healthcare industry. I consider this comparable to the patient “bundles” implemented in the US. The emergency hemorrhage carts were developed from equipment and medicines that already existed but were not used effectively for the specific group of maternal patients. Similarly, stirrup supports exist in birthing rooms but are not effectively being used in ultrasound rooms. This shows the overlap between technology and culture. Designing for universality would meet the requirements of all patients, yet perhaps a lack of cultural recognition has shadowed the need.
Closing thoughts
Gaps in the healthcare system in maternal health are starting to be addressed in the United States through technical and cultural calls to action, driven through the recognition of a need. Physicians have moved to “catalyze new types of partnerships to listen to women” and organizations such as AIM have started expanding its national maternal safety effort (Slomski, A. 2019). A similar call to action is required for pregnant women with disabilities across North America. Hospitals should be prepared, educated and welcoming to pregnant women with disabilities. Technology should be driven for universality. By learning from past and ongoing examples, we can to bridge the gap between cultural and technical barriers. The lack of accessibility to healthcare for pregnant women with physical disabilities needs to be addressed through both advocacy and innovation.
References
Mitra, M., Long-Bellil, L. M., Iezzoni, L. I., Smeltzer, S. C., & Smith, L. D. (2016). Pregnancy among women with physical disabilities: Unmet needs and recommendations on navigating pregnancy. Disability and Health Journal, 9(3), 457–463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2015.12.007
Slomski, A. (2019). Why Do Hundreds of US Women Die Annually in Childbirth? JAMA, 321(13), 1239–1241. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.0714 | https://medium.com/@shonakamps/pregnancy-and-physical-disability-6a19f8528196 | ['Shona Kamps'] | 2020-12-23 05:59:32.222000+00:00 | ['Healthcare', 'Pregnancy', 'Disability'] |
V-Moda unveils its first wireless headphone with active noise cancellation, the M-200 ANC | V-Moda unveils its first wireless headphone with active noise cancellation, the M-200 ANC Jerard Feb 1·2 min read
V-Moda is a well-regarded headphone maker that offers a variety of high-quality over-ear, on-ear, and in-ear models. At CES 2021, the company expanded its lineup with the announcement of its first Bluetooth wireless headphone with active noise cancellation (ANC), the M-200.
This is an over-ear (circumaural) design that features 40mm drivers with neodymium magnets and copper-clad aluminum-wire (CCAW) voice coils within optimized housings. The result is a frequency response that extends from 10 Hz to 40 kHz—in fact, this headphone is Hi-Res Audio certified in wired mode—with a sensitivity of 101 dB (±3 dB) at 1kHz/1mW, an impedance of 30 ohms, and a maximum input power of 1,000mW at 1kHz.
For wireless listening, the M-200 ANC implements Bluetooth 5.0 with support for the aptX HD, AAC, and SBC codecs. The battery offers up to 20 hours of playtime between charges, and connecting it to a power source for 10 minutes gives you a 1.5 hours of playtime.
[ Further reading: The best headphones you can buy ]With a free app for iOS and Android devices, you can set the active noise cancellation to one of 10 different levels. In addition, the app provides equalization capabilities, including six presets for different genres and a manual setting that lets you tailor the sound exactly as you want.
V-Moda The earcups on the M200 ANC can be customized with unique shields.
Speaking of customization, V-Moda is known for offering a selection of decorative aluminum shields that mount on the outer surface of the earcups. You can even have your initials, logo, or other artwork laser-engraved or color printed onto custom shields.
V-Moda touts the overall build quality and comfort level, with a fully adjustable, steel-core headband covered in polyurethane leather, which is soft, flexible, and breathable. Likewise, the earpads are made from memory foam and covered in PU leather, and they attach to the earcups magnetically, making them easy to remove for cleaning or replacement.
The onboard controls are intuitive, and the M-200 ANC supports Google Assistant and Apple Siri for voice commands with a state-of-the-art microphone in the earcup, which also serves phone calls. A feature called Voice In lowers the volume and disables ANC while you cover the left earcup with your hand, letting you hear your surroundings or converse as needed, then return to your music effortlessly.
The M-200 ANC is available now for a list price of $499.99. For more info, click here.
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/@jerard65329526/v-moda-unveils-its-first-wireless-headphone-with-active-noise-cancellation-the-m-200-anc-681eb7b3873d | [] | 2021-02-01 07:47:06.236000+00:00 | ['Internet', 'Consumer Electronics', 'Headphones', 'Mobile Accessories'] |
How an image is seen by computer: | How an image is seen by computer:
Digital image is a matrix of numbers of size m x n (2D array). We call size of the matrix : m x n as resolution of the image. Each pixel value can range from 0 to 255. Pixel stands for pixel elements. To simplify further, here we consider only grey images, it means there is no color channel. Below, we can print the matrix values of this cat image. For details with code, please see here
Below code prints its pixel values.
im_32 = im.resize((32,32))
display(im_32)
print('Resolution', im_32.size)
im_matrix = np.matrix(im_32) #converting image to matrix
print(im_matrix) [[ 90 101 105 ... 101 98 89]
[ 96 104 108 ... 104 100 94]
[ 99 105 111 ... 107 102 96]
...
[ 47 56 81 ... 48 42 42]
[ 50 61 73 ... 44 43 40]
[ 49 45 60 ... 39 40 40]]
A pixel value of zero represents black and gradually increases towards bright, 255 being the brightest.
Update Operation: Since, an image is a numeric matrix, we can update pixel value(s) to any number between 0 to 255 both inclusive. But we can not update a pixel value to a negative number, all negative updates rounded to zero. Similarly, if you try to update number above 255, it updates to 255. This is because each pixel is represented as uint8 type, meaning unsigned ( can not take negative sign) integers from 0 to 255. Below code to update pixel value.
pixels = im_32.load()
print(pixels[2,2])
pixels[4,4]=0
Multiply Operation: Function to reduce each pixel value by half, we multiply each pixel by 0.5. So the image will look darker.
def half(pixel, num=0.5):
return pixel * num
half_im = im_32.point(half)
display(half_im)
Invert each pixel’s value: Subtract each pixel value from 255 which means if the pixel value is 5, its inverted value is 255–5 = 250.
def inv(pixel, num=255):
return num — pixel
Applying more functions:
We can also think of an image as a function-f(x)
a) Clamping the image with f(x) = (100/255)x + 100 or b) Quadratic transformation with f(x) = 255(x/255)²
im_matrix = np.matrix(im_32)
im_matrix = (np.square(im_matrix/255))*255 #f(x) = 255(x/255)²
Averaging images: Averaging images is a simple way of reducing image noise. Computing an average image from a list of images is by simply adding their matrices and dividing with the number of images, assuming the images all have the same size.
def compute_average(imlist):
""" Compute average of a list of images """
# open first image and make into array of type float
avg_im = np.array(Image.open(imlist[0]), 'f')
for imname in imlist[1:]:
try:
avg_im += np.array(Image.open(imname))
except:
print(imname + '...skipped')
avg_im /= len(imlist)
# return average as uint8
return np.array(avg_im, 'uint8')
All the code used in this lesson is here.https://github.com/ppujari/drl-nd/blob/master/image_arithmetic.ipynb | https://medium.com/@ppujari/image-algebra-dfa5eabd3b4c | ['Pradeep Pujari'] | 2020-12-23 07:23:30.517000+00:00 | ['Image Processing', 'Computer Vision'] |
How design systems elevate teamwork? Who Manages a design system? | Adapting a design system is a huge strategic move booming the classic process of your design and development. Implementing a design system takes time as it is a big change in a company as it affects the role of many individuals within the organization and it all starts with assigning a design system team
Who Manages a design system?
A design system is meant to operate as a team by reducing the attempts of synchronization between different departments and the bother to visually design every state of every screen while you can think more efficiently and operate by Assembling all components Line of UX/UI in a contributions space.
Everybody working on a brand or product line operates the same by using a design system.
Assigning a design system team is a core start of the implementation process within a company. The persons assigned are meant to manage and ensure the functionality of the design system by analyzing design requirements, build a personalized brand promotive library, ensure perfect UX/UI, and assist coding accordingly.
A comprehensive design team is based on Fostering collective ownership and it includes:
UI designers:
It is called a design system because it engages designers in the first place. a designer role in a design system goes beyond the conventional UI tasks and engages him/her to no longer only care about the visuals, but also become a real design architect that owns/co-owns/updates the design system and also fills in additional needed designs by creating, selecting illustrations and visual layers of all elements, photos, logos, shapes, colors, scale, contrast, spacing, and rhythm.
DS Product Owners:
A design system ensures automated coordination and a collaboration space yet it needs a person to take care of management responsibilities, coordinate within the team, filter and ideas, understand which projects need cleanup work, which projects may need new components, and a general snapshot of design adoption.
Front-end Developer:
Designing elements is one stage, coding them correspondingly is a whole other Responsibility.
UX Designers:
The person who ensures the utility and usability of the design functional point of view selects stages, determines engagement aspects, and ensures smooth micro-interactions between the user and digital solution. The efficiency of the user experience is what differentiates a beautiful design from a successful design and building a design system’s first aim is increasing user satisfaction.
How design systems elevate teamwork?
Whether you are a freelance designer working on few projects or a large scale company maintaining countless digital products, design systems are here to make your designer’s code and your developer’s design!!
With the single source, centralized user-friendly dashboard, and genius synchronization space, the classic peer per-peer long process is replaced by a “tribal work” engaging all teams and favoring cross-functional collaboration while Maintaining consistency and ease of accessibility.
Adoptive teams experience a noticeable improvement in communication and knowledge sharing.
Design systems simply bridge communication throughout an enterprise where every one co-works to build something bigger and cohesive.
Design systems Team models
After clarifying all concepts we come to the last question: How do you form that successful team ???
There are many team models that can efficiently run a design system; it depends on the type of leadership you exercise within your company and your vision of making the library available or centralized.
Here are the main models
The Solitary team model
It is an overloaded, solitary model that practices a solo approach. It has validity in certain situations. When we say solitary we mean one single team that exploits the design system to primarily serving its needs. This model is considered poor yet it is still useful for teams whose problems are partially handled by existing systems. A solitary team’s primary motive is inward on their own product.
The centralized team model
This model provides full support to the system by centralizing decision making and helping other teams learn and apply systems in order to serve many products with equal chances, identify opportunities, setup practices, and processes to validate any design.
Ultimately, a centralized team can provide a great service and create value in efficiency, consistency, and capacity.
The Federated team model
This model works on prioritizing certain projects over others by filtering talent and assigning the best designers for the most important products.It operates like a committee that judges per project. And so Designers from multiple product teams decide on the system together, making collectively agreed decisions that are beneficial for work, limit individual perspective, and bring relevance to many projects. Mature teams overcome differences for enabling perspectives and respect for the most experienced individuals.
After reading this blog, what are you waiting for! Choose your team and start implementing your design system!
Related Articles:
Basics you need to know about Atomic Design System
Design systems to change designer vision!
Reasons that make the Design Systems inevitable
The impact of design systems on adopter organizations & users
Design System: beyond just UI kits
Common Myths Surrounding the Design Systems in 2020 | https://medium.com/cohort-work/how-design-systems-elevate-teamwork-who-manages-a-design-system-4732e7b6d753 | ['Rania Mdimagh'] | 2020-12-04 10:26:34.638000+00:00 | ['Design Thinking', 'Design', 'Business', 'Technology', 'Design Systems'] |
The Show Will Go On at the Bardavon Theater | The Bardavon is renowned for its ability to “enrich the lives of children by exposing them to the extraordinary theatre, dance and musical programs”. The artistic restrictions due to the pandemic have been devastating for children in particular.
Going from three to five shows per week to being closed for business was not just hard on The Bardavon Theater and staff, but also the adults and children of the Hudson Valley.
The Bardavon allows the people of the Hudson Valley to artistically express themselves in extraordinary ways through theatre, music and art.
Tom Rosato, Technical Director and Audio Engineer at The Bardavon, considers himself “very fortunate,[The Bardavon] has handled this very unprecedented time with the interest of the staff at the top of the priority list”.
When the theater decided to close their 944 seating venue back in March of 2020, no one expected them to be closed for what is going to be more than a year. However, the theater is considering a few possible reopening options for Fall 2021.
Rosato says, “As of now, it’s looking like it will not be a ‘grand reopening’ where we go back to doing 3–5 shows a week. It will likely be a slow, phased-in process, where we integrate reduced capacity in-person events with broadcast and online events.” Despite the challenges and new format, “It’s a new model of doing business and we are excited to see how it goes!” Rosato said.
Due to how “hands-on” Rosato’s job at the Theater is, he says, “I’ve been going into the theatre two days a week to maintain the theatrical systems.” It’s not what he’s used to but a few positives he’s found amidst all of this is that it’s “been nice to put on ‘Alice In Chains’ on full blast and work by myself all this time,” said Rosato,“when we do reopen, the theater has never been this stocked, clean, and ready to go!”.
One of the best parts of his job for Rosato is getting to see the looks on children’s faces when seeing their first piece of theater or music. “It’s truly magical to see their faces light up, and the impact that live events have on a child’s perception of their own career possibilities, creative potential, and sense of community cannot be understated,” said Rosato.
To counter this, the theater has offered several virtual events, although not the same, the events still allow The Bardavon to offer their diverse audience of the Hudson Valley live works of art. A favorite event of Rosato’s from the past year was a virtual event held with Vassar College through their annual ‘Modfest’, “We had a Grammy Award-winning Quartet, the Attacca Quartet, do an entire performance of original work.”. The event was not only special because it was mid-pandemic and virtual but as Rosato says, “working with Attacca was an honor that only comes a few times in life if you’re lucky!”.
The Bardavon Theatre has plans to continue virtual events as they get ready excited for reopening. In the meantime, donations are a top priority and needed now more than ever. For more information and opportunities for donation, please visit www.bardavon.org.
(BadravonPresents Instagram)
(BadravonPresents Instagram)
(MeetTheTeam website) | https://medium.com/thegroundhog/covid-impact-on-the-bardavon-theater-42e01c6e9ac3 | ['Jessica Santacroce'] | 2021-03-14 20:53:57.255000+00:00 | ['Theater', 'Music', 'Bardavon', 'Dance', 'Arts And Culture'] |
Do you like to stroke your belly during pregnancy? A study found that your baby too | One of the things I enjoyed the most in my pregnancy was stroking my belly , especially after the second trimester, when you could tell that my daughter was coming. And it is that it feels very nice to know that a new life is being created within you, which has already stolen your heart from before birth.
Stroking the belly or touching it gently is something that feels good. But, did you know that those caresses that you do to your belly also like your baby? A study shows us .
The study
Researchers at the School of Psychology at the University of Dundee in the United Kingdom conducted a study to analyze the behavior of the fetus when hearing the voice and feeling the touch of its mothers .
To carry out the study, 23 pregnant women participated: 10 in the second trimester and 13 in the third trimester, all between weeks 21 and 33 of pregnancy. Sonograms were used and the movements of the babies were recorded as the mothers spoke and stroked their tummies.
Fetuses were found to show more arm, head, and mouth movements when mothers touched their tummies, while movements decreased when they spoke. In addition, babies who were in the third trimester showed more responses to these stimuli compared to those who were just in the second trimester, which could reflect the process of maturation of the nervous system.
In general, the study found that the maternal touch on the tummy is a very powerful stimulus , producing different responses in the baby’s behavior.
Enjoy your pregnant belly
You may wonder, hadn’t they said that babies don’t hear anything when they’re in the tummy? It is true that new things are discovered every day that change what we thought, but let’s not let that discourage us. We can continue to do so, especially if it causes us illusion, since talking to the belly is good even if the baby is not able to hear us , since it serves those of us outside because we can gradually create an emotional bond with him .
About the movements being reduced when “listening” to the mother’s voice, perhaps (it’s just my theory) that is because when pregnant women speak to our tummy we do it with affection, and we transmit that emotional tranquility to our baby making him relax too .
With these results we can feel even more beautiful when touching our tummy and doing it frequently , because now we know that our baby also likes to feel our hands. | https://medium.com/@mamaspaws/do-you-like-to-stroke-your-belly-during-pregnancy-a-study-found-that-your-baby-too-2d3176dd371d | ['Mamas Paws'] | 2021-02-07 19:30:16.810000+00:00 | ['Pregnant', 'Pregnancy Exercises', 'Baby', 'Infant', 'Pregnancy'] |
There’s something about getting a rejection email that’s especially annoying. | There’s something about getting a rejection email that’s especially annoying. While I appreciate the update, I don’t appreciate the bullshit.
You have to read through a paragraph of automated nonsense thanking you for applying to the post. Then this…
“… After reviewing your application, we have decided to progress with other candidates for this role. While we will not be moving forward with your application for this specific role, we would like to keep in touch regarding future job opportunities.”
Instead of making it easier, they make it confusing.
Come to think of it; they use the “Sandwich Method.” Start with a thank you, tell the applicant it’s a no, then end with nonsense on “keeping their CV for future opportunities.”
Here’s a suggestion that’ll make it easier for everyone. If it’s a no-go, just put a sad face emoji. Spare us the bullshit. | https://medium.com/everything-shortform/theres-something-about-getting-a-rejection-email-that-s-especially-annoying-2887364ed800 | ['The Dozen'] | 2020-12-11 12:06:22.161000+00:00 | ['Job Hunting', 'Sandwich Method', 'Email', 'Rejection', 'Writing'] |
(1) RE: “The craze for semi-automatic weapons and military-style rifles has always escaped me and… | (1) RE: “The craze for semi-automatic weapons and military-style rifles has always escaped me and struck me as a little bit crazy. After all, you don’t need them to shoot a pheasant.” — A common statement. It seems so reasonable and logical, right? But first of all, we can look with suspicion at any statement which includes the word “craze” because in many cases like this, it mischaracterizes the actual nature of the desire to own a semi-auto shotgun or rifle (or pistol). People should check the actual history of semiautomatic firearms for the consumer market. Full and semiautomatic weapons were first made for the military in the 1890s and that makes sense because the big bucks contracts even back then went to companies (or patent holders) who offered such guns to government funded military services. But the only thing taken from that for the civilian market is the historical mythology associated with military weapons.
For the sake of this conversation lets set aside such details as the history of automatic weapons goes way back and includes iconic examples like the hand-cranked gatling gun. We can include the booster effect of exaggerated Hollywood movies, however. They idealized the “Old West” to perfection and they also idealized “war” perfectly. So there is that psychological association carrying over to the civilian market. Hollywood, like today’s Press and New Broadcasters depend heavily on exaggeration and over emphasis because it is so, so profitable.
But back to practicality: Someone who has no knowledge of hunting often underestimates the importance of being able to rapidly fire two or more shots in succession. I’ve hunted both upland game (mostly pheasants, some quail and partridge) and deer starting when I was 10 to 13 years old. I have first-hand memories of the times a bird flew off wounded because I couldn’t deliver that second shot. Hunters feel real grief when that happens, killing as quickly as possible is a real desire, semiautomatic shotguns (or pump action shot guns) provide that (under one second) second shot reliably.
I have hunted deer since I was legally eligible (at the time, 13 when accompanied by an adult was the minimum age in my state). Deer hunting is where most beginning hunters learn about rifles while made-for-hunting rifled shotguns are really an effort to bring shotguns into deer hunting just like “hunting bows” are meant to do. These efforts by manufacturers have are successful but it’s a side bar part of this discussion.
So my first deer hunt, my grandfather provided his deer rifle, a Winchester 94 which fired 30–30 ammunition. My stepfather was the one who was taking me along on his hunting trip “up North” with a few of his hunting buddies from work. My stepfather had his then-new Remington 740 Woodsmaster which fired the more powerful 30–06 cartridge. Weeks before deer season my stepfather had me at the gun range learning and practicing shooting with both the 30–30 and his 30–06. It was just luck that I got to use both a rapid repeating lever action rifle and a semi-auto at the same time. (Advantage clearly goes to the semi-auto.)
A little more background information is needed here. The Winchester 94 was first manufactured in 1894. The year of manufacture (1894) was used by Winchester to designate the model of the lever action rifle as “94.” That gun type was originally called “rapid repeating” and tells us that the desire for rapid follow up shots has been around for 120 years (and more).
But the first commercial models of semiautomatic rifles didn’t become available until around 1907. The 30–06 cartridge is named according to caliber and year that cartridge was first adopted by the U.S. Army. So you can see a kind of jumbled circumstances, history and nomenclature are involved here. (also, there are some technical details not included here). Early semi autos were made in a range of calibers but mostly centered around for use as “deer rifles.”
Basically, in the US, semiautomatic rifles came out in the early 20th century but didn’t become popular until after WWII when many infantry veterans came home with a desire for a semiautomatic rifle like they’d learned to use during the war. (Mannlicher in Germany was the actual first ever producer of semiautomatic and automatic rifles.). Lever action rifles have hung on partly because of Hollywood’s “romance of the Old West” when real cowboys learned the advantages of having a short rifle and with a rapid-repeating action. But semiautomatic is the topic we’re addressing here.
Without exhausting interest, I think it’s accurate enough to say that today’s American “market” for semiautomatic rifles is a natural development coming out of WWII. This has nothing to do with the word “craze” at all. Semiautomatics have always been popular for reasons understandable in more complete context.
(2) RE: “So the National Rifle Association was first convened in 1871 with the explicit purpose of improving and promoting rifle marksmanship. For most of its life, the NRA was just that — a gun club — where members would provide firearms training, promote gun safety, and get together for a little relaxing target practice. And that was about it.”
— The NRA has never been a gun club! It’s a fact that poor marksmanship was the reason some prominent members of the military proposed the idea of a civilian marksmanship organization, one that would exist a civilian organization -and does today as the National Rifle Association. It was and is still a national organization with an associated government funded organization: the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). You can buy a WWII era M-1 Garand Rifle and even model 1911 Colt semi automatic pistols from that organization. I got my first “assault rifle” (an semi-auto M-1 Garand) from them — for rifle competition. I later got a Springfield Armory, Inc. M1A (a civilian version of the M-14) as well. Both semiautomatic rifles can be used for deer hunting in Michigan only with 5-round clips or magazines. So in that case, my non-crazy self found enjoyment in using “assault rifles” for 100% legitimate reasons. Rifle competition is a popular sport with rifle teams meeting to compete with their “crazy assault rifles” at least once a month with practice sessions in between. It’s easy to shoot 1000 rounds or even several thousand every year. About 650,000 people go for the firearms deer season in Michigan, the average injured by guns annually is under 30 — every year since 1950!! That’s 650,000+ people with “deadly firearms” walking around loose.
So again we see indiscriminate use of the word “crazy” obviously aimed at influencing unsuspecting people to believe the NRA and owners of such guns are the opposite of sane and responsible.
The number of accidents and crimes committed by gun owners of all kinds doesn’t come close to equaling the same rates of accidents and crime recorded for the non-gun-owning public. Not even close. The number of deaths due to criminal use of rifles of any kind is under 1000 per year. We have over 100 million gun owners with an estimated 300 million guns of all kinds but less than a thousand actual murder victims directly related to “crazy gun owners with “crazy” guns. “Gun owners” — obviously does not mean the actual sociopaths and psychopaths who are the real criminals left almost unfettered by laws or by exaggerated opinions and grudges. Yet the false association continues to be used by “reasonable gun control” advocates. Interesting.
(3) And RE: “In 1968, the NRA came out in support of the President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Gun Control Act. This incited some of the members to become more active in their support of gun rights. The creation of the lobbying wing in 1975 was soon followed by a political action committee, the Political Victory Fund, tasked with funding gun rights legislative efforts and pro-gun political candidates.
This all culminated in 1977, when the pro-gun rights branch of the NRA voted out the moderates, cementing the organization’s commitment to Second Amendment extremism.
For over 100 years, the NRA’s focus had been on gun safety and marksmanship. After the revolt of 1977, that mission would be all but discarded — overshadowed by increasingly formidable political maneuvering.”
A lot of relevant information is left out of this account. For instance, that the assassinations of beloved public figures caused an outcry nationally, everyone felt it including me. The politically prominent Kennedy Family was hard hit and sympathy for their tragedy was both widespread and very deep. This is the good nature of Americans showing through in full bloom.
But as with all emotional responses, that one led to some unintended consequences. It’s important to note that the NRA had a good reputation and its members (about 3 million at the time) were in full sympathy with the call for more gun control but only as one possible way to prevent assassinations. Left out of Mr. Weber’s account however is that the NRA was consulted and testified before Congress against some measures in what became known as the Gun Control Act of 1968. (I was already of voting age and very interested in how government was supposed to work by then.) It’s also notable that the major issue partly obscuring the existence. But the few measures opposed by the NRA in 1968 continued to annoy gun control advocates including members of the Kennedy Family. Their angst was carried on because of loyalty to them, emotion not facts became the dominate way of thinking about the issue ever since.
Particularly revisionist: “For over 100 years, the NRA’s focus had been on gun safety and marksmanship. After the revolt of 1977, that mission would be all but discarded…” The NRA never dropped it’s original mission, not by one inch. If anything, it was the members who were better informed on the actual history of the 2nd Amendment who pointed out the obvious errors in thinking on the part of some on the NRA board. It actually caught us by surprise to suddenly learn that so many people (including some on the NRA and in law enforcement) held a kind of gun control mindset. The whole of American society has evolved from the beginning and no less since 1968, 52 years ago. But I remember finding out that some officers on our local police force would charge anyone they saw openly armed with “disturbing the peace.” It’s not that I had trouble with our police, some were friends and had suggested I join the force! I just couldn’t believe their ignorance.
Why’s that important? It helps illustrate the actual situation at the time. Objections to gun ownership seemed reasonable, especially in light of the assassinations. But it also shows how little people knew (and know) about the 2nd Amendment and the amendments in their own state constitutions. Michigan’s Constitution is even more clear regarding intent: “Sec. 6. Every person has a right to keep and bear arms for the defense of himself and the state.” Where in this does anyone see, “but restricted by widely held opinions?” [Michigan is far from the only state to have such stipulations about gun rights.].
This gives the lie to: “But the NRA had done more than rewrite our laws — they changed our minds. Guns weren’t just a hobby anymore. They were a necessity. It was our inalienable right to be armed and protect ourselves.” Because, self defense is a right and, as such, makes having a gun necessary. That’s regardless that, “crime rate have been falling.”
And because “have been falling” does not mean “have disappeared.” Anyone who isn’t bothered by just one incidence of someone being killed is not someone I want anywhere near me. That’s what psychopaths are so famous for. Likewise, anyone who isn’t heartened by learning of a successful defense from attack isn’t any better than the average sociopath.
So any claim that somehow the NRA and supporters of gun rights “just popped up because of radicals in the NRA” is smashed flat. It has no validity based on what better informed people know about the law and the facts. (and about human thought processes)
(4) RE: “Now we have a generation who has been directly impacted by that effort. They are stuck living with active shooter drills in their schools, armed guards in their churches, an extremist judiciary in the courts, and an impotent, disarmed congress in Washington.” — This is t he final brick in this monument to partial facts and misguidance. A whole different version from that which can be proven true. The last two generations (since 1968) have in fact been told that they are better off hiding in place with no real barriers between them and a punk (or punks) with a gun (or guns). This is institutionalized helplessness. They also have had drilled into them that, somehow, having a gun makes the bearer automatically unstable and likely to use their gun criminally. Really? The annual FBI Crime Report has been proving the opposite since its inception.
Withholding key facts is for writers of mystery novels and sometime romance novels. It never has been legitimate to withhold key facts from important political or historical discussions.
Honesty is the product of accuracy and completeness. Trust and respect are the product of honesty. | https://medium.com/@jacknoel/1-re-the-craze-for-semi-automatic-weapons-and-military-style-rifles-has-always-escaped-me-and-aafa04ba14ed | ['Jack Noel'] | 2020-02-25 07:06:46.337000+00:00 | ['Gun Control', 'Honesty', 'Guns', 'Americans'] |
Why The Crisis is Not Over | I came to live in Athens having spent the last 10 years doing legal and practical work with migrants in the UK. I had not planned to keep a blog, but the extremity of the situations I have come across so far compelled me to set this up and record the issues that I find here in Greece.
This will be one source of many, documenting the conditions here. Mainstream media, UN agencies, academics, NGOs, grassroots sources and independent volunteers all consistently document the situation for refugees in Greece. There are photos, videos, reports, statistics, yet the situation remains dire. In the face of such well-documented and serious suffering, the EU’s agenda is clear — keep the borders closed, decrease funding, and return asylum seekers to Greece whenever possible. Civilian efforts to assist refugees are thwarted — rescue initiatives and individuals alike have been arrested and imprisoned for saving refugees from drowning.
The number of refugees arriving to Greece has fallen dramatically since 2015, causing some to suggest there is no longer a ‘crisis’. But such statistics in isolation are meaningless. The number of refugees claiming asylum in Greece rose over 400% between 2015 and 2017. And relative to population size, Greece recorded the highest number of asylum claims in 2017 in the whole of the EU.
Statistics also cannot capture the reality. The reality is that even if numbers fall, which they may well do, Greece is a living hell for almost all refugees already here.
Arrivals might decrease for two main reasons:
The EU-Turkey deal — that pushes refugees back to Turkey, despite conditions being unsafe in Turkey for refugees, and Turkish citizens themselves increasingly claiming asylum in Europe. EU money spent in countries such as Libya reinforcing the borders, to stop refugees even reaching Europe.
Those who do manage to make it to Greece will join a long queue of refugees already suffering inhumane living conditions and unworkable delays. Some will be unable to tell the Greek authorities their story until 2024, when their asylum interview is scheduled. For most refugees, the only accommodation options are in squats, camps, or on the streets.
The reality is that Greece’s Asylum Service and the Greek state in general cannot cope. NGOs and volunteers try to plug the gaps but their efforts are inherently inadequate —NGOs and volunteers cannot solve a crisis when there are systemic deficiencies in all essential services and political agendas are counter to people’s needs.
Greece is at the mercy of the EU — economically and politically, but Greek politicians play their part in worsening the crisis too.
I hope to publish specific stories, to elaborate on and illustrate the above.
You cannot solve a ‘crisis’ by refusing to use the word. | https://medium.com/@the-crisis-isnt-over/why-the-crisis-is-not-over-7921474726de | ["The Crisis Isn'T Over"] | 2019-01-12 13:44:48.835000+00:00 | ['Asylum Seekers', 'European Union', 'Greece', 'Refugees', 'Refugee Crisis'] |
Troubleshooting Stragglers in Your Spark Application | Ref: Pixabay.com
Troubleshooting Stragglers in Your Spark Application
Stragglers in your Spark Application affect the overall application performance and waste premium resources.
Stragglers are detrimental to the overall performance of Spark applications and lead to resource wastages on the underlying cluster. Therefore, it is important to identify potential stragglers in your Spark Job, identify the root cause behind them, and put required fixes or provide preventive measures.
What is a Straggler in a Spark Application ?:
A straggler refers to a very very slow executing Task belonging to a particular stage of a Spark application (Every stage in Spark is composed of one or more Tasks, each one computing a single partition out of the total partitions designated for the stage). A straggler Task takes an exceptionally high time for completion as compared to the median or average time taken by other tasks belonging to the same stage. There could be multiple stragglers in a Spark Job being present either in the same stage or across multiple stages.
How Stragglers Hurt ?
Even if one straggler is present in a Spark stage, it would considerably delay the execution of the stage with its presence. Delayed execution of one or more stages (due to stragglers), in turn, would have a domino effect on the overall execution performance of the Spark App.
Further, stragglers could also lead to wastage of cluster resources if static resources are configured for the Job. This is due to the fact that unless the stragglers are finished, the already freed static resources of the stage can’t be put to use in the future stages that are dependent on the straggler affected stage.
How to Identify them ?
The presence of stragglers can be felt when you observe that a stage progress bar (available in the Spark UI) corresponding to an executed stage gets stuck in the end. To confirm the same, you could open the stage-specific details listing the summary of Task metrics of completed tasks in the stage. If the Task metric shows that ‘Max duration’ among the completed tasks is exceptionally higher than the ‘Median’ or ‘75th percentile’ value, then it indicates the possibility of stragglers in the corresponding Job. Here is an example showing Task metrics snapshot of a straggler inflicted stage of a Job:
In the above snapshot, it is clearly evident that the corresponding stage suffered from the stragglers, as the ‘Max’ Task duration, which is 28 min, is exceptionally higher than the ‘75th percentile’ value which is only a meager 14 seconds. Further, the individual stragglers can be identified from the detailed Task description section of the stage-specific page. All those tasks whose execution duration lies above the ‘75th percentile’ value can be classified as stragglers for the stage.
What causes Stragglers: Here are some of the common reasons for stragglers problem:
Skewed partitioning: This is one of the widespread and the most common cause of stragglers. Skewed partitioning results in skewed partitions (skewness with respect to data size mapped to each of the partition). And, if the partition data directly reflects the data to be computed upon, then skewed partitions result in a skewed distribution of computation time among tasks assigned for them thereby giving birth to stragglers.
Skewed partitioning can arise in multiple scenarios, the most common being repartitioning of a Dataset or RDD on the basis of partitioning key having a skewed distribution.
Skewed partitioning could also result when a bunch of unsplittable files, skewed by the size, are read into a Dataset/RDD.
Skewed Computation: This is another widespread reason for giving rise to stragglers. If you are doing custom computation on partitions data, it may happen that the computation gets skewed among the partitions owning to dependence on certain attributes/properties of the data (residing in the partition) even though the data among partitions is distributed fairly well. Now, once the computation gets skewed, again it could potentially result in stragglers.
Imbalanced/Skewed computation can arise in scenarios where the computing work in the computing routine of the partition is directly proportional to certain properties of the data records in the partition. An example would be a case where a Dataset points to a collection of FileWrappers Objects, and in a particular partition of this Dataset, all corresponding FileWrapper Objects refer to relatively big files as compared to FileWrapper Objects residing in the other partitions. The particular partition in the example, therefore could give rise to a straggler task.
Slow disk reads/writes: Stragglers can potentially arise for stages, requiring disk read/writes when some of the corresponding tasks are hosted on a server that is suffering from slow disk read/writes.
Stages would involve disk read/writes when they require to execute a shuffle read/write operations or save an intermediate RDD/Dataset on to the disk.
Higher Number of Cores per Executor: Provisioning a higher number of cores per executor, in ranges such as 4~8, could also sometimes lead to potential stragglers. This may happen because of the possibility of simultaneous execution of compute/resource heavy tasks on all the cores of an executor. Simultaneous execution situation could lead to fighting for common resources, such as memory, within the hosting executor which could lead to performance deteriorating events, such as heavy garbage collection, which in turn could potentially give rise to stragglers in the stage.
Possible Remedies:
Fair Partitioning: You need to ensure that the data is fairly partitioned among all the partitions when the computation intensity is directly related to the size of data contained in a partition. If there is flexibility in choosing a re-partitioning key, one should go for a record attribute, as a key, which provides higher cardinality and is evenly distributed among data records. If there is no such flexibility available, and the repartitioning key distribution is highly skewed, one can opt and try salting techniques.
Fair Computation: You also need to ensure that computation is evenly distributed among partitions where computation intensity is not directly related to the size of data in a partition but is dependent on the certain attribute or field in each of the data records.
Increased Number of Partitions: Increasing the number of partitions could decrease the magnitude of performance penalty afflicted by the stragglers. However, this would help to a certain extent only. ( To know more about the Spark partitioning tuning, you could refer to, “Guide to Spark Partitioning: Spark Partitioning Explained in Depth” )
Turning on the Spark speculation feature: Spark speculation feature, which actively identifies slow-running tasks, kills them and again re-launches the same, can optionally be turned on to deal with stragglers. It helps in dealing with stragglers that arise due to resource crunch on executors or due to slow disk/network read/writes on the hosting server. By default, the feature is turned off, one can enable the same by setting the spark config, ‘spark. speculation’ to true. Further, the speculation feature provides various other knobs too (in terms of spark config) to fine-tune the straggler identification and killing behavior. Here is the description of these knobs:
a) spark.speculation.interval (default: 100ms): How often Spark will check for tasks to speculate. You need not touch the same.
b) spark.speculation.multiplier (default: 1.5): How many times slower a task is than the median to be considered for speculation. This is used as a criterion for identifying the stragglers and can be tuned based on Spark application behavior.
c) spark.speculation.quantile (default: 0.75): Fraction of tasks which must be complete before speculation is enabled for a particular stage. This is used to decide when to launch the attack and kill the stragglers and further re-launch them, this can also be tuned based on Spark application behavior.
Although speculation seems to be a readymade feature to address the straggler menace, try it only after you study your application behavior. Rather, I would advise you to first find the root cause for stragglers and provide fixes accordingly, because killing and re-launch of tasks, at times, could result in inconsistencies in application output.
Here is the Task metrics snapshot of the earlier example after the corresponding application is re-worked to address the straggler’s problem.
As you can be from the snapshot, the max time has now been reduced to 1.7 minutes from the earlier 28 minutes. The original article was published here.
In case, you faced straggler(s) due to a different reason, please mention in the comment about the same and the root cause/remedy you undertook to resolve them. Also, you can participate in the poll on stragglers:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6736664776048418816/ | https://medium.com/swlh/troubleshooting-stragglers-in-your-spark-application-47f2568663ec | ['Ajay Gupta'] | 2020-11-24 12:57:11.158000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Development', 'Data Science', 'Technology', 'Machine Learning'] |
Adding Twitter card support to your web application is pretty straightforward. As I’m polishing my Tweet Scheduler blauspecht.io for the first beta test, I tried to find out how to get Twitter to… | Adding Twitter card support to your web application is pretty straightforward. As I’m polishing my Tweet Scheduler blauspecht.io for the first beta test, I tried to find out how to get Twitter to show these nice summary cards whenever a tweet contains my URL.
The Summary Card with Large Image features a large, full-width prominent image alongside a tweet. It is designed to give the reader a rich photo experience, and clicking on the image brings the user to your website.
developer.twitter.com/
It turns out it won’t work out of the box because Twitter is looking for certain HTML Tags. But these tags are pretty easy to add. Here is an example of mine: | https://medium.com/@stfsy/twitter-card-support-for-your-web-application-feef639e2245 | ['Stefan Pfaffel'] | 2020-12-25 20:00:51.950000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Technology', 'Web Development', 'Twitter', 'Programming'] |
The Labor Day After | The Labor Day After
by Carl Fillichio, Vice President at Weedmaps
Tuesday morning quarterbacking Labor Day 2021 media coverage:
The New York Times ran a lengthy and riveting opinion piece (“Let’s Honor True Spirit of Labor Day With a Union Revival”) exploring how American history often ignored the labor movement’s bloody struggle for human dignity. . . . while the New York Post’s editorial board explained “why most Americans no longer honor unions on Labor Day.” CNET revealed “the curious truth about Labor Day’s origins” . . . while National Public Radio just explained “why we celebrate it.” USA Today posted the stores and restaurants that were open yesterday. And on Fox News, Callista and Newt Gingrich shared what COVID taught us about American workers. All-in-all, a pretty normal Labor Day as far as news goes.
Scratch that. “There’s nothing normal about Labor Day 2021,” warned US News & World Reports.
Oddly absent from the Labor Day news coverage and editorializing was cannabis — and how the nascent legal cannabis industry has become a showcase of organized labor’s impact, evolution and success. Despite its impressive economic value — the legal market is projected to pull in $43 billion by 2025 — cannabis’ exclusion from the Labor Day Hit Parade wasn’t surprising. We saw it first a few months ago, when countless pundits declared the American trade movement dead after Amazon workers in Alabama voted overwhelmingly against forming a union. A blow for unions, certainly, but not enough of a reason to write their obituary. Especially as dozens of wins across the country were gained in the cannabis industry.
At the time of the Amazon election results, POLITICO noted that the cannabis industry is fertile ground for organizing efforts and highlighted workers at cannabis companies in New York and Massachusetts who recently voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Forty Sunnyside workers in four different New York dispensaries (Sunnyside is owned by Cresco Labs) and 11 Curaleaf workers in Massachusetts voted for union representation. The designation by Governors from both political parties of cannabis shops in legal states as “essential” businesses during the COVID pandemic pushed workers to unions, as they were concerned for their safety at work. The union representing dispensary workers in Los Angeles for example, made sure dispensaries required masks and restricted in-store interaction.
The timing is certainly ripe for unionization within the industry, as states roll out or expand medical and adult-use programs. Additionally, public support for both unions and cannabis legalization are at record levels. About 10,000 cannabis workers — mostly in retail dispensaries — are represented by the UFCW. Other unions are in it to win it, too, including the Teamsters, representing cannabis workers in agriculture, cultivation and retail. The United Domestic Workers don’t represent cannabis workers per se, but rather home care aides whose patients rely on safe access to cannabis medication.
According to Marijuana Business Daily, union organizing in the cannabis industry has picked up significantly in the past year, in response to issues brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Traditional “union states’’ like Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey have particularly active campaigns. Cannabis workers join a union for a variety of reasons: health and safety issues, a voice in the workplace, and wage/benefit concerns brought on by an “unbanked” industry. Labor peace agreements and sophisticated organizing efforts are also resulting in unionized cannabis workplaces.
It should come as no surprise that all of this is impacting who is part of the cannabis industry, and who has a say in the industry’s future. The labor movement is taking its seat at the table. In New Jersey for example, Gov. Phil Murphy appointed a UFCW official to the state’s new Cannabis Regulatory Commission, flagging the union’s role in the state’s soon-to-launch adult-use cannabis program.
Unionization is also providing the cannabis industry with a credibility boost and image enhancement. “There’s a lot of people who look down on it because there’s a lot of stigma to it and I think that unionizing cannabis workers will remove a lot of that stigma,” a dispensary worker told VICE earlier this year. Proud to call himself a union guy, he believes the union “solidifies us as a respectable part of the United States’ workforce and a respectable part of the United States economy.”
And ultimately, unions could be the secret ingredient that gets cannabis legalized at the federal level. The most pro-union president in American history isn’t enamored with the idea of legal cannabis. But he might be more open to it if the prodding came from his union friends. | https://medium.com/@weedmaps/the-labor-day-after-8f6098e2d102 | [] | 2021-09-07 20:54:32.610000+00:00 | ['Unions', 'Labor', 'Marijuana', 'Cannabis', 'Labor Day'] |
Mesleklerin Geleceği Hakkında Bilinmesi Gereken 5 Şey | 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/t%C3%BCrkiye/mesleklerin-gelece%C4%9Fi-hakk%C4%B1nda-bilinmesi-gereken-5-%C5%9Fey-3dfdde9f06af | [] | 2020-12-27 08:27:43.480000+00:00 | ['Rapor', 'Türkçe', 'Meslek', 'Gelecek', 'Covid 19'] |
Pierced: Our Ears or Our Thought Process | Source: ShethePeople.TV
I was never a Tik-Tok person. Never had an account, never felt the need to. My daily dose of social news was fulfilled by scrolling through Instagram.
The recent controversy surrounding the Indian government’s blanket ban on a slew of Chinese apps and most of all Tik-Tok put me up to date about this short-video trend. So when Instagram launched its own version of Tik-Tok, curiously named Reels, it caught my eye. Though I have to admit, for the first few days I couldn’t even locate the ‘Reels’ section on the Instagram phone app. When I finally got a hang of it, I spent a better part of my screen time on scrolling through Reels (my iPhone, unsuccessfully, makes all attempts to help me rationalize my screen time, most of all my social media consumption).
A few days into my obsession, I chanced upon a video of a baby girl, some 10–12 months old having her ears pierced. What made the Reel interesting was her ‘before’ and ‘after’ reaction towards the piercer and how she felt betrayed by him after he had finished piercing one of her ears and was moving on to the other. I must admit I had the same despise and skepticism towards the piercer when I was getting ,my piercings done. Though I was much older than 10–12 months!
This reminded me of another much less cute ‘piercing incident’ from my own life. A lover of ear piercings, I have more than the basic pair of piercings on both the earlobes. Thus to me, an ear piercing is both very normal and very special at the same time. Anyone (mostly females) who don’t have at least their earlobes pierced always end up being on the scornful end of my reaction towards them.
My little cousin, 10+ now, doesn’t have her ears pierced. Every time she visited our home I would compel her and my uncle-aunt to get her ears pierced. She was obviously not keen on it, mostly because she was scared of the pain though excited on seeing my collection of earrings and immediately sensing her lack of pierced ears.
All that was fine until I found myself at a crossroads with my own thinking. What bothered me was my steadfastness to have her ears pierced, or my general displeasure at her un-pierced ears. My reactions would often amount to enticing her with my earring collection so she would agree to get her ears pierced or nudging her parents to get it done. She has a younger brother too, who’s almost four now. He too doesn’t have his ears pierced. But that didn’t seem to bother me much.
For someone like me who had her first piercings at 10 months old, and who has a more than fair share of piercings, a girl not having her ears pierced comes across as a bit strange. She is a girl after all. How will she wear earrings? She is supposed to wear earrings. A girl without earrings is no girl at all.
What I never realized, until recently, was why I was assuming that my cousin would grow up to like piercings or wear any form of jewellery at all? Why the preconception that she has to have her ears pierced? Is it principled to make that decision for someone else? Am I to make that decision for my cousin, only ten, still figuring out which color she likes the most, leave alone jewellery. Aren’t her parents right in deciding not to make that choice for her? Also, from what measure is it right to make them go through the pain of an ear piercing at such a young age and just because we think that they’ll like this way of lifestyle or dressing up?
Now, boys/men having ear piercings is not uncommon. In fact, the Indian tradition encourages men to wear jewellery as is evident from historical record. This also forced me to ask myself why I didn’t show the same unwavering desire towards my little cousin brother. Was it because I had a biased frame of mind and had decided from the very beginning that a girl will grow up to like earrings whereas a boy won’t. Or was it because of my own favourable predisposition towards piercings? And this when I have male friends with pierced ears and never called out to them for it. Whatever the reason may be, I couldn’t justify myself forcing her to do it against her will.
But what when this biased attitude and preconceived notion or expectation towards wanting girls to make certain kind of choices and boys a certain different kind of choices reflect a flawed and dogmatic mindset? What when our preconceived notion forces others to take decisions against their choices?
Feminism apart, do we not need to let others, as much as our own selves, make their own choices especially when it comes to our personalities and individual identity?
It’s a question all of us need to ask every time we find ourselves restricted by a preconceived notion or unjustified assumption. It might allow us to be more open to our own and other’s choices and be less critical towards what is unfavourable to us thereby freeing us from a ton of resentment.
From that day onwards, I never egged my cousin to have her ears pierced. The next time I saw her, I told her it’s her choice. If she grows up to like earrings, she can have her ears pierced anytime, just like I did with my many piercings. | https://medium.com/@daminim18/pierced-our-ears-or-our-thought-process-50d93a917c1d | ['Damini Mehta'] | 2020-10-06 11:19:58.407000+00:00 | ['Freedom', 'Thought Provoking', 'Feminism', 'Bias', 'Choices'] |
Utilization of tofu waste as fish feed and liquid fertilizer by fermentation | The raw material (left) and the product (right).
Due to its good taste and affordable price, tofu is in great demand in the Indonesian food industry. High product demand causes high production, high production rates create a large amount of waste and the waste gives a lot of bad impacts on the environment. The waste produced from tofu production is in the form of liquid waste and solid waste. This type of waste has a very big opportunity to be utilized and increased in value, that’s what we are trying to do in this study.
Tofu waste has the advantage of having a high enough protein content. However, if used directly as fish feed, tofu dregs have too high a crude fiber and water content. The high crude fiber content makes feed ingredients difficult for the fish to digest and the high water content can cause a shorter shelf life. One way to reduce the crude fiber content is by means of fermentation.
In this study, molasses was used as a carbon source and EM4 as a source of fermentation microorganisms. Microorganisms in EM4 are lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus Sp) and photosynthetic bacteria (Rhodopseudomonas sp).
The fermentation process will change the complex components in the dregs to be simpler so that the fermentation results will have better quality than the raw material. Fermentation of tofu waste will convert protein into amino acids and will indirectly reduce the crude fiber content of tofu waste. Fermentation can also break down cellulose, hemicellulose, and their polymers into simple sugars or their derivatives and can increase the nutrition of the original ingredients because microbes are catabolic and can synthesize vitamins such as riboflavin, vitamin B12, and pro-vitamin A.
After the fermentation process is complete, the extraction process is carried out. The extraction process separates the solid phase from the liquid phase. The resulting liquid phase will be used as organic liquid fertilizer. The resulting solid part will be mixed with tapioca flour and printed according to the size of the fish feed then dried in the sun to reduce the moisture content and what is contained in the fish feed. In addition, drying also increases the shelf life of fish feed so that it can be used for a longer period of time.
For further analysis, research can be carried out on the effect of variations in molasses and em4 on fish growth. The effect of variation can be seen through changes in fish body weight and also through fish survival rates. The survival rate of fish shows the percentage of fish that are alive until the end of the rearing. Through these two things, the best variable for fish can be determined. In addition, it can be compare analyzed the protein content between fresh tofu waste and fish feed from fermented tofu waste. We also can analyze the C / N ratio in liquid fertilizer. | https://medium.com/@estersinaga70/utilization-of-tofu-waste-as-fish-feed-and-liquid-fertilizer-by-fermentation-de69808f2852 | ['Ester Rosdiana Sinaga'] | 2020-12-13 08:17:29.533000+00:00 | ['Industry', 'Waste', 'Enviroment', 'Fermentation', 'Waste Treatment'] |
SOBRIETY — A JOURNEY NOT A DESTINATION | When I first started attending AA meetings, I kept hearing the same slogans over and over:
“Keep coming…”
“It gets better..”
“Stay until the miracle happens..”
“One day at a time…”
Honestly I hated them.
(Authors note: Any and all statements in anything I write are my opinion based solely on my personal experiences and observations, they are not to be considered scientific facts. Just the ramblings of a wandering soul).
Early sobriety for me was a total paradox. You see, I wanted to get better. I wanted to stop the “wash — rinse — repeat cycle” of that my life had become. I could control my drinking. Abstain for a few days or even weeks, but I would always go back.
I could not take the pain anymore.
BUT-
A part of my broken soul enjoyed the pain and misery. For years the constant ache of my misery was like the pilot light of my existence. The irony is that pain I was trying to numb had also become a companion. It was my excuse for my bad behavior and questionable choices. When my drinking was less out of control, I believed that any time I drank to excess was justified. I had a rough day/week/month. I was having fun!
This was not irresponsible binge drinking like a Frat-Boy — I was an adult.
As a responsible adult, I was able to weave a whole tapestry of stories to justify what was clearly alcoholic behaviors.
Drink a shot of hard booze then have a beer would save money. Have a drink at home before going out, save even more money. Stay home and get pissed drunk by myself? Not drinking and driving!
The hangovers got worse. The health issues got worse. The isolation got worse. The anger got worse.
I was broken and I needed help.
The problem was, the people who could help knew me already. They didn’t know Dennis the new guy who had walked in personally. But they knew ME.
I was them at one time. They knew the fear, shame, disgust and sadness that lived inside of me.
They were happy. They smiled and laughed. They knew I would smile and laugh like them one day if I did what they told me to do. I was given books and phone numbers and hugs and handshakes.
I HATED IT.
But like Richard Gere’s character from “An Officer and a Gentleman” screaming at his Drill Instructor “I got nowhere else to go!!”.
Things got better quickly. Remarkably so.
I removed booze from my life and the chaos settled. I wasn’t planning trips to sneak some drinks. I wasn’t hoarding the change from buying coffee and lunch so I could have cash only transactions with no paper trail from a liquor store. I wasn’t lying about why I smelled like booze, or more likely smelled like mints, mouthwash or any other variety of tricks I relied on to camouflage my breath.
So it got better. Until it didn’t
Shit happens. Life happens. People, places and things will let you down and test your resolve.
You fall on your face, a lot.
There is a great line I heard in a meeting once:
“There is good news and bad news with getting sober. The good news is you get your feelings back. The bad news is you get your feelings back.”
So when I fell on my face, I had to feel the emotions. I had to deal with them in a way that was very different from the way I had coped before.
My first real challenge came with 92 days of sobriety under my belt.
After three months of sobriety, you are allowed to be a speaker at a meeting. I have never been afraid of public speaking but my alcoholism had never been the subject matter before. I went to a meeting with members of my home group and shared my story to hall filled with a hundred-plus people.
I was AWESOME.
People laughed, they got teary. I was approached by so many people commending me, thanking me and telling me I had done a great job. I was saving souls!
My ego swelled my head so large; I could barely leave the hall.
The next day, I was let go from my job.
While there were several factors that led to this dismissal, the reality is I had not been a top performer when in the grips of my disease and despite three months of sobriety the damage was done.
Things felt like they were slipping off the rails rapidly. I started to isolate. I was depressed. I spoke to my sponsor and I said all the right things to keep him off my back.
I was not ok.
Two days later was my weekly meeting. I was not going to attend. I told my wife I was taking a break and would go another time. She was unsympathetic and threatened to call my sponsor if I didn’t get my ass out the door and to the meeting.
I went, but I was not happy about it.
There is another expression in AA — There are no coincidences. Everything happens for a reason. The Universe, the Great Spirit, Karma, Synchronicity, Higher Power, God, the Force…. Something will make things happen that while random align with what needs to happen in your life at that moment.
On this night, the people that were supposed to come and speak at our meeting did not show up.
A friend was called up to speak and he was to select the next speaker when he was finished.
He chose me.
I proceeded to tell the room full of people that their slogans were bullshit.
It wasn’t getting better.
The was no miracle coming.
The things they were telling me were lies.
At that moment I didn’t know if I would drink again or not — but I sure as hell wasn’t buying into this program because life sucks and I’m trying really hard and it STILL sucks.
When I was done, and the meeting wrapped up. I was approached by my new friends with open arms and an unconditional love that is truly hard to explain.
Men and women, who just a few weeks before had never laid eyes on me offered their assistance and support. They told me that my feelings were valid but that I was going to be ok. That no matter how bad it got, I had to remember that drinking was not going to solve any of the problems and most likely make them worse.
My phone number was entered and saved into peoples contact lists and the next day I was inundated with texts and calls to check on me, reminding me that I’d be ok and to tell me they loved me.
These people do not know me. They do not know my last name. They do not know where I live. They do not know my wife, kids…. NOTHING.
What they do know is that if I drink again, I am probably unemployable. I am going to be kicked out of my house and good luck being allowed to see my kids.
From that day
It got better.
The miracle happened.
And I continue to take it one day at a time. | https://medium.com/@south-of-boston-soberdad/sobriety-a-journey-not-a-destination-f4912135de5d | ['Dennis N'] | 2021-06-08 19:54:16.006000+00:00 | ['Sober', 'Alcoholism', 'Sobriety', 'Sober Living', 'Recover'] |
Everything You Think You Know About Growing Aloe vera Is Wrong | Indirect light only, very little water, whatever soil, keep them potbound, and they are winter growers, right? Wrong, or at least not the whole truth.
My oldest vera plant, about 6 years old, in a 10 gallon pot.
First things first, Aloe vera (formerly Aloe barbadensis, and forget that var. miller stuff) is just ONE species of Aloe. It is thought to have originated in the Arabian Peninsula and the scientific name has bounced around between a few names. The current accepted name is Aloe vera. There are over 500 accepted Aloe species and hybrids, vera is just one. So calling different Aloes “types of Aloe Vera” is incorrect.
The plant is described as a stemless or sometimes short stemmed plant with fleshy, green or grey-green mostly upright leaves that gets about 25–40 inches tall at maturity. There is a very common spotted variety that I think more people are familiar with as being “Aloe Vera”…the smaller, lighter green and much more prolific Aloe vera var. chinensis. Both of these varieties are touted as easy to grow houseplants, so why do so many people have trouble growing them? Because they are following not so great advice given by well meaning people.
Top — Aloe vera var. chinensis, Bottom — Aloe vera
Let’s start with this indirect light only business. Not only is it not true, but lack of adequate light causes these plants to have weak growth that is more susceptible to rot, pests and other issues. Thin, pale green, droopy leaves and twisted stems that don’t support the plant…these are all signs of etiolation caused by inadequate light conditions. They also often stay in the juvenile form much longer, where the leaves are stacked in vertical rows (distichous.) They are tough, adaptable plants, and many Aloe vera houseplants will survive in poor growing conditions, but they really aren’t thriving. Now, I don’t grow indoors, but lighting indoors can be complicated. Even next to a window, your plant isn’t getting as much light as you think it is since it has the window pane between it and the sun. Across the room from the window? Way too little light. Growing succulents indoors often requires additional grow lights.
The thing about light is that people don’t properly acclimate their plant to it, or they mistake the temporary brown stress color for sunburn and panic. The brown will go away when the plant adjusts, and real sunburn causes bleached spots that leave permanent damage. That also just means the plant was too quickly moved into more sun than it was used to, not that they hate sun. Slowly move them, let them adjust, and they’ll be fine. They also appreciate more water when it’s hot and sunny. There are many Aloe species that do need a lot more sun than vera does, but still, in a lot of places vera can take full sun once properly acclimated. Mine happily grow outdoors in the SE Texas sun. It is one variety that can do well with less direct sun, but definitely do not put all Aloes together as far as care and growing conditions.
For instance, a lot of the dormancy charts you’ll find online lump all Aloes together as “winter growers”, which is not 100% true and a little more complicated than that. Aloe vera is not winter dormant, they grow in the spring, summer and fall. Other species ARE winter growers, and some that aren’t technically summer dormant may still go dormant in extreme heat. Some may not go dormant on a “normal” habitat schedule. It really depends on the variety, where that variety is from, and where your plant is growing.
Now watering, and soil because soil mix matters as much as watering. They don’t hate water, and it does matter what soil you use. They like to be watered deeply but infrequently, depending on things like the time of year and your environment, and for the soil mix they are in to not stay damp very long. If you just water a little and wait for the soil to dry, but it takes like two weeks for it to dry completely…well, that can still cause overwatering issues. Their roots do not like to stay damp, so they really need a free draining mix. This is why Aloes so often have poor root systems — they are potted in poor draining soil that smothers them. Often the roots dying off will cause the plant to look thirsty, with thin, concave leaves, so you water more, right? And then the plant rots, because it’s sitting in damp soil, with no roots and you don’t know what happened because you barely ever water it.
Or you go to repot and it just pulls right out of the soil, or the plant just falls over on it’s own one day. This is mostly a poor drainage issue, but can definitely be made worse by weak growth from lack of light. Don’t mist when you water, especially not the plant itself. Water in the center of the plant will cause it to rot. Research gritty succulent mixes and make your own, there are a lot of options to choose from. Just go with whatever you can easily find and make sure to have a 2–3 different types in the mix. If you use just one thing and it’s too fine of a grit, like sand, it’s going to compact and hold water. I personally don’t like perlite because it’s too light, and I’ve gotten it in my eye so I may be holding a bit of a grudge 🤷♀️
I use turface, expanded shale and chicken grit mixed with some regular bagged potting soil. My mix is very heavily grit because of the rain and humidity here, you may not have to go as gritty. Also, with a grittier soil mix you’ll have to add fertilizer. I water with a cacti fertilizer and have added worm castings to most of my pots. A lot of the bagged potting soils that are supposedly for cacti and succulents really aren’t that different from the regular stuff…they’re still heavily organic (peat based) and benefit from mixing something gritty (inorganic) into them.
The potbound thing isn’t as big of a deal, I think it just makes it harder for people to overwater if the plant is potbound. And with how quickly Aloe vera var. chinensis can fill a pot with pups, I can see where this idea that they “like” it came from. This could be more of a preference thing, if you like the full pot look and you want to control the size, don’t pot them up very often. I pot most of mine up as they grow, and with the gritty mix I use I don’t worry too much about pot size. If it’s a huge pot and a small plant with a small root system, that isn’t a good idea. Just use your best judgement and go with what works for you. Indoors, terra cotta might be a good choice to use, but if you live somewhere as hot as where I am and use the gritty mix, it isn’t necessary. It can even cause the plant to be TOO dry, which you don’t want either.
Really, it’s a learning curve. You might kill a few, but if you keep with it you’ll eventually find what works for you and your plants. Find a good balance of enough light, good drainage and watering. It’ll get easier from there. | https://medium.com/@aloehoarder/everything-you-think-you-know-about-growing-aloe-vera-is-wrong-aab46ea79141 | ['Jenn M Smith'] | 2020-12-10 23:35:40.347000+00:00 | ['Gardening Tips', 'Succulents', 'Cactus', 'Aloe Vera', 'Gardening'] |
Hot Girl Finance | Danaë and the Shower of Gold — Titian — Saint-Petersburg
Real hot girl shit
Yeah, I’m in my bag, but I’m in his too
And that’s why every time you see me, I got some new shoes
Ah, mwah
When you think of it, it is amazing rap music still has a shock effect. Now that hip hop has taken an impressive part of music streams, it still shocks and puzzles a large audience. Rap & hip hop, in general, were rooted in gangster culture and illegal trafficking: doing & selling drugs, sex trafficking, etc. Plus, the general atmosphere of competition and aggression linked to illegal trafficking, the idea of being the best, of being on the top of the food chain, and attack anyone who is not. In two words: traffic and status. “Gangster life” is of course not the only element of rap culture, which is also deeply political and poetic, but it is this element that sticks, mostly for detractors. Sex, drugs, murder, insults, showing off money… So vulgar! Rap is especially frowned upon for demeaning women, of making them the currency of a rappers’ success. The figure of the pimp is indeed considered as positive, with many tracks I heard through my teenage years: P.I.M.P by 50 Cents, Big Pimpin by Jay Z. But what about the voices of the women in this sex business?
I believe the experience of sex workers has taken a bigger place in recent years, with the emergence (or re-emergence?) of female rappers. Nicki Minaj, City Girls, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Saweetie… Even if they don’t have the actual experience of using sex as a way of making money, they still talk in their lyrics about the world of sex work, even as a metaphor for their own work, rapping, hustling. It is now pervasive even in more mainstream songs. For example, 6-inch heels by Beyoncé refers to her work as an entertainer and singer, but also the work of stripteasers (famous for their 6-inch heels shoes):
Stars in her eyes
She fights for the power, keeping time
She grinds day and night
She grinds from Monday to Friday
Work from Friday to Sunday, oh
“Répétition d’un ballet sur la scène” by Degas
And when I talk about sex work, the situations they are describing cannot be summed up only by classical prostitution or strip-tease only. The logic of sex favors VS money is also a cornerstone of their global relationships with men who they do not describe as clients, but also boyfriend. Even in a “traditional” relationship, they will wait for the boyfriend to provide expensive gifts and cold cash. Which is… very traditional when you think of it. How are these female rappers so different from a fifties housewife, looking for financial well-being in a man?
So you have the traffic element, with sex work. But what about status? In rap made by women, you have this “boss bitch” element where the female rapper will tell everyone how she’s aggressively independent and the best at her work, the top of the food chain. But being a “boss bitch” while relying on other men’s money could be a lot of mind work. Female rappers are stating as a matter of fact how this sex for money ethic is the path to financial autonomy.
But how can these female rappers assert their aggressive autonomy, especially from men, when in sex work you’ll need to rely on men’s money to gain this autonomy?
The difference between female rappers and housewives holds in three points. First, they openly state that sex work is work and even a lot of work where the competition is fierce. The second difference is the amount at stake: they are not waiting for pocket money or a vacuum cleaner. And finally, they are not looking for the best of both worlds, courtly love and money: they claim they are keeping a clear head and are treating their benefactors as expendable sources of income.
Work and competition are autonomy
Le Salon de la rue des Moulins by Toulouse Lautrec
As we can hear in Beyoncé’s lyrics, every sex work is a lot of work and should be respected as such. Not only you need to have the right attributes (the body, the charms), but also the social intelligence of tricking a man into thinking you’re worth a lot of his money. Bravery and intelligence, these are the key aspect of “finesse”, as it is defined by Urban Dictionary: “An art of persuasion or trickery in which an individual is able to get something they want with the cunning prowess of an illusionist”. As Megan Thee Stallion says in Poledancer: “All of these n*s be begging for pussy /Ain’t giving it to ’em, I’m making ’em pay me / I’ma finesse him, and I’ma romance him”. Here Megan is showing her illusionist skill in tricking men into romance. Besides, she is equating her work with pole-dancing, a dance that asks for a lot of physical strength while looking effortless dancing it.
Dancing for seducing is hard work, and dancing for free is shown as weak and foolish. To quote the very famous lyrics of Cardi B: “I don’t dance, I make money move” (Bodak Yellow). Why spend so much energy and skill with no consideration in return?
Money is autonomy
Old man beguiled by courtesans by Lucas Cranach the Elder
The money female rappers talk about is obviously not pocket money. The sums at stake are so huge the benefactors will not be left unharmed: “N* fuck once and his ass going bankrupt” (City Girls, Period (We Live)). The benefactor will have to pay for ostentatious gifts from luxury brands, especially Gucci, like in Cash Shit:
I can’t decide if I want the new Louis
Dapper Dan yellow, I’m always in Gucci
The common wordplay for this logic is on the word “bag”, comparing the actual designer bag with the symbolic use of bag. Here again from Urban Dictionary: “a bag is a large goal, typically one of the three categories: money, material goal / a larger goal in your life / a literal bag, in which you can store things in (like money or marijuana)”
The idea is to take from men mainly symbols of status (car, shoes, designer bags) and not necessary goods. Those who do so are losers: “You the type that’s fuckin’ for the rent (you a thot)” (Saweetie, My Type) or “Walking all over the n*, so he buy me all my shoes / Quit calling him a trick if he only buy you food, ay” (Megan Thee Stallion, Freak Nasty). In my opinion, someone paying someone’s else rent is giving a lot of money. But rent is not ostentatious when a Gucci bag is.
This symbol of success helps show the competition (the other women on this sex work market) the success and the financial achievement coming from this work. And the competition is rough! In the inherent ethic of aggression of rap culture, rappers need to always assert their superiority and the inferiority of the adversary. Here, the currency of this superiority is what money buys: luxury goods, but also some added value on the market. As Nicki Minaj says in Rich Sex:
I know what these n* like, and it ain’t my charm
I ain’t stupid, this $250 on my arm
I like money more than dick, n*, that’s a fact
You think pussy’s everything? Well, let’s have a chat
A clear mind gives autonomy
Olympia by Manet
The main pitfall of women who chose this kind of sex work is then to be dependant on a benefactor’s money, who becomes her owner or worst, her pimp. And when he leaves her, she would fall into poverty. The main solution for this danger is very pervasive in rap lyrics: diversifying. When you increase the number of benefactors, you spread out the risk. And the more you do the better: as Megan says, “My contact list look like the yellow pages”(Freak Nasty).
To diversify, the women will need a very clear mind to avoid the situation of emotional, hence financial, dependance. And it is a real skill to keep a cold heart when it comes to sex (Pimpin, Megan Thee Stallion) :
Damn, I want some head but I chose the dough instead
I could never ever let a n* fuck me out my bread (Ugh)
Ain’t no dick alive that could make me lose my mind
Every n* that done tried still be cryin’ on my line (Hey)
Besides, the coldness is used in one of Megan Thee Stallion’s pseudonym: “Bitch it’s Tina Snow, they love me ’cause I’m cold” (Big Ole Frick). This translates into delightful lyrics, where female rappers will verbally torment their benefactors.
The language used, the situations depicted, the coldheartedness, the openness about sex… Behind this apparent “vulgarity” (for a lack of a better word) lies very simple and mainstream advice when it comes to money & work, even if you leave out the elements of sex. But they also add a little twist to each, that could be applied to your life: | https://medium.com/@lea-bory/hot-girl-finance-32193cf49605 | ['Léa Bory'] | 2021-08-28 06:49:16.477000+00:00 | ['Megan Thee Stallion', 'Sex Work', 'Money', 'Female Rapper', 'Rap'] |
Why Faces are the Cornerstone of Mobile Content | What was the last thing you touched before going to bed last night? Or the first thing you reached for this morning?
Less than a decade ago the answer would likely have been a partner, a child or even an alarm clock. In a Fall 2016 BBDO study, 73% of respondents answered that they reach for their phone first thing in the morning and for 48% their phone is the last thing they touch at night[1].
Mobile phones occupy a special place in our media repertoire. One where we’re less tolerant of advertising. KPCB data suggests that desktop ad blocking has reached just over 200MM worldwide users, mobile ad blocking has reached over 400MM users in just the last two years.
If we really do have a special relationship with mobile, one which keeps them close at night and where users are less accepting of ads, then how can we create effective mobile content?
A cursory survey of popular mobile content from mobile first platforms reveals one prevalent trend that agencies might learn from — close up on faces. Many of the top content creators on From Vine to Snapchat and YouTube simply talk to camera and allow their faces to convey much of their message.
The rise of faces in mobile content isn’t a happy accident of the front facing camera. Phil Barden, the author of Decoded, suggests that “Seeing a (good-looking) face triggers the reward center in the brain[2]”.
Another reason faces have become so popular is their ability to quickly communicate emotion. It has been suggested that the “ability to communicate subtle emotions with a simple raised eyebrow or curl of the lip may be innate [3]”. This ability combined with deriving pleasure from seeing faces shows why faces have been so important in native mobile content.
This insight can be seen playing out in campaigns such as AT&T’s “It’s Our Time” app that enabled fans to upload videos of their cheers for US Olympians at the Sochi Games.
Not all campaigns will require close up of faces. However, as we continue to seek emotional connection with audiences, correctly using faces in mobile content will help us design meaningful content for a channel that we value highly. | https://medium.com/comms-planning/why-faces-are-the-cornerstone-of-mobile-content-1b47720fda03 | [] | 2016-10-04 20:24:34.573000+00:00 | ['Ad Blocking', 'Content Strategy', 'Mobile Marketing', 'Advertising'] |
Is Blockchain the Answer for Musicians fed up with the industry? | Is Blockchain the Answer for Musicians fed up with the industry?
Musicians are fed up with how the current industry controls and exploits their music. That’s why many are flocking to blockchain platforms, with the hope of making the industry more just and transparent
Before the 1990s, record labels tightly controlled all facets of the music industry from musician funding to distribution and even royalty payment collection.
This all changed with the rise of the internet and file sharing platforms such as Napster and Limewire, who made music available anywhere, anytime, and to top it all off, for free.
The rise of file sharing platforms crippled the record labels control over the music industry because they no longer controlled the distribution networks of new music, nor did they have time to recover as consumers moved on to digital music distribution.
The growth of digital music distribution led the industry to lose millions of revenue from lost sales of physical distribution channels, and non-traditional companies arising to cut themselves a piece of the pie.
Many thought the rise of file sharing platforms, which we deem “the first wave of disruption,” would lead to musicians reprising control of the industry because they no longer needed to rely on record labels for promotion and distribution.
However, that did not occur, and instead, the music industry is still controlled by the record labels, albeit, at a smaller percentage than before the 1990s.
Musicians did not feel the full benefits of the first wave of disruption, as the change in distribution channels hurt record labels sales of physical music, but did not remove their control over other areas of the industry.
To combat the issues left by the first wave of disruption, many are touting blockchain technology as the potential catalyst for change in the music industry, which we term “the second wave of disruption.”
Looking beyond the hype associated with blockchain technology, there are real-world uses of the technology to revolutionize the music industry, and dare we say, transition the music industry to a musician-centered ecosystem.
The pioneers pushing for blockchain in the music industry includes members stretching from all areas of the music industry and the blockchain industry.
Though, with any transition, there will be issues that must be managed to help current participants move to blockchain-based systems (“Legacy-to-Blockchain”).
The issues Legacy-to-Blockchain pioneers will face come not only from the current music industry, but also from the inherent limitations of blockchain technology and associated communities.
In this report, we identified the primary issues we expect Legacy-to-Blockchain pioneers to face, and possible strategies to mitigate or resolve them.
Additionally, we examined possible blockchain-based interventions applicable to the music industry.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading a short summary of “A Preliminary Review of Blockchain in the Music Industry!”
The full report is available below for your viewing pleasure.
You may download the full report on Scribd and SSRN.
Please direct any questions or concerns about this report to [email protected] or as a reply.
Author
Scout Stork.
Ledgerback is a Research Cooperative that performs research, consultancy, and advocacy for blockchain networks (use-cases, on/off-chain intelligence), online governance, and decentralized communities and technologies.
In general, our focus is on decentralized technologies and communities, with a goal of creating, curating and distributing resources for the growth of the future decentralized (and hopefully P2P) economy.
Our main research activities are conducting:
research (primarily publishing research reports and summary reviews),
surveys and polls (generally concerning societal adoption of blockchain or specific topics within blockchain communities),
consultancy (assisting projects with their issues), and
advocacy (promoting the local blockchain community in Nevada).
As a Cooperative, we are a community-driven organization owned, managed, and operating for the benefit of our members to realize their common goals.
If you are passionate about about our interests or works, we implore you to join us and create a brighter tomorrow for the new digital frontier.
Joining Ledgerback
You can join us by completing the Membership Agreement Form or downloading the Membership Docs on our website.
Contact Information
For more information, please go to our website at www.ledgerback.coop.
You can also chat with us in our Slack workspace.
If you would like to email us, send a message to [email protected].
Find us on these websites: | https://medium.com/hackernoon/is-blockchain-the-answer-for-musicians-fed-up-with-the-industry-4226aa8b8f6d | [] | 2019-04-23 00:24:10.229000+00:00 | ['Music', 'Business', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Research'] |
Twinkly Strings 250 LEDs Multicolor review: These smart string lights deliver dazzling effects | Twinkly Strings 250 LEDs Multicolor review: These smart string lights deliver dazzling effects Sam Jan 15·6 min read
Smart Christmas tree lights generally do little more than let you turn them on and off with voice commands, but Twinkly’s string lights take the smarts to a new level. Packed with a few dozen effects plus the ability to create your own, Twinkly’s light strings can deliver some truly impressive light shows with the help of an app that maps the position of each individual LED. Besides the Twinkly mobile app, you can also control the Twinkly lights with Alexa and Google Assistant, albeit in a disappointingly limited fashion.
Twinkly’s LED Christmas lights have actually been around for a few years, but my interest was piqued when I finally saw them in action at last year’s CES, where Ledworks, owner of the Twinkly lighting brand, was showing off its new Twinkly Music dongle. I tested both the Twinkly 250-LED string light and the new music accessory for this review.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best smart bulbs, where you’ll find reviews of the competition’s offerings, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.
Specifications and designTwinkly offers its string lights in sizes ranging from 100 LEDs all the way up to 600 LEDs. The brand also offers “Gold Edition” dimmable white LED string lights, icicle and “cluster” style string lights, curtain LED lights, and even pre-lit artificial Christmas trees. Twinkly’s LED string lights are many things, but cheap isn’t one of them; the 250-LED string I tested, for example, costs $120 at Best Buy, while the 600-LED versionRemove non-product link fetches a cool $200.
[ Further reading: The best smart plugs ] The Twinkly string has a traditional design of braided dark-green wire, with the RGB LEDs (which can display up to 16 million colors) interspersed a little more than three inches apart. The LEDs themselves feel relatively sturdy, and they’re designed with a diffused flat lens for “uniform diffusion” of the emitted colors. An in-line controller near the end of the string allows you to cycle through light modes by repeatedly pressing a button, and the string terminates in a chunky 24V power adapter.
Ben Patterson/IDG The LEDs on Twinkly strings are designed with a diffused flat lens, and they’re spaced about three inches apart.
The Twinkly lights are IP44-certified, which means they’re protected against solid objects larger than 1mm and water splashed from all directions; in other words, they should be fine outdoors, even in rain and snow. You can read more about IP codes in this story.
SetupI didn’t have much trouble getting the Twinkly string lights connected to my Wi-Fi network. The first step is to create a Twinkly account; if you wish, you can sign in with Facebook or Apple (not Google, unfortunately), or you can create an account using your email address. Next, you press the button on the Twinkly controller until its embedded status LED turns greenish blue, and then the Twinkly app will search for your lights. Once it’s found them (the process worked for me on the first time), the app lets you choose a nearby Wi-Fi network before prompting you for your password.
After you’ve draped the Twinkly lights around your tree, the outside of your home (you can group up to 10 strings, or up to 4,000 LEDs), or anywhere else you see fit, it’s time to scan the lights with the Twinkly app. If you have the lights hung on a perfectly flat surface, you can choose the 2D scanning option, during which you simply point your camera’s phone at the lights and allow the app to scan all the LEDs.
Ben Patterson/IDG With the Twinkly mobile app, you can map the position of each individual LED on your Twinkly strings.
If the lights are draped over a tree, a bookcase, or (in my case) along the bottom of the top bunk of your daughter’s bunk bed, you can opt for 3D scanning, which involves letting the app scan the LEDs from multiple angles. The process only takes about 10 seconds (or 10 seconds per scan, if you choose the 3D scanning option), and the app managed to map the LEDs with an impressive degree of accuracy.
Features and functionalityNow comes the fun part. Using the app, you can pick one of about a dozen preset animations, from “snow” and “snake” to “diagonal” and “vintage,” or you can download free animations from the Twinkly Effects Store. The animations run the gamut, from random patterns of multicolored twinkling lights and falling snow to dancing hearts or even an animated bat signal.
Ben Patterson/IDG A variety of nifty Twinkly effects are available, ranging from “Snakes” and “Fireworks” to “Candy Canes” and “Vertical Flag.”
All those colorful, coordinated stripes of color marching across your tree can be a tad garish, but they’re undeniably impressive and eye-popping. And while some of the more elaborate animations (such as the bat signal) fell apart on a single Twinkly string, they’d probably look much better on multi-string installations.
Besides the preset animations, you can also create your own Twinkly effects by tapping and swiping on a diagram of your lights in the Twinkly app. You can paint the lights with wide, thin, or sparkling brushstrokes, and you can choose from six basic colors or create your own color palette. Even better, you can create both static and animated effects.
Not only can you apply individual effects to the Twinkly lights, you can also create playlists that cycle through up to 10 effects at intervals ranging from one second to 10 minutes. You can only save one playlist at a time, however, and if you want to go back to a single effect, you’ll erase the playlist you’d created.
Ben Patterson/IDG Once you’ve mapped all the LEDs with the Twinkly app, you can apply some nifty animations to the Twinkly lights (and yes, they’d look even better on a tree).
If you want to sync your Twinkly lights with some tunes, you can do so with the aforementioned Twinkly MusicRemove non-product link, a $30 USB dongle with a built-in microphone.
Twinkly Music connects to your lights via Bluetooth and makes the lights pulse along with any sound that its microphone picks up. If you take the time to connect Twinkly Music to your Wi-Fi network, you can also control the pattern of the lights by choosing one of eight “drivers,” including “Beat Hue,” “Red Line,” “Psychedelica,” “Sparkle,” and “VU Meter”. The Twinkly Music dongle did a nice job of syncing my Spotify playlist with the lights, and the various music drivers were nifty, particularly the Beat Hue and VU Meter drivers.
The Twinkly app offers a basic timer that will turn your Twinkly lights on and off at specified times, but it can’t change the effect or brightness or your lights, nor can you set any weekly or monthly schedules. Also missing is a sunrise/sunset option.
Smart home integrationsTwinkly lights support both Alexa and Google Assistant, and you can use voice commands to turn your Twinkly string on or off, adjust the brightness, or change primary colors. You can also add the Twinkly lights to Alexa and Google Assistant routines, which means you can create more elaborate schedules that include sunset/sunrise triggers.
Unfortunately, neither Alexa nor Google Assistant can control Twinkly’s animated effects, so if you do use one of the assistants for scheduling your Twinkly lights, you’ll be limited to a relatively basic color palette. Now, if Alexa and Google Assistant could treat Twinkly’s animations as lighting scenes that you could incorporate into routines, we’d really have something.
Bottom lineTwinkly’s sturdy and colorful LED string lights make for an impressive and eye-popping holiday decoration, with animations that are sure to wow the neighbors. But the lights aren’t cheap, smart home integration is only so-so, and we wish that the timer function was more fully baked.
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/@sam15376110/twinkly-strings-250-leds-multicolor-review-these-smart-string-lights-deliver-dazzling-effects-d844fa180da7 | [] | 2021-01-15 18:29:23.652000+00:00 | ['Home Theater', 'Chromecast', 'Gear', 'Home Tech'] |
Trump or Hillary: why I just can’t. | Trump or Hillary: why I just can’t.
Written October 2016
Well I’ve done it: Jumped on the bandwagon with all the other masses of people who love to render unsolicited advice. And of all topics, I chose the ever-depressing, ever-impending 2016 presidential election.
In a nutshell: I can’t vote for Hillary and I can’t vote for Trump, and that doesn’t make me an irresponsible or apathetic American. Here’s why:
Recently a friend passed along an interesting article entitled, “I’m pro life. And I’m voting for Hillary. Here’s why.” The title definitely sparked my interest, since the abortion issue is what I would consider to be my personal “hill to die on.” (More on that in just a minute) This jist of the article was that a liberal approach to government would do more for helping the American people (especially those within the demographics that are prone to abortions) than a republican approach. In a way, I resonated with her viewpoint. It seems like republican politicians frequently push the idea of freedom from an economic standpoint: “Stop giving away our money to people who haven’t worked for it.” And liberals argue, “These people need help and it’s the government’s job to do so.” Hillary and Trump represent the extremes of these two views, and I have problems with both.
But first, let me back up and explain why the abortion issue is so central in mind when it comes to choosing where to place my vote.
Why is abortion my main issue?
There are real lives at stake here: Lives of entire communities that function without a stable nuclear family; without fathers or real men to value their daughters so that they don’t try to meet their need for love by sleeping around with guys who will immediately leave or pressure them to “get rid of it.” There are expectant women who literally have neither the time nor understanding to navigate a horrifically abused, complicated, and insufficient system in order to get the medical care, childcare, housing, and food that they truly need. And let’s also not forget the lives that are literally at stake: the children who haven’t exited their mother’s womb but are viable, living beings with faces that look like their parents’ and souls that are completely unique. A child that born into an unfortunate circumstance still has worth and still has a right to his or her life.
Many women who abort their babies aren’t doing so because they want to make a political statement about their right to choose. It feels like there is no choice but to abort. These women feel trapped, overwhelmed, and alone. When they themselves have not been treated as someone of worth, how can we expect them to value the tiny human beings inside them?
What does this have to do with the election? You can’t stop evil from happening, but the leaders in our country have a responsibly to do their best to protect American lives and freedom; and we have a responsibility to care for one another…not by shooing our neighbors off to a broken system, but by rolling up our sleeves and caring for people ourselves: adopting, educating, giving, mentoring, and actually caring in a way that involves direct and personal sacrifice of time and money.
There is a real need for women like teenage moms and single moms to have support. The system is failing them, and I honestly believe that pouring more money and red tape into a welfare system that is already broken and corrupt is not going to solve that problem. However, simply outlawing abortion is not going to improve life for those women either.
Lastly, there is no such thing as a safe abortion. Some methods are obviously less damaging than others, yes — I see what you were getting at. But it needs to be understood that an abortion does lasting damage, not only to the baby whose life never gets lived, but also to the mother who is physically and emotionally affected in deeper ways than most of them would ever expect. Nothing is ever without hope of healing, but it is truly a damaging and tragic occurrence that is so SO common. Over 55 MILLION abortions have been reported in the US since Roe V Wade (and not all states even have to report their numbers — California being one of them). That’s five times the number of people killed in the Holocaust.
So with that, let’s get back to the candidates.
Why not Hillary?
The Left has it absolutely right in identifying that there are people in our nation who need help. However, the problem with their view is that the government shouldn’t and can’t effectively satisfy the needs of all these people groups that they endeavor to help. No matter how well intentioned, the more that the government interferes with these groups of people, the more trouble that is created. For example, the article mentioned Hillary’s support for single mothers in low income areas. True, this demographic is where the majority of abortions come from. However, single mothers qualify for significantly more government welfare programs than do married parents. Also, the more you make, the fewer benefits that you qualify for. So in its efforts to care for others, the government has created an incredibly complex and easily abused system that disincentives people from work and marriage.
Republicans have it right that freedom from a tyrannical government is an essential element of human life that is worth fighting for. However, the problem with the typical republican approach is that they are trying to defend liberty for entirely the wrong reason. Yes, freedom is a God-ordained human right, but biblically the purpose of freedom has always been so that we can generously provide and care for those around us. God brought the Israelites out of captivity for that same purpose:
“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people,a light for the nations to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42)
So, if it is true that abortions have increased during republican presidency,* it’s an evidence that we have lost sight of the duty of the American people as individual free human beings to step in with the care and financial support that republicans claim the government has neither the capacity nor the rights to provide.
She is explicitly aiming at destroying human life. Yes, most abortions don’t happen at 40 weeks (especially since it’s illegal at that gestational age in most states), but the fact that the potential future president sees full term abortions as justifiable and even condones them is terrifying to me. This kind of disregard for the most defenseless beings in our nation is not something that I can support as a voter.
Hillary’s stance on this issue also demonstrates her disregard for American women. Abortions are physically destructive and emotionally damaging for the women on whom they are performed. This is true when performed at any phase in pregnancy, and even more so later on. We should be offering love, support, help, charity (from our own pockets) and encouragement for the expectant mothers in our nation, not an “easy” solution that leaves women injured and alone.
Why Not Trump?
I saw a clip of an interview with Trump where they were asking him what to do about abortion in America, and all he kept blubbering was that he “is pro life.” When the interviewer pressed him further, he stated that there should be “some kind of punishment” for women who have abortions…He missed the point completely.
Donald Trump is arrogant, selfish, dishonest, immoral, and ignorant. He repeatedly fails to be a man of his word, and his track record proves that he neither values human life (aside from his own) nor understands the issue of abortion. This combination of ignorance and apathy worries me that his list of 11 candidates for the Justice positions is worthless because he will say anything in order to get what he wants.
“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate — look to his character. . . . When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor, he betrays the interest of his country” — Noah Webster
I can’t ignore my conscience in an effort to support the “lesser evil.” I didn’t follow my conscience during the primaries, and I regret it. I was a part of the large group of people who voted for Rubio because “he was electable.” What a waste. Now I’m realizing that I need to change my tune and actually use my right as a voter in the way that I’m supposed to. All these strategic and manipulative voting tactics is what helped land us in this debacle in the first place (well, that and the belief that government’s purpose is solve all our problems for us). I do get it that you need to vote for the lesser of two evils sometimes. But when both candidates check pretty much every box of what a president should not be, I just can’t do it.
Trump would be a terrible president. I don’t trust him and honestly don’t think I can vote for him. But that doesn’t mean that Hillary is the better choice.
So then what?
Lately I’m realizing that I have been operating under the belief that I HAVE to vote for one of the two main candidates, or else I’m not fulfilling my civic duty. However, I’m starting to realize just the opposite now:
My duty as an American (and also a believer) is to make an informed decision about voting — to honor my conscience and to make a wise choice. Just because I may not feel like I can rightly check either box on that portion of my ballot does not mean that I am choosing to be apathetic about this election and the future of our nation. It simply means that I don’t believe that I am doing my country a service by voting for either candidate.
But, I can’t stop there. If I really believe that either option will be putting an evil person in power, I had better get together a game plan for how else to counteract that evil. So, for me personally the outplaying of my civic duty is going to look like this:
1. Not voting for Hillary or Trump
2. Standing up for the causes that I fear will not be supported by the future president (whoever it ends up being). Specifically for me, that will be continuing to support and getting re-involved in volunteering at the East End Pregnancy Test + Help Center
3. Not being as ignorant about politics as I have been in years previous so that I can intelligently engage with people and hopefully make a positive impact four years from now
4. Being a neighbor and a friend to people. I believe that the government is not suited for supporting those in need. The welfare system is insufficient and abused both internally and externally. I think it’s the government’s job to guard our freedom and administer justice (through punishing evil and rewarding good), and it’s Church’s job to care for people. So, since I most likely will not like what I’m seeing come from Washington, I need to step up with eyes to see those in need, a mind to discern what to do (or sometimes not do) for them, and a heart to extend gospel-centered generosity and love to the poor and marginalized
5. Praying, praying, praying for mercy on our nation and for the leaders of our government to know the Lord and be changed by Him
Neither candidate for presidency hold a view that values women and unborn children; and Hillary’s views are particularly destructive in these areas. I don’t know what to do with my vote in November. But I do know this: it is my responsibility to be a neighbor and a friend in my community. To give to those who are in need so that they don’t have to rely on a government that doesn’t know or value them. So I’m gonna start there, and pray for mercy for our nation, opened eyes for its people, and changed hearts for our leaders.
*If you look at planned parenthoods own reports, the abortion rate has actually steadily declined since the early 1980s…so it’s kind of unfair to make the point that abortions were higher during in Reagan’s administration than they were in Clinton’s — the decline has occurred consistently regardless of who has been in office) | https://medium.com/@juliedavis_73895/trump-or-hillary-why-i-just-cant-43d021a15a52 | ['Julie Davis'] | 2019-11-14 02:15:22.126000+00:00 | ['Politics', 'Abortion', 'Trump', 'Hillary Clinton', 'Us Election 2016'] |
CyberPeace Institute Calls for Accountability of Intrusion as a Service Sector | Marietje Schaake, President of the CyberPeace Institute argues that commercially available hacking, intrusion and exfiltration systems are making cyberspace unstable and unsafe for the people connected to it.
The CyberPeace Institute joins leading civil society organizations and UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye in opposing intrusion as a service (IaaS), given its deeply harmful impact on achieving peace in cyberspace. The updated EU laws are a step in the right direction but fall short of addressing the systematic problems we identify.
We express grave concern with the impact on vulnerable populations and individuals that are often the prime targets of systems designed, marketed and sold to cause harm.
Without stronger prevention and accountability, this sector will grow further out of control. A moratorium can bridge the time between now and the moment rules are adopted to protect people from the escalation and proliferation of IaaS technologies.
Short of laws and international agreements limiting the development and trade in hacking and surveillance systems, corporates are now battling it out in court. When it comes to where company liability should lie for companies that sell intrusion as a service, WhatsApp was recently joined by Google, Microsoft and others in ensuring NSO Group and other companies do not operate with immunity and thus impunity.
The harms of intrusion as a service have global, public interest reverberations. Particularly vulnerable populations including human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents are targeted.
There are both human rights and security concerns to be addressed, including the proliferation which is widespread and leads to a lack of control and oversight of the most aggressive technological systems.
Commercially available hacking, intrusion and exfiltration systems are making cyberspace less stable and the people connected to it unsafe. Prevention of harms and accountability of those responsible for facilitating human rights abuses are long overdue.
***
The CyberPeace Institute is an independent, non-profit organization with the mission to enhance the stability of cyberspace. It does so by supporting vulnerable communities, analysing attacks collaboratively, and advancing responsible behaviour in cyberspace.
Web|Twitter|Facebook|LinkedIn | https://medium.com/the-cyber-peace-institute/cyberpeace-institute-calls-for-accountability-of-intrusion-as-a-service-sector-c1c5597864c3 | ['The Cyberpeace Institute'] | 2021-01-22 16:26:06.060000+00:00 | ['Cyberspace', 'Iaas', 'Cybersecurity', 'Cyber Peace', 'Hacking'] |
Robert E. Sherwood — American Playwright & Screenwriter | A literary sketch of Sherwood seen through the eyes of John Mason Brown’s biography — The Worlds of Robert E. Sherwood
Like many another, Robert E. Sherwood came back from the First World War a changed man, as John Mason Brown writes in his 1965 biography:
“ He was a troubled and uprooted young man. He was not only convalescing physically, he was convalescing from a war. Like hundreds of thousands of other young men, he was a different man, come back to a different country to start a different life. With difficulty he was adjusting himself to the lower-keyed realities of peace. For the first time he was confronted with the full meaning, to him and his family, of his father’s failure and retirement. Skene Wood was gone. So was the Lexington Avenue in which the Sherwoods had lived for thirteen years. So was the routine of going off to school or college which before the war had been part of his life. The question Sherwood faced, once he had recovered from his immediate past, was his future. He wanted to write and he needed a job.”
Having suffered from a gas attack in 1918, and fallen onto wooden spikes in a German trench, Sherwood, on his return to the US, made his way to New York for a medical check-up and the hoped for writing job. The medical went well, with Dr James Alexander (a noted lung specialist) declaring his lungs much improved and that by the autumn he should be “…nearly normal…” which no doubt brought a wry smile to Sherwood’s face.
When it came to a writing job he pretty much fell into it, but with results far less painful than falling into a German trench.
After visiting the lung specialist Robert Sherwood answered an advertisement for a position as a writer at Vanity Fair. He was interviewed by Robert Benchley, who was impressed by Sherwood, as John Mason Brown writes:
“ On May 21 Robert Benchley, two days after he had taken over as managing editor of Vanity Fair, was writing in his diary about ‘meeting Bob Sherwood who presented his six feet five or ten in candidacy for a job he may get as Miss Bristed is leaving.’ The postscript, as expected, is that he got the job, and a week later was working at the office on a three-month trial basis at $25 a week.” That $25 would equate to around $300 in today’s values.
It was better pay than the army and a job that opened many literary doors for Sherwood during the eight months he worked at the magazine, and as Mason Brown writes in his compelling and beautifully written biography:
“ Vanity Fair was the Gideon of the sophisticated. Frank Crowninshield [editor from 1914–1935] was its boutonniere of an editor; Condé Nast [ Condé Montrose Nast], owner of the far more profitable but equally glossy Vogue, its ducal publisher; and Sherwood’s two associates, in whose office he was given a desk, were Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker with whom he at once formed an inseparable trio.”
These were the founding members of the Algonquin Round Table.
By 1954, just over one year from his death, Robert E. Sherwood had become something of a national treasure, with some of the most popular American plays, and screenplays, ever written under his belt, with a keen reputation rightly earned as an advisor to and speechwriter for President Roosevelt during World War II.
In 1948 Sherwood’s best selling biography, Roosevelt and Hopkins, was published to great acclaim, and gives an intimate and personal account of a crucial time in American history.
Abe Books
Sherwood was often criticised for his honesty, especially when he made a speech in the April of 1954 at his old school, Milton Academy in Massachusetts . He was consumed with weariness.
John Mason Brown:
“ Sherwood’s day had been exhausting. He had spoken that morning at the Naval War College in Newport on the political aspects of strategy, and speaking had become for him an ordeal. He had guessed he would be nervous at Milton, and he was. To take his mind off his speech, he had asked his old friend, tutor, and favorite master, Albert W. Hunt, to dine with him at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston. Though they had talked pleasantly of old times, his nervousness grew. It was even greater when they had driven to Milton. There, to subdue it, he took a giant’s slug of gin, uncontaminated by ice, ten minutes before he walked onto the platform.
“ It was not only conquered pain or the fatigue of a tiring day which pinched his face and accentuated the puffs under his eyes as he towered above the podium. It was the accumulated weariness of days and nights and years of living and giving and working as if his superb energies were endless. It was the secret fear that haunts the creator, the fear that his gift had left him because he had not had a successful new play produced on Broadway in fourteen years.
“ It was the sorrow and the emptiness of the let down after the death of Roosevelt and after the dizzying tensions and excitements of the war years spent close to the White House and to great events. It was the heartbreak of seeing the heroic efforts and sacrifices of a Second World War end in disenchantment, with Hitler and the other marchers stopped but with victory not even bringing a true peace. It was the deep alarm with which he recognised the threats of nuclear power and his realization that this time he spoke not only in a different world but in a different age.
“ Sherwood had tried to tell the unflinching truth as he saw and felt it in 1940 when Paris had fallen. He tried to do the same thing now as, with his long, nervous fingers spilling communication, he opened his manuscript and began to read, having put on his reading glasses. These turned the audience for him into a blur except for the attentive students in the front rows.”
Forgive me for quoting from the prologue of Mason’s biography at length, but it’s an extraordinary piece of writing that places the reader directly at Sherwood’s shoulder, and throughout it there are chilling echoes of Sherwood’s work, not least his 1946 screenplay for William Wyler’s, The Best Years of Our Lives (based on Mackinlay Kantor’s novella, Glory For Us), which is full of the weariness and the heroic sacrifices that many back home are not — at least initially — even prepared to acknowledge. And it’s Sherwood’s committed, honest writing that turns Kantor’s slim verse volume into a many faceted film that is perhaps the pinnacle of Sherwood’s writing career. It is one of those Hollywood movies that gets it right, giving the viewer a genuine insight into the ‘deep alarm’ of early post-war America.
The ‘deep alarm’ is a theme that runs through all of Sherwood’s work, as it does through the novels of John Steinbeck: it is the alarm of a generation.
And by the time of his speech at his old school Sherwood came out as the committed pacifist his 1946 screenplay suggested, giving the assembled students, parents and many veterans, in the school’s assembly hall, a stern lecture on the dangers of the unrolling nuclear age, not least the cobalt bomb, rounding off with an emotional role call of three of the school’s students (one his nephew) who had died in two world wars, and the more recent Korean War. He finished with saying , in a slight reversal of his message, that war was a dirty business and that those involved in war must fight in the dirtiest way possible, “…never forgetting that world disarmament is the ultimate goal.”
Sherwood was a better dramatist than polemicist, and apologized when the letters of complaint started coming in.
He was pretty much at the end of his tether.
John Mason Brown was born in Louisville, Kentucky on the 3rd of July 1900, graduating from Harvard in 1923. As a journalist he worked for the New York Evening Post for twelve years. During WWII Brown served as a lieutenant in the U S Navy, with his memoir, To All Hands, vividly describing his time aboard USS Ancon during the invasion of Sicily.
John Mason Brown. Image: wordpress.com
After his war service Brown’s column, ‘Seeing Things’, appeared in the weekly magazine, The Saturday Review, a wide ranging column he continued to write until his death in New York in 1969.
Brown’s biography of Sherwood is his lasting literary legacy, not only of a friend, but of a fine playwright, biographer and screenwriter. | https://stevenewmanwriter.medium.com/robert-e-sherwood-american-playwright-screenwriter-868b00c1447e | ['Steve Newman Writer'] | 2019-11-27 15:14:31.795000+00:00 | ['History', 'Screenwriter', 'Biography', 'Books', 'Playwrights'] |
A Greater Pleasure | Photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi on Unsplash
We shudder and quake
We shiver in tiny explosions
knowing what I can do
how I can make You feel
Is a greater pleasure
than any I could receive. | https://medium.com/sensual-enchantment/a-greater-pleasure-27c630395236 | ['Fleur Sauvage'] | 2020-12-23 00:10:10.421000+00:00 | ['Sex', 'Sexuality', 'Poetry', 'Orgasm', 'Love'] |
DEPTH OF A WOMAN: HER HEALING SOUL | So, how do we heal after divorce? How do we realign with our soul? How far do we dig until we find the soul of the women that we are? The soul of the mothers that we are? The soul of the caregivers that we are? The soul of the breadwinners that we are? And when we find it, what do we do with the secrets that are revealed to us? I think about the concept of aligning with our soul. I compare that to the alignment on a car. If a car is out of alignment it is also out of balance. So, if we are out of alignment with our soul, we are out of balance with our soul as well. I know many people that suffer depression. I have been depressed due to circumstances like hello… Divorce? But I have never suffered from clinical depression. Someone close to me said that she feels like she is out of alignment with her soul when she is depressed. I thought that was a profound way to express how depression feels. You are out of balance. You no longer see your world with any equilibrium. And yes, I have felt that before, many times. But how I find my way to back to balance is through a deep dive to regain the essence of my soul. And that usually takes me back to the roots of my life. The voice in my head has never really grown up. It’s the same voice that has been talking to me forever. It has no age. It has no dimensions. It is the voice of my soul. Take time for your own deep dive and allow the voice in your head, the voice in your soul to offer you the comfort you need. The little girl you once were, the adolescent you once were, the daughter, the mother, even the wife you once were. All these seasons of your soul are there to speak to you and guide you and give you the warmth and support that sometimes feels a million miles away. But it’s not. It right there inside of you, waiting with open arms to greet you and welcome you back to yourself. Find a quiet place. Sit in silent stillness in your room before going to sleep, or in your car while you wait to pick up your child from school. If you are lucky and can take a field trip, go sit by the ocean in stillness. Sit by a lake or under a tree in a park, take deep cleansing breaths in and slowly breathe all the way out letting your shoulders drop to calmness. In your mind’s eye, visit with your oneness and the spirit of your soul. Breath.
Believe it or not, I’d love to go to the moon.
Annie Easley
African American NASA computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist
Imagine someone like Annie Easley who was born in 1933 at a time in the world that society had already defined the roles of women. I love her because she had to go deep inside herself and push through obstacles to manifest her truth. She was wicked smart and was not about to hide it. So, her soul said, “I’d love to go to the moon!” And though this didn’t mean she hopped in a rocket and flew northbound, it meant she had a purpose that was deeper than anything society was telling her at that time. She was going to make a difference. She was going to build that darn rocket! And I am sure, it wasn’t easy on any day! We all have that ability to make a difference. We can get down on ourselves after a divorce. Makes sense, right? But we can also build ourselves up and put ourselves back together and keep the ship afloat because we have a most profound responsibility. That is, as parent. And most daunting of all, a single parent. But what about the fact that we are also dealing with a broken heart? Our hearts and souls are linked like cookies and milk. Or, in my world a beautiful glass of Pinot Grigio and a cheeseboard! The two just blissfully go together! When you experience a broken heart, you experience a broken soul as well. That’s when I go deep. I push past the fractured heart that stands in front of me like a cracked brick wall. I push through it to find my soul again. I need to know my soul like I need to know love. Like the food or water, we require to survive. We may not have the love of our husbands any longer. But we sure as heck have the love of our own soul and no one is given permission to access that sacred place. So, find that essence in you. It won’t happen overnight, and it will take faith that it is there for you to enter. Don’t let the actions of someone like an ex-husband steal your identity altogether. You can give up the label you once had called, Mrs. But you don’t have to give up a single ounce more! Dare to dream beyond what you think you deserve as a result of a divorce and dare to imagine that which is in your heart. It is all yours for the taking!
“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already;
We have the power to imagine better.”
J.K. Rowling
How will you make a difference? When I first became divorced and the shock of what happened to me and my children started to soften, I started to feel angry. It was an anger that was not so much directed against my husband who left us for another woman. It was a kind of righteous anger I felt. I was going to get off the roller coaster that he had created and calm things down. I was going to step in and take care of the family he no longer wanted. The first thing I did was go to a photographer and get a family picture taken. It was my statement to myself that we were “the family” now. We were the three amigos. My son was 4 years old and my daughter was 8 weeks old when we had the portrait taken. That picture has hung in my bedroom for 20 years now. And to this day it remains my north star. It is the reason I get up every day. It is the reminder that I am more than just myself. As the years have gone by and my two little chicks in the photo are now in their twenties, I see it as somewhat of a symbol. I am sitting on the floor and my baby girl is in my arms and all is well in her world and she is loved. My son is standing behind me with his little arms around my neck and tucked close to my head, almost whispering in my ear, “I got your back Mama”. And he always has. We have all had each other’s backs for the past 20 years. And we are a family. We are a good family. For any love that had been taken away from us by a fleeing husband and an absent father, we make up for it all in spades. And there is no thing or no person that will ever steal that from us. As we grow and gain new relationships and become the people we were meant to be, the soul of our family will remain intact and we will accept all the goodness coming our way that we deserve! And so, will you! As Dory the Fish would say, “Just Keep Swimming!”
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
Albert Einstein
And what it is I have really learned on this journey over the past 20 years that may mean something to you? Well, the road to learning for me has been long and at times rocky. So, what is it I have learned? The first thing I have learned is that I am enough. I always was. The thing is, I just wasn’t enough for him. I wasn’t the homemaker he wanted. I wasn’t the Rhodes Scholar he wanted. I wasn’t the athlete he wanted. I wasn’t many things to him. But what I learned the most is that it was not my responsibility to be any of those things to him. These were his issues. Not mine. And I was enough. He was just too selfish to see it. There are days I wonder if he ever regretted leaving his family. Leaving his children only to be a Disneyland Dad. Did he ever sit in the quietness of his own soul and question anything he did? Did he ever sit in the stillness of his heart and regret hurting us so much? Did he ever stop long enough to ask himself if she was worth it? He has been with her now for as long as he has been without us. Did he improve his life? Or did he just get himself into something that he couldn’t get out of? All these questions still bubble through me every so often. When my son graduated from Berkeley, I was so proud. He did it! And I do mean, he did it! My daughter and ex-husband missed the main school graduation that was held in the university stadium. He graduated with a degree in Political Science. That graduation would be held the following day in smaller stadium which my ex-husband would be attending. But this was the main university ceremony that had all graduates marching to pomp and circumstance. I was sitting in this vast stadium all by myself. I was surrounded by families holding balloons and leis and flowers and cheering their sons or daughters on as they marched in with smiling faces that illuminated enough energy to light the stadium. But I was alone. I looked around the stadium and oddly felt a sense of peace that completely overwhelmed me emotionally. It was okay though. Every parent there was crying tears of joy for their child and probably tears of joy that they were not faced with any more tuition payments! I know I was! I was overwhelmed with emotion because I had kept my promise to him. I never left him as I promised. I loved him all the way to a degree from Berkeley. He earned the degree and worked hard to achieve Summa Cum Laude. But I earned a Summa and a Magne Cum Laude as the best single parent I knew how to be. And in that moment; in my moment… I cheered myself on too. When we had our son and we sat at our dining room table and planned for his college tuition decades earlier, I never would have thought I would be sitting in the college stadium alone without the guy who sat with me at the dining room table. But when I look back now, it was my moment to have alone. And I am proud of myself for helping this extraordinary little boy who in that picture put his arms around my neck and placed his head next to mine and it brought it all full circle. My daughter is next, and I fully expect to experience all the same emotions when she graduates. The difference will be that my son will be next to me cheering her on and the family we have always been will have remained intact and the three amigos will ride again!
“My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.” Wilma Rudolph, Olympian
So, as you take that voyage deep into your soul, remember the tapestry of experiences that made you long before you knew the word divorce even existed. As I mentioned earlier, you are the architect to the blueprint project called, “your children”. And this responsibility is paramount. There is nothing fair about being a single parent. And no doubt it is a lonely walk. So much of the energy we put out in the world is given to everyone and everything except to ourselves. Of course, our children take a front seat. They must. As Jacky Kennedy once said, “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do, matters very much.” But you also have a responsibility to care for yourself and to nourish your soul. If you show that side of yourself to your children, they too will learn what it is to love themselves. You cannot show your children how to believe in themselves if you don’t take the necessary steps to be your own biggest cheerleader. And the best way to start is to get still. Be calm. Go deep. Remember who you are. You are anyone you want to be. You are the woman you imagine yourself to be. Listen to the true you, the voice inside. Breathe. And find the soul that you have longed to be reacquainted with.
Namaste. | https://medium.com/@karenczulegerstrgacich/depth-of-a-woman-her-healing-soul-6878fe79ce9b | ['Karen Czuleger Strgacich'] | 2020-03-04 20:59:55.506000+00:00 | ['Single Motherhood', 'Divorce', 'Parenthood', 'Parenting Advice', 'Parenting'] |
Cherry Hill school district volleys for a cause | Cherry Hill school district volleys for a cause
Educators’ union steps up to help children with genetic disease
Cherry Hill Education Association represents more than 1,000 staff members across all 19 schools in the district.
Each academic year, their thoughts are not only concerned with business plans, lesson plans, classroom arrangements and learning new students’ names, but also on those in the community who are facing particular challenges.
This year, the CHEA has decided to stage its annual charity volleyball tournament in the gym at Cherry Hill East High School to benefit the Ehlers Danlos Society, a group that raises awareness and funds to combat Ehlers Danlos syndromes, a group of connective tissue disorders that can be inherited and are varied both in how they affect the body and in their genetic causes. They are generally characterized by joints that stretch farther than normal, skin that can be stretched farther than normal and tissue fragility.
Steve Redfearn, CHEA president for the last three years and a teacher in the district for 14 years prior, has an intimate connection to the yearly undertaking.
“My wife and I initiated the event back in 2004, and at that time we had six schools. In each successive year, slowly but surely we built up. Four or five years in, we had all our schools participating — that’s all 12 elementary schools, both high schools and all three middle schools,” Redfearn said.
“The first year, we held it at Carusi (Middle School) with a couple bottles of water and soft pretzels, and it’s now grown to raffle baskets, gift baskets, bounce houses, face painting, balloon animals. It’s become a whole community event.”
Aside from being a relatively unknown affliction, Redfearn noted Ehlers Danlos hits squarely at home in the Cherry Hill district, with several students, as well as one teacher’s daughter, suffering from its effects. He noted Ehlers Danlos was actually considered to be the cause to raise money for several years prior, but ultimately decided this year was the time to move forward to render aid for that particular ailment.
Redfearn added this year’s charity tournament marks the first time it will be held in the fall rather than the spring, owing to the capriciousness of weather and a spate of other events in the district or elsewhere that coincide with better temperatures. He hopes to see upward of 500 participants, with competing teams having anywhere from a minimum of six to as many as 15 players, of all possible combinations.
“With the high school and middle schools, sometimes they have more males than females, so we’re trying to have an equal ratio so it’s not six males and three females against an elementary school that’s all female teachers. We’re just trying to make it fair,” Redfearn said about structuring the teams more evenly for better competition.
Due to space constraints, only two games will take place at one time. It is a single-elimination format, where a team loses, it’s out, and the winner advances. Redfearn mentioned he plans to honor the first-, second- and third-place teams, along with a “spirit award” that will be presented to the school that perhaps takes itself not so seriously. One year in the recent past, participants on Clara Barton Elementary School’s team even dressed in superhero costumes. Again, in the spirit of fair play, a different school will win the spirit prize each year.
Whether a team exits early or sticks around long enough to try to win the whole tournament, entertainment will abound to keep younger participants present and focused. The spirit of giving usually strikes parents, teachers and administrators enough that they will often volunteer if their own or their child’s team is eliminated, or if they are not a part of the games themselves. The usual fare of pretzels, hot dogs, pizza, chips and soda will be sold in the cafeteria. In addition, various parent-teacher associations are expected to donate additional food items.
The charity tournament is slated for Friday, Oct. 12, starting at 5:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door of Cherry Hill East. The cost is $3 for adults and $2 for children. | https://medium.com/the-cherry-hill-sun/cherry-hill-school-district-volleys-for-a-cause-13144dd9a38f | ['Bob Herpen'] | 2018-09-21 16:02:00.322000+00:00 | ['Volleyball', 'Education', 'Charity', 'Kids', 'Disease'] |
Naïve Bayes Algorithm -Implementation from scratch in Python. | I ntroduction
Naïve Bayes algorithm is a supervised classification algorithm based on Bayes theorem with strong(Naïve) independence among features.
Bayes’ Theorem
In probability theory and statistics, Bayes’ theorem describes the probability of an event, based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to the event — Source: Wikipedia
Bayes’ Theorem
Naive Bayes Classifier formula can be written based on Bayes theorem as:
Naive Bayes Classifier Formula
Where,
x1, … , xj are j features that are independent of each other. y is the dependent variable.
are j features that are independent of each other. is the dependent variable. P(y|x1,…, xj): Posterior Probability
P(x1, …, xj|y): Likelihood of features x1 to xj given that their class is y.
of features x1 to xj given that their class is y. P(y): Prior Probability
P(x1, …, xj): Marginal Probability
How Does Naïve Bayes Algorithm Works?
Let’s understand through an example:
Step 1: We start by importing dataset and necessary dependencies
We will be using the weather dataset for training. This dataset includes features [Outlook, Temp, Humidity, Windy], and the corresponding target variable ‘Play’. Now, we need to predict whether players will play or not based on given weather conditions.
#Weather Dataset Outlook Temp Humidity Windy Play
Rainy Hot High f no
Rainy Hot High t no
Overcast Hot High f yes
Sunny Mild High f yes
Sunny Cool Normal f yes
Sunny Cool Normal t no
Overcast Cool Normal t yes
Rainy Mild High f no
Rainy Cool Normal f yes
Sunny Mild Normal f yes
Rainy Mild Normal t yes
Overcast Mild High t yes
Overcast Hot Normal f yes
Sunny Mild High t no
Step1: Loading Dataset
Step 2: Calculate Prior Probability of Classes P(y)
#Frequency table P(Play=Yes) = 9/14 = 0.64
P(Play=No) = 5/14 = 0.36
Prior Probability Calculation Function
Step 3: Calculate the Likelihood Table for all features
#Likelihood Table #Outlook
Play Overcast Rainy Sunny
Yes 4/9 2/9 3/9
No 0/5 3/5 2/5
___ ___ ___
4/14 5/14 5/14 #Temp
Play Cool Mild Hot
Yes 3/9 4/9 2/9
No 1/5 2/5 2/5
___ ___ ___
4/14 6/14 4/14 #Humidity
Play High Normal
Yes 3/9 6/9
No 4/5 1/5
___ ___
7/14 7/14 #Windy
Play f t
Yes 6/9 3/9
No 2/5 3/5
___ ___
8/14 6/14
Step 4: Now, Calculate Posterior Probability for each class using the Naive Bayesian equation. The Class with maximum probability is the outcome of the prediction.
Query: Whether Players will play or not when the weather conditions are [Outlook=Rainy, Temp=Mild, Humidity=Normal, Windy=t]?
Calculation of Posterior Probability:
P(y=Yes|x) = P(Yes|Rainy,Mild,Normal,t) P(Rainy,Mild,Normal,t|Yes) * P(Yes)
= ___________________________________
P(Rainy,Mild,Normal,t) P(Rainy|Yes)*P(Mild|Yes)*P(Normal|Yes)*P(t|Yes)*P(Yes)
= ______________________________________________________
P(Rainy)*P(Mild)*P(Normal)*P(t)
Since Conditional independence of two random variables, A and B gave C holds just in case
P(A, B | C) = P(A | C) * P(B | C)
(2/9) * (4/9) * (6/9) * (3/9) * (9/14)
= _______________________________________
(5/14) * (6/14) * (7/14) * (6/14)
= 0.43 P(y=No|x) = P(No|Rainy,Mild,Normal,t) P(Rainy,Mild,Normal,t|No) * P(No)
= ___________________________________
P(Rainy,Mild,Normal,t) P(Rainy|No)*P(Mild|No)*P(Normal|No)*P(t|No)*P(No)
= ______________________________________________________
P(Rainy)*P(Mild)*P(Normal)*P(t) (3/5) * (2/5) * (1/5) * (3/5) * (5/14)
= _______________________________________
(5/14) * (6/14) * (7/14) * (6/14)
= 0.31
Now, P(Play=Yes|Rainy,Mild,Normal,t) has the highest Posterior probability.
From the above calculation, we can say that there is a high probability for the players to Play in the given weather condition i.e., data belongs to a class Yes. | https://medium.com/@rangavamsi5/na%C3%AFve-bayes-algorithm-implementation-from-scratch-in-python-7b2cc39268b9 | [] | 2020-07-14 18:54:10.604000+00:00 | ['Supervised Learning', 'Machine Learning', 'Naive Bayes', 'Classification Algorithms', 'Naive Bayes Classifier'] |
How to open a company in Thailand | Choose the legal form
There are several main types of companies and the process starts by choosing a suitable one. These business forms include the ordinary and the limited partnerships, the public and the limited companies, and the sole trader.
Select the available name
The name of the new company is important and it needs to be a unique one that does not infringe other names already in use by registered Thai companies. A preliminary name check can be performed.
Draw up the company documents
A Thai company is incorporated through the registration of the Articles of Association and a Memorandum. These are bylaws of the company, its constitutive documents that include relevant information about the business.
Register the company
Companies are required to register with the Department of Business Development belonging to the Ministry of Commerce. Founders submit a special application form, together with the company documents and other statements.
Obtain additional permits
Some companies require additional licensing from Thai Ministries. Income tax and VAT registrations are also mandatory and are to take place within 60 days after incorporation. | https://medium.com/@naf-29115/how-to-open-a-company-in-thailand-ca43908ea6f8 | [] | 2020-12-23 03:28:53.671000+00:00 | ['Work Permit', 'Tax Registration', 'Setting Up A Business', 'Thailand', 'Business'] |
Solving For Optimization Problems | The solution to an optimization problem can be done by selecting different methods. Moreover, the user can navigate on the surface or curve to establish an initial point and find the optimal or critical point, which can be observed on the plotted function.
Contents
1.Single Value Differentiation
2. Minima and Maxima
3. Gradient descent algorithm
4. Steps for Gradient descent algorithm
5. Types of Gradient Descent algorithms
6. Implementation of Stochastic Gradient Descent
For Optimization problems Differentiation is very important, Let’s see some maths,
Single Value Differentiation
Differentiation allows us to find rates of change. Intuitively dy/dx means how much does y changes as x changes.
Geometrically the derivative [f’(x) or dy/dx] of the function y = f(x) at the point P(x, y) (when exists) is equal to the slope (or gradient) of the tangent line to the curve y = f(x) at P(x, y).
Tangent: In geometry, the tangent line to a plane curve at a given point is the straight line that “just touches” the curve at that point. Mathematically tangent is given by,
dy/dx is the slope of the tangent to f(x).
Minima and Maxima
A maximum is a high point and a minimum is a low point.
In a smoothly changing function, a maximum or minimum is always where the function flattens out (except for a saddle point).
Where does it flatten out? Where the slope is zero.
Where is the slope zero? The Derivative tells us!
And there is an important technical point that the function must be differentiable.
A stationary point on a curve is defined as one at which the derivative vanishes i.e. a point (x0, f(x0)) is a stationary point of f(x) if [dx/df]=0.
Clearly, the derivative of the function has to go to 0 at the point of Local Maximum; otherwise, it would never attain a maximum value with respect to its neighbors.
One can see that the slope of the tangent drawn at any point on the curve i.e. dy/dx changes from a negative value to 0 to a positive value, near the point of local minima.
First, we find the points that are maxima and minima using the following steps.
Find the derivative of the function. Set the derivative equal to 0 and solve for x. Plug the value you found for x into the function to find the corresponding y value. This is your maximum or minimum point.
But some functions are very complex we can’t find maxima and minima by solving that function is non-trivial shown below,
Gradient descent algorithm
Some functions are very complex to solve, so the computer science technique to solve those types of functions is the Gradient descent algorithm.
Gradient descent is an optimization algorithm that is mainly used to find the minimum of a function. In machine learning, gradient descent is used to update parameters in a model. Parameters can vary according to the algorithms.
Think of a valley you would like to descend when you are blind-folded. Any sane human will take a step and look for the slope of the valley, whether it goes up or down. Once you are sure of the downward slope you will follow that and repeat the step again and again until you have descended completely (or reached the minima).
This is exactly what happens in gradient descent. The inclined and/or irregular is the cost function when it is plotted and the role of gradient descent is to provide direction and the velocity (learning rate) of the movement in order to attain the minima of the function i.e where the cost is minimum.
A gradient is a vector-valued function that represents the slope of the tangent of the graph of the function, pointing the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the function. It is a derivative that indicates the incline or the slope of the cost function.
Consider the objective function f: Rd→Rf that takes any multi-dimensional vector x=[x1,x2,…, xd] as its input. The gradient of f(x) with respect to xx is defined by the vector of partial derivatives.
each element ∂f(x)/∂xi of the gradient indicates the rate of change for f at the point x with respect to the input xi only.
f(x) gives the rates of change of ff at the point xx in all possible directions, to minimize f, we are interested in finding the direction where f can be reduced fastest.
For Linear regression, we use a cost function known as the mean squared error or MSE.
Steps for Gradient descent algorithm
First, we take a function we would like to minimize and very frequently given the gradient, calculate the change in the parameters with the learning rate. Re-calculate the new gradient with the new value of the parameter. Repeat step 1 until convergence.
Here is the formula of the gradient descent algorithm:
Convergence is a name given to the situation where the loss function does not improve significantly, and we are stuck in a point near to the minima.
where α, alpha, is the learning rate, or how rapidly do we want to move towards the minimum. We can always overshoot if the value of α is too large.
The gradient is a vector-valued function, and as a vector, it has both a direction and a magnitude. The Gradient descent algorithm multiplies the gradient by a number (Learning rate or Step size) to determine the next point.
One of the problems is the value of the learning rate. The learning rate is a randomly chosen number that tells how far to move the weights. A small learning rate and you will take forever to reach the minima, a large learning rate and you will skip the minima.
The parameters are updated by taking the gradient of the parameters and then the learning rate is multiplied which suggests how quickly we should go towards the minimum. The learning rate is a hyper-parameter and while choosing its value you should be careful.
Typically, the value of the learning rate is chosen manually, starting with 0.1, 0.01, or 0.001 as the common values, and then adapt it whether the gradient descent is taking too long to calculate (you need to increase the learning rate), or is exploding or being erratic (you need to decrease the learning rate).
Types of Gradient Descent Algorithms
There are three variants of gradient descent based on the amount of data used to calculate the gradient:
Batch gradient descent
Stochastic gradient descent
Mini-batch gradient descent
Batch Gradient Descent:
Batch Gradient Descent, aka Vanilla gradient descent, calculates the error for each observation in the dataset but performs an update only after all observations have been evaluated.
Batch gradient descent is not often used, because it represents a huge consumption of computational resources, as the entire dataset needs to remain in memory.
Stochastic Gradient Descent:
Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) performs a parameter update for each observation. So instead of looping over each observation, it just needs one to perform the parameter update. SGD is usually faster than batch gradient descent, but its frequent updates cause a higher variance in the error rate, which can sometimes jump around instead of decreasing.
Mini-Batch Gradient Descent:
It is a combination of both bath gradient descent and stochastic gradient descent. Mini-batch gradient descent performs an update for a batch of observations. It is the algorithm of choice for neural networks, and the batch sizes are usually from 50 to 256.
Implementation of Stochastic Gradient Descent for Linear Regression
Objective :
Take the Boston data set from sklearn. Write the SGDRegressor from scratch. You don’t need to split the data into train and test, you consider whole data for this implementation. Get weights( coefs_ and intercept ) from your model and the MSE value. Don’t forget to standardize the data, and choose the appropriate learning rate. Train your model using SGDRegressor with the same parameters, and find the MSE on the same data. Compare these two results. You can choose any other metric other than MSE to compare them. They both should be the same.
For Linear Regression, we use a cost function known as the mean squared error or MSE.
Now we will apply partial derivative with respect to m and c and will equate it to zero to find the least value of m and c for which our cost function gets the lowest value as possible.
First, we want to import all the required Libraries
Importing the Boston data set from sklearn.
Data Standardization
SGDRegressor for Linear Regression using sklearn Library
Optimal Weights and Intercept using sklearn SGD
Visualizing the results
Error plot for sklearn SGD
We are also implemented using without using Library to know the full code visit my GitHub link here.
comparing the Error plot for Sklearn SGD and Self Implemented SGD
Conclusion
As from the above, we can see that mean of the differences in the prediction of the two models is at 0 As we can see above intercept and weight(coef) is almost same for sklearn SGD and self-implemented SGD.
To understand the full code please visit my GitHub link.
I also Implemented Gradient descent using different Data sets to understand the full code please visit my GitHub link.
To Know detailed information Linear Regression please visit my previous blog link here.
References
Applied AI
Wikipedia
Coursera
Data Camp
Thanks for reading and your patience. I hope you liked the post, let me know if there are any errors in my post. Let’s discuss in the comments if you find anything wrong in the post or if you have anything to add…
Happy Learning!! | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/solving-for-optimization-problems-fee1e7ee5d22 | ['Sachin D N'] | 2020-12-02 12:01:03.895000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Coursera', 'Gradient Descent', 'Analytics'] |
How PCG Brands can leverage B2B Chatbots to win their Retailer’s Shelf Space | Every day, PCG Brands lose a chunk of their sales due to the inefficiencies in their sales teams.
While the traditional SFA technology of the last few decades has been able to boost sales, it hasn’t been able to do much about the above inefficiencies. However, things are changing with many forward-thinking Brands using intelligent virtual assistants creatively to reduce human error, cut costs, grow revenue, engage customers, and elevate customer service. Many Brands are inviting their Retailers to place orders and further engage with them through a 24*7*365 available virtual assistant.
A virtual assistant can not only engage with 1000s of retailers simultaneously, but it does so with higher efficiencies and lower costs. With the virtual assistant efficiently looking after repetitive and routine tasks, the sales teams can focus on more important activities such as relationship building and business development.
Below we’ll cover 9 features of a Virtual Sales Assistant that give added capabilities to a brand, increasing retailer engagement and boosting Sales. | https://medium.com/@randomproducts/how-pcg-brands-can-leverage-conversational-ai-to-win-their-retailers-shelf-space-291c5952296 | ['Sarthak Gupta'] | 2020-12-19 12:39:02.135000+00:00 | ['Kirana', 'Ecommerce', 'Fmcg', 'Chatbots', 'B2B'] |
Digital Assets- The Next Step in Ownership | In our modern and connected world, we are offered a vast array of investment options. Never before, however, has the potential of these markets been as open and accessible to the common man or woman. With the tokenisation of physical assets, and the creation of new, digital assets, we not only have the opportunity to redistribute wealth but can also level the playing field that has been created by outdated investment rules, and generally inaccessible corporate structures.
What Are Digital Assets?
Much like their physical counterparts, ownership over, or a stake in, a digital asset represents an asset that you are entitled to own or generate income from. Of course, as the name suggests, these assets are intangible.
Although we have grown up in a world based on physical assets, like property ownership, for example, we have moved into a world where software reigns. This has created entirely new industries where asset ownership and management has become more accessible, as intangible assets continue to generate the vast majority of income for corporations. Now, however, you have access to an intangible asset class that has never previously existed.
With the advent of distributed ledger technologies, we can now create a ‘token’ which is linked to or represents an asset. These tokens can then be bought, sold and traded the world over, in mere seconds, adding a new realm of liquidity and accessibility. In general, a token can represent:
Currency.
Much in the same way you own USD or GBP, digital currencies represent the biggest evolution in finance to date and are consistently reshaping the way we think about money, and transact with each other and businesses. Of course, Bitcoin represents the first and most well known digital currency, however, there are now hundreds to choose from. Not only are digital currencies designed to be used the same as fiat/traditional ones, but they also offer opportunities for developing nations to combat hyperinflation, and offer the first real opportunity to work towards a global currency. Ownership of a physical asset.
It gets more interesting when tokens are used to represent ownership of, or rights to, a particular physical asset. Tokens are now used to represent existing physical assets. For example, you might own 2/10ths of one house, and 6/10ths of another one, allowing you to diversify your portfolio and entitling you to the equivalent income from both properties.
Similarly, you may hold tokens which grant you ownership over gold bullion, or rights to income from oil, which you can then trade across the world in a variety of markets. A new, wholly digital asset.
Whilst it may be hard to get your head around owning a digital asset, this represents one of the most exciting things to come from distributed ledger technology. As we continue to move our lives online, so too will our understanding of ownership and assets change, in a world where digital files have, and will continue to be given, real-world value.
The generation of digital assets can and will continue to vary across industries, however, some of the simplest examples come from the gaming industry, where you can now actually own weapons and armor, and sell them to other players to earn an income.
Why Are Assets Going Digital?
There are a number of reasons assets are becoming or being generated, in a digital form. First and foremost, digitisation of assets allows us to transfer value, without moving a physical asset, whilst simultaneously removing fraud from the equation. It also allows for the creation of an entirely new class of assets, such as ownership of in-game items, or digital collectibles, for example.
Aside from the obvious reduced overheads and costs associated with generating physical assets, digitisation also allows for:
Distribution of assets instantaneously, and on a global scale, for a fraction of the cost.
Fractional ownership. This opens up a plethora of investment and ownership opportunities for the common person, rather than only being accessible to VC’s and the wealthy.
Liquidity in markets that have traditionally been very immobile, for example, real estate, licensing and IP, and the collectibles industry.
The removal of arbitration/3rd party interference, fees, and purchasing restrictions.
Reduced barriers to entry for trading and investing, as it can reduce the minimum payment required to participate.
It’s also important to note here that before DLT, owning and/or creating digital assets wasn’t possible. Sure, you could create images and try to copyright them, but as soon as they made it online, anyone could save the image and steal your property. Now, however, thanks to the immutability of the blockchain we can trace the true ownership of these assets, and verify their legitimacy, without involving any other entity.
This, in turn, lends credence to the industry as a whole and means that markets have been opened up to the most entry-level investors, allowing a new wave of money to enter global markets and a new wave of innovation and technology development.
What Does It Mean for You?
First and foremost, as an every day mom and dad- otherwise known as a ‘retail investor’ you now have access to incredible opportunities to purchase, own, and profit from a new realm of assets. Not only are they accessible as long as you have an internet connection, the existing barriers to entry, such as being an approved investor (must earn over $200k USD per annum to be considered an approved investor in the USA), have been completely removed.
Second, with digital assets and increased access, you now also have the opportunity to support companies and ideas that you believe in. These grassroots, crowdsourced fundraising methods have also taken a large amount of power away from traditional investment vehicles, such as VC’s and IPO’s, giving you more opportunity to build a portfolio that suits you, and on to real-world wealth.
Third, digitisation of assets has the potential to completely change the way we interact with finance, what we consider to be ‘money,’ and the property and assets we lend value to. By allowing a new wave of investors and finance to enter global markets, digitisation is disrupting our economic systems, and rebalancing the scales of wealth across the world. You just happen to already be part of the movement!
Of course, with ownership over a new world of digital assets also comes the need to store and secure your assets. To learn more about how we can help, please see the following article, or join us in Telegram and on social media. | https://medium.com/ecomi/digital-assets-the-next-step-in-ownership-71ad77769eb | [] | 2019-07-12 00:30:44.207000+00:00 | ['Asset Management', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ecomi', 'Finance', 'Digital Asset'] |
Heads I win, Tails you lose! | The Indian subcontinent (also inappropriately called South Asian subcontinent) has a bunch of countries — starting from the west, we have Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar with the island countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the south.
Indian (South-Asian) Sub-continent
The Indian subcontinent has always had a cultural unity despite being politically fragmented with small periods of political unity under indigenous empires, such as the Mauryan Empire, the Gupta dynasty and the Maratha empire. Among foreigners, only the Mughals and the British were able to build an empire that spanned the entire Indian or South Asian sub-continent.
Among the many civilisations that have existed since the beginning of recorded history, the Indian civilisation stands out as the only continuous surviving civilisation while all others perished (perhaps only China can make a similar case). No wonder India holds the distinction of being the only country with its own ocean — The Indian Ocean — and home to the world’s oldest city — Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
Every civilisation has a certain value system and a way of life, the Indian way of life is referred to as being Hindu. The Supreme Court of India says that Hinduism is a way of life and not a religion. Religion, by default, means a monotheistic practice (only 1 God) and should ideally be just used to refer to the Abrahamic religions — Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
We practice Hindu Dharma and have been wrongly classifying it as a religion. Dharma and Religion cannot be used interchangeably as Dharma is a Sanskrit non-translatable, i.e., a word without an equivalent word in the English language. There are many such Sanskrit words but that’s a topic for another day.
Dharma is a complex term that can be partially described as a combination of law, morality, principles and much more.
Everyone was a Hindu in the Indian sub-continent (which according to some experts ran as far away as modern-day Iraq and Indonesia) for a long time even before the word ‘religion’ came into existence. Although, its influence can still be seen in the East Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia (which duly acknowledges it as well) but has been wiped off countries such as Iraq.
Nevertheless, let’s have a look at the demographics of the Indian subcontinent.
Source: Wikipedia
Hinduism by default has a pluralistic and polytheistic philosophy unlike Islam and Christianity and has its minorities are flourishing.
All Islamic theocratic states in the Indian subcontinent have a minuscule or no minority. The miniscule minorities are treated as second-class citizens without any religious freedom with consistently declining numbers. However, Bangladesh is an exception and defies this trend primarily due to its strong Bengali identity that it places above its religious identity.
Islam in the sub-continent demands equal rights as a minority and when in majority, denies religious freedom to the minorities. This trend becomes crystal clear on adding countries like Iran, Iraq, North-African countries such as Nigeria and Egypt to this list.
It is a classic case of Heads I win and Tails you lose! | https://medium.com/@nabeelbhattacharya/heads-i-win-tails-you-lose-775b93307518 | ['Nabeel Bhattacharya'] | 2019-10-12 16:48:16.205000+00:00 | ['Geography', 'India', 'Hinduism', 'Pakistan', 'Islam'] |
The Story That’s Not Being Told: Mimi Lok & Last of Her Name | Last of her Name by Mimi Lok. Kaya Press, 2019. 200 pp, prose.
Cheyenne Heckermann: Can you tell me about the journey toward publishing Last of Her Name?
Mimi Lok: It was long! I’d written earlier drafts of the stories over roughly a ten-year span, and spent about three years working on the collection in earnest — rewriting, discarding, organizing. I wanted to send it directly to presses I’d long admired, but every writer I knew told me to find an agent first. After sending the manuscript to various agencies, I learned that I could not get an agent without also having a novel in the works, and I had no novel at the time. So I went back to my original plan and sent it directly to editors. I was thrilled to sell the book to Kaya Press, who I’ve loved for years. Just over a year later, the book was released.
CH: What went into your decision to write “Wedding Night” with such distinct breaks and vignettes between sections?
ML: “Wedding Night” is a messed up love story between two very different people. It was written in a fragmentary way, with perspective shifts between the protagonists Wai Lan and Sing, and this sort of disembodied, omnipotent perspective. Since the nature of memory is key to this story, telling the story in fragments with a greater emphasis on mood and sensory details made more sense than a linear, smoothly coherent narrative.
CH: One of the pieces in Last of Her Name is a novella. Was there anything different in your process with “The Woman in the Closet?”
ML: With the novella I had a slightly clearer sense of the story than with the others, possibly because it was partly inspired by a real-life incident. The story follows Granny Ng, an elderly homeless woman who breaks into a young man’s home, and I was interested in following her closely over a substantial period of time and seeing how things unfold for her. I also knew how it would end on a surface level, but what it had in common with the other stories is that I still had to relinquish control of the story to the characters’ desires, needs, and impulses, and let things go where they needed to go in between. I knew the what but not the how.
CH: You make excellent use of perspective shifts in your short stories. What do you enjoy about having these shifts, and how do they influence your stories?
ML: Challenging what’s accepted as the default perspective, I hope, shakes up our idea of whose experiences and perspectives we privilege over others, whose we don’t consider but should, all of that. I’m always curious about the story that’s not being told, and even if we only get a glimpse of that, it reminds us of complexities and nuances beyond our immediate perception.
CH: What’s next for Mimi Lok? Is there anything that you’re working on that you can talk about?
ML: I am writing more stories, and also working on a novel.
Mimi Lok is the author of the story collection Last Of Her Name, published October 2019 by Kaya Press. Last of Her Name was recently shortlisted for the 2020 PEN/Robert W. Bingham prize for debut short story collection, and a 2020 Northern California Book Award. A story from the collection, “The Woman in the Closet,” was nominated for a 2020 National Magazine Award in Fiction with McSweeney’s Quarterly. Mimi is the recipient of a Smithsonian Ingenuity Award and an Ylvisaker Award for Fiction. Her work can be found in McSweeney’s, Electric Literature, LitHub, Nimrod, Lucky Peach, Hyphen, the South China Morning Post, and elsewhere. She is currently working on a novel. Mimi is also the founding director and executive editor of Voice of Witness, an award-winning human rights/oral history nonprofit that amplifies marginalized voices through a book series and a national education program. | https://medium.com/anomalyblog/an-interview-with-mimi-lok-on-last-of-her-name-41fef835d9a2 | ['Cheyenne Heckermann'] | 2020-02-18 15:50:51.943000+00:00 | ['Publishing', 'Fiction', 'Interview', 'Featured', 'Books'] |
Ken Follett’s “A Column of Fire” and the Emotional Thrill of Historical Fiction | Having told two stories set in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, Ken Follett returns with the third installment in his saga, A Column of Fire. Set during the reigns of the monarchs Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, and James I, it chronicles the intertwined fates of several men and women, most of whom have some connection to Kingsbridge. As per usual, a romance is at the center of the novel, this time between the Protestant Ned Willard and the staunchly Catholic Margery Fitzgerald, who find their love tested not just by the escalating conflict between their rival faiths but also by the tense politics of Elizabeth England.
In typical Ken Follett fashion, the story is very much a historical melodrama, with clearly good and clearly evil characters. Pierre and Rollo are, as religious zealots, clearly coded as evil and, in Follett villain fashion, are sadistic and cruel almost to the point of caricature. As a result, their ultimate deaths and defeats are cathartic; they suggest that evildoers, no matter how powerful they might be for a time, are always brought low by their own nefariousness. This is particularly true of Pierre, whose yearning for power over others, which leads him to ally himself with the ultra-Catholic Guise faction, leads directly to his demise at the hands of his mistress and his stepson, both of whom he has tormented relentlessly. That being said, the novel does at least make clear that Rollo, at least, is a true believer in Catholicism, even though his belief leads him to acts of great malice, including both the Babington Plot (designed to depose Elizabeth and replace her with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots) and the Gunpowder Plot (intended to blow up Parliament, which would have resulted in the death of King James and his two sons).
Anyone who’s read either The Pillars of the Earth or World Without End knows that Follett has a strong interest in the nature of religion and in the ways that people express it. Given the era in which this novel is set, it now becomes the center of the narrative. This was the time, after all, in which Catholics and Protestants waged war with one another all across Europe, though the novel focuses mainly on the numerous conflicts in Spain, France, the Netherlands, and England. Given that this is Follett we’re talking about, there’s a pretty heavy dose of moralizing and, while Rollo and Pierre are depicted as “bad” because they are zealots, Margery and Ned are painted as “good” because they both favor tolerance. It’s a bit simplistic, of course, but that’s what one expects of a melodrama like this one, in which grand historical and social conflicts are rendered morally and emotionally explicable through our investment in the characters, both good and evil.
Some have complained that large portions of the book focus on characters not from Kingsbridge and that even the characters from there end up spending large parts of the novel in other regions of Europe and, in some notable cases, the “New World.” To me, that choice seems both deliberate and appropriate. This was the time, after all, when England became far less insular, as the Age of Exploration took flight and the various nations of Europe set out on their missions of bloody conquest. Among other things, this allows Follett to demonstrate the increased presence of people of color in the European imagination, and one of the viewpoint characters, Ebrima, is actual a Black man from Africa who gains his freedom and builds a life in the Netherlands, while a white character, Barney, fathers a child with a Black woman in Hispaniola. It’s actually rather refreshing to see people of color given at least some time, however small, in a historical novel largely set in Europe.
As I finished my third of Follett’s Kingsbridge novels (his newest, The Evening and the Morning, was just released this year and serves as a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth), I thought deeply about what it is that makes these novels so enduringly popular and compulsively readable. As I’ve noted before, I do think it has a lot to do with how effective he is at allowing his readers to feel history, to form an affective attachment to these men and women and the ways in which they struggle to survive in a milieu very different from our own. Of course, that’s precisely why so many people continue to seek out historical fiction (which remains an enduringly popular genre). They don’t just want to know the facts about a given period; they want to escape the comfort and safety of modernity to encounter a bit of the thrill and excitement of the precarious past. Follett’s skill is that he chooses exactly those periods of English — and, in this case, European — history that lend themselves to these kinds of narratives.
It’s to Follett’s credit that he’s managed to make this old-fashioned mode of historical fiction storytelling and render it palatable for a much more cynical and jaundiced reading public. In fact, it may be precisely because his novels are so morally simplistic that they are so popular. They reassure us that there is a moral coherence to the arc of history, that it isn’t just the play of chance and cruel fortune, that the outcome of the great conflicts isn’t always solely contingent on the whims of those who happen to have power. We want characters like Ned and Margery to get together because they are the most like us. In A Column of Fire, they are the closest that we get to characters who are modern in both their sensibility and their moral code.
All in all, A Column of Fire is another success from Follett. Though his next book is a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth, one can but hope that he will continue to write novels set in different periods of Kingsbridge history, if for no other reason than that it would be fascinating to see the denizens of the town face the crises of modernity. In Follett’s hands, it would certainly be a triumph. | https://medium.com/cliophilia/ken-folletts-a-column-of-fire-and-the-emotional-thrill-of-historical-fiction-ce29882221de | ['Dr. Thomas J. West Iii'] | 2020-12-01 21:10:50.781000+00:00 | ['Book Review', 'History', 'Historical Fiction', 'Culture', 'Books'] |
Roku’s wireless subwoofer is just $150 today | Roku’s streaming devices are some of the best in the biz, and its audio offerings promise to boost your entertainment experience even further. Today on Amazon, you can get the Roku wireless subwoofer for $150, down from a list price of $180 and the cheapest we’ve seen it.
This subwoofer boasts 250 watts of power, promising a booming, immersive audio experience. Its wireless connection allows you to place it anywhere, up to 30 feet from your TV, so you can position it wherever works best. And you won’t need to worry about hiding cables, even if your subwoofer is set up far from your TV. Automatic software updates keep it up to speed with any improvements Roku makes, while a 10-inch driver helps avoid audio distortion.
Note that this subwoofer only works with Roku Audio, including the Roku Smart Soundbar, Roku Wireless Speakers, and Roku Streambar. So even if you have a Roku streaming device, you’ll need Roku’s sound system to make this work.
This subwoofer averages 4.7 stars out of 5 on Amazon across more than 250 user ratings.
[ Today’s deal: Roku wireless subwoofer from Amazon for $150 ]
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/@meosha46212333/rokus-wireless-subwoofer-is-just-150-today-43d4a5080757 | [] | 2020-12-24 04:31:03.300000+00:00 | ['Surveillance', 'Home Tech', 'Chargers', 'Connected Home'] |
The Violence Will Increase No Matter Who Wins | HWFO November Housekeeping will take place in two sections. First, we’ll unravel a recent study by Nathan Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason, from LSU and the University of Maryland, respectively, that puts some literal numbers to the rise of partisan freakoutery at large. Then if those results sound surprising, we’ll recap some of our culture war analysis pieces that are pertinent to why these things are happening.
If you’re a regular reader and looking for new content, check the study and skip the recap.
If you’re only here because of the oh so provocative title, you’ll probably want to browse both.
The Study
In preparation for a presentation at the 2018 American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting, at the beginning of September of this year, Natah Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason compiled a 41 page study that outlined their findings on American partisan support for violence. They performed two polls specifically targeting the question of how many partisans support violence, would prefer members of the opposing party died, and such. This is fairly groundbreaking research as far as I’m aware, because the topic of “whose party is more violent” crops up a lot in culture war fights, with no real unbiased answer. They appear to have tried to answer this question impartially.
They ran two national surveys, one in late 2017 and another in June of 2018. The first one had more questions, but the second one asked some of the same ones, to act as a kind of a time series snapshot.
As with all statistical research, you should read through their methodology, which is here.
They measured “partisan moral disengagement,” which has to do with how much more moral you think your team is than the other team, “party schadenfreude,” which is how much misfortune (including potentially death) you wish on members of the other party, and “political violence,” which is basically support for terrorism itself.
Terrorism: 1 : the unlawful use or threat of violence especially against the state or the public as a politically motivated means of attack or coercion.
It’s important to note, that the two sample groups for the two polls were independent, so some of the differential between the results of both polls may be due to sampling bias instead of changes in opinion over time. That means I may be cheating a little in one of the graphs below. Fair warning.
Their list of polling questions:
Because I’m a stickler for clear data representation that doesn’t require cross-referencing and such, I re-cooked some of their graphs.
In a perfectly healthy society, all these bars should be at 0%.
In a perfectly healthy society, all these bars should be at 0%. In a sick society that’s getting better instead of worse, these bars should be going down, not up.
In a perfectly healthy society, all these bars should be at 0%. A healthy society should not project with full knowledge that it intends to get sicker.
And there you have it. Doesn’t matter who wins. The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Literally.
Why do we think this is happening? Let’s run through the explanation, by recapping prior pieces which build a case for an explanation.
The Recap
In April 2018, we tied together our series on gun policy with an analysis of our own Medium traffic of the series on gun policy itself.
When your entire job is to get clicks, and you’ll starve if you don’t get them, you get those damn clicks any way you can. Which means you find the culture war, wherever it’s happening, and you feed it. You feed it argument fodder. You feed it virtue signals. You feed it whatever it needs to keep warring. The modern media have abandoned measured, reasoned thought, and have shifted to a new job. They are Culture War Arms Dealers. […] In some ways, we are experiencing a direct result of a kind of pseudo-George Berkeley style subjective idealist epistemology, which goes like this. There is no objective reality, there is only the reality in our minds, which we construct ourselves via sensory stimuli. A sea change in stimuli has transpired over the last two decades, where less of that stimuli comes from the real world, and more of it comes from our glowing screens, be they phones, computers, or television sets. The Glowing Screen Space is saturated by culture war arms dealing clickmongers making us fear things we shouldn’t and milking our anxieties for clickmoney. And we bang away on our keyboards and phones, like rats in a Skinner box. We have built our own Operant Conditioning Chamber. […] …it should be clear that these sorts of violent boundary cases will multiply as the freakoutery expands.
Later in April, we discussed the mathematics of disaster preparation, making the case that people who are worried about wide, large scale violence should consider an overall preparedness plan, which might include owning a rifle. We also pointed out that influential politicians and celebrities are already preparing for this.
As the media rhetoric around a “second civil war” ramped up towards Spinal Tap Eleven in July, we looked at what some other risk analysis professionals think about the idea. Then we did a little game theory analysis on what a second civil war might look like, and how it might actually be avoided. Spoiler: they’re not following our advice.
I claimed a 37% lifetime chance based on raw historical data, and caught flack, but the consensus among those particular risk analysis professionals is around 35% in the next decade. Let’s unpack that incredible figure for a second, with a little mathematics. I derived my 37% lifetime estimate based on an annual chance of 0.59% per year. If their 35% chance per decade estimate is accurate, using the same math (as done before, but backwards), they’d be looking at a 4.3% chance per year. Mr. Mines thinks it’s bigger. Translation: According to the consensus among that particular set of experts, the current media and social climate has made a violent revolution against the government 7.3 times more likely than “normal,” on an average annual basis. […] The Nash Equilibrium here should be obvious. The Blues should play slowly while they’re the authority, and the Reds should give the Blues a little room to roam, but not too much, when they’re the authority, and the opposition side should take what they can get. Any other choice is either an obvious loser or playing with fire. 1. If you’re on the Red Team quit worrying so damn much. You hold all the cards, and by cards we mean guns, and perhaps also tanks, so chill out. Give the Blues enough room to play so things don’t turn violent, but throwing around the brinkmanship card on silly stuff isn’t doing anyone any good, and may risk the “democracy” in general. 2. If you’re on the Blue Team, for Christ’s sake don’t incite violence! Seriously. Antifa is the worst possible thing that could ever happen to the Blues, because they’re risking everything for basically nothing. In short: (again) Chill. Out. Play your cards slowly, please.
But that’s clearly not what’s happening, because of the business incentives and feedback loops within the media engine itself, which we laid out in the first article referenced above. Nor can it happen, because of how the media itself is built, into which we dug deeper mid-July.
Our social media feeds give us constant messaging in three predominant flavors: 1. Look how great my life is! (kid/dog/beach pictures) 2. Look how terrible the world is! (Trump/Hillary/Racism/Privilege!/Etc) 3. Look at all these rich motherfuckers! (Caitlyn Jenner/Elon Musk/Queen of England) The combination of these signals creates a false picture of the world, which is very close in analogy to the sort of resource scarcity boundary that activates the latent programing to band into violent tribes. You start to think that your life is not as adequate as the ones you read about, that other people have more stuff, that your stuff isn’t enough stuff, and the tiny cluster of resource-scarcity neurons start banging away at your unconscious, infecting your world view. […] In short, this Tragedy of the Commons scenario with attention spans incentivizes the media corporations to create the exact environment Weinstein holds as predictive for war and genocide. And “incentivize” is too weak a word. They’re required to do this, because if they don’t, some other company will, and the other company will seize their market share. It is a business model recipe for disaster. We’ve built a system that not only can create a violent catastrophe, it must do so.
And then as predicted, that system proceeded to try and do so, repeatedly. One of the most shining examples was the Kavanaugh thing, which not only played on our latent tribalism and media addictions, but our very biology itself.
There’s no good way out of this. This is Social Disaster Stew Par Excellence, decades if not centuries if not millennia in the making. It would be hard to intentionally create a more divisive situation. You’d need to fly passenger airliners into buildings or something.
And now we have Democrats mailing ricin bombs to Republicans, Republicans mailing mock explosives to Democrats, Democrats shooting up Republican campaign offices, and white nationalist loonies who hate Trump and think he’s a shill for Jewish globalists shooting up synagogues.
And this is just the midterms. | https://medium.com/handwaving-freakoutery/the-violence-will-increase-no-matter-who-wins-eab41414b6d6 | ['Bj Campbell'] | 2018-11-02 00:43:12.624000+00:00 | ['Media Criticism', 'Political Science', 'Politics', 'Culture War'] |
The Second-Most Important Election of our Lifetimes | Now that Joe Biden has won, I can tell you what I’ve been saying to my friends but promised not to say in public until the election was over: This was not the most important election of our lifetimes.
The most important election of our lifetimes was four years ago. And we lost.
Photo by 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee
Of course it matters that Biden won or, more to the point, that Donald Trump lost. But fascism is not defeated so easily. I was less panicked than most of my friends about this year’s election for two reasons.
First, the real damage to democracy has already been done.
Roughly 30 percent of our fellow citizens live in an alternative universe where, among other things, Donald Trump has done a fantastic job protecting Americans from the new coronavirus and only lost the presidency because of rampant election fraud. The Trump White House Reality Show has normalized blatant lying, corruption, and abuse of power: military aid traded for dirt on political rivals; militarized DHS units on city streets; Blackhawk helicopters buzzing rooftops in the capital; the Justice Department mobilized to look for nonexistent election fraud. These are all ready-to-hand tools for the next would-be dictator. Four years of Joe Biden are not going to solve that problem, especially when those 30 percent of Americans will see his presidency as confirming evidence of the Deep State/globalist/socialist/Venezuelan/Ivy League/Black Lives Matter/Council on Foreign Relations plot to rule the world. (And let’s not even talk about the Supreme Court, which we lost.)
Second, the appropriate question about the next Trumpist presidency is not if, but when.
There’s no reason to think that Donald Trump will fade from the scene or that his stranglehold over the Republican base will loosen. Nor is there any reason to think that the Republican electorate will abandon Trump anytime soon: racial resentment, militant religiosity, imperviousness to facts, and hatred of cosmopolitan elites are the natural outcome of the conservative political journey, not some freakish aberration. Odds are that the 2024 nominee will be a demagogue in the Trump mold, if not a Trump in name—Donald, Ivanka, or Donald Jr. In other words, every election for the foreseeable future will be a battle against the prospect of fascism. And presidential elections are usually close; one of these days, we’re going to lose one. (Don’t forget that we would have lost this one if not for the COVID-19 pandemic.)
So what now? I know what I think we should do, but I confess I’m not sure it will be enough. As those who read Take Back Our Party know, I think that rising inequality—and the widespread feeling of being left behind by an economic system that is rigged in favor of economic, financial, technological, and intellectual elites—was the structural condition that made possible the rise of President Trump. I doubt that people are any more racist than they were thirty years ago. I certainly encountered more overt racism as a child in a New York suburb than I do now. What has changed is that people no longer believe that the economy works for everyone. Instead, many poor and middle-class white Americans think, as so well described by Arlie Russell Hochschild in Strangers in Their Own Land, that “other people” are cutting in front of them in the line that used to lead to the American Dream.
In the long term, lower inequality is a necessary condition for an end to Trumpism. But I doubt that it is a sufficient condition. Once we lost the 2016 election, Pandora’s box opened, the toothpaste was out of the tube, pick your metaphor . . . Of course we should still push for higher taxes on the wealthy, Medicare for All, affordable housing, free college, and all the other policies that will alleviate suffering, reduce inequality, and restore hope to the tens of millions of people who think—with reason—that America is no longer the land of opportunity. But the great political divide in our country now is not between rich and poor, or even between white and nonwhite, but between people in completely different versions of reality. President Trump didn’t invent talk radio or the Internet, nor was he the first person to lie on either one. But, like no one before him (in this country, at least), he demonstrated how demagoguery, technology, and the power of incumbency could be combined to create and mobilize a mass following primed to believe the most absurd, hateful fantasies about their fellow citizens. In this environment, it’s hard to see how the most progressive, inequality-reducing policies could convince their very beneficiaries to abandon the cult of Trump, at least in the short term.
So how does Trumpism end? The best way is to smother it while it is still a curiosity, a fringe political fad that has little chance of success. But we had one chance to do that—in 2016—and we failed. One possibility is that the so-called traditional conservatives—people like Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, or Jeb Bush—could take back the Republican Party. To do that, they would have to win both the 2024 presidential nomination and the general election; anything less would only enhance the appeal of Trumpism. In any case, given the president’s chokehold on the Republican base, it’s hard to see the nomination going to anyone other than a Trump or a mini-Trump (Pompeo, DeSantis, etc.).
The other possibility is that we could be saved by demographics. The country is becoming less and less white every day. And young people are far more tolerant and progressive than any other segment of the electorate. These factors should be on our side in the long term. But the current Democratic establishment is playing a dangerous game assuming that nonwhites and young progressives will continue voting for technocratic, corporate moderates who do little about the most important challenges of our time: inequality, racial injustice, and climate change. President Trump’s gains among Blacks, Latinos, and Asians show the risks of taking the nonwhite vote for granted. Democrats’ dismal showing in down-ballot races also shows the emptiness of the party’s message, which once again boiled down to “We’re not Trump.”
Trumpism is a powerful political movement with a charismatic leader (hard as it is for many of us to understand his appeal) and an information and technology infrastructure that can excite and mobilize tens of millions of people quickly and effectively. The desire of many young and nonwhite people (and many older and white people, too) to live in a more fair, more just, more equal, and less racist world is another powerful political force, albeit without the leadership and infrastructure of Trumpism. They are the only viable future for the Democratic Party. We need to offer a future of real change—not the hopey-changey talk that Barack Obama excelled at, and not the return to normalcy that Biden promised. Every election that we take progressives for granted and try to grind out a win by picking up a few more votes from affluent suburbanites—who don’t want higher taxes, don’t want low-income housing in their town, want to keep their employer-provided health insurance, and like the police just fine—is another battle we may or may not win while losing the war for our country’s future. | https://medium.com/takebackourparty/the-second-most-important-election-of-our-lifetimes-9810d5314e8f | ['James Kwak'] | 2020-12-03 16:17:11.963000+00:00 | ['Progressive', 'Democratic Party', 'Politics', 'Joe Biden', 'Donald Trump'] |
“I Will Not Apologize if I Have Done Nothing Wrong” | “I Will Not Apologize if I Have Done Nothing Wrong”
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
You have probably heard someone say this and you thought that was narcissistic or selfish of them to say that.
However, unless they actually did do something wrong and are refusing to apologize for their behavior, they are not wrong.
I don’t believe anyone should apologize if they have done nothing wrong.
It’s so easy for others to give their generic response and say: “You have to be the bigger person, and apologize”. This doesn’t make it right for the person that has to perform the act of apologizing.
When you accept to apologize for something that truly doesn’t require an apology and you end up doing it anyway for the sake of others, you slowly are corrupting your being.
Obviously, if you have done this once in your life, that this doesn’t impose a big threat to you, however… if you allow this to continue, little by little, this act will change your core.
This will make for more careful conversations. You will pay more attention to your words to avoid miscommunication.
Apologizing when you have done nothing wrong is discreetly debilitating you. Instead of taking the fast and easy route to end a disagreement (by just apologizing), learn to articulate your arguments so that you don’t have to deteriorate.
This might sound great or it might sound like I’m a jerk, which I am far from it. I am a really kind person with a gigantic heart but if there is one thing I truly do not tolerate, are people that make the mistake of confusing kindness for weakness.
Here’s something else to also consider…Who gets to decide that what happened was wrong? Who gets the hold the role of the judge to properly conclude that an apology is truly in order?
The reason people are asking for an apology left and right is that many aren’t drawing conclusions properly and have many biases… not just that, they are not seeing things from every possible angle to fully understand the other persons’ actions.
I find that when I truly understand others, almost never a need for an apology but more a need for an explanation.
It’s not about power or dominance, it’s about standing for the truth.
So in order to do this, you begin by learning to ‘think’ properly for once… and I say for once because many people don’t go through the proper process of ‘thinking’.
Unfortunately what most end up doing is they have their brains to do a quick sweep and this ends up being more like a shallow “review” in their heads when the matter might require more complex and abstract thinking. | https://medium.com/no-echo/i-will-not-apologize-if-i-have-done-nothing-wrong-86a5d22b1f45 | ['Samantha Drobac'] | 2020-12-23 00:01:18.221000+00:00 | ['Growth Mindset', 'Self Improvement', 'Philosophy', 'Personal Development', 'Psychology'] |
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