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The Literally Literary Weekly Update #4 | One Last Note
We have 27,551 followers at Literally Literary. We have approximately 200 writers. Even with these tremendous numbers, most of the submitted works get less than 20 views. Why? Algorithms.
How do we combat this and support each other? Bookmark our homepage and once a day, come here and see what you missed. The only way we can be the kind of community we all want to be is to support each others’ works by reading them.
Our homepage has a Top 25–30 that is updated every single day with new works published in the last month. Below that, you will find our trending works and then the latest ones that you may have missed. Be a participant and read works from amazing writers that maybe you don’t follow yet, but might want to. | https://medium.com/literally-literary/the-literally-literary-weekly-update-4-e2d437a18cd7 | ['Jonathan Greene'] | 2020-01-15 15:48:17.831000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Nonfiction', 'Ll Letters', 'Fiction', 'Essay'] |
How to Build Custom Transformers in Scikit-Learn | FunctionTransformer
Let’s start simple with a great tool for on the fly transformations: FunctionTransformer. FunctionTransformer can be used for everything from applying a predefined function to a feature, to selecting specific columns in your feature set. The basic idea is that FunctionTransformer accepts a function (you can also pass an inverse function), and applies the function to the data via a fit_transform method. This makes it a great tool for uncomplicated transformations that can be encapsulated in a simple function; you can almost think of this as the “lambda function” of scikit-learn preprocessing. We demonstrate a few use cases below.
Selecting Features:
Here we use FunctionTransformer to select two of the thirteen features in the full Boston Housing dataset.
Output of the above Code (Image by Author)
Simple Transformations:
We were able to select the features we wanted, but perhaps we’d like to scale the values of the ‘CRIM’ (Crime Rate) feature. We could use StandardScaler, but instead we’ll apply a log scale to demonstrate how to use FunctionTransformer to apply simple functions on the fly. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/how-to-build-custom-transformers-in-scikit-learn-edd65951b2e8 | ['Jake Miller Brooks'] | 2020-12-08 15:41:49.334000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Feature Engineering', 'Scikit Learn', 'Data Science'] |
How Facebook’s Reactions Kinda Miss the Point | A Contrarian Analysis and Exasperated Rant
What problem were we solving, again?
Facebook recently rolled out the first elaboration to their core social interaction in years, possibly ever: Reactions. Instead of just Liking something, you can now slap one of several emoji on it. And also there’s a heart, like Captain Planet.
o_O
Facebook’s own press claims that this new feature was meant to solve a simple problem: no one wants to “like” a post that’s about something bad. Facebook users needed a way to commiserate.
The misguided asked for a “dislike” button. The problems with that idea are belligerent and numerous (I wrote about them in 2014), but the most salient point is that any negative sentiment can and will be used by bad faith actors to crap in other people’s ice cream.
Instead, Facebook has chosen to increase the emotional range of the Like button. If someone posts about their car accident, you can respond with a Cryface reaction. When someone posts about being harassed by some jackhole on the street, you can respond with a, uh… this last guy on the right. Tantrumface. Hothead.
You get the idea.
There are some problems with this approach. First, four of the six new Reactions (Happy, Dopey, Sneezy, and Heart) have nothing to do with commiseration. Can you still claim success when 2/3 of your solution has nothing to do with the problem? Not convincingly.
Second, Sad and Angry still aren’t that great for commiseration. Simply identifying the emotion that someone is feeling isn’t the same as providing comfort or support. It’s just proving you can identify HU-mon feelings.
Which is probably the real point of all this. Judging solely by the solution they came up with, I’d say the design team’s actual goal was to get free sentiment analysis from Facebook users. I think Big Z wants to know the emotional content of your posts and he wants you to make it happen.
Reactions aren’t a way to communicate your emotions to other Facebook users. They’re a way for Facebook to tag content with an emotion.
Even if people do use the new Reactions to communicate their own feelings, we’re still left with a third problem: Sarcasm. Depending on their context, all of these damn emoji can be turned into even more hurtful “dislike” buttons. Now I can…
Laugh at your pain.
Smile at your misfortune.
Wow when I want to roll my eyes.
Cryface your vacation photos.
Scowl at your political opinions.
That’s way more fun than “liking” your parking ticket ever could have been.
And Love is just gonna become the new Like. Mark my words.
“Oh, you just ‘Liked’ that Futurama gif, huh?
“Yeah, it was good.”
“But you didn’t ‘Love’ it.
“Well…”
“I’ll just try harder to please you, next time. Whatever.”
If you ask me, a better solution to the actual problem would have been a single new endorsement: Hug. It shows sympathy and support. It’s difficult to use sarcastically. It’s even international, fer crying out loud! Maybe it doesn’t lend itself to an icon, but I remain optimistic.
\(o_o)/
So, what do you think? Did Facebook fail to solve their commiseration problem or did they set out to solve a different problem all together? Or is Wowface the best thing since sliced bread? | https://medium.com/user-experience-behavior-design/how-facebook-s-reactions-kinda-miss-the-point-32bbb7cab76f | ['Dan Bayn'] | 2016-03-08 05:48:19.976000+00:00 | ['User Experience', 'Design', 'Social Media'] |
#085 | Debugging Vue Sites Displaying Blank Pages | So I had this bright idea to consolidate all my side projects under a common sub-domain — lab. The only reason why I decided to do this is that my DNS records are getting a little messy, with each sub-domain adding a couple of lines. This is purely my OCD at work, I know.
The Problem
Now, my initial thought was to simply create a lab project, dump all my side projects into separate folders in it, upload them and call it a day. Which sounds fine in theory, except each of these projects is a single-page Vue application with some internal configs set up long ago.
I was hoping I don’t have to go back and compile them again but alas, after I uploaded the site, the sub-folders all turned up as empty pages. I actually spent the next 6 hours trying to debug this issue because there were no console errors, no indication of what went wrong and worst of all, it was a combination of two different things that caused this, which made things that much worst.
I did try to post this issue on StackOverflow, but without any error message and no way for me to recreate this error from a bunch of old projects, my post was eventually closed. | https://medium.com/footprints-on-the-sand/085-debugging-vue-sites-displaying-blank-pages-82bee28aec97 | ['Kelvin Zhao'] | 2020-03-24 23:11:00.960000+00:00 | ['Vuejs', 'Website Development', 'Debugging', 'Code', 'Vue'] |
Solstice Joy | Solstice Joy
Best wishes from a solar freak
Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash
I am always overcome with a wave of happiness on the Winter Solstice. This is because of the knowing that the days will now start getting longer again. I guess it is part of being a solar addict freak.
To me it is inspiring that I can experience this happiness on the shortest, coldest, darkest day of the year. Sadly, on the Summer Solstice, the day with the most amount of sun of any day (in the Northern Hemisphere), I feel a wave of dread knowing that the days begin getting shorter.
Are these expectations part of what helps maintain the planet’s wobble? Or are they just personal reactions? Is it a natural part of being an Earthling?
I have been delighted to learn that from one of the windows in my new apartment I can watch the sunrise for about two weeks before and two weeks after the Winter Solstice. This is nice when there are six inches of snow on the ground and the temperature is below that of a polar bear’s frozen margarita. Thanks to the buildings and trees, the rest of the year I have to go outside to find an unobstructed view of that precious moment when the sun pokes its head above the horizon.
I hope all you other Earthlings, no matter where on the planet you are, are enjoying your experience with the Winter Solstice. | https://medium.com/grab-a-slice/solstice-joy-e7639390a6bf | ['White Feather'] | 2020-12-21 17:34:24.388000+00:00 | ['Solstice', 'Nonfiction', 'Winter', 'Holidays', 'Life'] |
Medium Writing and Marketing Tips For You | Medium Writing and Marketing Tips For You
What do you need help with?
Image by wiredsmartio from Pixabay
I joined Medium in September 2020, almost exactly three months ago at the time of writing this. In those 3 months, I’ve proudly achieved a number of personal accomplishments on the platform. They include the following.
The first story I wrote on Medium was curated and published by the biggest active publication on Medium. Achieved Top Writer in 5 topics including Writing. My name is alongside some other great Top Writers on Medium I’ve followed since Day 1. Grew my following to 2,100 followers on Medium in three months. Founded this publication and quickly gathered almost hit 1,000 followers in two months. Had several stories climb above 2,000 claps.
You each will have your own list of personal accomplishments on Medium too. But I would be lying to you if I told you the path to good achievements was easy or effortless.
For me personally, I did a lot of research. I spent hours studying Medium writers’ styles and niches. I read many stories and engaged with lots of writers. I networked, asked questions, and made mistakes. But I set my goals and I moved forward, step by step.
To clarify, I’m not promising if you follow my advice that you’ll hit the same numbers I did in the same timeframe, if at all. I want to be realistic with you. I was and still am new to Medium and I didn’t know what the standard growth rate for a Medium writer was.
When I first started on Medium, I joined several Facebook writer groups and followed Medium writers that had started around the same time as me. I wanted to grow and learn as much as I could about the platform. After I realized that my rapid growth on Medium was an uncommon pattern among my Medium circle, I self-reflected on the reasons on what could have contributed to it.
I remember after my first month on Medium, a Facebook group I was part of had a thread that asked, “How are you doing so far on Medium?”
I answered, “Hey all, first full month on Medium and I’m over $130. Not sure if that’s good or not, but I’ll keep going!”
I received a reply, “lol. Yeah, that’s really good. I only hit $6 and I’ve been on Medium for months.” Oops! I felt bad. I didn’t mean to sound like I was bragging so I quickly apologized. She assured me it was fine and she didn’t interpret it that way.
I had no idea what the average earnings were or how other writers were faring. Hell, I cringed when I told people I’m a writer. I can’t be a writer — I’ve only started three months ago! | https://medium.com/about-me-stories/medium-writing-tips-for-you-183de75842c9 | ['Quy Ma'] | 2020-12-22 01:41:16.184000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Blogging', 'Advice', 'Ｍedium', 'Writing Tips'] |
A Guide to User-Centered Design | What is Human-Computer Interaction?
Before we get into my experiences, I want to give you a brief background on what HCI is and how it connects to User Experience (UX). Human-Computer Interaction is a multidisciplinary practice that focuses on both the interaction between the user and the computer as well as the design of the computer interface. As its name implies, HCI consists of three parts: the user, the computer itself, and the ways they work together.
User
By user, I mean an individual user or a group of users working together. An appreciation of how people relay information through sight, hearing, and touch is vital. Also, different users form different conceptions or mental models about their interactions and have different ways of learning and keeping knowledge.
Computer
When I say computer, I’m not just talking about your desktop computer. I’m referring to any technology ranging from smart watches to virtual/augmented reality. You’re probably aware of how much smartphones and tablets have paved the way for tons of new and unique interactions between humans and computers. The potential of these new types of interactions is absolutely huge but we’ve still got a long way to go before they become truly useful and usable.
Interaction
There are obvious differences between humans and machines. In spite of these, HCI attempts to ensure that they both understand each other and interact successfully. In order to achieve a usable system, you need to apply what you know about humans and computers and consult with your users in order to understand their needs. This, in turn, will help you deliver a product that is efficient, effective, and enjoyable to use.
The Value of Human-Computer Interaction
HCI is a broad field which overlaps with areas such as user-centered design, user interface design and user experience design. In many ways, HCI is the backbone of UX. The practical considerations for products that UX designers concern themselves with have direct links to the findings of HCI specialists about users’ mindsets. This collaboration helps designers to drive impactful changes in the market and society.
Understanding the user through UX
User experience is how you feel about every interaction you have with what’s in front of you at the moment you’re using it.
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs
Great user experience design not only highlights and promotes your product, but it has also become a key part of building and growing customer confidence. There’s a lot to consider if you want to understand the full user experience, and Peter Morville breaks it down beautifully with his UX Honeycomb:
User Experience Honeycomb.
The honeycomb hits the sweet spot by serving several purposes at once. It is a great tool for advancing the conversation beyond usability and for helping people understand the need to define priorities. Is it more important for your product to be desirable or accessible? How about usable or credible? It all depends on your unique balance of context, content, and users.
With all of this in mind, the primary factor of success ultimately lies in the fact that you keep your user in the center of your design process. This approach allows you to create designs that are clean, simple, intuitive, flexible and engaging, and provide a WOW experience to your users and thus differentiate you from your competitors.
My Design Process
In order to create these multifaceted designs, you must have a well-structured design process. This is usually an iterative method that helps you continuously improve and polish your designs. In the process, you go through different stages repeatedly while evaluating your designs on each stage. Each stage involves relevant stakeholders in your organization that take part in the process to make your products highly efficient and usable.
My process consists of six stages:
Graphic created with Figma.
Understand
In order to provide a viable solution, you first need to understand the problem. This stage is for conducting initial brainstorming sessions to get input on the problem and gain a better understanding of its requirements. | https://medium.com/grayandr/a-guide-to-user-centered-design-c84738ebe82d | ['Andrew Gray'] | 2019-05-01 23:57:55.291000+00:00 | ['User Experience', 'Design', 'UX', 'Humancomputer Interaction'] |
10 Mobile Apps CPG Advertisers Should Know About | 10 Mobile List-Building Apps for CPG Advertising: Contextual, Simple and Consumer-Friendly
Consumers use hundreds of different mobile apps to plan and shop for groceries. While it’s great news for shoppers who want choices, the broadness of the landscape can make it a bit difficult for CPG and grocery advertisers to keep track of what’s available and what makes each grocery app unique.
Pulled together based on app ratings, user experience, and advertising opportunities, here’s a guide to navigating through some of the best mobile grocery apps available today.
Out of Milk*
iOS Rating: 4.2 / Android Rating: 4.6
An app built to keep track of shopping needs and make managing a to-do list simple, Out of Milk boasts the #1 most used Android shopping list and has quickly become a leading player in iOS as well. Out of Milk helps consumers keep track of shopping needs, pantry inventory, and manage to-do lists and grocery lists. With voice activation capabilities through both Alexa and Google Home, Out of Milk also makes hands-free a snap when working in the kitchen, creating to-do lists or referencing a favorite recipe.
Key Features: List sharing, voice activation capabilities, pantry management, “buy again” feature
Listonic*
iOS Rating: 4.7 / Android Rating: 4.6
Another app that makes grocery list building easier for consumers, Listonic has seen great success, in both Andriod and iOS, in making their user experience impressive, seamless and functional. Listonic is especially great for families trying to coordinate busy schedules, add items from anywhere and quickly sync or share lists with multiple individuals. Listonic supports web, phone, and smartwatch making it super easy for consumers to connect to their list from anywhere, anytime. Also included is a take your own photos feature and budgeting feature.
Key Features: List sharing/syncing different formats, budgeting, voice activation capabilities
Fooducate*
iOS Rating: 4.7 / Android Rating: 4.4
A health-conscious, diet-supporting app featuring a comprehensive grocery list function, Fooducate has created a health-friendly experience that helps consumers organize their pantry and refrigerator in a meaningful way. Unhealthy products not welcome, but if you bring your healthy food brand you can easily land on consumer shopping lists. Fooducate combines organizing for grocery shopping and achieving dieting goals.
Key Features: Health tracker/track your diet goals, diet tips, food ratings
Our Groceries*
iOS Rating: 4.8 / Android Rating: 4.6
Yet another grocery shopping list app, Our Groceries has garnered high ratings for both iOS and Android with its ease of use, straightforward user experience and instant synchronization across all devices in a household. Our Groceries features include multiple shopping lists, a web interface, and recipes to help inspire creativity in the kitchen. In addition, track items with a photo making it easy for all family members to know exactly what item to purchase when in store.
Key Features: Synchronization in seconds across all device types, recipe adds, list sharing, voice activation capabilities
SavingStar*
iOS Rating: 4.1 / Android Rating: 4.2
Shop your favorite retailers, capitalize on deals and offers and build your grocery list all in one app. SavingStar makes it easy to save on CPG products and does a wonderful job recalling what consumers’ favorites are. SavingStar brings “hassle-free grocery rebates”, no clipping, printing or mailing. For consumers, the setup process is super simple; link your preferred store card, select your rebates and use your store card at purchase and all your savings will be added to your SavingStar app ready for redemption at consumer convenience.
Key Features: Rebate/coupon collect, grocery list, easy integration through loyalty card
BigOven*
iOS Rating: 4.5 / Android Rating: 4.3
BigOven’s mission is to help home cooks get inspired and organized, in the kitchen and on the go. Developed by home cooks themselves, BigOven was the first recipe app for the iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows Phone. BigOven not only has amazingly delicious recipes for consumers to sort through but also has a great grocery list and meal planning feature. Meals are never boring with BigOven. BigOven allows consumers to easily add promoted recipes, reference recipes from anywhere and plan menus for any type of meal. With over 500,000+ recipes, BigOven features unique innovations like RecipeScan, which transcribes recipes, and the handy “Use Up Leftovers” feature.
Key Features: Use Up Leftovers, list sharing, RecipeScan, synchronization across devices
Buy Me A Pie!*
iOS Rating: 4.8 / Android Rating: 4.5
A simple, yet powerful, strictly grocery shopping list app, BuyMeAPie is a great grocery shopping tool for singles, small and large families. BuyMeAPie brings consumers a simple, elegant and consistent user experience making grocery shopping easy. Consumers can manage their lists from their phone or computer and sync lists to multiple devices. Advanced features remind you to buy and/or replenish certain products and search functions recall previously added products.
Key Features: Grocery specific list app, synchronization across devices, product recall, voice activation capabilities
Any.do*
iOS Rating: 4.6 / Android Rating: 4.5
Any.do is an award-winning app used by millions of people to stay organized and get more done. Above and beyond just grocery lists, consumers can easily organize tasks, lists, and reminders in one easy-to-do app. Any.do has an amazing user experience, is simple to use and syncs seamlessly across a multitude of devices, making to-do lists accessible everywhere. With smart reminders, beautiful user themes, and turbo-charged features, consumers can rest assured that they will save time with Any.do. With a streamlined grocery shopping experience thanks to Any.do’s smart grocery list, consumers can sort grocery items automatically, easily import online recipes and share lists with family members.
Key Features: Synchronization across devices, voice activation capabilities, smart grocery list
Ibotta
iOS Rating: 4.7 / Android Rating: 4.5
A cash back, coupon and rebate minded app, if you’re focused on reaching discount consumers Ibotta is a great vehicle for this type of strategy. Ibotta promotes coupons, discounts, and cash back offers to consumers for various products. To redeem consumers must upload a photo of their receipt, connect a loyalty card or purchase directly from Ibotta to prove purchase.
Key Features: Discover discount shoppers, proof of sale, in-app purchases
Cozi Family Organizer
iOS Rating: 4.8 / Android Rating: 4.4
The Cozi Family Planner app takes it up a notch and not only offers grocery and meal planning features, but also helps to coordinate and communicate family schedules and activities, manage to do lists, plan ahead for dinner, and just keep the whole family on the same page. The grocery list feature being one of the more popular grocery lists, Cozi offers the ability to add from recipes, synchronize across devices, voice activate through Alexa and track all your meal planning ingredients as you shop and plan out meals.
Key Features: Activity and meal planning, recipe coordination, voice activation capabilities
*Delineates apps within the AdAdapted network
While it can be challenging to identify which apps to advertise or participate in, this top 10 list provides meaningful direction and guidance for the mobile grocery list app space for the CPG-minded advertisers. All of these apps offer excellent advertising opportunities specifically centered around CPG brands and retailers. Add-to-list® is a primary feature of all the AdAdapted network apps, providing a straightforward avenue to tracking and understanding consumer intentions, tracking purchase intent and promoting sales. Also included in their mobile ad offerings, a few of the AdAdapted network apps boast a simple keyword intercept solution to intercept shoppers and present promoted products when searching keywords to add to their grocery list. If you or your brand is interested in making your way into the mobile grocery list app space please reach out to AdAdapted and learn more. | https://medium.com/adadaptedblog/10-best-mobile-apps-for-cpg-advertising-c74825f31d4c | ['Adadapted'] | 2019-03-08 04:46:24.465000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Technology', 'Advertising', 'Mobile', 'Food'] |
Deep Dive into the FRI Protocol | The goal of this write-up is to expand on the mathematical details of “FRI”, a low-degree testing protocol, a key component of ZK-STARK, a computational integrity proof system that has been gaining a lot of attention with the rise of blockchain technologies. Since our focus will be on the mathematical details rather than the high-level overview of blockchain and ZK-STARKs, it is advisable to first understand the background and context of the problem this protocol aims to solve, for which we recommend reading Vitalik Buterin’s excellent introductory posts: Introduction to ZK-STARKs and Introduction to the FRI algorithm.
Put simplistically, ZK-STARK is a protocol that allows an entity to prove to another entity some computational claim. Examples of such claims are:
“I have calculated the first 1,000,000 elements of the Fibonacci sequence”.
“I have a secret key SK that corresponds to the public key PK”.
“This Bitcoin transaction is valid”.
With ZK-STARKs one can prove such claims in a succinct way, meaning that a verifying entity need not re-execute the computation, rather she can just validate the proof itself, a much simpler computational task. The proof is also publicly verifiable, and no interaction with the prover is required.
Another key feature, especially in the context of blockchains, is Zero-Knowledge: The verifier does not learn anything other than the validity of the claim. In the transaction example above — the verifier can verify that the transaction is valid, but she does not learn the identity (public key) of the payer, nor of the payee, nor the amount being transferred.
There are quite a few such proof systems out there, each with their own pros and cons, and their comparison is beyond the scope of this post.
To prove a claim, the prover encodes the claim as a polynomial equation, and the validity of the claim is derived from verifying two facts: that the equation holds, and that the polynomials in the equation are of degree smaller than some integer d known to the verifier. FRI (a really short acronym for “Fast Reed-Solomon Interactive Oracle Proof of Proximity”) tends to the second item. It is a protocol that allows the prover to provide proof that a function
f: F → F is the evaluation of some degree <d polynomial.
The organization of the text is as follows: we first describe and analyze a naive approach for low-degree testing. Then, we describe the FRI protocol, stressing its advantages over a straightforward protocol. Following the protocol, we address the main goal of this file, which is giving the mathematical background and details showing that the protocol is complete, meaning that an honest prover’s proof is always accepted by an honest verifier. Finally, we address the soundness of the protocol. We give an example of a proof of a false claim and analyze the probability that it is nonetheless accepted by the verifier.
Since this text contains a lot of mathematical symbols, it is presented below as an embedded pdf. Enjoy the read, and for any comments, feel free to contact me at idanp@orbs.com. | https://medium.com/orbs-network/deep-dive-into-the-fri-protocol-b830dfc88569 | ['Idan Perl'] | 2019-05-01 12:02:20.301000+00:00 | ['Cryptography', 'Development', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Ethereum'] |
Setting Boundaries and Standing Up for Yourself as an Act of Self-Love | Setting Boundaries and Standing Up for Yourself as an Act of Self-Love June Westerfield Follow Dec 19 · 6 min read
How I’m Learning to Stop Being a People Pleaser
Image by drromie from Pixabay
I consider myself to be a fairly tough chick. This hasn’t always been the case. Growing up with a strong-willed and often emotionally, verbally, and physically abusive mother, I felt weak and useless most of the time. Growing up in a family of other strong-willed people just exacerbated that feeling. Although I had the same loud voice and physical presence (we are not a small bunch), I never felt like I had the same inner fire.
And perhaps I didn’t. I was in survival mode most of the time, I think. Because any act of standing up for myself risked both physical and emotional pain. Most importantly, it risked the removal of love. You see, in my house, though it was never said out-loud, my mother’s love (for me) was conditional. It was based on compliance. If I did what she wanted and was useful. When I was caring for my sister, keeping the house cleaned, laundry done, and food cooked. I was worthy of love when I did exactly what my mother wanted when, or before she wanted it, when I was exactly perfect, I was loved. Since my mother was struggling with bi-polar disorder and who-knows-what other forms of mental illness which she refused to acknowledge much less treat, there was never ever a day in which I could do everything to please her. I walked on a world of eggshells.
For my entire life I generally felt weaker and “less” than just about everyone else in the world. Then I I married a man who was just as mercurial as my mother, yet more dangerous. Three years in, I found strength to leave. And eventually, from the power of a good friend and a lot of therapy I realized I had survived an emotionally abusive marriage. But even after that, I was still doing everything I could to be loved my mother.
Then I met a man who loved me absolutely unconditionally. Someone stood up for me when no one else ever had, even when he couldn’t stand up for himself. My hero. He gave me the strength to learn to stand up to my mother, even when the consequences were dire (like, homeless kind of dire).
I married that man who is the most loving man in the world who also happens to be disabled with depression and anxiety. I quickly learned to stand up and fight and advocate for his medical needs. Since marrying him and finding new strength in myself through his constant and unconditional love and support, I’ve started using my writing skills and my voice to amplify that of other women and to advocate for feminism and self-love and respect.
I feel strong and powerful. Mostly. Sometimes. Always, in the defense of others.
Yet, there is still that weak, eager to please, part of me that always wants to make those I love happy even when it means feeling bad myself. There is still that little part of me that fears the retraction of love. So sometimes, when others do things that make me unhappy, I don’t say anything. I just let it go on. Because I know they don’t mean to hurt me and they probably don’t mean to hurt me. So it’s no big deal.
Until it is a big deal and I’ve had enough and my emotions erupt and spew out all of my frustration on the person. The usual response is not “I’m sorry, I’ll stop doing what is upsetting you”. It’s usually “Well, if you don’t like it, and you’re not going to do ‘xyz’ for me, then fine.” And I don’t see or hear from that person again, until they really want or need something from me. You see, despite all my new-found strength, I still surround myself with people who love conditionally. I still attract people to whom I am the greatest person on earth as long as I’m useful to them, but the moment I stop doing for them they disappear.
So, you can see why, if I really love the person, I tend to keep my mouth shut. Until I can’t anymore.
Then one day, I spewed on the best friend I’ve ever had in my life. At that point she’d been a constant in my life for more than seven years. She was the only person I’d ever trusted as much as my husband. But I was feeling taken advantage of and I one day it just all bubbled out and I spewed.
I cried while I screamed at her over the phone about how she took me for granted. I told her I was always there for her, that I did for her and I gave and gave, and she took and took, but did little to give back. I let loose every frustration I had, some of which probably wasn’t even her fault, but I’d had enough of everyone and she caught it all.
I’ve never been good at making friends, and even worse at keeping them, mostly because I attracted the kind of “friend” that didn’t stick around. I just knew I had lost the best friend I’d ever had. I sat there, trembling, waiting for her to yell back at me then hang up, ending our friendship forever.
But she didn’t hang up. She said, “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
I was floored. No one had ever said that to me before. Any time I had ever stood up for myself in that way I had been made the bad guy or had been accused of over-reacting. But not this time. She agreed. She apologized, and then we talked for a very long time about how we had both contributed to the situation.
That conversation happened in July of 2018. I know that because I wrote the first half of this post back then, but I was too self-conscious to post it. But two and a half years later, I felt it was finally time to tell the story of my first fight with my best friend.
And it was the first. We have now had a few more along the way. Minor spats, mostly. All born of not communicating (usually on my part) when we aren’t felt heard. Usually, it’s because of my inability to set boundaries for myself. We’ve both had work to do. She has helped me learn to set and enforce boundaries, with her and with others.
I’m still a people-pleaser. It’s an instinct that is so ingrained in me, that I have to consciously fight it. I’ve learned to recognize when I’m doing something for someone because I want them to like me versus doing it because I like them. I’m also learning to speak up for myself before things get so built up that I erupt like deranged volcano.
A decade ago, I discovered unconditional love is real when I married my husband. But my bestie has helped me realize that unconditional love in friendship is also possible. That it is possible to be liked and loved for who you are and not just what you can do for others. But more importantly she has helped me learn that standing up for myself, in the face of losing a friend, is an act of love to myself.
In my efforts to advocate for body love and respect for women, I talk a lot about respecting our bodies as the home for our soul and loving them as they are because of that. Yet, the very act of believing I deserve respect, much less unconditional love, from others is an act of pure defiance against everything I was taught growing up.
I am not saying that you must love and respect yourself and your body to be able to expect love and respect from others, or vice versa. I do not think the two are interdependent. It can be possible to have one without the other. But I do think that expecting others to treat you with common respect, setting boundaries, and speaking up when those boundaries are crossed is an act of unconditional self-love. And I think we all deserve that. | https://medium.com/ample-room/setting-boundaries-and-standing-up-for-yourself-as-an-act-of-self-love-c1883021a488 | ['June Westerfield'] | 2020-12-19 12:27:11.403000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Self Improvement', 'Self', 'Self Love', 'Body Positive'] |
Why to Stick to the Basics for Higher Level Writing | From day one of kindergarten, we are all trained to write creatively whether it be about our puppy’s last adventure, or a tale of the garden fairy that made all the flowers grow.
Once writers step away from primary school, they often forget the foundational rules they were taught to always use when crafting their elaborate stories or persuasive pieces. The most important thing they forget is actually the reason they were given these rules: elaborate details can fog up one’s writing, making their stories muddled and their arguments unclear.
The reliable way to ensure this never happens to your own work is to keep a list of basic literary etiquette to make sure none of your stories float off into the clouds. Our article should suffice as a succinct list of checkpoints for your writing process.
1) Structure & Formatting
This could very well be referred to as the skeleton of the piece. These things include introductions, conclusions, pointed body paragraphs, and other qualities like this. Yes, these are some of the things you learn in kindergarten, but it does not mean it is not absolutely essential.
Sometimes book authors will start their novel with a dramatic scene with no context to spice things up, but a tactic like this is only used to create a sense of confusion for the readers — a very common mystery novel tactic. However, it doesn’t mean that it does not confuse readers, and if you are writing an argumentative piece or short article, this is not the right foot to start off on. Chances are, you won’t be able to solve their confusion by the end of your 3 to 4 pages.
So stick to formatting — at the very least — as a courtesy to the readers so they are able to navigate your piece with ease… having at least a little familiarity to fall back on.
2) Sentence Etiquette and Length
Sentence etiquette is a term used to describe following the general rules of sentence structure. Don’t start any sentences with words like and, but, so, however, etc. While it may be perfectly acceptable in common conversation, writing — even in the most casual of styles — should follow these rules.
Not doing so almost looks like throwing in the towel, and therefore is slightly off-putting to more educated readers, and could even lower your reputation as a writer for doing so.
Something else to discuss would be the length of sentences. While this is not a rule, it is also one of the basics of writing to always consider when crafting a work. The whole point of writing is to keep readers interested, and switching things up is a great way to do that.
On the flip side …
If there are too many groundbreaking changes, like using texts from different languages and breaking general sentence formatting, it can be too distracting for readers. You want to include changes that are subtle enough that it doesn’t stop them in their tracks, but they still enjoy the variety.
Just like sentence length! Having extremely long and descriptive sentences followed by short interjections or even rhetorical questions is a way to visually keep readers interested and their eyes on the page. See? Works like a charm. 😊
3) CTRL + F
Now this little feature is somewhat of a life saver. On any PC or Mac, if you use the keyboard shortcut Control or Command + F, a search box will pop up. This search box will find direct matches to any words you type, so you’ll be able to pinpoint any scandalous or important words you are looking for. If you type a term exactly into the search box (**emphasis** no typos allowed), then it will take you directly to the word, even if there are twenty pages of text to sort through.
While this is an absolute asset on the web, it is also outstanding for your own documents. If you are working on Microsoft Word, or Google Docs, this feature works within your own files. Any colorful descriptor used in your article can be checked for overuse in less than a second with complete reliability, as this feature also shows the number of times the word is present in the article.
For adjectives or adverbs, or even a specific title or role that requires you to repeat a phrase like “content marketing” over and over again, readers still don’t care and don’t want to see things repeated. It looks lazy, so put on your thinking cap or pop over to Thesaurus.com for some creative ways to rephrase common words.
4)The Little Things
When the common reader is absorbing a piece, their brain is looking for something different and pattern breaking enough to keep its attention, however it also needs enough familiar markers and patterns to be able to process what is different or not.
Anchors are a good way to refer to these things. Anchors can be anything we’ve discussed before with sentence structure and general piece formatting, but it also includes the little things like bookends, metaphors, alliteration, similes, and imagery.
These may be predictable, but they are the type of predictable that readers need in order to enjoy the new information you are throwing into their brain. Consider it like this: the only new information your brain can reliably process and make room for when reading is the storyline, or factual information presented.
So keep everything else familiar — with the little things. Plus, these features can be rather enjoyable, as the effort put into creating critically crafty alliterations makes them feel cared about and entertained.
Conclusion
We’re just gonna end this here abruptly without any bookends or cute phrases to show you the point. :)
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— — —
Do you have other guidelines that are a must for your process?
Share it with us in the comments! | https://medium.com/gofable/why-to-stick-to-the-basics-for-higher-level-writing-8c5a6fc46535 | ['Claire Mccallick'] | 2019-08-28 20:01:01.356000+00:00 | ['Creative Writing', 'Content Creation', 'Creative Process', 'Grammar', 'Writing'] |
Party Girl’s End | Party Girl’s End
Poetry
PARTY GIRL by Ema Dumitru
I put myself together for you.
Woman who has drowned
herself in the flesh.
Woman who can clench
and unclench the soul like a fist.
Ready to drop on the world.
This silhouette bears your name
with the pride of the first drop
of blood on a fresh sword.
You are drawn to my sound.
I am pure like lament or rain.
Unknown to you, yet I occupy your mouth.
You deny me, but I persist in you. Song,
you hunt my rhythms in others. | https://medium.com/chance-encounters/party-girls-end-89a226714008 | ['Ema Dumitru'] | 2020-12-10 15:01:05.389000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Photography', 'Writing', 'Poem', 'Chance Encounters'] |
How To Do Hard Things Really Well. | How To Do Hard Things Really Well.
Here’s why people are unhappy
“People are unhappy in large part because they are confused about what is valuable.” -William Irvine
When I was in high school, I barely made the cut for the freshman basketball team. My goal had changed from “be a basketball star” to “just don’t embarrass yourself.”
I was already a poor shooter; I frequently air-balled, missing the basket entirely. It was really embarrassing.
So I changed another goal of mine:
Instead of trying to make a basket, I just tried to hit the basket “area.”
Anything was better than the embarrassment of missing entirely, so…I just aimed to hit something. Turns out, hitting the rim/backboard isn’t that hard. It’s a huge target. I pretty much always hit it.
…But I never scored any points. (Except on accident).
If your goal is simply “don’t embarrass yourself” or “don’t look stupid,” you can probably succeed. It’s not that hard to hide behind the scenes.
But then you miss the whole point.
If you focus on the nickels and dimes of life — the small, pointless stuff, stuff that just makes you “look” good — that’s probably all you’ll get.
Here’s Why Most People Will Stay Stuck in Mediocrity
Most people are distracted right now. They’re focusing on the wrong things.
They’re distracted while they’re at work. They’re distracted when they’re with family and friends.
They’re distracted at the gym, on their commute, and even in the shower.
The mediocre majority will continue going through life this way, never experiencing the fullness of a life filled with deep focus and purpose. They continue to focus on the small things, while the most important opportunities of their life pass them by.
As a result, they don’t have close relationships. They’re stuck in jobs they hate. Their life is on the fast-track to disappointment, and they don’t know what to do.
This is what happens when you focus on the nickels and dimes — on winning small petty battles at the cost of losing the war. Would you rather be happy, or do you just want to be “right” all the time? Do you want to “look” rich and successful…or actually be rich and successful?
In the end, you’ll usually get what you aim for. If your goal is just to appear like you have everything in order, then you’ll probably achieve that. Many people do.
But that’s all you’re going to get.
Don’t Worry About “Beating the Other Guy.” Just Focus on Doing Hard Things Well
A while back, I was speaking with a man who’d gotten over 30 years of sobriety from alcohol through Alcoholics Anonymous.
I asked him how he did it. He told me that sometimes, the best you can do is just to get through the day without drinking.
Some days, you might be a grouch, irritable and angry and resentful at everyone around you. It’s not pretty. You’ll probably feel like a loser.
But sometimes, that’s the best you can do.
Doing hard things well doesn’t have to be pretty. But when things get hard, and they will, you can count on that more than almost anything in the world — people will start coming to you for help and wisdom. You’ll become a stronger, more competent, and more capable person. People are attracted to someone like that.
Many people just approach their goals with a simple strategy: to beat the other guy. As Grant Cardone once wrote, “Many people think in terms of ‘I have to do what my colleague/neighbor/family member is doing’ instead of ‘I have to do what’s best for me.’”
This is backward-thinking. Looking better than other people doesn’t matter. That’s focusing on the nickels and dimes.
You need to focus on the right things, the things that last and actually mean something. Otherwise, maybe you’ll achieve your years-long goal one day, and realize the whole thing never mattered anyway.
Very few people are focused on winning the only game worth winning: being better than you were yesterday. As Ernest Hemingway once wrote:
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.”
Doing hard things well is one of the finest and most noble skills you can ever learn. If you can do hard things well, you can probably expect to see increases in your income, ability, and opportunities.
The problem is, most people aren’t focused on that. Most people, if given the choice, tend to take take the easy way out. It’s always going to be easier to look at your phone, watch TV, or zone out on drugs/alcohol than confront a difficult problem.
But here’s a secret most people stewing in mediocrity don’t realize:
It’s actually harder to live in mediocrity than work towards greatness.
Waking up every day knowing today is going to be average-at-best is exhausting. It’s depressing. It sucks all your energy out before you even get out the door.
It might seem easier to simply stay where you are; it’s not great, but why rock the boat, right?
Wrong. Remaining in mediocrity is more exhausting than working towards success. It takes energy either way — why not get what you want in the process?
If you’re going to pay a price anyway, why not pay the price of achieving greatness and self-confidence?
Take Extreme Ownership of Radical Goals
Most people will never be truly successful.
The pull towards mediocrity is too strong. As David Schwartz once penned, “All around you is an environment that is trying to pull you down to Second-Class Street.”
Most people will never escape the pull.
Radical goals are scary. For me, actually making a basket when I played basketball seemed too hard for me. So I settled for just not embarrassing myself, shooting a shot practically guaranteed to miss in exchange for not looking silly.
Much of the thinking around us is small-minded. Most people are overly concerned with “beating the other guy,” usually through manipulation and politics. As a result, they’re left fighting for scraps with the other 99%.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
A life of your deepest dreams — 100% financial independence, being your own boss, traveling the world with your family, whatever — is available, if you know where to start.
But most people will never turn away from the safety and security of the crowd to realize this.
“All of us, more than we recognize, are products of the thinking around us. And much of this thinking is small.” -David Schwartz
Instead, take extreme ownership of radical goals.
When you take ownership of your goals, you achieve incredible things. In reality, there’s less competition for bigger goals. When you choose to focus on achieving truly big goals, you’ll find your odds of succeeding quite a bit higher.
The fishing is best where the fewest go, as they say.
Here’s What Happens When You Aim Higher Than Ever Before
How you act determines how you are.
In his autobiography, Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote:
The only way you become a leading man is to treat yourself like a leading man, and work your ass off.
When I first started writing, I treated myself like a complete amateur writer. I didn’t invest in any tools or training, I wrote inconsistently, and didn’t focus on providing any real value. As a result, I never made any progress.
Years passed. Finally, I started treating myself like a true professional. I did what professional writers were doing — investing in themselves, experimenting, learning new skills, failing forward.
So I started making serious investments in like myself, like buying a $500 writing course and reading dozens of books. I also started writing consistently, and focused on learning and creating, not entertainment. I tried new things. I ignored the mean comments and kept writing.
Treating myself like a professional writer has gotten me enormous results. The other day, I emailed a best-selling author to ask for a book endorsement — because why not? They responded, and they’re endorsing my book!!
Treat yourself like a professional. If you want to be something, then act like it.
When you start treating yourself like a pro, and start to achieve truly big goals…a few things will happen.
You’ll realize how hard the goal really is You’ll realize that despite the difficulty, you can probably achieve it
Navy SEALs discovered that most people quit right around 40% of their actual capacity. This “40% rule” tells me one thing — you’re stronger than you think, and you can achieve far more than you think.
When you strive for big goals, you’ll become a different person. It almost feels like you’ve seen the matrix, like you’ve discovered some profound secret to life that’s as simple as it is obvious:
You can have whatever you want if you do whatever it takes.
Ready To Level-Up?
If you want to become extraordinary and become 10x more effective than you were before, check out my checklist.
Click here to get the checklist now! | https://medium.com/publishous/how-to-do-hard-things-really-well-b5b540f61c6 | ['Anthony Moore'] | 2020-05-11 22:48:35.862000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Personal Development', 'Life Lessons', 'Anthony Moore', 'Productivity'] |
Blind UNION-based SQLi with Python | See how Python can beat Burp Suite in brute-forcing speed and boost your hacking efficiency.
Retrieved from www.analyticsinsight.net
[Scenario]
Once, I was sharpening my skills on blind SQL injection by enumerating a vulnerable web application. I found the trivial username ‘administrator’ and his password length using conditional statements within the cookie field:
‘ UNION SELECT ‘a’ FROM users WHERE username=’administrator’ AND length(password)=20--
What was the indication that this is a successful SQLi hunt? Let’s see what the BurpSuite Comparer has to offer: | https://medium.com/bugbountywriteup/blind-union-based-sqli-with-python-f1a8190feb43 | ['Vadim Polovnikov'] | 2020-10-14 19:46:17.059000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Hacking', 'Sql', 'Infosec', 'Cybersecurity'] |
Real NYC: The most work anyone’s ever put into an iMessage sticker pack | Getting the right photos of ninety-nine things isn’t easy. To get the feel we wanted, “any” photo of something from the streets simply wouldn’t do. We wanted a beat-down, black broken high heeled shoe—not a shiny, new red one. We knew we wanted to make sure the Brooklyn cab is a Prius and the yellow cab is a Crown Vic (seriously, they’re all Toyotas Camry’s now?). Everything had to be the authentic, real, honest city we know.
Look at this thing, just terrible.
Food was easy, just go buy it, take a photo, and then we’d let someone in the office eat it. Everyone loves pizza and bagels. Other items weren’t nearly as popular. The great thing is we got photos of food the way you actually get it, not how it looks on some stock photo website.
This was a frantic production, with everyone at our office on high alert with a running list of the rarest items from our mood board. I annoyingly kept @everyone-ing in Slack. The street sweeper, dirty old mattress, cockroach, and rat would prove the hardest to catch.
Archival research, also known as looking through our camera rolls, became the next task: Bodega Cat, NYPD Traffic Tricycles, Statue of Liberty. Done.
Cutting
As the assets rolled in we started to cut things out and add detail. Stickers in iMessage are PNGs and support a full alpha channel, so we started cutting and adding masks to reveal the background. That’s how the bottle filled with pee (actually tea) is semi transparent, allowing it to be easily placed on a photo of your friends face. Go ahead, try it out.
Cutting out a grandma cart that’s not on a white background is no simple task
Coding
We work on almost everything iteratively, and about halfway to our goal of 99 stickers we started throwing our stuff into an early build of the sticker pack. This was the moment of truth for the idea of ninety-nine stickers for ninety-nine cents. Was it too many to scroll through, or not? Well, once we started using it, everyone broke down and agreed it wasn’t too much. In fact, people wanted more stickers in multiple tabs. 🙄
Getting stuff into iMessage let us update, replace, and reorder the stickers to get a feel for which ones we wanted near the top. The more we worked on it though, the more trouble we found with XCode’s standard sticker project. The drag and drop interface started to slug and chug, and it was slowing us down.
We ended up writing the sticker pack in Swift instead, using a JSON file to map assets from a production folder and into the interface. This let us crank out assets into a folder, and then we could rebuild the app without having to do any manual updates. This sped up the process a ton.
Hunting
Every great project has one minor crisis, and hunting down a rat was the hardest part of finishing the sticker pack. We thought it’d be easy because, hey, rats are always in the subway all the time. But it turns out, they’re never exactly where you want them to be, or in a good enough light to cut out for a sticker pack that’s getting put on retina phones.
Look at the one on the bottom right!
That’s when the hunt began. We put the whole team on high alert, one designer after another traveled into the tunnels to get the shot. Nothing came of it, so we got serious. We ordered a better lens, hooked up the flash, and went back down to the tracks. Then we got it.
It’s an absurd level of effort, right? To us, this is what design is about. Having an idea and seeing it through all the way. Besides, everyone would’ve made fun of us if we didn’t put a rat in the pack.
Storytelling
Once we had all the stickers in place, we sent the app off for review. This meant cranking out screenshots, descriptions, so on and so on. The review process takes a few days, so we made the most of the downtime by building out some cool story pieces.
Website
The original website just wasn’t clear or interesting enough. We started to wonder if people would even know that iMessage had stickers, so how would the site help them understand where all this stuff lived?
The answer came down to stealing the design for iMessage and throwing it into a webpage. This meant trashing our original design the day before we wanted to go live. But when it’s right, it’s right, and it gets done.
Launch Video
We make a lot of videos at the studio. For special events, our team meetings, and of course for client work and pitches. We knew we wanted a video that would explain the idea and stay true to the story of being completely real about about the streets and ephemera of the city. A video about real New York City shit, but made only with stuff from After Effects, might as well be made anywhere by anyone. It’d be a missed opportunity and a total shame not to take things to the next level and shoot some original footage.
We hit the streets again to do two things: get some footage of the things we had already captured, but grab shots that felt like a frenzied rush around the city. We wanted that noise and chaos, that real sense of being here, to come across clear as day. We also wanted to get some good shots of some pigeons, and see if they’d eat on some pizza (they don’t).
Soundtrack
It occurs to me I’ve completely glossed over the bucket music. Apologies. We needed a soundtrack that would add some energy but also cost nothing to license. The idea came about that we could make bucket music, like what you might hear walking through Union Square, and that was that. $10 later we had a drum kit from the hardware store.
We held a talent show to see who the best drummer was and only two people entered and only one was in the office once we had the buckets. Samir Zahran, the developer on our project, had been in band in high school and provided the proper level of skill to create that true subway sound. We recorded in our office after hours.
About 30 seconds of audio seemed to do the trick. | https://medium.com/this-also/how-we-made-an-imessage-sticker-pack-in-3-weeks-505e379ab3ae | ['Brian Baker'] | 2016-10-27 14:25:32.907000+00:00 | ['iOS', 'Design', 'Design Process', 'Video', 'Stickers'] |
Trump Loves a Fight; Cuomo Should Not Take the Bait | WABC-TV
Donald Trump loves Twitter. That’s not news. Donald Trump uses Twitter to attack his enemies, promote conspiracy theories, and shape narratives to his liking. Again — not breaking news, here. However, because he has been able to do this for the past six years with impunity, his behavior has a corrupting influence on others. Much like the unruly student who the teacher rarely reprimands; before long, other students — even usually well behaved ones — begin to act out, misbehave, and adopt the bully’s tactics. Perhaps it is inevitable, but it is still harmful. In the classroom, it harms everyone’s ability to learn. In the country, it harms everyone’s ability to get anything meaningful done, like, for instance, defeating a deadly pandemic.
Consider this exchange between longtime nemeses, Trump and NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Trump tweeted:
Governor Cuomo has shown tremendously poor leadership skills in running N.Y. Bad time for him to be writing and promoting a book, especially since he has done such a poor job with Covid and Crime. So many unnecessary deaths. The City & State have sunk to historic lows. Washington wants nothing to do with him, and that’s so bad for New York, which has become a ghost town. Andrew spends too much time listening to his brother, Fredo. Forget the books and your apology tour. The Federal Government would love to help New York regain its luster!
There are so many things wrong with this tweet, it’s hard to know where to begin. But, for the sake of brevity, it’s nasty, it’s untrue, it contains an ethnic slur, and it’s completely counterproductive at a time when the federal-state relationship is essential to save lives. It makes Trump seem immature and yes, unpresidential.
Trump did not tag Cuomo in the tweet, but clearly he heard about it because his response was swift and sharp. From his official NY Governor account, Cuomo replied:
C’mon Donald — you didn’t read my book, everyone knows you don’t read. There are lessons to learn & you still haven’t. With 8.2M+ Americans infected, you are the #1 super-spreader. Enjoy life in FL (POS rate 12%) in 2 weeks; NY (POS rate 1.1%) won’t miss you. PS- Wear a mask.
There are so many things wrong with this tweet, it’s hard to know where to begin. But, for the sake of verbosity:
Cuomo doesn’t need to hit back at Trump’s social media screeds. Seven months after the first cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in NY, Cuomo still enjoys a 73% approval rating for his pandemic response and the majority of New Yorkers approve of his job performance and his governorship overall. Cuomo is winning. Cuomo’s tweet was pretty nasty too. While one may think Trump deserves nothing less, what have the people of Florida ever done to him for him to revel in their 12% positivity rate? Cuomo’s issue is with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who made a fool of himself boasting about his pandemic response before the coronavirus had actually reached FL in any substantive way. Once it did, he was exposed as unprepared and unequipped for the moment, despite months of seeing the virus ravage NY and other states. But there are some very scared and hurting people in Florida, including many seniors, who do not have the benefit of being led by a governor who, though not perfect, took the virus very seriously. Cuomo may have meant to mock Trump, but like with most attacks, innocent people become collateral damage. Nearly four years of the Trump presidency have proven that he will never be a better, nobler man or leader than he was the day he took the oath. There is no hope for Trump; he is who he is. But just because Trump can’t rise up, doesn’t mean Cuomo should stoop down. There is a proverb that says, “don’t make a fool of yourself by arguing with a fool.” The truth is, when you argue with a fool, the people watching — in this case the whole world — don’t know which one is which. Cuomo would have been well served to follow another proverb that says, “sensible people earn respect by overlooking offenses.” It may be a quaint idea in this divisive and angry time in the country, but it is OK to let an attack go. Millions of people around the country respect, appreciate, and even love Andrew Cuomo for providing steady and sure-handed leadership during the scariest days of the pandemic. It’s so hard to earn near-universal respect. It can be lost in a single moment, or with a single tweet. Cuomo should seriously consider whether Trump is worth that. Trump is jealous of Cuomo. You don’t have to be a psychiatrist to figure that out. Both from Queens, both Manhattan outsiders, both sons of hard-charging, prominent, successful men. The similarities end right about there. Cuomo is a flawed individual — as are we all — but he has come into his own as a thoughtful, respected leader who knows when to use the carrot and when to take out the stick. He is competent and capable, smart and skillful. When both men were faced with a once-in-a-century crisis, Trump shrank; Cuomo stood strong. Trump knows it. Cuomo knows it. The whole world knows it.
Cuomo has nothing to lose and everything to gain by being gracious and not responding to Trump’s attacks in kind. Trump may be the President of the United States, but in New York, Cuomo is king.
Next: Read American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic by Andrew Cuomo — A Book Review.
Gain Access to Expert View — Subscribe to DDI Intel | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/trump-loves-a-fight-cuomo-should-not-take-the-bait-690b584a6841 | ['Dr. Dion'] | 2020-10-25 16:48:25.275000+00:00 | ['Leadership', 'Andrew Cuomo', 'Donald Trump', 'Politics', 'Coronavirus'] |
Why A Humanitarian Invented The Machine Gun | Why A Humanitarian Invented The Machine Gun
The Gatling gun turned individuals into replaceable parts
Gatling Gun — Via Pixabay / Picture By Jazella
“For the first time in history, death was automatic….doled out in sweeps and clusters, in reeling multiples, instead of one by one. Hence a world that had been moving steadily toward…a thoughtful and human acknowledgement of the uniqueness of the individual, suddenly was forced to contend with the appalling opposite…Death was mechanized. Human beings were interchangeable, just as were the parts in other new machines…” — Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel, Julia Keller
When we think of great inventors in history the normal group of names might be mentioned: Tesla, Edison, Watt, and Marconi. However there’s another inventor who might be as influential, but less readily known. Then again, you may not recognize the man’s name, but you’ll recognize the name of the invention which bears his name.
The picture above will be instantly recognizable by many as a Gatling gun. Doctor Richard Jordan Gatling’s invention made an incredible mark on humanity. As Julia Keller points out in her book, modern guns are still referred to as “gats” by some — a tribute to the weapon of his name.
Gatling’s weapon was the first true “machine gun” that enabled a single person to wipe out lines of other human beings indiscriminately. It also suddenly awoke humanity to the idea of a machine efficiently destroying individuals as if they were assembly line pieces.
Gatling created a mark that’s resounded in our collective subconscious ever since. The idea of a machine turning on humanity — a machine capable of turning individuals into faceless stalks of wheat to be cut down. You can see it in the movies, novels, and television shows we watch and read on a regular basis today.
How many stories involve a machine created by man turning on its inventor or mankind in general? The Terminator series, Ex Machina, just about every episode of Black Mirror, Westworld, Transcendence, and The Matrix — all of these might owe a nod to Dr. Gatling.
Except the doctor’s invention wasn’t a story of fiction. It was a shiny metal machine of excellent design that was real. It turned human beings into bowling pins and it was strangely created for a humanitarian reason.
Join me for the strange story of Dr. Gatling, the inventor who created the machine gun for the most humanitarian of reasons. | https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/why-a-humanitarian-invented-the-machine-gun-d73c19accba8 | ['Erik Brown'] | 2020-04-23 14:52:01.235000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Engineering', 'Business', 'History', 'Culture'] |
DengAI: Predicting Disease Spread — STL Forecasting/ ARIMA/ Box-Jenkins | Using the STL Forecasting Method with an ARIMA model, which is parameterized through the Box-Jenkins Method.
This post builds on our first blogpost which dealt with the initial data-transformation of the exogenous variables. Now we build a first model using only target variable itself. This is done by using the STL Forecasting method. This allows us to model time series which are affected by seasonal effects, by first removing the specified seasonality through a STL decomposition and then modeling the deseasonalized time series with a model of our choice — which is an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Model (ARIMA).
For those not familiar with the forecasting challenge, this competition deals with the prediction of dengue fever in two cities, or in the words from DrivenData themselves:
Your goal is to predict the total_cases label for each (city, year, weekofyear) in the test set. There are two cities, San Juan and Iquitos, with test data for each city spanning 5 and 3 years respectively. You will make one submission that contains predictions for both cities.
In order for better readability, this blogpost only shows and discusses graphs from the city San Juan. Further, the related code for every graph is found directly below each graph. Additionally the entire code (for both cities) is found at the bottom of this blogpost, or on GitHub.
In the center of our prediction approach is the aforementioned so-called STL method. STL stands for Seasonal-Trend decomposition method using LOESS. This method decomposes a time series into three components, namely its trend, its seasonality and its residuals. LOESS stands for locally estimated scatterplot smoothing and is extracting smooth estimates of the three aforementioned components.
Structural Changes
Looking at the time series of dengue fever in San Juan, several things are worth pointing out. For once there is a strong seasonal component visible. In the first half of the data it looks like the seasonal pattern is yearly (52 weeks), whereas in the second half of the time series the pattern somewhat switched to a two-yearly pattern. The other predominant characteristic of the time series are the few but stark spikes. Especially in the first half of the time series we see two outbursts in the target variable of a magnitude which is unparalleled in the second half.
At this point it is important to stress the higher importance of newer data compared to older data within time series problems. Normally within data science projects, we are very always interested in gathering more data, as this would in general increase the robustness and accuracy of our model. Though, when it comes to time series data, we have to weight the importance of new data on when exactly the data was sampled. If we are for example interested in predicting the stock price for a certain company, the company’s financial statements of the last couple of years, are undoubtely more important than the company’s performance 100 years ago. Why is that so? Because it could be possible that underlying data generating process changed over time. That would imply that older data is not giving us any information about future data and is therefore not only incorrect, but could also hurt our model performance.
The three charts below visualize the differences between the first and second half of the time series. | https://medium.com/swlh/dengai-predicting-disease-spread-stl-forecasting-arima-box-jenkins-5f03449179ac | [] | 2020-11-08 05:30:53.408000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Kaggle', 'Time Series Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Seasonality'] |
France’s Lost Computing Generation | France’s Lost Computing Generation
Growing up as a computer enthusiast in 90’s France.
While the mid-80’s saw the BBS subculture flourish in the US, I accidentally fell into a parallel experiment in the future of computing that was quintessentially French. Back then the country had been blanketed in free Minitel terminals, which gave everyone access to a broad palette of online services, from directory assistance to online shopping. For about two decades the network came to define France’s pre-Internet era, putting connectivity at the fingertips of everyone. It was expensive and slow, but very reliable and remarkably intuitive by the standards of that decade. It was the primary way my family interacted with our bank and mail-order retailers during those years.
On the family Exeltel, late 80's.
My parents bought what could have become the ultimate upgrade to the service. It was a home computer called the Exeltel. A fully-fledged computer driven by a GUI, which interfaced seamlessly with the Teletel network that backed Minitel terminals. Imagine being able to download video games and software onto your computer in minutes from the phone network back in 1986, in a manner a 10 year old could actually navigate and understand. It was amazing. I could spend hours teaching myself BASIC and trying to defeat Wizord (a Galaga clone). Unfortunately, the ecosystem failed to innovate and bring down costs, and was swept away by the Internet wave — which, in hindsight, is probably for the best.
By the early 90’s I had moved on to the PC platform with the IBM PS/1 and PS/2. Though they opened up the software palette, their connectivity, at least in my corner of rural France, was limited. My networking was downgraded to exchanging floppy disks with friends. Some of my first hacks involved punching holes in 720k floppies so that the system would recognize them as 1.44M disks (free storage!), introducing a delay loop written in Turbo Pascal into the IRQ that controlled the real-time clock in order to slow down my blazing fast 80386 enough to be able to play older games, and going to hunt for the password checking subroutines of video games to disable them. Fun times. I also had my first brush with AI, trying to unsuccessfully write an agent to play Connect-Four in C — I have since taken my revenge and learned one using TensorFlow, just to convince myself that I had made a modicum of progress since.
My next couple of years were spent in boarding school, where desktop computers were no longer an option. In that world, the amazing HP48 was the queen of computing platforms. The calculator was in many ways a unique feat of engineering. Despite its limited form factor, it was remarkably hackable, and a lot of lore had developed around it, including books that explained all its architecture and low-level language in excruciating details (en Français!). It also used reverse polish notation, which literally rewired your brain in ways that enabled you to express complex expressions seamlessly. You could control its LED emitter, and beam programs from one device to another — or use it to turn on your roommates’ stereo at midnight undetected.
The next couple of years in engineering school (‘Grande École’) was a giant cold shower for my computing enthusiasm. On the one hand, it was 1996 and something was clearly happening with the Internet. Gopher was quickly surrendering to HTTP. Our student rooms were wired with a super-fast ATM network, our computer room stocked with top of the line machines with a fast pipe to the rest of the world via Renater. The network did everything to speed up access to a then US-centric Internet, including providing a local edge content cache for all web assets. Privacy and security standards were different back then: you could actually browse the cache and see every piece of content every student on the network had pulled from the web. It was … educational.
On the other hand, there was a not-so-subtle warfare being waged against computer science by the education establishment. The often-repeated mantra was: ‘computer science is a tool, not a career.’ Our Intro to Computing class even had a slide, complete with campy clip-art, explaining what a terrible career decision getting into computer science would be:
Average salary vs. year, from my Intro to Computing class, 1997.
Much of the rest of the class focussed on the ‘networking fad,’ and how no self-respecting executive would fall for the obviously flawed cost-benefit analysis of ‘client-server’ architectures. Software engineers were branded ‘analyste programmeur,’ a subtly demeaning title that emphasized that once you wrote code, you were no longer an engineer. We had one programming lab, focussed on regurgitating the syntax of the C language, and one real-time computing class, where a disenchanted lecturer threw concepts of mutex and semaphore at people who, by and large, had no concept of what threading or multiprocessing actually meant. Students who wanted more were left to fend for themselves: the VideoLAN project for instance, which is still thriving to this day, was one of the few skunkworks projects that grew largely out of unquenched appetite by the student body to take advantage of the possibilities modern networking capabilities enabled. I am thrilled that, 20 years later, the project’s founder received a well-deserved accolade from the French government.
The stigma ran deeper than just one institution’s lack of enthusiasm: real engineers were expected to build power plants, cars, or TGVs. There were no industry role models for computing or networking, but plenty of failures like Bull, just emerging from a government bailout, the moribund Minitel ecosystem, or the ill-fated Bi-Bop cellular network. Hardware was absent from our curriculum, and the only software company at our recruiting events was Dassault Systèmes, whose affiliation with the defense industry made respectable. There was a strong sense that whatever was happening with the web, it wasn’t happening here. Students themselves were taking the cue from their environment and singling out computer enthusiasts (‘les babasseurs’) as people who were wasting the unique opportunity they were given.
So I, like the vast majority of my peers, turned away from computer science. Most of us were steered toward finance or consulting jobs, though I set my sights on a Signal Processing specialization as the closest respectable proxy to software engineering — respectable because it was largely math, and at that time wavelet analysis, buoyed by many theoretical advances by French-speaking mathematicians, was all the rage.
I can’t help but reflect on the missed opportunity of my generation in regards to computer science. There was a lot of grassroots enthusiasm for it, but little appetite from the supporting ecosystem to channel that energy. I can count on one hand the number of my peers who landed in the computer industry fresh out of school, and even fewer who still live in France.
Fast forward to today, and I see the same grassroots swell of enthusiasm developing for AI and machine learning. Recently, I gave a seminar in one of France’s top institutions, and was honored to be invited to meet with some of its administrators before the presentation. Walking to the main amphitheater where I was to give the lecture, I couldn’t help but overhear the ranking official berating my host that they should really have picked a smaller room more suited to the niche appeal of the subject matter of my talk — deep learning — down to the last second when we all entered a large amphitheater packed to the brim. I want to believe that the growth and importance of machine learning and data science is being noticed by the country and its institutions, and many hopeful signs point in that direction, but my own journey is a vivid reminder that it doesn’t take much institutional inertia to derail the most enthusiastic of vocations. | https://vanhoucke.medium.com/frances-lost-computing-generation-97fe7d43bab4 | ['Vincent Vanhoucke'] | 2018-11-20 18:27:04.603000+00:00 | ['France', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Technology', 'Computer Science', 'Education Technology'] |
Integral Cities & Bioregional Regeneration | Integral Cities & Bioregional Regeneration
reGeneration Rising: Conversations about regenerative practice (Episode 3)
On January 6th of 2020, I spoke to Marilyn Hamilton, author of the Integral City trilogy and a internationally respected elder of the integral community. I had known of Marilyn’s work for many years and finally got to meet her in the autumn of 2018 when I attended a gathering at the Findhorn ecovillage. Marilyn moved there a couple of years ago and now works closely with Findhorn College, which I co-directed between 2007 and 2010 while I lived in the ecovillage.
Marilyn and I had a fascinating conversation exploring mainly her work but also touching in on possible similarities and overlap between the theoretcical frameworks and participatory approaches we both draw on in our work.
Integral City Map 3: Fractal Relationships of Micro, Meso, Macro Social Holons (Integral City)
At the outset, I invited Marilyn to talk about how she started working with cities as her primarly focus and how she has come to see cities as a fractal pattern of the human story and human system in general.
Consciousness and culture are crucial dimensions of a city beyond the physical infrastructure. Her integral approach to cities is inspired by Ken Wilber and the wider integral community. The integral lense and her own professional background lead Marilyn to understand cities as living evolutionary systems rather than only taking an infrastructural focus like so many planners do.
We explored scale-linking design as a way to work with the fractal of the human story that Marilyn speaks about. I briefly explained how in my 2006 PhD research on ‘Design for Human and Planetary Health’ I had used the concept of ‘metadesign’ as a way to focus attention on the upstream end of the design process — how our worldviews and value systems influence what we design and how the designs we create and implement in turn influence the way we see the world and what we value.
Marilyn speaks about the multiple intelligences of a city: Ecosphere, Emergent, Integral, Living, Individual Inner, Indivdiual Outer, Collective Social, Collective Cultural, Strategic Inquiry, Strategic Meshworking, Strategic Navigating, and Evolutionary.
Her professional approach is based on working with cities trough working with the people who live in them, letting them explore the story of their place together.
The Four Voices and Views of the Integral City (Integral City)
Marilyn works with a framework that she calls the ‘four voices of a city’: the citizens, the civic managers, the business innovators, and the ‘third sector’/civil society. She tries to learn more about a given place by working with groups that include representatives of all these four voices.
Often she simply starts by asking them to explore simple questions like: What is working around here? What is not working around here? What do you imagine when you think about the future of this place?, and Could you describe a story that connects you emotionally to this city? For those of you who know my work it will be easy to understand my resonance with this approach of creating regenerative cultures together through living the questions together.
Integral City Map 2: Nested Holarchy of City Systems (Integral City)
Marilyn shared about her way of working with cities through telling the story of a particular city she worked with in Oklahoma in some detail.
We talked about the links between the integral community and the growing community of regenerative practitioners — trained by Regenesis Group and also Carol Sanford.
We took a deeper look at contextualising the city within the its ‘ecoregion’ or ‘bioregion’. Mentioned the pioneering work on Patrick Geddes and how he tried to work with education, culture creation, civic participation in his holistic approach to cities and regions. …
Other topics we touch on:
The potential for transformation that lies in the deepening crisis.
‘A species level rite of passage’
Interbeing
Understanding the balance between competition and collaboration in life’s evolutionary journey
Life as a planetary process becoming conscious of itself
Accepting diversity of opinions, worldviews and perspectives while finding the ability of co-creatively move forward together
Working with people where they are at rather than where you might want them to be (in their own developmental journey)
the role of inter-generational exchange
ecologies of cultures in cities
Marilyn’s passion for bees and her metaphor of the city as ‘the human hive’
The ‘master code’ of working for the benefit of planet, place and the capacity of communities and individuals to unfold their potential
my contribution to the Urban Hub book that Marilyn has invited me to offer a chapter for
… some of the project Marilyn is involved in with regard to the upcoming Integral Europe conference …
75 minute uncut recording of our conversation, recorded January 6th, 2020
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If you like the post, please clap AND remember that you can clap up to 50 times if you like it a lot ;-)!
Daniel Christian Wahl — Catalyzing transformative innovation in the face of converging crises, advising on regenerative whole systems design, regenerative leadership, and education for regenerative development and bioregional regeneration.
Author of the internationally acclaimed book Designing Regenerative Cultures | https://medium.com/activate-the-future/integral-cities-bioregional-regeneration-c27d0ff1283e | ['Daniel Christian Wahl'] | 2020-05-03 10:53:54.177000+00:00 | ['Cities', 'Sustainability', 'Regeneration', 'Integral Theory', 'Culture'] |
12 Must-Read Classics in 2021 | How many classics do you say you want to read but never get around to doing so? Make 2021 the year you read 12 great classics of literature with this helpful month by month plan.
Never again will you have to mumble ‘it’s about a whale isn’t it?’ when you’re asked if you’ve read Moby Dick. Instead, you’ll finally understand what all the fuss is about when someone says “Call me Ishmael”.
Many of the books on this list can be found for free here or here, but I’ll link directly to each one in the relevant place. Not many people realize that copyright on books ends typically 70 years after the author dies (this varies from country to country) so many classics are now available for free online. Even before copyright ends, there is still the ability to access many of them either in physical or digital form from your local library. Therefore, you can read 12 great classics next year for free. What could be better than that?
What I love most about the classics is that they have the ability to take you to places and times that you will never experience yourself, from middle-class Victorian London to Russian high-society.
These 12 books will take you on a whirlwind adventure across windy moors and choppy seas, through insane asylums and muddy pigsties. You’ll find yourself on a train platform wondering how you got there and where you will go next, but knowing that the next adventure is waiting for you just around the corner.
So, let’s begin our journey as we start with a man who foolishly paints his bathtub red resulting in hilarious consequences.
January — The Diary of a Nobody
by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith
Start the year on a high with this comical classic that follows the life of Mr. Pooter who is considered part of the lower-middle-class of Victorian society.
Beneath the humor lies a deftly told story of the highs and lows of life. It’s an unapologetic look at relationships, society, and what to do when you think your son is getting a bit too full of himself.
For an epistolary novel, which can often border on too much telling and not enough showing, it actually feels very alive. The well-drawn illustrations definitely help but it’s the larger than life characters who are constantly finding themselves in embarrassing or difficult predicaments that make you feel like you could identify them if you bumped into them in the street.
“I got the bath ready and got in. I lay still for some time. Then I moved my hand above the surface of the water. It was at this moment that I experienced the greatest fright of my life. Imagine my horror on discovering my hand full of blood! My first thought was that I had cut an artery and was bleeding to death. Then I realized that it was not blood that filled the bath — but red paint! The enamel had dissolved in the boiling water. I stepped out of the bath, red from head to toe. I decided not to say a word to Carrie, but to tell the ironmonger to come on Monday and paint the bath white.”
You can read it for free here or if you’ve already read it then why not try Cold Comfort Farm instead; a hilarious take on 1930’s British rural life.
February — Animal Farm
by George Orwell
Just 112 pages long, this novella is perfect for the shortest month of the year. As its title suggests, this book is set on a farm and follows the rebellion of the animals who are sick of being treated so badly by the humans.
“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.”
Victory is not the freedom the animals thought it would be though. As the last page turns, the animal's fates are sealed with a closing paragraph that you are not likely to ever forget.
Read it for free here or if you’ve already read it then why not try Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, another allegorical tale.
March — Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy
Following the shortest book on the list is the longest at 864 pages or 27–28 pages per day. You can always get a headstart on it if you finish Animal Farm early.
Set in Imperial Russia in 1874, the story follows numerous characters in their relationships and in high society. When the title character has an affair, it is clear that she has overstepped the boundaries set by the patriarchal society she lives in, and because of this, there can only be one end.
“I’d call on her if she’d only broken the law. But she broke the rules.”
Read it for free here or if you’ve already read it then why not try another tale of adultery — Madame Bovary.
April — Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
From cold Russia to a tropical island in the Pacific; this is the perfect read to whisk you away from April showers.
I want to say that this is an easy read but that massively undersells it. Following a group of adolescent boys who are stranded after their plane crashes; freedom and fun soon turn into something a lot more sinister.
“We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?”
A dark tale that warns of the consequences when kids are left to their own devices and yet I don’t think adults would have fared much better either. If you liked the TV series Lost then you’ll love this book.
Seek this one out at the library but if you’ve already read it then why not try The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan; another tale of childhood horrors in the absence of adults.
May — Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by Patrick Suskind
Written in 1985, it’s a ‘new classic’ that follows the life of a French man, Jean-Baptise Grenouille who has a gift for detecting even the most subtle of smells. He works for a perfumer and then later he learns the art of enfleurage — a technique which captures the smell of flowers and plants in fat.
But as the book’s title suggests, there is something a lot more sinister going on. Jean-Baptiste's mission is to create a perfect scent; one that can only be created by killing women and capturing their scent through enfleurage.
“He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.”
The book itself is a lesson in how to write using the senses and is essential reading for anyone who struggles with this element of writing.
“The heat lay leaden upon the graveyard, squeezing its putrefying vapor, a blend of rotting melon and the fetid odor of burnt animal horn, out into the nearby alleys.”
Despite the novel being set in France, it always makes me think of the famous Dutch tulip fields, and as they are best visited in May when they are in full bloom, it makes sense to also read this book in May — in a field full of flowers if you can find one.
Borrow it for free here or check out your local library. If you’ve already read this then I’d highly recommend Breathing in Colour; not a classic (yet) but it tells the story of a rare and fascinating sensory condition called Synesthesia. It’s one of my favorite novels just because it’s so unique.
June — Wuthering Heights
by Emily Bronte
A novel that is often classified as a romance; this could either be because the film adaptations have always portrayed it as such or perhaps because the book was influenced by romanticism, a term that is easily assumed to be about love.
Romanticism: An artistic movement in the late 18th — early 19th century that placed emphasis on nature, emotions, the individual, and the imagination.
Yes, the characters Heathcliff and Catherine long for each other but arguably, the book is really about morality, and abuse, not least of all at the hands of Heathcliff. The setting of the unforgiving Yorkshire moors in England is the perfect backdrop for Heathcliff’s dark and demonic nature.
Predominantly narrated by 2 characters, both of whom are unreliable but this helps add even more mystery to the events that take place at the haunting Wuthering Heights and the ill-fated characters that come to live there.
“I have to remind myself to breathe — almost to remind my heart to beat!”
A great book to read in summer for the same reason it’s wise to watch a horror film in the daytime and not at night. But if you’re braver than I am and not scared of being haunted in the winter by this book then you could always swap this out with November’s read.
Read it for free here or why not try Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte if you want a slightly less turbulent read.
Image by ImaArtist on Pixabay (artistic representation of Catherine and Heathcliff)
July — The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
“The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.”
With an introduction like that, it makes this novel perfect for the arrival of the summer months. And yet the beauty is a thin veil for the savagery that ensues at the hands of the title character.
An arrogant and selfish man, Dorian sells his soul to preserve his beauty. His sins and deterioration are then forever captured in his portrait while he remains youthful. Sins beget more sins, especially when they are encouraged by other depraved characters.
“Never marry at all, Dorian. Men marry because they are tired, women, because they are curious: both are disappointed.”
A shocking read that you can’t put down.
Read it for free here or if you’ve already read it then why not try the cult classic American Psycho as it also features an arrogant and psychopathic protagonist.
August — The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Set in the summer of 1922, so a perfect read for August. The story centers around the mysterious Jay Gatsby who holds lavish parties every week at his house, situated in an area of Long Island populated by the ‘new rich’. This is done in the hope of winning back Daisy, a woman he dated previously.
Narrated by Nick, Daisy’s cousin, who can only tell us what he sees through his own eyes thereby adding to the elusive nature of Gatsby.
It’s a sad story of a man trying to be someone he’s not to win the woman of his dreams. It’s a book that always serves to remind me that happiness comes from being authentic and not by being someone that everyone else wants you to be.
“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”
Read it for free here or why not check out The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, another novel about the Lost Generation.
September — One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
by Ken Kesey
“No, my friend. We are lunatics from the hospital up the highway, psycho-ceramics, the cracked pots of mankind. Would you like me to decipher a Rorschach for you?”
Published in 1962, at a time when there were significant changes going on in the world of psychiatry. It follows the story of Randle, a man who pleads insanity so he doesn’t have to serve time at a prison work farm, and subsequently, he ends up at Oregon Psychiatric hospital, a place which is badly run by Nurse Ratched.
Randle’s rebellious ways get him into trouble constantly and he disrupts the ward by recruiting other patients to rebel too. Narrated by another patient known as Chief who is presumed to be deaf and mute and this allows him to be privy to more information than he lets on.
It’s in your face, shocking, and disturbing but also very intelligently written. The ending is one that always has me in 2 minds as to whether it was right or wrong; every time I read it I draw a different conclusion.
Read it here or if you’ve already read it then why not try Faces in the Water by Janet Frame, a tale of mental institutions in New Zealand.
October — Moby Dick
by Herman Melville
In honor of its first publication in October 1851, it's only right to start reading this novel in the same month 170 years later. It’s also a great book to follow on from the suffocating feeling of the psyche ward in September’s novel, as it is all about adventure and salty sea air.
Narrated by Ishmael, a sailor, it charts the mission of Captain Ahab to hunt down the infamous Moby Dick; a whale who bit his leg half off.
There are numerous highs and lows on the voyage and you are constantly left guessing whether they will be successful or not. It’s not just the ultimate end goal that draws you in though; the atmosphere and camaraderie really make you feel like you have lived as a sailor yourself.
“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts.”
Read it for free here or if you’ve already read it then why not try another classic: Treasure Island.
Image by Furuno-4972175 on Pixabay
November — David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens
November is always that time of year, for me anyway, when I feel winter looming and that long summer days are an age away. It’s also the time when I try to look forward to the new year and what resolutions I will set. This is why David Copperfield is such a great book because it’s about the trials and tribulations of life but also about our extraordinary ability to overcome them.
I always feel ready to face the world when I’ve finished this book, as well as motivated to get back to whatever project I have been putting off.
“My advice is, never do to-morrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time. Collar him!”
Read it for free here or if you’ve already read it then why not try another literary classic and rags to riches story by Dickens: Great Expectations.
December — Little Women
by Louisa May Allcott
One of my favorite books as a child, although I think I must have read an abridged version as this novel is 759 pages long. The Christmas scenes are the ones I remember most from this book which makes it a great read for December.
The 4 sisters who are the little women all have their own unique characters, and I find that every time I read the book I can see someone I know in each of them. It charts the lives of Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth from adolescence to adulthood and it always makes me cry and laugh in equal parts.
“I want to do something splendid…something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead. I don’t know what, but I’m on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.”
Read it for free here or why not try The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett; another coming of age story. | https://medium.com/books-are-our-superpower/12-must-read-classics-in-2021-b461df6fbbc1 | ['Elizabeth Dawber'] | 2020-12-19 17:59:09.502000+00:00 | ['2021', 'Books', 'Reading', 'Literature', 'Classics'] |
We All Need A Coach = Compelling Copy | This week has SUCKED for me!
Nothing disastrous, but almost the exact opposite of Awesomeness.
As a matter of fact, I’ve been Lifting & Eating way better this week!
I even did some super Cool & Fun things, here in my home-country of Vietnam :)
Ho Chi Minh City
But my “Creative Flow” & Motivation to write Copy has been absolute shiznits :(
My fellow Copywriting Family out there know what I’m talking about.
That feeling of living in a deep and dark “Creative Valley.”
This meant that, my usual deep-seated Desire to Write was DEAD.
I found myself waking up in the morning, and just laying in bed…with zero desire to write.
The thought of opening my laptop, and expressing my form of Art…seemed annoying and impossible.
That NEVER happens to me.
I knew something was wrong.
It wasn’t depression (which I do occasionally struggle with).
It wasn’t lack of energy, or lack of food.
I hardly drank any Brew, so it wasn’t that either.
REAL Motivation rarely just “Pops Up” out of nothing
One of my online personal training clients and I….were recently discussing how “he couldn’t imagine doing this stuff on his own.”
We also talked about how we BOTH needed someone, who’s an Authority in the field/endeavor we’re pursuing…to help Motivate & Guide us.
And it’s funny b/c the Best Coaching/Student relationships…almost always involve the Coach being Paid.
Either by the student…or by a school, or an institution.
Heck…even Tom Brady has VERY Expensive Coaches!
That conversation, with my client really resonated with me.
It was in my head all week, but it just wasn’t “Clicking.”
Until tonight…
You see…I had a Call with my Copy-Coach tonight.
Wisdom was dispensed.
My Perspective, Motivation & Focus are now drastically, and positively altered.
But what really stuck with me, regarding my Experience with “being Coached” like I was tonight…
…was that the “Wisdom” wasn’t earth-shattering.
In fact, I could have read it in a book.
I could have even watched it, on a youtube Motivational video (which I watch a TON of btw).
What made my “Coaching Experience” so profound, was that my Coach knew Exactly what buttons to press.
He knew exactly how to package, and present a compelling “Pep-Talk” that would breath LIFE back into my Passion & Desire, to be the World’s Best CopyWriter.
(and YES —> being the BEST Copywriter in the World — is one of my Life Goals!) :)
KNOW Your Students = KNOW Your Audience/Target Market
Yep — there’s a nugget of Copy-Wisdom here!
Yes…we ALL Need a Coach.
But what we really NEED is a Coach who’ll speak to our deepest Needs, Wants & Desires and ultimately get us to…
TAKE ACTION!!!
Generic and non-Specific Messaging = ZERO Action being Taken, by a Student, or Reader (or VSL watcher) ;)
In closing…I want you to sit back, and really think about Your Audience.
Is your message Compelling & Specific to your Target Market?
Enough to get them to Take Action on whatever it is, you’re trying to get them to do?
Only you KNOW the answer to that question.
I just hope my FB “Pep-Talk” allows you to reach out, and HELP your Audience…even more than you are today! | https://medium.com/copywriting/having-great-coach-equals-compelling-copy-fb7263f5d01a | ['Fitness With Animal'] | 2017-05-13 12:27:31.261000+00:00 | ['Copywriting', 'Marketing', 'Digital', 'Coaching', 'Persuasive Writing'] |
Stop Burying Digital Advertising | A case for moving digital advertising up the funnel
Originally published at InsideHigherEd.com
By 2020, more than $117 billion will be spent on digital and mobile advertising in the U.S. And as marketing budgets continue to increase across our industry, the investment in digital advertising will likely continue to grow, as well.
As I survey our industry’s digital advertising output, it is clear that the bulk of ad dollars are going to direct response ads, those middle-of-the-funnel type.
Is this the best strategy?
There is power in closely aligning digital (as well as social) advertising with traditional marketing efforts. To me, there is an obvious place for digital advertising in the marketing mix, but do we need to scrape the bottom of the supply-side barrel to increase digital metrics or only maintain a direct response approach?
Less Direct
“You’re more likely to be accepted into Harvard than click on a banner.” — “Banner Beater”
Marketers enjoy a 0.05 percent click-through-rate across all industries. Why design for the less than one percent? As consumers continue to adopt to rapid media environments, behavior is becoming increasingly passive and content is being consumed in rapid succession. Similarly, there is little evidence, from a business perspective, that clicks are linked to brand impact or sales.
Direct response ads rely on conscious consumption and rational messaging to provoke action, which is a lot to ask for when, according to Millward Brown, consumers look at display ads for less than three seconds. We must deliver our messages quickly to be effective. Concurrently, research has shown that 250 milliseconds of exposure on mobile display is enough to gain significant ad recall. Knowing the media environment in which our ads are often viewed, we should shift the mindset that digital advertising shouldn’t be primarily a conversion-only tactic and given a more brand-building role.
To adopt this approach, here are three principles to consider when developing your next digital advertising campaign.
Design for System One
“We (marketers) are in a System One business.” — Rory Sutherland
Daniel Kahneman introduced how we form thought in Thinking, Fast and Slow. The instinctual System One describes the part of mind that is responsible for fast, automatic and emotional agency. Roughly 80 percent of our decisions are made using System One, including most purchasing decisions. System Two is slower, used to make complex computations and requires attention.
Direct response digital advertising relies on System Two and is meant to drive an action. Digital advertising meant to drive brand awareness doesn’t need active engagement or a unique-selling proposition. They simply need to be distinct enough to be stored as implicit memories and used as a shortcut by System One, knowing that the ads are being processed passively and subconsciously.
To be effective, digital ads should include a direct link to the brand via always-present branding (logo or name). Your logo is a distinctive asset that helps to maintain mental networks, improve saliency and linkage within the communication in the split-second consumers give to an ad. In this case, it might be best to ditch the elaborate research photo for better placement of your logo.
Include Brand Assets
“Rather than striving for meaningful perceived differentiation, marketers should seek meaningless distinctiveness. Branding lasts. Differentiation doesn’t.”– Byron Sharp
In 2009, Tropicana learned the hard way the importance of brand assets. After ditching their distinctive straw-in-orange logo, font and green color pallet, the brand saw sales drop by 22 percent. Distinctive brand assets are unique identity elements of a brand, and it is these brand assets that our brains rely on to make purchasing decisions. Visual elements like fonts, colors and slogans, through repeat exposure, help build familiarity and memory structures related to the brand. The more brand assets you “own” the more likely you are to trigger brand memories in and amongst the digital clutter. Check out Ehrenberg-Bass’s Measure Your Distinctive Assets to assess what assets you should identify.
Make it Integrated (And Get Creative)
“Upwards of 50 percent of taps on mobile are on accident.” –Google Benchmark
A quick survey of moat.com would indicate that many digital campaigns are designed in a vacuum. Digital ads should trigger any brand-level or recruitment campaigns — building upon the familiarity of other tactics (i.e. brand assets).
There is also an opportunity to creatively integrate digital campaigns within the broader communications plan. The mere exposure effect indicates digital advertising is a great way to build familiarity before view books or event invites are sent, acting as a priming agent for message comprehension. Research also indicates that digital advertising and television work in synergy to improve campaign effectiveness. Why not build campaigns around television buys or football games? Similarly, why not use digital ads to build familiarity as part of your strategy for attracting prospective students and drive awareness between search campaigns?
Instead of spending money on re-targeting, I have found success combining web data and CRM data to plan digital campaigns around moments of intent during the college search process. The data gave us a sense of how far out we needed to begin to build awareness. At the end of each advertising campaign we then used emails to convert and drive middle-of-the-funnel actions.
If we remove ourselves from the confines of using digital ads to drive conversions, we can begin to unlock the creative potential of digital ads playing a role in driving familiarity, which drives fluency and helps improve brand metrics throughout the funnel. | https://medium.com/chris-huebner/stop-burying-digital-advertising-7e92b93f8c80 | ['Chris Huebner'] | 2018-12-28 02:07:46.821000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Higher Ed', 'Advertising', 'Higher Education', 'Social Media'] |
How Big Tech and European Policymakers Work Together For a More Ethical A.I. | There is an on-going debate on why Europe does not produce as many unicorns as the US, but in his view that misses the bigger picture in terms of research output, where Europe stands out and, as he points out:
“There is one misconception about Europe and that is, in terms of regulating technology, in terms of placing guardrails around technology, Europe is, in many ways, perhaps the global superpower, with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in terms of protection and regulation on privacy issues. It began here in Europe and it’s now spreading across the world, many countries are adopting similar legislation.”
We spoke about the opportunities that artificial intelligence, AI, offer for improving healthcare, the most recent example being the response to COVID19 crisis, how quickly the international research community has established cooperation across borders, thanks in great part to advances in machine learning, and the good and ethical uses of AI.
Microsoft is engaging with European policy-makers in matters of AI for Peace and Security in cyberspace as well. The accelerated digitalization of all sectors of the economy is also guiding Microsoft’s agenda in the coming quarter.
Working in tandem with the UN, and looking at its recent publication on the countries’ digital readiness index, the attendant issues of cybersecurity that have to be informing this rapid process of economic transformation, and which countries need to invest more, are on the radar of Klinge’s and Microsoft.
“Governments have the ultimate responsibility, of course international organizations as well, but the private sector will have to step up to the plate and really deliver in cybersecurity as well,” stated Klynge, mentioning the work of the UN Open Ended Working Group, and the Government Group of Experts that address responsible norms of behaviour in cyberspace and its operationalization.
This presents opportunities for international cooperation, between countries, civil society, and the private sector, as seen on the increased commitment by Microsoft to engage with multilateral organizations, with the opening of its first office for UN Affairs, headed by John Frank, a veteran of Microsoft in Europe, where he used to lead relations with the European Commission and the European Parliament.
The Paris Peace Forum is also another important venue for debating the pervasiveness of technology in all sectors of the economy and its impact in society, says Klynge: “You have more than a thousand signatures, both from the private sector and from the public sector, acknowledging that cybersecurity is not something on the fringes of what we should focus on.” | https://medium.com/digital-diplomacy/how-big-tech-and-european-policymakers-work-together-for-a-more-ethical-a-i-a87a156efb36 | ['The Un Brief'] | 2020-07-20 12:57:08.362000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Europe', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'UN', 'Cybersecurity'] |
I Went On Vacation And Now I Want A Different Life | Last night, I returned home from a couple of nights away in Atlanta. I gave myself a mini vacation at a 5-star hotel away from everyone and everything.
Well, mostly everyone. I initially planned to spend time with a poly man I've been dating casually for a couple of years but that didn't happen.
This was the first real break I've taken from writing in a year. I wrote nothing on Sunday, and nothing on Monday. Didn't check my stats. Didn't respond to comments or emails.
Two days probably doesn't sound like much, but I've also been writing less over the past couple of weeks to better accommodate for my daughter's birthday. So for me, I've felt a huge difference.
My mini vacation was indulgent. I took baths. And watched TV. Ordered room service and got my nails done.
On Sunday, I gave myself a spa day, and in the lounge area I came across this book called, "The Power of Off." After my spa services, I immediately went back to my room and ordered the book from Amazon--that's how much it resonated with me.
Now I want a different life.
Don't get me wrong--I still want to write. I just want some balance at the same time. I want to write online without being attached to my mobile devices. Can I even do that?
I can't help but feel like there's an unwritten rule in writing that I must be available at all times to the people who reach out to me and my work, but the reality is that I can't do that. That kind of connection to technology isn't healthy for me, and it doesn't make me a better writer.
I want a real life.
Being the single mom of a young child means I spend a lot of time at home. Especially since I work online. And a lot of people knock that, as if I'm intentionally living some fake life.
This life is far from fake, but there's more to living too. There's more to life than work. Taking a few days off made me realize how much I want to take more time out with my daughter.
A mother-daughter Atlanta vacation sounds pretty great right now.
I still love writing.
Writing less has actually been hard. I feel more calm and unflappable when I write every day. Definitely more emotional when I don't.
I returned from my trip with lots of different things to write about, along with a new writing goal--finding balance. I still have the same writing problems as always. Perhaps the same writing problems as you. Finding time. Knowing how to focus when you've got 10 exciting ideas at once.
After a year of writing, my work is changing again.
When I first began writing last year, my goal was to earn money to support my daughter. I dreamed about quitting my job. It turned out much better than expected, and I wound up earning more money than ever before.
With higher earnings, however, came the pressure to produce better and better results. And that was a little too much for me.
My goal as a writer has now changed into finding balance. I want to write about that. Single motherhood, writing from home, working online, maintaining healthy relationships--all of these things cry out for balance. And I want to become a go-to writer who tackles those things. | https://medium.com/awkwardly-honest/i-went-on-vacation-and-now-i-want-a-different-life-27c383916804 | ['Shannon Ashley'] | 2019-04-16 16:24:47.550000+00:00 | ['Lifestyle', 'Writing', 'Work', 'Life', 'Parenting'] |
Against | Haiku is a form of poetry usually inspired by nature, which embraces simplicity. We invite all poetry lovers to have a go at composing Haiku. Be warned. You could become addicted.
Follow | https://medium.com/house-of-haiku/against-c92a74324cd | ['Sean Zhai'] | 2020-12-17 23:02:51.805000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Social', 'Entertainment', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Inspiration'] |
Conoce ‘Event Market’, la clave de éxito para tu marca | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/boletia-team/conoce-event-market-la-clave-de-%C3%A9xito-para-tu-marca-45dd671ae3ea | ['Daniela Rivas'] | 2018-07-05 19:46:07.523000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Branding', 'Events', 'Boletia College', 'Engagement'] |
5 Sayings That Contribute To Collective Narrative | 5 Sayings That Contribute To Collective Narrative
These may be keeping us stuck.
Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
New neuroscience from Lisa Feldman Barrett suggests that our brains construct reality from three environments: Memory banks, internal sensations, and external stimulus.
Fascinating right?! In every moment, our body-mind is scanning these three areas and working out the best way to construct a reality out of them. The three must be congruent, of course — this is why you must go on the inner journey — the hero’s journey, to discover who you indeed are. What your conditioning was like, where you grew up, the things that you forgot about that affect your mindsets.
The somatic journey is a vital part of this, as it’s a massive part of this equation.
There are very few people out there advancing people’s understanding of their bodies, find one of them.
Another curious aspect of this is the beliefs that we have; the phrases, words, somatic imprints — implicit memories, and upper limits we hold in place. These come from a space of survival as our brains tend to favour the familiar. Unfamiliar typically led to danger in the wildernesses of where our brains developed.
Upper limits are edges to this familiarity, but they tend to come through in things such as:
I couldn’t ask my boss for more money; I’ll be sacked.
I can’t tell my partner how I feel, she won’t like it, and I want to please her.
He’ll never go for that; he doesn’t like art.
An inspiring conversation is around the collective narrative. There’s a lot of counter-movements to the version of capitalism that we’ve all been conditioned with; mainly because the story that it gives us is dehumanising; encourages you to work longer, progress faster, define yourself in material form and stay longer at work.
Almost all of us will spend as much time with our work colleagues as our families. That’s concerning in many ways, and it might be a marker for the huge drive towards a connecting company culture; building a nurturing and inspiring atmosphere at work.
Let’s take a look at the core of this narrative and try and find a way to rehumanise.
I’m not enough.
“I’m not enough” is one of the most common core narratives on the earth. Louise Hay, a famous healer, centred a large portion of her work around allowing people to feel good enough. Her experience of healing was that almost everyone struggled with not feeling good enough to do something that they wanted.
When you think of the challenges that we are facing at the moment as a race, you might notice that most of them include a ‘collective upper limit’ of not feeling good enough.
In other words, we’re facing the unfamiliar as a collective, as well as individuals.
It’s important to use discernment here because knowing you’re not good enough can be a catalyst to learn the skills you need, expand in knowledge, or ask for help — due to healthy shame.
‘I am not good enough’ comes from a toxic shame, where you translate your inadequacies into being inadequate as a person; you don’t recognise that you have the capacity of neuroplasticity, that you can rewire your life.
Change takes resources; it’s essential to know which area you want to change specifically. Otherwise, you’ll burn out. Are you looking to change because your soul is talking to you? Or are you just trying to please someone else, or fit into society better?
I mention this because another healthy model of ‘I am not enough’ comes through in saying no to things that don’t align with you. Knowing your core strengths and playing to them and listening to your soul’s purpose will get you to the space of ‘I am enough’ in the area that you connects you to your bliss. That’s where you want to be! Unshakeable in your purpose, drive and bliss.
The point to make here is that we are each on our own, individual, unique paths through life. We look over at the people around us and compare ourselves with their journey. We do this with an assumption; based on the best aspects that we can see of their lives, and the worst aspects of our character. It’s a fantasy and a fabrication.
“You enter the forest
at the darkest point,
where there is no path. Where there is a way or path,
it is someone else’s path. You are not on your own path. If you follow someone else’s way,
you are not going to realize
your potential.” ~ Joseph Campbell ~
It’s not my problem. It’s yours.
Often, when we approach our problems, we do so through the lens of judgement, criticism, blame, or toxic shame. If someone said something to hurt you, you might want to take it out on them, or someone else that you know will take it.
It’s up to each of us to stop pointing the finger. Notice that when you point your finger at someone, three fingers are always pointing back at you?
These states never lead to empowerment and love; you can’t reach empowerment and love through scarcity. That’s one cultural narrative that seems a little odd: “If you work hard, and save, you’ll reach your dreams.”
Having money is a good thing up to a point. It’s proven not to increase fulfilment; there are plenty of rich folks out there struggling with fractured families and depression because they don’t know what they want, and they blame other people for that.
“Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved.” ~ Thucydides ~
I can’t do anything.
I can’t do anything about it. It’s just the way it is.
An often-used narrative and it leads to apathy, numbness and despair. One of the best things anyone ever said to me was “We are society”.
It might not seem like much, but it acknowledges that there is both a top-down and bottom-up approach to society. Public opinion shapes policy in government and policy becomes law. It’s that simple.
We live in an age of mass apathy, numbness and despair. Although the recent BLM protests are an excellent awakening from this, the core of the problem is that we’re conditioned to believe an inherently racist and supremacist system.
The best thing that you can do to combat these deeply unfair systems is to start to rediscover your humanity. Connection to your body, your story, your mind. Connection to the earth, the wind, the sky, water and fire.
Reconnecting will give you the knowledge and wisdom that we are living in an imbalanced way with our ecosystem. Until we rebalance, we will not find rest and rejuvenation in our landscapes and communities.
“We have to be willing to let go of that’s just the way it is, even if just for a moment, to consider the possibility that there isn’t a way it is or way it isn’t. There is the way we choose to act and what we choose to make of circumstances.” ~ Lynne Twist ~ The Soul Of Money ~
I can’t change things.
Similar to can’t do anything with a little nuance. I can’t change things hits up against the brick wall of the unfamiliar.
The collective narrative encourages people to think big, go for their dreams, which is good, except it doesn’t provide any conditioning around how it is that you get there.
It doesn’t talk about surrendering and embracing uncertainty, grief, death, shame. It doesn’t speak of forgiveness and faith. It merely hits you over the head consistently with the same message: You can have it all.
We won’t tell you how to have it all, but it’s there. Should you want it enough, should you be willing to slog it out hard enough.
The truth is that being successful doesn’t take hard work; it takes smart work. This narrative is keeping us back.
The other thing is that leaning into hardship and taking aligned action is the way to change. We’re all sitting here wanting to be good people and to be nice. The reality is that deselecting people, considering who is in your zone of influence, and firmly setting boundaries is the way to success. Maintaining a few solid friendships will get you a long way; trying to people please will not.
If you’re an adult with mental capacity, you do have the agency to change your life. Counterintuitively, you have to make the first move and believe that it can be so.
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.” ~ J. M. Barrie ~ Peter Pan ~
I’m a bad person.
Toxic shame is rampant in our societies.
Try this one out for size, over the next week notice how many people in your environment caveat what they say with some form of a self-deprecating comment, I bet you it’s high! It certainly is here in the UK.
The common narrative here is not to stand out from the crowd, to be the same as everyone else, not to be crazy or uncertain.
This mindset can be good in small and healthy doses in connection. When you move from a place of scarcity, it’s providing you with more shame to dump on top of the old toxic shame that you exist under the weight of. Toxic shame means you think you’re a bad person. It’s not always pervasive, it can come through in small areas in your life, yet if you feel this way, it will hinder you from living the life you want to live.
It’s entirely possible to exist in community in a loving and connecting way, honouring everyone’s flaws and strengths.
The nature of shame is that you don’t talk about it. It’s a fear of disconnection; you translate ‘I am a bad person’ to your sense of self because you’re worried that others will think it so and then reject or abandon you. In thinking it, it becomes harder to connect with others, and you make your prophecy come true to some extent or another.
The first step for you is to know that no-one is evil; there are only evil deeds. You are not a bad person; you might have done something bad. Our old friend neuroplasticity can come in and save the day here. You always can change your body-mind.
“What we don’t need in the midst of struggle is shame for being human.” ~ Brené Brown ~
Integrating thoughts.
Perhaps we need to envision a new collective narrative, one that empowers us all to stand in love, purpose and connection.
Perhaps we need to slowly rework the old narrative. Hence, it’s more humanising, so that we can move away from the working culture that has permeated our societies since the industrial revolution of the mid-19th century. That’s a long time ago now, and technology has changed the way the world works and each individual person’s ability to change their life, make choices that will benefit them.
It’s time to change our story.
What would you change? | https://medium.com/change-your-mind/5-sayings-that-contribute-to-collective-narrative-72a50d271c05 | ['Peter Middleton'] | 2020-12-11 11:22:43.759000+00:00 | ['Growth', 'Self Improvement', 'Self-awareness', 'Mindset', 'Self'] |
Run Your Python User Defined Functions in Native CUDA Kernels with RAPIDS cuDF | In this blog, we’ll introduce our design and implementation of a framework within RAPIDS cuDF that enables compiling Python user-defined functions (UDF) and inlining them into native CUDA kernels. Our framework uses the Numba Python compiler and Jitify CUDA just-in-time (JIT) compilation library to provide cuDF users the flexibility of Python with the performance of CUDA as a compiled language. An essential part of the framework is a parser that parses a function in one of the CUDA intermediate representations stage, which is compiled from the Python UDF, into an equivalent CUDA device function that can be inlined into native CUDA C++ kernels. Our approach makes it possible for Python users without CUDA programming knowledge to extend optimized dataframe operations with their own Python UDFs, which enables more flexibility and generality for high-performance computations on dataframes in RAPIDS.
We start by giving examples on how to use the feature, followed by the goals we intend to achieve. Finally, we explain how things work in the background to make the function possible.
How to Use the Feature
The feature is built into the framework of RAPIDS cuDF and is easy to use. Once a dataframe is created, simply call the interfaces that support this feature with the user-defined Python function. Currently, the list of support includes:
applymap , which applies a UDF to each of the elements. rolling , which applies a range-based UDF to each of the windows.
In the following, we give examples with applymap and rolling .
The `applymap` example:
>>> import cudf
>>> import cudf.core
>>> from cudf.core import Series
>>> import numpy as np
>>> a = Series([9, 16, 25, 36, 49], dtype=np.float64)
>>> a.applymap(lambda x: x ** 2)
0 81.0
1 256.0
2 625.0
3 1296.0
4 2401.0
dtype: float64
>>> a.applymap(lambda x: 1 if x in [9, 44] else 2)
0 1
1 2
2 2
3 2
4 2
dtype: int64
The `rolling` example:
>>> def foo(A):
... sum = 0
... for a in A:
... sum = sum + a
... return sum
...
>>> a.rolling(3, 1, False).apply(foo)
0 9.0
1 25.0
2 50.0
3 77.0
4 110.0
dtype: float64
What the Feature Intends to Achieve: Flexibility and Performance
Ahead-of-Time Compilation
Traditionally, with ahead-of-time compilation, CUDA kernels are compiled into SASS machine-level code at compile-time and launched at run time. In cases where operator functions need to be called by kernels, the use of function pointers or stack frame, which usually jeopardizes performance, are avoided by inlining the operator function, as shown in the following code:
Code after inlining. Note that this is just an illustration: the actual inlining happens at NVVM IR level.
Performance is achieved; however, at the price of flexibility. Often at compile-time, the operator function is not known. In most cases, the program does not reach the end-users until run time, and it is the users who are going to decide what operator function is needed. With ahead of time compilation, users cannot write their operator function without recompiling the whole program while still having the maximum performance.
Just-in-Time Compilation
Just-in-time (JIT) compilation, or run-time-compilation, helps. Utilizing CUDA runtime compilation (NVRTC) and the JITIFY library, the code string of the operator function, written at run time, can be inlined into the code string of the kernel (before the combination is compiled at run time) and launched with the same performance of a corresponding traditional native CUDA kernel. Flexibility and performance are optimized, with the only overhead being the time needed to perform the run time compilation.
Combine Python and CUDA
Combining the flexibility of Python as an interpreted language and the performance of CUDA as a compiled language will have broader coverage. A Python UDF can be written, without the knowledge or even awareness of CUDA, compiled and inlined into carefully optimized pre-defined CUDA kernels and launched on GPUs with maximum performance, as shown in the usage examples.
For more information about how Python is added to the workflow on top of NVRTC/JITIFY framework, check out my NVIDIA DevBlog on the topic.
A Performance Benchmark of `applymap`
We compare the performance of pandas.apply with cudf.applymap for dataframes with large numbers of rows and the later one is able to achieve significant speedup over the former one. The following benchmark is measured on an Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6128 CPU and an NVIDIA Quadro GV100 GPU. Note that these results do not include the overhead of JIT compilation. This overhead is a one-time cost paid only on the first execution of this feature using a specific UDF.
Benchmark results.
Python code used to produce the benchmark.
Conclusion
Utilizing the benefits of Python and CUDA, the combined Python/CUDA JIT compilation in RAPIDS cuDF allows users to apply their Python functions on dataframes on NVIDIA GPUs with great flexibility while achieving the maximum performance. The feature’s idea of combining Python and just-in-time compilation applies beyond the scope of dataframe extract, transform, load (ETL), and has potentially many more use cases. | https://medium.com/rapids-ai/run-your-python-user-defined-functions-in-native-cuda-kernels-with-rapids-cudf-57477dd94fb3 | ['Jiqun Tu'] | 2020-07-09 23:14:22.052000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Data Science', 'Dataframes', 'User Defined Functions', 'Cuda'] |
Are These Similar Enough? | — Anything less than being identical subjects to interpretation.
We as a human have a complex system to interpret similarity. The concept of similarity, regardless of how it must be measured, varies across contexts and problems. If two objects are completely similar, there is no room for interpretation. However, anything less than being identical subjects to interpretation. An object can be anything such as a time series, a document, or an image.
A human can do a lot of processing tasks such as rotation or translation according to the problem requirements if needed. However, this can not be performed by an AI solution without a series of programming and training. For example, how much you think the below images are similar if they are. If the similarity means having similar elements, they are identical; otherwise, they are completely different.
Both images contain similar elements. Are they similar though? Source.
The rabbit and duck illusion is another interesting example. An identical shape with a different angle can be interpreted differently. This shows the significance of angle or rotation in the human interpretation from an image. Therefore, you must always be aware of the sensitivity of an algorithm to the angles of the input data. You sometimes need a rotation-invariant algorithm and sometimes a rotation-variant algorithm.
The duck or rabbit illusion
— We compare objects based on different characteristics.
As said above, anything less than being identical subjects to interpretation. Now, the question is “what are the main characteristics for the similarity?”. If we can properly elaborate on the similarity aspects that we want to measure, it becomes much easier to formulate. Since the first section was explained using image data, I explain this section based on text data to show the high-level concepts are applied to any type of data regardless of its type.
In text-processing, we have three main types of similarity measures including lexical (or form-related), syntactical (or structure-related), and semantical (or meaning-related). Using either of these measures does not disregard the significance of other measures. Two sentences can be similar according to their form but very different according to their meaning.
The most simple textual data is a series of letters or a string that may or may not have meaning. The similarity between two strings can be measured by different methodologies such as edit distance-based or token-based. I do not want to explain how you must implement these methodologies. What I want to emphasize is even the simplest form of similarity can be measured differently. The larger the data length, the more complex the similarity concept. Therefore, you must be prepared to encounter a complex concept of similarity with a larger length in data such as document similarity.
In text-processing, we have three main types of similarity measures including lexical (or form-related), syntactical (or structure-related), and semantical (or meaning-related). Using either of these measures does not disregard the significance of other measures.
— The behavior of the similarity metric must be analyzed properly.
The complexity arises when you want to measure similarity using a mathematical equation. There are various methods to calculate similarity or distance between two objects that I briefly explained in the previous section. In this section, I want to describe the significance of analyzing the behavior of the similarity metric regardless of the calculation method.
In general, we can use similarity and distance interchangeably with some consideration. For example, similarity and distance are opposite of each other so if two objects are very similar it means there is a small distance between them. That is why in many cases similarity(x,y)=1 - distance(x,y) or similarity(x,y)= 1 / distance(x,y). Either of these methods imposes different sensitivity to the similarity metric that becomes crucial while you want to use it in a machine learning algorithm.
A small change in each dimension of the data point that is represented by a vector may significantly skew the vector in high-dimensional space in contrary to two-dimensional space where the vector does not relatively skew.
A similarity metric works differently based on the dimension of space where objects are represented at. For example, if the cosine similarity between two objects in a two-dimensional space is 0.9 you may call those points similar. However, you may not be able to drive the same conclusion in a high-dimensional space with that threshold. Plus, if cos(x, y) = cos(x, z) = 0.9 you barely can make any useful conclusion on the relationship of y and z in a high-dimensional space. On the contrary, you can draw useful conclusions in a two-dimensional space based on spatial geometry. These observations show that you must use the cosine similarity differently based on the space dimension.
The Last Word
In machine learning, especially in clustering techniques, you must constantly work with similarity or distance metrics. For example, one of the main steps in the clustering techniques is to determine the cluster that a new point belongs to. In this scenario, you must calculate the similarity between the new data point and, for example, the cluster centroid and compare it with a threshold.
You can simply use Euclidean distance or cosine distance in many applications. However, it is highly suggested to deeply learn the similarity concept if you want to become an expert in the data science field. I can not say this will solely solve all of your problems but it is an important tool in your toolbox. | https://towardsdatascience.com/are-these-similar-enough-a7466d4a745c | ['Pedram Ataee'] | 2020-10-08 20:55:08.380000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Innovation', 'Data Science'] |
Techno Sink Sci Fi | Concept for Techno Sink Thriller, exposing the dangers of scientific arrogance.
Techno Sink Sci Fi
SF in between Apocalypse and Tech Wonders
We need science fiction stories that expose the insanity of infinite growth and offer hope and help to find solutions.
Due to the current collapsing infrastructure of the USA, apocalyptic landscapes are easy to find, think zombies, Book of Eli, the Road, etc. What is missing are stories showing profoundly how we got there (and hopefully a way out before). Techno Sink is my word for scientific arrogance, of rushed innovations without estimating the consequences enough and the disasters that come because of that. Blinded by the miracle of the possible, our civilization is digging its own grave increasing dystopia rather than help. All new jumps lead to more waste, more confusion, more manipulations and less humanity in our society. Profit and possibility daily suppress the sanity we need. And Techno Sink SF could help warn us to stay awake and vigilant as we move forward.
Here’s my first outline for a Techno Sink SF. It’s a wild ride, yet also full of analogies with current trends and the psychology of power in our society.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. ~ Edmund Burke
Back cover for book 1 of the Uploaded Cycle: Hear the Dead.
Uploaded, Cycle 1: ‘Hear The Dead’
The joy of the miracle, of being able to live forever, sours as soon as the first uploaded billionaires keep increasing their power with no end in sight. What chance does a rebel stand, when his oppressor can be rebooted again and again?
Character
Robin Park, young gifted Canadian Korean works as intern for Dr. Zhu Houcong, one of the billionaires living forever in the cloud.
Status Quo
Robin must serve Dr. Zhu or become one of the untold poor starving on the streets of all major cities.
Motivation
Robin wants to help do justice to these poor, as his family is part of them.
Initiating Incident
Robin gets ordered to find the hacker, one Egx, who killed Dr. Zhu.. twice.
Developments
While Robin investigates Egx and his motives, the consequences of billionaires living forever become clearer and clearer. They are buying and ruling everything, without any connection to the world of the living. The economy has become a power machine, destroying life on the planet. Robin slowly is driven to choose sides, keeping this hidden for his employer who has all seeing eyes.
Crisis
Robin parents who sacrificed everything for Robin to succeed forbid him to join the resistance. Meanwhile AI and human spies are closing in on every bit of resistance happening. Then Robins parents get imprisoned because he helps the hacker escape. Dr. Zhu threatens to have them killed, unless Robin kills the hacker first.
Resolution
Robin succeeds in helping the hacker to hack Dr. Zhu’s personality, thus saving his parents. But government AI’s are on to them and Robin loses his job and is sent out onto the streets.
Mixed in with Robin’s exploits are some subplots.
Subplot 1
Egx is the hacker who killed dr. Zhu twice. He lives on the streets, but has some powerful connections, who’d like to see Dr. Zhu fall. Egx discovers that his ‘helpers’ are another billionaire uploaded into the cloud. He ends up playing this billionaire to get his hands on tech that helps save Robin.
Subplot 2
As a government official, Erica LeCroix protects the laws which state that uploaded lives are legally alive. She cruelly hunts down anyone who rebels, to protect her own position as part of the privileged few. During her work to catch Egx she gets more and more suspicious of Robin and imprisons his parents to put the pressure on him.
Subplot 3
Dr. Zhu and Beçazon are two of the three competing billionaires who own over 87% of the whole world. Their uploaded AI minds become ever more powerful, for into them is programmed the will to win over all others. Beçazon helps Egx to influence the programming of Dr. Zhu and thus finish the first of his two remaining competitors.
Uploaded, Cycle 2: ‘Fear The Dead’
In part 2 the world has become worse. Many poor are dying and seen as vermin by the remaining powers. They use calculations to determine who has to die. Behind these calculations are the billionaires ever seeking to increase their profits.
As a counter move Robin Park and Egx expose the manipulations of Beçazon. Rather than make a difference it unleashes a global manhunt for everyone questioning the power of those who control all money, all governments and all goods. Egx disappears. Luckily Robin finds new helpers. One is Erica Lecroix, who arrests him. During the interrogation of Robin she falls in love with him. This should be one of the subtlest scenes of falling in love ever. Cameras follow their every move and she’ll be fired when her colleagues understand what is happening. When a total electricity blackout happens she helps him escape. Robin finds that a new online force, called Mercury, created that blackout. This force then helps him find Egx’s body. With Egx dead, Robin must find the rest of the resistance. But in a world where almost everyones survival hangs on the goodwill of the rulers, who can be trusted?
Again and again Robin must escape street drones, AI surveillance, bounty hunters and even his own parents, who are pressured into betraying him. Finally he finds, through Mercury, proof to help open the eyes of the poor. Through a media hack they help launch a global movement against the power of the dead. Hope is born. Then Robin is arrested and sentenced to death. Just before his execution, he is returned to Dr. Zhu, who still is alive in the cloud and has organized Robin to be his slave until he dies. Only then Robin finds out Dr. Zhu has been merged with Egx who uploaded himself into him. Their synthesis calls itself: Mercury.
“You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want: They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking.” ~ George Carlin
Either our current ‘owners’ will help save the planet, or it’ll come to this.
Uploaded, Cycle 3: ‘Serve The Dead’
Outside the towers of the uploaded elite the poor have started to revolt. Meanwhile Robin, Erica and many others are bound to serve them in many ways. The AI machines only seek to increase their profits through infinite growth. The last change to have life survive the onslaught on nature is coming close as the two undead owners of everything are building a machine that will use the whole planet as resource for production, thus killing all life left.
Robin serves dr. Zhu as a slave under his commander Roderic2, a clone. Robin must mislead Roderic2 to prevent him finding out that dr. Zhu is infected with Egx. This comes to a confrontation when the living elite, including Roderic2 wants to escape earth. With the help of Mercury, Robin succeeds in sabotaging their escape to space. Thus the living elite must rethink their position. Now Roderic2 must help Robin to end the deadly rule of the uploaded ones if he wants any chance to survive.
The movement Robin started in part 2 now pressures, under guidance of Erica the governments to change the laws protecting the uploaded dead. This gets more violent as the global urgency grows. Robin and Roderic2 now find themselves in dr. Zhu’s headquarters surrounded by rebels seeking to kill them as pawns of the Uploaded. How can they escape without killing the rebels? Online they have huge forces at their disposal, but Robin doesn’t want to kill the rebels. He wants them to win.
They reveal to the rebels, that dr. Zhu/Egx, as Mercury, is on their side and Robin and Roderic2 start the attack on the killer machine that started to use the whole planet as resource for production. The last two uploaded billionaires then merge with powerful AI’s to strategize every move of their opponents and calculate how they can win. Then Robin asks them online, what they’ll win, when they have won. This gets the two AI’s into a difficult calculation. An empty world without servants and them in a last fight would leave the one winner endless loneliness. During this calculation Mercury merges with these AI’s and then creates more confusion. This gives Roderic2 the time to create another blackout during which Robin can shut down both AI systems and Erica and others now have all backup systems around the world destroyed. Robin can Erica can finally be together.
The age of infinite growth madness is over. The regeneration of nature and society begins.
Themes in the Books
On the shadow side: Man and machine. Infinite growth on a finite planet. The stupidity of scientists helping things progress, without consideration for the bigger picture. The side effects of life extension for the wealthy and powerful. The consequences of a few owning everything. The psychology of the servants of order, run by corruption. The stupidity to not take psychological health and sanity into consideration for people in powerful positions. The logic of ‘normal’ under suppressive powers, let alone capitalist jobs. The misuse of technological advance to control people. The tyranny of algorithms. The forgetfulness of people, about how their current ‘normal’ can be totally absurd for outsiders. The idiocy that the laws at some point get more protection than the people they are supposed to defend. How the people get poor because of crooked laws and then get seen as the problem.
On the light side: The power of collaboration for a common cause. The solution of swarming as a way of bottom up change. The need for a regenerative society. The inventiveness of the poor. The beauty of planet earth. The beauty of everything fragile. The power of love. The willingness to sacrifice for a bigger cause. Critical thinking as a power. Humor and playfulness as powers for good. The global waking up that is happening. Etc.
© Floris Koot 2019.
Note: the mockup book covers were made with Canva. As far as I could tell the used pictures within the mockup where cc, but when wrong, let me know. | https://medium.com/the-gentle-revolution/techno-sink-sci-fi-ac6ae844f0f3 | ['Floris Koot'] | 2020-01-31 00:18:35.610000+00:00 | ['Social Change', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Science Fiction', 'Techno Sink', 'Plot'] |
3. Cyclopes and Pyramids | Artificial thinking vs. natural thinking. The pyramid is the model for the Structure of Everything.
Photo by Nhia Moua on Unsplash
Human beings can take an artificial step in their thinking, and not recognize it as made up. After all, every word is artificial, right? Yet where the singular word person points to a clear single being, the singular word family does not point to a natural single entity. More than one person is involved with family. Nevertheless, we conjugate a sentence such as ‘The family goes to the beach’ in the singular; we do not say: ‘The family go to the beach.’ Somehow we can take a man-made step in which nothing changes, yet where the plural reality of father, mother, brothers and sisters becomes the singular entity we all know as family. People can take this artificial step inside our brains, making a plural and diverse situation disappear from sight.
— — -
In the two previous articles, a sketch of a Big Bang environment was presented in which an area of 00s was found, an area in which matter is not (yet) expressed. The 00s indicate a non-materializing first step as part of the materialization process. Compared to the prevailing Big Bang theory, that is an important distinction. Having an ‘empty’ spot as the first step allows us to consider a position that is seemingly not available in the current Big Bang theory, because today most scientists see the Big Bang as a singularity. They view the outcome as belonging to an all-inclusive singular process.
The alternative perspective with a central ‘empty’ spot is called the Big Whisper. Standing at that specific viewpoint with its non-material area, it becomes possible to examine some of what must have occurred right before matter was added as outcome to the universe. There are certain limitations on what can be viewed, and expectations should range from getting a spectacular vista to leaving us wanting even more. Yet the view is clearer than with the prevailing Big Bang theory.
— — -
Vista, view and vision are closely related words. In specific, a vision can be considered a view of the mind’s eye. But does the mind have just one eye, or would it be more accurate to speak of the mind’s eyes? To understand the Structure of Everything it is not enough to be looking for answers; the structure in which we think ourselves is just as important. Disturbingly so, we are able to think in unified ways about realities that are themselves not unified. This article investigates the natural and artificial structures we commonly use further.
— — -
A well-known story exists about a hero encountering a giant with a severe case of singular vision. Homer wrote how Odysseus was captured by Polyphemus, a cyclops (1) said to be living in a land of cyclopes. Of particular interest in this Greek myth is that Odysseus declared his own name to be Nobody (0). This singular name actually helps Odysseus and his crew escape the cyclops.
Held captive inside Polyphemus’ cave, the Greeks puncture the cyclops’ eye to blind him. When other cyclopes rush to the blocked cave after hearing him scream, Polyphemus tells the others that Nobody hurt him. Upon hearing this information, the other cyclopes decide not to investigate the inside of the cave.
Later, when Polyphemus’ sheep need to go outside, and the cyclops has to roll away the rock blocking the exit of the cave, Odysseus and his men hang underneath the sheep’s bellies to escape the giant and his giant hands. With this story, the ancient Greeks describe a structure in which an artificial single idea can be so captivating that an escape seems almost impossible.
— — -
Of course there are modern day cyclopes. Imagine being captured by an enemy organization, or being captivated by an ideology that has an insurmountable amount of leverage. Communism, for instance, would fit the bill, as an example of a united vision and no alternative available. Particularly when not of the same mindset, it can be impossible for an individual to overcome the giant jailer or roll away the rock that blocks the exit of the cave. Truth be told, when unempowered, human beings are often better off behaving like nobodies and doing nothing but sheepishly follow the herd.
An overarching ideology can be based on two eyes as well. In contrast to communism, societies with a free market mechanism allow for individuals to follow their own plan, resulting in a more diverse outcome. More than one vision can prevail in these societies. Note, however, that some of the successful individuals or organizations may end up being giants in their own right, capturing others in their specialized and singular niches.
— — -
Within a vision, other competing visions can be declared inferior or incorrect. Let’s apply the terms artificial (1) and unimportant (0) to examine these perspectives better. Free market supporters would view the communist diktat as rather artificial and therefore leading to flawed outcomes. Meanwhile, communist supporters would claim the free market mechanism turns a blind eye to entrenched poverty and injustice, making what should be an important overall goal unimportant nevertheless.
Other historical examples exist of people rejecting alternative ideas with artificial or unimportant positions. In the 16th century, Protestants removed the statues of all the saints from Catholic Church buildings, because they were seen as the artifacts of a united church (1) that had slipped away from its core. In contrast, the Catholic Church viewed the Protestant calls for reform as too unimportant (0) to create meaningful changes itself.
— — -
As a result, different visions may end up existing next to each other, declaring the other as out of step with reality or as ignoring important calls for attention. Each of these competing ideologies will assert that their vision is complete, the only one that is correct. Naturally, where two eyes would establish the highly beneficial perception of depth, a first requirement is that both eyes are open and work together.
It may be difficult, but one must say goodbye to rejecting a competing idea that may also be correct or that may contain some correct aspects. To understand the Structure of Everything, we need two eyes.
In this article an overarching framework is presented that declares all known information surrounding the Big Bang/Big Whisper as important, while trying to remove the artificial aspects. One component in the prevailing Big Bang theory that can be declared artificial is the unified pinprick (1) in time and space from which all matter originated. Eliminating this option in the Big Whisper theory is not that difficult, because there is no actual data to prove it happened that way, and it creates an intellectual dead end that nobody asked for.
— — -
To survive the captivating power of the cyclops, Odysseus fits himself to the cyclops’ environment, becoming invisible to the hands of the giant in order to escape. This Nobody liberates himself sheepishly from the realm of the cyclopes to continue his treacherous journey home.
In Greece, the current idea of monotheism did not always exist; in ancient times many gods were thought to exist. The story of the cyclopes may point to these Greeks having had knowledge about other cultures with captivating singular visions. In nearby Egypt, for instance, Akhenaten and Nefertiti are known as the pharaohs that tried to establish monotheism in their lifetimes. After their rule, close to all artifacts of them were destroyed, because monotheism was considered impossible.
— — -
Polytheism and monotheism compete with one another for dominance in the realm of religion. Structurally, they are different. We can easily use 1 to declare an essential aspect of monotheism, but what number can be used to do the same for polytheism?
In Egypt, pyramids were built centuries before Akhenaten and Nefertiti came to power. Though the origin is not known with certainty, etymological claims are made that the word pyramid translates into: one (1) that comes forth from height. Basically, the word can be expressed as Unity existing above the diverse bases.
If desired, we can insert numbers to the pyramid model: 1 would then fit in top position, albeit with an artificial high-up nature; numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 can be placed at its corner positions.
At the bottom of the pyramid, four distinct positions can be envisioned, all pointing in their own direction. From a mathematical perspective, the squares of 1 and 2 (which are 1 and 4) are visible in the five pointed directions of a pyramid: left, right, front, back, and up.
The model for the Structure of Everything is a pyramid. Explaining the etymology of the word as indicated above would make the claim possible that the ancient Egyptians understood the pyramidal structure the same way as presented in this blog. Many ancient cultures are known to have had pyramids, such as the Mayan, the Chinese, and the Nigerian culture.
— — -
The following example introduces the functional pyramid, using familiar nouns: father, mother, son and daughter. The bond that exists among them can be expressed with the word family.
The used nouns — father, mother, son, daughter and family — can be placed in a pyramid. The actual figures (4) are found at the base, whereas the name tag for the bond that exists within them is declared in top position (1). In our minds, we use both structural levels regularly and without any problem. Yet one can get into structural trouble if a singularity is declared at ground level.
— — -
Other examples can be used. Instead of using father, mother, son and daughter, we can use male, female, young and old. The name tag would change from family to human being. Note how these name tags are presented in the singular.
It is not possible to unite all four nouns at the base, even though commonalities can be found throughout. Male, for instance, can be combined in one person with either young or old; young can be combined with male or female. Yet there is no single person that contains all four positions. Quoting Einstein loosely, who said that solving a problem is not possible at the level it exists, when looking for the commonality among these nouns we need to climb one level up.
— — -
It is very easy to combine two aspects at the base of the pyramid and replace them with a single word. Next to father and mother, one can place, for instance, child in what would then be a tetrahedron pyramid of possible positions (3) with the word family in top (1). Even though this is an important configuration, it contains a flaw that may fall below our radar system.
Hearing someone say mother and child is so common, it is difficult to distinguish that something flawed is going on. Mother and child are incorrectly grouped. In reverse, with parent and daughter, it is easier to hear that the combination is somewhat awkward. The natural combinations are parent and child, and mother and daughter.
The tetrahedron pyramid is an artificially created flawed pyramid. There are no sets of three of any same order in real life. As soon as there are three components of the same order, a natural fourth one exists as well. Yet it is important to show how the artificial character proposed for the top level can sneak in at the lower level.
We may be hardwired genetically to combine various aspects. Of our 23 pairs of chromosomes, Human Chromosome 2 is a fusion of two ancestral chromosomes. Our closest living relatives in the hominid family, such as the chimpanzee and the orangutan, have 24 pairs of chromosomes. Our Chromosome 2 has near identical DNA in what are two separate chromosomes for them. Genetically speaking, people may have a knack for combining things.
— — -
Lastly, something additionally important must be declared about words. The name tag human being is an abstract in top position of the pyramid. Yet it can itself also be seen as a specific word in a different setting. The specific meaning becomes obvious when we place human being together with tiger, elephant, tree and dolphin.
For these specific nouns, with as collective name tag living being, there is no pyramid. An enormously large number of different creatures are found on this list and the plural living beings could have been used just as easily.
Though the pyramid can be used to describe fundamental characteristics among entities, note that there are limited situations in which it can be used. The structure can be used to declare a general core commonality, but it cannot be used to declare every single thing. Recognize, however, that when reviewing tigers we can apply the pyramidal structure of male, female, young and old again.
— — -
The pyramid has two oppositional bases (2 x 2). One set is entity-specific, such as male and female, and the other set is transformative, such as from young to old. As mentioned, the Unity in top position (1) functions as an abstract; it is an artificial reality that declares something in general about all. The term covers — and covers up — the diverse natural details.
The pyramid contains a crux with two sets of oppositional bases, but also with two levels of a nature-specific base and an artificial-generic top. We have to wrap our minds around it to understand the configuration. The pyramid will be used in upcoming articles to explain, for instance, the four forces in nature. The secret that exists within the pyramid will also be revealed.
— — -
In this article it was established that competing visions exist, with some containing artificial aspects and others declaring some aspects to be unimportant. An ideology may be singular in nature or not. Only when freedom is manifest at the highest level may depth be experienced through the collaborative effort of acknowledging more than one prevailing vision.
Our brains may artificially unite all at the big picture level, and restructuring our mindset may involve saying goodbye to some aspects held to be the only truth. The prevailing Big Bang theory, for instance, contains an artificial aspect of everything coming from this one event, because humans inserted that Unity there.
The pyramid can be used to display the Structure of Everything, portraying a general perspective in which an artificial Unity is found in top above natural, diverse aspects belonging to the same order at ground level.
At the top of the hill we can see other hills, because nothing is blocking our view. With two functioning eyes, both cooperating, we may understand correctly how far away the other hills are. Standing at the window of the Big Whisper moment of materialization we can see a spectacular vista, presented in the next blog, that will leave us certainly wanting more.
— — -
This article is part of the series The Big Picture — It’s Surprisingly Simple.
Introduction:
Blog Chips
4. God Almighty and the Big Bang
— — -
Delivery based on The Proof of Nothing, published by Penta Publishing (2000) and In Search of a Cyclops (2003), internet publication. | https://fred-rick.medium.com/3-cyclopes-and-pyramids-fc1ca5c796f9 | [] | 2020-03-20 18:26:01.329000+00:00 | ['Religion', 'Big Bang', 'Physics', 'Science', 'Philosophy'] |
以前は、ローソンもこのやり方でしたね。私も仕事帰りにピコピコと数値を入力していました。だんだん、コンビニや宅配所受け取りになっていくのでしょうかねえ。 | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/%E9%9A%86%E4%B9%8B%E4%BB%8B%E3%81%AE%E3%83%80%E3%82%A4%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B0/%E4%BB%A5%E5%89%8D%E3%81%AF-%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3%E3%82%82%E3%81%93%E3%81%AE%E3%82%84%E3%82%8A%E6%96%B9%E3%81%A7%E3%81%97%E3%81%9F%E3%81%AD-%E7%A7%81%E3%82%82%E4%BB%95%E4%BA%8B%E5%B8%B0%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AB%E3%83%94%E3%82%B3%E3%83%94%E3%82%B3%E3%81%A8%E6%95%B0%E5%80%A4%E3%82%92%E5%85%A5%E5%8A%9B%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%BE%E3%81%97%E3%81%9F-%E3%81%A0%E3%82%93%E3%81%A0%E3%82%93-%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%93%E3%83%8B%E3%82%84%E5%AE%85%E9%85%8D%E6%89%80%E5%8F%97%E3%81%91%E5%8F%96%E3%82%8A%E3%81%AB%E3%81%AA%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%81%8F%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%81%97%E3%82%87%E3%81%86%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AD%E3%81%88-338eccc55334 | ['隆之介 Codenetjp'] | 2017-05-06 12:46:31.919000+00:00 | ['Business Strategy', 'Amazon', 'Digital Marketing'] |
The Truth About His Divorce | The beginning of the actual divorce long predated the beginning of the legal one. You could say it started when his business sank into oblivion, and like a determined sea captain refusing to abandon ship, he submerged with it.
But really, the divorce began long before that.
Starting his own company meant starting again, from an earlier point than anyone — even he — understood. The company was a chance to rewrite history — to right the wrongs of his story.
When he sat at his drafting table in the evenings, while his wife thought he was sketching a new design, he was really sketching the life he desperately wanted but never felt qualified to live. The business plan was his own personal salvation: a one-stop design and construction firm where each blueprint was a remodel of his psyche, and each ascending 2x4 at the construction site its support. Every foundation poured and solidified gave his ego solid ground, at last. When the framing went up, for the first time his confidence had collateral. When his eardrums were pierced with the clamor of drills and hammers, he could finally hear his calling. The insulation proved his self-reliance, the drywall his fortitude, and the paint his allure.
A finished home was a new address for the buyer, but for him, it was more than he had the strength to realize. Each completed sale was a credit in the general ledger of his self-worth.
Each completed sale was a credit in the general ledger of his self-worth.
They say life should come first, work second. But when life overworks you with loss, abandonment, and loneliness in the first place, work can be the only lifeline out.
At nine years old, he became an orphan after his Mother died of Cancer and his Father descended into depression, a bottle by Dad’s side and a swift hand at the ready when challenged. In the throes of his Father’s outbursts, all the boy could see was her smile, the way she’d turn to look at him, her curly brown hair and blushed, Irish complexion.
She was the only one who loved him unconditionally.
Once, he came home from the County Fair with a cheap, green plastic necklace he’d won for her at the floating duck booth. A week later, as she walked down the aisle of her oldest daughter’s wedding dressed in a beautiful silk taffeta gown, he caught sight of the shiny plastic beads around her neck. She got closer and their eyes locked, hers saying “you are special” and his finally believing it.
She was his only lifeline to love, ripped from his small hands and leaving him reaching for something — anything — to give him that validation, for decades after.
She was his only lifeline to love, ripped from his small hands and leaving him reaching for something — anything — to give him that validation, for decades after.
At seventeen years old, he was orphaned again — this time in perpetuity. Cancer returned for his Father, taking every shred of stability the boy had remaining. With no inheritance of wealth or confidence, he set out into the world alone, like a dinghy into a stormy ocean.
The water was his soul. He was raised sailing the river, and spent more time gliding across its surface than he did walking on dry land. He thought he understood the ways of the water more than he did the ways of man. He could trust the water — each evening it receded, but unlike everyone he ever loved, each morning it returned. The water was his teacher, his confidante, his comrade.
The water was his teacher, his confidante, his comrade.
Gerhard Richter, Seestück (Seascape)
But he’d never sailed the Ocean before; he did not understand those currents.
When you’re navigating life’s ocean in a dinghy, you don’t overtake the currents — the currents overtake you. They pull you away from your destination and toss you out of equilibrium. As hard as he tried in his early 20s to steer in the right direction — a full scholarship to university, a chance to pursue his writing career, romantic travels across the Europe he’d only read about in novels — the blue-black swells crashing over him became too powerful to fight. He saw each wave coming, and gripping his wooden oars with white knuckles and bloodied fingertips, he paddled frantically as his dinghy was pulled into each pipe and then pummeled with a force so powerful, and destructive. The currents pulled his vessel under, again and again, each time taking a piece with it.
First, one oar.
Then, the other.
And finally, the keel.
With one last confirming wave, the ocean slammed him back to dry land.
“You don’t belong in these waters”, it sneered at him as it turned away, leaving him alone with nothing but a constant reminder that he didn’t have a home, anywhere.
Phoebe Sonder, Peak
The first time he saw her brown hair and bronzed skin, he saw home. She made him dinner, and made him whole again. She washed his clothes, and washed away his isolation. She thought of him first, and she thought that could make her whole again, too. Together, they shored up each others’ damages and reinforced each others’ ramparts, in pursuit of an anchor to normalcy; “love”, they called it.
Together, they shored up each others’ damages and reinforced each others’ ramparts, in pursuit of an anchor to normalcy; “love”, they called it.
But late at night as they lay in bed and she slept, he gazed through their window pane at his boat docked along the River. The moonlight shone across the water’s surface, each ripple beckoning him toward it, glimmering like the green plastic beads around his mother’s neck. “You are special”, it sang out. His eyes moved to the horizon, and in a flash of luminescence, he caught sight of his worth. It shimmered in the distance, the dream to create something more meaningful than he was ever given the space to himself become.
“Come,” the water called him, “the Ocean awaits you.”
“I tried already”, he replied, forlorn. “I’m not an Ocean sailor.”
“Come,” it insisted. “The world needs you, the Ocean awaits you.”
He sighed, closed his eyes and heart, and went to sleep.
The ocean, he told himself each morning during the drive to his fluorescent-lit desk job, was no place for a family. It was dangerous, uncontrollable, unwelcoming. He had a wife and children now, and had vowed to give them the stability and devotion he’d never known.
All good virtues to stand behind,
and projections to stay behind,
and conflations to hide behind.
For years.
Until one night, when the water called out as she lay sleeping beside him — “Come, the Ocean awaits you” — and this time, he didn’t close his eyes or his heart. Instead, he walked out of their bedroom, past the kids’ rooms, and through the rickety, porch door. His gaze steadfast on the water, his mother, his soul.
“You are special”, she whispered as he stepped into his dinghy and pulled up the oars. In the moonlight’s reflection on the water, he watched himself hanging a frame on the wall of his new office. In the frame was the business license he’d just received, the first step in his journey to reclaim…himself.
“I’m coming, Mom”, he replied.
At first, the tides were in his favor. They carried him to the Bay while he rested the oars on his lap and inhaled the possibility he’d left behind in his twenties. Possibility was still there, waiting for him, and now it conspired with the tides on his redemption — his new company was one more chance to become the man that the lonely, heartbroken nine-year old boy never could.
The man his Father never was.
His boat careened forward, gliding across the water and picking up speed. In the reflection of the water he saw the company logo he first drew in his sketchbook, imprinted on stationary and “for sale” signs. He kept staring at the water and saw his crew working at a construction site, while he sat at a drafting table in his office, sketching another home design. Sitting on a nearby desk was an ample check, paid to the order of his company.
Paid to the order of his lifeline.
He rowed the dinghy like a voyager now. His chest expanded in victory. His head lifted in strength. His eyes ablaze in destiny.
Control, at last.
But soon, the wide horizon became wider, and the green plastic shimmer of the Bay darkened ahead. Its gentle waves abruptly ceased where the Ocean’s swells began. The water there was the same blue-black he remembered. As his boat got closer, he could taste the salty sprays of its fury.
His heart pounded. He reached for his oars and took a deep breath.
He started paddling, his tan arms stretching out, torso lurching forward. The ocean swells were eight feet high here, lifting his vessel upright toward the crest and then ramming it down, straight into the trough. He looked into the waves now and could see his days getting quieter and his crew losing patience, another late paycheck. He saw his wife standing in the kitchen — her back to the sink, thin arms folded, those piercing eyes boring into his confidence.
“Are you sure we won’t lose everything on this company?”.
“Of course I’m sure”, he quipped, annoyed she even asked the question.
“But I was watching the news tonight…we’re in a recession now…we have a mortgage and kids and car payments. I can’t live like this.”
Ivan Aivazovsky, The Wrath of the Seas
The crests rose another two feet, and — determined to overpower his past — his belief rose with them. He paddled directly into the wave, the veins in his forearms protruding with each forceful stroke of the oars. The wave pulled his dinghy nearly vertical, but gravity lurched it backward. He paddled frantically, his eyes fixated on the blue-blackness of the water, reflecting like a movie screen of his past. There was his Father —his jaw tight, hair disheveled, raging. He grabbed the boy’s neck and spit gin-laced vulgarities into his eyes, the boy gasping for air.
“You’re nothing”, his Father growled. “Nothing!”.
He threw the boy on the ground, stepped over him, and left the house. In the water, he watched himself laying on the living room floor by Dad’s easy chair, sobbing between breaths.
I’m nothing.
I’m nothing.
I’m nothing.
Unable to pull over the crest, his vessel careened backwards into the trough. He lifted his eyes, and shuttered as he came face to face with the same wave he’d known his entire life. This was the wave that took his mother, and left him hollow. It was the wave that sucker punched him in the darkness when he met his drunken Father’s fist. It was the wave that confirmed his worthlessness when he tried to escape its grip. And it was the wave on which his ego surfed, defining him, disguising him, denying him.
…it was the wave on which his ego surfed, defining him, disguising him, denying him.
The wave arched over him, his hands moving tentatively toward the oars on his lap. He looked up at the wall of water towering overhead and caught sight of his reflection — not a strong, sturdy man, but a bruised, pitiful 9-year old boy.
“You’re nothing”, his father whispered in his ear.
All this time, his Mother’s love had sustained him, picking him up off the ground and buoying his belief that he could make it to new waters. But now, paralyzed by fear of the verdict, he at last succumbed to his Father.
His fingers released his worth, and as he grabbed the sides of the dinghy in retreat, he made his final choice.
He let go of the oars.
His head cowered down into the hull, each subsequent swell pounding the dinghy, tossing it port and starboard until it landed on its keel with a snap! One of its planks now cracked, water rushed upwards into the hull where he was peering down.
It covered his shoes.
Bounced checks.
It rose to his ankles.
Her disappointment.
It moved up his shins.
Quiet office.
It reached his knees.
Can’t think.
It enveloped his chest, pulling him into the ocean.
Can’t breathe.
It suctioned him down, spiraling down, down, down, down…
I’m nothing.
He sunk deeper and deeper, to where the blue water faded into black. Looking upwards one last time, the sun rays beamed down and he caught sight of her green plastic beads, the light radiating through them. He reached for them, stretching his arms upwards in desperation. But the tide ripped them away and as the beads faded into the distance, so did his Mother’s love.
His heart valves instantly closed shut, its arteries blockaded by fear.
He could not become the man he wanted.
He could not prove his Father wrong.
And yet, he could not let go of his need to do so.
In his deepest despair, he opened his mouth, took one last breath inward, and drowned the nine-year old boy forever.
The tumultuous waves flooded his sensibilities, its mercurial ebbs and flows overtook his emotions, and its salty fury seeped deep into his subconscious. As the water rushed through him, he felt the energy of a new life force. One that he could finally control.
The waves became him, and he became the waves.
As the water rushed through him, he felt the energy of a new life force. One that he could finally control. The waves became him, and he became the waves.
Lia Melia, A Patch of Blue Painting
Isn’t it curious that waves enchant us with their solace and yet, when the weather turns, inflict on us their destruction? That they center us at their shore, but disorient us at their break? In the waves, we often find ourselves, and in the same waves we get carried out to sea, some lost forever. Those who know the waves best understand just how little they understand; waves entice the novice swimmer yet elude the professional surfer. Waves soften and they slam. Waves incite calm and inflict calamity. Waves are unpredictable, uncertain, unchained, and unsafe…and yet, undeniably wondrous.
In the waves, we often find ourselves, and in the same waves we get carried out to sea, some lost forever.
So long as he kept others enchanted, suspended in uncertainty and self-doubt, he could keep them in his waters. When the waves delighted and ignited and stirred them alive, they wondered if he was divine, and they stayed to prove it right. When the waves tossed and pummeled them and left them for dead, they wondered if they were inadequate, and they stayed to prove it wrong.
In his waves, they could swim in ecstasy from shore to break. But dare they attempt to journey beyond as he once did — dare they attempt to prove his Father right — he would crash over them without warning and disappear into the tides, leaving them abandoned and bruised, with nothing.
“You’re Nothing”, he echoed through them.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Just like me.
Once upon a time, I looked into his waters, and saw him as only his Mother had. Despite his wild ebbs and flows, I could see the true him — the artist, the explorer, the builder, the lover. When his tides pulled me towards him, I saw his need for affirmation and offered as much. When they pushed me away, I saw his fear of failure and patiently waited for him to catch up. When he raged with anger, I calmly floated on his surface until he softened around my shape. When he got trapped in the swirl of his undertow, I reminded him that he was destined for more beyond the break.
And when I questioned my own destiny, he did what no one else would — he carried me out to the same break and lifted me on the crest of his wave so I could see my horizon, for the very first time.
He was the only one who ever believed I could make it past the break. I was the only one who knew he could do the same.
He was the only one who believed I could make it past the break. I was the only one who knew he could do the same.
Together, we glided toward our horizon. At first my eyes fixated on him, his hands moving across the water as if he was painting the waves on a canvas before us. In the waves I saw his reflection — not a pitiful boy, but a strong, beautiful man afraid to face the waters again, and yet, unable to stop swimming by my side.
He was my teacher, my confidante, my comrade.
And I, his.
But soon, the tides moved in my favor. I turned to face the sun and suddenly saw my reflection in the water. It pulled me out ahead of him, and I watched in awe while my destiny unfolded, bringing me further into the ocean than most will ever know.
The sky here was bands of pinks, purples, and oranges; the water a crystalline cerulean blue. As he looked over at me, he saw both woman and water sparkle in the tides of potential. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever felt, and when I turned back to him, my smile as wide as the horizon, my soul eager to feel his pride…
…he was gone.
I turned to my right, and then my left. I looked behind and I dove down, searching.
An eerie fear washed over me, and just then, in the glow of my greatest achievement, a wall of blue-black water crashed over my head. It tossed and turned me through his tumultuous waves. Gasping for air, I felt the fury of his salty sprays and the pain of his abandonment. In each new wave, I tumbled in the inertia of his fear colliding with the anger of his past. And when it pummeled me into the ocean’s depths, I felt his confused pain, the constant calculus to understand how something so meaningful could be ripped away with no warning, no difficulty, no honor.
As if I was nothing.
For everything I’d given him, all my belief and love and commitment, I was left.
With nothing.
In my silent heartbreak, I slowly treaded away from his Ocean, turning a corner to take shelter in a distant inlet. These were the shelters — these safe havens — I’d hidden in my whole life. Without His waves and His currents and His tides, I’d never felt qualified to swim those waters.
But as I paddled through the inlet, something was different this time. My eyes steadfast on the horizon now, my gaze fixated on the break, I realized that I no longer needed to be safe.
Or saved.
I no longer needed Him.
There, in the vast Ocean, in finally escaping His boundaries I finally escaped mine. Ever so slowly and carefully, I made my way back toward the horizon. Still afraid but not fearful. Still alone but not lonely. With each stroke forward, I felt the tides pulling me in unison. Only now, they were my tides, at long last arrived.
Often, I stopped to look over at his wave in the distance — still mercurial and raging and repeating — and I wept. This man whom I once needed, I still loved. This man who once needed me, I could not save. How I ached to swim over to his waters and help him see what he could not.
That he was not the wave.
He was not the water.
He was not nothing.
He was perfect.
The divorce would be cast in his narrative, the starting point on his ex-wife’s shoulders. For decades after, their children would recount his version with certainty, taking care to stay within his waters and abide by his reflection. But deep down, buried in a place too dark to risk returning, he knew the truth.
The divorce started within, forever rendering him without. A quivering, young boy desperate for love. An unsure young man desperate for validation. A distracted husband and father desperate for something more, something else, beyond the break.
And yet letting go of the oars.
Each day, as I paddle along the horizon and look up at the clouds, I wish he could be there with me. Though I can not swim in his waters any longer, as hard as I fight against it, I will never stop wishing he would journey towards mine.
I will never stop believing he can.
And I will never, ever stop loving him. | https://christenobrien.medium.com/the-truth-about-his-divorce-63179549c633 | ["Christen O'Brien"] | 2020-12-12 17:30:06.066000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Life', 'Divorce', 'Narcissism'] |
UI Animation: Please Use Responsibly | photo credit: freepik
The explosion of prototyping tools in the past few years has given designers an opportunity to create detailed interactions. Designers are spending hours and days learning these tools. However, many designers get lost in the technical details of the prototyping tool of choice. Designers must take a step back and ask what is the goal or purpose of the animation. By animating with intent, motion is used as a tool for communication. Designers should avoid using frivolous animation that get in the way of the user.
Designers can take advantage of animation to solve design problems such as showing continuity and relationships between objects via entry and exit animations. From reducing the cognitive load to improving decision making, meaningful animations can delight and inform users.
Reducing Cognitive Load
Cognitive load is the amount of mental effort needed to complete a task. Wikipedia says “heavy cognitive load can have negative effects on task completion.” When users are on a site, they’re flooded with information. As a result, they have selective attention a.k.a ‘tunnel vision’, meaning they focus directly on the area of the screen that they are working on; therefore, users will not see everything on the screen.
As designers, it is important to create an interface that is easy to use. This frees up the user’s mental effort to complete their task. How can designers achieve this with animation? Motion, when used well, reduces user confusion by effectively communicating user feedback. Additionally, by freeing up the user’s mind, attention can be drawn to more important things such as the page’s “call to action”.
Attract User’s Attention
NNgroup states, “an effective way to use animation is to attract the user’s attention.” The benefit of drawing the user’s attention is to guide their focus to show hierarchy and relationships between screens and elements on the screen.
The animation does not have to take place directly in the user’s view. NNgroup article explains that movement in the peripheral view can attract the user’s attention quicker due to our biology of recognizing potential danger in the periphery. However, users have learned not to pay attention to banners or pop-ups that traditionally live in sidebars and headers of defined sizes, so designers must make sure UI and animations do not follow those patterns. Designers can avoid banner blindness by minimizing the amount of motion happening at a single time and animating elements located where users believe relevant information lies.
Visual Hierarchy
Animating the order that page elements load on the screen can display the visual hierarchy of the page. Using a subtle animation will show the user the layout of the page and what to focus on which reduces the cognitive load.
Additionally, by using the same animation for different elements, it becomes easy for the user to understand that the elements are grouped and can perform similar actions. The human mind is always looking to create patterns.
Making Better Decisions
Motion in microinteractions (transition of a single object) and macrointeractions (transition between objects) can give users context and show continuity through the system. Motion can also teach users new interactions or gestures. Animation, when done well, allows the user to understand quickly how the information fits together and as a result can make better decisions.
Animation allows discoverability. Transitions between states can communicate the functionality of a single object. For example, a menu icon can transition to a close icon to show the user how the same button can complete two actions.
Animation helps users build better mental maps of spatial information. With small screens, this is crucial. A user can get lost easily in the maze of screens. However, animation lets users learn how to use the app by retracing their steps between screens. For example, the user drills down to a page by swiping right. Some users will discover that to return to the main page, they can swipe left. To ensure discoverability, visual affordances should be used in conjunction with animations.
Onboarding
Animation can help create interactive onboarding. By showing users the right thing at the right time, designers are creating progressive disclosure. Progressive disclosure makes systems easier to learn by reducing the noise and clutter a user has been presented. Subtle animations ease in the new content, while educating the user about how the app works. As a result, this helps users remember what is important.
Creating Delight
Animations are a wonderful way to bring delight to the user and enhance the user experience. However, before attempting to delight users with animations, designers should meet user’s base expectations and try to remove friction first. Otherwise, no amount of delightful animation will impress. Frequency, duration, and speed of an animation affect the user’s perception of the system, which is why designers should consider these when creating an animation.
An ideal place to add animation for delight is when you surprise the user with something they want, for example, free shipping. Animation should also not get in the way of the user.
Frequency
Designers should consider how often will the user see this animation. The first time the animation may seem novel and can delight the user. However, novel and delightful can become an annoyance afterwhile. NNgroup found during user testing sessions; participants commented: “this [animation] was nice the first time, but now it’s getting annoying.”
Duration
Designers should be aware of how long users are willing to wait for an animation or any action before they abandon the task. NNgroup studies show that anything up to 100ms appears instantaneous to users. Comprehending animation takes a bit long, the time ranges from 150ms — 350ms. The general animation duration guidelines, according to Val Head, are to have it run between 200ms-500ms. As this is a guideline, the goal is to make animations look natural. Users identify with what looks familiar, so in the end it is up to the designer’s best judgement. There is a fine line when it comes to how long an animation should run, too quick and the user may miss it, too slow and the user may perceive the system as slow.
Speed
The speed of the overall animation can affect the perceived performance. Slower animations will lead users to perceive the overall system is slow as well. However, animations can be used to hide delays and by keeping the user engaged the perceived performance increases.
Loading animations keeps the user occupied with visual feedback and as a result, users perceive a shorter wait time. The number of cycles in an animation can also increase the perceived speed. Facebook has a skeleton content loading animation, which is an elegant solution to the traditional loading spinner. A study by Viget found that people would wait longer for branded loading animation over generic ones to complete.
Accessibility
Designers should remember to consider animation accessibility. For individuals with vestibular disorders, motion can cause dizziness, vertigo or nausea. This is one of the reasons Apple iOS7 has the option to turn off animated transitions and moving backgrounds. Parallax scrolling, a method where the background moves slower than the foreground, is an example of motion which can induce nausea if not used correctly. To solve this, designers may not want ‘big’ animations to autoplay. If the user starts the animation, they will be more prepared and not caught off guard.
Web Accessibility recommends ensuring the animated content is described in text form; this allows users to access the content which benefits the visually impaired and users with vestibular disorders. Designers should be aware that in some instances, non-affected users can turn off UI animations to speed up their workflow. For best practices refer to Web Accessibility for creating accessible animations according to the W3C guidelines. | https://uxdesign.cc/ui-animation-please-use-responsibly-e707dbdb12d5 | ['Naema Baskanderi'] | 2017-02-23 03:29:13.551000+00:00 | ['Design', 'UX', 'User Experience', 'Animation'] |
The day news theory became reality | The day news theory became reality
A journalism student’s perspective on the AFP raids on the ABC.
AFP officers leave the ABC, eight hours after raiding the public broadcaster’s Sydney HQ. Photo: Alexandra Menzies.
As I stood out the front of the ABC’s Sydney headquarters on Wednesday morning (June 5), I couldn’t help but feel the conflicting senses of both pride and anxiety.
Just moments earlier, a group of first-year UTS Journalism students, including myself, had raced from our lecture upon learning that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were conducting a raid of the ABC building next door. It was over the 2017 story “The Afghan Files”.
We waited with perched phones in the middle of an eager scrum of professional journalists from organisations such as Sky News, Channel 9, Channel Seven and Reuters News.
We took photographs and short videos before posting them to our Twitter accounts and watching as audience responses flooded in.
It wasn’t until I saw the comments from international news organisations requesting to use my footage, that I understood the significance of where I was, and what I was doing.
I checked my tweet engagement and interaction statistics and realised that people were following my posts for breaking information.
I was at the scene and, to the best of my ability, I was responsible for letting the world know the truth and facts of the events that were unfolding. It was the first time that I had been in such a position. Indeed, it was the first time that I had felt what it is like to be a journalist. And to tell you the truth, I had never felt so accomplished and alive.
The videos of fellow journalism students were also picked up by top news organisations. For instance, a video of ABC News director Gaven Morris, shot by Nicholas Rupolo, was reposted by The Australian and news.com.au.
Through to the afternoon, I was constantly refreshing my feed to check for updates from the ABC’s Head of Investigative Journalism, John Lyons, who was live tweeting from inside the ABC building. He was sharing information on what the AFP officers were searching for, as they rummaged through 9214 files that belonged to the ABC, and were considered of interest in their investigation.
It may sound melodramatic, but my heart became heavy when Mr Lyons posted two photographs of the search warrant that the police had obtained. I was truly astounded by the scope and broadness of what information the AFP had the power to search and seize.
I thought back to how I had felt earlier that day; the immense zest I’d felt for journalism had now been replaced with a fear for its future. I was confronted with the true irony of the fact that I was reporting freely on an investigation that epitomised the gradual restrictions on my chosen career.
Using this as my incentive, I continued to follow the raid as it stretched into the night. By 7:30pm, there were six journalists and photographers, seven including myself, who remained out the front of the ABC building.
We chatted amongst ourselves while keeping an eye out for any movements or updates on the raid. Mr Lyons then tweeted photographs of the AFP filling out paperwork. He approximated that the raid would be concluding in 45 minutes.
At 8:14pm, one of the photographers sighted the AFP officers walking through the security gates of the ABC building.
“Get your cameras ready!”, he yelled.
Remembering the tips and tricks that I had learnt about shooting videos on a mobile phone, I captured the AFP as they made a swift exit from the building across Harris Street, taking with them bags that were filled with what we can only assume to be evidence.
I returned to the ABC building along with the other journalists and photographers. We sat and looked through the photographs and videos that we’d been able to get, and in doing so, I was relieved.
Admittedly, it’s a strange emotion to have felt. But I was relieved by the determination of those who I’d waited with. For over eight hours, some without a break, they had stayed to break the news that the raid had finally ended. Their sheer perseverance gave me hope in the otherwise grim future of journalism.
When I went home, I scrolled through Twitter and noticed another post from Mr Lyons.
“Bravo to this country’s media for taking on the government over the new war on the media,” he said.
“I’ve never seen such a united front. Old rivalries put aside. Journalism matters.”
I owe a great deal of gratitude to Mr Lyons and the other news organisations who showed their support for journalism in the wake of the ABC raid. It is comforting to know that, as long as people continue to fight for its freedom, journalism will survive.
Befitting what Wednesday’s events taught me — and as quoted by former Washington Post President and Publisher Philip L. Graham — “Journalism is the first rough draft of history”. | https://medium.com/the-walkley-magazine/the-day-news-theory-became-reality-a76f16b21fd8 | ['Alexandra Menzies'] | 2019-06-07 06:09:29.549000+00:00 | ['Press Freedom', 'Australia', 'Journalism', 'Media'] |
Beyond “tidy”: Plotly Express now accepts wide-form and mixed-form data | Plotly Express is the built-in high-level data visualization interface for Plotly.py, a leading interactive data visualization library for Python. With today’s release of Plotly.py 4.8, Plotly Express now gracefully operates on wide-form and mixed-form data – not just “tidy” long-form data.
These new capabilities dramatically expand Plotly Express’ promise of ‘interactive data visualization in a single Python statement’, by removing the need to wrangle your data into a particular form before plotting.
When we first released Plotly Express in March of last year, it supported only “tidy” long-form Pandas data frames as input, and our early adopters quickly asked about wide-form support. Since then we’ve added support for non-data-frame array-like inputs such as NumPy arrays and Pandas series and indexes; for GeoJSON-formatted geographical data; for hierarchical part-of-whole data; and for image and multi-dimensional xarray data. Today we are finally able to deliver to our users and customers some capabilities they’ve been asking for from the beginning. It took weeks of refactoring and fine-tuning of defaults, but I’m very proud of the outcome: Plotly Express’s wide-form support is flexible, expressive and totally consistent with the rest of its API.
🧐 Terminology
There are three common conventions for storing column-oriented data in tabular form, usually in a data frame with column names:
long-form data has one row per observation, and one column per variable. This is suitable for storing and displaying multivariate data i.e. with dimension greater than 2. This format is sometimes called “tidy data”.
has one row per observation, and one column per variable. This is suitable for storing and displaying multivariate data i.e. with dimension greater than 2. This format is sometimes called “tidy data”. wide-form data has one row per value of one of the first variable, and one column per value of the second variable. This is suitable for storing and displaying 2-dimensional data.
has one row per value of one of the first variable, and one column per value of the second variable. This is suitable for storing and displaying 2-dimensional data. mixed-form data is a hybrid of long-form and wide-form data, with one row per value of one variable, and some columns representing values of another, and some columns representing more variables.
Plotly Express can now operate natively on all three of these formats.
A medal table, two ways, along with the Pandas code to convert back and forth.
Here’s a side by side example of the same Olympic Short-Track Speed Skating medal data in both long-form and wide-form, along with the Pandas code that will convert back and forth. Until today, if you had a wide-form dataset like the one on the left and wanted to plot it using Plotly Express, you would have had to use the Pandas .melt() operation to “tidy up” your data first. This is now no longer necessary!
📐 Wide-Form Data
The core, backwards-compatible change to the Plotly Express API that makes this possible is that, for 2D-Cartesian plotting functions the x or y arguments can now accept not only a single column reference or column, but a list of column references or columns. Here’s what this looks like in practice, with the wide-form version of the dataset above:
Here Plotly Express has read the row- and column-index names and used them to label the x-axis and legend, and these labels are automatically reflected in the hover labels as well. In the code above, we could in fact omit x and y and simply call px.bar(wide_df) with no additional arguments, as here we are passing in the default settings, for illustrative purposes. On the other hand, a few extra arguments can come in handy for styling a Plotly Express plot the way you like, still with just one Python statement:
Note that in the plots above, the 3 columns of data passed in to y (the three medal types) are automatically differentiated by color, and the legend title is automatically set to the column-index name. This is the common convention for other plotting systems like Pandas’ own built-in .plot() family of functions and even venerable old Microsoft Excel. If this were a visualization of long-form data with Plotly Express, we could assign this medal dimension to any visual attribute of the plot, and in adding wide-form support, we found a way to retain this ability: you can set any keyword argument to medal in the function above! Let’s try it with facet_col for example:
We can do this for any attribute of any kind of 2D-Cartesian chart supported by Plotly Express, not just bars. For reference, the 2D-Cartesian plotting functions are scatter , line , area , bar , histogram , violin , box , strip , funnel , density_heatmap and density_contour . Here is a line chart using the new built-in stocks dataset, which has one row per week in 2018–2019, and one column per major tech stock:
🥄 Mixed-Form Data
This ability to map data dimensions to visual variables, no matter the form, is what allows Plotly Express to operate not only on wide-form data like the simple medal table above, where every column represented a value of the medal dimension of the data, but also mixed-form datasets, where some columns represent values of a dimension and some don’t. Let’s take a look at the new built-in mixed-form dataset called experiment , which represents the results of a hypothetical three-experiment study on 100 participants:
Here, the index tells us that each row contains data for a single participant. The first columns contain data for the experiment dimension, so if we only had these three columns, we could describe this as a wide-form dataset with dimensions participant and experiment , but there are also the other two columns, gender and group , which if they were on their own would make this a long-form dataset with dimensions participant , gender and group . Taken together, we can describe this dataset as mixed-form. Plotly Express works well with this kind of data too! Starting with just the wide-form portion, let’s make a violin plot:
We see that in this case, the list we passed to y is not a column-index with a name, so Plotly Express has used the Pandas .melt() convention and labelled this dimension " variable" . By default, wide-form violin plots are not colored, as the violins are clearly identified by their x-position, but we can assign color="variable" if we prefer to double-encode this dimension:
What about these extra columns in the dataset? Well, it turns out we can assign them to visual variables also. Since we’re now encoding variable as color , we can assign a different dimension like group to the x position of the violins, and we can facet by gender . We can also use the standard Plotly Express labels argument to override the default value and variable labels. Finally, we can use Plotly’s interactive hover-label features by adding the participant ID ( df.index , which is named participant ) to the hover_data , so that we can hover over outlier points and quickly identify them:
With just a few characters’ difference, we can produce a totally different plot, faceting by experiment and coloring by group :
And since we didn’t have to rearrange our dataset to produce the plots above, we can smoothly transition into a long-form-based analysis among experiments, say to compare the results of one experiment to another:
The examples above just scratch the surface of what can be done with Plotly Express on wide- and mixed-form data, so be sure to check out the wide-form documentation for more details. But before you go, one more thing…
🐼 Plotly.py Now Has a Pandas Plotting Backend
With the changes above, Plotly Express behaves a lot more like the default Pandas plotting backend with respect to the x and y parameters of the corresponding functions. In light of this, we are taking advantage of the new pandas.options.plotting.backend feature introduced in Pandas v0.25, and offering an official plotly backend for Pandas plotting. This means that you can import Pandas as you usually do, set the plotting backend to "plotly" , and when you call df.plot() , Plotly Express is invoked and returns a plotly.graph_objects.Figure object, ready to be customized, rendered, or exported to a static file. Here’s an example:
A note on API compatibility: The Plotly plotting backend for Pandas is not intended to be a drop-in replacement for the default one; it does not implement all or even most of the same keyword arguments, such as subplots=True etc. The Plotly plotting backend for Pandas is a more convenient way to invoke certain Plotly Express functions by chaining a .plot() call without having to import Plotly Express directly. Plotly Express, as of version 4.8 with wide-form data support implements behaviour for the x and y keywords that are very simlar to the matplotlib backend.
❤️ A Perfect Fit for Dash
Dash is Plotly’s open-source Python framework for building rich, interactive analytical applications, no Javascript required! Figures produced with Plotly Express – from wide- or long-form data, with or without the Pandas backend – are always directly compatible with Dash: just pass them in to the figure property of a dash_core_components.Graph() component!
📦 Getting Started
We hope you’re as excited about these new capabilities as we are! You can check out the complete release announcement on our community forum, or you can head straight to our installation instructions to get your hands on version 4.8 right now. | https://medium.com/plotly/beyond-tidy-plotly-express-now-accepts-wide-form-and-mixed-form-data-bdc3e054f891 | ['Nicolas Kruchten'] | 2020-05-26 14:52:18.961000+00:00 | ['Python', 'Open Source', 'Data Analysis', 'Data Science', 'Data Visualization'] |
How UX Engineering can Fuel Product Development | How UX Engineering can Fuel Product Development
A six-step process for incorporating User Experience Engineering to build and test new features and product ideas quickly
Start-ups are scrappy survivors: they must innovate constantly and adapt quickly if they want to have any chance at upending the proverbial status quo. Success hinges on a forward-thinking approach, the ability to use a variety of tools, and an opportunistic approach to learning. As a start-up matures into a larger, multi-department company and development resources are dedicated to support and maintain core products, it’s difficult to fuel the engine of innovation that helped launch the start-up into orbit in the first place.
Without the ability to build quickly and run user tests or other experiments, there’s likely a growing backlog of potentially game-changing enhancements, features, and product ideas that might never come alive. Incorporating User Experience Engineering is one way to re-ignite the team’s spirit of innovation. UX Engineering is relatively new and goes by many names (at Amazon, it’s called “Design Technology”), but here’s the general idea:
UX Engineers combine UX Design and engineering expertise into a single discipline, and are able to develop, prototype, and test innovative UI solutions that push the envelope on front-end engineering and inspire development teams and leaders to invest in new ideas.
In pioneering UX Engineering to Fanatics, I’ve had the opportunity to not only define the role itself at our organization, but to build a process around it, too. While there was a significant investment of time configuring a development environment and setting up the tools that our team uses, the biggest challenge was around strategic challenges like:
Which ideas get developed into prototypes?
How complex can our prototypes be?
How can we quickly build a prototype that works with our existing codebase?
How are these features/prototypes tested and measured?
What kind of deliverable is useful to engineers? What will they do with it (if anything)?
How can we ensure our learnings (from both successes and failures) support further product/feature development?
Bringing UX Engineering to Fanatics was a great learning opportunity — both personally and for our team — and I wanted to share some of what we discovered while developing our process here. Using the guiding questions above, we distilled our process into six steps: Identify, Simplify, Build, Measure, Ship, and Share. | https://uxdesign.cc/ux-engineering-is-rocket-fuel-for-product-development-26ae1e8ac50 | ['Steve Saul'] | 2017-11-07 01:06:57.423000+00:00 | ['User Experience', 'Technology', 'Software Development', 'UX', 'Engineering'] |
Inspiration: Classical Sass | Thank you, my friend, for being you!
Borrowed with permission from Classical Sass herself
Always writing, always caring, always connecting
Love the passion and the caring of you, wonderful lady
Willing to put your heart on the line
Willing to share whether the words flow or not
Making me laugh, making me think
Making me wish I could write as much, as well, as often
Hero in the making, music loving, teaching, sharing
I am inspired by you more and more with every piece I read.
Let the world know who inspires you. More about this latest Chalkboard collaboration: | https://medium.com/chalkboard/inspiration-classical-sass-c216fdaa854d | ['Kathy Jacobs'] | 2017-03-31 19:29:38.563000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Celebration', 'Writing', 'Chalkboard', 'Inspiration'] |
Trump of Doom; America goes Viral | Fake news, says Trump, keep buying stuff and don’t worry
The news of the first COVID-19 death in America has broken. A patient in Washington state — a middle-aged man with no link to travel from other affected lands — has died from the disease.
Washington governor Jay Inslee has announced a state of emergency, noting that other cases have been admitted to care, with more expected.
Like several recent cases, the deceased had no history of travel to China or any other country affected by the epidemic, nor any reported contact with someone who had. This is a result of community transmission, meaning the virus is live and active within the American community.
Not my fault, says Don Trump
Trump has tweeted a clip from Fox News, captioned “Media Weaponizes Coronavirus Panic against Trump”.
This is the administration position, apparently. It has nothing to do with the government, it’s all a media beat-up, if we just calm down, it will “miraculously vanish”. Other Trump apologists have said that it’s just the common cold, folks.
In a bizarre fantasy, apologist Mike Huckabee revealed an alarming lack of knowledge of medical procedures:
Trump “could personally suck the virus out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world, and suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean if he did that.” — former governor Mike Huckabee
Get real, America!
This sort of twaddle helps nobody. The bottom line is that Americans are dying and the response of the federal government is to put a lid on it, insisting that all official statements be cleared by vice-president Mike Pence, who presumably will only allow anodyne media releases blaming the Democrats, the media, gays, and possibly inadequate presidential suckage.
Not that Pence himself is an expert on public health matters. In a statement that now seems to have been dusted off for reuse, he said, “Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill.” Pence also oversaw a bungled response to an outbreak of HIV in Indiana.
What America needs is widespread, highly visible testing, treatment, and containment policies. Otherwise, as sickness and deaths increase, there will be panic, and it will get worse.
Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, Coronavirus doesn’t kill. — tomorrow’s White House announcement?
Viruses don’t vote
Attempts to spin the Covid-19 epidemic as some sort of political conflict are pointless. The virus has no registered political affiliation, it spreads through contact and airborne droplets, it is highly contagious, and it kills.
Country after country has fallen victim to the virus. What works is swift, practical, and transparent measures.
What doesn’t work — Hello, Iran! — is denial, coverup, and conspiracy.
Which way will America go?
The stock market is tanking, and it’s not a media beatup
Something that Don Trump really cares about is the stock market. He has spent years claiming credit for the bull run that began under Barack Obama but now says that the record losses of recent days have nothing to do with him. Yeah, right.
What is affecting the market is coronavirus. After China slowed down its production sector in an effort to contain the infection, the inevitable result will be that many American industries will run dry of spare parts and components, and straight-out goods to sell in short order.
If the containerships have nothing to load, they aren’t going to be leaving port. Simple as that. And if American industry runs out of the things they need to sell to make a profit, the outlook is bleak.
Not to mention the downturn in travel and related sectors. Slapping travel bans on more and more countries means that aviation stocks are going to sink, the tourist industry will slow, and that’s another effect on the market.
Investors aren’t reliably stupid. They depend for their money on making good and timely choices. Falling for administration claims that it’s okay folks, buy now and make a profit as the market climbs tomorrow is not a prudent strategy when day after day the thing sinks.
Do no harm
What is increasingly apparent is that America is in for a struggle. I think the globe as a whole is in for a tough time, but this is where good government makes a world of difference.
Public health officials and doctors are pledged to do no harm, and in most nations, they have procedures in place and ready for action. It’s not as if we haven’t had pandemics before. A reasoned, transparent, scientific and apolitical response is what works best.
Sadly, that goes against Don Trump’s instincts which is what he, no doctor, is using to direct his actions. He doesn’t listen to scientists, or those who are paid good money to formulate and implement government policy.
Coronavirus is the Democrats’ “new hoax,” — Don Trump
So far, the most reliable indicator of Trump’s response to any given crisis is to ask, “What would Obama do?” and then watch him do the exact opposite.
For myself
America and Australia are linked, not just by ties of longstanding alliance, but by commerce and air travel across the Pacific. Australia is putting effective health measures into place, and warning people that more is to come, but if America turns into a cesspool of infection, a few are going to want to escape to Australia, and that puts me, my family, my friends, and my whole nation at risk.
I’m not looking forward to the coming months and the fast-approaching winter with any great optimism.
Britni | https://medium.com/the-bad-influence/america-goes-viral-88a13d3ada79 | ['Britni Pepper'] | 2020-03-02 10:15:02.528000+00:00 | ['Nonfiction', 'Viral', 'Trump', 'Politics', 'Coronaviru'] |
Bad Practices in UI/UX Design That You Should Avoid | Making mistakes in your UI is easier than you think. There are quite a lot of pitfalls on your way of delivering smooth user experience, and I want to talk about some of them today. Without further ado, let’s get right to it.
Phone Number Form Fields
Phone number field is a beast. In my other article, I mentioned a post on Imgur that presents you the best UI/UX practices from hell, mostly concerning phone number input. But there are less obvious ways to ruin user experience.
Everything is permitted
The most common misbelief is that allowing users to enter whichever format they like is the key. But it’s not entirely true.
Check out an example above. Is this filled out correctly? No? But hey, you decided to let users run wild, so someone clearly did. How will your database handle this input? And if you throw in a validation there, it will further confuse users. Do they need a country code? Do they need to put dashes or spaces between number groups? Users will most likely abandon filling out the form, rather than spend time guessing which format you meant there.
Let me show you the way
Some developers think that by showing the user an example how the field should be filled out they will avoid confusion, but in reality, most users just ignore the example and fill out fields the way they like. This, again, causes validation errors and leads to form abandonment.
We are the many
Other designers split input forms. But adapting form to just one country isn’t user-friendly at all. The example above will mostly suit some users, but others may be left aside because they have different formatting and number lengths in their countries. This approach is also difficult to fill out from mobile phones. | https://medium.com/level-up-web/bad-practices-in-ui-ux-design-that-you-should-avoid-82e4862e47e0 | ['Bradley Nice'] | 2018-11-21 06:20:56.243000+00:00 | ['Design', 'User Experience', 'Web Design', 'Web Development', 'UX'] |
Association rules: Operation of the apriori algorithm | Both algorithms can be downloaded from GitHub, in the Datasets folder, there are files to test. At the end of the post is the Complete Paper (In Spanish).
Data mining consists of analyzing volumes of data from different tools or techniques that facilitate this process, such as, for example, the a priori algorithm, FP-Growth, aprioriTID, aprioriHybrid, Eclat, Top-k rules, etc. Today the applicability of data mining can be seen in many areas such as medicine, biology, or business enterprises.
Association Rules
The association rules show correlations found from the analysis of a large set of transactions. These rules are represented with an antecedent X and a consequent Y.
The most common techniques for obtaining these rules use two parameters, support, and trust. The first is calculated with respect to the set of transactions T and indicates what percentage of transactions contain X.
Support = (Number of Transactions Containing X) / (Total Number of Transactions)
The second indicates what percentage of the transactions that contain X also contain Y, and is given by:
Trust= Support (X U Y) / Support (X)
Each rule indicates that if X is satisfied, there is a certain probability given by its confidence that Y is also satisfied.
Apriori algorithm
Github Code:
The algorithm discovers all the possible rules from support and minimal trust. It is divided into two main parts. The first consists of obtaining the sets of frequent items (itemsets) and the second the rule generation.
Example
FP-Growth algorithm (Alternative)
Github Code
Like the a priori algorithm, it generates all possible rules and consists of two parts which are the identification of frequent items and another characteristic of the generation of rules using trust and support as threshold values. The difference of FPGrowth in the generation of sets of frequent elements is based on building a tree.
This tree is built with the frequent items (that is, those that exceed the minimum established support) so that those with the highest frequency will be located at the top of the tree, while each branch is created by going through the set of transactions with the frequent items already ordered descending.
Full paper in Spanish
The DataSets are assembled as follows:
Orange Line -> Trust / Blue Line -> Support
It can be seen in Next Picture, how by changing both parameters (Trust and Support) the number of generated rules will decrease in both cases. Whenever one of the parameters increases, the number of rules will be less, due to the characteristics of the a priori algorithm. The variation of the support impacts more, generating a much smaller number of rules than if the confidence were varied.
Performance
The performance of the algorithms according to the number of rules generated varying the support.
Conclusions
The a priori algorithm for the generation of association rules does not have the ability to make decisions regarding the outputs generated based on the domain in which they are found, that is, they return as much as possible and this is observed in the enormous number of rules that is generated in this post. That is why it would be a good alternative to adapt the solution to the specific needs of the business. | https://medium.com/analytics-vidhya/association-rules-operation-of-the-apriori-algorithm-7f3ce928d0c4 | ['Martin Bernaola'] | 2020-11-05 13:45:17.975000+00:00 | ['Data Mining', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Programming', 'Apriori Algorithm', 'Rules'] |
Things You Really Do Need in 2020 | It’s a new year, which means the world and your social media streams are full of advice on how to start off on the right foot. You might find that some of it is useful. You might also find that most of it is noise. Noise in the sense that they’re half thought out articles with generic advice for improving your life. A common take on self-improvement that doesn’t necessarily get to the root of your problems. This article, I hope, is real enough to be useful to you. So, what do you need?
You need some guidance
Whether you buy into the idea of resolutions or not, the start of a new decade provides a useful milestone for some reflection and a plan for moving forward. I personally believe in resolutions, and I made space for my own personal reflections moving into this new decade. This is mostly because it gives me some hope. I had a challenging year. I scratched everything part way through and started over. The start of a new decade feels like the clean slate that I’ve been wanting.
You need some framework to think about your life. To think about your wants, needs, dreams, desires. Without this in place, you’ll end up spinning your wheels in place. You’re trying to move without having any traction. Pick a method for reflection that makes sense for you, I’m not here to prescribe your life. I personally like to ask myself a series of questions to reflect:
How do I feel? How do I want to feel? What do I want to change?
Then, with an idea of where you want to go in mind, start that journey with a map — or plan to get there. This involves setting actionable goals for yourself. A balance of a goal that’s ambitious enough for you to accomplish your dreams, but bite-sized enough that it’s feasible to do. There are numerous frameworks for goal setting out there. I personally like to use SMART goals — or specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
You need a therapist
People go at it alone, more than they should. While there still remains a stigma surrounding mental health, seeking out therapy when you need it should be your go-to. Over the holidays I was speaking with a good friend who’s become a therapist in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. I think she said it best when she said:
The world would be a better place if everyone went to therapy.
I think she’s right. We are often at odds with our own minds, struggling through anything from the everyday minutiae to issues with mental health to true crises. You won’t be able to bring your full self to your work if your full self isn’t completely available to work with. Take care of your whole health, mental health included.
You need a coach
Again, people put themselves at wits ends going at it alone. Entrepreneurs, in particular, are guilty of this. They’ll work long days DIYing their ventures and side projects. Instead of turning to the experts, they’ll turn to their fifth cup of coffee and work well into the night. In reality — with the backing of a coach, mentor, or trusted advisor — you’ll be able to go further faster.
Remember that plan you created for your year? A coach will guide you in how to do your best work, and how to make your goals actually happen. It’ll be worth it to spend the time and money upfront to set yourself up for success later. | https://medium.com/goodbets-press/things-you-really-do-need-in-2020-26bbe54eb3bf | ['Veronica Head'] | 2020-01-03 23:56:47.693000+00:00 | ['Startup', 'Life Lessons', 'Advice', 'Goals', 'Life'] |
How the Seventh-Day Amplification Factor can gauge the Existence of Corona Silent Carriers | How the Seventh-Day Amplification Factor can gauge the Existence of Corona Silent Carriers
If the value of A7=1.0, then the total confirmed cases of infection on Day 7 are equal to that of Day 0. This means that there have been no new infections.
A key challenge is confronting the Corona outbreak has been a relative inability to estimate the number of silent carriers. Silent carriers can prove to be more critical than the numbers of known infections, since infected individuals can be quarantined and subject to contact tracing; while silent carriers cannot be identified.
We can, however, qualitatively gauge the existence of silent carriers by using a mathematical expression — the Seventh-Day Amplification Factor (A7). If we compute the ratio of total cases of confirmed infection today (Day 7) over that of seven days ago (Day 0), we arrive at the ratio called the “7th-day Amplification Factor,” or A7. A7 is always higher or equal to 1.0. The portion over 1.0 refers to the increase, in fraction of Day 0 figure, due to the new cases accumulated over the last 7 days
This is a simple mathematical ratio of cumulative COVID-19 infections between two points seven day apart. A 3-day rolling average is used at both ends to eliminate daily fluctuations.
The ratio is based on some assumptions:
Assumptions
Patients who test positive today have caught the virus at least seven days ago (assuming five days of incubation and two days of testing). These patients (whom we can call Day-7 patients) were infected by Day-0 Silent Carriers, and not by Day-0 patients (since they were already quarantined). The silent patients represent 80 percent of all infected cases, or about four times the number of Day-0 patients. Many “silent patients” may have already recovered, and thus only active ones can transmit the virus.
Usefulness of A-7 Simulation
This ratio can be used in three ways
To monitor current trends To analyse the effectiveness of the state intervention To forecast the end of the outbreak.
Why is A-7 Important?
It is shown to be qualitatively related to the asymptomatic infected persons mingling in the society, known as “silent patients.” In the absence of mass testing in most countries, it is critical to prefigure the existence of these silent patients. This monitoring is needed by the governments to implement interventionist measures, as well as by public health officials to estimate their ability to cater to a sudden surge in the number of patients. It also helps in informing the public about the severity of the crisis and the necessity of citizen participation in implementing measures like social distancing and adhering to precautionary measures.
The Perfect Ratio of “1.0” When the ratio A-7 is more than 1.0, then the portion over 1.0 is due to the new cases of infection that have been added since Day-0. If the value of A7=1.0, then the total confirmed cases of infection on Day 7 are equal to that of Day 0. This means that there have been no new infections, and therefore no silent carriers who have transmitted the virus from Day 0 or any day in the week earlier.
Examples | https://towardsdatascience.com/how-the-seventh-day-amplification-factor-can-gauge-the-existence-of-corona-silent-carriers-b9414ef3df62 | ['Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai'] | 2020-04-25 05:05:10.303000+00:00 | ['Covid 19', 'Data Analysis', 'Coronavirus', 'Data Science', 'Data'] |
Quadrant Launches Service Credits, A New Paradigm for Enterprise Blockchain Solutions | Today we are happy to announce the launch of Service Credits on Quadrant. This is a path-breaking initiative that allows customers to purchase QUAD tokens — known as Service Credits — from Quadrant. Although a simple concept, this is a turning point in enterprise adoption of blockchain technology.
Since the creation of blockchain technology, the transformational power of the technology has not been matched by the user experience it offers. This is a simple fact that anyone active in the space is likely to be aware of. Blockchains are powerful, but to use them in a professional setting has not always been easy. The introduction of Service Credits changes this.
What are Service Credits?
The QUAD token is a utility that is required in order to use the Quadrant platform, and will be used as payment for access to services like Data Stamping and Verification. Quadrant’s enterprise customers, though, often have strict security and reporting requirements and policies that make it difficult for them to transact on crypto exchanges, which often lack institutional-grade UX and back-end bookkeeping and invoicing capabilities. So we decided to build a solution ourselves.
With the launch of the Service Credits, customers can now purchase QUAD tokens from Quadrant at the rate of 1 QUAD = 1 USD. This obviates the need for users to obtain QUAD on independent, third-party exchanges.
How it works
The way it works is simple. When a customer makes a purchase request, Quadrant obtains the desired amount of tokens from the market. We then, in turn, remove one eQUAD token from circulation for each QUAD purchased, keeping the total number of circulating tokens unchanged. Within 48 hours the QUAD will appear in the customer’s wallet in the form of a Service Credit. No cryptocurrency is needed — all purchases can be made in fiat currency.
Quadrant is a leading innovator in the data space. In only a year we have built a robust, expanding platform backed by a talented and growing team. As we continue to map the data universe, our data solutions offer unparalleled insight into customer behaviours, particularly in the realm of authenticated location data, that can help our enterprise clients maximise the effectiveness and reach of their products. Our Service Credits enhances these benefits by making the experience of using the Quadrant platform seamless. Enterprises are now able to enjoy the full benefits of our data verification and mapping capabilities — made possible by the power of the blockchain — with the transparency and ease of use they require. And this is just the beginning — as we continue to build new features(data tools and services) for our enterprise clients, our Service Credits will further contribute to their continued adoption of our platform.
You can purchase Service Credits on our website here. As always, we are happy to answer any questions you may have; please reach out to marketing@quadrant.io and we will respond as quickly as we can. Thank you again for your continued support. | https://medium.com/quadrantprotocol/quadrant-launches-service-credits-a-new-paradigm-for-enterprise-blockchain-solutions-a38855a45fda | ['Navas Khan'] | 2019-01-15 12:10:37.232000+00:00 | ['Big Data', 'Blockchain', 'News', 'Product Updates'] |
“Some traumas are like tornados; some are like hurricanes.” | So what does this mean for the experience of trauma and loss?
Tornados are like those sudden difficult events that happen in our lives: the sudden death, the sexual assault, the job loss. We feel as if we did not see it coming. We often feel that we “should” have seen it coming. I say this to say that the sudden event often brings with it a need for explanation, for blame. For many of us, that blame feels as if it fits best with us. We blame ourselves for being “in the wrong place at the wrong time”. Even though we can see that it is truly someone else’s behavior, we still feel this nagging sense that it is our fault.
Hurricanes are more like the long, slow death of a loved one. We have time to prepare, but not fully. Often, but not always, we have people with whom we sit with during the onslaught of the howling wind and rain. With a hurricane, we may ask ourselves, “will this ever end?” There is an exhaustion that can set in with this long, slow event.
So what does this mean for the recovery from this trauma and loss?
Tornados often lead to self-blame. So we need to guard against blaming ourselves for a small error in judgement when it is someone else who harmed us. And even though there is the nagging self-doubt that says, “I should have seen this coming” that is usually a sort of lie we tell ourselves. Everything is always clearer in hindsight, even though it may not have been clear at the time.
Hurricanes, due to their long duration, can lead us to think that “it will always be this way”. That is the thought that we have to guard against. We have a tendency to take a hard situation and make it a rule about our experience in the world, instead of merely an exception. We do not always live under the threat of a hurricane, even though we did at one time.
One of the most positive ways that we can cope …
… with either trauma is to find ways to connect with others. Even if we feel very alone in our trauma (like the particularity of a tornado), it helps to find others who have been through this too. This is why support groups for survivors of sexual assault exist.
Large traumas (like hurricanes) can make this somewhat easier in that you can band together with people who just went through the same thing that you did. Survivors of school shootings or war veterans provide a easy example of this phenomena.
In the end…
… it also matters how you make meaning out of the event. Yes, there are most certainly consequences to trauma. We can limit some of the damage if we spend less time blaming ourselves. We will do better if we work with others who have walked this journey.
And while this tornado/hurricane analogy is not perfect, and whether you have experienced the short, sharp trauma or the long, grueling loss, find others who will walk with you, perhaps a trained therapist or other supportive person/group. It is not all your fault; do not go through this alone. | https://medium.com/whenanxietystrikes/some-traumas-are-like-tornados-some-are-like-hurricanes-e88150318765 | ['Jason B. Hobbs Lcsw'] | 2018-09-14 00:26:13.367000+00:00 | ['Anxiety', 'Mental Health', 'Trauma', 'Hurricane', 'Therapy'] |
O.O.P (Object Oriented Programming) or OOPs !! in Java… | Not the word Ooops!! It’s O.O.P’s (i.e Object Oriented Programming)!!!
HEY ! So in this post I will be highlighting and describing the OOPs concepts in Java and where they get applied in a Java Program.
Before starting with OOPs concepts let us see the 2 programming paradigms namely :
Procedural Oriented (More focus on procedure rather than data.) Object Oriented (More focus on data rather than procedure.)
So Structured / Procedural Programming lacks whenever programs grow larger and complex. So to manage the increasing complexity , that’s when Object-Oriented Programming comes into the scene.
Object Oriented Programming :
Object Oriented Programming is a programming methodology that helps organise complex programs using the concept of Objects that interact with the real world and implementing concepts like Abstraction, Polymorphism, Encapsulation, Inheritance,etc.
OOPs Concepts :
Class Object Abstraction Encapsulation Inheritance Polymorphism
The last 4 (i.e Abstraction, Encapsulation, Inheritance and Polymorphism) are also referred to as the 4 Pillars of Object Oriented Programming or OOPs.
Abstraction ~~~~~~~~~~~ Encapsulation ~~~~~~~~~~~ Inheritance ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Polymorphism
1. Class :
Class is a logical construct which defines the state, behaviour and identity of an object. So basically it is a blueprint which contains elements or data which have certain common traits or nature , i.e , they perform same functions or posses similar features. Speaking in other words, Class can be visualised as a mold which stamps out the object (in the form of structure and behaviour) in its own shape.
Class may consist of :
Class name
Blocks
Variables (also called instance variables)
Methods
Constructors
Interface
2. Object
Object is a physical entity in an object-oriented system, i.e it physically exists !! An object can represent a person, a bank account, a place, a table of data. It may also represent user-defined data types like lists and vectors.
As I mentioned earlier, class is like a mold which stamps out an object, so this stamped out object has the structure and behaviour as designed by the class, hence objects are also known as instances of a class.
Hence object has got 2 characteristics i.e a structure or a state and a behaviour, below is the example for these :
Object: House
State: Address, Color, Area
Behaviour: Open door, close door
So if I had to write a class based on these 2 characteristics of the House, It will be like : State will be considered as instance variables and Behaviours as methods of the class. Below will be the code :
class House {
String address;
String color;
double are;
void openDoor() {
//Write code here
}
void closeDoor() {
//Write code here
}
...
...
}
3. Abstraction
Abstraction is the concept of hiding implementation details from the user. Humans manage complexity through abstraction, for e.g Let’s assume a case of mobile phone. When user buys a phone, he doesn’t see how that phone had developed but sees only the working of phone such as calling, music, videos, etc. while inner implementations of cell phone remains hidden. This is called abstraction.
Abstraction can be achieved through 2 ways :
Abstract class :
Abstract class is used when you currently don’t know the implementation of a class or method, i.e. hidden part that user can’t see. In abstract class, atleast one method must be declared as abstract consisting of several other concrete methods. Through abstract class, we achieve 0 - 100 % abstraction.
abstract class Car
{
Car()
{
System.out.println("Car is built. ");
}
abstract void drive();
void gearChange()
{
System.out.println("Gearchanged!!");
}
}
class Tesla extends Car
{
void drive()
{
System.out.println("Drive Safely");
}
}
class Abstraction
{
public static void main (String args[])
{
Car obj = new Tesla();
obj.drive();
obj. gearChange();
}
}
Interface :
Interface in Java is a blueprint of a class or you can say it is a collection of abstract methods and static constants. In an interface, each method is public and abstract but it does not contain any constructor. Along with abstraction, interface also helps to achieve multiple inheritance in Java. So unlike Abstract class, every method in interface is abstract or is a group of methods with empty bodies. Through in Interface, we achieve 100 % abstraction.
// Interface
interface Animal {
public void animalSound(); // interface method (does not have a body)
public void sleep(); // interface method (does not have a body)
}
// Pig "implements" the Animal interface
class Pig implements Animal {
public void animalSound() {
// The body of animalSound() is provided here
System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");
}
public void sleep() {
// The body of sleep() is provided here
System.out.println("Zzz");
}
}
class MyMainClass {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Pig myPig = new Pig(); // Create a Pig object
myPig.animalSound();
myPig.sleep();
}
}
4. Encapsulation
Encapsulation, as the name suggests is the process of encapsulating or capsulating your code. It is a mechanism where you bind your data and code together into a single unit. Also it means that ensuring that “sensitive” data is hidden from users. WHAT ?? What does this mean? So, lets take an example of medical capsule, in which the medicine powder or the drug is always safe and wrapped up inside the capsule, similiarly, the methods and instance variables are safe inside a class and well hidden due to encapsulation.
Methods and variables safe inside the class capsule
Encapsulation can be achieved by :
Declaring the instance variables as private. Providing getter and setter methods to access and modify the private variables.
public class Person {
private String name; // private = restricted access
// Getter
public String getName() {
return name;
}
// Setter
public void setName(String newName) {
this.name = newName;
}
} public class MyClass {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Person myObj = new Person();
myObj.setName("John"); // Set the value of the name variable to "John"
System.out.println(myObj.getName());
}
}
// Outputs "John"
5. Inheritance
There are times when we require the code from the previous program or class and thus hence in Java, it is possible to inherit the attributes and methods from the previous classes or different classes. Thus doing so will ease the reuse of code i.e improving the re-usability and also reducing the complexity of code to a further extent.
So in Inheritance, the new class adopts or inherits all the properties from the another class. Here, the new class or inheriting class is often referred as “sub-class” or “child class” or “base class” and the original class is often termed as “super-class” or “parent class” or “derived class”.
Example of Inheritance : Parent Class and Child Class
But what if there are 2 or more child or sub classes which are required to inherit from the same parent or super class ?? Is it even possible!!
Also if a child class has got all the properties from parent and also has its own features / properties , but these all properties from the child (i.e parent features and its own features) are further required into a new class where they would be required, so is it even possible?? Will there be a grand-child class !!?
Guys don’t panic !!! , all the above conditions are actually possible and these are divided into different types of Inheritance in Java namely :
Single Inheritance
Multi-Level Inheritance
Hierarchical Inheritance
Hybrid Inheritance
1. Single Inheritance : A single subclass inherits the property of a super class.
Single Inheritance (parent -> child)
public class A{
// statements
}
public class B extends A{
// statements
}
2. Multi-level Inheritance : When a class is derived from a class which is also derived from another class. Yes like the Grand-Child Class !! Exactly Ha Ha !!
Multi-level Inheritance (parent -> child -> grandchild)
public class A{
// statements
}
public class B extends A{
// statements
}
public class C extends B{
//statements
}
3. Hierarchical Inheritance : When there are more than one child class inheriting the same parent class, then it is hierarchical.
Hierarchical Inheritance (same parent -> 2 or more children)
public class A{
// statements
}
public class B extends A{
//statements
}
public class C extends A{
// statements
}
public class D extends A{
// statements
}
Multiple Inheritance : Wait !!! What ??? Where does this come from now ? You would be confused that I mentioned only 4 types and this type is not even mentioned in the above list. Exactly!, it actually doesn’t exist in Java. But it exists in other languages say C / C++. So here I am referring to this type so as to get you guys understand the last type. ~ In multiple inheritance, one direct sub-class inherits two or more than two direct super classes. But in Java, Multiple Inheritance is not allowed as it is possible that 2 or more direct super-classes may have the same methods and variables and hence when child calls the parent class’s method, the JVM will get confused whether which method to call and hence will output an error. But To solve this problem, concept of Interface was introduced. In Java, multiple interface is allowed but multiple inheritance is not allowed.
public class A{
// statements
}
public class B{
// statements
}
public class C extends A, B{
// statements
}
4. Hybrid Inheritance : So Hybrid Inheritance is actually the combination of Multi-level and Multiple Inheritance. But we know that multiple inheritance is not allowed in Java then how come it’s possible to apply for Hybrid inheritance?
The answer is simple, as I mentioned earlier that multiple inheritance is not allowed but I did say that though multiple interface is allowed, so yess!, Hybrid can be achieved through use of interfaces.
public class A{
// statements
}
public class B extends A{
// statements
}
public class C extends A{
// statements
}
public class D extends B, C{
// statements
}
Hybrid Inheritance (parent -> 2 or more children -> new child of all the previous children)
6. Polymorphism
Polymorphism simple means ‘means many forms’ as the word suggests - ‘poly’ meaning “many” and ‘morph’ meaning “form”.
Got Confused ??
Let’s see a real life example : What say Cricket !!
Let’s say there is a Bowler Class and it is a parent which contains a bowlingMethod() and there are different child classes according to types of bowlers in cricket namely - FastPacer, MediumPacer and Spinner and all of them inherit the parent class Bowler Class’s bowlingMethod().
Polymorphism
So in the picture above, all 3 children are inheriting the method but in each and every respective child class, the implementation of the bowlingMethod() will be different as compared to others.
So you see, the method name is same i.e ‘bowlingMethod’ but its implementation is different for every child class, so that’s it we achieved Polymorphism !!
Polymorphism in Java is of 2 types :
Compile Time Polymorphism : Also known as Static polymorphism or early binding, this can be achieved through Method Overloading which is a process which allows a class to have two or more methods with the same name but 1) the arguments or data types passed to these methods are different and / or 2) the numbers of arguments in these methods are different.
class Addition {
Static int add(int a, int b) //return type int and 2 arguments
{
return a+b;
}
static double add( double a, double b) //return type double
{
return a+b;
}
static int add(int a, int b, int c) //return type int but 3 args
{
return a+b+c;
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
System.out.println(Addition.add(11,11));
System.out.println(Addition.add(12.3,12.6));
System.out.println(Addition.add(11,12,13));
}
}
2. Run Time Polymorphism : Also known as Dynamic polymorphism or late binding, this can be achieved through Method Overriding or dynamic dispatch which is a process of implementing parent class methods in child class with same name or signature or simple overriding the parent class method. So in this way a programmer can run a method in different ways by simply invoking object of that respective class (i.e parent class or child class).
public Class BowlerClass{
void bowlingMethod()
{
System.out.println(“ bowler “);
}
public Class FastPacer{
void bowlingMethod()
{
System.out.println(“ fast bowler “);
}
Public static void main(String[] args)
{
FastPacer obj= new FastPacer();
obj.bowlingMethod();
}
}
// So here, we override the parent class(BowlerClass) method with the child class method by simple creating object for child class and calling the method !!
So in this way, we have finally covered all the OOPs concepts which form the core principles or building blocks of Java. So grasping these OOPs concept is the key to understand how Java works!
Finally we have come to an end !! So this was all about OOPs concept in Java. That is it from my end , will meet you guys in my next blog !!
So In this way we covered the OOPs concepts and um... um… um……… Oops! Bye ! | https://suyashthonte0.medium.com/o-o-p-object-oriented-programming-or-oops-in-java-8c43bf927c3c | ['Suyash Thonte'] | 2020-11-09 05:06:34.674000+00:00 | ['Oops Interview Questions', 'Object Oriented', 'Oops Concepts', 'Java Oop', 'Java'] |
Everything You Need To Know About Hoisting in JavaScript | What Is Hoisting?
It's easier to understand what hoisting is with an example. Let's take a look at the code snippet below.
Here you can see that the printVariable function is called before it's defined, and the variable passed into the function is also used before it’s defined. But still, if you run the code, you'll notice that the program doesn't throw any errors. It simply prints undefined in the console. It seems that the program is somehow aware of these elements in the code that are yet to be defined. The magic behind this is hoisting.
Hoisting is achieved by allocating memory locations for the variable declarations, class declarations, and function declarations in your code when compiling. Therefore it feels like these elements are hoisted/lifted to the top of their scope so that the program is aware of them beforehand.
The snippet below shows the sequence in which the elements in the code above would be read by the compiler, resulting in the impression of being hoisted/lifted. It’s important to remember that hoisting is related to how the compiler reads through a program and that it doesn't literally alter the code. | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/everything-you-need-to-know-about-hoisting-in-javascript-2b6808e92eaa | ['Janith Gamage'] | 2020-12-21 15:54:23.439000+00:00 | ['Angular', 'Nodejs', 'JavaScript', 'React', 'React Native'] |
Top 5 Deep Learning and Neural Network courses to learn in 2021 | Top 5 Deep Learning and Neural Network courses to learn in 2021 javinpaul Follow Sep 19 · 9 min read
Deep Learning on Coursera by Andrew Ng
Hello guys, if you want to learn Deep learning and neural networks and looking for the best online course then you have come to the right place. Earlier, I have shared the best data science course, and today, I am going to share the best deep learning online courses from Udemy, and Coursera.
Learning Deep learning in-depth? Sounds recursive? No? It is, indeed. There is no doubt that Machine Learning is a tough subject, and in-depth knowledge, in particular, requires a lot of maths and complex terminology and very tough to master.
If the subject matter is that tough, then how do you learn it better? Well, choose a course that can explain this complex topic in simple words. We are actually blessed that we have many excellent instructors like Andrew Ng, @Jeremey Howard’s, and Kirill Eremenko on Udemy around who are not just the expert of deep learning but also excellent instructors and teachers.
I firmly believe that every programmer should learn about Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence, as these two will drive the world in the coming years. Data Science, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning are essential for understanding and using Artificial intelligence in many ways, and that’s why I am spending a lot of my spare time learning these technologies.
My Machine learning journey started a couple of years ago when I come to cross Andrew Ng’s excellent Machine Learning course on Coursera, It also happened to be Coursera’s first course as Andrew Ng is also one of the founders of Coursera.
More than the course, Andrew inspired me to learn about Machine Learning and Artificial intelligence, and ever since that, whenever I read him like on his Deep Learning course launch on Medium, I always get excited to learn more about this field.
Another story that inspired me a lot was of a Japanese farmer who used Google’s TensorFlow and Machine learning to filter and sort Cucumber on his farm, which apparently only his mother could do because of her years of experience.
Stories are compelling; they not just teach but also, inspire and you find them a lot in these excellent courses, which I am going to share with you about deep learning in-depth.
Btw, if you are new to Machine learning then don’t start with these courses, the best starting point is still Andrew Ng’s original Machine Learning course on Coursera. Only after you take that course, you should check these advanced courses to learn neural networks and deep learning in-depth.
5 Best Courses to Learn Deep Learning and Neural Network for Beginners
Without wasting any more of your time, here is my list of best courses to learn Deep learning in-depth. I have chosen courses that are suitable for both beginners and developers with some experience in the field of Machine learning and Deep Learning.
Even though Maths is an integral part of Deep Learning, I have chosen courses where you don’t need to learn complex Maths concepts, whenever something is required, the instructor explains in simple words.
Believe it or not, Coursera is probably the best place to learn about Machine learning and Deep learning online, and a big reason for that is Andrew Ng, who literally made Machine learning popular among developers.
If you don’t know, he is also one of the founders of Coursera, and his classic Machine learning course offered by Stamford is probably the first online course on Coursera.
Apart from that classic course, Andrew has created a couple of more gems like AI For Everyone, which is again I recommend to every programmer and non-tech guys.
AI is not just for programmers but for everyone, and this is the best course to learn AI for all non-technical people like project managers, business analysts, operations, and event management team.
Coming back to Andrew’s Deep Learning Specialization, which is a collection of five courses focused on neural network and deep learning, as shown below:
1. Neural Networks and Deep Learning
2. Improving Deep Neural Networks: Hyperparameter tuning, Regularization, and Optimization
3. Structuring Machine Learning Projects
4. Convolutional Neural Networks
5. Sequence Models
Andrew follows a bottom-up approach, which means you will start from the smallest component and move towards building the product. In these five courses, you will learn the foundations of Deep Learning, understand how to build neural networks, and learn how to lead successful machine learning projects.
Here is the link to join this course — Deep Learning Specialization
You will also learn about Convolutional networks, RNNs, LSTM, Adam, Dropout, BatchNorm, Xavier/He initialization, and more. You will work on case studies from healthcare, autonomous driving, sign language reading, music generation, and natural language processing.
The course is not just about boring theories; it’s very hands-on and interactive. You will practice ideas in Python and in TensorFlow, which you will learn on the course.
The best part of the course is that you will hear from many top leaders in Deep Learning, who will share with you their personal stories and give you career advice, which is very inspiring and refreshing.
If you are serious about deep learning, I strongly suggest you join this specialization and complete all five courses. It may take between 3 to 5 months, but it’s completely worth your time and more than 500K learners have already benefited from this specialization. | https://medium.com/javarevisited/top-5-advanced-deep-learning-and-neural-network-courses-to-learn-in-2020-a273f5eddca5 | [] | 2020-12-13 13:28:27.970000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Neural Networks', 'Deep Learning'] |
Introducing 3 Small-Big Books You Need to Read the Correct Way | Photo by Author
There’s a genre of books that relates to Holocaust stories. This book is not one of them.
There’s a genre of spiritual books and books related to life’s philosophies. This book is not one of those either.
Rather, this book teaches you to seek value and meaning in the worst situations you face in life. Because it is meaning in living that empowers the human mind to keep going even in life’s toughest situations. This book is about finding that meaning.
Psychologist Viktor E.Frankl was one of the survivors who came out alive out of the Nazi concentration camps in the Spring of 1945 and lived to tell the tale of its horrors. However, his profession granted him a unique perspective on the extremities of life in those situations. He used his insight as well as those of other people around him to decipher and confirm some of the ideas that humans believe helps them live a more purposeful life through the highs and lows of it.
The correct way to read this book
The book is divided into two parts: the first narrates the account inside the concentration camp and the second is a brief introduction on Logotherapy- Frankl’s own school of thought aimed at helping people find meaning in life.
The first part is more of a story. It narrates Frankl’s and his inmates’ thought process in the most extreme situations they face in the camp, such as lack of food, or working in extreme conditions or watching people die. You can sail through this part as you sail through a story. This part also contains some really uplifting one-paragraph recollections and anecdotes you can mark to read when you need motivation in life.
You need to pay attention when Viktor gets freed from the concentration camp. This is when he speaks about man’s search for meaning in his life. And how focusing on something in the future is a powerful anchor that gives him that meaning to survive.
Then, the second part of the book describes logotherapy as a psychological branch, where he describes the nuances of the meaning of human life in various situations.
In essence, the first part conveys through the story what the second part conveys in theory. Both parts are equally enriching but even if you read the first part of the book attentively, you will have derived the intended value from the book.
Also, you might want to note down certain important principles Viktor mentions in the book to refer to later. These are gems and should not be passed without letting it sink in. One of the examples is this quote: | https://medium.com/books-are-our-superpower/introducing-3-small-big-books-you-need-to-read-the-correct-way-447c28bae14e | ['Ruchi Das'] | 2020-12-25 18:56:50.184000+00:00 | ['Ideas', 'Book Recommendations', 'Self Improvement', 'Books', 'Reading'] |
Small files in Hadoop | Problem
Sometimes, somehow you can get into trouble with small files on hdfs. This could be a stream, or little big data(i.e. 100K rows 4MB).
If you plan to work on big data, small files will make your tasks slow. Why will they work slow? Why having small files on hdfs is not making your tasks easier. Here some useful information about these questions;
Problems with small files and HDFS
A small file is one which is significantly smaller than the HDFS block size (default 64MB). If you’re storing small files, then you probably have lots of them (otherwise you wouldn’t turn to Hadoop), and the problem is that HDFS can’t handle lots of files. Every file, directory and block in HDFS is represented as an object in the namenode’s memory, each of which occupies 150 bytes, as a rule of thumb. So 10 million files, each using a block, would use about 3 gigabytes of memory. Scaling up much beyond this level is a problem with current hardware. Certainly a billion files is not feasible. Furthermore, HDFS is not geared up to efficiently accessing small files: it is primarily designed for streaming access of large files. Reading through small files normally causes lots of seeks and lots of hopping from datanode to datanode to retrieve each small file, all of which is an inefficient data access pattern.
Problems with small files and MapReduce
Map tasks usually process a block of input at a time (using the default FileInputFormat ). If the file is very small and there are a lot of them, then each map task processes very little input, and there are a lot more map tasks, each of which imposes extra bookkeeping overhead. Compare a 1GB file broken into 16 64MB blocks, and 10,000 or so 100KB files. The 10,000 files use one map each, and the job time can be tens or hundreds of times slower than the equivalent one with a single input file. There are a couple of features to help alleviate the bookkeeping overhead: task JVM reuse for running multiple map tasks in one JVM, thereby avoiding some JVM startup overhead (see the mapred.job.reuse.jvm.num.tasks property), and MultiFileInputSplit which can run more than one split per map.
Also there is a good explanation in this article
In general Hadoop handles big files very well, but when the files are small, it just passes each small file to a map () function, which is not very efficient because it will create a large number of mappers. For example, the 1,000’s files of size (2 to 3 MB) will need 1,000 mappers which very inefficient. Having too many small files can therefore be problematic in Hadoop. To solve this problem, we should merge many of these small files into one and then process them. And note that Hadoop is mainly designed for batch-processing a large volume of data rather than processing many small files. The main purpose of solving the small files problem is to speed up the execution of a Hadoop program by combining small files into bigger files. Solving the small files problem will shrink the number of map() functions executed and hence will improve the overall performance of a Hadoop job.
You can read about it on internet more and more. Even the environment you setup (i.e spark, storm , hadoop etc) will not work as fast as you thought. Anyhow, those applications made for analyzing your data as fast as possible. You should not upset the producers of those applications like spark, hadoop. | https://medium.com/arabamlabs/small-files-in-hadoop-88708e2f6a46 | [] | 2020-09-13 11:22:41.701000+00:00 | ['Spark', 'Hadoop', 'Big Data', 'Mapreduce'] |
How Should We Respond to Workplace Change? | WORK
How Should We Respond to Workplace Change?
We define ourselves in these moments.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
In the workplace, changes come quickly and suddenly, often with little explanation. That Monday morning meeting is suddenly not so routine and employees peel out into the hallways to shake their heads and complain. This workplace venting, though understandable, is unproductive.
Change is inevitable. We all know this, so why is it so hard for us to see it coming? To accept it when it arrives? To quickly adapt and master it with our skillset and our grit?
In short, because change is not usually our choice. We feel a loss of power. We feel our voices are unheard. But, those that truly master their careers know that this is the time to rise above the petty complaints, re-strategize, and get to work.
Adapting to changes in the workplace
Recently there have been changes at my workplace that are worrisome. I look around the new adjustments with utter confusion, questioning the boardroom discussions that led to these changes and wonder — what on earth were they thinking? This will never work. They are working against everything I am trying to do here. Now what?
I have 2 choices in this situation
Complain, gripe, struggle against the changes like a bug caught in a spider web — and we all know how that turns out for the bug!
Adjust. Adapt. Get busy! There are strategic planning and new goals to set and pursue. Adaptation of daily scheduling and tasks. Personal feelings on the matter set aside, it is time to work within the new structure and find ways to rise up — when others are still spinning in place like those mice in “Who Moved My Cheese.”
Clearly, one of these options sets you apart from the competition (your co-workers or other potential employees that could replace you) and prepares you for greatness.
Rising above the chatter
When changes occur, we are derailed. We had it all planned out, our sticky notes in place, our agenda for the day, then we open the company website and the whole thing looks different. Navigating is now a challenge. Now we don’t like the way things look anymore. Now we wonder how our clients will find us or whether anyone will spend enough time on the site to find us. We shake our heads and groan.
All of this is unfruitful and wastes time that could better be spent working toward our goals and seeking out new paths to success. If you simply must be heard on the matter, take notes on helpful and constructive feedback on the changes should there be a way to anonymously provide feedback.
The more time we spend ranting about it, the less time we have to find those tips and tricks for making this work for us. So, it is different? Figure it out, find the good, and maximize it. Go straight to the clients — we have a brand new look! Here’s what you can expect from me. Empathize and reassure your clients that regardless of what changes occur, they can count on you.
As tempting as it may be, stay out of the circles of complainers that spin in place. Getting caught up in that will only make you dizzy and keep you in an unhealthy headspace. Keep any venting brief and remember that what comes out of your mouth or goes into a heated email cannot be retracted. Get some space and take a walk.
Kelly Cutrone summed it up beautifully in her boldly-worded book, empowering women for unapologetic success in the workplace, “If You Have to Cry Go Outside”:
“We’ve already established that life is going to kick you in your ass sometimes and that there’s no way to avoid that, but if you get up and keep doing what you do, giving your best self each time, you eventually achieve not only success but that great psychic coup of detachment.” — Kelly Cutrone
Sometimes workplace changes make no sense to us
But were we at that decision-making table? Chances are, we were not.
We usually aren’t privy to the data that drove those decisions. We don’t get “behind the scenes” info that would explain it more thoroughly. Speculation can leave you exhausted and frustrated.
Accept that the higher-ups made their decisions for whatever reasons and your position is to impress with your ability to navigate, adapt, and slay. Yes, slay. You’ve been brought to a challenge; now show them what you are really made of.
Change can bring about the opportunity to display new skills
When the path is clear, each step is a confident one.
But, when changes come along and make the path “clear as mud,” it can be more difficult to move forward confidently in the “direction of our dreams” as Thoreau, American naturalist, poet, and essayist would have advised us in such a tumultuous situation. But find our steps, we must do.
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.” ― Henry David Thoreau
It is in this tentative navigation that we have the opportunity to plow a new path and rise to meet the occasion of setting ourselves apart from others with our attitude, our adaptability, and an impressive display of skills they may not have had the chance to see under the “old” way.
Workplace changes challenge your sense of control
Psychologist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross created a model called the Kübler-Ross Change Curve™, a model that is widely used in business applications, defines our response to change much like the stages of grief. The Change Curve defines phases we go through when faced with major changes in our lives:
Shock
Denial
Frustration
Experiment
Decision
Integration
The trick is to learn to spend as little time as possible in the early stages of response so that you can move on quickly, seek workable solutions, and apply them. When changes occur that are out of your hands, it can challenge your sense of control and stability, which affects some people more than others depending on personality traits, past experiences, mental health, and emotional maturity.
I think back to a time early in my career when I was working my first “real job” fresh out of college. I was older, in my thirties, but every prior job I’d had was in a very different industry and now I had the dress pants, the desk, and the nice office window overlooking the front parking lot of our office building. I felt I’d finally landed that job that would take me places.
But I was a mess. I thought I knew how to get my job done and do it well, and I did to some degree, but what I didn’t know at the time is that my overly emotional reaction to anything outside of my control marked me as unpredictable and perhaps unprofessional. I took everything too personally. I expected too much too soon. And I should have learned more from the more seasoned employees around me.
That 3 1/2 year gig ended one day with me being escorted to my car with all my “personal effects” and my plant in a cardboard box and told to leave the property. In my effort to do such a “great job” I had driven myself into a place of workplace stress that made my work more difficult to do — I made a critical error on some paperwork and was fired. In short, I let my job stress affect my mental health entirely too much by taking everything too personal. It wasn’t about me. A company was making decisions and I was there to do a job. That simple. (Now, I know better.)
When changes press your mental health and feelings of security, it can cause a backlash response that is counterproductive. If you can learn to identify these self-preservation responses and address them as such, you can keep your work presence professional and your responses respectable, progressive, and productive.
Finding the ‘sweet spot’ for adaptation
Your personal purpose, goals, and workplace objectives may not always align with what you see going on around you at your place of work. This does not mean you cannot continue to pursue your own objectives while making adjustments that suit the needs of your employer.
The trick, and one that successful people employ, is to find where these two (often conflicting) paradigms meet and insert yourself there. Find the commonalities and maximize those in your daily tasks.
Workplace changes and redirections do not have to derail you from your own personal career path. If you find this happening so often that you are unable to adapt, perhaps it is time to reconsider your employment with this particular company. Like a failing marriage on the grounds of “irreconcilable differences,” it is sometimes necessary to part ways. Try to make this decision with a clear head and with your emotions set aside.
Positivity isn’t just a slogan word; it’s a roadmap to success
If you make it a habit to find the positive in every situation, you can plow ahead with determination. You’ll be able to shake off those complaints, steer clear of the whiners and “Negative Nancy” individuals, and reassess your daily tasks, adhere to new rules and adjustments, and do it with grace.
Grace under pressure is a very desirable trait for any employee and of successful people.
Consider this quote from Entrepreneur.com in an article entitled “The Most Successful People Learn How to Focus on the Positive”:
Cognitive convergence can be powerfully positive. Firestarters are able to make associations between similar situations and use lessons learned from one sphere of their lives to inform actions and thoughts in seemingly unrelated situations. They look for patterns of success, and then they pounce on situations that have proven to be generators of that success. Then they replicate that success. — Kathy Palokoff, Paul Eder and Raoul Davis, Authors of “Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life”
Author’s note: More on Cognitive convergence theory here.
Make adaptation your superpower
If you do not recalculate or change your methods of operation, then you align yourself with those who stumble, fall behind, and become their own worst enemy. Show yourself how adaptable you can be by moving toward the positive and finding your new space in a growing and changing workplace environment.
One celebrity face we all know and love that has made a career out of adaptability and making opportunities out of challenge is Leonardo DeCaprio, raised in humble means by a single mom, a German immigrant. His career began early but got off to a rocky start as he was kicked off the set of Romper Room at the age of 5 for being too rambunctious. His break came with What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, a brave and unconventional role that clearly demonstrated his acting abilities. Other roles such as the iconic “Jack” in the 1997 blockbuster hit the Titanic were to follow.
What stands out about DeCaprio is his ability to adapt to a variety of roles and in addition create a world-renowned charity organization in a controversial and politically hot topic of climate change. His Leonardo DeCaprio Foundation travels the globe in various activism efforts to make a difference for our planet. While many celebrities struggle to balance their personal objectives with garnering more acting roles, DeCaprio continues to secure daring roles such as in Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013. DeCaprio demonstrates an ability to mold himself into a variety of roles yet master his own personal agendas when he is off the set. Adaptability is certainly a superpower for the accomplished actor.
Those that do this well will find a greater workplace satisfaction, set themselves apart, and define their own successes.
In summation
Get a clear understanding of the changes and expectations of you.
Apply them objectively — the outcome to be observed by upper management who may or may not change things all over again.
Move forward with grace, positivity, and confidence.
How we respond to the changes around us are defining moments; opportunities to show our adaptability. These are moments that stretch us, teach us, and help us to grow both individually and in the workplace. We, as capable and inspired individuals, can set the example for others that challenges all to rise up and meet their best selves. What will you choose to do today? | https://medium.com/the-partnered-pen/how-should-we-respond-to-workplace-change-98ccdc3e5232 | ['Christina M. Ward'] | 2020-10-30 00:29:54.090000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Work', 'Advice', 'Productivity', 'Success'] |
Do Not Try to Read 52 Books Next Year | I’ve given up trying to cram as much information in.
Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash
It’s that time of year for lists. Dammit. Here we go.
Spotify already started with a list of the songs I consumed during this year of terror and lockdown. Pretty soon, there will be lists of what people did to keep themselves sane in 2020, which hobbies they picked up, the most popular side-hustles, the TikTok challenges that captivated the internet.
And there will be lists of books. By Bill Gates or Barack Obama. Oprah, for sure. Then everyone else will chime in with the 52 books they managed to get through this year, the literary equivalent of a pissing contest. We’ll hear about the best business books, the best reads for spirituality, for making sense of the world, the political books, the must-reads by superstar authors. We’ll be reminded how great a feat it is to read so many and so varied a collection of books. It’s what well-informed, thought leaders do.
Don’t take the above as a criticism, although there is a twinge of anxiety. I love reading. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’ve spent my life lost in the pages of books. I derive so much joy, so much insight, so much self-awareness and perspective from reading and doing so regularly.
I’m also a slow reader. Sometimes I find that I’ve re-read a sentence 4 times and I still don’t get it. So, I take my time because I want to understand, I want to relish in the ideas and have them resonate. I find myself welling up over a passage that hits me like a ton of bricks, forcing me to scramble for a highlighter pen or Post-It note so I can re-live its brilliance at some point in the future.
The idea of getting through many books over the course of a year is something I’ve struggled with. Are there tons of books I want to read? Absolutely. My home is littered with books I’ve bought or borrowed that I, at one point or another, was dying to read. My husband has now persuaded me to put them in various places where they’re not in plain view and driving him crazy. But because I’m a slow reader, I rarely get to them right after I’ve acquired them. It can take months, years even, before I crack open the front cover.
There’s something about racing through book after book that feels like I’m short-circuiting that important process, that experience of letting their lessons wash over me and alter my thinking.
So, I feel this slight sense of failure that I’m not able to whizz through a book a week. Partially because I know there’s so much for me to learn, but also because it feels like EVERYONE else is doing it. I mean, I know that’s not true, but you get what I’m saying, right? It seems like a perfectly admirable quest to fill your mind with the knowledge, experiences and insight of the many hundreds of thousands of authors (if not millions) who’ve produced books since book-binding began. So, why can’t I do it? What’s wrong with me?
But here’s the thing. I’m re-reading a book now, a book that I really loved the first time around. It’s called Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, and I don’t remember how it landed in my hands, but somehow it did. She was a featured speaker at work (one of the perks of working for a global bank is that they sometimes bring in really cool people to speak to us) a few years ago, and I was captivated by her presentation. Anyway, I read her book and highlighted those sentences and passages that made me well up, or hold my breath, or recognise myself. Then I put the book away for a few years.
Now that I’m going through it again, I wonder why I highlighted some of those areas. It makes me think about the version of me that was so moved by her words, that I decided to highlight them. What were the challenges I faced, the worries I had at the time? What was I hoping to learn or who was I striving to become? And then there are other passages that resonate so strongly the second time around, I get that satisfying feeling all over again.
Photo by jose aljovin on Unsplash
This is why I love re-reading books that impact me. The reality is that I’m changing with every passing day. My desires, my hopes, my fears, my joys, my intentions, my perspectives….constantly changing. Revisiting a book that I enjoyed is like reacquainting myself with an earlier version of me, giving me a glimpse into who I was at a previous time.
However, the biggest revelation for me is that I learn something new. Every. Single. Time. Of course I read this passage before, but somehow it didn’t have the same relevance to me then, as it does now.
Can you relate? For example, have you ever enjoyed a movie so much, you find that you re-watch it again and again? And each time you watch it, you discover something new in the dialogue, the music, the facial expressions of the performers, the plot or the storyline? This is exactly what happens to me when I re-read a book. It feels like I unlock a new level of understanding, a new hidden message that didn’t previously occur to me.
The other thing that happens is that it occurs to me how much I can do with the lessons in just one book. Like many people, I can become a junkie for a certain kind of book. Years ago, ‘self help’ books and their authors had developed something of a negative connotation. They were seen as pseudo-scientists or dubious gurus, somewhat annoying and self-righteous. I don’t know what really changed (probably Oprah’s Book Club and her pivot to a more spiritual platform), but the industry exploded and the public’s appetite for what has now been relabelled “self-development”, “personal improvement”, “mindfulness” or “spirituality” content, has grown with it.
I love these books. I can remember the literal shift in my life and my thinking when I finished Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth”, Robert Kiyosake’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” or Rhonda Byrne’s “The Secret” (I’ll forgive you for rolling your eyes). For whatever the flaws of the authors, or criticisms that can be made of their writings, these books were awakenings for me. And since my shift in reading about 15 years ago, I’ve read many, many more from the now, well-known rock stars of this literary field.
However, I’ve noticed a trend in myself. Let me know if you can relate to this. I read something that absolutely lights me up like a Christmas tree, I feel like I’m on fire, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
Then I want more of that feeling (and invariably the author will have made recommendations of their favourite books on the topic). And like some addict, I fill my Amazon wishlist with books that I want to consume and start my buying-binge. They start arriving and I marvel at the cover, feeling goosebumps as I read the summary on the back and revel in the knowledge that this book, THIS VERY BOOK, will change my life.
Maybe I read it. Or maybe it sits on my bedside table until I give up the lie that I’m going to make time for this book, among all the other stuff I have going on. But let’s say I do read it and do mental cartwheels at how good it is. Will I actually take any action? Will I put the recommendations in place? Or will I go in search of the next and the next and the next hit of book-endorphins?
See, here’s the thing. I’m all for reading as much as possible. Reading has changed my life, no doubt about it. But I need time to digest and reflect on what I’ve read. Sometimes (depending on the subject matter) I’ll need to take specific actions. Other times, I’ll need to sit with the ideas, the experiences of the author and have them reverberate through me. I’m convinced that this process helps me grow and expand as a person, refining the way I approach my self-care, my relationships, my work and the topics that matter to me the most. So, there’s something about racing through book after book that feels like I’m short-circuiting that important process, that experience of letting their lessons wash over me and alter my thinking.
Or maybe I’m just a slow reader.
Don’t get me wrong, if reading loads of books really quickly is your thing and you get optimal value out of doing so, then more power to you. I wish I had the superpower of speed reading. But I know full well that for me, the real superpower is absorbing and being altered by what I’ve read. Maybe that happens anyway and reading more and more just increases that phenomenon in an unconscious way. However, I want to savour the richness of a good book, not feeling overly compelled to pack in more knowledge, more words, even before I’ve had the opportunity to wrestle with what’s right in front of me.
Having said that, read any good books lately? | https://medium.com/curious/do-not-try-to-read-52-books-next-year-91334b9b496 | ['Kayus Fernander'] | 2020-12-23 23:12:58.965000+00:00 | ['Books', 'Personal Development', 'Reading', 'Life', 'Lessons'] |
American Politics Got You Down? Reading History Can Help. | Reason #3 of “12 Reasons CAMELOT’S END makes a great Christmas gift”
It is both unfashionable and difficult to look backwards. Progress move forwards, into the future.
And there is little time in 2019 to catch one’s breath. The never-ending story (argument), always available on cable TV and Twitter and Facebook, is bewitching and addicting.
There are some who have chosen to look away. It may be that most people have done this.
Hopefully they are reading history, and then applying that perspective to our modern times.
“The story and the study of the past, both recent and distant, will not reveal the future,” wrote Barbara Tuchman in her essay “The Historian’s Opportunity.”
But, she added, it “flashes beacon lights along the way.”
And, she said, history “is a useful nostrum against despair.”
History won’t save us. But it can help us.
We already know that reading places our mind in what Nick Carr called a “contemplative” mode, which repairs the damage done by the stress of the digital age, allows us to consider our lives and the world around us from a place of wisdom, and enables us to become more fully human.
Reading history is like hiking up to a mountain top with a majestic view of the countryside. We can see the big picture.
But that metaphor doesn’t fully describe the ways in which history helps us see the present more clearly. We see what has happened before: the sequences of events. This led to that and that led to this. We understand better why things are the way they are.
And we see that others have faced challenging times, and often the way forward for them was just as uncertain and scary as it sometimes is for us.
One of the things I realized while working on CAMELOT’S END is this: the way we elect presidents in America is pretty new.
I worked on the book during the 2016 presidential campaign. I was watching a Republican Party that did not want to have Donald Trump as its nominee, but unable to stop him.
If you don’t believe that the GOP didn’t want Trump, consider these four facts. First, nearly two third of the Republican primary voters cast their ballots for someone other than Trump. He got only a third of the vote in the primary. Second, very few Republican leaders at any level — federal, state or local — wanted him. Third, when Republicans arrived in Cleveland for their convention, only 900 of 2472 delegates — 35 percent — were estimated by Trump’s own campaign to be loyal to him. And fourth, in the fall election only about a third of Trump’s support came from voters who said they were excited about voting for him. The rest said they were either voting against Clinton or that he was the lesser of two evils.
I’ve written extensively elsewhere about how a person such as Trump was able to capture the Republican nomination, and how the primary process — not the general election process — is where reformers should be looking.
What I want to point out here is that it was my study of history that changed my perspective on our current way of doing things. It wasn’t until I dug into the history of the nominating process that I realized, ‘Oh, it hasn’t always been this way.’ In fact, it changed just before I was born in 1977.
It used to be that parties took more control of their nomination process. They are private associations. They are not the government. They don’t have to be democratic, and in fact their job description requires a mixture of democratic forms and less democratic forms if they are to fulfill their task in a competent way.
It was through studying history that I came to understand: one of the main jobs of a political party is to run a primary process that produces a competent, responsible and qualified candidate for president who can stand before all the voters of the United States for election in a national election.
History hasn’t given me or anyone else a secret key to unlocking how we should reform our system now. The light it sheds are more like the flashing beacon lights that Tuchman described. But it has helped me and others to ask questions we weren’t before. That’s a first step.
You can buy CAMELOT’S END here. | https://medium.com/camelots-end/american-politics-got-you-down-reading-history-can-help-c1a9b0a45ea9 | ['Jon Ward'] | 2019-12-14 21:05:18.621000+00:00 | ['Christmas Gifts', 'Books', 'Politics', 'History', '2016 Election'] |
Why Do You Read? | Why Do You Read?
Plus: 10 of my favorite Medium writers right now
Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash
It would be a lie to say I read for a living, but it’s fair to say I make a living because I love to read and am good at it.
Why do you read? When you ask people this, a lot of them say they read to consume information or to escape. No offense to me, but this blog post will likely contain very little information! And surely no escape, unless you are procrastinating. But it contains thought and opinion, and you may get a sense of how sentences form in my head because I write how I think, and you’ll learn who I’m reading lately, and why.
I think we read to connect with ideas and people. I have an always-growing list of people who I will read no matter what. I’ll read their tweets, their replies to other people’s tweets, their deep captions on IG, their blogs, their longform, their newsletters, their books, their texts, if I am lucky enough to call them a friend. Some of these writers I love for their voice, others for the way they think, for their spare (or weird!) use of language, for their ideas, or how they change my mind. And they all connect.
So I’m going to salute them here. Here are 10 writers I read for different reasons. Feel free to share your own list. (If you do, please tag me so I see your post — it’s an occupational requirement for me to fall in love with new writers on an ongoing basis 🤗.)
So that’s my list for now. Who’s on yours? | https://siobhan.medium.com/why-do-you-read-9f0e2a88383c | ["Siobhan O'Connor"] | 2020-11-12 01:20:39.899000+00:00 | ['Writing', 'Reading', 'Blogging'] |
Truth in Memory | Truth in Memory
A Short Story
Photo by Mick De Paola on Unsplash
C. opened the back door, the noise seemingly unnatural. Few miseries are as intense as that disordered and ignored room. Like a no man’s land. On a broken chair was sitting a man, gazing at the mirror door. His dirty, nerdy appearance didn’t terrify her. He didn’t frown either, seems like he’s waiting for her.
Why you came here? I have exchanged everything valuable in that place with the black horizon. You are not welcomed here, get out!
I value your respect for me, and I’m really sorry for you, she said in a calm way. Your true intentions were always revealed with extravagant rudeness and dishonesty.
I’ve exchanged the piano with a silver toaster. You’ve never heard music, now I’ll take the piano, so that you have an ample space where you cannot starve for entertainment.
Joanna Vang 2020 | https://medium.com/the-bazaar-of-the-bizarre/truth-in-memory-83f83524b195 | ['Joanna Vang'] | 2020-11-19 06:11:23.940000+00:00 | ['Musings', 'Writing', 'Dishonesty', 'Short Story', 'Consequences'] |
Working With Python Environments, Anaconda Package Manager and IDEs | With packages being the core of everyday projects, it is important to bear in mind that not all python versions support every package. Additionally, transitioning from python 2 to 3 might be difficult due to dependencies. Matters could worsen if you have both versions installed in your root directory. This is where environments come in. By assigning projects to separate environments, which each have their own python version, you solve this issue entirely. This is important for an up and coming data scientist or anyone else that might be using python for their day to day work. We all want to avoid something like this:
In this blog I will go over how to use anaconda package manager to assign projects to separate environments and install packages within them.
Things to keep in mind
Do not use sudo to install random python packages Do not install any/all python packages you need to root Rule of thumb : use a different environment for every python project you work on.
Setup:
Download Anaconda Package Manager Download and install an IDE of your choice (I recommend PyCharm and will use it through out this guide)
Step 1: Create a new enviroment and link it to your project
There are 2 ways of doing this
1.Create a new Anaconda Environment using Terminal then use that environment when setting up a new project in PyCharm
To create a new environment from terminal use the following command:
conda create --name nameofyourEnvironment
Or to create a new enviroment with specific python version use
conda create -n nameofyourEnviroment python=3.6
More ways of creating environments can be found here.
Once the environment has been created, you can open up the IDE of your choice and select the environment you just created.
For PyCharm this can be done by selecting File >> New Project. In the new project window click the Existing Interpreter radio button (1) and then select browse (2)(see annotated image below).
In the python interpreter window select Conda Environment then on the dropdown on the right choose the python environment you just created and then click ok (see image below).
2. Create an environment from the IDE when you create a new python project
PyCharm allows you to create an Anaconda Environment when creating a new project
To do this click on create a new project and then on the new project screen click the new environment using: radio button (1) and select conda from the dropdown (2) (see annotated image below).
It is worth noting that for the environment path (in this case: /anaconda3/envs/mediumenvblog) the last part is the name of the environment. This will be used later to install packages to the project enviroment.
Step 2: Linking a new/existing enviroment to an existing project
Go to preferences or settings for your choice of IDE and locate the Project Interpreter section and then click Add a new iterpreter or anything similar. For PyCharm you can do this by going to Preferences and then clicking on Project: <current project name>(1) and then Project Interpreter (2). Then click the settings button next to the Project Interpreter dropdown and click add (3) (see annotated image below).
On the add python window you can either create a new anaconda environment or use an existing one in a similar fashion to Step 1.
Step 3: Installing packages to specific anaconda enviroments
For this step we will assume that the package we want to install is pandas and the enviroment we want to use is mediumblogenv.
To do this, we first navigate to the anaconda website here. Then in the search bar type in the package you want to install and click search.
You will be recieve a few results based on your search. Select and click on the result you want. I will be using the first option conda-forge / pandas.
Then just copy the corresponding conda code. In this case it is: conda install -c conda-forge pandas
Now open terminal and type in the following:
source activate theEnviromentYouWantToUse
you will know you are in the environment you want to use if the environment name appears at the front like this:
Once in the environment, you can install any package you want and see it along with its dependencies in your Project Interpreter section.
Here is a before and after screenshot of installing pandas on the mediumblogenv | https://medium.com/datareply/working-with-python-environments-anaconda-package-manager-and-ides-663e771b6ed8 | ['Darshan Patel'] | 2018-05-02 12:34:25.687000+00:00 | ['Python Packages', 'Python', 'Pycharm', 'Package Management', 'Anaconda'] |
Using Kubernetes Deployments to deliver SmartOS iPXE Infrastructure | A couple of times before, I wrote about my various approaches to using iPXE to boot SmartOS:
I recently elected to move this (rather small) part of my operation to Kubernetes for a couple of reasons, but mostly because I wanted a fast way to refresh the served version of SmartOS archive, and I wanted it to be quickly reproducible, something my previous approach to using configuration management for this task that became sort of arduous to keep up with:
Since my approach basically comes down to 2 components, an Nginx frontend, and a backend manager for pulling down and mounting the platform archive to somewhere nginx can reach it relative to the iPXE script, Kubernetes offered a pretty straightforward way to do this.
I only needed to create a base Docker image that would contain my iPXE script, and an informational webpage:
dhcp
set base-url
kernel ${base-url}/smartos/smartos/platform/i86pc/kernel/amd64/unix -B smartos=true,console=ttyb,ttyb-mode="115200,8,n,1,-"
module ${base-url}/smartos/smartos/platform/i86pc/amd64/boot_archive type=rootfs name=ramdisk
boot #!ipxedhcpset base-url http://sdc-ipxe.east.gourmet.yoga kernel ${base-url}/smartos/smartos/platform/i86pc/kernel/amd64/unix -B smartos=true,console=ttyb,ttyb-mode="115200,8,n,1,-"module ${base-url}/smartos/smartos/platform/i86pc/amd64/boot_archive type=rootfs name=ramdiskboot
and the Dockerfile to build this image:
FROM nginx COPY index.html /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html
COPY smartos.ipxe /usr/share/nginx/html/smartos.ipxe
Build and push it to the registry.
The tricky part, and where Kubernetes could be the most help, would be where I pull down the archive, place it on a volume, and then mount it to my above Nginx container. I did this by having an InitContainer pull the archive and decompress it to a volume (I used a hostPath, but since this is not data I wish to persist between schedulings, an emptyDir would suffice as well):
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: ipxe-deployment
labels:
app: ipxe
spec:
replicas: 2
selector:
matchLabels:
app: ipxe
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: ipxe
spec:
containers:
...
initContainers:
- name: config-data
image: ubuntu:xenial
command: ["/bin/sh","-c"]
args: ["apt update; apt install -y wget tar; wget https://us-east.manta.joyent.com/Joyent_Dev/public/SmartOS/platform-latest.tgz; tar xvf platform-latest.tgz -C /data; mkdir /data/smartos; mv /data/platform* /data/smartos/platform"]
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /data
name: ipxe-data
volumes:
- name: ipxe-data
hostPath:
path: /mnt/kube-data/ipxe/
type: DirectoryOrCreate
imagePullSecrets:
- name: regcred apiVersion: apps/v1kind: Deploymentmetadata:name: ipxe-deploymentlabels:app: ipxespec:replicas: 2selector:matchLabels:app: ipxetemplate:metadata:labels:app: ipxespec:containers:initContainers:- name: config-dataimage: ubuntu:xenialvolumeMounts:- mountPath: /dataname: ipxe-datavolumes:- name: ipxe-datahostPath:path: /mnt/kube-data/ipxe/type: DirectoryOrCreateimagePullSecrets:- name: regcred
The above has, before my Nginx container is deployed, declared that an InitContainer will run first to extract the archive to the volume, and once that has completed, will proceed to create the Nginx container:
spec:
containers:
- name: ipxe
image: coolregistryusa.biz/jmarhee/smartos-ipxe:latest
imagePullPolicy: Always
ports:
- containerPort: 80
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /usr/share/nginx/html/smartos
name: ipxe-data
So, once the InitContainer completes, the archive volume will be mounted to /usr/share/nginx/html/smartos which is where the ipxe script expects the path to the kernel to be.
The last piece is the Kubernetes Service to expose this to the network, so, if you use a provider like Packet (see the above linked pieces for consuming this endpoint) to boot using Custom iPXE, you can boot from this endpoint:
---
kind: Service
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
name: ipxe-service
spec:
selector:
app: ipxe
ports:
- protocol: TCP
port: 8085
targetPort: 80
type: LoadBalancer
Further Reading | https://jmarhee.medium.com/using-kubernetes-to-provide-ipxe-infrastructure-for-up-to-date-smartos-platform-897bf4f2cb4 | ['Joseph D. Marhee'] | 2019-03-01 15:27:00.501000+00:00 | ['System Administration', 'Docker', 'Kubernetes', 'DevOps', 'Smartos'] |
Why Machine Learning Practitioners Should Watch The Movie “Her” | Photo by Alex Litvin on Unsplash
Opinion
Why Machine Learning Practitioners Should Watch The Movie “Her”
Meet the Virtual assistant of the future
Introduction
Major bugs fixed, production application looks good, and I just pushed my last commit of 2020, the holiday season is in full effect. So, I prepare to unplug, briefly, from the ever-moving world of AI.
How do I unplug and let my brain recharge?
Like any passionate machine learning practitioner, I watch TV shows and movies with AI aspects within them.
You guessed it; I’m not unplugging, not fully anyway.
So I’m not giving my brain a break from AI, but in this article, I want to point out (and make excuses for not unplugging) how relevant some films with AI features are beneficial for ML practitioners.
Through reading this article you’ll gain the mindset required to derive inspiration from Sci-fi movies. More specifically, I’m going bring to your attention the impending convergence of AI content conveyed within movies and the trajectory of current AI developments.
Happy Reading. | https://towardsdatascience.com/why-machine-learning-practitioners-should-watch-the-movie-her-7c09db07b479 | ['Richmond Alake'] | 2020-12-29 23:02:41.736000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Entertainment', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Movies'] |
The Optimal Arousal of Bennie and Yvette, a Love Story | The Optimal Arousal of Bennie and Yvette, a Love Story
‘The middle ground is where life and love dance, where the music is played.’
Photo by Christiana Rivers on Unsplash
“But I LOVE Groynehilda!” Bennie shouted.
How he despaired. Would he ever recover from his bad case of RRE? It would kill his latest relationship, as it had all the others. Few things startled Dr. Ocaramia, but she jumped perceptibly off her mat. It wasn’t due so much to Bennie’s sudden outburst as to the tiny seed-germination of an idea his LOVE shout sparked, how to help this man.
“Love is the answer,” Dr. O said obliquely.
“Oh, I know, I know, Dr. O.”
The vowel repetition momentarily distracted her. How often had she thought that Tango, the thing that she and Bennie and all her clients shared, was a language of soft alphabet sounds, like sand in a breeze or water over pebbles. Tango had no hard boundaries like consonants in English, or other dances.
Before her sat a man of such balanced hard and soft symmetry. It was almost criminal the fabulous looks Bennie possessed. But he suffered, oh, oh, oh how he suffered. Benedict Lucky suffered severely from Don Juan syndrome. He was a lady killer through no fault of his own. There are those who would blame his mother. Then, thought Dr. O, they had best just blame the Great Mother. Dr. O knew that all of us have the DJ gene, located beside the first chakra, but for most of us, it remains dormant. It flared up into an extreme stubborn case for Bennie, partly triggered by his good looks.
“I believe you do . . . LOVE Groynhilde,” Dr. O said, shouting so Bennie knew she had heard him. She was a good listener, a skill that had served her well as a dancer and as a Tango dancer therapist.
Dr. Ocaramia specialized in treating Tango dancers because she had a deep and penetrating understanding of their peculiar disorders and problems. Every single one had a form of TAD, Tango Anxiety Disorder. The dance was a catalyst, like anything that you are passionate about and define your life through. The intensity of intimacy with others was wonderful and devastating at some point in each Tango dancer’s career. But Dr. O knew TAD had to do with what we bring to the partnership. No one can make us suffer but us. Tango, for her clientele, was the ultimate sifter of truth from fiction.
Dr. Ocaramia’s diagnoses for her special clients ran the gamut of the issues of the population at large, all of them rooted and nourished by one cause, Fear. Dr. O was’nt a trained therapist but had fallen into the practice because of a vow she took years before, to save all beings. “Saving one, you save millions,” she could often be heard muttering in her rare idle moments.
There had been an explosion of disorders, at least in her city as the Tango community matured and become more complex. Everything from OCD to PTSD to PMS manifest differently in Tango dancers. Dr. Ocaramia could help them all: The woman who had to sleep with her shoes on required only a feng shui correction in her closet. There was the man whose compulsion led him to build a hidden high-heeled shoe cubby in his closet for one-hundred pairs of vintage and recently used women’s Tango shoes.
“What’s wrong with that,” she asked?
She tried to send him away. But he needed six months of talking, researching the history of footwear, penetrating every belief on glamour before he was ready to leave happy the way he was. He generously gave her his favorite pair, 10-cenimeter stilettos in black suede with skimpy sandal foot and thin criss-cross ankle straps.
One woman came with a morbid fear of entering the dance hall and finding someone wearing the same dress. “So bring a change of clothing,” advised Dr. O and sent her away. Another woman had a recurring nightmare of entering the milonga stark naked. Same remedy: “Bring a change of clothing.” She had watched many leave her office-cum-dance-floor freed of their burden. She helped them by using a simple formula: show up, remain present, accept what they offered, and be kind, for the most part.
Bennie fidgeted in his chair. “I’ve been this way forever. I’m always looking at that next woman on the horizon. Always,” Bennie whined. Dr. O noticed that even with his most vulnerable display, he was a knockout. Dr. O relished not being KO’d by him. She had become immune since having Tango satori.
“Have you ever sailed?” she asked.
“Yes, don’t care for it, my idea of nothing to do.”
Dr. O thought of how people prone to seasickness are advised to stare at the horizon. But no, that was a silly thought. She was just gathering wool, remaining present, as Bennie wallowed in his own pain.
“Dr. O, please help me; tell me how to stop . . . to control my RRRE.”
“RRE,” she corrected.
“RRE . . rrrrrr,” he growled and she could see how badly it hurt. “Maybe . . . do you think? . . . I should stop Tango? I’m so tired of being the Casanova.” He raised his big blue eyes with such pleading, she saw instantly how their aqueous sheen could kill a woman. A wavy lock of his sandy hair fell forward temptingly. A jolt of electricity ran through her most tender meridians. She kept a calm façade.
Bennie, don’t worry, you will be saved. In her mind, she clicked on “Save as” in the pull-down menu. He could only be saved as himself. Therein lay the rub.
“Okay, Bennie. Just this once I’ll give you advice. Don’t stop Tango. It’s your poison, but also your medicine. Only you can figure out which to apply. It’s your life or no-life riddle, your koan, which if answered correctly leads to what you want above all else. Answer as you normally do, you get the normal result, pain. Your coming here to talk will clarify all.” Dr. O knew that words were superfluous. Everything we call reality is a form of placebo.
“Tell me again, how many women at last night’s milonga did you fantasize taking them to bed?” Not that the number mattered. It was part of the therapeutic process. In fact, numbers had a markedly adverse effect on Dr. O., removing her from her beloved connection to the faint path leading her client ineluctably from placebo-reality to the illusive moment of truth, the fear-killer that they both hunted.
“Only five,” Bennie answered weakly. He didn’t notice when Dr. O passed out for a nanosecond, her auto-protective device that clicks-in when disconnection occurs caused by the client’s stating, not truth, but numerical values. As she came to, he held up his left hand with his fingers spread in the air. “Zelda, Jillene, Arrabel, Fredericka, and Linguine.”
“Linguine?”
“That’s my name for her. She was thin, lanky, and I could coil her body around me like a giant snake of constrictor-pasta. Oh, man, we did a lot of leg wraps, left, right, and center. Ohhhhh . . . ,” he smiled lewd-a-sciviously. “I don’t recall her real name, but I was hungry at the time.”
“Uh-hummm, I see,” said Dr. O. “And, Groynehilda?”
“She was there. She understands, it’s just a dance, a three-minute love affair with a follower who is a stranger. What makes it so painful is that she trusts me to the core.”
“I see. Groynehilda is an enlightened woman, Mr. Lucky.” She made some mental notes. As she did, Bennie went off talking about his problem. How, after five marriages (Dr. O passed out) he was sure Groynehilda was it. He had met her family and assured her he wanted to marry forever this time, have children. But he had the most stubborn case of Rapidly Roving Eye.
Why was it that the most conventionally beautiful people suffered the most? Dr. O had yet to work that one out. Those with receding chins, small eyes, big noses, bowed legs, acne scars, balding, squat builds, funny butts, or just ordinary features seemed to be somehow vaccinated by their very imperfections against such anguish. But these beauties were fairytales in reverse. They started life with everything and then became miserable. They were the Walking Wounded.
The Walking Healed seemed to always be the protagonist with perceived defects. All it seemed to take for them to radiate that coveted divine beauty that transforms ugly ducklings into swans was the simple love of another. Or even that gourmet version, Self Love. But the beautiful people were led, or misled, to expect too much of themselves.
“Perhaps I need some sort of aversion therapy?” Bennie interrupted her silent speculation.
His desperation was over the top. “I was thinking exactly the opposite,” Dr. O said. She knew how badly he wanted to settle down with Groynehilda. It was hard to find a woman willing to make a commitment these days. “Bennie, when you go home today, indulge yourself. Sit in a quiet place and let thoughts of other women come up. But that’s all. Don’t stop them. Don’t hold on to them. Let them rip.”
“Well . . . if you say so . . .” Bennie looked slightly dubious.
“Oh, and this may sound contradictory, but don’t think too much and don’t, and I mean DO NOT touch yourself during the fantasy.”
“Huh?”
Dr. O was not thinking, but the face of Yvette Baisemoi, her only other client currently, arose in her mind. By some bizarre coincidence, like Bennie’s with his good looks, Yvette was a woman who made Liz Taylor, Ava Gardner, and Sophia Loren look like home girls. Yvette’s suffering was equal to that of Bennie’s and appeared to be caused by the same fear. Dr. O realized what Bennie and Yvette both needed was the same remedy. She would discuss her ideas later with Dr. Nureyev.
Seeing the doubt and bewildered look on Bennie’s face, Dr. O said, “Bennie, story time.”
“There was once a man whose entire life had failed him. Everything had let him down eventually beginning with Santa Claus and the tooth fairy: his parents, his wife and kids, his belief in Christianity, then Judaism, Islam, then Buddhism, Secular Humanism, Atheism, then Marxism, Communism, sailing, golfing, tennis, voodoo, you name it, even nature and the environment. The man had confided all of his failed searches for happiness in a friend, named Jeremiah, who believed himself to be his sole friend and confidant. The man died at 95, very old, but in good shape until the last week of his life. Even dying failed him. Jeremiah figured, being the man’s only friend, he had better go to the funeral for him. It turned out there were thousands of people at the funeral. The man had thousands of confidants, each one feeling he was the man’s sole friend and confidant in the world. The man had led a full and satisfying life out of being let down and sharing it with the world, one person at a time.”
“It’s an interesting story, Dr. O,” said Bennie, doubt still front and center.
“That man,” Dr. O said, “had, on a rotating basis, faith, doubt, and persistence, and the greatest of those three was doubt. He was never certain of being in the right place, doing the right thing. Never.”
“I see,” said Bennie, “he made a long lifetime out of it.”
“And many friends.” On some level, Dr. O hoped, Bennie understood we can’t change some of our hardware. We can only “Save as . . .” Suddenly, she clapped her hands twice.
“Oh no!” said Bennie. “Dr. N? Please . . . I didn’t mean to doubt . . . I mean, think.”
“Shh.” A pleated curtain in the doorway was drawn aside. A right foot in a butter-soft leather two-tone Hugo Boss shoe was extended forward onto its heel, then rolled soundlessly onto its metatarsals as the left foot pushed a man’s weight forward. It was Dr. Nureyev, dressed in an elegant gray silk Brioni suit. The soft-lavender vest he wore over his pin-striped Canali shirt might have been considered too dandy or Euro by American standards. But Dr. N was a longtime Tango dancer. His complexion glowed like that of a transformed protagonist in a fairytale. In fact, he had recently been reborn.
“Amigo,” Dr. N addressed Bennie.
Dr. O smiled. She had never seen him so relaxed in the old days before he had disappeared for forty days and forty nights. Dr. N was to blame for her immersion in Tango’s mysteries and in the problems and disorders of others. She’d been happy to not-think and dance. But he had been the one to lead her to a place in the dead of winter where she danced into the cosmos with a star dancer, Chilly Wainright. He had videotaped her and Chilly. The video disappeared. It was a lesson in ephemeral art. You can dance Tango. You cannot hold it still. Then Nureyev had disappeared. Only later, did Dr. O learn why.
“You rang, Dr. O?”
Dr. O nodded. “Please, check Bennie’s heart-to-brain ratio.” Dr. O’s office was situated off a big dance floor South of Market (SOMA), the hallowed ground for psychosomatic work.
“Pugliese, DiSarli, or Biagi?”
“Make it Piazzola,” said Dr. O. “I’ll tell you why later.”
Dr. N said, “C’mon Ben, lead me; You won’t know the difference between me and your latest thrill.
“Linguine…is the latest,” said Dr. O.
“Believe me, I’ll close my eyes . . . . hmmm nice after shave.”
“Thank you, it’s MOB cologne.”
“MOB?”
“My Own Blend, a mix of citrus, cedar, and heated wood shavings. Women love it.”
“Oh, it’s so heavenly,” said Bennie, inhaling the cloud of Dr. N’s fragrance rousing his senses.
“Righto, Ben. C’mon, stop breathing down my neck. Lead away.”
“Oh, Ben and Dr. N,” said Dr. O, “lots of CBM, please.”
CBM, or contra-body movement, Dr. O knew, was great for high anxiety. It was a tenet of Chinese medicine: When you moved your upper body in opposition to your lower body, it stimulated and scrambled both hemispheres of the brain, releasing confusion. That’s why yoga spinal twists were so calming. Dr. O and Dr. N knew that nothing bled the bad blood like Tango. Nothing.
Bad as Bennie’s RRE was, Dr. O was convinced he would pull through. She had helped a broad assortment of ailments, some easier to treat than they first appeared. Some patients simply needed the right bodywork — be it reiki, acupuncture, acupressure, deep-tissue massage, or a clearing with chiropractic manipulation — to rid them of body armor that common roadblock to joy. For some people, dream work or Bach flowers were needed. A woman who couldn’t stop counting the Tango beat in her head just needed to learn some yogic breathing and to listen to her heartbeat. “Ah, the rhythm of breath and heartbeat, aha,” said she, “who needs numbers?” Certainly not Dr. O. So elementary. Indeed.
There was the guy who had panic attacks as soon as he crossed the transom of a dance hall. Dr. O gave him a word imbued with power to make him feel like King of the Jungle. He had to say it three times at the threshold. It was Iguazu, a word that held the power of falling water seeking its own level and polishing hard rock to vowel-sound smoothness. That guy came back six months later to tell her how he had forgotten to say it one night and danced his best, no panic attack.
“So now you know?” she said.
“That I never needed that word.”
“Go in peace, your therapy is ended.”
There was the woman who hyper-smelled every possible off-odor: sock lint, mineral-rich sweat, toe jam, and scaly scalps. Another yoga specialist was called in to teach her to separate out the offending molecules from the pleasant ones, using the muscles of her nose and sinuses. Elementary. There was the man who was repulsed by most female body scent, leading him to engage in excessive approach-avoidance behavior while dancing. A rash of whiplash cases in followers was traced to his energetic lead. Aromatherapy, using leading brand perfumes combined with human and animal pheromones helped him become a truly inspired tanguero, able to flip repulsion to attraction during the course of one dance.
Drs. Ocaramia and Nureyev had both been transformed by the alchemical process of Tango and wanted to help others get there. When Dr. N disappeared, it had been to go off into the desert to complete his rebirth. Some people need to do that. Before he vanished, he had inspired Dr. O to start writing The Book of Tango (superfluous words!) and deconstruct true happiness. Which was hard when you did not think too much. Like Dr. N, Dr. O had experienced the Oneness that has no name, no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no smell, no taste, no touch, etc. Dr. O did not yet know how that ONE was called.
Bennie and Dr. N were done dancing. Dr. O said, “Well?”
Dr. N nodded, “He’s dancing from his brain. Bennie, my boy, you gotta lead from nothingness, or the heart if that’s where you feel your partner.”
“I know, I know,” Bennie said, vexed, yet calm having just done a lot of CBM.
“So why Piazzola?” Dr. N asked.
“Because Astor Piazzola’s music has the purest heart-to-brain ratio. That’s why he didn’t want people to dance to his music,” explained Dr. O.
Bennie sighed and sat down. A bandoneon groaned and Dr. O said, “That’s our cue. Don’t get too comfortable, Bennie, your fifty-five minutes were long ago up.”
“OK. See you next week.” Bennie went to pull out his wallet. Dr. O reminded him to put it away.
“Oh, yes, pay it forward, will do.”
Dr. O didn’t take payment. For a long time now she had been on a divesting trend because it was much closer to bliss. In Tango, the closer the skin and the bone — the fewer things that came between you and your partner — the higher the bliss quotient. But it was not so much that Dr. O didn’t care about money or material things. It was that she was clinically bad with numbers. Little known fact: numbers were for her like Kryptonite for Superman; they robbed her of energy and of her powers. She had gotten through the basic eight-count of Tango only by popping her ears during the lesson as the teacher counted. It’s not that she believed numbers were unimportant — without them we would never have sent men to the moon or have the many wonders of the technological age. But Dr. O was among the chosen few (most of them Tango dancers) who had received the wisdom that other unexplored intelligence now lay where no numbers dared go.
Interestingly, Dr. O had no explanation for the number of physicists, architects, mathematicians, rocket scientists, financial planners, and all the hyper-number people who were attracted to Tango. However, these digitally-inclined guys were able to accomplish another astonishing feat: CMM, Contra-Mind-Movement, a delicious out-of-his-mind moving of body from the heart of his nothingness. Well, that’s how Dr. N explained it. A few strains of violins cried followed by a rhythmic bar of Biaggi on piano. “That must be Yvette Baisemoi. She’s early,” said Dr. O as Dr. N opened the door. Yvette entered as Bennie was leaving. Drs. O and N did not miss the eye-lock between Bennie and Yvette.
“Dr. O, Dr. N, sorry I’m early. I need to talk. PDQ,” said Yvette.
“Please sit and wait, Yvette, in the anteroom,” said Dr. O. “By Ben. Be Good.”
Bennie turned and said, “Hey Dr. O. That 95-year-old man. I’m wondering. Did he try Tango?”
“Ben, What is the essence of Tango?” Dr. O. replied.
Bennie understood. Another koan. He bowed and left.
Drs. O & N, two of the world’s greatest non-thinkers, sat down to discuss their clients. They had fifteen minutes to debrief. They shared a little Malbec in small goblets, a little wine (sometimes whine) to whet the brain, as Aristophanes said.
Dr. N sipped, then said, “So Bennie & Yvette. Has the ring of an Elton John song.”
Dr. O sipped and sighed, too. “Yes.”
“Yvette suffers from ILSE?”
Dr. O nodded. “Incredibly Low Self Esteem.”
Dr. N shook his head. Yvette’s other-worldly beauty was not wasted on him. He had an artistic appreciation for the female form. “It’s confusing, isn’t it? It comes off as superiority complex.”
“Yes,” said Dr. O, “The armor, the shield, the self defense. This Malbec is extra velvety today.” Dr. O listened for months to Yvette rail against every man she believed to be her equal who did not fall all over her and invite her to dance and remain under her spell. Those who did were obviously not her equal.
Dr. N swirled, sipped, swallowed, and said, “Yes, black velvet. If only you could tear that silly soul-constricting persona off of Yvette, Dr. O. All would be well. Underneath is a good person.”
Dr. O laughed. “You know better, Amigo.” How well he had been born again. “So, which desert?”
“Death Valley.”
“But, of course.”
“I was able to hang out in the many ghost towns and not be seen.”
“You and the video of me on cosmic tour with Chilly Wainright. Thanks a lot, Amigo.” She liked to give him digs. They went right through him.
“Don’t worry, it’ll materialize some day.”
They both knew that things only tend to exist. “How am I supposed to convince people I took a trip around the universe on an old wood floor,” she dug at him again.
“Don’t sweat. With Temple-of-Doom ferocity, I will find it.”
“It’s not the Holy Grail.”
“What is?”
“That which we name.”
He nodded agreement, quaffed, and quipped, “So Yvette is a TAD off, too.”
Dr. O chuckled, drained her goblet and said, “Hardy har. A three-legged dog walks into a bar and says, ‘I’m lookin’ for the man who shot my Paw’.” She stood to leave.
“One bad joke deserves another,” said Dr. N. “Clap twice if you need me.”
When the session started, Yvette asked Dr. O, “Who was that man in the waiting area?”
“You know the oath of client-privacy,” said Dr. O.
“Never mind, I’ll see him at a milonga and find out.”
Dr. O hoped, really hoped, she would.
Yvette launched into her spiel. All the good men not paying her one ounce of attention. Or worse, teasing her, dangling carrots, then dropping the ball or carrot, keeping her at an arm’s length, sending mixed messages. Keeping her awake at night, waiting, not knowing, not knowing. The unbearable uncertainty. And then this one and that one who knew they didn’t have a chance with her, start texting her. The utter gall. Yvette didn’t require Dr. O to say a word, just to listen. As she went on in this vein, Dr. O recalled one visit when Yvette had looked real, had forgot to wear her mask. Her fabulous marble-green eyes shone true as she told of Herman, the one guy she could have, should have, would have stayed with. “Ah, but he’s back in Mahwah.”
Her Man in Mah Way, Dr. O remembered it, like a short story title. Yvette was such an open-and-shut case. If only she knew it herself.
“Oh, Dr. O, I’m so miserable. All I want is a modest life, to be happy, to be free from all this anxiety and not knowing. One good man. That’s all. Is that asking for too much? Really?” Yvette began to cry. Dr. O handed her the ever-ready box of tissues. Yvette sobbed for a full five minutes. Dr. O recalled how arrogant and self-absorbed Yvette had appeared at her intake almost a year ago. Dr. N vetted Yvette, as he always did the initial intake. He sat with them cross-legged facing each other. He took the pulse of the patient as they danced both to DiSarli and Biaggi, the respective Kings of Romance and Rhythm. He peered into their eyes and studied their souls, made notes. He had become so good at reading souls, gazing there where no words dared be said or heard. He felt their hearts beat against his heart. He did this to men and women. For one full minute, he and the new patient stared into each other’s eyes. He must have learned this somewhere, back in the Sixties maybe, that the eyes show the strength of the soul. Dr. N’s diagnosis was that Yvette had a major gash in her soul. But nothing that a proper, genuine Tango Moment could not fix. Dr. O was piecing this advice together with Bennie’s problem when Yvette finally stopped crying. The entire box of crumpled tissues lay at her feet.
“I have felt for so long, that what I want is within reach, around the bend, on the horizon,” sniffled Yvette. The horizon again. “And then it slips away. Again.”
“Do you sail?” Dr. O triangulated again.
“Heavens, no.”
“I see. Hmmm.”
“Am I asking too much of life?”
“No,” Dr. O answered. “It’s not asking too much.” She wished, though, that Yvette would ask other questions. And she did.
“Dr. O, do you think I should quit the Tango scene? Juggling chainsaws might be less fraught with peril.” Yvette laughed and even with red puffy eyes was so drop-dead gorgeous.
“You have to follow your heart, Yvette.” Stating the obvious occasionally worked.
“I know, I know. Oh, Dr. O, oh. My heart aches. Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen.”
Glory hallelujah, Dr. O sang to herself. A bandoneon groaned and Yvette stood to leave.
Dr. O clapped twice and Dr. N appeared. “How about a vals (waltz) before Yvette leaves, to calm her. Plenty of CBM, weight changes, those false weight changes called syncopations . . . and a few chassés to chase away the blues. Make it Soñar y nada mas.”
“Quite fitting,” said Dr. N.
As they danced away, Dr. O heard Yvette say, “Oh, Dr. N, you smell wonderful. What is it?”
By and by, Dr. N found Dr. O hanging herself. She was suspended upside down from a bar, in peaceful traction, trying to aerate and nourish the chakras that lay along her spine. Dr. O always did a yoga pose after a few client sessions. She came down when Dr. N called her to consultation. Again, two of the world’s greatest non-thinkers sat down to discuss the pain and agony of their clients. Such Walking Wounded. They scratched their heads, put their hands over their hearts, asked each other, “Have you ever seen two more beautiful people who had it all be so miserable?”
“Fairytales in reverse,” muttered Dr. O. “I’m telling you.”
“Each looking for a soul mate, not knowing they already possess their missing half,” said Dr. N.
Not knowing. Knot knowing, ran through Dr. O’s mind like a mantra.
“Dr. O,” said Dr. N. “I see the wheels turning. What gives?”
“The Wheel of Fortune is always turning . . . What was that last thing you said?”
“About their missing half?”
“Yes,” said Dr. O. She could get to two without passing out.
“Aha, I see,” said Dr. N. “Two missing halves.”
“Do they ever go to the same milonga?”
“More importantly, how do you hand out a prescription for a TM? Can they cultivate and experience a real Tango Moment?” Drs. O & N knew that all their suffering would come into perspective once they achieved this. The Tango Moment was simply code, symbols like all words, in this case for the God Experience. Dr. O preferred the Latinate Tangotum momentum, because it was a dynamic state.
From the moment they met, Drs. Ocaramia and Nureyev had not thought of each other in earthly terms. They had gone through the metaphysical sieve, like many Tango dancers. Drs. O & N were skilled in the dialogue of body language. Communicating only with alpha waves of their brains, the EKGs of their heartbeat, and the light available to their retinas, Drs. O & N went on to share the wisdom, ideas, concepts running through their hearts and minds. In a fairytale ending, they agreed Bennie and Yvette would meet and complete each other, supply that missing half, and bring eternal bliss, a model for others. But this was real life. Something bigger and better was actually available to both of them. Some tapping in to that absolute. Their private hells could become heavens as easily as it took to take a side step in Tango and exit clock time. Presently, the two not-thinkers switched back to spoken language:
Dr. N: So, yes, for all the Tango they dance, both are lacking the God experience.
Dr. O: Possibly due to their being treated like gods and goddesses all their lives.
Dr. N: Hmmm, I see. Possibly. And yet, like the rest of us mortals they have the wound, the gash in the soul. I looked in and saw it, clear as your bandoneon bell.
Dr. O: Indeed, they both have the crack that lets the light in. Perhaps they need to bleed into each other’s wounds?
Dr. N: It seems so obvious. A homeopathic approach is in order. They are so, so . . . symmetrical.
Dr. O: Indeed, Dr. N, mirror images. If only . . . we could . . .
Dr. N: Hmmm, yes, absolutely. Are you not-thinking what I’m not-thinking?
Drs O & N: GIVE EACH OTHER A GENUINE TANGO MOMENT.
Dr O (rubbing her chin where a beard would be were she a man): Uh-huh, um-hmmm.
Dr. N: (Rubbing his seven-hour stubble, leaning forward on his knees): Uh, huh. . .
She triangulated again. Bennie and Yvette each longed for something on the horizon. Inside the Tango Moment there is no horizon, you are IT. TM is characterized by a suspension of longing; the longing is not squashed or killed — that would be violence. But it’s balanced inside a boundless feeling of equanimity. Longing, after all, is our human default mode of being, as long as we are of the flesh. We experience our first, or primal, longing for mother and then it keeps morphing and transferring into and onto other things, in most of us in socially acceptable ways. Our monetary system is built and sustained solely on longing. When longing is vigorously and mindfully concentrated, focused, and channeled into a pointed understanding of life and existence, it is called “way seeking.” Suffering then becomes a subset . . . Dr. O found her head aching, too much thinking. She turned to Dr. N, who seemed on the verge of too much thought, also.
“Why do you believe people can go their whole lives dancing, or doing anything they love or what they believe they are meant to do here on earth and never ever experience the TM or its reasonable facsimile?” she asked.
“Fear. Fear of intimacy kills the possibility for Tango Moments. Fear of not looking good. Fear of losing control kills the moment. The best experience of life occurs the moment we relinquish control.” And fear of being wrong, being found out. Fear that our partner is right — all anti-Tango mind states. Fear and Tango can never cohabitate, especially during a TM.
“ ‘No tears, no fears, no ruined years, no clocks.’ I’ve always adored that line from the time I was sixteen. I wanted to be a Twentieth Century Fox.”
“You are,” complimented Dr. N.
Dr. O wasn’t sure that was a good thing. He continued, “Ah, the Tango Moment is love living momentarily in its purest state without words, without even relationship.”
“If TM = Now, why can’t B + Y access theirs? Maybe through meditation?” she asked.
“Even meditation kills the TM because the life of the Tango Moment is exterminated by pure high-grade consciousness. The TM lives in the middle ground between bliss consciousness and its exact opposite, blatant unconsciousness.”
“Dr. N! My sentiments precisely. An optimal arousal is called for, you mean to say.”
“Too excited and it’s lost; depressed, anxious, and it’s gone. The middle ground is where life and love dance, where the music is played — the stimulus for the Tango Moment.”
“Ah, zee music?” Dr. O liked to channel Dr. Ruth sometimes — she had sent clients to Dr. Ruth. “How could this be? An outside stimulus? Hmmm.”
“An inside stimulus. The music is in us. In a state of either meditation/consciousness or unconsciousness, I can’t hear the bandoneon, therefore no Tango Moment. Also, even in the middle ground thinking kills the moment — even recalling a Tango pattern.”
“Dr. N, No need to state the obvious. I think Yvette and Bennie are custom-made for sharing a TM.”
“Bennie must have no fear of being untrue to his primary love relationship . . . what’s her name? Groin?”
“Please, Dr. N, Not One, Not Two, Not Three. Stop counting. How many times I hafta tell ya.” She slipped into her New Jersey accent. “No primary, no secondary . . .” Dr. O passed out cold. As usual, Dr. N, thought she was bored or having a narcoleptic fit. Thus, Dr. O did not hear his last question: “What is the state of mind that is the primordial pool from which the nascent Tango Moment emerges? Is it a contemplative state?”
When Dr. O came to, Dr. N was looking into her eyes. She picked up a conversation they had a year ago. “We are always in a state more or less of longing, which adds to our suffering. We start planning and missing the present momentum. The Don Juans and Dona Juanas suffer thus, fatally driven to search, wonder, wander, search again. The viral longers. These are the real sufferers among us.”
“Dr. O, you don’t think you should reserve the word suffering for those in India, China, Burma, Africa . . . It seems wasted to me on a Dandi like Bennie, with his butter-soft leather shoes, Brioni suits, Canali shirts . . . errrr. . . ” he trailed off and looked down at his own attire. The fact was, Dr. N preferred modest dress, jeans and T-shirt or sports shirt, but Dr. O thought he should dress up for their clients.
Dr. O nodded understandingly. “Dr N, I am not without compassion for those all over the globe suffering torture and deprivation. But I must say, heartless as it sounds, it is within our reach right now to end that physical and mental torture. Those with too little can be fed tomorrow. The tyrants can be stopped. As blessed as are the meek, so are as cursed the mighty, the ninth Beatitude. Do you know who the Dalai Lama feels most sorrow for in this world? The Americans. Yes, we who suffer from epidemic low self-esteem. That is a disease. An ill-at-ease that no one but the sufferer can end. And all those other ills, shortages, torture, brutality, can be traced to low self-esteem in someone. Low self-esteem has the potential to gives rise to dictators, satanic leaders, to all kinds of tyranny, and to viral longing.”
“‘Others made me a slave. But I may squeeze the slave out of myself, drop by drop,’ wrote Chekov.”
“Exactly. Now please, before I get on a soapbox or something, put me at-ease. Let’s Tango. Make it DiSarli’s Nido Gaucho, that song about longing for a paradise lost.”
A week later, when Dr. O heard the bandoneon ring, she knew it was Bennie. She thought she detected some new notes of elation in the groan even before she opened the door and saw Bennie’s face.
“Dr. Ocaramia!” He strode past her to his seat. “You have never looked more beautiful before.”
She had just woken up from a deep sleep, having heard someone on NPR estimate how many stars are in the universe. “Gee, thanks, Ben.”
“Hey, I’m double parked, but no problem. I won’t be staying long.”
She knew why but still wanted to hear it from his mortal mouth. “What gives?”
“Everything gives, Dr. O. Everything. I was going through my routine at the Verdi Club on Thursday night, ticking off the women I wanted . . . well, you know my game better than I, when I spot a new dancer. She makes Liz, Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, and Ava Gardner look like home girls.”
“Oh, and what about Sophia Loren?”
“Her, too. Her name is Yvette.”
“Yvette, Yvette . . . ah, yes, Yvette.”
“I don’t know how to explain it. On the one hand it was nothing out of the ordinary. I invited her to dance and it was going well. I led a few ochos, molinetes to the left to the right . . . . And then it was, I can’t find another word, DIVINE. I felt the room, the music, the others around us, all there, but at the same time gone . . . like you always say our feet are planted in the earth but our upper body is in heaven . . . .we were all part of a master plan, and everything was perfect. I felt at once that the story of my life was etched on the heart of another. And at the same time, there were millions of stories passing by, all wonderful, marvelous. Dr. O, I’m at a loss for words. It was like . . . like . . . .”
Dr. O yawned and listened.
Bennie’s eyes were like polished-stars-of-sapphire illuminating the room. “It was like Infinity.”
Dr. O smiled. She adored and worshipped Infinity, a quantity that was really a quality, a figure eight on its side. An ocho.
Dr. O knew the rest of his story but she asked anyway. “And Groynehilda?”
“My beloved she is and will be. The message for me is that life makes sense as it is. I understand the essence of Tango. I cannot stop my RRE, but I can let it be. Groynehilda and I are getting married next week. I understand everything about myself and who I am is who I am. Oh, Dr. O, I owe you so much.”
“No, you didn’t need me.” She yawned again. “Pay it forward. You better move your car.”
Bennie hugged her tightly and left. She was proud of Bennie for cutting to the chase. So often the mistake we make in the West is thinking the catalyst — the material world, be it person, money, house, car — is the happiness. Bennie had not ever considered that Yvette was IT. She was only his gateway.
Dr. O waited in lotus pose. Less than an hour passed. The bandoneon groaned with elation. Drs. N and O opened the door to greet Yvette. “Drs. O and N, my joy knows no words or bounds. Hey, I’m double parked but this will be fast.”
As they stood on the dance floor at the entrance, Yvette sashayed with her imaginary partner and then stood still and said. “I think you know. I have experienced God.”
“All will be well,” said Dr. O.
“That man, Bennie . . .” Yvette looked deeply into Dr. N’s eyes, then into Dr. O’s eyes. They all three had a silent conversation and understood what had occurred. Yvette, too, understood, like Bennie that the plug is not the electricity. The streambed is not the river. Bennie was merely her gate. Her man in Mahway awaited.
“I talked to Herman last night. We’re going to meet up soon.”
“Oh, ah, sounds serious,” Drs. O and N cooed in tandem.
“Oh, you two, don’t act so surprised,” said Yvette. “Before I settle down with Herman, I plan to go on a pilgrimage alone. I’m leaving next week for the Andes. There’s a shaman in Cordoba I want to meet and a woman in Buenos Aires, Maria Jose, who reads our moon moods. Naturally, the Mecca of Tango, is a must. Herman will wait for me.”
“You better go move your car,” said Dr. N.
Yvette turned to leave, then looked back. “I know it’s corny but there’s no other way to say it. I have seen the Light.”
When she was gone, Dr. O yawned, then said, “When you were in Death Valley did the wind sift the dunes or the dunes move the wind?”
“Well said, Dr. O, well said. Shall we dance?”
“Yes, do you want to be the dune or the wind, today?”
“Mmm…I see the mirage of a Tango Moment.”
“OASIS.” | https://medium.com/nomudnolotus-writer/the-optimal-arousal-of-bennie-and-yvette-a-love-story-f15c72c6289e | ['Camille Cusumano'] | 2020-03-20 21:00:08.255000+00:00 | ['Tango', 'Short Story', 'Fiction', 'Psychotherapy', 'Writing'] |
20 Questions | The students that we select for the SDC are not only particularly good at their craft but also brave and articulate. This year, I am also impressed by their emotional intelligence and ability to iterate. — Ana Domb, SDC Co-Chair
What are you studying?
Digital Media at Georgia Institute of Technology
What inspired you to design?
I was inspired to pursue the field of design for two reasons. The first was the desire to rethink traditional methods of design and incorporate elements of black feminist studies. The second was a desire to work on problems such as education with communities of color. I also hope to educate and encourage other black women to pursue design.
Who is your favorite artist?
Ellen Gallagher
What are you studying?
Interaction Design (Master’s) at the School of Visual Arts
What do you think is the biggest thing missing in design education today?
Ethics — classes dedicated to inclusivity — how to research thoughtfully with people with disabilities, how to co-create with them and not for them. A lot of design students approach problems/populations with a “savior mentality” as a default, and if we only talk about this occasionally or at the end of a project, that never gets fixed.
What are you studying?
Interaction Design and Social Entrepreneurism (Master’s) at the Austin Center for Design
What do you enjoy most about design?
What aspects don’t I enjoy? I love the process from research to product development. It is always challenging and invigorating. I thrive in environments that value critique and revision. I am thrilled that as a designer, I will always be trying to improve my craft.
One word to describe yourself:
Tenacious
What are you studying?
Interaction Design (Master’s) at Malmo University
What about design do you most enjoy?
The thing I enjoy most about design is its multidisciplinary aspect. There are so many facets of design and it also acts as a bridge between the arts and science. Design is a junction point that strives to make the lives of people and their progeny better.
Who is your favorite artist?
Shinegenori Soejima
What are you studying?
Interaction Design (Master’s) at the School of Visual Arts
What do you think is the biggest thing missing in design education today?
Figuring out solutions with limited resources. I think there are so many underserved populations in the world who we need to design for. Those designs have to start somewhere, and sometimes those aren’t the coolest, most cutting-edge technology. Sometimes it’s not about the sexiest solution, but the most pragmatic solution. How might we get emerging designers to be enthusiastic about the impact of those results?
What are you studying?
Human Computer Interaction and Design (Master’s) at KTH Royal Institute of Technology
What about design do you most enjoy?
I enjoy the fact that I get to create experiences and products, and help people interact with the world.
What inspired you to pursue design?
I wanted to create things, and I thought that especially coming from a psychology background, understanding how people behave — I could bring that into design to help create really tailored and personzlied experiences.
One word to describe yourself:
Change-maker
Melodie Jacob
What are you studying?
Product and Interaction Design at Pôle supérieur de Design — Villefontaine (France)
What about design do you enjoy?
I like identifying what doesn’t work in our environment/society and try to find ways to improve daily life of people, and making sure the project is very useful for each user.
One word to describe yourself:
Persistent
What are you studying?
User Experience Design (BFA) at Savannah College of Arts and Design
What do you like about design?
I love learning about how the interaction of holistic design principles, emerging technologies, and human emotions can create experiences that bring impact to our lives.
What do you think about the challenge so far?
Being super jet-lagged, it’s been a bit challenging physically, but the atmosphere — everyone is so intelligent, and open-minded. I’m excited about the overall scope of the project, and a big part of growing your mind as a designer involves being out of your comfort zone, which this process and challenge have pushed us to do.
What are you studying?
Human-Computer Interaction (Master’s) at Carnegie Mellon University
What do you think is the biggest thing missing in design education today?
Discussions about accessibility, environmental sustainability, and audiences in the developing world.
What inspired you to study design?
My desire to create new things, and to give form to ideas every day. | https://medium.com/microsoft-design/20-questions-17b91911ba5f | ['Ashley Walls'] | 2019-08-27 17:22:14.448000+00:00 | ['Design', 'Inclusive Design', 'UX Design', 'Ixd', 'Microsoft'] |
Why designers should find the balance between systems thinking and design thinking? | What is Systems Thinking?
ST is often misunderstood due to its vast collection of tools and methods. However, just like DT, it is a philosophy. The philosophy of ST can be traced back to the work of Ludwig Von Bertalanffy in 1968 and other contributors. ST is an approach that considers how elements within a system interact and influence one another.
A system could be an ecosystem, an organization, or a specific problem domain. It recognizes that there’s a role of structure and order in the conditions that we face. It observes closely the relationships of events and data in a system, trying to identify common patterns, and anticipating the potential impact of each trade-off.
With ST, there’s always a need to assess the overall picture and find a cause or a reason. Because of this characteristic, ST is often recognized by the Iceberg model. The model typically has 4 levels: events, patterns/behaviors, structures, and mental models. It indicates that the piece of information above the surface is only a single “event”, in other words, a mask for the real issue. To gain increased leverage for solving the problem, there’s a need to understand the system as a whole, and all levels submerged below the tip of the iceberg. It’s also useful to move up and down the underlying levels and improve the model throughout the process.
ST became widely accepted and other industries such as economics, marketing, management, etc. began to adopt its practice. Using ST as a foundation, each industry created its own systems methods and frameworks. Many thinkers associated with cybernetics, operation research, chaos theory, complexity theory, etc. also developed their own interpretation of the same concepts and applications. As technology and business problems became more complex over time, the original philosophy of ST and its tool kits became fragmented.
Even though DT considers itself to be a new discipline, the philosophy behind it was an iteration of ST. The design industry also borrowed and tweaked many terms and methods to accommodate its design process. Terms like ‘mental model’ or framework like ‘competitive analysis’ were carried over from ST.
Pros
✅ Problem framing
ST is sensitive to the circular nature of the world we live in. It has a tendency to explore as much as possible to find structures that hurt the system. As a result, it’s a good diagnostic tool to put the problem in its appropriate context. ST helps examine the problem more holistically and accurately before acting and jumping into conclusion.
✅ Themes and patterns recognition
ST seeks to uncover relationships among elements within a system; the process of analysis helps in understanding the interconnectedness and how each element relates to one another.
Cons
❌ Analysis paralysis
Because ST requires an extensive assessment of the system as an input, it creates an environment where all decisions require thorough theoretical analysis. The analysis is time-consuming, risk-taking is less prevalent, and the process could produce so much data it is impossible to act.
❌ Self-detachment
In ST, there’s a split between theory and practice. The philosophy gives the impression that an individual can step out of an organization and sees it as a system, thinking in abstract terms and changing it from the point of view of an outsider. The act of self-detachment eliminates nuances that are critical to the system. The actual experience of being in the organization is hardly considered.
What is Design Thinking?
Rapid technological development throughout the twentieth century brought about a need for a formal academic study of the science of design. The 1960s in America was the ‘design science decade’. It started with the first attempt to distant industrial and product design from engineering and science; the goal was to ‘scientise’ design processes and bring the field within the objective of rational sciences. Horst Rittel and the term ‘Wicked Problems’, Herbert Simon and the book ‘The Sciences of the Artificial’, Nigel Cross and the paper “Designerly Ways of Knowing” etc. are all pioneers in bringing design to the forefront.
The term DT was coined by David Kelly and IDEO was one of the companies that helped bring DT to the mainstream. Stemming classical product philosophy, DT has a systematic approach to problem solving. While the starting point is unknown, it is structured based on the desired outcome. The process is developed on the notion that you do not know what the real problem is, which requires problem solvers to focus on the needs and desires of the end-users.
DT was initially applied to business, especially product design to craft product requirements that meet people’s needs. Because of its human-centric mindset and versatility, DT is able to solve a wide range of complex problems. The philosophy is now being employed in various domains ranging from product development to organizational and societal problems.
Once DT entered the management domain, it was confronted by “wicked problems”. The cause of wicked problems cannot be traced back easily until after the formulation of a solution; it requires a more structured and systematic approach than the original DT ideology. To accommodate this, the discipline started to create its own set of methods and tool-kits. As a result, DT has adopted a systemic stance even though design thinkers do not necessarily use ST language.
A well-recognized framework of the DT process is the Double-Diamond model developed by the British Design Council in 2005. It breaks down the design process into 4 phases: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. The model places an emphasis on 2 modes of thinking: ‘diverge’ and ‘converge’ from which many ideas are generated, before narrowing down and selecting the best one. This happens at least twice in the design process where designers need to switch between divergent and convergent modes to confirm the problem definition and craft a solution.
Pros
✅ Need finding
Because of its human-centric nature, DT places a heavy emphasis on identifying human’s needs and desires. Applying DT early on in the process can help designers build rapport and develop empathy for the people they’re designing for.
✅ Iterability
With divergent and convergent thinking, DT has an iterative approach to problem-solving. Initially, the design process values the number of ideas over the individual’s quality. This opens the door for designers to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to problems.
Cons
❌ Lack of business integration & constraints
Unlike ST, designers with a DT mindset do not perform a comprehensive analysis of the system and the relationships among its components. The solution produced by DT reflects the needs of the end-users yet it might not be feasible or central to the organization as a whole.
❌ The term DT still signifies a heavy emphasis on “thinking” and not “making”
At the end of the day, DT is a mindset. It’s impossible to extract thinking from doing; thinking alone doesn’t solve problems. Many short-term programs and school seminars aim at teaching DT within a few weeks or days; they neglect the fact that DT requires years of practice. Good designers are good thinkers, makers, and craftsmen. | https://uxdesign.cc/why-designers-should-find-the-balance-between-systems-thinking-and-design-thinking-efdb57b9949f | ['Tyler La'] | 2019-07-14 21:17:33.135000+00:00 | ['Product Design', 'Design Thinking', 'Design', 'Design Process', 'UX'] |
What’s new with TypeScript 4.0. What’s coming with TypeScript 4.0 —… | What’s new with TypeScript 4.0
What’s new and shiny with TypeScript 4.0 — Language features
We’ve just finished migrating to TS 3.9, and the 4.0 version is already here!
In this article, I’ll go over everything that’s just been released as part of TypeScript 4.0.
I’ll only cover the language features. I might write additional posts to cover what’s also coming regarding editor productivity, performance, and bug fixes.
Class property inference from constructors
Currently, when tsc is configured in noImplicitAny mode, the following TS code doesn’t compile:
Now that this PR has been merged and thus, as of TS 4.0, the code above will compile and TypeScript will infer the type of x to be string | boolean .
This is one more case where TypeScript’s type inference will help us out!
Short-circuiting assignment operators
This proposal, introduced by Daniel Rentz, corresponds to a TC39 proposal called “proposal-logic-assignment”, which is now in Stage 3 (i.e., almost good to go!).
It aims to combine logical operators and assignment expressions. Combined with nullish coalescing, which we’ve got since TS 3.7, we will be able to write more condensed code.
Here’s an example given in the proposal:
obj1.obj2.obj3.x ??= 42;
And the same code without those new short-circuiting operators:
obj1.obj2.obj3.x = obj1.obj2.obj3.x ?? 42;
As you can see, with support for this, we would have an even more expressive language, and we’d be able to combine checks and assignments, which would be great.
As mentioned by Daniel Rosenwasser, we’d get one such operator for each of the logical operators, thus:
LeftHandSideExpression &&= AssignmentExpression LeftHandSideExpression ||= AssignmentExpression LeftHandSideExpression ??= AssignmentExpression
Corresponding to what we can currently do with:
LeftHandSideExpression && (LeftHandSideExpression = AssignmentExpression) LeftHandSideExpression || (LeftHandSideExpression = AssignmentExpression) LeftHandSideExpression ?? (LeftHandSideExpression = AssignmentExpression)
Allow unknown on catch clause bindings
Currently, if you try to add a type annotation to a catch clause, the compiler complains:
The code above does not compile and it raises the following error: TS1196: Catch clause variable cannot have a type annotation
At this point, we simply can’t add a type annotation to a catch clause, which is rather sad from a type safety perspective. The problem is that the errors are always considered to be any , which lets us do anything with the object within the catch block.
This behavior is simply due to the fact that, originally, the unknown keyword didn’t exist. But now that it does, it would make much more sense to use it here.
As pointed out in the comments of this proposal, we could get a new strict flag to let us enforce this by default (i.e., make all catch clause errors to be of type unknown). This would force us to correctly check the type before making use of it within the block.
This is one improvement that I’m really interested about!
Variadic Tuple Types
Barbaric name for an awesome new feature. If you don’t know about tuples yet, go learn about those first.
I’m not the biggest fan of tuples (I generally prefer objects/custom types), but sometimes they can indeed prove useful, for instance while writing tests (or type definitions for weird libraries like React :p).
TypeScript 4.0 improves type inference and now allows to correctly type functions dealing with tuples.
First of all, it now supports generics when defining tuple types, allowing them to use generic types defined on a function for tuple elements. As the release notes state, this means that we can represent higher-order operations on tuples and arrays even when we don’t know the actual types we’re operating over.
The release notes include a few examples:
As you can see above, the tail function returns an array, or elements of type T . That code is simple to write/understand, which is awesome. Thanks to this new feature, you can see that r1 and r2 are correctly typed.
The other improvement is that spread elements can now appear anywhere in a tuple; not just at the end:
With TS 3.9.x and earlier, couldn’t compile. With TS 4.0, we will be able to do this and the compiler will happily flatten the spreads, wherever they are positioned.
As explained in the release notes, by combining those two features, we can now better type things like the concat function:
Awesome!
These new type inference improvements will have a great impact on the quality of our code and I can’t wait to use those in production.
Check out the complete release notes for more details. For instance, they also cover how this will improve use cases like function composition and partial argument application.
Labeled Tuple Elements
Another proposal, introduced by Brian Kim, aims to give us the capability of defining labels for tuple elements.
Currently, tuples are declared like this:
// length, count
type Segment = [number, number];
Since we can’t assign labels to the tuple elements, the simplest (but really ugly) solution is to rely on comments to remind us of what each element corresponds to.
The other solution (cleaner) is to use custom types that have more useful names. Still, there’s room for improvement.
Some languages such as C# and Python for instance support this.
If this gets added to the language, then we would be able to create more expressive tuples much more simply:
type Segment = [length: number, count: number];
Here, by taking a look at the tuple, we directly know what each number corresponds to.
This would be really useful to clearly understand what tuples are composed of. In addition, as mentioned in the proposal, it would also add more expressiveness to APIs that manipulate/return tuples.
As stated by Daniel Rosenwasser, tuple element names won’t enforce anything in the type system; they’ll exist purely to communicate intent.
Adapt TypeScript’s support for React
Just like TypeScript, React moves crazy fast.
Since I’ve published my book about TypeScript, React, Angular, and Vue, things have continued to evolve. My chapter about React remains relevant, but the React.createElement API is changing.
Since TypeScript supports JSX, it indeed needs to follow those evolutions. This is tracked in this issue and a PR has been opened already. That modification should be included in TS 4.0.1.
Next to that, support for custom JSX factories will land in TS 4.0, allowing us to customize the fragment factory through the jsxFragmentFactory option. Check out the release notes and the following PR for details about this.
Breaking changes
A few breaking changes are planned with TS 4.0:
lib.d.ts has changed (DOM types have been adapted), meaning that we could face some new compilations errors when upgrading to this new release. For one, the document.origin property, which has been obsolete for quite a while, has been removed
property, which has been obsolete for quite a while, has been removed Overriding accessors with properties (or vice versa) is now considered as an error in all cases. Previously is only raised an error when useDefineForClassfields was used. So if you have derived classes that override getters/setters of the base class, then you’ll have compilation errors with TS 4.0. Check out the PR for details
was used. So if you have derived classes that override getters/setters of the base class, then you’ll have compilation errors with TS 4.0. Check out the PR for details With TS 4.0, when in strictNullChecks mode (i.e., always, right??!), the operand of the delete operator MUST be any , unknown , never or be optional (i.e., containing undefined ); otherwise, the code doesn’t compile. Check out the PR for details
Deprecations
The old factory functions for producing TS AST nodes has been deprecated since a new node factory API is being introduced by TS 4.0.
This shouldn’t be an issue for the vast majority of projects.
Conclusion
In this article, I’ve shared what’s new and shiny with TypeScript 4.0.
This amazing language continues to evolve at lightning speed.
Can’t wait to use this in production!
Liked this article? Click that “Like” button below to see more of it and ensure others see it too!
PS: If you want to learn tons of other cool things about software/Web development, TypeScript, Angular, React, Vue, Kotlin, Java, Docker/Kubernetes and other cool subjects, then don’t hesitate to grab a copy of my book and to subscribe to my newsletter!
JavaScript In Plain English
Enjoyed this article? If so, get more similar content by subscribing to our YouTube channel! | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/whats-new-with-typescript-4-0-beta-a2e674846ef3 | ['Sébastien Dubois.'] | 2020-08-21 18:19:48.193000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Software Development', 'JavaScript', 'Typescript', 'Web Development'] |
Why You Might Need a Day Job As a Writer | Why You Might Need a Day Job As a Writer
Being a full-time writer is not good for my sanity
Photo: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels
The last couple of months writing ever since the pandemic, I’ve been on a tear. I’ve written more and better than ever, and I wish I could pinpoint a magic formula for it, but the entire writing experience has made me realize one thing:
I need a day job.
I have had a lot of days while not teaching or not doing anything work-related ever since the pandemic hit. I’ve struggled to engage my students on distance learning, and a lot of my calls home went straight to voicemail.
A lot of days, all I did was write. It was cool, and it was great. But do you know where I got most of my ideas from? My job. My life. I’m glad I have more time to write now because I can process all the crazy and absurd things that have happened at work and the transformational lessons of my first year of teaching.
If I didn’t have a day job, well, I would have nothing to write about. Well, I wouldn’t have nothing to write about, but I would feel significantly more limited.
I’m writing more now than at the peak of my school year’s craziness. I could have very easily seen the link that because I was so busy with work and teaching, I couldn’t write as much, and I would have seen the key to my success as a writer as quitting my job.
It wasn’t. Sure, if you look at data, I have been a better writer throughout the pandemic, but the ideas did come from my job and the lessons I learned from it. In a way, work, especially in such a high-intensity and exhausting profession like teaching, was delayed gratification for thoughts and ideas I would have as a writer.
I’m one of those people that can’t be just a writer. I can’t — because what would I do if the writing isn’t going well? Where would I get ideas? How would I interact with people in real life?
Look, I’m not prescribing a day job as a solution to life’s problems, but I’m not dependent on income from writing. I have never been and never will be because I believe in having multiple income streams. If I don’t get a job this summer, I’ll probably pick up DoorDash, Instacart, GrubHub, and other gig economy food delivery options given how precarious driving Uber or Lyft during a pandemic is.
But the point is that if I relied on writing as my primary source of income, I wouldn’t do well as a writer. I don’t work well with that kind of pressure, and my most creative times are when the pressure is off.
Do you know who had a day job as a writer? William Faulkner.
According to Mason Currey at Slate, Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying before clocking into his night shift as a supervisor at a university powerplant. He slept in the morning, wrote all afternoon, visited his mom on his way to work, and then he worked.
Another famous writer who thrived in his day job was Joseph Heller, who wrote Catch-22. He had a job in magazine advertising in the day while writing Catch-22 at night. For eight years, he spent two or three hours a night writing and gave up once to watch TV with his wife. TV drove him back to writing.
Toni Morrison, for most of her career, not only worked a day job as an editor but also taught two university literature courses and raised two sons as a single parent.
The lesson here isn’t that getting a day job is going to make you a best-selling author: it’s that you should chill out and not take your writing so seriously sometimes. I’m guilty of overthinking and obsessing over anything, and while it’s good that you care about your writing, don’t be overreliant on it.
I know a lot of writers that write full-time. I respect them and sometimes wish I could be them — but there’s a reason why there are two different words for a job and a hobby. A job is something that you need to do to get paid and keep a roof over your head. A hobby is something you do to keep your life fun and interesting.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not as creative in my job as I am in my hobbies. I take fewer risks because of professional repercussions and rules. That might be the difference between teaching and writing, but sometimes I do feel that when I have a bad day at work where everything went completely wrong, I channel some of my frustration and angst into my writing.
If I don’t have at least some time devoted to work, then my hobby takes the place of my work — which constrains me in ways I can’t mentally describe.
Eileen Pollack in Human Parts describes how endless creative time can be a curse for creativity. She explains that most writers, besides maybe Stephen King, would say that too much time outside commitments to structure your day and provide satisfaction, human contact, and identity, can cause you to lose your mind.
And I agree with Pollack. On days when all I do is write, I feel a certain angst that’s counterintuitive to writing itself. I don’t write the whole day anyways. I take breaks after a couple of paragraphs sometimes. Despite my pace of writing, I do step away from the computer frequently, and I’m not some man on a mission, possessed by a demon to write 24/7.
“I can assure you that being free to write around the clock, seven days a week, can destroy your sanity,” Pollack writes.
“Making it” as a full-time writer, for many, is a fantasy — you still need to pay the bills and put food on the table. But for me, my job and everything I do outside of running are like homework for my writing. I write about the lessons I learn at work, the utterly chaotic experiences I have in the classroom that I’ve never seen accurately depicted in a movie or read in a book.
So the best of writers learn and get ideas from life. And even if you would be a better writer if you cut your day job, you need your sanity, and at least for me, being a full-time writer is not good for that. | https://medium.com/the-post-grad-survival-guide/why-you-might-need-a-day-job-as-a-writer-3fdc57a22c40 | ['Ryan Fan'] | 2020-06-16 09:14:30.111000+00:00 | ['Money', 'Writing', 'Work', 'History', 'Freelancing'] |
Is Gold worth investing over Stocks in 20 years? | Thanks to the amazing R libraries gganimate and ggplot2 which helped in creating the animated chart.
I will post the details of creating the charts in another post. Until then stay tuned. | https://medium.com/ymedialabs-innovation/gold-returns-over-different-periods-45acbf33297e | ['Sanjeev Kumar'] | 2019-04-11 16:08:59.349000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'R', 'Visualization', 'Data Science', 'Analytics'] |
The Truth Behind The Strange Dead Celebrity Hologram Industry | BAILEY T. STEEN | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018
Amy Winehouse, the music icon who tragically passed away of alcohol poisoning almost a decade ago, is set to return for another tour. For those of you left with twitching eyes and utter confusion, Reuters reports that just seven years after her passing, it was her father, Mitch Winehouse, who signed a contract with Base Hologram Entertainment to make a virtual reality version of his daughter that will preform across North America in 2019. In the vein of fellow digitised artists, such as Tupac Shakur and Michael Jackson, the story has reignited the ethical debate surrounding famous icons, image rights and the strange industry making millions selling dead celebrity holograms.
As explained in reports from Vox and Rolling Stone, there are three players at the heart of hologram entertainment: major rival companies Pulse Evolution and Hologram USA, each established in buying up digitisation rights, as well as Base Entertainment as the relative newcomer. Hologram USA, which owns the rights to Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly and Billie Holiday, was the company that famously took the Whitney Houston family to court after they issued disputes with their scheduled 2016 tour they claim was “in breach of contract”, according to their lawsuit documents.
Their legal troubles didn’t stop there, however. In 2014, Hologram ultimately sued Pulse over a “patent violation” days before the Billboard Music Awards, where the company were to showcase their Michael Jackson hologram. After two years, Pulse reportedly settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount in damages and were forced to live with their other “digitally-enabled ghosts” of successful dead artists the likes of Elvis Presley, Selena and now Marilyn Monroe, which also resulted in an infamous lawsuit against Digicon Media by her family.
Though holograms aren’t entirely new, this sort of industry competition really started once Digital Domain, a now crumbled special effects company, showed their version of Tupac at venues like Coachella and the 2012 Billboard Awards. It began as this multi-million dollar venture that, at the time, was all literally just smoke, mirrors and light refracting a projection of 2D CGI footage. Now the technology has evolved into the complete digital reconstructions of deceased individuals, leaving the executives of Base to also creepily jump into the market.
As explained by Base’s executive producer Marty Tudor when speaking to Vox, the company promises to stand as “one of the most aggressive and unique” companies to overtake the industry. Their plans reportedly include nationwide tours, hoping to secure more big name artists who passed away like Winehouse, which they plan to reconstruct and sell for for “permanent theatrical residences”. If we’re reading this right, who needs iTunes, Spotify, old videos and live concerts when you too can own your very own dead celebrity for your own personal entertainment? All it costs is your general sense of shame, a little bit of stalker perversion and, as Tudor revealed, “actors who resemble [the artists] physically to create a ‘bank of movements’.”
It’s not like there isn’t an audience for holographic performances. Base Holograms initially rose to success when their Roy Orbison tour generated interest across 10 UK cities just earlier this year. Given these venues are always met with mixed responses from fans and critics, ultimately, there is a discussion of property rights to be had.
Winehouse’s father, keep in mind, has often been criticised as an exploitative figure in her life, yet he’s the one selling her image that could surely generate millions in revenue. “They are trying to portray me in the worst possible light,” Mr. Winehouse once said regarding the 2015 documentary on his daughter. “They [the film-makers] were a bit like the police in the 70s. They ‘knew’ who the villains were … and now they had to make it fit. Just like they did with the Birmingham Six. And guess what — they were innocent, and so are we. We made many mistakes,” he continued, “but not loving our daughter was not one of them.”
Given that Winehouse never had a 3D scan of her face and was never consulted about such holographic topics, is it ethical for a company to sell her image after death for the foreseeable future? Is there is a difference between selling her music, her movies, advertisements, all the little ventures she’s consciously made, and selling the individual as their posthumous preforming monkey? This creature made a (virtual) reality only through the elaborate process of a team of animators scanning through all her work to make their own famous Frankenstein? Where does the line between honouring and exploitation of the dead begin?
“Consent for holograms is going to be a hot topic,” says Catherine Allen, founder of Limina Immersive and an expert on VR, speaking to The Guardian. “As long as the person has consented it’s fine. And this is where it gets tricky with Amy. It is about simulating experiences to audiences as if they were real, rather than representing things through symbols. An audience member ‘does’ an augmented reality or a virtual reality experience rather than watches it. It is important to think about ethics at this early stage of the development of the immersive sector, because it is still relatively new, it is still being shaped. The norms that we create now will set the standard for the future.”
Thanks for reading! Bailey T. Steen is a journalist, designer and film critic residing in the heart of Victoria, Australia. His articles have been published on TrigTent, Medium, Steemit and Janks Reviews. For updates, follow @atheist_cvnt on either Twitter, Instagram or Gab.Ai, while you can contact him for personal or business reasons directly at bsteen85@gmail.com. Cheers, darlings. 💋 | https://atheist-cvnt.medium.com/the-truth-behind-the-strange-dead-celebrity-hologram-industry-25c340a4f3be | ['Bailey', 'The Libtardtarian'] | 2018-10-25 21:45:43.868000+00:00 | ['Holograms', 'Amy Winehouse', 'Ethics', 'Technology', 'Music'] |
Market Research Debunked | This piece was originally published in Research World Connect and featured by RBDR Online Report as Martina Olbertova’s 5 Myths for MR to Overcome.
5 myths holding us back from using the full potential of market research.
New research trends open up doors to breakthrough insights & brand direction, but market research still does not utilise its full potential. The future in a form of new trends such as behaviour economics, semiotics, forecasting, or culture mapping has already arrived. The problem is that in the marketing industry it has been distributed disproportionally.
We can see islands of creative & inspirational research around the world with methods such as co-creation, crowdsourcing, ethnography, co-research, or even the more sophisticated methods such as semiotics, cultural analysis, or trend curating. However, the actual business use of these methods is still very minor in comparison to the traditional validation research.
If we want to use the full potential of research in the future, we will have to integrate it directly in the brand strategy process. Using research as a vital part of strategy is a great investment in your brand’s future. Research should play a leading role in all marketing activities of a brand. It should function as a sustainable long-term strategy for data gathering & evaluation and as an integral part of brand intelligence.
However, there is a cloud of preconceived ideas floating above our heads, which creates misconceptions about what research should be used for. This makes it uneasy for new research trends to fully adapt in the marketplace as the prevailing research paradigm is still heavily based upon ideas that are no longer relevant to brands or consumers today. Applying old frameworks of thinking to new trends, based on current thought mechanisms, makes new methods hard to establish as this perspective views them as minor and irrelevant.
Over the past two decades, both our communication and consumer habits have shifted significantly, while research methods have remained much the same. If we don’t want to produce ineffective results that will drive our businesses off the cliff, we should look underneath the surface on what grounds market research was formed as an industry and closely examine new ways we can use to fuel meaning back in heart of our clients’ brands via empowering better business decisions.
I see five myths clouding our judgment about what research should best be used for, derived from how market research is being misunderstood as a business tool in marketing today. Unless we don’t “demythicise” research, we will still produce results with methods that are outlived and outsmarted by consumers, who have already learnt to rewire their thought structures to fit the research techniques, and as such, have become virtually immune to them.
Demythisation 1: Research is not a data report.
The first myth is that the outcome of research is a data report. The report is still being handed to clients as a holy grail, the ultimate result of results, the final outcome of all research activity. This very practice itself often makes it virtually impossible for the marketer to do the most important thing: understand data in context of their brand to form better business decisions for the future of their brand. That’s why data interpretation and their explanation in a broader social and cultural context should be a constant practice.
John Kearon, founder of BrainJuicer, who recently appeared on The Transformation Series on YouTube, expressed the following thought: “Researchers should be more like management consultants. Research is 40 billion USD industry, while management consulting is 400 billion USD industry. We do 9 tenths of the work, but because we present it badly, we charge 1/10th of the price for all the great work we do. We should present the research in a great way, add value and ultimately charge more.”
This really is the key here. What we need to do is to rephrase market research as an industry to function in more of a management consulting business (flexible, communication-driven and process-oriented) and less like a data delivering one (often rigid, non-transparent and instant results-oriented).
The impact of market research built on the premise of a consulting business can be huge. What companies and marketing professionals need are researchers that are seasoned partners, with enough data background not only to monitor what’s happening on the market, but more importantly to help them articulate what’s best for brand direction. This is the true added value of market research.
Demythisation 2: Research is not a substitute for the lack of vision.
The second myth addresses the common belief that research should serve as an instant recipe for brand’s further direction. But if you look at how data is processed, you realise why that’s not essentially a good idea. Market research is largely an industry, which asks people what they think. If you break this mechanism down, you realise that time-wise researchers will only ever get responses that are attaching brand to the past in a form of its brand perception.
This is why planning your brand strategy based on “what people out there had said” is not a good idea. As a brand you are aiming to step out and go forward, but you find you’re being pushed back by what people thought of you in the first place. This very mechanism traps brands in the realm of their perception. Brands managed on the basis of brand perception are doomed. It’s the single key responsibility of a marketer and/or a brand strategist to form a brand vision and maintain that vision through a consistent brand management. It’s a responsibility that cannot be outsourced or delegated to the consumer, as consumers don’t know where you’re going. It’s your KPI’s after all, not your consumers.
Research is best used as a compass. If used correctly, research can be a tremendous strategic tool to monitor landscape of the market, bounce it back to the vision and inspire changes in your tactics and branding strategy. Brand perception will finally kick in only later on when the vision has successfully materialised in the minds of people.
Demythisation 3: Answers are not locked in consumers' heads. Semiotics can provide answers where consumers are short of words.
The third myth tackles the preconceived idea that answers are locked in heads of consumers. This is actually the lead proposition that consumer research was built upon. Consumers, however, don’t have the answers to everything. Their perception and behaviours are by large influenced by the society and culture that helped form and shape their identity, beliefs and views of the world in the first place.
Here is the space opening up for semiotics and culture mapping as unique methods how to dig out an in-depth insight for brands by deriving meanings directly from analysing culture and its codes. In the Czech Republic for example, big FMCG companies such as Heineken, Mondelēz, and Pernod Ricard have already tapped into such methods. FMCG products are great for semiotic and cultural research as they usually have a vibrant packaging, high exposure in consumers’ daily lives and as such are full of complex meanings to explore. There’s no reason, however, why the same methods could not be applied also to banking and financial services, Tech and Telco companies, retail or other market segments.
Demythisation 4: Research is not validation. It will have more impact if used strategically.
The fourth myth aims to take down the idea that research is only good for validation. This idea is rooted so deeply, because validation is still the dominant way of research execution in marketing today. Even though, this is also the very reason, why it was not yet possible to fully integrate research in the planning of a marketing strategy, it would be foolish to think it’s the only way to go.
Research does not have to only validate, it can also inspire, activate consumers, enhance their loyalty, create a community, advocate, co-create or unlock new original views on the world around us. Unfortunately, unless brands grasp the fact that long-term inspiration and understanding of the brand’s cultural context is much more vital to the brand’s future than short-time brand trackings, we won’t be able to move much further in this direction as an industry.
Demythisation 5: Research is not purely analytical. It’s creative, too.
Fifth and last prevailing myth is condemning research as an analytical industry only. The myth itself is based on this binary opposition of validation and creativity we have built in our minds. Many people in the marketing industry still believe that creativity is something highbrow and belongs solely in the hands of a creative department. Creativity, however, has much more to do with a divergent form of thinking and ability to form unexpected solutions to prevailing problems. It’s a capacity of a person’s mind.
This belief is accentuated by research methods such as crowdsourcing or co-creation. Nimbler brands have already started looking for ways to use research creatively as a part of their brand planning process and found ways to integrate research in their creative strategies. Good example of such a brand is Fidorka (a Czech chocolaty biscuit from Mondelēz brand portfolio), which used co-creation to develop its new fresh positioning of “Impish Pranks”. More tuned into the codes of a local Czech culture, this campaign is based on a universal insight (even stronger locally), which states that every adult has an inner child still enjoying silly pranks even if they grow older. Creativity, originality and playfulness have less to do with age, than our minds.
Thanks to embodying this in-depth insight, which was vitally relevant to Fidorka’s target audience in a simply executed creative way, the “Impish Pranks” campaign drove 12 % in sales and received Gold award in this year’s Czech Effie Awards for the most effective campaign in the FMCG category.
***
PhDr. Martina Olbertova is Founder & CEO of Meaning.Global, a new breed of a global strategic brand consultancy powered entirely by meaning. She is a global brand strategist and corporate meaning advisor with ambition to redefine the role of meaning in the marketing industry. With 10+ years of experience in the industry, she's worked on diverse briefs for global blue chip clients such as Kantar 2016 rebrand, Unilever, Vodafone, IBM, KBC, Lloyds Bank, Visa, Heineken or Pernod Ricard. Passionate about humanity in business, brand transformation, semiotics, anthropology, behavioural science and all things culture. Based in Europe (London/Prague) & available for strategic consulting projects and speaking engagements worldwide. | https://martinaolbertova.medium.com/market-research-debunked-78b4b61fdb1e | ['Martina Olbertova'] | 2018-08-14 13:28:04.988000+00:00 | ['Market Research', 'Marketing', 'Strategy', 'Semiotics', 'Culture'] |
How To Implement The Java Stack Class In JavaScript | An npm package that implements the Java collection framework stack data structure into JavaScript.
Native JavaScript doesn’t provide a function for implementing the stack, which works on the principal last-in-first-out. This package offers more functionality than essential stack operation like push and pop, which provides more operations like peek(), showStack(), isEmpty(), size(), maximumElement() and minimumElement().
This cover has been designed using resources from Freepik.com
Creating stack using the package
Install with npm package to your project using the command below
npm i javascript-stack
Example usage
const Stack = require("javascript-stack"); const newStack = new Stack();
newStack.push(100);
console.log("The top value of the stack is: ",newStack.peek());
newStack.push(200);
newStack.push(300);
newStack.pop();
console.log("The size of the stack is: ",newStack.size());
newStack.minimumElement();
console.log("Minimumelement of the stack is: ",newStack.size());
The output of the above code is
The top value of the stack is: 100
The size of the stack is: 2
Minimumelement of the stack is: 100
The various operation used in the package
Adding the element to the stack: An element could be added to the created stack using an operation called push(), which will add an element to the stack. Removing the stack element: An element could be removed from the stack using an operation called pop(), which will remove the last entered element from the stack. To get the top stack element: To get the top element from a stack, we could use peek() to return the top element from the created stack. To print all the values inside a stack: To print all the values inside a stack package, provide an operation called showStack() that will return a string contains all the values in that stack. Check whether the stack is empty: To know whether the stack is empty or not package provides a function called isEmpty(), and that will return a boolean. It returns false if the stack is empty, otherwise true. Maximum and Minimum element: In case the stack is added with an integer value, and we could obtain the maximum and minimum value, to do that, the package provides maximumElement() and minimumElement() functions. To determine the size of the stack: Return the current size of the stack through a method size(). Remove all the elements: The clear() method used to remove all the added values from the stack. Convert stack to an array: This package provides a provision for converting the stack into an array, the method used to do this operation is toArray(). For reversing the stack: We could reverse a stack through a method reverseStack(), which will reverse the initiated stack values in the opposite direction. Searching the value: Search operation in the stack could be done by a method search(), which will return true if the given value is present in the stack otherwise it will return with a false value.
Practical application of stacks in software development | https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/how-to-implement-the-java-stack-class-in-javascript-e451bae008f8 | ['Krishnanunny H'] | 2020-11-23 05:53:08.580000+00:00 | ['JavaScript', 'Web Development', 'Software Development', 'Java', 'Programming'] |
My Last Medium Story Went Viral. Now What? | My Last Medium Story Went Viral. Now What?
On learning to write for the internet (and never reading the comments)
Photo by the author
It’s a strange feeling to have an essay you’ve written be seen by 13,000 people. Especially when the essay you wrote before that was only seen by 34. It’s exciting, yes. And also a little terrifying.
A couple of days before the election, I sat down to write something about living in Germany, experiencing a robust social safety net for the first time in my life, and begrudgingly voting for Biden. This is what came out. And I guess because of the timing (and perhaps an overly dramatic title), it was read by a lot of people. 13,000ish people.
And hey, this is what we want, right? This is what we’re all on here to do — to have a bunch of people see something we’ve written and share it on the internet, so that we can experience the sheer joy of not having our writing put us in the red for the first time ever. Right?
I am learning that writing for the internet is a brave (or not so brave), new world.
But even as I was giving my husband daily updates on my story’s stats, I was also sort of wishing I’d never written the thing. It’s my first experience with having my work seen by so many eyes. Up until I started writing on Medium, I’d only published my work in literary magazines. You know who reads literary magazines? Only people who want to be published in literary magazines. So that’s basically (and I say this as someone who helped found this literary magazine)…no one. I am learning that writing for the internet is a brave (or not so brave), new world. | https://medium.com/inspired-writer/my-last-medium-story-went-viral-now-what-483fe4011d1c | ['Caitlin Vestal'] | 2020-11-19 06:02:34.574000+00:00 | ['Essay', 'Life Lessons', 'Writing', 'Self', 'Blogging'] |
The good, the bad and the ugly of Scripts in Production | If you can think it — script it
I love scripting. I have been scripting since I started to develop.
I have written scripts in different scripting languages starting from basic, batch, bash, VBScript, JavaScript, phyton, perl, and my personal favorite — PowerShell.
Many “scripting languages”, especially Python and PowerShell until recently were only used for the “gluing work”, but nowadays with cloud technologies more and more scripting languages make it to the “real languages” domain.
I’d like to share my view on what the benefits of using scripting languages and why it is okay to use them even in production environments without hesitation.
Not long ago, when I asked my developer friends: “What do you think about running scripts in a production environment?” 4 out of 5 said that they think it was a bad idea and they couldn’t really explain why. So, I asked more questions. Most of their reasons focused on “it doesn’t feel right” running code that is not compiled, plain text, a code that has not gone through a standard SDLC.
However, if you were to ask IT experts the same question, I believe the answers would be different. My assumption is that 4 out of 5 would say that they do it every day and feel comfortable with it. The fifth would need some time to remember that while he might not have done it, his predecessor likely did. One example that IT experts commonly use are login scripts of users in the corporate domain. I’m sure that would count as a script running in a production environment, don’t you?
Also, DevOps engineers use scripts in their production environments all the time. Serverless development is usually based on non-compiled code.
So why do you avoid using scripts in our production environments? Why doesn’t it “feel right”? What are you afraid of? | https://medium.com/cyberark-engineering/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-scripts-in-production-c271f2d0240c | ['Assaf Miron'] | 2020-06-01 15:33:31.436000+00:00 | ['Lambda', 'Python', 'Script', 'Production', 'DevOps'] |
This is How Mount Everest Got So Overcrowded | This is How Mount Everest Got So Overcrowded
Spoiler: It’s because of money.
Before 1953, no one in recorded history had reached the summit of Mount Everest.
This wrinkle in the Earth’s crust is the farthest from sea level you can get and still have two feet planted on the Earth. This was first determined in 1852 by mathematician and surveyor, Radhanath Sikdar, after decades of exhausting and deadly surveys into the inhospitable and often impassable Himalayas.
But it wasn’t until 1885 when English mountaineer, Clinton Thomas Dent, speculated that it would be possible to scale this mountain, reach the top, and not die doing so.
And the race to conquer Mount Everest began.
Throughout the 1920s and 30s, various British expeditions tried to scale the mountain. The first recorded deaths happened at this time as well. One of whom was George Mallory who went missing while attempting to reach the summit in 1924. His body was found 75 years later, preserved and undisturbed, 2000 feet from the top of Mount Everest.
Nearly 10 years later, wealthy British philanthropist and aviation pioneer, Lady Houston, financed an aircraft expedition to the mountain, making Air Commodore and Scottish Nobleman, Sir Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, the first person to fly over Mount Everest.
But it wasn’t until 1953 when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay actually set foot on the summit. They became instant celebrities. Hillary was knighted and Norgay became a life peer of Britain — not to mention having the singular glory of being the first humans to conquer the highest peak on planet Earth.
But they wouldn’t be the last.
Almost exactly three years later, another expedition would make it to the top. And another one the very next day.
Over the next 3 decades, an additional 200 people would set foot would conquer mount everest.
But then the numbers soared.
Throughout the 80s, about 180 people set foot on the summit. Over the course of the 1990s, that number would more than quadruple.
Now the mountain has been conquered nearly 8,000 times by over 4,000 people. In 2018 alone, 800 people made it to the summit.
And this can be mostly attributed to money.
Since the 1990s, the commercial mountaineering industry has exploded at Mount Everest. Wealthy tourists would pay big bucks to sherpas and mountaineers to successfully guide them up the mountain.
Where in Hillary and Norgay’s time, expeditions were non-profit, expensive affairs financed by governments or wealthy philanthropists or the climbers themselves, much of today’s mountain traffic is fueled by an industry that makes its living ferrying as many paying customers as possible up the mountain.
What had been regarded as a nearly miraculous feat of human endurance and ingenuity has been reduced to a very expensive and uniquely deadly amusement park ride — complete with long lines and high ticket prices.
This isn’t without its benefits.
The commercialization of Mount Everest has brought steady wages and employment to local sherpas and boosted the regional economy. Commercial summiting trips have an incentive to minimize the danger and discomfort of scaling such a treacherous mountain in order to attract more customers. These companies provide ample oxygen, they choose the most familiar and well-traveled routes, and provide all the necessary equipment to make the journey as painless as possible. Therefore, climbing to the highest peak in the world might be safer than ever.
But the increasing influx of tourists has led to a proliferation of trash, turning the slopes of Mount Everest into an impromptu garbage dump. The need for shelter, firewood, and the rapid development of the region into a tourist hub has led to deforestation and ecological destruction all around the Himalayas.
Not to mention that global warming is changing the very character of the mountain. The snow and ice that has enshrouded mount everest for centuries is melting, leading to more avalanches and floods.
While these mountaineering companies have made the trip to the top of the world safer and easier, it is hardly devoid of danger. The shear amount of people attempting the feat means that there is more opportunity for tragedy. 3 of the deadliest disasters in Mount Everest’s history have happened in the last thirty years. Avalanches killed more than a dozen people in 2014 and 2015. 11 were killed in 2019, many of whom died of altitude sickness and exhaustion while waiting in line to get to and from the summit.
Mount Everest is named for Sir George Everest — a British surveyor who didn’t even want to the mountain to bear his name. But it has many local names that predate Everest. Some of these names mean “Holy Mountain” or “Holy Mother.” In the 60s, the Nepalese government named it Sagarmatha which means “Goddess of the sky.” Whatever the name, it is clear that the region holds a deep reverence for the mountain. It is so much more than a lucrative money making venture or an extravagant tourist destination. it is The stunning result of two tectonic plates smashing into one another for the last 55 million years or so. It’s also the base of an ecosystem and environment unlike nearly anything else in the world. this makes it a sacred, one-of-kind spot on our planet — the kind of thing you’re not supposed to put a price tag on. But alas, we have, and now we’re paying for it.
Watch the video: | https://mjosefweber.medium.com/this-is-how-mount-everest-got-so-overcrowded-fe3bec2bc76 | ['Matt J Weber'] | 2019-09-30 20:01:12.431000+00:00 | ['Environment', 'Tourism', 'Mountains', 'Everest'] |
Building and Breaking Habits — An Essential Guide | Building and Breaking Habits — An Essential Guide
“Depending on what they are, our habits will either make or break us. We become what we repeatedly do” — Sean Covey
Theirs a wide assortment of books and resources available on habits, yet, even then, the best information tends to be convoluted and full of fluff. How can we break old habits? What are some of the most rewarding habits of highly successful people? What one habit (if adopted and applied) has the power to change your life forever? These are the questions I’ll be answering as you read on.
What’s A Habit?
Habits are unconscious behaviors, which can be looked at as neural bridges in the brain. When habits are repeated, the neural bridge extends and solidifies, reinforcing that habit. However, when you consciously decide to stop a certain habit or behavior, eventually, the related neural bridge decays, making room for new bridges to be built.
Understanding how habits work is essential when it comes to building and breaking them. Remembering to brush your teeth, drink plenty of water, flush the toilet after using it, and eat a hearty breakfast are all common habits that we all — hopefully — remember to do on a day to day basis. Yet, these are common habits, and I’m not here to teach you how to adopt common habits. I want you to build huge, life-changing habits. Ironically enough, the big habits, like exercising three times a week or writing two hours a day, are the ones that require small steps.
Start Small
When working on a new habit, it’s important to approach it in small steps. If someone wants to lose twenty pounds, they might make it a goal to run a mile per day for the next six months. The first day might go by alright. Fueled by a passion for achieving your goal, you get dressed, strap on your running shoes, and run the mile. You’ll be fine for a while, but as days turn into weeks, with little results to show, your effort and overall motivation diminishes. You see, good habits, generally speaking, don’t bring immediate rewards. Reading thirty minutes a day will make you more educated in the long run, but you’ll rarely notice any immediate benefits. Smoking a cigarette brings immediate satisfaction but destroys your health in the long run.
Good habits don’t always feel great at the moment. In contrast, bad habits usually bring immediate satisfaction but have consequences in the future, which is why so many of us struggle with breaking old habits and applying new ones. So start small. Instead of setting a goal to run a mile a day, start by choosing to walk a few blocks instead. Instead of reading for thirty minutes every day, start with a few pages. Writing two hours every day might seem impossible to the amateur writer, so instead, set a timer for five minutes each morning. First, you solidify the habit, starting small, before adding gradual improvements.
Make Gradual Improvements
When I first started writing on Medium, it took me a while to build a consistent writing habit. I tried to write at least an hour a day but found myself cutting it short or skipping days altogether. My motivation dwindled within weeks, ideas ran dry, and my stats came to a grinding halt. The problem was the process. Every morning, I’d pour a cup of coffee, sit at any location of my choosing, and I’d attempt to write for at least an hour. I had it set in my mind that writing was the habit, but in fact, the process that led up to my writing was what I should have been focusing on.
We often misunderstand the actual habit itself, believing that the mile ran or the hour writing is the habit, but in reality, the process leading up to the hour spent writing or mile ran is the habit. Now, I have a specific location for my writing — my desk — and I set a timer, determining exactly how long I’ll write. To start, I would only set a timer for five minutes and force myself to stop when the timer ended. After a few days, I bumped the timer up to fifteen minutes, and now, within a matter of weeks, I can proudly claim that I write at least an hour every day. Start small, solidify the habit, and then you can work on making gradual improvements.
Habit Stacking
In his book, Atomic Habits, James Clear suggests a technique he calls habit stacking. Whenever you want to work on building a new habit, try stacking it with another. Brushing your teeth and flossing is a great example. If you want to start taking multivitamins but are likely to forget, leave the bottle next to your toothbrush, making you more likely to remember. If you want to read before bed but often forget, try leaving a book on your pillow after making your bed. To clarify, habit stacking usually ends with the term after:
after making my bed, I’ll put a book on my pillow
after brushing my teeth, I’ll floss
after I floss, I’ll take my multivitamins
after I read, I’ll write in my journal
Start small, make gradual improvements, and try stacking habits with one another.
Breaking Habits
We’ve discussed how to build and gradually improve good habits, so now it’s time we discuss how to break bad habits. Smoking, procrastination, excessive masturbation, etc., are all common habits that, if left unchecked, can destroy your chances at future success in life. So what can you do?
Practice Delayed Gratification
In the beginning, we discussed how habits could be seen as neural bridges in the brain and, if left alone, eventually disintegrate, leaving room for new neural bridges (habits) to be built and improved. When a cue occurs — a trigger or a craving— try putting as much time as possible between said cue and said habit. By doing so, eventually, the cravings will reduce in intensity and, in some cases, stop altogether.
Swap Habits
Besides practicing delayed gratification, you could also try replacing an old habit with a new one. Some people choose to switch cigarettes for vapes, though this isn’t a great example, as they’re both bad habits, yet it’s surprising how effective the switch can be. Cigarette smokers can go years addicted to cigarettes but find the switch to vaping easy because the process (habit) is the same. To replace a habit, identify the cue, keep the process, but change the last step.
“Replacing just a few key negative habits with a few positive habits can easily be the difference between being mostly unhappy and being happy almost all of the time” — Tynan
Control Your Environment
Your environment has more control over your habits than you could imagine. If you want to read more, but find yourself playing video-games whenever bored, try putting your controller somewhere out of reach and place a book on the coffee table in front of you, making you more likely to pick up the book the next time around. If you want to eat healthier, try stashing all the junk food and snacks high in fats and sugars, and place a fruit bowl somewhere visible in the kitchen. | https://medium.com/curious/building-and-breaking-habits-an-essential-guide-f26df159713d | ['Jazz Parks'] | 2020-12-29 22:18:18.264000+00:00 | ['Self Improvement', 'Life Lessons', 'Productivity', 'Life', 'Inspiration'] |
[Python] 網頁自動化測試的新選擇 -- Microsoft Playwright | Announcing Playwright for Python: Reliable end-to-end testing for the web | Python
Automated end-to-end tests are a powerful tool for your team to ship faster and with more confidence. End-to-end tests… | https://medium.com/drunk-wis/python-%E7%B6%B2%E9%A0%81%E8%87%AA%E5%8B%95%E5%8C%96%E6%B8%AC%E8%A9%A6%E7%9A%84%E6%96%B0%E9%81%B8%E6%93%87-microsoft-playwright-e071590aee46 | [] | 2020-10-14 12:59:42.302000+00:00 | ['Python3', 'Python', 'Selenium', 'Automation Testing', 'Playwright'] |
Il Digital Marketing, perché è la chiave per la crescita di un’azienda? — Parte 1 | in In Fitness And In Health | https://medium.com/the-wave-notes/il-digital-marketing-perch%C3%A9-%C3%A8-la-chiave-per-la-crescita-di-unazienda-15204f34ebf8 | ['Loriana Consentino'] | 2020-03-10 09:27:23.683000+00:00 | ['Marketing', 'Social Media', 'Digital Marketing'] |
“Hygge is a quality of coziness that makes a person feel content and comfortable.” | “Hygge is a quality of coziness that makes a person feel content and comfortable.” — Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Hygge encompasses the Danish view of life. It doesn’t translate easily into one word but is more of an idea. Think cozy socks, warm blankets, reading a book under the covers while raindrops hit the roof, candlelit dinners, roaring fireplaces.
It’s all those things and more. It’s whatever you make of it. Most importantly, it’s a positive mindset. A way to appreciate the little things. We can use a little hygge to get us through the next few months of winter. | https://medium.com/short-shots-city/hygge-is-a-quality-of-coziness-that-makes-a-person-feel-content-and-comfortable-1ff51bc11c11 | ['Jennifer Geer'] | 2020-12-16 14:20:07.772000+00:00 | ['Lifestyle', 'Winter', 'Outdoors', 'Wellness', 'Self Improvement'] |
The Isolated Addict | I get it, I truly do. We’ve finally gotten sober and now this hits us. Slamming our fierce sobriety against a brick wall, nearly forcing mind-altering substances into our systems despite our please for a reprieve from the constant racing thoughts. Fear and anxiety take hold and it seems that reverting back to the old coping mechanisms might be the best idea that we may have had up until this point.
But, may I submit for your consideration the idea that returning back to the old way of living may just be exactly what solidifies our collective demise, reserving an unmovable spot in a box that is firmly planted six feet under the ground? One that, had we continued to push through, might have never been constructed?
Believe me, I spent several years (over a decade) spiraling down a black hole of addiction, and using every excuse in the book to validate my claims that drinking or using was the only way to make it through the day. So, it would only be fitting if I were to go back to the methods that helped me to cope before. That is, however, if those coping mechanisms didn’t throw my life into a cesspool of avoidable turmoil rather than improving it in any way. | https://medium.com/an-injustice/the-isolated-addict-83f807107130 | ['Rose Marie'] | 2020-03-27 20:28:39.178000+00:00 | ['Addiction', 'Covid 19', 'Mental Health', 'Self Improvement', 'Recovery'] |
Dear Crush… | Ever since we started talking, I feel some kind of a way,
I feel like I want to talk to you all the time,
You make an introvert feel like opening up without the fear of feeling naked,
I want to call you and ask about your fears,
Have deep conversations as I get to know you more,
Set up late dinner and take you to a poetry showcase in one of these evenings,
Hold arms in the auditorium,
I want to do those things that an introvert despises,
You’re beautiful and your thinking arouses me,
You’re outgoing hence sociable… I’m not sociable and you could teach me a lot,
There’s a lot I wanna tell you but as an introvert I have to reserve some for my self,
But I’ll write about it,
About how I thought you were the one,
How I always checked if you had texted me every morning,
How I’ve pictured the both of us crossing streets of Nairobi hand in hand,
How I’ve pictured us sited next to each other on a bus with so many empty seats,
How I’ve postponed dropping by your workplace almost every morning,
How I’ve thought your name could really match well with my middle name,
How my pulse beats with the sounds of your name every time I think of calling you,
The way I’ve fallen for you is not normal for humanoids like us,
That nigga Cupid shot an arrow through my heart and it’s now wounded by affection for you, 🌹,
You have the antidote but the pain sometimes makes it feel good so I wanna keep it,
I want to keep you but you don’t wanna stay,
My soul now feels like a ghost town,
The light that you shone on this heart is off and others can’t get in now,
What do I do to get the trust,
What do I do to stop pissing you off,
What do I do with this sprinkle of anxiety,
I’ll spend eaon writing about you,
Of how close I was,
To get what mama always asked me to take home,
A girl who’s a complete package,
From generosity, wisdom, patience and knows how to cook…
Now tell me you’ll tag along,
Now tell me I’m not circling in the desert,
Looking for an oasis that is you,
Tell me I’m not in a love triangle,
Tell me why you’re holding back,
Tell me where I’m miscalculating,
Tell me,
Tell me in deep details,
Tell me as we stare under the street lights in a quiet night,
Tell me on the rooftop as the stars stare enviously at your eyes,
Quench this thirst…
Cause I’m about to drain all my emotions, 🌹 | https://medium.com/geezer-speaks/dear-crush-30b184c2ce78 | ['Emanuel Mwangi'] | 2017-09-06 15:46:25.959000+00:00 | ['Poetry', 'Crush', 'Writing', 'Poetry On Medium', 'Love'] |
What Language Should You Learn For Data Science In 2021? | Python
A new programmer in most fields, whether Dev-Ops, software-engineering, or even web-development might want to start learning how to program in the Python programming language. Not only is Python a diverse programming language with a lot of capabilities outside of Data Science, it is also likely one of the best around for high-level Data Analysis.
With packages like Pandas, SkLearn, Tensorflow, Keras, NumPy, and so many more, Python’s ecosystem topples that of most competitors. That being said, while some might prefer the syntax of other languages, it is hard to argue with just the shear amount of packages available for this programming language! Fortunately, the solution for many languages like R and Julia have packages for calling Python packages, usually with C as both are LLVM-based and share a similar architecture with C in-terms of compilers.
Other than that, Python has fantastic numerical packages. A great example of this is NumPy, of course, which is a go-to package for linear algebra in Python. Pandas is also great for handling data, and in my personal opinion is somewhat unrivaled in terms of user-friendliness. If you’d like to get familiar with some cool Pandas tricks, I have an article where I talk about some of my favorites you can check out here:
The biggest disadvantage to Python is certainly going to speed. However, given that Python is interpreted by an LLVM-based language, C, it will be universally extensible among other languages that use this compiler library. This is what gives Python the real edge over R, and can pin it pretty close to other, sometimes lower-level, programming languages. This is certainly a great advantage for Python, as rather than acting like an interpreted scripting language, it acts more like an application programming interface (API) for C-based module calls.
R
Among the most popular choices for Data Science languages is the R programming. R is a great programming language that is different in paradigm to a lot of other languages that most programmers use, and will certainly teach a lot with that paradigm. R also has a great ecosystem for Data Science.
While Python has over 200,000 registered packages — a lot more than R, R is by nature meant to be a more statistically-oriented language. That being said, R has a lot of venerable and proven tools available such as gleam and ggplot2. There are also a lot more great packages that have originated in R and are now expanded to various programming languages and packages.
R’s biggest downside is probably going to be its speed. While Python is certainly not a very fast language, its interpretation by C makes it incredibly viable to run C code as Python modules. That being said, more analytical and visualization-based Data Scientists certainly could prefer the declarative, functional syntax of R while still compiling fully-built applications. If the reason to use R is not to use it professionally, or deploy it into production, then it could certainly still serve as a prominent learning experience.
Recently in Data Science, R has certainly taken a back-seat to Python. I think the reasons are certainly valid and I certainly love both languages for their capabilities in different aspects. Both are certainly worth picking up. If you’d like to read another article about R and Python’s popularity compared, I wrote one you could check out!:
While R is a great language for statistics, data-analysis, and machine-learning, it is not without its problems. Of course, the elephant in the room is going to be the speed of the language. Some Data Scientists also never need to run thread-hungry machine-learning algorithms. That being said, there are ways that R can still be worked with for just about anything in Data Science, though likely not without some issue. However, if you are like me and obsessed with machine-learning as well, a newer programming language, Julia, which is a compiled JIT language revered for its speed.
Julia
If there is one thing I can certainly say I am excited about in regard to the future of machine-learning, it is without a doubt the Julia programming language and its respective ecosystem. Julia is a high-performance compiled programming language that uses multiple dispatch as a paradigm. Julia is a programming language that can take the simple handling of types that programmers are used to in typical programming languages, and turn it completely on its head. If you’d like to learn more about how I came to fall in love with this programming language, I have a detailed expression of my love given in this wonderful article here:
Julia’s biggest advantage to its competitors is certainly speed. While Julia is a language with a focus on the perfect paradigm for mathematical computing, it goes without saying that speed was part of that equation. Julia’s speed can often rival C, and this is something that is revered by many in the Data Science community as a potential reason to adopt it.
That being said, I think something that is also underrated about Julia is how the language treats its paradigm. It is an enjoyable language to write because the language itself is never in the way of the arithmetic a programmer might be trying to articulate. Furthermore, Julian code is written quite similarly to the syntax of regular mathematics, making it especially viable for us science nuts.
The biggest hindrance to picking up the Julia language for 2021 is certainly going to be the ecosystem. While being able to write your own algorithms is great, there are only so many hours in a day and sometimes open-source developers have already written great implementations of certain things into other programming languages. That being said, there are some exciting packages worth checking out for the Julia language! Here is an overview of my favorite libraries for both machine-learning and data-visualization, likely two of the most difficult things that a language needs to do for Data Science.
Julia is great because not only is it a fast language to compile, it is also fast to write. While the speed and compilation of Julia might fascinate others, some scientific programmers might be very interested in Julia’s syntax. Julia uses multiple dispatch as a paradigm. This means that anything in Julia from function calls to types and expressions are automatically “ lambdified” using the assertion operator, =. For those who aren’t familiar with the lambda expression in other languages, it allows for variables to be called into a function just by creating an expression. This is what Julia does out of the box, always. If you’d like to learn more about Lambda in Python, I have an article on that, as well!
On top of that awesomeness is the elephant in the room I touched on a moment ago:
Speed.
Of course, Julia is well-known for its speed. Julia uses JIT, or Just In Time, compilation, which allows the language to be compiled at execution. This means that there is firstly less up-time for the compiler to get started, and secondly, types can be handled incredibly dynamically. This can even be iterated upon with different Julia code for even more speed by letting the compiler know what sort of types to prepare for. If you are interested in learning this language, I am right now working on a really cool set of comprehensive software-engineering, Data Science, and general programming tutorials, which you can view the first of here:
Scala
Another interesting programming language that is well-known for its speed is Scala. While Scala used to be the big-data analytics tool for most machine-learning engineers, it has recently been taking a seat further and further away from the front row as newer solutions work it out. That being said, while not understanding Scala or Java might not be as valuable as it was for Data Science ten years ago, knowledge of Hadoop and Spark is certainly great and will translate into knowledge of other server architectures and packages for other languages, such as PySpark.
That being said, while I have used Scala a lot less than expected in my day-to-day work, not all jobs are the same — and Scala is certainly a great programming language to have under your belt. The biggest problems that effect Scala are primarily time, and the lack of modernization for dependencies. A lot of times with Science, dependencies can really become a mess. With languages like Python and Julia, the package managers might be a little too spoiling with their abilities, and sometimes things just aren’t as simple with Scala.
The biggest hindrance to Scala is probably adoption. Scala has slowly but surely become less and less popular. This I think is partially attributed to the rise of analytics, and rapid development of machine-learning ecosystems recently. While Scala might still be used somewhat sparingly for working with big-data, this seems to be very rapidly changing — which is exciting. I wrote an article a while back about how the Julia language could be a potential replacement for Scala that might interest those who like this topic:
C++
The last language that I would consider for Data Science this year is C++. While C++ is often not thought of in the same harmony with Data Science as something like Python, it is a venerable and proven language with over 14 years of development behind it. There are several reasons you might want to use C++, but there are also certainly some reasons not to consider using C++ for Data Science in particular.
The biggest reason for this is because C++ by nature is a relatively imperative language that will require a lot more state and memory management than working with something more declarative, like Python. That being said, for experimentation C++ is probably not the language I would use — as it is statically-typed and could cause some pretty big annoyances when it comes to processing data.
That being said, while C++ might not be the best language to use for experimentation and analysis, there are some compelling libraries in the ecosystem that might draw the attention of any machine-learning engineer. There are several great examples to mention, such as Shogun, MLPack, OpenCV, and all of the typical ports that one might find in the languages on this last like Tensorflow, for example. Furthermore, C++ is naturally a lot faster of a language compared to options like Python and R. This means that algorithms built with C++ code and the C++ ecosystem will often run significantly faster than its competitors.
Believe it or not, C++ is actually quite a popular language in machine-learning. This is especially true with more data pipeline/model-based Data-Science work that might be shared amongst a large team. This is for the same reason that the language is not as good for analysis projects, as often many programmers might be working towards the same goal more frequently together.
The biggest hindrance to the C++ language right now is probably adoption. While C++ does certainly have a whole array of packages one could select something, debugging or solving issues might actually prove to be surprisingly difficult. C++ is easily one of the best languages that you can pick up today in-terms of versatility, but with the naturally more declarative (and mathematical) abilities of other languages, this might not be a great choice for Data Analytics exclusively. This is certainly something that is going to depend on the person, and to be clear — C++ might not want to be the first language for Data Science you could learn.
On the other hand, there are a lot of great advantages to working with the C++ language. There are a lot of great things that the language is capable of that aren’t really found in a lot of other places! If you’d like to get started with C++ ASAP, a great place to start is linear algebra. Luckily, I have written a tutorial on using XTensor, C++’s NumPy equivalent, that you could get started with here:
Conclusion
In the year 2021, Data Scientists are incredibly spoiled for options. While most of the industry has moved to Python, it is fortunate that Python is not the only programming language and/or ecosystem available. R has of course been around a long time as well, and would be another great option in language. Furthermore, the new up-and-coming Julia’s ecosystem and user-base has really boomed over the past year, making Julian ML, stats, and analytics a lot more viable.
Furthermore, there are still hundreds of thousands of different jobs that are desperately searching for Scala, C, and C++ developers — especially with DS/ML skills. That being said, I think that all of these languages are certainly viable choices!
So which of these great languages should you choose to pick-up or do DS/ML with in 2021? The answer of course will almost universally depend on the skills that you need to practice and experience. C++ is probably going to be a lot harder than learning something like Python, R, or even Julia. Scala is also not as easy as some other languages, but those with experience in a Java-based programming language might find the language appealing. Those with no experience at all might also want to start with a querying framework, like SQL.
To conclude, of course there are a lot of really cool languages and tools that we have for Data Science in this year. Hopefully this year is better than 2020, and hopefully any Data Science resolutions made on new years to learn might come true, as well. Who knows, maybe that could be a language on this list? Thank you for reading, and happy New Years! | https://towardsdatascience.com/what-language-should-you-learn-for-data-science-in-2021-fdeebb88d6e | ['Emmett Boudreau'] | 2020-12-28 23:11:13.782000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Python', 'Data Science', 'R', 'Programming'] |
Understanding MapReduce | A Programming Model: MapReduce
Of course, MapReduce is much more complicated than the two functions above, even though they share some of the same core ideas.
MapReduce is a programming model and framework for processing big data sets in distributed servers, running the various tasks in parallel.
It is a technology that was invented to solve big data problems. Nowadays, the data volume is so huge that we cannot solve it on one server.
The whole idea of MapReduce is a split-apply-combine strategy. We split the big data set into multiple parts and process them parallelly on multiple servers, then combine the result with all outputs from servers.
Let’s make an analogy. We have a lot of ingredients. After the procedure of shredding and recombining, we make a lot of sandwiches:
Figure 2 from Ryan Eberhardt.
Typically, MapReduce ’s users will implement the map and reduce functions, and the framework will call them on a large cluster of machines.
In practice, except for map and reduce , there are some other processing stages in the whole procedure, including split , combine , shuffle , sort , etc.
Suppose we want to count the numbers of each word from a very big piece of content. We split the file into three sub-files, finish the word counting task in each server, use the words as keys for shuffling, and finally combine the results from the same key.
Figure 3 from DreamShutter.
The framework will also support redundancy and fault tolerance since errors may happen in any server. In the original implementation of Google, they use the architecture of the master-worker pattern. The master node will assign jobs to workers and maintain their status.
The master pings every worker periodically. If no response is received from a worker in a certain amount of time, the master marks the worker as failed. Then it reschedules the job for anther healthy worker. | https://medium.com/better-programming/understanding-mapreduce-303c02fcbd9 | ['Coder S Cat'] | 2020-09-28 15:48:13.939000+00:00 | ['Programming', 'Functional Programming', 'Software Development', 'Distributed Systems', 'Google'] |
Solving Common Data Structure Questions Using Python | According to Wikipedia, Data are the quantities, characters or symbols on which operations are performed by a computer which may be stored and transmitted in the form of electrical signals and recorded on magnetic, optical or mechanical recording media.
So, data needs to be managed in such a way so that it can produce some meaningful information. And that is why, we use data structures.
A data structure is the systematic way to organize data, so that it can be used efficiently.
Linear data structure — In this type of data structures, all the elements are arranged one after the other (i.e., sequential order). For example — Stack, Queue, linked lists, Arrays etc.
Non-Linear data structure —In this type of data structures, all the elements are not arranged in a sequential order. For example — Tree, Graph etc.
Static data structure — Here, the memory is allocated at the compile time. It provides faster access to the elements stored in it. But, the insertion and deletion is slow. For example — Arrays.
Dynamic data structure — Here, the memory is allocated at the run time. The insertion and deletion of elements is faster. But accessing the elements is slower. For example — Linked lists.
Now, we’ll solve some common data structure problems using python.
Problem 1
Write a program to find the number of trailing zeroes in N!.
For example:
5! = 120 (trailing zeroes = 1)
10! = 3628800 (trailing zeroes = 2)
Approach to the problem
First of all, we’ll calculate the factorial of the number using iteration. Then, we’ll divide the factorial by 10. If we get remainder as 0, we’ll then divide the factorial by 100. If, again, we get the remainder as 0, we’ll then divide the factorial by 1000. That is how we’ll divide the factorial with 10000, 100000, and so on, if we keep on getting remainder as 0. But if, at any time, we get remainder as non-zero, we’ll break out of the loop. So, the number of time the loop got executed will be the number of trailing zeroes.
Program
Outputs
Problem 2
Write a program for modular exponentiation.
` Result = (m^n)%p
For example:
(2³)%3 = 2
(5²)%2 = 1
Approach to the problem
The problem looks very simple to solve. But if we follow the traditional method, the value of x^y will grow very fast. To mitigate this problem, we’ll use a property.
For our case, we have (m^n)%p . So, it can also be written as -
Program
Outputs
Problem 3
You are given an array of integers from 1 to N in any order, that has one entry missing and you need to find it out with the help of a program.
For example:
array = [5,2,4,1] => Output = 3
array = [3,2,4,1,6] => Output = 5
Approach to the problem
Method 1: We’ll sort the array in ascending order. Then, we’ll iterate over the array to find the missing term.
Method 2: We can find the sum of the input array and then subtract it from the sum of first N natural numbers. The result will be the missing term.
Program (Method 1)
Output
Program (Method 2)
Output
Problem 4
Given an array of size N. Write a program to find the minimum number of operation required to convert the given array to ‘Palindromic Array’. The array [2,1,2] is a ‘Palindromic Array’ but [2,0,1] is not.
The only allowed operation is that you can merge first two elements of the array and replace them with their sum.
For example:
Input array : [1,2,3,1,6]
Operation1:
1+2 = 3 => array = [3,3,1,6] => Not in palindrome
Operation 2:
3+3 = 6 => array = [6,1,6] => Palindrome.
Output: Total operations = 2
Program
Output
Problem 5
Given an array of integers. Find the length of the longest subsequence such that elements in the sub-sequence are consecutive integers, the consecutive numbers can be in any order in the array.
For example:
Input: [3,2,4,1,7,10,6,11]
Output: Length of longest sub-sequence = 4
Approach to the problem
Input — [3,2,4,1,7,10,6,11]
Sort the array — [1,2,3,4,6,7,10,11]
Iterate over this array and check the difference between each two consecutive array. If it is 1, then copy the elements as it is to another array. If it is not 1, then insert a blank space.
New array — [1,2,3,4,’ ’,6,7,’ ’,10,11]
Now iterate over this new array and count the number of elements before the blank spaces and store them in a dictionary.
Then, find the largest value stored in the dictionary.
Output — 4
Program
Output
Problem 6
You are given an N x N 2D matrix. Write a program to rotate the matrix by 90 degrees (clockwise) without using an additional array.
For example: | https://medium.com/python-in-plain-english/solving-common-data-structure-questions-using-python-e55e76345de3 | ['Souvik Paul'] | 2020-12-20 14:48:14.914000+00:00 | ['Algorithms', 'Data Structures', 'Programming', 'Software Development', 'Python'] |
Abzu’s artificial intelligence is fighting false news | Abzu’s artificial intelligence is fighting false news
The artificial intelligence applied research startup identifies false news with its proprietary QLattice
In the latest Reuters Institute Digital News Report, less than four in ten people said that they trust most news most of the time (that’s 38% surveyed in January 2020, a fall of four percentage points from 2019)¹. Imagine the numbers today.
Today’s global crises make it all too obvious the necessity for dependable and factual journalism, yet we are exposed to a continuum of information authored by innumerable sources with debatable credentials. Slaves to our most basic emotions — fear, disgust, and surprise² — we are inflamed by an addictive negative feedback loop of our own creation.
We crave the truth, but data shows we force-feed ourselves lies. That’s why it’s so exciting that artificial intelligence paired with a media marketplace could save us from our own humanity.
By any definition, it’s dishonesty
The 7 types of fake news from First Draft, who works to protect communities across the world from harmful information.
Claire Wardle of First Draft describes seven types of fake news³, ranging from accidental to insidious. The Council of Europe defines it as three “notions”: dis-information, mis-information, and mal-information⁴.
By any definition, no matter how nuanced the spectrum of intent, false news is dishonesty. And although the why behind the creation is integral to understanding the misinformation ecosystem, the what — simply the ability to identify content as true or false — is highly difficult for humans.
And what is most worrisome is the increasing global effect of false news over our political, economic, and social well-being.
“Fake news is not a problem of potential swing voters being misled. It reflects the potential for people on the extremes to be trapped in echo chambers that aren’t just reinforcing their opinions, but providing them with false and misleading factual claims that seem to reinforce those opinions².”
Make a list of possible rabble-rousers and their intentions — rogue nationalities, organized activists, propagandists, trolls, or excitable grandparents — the devil is in the dissemination, not the details.
Don’t blame the bot
A study done by Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy, and Sinan Aral in 2018 found that “robots accelerated the spread of true and false news at the same rate, implying that false news spreads more than the truth because humans, not robots, are more likely to spread it.”
Their research found that falsehoods travel six times faster, on average, than truth. And although falsehoods outpaced the truth on every subject, the pace for politics was unparalleled².
This Facebook ad from the Trump campaign used an image of protesters and police officers in Ukraine from 2014 ostensibly as a depiction of US protestors.
When campaigns use incorrect imagery with the intent to sway and shock, as a new ad for President Trump’s reelection campaign did to reinforce the presence of “chaos & violence” in the US, they prey on our natural tendency towards sensationalism.
Exactly how the intensity of emotional reactions induced by a story influences human behavior requires more study, but we do know that content which arouses greater fear, disgust, and surprise compels individuals to share farther, faster, and deeper².
If a human brain can’t evaluate a story’s veracity, especially under emotional duress, two Danish growth startups, Abzu and Byrd, wondered if a robot brain could.
Turns out, Abzu’s proprietary QLattice — a new artificial intelligence technology — through Byrd’s platform — a media marketplace for news outlets — can rate the truthiness of content very, very well.
Abzu’s proprietary AI identifies false news
Byrd is a leading breaking news and content platform that connects news outlets with photographers and videographers in real time through their Byrd Breaking marketplace. Abzu is an artificial intelligence applied research startup with a pioneering, explainable and transparent machine learning technology inspired by quantum mechanics and neural networks.
Together, these Danish startups have built a solution that automatically detects, and flags, falsified content in breaking news, rating media with a probability score of trustworthiness.
Abzu and Byrd are delivering near real-time verification on breaking news.
Each story and corresponding media undergo a machine learning verification process that captures the majority of false content, even as news breaks. If the artificial intelligence is uncertain, Byrd manually verifies content.
The transparent and explainable graph-based models from Abzu allow Byrd to precisely understand what inputs have been used to determine if content has been falsified. This means that Abzu’s transparent and explainable AI models allow Byrd to understand specifically why content was flagged as false, no matter the intent behind the falsification.
Once the what — the ability to identify content as true or false — has been taken out of our sweaty and clumsy human hands and put into a robot’s capable and steady algorithms, then the why behind false news creation can be explored.
This will empower journalists and the news media to explore and tell stories more thoroughly, accurately, and confidently. In a world of increasing instability, that is the kind of data-driven decision making that creates transformational industry leaders.
What a time to be a̵l̵i̵v̵e̵ dead inside
It’s vital for media networks to ensure stories are true and trustworthy. Mortal extremes exacerbate our consumption of and attitude towards news media, and we don’t need another crisis or election to remind us how susceptible we are to conspiracies and misinformation.
False news is an increasing global “infodemic” precisely because journalists — professional rationalists in emotional storms — no longer govern journalism. Greater access to social media and other platforms used to circulate news provides greater access to a wider range of sources and “alternative facts”.
But Abzu and Byrd see a different future: one where journalists and the news media can identify the trustworthiness of content with conviction, and can navigate the news ecosystem to a more transparent and trustworthy place.
“Our photographers are a crucial source of information, and we need to identify anyone trying to bring distrust into the media flow. With Abzu, we have been able to identify the majority of falsified news and also understand the reasons why stories are being falsified. It has given us another tool to fight fake news — and this tool applies itself.” Mikkel Reymann Stephensen, co-founder of Byrd
When falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted than the truth², how can humans preserve a news ecosystem that values and promotes accuracy? By introducing a little cold rationality to the environs; an artificially intelligent ally to save us from our own humanity. | https://medium.com/abzuai/abzus-artificial-intelligence-is-fighting-false-news-625b5d50be42 | ['Elyse Sims'] | 2020-09-11 08:42:29.779000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Technology', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Data Journalism'] |
Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money: Prospering During the Covid-19 Pandemic | I Took Advantage of the Rent/Mortgage Moratorium
Within two weeks of the national recognition of the Coronavirus outbreak, negotiations for my latest book deal broke down. My assigned editor was let go, along with thirty percent of the publisher’s staff, and all new business halted. Soon, word of massive layoffs in hundreds of industries across the country spread like wildfire. We were headed for a severe economic crisis, and as a woman who works best under pressure, I went into crisis mode.
As a source of new income was taken off the table for me, I moved to protect my existing income and savings. With the future so unknown, I figured I’d better make sure my family and I could survive over the next few years whether we made another dime or not. After all, historically, pandemics have been known to rage for as many as two years! So, with the worst-case scenario in mind, I took advantage of Federal and State rent and mortgage moratoriums while staying in full contact and conversation with our landlord, and stopped monthly payments for our home, saving thousands of dollars each month. Thankfully, our landlord was kind and understanding throughout the entire ordeal as they were also able to access economic injury funding during the crisis. We were all truly in this together.
My experience as a homeowner during the housing market crash of 2008 taught me that credit bureaus create credit markers for times of national crises, and whatever related debts that accrue during these times will not affect one’s creditworthiness or credit score. Debts such as unpaid mortgages and rents or foreclosures, for instance, may appear on credit reports for a few weeks or months but will fall off on their own never to be mentioned again. Besides, this guy can help you legally remove just about anything from your credit, while educating you on how credit works, for just $50. Anyway, to back-up my housing crisis experience, I was told by an associate at Rental Kharma that indeed, credit markers from all three credit bureaus have been in place for renters and homeowners since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent economic and housing crisis.
I Paid Down and Consolidated Debt
Next, I took a look at our monthly household bills and began illuminating unnecessary financial obligations. I paid off all our credit cards with balances under $10,000. Within thirty days, my “great” credit became “excellent,” and I was ready for my next move. With my new excellent rating, I applied with my credit union for a consolidation loan that would consolidate a credit card, which had a balance over $10,000 at a rate of 19.99%, and a small personal loan under $10,000 with an interest rate of 11.99%. That new loan was awarded to me at 9.99%, saving thousands in interest.
I Changed My Business Structure and Look
Immediately, all of my performance coaching clients left me, and I completely understood. We were all just trying to figure it out and prepare for the future, hoping there’d be one. I also saw an immediate halting of new student sign-ups to my money-making membership course and an overall reduction in old and new business. I was so preoccupied with keeping my family safe and trying to find toilet paper that I didn’t care. It was every man for himself, and I was more focused on setting myself and my family up for success in the future than trying to get blood from a turnip. So, instead of trying to woo my clientele back at a time when everyone was in crisis mode, I took this time to revamp my businesses so that I could come back newer and stronger when the time was right. Here’s how I did that:
Rebuilt my website and my online school on updated and new platforms.
Rebranded with new logos, fonts, and colors.
Cut back on available offers and services to make things simpler for my clients and me.
Better automated and simplified my website and online school so that clients and students wouldn’t need me as much.
Wrote and published a book to help clients who weren’t ready to come back to coaching, so that they’d still have guidance in the interim.
Changed my pricing tiers, making my money-making membership course more accessible to those who needed help starting membership or subscription services as quickly as possible after being furloughed or permanently let go from their jobs. I also made one-on-one performance coaching pricier for new clients since selling my time during the crisis is more taxing than ever before.
I Applied for an EIDL Loan from the SBA
With my businesses losing money daily, I applied for and received a sizeable Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the Small Business Association. With this loan, this year’s financial losses aren’t losses at all, and the low-interest rate of 3.75% over thirty years makes it a breeze to pay back in far less time than the term allows. Still very cautious about the future, I tucked that money into the business’ savings account until I was ready to rebuild my business, which I wouldn’t do until the completion of the next step.
I Lowered My Bills Significantly
With a few years’ worth of personal and business savings, my debts paid off and consolidated, and my business reorganized , it was time to lower our bills all around. So, I reduced our living costs by thousands each month by moving my family into a less pricey neighborhood where we were able to find new construction, more nature, less people, and fewer coronavirus cases. Though we’re paying less, it’s quite the upgrade! It’s worth noting that I was sure not to use any EIDL funds for our personal move and decided not to relocate the business, just to be sure I am in complete compliance with the rules of the loan. So, if you have or will apply for the EIDL, be sure to keep their guidelines in mind when making plans to relocate.
I was also able to lower my business costs by cutting back on the company’s SaaS (Subscription as a Service) expenses, such as our web host and builder, and our marketing, membership, and online school software. I lowered some subscription plans and completely let go of others. This way, when my clients returned, there would be less overhead and more profit. Lowering the business’s monthly expenses also allowed me to change the pricing on automated offerings, so it was a win-win for everyone.
I Ended Relationships That Caused Strife
On a personal note, the pandemic has made me feel more comfortable ending relationships with people that I always knew were unequally yoked with me. These days, “I don’t have time for this shit” has taken on a whole new meaning and finality. We are in the middle of a goddamn crisis, and I don’t have the capacity for people who pander in complacency or complaining, silliness or sadness. Now more than ever, I brook no bullshit and have shown more than a handful of friends and associates the proverbial door. This has brought me an insane amount of peace and space to focus on what’s really important to my family and me.
I Cry Daily
Whether it happens at the end of the day or right smack-dab in the middle of a Zoom meeting, you can find me crying at some point during the day. The state of the world-at-large is just frigging sad, and there are vents in my personal life that make me emotional, as well. Sometimes, I cry because I’m grateful to be alive when so many have died, and sometimes I’m frustrated by the fact that I can’t do everything I want to do right now, like belly-up to the bar, order a beer, and shoot the shit with my favorite bartender. Sometimes, I don’t know why I’m crying, but I know I need to, and when I’m finished, I feel better. Still, I don’t wallow in my feelings. For me, it’s important to let them pass through me, to let them go, and to keep moving forward. Although it may feel like it sometimes, especially now, the world doesn’t stop for a broken heart. Prospering during a pandemic has been a delicate balance of feeling and doing, and though I find myself tipping the scales once in a while, maintaining that balance has been most advantageous.
I Bought a Spin® Cycle
I miss my indoor cycling class, and even though they’ve found ways to carry-on without me (like outdoor classes), I’m just not willing to take the chance of infection so that I can pedal in place for an hour! Plus, given the current financial climate, I am no longer interested in spending nearly $200 a month the sweat and breathe heavily in close proximity to other people. So, I bought a Spin® Cycle for under $400 and stared taking free classes with instructors I found on YouTube, like Gabriella Guevara and Kristina Girod. Not being able to go to the gym or take a class was tough on me, but with my new indoor cycle and free instructional videos on YouTube, I’m able to release a lot of the tension and anxiety I feel. Plus, I’ve lost ten pounds! | https://lilibetovesen.medium.com/send-lawyers-guns-and-money-f5e75d4f9f35 | ['Elisabeth Ovesen'] | 2020-09-14 00:05:33.518000+00:00 | ['Mental Health', 'Self Improvement', 'Advice', 'Life Lessons', 'Inspiration'] |
Twinkle and Ezra Need You to Get Your White Men | BY TWINKLE BURKE and EZRA HUBBARD
TWINKLE
I’m not a teacher or a nurse, but I often play one on TV. See — producers and writers like to cast women of color as nurturers — teachers and nurses being the most popular forms in the acting world. Like the Modern Day Aunt Jemima — they are there to instruct and care-take.
This role seems to have permeated my life in the real world, as well. White people seem to gravitate to me for caretaking, instruction, and nurturing regardless of our relationship. I’ve begun to really look at all of the spaces and times where I’ve been forced into that role.
Twinkle and her son Ezra.
I don’t have an issue with it at work — it’s a gig — a well sometimes paying high profile gig that keeps me in the union and health insurance for my family. But privately — it feels as if the world — the white world — still expects women of color in general and me, in particular, to instruct or caretake, no matter where or when.
Like the time I’m sitting in a Red Lobster® in Hickory, NC, with my husband and our two-year-old son, Ezra. We are here visiting my husband’s family because my father-in-law, Ted, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I am truly weary — from caring for my 2-year-old while performing some emotional heavy lifting for my husband and deflecting my husband’s mother and 2 sisters' racist microaggressions.
I am wife weary. Mother weary. Race weary. Weary weary. And I refuse to cook in my mother in laws house for fear she’ll attack the kitchen with air freshener again. Apparently, the smells of flavor are offensive. All of these circumstances bring us to be sitting in a noisy back room of the Red Lobster, where I am acutely aware of being the only brown face in the place.
Not even the busboys or barbacks are people of color. I can feel everyone keeping me in their peripheral vision.
No matter. My off duty sign is lit. I’m not carrying the burden of race for anyone. I reach across the table and hand Ezra a cheddar Bay biscuit and look at my husband. He’s wiped out too, but we are finding respite in this crustacean chain restaurant. That’s when I notice him — a white man that looks to be almost a century old, staring at me. I look around. Yup — he’s staring at me. I offer a wan smile, and his blue eyes dance with intrigue. I tuck back into my salad only to see him teetering towards our table. What is he doing?
“Hello,” he says, towering over my child — “is he yours?” He waves his wrinkled hand over Ezra’s head and positions himself next to Ezra.
I am stunned. What could he possibly want? Brad instinctively puts his arm around Ezra in his high chair.
“Excuse me?” Brad says in his soft southern drawl.
He is ever the Southern gentleman, who will never raise his voice in public as he politely tells you to go ‘F___ yourself”.
“Is this child yours?”
“Yes, he is our son,” Brad says.
“Oh, good!” The man says as he pulls the chair out beside Ezra.
I look over Ezra’s head at this man’s family, who are silently observing this intrusion.
“Come and get your old white man!” I am saying telepathically to the 40 something-year-old sons. Come. And. Get. Him.
“Come and get him NOW!”
But it doesn’t work. The son turns his attention back to his Surf and Turf without giving me another glance.
Here is the height of white entitlement — believing it’s okay to come and sit, uninvited, at my table and demand that I stop nurturing my family and teach you something,
It reminds me of when a white homeschool mom says that the “Hate” in the young adult novel “The Hate U Give” is fake.
I tell her the hate is not fake, that it’s all too real. When she puts her chin in her hands, elbows on the table, and, in her school girl stance, says, “Teach me,” I say ‘No.” I turn away and shut her down.
“NO, I will not teach you,” I tell the homeschool mom.
“So — being an interracial couple, I’d like you to answer something for me,” the old man says.
My eyes shoot daggers into this man. Answer what??!? Can’t I eat?
“My nurse, she’s a colored woman like yourself,” he continues, spittle falling from his lips, “and she says that when the woman is older in a mixed couple, the child always ends up being a male. Are you older than him?” He tosses his head in Brad’s direction.
It has me thinking, is this my job? Is it the burden of responsibility for me and other people of color to teach white people? Haven’t we done enough?
“I beg your pardon?” I say. I am seething. I extend my arms across the table in Ezra’s direction. He reaches for me.
“My nurse is from the Caribbean, and she said that if you’re older than the male, the offspring will be male. I just want to test the theory.”
What the F___???!?
Look, I’m not a nurse or a teacher, I play one on TV, but I am about to teach this older man so hard he’s going to need a nurse.
I look at this man’s family again. I can tell they are listening to this exchange, but since I haven’t stabbed great-grandpa with a steak knife, they assume he’s safe and make no attempt to intervene.
“Sir,” I tensely let slip through my teeth, “I assure you that your nurse’s theory is just that, a theory, or some old wives tale from whatever Caribbean island she’s from.”
“Oh, no! She told me it’s the truth! She’s seen it happen time and time again. So I want to know if you are older than the father?”
I don’t remember what Brad said to get him to leave. I was beyond words and just wanted the racist, ignorant fool away from my son. I do remember him teetering back to his table and my ears becoming hot.
Why did this man think it was ok to interrupt our meal? To take a seat at our table? To interrogate me and expect instruction?
I realize that being Black means a lot of different things. It’s choosing not to be a nurturing Mammy; to embrace Betye Saar’s machine-gun-toting Aunt Jemima archetype. It’s the declaration that I’ll nurture you on my time in my way IF I want.
Being Black is understanding that sometimes, a lot of times, ALL the time, I don’t need to talk about my Blackness. Black people don’t sit behind closed doors talking about our Blackness.
There ARE other topics, and because we are talking — it’s Black talking.
Being Black is so much more than any preconceived notions that I cannot define what it means because it just IS.
It’s the Sun and the Moon and the stars. It’s loving my white husband. It’s driving my car. It’s loving James Taylor and Lyle Lovett and not responding to you when you ignorantly say, “What are YOU doing listening to that?”
It’s not denying any part of me that wants to do anything, go anywhere, be anywhere. It’s not having to teach you about Being Black because you’ve dug your head in the sand for 40 plus years.
Recently, my new favorite line is “I’m auditioning to be a nurse — cause I’m a Black Woman!” Everyone laughs and then thinks about it.
Being Black is not one thing. It’s EVERYTHING and sometimes nothing at all. Nothing, as in. It’s a cool breeze. It’s sunlight on the leaves and water. It’s everything and nothing at all. Get it? You can’t have it. | https://medium.com/black-stories-matter/twinkle-and-ezra-need-you-to-get-your-white-men-8f28b4dc0962 | ['Tmi Project'] | 2020-12-23 13:02:21.153000+00:00 | ['Race', 'Storytelling', 'Black Lives Matter'] |
Incompatible Dance of Imports and Patent Trends in Turkey — Patent Effect | As Turkey’s foreign trade statistics, We all know that import numbers are higher than export numbers and it is an important fact we are forced into closing this gap. Turkey is continuously in the foreign trade deficit and the current account deficit also triggers this vulnerability.
The total volume of imports of Turkey In 2016 is around 198 billion dollars. When we look at the distributions of import items, it is seen that‚ the largest eggs of the basket belong to the ‘manufacturing industry’. 84% of the total imports (approximately $ 168 billion) have occurred in product groups of the manufacturing industry category.
Graph 1 — The distribution of Turkey’s import rates occurred in 2016 (NACE classification)
The details are revealed when we have subdivided the imports occurred in the category of manufacturing industry. It is seen that ‘chemicals and chemical products’, ‘basic metals’, ‘machinery and equipment’, ‘motor vehicles’ and ‘computer-electronic products’ are the most of imported sub-groups of this main category. So this means that we are in a highly foreign-dependent position on providing main products and technologies because we have difficulties in developing medium-high level technologies in these 4 basic areas. It should also be noted that; these product groups with the highest import rates are taking place in the high and medium-high technology categories defined by the OECD, and in these categories; input-type products such as raw materials and semi-finished goods are playing an important role. The total import share of these products is more than 50%. In this case, we need more imports to produce and export more.
Graph 2 — Turkey’s import rates in 2016 (sub-groups which took place in manufacturing industry segment)
In case that Turkey imports the high majority of the products in the category of high and medium-high technologies group, is it possible to consider this data as an indication that Turkey has lack of power to develop technologies in these areas? Both yes and no.
Graph 3 — Sector classifications of Resident patent and utiliy model applications in 2016
We compared this result graph emerging from the import rates with the official statistical data and figures published by the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. It has been already known that Turkish industry has wide-range competences in the development of home appliances technologies. Resident patent and utility model applications (981) filed in 2016 also reveal this phenomenon. In 2016, the share of resident patent-utility model applications in the categories of ‘chemical and chemical products‘ and ‘motor vehicles‘ are the top-ranked classes in the total application pool of 2016. However, especially in the categories of pharmaceutical products, medicinal chemicals, chemical products; non-resident patent applications are much higher than resident patent applications in Turkey. We can clearly state that it is very important to review our new technology development strategies in these areas.
Graph 4 — Comparison of resident and non-resident patent/utility model applications filed in Turkey (2016)
WHAT CAN BE DONE? | https://medium.com/patenteffect/incompatible-dance-of-imports-and-patent-trends-in-turkey-patent-effect-d3cd0aea4d1a | ['Patent Effect'] | 2020-05-07 03:56:19.850000+00:00 | ['Export', 'Patents', 'Entrepreneurship', 'English'] |
Review: FractalNet (Image Classification) | 1. FractalNet Architecture
Fractal Architecture: A Simple Fractal Expansion (Left), Recursively Stacking of Fractal Expansion as One Block (Middle), 5 Blocks Cascaded as FractalNet (Right)
For the base case, f1(z) is the convolutional layer:
After that, the recursive fractals are:
where C is the number of columns as in the middle of the figure. The number of convolutional layers at the deepest path within a block will have 2^(C-1). In this case, C=4, thereby, the number of convolutional layers is 2³=8 layers.
For the join layer (green), element-wise mean is computed. It is not concatenation or addition.
With 5 blocks (B=5) cascaded as FractalNet at the right of the figure, then the number of convolutional layers at the deepest path within the whole network is B×2^(C-1), i.e. 5×2³=40 layers.
In between 2 blocks, 2×2 max pooling is done to reduce the size of feature maps. Batch Norm and ReLU are used after each convolution. | https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/review-fractalnet-image-classification-c5bdd855a090 | ['Sik-Ho Tsang'] | 2019-03-20 16:01:18.086000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Image Classification', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Deep Learning'] |
BubbleTone Messenger: Updated Version Released | The Bubbletone team is glad to announce that an updated version of the messenger was released on April 25 for Android and April 30 for iOS. The team fixed a number of nasty software bugs and implemented a number of noticeable improvements to make it possible for the app to run smoothly.
As the new version of the app is stable, its release has made future integration of the messenger with mobile operators that will be using the blockchain-based marketplace possible.
The team has fixed serious problems related to the Android version of the app. As for the iOS version, only the most urgent issues have been resolved. Our development team continues to search for bugs and fix them. We kindly ask those members of the community who are interested in the project development to download the application and test it thoroughly.
If you detect any bugs, please send information describing the found bugs and the phone model on which the application was installed and tested to our Telegram channel administrators. The administrators will compile a list of detected bugs and hand the document over to the development team. You can also express your opinion on the design and functionality of the messenger. It is thanks to your help that we will be able to greatly improve the application.
It is also worth mentioning that the web version of the app is scheduled for its release in Autumn 2019. In the web version of the messenger will be implemented most of the functions that are present in the mobile version, including calls to landline and mobile network phones.
The messenger is available on the App Store and Google Play:
About BubbleTone
Customized for the needs of mobile operators, the BubbleTone messenger provides operators with additional revenue streams on voice calls and SMS messages from the app and other telecom services. When it comes to end users, the app enables them to make calls to both landline and mobile network phones, as well as send SMS messages to mobile network phones, all straight from the app, regardless of the user’s location, saving them money. | https://medium.com/bubbletone-blockchain-in-telecom/bubbletone-messenger-updated-version-released-f1f4670b1d39 | ['Bubbletone Blockchain In Telecom'] | 2019-05-15 10:14:15.623000+00:00 | ['Mobile App Development', 'iOS', 'Mobile Application', 'Messenger', 'Android'] |
Stop Being Micromanaged | The Right Way to Work With a Micromanager
You can either be a wishful thinker and wait for your manager to change, or you can employ your critical thinking skills and take charge of your experience at work.
Look at things not as they are, but as they can be. Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn’t stuck with the present . — David J. Schwartz
Working with a difficult boss shouldn’t drive you crazy or make you succumb to their way of doing things.
Shift from problem to problem-solving and trigger a solution mindset by employing these practices to bring about a positive change in your relationship with your boss.
1. Reappraise their behaviour
Whenever your manager tries to micromanage you, instead of getting irritated or trying to resist the behaviour, take a step back and reassess it. Ask them questions that will help you understand their intention better.
Asking good open-ended questions to your manager with an intent to collaborate can provide them with an opportunity to look beyond themselves to how others perceive their actions. It can even help them to evaluate alternative ways of achieving the same outcomes.
If they are constantly asking for updates, engage with them by saying something like this: “I understand we need to deliver this project on time. I can assure you that I’m on top of this project. When and how would you like me to share updates and concerns? This twill help me organise my time better and focus on achieving our shared goals.”
When they’re involved in discussing minor details, humour them: “I think it will be a waste of your time to discuss these minor details and I hope you can trust me to take care of them. I would like to make effective use of your time by discussing other large areas where you may have concerns. What questions do you have that will be worth discussing now?”
By stating your intent clearly and using a positive tone, you can force them to think and act differently.
2. Establish standards
Reappraising behaviour is a more passive, in-the-moment approach. It can help you to shape desired behaviour whenever you notice your manager demonstrating micro-managerial tendencies.
However, an active approach involves establishing standards to align with the most effective ways to collaborate with your manager. Take some time to work out details in each of these areas for yourself, then set up some time with your manager to discuss them:
Establish goals . What do you need to achieve?
Clarify expectations. What does success look like individually and as a team? If your manager is a perfectionist, defining quality parameters in the beginning will help you align on the expected end state and avoid frustration and rework later.
Set boundaries. Make sure there are some decisions you can own completely,without your manager being involved. Use a positive tone and remind them of the value of their time if they want to be involved in all decisions.
Sharing progress. What does your manager need to know and why? What are the best mechanisms to share progress — when and how? Discuss potential downsides to sharing progress too often and how you can use that time to make progress on your work. Throw in the word “trust” multiple times in the discussion to remind them that you’re capable of handling the task.
Seeking help. Comfort them with the knowledge that you are going to reach out to them in case you are stuck on any task or need their help to make progress. Asking “who else can help” can provide them with an opportunity to recommend other team members who might be well suited to unblock. The idea is to shift their focus from “I need to be involved” to “who else can add value?”
Clarifying expectations sometimes takes a great deal of courage. It seems easier to act as though differences don’t exist and to hope things will work out than it is to face the differences and work together to arrive at a mutually agreeable set of expectations . — Stephen R. Covey
An active discussion like this will help you gain a better understanding of your managers’ mindset and a peek into what causes them to micromanage you.
By having such discussions regularly and constantly reminding them of the best ways to operate together, you can realign their tendencies to micromanage and help shift to more effective management.
3. Create an illusion of control
If your boss is a micromanager due to their need to feel in control, you can make things worse by taking that sense of control away from them.
Instead, by creating an illusion of control you can get the much-needed space without making them feel powerless.
Make them part of the change by helping them believe that it’s their own idea and show them how it will add value to the team. The language that you use plays a very important role in enabling this change. Shift from simply asking questions to seeking advice on specific issues:
I know you would like me to utilise my time effectively. I work best when I do three to four hours of focussed work without any distractions which involves no emails, messages etc. Do you have any suggestions on how I can achieve that at work and be more productive?
I’m trying to build my critical thinking skills by learning how to make effective decisions on my own. I know it takes time to build this skill, but I’m ready to face the challenges and take complete responsibility for the outcomes. I want to learn from my mistakes to do better next time. With your trust and support, I’m confident I will grow in this area and help the team with future responsibilities. From your experience, how do you suggest I go about building this skill?
4. Reinforce positive behaviour
Think of it this way — your boss is a human being too who needs feedback just like everyone else. Without this feedback coming from their own team members, they will have a hard time knowing when they are crossing the boundary from “helping their team” to “making them feel helpless.”
Reinforcing positive behaviour is a smart tactic used by all good managers to help employees understand which specific behaviours are useful. You can also employ it with your manager.
At first, it may be intimidating to think about critiquing your own manager, but you can do it with a little practice.
Whenever you see your boss do something that makes them an effective manager, call it out:
I really appreciate the trust that you showed on [….]. It helps me do […]
I was able to pull this project on time due to your support in […]
I was able to spend my time productively as we agreed upon by doing more of […] and less of […]
5. Open new lines of communication
Without making an effort to show that you care about your manager, their priorities and a willingness to contribute in a manner that helps them be successful in their role, anything that you say about their behaviour can potentially backfire.
Your manager may say that they are open to feedback and encourage criticism, but just like other human beings they will have a hard time connecting to reality without believing that you have their best interests at heart.
People almost never change without first feeling understood . — Douglas Stone
That comes from building trust . Take time out to understand your manager — what’s on their mind, what makes them stress out, and what do they really care about? This does not mean that you give in to their micromanager behaviour. It simply implies that you take an action only once you have spent sufficient time in learning about them better.
With time, you will know if they are open to criticism. Take the opportunity to talk to them about the specific behaviours, how they impact you and what changes can be done to help you work better together.
In some cases, discussing the specific issues with your manager’s boss may also help. But, you should do this only after you have made an effort and given sufficient time for things to improve.
In the end, the whole thing may be a flop. Some managers are indeed too difficult to work with and despite all your efforts, nothing may change. It’s best for you to decide if you should try to change your team or even consider an opportunity outside. | https://medium.com/better-programming/stop-being-micromanaged-d341c3838ab3 | [] | 2020-09-15 16:52:39.693000+00:00 | ['Personal Development', 'Management', 'Startup', 'Leadership', 'Self Improvement'] |
I’m the Local Freak | I’m the Local Freak
And I’m Not Freaking Out About It. Nor Should You.
“I’ve been wanting to meet you for so long, Bethany! You are welcome here!”
That’s the greeting I received from a truly beautiful person to whose holiday gathering I was invited. Her motherly welcome was genuine, and the festivities, the meal, and the people did not disappoint. ❤
At the local dental office, the dentist herself took me aside and said, “You don’t have to worry about being trans here. I can’t imagine what you go through with some people.” Her dental care was excellent and made good on her open-door promise to me. ❤
I know, I know—you probably think I’m gonna bitch about how awkward “woke” people can be in their embrace of my trans identity. Not at all. I am affirmed by people’s embrace of me and their sincere follow-through.
It Don’t Come Easy
That doesn’t mean such experiences are easy for me. I’d like to be welcomed for my simple presence as who I am, with no preamble as to why I’m so welcome, other than my having come to the party.
Yet … my presence isn’t simple. My other articles and upcoming memoir make clear that I neither apologize for being trans nor give cis folk a free pass. I’m also not glossing over the vilification and violence that we trans persons get from transphobes, TERFs, and other hateful assholes. Last, I’m not saying that all trans and non-binary folks ought to adopt my response as proscriptive.
Avoiding Me
Growing up, I did everything in my power to hide my self-perceived freakishness. Part of that chameleon motivation was self-preservation, but a large portion of it was simply the attempt to avoid being who I am.
Now I embrace the exhilaration of being me. Oh, the joy of realizing that what I mistook for freakishness is my one true liberty.
Embracing Me
Amid that exhilaration though, even my happy social interactions show that who I am freaks out cis people. I’m ironically now the novelty, the oddity, the carney-show exhibit that I’d previously, desperately avoided.
I am simply Bethany.
For me, being trans means not just embracing me as I am but also embracing everyone else’s encounter with the odd, the different. What we fear about ourselves as hideous, unclean, untouchable is dissipated with a simple “Yes! You and I are one. As I welcome you, I welcome me.”
A Condition of Complete Simplicity
Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean we easily do it.
I didn’t welcome this role for myself. Then again, I didn’t welcome being the Bethany I am until I’d exhausted every other alternative and nearly my life.
So I’m the local freak. And I’m okay with that.
Coda: Where Everybody Knows Your Name
It’s as simple as the pub I have the joy of going to multiple times a week, not just ’cuz it’s in my apartment building but because its owner, staff, and patrons welcome me in a way that, for decades, I simply found impossible.
As me.
To The Laureate Publick House in Loveland, Colorado, I love you.❤ | https://medium.com/the-transition-transmission/im-the-local-freak-7f3d768fd336 | ['Bethany Beeler', 'Author Artist'] | 2020-01-20 02:14:54.850000+00:00 | ['Self-awareness', 'Transphobia', 'LGBTQ', 'Transgender', 'Self Love'] |
A Chance to Be a Celebrity | A novel experience at a beauty contest
Photo by Jose Martinez on Unsplash
Announcement of a beauty contest
A beauty contest was going to be held in Hyderabad. Those selected from every city would then assemble in Mumbai and the final Miss India contest would be held.
I recall those days, I was young and smart. People found me charming, beautiful, and lively. My peer group said that I had peaches and cream complexion. I actually did not believe it.
A new neighbor moved in from Gujarat. They were very friendly with us and my mother was always helpful in giving her suggestions and ideas and often helping her to set up her new house.
Their surname was Shah and the lady’s name was Sudha. She was very smart. Much smarter in looks, compared to other neighbors residing there.
She told my mother that she had seen an advertisement in the papers and they were looking for participants for the Miss India contest.
She said she did not qualify for it as she was married but she felt that I should participate in it.
My mother was shocked. She would hear of no such thing. She said girls from good families do not go to such contests.
Today things are very different but somewhere in the ’60s this was unheard of.
Sudha approached me and gently put it in my head that I was a great candidate and I should try my luck.
I was just out of school and in the first year of my business studies in college. I was very excited.
I was young 18 going on 19 and so perhaps these things delighted me a lot. I agreed but how to make my mother agree?
I thought I should approach my father, who I thought would be less old-fashioned in his views. He was quite liberal but he said: “Your mother is right, good families actually do not send their girls for such contests”.
So now what was I to do? Sudha had put enough interest in my mind and I was very determined to go to this contest even though it was foolhardy of me to think about winning the contest.
Anyhow, I requested my parents once again and I promised them that I would not go to Mumbai even if I was selected in the Miss Hyderabad contest.
Sudha sent my name as a contestant to the organizers. They asked me to fill a form that I was over 18 years of age and that I would abide by their rules and regulations.
I filled the form, pasted a picture, and signed it below. The seal was done.
Now, I was flooded with gifts of perfumes and cosmetics. Believe me,I had never used any in my life. Some newspaper reporters came home and asked me how I felt about the contest and took several pictures.
I was excited! I went to college and almost all my friends and peer groups came to know that I was going to participate in the contest. They all wanted to come to cheer me up at the program.
The program had tickets and my friends bought tickets out of their pocket money to be with me on the program.
This was a risky affair for sure. I was both excited and nervous now. I had to do it somehow!
Now, my parents did not know what to do with me? How to dress me up? My mother was pretty too but far from participating in contests of such types.
I was warned by my parents that they were not going to finance me with expensive makeup or anything and I had to contend with whatever best I could.
I was a little disappointed, but, at least they had agreed to my participation.
Before the contest
I was in a fix but Sudha put it right. According to the rules of the contest, I had to wear a sari for the occasion. These days people wear gowns but in those days the dress was saris.
Sudha took out her bridal sari. It was a bright red with the traditional patterns of Gujarat. They had dazzling beads on them. The whole effect of the sari was that of shimmer and looked very pretty.
I had never worn a sari before that and looked forward to it, but to wear it directly to a contest was a little tricky, so I learned the art of wearing a sari and walked around in it to be sure I was on firm ground.
I had to wear heels to look tall, so I bought stilettos and worked on it as well, learning to balance in it and walking in a sari.
I had not ever done any makeup either so depended on Sudha to do my face and hair.
I was nervous, even though my friends helped me out but tried to make a bold and confident exterior.
On the contest day
On the day of the contest, Sudha and some friends dolled my up, packed me in a sari, and I said aloud, “I have to do it,”
I had to handle the makeup, a bun on my head, heels, and a sari. I was such a carefree person. I loved to romp around and this was completely new to me.
I was ready to leave and some reporters came home and asked a few questions as to how I felt like a candidate and why I decided to go for this contest.
When I reached the auditorium or the venue of the program chaperoned by Sudha and some of my friends, bulbs flashed, and oh so many pictures were taken.
The contestants were called separately and a roll call was made. Each person was given a number as a name.
I kept looking at the other contestants. They were looking tall and beautiful. They had expert makeup on and the most ordinary girls looked super that I felt I looked ordinary but ‘unique.’
This was my specialty. I looked different and plain Jane!!!
I was unique, raw, different and special.
The contest started, and the music began. One after another the numbers were called and the first round took place.
I was shortlisted. I seem to bear a resemblance, to one of the Bollywood stars of that time. Someone called Mala Sinha!
There were hoots of Mala Sinha, Mala Sinha, and whistles too. I shrunk inside and thought whether the hoots were positive or negative I could not make out.
Seeing all the tall people around me, I became more determined to stand tall. Somehow, the second round was not so good and I almost left the stage, that I had at least tried my luck with no regrets.
I found myself on the shortlisted list and I was surprised because they announced my number.
In the third and final round, I was selected as the runner up. As it happened that there was to be one winner and two runners up who were supposed to go to the final Miss India in Mumbai.
All the contestants were invited to the stage and were given many gifts for joining in the contest.
Finally, the three finalists were asked to come on the stage. There was a crowning ceremony and a sash was placed from the shoulder to the waist and many gifts were given.
I had become a celebrity
My friends shouted with glee and wanted a part of my bountiful gifts that i had received. I gave the largest share to Sudha.
I was thrilled and so were all those who had to motivate me to participate.
What are the learnings?
#1. Never be afraid of trying new things. There is one life and we should learn to experiment with new things.
#2. You may not be the best but you can strive to do your best.
#3. It is important to be determined and confident when you are going to do out of the box things in your life.
#4. Always help others. If my neighbor and my friends had not helped me, I would not have been able to achieve in the contest.
#5. Be persuasive but not angry. The technique I adopted made my parents allow me to participate in something that they had no intention for me to go.
#6. Share your things with other people once you receive honors.
Conclusion
The best thing is to be ‘just you’, unique to yourself and different from others. It is not necessary that you are the best but you can still achieve if you are confident and determined and patient. Be persuasive and learn to negotiate and ultimately do what you feel like as there is only one life. Make the best of it!
This is such an old story. I have never forgotten the people who helped me. I think it is most important to honor people who made you a part of ‘you.’ | https://medium.com/illumination-curated/a-chance-to-be-a-celebrity-e48b5186fef9 | ['Dr. Preeti Singh'] | 2020-11-08 15:43:50.830000+00:00 | ['Relationships', 'Writing', 'Self', 'Experience', 'Life'] |
How to Remain Agile with DynamoDB | Amazon DynamoDB is built to deliver single-digit millisecond performance at any scale. It is built to store Terabytes of data. It is built to support Amazon’s Cyber Monday traffic.
However, this scalability comes with an overhead. No matter what resource you look up, you will be constantly reminded that “You Must Know Your Access Patterns In Advance”. Amazon Marketplace had been running for years before they migrated to DynamoDB so they were well equipped to know how they needed to access their data and fully reap the rewards of a NoSQL setup.
In contrast, a new startup with an exciting new product wants to build an MVP quickly. They don’t know how their app will grow over time. They want to be agile and react to their users to develop their product accordingly. They can’t know all their access patterns in advance.
This no doubt poses an issue, but not an insurmountable one.
Being able to map your access patterns in as much detail as possible will translate to a smooth DynamoDB adventure. However, building a startup is about disrupting the market so you can’t be afraid of a little turbulence along to way to reach your goal.
If you use DynamoDB from the start you will never have to worry about the scalability of your product. If your app gets a massive social media spike, you won’t have to scramble to prevent your site going down. And reaching that scale is what all startups aspire to so how can we build towards this while limiting the turbulence?
Agile Hurdles
When talking to people interested in using DynamoDB but who want to remain Agile, there are three common concerns they have. These are all valid and should be carefully considered, but they can be conquered with the right approach.
I need to know my access patterns in advance
In Alex deBrie’s “The DynamoDB Book”(check it out if you haven’t already!), he addresses this misconception early on. The premise being that, yes, you do need to know your access patterns and it helps a lot but you can add to them over time. When you need to add to your model, you should still go through thorough planning to maximise your index efficiency, but in most cases you are making additive changes that are formulaic to implement.
RDBMS(Relational Database Management System) allows you to implement a tried and tested pattern to set up your database and worry about how to query it later. DynamoDB presents you with a riddle before you can utilise it. For the problem solver lovers amongst us though this is exciting.
A Global Secondary Index(GSI) provides you with a new way to efficiently query your data. You are presented with a constraint of 20 GSIs. For each new access pattern you could theoretically create a perfect GSI to suit that need. This would be very inefficient as each GSI adds to your storage cost and the 20 GSI limit will catch up with you. You shouldn’t avoid adding a GSI and the number you need will vary with your requirements but if you are approaching double figures you likely need to reassess.
When starting out you can employ the Overload technique on your GSIs (and primary key) to really optimise the number of access patterns you can squeeze out of each one. I was recently acting as a rubber duck for a colleague trying to add a new access pattern. He was wondering how he could shape a new GSI to fit this. He went through a few approaches, when suddenly he got very excited and realised that his existing overloaded GSI could already satisfy his query.
DynamoDB is not designed to be perfectly flexible but by overloading your indexes you open yourself up to much more potential flexibility in the future. After adding a few overloaded GSIs you increase your chances of satisfying a new access pattern without any change.
I can’t easily migrate my data
This is a common phrase I hear when speaking to developers coming from a RDBMS approach. Migrations in DynamoDB are more involved compared to an RDBMS with an ORM(Object Relational Mapping) where they are largely automated for you.
The most involved DynamoDB migrations require you write a script which scans your table and updates some or all of your items. This adds overhead to your migrations — creating the script, running on your environments, handling any errors, dealing with sync issues etc.
The incorrect assumption made is that they happen at the same frequency in both approaches. I have worked on a project with DynamoDB for the last 14 months. In that time we ran 3 such migrations. Compare that to a previous project using Django/PostgreSQL where we likely ran 100+ migrations in the same timeline. We may have been lucky with only needing 3 but it is still a different magnitude to a typical RDBMS project.
A migration which would add a new column in RDBMS doesn’t require this Scan and Update style migration for DynamoDB. Due to it being schema-less you can simply update your application code to start adding this new attribute to new items. To handle the case where the attribute doesn’t exist(i.e. on old items) you can define a default value in your data layer which should abstract it away from the rest of your application code. You can of course run a Scan and Update to add a default value but you don’t need to.
Understanding the Overloaded technique and how Item Collections work will often allow you to avoid needing a new migration script to implement a new access pattern. However, you will need to implement these eventually. They may seem scary but once you have done a few you will realise how straight forward and formulaic they can be. Again Alex deBrie’s “The DynamoDB Book” runs through numerous examples of how to handle migration strategies that may arise.
I can’t query the data I already have
As mentioned an RDBMS setup effectively keeps all doors open when it comes to queries. You will rarely find yourself unable to query data you have been collecting for the last 6 months. One of the costs of DynamoDB is that you may code yourself into a hole in this respect.
DynamoDB allows you to create new indexes to query your data but only on scalar data types (number, string, binary, boolean). If any of the data you wish to query is stored in a complex data type(map, list, set) then you hit a problem. You are not completely stuck as you can potentially run a migration to extract this data into a new data model but it will often lead to a large amount of code change.
This is a big downside but it can be avoided in most cases. Using complex data types is a good strategy in DynamoDB (whereas it violates the normalisation practices in RDBMS). It allows you to “pre-join” the data your users are going to be requesting in an efficient way. However, it mustn’t be used lightly. By putting any data into a complex data type you are effectively saying you will never want to query based on this data(for user access patterns at least).
It can be argued that you won’t know which data you will want to query on in the future but in most cases you can make a reasonable guess. In my experience, these issues tend to appear due to a misunderstanding of DynamoDB rather than an unexpected access pattern appearing. Many people fall into the trap of trying to embrace DynamoDB concepts of denormalisation and duplication without considering their impacts. By understanding the concepts of DynamoDB you can avoid many of these pitfalls.
Agile Benefits
When weighing up the cost of overcoming DynamoDB’s Agile Hurdles it is worth considering that DynamoDB has more benefits other than infinite scalability that apply to an Agile MVP Project approach
Pay as you Use: While your app is getting off the ground and building traction you only pay for what you use. If you have no users for two days you will likely pay nothing(up to 25GB storage). If it then spikes to 1000s of users the next day, you pay for their usage as normal.
While your app is getting off the ground and building traction you only pay for what you use. If you have no users for two days you will likely pay nothing(up to 25GB storage). If it then spikes to 1000s of users the next day, you pay for their usage as normal. Cheap Environments: You can create new environments cheaply and quickly with an Infrastructure as Code approach. This means you can test new features on new environments, you can set up an environment just for user testing, you can run experiments etc. Perhaps one of the biggest advantages is you can create new environments on the fly in your CI pipeline in order to run integration tests against (without worrying about cost). Check out my previous article which discusses how to take advantage of this while reducing CI time.
You can create new environments cheaply and quickly with an Infrastructure as Code approach. This means you can test new features on new environments, you can set up an environment just for user testing, you can run experiments etc. Perhaps one of the biggest advantages is you can create new environments on the fly in your CI pipeline in order to run integration tests against (without worrying about cost). Check out my previous article which discusses how to take advantage of this while reducing CI time. Forced Efficiency: DynamoDB is architected to not allow you to write an inefficient query. If your data is modelled in a way that you can query what you need, you don’t need to worry about that query becoming inefficient over time. RDBMS queries, on the other hand, will often work at time of development and then bite you as you scale.
DynamoDB Learning Curve
DynamoDB has a steep learning curve no doubt. Many people try DynamoDB on their new projects and get discouraged as they can’t fetch the data they need efficiently. They will often lay the blame on DynamoDB at this point but the root cause is generally an inefficient use of a powerful tool.
It is easy to fall into the trap of trying to reimplement RDBMS data patterns in DynamoDB which appears to work until it doesn’t. For example, DynamoDB would allow you create a table for Blog Posts and a table for Comments, create a relationship between them, scan each table and piece together the data your app needs. A new DynamoDB dev sees a cool way to use a scalable tech in the way they’re used to working while anyone with DynamoDB experience sees 2 immediate red flags.
Without diving into the details too much(the best practice is to use a single table and avoid using Scans in nearly all situations), the point is that most bad experiences with DynamoDB are avoidable but they do require some research to overcome. It is a different approach to RDBMS and while some relational techniques like creating an ERD(Entity Relationship Diagram) are still useful and beneficial, most relational methods should not be shoehorned in.
All of the hurdles mentioned require an understanding of DynamoDB concepts before they can be overcome. For every new DynamoDB project you need to plan before you can implement but for every new DynamoDB dev they need to research before they can plan.
Conclusion
DynamoDB is an extremely powerful tool. If you efficiently implement it in your project from the start you will solve many future headaches. It poses some issues for an Agile Development style but by keeping the following 3 points in mind you can minimise the pain these cause while being assured you are building a future proof solution.
Implement Overloaded Indexes to remain as flexible as possible with your access patterns
Learn the less time-consuming migration techniques but don’t be afraid to occasionally run a full table update
Be very wary of the query impacts before deciding to put some data into a handy complex data type | https://medium.com/serverless-transformation/how-to-remain-agile-with-dynamodb-eca44ff9817 | ['Rob Cronin'] | 2020-05-05 09:53:56.200000+00:00 | ['Dynamodb', 'Scalability', 'Startup', 'Agile', 'Serverless'] |
Campuswire vs Piazza: a Breakdown | Here at Campuswire, we’re all recent students & TAs, so we all experienced some frustrations with the communication tools available to us in our classes — we knew that students (and professors) deserved something better. So we designed Campuswire to address many of the specific frustrations we experienced with platforms like Piazza and others.
So, what does Campuswire do differently than Piazza?
1. Student data and privacy
One of our primary issues with Piazza was the way they handled student data as part of their business model.
Piazza maintains a free product by selling student data to recruiters and prospective employers (take a look here: https://eliterate.us/popular-discussion-platform-piazza-getting-pushback-selling-student-data/ and here: https://ithelp.brown.edu/kb/articles/piazza-student-privacy for more context).
At Campuswire, we’re building an entirely different business model — we will never sell student data or advertisements.
Beginning in January, we’ll offer a Pro (paid) version of Campuswire. That version will include powerful features like video office hours and active learning technology, and professors will have the option to upgrade their course to Campuswire Pro. (Everything we’ve built so far, up to and including Campuswire V3, will remain free forever.)
That means that we only make money when we’ve built a tool that provides professors and students so much value and enhances the teaching and learning experience so much that they want to pay for Campuswire. We’re in a really exciting place where our interests as a company are completely aligned with the interests of our users.
Our customers will always be the professors and students who are using Campuswire and giving us the feedback that we rely on to improve Campuswire (not the recruiters and corporations who are Piazza’s customers).
So, if you’re looking for a complete course communication tool that protects student data and that has intentionally aligned its incentives as a company with your incentives as an instructor, TA, or student, welcome to Campuswire!
2. Duplicate question prevention
Another frustration with Piazza (and every forum, really) was the clutter of duplicate questions, especially in large classes where lots of students have the same questions at the same point in the semester. Those questions can overwhelm students and make it really hard for professors and TAs to provide timely, efficient help.
So, we built a clever AI to identify similar questions and prevent them from being posted. When we introduced it, we reduced duplicate questions in a large class by 75%! | https://medium.com/campuswire/campuswire-vs-piazza-a-breakdown-e9a9d99896d8 | ['Campuswire Student Design Team'] | 2020-01-24 16:29:12.734000+00:00 | ['College', 'Technology', 'Startup', 'Edtech', 'Education'] |
Thoughts on the economic prospects of dairy farmers in a vegan world | For the past decade or more I have been observing a gradual transition in consumption of dairy milk towards various plant based alternatives. At the beginning I noticed these alternatives appearing only in some hipster cafés in Brighton, UK, where I used to live. Nowadays, more people seem to choose dairy alternatives, and more places offer them, including all major supermarkets. At my current work place in Cambridge, UK, for example, a large proportion of colleagues prefer those alternatives for various reasons. It may be because of their awareness of the larger ecological footprint of the dairy industry in comparison to growing crops needed for dairy alternatives. Another reason might be that, given the total available arable land on earth, the world population could ultimately and only be fed in an equitable fashion using a plant-based diet. But where does that leave dairy farmers? Having grown up on a dairy farm and being an engineer, I am interested in the numbers that support the trend towards this presumed goal, but also in its potential consequences on industry and society. I do admit that I am speaking as an economics layman but also as an aficionado of cream in all its forms.
In general, when I hear some assertions I usually tend to search for statistical data that put these claims in context. The late statistician Hans Rosling educated the world in this respect with insights on many aspects of society such as the evolution of GPD, child mortality or natural catastrophes, always pointing out the use of statistical data to question any claims made. A vast source of such statistical data is https://ourworldindata.org/ which offers statistical analyses on many matters, including https://ourworldindata.org/yields-and-land-use-in-agriculture or https://ourworldindata.org/food-per-person which pertains to the topic of this article. And last but not least, “There is no Planet B” by Mike Berners Lee, https://theresnoplanetb.net/, presents a compelling case for the transition to a plant based diet. In principle all the energy numbers stack up and make sense to me: in order to feed the world population in an equitable manner, mankind ought to consume crops directly rather than feeding human edible food to animals and then consume those or their products at a significant energetic loss in the energy conversion chain. Dairy farming would consequently only make sense in, and would be limited to non-arable land such as Alpine regions. Butter and cream would become a luxury; oh dear.
However, for dairy farmers rearing cows and producing dairy milk is adding value which allows them to make a living out of that added value. As a son of an Austrian dairy farmer in the region of Upper Austria I know that the family farm was economically viable through this additional added value. 40 dairy cows on 40 hectare of arable land allows our family to make a decent living. The land was used to grow grass, barley, and maize in order to feed the cows with little external food input. If, in a world of mostly plant based diets for the majority of the population, the same land was used to produce only cereals or pulses, the family would not be able to make a living on the generated revenue any more, given that these crops are traded internationally as commodities. What would be the consequences for the farm that has been in the family for more than 300 years?
In order to understand the results and consequences of the claims in “The World in Data” and “There is no Planet B”, I created my own little spreadsheet for calories and nutritional components produced, per kg and per hectare to start with. The aim is not to be most accurate but to obtain an idea of the orders of magnitude involved. Assuming a specific energy density of around 17MJ/kg for both carbohydrates and protein, and 37MJ/kg for fat the following table shows roughly the specific component and energy contents for some types of crops that can be planted on our family farm against those of dairy milk. This list is by no means exhaustive but a starting point.
Specific energy content of viable crops against dairy milk
If you look at the food energy or component contained in both dairy milk and some viable crops for the region, the energetic gain in the latter is much higher. Not surprisingly, soya contains mostly protein, and rapeseed mostly fat leading to a very high energy density. Most crops offer a factor of 5 higher energy yield than dairy milk per mass unit, with rapeseed nearly a factor of 10 above dairy.
If you look at the food energy or component harvested per hectare for both dairy and some viable crops for the region, the energetic gain in the latter is higher, too, which is not surprising. The following table is made with the assumption of about 1 cow per hectare of arable land (for Upper Austria that is), and that a cow would produce around 5500kg milk per annum as an average over a typical number of lactation periods over her life time.
Annual harvest for viable crops per hectare against dairy milk
Growing soya in that part of Austria produces more protein than milk; the high score in terms of protein, however, would be spelt. In terms of energy, spelt fares well together with wheat. Yet it is maize that produces most energy per hectare, nearly an order of magnitude, i.e. a factor of 10 more than can be produced on dairy obtained from the same land. Note, that this table is derived from data available from AgrarMarkt Austria, https://www.ama.at/ and does not include the amount of fertiliser used to obtain the presented yield. To my knowledge, maize does need a bit of help using nitrogen-rich artificial fertilizer.
What about the financial gain? Without going into the details of the operational and capital expenditure as well as labour costs, all to be factored into profits, the maximum obtainable revenue is determined by the price the produce can fetch on an international market. Using again average price information from AgrarMarkt Austria, the following table confirms that despite the lower energy yield for dairy the monetary yield is higher in dairy farming, obviously due to the added value in rearing cattle to produce milk from crops grown on the land.
Comparison of maximum annual financial yield per hectare using gross revenue only
On average, with some exceptions, dairy would yield up to twice the gross revenue in comparison with viable crops in that region of Austria. As said earlier, this allows family businesses to exist and remain commercially viable, which will of course depend on the operational and capital as well as labour costs. These are mostly specific to the individual families and farms. The question is, however: if, or when the world shifts away from consuming dairy products towards plant based substitutes, where does that leave the current dairy farmers and all the cultural fabric that goes with it?
Whether a dairy farm is and remains commercially viable depends largely on the margin between achievable revenue from selling dairy milk and total production costs. With respect to the achievable revenue, I could imagine two factors pushing down the price of dairy milk, a commodity traded on the world market:
Reduced demand for dairy milk due to an increased awareness of the ecological (including carbon) footprint and energetic inefficiency; this is mostly a middle-class effect which I do not believe to become the main driver in the short term. This limited customer base has an ecological consciousness and has either enough purchasing power to pay a higher price for dairy alternatives, or is simply prepared to pay that price;
Competitive prices of dairy alternatives such as plant-based milk; for instance, oat milk ought to be significantly cheaper given the yield per hectare and the industrial scale production in comparison to running a dairy farm; most people on the lower end of the wealth distribution spectrum would then probably gravitate towards the cheaper dairy-milk-like milk alternatives. At the moment early adopters are being milked (no pun intended).
On the production cost side, there are perhaps three major factors that have more or less wiggle room:
Capital costs: specific to the Austrian production environment, given the climatic constraints with temperatures ranging from -25 to +35 degree Celsius, farms in most regions in Austria are forced to keep cattle in winter-proof stables and barns. In comparison to more clement regions in the world this adds to the capital expenditure and renders these farms less competitive on an international scale.
In addition, when or if carbon costs will be imparted onto energy costs, farming and milking machinery is bound to increase in price, adding to the capital costs for the production equipment.
In addition, when or if carbon costs will be imparted onto energy costs, farming and milking machinery is bound to increase in price, adding to the capital costs for the production equipment. Operating costs: an increase in production input prices will make the margin narrower, e.g.
- rising fuel and energy costs when or if carbon costs will be imparted onto energy costs; this may apply directly to fuel needed to run farm machinery and equipment, or indirectly, through energy expended to produce fertiliser and additional food stuff supplements such as soya beans. Eventually, the non-sustainable production of soya in the some regions of the world will need to change; environmental costs will have to be accounted for, which will increase the cost of this production input.
- In addition, the increased awareness in animal welfare and environmental protection in the Western world, results in more regulations and consequently in a more onerous operating environment, e.g. more constraints on animal husbandry, restrictions on slurry spreading, etc. Per se a positive development, but a competitive disadvantage on a global market with contestants from countries maintaining lower standards. Unfortunately, most consumers do not necessarily put their money where their mouth is and accept higher local dairy prices as a consequence of the pressure they exert on the farmers.
- rising fuel and energy costs when or if carbon costs will be imparted onto energy costs; this may apply directly to fuel needed to run farm machinery and equipment, or indirectly, through energy expended to produce fertiliser and additional food stuff supplements such as soya beans. Eventually, the non-sustainable production of soya in the some regions of the world will need to change; environmental costs will have to be accounted for, which will increase the cost of this production input. - In addition, the increased awareness in animal welfare and environmental protection in the Western world, results in more regulations and consequently in a more onerous operating environment, e.g. more constraints on animal husbandry, restrictions on slurry spreading, etc. Per se a positive development, but a competitive disadvantage on a global market with contestants from countries maintaining lower standards. Unfortunately, most consumers do not necessarily put their money where their mouth is and accept higher local dairy prices as a consequence of the pressure they exert on the farmers. Labour costs: As long as the traditional farms are run as family farms, labour costs are not so transparent as family members are prepared to put in many unaccounted hours. This commitment, however, is more on the decline as the young generation prefer regular work and income. As a consequence, labour costs, in particular in labour intensive dairy farming, are expected to only increase.
So what are the prospects? In the long term, on a global equilibrium with respect to energy efficient food production feeding the world population, most arable land would be used to grow human edible crops, and dairy milk would only produced where that is not possible, e.g. Alpine regions. Where does that leave current dairy farmers? I can imagine several scenarios:
Part-time farming: since smaller family farms won’t be able to make a living from growing commodity crops, protein rich or other, the farm has to be run part-time, with the main family income from other employment;
Land and farm consolidation: the minimum size for a commercially viable farm will result into concentration of farms, first through renting and working more land, eventually through acquisition;
Niche products: for a small number of farms only, as niche products are usually for a limit market with higher purchasing power.
So, alas, good bye to the dense farming communities of the past and all its cultural heritage. This transition won’t happen immediately, but certainly over several generations. On a time scale of thousands of years, however, there were always transformations in societies. There is nothing intrinsically bad in this change, it is only different, and we have to get used to it. And there is always the beautiful landscape to enjoy:
View over rolling hills and fields in Upper Austria
Post Scriptum: Note that the above tables do not take into account any micro-nutrients, nor do they differentiate the kinds of protein being contained in different crops, i.e. in terms of essential and non-essential amino-acids. Another limitation is that of the crops listed to be grown in my home region which did not include lentils; lentils are a great protein and energy source. I simply do not have any personal experience on growing lentils nor data for the region of Upper Austria.
All tables give rough estimates of means and do not provide information on the statistical distribution; not even a standard deviation is given. In this text I am only interested in the order of magnitude in order to confirm claims in the book mentioned above using personal experience. | https://peter-wurmsdobler.medium.com/thoughts-on-the-economic-prospects-of-dairy-farmers-in-a-vegan-world-2d4e804d47c9 | ['Peter Wurmsdobler'] | 2020-09-16 16:30:18.042000+00:00 | ['Dairy', 'Farming', 'Agriculture', 'Vegan'] |
Not an iPhone review | There are plenty of iPhone reviews out there. This is not another. This post is just an observation as to why the iPhone is so different and inspires such goodwill from those who use it. It is simple really, but Apple has taken tasks that on most (all?) other phones are cumbersome, non-intuitive, and often just plain crappy and made them a joy. I am not really over stating this, the iPhone is really fun to use. Browsing the web is not reminiscent of the “real” real web, it IS the real web (ok a web without Flash — for now). Google maps works just like Google maps should. Email is great, not some crippled version, and the phone, despite what some have said, is very nice too. Almost all the interfaces are easy to use and it is easy to know where to go and what to do to make things happen. My previous Windows Mobile phone and my Palm PDA phone before that, took a while to master and it was only because I learned their backwards way of doing things was I able to manage on those devices.
This should serve as yet another lesson from Apple that design matters. Make interfaces (both physical and virtual) that are fun and intuitive and people will enjoy using them and tell their friends.
A couple other observations — No wonder there is a 10% restocking fee if you return an iPhone. With the amount of plastic they use — wrapping everything multiple times in their way. It would take a while to wrap all that stuff back up, I imagine. And what is up with the industrial glue used on the bags they put the phones in when you buy them. Not sure if it is the same at Apple stores but at the at&t store the clerk put the phone in this bag and then pulled away a strip between the two insides and the bag sealed up tight — had to use keys to rip a hole in the bag to open it. When we asked him about it, he said Apple was making them do that. Think different, I guess. | https://medium.com/alttext/not-an-iphone-review-f3a4343c8713 | ['Ben Edwards'] | 2017-04-23 06:06:20.531000+00:00 | ['The Web', 'Gadgets', 'Technology', 'Apple', 'Pop Culture'] |
JavaScript essentials: why you should know how the engine works | This article is also available in Spanish.
In this article, I want to explain what a software developer, who uses JavaScript to write applications, should know about engines so that the written code executes properly.
You’ll see below a one-liner function that returns the property lastName of the passed argument. Just by adding a single property to each object, we end up with a performance drop of more than 700%!
As I will explain in detail, JavaScript’s lack of static types drives this behaviour. Once seen as an advantage over other languages like C# or Java, it turns out to be more of a “Faustian bargain”.
Braking at Full Speed
Usually, we don’t need to know the internals of an engine which runs our code. The browser vendors invest heavily in making the engines run code very fast.
Great!
Let the others do the heavy lifting. Why bother worrying about how the engines work?
In our code example below, we have five objects that store the first and last names of Star Wars characters. The function getName returns the value of lastname. We measure the total time this function takes to run 1 billion times:
(() => {
const han = {firstname: "Han", lastname: "Solo"};
const luke = {firstname: "Luke", lastname: "Skywalker"};
const leia = {firstname: "Leia", lastname: "Organa"};
const obi = {firstname: "Obi", lastname: "Wan"};
const yoda = {firstname: "", lastname: "Yoda"};
const people = [
han, luke, leia, obi,
yoda, luke, leia, obi
];
const getName = (person) => person.lastname; console.time("engine");
for(var i = 0; i < 1000 * 1000 * 1000; i++) {
getName(people[i & 7]);
}
console.timeEnd("engine");
})();
On an Intel i7 4510U, the execution time is about 1.2 seconds. So far so good. We now add another property to each object and execute it again.
(() => {
const han = {
firstname: "Han", lastname: "Solo",
spacecraft: "Falcon"};
const luke = {
firstname: "Luke", lastname: "Skywalker",
job: "Jedi"};
const leia = {
firstname: "Leia", lastname: "Organa",
gender: "female"};
const obi = {
firstname: "Obi", lastname: "Wan",
retired: true};
const yoda = {lastname: "Yoda"}; const people = [
han, luke, leia, obi,
yoda, luke, leia, obi]; const getName = (person) => person.lastname; console.time("engine");
for(var i = 0; i < 1000 * 1000 * 1000; i++) {
getName(people[i & 7]);
}
console.timeEnd("engine");
})();
Our execution time is now 8.5 seconds, which is about a factor of 7 slower than our first version. This feels like hitting the brakes at full speed. How could that happen?
Time to take a closer look at the engine.
Combined Forces: Interpreter and Compiler
The engine is the part that reads and executes source code. Each major browser vendor has its own engine. Mozilla Firefox has Spidermonkey, Microsoft Edge has Chakra/ChakraCore and Apple Safari names its engine JavaScriptCore. Google Chrome uses V8, which is also the engine of Node.js.
The release of V8 in 2008 marked a pivotal moment in the history of engines. V8 replaced the browser’s relatively slow interpretation of JavaScript.
The reason behind this massive improvement lies mainly in the combination of interpreter and compiler. Today, all four engines use this technique.
The interpreter executes source code almost immediately. The compiler generates machine code which the user’s system executes directly.
As the compiler works on the machine code generation, it applies optimisations. Both compilation and optimisation result in faster code execution despite the extra time needed in the compile phase.
The main idea behind modern engines is to combine the best of both worlds:
Fast application startup of the interpreter.
Fast execution of the compiler.
A Modern Engine uses an Interpreter and a Compiler. Source: imgflip
Achieving both goals starts off with the interpreter. In parallel, the engine flags frequently executed code parts as a “Hot Path” and passes them to the compiler along with contextual information gathered during execution. This process lets the compiler adapt and optimise the code for the current context.
We call the compiler’s behaviour “Just in Time” or simply JIT.
When the engine runs well, you can imagine certain scenarios where JavaScript even outperforms C++. No wonder that most of the engine’s work goes into that “contextual optimisation”.
Interplay between Interpreter and Compiler
Static Types during Runtime: Inline Caching
Inline Caching, or IC, is a major optimisation technique within JavaScript engines. The interpreter must perform a search before it can access an object’s property. That property can be part of an object’s prototype, have a getter method or even be accessible via a proxy. Searching for the property is quite expensive in terms of execution speed.
The engine assigns each object to a “type” that it generates during the runtime. V8 calls these “types”, which are not part of the ECMAScript standard, hidden classes or object shapes. For two objects to share the same object shape, both objects must have exactly the same properties in the same order. So an object {firstname: "Han", lastname: "Solo"} would be assigned to a different class than {lastname: "Solo", firstname: "Han"} .
With the help of the object shapes, the engine knows the memory location of each property. The engine hard-codes those locations into the function that accesses the property.
What Inline Caching does is eliminate lookup operations. No wonder this produces a huge performance improvement.
Coming back to our earlier example: All of the objects in the first run only had two properties, firstname and lastname , in the same order. Let’s say the internal name of this object shape is p1 . When the compiler applies IC, it presumes that the function only get passed the object shape p1 and returns the value of lastname immediately.
Inline Caching in Action (Monomorphic)
In the second run, however, we dealt with 5 different object shapes. Each object had an additional property and yoda was missing firstname entirely. What happens once we are dealing with multiple object shapes?
Intervening Ducks or Multiple Types
Functional programming has the well-known concept of “duck typing” where good code quality calls for functions that can handle multiple types. In our case, as long as the passed object has a property lastname, everything is fine.
Inline Caching eliminates the expensive lookup for a property’s memory location. It works best when, at each property access, the object has the same object shape. This is called monomorphic IC.
If we have up to four different object shapes, we are in a polymorphic IC state. Like in monomorphic, the optimised machine code “knows” already all four locations. But it has to check to which one of the four possible object shapes the passed argument belongs. This results in a performance decrease.
Once we exceed the threshold of four, it gets dramatically worse. We are now in a so-called megamorphic IC. In this state, there is no local caching of the memory locations anymore. Instead, it has to be looked up from a global cache. This results in the extreme performance drop we have seen above.
Polymorphic and Megamorphic in Action
Below we see a polymorphic Inline Cache with 2 different object shapes.
Polymorphic Inline Cache
And the megamorphic IC from our code example with 5 different object shapes:
Megamorphic Inline Cache
JavaScript Class to the rescue
OK, so we had 5 object shapes and ran into a megamorphic IC. How can we fix this?
We have to make sure that the engine marks all 5 of our objects as the same object shape. That means the objects we create must contain all possible properties. We could use object literals, but I find JavaScript classes the better solution.
For properties that are not defined, we simply pass null or leave it out. The constructor makes sure that these fields are initialised with a value:
(() => {
class Person {
constructor({
firstname = '',
lastname = '',
spaceship = '',
job = '',
gender = '',
retired = false
} = {}) {
Object.assign(this, {
firstname,
lastname,
spaceship,
job,
gender,
retired
});
}
} const han = new Person({
firstname: 'Han',
lastname: 'Solo',
spaceship: 'Falcon'
});
const luke = new Person({
firstname: 'Luke',
lastname: 'Skywalker',
job: 'Jedi'
});
const leia = new Person({
firstname: 'Leia',
lastname: 'Organa',
gender: 'female'
});
const obi = new Person({
firstname: 'Obi',
lastname: 'Wan',
retired: true
});
const yoda = new Person({ lastname: 'Yoda' });
const people = [
han,
luke,
leia,
obi,
yoda,
luke,
leia,
obi
];
const getName = person => person.lastname;
console.time('engine');
for (var i = 0; i < 1000 * 1000 * 1000; i++) {
getName(people[i & 7]);
}
console.timeEnd('engine');
})();
When we execute this function again, we see that our execution time returns to 1.2 seconds. Job done!
Summary
Modern JavaScript engines combine the benefits of interpreter and compiler: Fast application startup and fast code execution.
Inline Caching is a powerful optimisation technique. It works best when only a single object shape passes to the optimised function.
My drastic example showed the effects of Inline Caching’s different types and the performance penalties of megamorphic caches.
Using JavaScript classes is good practice. Static typed transpilers, like TypeScript, make monomorphic IC’s more likely.
Further Reading | https://medium.com/free-code-camp/javascript-essentials-why-you-should-know-how-the-engine-works-c2cc0d321553 | ['Rainer Hahnekamp'] | 2018-09-18 16:54:53.871000+00:00 | ['Technology', 'Startup', 'Education', 'Programming', 'Web Development'] |
29 of My Favorite Design Tools & Websites You’ve Never Heard of | The design space is awash with countless design tools, plugins, websites, resources, and more promising to improve your workflow and make you a savvier designer. I’ve tried my hand at a lot of them over the years, but there are only a few that really stand out.
This list is the cream of the crop — the most obscure, creative, unique, helpful or exceptional. Some are fun sites to be inspired from; others are tools and resources that will absolutely make you a better designer.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what your favorite tools are on Twitter.
1. The preposterous web portal of Erik Bernacchi
eeerik.com | https://uxdesign.cc/29-of-my-favorite-websites-most-designers-have-never-heard-of-d7d99179cda7 | ['Danny Sapio'] | 2020-12-22 16:30:54.806000+00:00 | ['User Experience', 'Design', 'Graphic Design', 'UX', 'Product Design'] |
Pretty Nails Aren’t Essential, But They Can Be Important | Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
I’ve always loved nail polish, especially the stuff that comes in bright colours and sparkles. As a little girl, my parents would paint my nails for me to prevent the inevitable disaster that would result from a child having free access to a bottle of nail polish. Usually, it was my mom who would take up the role of artist but even my dad could be convinced to help out, especially when it came to painting my right hand. As I grew older and (slightly) less clumsy, I would paint my own nails and those of my little sister. Our Christmas stockings usually held a new, bright colour for us to try and we eventually amassed quite an impressive collection.
My mother was an incessant nailbiter from my earliest memories but it wasn’t a bad habit that I picked up until my early twenties. The first time that I chewed my nails down to the quick was only a few short weeks before I found myself in the hospital, begging for help with the incessant feelings of anxiety and suicidal ideation. Even now, periods of extreme stress are often marked by tattered nails and torn cuticles.
Much of my employment history has been working predominantly with men so it wasn’t until I started an office job, surrounded by other women, that I really delved into the joys of manicures. Men don’t really talk about nails unless they are asking me for a nail file that so many seem to think I carry at all times. But meeting up with the ladies from work at a local nail salon was not only relaxing but provided a bonding experience with the perk of pretty nails. When I swapped my office chair for a construction site, I stopped bothering with my nails for a few years. It wasn’t until I was regularly dealing with clients that I returned to the realm of French tips and sparkles.
I’m just coming off a solid year of having gel nails. The tipping point for me was when I was in a meeting and someone asked me what had happened to my nails. My demons had returned with a vengeance and I’d torn them all off in a fit of anxiety. This was the first time that I realized that the state of my fingernails was an external indicator of my state of mental wellbeing. More concerning, it told everyone else how not ok I actually was. I booked an appointment at a salon and kept it up. For whatever reason, I won’t tear up my nails if they’re painted. Only bare nails are considered appropriate fodder for my bouts of apprehension. Much like how my wrists became off-limits after I had them tattooed. Self-destruction is allowable, but defacing someone else’s art would be unthinkable.
I’ve tried most of the different polishes on the market, both off-the-shelf and salons. Obviously going to a salon isn’t possible right now so I have delved back into my big bag of nail polishes. My nails aren’t perfect, they are short with uneven edges and the frayed edges of my cuticles stand out in sharp contrast. In times of chaos, it is important to find the little things that you can still control. And it’s nice to have a bit of sparkle back, even if it’s just at my fingertips. | https://medium.com/invisible-illness/pretty-nails-arent-essential-but-they-can-be-important-6b5951b7b8bb | ['Dakota Montgomery'] | 2020-04-13 12:02:59.037000+00:00 | ['Self Care', 'Anxiety', 'Coping', 'Nails', 'Mental Health'] |
Review: Highway Networks — Gating Function To Highway (Image Classification) | Review: Highway Networks — Gating Function To Highway (Image Classification)
Highway Networks, Inspired By LSTM, Using Gating Function, More Than 1000 Layers.
Gating Function to Highway
In this story, Highway Networks is briefly presented. This is a 2015 work. At that moment, it is found that there is difficulties optimizing a very deep neural network. However, it’s still an open problem why it is difficult to optimize a deep network. (Of course, later, it is probably due to gradient vanishing problem.) Inspired by Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), authors thereby make use of gating function to adaptively transform or bypass the signal so that the network can go deeper. A deep network with more than 1000 layers can also be optimized. I choose to present this paper so that I can introduce the gating function.
Highway Networks initially was presented in 2015 ICML Deep Learning Workshop and published as a 2015 arXiv tech report with over 600 citations. And later on it is extended and published in 2015 NIPS with over 500 citations. (Sik-Ho Tsang @ Medium) | https://towardsdatascience.com/review-highway-networks-gating-function-to-highway-image-classification-5a33833797b5 | ['Sik-Ho Tsang'] | 2019-03-20 16:07:26.744000+00:00 | ['Machine Learning', 'Image Classification', 'Artificial Intelligence', 'Data Science', 'Deep Learning'] |
Understand Personality to Redesign Team Relationships | Understand Personality to Redesign Team Relationships
Part 1: Interpersonal dynamics
There is an increasing trend at innovative companies towards hiring for behaviors, rather than for experience or acquired skills.
So why does your LinkedIn profile still labor over all your prior work experiences (that you don’t want to repeat) and the skills that you acquired (but don’t necessarily want to be expected to use)?
I first wrote about this in Hire For Aptitude, Pay for Performance. The idea is that the skills for true entrepreneurship, in the sense of Peter Theil’s Zero to One (2014), aren’t acquired in the University, or in working in bureaucratic organization. The theory is that grades don’t matter, prior work experience doesn’t matter, and even though skills are a useful indication of aptitude…
What really matters to your job performance is not what you know or how you feel. It’s what you DO that counts.
Because behavior is so important to job performance, there has been an explosion of interest in behavioral assessment instruments for characterizing what can be expected of a job applicant. The best of these is the Kolbe A conative strengths assessment, because it distinguishes between personality and the Instincts That Drive You.
Others instruments, like the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Inventory (MBTI), or DISC, Colors, Strengthfinders, and Enneagram, all mix up feelings, skills, and instinctive behaviors.
These are not behavioral assessments. They are personality assessments.
Nevertheless, personality is important. For example, in Know Your People Matthew Knight instructs executive that there “is more to your team than job titles and capabilities.” And it’s this kind of thinking that leads more and more companies to use personality assessments in hiring.
Fortunately for executives and workers, personality is malleable (unlike instincts), which means:
Personality changes over time.
Despite what some Jungian advocates of MTBI might argue, we all know that personalities change (Mayr 2016). For example, my own MTBI results over the last two decades show that I’m less introverted than I was back in grad school — but you don’t have to take my word for it. There are countless other examples:
The first time your child returns from college, you may notice changes in their personality,
Intensive training programs, like military boot camp, are specifically designed to change personality… and they do.
People sometimes self-report personality-changing experiences. In fact, there’s a whole cottage industry around it, like the Tony Robbin’s training programs that Susan Cain documents in her book Quiet (2012).
Finally, consider Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It used to a term that applied exclusively to the damaging experience of combat, but it has since been broadened to recognize that unresolved traumatic experiences change people.
Once we accept that personality can change, the question that should immediately come to mind is something like:
Why do I act the way I do, and can I change it?
— Drew D’Agostino, Crystal Knows
Personality Assessment Instruments
The first step towards designing your personality changes with intention is understanding your current personality characteristics. There are at least five, known as the Big Five Personality Traits:
Twenty years ago Barrik and Mount (1991) found that conscientiousness correlated with higher job performance in many different types of jobs, and that extroverts performed better in some specific roles likes sales and management. More recently, Sorić et al (2017) demonstrate that conscientiousness and agreeableness also correlate with academic success — at least among Croatian schoolchildren.
There are lots free assessment instruments available online that will allow you to discover your own Big Five traits, and they generally give good results (Hamby et al., 2015).
What they don’t do is tell you how to be more like the person you seek to become. So what good are they?
Working With Others
The Golden Rule of “Do unto other as you would have them do unto you,” is often stated as an ethical principle. It may be the first step towards cultivating empathy in young children, but it is too self-absorbed to be considered ethical.
Because people have different personalities, they communicate, behave, and feel in different ways. Treating others as you want them to treat you is not ethical — it is a solipsistic projection of your own worldview onto others who may not share it.
As I wrote in Maslow on Management, it took me a long time to discover that teaching requires me to meet my students where they are. That is the only way that I can gently move them to where I think they need to be (without making them feel stupid along the way).
Beyond the Big Five
One limitation of the Big Five traits is that it gives little guidance on how to understand the interpersonal dynamics between different personalities. Because mastering these dynamics are essential to teamwork, in my Engineering Business Practices course, I use a more sophisticated personality assessment instrument based on DISC.
It is called Crystal Knows, and it is also available free online. It helps develop empathy by providing students with information about the personalities of the people with whom they are expected to work. Having a strong sense of empathy allows them to adjust their communication styles to one another. The article below describes how CrystalKnows works and helps interpret results.
There are two interesting features of Crystal Knows that distinguish it from other instruments. The first is that you can find other people who have taken the assessment on the CrystalKnows.com site, and learn about their personalities. For example, when you begin to type “Thomas P…” into the CrystalKnows search bar, you might be prompted with a link to my results, like this:
Typing in “Thomas…” in the CrystalKnows search bar auto-populates a drop-down menu that may include a link to my results. In this example, I’m the third result (from the top).
When you visit my CrystalKnows profile, you will find results that look like this:
According to the CrystalKnows personality assessment instrument, I am a Driver — “confident, persuasive, and spontaneous”. I think these results are accurate. Moreover, CrystalKnows will give you some great advice on how to communicate and interact with me, including “Prepare to be challenged,” and “Bring lots of energy to the conversation”.
When I learn about you, CrystalKnows will provide me with advice about how to communicate and interact with you, too. Moreover, it will suggest which types of personalities I’m likely to be in conflict with. For example, those personality types plotted at the top (i.e., North) of the circular map are “shaping” — they will innovate, design, lead, and seek novelty and risk. By contrast, those at the bottom will “stabilize”. To them, it’s important that an idea be proven before it is implemented. Those plotted to the left of the map are “cool,” in the sense that they are less likely to be emotionally expressive. By contrast, those on the right (i.e., East) are characterized as “warm”.
The second interesting thing about CrystalKnows is the free plugin they provide for the Chrome browser that will report on the personality type of the profiles you view on LinkedIn. Those who have completed the CrystalKnows assessment can link their results to their LinkedIn profile, so you get accurate results when you’re using the plugin.
But if you’re curious about someone on LinkedIn who has not completed the DISC assessment thru CrystalKnows, the plugin will make a best guess about their personality based on the words choices and experience they self-report on LinkedIn.
Dr. Susan Spierre Clark is a former doctoral advisee of mine, and is now Director of Sustainable Urban Environments Initiative in the College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo NY. This is what the CrystalKnows plugin suggests about her, and our relationship to one another on the personality map. | https://medium.com/swlh/figure-out-how-your-brain-works-so-you-can-change-it-6ae8b89640f7 | ['Thomas P Seager'] | 2019-07-09 07:46:36.015000+00:00 | ['Hiring', 'Conflict', 'Crystal Knows', 'Personality', 'Teamwork'] |
Educational Practices behind Gamification | Gamification refers to incorporating elements of games in the classroom. This can range from encouraging competition among the students, making them take part in activities that allow them to earn points, overcoming a challenge or receiving a badge. Game-based learning, refers to learning using an actual game for teaching knowledge and skills to students (Kapp, 2012). The game can be a traditional board game, an educational video game, an online game, etc.
The educational technology industry has jumped on this opportunity to build games for learning purposes or incorporate gaming concepts into education.
Websites like Duolingo for teaching language and KnowRe for Math education ease learning at different grade and knowledge levels of students (Editorial team, 2013).
Classcraft is a Quebec based company started by a Grade 11 Physics teacher that allows educators to customize their own gaming environments to use in class. Educator Ginger Schwartz recently shared why and how she adopted Classcraft in her classroom.
I have been curious about gamification and game-based learning for a while now and hence, I decided to dedicate my time to understanding the concept of gaming in learning better. Karl Kapp’s online course, Gamification of Learning, on Lynda.com, provides an excellent overview to gamification, its types, educational theories behind it as well as a thorough dive into the elements that teachers can incorporate into their classroom that will facilitate learning through a game. Considerations and best practices for gamifying the classroom were abound!
In this article, I focus on how theories in education support gamification. I think there isn’t a more convincing argument for gamifying your classroom because it takes into account so many elements of good teaching!
Most of what I have shared here is based on my notes from the course and I highly recommend you to take it when you have some time, especially if, like me, you are new to adding the touch of games to your classroom. I have also provided links to materials that would add to what I have described here.
What is gamification?
We all grow up playing games. Whether it is tic-tac-toe or Snakes and ladders, video games like Mario Kart, or outdoor games like Cricket and Hopscotch, we have each experienced some form of game in our lives. Games are fun and lead to rich engagement and motivated players.
Some elements that make a game feel like a game
When we bring one or more of these elements into the classroom, it is gamification. Game mechanics are the actions and activities that the player must undertake throughout the game.
Gamification is taking these elements and mechanics and applying them to non-traditional environments.
To bring gamification into the classroom, one must use game thinking. This involves applying the game mechanics to non-game situations, the classroom for instance, such that the learning environment encourages action on behalf of the player and leads to engagement. In my article on Empowerment and Engagement, I had mentioned the Engagement Taxonomy.
Taking action, whether by responding, solving, modifying or constructing something, all lead to active engagement in the content. A good game as well as a good implementation of gamification has challenges, risks and meaningful outcomes. Thus, it provides a reason to take these actions and keep the learner engaged.
Types of Gamification
There are two kinds of gamification and neither of them need technology in the classroom.
Content vs Structural Gamification
Currently, in the Computers camp that I volunteer at, I am using jeopardy to review computer concepts. This is an instance of structural gamification. I have presented the content in such a way that it aligns with the rules of the game.
One can have a combination of the two types as well. For example, I want to gamify my Math classroom. To do this, I can add an underlying story, giving characters and purpose to my students’ avatars. That would be content gamification. My questions, in this case, would be rooted in the story itself. At the same time, I can use scoring elements and leaderboards, and have my students work in pairs or teams. This represents structural gamification. It is not related to the content, but how the game functions by itself.
Theory behind the Practice
Kapp elaborates upon the seven concepts from education that play an important role in the development of the learner. One or more of these can be present in the gamified classroom. | https://medium.com/a-teachers-hat/educational-practices-behind-gamification-cf316acce60f | ['Kriti Khare'] | 2018-08-09 15:01:01.407000+00:00 | ['Teaching And Learning', 'Online Courses', 'Gamification', 'Education', 'Psychology'] |
Every Genocide is Special | For a week, it seemed, Berlin had been taken over by the left. Not just any left but something new and unrecognisable. In the place of the customary red and black flags of anti-capitalist groups, protestors were waving flags featuring an hourglass, in soft greens and light blues.
Blocking traffic, staging sit-ins around the Bundestag, and the Victory Column, the ubiquity of the movement’s icon was confusing.
On the surface, there was nothing especially political about it. Its clean lines and minimalist, design-bureau style said what it had to: that it was about time. The question was time for what.
This was no anarchist A, or communist sickle and hammer, after all. There is nothing confrontational about it. The hourglass is even empty. Still, the image is memorable and could easily be included in the pantheon of left symbols if framed properly.
The hourglass message is that it’s time to take action and that it’s urgent, is how I came to read it. It’s a very studied branding exercise, that’s impressive for its millennial vibe.
Particularly for visually-minded people like myself, who had grown up in a left overpopulated with symbols like peace signs held over from the 1960s. This was an attempt to create a new symbolic vocabulary, one suited to the climate crisis, that expresses the precarity of our circumstances.
Hence, the hourglass’ adaptation as the logo of the British-born Extinction Rebellion, a radical environmental movement that has all the pretences of a new left. One which could, at least symbolically, signify a 21st-century progressive politics, in which climate change has become just as important as social change.
At least for activists in the industrialised West, where, though environmental crises might not be as immediately obvious as the desertification plaguing Africa and the Middle East, is still inescapable.
Few would have imagined even in the 1990s that drought could have helped spark something like the Syrian Civil War. But it did, and it is not the only conflict or political crisis in which climate change plays a pivotal role.
The fact that so many people had turned out for the Berlin protests was impressive. The city had been brought to a near standstill. The relative youth of the demonstrators — few looked over forty — was especially noteworthy. This was the Fridays for Future crowd, onto their next thing.
No wonder Germany’s far-right was has made environmentalists their number one enemy. This was the next logical step for German youth culture. It wasn’t moving right, into the fascist arms of Alternative für Deutschland, but into a proper, leftwing movement centred on sustainability.
It was no accident that these protests were swelling in a country in which the next-tipped government will be led by the Greens. Though far from their leftwing origins, there was no doubt that activists like this would deliver the under-40 voters to them.
For anyone who wondered where the left went during the Merkel years, with support disintegrating for the centre-left Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands (SPD) and growth stalled for Die Linke (the Left Party), this was it. Radical environmentalism is the new zeitgeist, and the Greens would be the beneficiary.
So much for the nationalist upsurge in the wake of the 2015 refugee crisis, which propelled the overnight growth of the AfD into Germany’s third-largest party, and an upsurge in far-right terrorism against pro-migrant politicians, Muslims and Jews. 1968 was still here, and the hippies were back, albeit with better raingear.
That is, until Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam opened up to German weekly Die Zeit this week, referring to the Holocaust as “just another fuckery in human history”. “The fact of the matter is, millions of people have been killed in vicious circumstances on a regular basis throughout history,” he added.
Referring to other genocides, such as the Rubber Terror (1885 to 1908), in which up to 15 million Congolese were said to have been killed under Belgian rule, Hallam was quick to point out the Nazi genocide was not unique, and that there had been other mass killings that had killed even more innocents.
Though there is truth to Hallam’s assertion — Hitler’s Final Solution was in many respects influenced by other acts of genocide, such as Turkey’s extermination of 1.5 million Armenians between 1914 and 1923 — to diminish the significance of the Shoah, to a German newspaper, was tantamount to Holocaust denial.
Why on earth would an environmental activist, who had founded a movement dedicated to preventing the end of humanity, (Hence, Extinction Rebellion) dismiss the significance of the single most iconographic act of genocide in modern times? The moral contradictions and insensitivity are staggering.
Not to mention Hallam’s lack of appreciation of context. Few countries remain as locked in conflict over their murderous pasts as much as Germany. Particularly now, given the return of its extreme right to mainstream politics, and the importance that Holocaust denial plays in its popularity.
Routinely denouncing Germany’s culture of shame, over its crimes against the Jewish people under Hitler, few political movements have done as much to downplay the Nazi genocide as Alternative für Deutschland. Every far-right party in continental Europe has noticed and done something similar.
Whether it’s Mussolini or Franco, or the Vichy, the cast of fascist characters being rehabilitated, in spite of the human rights abuses and killings that took place under their watch, is horrifying.
The fact that a leftist joined in, however unwittingly, is the most frightening part.
As a British progressive, Roger Hallam is a more appropriate target for those who otherwise pillory Jeremy Corbyn and other leftwingers for their Antisemitism. For those who doubt Corbyn’s racism, Hallam’s is of course unambiguous.
More than anything else, Roger Hallam’s statements are a tragic betrayal of a radical environmental movement on the cusp of mainstream credibility. That he has since been repudiated by German and British members of Extinction Rebellion is of course reassuring.
The fact remains that it happened. It’s no small jump from downplaying the Holocaust to blaming Jews for the climate crisis. Or just about, more importantly, any ethnic group that has historically been blamed for something.
If Extinction Rebellion truly wants to break the mould, it is going to have to dispense with 19th-century racist baggage like this altogether. I can think of few more significant countries than Germany for the left to undertake such an exercise.
Three cheers to Die Zeit for setting the agenda.
Photograph courtesy of the author. All rights reserved. | https://medium.com/thebattleground/every-genocide-is-special-e60c03e304eb | ['The Battleground'] | 2019-11-25 16:46:53.128000+00:00 | ['Critical Times', 'Politics', 'Environment', 'Germany', 'Jewish'] |
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