Datasets:

BEE-spoke-data

/

medium-articles-en

like 1

The Better Way to Type React Components

For some reason when I was learning TypeScript and React almost all blog posts, tutorials and examples were using React.FC to type up function components. And it makes sense in a way. You have a built-in type in the DefinitlyTyped React types that says React.FunctionComponent . Seems like a perfect fit! But alas, I think it is the wrong path to take and has some obvious drawbacks. I suggest typing properties directly as a function parameter instead of the React.FC helper type: type MyComponentProps = { title: string }; // 👍 Like this.. function MyComponentFC(props: MyComponentProps) {} // 👎 ...not like this const MyComponent: React.FC<MyComponentProps> = (props) => {}; Let’s investigate why! All about that Expression If you want to use React.FC as a type, you have to annotate the function type itself. Not the parameters or the return value, but the function value. This means you need to have it as an expression. Either as an arrow function or as a regular function expression. I like function expressions, but usually prefer function declarations for top-level functions. There are a couple of reasons why: Prioritizing content through hoisting and direct exports. Prioritizing content When creating JavaScript/TypeScript modules I try to emphasize what is the most important content. Preferably, I try to optimize so that relevant content for understanding context and the main goal of the module is shown “above the fold” in your file. Meaning, when opening it in an editor or code explorer you see most of the important content. This means the main exported component with helper components and utils moved further down: // 1. Setup variables. Works as expected const BoundFooItem = partial(FooItem, { title: "Foo" }); // 2. Main export export default function Foo() {} // 3. Additional exports. Often children types that can be semantically grouped with main export. // (Many prefer not to mix default with named exports, but a discussion for another time). export function FooItem() {} // 4. Helper components function MyInternalComponent() {} // 5. Utils function add() {} function partial() {} function identity() {} For this to work both FooItem and MyInternalComponent need to be hoist-able. Using function expression allows this type of hoisting under the right circumstances, but can also trigger Temporal Dead Zone (TDZ). Function declarations are a safer choice. const BoundFooItem = partial(FooItem, { title: "Foo" }); // OOOPS: ReferenceError: Cannot access 'FooItem' before initialisation export default function Foo() {} export const FooItem = () => {}; Exporting directly If you’ve ever worked with a codebase using React.FC you'll probably recognize this pattern: const MyComponent: React.FC<{}> = () => { // Potentially lots of content here... // ... }; export default MyComponent; This is due to a combination of TypeScript and module grammar not supporting typed function expressions as the default export. This is more subjective, but I like grouping exporting and creation so it’s easy to track what is the module’s public API. Using default export with declaration doesn’t support using React.FC . // Clearer that MyComponent is the main API. export default function MyComponent() {} No Generics Lack of hoisting without TDZ and not being able to export components directly are limitations we can work around. But there is one technical limitation that I struggled with when learning TypeScript with React and that makes it hard to recommend using React.FC as a general-purpose typing style for React Components: Generics. There are often cases when you create reusable components like drop-downs or lists where you don’t exactly know what type the passed items are. This is the case for generics . React and TypeScript supports generics, but the grammar of TypeScript does not allow you to do generics when using React.FC : type MyDropDownProps<T> = { items: T[]; itemToString(item: T): string; onSelected(item: T): void; }; // Neither of these examples are valid const MyDropDown: React.FC<MyDropDownProps> = (props) => {}; const MyDropDown: React.FC<MyDropDownProps<T>> = <T>(props) => {}; const MyDropDown: React.FC<MyDropDownProps<T>> = (props) => {}; const MyDropDown<T>: React.FC<MyDropDownProps<T>> = (props) => {}; // How?? No direct way when using React.FC To properly use generics with MyDropDown we would have to use types directly as typed parameters: type MyDropDownProps<T> = { items: T[]; itemToString(item: T): string; onSelected(item: T): void; }; // Valid code function MyDropDown<T>(props: MyDropDownProps<T>) {} By typing parameters directly we use TypeScript the same way as we would do with any other function. No special case for React components. This means we can use our existing knowledge from other codebases with TypeScript. The one thing we lack here is typing the returned value from our component. No worries, though! TypeScript is more than capable of inferring the return type on its own. In the cases where you need to be explicit, you can add return type manually: function MyDropDown<T>(props: MyDropDownProps<T>): JSX.Element {} We gon’ take Children Talking about JSX.Elements. If we use the proposed solution from above, how do we handle children? Because this won’t work: type MyComponentProps = { className: string }; // Does not work. function MyComponent({ className, children }: MyComponentProps) { // children is not typed and TypeScript complains return <div className={className}>{children}</div>; } But using React.FC works with children: // Works as expected: const MyComponent: React.FC<MyComponentProps> = function ({ className, children, }) { // children is typed return <div className={className}>{children}</div>; }; This is because React.FC adds children property to the props type. This seems like a convenience, but it is actually a bad thing! By using React.FC it always looks like you take children as properties: type MyComponentProps = { title: string }; const MyComponent: React.FC<MyComponentProps> = function ({ title }) { // children is not typed and TypeScript complains return <div>{title}</div>; }; // TypeScript Allows this, but it is false positive in a sense. const myValue = <MyComponent title="Hello">My children</MyComponent>; // This is more correct function MyComponentCorrect({ title }: MyComponentProps) { return <div>{title}</div>; } const myValueCorrect = ( <MyComponentCorrect title="Hello">My children</MyComponentCorrect> ); // Error: // Type '{ children: string; title: string; }' is not assignable to type 'IntrinsicAttributes & MyComponentProps'. // Property 'children' does not exist on type 'IntrinsicAttributes & MyComponentProps'. Using types directly on the parameter offers more flexibility and correctness without allowing false positives. How do you type children, then? You can use two different ways: manually or using helper types from React. // Manually type MyComponentProps = { title: string; // ReactNode is all allowed children types including arrays, fragments, scalar values, etc. children: React.ReactNode; }; function MyComponentCorrect({ title, children }: MyComponentProps) {} If you find it difficult remembering what type to use for children you can use a convenience helper from the React types: type MyComponentProps = React.PropsWithChildren<{ title: string; }>; function MyComponentCorrect({ title, children }: MyComponentProps) {} Which does the same thing. PropsWithChildren is defined as an intersection type, much like React.FC : type PropsWithChildren<P> = P & { children?: ReactNode }; // (note: optional type is redundant as ReactNode can be undefined) Using props directly on parameters allow you to more correctly type components and avoid false positives while also being more flexible. Conclusion Starting up with TypeScript and React the React.FC was confusing to me. And I'm honestly not sure why it is so widely used. I think newcomers should see established idiomatic practices of TypeScript, not odd practices tied to specific libraries. The default practice should allow for common features such as generics without being confusing. I suggest for being consistent in typing, better allowing for hoisting and direct default exports, avoiding false positives for children and support for generics, to always type React component props directly as function parameters. This way you can use TypeScript as with any other function and also be more correct than when using React.FC . As an added benefit, you can easier switch between component-based libraries such as preact (et.al.). When using typed parameters instead of React.FC , you might have to explicitly type return values as JSX.Element , but in almost all practical cases this can be inferred. Some might also say a drawback can be having to explicitly type the parameters, making function signature harder to read. I don't agree, but I can see how some people think so. I think the pros massively outweigh the few cons.

https://blog.variant.no/a-better-way-to-type-react-components-9a6460a1d4b7

['Mikael Brevik']

2020-12-09 16:33:36.033000+00:00

['Technology', 'Typescript', 'Programming', 'Frontend', 'React']

Don’t let the crows guide your routes

Don’t let the crows guide your routes Authors: Reza Faturechi & Jagannath Putrevu At the core of Instacart’s grocery delivery service is our Logistics engine that matches our customers’ orders with our shoppers. In any given metro area, we can fulfill from hundreds of store locations, delivering within as fast as two hours for a majority of our orders. To do this effectively, our Logistics engine processes billions of computations every minute to find the most optimal routes to assign to our shoppers. More specifically, we solve a Vehicle Routing Problem, which we introduced before in our post Space, Time, and Groceries. Very often our algorithm attempts to group together orders of multiple customers who live close to each other to suggest efficient routes to shoppers and reduce the number of miles traveled on a trip. An illustration of how we group orders together to assign to our shoppers If our algorithm makes poor decisions with the grouping of orders, it could delay the timely delivery of our customers’ groceries. For the algorithm to make the best decisions, we need to pass inputs that are as accurate as possible. Types of distances One of the most important inputs required is the distance between any two origin and destination pairs. Computing distance is not as trivial as we think. Obviously, it’s hard to predict how exactly someone would drive from point A to point B on a map but with enough data, we can get to a reasonable approximation of the distance traveled and time taken. But when we started out, we didn’t have the luxury of large amounts of data to infer the right path between two points. So we had to rely on other methods to compute the distance. Haversine Distance The most commonly used formula for distance computation is called Haversine Distance, or more idiomatically, as the crow flies. A crow would fly in the shortest path between two points, unlike how a car would have to drive This can be computed easily using a mathematical formula: We started off using Haversine distance as the key input formula for all our distance computations and designed most of our machine learning models and algorithms using it. But this way of computing distance can be pretty inaccurate. For example, when we compared Haversine distances to the actual distances our shoppers traversed in a region like Orange County, we observed a 33% mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). Mapbox Generated Distance The other way of computing distance is through a third-party API like Mapbox, whom we partner with. We found the Mapbox estimated distances to be much more accurate than Haversine with a mean absolute percentage error (also in Orange County) of only 5%. Comparing the error distributions of Haversine distance and Mapbox distance While this can be pretty accurate, it can also be pretty expensive. Since we go through billions of computations before selecting the best set of routes, we would have to query these third-party services billions of times every day, which is not viable. But we can still rely on this data to a certain extent through caching our calls to these services. Every time we offer a trip to our shoppers, we call Mapbox to show the route in our Shopper App. When we make this call, we also cache the distances returned from Mapbox for each of the origin and destination pairs in the route. So the next time we come across the same pair of locations, we don’t have to re-query the service and just fetch the distance from our cache. However, this still doesn’t cover all the potential combinations we have to consider before choosing the best set. Every day, new customers sign up on Instacart for the first time, we keep adding new retailers to our platform, and our shoppers can be located anywhere in a city we deliver from, which makes this a very dynamic problem. So we decided to leverage our ever-increasing historical data of cached distances and actual distances traversed by our shoppers to build a Machine Learning model to predict distance. A simple model to predict distance To build a model, we fetched all the historical shopper trips data and extracted the origin & destination location coordinates, the actual distance traveled by our shoppers, and the cached Mapbox distance if available. We also observed that the actual distance data can be noisy since it relies on anonymized GPS data from mobile phones. So we also had to use some heuristics to prune out some outliers from the actual distance data. For the bad outliers, we replaced that data with the cached Mapbox data wherever available. We used this dataset to build an XGBoost model which performed best, both in terms of error and robustness, compared to other models such as Regularized Linear Regression and Random Forest. We built the model with five features: latitude and longitude information of origin and destination points and their corresponding Haversine distance. The model was trained to predict the corrected actual distance as the target variable. Given the semi-static nature of distance, we set up an automatic job to retrain the model on a weekly basis. Architecture High-level overview of the systems architecture Sample Code Sample code for training the ML model Performance The average MAPE of predicted distance we observed in a region like Orange County was 11% which is much smaller than that of Haversine distance (33%). In the chart below, you can see the comparative distribution of predicted and haversine distance errors: Comparing the error distributions of Haversine distance and Predicted distance We can also see that the Mapbox distance is still more accurate than the model predicted distance. So wherever we have cached Mapbox distances available, we continue to use those and supplement missing distances from cache with the ML model predicted distances. Impact As we mentioned earlier, accurate distance computation is very important for us to plan good routes and keep our customers and shoppers happy. With a simple model described above, we were able to improve the accuracy of our distance computation and were able to avoid planning some bad routes we would’ve created otherwise using only Haversine distance. Using this model, we were able to reduce the distance traveled by our shoppers for multi-order trips by 9% across all the areas Instacart operates in, leading to millions of miles saved per year.

https://tech.instacart.com/dont-let-the-crow-guide-your-routes-f24c96daedba

['Jagannath Putrevu']

2021-04-07 23:42:37.680000+00:00

['On Demand', 'Data Science', 'Logistics', 'Marketplaces', 'Machine Learning']

How I Broke Into TV Writing, Part 3

Photo by ray sangga kusuma on Unsplash This is part three of How I Broke Into TV Writing. Click here to start at the beginning or here to read the previous installment. I had just finished up my first on-set experience working on the pilot for Best Friends Forever. The show was picked up (i.e. more episodes were ordered) and the producers hired me to be the writers’ PA for the series. Our offices were located on a tiny studio lot tucked between the neighborhoods of Historic Filipinotown. Unlike, literally every other studio in LA, anyone could walk on to the lot. There was no security guard and only a rolling chain link fence to keep cars out. There was one sound stage, which housed our warren-like offices in the attic. My duties included stocking the kitchen and office supplies, getting lunch for the writers, and assisting the writers’ assistant and script coordinator with whatever they needed. Quick TV biz explainer: the writers’ assistant works in the actual writers’ room aka where the magic happens. They take notes on the all the pitches, jokes, and ideas generated in the room. Then at the end of the day, they organize everything into a cohesive document and send it out to the writers. The script coordinator is the liason between production and the writers’ room. Once outlines and scripts are written, they proof and send to network, studio and production. They track all the changes for each script draft. They keep everyone involved with the show on the literal same page. Both roles can also provide opportunities for assistants to get room experience pitching ideas and jokes. On BFF this was encouraged. A good idea was a good idea, no matter who pitched it. BFF was a unique room because the creators process relied heavily on improv. The room would generate ideas and break story. Once the writer for the particular episode had created an outline, Lennon and Jessica would use that as a template to improvise the scenes. From there, the writer would have scenes and alternate takes to shape and expand on. This had been their process for writing together but there was some trial and error to figure out how to make it all work with a room full of writers. For instance, we figured out pretty quickly it was best for the writers to work off a transcribed scene rather than an audio recording. I researched transcript services and lo behold no one specialized in transcribing improv scenes for TV writers’ rooms. Lennon and Jess are adept improvisers. They would play all the characters, switching between them mid-scene, sometimes finishing each others lines as the other person’s character. It would be impossible to outsource to someone who didn’t know the show or even what improv was. So they hired me to do it. I was now the 2nd writers’ assistant. Transcribing their improvs was tremendous fun. I mean, my job was listening to two comedy geniuses say insane, funny things to each other. Often in multiple accents. More to the point, I learned firsthand what makes a scene work and what doesn’t. By listening to their different takes, I heard in real time the adjustments they would make. How the figured out what the emotion of the scene needed to be. The best way to access their performance. Where the comedy was coming from. What the game of the scene was. Often, you learn so much more from failure than you do from success. After the room wrapped, we jumped right into shooting and I was able to stay on to assist the writers. We shot on location all around the city and I was able to see and experience all parts of LA. For the first time, this weird, often-impenetrable place was starting to open up for me. We were so busy with shooting and writing, that I hadn’t thought much about what happens after. That’s when I learned a sad reality №1 about a career in television: there is no job security. Jobs start. Jobs end. You hustle to find the next one. This kind of freedom can be liberating. But up to this point I had only worked regular jobs. The show ending caught me flat-footed. I still struggle with networking but back then I hated it. Networking for me was doing my job, being responsible and funny and having solutions to problems. I’d cross my fingers people would remember me and (hopefully) be asked on to the next thing. Thus “networking.” To get the next gig I needed to be proactive. I reached out to one of the producers for the production company I used to intern for. They had another pilot going and I wanted jump on to it. The producer told me of course they’d love to have me. But they needed an assistant and a script coordinator and only had room in the budget to hire one person. “Do you think you could do both jobs?” I almost said no. At the time, I had a very limited understanding of what a script coordinator actually did. I knew there’s a lot to keep track of and a lot that could go wrong. I hate to suck at my job. I didn’t want to fuck it up. But I needed a job. I needed to take a leap. How hard could it be? Join me next time when we’ll dive into the lovely world of script coordinating and the time I got smacked by a trained monkey!

https://medium.com/@andrewbarbot/how-i-broke-into-tv-writing-part-3-6013886515b5

['Andrew Barbot']

2020-12-08 04:09:10.862000+00:00

['Writing', 'Career Advice', 'TV Series', 'Career Development', 'Screenwriting']

Hollywood’s Future Comeback

As in years past, Hollywood has dealt with various types of disruption. Sagging economies, World War II, and now a pandemic. One of our most resilient and determined industries, The Movies, will survive. And once again, find a way to thrive and prosper. Despite the recent sea changes, the masses will always seek entertainment. Yes, the movie portal has evolved. From Nickelodeons to the movie theater. The drive-ins to the Internet. From single-screen movie theaters to the multiplex. The multiplex morphing into the IMAX with digital projection and stadium seating. All playing into the hands of Hollywood. As consumers evolve, Hollywood pivots. As tech progresses, Hollywood delivers. Pound for pound, the best counter puncher in business. As more people skip the theaters and opt to remain home, they still seek and yearn content. To answer this trend, more films have premiered faster or right away. From Pay-Per-View to Video-On-Demand. The industry answers. In our I want it now culture, more and more content is premiering online. Again, as the public demands, Hollywood provides. Among many things, Hollywood is smart and resilient. It always keeps the pulse of the wider audience. What they want. Hollywood answers with both devised and revised schedule slots. Days, evenings, and nights. Fall versus mid-season runnings. Renewals, cancellations, and cast changes. Hollywood listens and responds. It practices the ultimate customer service model with the money, talent, and will to satisfy the public.

https://medium.com/cinemania/hollywoods-future-comeback-8a21a79c20a1

['Phil Rossi']

2020-07-05 13:00:22.519000+00:00

['Television', 'Film', 'Culture', 'Entertainment', 'Coronavirus']

Announcing Our Successful 2018 Financials Audit by Big Four PwC

LGO Becomes the First Euro-Zone Company That Raised Funds Through an ICO to Have Its Financial Statements Audited by PwC LGO has set a goal of building a fully transparent, secure and fair digital asset trading platform focused on the needs of both institutional and retail investors. With this ambition in mind, we are proud to announce that our 2018 financial statements have been audited by the Big Four audit firm PwC. By doing so, LGO becomes the first euro-zone ICO-company to be audited by PwC. Over a period of several months, the financial statements of LGO, incorporated in France, were subject to PwC France’s auditing process. Cryptocurrency has brought a new level of complexity to the auditing approach. One of the main challenges was to establish the ownership of cryptocurrencies and tokens which LGO (previously known as Legolas) received and created during our successful Initial Coin Offering in 2018. This was made possible thanks to the new Halo tool developed by PwC to support the auditing of cryptocurrency. At LGO, we share the purpose of building trust and pursuing our commitment towards full transparency and innovation.

https://medium.com/lgogroup/announcing-our-successful-2018-financials-audit-by-big-four-pwc-3ad827e2f417

['Hugo Finkelstein']

2019-07-22 17:28:46.526000+00:00

['Audit', 'Token', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain']

7 Things To Do To Keep Your Child Safe During COVID19

7 Things To Do To Keep Your Child Safe During COVID19 Photo by Eric Froehling on Unsplash As new parents, the biggest nightmare for me and Mr. Husband has been the times when our little baby went ill. Yes, even after taking all the precautions I’ve seen my child getting high fever sometimes. These little fellows are generally very vulnerable to the changing climatic conditions and in India, the temperature varies a lot. The summers are way too hot and air conditioning is badly needed in that season, followed by the monsoon that lasts for months making everything damp. Monsoons are the time when, in India, you not only need to take care of the cleanliness in the house but also all the food, baby stuff everything. It’s the flu season and vaccinations are the most important and first prevention that as parents we must take care of. Even after that sometimes you’ll find babies getting high temperatures. For instance, I woke up one night to check on my little one, and at 1 am, I found him all flushed. He was cranky since the evening that day and wasn’t able to eat much. Generally when a 10-month-old toddler gets a temperature, we all think maybe the fever would be due to the teething that had started. Babies definitely are in pain with teething, and because of this they can get a temperature to say 99–100, but when the temperature is on the higher side of the scale and is repeating as a parent you must report it to the baby’s pediatrician. My baby boy had a fever of 101.6 deg F the first night. As the first-timers, Mr. Husband and I panicked and at 1 am, it was a frightening moment for us. Because of the lockdowns due to COVID in the city, we were advised by the grandparents to keep some medicines in hand ready for the baby but we just missed. Why is it that we tend to ignore the advice that our elders give? Anyways, what happened in those 3–4 days and what we learned from that experience might help new parents like us: 1. Thermal IR temperature reader Always keep a thermal infrared temperature reader ready. It measures the temperature from the forehead. Though the rectal temps are the most accurate ones at times it is very tough with little toddlers to get the correct reading using the rectal thermometer. For accuracy, first, try it on yourself. My baby used to get irritated because of the rectal thermometer so the IR one was a lifesaver for us. 2. Wet cloth sponging With high temperatures, along with the medicine start the wet cloth sponging. Do not just put a wet cloth on the baby’s forehead, but also put it on their palms and feet. It’s better to use lukewarm water instead of the ice-cold option. Sponge for 20–30 minutes and stop if you see your baby shivering. 3. Too much of layers A general tendency is seen that we parents keep the babies wrapped with too many clothes. The climate in India is generally hot and with spikes of temperature the baby will start feeling uneasy in some time. Better is to put them in loose clothing and cover with a clean muslin cloth. 4. Proper hydration A common mistake we all commit is that we just forget to give babies proper hydration. My little one is 10 months old and has no teeth yet. I changed his regular meal plans and loaded it up with a lot of liquids so that whatever the infection be it could pass away through urine. His diet mainly included Freshly squeezed juices of sweet lime and oranges for natural vitamin C Lentils soup for the proteins. Vegetable soup for much-needed fibers Give sips of boiled water brought down to room temperature. 5. Breastfeed It’s best to give mothers milk to the child in case the baby is too fussy to have anything all through the day. Breastmilk has some amazing properties to fight the infection. Also if the baby’s temperature is not going down, you may even wish to apply some expressed milk on your child’s forehead and armpits. I have tried it and this method works well. 6. Emergency medicines Always keep the baby’s meds handy. Keep a stock of the medicines that your Pediatrician has recommended. Because of the lockdown, there were so many problems that I had to face while going out to the medical shops at odd hours. I have now separately prepared a medical box for my little one. It includes the following medicines: Paracetamol drops for a fever — to be given once the fever is more than 100deg F A combination of Ibuprofen and Paracetamol syrup in case the paracetamol drops don’t work. Colicaid drops for colic Teething biochemical formula tablets Vitamin D drops Baby cough syrup for wet and dry cough Lacto calamine lotion for any insect bite Nasoclear spray Lactobacillus probiotic sachet for loose motions An anti-emetic is used to relieve nausea and vomiting. Well, this may sound too much but it’s always good to be ready for the unprepared times. 7. Consult your doctor If the fever is persistent as parents we must always remember to visit the Pediatrician without any delay. A physical examination of the baby because of the fever that keeps coming again and again and does not subside on its own must be shown to the doctor. Anyways, these days most doctors do not give any medications unnecessarily and they believe in letting the baby’s immune system grow. So be patient and have faith in your doctor. Some pointers to help you during the appointment: The doctor will check on the vaccination chart so carry it during your visit. The doctor will ask about all the symptoms so be prepared. If you notice any change in babies’ health during this time do not forget to mention that. Write down all your queries to avoid any last-minute confusion. Understand all the medications and precautions to be taken. Last but not the least, do take your doctor’s phone number; in case you may need it for any unsaid emergency. I have also documented the precautions to be taken during a doctor’s visit if you are taking the baby out at this time of quarantine. Remember to complete the dose of medications and keep the baby hydrated. I think with all the above-mentioned pointers things would ease out a bit but still watching your child sick is the most painful thing. Wishing for a healthy and quick recovery to the baby and family!

https://medium.com/a-parent-is-born/how-to-take-care-of-babys-health-during-the-pandemic-34f32b0b3015

['Aditi K']

2020-10-21 18:46:40.467000+00:00

['Newborn', 'Health Tips', 'Covid Diaries', 'Parenting Tips', 'New Parents']

About Me— Ossai Ceejay

About Me— Ossai Ceejay "If you're not into dark humor, if you're a delicate snowflake, if sarcasm offends you, get ready to hate me — a lot" Ossai Ceejay Sep 6·2 min read Photo Credit: Author That statement has always been some sort of disclaimer, a heads up I always give people who want to know me more, and so far, it has helped me regulate my friendship circle. Apart from my sense of humor, I’m also deeply in love with writing. I started writing when I was 16, I clocked 20 this year and those 4yrs writing have been memorable. I started off with creative writing, crafting short stories for my classmates, after which I joined wattpad where I wrote pretty decent stories that even trended (the genre was crime) Photo Credit: Author After discovering how time sapping creative writing was, I abandoned wattpad and began blogging where I specialize in science, health, weird facts, scientific hypothetical situations, and nature. It was the urge to spread my tentacles and broaden my horizons that led me to quora, and then eventually, Medium. I'm a paying member, and I don't for one second regret those 5 bucks, I love it here, I love the warmth and constructive criticism I receive here, and I would love to give back to you all as well. Apart from my writing, here's a brief summary of who I am: I’m very clumsy. Not just clumsy clumsy but hate yourself kind of clumsy. 2. I have anxiety issues. Most of the time, what I worry about makes absolutely no sense but it can still be enough to keep me up at night. 3. I have a photographic memory. 4. Chewing sounds disgust me. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I could drive a fork into your eye if you chew loudly close to me. 5. I stutter when I’m nervous. 6. I don’t believe in zodiac signs, and I’m still puzzled as to why anyone does. 7. I have a sloppy handwriting. 8. I’m trypophobic and also claustrophobic, the mere thought of being in a small closed space gives me anxiety. 9. I talk to myself, a lot! It scares me sometimes. 10. I’m scared of dogs 11. I love watching crime dramas like CSI 12. I’m quite short tempered 13. I’m a foodie 14. My hearing’s not so good (prolonged headphones usage) I really hope some of y’all can relate to me 😊

https://medium.com/about-me-stories/about-me-ossai-ceejay-15378455b2d7

['Ossai Ceejay']

2021-09-06 19:07:44.368000+00:00

['Me', 'Autobiography', 'About Me']

The Unwritten Rules in a Narcissistic Family

The Unwritten Rules in a Narcissistic Family While every family has rules, those in a narcissistic family are more intense, one-sided and must be followed at all costs. Image by B2B Tech Writer In every family, there are both spoken and unspoken rules for everyday life. Growing up, you learn these rules through the reactions you get from others in the family. Maybe you came to understand that there was no jumping on the beds, to be quiet in the mornings when mom and dad were still sleeping or not play ball in the house. In healthy families these rules can be seen to have logical explanations. As children, even when we don’t like the rules, we can understand their purpose in our life. We make not want to go to bed when we are supposed to, but we also know that when we don’t, we are tired and unhappy the next day. The rules in healthy families are intended to serve all the members even though some may only apply to certain people. If a child is exhausted and miserable from lack of sleep, they can make everyone else miserable as well. They also serve to help the child learn how to function in society and to grow up to be a well-adjusted adult who has their own life separate from that of their parents. In narcissistic families, the rules are intended to serve the purpose of the narcissistic member. The rules are expected to be followed no matter what with the understanding that breaking one will lead to severe consequences such as giving the individual the silent treatment for a week or adding to the rumors that are spread about them to ensure that others view them negatively. No one in a narcissistic family is immune, all children as well as the spouse are expected to follow the rules without question or exception, even when it is impossible to do so or detrimental to the individual required to toe the line. 10 Common Unwritten Rules in a Narcissistic Family 1. No one’s perspective or desires matter besides the narcissists. This is rule numero uno and the most important one. It can also be expressed more basically as no one else matters at all. While the individual may be a consummate actor, convincing friends and family members outside the immediate family that everyone was treated equally and their views and desires respected, in reality only the narcissistic member has such benefits and if others are respected in any way it is only because it somehow serves the narcissistic person. Narcissists only see things from their own perspective and any attempt to get them to take another person’s point of view is met with refusal. In extreme cases, they may not even be able to recognize anyone else has a unique perspective that is different from their own. 2. Submission is required of all family members even a spouse. Every family member must submit to the narcissist’s authority, no matter how ignorant, arbitrary, cruel, or destructive it may be to do so. 3. Appearance is all important. Substance counts for nothing. Since the narcissist is often trying to cover up deep seated insecurities and a sense of worthlessness, everything they do is about image management. This means that their own appearance as well as that of everyone in the family, is crucial since they believe that everyone else is a reflection of them. They won’t risk anyone looking anything less than their idea of perfect, lest someone view them negatively. They may insist that even young children remain clean at all times and that their spouse should look just so even when at home. They might dress their child for school in a way they want, despite it getting the child teased or bullied and may even insist on picking out their clothes until the child moves away from home. It doesn’t matter if everyone is miserable just so long as everyone smiles for the family photo. 4. Family secrets must always be kept even when they are harmful. Narcissistic families are filled with secrets when often are in the form of lies. Again, these are aimed at maintaining the image that the narcissistic member wants to create. They are allowed to talk about family members outside the family, purposely using lies or things taken out of context to establish the picture they want of the person they are speaking about but no one else. Should the family member learn there are false things being said about them they are not allowed to correct the image even when it may hurt them or their reputation. The narcissist is quite adept at training extended family members and friends to accept any lies or inconsistencies including not sharing what they’ve heard with the person it was about. 5. Love and acceptance are conditional. Only when family members comply with the narrative created by the narcissist and does whatever the narcissist wants, accepting their share of narcissistic abuse, will they be allowed to feel like part of the family. It doesn’t mean that they will never be abused again since it is not unusual that the narcissist punishes children especially for something they could not have known about. This makes the narcissist feel they always have the upper hand and the power in the family. 6. Children are given no privacy and are expected to give information about everything in their life. The narcissist believes it is their right to find out anything they want to about the child by calling the child’s friends or enlisting them to provide information, reading diaries, contacting teachers, relatives and anyone else the child comes into contact with, and later on boyfriends or girlfriends and their parents, adult friends, bosses and landlords. They use the internet to obtain additional information about the person or have someone who does it for them, possibly the golden child. They encourage their child to join social media sites like Facebook as another means of monitoring information about them. 7. Blame is assigned for all problems big or small and sometimes problems are created to have something to blame someone for. Instead of teaching children how to solve problems, accept responsibility for them, work through them and move on and other positive problem related strategies, in a narcissistic family problems are capitalized on as a reason to blame others. Usually this is the scapegoat of the family and when there is a scapegoat it seems like there is often a malignant enjoyment that the narcissist experiences in blaming this child. They blame them for their own mistakes, the mistakes and problems of others, made up mistakes used just to attack and punish them, and to reassign appropriate blame from the golden child to the scapegoat. Whoever they blame though, the primary purpose is to deflect attention away from anything they themselves may have done wrong. They will never admit to having made a mistake, will never apologize and will never allow it is even possible they are could ever cause anyone a problem. Scapegoats quickly learn to accept the blame as the lesser evil compared to the emotional abuse that occurs should the try to fight back. They come to bear the burden for the entire families problems, anger, frustration and unhappiness and accept that the rules are just different for them. They may also grow to loath themselves due to the narcissists treatment. 8. Vulnerability is dangerous. Anything that makes a family member vulnerable such as mistakes, weaknesses such as negative emotions, or failures, even when you accept responsibility for them leads to years of persistent shaming. Sometimes it never ends. Children learn at a very young age never to approach the parent if they are upset or another child has hurt their feelings since they will always be held accountable as the reason that it happened. The narcissist will never ask for the other side of the story since they insist on controlling the entire narrative, rewriting history to meet their needs and to paint different family members the way they want to. 9. What is important is competition not cooperation. Narcissists cover their low self-efficacy and self competency by using one-upmanship, favoritism and constant comparison to create a harshly competitive environment. This undermines trust and breeds hostility and betrayal. The narcissist will even feel the need to compete with their own children from a young age, even though the child rarely views their relationship as competitive. This speaks to just how low their self-esteem is that they feel the need to crush their own child’s spirit, to feel that they have “won.” What these parents compete the most for is gaining all the attention from others, having a positive image and reputation while destroying their child’s and the regard in which everyone else holds them. They compete to be invited to places their child is not, enjoying in rubbing it in their face, but doing so in feigned ignorance that goes, “Oh, you weren’t invited? I thought for sure you would be”. The narcissist will often be the one that made sure the child wasn’t invited. 10. Denial is rampant. In order to sustain their control over the family, the narcissist uses denial or revisionist history. They promote an atmosphere where all members deny the narcissist’s emotionally abusive interaction style, the continued presence of fear that they promote, their ongoing maltreatment of the scapegoat and the regular neglect of other family members.

https://medium.com/mental-gecko/the-unwritten-rules-in-a-narcissistic-family-d22097005b6c

['Natalie Frank']

2020-07-12 15:19:37.976000+00:00

['Personality', 'Mental Health', 'Psychology', 'Narcissism', 'Life']

Deep in Heavenly Peace

It’s Christmas morning and I am sitting in my undecorated living room. I laugh to myself thinking about the other night when my parents and I were watching the PBS special Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas with Vanessa Williams. We were singing along and enjoying the warm fuzzies of the Holidays. My mother remembered a lot of the words to our favorite Christmas carols. Surprisingly, my father chimed in with his baritone voice… “ Deep in heavenly peace…” I opened my eyes and said “ who in heavenly peace???” My father said “Deep — what?” I informed him that the word is “sleep” and he was dumbfounded that he had been singing the wrong words for nearly 70 years. My mother laughed as well, and continued singing along, her honeyed voice soothing the edges of a very stressful year. She sounded so full, so clear. The best she’s sounded in years, as dementia had caused her voice to weaken and soften over the years. In fact, my mother was having a really good day, despite a few sleepless nights in a row the week prior. That day, she was present, lucid, and aware. Just as she had been the previous Friday when my parents and I celebrated my graduation from my master’s program. I dawned my cap, gown, and master’s hood. My mother dressed in an elegant kaftan and my father in a luxurious sweater. And we sat before our smart television and watch my 40-second clip from my virtual ceremony. My mother gasped and brought her hand to her heart when my name appeared on the screen. Earlier in the day, as we prepared for our little at-home ceremony She didn’t have much to say in that moment, but her reaction let me know she understood the enormity of the moment and was filled with pride at her baby’s accomplishment. In these fleeting moments of joy, I was truly at war. I had to fight off the dread monster that sought to overshadow these sweet (though fleeting) moments spent with my family. I could keep replaying the days earlier that week when pent-up stress spilled from my body as I was wracked with pain and panic attacks disrupted my post-exams glow. I could still be living in those events right now. As many of us learned this year, lamenting over circumstances over which you have absolutely no control is not only senseless (though tempting for all of us), but toxic to your mind, body, and soul. So, on this day where I, as a Christian, celebrate the birth of my savior Jesus Christ, I choose to “seek peace and pursue it,” falling deep into heavenly peace. I will count my blessings and give thanks for my family, my friends, my education, and new opportunities on the horizon. The holidays are hard for a lot of people, especially this year. But I encourage everyone — regardless of your faith or lack thereof — to take even just a brief moment today to take stock of the good things in your life. Center them in your heart and mind. Let yourself be overwhelmed with gratitude. Enter deep into heavenly peace. Then, whenever you are feeling overcome by dread, fear, or grief, return to this moment and let it carry you through.

https://medium.com/@aisha-adkins/deep-in-heavenly-peace-6b5d19bad3ba

['Aisha Adkins']

2020-12-28 15:58:29.755000+00:00

['Peace', 'Christma', 'Graduation']

Bullet journaling my 2019

In 2019 I took notes of everything I did and analyzed my complete year. In retrospect 2019 was a great year and I know exactly how to make 2020 even better. This chart represents my 2019 sorted by categories. Each datapoint is one memory which I thought was worth noting down, some memories have a sub-category which is described by the color within a bar. These memories allowed me to rewind 2019 in a couple of minutes. This post explains how I did that, what I learned in retrospective and what I plan to change in the future. How In the beginning of 2018 I started to take notes on sundays summarizing my week. After one year it was great to review everything and I decided to continue taking notes. In August 2019 I decided to switch to daily instead of weekly notes and about a month ago I learned that this is actually a thing people do and they call it bullet journaling. Simultaneously I decided that my future work should focus on data visualization, it seemed obvious to combine those two things and create my first data viz project with this very personal data set. I collected all my notes usings Emacs’ org-mode. Emacs is a text editor and org-mode is a document editing, formatting, and organizing mode, designed for notes, planning, and authoring. Org-mode has a capture feature which allows to quickly take notes without leaving the current context of your work, it works on desktop or mobile. It is possible to define capture templates which add meta data to every note entry. I added the current date and at least one category for each entry. The categories help to structure my notes and to create visualizations based on my journal. Here are some example entries of my journal: Read datasketches :LEARN:BLOG: Cooked something new :LEARN: Christmas Market :SOCIAL: I parsed the notes and converted them into a large JSON data structure. The data is processed with the programming language Clojure which was really straightforward using the library clojure.walk. Based on these data I used Oz to specify visualizations. Oz uses Vega and Vega Lite to create visualization with Clojure. Within my data I could find five major categories: Social, Learn, Health, Work and Grownup. I will take a deeper look into each of this categories. Social I was very happy to see that most of my notes were about social activities. I have to admit that the data are a bit skewed because when I started bullet journaling social entries were the only things I noted. The large amount of social data was the main reason I finished my 2019 review later than expected. I decided to start a side project using my social data. I wanted to create christmas cards for my friends & familiy by creating a custom data vizualization presenting the data I collected. I did not want to “quantitize” my friendships based on the number of notes instead everyone should get a personal review about our shared memories throughout the year. I created two charts using the d3 library, one containing all events which mentioned the person and the other one accumluating all other persons which joined those events. Here’s an example card: The christmas cards were a huge success and I could make my closest friends happy and appriciate our friendships. Learning The learning category had a lot of sub-categories so I created another visualization. As you can notice I was really into watching and presenting talks this year with a total of 94 entries but I will try to balance that this year and do more things instead of just watching them. I was very proud about reading 13 books fulfilling my goal of reading one book per month. Health I tried to work out this year and I succeeded to do something almost everyday even if it was just a 5 minute workout. That was great because I finally managed to form a habbit of doing workouts My bullet journal did contain only 63 Health entries but I started writing them down quite late. I plan to have better data next year. Besides my 5 minutes workout I was running quite regularly and went climbing from time to time. Work The results of my work entries were the ones which suprised me the most I was expecting to have much more valuable moments during work but lately I was doing a lot of routine work. This is the aspect I want focus to improve next year and I already started by trying to switch my main work focus to data visualisation. I hope to find many exciting project in a more specialized niche. Grownup The Grownup category contains all the things I have to do but I do not really like. Some examples are taxes or cleaning. My goal for 2019 was to get an overview about my personal finances, I wanted to know my expenses and how much I can save and invest for the future. Although this is not a topic I am execessily excited about I managed to fulfil this goal and automated it for the future. Conclusion I never planned to analyze my journal data when I started writing it down but I am very happy I did it. I learned a lot about myself reading through my notes and could really appreciate all great moments of 2019. I will definitley continue to create my bullets and I will try to gather even more detailed in 2020. In addition there are a lot of things I want to improve in 2020 and my analysis showed me where I have to focus. Hopefully my data vizualization skills will also improve so that I will learn even more in my future 2020 review.

https://medium.com/@rollacaster/bullet-journaling-my-2019-9ef1e67b95a5

['Thomas Sojka']

2020-01-24 07:58:50.829000+00:00

['Clojure', 'Journaling', 'Dataviz', 'Review', '2019']

For J., On Falling Again

You put your heart to sleep, buried the spark that flashed like flame before the Reaper dropped; accustoms to the pulse-less heavy start that filled your heart when all the planet stopped. Bedecked in widows’ webs, bent low in grief, time comes to fill your chest like Novocaine, so petrified with the holy belief that searching out new love brings certain pain. But pain is everywhere: memory, joy, two lovers touching, chaste as winter snow. Behold the echo of the breathing boy transformed by love, lit with a lively glow. And then from black, a spark! You dream a song but singing hurts too much. Your lover’s gone.

https://medium.com/poets-unlimited/for-j-on-falling-again-4d60348199eb

['Zach J. Payne']

2019-05-24 20:39:25.106000+00:00

['Grief', 'Poetry', 'Healing', 'Love', 'Poem']

LOOKING BACK IS MOVING FORWARD!!!

LOOKING BACK IS MOVING FORWARD!!! Hey there, it's been a minute, did you miss us? Well we missed you. Glad to have you here again. In the course of the year we looked at a lot of topics which included intellectual balance, forgiveness, caring, love languages, apology languages, things to know before getting married and a host of others. If you ask me it's been an insightful year. We've learnt a lot but the question is did we really use what we learnt? You see, the true test of knowledge or wisdom when acquired is seen in it's use to solve the problems we face daily. We've come a long way together and since this is the last post of the year, it's only right that we think back and reflect. Now we are not thinking back or reflecting to make us feel bad but to see where we went wrong with our loved one. What we could and should have done differently, In retrospect, you need to start analysing the way you behaved to your loved one, was it right? How would you have felt if they responded to you that exact way? How else would you have responded to make the situation better. What were the things you said that weren't right. When a year is winding up we are always advised to prepare for the coming "new" year and we tend to forget something which is essential and it's the life audit, the basic idea is to run through the year mentally in a bid to see where you went wrong and should improve on in the coming year, this has proven to really help make the coming year a better one. Now In our own case we will be doing a "Love" audit. Run through the year mentally, look back at your responses to situations, your attitude to certain things, the way you treated your loved one... Now Imagine what you should have done instead. Think of better ways to have handled all the numerous situations you must have run through in your mind. Doing this makes it easier to respond better in the coming year. It's my joy that you have a love life that is beyond reproach and the only way to get this is to do things differently (better). So think upon the shortcoming of the year and plan how to make the coming year a blast. Love is beautiful however Love is also work. Cheers to Happiness, Long life, Joy and unlimited credit alerts above all Cheers to Amazing 2021 Merry Christmas, Eat small small ooh. Remember, feedbacks make us want to do more for you our fans and dear readers. Please never stop commenting and sending us DMs. Selah! ✌🏾

https://medium.com/@midephillips01/looking-back-is-moving-forward-445fe6c868a3

[]

2020-12-25 12:11:11.828000+00:00

['Relationships', 'Love', 'Inspiration', 'Relationships Love Dating', 'New Year']

Better Marketing Weekend Reads

Better Marketing Weekend Reads Clever analogies about rainforests and junk food, tips for how (if?) to Fleet a Tweet, Gen-Z marketing advice, and more. Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash Thanks to everyone who completed the audience survey in the last newsletter! We’re listening to your feedback, and we’ve got some new things in the works. This issue of the newsletter has a list of article highlights — from practical advice to inspirational ideas — as well as a list of some of our most-read articles. (By the way, we’re not including articles about writing and/or making money on Medium in these lists—but you can find lots of resources for that in this guide).

https://medium.com/better-marketing/better-marketing-weekend-reads-e81128f2d7da

['Brittany Jezouit']

2020-11-22 13:05:47.562000+00:00

['Marketing', 'Newsletter', 'Business']

Connected Max Smart LED review: Cree Lighting ups its game with a new line of color tunable bulbs

Connected Max Smart LED review: Cree Lighting ups its game with a new line of color tunable bulbs Mike Dec 19, 2020·2 min read The lighting mavens at Cree Lighting are pushing further into the smart home with the launch of the Connected Max line, a series of bulbs available in both dimmable (but not tunable) white and color-changing options. Color bulbs are available in BR30, PAR38, A19, and (unusually) A21 form factors. The tunable white is only available as an A19 bulb. Today we look at the color A19 bulb, which serves as both a full color-changing bulb and a tunable white bulb. The bulb offers a now familiar, traditional design, with a large heat sink and an Edison style globe on top, roughly the same size as a typical incandescent. The bulb draws 9 watts and offers 800 lumens of brightness, making for a 60-watt incandescent equivalent. This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best smart bulbs, where you’ll find reviews of competing products, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.The bulb sets up initially via Bluetooth, but operates only on the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi band. Initial configuration went quickly via the Cree Lighting mobile app, and I encountered no issues with installation. I especially appreciated its detailed setup process, which walks you through its various configuration modes instead of leaving it all for you to discover later. [ Further reading: The best bias lighting kits for TVs and monitors ] Christopher Null / IDG Cree’s “follow the sun” mode can be infinitely fine-tuned. Those modes include “light to sleep” and “light to wake” modes, which slowly fade out or in at bedtime and the waking hour respectively. There’s also a “follow the sun” mode which adjusts the color temperature throughout the day to keep you energized in the morning and relaxed after hours. Naturally, there’s a full range of tuning options to play with, including a white color temperature range of 2200K to 6500K and a capable dimmer. As well, an intuitive color wheel makes it easy to light the room for a holiday—and the bulb’s colors are impressive in brightness and vibrancy. A full range of scheduling and timer options are available, and the app connects with both Alexa and Google Assistant to let you control the bulb via voice. For the most part, the bulb is responsive, though I did encounter more than a few brief disconnects, stutters, and delays during my testing, but rarely did I have to wait more than a few seconds for things to right themselves. That’s all perhaps to be expected given the pricing of this bulb at all of $10, which is definitely on the budget side (though not the least expensive model on the market, even among name brands). Despite some minor bugginess, it’s definitely worth the outlay. 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/@mike82277055/connected-max-smart-led-review-cree-lighting-ups-its-game-with-a-new-line-of-color-tunable-bulbs-acc8d9e6c43e

[]

2020-12-19 07:35:18.954000+00:00

['Music', 'Connected Home']

Terraform Tutorials: Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Terraform and why do we need it? Terraform is an open-source tool that was designed to enable the creation, modification, and even deletion of infrastructure on the cloud. It mainly works on the principle of “Infrastructure as Code”. In an era where DevOps processes are booming, Terraform has been revolutionizing the process with its simple, yet efficient ways of managing infrastructure through code. It isn’t restricted to any cloud provider and can be used to write configurations for most of the cloud providers. 2. In which language was Terraform coded and when was it initially released? It was coded in the “GO” language and can work efficiently on almost all the popular Operating Systems. It was first released in July 2014. 3. Can we consider Terraform as a DevOps tool? Yes, of course. DevOps is a complete cycle or process that involves both the development and the operations team. A very critical part of this process is setting up the right infrastructure, and it’s one the best to do so. 4. How do I use Terraform? You may download the CLI from the official website of HashiCorp. Once you have the CLI installed, you may use the declarative HashiCorp configuration language (HCL) to write your configuration files or Terraform templates, that can be in “.tf” or “.tf.json” format. With the Terraform templates ready, you can initialize and apply your configurations. 5. Which version should I use? You may use any version, however, the version from 0.12 is available with the newer configuration options and more flexibility. It is available as an open-source, Cloud, and Premium or Enterprise version. 6. What is Terraform Enterprise and Cloud? Terraform Cloud is a cloud service provided in order to enable a team to have a shared state and also an approval flow towards the changes made on the infrastructure. Enterprise provides your organization with your own private instance of cloud and there are no restrictions on the resources and a few other additional features. 7. Which cloud providers are supported? All major cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, GCP are supported. You may access the full list of cloud providers by clicking here. 8. What are some useful commands? There are many commands for different purposes, but the most commonly used commands are “init”, “plan”, “apply” and “destroy”. 9. How does Terraform work internally for tfresources? Every time you create a template or a configuration file and initialize and apply the configuration, a remote object for a particular resource is created on your system. The link between the remote object and your resource is saved in the Terraform state file. Whenever you update a resource on your configuration, a new remote object is created. This object gets mapped against the resource in the Terraform state file, and the previous remote object is deleted. Therefore, every time you update a resource, you’re also creating a new remote object. 10. Is it possible to add sensitive information to my configuration file? Yes, you can include information such as credentials or token information in your configuration. But, we recommend that you don’t store sensitive information in the “.tf files” on your system. We encourage storing the files on remote storage, such as your cloud provider or on Terraform Cloud so that every bit of information remains encrypted. 11. Can we clone an existing infrastructure in Terraform? There is a provision to clone using the command “terraform import”. For now, this is restricted to cloning only the Terraform state file and you’ll have to write the rest of the configuration (such as resources, modules, and blocks). It’s also important to note that if your configuration is from a different tool, you can’t import your infrastructure. Instead, you’ll have to map your complete configuration to a Terraform template. 12. What is the Terraform state file? A Terraform state file stores the configuration/resources that you create or modify on a cloud provider, in JSON format. It is responsible for how the current resources are recognized. Also, to ensure that your complete team maintains the same Terraform state file, we suggest storing it in cloud storage rather than in your local system. 13. How can I deploy my infrastructure on the cloud? The very first step for you would be to create a template with tfvariables, providers, resources, and other configurations. Once you have them in the right modular structure, you will have to initialize your working directory which will start with your “main.tf” file. You can then test whether the resource allocation meets your needs by using the “plan” command. If everything seems to be in place, you can apply the changes and your infrastructure will be deployed. 14. What are Terraform best practices I can follow when using tfvariables? Stick to using the correct data type: It ensures the right results and less bugs in your configuration. Use your variables: Declaration is not usage. Don’t just declare them in your “tfvars” file and forget them. Use them wisely in your configuration. Name your variables right: Once you have your infrastructure deployed, you are not going to just forget it. You or any other member of your team will eventually make changes to the infrastructure. Therefore, name your variables correctly and always have a description argument to accompany it, which will help you make changes in the future. Sensitive flag: If your file contains sensitive data, make sure to have the sensitive flag in the output values file and store your Terraform state file on cloud. 15. What is a Terraform template and what does it consist of? A template is a collection of your configuration files. These files, together, define your infrastructure. The template has a resource file, provider file, variables file and modules as the most basic elements. 16. Since it is open-source, can I contribute towards the development of Terraform? HashiCorp does allow you to place pull requests. However, there is no guarantee that your pull request will actually be merged post review or when it will be reviewed. It will be merged only if your request adds value to the current changes or updates planned. If you are willing to contribute and are sure your pull requests are of value, go ahead — after all, it’s open source! 17. What are modules? Are modules and functions the same? Terraform modules act as containers and contain all similar resources and variables. One module may contain or nest another module. A parent module can also call a child module. When compared with an overall view of functions in other programming languages, we can say that modules are similar to functions but they are not the same. Modules are user-defined and have to be defined by us. Functions here are only in-built and cannot be defined by us. 18. Can I add version control to my providers? There is a provision to mention the version as an argument inside the “required_providers” block 19. What are some common issues I might face? No matter how efficient a tool and the team working on it is, it is always good to keep in mind these issues: Handling the Terraform state file: The state file is one of the most important files, but it’s also a file that you need to be extremely careful with when handling. The possibility for disaster increases when you begin to make manual changes to the Terraform state file — if you make a wrong move, the configuration will not sync. Tip: Always have the Terraform state file stored in a remote location, and always have “state locking” enabled to protect yourself. Renaming of resources and variables: When you constantly rename resources and variables, it becomes impossible for the Terraform state file to keep track of this, and might result in hours or days of manual work to get the files back on track. Limited application of “import” command: The “import” command currently lets you only clone the Terraform state file and not the complete configuration. Also, when you have many resources, the usage of the command becomes problematic as it might need to be used multiple times. Avoid complicated module structure: Nesting multiple modules and complicating the structure also complicates any changes that you or any other engineer working on the configuration plan to make in the future. There might be stray or missing tfvariables and resources in modules when you try updating the infrastructure in the future. So, try to keep your modules as simple as possible. 20. Is additional documentation necessary with my configuration files? The major advantage of being a declarative language is that it is very easily readable and usually does not need any additional documentation. Your code becomes your documentation! But it is a good practice to always add comments in your configuration file and also have a README file. This makes your documentation stronger and allows better understanding and easier changes to anyone who handles the configuration in the future. This is only the beginning of our Terraform Tutorials: FAQ Series. Stay tuned as we go even deeper into topics that matter. Have an idea for a topic for us to cover? Looking to get more help with your Terraform project? Join our Slack community to learn from Terraform experts. 👋 Join FAUN today and receive similar stories each week in your inbox! ️ Get your weekly dose of the must-read tech stories, news, and tutorials. Follow us on Twitter 🐦 and Facebook 👥 and Instagram 📷 and join our Facebook and Linkedin Groups 💬

https://faun.pub/terraform-tutorials-frequently-asked-questions-4b180a8afa6f

['Raphael Socher']

2020-12-13 10:16:59.173000+00:00

['Devops Training', 'DevOps', 'Terraform', 'Devops Practice']

Writing (and Attracting Readers) as an Introvert

Writing (and Attracting Readers) as an Introvert Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash Introvert issues Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m an introvert. A very big one. Give me a quiet room over a busy bar any day of the week. (Admit? is this even something you need to ‘admit’? Typical introvert problem…) I also write. And… I want my writing to be read. But whenever I try to write/say something like “please read my stories/posts”, a shudder runs over my spine that makes my hands shake so much that I can’t do it. (Slight exaggeration there. Poetic license, let’s say.) So, read my stuff without me asking for it or drawing attention to it. That’s unlikely to work. As most writers know, you’ve got to market your writing. (There’s that shudder again.) Often, marketing involves drawing attention to yourself, speaking about your work, projecting confidence, networking, and so on. (If you just shuddered too, congratulations, you’re probably an introvert.) Here’s a paradox, though: many writers — even very good and well-known ones — tend to be introverts. The resolution of that paradox is that writing and being read are not the same thing. The writing itself is a warm blanket introverts can swaddle themselves in. The ‘getting the writing out there’ is the cold chill that creeps underneath the blanket. Introvert toolbox Here are some tools introverts can use in the quest for readers. (A non-exhaustive list, of course. I’m still very much working on this myself. Leave your own thoughts/tips below.) Write The easy part. Not really. Writing well is hard, but many introverts like it. It’s not hard for us to want to write. It’s mostly a solitary activity, after all. And it gives us time to caress the words into the shape we like, to craft the story we want to tell. For being read, you have to write. Introvert writers have got that covered. The introvert superpower I like to think that imagination is — in general, on average — an introvert superpower. Certainly, extroverts can have great imaginations too. And yet, there is a bit of a difference. Extroverts are out there, moving, mingling, networking, constantly exposing themselves to many influences. That’s good, but too many influences can dilute the originality of your own ideas. Introverts, on the other hand, tend to carefully curate what they expose themselves to. This, perhaps, gives our own ideas some more room to grow in unexpected and unexplored directions. Introverts also tend to read quite a lot during their own quality time. Always good for inspiration and flexing the imaginative muscle. We contain many hidden words and worlds. Internet magic The internet can be a great place for introverts, whether you have a blog, write on Medium, or engage with others (on your own terms) on Twitter. You can choose which comments/people you respond to, block trolls, and take some time to tame your thoughts and formulate a response, all of which are harder to do in the non-virtual world. Who knows, you might meet other introverts (*waves hand*). Many make a habitat for themselves online. You can also promote your writing relatively unobtrusively. Add a link to your bio, submit to Medium or other publications (which gives you a bit of baseline exposure), use Twitter hashtags when you share a bit of writing without explicitly saying “read my writing”… Use your senses For non-introverts, introverts can often seem cold and distant. How wrong they are. Most of us are very sensitive. Yes, firstly in the traditional definition of sense. Sound (a big one for me), touch, striking visuals, smells, particular tastes, we pay a lot of attention to them. (Introversion is not the same as hypersensitivity, but roughly 70% of self-identified hypersensitive people are introverts (*waves again*). How exactly it’s connected — and whether it truly is — remains to be determined.) But also in the emotional department. Extroverts are emotional too, of course, and the depth of emotional experience is probably the same too, on average. Introverts, though, tend to spend quite a bit of time (over)analyzing things. Does the following sound familiar? “Why did I say it like that? What did they really mean? Why did they use those words? Should I have spoken up? Why did they do that?” This can be very annoying —trust me, I know— but it also gives us a great tool for character development (in fiction) or an often unexpected sense of personality (or voice) that comes through in our writing (fiction and non-fiction). What you see is only a small part of what you get. Be the dark horse, the deep lake. The readers will come.

https://writingcooperative.com/writing-and-attracting-readers-as-an-introvert-4a347ec73023

['Gunnar De Winter']

2021-09-12 17:32:22.108000+00:00

['Audience', 'Psychology', 'Writing', 'Marketing', 'Introvert']

Anti-establishment conservative PAC weighs in on Senate primaries

Anti-establishment conservative PAC weighs in on Senate primaries By Jessica Piper BIRMINGHAM, AL — DECEMBER 13: Senator-elect Doug Jones (D-AL) speaks during a December 13, 2017 in Birmingham, Alabama. Jones stated that US President Donald Trump called him today to congratulate him on his victory. (Photo by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images) A conservative PAC known for challenging establishment Republicans from the right is backing several Senate candidates in three open primaries that will likely be closely watched in the coming year. The Senate Conservatives Fund has already spent more than $176,000 on independent expenditures supporting businessman John James, state Rep. Arnold Mooney and retired General Don Bolduc, three Republicans aiming to take on vulnerable Democratic senators in 2020. James, who narrowly lost a Senate race in 2018, is the only major candidate currently challenging Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), while Mooney and Bolduc will compete in primaries for the chance to take on Sens. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), respectively. All three seats are Republican targets next year as the party fights to keep its Senate majority. Mooney, who describes himself as “a conservative and an outsider,” is competing in a crowded Alabama primary that includes Judge Roy Moore, who lost to Jones in a 2017 special election. Also in the race are former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) and Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill. Mooney raised $298,314 through the end of the second quarter, putting him well behind both Byrne and Tuberville but significantly ahead of Moore, who raised less than $17,000. Mooney has picked up endorsements from Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). The Senate Conservatives Fund, which backed Moore over incumbent Sen. Luther Strange during a primary runoff in 2017, has dropped more than $87,000 in independent expenditures to support Mooney so far, most of which has gone to direct mail and email marketing. It also gave Mooney’s campaign $10,000. The eventual winner of the Alabama primary will have to raise significant cash to catch up with Jones. The Democratic incumbent continues to receive support from his party nationally and has already raised more than $3.6 million this year. In New Hampshire, Bolduc is currently in a three-way primary with state Rep. Bill O’Brien and army veteran Corky Messner. A potential wildcard in the race later this fall is President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who the president all but endorsed at a Manchester, N.H., rally earlier this month. Lewandoski told the Washington Examiner last week that he would wait to see other candidates’ third-quarter fundraising numbers before deciding on his own run. None of the Republican Senate candidates in New Hampshire formally filed to run until July, so early fundraising numbers are not yet available for the race. The Senate Conservatives Fund has dished out $26,239 on independent expenditures supporting Bolduc so far. Shaheen, who was first elected in 2008, had a comfortable $2.8 million cash on hand as of June 30. The Senate Conservatives Fund, founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) in 2008, has often been at odds with mainstream Republican leadership in recent primary elections. A nonconnected PAC, it is allowed to carry out independent expenditures and make limited contributions to federal candidates. Much of the antagonism with national Republicans occurred under the leadership of Ken Cuccinelli, who was the PAC’s president from 2014 until he was named acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services this past June. The former Virginia attorney general was appointed acting director — rather than offered the position permanently — in part because he faced little chance of Senate confirmation given the PAC’s history of challenging establishment senators. In 2017, the Senate Conservatives Fund briefly backed Brooks during the Republican primary to replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. After Brooks was eliminated in the first round of the primary, the PAC backed Moore in his runoff against Strange, who had been appointed to fill Sessions’ seat and had the backing of establishment Republicans. Moore ultimately won the runoff but fell in the general election amid allegations of predatory behavior toward teenage girls. In 2014, the PAC backed Matt Bevin in his primary challenge to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell won the primary handedly with 60 percent of the vote, and Bevin was elected governor of Kentucky the following year. This cycle, the Senate Conservatives Fund has raised nearly $948,534 so far. The PAC had $488,963 in cash on hand at the end of July.

https://medium.com/@OpenSecretsDC/anti-establishment-conservative-pac-weighs-in-on-senate-primaries-a50c270dc71d

[]

2019-08-27 18:44:11.662000+00:00

['Us Senate', 'Republicans', 'Politics', '2020', 'Elections']

Constructing the Smart Cities of the Future

The innovative solutions we need from the construction industry to make living in the city smarter is becoming a reality. Cities are important to all of us. They are hubs of business, innovation, infrastructure and living places for ever-increasing populations in almost every corner of this world. Cities are where businesses grow, economies thrive and social and cultural life flourish against a backdrop of architecture and post-modern design. The concept of smart cities isn’t new — it’s just that we have reached the right level of technological innovation and utility — to actually develop useful tools that can aid us in the process. To truly develop smart cities, we need to be able to bring together a myriad of visions as to what the smart cities of the future look like, and work towards building them now. The future of our urban centres faces major challenges. Increasing populations are bringing more severe pollution, traffic congestion and accelerate housing needs, among many more issues. As ever, the construction industry will play a vital part in solving these major challenges. What is a Smart City? The future of cities now depends on our success in building smart cities. Smart Cities use the Internet of Things (IoT) to collect data, gather insights, distil data through AI and machine learning. In turn, the tech helps us to make strategic business decisions, so we can service the needs of the city more efficiently. However, it is also more — the interconnectivity technology affords us — allows everything to communicate through common protocols so that certain decisions can be made by the tech itself, based on pre-programmed conditions. For example, traffic lights in a smart city are aware of the number of cars that are currently on the road and adjust their timings according to reduce traffic. And, this is already on top of the tech we currently have, where GPS systems redirect cars away from traffic hotspots, but they could also redirect electric vehicles of the future to nearby charging stations. Other examples include waste disposal, where garbage trucks can pick up waste based on need because a smart bin has told the waste management company the bin it’s full. This would be far more useful, as then waste management company collection schedules are driven by tech as opposed to predetermined schedules, which sometimes fail and garbage builds up. Constructing Smart Cities Smart cities require clever construction, excellent design and a solid vision. From connecting people with one another via transport systems, preserving the environment with smart waste solutions, and creating residential buildings that allow people to escape the hectic reality of city life, all depends now on the engineering solutions the construction industry can provide in conjunction with the tech industry. This is key to building the first truly smart cities in the world. Mapa Group, constantly adapting to new technologies, is already responding to this new trend and aiming to be one of the key leaders in constructing the future of smart cities in the world. A high-tech urban city environment requires smart building technology, using IoT, and data analytics — tech can also help the construction process itself run even more smoothly — but also identify issues before they become one. The recently completed construction of the SLS Dubai Hotel & Residences by Günal Construction, a subsidiary of Mapa Group, is a milestone achievement for smart buildings. The SLS Dubai Tower is environmentally future-ready, with smart climate controls provided by USA-based company Lutron, reducing our carbon footprint. As an engineering and contracting company, Mapa Group’s subsidiary MNG Tesisat offers turnkey solutions for project design and implementation for building automation, amongst many other technological solutions. In the field of electronics and engineering, MNG Esmaş has been at the technological forefront of the industry for many years. As a whole, Mapa Group sees a bright future for cities — from achieving universal tech connectivity to achieving net-zero carbon emissions. If you are interested further, we also recommend taking a look at this great explainer video from CNBC about how smart cities and the IoT are about to transform the way urban life forever. To learn more about Mapa Group, visit our webpage. https://mapa.group

https://medium.com/@mapa-group/constructing-the-smart-cities-of-the-future-4364693cc034

['Mapa Group']

2020-11-24 15:28:03.063000+00:00

['Smart Cities', 'Industry', 'Technology', 'Urban', 'Construction']

‘[CBS All Access]’ The Stand (2020) Ep 2

Pocket Savior Episode 2 | Pocket Savior | Musician Larry Underwood is on the cusp of his big break when “Captain Trips” strikes New York. Alone and wandering an empty city, he meets an alluring new acquaintance also desperate to escape. Meanwhile, an incarcerated Lloyd Henreid comes face-to-face with Randall Flagg, The Dark Man himself, who makes him an enticing offer. Watch On ►► http://dadangkoprol.dplaytv.net/series/359583/1/2 In a world decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil, the fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the Dark Man. Show Info Web channel: United States CBS All Access (2020 — now) Schedule: Thursdays (60 min) Status: Running Show Type: Scripted Genres: Drama Horror Supernatural TELEVISION 👾 (TV), in some cases abbreviated to tele or television, is a media transmission medium utilized for sending moving pictures in monochrome (high contrast), or in shading, and in a few measurements and sound. The term can allude to a TV, a TV program, or the vehicle of TV transmission. TV is a mass mode for promoting, amusement, news, and sports. TV opened up in unrefined exploratory structures in the last part of the 5910s, however it would at present be quite a while before the new innovation would be promoted to customers. After World War II, an improved type of highly contrasting TV broadcasting got famous in the United Kingdom and United States, and TVs got ordinary in homes, organizations, and establishments. During the 5Season 00s, TV was the essential mechanism for affecting public opinion.[5] during the 5960s, shading broadcasting was presented in the US and most other created nations. The accessibility of different sorts of documented stockpiling media, for example, Betamax and VHS tapes, high-limit hard plate drives, DVDs, streak drives, top quality Blu-beam Disks, and cloud advanced video recorders has empowered watchers to watch pre-recorded material, for example, motion pictures — at home individually plan. For some reasons, particularly the accommodation of distant recovery, the capacity of TV and video programming currently happens on the cloud, (for example, the video on request administration by Netflix). Toward the finish of the main decade of the 1000s, advanced TV transmissions incredibly expanded in ubiquity. Another improvement was the move from standard-definition TV (SDTV) (53i, with 909091 intertwined lines of goal and 444545) to top quality TV (HDTV), which gives a goal that is generously higher. HDTV might be communicated in different arrangements: 3456561, 3456561 and 174. Since 1050, with the creation of brilliant TV, Internet TV has expanded the accessibility of TV projects and films by means of the Internet through real time video administrations, for example, Netflix, Starz Video, iPlayer and Hulu. In 1053, 19% of the world’s family units possessed a TV set.[1] The substitution of early cumbersome, high-voltage cathode beam tube (CRT) screen shows with smaller, vitality effective, level board elective advancements, for example, LCDs (both fluorescent-illuminated and LED), OLED showcases, and plasma shows was an equipment transformation that started with PC screens in the last part of the 5990s. Most TV sets sold during the 1000s were level board, primarily LEDs. Significant makers reported the stopping of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-illuminated LCDs by the mid-1050s.[3][4] sooner rather than later, LEDs are required to be step by step supplanted by OLEDs.[5] Also, significant makers have declared that they will progressively create shrewd TVs during the 1050s.[6][1][5] Smart TVs with incorporated Internet and Web 1.0 capacities turned into the prevailing type of TV by the late 1050s.[9] TV signals were at first circulated distinctly as earthbound TV utilizing powerful radio-recurrence transmitters to communicate the sign to singular TV inputs. Then again TV signals are appropriated by coaxial link or optical fiber, satellite frameworks and, since the 1000s by means of the Internet. Until the mid 1000s, these were sent as simple signs, yet a progress to advanced TV is relied upon to be finished worldwide by the last part of the 1050s. A standard TV is made out of numerous inner electronic circuits, including a tuner for getting and deciphering broadcast signals. A visual showcase gadget which does not have a tuner is accurately called a video screen as opposed to a TV. 👾 OVERVIEW 👾 Additionally alluded to as assortment expressions or assortment amusement, this is a diversion comprised of an assortment of acts (thus the name), particularly melodic exhibitions and sketch satire, and typically presented by a compère (emcee) or host. Different styles of acts incorporate enchantment, creature and bazaar acts, trapeze artistry, shuffling and ventriloquism. Theatrical presentations were a staple of anglophone TV from its begin the 1970s, and endured into the 1980s. In a few components of the world, assortment TV stays famous and broad. The adventures (from Icelandic adventure, plural sögur) are tales about old Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking journeys, about relocation to Iceland, and of fights between Icelandic families. They were written in the Old Norse language, for the most part in Iceland. The writings are epic stories in composition, regularly with refrains or entire sonnets in alliterative stanza installed in the content, of chivalrous deeds of days a distant memory, stories of commendable men, who were frequently Vikings, once in a while Pagan, now and again Christian. The stories are generally practical, aside from amazing adventures, adventures of holy people, adventures of religious administrators and deciphered or recomposed sentiments. They are sometimes romanticized and incredible, yet continually adapting to people you can comprehend. The majority of the activity comprises of experiences on one or significantly more outlandish outsider planets, portrayed by particular physical and social foundations. Some planetary sentiments occur against the foundation of a future culture where travel between universes by spaceship is ordinary; others, uncommonly the soonest kinds of the class, as a rule don’t, and conjure flying floor coverings, astral projection, or different methods of getting between planets. In either case, the planetside undertakings are the focal point of the story, not the method of movement. Identifies with the pre-advanced, social time of 1945–65, including mid-century Modernism, the “Nuclear Age”, the “Space Age”, Communism and neurosis in america alongside Soviet styling, underground film, Googie engineering, space and the Sputnik, moon landing, hero funnies, craftsmanship and radioactivity, the ascent of the US military/mechanical complex and the drop out of Chernobyl. Socialist simple atompunk can be an extreme lost world. The Fallout arrangement of PC games is a fabulous case of atompunk.

https://medium.com/the-stand-2020-ep-2-cbs-all-access-fullepisode/cbs-all-access-the-stand-2020-ep-2-331e880d760a

['Brittany P. Hamilton']

2020-12-25 02:41:03.292000+00:00

['Drama', 'Horror']

Disruptive Interfaces & The Emerging Battle To Be The Default

A new battle is brewing to be the default of every choice we make. As modern interfaces like voice remove options, augmented reality overlays our physical world, and artificial intelligence gains our trust by transcending our own reasoning, DEFAULTS WILL RULE THE WORLD. I’ve come to call them disruptive interfaces — drastically simpler and more accessible interfaces that ultimately commoditize everything underneath. Once powerful companies that have invested millions or billions in their brands, achieved dominance through network effects, or compete with sophisticated supply chains are vulnerable to losing their pricing power, differentiation, and being all-together excluded from the moment where customers make decisions. In 2014, I shared some thoughts on how “the interface layer” would commoditize much of the technology underneath. I explained, “it’s not just about great design, it’s about the integration of the actions that make life easier and the commoditization of the services underneath…a shift in the economy that is driven by designers rather than cable executives, tech titans, and logistics masterminds. It is a “closed” user experience built on top of a wide open and hotly competitive ecosystem of services”. What I didn’t realize was just how disruptive such interfaces would be. Like a game of slap a hand, where hands pile upon one another until the winning hand is the one that lays on top of the stack, a disruptive interface is one that, either by consumer preference or brute force, layers on top of other products/services and gains control of the end-user’s experience (and thus decisions). Disruptive interfaces are successful because they are simpler and offer a better user experience than the more clunky and complex systems they supplant. Consider the massive increase in quality of user experience over the years for a simple task like buying batteries. No surprise, your first option during a voice purchase experience is Amazon’s own branded batteries. Apparently the same goes for eggs… New mediums on the horizon, namely voice and augmented reality — coupled with the rapid ramp of artificial intelligence, will do far more than save us time. They will eliminate browsing all-together by proposing a default answer for every need (and eliminating options). At first blush, this time-savings is a great benefit. But the implications are far reaching. As machine learning understands how we live and work better than we do, we will not only want but expect the best solution for every problem to be the default. As interfaces reach their own version of “singularity,” when they become intelligent and reduced enough that they stop offering choice and only present a single option (and execute it for us), being the default becomes the ultimate prize for every product and service. Considerations & Implications: Consequences of disruptive interfaces and the battle to be the default: Living By A String Of Defaults Imagine a world where we all live by a string defaults, from the ride you order in the morning, the lunch that is delivered, the groceries you buy, the music you listen to, and perhaps even the media you consume. We’ll all listen to the version of Jingle Bells that Amazon, Apple, or Google plays by default. We’ll favor the default option not only because it is fastest, but because it (presumably) takes our interests into account. Such power in defaults will unleash a competitive — and potentially regulatory — dynamic that the world has never seen. The most impactful aspect of such a scenario is the new frictionless motion it will create for how we live. If your brand or service is included in the motion you’ll have a remarkable advantage. If you’re not, you’re screwed. Hardware Will Eat Software There are two fascinating strategies at play at both ends of the stack. One is commonly referred to as “down to the metal,” where services and applications want to be tightly coupled with the chips and core components of hardware to offer a differentiating experience. The other strategy is to own “the interface layer” where customer decisions are ultimately made. Web browsers were the ultimate interface layer for many years. Now, native operating systems that accompany hardware (Alexa, iOS, Android, etc..) have become increasingly coupled with underlying mobile services and offer native default experiences (vs. those powered by apps that users must opt into). Ironically, the hardware manufacturers that were once pitied for being commoditized as simple vestibules for third-party software will ultimately own the interfaces that rule our everyday lives. They may not own or operate the underlying services, but they’ll have more control over them — not less. Digital Real-Estate Will Become More Scarce, & More Expensive Just as companies have increasingly felt the need to pay Google for great positioning on keyword searches, including searches for their own brands, companies will need to do the same for modern day defaults like voice and AR (augmented reality). What you see around you by default in augmented reality, and whatever is presented to you by default whenever you ask a voice assistant, is precious real-estate. The pay-to-play to get discovered within commerce interfaces has already begun. Google has been doing this for many years, and I’d love to know how much revenue is generated from brands buying their own search terms. In April 2018, Amazon’s advertising revenue, paid by merchants to have their own products discovered within Amazon’s customer experience, surpassed $2 billion. In the digital world, the land owner is whoever owns the interface. And as we all know, real-estate is a great business but doesn’t always serve the needs of a community first... Own Your Own Wallet, Or Be Owned Here’s another question I’ve been pondering: In the battle at the interface level, will every company that wants to own a consumer-facing interface need to offer a wallet? When we start paying for things with our voice or just by walking out of a store, we’ll pay with the default wallet that the store or application queries first. When you think about how the “wallet ecosystem” has evolved, you start seeing a strategy to become a payment service rather than be disrupted by a payment service. This trend prompts a whole series of questions: Will every service that wants to own an interface (as opposed to be subservient to one) need to have its own wallet? Is there a limit to how many wallets we can manage, or will they work behind the scenes? Will some of these wallets offer their own currency? Will one wallet (like Amazon Pay or Apple Pay) offer advantages for loyalty as a way to keep us living within their ecosystem? I suspect loyalty will define the next generation of wallets. In An AR World, What Sources & Notifications Are On By Default? Imagine putting on those futuristic glasses for the first time and then going outside for a walk. Which content and notifications to you see by default? Perhaps you can turn on “Sources” of AR content by genres, and micro-manage the “on/off” settings for brands within each genre? A fascinating battle will emerge to be “default on” in AR by genre. Your augmented experience of the world will have a default view determined by whatever your default display options by genre are, and then you’ll further refine as a result of your real-world experiences and evolving preferences. As my friend Dave Morin likes to say, “the devil’s in the default,” and this will have a greater impact in AR than ever before. As my product teams at Adobe work with partners to help designers create for AR, we’re realizing how many of these questions have yet to be answered. “The devil’s in the default.” -Dave Morin Great AI Will Antiquate The Age Of Interfaces Famed design duo Charles and Ray Eames once suggested that “After the age of information comes the age of choices.” But as artificial intelligence gets to know us better than we know ourselves, will the need for choices be made obsolete? Being a bit more provocative here: Are visual interfaces and choices as we know them over? Artificial intelligence is simplifying (or entirely removing) options, and the accuracy of AI may bring us to the point where there will no longer be an interface. Is the ultimate goal of interface design to eliminate the need for choice? Or will designers and product leaders learn that choice is a uniquely human and primal desire that we didn’t know we wanted until we were able to operate without it? “The perfection of data will, eventually, give rise to a world in which every consumer can be paired up with goods that meet his or her biological, rather than consumptive, tendencies,” writes Zander Nethercutt. Will we stop searching and choosing once we trust airtificial intelligence more than ourselves and feel “paired” with everything we need? Implications For Customers, Brands & Commerce What does living a life of defaults mean for consumers? For starters, we will need to verify the pricing we get and the quality we receive. As we surrender choice, we cannot surrender any form of diligence. Living by the defaults requires another level of trust in the machine. We will need to trust but must also develop mechanisms to verify. It also means that we’ll all have more in common with each other when it comes to necessities, while striving to differentiate ourselves when it comes to auxiliary purchases. I think we’ll become more brand agnostic (lowest price, fastest option) for stuff that doesn’t define us, and develop stronger brand preferences for anything differentiating (fashion, experiences, relationship-driven services, and value statements). So much more is liable to become commoditized, from fine foods to ride-sharing, entertainment services, media, and more. In the future, we’ll have all the basics provided by just a few sources, but will define ourselves by a long-tail of purchases from niche, local, and highly personalized brands and providers. Consider these quotes from Julie Creswell in the New York Times on the rise of Amazon’s own in-house brands (first brought to my attention from M.G. Siegler’s newsletter): “Around 2009, Amazon quietly entered the private-label business by offering a handful of items under a new brand called AmazonBasics. Early offerings were the kinds of unglamorous products consumers typically bought at their local hardware store: power cords and cables for electronics and, in particular, batteries — with prices roughly 30 percent lower than that of national brands like Energizer and Duracell. The results were stunning. In just a few years, AmazonBasics had grabbed nearly a third of the online market for batteries, outselling both Energizer and Duracell on its site.” “About 70 percent of the word searches done on Amazon’s search browser are for generic goods. That means consumers are typing in “men’s underwear” or “running shoes” rather than asking, specifically, for Hanes or Nike.” “Grundy said when the contract for the AmazonBasics batteries, which are made by a manufacturer in the Far East, next comes up for bid, likely bidders could include Energizer and Duracell.” An Opportunity & Responsibility For Designers As with most topics that fascinate me, designers are the winners and, in this case, can also be our saviors. In just the past few decades, interfaces have evolved from physical buttons to grayscale screens navigated with a mouse to millions of full-color pixels, and then to touch, and then voice, and soon augmented reality. While the actions, like connecting with friends, turning on the lights, buying groceries, or ordering a car, haven’t changed much, the interfaces we use look and feel completely different. They have fewer steps and smarter defaults. Generally speaking, the better an interface becomes, the less navigation (and thinking) it requires. The best product designers look for ways to eliminate or streamline choices, leverage existing patterns and muscle memory to make products familiar, and develop a better “first mile” experience. They must also take great care in determining the defaults. Most consumer products report that 90% of customers keep the default settings they’re given rather than customize their experience. Over the years, there have been a few attempts at a “Designer Code Of Ethics,” and I would propose that the modern version should include guidance on communicating the presence of artificial intelligence and the sources of the choices you’re seeing (or aren’t seeing). As modern interfaces emerge that are simpler and artificially intelligent, a largely invisible yet heated battle is brewing across every product and service to be the default that you see and hear at the interface layer — the customer-facing surface where decisions are made. ~~ Follow Scott on Twitter, get the latest book — The Messy Middle, read recent posts on the attack of the microbrands and crafting products in the middle, or sign up for an infrequent newsletter summary of insights.

https://medium.com/positiveslope/disruptive-interfaces-the-emerging-battle-to-be-the-default-23a6485a6f29

['Scott Belsky']

2018-09-21 14:42:45.388000+00:00

['Artificial Intelligence', 'Product Management', 'Design', 'Product Design', 'Venture Capital']

Unprecedented wave of new dams could spell disaster far beyond Laos

The scale of the catastrophe in Laos is still unclear. Dozens could be dead, killed by the man-made flash floods that swept through their villages after the collapse of a dam under construction in Attapeu province in southern Laos. Thousands are homeless, their villages and livelihoods destroyed. It is a tragic reminder of the inherent risks of major dam projects — just as the world finds itself in the middle of a headlong rush for hydropower as countries seek to produce extra energy while reducing carbon emissions. From the Amazon to Zambia, thousands of new hydropower projects are under construction or on the drawing board. Maps show rivers across the Balkans and Himalayas smothered in planned dams. Governments and developers talk excitedly about the energy that could be generated, the jobs created. Meanwhile, risks and costs are invariably downplayed, and community and environmental concerns often disregarded — give or take the usual rhetoric about ‘consultation and impact mitigation’. The reality is that major dam projects require not only advanced engineering expertise but also good governance to ensure that the best construction practices are followed and that governments opt for the best trade-offs between benefit and risk. But this latest disaster once again raises some serious questions, particularly about the capacity of small developing countries to effectively oversee the development of numerous hydropower projects — often at breakneck speed. Laos currently has dozens of hydropower dams under construction, with many more awaiting the green light. It is questionable whether the country has the institutional capacity to fully review all the various feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments as well as monitor all the ongoing construction work — the same is true of other countries in this new dam-rush era. All this heightens the risks that are part and parcel of every major hydropower project. While dam collapses are the most catastrophic in the short term, large dams involve a variety of other risks that can negatively impact people and nature from local communities to distant deltas. Many of those risks are specific to each river and each site, and they are all cumulative, requiring well-coordinated multi-disciplinary teams to assess them fully. As a result, these risks are very seldom fully factored into the ‘should-we-build-it-or-not’ equation. Take the world’s forgotten fish — freshwater fish. At least 11.5 million tonnes of wild freshwater fish are caught each year, providing low-cost protein to tens of millions of people and enhancing food security. But major dams block fish migration routes, preventing species from reaching their spawning grounds and devastating wild fish stocks. The lower Mekong river boasts the world’s most productive freshwater fisheries but dams in upstream countries — including Laos and Cambodia — have already contributed to their decline. Future dams could see populations and catches collapse, threatening the livelihoods of millions. This is a far less visible risk, but a very real one in the Mekong — and many other river basins around the world where communities rely on fish stocks that depend on free flowing rivers.

https://wwf.medium.com/unprecedented-wave-of-new-dams-could-spell-disaster-far-beyond-laos-b032fba563ef

[]

2018-07-26 12:42:24.013000+00:00

['Environment', 'Dam', 'Hydropower', 'Laos']

My Two Cents on Online Learning

Since most of the world is forced to isolation, institutions had to find alternative ways of delivering the services that are usually done through face-to-face interactions. One of such institutions is the education sector. With over 1.29 billion of the entire human population enrolled in primary and secondary schools, educational leaders are put under a lot of pressure to make a series of serious decisions to mitigate the effects of worldwide isolation, such as determining whether or not to pursue the most logical avenue to continue : online learning. However, adopting an online learning paradigm and trying to fit in the content, competencies, training, and authentic assessment of conventional, face-to-face learning is not a walk in the park. The most difficult hindrance that schools need to overcome is the issue of accessibility. Face-to-face learning is easier to implement and monitor since students and teachers do not need fancy equipment to deliver the desired content and achieve the target competency. All they need is a pen and paper, a marker and a whiteboard, and the class can be engaged in a visible, vibrant interaction that facilitates learning. When learning becomes digital, this interaction becomes less and less evident. Learners and teachers are confined by the limitations of the tools available for them. Even with the phrase “21st Century Learning” getting more and more mainstream as curriculum designers re-imagine the traditional curricula, it is disappointing that educational technology is still inaccessible to the vast majority of learners. Computers and smartphones indeed have become relatively more affordable over the years, but internet connection — the heart of the 21st century — is still far from being truly accessible. In 2019, only 9% of the world has an online presence, and even this metric is greatly skewed towards developed countries and the very few in developing ones. Knowledge is free, quality education is not. The structures that enable efficient and effective delivery of knowledge come at a price. Schools have to pay professionals to design curricula, give salaries to those who implement such curricula, invest in hardware and software, and pay internet service providers. The end-users themselves — the students — need hefty investments as well. Computers (including mobile phones) cost at least Php 10,000 (around 200 USD), which is not cheap. Add to that the recurring fee of an unstable internet connection. But what choice do we have?

https://medium.com/@jasontajores/my-two-cents-on-online-learning-f053efbd6c87

['Jason Cyril Tajores']

2020-04-23 02:02:36.388000+00:00

['Online Learning', 'Quarantine', '21st Century Skills', 'Education', 'Online Learning Platform']

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects, Diffuse Mode

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects, Diffuse Mode How to make use of your superior diffuse mode a.k.a. your subconsciousness This is a follow-up of the chapter discussing the focused mode. I have a lot of ideas every day, but not enough time to write them all down, so I chose to write the other ideas down before I forget them. I was pretty certain I won’t forget the ideas described in this chapter. So the diffuse mode is somewhat the opposite of the focused mode. It is active in the background or your subconsciousness. The mistake most people and students tend to make when learning, is that they don’t spend a lot of time in the diffuse mode. This can cause a dramatic lack of depth in their understanding about subjects. If you teach those students about the simulation hypothesis (see the chapter: 09/14/2019 — Simulation Hypothesis and ‘Good and Evil’), they will use their focused mode to learn every bit of element related to that hypothesis, but won’t spend much time in the diffuse mode. What is the consequence of spending less time in the diffuse mode? Well, they won’t ask themselves those deep and abstract questions like “But how does this hypothesis relate to ethics and morals?” It is a sad trend you get to see in modern education, superficial understanding of material. I much prefer the old days like in Ancient Greece or Rome where even the emperors like Marcus Aurelius knew about philosophy and had a deep understanding about things. How to enter the diffuse mode First of all, you can enter the diffuse mode simply by not focusing on anything (through meditation or mindfulness), but this alone is not effective in terms of creativity and learning new things. In order to command your diffuse mode to learn something in the background, you need to use the focused mode first. For example, you want to know your own personal definition of the meaning of life. What you could start with is simply Googling information (and also storing them long-term), try to answer and view as many perspectives as you can, and then just relax. Do something else like exercising or meditating, the thinking will continue and run in the background. And after 15 minutes or even hours afterward, simply return to the question and you will be surprised how many new and stronger connections were formed in your brain without the conscious ‘you’. This technique can also beautifully be used when taking tests, exams, or making homework: https://lifehacker.com/improve-your-test-scores-with-the-hard-start-jump-to-e-1790599531 — Improve Your Test Scores With the “Hard Start-Jump to Easy” Technique Diffuse mode and working memory The diffuse mode is not limited to the working memory slots located in your prefrontal cortex, unlike the focused mode which is. This makes your subconsciousness so much more powerful when used correctly (albeit not as powerful as depicted in those movies). The focused mode also tends to activate old neural pathways that aren’t really that creative nor are the cerebral distances very long (the distance between two activated neurons, brain regions etc). The diffuse mode can activate but also create new neural pathways that have a much longer cerebral distance than the focused mode can. This allows the diffuse mode to be much more creative but also combine ideas from many different brain regions. Again, the diffuse mode is not limited to your working memory slots located in your prefrontal cortex, so it can connect and ‘think’ about as many ideas simultaneously as its neural resources allow. Diffuse mode and psychedelics I would really advise the book ‘How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence’ by Michael Pollan to learn more about the information I am going to say next. So the diffuse mode is mostly active when you don’t focus (using your focused mode). What mostly happens, neurophysiologically seen, is that the activity in the so-called default mode network increases. This allows for all kinds of connections to be much more active too, not only within one brain region but between brain regions, too. This is why someone taking psychedelics gets to see all kinds of weird hallucinations like seeing faces in inanimate objects (this phenomenon, called pareidolia, happens even without taking psychedelics, but the increased activity from the default mode network just increases the probability of occurrence). People who take psychedelics or meditate have the feeling they have found all kinds of ‘truths’ never thought of before. You could say, that when taking psychedelics, you are essentially being aware of your diffuse mode. During sleep, you are experiencing your diffuse mode, too. Diffuse mode and Entropic Learning Model See the chapter 09/11/2019 — Entropic Learning Model for more information. The diffuse mode is just such an important part of our learning and thinking process, that I made a separate phase in my learning model to remind myself that after hours of hard thinking, I need to relax to allow my diffuse mode to take over the thinking work. Can the diffuse mode run when you are activating the focused mode? Yes, but only when you switch tasks or ways of thinking. If you are thinking about psychology and get stuck somewhere, switch to a more left-hemispheric mode of thinking like physics or mathematics (the idea that the left and right brain hemispheres are separated from each other, in terms of logic and creativity respectively, is a myth, but brain lateralization or specialization certainly does exist to a certain degree). How long does it take to ‘enter’ the diffuse mode? I am not sure, but as far as I have read the information, it can be as little as 10 minutes to even hours. The thing, however, is that to stay in the diffuse mode, you need to repeat to yourself the images, ideas, questions etc. from time to time in order to make your diffuse mode think about the subject even if it takes hours. According to research, there seems to be a correlation between having more knowledge and the duration required to switch between focused and diffuse mode effectively. The more knowledge, the faster you can switch between those two modes. Diffuse mode and exponential learning It is important, no matter how much homework you have, to try to switch between the focused mode and diffuse mode. It may feel like it takes a lot more time to finish your homework, in the long run, you will understand the things much deeper. This deeper understanding will make it much easier to learn new and related material. You don’t want to end up studying for years and then only using and remembering less than 10%. Imagine how it feels to spend 40 hours a week studying, while knowing in the back of your head that only 4 of these hours were ‘effective’. Keep this thought alive in the background to motivate yourself to use that diffuse mode from time to time and not to rush your learning. Of course there are many more techniques to make your retention get closer to that 100%, like the method of loci, spaced repetition, interleaved practice, exercise, nutrition, reducing stress, getting enough sleep (which most students lack), etc. I personally don’t spend 40 hours a week learning (new) things, not only because I don’t have the time for it, but because I don’t really need to. My retention and understanding of material is very close to that 100% and you might even say above 100%, because of all the new ideas I am generating. Those little 20 hours a week quickly turn into the equivalent of 40 hours a week most students follow, and it grows exponentially.

https://medium.com/superintelligence/09-16-2019-learning-how-to-learn-powerful-mental-tools-to-help-you-master-tough-subjects-e99684abb8c8

['John Von Neumann Ii']

2019-11-10 20:31:05.116000+00:00

['Neuroscience', 'Learning', 'Education', 'Students', 'Brain']

Budget 2020: looking beyond coronavirus

By Peter Tutton, Head of Policy, Research and Public Affairs The initial artistic impression score for new Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget focused on his approach to supporting individuals and businesses through the forthcoming period of uncertainty that looms as a result of COVID-19. But what else is in there for people facing problem debt? Coronavirus was always going to dominate the immediate headline reaction to this Budget. This focus was exacerbated by the simultaneous announcement of the Bank of England’s half-point cut in interest rates, alongside new liquidity measures (supported by Government guarantees) to encourage banks to continue to support new lending. These include some measures that are directly relevant, and modestly helpful, to people who will face financial hardship as a direct result. However, what’s less evident is a deeper and more well-rounded acknowledgement that the short-term focus on COVID-19 reveals just the tip of a much larger financial fragility iceberg. COVID-19 measures The Budget announced emergency measures to tackle the economic fallout from coronavirus, including that: Statutory sick pay will be paid to all those eligible who choose to self-isolate, even if they don’t have symptoms Contributory employment Support Allowance benefit claimants will be able to claim on day one, not after a week There will be a £500m hardship fund administered by local authorities to help vulnerable people — the Budget report says it anticipates that most of this will be used to support council tax relief. So, some help, but is it enough? It might be little surprise that we would say: probably not. That’s because we know that financial resilience is already desperately low. Nearly a quarter of the population has no savings whatsoever. Over 3 million people are in problem debt in Great Britain, with almost 9.8 million showing signs of financial distress. Our Life Happens report last year found that people who experience a life shock causing a drop in income are three times as likely to experience problem debt as those who do not. We do agree that decisive action by the Bank of England and the Chancellor to support businesses through the anticipated economic downturn is important, as it should help to protect people’s jobs, which in turn protects people’s incomes. We were pleased too to see the Government take steps to establish a further hardship fund to deliver £500 million via local authorities in England — but the total amount is modest, and mostly expected to support council tax relief. We think there is likely to be a need for a more extensive hardship fund. Benefits and Universal Credit Looking beyond the emergency coronavirus measures, the Chancellor announced that the government is ending the benefit freeze and increasing working age benefits by 1.7% from April 2020. This is welcome and something we’ve been calling for, but won’t by itself make up the ground lost since the benefits freeze begun. With our recent Problem debt and the social security system report highlighting the 46% of our clients receiving working aged benefits who can never make ends meet, there is a lot more levelling up needed to support the most financially vulnerable. Our report highlighted the hardship caused by affordable deductions from Universal Credit to repay debts like Universal Credit advances, overpayment and council tax debt. The Government has acknowledged the problem, reducing the maximum rate at which deductions can be made from a UC award from 30% to 25% of the standard allowance and giving claimants up to 24 months to repay advances. This is better, but we know half of our clients on universal credit would be pushed in to a negative budget by just a 5% deduction. We had hoped change that would do more to address hardship and prevent debt problems getting worse. Overall, the Budget announcements fall short of the sharper focus that we think is needed on mitigating the negative impacts of Universal Credit (especially the five-week wait). Affordable Credit We’ve been urging the Government for some time to support alternatives to high-cost credit like payday loans, particularly for the most financially vulnerable consumers. The Government hopes to do this by improving access to social and community lenders. The Budget announced the three winners of the £2 million Affordable Credit Challenge Fund, which is designed to harness the UK’s world-leading fintech expertise to develop tech solutions to the challenges faced by the affordable lending sector, making it easier and quicker to access their products. However — there was no mention in the Budget documents of any further progress towards the introduction of a No Interest Loan Scheme and we would urge the Government not to lose sight of the very real benefits that such a scheme could provide. Breathing Space It was good to see further confirmation of the Government’s intention to introduce the statutory breathing space scheme from early 2021. This important new scheme will provide a period of up to 60 days, where people in problem debt will be protected from enforcement action by their creditors and the charging of further interest and fees on their debts. This includes debts owed to central and local government. Our overall assessment: good in parts It was good to see some decisive action and support to try to put more people in a financial position that can enable them to afford to deal with the impact of COVID-19 if it does affect them. However, gaps remain — and the Budget barely scratches the surface of the millions of people whose financial circumstances are precarious and may be knocked off track at any point by an income shock that is not to do with COVID-19. If nothing else, current circumstances point up that extreme financial fragility in a way that finally seems to be hitting home to policymakers the reality of many people’s lives, and how stressed finances and insecure incomes are intrinsically linked with the difficult behavioural choices that many people have to grapple with as they try to juggle their incomes and their outgoings. In the end, people facing financial difficulty often simply aren’t in a position to cope with their own resources; and even debt advice can’t fully resolve their problems, if their problems are simply caused by having too little money to cover the basics of life. We look forward to continuing to work with the Government on tackling these challenges. · If you’re worried about debt caused by coronavirus, visit our regularly updated information page here.

https://medium.com/stepchange/budget-2020-looking-beyond-coronavirus-aaf7992a832

['Stepchange Debt Charity']

2020-03-12 09:37:00.721000+00:00

['Uk Government', 'Covid 19', 'Coronavirus', 'Budget', 'Debt']

Incipient Digestion

digital collage by caylie hausman there are poems I have written that will never stain the internet, never breathe air or see sun. they are.. too personal, too much of you, or don’t belong in plain view; they exist in the wasteland space of shit I wish I had the gall to reveal. As much as I give you I hide, yet I linger with a smile and reveal what’s true, not everyone likes to participate in the active shitscape of the present. (me too). sometimes we need an escape, hatch to blast off in a pretty picture to clutch on to. our minds will hold us down say “hear us out” and sting like a herd of hornets making you want to resurrect walls and seal up air tight; launching into a vacuum as vast as space, a flock of what-ifs in their natural habitat, a fight for the land between what has been and what is, the view from above is no longer crisp as we rise into orbit and launch into a between state. Limbo. Stuck in the atmosphere, akin to a mouse’s carcass in full view through lumpy snake skin, our demise is incipient as gases bubble and implode; seeking out peace as if it’s free, when we know it’s not, just some simple thought the universe forgot while washing her hair in the shower. A great creator, but not a great maintainer, forgot to look at what she already had going. We are stuck in the queue, or maybe not even that far through– forever holding on for one more hour.

https://medium.com/@cayliehausman/incipient-digestion-4a4b82166595

['Caylie Hausman']

2020-12-20 12:02:30.845000+00:00

['Anxiety', 'Poet', 'Poems On Medium', 'Depression', 'Poetry On Medium']

Don’t allow remote work to become a one-way saving measure. Reinvest into people.

Don’t allow remote work to become a one-way saving measure. Reinvest into people. Be on alert for money leaving the work spaces. With our current knowledge about what humans need to be well and fulfill their potential, we need to invest into our space more than ever. Working from home as a pleasant change of environment. But it shouldn’t stop us from improving the office. Millions of people have now experienced what it means to work from home for more than an afternoon. Not only from the position of an employee, but also that of a manager. People who couldn’t have imagined before that their workers will click away in their living rooms are now forced to rethink this mindset. With this comes a realization that this is probably not a onetime event. COVID-19 has brought us a long needed, although a clunky push towards new ways of working. You have probably read paragraphs like this a thousand times already. What I want to talk about though, is how we should imagine the world beyond this situation. Beyond the global pandemic, beyond the economic crisis. If companies realize that, let’s say, 50% of their employees are happy to work remotely, they will immediately see this as an opportunity for savings. Renting 50% less office space, could be one way. Why waste so much space? The office needs investment, not saving. What we need to realize though, is that even after its 200-year history, an office is still a place of struggle for many people. An office is an under-invested or at least mis-invested area of business. Even in 2020 we can see a considerable amount of people struggling to focus, being mentally exhausted, lacking privacy, breathing bad air, working in darkness and spending their days in sterile, white-gray environments which make their brains scream “run away!” What worries me is the prospect of a near future, where companies see the current situation as an opportunity to say that, since the office is not that important anymore, they will just cut the related spending and pocket the change. On the other hand, I see this as a perfect opportunity to think about what and who the office is really for. The three groups of people. First, there are people who would like to work from home, but they don’t have the right equipment. Working on your laptop and sitting on a hard wooden chair in the kitchen is a health-destroying and uncomfortable way of working. These people will require financial help and consulting in remaking their space to suit their work. Second, there are people who might have the right physical conditions but need to work in the office at least sometimes because of their family, motivation levels or the risk of loneliness. For those people, we have still have to make the office a perfect place for deep-focus (think hot-desking, but in individual closed offices near the window), collaboration (long-term bookable project rooms) or socializing Third, there are those who have no interest in working from home or the nature of their work requires them to spend a lot of physical time with their colleagues. For them, a great human focused office with a fully customized team space is needed, along with other features making it a good place to spend every working day. And with the current state of an average office, even the third group requires an investment to provide them with good conditions to maintain their well-being and support their work. An office today, oftentimes, is not a good office. But it has the opportunity to become one. A home office setup like this will break not only your neck and your eyes, but also your work spirit in no time. Human-centered mindset will never die. So, before we start thinking about how to use the current remote work shift for savings, let’s remind ourselves that our working environment, whether the office or our home, requires a human-centered change of mindset and further investments more than anything. Savings might increase the quarterly profit for shareholders, but they will not make our lives or results of our work better. After all, these are the places where we spend most of our lives. And they affect us greatly. They make us healthy or sick, stressed or relaxed and contribute to fulfilling our potentials. Don’t allow remote work to become a one-way saving measure. Reinvest into people and the spaces they work in.

https://medium.com/swlh/dont-allow-remote-work-to-become-a-one-way-saving-measure-reinvest-into-people-fcc9ec62e94b

['Michal Matlon']

2020-06-13 20:09:54.556000+00:00

['Wellbeing', 'Remote Working', 'Design', 'Work', 'Office']

How To Write A Book Review

Photo by Daria Obymaha from Pexels Reading. Chances are, for you to have clicked on this blog post, you’re into it (otherwise why are you here, seriously?), and you have some thoughts about some of the stuff you read. You’ve likely found that, to be considering writing a review, you’ve come across a book that was so brilliant or so awful that you just need to shout about it. Or, perhaps, you need to write a report on something you’ve read, but aren’t sure how to go about it. Either way, I’ve got you covered. Without further ado, here’s how you write a book review! Step 1: To Spoil or Not To Spoil: That is the Question Before you start writing your review, it’s good to have an idea about whether your review will contain spoilers or not. It might not seem like that big of an issue, but if you want people to read future reviews (and, you know, not leave a flaming pile of angry complaints in your comments section) you need to think about your target audience and what they want from your review. If you’re writing a review for someone who is thinking about reading the book, keeping your review spoiler-free is probably a safe bet. If you’re writing a review for, say, a parent looking to buy a book for their teenager or someone who’s read the book, spoilers won’t be a big issue. If you decide to write a review that features spoilers, for the love of all that is good and mighty, warn your audience! Maybe you need to have a good rant or praise your favourite book, but make sure your audience goes into your review knowing what to expect so they’re on the same page. (See what I did there?) Step 2: The Book Is About What Now…? There’s no point telling the reader about what makes the book so wonderful (or terrible) if they don’t know what it’s about. You don’t have to go into depth about the book (after all, that’s what the rest of the review is about), but it helps to give your audience an idea of what happens in the story so that they can understand the rest of your review. If you’re not sure what to say, focus on the blurb and by mention the critical points of the story. Here’s an example: In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry (also known as the ‘Boy Who Lived’) learns he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn magic. Along the way, he begins to learn about the wizarding world and meet new friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. But when Harry worries that someone is trying to steal the Philosopher’s Stone, he and his friends must work together to try and stop the culprit. Obviously, we know there is a lot more to the story than that, but this is a good starting point before you expand on other aspects of the story in your review. If you decide to include spoilers, you might talk about Professor Snape and Quirrell, Quidditch etc, but make sure to keep your summary as brief as possible. If you explain so much that there’s no point in your audience reading (or re-reading) the book, you’ve taken it too far! Warning: Don’t talk about the ending at the beginning of your review! You can explain what you did or didn’t like about it (if you have a particularly strong opinion later) or say whether you did or didn’t like it, but don’t go into detail what happens straight off the bat. Step 3: That. Is. So. Cool! Think about what the book did well (if anything). In a spoiler-free version, you might be more general and speak about which characters you liked or how it was written. In a spoiler version, you would go into more detail about the plot and events. For example: Spoiler-free: The story has a few moments that are emotional where Harry thinks about his parents and how he misses them. These moments are really touching and remind the reader that he is a small boy who is vulnerable in a lot of ways. Spoiler: The Mirror of Erised shows the viewer their heart’s desire, so when Harry sees his parents, you realise just how much he misses them. This bit of the book offers a genuinely touching moment where Harry speaks to Dumbledore about the need to find acceptance and move on. In a spoiler-free version, you can talk about events that happen early on or which are well-known or promoted. However, avoid plot points or twists later on in the book, which could spoil a reader’s later enjoyment or ruin surprises. For example, it wouldn’t be a big spoiler to say that Harry gets an owl called Hedwig because that doesn’t have a significant impact on the plot, but it would be a big spoiler to explain who was after the Philosopher’s Stone (or Sorcerer’s Stone for any American readers!) Step 4: *Face Palm* Now, we’ve established what the book does well, what doesn’t it do well? What bits were disappointing or made you so bitterly angry that you wanted to throw it across the room (and not in the way the author intended)? Unless the book is the best thing you’ve ever read, the chances are that it’s going to have its moments that make you cringe or start counting pages to the end of the chapter. Talk about them! Once again, think about your audience! If it’s one overarching point, touch on it but avoid going into too much detail if you’re not sharing any spoilers. If you’re talking about specifics, make sure you have your spoiler warning in place. Here’s a quick example: Spoiler-free: When you learn how Harry ends up with his relatives, it’s hard not to judge Dumbledore harshly or question just what he was thinking. Spoiler: Can we talk about Dumbledore? Seriously. He left a baby on a doorstep in October! It would have been freezing cold! Couldn’t he have knocked on the door first? Maybe said, oh I don’t know: “Would you mind taking care of your nephew? What’s that? Oh, you hate magic? Well then let me take this child elsewhere. Toodle-pip!”* *This point is used solely to explain the differences and would not be considered a major spoiler considering it happens in the first chapter. Though seriously, Dumbledore what were you thinking- blood wards or not, that’s just lousy childcare. Step 5: Does it work? What is the story trying to achieve and does it do it? Using our Harry Potter example: does the book do a good job of telling a story about a boy wizard who is trying to stop the Philosopher’s Stone from being stolen? If you’ve read fantasy, does it do a good job of world-building and explaining fantasy aspects such as magic systems, history, race etc? Or, if the story is a romance, is the couple worth rooting for and are the characters interesting? Think about what the story is trying to achieve then explain why you think it does or doesn’t accomplish its goal. Step 6: And, the verdict is… Would you recommend the book? What would you rate it overall? After all, this is what those who’ve read your review are trying to find out, so don’t leave them waiting any longer to find out whether the book is worth a read or needs to be avoided at all costs. You can either say whether you liked the book or not- a simple ‘read it’ or ‘run screaming’ will do here- or you can give it a rating out of five stars. You can even take it a step further by recommending the book to a certain kind of reader (a life-saver for prospective gift-givers) or those who enjoy a certain type of trope. For example: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is an excellent read for those who enjoy fantasies about magic and ‘chosen ones’. The story (and series) can serve as a great introduction to books for new readers.

https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-write-a-book-review-b6d3f2fae388

['Mary Fletcher']

2020-01-21 12:13:34.650000+00:00

['Review', 'Books', 'Reading', 'Readers', 'Writing']

What is your startup’s valuation?

Any entrepreneur who is thinking about fundraising has to be prepared for the unavoidable investor question “What is your startup’s valuation?” This question becomes increasingly difficult when posed to early-stage entrepreneurs who are usually asked another equally difficult follow-up investor question which is “How did you come up with your valuation?” Experienced entrepreneurs know that the answer to such a daunting question does not lie in a particular magical number, but instead the answer that investors would like to hear from founders relates to the method/s that the founder has employed to reach the claimed valuation. The ideal answer to such a question would actually be to relate that several structured valuation methods were used to establish the startup’s target valuation. The rationale underlying the use of valuation methods, such as the Scorecard method or the Risk Mitigation method, is that it helps entrepreneurs and investors alike answer key questions such as: How much experience does the founding team have? How much money has been invested so far? How does the startup compare to other startups in the industry segment? How big is the target market? How have similar startups been valued? By using multiple valuation methods, startup founders and investors can properly prepare for valuation negotiations and truly illuminate the progress of the startup, the capability of the founding team, and ultimately a good target value for the startup. Given that early-stage startups do not have any historical financial data that can be used to calculate the value of the startup, investors focus on the value derived from the startup’s qualitative aspects. The most well-known methods used in valuing early-stage startups are Checklist Method, Step Up Method, and as mentioned above Scorecard and Risk Mitigation Methods. Startup Falcon’s AI-powered, automated valuation calculator was built based on the logic of these methods. The specialized valuation form that investors/entrepreneurs fill on their online platform inspects the quality of such qualitative aspects of the startup as the ones mentioned above (quality of the founding team, past investments, target market size, similar startup valuations, and more). Their engine then quantifies the qualitative answers from the form to determine the final valuation amount per valuation criterion (team, product, business model, legal) and per valuation method. Providing both investors and entrepreneurs with a valuation they can use with confidence. Startup Falcon Valuation Calculator: Try it out for free. Stephen R. Poland, the author of Founder’s Pocket Guide: Startup Valuation

https://medium.com/startup-falcon/what-is-your-startups-valuation-c96f41ea6f46

['Eiass Muhanna']

2021-03-19 10:01:21.340000+00:00

['Finance', 'Startup', 'Valuation', 'Fundraising', 'Investing']

5 Reasons To Hire An Advertising Agency Versus Staffing In-House

Marketing and advertising are essential for the success of any business. As your company grows, you will eventually be faced with the difficult decision of whether to build your own marketing group or to outsource to an advertising agency. Here are five benefits to hiring a full-service advertising agency. 1. You Get A Variety Of Talents And Skills When you hire an agency team, you’re adding experience and a diverse group of talents and skills. Hiring an agency means hiring people who work in all areas: copywriting, proofreading, messaging, design, SEO, digital, media, etc., and not just the skills of the individual or individuals who would make up your in-house group. If you are lucky, your employees will be capable in two different areas, but for the most part, each employee will only have one main skill set for your business to utilize. More importantly, utilizing the talents and skills of an agency can lead to higher quality messaging and improved results. 2. It’s Worth The Cost It is difficult for businesses to retain top-level advertising talent on staff, because top marketers and creatives are expensive and often prefer the various creative challenges and opportunities that come from working at an agency. This doesn’t even take into account employee benefits and the hidden costs of hiring, which include employee turnover, training, education, and down time. It all adds up. Furthermore, the costs of computer hardware, subscriptions for up-to-date software and online services, office space, etc. add up when staffing in-house. Agencies have a variety of important and helpful tools that you might not be able to afford or even know about. Need to strengthen your brand? Download our free guide to the StoryBranding process. 3. Offers You Objective, Up-To-Date Viewpoint Hiring an agency allows you to get new ideas from someone who has the time and experience to accomplish what is needed to help your business achieve its goals. While it is true that employees may know your company and its offerings, in-house marketers are often too familiar and don’t view things the same way a customer or client would. Agencies work across industries and can bring that experience to provide a fresh perspective and new ideas you might not have encountered yet. Also, it is helpful to receive outside opinions on your marketing efforts to make sure you are working to connect with customers with the best strategy possible, and not just doing what you are comfortable with. 4. Your Workforce Will Be Scalable Working with an agency provides you with the flexibility to increase your marketing manpower as needed. Whether your business is entering a busy season, preparing for a launch, or dealing with an unexpected project, agencies allow you to ramp up your bandwidth to make sure the necessary people are available to complete marketing projects on time. And when marketing projects are scarce, you’re not paying payroll and benefits to employees with few tasks to complete. 5. You Will Save Time When working with an agency, you will typically have a key point of contact, an account executive, who is in charge of everything related to your account. This means that the time you would have spent on managing your team, coordinating with freelancers and publications, checking the work, and proofing can now be spent on the other important aspects of your business. Additionally, agencies are built for hitting deadlines. Unlike with an in-house team, they have the staff in place to make sure that work on your account will not stop if someone is sick or taking a vacation.

https://medium.com/stevens-tate-marketing/5-reasons-to-hire-an-advertising-agency-versus-staffing-in-house-90011194c772

['Dan Gartlan']

2017-08-02 15:18:21.846000+00:00

['Inbound Marketing', 'Advertising Agency', 'Marketing Agency', 'Marketing', 'Digital Marketing']

Weekly Crypto Quick Hits

All the latest news from around the blockchain community Top 10 Crypto Deals in 2017 Returned Over 136,000% on Average, Report Shows Investing in ICOs remains the highest risk-reward play in crypto with the top 10 ICOs in 2017 averaging a return of over 136,000%. To put this in perspective, a $10 investment in a project that delivers this return on investment (ROI) would net a perspective investor with over $1.3 million. The contrast to these success stories must be noted however, with fraudulent ICOs still very much a problem due to a lack of regulation in the industry. https://cointelegraph.com/news/top-10-crypto-deals-in-2017-returned-over-136-000-on-average-report-shows US SEC Commissioner Dissents From Agency’s Rejection of Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commissioner Hester M. Peirce has dissented from the recent rejection of a proposed Bitcoin ETF. Peirce cited multiple and admittedly logical reasons for this dissent, such as potential legal overreach by the SEC and the evaluation of Bitcoin by exceptionally high standards that traditional commodities markets may not even be attain. This notable public dissention should be welcomed by the blockchain community as it eagerly awaits the approval of a Bitcoin ETF. https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-sec-commissioner-dissents-from-agency-s-rejection-of-winklevoss-bitcoin-etf Google Bans Crypto Mining Apps from Play Store In a move that highlights the varied reaction major tech companies are having to cryptocurrencies, Google have followed Apple’s lead and banned crypto mining apps from the Play Store. This move is greatly contrasted with the recent lifting of a cryptocurrency advertising ban by tech giant Facebook. Understandably traditional businesses may feel threatened by the rampant emergence of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins them. This definitely won’t be the last such act, as blockchain technology projects seek to disrupt many major markets. https://www.coindesk.com/google-bans-crypto-mining-apps-from-play-store/

https://medium.com/automatalive/weekly-crypto-quick-hits-513c4952be60

[]

2018-07-28 12:30:04.880000+00:00

['Bitcoin']

Top Selling Sony Home Theater System USA 2021

Introduction: Top Selling Sony Home Theater System USA 2021 Nowadays it is easier to find high-quality and affordable options for the home theater. All of today’s picks are from a trusted brand SONY. So all the Sony home theater system will guarantee to give you big end offerings. It doesn’t matter how big your tv screen is if it is lacking in sound quality. Which means you are only getting half of the experience. Trust us your tv speaker won’t be doing much. Fortunately, you can upgrade to a home theater system regardless of budget. We have basically focused today on high audio and high video quality. The best home theater system provides an excellent balance of good quality sound and easy installation. And well many people prefer that. In 2021 a sony home theater speaker can give you a great audio experience. And for that, you don’t even need a complicated setup. So do read further and find the best Sony home theater for yourself. Top Selling Sony Home Theater System USA 2021: List The quality of the product is excellent, and it is easy to use. The compact contemporary design of this system fits anywhere in your home. The built-in power can easily fill a bedroom, kitchen, or office space with its great sound. Feature a tiny powerful device that converts any aux speaker into a Bluetooth speaker. So that you can stream your music or take phone calls. You will enjoy the convenient Bluetooth connectivity with compatible Bluetooth devices. And you will be able to stream music without wires. The near field connections technology takes Bluetooth connectivity to a next level. Allowing users to simply align their enabled device. And tap them together to pair and activate the connection. Well, you can also use the integrated AM/FM tuner to receive the local broadcast signals. You can also play your CDs or your personal recorded CD-R by using the integrated motorized slot CD player. Well, you can also play MP3 files that have been recorded to CD discs. Striking the Pros of using Sony Compact Stereo Sound System for House with Bluetooth Wireless Streaming The classic three-box design makes a statement in any room. Allows a separate place for the placement of the speakers for a wider stereo effect. Has a built-in CD/DVD player for your disc collection. Striking the Cons of using Sony Compact Stereo Sound System for House with Bluetooth Wireless Streaming The build and control are average. Equipped with 4 woofers and 1 tweeter, the Sony SS-CS8 2-Way 3-Driver Center Channel Speaker handles up to 145 watts. The woofer of the speaker uses a mic-reinforced diaphragm. The upper surface of which is fashioned to provide faithful sound. While the lower layer is designed to provide a powerful bass response. The cabinet is built up of wood. Which is designed to provide a natural resonance. The network crossover of the speaker is mounted directly to the cabinet. So that it becomes vibration isolated. The foot of the speaker has rubber pads to avoid shelf vibration. The crossover network in the SS-CS8 is intended to assure minimal signal loss. For an energetic vocal response with even the most delicate nuisance. It is mounted directly above the cabinet to avoid vibration. Striking the Pros of using Sony 5.1-Channel Surround Sound Multimedia Home Theater Speaker Bundle Has a powerful bass response. The rubber pads make it vibration isolated. Has a powered subwoofer. Striking the Cons of using Sony 5.1-Channel Surround Sound Multimedia Home Theater Speaker Bundle A lit bit costlier. Enjoy the wireless audio streaming with the Sony 7.2-Channel Wireless Bluetooth 4K 3D HD Blu-ray A/V Surround Sound Home Theater System. Features Bluetooth with NFC connectivity. And also have four HDMI inputs with one HDMI output. All support 4k resolution. It has a 7.2 channel that surrounds sounds and a two-channel stereo. Everything is huge. All speakers and receivers are huge. Whenever you play the music the sound quality would be great. The sound is crystal clear and with so many options music and movies are awesome. Striking the Pros of using Sony 7.2-Channel Wireless Bluetooth 4K 3D HD Blu-ray A/V Surround Sound Home Theater System It is very versatile. The sound is crystal clear. Offers dramatic and cinematic sound. It is compatible with blu ray 3D movies. The setup of the speaker is very easy. Striking the Cons of using Sony 7.2-Channel Wireless Bluetooth 4K 3D HD Blu-ray A/V Surround Sound Home Theater System There is a lack of sound adjustment. Enjoy the clear mid and high frequencies from the soundbar. Brings every music and movie to life. In the volume and clarity, with a total 320watt power output. The contours of the soundbars fit perfectly with the design of your tv. And it is also very simple to connect it. The seven sound modes enhance your entertainment experience. The Cinema mode is for movies, game studio mode is developed by PlayStation developers. Music mode helps you to listen to every detail clear. And the news mode is designed for clear dialogue. Hear the sound that will be coming from all around. The virtual sound surround technology puts you right in the heart of movies. That is done by emulating the wide stage of cinema-style surround sound. Even without the need for additional rear speakers. Striking the Pros of using Sony HT-S350 Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer The sound is very powerful. Solid Bass. Supports Dolby digital. Bluetooth supported. HDMI and ARC capable. It is easy to set up. Quite affordable. Striking the Cons of using Sony HT-S350 Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer Has no Dolby Atmos, but it features S-PRO front surround instead. There is a need for an HDMI splitter for multiple connections. This Sony home theater system gives your favorite shows and movies the sound they deserve with a 2.1inch soundbar. This space-saving solution is designed to match the decor of your home. The compact one-bar design with a built-in woofer completely matches your room. There is no need for another box and extra cables around your room. With HDMI, ARC, one cable can give an easy connection for all your tv audio. You can also connect it Wireless to your tv via Bluetooth. And can control tv and soundbar with the help of only one remote. Virtual sound technology just puts you right at the heart of movies and music. The low profile design of the soundbar does not obstruct the view of your tv. The voice enhancement features strengthen the listening experience. Striking the Pros of Sony S200F 2.1ch Soundbar with built-in Subwoofer and Bluetooth Home Theater It is great for dialogue content. Performs well even on high volume. Striking the Cons of Sony S200F 2.1ch Soundbar with built-in Subwoofer and Bluetooth Home Theater Doesn’t get too loud. It does not support DTS. Always stays on sound surround feature. Well, that sums up our list for Sony home theater. I hope it would help you out to find “which Sony home theater is best?” Acknowledging Questions How To Setup Sony Home Theater System? The two most common connections used to hear TV sound from the A/V receiver or from the home theater system is: Option 1: HDMI connection using the ARC feature. Option 2: Connection with the help of an HDMI cable, coaxial digital cable, or audio cable. Which option you will be going to use depends upon the ports of your products. Suppose if your tv and audio system both support the ARC feature. I will recommend then using option 1 to connect your products. Otherwise, you can use option 2. Originally published at https://shoppingpossible.com/ on August 16, 2021

https://medium.com/@shoppingpossiblenow/top-selling-sony-home-theater-system-usa-2021-fb8c5980feb3

['Shopping Possible']

2021-08-16 17:53:14.239000+00:00

['Sony Home Theater', 'Home Theatre System', 'Technology', 'Electronic Items', 'Home Theater']

2000 TikTok Followers — Flaming Social

Description Get the 2000 TikTok Followers Now and Boost your TikTok profile. TikTok has become a famous app due to its short-style videos. Millions of users from all over the world have made this into an insanely popular app by posting unique and well-edited short clips, multiple times a day. With the growth of the platform and people are more concerned about their growth on TikTok. But we know it’s not an easy task to gain a huge following instantly. This is where we come. We are here to help you give a push start to your profile. Having a large number of followers is as important as having a good likes count. Believe it or not, but in this modern era having a large number of followers is like a review in a sense. Your pictures are great, but in such a big social network as TikTok is, your viewers will most likely skip your content without even properly looking at it if you don’t have the followers or stats to back it up. Why Choose Us? Real Views Real Followers Money-Back Guarantee Real Likes 24/7 Customer Service Try 100 TikTok Views for free to see how it works. https://flamingsocial.com/product/100-tiktok-views-free Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

https://medium.com/@mosthofam/2000-tiktok-followers-flaming-social-864a6e7afa7e

[]

2020-12-21 18:06:43.924000+00:00

['Save Money', 'Tik Tok', 'Following Christ', 'Smm', 'Blogger']

You can’t wear purple pants forever.

Once I had these purple corduroy pants. Dark purple. They were soft and comfy and, at the time, purple was my favorite color, but only, I think, because It was Donnie Osmond’s favorite color. Naturally, I loved these pants, because, as a small child, my fashion criteria, completely subconscious or perhaps intuitive and in no particular order was: a.) Is it soft? b.) Can I chase boys around in it? c.) Does this color make me feel happy? (Clarification: The chasing of boys had nothing to do with actually liking them and everything to do with dominating them by outrunning, out-bobbing and out-weaving them in an effort to ultimately “tag” one or all of them just to demonstrate that a.) I could and b.) Agility is always superior to skinned knees which was an occupational hazard on a playground entirely paved with blacktop, or as Pop Pop used to say, “macadam.”) I wanted to wear the purple corduroys every day. I’m sure I had other pants, garanimals and such, but I only recall the purple corduroys. And my mom did let me wear them almost every day; she also let me rearrange the living room furniture whenever I felt like it. I like to believe this was because she wisely knew it would contribute positively to my development and it has, but it is entirely possible that she just chose her battles with prudence, a skill that I continually work to cultivate to this day. That regular juggling of chairs, end tables and tchotchkes is probably the impetus of my love for decorating, albeit with a telephone cable wheel table and a Good Will nifty thrifty green scratchy couch. Anyway, I don’t remember exactly when it happened but I know it did happen, that one day I could no longer wear the purple corduroys. Physically. They simply did not fit. I know I did not wear them out. They were quite durable. Come to think of it, my mom may have made them herself. I will imagine she did. She made a lot of my clothes by hand and I like remembering that. But anyway again, I outgrew them. The pants. I’m sure It didn’t happen all at once. I’m sure that there were signs I didn’t want to see. I made them fit, jamming my legs and tummy inside the holes on the smooth side of the corduroy day after day even though it didn’t feel good. I wanted them to fit forever. But they didn’t. At some point, I must have come to grips with that. At some point, I just realized it wasn’t comfortable trying to make something fit that did not fit anymore. Not soft. Looking back, that was when I learned that one hard lesson. When we grow, some things don’t fit us anymore. It might take us a while to notice or it might happen all at once. It might hurt. Knowing we can’t go back to wearing purple corduroys anymore. I really missed my pants. I wanted to still wear them. I thought I would never love another pair of corduroys the same. That other pants would not be as good. That I might not be able to feel happy without them. It can be scary to try to find new pants. You might actually walk around with no pants at all for a time. But, it’s not something you can stop from happening. All you can do is keep the faith of a little child. The universe will not leave you pantsless. It’s nature’s way of letting you know you’re bigger.

https://medium.com/@mitzicampbell/you-cant-wear-purple-pants-forever-345c97a26bca

['Mitzi Campbell']

2020-12-10 16:12:25.653000+00:00

['Growth Mindset', 'Growing Up', 'Coming Of Age', 'New Beginnings', 'Friendship']

5 Underestimated Medium Features

Use the Kicker The Kicker is part of the editor’s built-in headline structure. Do you already know how to set up a title and a sub-title using the big T-icon and the small one respectively? Great! Now insert a line over your main headline and format it as a small title with the small T-icon. The editor will translate it into a Kicker appearing shaded on top of your main title. You can use it for categorization or highlighting a specific story tag. Screenshot by author I do like this feature because it adds another layer of structure to your story. Your reader is guided from the main topic in the Kicker over to your main title and then to the subtitle. By then, he has an excellent idea of what to expect from your story.

https://medium.com/writers-blokke/5-underestimated-medium-features-ef9323440369

['Tom Fenske']

2020-12-17 12:44:26.885000+00:00

['Writing', 'Publishing', 'Readers', 'Editing', 'Writing Tips']

Apache Kafka and Google Cloud Platform Guide

In this article, you can find a step by step quick start guide on how to send messages from an Apache Kafka topic to Google Cloud Platform using the apache beam data pipeline running on dataflow and create Data lake and Data Warehouse hosted on the cloud for big data analytics. I already have messages on my Kafka server and if you want to learn how to move database records to Kafka please go through my other article here. So first we will be moving the data to google cloud storage(GCS) which is a RESTful online file storage web service for storing and accessing data on Google Cloud Platform infrastructure. For that, you need to create an account on GCP. Google provides a free tier account and you can create it here. Once you have created the account you can create the bucket using the GCP guide. You would also need to create a service account to get the key which would be required to connect to google cloud services for that use this guide. I have created a bucket called kafka_messgages and folders called customers where I will be storing files. Now that we have the service account JSON key let push data to the bucket. I would be converting the data into Parquet format before loading it into the bucket. In this code, you would need to provide the bucket name, the path of your service account key, and the Kafka server. Get the code here. Let’s check if we have the messages in the buckets. You can see have three new folders with timestamps and inside we have the data.parquet file. Now, let's create a dataflow job that will move the data from cloud storage to BigQuery. First, you need to create a table in Bigquery. I have created a dataset called kafka and inside that, a table called customers. In order to run apache beam dataflow job from your terminal you need to install cloud sdk from here. Then create a virtual environment python3 -m venv gcp then activate it source gcp/bin/activate and then pip install apache-beam then pip install "google-cloud-storage" and pip install "apache-beam[gcp]" You can find the code here and edit the file. Now, let’s run the python file Now go to GCP console then to dataflow you will should have a new job running. It will take around 4–5 minutes to run the job. Once it is completed now lets checks Google Bibquery if the data was succefully loaded. That should give you a quickstart on how to migrate your data to Google Cloud Platform.

https://medium.com/@himanshu-negi-08/apache-kafka-and-google-cloud-platform-guide-80c56f41e699

['Himanshu Negi']

2021-01-05 16:05:35.139000+00:00

['Data Engineering', 'Bigquery', 'Dataflow', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Kafka']

Machine Learning is NOT rocket science

“Wow! machine learning? Rocket science, damn complicated..Wanna know more about it but I am not a data scientist, definitely not my cup of tea :(“ Sounds familiar? I definitely can’t blame you as most of the blogs and videos about Machine Learning portrays and illustrates it something like this: Courtesy : aier.org These days, Machine Learning is like sex in the school days. Every student was talking about it, only a very few know exactly what it is but only your class teacher was really doing it. Here is my humble attempt to illustrate the fundamentals of sex…sorry, I mean, machine learning in simple way that anyone can understand. So, let’s roll our sleeves up and get started. “Hello, are you still there? :)” Conditioned Response to a Conditioned Stimulus Let’s assume, you have a puppy. Let’s call her Mimi. As a lovely pet owner, you bought some delicious food for her (an unconditioned stimulus) and introduced it for the first time in her plate. Mimi loved it and started salivating whenever she see that food, even on TV commercials (an unconditioned response). Stage 1 is completed. Now on stage 2, instead of feeding her food in the plate, you just created a sound with a bell(a neutral stimulus). Mimi doesn’t care a sh*t about that sound as she doesn’t really understand what the heck the bell’s sound means to her, hence no salivation(no conditioned response). Stage 2 completed. Let’s call stage 1 and stage 2 as “Before conditioning” stage of Mimi’s learning phase. During stage 3 (during conditioning stage), you fed that delicious food in her plate and started the bell sound simultaneously. Once you train Mimi like this for a few days, the moment seeing the food and hearing bell’s sound, Mimi will get salivated(an unconditioned response). Stage 3 completed, congratulations! During stage 4 (after conditioning), the moment you play the bell, poor Mimi will get salivated, which is a conditioned response. You win! Courtesy: edureka! Now let’s replace Mimi with a computer algorithm. Delicious food is Apple Inc’s past and present stock price along with various market data. The bell sound is a new product launch announcement. Based on the price and specification of the new product, current stock price, various market parameters and along with checking how stock price has reacted in the past for similar announcements, the algorithm can predict whether this is a an opportunity to buy or sell Apple Inc’s stock. This is exactly what some of the machine learning algorithms does. A conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus. Machine learning algorithms are classified into two: Classical Learning algorithms Reinforcement Learning algorithms Let’s try to understand each of them by following our simple approach. Classical Machine Learning Algorithms Have you noticed Netflix’s recommendation on the “next videos to watch”? Have you noticed that your bank has temporarily blocked your credit card right after you swipe it at some random shop in a foreign country? Whether you love these outcomes or not, some classical learning machine learning algorithms are behind those decisions. Little bitches! These algorithms do exist since decades. They search for a pattern and proximity in data points (numbers) and calculate vector’s direction. For that, it needs large amount of data. These algorithms our ancestors have developed were not popular during their time as there was not enough datasets available. Great ideas, wrong timing. Poor ancestors! (That brings to another interesting topic. Regardless of the precision of machine learning algorithms you develop, you need BIG data to test and fine tune it to increase its accuracy.) Classical Machine Learning algorithms are really simple, in fact. But interestingly, most of the machine learning algorithms you use on daily basis through your mobile apps, YouTube, Amazon, Netflix etc. etc. are based on these algorithms. Yeah, it is a classic 80–20 situation! Regardless of extremely sophisticated Machine Learning algorithms the programmers develop, this 20% segment of classical algorithms addresses 80% of day to day machine learning scenarios! Surprised? There are a few types of Classical Machine Learning algorithms. Supervised Machine Learning Unsupervised Machine Learning Courtesy: vas3k.com Supervised Machine Learning Courtesy : US Department of Education This algorithm is all about labeling. Let’s compare it with a kindergarten classroom: Sam : “Teacher, is this a dog in this picture?” Teacher: “Good job Sam, Yes! It is a dog” Sam : “Teacher, how about this one? Dog?” Teacher: “Spot on again! That’s also a dog!” Now Sam has two pictures of dog (a.k.a data samples). Next time before he ask the teacher, he will compare the new picture with those pictures labeled as dog. While Sam was keep exploring more pictures he came across a picture that doesn’t really look exactly like a dog but there are some commonalities. Little Sam is confused now. Sam : “Teacher, is this also …a…dog?” Teacher: “Oh sweetie, I know you are confused. That one is a fox, but good try!” Now Sam has two labelled data sets. Dogs & Fox. The more Sam explores the data, his datasets grow. The more datasets Sam has, his prediction becomes more accurate. This is exactly what a supervised machine learning algorithm do. Classifies the data, label them, use them for comparing patterns and predict the result. If the input value is X, output should be f(X). Y = f(x). That’s all the supervised algorithms do. Let’s discuss various types of supervised machine learning algorithms in next episode. Unsupervised Machine Learning Assuming you have a family dog. Your young toddler knows and identifies the family dog even if no one teach the toddler that the animal is a dog. Toddler loves the dog and recognized it by observation. One day, your friends visited you and brought their little puppy! Our toddler is seeing this dog for the first time. Seeing its 2 ears, 2 eyes and 4 legs, toddler has predicted that it is a dog! No one supervised toddler to recognize that the cute animal is a puppy! This is exactly what unsupervised machine learning algorithms does. Had this been supervised learning, someone would have told the toddler that it’s a dog. These algorithms are not as common as supervised learning. But still it can be used in scenarios where clustering is required. Market segmentation based on the customers and introduce suitable loyalty program is based on unsupervised algorithms. Let’s discuss various types of unsupervised machine learning algorithms in next episode. So that’s it guys and girls for the first episode. I really hope that now you got some idea about machine learning, classical algorithms, supervised and unsupervised algorithms. I promise you that I am not going to make you as data scientists by reading this series :) But we will dig deeper in coming episodes by our simplified approach. Stay Tuned! Thank you for reading, cheers!

https://medium.com/swlh/machine-learning-basics-anyone-can-understand-episode-1-1f73401e52e0

['Dhanesh Valappil']

2020-06-29 13:41:56.778000+00:00

['Artificial Intelligence', 'Machine Learning', 'Neural Networks', 'Data Science', 'AI']

Living alone means living with yourself.

Image by tookapic from Pixabay If you can live alone, then you can live with yourself. You get to know yourself and your personal boundaries. You come to have a relationship with yourself. Ultimately, you come to have healthier relationships with other people. When you live alone and really enjoy it, the decision to live with others becomes a very big deal. What may otherwise be a moment of opportunity becomes a moment of potential sacrifice. The optimistic “I get to share a space with someone and split bills,” becomes a precautionary “Do I really want to give up my space for someone else?” The answer is a resounding “no”, although our arbitrary social norms might object. Your space becomes sacred. You can do anything you like in your own space. You can chose who to let into your space. Most importantly, you come to rely on yourself rather than other people for your own happiness, which is the golden ticket for relationship success. Healthy relationships allow space for each person to have their own lives separate from the other person. This is especially true in romantic relationships and marriages. You don’t have to live with your partner if you don’t want to. In fact, it might be better for everyone involved if you lived separately. I have a few 30- and 40-something friends who are very comfortable living alone. They wouldn’t give up their space easily, even if partnered. Myself included. I’ve made that mistake before. For most of my life, I have lived with other people. I only really started living alone in my late 30s, after my 11 year marriage ended, and it was a challenge. The first obstacle to overcome was the fear of being alone. For me, this was especially the case at night and on the weekends. I was a pro at filling my time with distractions, and I didn’t even realize they were distractions at the time. The bar was a block down the street, and dates were a few swipes away. Eventually, with some hard work, I became content with sitting by myself on my couch on a Friday night completely content and satisfied. I was free. Looking back on it, I felt compelled to go out, almost like a drug. I was distracting myself from getting to know the stranger in my house — myself. Eventually, I came to know myself, and I’m still getting to know myself. I have much stronger boundaries (something that would frequently collapse before), and I have a much better idea of what I want in life and in relationships. To illustrate, I met someone online a few months ago who I was considering dating. She was previously married, and her grown kids were living with her full time. She also let me know that she was dating with the intention of moving in together. This was a red flag. She was avoiding being alone. She was filling the space with her grown kids and wanted to find a romantic partner with whom she could transition the space. I let her know “I enjoy living alone and have no plans to do otherwise for the foreseeable future.” I put up a boundary and she didn’t like it, but that was fine. She was a reflection of my past self—a people pleaser with collapsed boundaries who was afraid of being alone. Take it from me, that road ends in disaster. We never went on a first date.

https://medium.com/@toddwardphd/living-alone-means-living-with-yourself-4cfe4d102222

['Todd Ward']

2021-09-01 20:01:20.443000+00:00

['Living Alone', 'Boundaries', 'Healthy Relationships', 'Dating', 'Personal Growth']

Best Wishes, Message of New Year 2021

Best Wishes, Message of New Year 2021 for all of you Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 New Year’s Day is celebrated with great joy by all the people of the world. The New Year is greeted with good wishes by saying goodbye to the old year. The New Year is followed by the rising winter of December. People start new things in the New Year with renewed vigor. People go on picnics and spend a few moments of happiness with their families. On this occasion, the party is organized in many places. The New Year carries with it new expectations, new objectives, new dreams. Individuals make some new vows to themselves and attempt to satisfy those resolutions in the coming year. It is considered that if the first day of the New Year is spent well and joyfully at that point, the entire year will be passed cheerfully. On the occasion of New Year, people send greetings; to each other through messages and wish that the coming New Year is auspicious for them. Here are some nice Wishes, Messages for you, you can send to your family and friends. I would like you to close your eyes and think about everything that has made you happy this year. Concentrate on those moments so that is the happiness with which you start the new one. Happy New Year’s Eve, Happy New Year 2021! Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 Family is the greatest blessing that human beings can have, and I also received that luck multiplied by a million because I received the best family in the world. May this New Year give us health, love, and best wishes. Happy New Year 2021. Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 I am sure that tomorrow you will live the best day of your life, that each new day will be better than the previous one; I am sure that each day will be a blessing for all your family, friends, and especially for you. Happy New Year 2021! Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 I could have dedicated messages and phrases to you all year saying how much I love you and how much I need you, but I didn’t. However, I will not allow myself to end the year 2020 without letting you know that I love you the most; and I need you forever. Happy New Year 2021! Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 I want to wish you the best end of the year that anyone has ever lived, but I also did not want to forget to wish you a Happy New Year, which I am sure will exceed all your expectations. Enjoy this precious day! Happy New Year 2021! Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 I know that I will enjoy the best end of the year of my life because when I remember the year that we have passed, you appear in all my Good Memories; I wish you a happy night, and above all, a Happy New Year. God bless you! Happy New Year 2021! Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 God bless your home, your family, your friends, and you in the last hours of this year 2020; I hope you take advantage of the good memories to be happy in this year to come. Love you very much! Happy New Year 2021. Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 I ask this New Year not to have to say goodbye without you by my side, and it is hard to enjoy such special nights if I do not have you by my side. Happy end of the year 2020, my love, and happy new year 2021. I love you very much! Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 It is a shame to say goodbye to a year that has been precious, a year in which you well know that I have been happy in large part thanks to you. Keep in mind that when I look back, I will remember this year 2020 as a year that you made me very happy. Happy New Year 2021. Best-Wishes-Message-Of-New-Year-2021 I wanted to take advantage of the last of my congratulations of the year to remind you that I love you very much, that I am happy to have been part of this year, and that I am excited to know that I will once again be part of your year that is about to begin.

https://medium.com/@sheelaofficial24/best-wishes-message-of-new-year-2021-13ad6e3d0397

['Event Updater']

2020-12-24 13:16:16.992000+00:00

['New Year', 'Wishes', 'New Year Wishes', 'Messaging', 'Happy New Year Message']

Please answer all of these questions

Am I the only one who can’t eat and listen to music at the same time? Am I the only one who counts the number of deodorant strokes to make sure each ‘pit gets exactly 8? Do you hate-watch TV? Yeah, me neither. What one word follows you around day and night? For me it is regret. With mediocrity a close second. Is it wrong to love all of these clown sightings? Is it OK to see everything as grey? Or is it gray? Is it a defense mechanism or am I a good listener and fair and balanced? I love flowers, the New York Mets and My Chemical Romance. Weird, huh?

https://medium.com/100-naked-words/please-answer-all-of-these-questions-a4505b9372b3

['John Markowski']

2016-10-05 21:56:52.268000+00:00

['Self-awareness', 'Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement', 'Psychology', 'Questions']

Inclusive Design and Why Product Managers Should Care

What Can We Do As Product Managers? No one wants to create biased products or miss a big part of their audience. But that will very likely happen when we don’t consider diversity in our process. There are few things product managers can do to mitigate bias. Image source: Aseel Hamarneh First, start with yourself and acknowledge you’re biased None of us sets off to discriminate, but we all grew up in a biased society, so whether we like it or not, some of that bias gets internalized. This is referred to as unconscious bias, which forms involuntarily from our experiences and exposure to media, and in many cases, goes against the beliefs and values we hold consciously. Because we are unaware of our unconscious beliefs, they sometimes end up driving our behaviors. Research has shown that most of our decisions regarding people are heavily influenced by our biases and that our assessments of others are not as objective as we think. Think of five people you trust/admire most at work. On your list, add next to each person their gender, race, ethnic background, English as a first or additional language, rough age group, sexual orientation, and whether they are able-bodied or have a disability. Examine your list. How diverse is it? If it’s not, why? How come the people you admire most are all similar? Could it be bias? (Exercise adapted from Circle of Trust exercise by Include-Empower.com) One common reaction when we recognize our own bias is to judge ourselves. But that’s not helpful. It’s more productive to pause on judgement and reserve the energy to acknowledge bias and disrupt it. Challenge your assumptions and ask questions like these: Would I have interrupted my colleague if they were a man? Would I have supported them in their promotion if they were a different race? Again, don’t judge your answers. The point is to be mindful of those thoughts and not let them drive your actions. If you pretend they’re not there, you’re more likely to act on them. Second, look at the teams around you How diverse are they? It’s likely that they’re not. So next time you’re involved in hiring, make diversity a priority. Having a diverse team equals diverse opinions and more creative solutions. There is a lot of research on removing bias from the hiring process and improving diversity. There are things you can do to write inclusive ads, reach out to diverse networks, and remove bias from interviews. Here is a good article from HBR to get you started. Third, address bias in your product Examine your default user(s): Your priorities might look different if you deliberately consider diverse users. If for example, Google maps explored the needs of their female users or those with limited mobility, then perhaps safe routes or ones with step-free access would’ve been addressed early. Include different voices in the development process: Think about product decisions and how they’re made. List the voices represented in the room and make sure it’s a safe environment for everyone to contribute (aka create psychological safety). If you’re lacking diverse voices in the team, find alternate ways to include diversity, such as co-design sessions. And when your team comes up with solutions, take the time to examine the unintended consequences of these ideas. Check if you are negatively impacting some groups and look into ways to mitigate the risk early. An awful example of these consequences comes from abusive partners who weaponized smart home devices and used them to monitor and intimidate their partners. I put together this table to summarize the questions you can ask at different stages of the product development process:

https://medium.com/better-programming/why-should-product-managers-care-about-inclusive-design-45bd13b7411a

['Aseel Hamarneh']

2020-09-12 12:28:43.886000+00:00

['Diversity And Inclusion', 'Product Manager', 'Accessibility', 'Diversity In Tech', 'Bias']

How to craft a killer Product Designer resume

Fresh out of a UX bootcamp, I had my sights set on working at a startup. The idea of wearing different hats along with ample learning opportunities was what really drew me. With this in mind, I reasoned that my resume probably wouldn’t be reviewed by many recruiters or hiring managers, but by my future teammates. As designers, we’re constantly judging. Whatever our eyes happen to glance over is scrutinized at a superficial level (eg. colour, typeface and spacing) and at a methodical level (eg. is that the best way?). This scrutiny is amplified 10X when designers judge the resumes of fellow designers. So I knew mine had to be visually appealing and thoughtfully constructed so that other designers would simply consider reading it. While it may not be the flashiest, its simplicity and functionality are what set it apart. In an interview I asked why I had been selected from over 1,000+ applications and, with a chuckle, the Director of Design said to me: The way you designed your resume provided a delightful experience and gave us a clue that you might be able to do similarily delightful work in our platform. I didn’t end up getting that job, but that feedback really stuck with me. With that, here are my thoughts and ideas for your consideration when crafting your own resume. 1. Make your colours mean something The colours you use guide the reader’s eye and help distinguish important content. With only 7 seconds to impress, it’s crucial that you use colours to highlight the summary of your qualifications that you want readers to have. For example, I used the purple highlight on the right-side column to draw the reader’s eye up from the ‘About’ section to the start of my work experience and then attract the eye down that same column. I thought highlighting my work experience had a far better chance of getting interviews versus skills, software and education. 2. Keep your line lengths ‘optimal’ A quick google search of “ideal number of characters per line” yields something like: The optimal line length for your body text is considered to be 50–60 characters per line, including spaces (“Typographie”, E. Ruder). Other sources suggest that up to 75 characters is acceptable. This was the main reason I designed my resume with two columns. It allowed me to condense the text under my job title to an optimal length for reading. In other templates, I’d typically seen this text run all the way across the page. 3. ATS-friendly is good for everyone In today’s day and age, it’s not unreasonable to assume that a human won’t be the first one reading your resume. Hence, the necessity for your resume to be ATS-friendly. A quick test can be done by selecting all of the text and, while you’re selecting the text, watching how it is highlighted. Is the text highlighted in the order you were expecting? As you can see in the example above, the order that the text was highlighted is completely off. Not only that, my name, title and contact info weren’t even highlighted when the rest of my resume was. If you are having trouble selecting the text in an order you’d expect, it’s highly likely the ATS machine ‘reading’ your resume is going to have trouble too. Now, see what the text selection process looks like after the resume has been optimized to be ATS-friendly. Quite a difference right? The difference is because the reading order of the .pdf has been set and tagged so that it follows a logical order. To learn how to do this see here. Bonus: Along with making your resume ATS-friendly, setting the reading order will ensure your reader has an easy time if they need to copy some text from your resume. 4. Link it all together Make things easy for your reader to reference by adding links throughout your resume. At a minimum, your email address should be a mail-to link and your portfolio should be a hyperlink to your portfolio’s homepage. There are ample opportunities throughout a resume to add links that help a reader learn more about you. Here are a few more examples. Did you mention a project in your resume? Make sure it’s a link to your portfolio where the case study for that project lives. Did you receive a special award or scholarship? Link to the website that explains what it was for. Was your last company not very well know? Link to that company’s website so your reader doesn’t need to google it. 5. Matchy-matchy for the win You are your own brand and all the materials that you share should feel like a piece of your brand. Everything, from your cover letter to your portfolio to your LinkedIn cover image to your presentation deck, should have the same look and feel as your resume. Bringing all these elements together under one succinct umbrella demonstrates that you care about the details.

https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/how-to-craft-a-killer-product-designer-resume-947ecab2dca8

['Jimmy Foulds']

2021-04-25 20:35:41.586000+00:00

['Product Design', 'Design Thinking', 'Design Process', 'UX Design', 'Resume']

Dresden — The Phoenix. If you want to feel history, even…

Hello I had a special experience on Saturday, September 21. 8 hours visit to Dresden, around 30 k steps and visit as much as I could: Dresden has been ruined during world war, especially with many many bombs dropped on this beautiful city, lots of fire and burnings. And then it was reconstructed again. This is why I read in an article that it can be called Phoenix. I never thought that sharing my feelings will be this hard with my second language. But, as promised, I want to share this post sooner. It’s better than later. And yes, I am not satisfied with it. Just want to say: Visit Dresden, your heart will feel everything. Specially in Zwinger Palace and Simultankirche Sankt Martin. Long story short … Here is a list of the places I visited in that 8 hours trip which you can follow on my Instagram highlights : Kunsthofpassage Simultankirche Sankt Martin Dreikönigskirche — House of the Church Dresden Golden Rider Japanisches Palais Augustus Bridge Katholische Hofkirche Fürstenzug Frauenkirche Dresden Brühl’s Terrace Brühlschen Garten Academy of Fine Arts Dresden Oberlandesgericht Dresden Schlossplatz Semperoper Dresden Semperoper Dresden Zwinger Kronentor Holy Cross Church Sculptures / Tourist attractions Moritzmonument Friedrich August II Koenig Von Sachsen Denkmal “Friedrich August dem Gerechten” Ernst Rietschel Denkmal Martin Luther Statue Fountains Artesischer Brunnen Stille Wasser und Stürmische Wogen Cholerabrunnen Some places we just saw from distance, hopefully next time I will visit them: Theater Ruin St. Pauli Sächsische Staatskanzlei Yenidze Some places I passed and missed actually[ :( ]: Hausmannsturm Dresden Castle If you are fan of Museums and Art Galleries, you will find a lot of them in Dresden: Museum of Military History Museum of Dresden Erich Kästner Museum Dresden Armory Dresden Transport Museum Old and New Green Vault Albertinum Dresden City Museum Semper Gallery Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon Old Masters Picture Gallery Dresden Porcelain Collection Galerie Kunst und Eros Kunsthaus Dresden Till Ansgar Baumhauer Till Ansgar Baumhauer produzenten | galerie Kunsthandel und Galerie Ladron de Guevara Atelier Uta Gneiße GALERIE HOLGER JOHN Finckenstein Galerie und Kunsthandel Galerie Inspire ART Kunsthaus Raskolnikow e.V. Eat Vapiano — Schössergasse 14, 01067 Dresden It was the best experience with a restaurant I had so far, you can order directly to the chef, he / she will cook it in front of you, you can ask for flavors or also ask them not to use special ingredients you may not like or have allergy. And, it was so delicious. Rest and Caffee or Tea Starbucks — Altmarkt 7, 01067 Dresden I ordered the biggest tea size [:D] Don’t do that, it was huge!

https://medium.com/@snasihatkon/dresden-the-phoenix-4d141aefd0ab

['Samaneh Nasihatkon']

2019-09-23 22:29:56.914000+00:00

['Travel', 'Trip', 'Tourism', 'One Day Traveling', 'Germany']

FT.com — 11 facts

1/ It is served over HTTPS, and all the *.ft.com assets are served over HTTP/2. 2/ There’s no pre-production environments — just localhost, a build pipeline and production. Boom. 3/ The presentation tier comprised of around 80 independent services, all orchestrated to feel like a single, coherent user interface. 4/ It’s shipped a few hundred times a week. 5/ The bulk of the code & tooling is written in node.js. 6/ Infrastructure is a mix of Heroku, AWS (mostly Lambda, Dynamo, ElasticSearch, Kinesis) with a whole bunch of supporting SaaS providers. 7/ There’s an MVT framework built in to the stack, so each feature can be modified for a user or cohort and it’s impact measured against a control group. 8/ One team owns all aspects of the request chain, from the user’s browser all the way to the application (DNS, CDN, routing, presentation tier, hosting etc.). 9/ It’s a fast, progressively enhanced website, and we understand the consequences of it becoming slower. 10/ We removed all the routing cruft from the URLs and rely on HTTP Vary and friends to server different flavours of the site to different people. 11/ The UI is built upon a lovely in-house component framework.

https://medium.com/ft-product-technology/ft-com-11-facts-3290b7aea2c

['Ft Product']

2018-02-16 14:16:24.145000+00:00

['AWS', 'Project', 'Https', 'Ft', 'Heroku']

Machine Learning: Simple Linear Regression Using Python

We humans get better with experience and age. Ever wondered how machines get better in the Data Science field? Data Modeling uses machine learning algorithms, in which the machine learns from historical data to develop a model to make a prediction of new data. Machine Learning models are classified into two categories: Supervised learning method: This method has historical data with labels. Regression and Classification algorithms fall under this category. Unsupervised learning method: No pre-defined labels are assigned to historical data. Clustering algorithms fall under this category. When function f maps from the input variable X to output variable Y: The classification algorithm is the task of predicting a discrete class label. For example, an email or text can be classified as belonging to one of two classes: ‘spam’ and ‘not spam’ is a classification problem. The regression algorithm is the task of predicting a continuous quantity. For example, predicting the performance of a company in terms of revenue based on historical data is a regression problem. To learn more about the models' classification in Machine Learning, you can click on my article here. What is Regression Analysis and when can we use? Regression analysis is a method of predictive modeling that explores the relationship between a dependent (target) variable and a predictor (s) variable. This method is used for forecasting, modeling time series, and finding the relationship of a causal effect between the variables. In other words, Regression is connecting the dots among variables. For instance, if a company has to hire an employee and negotiate the salary then it considers the features, such as experience, level of education, role, the city they work in, and so on. In a regression problem case, we consider each employee-related data of a company as one observation. To make it even more simpler to understand we can take it as : ‘In regression analysis, we usually consider some phenomenon of interest and have a number of observations. Each observation has two or more features. Following the assumption that (at least) one of the features depends on the others, which we try to establish a relation among them.’ Perhaps people, including myself, who usually get their feet wet while learning algorithms in Data Science often think that Linear and Logistic regressions are the only forms of regressions but it is so important to be aware that there are several types of these techniques in the field of predictive modeling: Simple and multiple linear regression Polynomial regression Ridge regression and Lasso regression (upgrades to linear regression) Decision trees regression Support Vector Machines (SVM) In this post, let's confine us learning to a thorough understanding of Simple Linear Regression, which is one of the important and commonly used regression techniques. To get our basics right at the granular level of the linear relationship between variables, it is good to put in words like ‘exhibiting a directly proportional change in two related quantities’. NOTE: A linear regression model based on dimensions: in two dimensions is a straight line in three dimensions it is a plane; in more than three dimensions, a hyperplane. Y=a+bx A linear function has one independent variable and one dependent variable. The independent variable is x and the dependent variable is y. a is the constant term or the y-intercept. It is the value of the dependent variable when x = 0. is the constant term or the y-intercept. It is the value of the dependent variable when = 0. b is the coefficient of the independent variable. It is also known as the slope and gives the rate of change of the dependent variable. Let’s take the salary prediction dataset to build the linear regression model. For reference here is a link to Dataset. #importing the libraries import numpy as np import pandas as pd import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import seaborn as sns dataset.describe() Visualizing the facts is always better than keeping the equation in the head blindly, right! Can we see how two variables are distributed using scatterplot? Let’s plot our data points on a 2-D graph to view our dataset and see if we can spot any relationship between the values. dataset.plot(x=’YearsExperience’, y=’Salary’, style=’o’) plt.title(‘Work Experience vs Salary’) plt.xlabel(‘Experience’) plt.ylabel(‘Salary’) plt.show() It is easy to quote that ‘salary increases as the number of years of work experiences increases’. But from the above graph, this is not the case, we can notice that 3 years experienced is earning more than 5 years experienced one!!. So here is our disappointment, all the observations are not in a line. Meaning, we cannot find out the equation to calculate the (y) value. :( Oh wait, it’s not that bad as we thought, so don't worry. Now, carefully observe the scatter plots again. Did you see any pattern? All the points are not in a line BUT they are in a line-shape! It’s linear! We can also check how salary values have been distributed in the given dataset. sns.set_style("whitegrid") plt.figure(figsize=(20,8)) plt.subplot(1,2,1) plt.title('Salary Distribution Plot') sns.distplot(dataset.Salary) plt.show() From the above plot, we can infer that salary distribution is between 40000 to 125000. Python Code: X : the first column which contains Years Experience array : the first column which contains Years Experience array y : the last column which contains the Salary array Next, we split 80% of the data to the training set while 20% of the data to test set using the below code. The test_size variable is where we actually specify the proportion of the test set. X = dataset[‘YearsExperience’].values.reshape(-1,1) y = dataset[‘Salary’].values.reshape(-1,1) regressor = LinearRegression() : our training model which will implement the Linear Regression. : our training model which will implement the Linear Regression. regressor.fit : in this line, we pass the X_train which contains the value of Year Experience and y_train which contains values of particular Salary to form up the model. This is the training process. from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.2, random_state=0) regressor = LinearRegression() regressor.fit(X_train, y_train) #training the algorithm Yay, we have built our model, now we can use it to calculate (predict) any values of X depends on y or any values of y depends on X. This is how we do it: y_pred = regressor.predict(X_test) We can also compare the values of actual and predicted given by our model, to be sure of how well the model is working. df = pd.DataFrame({‘Actual’: y_test.flatten(), ‘Predicted’: y_pred.flatten()}) df1 = df.head(25) df1.plot(kind=’bar’,figsize=(10,10)) plt.grid(which=’major’, linestyle=’-’, linewidth=’0.5', color=’green’) plt.grid(which=’minor’, linestyle=’:’, linewidth=’0.5', color=’black’) plt.show() Now, the task is to find a line that fits best in the above scatter plot so that we can predict the response for any new feature values. (i.e a value of x not present in the dataset). This line is called the regression line. plt.scatter(X_test, y_test, color=’gray’) plt.plot(X_test, y_pred, color=’red’, linewidth=2) plt.show() From the above results, we can confidently say our model is good to use. The values that we can control are the intercept and slope. There can be multiple straight lines depending upon the values of intercept and slope. Basically what the linear regression algorithm does is it fits multiple lines on the data points and returns the line that results in the least error. Let’s find the values of slope and intercept, to form a regression line. #To retrieve the intercept: print(regressor.intercept_) #For retrieving the slope: print(regressor.coef_) Intercept of the model: 25202.887786154883 Coefficient of the line: [9731.20383825] We call to say that function is, y= 9731.2 x+25202.88 If we want to check the salary for 5 years' experience then, from the above function we get y=73,858.8..predicts good!!!

https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/machine-learning-simple-linear-regression-using-python-7d13e8ac8300

['Shruthi Gurudath']

2020-10-02 16:55:33.011000+00:00

['Machine Learning', 'Simple Linear Regression', 'Predictions', 'Regression Analysis', 'Algorithms']

Holidaying in the Wasteland

Video game comfort food The thing that really set me off on this path is actually YouTube. These days, I watch far more YouTube than Netflix or anything else. There are so many great creators out there making gaming videos. I love discovering channels for the first time and digging into their libraries. I was particularly struck by this incredible, four hour documentary (which I still haven’t finished), about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The more I watched it, the more it got me in the mood to play an Elder Scrolls game. Skyrim is my favourite, and the remastered version on PS4 was just the ticket. When it comes to Skyrim, I went in with a very forgiving mindset. That is, forgiving to myself. Having completed the game, I appreciate how utterly vast it is. Right off the bat, I’m not committing myself to dozens of hours. I’ll dip in and out, take what I need from the experience, and leave whatever I want on the table. Video game self-care; that’s how I’m approaching it. Ignoring the critical path, and completely disregarding the busywork that should be banished from all video games (no thanks, I’m not hunting around for those flowers you want — bore someone else with your tedious requests); it’s remarkably freeing. The same is true for Fallout 4. Yeah, I’ve just reached Diamond City and spoken to Nick. But it took me a while to get there. I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time building in Sanctuary and exploring the world. I know a lot of players do this, but when I first played Fallout 4, I approached the central mission a little more seriously and with greater urgency (after all, my son had been taken from me and my husband had been shot before my very eyes— Preston Garvey’s incessant requests seemed trivial given my personal circumstances). Fuck off, Preston. Ignoring the critical path, and completely disregarding the busywork that should be banished from all video games (no thanks, I’m not hunting around for those flowers you want — bore someone else with your tedious requests); it’s remarkably freeing. In both cases — Skyrim and Fallout 4 — Bethesda’s best and worst qualities as a developer are on display. For now I’m not going to dwell on the negatives; the bugs are iconic at this point, and the shortcomings with Fallout 4’s story are something I’ll touch on in a moment. What Bethesda does exceptionally well is create space. It’s tempting to employ the term “wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle” to describe both of these games (and I’d argue it’s especially applicable in the case of Fallout 4). This term tends to be used as a pejorative for understandable reasons. But let’s not be so quick to dismiss the wide ocean. The broad scale that Bethesda is so good at crafting isn’t simply a case of adjusting a slider and fiddling a dial to make the map larger. There’s a real artistry to designing compelling locations and considering how they connect to each other in the world. Setting aside story and depth for now, both Skyrim and Fallout 4 are wonderful spaces to explore. Long before Nintendo’s outstanding Breath of the Wild, Bethesda has already mastered the magic of discovery — spotting a curiosity in the distance and knowing you can approach it to find out more. You can try this yourself: stand in any outdoor location in either of these games and look around. I absolutely guarantee you’ll see something of interest. Maybe it’s an ominous, lone shack nestled amongst a clump of trees. Or maybe you can just spot some movement on that partially-crumbled raised highway in the distance. What is that? I wonder if there’s anything interesting there… Long before Nintendo’s outstanding Breath of the Wild, Bethesda has already mastered the magic of discovery — spotting a curiosity in the distance and knowing you can approach it to find out more. Regardless of the objective I’m following at the time, there’s something about being in these worlds that is enjoyable in and of itself. In Skyrim it’s the exploration and thievery that do it for me (I’d much rather join the Thieves Guild and follow their quest line than progress the critical path, honestly). I can spend an entire play session sneaking around nabbing valuables from elaborate, fiercly-guarded mansions in the dead of night. What fun. And in Fallout 4, the predictable-yet-engaging explore > discover a location > kill the enemies > loot the area cycle is addictive regardless of story context. In both Skyrim and Fallout 4, I occasionally found myself skipping through dialogue just so I could get back out into the world. I did this on my first play throughs as well, though perhaps less frequently. Is this an indictment of Bethesda’s often-bland writing, or an endorsement of their enticing world design? Hm…

https://medium.com/super-jump/holidaying-in-the-wasteland-34f9dcde8285

['James Burns']

2020-10-20 10:34:42.311000+00:00

['Relaxation', 'Gaming', 'Culture', 'Mental Health', 'Videogames']

Another Pakistani activist found dead in Toronto

Missing last Sunday, the well-known Pakistani activist Karima Baloch was found dead in Toronto, in Canada, where she was living in exile for five years. Thirty-seven years old, from the Baluchistan region, Miss Baloch was one of the main opponents of the Islamabad government on the minority rights issue. The Toronto police confirmed the news of her death after it launched an appeal in recent days for her disappearance. A police spokesman stated on Wednesday that there are still no suspects for her death. In 2016, Baloch was ranked among the hundred most influential women on the planet by the BBC channel for her commitment to defending civil rights in her region of origin. She was forced to leave Pakistan in 2015 after a series of accusations, including terrorist activities. Once she arrived in Canada, she continued to fight on social media for civil rights in Baluchistan. And her threats also haunted her in Toronto, according to what her friends and colleagues testified. She recently received a threatening letter in which there was talk of a “Christmas present” that would “teach her a lesson.” The sister of the activist said today her death is not a tragedy only for her family, but also for the Baloch national movement. She added that she did not leave Pakistan by her will, but only because fighting for civil rights has become impossible in their homeland. In the Baluchistan province, minorities are carrying a long-standing independence revolt. Baloch was one of the most prominent personalities of this fight. She was the first woman to hold the position of president of the local student organization. The authorities dissolved this group in 2013. Her first public appearance dates back to 2005, when she participated in a protest demonstration on missing persons in her province, where the regime kidnapped thousands of activists, resulting disappeared. At the beginning of this year, another exiled activist, this time in Sweden, the journalist Sajid Hussain Baloch, was found dead after a few days missing. The police did not discover anything strange in his death, related to Karima Baloch, and had ended up recognizing the causes of death by drowning. In the RSF ranking of freedom of press and expression, Pakistan ranks 145 out of 180 in the world. The situation has deteriorated since former cricket champion Imran Khan took office. Few countries are experiencing a climate of intimidation and terror as in Pakistan in recent months. Journalists and reporters denounce killings, kidnappings, enforced disappearances, and torture by the authorities and security forces. https://www.theworkersrights.com/another-pakistani-activist-found-dead-in-toronto/

https://medium.com/@theworkersright/another-pakistani-activist-found-dead-in-toronto-c6082046f2cf

['The Workers Rights']

2020-12-23 13:34:14.200000+00:00

['Toronto', 'Canada', 'Pakistani Activist', 'Karima Baloch']

State of the Map Asia 2019: My First International Conference

I had been following SotM since 2017. Being involved in OSM through the medium of YouthMappers and Kathmandu Living Labs(KLL), I was extremely interested to attend the 2019 conference as soon as I heard about it. The conference being held at Bangladesh was another attraction. I had heard a lot about the dazzling streets, yummy food and amazing people of Bangladesh yet had not got the chance to witness it myself. The journey of SotM started luckily with being awarded a scholarship covering all my expenses. Excitedly, I researched more about Bangladesh to aid my 5-days stay of learning and experiencing. I, along with my three colleagues from Kathmandu Living Labs traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh on the 31st of October. I was excited and looking forward to meeting people from all over the world working on OpenStreetMap (OSM) and its vicinity. I met my fellow scholars from India and Japan in the hotel where I had this opportunity to learn about them and status of OSM mapping in their respective countries. On the first day, I was enormously excited to see many renowned experts working on the OSM domain. The conference started with the opening ceremony and welcome speech from the organizers followed by keynote speech from David Garcia . Also talks from Dr. Nama Raj Budhathoki and Taichi Furuhashi were interesting. The ambience of the hall was energized with all the mapping enthusiasts . Photo Source: SotM Asia 2019 Organizers There were many interesting sessions over the course of the two days. I had two presentations where I talked about my YouthMappers chapter Geomatics Engineering Students’ Association of Nepal (GESAN) and my Digital Internship and Leadership Program (DIAL) experience. I also got an opportunity to share panel with fellow mappers from Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines and Indonesia where we talked about our chapters, its activities, experiences with mapping, etc. This conference was ample opportunity for me to expand my network with people from other countries and learn from them. The whole conference was quite an experience as it helped me to broaden my perspective on OSM . I was really inspired by young people who were an integral part of the organizing team. Youthmappers Panel Discussion ( Source: SotM Asia 2019 organizers) Bangladesh and SoTM Asia 2019 was a complete new experience for me. I found the people of Bangladesh very humble and hospitable. I met some amazing youngsters like Sawan Shariar, Shaikh Solaimon and others who have become my good friends after the conference. Last but not the least, I would like to extend my congratulations to the organizers for organizing such a great event. See you again, Bangladesh!!!!

https://medium.com/@rabenojha/state-of-the-map-asia-2019-my-first-international-conference-8cf2063b56d4

['Rabin Ojha']

2021-01-07 11:11:02.510000+00:00

['Openstreetmap', 'Bangladesh', 'Dhaka', 'Maps', 'Nepal']

Normalizing ties: An absurd phrase

‘Normalizing ties’ is an absurd phrase of today’s global politics. Sovereignty, self-determination, and recognition are some of the most absurd terms when one considers the realities of world politics. And now ‘normalizing ties’ joins the row. It is quite clear that the qualification of statehood is, “a fixed territory, population, a government, and sovereignty”. But it is obvious that sovereignty or in other words ‘self-determination’ does not have any fixed definition in today’s global politics. For instance, the United States of America has dominating influence over world politics, IMF and the World Bank, almost hijacking the United Nations Organization, and she does not care about the self-determination or sovereignty of any state when it comes to defending her interests. ‘Invasion of Baghdad’ is an elephant-like mighty and huge example in this regard as George W. Bush Jr. did not care about the UN or the international community before hampering the sovereignty of Iraq. US, its allies, and its mighty foes often damage the self-determination of the states in the Middle East and the world whenever they feel a challenge to their interests, making the term ‘sovereignty’ or ‘self-determination’ absurd. Another example in this regard is the assassination of the commander of the Iranian elite Quds Force Major General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, which was confirmed by the current president of the United States Donald J. Trump that he had ordered Soleimani’s execution. Iran in response fired eighty missiles on American brigades in the same city of Iraq, Baghdad. Which calls the attention of the international community particularly the scholars to clarify whether Iraq is a sovereign and independent nation or not. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. ‘Recognition’ ranks second in my list of absurd terms as it is merely a coin used for bridging diplomatic ties between the states and nothing much more than that. For example, many states in the Muslim World, particularly in the Middle East do not recognize Israel but they do have cordial terms under curtain with the only Jewish State on the globe. Their citizens visit one another’s states via indirect flights, many Israelis have businesses in Muslim, specifically in the Arab states under proper government shelter and the governments also enjoy secret support for one another. For instance, Ayatollah Khomeini, the founding father of the Islamic Republic of Iran, including many other elite politicians of Tehran, had often termed America ‘Great Satan’ and Israel ‘Little Satan’. Whereas it is not negligible that the ‘Islamic Republic’ contacted the ‘Little Satan’ to ask the ‘Great Satan’ for weapons, known as ‘Iran Contra Scandal’, as the Iran-Iraq war (1980–88) was still on. Morocco is also in the list as she enjoys secretive terms with Israel, but has not recognized it yet. Besides, many states have not recognized Israel as a state yet but that has not changed her status as a state on practical grounds. The American president, Donald J. Trump has recently recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel giving an obvious signal that mighty states do not care about international law and international organizations, making the term ‘recognition’ even more complex than before. Also, he recognized Western Sahara as Moroccan territory and nobody can do anything to reverse the recognition but to question it verbally and remind the world that the peak of the civilization holds no more credibility to be the flag bearer of the ‘New World Order’ that she promised to the world in the early 1990s, Francis Fukuyama claiming it to be ‘The End of The History’. ‘Normalizing ties’ ranks third in the list now. As, Morocco joins UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan in normalizing ties with the only Jewish state in the world. Definitely, from the surface it seems that Rabat and Tel Aviv will have diplomatic relations now, they will trade mutually and also support each other on political grounds where required2. But wait a minute, then what is so absurd about the term, ‘normalizing ties’? The answer is not very straight. Ronen Bergman may answer this question well. He wrote in ‘The New York Times’ on 10th of December, “Behind the announcement Thursday that Israel and Morocco will establish their first formal diplomatic ties, there lies almost six decades of close, secret cooperation on intelligence and military matters between two nations that officially did not acknowledge each other.” Let’s count the blessings that both the states have showered on each other for decades. Then ponder with deeper concerns whether ‘normalizing ties’ has a definite definition or it has zig-zag meanings like the terms mentioned before; · Some one million Israelis are from Morocco. As, a great number of Jews were living in Morocco before the birth of the Jewish State in 1948. Many of those Jews migrated to Israel secretly and many with the help and consent of the Moroccan state and authorities. · Israel provided weapons and trained Moroccans in using them; it supplied surveillance technology and helped organize the Moroccan intelligence service; and the two shared information gathered by their spies — the start of decades of such cooperation. · Another crucial moment came in 1965 when Arab pioneers and military leaders met in Casablanca, and Morocco permitted Mossad (Israeli intelligence agency) to bug their gathering rooms and private suites. The snooping gave Israel an exceptional understanding of Arab thinking, abilities, and plans, which ended up being essential to Mossad and the Israel Defense Forces in planning for the 1967 war, a nail in the coffin of the Palestinian cause. · Mr. Ben Barka, the opposition leader of Morocco was abducted by the Moroccans and allied Frenchmen in Paris, who was then tortured to death (in 1965). His dead body was disposed of by Mossad agents, which was never found. · In the mid-1970s Morocco became the site of secret meetings between the former rivals Egypt and Israel. Meetings between the Egyptian and Israeli officials paved the way for the Camp David Accords of 1978. · Later on, Tel Aviv persuaded the United States to provide military assistance to Morocco. · In 1995, Moroccan intelligence became a part of a Mossad plan of recruiting Osama bin Laden’s secretary, to find and kill Bin Laden. · King Muhammad VI has sought Israel’s help in winning American acquiescence to Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara. Though the current American president has called it a ‘historic breakthrough’ as, consequently Rabat is to be included in the Abraham Accords, but that’s not all to understand the ground realities. Let’s take a pause from the topic of the article and understand the Western Sahara Conflict. The Western Sahara conflict is an ongoing conflict between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco. The conflict originated from an insurgency by the Polisario Front against Spanish colonial forces from 1973 to 1975 and the subsequent Western Sahara War against Morocco between 1975 and 1991. Today the conflict is dominated by unarmed civil campaigns of the Polisario Front and their self-proclaimed SADR state to gain fully recognized independence for Western Sahara. “This will not change an inch of the reality of the conflict and the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination,” the Polisario’s Europe representative Oubi Bchraya said earlier on Thursday. “The Polisario will continue its struggle.” Senator Jim Inhofe, a member of Trump’s Republican Party, said the decision was “shocking and deeply disappointing.” The peak of the civilization holds no more credibility to be the flag bearer of the ‘New World Order’ that she promised to the world in the early 1990s, Francis Fukuyama claiming it to be ‘The End of The History’. According to an analyst, America has to favor more liberal ideas than favoring Israel to give a clear message that it is not Israel who controls the White House or America. But this seems a far cry. Because things are not working this way. Donald Trump and his senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner seem more pro-Israel than pro-liberal ideas or liberalism. To conclude, from the mentioned points it is crystal clear that Israel and Morocco already have very good relations, and the latest normalizing agreement is nothing more than a formality. Whereas the term ‘officially’ gives an additional covering to the phrase. But where stands law, what does ‘sovereignty’ mean and what can one understand from the term, ‘normalizing ties’, is absurd. One can easily reach to the conclusion through arguments presented in the article that Rabat and Tel Aviv are enjoying cordial and supernormal ties for a very long time. Then what does ‘normalizing ties’ mean which was called by the Trump administration on Thursday, 10th December 2020, that is beyond common sense. Note: Pictures’ courtesy does not belong to the writer.

https://medium.com/@asadullahraisani/normalizing-ties-an-absurd-phrase-a441e3e4db2f

['Asadullah Raisani']

2020-12-16 15:22:54.928000+00:00

['Morocco', 'USA', 'Israel', 'Middle East', 'Normalizing']

I really like the single lane race analogy.

I really like the single lane race analogy. I’ve allowed the success of the less deserving affect my strategy. I knew what to do but my god there’s so much shit being flung by flukes that had one piece of shit stick that are now selling classes for 600 bucks a pop that I started second guessing myself. Stick to my plan. I know it works! Fuck these shit flingers! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ Thanks! I needed that.

https://medium.com/@hogantorah/i-really-like-the-single-lane-race-analogy-9b4bfd797c33

['Hogan Torah']

2020-12-11 15:46:49.322000+00:00

['Psychedelics', 'Financial Planning', 'Strategy', 'NBA', 'Self']

San Jose and San Francisco made it into the Top 25 of the world’s best 100 cities for 2020 as…

San Jose and San Francisco made it into the Top 25 of the world’s best 100 cities for 2020 as determined by a tourism, real estate and economic development advisory group, Resonance Consultancy. The company uses specially developed programs that rank cities based on dozens of characteristics and qualities, taking into account things that would appeal to visitors as well as locals. Resonance says it takes a more “holistic approach” in the rankings, using a wide range of factors that include a city’s ability to attract employment, investment and visitors. It also takes into account culinary experiences, museums, sights, landmarks, the number of Global 500 corporations, direct flight connections, the education levels of residents, and mentions each city has on Instagram. Topping the list of best cities were London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, Dubai, Singapore, Barcelona, Los Angeles and Rome. Of San Jose, Resonance said “Talent, smarts and money are a potent mix that’s given San Jose — the largest city in Northern California in terms of area and population — a No. 3 ranking for per capita GDP in the world, behind only Abu Dhabi and Doha.” The city scored high in the Resonance rankings for number of people with at least a post-secondary education, and ranked No. 2 in quality of universities with Stanford leading the list. Google, Facebook, Cisco Systems, eBay and PayPal made San Jose No. 15 for Global Fortune 500 headquarters and No. 11 for foreign-born population, up from 14th last year. “While immigration is ever more contentious elsewhere,” researchers noted, “the city continues to draw some of the best and brightest tech talent and entrepreneurs on the planet.” San Francisco was lauded for embracing seekers since the Gold Rush days, when people from all over the world showed up in the city looking for their chance at the California dream. “Along the way,” the report notes, “these immigrants have sowed the seeds for the city’s open-minded attitude toward, well, everything. The result is a city that doesn’t just welcome differences, but encourages and celebrates them. No wonder it ranks No. 8 in our People category, including No. 6 for residents with at least a post secondary education.

https://medium.com/@sksarfarazahmed6/san-jose-and-san-francisco-made-it-into-the-top-25-of-the-worlds-best-100-cities-for-2020-as-2fb66670196d

['Sksarfaraz Khan']

2020-11-25 13:02:37.452000+00:00

['San Francisco', 'Is A Place', 'Dreams Can Be Fulfilled', 'Where Your']

Why iPhone Is One of the World’s Greatest Inventions?

iPhone Has One Of The Most Powerful Processors Used By Everyone Since the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007, there has been a significant increase in the number of phones per person, as well as the time spent on the internet. By 2004, there were 57 computers and 52 Internet users per 100 people in developing countries. Currently, the number of phones per person in developing countries is almost 100%. Some developing countries like China exceeded 100%. In fact, the thing that changed iPhone the most is the time people spent on the internet. As you can see in the chart below, about a year after Apple introduced the first iPhone, the average American’s daily internet time was less than 3 hours in 2008, while this number increased to 6 hours in 2018. The most important part this is that as the years progress, the time spent on mobile devices increases much more than other devices. As of October 2020, more than 4 billion people are mobile social media users. I think, these are really big numbers. Until ten years ago, nobody had a device that could access the Internet, take photos and videos as well as a DSLR camera, and handle trillions of transactions per second. Probably that is why iPhone is the biggest indicator of the current “information society”. Despite Its High Price, iPhone is The Only Product That Has Been Sold Billions of Times How many things can you say as sold as iPhone? Toothbrush, wallet, pants, … All the products you can think of are much cheaper than iPhones. In fact, all of them will have a much smaller profit margin than the iPhone. Apple has sold more than 2.2 billion iPhones so far. Even this is enough to make the iPhone the world’s successful product. In addition, iPhone is the device that enabled a strong market such as the App Store. Now App Store has a value of close to $200 billion. iPhone is The Most Personalized Device I think, iPhone is the most user-friendly and personalized device in the world. This is my first reason that I love iPhone. No matter what kind of disability a person has, it can still use an iPhone. Because iPhone is a device designed for everyone. Until now, there has never been another device that can be personalized enough for everyone to use. Think about it. How many products are as personalized as iPhone? Radio, TV, eReader, chair, … In fact, most of the third-party apps you use on your iPhone are designed well enough for people with disabilities to use because Apple has forced third-party app developers to do so. As a indie iOS developer, I can say that.

https://medium.com/notes-of-our-thoughts/why-iphone-is-one-of-the-worlds-greatest-inventions-c7888e396dfb

['Can Balkaya']

2020-12-30 14:03:21.199000+00:00

['Technology', 'Apple', 'Tech', 'Product', 'iPhone']

Self-portrait as a Southern Baptist prayer altar

Self-portrait as a Southern Baptist prayer altar A poem about religion Original art, by the author I. I’m plain wood, nothing ornate, these planks could have come from apple carts, these nails from your father’s tool box, left from that summer he planned to restore the deck, but didn’t get around to it. I’m a place for tears to splash, collecting in pools with snot and rabid prayer slobber on my glossy brown paint, left from children or grown fools, desperate to stay out of Hell, their clasped hands now knotted ropes tied to an anchor of nothingness. I’m there, like a well without water that begs the dehydrated to drink. I’ll convince you that the voice in your head is the voice of God, that intuition or fear is a spirit that moves across your heart like an undulating beam from a lighthouse. Come to me. Can’t you feel the flames licking the soles of your feet? Can’t you feel the burden of accountability engulfing your ribcage tabernacle like a star destined for collapse? Place that weight on these slender boards, this meager skeleton has held lifetimes, is the acorn continually nourished into not becoming a tree, while the clouds feel reborn after rain. II. My grandfather never needed me. He found God on the dirt floor of a barn, pushed to his knees by the voices of the boll weevils, the chants of the pill bugs, the mutterings of the pigeons and the doves in the loft, where the light filled with dust and the sounds of their wings beating their bodies was like a congregation of angels trapped on Earth, where the sun was small enough to be obscured by a thumb. How many times I heard him ask forgiveness, his hands trembling like they did when I would watch him bait a hook, how they must have trembled when lifted from the dirty ground of that barn, his voice a piece of foil shaking like a leaf on a winter limb, rocking on his feet as if he could fall, but finding endless reserves of strength. This man, whom I had seen sacrifice his best years to the thrum of wheels on pitted highways, who wore plain leather work shoes every day except Sunday, whom I had seen sweat his shirt through mowing that ridiculous yard, tilling the garden, who put his hat on my head and offered me chewing tobacco with a grin, this man begged the forgiveness of his church, of his family, said he had failed them, had failed in the sight of the Lord. III. I’ve lived in this house since before you were born. Before the mortar was dry between the bricks, I’ve sat here listening for the voice of the Lord. The carpet beneath my feet has settled into permanence. I’ve heard spiders walking in the corners of the pews. I’ve listened to the leaves wrestling the gusty ghost of a storm. The wasps in the windows pluck at the metal screen like a harp. It’s music, but it is not the voice of the Lord. Birds and squirrels jump from the gutters, scamper across the roof. I’ve heard the little pads of lizard feet tickling the cracks of the foundation. On Sunday, the children laugh outside, and they cry inside, hushed by motherly scorn. There’s singing. Always singing. Someone blows a note on a pitch pipe. The songs bring chills, Amazing Grace, but they are not the voice of the Lord. The minister reads from his book, I can hear him thumb through the pages, the papery whisk of page upon page. He shouts down from the pulpit, lets his spittle fly, slaps his palm on the cover of his Bible, stomps his feet like Elvis with a tome instead of a microphone, the audience shifts and squeaks in their hard wooden seats. But they do not hear the voice of the Lord. There are prayers and Amens. A weeping confession or two. Someone blows a note through their nose. Footsteps shuffle as the collection plate is passed, I hear the change rattle loosely in the brass-plated tin, the crisp friction as the bills unfold, and then another song, more footsteps, and the door is closed. Where was the voice of the Lord? I’ve heard the rain blown like pebbles against the glass, the thunder crashing like a sky torn apart. I’ve heard the quiet sifting of snow through the branches, the creak of cold wood, thumps of accumulation dropping from the eaves. I’ve heard the breeze whistling through a keyhole. I’ve heard the loneliest starling crying from her empty nest. I’ve heard a husband kiss his bride for the first time and the last, heard a mother weep for the loss of her first born. But I still have yet to hear the voice of the Lord. IV. Every living thing is reincarnated as an inanimate object. I never thought I’d see myself as something other than a hollow amplifier for whimpering, a dark respite for faces hidden in cradled arms. Yet, here I am, swelling in the sun, watching some children play, kicking their feet into the sky. Here I am, a place for lovers to hold hands, to rest in the hypnotic wake of sunlight’s ripples on the water. There’s a man here every Tuesday. He brings a book of poetry. When he reads out loud, to himself, I think I’ve found the voice inside myself, the voice I lost to the listening, that part of the multitudes’ humming one perfect note beneath the surface. ___________________________________________________________________ First appeared in Snapping Twig.

https://jaysizemore.medium.com/self-portrait-as-a-southern-baptist-prayer-altar-137388f1dea7

['Jay Sizemore']

2020-05-30 00:16:13.144000+00:00

['Christianity', 'Poetry', 'Baptists', 'Indoctrination', 'Religion']

Welcome to Gun Country

I’m an engagement journalist working on the issue of gun violence. What I’ve learned may help other reporters and advocates. By John Philp December 13, 2020 *** Vertina Brown’s only child Tiarah was shot dead at the age of 22, according to Vertina, “just for saying no to advances for a dance”. It was early on September 5, 2016 during J’Ouvert, a boisterous annual street party and parade that celebrates Caribbean culture. Tiarah was walking with friends along the parade route near Prospect Park in Brooklyn when a young man began grinding against her. When Tiarah rebuffed his advances, he shot her in the face. Tiarah’s last reported words were “get off me”. Vertina Brown holds a photo of her daughter Tiarah Poyau, who was shot dead during a festival in Brooklyn in 2016. Vertina is one of hundreds of thousands of people across the United States whose lives have been upended by gun violence. Even four years after her daughter’s death, guns are still a constant, unsettling presence in Vertina’s life. Since the pandemic began, she said she hears gunshots almost every night in her neighborhood of Canarsie. And it’s left her on edge. “This is a crazy world we live in right now. Anything can happen,” Vertina said. More than 100 Americans die every day from guns. Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens. The United States has a homicide rate 25 times that of other high-income countries, with women and minorities making up a disproportionate amount of deaths. An Engagement Journalism Approach to Gun Violence Reporting I’m an engagement journalist, meaning I combine the skills of traditional reporting with the power of community engagement, in order to serve the people I’m writing about. My goal is to serve the gun safety community, made up of survivors, their families and other advocates who are working to reduce America’s gun deaths. Gun control activists attend a rally at the Florida State Capitol building on February 21, 2018 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) To do that I created Gun Country, an ongoing, multi-format online project that tries to reboot the conversation about guns in America. Gun Country weaves together news, storytelling, dialog and advocacy, to explore the hold guns have on us, and to amplify efforts to reduce gun violence. Gun Country grew out of what I felt was a storytelling gap. We talk a lot about guns, but we never get close to resolving many of the biggest issues, such as who should or shouldn’t have a gun, and how should gun ownership be regulated? This storytelling gap is partly the result of a larger cultural divide. Americans’ attitudes toward guns often stand in for the way we feel about a range of other issues, from our ethical obligations to one another to our country’s standing in the world. These attitudes fall along starkly predictable lines. Whether or not someone owns a gun has become the most powerful predictor of a person’s political affiliations, more than gender, sexual identity, race or geography. The gun debate too often ends up in tribal bickering or political grandstanding. That might be an advantage if you sell guns for a living; sales typically spike when people are at each other’s throats. Some outlets offer excellent reporting about guns, The Trace being the most high-profile. But the majority of people are relying instead on the mainstream media, where coverage of guns is often cursory and superficial. “They get a lot of the information wrong,” said Shenee Johnson, whose 17-year-old son Kedrick Morrow was shot and killed in 2010. “When I’m sitting right there with them. I’m telling them exactly what happened, you know?” Shenee Johnson, with a photo of her son, Kedrick Morrow, who was killed in 2010. (Heather Walsh for The New York Times.) Inadequate reporting adds to the general apathy around gun violence. Despite its numbing toll, gun violence is still not perceived as a major issue by most Americans. I saw an opportunity here, to build a project that could reboot the gun debate for the widest possible audience. Using engagement journalism techniques, I’ve tried to build a bridge between my immediate community and a wider audience. The eventual goal is a one-stop shop that appeals as much to gun owners, advocates and pro-gun legislators as it does to members of the gun safety movement. A far-right protestor faces off with a leftist counter-protester in the city of Stone Mountain, GA on August 15, 2020. (Photo: Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) That means looking for common ground. And it exists. For too long the gun lobby, with the support of the firearms industry, has defined the gun debate in divisive, apocalyptic terms. But gun owners are far from monolithic. Many of them reject the gun lobby’s harsh rhetoric, and agree with non-gun owners on a wide range of safety initiatives, such as red flag laws, background checks and gun licensing. Gun Country provides what has so far been missing; a well-informed experience that takes in all perspectives, across a range of formats, and promotes dialog between people that don’t typically engage one another. It was built for the gun safety community, but aimed at a much wider constituency. After all, if we are to stem the bleeding in America, we need everyone at the table. As Vertina Brown put it, “everyone deserves for their opinion to be heard.” If I Build It, Will They Come? Before I began building a new information ecosystem, I had to ensure it was something my community felt had value. For the engagement journalist a project may not be worth pursuing if it doesn’t meet a community’s need. After sending out a series of surveys, texts and social media blasts, I became convinced my community was looking for something new. I did feel confident I was the right person to spearhead a new look at gun violence. I’ve been deeply invested in this issue since the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012. My children were around the same ages as the 20 young kids that were killed that day. The revulsion we felt pushed my whole family into advocacy. I joined the gun safety group Moms Demand Action, founded a Dads Chapter, and ran it for four years. The author as an advocate. HIs children have joined him in advocacy. (Courtesy John Philp.) I’d also grown up in Australia, a country that had successfully bent the curve on gun violence, through smart laws that were adopted after almost two decades of devastating gun crimes. I knew America didn’t have to suffer like this. A Moving Target. So, I was the right guy, with the right idea; to build some useful, newsy thing about guns. But it took a while to decide what that would be. My initial plan was to make a podcast. I’d been developing Half-Cocked, a dark comedy series about a self-assured gun lobbyist whose relationship with a Congresswoman whose son has been shot dead threatens to topple the entire gun industry. Half-Cocked employs an unusual hybrid structure. Running parallel to the fictional story is factual commentary from real players in the gun debate, such as journalists, students and gun owners. The fiction strand brings together the unlikeliest couple, from the farthest ends of the ideological spectrum, to dramatize complex ideas and emotions. The factual strand gives the story a visceral, experiential edge. It melds the gravitas of documentary with the savagery of satire. Producing a blue-chip podcast in a pandemic, alone, would be difficult, and perhaps not even wise. Instead, I made a trailer that lives on the Gun Country site, and that I used to elicit feedback, which helped refine the podcast. I created another survey and sent it out via email, text and Facebook to a subset of people who’d responded to my first survey. Follow-up surveys have another advantage; they reconnect me with the most engaged members of my community, leading to deeper trust and more meaningful interactions. I knew the hybrid approach was risky, and I got some pushback from users and fellow journalists. But of the 14 community members who took the survey, the responses have been almost uniformly positive, and indicate my audience is receptive to new storytelling ideas. But by then I’d already decided I wanted to provide new and different content. I’d begun thinking about a full-service website that could encompass the podcast and much more. This expanding scope was fueled by skills I was learning in my classes at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and informed by feedback from my community. I had learned how to create a Voice Record feature for websites, so I added that to my site. Now users can leave me a voice message, which may even be used in subsequent episodes of the podcast. I also learned how to embed a News Aggregation feature, and added that as well. In the near future I’ll be building a bot that gives users actionable data they can use to shame, prod or support their elected officials. Making an Impact. I know from personal interaction with my users that the site has had a meaningful impact. Gun Country is giving people a voice, and allowing them to discuss an issue or aspect of the gun debate they care deeply about. Vertina Brown and her late daughter, Tiarah Poyau. Vertina Brown’s daughter Tiarah Poyau was shot to death in 2016 at the J’Ouvert festival in Brooklyn. Four years after her daughter’s death, Vertina told me she struggles to keep her daughter’s story in the public eye. “To truly, really get everything out there, something else has to be done. So I’m really glad that you’re doing this,” she told me. I’m proud of the fact I now often get suggestions from users asking for specific services or content. One user wants me to provide gun violence statistics that update automatically on the site. I had already considered building a bot to do this, but this interaction confirms it would have an impact. The site also features a video gallery, and I get a number of suggestions asking for tailored video content on specific or little-known aspects of the gun debate. This back and forth gives a sense of how my project has evolved from a simple podcast episode into a multi-format hub for the gun debate in America. “Thank you for all your work/help in creating ways to inform communities of the dangers of gun violence.” — Vertina Brown, mother of shooting victim Tiarah Poyau A Hopefully Handy Guide for Others. I came to the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY because I wanted a Masters in Engagement Journalism, a degree built on in-demand skills such as impact reporting, audience engagement, social news gathering, design thinking and analytics, among others. (CUNY faculty have proposed to change the program’s name from “Social Journalism” to “Engagement Journalism”, but that change is not yet reflected on the website.) Engagement journalism was the perfect way to bring together two clear but divergent strands that had developed in my life, my relatively straightforward journalistic career, and my advocacy for gun violence prevention. I believe Gun Country provides my community with solid, well-reported material that is of real use to them. But it’s also a personally satisfying project for me, a cohesion of mission and messenger. Photo-illustration by TIME. This journey has taught me an enormous amount, and I want to share just a little of what I’ve learned. Not because I have any special talent or insight, but because I’ve been there. And explaining what I now know could make someone else’s journey easier. So here goes. You probably know more than you think you do . And you can fake the rest, so just get on with it! I was hesitant about much of this process. Would the podcast interest anyone? Did I have the technical chops? Did I have enough perspective? In reality, my community is grateful for any service I can offer, and more than willing to help me to make it better. . And you can fake the rest, so just get on with it! I was hesitant about much of this process. Would the podcast interest anyone? Did I have the technical chops? Did I have enough perspective? In reality, my community is grateful for any service I can offer, and more than willing to help me to make it better. Expect pushback. Especially if you’re contemplating balancing fact and fiction, know that some journalists and audience members aren’t thrilled by that idea. Be prepared to defend your choices. Practice how to explain why this is the right format for the work you are proposing. Especially if you’re contemplating balancing fact and fiction, know that some journalists and audience members aren’t thrilled by that idea. Be prepared to defend your choices. Practice how to explain why this is the right format for the work you are proposing. Resist Impostor Syndrome . If you’re unsure you’re the right person to tell a community’s story, ask the opposite question; why not me? Who better to tell this story, this way, at this time? The answer is, there is no-one better! . If you’re unsure you’re the right person to tell a community’s story, ask the opposite question; why not me? Who better to tell this story, this way, at this time? The answer is, there is no-one better! Covid-19 makes everything harder. This one might seem obvious, but if the pandemic continues, make sure you have as many ways to connect with your community at a distance as possible. In my case, that meant attending gun-related zooms, and continuing to do advocacy work. This one might seem obvious, but if the pandemic continues, make sure you have as many ways to connect with your community at a distance as possible. In my case, that meant attending gun-related zooms, and continuing to do advocacy work. Leave lots of breadcrumbs. With an ongoing project, try to have material you can put out consistently, as audiences tend to go cold quickly. In my case, I built a news feature that regularly sends out curated material. For fictionalized or hybrid material, consider doing a piece, then showing your audience, then doing the next piece. With an ongoing project, try to have material you can put out consistently, as audiences tend to go cold quickly. In my case, I built a news feature that regularly sends out curated material. For fictionalized or hybrid material, consider doing a piece, then showing your audience, then doing the next piece. Getting buy-in takes time. Even amongst a community that trusts you, honest feedback comes slowly. Just because you’re offering a service, don’t assume you’ll always get people’s attention, especially during a pandemic. Even amongst a community that trusts you, honest feedback comes slowly. Just because you’re offering a service, don’t assume you’ll always get people’s attention, especially during a pandemic. Get the language right. The language around complex issues such as guns, abortion and immigration tends to be very nuanced and coded. For instance, many gun owners speak about owning a gun for “security”, rather than “self-defense”. The difference is meaningful. The language around complex issues such as guns, abortion and immigration tends to be very nuanced and coded. For instance, many gun owners speak about owning a gun for “security”, rather than “self-defense”. The difference is meaningful. Show up. Many people in afflicted communities have been burned by journalists before, so they value face-to-face interaction, in order to know who they’re dealing with. Try to make the time for all those Zooms! I hope these tips are helpful. In the meantime, please visit the Gun Country site. I look forward to having you be a part of this important conversation.

https://medium.com/@john-philp-77114/welcome-to-gun-country-ec6a881bdf35

['John Philp']

2020-12-15 20:30:22.136000+00:00

['Engagement', 'Gun Violence', 'Gun Country', 'Guns']

5 Tips to Help Adults Dealing with the Death of a Sibling

Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash For many adults, the death of a sibling equates to losing a best friend, confidante, voice of reason, advisor, peacemaker, and encourager with whom many fond memories are shared. As a matter of fact, adults who have lost siblings are sometimes referred to as “the forgotten mourners” because in many cases little support is given to them. This is not necessarily on purpose. When siblings die, their parents, spouses, children, and grandchildren are usually the first people to be offered words of comfort and condolences. Yet grieving the loss of a sibling has at times been compared to having the same impact of losing a parent. Although I have not lost a sibling, I have known, comforted, and offered condolences to enough people who have lost a sibling. During these times, I witnessed just how painful losing a sibling is to many people. If you are mourning the loss of a sibling, here are some suggestions to help you get through the grieving process: Remember, you are hurting too, so do not diminish the pain you are feeling about losing your sibling. Always communicate with your family members about how you are struggling. Your feelings matter. Seek help from others outside of your family to process your thoughts and feelings i.e. grief support group, therapist, clergy member, or trusted friends. Truthfully, your family members may be entirely too overwhelmed with their own grief to offer any support for you. Journal about how you feel about losing your sibling. Writing can be therapeutic. Writing down your thoughts can help release some of the pain you are feeling at the time. Create a nice memory book with pictures of you and your sibling and under each picture write a caption of why the picture makes you smile. Let go of the guilt you might have about something mean you said to your sibling or regrets you have about not spending enough time with him or her. In other words, it’s important to let go of any “unfinished business.” According to H. Norman Wright in Experiencing Grief, “Whatever is unfinished can be a barrier to moving along the path to healing.” On the other hand, if your siblings are still living and you have unfinished business with them, remember that life is always presenting us with opportunities for new beginnings. So, why not, reach out today. Lastly, always remember to be patient with yourself as you go through the grieving process. After all, healing takes time…

https://medium.com/@carlajcurtis/5-tips-to-help-adults-dealing-with-the-death-of-a-sibling-f7ef3915a8da

['Carla J. Curtis']

2020-12-24 03:50:00.529000+00:00

['Grief And Loss', 'Loss', 'Forgotten', 'Healing From Grief', 'Grief']

Netflix Drive

There are workflows in which these artists may want to view a subset of these assets from this large dataset, for example, pertaining to a specific project. These artists may want to create personal workspaces and work on generating intermediate assets. To support such use cases, access control at the user workspace and project workspace granularity is extremely important for presenting a globally consistent view of pertinent data to these artists. Netflix Drive aims to solve this problem of exposing different namespaces and attaching appropriate access control to help build a scalable, performant, globally distributed platform for storing and retrieving pertinent assets. Netflix Drive is envisioned to be a Cloud Drive for Studio and Media applications and lends itself to be a generic paved path solution for all content in Netflix. It exposes a file/folder interface for applications to save their data and an API interface for control operations. Netflix Drive relies on a data store that will be the persistent storage layer for assets, and a metadata store which will provide a relevant mapping from the file system hierarchy to the data store entities. The major pieces, as shown in Fig. 2, are the file system interface, the API interface, and the metadata and data stores. We will delve into these in the following sections. Fig 2: Netflix Drive components File interface for Netflix Drive Creative applications such as Nuke, Maya, Adobe Photoshop store and retrieve content using files and folders. Netflix Drive relies on FUSE (File System In User Space) to provide POSIX files and folders interface to such applications. A FUSE based POSIX interface provides feature customization elasticity, deployment configuration flexibility as well as a standard and seamless file/folder interface. A similar user space abstraction is available for Windows (WinFSP) and MacOS (MacFUSE) The operations that originate from user, application and system actions on files and folders translate to a well defined set of function and system calls which are forwarded by the Linux Virtual File System Layer (or a pass-through/filter driver in Windows) to the FUSE layer in user space. The resulting metadata and data operations will be implemented by appropriate metadata and data adapters in Netflix Drive. Fig 3: POSIX interface of Netflix Drive The POSIX files and folders interface for Netflix Drive is designed as a layered system with the FUSE implementation hooks forming the top layer. This layer will provide entry points for all of the relevant VFS calls that will be implemented. Netflix Drive contains an abstraction layer below FUSE which allows different metadata and data stores to be plugged into the architecture by having their corresponding adapters implement the interface. We will discuss more about the layered architecture in the section below. API Interface for Netflix Drive Along with exposing a file interface which will be a hub of all abstractions, Netflix Drive also exposes API and Polled Task interfaces to allow applications and workflow tools to trigger control operations in Netflix Drive. For example, applications can explicitly use REST endpoints to publish files stored in Netflix Drive to cloud, and later use a REST endpoint to retrieve a subset of the published files from cloud. The API interface can also be used to track the transfers of large files and allows other applications to be built on top of Netflix Drive. Fig 4: Control interface of Netflix Drive The Polled Task interface allows studio and media workflow orchestrators to post or dispatch tasks to Netflix Drive instances on disparate workstations or containers. This allows Netflix Drive to be bootstrapped with an empty namespace when the workstation comes up and dynamically project a specific set of assets relevant to the artists’ work sessions or workflow stages. Further these assets can be projected into a namespace of the artist’s or application’s choosing. Alternatively, workstations/containers can be launched with the assets of interest prefetched at startup. These allow artists and applications to obtain a workstation which already contains relevant files and optionally add and delete asset trees during the work session. For example, artists perform transformative work on files, and use Netflix Drive to store/fetch intermediate results as well as the final copy which can be transformed back into a media asset. Bootstrapping Netflix Drive Given the two different modes in which applications can interact with Netflix Drive, now let us discuss how Netflix Drive is bootstrapped. On startup, Netflix Drive expects a manifest that contains information about the data store, metadata store, and credentials (tied to a user login) to form an instance of namespace hierarchy. A Netflix Drive mount point may contain multiple Netflix Drive namespaces. A dynamic instance allows Netflix Drive to show a user-selected and user-accessible subset of data from a large corpus of assets. A user instance allows it to act like a Cloud Drive, where users can work on content which is automatically synced in the background periodically to Cloud. On restart on a new machine, the same files and folders will be prefetched from the cloud. We will cover the different namespaces of Netflix Drive in more detail in a subsequent blog post. Here is an example of a typical bootstrap manifest file. A sample manifest file. The manifest is a persistent artifact which renders a user workstation its Netflix Drive personality. It survives instance failures and is able to recreate the same stateful interface on any newly deployed instance. Metadata and Data Store Abstractions In order to allow a variety of different metadata stores and data stores to be easily plugged into the architecture, Netflix Drive exposes abstract interfaces for both metadata and data stores. Here is a high level diagram explaining the different layers of abstractions in Netflix Drive Fig 5: Layered architecture of Netflix Drive Metadata Store Characteristics Each file in Netflix Drive would have one or many corresponding metadata nodes, corresponding to different versions of the file. The file system hierarchy would be modeled as a tree in the metadata store where the root node is the top level folder for the application. Each metadata node will contain several attributes, such as checksum of the file, location of the data, user permissions to access data, file metadata such as size, modification time, etc. A metadata node may also provide support for extended attributes which can be used to model ACLs, symbolic links, or other expressive file system constructs. Metadata Store may also expose the concept of workspaces, where each user/application can have several workspaces, and can share workspaces with other users/applications. These are higher level constructs that are very useful to Studio applications. Data Store Characteristics Netflix Drive relies on a data store that allows streaming bytes into files/objects persisted on the storage media. The data store should expose APIs that allow Netflix Drive to perform I/O operations. The transfer mechanism for transport of bytes is a function of the data store. In the first manifestation, Netflix Drive is using an object store (such as Amazon S3) as a data store. In order to expose file store-like properties, there were some changes needed in the object store. Each file can be stored as one or more objects. For Studio applications, file sizes may exceed the maximum object size for Cloud Storage, and so, the data store service should have the ability to store multiple parts of a file as separate objects. It is the responsibility of the data store service to tie these objects to a single file and inform the metadata store of the single unique Id for these several object parts. This Data store internally implements the chunking of file into several parts, encrypting of the content, and life cycle management of the data. Multi-tiered architecture Netflix Drive allows multiple data stores to be a part of the same installation via its bootstrap manifest. Fig 6: Multiple data stores of Netflix Drive Some studio applications such as encoding and transcoding have different I/O characteristics than a typical cloud drive. Most of the data produced by these applications is ephemeral in nature, and is read often initially. The final encoded copy needs to be persisted and the ephemeral data can be deleted. To serve such applications, Netflix Drive can persist the ephemeral data in storage tiers which are closer to the application that allow lower read latencies and better economies for read request, since cloud storage reads incur an egress cost. Finally, once the encoded copy is prepared, this copy can be persisted by Netflix Drive to a persistent storage tier in the cloud. A single data store may also choose to archive some subset of content stored in cheaper alternatives. Security Studio applications require strict adherence to security models where only users or applications with specific permissions should be allowed to access specific assets. Security is one of the cornerstones of Netflix Drive design. Netflix Drive dynamic namespace design allows an artist or workflow to access only a small subset of the assets based on the workspace information and access control and is one of the benefits of using Netflix Drive in Studio workflows. Netflix Drive encapsulates the authentication and authorization models in its metadata store. These are translated into POSIX ACLs in Netflix Drive. In the future, Netflix Drive can allow more expressive ACLs by leveraging extended attributes associated with Metadata nodes corresponding to an asset. Netflix Drive is currently being used by several Studio teams as the paved path solution for working with assets and is integrated with several media suite applications. As of today, Netflix Drive can be installed on CentOS, MacOS and Windows. In the future blog posts, we will cover implementation details, learnings, performance analysis of Netflix Drive, and some of the applications and workflows built on top of Netflix Drive. If you are passionate about building Storage and Infrastructure solutions for Netflix Data Platform, we are always looking for talented engineers and managers. Please check out our job listings

https://netflixtechblog.com/netflix-drive-a607538c3055

['Netflix Technology Blog']

2021-05-05 17:14:10.253000+00:00

['Storage', 'Studio', 'Netflix', 'S3', 'Infrastructure']

“Rebel Talent” (book review)

In “Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life”, Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino doesn’t write about sabotaging your company or product. If you feel like being disobedient or contrarian just for the sake of it, then Gino’s book isn’t really going to add much value. If, however, you’re looking to challenge conventions or battle inertia to come up with new ideas and innovate, than you should definitely pick up “Rebel Talent”. In the book, Gino touches on a number of critical aspects of breaking the rules in a way to move you forward. She explains how “rebels are engaged; they have abundant energy and mental resilience, they invest in their work and personal relationships, persist even when the roads get tough.” There are five core ‘rebel traits’ which all are paths to engagement: Novelty — The talent for novelty allows us to fight the boredom that comes with routines and traditions. Curiosity — The talent for curiosity allows us to combat the tendency to stick with the status quo. Perspective — The talent for perspective allows us to rebel against our narrow focus when we approach problems or decisions, which usually includes only one view — our own. Diversity — The talent for diversity allows us to defy the stereotypes that are so ingrained in human nature. Authenticity — The talent for authenticity allows us to be honest about our preferences, emotions and beliefs. https://trsmag.com/rebel-talent-review/ Novelty Citing management scholar James March, Gino distinguishes between exploitation and exploration, and the trade-offs this distinction introduces. Exploitation involves improving and refining existing products and processes. This typically happens through a focus on efficiency and execution. In contrast, the focus of exploration is on on identifying new ideas and ways of doing things. This involves things like risk taking and experimentation. Curiosity When it comes to changing things at work or in life, curiosity pays: “When we open ourselves to curiosity, we are more apt to reframe situations in a positive way” Gino writes. She argues that curiosity that makes us much more likely to view a tough problem at work as an interesting challenge to take on.” At the same time, there seems to be a natural inclination to ask questions — both at work and in life as we get older. Simple ways to foster curiosity is to be open in saying “I don’t know but let’s find out” or encouraging people to ask “What if …?” Perspective In the book, Gino talks about “counterfactual thinking”, forgetting what you know and considering a situation from a fresh perspective. This way of thinking is also referred to as “the beginners mindset” or “unlearning”. In the words of the late Zen Buddhist monk Shunryu Suzuki: “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” In other words, rebel talent will always try to broaden their perspective and thus mitigate the “curse of knowledge” where we overestimate the amount of knowledge that we or others have. Diversity “Rebels know that to effectively leverage differences, their organisations should work beyond race and gender” is how Gino describes the role and importance of diversity. “In the rebel mind, all differences matter” she argues, stressing that diversity isn’t a quota system but a long-range vision for growth.” I really like how Gino zooms in on “cognitive diversity” which occurs when different perspectives and problem solving approaches come together. Authenticity Authenticity is the only aspect of “Rebel Talent” that I struggle to fully grasp and convey, as I feel that to be authentic means so many different things to different people. However, I like how Gino mentions that people being able to express themselves honestly is a core aspect of authenticity. People being able to be their ‘true selves’ at work, and throwing this into the mix when tackling tough challenges or coming up with new ideas. This doesn’t mean that one’s ability to be authentic can be abused to behave like an asshole or to disrespect other people’s authentic selves. Instead, the value of authenticity and humour comes particularly in times of changes, where it can help people thrive. Psychological Safety Being rebellious isn’t a solo act! In the book, Gino refers to the importance of a ‘psychologically safe’ environment for rebel talent to thrive in. She covers the research done by Harvard management professor Amy Edmondson on the topic of psychological safety. For instance, members of psychologically safe teams aren’t afraid of admitting to errors and discussing these openly nor would you fear being embarrassed about asking unorthodox questions, ideas or doubts. Continuous Learning Avoid succumbing to routine is a vital prerequisite for any rebel talent. Or in the words of author Seth Godin: “don’t become a hack!” For the book, Gino interviewed retired pilot Chesley Sullenberger — yes, the one who landed his plane safely on the Hudson River — who views expertise as a life long exercise: “expertise isn’t something to achieve, but a process that must be kept alive.” To be able to question, challenge and innovate, we need to constantly frame our work around learning goals. These learning goals can cover us developing our competence, acquiring new skills or mastering new situations. Main learning point: It pays to break the rules and be a rebel! And you can even do so without becoming an anarchist or alienating all the people that you work or live with!

https://medium.com/@maa1/rebel-talent-book-review-52878cc7db16

[]

2020-12-08 08:10:30.835000+00:00

['Personal Growth', 'Management', 'Management And Leadership', 'Personal Development']

An Open Letter Regarding the Passive-Aggressive Statements Issued Against Me by the Weather App

HUMOR An Open Letter Regarding the Passive-Aggressive Statements Issued Against Me by the Weather App Four Seasons? More Like Fuck You Seasons. Photo by Teresa Douglas It has come to my attention that the Weather app Carrot believes I’m too “sensitive” for the current air quality. As these accusations have been leveled against me, I feel it is essential to address them in an open forum. You know who’s sensitive? A certain someone who thinks it’s “totally reasonable” to buy regular Coke when I specifically said diet and apparently wants me to get fat, presumably so his quarantine 20 won’t look so appalling next to me. Furthermore, let me say that my air purifier was gifted to me by my great aunt, may she rest in peace. That air purifier has stood by me during troubling times. No, I don’t use it as a crutch instead of going on Lexapro. I don’t need Lexapro. I have my air purifier. To the Weather app’s second point, suggesting that I might not enjoy the blustery day…let’s just say I think it’s better to unleash one’s feelings than to keep them bottled up inside and use them as a weapon in couples’ counseling. Would you think holding up a cell phone to your boyfriend’s sleeping face is a quote-unquote “deep invasion of my privacy and also really psychotic”? Yeah. I didn’t think so. And who exactly is this Ruby person who keeps texting you? A meteorologist? Sure. Right, Weather app. Now you’re muttering something about an arctic blast? I’m pretty sure I’ve told your repeatedly that if you expect me to cater to your nonsense YOU HAVE TO SPEAK AT A VOLUME HUMANS CAN UNDERSTAND. I’m sorry. Was that my bluster again? Furthermore, you know who’s an arctic blast? Your mother. Look up the phrase “colder than a witch’s teat” in the dictionary, and you’ll find a picture of Cheryl. And withholding sex because a certain someone stayed up late playing video games with his friends is not frigid. It’s called being an adult, Weather app. Fine, maybe the abrupt weather changes are mirroring my abrupt mood swings. Yes, I’m on a new kind of birth control. No, that doesn’t mean my feelings aren’t still real and valid. Shut up, Brandon! Why don’t you understand me? Fine. Go love somebody else. In addition, the fact that you won’t let me delete you makes me feel that you’re a toxic presence in my life. No, I’m not talking about the toxic fumes emanating from the rubber factory down the street. I’m completely insensitive to them. Frankly, Weather app, this relationship has run its course. I’m going to go smoke a cigarette while running during a sandstorm.

https://medium.com/greener-pastures-magazine/an-open-letter-regarding-the-passive-aggressive-statements-issued-against-me-by-the-weather-app-f63887a3ff5a

['Laura Berlinsky-Schine']

2020-11-03 15:07:33.912000+00:00

['Lifestyle', 'Apps', 'Weather', 'Satire', 'Humor']

Welcome to MAC—A Message from Chair, Julian Domanico

Headshot Credit: Helena Raju Photography After four years of service on the City of Philadelphia’s Millennial Advisory Committee (MAC), I am grateful, but more so humbled to be appointed as Chair. I take seriously this role to steward MAC’s efforts to affect positive change within Philadelphia. Now, after a fruitful recruitment and onboarding process that added 10 new members from across the city, we have doubled our capacity. MAC and I recommit ourselves to advocating on behalf of those who have historically been — and continue to be — excluded or oppressed by our social and economic systems. To that end, we encourage organizations of all sizes throughout Philadelphia, as well as individuals dedicated to fostering young leadership, to work alongside us in the fight for justice and antiracism across sectors through Philadelphia’s recovery from the pandemic and beyond. MAC will continue advocating within municipal government on behalf of our generation — and those young at heart — by amplifying and convening around ideas, resources, and initiatives that reach the communities we not only serve, but come from. So, where do we go from here? MAC has a new organizational structure that has further enabled us to be nimble, allowing us to be more responsive to the needs of the community. We will do this by focusing on four pillars: (1) Legislative Transparency, (2) Civic Education and GOTV Efforts, (3) Community Collaborations, and (4) Millennial Spotlights. As millennials, we value transparency — understanding how, why, and by whom decisions are made. A 2017 study by Forbes found that out of 2,000 millennial consumers, 94% of respondents said transparency breeds loyalty. When millennial consumers changed their behaviors in favor of increased or complete transparency, 56% said they were likely to stay loyal for life. Through MAC’s first pillar, Legislative Transparency, we will share in layman’s terms and in various languages, through testimony, pop-up activities in the community, and more, the impact of bills working their way through our city council or the state legislature. By being better adept at following the movement of bills that have impact on our lives, MAC can better inform our next pillar: Civic Education and GOTV Efforts. Elections have consequences and a lack of civic education matters. Philadelphia will be better able to retain and attract millennials (and younger) if they are more civically engaged now. We know that youthful perspectives, in particular, are an important barometer for the health of communities. Millennials have begun to settle down, build roots, and juggle the needs of today with the wants of tomorrow. By being more deeply educated on how our city runs, young people will continue building a sense of ownership and pride for our communities. When one knows how to stay connected — in ways that leave their mark — through accessible points of entry, there becomes an inherent deeper care of their community. A 2010 study by Zaff et al. in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence found that engagement that maximizes the impact at both individual and community levels increases a sense of civic duty, confidence in one’s abilities to foster change, and active involvement for the purpose of being a part of their community, connected to it and its members, and having relationships with both of them. Through our second pillar, Civic Education and GOTV Efforts, MAC will add its own spin on tying opportunities for learning with culturally competent and conscious activities. Through initiatives that demystify how laws are made, the structure of government, and the impact of proposed policy, MAC will help meaningfully connect millennial Philadelphians to information and resources necessary to effectively advocate for themselves and the future of all of our communities. By sharing ways millennials can support our own communities, MAC helps to open the door for our penultimate pillar. MAC’s third pillar, Community Collaborations, seeks to amplify the resources and programs around Philadelphia that make a difference in the lives of youth over the long term. We will work with any mission-aligned group that seeks justice and works to build an antiracist future. In doing so, MAC challenges the notion that Philadelphia’s communities who experience marginalization lack deep roots of hard-working, caring organizations and people who make a felt difference daily. In the past, MAC has been privileged to collaborate with the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Association Coalition (SEAMAAC), African Family Health Organization (AFHO), the Anti-Violence Partnership (AVP), and others who are building a stronger society based on the principles of justice and equity for all. The power of being a part of the fabric and culture of a community that has history, social nuances, and complex trauma gives way to our final pillar. None of this work can — or should — be done alone or in a silo. MAC’s final pillar, Millennial Spotlights, seeks to highlight our peers — and the programs and organizations — that make Philadelphia’s future bright. We are inspired by the many unsung heroes who continually show their best selves professionally and personally in the service — and for the benefit — of all of us. The only way forward is to unlearn and actively redirect exclusive gatekeeping tactics that bottleneck collaboration and stifle progress. Toward the end of 2021 for our culminating event, MAC will invite organizations and their leaders to share their work and visions for the future of social justice and youth development in Philadelphia. I invite you and your organization to join me and MAC this year as we get to work. If you would like to collaborate with us, reach out to PHLMillennial@gmail.com. You can follow MAC @PHLMillennial on all social media for resource sharing and upcoming activities. In Solidarity, Julian Domanico Chair, Millennial Advisory Committee

https://medium.com/@phlmillennial/welcome-from-mac-chair-julian-domanico-9d769dc5e83e

['Philadelphia Millennial Advisory Committee']

2021-04-30 14:13:00.525000+00:00

['City Living', 'Local Government', 'Millennials', 'Millennial Trends', 'Philadelphia']

Leadza Monthly — December (2017 results)

With lots of feedback, thoughts, ideas and support from you, today, we are happy to share our results for the whole 2017 year, which was actually started in August for Leadza.ai virtual assistant. Milestones in 2017 A ugust Made 100+ interviews. Launched a private beta with core optimization tips: optimization tips based on age/gender performance, optimization tips based on platform/device/position performance and predictive budget allocation. S eptember Reached first 400 users. Added creative optimization tips and launched tips summary. Passed “310–101 Facebook Advertising Core Competencies exam” and became a Blueprint certified member. O ctober Implemented our killer feature “Automated tips implementation”. Launched our blog on Medium. Were accepted into the Bootstrap track of FbStart. Won people’s choice award on Go Tech Go Global Pitch. N ovember Reached 1000 users. Released Lookalike audience builder. Became a winner of the Russian Startups Go Global 2017 Pitch session. D ecember Launched on Producthunt.com. Showed our first case study. Pitched at 13th IIDF.vc demo day. Wow, that was really a nice start this year, are you agree? And here are some more amazing features that we have released in December… Improved predictive modeling Leadza can now better predict key campaign metrics like the number of actions and cost per action for the next day for which we use different prediction models. We updated our ML to more powerful choose of optimizations tips. Unlike rule-based optimization approach the system can take into account different metrics simultaneously and find the optimal balance between your KPIs. Subscription to preferred ad accounts Now you can choose which ad accounts to optimize. Just subscribe to those which really matter for you at the moment and get ultimate tips to improve your advertising results. Campaign level budget allocation We have found that many users want to optimize their Post Engagement campaigns. But usually what they do is running a new campaign for each post they promote. That’s why we simplified our predictive budget allocation. Now the system automatically recognizes campaigns with the same optimization goal and action type and suggests your to allocate budget on the campaign level. Enjoy! Referral program Tell your friends to try Leadza using the SHARE button inside the app and get 60$ “Pro” account for free for each three authorized friends. Still optimize campaigns manually? Try Leadza now! We’re really excited about all the new features we’re adding to Leadza. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below and stay tuned for our updates in January! 💥

https://medium.com/leadza/leadza-monthly-december-2017-results-8979d4b28d9e

['Victoria Fast']

2018-01-11 15:06:35.451000+00:00

['AI', 'Chatbots', 'Marketing', 'Virtual Assistant', 'Facebook Ads']

What’s in a name!

Identity. individuality. Self! Picture from the author’s personal stock The phone rings. I push the answer on my screen. A woman’s voice says: “Is this Mee…umm…” she clears her throat. “mee…wail…lee?” I pull the phone away from my ear. She’s too loud. “Is there someone around who speaks English?” She continues. “I speak English,” I answer. “May I help you?” “Oh!” It was a medical office calling with a reminder for my upcoming appointment. I’m always willing to give a pass to those who don’t bother to ask. “How do you pronounce your first name?” That question usually starts a conversation where I tell the caller that my name is French, and I’d pronounce it correctly. “Oh, it’s so pretty,” the caller would say, “and you have a beautiful accent to go with the name. You’re from France? I’m dying to go there.” “No. I’m from Haiti.” “Oh!” No one’s dying to go to Haiti. Decades ago, in a Boston high school, a teacher decided I was going to be Micki. She didn’t have the patience to let me have my name and I didn’t have the courage yet to fight to be called by it. I had already left a lot on the shore of my home country to become an American. The early years were hard. I had to learn to adapt to so much: new language, new climate, new values, new races, new housing… Then I lost my name. What’s in a name? Mine was chosen by my Papa. I was a Daddy’s girl. A name is your first identity. That’s what distinguishes you from everybody else. Even though I grew up in a neighborhood in Haiti with three other girls with the same name, but mine was unique to me in the context of my family. And when you add my last name to it, it is who I was born to be. Then I got married and picked up another last name. My birth name connected me firmly to my individuality. When I became all these other people: American, wife, mother, immigrant, diaspora, Micki…What was my real identity? “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” — Dale Carnegie. The day back in high school when I accepted to be called: Micki, I gave up more than I’d realized. But I didn’t want to frustrate people with my name and I sure didn’t want to call attention to myself in class, so I became that other person. There’s a question on the naturalization and citizenship application, that allows the applicant to change his/her name. For months I considered it. I could pick Nancy, Irene, Carol…but in the end, I kept my birth name. The one my parents chose for me because it suited me. “Why is it so important to use people’s names? A person’s name is the greatest connection to their own identity and individuality. Some might say it is the most important word in the world to that person.” —Joyce E. A. Russell. Because someone has a name you can’t pronounce does not mean that person is dumb and deaf. Don’t speak too loudly. We can hear you just fine! My name is: Mireille.

https://medium.com/an-idea/whats-in-a-name-212f359263c5

['Micki Berthelot Morency']

2020-12-23 02:46:25.102000+00:00

['Names', 'Immigrants', 'Culture', 'Identity', 'Assimilation']

Solar Eclipse 2021 | Catskills Astronomy

Nothing beats watching the sun come up from a mountain summit — except maybe walking into the woods in the dead of night, alone, to catch an eclipse. It’s been a while since I did a sunrise hike. In mid-June, as the shortest night of the year approaches, sunrise is not long after 5:00 am. This makes the get-out-of-bed logistics pretty rough. I set my alarm for 1:00 am and was in my car before 2:00 am. By 3:00 am, I was hiking briskly past the first trailhead signpost. The sky was almost cloud free. Jupiter and Saturn were both bright in the southeast. Overheard, the summer Milky Way was clearly visible — I grew up in suburban Dublin, Ireland, and never saw the Milky Way until I first came to The Catskills. The sky before dawn puts on a truly amazing show. For this shoot, I planned to arrive at my viewpoint at least 30 minutes before sunrise. This is my favorite time of day. The colors are always bananas. That pre-dawn light, though… I was glad to see I wasn’t the only lunatic hiking at this hour. By the time I arrived, a young botanist and a family group of five or six were all already on the summit. Long before sunrise, a very clear sun pillar was visible with sun dogs on either side. Sun pillars are created by the reflection of light from tiny ice crystals that are suspended in the atmosphere. Sun dogs are made via refraction. Dawn June 10, 2021 A line of clouds along the horizon delayed us from seeing the sun for a few minutes. I started stopping down my cameras so the sky in the following photos looks darker… Cloudy Sunrise Eventually the moment arrived — almost… Sunrise through clouds Disclosure: Links to external products and websites on this page may be affiliate links. This means, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Solar Eclipse 2021 Reminder: Yes, you do absolutely need an effective filter to view any kind of eclipse. And, no, your shades do not count. A pack of cheap solar glasses runs about ten bucks on Amazon. At last, the sun rose above the cloud line. I managed to score one shot of the eclipse by closing down my DSLR as much as possible and by holding my shades in front of the lens… Partial solar eclipse 2021 Welp, looks like I should order some cheap solar filters for next time. If you want this kind of hiking content in your mailbox once or twice a month, check out my free hiking newsletter.

https://medium.com/@totalcatskills/solar-eclipse-2021-catskills-astronomy-f73edaffbe16

['Mountain Hiking']

2021-06-16 14:03:46.386000+00:00

['Hiking', 'Astronomy', 'Outdoors', 'Eclipse', 'Mountains']

Researching how human knowledge can be taught to machines

Companies such as Google are aiming high: ultimately, all human wisdom, everything you may want to know about the World (can you imagine?) will be available in the knowledge graph at or fingertips, ready for innovative applications to exploit. And not only that, information about millions of products is being stored in knowledge graphs by companies such as eBay, graphs about anything you can imagine are being generated semi-automatically from websites, databases, and even text documents; a company called DiffBot has a knowledge graph with over one trillion (yes, with a ‘t’) edges, with 150 million new edges added every day! As one can easily imagine, managing such gigantic graphs and querying them easily and efficiently is not an easy task. And this is where Knowledge Representation and Reasoning technologies can be very useful. Source: Keble College Review For instance, imagine that we have about 5,000 playwrights such as Douglas Adams in our knowledge graph. If we want all of them to be authors (and we certainly do!), we would need to add explicit edges in the graph connecting the node for each individual playwright to the node representing the concept of an ‘author’ in the graph; that is 5,000 edges to be manually added. Not only that, if suddenly we notice a mistake in our data (maybe ‘John Smith’ is not a playwright after all) then we would need to also remove all the edges that depend on that mistake (that is, the fact that ‘John Smith’ is an author, which was only true because he was believed to be a playwright). This is almost impossible to manage via user updates, or even programmatically. A much more convenient way would be to represent a rule stating that ‘every playwright is an author’; then, a specialised piece of software (a reasoner) would be able to interpret this rule and automatically add and remove the relevant edges from the graph where appropriate. Reasoning automatically with thousands of rules and graphs containing billions of edges is a very challenging problem both from a research and technological perspectives. In fact, it was well-beyond the state of the art just about 10–15 years ago, when research systems where struggling to cope with graphs containing tens of thousands of nodes. The situation, however, has changed dramatically in recent years. We now have systems that can return results to complex queries over graphs containing billions of edges in milliseconds. We also have systems that are able to manage and reason with complex sets of rules written in powerful rule languages, and to maintain their inferences on the fly as data is updated in the graph. One of those systems is RDFox — a high performance knowledge graph and reasoning engine that was developed at the University of Oxford’s Department of Computer Science and which is now a commercial product developed and distributed by Oxford Semantic Technologies. As a co-founder of Oxford Semantic Technologies, I am very proud of what has been recently achieved — to witness how a carefully thought through system can reason and answer queries almost instantaneously when applied to sophisticated rule sets and large-scale graphs with tens of billions of connections. As a scientist, it is an incredibly gratifying feeling to experience how fundamental, cutting-edge research, conducted in our Knowledge Representation and Reasoning Group at Oxford is now being used by applications we could only dream of just a few years ago.

https://medium.com/oxford-semantic-technologies/researching-how-human-knowledge-can-be-taught-to-machines-403e0255c872

['Bernardo Cuenca Grau']

2021-03-27 09:52:45.095000+00:00

['Computer Science', 'Knowledge', 'Software Development', 'Research', 'Professor']

10 Ways to Manage Unhelpful Thoughts When Writing

10 Ways to Manage Unhelpful Thoughts When Writing Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Sometimes when we write we really can be our very own worst critic. This may stop us from pushing the publish button, decrease our motivation, and even increase the risk of us giving up on our dreams. So, what are these unhelpful thinking habits holding us back and what can we do about them in order to improve our writing? 1. Letting go of perfectionism Writing high-quality, well-researched pieces is important, but at some stage, we do just need to go for. I get it I used to be perfectionistic and ended up burning out. Don’t be afraid to hit publish on a post that you feel isn’t to your high standards. These days I use the feedback from writers to go back and improve my posts. So I am writing for my readers and not just assuming I know what is best for them. My readers also get a buzz from knowing they have contributed to my writing and I have learned something new from them. 2. Comparing can lead to despair There are lots of writers in this world, everyone has a story to tell, but you are all on a different journey. By comparing yourself to other writers you are being unfair. Don’t be another Tim Denning, yes he is awesome, but be you! Write in your authentic voice. Learn from other successful writers, but don’t obsess over their follower count or try to compete with the number of articles they write a month. We all have unique backstories and life to live. Remember what works for one person may not work for you. Find your unique writing style. Why try to be someone else when you can be you. 3. Fighting the inner critic Easier said than done but do try to be kinder to yourself. Telling yourself you can’t do something repeatedly will convince your brain this is the truth and you will run the risk of giving up. As a writer, it is important to grow your mindset. Find yourself being negative try adding ‘yet’ to the end of a sentence to reframe your thinking. For example, I haven’t been published…yet, I have had no views on this article…yet or I have had no reads…yet. Don’t try to justify or reason with your inner critic. It has an excuse for every solution. 4. Memories of rejections You have been rejected in the past by other publications. So why bother now, right? Wrong, what did you learn from this experience? Take this learning and try again, celebrate rejections and use them as stepping stones for success rather than seeing them as failures. Our rejections help us to appreciate when we are published. Also do not be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone with publications. One of my highest rated posts this week was a poem in the POM, I had over 800 claps within hours — I have never written a poem before. 5. I Should, Must, and Got to do this You have been a member a week and you should have 1K followers by now, you must post 100 posts a month and you got to get into every publication! WOW, a little extreme I know, but should, must, and got to put a lot of undue pressure on us. It is good to have some goals and that will give you direction, but ensure they are SMART 6. Emotional reasoning As a writer, it’s important to be consistent, but we can be very good at talking ourselves out of doing things. For example, written an article last week so I deserve a rest this week. Although it’s important to take breaks readers like a pattern and it also shows you are serious as a writer. Let’s start talking ourselves into meeting our set targets rather than making excuses why not to do something. 7. The negativity filter Our moods can impact our filters for example if we are feeling gloomy we might notice the negativity and sadness around us a lot more. As a writer, it’s great to take a more balanced route. If we are feeling low we are more likely to soak up like sponges negative comments and be more reactive to trolling behaviours, whilst all positive comments get sieved, ignored or we make excuses as to why we feel we do deserve it. Compliments are a gift, accept them and say thank you. 8. Predicting the future This publication sounds great, just what I have been looking for, but I am going to ignore it as they will never accept me! Sound familiar? If you don’t try the answer will always be no. We can miss out on so many opportunities by trying to predict the future. 9. Over catastrophising I will publish this article and my friends and family or work colleagues might see and then I will lose my job leading to the world exploding! We can run away with our thoughts sometimes. If we are too scared of what others make us think we may be more likely not to push the publish button! Try not to get lost in thoughts. Ask yourself is this just my opinion or is this fact. will the world explode if I push that publish button or am I just being dramatic! 10. Making Judgements Making judgments will feed our inner critic and lead to those future predictions being made. If you are a new writer thinking that you will not get any of your work published is a judgment. You don’t know this unless you try. it’s much better to describe for example say instead publications like quality posts. This is a fact for a majority of publications. You GOT this!

https://writingcooperative.com/10-ways-to-manage-unhelpful-thoughts-when-writing-82034e170fc3

['Trisha Dunbar']

2021-05-29 23:02:11.143000+00:00

['Writers On Writing', 'Psychology', 'Writing', 'Writers Life', 'Negative Thoughts']

Announcement: KEY ID EOS Contract Upgrade

Reason for this upgrade Support the NFT standard protocol of SimpleAsset, optimize some functions. Update time 2020-10-26 16:00 (UTC+8) Audit Report MYKEY EOS smart contract has been audited by the top security team Trail of Bits (https://github.com/mykeylab/keyid-eth-contracts/tree/master/reports). If you have any questions about the upgrade publicity, you can contact us: service@mykey.org or leave messages on GitHub. Thank you. About Us KEY GROUP: https://keygroup.me/ MYKEY Web: https://mykey.org/ BIHU: https://bihu.com/people/1133973 Telegram: https://t.me/mykey_lab Twitter: https://twitter.com/mykey_lab Medium: https://medium.com/mykey-lab Github: https://github.com/mykeylab Youtube: MYKEY Laboratory

https://medium.com/@mykey-updates/announcement-key-id-eos-contract-upgrade-804a419ab26e

[]

2020-10-24 12:14:02.629000+00:00

['Announcements', 'Eos', 'Mykey', 'Ethereum']

The Literally Literary Weekly Update #9

Literature Doesn’t Have to Make Sense by Matthew Ward (Art) “There’s something weird about the internet age that has caused us to lose touch with art — especially story-driven art forms like movies and literature. As soon as anything new comes out, there are hundreds of youtube videos, magazine articles, and twitter threads tearing it to pieces.” I’m Here With You by Mary Keating (Poetry) “Built a fortress strong enough to bend where only Love holds the key” To Pamela by Sydney Duke Richey (Poetry) “even before opening it I knew I would have paid a dollar or more for a book with the title” I Met My 8-Year-Old Self by Omar Gahbiche (Fiction) “I, a twenty-something guy, was looking at my eight-year-old self. And I was not hallucinating. It felt real. I was still aware that it couldn’t be, but strangely, it was as real as a regular sunny summer afternoon.” The Evolution of Dating by Jerry Windley-Daoust (Fiction) “The love you share with him is the easily domesticated kind, and it becomes as comfortable as a faithful old dog, happy to see you every time you come home.”

https://medium.com/literally-literary/the-literally-literary-weekly-update-9-9fa9c660ac8c

['Jonathan Greene']

2020-02-19 17:26:00.985000+00:00

['Poetry', 'Nonfiction', 'Ll Letters', 'Fiction', 'Writing']

The Scary World of Freelancing

“Is this worth it?” That one big client you expected to show up in your inbox never came. That BIG project that was GOING to happen didn’t. Cold sweats in the middle of the night because of overthinking about bills, paying for food and getting by. Now you’re stuck in the realm of the unknown. “Something’s coming in. It’ll be okay,” you say to yourself while scrolling through Indeed, contemplating a “real job” with a cup of coffee you feel guilty drinking because coffee cost money. It goes on and on like this, until, at that last minute, SOMETHING happens. Might be big, might be small, but it works. You can breathe and enjoy your damn cup o’ Joe. Or, maybe at the last minute something DOESN’T happen and it’s back to panic mode. This isn’t a Stephen King novel. This is reality. Welcome to the scary world of freelancing. It can be frightening, tough, challenging, and it’s a land with no 401K, vacation time or health benefits (until you buy them yourself, of course). While putting ourselves in a blender (on grind mode) for our passion, it’s also, yes, extremely rewarding. And things, more than likely, do pan out eventually. But the stuff we go through for this lifestyle… I don’t need to spill it all out here. If you’re a freelancer, you get it. If you’re not, well, just use your imagination (as a cartoonist, I use it all day). In my case, it’s been a life of numerous day jobs to get by, sprinkled in with fulltime freelancing from time to time. It’s taken me awhile to build-up to the point where I’m comfortable JUST freelancing — and that’s it. Wait, there IS no comfortable. No, no, no. COMFORT isn’t in the freelancing vocabulary. Sorry. (Thinking about what I just wrote. Comfort. Ha! Okay, moving on…) There ARE some things to put in perspective to alleviate any fears you may experience — and probably do regularly — if you’re like me. This sounds lame, but I believe, and have noticed, that things happen for a reason. If you feel like you’re in a good spot to ditch the day job and go “all in” freelancing, then go for it. You’re probably going to be okay. And if not and you have to resort to getting another job for a while, it’s no biggie. Really. Think of it as temporary. I’ve gone through this dance most of my adult life and, looking around, it’s all added up to where I am now, which, I can say, I’m pretty happy with. Of course, going all into freelancing, you might get some flak from family, friends or anyone else that doesn’t take career risks. Just remember, this is YOUR life. Proceed. Freelancing is not for the faint of heart. Not knowing when the next paycheck is coming in can cause panic, even when it isn’t necessary. It’ll be okay. Because… “IT’S SO REWARDING!” I imagine as I skip down my hallway, actively avoiding thinking about the next BIG thing to come in that hasn’t. It is though, or I wouldn’t bother with any of this. I write and draw cartoons for the world to see. “For the world to see!” I look up at my ceiling and think about. While I do this, I notice a stain up there I should probably take care of. This is kind of like my Oprah “aha moment” (does she still have those?). What I’m doing has meaning. Most freelancers get to produce things for the WORLD TO SEE and enjoy. Not that other professions don’t, but a lot of what we do can REALLY get out there, right? It’s stuff that, with all this effort we put into producing it, really has value. And you know what, we’re bold people. (Notice how I bolder the word ‘bold’? Pretty clever, huh? That was a bold move. Okay…I’m done.) We’re brave. We’re entrepreneurs. We take risks and accept the challenge of the unknown. If you’re a freelancer, you’re THIS. A super being that tries things and a normal life isn’t okay. You want to live your life doing what you love, and I commend you. This shit isn’t easy. Fear? Just stare in the face of it (nervously, sometimes) and tell it to f$%* off. What am I doing? I’m not trying to talk you up. You already know this if you’re a freelancer. (We’re also known as business owners, by the way.) Those little challenges that drop in from time to time about the unknown with clients, money and bla, bla, bla, they’ll happen. They can happen with “real jobs” all the time where layoffs, pay cuts and more happen regularly. (People have worked at places for decades and then get cut right before their retirement benefits. Talk about a kick in the ass.) I mean, work isn’t perfect no matter what you’re doing. So sure, we don’t get the stability with things like health insurance (god I wish we did though) and the joys of Summer Fridays, but we get to make the best effort we can to do what we love. We’re our own boss. Screw the 9–5. We enjoy our freedom. And with time, that BIG thing comes up from behind you. Things can smooth out, and usually do with patience, hard work and dedication to your craft. Finances can get better and well exceed anything a day job can offer. So stand by… Maybe it’s an unexpected client’s email pops up on your phone when you least expect it with a new project. Or a publisher wanting to talk about that book you’ve been pitching. Could it be a viral cartoon that gets noticed by a major agency and now they want to hire you? Sure. Anything can happen. Whew! And now, in the middle of the night, it’s not cold sweats, but excitement about what you’re doing. It all becomes worth it, right? Scary how that works.

https://medium.com/swlh/the-scary-world-of-freelancing-df99170fd651

['Nate Fakes']

2019-09-11 15:31:07.784000+00:00

['Work', 'Freelancing', 'Comics', 'Motivation', 'Art']

Wear Abdominal Belt After Delivery and Get back into the Shape

Your delivery went well, baby is healthy and now you’re both home to begin a lifelong journey of parenting and joy. Your newborn is fragile and needs all the love and support that you can provide. Family and friends surround you with everything from new diapers to home cooked meals. Now that everyone is getting settled into a routine at home, you as the mother cannot forget about your own well-being. Your body was transformed, stretched and altered for the past several months. The most obvious sign of this process happened around your abdominal area. The human body has an incredible way of adapting to new conditions. Your growing fetus caused your skin and muscles to stretch and pull. This process probably caused itching, stretch marks and pain. After childbirth your abdomen will slowly begin to retract back to its original shape and size. Your doctor has probably told you on several occasions to avoid heavy lifting. The first few weeks after delivery is a sensitive time for your body and is a period when you can cause injury or slow your recovery time. A postpartum support belt is a very effective device that can support your abdomen and prevent injuries such as hernias and torn stitches. Heavy lifting, over-reaching or other strenuous physical activities causes strain on your mid-section that can be damaging to healing tissue. Because your muscle and skin tissue are still healing, its ability to support your body in a normal way is severely limited in the days and weeks after giving birth. A support belt adds the necessary assistance to help hold your abdomen firmly in place. This will greatly reduce the issues mentioned above, such as hernias. After Delivery belt are made of stretchable materials that gently wrap around your mid-section and is held securely in place with either velcro or snaps. They are comfortable to wear and go unnoticed when worn under regular clothing. For something that is so inexpensive it can provide a great benefit and reduce the risk of further injuring yourself. A abdominal belt is worth looking into and provides a tremendous health benefit without breaking the bank. We hope you’ll have a speedy recovery and enjoy your precious new blessing.

https://medium.com/@boomsdeal/wear-abdominal-belt-after-delivery-and-get-back-into-the-shape-2b54f0eb92c6

['Radhe Mohan']

2020-12-20 13:41:43.004000+00:00

['Women', 'Health', 'Shopping']

Necromancy for Band Geeks

The book of incantations held aloft in one hand, her jeweled athame dagger in the other, Angelica stood in the center of her living room within a protective circle of salt. She raised her eyes to the ceiling, pointed the blade to the floor and chanted the final words of the summoning invocation. “Ba’hal arooth tich set f’tule al-gi-brah!” A reddish, glowing circle, small and dim at first, appeared on the floor near the coffee table. Angelica worried she’d started a fire, but saw no signs of flame or smoke. A noise rose from the spot, like a windstorm growing closer, soon rattling the walls and threatening her ears with a high-pitched whine. As the spot grew in size the color shifted from red to orange, then yellow, and finally, blinding white. Angelica shielded her eyes but couldn’t look away as a figure began to rise from the portal. Her breath stopped as a man took shape within. A man and not entirely a man. The body of a man, clothed in the rich silken doublet and hose of a Renaissance prince, but his head was that of a three-horned goat, his face the grimace of an ogre, his eyes burned red like coals beneath a flat brow and long, pointed ears. As the demon’s hideous form took shape, the light dimmed, and the roar subsided. When all was still, he stood and glared at Angelica with a malice she felt on her face like heat from a furnace. “Who dares summon me to Earth, disturbing my work in the underworld? Who, I say!” Angelica lowered her arms and her eyes and said, “It is I, oh lord of darkness, Angelica, who called you forth.” “You?” mocked the ashen-colored apparition. His chuckle, like the rattling of dried bones, shivered Angelica’s spine. “You pitiful, weak, human woman? You dare invoke my name, the most feared and beloved of demons, Master Leonard?” She raised her eyes and frowned. “Leonard?” “Yes!” the demon boomed. “Leonard! Master Leonard, the grand-master of the nocturnal orgies of demons!” “Wait a minute” she said, flipping pages in the book. “I thought I summoned Leraiel.” “I have several names, mortal fool!” he growled, “Leonard is my favorite.” Angelica hesitated, her curiosity piqued. “But… Leonard? Really?” “Yes, really!” came the angry reply. “Why do you ask, insignificant wretch?” “Well, it’s just…” she lowered her eyes to hide a grin. “I don’t know, I just thought, you’d prefer to be called something more… impressive.” The fiend’s eyes widened with shock and flickered red and gold with anger. “Impressive? What’s not impressive about Leonard? I told you I am Master Leonard! I command thirty legions in hell! I am master of ceremonies for the unholiest of demonic orgies, a devourer of mortal flesh, high executioner of the living and the dead! Those who worship me gain power over the weak-willed, the ability to transform into ravenous beasts, and even to fly! That’s not impressive?” “I guess it’s just me. See, I knew this guy in high school named Leonard, and well, I mean, we never really did anything, but we sort of…” “Enough, woman!” The monster’s bellow shook the windows. “I am in the book, you know! The Dictionnaire Infernal, by none other than Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy! Demon number 40, right after Lechies and before Lucifer himself! I’m not some third-rate goblin you can dismiss and mock, just because you had a bad relationship with some pimply-faced band geek who happened to have my name!” “How did you know we were in band?” The brute narrowed his eyes and smirked. “Really? You’re going to ask me that? It’s written all over you. Once a band geek, always a band geek. One can always tell another.” “You mean, you…? You were…” “First chair trombone, yes.” “Wow! What school?” Again Leonard’s eyes flashed fiery indignation. “That impresses you? I’m a legendary, evil demon with powers beyond human imagination! But you’re all ‘wow’ at the thought I played trombone?” “Well, with your name, it kinda makes sense.” “Oh? Does it? What about you? ‘Angelica’? Your parents must have had stratospheric expectations of you.” “My friends call me Angel.” “God, that’s worse. I bet you played flute.” “Hey, you’re pretty good at this.” “Of course I am! I possess the mastery of arcane forces you could not fathom! I can bend time to my will! I can change the future and erase the past! I can certainly tell a flute player a mile off. You’re too small and thin for a larger instrument. And your fingers are long and delicate. If not clarinet, then flute. Add the fact that you are blonde, and it’s definitely flute.” Angelica took note of the compliments but wondered at the blonde reference. She smiled. “Um, if you’re so powerful, do you know why I summoned you?” “Yes. Why do you think I’m so grumpy?” “What is it, then?” “You still have to say it.” “I do?” “Yes, dammit!” Leonard screamed. Angelica smelled smoke. “You have to make the request formally!” “Why” “I don’t know! I don’t make the rules!” “Okay, okay. I just figured, you being so all powerful…” He scowled at her. “Snark does not become you.” She pressed her lips together to fight her smile and cleared her throat. “Okay. Here goes. I want you to…” “It begins…” he thundered, “Oh Great and Powerful Master of the Dark, Leonard!” Angelica couldn’t stifle her laughter. It exploded from her lips before she could clamp her hand over her mouth. She coughed through her fingers, then bent over and joggled in silence. Leonard folded his arms and stared at her, tapping his foot. “When you are quite ready” he sneered. She turned away and breathed deeply. Her exhalations still rattled in her throat as tiny giggles. She turned back but couldn’t look Leonard in the eye. “Okay. Okay, um… okay. Here goes. Oh, great and power… powerful…” She snorted, recovered, and tried to continue. “Master of the Dark…” It was too much. She doubled over with loud guffaws, then knelt on the floor and sat on one hip, holding her sides. A full minute passed, the grey-skinned hellion rolling his eyes and checking his fingernails. “If you think you can contain your jocularity” he scoffed, “we can take the preamble as read. Could we speed things up a bit? I don’t have all eon.” “Sure, sure.” Angelica cleared her throat and got to her feet. She took a deep breath, fought against one last urge to laugh and said, “Ready.” Leonard side-eyed Angelica, waiting for another outburst. “Alright, then.” His next words came in the sing-song cadence of a high school girl reciting for a teacher she hates. “What purpose have you in summoning me from the depths of hell, puny, useless human?” Angelica smiled, making Leonard frown and wag a sharp-nailed finger. She forced a serious look, cleared her throat again and mimicked his rhythm and tone. “I want you to be my date for the class reunion next month.” Leonard face-palmed. The heat of his irritation sizzled away the sweat on his brow and gave off a light hiss and a wisp of steam that rose over his misshapen head. He sighed and regarded Angelica as if she were naive or stupid or both. “I knew before you asked” he sighed, “but hearing it is somehow worse.” “Well? It’s what I want. It’s why I did all this.” She gestured at the salt on the floor, pointed to the book and the dagger and shrugged. “So? Did I do it right or not?” “Yes, you did everything right” he said, not hiding his condescension. “Okay” she said, “So? I did it right. Do I get what I asked for?” “I get your soul for it, you know.” “I know. It’s worth it, believe me.” Leonard did not believe it possible, but he was surprised by her answer. “Really? Do you even know what that means?” “Yes, I do.” “I don’t think so.” “I do. You get my soul. For all eternity. In hell.” “And just what do you think that will be like?” “I suppose it will hurt.” Leonard stared a moment, slack-jawed. “Hurt?” He chuckled again, a bucket of cold bones thrown down an empty well. “You think it will hurt?” “Yeah. It’ll hurt. All the time.” “For all eternity!” he shrieked, his voice now chorused by a million tortured souls at his command. “But hurt it will not! It will be the agony of your flesh burned from your bones in the molten bowels of the Earth, then rematerialized and frozen in blizzards of ice! The shards blown by gale force winds will pierce and slice your body, leaving you bleeding from a million gashes! The wounds will attract a billion flies, who will feed on your blood, then lay their eggs in your open sores! You will endure the horror of the larvae growing inside you and consuming your flesh until you explode, a human host to a trillion biting wasps that eat your remains and excrete you as liquid goo! Then… then!” Leonard barked, his arms outstretched, his eyes blazing, “Then… you are made whole, and it all begins again!” “I get it.” Angelica was unmoved by the fiend’s litany. “It’ll be bad.” Leonard’s voice shook the foundations of the house. “Did I mention the ‘for all eternity’ part?” “Yes!” she shouted back, reaching the end of her patience. “I get it! Fire and ice and blood and flies and goo! Over and over and over for all eternity! Never-ending torment and agony from now until the end of the world! I! Get! It!” Leonard smiled. “Very well, then. You understand the terms. This will be the easiest soul I ever earned. Just be your date at the reunion, right?” “With two conditions.” The demon’s smile grew wary. “Ah, I should have known. What conditions?” “Well, I’m sure you know that, being a band geek, I was teased mercilessly.” “You probably deserved it.” “No I did not! I listened to your spiel, now you shut up and listen to me!” “Okay, okay” he smirked, “calm down, chill out, or whatever.” “Yeah, sure. You can be all brimstone and hellfire, but when a woman gets angry, then it’s all ‘Hey, calm down, bitch. Don’t frown, it makes you look ugly!’ Damn! Men are the same even if they’re not human!” Angelica stood, her hands on her hips, her face set and her eyes boring into Leonard’s He collected himself. “All right, fair’s fair. What conditions?” “The people in my class are a bunch of entitled snobs. They were then, they’re worse now. I’ve kept up online. God! Douchebags, that’s what they are!” “What’s that got to do with me?” “They’re successful, the bastards. A few created startups and sold them for millions or billions. But most of them are doing great, high paying jobs in the C-suite, or they married rich, living their beautiful lives with their beautiful spouses, raising beautiful kids and vacationing in the Bahamas. It’s disgusting!” “And you want to show them up.” “Big time.” “So?” “So. Can you ditch this whole ugly-as-a-blobfish get up? Can you make yourself a handsome, strong, successful human man?” Leonard snickered, the cold bones slightly warmed over. “Easily. In fact, my specialty is appearing as a devastatingly handsome military officer, to lure beautiful young women into the forest.” “Really? What happens in the forest?” “I seduce them, impregnate them with cold semen, and they miscarry the babies.” Angelica’s brow could not have furrowed any deeper. “Cold semen?” “I said I don’t make the rules. Look it up.” She waved her hands, still scowling. “Okay, but none of that. I’m not putting up with cold semen or miscarried babies.” “Agreed.” “But hey, could you be a Navy SEAL? They’re the hottest!” “Easy.” “An officer? A captain?” “Commander. They lead SEAL teams. I’ve taken my men on dangerous secret operations. I‘ll hint at being the team that got bin Laden, but of course I can’t talk about it.” Angelica’s happy laugh reached Leonard as a crystalline wind chime moved by a spring breeze. He liked the sensation. “That’s great!” she gushed. “That’s effin’ fantastic!” Leonard assumed a fatherly air. “If you are going to spend all eternity in hell, you’ll have to give up the fake curses like ‘effin’. It just won’t do.” “What can I say? My mother was strict.” “So am I.” Leonard’s hint reached Angelica as a match struck in her belly setting dry kindling alight. She liked the sensation. The hellion smiled. “And the other condition?” “Yeah. Um. You won’t like it.” “I don’t expect to.” “They’re going to hold a talent contest.” Leonard stared at her a beat, then burst into maniacal guffaws. The booming laughter echoed from the walls and rattled the dishes in the cupboards. Angelica squinted and held her hands over her ears. The slapping of his thighs sounded like rifle shots. Breathless, he wheezed a last chortle, and his deep inhale to recover was the roar of a tornado. A full minute passed before he could speak. “Oh, dear Satan and all his devils protect me! You’re serious?” She frowned at his teasing. “Yes, I’m serious!” “And just what…” he giggled, “just what would we do?” “Well, I was thinking… you can make us do anything, with magic, right?” “Oh, yes. You want to do a magic act?” “No.” “I saw you in half? Then reveal you are really, physically sawed in half, your entrails spilling out in a great gush of blood? You smile and wave while they all run screaming from the hall?” “No, no, no.” She smiled. “But it’s a great idea.” He smiled in return. “Kind of a ‘Carrie’ vibe, no?” Her laughter again reached him in a way both unfamiliar and welcome. “I was thinking” she said, “of a magical dance number. Like if Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers sold their souls to create a dance that would astound the world. You a dashing officer, resplendent in your dress uniform. Me, a Helen of Troy beauty in a fabulous, flowing gown that would make Oscar de la Renta cry. We’d float and spin and glide like glass figurines on ice. You would throw me in the air and I would float back into your arms like a leaf on the wind. A dance that could never be repeated, not by mortals, that would stand as the ultimate… the perfect…” Angelica hesitated and dropped her lashes a moment. When she looked up she met his eye. “The perfect ‘fuck you’ to those douchebags.” Leonard’s grey cheeks blushed slightly. He smiled. “I like it. I like it a lot.” He tapped his chin with a fingernail as sharp as a scythe and made a ‘hmmm’ sound. “But I might have a better suggestion.” “Yeah?” “The whole reason these douchebags teased you was because you were a band geek.” “Yes.” Her eyes darkened, remembering the torment. “So, your ‘fuck you’ should come in the form of band geek revenge.” She tilted her head and said, “Go on.” “Duet for flute and trombone.” Her surprise manifested as a ‘snuck’ in the back of her throat and a wry smile. “What?” “You on flute. Me on trombone. We play a duet.” “I… I don’t…” “Not just any duet, mind you.” The malevolent spirit shook a finger and looked about the room, deep in thought. “Flute”, she said, incredulous, “and… trombone?” “Yes!” he said. “There are many pieces written for that duet. And for flute and cello? Hundreds! A ‘bone is a great brass substitute for cello.” Angelica began to hear the combination in her head. “Yes.. Yes!” “But this would be, like your dance, the ultimate duet. Never before has anyone heard such transcendent music from these two instruments, and never again will they. I, a dashing officer, resplendent in my dress uniform, playing the perfect undertones and harmonies. You, a Helen of Troy beauty in a fabulous, flowing gown that would make Oscar de la Renta cry, manifesting the melody from your flute as if the universe blew breath through the instrument. We would play such a piece as to make even the most musically ignorant stop, shut up, and listen in rapturous wonderment.” “Yes.” “We would make the angels weep!” “Yes!” Angelica shook with delight at the thought of upstaging her classmates, of the shock-and-awe, of making angels weep. “So” Leonard hissed. “You said, next month?” “Uh-huh. The seventeenth.” “We have time to practice.” Angelica saw promise and threat in his smile. She returned both. “Yes. We do.” “Then it’s a deal?” He extended his hand, callused from millennia of whipping the damned, the sharp nails dirty with the blood and flesh of those he eviscerated with sweeps of his taloned claws. Angelica hesitated, then slowly stepped out of her protective circle and went to him. She laid her delicate, flute-playing hand in his. He held it gently, but his skin was hot to the touch. “Deal” she said quietly, meeting his flickering eyes. “Don’t I have to sign something?” Leonard allowed himself the slight thrill she sent through her soft fingers. His smile grew. “We can take care of the paperwork later. Tomorrow. I know I can trust you.” “Okay. Tomorrow, then.” He bowed slightly and said, “For once in my existence, a day will feel like forever.” He released her hand. She dropped her hand and her eyes a moment. Then, “Oh! Do I have to do the summoning thing again? Each time?” “No. You’ve opened the portal. As long as you don’t reverse the spell, and close it, I can come and go at will.” “You mean, anytime? Without, you know, an invitation?” “Yes.” His grin reached out and touched her in a way she could not name. “Okay” she said quietly. “I guess that’s okay.” “Then I will bid you au revoir.” “Hey! Wait a minute!” “Hmmm?” “Could I call you… Leo?” The ghastly apparition of evil frowned, considering. “Yes, I think that would be fine. Leo. Hmm. Never occurred to me. I may like it.” “I like it” she said, “better than Leonard.” He thought a moment, then said, “May I call you… Angie?” “Angie?” “It’s my favorite Stones song.” “It’s a sad song.” “Yes” the demon said, “very, very sad.”

https://medium.com/geezer-speaks/demonology-for-band-geeks-cba7087d0127

['Craig Allen Heath']

2020-07-01 18:46:52.265000+00:00

['High School', 'Geek', 'Horror', 'Fiction', 'Satire']

How to Fade Into the Shadows — The B-2’s Stealth Technology

Conceived and developed to perform the USAF’s vital penetration missions deep into enemy territory, the B-2 is capable of evading the most advanced radars and defense systems up to date and deploy its ordnance — which could include nuclear weapons — to highly sensitive and strategic targets. The B-2 Spirit is a very special aircraft from every point of view. It was conceived to be the stealthiest asset of its time using curved surfaces instead of facets, like those used in the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. It belongs to the third generation of low-observable aircraft which were designed using computer technologies of the ’80s, with an estimated Radar Cross Section (RCS) of less than 0.1m². This means that the B-2’s radar echo intensity is the same as that of a flying bird. That is really mind-blowing, considering that the B-2 has a wingspan of 52m (170ft).

https://medium.com/carre4/how-to-fade-into-the-shadows-the-b-2s-stealth-technology-7cad7106dcf3

['Rodney Rodríguez']

2020-12-07 15:18:37.217000+00:00

['Aerospace', 'Technology', 'Science', 'Engineering', 'Military']

When is it the right time?

A baby is a whole journey. Now that I am in here, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t a dad. Umm well that’s a lie, I do fondly recall the time :). Time was never a worry, and even if it was, it could always be worked around since all of it (or at least 90% of it) was my own time. I think the biggest part of having a baby, is that now you are no longer working according to your schedule. And for someone like me (and I can vouch that I am like most of us), this means a lot of adjusting. For everything else, like “oh you will have to clean the poop”, or “oh you will need to wake up at night”, or “oh you will need to rock them to sleep”, all those don’t matter. Those don’t take a toll on you the way the time takes toll on you. All your “I will stay up at night and complete this”, “will wake up early and complete this”, “yea I can have dinner later as well” will be down the drains in a jiffy. No late nights (unless the baby keeps you up), no lavish four course meals cause you just won’t have that luxury. At times (I really should stop lying) it does get very frustrating. Especially after the novelty has worn off and it starts to take a toll on your day to day. You recall times when you would sit and do nothing, watch your favorite tv shows through the night completing a season sometimes, come back home, have a bite and just fall on the bed and sleep. You find yourself reminiscing the time when you could play music as loud as you wanted, drop a utensil without fear of waking someone up, not having to walk around tiptoeing in your own house lest you wake the small giant up. But I can vouch for you, that keep working on it, and you will get used to it. I keep myself amused by trying out new things with the baby everyday, trying to make her understand of my presence by doing little silly things, trying to humor her (which is easy but not too easy as well, its tough to find new things daily). Look up things which you can try with your baby at different ages in their life, and try those. Its absolutely worth it to understand and maybe learn how we grew up and so on. Its bitter sweet. It is not all fun and games. Sometimes you are just very moody and somehow my daughter just picks on that vibe and becomes extra irritable that day. It gets completely too much to handle. But I think this way she has taught me to calm down, and even at this young age, she has been the most successful one to try my patience. I just am realizing the effect it has had on the rest of my life. I am surely so much more patient in my everyday life, I have become insanely efficient with my time, and I try to do everything that I missed out on when I am baby sitting in the time that I get when I am not tending to her. And I have started planning way in advance which was totally not a virtue I had, since I always wanted to live unplanned (except for the baby ;)) I am sure you will learn all these things when in the journey, but I will surely say this. It is frustrating, and you will ask yourself all the questions such as “was this the right decision”, “maybe we hurried into it” and so on. But believe me, this is it, accept it and steam through. There will be a bad day/night sometimes (or more, specially between 3–6months), but the next day will always be better. :) You have made the right decision, it is just about going through with the best intentions. If you are thinking of putting it off, unless you have a really good reason, don’t. If you want a kid, and aren’t sure when the right time is, I can promise that it is NOW. The other things will sort themselves out, but you will need all the energy, all the flexibility and all the hormones that you have within you right now to get through this.

https://medium.com/@gadgilsanjeev/when-is-it-the-right-time-891c39fc7c03

['Sanjeev Gadgil']

2019-06-05 21:37:38.527000+00:00

['Parenting', 'Baby']

How to Spot an Abuser: Clue #9 Low Frustration Tolerance

Have you ever had an abusive partner? That is someone who has used degrading and demeaning language, withheld affection or financial help in order to punish you, hit you, shoved you, punched you, kicked you, or consistently yelled at you? And after being involved with that abuser, did you ask yourself if there were signs you missed that would have helped you detect their abusive tendencies earlier on? If you answered yes, it is best to put your sleuth skills to work before stepping into an new relationship. When you meet someone be on the look out for the tell tale sign of low frustration tolerance. People who are abusive have an extra hard time managing stress and frustration. In the face of stressful situations, they get demanding, unyielding, controlling and very angry. These characteristics make them more likely to lash out. When I was with my abusive ex, it was during his times of frustration, aka when I was around other men in social situations and if he was drunk, that he most likely to lose control. It became a pattern. One we all want to avoid. Notice if your date/ significant other is unable to manage moderately difficult situations without being highly frustrated and without demanding that other people make these situations disappear for them, it is a very bad sign. For example, observe how they manages stressful situations at work and whether they become obsessive and unnecessarily frustrated with tasks and unresolved issues with other people. Asking them questions about their past can be a good predictor of what they will be like in the future. If they are unfair with others, do not excuse them just because they cater to you. It may not last. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please CALL 911. For crisis and counseling services, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1–800–799–7233 or TTY 1–800–787–3224. Hotline advocates are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year to provide confidential crisis intervention, safety planning, information and referrals to agencies in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For more info on the red flags of unhealthy relationships and the green flags of healthy ones visit me here: https://theyogascribe.wixsite.com/mysite Please leave a comment below or connect! I’d love to hear from you. May you be happy, healthy, safe and at peace.

https://medium.com/@jackie-jacksonus/how-to-spot-an-abuser-clue-9-low-frustration-tolerance-56f75ba3acd2

['Jackie Jackson']

2020-12-02 19:35:10.230000+00:00

['Get Help For Dv', 'Domestic Violence', 'Red Flags', 'Frustration Tolerance']

What is Agile Workflow? (ELI5)

TL;DR — Agile is a repetitive approach to project delivery. Your team delivers multiple smaller steps from the start, instead of delivering everything at the end. Wikipedia describes Agile as: “A set of values and principles for software development under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing cross-functional teams.” … what?! To techs that may make sense, but to a laymen, that’s not particularly easy to digest. Why Agile? TL;DR — To embrace changing requirements! Agile processes recognise that humans are naturally bad at planning, and estimating. Don’t feel bad about it! No matter how much practise you get there’s always something lurking that can’t be accounted for. More traditional approaches such as ‘Waterfall’ dictate total planning, and if it’s not in the plan, it doesn’t get done. On any project, be it a piece of software, a marketing campaign, or a recruitment strategy, extra scope will appear or requirements will change. Especially on larger projects! This either needs to be disregarded (usually not ideal), or wedged into a tight plan, throwing the plan into disarray. Why plan at all, right? Wrong! Embrace the uncertainty, and build it into your process. Some of the best ideas don’t emerge until you are up close. What is Agile? TL;DR — A set of practises to help you be adaptable, and ensure your team is always working on something important. “Agile — able to move quickly and easily” Agile is the process of breaking down a large project into smaller tasks (usually called stories) and prioritising them. This prioritisation is important and is the essence of agile. Ensuring the team’s focus is on the current sprint, or on the most important deliverable to the business is key to ensuring you meet your business goals. This prevents teams getting lost in a torrent of requirements and requests, and ensures that every story that gets worked on in a given time is important to the progress of the project. These stories are delivered either continuously, or in short cycles called sprints (Scrum). How does Agile work? TL;DR — Requirements > Plan > Do > Review > Repeat Use your project requirements to make a list of everything that needs to happen. Don’t worry if you forget some things, it can be added to later. Estimate each item, either by time, or more commonly by story points (arbritrary numbers, based on comparing complexity, relative to each other). Expect this to be somewhat inaccurate. This will give you a rough idea on project duration. Set some priorities, most important stuff first. This is usually ever evolving, so prioritise quickly and often. In Kanban this frequency is very reactive. Scrum is based on fixed cycles (sprints), generally 2 weeks in length (or whatever suits your project). Review recent work. If you are crushing everything, increase your sprint workload. If there’s always outstanding items, you are being too ambitious! Scrum vs Kanban Real quickly (more detail incoming in another post), these are the 2 main frameworks for Agile. Framework sounds techy, it’s really just a posh way of describing the process and practises that you follow. Scrum Breaks work into chunks called sprints (usually 2 weeks per sprint) Plan sprints based on important requirements for that point in time Don’t estimate specific time, compare amount / size of work Sprint review to see how it went, what could be improved Gain feedback on your deliverables Daily stand up (super short) meetings, highlight blockers, keep things moving Kanban Weekly meetings Continuous flow Visualise the process on board / column type layout Most important thing first. Constant reflection on this. Incremental improvements Conclusion Agile is being able to adapt, and being able to put off decisions until you know enough to make them properly. The highest priority is to satisfy the customer, whether they’re your client, a product owner, your boss, or yourself. Embrace changing requirements, while still getting things done, through early and continuous delivery. This reduces risk, as it prevents delivering the wrong thing, and not realising until you get right to the end!

https://medium.com/scrumi/what-is-agile-workflow-eli5-15040cbd5e75

['Chris Horsnell']

2018-06-11 19:37:44.862000+00:00

['Agile', 'Scrum', 'Kanban', 'Project Management', 'Startup']

I know best (Day 35)

Before I had a baby, I was sure that it will be possible to let other people from our immediate family interact and take care of Otto. As I personally don’t have a problem with sharing him and the joy he brings, nature does. Or better said, no one smells as good as I do. Well, my husband is next in line and then for a long time, no one he is all that comfortable with handling him. So as much as I would like to have time to do things that I enjoy or spend time alone with my husband while someone else steps in for an hour or two, there is literally no time at this moment to spare. All is spent on Otto’s wellbeing. For the next few months. And there is another thing nature provided mothers. The skill of knowing what’s best for our child. No advice from others (well doctors and other professionals, naturally — well, even then it’s also a subject to critical appraisal) trumps mother’s intuition. Since we got home from hospital my husband and I have been doing it on our own (having done tons of research before and we still are learning) and day by day we get to know our child a little bit better. Because of that, I lost it today (again) when I got another “well-intended” advice about breastfeeding. True, it has been a challenge, but Otto is doing beautifully. For anyone to suggest I should get the quality of my milk checked because Otto is signaling he is hungry by putting his fingers to his mouth is showing that first, this person doesn’t know or has forgotten facts about babies and second, doesn’t know my son’s behavior. I shouldn’t have reacted as I had and in normal circumstances, I probably wouldn’t. But for anyone who isn’t a professional, hasn’t had experiences for himself and doesn’t know my baby to assume to know best — well, I told them where to take their advice. All the developmental literature speaks of the mother’s bond being the best and the most needed for a newborn to thrive. The benefits of the paternal bond are also emphasized in the physical and emotional growth of a child. We do take this very seriously and try to educate ourselves, ask about people’s experiences, rely on our intuition, etc. And again, Otto is one happy and healthy baby. Motherhood in numbers:

https://medium.com/a-year-in-a-life/i-know-best-day-35-3230eaad1e2b

['Sara Tomsic']

2019-10-22 18:21:55.080000+00:00

['Parenting', 'Baby', 'Mother Intuition', 'Newborn', 'Motherhood']

The 3 Best Reasons to Write

1. Writing Teaches You Things You never really know something until you teach it to someone else. John C. Maxwell I love to read. It is by far my favorite way to learn new and interesting things. But reading alone is not enough. You also need to practice doing the thing or, better yet, teach the thing. The learning pyramid estimates that you retain about 10% of what you learn from reading. Meanwhile, you retain 75% of what you learn by doing and 90% of what you can teach to others. Writing to teach others helps me understand the material better because it helps me identify weak spots in my learning. You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. Albert Einstein Explaining something to your grandmother is another way of saying, explain it simply. As counterintuitive as it seems, explaining something simply is harder. You need a high level of understanding about a topic to explain it so that everyone can understand. 2. Writing (Hopefully) Teaches The Reader Something It is important to remember that writing is not just about you. At least it shouldn’t be. The reader should get something from it also. You don’t want to waste their precious time. To avoid wasting your reader's time, it is nice to teach them something. Teach them things that are both: Useful/interesting Actionable (aka able to be acted on immediately) Note: Simplicity is key here as well. The simpler you can communicate an idea, the more actionable it is. 3. Good Writing Makes The Reader Think It is incredibly naive to think that you can teach someone a big life lesson in one short article. Most of the time, the best you can hope for is to make the reader think. Thinking about different opinions, perspectives, life experiences, biases, etc., is valuable. Don’t get me wrong; you shouldn't shy away from taking a side. Just don’t push your opinion too hard on the reader (especially when it comes to politics). Just explain your idea(s) in a simple, thought-provoking way.

https://medium.com/writers-blokke/the-3-best-reasons-to-write-ade0482bdcce

['Eugene Albano']

2020-12-15 13:07:48.051000+00:00

['Writing', 'Goal Setting', 'Writer', 'Reasons To Write', 'Writing Tips']

China’s Growing Influence On The World By Vedant Sanodiya

Until around a decade ago, China presented a modest face to the world. The official government slogan was: “Hide your light and bide your time”. Ministers insisted that China was still a developing country with a lot to learn from the West. Then Xi Jinping came to power. He became secretary-general of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, and President the following year. He introduced a new tone. The old modesty faded, and there was a different slogan: “Strive for achievement”. In some ways, China is still a developing country, with 250 million people below the poverty line. Yet it is already the world’s second-biggest economy and is on course to overtake the US over the next decade or so. China’s influence in the world is becoming more and more obvious, at a time when America’s authority has visibly declined. We can see the clear signs of China’s growing political strength and involvement right across the world, from Greenland and the Caribbean to Peru and Argentina, and from South Africa and Zimbabwe to Pakistan and Mongolia. On a strategic level, China continues to advocate for a multipolar world where it will be second to none. BRICS, the G-20, G-77, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and regional trade arrangements provide the country with platforms to pursue this agenda. China’s resurgence undermines traditional power structures embedded in leading global governance institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Beijing lobbies for reforms to accord more space for emerging powers like itself to have a greater say in these longstanding financial pillars. But while it pushes for reforms, it does not intend to unsettle the system. In fact, it has even increased support for multilateralism and globalization. China has become the largest contributor of peacekeepers among the five permanent United Nations Security Council members and has become the UN’s second-largest funder. China is also an active participant in the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization and, despite issues, has been known to comply even with unfavorable verdicts. This said the pronounced role of the state in China’s economy and trade malpractices are bound to sustain frictions with key trade partners. Notwithstanding its support for multipolar, China is already taking the lead in what it sees as a period of strategic opportunity. Emboldened by its economic weight and increasing clout, Beijing already took the bold step of offering its vision for the world — a “community of shared future for mankind.” While the concept remains nebulous, its emphasis on respect for sovereignty, non-interference, and peaceful resolution of disputes make it appear less intrusive, but also more unlikely to call out domestic rights abuses by countries bandwagon with it. Chinese security forces’ recent remarkable escalation of tensions along disputed boundaries with India, Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asian countries is the latest manifestation of actions China takes to exert and advance influence in international affairs. The tool kit used by strongman ruler Xi Jinping goes well beyond conventional methods of building and exerting foreign influence. Those conventional methods involve building closer political, economic, and security relations with other countries and multilateral groups. They provide the main metrics used in existing foreign assessments of Chinese foreign policy influence. However, recent reports by various foreign specialists and media show existing foreign assessments are insufficient in determining the full extent of China’s actual influence. Those investigations highlight unconventional Chinese government actions and levers of influence abroad that were heretofore disguised, hidden, denied, or otherwise neglected or unappreciated in foreign assessments of China’s foreign relations. If successfully employed, those unconventional actions and levers of influence foreshadow major changes in the world order averse to preserving the international status quo. In pursuit of their strategic goals, the Chinese regimes have employed their political warfare strategies, operational concepts, and formidable arsenals in many ways in recent years. The diversity of their operations and the skill in which a wide range of instruments have been employed have been impressive. To illustrate the diverse nature of these operations, some of their successes and failures, and the effectiveness of local and broader Western countermeasures as this research shows in-depth information on the growing influence of China in the world.

https://medium.com/@sanodiya-vedant/chinas-growing-influence-on-the-world-by-vedant-sanodiya-7c8eea5700a1

['Vedant Sanodiya']

2020-12-16 05:46:22.036000+00:00

['International Relations', 'Influence', 'International Business', 'China', 'Economy']

To My Friend Who Can't Seem To Get Over Her Ex

It doesn’t matter what anybody says about time healing old wounds--because it simply isn’t true. Time is no healer, and heartache knows no timeline. I see you, and it breaks my heart because I know you. I’ve been you. I’ve been the woman who can’t get over her ex no matter what anybody else says. We drown in our remembrance of a past love. We think that maybe if we had loved those men much less deeply, we’d get over them that much more quickly. Maybe if we had just done things differently...but we didn’t. And now it’s done. Here’s what I really think about heartache. We wanted to be loved, but it didn’t work out... and then when other things didn’t work out, we fell back on that love we so desperately wanted. We fell back but the love was gone. And instead of moving on, we let ourselves get stuck. So stuck. In a sense, we thought we deserved to stay stuck. We punished ourselves for some form of regret. And now few people understand why it’s so damn hard to leave. They left. Why can’t we? We make it so hard on ourselves for a few different reasons. Bad love is addictive. Back when I was still stuck on my own ex, he treated me like garbage. Somehow, I thought that was okay, because I loved him so much. I thought he needed my love to feel safe. And I thought I had to absorb every blow he sent my way. Our love was toxic, but by the time I realized that much, I was addicted to the drama. Our drama was better than feeling unloved. Until it wasn't. You regret what neither of you would do. Here’s the thing. I don’t know if your love with him was toxic or good, but I do know that you both made choices. He told you what he wanted, you told him he couldn’t have that with you, then you left, and he never came after you. It’s painful, but he didn’t fight for you. And I can’t even guess why he didn’t. All I can say is that it matters that he didn’t fight for you. And it matters that you didn’t fight for him. Ultimately, you made the same choice. But it’s done. Isn’t it? You only have three options. You could reach out to your ex. Find out if he’s happy. Talk to him. Tell him you were wrong and find out if there's a second chance or not. You could stay stuck. Keep thinking about your ex every single day and regret that moment you walked out the door. Live a life of regret. Or, you could recognize the fact that you’re probably unhappy without him because you’re unhappy in life right now. You’re in the slog--making better choices, building a new life, but it’s slow. And let’s be honest. It's lonely as fuck. Loneliness makes us crazy. People like to say that love makes us do the wacky. But that’s not true of good love at all. Good love is boring and sane. Honestly, it’s the loneliness that we so desperately ache to get off our chests. We all long for past love whenever we can’t stand the emptiness of feeling unloved or alone. And it’s even harder on single moms. You and I have so much in common. I know what it’s like to work so hard for your daughter, to do it all alone, and then long for a partner who could be in it all with you. Sometimes I just want somebody else to say, “I got this.” And then let me rest for a while. So I know firsthand that being a single mom is one of the hardest things anybody can ever do. I know the emptiness and the thanklessness. I know all about every sharp pang. And of course, I know how the world looks at you... I know how it looks at me. But loneliness isn’t a good reason to go backward. Ask yourself what would happen if you were really happy right now. Happy with yourself. Happy with love. Happy with life. Would you still be unable to quit thinking about your ex? My guess is that you wouldn’t be stuck on your ex if you were happy in other ways. That was definitely the case for me. In a sense, I had to “outgrow” my ex and start building a new life for me that couldn’t possibly include him. I look at what I'm doing now and what he's doing... and I am amazed to see that I'm the one moving forward. I'm the one building a better life and future. Meanwhile, my ex is still stuck in the same drama. Same job. Same slog. The reality is that we can never know how good it feels to move on until we actually do it. So dear, Cheney Meaghan, give yourself a break and move on. I know it's easier said than done. And I know you're worth the effort. You owe it to yourself to fight for you. Quit worrying about how you're not over your ex. Don't worry about people getting sick of you. Focus on building a life you love, and I promise, you will naturally quit thinking about your ex. The past can only haunt you when you give it power over your future. Give your future the power by going after your dreams. Forget about even trying to forget your ex. Build a beautiful life that works for you. He will fade, but only if you choose you.

https://medium.com/awkwardly-honest/to-my-friend-who-cant-seem-to-get-over-her-ex-d193ed539093

['Shannon Ashley']

2019-03-16 18:18:43.537000+00:00

['Women', 'Life Lessons', 'Mental Health', 'Love', 'Relationships']

Not Invited

I Hate it When I am Not Included Photo by Mockaroon on Unsplash It bothers me when I am not invited or included. I know I shouldn’t care so much. But, I do. I hate that feeling of being left out. It brings up memories of when I was younger and girls talked about going to places that I was not invited. When I go back to the raw feeling of what it was like when they talked and giggled about the fun they had. I hate the feeling of being left out. Not asked. Not invited. And not included.

https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/not-invited-74aee2f93309

['Laura Mcdonell']

2020-02-11 22:14:19.444000+00:00

['Self-awareness', 'Emotions', 'Friendship', 'Included', 'Perspective']

Freddy’s Nightmares episode review — 1.22 — Safe Sex

Original air date: May 27, 1989 Director: Jerry Olson Writer: David J. Schow Rating: 6/10 This is a pretty good season finale that involves Freddy into the story, which is always nice. And the two stories are closely connected to each other, which is also a plus, as it doesn’t always work out this way. At any rate, we start with a high school boy seeing a therapist over his problems with women. He insists he’s not into the “girl next door” type, and instead crushes after Caitlin, a goth chick who may or may not be into satanism and is definitely into Freddy. He tries to win her over and continues to have dreams about her. Eventually they meet up in a dream, which is kind of a fun and funny sequence. He says he always wondered what she’d be like as a blonde, and then his mother shows up to lecture on how she’s not good for him. She kills the mother, and then kills him with Freddy’s glove. We learn in the second story, that revolves around Caitlin and the deceased boy’s best friend, that she didn’t mean to kill him. She just wanted to scare him but she blames Freddy for the death. Nevertheless she’s now being pursued by the boy’s best friend, who doesn’t know her role in his friend’s death. He has a dream where she appears in a library in some kind of sexy outfit. And then almost immediately he winds up on a wheel, being tortured by her. And eventually by Freddy himself. The story goes a bit downhill from here, but manages to have a nice conclusion. Both stories are relatively strong, with the second standing out a bit more, despite having some more pronounced low moments. The torture stuff is quite fun.

https://medium.com/as-vast-as-space-and-as-timeless-as-infinity/freddys-nightmares-episode-review-1-22-safe-sex-5660e11d3709

['Patrick J Mullen']

2020-11-16 19:27:10.719000+00:00

['Freddy Krueger', 'Tv Reviews', 'Horror', 'Television', 'TV']

U.S. EPA to Decide On Wetland Destruction Proposal in December

By Amber Crooks, Environmental Policy Manager Florida is the nations’ third most populous state and includes some of the fastest-growing regions in all the nation. As Florida and its residents grapple with a never-ending onslaught of growth and development, protection for Florida’s natural resources should be strengthened, not further weakened. This week, a critical decision will be made that will impact the future of Florida. What Is Proposed A key component in the ability to appropriately protect environmental resources, and balance growth and development, lies in the hands of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Unfortunately, the agency is primed to decide whether or not to grant the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) permitting authority of Clean Water Act Section 404 program by December 17, 2020. If approved, the program would have an effective date of January 19, 2021. Why Wetlands Are Vitally Important Florida’s wetlands are vital to maintaining our unique ecosystems. Wetlands store excess water after heavy rainfall and serve as protective buffers against intense storms. Wetlands naturally restore water quality and treat the agricultural and stormwater runoff which fuels toxic algae blooms. A myriad of rare and protected plants and animals reside in Florida wetlands. What Is At Stake Under Assumption Under the status quo, where the development proposals are considered by local, state, and federal levels, Florida has already seen extreme growth pressure. If EPA gives the OK, FDEP will take over the central federal role in permitting destructive wetland development projects. This will fast-track and expedite the development of Florida’s most treasured landscapes. Removing the federal agency from the process means removing protective laws from consideration. It removes the checks and balances we need in overseeing requests for new communities, new roadways, and new mines. It would also remove tools that have advanced wetland preservation in our area, such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For example, in 2011, at the same time that FDEP was issuing permits for over 10,000 acres of proposed mines in Lee and Collier counties, the federal wetland agency utilized NEPA to pump the brakes on these environmentally damaging proposals. Under assumption, not only will many federal protective laws, like NEPA, fall away, but citizens and the environmental community will have a tougher burden to bear when challenging bad permitting decisions, essentially making 404 assumption an early holiday gift for private developers in our state. What Other States Are Doing The last time the EPA considered such a proposal was nearly 30 years ago. To date, only Michigan and New Jersey have assumed the Clean Water Act “dredge and fill” permit program, and to much cost, controversy, and trouble. Florida is third in the nation for the number of protected species, as our state is a unique and biodiverse place. Florida has over 130 listed species that are teetering on the edge of extinction. This, as compared to Michigan with its 26 listed species and New Jersey with its 16 species. This is important, as transfer of the program to the state would also impact the way that development’s impacts on wildlife are evaluated by the agencies. Assumption Has Not Been Sufficiently Evaluated In the rush to pave the way for 404 assumption, the agencies have pushed forward a barebones review of how the proposal will impact listed species, resolving to move forward now but ask questions later. They have concluded that extinction will not occur, but have not actually evaluated the impacts of future development permits. Under the current system, Southwest Florida has the most endangered species reviews in the entire state of Florida, due in part to the presence of our rare species, but also due to growth pressures in our region. Figure from FDEP’s “ESA Biological Assessment for Clean Water Act 404 Assumption by the State of Florida” dated August 2020 The 404 assumption process will undoubtedly negatively impact our wildlife, as well as our sensitive wetlands, water quality, and water resources. Florida Cannot Afford Assumption Despite having the third most endangered species in the nation, and despite being a state with more wetlands than any other in the continental United States, the FDEP has continued to assert that the state will be able to take on these hefty burdens without any additional funding. And now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of Florida finds itself with a shortfall in excess of $5 billion dollars. Our Commitment The Conservancy is dedicated to continuing to fight this proposal and working to safeguard our wetlands. Stay tuned for more information about this critical issue.

https://medium.com/the-policy-team-conservancy-of-southwest-florida/u-s-epa-to-decide-on-wetland-destruction-proposal-in-december-e811d539e15f

['Conservancy Of Swfl']

2020-12-16 13:29:23.460000+00:00

['Politics', 'Wetlands', 'Wildlife', 'Florida']

How I overcame my Fear of Public Speaking.

1. Seeing others mess up their presentations boosted my confidence April, 2017. Final semester of my Bachelor’s. We are supposed to give a presentation to our teachers, about a project we did. They will judge our work and award marks at the end. Some of our classmates would be in audience as well(judging as well, but thankfully not responsible for awarding marks). This was a solo assignment, no group presentations. So I was on my own, so I got nervous as usual. A mild panic attack, thoughts of running away on the D-day and hoping they’ll just let me get away with it, etc. spring to my mind. But I had to attend, this was a compulsory assignment. So I worked on the PowerPoint presentation, and started rehearsing a few lines to say for each slide. Cut to presentation day, I managed to give a good-enough talk to impress my teachers well enough. Somehow, I ended up being relaxed and calm during the talk. But what made me calm and relaxed? It was the fact that several of my fellow classmates F’ed up their talks! I was No.10 or 11 on the list, so I first had to watch others give their talks. And a lot of them messed up. Particularly, I remember one guy just stood there with his hands behind his back, and made his speech in such a monotonous tone that it looked as if he was mindlessly reading off a teleprompter(personally, this is my reference to How not to give a talk). When I saw my classmates give such talks, it just struck me like lightning: I just knew that I was not as bad as that. I knew I could easily do better than what I’m seeing others do. I knew my subject well enough to answer any questions posed by the teachers, I was just nervous that I would stammer or forget my exact words. But seeing others mess up their talk, and getting criticized by the teachers gave me the confidence I needed! I know it sounds wrong to say that I fed off the failure of my fellow classmates, but that is the truth. It just struck me that there are others who aren’t that great at public presentations as well, and are going through the same struggle as you are. I realized that none of us had to give any presentations in college until this final semester, and hence our weak presentation skills were now getting exposed. It made me realize that this “fear of public speaking” is not as bad as it seems, especially since others too are going through the same fear and hence there is room to improve and do well. So there you go…that was my first real “motivation” that I experienced that made me realize that I can actually do better than a lot of people out there when it comes to public speeches.

https://medium.com/@maheshswayamprakash/how-i-overcame-my-fear-of-public-speaking-f1ea02cf5344

['Mahesh S.']

2021-09-15 15:18:11.015000+00:00

['Public Speaking', 'Self Confidence', 'Stage Fright']

A Christmas NICU Story

“He needs to come with me to the NICU for a little bit, Dad you want to come while Mom finishes up with the doctor?” The overnight NICU Nurse Practitioner said to me in the delivery room. “It could be a few minutes or it could be a few hours.” It was a cherry on top of a half hour of chaos. He was stubborn: not wanting to come out at all, coming out right side up, coming out slowly and traumatically. And then once he was out, he was breathing in tiny little gasping grunts. “I need you to fill out some consent forms for his admission to the NICU” You can’t quite believe what is happening. Grunts, that’s literally what the condition is called, and in the scale of delivery complications it’s (thankfully) on the lower severity end of things that land you in the NICU. The lungs are in a state of deflation, from either holes or fluids, and the newborn is having to use a dramatic amount of force to just inflate them and take a single breath, before returning to fully deflated. Imagine blowing a balloon up from empty with every single breath. It even sounds cute in the moment when you don’t know what it is, although I should have known better since moments after he started grunting 3 NICU nurses grabbed him and surrounded him on the warming table. The fix is essentially a CPAP. Breathe for the newborn and keep the lungs inflated and hope their autonomous breathing normalizes and the condition goes away. He has a tiny hole in his lungs that will heal normally, but he also has some other hurdles to get over: namely eating. Entering the NICU at 4AM in tow with your son is a surreal but affirming experience. Everyone stops what they are doing to watch you enter, some glance into the warmer and mutter “awws” and ask his name. Everyone speaks very slowly to you and it slowly dawns on you that your eyes are the size of quarters and you are being treated very gently. You comply with everything, sign the forms, manage to ask a few questions. You steal a last glance at your son before asking to be taken back to your wife to explain what little you’ve learned. — Hours later he is breathing on his own, at least. He isn’t eating yet, but you can hold him finally (which angers a few beeping machines). The NICU is oddly quiet, given how many babies are there. Some make noise, tiny little cries. You are somewhat startled by how few parents are in the NICU, but you’ve heard yourself how they urge you to go take care of yourself. They are a Level 3 NICU, and exceptionally competent. Your kid is in amazing hands, it will be fine just go eat and rest. They won’t stop you from hovering though, in fact visitation hours are just about 24/7 with a few gaps for shift changeovers. Just follow the surgical cleaning procedures and you are welcome to your child just about any time. You’ve noticed some hospital staff treat you differently because of your pink wristband. Not in a special privileges way, but with tone of voice and body language. You don’t know if this makes you feel better or worse yet. It is now Christmas and your wife is about to be discharged. You will be going home to your toddler to spend Christmas day smiling and playing while your son remains in a high tech incubator with IVs. You’ll process that later Christmas night once the toddler is asleep and you can relax in a place that isn’t as sterile. You can feel it beneath the surface, the hurt and anger — frustration. “He’s ok, he’s just in the NICU” is something you’ve grown used to saying already — and it’s a nonsensical sentence. But, it is only a few more days — and this adventure in NICU is almost over. Then life will proceed as if it had been an uneventful birth and your stay will fade — becoming a story you are told when you ask about the day.

https://medium.com/@chascorbett/a-christmas-nicu-story-5885ea6c9291

['Charles Corbett']

2020-12-25 21:05:08.727000+00:00

['Emotions', 'Nicu', 'Storytelling', 'Coping', 'Newborn']

Which is better trust or section 8 company?

No organization has considered donating their funds for welfare. This includes schools, colleges, religious organizations, hospitals (NGOs). Before deciding how to start an NGO in India, it is important to understand the two common forms of NGOs such as Trust, and Section 8 Company. Here we have given information about the NGO registration process in India and how Section 8 Company is different from Trust. Trust registration The trust is the first and oldest form of a charitable organization. Public trusts and private trusts have been created primarily for the benefit of family members or for known individuals. The Indian Trust Act is not valid for public trust. Public trusts are generally governed by law except in the states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, etc., which have separate public trust acts. Trust is easy to build and operate. But, as there is no dispute, if a dispute arises, the parties have to go to court. The trust can be amended by the managing trustee or with prior approval from the Income Tax authorities as per recall in the deed. Requirements for trust registration A bill of electricity or water that needs to register the address. Proof of identity of at least two members of the trust. Evidence may be: Voter ID Aadhar Card driving license Passport Section 8 Company Registration These are limited companies authorized under the Companies Act. The government gives these companies a special license under the Section 8 registration company. In a company that is limited by guarantee, there are no rabbits and therefore there are no shareholders. Members of a company that is limited by a guarantee are bound by a guarantee in the articles of the company’s association, which allows them to pay the company’s debt up to a certain amount. There are three main conditions for this. 1) The company should form a charitable trust 2) Income and profits should be used towards these items 3) The company should not pay any bonus to its members Requirements for Registration Name of the company for approval. Address proof of office. It can be a water bill, electricity bill, or house tax receipt. Identity proofs of all directors who can be: Driving license Copy of passport Voter id Aadhar Card 4) Articles of Association and Memorandum of Association of the Company. Is the trust or section 8 company a better NGO? In India, an NGO online registration for a charitable purpose can be registered under these three different authorities which are trusts, societies, and Section 8 companies. The charitable purpose primarily includes relief to the poor, education, yoga, and medical aid, preservation of the environment and monuments, or the inclusion of historical or artistic places or objects. When choosing the form to be registered to make a non-governmental organization nonprofit, the entity must evaluate its areas of operation and objects, the individuals included in its constitution, and the sources of income to achieve its resolution. To facilitate decision making by Chartered Munshi as an NGO registration consultant, a comparative analysis of all forms of registration available to non-profit entities, namely, Trusts, Societies, and Section 8 Companies, should be done. Section 8 Company is a non-profit organization, which makes several deductions on taxes and other benefits. The benefit is received under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The stamp duty is also lower for these companies as compared to other companies. Companies that are registered under section 8 do not require much share capital. They can easily be funded by membership or donations made by them. Unlike companies with limited liability, which are usually not allowed to transfer ownership or title, but by Section 8 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, transfer of ownership or title to movable and immovable interest with any form of restriction. Therefore, registering a section 8 company is a better option than trust through this analysis. To, and that trust, NGOs

https://medium.com/@charteredmunshitech/which-is-better-trust-or-section-8-company-e4f47479acd7

['Chartered Munshi']

2020-12-10 09:43:25.662000+00:00

['Section 8', 'Daily Blog', 'Trust', 'Ngo']

Who is Kafka and Why Should You Care?

Image created with Canva “How many Kafka’s have lived and died without ever sharing their voice with the world, when their voice would have changed it forever. How many people never know who they’ll be after they’re gone.” ~ Robert Pantano, Pursuit of Wonder Every year for my mother’s birthday, I take her out for dinner. Unfortunately, her favorite restaurant, Country Catfish, closed. So we googled catfish restaurants in the area and was surprised to find that Red Lobster® serves catfish. While we were waiting for our meal, we decided to play the electronic table games. Smashy Brick was fun, but didn’t keep our attention very long, so we switched to trivia games. Mom avoided selecting the book category because she knows I love to read and she has never really liked to read. I know right! To be fair, I have never liked to do crafty things like sew or crochet. Finally, only the book category remained and a question stumped me! “Who would Player 1 prefer to read: Shakespeare, JK Rowling, Stephen King, or Kafka?” Who is Kafka? I couldn’t believe there was a name on a list of the most recognized writers and I had no idea who it was or what genre he (or she) wrote; Poetry, SciFi, Historical, Horror, Mystery, Fantasy, Self-Help? I couldn’t wait to get home and look it up! Franz Kafka… Wow! What I discovered blew my mind. His name could be used in place of feeling down, fearful, and insecure; as in “I have been feeling a bit Kafka lately due to the pandemic and election drama!” Actually, there is a related word that has a similar meaning according to the Cambridge Dictionary: “Kafkaesque” “Extremely unpleasant, frightening, confusing, and similar to situations described in the novels of Franz Kafka.” Franz Kafka had a passion for writing, but when his first novel didn’t sell, he decided his writing must not be worthy of publication. He continued to write, but on his deathbed, asked his best friend to burn the manuscripts. Fortunately, his friend published Kafka’s work instead of burning it, thereby creating Kafka’s posthumous legacy. Kafka struggled with self-esteem issues, thanks to his tyrannical father. How many of us can relate to having a “Kafka” father that bullies, abuses, and demeans. Nearly one hundred years later, Kafka’s dark tales resonates with creatives who are torn between speaking up and remaining silent; between ignoring the voices within and giving them an outlet in order to stay sane; between sharing their stories and doubting if anyone even cares enough to read them. I’ve been there. Many times. But something internally pushes me to forsake all other avenues and write to give that little girl, who was silenced for so long, a voice. I have often felt that my poetry and stories may not gain traction until after I’ve departed, if ever, and that’s okay. I’m honoring the drive within my soul to write, come what may. Maybe my writing will inspire someone to share their own stories. Who knows what effect pursuing our passion and taking action may have in healing our wounds and helping someone else along the way. All that enlightenment from playing a game and hanging out with my mother on her special day. Write on! https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/kafkaesque

https://medium.com/writerkats/who-is-kafka-and-why-should-you-care-5d86e244e9a4

['Kathy Gerstorff']

2020-11-05 23:50:52.731000+00:00

['Kafka', 'Writing', 'Fear', 'Existentialism', 'Reading']

Reading as an Intentional Practice

Do you read on purpose or for distraction? Reading as an Intentional Practice What happens when you read? Think about it. How do you read? Do you sit still and sink into the material, like lowering yourself into a deliciously hot bath? Or do you skim, going way too fast, greedy for the gist, oblivious to gift of context and detail? I find so much of my reading is incredibly selfish. There’s a kind of “do me” attitude I’m not proud of. What will this do for me? What can I take from it into a conversation or something I’m writing that will make me seem like I’ve really thought about it? It’s rarely that sacred exchange of my attention for your words. Rarely is it me stepping onto the ship of whatever you’re telling me, and experiencing the ocean of it while the shore of my laundry-laden life recedes. Since I’ve become aware of this attitude, my little inner guru has given me a teaching: Give ten minutes of every day to reading as a spiritual practice. Put in place the following parameters: Be intentional. Give some thought to what you’re going to read. Don’t just read to distract yourself or pass the time. I don’t care if you’ve chosen the National Enquirer, just make sure you’ve decided to read it on purpose and for real. Ask your mind what it wants from language right now? Cookbook recipes? Newspaper article? Novel? Poem? Tabloid? Sacred texts? Whatever you’re drawn to reading, be intentional with what you choose. Get comfortable. This is another area where intention comes into play. Decide where and how you’re going to sit. Make sure you’re comfortable. Do you feel better at the table, sitting on a good chair? Or would you rather read on the couch with your favorite pillow supporting your back? Think about it. Give your whole body to this little ten-minute vacation into someone else’s world. Set your timer. Set it for ten minutes. It doesn’t matter, really, if you go over — but it does matter that you reach the ten-minute mark. This is to give yourself enough time to notice how you read. If you dive right in and lose yourself in the piece, then awesome! If you find yourself fidgeting, or skipping around, maybe peeking at the end or whatever, notice that. Take a breath and invite yourself to settle down a little. (Sometimes reading out loud helps me focus.) Then READ. Go on the ride. Hold hands with the one in you that’s learning something new. This is a precious moment. The world is telling itself to you. Are you listening? Are you on the ship, or did you wave goodbye to it from the shore, waiting for the timer to ding? Pay attention. Tending to the quality of our reading is just one of the many gateways into this Right Now thing. This moment. The one where Alice has taken a sip and nothing is its right size. The one where Harry realizes the Patronus he thought was his father was actually himself. The one where we ride the train with Gandhi as a young man, or where we learn about the structure of the shoulder girdle, or where we’re told who really killed Laci Peterson. Or it’s this one. The moment where you are letting my words bear you away from your laundry and into the deep waters of a language that connects us and makes us one. Today, I bow to my eyes, my brain, to language itself. To my parents and all our people who taught me English, my nanny who taught me French, and my friends much later in Tuscany who taught me Italian. To all my teachers who taught me not only the shapes of letters and how to sound out the words but the body parts of a sentence, the anatomy of a paragraph, the nervous system of a story. To anyone who said, “Read this,” and it was a great book. To authors and publishers and books and bookstores, and amazon.com, and kindle, and all its brothers and sisters in the digital world. Scripts, articles, exposés, dissertations, and declarations of independence. Footnotes. Sidebars. Scribbles in my journal. Let’s bring a little reverence to our reading life, break out the anchor and set sail on the uncharted waters of all the stories that have made their way into our hands.

https://tinalear.medium.com/reading-as-an-intentional-practice-f5261865cbe0

[]

2019-10-22 20:32:57.251000+00:00

['Storytelling', 'Mindfulness', 'Publishers', 'Reading', 'Authors']

Forget country pride, get RICH$$$

Hello, it is Asian American here. I am sicking tired of erosive comments remarks about China or world order, let me ask you, does your country pride pays you dividend? When your government gives you a big fat check for your harsh attacks about “how no other country can do well or better than my country” please let everybody know. Because I have never gotten one from China or America, lest Korea or India. It has come to a point of asking Me Myself & I: WTF is in this for me? Fighting over something that doesn’t pay off is just like roosters picking on each other’s necks out of sheer adrenaline high, this is not even about territory or rights to mate, the f* are we doing in this mud? Who is ripping profits out of our words and emotions? You think going to war is fun? You can’t even handle a pandemic or wear a mask, you will shit your pants if you have to wear a bullet vest. Don’t hurt yourself honey. Be brutally honest with yourself, this sore spot in your heart, that little twitchy feeling when you think that somebody else is doing better than you, is it JEALOUSY? If it is, then it is not country pride or love for greater good, but your EGO is activated, and your clouded judgement is holding you back from recognizing OPPORTUNITIES! American dollar, Chinese yuan, Japanese yen, British pound, who gives a shit, as long as it is mine, it makes me happy, I want to make money, make love, I don’t want to make war, war is bad for business; unless you are selling weapons double dipping from governments then I see where you are getting at. Your pride doesn’t get paid, my pride doesn’t get paid, there is that. The quicker we get over our own emotional bullshit the faster we get real and ride the tide as it goes. Either way the table turns, I hope you get rich. As long as you get good money out of this turbulent time, I think looking back you will be glad that changes bring chances. Diversify your portfolio, take risks, downsize, buy real estate, do whatever to ensure your own money game is strong. Being without money is a horrible feeling, another stimulus check can’t cover your six months’ rent. Your own ego is your biggest enemy, not some foreign country. We all fear things we don’t know, and that is why it is important to never stop learning, and plan ahead. To do this it requires you to be realistic and look into things that might offend your feelings. Waste no more time arguing which country is the best, the winds of change will never agree. Listen to JLo, “Doesn’t money make you horny?” Go get it tiger, get laid get paid.

https://medium.com/@tygraes/forget-country-pride-get-rich-921646e125cd

[]

2020-12-20 03:23:45.401000+00:00

['Stock Market', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Emotional Intelligence', 'Finance', 'Investing']

From exutec to &why

But we pulled it off! And these are three things we became aware of: We’re a new kind of agency. We discovered that what sets us apart as a (relatively) young agency are the things we took for granted most. People love to work with us, both as clients and employees, because of our close collaboration, our flexibility, and our ambitious attitude. Some may call us young and raw, but we figure that’s our greatest asset: because sometimes you need someone raw enough to push for bold change and the ambition to go far beyond the official boundaries. And with &why, we’re honestly and authentically displaying what we already are. “I always wanted to have two things: flexibility of working from different places, and something like a constant challenge, kinda like the drive of always doing something new, keeping it exciting, always learning, never falling into monotony… and that whole “thing” is what we have here, I’d say!” (Sergio) We want to do better and lead by example. For us, work is more than work. Work is where we can live our beliefs and where our actions are in harmony with our values. We want to do better, both internally and externally. Internally, we are currently in the process of becoming a climate-neutral agency. We promote diversity and equality, donate our retail space to nonprofits and help out with our time in social projects. Externally, we work with our partners to become value-driven forces. Forces that people can believe in because they are aspiring to be contemporary leaders in their fields. In a nutshell: We aim to see a greater purpose in every project we do and push for positive change using the innovative technological tools we have. We strive to understand all connections. We think there are little things more interesting than holistically understanding why and how something feels great. We aim to be aware of all the connections involved in the complex challenges — from business to creativity to technology. Thinking across barriers and outside our perceived areas of expertise doesn’t make us uncomfortable, it makes us &why (and happy, of course). Honestly, though, we can only do a really good job if all units work together closely. Only then, we can fulfill what we strive for: To connect people worldwide by creating experiences to fall in love with.

https://medium.com/@andwhyagency/from-exutec-to-why-3f41f02cd98c

[]

2020-12-17 19:33:49.944000+00:00

['Branding', 'Brand Strategy']

The right words

The right words The start of our first counselling session and the brute of an overly tattooed 40-ish year-old man recently released from prison asks, “do I look like a man who has been on tik for 18 years”? My mind goes with the rhetorical. Tik has flooded the Cape landscape, devasting lives, like molten lava slowly consuming the innards of individuals, families and communities depositing a dark, heaving void. It is a cheap, white, odourless psychostimulant made from various combinations of at-hand ingredients; rat poison, anti-freeze, battery acid, drain cleaner, acetone, cold and flu medications, amphetamines, you name it. It fries the brain whilst providing the yearned for euphoria and energy. Whilst I have counselled many people with addictions, I had no image of someone with a long-term tik addiction on their first day without the drug. The first session was smooth and, with an air of confidence, he described his journey. The drug was still in his system. Fast-forward to session two. Gone was his previous bravado, the room palpated with restlessness and irritability. There are a mere handful of rehabilitation centres in South Africa and even fewer for those without financial means. We discussed triggers and coping mechanisms, but his singular salve was to lock himself in his bedroom and throw the key into the garden in the morning, until, end of day, his girlfriend would uncage him. Pure white-knuckling. He lamented that he never saw his dad after his parents’ divorce when he was nine and was unable to fathom why. Surely his father had not forgotten him. Surely his dad loved him. This became the thread and preoccupation week after week. His father had long been living overseas and my client didn’t want to upset his mother by asking these gnawing questions. To quell this fixation I organised mediation between him and his mom. I knew the desired outcome but no way to envisage the process. My expectations of a burly, street-wise mother were wrong. A delicate, old-lady in her best dress with groomed hair, hobbled into the counselling room, gripping her handbag Queen Elizabeth style, as if to ward off any would-be criminals. We gave her space to reminisce the heartbreak she felt when her husband left her for another. The rhythm of their discussions coursed until it was time for me to ask the pertinent question, “your son would like to understand why his father never saw him or contacted him”. An eternal pause — “because I asked him to not see you”. Eight words he had waited thirty-five years to hear. A gentle light flowed into his inner dark void and suppressed tears were freed at last. His substantial muscular frame crumpled and the man gave way to his little boy within, freed at last. “And I thought it was because he didn’t love me”. I was privileged to witness the instantaneous healing of a broken man, a betrayed wife, and a shredded mother-son relationship. And I wondered about the nature of human-kinds’ inner void — what if we reached out to one another with the right words at the right time.

https://medium.com/@van-rockey64/the-right-words-1d0e78e095fa

['Van Rockey Vanessa Rockey']

2020-12-26 17:36:48.755000+00:00

['Inner Voice', 'Healing', 'Psychostimulant']

Procrastination and how to avoid with Pomodoro.

We often find ourselves involved into different tasks while having an important task at hand that needs our undivided attention but we tend to spend on that unimportant task because we feel more relaxed and it seems easy to do at that time. This is called ‘Procrastination’. There are two types of procrastination, Intentional Procrastination and Unintentional Procrastination. These two procrastination can hinder our abilities to do important task that need immediate attention. There is a technique, from which one can learn to focus on the task on hand rather then finding or doing something else to do. This technique is known as Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. My experience with this technique was very helpful and a bit different because I can focus for short period of time but in longer run its hard to focus but this technique still helps me to get the 2 hours of my work done and I cant imagine being that productive in those two hours. My four task was comprised of doing the Amal Academy work which was to complete the first learning group work, making priority matrix. Following with the online course work of superhero resume in the next three tasks as that course is a little lengthy. I did get distracted by YouTube one time which is kind of progress given that most of the work time I always get distracted by YouTube. All of these task were completed within the time frame of 25 minutes and some task even before the time limit so I started the next task with the remaining time on hand, just to check how much productive I can be. This technique helps me a lot in getting the important things done as I know how much procrastination I do and at the dead line my Panic Monster wakes up and by that time I didn't have time to complete anything.

https://medium.com/@syed.maaz150/procrastination-and-how-to-avoid-with-pomodoro-bef534ba0e28

['Syed Maaz']

2020-08-20 07:24:15.226000+00:00

['Time Management', 'Amal Academy', 'Procrastination', 'Pomodoro']

Distributed Orchestration with Camunda BPM, Part 2

The term Orchestration in Microservice context might be ambiguous. To get it clearer, I would like to propose the following classification: SOA-like orchestration SOA focuses on remote communication between services, built around business capabilities. Central process engine synchronously calls distributed services remotely. The integration is performed between the state-handling process engine and the state-less service. I’m over-simplifying it a little here and describing a “bad-design/misunderstood-SOA”, since in essence SOA was NOT about stateless services, but was sometimes implemented this way. Synchronous orchestration There are two different implementation styles of this class of systems. The Connector integration pattern is used, if the process engine is calling the service (S1, S2, S3) using the selected protocol directly (usually HTTP). The RPC integration pattern is used, if the engine calls a local delegate and these are invoking a remote service (S1, S2, S3) via selected protocol (HTTP, Java RMI or any other synchronous protocol). In both cases, the integration requires the engine and the services to be online simultaneously. The engine might know the location of the services or use a registry or a broker (remember the Webservice triangle) to resolve this and the services use invocation-oriented implementation to execute work on behalf of the process engine. Message-driven orchestration Instead of synchronous invocation, the central engine might send messages to queues or topics and the stateless services subscribe to those. The simultaneous availability of the engine and the services is not required. As a result the services use a subscription-oriented implementation to execute work on behalf of the process engine. Asynchronous orchestration There are two types of implementation depending on the messaging abstraction in use: The messaging infrastructure might be middleware (for example using a central messaging bus) offering the concept of queues (Q1, Q2, Q3). The engine send asynchronous messages to services (S1, S2, S3) using queues. Instead of using queues, the process engine may publish the information to pre-defined topics (T1, T2, T3). The topics subscription may be a part of the process engine (aka External Task Pattern as displayed above) or be on the centralized messaging middleware. Distributed orchestration The orchestration itself is distributed. Instead of separation between state-full engine and stateless services, the services become state-full (and get their own means of handling state e.g. using orchestration) and the integration takes place between business processes (e.g. running in process engines PE1, PE2, PE3). Distributed orchestration between process engines This style of orchestration has been introduced in the last article (see Part 1 of this series), in which I shared my thoughts about the decomposition patterns of orchestration. In this part, I focus on more patterns and implementation strategies using the External Task Pattern.

https://medium.com/holisticon-consultants/distributed-orchestration-with-camunda-bpm-part-2-9a6d54389184

['Simon Zambrovski']

2019-11-20 08:04:29.556000+00:00

['Microservices', 'Orchestration', 'Camunda', 'Bpm', 'External Task Pattern']

The 5-Step Strategy You Can Use for Your Next Coding Interview

The 5-Step Strategy You Can Use for Your Next Coding Interview A methodology to reduce awkward silences during coding interviews Photo by Headway on Unsplash Unlike coding tests, where you solve algorithm problems with a keyboard silently, coding interviews go beyond keyboard communications. It can be a daunting task, as the interviewer can see every move you make on a shared screen. And if that wasn’t nerve-racking enough, you also need to speak out, expressing your thought process to not only elicit some hints from the interviewer but also keep the conversation flowing. That’s why I was thrilled to see this algorithm design template when attending a coding practice hosted by Women Who Code San Diego: via Women Who Code San Diego After following each step in the template during several practices, I have developed a methodology to reduce awkward silences in my coding interviews. Here’s my consolidated five-step strategy.

https://medium.com/better-programming/5-step-strategy-you-can-use-for-your-next-coding-interview-492a70e21662

['Annie Liao']

2020-08-28 14:52:02.077000+00:00

['Programming', 'Software Development', 'Interview', 'Coding', 'Algorithms']

Brubeck Testnet 2 — it’s time to get ready!

Make history and be one of the first people ever to run a Streamr node! Follow these instructions to join the Brubeck Testnet and mine your share of the 2M DATA reward pool. Install a new Streamr Broker node or update your existing one now. Timeline for Testnet 2 Tuesday, September 14th : The Streamr Broker node software becomes available for download in preparation for Testnet 2. The node can already be started, but mining rewards will only start when Testnet 2 is launched. Note that more updates may become available before the launch, so please keep an eye out just in case. : The Streamr Broker node software becomes available for download in preparation for Testnet 2. The node can already be started, but mining rewards will only start when Testnet 2 is launched. Note that more updates may become available before the launch, so please keep an eye out just in case. Thursday, September 16th : Testnet 2 goes live! Your node claims shares of rewards as long as it is successfully connected to peers in the network. : Testnet 2 goes live! Your node claims shares of rewards as long as it is successfully connected to peers in the network. Thursday, September 23rd: After 7 days, the mining reward period ends and Testnet 2 is over. The schedule of the next Testnet will be announced. You can leave your node running, but note that there will likely be updated versions available before the next Testnet. In total, there will be as many Testnets as are needed to iron out any discovered problems. Previously on Brubeck Testnets On Tuesday, August 31st, the Testnet 1 reward period ran for 48 hours. We were hoping to get a fair number of nodes participating but as it turned out, there were plenty more Broker nodes turning up in Testnet 1 that we had anticipated. In fact there were so many participants that we needed to cap the amount of nodes that could be connected (5000) at the same time, as well as add a limitation on how many nodes could be connected from the same IP address (3). This was enough to stabilise the network and even though not all willing Broker nodes could be connected at the same time, Testnet 1 was a great success. It was the biggest Streamr Network so far. We are happy and grateful for all our community participants who ran a node and helped us take giant leaps towards decentralization! What’s new in Testnet 2? There’s a new release of the Broker node. If you’re new to this, install a new node, or if you already ran a node in Testnet 1, update your existing node. If you are updating, the existing node configuration will be migrated to work with your new Broker node software version automatically. Updating is mandatory to join Testnet 2; old versions will not receive the reward codes as they are published to different streams. During the two days of Testnet 1, approximately 10% of the rewards were mined. So roughly 90% of rewards are left for Testnet 2 and Testnet 3, both of which will run for seven days. The Network capacity has been increased via horizontal scaling of trackers as well as other optimizations. The 5000 node limit we had to set for Testnet 1 has been removed, and we are confident that the Network can push way beyond this limit. It’s hard to say yet whether a new cap will be needed, as the critical capacity can only be discovered when people update their nodes and join Testnet 2. Will there be enough nodes to break things again? Challenge accepted? Now what? Let’s bee-hive How many nodes can I run from a single IP address this time? As the trackers are now distributed for horizontal scalability, it is no longer possible to set an exact limit per IP. You should be able to run three nodes behind the same IP, but not much more than that. Note that in order to run multiple nodes (on same or different IPs), you need a unique config file with a unique Ethereum private key for each node. One Ethereum address can join the Network only once. I have access to a lot of IP addresses and will run a lot of nodes! Please remember that there are costs involved in spinning up nodes on cloud services, and there is no guarantee that your rewards will cover the costs. Due to the financial risk involved, we do not recommend running a large number of nodes. Instead, it’s best to use the idle capacity you already have. The rewards available are stretched thinner with each participating node. How do I know if I am connected? You will see test reward codes being received and claimed even before the Testnet 2 officially starts. This is a sign that you are connected. How many rewards do I get? There is a total of 2 million DATA shared across participants in all three testnet. Your share of the reward pool depends on how many reward codes your node sees and claims out of the total, as well as how many other nodes there are claiming codes. I have an error message. What does that mean? Please join the Streamr community on Discord, there are channels to help you out, such as #testnet-faq and #testnet-troubleshooting. Our developers and engineers and other various unicorns are keeping watch and will answer your questions there. Remember to read the instructions and check the FAQ before posting.

https://medium.com/streamrblog/brubeck-testnet-2-its-time-to-get-ready-48fbc7ed9b5

['Henri Pihkala']

2021-09-17 12:47:41.112000+00:00

['P2p', 'Web3', 'Data', 'Testnet', 'Streamr']

Scrum: A Brief History of a Long-Lived Hype

Scrum has been around for a while, they say. The Scrum Guide holds the definition of Scrum, they say. The first, official version of the Scrum Guide was released in February 2010. So, how was Scrum defined before 2010 then? How did its definition evolve before and after 2010 and become the framework that we know today? What else happened along the road to the way that Scrum is defined and represented? In the paper “Scrum: A Brief History of a Long-Lived Hype” I have described what changed to the definition and representation of Scrum over time, before and after the creation of the Scrum Guide. It shows how Scrum evolved into the framework that we know today since its first formal introduction in 1995. Because a touch of historical awareness is more than helpful in understanding Scrum and caring for the future of Scrum. I looked for sources that are not just credible in terms of authorship but also offer regular enough check points. In the end, the sources I used for describing the evolutions of the definition of Scrum are: The paper “SCRUM Software Development Process” by Ken Schwaber (1995, 1996) The paper “SCRUM: An extension pattern language for hyperproductive software development” by Mike Beedle, Martine Devos, Yonat Sharon, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland (1999) The book “Agile Software Development with Scrum” by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle (2002) The book “Agile Project Management with Scrum” by Ken Schwaber (2004) The book “The Enterprise and Scrum” by Ken Schwaber (2007) “The Scrum Guide” by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland (2009, 2010) “The Scrum Guide” by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland (2011, 2013, 2016, 2017) “The Scrum Guide” by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland (2020) For every source I have described the same three topics to show what Scrum consisted of at the time (regardless the different terms used), what the ‘definition’ of Scrum was at the time: Roles, responsibilities, accountabilities Controls, deliverables, artifacts Phases, meetings, time-boxes, events For every source I have included a graphical representation of Scrum or of a Sprint that was either taken from the source directly, either from an alternative source of the same period. Finally, I have shared my thoughts and observations on the changes to the definition of Scrum for every source. Obviously, they represent what I deem noticeable. They hold no judgement, directly nor indirectly. To complete the paper I have listed some important landmarks in the history of Scrum and included some personal musings on the topic of “ Scrum and the Desire for Universal Truths” (and what the Scrum Guide was not created for). I hope you will enjoy reading the paper. I hope it will help you grow a deeper understanding of Scrum. I hope it will help you shape your Scrum to get the most from it. I hope it will help you create better products with Scrum while humanizing your workplace. Take care Gunther Verheyen independent Scrum Caretaker

https://medium.com/@ullizee/scrum-a-brief-history-of-a-long-lived-hype-fb0739f98744

['Gunther Verheyen']

2020-12-18 09:21:41.921000+00:00

['Scrum', 'Scrum Guide', 'History', 'Definition']

Is This Really Right: The Farmer’s Protest In India

“My grandfather used to say that once in your life you will need a lawyer, a doctor, a preacher, and a policeman but every day, three times a day, you will need a farmer”. These lines by Brenda Schopp so elegantly portray the role farmers play in sustaining this wheel of human life. Farmers are the backbone of our country. Any country that has, that is, and that ever will flourish, has had the knowledge of the importance of farming and farmers of their country. India is the largest exporter of rice, cotton, cereals, and spices globally. Our agricultural produce has broken global records on multiple occasions and has made the economic boost possible. We rely highly on the farmers of our country to put food on our table, and that is the reason farmers have been given such impetus in our tradition. Farmers have had the most important role in shaping this nation’s structure. But the dire state of farmers is hidden from none. For decades farmers have succumbed to adversities. Barren lands, absence of rain, no modern technology, and no actual help from the government. For years and years, farmers of the country have been excruciated for personal gains and have been overlooked for petty profits. Heartbreaking stories have surfaced in successive intervals, portraying the dire state our farmers are in, just shatters the soul. The one feeding us all fails to put food in his own children’s plate because the entire money he earned with the last crop, went to pay his debts. Farmers of our country are indebted to their chests and have been shut down from any help. The negligence being shown towards the entire section is highly condemnable. Farmers put their savings into reaping fields, making the land fertile, and even lend parts of their land to sustain and produce crops for the harvest. But despite all that gut-wrenching efforts, numerous farmers are subjected to cruelty and apathy. The recent times have been none different. With the new farm laws being implemented, the entire nation has been in disarray. At the moment I’m writing this, there are lakhs of farmers protesting on the borders of Punjab, Delhi, and Harayana, waiting to be heard and listened to. But their unending wait continues as the government isn’t ready to listen. To disrupt their march towards the nation’s capital, the authorities deployed policemen, who tried very hard to stop the farmers at various borders and entry points into Delhi. The farmers faced water cannons, tear gas shells, and violence on their way to–and even in–Delhi. They try to subject farmers to the atrocities of this modern world. At times I feel pity for the naivety of the government who believes that they’d scare them with water guns or tear gas. The farmer that battles with hunger, poverty, drought, and pain would be scared by these fancy toys. They’re farmers, they take on fate in a duel on a regular basis, you can never scare them. They are and will stand at the borders until their voices wouldn’t be heard. Take a moment and just admire the pride and beauty in this, that even when they are hundreds of miles away from their homes, away from their lives, they still aren’t pleading or requesting, they are standing demanding for their right. That is the beauty of this nation. The sense of pride that they have clearly portrays their honesty and justifies their standpoint, which sadly, isn’t being heard by the people responsible. Our land is our mother, and the son that caters to her and serves her, has been bound in shackles, shackles of greed, and thirst, and selfish motives. But the mighty that sits high must never forget that the ones who put him there have the power to throw him out, and they will, it’s all a matter of time. My countrymen sleep, dreaming about a world that has no faults, that is perfect in every sense with a gatekeeper that is all but perfect, and I stand here waiting for them to wake up, just once, just to show them that my beautiful nation is burning…

https://medium.com/@akshatbansal/is-this-really-right-the-farmers-protest-in-india-2933bb715c

['Akshat Bansal']

2021-09-09 08:48:01.012000+00:00

['Farmers', 'India', 'Media', 'News', 'Protest']

(Last minute!)Giftpack Holiday Gift Guide 2020–10 Best Gifts For Water Signs (Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio)

Heartfelt gifts are always the answer for water signs. It’s the last-minute and also the last part holiday gift guide series for zodiac signs. Hope you all have already done your shopping and can sit back and relax. If not, this hopefully will bring you inspiration. Also check out air, fire, and earth signs gift guide before shopping for more holiday gifts. Water Signs They are caring, sometimes sentimental, they are the best listeners that you could ask for, they know exactly when you need to vent or a hug. They have a vivid imagination and a strong institution. They may seem soft from the outside but can be so protective for their loved ones as they seek for the sense of security all the time. In terms of gifts, they do really care if you have considered their preference and needs and they will definitely appreciate it when you make extra effort to make it special (hints: handmade or customised gifts). 1/ Herbivore Botanicals — Coco Rose Body Polish $36

https://medium.com/@giftpack-io/last-minigiftpack-holiday-gift-guide-2020-10-best-gifts-for-water-signs-pisces-cancer-scorpio-6e2d4c24521d

[]

2020-12-22 13:02:23.497000+00:00

['Astrology', 'Holiday Shopping', 'Giftpack', 'Gift Ideas', 'Gift Guide']

Unicorn Mining: month 5. One transaction: UNI -> HNT.

November results for the risky part of the “Unicorn Mining” portfolio. 💲 Total invested: $1000 ✅ Current balance: $6255 📆 Duration: 5 months 🔸 # exit + 🆕 # investments 200 UNI tokens of the Uniswap decentralized exchange were sold. With the proceeds, I bought 462 HNT IoT tokens from the Helium project. The price of HNT has dropped by 11%, so there is an opportunity to purchase these tokens even cheaper. 💲 # deposit I did not add new funds to the portfolio. We hit the target as we were going to add $200 of new investments monthly on average. In July and August, the plan was exceeded. Now everything is clear according to the plan: in the 5th month, $1000 should be invested in the portfolio, and we came to this. ▪️▪️▪️ During the month, portfolio gained +28.7% ($ 4860 -> $ 6255). That is good enough for a portfolio of new coins. The capitalization of the entire market for the same period increased by +44%, and the price of bitcoin rose by +41.3%. Shock month for top cryptocurrencies! For many distant alts, the month turned out to be difficult, while some also skyrocketed in price. Our result is inferior to the market, but if $200 were simply invested in bitcoin over the past 5 months, then $1000 would turn into $1826 now. Of course, this is also super profitable in such a short period of time, but we are still better. All deals can be tracked on the “Deals” sheet in the Google Tab. 10 new alts that I selected for monitoring in November and which showed positive dynamics: Freeway Token is a token of the AuBit trading and investment platform (I bought FWT outside of our experiment, since there was such an opportunity for holders of TrustSwap tokens, with the second batch it will already be possible to break even or a small plus). Dvision Network is an ecosystem of VR content with ERC-20 Dvision Tokens. Axie Infinity is a cryptocurrency game with Axie pets, which are presented in the form of tokens. zLOT is a staking protocol built on top of the optional Hegic protocol, both work over the Ethereum blockchain Alpaca is a cryptocurrency pet game in the form of NFT. Conflux Token is a native token of the Chinese blockchain startup Conflux Network. CyberFi is DeFi automation tools with a friendly user interface. Dtube is a decentralized Youtube. Unifi Protocol is a DeFi platform for multiple blockchains. Kira Network is a protocol that allows staked assets to be liquidated by issuing synthetic tokens. I hope that the market will please us in the New Year too! We continue our experiment “Unicorn Mining”, where every month we invest a small amount of funds in new cryptocurrencies. We continue to record the results and new coins in the Google Sheets. ✅ Do you want to participate in private deals on early stages with me? Follow this bot please. Do you like my content? You can thank me, just register using one of the links below: Binance (cash back 20% forever) UpCloud ($25 bonus, fastest cloud servers) Trezor (hardware wallets for crypto)

https://medium.com/@cryptoved/unicorn-mining-month-5-one-transaction-uni-hnt-e0977ebcc78e

['Aleksandr Cryptoved']

2020-12-01 19:58:39.602000+00:00

['Investment', 'Bitcoin', 'Altcoins', 'Tothemoongame', 'Mining']

Top 5 GOP Fails of 2020

Just when you thought the Republican Party couldn’t possibly stoop any lower, 2020 happened. Instead of helping people, the GOP pushed dangerous conspiracy theories, flouted public health guidance, and doubled-down on voter suppression tactics. In fact, Republican state legislators engaged in such deplorable conduct, it’s hard to even remember everything that happened. Here are the top 5 worst failures by GOP legislators. #5: Republicans make it harder for people to vote The GOP’s refusal to ease voting during an unprecedented public health crisis brought the party’s long track record of voter suppression to a whole new level. They immediately set out to restrict mail-in and early voting, politicizing a global pandemic to keep themselves in power. Wisconsin Republicans recklessly pushed forward with their in-person spring election despite a lack of poll workers and many closed polling places, refusing to mail ballots in the hopes that it would lower turnout and help their conservative candidate. In Kentucky, Republicans tightened voter ID requirements even though state closures made it impossible for voters to obtain said identifications. Pennsylvania Republicans pushed legislation to ban ballot drop boxes and cut early voting by almost 3 weeks, leading to outrage among the Democratic caucus. Meanwhile, Texas Republicans fought tooth and nail to ensure that people afraid of catching COVID were barred from voting by mail, requiring folks to show up in person and risk exposure. Forcing people to choose between their lives and their vote is cruel, dangerous, and about as undemocratic as it gets.

https://medium.com/@TheDLCC/top-5-gop-fails-of-2020-cd7b081eb50a

[]

2020-12-18 21:26:08.203000+00:00

['Coronavirus', 'Politics', 'Public Health', 'Elections', 'Republican Party']

Why I’m Quitting Tobacco: A Mad Move From The Mad Man At Madison Avenue

Don Draper is a sophisticated fictional character who works as a creative director at Sterling Cooper and Partners, an advertising agency from AMC’s Mad Men. Aside from the plot that mainly focused on middle-aged ad executives in Madison Avenue, it’s a well-portrayed series of Manhattan life in the 1960s with fascinating cultural scenery based on real-life events. Don is the mastermind of advertising campaigns for Kodak, Chevrolet, Life Cereal, and more. But cigarettes have a special spotlight in representing the 60s lifestyle on AMC’s Mad Men. In the pilot episode Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (2007), Don earned his name when he successfully landed a deal with Lucky Strike, a famous tobacco company. When people started to take great concern about tobacco dangers, Lucky Strike wanted to hide the link between smoking and lung-health risks. “Everybody else’s tobacco is poisonous. Lucky Strike… it’s toasted.” Just like that, Don Draper, the suave guy, saved the day. Ever since he invented that catchphrase, Lucky Strike has always been the heart that pumps up hard cash for Sterling Cooper and Partners — until they decided to move their company away to another place. Sterling Cooper and Partners were nearly going downhill after losing Lucky Strike (Blowing Smoke, 2010). Amid all the madness, Don takes out a full-page ad in The New York Times after losing Lucky Strike with a bold letter ‘Why I’m Quitting Tobacco.’ When you see the scene where he spends his entire booze-filled evening writing his ‘confession letter’ while still taking a big puff on cigarettes, alongside his voice in the background — reading what he writes, it’s quite a coup. Don’s PR stunt may feel like a new breath of fresh air. But around the 1960s, the tobacco industry is a valuable commodity in the U.S. as the number of smokers exploded and made it to over 40% of the adult population (National Center for Health Statistics, 2005). So, while many other companies are trying not to play games with their smoked moneymaking machine, Don’ helped’ his firm fall. Still and all, he thought he did what was the best for the company. With all the chaos and uncertainty happening in the office, his statement seemed rather unbelievable. They wanted new clients to save them from collapse. But Don took a different approach than many people could understand. “When Lucky Strike moved their business elsewhere, I realized, here was my chance to be someone who could sleep at night, because I know what I’m selling doesn’t kill my customers.” (2010) The column sparks public attention. With Don’s staggering mind and brave move, he is hoping this serves as a way to get started with new potential clients. His standpoint clearly shows some authenticity and integrity that set his firm apart from others. While it’s nice to hear a company being open about their issue with a sentimental reason added behind it, he put himself at significant risk in the public interest. His action raised doubt at the beginning. But in the following episode of the series, Don proves that his attack on their ex-client was worth a shot. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked him to create an anti-smoking campaign. Even though it was quite an inconsiderate professional decision, Don’s bravery to bash Lucky Strike and the rest of the tobacco companies blatantly on media is utterly admirable. These days, we can find plenty reminiscent of Don Draper’s ‘Why I’m Quitting Tobacco’ manifesto. Still, it’s a very tricky move since what matters most is the result. But suppose you ask me why so many people always do this kind of stunt. In that case, my answer is none other than because it’s interesting to hear — it’s everyone’s favorite trumped-up story that constitutes excellent advertising.

https://medium.com/@rosesinpeace/why-im-quitting-tobacco-a-mad-move-from-everyone-s-favorite-mad-man-b0b19878cac5

[]

2021-03-15 04:54:15.878000+00:00

['Advertising', 'Don Draper', 'Mad Men', 'Insights', 'Marketing']

Introduction to Streaming Algorithms

Now I hear some of you say: Why would I care about network stuff? I‘m a Machine Learning guy, duh! — you Well, there is another famous example from the Machine Learning world: Gradient Descent! If we deal with a small enough data set, it can fit into the (GPU) RAM completely, and we can use Batch Gradient Descent, i.e. put the complete data in the memory at once and process it. However, most of the time our working memory is too small, making it necessary to use the Stochastic Gradient Descent or the Mini-Batch Gradient Descent, which are examples of so-called Streaming Algorithms. Another example is the Hoeffding Tree Algorithm, which I described here. In this article, I want to show you a few examples of Streaming Algorithms, including Python implementations that you can use! Apart from making you aware of the problem, which I have already done. ;) Intuition With Streaming Algorithms, I refer to algorithms that are able to process an extremely large, maybe even unbounded, data set and compute some desired output using only a constant amount of RAM. If the data set is unbounded, we call it a data stream. In this case, if we stop processing the data stream at some position n, we expect our algorithm to have a solution corresponding to the data seen up to this point. In the following, just imagine that we either have an enormous data set on our hard disk that we want to process without loading it into our RAM at once (because we can’t) or that there is a source that outputs a data stream, for example, incoming tweets on Twitter. Both cases are handled the same way. I will phrase the upcoming examples in the language of large data sets since then we know that they are finite, and I don’t have to mention all the time that we stop reading a data stream. We further assume that we can pass over the data exactly once. A gentle Start Let us get familiar with how we can design Streaming Algorithms using two simple examples. Finding the Minimum Imagine that there is an extremely large list of numbers, too large for your RAM. You want to find out the minimum of this list. In Python, classically you solve it like this: print(min(my_list)) But this assumes that my_list is in the RAM already. So, how can we approach this in another way? Maybe you have found a solution already: Just read the data set number after number and update the minimum, whenever you find a smaller number. To be more precise: You read the first element and declare it the minimum. Then you read the second element, and if it is smaller than the current minimum (first element), declare it the minimum. Else, do nothing. Then you read the third element, and if it is smaller than the current minimum, declare it the minimum. Else, do nothing. Then you read the fourth element, and if it is smaller than the current minimum, declare it the minimum. Else, do nothing. Ok, I stop it, you know where this is going. This basically works, because Using this formula, you can easily show via induction that the algorithm is correct. After reading the first element, the result is correct since a₁<∞ and hence min(∞, a₁)=a₁. The induction step is exactly the formula (think about it!). But enough of this, let us get back on track.

https://towardsdatascience.com/introduction-to-streaming-algorithms-b71808de6d29

['Dr. Robert Kübler']

2021-08-13 10:02:57.102000+00:00

['Streaming', 'Big Data', 'Algorithms', 'Efficiency', 'Data Science']

The Gravity of Monetary Maximalism

The Gravity of Monetary Maximalism Gigi, anonymous and prolific Bitcoin thinker and writer, comes to POV Crypto to discuss his latest article, “Bitcoin’s Gravity”. David Hoffman Jun 6, 2019·2 min read In short, Bitcoin’s Gravity is about the pulling force that Bitcoin has to so many different people from so many different populations Gigi has a website Bitcoin’s Gravity article David makes the point that this very really effect is not specific to Bitcoin, but it’s crypto at large that people come to, and Ethereum has the capability to generate much more ‘pull’ through its high expressiveness. David and Gigi go off to the races with a great debate about Bitcoin vs. Ethereum fundamentals! Topics: Bitcoin’s gravitational push and pull of people with different mindsets Bitcoin changes you more than you change it Being a good trader requires understanding Bitcoins value prop, means you need to understand Austrian economics, means you need to understand politics. In Crypto, traders are also politically opinionated! PoW & PoS, Competitive or not? Debate!:

https://medium.com/@TrustlessState/the-gravity-of-monetary-maximalism-cf968dd23268

['David Hoffman']

2019-06-06 16:44:14.853000+00:00

['Ethereum', 'Bitcoin', 'Proof Of Work', 'Proof Of Stake', 'Blockchain']

Food makers in Portugal decide to go Kosher — Here’s why

Serra da Estrela, Portugal’s tallest mountain range, has emerged as a real powerhouse for kosher food, as reported by The Times of Israel. It is an unexpected development for a region with about 50 Jews. However, while Jews there are not so many, 20% of Iberians of the area are thought to possess Jewish ancestry. The kosher food production is in fact a way for them to get closer to Judaism and also a successful business choice. In 2017, one of Serra da Estrela’s oldest producers of olive oil, Casa Agrícola Francisco Esteves, located in the town of Manteigas launched a kosher label just in time for the Jewish festivity of Hannukkah. In 2010, the town of Belmonte started hosting an annual kosher market in the days before of the Jewish new year’s festivity, Rosh Hashanah. In a nearby town, the Braz Queijos cheese factory got a kosher certificate for most of its products in 2009. In 2004, a winery in the area became Portugal’s first kosher-certified wine in centuries. The kosher trend shows Portugal’s growing awareness of its rich Jewish history. About hundreds of thousands of Jews lived in Portugal before 1536, when Portugal’s church joined the Spanish campaign of expulsion and Inquisition. On the other hand, the food producers’ choice of turning kosher is also motivated by a desire to revive the Portuguese and Spanish economies where the unemployment rate is really high. On a national level, both Portugal and Spain have undertaken moves to atone for the Inquisition. In 2015, both countries permitted some 5,000 descendants of Sephardic Jews to obtain Spanish or Portuguese nationalities.

https://medium.com/jewish-economic-forum/food-makers-in-portugal-decide-to-go-kosher-heres-why-87af067aa4f2

[]

2018-01-01 13:46:29.230000+00:00

['Kosher', 'Jef', 'Spain', 'Portugal', 'Ethics']