fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Education with Consequences
By: Icon Lady
Tags: Bad Example, Self Control, Consequences, Education, Free Speech

We were standing in front of a tourist attraction on a windy February morning, holding signs that we could only hold in a country where the right to free speech is a given.

We are grateful for it.

Every few minutes, a series of school buses pulled up to the curb and disgorged middle school children on the sidewalk by our signs. While we speak clearly and our signs represent actual factual information, we do not target children with our literature.

We do offer it, however, if someone shows an interest.

Most educators use the encounter with the signs between the bus and the front door as an educational moment. “Look if you want,” they tell the children. “Record your responses in your notebook.” “These people are practicing free speech,” they say, “you’ll see similar material inside the building.” Some kids take interest. Most just trot alongside their besties, eager to get inside where it’s warm.

Other teachers offer a different kind of education to the children watching them. For all they have to be called to attention, the kids are watching their teachers.

“They have no right!” shouted one instructor, snatching brochures from the children’s hands, shredding them and dumping the paper remains on the ground. Lesson to children: Scream when you disagree. Destroy offending material. Litter. Make a scene.

Another teacher snatched the brochure from the woman passing them out and holding it above his head, flicked it at her while refuting her in loud, agitated tones. Lesson to children: Disrespecting peoples’ ideas in a loud voice and throwing things when you disagree is fine. If you happen to hit the offender with what you throw, no matter.

The woman passing out the materials was not hurt when the brochure hit her.

I wonder what will happen in his classroom when his students follow his example.

While the children under the tutelage of the first two instructors may learn to process and consider ideas calmly even if they disagree, the classrooms of the latter two teachers will likely include similarly uncontrolled demonstrations of dissatisfaction.

These educators taught us a lesson that day: The children are watching. Think carefully about what you’re teaching them, as you will be on the receiving end of it soon.
Keep Burning Flags — I Respect Your Freedoms, You Complete Arseholes
By: John Gray
Tags: Flag Burning, Donald Trump, Julian Assange, Free Expression, Free Speech

|I like Trump, I really, really do. But he’s wrong about this:

All in for Senator Steve Daines as he proposes an Amendment for a strong BAN on burning our American Flag. A no brainer!

Let’s start with the basics: Burning the flag is an utterly disgusting and contemptible act. You are, after all, not just destroying an emblem of state-power, but also a symbol that ordinary people have fought and died for. The flag doesn’t just represent the elite — It represents all of us. Disrespecting it, therefore, disrespects us.

Flag-burning is also, it has to be said, a rather scattergun approach to political warfare — If you hate Trump, then burn an effigy of Trump. If you hate Pelosi, then burn one of her. If you hate militarism, then burn an effigy of an F16 … But burning the flag? That certainly attacks Trump, Pelosi and the military-industrial complex — What it also does is attack 327.2,000,000 other, completely innocent people living underneath that flag. It’s like wanting to murder someone and concluding that the best way to accomplish this would be by nuking the city he lives in. Effective? Sure. But also somewhat overkill.

Alright. So I hope that everyone reading this now understands I do not, under any circumstances, approve of flag-burning. Let’s move on, because what I also do not approve of are restrictions on free speech.

See, this is what Trump is at least pretending not to understand: When conservatives and populists are thrown off social media, that’s wrong. He’s right to condemn this … So why, then, is he also condemning the speech of flag-burners? Because he agrees with us and disagrees with them?

That’s not how freedom of speech, if it’s going to work, um, works.

The moral test here, the moral test that Trump has failed, is that for free speech to remain a force for good, we have to be willing to defend all speech. If the lefties at Google and Twitter just defend other lefties, and Trump just defends other conservatives, then we’re hurtling into a world where speech only belongs to the people who have the most money or wield the most power.

I, for one, don’t want to live in that world. I rather liked growing up and living in a West where people took pride in tolerating speech they hated on account of the (rather obvious) fact that this tolerance also guaranteed their own freedom to speak.

I think the kind of people who burn their own country’s flags are arseholes. The people who do it think I’m a dick for wanting to protect symbols of colonial oppression. So, fine. We get to agree to disagree. We get to grudgingly put up with each other … Which is the whole fucking point of free speech.

Take it away, and all we’re left with is a battle over money and power — Winner decides which mouths have a hand over them and which mouths don’t. Jack from Twitter, and, as it weirdly turns out, President Trump, want to live in such a world. I. Do. Not.

As always, let’s #FreeAssange who cares about free speech, and therefore needs to be allowed to keep talking.
Nigerian Twitter users flock to VPNs amid dubious legal threats
Tags: Twitter, Nigeria, Regulation, Social Media, Free Speech

During a press conference two days prior, Lai Mohammed labeled Twitter’s mission in Nigeria as “very suspect,” accusing it of selective enforcement of its policies and of funding #EndSARS protests:

The same Twitter, during the #EndSARS program, there was funding [for] #EndSARS protestors. When people were bombing police stations, and killing policemen, for Twitter, it was about the right to protest. When a similar thing happened in the Capitol, it became insurrection. We are not going to be fooled by anybody.

The #EndSARS protest was a massive, youth-led digital protest movement that started in early October 2020, calling for the disbandment of Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), known for its gratuitous violence against civilians, and culminated in the shooting of several protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate plaza on October 20, 2020.

The information ministry arranged the press conference after Twitter removed a tweet and briefly removed President Buhari’s account when he published a tweet suggesting those responsible for damaging government infrastructure would face military reprisals.

A screengrab of the now-removed tweet by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, in which he threatened to deal with “those misbehaving” in “the language they understand.” (Source: @mbuhari/archive)

In response to the nationwide suspension of the platform, Twitter said it found its suspension “deeply concerning” and later engaged with the Nigerian government in talks to resolve the dispute.

Suspended animation

The government implemented the Twitter suspension through an instruction to the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the umbrella body for telecommunication network providers in Nigeria, for its members to suspend access to Twitter. The instruction came from the Nigerian Communications Commission.

Intrepid social media users, however, turned to VPNs to get around the suspension. A VPN enables users to protect their identity and online behavior, in essence cloaking the web traffic sent to and from the user’s computer. An outside observer trying to take a peek at the traffic, or trying to obstruct traffic to a specific website such as Twitter, would only see encrypted data being sent to and from the VPN provider. It also allows the user to spoof their location to one of several “exit nodes,” as VPN servers based in a different country would treat that user as if they were based in that country.
Her Last Tweets Predicted Her Own Death
By: Gisele Oliveira
Tags: Crime, Equality, True Crime, Murder, Brazil

She told her parents she would meet up with a friend they already knew and left home at approximately 4:30 pm. However, she lied, and her parents had no idea who she was really with. When it was about 5:00 pm, her mother called to check on her, which ended up being their last contact. There was no sign that Yasmin could be in danger.

They arranged to hang out at a popular club in Araraquara, where she had been several times with friends. On their way, H.S. pretended to have forgotten his money and had Yasmin accompany him home so that he could supposedly pick it up. He lived with his mother and she was attending church by the time they arrived at his house.

H.S. allegedly took Yasmin to his bedroom and walked out of the room so he could hide a knife in the bathroom.

After hiding the knife, he took Yasmin to the bathroom and told her to close her eyes and say what she felt for him. After Yasmin allegedly replied she was in love, she was put in a chokehold. She fought back and managed to catch his knife and hurt his arm, knee, and lower calf before being choked unconscious. He could not say whether she was already dead but went on to stab her in the neck and drain her blood under the shower. About an hour later, he began dismembering her body.

When his mother returned home, she didn’t realize her home had become a crime scene. H.S. made sure not to leave a trail.

A piece of Yasmin’s torso and legs were found under a food truck in H.S.’s backyard, which he intended to keep as a trophy. Some pieces were dumped in another neighborhood, while her head and other parts were thrown in a lake near his house.

Firemen searching for Yasmin’s body in the lake. Source

Yasmin’s parents and friends started looking for her on Sunday night and a missing person report was filed the next morning. They made contact with the 17-year-old upon learning that he was the last person to see Yasmin — and who at that time had already murdered her. “He was acting different, changing the subject,” Waldir recalled.

The murderer told Yasmin’s parents and friends he had walked her to the bus stop and then returned home.
Globo Counts Nearly 3 Million Votes per Minute with hCaptcha Enterprise
Tags: Globo, Enterprise, Hcaptcha, Security, Brazil

Globo Counts Nearly 3 Million Votes per Minute with hCaptcha Enterprise hCaptcha Mar 24·1 min read

Globo headline

For those in Brazil this will be a familiar story: Big Brother Brasil has broken all records for engagement in its current season.

Brazilians voted for their favorites this week, setting a new popularity benchmark and peaking at 2.988 million votes in a single minute and hundreds of millions of votes per day.

Working together with the hCaptcha Enterprise team, Globo (the media tech company behind Big Brother Brasil) was able to ensure that votes came from real people with minimal friction for voters, all at massive scale.

To further improve the user experience, Globo leveraged the unique Instant Verification feature of hCaptcha Enterprise to allow vote verification to occur with almost zero latency.

Designing for privacy from the ground up has many benefits, and for hCaptcha performance is one of them: thanks to minimized data retention and an edge-optimized design, the system scales to millions of requests per second on demand, easily supporting the world’s most popular online events.

Interested in learning how hCaptcha Enterprise can work for you? See more at: BotStop.com.
Industrial Display Market Size Worth $7.26 Billion By 2025
By: Gaurav Shah
Tags: China, Germany, Japan, Technology, Brazil

The global industrial display market size is expected to reach USD 7.26 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Due to the growing complexity of industrial operations and processes, the use of industrial displays has become crucial to simplify operational tasks and provide technologically advanced features.

Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) and other displays possess the ability to respond to the changing production demands and closely monitor the production processes, thereby decreasing the downtime and increasing workforce efficiency. A well-designed HMI enables line of sight into the system, which allows the operator to control or maintain the machine and enhance productivity.

OLED displays are expected to gain prominence on account of their enhanced picture quality and low power consumption. The technology is widely used in digital signage and display boards to indicate the operational status at factory floors.

Solution providers have begun offering IIoT application platforms integrated with industrial display devices and services. For instance, American Industrial Systems, Inc. (AIS) offers open platform computing solutions for IIoT and facilitates its application in industrial companies, factories, transportation & logistics, buildings, and smart cities.

Companies are investing heavily in R&D activities for designing technologically enhanced displays and offering distinguished products compared to their competitors. Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), strategic agreements, and multiple partnership agreements are other growth strategies adopted by players to increase their product offering and expand their distribution platform.

Click the link below:

http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/industrial-display-market

Further key findings from the report suggest:
You weren’t there
By: Miguel Bevilacqua
Tags: Literature, Poetry, Poem, Poet, Brazil

One day, the sun was nearer

Life less bitter, nor toil or danger

But I saw some ships wrecking

I saw some clouds were plotting

And rivers below were boiling

And standing here alone, to be fair

You may call me a liar

But you weren’t there!

Like some caves I’ve painted

With moon bowls of silver and red

To drop some colors I never imagined

Coming out of your chest a hundred lions

Starving to death

But I saw a hunting in the meadow

I’ve heard sounds of violent steps

Not like fiction, I breathe without air!

And you weren’t near, you weren’t there!

I want guilt’s no more

That sudden night made me hid my face

And you lied like never before

The knives were sharper than ever

Your scissor tongue could never cut so well

Despite some scenes of scorn and anger

Your last act made perfect by itself

Sitting in your little chair you’re never wrong my dear

But you simply weren’t there!

When creation starts to talk no more but sing

You weren’t there when the dusk turned out into spring

You weren’t there when the Devil offered and I declined

Mirth’s of sacred things- like statues

They have no life within

There’s only sin, and sin the law

Rolling starving for more

Like black crows whirling around death

And death their only sacred vow.

Perpetual hands reaching out for the sky

Because the skies were made perfect

Even the blind ones could feel it from inside

Even if they’re hollow, they too will die!

Our roads once empty, are now blocked

By arms growing from heaven above

And arms growing of Earth bellow

Like a poet without words

And a singer without voice!

Your wine sour as vinegar

The vestiges were found late, they’ve crossed

The valley of shadows fulfilling the prophecy

Of other woman’s fate

Before Venus queendom was vainly turned into a vagina

This is not avant-garde but double way to hell.

Without my horn I cannot play

Bleeding everywhere neither way of ceasing my pain

Without eyes I cannot tell

If one is good enough for me

Or twice to say no more makes me very well!

Whom is she, I have no doubt she set me free

But as the world has two faces both rotten

I’ve seen your little speech as a final act of despair

Like middle age preachers long forgotten

But when they burned my ancestors and ended my life

I was led to know you never cared

Because you simply weren’t there!

And even if I die like a cigarette in your hands

Even if the white supremacy comes between our ways

Like the gods always do

They will speech before me,

Because I was there!

(2018)
Bathroom and Toilet Assist Devices Market Worth $6.0 Billion By 2025
By: Gaurav Shah
Tags: Canada, Germany, Bathroom, Toilets, Brazil

The global bathroom and toilet assist devices market size is expected to reach USD 6.0 billion by 2025 at a 6.2% CAGR, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Growth in prevalence of chronic diseases, coupled with aging population, has resulted in a rise in individuals with various disabilities. This has significantly driven the global market.

Aging demographics has created a demand for old-age homes and long-term care centers, both of which drive demand for bathroom and toilet assist devices. In addition, rising disposable income and government support toward home healthcare is supporting market growth.

On the other hand, longer product life cycle is primarily challenging the growth of the market. In addition, reusability of these devices is restraining revenue generation. However, growth in demand for these devices is predicted to lower the effect of the above-mentioned factors.

Click the link below:

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/bathroom-toilet-assist-devices-market

Further key findings from the report suggest:
Who will win Copa America 2021
Tags: Copa America, Football, Brazil

Amid Euro 2020, we all have forgotten the importance of Copa America, which is on the brink of finishing. Brazil has already qualified for the finals after defeating Peru after a fierce fight between the two. On the other hand, Argentina is yet to play their semi-final against Colombia.

Well, Argentina is in red hot form with Lionel Messi taking charge. He has never been in such incredible form ever since he won his last Ballon d’Or. It looks like Messi will inspire Argentina to get past the Colombian side and enter the Copa America 2021 finals.

Now, the question arises who will win this year’s Copa America? If you look at the past results, both the teams have canceled each other out. But it was Brazil who prevailed in the Semis of 2019 the last time they met in Copa America.

On the other hand, Argentina is in red hot form and unbeaten in the last ten matches in any competition. Lionel Messi has produced some magical moments and given his national side something to look for every time they go forward. Also, Argentina is doing great in the defensive half as well. They have conceded few goals and look strong at the back.

According to me, it would come down to the individual brilliance of the two superstars. But with Argentina beaming with confidence and Messi's scarce of international trophies, I think this will drive him to achieve excellence. It’s been a while for him to win a trophy and this is the best opportunity for him to shut down all the critics. His future at Barcelona is yet to be decided but, for now, his mind is all in the game of football that he is playing right now.

Winners: Argentina
Welcome to Rio de Janeiro
By: The Travel Diary
Tags: Brazil

Golden beaches and lush mountains, samba-fueled nightlife and spectacular football matches: welcome to the Cidade Maravilhosa (Marvelous City).

Tropical Landscapes

Looking out from the 710m peak of Corcovado, you will see why Rio is called the Cidade Maravilhosa. Lushly forested mountains fringe the city, shimmering beaches trace the shoreline and a string of tiny islands lie scattered along the seafront. Far from being mere cinematic backdrop, this seaside beauty hosts outstanding outdoor adventures: hiking in the Tijuca rainforest, cycling alongside the lake and beaches, sailing across Baía de Guanabara (Guanabara Bay), and surfing, rock climbing and hang gliding amid one of the world’s most stunning urban landscapes.

Captivating Beaches

Rio’s beaches have long seduced visitors. Copacabana Beach became a symbol of Rio during the 1940s, when international starlets would jet in for the weekend. Hogging the spotlight these days is Ipanema Beach, its fame and beauty unabated since bossa nova stars Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes introduced the world to its allure in the 1960s. For cariocas (residents of Rio), the beach is Rio’s backyard — a playground that’s free and open to all, offering endless enjoyment in the form of football, volleyball, surfing, snacking, drinking or simply relaxing amid the passing parade of people.

The Rhythms of Rio

Music is Rio’s lifeblood, and the city’s soundtrack comprises rock, old-school bossa nova, hip-hop, funk and Brazil’s many regional styles. Above all there’s samba, a rapid-fire style of music with African influences and an infectious beat that is synonymous with Rio. You can hear it all over town, but the soul of samba resides in Lapa, an edgy red-light district that’s home to dozens of live-music halls and an enormous weekend street party that draws revelers from all walks of life. Samba is also the integral sound during Carnaval, and the danceable backing music to street parties and all-night parades.

Joie de Vivre

Speaking of Carnaval, Rio knows how to party. Whether you call it joie de vivre, Lebensfreude or lust for life, cariocas have it in spades. Carnaval, and the buildup to it, is the most obvious manifestation of this celebratory spirit. But Rio has many other occasions for revelry: celebrations after a big Flamengo (or Vasco, Fluminense or Botafogo) soccer match; weekend samba parties around town; baile funk parties in the favelas (slums, informal communities); and boat parties on the bay — not to mention major fests such as Réveillon (New Year’s Eve) and the Festas Juninas.
Cryogenic Insulation Market Worth $2.9 Billion By 2025
By: Gaurav Shah
Tags: Russia, Australia, UK, USA, Brazil

The global cryogenic insulation market size is expected to reach USD 2.9 billion by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 6.5%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising preference for low temperature insulation from various application industries including energy and power and metallurgy is likely to propel the market growth.

The growth of aerospace and space exploration industries across the economies is anticipated to fuel the demand for cryogenic insulation systems. In addition, rising demand for LNG as an environment friendly alternative to the conventional energy resources has resulted in high demand for cryogenic engines, pipes, valves, and storage tanks.

Increasing R&D spending by the major players is expected to have positive impact on product enhancement and differentiation strategies. In addition, the participants are focusing on developing novel materials for higher efficiency and lower operational costs. Also, the players are pooling their technology and resources together in order to serve the rising demand.

North America and Europe are anticipated to dominate the market on account of the rising offshore gas production in order to cater the rising demand from various application industries. In addition, the rising LNG/LPG transportation across the regions is further likely to propel the market growth.

Click the link below:

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/cryogenic-insulation-market

Further key findings from the report suggest:
Ceramics Market Size Worth $407.72 Billion By 2025
By: Gaurav Shah
Tags: China, Germany, UK, USA, Brazil

The global ceramics market size is expected to reach USD 407.72 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Advancement in 3D printing technology coupled with its rising application in dental implants is anticipated to drive the ceramics industry market growth.

Emergence of 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the new prominence application area for advanced product segment of ceramics. The rising use of the technology in dental implants is anticipated to trigger the market growth for advanced ceramic materials such as alumina and zirconium. Alumina is anticipated to dominate the marketspace due to its excellent structural properties and compatibility with human tissues.

Soda ash, kaolin, clay, silica, and sand are key raw materials used in manufacturing of traditional ceramics. Raw materials and energy are the two largest elements in cost structure of ceramics manufacturing process. Raw materials constitute 22% of cost structure in ceramic production closely followed by energy, which accounts for 21%. Labor and overhead costs constitute 16% and 13%, respectively. Other costs include transport, distribution, and depreciation, which account for 28%.

However, rising scrutiny over energy usage and limiting carbon dioxide emission is forcing the vendors of the market to opt for sustainable energy sources. In addition, securing an inexpensive fuel supply in a volatile natural gas market is an important criterion for a company’s sustainability and competitiveness in the industry. On account of the unpredictable nature of natural gas prices, smaller companies primarily focus on looking into alternative fuel options or alternative technologies to manufacture ceramics.

Over the last few years, there has been significant increase in the use of ceramic materials for manufacturing implant devices. Superior properties of alumina and zirconium based ceramics such as toughness and strength together with low wear rates and bio-inert properties is projected to augment their demand in applications such as femoral heads for total hip replacements over the coming years.

Key players such as AGC Ceramics Co.,Ltd., Imerys Ceramics, Carbo Ceramics, Inc., 3M, Corning, and Kyocera Corporation are focusing on vigorous expansion strategies. These companies have either formed mergers or acquired regional vendors as part of their strategy to enhance their global footprint.

Click the link below:

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/ceramics-market

Further key findings from the report suggest:
Serverless Angular Universal with AWS Lambda
By: Conor O'Dwyer
Tags: AWS, Lambda, Angular Universal, Angular, Serverless

5. Deploy to AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda is a serverless compute engine, so to deploy your Angular Universal application on AWS Lambda, you will need to implement the Serverless Framework. To configure your application to run as a serverless application on AWS, run the following commands.

> npm install serverless

> npm install aws-serverless-express

> npm install serverless-apigw-binary

The server.ts file should then be updated to remove the app.listen() function call. This is the function that made your application available at http://localhost:4000. This will no longer be needed when deployed on AWS Lambda so should be removed.

The lambda.js file then needs to be created with the following contents. This takes our compiled server.ts function and wraps it in aws-serverless-express.

A serverless.yml file also needs to be created. This provides the instructions to the Serverless Framework for the AWS configuration that is required for deploying the serverless application. Since API Gateway will be the trigger/entry point for our application on AWS Lambda, the serverless-apigw-binary plugin is specified along with the API Gateway configuration. The serverless.yml should be updated for your desired AWS region and the specific packages to exclude/include.

You are now ready to deploy your serverless Angular Universal application. Run the npm run build:ssr command again to rebuild your application, followed by the serverless deploy command which will deploy your application to API Gateway and Lambda. The deployment process may take quite some time.

Once your application is deployed, you will see the following output.

...

endpoints:

ANY - https://{specific_id}.execute-api.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/production/{proxy+}

ANY - https://{specific_id}.execute-api.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/production

functions:

...

Navigate to the second URL listed (non-proxy) and you will be able to view your application. This URL however, is not very useful for users to navigate to your application.
Kotlin. Lambda vs Method Reference
By: Gurgen Gevondov
Tags: Lambda, Android, Kotlin, Method References

Photo by Fotis Fotopoulos from Unsplash is used

Kotlin has been main Android programming language for a while now. One of the reasons I like this language is because functions are first-class citizen. That means a function can be passed as an argument, used as a return value and assigned to a variable. Also, so called lambda can be passed instead of a function. And recently I’ve had an interesting problem related to replacing lambda with a method reference.

Say we have Button class which takes the onClick function as a constructor argument

And we have ButtonClickListener class that implements the logic of button clicks

In the ScreenView class we have lateinit var listener: ButtonClickListener variable. Then we create button in that class and pass lambda to button constructor. In this lambda we call ButtonClickListener.onClick function

We create ScreenView object in main function, initialize listener variable there and perform button click

In this case, after running the program, everything works correctly and “Button clicked” string is printed.

And now let’s go back to ScreenView class and take a look at the line where our button val button = Button { listener.onClick() } is created. You could have noticed that ButtonClickListener.onClick function has the same signature as onClick: () -> Unit function, which is taken by button constructor. Which means lambda can be replaced by method reference. And we’ll get the following

But after running the program, it crashes with the following error: listener field isn’t initialized.

To understand what the problem is, let’s look at the differences of decompiled Java code in both scenarios. I’ll skip details and show the main differences.

When we use lambda the Function0 anonymous class is created and the code from our lambda is called into invoke function. In our case that code is listener.onClick()

That is, if we pass lambda to button constructor, the listener variable will be used after performing button click and it will already be initialized.

And here is what will happen if we use method reference instead of lambda. In this case Function0 anonymous class is created as well but if we have a look at invoke function we’ll see that onClick is called on the this.receiver variable. The receiver field belongs to Function0 class and should be initialized using listener variable, but since listener is lateinit, it is checked against null before initializing receiver. So, because listener isn’t initialized yet, the program crashes

To sum up, the difference between lambda and method reference is that when we use method reference, the instance of variable, the method of which we use, is fixed at the moment the reference is created, not when it is called, unlike what happens when lambda is used.

Hence, an interesting task: What will be printed after the following program runs?

FirstFirst FirstSecond SecondFirst SecondSecond

Look for the answer in the comment section.
Anonymize your data using Amazon S3 Object Lambda
By: Jérôme Van Der Linden
Tags: Lambda, Data, Security, Serverless, S3

Personal Data in Europe, Personal Identifiable Information (PII) in the US, Client Identifying Data (CID) here in Switzerland, … Whatever the name you give it, the definition is slightly the same: it defines a category of information about an individual that can be used to unambiguously distinguish or trace his/her identity.

For example, passport numbers, social security numbers, IBAN or biometric records, known as direct identifying data, clearly identify an individual. Full names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth or emails can also be used to identify someone. However, as they can be shared by several people, you need to combine them to explicitly identify an individual — we say they are indirect identifying data.

This data, when maintained by a company, especially highly regulated one (Financial Services, Healthcare, …) or governing agency must comply with security standard and compliance certifications (GDPR, HIPAA, FINMA circulars, …). These certifications require this kind of data to be highly protected, from public leakage of course, but also internally from your own employees.

In this article, I will mainly focus on this second point. Today more than ever, data is key is to take appropriate decisions, create new services or improve existing ones. And if you want to share data internally, in order to build clever solutions, leveraging analytics and machine learning for example, you need to keep control on that data and ensure it remains compliant with aforementioned certifications.
Getting your AWS Lambda Functions to work with Snowflake
By: Simon Coombes
Tags: Lambda, Python, Snowflake

A recent addition to the Snowflake feature-set was External Functions which greatly improves the extensibility of what you can do from a data engineering and data science perspective with Snowflake (more examples on these to follow…). Alternatively, you may have a scenario where you want to talk to Snowflake from an AWS Lambda using the Snowflake Python Connector.

When creating AWS Lambda Functions, you may need to import an external module beyond what is available by default — an example might be the requests module or the Snowflake Python Connector module mentioned above.

One approach to handling this is the Serverless Application Framework which is a tool for deploying your Lambda Functions to AWS, and is useful since it takes care of all the plumbing needed to get your function going. There are some great articles that explain the benefits of using this framework such as this one. There may be times however when you want to manually create your Lambda Function and therefore need to package your dependencies manually— this article focuses on this pattern.

Note — This requirement is not exclusive to Lambda Functions used with Snowflake, this applies to any Lambda that uses imports an external module.

We have 2 options to do this:

Creating a package with the dependencies, and uploading this as a self-contained zip file, or; Using Lambda Layers (my personal favorite).

In this post, I will provide instructions on both; either work fine but the benefit of Lambda Layers are they are reusable by multiple Lambdas Functions.
ProgrammingTechniques in Go: Closures
By: Guy J Grigsby
Tags: Lambda, Programming, Closure, Go, Functional Programming

The Go gopher was designed by Renee French. (http://reneefrench.blogspot.com/)

gopher.{ai,svg,png} was created by Takuya Ueda (https://twitter.com/tenntenn). Licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attributions license.

This is the first article in a series about basic programming techniques as illustrated in Go. Recently I was explaining closures to a colleague who was a recent CS grad. They were not really clear on closures in general. It occurred to me that for folks who work mostly in object oriented languages, some functional techniques may not be super clear. I figured some articles about that could help some people. In addition, I struggled trying to define a closure presisely without examples. I wanted to be able to do that. Recently I watched a talk by Bill Kennedy and his precision of language really stood out to me.

As I considered writing about some of the fundementals of our trade, I started thinking about basic programming concepts like the composable parts of language. In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest part of language that has inherent meaning. In English an example is the suffix “able”, meaning “capable of.” We all use morphemes all the time. We even know how to make up new works using these existing components, but we may not know how to precisely describe what we are doing. I knew how to write a closure, but it was difficult for me to explain it well.

Closures are a means of lexical scoping and abstraction in languages where functions are first class values. That sounds more complex than it really is. Let’s look an example.

Closure Example

Before I jump in I want to make it clear that we could totally do this using a struct that has a field instead. As with most problems, there are multiple solutions and each has it’s benefits and risks. This post isn’t really about the benefits of functional programming so I won’t go into that here, but there is some good information available.¹ ² In fact, closures are probably not the best way to write our client, but I will leave that as exercize for the reader to determine.

In our example, we have a client. A client that needs to be initialized with a url. We use our closure to create the client and “close” around it. Internally we are creating a client struct, but it’s hidden to the caller. This is kind of a weird example let’s look at a great example in Go.

In this example, we are creating a server. We have a closure in the function AccessLogger . This is a super common pattern in Go. We close around the logger and return a HandlerFunc. That way we can pass the server a standard handler and we can access our logger, or whater else you want to pass.

So essentially, a closure is a function that returns another function and provides that inner funtion access to some variable. That inner variable is immutable too so you don’t have to worry about it changing!

That’s about it. I like closures a lot. I think they are elegant and fun to use. I would love to hear what you think or if you have any suggestions for additional topics.
What is AWS Lambda Container Image?
By: Oussema Miled
Tags: AWS, Lambda, Programming, DevOps, Cloud Computing

What is AWS Lambda Container Image?

What is AWS Lambda Container Image along with an example to help understand the workflow Oussema Miled Follow Sep 9 · 4 min read

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of containers

An AWS account

Basic Knowledge of AWS such as the console and roles

What is Lambda Container Image?

Before we dive into Lambda Container Image (Let’s refer to it with LCI from now on), we need to understand Lambda service first. So what is it?

Lambda is a serverless computing service provided by AWS which we can use to run functions, self-contained applications written in one of the supported languages (Node.js, Python, Go, Java, and more). Serverless doesn’t mean that there are no servers but it means that developers can write and execute code without worrying about administrative tasks such as maintaining servers.

It’s also important to understand that each Lambda function runs in its own container. So when we create a function, Lambda will package it in a container and then run that container in a cluster.

Now with LCI, we can package our Lambda function and the needed dependencies in an image using Docker CLI for example. Then we upload that image to AWS ECR (Elastic Container Registry). After that, we can go ahead and deploy the Lambda function based on the image we’ve created.

You can learn more about details such as the requirements from the official documentation. But for now, enough of theories, let’s actually build something!

LCI Example

Let’s build a pretty simple LCI, it takes a name as payload and prints Hi + name . We’re going to use Node.js to write the code and Docker to build the image.

In the same directory let’s create two files, one for our code app.js and Dockerfile for the image.

app.js

The above code is the Lambda handler which will be executed when we invoke the function.

Dockerfile

Here we use the lambda-node base image from AWS, we copy the file containing the Lambda handler app.js in the container and finally run it.

To build the image, run:

docker build -t example .

Now, we need to create an ECR repo or use an existing one to host our image. To do so, we open the AWS console and visit the ECR service, you can follow this link for quick access. Choose the region you want, click on Create repository button, name your repo and leave the rest as it is then click the Create repository button. To finish, we need to push our image to this repo. Just follow the steps provided when you click View push commands button.

Let’s now create the Lambda function, keep in mind that the Lambda function and the ECR repo should be created in the same AWS account.

Visit the Lambda service and click Create function , choose Container image option, give it a name, browse images and select the one we just created, finally hit Create function button.

Now we are ready to go and test our work. In the Test tab, write the event which will be sent to the Lambda and click the Test button.

Creating Test Event

Here we go, The Lambda works as intended. Good job my friend 🙌

Execution Result
When You Feel Like You’re Falling Apart
By: Crystal Storms
Tags: Bible Verse, Faith, Devotional, Faith and Life, Jesus

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:17 (NIV)

Some days I feel like I’m falling apart. Getting everything wrong. Making mistakes that can’t be fixed.

Maybe you can relate to feeling like you’re falling apart.

A few weeks ago I added coffee to the percolator and turned the stove on. I went upstairs to brush my teeth and wash my face. A couple minutes later I smelled smoke. I ran downstairs. Half the owners manual for the percolator had curled into ash with red embers blazing.

Then this morning when I came downstairs to make breakfast, I smelled burning again. This time I hadn’t turned on the wrong burner. I forgot to add water to the percolator last night.

I wish it was just my coffee making skills that revealed my frailties. But it’s so much more.

Oh, how my heart needs the reminder that in Christ all things are held together.

As a writer I would have put Colossians 1:17 all on its own so it stands out. But there in the middle of the paragraph is this sweet truth.

He is before all things, and in [Christ] all things hold together.

Punctuation and paragraphing were added to the Bible many years after Paul penned these words. Maybe scholars put the verse in the middle to hold the paragraph together. To hold verses 16 and 18 close to one another.

Because in Christ ALL things hold together. Marriages. Families. Creation. He holds it all together.

Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of all. When we bring Him to the center, we release to Him the burden of holding our lives together.

Sweet friend, be held together by the One who knit you together for in Christ all things are held together. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13 (NIV)

Be held together by the One who knit you together for in Christ all things are held together.

Reminder for the heart: Be held together by the One who knit you together for in Christ all things are held together.

Related resource to encourage your heart: Stronger With God at the Center and Why We Need to Live with Humble Dependence on God.

What’s on your heart? What encourages your heart when you feel like you’re falling apart? In what area of your life do you need to bring Jesus to the center?

Sweet blessings,

Crystal
Medals of Honor
By: Marvin Mckenzie
Tags: Christian, Devotion, Faith and Life, Medal Of Honor, Bible Study

2 Samuel 23:12 (KJV)

But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory.

I think a person could accurately call David’s thirty-seven mighty men his Medal of Honor recipients. I think it’s important to note one name conspicuously missing. Joab was a major player in David’s reign, but he was no candidate for the Medal of Honor.

Shammah is my subject today. When everyone else fled, he stood in the midst of the field and defended it. Everyone else thought all hope of victory was gone. Everyone else would have thought Shammah would surely perish.[1] No one thought victory was possible. But Shammah stood his ground and, the Philistines were slain.

History records acts of heroism that seem almost miraculous. Some of them are miraculous. Most of them are the simple result of someone who believed victory was possible despite the odds.

This is exactly how the work of God proceeds from one generation to the next. Someone refuses to view the odds and chooses instead to live out and preach his faith.

Some die without seeing victory

Some live to tell of the victory

All of them, I am confident, are recorded in God’s Medal of Honor roll.
Is That Fear?
By: Marvin Mckenzie
Tags: Fear, Christian, Devotion, Faith and Life, Bible Study

Mark 11:18 (KJV)

And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

What is often thought is anger is really fear. The scribes and chief priests sought to kill Jesus, not because they were angry with Him, but because they feared him.

The Bible repeatedly says that this is also why Saul wanted to kill David.

1 Samuel 18: 12 (KJV)

And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.

1 Samuel 18: 15 (KJV)

Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.

1 Samuel 18: 29 (KJV)

And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David’s enemy continually.

This does not change the consequences, but it does provide some understanding.

Do the right thing. Do it regardless of the consequences and responses.

Heavenly reward awaits

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:

https://marvinmckenzie.org

Mark 11:18 (KJV) Is That Fear?
Let Them Serve
By: Marvin Mckenzie
Tags: Christian, Devotion, Faith and Life, Bible Study, Children

1 Samuel 3:1 (KJV)

And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.

There are three things this chapter clearly tells us:

That Samuel was, at this time, a child

That Samuel did not yet know the Lord and yet

That Samuel ministered unto the LORD

We have here one of those “chicken or the egg” situations. A person could wrestle over which cause which:

Did God set him up to be a prophet because he ministered unto the Lord? or

Did he minister unto the Lord because God set him up to be a prophet?

His mother had lent him to the Lord for this very thing, but his examples weren’t the best.

One important lesson I see is that we ought not prevent children from serving the Lord, even if we do not know for sure that they know the Lord themselves. Just what that ministry they can do may be varied upon the child and upon the situation of the church. I see he ministered unto the Lord before Eli. That means he was supervised.

It would be good to have a clear definition of what is ministry unto the Lord and clearly teach that to children and adults in church.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:

https://marvinmckenzie.org

1 Samuel 3:1 (KJV) Let Them Serve