title stringlengths 1 200 ⌀ | text stringlengths 10 100k | url stringlengths 32 829 | authors stringlengths 2 392 | timestamp stringlengths 19 32 | tags stringlengths 6 263 |
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Service | I am a spiritual being, I am defined by my quest for kindess and positivity. | https://medium.com/@spiritual-farfari/service-855ce74fd55c | [] | 2020-12-27 16:43:50.375000+00:00 | ['Service', 'Neighbor', 'Kindness'] |
Write Now with Dianne Ebert Beeaff | Write Now with Dianne Ebert Beeaff
Photo courtesy of Dianne Ebertt Beeaff
Write Now provides a glimpse into how different people write for a living. Today's edition features Dianne Ebert Beeaff, author of six books including her latest, Tràigh Lar Beach.
Who are you?
My name is Dianne Ebertt Beeaff. I have written professionally for many years beginning in magazine journalism. I currently have six books in print. I was born and raised in Canada, but have lived in Tucson, Arizona most of my life.
What do you write?
I began my writing career in non-fiction magazine journalism, writing for a large variety of periodicals. My work included profiles, round-ups, regional history, crafts, and much more. At the turn of the century, I turned to books and have six currently in print — two memoirs, a book of poetry, an historical fiction novel, a non-fiction book on the prehistoric stone architecture of Western Europe, and a book of short stories. My first publication was a poem in the Canadian magazine Chatelaine when I was eighteen. My first article publication was in the English journal, History Today, a few years later. I don’t place any restrictions on my writing in terms of either words or themes. Whatever the story I’m working on needs, fiction or non-fiction, it gets.
I love what I do. I remember going to a book-mobile in third grade and finding the book Deep River Girl, a children’s biography of the singer Marian Anderson, and knowing that I wanted to tell stories like hers. That book inspired me to become a writer. Every person, every object, every event has its own story and I wanted to uncover some of them. The form, process, motivation, and inspiration of writing is intensely subjective. For myself, I love discovering new ways of looking at the world, new ways and means of telling the world’s many stories. Writing to me is a form of both discovery and self-discovery and of expressing the limitless expanse and power of the human spirit, and of the natural world.
Where do you write?
I can write anywhere, but my principle writing place is my office at home in Tucson. It is not always as organized as it perhaps could be, but I know where everything is. I began my career on a Remington and then a Select typewriter (though first drafts were hand-written). I now work on a desktop Dell computer, a transition that took a while to adapt to. I have never used any of the writerly software now available. I do incorporate several other workplaces, one of them a cabin in the Chiricahua Mountains in Southeastern Arizona, another a cottage on the Conestoga River in Southern Ontario. Both those spots have very small working areas, but I’m adaptable. The only truly indispensable tool I use would be Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus. Otherwise I can work anywhere and everywhere. Some of my best work is done with my feet up on whatever desk I’m at, staring at the ceiling or out a window.
When do you write?
I have never been good at keeping to any specific schedule for anything. When my now middle-aged children were little, I would write whenever I could snatch a free moment between childcare and a full-time secretarial job. There were times when I would be working at my typewriter and my then two-year old son, Dustin, would reach a tiny hand up from under the desk where he was playing and punch a random key. There were times too when I was waiting to pick a child up from dance class or gymnastics class and I would be busy scribbling at something. One grand thing about the Internet for a writer, is that you can research in the moment, in the very midst of writing, if necessary. This saves hours of research time. I do a lot of work in my head, so when I do sit down to write, the writing may flow, and I can get a lot done. For many reasons, I have never set any session time limit, or word count, or page goal. Any of those things writers are constantly told to do. Again, writing is so intensely subjective. What works for one writer may not work for another. In my view, there is no right or wrong way to write or to be a writer. The only requirement to be a writer, in my view, is persistence, patience, and practice, in no particular order. The how, what, where, why, and when are purely subjective.
Why do you write?
I write because I have to. There are things I’ve seen and done, and that I’ve seen done or heard were done or said, that just need to be shared one way or another. When I was writing for magazines, something or someone would catch my interest and I would want to know more about that person or that event or that period of history. There are just so many stories out there, so many incredible lives, real or imagined, that need to evolve and be shared. Everything has a story. People have stories, things have stories, faces have stories. I’ve always wanted to tell some of those stories, in whatever way I feel they can or should be told. To some degree, writing also validates who I am. I think that people who write and need to write, whether or not they become published, are and always will be, true and real writers.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
The very hardest part of writing to me, whether fiction or non-fiction, is the ‘shitty first draft’, as the brilliant Annie Lamott wrote in her Bird by Bird. That’s usually where any writer’s block comes in for me. My approach is to just throw down all of the words, feelings, facts, or sense impressions associated with the scene or the paragraph or the section or the subject I’m working on, and edit and expand from there. Sometimes that requires a sort of free-flow stream-of-consciousness that might even incorporate the specific idea of writer’s block. Sometimes I just have to walk away or distract myself in some way. Come back to the work fresh, the next day, the next week, or the next month.
I’m a very slow writer and there have been months and even years in my career when the only writing I’ve done was in my personal journals, which are themselves a great antidote to writer’s block. The hardest part of working with writer’s block that way is that I tend to have a creator sitting on one shoulder and a critic on the other. They are always sparring. I try to keep the critic quiet at least until I can get the first draft down. There have been a few times in my writing career when I’ve gotten to ‘ride the golden horse.’ When things just flow effortlessly. When you just sit back and take dictation. I can edit until the cows come home, so it’s always a challenge to reach a point in a chapter, a section, a paragraph, a sentence, when I can let it go and move on.
Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?
I’ve loved traveling in the past, though I’ve slowed down quite a bit the past few years. I do love being at either our cabin in the mountains or our cottage in Canada, just sitting by the river or in the woods, enjoying the natural world and all its wild denizens. I do love to read — fiction and non-fiction — and to people-watch wherever I am. Other than that, I’m a pretty boring person. | https://writingcooperative.com/write-now-with-dianne-ebert-beeaff-a5e12a2a033d | ['Justin Cox'] | 2020-12-23 16:02:19.756000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Write Now', 'Writing', 'Authors', 'Books'] |
If Someone Asked Me How The World Began | Humans Are Beta Beings With Eternity Encoded In DNA
Image by Genty from Pixabay
From the dust collected in spindrifts that were galaxies wide all things began.
Stuff swirled and clung to other stuff. Elements held hands with compatible materials to form rocks.
Rocks would trap particles that would eventually become masses of land, bodies of water, vegetation and, life.
In the broad expanse of the observable universe, things only seem to flourish when orbiting around a sun star.
Sun stars are the most deadly destinations possible for living things. Sun stars are also the only understood source of life as we know it.
In the right measurements, a planet like Earth can bask in a sun-stars radiance for billions of years. Thriving creatures on a pretty rock for that many years creates an interesting opportunity for those beings.
The option to work towards eternal life.
If we don’t have a goal that leads to life everlasting then we are aiming toward the end instead.
I realize that the statements I just made are enormous topics that lead in circles … but alas … we are just advanced forms of the original life that grew into … amazing things… and all they did was go in circles too. | https://medium.com/dendrites/if-someone-asked-me-how-the-world-began-c040fb474a22 | ['Lori Brown'] | 2020-12-27 02:25:47.745000+00:00 | ['Life', 'Pseudoscience', 'Learning', 'Teaching', 'Science'] |
Bear — A Three Year Journey. A story of note taking, enabling tech… | Adventures in Writing
Bear — A Three Year Journey
A story of note taking, enabling tech, and me
Note taking is an incredibly personal thing. Some like paper, others record their voice, and then there are those brave souls who wade into the hundreds of applications available that strive to be the best thing since lined paper.
In a previous article I wrote a few years ago, Welcome to the Note Taking Apocalypse, I discussed the issue of app store choice when it came to finding a note taking application that had a balanced mix of key functions with an interface that feels frictionless which gets out of the users way.
I also discussed how most developers felt the need to reinvent rather than refine their features time and time again. Which perhaps has more to do with the need to produce a change log and show the progression of an update cycle than actually performing any research into how, or why, a particular feature would be useful.
But I’m not here to rehash an older article to you, I’m here to talk to you about my experiences with Bear. | https://medium.com/swlh/bear-a-three-year-journey-75a9d7d159dc | ['Tim King'] | 2020-07-19 03:05:13.961000+00:00 | ['Productivity', 'Apps', 'Bear App', 'Knowledge', 'Notetaking'] |
Are You a Tree Hugger? I Am. | Did you ever hear or read something and thought, that’s it!, dropped everything, and went for it?
Well, a few days ago, Joe Luca commented on one of my stories about finding delights in everyday life. He said:
I try to take notice of my surroundings. Take pictures of trees that are interesting. Just so I remember them. Love trees.
That’s It!
I do, too. My roommate in Chicago couldn’t understand why I would take a picture of a dead tree; then caption it, Life.
Yeah, I am a weirdo, and I like myself that way.
Trees are Nature’s messengers. They invite us to slow down, even stop for a moment, take it all in, and LISTEN.
So I was going to respond to his comment with some of my tree photos. As I started looking for them on my computer and saving them in a folder, I thought, wait a minute, I can make a story out of these photos. I challenged Joe to do the same.
Dennett is a master (or is it, mistress, or madam?) at creating stories from photos. Check out her publication, Weeds and Wildflowers. Currently, she has invited her writers to share stories with images of Autumn Colors. But, I digress.
I came across the Featured Photo when I was walking along Buffalo Bayou, between Memorial Drive and Allen Parkway, near downtown Houston. I was looking to shoot Houston Skyline with nature in the foreground. I wasn’t happy with what I found that day, but I will go back to find what I was looking for.
Something similar to this photo of the Chicago Skyline, taken from Lincoln Park outside the Chicago Zoo.
Even in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the USA, you can find an opportunity to slow down and admire the beauty of nature and man, together in harmony.
“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more, I revere them when they stand alone… to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree.” ~Herman Hesse
The beauty of a tree is in its form, whether it grows tall, or wide; whether it is in the winter, devoid of leaves, or in the summer, full and lush.
Some of them spread their “arms” wide and join hands with their neighbors.
Others spread their love more than once by spreading out, reaching down, rerooting, and shooting out again.
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” ~ John Muir.
“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.” ~Khalil Gibran
And I have read some beautiful poetry in my travels.
But, the best quality of trees is that even in “death,” they find ways to support and beautify life in many ways. | https://medium.com/narrative/are-you-a-tree-hugger-i-am-8047e8474b8a | ['Rasheed Hooda'] | 2020-10-08 22:05:47.094000+00:00 | ['Photography', 'Nature', 'Humor', 'This Happened To Me', 'Trees'] |
Weekly News Roundup (10/15/19) | Welcome to our Snowball cryptocurrency media digest. Here we will provide you with regular updates on trending news from the blockchain and crypto space.
US SEC Rejects Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Proposal: Another high-profile proposal for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has been denied by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The agency, however, emphasized that the disapproval was not based on whether bitcoin has utility or value as an innovation or an investment. Read more.
Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and eBay All Quit Facebook’s Libra: Facebook’s embattled Libra project suffered a major blow on Friday as four payment processors — Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, and Mercado Pago — withdrew from participation in the Libra Association, the Geneva-based group Facebook created to develop the virtual currency. eBay also announced its resignation Friday. eBay’s former subsidiary, PayPal, quit the group last week. Read more.
SNB and Swiss Stock Exchange Team Up on Digital Currency: The Swiss National Bank and stock exchange SIX will jointly explore how to make central bank digital money available for the trading and settlement among financial market players. The buying and selling of assets based on digital ledger technology has the potential to reduce counterparty risk and create “significant” economic opportunities, SIX said in a statement Wednesday. The initiative is part of the innovation hub for financial technology the Bank for International Settlements announced it was setting up earlier this year with the SNB. Read more.
Vanguard Developing Blockchain Platform for $6 Trillion Forex Market: Mutual fund giant Vanguard has partnered with Nasdaq Ventures-backed blockchain startup Symbiont to develop a trading platform for the $6 trillion currency market, the companies said. With the new platform, Vanguard, which manages $5.2 trillion, aims to lower transaction costs for the trillions of dollars worth of currencies it trades annually by boosting peer-to-peer trading for investors, connecting them directly via blockchain technology. Read more. | https://medium.com/snowball-money/weekly-news-roundup-10-15-19-adefe17f13e | ['Parul Gujral'] | 2019-10-15 11:52:09.603000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency News', 'Crypto', 'Blockchain', 'Bitcoin'] |
Menu Using Python integrating Hadoop , Aws ,Docker, LVM . | Lets see , how we can integrate Hadoop , Aws ,Docker, LVM using Python
Python- It’s often used as a “scripting language” for web applications. This means that it can automate specific series of tasks, making it more efficient. Consequently, Python (and languages like it) is often used in software applications, pages within a web browser, the shells of operating systems and some games.
Menu Program
Code of Menu Program :
Hadoop -Hadoop is an Apache open source framework written in java that allows distributed processing of large datasets across clusters of computers using simple programming models. The Hadoop framework application works in an environment that provides distributed storage and computation across clusters of computers. Hadoop is designed to scale up from single server to thousands of machines, each offering local computation and storage.
Code to integrate with Hadoop :
LVM -LVM is a tool for logical volume management which includes allocating disks, striping, mirroring and resizing logical volumes.With LVM, a hard drive or set of hard drives is allocated to one or more physical volumes. LVM physical volumes can be placed on other block devices which might span two or more disks.The physical volumes are combined into logical volumes, with the exception of the /boot partition. The /boot partition cannot be on a logical volume group because the boot loader cannot read it. If the root ( / ) partition is on a logical volume, create a separate /boot partition which is not a part of a volume group.
Code to integrate with LVM :
AWS -Amazon Web Services(AWS) is a cloud service from Amazon, which provides services in the form of building blocks, these building blocks can be used to create and deploy any type of application in the cloud.These services or building blocks are designed to work with each other, and result in applications that are sophisticated and highly scalable.
Code to integrate with AWS :
Docker - Docker is an open platform for developing, shipping, and running applications. Docker enables you to separate your applications from your infrastructure so you can deliver software quickly. With Docker, you can manage your infrastructure in the same ways you manage your applications. By taking advantage of Docker’s methodologies for shipping, testing, and deploying code quickly, you can significantly reduce the delay between writing code and running it in production.
Code to integrate with Docker: | https://medium.com/@sakshijadhav792/menu-using-python-integrating-hadoop-aws-docker-lvm-4918a91a9874 | [] | 2020-12-05 09:26:14.763000+00:00 | ['Hadoop', 'Python', 'AWS', 'Docker', 'Lvm'] |
There’s A Struggle Going On OnlineTo Maintain High-Quality Written Content | Is The Writing On The Wall?
That’s the question that’s being asked by professional writers as they compete against the content mills. I myself have a gig on one of these platforms, but that’s only because I don’t want to lose out on a potential stream of income that would otherwise be lost.
Do you see the problem? Beginner freelancers want to work their way up to the big leagues, want to command higher rates while their works spread across popular blogs and magazines. But the gig industry beckons. The writer posts a half-dozen piddling jobs, which are severely undervalued, by the way, and another career is lost to the lower end of the freelancing spectrum.
So, what can be done? Do writing courses, improve your writing, gain experience in other styles and tones. Be conversational or formal. Ad SEO experience and knowledge on the many social platforms that inhabit the net.
Meanwhile, maybe a give an inch, give a mile mentality is called for. Post a gig on Fiverr or some similar gig website. Market those developing skills. As the jobs accumulate, view the work as experience gained.
Bringing All The New Skill Sets Together
There’s still every chance of a full and enriching career in freelance writing. Armed with the SEO skills and WordPress know-how, build a website. Build it and they will come, didn’t some famous movie star once say those words?
By doing the time, making the effort and putting in the time, that website and know-how could just be the launchpad you need to make better things happen. Above all else, don’t get stuck on content mills or gig sites, not unless you’re already making big bucks on these sites. | https://medium.com/@dagwriting/theres-a-struggle-going-on-onlineto-maintain-high-quality-written-content-ba5a8023883b | [] | 2020-03-07 01:14:55.941000+00:00 | ['Gig Economy', 'Freelance Writing', 'Blogging Tips'] |
Medium — the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly | The Good
With the advent of the COVID19 pandemic, I came across this beautiful community called Medium. Before that, I used to actively use Quora and StackOverflow (for technical articles) for voicing my opinions.
The monetization process in Medium is fairly simple and helps and inspires writers like us to write better quality articles. The statistics page is pretty useful and can help budding writers understand the penetration of the article. And there are a lot of articles present on how to fine-tune your title, how to choose the featured image etc.
The Medium community is awesome. When I started writing, I spoke to a lot of existing writers and they were always ready to help. There are some social media communities where you can share your articles and ask for honest opinions and reviews. Some of the editors of pubs guide you to write a better article.
Reading is one of the best side effects of Medium as a writer. When I started writing on Medium, I realized I am reading more. I have read more books, more medium articles, and I am more on top of current trending news. All this, thanks to medium.
Look at some awesome reviews of medium articles. And you can relate to most of them and say, “Yes it's true. Medium is great”.
History Written Interestingly
I just read an article entitled “The Process Leading to the US Losing it’s Manufacturing” and I hung on to every word. Loved reading the whole article to find out the shifts, losses, gains, and the economic wars , if you will, between countries …
Articles & Authors Alike Publishing In MEDIUM are “Worth In Gold & Diamonds”
The articles are written under the concept of “Short & Sweet” and requiring only less than 10 Minutes to read & still be able to understand the main goal & objective of the article
The Bad
A unified and clean process for Publishing
As a writer, the process of publishing an article to a pub is very confusing at times. There are thousands of publications on Medium and the process of adding as a writer is not streamlined across all of them.
Some pubs have a separate page where you can send an online form. Some accept via emails, some via Medium comments, and I have seen one via Slack as well.
For a newcomer, this is a bit complicated, and I believe this is overcomplicating things. Ideally, there should be only one predefined way of adding yourself as a writer. That would take all the guesswork out of the process.
Maybe there is a reason Medium keeps this process confusing and complicated, maybe this curiosity helps attract more writers. I don’t know. The only thing I know is that multiple folks on separate forums have talked negatively about this.
More trending articles
As an avid reader, I personally feel this is very important. I just love reading trending articles. Whether on Twitter or general news, I love the things that are trending.
Currently medium has 6 trending articles on my home page.
Screenshot from Medium’s homepage
Which is very good. But I want more. I want the flexibility to see more trending articles. 6 articles finish fast, really fast.
An article is trending means that a huge part of the Medium population has already loved the article. And I do not need much validation of the article. I can just sit, relax, and enjoy these trending articles.
The Medium App
The Medium app is pretty basic. And I have seen multiple people complain about it.
Screenshot by the author of a question the author asked on social media
→ Response to comments are pretty tough to manage on the app
→ Copying link of stories and bio is a nightmare
→ General Usability is not that great
→ Editing a comment or story creates a lot of confusion. I by mistake published an article while trying to edit.
The Ugly
Comments as stories
As a writer, this is one of the most irritating issues with Medium. And it’s not only me, I have seen multiple folks on social media reporting it, there are some articles on Medium itself bringing up the issue.
Medium posts your comments are individual stories.
Image by the author
Imagine you have written 100 articles, and you wanted to look at one of your older articles. This feature makes navigation through your published stories near impossible.
The way I navigate is by going to the stats page, then scrolling to the story I want to see, then clicking on the story heading to navigate to the story. It is a multi-step process — thanks to this medium feature.
Steps to go to a particular published story — Image by Author
And I believe most of you would also be going through a similar ordeal every time you want to browse through a story.
I have also seen many readers and writers avoid commenting altogether to overcome this problem. Check out this post
From a logical point of view, I believe comments are intrinsically different from stories and should be treated differently. Comments are usually a couple of lines max, while a story in most cases is north of 1000 words. Comments are just responses to stories.
The solution could be as simple as adding a new tab to the stories page
Image by author
Let’s hope Medium changes this feature in the future.
Future of the Company
Medium has in the past shut down few offices and laid off a few folks. And Medium is a pretty private company, so they keep a lot of their numbers, business practices, roadmaps, etc a secret.
There are a lot of posts stating that Medium is not a very profitable company.
There are some reviews stating the influx of average and non researched articles on Medium. With monetization and dependency on its own editors and writers, is that a risk? Let’s look at this review on App Store:
Average writing from enthusiasts rather than experts IMO Most of the articles on this platform appear as summaries of greater works to me. It’s almost a collection of high school and college book reports with very little researched reporting, like a thesis, magazine, or news outlet. Most of the pieces come off as “something I wrote this morning” and not “I’ve been working on this for a year”
This creates a lot of confusion among the writers who are putting all their efforts into Medium. Medium is considered as “YouTube with text” by many, but can the business model sustain?
Although there is nothing to worry about right now, it forces us to ask the question — “What if the company shuts down?”. What will be the future of the writers who are publishing here? Maybe something to think about, eh?
Share your honest review of Medium. | https://medium.com/@cinto-sunny/medium-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-46a7d7af3d9b | [] | 2020-12-21 15:44:08.202000+00:00 | ['Médium', 'Reading', 'Experience', 'Writing'] |
Being in a Heterosexual Relationship Does Not Make Me Any Less Queer | Being in a Heterosexual Relationship Does Not Make Me Any Less Queer
How to navigate your intersectionality when part of it feels like it is being erased.
Photo by Isi Parente on Unsplash
I am very happily married to a cis-gendered, straight man, but before I was married I would date anybody. I’m pansexual, which means that I am romantically and emotionally attracted to people regardless of their gender identity. I’ve dated so many different kinds of human beings since I came out, and I’ve never really thought about gender as a defining motive for me dating somebody. Whatever you’ve got, I’m into it. However, being in a heterosexual relationship often makes me feel like part of my intersectionality is being erased, like my voice somehow matters less, and like I am not exactly welcome into queer spaces.
I guess I would say that sometimes I feel like I am “straight-passing”, a term that I just made up.
The thing is that even though I am married to a straight man, I am still very much a queer person. I am still attracted to people all over the gender and non-gender conforming spectrum, I still very much feel like a queer person, and it is still a part of my identity. However, I’m not a “scream my intersectionality” out loud, every second of the day, kind of person. I’m not that person on the internet with their Instagram bio that states every part of them:
Queer, non-binary, polyamorous, femme, etc. etc.
That’s just not me; I’m a private person and I also just don’t feel the need to say who and what I am constantly. I would like to be included in queer events and in queer spaces despite my outwardly heterosexual relationship. It’s difficult juggling your intersectionality in a world where if you’re not constantly waving your proverbial intersectional-flag, you are not often considered welcome in those spaces. The same goes for people who are “white-passing”; we’re often not Asian enough, brown enough, Black enough, Latinx enough, Jewish enough, etc. to fit into spaces that are designated for us. It truly feels like a double-edged sword. | https://medium.com/fearless-she-wrote/being-in-a-heterosexual-relationship-does-not-make-me-any-less-queer-654d422feeb9 | ['Alexandra Tsuneta'] | 2019-10-13 20:55:58.297000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'LGBTQ', 'Feminism', 'Intersectionality', 'Queer'] |
How I Overcame an Eating Disorder and the Workaholic Mindset That Caused It | How I Overcame an Eating Disorder and the Workaholic Mindset That Caused It
Recovering from an eating disorder isn’t about gaining or losing weight. It’s about making a shift in your mind toward self-love.
Photo by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash
When I was thirteen years old, I was scouted by a modeling agency in Canada and whisked into a world where everyone was six feet tall, with spidery limbs and eyebrows like untamed caterpillars. By the time I was sixteen, I was doing runway work. My agent gave me some food guidelines to follow, which, by any reasonable person’s standards, would be considered an extreme diet. If anyone followed that diet for more than a few days, they would feel lightheaded, suffer from headaches and faint with any physical activity. But that was the diet my agent gave, straight-faced, to an impressionable and depressed sixteen-year-old girl.
Sadly, the pressure to eat less and workout more haunted me long after I’d stopped modeling. Though I told my friends I’d quit modeling due to conflicts with school, the main reason I resented high fashion was because of the culture of eating disorders it promoted. It took me years to reframe my mind around the idea of what a healthy, beautiful body looked like — and now, the skeleton girls on runways today concern me.
While in college, I counted calories, worked out constantly and drank black coffee like it was water. It was unhealthy and dangerous, and now, looking back, it’s unbelievable that I was able to put my body under as much stress as I did while double-majoring and juggling multiple internships. I ran on fumes for years, so when I finally graduated from college and things settled down, I had to face what I had become:
I was a workaholic with an eating disorder.
Being alone for long periods of time allowed my bad habits to thrive. If I was alone with myself, my depression resurfaced, and this triggered my disordered eating habits of restriction, binging and purging. But once I started having roommates and boyfriends, my disorder became harder to hide. As I realized that they genuinely loved me for the person I was inside, the guilt surrounding eating started to slowly fade.
Initially, recovery was quite challenging. My stomach felt perpetually bloated and I felt like I was starving all the time. Truth was, I had deprived my body of nutrients for years, and now my body was trying to make up for it by sending me the signal to eat everything in sight.
So I started eating more and working out less. And guess what? I didn’t even gain much weight. I refused to weigh myself — because scales are irrelevant given water weight, anyway— and just went off what I saw in the mirror. My clothes still fit even though I was eating twice the amount I was before. How was that possible?
The answer: My eating disorder had destroyed my metabolism and my gut. So even though I was eating less and working out more, it didn’t make a difference past a certain point. And the binge-purge patterns made me look bloated, so when that finally stopped, my stomach flattened and my body had the chance to heal.
My issues with eating persisted for so long because I didn’t love myself. I had residual childhood trauma and low self-esteem. I felt worthless, that my only value was in the work I did and the achievements I accomplished on paper. But this toxic way of thinking is the product of our capitalistic society that encourages workaholism.
Taking time for relaxation, self-care and body positivity is essential in order to combat the toxic messages we’ve received over the years: That women’s bodies are only valuable if they’re a certain shape and size. Realizing that these toxic messages are the product of a patriarchal society where men objectify women also helped me let go of the toxic mindset I’d adopted before. I wanted control over my own body, after all, and the mental and physical state I’d been in just wasn’t sustainable.
So how did my mindset change over time toward body positivity? I realized that perfection isn’t possible. I know it sounds simple, but eating disorders give us unrealistic expectations and a false sense of control. You can’t control everything your body does. Hormonal fluctuations are going to affect the way you look and feel sometimes, and this is something to accept and move past mentally rather than punish yourself over.
Here’s what I did to help my mind and body heal:
I unfollowed those on social media who made me feel bad about myself, promoted anorexia, eating disorders and unrealistic body types (i.e. models, influencers with photoshopped pictures, fashion icons, celebrities). I followed people on social media who made me feel good about myself (women who have overcome eating disorders, LGBTQ+ advocates, body positivity advocates) I stopped self-isolating and spent time with family, friends and loved ones who love me no matter what my body looks like I talked to my friends about my struggles and finally confided in them about my eating disorder I wore comfortable clothing, prioritizing comfort over style (I wore all-black baggy clothing for years. Think oversized t-shirts, drawstring pants and black A-line dresses. This helped so much!) I slowly re-introduced foods restricted in the past (for me, it was sandwiches, pasta and pizza) I gave my body time. It can take your gut years to fully heal from the trauma of an eating disorder I gave my mind time. It will take even longer for your mind to fully heal from the trauma of an eating disorder. It’s okay if your healing journey isn’t perfect. There may be hiccups along the way, and that’s just fine!
For me, patience was key. I was so used to quick turnarounds and deadlines that it was initially hard to accept how long it would take my mind to recover from my eating disorder. But now, six years later, I can safely say that I’ve left that shell of a woman in the past. I’m a much happier version of me, and let me just say this one thing: | https://medium.com/the-ascent/how-i-overcame-an-eating-disorder-and-the-workaholic-mindset-that-caused-it-f9da5ac3803a | ['Kate Irwin'] | 2021-01-03 00:39:44.528000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Healthy Lifestyle', 'Work Life Balance', 'Eating Disorders'] |
A Glimpse Into the Glamorous Lives of Ancient Rome's Vestal Virgins | A Glimpse Into the Glamorous Lives of Ancient Rome's Vestal Virgins
Every era has its celebrities, and these women had it all
What made Rome great? Military tactics? Strong leadership? State-of-the-art weaponry? Maybe it was a fusion of all these things. Ask an Ancient Roman, however, and they might give some credit to the gods and goddesses. Vesta in particular.
The thing about goddesses is they have to be appeased if you expect to get in their good graces. What Vesta demanded was a fire constantly burning in her honor. Sounds simple enough, but then again, are things ever really simple?
Who Was Vesta?
Vesta was the goddess of the hearth and had a prominent place both in household and state worship.
Houses often had family shrines with her image; but on the state level, things were a lot grander. Vesta had her own temple on the eastern end of the Roman forum.
This was the public hearth where the fire burned continually throughout the year — minus a brief period for the Roman new year on the first of March. Letting the flame go out any other time was kinda like rolling out the red carpet for the apocalypse.
It made the goddess mad, and the city was in danger of losing her protection. So for all intents and purposes, the fate of the entire city rested in the hands of those who kept the fire burning, or the ladies known as Vestal Virgins.
Why virgins?
According to Livy, Plutarch, and Aulus Gellius, the college of vestal virgins began with the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius (715–673 B.C.).
So why did Numa decide virgins were the best candidates for the job? According to Plutarch, there were two possible reasons. It may have been because Numa considered fire to be “pure and uncorrupted” and therefore needed to be tended by someone with the same qualities.
Then again, he could have thought of fire as something unfruitful and barren, yet another quality of virgins. One thing for sure, he didn’t get the idea from the Greeks. Whenever they had fires, it was the widows who kept them burning.
Numa may have instituted the virgins in Rome, but he sure didn’t come up with the idea. The Vestal's first residence was said to be in Alba Longa. Rhea Silvia, aka mom of Romulus and Remus, was among the virgins there.
In fact, Rhea was carrying out her Vestal duties when Mars, the god of war, swooped down and had his way with her. Obviously this was a big no-no for someone sworn to celibacy.
Of course, we know the boys were sent down the Tiber River and, as typically happens in these cases, adopted by a she-wolf. R & R were destined to become the founders of Rome. Numa took over after the death of Romulus.
A day in the life of a Vestal
Whatever their origins the virgins were an integral part of Vesta’s worship and were treated with dignity and respect.
In fact, you could say they had a superstar like status. They lived in the Atrium Vestiae — the house of the Vestals — which was a fancy fifty room, three-story building at the foot of the Palatine Hill.
Not only did the house have heated floors and indoor plumbing, but it also had a luxurious courtyard and two pools. The Atrium Vestiae was only steps away from the temple, so getting to work in the morning was a breeze.
Vestals were the most important women in Rome, aside from the emperor's wife. And because they had such important work, they were freed from domestic distractions such as cooking and laundry. They reserved such menial tasks for slaves.
Their status was apparent in their hair and clothes as well as in their luxurious living conditions. They had their own hairstyle known as the Seni Crines, which symbolized chastity and purity.
The style was originally one worn by Roman brides, but considering Vestals were said to be married to Vesta and the city of Rome, it was appropriate. A vestals clothing was also bride-like, consisting of white robes with accent colors.
And speaking of perks
Fab living conditions and nice clothes weren’t the only benefits of being a vestal. They could own property, write a will, vote, and transact their own affairs.
All this at a time when women's affairs were controlled by either the father or husband. Another unique privilege was the right to give testimony during legal cases.
Even on the streets, Vestals were honored with privileges reserved for upper-class men only. Lictors carrying fasces, a bundle of rods which symbolized power, went before them.
They also had the honor of riding in a carpentum, a type of carriage. Everyone stepped aside when a Vestal was coming down the street, even Consuls. They owned their own horses, which were exempt from the compulsory drafting that average citizens had to submit to.*
On top of all this, they had the best seats in the house at the games, statues were made in their honor, and sometimes their beloved faces were even cast onto coins.
Sharing the Love
Vestals weren't the only ones to enjoy their special status. Family members often received perks thanks to their famous kin.
The girls could act as intercessors for family members, which could come in handy if you got in a bind. On top of that, there was a prestige that came along with it.
It would be like someone today saying they were related to Brad Pitt or Cate Blanchett. A Vestal in the family tree entitled relatives to bragging rights, even after her death.
Thanks to their sacred nature, ordinary people could benefit from the virgins as well. Any condemned criminal who caught the eye of a Vestal on his way to execution would be spared.
However, that didn’t mean you could go crazy wild. If you should pass under the litter upon which a Vestal was being carried you were in for sudden and even instantaneous death, criminal or not.
Vestal Wanted, Apply within
Considering the status of the Vestals, lots of women must have been applying for the job, right?
Well, positions were limited, and the requirements were pretty strict. First of all, you had to be between the ages of 6–10. Both your parents had to be living, and you had to have zero disabilities, especially those of hearing and speech.
On top of that, you couldn’t apply if your dad was a baker or a potter or anything of a common nature. The senate chose girls from elite patrician families, although later they had to branch out to equestrian families (think knights) and others among the elite.
Only six Vestals worked in the temple, with the job lasting for 30 years. The first 10 went to training, the second 10 were for working, and the final 10 for instructing the new Vestals.
Of course, we know the women tended the fire, but they had other duties as well. These included collecting water from the sacred spring, preparing food used in rituals, and caring for sacred objects in Vesta’s temple.
Vestals were involved in state ceremonies, acted as ambassadors and umpires when state affairs got heated. They even blessed new buildings. As a side job, they were charged with keeping safe sacred items, important state documents, and the wills of famous Romans such as Julius Caesar. Out of all their tasks though the most important thing — the absolute top critical item — was to remain a virgin.
So what happened if a Vestal Made a Mistake?
Let’s face it, people aren’t perfect, we all make mistakes. However, if you were a Vestal Virgin, you were held to a pretty high standard.
So, if you temporarily forgot where you put Ceasar’s will, you probably would get a good talking to. But what if the fire went out, and it was your fault? Maybe you had the night shift and you fell asleep, or you miscalculated how much wood you needed.
That’s a pretty big mistake. After all, keeping it going is the whole reason you’re there in the first place. As punishment, a woman could expect to be taken behind a curtain by the pontifex maximus , or chief priest, stripped and beaten.
Now that’s a pretty severe consequence. However, remember I told you the absolute most important thing was for a Vestal to guard her virginity at all costs? That’s because this was the unpardonable sin.
The purity of the Vestals was akin to the purity of Rome, and any slip-ups resulted in death. Unfortunately, charges of infidelity to the state weren’t always so clear cut.
In times when things didn’t go so well with Rome, say a battle was lost, the virgins became the perfect scapegoat. Then too they were hobnobbing with the upper echelons of society and could become embroiled in politics.
Piss off the wrong person and you may suddenly find yourself slapped with the charge of incestum, or breaking your vow of chastity. It was for this reason most Vestals did what they could to make friends and bolster their image of purity in the eyes of the public. This way, when fingers came pointing, none of them went in their direction.
Guilty? Enjoy a one-way trip to the afterlife
A woman accused of breaking her vow could be acquitted, but it wasn’t easy. Once the culprit was identified, she might literally need a miracle, like carrying water into the temple with a sieve, to prove her innocence.
It was unlawful for a Vestal's blood to be spilled, but our crafty Roman friends found a way around these prohibitions. They just starved her to death. If a Vestal was found guilty of this heinous crime, she received an all-expense-paid vacation to a small underground chamber.
Here she would enjoy a cozy bed; a lamp; a small portion of bread, water, and a bowl of milk. After a solemn procession through the city, the accused was lowered into the chamber and the entrance sealed with dirt.
Hands were wiped and everyone's conscience, for some weird reason, was as clean as a whistle. The ironic thing is the Vestal's dead body remained buried on the perimeter of the city because she was thought to still protect it, even in the afterlife.
Yearly sacrifices were made to the site of her death since it was so darn holy. On a happy note here, evidence points to only 10 convictions of infidelity over the whole course of 1100 years.
Good Vestals get great retirement benefits
After they served their time, Vestals could remain and serve beyond the thirty years. However, they were also free to lead the life of a retired superstar.
By this point, their pockets were pretty well-padded thanks to huge monetary perks and gifts received over the years. On top of that, the girls were entitled to a nice pension from the state.
The completion of their duties meant they could marry if they wanted, and there were certainly those that did. However, change is hard after 30 years of living a luxurious life serving a goddess.
Most women found dedicating time to a mortal man less than spectacular. In fact, Plutarch says they “repented” of their decision. Women will talk, even ex-Vestals, so maybe they decided it was better to keep their holy aura rather than experience the drama of married life.
All good things come to an end
Vesta and her virgins were entwined in the history of Rome until Christianity came and changed everything.
Having lots of gods and goddesses around wasn’t really fashionable anymore. By the end of the fourth century, pagan rites, rituals, traditions, and temples were coming under fire from people like Ambrose of Milan and the legislation of the Emperor Theodosius I.
It was an imperial order in the year 394 that caused the sacred flame of Vesta to be extinguished. The last Chief Vestal was a woman named Coelia Concordia. It is thought she converted to Christianity before her death.
Liked this post? Check out my article Revealing the Secrets of the Oracle of Delphi
Notes and Sources:
Why didn’t Rhea get buried alive, you ask? Well King Amulius, the guy in charge, was a little nervous about killing her. Sure, Mars might not really have been the dad — but if he was? Well, who wants to take that chance? So, to avoid pissing him off, the king just had her imprisoned.
*Consuls were men of the highest elected political office. Average citizens had to give their horses to the state whenever there was a “need”. The imperial family, high officers, and high priests were the only other exemptions.
If you're really into hair, here is an awesome video showing a recreation of the Vestal’s very complicated hair-do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA9JYWh1r7U
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Portraits of the Vestal Virgins, Priestesses of Ancient Rome, Molly Lindner
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/Lanciani/LANARD/6*.html
https://www.historyhit.com/the-vestal-virgins-romes-most-independent-women/
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Vestales.html
https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/history/vestal-virgins-in-ancient-rome.html
https://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/vestals.html
https://listverse.com/2016/06/21/10-fascinating-facts-about-romes-vestal-virgins/
https://classicalassociationni.wordpress.com/2019/05/05/the-last-vestal/
https://historycollection.com/10-details-from-the-daily-life-of-vestal-young-women-in-ancient-rome/
https://www.ancient.eu/Romulus_and_Remus/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vesta-Roman-goddess
https://feminaeromanae.org/Tacitus_Occia.html | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/a-glimpse-into-the-glamorous-lives-of-ancient-romes-vestal-virgins-911390ca301a | ['Nicol Valentin'] | 2020-12-18 23:08:47.140000+00:00 | ['Women', 'Religion', 'Culture', 'Ancient History', 'History'] |
5 Signs It’s Time to Raise Venture Capital For Your B2B SaaS Company | 5 Signs It’s Time to Raise Venture Capital For Your B2B SaaS Company Emily Brungard Follow Nov 2 · 3 min read
For founders building software startups, money can be a major hurdle. How can you be sure, though, that venture capital is the right choice for you? After all, crowdfunding, bootstrapping, and alternative funding sources have only grown in popularity as fundraising mechanisms and show no signs of slowing down. Angel investors have become easier to find thanks to technology and growing networks, and as a result, more companies are looking to startup investment platforms like SeedInvest, Republic, FundersClub, and others.
These guidelines can be applied generally to the entrepreneurial crowd, but they’re especially pertinent for founders raising B2B SaaS venture capital.
Photo via Unsplash
You need domain expertise.
One of the most obvious and immediate benefits of working with a software venture capital firm is access to experts in your field. Top SaaS venture firms like Emergence Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, and, of course, High Alpha, have helped some of the world’s most successful software brands (think: Zoom, Box, Gainsight) to scale because they’ve worked with hundreds of other companies. If they don’t have the answers, they’ll connect you with others in their network that do. At the end of the day, they want you to be successful so that they can generate a return on their investment.
You want to grow your network.
A VC firm’s value should extend beyond the check they write. If you’re a SaaS company, it’s likely that you’ll pitch many SaaS venture capital firms during your fundraising journey. As you receive term sheets, think about the firm’s value from a 1000-foot view. Can they connect you with other entrepreneurs in their portfolio? Do they have access to the talent you need to achieve your next big milestone? Will they introduce you to potential mentors, or future investors? Your VC could even introduce you to potential customers, so be sure to ask about your investors’ connections before you finalize a deal.
You want to scale your startup. Fast.
Companies that win move quickly. “Move fast” is a core value at High Alpha, and it’s a value that we share with our portfolio companies. Founders who want to beat the competition know that they need to move fast, grow quickly, and test often. Speed is particularly important if your unit economics depend on your company reaching a certain scale. Venture funding can help companies hire the right talent to help them move faster — which is a priority, since VCs hope for a 10x return on their investment.
You want to acquire, sell, or (some day) go public.
VC-backed technology companies are traditionally in a better position for an IPO or acquisition, which can help accelerate growth and create liquidity for the founding team and early employees. With the support of venture capital funding, founders are often better equipped to acquire companies than their bootstrapped counterparts. VC funding also helps to create credibility when attracting talent and selling to customers. Further down the road, public stock can also make it easier for companies to attract talent, as stock-based compensation has clear value for employees.
You’re prepared to face rejection.
On average, a founder raising $2 million in seed funding has 27 meetings with investors before completing their funding round. That’s a lot of pitching — which means a lot of rejection. VCs reject deals for a number of reasons. Timing might be off, an investor might not believe your company can reach venture scale, or they could have companies in their portfolio that represent a conflict of interest. Founders should be prepared to hear “no,” and they should remember that the reasoning doesn’t always have to do with their business.
While venture capital isn’t the only option to grow a software business, it can be a valuable tool in an entrepreneur’s toolkit. If you’ve raised venture capital — or if you invest in SaaS — tell us: what would you add to the list? | https://medium.com/high-alpha/5-signs-its-time-to-raise-venture-capital-for-your-b2b-saas-company-7788f27fdb5b | ['Emily Brungard'] | 2020-11-02 20:05:07.847000+00:00 | ['Venture', 'SaaS', 'Fundraising', 'Startup', 'Venture Capital'] |
I Lost My Dream Job When College Sports Went Away. Now I’m Switching Careers. | I Lost My Dream Job When College Sports Went Away. Now I’m Switching Careers.
Even before the pandemic, it was hard to make ends meet as a massage therapist for college athletes
Photo: aldomurillo/Getty Images
After seven years as a massage therapist for the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams men’s basketball team, I received what I considered a big promotion. The coaching staff at the university’s men’s tennis team offered me a temporary contract for five days of massage therapy for their athletes. The call came in early February, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect: I genuinely needed extra money to pay rent.
My first day with the tennis program went great. The team was friendly and appreciative, and I was excited about the prospect of treating all six players as they continued their spring season. I hoped the temporary stint with the team would turn into an annual gig, helping fulfill my career goal of working as a sports massage therapist for collegiate and professional athletes. At the very least, the extra massage therapy sessions would provide some small stability in income.
Just as everything seemed to be falling into place, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and my profession vanished into thin air. The collegiate athletic conference canceled spring sports competitions in March, meaning the tennis team no longer needed me. Just like that, I was out of work — and my rent was due in a week.
Many people consider massage therapy an exorbitant luxury, but I see it as a tool for injury prevention, rehabilitation, and recovery. A number of high-profile professional athletes are starting to incorporate massage therapy into their postgame routines — Kawhi Leonard, last year’s NBA finals MVP, said he gets a massage after every game. Sports massage therapy is an essential part of many athletes’ recovery routines, but now, with a worldwide pandemic underway, there are no more sports.
I had already learned the hard way that massage therapy is usually not a full-time job. Therapists can perform only 20 to 30 hours of massage a week because of the physical demands. Even with a limited workweek, there are few opportunities for sports massage therapists to work anywhere close to full-time.
I’d achieved my dream job of being a massage therapist for a Division I team, but I knew it would never pay my bills. (The most I’ve ever earned from the VCU Rams is about $2,000 in a calendar year.) The new gig with the tennis team was going to see me through another month of rent, but that opportunity crumbled because of Covid-19. I couldn’t even apply to massage therapy jobs if I wanted to. Therapeutic massage clinics in Virginia technically reopened last month with guidelines that both practitioners and clients wear face coverings. However, massage demand has cratered since the start of the pandemic. My preferred local clinic called back just three of its eight massage therapists to return to work.
I’m more worried about the possibility of being evicted from my home than I am of coming down with Covid-19.
It doesn’t help that my industry is often unfairly and inaccurately stigmatized as a sexualized practice. When Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced mandatory stay-at-home orders in March, he echoed common stereotypes about my line of work by calling clinics “massage parlors.” These misconceptions extend to how people think about whether it’s now safe to get a massage.
I would feel very comfortable returning to work right now. More than half of U.S. states, including Virginia, have reopened massage clinics since May. Many require businesses to deep-clean surfaces, stagger appointments to accommodate physical distancing guidelines, and ask employees and clients to wear masks at all times. People fall ill from Covid-19 through droplets generated by talking and coughing, not physical touch. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, face masks help mitigate transmission.
I’m more worried about the possibility of being evicted from my home than I am of coming down with Covid-19. The sudden loss of expected income is a common experience for freelancers, but this time feels different. My idea to offer massage therapy to friends and family is out the window. I also had to give up on my idea of starting an Airbnb experience teaching massage to local tourists. All I have left is a new career goal: finding a job as a remote software engineer.
I started looking into a career change to web development last August. Now that my schedule is wide open because of the Covid-19 crisis, I’ve doubled down on this new career trajectory. I put together a learning plan of websites and portfolio projects to work on daily, and I started applying to jobs. Each rejection used to bring me down, but now I use it as motivation. I’ve managed to make ends meet by finding work in technical writing on the side.
Today, I am feeling hopeful. I have a definite plan to shift careers and enough money to cover a few months of rent. Jobs in web development and technical writing are better suited for repeated bouts of social distancing orders thanks to the flexibility to work remotely. Technology is keeping me employed in the midst of the worst pandemic in a century.
That’s not to say I’ve given up on massage therapy, especially now that clinics are open. Getting a massage with a mask on may not be the most relaxing experience — but I’m sure if you close your eyes, it will feel just as good. | https://gen.medium.com/i-was-a-massage-therapist-until-coronavirus-struck-4d34af74a687 | ['Dr. Derek Austin'] | 2020-11-19 20:09:36.799000+00:00 | ['Work', 'Career', 'Sports', 'Massage', 'The Way We Work Now'] |
Ideas about the Future of Bitcoin and Blockchain | Ideas about the Future of Bitcoin and Blockchain, illustration by Dinis Guarda
The Future of Bitcoin — and Blockchain is now and you better take it seriously!
“Instant transactions, no waiting for checks to clear, no chargebacks (merchants will like this), no account freezes (look out Paypal), no international wire transfer fee, no fees of any kind, no minimum balance, no maximum balance, worldwide access, always open, no waiting for business hours to make transactions, no waiting for an account to be approved before transacting, open an account in a few seconds, as easy as email, no bank account needed, extremely poor people can use it, extremely wealthy people can use it, no printing press, no hyper-inflation, no debt limit votes, no bank bailouts, completely voluntary. This sounds like the best payment system in the world!”
– Trace Mayer J.D., a Leading Monetary Expert on Bitcoin and Gold
Bitcoin and Blockchain are disrupting the global economy and its game-changing technologies are still in its inceptions but are already mainstream for investors and traders. When personalities such as Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Reid Hoffman are looking at it more and more seriously, and putting their substantial fortunes and time on it, you understand that things are happening and that Bitcoin and Blockchain are shifting the present, and, of course, the future of tech and Finance Technologies — Fintech.
I will elaborate how I view the future of Bitcoin and Blockchain and integrate some quotes from industry players. This is a variation of an article I published in the website I am the founder tradersdna.com. The original article can be found here: 10 Facts about The Future of Bitcoin and Blockchain
These new technologies and digital currency are building new business and shifting paradigms, changing the shape of financial industries and special its central technology — blockchain — is now on the road to be a top central system used by financial services and somehow making financial institutions achieve new performance and adapt the way they relate to others.
What is Bitcoin and what is its near future?
“Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement and the ability to create something that is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value”
– Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google
What is Bitcoin and what will it become in the near future? This is the question that may probably be ringing in many people’s, investors, trading mind. Bitcoin is now becoming one of the most utilized forms of digital currency in the global markets; however, it has been predicted times without number that it won’t last due to the speculations that it didn’t hold grounds globally.
If you don’t still know what a Bitcoin is; it is a form of digital currency that is created electronically and it’s being known to be an online currency whereby no one really has the power to control it.
When the real or mythical founder Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin in January 2009 it was the beginning of a new kind of digital, financial and technological revolution. The original block in the blockchain was masterly encoded with a bleak but bold snapshot in the ecosystem of the failing global financial system, a small quote from the UK Times newspaper synthesised the spirit: “Chancellor on the brink of a second bailout for banks.”
It was the financial world, banks, central control and special corrupt parts of government policy, that made possibility the fledgling birth, inception of the crypto-currency that was born out of a wish to replace financial systems that could be corrupted. While Bitcoin has not yet overthrown the financial institutions, and a lot of work needs to be done there are no doubts that in nearly 7 years its scope of influence is bigger than ever and powerful than most of the people realise.
Bitcoin / Blockchain Ecosystem, illustration by Dinis Guarda
The legitimacy of Bitcoin currency!
Bitcoin is the currency of resistance.”
“If Satoshi had released Bitcoin 10 yrs. earlier, 9/11 would never have happened” Max Keiser
Many people are still skeptical about the legitimacy of Bitcoin currency, and whether or not people really use it but the numbers are critical to look at it in a solid way. The idea is, with Bitcoin, one can have a free transaction that is anonymous. It’s important to know that the only thing that differentiates Bitcoin from other notable e-currencies like the PayPal, webmoney, etc is its anonymity and solid secure ecosystem; and it’s not guided by any government body or the central bank. However, one of the things that make Bitcoin stand till date is the critical system of blockchain — which is the main innovation of Bitcoin.
An important area if that the advocates of the digital ledger technology that enables Bitcoin, known as the blockchain, say its use in traditional financial transactions could prove far more revolutionary than the alternative digital currencies for which it was first created.
So What Lies For The Future of Bitcoin?
“Bitcoin was created to serve a highly political intent, a free and uncensored network where all can participate with equal access.”
– Amir Taaki
Bitcoin is still in its first years and it has been hailed primarily as the first reliable digital currency, an uncensored network of liberal minds, and it is at heart a uniquely secure database, with a subtle combination of cryptography and social engineering that makes the core network essentially unshakable, although hackers in the past disestablished special its exchanges.
One of its strengths is the Bitcoin network, known as a blockchain, that matrix technology that organizes thousands of independent computers that each host copies of a regularly updated transaction ledger. Those Bitcoin “miners” constantly check their copy of the ledger against others, ensuring that no single compromised ledger can impact the overall network. This is one of the critical elements of the power of Bitcoin and that will write the future of Bitcoin in so bright ways.
With the way Bitcoin is becoming more popular among the digital marketers day-after-day, it’s a sign that the future of Bitcoin is actually bright. It is important to know that you don’t need to be told about what will likely without making impacts in the society. If Bitcoin will vanish, it would have done that within the first three years of its introduction, and it has proven many speculators wrong.
Bitcoin is now in its seventh years since it was first created and as experts used to say “it takes a good 10 years for software to get into limelight.” That is to tell you that if Bitcoin can keep on the pace at which it’s growing, in the next three years it will surely dominate the world as the PayPal does. However, are some indicators that justify the bright future of Bitcoin.
“I think the fact that within the bitcoin universe an algorithm replaces the functions of [the government] … is actually pretty cool. I am a big fan of Bitcoin”
– Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States
Indicators That Signaled The Future Of Bitcoin Is Bright
“The governments of the world have spent hundreds and hundreds of trillions of dollars bailing out a decaying, dickensian, outmoded system called banking, when the solution to the future of finance is peer-to-peer. It’s going to be alternative currencies like bitcoin and it’s not actually going to be a banking system as we had before 2008.”
– Patrick Young, Financial analyst
In the early days of Bitcoin, it uses a pre-web browser 1992 era internet, but now it has elevated to the base layer protocol known as TCP/IP and is a baseline for cash and cashless transactions.
Developers are now working on building a second layer which will be the use as HTTP to make it more effective and more accessible across the globe.
There have been moves and suggestions on improving the standard of Bitcoin by building software that will guarantee a full-stack infrastructure for Bitcoin. Now, if plans like these are put in place, it’s clearly shown that Bitcoin will be ahead in the game come future.
Bitcoin has also been tipped to extend its functions beyond digital currency to becoming one of the search engines like the Google on the internet. Many experts see this as a good plan and don’t be surprised to see Bitcoin as one of the search engines tool, in the near world. With the effectiveness of blockchain and several other tech indexation / ranking attributes.
Bitcoin is still in its infancy and it has been tipped to be more valuable than most of global currencies in the near future. | https://medium.com/decentralize-today/ideas-about-the-future-of-bitcoin-and-blockchain-80a0ad3c7a2d | ['Dinis Guarda'] | 2016-04-05 16:55:30.325000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Future'] |
What is the Importance of a Good Floor Plan? | One of the most important issues facing WA home builders is choosing the right floor plan. There are certainly lots of other very important things to consider when building a home — such as the location, the style of home you want and the fixtures, fittings and furniture that will bring it all together — but the floorplan will have the biggest impact on your day-to-day life in your home.
You need to remember that you’ll be living in this space for years to come, so it really pays to spend some extra time and effort in the early stages to get a floor plan that works for you, your lifestyle and your family.
A good floor plan can enhance your life by maximising space, light and airflow while simultaneously creating a natural flow between rooms. Conversely, a bad floor plan can make your home feel cramped, stuffy, dark and uninviting.
Even worse than that, a bad floor plan can negatively affect the resalve value of your property. To get a better understanding of the importance of choosing a good floor plan — and find out how to pick one that’s going to be right for you — make sure you read the rest of this post.
What Is A Floor Plan?
Before we go on, we just want to clarify exactly what we’re talking about. Floor plans show the layout and positioning of different rooms and spaces in an architectural design.
It’s basically a bird’s-eye view of a house design that allows you to see how everything is positioned.
3 Things To Consider When Choosing Your Floor Plan
Does it fit into your lifestyle?
It’s vital that your floorplan is able to accommodate your lifestyle, so think carefully about the way you live and what you like to do before making a choice.
If you like to cook and entertain, then a big kitchen with an open-plan living space is probably ideal. If you have to walk downstairs, through a bedroom and across the other side of the house to get between your kitchen and your dining/entertaining area, chances are that you aren’t going to use it as much.
Is it versatile and flexible?
When choosing the right floorplan, you need to think of how your needs and lifestyle will change over time.
Are you planning on raising a family? Are there enough bedrooms? Could you convert the home office into a nursery if you need to? Are you likely to have adult children or older relatives living with you at some point?
Never underestimate the importance of room positioning when choosing your floorplan. Remember, while it might just look like lines on a piece of paper now, it represents the space where you’ll spend most of your life for the foreseeable future.
Failure to choose a floorplan that can adequately adapt to your changing needs can cause some serious issues years down the line.
How are the rooms positioned?
There are no hard-and-fast rules, but generally speaking, it’s advisable to allow for a bit of distance between your living room and bedrooms. You also might want to have the kitchen and living room close together so you can keep an eye on your children while they’re watching TV.
Bathroom placement is also very important, as you want to tuck them away to ensure the maximum amount of privacy. Nobody wants to use a toilet that opens directly onto the dining room in the middle of a dinner party!
As you can see, a good floor plan can make or break the liveability of your new home. Make sure you ask the right questions and make the right choices so that you end up with a home that you’ll adore living in for years to come!
Article Source: What is the Importance of a Good Floor Plan? | https://medium.com/@aiden-dallas94/what-is-the-importance-of-a-good-floor-plan-bc699f6b5e9f | ['Aiden Dallas'] | 2019-10-17 07:24:21.077000+00:00 | ['Interior Design'] |
The Art of Flying Post Pandemic | Flying in a Pandemic World
As Covid-19 Pandemic has created an unprecedented havoc and the world is reeling under healthcare systems melt down, and Nation’s have not been able to gather courage to fight back, the impact it has made on lives of people around the world, has left deep impact on their daily lives and world is on a stand still.
If Post Pandemic Flying ever has to happen the Global Co-operation has to be the norm. Lives which matter have been lost Front line Workers are battling it out for a year now and the breakthrough for cure remains challenge even after different vaccines claiming it as remedy for now.
Taxiway to Runway
As new Covid-19 variants have put the countries on going into another lock down period, which will lead to starvation and hunger as most of the work force is paid either weekly or monthly and daily wage workers are the most impacted and countries across the globe have stopped thinking about the work force and their disaster management strategies to handle such pandemic have been futile.
Global Technology Giant and Health Science Giants will have to collaborate on an enormous scale, which will be the first in history of Mankind to overcome the challenge faced by Human race, as nature has been logger head with the human race. Trust Deficit between technology and health science has been a major road block which is causing distrust between countries and reliability of the claims made by Global Health Science Conglomerate has fallen flat as population does not trust the vaccine which was considered as golden arrow to curb the pandemic.
Inflation and Recession have created major panic, in the travel industry where most of the work force has been made redundant and airline are forced into re-thinking their strategy for their day’s ahead which look grim. The boom which the decade has seen has burst like bubble showing the short comings and how weak are we again such flurry of Nature.
Hope is a strong word in current scenario, where every leader has been thriving to work their ways to avoid deaths, but co-operation has to happen. Which again is missing? Co-operation, Trust, Empathy and Adaptability will be the way forward if Flying ever has to take place | https://medium.com/@alamk6043/the-art-of-flying-post-pandemic-609347f978a1 | ['Khan Alam'] | 2021-04-01 11:09:29.209000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Life', 'Aviation', 'Health', 'Nature'] |
Networking like a pro in data science | Networking like a pro in data science
Sanyam Bhutani on the TDS podcast
Editor’s note: The Towards Data Science podcast’s “Climbing the Data Science Ladder” series is hosted by Jeremie Harris. Apart from hosting the podcast, Jeremie helps run a data science mentorship startup called SharpestMinds. You can listen to the podcast below:
Networking is the most valuable career advancement skill in data science. And yet, almost paradoxically, most data scientists don’t spend any time on it at all. In some ways, that’s not terribly surprising: data science is a pretty technical field, and technical people often prefer not to go out of their way to seek social interactions. We tend to think of networking with other “primates who code” as a distraction at best, and an anxiety-inducing nightmare at worst.
So how can data scientists overcome that anxiety, and tap into the value of network-building, and develop a brand for themselves in the data science community? That’s the question that brings us to this episode of the podcast. To answer it, I spoke with repeat guest Sanyam Bhutani — a top Kaggler, host of the Chai Time Data Science Show, Machine Learning Engineer and AI Content Creator at H2O.ai, about the unorthodox networking strategies that he’s leveraged to become a fixture in the machine learning community, and to land his current role.
Here were some of my favourite take-homes from the episode:
There are many, many different ways to network in data science: Meetups, Slack and Discord communities, one-on-one calls, podcasts, written interviews and blog posts, etc. You don’t have to do them all — and you shouldn’t. Instead, start by picking the strategies that align with your personality. If you’re more introverted, stay away from Meetups (where more ice-breaking is required) and focus on one-on-one calls. If you’re more of an extrovert, seek opportunities to give presentations and exploit your comparative advantage by engaging with people at larger group events.
This might sound controversial, but podcasts are still under-valued as a way of networking. Don’t get me wrong: you should absolutely not start a podcast to become famous! But an interview-style podcast gives you a great excuse to get to know important members of the machine learning community, and even managers at companies you might someday want to work for. People are surprisingly open to being interviewed, and a one-on-one format means this strategy is especially well-suited for introverts.
Hosting a podcast is also great if you’re having trouble working up the courage to network, because it forces you to pre-commit to speaking to someone at a specific time and date. It’s relatively easy to work up the courage to send an invite by email, so it’s something shy introverts are more likely to actually do — and once you have, you’re forced to follow through with the conversation!
There are tons of great Discord and Slack communities as well as online forums where you can connect with other data scientists to get warmed up before doing any “face-to-face” (i.e. remote videochat) networking. This is probably a good first step if you’re looking to dip your toes in the water.
You can follow Sanyam on Twitter here, and you can follow me on Twitter here.
Also, check out the Chai Time Data Science Show on YouTube and on Anchor! | https://towardsdatascience.com/networking-like-a-pro-in-data-science-4133b91e1b6f | ['Jeremie Harris'] | 2020-09-24 14:59:36.775000+00:00 | ['Tds Conversations', 'Tds Podcast', 'Networking', 'Data Science', 'Towards Data Science'] |
Title Search Jobs | Title examiner jobs | Are you title search professionals? And if you’re the best at what you do, then come and work at titlefreelnacer.com
Interested candidates can share your resume to shruti@titlefreelancer.com
or
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#titlesearch #titleexaminer #titleinsurance #titleinsuranceagent #mortgage #mortgagejobs #bangalorejobs #bangalorejobseekers #jobsinbangalore | https://medium.com/@searchtitle409/title-search-jobs-title-examiner-jobs-13fb86cd167f | [] | 2020-12-22 05:13:55.643000+00:00 | ['Mortgage', 'Jobs', 'Title Loans', 'Titlesearch', 'Freelance'] |
Blind Corners | Blind Corners
Disappearing into vapour
Photo by Sandro Steiner on Unsplash
Up ahead lying-in wait
hidden from my view
surprises crouch ready to leap
right out of the blue.
My sixth sense anticipates
events on my instinct’s radar
though falters on blind corners
disappearing into vapour.
My metaphoric senses
slow and decelerate
anticipating danger
before it is too late.
I cannot see what lies ahead
and keep my senses sharp
part of being on patrol
and not being blown apart.
Life’s full of blind corners
who’s coming round the bend
best to exercise caution
right to the very end.
I walked amongst the daffodils
who knows what lies at the next turn
I’ve turned the bend from soldiering
with still a lot to learn.
Up ahead there may be dread
hidden from my view
surprises that lay in wait
right out of the blue.
©
David Rudder
26th December 2020
Thanks for reading. | https://medium.com/illumination/blind-corners-78df94e68adc | ['David Rudder'] | 2020-12-25 09:25:57.348000+00:00 | ['Blindspots', 'Soldier', 'Illumination', 'Corner', 'Poetry'] |
Insomniac Sleep Machine | For a journalist and critic, sleeping with your subjects is a potential conflict of interest, not to mention a monumental act of bad taste. But that’s what I’ve been doing with the OontZ Angle 3 Plus. This little portable speaker is my new bedtime music companion.
I was drawn to the OontZ because for me, bedtime music is a medical necessity. I have chronic insomnia. Without enhancers, I would sleep two or three hours every two or three nights. No one can go on like that. Drugs helped, for a while, but I reached the point where the elephant tranquilizers I was taking to bludgeon myself to sleep were losing effectiveness. Rather than increase the dose, I looked for enhancers. A blackout curtain helped. Slow, chiming music also became an indispensable part of my sleep regimen.
It has been 13 years since I’ve last written about this subject. I wrote about the Altec Lansing inMotion im600 twice that year. First I reviewed it. A few months later I announced that it had become my favorite means of playing music while falling asleep. It has faithfully lulled me to sleep ever since (with occasional help from a Soundmatters FoxL Dash 7).
At one point I had as many as three Altec units, the review sample and two more I bought. Since then one developed a mechanical buzz and had to be discarded. Another lost so much battery life as to become unusable, and two attempts to replace the battery failed. I was down to one Altec with two or three nights worth of running time when I bought the OontZ Angle 3 Plus. The OontZ brand arose out of Cambridge SoundWorks, a well-known loudspeaker maker.
Two features were crucial in my selection. First, because the single power outlet in my bedroom is not where my bedtime music system needs it to be, I need to use a battery-powered speaker. And because there are few chores I loathe as much as recharging hungry little batteries — see this token of my distaste — I need the speaker to run as long as possible on a charge so that I won’t have to mess with it more than once a week, assuming 60 minutes of playing time per night.
The OontZ far exceeds my requirements. It is rated to run an incredible 30 hours per charge when playing at two-thirds of maximum volume. In that respect it outpaces other OontZ products as well as most other portable speakers on the market. (If you know of something else that runs longer, let me hear about it in the comments section.)
Because I don’t want to damage the battery by running it all the way down, I usually wait no more than two weeks before recharging the OontZ. That comes to 14 hours, or about half of the rated playing time. Once every few nights I awaken in the middle of the night and go for another hour of music, so two weeks of active duty would come to roughly 20 hours out of the rated 30 — still a good margin of error.
The Angle 3 Plus is a triangular solid 6.5 inches wide and fewer than three inches high and long. The enclosure is plastic with perforated metal speaker grille and rubber end caps that are pleasing to the touch. It is not heavy but feels solid. Rubber-clad membrane controls are on one side. They include power, volume up, volume down, play, back, forward, and a Bluetooth pairing button.
Anti-wireless scofflaw that I am, I don’t use the Bluetooth function. Instead I use a short KabelDirekt mini-plug cable to link a gaggle of music players to the analog stereo mini-jack that sits beneath a rubber hatch near the controls, along with the USB-Micro jack used for charging. That way I don’t have to worry about running down my phone battery — or running out of music.
The music players include a vintage Astell & Kern AK100, the company’s first product and still a sterling performer, along with an AK Jr. I’ve also got a couple of ancient SanDisk Sansa players which continue to amaze with miracles of longevity — the older of the two has been in regular use for 13 years. Because they’re a lot thicker than most Apple products, they have room for bigger batteries that help them run longer.
The lone survivor of my fleet of iPods is a sixth-generation nano, the one with a touchscreen the size of a postage stamp. My three other iPod nanos and first-gen touch are essentially dead — their slim form factors were pleasing to the eye but did not leave room for batteries that would stand the test of time. When the 6G nano and a slowing iPad mini give up the ghost, my divorce from the Apple ecosystem, with its unconscionable planned obsolescence, will be complete.
Top: Altec Lansing im600. Middle: OontZ Angle 3 Plus. Bottom left to right: iPod nano 6G, SanDisk Sansa Fuze, SanDisk Sansa View, Astell & Kern AK Jr, Astell & Kern AK100.
Back to the OontZ: Two drivers of approximately 1.5–2 inches (at a guess) with neodymium magnets fire out of the front. Because of the unit’s triangular shape, they aim upward at a 45-degree angle. On the bottom is a flat rectangular bass radiator. It is an active driver and when you hold the unit you can feel it vibrating madly. Output power is a total 10 watts of peak power, which is not bad for an active speaker that runs for 30 hours.
The Angle 3 Plus has talents I will never use. It is certified IPX5 water resistant. When connected to a phone, it can serve as a hands-free speakerphone thanks to its built-in mic. And it can play while sitting on its broad base, with the bass driver aiming down, or standing on one triangular end cap. You try singing for 30 hours while standing on one foot. Trust me, it isn’t easy.
The Angle 3 Plus sounded good for its size but delivered a small fraction of the bass output you’d get from a full-size stereo system or even a larger powered speaker. The price of extreme efficiency was that Led Zeppelin’s ace Bonham/Jones rhythm section on “The Ocean” (Houses of the Holy, 24/96 FLAC) was decidedly on the light side. Even the lower strings of Jan Akkerman’s guitar on his all-acoustic Passion album (16/44.1 ALAC) were subdued.
Even so, I don’t play Led Zeppelin at night. I’m more likely to go for piano or chamber music. The OontZ delivered Beethoven’s third piano sonata (Alfred Brendel, 16/44.1 ALAC) with a light treatment of the left hand but a clean, listenable midrange. The slow movement of Schubert’s first piano Trio (Golub/Kaplan/Carr, 16.44.1 ALAC) showed relatively little plasticky coloration on the violin and cello. The top end, crucially with this kind of device, was not harsh or ragged at reasonable volume levels.
The OontZ certainly serves the guitar-synthesizer music I play most nights with commendable clarity and intelligibility. And as long as you don’t expect miracles, it does sound larger than its physical size, and plays as loud as you could reasonably want. I never quite reached the top of its volume limit — my ears gave out before the speaker did.
The OontZ line no longer includes the Angle 3 Plus but it does have a half-dozen models at presstime. The largest is the 11.5-inch-wide Angle Ultra Pro Edition; the smallest is the Angle Solo. Interestingly, none of the current models approaches the 30-hour playing time of the Angle 3 Plus. The one that comes closest is the 20-hour Angle 3 Ultra.
And how will the OontZ stand the test of time? Ask me a decade from now. | https://medium.com/@toycritic/insomniac-sleep-machine-19556410c8bf | ['Mark Fleischmann'] | 2020-08-07 21:29:59.227000+00:00 | ['Insomnia', 'Music', 'Audio', 'Electronics', 'Speakers'] |
SDG Framework and Application | Conceptual summarize of 2018 SDG report & methodology
Introduction
Sustainable Development Goals is a universal agenda that applies to all countries. Set by the United Nations, the goal is to call to action on the above 17 dimensions. Hoping to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The global SDG Index score and SDG Dashboard helps signifying the current implementation outcome of the goal.
Objective and Framework
Good data and clear metrics are critical for each country to take stock of where it stands, devise pathways for achieving the goals and track progress. However, it has always been an issue on building a statistical system to acquire comprehensive cross-country data with agreed statistical definitions.
Some governments have begun voluntary national reviews of progress on the SDGs, but they use indicators that are not harmonized internationally and lack comparability. In order to assist countries in measuring their SDG baselines and to measure future progress, the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) jointly released the first SDG Index and Dashboards in July 2016.
The conceptual framework corresponds to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by global leaders at the United-Nations General Assembly in September 2015. The 17 SDGs include 169 more specific targets and means for implementation.
Fundamental Assumptions
There are five fundamental assumptions underpinning the methodology and construction of the SDG Index and Dashboards:
Number of indicators evolves when new evidence become available. First, the authors of the report acknowledge that the SDGs are part of a dynamic agenda including inside the statistical community. Therefore, the basket of indicators evolves from year to another as new evidence become available. The methodology for certain indicators is also revised based on efforts at the global level to improve the quality of the measures to monitor the SDGs. This means that the SDG Index and Dashboards results are not directly comparable from one year to another.
The 17 SDGs are the final overarching framework (no re-clustering of the goals). T he SDG Index and Dashboards uses the 17 SDGs as the final overarching conceptual framework. The report does not reorganize goals into sub-categories such as the 5Ps (People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership) or between economic, social, environmental and governance related goals . Beyond the fact that there are no agreements on the re-clustering of these goals, the authors also argue that the SDGs are an overarching framework that encourage policymakers to incorporate each dimension into the policy making process for each sector and not see these issues as independent issues to be addressed within each siloes. The report uses expert judgement to deal with overlaps between goals.
he SDG Index and Dashboards uses the 17 SDGs as the final overarching conceptual framework. The report does not reorganize goals into sub-categories such as the 5Ps (People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership) or between economic, social, environmental and governance related goals . Beyond the fact that there are no agreements on the re-clustering of these goals, the authors also argue that the SDGs are an overarching framework that encourage policymakers to incorporate each dimension into the policy making process for each sector and not see these issues as independent issues to be addressed within each siloes. The report uses expert judgement to deal with overlaps between goals. Non-official data help bridge current data gaps. The report focuses on data available at the moment. Considering that official indicators are not sufficient to monitor comprehensively the implementation of the SDGs and that non-official data sources can help bridge this gap. Non-official data sources include data produced in research institutions, Universities, civil society and other partners. They sometimes use new data collection methods such as satellite imagery data and other forms of data. The use of non-official datasets to measure some of the SDGs complements on-going efforts taking place in international statistical committees to generate new standardized measures in NSOs to monitor the SDGs.
The report focuses on data available at the moment. Considering that official indicators are not sufficient to monitor comprehensively the implementation of the SDGs and that non-official data sources can help bridge this gap. Non-official data sources include data produced in research institutions, Universities, civil society and other partners. They sometimes use new data collection methods such as satellite imagery data and other forms of data. The use of non-official datasets to measure some of the SDGs complements on-going efforts taking place in international statistical committees to generate new standardized measures in NSOs to monitor the SDGs. Monitoring the SDGs requires estimating absolute country performance based on distance to invariant sustainable development targets. The report focuses on absolute country performance (not relative to other countries performance) and normalizes each indicator from 0–100 where 100 corresponds to determined “technical optimums”. Therefore, the report measures what it aims to measure which is the distance to achieving sustainability. The detailed method for calculating these technical optimums is presented in next section.
The report focuses on absolute country performance (not relative to other countries performance) and normalizes each indicator from 0–100 where 100 corresponds to determined “technical optimums”. Therefore, the report measures what it aims to measure which is the distance to achieving sustainability. The detailed method for calculating these technical optimums is presented in next section. Results need to be accessible for a wide audience. The SDG Index and Dashboards aims to strike a balance between scientific soundness and easily communicable results accessible for a wide audience (policymakers, civil society, layman citizens etc.). Therefore, as a general rule, when two methods yield similar results the easier method was retained. The SDG Index and Dashboards result are accessible for free online so that users can replicate the results. A number of sensitivity tests and robustness tests to various methodological assumptions are also presented for transparency.
Indicator Selection
Where insufficient data is available for an official indicator and to close data gaps, we include other metrics from official and unofficial providers. Five criteria for indicator selection were used to determine suitable metrics for inclusion in the global SDG Index and Dashboards:
Global relevance and applicability to a broad range of country settings: The indicators are relevant for monitoring achievement of the SDGs and applicable to the entire continent. They are internationally comparable and allow for direct comparison of performance across countries. In particular, they allow for the definition of quantitative performance thresholds that signify SDG achievement. Statistical adequacy: The indicators selected represent valid and reliable measures. Timeliness: The indicators selected are up to date and published on a reasonably prompt schedule. Data quality: Data series represent the best available measure for a specific issue, and derive from official national or international sources (e.g. national statistical offices or international organizations) or other reputable sources, such as peer-reviewed publications. No imputations of self-reported national estimates are included. Coverage: Data have to be available for at least 80% of the 149 UN Member States with a national population greater than 1 million.
The SDG Index
The SDG Index score signifies a country’s position between the worst (0) and the best or target (100) outcomes. If a particular country scores at 85, this means the country is on average 85% of the way to fulfill across 17 SDG goals.
The SDG Dashboard
The SDG Dashboard shows the overview of each countries current implementation outcome across 17 SDG goals. According to the 2018 report, there are six general finidngs:
Most G20 countries have started SDGs implementation, but important gaps remain. Results from the novel survey on national SDG implementation mechanisms show large variations among G20 countries in how the SDGs are embraced by the political leadership and translated into institutional mechanisms. Some countries have established dedicated coordination units, strategies and action plans, and accountability systems, while others lag behind on some or all of these dimensions. More data and analyses are needed to gauge the level of ambition and effectiveness of SDG strategies, tools, and processes. No country is on track towards achieving all SDGs. For the first time, we are able to show that no country is on track to achieve all the goals by 2030. For example, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland top the 2018 SDG Index, but they need to significantly accelerate progress towards achieving some goals, including Goal 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production) and Goal 13 (Climate Action). Conflicts are leading to reversals in SDG progress. Most developing countries have experienced significant progress towards ending extreme poverty in all its forms, including income poverty, undernourishment, access to health and education services, and access to basic infrastructure. Achievement gaps are greatest towards universal completion of secondary education. Countries experiencing conflict have experienced some of the sharpest reversals, particularly towards achieving Goal 1 (No Poverty) and Goal 2 (No Hunger). Progress towards sustainable consumption and production patterns is too slow. High-income countries obtain their lowest scores on Goal 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production) and Goal 14 (Life Below Water). While no trend data are available for Goal 12, the data for Goal 14 suggest that most of high-income countries have made no progress in recent years towards achieving the Goal. Trends on Goal 15 (Life on Land) are also insufficient. They show that further efforts are needed to protect the biodiversity and support sustainable production and consumption. High-income countries generate negative SDG spillover effects. High-income countries generate significant environmental, economic, and security spillover effects that undermine other countries’ efforts to achieve the SDGs. Yet, there is high variation in spillovers among countries with a similar per capita income. This suggests that countries can reduce their negative spillover effects without reducing their per capita incomes. Inequalities in economic and social outcomes require better data. Newly added indicators for OECD countries focusing on inequalities in economic, health, and education outcomes lower the SDG Index scores for some countries. This suggests significant shortfalls in ensuring that no one is left behind, which are hidden by aggregate data. Such disaggregated data are unavailable for most non-OECD countries, so greater investments are needed to fill these data gaps.
SDG Dashboard for OECD Countries, Source: 2018 SDG Implementation Report
Applications on SDGs in Taiwan
Owing to I couldn’t find the latest report of 2018 Taiwan‘s Voluntary National Review, let’s take a look at the previous version. According to the report, Taiwan has been working on SDGs proactively even though we’re not an official member of the UN. The figure below shows a high level structure on how the Taiwanese government implemented the goals in each field. (More details can be find in the Chinese version as well)
Take one of the most remarkable examples from my point of view. I grew up in a cross-cultural family. My mom is from China, and my dad is from Taiwan. Under the baptism of intercultural environment, I discovered the importance of new immigrants’ education program and social inclusiveness:
The revision of the Talent Cultivation and Education Program for New Immigrants (in line with SDGs 1, 4, 10, 11, 16).
On December 14, 2016, the Ministry of Education revised the talent cultivation and education program for new immigrants, so as to provide them with lifelong learning opportunities, facilitate their quick adaptation to the local environment, help them build a new life, and offer job opportunities. The program enables immigrants to employ their linguistic and cultural advantages, develop their skills and potential, and quickly assimilate into Taiwan’s society.
As part of the program, their languages are incorporated into elementary school curriculums, and priority is placed on matching relevant children or students proficient in related languages with internships or jobs offered by overseas Taiwanese businesses. In addition, the recent progress made by Taiwan encourages new immigrants to share the culture and traditional customs of their home countries in order to give the Taiwanese people a better understanding of other cultures, which in turn contributes to greater cultural diversity and social inclusiveness.
Call to action on SDG Individually
Rather than depending on the government or corporate to respond actively on SDG goals, why not start to call to action from each individual? See below “Good Life Goals”, a personal SDG handbook developed by WBSCD. Be the change you would like to see in the world! | https://medium.com/@hopaochu/sdg-framework-and-application-4d17c15ba14e | [] | 2019-04-27 15:13:18.069000+00:00 | ['United Nations', 'Sustainability', 'Globalization', 'Sdgs', 'Sustainable Development'] |
The ‘me’ is the source of all suffering, regardless of the problem we blame it on | Gurudev Amritji Desai, father of the Amrit Yoga Institute, is a teacher who understands the ‘me’ and its creation. There are very few like him.
by Vic Shayne
author
13 Pillars of Enlightenment
One of philosophy’s most contentious discussions over the millennia has been whether there is a meaning to life, and within this argument is nestled yet another one — whether there is free will. Behind both ideas is something more fundamental, which is how the egoic mind, or sense of a “me” is formed to care and wonder about such issues.
The mind is an instrument that is able to make sense of the world, for the most practical reason, which is to navigate within it. It is capable of solving problems, inventing and using tools, gaining practical knowledge, passing along knowledge, learning languages, perceiving duality, and so on. As a natural course of growing up, this same mind that is used to make life doable becomes psychologically conditioned, which in turn creates a sense of self (a “me”) that is prone to suffering. Suffering often leads one to a psychologist or some other therapist who employs her skills to try to make things better. But for most people the suffering continues as an ever-present burden, even after “successful” psychological treatment. This is because therapy rarely gets to the cause — the mother lode — of all suffering regardless of what is called the object of the suffering
We use the word “problem” to point at some specific cause of our suffering, but when we look beneath the surface we find that every problem has the same root cause, which is the egoic sense of self, or what we can generically call “me.” The “me” goes through life struggling with one problem after another, psychologically speaking. (Physical problems are another issue, and we may refer to these as the causes of pain instead of suffering. Pain is a physical feeling, while suffering is a mental and emotional response to perception.)
Two ways to go
To simplify matters, we can say there are two main approaches that people take in an attempt to allay their suffering, perhaps with the goal of leading to transformation, greater satisfaction, a greater level of happiness, and/or a sense of improvement:
To recondition the already conditioned mind; or To fully realize that the conditioned mind (also called “me,” the egoic self, the egoic mind, the sense of “I,” the center, etc.) is only a belief system.
We can further break down the above aspects like this: We either create a better version of “me,” or we can accept and fully be what is not the “me.”
Discovering — wholeheartedly, and not merely intellectually —that the “me” is only an idea, a belief, created out of an accretion of thoughts from psychological conditioning dissolves the root of all suffering. It sounds simple to some, and it sounds difficult to others, to achieve such a transformation. It’s simple in theory, we may say, but it becomes very apparent that understanding that the “me” is no more than a belief, and therefore it is not the doer, is no easy realization —for most people— that has instant application.
“Transformation” refers in this case to a new way of seeing the world and one’s place in it, but what is usually called transformation is actually reconditioning that placates, soothes, satisfies, and elevates the egoic self, the “me.”
More on the creation of the ‘me’
The “me” is created by psychological conditioning of the mind. This “me” is an accretion of thoughts arising out of consciousness and instilled in a person by way of parents, authority figures, relatives, religion, culture, tribalism, teachers, and many other factors. This resulting“me” becomes one’s “operating system,” so to speak, and is the belief that we are associated, and identified, with ideas, memories, experiences, losses, accomplishments, failures, successes, physical appearances, abilities, talents, relationships, genetics, and more. The “me,” or self, derives its security from things outside itself, such as religion, tribalism, in-groups, nationalism, relationships, and so on. Ultimately, the “me” believes itself to be fully associated with the body and all things associated with the body. When, for example, a person points to himself and says, “I have a job,” he is literally perceiving and identifying himself as a body that is engaged in a particular form of work.
The “me”does not realize that it is actually a belief within the context of consciousness, which is the totality of all that is.This is because the “me” has walled itself off from everything else, believing it’s an island unto itself. Even its display and feelings of love are mere shadows of the love that exists without the “me,” which is without a locus and therefore universal.
Practical reasons for the practical mind
Because the (practical) mind is an instrument that helps us navigate this world and solve problems, it is a valuable asset. To live in this world and relate to it and to other beings, situations, and objects, the mind must fragment the totality of consciousness into parts, or digestible pieces, so that it can experience a life in a world of duality. For example, the mind must discriminate between hot and cold, tall and short, blue and red, fast and slow, good and bad, dangerous and safe, positive and negative, and every other conceivable and perceivable duality. To play and work in this world, one must see reality as a tapestry of pieces even though it is actually a singular and indivisible movement. However, when the mind is inevitably conditioned by thoughts that create the “me,” it also applies the sense of duality to itself, setting itself apart from the rest of consciousness. This is the fundamental cause of suffering, because the sense of an individual self moves through its entire lifetime trying to be whole, which means trying to acquire, obtain, attain, arrange, rearrange, fix, repel, attract, and so on. The result is frustration, anger, rage, jealousy, hate, revenge, engagement in entertainment, abuse of the self or of others, pursuing metaphysical and religious teachings, practicing austerities and rituals, rudeness, violence, conflict, the need to find the meaning of life, argumentation, and other behaviors and thoughts that are employed in an effort to become something.
In actuality, there is no becoming as consciousness, because consciousness is already complete, dynamic, and complex. The idea of becoming originates from the egoic self, the “me,” that is compelled to find completeness. The “me” suffers because it does not know what it already is, which is consciousness. Instead, it believes that it is something other than consciousness, which is an individual apart from the whole, motivating it to find pleasure and avoid pain in an endless cycle that generates suffering.
Who cares to know the Self beyond the ‘me’?
Very, very few people want, or have a burning desire, to know what they are at the core, beyond the sense of the “me,” at any cost. Ask everyone you know and you’re likely to get some blank stares and defensive replies. There seem to be many reasons for the lack of desire to uncover this “me” as a fraud, but in fact there is only one: Fear.
The “me” was created to perpetuate itself and therefore fears change and termination. It fears annihilation, which is the perception that it may come to an end, so it most commonly resists any idea or action that may threaten its own perpetuation and delusion of self-sustenance, self-control, control over others and the movement of life, and the ability to attract success in one way or another.
In most cases, the “me” seems so real that it cannot possibly entertain the fact that it does not exist, except as a belief, does not act on its own volition, and does not determine the fate of the world (its immediate circle or the world at large), because all of these behaviors actually occur in the totality of consciousness and not at the individual level.
If one were to intensely look into her own sense of self, the “me,” she would discover something greater beneath it, which is consciousness. As consciousness, she is the doer, the thinker, and the director, but we have to be careful in understanding this delicate use of language here, because the “she” in this sentence is only a pronoun — a placeholder — that means consciousness and not the self that is the “me.” When the “me” comes to an end, and when the body comes to an end, consciousness remains. This is not a religious idea or philosophy; it is a fact — but it’s a fact that the “me” resists at all costs, because to accept it would be an admission of the impotence of the “me” itself. | https://medium.com/@vicshayne/the-me-is-the-source-of-all-suffering-regardless-of-the-problem-we-blame-it-on-a075558949fb | ['Vic Shayne'] | 2020-12-20 19:10:29.861000+00:00 | ['Yoga', 'Consciousness', 'Enlightenment', 'Self-awareness', 'Yoga Teacher'] |
Biden’s Tough-on-Crime Mantra Led to School ‘Militarization,’ Critics Say. Why His Legacy on Campus Cops Matters Ahead of the SC Primary | By Mark Keierleber
John Moore/Getty Images
Just one month after the worst K-12 school shooting in American history, then-Vice President Joe Biden held back tears as he addressed a nation mourning the 26 people killed, most of them young children.
“We have a moral obligation — a moral obligation — to do everything in our power to diminish the prospect that something like this could happen again,” Biden said of the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. “The world has changed, and it’s demanding action.”
Part of that action, the Obama administration announced, was a plan to use millions of federal dollars to hire an additional 1,000 school-based police officers.
Several years later, campus officers returned to the national spotlight when a viral video showed a South Carolina sheriff’s deputy throwing a black student across a classroom. The incident prompted a national conversation on the presence of police in schools, particularly their disproportionate impact on students of color.
Now Biden is heading into a South Carolina primary in which black voters are viewed as crucial to his presidential aspirations. Once the front-runner in a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls, Biden needs a resounding victory Saturday after an unexpectedly weak showing in early voting states.
Biden’s pitch to voters includes a plan to bolster gun laws, including an assault rifle ban. Yet his plans make no mention of cops in schools, though he’s been a champion of their presence since long before the mass shooting at Sandy Hook. Biden’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
“I’m hard-pressed to find someone who has embraced law enforcement for as long as he has,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. After Sandy Hook, Wexler and other law enforcement leaders met with Biden at the White House to discuss ways to prevent gun violence. “He likes cops and firefighters, so when he came into that meeting after Sandy Hook, it was like he knew most of the people in the room. He didn’t need to be introduced.”
While mass school shootings have led to a surge in campus police over the past few decades, evidence that such practices curb campus violence remains startlingly thin. Meanwhile, a growing body of research suggests their rapidly growing numbers have unintended consequences.
Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the Advancement Project, blamed Biden’s efforts in the early 1990s for getting “the ball rolling” on school “militarization” and called on him to offer an explanation as he seeks the White House.
“All of these years later, now we know that in communities of color those cops are not there to protect and serve, but they are there for law and order purposes,” said Browne Dianis, whose Washington-based nonprofit focuses on racial justice issues. “White kids get protect and serve. Black and brown kids get law and order.”
Crime bill
By the time then-President Barack Obama tapped Biden to lead his post-Sandy Hook gun safety task force, the vice president’s reputation in law enforcement was well established. As a senator from Delaware, Biden steered significant criminal justice legislation, with support for school police going back decades.
In 1990, Biden became the key author of the Gun-Free School Zones Act, which outlawed firearm possession on campuses. Four years later, he championed the most expansive law enforcement legislation in U.S. history. That law, signed by then-President Bill Clinton and generally known as the 1994 crime bill, included the Violence Against Women Act, funds for firearm background checks and a now-expired assault-rifle ban.
It also created the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services — known simply as the COPS Office — to distribute billions of dollars in federal money to hire thousands of police officers, including in schools. A second Clinton initiative, created in response to the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, provided funds for thousands of additional school-based officers. Since its inception, the COPS Office has spent about $1 billion on campus safety efforts, primarily on school resource officers.
The initiatives came after decades in which very few campuses had any police presence. In the 1970s, just 1 percent of schools were staffed by police. By the 2015–16 school year, 43 percent of public K-12 schools — and 71 percent of high schools — had armed law enforcement officers on campus, according to federal data.
When federal grants lapsed under the George W. Bush administration, Biden offered a stern warning. In a 2006 press release, he argued in the face of scant evidence that the program had been successful in preventing school violence. “It is incumbent on the federal government to support programs that work — and this one does when funded — especially when the fate of America’s young people is on the line,” he said.
But those federal grants came with unintended consequences, according to a recent study published by the University of Texas at Austin. Federal funds to hire school resource officers in Texas school districts were associated with a 6 percent increase in disciplinary rates among middle school students, a change driven by low-level violations, with the largest increases among black children, according to the report. Meanwhile, the grants were associated with a 2.5 percent drop in high school graduation rates and a 4 percent decline in college enrollment rates.
Though overall federal aid for school police trails local spending, investment from Washington “sends a message that this is the approach that local governments should be taking,” said Sarah Hinger, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program. School shootings are statistically rare, and federal data indicate that campuses have become safer in recent years, but the anxiety they cause frequently fuels public policy.
Parents want to know “that there’s something being done in a quick and immediate way,” Hinger said, and investment in law enforcement “seems like an easy and ready place to say, ‘We’re doing something.’”
Since the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the COPS Office has spent more than $50 million on school safety initiatives, most of it on security technology like surveillance cameras and panic alarms.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden meets with officials from sportsmen’s, wildlife and gun interest groups in 2013. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The task force
In the wake of Sandy Hook, Biden turned once again to the federal COPS Office as part of a broad response to preventing further carnage.
As chairman of a White House task force on gun violence, Biden held hours of meetings with leaders from hundreds of organizations, from the American Federation of Teachers to the National Rifle Association. He also sought advice from Mike Bloomberg, Biden’s rival for the Democratic nomination, who has faced his own criticism for aggressive law enforcement policies as mayor of New York City.
In a “very emotional, intense conversation” at the White House, Wexler of the Police Executive Research Forum said Biden “recognized how law enforcement could be an ally.”
In the end, Biden’s work informed Obama’s wide-reaching response to Sandy Hook, which included four legislative proposals and 23 executive actions, including an expansive overhaul to federal gun laws.
Barbara Boxer, then a Democratic senator from California, took credit for the proposal to expand the ranks of school police, telling the Washington Post at the time that Biden was “very, very interested” in the idea.
Boxer declined to be interviewed, but a spokeswoman said the former senator believes the long-term answer to gun violence is “to pass sensible gun laws.” Until then, she said, Boxer believes it’s “important to make sure our school campuses are safer.”
On the right, the National Rifle Association criticized the administration for rejecting a proposal to station armed guards at every school, calling Obama an “elitist hypocrite” because his daughters had Secret Service protection at school.
But the administration also faced criticism from civil rights groups like the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which issued a report arguing that proposals to hire more school police simply “satisfy our desire to appear secure” by relying on the theory that “the only way to keep us safe from guns is to have more guns.”
In a report post-Sandy Hook, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service offered a sober analysis of the state of play. Though children were more likely to face arrest for minor offenses in schools with police, it found evidence of the effectiveness of school resource officers underwhelming. Crucially, it observed that existing research on campus officers “does not address whether their presence in schools has deterred mass shootings.”
Viral outrage
Nearly three years after Sandy Hook, a 2015 altercation between a South Carolina officer and a high school student led many to question the approach Biden championed.
A school resource officer employed by the county sheriff’s office was called to a high school classroom in Columbia, South Carolina, when a black student refused to put away her cellphone, resulting in a scuffle. The officer was filmed flipping the girl onto the floor and flinging her across the classroom.
In response, the sheriff said the officer’s actions made him want to “throw up.” The officer was fired from his job but did not face criminal charges. A Justice Department inquiry was settled after local officials agreed to provide training to officers on how to de-escalate tense situations and avoid racial bias.
Thomas Dixon, a South Carolina pastor who ran an unsuccessful Democratic bid for U.S. Senate in 2016, said the graphic video “forced an awareness that had been previously overlooked.”
“That was just indicative of a long-standing, ongoing problem that we’ve had with school officers,” said Dixon, who is also a member of the board of directors of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “There’s been a misuse of authority within the school system for a long time.”
The incident prompted a lawsuit from the ACLU, leading to the repeal of the state’s “disturbing schools” law, which allowed police to arrest students for issues like talking back to a teacher or being loud in class. Hinger said the law was “overly broad” and mischaracterized “typical childhood behavior as criminal,” with disproportionate effects on students of color and those with disabilities.
Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, said the incident was “a bad day for folks that work in our field.”
“It’s not the first bad day that we’ve had and it won’t be the last,” he said. While his nonprofit provides training for school resource officers, most states and the federal government don’t require instruction on issues like how to interact with children.
The incident prompted a national dialogue on school police, with some advocates arguing that school police should be removed from classrooms altogether. Among them was Brown Dianis of the Advancement Project, who said police violence against students of color “was not a concern” for Biden.
“Black kids in particular receive the same treatment by cops in schools that they do on the streets,” she added. “We tie that right back to the responses to the crime bill, to the gun-free schools act, and that’s where it all got its start.”
Recently, criticism of campus police has been overshadowed by the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, said Anthony Petrosino, director of the WestEd Justice and Prevention Research Center.
The Parkland shooting prompted Florida lawmakers to require armed guards on every school campus. In South Carolina, the state responded to Parkland by spending $12 million to hire more than 200 additional school resource officers.
“The police are more entrenched than ever, and I suspect it is going to keep going in that direction,” Petrosino said. Meanwhile, “the research is not showing a safety effect but it is indicating some harmful effects.”
In South Carolina, state police arrested a school resource officer in September on assault and misconduct charges for alleged “excessive force” on a student. That officer, officials alleged, slammed a middle school student’s head into his patrol car and lied about it on an incident report.
Despite decades of support for school resource officers over the years, Biden does not mention the issue in his presidential platform. In his education plan, Biden argues against arming teachers, promising instead to enact “rational gun laws” to make schools safer.
But Dixon, the South Carolina pastor, said Biden should have “talked to enough people” after Sandy Hook to know that a ramped-up campus police presence “is not going to stop mass shootings” and to recognize their harmful effects on students of color.
Biden’s silence on school-based police is shared by most of the Democratic field. Only Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator, offers a plan on campus officers. In that document, Warren argues that “the militarization of our schools does not improve school safety” and that if officers “have to be in schools,” then “they should receive training on discrimination, youth development and de-escalation techniques.”
Citing the ACLU, Warren’s platform notes that 14 million students attend schools with police officers but lack a counselor, nurse, psychologist or social worker. Browne Dianis of the Advancement Project said Warren’s campaign reached out to her organization for advice on the topic, but none of the others did.
Biden, she said, should have to answer tough questions about his long embrace of school police before the Democratic primary in South Carolina.
“South Carolina, being the site of one of the most notorious school police assaults, should be a place for that conversation,” Browne Dianis said.
Sign up for The 74’s daily morning newsletter | https://the74million.medium.com/bidens-tough-on-crime-mantra-led-to-school-militarization-critics-say-5f8e3198d4ea | [] | 2020-02-27 21:16:34.689000+00:00 | ['Elections', 'School Safety', 'Joe Biden', 'Edlection 2020', 'Education'] |
Gratitude and Giving | How thankfulness leads to generosity
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
This Thanksgiving holiday was unlike any other. Instead of gathering with family members, and even extended family, my husband and I cooked a meal for our immediate household only. Sure, there were still Zoom video chats with other family members, but it wasn’t the same as all being together in person.
The contrast in this year from other years made me reflect on Thanksgiving Days from my childhood when we used to all gather at my grandparents’ house, with up to 50-some people crammed into a rather small Ranch style house. The food was typically the best part to me. My favorites were the stuffing, the home-made rolls, the frozen fruit salad, pumpkin pie, and my mom’s seven-layer bars.
My not-so-favorite parts of the day included the violent football games played by all the grandkids in the basement, and the stuffy gathering in the living room where one of the several family members with training in pastoral work would read part of the Bible and say something spiritual. After that people were expected to go around the room and list what they were thankful for. In theory it sounds like a good concept. After all, the purpose of a day like Thanksgiving is to reflect on all the things to be thankful for. But to me it always felt very forced and tended to turn into a bit of a competition. In an extended family like that it was important to come up with something really “spiritual” to say. Even as a child it never felt authentic to me. Perhaps especially as a child, since children tend to see right through anything artificial. And as a kid what are you expected to say? A genuine response from me would probably go something like, “I am thankful for all the sweets we can eat today.” Or “I am thankful that Christmas is only a month away and there will be presents then.”
It felt like the adults competed a bit to be thankful for something really deep and profound. Who was more thankful for their spouse, or their successful children? Or thankful that God, in His goodness, placed me in this wonderful godly Christian family. It might be too obvious or simple to just reiterate how thankful we all were for Gods’ grace and mercy. But at some point we would be subtly reminded to be thankful for Jesus, because without Him, well you know, Hell…
Photo by Alasdair Elmes on Unsplash
What I find myself wondering about now was the total lack of any practical actions. We had more than enough food to feed 100 people. We could feed a gathering of over 50 twice that day and still have a lot of leftovers. But no one ever suggested we take that food to anyone in need, or that maybe we help with some sort of local charity. There was a lot of talk and very little action. In fact, not all the talk was that nice either. As I grew into my teen years I was needled about my looks, the clothes I wore, and pestered about questions regarding if I had a boyfriend yet. There was little to no talk that built anyone else up. I usually went home exhausted and feeling worse about myself than I had the day before. I was weak if I got injured in the violent football games, stupid because I didn’t understand or care about football, generally lacking in fashion sense or just natural good looks, and apparently doomed to spend my life alone since I had no romantic prospects. I was keenly aware that my extended family did not know or understand me and they were not motivated to actually get to know me either.
Photo by Milan Popovic on Unsplash
I saw the effects it had on my parents as well. My mom always felt like the outsider, like she came from the wrong town or wrong side of the tracks. Some years were okay for my dad, other years he felt excluded by his own siblings, particularly his older brother, who carried a grudge for decades over a church conflict that happened before I could even remember. For all the “Thanksgiving,” there was also a lot of passive-aggressive tearing down of each other. There were many years when the thing I was the most thankful for was that the day was over and done with for another year.
Despite the negative memories, this year I found myself wondering how I would apply that concept of listing things I am thankful for on this odd year. I had fallen into a bit of self-pity over the fact that my sister could not travel from South Dakota, and I felt like I couldn’t even safely justify a visit two or three miles away to see my parents given the skyrocketing numbers of COVID cases in Minnesota. But I really do have things to be thankful for. Even though we couldn’t see each other, at least my parents and sisters have remained healthy. My pregnancy is continuing to go well and I am able to stay working from home. I still have a job, and very significantly, good insurance benefits. Things could be much worse, and really are much worse for many individuals and families out there.
So what does all this mean? I believe that gratitude truly is the secret to happiness. If you can’t see and appreciate what you have, then how can anything ever really make you happy? And the next step in my mind is if you truly have thankfulness for all that you have, how can you fail to notice or care about others who have less or are in pain? Maybe it’s hard to know what to do in a pandemic. It’s not a great time to go volunteer somewhere or welcome a stranger into your home. But even just following the guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus can be a service to others. I keep telling myself it’s just this one year. I can sacrifice Thanksgiving and Christmas this year to try to ensure my family can safely be together next year with no members permanently missing.
It’s ironic how often the people who have the most are the least able to be happy or content in life. This is hardly a new concept, but it has hit closer to home this year as I watch my extended family deal with the loss of my grandmother. My grandfather passed away years ago, and this past January, at the age of 94, my grandmother passed away as well. Although she had been in the assisted living and then the nursing home for a number of years, I knew her death would still change things. The matter of the estate has become a source of tension and old wounds. There wasn’t any cash left, but there is a house and farmland and various other items that are left equally to my dad, his two sisters, and his older brother.
Photo by Frances Gunn on Unsplash
My dad has worked hard on his farm his whole life and still has heavy debts against his property. But he is trying his best to help my oldest sister and her husband to be successful in farming the farm that I grew up on. For the past several years my dad has also worked the farmland that belonged to my grandma. This summer my uncle made it clear in family meetings that he didn’t believe my dad was paying enough in land rent or that my sister was paying enough rent for the little part of my grandma’s farm that she was using. My uncle stated that no deals would be made for any family members and that top market value would be expected for anything that was rented or sold.
Perhaps the most ironic part of it all is that of the four siblings my uncle is the most well to do. He didn’t have an interest in farming, and instead took a state job and has a very comfortable retirement that he and his wife can live on. They own a house and acreage without debt and spend almost all summer at a lake up North. But my uncle has no interest in helping anyone else in the family in any way; he has made it clear that his interest is in getting as much money as possible. Keeping a family legacy alive and keeping the land in the family is also not a priority to him.
Some people might say that my uncle is just concerned with fairness. However, over the years I have listened to my relatives who work in the “ministry” complain and expect handouts because of their occupation. It is hard not to feel resentful when I see my cousin, who is the daughter of this uncle, and she is able to be a stay at home mom with five children. Her husband is a pastor, they own a house, they have five children, and my cousin always looks great with fashionable new clothes and her hair and makeup done. How do they do it? How can they afford to live that way on a pastor’s income? My husband and I can’t raise even one child on a single income, even though we would prefer to have one of us home with our daughter and the new baby instead of having to resort to daycare. It’s hard to feel sorry for the people suffering in the ministry. My aunt who married a pastor also complains often about their finances, and yet they could buy a small house when they retired without taking out a loan. She also never had a full time job outside the home, even after her children were grown.
As I watch my parents aging I worry about them. They don’t have a retirement or savings, just a lot of debt. My dad got a rough start in farming during some very difficult years in the 1980s, and his brother made sure that he paid top market price for the farm that he bought from my grandparents.
I find myself wondering where the compassion is. Where is the desire to help others? I certainly don’t see the generous lifestyle described in Jesus’ teaching. I see competition and petty grudges and complaints. I guess it shows that the Pharisees are still alive and well in this era. And it’s so easy to take credit for your successes and say God has blessed you for being a good person when you are financially secure and successful. Which means, of course, that people less fortunate than you must have also done something to deserve their troubles. It’s a defense mechanism. If I can look at others and think they deserve what they got, then I can protect myself from the concept that the same misfortunes could happen to me. I will just be a really good person, and then God will be obligated to bless me. And hence the competition and judgment that plagues churches.
Is there a way out of the petty competitions and judgment? Perhaps it’s more of a Buddhist philosophy, but I still believe gratitude and generosity will do more to generate real happiness than anything else. Comparison really is the enemy of happiness and contentment, and I admit I still struggle with it often. But then I see the story on the news about the homeless and I remember that truly, “there but for the grace of God go I.” I have had those times of not knowing how to pay the rent. Of losing a job and not knowing what will happen next. Fortunately, I do have a support system that cares and will always try to help. Some people don’t have that. Some people don’t have anyone and they are truly alone in the world. So this Thanksgiving and Christmas season I am trying to practice gratitude and remember to look for ways to be generous when I can. | https://medium.com/excommunications/gratitude-and-giving-506f6d5d4a69 | ['Rita G E'] | 2020-12-01 01:36:27.480000+00:00 | ['Gratitude', 'Thanksgiving', 'Religion', 'Christianity', 'Generosity'] |
YOUR ANNUAL REMINDER TO FILE WORKER 1099S | 1099-NEC Filing Requirements
Independent Contractor Filing Threshold
Form W-9
Worksheet
This is our annual reminder that if you use workers other than employees to perform services for your business and pay them $600 or more for the year, you are required to issue each one a Form 1099-NEC after the end of the year to avoid facing the loss of the deduction for their labor and expenses. The 1099s for 2020 must be provided to workers no later than February 1, 2021. The forms are normally due on January 31, but since it falls on a Sunday in 2021, the due date is extended until February 1.
As you probably noticed, the IRS has switched forms for 2020 reporting. They have resurrected a form that hasn’t been used since the early 1980s — Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation. The prior 1099-MISC form was used for reporting more than just nonemployee compensation; because 1099s reporting non-employee compensation need to be filed by January 31, and the ones reporting other information are not due to the IRS until March 31, this created enough confusion that the IRS made the change.
The requirement to file Form 1099-NEC may also apply to landlords in light of tax reform’s 20% pass-through deduction (Sec. 199A deduction). The IRS, in regulations for this tax code section, cautions landlords that to be treated as a trade or business (and therefore to be generally eligible for the 199A deduction), they should consider reporting payments to independent contractor service providers on IRS Form 1099-NEC. This generally wasn’t required for rental activities in the past and still isn’t required when a rental is classified as an investment rather than as a trade or business.
It is not uncommon to, say, have a repairman out early in the year, pay them less than $600, and then use his services again later and have the total for the year exceed the $600 limit. As a result, you could easily overlook getting the necessary information, such as their complete name and tax identification number (TIN), to file the 1099s for the year. Therefore, it is good practice to have unincorporated individuals complete and sign the IRS Form W-9 the first time you use their services. Having properly completed and signed Form W-9s for all independent contractors and service providers eliminates oversights and protects you against IRS penalties and conflicts.
The government provides IRS Form W-9 as a means for you to obtain the data required to file 1099s for your vendors. This data includes the vendor’s name, address, type of business entity, and TIN (usually a Social Security number or an Employer Identification Number) as well as certifications of the ID number and citizenship status. It also provides verification that you complied with the law should the vendor provide you with incorrect information. We highly recommend that you have potential vendors complete Form W-9 prior to engaging in business with them. The form can either be printed to fill out or completed onscreen and then printed. A Spanish-language version is also available. The W-9 is for your use only and is not submitted to the IRS.
CAUTION: 1099-NEC worker reporting does not apply to household workers, as they are considered employees. Call for additional information.
To avoid a penalty, the government’s copies of the 1099-NECs must also be sent to the IRS by February 1, 2021. The penalties can be significant, ranging between $50 and $280 for each 1099-NEC filed late. If you failed to obtain a worker’s Social Security number but file 1099 on time, the penalty for not including the SSN is $50, which is less than the potential $280 penalty for filing late or not at all.
1099-NEC forms must be filed electronically or on special optically scannable forms. If you need assistance with filing 1099-NEC or have questions related to this issue, please give this office a call. You can complete the 1099-NEC worksheet and forward it to this firm to prepare 1099s. Also, make sure you have all of your non-employee workers or service providers complete a Form W-9 for 2020.
For Any Tax preparation service visit: https://www.taxallianceconsulting.com/
TAX ALLIANCE CONSULTING INC | https://medium.com/@taxallianceconsulting/your-annual-reminder-to-file-worker-1099s-21186d890203 | ['Tax Alliance Consulting'] | 2020-12-17 01:53:44.321000+00:00 | ['Tax Returns', 'Tax Services Usa', 'Taxes', 'Tax Preparation'] |
Was there a chance you could’ve still been next to me? | When I think of you, my friend, I think of droplets frozen in time, blowing in and out of my mind. Sometimes when I catch these droplets, I am overwhelmed with happiness, but other times the only thing that washes over me is the dullest regret. When I think of you, I think of running around as carefree seven-year olds who didn’t have worries or expectations clouding their judgement. I think of our trip to the park when the cherry blossoms were blooming, of the wet seats of the kayak, and of the ringing of the ice cream truck as it passed by. I think of the fish eye soup that your grandma made for you that I refused to try. I think of the days I spent outside with you, walking hand in hand through the hallways of time, but most of all, I think of how easy it was to lose you, and how I didn’t even feel it.
Spring.
I met you in preschool, back when our innocence had not been tainted by loneliness and fear. I don’t remember meeting you — in my mind we were always just friends. In the spring breeze, we would spend weeks together playing on the plastic playgrounds and singing in mini concerts. I can still taste the colorful frosting on the Barbie cupcakes my parents bought for my birthday that first year, and how I saved the prettiest one for you. We sat outside near the playground with white flowers blooming on the trees. It was perfect, and for a moment, I thought things would never change.
Summer.
Throughout the first few years of elementary school, I was hot-tempered, socially awkward, and without any friends by my side. In my mind, those moments at school are covered in a thick fog, or maybe I tucked them in a place where I can’t find them. I don’t quite remember what I spent my breaks doing, but I wasn’t sad those years because I knew that after school I could always go find you. We would play Legos and read books in the sun room of the afterschool where everything was okay. And whenever I felt lonely, I could look forward to Fridays when we’d spend the afternoon in a park under the shade of a giant tree connecting chains and chains of daffodils. I’ve never quite felt a feeling like that since — the feeling of pure innocence.
In third grade, our afterschool closed and my life changed drastically. Thrown into a different afterschool where everything was too real and surrounded by kids and teachers who were aggressive and harsh. It was a far cry from how warm and homey our old afterschool was, and just like that I changed too. I toughened up, learned how to barter for food when I was hungry, how to close up when people were being mean. But on the weekends I could become my old innocent self. We would spend the whole weekend together jumping from class to class, and when we weren’t in a boring old class we would go to your house and play Animal Jam or Poptropica, eating popsicles against the hot sun of the summertime and suddenly, everything was okay.
Autumn.
Fifth grade was when the seasons started to change; the fiery red and orange leaves fell from the trees, and our friendship on the cusp of falling. Our weekends were not weekends anymore as they were filled with classes and other activities. Being ten-year olds without phones or other ways to connect, I almost forgot you existed. But once in a while, we would go on a day trip together, like that time we laughed so hard on the rides of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk that I almost threw up, or when we watched Moana in the fanciest theatre I’ve ever been to. We rode back home singing Christmas songs even though it was October. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t seen each other for months or that we hadn’t talked for weeks. It just didn’t matter.
Winter.
Going to a new school in sixth grade changed me more than I would like to admit. It was hard being plopped into a school filled with so many people I didn’t know. As winter after winter came, snow poured down, a gust of wind blocked my vision. You became an afterthought. It wasn’t until many years later that I found you on Instagram and realized that I didn’t even follow you when it hit me that it was over. Just like that, any evidence that you were part of my life was gone.
It’s funny because in books the main character always has a best friend that they grew up with. You would’ve been that person in my life if we were still friends, but reality isn’t so kind. People change — I’ve surely changed — and I’m no longer that naive little know-it-all who says what’s on her mind; that little girl is overshadowed by someone who’s gone through the highs and lows of life.
So just like that, people come and go, just like the leaves come and go throughout the seasons. Sometimes they leave with a knife to your heart, so painful that you take months to heal. Other times they drift away like summer; you don’t even realize there’s a change until you are suddenly freezing.
I forget sometimes that I was once a person with a best friend. Sometimes I even forget you, but a piece of my heart is frozen from the endless winters, and it isn’t until I have a dream with you in it so vivid that I forget you are even gone… when it shatters like glass. | https://medium.com/@ionaxia2013/was-there-a-chance-you-couldve-still-been-next-to-me-f8ce7a2b5632 | ['Iona Xia'] | 2020-12-27 19:09:27.966000+00:00 | ['Nostalgia', 'Childhood', 'Friendship', 'Memories'] |
Why I love the Washington Nationals — and why you should, too | My beloved Washington Nationals won the 2019 World Series in thrilling fashion. There’s lots to learn, and not just about baseball, from the World Champions. Here are nine reasons to love the Nats:
Nevertheless, they persisted: That the underdog Nationals won should not have come as a shock; they’re a very good team, and anything can happen in a series of five or seven games. What’s remarkable is how they won. They played so miserably in April and May that, after losing 31 of their first 50 games, FanGraphs gave them a 22 percent of chance of making the playoffs and a 1.6 percent chance of winning the World Series. During the postseason, they played five games in which a loss would have ended their season. They fell behind in all five and still prevailed. That’s unprecedented. It’s worth remembering when pursuing anything that’s hard. Never give up is a cliche. It’s also useful advice.
Immigrants! They get the job done: The Nationals’ season turned around not long after signing Gerardo Parra, a journeyman outfielder from Venezuela who had just been cast off by the San Francisco Giants. Coincidence? I think not. Parra’s on-field performance was unexceptional, but he and Anibal Sanchez, a pitcher and fellow Venezuelan, brought a sense of fun — dugout dance parties, orange sunglasses and, of course, Baby Shark — to the team. “We didn’t start winning until Gerardo Parra came in May. We’re lucky to have these guys here — the Latin guys,” reliever Sean Doolittle told Tom Boswell of The Washington Post. Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Wander Suero (all from the Dominican Republic), Yan Gomes (the first Brazilian-born major leaguer) and Asdrubal Cabrera (another Venezuelan) round out the team’s Latin posse.
They don’t just dance. They hug: These guys really like one another. Importantly, they are not afraid to show it — or say it. While celebrating the World Series victory, Brian Dozier told Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic that winning the World Series is “not a life changing thing.” Dozier said: When all of this is gone and the champagne fades, what we are going to really remember and hold on to is the chemistry we’ve built here. The camaraderie.” If you think that doesn’t matter, you’ve never worked with a bunch of people you can’t stand.
They value their elders: In a sport and a society that valorizes youth, the Nationals are an exception. With an average age of 31.1, they are the oldest team in the big leagues. Victor Robles, the team’s 22-year-old centerfielder, calls his teammates “Los Viejos” — Spanish for old guys — and the old guys embraced the idea. Fernando Rodney, at 42, is by far the oldest player in the majors. Ryan Zimmerman, Max Scherzer and Aníbal Sánchez are 35. Howie Kendrick, 36, had the best year of his career at the plate, hit game-changing home runs against the Dodgers and Astros and was named MVP of the league championship series against the Cardinals. Viejos, indeed.
They believe in second chances: The Texas Rangers gave infielder Asdrubal Cabrera his release in August. He went on to drive in 40 runs in 38 games with the Nationals. Pitcher Daniel Hudson was given his release by the Los Angeles Angels in spring training, after being dropped by the Dodgers. Hudson latched on with the Blue Jays, was traded to the Nationals and recorded the last three outs of the World Series, retiring, in order, George Springer, Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley. Not everyone will capitalize on a second chance, but too often we give up on people prematurely.
They are family-friendly: This tweet sums it up.
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Sean Doolittle: The lefty bullpen ace and his wife Eireann Dolan may be “baseball’s most ‘woke’ couple,” as Chelsea Janes of The Post wrote last year. They support LGBT rights and raise money for veterans. This season, Doolittle tried to shop at an independent bookstore in every city visited by the Nationals.
Anthony Rendon: He speaks softly and carries a big stick. Good glove, too.
They aren’t the Houston Astros: The Astros are tough to beat and hard to like, as Ben Lindbergh said the other day on the Effectively Wild podcast. It’s not the players who are the problem; it’s the owner and general manager who disgraced themselves. If you missed the story, see this from Ben, this from Jeff Passan, and this from Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein.
Evidently, the baseball gods were watching.
[Photo credit: David J. Phillip/AP] | https://medium.com/@3lotfi.bouani.9s/why-i-love-the-washington-nationals-and-why-you-should-too-7140d6b3cb49 | ['Lotfi Bouani S'] | 2020-12-20 06:16:11.289000+00:00 | ['Babies', 'Health', 'Culture', 'Life', 'Coronavirus'] |
How does the global economic recovery look like in the next two years? | GLOBAL ECONOMY
How does the global economic recovery look like in the next two years?
Visualizing the economic projection for the year 2020 with the expected rebounds in 2021 & 2022
It has been an unprecedented year in so many ways. Although the biggest concern was health-related, the resulting economic fallout has been equally devastating. The general consensus right now is that the global economy will see a rebound in growth albeit at a gradual pace. According to the data by The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the global GDP will rise by 4.2% in 2021 after a decline of 4.2% this year.
The V-shaped recovery projected earlier by many analysts based on extraordinary stimulus measures taken, concerted health policies enforcement & aggressive search for a vaccine for the pandemic hasn’t really materialized as a much larger second wave of infections took the globe by a storm. Even though three vaccines have moved into the deployment stage, things might get worse before they get any better. Renewed lockdowns are endangering the fragile economic recovery.
Along with the current economic projections, the OECD has also forecast an upside and downside scenario (chart above) — for the latter, delayed vaccinations or new outbreaks could cause a $4 trillion GDP loss by 2022 compared to current projections. On the flip side, vaccine rollout and boosted consumer and business confidence, could add $3 trillion to the global economy.
These current economic projections are based on the premise that renewed virus outbreaks remain contained, and a widely available vaccine by the end of 2021 helps to support consumer & business confidence. With this in mind, let’s look at three infographics visualizing the projected GDP growth/decline for 2020, 2021, and 2022.
2020 | https://medium.com/technicity/how-does-the-global-economic-recovery-look-like-in-the-next-two-years-49d01de066d9 | ['Faisal Khan'] | 2020-12-18 23:22:08.707000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Investing', 'Business', 'Finance', 'Economics'] |
Forget About the Theory! | We are curious about how they got the top management on board with this. It turns out that Charlie works directly with the CEO, Michel Aballea, and that they are co-leaders of the vision. The trust and alignment between them is complete, so Charlie in fact has carte blanche to take initiative on whatever is needed to make the Vision Process work.
Stéphanie explains that they have recently opened up the process completely, to everyone. “Right now, we don’t even talk about Decathlon. We talk more in general. What would you like to see emerge? What are your concerns? We don’t push Decathlon, or the position of Decathlon in the future: it’s more personal. Decathlon is not yet the subject. The focus is on the evolving of the world: how do you picture it, and what do you think is important?” In order to carry forth this exploration they have created a network of Vision Relays all around the world, whom they train, and who then apply the methods and the tools to their context, locally.
Vision Relay Training in Lille, October 2019 — people came from 40 cities.
They have done this in 15 cities so far. “It works in every culture — but”, they hasten to add, “the conditions need to be right, obviously.” We ask them to elaborate more on these conditions, and the factors named are: trusting the people, trusting the process, ensuring that each person has a voice, paying attention to listening, locating the event in a non-Decathlon environment, democratising contributions using a digital platform so that “everyone has the same power” — even creating space for silence and withdrawal. To illustrate this last point, Charlie recounts: “There was a very warm moment when I was in Ghana. There was a girl from South Africa who didn’t say anything at all. Today, she is one of the biggest contributors to the Vision. She needed time to digest the process. She felt that she had that space of safety and comfort to not say anything: that’s quite important. We want people to feel that they can go as far as they want — or not.”
Reaching Outwards and Opening Up
We are curious to know more about how the Vision Relay trainings unfold, and inquire about the duration of the physical meet-ups. These typically last one day and a half. They usually keep the afternoon open, for agility and questions, and finish around 2pm at the latest. At that stage, the newly formed Vision Relay people are already thinking about how they can get organised in their own countries. It has so far worked in every country.
Vision Relay Training in Hong Kong
What shifts have happened since January 2016 and how do they know that they are getting to where they want to go? One of the biggest changes since 2016 is the possibility for external people to join in the vision shaping. Through social media, the opening has been communicated far and wide. One of the traditional Decathlon deliverables every 2 or 3 years had been to produce a book of macro trends for the world, where people from inside the company could write and share about their own vision. Then in 2018 they took the gamble to shift from “trying to represent the world”, to opening up the creative writing and envisioning process expanding it to a much wider ecosystem, to see what could emerge from that. They embarked upon a journey where they shared their intention, invited VIPs (volontaire, inspiré, partageant — voluntary, inspired, sharing people) to “just come over and start a journey together, exploring how would you like to see things change.” They went through different stages involving both people internal to the company, and local people from outside the company, building up an open-source sharing system to transition into the next future vision. As Stéphanie sums it up — alluding to the company’s signature chromatic branding: “We can’t “stay blue! The world, the earth is mainly blue, but the world is not Decathlon, so how do we change that, the posture, and our answers, and our impact, all together?”
Charlie adds: “When you open to all, not only are you bringing transparency — you can’t bullshit anymore — there it is: right there, in front of you. But also, you stop looking at it from the same point of view, in fact you want other people to look at it for you.”
“And this is a huge difference between the two vision exercises and yet, we have to be a little bit careful in the way that we communicate that. We want people to feel it and live it, rather than buy in about the why. That’s so important. So we keep a lot of the theory to ourselves.”
Towards New Structures and New Behaviours
Things are shifting in how people perceive the business place, its role towards the world, and society itself. We ask the Decathlon team whether they are observing structures or new behaviours ensuing from that? For instance, different evaluation and reward systems? New store practices? Innovative products?
Infograph extracted from the “CO-INSPIRING — Generic Vision 2030” Presentation: the Vision 2030 time cycle
Charlie pauses to reflect. He reckons the answer is: not quite yet. “We have a vision, and from that vision will come the strategies.” But there is still some resistance to overcome. He elaborates on the example of collaboration versus competition. “Why do we need to work with our competitors? Because we have all got the same problem when it comes to water, let’s say. Water scarcity is a global problem and we need to tackle it with our competitors, and yet we’re still not doing it. I’ve always said that the vision exercise has the excuse and the duty to do things differently.” Something has indeed started to shift since the moment that Decathlon employees realised they have the “permission” to think about a future with their customers, and weave in things they had always dreamt of doing, but never got round to actualising. “So we hope — and believe — that structures will change. Things have already been happening, we’re not just six: we’re probably a few hundred, and we do push the boundaries of the organisation in the traditional sense.”
Stéphanie adds: “We find echoes even within the company, something people are maybe not mentioning, but there are things coming up. I can’t say that we are seeing a change right now, but we can talk about things in an easier and more open way than before.” So although the innovation team are admittedly all dreaming of more investment in exploration, the current model of finance is still one of exploitation, to do with the running of stores. “And fortunately they do work, and that creates the money to pay us. But we see the need for an evolution in that structure which will eventually come, from whatever we decide in this vision that we have collectively written: so it’s a big step, to see what’s going to come next.”
Charlie believes that the power of the vision will work towards shaping strategies that will ultimately impact and shift structures. He offers an example from their last vision, where the cause was called “be where we are needed”. It addressed the importance of having a social impact, locally. He recounts: “It’s not something we ever did before. Our expansion strategy used to be just ‘open open open, be present, take a foothold in the market’, but once we wrote this intention to ‘be where we are needed’, it completely reorientated our expansion strategy. We were about to open in Cape Town, and we stopped! That’s not where we were needed: we were needed in Johannesburg, so everyone went to Johannesburg.”
Ghana, for instance, was never on the cards in the previous regime. That again changed with the “being where we are needed” intention. So Decathlon went to Ghana, only to discover that “you can’t sell diving masks to people who don’t know how to swim”, or basketball gear to a population with no playing courts. This suddenly took the initiative into uncharted territory, way beyond retail and sales, into the realm of societal and infrastructural impact: building, teaching. “This really gave birth to a massive social impact which is now becoming a trend throughout the company, and we’re starting to talk about societal impact, like it’s always been there — but it hasn’t.”
Charlie concludes: “So the power of the vision will then orientate strategies, and therefore organisation: it comes in that order, and we really hope that it is going to influence the business model as well. Because I don’t have a problem with selling 1.3 billion products, as long as every single one of them is eco-designed — which is not the case today. Only 4.5% of products are eco-designed.”
What is the impact on their employees? “The people who get involved in this, they really love it, and we don’t do it for what we call ‘employee brand’. But people will stay for this sort of thing, people will stay with us if they believe that they can play a role, they can have their say, because they know that in other companies it doesn’t really work like that.”
Asking the Right Questions
If this was all about Decathlon, it wouldn’t work. For the first time in 44 years the question is no longer: “what will a Decathlon store be in 10 years?” Charlie is emphatic: “I don’t care! We don’t care! And we see that, in fact, nobody really cares. Really. The questions are ‘what will the world be in 10 years, what do YOU want to live in 10 years — for you yourself, your family, your kids, and then: what role can WE play in that world that YOU want to live? And this opens up a reason to participate.”
We are curious to know how in 2030 Audrey, Charlie and Stéphanie will be able to assess what has shifted, and how they think they will be able to measure that? Quantitatively or qualitatively? There is a long reflective pause, and then Charlie says: “By the fact that we will exist.” There is some laughter, and then he adds, with a grave expression: “If we don’t change, we, as Decathlon (selling stuff in a store), die.” He elaborates further: “If we’re really obsessed about making sport accessible, what we have to do is to get people to play sport, and you don’t have to go through a store to do that, there’s a million different ways to do that. And this is what we have trouble with today: getting away from that.”
They hold the firm conviction that any multinational of their size that doesn’t reply to one or more of the problems of the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) will not survive beyond 2030. “So we’ve got to get on this curve, we have to transform, and our way is to go through the U. Because it’s the sum of 100,000 people wanting to make that change that will make the difference.”
In closing, Charlie remarks: “And something that we haven’t said, but is definitely worth mentioning: we don’t believe that we have all the answers. We are far from thinking that we’ve figured this out and it’s really test and learn. Everything we do, we’ve never done before. Our IT partners are pulling their hair out because they’ve never done this before, and that’s cool, we’re quite happy with that. But what we want to do, at the end of all this, is make everything available. If our methods and tools are useful, to you or to anyone, we’re going to make that available, we’ll make a book, we’ll make a film, we’ll go on a tour, we’ll go on the road, we’ll do keynotes, because we believe that’s all a part of it. And that’s staying true to the spirit of the vision, which is: open to all.” | https://medium.com/presencing-institute-blog/forget-about-the-theory-53996e89ecc5 | ['Rachel Hentsch'] | 2020-10-13 13:26:23.803000+00:00 | ['Agency', 'Success', 'Expansion', 'Stories From The Field', 'Innovation'] |
Free Access Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding Free pdf e book EDITION | Free Access Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding Free pdf e book EDITION Oleonel Uriostegb Sep 2, 2019·2 min read
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Briarwood’s Militia and Canary Alabama: A Test Case for Church-Security Divide | Towards the end of April, the Alabama legislature passed a bill that would allow AL churches to create their own police forces. The police forces would then be trained by a state-commissioned police safety organization. These units eerily resemble church militias and have been reported by the media as such.
This “Church Militia Bill” is formally known as House Bill 36 (HB36), the Alabama Church Protection Act. The bill authorizes churches to establish security programs in which they have the liberty to designate members of security to carry firearms and receive training from the Alabama Peace Officers’ Training Commission.
Promotional material from Briarwood Presbyterian Church featuring Pastor Reeder
HB36 was prompted by concerns from Briarwood Presbyterian Church, a large church in Birmingham, Alabama. The church is notorious for delving into politics with a very conservative outlook. The lead pastor of Briarwood, Harry Reeder, engages his congregation on his extremely active Twitter account as well as from the pulpit. He drafts near-daily briefings to guide his congregation and pays particular attention to current politics and Supreme Court cases.
Screenshot of A. Eric Johnston’s website
HB36 was put forward by Lynn Greer, a Republican representative, though the text of the bill was drafted by A. Eric Johnston, an Alabama attorney. Johnston is publicly a member of several pro-life advocacy organizations and is extremely conservative.
This all goes to show that HB36 was voted on by representatives of a conservative-led Alabama House, encouraged to be put in place by a very conservative and politically-driven church, and drafted by a religiously and politically conservative lawyer with affiliations to advocacy groups across the state. As strange as the content of the bill might appear, it is the product of political, religious, and legal representatives working together at all levels to pass it. | https://medium.com/militiawatch/briarwoods-militia-and-canary-alabama-a-test-case-for-church-security-divide-4054a440b639 | ['Hampton Stall'] | 2017-05-07 17:59:21.664000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'America', 'Politics', 'Militia', 'Alabama'] |
Let’s start with a brief introduction…shall we? 😉 | Let’s start with a brief introduction…shall we? 😉
My name’s Rebecca Udom. I’m basically a handful and one of those things that I love doing is writing. I’ve been thinking of a journal where I could post some fictions I’ve worked on and basically just groove about my life journey and I believe medium gives that platform.
Let’s start with the fact that I’ve had a ton going on because I’m tidying up my year so I’ve been dating procrastination for a while. Today, we broke up and I decided to give this a shot. This journey is going to be a mix of my stories and my novel series titled “Breathe”. It’s something I cooked up during the quarantine and I do hope you enjoy it while I use your reviews to make it better and finally complete it. I’m thinking weekly updates…
So, what do you say? We move? 🤷🏽♀️ | https://medium.com/@rebeccanseudom/lets-start-with-a-brief-introduction-shall-we-ac574092bace | ['Rebecca Udom'] | 2020-11-21 21:48:12.619000+00:00 | ['Writers Life', 'Newbie', 'Lifestyle', 'Stories', 'Writers On Medium'] |
Civic Tech: What we are reading | Civic Tech: What we are reading
This week we share content worth reading on open data in Africa, internet shutdowns and civic tech innovation
PICTURE: PEXELS
CIPESA | New report explores African leaders and Internet shutdowns in Africa
About 22 African governments have ordered network disruptions in the last four years. Since the start of 2019, six African countries including Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Gabon, Sudan and Zimbabwe have experienced internet shutdowns.
The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa’s (CIPESA) report observed and linked the level of authoritarianism in a country and how long a president has been in power and the likelihood of experiencing a network shutdown in the country.
“In fact, of the 22 African countries where internet disruptions were recorded over the last five years, 77% are authoritarian, while 23% are categorised as hybrid regimes,” states the report.
“Internet Freedom Predators Are Also Press Freedom Predators: The countries that have ordered internet disruptions are among the lowliest ranked in Africa on the 2018 World Press Freedom Index including Algeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Mali, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.”
Internet disruptions were registered in five countries in Africa within the first three weeks of 2019 and the report suggests we may see more internet shutdowns due to at least 20 African countries holding elections this year.
Web Foundation Org | The Africa Data Revolution Report 2018
The Africa Data Revolution Report 2018 analysed the current
state and recent evolution of open data in the African data communities. It explored key countries across the continent, researched a wide range of open data initiatives and benefits from global thematic expertise.
“Open data in Africa needs a vibrant, dynamic, open and multi-tier data ecosystem if the datasets are to make a real impact.” The Africa Data Revolution Report 2018 studied the status and emerging impact of open data in 30 African countries including Kenya and South Africa.
According to the report, the data revolution offers Africa a more realistic chance at measuring and tracking its progress towards the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 targets and the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “Africa cannot afford to be left behind; sticking to business-as-usual implies that Africa’s economies would miss the wave and the gap with the economies that successfully exploit the value of data would keep widening,” says the report.
Code for America | Process vs. Product: Civic innovation beyond open data and civic apps
Why is it important to innovate beyond civic tech apps and go beyond tech? Carl V. Lewis, founder and Director of American civic tech platform, Open Savannah, says civic tech is about connecting people, organising relationships and building the grassroots and a sustainable movement beyond tech.
“Civic-tech isn’t at all just about building civic apps or scraping interesting datasets. Rather, at its core, civic-tech is about building a community, a movement, a sustainable, scalable, long-term citizen-driven network of actual humans to support bottom-up innovation and experimentation in government services and technology,” says Lewis.
The Guardian | What if you lost all your civic tech work in one click?
The Guardian’s United Kingdom technology editor, Alex Hern’s “Myspace loses all content uploaded before 2016” made us think, some civic tech communities, platforms or groups rely on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other social media platforms for their work. What if there is a glitch in the system or an accident and all the evidence from your organisation and work is deleted off the internet?
Civic tech platforms such as the South African citizen engagement platform GovChat, relies on WhatsApp to function and create dialogue between citizens and government using the messaging platform. Many of such platforms exist but anything can happen to online social media and social networking services. This is something to ponder on especially for civic tech and social organisations in countries where internet shutdowns are a regular occurrence. | https://medium.com/civictech/civic-tech-what-we-are-reading-c8e27f260807 | ['Melissa Tsungai Zisengwe'] | 2019-04-05 10:23:16.724000+00:00 | ['Civic Tech Network', 'Internet', 'News', 'Internet Shutdowns', 'Open Data'] |
ZB Market Daily: ADA & BCH technical daily analysis | ADA
Yesterday, it was a bearish start of the day during the Asian trading opened session for ADA market. ADA Price plunged from a high $0.1415 to a low of $0.1310 support mark.
The bulls failed to defend $0.1072 support on the 8th of November, which created a bearish bias. This led to the massive sell-off yesterday, and ADA price fell to a strong support level of $0.13172.
The bears exhausted their steam to lower ADA Price due to high level of demand zone at $0.13172. On the 26th and 27th of November, ADA Price printed a support after a sharp drop from 2020 all-time high of $0.1762.
This support level was a psychological level, traders leveraged on this platform to take long position.
ADA Price rose from the support to retest the previous market structure of $0.1487 support as of the time of writing.
ADA 4-hour Chart
A triangular fallen wedge pattern can be seen on the chart above, this indicates the bear pressure to the downside.
ADA Price broke the 9EMA. The bulls have upper hand on ADA Price as the momentum to the upside is strong. The 20- period moving average also acted as strong support for ADA price to the upside.
The Bollinger band diverge due to the bullish pressure. This indicates healthy recovery from the sell off on the 8th of November.
If the bulls reclaim a major support and defend this support in the coming days, traders can leverage on it to take long position for a probable target of $ 0.160430. More so, if more volume is added, we could anticipate for the price uptrend to resume.
BCH
Yesterday, it was a bearish start of the day during the Asian opened session for BCH market. BCH Price fell to an early morning low of $263.59. This was due to the failure of the bulls to defend $274.41 support level.
Traders loaded short position in anticipation to a hit a probable target of $257.013 support mark. This was a major correction of the rally to the upside that began on the 27th of November to 1st of December.
The bear pressure got more volume to break the $264.53 minor support and as momentum emanated, BCH Price plunged to an intraday low of $257.013 as shown as the chart below.
BCH 4-hour chart
Technically, BCH Price fell to a strong support at $256.07 during the London opened trading session. This level became a demand area which generated volume for the bulls.
The bulls got momentum from the support which caused BCH Price to pull back to $270.23 at press time. The bulls steered at the broken support of $279.44 for a probable retest of the structure.
RSI up sloped from the 25 mark in the over-sold territory to a 42 mark.
The 9EMA acted as dynamic resistance for BCH priceto the downside. A triangular fallen wedge pattern was spotted as BCH Price printed lower highs and lower lows.
In the days ahead, the bulls will need to wrestle with the bears at $279.09 support. From the 4-hour time frame chart, if the bulls fail to close BCH Price above the broken support level, this will be a probable signal for the bears to leverage on as a platform to dump BCH Price lower.
About ZB Group
ZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.
ZB Group also includes ZBG the innovative crypto trading platform, and BW.com, the world’s first mining-pool based exchange. Other holdings include wallet leader BitBank.
Industry intelligence and standards are headed by the recently launched ZB Nexus who embody the core values of ZB Group and open-source their reports and analysis for the public.
Learn more about ZB Exchange by visiting www.zb.com. | https://medium.com/@zbmarketreport/zb-market-daily-ada-bch-technical-daily-analysis-364bbb5c158e | ['Zb Market Research'] | 2020-12-10 02:49:57.920000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Bitcoin', 'Crypto', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Analysis'] |
Facebook PyText is an Open Source Framework for Rapid NLP Experimentation | Facebook PyText is an Open Source Framework for Rapid NLP Experimentation
The new PyTorch-based framework enables the rapid creation and testing of NLP models.
I recently started a new newsletter focus on AI education. TheSequence is a no-BS( meaning no hype, no news etc) AI-focused newsletter that takes 5 minutes to read. The goal is to keep you up to date with machine learning projects, research papers and concepts. Please give it a try by subscribing below:
Natural language processing(NLP) has become the best known discipline in the deep learning space in rencet years. Part of that popularity have brought together an explosion of tools and frameworks such as Google Cloud, Azure LUIS, AWS Lex or Watson Assistant, NLP that have enable the implementation of simple NLP applications without requiring any deep learning knowledge. These platforms are only applicable to relatively basic NLP scenarios. For the rest of the use cases, building NLP applications at scale remains incredibly challenging often surfacing strong frictions between the possibilities of research/experimentation and the realities of model serving/deployment. As one of the biggest conversational environments in the market, Facebook has been facing the challenges of building NLP applications at scale for years. Recently, the Facebook engineering team open sourced the first version of PyText, a PyTorch-based framework for building faster and more efficient NLP solutions.
The ultimate goal of PyText is to provide a simpler experience for the end-to-end implementation of NLP workflows. To achieve that, PyText needs to address some of the existing friction points in NLP workflows. From those friction points, the most troublesome is the existing mismatch between the experimentation and model serving stages of the lifecycle of an NLP application.
Solving the Tradeoff Between NLP Experimentation and Production
The implementation of modern NLP solution typically includes very heavy experimentation phases in which data scientists rapidly test new ideas and models, many of them extracted from research literature, in order to achieve certain levels of performance. During experimentation, data scientists tend to favor frameworks that provide easy to use, eager-execution interfaces that facilitates writing advanced and dynamic models quickly. Frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow Eager are great examples of this category. When deployment time comes, the limitations of the dynamic-graph models become a challenge and deep learning technologists gravitate towards frameworks with static computation graphs and are optimized for operating at scale. TensorFlow, Caffe2 or MxNet are well-known members of this type of stack. The end result is that large data science teams often end up using different stacks for experimentation than for model serving and production deployment.
PyTorch was one of the first deep learning frameworks that addressed the often-conflicting gap between rapid experimentation and model serving at scale. PyText builds on the PyTorch foundation to optimize some of those principles for the NLP space.
Understanding PyText
From the conceptual standpoint, PyText was designed to achieve four fundamental goals:
1. Make experimentation with new modeling ideas as easy and as fast as possible.
2. Make it easy to use pre-built models on new data with minimal extra work.
3. Define a clear workflow for both researchers and engineers to build, evaluate, and ship their models to production with minimal overhead.
4. Ensure high performance (low latency and high throughput) on deployed models at inference.
The capabilities of PyText result on a modeling framework that helps researchers and engineers build end-to-end pipelines for training or inference. The current implementation of PyText covers the fundamental stages of the lifecycle of an NLP workflow providing interfaces for rapid experimentation, raw data processing, reporting of metrics, training and serving of trained models. A high level view of the architecture of PyText clearly reveals how those stages are clearly encapsulated by native components of the framework.
As illustrated in the previous figure, the architecture of PyText includes the following building blocks:
· Task: Combines various components required for a training or inference task into a pipeline.
· Data Handler: Processes raw input data and prepare batches of tensors to feed to the model.
· Model: Defines the neural network architecture.
· Optimizer: Encapsulates model parameter optimization using loss from forward pass of the model.
· Metric Reporter: Implements the relevant metric computation and reporting for the models.
· Trainer: Uses the data handler, model, loss and optimizer to train a model and perform model selection by validating against a holdout set.
· Predictor: Uses the data handler and model for inference given a test dataset.
· Exporter: Exports a trained PyTorch model to a Caffe2 graph using ONNX8.
As you can see, PyText leverages the Open Neural Network Exchange Format(ONNX) to transition models from experimentation-friendly PyTorch to production-robust Caffe2 runtimes.
PyText includes a large portfolio of NLP tasks such as text classification, word tagging, semantic parsing, and language modeling which streamline the implementation of NLP workflows. Similarly, PyText ventures in the area of language understanding by using contextual models such as a SeqNN model for intent labeling tasks and a Contextual Intent Slot model for joint training on multiple tasks.
From an NLP workflow standpoint, PyText streamlines the process of transitioning an idea from experimentation to production. The typical workflow of a PyText application includes the following steps:
1. Implement the model in PyText, and make sure offline metrics on the test set look good.
2. Publish the model to the bundled PyTorch-based inference service, and do a real-time small scale evaluation on a live traffic sample.
3. Export it automatically to a Caffe2 net. In some cases, e.g. when using complex control flow logic and custom data-structures, this might not yet be supported via PyTorch 1.0.
4. If the procedure in 3 isn’t supported, use the Py-Torch C++ API9 to rewrite the model (only the torch.nn.Module10 subclass) and wrap it in a Caffe2 operator.
5. Publish the model to the production-grade Caffe2 prediction service and start serving live traffic
Using PyText
Getting started with PyText is relatively simple. The framework can be installed as a typical python package.
$ pip install pytext-nlp
After that, we can train an NLP model using a task configuration.
(pytext) $ cat demo/configs/docnn.json
{
"task": {
"DocClassificationTask": {
"data_handler": {
"train_path": "tests/data/train_data_tiny.tsv",
"eval_path": "tests/data/test_data_tiny.tsv",
"test_path": "tests/data/test_data_tiny.tsv"
}
}
}
}$ pytext train < demo/configs/docnn.json
A Task is the central artifact for define the model artifacts in a PyText application. Every task has an embedded config that defines the relationships between the different components as shown in the following code.
from word_tagging import ModelInputConfig, TargetConfig class WordTaggingTask(Task):
class Config(Task.Config):
features: ModelInputConfig = ModelInputConfig()
targets: TargetConfig = TargetConfig()
data_handler: WordTaggingDataHandler.Config = WordTaggingDataHandler.Config()
model: WordTaggingModel.Config = WordTaggingModel.Config()
trainer: Trainer.Config = Trainer.Config()
optimizer: OptimizerParams = OptimizerParams()
scheduler: Optional[SchedulerParams] = SchedulerParams()
metric_reporter: WordTaggingMetricReporter.Config = WordTaggingMetricReporter.Config()
exporter: Optional[TextModelExporter.Config] = TextModelExporter.Config()
After a model has been trained, we can evaluate the model and also exported to Caffe2.
(pytext) $ pytext test < "$CONFIG"(pytext) $ pytext export --output-path exported_model.c2 < "$CONFIG"
It is important to notice that PyText provides a very extensible architecture and each one of its key building blocks can be customized and extend it.
PyText represents an important milestone in NLP development as one of the first frameworks that addresses the often-conflicting tradeoff between experimentation and production. With the support of Facebook and the PyTorch community, PyText might has the opportunity to become one of the most important NLP stacks in the deep learning ecosystem. | https://medium.com/dataseries/facebook-pytext-is-an-open-source-framework-for-rapid-nlp-experimentation-eba67fa61858 | ['Jesus Rodriguez'] | 2020-09-28 11:58:30.511000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Thesequence', 'Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science'] |
You’re In Love With Someone You Met Online-Be Very Careful!! | We so often receive investigative requests from men and women who are involved in very personal relationships with someone they met online. They have come to point where they are uncomfortable and want us to investigate whether their lover is who they say they are and if they are married or committed to another relationship. Many of these people readily admit they are very much in love even though they have never met face to face with their online lover. Usually, these investigative requests occur when the online lover promises to fly out to meet them and then suddenly comes up with a last-minute excuse why they cannot leave their home country. Another reason we might be called to investigate their online lover is due to their online lover telling them that they are in very serious financial trouble. They will usually say their problem is due to a tax issue in their country or a medical emergency for which they have no money for.
The most disheartening call we receive is when we’re told the funds were already wired and that their alleged lover has never been heard from again. Once retained by our client were asked to track down where their so-called lover actually lives and to confirm whether he or she is really the person in the photo they posted online. In almost all cases the photo was hijacked from someone else social media profile and we usually learn the perpetrator works in a boiler room operation where hundreds of potential victims are sent emails through online dating sites. These crooks troll night and day for men and women on dating sites, they have no conscience or concerns about their victims because they feed their families based upon a percentage of the money they steal from their victims. Their job is to study hundreds of profiles of registered users all over the world and then pick their targets.
We have identified where most of these boiler room operations are located. They are usually in Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, and India. Those victims who wired funds will never recover their money and the person who scammed them will never be prosecuted. Foreign governments could care less as they have not the funds to deal with these scams. Worldwide Intelligence Network can confirm for you if your lover is a real person by conducting an advance background investigation on them anywhere in the world.
Here are a couple of very helpful websites for you.
Men, please check out this site:
http://www.inter-mariage.com/en/scamlist.php
Ladies and gentlemen, please look at this site from the FBI:
http://www.fbi.gov/sandiego/press-releases/2013/looking-for-love-beware-of-online-dating-scams
Not all online romances turn out bad. However, you should allow us to a background investigation prior to you committing to a relationship. | https://medium.com/@losangelesprivateinvestigator/youre-in-love-with-someone-you-met-online-be-very-careful-d868529648f4 | ['Worldwide Intelligence Network'] | 2021-07-06 12:10:33.386000+00:00 | ['Dating Advice', 'Dating', 'Cybersecurity'] |
How to Build Antifragile Organisations | How to Build Antifragile Organisations
Be like viruses and bacteria — embrace stressors and disruption.
Photo by Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash
Whenever we try to eliminate viruses and bacteria, it comes back stronger the next time — requiring a stronger antidote to eliminate it.
That which does not kill us makes us stronger. — Freidrich Nietzsche
Things that Gain from Disorder
Certain organisms thrive in disorder and chaotic situations. Nassim Taleb coined the term “Antifragile” to describe this phenomenon.
Antifragile is:
Different from robust and fragile — if fragility means breaking in chaos and robustness being immune to chaos, antifragile means thriving in chaos.
— if fragility means breaking in chaos and robustness being immune to chaos, antifragile means thriving in chaos. Having limited downside and unlimited upside — a state whereby you can potentially gain huge benefits from sudden shocks to the environment with limited losses.
— a state whereby you can potentially gain huge benefits from sudden shocks to the environment with limited losses. Desiring volatility, uncertainty, disorder, and chaos — growth and progress is accelerated in such situations and environments.
Some examples of antifragility include:
Startups — potential to grow into “unicorns” (unlimited upside) and failure is generally limited to the capital invested.
— potential to grow into “unicorns” (unlimited upside) and failure is generally limited to the capital invested. Muscles — hypertrophy occurs when fibres of the muscle sustain damage or injury, after repairing the damaged fibres, the mass and size of muscles grow larger.
— hypertrophy occurs when fibres of the muscle sustain damage or injury, after repairing the damaged fibres, the mass and size of muscles grow larger. Human psychology — through adversity and challenges, i.e. heartbreaks, failures, our minds have the potential to capitalise on adversities and come back stronger than ever.
There are several other examples, i.e. body immune system, bacteria, etc. but I hope you get the idea.
The Antidote to Black Swans
With the advancements in technology and the acceleration of digitalisation today, the environment is transforming at a much faster rate — resulting in higher occurrences of “Black Swans”, i.e. disruptive solutions.
I was in an environment which dealt with the VUCA situation rather well.
Here are three key lessons which I found useful in navigating today’s VUCA environment:
Focus on the things that don’t change (Via negativa): we cannot predict what changes may come, but we know what’s unlikely to change, e.g. consumer’s demand for better experiences and services, and focus on those things. Disrupt internally and externally: constantly seek problems — the bigger, the better — to solve, because that’s where we can find opportunities for change and improvement. Frequent pitch sessions and hackathons were organised throughout the year to cultivate the mindset of embracing problems. Change and reorganise with the times: regardless of whether times are good or bad, the organisation structure is constantly updating to the environment. Company reorganisations were common to adapt.
Considering antifragility is the second-order effect of a disruption at the underlying layer, e.g. our cells killed by bacteria to boost our immune system in the long run, we can induce it by gradually exposing ourselves to disruption for our benefit, i.e. rapid growth.
I realised that these “disruptions” could be viewed as insights that help us to learn, improve and grow. Once we are able to change our perspective on VUCA and create a system that allows us to benefit from it, we’ll be seeking and embracing more of such situations.
An example would be the recent COVID-19 situation which led to major disruptions in various sectors, i.e. transportation, retail, etc. and a drastic change in consumer behaviour. To the Antifragilist, this situation could pose a fantastic opportunity to start an online business where it would address the change in consumer’s demand for goods. In this case, taking a small risk could potentially yield a large reward.
In the above example, the underlying assumption is that consumers are constantly demanding convenience and better experiences (#1: focus on things that don’t change). You may have to disrupt your existing model (#2: disrupt internally) and repivot to the new normal (#3: change with the times) and forge ahead.
Down to the Individual
I apply the same principles to my personal life. Here are some of my approaches:
Experiment often and make bold moves — through the lens of having little to lose and a lot to gain. Although I’ve had several past experiences which almost cost me my life, those are the also the ones that changed me the most — for the better.
— through the lens of having little to lose and a lot to gain. Although I’ve had several past experiences which almost cost me my life, those are the also the ones that changed me the most — for the better. Eliminate the noise and distractions — focus on the core principles rather than the specific details. Principles and mental models are some of the things which stood the test of time and can be applied across industries — a worthwhile investment. Sometimes, it’s more about knowing what is irrelevant and what not to do that’s more important.
— focus on the core principles rather than the specific details. Principles and mental models are some of the things which stood the test of time and can be applied across industries — a worthwhile investment. Sometimes, it’s more about knowing what is irrelevant and what not to do that’s more important. Reinvent oneself often — sometimes, hard choices would have to be made to grow; just like how the caterpillar has to digest itself to grow parts of the butterfly. When I found that I wasn’t growing the way I intended in a particular environment, I had to make hard switches and sacrifices.
All I want to know is where I’m going to die so I’ll never go there. — Charlie Munger
Key takeaways
The hydra is the prime example of antifragility. Slay one head, and two grows in its place. The more significant the disruption, the stronger it gets. | https://medium.com/the-internal-startup/how-to-build-anti-fragile-organisations-372c00689bd2 | ['Jimmy Soh'] | 2020-06-28 15:24:52.321000+00:00 | ['Business Strategy', 'Personal Development', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Technology'] |
Our programming and design school: reducing the high school dropout rate, a bit (and a byte) at a time! | I’m passionate about talent management and culture. My objective is to make Osedea the best workplace for our team.
Follow | https://medium.com/osedea/our-programming-and-design-school-reducing-the-high-school-dropout-rate-one-bit-byte-at-a-time-4cefa3b7a329 | ['Ivana Markovic'] | 2020-09-09 14:58:53.333000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Learning To Code', 'Community', 'Education', 'UX'] |
Connecting to people we don’t know and can’t recall is wasting our time | Connecting to people we don’t know and can’t recall on LinkedIn is wasting our time
Time you could be spending sewing face masks, baking sourdough, looting stores or waiting for Q’s next cryptic instruction
Let’s consider whether adding another connection to another stranger is actually going to help you achieve anything, or whether the value of your time is actually all going to Microsoft (which owns LinkedIn).
How many contacts can you really stay up-to-date with?
LinkedIn says I’m connected to 7,881 people. If they all just post an update once a month (some of them post once a day, some of them once a year) and I spend on average about a minute reading each update and choosing a reaction emoji, that’s 94,572 minutes a year.
That’s impossible, of course. We simply can’t do what LinkedIn says it wants us to do — to stay connected with everyone we know professionally on LinkedIn, while also holding down a job.
How much is your lost LinkedIn time worth?
I may have more LinkedIn connections than most LinkedIn users, but look at your own numbers, and do the math. Can you show it’s definitively led to a job offer, promotion, pay rise or new customer worth that many minutes of your time each year? How about over five years? If I do that math, using my average hourly rate over the past five years, I’d have to make more than a million additional dollars in that five year period. I’m pretty sure I would have noticed that happening by now!
And that’s before you account for LinkedIn trying to stop you staying up-to-date with everyone
For most of us, a lot of updates scroll off the bottom of the LinkedIn feed before we ever see them. Many hours are wasted by posting updates we’ll probably never see. The more people you’re connected to, the more of their time you’re wasting and the less effective you’re making your own networking time on LinkedIn.
There’s a button at the bottom of your LinkedIn feed. It’s there all the time. I’ll bet that unless you’re working in product at LinkedIn, looking for a job, or working in recruitment, you’ve never even seen this button.
It’s the button you’d need to click on to see any updates that have already been scrolled off the bottom of your screen by the LinkedIn algorithm.
This is what it looks like:
Keep scrolling and you’ll find it. But scrolling that far is not what LinkedIn wants you to do.
Instead, the feed algorithms ensure that updates and posts that get more engagements from other contacts are more likely to be shown. So the feed algorithm is actually going to make it harder to surface what’s really going on for people you haven’t heard from in a while, and for people who just aren’t very good at being engaging on LinkedIn.
They could be the smartest, most successful people in your entire network. They could be sitting on something which really is going to add another million dollars to your next five years’ income, or change your life massively and forever. But every additional person you connect with on LinkedIn pushes you further away from them, unless they also happen to be very effective at content marketing on LinkedIn.
Even if you could comprehend that many updates, you’d never remember all those people
Google “the Dunbar number” or better yet, here’s a great article about it by Maria Konnikova in the New Yorker:
“…groups can extend to five hundred, the acquaintance level, and to fifteen hundred, the absolute limit — the people for whom you can put a name to a face. While the group sizes are relatively stable, their composition can be fluid. Your five today may not be your five next week; people drift among layers and sometimes fall out of them altogether.”
- Maria Konnikova, “The Limits of Friendship”, The New Yorker, 7 Oct, 2015
I have a social network disability
If I were neuro-normal, I’d be able to remember the name and face of about one in five of the people I’m currently connected to on LinkedIn. But I suffer from some facial blindness which leaves me unable even to remember all the people I might meet at a large company event or conference. Sometimes I can’t recall the names of close friends and family. Being subjected to more LinkedIn updates, more frequently, makes it worse.
UWA has a free 15min free facial blindness test, if you think you might suffer from this problem too.
So, like, why?
What’s the point of adding even more people to my LinkedIn contacts if I don’t remember who they are and I’m unlikely to be able to stay in touch with them because the platform actually wants me to focus on the people it thinks get the highest engagement?
It makes no sense for you, or for me.
But it makes sense for LinkedIn. More people connected to more people means more data that can be sold to marketers, recruiters and employers, and more data that will help Microsoft advertise its own products to me.
This has been a rather long read. But this is what actually being connected to someone really is about, right? Not emojis and 25-words-or-less replies.
Here’s a previous post I wrote on the topic if you want to go further. | https://medium.com/the-innovation/connecting-to-people-we-dont-know-and-can-t-recalll-on-linkedin-is-wasting-our-time-ae023ae37271 | ['Alan Jones'] | 2020-08-28 06:57:13.485000+00:00 | ['Networking', 'Professional Development', 'Startup', 'Social Media'] |
When Physical Discomfort Feeds Anxiety | Medical visits during the pandemic are a special kind of strange. My son had to have his wisdom teeth removed this week. We had been postponed once because it was not considered emergency care, but once the restrictions loosened, he fell into the eligible category due to how much pain he was in.
Pandemic rules mean only the patient is allowed into the dentist's office, but since he is a minor, I am allowed in for required things only. Basically, I came in with him, filled out the paperwork, signed all the forms, and was allowed to wait with him until they took him back for the surgery.
Then I had to wait outside. In July. I knew this waiting time would be very stressful for me because he is my only child and has never had any kind of surgery before. I prepared myself mentally. I saved a shit-ton of things to read on my phone to distract myself. I thought I would be okay.
I failed to plan for discomfort. I was so focused on other things, it didn’t even occur to me that I’d be waiting outside for a very long time in the summer. My car was in direct sunlight so I could not sit in it. There is a large ramp that leads to the office door and I leaned against that. At first, I was okay. It was shady and there was a breeze.
If the procedure had only taken the hour I was told it would, I would have been fine. I worked my plan for keeping my anxiety under control, but as the morning dragged on, the sun shifted and there was no longer shade there. The hour went by and no sign of my son being finished. My mind started running through all kinds of worst-case scenarios. With no cover from the sun, the temperature rose. The hotter I got, the more anxious I became. Eventually, I was on the verge of a panic attack. | https://heatherashman.medium.com/when-physical-discomfort-feeds-anxiety-d12bde571e34 | ['Heather Ashman'] | 2020-07-15 00:55:54.499000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Life', 'Anxiety', 'Pain', 'Self'] |
SIREN News Jan/Feb 2017 | People
“Everyone has a different background and when working with different teams and clients it’s beneficial to have that understanding. I hope that it has made me a better leader.” | https://medium.com/siren-news/siren-news-jan-feb-2017-79a1ef4fbbcb | [] | 2017-02-07 15:44:15.038000+00:00 | ['Dentsu Aegis Network', 'Latest News', 'Advertising', 'Digital Marketing', 'Agencylife'] |
Reinforcement Learning Uygulama ve Araştırma Alanları: Genel Bir Bakış | Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more
Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore | https://medium.com/reinforcementlearningturkiye/reinforcement-learning-uygulama-ve-ara%C5%9Ft%C4%B1rma-alanlar%C4%B1-genel-bir-bak%C4%B1%C5%9F-8f740bdc397e | [] | 2020-12-21 12:40:37.541000+00:00 | ['Deep Learning', 'Finance', 'Reinforcement Learning', 'Robotics', 'Artificial Intelligence'] |
Weightloss Code and EASY HACKED METHOD | Weightloss Code and EASY HACKED METHOD
How one woman discovered the female fat loss code missed by modern medicine and practitioners and lost 84lbs using a simple 2-steps ritual that is 100% guarantee shocking daily weight loss.
This easy hack method missed by tons of medical personnel has made me lose over 84lbs and it has worked for all my FAT friends as well…
How I discovered FAT LOSS CODE many modern medical practitioners are not aware of, I lost 84lbs using a simple 2-steps ritual, that is 100% guaranteed.
This EASY HACKED METHOD unknown to medical personnel has made me lose tons of weight, and it has worked for all my FAT friends as well….
It shocked me as well because I thought I would be fat for the rest of my life. You can see for yourself, my BEFORE AND AFTER image above
My name is Jennifer, I am in my 20’s and married to a hard-working man but who does not know what it means when a wife is grossly fat. It pissed me that I was not getting a permanent solution to it. It has affected me so much that I could not bear a child of my own.
I have searched through the internet to no avail until I found this GOD sent a method that has helped me tremendously.
You know what? This is not a Keto diet thing or the usual intermittent fasting, calories stuff, or the use of GYM. All these methods I have used but did not work as I gain the weight back after a period of time.
The EASY HACKED METHOD with natural ingredients is the final solution to all these rigorous methods. I know this because I used it for a long time. (getting to a year now) I have not put on that disgusting look again but remain the young, charming, elegant, and beautiful gal I always wanted to be. I never wanted to try it since all the ones I used were proving abortive, until I saw it worked on some of my friends that used it, so I delved into it.
Let me not waste much time sharing my testimony here, I know many of us cannot wait to get this. We would want to see for ourselves. You can CLICK HERE for a detailed explanation.
. | https://medium.com/@josevee4/weightloss-code-and-easy-hacked-method-39c25cb3944 | ['Joseph Ukerun'] | 2021-11-29 12:39:20.386000+00:00 | ['Fat', 'Weight Loss', 'Fat Burning', 'Weightloss Recipe'] |
Hadoop MapReduce in Action | Hadoop MapReduce (Hadoop Map/Reduce) is a software framework for distributed processing of large data sets on compute clusters of commodity hardware. It is a sub-project of the Apache Hadoop project. The framework takes care of scheduling tasks, monitoring them and re-executing any failed tasks.
According to The Apache Software Foundation, the primary objective of Map/Reduce is to split the input data set into independent chunks that are processed in a completely parallel manner. The Hadoop MapReduce framework sorts the outputs of the maps, which are then input to the reduce tasks. Typically, both the input and the output of the job are stored in a file system.
The Map function divides the input into ranges by the InputFormat and creates a map task for each range in the input. The JobTracker distributes those tasks to the worker nodes. The output of each map task is partitioned into a group of key-value pairs for each reduce.
The Reduce function then collects the various results and combines them to answer the larger problem that the master node needs to solve. Each reduce pulls the relevant partition from the machines where the maps executed, then writes its output back into HDFS. Thus, the reduce is able to collect the data from all of the maps for the keys and combine them to solve the problem,More info go through big data online course
Map Reduce Job
The top level unit of work in MapReduce is a job. A job usually has a map and a reduce phase, though the reduce phase can be omitted. For example, consider a MapReduce job that counts the number of times each word is used across a set of documents. The map phase counts the words in each document, then the reduce phase aggregates the per-document data into word counts spanning the entire collection.
During the map phase, the input data is divided into input splits for analysis by map tasks running in parallel across the Hadoop cluster. By default, the MapReduce framework gets input data from the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).
The reduce phase uses results from map tasks as input to a set of parallel reduce tasks. The reduce tasks consolidate the data into final results. By default, the MapReduce framework stores results in HDFS.
Although the reduce phase depends on output from the map phase, map and reduce processing is not necessarily sequential. That is, reduce tasks can begin as soon as any map task completes. It is not necessary for all map tasks to complete before any reduce task can begin.
MapReduce operates on key-value pairs. Conceptually, a MapReduce job takes a set of input key-value pairs and produces a set of output key-value pairs by passing the data through map and reduce functions. The map tasks produce an intermediate set of key-value pairs that the reduce tasks uses as input. The diagram below illustrates the progression from input key-value pairs to output key-value pairs at a high level:
Though each set of key-value pairs is homogeneous, the key-value pairs in each step need not have the same type. For example, the key-value pairs in the input set (KV1) can be (string, string) pairs, with the map phase producing (string, integer) pairs as intermediate results (KV2), and the reduce phase producing (integer, string) pairs for the final results (KV3).
The keys in the map output pairs need not be unique. Between the map processing and the reduce processing, a shuffle step sorts all map output values with the same key into a single reduce input (key, value-list) pair, where the 'value' is a list of all values sharing the same key. Thus, the input to a reduce task is actually a set of (key, value-list) pairs.
The key and value types at each stage determine the interfaces to your map and reduce functions. Therefore, before coding a job, determine the data types needed at each stage in the map-reduce process. For example:
Choose the reduce output key and value types that best represents the desired outcome. Choose the map input key and value types best suited to represent the input data from which to derive the final result. Determine the transformation necessary to get from the map input to the reduce output, and choose the intermediate map output/reduce input key value type to match.
Control MapReduce job characteristics through configuration properties. The job configuration specifies:
how to gather input
the types of the input and output key-value pairs for each stage
the map and reduce functions
how and where to store the final results
Example: Calculating Word Occurrences
This example demonstrates the basic MapReduce concept by calculating the number of occurrence of each each word in a set of text files. For an in-depth discussion and source code for an equivalent example, see the Hadoop MapReduce tutorial at:
Recall that MapReduce input data is divided into input splits, and the splits are further divided into input key-value pairs. In this example, the input data set is the two documents, document1 and document2 . The InputFormat subclass divides the data set into one split per document, for a total of 2 splits:
A (line number, text) key-value pair is generated for each line in an input document. The map function discards the line number and produces a per-line (word, count) pair for each word in the input line. The reduce phase produces (word, count) pairs representing aggregated word counts across all the input documents.
Given the input data shown above, the map-reduce progression for the example job is:
The output from the map phase contains multiple key-value pairs with the same key: The ‘oats’ and ‘eat’ keys appear twice. Recall that the MapReduce framework consolidates all values with the same key before entering the reduce phase, so the input to reduce is actually (key, values) pairs. Therefore, the full progression from map output, through reduce, to final results is:
Understanding the MapReduce Job Life Cycle
This section briefly sketches the life cycle of a MapReduce job and the roles of the primary actors in the life cycle. The full life cycle is much more complex. For details, refer to the documentation for your Hadoop distribution or the Apache Hadoop MapReduce documentation.
Though other configurations are possible, a common Hadoop cluster configuration is a single master node where the Job Tracker runs, and multiple worker nodes, each running a Task Tracker. The Job Tracker node can also be a worker node.
When the user submits a MapReduce job to Hadoop:
The local Job Client prepares the job for submission and hands it off to the Job Tracker. The Job Tracker schedules the job and distributes the map work among the Task Trackers for parallel processing. Each Task Tracker spawns a Map Task. The Job Tracker receives progress information from the Task Trackers. As map results become available, the Job Tracker distributes the reduce work among the Task Trackers for parallel processing. Each Task Tracker spawns a Reduce Task to perform the work. The Job Tracker receives progress information from the Task Trackers.
All map tasks do not have to complete before reduce tasks begin running. Reduce tasks can begin as soon as map tasks begin completing. Thus, the map and reduce steps often overlap.
Job Client
The Job Client prepares a job for execution.When you submit a MapReduce job to Hadoop, the local JobClient:
Validates the job configuration. Generates the input splits. Copies the job resources (configuration, job JAR file, input splits) to a shared location, such as an HDFS directory, where it is accessible to the Job Tracker and Task Trackers. Submits the job to the Job Tracker.
Job Tracker
The Job Tracker is responsible for scheduling jobs, dividing a job into map and reduce tasks, distributing map and reduce tasks among worker nodes, task failure recovery, and tracking the job status. Job scheduling and failure recovery are not discussed here; see the documentation for your Hadoop distribution or the Apache Hadoop MapReduce documentation.
When preparing to run a job, the Job Tracker:
Fetches input splits from the shared location where the Job Client placed the information. Creates a map task for each split. Assigns each map task to a Task Tracker (worker node).
The Job Tracker monitors the health of the Task Trackers and the progress of the job. As map tasks complete and results become available, the Job Tracker:
Creates reduce tasks up to the maximum enableed by the job configuration. Assigns each map result partition to a reduce task. Assigns each reduce task to a Task Tracker.
A job is complete when all map and reduce tasks successfully complete, or, if there is no reduce step, when all map tasks successfully complete.
Task Tracker
A Task Tracker manages the tasks of one worker node and reports status to the Job Tracker. Often, the Task Tracker runs on the associated worker node, but it is not required to be on the same host.
When the Job Tracker assigns a map or reduce task to a Task Tracker, the Task Tracker:
Fetches job resources locally. Spawns a child JVM on the worker node to execute the map or reduce task. Reports status to the Job Tracker.
The task spawned by the Task Tracker runs the job’s map or reduce functions.
Map Task
The Hadoop MapReduce framework creates a map task to process each input split. The map task:
Uses the InputFormat to fetch the input data locally and create input key-value pairs. Applies the job-supplied map function to each key-value pair. Performs local sorting and aggregation of the results. If the job includes a Combiner , runs the Combiner for further aggregation. Stores the results locally, in memory and on the local file system. Communicates progress and status to the Task Tracker.
Map task results undergo a local sort by key to prepare the data for consumption by reduce tasks. If a Combiner is configured for the job, it also runs in the map task. A Combiner consolidates the data in an application-specific way, reducing the amount of data that must be transferred to reduce tasks. For example, a Combiner might compute a local maximum value for a key and discard the rest of the values. The details of how map tasks manage, sort, and shuffle results are not covered here. See the documentation for your Hadoop distribution or the Apache Hadoop MapReduce documentation.
When a map task notifies the Task Tracker of completion, the Task Tracker notifies the Job Tracker. The Job Tracker then makes the results available to reduce tasks.
Reduce Task
The reduce phase aggregates the results from the map phase into final results. Usually, the final result set is smaller than the input set, but this is application dependent. The reduction is carried out by parallel reduce tasks. The reduce input keys and values need not have the same type as the output keys and values.
The reduce phase is optional. You may configure a job to stop after the map phase completes.
Reduce is carried out in three phases, copy, sort, and merge. A reduce task:
Fetches job resources locally. Enters the copy phase to fetch local copies of all the assigned map results from the map worker nodes. When the copy phase completes, executes the sort phase to merge the copied results into a single sorted set of (key, value-list) pairs. When the sort phase completes, executes the reduce phase, invoking the job-supplied reduce function on each (key, value-list) pair. Saves the final results to the output destination, such as HDFS.
The input to a reduce function is key-value pairs where the value is a list of values sharing the same key. For example, if one map task produces a key-value pair ('eat', 2) and another map task produces the pair ('eat', 1) , then these pairs are consolidated into ('eat', (2, 1)) for input to the reduce function. If the purpose of the reduce phase is to compute a sum of all the values for each key, then the final output key-value pair for this input is ('eat', 3) .
Reduce tasks use an OutputFormat subclass to record results. The Hadoop API provides OutputFormat subclasses for using HDFS as the output destination. T
How Hadoop Partitions Map Input Data
When you submit a job, the MapReduce framework divides the input data set into chunks called splits using the org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.InputFormat subclass supplied in the job configuration. Splits are created by the local Job Client and included in the job information made available to the Job Tracker.
The JobTracker creates a map task for each split. Each map task uses a RecordReader provided by the InputFormat subclass to transform the split into input key-value pairs. The diagram below shows how the input data is broken down for analysis during the map phase:
The Hadoop API provides InputFormat subclasses for using HDFS as an input source.
To learn complete big data course visit ITGuru’s big data hadoop training Blog | https://medium.com/@informationit27/hadoop-mapreduce-in-action-b7c723b604ba | [] | 2020-11-25 10:12:54.901000+00:00 | ['Hadoop', 'Spark', 'Big Data Analytics', 'Mapreduce', 'Big Data'] |
High Security Printing & Brand Protection — Conference & Exhibition — VeriDoc Global | VeriDoc Director Ali Asgar Abbas is speaking at the High-Security Printing and Brand Protection Conference over the next two days, and we encourage everyone to sign up. It’s free and awesome. It’s how technology can help you overcome fraud, increase trust, and ensure transparency and traceability in supply chain management. We make verification easy to understand and use and have finished products that you can use right now.
Which is something VeriDoc Global excels at with our finished solutions.
Visit our booth at https://www.hspbp.com/veridoc-global and listen to Ali Asgar Abbas, our Regional Director — (Thursday, 17th December at 11:30 AM GMT ).
To join in, simply register for free at: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvdOmrrzkjGNWYQQh72gTJJNuvXC4ltp4t
🙏💚🌏😄
To get more information about VeriDoc Global and our finished solutions please visit http://veridocglobal.com | https://medium.com/@veridocglobal/high-security-printing-brand-protection-conference-exhibition-veridoc-global-2bf0d0606f25 | ['Veridoc Global'] | 2020-12-16 01:36:31.388000+00:00 | ['Highsecurityprinting', 'Brand Protection', 'Conference', 'Veridocglobal', 'Software'] |
Ten lessons from twelve years of AWS | #10 — Learn from others.
Learning from others is the single most important thing I have learned. And I have to admit, sometimes I still have to remind myself to shut up and listen.
There is always someone in the room that knows more than you do. That person is just not necessarily broadcasting it.
Be open and ready to be challenged and change opinion.
Share your ideas with others, challenge them and especially let others do so.
Fortunately, there are myriads ways to do this — participating in this community is, of course, one of them.
A few weeks ago, while preparing for this talk, I asked the developer advocate team to share with me their lessons — and few of them kindly answered.
But as I didn’t really know what I was going to talk about a few weeks ago, I asked my question with a heavy bias towards getting technical answers — so despite my first lesson not to focus on technology, the following is mainly about technology — but I am the one to blame for that :)
Javier Ramirez:
Don’t use the AWS as a traditional Data Center. Have a consistent naming/tagging strategy early on. Especially for everything that has unique names (s3 buckets, for example).
Alex Casalboni:
Learn IAM before you do anything serious. Master Infrastructure as Code (IaC), either CloudFormation or Terraform. Use the management console only to build prototypes, or the first time you try out a new service, switch to IaC for anything else.
Boaz Ziniman:
Account security — don’t use the root account. Always enable MFA. Set IAM users for every developer, with different roles. Tag everything!
Enrique Duvos:
Security, Security, Security.
Dennis Traub:
Turn on CloudTrail. Turn on Guard Duty. Don’t assume that development teams will consider security when building on AWS. So, I’m with Enrique here —think security.
Marcia Villalba:
Try to see if there is a managed service before building it yourself.
Danilo Poccia:
Adopt the right mindset: With on-prem virtualization and hosting, you have a finite set of resources where you try to squeeze as many things as possible. With the cloud, you have access to a virtually unlimited set of resources, and you should use the minimum you need at any point in time.
Sebastien Stormacq:
Use EC2 only if you have exhausted all other possibilities. This is not because of EC2, but because no machine to manage is better than one machine to manage. So, go serverless as much as possible. And serverless is not only Lambda, but it is also RDS, Cognito, S3, API Gateway, etc.
Ricardo Sueiras:
Shift the conversation around AWS from technology to business outcomes (Agility, etc.). It will help you get the exec sponsor/support required for success. From a technical point of view, bet on automation. Resist being obsessed with the console.
Isabel Huerga Ayza:
Governance — everything that is not clearly defined will be done by no one. Or best case it will be, but not consistently. Goes to accountability and ownership, which is not good to leave to good faith when what is at risk is your business. Don’t wait until a production disruption to enable support. Setup budget alerts!
Steven Bryen:
My advice is to think differently about things like the dynamic allocation of resources. An example would be security groups. You can create a rule referencing another security group, which means new instances automatically match the rule and have access as they scale. It is very different from the traditional on-prem mindset but is so valuable.
Cobus Bernard:
Read the pricing page for a service and set up billing alerts. | https://medium.com/the-cloud-architect/ten-lessons-from-twelve-years-of-aws-1ba92fe5ff88 | ['Adrian Hornsby'] | 2020-07-08 07:51:25.493000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Community', 'AWS', 'Lessons Learned', 'Keynote'] |
How To Stop Hiding Behind “I’m Doing My Best” | Photo by Umit Y Buz on Unsplash
A common phrase, with many uses. I’ll put a few here, but I’m sure you can think of some more.
Exasperated kid to mom: “I’m doing my best!” (In my house, this kid is about to get into trouble)
Tired employee: “I’m doing the best that I can.”
Parent trying to encourage kid: “Don’t worry, all you can do is the best you can do.”
Parent to nervous kid: “Hey, just go out there and do your best.”
Frustrated anyone: “I don’t know what else to do, I’m doing my best.”
Parent to teacher: “We are doing the best we can over here.”
As a teacher, my first principal to me: “Just remember, every parent is sending you their best each day.”
This is such a long time, tried and true saying, that I wonder if we have started to abuse it. Actually, I’m confident that we have. It feels good to say we are doing our best. It’s also a great defense mechanism, to throw back at someone.
It’s hard to argue with someone who is doing their best, because, hey, what else can you expect of anyone? “Do your best” is also a good way to put the responsibility onto someone else, and take some of the onus of holding people accountable off of us. “Well, did you do your best? Okay, as long as you did your best.”
We like to accept the answer we get. Maybe we have some doubts, and we represent that in our tone or cadence, “Ooookay, as long as you did your best…” but we don’t like to attack it head-on, because we don’t like to mess with people who did their best.
Most people are not going to tell you that they didn’t do their best. Have you ever hired someone to do some work around your house and had them say, “I just want you to know that I brought my third tier crew over today. Larry just got up, Phil has been drinking since 7, and Tommy just started today, doesn’t really even know what he’s doing. On top of that, I plan to half-ass it today and do just enough to collect a check.” No one is admitting to this, though it happens all the time.
As an adult, you might, on occasion, be able to get a kid to admit they didn’t do their best if you are able to apply the right amount of pressure and actually get to a point of logic and reason. But for the most part, people aren’t going to admit that they aren’t doing their best.
Everyone says, and I think maybe even believes, that they are doing the best that they can. And you know what, that’s all that you can do. That feels good. At some point during my teaching career, I was taught this “positive sandwich” method. If you are dealing with a tough issue with a student or parent, you are to start with a positive, say the tough thing in the middle, then end with a positive so that’s the last thing they hear. It might go like this:
“First let me start by saying that I believe Tommy is a sweet boy and he has many friends in class.
We have had a little issue with him biting his friends and stealing their school supplies so that nobody wants to be around him anymore, but he has loads of potential and is very creative. Thank you so much for coming in.”
I never liked the positive sandwich.
But that’s kind of what, “Doing your best” is like. When things don’t go as well as we’d like, or we don’t perform well, we can put a nice little bow on things by ending with, “well, all you can do is the best you can do.”
Most of us know that we should be doing our best, and I think most of us know that society expects that we do our best. It’s the best (no pun intended) thing for us to fall back on. People know it’s unlikely to be challenged and people know that people like to hear it.
“I’m doing my best” needs to be challenged, if only on these pages. It needs to be challenged for us and by us.
Here are my challenges:
We Aren’t Doing Our Best
If everyone was doing their best, as you might believe based on how many people are so adamant about that fact, then the world would be a much, much different place.
Based on the incredible achievements that we’ve seen out of different human beings; Things like free climbing El Capitan, swimming through freezing waters to save the planet, and running 5 Iron Mans in 5 days, indicate that our “best” is likely well beyond what we are doing on a daily basis. This is not to say that these things aren’t hard, or spectacular feats. I’m also not here to act like a productivity expert or arguing that everyone should do more to maximize their life.
But we drastically undersell what we are capable of as “normal” human beings. I’m currently reading an autobiography on The Wright Brothers, and what these normal guys were able to accomplish is incredible. Neither went to college, came from wealth, or had any unusual advantage in life other than the fact that they came from a loving, supportive family. They went on to change the world using their own two hands, ingenuity, and hard work. For each of us, our “best” is likely well beyond what we currently believe we are capable of, or what we are willing to admit we are capable of.
It’s much easier when we are tired, frustrated, and running on empty to offer up the sympathy inducing, burden releasing statement, “I’m doing my best.” A more honest comment might be, “This is the best I can do right now”, though if I were in an arguing mood, and I am, I would argue that this, while more accurate than “I’m doing my best”, is also a false statement.
If someone were to offer a gentle challenge by way of a good question (here it comes) like, “What is one thing you could do to make ____ better?”, we’d probably be able to come up with something pretty quickly. That’s one of those questions that we don’t really like to ask ourselves because then we have to answer it. Then we have to do something about it while admitting that we weren’t actually doing our best.
Which is usually the case.
We Aren’t Willing To Admit That Our Best Isn’t Good Enough
One of the things we don’t like to talk to our sweet little babooshkas (children) about is the unfortunate truth that sometimes our (their) best simply isn’t good enough. People can be better than us in certain things. Sometimes people can be better than us at things without working as hard or trying as hard as we are.
It’s not fair. C’est la vie.
Doing our best is important, and sometimes, doing our best is all that we can do. I guess it’s always all that you can do. But that’s not the whole story, we’ll get to that in a minute.
The truth that we should all acknowledge, is that screaming, “I’m doing my best!”, while possibly (sort of) true, isn’t always a good answer. How many of us are willing to follow that up with an equally emphatic, “…but I recognize that I need to get better if I’m going to do this job well.” Or, “…and I’m going to have to live with the fact that my best is only going to take me so far in this particular challenge.”
We wouldn’t be okay hiring a crappy general contractor, who isn’t fully capable of doing the job, under the unreasonably accepted phrase of, “He did his best.” If his best stinks, we don’t want to hire him, or we get frustrated when we realize that his best stinks. Our response to someone else might be (under our breath of course, because we are afraid to criticize someone’s holy “best”) “Well your best isn’t good enough!”
What about when we realize our best stinks? I think usually we just pout and repeat the phrase. We hope that by saying it, we’ll feel a little better and that the other people around us accept it.
But sometimes, our best just isn’t good enough.
What if our best isn’t good enough at our job?
What if our best isn’t good enough as a parent?
What if our best isn’t good enough in our marriage?
Are we so stubborn that we look at how things are going (not well) and yell out in frustration, “I’m doing my best!” and then think that somehow makes it okay? Will the Universe accept this? Does It feel sorry for us? Does the situation our life, our the grand scheme of things alter to our “best”?
The positive here is that our best can get better. If our best isn’t good enough, there is an abundance of things we can do about it. But not if we refuse to first admit that it needs to improve.
We Have To Tell The Truth About “Doing Our Best”
It would be great if we’d all acknowledge when we aren’t really doing our best. Things like, “I’m doing the most that I’m willing to do right now.” Or, “I’ve got a lot of other things going on, and this is all that I can devote to this area at the moment.” are much more accurate than the typical refrain. This is not to say that I don’t believe anyone ever does their best, there are just many times where it’s simply not true.
Sometimes, we just need to be honest about this, especially with ourselves.
One way to do this is to acknowledge that our best isn’t good enough in a certain situation.
Another thing to consider is that maybe we didn’t do the best we could do to prepare for a situation. Yes, maybe you gave your best effort during the presentation, but did you prepare to the best of your ability? Yes, you did your best on the test, but did you study as best as you could throughout the week?
If we are responsible for leading others, working on a team with others, or parenting others, I think we have a responsibility to tell others the truth, where appropriate, about doing their best too. Don’t let people that you care about hide behind, “I’m doing my best.”
We Might Have To Make Our Best Better
It’s possible that we really are doing our best, and that it wasn’t good enough. Perhaps we prepared as best we could, and we gave the best effort that we could, and we still fell short. This requires the honesty mentioned above, but it’s certainly possible and it happens all of the time.
In this instance, we have a decision to make. We can decide that we are satisfied with having done our best and coming up short. This is a fine place to be. No sarcasm, no reading between the lines, I mean it. Doing your best, when done honestly and completely, is a great thing.
We could also decide, that while we feel good about what we’ve done, that we can actually do better, and we are willing to do something about it. Once we’ve decided that we’ve done our best in our preparation and done our best in our effort, and still fallen below where we’d like to be, we can then decide to get better. We can learn more, try harder, get past our fears, find a mentor, or any other number of things to help us increase where our best is.
We Might Have To Make A Change
We could decide that we are giving our best, it’s not enough in the given situation, and that there is nothing else we can do. In this case, we might have to change our situation. If you are giving your best, and your boss doesn’t think it’s enough, and you feel like you really are giving your best, then maybe it’s time for a new job. If you are being asked for more than you are capable or willing to give, it’s probably a reasonable consideration to look for a new place.
If you really feel like you are doing your best as a parent, and things aren’t working, and getting better in this area isn’t a good path forward for you, you might have to get rid of your kid. It’s not working, try again with a new kid and see if they appreciate your best effort.
Just kidding, clearly. But you might have to get some outside counsel to help you be the parent that your kid needs you to be. Same thing with your marriage. If you don’t feel like there are any more changes that you can make, you might have to enlist some help that will help you make some changes to the situation so you can get to where you’d like to be with your spouse.
Sometimes It’s About Results
You might work for someone who doesn’t care about your best, at least not in the way that we often like to refer to it. We like to use it as an explanation, or a buffer between where we are/how we feel, and what the reality around us is.
“I’m sorry I’m behind on what you assigned, I really am doing my best.”
Well, you’re behind on what you have been assigned.
It may be the case that you work for someone who can or will give you some slack, especially if you really are making a good effort. But it also may be the case that you work for someone who can’t or won’t give you any slack, regardless of your effort.
Whether we like it or not, sometimes, results are all that matter. It may not even be a boss or employer situation. Sometimes, in life, the outcome counts the most.
If you are a parent, this is an area that I think is really important. Instilling in our kids that effort counts is huge, and our kids should learn that it’s important to do their best. The value, many, many times, lies in the effort, particularly when our kids are young and growing and learning the importance of hard work and integrity of effort.
We should be careful not to ignore the fact, as we teach our children, that they also need to learn that sometimes they try hard and lose. Sometimes they prepare well and get beat. Sometimes they do their best and someone is better. Let’s not overemphasize “do your best” without teaching the other side of the story too, when appropriate.
Conclusion
Don’t fall into the trap of throwing around this phrase as a safety blanket for yourself, or accepting it as an excuse from people you care about. It’s not that people aren’t doing their best (but maybe), but the idea of, “that’s all that you can do” probably deserves a little challenge.
All of this requires telling ourselves the truth. Think about if you are really doing your best. Determine if maybe your best isn’t good enough in a given situation. Decide if there are things that you are willing and able to do to make your best a little better. If those things won’t help, discern if it’s time for you to make a change in some way, or if you need some additional help to make an adjustment.
Absolutely do your best. Honestly. That’s all you can do. For now.
I’m pulling for you,
Bryan
I encourage others through teaching, coaching, and writing.
If you want to learn more about me or follow along, check me out here.
You can listen to my podcast here.
Check out my book, Be Kind, It Might Be Their Birthday, here. | https://medium.com/@bryanhendley/how-to-stop-hiding-behind-im-doing-my-best-7a75fc507c1 | ['Bryan Hendley'] | 2020-12-23 13:53:32.656000+00:00 | ['Best', 'Truth', 'Personal Growth', 'Integrity', 'Personal Development'] |
HYIP and Cloud Mining Vs. Real Bitcoin / Altcoin mining | To those of you who are fortunate enough not to know what that is, it stands for ‘High Yield Investment Program’, a magic website/organisation which will provide you with an endless, life-long cashflow in exchange for only a small deposit of your capital.
The term could be used in conjunction, or as a synonym for ‘’Ponzi-scheme’’, an empty facade presented to the public as a brilliant financial plan to get rich easily.
Though mentioned extensively in literature (Mainly Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit and Little Dorrit, the first one to become famous for implementing this technique in real life is, surprisingly enough, Charles Ponzi.
Charles offered investors to participate in his master-plan of arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps, which was evidently no more than a facade for using investors money to pay himself, as well as early investors.
As I am writing this story, the dim sound of my A4 ‘’Dominotor’’ miner accompanies me from my porch outside of my home office, so you can say I’m biased. Personally, I prefer the term ‘experienced’.
So, as you all may know, hundreds if not thousands of different HYIP ‘businesses’ pop-up every week, just like mushrooms after the rain. The poisonous kind.
There is one question which can save you lots of funds in life, and direct you to the few correct digital investments that are still out there.
If they have thought of a brilliant way to make money, what do they need you for?
The answer then will become evident.
Unfortunately, not everybody is blessed with critical thinking, and some people still take the bait, enough to feed this growing industry of glorified theft.
Another unfortunate truth about this ‘business’ is that they typically use cryptocurrency funding to anonymously receive funds from their victims and thus affect the reputation of cryptocurrencies unfavourably.
Each one of those questionable ventures, has more or less the same properties:
A website promising huge daily returns for life, without you ever having to do anything except depositing some money. A somewhat reliable cover story AKA business-strategy.
For example, recycling for recyclix or industrial electricity trading for the retired ‘coince’. A Great Britain registered Limited company (LTD), that can be obtained easily by a variety of service providers for as low as £20.
It’s worth to mention that no identification is required for most incorporations, and that a legal office location and a nominee local director will cost couple of dozen more pounds, but that’s it.
Typically the incorporation certificate will be proudly hanging on the front page of the website. A ‘verified’ EV (extended validation) ‘green-block’ SSL certificate, similar to the one you will find on the websites of banks and other financial institutions. It will always close down the moment it will stop growing. This period can vary anywhere from several days, through several months, to several years.
Aside from the several other red lights that already lit up during the past few paragraphs, there is essentially one main problem with the HYIP model.
It is a debate similar to the one raised numerous time along the history by philosophers of various streams, as a tool of empirically determining the morality of one matter or another.
What would happen to our society if everyone ran HYIP that don’t generate any real world value?
What would happen in case everyone would successfully make a living of of on of those facades?
Whilst not all online MLM, Pyramid and cloud-mining offers are scams,
they all share the same basic issues.
No control or physical evidence over the purchased product is usually provided.
Given an asset that provides a daily profit of X, no sane business person will sell it for less than X (e.g. your profit), much less one in charge of a big firm/corporation (as most of those venture present themselves).
What are the alternatives?
Buy risk, or more specifically your own ASIC(Algorithm Specific Integrated Chip).
As we established well enough at this point, there is no money on the floor, and the only way to make money is venture to take the risk of loss, for the chance of possible profits.
Purchase your own miner, have control over your own hardware, control where you send your hashing power and which coin you mine.
Yes, some will say it is a waste of electricity, but in fact, it is the very activity that secures the blockchain of any coin, and the very essence of allowing transactions to take place, and thus, it is value-creating.
Below is the profitability chard of my A4 terminator (1 unit out of 2) that costed me $1250 including shipping and taxes back in December, and was making since then 1–0.5 LTC.
Let’s take the lower end of this chart, $5 daily profit after electricity, that’s an ROI after 250 days, or, if you like 146% per year.
The risks
Of course, cryptocurrency price may vary, difficulty can grow, but this the risk you must venture to take, and frankly, it is probably your best shot at this industry.
Lately, Bitamin introduced a new chip called L3+, which is not currently in stock for purchase.
However, it is my suspicion that some of those units started conduction PoW (proof of work mining), since both mining difficulty and network hash rate rose over 20% between April 19 through April 21.
With that being said, the current ASICs are already at the 14nm silicon technology, and a further leap to 10nm chips(accompanied by another major difficulty increase) would probably take several years.
So now is a good time to enter this world, like any other.
Litecoin difficulty and hash-rate monthly chart
More importantly, this happens at your home (or office / warehouse) network, at your full and exclusive control, and does good for the cryptocurrency community and the sustainability of the network.
On a side note, the larger part of my personal profit from crypto-currency lies in simply holding it, rather than mining and selling it.
If you are looking for a possible investment perspective without the hassle and the noise, it might make more sense to buy some cryptocurrency and hold on to it (buy-and-hold).
I will conclude with yet another quote
Wall street makes it’s money on activity, you make your money on inactivity
Who else, if not Warren Buffet
On the next article in the series, I will cover the difference between various hashing algorithms, their corresponding types of hardware and various techniques to make your mining more profitable (multi-mining, merge mining).
Our company, Nexchange offers cryptocurrency exchange services, as well as rea miners, shipped to you from mainland Europen immediately once payment is cleared and without the hassle of dealing with customs.
It is also possible to acquire a hosting contract for your physical miner (with full access & control including SSH and control panel) and leverage our discounted electricity rate and team of experts. | https://medium.com/nexchange/hyip-and-cloud-mining-vs-real-bitcoin-altcoin-mining-e7138b48a79d | ['Oleg Belousov'] | 2017-08-16 16:45:36.454000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Mining', 'Investment', 'Bitcoin Mining', 'Bitcoin'] |
Most useful shortcuts for VSCode that everyone should know. | There are a countless number of shortcuts, I am only writing the ones that I use in my daily life and could benefit developers and save a lot of time.
Prerequisites:
VS Code
Getting Started:
1. Global Search:
Ctrl + Shift + F
Allows you to search in all the files (nested as well) starting from the "./” root directory.
2. Auto fix lint error: (cursor should be on the code to be fixed)
Shift + Alt + .
Fixes the lint error (that is auto fixable by the linter).
3. Open selected file in file explorer:
Shift + Alt + R
Opens up the file in the explorer. (File should be focused on in the sidebar)
4. Save all unsaved files open in the tabs:
(Ctrl + K) then S
All unsaved files get saved in the tabs.
5. Selects the breadcrumbs:
Ctrl + Shift + .
Select the breadcrumbs on the top and allows them to navigate easily.
6. Fold the selected scope:
Ctrl + Shift + [ Folds the selected scope.
Ctrl + Shift + ] Opens the selected scope.
7. Navigate between the tabs:
Ctrl + PageUp Goes to the next tab.
Ctrl + PageDown Goes to the previous tab.
8. Multiply cursors in rows:
Ctrl + Alt + ⬇ || Ctrl + Alt + ⬆
Generates multiple cursors in the same column and different rows.
9. Insert blank line: (Cursor could be anywhere in the line)
Ctrl + Enter
Inserts a new line below the line where your cursor is.
10. Duplicate the line:
Ctrl + Shift + ⬇ || Ctrl + Shift + ⬆
Creates the duplicate line below/above the line where the cursor is.
11. Indent the line:
Ctrl + ]
Indent only one single line (or selected lines).
12. Open tab in the sidebar:
Ctrl + \
The tab that you want to open should be open and focused.
13. Global search and replace:
Ctrl + G || Ctrl + H
Searches the keyword in the whole project folder and replaces it with the desired keyword/expression.
14. Compare the current file with the clipboard data:
(Ctrl + K) then C
Searches the keyword in the whole project folder and replaces it with the desired keyword/expression.
15. Last edit location:
Ctrl + K then Ctrl + Q
Takes cursor to last edit location.
16. Go to file:
Ctrl + P
Type the filename in the popped pallet.
17. Go to the line:
Ctrl + G
Takes cursor to Entered line number.
18. Peek definition:
Alt + F12
The cursor should be on the word you want to check the definition of.
19. Indent the document:
Ctrl + Alt + F
Indents the whole document.
20. Go to bracket:
Ctrl + Shift + \
Goes to the nearest closing bracket.
21. Trace the cursor trail:
Alt + ⬅
Traces the cursor last visited coordinates (even in between the files).
21. Go to the next occurrence of the highlighted word/symbol/expression:
Ctrl + D
Traverses one by one and selects the succeeding similar words or expressions.
Free:
Ctrl + K then Ctrl + S
Opens the keyboard shortcuts guide and allows you to edit them and set your own hotkey combination as per your convenience.
You can add various key combinations including the following:
Changing selected text to uppercase/lowercase.
Changing the default terminal.
Converting the tab indentation.
Duplicate the selection
Update the tag, etc.
Do let us know any useful key combinations that we can use, and share the article with your friends and colleagues. | https://medium.com/@is-harshul/most-useful-shortcuts-for-vscode-that-everyone-should-know-1bbb9e9ecc4b | ['Harshul Kansal'] | 2021-06-02 09:21:49.900000+00:00 | ['Best Practices', 'Speed', 'Vscode', 'Shortcuts', 'Save Time'] |
The Impossible Burger Could Change the Meat Industry Forever | GOOD MARKETING
Maybe this section should be called, “Really, Really Good Digital Communications,” but that’s just not pithy enough for a title.
There’s no perfect method of digital marketing and there are no set templates to follow. Every brand makes mistakes and every brand will have strengths and weaknesses. But there is a stark difference between brands that use their media moments to uncreatively tell you to buy their product and those who use their voice to say something unique, human, and worth hearing.
Impossible Foods has one of the most effective modern marketing teams I’ve yet seen. It starts with their branding.
Impossible Foods Cover Photo
This is their Facebook cover photo; simultaneously retro and modern. As a company taking an old, beloved practice (burger eating), and completely reinventing it, this modern-retro intertwine tells a story. It says, “here is where we have been, and here is where we are going.”
Impossible Foods logo
Impossible’s logo uses the same color palette, and has the same strengths.
It’s unique, and it’s obvious. When I see it in the news or on my social media feed, I know from the color exactly who is speaking without having to read the lettering.
Impossible Foods is one of the few companies I follow on Twitter, and that’s because their team has learned a lesson that many other brands have missed: If you want to market yourself on social media, you have to be more than just a product.
Many-a-brand has fallen by the wayside thinking naïvely that social media is just another tool for pushing ads, company updates, and product announcements. Consumers quickly become bored with that content, and engagement — and therefore the audience reach — drops.
But Impossible Foods imbues humanness and personality throughout their online presence, reiterating their raison d’etre in every social media post. They don’t try to shift the conversation or push the reader somewhere they aren’t interested in going. That quickly becomes grating to customers. Instead, Impossible goes with the flow, injecting themselves into the conversation that is already happening.
For example, people like talking about celebrities and they like jokes, so when Conan O’Brien makes a joke about meat, Impossible is there with commentary.
People also like to hear what celebrities think about a product, so when endorsements come in, Impossible is ready. Here’s how they responded to Jordan Peele.
And then when Ellie Goulding quoted Peele’s tweet, Impossible was, yet again, ready with a clever response.
Even retired IndyCar racer Danica Patrick had kind things to say about the burger.
But it’s not just celebrities. The cute interactions that Impossible has with their everyday customers are endearing as well — and they’re examples of stellar social media marketing.
And another one…
At the risk of over-expounding on Impossible’s Twitter expertise, they also deserve credit for their more serious content. Impossible knows that their mission is not apolitical. They are radically upending a highly ingrained food system and they aren’t going to hide why.
Here they are making noise about climate change.
This messaging fits perfectly with their image as the sassy company that cares, and they execute it seamlessly.
When longer form content is needed, Impossible Foods isn’t afraid to get into the weeds, and sometimes the ring, via their Medium account. In one post from Rachel Conrad, Impossible’s Chief Communications Officer, the company delved into details on accusations that they were using dangerous amounts of glyphosate in their product. They came out swinging at a group called “Mom’s Across America,” writing:
“‘Moms Across America’ has escalated a year-long campaign against Impossible Foods to push its anti-vaccine, anti-GMO agenda to anyone gullible enough to listen. The group’s latest salvo is a pathetic ‘news release’ full of lies, anti-science rhetoric and ignorance of basic arithmetic.”
Later in the statement, Impossible called the group “charlatans,” and accused the group of hucksterism. They combined a defensive tack with an offensive retort, a genre of messaging usually reserved for political candidates.
While for many companies, the idea of using their communications staff to go beyond simply promoting a product is out of the ordinary, for Impossible, it seems par for the course.
They titled one Medium post, “7 earth-forward companies we know and love.” In it, they gave shoutouts to companies like Patagonia, Tesla, TerraCycle, and even Beyond Meat, who they called, “one of our many allies in the fight for a more sustainable global food system.”
But no digital communications effort is complete without a website. And Impossible Foods’ site is superb.
It has the same modern-yet-retro look as the rest of their brand, and it exudes a clear message of love and pride for their product. But by far, my favorite part of the website is the public media kit.
As a writer, this kit is a Godsend. It houses old press releases, mission statements, employee bios, and a gorgeous photo/video gallery. It also links to some high quality, comprehensive reports that detail the progress Impossible Foods has made in a particular year.
Here’s one paragraph from the 2018 report intro:
“We live on the best planet in the known universe — the only one known to support life. Our planet has air, water, breathtaking beauty and staggering biodiversity. It’s perfect. But fragile. We, and all future generations, depend on the integrity of all its diverse ecosystems to keep us alive.”
That’s splendid writing. It neatly encapsulates the bigger picture of the problem and it is a perfect lead-in to the marketer’s right hook in the next paragraph:
“We can’t take it for granted. We have to fight to protect Earth’s resources and life-sustaining biodiversity, even if that fight requires us to take on challenges that seem almost impossible today. That’s what we do every day at Impossible Foods.”
Impossible Foods says, “Here is the problem. We are the solution.” Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.
Why did Impossible devote so many resources into this media kit? Maybe for investors, maybe for reporters, maybe so that lowly bloggers like me would fawn over it to their few but steadfast followers. Whatever the reason, it has helped this ~350 employee company develop a streamlined, organized, coordinated message that they aren’t flinching from.
In sum, Impossible’s expert leveraging of social and digital media has given them not just a customer base, but a fan club. | https://medium.com/bigger-picture/the-impossible-burger-could-change-the-meat-industry-forever-fd781b160d1 | ['Ben Chapman'] | 2019-07-09 16:12:15.305000+00:00 | ['Health', 'Environment', 'Climate Change', 'News', 'Food'] |
Last week — Bittrex, now — UPbit and IDEX | We know how much you’ve been waiting for new exchanges. And it’s funny how after a couple of months of silence we set wheels in motion and broke through with multiple exchanges at a time.
Today we have 2 amazing announcements: AID is now listed on Upbit and IDEX with trading commenced on May 18th and 21st respectively.
Upbit is a Korean exchange that offers a lot of benefits to our users:
Over 250 cryptocurrencies listed, large trading volume, and liquidity;
Competitive fees;
No fees on deposits, regardless of the methods of payment;
And last but not least, Korean Bank Transfers accepted, which adds value for our growing Korean community.
IDEX is a decentralized exchange on the DAO blockchain network that supports the Ethereum coin. At IDEX, our users will be able to get the AID tokens fast and at a good price due to the following benefits of the platform:
Over 250 cryptocurrencies listed, large trading volumes, and liquidity;
Low fees;
The trading is done in real time and is as fast as the user can trade thanks to the nature of the platform;
IDEX provides a detailed Guide and its own e-wallet, which will surely be of help for those new to crypto trading.
All of the stated above makes these two exchanges a perfect fit for us and our community. We already see how these recent listings drum up attention for the AidCoin project and bring more value to our platform, with more users and charities jumping onboard. As you can see we’re growing fast so stay tuned! | https://medium.com/aidcoin/last-week-bittrex-now-upbit-and-idex-9977b4154028 | [] | 2018-05-21 14:56:00.342000+00:00 | ['Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Charity', 'Nonprofit', 'Bitcoin'] |
NASA’s Mission Into Orbit to Search for Earth’s Closest Cousins | Are we alone in the Universe? For our latest Café Sci session, Dr. Jon M. Jenkins from NASA Ames Research Center updates us on the progress made towards answering one of humanity’s greatest questions. As the Co-Investigator for Data Processing for both of NASA’s Kepler and TESS Missions, he develops innovative algorithms and builds complex science pipelines search through the cosmic haystack for the minuscule signatures of planets as they cross the face of their stars from our point of view.
Source: NASA
________
Jenkins hopes that one day we will detect signatures of life on another planet similar to Earth in our celestial neighborhood.
How Kepler worked
In the past 25 years, we went from knowing only the planets in our solar system to discovering 4,000+ outside of it. Kepler’s purpose was to find Earth-sized planets that were in the habitable zone of sun-like stars. Jenkins starts off by explaining what makes a planet habitable based on size, temperature and composition. He then transitions into Kepler’s role in recording the dips in brightness of sun-like stars when a planet crosses in front of it. Measuring the shadow provides key information on the actual size of the planet and whether it is comparable to that of Earth.
Dr. Jon M. Jenkins on our HanaHaus stage describing how Kepler measures the dip in brightness of stars when a planet crosses in front of it.
Kepler by the numbers
Kepler was launched out into space using a sling shot method from the Delta II and has been able to travel 94 million miles into space with just three gallons of gas. Accomplishments of the Kepler mission include: the publication of nearly 3,000 scientific papers, documentation of 61 supernovae, observation of 500,000+ stars, and confirmation of 2,700+ planets.
Kepler revolutionized Asteroseismology
One of the interesting new ways scientists are identifying planets and stars is to look at interference patterns in light rays over time. The way to interpret data like that is audio. Through data collected by Kepler, scientists were able to measure the acoustic oscillation of over 15,000 stars. Lower amplitude oscillations meant that the stars were smaller and still burning hydrogen. Whereas, higher amplitude oscillations meant they were giant stars.
The new TESS initiative
After 10 years in operation, Kepler has now passed the torch onto TESS, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. How it differs from Kepler is that, TESS’s purpose is to discover new earths and super earths in the solar neighborhood making it a more focused mission closer to home. That way scientists are more likely to be able to study the mass of the planets rather than simply the size.
An illustration of the different elements in NASA’s exoplanet program, including ground-based observatories. Source: NASA
Preliminary results of TESS
A year after its launch, there are now 20 confirmed planets from TESS. The data collected so far has allowed us to start filling in the mass-radius diagram of planets which gets us closer to the characterization of a planet’s composition. Within a year of operation, TESS has discovered 50+ supernovae in comparison to the 61 that Kepler documented in the span of 10 years. The reason for this level of improvement has mainly to do with the amount of data we are able to process now in comparison to the technology of Kepler over 10 years ago. In addition, TESS is at a much smaller distance from Earth allowing it to send over data to us a lot quicker than Kepler was able to. The results from TESS will be a phenomenal science treasure trove for many years to come according to Dr. Jon M. Jenkins. | https://medium.com/@hanahaus/nasas-mission-into-orbit-to-search-for-earth-s-closest-cousins-fc9b3304a3e2 | [] | 2019-07-11 04:14:48.749000+00:00 | ['Universe', 'Kepler Mission', 'NASA', 'Astronomy', 'Planets'] |
5 Questions to Ask Your Child’s Pre-K | Experts have discussed the importance of high-quality preschool education. When children are enrolled in these types of educational programs, there is a short term and long-term benefit to the child, family, city, and the nation.
I am an advocate for universal pre-k that places diversity and inclusion at the center of the educational practice. As a father of two Black boys, I’ve struggled finding a preschool that was both of high academic quality and cultural competence.
When children are not able to be met at their cultural needs, the educational institution fails to provide a holistic educational experience. Failing to provide a holistic educational experience has the potential to prevent children from developing a life-long love of learning. I constantly struggled with the fear that my younger son might end up hating learning throughout his educational experience this year. The school fell short of providing an ongoing engaging, vibrant, and diverse learning environment that strengthened my son’s sparked his curiosity.
It is important to note, I believe parents must work with schools to ensure that children of color receive a holistic educational experience in preschool. In addition, the school’s staff has to act with deliberate speed to ensure the school meets students of color at their needs and interests.
Parents should ask the following questions to understand whether or not their children’s school values diversity and inclusion.
Question 1: What is celebrated in your child’s school?
If your child’s school celebrates holidays like St. Patrick ’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Thanksgiving, but does not celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day, Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, etc., then the school might not diversity and inclusion as a central value to their core vision.
It is important that all children’s cultural histories and experiences be integrated into the formal and informal programing of the school. When this is not the case, the dominant group’s history and cultural experiences become the norm of human existence. This can have a deleterious impact on students of color.
Question 2: Does your child’s school have a diverse selection of books in their school library?
When children of color see main characters, who look like them in books, it has a powerful impact on their own agency. When white children see strong main characters of color in books, it creates the potential for them to develop an appreciation of people of color as contributors to society. I believe children’s books have the power to dismantle stereotypes by offering positive images of people of color.
Question 3a: What training is provided to teachers in the school that support their understanding of children of color ? 3b. How do teachers use that training into their teaching ?
An institution that values diversity and inclusion will seek professional development opportunities that allow their faculty to be culturally competent. After the professional development, teachers should be given time to develop action plans on how they will it impact their teaching on daily, monthly, and yearly basis.
Question 4: How does your child’s teacher discuss his/her strengths and weaknesses?
Teachers should be able to describe your children’s strengths and areas of growth in detail. Discussing a child’s areas of growth is important, but it cannot be the only thing discussed. If a teacher is unable to discuss in detail your child’s strengths and interests, then there is a strong possibility the teacher pays more attention how he/she is behaving. When teachers primary focus is on behavior, it shows they do not know your child. If a teacher does not know your child, then it is difficult for your child to be met at his/her academic needs and personal interests.
The underlying issue is implicit bias (see NPR Story on Yale University’s implicit bias study). When teachers act with implicit bias, they create the possibility for Black children to hate school. Hating school will have a deleterious impact on kids’ ability to develop and advance their dreams.
Question 5: How does the school respond to local and national tragedies?
In Pittsburgh, there were two tragedies that rocked our community. My son’s school responded to these tragedies in two different ways.
In the fall of 2018, a gunman ran into a Jewish synagogue and murdered innocent worshipers. The impact of this cowardly act shook our city, nation, and world. My son’s school sent an email providing families with tools to engage our children in tough conversations about what happened at The Tree of Life synagogue.
In the spring of 2019, a former policer was acquitted of killing an unarmed Black boy. This killing had deep impact on me as a Black man who is the father of two Black boys. The school’s response to this tragedy was nothing. When I talked to the school’s leader and leadership, their low level of empathy did not meet me at my need as a parent.
In conclusion, I remember having a conversation with a former classmate. This classmate and I talked about quality educational experiences for children of color. My classmate informed me that Black children, who are enrolled in high quality programs, tend to receive and experience low quality care. As a Black father with my son, this was our experience — high quality ranking school and a low-quality experience.
Demanding universal Pre-K is important, but we also have to demand that it is culturally responsive and inclusive! | https://medium.com/the-young-dreamers-book-club/5-questions-to-ask-your-childs-pre-k-895be5ee59e7 | ['Nosakhere Griffin-El'] | 2020-10-04 14:51:50.470000+00:00 | ['Education', 'Diversity', 'Inclusion', 'Early Childhood Education'] |
How I scraped a dynamic website with Selenium | I have used the Beautiful soup python module to scrape sites in the past. When I had to scrape this dynamic site. I thought how difficult can it be, then I saw this site ,everything I planned went out the window. Mike Tyson famously said “We all have plans until, we get the first punch”, he is so right.
The site had the information that I wanted scattered in the different pages. I had to find a scraping module that can scrape and automate the browser simultaneously. A quick Google search showed Selenium to be the top contender amongst the scraping modules. So I went on to Youtube to learn more of what is module can do. After a watching a few videos, I was finally ready to give the module a go. I followed the installation procedure for a user running Anaconda on Linux Mint, which can be found here.
I powered up Jupyter Notebook and imported all the python modules needed for the job.
As shown above, I imported selenium,pandas, regular expression and time. From the selenium module, I imported the webdriver module. I have this habit of checking the directory of new modules I import, it helps know what the module is all about. dir(module) is the code to do it in python .
A vital requirement of the process is pointing selenium to the web browser’s driver . Web browsers supported by selenium can be found here. These browsers all have drivers that can be downloaded from their websites, a quick google search will show one where to get these drivers. An executable path is then added to point selenium to the location of the driver as shown in the second line of the code diagram above.
In my view the work-horse of selenium module is find_elements_by_xpath . From code diagram above, this function was used multiple times to scrape data from different html elements.
The ease of getting to the data to be scraped in a Chrome-based browser can be shown in a two step process as shown below:
Navigate to area that contains the data to be scraped and right click to get to the “Inspect” button.
2. From the element box that pops up, navigate to data and right-click again to get to the “Copy” button, which takes you to an array of what you can copy.
A loop is needed to move from one page to next whilst scraping , much like the one shown below
The name variable stores data in an object from step 2 above using browser.find_elements_by_xpath. Another loop is then used to get to the text component of the object. This text component is the information that is needed.
Some of the data to be scraped was hidden behind a link and a form with a radio button that has to be selected to reveal the data. I got to it with the code below:
The browser.find_element_by_css_selector function was used to twice to locate the link and click it , then to locate the radio button and select it. A 3 second delay was needed to move from the link to the radio button, this was achieved using time function as shown above. The get_phone function was then called from another function as shown below.
Watching the pages change was a sight to behold. Please see below. | https://medium.com/@mxgrig/how-i-scraped-a-dynamic-website-with-selenium-5fc8bd28554d | [] | 2020-12-05 00:26:07.110000+00:00 | ['Selenium Webdriver', 'Web Scraping'] |
The Great Reset is the Pinnacle of Inequality | Few would argue that the US and much of the world is suffering from massive inequality. The core aspect of inequality is the reality of concentrated wealth in the hands of the few. If inequality is left to run its course without some equalizing force, the end result is that the very few elite will own everything.
What is the first thing most of us heard about the Great Reset? Let me remind you, as if you were able to forget:
“You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy”.
They claim they are aiming for “equal outcome” — not equal opportunity. Unfortunately a totalitarian communist government is the only known way to accomplish that. These equal outcomes will certainly not apply to Klaus Schwab and the rest of his elite cronies at Davos — they will not be giving up their wealth, because they will be the ones who own everything.
We will lose our ability to create any value or wealth for ourselves, no one will be able to get ahead, because you’d end up above someone else, which will not be permitted. The removal of the “means of production”.
To be clear, I am not against social safety nets, and I believe the safety net in America is woefully inadequate. But I also wish to have the ability to try to get ahead, even if it’s difficult.
We cannot cut ourselves in half to make others whole, and that seems like exactly what they want.
Things are broken in America due to greed and the suppression of working men and women. Things are broken because the government and central bank have absolutely destroyed the value of the US Dollar to the point where it’s worth less than 5 cents today, causing tremendous cost increases for consumers over the years. Things are broken in America due to the regulations that strangle small businesses from blossoming. We are regulating things that should be left alone, as we allow big corporations to draft the regulations to retain their supremacy, while we let things slide where regulations should be.
If they are willing to create trillions more dollars, taking the governments of the world into immense debts beyond anything we’ve ever seen, then why not simply distribute that money — not take property and the possibility of prosperity away from ever single non-elite American.
Yet Klaus Schwab and his elite Davos cronies have the gall to make us believe that longstanding capitalist institutions and individuals have suddenly realized the error of their ways. Just now they are realizing they need to address sustainability. Only in the last few months apparently, have they had the realization that they shouldn’t be so greedy. This is entirely believable, if you are very stupid.
The developed world is having a major convergence of technologies that are powerful enough to be a marker to see the “before and after”. 5G, AI, and other technologies will be at least as significant as the Internet was. Of course, we are all being systematically ‘gutted’ financially, and so I’d expect we won’t be able to afford these cool new technologies. That’s probably why we’ll need to rent them.
We have to ask, when was the last time any capitalist organization did something unless it was profitable?
And further, where will the trillions of dollars to pay for this supposedly wonderful future come from?
Is the idea perhaps that under a ‘one world government’ where there is collective agreement that money has value because the powers that be say it has value, that we’ll simply be able to create as much money as is needed, and everyone will just go along with this idea swimmingly?
No one doubts that the US is just one country among many that are facing significant inequality issues. It’s well-known that the top 1% already owns about half of the wealth of the world — as much, if not more, than the entire middle class.
This is the elite quietly declaring “we already own most of the wealth, and we want that last remaining percentage, even if it means taking it away from everyone else.”
The elite cannot handle, or profit from, a world in which the infinite growth paradigm no longer works. They have been running out of ways to profit, and the boundaries of the world are already known at this point. There is nowhere else for them to go to exponentially increase their wealth aside from out of the solar system, or inside of human beings.
They know tech will survive, so they are piggybacking on top of tech in some unholy union and trying to grab the reigns. And tech is letting them do it, beacuse they’ll get a forced customer base made up of the entire global population. This is why they want “inclusion”.
In a world of limited resources, the elites also want to ensure that, when the shit starts hitting the fan for real, they can ensure they’ll be able to keep living their lives with access to what they need, regardless of what happens to the rest of us.
The Great Reset is a power grab. The Great Reset is a resource grab. The Great Reset is nothing short of a Corporatist marriage of business and the state, claiming profits don’t need to come first, but having access to very, very deep pockets behind the scenes.
The framework that is being set up like a feeding frenzy for the large corporate entities that, with the help of government life support, were able to survive. We just watched the economy get decimated, and that was part of the goal — you can’t get mom and pop businesses on board with such a huge initiative, nor would they have the resources to partake. Out of the way they must go.
Put quite simply, they are running out of resources to exploit, and without global cooperation about being able to break rules without repercussions, regulatory walls stood in their way.
It is hyper-capitalism taken to its most extreme end, where the wealthy own all and we own nothing. We’ll simply get our rations and we’ll rent all property from them. Seriously — read their article “Welcome to 2030”. That is literally their vision, and the documentation on the WEF website begins to add up to that very thing.
They claim they want fairness, but how fair is it to change the rules to your favor when you’re already winning the game?
The wealthy elite have their money; in fact they have most of the money. Nothing would be more helpful to them than to seal up that wealth, and make it impossible for anyone else to get part of it. It is as if they are saying “call the game, we are winning by so much they have no chance at all”.
It is the pinnacle of inequality — to literally pull the ladder up from the castle wall to eliminate the means for anyone else to infiltrate their class. That is what the Great Reset is ultimately trying to accomplish, and so far, they are doing it by decimating businesses and individuals.
If you can’t own anything, how can you earn a living apart from whatever job you have? You can’t. Whether you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, they are cutting off the ability to succeed beyond where are you have already gotten.
Inclusion is fine, but the trade-off of never being able to succeed beyond your station is not required for inclusion.
This is also in many ways, a data coup.
The large tech corporations are grouping themselves together into a veritable Dutch East India Company, while all human beings are set to become mere data serfs in data colonies. This is what inequality looks like under the technocratic feudalism we are heading toward. Microsoft already has a patent to use human beings’ bodies to mine cryptocurrency. Seriously.
There is a great amount of inequality when it comes to data today. We are heading into a time when we will be completely dependent upon accessing data, and utilizing data to go about our work and every day lives. And Google, Facebook, and the other ‘Data Barons’ are banding together to create the most complete global data set about everything and everyone that exists, and find ways to profit from it, private sector style, with the full blessing of whatever we end up calling the multi-country government that will be lording over all of us. Our own data has become the most valuable thing on the planet to them, but to us, the only benefit we retain is our privacy, while we would lose access to virtually the rest of basics of life if we deny them.
It is becoming clear to me why there is a continued push toward being online, using smart home devices, wearables, and our mobile devices and a push that will not cease; they need and demand our data. They need it to profit, and perhaps most terrifyingly, they needed to train the AI that will supposedly fix the world’s economy by brilliantly and exactingly providing central planning for all resources on this planet.
This is a joint effort to make sure that all have access, and all require access for their lives. They will show us why we must have connectivity, and they will come up with some disaster or some threat to take it away, unless we keep providing more data, and to allow them to make changes for mass censorship as they wish. Yes, the “costs of connection” are getting ever higher.
This is not the Internet of things, it is the Internet of us — human beings — with as many sensors as they can make us fit on, and in, our bodies. This is the IoB — The Internet of bodies, which is a part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
You will be a worker. You will run the rat race. You will be subjugated and subordinate, so as to never be able to challenge them again. You will own nothing, and you’ll be happy. | https://justinhonse.medium.com/the-great-reset-is-the-pinnacle-of-inequality-28359ebba7f3 | ['Justin Honse'] | 2020-12-10 21:01:18.014000+00:00 | ['Economy', 'Social Contract', 'Great Reset', 'Inequality', 'Society'] |
Lessons My Cats Taught Me | Lessons My Cats Taught Me
Confessions of a cat lady
Willow
I was five or six years old, reading a book as the babysitter similarly idled away the time. When my parents came home, they were bearing mischievous smiles and a large cardboard box. I peered over with interest as they set the box on the dining table and lifted out a small, grey kitten. I was too stunned to let out more than a rather stupid “What’s that?”
Willow, so named because my favorite book at the time was The Wind in the Willows, lived up to his name. He was kind and gentle, a loving lapcat who enjoyed nothing better than to soak up the sun and snuggle with us on his favorite chair.
Unfortunately, I was not the best housemate. I played too roughly with him and yelled when he carried away my stuffed animals. And yet Willow never stopped being loving and affectionate. We grew up together and I eventually treated him with more respect. I always expected him to be there.
Willow developed kidney disease, and we gave him saline treatments every day for months until he passed away. Those sessions were horrible, as he struggled and meowed in pain whenever we tried to place the IV. Otherwise, though, he was his usual self. Actually, he was more affectionate than usual, which we eventually realized was his way of saying goodbye.
From Willow, I learned that the people we love deserve our respect and affection, even if we’re suffering. As Willow neared the end of his life, he gave more of himself, not less. That’s someone we should all emulate.
Zoe
Before Willow passed away, he’d made a new friend. We adopted her from a shelter group. Inspired by the vibrant color of her eyes, I named her Zoe (derived from the Greek for “life”). She was a beautiful cat with an ugly meow. Whenever she talked, she sounded extremely annoyed, emitting a mighty rasp from her gaping mouth.
At the time, we lived in an A-frame house with a loft. One day, we were sitting in the living room when we heard a yelp from the loft above. A split second later, Zoe landed on the couch. Her tightrope act on the railing had failed. We leaped up in concern, but Zoe shook her head and strutted off, tail high in the air. The message was clear. “I meant to do that.”
I took Zoe’s attitude to heart. Whenever I messed something up, I passed it off like I’d meant to do that all along and turned my mistake into an opportunity, tail high in the air. When I became a circus artist, I learned to hide my mistakes and make it part of my act. Smile through it, even if you just kicked yourself in the face! Inspired by Zoe, I made “walk it off” one of my core philosophies.
Lucky
Ten years ago, I was working at PetSmart on a Sunday evening, which was not my usual shift, when someone brought in a filthy, bloodied kitten who was dragging his back right leg. They said they’d found him on the side of the road outside, and they wanted the store to take him. Obviously, we weren’t a vet, and most of the shelters and vets were closed because it was a Sunday evening. The only open shelter was one that immediately euthanized sick animals. I volunteered to take the kitten home and try to get him some help.
When the vet examined the kitten the next day, he discovered that his pelvis was broken in five places and the nerves to his leg were severed.
Someone had likely thrown him from a car.
The vet predicted that he would never use that leg and that it would eventually have to be amputated because dragging it would cause infection.
The kitten was too weak to eat or drink, so I bottle fed him for weeks. We bonded, and I decided to keep him. Amazingly, he started putting pressure on his back leg and, slowly but surely, was able to use it. He became a typical rambunctious kitten, getting into everything.
Because it was so fortunate that I’d happened to be at the store when someone dropped him off, and because he miraculously recovered from his injury, I naturally named him Lucky.
Lucky has been with me through some of the hardest times of my life. My then-roommate was a manipulative, abusive bully and tried to steal him when I was moving out. I’ve never been as much as a lioness as when I went to defend my cub. Then, I fell into an abusive relationship. Lucky was always there for me to cuddle and comfort me when I was suffering.
As I escaped my abuser and went on to finish graduate school and get a good job, Lucky was the mainstay in my life, always cheerfully greeting me when I came home from work or class. He loves to play with the “bird,” which is any toy on a string, and he loves “cake,” which is wet food. He knows these words, and he has a special meow just for me, which I guess is what he’s named me.
Lucky taught me the power of unconditional love. He showed me that good things happen when we lead with compassion, and that even in our moments of deepest despair, we can find a light in our loved ones. We must lead with affection and cheer even if we are struggling. Lucky reminds me that I too am lucky to have the life that I have.
Enjoyed this story? Subscribe to my mailing list and follow me on Instagram and Twitter! | https://rachelwayne.medium.com/lessons-my-cats-taught-me-74a5849ab2c5 | ['Rachel Wayne'] | 2019-09-22 15:56:57.942000+00:00 | ['Life Lessons', 'Pets And Animals', 'Pets', 'Cats'] |
Atsugi’s Time-Traveling Tomato Soup Cake | Atsugi’s Time-Traveling Tomato Soup Cake
How Three Spouses, a Popular Youtuber, and a Vintage Cookbook Came Together During Quarantine MWR Atsugi Apr 16·8 min read
Writer: Reece Churilla
Pictured from left to right: Ashlee Gaines, Lindsey Clements and Kristina Miller — with The Cake.
For many of us, the memory of 2020 is like a chaotic blur with lingering effects. Together, we shared a kind of collective anxiety from witnessing a global pandemic spread in real-time — a period wrought with uncertainty and the constant shifting between hope and despair. We social distanced and donned our masks. Remote work became the norm.
NAF Atsugi, like most overseas bases, experienced heavy restrictions that confined military service-members and their families to their quarters for months. Little did anyone know, three spouses were busily trading among themselves a vintage cookbook that had just arrived in the mail, sent by a popular cooking Youtuber, and containing recipes like “Tomato Soup Cake,” “Miracle Pudding,” and “Grandma Bump’s Whole Wheat Bread.”
These recipes from the past had been compiled by the Atsugi All-Wives in a quaint tome titled, Cook’s Tour, printed in 1955.
“Cook’s Tour” among the ingredients needed to prepare the Tomato Soup Cake. School Liaison Officer (SLO) Hannah McCarthy graciously provided the tools and ingredients for preparing the cake, as well as her home kitchen.
This is the story of the quest for “Atsugi’s Cookbook” and how three foodies were able to bring it back home in a year of uncertainty and separation. Even more, it’s the story of how technology, food and cooking kindled a communal spirit through a window looking back to the naval air facility’s culinary past.
And it all began with a Facebook post.
Lindsey and Kristina browse the recipes contained within “Cook’s Tour” that span over 60 years and across many cultures.
“Emmy’s video came to my attention last November when it was shared to the Atsugi Community Resource Facebook page,” said Lindsey Clements — one of the three ladies responsible for acquiring the book. “Kristina said she was going to reach out to Emmy. So, between Ashlee, Kristina, and I, we knew we needed to get a copy of it and bring the book back home, so to speak.”
“My first thought was where can I find this cookbook!” said Ashlee Gaines who has lived on NAF Atsugi for nearly three years. “Kristina tagged me in the Facebook post with Emmy’s tomato soup cake video. Both the concept and the fact that it was made by spouses here on NAFA was fantastic! It’s a look at our history from the 1950s made by wives on base. I thought here we are in 2020, in a global pandemic, where we have seen our own food shortages and have had to improvise.”
“When I saw the video on the Facebook page, I thought it was so cool,” Kristina Miller said. “Who would’ve thought this existed for our little base here in Japan? I commented on Emmy’s post, sent her a message and email, not expecting her to see any of it. A week later she responded to me — it was so neat! I wanted to know where she’d gotten it.”
The “Emmy” they are talking about is more widely known as emmymade on Youtube (formerly emmymadeinjapan) whose quirky cooking videos have attracted nearly 2.5 million followers. In her Tomato Soup Cake video, Emmy holds up the recipe book Cook’s Tour and explains how a fan named Kani sent it to her. Kani’s mother, Mera, was the editor of the book, and it was all because Kani’s father had been stationed at NAF Atsugi.
(A handwritten letter from Kani to Emmy was included with the cookbook. It includes a few more details on the book’s production. We have not published the letter out of privacy concerns; however, it will remain with the physical copy of the cookbook.)
Emmy then points out how, in classic “retro style,” the recipe contains no eggs, butter, or milk — perfect for rationing — nor does it feature any instructions apart from the dish’s ingredients.
emmymade’s Tomato Soup Cake video, which was first discovered in a post to the Atsugi Community Resource Facebook page.
“You have to remember that this was published in 1955 and that these Atsugi spouses were children during and shortly after The Great Depression. So, when you talk about something like the Tomato Soup Cake, you’re talking about recipes that were created in a time of shortages for things like butter and sugar. Some of these seemingly ‘off-the-wall’ recipes came from when preservatives had just became a thing. It allowed people to kind of play with their food, and you can really see that willingness to experiment in the kitchen within the “Cook’s Tour”— Lindsey
The Tomato Soup Cake contains simple ingredients with no instructions in “classic retro style,” according to emmymade.
Lindsey, an MWR employee at Atsugi Library, used her research skills to track down a copy of the cookbook with little success.
“I have my own collection of vintage and antique books, so I was helping with the hunt by searching vintage booksellers across the web. I was all over eBay, Amazon, and sites I’d never heard of. I eventually came across a copy of “Stars & Stripes” from 1955 that somebody had scanned onto an internet archive featuring an article about how they were printing it. I reached out to them and said, ‘Hey, do you guys have this book?’”
Lindsey learned that the newspaper had lost many of its archives prior to 1962 when its headquarters moved from the old Hardy Barracks office in Tokyo into a new building on the same grounds.
“The folks at Stars & Stripes graciously dug around for us, which was really cool,” Lindsey said. “And then Ashlee messaged me out of the blue and said, ‘You’re never going to believe what showed up in the mail today… IT’S HERE!”
Ultimately, it was Kristina who discovered Emmy had not only responded to her message, but that she was willing to send her own copy of Cook’s Tour directly to Kristina.
“I told Emmy she didn’t have to send it, but she insisted,” said Kristina. “She was happy to. ‘It’s going home,’ she wrote to me.”
“Emmy sent us the book so we could return it to the Atsugi Library,” said Lindsey. “That the Library could reunite with this piece of Atsugi’s history, and we all can watch over it.”
Kristina, having mixed the tomato soup cake batter, observes Lindsey pouring the mixture into a Bundt pan.
So how did Cook’s Tour come about? What was the intent of compiling these strange, quirky recipes on an overseas Navy base?
Lindsey explained that recipe books and cookbooks were huge in the 1950s, and the Atsugi All-Wives were publishing it as a fundraiser.
“It was just like what the Atsugi Officers’ Spouses’ Association (AOSA) does today, where they do fundraising and ensure that all the money goes back into the Atsugi community. That’s what the All-Wives were doing, too.”
Flipping through the pages of the cookbook is like catching a glimpse of a bygone era with simple instructions for familiar staples like beef stroganoff and meatloaf, and international fusions such as Latin American dishes with Tabasco sauce, and Norwegian desserts made with soda. Cook’s Tour also includes tips on canning fruits and vegetables, making your own sauces and salad dressings, and how to use herbs and spices.
The batter enters the oven. How will it turn out?
“There’s such a variety of recipes, and the book is organized in some places based on where spouses were stationed previously,” said Lindsey. “Spouses brought recipes from Spain, Korea, Italy, and from their own homes. There is so much cultural diversity that’s reflected in these pages.”
“I found it interesting how the wives broke it down by cuisine or by different regions of the world,” said Kristina. “There are many ingredients we don’t really use today — some of it I’ve never heard of or wonder how they even got them out here.”
“We’ve only made the brownies,” she added with a laugh. “They were the best brownies we’ve ever had, probably because they’re loaded with sugar!”
Did she say, “sugar?” Powder it on!
For Lindsey, Ashlee, and Kristina, browsing the cookbook offered a catharsis from the stresses of isolation. They realized that by looking backwards in time, they had in fact set the stage for future entries in the Atsugi cookbook — that their quest did not end when they received the book, but instead would continue to evolve with the ever-changing population of the Atsugi community.
“The idea behind the cookbook allows a connection to the history, to the base, and the people who come here,” said Lindsey. “I think when you’re moving around with the military, you sometimes feel a little rootless, blown about in the wind, and through cookbooks like this, and history books, the more you know about the place where you’re stationed the more attached you become. For me, food is a pathway to connection.”
“I would like to see our community members have an interest in our history through the cookbook,” said Ashlee. “It’s been so much fun to be a part of the book coming full circle. But even more, I want this to show people that their actions matter — that something we do now could have an impact 50 years or more from now.”
“I hope the book brings people together,” said Kristina. “I encourage everyone to get a chance to read it and make something in the book. Most of all, I want to know how people are making do with what they can get their hands on here in Japan. What recipe can you add to the story?”
Kristina reveals the finished Tomato Soup Cake freshly adorned with powdered sugar. The group gives each other a round of applause before cutting in to the dish which tastes surprisingly … NOT tomatoey!
At last, Cook’s Tour has returned home to the Atsugi Library where it will remain as a non-circulating item. Patrons may view it there and even take photos of recipes to make in their own kitchen. And if you prepare any yourself, let us know how they turned out! We’d love to know! In fact, stay tuned to this blog and to our Facebook page for details on a new and improved Atsugi Cookbook in 2021 — and how you can be a part of it. | https://medium.com/@mwratsugi/atsugis-time-traveling-tomato-soup-cake-f39d3bab7825 | ['Mwr Atsugi'] | 2021-04-27 21:21:42.327000+00:00 | ['Military Spouse', 'Military Family', 'Japan', 'Baking', 'Cooking'] |
The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Suffered From the Same Fatal Flaw as Lost | Lucasfilm Ltd.
Overall I enjoyed the Sequel Trilogy, especially The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. They felt like Star Wars, brought something new to the franchise and showcased some incredible actors. However The Rise of Skywalker was a disappointment that highlights the fundamental flaw of the trilogy as a whole. It’s a flaw that is shared by Lost, a TV show that also started strong and then ended in disappointment.
After reading and watching interviews with the creators of Lost, specifically JJ Abrams and Damon Lindeloff, it’s clear to me that the writers created a show shrouded in mystery, without a clear understanding of what those mysteries were. By the time the series ended many of us were disappointed in all of the crazy twists and turns that led to generally unsatisfying answers to central questions of the series. To be fair, creating a show built around mysteries for six seasons at 16 to 22 episodes a piece is nearly impossible.
Mr Robot managed to pull off creating an excellent show that was also built around several mysteries, but with only four seasons of 10 to 13 episodes apiece. The main reason why Mr Robot succeeded where Lost failed is that Sam Esmail, the show’s creator, knew the answers before he presented the audience with the corresponding questions.
In The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams introduced several mysterious elements into the Star Wars universe: who were Rey’s parents, who is Snoke and what is his endgame, and will Kylo Ren (née Ben Solo) turn back to the light? Then he handed the baton to Rian Johnson who was given free reign to answer those questions however he saw fit.
RJ then rejected the hereditary nature of the Force by revealing that Rey’s parents were nobodies and that the Force can be wielded by anyone. He apparently didn’t think much of Snoke as Kylo Ren unceremoniously kills him off to become the de facto leader of the First Order, with no hints as to the character’s origin or plan. My take is that RJ meant this as a statement that Kylo Ren had squashed his internal struggle and was now firmly on team Dark Side.
After Colin Trevorrow was pulled as the original director of Episode IX, Lucasfilm brought JJ back to helm the ultimate film of the trilogy. What’s clear is that JJ didn’t like the direction that RJ took in The Last Jedi, and tried to steer it back to his original vision. My guess is that JJ thought that RJ’s film didn’t “feel” enough like Star Wars and decided to steer the ship back in the direction of the Original Trilogy.
The biggest problem with the story JJ picked up is that Snoke was dead. Lucas had redeemed Anakin and JJ wanted to redeem Ben, but for Ben to turn back to the light he needed to turn against a true villain the way that Vader had turned against Palpatine. This lead to Palps’ resurrection to serve as Rise of Skywalker’s big bad. The film never explains how Palpatine survived and his reintroduction, as well as that of his galaxy-threatening out-of-nowhere fleet of Star Destroyers, feels like a hard right turn from where the previous two films were going.
Then there was the matter of Rey’s parentage. JJ wanted to make the reveal of Rey’s lineage a shock the way that Luke’s was. It was time to reestablished the hereditary nature of the Force from the Original Trilogy (“the Force is strong in my family”) and reject RJ’s “anyone can cook” philosophy.
But because the story was developed on the fly and not properly planned from the outset, none of these developments feel consistent and don’t provide a proper payoff for the audience. Luke’s father is mentioned several times in A New Hope before Vader reveals who he is in Empire. Emperor Palpatine is foreshadowed several times throughout that trilogy before his ominous reveal 38 minutes into the final film of it. Even the revelation of Leia being Luke’s sister in Jedi is the payoff of Yoda’s under-his-breath line “no, there is another” in Empire.
Fortunately I’m hopeful for the future of the franchise. The Mandalorian has proven to be much more effective in providing satisfying answers to the questions it poses. The overarching story of the show has all of the hallmarks of a narrative that is properly planned out and overall it feels of a piece with the Original Trilogy.
To that I credit Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni for learning the lesson of Lost better than JJ Abrams did. | https://medium.com/@bhoven/the-star-wars-sequel-trilogy-suffered-from-the-same-fatal-flaw-as-lost-cbaa6848f17 | ['Brett Hovenkotter'] | 2020-12-19 20:27:55.104000+00:00 | ['Star Wars', 'Lost'] |
A Holiday Full of Cheer and Dread | A Holiday Full of Cheer and Dread
November 24th, 2020
Families around the world are preparing for the upcoming holidays. Instead of making airline reservations and borrowing additional chairs for the dinner table, they are learning how to negotiate a Zoom call while timing their gift deliveries via Amazon. In many states, family dinners have been banned in the interest of our national health.
2020 will be remembered for many unpleasant things, including the loss of beloved family holidays.
For the two and one-half million men and women incarcerated in our nation’s jails and prisons, the bitter prospect of spending a holiday alone has been contemplated long before the onset of the coronavirus. As I’ve written before, major holidays behind bars are not a time of festivity and joy for inmates, but rather a grim reminder of how much of life has been lost through one’s incarceration.
While many men and women in prison have close families on the outside, it is often impossible for those families to visit their loved ones, due to distance and/or the expense of visiting. If a family can manage a visit, it is generally not a warm, intimate occasion, but rather a cold, distant affair, celebrated within a depressing building dimly painted, patrolled by angry corrections officers (wouldn’t you be angry if this is how you had to spend your holiday?) who are charged with ensuring no one touches an inmate, for any reason.
For perhaps the first time, those who’ve never done time are getting a taste of what it feels like to be cut off from loved ones during the holidays. They are reading up on recipes that detail how to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for one or two in just one pan, one pan more than enough to handle the one drumstick that will feed the table.
In prison, such a holiday dinner would feel like a feast. There, an inmate can expect one piece of rubbery chicken — donated, perhaps, by a food company eager to dispose of its past-due inventory. Sides might include powdered potatoes and a slice of white bread.
But the bounty served is never the point of the holidays. Rather, it’s a time to share with loved ones, as we welcome into our clan young additions, argue over politics and nap during football games. It’s a time to reflect on all there is to be thankful for and express hopes for a happy and healthy new year.
For men and women deprived of their freedom, it’s instead a time to wonder if the person sitting close by might already be infected with the coronavirus, and if his or her cough might have just then sealed one’s doom. It’s a time to reflect on how one’s life sped out of control in the blink of an eye, and how friends and family deserted them, just as quickly.
For incarcerated mothers, holidays are times to wonder not if her kids are eating their vegetables and getting good grades, but whether they’ve joined a gang and will live out the week.
And for those women whose husbands are behind bars, it’s another night spent sobbing in bed, wondering how the rent payment will be met, wondering where she’ll take her kids when the landlord forcibly evicts her.
Many behind bars will be comforted in the knowledge that this may be their last holiday season spent incarcerated. Some will be released, and if they are lucky, they will negotiate their reentry successfully and enjoy many holidays to come.
But for many — so many — there will not be another holiday dinner with their cellmates to come because they have become infected and will die, because they won’t be given the latest miracle treatment and would likely be among the last to receive the new life-saving vaccination.
Instead, they will die, far from peacefully, alone and lonely. Some of their prison friends may miss them. We can only hope they will be rejoined in heaven with their loved ones, for the next holiday dinner.
— Richard Bronson
Founder/CEO of Commissary Club & 70 Million Jobs
Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/70MillionJobs
Follow us on Twitter: @70MillionJobs | https://medium.com/@70millionjobs/a-holiday-full-of-cheer-and-dread-e8d5c754ba29 | ['Second Chances', 'The Million Jobs Blog'] | 2020-11-25 01:17:28.830000+00:00 | ['Thanksgiving', 'Criminal Justice', 'Criminal Justice Reform', 'Prison', 'Prison Reform'] |
Fundraising 101: How to secure £500k for your startup | Converting 🙏
General advice
This is where you’ll spend most of your time and there are 5 rough stages.
1) The tease: An intro message that doesn’t overwhelm but teases a bigger thread of information. People are naturally interested. Play on that. Cold approaches should be:
Short — Keep it simple. Keep it short.
Informal — You should make it seem like you’ve typed the message there and then and is not just copy and pasted.
Personal — You should reference something personal about the target’s CV or experience. The more investigation it takes to find this information — or the more unique it is — the more likely they are to be impressed that you found it, and then hopefully respond.
2) The deck: Everyone needs this so you kinda need to provide it, often with a five bullets summary to set some context. Try using DocSend so you can track engagement. There’s nothing stopping you from iterating on the deck as the fundraising progresses.
3) The first meeting: This is where you want to wow investors with your story, how you first sought out this market, unit economics and future plans. Most investors ask the same questions, so again try and iterate on the answers.
4) The information dump: You usually then send prospective investors a whole host of information.
Investor deck —slides should tell a story
Unit economics explanation — how the maths add up for each customer
Financial model — how the maths add up over time for many customers
Valuation rationale — why our shares are worth a certain value
Cap table — what shareholders own, including options
Blogs — show what we believe and our world view
5) Follow-ups: This stage is dependent on each investor but can involve 2–3 more calls, references from current investors or even switching to the product! And remember to set up the deal, e.g. via Seedlegals.
What we did
We used the above approach, converting about 8% of those people who viewed our investor deck. That’s double the average global website conversion rate, so we must be doing something right. | https://medium.com/cuckoo-internet/fundraising-101-how-to-secure-500k-for-your-startup-6068e8df3aed | ['Alexander Fitzgerald'] | 2021-02-16 19:07:16.819000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Guides And Tutorials', 'Startup', 'Fundraising', 'Seed Investment'] |
How to Pick Your Next Side Project. | Thoughts on Building Your Portfolio and New Skills.
If you are a new developer, you might be in the portfolio-building stage of your new career. Deciding on which project to build to increase your skillset and build a portfolio can be overwhelming. You have unlimited choice, and you might not know what is reasonable to expect for a certain timeframe yet.
In this article, you’ll explore the reasons you want to build a side project. You will learn about metrics you can use to measure the benefits of a side project, and you will learn how to match those benefits to your goals.
Understand why you want to build a side project.
Your side project should depend on your goals. Some goals you may have are:
build programming general experience
learn a specific skill, tool, language, framework, or technology
build a portfolio to show to employers.
The unfortunate thing is that these goals are not compatible, even though you think they might be at a glance.
If you pick a large project that will teach you many general skills surrounding programming, it’s still only going to be one point on your resume. Conversely, if you pick a project designed to be quick to finish and impressive to employers, you might only leverage your existing skills and not learn much.
Of course, any project you finish will benefit you and may even be useful for all 3 goals. It’s a question of tradeoffs and balance.
Metrics for considering a project.
Once you understand why you want to build a side project to learn or get a job, you can start weighing your side project ideas against the following metrics:
Marketability: The ability to leverage the project as proof of your ability. Does the project appeal to non-developer types? Is it visually cool? Does it have any wow factory?
The ability to leverage the project as proof of your ability. Does the project appeal to non-developer types? Is it visually cool? Does it have any wow factory? Learning: Does the project teach you want you to want to learn? Can you build it using the tools you want to learn?
Does the project teach you want you to want to learn? Can you build it using the tools you want to learn? Interest: Are you excited about building it? Does the idea energize you, or is it a chore?
Are you excited about building it? Does the idea energize you, or is it a chore? Scope: How long will it take? How difficult is the project to complete?
Match the benefits to your priorities
Depending on why you are building a side project, you’ll have to decide which metrics matter most for you.
I’ll provide some thoughts on what you should consider based on your level of experience and background, but you know your priorities better than I possibly can.
Aspiring Developers.
If you are new to programming and still building basic programming knowledge, you might consider prioritizing maximizing interest, learning, and minimizing scope.
As a new developer, you may not feel certain that you want to keep programming. You’re still exploring the industry and figuring out what interests you. It doesn’t matter if you built the most marketable side project if you decide at the end of it that you don’t like programming after all. Once you have a general skill set, you’ll also be more prepared to tackle larger, more impressive projects.
New Developers.
You have some basic experience programming but little to no work experience. You are in the middle of the hardest phase of programming, getting your first real job. Before you get your first job, many companies consider you a risky investment. The barrier to entry is high in software. But once you’re in, finding work gets easier.
Your goal is to find a job. Real programming work provides experiences you’ll have a hard time reproducing on your own. Thus you may consider maximizing the marketability of your project and minimizing scope. Your goal is to have a full resume, and one project that took you 4 months takes as much space as a project you finished in a weekend.
Consider hackathons. They are a great way to provide time pressure to finish a highly marketable project. A hackathon is a time-constrained collaborative event to build a project, usually over a day or weekend. I wish I had tried them earlier in my career, but if you are curious, you can read about my experience building a react native app in 24 hours.
Experienced Developers.
You know what to do. You’re busy working on real projects. You’re using spare time to work on the side. Match the metrics with your goals. Most projects will probably focus on interest. If you aren’t interested in it, it will be tough to find the motivation to work on it outside of work time.
All other metrics should match your current goals. You may have multiple projects, each with different focuses, and there’s no reason that a project can’t be valuable on many fronts.
However, If you are looking for work, especially in a different skill set, you might prioritize learning and marketability. For example, when I transitioned into Elixir development, I built a blogging app to gain a general understanding of Elixir and Phoenix syntax. It wasn’t the most interesting, but it prioritized marketability, learning, and scope.
Final Thoughts
You now understand some metrics you can use to measure the value of a side project. By taking the time to understand why you want to build a side project, you’ll be better able to prioritize which metrics matter to you. Therefore, you’ll be better able to choose from which side project best suits your goals.
Many side projects perform well on all of the metrics. It’s just a matter of which metrics they match the most to suit your current goals.
Most importantly, make a choice. Time spent deciding is time spent not building. Trying to come up with the perfect project idea is going to lead to choice paralysis. Instead, make a decision and start building.
Many developers feel unsure about committing themselves to finish a project. Hopefully, this mental framework helps you ensure your project aligns with your goals. | https://medium.com/@brooklinmyers/how-to-pick-your-next-side-project-567b2688cd6f | ['Brooklin Myers'] | 2021-09-03 22:33:37.227000+00:00 | ['Computer Science', 'Programming', 'Elixir', 'Phoenix', 'Side Project'] |
No response, is a response | Saw a post on Instagram
It stated, “No response, is a response”
That statement could not be any more true
You don’t have to go behind
lovers, friends, relationships, or anyone
frankly that is a waste of
time, effort, and energy
Your kindness and personality can only
stretch and skim so far for others
when you deserves to be celebrated
and recognized in your efforts
It is not everyday people will see your value
So if you get that chance with any person you meet
Don’t just see the message
Don’t just leave the message read
Don’t leave the blue ticks
because
no response, is a response
and I would rather not leave things
on read | https://medium.com/@annethanyamendis/no-response-is-a-response-cf456e094d36 | ['Anne Mendis'] | 2020-12-23 12:13:06.504000+00:00 | ['Instagram', 'Talking', 'Life Lessons', 'People', 'Education Life Lesson'] |
5 Striking Features of MongoDB Development Tools | MongoDB is a Modern database app with a documented-based, general-purpose tool. It is designed to overcome the limitations of other solutions and reach relational databases approach. In which the MongoDB development tools act on objects like a database developer. Its documented database stores data like a usual data format, for example, JSON.
But after diving a little deeper, we found more. Such as an object-oriented, simple, dynamic plus, scalable NoSQL database, based on the document store model tool. Despite capitalising data into the columns and rows, it separates and stores it into the separate documents inside the collection.
However, to know more about the tool, you have to recognize its features first. So scroll further and explore MongoDB development tools.
5 Striking Features of MongoDB
1. Ad Hoc Queries support- It is impossible to know the advanced user’s queries, just by designing the database schema. However, Ad Hoc queries are a short-lived command which values depend on variables. And each time it is executed the result, it can be different according to the variable question.
But when it comes to considering millions of variables, Ad-hoc plays an important role. That’s the reason MongoDB stands apart in case of real-time analytics requirements. It helps in case of real-time analytics, as its query support allows us to update queries. Ultimately it helps MongoDB developers to perform better.
2. Replication- When there is a single database to reside, it exposes to multiple failure points such as service interruption, hardware & server crash. And replication offers the sidestep of vulnerabilities by deploying multiple servers. Top of that, it also allows you to sidestep these multiple servers of disaster recovery and backup.
In MongoDB, a primary server or node accepts all write operations and applies those same on secondary ones. To maintain it well, MongoDB even sets employees for it. In any case, primary servers face critical failure secondary servers perform as new primary nodes. However, when the primary node comes back online, it works as a secondary server node in place of the primary.
3. Indexing- The most difficult to address technical issues shown, while users indexing. And if the indexing is done right, it helps to boost search performance and speed. However, a failure can lead to countless accessibility issues like load balancing and query execution.
If there are no right indices, the database is forced to scan docs one at a time to identify the right match. But in case an appropriate index exists for each query, user requests can be executed.
However, MongoDB serves a broad range of advanced features with the ability of language-specific sort orders to support complex access of MongoDB Development patterns. Plus, it also can be created on the demand to put up real-time, application requirements, and changing query patterns.
4. Load-balancing- For growing enterprise applications, optimal load balancing of large-scale databases is like a dream come true. For the right distribution of millions of client requests through thousands of servers requires a clear focus, as it ignores the performance difference. Fortunately, MongoDB features like sharding and replication support to balance it in development.
The platform can balance multiple read and write requests with the same world-class concurrency control and protocols. Also, you don’t have to load balancers, as MongoDB ensures a consistent view and quality to all users.
5. Sharding- When it comes to large datasets, sharding (Process of splitting large datasets in multiple distributed collections) is growing web apps with millions of users. Shards help database distribution and better execute.
Sharding also provides a much greater horizontal scalability like replication. It means every cluster house has a portion of the dataset in question, which essentially functions as a separate database. Also, it is best to manage popular or growing needs of zero downtime.
All sharding environment operations are handled via a lightweight process known as MongoDB. It can naturally direct queries to the correct shard based and also contributes significantly to a better load balancing.
Final Point!
With features like Ad Hoc Queries support, replication, indexing, load balancing, and sharding, MongoDB is the best development tool. Moreover, like a MongoDB Development Company, we feel all the features of this development tool make the process easy in its own way.
However, the tool has other features too, but the top five striking ones attract us the most to share with you. | https://medium.com/@tech9logy/5-striking-features-of-mongodb-development-tools-d99b6efbbfa2 | ['Cosmo Films'] | 2020-11-25 10:18:08.105000+00:00 | ['Mongodb Development', 'Mongodb'] |
Building the next Main Street “Crypto-conomy”- Cryptonomics 202 | “Kript-o-kon-o-mee” — A Main Street Economy powered by multiple distributed public ledgers and multiple cryptocurrencies, where each DLT is operating as a transparent & fair inter-connected set of Distributed Autonomous Organizations using mutually agreed “Proof of” schemes to validate transactions between multiple parties and DAOs, where each DAO currency is operating a currency which truly is a trusted store of value.
What is this anyway? It’s certainly not free trade…
I dream about the next Cryptoconomy, a lot. It’s a place I envision where “Fair & Free Market Forces reign among inter connected playing fields of business, a playing field anyone, of any means, can join and realize their own dreams, operating their own business, transacting safely between other businesses in order to acquire the quality of life they envision for themselves and their family.
Aside from my own personal excitement and the fact my brain is almost 100% occupied, racing at high rpm iteratively, looking to create, invent, figure out, in practical terms, how the next Cryptoconomy a can be realized, I also find myself dreaming in a positive way about the world’s prospects for the first time in a long time. IMO, never before in human history has the world, a world now primarily powered by the forces of technology and the people behind their technological advances, been so close to being able to remove the usury shackles from 99% of the world’s debt slaves, to be free from the tyranny of those controlling centralized financial systems and the puppet politicians, that is, free to join in to this new Cryptoconomy, and do it at little or not cost.
To me the new Cryptoconomy is a bottom up, “Main Street” affair focused on the creation of real value found in new and innovate products and services.
The new Cryptoconomy has few if any real barriers to entry. You don’t need to be an “Accredited Investor” to invest, today’s privilege of the rich and famous. A Cryptoconomy means anyone can join regardless of their means or standing, they “go their own way” in the Cryptoconomy, make their own choice about the cryptonomic tools they want to use to carve out their own marketing and business niche in the Cryptoconomy which will be powered by new rapidly forming cryptocurrencies with the scalability needed to power a new Cryptonomic reality, enabling anyone with a few computing resources to invest in and earn a decent living, regardless of their age and energy levels and ideas.
What is really exciting about the new coming Cryptoconomy is there are multiple, new competing distributed public ledgers which can actually scale their transactions per second and make it easy to create Smart Contracts “SCs” without the need to be super computer literate, where transactions will be secured easily and quickly, with or without blockchains.
For many, joining the Cryptoconomy will be a simple commitment. By simply making a few of their own local compute, network and/or storage resources available, anyone owning such resources with a decent Internet connection can immediately download their cryptocurrency wallet of their choosing and start earning cryptocurrency rewards, which can be spent directly and/or converted to fiat currencies to acquire the goods and services they need to gain the quality of life they envision for themselves and their family. Nice!
Heady days are about to arrive, no doubt.
OK, now that we truly are at this important tipping point in history, a complete reboot if you like of the world’s financial system,
What‘s the ‘catch’?
Introducing Cryptonomics 202 and the next Cryptoconomy
Awareness and Education are the first few hurdles any good marketeer of a new idea must address and jump over before the the mass public or consumer market is ready to trial, then hopefully adopt a new way of doing anything, let alone pay for it.
In the case of the coming New Cryptoconomy, let’s tackle the first hurdle. Awareness.
There are seven important facts we need to be Aware about the world of crypto today, the current “State of the Union” SOTU if you like, before we can even contemplate getting educated about this new emerging Cryptoconomy…
Much has changed in the cryptocurrency world of “Blockchain”, which is vastly different today from what it was during those heady valuation days of December 17th, 2018, just a little over a year ago.
Let me outline these seven facts about today’s state of crypto currency and distributed ledger technology “DLT” for you below, before you jump into the new emerging world of Cryptonomics 202:
First, ICOs “Initial Coin Offerings” are out, as there are too many regulatory unknowns worldwide and more hurdles every day erected by the “state-ist” governments found around the world looking to control the state (who owns what) and pace of cryptocurrency adoption, so as to “buy time” for those currently in control of the world’s financial system in order for them to manoeuvre existing sources of wealth in fiat currency through and in behind (anonymously) the Venture Capitalist “front men” in order to maintain the status quo of power and control in the world of finance. This is market fact. One only has to look at EOS and their proof of share model to understand what is really going on. Those still friendly to ICOs all have underlying “catches”, so called preferred investor discounts, and share distribution models which prevent the “un-accredited investor”, you and I, from getting the same deal. So do your homework, and please understand the so-called friendly crypto regimes, are in fact controlled remotely by the traditional financial centers around the world, i.e.- Malta is really controlled by the UK and the EU, Singapore is also controlled by the UK, EOS is controlled by NYC investment interests on Wall St., etc…
Second, “PoW” Proof of Work Blockchain-based Mining is out in a conventional Von Neumann sequential “Blockchain” processing sense, where “Proof of Work” operating on centralized GPU and custom ASIC and FPGAs compute muscle is powered by cheap abundant energy sources, now using enough electricity to power 1/10th of the world, all employed to solve “PoW” puzzles in order to keep the “Blockchain” created versions of business transactions enumerated in cryptocurrencies values stored in both distributed (Bitcoin , Ethereum et al) and centralized(Fedcoin?,Ripple) ledgers, public and private, safe. All this is energy is consume “In the name of electronic book-keeping” which cuts out the book keeper and the middlemen (Accountants and Lawyers). Also the transactions per second of PoW Blockchain ledgers are pitiful. less than 20 transactions per second., and any attempt to scale with sidechain and or sharding techniques have been met with defections to create yet another set of blockchains (witness Bitcoin) via a good ole “Hard Fork” of the opensource code, creating yet another “Altcoin”. (some would say “shitcoin” now number in the 2000+ range, many of them still born, and their founders living on the proceeds, sipping on exotic cocktails sunning on a remote beach somewhere, but I digress;) )
Today’s “PoW” Proof of Work Blockchains from leaders like Bitcoin and Ethereum, representing 65% of the crypto market today in Market Value, are huge power sucking aliens, using enough power daily to power several small countries.., much of it burning NG, oil, diesel, nuclear and coal non-renewable fuel sources which pollute the earth. (image dailystar.co.uk)
Third, early “crypto” fans, users and supporters are now starting to realize the current crop of Bitcoin and Ethereum “Blockchains” based on Proof of Work “PoW” can never scale in terms of TPS “Transactions per Second” to become widely adopted as a transaction network or to be used as transaction platforms, yet both together dominate 2/3s of the global crypto market in terms of valuation driven by investor speculation, nothing more, nothing less. Where are the real global transaction networks based on cryptocurrencies? Also where are the energy efficient distributed public ledgers?
Transaction per second “TPS” is everything when it comes to distributed public ledger scalability. “Sharding” that is Zoning of transactions between gateways and adding private 2 public ledger connectivity with “Side Chains” will help in both cases it doesn’t change the fact Blockchain is sequential, and IOTA’s DAG “Direct Acyclic Graph” is massively parallel, able to scale and speed up as more users and transactions are added with much lighter POW (minimal use of power doing puzzle solving) while offering quantum computer hack proof validation of transactions .
Slideshare Presentation on IOTA Scalability
Fourth, A new wave of scalable TPS “Transaction Per Second” distributed public ledgers, some customer variants of Bitcoin’s blockchain, others based on “DAG” Directed Acyclic Graph technology variants, are emerging powered by real use cases and users.
Fifth, STOs “Securitized Token Offerings” are “still born” and make no sense because they pander to the “statists” trying to control cryptocurrency as a source of increased tax revenue to power the status quo of governments around the world, and are the ugly cousin of ICOs.
Sixth, There is a huge lack of real working “transaction networks which can scale and can be easily used by the average person”. To date, only Dash is solving the real world problems of hyper-inflation in South America with their “custom” version of Bitcoin’s Blockchain, and even then, not that well. And this after 10 years of Bitcoin. The reality is the Bitcoin development community is seriously fragmented on multiple fronts while still clinging to their “Bitcoin Maxima-list” agenda of “their can only be one.” Bitcoin will survive as a store of value, like Gold or Silver, and have an important place in the next Cryptoconomy I will describe further is this document, however it won’t be the Bitcoin Maxima-list version of the world, for all of the reasons above and one more…
Seventh, and most important, Initial Service Offerings “ISOs” will scale the next Crypotoconomy tps need, and in the process, driven by the consumer market “need for speed and convenience (easy liquidity) consolidate the many Use cases and Applications offered today as 2000+ Altcoins(many of them shitcoins) to operate on just the scalable cryptocurrencies (Dash, IOTA, etc..)and their secure distributed public ledgers, where each App will be executed as SC controlled applications deployed as distributed services on those public ledgers, delivered as services which actually integrate the use of of the cryptocurrency in a utility fashion to power the service,are now emerging as the way to scale transactions per second, Smart Contracts “SCs”, requiring no regulatory approval as a security. Those Altcoin based use cases and Apps which fail to make the move away from legacy Bitcoin and Ethereum ERCxx based “PoW” Blockchain distributed public ledgers will either be merged by their handlers (many of their handlers are VCs) and forced to transition onto these scalable ledgers and cryptocurrencies or perish. There will be a few exceptions operating on Blockchain using other Proof of Schemes such as EOS and others using “Proof of Share” (ie-I have the biggest holding Position so I get all/most of the mining rewards) and also Proof of Authority “PoA” (for those that like the status quo- that is being managed and controlled by existing authorities, especially Lawyers) . (Look for IOTA’s QUBIC Computer service infrastructure to enable the above.)
Education, the second hurdle, requires the savvy crypto investor and budding “Crypto-preneur” to really dig into the facts above and develop a detailed understanding of the details which differentiate each new emerging technology and set of services and products which are rapidly forming this new world of Cryptonomics 202. Success is in your understanding of the details in the differences and various pros and cons between what will become the new foundations of the Cryptoconomy.
First, let’s identify the player and why these emerging cryptocurrencies and their distributed ledger technologies, communication systems and compute resource management capabilities are posed to become the new foundation of the Cryptoconomy. These are my early choices, there are other comparable budding candidates out there I am sure, who will challenge, or at least pre-tend to challenge. I have made my choices based on:
their ability to execute in providing real value today to investors, consumers and Crypto-preneurs for: store of value+;transaction per second processing+;Smart Contract+;computer resource management (compute/storage/network)+;Integration of existing Applications+;Support for IoT+;+Support for eVoting+;Efficient/clean use of energy+;+Convenience to Investor & Consumer+;Convenience of Liquidity in to other useful stores of value (metals, energy, and asset backed fiat currencies)+;”Proof of” Transaction Validation Method+;Distributed Exchange Support+;DLT Robustness/Node Count
Their “RoadMap” plan for tomorrow to add additional “value” which can actually be made use of my the investor and the Crypto-prenuer
The quality, depth and agility of their development teams
The “same as above” for their supporting communities
The market segments they serve directly, namely, their positive impact on: reducing energy consumption; clean food production; clean water production; protection of assets; use of clean energy; clean air protection;
Here is my “silver seven” short list or “Show me the Growth” crypto-team for 2019 through to 2021 (that’s right a three year forecast) who will create the building blocks of the New Cryptoconomy, without the obvious Top 10 look (Yes no BitCoin “XXXX:, no Ethereum or their “altcoin” derivatives) :
1- DASH, 2 IOTA, 3 Hashgraph/Swirl, 4 Electroneum, 5- Maidsafe, 6-NEM, 7-Telegram
1 DASH- (once Xcoin an early Bitcoin fork, later Darkcoin) one can only be impressed with the way DASH, a DAO managed(by DASH masternodes requiring 1000 DASH= US $95000 in holdings in order to be able to vote in the DAO) distributed public ledger system qith it’s own blockchain and alt currency (its a bitcoin fork) has been adopted by people in Venezuela and Argentina (and by citizens and residents of other countries suffering the same hyper inflation) to get around the hyper inflation affecting those economies caused by the corrupt regimes badly managing them. DASH is really a custom Blockchain implementation based on Bitcoin which essentially proxy approves transactions quickly, and then commits the approvals to their blockchain asynchronously to ensure a fast convenient user experience (CX Customer Experience), with a decent wallet CX not requiring a computer degree. DASH’s daily transaction volume speaks for itself, facilitating lots of small transactions with overall good value volume. What I like about the DASH team( US based HQ) and their roadmap is they are totally market and customer driven. DASH have found their early growth market use niche (small transactions in hyper inflation economies) and their store of value, anonymity(optional), wallet convenience and TPS settlement speed advantages have been put to the test, to prove their effectivenes in multiple non-speculative market uses . Bitcoin Cash may have more value volume (driven by price speculation in the market by the money men on Wall St. in NYC) on any given day, as reported on CoinMarketCap, however DASH has the transaction volume and wallet holders are using DASH to execute daily buy/sell transactions of everyday Goods and Services to portect themselves from rampant local hyper inflation, transactions which are effectively being sold/bought using DASH currency, although for sure these same goods and services transactions live a dual life valued in US $ or local currency. Expect DASH to move into or be near the Top 10 on CoinMarketCap for quite awhile as the existing “fringe” or even “Fake” Top 10 (with exceptions Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash sticking around staying at the top in 2019) start to slide down to lower market cap rankings as consumers and investors look for real stability in their cryptocurrency investments which have a normal trajectory of growth driven by Main St. market use cases , like the ones DASH fulfil quite nicely, at this time. The price of entry if you want to run a DASH masternode is not cheap, however according to Wikipedia “To incentivize their operation, (DASH) masternodes receive 45% of all newly created Dash (with 45% going to miners and 10% to the organization’s treasury) so the rewards can also be big. Given a Masternode cost over $1M at the height of the market December 17th, 2017, now might be just the right time to get in if you can swing US $100K. Living in a corrupt world and need to protect yourself from such forces? DASH has what it takes for anonymity according to Wikipedia “(DASH) “InstantSend” bypasses mining and instead requires a consensus of masternodes to validate a transaction, speeding transactions.[4][1] “PrivateSend” is intended to make transactions untraceable; it mixes participating users’ unspent Dash before executing a transaction”. DASH is what Bitcoin (without the fragmentation and infighting)should have become in IMO. Ready to use and grow, with nifty TPS scaling features to deal with volume spikes, DASH is ready for the prime time growth of the new Cryptoconomy, with speed and optional anonymity built in (if you can get over the fact the founders “ helped themselves” to millions of newly minted coins in the early days… :) ). For the “here and now” investor and user types DASH tops my list for growth in 2019, and will put a strong showing in for 2020 and 2021, as DASH becomes a key cornerstone DLT and crypotcurrrency in the next wave of the Cryptoconomy slated to take off in 2019.
2 IOTA- thought by most to be the champion of all things IoT “Internet of Things”, has slipped a bit in terms of market capitalization out of the Top 10. The relatively low volume of trading compared to the rest of the top 15 crypo-currencies suggests/reflects how IOTA is really in a league and market space of it’s own, one largely defined by IOTA’s partnerships with big companies like VW, Audi, Bosch and Fujitsu Germany looking to leverage IOTA’s “no blockchain” quantum computer hack proof and hugely scalable Tangle DLT features (based on DAG “Directed Acyclic Graph” to improve the mobility experience, improve quality of products via accurate production and supply chain management and help lower the cost of automating and managing manufacturing processes. Of course IOTA is working hard to bring useful technology to the world of sensors and controls at the edge or in the fog of the Internet at very low cost and power consumption leveraging ternary or trinary 3 bit technology (-1, 0, +1). While IOTA has not been immune to large speculator driven market cap swings, IOTA’s market cap usually tracks and lags a day behind the Top 10, as there are speculators invested in IOTA driving most of the activity. That said the volume traded is tiny faction of what the HODLer’s actually own, so in reality IOTA is a very stable investment, as these same HODL proponents of IOTA know a good investment and technology when they see one, and aren’t in the mood to sell generally. All good. The team is young and full of energy and ideas, that said they have been savvy enought to bring in real pros to develop their QUBIC computer resource management & Smart Contract layer which sits on top of, and is upgradable from the current Tangle Node network to QNodes, just freshly baked this month, and expected to be ready for test network use later in the first half of 2019. All good, especially for the IoT crowd.
3 Hashgraph/Swirl- A darling of Mike Maloney at goldsilver.com who is also a key investor, the commercial implementation which is Swirl, Hashgraph/Swirl has been adopted already and is in use protecting transactions between a large network of Credit Union companies across the USA. HashGraph/Swirl is really an Enterprise private blockchain technology, however its worthy to note Swirl competes directly with the opensource offerings of Hyperledger which is fully supported by IBM, and as such SWirl the commercial counterpart of Hashgraph, has the first big win in that private Enterprise market place. Again Swirl private IP and not on Github so you need to license their TPS capability and hire Swirl to integrate Hashgraph to get the TPS performance and inter-company security value, that said not every “blockchain” in the Enterprise space needs to be “white box” open source (Hyperledger). So Hashgraph/Swirl makes it on to my list for those wishing a “more ready to use” black-box alternative which can b e tuned to meet your inter-organizational TPS and security needs, to the highly customizable (read slow and expensive to develop deploy and costly to maintain) white-box opensource Hyperledger project. Hashgraph/Swirl has proven it has the TPS muscle to handle any transaction bus system and scale to transaction volume in the private Enterprise domain, for those inter-commercial and institutional groups looking for Blockchain transparency to secure transaction pairs transapently (behind closed doors) with Swirl’s “Gossip like” protocol. How Hashgraph/Swirl integrates via gateways into the public world of multiple cryptocurrencies is still up for debate, however the Swirl team is technically strong and the Hashgraph technology is TPS scalable, so I expect market forces will drive the necessary Hashgraph integrations with other popular cryptocurrencies as needed.
4 Electroneum- The “in and out of favourite” early darling of mobile mining in late 2017 has survived the last market cash of 2018 and is now climbing “back in” to a prominent CoinMarketCap position having steadily moved up the ranks (of shit-coins and “dine and dash” ICOs) climbing all the way back into a the 60th position in CoinMarket Cap, having done so on the backs of very modest speculative trading volume which indicates the Electroneum faithful are largely Hodlers. The Electroneum valuation is slightly above their intake during their partly troubled then corrected ICO in the fall of 2017 and that is good news. Android and Apple smartphones earn mining rewards by solving the lightweight CryptoNight(forked from Monero) Proof of Work puzzles in their Electroneum Wallets as a background process while their phone operates and get the benefit of using the Electroneum wallet to manage buy/sell orders where there is some liquidity on secondary centralized exchanges, if you need to convert your Electroneum into fiat or other cryptocurrencies. Electroneum’s CryptoNight PoW implementation is ASIC and FPGA proof , yet lightweight enough to work reasonably well in the backgorund of the latest high powered multi-core smartphones, many of which are now Chinese processors which can be acquired for under US $100.00 in most markets. per this review article link on Mediumhttps://medium.com/@humanjets/coin-review-electroneum-etn-47855c0a721a “ They (Electroneum) aim to make it far easier than existing crypto currencies for peer to peer and point of sale transactions by focussing on user experience and viral mass adoption (including the mining simulator), primarily at the market of mobile phone users and focussing on providing a digital payment solution to the developing world. Electroneum IMO, is will positioned to be a big player in the budding cryptocurrency micro-payments market. The Electroneum team is marketing savvy, and has proved they can fight through the social media noise to stay relevant, now it’s up to their tech team to execute and deliver on their roadmap.
5 MaidSafe- Champion of privacy and anonymity “P&A” and really an effort to rebuild the Internet as such, has soldiered on, sticking to their roadmap, ignoring CoinMarketCap fluctuations, steadily updating github with a series of small breakthroughs P&A, which are now looking quite impressive and operating partly on their test network. What is very interesting about Maidsafe (once marketed as Massive Array of Interconnected Disks- MAID) is their founder is a seriously well-seasoned Networking expert, who has been in the trenches building networked solutions for 25+ years. David Irvine get it, and so does his team. Maidsafe is building the alternate to today’s internet, they have reasonably focused and clear marketing and messages and their community it fiercely loyal, of modest size and building distributed apps that people need and actually work, like Music and Video players, Web Sites, etc. Their uTP hole punching implementation on Github is quite good and necessary if you want to run portions of, or your own version of the Maidsafe network behind firewalls where UDP is the only way in and out of the private network. At position 59 after the crash of 2018, Maidsafe has survived and is now about to be in a position to thrive as they closer to releasing the public network for use by us all. If you are “Swinging for the Fences” looking for that really big and long “home run”, in the new Cryptoconomy emerging in 2019, then Maidsafe is a good choice, given the Maidsafe roadmap targeted breadth and depth of their capabilities, and the velocity of the team’s effort on Github to deliver on same. I personally like the Maidsafe team, their goals and the loyalty of their community, Maidsafe are bringing real P&A to the Internet along with a host of Apps people actually will want to run in their businesses or for pleasure as a consumer. The P&A part is long over due and a great incentive replacement to the dark and merky Tornet.
6 NEM- Singapore’s alternative to Ethereum also survived the 2018 crash, and are still enabling ICOs on their platform in crypto-friendly government regime of Singapore. ICOS have never been so easy than on NEM, no programming required to get started, yet it is possible to customize later. TRON may be big in Asia now, however I still think NEM is the future of Mid-Market Enterprise and Small and Medium Sized business boutique coin offerings.., many of which could live quite nicely in the NEM world outside of the bluster of Ethereum’s world of ERCXX dictates.
7 Telegram- TON is big, really big, the team is proven twice over, (they even got chased out of Russia), the vision is BIG, rolling your installed base is always a good thing and Telegram is that “in spades”. Given Telegram’s P2P payment and Smart Contract focus, you would expect them to dominate, and they probably will as those two market segment forces converge in the world of crypto and distributed public ledgers. That said, there is still alot of work to be done @ Telegram“ https://smartereum.com/43063/cryptocurrency-news-today-get-ready-as-the-telegram-1-7-billion-cryptocurrency-is-almost-ready-for-launch-telegram-coin/” and Ethereum and the legion of Altcoins targeting the same market, Zcash, Monero, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, Electroneum all have their own communities and established Hodlers. That said their ICO of 1.7B was the biggest ever. I am sure the Team at Telegram will excute, eventually, as the task they are taking on is really big, and be sure about one fact, Telegram will certainly muscle their way in to ride the next big wave of market cap valuation surges many predict will crest later in 2019.
A word about the past, and forward market dominance in 2019..,
Bitcoin and Ethereum, largely because of their own internal problems, and partly because of their DLT design will likely see their collective dominance in the market place wane rather quickly in 2019 as more and more, markets and their rank and file citizens are faced with hyper-inflationary forces and move to altcoin crypto-currency use in mass to both convert and protect their own dwindling fiat stores of value, looking to transact directly without the banks peer to peer “P2P” in the same crypto_currencies or those which have fast liquidity between crypto and fiat. This will mean those altcoins with fast convenient, scalable settlement are likely to rise to the top for micro transaction use, and those distributed public ledgers with low/no transaction fees will shine, as will those with really flexible and easy to use Smart Contracts also shine. All three of these features are not built in to Bitcoin or Ethereum from day one and have been treated as bolts ons (Lightning Network for Bitcoion, scalability as sidechains and sharding in Ethereum), as both of the early incumbents scramble to adapt to the competition from better altcoins, Dash and IOTA included.
That said bitcoin will be around along time, as the ultimate store of value given all the investment poured into bitcoin today, while IMO Ethereum’s competition has caught up and passed them, and are now just entering a real competitive battle for market share as EOS, Waves, TRON and others challenge for Smart Contract supremacy in the public distributed ledger market segment.
All of these recent changes in the Cryptoconomy are definitely changing the dominant market dynamics of Cryptonomics in a good, distributed and fragmented way, with lots of business and consumer choices emerging from the new and rising players in the market to really inject some competition into the market into what has been up to December 2017 a two horse race.
More on all of this later in 2019, when we come up for air to see what has really happened!
r2 | https://medium.com/@thunderboltkid/building-the-next-main-street-crypto-conomy-cryptonomics-202-22b13baad4d0 | ['I A Edwardsson'] | 2019-03-21 22:41:26.695000+00:00 | ['Ethereum', 'Iota', 'Bitcoin', 'Tron', 'Dash'] |
Football and the impact of fans | The match watching experience for all football fans has changed dramatically since the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Fans of Premier League (PL) and Championship teams have up until December only been able to watch games from afar, usually behind a TV screen. This has resulted in empty stadiums all over the country, with teams competing against each other without the usual roar of the crowd creating an atmosphere.
Several articles were written initially written about the impact of fan-less stadiums on the performance of teams — FT and The Athletic. However, since December, some stadiums have been opened to a limited number of fans. Now that a small sample of few dozen matches has taken place with up to 2,000 fans, it got my attention to investigate whether a small number of fans can make a difference and look at what the longer-term impacts of empty stadiums will continue to be on the performance of teams.
The Games With and Without Fans
Using match results from Football-Data.co.uk and code I’ve written (GitHub), I’ve compiled data from the start of the 2017/18 season for both the PL & Championship leagues to 22nd December 2020, when this article was published.
The graph below breaks down the matches that have taken place since the start of the 2017/18 season, showing where the maximum number of fans have been allowed (Maximum Fans), no fans have been allowed (No Fans) and a small number of fans have been allowed (Limited Fans).
As you’d expect, most matches have taken place with a maximum number of fans. But since the outbreak of the pandemic back in March 2020, 17% of matches in the period we are looking at have taken place with no fans. Just over 1% of matches have taken place with a limited number of fans, which is almost the equivalent of 3 gameweeks in a Championship season. In light of the fact that we only have a small sample of data for matches with limited fans, any insights are tentative until a larger sample size can be obtained.
Looking at some of the teams in the PL and Championship that have been allowed to accommodate up to 2,000 home fans, such as Liverpool, Everton, Southampton, Spurs, Bournemouth, Norwich, Brentford and Watford; they are all towards the top end of the table. Therefore, I should also caveat that the small sample of matches with limited fans could be skewed by the strong performances of these high-flying teams.
Home and Away Wins
In layman’s terms, the simplest and easiest way to understand the impact that the lack of fans has on team performance is to look at the changes in the percentage of home wins, away wins and draws. The diagram below breaks this down (rounding may mean results do not equal 100%).
For home teams where they can allow the maximum number of fans in, they experience a clear advantage. This is shown with home win percentage significantly higher than that of the away team — nearly 15%.
What is striking is that when fans have not been allowed into stadiums, away teams win percentage increases by 5%. It is easy to build a narrative that reinforces this whereby no home fans boo or jeer the away side, away teams feel more emboldened to take on the home favourites and impose their own tactics to try and get all three points. We will investigate later at how this has been borne out in goal scoring for home and away teams.
Although home teams do experience a drop off in win percentage when they are unable to have any fans, they still have a sizable advantage over the away team when it comes to winning matches. Whilst it’s clear that not having fans does have an impact, home teams still dominate without them and this could partly be explained by the familiarity of surroundings and less travel, but it would be interesting to find out more why home advantage is still present without fans.
Finally, looking at the small sample where limited fans have been allowed, it is interesting that home win percentage and away win percentage has almost reverted back to the same levels as when a maximum number of fans were allowed. Even the atmosphere created by a crowd of 2,000 supporters suppresses the drive of the away side and gives the home team confidence to push on for the win. It will be intriguing to see if this trend carries on for the rest of the season.
Goal Scoring
The key driver in determining who wins any football match is goals. The chart below breaks down how goal scoring has changed for home and away teams in the different fan settings.
The goals metric begins to explain some of the results we can see in the win percentage numbers. When maximum fans are allowed into stadiums, home teams tend to score over 25% more than the away teams and this partially drives the home-field advantage. It could be said that home supporters push their team to shoot more — 13.7 home shots vs 11.2 away shots, giving the home team more goal-scoring opportunities, resulting in more home goals and victories.
When no fans are present, home teams without the encouragement of their supporters become significantly more goal-shy, whilst away teams tend to slightly improve their goal-scoring. This can be seen in the shot numbers with home shots falling to 12.1, away shots slightly decreasing to 11.0 and both converting at around the same rate of just over 11%. This goes some way to explaining why away teams improve their win percentage and home teams are not as dominant as usual, however, with goal-scoring being so close between the two teams we might also expect the number of draws to increase and that actually hasn’t been the case.
Finally, home goal-scoring, shots and conversion rates almost return to normal levels with the presence of 2,000 fans providing the team with the necessary motivation to score and this enables home win percentage to climb back to near usual levels. The largest impact of having a small number of fans is on the away side with goal-scoring reducing as a result of a significant fall in shots to 9.6 per game and conversion rate decreasing to 9.3%. With this sharp drop-off, we would assume that away win percentage drops below that of when maximum fans are allowed, yet this has not been the case. It will be interesting to see if this impact on away goal scoring is a longer-term trend or a fact of the small set of matches for which we have a limited number of home fans.
Conclusion
From the analysis, we can see that having the maximum number of fans at games gives the home team a significant advantage. With the outbreak of coronavirus and the ban on fans in stadiums, we have demonstrated that away teams have managed to chip away at this benefit of playing at home, partially as a result of improving their own goal-scoring, but also limiting the goals of the home side. What is most interesting from the analysis, is that when just 2,000 fans can attend, they seemingly make a significant impact on the end result and can make up for the rest of the supporters who are unable to attend.
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa has mentioned that this small number of fans attending will have an impact on the result, saying, “perhaps there could be a rule that states that if fans are not allowed in all stadiums, then they should not be allowed in at all until everybody is allowed to have them in.”
If the trend continues then Bielsa would be correct in his statement, and those teams such as Liverpool, Everton and Bournemouth that will be allowed, in the short-term to have supporters attend, will be at a significant advantage versus the rest of the PL and Championship. | https://medium.com/@jonathanchappell/football-and-the-impact-of-fans-7d17a810fc3b | ['Jonathan Chappell'] | 2020-12-26 20:57:31.542000+00:00 | ['Football', 'Fans', 'Premier League', 'Soccer', 'Data Analysis'] |
Client-Side Rendering vs Server-Side Rendering vs Static-Site Generation | Client-Side Rendering vs Server-Side Rendering vs Static-Site Generation
Which to use when, and why
Photo by Alesia Kazantceva on Unsplash
Frontend developers often use these terms to describe their web applications. However, to developers less familiar with web applications, these terms are often confused. If you are confused about the differences between Client-Side Rendering, Server-Side Rendering, and Static-Site Generation, then this article is for you!
Client-Side Rendering
Client-side rendering was made popular with the advent of the Single Page Application (or SPA). JavaScript Frameworks like AngularJS, ReactJS, BackBone.JS and many more use this approach. With Client-Side-Rendered Applications, the server sends static HTML and JavaScript files to the client. Then the client makes any API calls necessary to get initial data, and then it renders the application.
The static HTML sent by the server.
As we can see in the above gist, the static HTML sent by the server is an empty page. If you opened this HTML without JavaScript, it would be a blank screen with a noscript warning. When the client receives the HTML and loads the JavaScript, it will render the react application into the div with the id root.
Advantages of client-side rendering
1. They are cheap and easy to host
For client-side rendered applications, you don’t need a web server. You can simply host your application on any CDN or static file host like Amazon S3. There are lots of ways to host your client-side rendered application for free.
2. No full page reload required
Users can navigate between your pages without having to make a server roundtrip. This makes your website feel fast, almost like a native application.
Disadvantages of client-side rendering
1. They have poor SEO
Client-side rendered applications often struggle with SEO. While Google claims they will crawl JavaScript rendered websites, they tend to rank poorly. If your website takes too long to load, it can end up being indexed as an empty page.
2. Poor user experience on slower devices
Leaving rendering to the client-side can add seconds of load time on slower laptops and mobile devices. This can lead to users getting frustrated and leaving your website before it finishes loading.
3. They load slower
A client-side rendered application needs to make an additional round-trip to your API server to render. This means your website will always load slower than an equivalent server-side rendered or static application.
Server-Side Rendering
Server-side rendered applications return the full HTML page of your application ready to be rendered. They make any necessary API calls beforehand and pass all the necessary data in the initial request. This means your web browser has everything it needs to render the application right away and has a faster first interaction time for your users.
Server-side rendering is the traditional method for creating websites. The traditional disadvantage of server-side rendering was having to make server roundtrips as you navigate around the site. However, with tools like NextJS, we can create applications that offer the best of both worlds. By offering the first load with Server-Side rendering, and client-side routing afterwards.
Advantages of Server-Side Rendering
1. They load faster
Server-side rendered applications load faster than equivalent client-side rendered applications. And since the server takes care of the heavy lifting, they also load quickly on less performant devices.
2. They have good SEO
The SEO benefits of server-side rendering are well documented. Google rewards websites that load faster with higher page rankings. Google and other search engine crawlers will have no problems indexing your server-side rendered websites.
Disadvantages of Server-Side Rendering
1. They are expensive to host
Compared to client-side rendered applications, server-side rendered applications are expensive to host. For every request to your server, your server will need to make API calls, and then render your HTML before passing it to the client.
2. They are more complicated to develop
Setting up server-side rendering on your own with React can be a daunting task. However, this is made much easier by working with an established framework like NextJS.
Static-Site Generation
Static site generators work by generating all of your websites HTML files at build time. The server makes your API calls and generates static HTML files for every and every page of your website. This means that when a client requests one of your webpages, the server doesn’t need to make any API calls, or render any HTML, it only needs to return the pre-rendered HTML file.
Let’s say you are building a blog, and you have written ten blog posts. When your static site builds, it will generate one HTML file for each of your blog posts. When you write another post, you need to rebuild your application and deploy the updated static assets.
Gatsby and NextJS are popular ways to make static sites with React. Hugo is another example of a hugely popular static site generator.
Advantages of Static-Site Generation
1. They load fast
Since the HTML is already compiled and ready to go, static site’s load faster than both client-side rendered sites, and server-side rendered sites. You can
2. They are cheap to host
Since your website is just made up of a bunch of different HTML files, you can host your site on any static file hosting service like S3, or use a CDN.
Disadvantages of Static-Site Generation
1. They don’t scale that well
As your site grows, so will the build time of your static site. This can cause builds of websites with large amounts of posts to slow down to a crawl. Static sites work best for sites with data that doesn’t change that often, like blogs, and not so well for sites with ever-changing data, like shops.
The best of both worlds — NextJS
In my opinion, NextJS offers the best of both worlds, by allowing us to build hybrid applications that leverage both server-side rendering and static site generation. NextJS offers what it calls automatic static optimization on pages that it determines to be static. This allows you to create hybrid applications that contain both server-rendered, and statically generated pages.
This feature allows Next.js to emit hybrid applications that contain both server-rendered and statically generated pages. | https://medium.com/frontend-digest/client-side-rendering-vs-server-side-rendering-vs-static-site-generation-2a0702cbb08d | ['Malcolm Laing'] | 2020-10-19 06:03:09.890000+00:00 | ['Reactjs', 'JavaScript', 'Programming', 'Nextjs', 'React'] |
6 Lessons From My First Year as a Product Manager at Microsoft | Don’t Be a Fly on the Wall
Be Vocal!
Starting off, I knew Product Managers (PMs) had a lot of meetings. But I didn’t realize my day would revolve around meetings, each differing in intensity, productiveness and impact.
I was instantly surrounded by senior and principal PMs. Their tenure at Microsoft span decades and it was anxiety-inducing to ask questions, let alone give insights.
However, I knew this wasn’t the time to sit around and wait. I wasn’t going to get a cheat sheet. I had to take control of what I learnt.
I read anything I could get my hands on, began asking the dumbest questions, and set up countless follow up meetings (yes, more meetings) to dive deeper into core technologies and concepts.
I knew people loved talking, especially when you let them be an “expert” on a topic. This worked out perfectly as I gained invaluable wisdom and information without having to derive it myself.
Once I got comfortable with the domain knowledge and understood my colleagues ideas, I relied on my intuition and analytical ability to derive novel insights and further conversations.
With these tools in my pocket, it was much easier to raise my voice during meetings. My ideas were not always interesting or new, but I wasn’t afraid anymore.
Do Something Novel
Out with the old, in with the new.
As a junior PM your project scope will be defined by your manger and/or senior PMs. However, there is always wiggle room to do new things.
Find that area as soon as possible.
I found the most luck in two areas in particular. Features that had some effort put into it before they got pushed to the backlog and projects that make a process efficient.
For projects in the backlog, I spent some free time observing the progress made on the project and discovered what landed it in the backlog. I did my due diligence to determine if there was an application for it now. If the answer was yes, I determined if my effort and time would drive it to completion.
Finding areas to streamline is hard as a new employee but I used what I learnt in school and trusted myself. I broke down complex processes into parts and noticed if any single part could be made more efficient.
Once I knew what I wanted to do, I discussed my strategy with my manager. I gave them the context, proposed a solution and laid out a timeline.
No guarantees your manager will support your solution or even the area you want to explore. If they do, no time to celebrate; you have a project to complete.
Before you begin, understand and accept that you might fail. Let that motivate you to work harder.
Document your process and demonstrate incremental progress to ensure your time is not wasted.
Manage Your Time: The 80–20 Rule
“Cooper, this is no time for caution.”
When I was working on my first large deliverable, I was slowly falling behind deadlines. I was busy perfecting every minuscule detail and ignored the larger picture. I believed that excellence would supersede any external deadlines.
Oh, how wrong I was.
My manager called me in half way through and told me, as politely as he could, I had to get my s**t together. He clearly pointed out that, unlike University, there is no ‘right’ way and perfection isn’t in the mantra of Agile.
I had to follow the 80–20 rule aka the Pareto Principal.
The principal states, “roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.”
I needed to focus my energy at the core 20% of the project to ensure I could deliver 80% of the project’s results. This meant that I would be efficient while delivering quality work.
If there was time to spare I could put effort into closing the gap on the last 20%.
It is better to deliver something, than not deliver at all.
Captain Your Ship: The 70–20–10 Rule
During the first weeks of onboarding I was drowning in information and acronyms. Even if I spent all eight hours a day digging through documentation and taking copious notes, nothing would make sense.
I had to connect the dots.
There’s a famous saying in the corporate world:
The employees figure out the ‘what’ and the ‘how’, while the leaders care about the ‘why.’
It is imperative you understand the ‘why’ behind the work you’re about to take on. This will help guide you in the right direction and ensure you’re focusing on key ideas and concepts as you’re overloaded with information.
A Principal PM told me to follow the 70–20–10 rule to manage my time.
I had to spend 70% of my time getting up to speed on my current project, delivering and making a meaningful impact.
I could spare 20% of my time understanding and really diving into the ‘why’ behind the project. I figured out the work being done by neighboring teams, understood our competitors and kept up with the technology outside of the company.
With the last 10% of my time, I spent time deeply understanding the vision of company and the leadership.
With this context, it was much easier to focus and deliver only the key items.
Foster Connections and Build Trust
People make or break a team.
The key to any strong personal or professional relationship is trust.
Learn about each team members’ values. Their values directly affect their motivation and working style. With this knowledge, you’ll be better at keeping people on your good side.
You’ll also notice that each team member has a different, sometimes conflicting, working style. To work constructively with everyone, you’ll have to mirror your working style to match each individual. Don’t forgo your values, but be flexible as you’re the newbie.
If you expect your team members to help and trust you, you have go above and beyond for them first. Prove your reliability, eagerness and quality in your work and any collaborative work.
Lastly, become a bridge between team members. Bring together the expertise of various individuals to solve a common problem. As you solve problems together, you’ll build trust. You’ll be seen as a thought leader.
Sit at the Adults Table
Not going to lie, this one is hard.
After you execute everything immaculately from the first five steps and your manager recognizes your abilities. They will reward you by creating visibility for your work. This could mean presenting to senior PMs and managers.
Once you’ve proved yourself, you might even have a chance to sit in on integral decisions on the direction of the team.
Do everything you must to get invited to these meetings. Just don’t beg.
If you do find yourself at this meeting: listen intently.
Internally analyze all that is being discussed and get to the core of why people are pushing for a certain vision of another.
Personally, I wouldn’t try to chime in. If you do have an epiphany, write it down and discuss it with your manager after the meeting.
As you get better at distilling information, apply insights into your day-to-day work. Proactively improving your work by applying what you learn in these meetings will not go unnoticed.
Recap
Starting your career is unquestionably nerve-racking. You have to prove your abilities, establish trust and make an impact. This might trigger the impostor syndrome in you, but remember that you earned the position you are in and everyone started there.
Give value to what you’ve learnt from your past professional and personal experiences and trust your instinct.
Good luck out there! | https://medium.com/@namanzam/6-lessons-from-my-first-year-as-a-product-manager-at-microsoft-9b7faeddb9a4 | ['Naman Mehra'] | 2020-12-28 00:54:53.681000+00:00 | ['Microsoft', 'Lessons Learned', 'Technology', 'Product Management', 'University Recruiting'] |
Fighter | She wasn’t grown into poverty, always a mother and father around so why is this little girl little sister so tormented on the inside
while on the outside a passion was installed before the fire even touched her her eyes
A fighter. Willing to die a little earlier, smacking demons following her at night. Whispering, “It’s alright, no one means to like to the little girl
a sunshine star
an evening light
who just lost sight of the bigger picture thats always following her
Theres always a judgement day
somehow, somewhere the truth will ebb into the cracks of our perfect, her perfect little family
A troop of blood and cells binding together with an oath to protect their little girl little sister
Mother, am I going to be okay? will things turn out alright? will daddy only be gone for one night?
what was the promise that he made too afraid to let go of his fears as he held onto the hotel pillow, while she smiled.
A real grin, alone at night.
Because she doesn’t know that someday she has to fight to save
her life
from her own nightmares created and broken by that oath.
I don’t want to be in the circle of victims!
why should little girl little sister have to suffer by the hands of men, craving power to tower of women, the weak, the breeders, the care takers
But along the lines you forgot
Between the yelling and the fights you forgot that im a fighter, a breather, a seeker
I don’t need whats behind me anymore little girl little sister doesn’t need daddy anymore
You know when I was young I need protection from them and my own mind like society was infecting me saying to me
“little girl little sister, you be alone able to roam at with the lions tigers and bears”
well oh my! watch me.
this wasn’t written by a little girl.
Author Notes:
The only poem I’ve never edited. Wrote it in one sitting and this is that same poem. Don’t let the depression and tears hide the pain the abused go through every day. You’re a fighter, seek truth and breath justice. | https://medium.com/@rejectablebodied/fighter-3ffffbfff249 | [] | 2020-12-20 05:46:40.009000+00:00 | ['Feminisim', 'Strenth', 'Abuse', 'Daddy Issues', 'Fighter'] |
Oral History | I interviewed my grandmother the night before Thanksgiving. My cousins were coming the next day, so we were both busy cooking the entire day. Finally, at eight o’clock in the evening, I sat down with my grandmother in the living room and began my interview.
Me: How did you learn about St. Thomas converting our forefathers?
My Grandmother: I heard this from my father’s family.
Me: Did you ever get into an argument about religion with your parents?
My Grandmother: No, never. There was nothing to argue about.
Me: Did you ever have any friends who were strongly against Christianity?
My Grandmother: I had Hindu friends, but they don’t tell me anything against Christianity, but they are very deeply devoted in their religion, the Hindus.
Me: Did British occupation around the time you were a child influence people’s feelings about Christians?
My Grandmother: In 1947 they left. I was 9, or rather 10 years old. So, at that time, I had just learned from history about it, but I can’t remember having seen the life of these British people in India.
Me: Where did you go to church?
My Grandmother: Puthenkavu Church in Chengannur Village. The village had a Marthoma church. It’s a very big church; the people were very rich. The private secretary of Puthennkavu came to our church, but my grandfather went to the Jacobite church, so we would go there sometimes. I’ve seen the priests; there were so many priests. They used to have their processions on the road. I’ve seen all that. They would sing by the front of our house. We would keep a lamp lit at the front of our house. It was the kind with oil and something burning that I can’t remember. It is lighted with a piece of cloth dipped in coconut oil that we put in a tray. In Malayalam, it’s called nelavalak. They changed the fashion now; it’s prettier. Everything the church people carry that walk to all the houses is decorated, like beautiful sheets. The achen (priests) comes; they have worship songs, and then they pray. We would then put our offerings onto a plate. We would use coins. Then, they would go to another house. They would come by with decorated umbrellas. They had four sticks that held a beautiful sheet that they would put over these achens to protect them from the sunlight and rain. My appachan (grandfather) was in the Orthodox Church; they had a thiramani (bishop) from Kerala.
Me: Hold on. I thought your grandfather was a part of the Jacobite Church.
My Grandmother: Jacobite and Orthodox are the same. They have the same bishops. They combined churches a while back. The greatest bishop has a residence in Kottayam. My grandfather’s eldest son’s house was bought by that bishop. It’s called Devalogam. It was very beautiful. It was so big and rich. Ordinary people cannot buy it, so the Jacobite people bought it for their thiramani.
Me: When you were a kid were you allowed to celebrate Onam?
My grandmother with her mother
My Grandmother: My mother would make chips for us, and if someone came, they would eat it too. But my appachan would get angry. He would not even eat the Onam curries or chips. You know for Onam, the Hindus only eat vegetarian curries that day, but my appachan won’t eat rice without meat except when it’s lent. The servants would want the Onam curries, so my ammachi (grandmother) would make it for them. That’s it.
Me: I know you went to college. At that time, did many girls go to college in Kerala?
My Grandmother: Yeah. Where I lived, the people were rich. If you did well in school, you would go to college.
Me: Did you choose what you wanted to major in college, or did your parents choose for you?
My Grandmother: I choose my subjects. In school also, in my time, everybody had to take all different kinds of languages. When my older cousins went to school, their school was in English because the British were there, but my school was given in Malayalam. We used to read and learn Shakespeare and other English poetry and prose. We also had to learn Hindi, but only one book of it. My parents would help me choose classes, but I made the choice to major in biology.
Me: Even though they got rid of the caste system, did you still see discrimination?
My Grandmother: Some people don’t like to see low caste. With us, we didn’t have many really low caste people in our school. In Alleppey Girl’s School, I remember this one child who was lower caste but had good color. The girls in the school one day helped give her a bath because she never took one. I think some people don’t keep their children clean, maybe because they didn’t have soap. The upper-class girls brought a dress for her and washed her old clothes. She was a small child. She looked very pretty. Some girls in my class were brave, they did whatever they like. If they think they are in the right path, they do it without asking the teachers. That I’m telling you because of the small child. I didn’t see much discrimination though because the school I went to had many rich people, people richer than me. The girls there used eyeliner and would put different flowers in their hair. From the top to bottom of their hair would be flowers. Sometimes jasmine, sometimes chrysanthemum. I think they would spray scents on their hair too. The hair is decorated in Kerala. Most kids used nail polish.
Me: Were you allowed to use nail polish?
My Grandmother: One day my friend put nail polish on me, but when my grandmother saw, she said that my grandfather would blame her for me wearing the nail polish, so I took it off. You know, I think I may have seen some discrimination actually. I remember my mother told me that people that worked for our house could not come near our house. They remained in our backyard. They couldn’t come near the door. My grandmother would give them food on a plantain leaf in our yard. You never give them food in a plate. In school, I never saw such a thing though. We would all sit together on the same bench. But, the Sudras would never come to school anyway. The alphabet was taught at home, so if you didn’t know that, you didn’t come to school. But Kerala is a great state; the caste issue wasn’t as big here I think.
Me: What are your favorite Kerala folktales that you read at school?
My Grandmother: We would read many stories in our books. We used to read Ballamithram. It was about a monkey and a crocodile. They crocodile became friends with the monkey, and when the crocodile’s wife wanted to eat the monkey, the crocodile then tries to kill the monkey. That’s the only story I remember. If you ask my brother, he can tell you a lot more stories. I had too much work to do in the kitchen to read for fun when I got older.
Me: When you were growing up, the communist revolution in Kerala began. Did you ever experience or see their protests?
My Grandmother: At that time, they weren’t allowed to protest. They were put in jail. Where I lived, they had protesters and those were put in jail. When I got up in the morning one day, I saw people marching when I looked out the window. They had on white clothes. There were also soldiers with guns walking with them. When I asked, my cousin said that those people with white shirts were put to jail since they were communists and were protesting. They were being taken from one police station to another. That I saw through the window. I was so scared. There were a lot of people.
Me: Why do you think communism became popular in Kerala?
My Grandmother: It is because the rich people had plenty of land. The farms with rubber and tea plantations were owned by rich people. The wages were small for the laborers. Every day they get wages, but not enough for them to have good food and clothing. So they started protesting. They saw other places were the laborers were paid more, so the increased their protesting. The kier (coconut husk soaked in water) was used to make the carpets in India. The ones you put in front of your door to clean your shoes. The owners of those factories were very rich, and the laborers were upset.
Me: At your college, did you have communist groups there?
My Grandmother: At my college, there was no such thing. Indira Gandhi came to our school though. She gave us a speech at our college for I think one hour. We were told to bring all our old shoes for the poor people.
Me: You were told to bring the shoes to the assembly?
My Grandmother: No, not the assembly. Right before she came. The office bearers in our school sent the shoes to the address Indira Gandhi gave. The assembly was later.
Me: What did she talk about?
My Grandmother: She talked about the poor. The flood that happened. That was who the shoes were for. The people affected by the flood. She talked about India, and the problems in it. She also gave us good advice for us students. I think she appreciated the neatness of the college too. The nuns there were very eager in keeping the place very beautiful and clean. No one was allowed to keep random paper in the room or outside the compound.
Me: How important is beef in Kerala?
My Grandmother: Every week people eat beef and cook beef. For Christmas, Easter, and any celebration, we eat plenty of beef curry and beef fried and beef cutlets. Different types of beef food.
Me: Do the Hindus in Kerala eat the beef?
My Grandmother: Some of them eat it. Back in the day the higher caste Hindus wouldn’t eat it. But when your dad was a kid, some of his Hindu Nair friends would eat it. I would give it to them when they came to our house. Some of my classmates wouldn’t eat beef, they would only eat chicken. And others are vegetarian. | https://medium.com/alappuzha-a-hidden-fortress-made-of-water/oral-history-1b7f094b8ce9 | [] | 2015-12-10 07:25:40.812000+00:00 | ['Travel', 'Food', 'Short Story'] |
The CEO of Groupon Shares His Recipe for Success | Aaron Cooper is the Interim CEO at Groupon, an online marketplace with around 4,000 employees globally. Prior to that he had worked in several other roles at Groupon including president of North America, Chief Marketing Officer, head of Global Travel, Head of North America Services and Head of North America Goods.
Before Groupon Aaron held a lot of marketing and leadership positions at Orbitz and optionsXpress and he held consulting roles at AOL and PwC.
Aaron Cooper, who recently moved into the role of interim CEO at Groupon, says his recipe for success has been working across many different industries and in very diverse roles. These experiences have given him the skills and mindsets he needs to be the best leader he can be.
You can watch the video of our full conversation below or just listen to the audio version as a podcast. If you want more content like this you can subscribe to my Youtube channel.
Click here to get the transcript or listen to your favorite player.
He says it has been incredibly important for his career that he’s been able to work in finance, marketing, brand marketing, and general management across industries such as travel, retail, finance, and internet. He has worked with companies who were very successful and growing and he’s worked for companies that were in distress.
All of these experiences have shaped his leadership approach and have led him to his current role.
In fact, Aaron says most of the biggest career moves he made were jobs he didn’t even know were available. He got into a role and did exceptionally well and then management would grab him and tell him he’s moving to a new role. He said he learned quickly to just say yes to these opportunities and it has proved to be an effective way for him to climb up the ladder.
What to do when you work for a bad boss
Aaron says he’s worked for a few tough bosses that have bordered on being too tough. There are always going to be people we work for who aren’t the best leaders. But Aaron says he always uses these opportunities to learn something and grow.
He says, “At those times I was focused on what I can learn out of this situation. It’s a mind shift, you have to decide that you want to be in that situation and you’re up for learning from this person. I also find that when you adopt that mindset, the tougher boss changes their attitude towards you. Which is something that I realized as well, hey, I’m a student, so please teach, has been a productive relationship for me to get the most out of those. And because of that there are tools that I have in my toolkit now.”
The best bosses on the other hand make employees want to show up every single day for them. Aaron says he had a great boss who with very little effort could get the very best out of Aaron. He knew the boss had his back and believed in him, so Aaron wanted to do his best and live up to the reputation the boss believed in.
Aaron gives an example of this great boss. Aaron had moved into a role leading online marketing and his team did a deal, but it ended up being a bad deal that cost a lot of money. Instead of just firing him or demoting him, the boss called Aaron out and said it was his to solve. He was counting on Aaron to fix it.
But the way he called Aaron out was in such a positive way that Aaron was able to come back from the failure. He motivated his team and they all went after it and fixed the problem. He actually looks back at this experience in a favorable way, which is all because of how the boss handled the situation.
Aaron says being a good leader comes down to how you leave people feeling. When you leave the room is everyone wanting to crush it, and do a great job for you? Or does everyone want to leave the company?
How Aaron carves out downtime and why every CEO should do the same
Aaron is very busy with his role as CEO, leading his company through the pandemic, as well as his personal life with his wife and kids. He has found that it is so important to carve out time every day for downtime, time to think through issues, focus on one specific problem, or just think of the next big move for the company.
He actually says his ideal amount of downtime each day is three hours. Which seems like a lot in a normal workday, but he says it’s important to have a good chunk of time so you can actually dive deep into the problems and issues you’re trying to solve.
Aaron says, “if you actually get a chance to think there’s such important things that you can always solve for your team. And sometimes during that time, I may call somebody and think a problem through with them. Absolutely. But it’s time for me to just make sure to take a step back and make sure that in the relative challenges of COVID and people working from home, and everything that comes with that for running a company where local businesses around the world have been shut down and their business has been impaired. And we’re looking for our strategies that we’re working on right now to be successful to help our broad community of Groupon. There’s so much in there for me, just to make sure that as things change day to day everyone’s coming along the same way.”
And even though downtime sounds like someone is just sitting around and pondering things, that is far from the truth. Aaron is very structured with his downtime. He always has a list of priorities he has to think through and he is very active and engaged during the entire time. During this time he only focuses on the top priorities, you can’t let priority 6 or 7 sneak into your thought process at this time. It has to be about critical issues only.
Leadership is changing. What are the skills and mindsets you need to master in order to lead in the new world of work? According to over 140 of the world’s top CEOs there are 4 mindsets and 5 skills that leaders need to master. Learn what they are and hear directly from these leaders by downloading the PDF here.
How to give employees the autonomy to make decisions on their own
In the past companies have tended to be bogged down with bureaucracy and hierarchy that made the decision process long and tedious. Just to get permission to buy a new piece of equipment or streamline a process it may take weeks or months to run it up the ladder and back down.
Now, with our current pace of change companies can no longer afford to make decisions this way. Employees have to be able to have the autonomy to make decisions for themselves. So how does Groupon make this possible for employees?
Aaron says it comes down a couple things they have done internally. The first big thing is transparency. Every employee, whether they have been at the company for 10 years or 4 months, knows what the company priorities are and they know what the current strategy is.
In fact when they launched a new strategy during Covid-19 they not only announced it company wide, but they went team by team, person by person to make sure they fully understood what the new strategy meant.
But Aaron knows that people can’t just understand the strategy, they have to believe in it. But you can’t force people to believe in something, it has to be a back and forth conversation until everyone is on board. This process takes consistency, discipline, and commitment.
So you have to have transparency and alignment in order to successfully hand over control to your employees. As Aaron says, “Within that empowerment giving someone the task, the resources and trusting them and their judgment becomes so much easier, because trying to goal something so specifically for the uncertainties going on right now is that much harder. So I’m really proud of our team across the board for the way that everyone has come along on this.”
How Aaron works on being a better leader
One thing Aaron has found very helpful in his journey as a leader is reflection. He takes time to reflect on the week to think back to when he wasn’t the leader he wanted to be so he can address those issues.
He also recently attended a class on authentic leadership which really impacted him and the way he approaches leadership. You have to figure out what kind of leader you are and you have to authentically lead in that way. Don’t try to be someone you are not. You can’t just read about another leader and try to copy and paste that into your way of leading.
When asked what kind of leader he is, Aaron said “An energetic leader, I’m a structured thinking leader. I like to make sure that we have the strategy and goals set out clearly. And people have embraced those. Because for me it’s grounded in getting the absolute best out of the team. And having them show up in ways where the energy that they’re both getting and giving to Groupon makes them feel better about themselves outside of Groupon, especially in a pandemic.”
And so he shows up everyday with that purpose and mission in mind and he leads as authentically as he can.
How Aaron keeps up with the constant pace of change
One thing a lot of leaders struggle with today is trying to keep up with things when the pace of change is so constant and so fast. This year has really shown how fast things can completely change. So how does Aaron keep up?
He says constant learning is a crucial key. He is always reading and is a part of a few book clubs, he listens to podcasts, he meets with other leaders, etc…He also finds it important to pay attention to his employees and what they are saying. They bring different perspectives and ideas that drive him forward.
What should leaders stop doing to become better leaders
For any leaders who want to better themselves Aaron’s advice is to stop playing it safe. You are going to have tough decisions to make and you are going to have to keep the company moving forward, playing it safe will not help you. You have to be bold. Especially with the things we are facing this year.
He says, “One of the things I learned in my turnaround management days is you’ve got to make the hard decisions, because time does not help when you’re running out of cash. We were in that situation here. But I learned that earlier in my career, and that’s something that now in leading through a year like now, it shows up, and it shows up in important ways. So stop playing it safe, is I think, really, really big.”
What should leaders start doing to become better leaders
Aaron says it is crucial for leaders to have a mission, a passion, an obsession and they have to be able to name it so that they know what they are doing when they get out of bed in the morning. This really goes back to the importance of reflection and understanding what kind of leader you are.
As Aaron shares, “Here, we’re helping local businesses, we’re helping local businesses through a challenging time, we’re helping our customers do more. There’s more ways that we can help. But we are redesigning Groupon into a recovery so we can help grow local commerce. And for us, that’s energizing, it shows up in multiple ways from our strategy, just to the way we were working throughout the team to develop more empathy and more listening on the front end with customers and merchants. But I would say you gotta you got to start with that passion. But again, I think the ingredient for that is you have to do the reflection. So you can really be genuine and honest with yourself about what your passion is all about.”
You can check out the full episode below or click here to get the transcript or listen to your favorite player.
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1. Subscribe to The Future of Work Podcast where I interview business leaders around the world each week.
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3. If you are or want to be an entrepreneur then my wife and I just launched a brand new podcast on how to Be Your Own Boss, called the BYOB Podcast where we share what we did and how we did it. You can subscribe to that here. | https://medium.com/jacob-morgan/the-ceo-of-groupon-shares-his-recipe-for-success-346f1d42cb35 | ['Jacob Morgan'] | 2020-12-21 10:22:14.813000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Future Of Work', 'Business Leaders', 'Business Strategy', 'Career Development'] |
Failure is an Option | As human beings, we want to succeed, we want to do well in life. We have been told time and time again that “failure is not an option.” I think that phrase is misguided and misleading. With maturity — or should I say age, I have discovered that this was not sage advice. Leaning on this belief that failure is not ideal, I took the safe route all too often. I rarely failed because I set my goals low enough that failure was nearly impossible. That is what I did in my younger years. I tried to choose safe relationships, a safe career, safe goals. All which led me to safety but limited growth and fulfillment. I applied for jobs which I knew that I was almost guaranteed to get. I set goals, like receiving my Master’s degree, which again, I was pretty confident that I could achieve with perseverance and a targeted focus on my studies. In my personal life, my low standards for dating often led to disaster after disaster because I was willing to accept too little and give too much. I didn’t want to fail, but ironically these low standards always led to dating disasters.
Thankfully, time led me to take more chances and take more risks. I observed some of my colleagues and close friends setting high goals and often exceeding them, so I dipped my toe in the water and began taking small, calculated risks in all areas of my life. I started with work and school. I worked on my administrative certification despite hearing how difficult it was to pass the exam and also, I was unsure of how I could afford the courses. I took a chance and started the program. It was challenging, but I succeeded. I am proud of that certification because I knew that success was not guaranteed. I had to really work for it. I also applied for roles outside of the classroom. I pushed myself. I loved having my own students and being only responsible for those seven or eight classes. I knew that I could help more students in a different role so I forced myself to apply for other roles. I set higher goals. I am so glad that I did. Working on a district level allows us to impact education far more than I would have in a single classroom. I cherish classroom teachers and aides because of the work I personally know they do diligently every single day, but I knew that I was being led to serve in other ways. Throughout my career, I have applied for several jobs that I didn’t get; it is never a good feeling but it is always a learning experience. Besides, I feel that I always find my way to the right roles.
Additionally, I decided to set my standards high when it came to dating. I journaled past mistakes and created a list of traits I would like to have in a mate. I would never set my expectations that low again. I prayed over it and let it go. I was not concerned with how many dates did not work out. I was determined to find the person I was destined to be with and I did. The chances that I take in all areas of my life, don’t always work out. There are many times when I don’t succeed — no matter how hard I try. Nevertheless, I dust myself off and get back up. Failure is an option and I am learning to embrace it more (I still don’t quite like it). Each time we fall and rise, we inspire others to do the same. We rise to the occasion and we are all the better for it. | https://medium.com/@54u/failure-is-an-option-6ca0f5e3b547 | ['Tanesha Russell Yusuf'] | 2021-06-22 23:16:18.714000+00:00 | ['Help', 'Expectations', 'Self Improvement', 'Goals', 'Blog'] |
Integrating LVM with Hadoop and Elasticity on Data Node Storage | Integrating LVM with Hadoop and Elasticity on Data Node Storage
Hello Geeks. Let’s learn something new today.
Today we will be learning how to create Logical Volume on a Data Node storage and contribute to Hadoop Cluster to make the data node elastic by nature.
Some basic terms we need to understand:
Logical Volume Management: LVM is away in the storage system that provides a method of allocating storage devices that are more flexible than conventional partitioning schemes to store volume. It is elastic by nature, which means we can increase and decrease storage size when we require without losing data.
Elasticity: Elasticity refers to a storage system's capability to adapt to variable workload changes by allocating and deallocating resources as required by each application.
Data Node: In a Hadoop Cluster Data Node, the system holds the data of the filesystem. They are many Data Node in a single cluster, and their information is saved on the Name Node and controlled by the Name Node.
Basic Understanding of LVM
Let's learn about LVM in brief before going to the topic. As we know, LVM is a storage device management where we, the user, can increase and decrease the amount of storage in a device without losing its data or without going into offline storage mode. It gives us the advantage of the elasticity, flexibility, and control to the user. LVM can also be called dynamic storage.
So, how LVM is created? → First, we need to create a Physical Volume from the storage available. We need to contribute the storage of those Physical Volumes into a Volume Groups, that holds the storage amount. Then from the Volume Group, we can create as many Logical Volume we want until the Volume Group runs out of storage.
Now, as we have some knowledge about what is LVM. Let's get started…
Step 1
First, let’s launch our AWS EC2 instance for name node and data node.
Now we will connect to our data node and setup LVM; we need LVM software. First, we can check what software provides LVM, so w use the command.
# rpm -q --whatprovides lvm2
Then we install the software using the yum command:
# yum install <output of above code>
We have successfully installed LVM software. We will launch and attach two EBS storage to our instance. When we are doing it on VM, we can add storage to our VM. Here we added 2 volumes of 5GiB.
Now we have to convert these disk storage into a physical group, and we can do that with the command:
# pvcreate <diskname> <diskname>
After creating to view the physical volume and to get information about it like it is allocated or not, which volume group it is allocated with, we can use the command:
# pvdisplay //To see all physical volume # pvdisplay <diskname> //To see a specific physical volume
After creating a physical volume, we will create a volume group. The volume group is like we have added the two physical groups, and now both are available as one disk with total size. The volume group size will be 10GiB here because we added two physical volumes of 5GiB.
Here we created a VG with the name “myvolume” and added the two PVs to it. We can create a volume group using the command:
# vgcreate <name for VG> <pv name> <pv name>
We can see the details about our volume group using the command:
# vgdisplay //To see all volume group # vgdisplay <VG name> //To see specific volume group
Now from our volume group of 10GiB, we will create a Logical Volume. We can create many Logical Volume from the VG until our VG is fully used. To create a logical volume, we have to give it a name, and then we have to allocate the size of the volume and state from which VG we want to create it.
To create a logical volume, we can use the command:
# lvcreate --name <name for LV> --size <lv size> <VG name>
We can see the details about the LV using the command:
# lvdisplay //To see all logical volume # lvdisplay <VG name> //To see specific logical volume
Now we have created a Logical Volume, we can check it using the command “fdisk -l,” and we can see our Logical Volume of 3GiB.
To use our Logical Volume, we have to format the volume first to create a fresh Inode Table. We will be using the ext4 file system to format our Logical Volume. To format, we used the command:
# mkfs.ext4 /dev/<VG Name>/<LV Name>
After formatting, we mounted the storage in one directory called “datastore” using the command:
# mount /dev/<VG Name>/<LV Name> /datastore
We can check if this was successful or not by using the command “df -h.”
Now we have to use this Logical Volume as our Data Node storage. So we have to go to the Data Nodes configuration file and set the <value> tag value to the Logical Volume directory.
We then restarted of hdfs service, and now we can see that the data node is contributing around 3GB to the Hadoop cluster.
Now we created a test file inside the directory “datastore.” The file size is around 555MiB
Use Case
Now here comes our use case of using the LVM. We created a file of 559MB. What if the file size will be bigger and the cluster needs more storage.?
We have added more storage but using static volume increment, we cannot increase the storage size without shutting down the storage or formatting the storage, and we don’t want to do that.
Now we can increase the LVM size easily without losing any data or shutting down the storage using the command:
# lvextend --size +<size to increase> /dev/<<VG Name>/<LV Name>
We can increase as much storage as we want, depending on the size available in our Volume Group. We added 5GiB more to our Logical Volume, as we can see below the image. | https://medium.com/@mishanregmi/integrating-lvm-with-hadoop-and-elasticity-on-data-node-storage-bb2bbfa0c8fd | [] | 2020-11-27 07:49:57.173000+00:00 | ['Hadoop', 'Python', 'AWS', 'Elasticity', 'Lvm'] |
Questions Parents Should Ask Before Sending Children Back to School | Questions Parents Should Ask Before Sending Children Back to School
Research Reveals Teachers’ Concerns About Returning to School
Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash
Educators, parents, students, legislatures, anybody concerned about the health of children desire to know if it is safe for schools to reopen. The answers vary according to location, size of school, grade level, and who is asked. There exist no absolute answers.
Should schools reopen? The many variables make answering such a broad, overwhelming question difficult. A survey of educators responding to two questions provides insights that empower all stakeholders in education.
First question: How long have you taught?
The responses ranged from 2 to 35 years.
When totaled, more than 500 years of teaching experience were represented by the responses.
A diverse group of respondents representing multiple areas of education participated: core and elective teachers, instructors in grades K — 12, school nurses, counselors and administrators.
Second question: What concerns you about returning to school during the pandemic?
Feedback is divided into categories. Repeated concerns are combined to synthesis the main ideas.
If you are a concerned citizen, directly or indirectly involved in education, ask these questions. The answers or lack of answers provide information to what degree a school is prepared to open. Then, if you are a parent, couple the information with your child’s specific needs to make decisions that are safe and appropriate for your family.
Sanitizing
Who is responsible for sanitizing spaces, supplies, and furniture?
How often does sanitizing occur?
Is there protocol for sanitizing specific areas or items in the school? (Desk, chairs, books, manipulatives, supplies, pencil sharpeners, door handles, art supplies, tools etc.)
Protocol
Is there a consistent protocol? If yes, is it consistent within a building, across grade levels, within a district or statewide?
Who are the experts who established the protocol?
How is the protocol being communicated to teachers, parents, and students?
Is there a plan to address people who are resistant to following protocol?
For instance, if a student refuses to wear a mask (if masks are required), what happens? Some districts have stated the student will be sent home. What action takes place if the parents is unavailable or unwilling to pick up the student from school?
Or what if a parent doesn’t not support the requirement to wear masks? The law is that all children must be provided a free and appropriate education. How will this be addressed?
Transitions
How are safe transitions being implemented?
Do all students move through the halls at the same time?
Are lunches staggered? Currently, in many schools lunches are already staggered and lunch room are filled to capacity. In some of these buildings students eat lunch as early as 10:30 so as to have time to feed all students. How with this crowding situation be addressed?
Transportation
Will additional busses be added to the routes?
What is the maximum number of students on a bus? How many will be assigned to one seat?
How often will buses be sanitized?
Elective Classes
How will resources be shared and cleaned? (i.e. paint brushes in art class, cooking ingredients in home economics, tools in automotive, instrument in music, equipment in PE, computers etc.)
What is the plan to transport students to magnet schools and feeder school for special programs such as vocational classes?
What systems are in place for higher risk classes that have a greater potential to spread the virus such as choir and athletics?
Resources
How will teaching resources be shared among students? Many curricula have class copies of workbooks, novels, or manipulatives.
Can a classroom set of books be used repeatedly from period to period?
Does an adequate budget exist to create multiple copies of materials that once were shared?
Masks (if required)
Is any form of mask acceptable? Is there anything (writing, pictures, symbols) that is unacceptable on masks?
How long can a mask be used?
How often should a mask be washed? Who washes the mask?
If a mask is not returned to the school, is a student provided a new one each day?
How will the school address religions that do not support face masks?
Are additional masks available if one gets lost, stolen, torn, or soiled?
Do young children understand the seriousness of the situation to keep their masks on throughout the school day?
Is there adequate supervision during non-instructional times such as recess and lunch to monitor students?
Social Distancing
What is the total number of students allowed in a classroom? Will this number be adjusted for the age and size of the students?
Many classrooms have tables with 4–6 students. Will these be exchanged for desks for social distancing?
How are lockdowns and fire drills being modified to adjust for social distancing?
The questions above were submitted by concerned teachers. Notice the questions focus on the safety of the students in most cases. They are not self-serving and teacher centered which I found quite impressive. They reflect teachers desires to protect the children.
There are more questions that could be asked, but if the school you are investigating can answer all or most of these concerns, there is most likely a safe environment awaiting your child. If few of the questions have complete and direct answers, then you don’t need additional questions. You already have all the answers you need. | https://medium.com/home-sweet-home/questions-parents-should-ask-before-sending-children-back-to-school-7bbd9eaf49e1 | ['Brenda Mahler'] | 2020-08-14 12:39:41.150000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Schools', 'Politics', 'Teachers', 'Education'] |
Grace for Her Victims | When Mother’s Day is Painful
She shrieked and shrieked for her mother, but her mother was already there. Her mother was the monster.-Holly Black, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
When I was a young teen girl I had a pastel green comforter with a floral motif pattern. It also had a massive bloodstain on the corner.
My bedroom in my parent’s house was always the coldest in the winter and the warmest in the summer despite the house having adequate heating and cooling systems. When the weather would turn warmer I enjoyed laying out my blankets and pillows across the carpeted floor to create a sort of bohemian sleeping area. It was cooler on the floor. I had so many nights where I would fall asleep listening to my headphones immersed in a pop-rock soundtrack. It wasn’t a conventional arrangement but it was comfortable.
It was an evening like any other. I was fifteen years old. I was dressed in an old t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I was ready for bed, sitting on the floor with my blankets and my diary. I was listening to music with my headphones on. But that was all I remembered. The rest is a blur. I don’t remember how the conversation started — it wasn’t a conversation but rather an angry command. I don’t remember seeing her wind up and strike me across the face. But she did. I felt it. I felt flesh connect against the metal of my braces and I could taste the iron in my mouth as my cheek filled with blood. And I can remember being hoisted up off the floor by a freakishly strong woman. And she shook my body with angry and violent force. With hatred and fury in her voice she threw me against my mattress. The entire weight of her body fell over me as she continually smacked me with open palms. And then she screamed at me to get into bed. It happened so quickly it barely registered it had happened. But the blood pouring out of my mouth was a solid indicator I had imagined nothing. The open wound on my breast and the accompanying bruise was evidence something incredibly wrong had just transpired.
I heaved violent and uncontrollable sobs that night as I knelt over the pastel green comforter. Never before had I felt such unfathomable rejection and hatred. The violence against me was more than just physical, it raped my very existence. Any semblance of love I thought I had from the woman who gave birth to me was evaporated. In a fleeting moment of violence and anger I had lost everything. Worse still, I never had it to begin with.
The woman who had given birth to me had just assaulted me over something as benign as where I chose to fall asleep.
This wasn’t an isolated incident. I have innumerable stories I could articulate that describe horrific details of violence and manipulation. The amount of trauma I could convey would not fit in a single essay. When I attempted to relay my past and present trauma to my therapist, he had to ask me to stop because he couldn’t handle the sheer amount of what I was describing. He told me in my first session no one person could handle the amount of physical and emotional trauma I have endured and be expected to exist with any sort of functional reliability in day-to-day life. I thought I had been coping quite well, I had developed several defense mechanisms over the years to deal with my dysfunction. He assured me I was not coping well and then went into detail as to why.
His assessment proves to be correct when Mother’s Day rolls around. Unlike those who have lost their mother due to death, I do not miss my mother. Unlike those separated by distance and time, I do not long to be closer to my mother. Unlike those who express poetic tributes to their mother, I am not thankful for mine. Unlike those who talk about their mother as their best friend, I do not understand because that concept is so completely foreign. But seeing these things expressed on social media causes untold anxiety within me. It reminds me that I didn’t have a mother who cared for me or protected me. It reminds me that I was unworthy of her love and affection. It reminds me that I was so utterly contemptible that she was willing to cast me out and reject me. It reminds me that I will never have the mother that I need or desire because she does not exist for me and never will. Mother’s Day forces me to confront the strong emotions I have surging beneath the thin surface of my well-constructed defense mechanisms. Feelings of hatred. Feelings of pain. Feelings of sorrow. Feelings of a broken and bruised child. Feelings that remind me of just how worthless I am [to her].
Mother’s Day for children raised in abuse is particularly hard. The obligation of a cultural expectation to heap adoration and praise upon a woman simply for the act of giving birth is oftentimes traumatic. The abuse endured by a child doesn’t end when the child leaves home, the tactics employed are only adapted for the new reality. And the attempts to control, shame, or psychologically wound don’t stop. The abuser can often be relentless. And sentiments of “Love your mother, she is the only one you have,” add to the trauma experiences of a person who has been a victim of abuse. No one would expect a person to stay married to their abuser, or for a person to display affection for their rapist, yet that expectation is placed on children of abuse. The notion of forgive-and-forget simply because she carried a child and went through labour is not an excuse or justification for violence, control, manipulation, and shame.
I was always expected to care for her needs. Love her. Validate her. Be there for her. I was expected to be for her what she had lacked as a child herself. Yet repeatedly I was subject to humiliation and shame and accusations and comparisons that I would never measure up. I spent years trying to forgive and redeem the woman who would reject me time and again. And then somehow, in her eyes, it would always be my fault. For years I felt like I couldn’t say anything because it would hurt her. I felt powerless. Voiceless. I had learned never to stand up to her because it always resulted in violence or rejection. Even amid my pain and trauma, there was an implicit expectation to care for her needs, or I would regret it. It is a vicious cycle.
Daughters of narcissistic mothers absorb the message “I am valued for what I do, rather than for who I am. — Karyl McBride, Will I Ever Be Good Enough? Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers
This year is particularly hard for me. My paternal grandmother passed away shortly before Christmas. I hadn’t processed how much she meant to me until she was gone. In recent years she had slowly been slipping away due to dementia stealing her memories and her cognition, but knowing she was still breathing meant I could still sit with her and hear her voice and touch her skin. This was the woman to whom I owed much. She had loved me in ways I can’t begin to describe and made sacrifices on my behalf so that I would always have her in my life. She protected me. She provided guidance. She took me in when my mother had kicked me out and I had nowhere to go. And she showed me what it was to be a wife, a mother, a woman. For many years I was able to pick up a phone or show up at her door, and she never failed me. She supported me no matter what was happening in my life. But now she is gone. If ever I had someone who showed me that my existence mattered it was her. And she saw the abuse. She witnessed it. She expressed on more than one occasion how much she wished she could have saved us from it.
This is my first Mother’s Day since she passed away. The same triggers I experience year after year are still there, but this year they accompany a more grim reminder. The last person to love and care for me from my formative years as a child is now gone. The last woman to nurture me, encourage me, and soothe me is now returned to the earth. And it means I am now an orphan.
It was her death that prompted me to seek therapy. It has been a healthy but painful process for me. It has allowed me to face my past trauma head-on while acknowledging my internal family of protection and learning what their role has been in protecting me. It has allowed me to begin the healing process, to nurture the internal child within that has desperately needed attention all these years. It has given me my voice when I have previously felt powerless. For years I have formulated essays similar to this when Mother’s Day drew near, but my fear and my ill-conceived notion of respect for her prevented me from putting pen to paper or further still, publishing it publicly.
She has never apologized for any of it. She has never apologized for hitting me or hurting me or rejecting me. She used her childhood trauma or her mental health as justification for her actions. She told me time and again that if I only understood what she went through I would have more compassion for her. I understood, I always understood. Her childhood was used as bedtime stories for me when I was a child. I’ve always known. Yet as I raise my children I have been acutely aware that my past trauma is never an excuse for treating my children badly. I have been worried to the point of paranoia that I would hurt my children in the same manner, and I have required reassurance from the people around me. Only time, and my children, will account for whether I was a good mother to them. But this I know to be true, my actions are my own and only I can be responsible for how I treat them.
The pastel green comforter was destroyed a few years ago when we brought home a new puppy. I had held onto that blanket for over twenty years. Perhaps I needed a reminder of the first night I truly felt her rejection and contempt. Perhaps I felt I deserved it. Perhaps I kept it as a part of my identity. When it was destroyed I felt a strange sense of relief and regret.
I am not yet free from the emotional trauma and abuse I suffered, but I know I am healing little by little. As difficult as Mother’s Day is for me, I know I am not alone. I have a wonderful husband and three lovely sons, I have wonderfully supportive friends all of whom I adore, and an extended family I am becoming reacquainted with. Above all I am learning to see my worth. As I discover my worth, I am finding my voice. I grieve for the loss of my grandmother. Her name was Grace. As I reflect on her name I realize she was the grace in my life. I will forever be grateful for her. I will always miss her. I will cling to her example as I move forward in this life without her. It is her strength and tenacity I draw upon. It is her life I want to emulate.
I will allow grace for my pain this year on Mother’s Day. I give myself permission to instead celebrate the life I have built with my family and friends. It’s okay that Mother’s Day is painful. I won’t run from it any longer. One day I will be healed and it is okay that I’m not healed today. And as a mother myself, that is the gift I give myself this year. | https://medium.com/@jenniferlitke/grace-for-her-victims-c6119c452fc7 | ['Jennifer Litke'] | 2020-05-10 03:06:27.828000+00:00 | ['Abuse Survivors', 'Mental Health', 'Parental Abuse', 'Grief And Loss', 'Mothers Day'] |
What is your book of 2020? | Seriously, I do want to know. It has been that kind of year and for many discovering books and reading was a new found passion.
I enjoy reading and as I said in a previous post, I have varying ‘tactics’ to read books for different reasons, to enjoy them for what they are or to extract from them some other learning or deeper meaning!!
My book of 2020 is…
Jay Shetty, Think like a Monk. Somehow this seems very appropriate for the year 2020.
I have to admit, I was not a big fan of Jay Shetty as I tried listening to his podcast and watching his youtube videos but I found that they were littered with adverts.
I was being all zen like and getting in the mood with a podcast from Jay and then, bang, in drops an advert… then another, back to the podcast and boom, drops in another advert.
Really, I mean come on mate! You are an ex-monk, get some balance between the commercial piece and the ‘live life like a monk’ piece.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/on-purpose-with-jay-shetty/id1450994021
Anyway, I persevered and decided to give his book a go as he was bouncing around all the talk shows and self help sites so I though, he must have something more to offer than just adverts.
I was right. He has more to offer.
He is a great storyteller and shares deep wisdom on the back of enlightening insights and great stories.
He has lived an interesting life so far and he speaks with the authority of the experiences that he has gained.
There are new things for the self development world to explore and he opens up some never heard before rich seams of thought that have not been explored too much within the genre.
Get it, take the time to read it… work it and then go back and read it again. It’s worth it.
On that note..
What would be your recommendation?
I would love to know so I can select my next book on the back of your recommendations, please leave a suggestion below….
Pretty please. | https://medium.com/@i-robertson/what-is-your-book-of-2020-7454c1e74474 | ['Iain Robertson'] | 2020-12-27 05:07:04.399000+00:00 | ['Reading', 'Thinking', 'Lifestyle', 'Learning', 'Book Recommendations'] |
Why Does the Way Back Always Feel Shorter? | What a psychological phenomenon can teach us about expectations and living a happier life.
I’m not sure about you, but I’ve always been curious about the phenomenon of the “return trip effect” — the perception of a return trip taking less time than the initial trip despite being equal in distance and time.
I’ve noticed this many, many times in my life. Whether it’s something physical like hiking or walking, or something more mental like long-haul flights or car rides, it just seems like “time flies” much faster on the way back.
My Recent Experience with the Return Trip Effect
I’ve recently started running, and I go the exact same “out-and-back” route every time. The route starts at my house, goes onto a bike trail and eventually takes me through a tunnel to a neighboring town. I’ve been adding a little bit of distance every time, but I’ve noticed that the first half of the run always seems longer and harder than the second half.
I used to think that familiarity played a big role in this — I figured the trip felt longer because I was using a lot of processing power to take in my surroundings on the way there, but didn’t need to process as much on the way back because I was now familiar with the route.
But I’ve been running the same route every time! And I’ve noticed return trips seeming shorter in situations even when I’m already familiar with the route. So how does that make sense?
Upon further research (namely this 2011 study on the Return Trip Effect), familiarity with the route is actually not the main reason we think the return route is shorter. It actually circles back to the expectations we had before the trip even begins.
Humans have a habit of constantly underestimating how long things take, so we will often expect the initial trip to be shorter than it is. We’ll say, “Ah, this trip should go pretty quickly!”
And when that trip is inevitably longer than we expected, we say: “Gee whiz, that was a long trip!”, even though it was only long because we thought it would be short.
Now we have more realistic expectations for the return trip, and thus experience it as being shorter than the initial trip.
But the only difference was our expectation going into each leg of the trip. A simple shift in expectations can completely change the way we experience time in virtually identical situations. That’s crazy!
Expectations Can Shift Reality
I thought this was pretty interesting because it takes this whole idea from “Hmm, it’s interesting that return trips always seem shorter” to “Wow, our expectations can completely shift the way we perceive time itself”.
It really demonstrates the power that expectations have on our perception of reality!
Expectations help us to better understand and predict what will happen in the world around us. When we put coffee grounds into the coffee maker, fill it with water, and press “Start”, we expect a pot of coffee to be brewed. When we say “Thank you”, we often expect a response like “You’re welcome”. Without any expectations, we’d be walking around in a continual state of surprise at everything that happens. That would be unbearable!
But I think expectations become problematic when we become emotionally invested in them. I’m actually experiencing this right now!
I’m graduating in a couple weeks and I’m currently job hunting pretty hard. I’ve already had three situations where I was fully expecting to get to the next stage of the process. I thought I had the perfect background and felt I was a “no-doubt” top candidate for each one. I was rejected for all three. And each time I became extremely discouraged, almost physically feeling my soul get crushed a bit each time. And each time it took me one or two days to get back on the horse again.
Those negative reactions were purely a result of my high expectations and my relationship to them. I believed that I knew what should happen and what would happen, and I became emotionally invested in that outcome.
Expectations are nothing more than an educated guess, a way for your mind to predict what is going to happen in a given situation. We get into trouble when we take our expectations as concrete realities and become emotionally invested in them. The more we buy in to our own expectations, the more emotional pain we feel when they don’t align with reality.
If I had tempered my expectations and trusted that whatever happened was meant to happen, I would likely have been slightly disappointed, assessed what I could have done better, and went on with my day. But my expectations instead led to a reality that was so different from what I expected that I was thoroughly nonplussed by the situation — confused, angry, and discouraged enough to stop applying to jobs for the day. In both scenarios, the world around me was completely the same — I was sitting at my desk, reading a rejection email. But the different relationship with expectations created two wildly different realities for myself — one far less pleasant than the other.
How Can We Use This?
We’re never going to completely stop believing and emotionally investing in our expectations. We will always be disappointed when things don’t go how we wanted. We will always try to predict the future and then express bewilderment when our predictions are inevitably wrong. But what we can do is try and become conscious of our relationship with our expectations.
I’m currently in the final interview stage for a position that I want very badly. The first interview was the best interview I’ve had in my life and it would truly be a dream first job out of college. But I’m trying to learn my lesson from previous disappointments.
I’m telling myself: “If you don’t get this, it’s because it’s not the right opportunity for you at this point in your life. It may seem like it is, but it’s not up to you to decide that. And you couldn’t even if you wanted to! The right opportunity will present itself at the right time.”
I firmly believe this. And even if I didn’t, what other option is there? We can only do our best and trust that things will work out.
In my research for this post, I came across this parable from a Thai Buddhist master named Achaan Chaa:
“You see this goblet?” “For me, this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table, and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, “Of course.” When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.”
After writing this post, I’m hoping to operate in the world with a more manageable, less emotional relationship with my expectations. I want to live my life like I’m always on the way back, free of the unrealistic expectations and stress of the first leg of the journey. I want to experience reality as authentically as possible, and that means doing what I can to prevent it being distorted and warped by my expectations of what should and will happen.
I want to try and treat my life like the teacher treats the goblet in the parable—understanding that even my expectation of being alive the next day is never fully guaranteed and that each moment is precious. | https://medium.com/@tylerbullock/why-does-the-way-back-always-feel-shorter-8310cf73b44d | ['Tyler Bullock'] | 2020-12-29 20:19:03.580000+00:00 | ['Job Search', 'Perception', 'Personal Development', 'Psychology', 'Expectations'] |
GROUND CONTACT TIME (GCT) | Download high resolution graphic
GCT is the time spent while the foot is in contact with the ground (from footstike, stance to toe-off) for each stride while running.
GCT is lower when running faster and when we run at higher cadence
Lower GCT is generally associated with better running performance and running economy
Running Economy
Running Economy (RE) indicates how efficient we are at expending energy when running, is a key determinant of endurance performance. GCT is a key factor that influences running economy. Lesser the GCT, better is the running economy.
GCT is related to other indicators which are often referred as Running Dynamics.
Flight Time : More the flight time (time spent in air) for each stride, lesser the GCT
: More the flight time (time spent in air) for each stride, lesser the GCT Cadence : Higher cadence is often correlated with lesser GCT, and is one of the ways to reduce GCT
: Higher cadence is often correlated with lesser GCT, and is one of the ways to reduce GCT Leg Spring Stiffness: More stiffer the legs (springy), better the elastic energy return after landing, which reduces the ground contact time
What is optimal GCT?
Ground Contact Time is highly individualized, and depends on parameters such as speed, cadence, strength, balance, and control. Based on the speed and pace of running, the optimal ranges for GCT are as below.
Sprinters < 100ms
Elite marathoners < 200ms
Amaeteur marathoners < 300ms
Injuries and GCT Balance
Ground Contact Time Balance (GCT Balance), is the ratio of time spent on ground on left and right strides, is a strong indicator of strength imbalances. The more skewed the GCT ratio is more the probability of injuries. Tracking and working on GCT balance is important to prevent injuries.
GCT and GCT balance can be measured using devices such as Stryd, Garmin HRM Tri, HRM Dual, RD Pod, RunScribe etc.,
Training to Optimize GCT
Speed Training
Maximal effort (anaerobic) intervals,
Hill repeats
Strides
Strength Training
Resistance training
Plyometrics help leg spring stiffness, and improve balance and control
Running Form Analysis
Correcting form issues
Retraining running technique to help faster hip extension, and earlier knee flexion
Compiled by Team GeeksOnFeet for the love of running!
If you are a running enthusiast, follow us on our social media channels @geeksonfeet on Twitter, and GeeksOnFeet on Instagram and Facebook for updates. Also let us know what running topics you would like to read on. | https://medium.com/@geeksonfeet/ground-contact-time-gct-c50423561692 | [] | 2021-01-31 12:37:48.995000+00:00 | ['Running Tips', 'Running Form', 'Running'] |
MAKE MONEY ONLINE/DoodleMaker | MAKE MONEY ONLINE/DoodleMaker
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AFFILIATE LINK:https://jvz8.com/c/1101129/357045 | https://medium.com/@davidabrahamgopal/make-money-online-doodlemaker-993be1d3b05b | ['Ramachandran Gopal'] | 2020-12-22 19:56:45.184000+00:00 | ['Digital Marketing', 'Money', 'Online Marketing', 'Make Money Online', 'Affiliate Marketing'] |
It’s simple — I miss you…. Missing someone is probably one of the… | Copyrights: everydayknow.com/Pinterest
Missing someone is probably one of the worst feelings you can experience. It’s not something you can see, it’s extremely hard to avoid it. Even if you try to work hard so that you won’t have the time to think about that person, it still doesn’t work.
But what do we actually miss — the person itself or the memories we shared together? Personally, I miss both. While writing this, I am thinking about one particular person who came in my life out of nowhere but managed to find a place in my life. We shared a lot of good and bad moments together, I think we even built a friendship. We had different points of view on many subjects but somehow found the balance every time (even though both of us are quite stubborn).
Due to the circumstances, however, we drifted apart. We still had many calls and endless texts but, over time, that stopped as well. You’d say: ‘Well, each one of you moved on with their lives, found new friends and that’s it, there is no reason for you to continue talking.’ Well, I strongly disagree.
I am this type of person who thinks that people come into your life for a reason. I don’t think that it is so easy to just forget someone just because you moved on with your life and have new friends. So, once in a while, I really miss this person — both as the person itself as well as the memories we shared. I miss the voice and the laugh when I say something stupid (believe me, that happened a lot of times), all the serious and not so serious talks we used to have.
It is funny how you can just see something online or find a song that just reminds you of that person you miss so much. I experience this a lot, whether it’s just an article I found or a song I listened to and would have gladly shared. I won’t lie, we still keep in touch once in a while but we both just seem too distant. I don’t know if it’s my pride or stubbornness or both but I don’t think I’ll be able to admit to that person that just once in a while I really, really miss him.
I might be exaggerating with all this but that’s who I am — a bit more sensitive than I am probably supposed to be. I really hope, though, that sooner or later I will have the chance to talk with that person again because that is definitely something important that is missing in my life.
Bottom line, never lose touch with the people you care about. Even though sometimes it’s really hard, just a simple: ‘’Hey, how are you doing?’’ can make someone’s day a hundred times better. It’s the small gesture that matters. | https://medium.com/@apieceofme/its-simple-i-miss-you-6fb1e0e8d7b5 | ['G. R.'] | 2019-11-07 17:21:13.891000+00:00 | ['Communication', 'Love', 'Sad', 'Distance', 'Friendship'] |
Typical business models and metrics | I came across another A16z gem on business models and metrics. I have been meaning to want to write about business models for a while now. There’s a complete list somewhere but that list is like 100+ items long and when I saw that, I was like, no…
Then came this video:
It’s a good summary of common business models. Boom that’s all I need on record. Kk, here we go:
1. Enterprise Business Model
An enterprise company sells services or software to other businesses on a single license basis. These contracts have fixed terms, designated contract values, and come up for renewal at the end of the term.
Example: Docker, Cloudera, FireEye
Key metrics:
Bookings: sum of value of all customer contracts (different from revenue -> need to earn revenue from bookings)
Total Customers: Total number of unique contracted customers today
Revenue: Recognized when service is actually provided to the customers
Key mistakes: LOIs/Bookings/ACV != revenue
2. SaaS model
A SaaS company sells subscription based licenses for a cloud hosted software solution.
Example: Segment, Ironclad, Sendbird
Key metrics:
MRR (Monthly recurrent rev): Revenue recognized for the month (doesn’t include one time, fees from professional services etc.)
ARR (Annual recurrent rev): Measure of revenue components that are recurring in nature on an annual basis
Gross MRR Churn: MRR lost in a given month/monthly rev at the beginning of the month
PAID CAC: Cost per customer acquired through paid marketing channels (total sales and marketing spend in a given month/total customers acquired via paid channels, including sales in a given month
Key mistakes:
ARR and and annual revenue run rate aren’t the same. One month’s all in revenue by 12 = Annual run rate not annual recurring revenue.
Don’t include one time revenue
3. Subscription
A subscription company sells a product or service on a recurring basis.
Example: The Atheletic, Dollar Shave Club, Blue Apron
Key metrics:
MRR: similar to SaaS
MRR CMGR: Implied compounded monthly MRR growth rate between two disparate months. CMGR = (latest month MRR/first month MRR) ^ (1/number of months) -1 This is smaller than the average of the growth rate.
Gross User Churn: total lost customers in a given period / prior period total customers. Unit churn
Paid CAC: Same as SAAS.
4. Transactional Company
This enables a financial transaction on behalf of a customer and collects a fee (usually a percent of the underlying transaction)
Examples: Stripe, Paypal, Coinbase, Brex
Key metrics:
Gross Transaction Volume (GTV): Total Sales or payment dollar volume transacted in a given period
Net Revenue: The portion of GTV that the company recognizes as revenue for services rendered
User Retention: Percent of customers who go on to make at least one purchase in month 2 (note this is a cohort metric)
Paid CAC: Cost per customer acquired through paid marketing channels (total sales and marketing spend in a given month / total customers acquired through paid channels, including sales)
Common mistakes:
User retention is a cohort metric. It is re calculated each month.
5. Market Place
This is a company that acts as an intermediary in the sale of a good or service between sellers and buyers, collecting a percent of the total transaction value.
Examples: Airbnb, eBay
Key metrics:
GMV (Gross merchandise value) This is the total dollar volume of merchandise transacted in a given period.
Net Revenue: The portion of GMV that the company recognizes as revenue for services rendered.
Net Revenue CMGR (Compound monthly growth rate) This is the implied monthly net revenue growth rate between disparate months.
User retention: percent of customers who go on to make at least one purchase in month 2
Paid CAC: Same as above
Key insights here: Airbnb users come back once a year to book. That’s not very easy to track during the year. So they had to be creative: tracking other things that lead up to that renewal a year later. So their questions are: what are the things the users do prior to actually booking on Airbnb? In their case, they usually do a lot of planning, researching and list creation. So internally, Airbnb need to track how well it helps the users do these planning, researching and lists creation.
Common mistakes:
In market places, paid CAC fail to include all costs associated with user acquisition such as referral incentives, discounts, cretics etc.
6. eCommerce
An eCommerce company sells physical goods online. Generally eCommerce companies manufacture and inventory those goods.
Examples: Warby Parker, Bonobos, Memebox
Key metrics:
Monthly revenue: Total revenue in a given month
Revenue CMGR: Implied compounded monthly revenue growth rate between two disparate months
Gross Margin: Gross profit in a given month/total revenue in the same month (Gross profit is the tot. Rev — cost of goods sold)
Paid CAC: same as above. Cost of customers acquired through paid marketing channels ( total sales and marketing spend in a given month / total customers acquired via paid channels, sales)
Common mistakes:
Net margin should consider all costs
7. Advertising
An Advertising company offers a free service to consumers and derives revenue entirely, or predominantly, from advertisers. Common advertising companies include social networks and content sites.
Examples: Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit
Key metrics:
Daily active users (DAU): Total number of unique users active in a 24 hour period, averaged over a given period of time.
Monthly active users (MAU): Total number of unique users at least once in last 28 days.
Percent Logged In” Total monthly active users with a registered account (logged in) divided by the total unique visitor (inclusive of both logged in and logged out) during the same 28 day window
Common mistakes:
Not defining what active means in your context of the business
8. Hardware (Similar to eCommerce)
A hardware company sells physical devices to consumers or businesses
Examples: Fitbit, GoPro, Xiaomi
Key metrics:
Monthly revenue: Total revenue in a given month
Revenue CMGR: Implied compounded monthly revenue growth rate between two disparate months
Gross Margin: Gross profit in a given month/total rev in the same period
Paid CAC: cost per customer acquired through paid marketing channels
Common mistakes in presenting; | https://medium.com/@shengyuchen/typical-business-models-and-metrics-4297d974a8ca | ['Shengyu Chen'] | 2019-08-18 15:31:36.659000+00:00 | ['Metrics', 'Ycombinator', 'Startup', 'Business Models'] |
10 Beautiful Ideas to Change Your Career | If you want to change your career, here is a list of ideas and examples that could give you the courage and motivation to take that step:
In his book “Creatures of a day,” psychiatrist Irvin Yalom, recommends to a patient who is not happy with his profession, the book “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. He says that the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, was not pleased with his job either, because he wanted to become a philosopher! Since philosophy was his real passion, we honor Marcus Aurelius today more as a philosopher than as a ruler!
Take Argentina’s most beloved psychoanalyst Gabriel Rolon. He first studied guitar and became a tango singer! Later on, he realized that what he wanted the most was to become a psychologist indeed. But he was scared to begin studying because of his age. Then his father said to him,
“I will not be ashamed of a son who tries and fails, but I will be ashamed of you if you don’t do it for fear.”
So he went for his passion, and that was the best decision he ever took!
Recently, when he presented his latest book, “Cara a Cara” in a stadium in Buenos Aires, 6.000 people were there! He keeps helping and inspiring so many people, and he embodies the wisdom he is trying to spread. It is all because he took that ONE RIGHT DECISION at the right time!
It is a bit hard to like the police. But recently, I have heard an interview with one who sounded like such a good person. Seth Stoughton was a cop, and then he decided to go back to school and became a law professor! He does a lot of critical thinking about how things work in the police departments nowadays, and he is trying to help improve that system, to turn it more human and fair. Hopefully!
In one of Ken Robinson’s speeches, he gives the example of a famous piano player. Consider that if she could make it as a concert pianist, she must have practiced thousands of hours literally since her childhood. So that girl was making a great career and all, until one day the conductor of an orchestra told her after a concert,
“You play wonderfully, but you don’t seem to enjoy it really, do you?”
She said she doesn’t. Indeed, her passion was reading! So at some point, she took that decision, gave up her career as a great musician, and became an editor! It is also exciting because what you can naturally do when the best does not necessarily have to be your passion. You may want to do something else with your life!
Take Maria Popova. She is the founder of the beautiful website Brainpickings. She used to have a steady, well-paid job, but this is what she says about her decision to leave it,
“Do I want to bury myself in a corporate job that I’m going to spend 80% of my waking hours at, be miserable, and hope that the money it gives me will make the other 20% of my life better, even though I’m angry and tired and burned out? Or, do I want to do something that makes me happy to wake up to and happy to go to sleep having done and let the financial part figure itself out?”
She is reading and writing all day and bringing wisdom into people’s lives through her website, and it turns out that it became a huge success, and she makes her living out of it!
There is a fascinating website called “80.000 Hours” that gives you excellent career advice. It is founded by the youngest philosophy professor in the world: William MacAskill. He teaches at Oxford. (Not that I think people’s academic titles matter. But I like that guy because he sounds like a very modest and generous person. He donates half of his salary every month!)
I have heard him on the Tim Ferriss podcast. When Tim asked MacAskill how he managed to get there so young, he said that “he just thought long enough” before choosing his career.
He gave an excellent example:
If you want to go out for dinner tonight that takes, let’s say 90 minutes, and you would think at least 5 minutes, right? In one lifetime, we work around 80.000 hours. So, to decide what to do with it, we would indeed need to think for about two years! On that website, you will find a lot of valuable career advice. You can also take a quiz to see what fits you better. They give you a lot of tools for “how to think clearly” on the subject.
I loved the “Getting unstuck” episode by the Hidden Brain podcast. If you think that you have tried it all and still don’t know what to do, it will offer you valuable insights and new ways of thinking.
Don’t miss the podcast “Good Life Project,” with Ken Robinson as a guest. You may know him from his TED Talks. He is on a beautiful mission, helping people from all around the world to lead more meaningful and fulfilling lives.
I am addicted to a podcast called “On Being with Krista Tippet.” She is one of the best interviewers in the world. The episode “Choosing Curiosity Over Fear” is precisely on this subject.
It can be very discouraging to hear any advice that only says, “find your passion.” Because most of us, except a few fortunate ones, don’t know it for years, and such a bit of advice may make us feel very lonely and clueless. But on this podcast, they recommend us to follow our curiosity instead. It makes it all much more straightforward.
Of course, it is not easy to take that step to change your career. But if it is a “meaningful” step for us, we must go for it. Only then we can have a fulfilled life.
That’s why I think this is the most “motivating and encouraging” quote of all times:
“He who has a why to live can bear almost anyhow.” Friedrich Nietzsche | https://mathladyhazel.medium.com/10-beautiful-ideas-to-change-your-career-e4a5360fc611 | ['Hazel Clementine'] | 2020-02-03 21:52:03.437000+00:00 | ['Careers', 'Self', 'Ideas', 'Creativity', 'Lists'] |
But what do you actually do? | I’m always fascinated by great conferences: the opportunity to learn from the best minds in the industry and your peers; both are of utmost value.
I also used to work for a media company with a conference production division. The SportBusiness team I worked with put on an annual global b2b conference bringing together the top minds across broadcast, sponsorship, stadia design and operation, technology, and Major Events. I learned the trade of conference production from within and without.
So why are so many people so bad at it, and how can we help them improve?
The Power and Punishment Legacy of TED Talks
Ever watched a TED Talk? Ever been sent an incredibly humbling and powerful sub-18minute TEDx clip? When it’s good, it’s really bloody good.
But if you stray away from the top videos much more than the collated playlists then you soon realise that not everyone has been hit by the same magical presenter stick.
Some of them are not very engaging at all. Some of them — I’m not even sure what they were talking about.
A failure of communication is a failure of the communicator to adapt to their audience
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to insist on some elitist system whereby only the drama school grads are allowed to present — all I want is that when given the opportunity to present, the conference presenters think about both the delivery and the content.
Both are essential — I want to be wowed and know wtf they are talking about.
I don’t want to have to prop my eyes open so that I can extract the vitally important message from within a mumbling monotone mess.
Equally, I do not want to lose 18 minutes of my life only to reach the end and wonder ‘but what do you do?’. This is my main problem with a lot of conference speeches I’ve heard.
The Peculiarities of the Third-Sector
After 16 years working in the private sector, I moved into the third-sector; charity/non-profit. It was a shock.
I was fortunate enough to start working for two charities at the same time (as is the norm in the third sector, part-time work is a financial necessity for the organisations).
Working for a start-up charity and a 30-year established charity gave me the best of both worlds; a bed of earned experience and embedded knowledge that I could tap into, and a blank canvas onto which I could unleash blind, naive optimism.
But wtaf is signposting?
Signposting
It wasn’t a phrase I’d ever needed to employ in the private sector, but in charitable circles, it was the word du jour.
Oh yes, once we have processed the service user, we signpost them to the appropriate service.
Do you signpost? What does that mean? You direct them to somewhere else? To another organisation?
You take money/grants/donations, and you operate a receptionist service whereby you waste a service-user’s valuable time and then send them off to another organisation to actually help them?
I assume you help them first? Do something for them? Add value to their process with you?
No? Do you just signpost them?
What. Do. You. Actually. Do?
Productive and Unproductive Value
It’s typically just after someone has finished their elevator pitch, their conference speech, or their death-by-powerpoint presentation that I ask myself (and sometimes them) this critical question. “It all sounds terrific.”, I say, “but what do you actually do?”.
It’s also usually about now that Adam Smith comes to mind:
The labour of some of the most respectable orders in the society is, like that of menial servants, unproductive of any value, and does not fix or realise itself in any permanent subject, or vendible commodity, which endures after that labour is past
Is it possible that we have organisations or people who do not add any real value from the perspective of the service-user (or customer)?
Or maybe it’s just that we have a group of people who are bad at explaining what value they add?
An organisation is rarely in a position to globally dispense a unique service or product — which is to say that all organisations must have competitors or other organisations delivering the same service elsewhere or in a slightly different way.
But what do you actually mean?
Take a good look at your organisational slogan or elevator pitch, or whatever other summaries you have of what you do and who you are.
Then shorten it. Reduce it to its minimum possible size that conveys the productive value that you add.
For example, South Kent Mind is a Mental Health Charity (shortest). We provide relief, aid rehabilitation, and build resilience (‘strategic pillars’).
But what do we actually do?
We collaboratively produce mental health assessments, person-centred planning, and we provide active, creative, & social activities to provide relief, aid rehabilitation, and build resilience.
We also signpost to other organisations, but only if we can’t do something ourselves or if someone else does it better. Better for the client, that is, always. | https://medium.com/copse-magazine/but-what-do-you-actually-do-610b9d2cb807 | ['Adam Colthorpe'] | 2020-01-11 19:08:22.695000+00:00 | ['Communication', 'Work', 'Presenting', 'Mental Health', 'Charity'] |
One of those successful stories worth sharing for… | Product Hunt, a quite useful tool for anyone who wants genuine feedback about a product from its existing users. I find its credibility factor extremely appealing; hence, I take the time to read through the reviews before spending money on a product. I find the whole concept adequately fascinating, eventually made me travel overseas to look for the founder, Ryan Hoover.
HOOVER’S EARLIEST STORY:
He’s had several jobs in the past, and being in charge of his parents’ gumball machine that made him understand the basics of revenue and expenditure since he was eleven. As he grew older, he learned ways of making money from banner ads through his own website and using the resale value of electronics on eBay.
I believe children must be taught and guided at the same time so they eventually grow the habit of making money ethically for future sustenance.
HIS PERSONAL INTERESTS:
As the founder of Product Hunt that mainly incorporates information on various products available on the internet, I inquired further about Ryan’s interests and found out,
Stork: Stork designs perfectly fitting undershirts that you can subscribe to for receiving newer threads either quarterly or monthly basis. So, before you know it there is newer sets of clothes perfectly piled up inside your closet. For anyone with extreme love in music can design their own music sets using this tool.
Ryan always wanted to build something that allows creativity to be expressed more openly. He stated,
“We see makers building varied, interesting ideas every day like a cat doodler, somewhat creepy selfie dolls, and this app that helps the blind see.”
HOOVER’S INVITATIONS…
With numerous companies trying relentlessly to make their product gain further exposure; Ryan is also excited to attend seminars hosted globally for sharing his knowledge and ideas.
A successful entrepreneur is the one that makes the most out of the time he has with him. Learn how you can also utilize your spare time to ensure the best results for your career.
Stay with TTN for more news on entrepreneurs and their success stories. | https://medium.com/the-technews/one-of-those-successful-stories-worth-sharing-for-c42edae35374 | ['Rafayatul Kabir'] | 2017-05-13 03:48:40.889000+00:00 | ['Technews', 'Product Hunt', 'Startup'] |
My top 10 takeaways from GHC’20 | I had heard great things about Grace Hopper Celebration(GHC) and finally got the opportunity to participate in GHC 2020! Sharing experience from attending a conference is like explaining how I feel after doing my first ever Skydive! Only ones who experience it can perfectly relate to it, for which you’ll have to attend next GHC. However, the closest thing to share my experience is by penning down my top takeaways.
Although I missed running around from one conference room to another, networking with people in person, collecting swag, checking out booths and such experiences, I really enjoyed virtual GHC 2020 at the comfort of my home. The speaker lineup including Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe, Dr Lisa Su and many others was amazing! Here are top 10 lessons to share:
1. There is no one pattern on how to be professional
Beyond the Code with Jen and Aparna, was an interesting conversation between Google leaders Jen Fitzpatrick and Aparna Pappu. In this talk, Aparna mentions about her story where people said to her that she wouldn’t be considered serious at work because she used to laugh/smile a lot. But the truth is there is no one pattern/checklist on what defines being professional. It's different for each person and its often the perspective that matters.
2. BRAVE: a method for Successful Difficult Conversations
Sometimes when I had to face an uncomfortable conversation or argue, I would rationalize away the notion, often resorting to self-criticism and losing confidence. Ms Lewandowski’s session at GHC 2020 gave an actionable method for having such difficult conversations.
Framework for a successful conversation:
B uild your self-awareness
uild your self-awareness R evisit your strategy
evisit your strategy A nticipate scenarios
nticipate scenarios V alue your opposing partner
alue your opposing partner Encourage your conversation
Being able to speak up and articulate one’s opinion is a critical skill and when you see a difficulty with it, I think analysing the strategy is really worth it!
3. Machine Learning is cool!
These days its hard to find a field that’s not impacted and benefited by Machine Learning. The theme continued with the talks at GHC too. Test Recommendation using Machine Learning, a talk by Sadiya Hameed, Software Engineer at Salesforce, discusses about how they built a Test recommendation model using features like historical CI data, code coverage, text similarity using NLP. When you have a huge monolithic codebase and number of tests to run every time you make a commit is enormous, it becomes inefficient to manage with time, resources and productivity. You could try batching the CI run, filtering smoke tests and when this isn’t enough, a test recommendation engine to run only related tests will be smart and efficient for both local testing and CI systems!
4. Machine Learning is hip but doesn’t fit everywhere.
Machine learning is applied to many new products with unprecedented opportunities to improve the lives of people around the world. With this growth and adaptation of new technology comes the responsibility to ensure products are built with all different kinds of users in mind. This clearly indicates that representation matters in the workplace from all groups. Also, everyone in a diverse product team can contribute to building the right products — right.
5. When Moore’s law is dead…
Delivering the Future of High-Performance Computing by Dr Lisa Su
The keynote by AMD CEO Lisa Su Delivering the Future of High-Performance Computing was one of the best talks at this GHC about high-performance computing and she shared some general lessons for everyone. These days with the advancements in Machine Learning/AI and power of data, the demand for computing and graphics is relentless. As Moore’s law slows down, we need to innovate with all other dimensions: silicon, systems and software. These techniques give life to new optimized software that can utilize and benefit this power from high processing, GPUs and accelerators delivering greater performance. Thus making the High performance computing industry pushing the boundaries to meet these demands. Dr Lisa also shared some lessons from her experience, which is definitely insightful.
Inflection points drive change
There is a solution to almost every problem
Always look for the next 5%
6. Contribute to Open Source projects
Open source projects are a great way for developers to showcase their talent and strengthens a profile more than a long resume. This GHC had a special Open Source Day where there were multiple workshops and talks to help people from different levels get started and contribute more on OSD. I had a chance to join for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Linux Kernel Contribution workshop which had a great intro to start the first contribution to the Linux kernel and its components.
If you’re a beginner to Github or Open source, this Git 101 is a great resource.
7. A step in the direction of biological realism — Spiking Neural Networks
The talk, Spiking Neural Networks(SNN) by Catherine Schuman bridges the gap from Neural Networks to Neuroscience with SNNs taking a step in the direction of biological realism. The differences/similarities between Artificial Neural Networks and SNNs as well as details of Neuromorphic Computing were interesting in this.
8. Why diversity matters in Tech?
I myself used to think of better answers to this question a few years ago. I think a diverse group brings greater innovation and makes the products you are building right with representation from each group, especially in the new areas like AI/ML/Crypto. This opinion was shared among many attendees and speakers at GHC in the panel discussions too.
9. Potential of Networking
I cannot stress the importance of Networking enough, as I recently witnessed a few results of it personally. After I spoke to one of the company employees in a discussion room, I sent her a connection request on LinkedIn as we had a lot of common technical interests. I got to know about a hackathon opportunity through this which was interesting to me. Last year, it was a similar way where I got a chance to involve in one of the research projects at my college.
I recommend making LinkedIn connections with people of similar interests and follow, prepare for an elevator pitch, send a personalized note with the invite and keep in touch rather than just asking directly for a favor in the job search.
10. Questions to ask yourself on your job
In the talk by Michelle Zatlyn from Cloudflare, she says to ask yourself this on your new job: How many people will be impacted by what I build and how? which I think is a great question to evaluate when you take up a new job, internship or change role. Also, what we learn out of it and making sure it matches with our goals is really important. It's easy to miss this than what we think of it!
Finally the GHC was a great experience and I am proud that I got chosen to be sponsored by Khoury College of Computer Sciences to be a part of it. Let me know your GHC stories or if you share similar thoughts and liked this post! :) | https://medium.com/@apoorvamanjunath/my-top-10-takeaways-from-ghc20-cd2627bf079b | ['Apoorva Manjunath'] | 2020-12-07 15:54:07.845000+00:00 | ['Tech Conf', 'Vghc2020', 'Ghc', 'Conference', 'Lessons Learned'] |
From the VC’s corner (17): It’s all about the risk (when negotiating an early-stage company’s valuation) | When talking about early-stage startup valuation, some journalists characterize them as either cheap or rich; have also noticed some founders putting price tags on their just-born startups. To grow, most need outside capital, and the great ones raise it from VCs in exchange for an equity stake in the business. This process creates post-money and pre-money valuations. On the flip side, many/most bootstrap, and this is great as well as long as they cover their costs and there’s a demand for whatever they do; also gives founders the liberty to do it their own way, with no “pressure” for constant double-digit growing, reporting KPIs, having weekly meetings or so with the investors and potential further disagreements down the line in terms of strategy and rest.
What does the pre-money valuation for a seed-stage business mean? Assuming there is an outstanding team of founders, and they’ve all cooked a nice product/service, assessed the product-market fit and talked to the prospective clients, how can this business be worth a few millions, let’s say, when they don’t have the necessary capital to make their vision real?
Being a private valuation for an early-stage company, it’s not about future cash flows, obviously; neither is about comparables, nor about the assets value. And to be frank, it might be the case that company might not even be worth its venture-backed valuation. It’s all about the investor’s perception of the underlying risk of the investment. The rule is clear, the greater the risk, the lower the VC’s valuation; and the VC thinks at desired rates of return.
”It would then follow that investors seeking greater rates of return would only be willing to invest in businesses at lower valuations that have the same overall risk profile of similar businesses pricing at higher levels,” concludes Todd Breeden of Tuhaye Venture Partners in a post you can here.
Browsing a few regional funds’ performance and portfolios, one would easy note that those targeting high IRRs typically can’t offset the high amount of risk they’ve taken with some investments, and here are the outliers. Hey, but it takes only a few great investments, and even a great one, to return the fund, so, it may be worth the risk in the region, right?
Risk, the independent variable under spot, and the probability of the company reaching an envisioned successful outcome: VCs are pretty good at measuring risk, and, with the valuation on the table, closing the deal means they’ve all reached the equilibrium where the founders’ willingness to take on dilution matches investors’ risk appetite.
Some VCs are simply better at understanding and pricing the risk. Usually, these are the ones investing in specific verticals and having niche expertise, stage-focused, adding value into the startup’s operations, dedicating time to support the founders, making connections and introducing clients, and even incubating businesses through General Partners or Entrepreneurs in Residence.
The pre-money valuation reflects the investors’ calculated perception of risk (and not the founders’ dream value.) One simple measure to evaluate the early-stage risk is to look at a company’s Equity Leverage at the time of financing; it’s “the amount of return a company needs to deliver in order to meet an investor’s return expectations.”
In a Medium post which you can browse here, Todd Breeden gives an example. Considering an investment of $2m in a concept-stage business (valued at $0 non-venture backed) at an $8m pre-money valuation ($10m post-money), if the investor is targeting a 100% IRR (in one year), then the company needs to be worth $20m in 12 months; this means a 10x equity leverage on the business. With the same business valued at $10m pre-money, and an investment of $4m while targeting the same 100% IRR, the company needs to be valued at $28m in 12 months to be considered by the same investor; the equity leverage in this care is 7x.
To deliver a 10x return, the CEO would probably assume more high-risk initiatives (than the one who only needs to return 7%.) Todd’s conclusion is: “A founding team that assumes too much Equity Leverage is more likely to fail through high-risk growth strategies, rather than another business that is spending money more conservatively.”
Assuming you’re good at portfolio management, a reduction in equity leverage (such as 7x vs. 10x in the above ex.), may lead to a higher alpha, blended MOIC and blended IRR. That’s one reason why many VCs prefer to invest more and have higher pre-money valuations (with lower risk.) When you hear/read that valuations are skyrocketing, it’s about perceived risk and return. Beware though of the “Brewster” effect, when there’s a diminishing return to reducing the equity leverage: the founders have more money, but it’s actually hard to spend them quickly and efficiently/wisely if they have no experience doing so. Increasing the burn rate also increases the risk profile of the investment, and the risk is not hitting the equity leverage target.
The pre-money valuation is a function of the risk the VC perceives the business to have, rather than being indicative of its actual value. Being aware of the potential failures and high-risk nature of their investments, VCs will continue to diversity.
My today’s preferred: Colorables — free printable coloring pages for adults, kids and everyone in between. | https://medium.com/@ciprianghetau/from-the-vcs-corner-17-it-s-all-about-the-risk-when-negotiating-an-early-stage-company-s-61153ef7aaaf | ['Ciprian Ghetau'] | 2019-09-10 05:21:19.217000+00:00 | ['Early Stage Startup', 'Risk', 'Startup', 'Leverage', 'Valuation'] |
Exposing the Model Minority Myth: Its Implications on the Self and Others | Exposing the Model Minority Myth: Its Implications on the Self and Others Madison Estrella Follow Jul 31 · 6 min read
Asian Americans are often praised for overcoming adversity and for working hard to be successful in achieving the “American Dream”. They are seen as intelligent, law-abiding, diligent, and persevering. But how is it that every single individual that identifies as Asian American can have these traits? These stereotypes encapsulate the Model Minority Myth, the belief that Asian Americans are more successful than other minority groups. This generalization attempts to paint a favorable picture of immigrant success, yet creates a singular narrative that ignores the rich diversity of the numerous Asian American cultures.
As an individual who identifies as Asian American, this phenomenon is something that I have personally encountered my entire life without truly knowing the extent of its detrimental nature. Having experienced these stereotypes, it has been difficult to grapple between the pre-existing notions that society holds versus the values and identities that I hold, especially when they are non-congruent.
Examples of the Model Minority Myth can be seen in every aspect of life, and these stereotypes are especially evident in the classroom. In many instances, being Asian is equated with automatic intelligence and success. From my personal experience, the Black student that got 100% on his quiz was called “Asian,” and even the Hispanic girl that got an A on her assignment was deemed “Asian,” too. However, when I, a Filipina, got an A-, I was told:
“How are you even Asian?”
Every time Asian Americans succeed or get a good grade, all of our hard work gets washed away by one simple phrase: “It’s because you’re Asian”. Such a pithy response to Asian success completely diminishes our work and effort that led us to our achievements. It feels like a slap in the face to us Asians, as well as our immigrant ancestors who went through numerous hardships to get us where we are today.
Being expected to always excel, in order to be worthy of our race, puts lots of pressure on Asian Americans to try to uphold the expectations of success. Some attempt to uphold society’s image of success by working themselves tirelessly and excessively, while others are left to question their identity and worth when they fall short of stereotypical standards. The unrealistic expectations of societal excellence imposed on Asian Americans is oftentimes burdensome and takes a toll on their emotional well-being.
With the Model Minority Myth associating the Asian ethnicity with success, people somehow feel they have the right to revoke our identity, simply because we didn’t conform to their absurd expectations of perfection. Nonetheless, we all worked hard for the grades we got. It’s just that for Asians, society invalidates our efforts by painting success as an innate quality of our ethnicity.
Because of the Model Minority Myth, our imperfections as human beings become inexcusable simply because we are Asian– but newsflash: Asians are humans too. We feel societal pressures and burdens like the boulder on Sisyphus’ back– we try to climb up the mountains of society, seeking recognition and acceptance, only to fall short of the unattainable Model Minority status that mocks us. We force ourselves to fit into the American-prescribed characteristics of Asian-Americans– smart, hardworking, successful– and their prestigious occupations, even if it may not describe us or perfectly fit our interests. And most of all, we feel frustrated with ourselves for not being “smart enough” to be Asian. Despite living in our own bodies and experiencing our own hardships, we may not feel like ourselves because of society’s stereotypes.
“Some [Asians] are super achievers, most are average citizens, and a few are criminals. They are only human. No more and no less.” — Phillip Chie
Societal pressures from the Model Minority Myth, cultural pressures from the home, and the overall struggle to find balance between our Asian and American identities frequently leads to mental health concerns. However, the strong stigma surrounding mental health in Asian American communities prevents them from seeking the help they need. In fact, the cultural stigma around mental illness exists in all communities of color, preventing people from vocalizing their needs and from seeking services. Asian Americans, in particular, are 3 times less likely to seek out mental health services than any other American. This can largely be attributed to the fact that in immigrant and Asian households, mental health largely goes unacknowledged and the Model Minority Myth promotes to society a false image of our invincibility and strength.
What many people don’t realize is that the Model Minority Myth is a double edged sword. It not only erases the hard work of Asian-Americans, but it also suppresses other people of color– particularly the Black community.
The term “Model Minority” suggests that Asian Americans are exemplary people of color. This in turn implies a hierarchy of race that turns people of color against one another despite us all being victims of white supremacy. By stereotyping Asians as the “successful minority,” the inequalities and racism experienced by other minority groups are invalidated. In essence, the Model Minority Myth suggests to other people of color, “If Asians can do it, why can’t you?”; however, this mentality ignores the numerous systemic barriers that barr the success of the Black community and other people of color.
To dismantle this myth, we must refrain from complying with the racist narrative that is ingrained into society via the Model Minority Myth. By acknowledging its harmful implications, we can recognize how these generalizations control our lives, actions, and mental health, as well as how it turns us against other communities of color. In acknowledging the roots of this stereotype, we can then challenge its oppressive influence by actively deciding to live by our own terms and being there for our neighbors.
As Asian Americans, we need to be careful about how we internalize racial stereotypes such as the Model Minority Myth. We, like other people of color, need to remind ourselves that we are more than what society perceives us to be. We have the right to be proud and satisfied with the hard work we have put in and the resiliency we have shown in the face of hardship.
“I don’t think people understand the model-minority stereotype is negative. You are boxed in. You have to untangle that to find your own path.” — Eddie Huang
Most of all, we don’t need society’s approval to be happy, and it is important to make sure you reach out for help when you begin to feel overwhelmed. Chat with friends or family about your mental state and don’t be afraid to reach out to a professional. When it comes to work and school, make sure you recognize your limits and acknowledge what your efforts aim to accomplish– Is it for your personal gain? Or to please others and live up to society’s expectations? This is your life, so don’t let other peoples’ expectations dictate how you live it.
So, in an unfair society that sees race before the soul, let’s be there for one another. Let’s support and acknowledge the successes and efforts of people both inside and outside our community, and offer our sympathy and compassion to those around us. | https://medium.com/joincurio/exposing-the-model-minority-myth-its-implications-on-the-self-and-others-e5ca28d57a94 | ['Madison Estrella'] | 2020-07-31 16:31:00.896000+00:00 | ['Model Minority', 'Mental Health', 'Asian', 'Asian American', 'Model Minority Myth'] |
My experience with Serpstat SVCS | Photo by Kirill Pershin on Unsplash
Overview:
Creating a Google Sheet template for Task Creation. Creating a Google Sheet template for Task list. Writing a code for Task creation. Writing a code for pulling Task records.
1. Creating a Google Sheet template for Task Creation.
Before diving into creating a template for our application, we need to know which parameters are going to be used as an input. Reading the documentation, we can see that there are 6 input values that are required in order to make a valid API request. Well, one input is optional. I’ll explain it shortly.
Country - A numerical value representing a country. This is a location where the queries will be performed on Google.
- A numerical value representing a country. This is a location where the queries will be performed on Google. Language - Another numerical value, which reflects the preferred language while searching the queries.
- Another numerical value, which reflects the preferred language while searching the queries. Region - Again, numerical value. This time representing a region where the queries should come from. It might come very handy to specify the exact region/city.
- Again, numerical value. This time representing a region where the queries should come from. It might come very handy to specify the exact region/city. Device - This one is voluntary. If not specified, queries will be done on desktop devices by default. Otherwise, number 1 is for desktop, number 2 for mobile.
- This one is voluntary. If not specified, queries will be done on desktop devices by default. Otherwise, number 1 is for desktop, number 2 for mobile. Keywords - An obvious one. A list of keywords we wish to query.
- An obvious one. A list of keywords we wish to query. Access Token - Required parameter for identifying Serpstat user account. It’s a long alphanumerical text which can be found at Serpstat account page.
Now that the parameters are known, we can create our Google Sheets template accordingly. Let's give the sheet name “Run”, and place labels and inputs in an orderly manner.
Google Sheet template for Task Creation
Looks relatively simple, right?
I added “Create Task” button, with the purpose of making it able to call a script function. You can add it from the menu “Insert” => “Drawing” (yes, we have to draw a button in order to be able to call a script function).
2. Creating a Google Sheet template for Task list.
When we send a request to create a Task via API, we get a bunch of information back. The most important piece is task_id, which should be preserved. It’ll be necessary to know the id, so we can pull the records once the crawling is finished.
Since we are already saving task_id, we can as well save all other parameters associated with the created Task. It’s nice to have a date of Task creation, and something like number of keywords queried (# Keywords) as well. It’ll help us orientate amidst all created Tasks in the past.
Google Sheet template for a List of Tasks
We did create a new sheet which we’ll call “Tasks” (we’ll refer to this sheet in the script by a name).
You can notice I added two more buttons, similar to the “Create Task” button in the first spreadsheet tab. “Display” will serve as a function call to pull results from Serpstat server, and append them in our third sheet tab. To specify which Taks we want results from, we have to manually input Task ID inside I:3 cell.
“Refresh” button serves to update Progress status of every unfinished Tasks. Since crawling the keywords may take more than an hour before the results became accessible, it comes handy to know current progress.
3. Writing a code for Task Creation.
One of the big advantages of Google Sheets is the possibility of use of Google Apps scripting. We can write javascript functions that interact with data in Google Sheets, and may perform myriad of other calculations and interactions.
I’m not a huge fan of javascript, but the fact that it can be easily integrated within Google Sheets is a game changer. I call myself a Python programmer, but for a client, it’s 100s times simpler to use an app in Google Sheets than a Python script.
The Script editor can be found in the menu “Tools” => “Script editor”.
When you open the Script editor, you should see a window like the one below. This is a place where the script will live and perform magic.
In order to create a Task via API, we need to read the parameters from the spreadsheet.
Function getParameters() returns a dictionary with our parameters. It’ll be fed to our next function postTaskCreation(parameters).
Our third function is appendTask(parameters, response). It’s important to write details regarding the created Task itself. Specifically, task_id returned from API. task_id is used to identify the crawling request and is necessary to get records afterwards.
Finally, we put everything in one place. Our last function is the one that we’ll use to call when we push the button “Create Task”.
To make the connection to our function, we assign a script to the button by selecting it and clicking on the 3 dots on the right.
Now, we simply type the name of the function we want to call.
4. Writing a code for pulling Task records.
The second part of API integration is pulling the records after the Task is finished. Code in this section will interact with “Tasks” and “Raw Records” spreadsheet tabs.
Again, we’ll write a couple of helper functions.
Function getAccessToken() will return an access token that we’ll use for making an API request.
Each API call returns data in JSON format that needs to be parsed. To achieve that, we created parseRecords(responseData) that will take the data and transform it into a list of dictionaries. We’ll use it in the code below.
getTaskRecords(accessToken, taskID) will return a list of all records by repeatedly calling API. Repeatedly, because there is a limit of how many records are returned in a single API request. This process is reiterated until next_page is not present in the response. Otherwise, we use this value to get the next batch.
The final piece to glue it all together is displayRecords(). It’ll clear “Raw Records” sheet, pull records as a list of dictionaries by calling getTaskRecords(accessToken, taskID), and output the data inside “Raw Records” sheet. Also, this is a function that will be called whenever we press “Display” button from “Tasks” sheet. We’ll repeat the process in a similar fashion as with “Create Task” button.
Not to forget about refreshing Task’s progress, we shall add the code beneath. Likewise the previous buttons, we’ll add a connection to the “Refresh” button to refresh function. By doing this, whenever we press “Refresh”, progress of all the Tasks will be updated.
When we put it all together, we get a functional app in Google Sheets, with a couple of convenient components to benefit from. Now, we can set parameters in “Run” sheet, create a Task, and then pull the records from “Tasks” sheet.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience building this tool. I tried to keep it as simple as possible, omitting a lot of “unnecessary” code. For example, originally when the Task Creation is pressed, user has to confirm the action to avoid the potential of missclick. Also, there was some neat data cleaning and processing. To keep it concise, I was reluctant to add everything.
If you like my simple tool, feel free to leave feedback or ask any questions. | https://medium.com/@michael-b/my-experience-with-serpstat-svcs-7f4dae8f0d33 | ['Buci Michal'] | 2020-12-28 00:04:01.913000+00:00 | ['SEO', 'Serpstat', 'Keyword Research', 'Google Sheets', 'PPC Marketing'] |
Politicizing the Supreme Court: From Ginsburg to Barrett | Politicizing the Supreme Court: From Ginsburg to Barrett
In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed to the court by a 96–3 vote. Less than three decades later, Amy Coney Barret’s vote was 52–48.
The divide wasn’t merely because of shifts in Senate composition. Ginsburg’s confirmation was marked by a spirit of compromise across aisles. 41 Republican senators decided her ability to follow the judicial oath was a more important qualification than her indicated leanings in future litigations. Ginsburg’s colleague Elana Kagan was confirmed in a different scene. With only five Republicans crossing the aisles, Kagan’s confirmation vote was much closer.
Yet this isn’t an issue specific to the GOP. After all, none of the Democrats voted for Barret, marking the closest appointment to the high courts in American history.
This is a symptom of the recent politicization of the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, this recent movement is neither the intended purpose of the court nor one that would most benefit our nation.
Article III of the Constitution gives justices lifetime appointments. By doing so, the framers intended for minimal public influence on the court’s opinion. If justices were up for election every few years, their interest would be serving the people, with a blatant disregard for interpreting the law. Servitude to the public interest was the job of the executive and legislative branches, not the judiciary.
This was the case throughout the two centuries since the founding of our country. Up until the 1980s, unanimous confirmations were prevalent, appointing liberals like Justice Stevens and conservatives such as Justice Scalia. The Senate voted based on justices’ ability to interpret statutes, not their political alignment.
From left to right, the Supreme Court justices in 1976: John Paul Stevens, Lewis F. Powell Jr., Harry A. Blackmun, William H. Rehnquist, Thurgood Marshall, William J. Brennan Jr., Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, Potter Stewart, and Byron R. White. Yoichi Okamoto/Science Source
Unfortunately, this tradition is no longer being upheld. In 2016, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold a hearing for Obama appointee Merrick Garland, scapegoating the then approaching presidential election. This facade masked the despair of the GOP: a third Obama appointee to replace retiring Justice Kennedy would solidify a liberal majority on the court.
Faced with Ginsberg’s passing, McConnell and other members of the GOP revealed their true intentions. Completely abandoning their practice of allowing elections to precede court nominations, the Republican majority senate rushed through Barrett’s confirmation. In a bitterly divided vote, Barrett’s confirmation hardened a firmly conservative majority on our highest court.
To preserve the revered judicial institution, Congress should separate the Supreme Court from its own agendas. Only by doing so will we separate politics from the law. Our judiciary shouldn’t be another extension of the other two branches of governments, but rather a check against it. | https://medium.com/@william-wang/politicizing-the-supreme-court-from-ginsburg-to-barrett-6b419c66c6b1 | ['William Wang'] | 2021-02-01 23:04:36.888000+00:00 | ['Supreme Court', 'Ruth Bader Ginsburg', 'Politics', 'Law', 'Amy Coney Barrett'] |
Developing These 3 Skills in 2021 Will Take You One Step Ahead | Developing These 3 Skills in 2021 Will Take You One Step Ahead
Shape yourself up for the new year.
Girl assembling a magic pyramid. Photo by Gabby K from Pexels
As we come to a close with such a rough year, one thing to keep in mind for a fresh start is a short list of useful skills. While in 2020, you were forced to adapt to the circumstances of a worldwide pandemic (perhaps working from home or changing careers), 2021 will be different — again. Some things may have changed permanently. If you now have all of your business meetings on Zoom, for example, there is no strong reason to go back to doing it exclusively in-person.
However, other things may need a push to get back on track, like your workout routine or your healthy diet. After the anxiety packed election cycle, you may need to wean off the need to check Twitter rather than sleep. In a nutshell, if your routine is scattered and your plans are all over the place, you would benefit from re-grouping so you can move on from a state of merely keeping things afloat. I suggest you start by improving these 3 skills.
1. Communication
Always a top skill in any ranking list, communication continues to be the one you need to keep improving. With high productivity at stake, communicating clearly, effectively, and with the capability to generate a fast response is a must. If you were good at writing emails before, now you need to make sure they get open and read until the end. An unclouded subject line paired with an objective message is the only way to do it. When your email gets ignored once, it will likely be ignored again. Soon enough, you will be someone your prospect does not “engage” with. That means your emails will die before arrival, sorted and directed to the Spam box.
On the phone and at your virtual conferences, you will need to: speak clearly, at a pleasant and professional pace, and use polished but friendly language. Those are things you will need to master to avoid boring your short-span client, seminar attendee, or co-worker.
Equally important is to ask pertinent questions, listen with attention, and forgive a speaker’s mistakes. After all, communication is a give-and-take: it requires synergy. So, build on that skill. Train your speech (maybe in a public speaking class). Read more to boost your vocabulary and practice how you move and express your personality. Even if you consider yourself a master communicator, find a way to get even better.
2. Creativity
This is a required skill, even listed in most job posts. “Creative thinking,” according to the popular blog “Skills you need,” can be defined as follows:
The ability to think in different and unusual ways about problems, and find new solutions, or generate new ideas, coupled with the ability to assess information carefully and understand its relevance.
Creativity is a skill in demand. Source: Gallup.
Creativity also helps us solve problems, handle our emotions, and become more confident. Creative people have been proven to live longer and manage anxiety better (source: Scientific American magazine).
The creative industry, for example, was the first to “get creative” due to the pandemic. Everything from dance lessons to theater plays moved online while movie releases went straight to streaming platforms. With that, people invented “virtual movie night.” On such occasions, a group of friends watches a picture simultaneously from their homes. In a chat session, they type their comments as if they were at the movie theater. However, each person is at their own home, microwaving their own popcorn.
I teach acting classes, and I used to meet my students in person for improv and the Stanislavsky Method lessons. With the shutdown in March, some of my clients immediately agreed to meet on Zoom. By October, even the most ‘tech-reluctant’ ones joined in and liked it. I am not yet scheduling in-person classes. Nonetheless, my sessions are full. As a matter of fact, many of my new tutees found me while looking for virtual drama classes after the shutdown.
All kinds of jobs — as all types of parties (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and birthdays) had a virtual alternative in 2020. Indeed, we can hardly wait to hug our loved ones in 2021’s special dates. Yet, many folks to whom “digital interactions” were unknown — even hostile — territory have warmed up to the ideal of FaceTiming rather than stopping by to check on their friends and family.
In 2021, creativity will remain an important skill. There is a consensus that going “back to normal” is not what anyone expects. Instead, we want a new way of life: more independent, commuting only when necessary, and working mostly when our personal productivity peaks. We need to keep designing the concept of “the new normal” way of living. We will use a lot of creativity for that.
3. Time management
We have been all over the place with our sleep, workout time (or lack thereof), and mealtime. You certainly remember April — most of us went through at least one phase in 2020 when we had no idea what time it was.
The more disciplined may have kept a healthy routine, waking up at 7 AM to exercise, having lunch by 1 PM, and getting seven hours of sleep. But most people I know either worked more than ever before or slacked off in ways unimaginable. We either juggled calls, laundry, and homeschooling or, binge-watched Netflix for days at a time.
In the new year, we must get it together. One way of doing it is to analyze our current patterns and correct bad habits. Time management involves setting goals, prioritizing, and being organized. For example, if you need at least six hours of sleep, set a bedtime and a wake-up alarm, and stick with those — no late-night tweeting.
If you got used to ordering your groceries for delivery, schedule it ahead of time — preferably on the same day every week. Keep an easy to update grocery list on your phone: it is more practical than the time-consuming chore of re-enumarating food items from scratch every time.
Spending more time at home makes us realize how domestic chores can steal our best hours. Now that you know how long it takes to unload the dishwasher and pre-cook a few meals, set time on your calendar for those, and maybe hear a podcast while performing them. Doing two things simultaneously is not a crime, as long as whatever needs your undivided attention gets it at its turn.
Time Management Pie Chart by ImgFlip
Fortune tellers may predict what next year will be like — politics, the stock market, jobs, or how the planets will align. Still, you are better served by preparing yourself. Improve your personal skills. That will come in handy until life feels normal again. Happy New Year! | https://medium.com/the-innovation/developing-these-3-skills-in-2021-will-take-you-one-step-ahead-6d446a03a392 | ['Luciana Lambert'] | 2020-12-13 03:11:56.364000+00:00 | ['Remote Work', 'Creativity', 'Productivity', 'Culture', 'Psychology'] |
Geospatial startup Unfolded.ai obtained by Foursquare | Only a very long time after raising its seed round, Unfolded.ai reported today that it is being acquired by Foursquare. Terms of the arrangement were not unveiled. The startup had raised a sum of about $6 million when we last checked in with them.
The organization, established by a gathering of ex-Uber geospatial engineers, was expanding on top of mainstream open-source libraries that its originators had made, including Kepler. gl, a web application that can take geospatial informational indexes and envision them, and Deck. gl, which offers an extensible application structure for handling geospatial informational collections and setting them up for representation.
The procurement by Foursquare is intended to bring Unfolded geospatial innovation into Foursquare Everywhere, the organization’s new image and item centre around conveying versatile area administrations to a wide range of clients.
Foursquare has developed essentially as of late to turn into an area centred publicizing and advertising stage. It declared that it was converging with Factual back in April 2020, and replaced CEO David Shim with Gary Little in November, who accepted the titles of CEO and president. This securing has all the earmarks of being the first for Little since he assumed control.
In its press proclamation, the organization said that “this obtaining pushes Foursquare’s development into the solitary source organizations go-to for r superior grade, simple-to-utilize area information and the innovation they need to figure it out.” | https://medium.com/@startuptimes/geospatial-startup-unfolded-ai-obtained-by-foursquare-ecef989f7aa5 | ['Startup Times'] | 2021-05-22 07:12:13.657000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Foursquare', 'Startup Times', 'Geospatial', 'The Unfolded Truths'] |
Great article Ashley! | Great article Ashley! I’d imagine it’s cathartic for you and others to discuss this behavior of paper clipping. As someone who has been on both sides of this behavior, I just wanted to share an important piece of information I’ve learned.
At the risk of sounding cliche, relationships take 2 people. They never operate in a vacuum. What I don’t see getting discussed enough is how the role the “paperclipee” (what feels like the victim) plays in this dynamic/behavior. There are two sides in every relationship. I theorize that often times 2 people who are not truly compatible stick it out for various reasons (no judgement, just observing). Over time, ACTUAL needs are not met. These unmet needs may not be discussed or resolved, but is felt and resentment enters the relationship like an insidious virus. Well, 6 months/1 year/5 years go by, then what? In my experience, people stick it out for the sake of the relationship without looking inward to repairing the parts of themselves that is contributing to the dysfunction. Perhaps both people lack self-confidence deep down but have different ways of coping and presenting to the world.
But here’s the thing, BOTH people in a relationship are contributing to this undesirable dynamic. I know that we (our egos) want to believe “it’s them” and point fingers. Yes it feels good but it’s just a facade and a cheap thrill for our egos. We’re ignoring the undesirable parts of ourselves, which is all we have control of, in lieu of finger pointing.
Another observation is the paperclipper/paperclipee dynamic seems to be a modern spin of the narcissistic/codependent dynamic that has been discussed at great lengths. Just like before, rarely do people discuss the issues the codependent brings to the relationship. Too often articles are written from a victim mindset. There may be a time for that, but true healing comes from looking inside. Being radically honest (and accepting) of the dysfunction you bring, and most importantly actually fixing it. It’s hard work, don’t get me wrong. But it’s the only real work you have control over. If you’re trying to get the other person to change, you *might* have some control issues that need to be examined. No human person in the free world should be controlled. Many people do not properly apply this framework our Founders created (for those in USA).
In writing all this, I certainly cannot speak on this for everyone across the board. If you’re having a harsh reaction to reading these words, there’s a good chance there is some unresolved “stuff” you’re carrying around. Address that, and be amazed what happens! I just wanted to share this because I do agree this is paperclipping phenomenon is becoming too frequent in relationships. May you be honest with yourself, and have a fulfilled life! | https://medium.com/@brian.magnus/great-article-ashley-7668e689525c | ['Brian Magnus'] | 2020-12-14 17:30:41.529000+00:00 | ['Truth'] |
The Messy Creative — Myth or Reality? | The conclusions were interesting. Being in an orderly environment tended to result in people being more generous, making healthier choices and generally behaving in a way that society deems “good.” They chose the established product more often. Their uses of the ping pong ball were deemed less creative. In short, you could interpret them as being more predictable and conventional.
On the other hand, the ones in the messy room, while making less healthy choices and being less generous with their donations, aced it on the ping pong ball task and on being prepared to try an innovative product. They were behaving in a more creative and less conventional way, apparently.
As someone who would have tidied the unkempt room then grabbed an armful of chocolate on the way to the patent office with my design for a spherical tiny house for voles, I am not sure what to make of this.
Clearly, writers of articles on clutter and creativity love this study as despite being quite small, it is regularly hauled out as proof six years later. I can shut up with the carping, having just done the same.
They are now continuing the research to see if it applies to virtual environments too, for example websites. Its implications seem to be that even when we are not in control of the space, its degree of tidiness affects our behaviour.
This would seem to suggest that creativity is not something you have or don’t have, but can be influenced by externals.
Hmmm.
(Pause to think what to write next.)
(Pause to deliberately muss up my desk a bit in case it incites ideas.)
(Pause to place my iPad, notebook and coffee mat back in a straight line.)
So, let’s look at a book.
British economist and journalist Tim Harford is an advocate of mess, disruption and chaos to spark new ideas. In his book Messy: How to be creative and resilient in a tidy-minded world, he decides to investigate “silo thinking”. Named for grain silos, this is the tendency for organizations to divide themselves into self-contained, inward-looking sub-units. Unsurprisingly, they don’t care to share, except with people from their own silo.
It is comforting to discover that Tim is by nature an organised and tidy chap, but the research he undertakes for the book forces him to have a rethink.
It reminds me of a phenomenon in Italy called campanilismo, where people have an exaggerated loyalty to their town or village and hate everyone else. The term comes from the campanile or bell tower, of their local church. I have seen this in action. My farming neighbour in Umbria once told me not to trust someone because “she comes from Villastrada.” Villastrada was half a kilometre from our village.
Some Finnish silos which also manage to demonstrate creativity. How genius is that? Thanks to Pixabay!
It is comforting to discover that Tim is by nature an organised and tidy chap, but the research he undertakes for the book forces him to have a rethink. He becomes less judgemental of the mess of others, including his own kids and their untidy bedrooms, as he starts to understand that the untidiness has its own internal logic for the person who created it.
He points out the flaw of grouping all types of situations together and treating them in the same way. An untidy desk is not the same as an untidy operating theatre.
He also questions the causal nature of mess. An untidy office may not cause stress. The projects and work that created the chaos in the first place are probably the real culprits.
His take on judgement and guilt is interesting. He thinks we are often hard on ourselves and others because society expects us to be neat and tidy. (Think frantic cleaning up when unexpected guests arrive.) This desire for personal peace and the zen calm of the curated space may explain the current surge of interest in Japanese clutter-clearing queen Marie Kondo.
But he says that although untidiness can be a negative thing, it may also be the best way to organise information that is itself inherently messy.
I will, however, point out that while he has total respect for people’s right to personal mess, this does not apply to communal space.
Is Messiness in Your DNA?
This seems to be an important question, often skipped by the articles I found. I unearthed a 2003 New York Times piece, citing Dr. Theodore Shapiro, professor of psychiatry at New York Weill Cornell Center. He says: “Messiness is just the natural state of all children until age 6 or so when they develop the requisite motor and behavioural skills to be able to impose order on their worlds.” He goes on to say that being messy is one way that children can defy their parents. That makes sense. Tidiness is learned behaviour.
We are all born messy! Photo courtesy of Pixabay.
I found another New York Times article from 2008, I’m Messy. It’s in my DNA. Deal With It written by Susan Stewart. She describes in smug detail how she had even managed to convert her husband to her messy ways: “Getting him to this point took years of work, but then nobody ever said marriage was easy.” The reason I persevere with this irritating narrative is that she says: “Maybe I have a disability. Visual-spatial disorder. Google it, you’ll see. People with this disorder lack the gene for filing.”
I did Google it. It does exist, although making light of something where people lack the ability to tell where things are in space, including their own body parts, seems a cheap way of justifying slovenliness.
Anyway, unless you do have an actual disorder, her title is wrong. Messiness isn’t in your DNA. It seems to be a mix of a choice and certain personality traits as well as the inclination to please or to defy those who bring you up.
The Serious Bit
Some people may also have a higher mess/tidiness threshold than others. You may do your best work surrounded by piles of notes, oblivious to the dirty mugs and piles of discarded clothes. Or you may not be able to switch on the computer until the space has been cleaned to hospital standards. We are all different, thank goodness.
If it upsets you and makes you guilty or depressed, it is not a sign of creativity, it is a problem.
But a sudden change from orderly to disorderly can be a symptom of illness. Depression, for example, or dementia. The most extreme manifestation of messiness is hoarding, where people can literally die from being suffocated by their own stuff.
Then there are people who are too tidy and unable to function unless their environment is pristine and germ-free. This may indicate a more serious condition. One symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is obsessive cleaning, for example.
How you feel about your own messiness is important. If it upsets you and makes you guilty or depressed, it is not a sign of creativity, it is a problem.
So What’s the Big Deal About Creativity Anyway?
One underlying belief I have noticed in the creativity/messiness debate is that if you can loosen your metaphorical stays and go with the flow, you will be a better person. Susan Stewart alludes to this when she writes: “Some people, after giving a dinner party, cannot even think of going to sleep until every plate, every glass, every evidence of the evening’s merriment, is safely back in its proper place. Others — some might say those who are more joyous and life-affirming — like to drag out the process of cleaning…”
Yes, we’ve got the message. We might as well just crawl into our sad dishwashers and drown ourselves.
This seems to apply to creativity too, which is almost always viewed as the Gift of all Gifts. Those in possession of this elusive and enviable ability can be forgiven anything. “He may have been a serial-killer, but omg, he was SOOOO CREATIVE!”
Creative out-of-the-box thinking is essential for sparking new art, new ideas and new inventions. But once we have the spark, the flame has to be fanned.
I am proud to be a creative person myself. I paint pictures of big birds and insects, I spin “art yarn” (a euphemism for erratic strands with lumps in), I make twig weavings. I have even constructed a felted crow. But I question the unchallenged status of creativity as the King (or Queen or God) of Talents.
In fact, the assumption that it is a talent is also wrong. Psychology Today says: “The truth is that creativity can be acquired and honed at any age or experience level.”
So, a skill then.
Woolly proof of my creativity — a felted crow. Picture: Fiona Cameron Lister
There is little doubt that creative out-of-the-box thinking is essential for sparking new art, new ideas and new inventions. But once we have the spark, the flame has to be fanned. And the flame-fanners have the less sexy job of financing, planning, constructing, marketing, advertising, selling and insuring the Creative Thing so it doesn’t fizzle out and turn to ash.
The truth is, we need all the skills to work together to bring something to life and keep it there. Creativity is just the beginning.
Takeaways
This started out as quite a short piece but expanded as I learned more. I am now questioning quite a lot of my rather rigid beliefs. The key points are as follows:
1. We are all born messy.
2. Creativity is a skill which can be learned and practised.
3. The environment, real and virtual, can impact our creativity.
4. Disordered spaces can encourage inventive thinking.
5. Ordered spaces can encourage focus and logical thinking.
6. The creative/messy delineation is artificial. It is a spectrum.
7. Some people’s tolerance to tidiness/mess is higher than others.
8. Extremes of messiness and tidiness can be signs of underlying illness.
9. If your tidiness or messiness makes you upset, it is time to do something.
10. Some areas of life demand order and tidiness. Like operating theatres. And shared space.
11. We could all benefit from trying our “opposite” trait. Consciously try to be tidier/messier.
12. I hate a list with uneven numbers.
13. I must try to overcome this.
14. I can’t.
So, there you have it.
And as always after a takeaway, please tidy everything up and put it in a bag.
That means you too, Leonardo. | https://medium.com/swlh/the-messy-creative-myth-or-reality-77abaf7eae99 | ['Fiona Cameron Lister'] | 2019-07-08 15:20:24.678000+00:00 | ['Creativity', 'Psychology', 'Self', 'Work', 'Culture'] |
Introducing The Lunie mono-repo! | We have been blown away by the support of our users, the networks we have integrated and the node operators in these networks. We built Lunie to provide a valuable non-custodial staking and governance experience for everyone and want to make sure that the framework we’ve established is extensible beyond just our development capabilities.
This is why we decided to push the remaining portion of the Lunie codebase, the API and browser extension, open-source. You can find the code for our API and browser extension in a mono-repo here:
https://github.com/luniehq/lunie
Let’s talk about why we went fully open-source:
Greater Transparency
Working on Lunie out in the open makes it possible for greater accountability for our engineering and product directions we take.
Giving Back
We realize we need to give back to all of the different network communities we support as a fundamental element of what we do.
Community Mobilization
One thing we have noticed about integrating several Layer 1 protocols as well as networks built upon those protocols is that we are overwhelmed by the interest and initiative that teams and communities have shown towards getting their network on Lunie. While we are unable to get every network request up onto our platform we want to give the community the ability to run with their imaginations and ingenuity and possibly handle some of the lift along with us.
Many Hands and Eyes On Security
Going fully open source allows us to more effectively approach the security of Lunie and all of the networks we support.
What Will You Build With Lunie?
Of course we support the community to take any of our open source code and use it to build something useful and powerful. While we believe many of the products and features we have brought to Lunie add massive value to our users, networks and node operators, we believe that there is still so much more potential beyond just Lunie alone!
A couple examples of projects that are forks of Lunie include:
Terra Station:
Harmony:
Need Some Help? Get In Touch:
Need help getting a fork of Lunie operating for your blockchain project or have general questions about how to get setup? Please send us an email to hello@lunie.io or drop into our Telegram channel! | https://medium.com/luniehq/introducing-the-lunie-mono-repo-a6a5591b32e | ['James Ryan Moreau'] | 2020-07-01 20:34:02.966000+00:00 | ['Blockchain', 'Open Source', 'Lunie', 'Proof Of Stake'] |
A to Z | Every time I sit down to pen a blog it always ends up being a social message or something serious even when it was not my intention. My kids roll up their eyes and say “we know” as if to tell me that our fun time also ends up with my ruining it with moral lectures for them! Have I actually become like the adults I dreaded all my life? Has the fun element gone out of me for good? I wouldn’t want that to happen to me- NOT EVER!! It shouldn’t happen to anybody! I love a good laugh and I appreciate humour like nothing else then what has changed for me to don on this awful cloak of seriousness and complete wet blanket attitude? It has to stop or at least give way for silly, goofy fun from time to time!
This blog is an attempt to do just that. As a kid when the teacher would carry on like a drone, I’d fill the rear pages of my notebook with A-to-Z animals/flowers/singers and bands/actors/ actresses… the list was endless; as a result of which the class would stop being as dull for me. I shall attempt to do the same today though I’ll stick to Movies and Books! I will do an A to Z with movies first- the first movie that comes to mind with the letter. I may add more than one if I absolutely have to. Mostly, these movies are those that I have seen more than once, some more than 20–30 times!! There may or may not be little notes with each, I can’t say just yet, for this is an impromptu attempt and I have no clue how this will turn out! I just hope I do not have to scrap the blog altogether. Of course, if it is too lengthy then I might do the books as a sequel blog even though I know I have seldom, if at all, kept my promises of sequels!! Let’s do this!!
Note: I have eaten up the articles (A/An/The) to be able to cover maximum letters.
A- Avengers- Okay! I am all excited and just cannot do without notes! I love the entire franchise of these movies- preferably those that have Iron Man featuring in them. I absolutely love the man (Robert Downey Jr) for his sarcasm. Total fan right from the first Iron man movie! The main characters are to die for and the actors playing them are great too. Addicted to Love for the Love of Meg Ryan and Romance! Alpha is fairly recent but I have seen it thrice and I love it. (I have broken the rule of one letter, one movie- pardon me my garrulous streak!)
B- Bridges of Madison County-This book and movie were introduced to me by my dreamer friend and I loved the book and it was an absolute delight to have Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep playing the lead roles. Must watch for dreamers and romantics!! Bridget Jones Diary — The book is funny and the first movie is great especially for those who dig Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and the best part is that he played the actual Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice too!! Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant do a good job as well. Ben Hur- One of the few period movies I have enjoyed! The chariot race is a highlight. My brother would watch it over and over, when we were kids! Bucket List- Must watch. The Morgan Freeman- Jack Nicholson combo is too good to miss. Beautiful movie!
C- Charade — A thriller featuring Cary Grant and the gorgeous Audrey Hepburn. I watched it about three or four times, once upon a time, nearly two and a half decades ago when VCR’s were the in thing!
D- Dr. Zhivago-I found it boring as a kid but I loved Lara’s theme ever since I heard it. Was reintroduced to it by a dear friend and fell in love with it. Watched it twice (the Omar Sharif, Julie Christie version) and read the book which is an achievement! Reading books by Russian authors is daunting if you are a slow reader who tends to take breaks in between. You can never remember who was who, save for the main characters. It took me so many attempts to read Anna Karenina which is a thick book but I was victorious and it was worth it! Dirty Dancing — For those who love dancing and Patrick Swayze!
E- Erin Brockovich- A good movie and I love Julia Roberts but it is on my list because I couldn’t think of another movie with E!!
F- Fast and the Furious- Watched it to humour my son and his love for cars, action, Paul Walker, Vin Diesel and The Rock! Fell in love with it. Have watched the entire series and keep watching it whenever it pops up on TV.
G- Godfather — I am yet to meet someone who has seen this movie and hasn’t been totally smitten! God Bless Mario Puzo for writing the entire lot of mafia themed books and God Bless every single person involved in the films. There were three and I loved them all but nothing to beat the first one! Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and James Caan were absolutely brilliant- so were the rest!!! Grease- a complete contrast from The Godfather but a wonderful movie nonetheless. The sequel is okay but John Travolta and Olivia Newton John have nailed it! Gladiator- The other period film that I enjoyed more than a couple of times!
H- Harry Potter- Hail JK Rowling and Harry Potter and gang- the books were undoubtedly brilliant but the movies were par excellence too. That’s why I love tarot for I feel less of a muggle then!! I could write a whole blog dedicated to them and still not tire of it! I have to add sadly, I am not a Gryffindor- I am a proud Hufflepuff though and my patronus is a horse!!
I- Iron Man- Had to make a special mention and cover the letter I!! Intern — This Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway starrer is an absolute favourite. I love them both!
J- Just Go With it- A feel good movie with the lovely Jennifer Aniston and the affable Adam Sandler! Watch it if you need a dose of happiness! Jumanji- This is a special movie for me for it was my first movie in an open-air theatre with a senior, a wonderful soul who has since passed on, well before his time. Apart from the sentiment, the movie in itself was brilliant and both the sequels have been just as great too. Please don’t give it a miss!
K- King’s Speech- A great movie starring Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter, who no matter what she wears and what role she plays, will always be Bellatrix Lestrange for me!! It is based on King George VI and his struggle to overcome his stammer. A very touching movie with every actor playing their role to perfection! Must watch.
L- Life is Beautiful- This poignant tale of a father humouring his son so that his days in the concentration camp in Nazi Germany was as happy and devoid of fear as could be. Brilliant movie. I have tears in my eyes as I type this for you. What extremes the human race is capable of!
M- My Fair Lady- I grew up watching this movie and memorizing all the dialogues which served me well during my masters in English literature. I definitely am partial to the movie ending than either of the two, George Bernard Shaw had in mind. This movie is BRILLIANT. I love every single person in the film, the music and lyrics, the dialogue which are mostly from the play. Audrey Hepburn is to die for and Rex Harrison is at his obnoxious best as an MCP. I could go on and on! Don’t wait another moment if you haven’t seen the film, go watch it NOW! Mary Poppins- I loved the book and I adored the movie and it was news to me when the movie “Saving Mr. Banks” was aired that P.L Travers, the author of the book (played by Emma Thompson) did not appreciate the movie Walt Disney (played by Tom Hanks) made! I beg to differ. The movie is responsible for the book being such a success! Again, the cast was brilliant with Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins) and David Tomlinson (George Banks) being my favourite! Great music and it is difficult for Walt Disney to go wrong! God Bless Him for his contribution to our lives! Mamma Mia- for the love of ABBA, Meryl Streep and Colin Firth among others!
N- Notting Hill- Hilarious! Hugh Grant’s comic timing is at its best and Julie Roberts is another favourite of mine!
O- Officer and Gentleman- This Richard Gere starrer features on my list because that’s the first one that popped up in my head and nothing followed. I saw it in the seventh grade with my parents and brother. We had a conservative upbringing and I think I must’ve mentioned it somewhere before but most of the English films we watched were classics and the few James Bond films that came home had me out of the room longer than in it. Every time he would come into the frame with another woman, I had to go out. Now, when someone recommended this movie to my father and said it was great for kids, we went to the theatre to watch it and it was great till the interval after which fireworks began and by the time we came out, my brother was stifling a grin, Dad looked as though he had been sentenced to the guillotine and Ma was eyeing the huge “A” that was on the poster which we had missed. I was wide eyed with a million questions in my head! So that’s more about my experience and less about the movie!!
P- Pretty Woman- The man (Richard Gere) looks better and better with age! She is an absolute sweetheart (Julia Roberts) and their pairing is lovely just like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks! It is the Cinderella Story with a few real-life twists. You’ll enjoy every bit of it. Proposal- I have watched this movie a number of times too. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds! It is definitely worth a watch even if you aren’t a romantic and if you are, you’ll see it more than once. Not deep or anything but a fun watch.
Q- Couldn’t think of anything. I haven’t watched a lot, I guess!
R- Runaway Bride- Another Gere-Roberts film. Love it. Can see it over and over again.
S- Shawshank Redemption- Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. I never thought I’d like a prison-based movie (I did like the Longest Yard though- both the old and new version) but I have seen this one 4–5 times and I can see it again. I do not want to give the story away. See it!
T- The Sound of Music- Cristopher Plummer and Julie Andrews! May have seen this one, ten times more than My Fair Lady. A perfect film. It has everything in it. Timeless! Again, all the dialogues are known to me! The cast, the story, the setting, the songs and their lyrics- every single thing is WOW! The Devil wears Prada- Miranda Priestley lives with you long after the movie. Meryl Streep has played her part to perfection (doesn’t she always) as has Anne Hathaway. I could watch this movie over and over just for Streep’s haughty “That’s all”! Top Gun- I do not think this movie needs an introduction! Tom Cruise at his handsomest best as Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell was an icon! I am sure you have already watched it more than once! The sequel is out after so many years and we are yet to watch it! Two Weeks’ Notice- Another funny romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. A light movie to cheer you up!
U- Ugly Truth- I have watched it a couple of times and have liked it too but it features here because of the U! Worth a watch though, this Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler film!
V- Valentines Day- Again, it’s here for the letter V! A feel-good multi-starrer romance cannot go wrong!
W- When Harry Met Sally- This is my go-to movie when I need the warmth of a cozy romance, second only to the last movie featured here! Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal! It just warms my heart every time I see this movie and I can grow old watching it! MUST WATCH!
X- Not seen any!
Y- You’ve Got Mail- Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks do a wonderful job in this simple romance and I absolutely revel in it! Their magic is even better than Sleepless in Seattle! It really can’t get better than this. Again, I could grow old watching this as well. ABSOLUTE MUST WATCH!
Z- Given this a miss too!
A Special mention to a few cartoon films- The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King and Kung Fu Panda (the first movie was the best even though the two sequels are watchable).
As I had predicted, the books A to Z will have to feature in a subsequent blog to this one as I have written so much! I just got carried away and even as I am typing the concluding lines, movies are popping up in my head that I shouldn’t have left out!! I have been a movie buff all my life and I absolutely love Indian cinema. I even enjoy mediocre movies in Hindi as long as they aren’t too violent. I am crazy about Hindi movies and I have seen a fair amount of excellent Malayalam movies as well, hailing from Kerala! However, this list has only English movies, to cater to a wider readership, that probably do not understand either Hindi or Malayalam. Hope you enjoyed the compilation. Any movie suggestions are welcome in the comments section!
My Blog: https://www.musingswhileunlearning.com/2020/12/a-to-z.html | https://medium.com/@exuberanceunlimited/a-to-z-e19e3a3cec55 | ['Exuberance Unlimited'] | 2020-12-12 09:41:09.479000+00:00 | ['Fun', 'Classics', 'A To Z', 'Movies', 'Romance'] |
Build your open source Big Data distribution with Hadoop, HBase, Spark, Hive & Zeppelin | The Hadoop ecosystem gave birth to many popular projects including HBase, Spark and Hive. While technologies like Kubernetes and S3 compatible object storages are growing in popularity, HDFS and YARN hold their place for on-premise and large use cases. Interested in compiling your personal Hadoop-based distribution from source yourself? This article comes with all the peculiarities of the build process and will teach you how do it.
Following our previous articles Installing Hadoop from source and Rebuilding HDP Hive, this article enriches the series and looks into the process of building multiple open source Big Data projects while managing the dependencies they have with one another. The goal is to create a “mini” Big Data distribution around Hadoop-based components by building the projects from source and making the builds dependent on one another. In this article, the selected projects are:
Why did we pick these projects? Hadoop gives both a distributed filesystem and resource scheduler with HDFS and YARN. HBase is a reference project for scalable NoSQL storage. Hive brings a SQL layer on top of Hadoop familiar to developers and with a JDBC/ODBC interface for analytics. Spark is perfect for in-memory compute and data transformation. Zeppelin offers a user-friendly web-based interface to interact with all the previous components.
Accurate instructions on building Apache projects are sometimes a bit difficult to find. For example, the Apache Hive’s build instructions is outdated.
This article will go around the main concepts of building different Apache projects. Every command is shared and all the steps are reproducible.
Project versions
All the projects given above are independent. However, they are designed to work nicely together and they do follow each other around important features. For example, Hive 3 is best used with Hadoop 3. It is important to have consistency when picking the versions we will build. All the official Apache releases are marked as tags in their git repository, they have different names depending on the project.
The selected versions to build our platform is summarized in the following table:
| Component | Version | Git tag | | — — — — — — — |: — — — — — — -:| — — — :| | Apache Hadoop | 3.1.1 | rel/release-3.1.1 | | Apache HBase | 2.2.3 | rel/2.2.3 | | Apache Spark | 2.4.0 | v2.4.0 | | Apache Hive | 3.1.2 | rel/release-3.1.2 | | Apache Zeppelin | 0.8.2 | v0.8.2 |
Let’s now start by cloning all the repositories of the projects and checkout the tags we targeted.
git clone --branch rel/2.2.3 https://github.com/apache/hbase.git
git clone --branch rel/release-3.1.2 https://github.com/apache/hive.git
git clone --branch v2.4.0 https://github.com/apache/spark.git
git clone --branch v0.8.2 git clone --branch rel/release-3.1.1 https://github.com/apache/hadoop.gitgit clone --branch rel/2.2.3 https://github.com/apache/hbase.gitgit clone --branch rel/release-3.1.2 https://github.com/apache/hive.gitgit clone --branch v2.4.0 https://github.com/apache/spark.gitgit clone --branch v0.8.2 https://github.com/apache/zeppelin.git
Note: For this article, we will build the projects versions’ “as is”. If you want to know how to apply a patch, test and build a release, check out our previous article Installing Hadoop from source.
Versioned distribution
A distribution is a collection of multiple components that are built, assembled, and configured as a logical unit. Each component is identified by a name and a version. The distribution is a unique combination of the embedded components. This unique combination is also identified by a name and a version.
To reflect the component and distribution naming pattern, the final name of a component, which we called the release name, looks like {project_name}-{project_version}-{distrib_name}-{distrib_version}.tar.gz , for exemple hadoop-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.tar.gz .
The release name is defined in the Maven pom.xml definition files of all the project submodules. They must all reflect the new release name. To consistently and easily update all the files, use the mvn command multiple times during the article:
mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0
The -DgenerateBackupPoms=false parameter is optional: it avoids the generation of pom.xml.versionsBackup files after the update.
Once the pom.xml files are up to date, we can build and package each project following their respective instructions.
Build environment
To obtain a reproducible build environment, all the builds described in this article are run within a Docker container. The Apache Hadoop project provides a Docker image that contains everything needed to build Hadoop. We use this image to build all the projects in our distribution.
To start the build environment, the hadoop Git repository provides the start-build-env.sh available in the project root folder.
Navigate to the hadoop directory we just cloned and run:
./start-build-env.sh
_ _ _ ______
| | | | | | | _ \
| |_| | __ _ __| | ___ ___ _ __ | | | |_____ __
| _ |/ _` |/ _` |/ _ \ / _ \| '_ \ | | | / _ \ \ / /
| | | | (_| | (_| | (_) | (_) | |_) | | |/ / __/\ V /
\_| |_/\__,_|\__,_|\___/ \___/| .__/ |___/ \___| \_(_)
| |
|_|
This is the standard Hadoop Developer build environment.
This has all the right tools installed required to build
Hadoop from source.
Important: The docker run command inside start-build-env.sh mounts the project repository as a local volume. By default, only the hadoop repository is mounted. To mount the other repositories, modify the ./start-build-env.sh script and mount the parent folder. Thus, all the cloned repositories will be available within the container.
Build a custom Hadoop release
Apache Hadoop (HDFS/YARN) is a dependency on all the other projects in our distribution so we should start by building this one first.
We want to be able to differentiate our version of Apache Hadoop from the official release, let’s do that by changing the name of the version. We use the versions:set subcommand to update the pom.xml declaration files:
mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0
We can then build a release of our mydistrib-0.1.0 Hadoop version with:
mvn clean install -Pdist -Dtar -DskipTests -Dmaven.javadoc.skip=true
-Pdist and -Dtar is a special profile defined in hadoop-project-dist/pom.xml . It launches a script after the compilation that copies all the necessary files (JARs, configuration files, etc.) and makes a .tar.gz archive. Why did we use install and not package ? The question is answered in the next part.
Once the build is done, the archive is located on your host machine at:
./hadoop-dist/target/hadoop-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.tar.gz
The archive is available outside of the container because the directory is mounted from the host (see ./start-build-env.sh ).
What comes next? Hive has a dependency on Hadoop, HBase, and Spark whereas Spark and HBase only depend on Hadoop. We should build HBase and Spark next.
Build a custom HBase release
Before building Apache HBase from source, we must not forget to change the name and the version of the release to differentiate it from the Apache distribution:
mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0
We must ensure that the HBase build refers to our version of the Hadoop dependency.
The version of Hadoop used for building is defined in the root pom.xml file of the project. We need to replace the default Hadoop version from the "hadoop-3.0" profile:
<profile>
<id>hadoop-3.0</id>
<activation>
<property>
<name>hadoop.profile</name>
<value>3.0</value>
</property>
</activation>
[...]
<properties>
<hadoop.version>${hadoop-three.version}</hadoop.version>
To change this value for the build, we can either modify the pom.xml above permanently or override the value of hadoop.version property at build time. Let's try with the second option:
mvn clean \
-DskipTests -Dhadoop.profile=3.0 -Dhadoop-three.version=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 \
package assembly:single install
Notice how the parameter to package the JARs in an archive ( assembly:single ) is different from the one we used for Hadoop in the previous section. Every project has its own way of functioning when it comes to release making.
We can find the HBase release at ./hbase-assembly/target/hbase-2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin.tar.gz . Let's make sure it embeds the correct Hadoop JARs by checking what's inside:
cp ./hbase-assembly/target/hbase-2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin.tar.gz /tmp
cd /tmp
tar -xvzf hbase-2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin.tar.gz
cd hbase-2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0
find . -name "*hadoop*"
[...]
./lib/hadoop-yarn-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
./lib/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
./lib/hadoop-hdfs-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
./lib/hadoop-auth-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
[...]
We can find the previously built Hadoop JARs inside the archive. This means that the “mydistrib” version of HBase is dependent on the “mydistrib” version of Hadoop which is what we wanted to achieve.
Build a custom Spark release
As for HBase, we need to make sure that the Apache Spark distribution we will make has a dependency on our version of Hadoop.
In the pom.xml file of Spark, we can see that the Hadoop dependencies are defined as profile. The one we are looking for is in lines 2691-2698 of the file:
<profile>
<id>hadoop-3.1</id>
<properties>
<hadoop.version>3.1.0</hadoop.version>
<curator.version>2.12.0</curator.version>
<zookeeper.version>3.4.9</zookeeper.version>
</properties>
</profile>
We need to change the <hadoop.version> to 3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 , we can do it with the sed command this time:
sed -i "s/<hadoop.version>3.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/<hadoop.version>3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/" pom.xml
Which gives the following result:
<profile>
<id>hadoop-3.1</id>
<properties>
<hadoop.version>3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0</hadoop.version>
<curator.version>2.12.0</curator.version>
<zookeeper.version>3.4.9</zookeeper.version>
</properties>
</profile>
Of course, the 3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 JAR files are not available in the public Maven Repository but the mvn install command that we ran copied the compiled JAR files to our local Maven repository which is located in ~/.m2 by default.
Let’s see if we can find these JARs:
ll ~/.m2/repository/org/apache/hadoop/hadoop-hdfs-client/3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0
total 6.4M
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 4.8M Oct 14 17:55 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 5.9K Oct 14 17:53 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0.pom
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 1.4M Oct 14 17:55 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0-sources.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 153K Oct 14 17:55 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0-tests.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 leo leo 94K Oct 14 17:55 hadoop-hdfs-client-3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0-test-sources.jar
The build container and the local host share the same ~/.m2 directory (see the ./start-build-env.sh script of Hadoop).
Note: If you run mvn package instead of mvn install for the Hadoop build, the JARs could not have been found in .m2 resulting in the following error when trying to build HBase:
[INFO] BUILD FAILURE
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 01:09 min
[INFO] Finished at: 2020-12-02T10:42:46Z
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal on project hbase-hadoop2-compat: Could not resolve dependencies for project org.apache.hbase:hbase-hadoop2-compat:jar:2.2.3-mydistrib-0.1.0: Could not find artifact org.apache.hadoop:hadoop-hdfs-client:jar:3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 in central (https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2) -> [Help 1]
Again, we can change the version name for our release of Spark:
mvn versions:set -DgenerateBackupPoms=false -DnewVersion=2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0
Because Spark 2.x needs to be built with JDK 8 (see SPARK-25820 for details), we need to switch the java version inside the container before building:
sudo update-java-alternatives --set /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64
Note: By default, the OpenJDK 11 is the active version inside the build container. If you do not perform the step above, the build step will fail with the following stack trace:
[ERROR] import sun.misc.Cleaner;
[ERROR] ^
[ERROR] symbol: class Cleaner
[ERROR] location: package sun.misc
The Apache Spark project comes with a make-distribution.sh script which is essentially a wrapper around mvn . Let's use this script to build Spark:
./dev/make-distribution.sh \
--name my-release --tgz \
-Phive -Phive-thriftserver -Pyarn -Phadoop-3.1
The -Phadoop-3.1 will load the profile we just edited while the other profiles are mandatory to user Spark on YARN and SparkSQL wth Hive.
Once the build is done, the archive is available at:
./spark-2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin-my-release.tgz
Build a custom Hive release
Moving on to Apache Hive. As declared inside the project’s pom.xml file, Hive has both Hadoop and Spark as build dependencies, we need to change the *.version properties to match our previous builds:
sed -i "s/<hadoop.version>3.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/<hadoop.version>3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/" pom.xml
sed -i "s/<spark.version>2.3.0<\\/spark.version>/<spark.version>2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0<\\/spark.version>/" pom.xml
The standalone-metastore Maven sub-module also has a dependency to Hadoop, let's not forget that one:
sed -i "s/<hadoop.version>3.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/<hadoop.version>3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0<\\/hadoop.version>/" standalone-metastore/pom.xml
The build command for Hive is the following:
mvn clean install -Pdist -DskipTests
Once the build is done, the archive is available at:
./packaging/target/apache-hive-3.1.2-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin.tar.gz
Build a custom Zeppelin release
The final piece of our Big Data distribution: Apache Zeppelin. It is a notebook with a friendly web-based user interface.
For Zeppelin, it is a bit more complicated to make a release with custom resources than for the previous projects.
Zeppelin’s pom.xml file provides convenient profiles to build the project while choosing the versions of Hadoop and Spark which can be tweaked like the following in our case:
-Pspark-2.4 -Dspark.version=2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0 -Phadoop-3.1 -Dhadoop.version=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0
On top of that, the Zeppelin’s package stage is configured to fetch the built Spark release online to copy its python/lib/py4j-0.10.7-src.zip file in Zeppelin.
This step can be found at line 397 of spark/interpreter/pom.xml :
<configuration>
<target>
<delete dir="../../interpreter/spark/pyspark" />
<copy file="${project.build.directory}/${spark.archive}/python/lib/py4j-${py4j.version}-src.zip" todir="${project.build.directory}/../../../interpreter/spark/pyspark" />
<zip basedir="${project.build.directory}/${spark.archive}/python" destfile="${project.build.directory}/../../../interpreter/spark/pyspark/pyspark.zip" includes="pyspark/*.py,pyspark/**/*.py" />
</target>
</configuration>
By default, it fetches the archive at https://archive.apache.org/dist/spark/${spark.archive}/${spark.archive}-bin-without-hadoop.tgz which is the value of spark.bin.download.url . We need to change it because the official Apache archive site will not be hosting our custom release. In our case, we decided to host it on a private Nexus repository. If we do not set this URL, the build would fail with the following error:
[ERROR] Failed to execute goal com.googlecode.maven-download-plugin:download-maven-plugin:1.6.0:wget (download-sparkr-files) on project r: IO Error: Error while expanding /dataclan/zeppelin/rlang/target/spark-2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0-bin-without-hadoop.tgz: Not in GZIP format -> [Help 1]
Note: The default archive name says “without-hadoop” because we could have packaged Spark without the Hadoop/YARN libs (with the profile -Phadoop-provided ). In this case, we can proceed with our previously built Spark distribution. Indeed, we only care about its pyspark files.
The final build command is:
mvn clean package -DskipTests -Pbuild-distr -Pspark-2.4 -Dspark.version=2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0 -Phadoop-3.1 -Dhadoop.version=3.1.1-mydistrib-0.1.0 -Dspark.bin.download.url=https://nexus*****.com/repository/mydistrib-releases/mydistrib-0.1.0/spark-2.4.0-mydistrib-0.1.0.tgz
Once the build is done, the archive is available at:
./zeppelin-distribution/target/zeppelin-0.8.2-mydistrib-0.1.0.tar.gz
Conclusion
We have seen how to build a functional Big Data distribution including popular components like HDFS, Hive, and HBase. As stated in the introduction, the projects are built “as is” which means that no additional features are added to the official release and the build is not thoroughly tested. Where to go from here? If you are interested in seeing how to patch a project to make a new release, you can read our previous article Installing Hadoop from source in which we also take a glimpse at running its unit tests.
This article was originally published by Adaltas and was written by Leo Schoukroun. | https://medium.com/adaltas/build-your-open-source-big-data-distribution-with-hadoop-hbase-spark-hive-zeppelin-e3a45d01213a | [] | 2020-12-18 10:20:46.443000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'DevOps', 'Open Source', 'Infrastructure', 'Software Development'] |
Start Your Day with a Power Hour | Start Your Day with a Power Hour
The reason why I get up before 4 a.m.
Image by Couleur from Pixabay
Nick asked me if I had seen a show from the previous night. I told him I hadn’t, and that I typically go to bed at 8 p.m.
“What? All of the best shows don’t come on until after 10,” he said.
“I get up at 3:45.”
This equally stupefied him. “Why do you get up so early?”
“Because that’s how long it takes to be ‘Bradford.’”
He laughed, but I knew my lifestyle required waking at hours inconceivable for many. I’m still convinced I would have made a great monk if I didn’t question authority so much. But I wasn’t always that way.
Image by Mabel Amber from Pixabay
I had read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way more than 25 years ago. I had committed to my “morning pages,” which was 30 minutes of free writing before starting the day. It was mostly my protesting about people at my job or why this guy wasn’t paying attention to me. However, these morning pages managed to keep all my drama on the page rather than acting it out during my day.
Being an athlete all my life, I was used to moving my body most days. Exercise was a mental break for me, a time to put all my worries aside and allow my body to do what it does well. Eventually, it would become a daily habit necessary for me to function in my life.
Image by skeeze from Pixabay
When I started graduate school, a new world opened up for me. I was rather studious in undergraduate school, but my graduate program challenged me intellectually. I became enamored with learning new things, even if they were trivial to other people in my social circle. I found that I needed mental stimulation each day to keep me sharp.
We keep our lives in balance by refraining from extremes.
Stephen Covey called it “Sharpening the Saw” in his book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I hadn’t read this book until just a few months ago, and I realized I had incorporated this habit into my life many years prior. He suggested that to keep life in balance, we should commit to a “Daily Private Victory,” which is spending an hour each day feeding the mind, body, and spirit.
I call it my “power hour.” Sometimes, it’s more than an hour, sometimes it’s less. Each day we visit the well to fill our mind, body, and spirit. We keep our lives in balance by refraining from extremes.
Here’s how it works, and it really is personal to you.
Image by TaniaRose from Pixabay
Start with one hour each day
It’s best to start the day an hour earlier than usual. This is difficult at first, but when you realize the benefits of this “habit,” it will become easier. It allows you to start the day with balance before it whips you into a frenzy. If we postpone it until the end of the day, our schedules or our energies might give us an excuse to abandon it. You’ll aim for 20 minutes each day for each practice.
A physical practice
Your power hour is less about fitness and more about lifelong wellness. If you are a habitual exerciser, this might give you the excuse to try something different, such as an easy 20-minute walk or tai chi practice. The body stores a lot of your trauma and drama, and physical exercise pumps fresh blood through these stagnant areas. As a lifelong athlete, 20 minutes of exercise isn’t enough for me, so oftentimes I will extend this to an hour because it feels fantastic. Mind you — I get up well before dawn.
A mental practice
Allow 20 minutes for reading, meditation, or any “mental exercises” that engage your concentration. This practice is personal, so if your mind is overstimulated, you could try a guided meditation to calm the excess chatter. If you are curious, your mind can be engaged by reading a newspaper or book. You could also participate in an online course to learn something new. Even writing can help engage your concentration and stimulate the mind.
A spiritual practice
Covey describes the spiritual component as “your core, your center, your commitment to your value system.” Although often overlooked, the spiritual practice is extremely important because it helps tie your intentions and activities together. When you engage in a spiritual practice, you begin to see connections you didn’t think existed. By reconnecting with your value system, you recognize where you might have missed the mark. A spiritual practice could be traditional, such as engaging in prayer. You could also reflect on works of literature or philosophy, which speak about values that transcend time. Writing, too, can be your spiritual practice. The key here is reflection, not condemnation.
Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay
These three components to a power hour aren’t mutually exclusive. In many cases, you could combine your physical practice with your mental practice, such as a walking meditation. You can read or write outdoors, pausing every few moments to allow nature to speak to you. Yoga practices might start with a physical session and end in a concentration practice. Some meditation practices like passage meditation combine mental focus with contemplation. | https://medium.com/wholistique/start-your-day-with-a-power-hour-746f64faddda | ['Beth Bradford'] | 2020-08-22 14:47:21.001000+00:00 | ['Lifestyle', 'Balanced Life', 'Productivity', 'Morning Routines', 'Stephen Covey'] |
Road Feature Detection & GeoTagging with Deep Learning | Finally, we must also take into account auxiliary information such as the bearing of the camera, which is made up of the bearing of the vehicle and camera yaw. We will for now, not consider other parameters such as camera pitch and roll and how they would contribute to changes in inferred distance.
More accurate distance inference with Deep Learning
The above approach to distance inference gave us a good starting point to improve upon, but is by no means foolproof. Apart from the issue of non-deterministic physical sizes on select classes of signs, we also have the issue of perspective distortion should a sign get really close to the camera. What we need to figure out then, is whether we can bake an additional prior understanding of size into the model itself. Where there’s a will, there is a way involving deep learning.
The idea of applying deep learning to solve distance inference is itself not very novel, but the approach taken by the monodepth library is a very refreshing one: Rather than train a convolutional neural net to minimize the loss between an inferred depth-map and some kind of ground-truth map informed by LiDAR data, monodepth uses a dual-camera set up to capture data for training. Back propagation in this case involves adjusting the network’s weights so that it is able to reproduce a right-lens image from a single left-lens input (and vice versa). The corollary is that the model builds up an intrinsic understanding of depth over time, and this is all achieved without any expensive data collection equipment.
monodepth output on one of our MMS images. The street sign is clearly visible, and has a uniform gradient, meaning monodepth has assigned it a fixed depth. There are some artifacts on the left because the model hasn’t been optimized on highways in the US.
To figure out which pixel value corresponds to which distance is then a simple regression problem and can be done automatically on the testing set where signs have a known location.
The relationship between brightness and distance appears to be a linear one. A more accurate regression line can be obtained via transfer learning with local images captured from a dual-lens setup.
After integrating this ML solution for distance inference to our programmatic method, we are now able to precisely determine an object’s geocoordinates from a geotagged image. Neat!
Metrics, Metrics, Metrics
Of the five design aspects that define a machine learning workflow (data, model architecture, loss function, optimization method and performance measure), it is performance measure that is the most commonly overlooked yet most crucial facet. Throwing together a ML model without designing appropriate metrics would be like building a car and calling it a finished product without ever turning the key to see if it runs. The issue is that most developers are too lazy to test their models against a set of standard benchmarks, or to come up with custom metrics from the outset where standard performance measures are clearly insufficient.
To do this properly, I have created three separate metrics for each of the three outputs of the model: lat/long inference, OCR and detection/classification. But before any of that, we would first need to designate a set of testing data against which future benchmark tests would be carried out. There are two advantages to keeping a fixed test set: First, we can be assured that when performing model comparison that all non-systematic errors are eliminated. Second, depending on where we wish to deploy the model, we could manually incorporate images from that testing space to assess the model’s ability to generalize to foreign environments. The only downside to a fixed testing set is that lat/long of PoIs would have to be manually assigned, which we have painstakingly done over a period of two hours. As it stands, the current testing set consists of 43 images which does not sound like a lot but is plenty to illustrate the current level of model performance.
Lat/Long Inference
Two pieces of data are collected to measure the accuracy of lat/long inference. First, the L-2 standard deviation of inferred locations. This piece of information lets us understand the spread of inferred coordinates, and is something we wish to reduce over time. The other is the probability distribution of bearing of line AB where A is the ground-truth location and B is the inferred location. Ideally, the bearing should have an even distribution, indicating a lack of systematic errors which might otherwise manifest as clusters around certain bearing values.
OCR
Two metrics are used to assess the OCR accuracy: Number of words detected (each associated with the inferred signage distance) and the percentage of correctly identified words for all detections (based on a similarity index produced by Python’s SequenceMatcher). The ground-truth data in this case are manually entered into a python dict. The implicit rule I used when writing these strings is that I must not spend more than a second to interpret the text from a sign, and that I should certainly write out an empty ground-truth string if I deem the text to be indecipherable. Nonetheless, in the case of OCR, the model did not produce very accurate outputs for the few signs that contained any text at all.
Some particularly difficult OCR metric images. If it takes you more than a second to figure out what’s written, it’s probably too difficult for current methods to solve.
Detection/Classification
This is one of the few cases where a standard metric does the job better than any metric you can concoct. Since the detection model consists of Mask R-CNN or YOLOv3, the recommended performance measure is mean average precision (mAP). A detailed explanation of what this entails is given here.
Traditional metrics for VOC-style detection tasks vs. new metrics for current use case. Of course everyone is free to come up with whatever performance measure they see fit, so long as these metrics make sense in the context of the problem.
Integrating into the ArcGIS framework
The model in its current iteration is capable of consuming mass amounts of raw data and converting those into useful features. It is however not a full-fledged solution because there are no mechanisms in place for an end-user to easily consume these features and hence cannot derive actionable insights. This is where an ArcGIS end-to-end solution offers the user a decisive advantage through offerings such as real-time status monitoring using Operations Dashboard, post-processing techniques such as pattern analysis, spatial relationship modelling and clustering methods exposed through various spatial statistics tool sets, as well as ground crew management and coordination platforms like Workforce or Collector.
On the topic of post-processing, we realized that a pitfall with using MMS data is that unique objects tend to get identified multiple times from different camera frames as the MMS vehicle approaches the PoI. This would not be an issue if lat/long inference or object classification can be carried out without error, however this is typically not the case. | https://medium.com/geoai/road-feature-detection-geotagging-600ea03f9a8 | ['David Yu'] | 2019-06-07 01:09:09.136000+00:00 | ['Ocr', 'Arcgis', 'GIS', 'Machine Learning', 'Object Detection'] |
The Big Short | The Big Short
The story of how a fortune was made by beating the market with the speed of information
James Fisk (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
It was April 1865 and thirty-year-old James Fisk Jr(seen in the picture above) was anxiously awaiting news from the battle that would finally end America’s Civil War. The news and the resultant series of events that he was about to set in motion were going to earn him today’s equivalent of eighty million US dollars in a matter of a few days. This is the story of how Fisk used his understanding of Financial Markets combined with ingenuity that beat even the best news agencies at delivering news across the Atlantic to profit off the war.
A Primer on American Civil War
The industrialized Northern states of the United States had started abolishing slave ownership in the late 18th century and it soon became a matter of conflict with the predominantly agricultural southern states for whom slaves were critical for working on their vast plantations and thus their thriving cotton trade with Europe. Southern states seceded from the American Republic under the Confederate banner and war broke out in 1861 with the Union of northern states. The Union states, under the leadership of Ulysses H. Grant, defeated the Confederates in April 1865 in Virginia, in a battle that is often referred to as the ‘Waterloo of the Confederacy’, after which the Confederates surrendered and the war ended.
Fisk’s get rich quick scheme
A Confederate Bond document with removable coupons at the bottom(Source: Valley and View Collectibles)
As the war progressed, the Confederates raised funds to continue fighting by selling bonds (see an example of a Confederate bond in the image above) to investors in London, which at the time was the financial capital of the world. Although Britain had itself abolished slavery in 1833, mills in England depended heavily on cotton from America which was cultivated entirely by slaves.
British investors regularly invested in slave backed bonds which funded more cotton cultivation and were secretly sympathetic to the confederate cause. As the Civil War progressed and the Union started dominating, Fisk devised a plot to make a killing in London’s bond market. His plan was to ‘short’ Confederate bonds as soon as the war was over but before the news of their loss reached the market.
“Short Selling or ‘Shorting’ is a strategy used to make profits when the price of a asset drops. For example, you can short the stock of a company by borrowing the stock from someone and sell it in the stock market when the price is still up. When the stock price drops, buy the stock from the market at a lower price and return the stock back to the lender and pocket the difference. This strategy works only if you find someone to lend you the stock and if the price drops. The opposite of this is to go ‘long’ when you expect the price to rise. This is the more intuitive and commonly known investment strategy and where you buy low and sell high” -Investopedia
At the time of the war, a direct telegraph line between North America and Europe existed but had broken down and hence all news was carried by ships across the Atlantic and took many days to arrive. So then how does one get the news out to London before the news agencies even caught a whiff?
Fisk’s solution was both simple and effective. As the war started drawing to an end, he leased a fast steamer and stationed it at Halifax in Canada which is the closest port on the journey to England. Sitting in his office in Boston, when he heard the news of the battle in Virginia, he immediately sent a telegraph which said ‘Go’ to his ally, Hargreaves, who was waiting in Halifax. As soon as he got the message, Hargreaves, who was also a stockbroker like Fisk, boarded the fast steamer and raced toward England and reached London five days ahead of the ship bearing the official news.
Hargreaves walked London’s Financial district armed with this information which only he was in possession of and used the advantage to slowly borrow confederate bonds. He started selling them without arousing any suspicion from London’s clique of financial moguls. When the official news finally reached London, the bonds tumbled to nearly zero and that’s when Hargreaves bought them again at a huge bargain and made Fisk and himself richer by almost $5 million which would be close to $80 million today.
A perfectly legal plan well thought and meticulously executed across two continents. Fisk eventually went on to engage in many other endeavors, some legal others not so much, that made him even wealthier, and was eventually murdered by his business partner at the age of thirty-six.
Nathan Rothschild and the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo(Source: Wikipedia)
Another similar story that is much more well known is that of Nathan Mayer Rothschild (see picture below) and how he manipulated the London Bond market using his early knowledge of the result of the battle at Waterloo where Britain defeated Napolean Bonaparte.
Nathan Mayer Rothschild (Source: Wikipedia)
Nathan was the founder of the London branch of the Rothschild banking empire and had funded Britain’s war against Napolean. The Rothschild brothers were based in many major European financial hubs from where they ran their banking empire by communicating closely with each other using a quick (compared to other contemporary means) and effective private communications network that involved pigeons and messengers on horses.
As the story goes, when Britain defeated Napolean at Waterloo, Rothschild used his efficient communication network to receive the news before even the King could. Upon receiving this news, Rotchshild encouraged rumors that Britain had lost the war which crashed the London market. Rothschild quickly started buying and made a huge profit when the real news reached and the bonds scaled new highs.
The Rothschild family and a lot of historians deny this account for the lack of evidence and blame it on anti-semitic propaganda while many historians including Niall Ferguson, in his biography of the Rothschild family, claim it to be true. While it is not hard to imagine that Rothschild may have made a substantial profit based on his financial acumen and simply the fact that he had funded the victorious side, to begin with, the jury may still be out on whether the thrilling story is true.
References | https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/the-big-short-5e0d3a474b3d | ['Himanshu Atre'] | 2020-10-19 11:02:23.535000+00:00 | ['Bonds', 'History', 'Finance', 'Civil War', 'American History'] |
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During the birth phase, a female fetus will start developing nipples and milk ducts. It is during the puberty phase that the breast tissues begin to gain fat, triggered by the production of estrogen. During menopause (a phase that many of us do not look forward to), our body can’t produce as much estrogen as before, resulting in a decrease of breast tissue volume, ultimately leading to sagging breasts.
The ProBreast Plus capsules and cream contain natural active ingredients that contain phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are substances found in plants and plant-based foods.
Always Order Through The Official Website — Here!!! | https://medium.com/@lazinicaposao/breast-actives-why-you-dont-need-implants-anymore-aeec86f3fe18 | ['Nenad Lazinica'] | 2020-12-19 15:25:06.639000+00:00 | ['Breastfeeding', 'Women'] |
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