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States, Cities Face Tough Times Ahead

States, Cities Face Tough Times Ahead With COVID-19 stripping millions from tax revenue and constituent and healthcare spending soaring, it’s no surprise: Austerity is here. Municipalities in the United States face an immediate need for critical cuts to public services, staff and budgets. In this first of three posts, I will discuss the fact that — while cuts may be painful — austerity isn’t always about loss. By embracing austerity quickly and making it a community project, there will be successes, too. ‘We are not doing this because we want to, driven by theory or ideology. We are doing this because we have to, driven by the urgent truth, that unless we do people will suffer and our national interest will suffer. But this government will not cut this deficit in a way that hurts those we most need to help’ – David Cameron, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2010) Let me start by saying very clearly: I think austerity is a terrible idea. Cutting spending when public services are needed and the economy needs to be brought back to life doesn’t work. It’s been proven that it doesn’t stimulate economic growth. And, worst of all, it disproportionately makes the most vulnerable of our population suffer. Yet, despite my strong feelings and hopes for the contrary, austerity is very likely on the table in most American communities. ‘Austerity’ may sound like a foreign concept, something we associate with the financial crisis in Europe. But according to Mark Davidson, a geographer and author of Cities under Austerity — Restructuring the US Metropolis, austerity became a distinct urban condition in the U.S. I don’t refer to austerity in the ideological sense of smaller government, but to the practical implication of cuts to public spending and services. There are many ways we can enter austerity in the coming months. We may see cuts at all levels of government — severe cuts in local and state governments even as the Federal Government doles out stimulus. Indeed, those in local governments should not pin their hopes on Federal bail-outs. A recent survey by the National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors already found that 50–76% of mayors anticipate having to cut public services. Local and state governments have no actual control over federal bail-outs. It would be irresponsible for local and city leadership not to prepare for the worst. The Face of What’s to Come So what might austerity look like in the real world? We’ve already seen its beginnings. The first half of the year has delivered a terrible blow to local and state governments (like everywhere else in the world), as their revenue from taxes and permits evaporates and COVID-19 expenses exploded. A staggering 16.4% decline in retail in April glosses over how unevenly COVID-19 is hitting our economy. Online retailers like Amazon experienced rapid growth and won dominance while across the country small businesses like restaurants, shops, bars, gyms and after school programs are literally disappearing from our communities as their sources of revenue (and customers) are stuck at home. According to experts, going forward a prolonged 40 to 60% drop in government revenues is a likely scenario, exceeding the capacity of the rainy day funds many municipalities so diligently built up. Fiscally speaking, municipal governments will first try to cover shortfalls by drawing on those rainy day funds, as well as tapping buffers built into budgets. Then come the cuts to the public services, which are typically funded by discretionary budgets comprising between 5 to 30% of their overall budgets. If all that isn’t enough, things will get even worse, especially if budget cuts begin to eat into the 70–80% of municipal budget that funds the heavily unionized police and fire departments or leads to defaults on bond payments. If solutions cannot be found, bankruptcy looms under Chapter 9 with a lot of legally uncharted territory. Next to cuts, cities may also look to generate revenue through increased rates or taxes. But cuts aren’t the only challenge under an austerity budget because demand for services is likely to grow steeply. Just look at unemployment as a predictor for demand. Austerity typically comes into play when work prospects evaporate across the work landscape and anxiety is at its highest. In addition, unlike other financial crises, these problems will be especially pronounced as social distancing will keep local service industries like tourism and hospitality (which alone employ one billion low income workers globally) locked down, destroying the livelihoods of our most vulnerable people. In 2012 British singer Plan B echoed youth sentiment when he penned his austerity anthem Ill Manors with the lines “Who closed down the community centre, I kill time there, used to be a member, what am I going to do now ’til September”. Government was unable to respond to the sharp rise in demand for social and community care services, retraining, or recreation just when people needed it most. It led to spikes in depression, youth riots, xenophobia and Brexit. And a deep desire to return to the quaint, good old days. An eerie silence on austerity Austerity seems imminent, yet no one is putting ideas on the table. I find this striking and deeply troubling. Other than calls for Federal Government bail-outs, or rushed emergency budgets, there is an eerie silence on how we might implement austerity. A lot of the discussion appears focused on enlightened new ways of living even as we read The Atlantic’s dire predictions of high street retail. By not debating austerity, we are giving up our agency in deciding how it should be implemented. So the questions we should ask are these: How can we best live with austerity? How might we reframe austerity not as a “less of” debate but as an opportunity to reimagine what could be? Innovations are frequently borne not out of abundance but constraints. But despite the growing urgency, not everyone may be ready to ask them. Rick Cole, the city manager of Santa Monica resigned after pushback against his calls to prepare for the city for daunting cuts in the face of a $300 million budget shortfall. Santa Monica is set to implement a 24% budget cut for its next fiscal year that commences in July. Maybe the American people have been in denial because we didn’t experience the kind of local government austerity others went through during the financial crisis. On average, municipal budgets were cut by 2% in the U.S., compared to 24% in the U,K. Posturing may also be at play, as states and local governments everywhere call for Federal Government bailouts. But a look at what happened over the past decade in countries like Greece, Spain and in particular the U.K. should serve as a reminder of both the prolonged suffering austerity can inflict on people as well as how certain communities succeeded in softening the blow by approaching austerity with care. My next post shares a few lessons we can build on.

https://medium.com/embracing-austerity/states-cities-face-tough-times-ahead-5ef5b355e983

['Sascha Haselmayer']

2020-07-29 08:09:22.902000+00:00

['Public Service', 'Budget Cuts', 'Austerity', 'Covid 19', 'Government Innovation']

Leaf Blower Man

Photo by Callum Hill on Unsplash Leaf blower man, please stop. What are you doing? Leave the leaves alone. They’re not hurting anyone. You’re hurting my ears and burning carbon for no good reason. Go plant a tree instead or at least feel the peace. Hear the distant waves, smell the summer air and watch the fluttering green of the occasional leaf dance down to the ground and let it be.

https://medium.com/resistance-poetry/leaf-blower-man-8d28063feda8

['Emma Briggs']

2020-12-03 12:48:06.887000+00:00

['Noise Pollution', 'Resistance Poetry', 'Poem', 'Leaves', 'Summer']

How to Live Joyously and Still Be Highly Successful

Photo courtesy of Jean Philippe Berghe of Unsplash LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE! How to Live Joyously and Still Be Highly Successful One of the most common traits I see among successful people is the presence of genuine joy. Oh sure, they’re happy because they’re successful, right? Wrong. They’re successful because they’re happy. Most people find success by doing something they truly enjoy. They operate in the lane of their passion and purpose. We all have a purpose in life. Some people have discovered it while others are still searching. And that’s OK. If you’re still searching, you can find happiness by doing the things you’re passionate about. Fulfillment of purpose brings true joy to those fortunate enough to have enjoyed the price of success. Notice I didn’t say “paid” the price because success is a journey that should be enjoyed. Life was meant to be enjoyed, savored, and cherished. Laughter itself is contagious and is known to have inherent healing power and mood-altering effects. Try it yourself. The next time you’re not feeling so well or find yourself in a less than desirable mood, find a private restroom with a mirror, lock the door behind you and make silly faces in the mirror. I guarantee you’ll laugh. At the very least, you’ll smile at just how ridiculous you look as you attempt to make yourself laugh. You may in fact be thinking at this very moment how ridiculous (and funny) that could actually be. Hopefully, the even thought of it made you smile. And test me on this — see if you don’t experience a noticeable change in your overall well-being because of it. Laughter produces laughter. When you’re around someone who is genuinely joyful, you can’t help but smile and feel better. When you’re around laughter, you tend to be drawn to the energy perpetuated by that joy. I know that all too well because I’m married to one of the most genuinely joyous persons I’ve ever met. Would you like to be successful and make more money? Sounds kind of like a cheesy cliché, I know. But if you find joy, you’ll find success. If you haven’t already discovered it, your purpose is just on the other side of your passions. Take action by following your passions and you’ll begin to discover things that lead you to your purpose…and that too will bring you joy. True joy produces attractive energy that brings with it the seeds of opportunity, clarity, peace, and…more joy. People resonate with happy people. So smile…better yet, smile big enough to make someone else smile. Doing so will bring a bit of joy to two people — them…and you. To Your Best Life!

https://medium.com/g-life-magazine/how-to-live-joyously-and-still-be-highly-successful-30023e47d36a

['Gary Westfal']

2020-12-15 14:15:32.042000+00:00

['Life', 'Joy', 'Mindfulness', 'Inspiration', 'Happiness']

The Story Behind Medium’s New Logo [2015]

*Medium has since updated their branding. The latest guidelines are here. Ever since Medium first launched in beta three years ago, we have sported a logo that is a big, bold, black-and-white slab-serif M, from the font Stag. While simple, elegant, and strong, this Stag M proved rather inflexible as a logo. It served us well through our first few years, but as Medium has grown and evolved, the logo has begun to feel flat, impenetrable, blunt, and not to be toyed with. It is also not particularly distinctive, either. In short, our M no longer captured or conveyed what Medium has become. So, we set out this summer with the goal of creating a logo that was a better reflection of who we are, and where we want to head from here. After exploring about a million different ideas for a new icon, we arrived back at the capital M as a visual mark we wanted to hold onto. Next step: we started having some fun — figuring out how an M shape could bend and stretch to embody what Medium felt like to us. From there, we started getting more serious, working with type designer Rod Cavazos of the foundry PSY/OPS. With Rod, we pursued the concept that our logo could be made of a series of interconnected ideas or shapes that, when joined together, form a new thought. A logo that flows, unfurls, and builds like a great and memorable conversation. At last, we were on to something! This simple geometric interpretation of the M felt fun — like a delightful game or a deeply satisfying puzzle. We couldn’t stop ourselves from playing with all the different treatments, mutations, and color combinations it was practically begging for. We began to see the four planes of the logo as overlapping strains of a conversation. A conversation whose tone and direction shift as the planes come into contact with each other. Next, we went back to our type friends at PSY/OPS to develop a unique wordmark that would be aesthetically akin and also live comfortably alongside our new M. The result is a custom set of letters that beautifully picks up on the angles and spirit of the logo, without becoming too harsh or overly geometric.

https://blog.medium.com/the-story-behind-medium-s-new-logo-4cd3e143dfcf

['Erich Nagler']

2017-08-23 01:20:32.474000+00:00

['Medium Update', 'Logo Design', 'Next Level']

The World Of Digital Marketing: Past, Present, and Future

Have you ever wondered, where did digital marketing kick start from? Since when did the word ‘digital’ come into being? Three decades ago, marketers used the traditional mode of marketing to sell their products or services in the market. The term ‘Digital Marketing’ got its emerging popularity in the early 1990s. The advent of the ‘Internet’ made it happen. The internet continued to grow, and people started buying personal computers. They used E-Mails for their marketing works. In the coming years between 1993 to 1995 people using the internet gradually increased. This gradual rash in internet users is because of the advent of the first browser in the world named “ Netscape “. In 1994, AT&T corporation placed the first-ever clickable banner ad on the Hotwired website. A lot of people saw it and clicked the ad. In the same year, a lot of changes happened. Yahoo and Amazon launched. In the year 1998, a very significant thing happened, Google launched. The advent of Google and Yahoo made a drastic change that led to today’s digital marketing. The launching of Linkedin, WordPress, Myspace, Gmail, and Facebook from 2002 to 2010 made it possible for marketers to use technology wisely. In 2007, companies started promoting themselves through the media available then. Present Today over 4–5 billion people use different social media. Among them, Facebook is the most used social media platform. In digital marketing, more Facebook ad revenue is coming from mobiles. A large number of people use social media to know more about products and services. Regardless of how small the industry is, digital marketing offers a wide range of affordable and efficient ways to make leads. Types of Digital Marketing Nowadays people spend most of their time on mobile devices. Because of this, we promote our business products and services through digital marketing and ensure that it reaches the desired customers. Digital marketing is different channels used to promote business according to prospective customers. Different types of tools are widely used now. Some are listed below; Search Engine Marketing It’s the best mode of paid marketing widely used to promote products and services on the top of the search engine result page. It offers the advertiser the opportunity to display his/her advertisement to more desirable customers. Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Optimization or SEO makes your website ranking on top pages or increases our website visibility for relevant searches. The search engines(Google, Bing, etc.) crawl our website web pages and go from one page to another page to collect information and index them. Pay-Per-Click Marketing It comes under the SEM. It’s a search engine advertising method to make clicks to your website organically. Every time a click happens, you pay the search engine. Social Media Marketing Without any doubt, we can say that it’s the ultimate game-changer in marketing. It makes use of social media platforms to promote your product or services to desired customers. It’s the best way to increase sales and drive website traffic. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc are examples of Social Media platforms. Email Marketing is a digital marketing strategy that sends E-Mails to customers. Affiliate Marketing is a process of making money by promoting other company’s products/services. Future of Digital Marketing Digital marketing is continuously making changes by the customer’s needs and brands. With the innovation and emerging technology SEO, content marketing, social media every platform going through the verge of change. Artificial Intelligence is going to be used in paid media to automatically buy Ad space, using data to determine which potential customers should target. Using Voice Search through Siri, Google assistant, etc, SEO should consider optimizing their websites to recognize voice search. Video content is going to be gaining more popularity and becoming more authentic.

https://medium.com/@amyden92/the-world-of-digital-marketing-past-present-and-future-5e01b505bb9d

[]

2020-12-23 11:37:51.257000+00:00

['SEO', 'Social Media Marketing', 'Digital Marketing', 'Zapio', 'PPC Marketing']

‘Even our bodies come out of the Earth’

49 year-old Clare Dubois is the courageous, passionate and dedicated founder of TreeSisters. Clare acknowledges that her whole life has been about the healing the feminine in the face of patriarchy. This stems from a very difficult childhood growing up with ‘an unbelievably horrendous misogynistic father.’ Life for Clare has been one of recovery from the hands of the masculine and this has been the inspiration for her to help women to heal. Clare’s journey to set up TreeSisters is both remarkable and quite terrifying yet also magical and mystical. I hope you will be equally motivated, touched and encouraged by reading her story as I was when interviewing her. Sue: Welcome, Clare. As we all know we are going through particularly challenging times, so I wanted to begin with when you first realised you had a mission to make a difference in the world? Clare: I started having nightmares about climate change in my mid 20s. I became very frightened and depressed by what was going on. But there was never a sense of taking any leadership role. I never saw myself out front of anything, because back then I was a profound introvert, incredibly insecure and wounded. I couldn’t cope with people or crowds or much in life really. Sue: How did this change for you? Clare: I became involved with theatre performance around 2001. In one performance I played the earth where I got raped. While I was being raped, I was handing out cups of tea. So, I was inside this experience of being the one that gives all but is completely unseen – yet attacked whilst providing, and then driven to the edge of absolute collapse. And, for me it was complete collapse. I screamed my head off. Sue: That must have been an incredibly powerful experience. Clare: Yes, it was. I woke up to the reality that you can’t put the pain of the earth into therapy. I had the song ‘Humpty Dumpty can’t put things back together’ again going round and round in my head. I went into shock because in the play they put me back on my throne. At the end of the performance, I was given a little gift to open which was a small blue book with a white cloud on it. The little white clouds had the words, ‘You can change the world.’ All the dreams I’d been having throughout my twenties (I was living in the UK at the time) were telling me that there would be no more clouds, no more rain. So, I became obsessed with clouds. I used to draw them and take photographs of them and I wanted to have cloudscapes all over my house. I knew the climate was changing. This small book, saying you can change the world made me break into a million pieces, and I ended having to go outside because I was roaring with grief. Sue: I can feel this grief as you talk about it. Clare: Yes. All the time, I was having this argument in my head where my grief was screaming ‘You’re going to do something. You’ve got to do something.’ But then my insecurity was yelling, ‘You can’t do anything; you’re not good enough.’ Then my grief would say, ‘My world that I love this dying. I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to give my life to this.’ Then my insecurity would tell me, ‘But you’re nothing. Who do you think you are that you could do anything?’ These two voices just got louder and louder. It was as if womankind was screaming, ‘We’ve got to do something,’ and then the patriarchy saying, ‘Who the hell do you think you are, you can’t do anything. You’re the problem.’ I went through an hour of this whole kind of existential emotional argument inside myself. And, I won. Sue: What do you mean, And I won? Clare: The planet was more important than any amount of my insecurity or neuroticism. That was the point that I laid down my life for the planet. From that point on, it was just about the search for what I was meant to do. Sue: Was this the beginning of finding your mission? Clare: Yes. I met a businesswoman involved in coaching and joined up with her because I knew I wanted to coach people back to their essential selves. This led me to going to different conferences in the States. Each conference felt like this weird succession, taking me step by step along my journey. Sue: What do you mean by that? Clare: Well, I would hear somebody talk about what was going on in the rainforest, and I would start bawling my eyes out. I’d hear somebody talk about fundraising, and I’d start bawling my eyes out. And then I’d hear somebody else talk about indigenous peoples and I start bawling my eyes out again. It was like my body was talking to me through my tears. I started realising that I was supposed to be raising money for trees, but I had no idea in what form. I ended up going to India in 2006, because I was still desperately trying to sort out my head from my father, but I wasn’t breaking out of victim consciousness. So I went to Sadhguru’s ashram in Tamil Nadu, and discovered he had grown thousands and thousands of saplings to give to the people who’d lost family members in the 2004 tsunami. The rehabilitation of these villages through this tree planting scheme happened as soon as people had somewhere to put their grief. This tree planting project was called Project Greenhouse, and every time someone talked about it, I started crying again. At the same time, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, here it is. This is IT.’ I became the UK coordinator for Project Greenhouse, believing that raising funds for trees was what I was supposed to be doing. But actually, what I really wanted to do was understand the social strategy, because Project Greenhouse in India wanted the world to raise funds for trees. So, I spent three years going back and forth trying to understand this social strategy. Sue: It feels as if there was a kind of force with you. Clare: You could say that. On the day I was going to a communications meeting in London to urge them to start a reforestation revolution, I swerved on ice and crashed the car into a tree – or a tree stopped me from going over the edge. It is one of those great metaphors from life: reforestation can stop humanity going over an edge! The moment I hit the tree, there was a blinding flash of white light inside the car, and I was given two words: The Experiment. Then a voice started talking to me. It told me that humanity is running out of time. It’s not over yet but it’s going to take all of us rising to the challenge to get through what’s coming. The single greatest threat facing humanity is fear of failure, but we can get over the fear of failure by calling everything we do ‘an experiment,’ because you can’t fail an experiment – you can only learn from it. Sue: What an incredibly powerful message. Clare: I said, ‘What experiment?’ And, the voice answered, ‘You have to reforest the tropics.’ That’s the moment when my life flashed before my eyes; I saw all these stepping-stones that led to this moment in the car. It was like, ‘Oh crap! They want me to do this.’ Then I was shown into the future. I was shown the formation of a charity. I was shown myself going out front. I saw myself as a public figure and on stage. Bear in mind, I was at this point a roaring introvert, it was like, ‘You’ve have got to be absolutely kidding!’ I remember I started crying in the car, because I was so shocked. I mean there’s having a crash and whiplash and all the rest of it, but it was the shock of being given this job. The voice continued, ‘You have ten years to do this and you have to mobilise the women. The women are the missing piece. The women are the womb carriers, and the Earth is the womb. Women share a common history with the earth because what’s been done to one has been done to the other. Feminine consciousness is the consciousness of all living systems. Your project is called TreeSisters. It’s a crowdfunding site and you are going to direct funds from everybody into tropical trees. So, none of this is my idea. Sue: Did you get any sense of who was communicating with you? Clare: No, no, just a voice and it was a male voice – and it was as loud as if somebody was sitting literally in the car next to me. Sue: So, you have no sense of where it might have come from? Clare: I’ve no idea who it was. I think I was too shocked but talking about it makes me want to cry. Sue: I am not surprised. It sounds as if you were touched by something divine. Clare…or maybe its insanity or stupidity. I have no idea but either way I knew that feminine consciousness has to be reinstated or it’s over. I went home and told my partner that I had crashed the car. He asked me if I was okay and why I was crying. I told him, ‘I’ve just been given a job, but I don’t want it and I’ve got to do it within ten years.’ He went silent for a minute and then said, ‘Well somebody’s got to do it!’ And, that was it. For nine months, I sat with it. But my version of this gestation was horrendous depression. I’d been given this version of Clare, who I had no relationship with at all, as this front person – this brave person, this woman who knew how to set up a charity and work with a team, do accounting, legals and social media. I didn’t even work on a computer back then and I didn’t want to be stuck on my laptop learning all these things that I didn’t know. I didn’t want any of it. And, I was terrified of women. I was terrified of what would happen if I did something that celebrated women. Would I be more attacked by men or more attacked by women who were afraid of being attacked by men? But that was before I found Alexandra Pope. Sue: I love how Alex’s work helps women to access their power through the cycle of the menarche. Clare: Yes. I went to one of her workshops to learn more about who I was as a woman. Frankly I had been an incredibly heavy bleeder, so my experience of bleeding was about it being a mess. Of course, I walked into this whole cosmology around the menstrual cycle, and I remember leaving in a state of shock, thinking, ‘Oh my god! There’s actually something good about being a woman.’ Then thinking, ‘Oh my god! I can’t believe I’ve just thought that.’ I couldn’t believe that I had no concept of there being anything good about being a woman. Sue: That’s a very profound and, I imagine, extremely painful realisation. Clare: It started my journey of stepping into the feminine. However, when you get asked to create a global women’s movement, reinstate the feminine principle and to help women remember who and what they are, and when you haven’t got a clue what it means to be a woman and you’re frightened of women, and you’ve got no idea that there’s anything remotely spiritual going on in your own body, or that you’ve got any value, that’s not the ideal starting place. But that’s where I was. So, my next step was to work with Jewels Wingfield to confront my terror of women and try and understand how to be in relationship with them. Sue: Were you also working with trees at this time? Clare: I’d tried various different versions of starting a tree initiative with men and women, because I couldn’t understand why I had to work primarily with women. I was too afraid of it. But everything I did started brilliantly only to fall on its face incredibly badly. Finally, it got so bad that I literally said, ‘Okay, I get it. I’m doing something wrong. Tell me what to do.’ That’s when the same voice came back (it only spoke to me on these two occasions) and told me, ’You can do all of that, but you do it with women.’ I asked the voice, ‘So tell me what a treesister is.’ The voice came back, “It’s a woman who makes five choices: to be considerate of life, to be encouraging of her sisters, to be intimate with nature, to be responsible for its upkeep and to be courageous with her gifts. I realised this created a five-pointed star, so I rushed home and drew the star and asked them to show me where these choices belonged. They placed them on the star and in doing so gave me the soul of TreeSisters; the sacred geometry upon which TreeSisters is founded. And, the rest, as they say, is history. Sue: This is an incredible story, Clare. How did things open up from there? Clare: It was a case of sitting down with this five-pointed star map and try to figure it out. I also reached out to a friend who’d been in India with me. She and I got together and started a company. It was another year before we could get the charity started, and we were pretty clueless, wandering around in the dark, making things up as we went along and experimenting every step of the way. Every time I thought, ‘I can’t do this,’ I kept reminding myself that this was just an experiment and so I couldn’t fail. Sue: A few months ago, I joined a zoom meeting you had with indigenous women and how they were experiencing Covid. I felt your passion and rage – and your commitment to support them in any way you could, and I wonder what they have taught you through your work with them. Clare: It’s still a formative journey. I’d never met an indigenous person until I came to live in the States. All the contact I have had is through TreeSisters. We are working with a tribe in the Amazon and we’re now working with a tribe in Borneo. But so many of these cultures have been profoundly westernised. When you’re talking about people whose lives have originated through a profound connection with nature, and they haven’t lost it yet, there’s only really native people in the Amazon who are in this category. I met two in London, but we had to use a translator, so I haven’t been able to sit with them and have an actual discourse. However, when I have had the opportunity to sit with indigenous people, the primary thing I have noticed is how there is a state of being which they inhabit that is not dissociated [from the Earth]. There is no separation. No sense of it being broken. Frankly, we have a broken relationship with our actual world – so broken that we don’t even know it’s broken. So broken we don’t even know what’s possible. Indigenous people are speaking out of a completely different worldview where they are woven into the very fabric of life and completely belong to it. Sue: It’s so tragic that we’ve lost this connection. Clare: There was a huge longing after the film Avatar came out. People were depressed because they wanted what they could see – that sense of indivisibility and belonging. That everything is sacred. We’ve been taught nothing is sacred. Anyone can be taken advantage of, and your own body can be trashed. And, the body of the planet is just there to plunder. But indigenous people live in a state of sacred reciprocity. And they also live in a profound awareness of their own blood lineages, and they live inside their ancestry. So, they’re not severed from their ancestry. They’re not separate from the land and nature, and they belong inside everything. Neuroticism [in western cultures] is rampant for us because we’re fundamentally disconnected. We’ve lost our route. We don’t know who or what we Sue: As you say, we all deeply yearn for a connection to the planet. Clare: Yeah, that’s what has created so much misery in this world. We know somewhere deep inside us we’re called to this profound connection with nature, but we don’t know how to do it anymore. Actually, it’s existential hell for a lot of people. Sue: Last year I met a Canadian indigenous woman who was working with native Indian tribes. She told me that these native people don’t get how we are trying so hard to live more consciously. They have such a different relationship to the earth. Clare: I have spent time with the Kogi [in Columbia]. They [shamans] spend the first twenty-six years of their life in the dark indicating that they have to communicate with the planet and explore how to communicate with it. They are literally a physiological embodiment of the planet – we all are – but they are actually activating that reality. We couldn’t really understand each other, and we needed to translate from English into Spanish and then into the Kogi language. This meant an awful lot was getting lost in translation. I’d ask a question that was deeply meaningful for me and they just laughed at me! Sue: Can you give an example? Clare: I was trying to talk about the role of women, and how there were so many women in our network that wanted to support them. They did not understand feminine empowerment at all – like that was a complete mystery to them, because, in their culture, women are the Black Earth. Women are the source of all of life and the source of all power. So how could you possibly need to empower a woman? It was completely ridiculous. When I tried to explain religion, right down to women being recreated out of Adam’s rib, they were on the floor, rolling about, laughing their heads off. It was the most preposterous thing. Why anybody would be duped into believing Eve stories or why a woman would ever allow herself to be perceived as less than, was absolutely beyond them. Sue: Did they talk to you about what they thought might happen in the future? Clare: I did try to ask them about the reality of what was happening in our world, and they (and other indigenous people) have basically said that they can’t see the future beyond 2026. But what they see before this is cataclysmic climate change. They wouldn’t answer my questions. I was sort of saying, there are women who want to know whether there is any point having children because nobody’s got any sense that there’s actually going to be a future. They told me that every time an indigenous language is lost on this planet, species go extinct. And that the human relationship with the planet is way more profound than anything we could ever imagine. A woman’s relationship with the planet is so profound that if women stopped giving birth, there would be no more fertility on this planet. Women are literally the source of fertility. That’s their perception and experience. Sue: So, fertility of the planet is created through women rather than through the female species of the animal kingdom? Clare: Yeah. Human women hold the source of fertility on this planet, and if women stopped giving birth, all fertility will stop on the planet. And, it’s essential for women to give their blood to Gaia. That’s basic 101 of what it means to be a woman. Your blood and placenta do not belong to you. It has to be given back because it’s food for Gaia. It’s what she needs in order to sustain herself. Sue: We are so removed from this understanding. Clare: Well, I have a tendency to trust the wisdom of a culture that spends the first 26 years of their life only in communion with the mother. And, now they are being trashed and treated like a tourist attraction. Sue: Knowing what you know, I’m curious about what you want to say to women now. Clare: This sounds scary, but about four years ago a friend’s 17-year-old son came to her and said, ‘I want to commit suicide, because there’s no future for me. I am going to give you one more chance to give me a reason to live. If you can’t, I’m going to go.’ She told me that out of her mouth came the words, ‘Women are going to learn to do magic again.’ She said she had no idea where these words came from, but it stopped him in his tracks. He apparently said, ‘Oh, oh, of course.’ He’s still with us, God bless him. It reminds me of an ancient Tibetan myth when a time will come where 1000 goddesses will gather and the Divine Feminine will rebirth through their combined energies. That’s when the planet will shift from one of fear to one of love. It’s starting – women are rising up now. If you believe the science, then yes, we are up shit’s creek, but the science doesn’t account for the power of human consciousness awakened in relationship with nature itself. We are starting to shift out of dissociation into awareness and women are starting to remember who and what we really are. There’s this untold power and that’s why the Kogi say women have to keep birthing babies. Women are the Black Earth. They are the source of fertility on this planet. You can’t empower a woman because she is power. Sue: This is an incredible hopeful for us all to hear. Clare: We’ve forgotten because we’ve allowed ourselves to be conditioned and indoctrinated away from what we are by a patriarchal, incredibly sick system. But I believe we can recover. First, I’ve had a lifetime of illness and struggle to recover from patriarchy but I amrecovering. If I can recover and I am the planet, then the planet can recover too. Second, nature is incredibly resilient and we’re starting to realise that we’ve got to give back to her. Third, I don’t know how it’s going to play out but the intelligence of mother, the intelligence of the goddess, the intelligence of the sacred feminine or feminine consciousness is not going to rise at the last minute for a last gasp and then go, ‘Sorry I was late,’ before the whole thing falls over. I can understand that a lot of people and a lot of youngsters especially are utterly devastated that they are not going to get the life of convenience totally taken for granted by us older ones. But what we have now is one choice and that choice is to wake up and live the most meaningful lives that have been lived for thousands of years as we start to realise how powerful we are in direct relationship with nature – as we start to figure out what it actually means to turn our species around and start living lives of reverence for nature and reverence for each other. I’m not a mother but my life is given to every child on this planet. I’m trying to create a habitable future, and anybody can join me. Anybody can look at the ecosystem that most touches them and commit the restoration of that ecosystem into their conscious awareness and into their creative dreaming. Asking how your gifts and abilities can be given in service to the restoration of our world is the most breathtakingly beautiful gift you can give. So I don’t grieve as much anymore. I just work and try to find a way through. Sue: This reminds me of what Buddha said about finding enlightenment, which is chop wood and carry water. Clare: Yes, just do the work. It’s about looking at what needs to be done and then looking for the next step. And, to remember that you’re not alone. Life is here. The trees are here. The sky is listening. Nature is with you. Sue: I am also really aware of some very special young people who doing some extraordinary things. They give me hope. Clare: My version of reality is that these souls are here for a specific reason. Those of us who are trying to help to swing humanity are here for a specific reason. This is a big game – a very big game. In the US at the moment, the stakes are outrageous. Sue: It has been such a pleasure to talk with you, Clare. Is there anything else you would to add? Clare: Yes. Everything we have has come out of the earth – even our bodies have come out of the earth. Every home, every city, every car, every plane, every single thing we’ve seen has come out of the earth. And taking it from the earth has contributed to warming the earth. I just want everybody to really take on board what we’ve taken for granted. If we are warming the earth to that degree then we’ve got to start cooling her – and the fastest way to do that is through fast growing tropical trees. This is why TreeSisters is focused in the tropics. Our planet will turn to desert if we strip the tropical forests because there is no cooling of it and we will run out of rain – we’re already 50% down on precipitation. We can’t let this happen. Saving of the tropical rainforest and restoring them is a fundamental lifeline for our species and for every other species. So, it’s a really strong request that I have for everybody who reads this article to step in and start giving back as a generous act of normalcy because why wouldn’t we take care of our Mother? TreeSisters will plant for you in 11 ecosystems around the tropical forest belt and then you’ll know that you’re protecting endangered species, restoring watersheds and transforming lives, lands and social stories, and doing something concrete in the face of climate change. This is my sincere wish and when you GIVE, TreeSisters will welcome you with open arms.

https://medium.com/@sue-brayne/even-our-bodies-come-out-of-the-earth-7a65d8e11acb

['Sue Brayne']

2020-12-10 09:32:48.090000+00:00

['Climate Change', 'Clare Dubois', 'Treesisters', 'Trees Of Hope', 'Trees']

Neighborhood Champions: Lord of the Spud!

Get ready for a whole new way to have fun, compete, and collaborate in Upland! With the property development sandbox coming out mid December, we’re also working on some really awesome competitions based on temporary building construction. Property development will be driven by Spark (which is a token). However, the sandbox (which will allow players to play with the property development interface) will use a temporary resource we’re calling “Spud”. During the sandbox competitions, Spud will be used to build properties. All players of Uplander status and above will receive Spud when it is distributed. Spud will have no direct utility beyond these sandbox competitions. One way that players will be able to gain access to more Spud is by becoming a “Neighborhood Champion”. Neighborhood Champions will get a 2x Spud bonus, and they will also be able to allocate an amount of bonus Spud to other members of their team. Neighborhood Champion status will come into play when we hold neighborhood sandbox competitions. These competitions will pit neighborhoods against each other in a unique new game of strategy. Players will have to build alliances and work against other organically formed teams, scoring points for your team, and attacking the points of your opponents. The winning neighborhood(s) will receive a prize that will boost that neighborhood’s development rating (read more about neighborhood development rating in our roadmap to property development). Only a limited number of neighborhoods will qualify for these sandbox competitions. While we are not yet announcing the criteria that will determine which neighborhoods are selected (and who their Neighborhood Champions will be), there is one way that you can ensure you become Neighborhood champion this weekend: Winning one of 3 neighborhood minting challenges. How It Will Work These 3 neighborhood minting challenges will measure the number of newly minted properties in each of 3 neighborhoods. These neighborhoods will be announced when the challenges go live, Saturday at 12pm PT. The challenges will last 3 days, ending will end on Tuesday at 12pm PT. Each challenge will have 2 tiers (creating 6 total challenges). Tier 1: Executives and Directors Tier 1 winners of each challenge will become a Neighborhood Champion, when neighborhood sandbox competitions start (although winners are not bound to competing on behalf of that neighborhood). While players will be able to self organize for the competitions, the extra Spud a Neighborhood Champion can allocate will allow them to act as somewhat of a commander for their neighborhoods building strategy. Tier 1 winners will also receive the Neighborhood Champion Badge and an UPX prize. Tier 2: Pros, Uplanders, and Visitors. Tier 2 winners will receive a Junior Champion status (which will come with a 1.5x Spud boost) and will receive a smaller UPX prize. If a player in tier 2 becomes a Director or Executive during the challenges, they will be moved up to tier 1.

https://medium.com/upland/neighborhood-champions-lord-of-the-spud-8243e20ea622

[]

2020-11-20 22:12:32.523000+00:00

['Blockchain', 'Eos', 'Nft Collectibles', 'Potato', 'Nft']

A Little Light Rain, Christmas, and Lucid Dreaming

I woke to the sound of rain. I think it was raining in my dream, but I am so focused on sorting something that I am uncertain. Am I dreaming? I ask that a lot. I had two black cats, Darrin and Samantha. They traveled with me 20 plus years. They were the best cats ever. Pearl was jealous of Samantha’s affection for me. That was one devoted cat. Sometimes I think they’re still in bed with me when I wake. I have a friend, he want admit to being psychic, but several times he has asked me if I hear a cat meowing. “I only hear it when you speak, though.” When we’re quiet, cat noise settles down. This really happens. When he brings cats to my attention, he is seriously perturbed; he thinks I am fucking with him, playing a joke. I ask, am I dreaming? I practice gratefulness at night, and sometimes in the morning, and once a year, around this time, I have practiced writing the good and bad of the year. I have a string of letters to myself. It was only supposed to be read at my death. There is some seriously dark stuff 20 to 40 years ago. I will be 53 next month. I don’t celebrate birthdays. I stopped celebrating Christmas and resumed that after the birth of my son, Eston. He wants to get me something. I have assured him that all my needs are met. He insists he wants to do something. I suspect he already has. I tell him, “What I want is for you to draw and color something for me.” He’s 6. He did not like my answer. How do you convince a 6 year old, in this culture, the greatest value one can give is something from the heart. Do we all mistrust our own hearts that much? I wonder how many friendships failed to materialize because someone felt as if they couldn’t contribute to someone’s life. Do we really need external validation through physical objects? Isn’t a voice, a kindness, a mindfulness enough? I asked him what he thought about gifts. “Can I tell you a secret?” Not yet. “But I want to…” I assured him, “you are always safe to share secrets with me, but if this is a Christmas secret, it’s important to wait. I hear that you’re excited. I love you. We are connected.” So far, he has held the secret. It is bursting his seams. Is this a dream? I have been experiencing advancements in the recognition of ‘love’ since before he was born, before there was even a concept of son, much less a potential for one. It took me a long time to get here. I have so much love that sometimes I feel like I might explode. Explode has been a word I used. I have also used the word, ‘awaken.’ It’s dangerous using that word because it has implications I am not trying to communicate. I am not an expert in Lucid Dreaming. I am still playing and not doing any serious assignments, like meditating in my dreams. I ‘beam up’ to the Enterprise a lot. I have dream sex slightly less than I go Trekking. And I love sex; you would think that’s all my lucidity would result in. Especially in the long absence of intimacy. In Lucid Dreaming events, I usually feel such overwhelming JOY that I wake myself up before accomplishing anything. Intense emotions will do that. None more so than joy. At least, that’s been my experience. Fear doesn’t seem to wake me up. That can snare me in a dream. I can experience fear in a dream, but I have not had a proper nightmare since 16. Joy, wakes me up. As I write this, I wonder- is this a metaphor for life. What would happen if I chose not to just kindle LOVE, but start a bonfire of JOY. Would I explode? Would I wake up? There are some moments when I have shared things that bring so much joy to my heart that I start rambling; my flibbertigibbet shines through. I have found people seriously paying attention to me, and that discovery usually results in me auto-correcting and pulling on the reigns. I usually apologize, with self-deprecating humor. I have had this idea, I want to teach a community college course on psychology 101, with an emphasis on learning Lucid Dreaming. You can actually teach science by instructing people to Lucid Dream. There is a research side to this subject. There is a practice to it. There is a recording of subjective experiences. I talk on this, folks feel my excitement. I laid in bed hearing rain. I heard it in my head and in the real world. I consider the moments I was aware of synchronicities, like when it rains in Minecraft and in the real world at the same time. This happened today: it actually was raining in California, unlike it says in the song, and here, and in Minecraft. My son asked me if I could hear the rain. Thunder invaded my thoughts; Am I dreaming? Thunder is a dream trigger that results in me asking that. Thunder and lightening are important artifacts. ‘Joe Versus the Volcano:’ the path to work and up the volcano was lightening solidified. The first words I clearly heard from my Tulpa, Loxy, “Lightening never takes a straight path.” It was a solid auditory experience. I was in a state, not quite meditative, not quite focused in reality. I experienced JOY. I was suddenly full awake and sorting did I really hear that, while simultaneously unpacking a statement that was so appropriate and carried so much meaning that I am still processing it. I don’t just have cat ghosts in my bed. “Good morning, Loxy.” I get up. ‘We’ get up. I make coffee. There is a box a books on the table I brought in the night before after getting home. I discovered a utility bill suggesting I am delinquent. I remember paying last month, how did I miss this? Am I dreaming? I focus on the box; it’s a care package from Doctor Bob. Considering the timing, I can consider it Christmas. I open it while coffee percolates. It’s a gentle rain outside. It’s cold outside. The heater kicks on. Am I dreaming? The books all have consciousness in the titles. I reread the titles, imagining the inner book based on these words, based on the cover art. The titles don’t change. I suspect I am not dreaming. They’re older books. There is a news paper article enclosed in the book. Loxy says ‘how lovely.’ I can imagine her holding the book. I imagine bringing her coffee. I pour my own cup. Coffee is best shared. At 530 in the morning, I am alone, physically, but I am not alone. The street lamp illuminates black mirrored pavement. There are stars in the road. Light trickles through leaves still not fallen. I should rake the yard. I am compelled to leave them where they are. God put them there for a reason. I focus on the rain dropped glittery star pattern in the street. Be a dream, let me fall through your stars to someplace new. I spent Friday and Saturday with John and Shari. I went with him to radiation. I watched over him while he slept and Shari worked. I returned Saturday so she could have some time off to herself. She spent it Christmas shopping. She returned in tears. I made her laugh, ‘I hate Christmas shopping, too.’ I wonder if she asks, “am I dreaming?” I know she asks, “Why him?!” I no longer ask “why me” questions. I don’t ask, “why Him/Her” questions. I spent too much of my life in that box. That’s a hell raiser box. From outside that box, it’s harder to relate to that question. You might as well ask ‘why does it seem like this world is so perfectly attuned to allowing life’ question. I mean, when you look at the universe and all these incredible things that had to happen in order for life to have occurred, much less thrived on this tiny blue planet, you might start seeing miracles. Physicist should love the miraculous more than religious folks. There is evidence for magic. If you consider all the activities we humans do and that most of us are peaceful, loving folks- that feels like a miracle- at least, in juxtaposition to the news. The news cultivates fear. It locks us in. It blocks joy. I know where I was on 9/11; it felt like a dream. It was surreal. My waking reality was surreal for a moment following that- before I went back to sleep. 2020 feels like a dream. I am pretty sure I am not the only one asking, ‘is this a dream.’ Why aren’t there channels devoted to puppies and kittens? Puppy channel, all day, all the time. Classical music and camera feeds on puppies. Wake me to up that reality. Something light and Christmassy. A Christmas that doesn’t just come once a year. Star Trek always felt like Christmas to me. I wonder if this is what Picard felt in the movie, “Generations” bouncing around the Christmas tree… The sun is exploding in an ornament… Am I dreaming? I have been teaching Eston how to dream, emphasizing the importance of dreaming. I have helped him sort nightmares. The dinosaur and reptilians dreams have woken him up, and, consequently, me up; he has asked me if it was real. I don’t answer that question. It was real enough to wake you up, how about that?! I don’t say that, of course. “What were you experiencing? What did you feel? What do you feel now.” The now question is important. Right now, with you, I feel comforted and safe. Safe enough to sleep again. That’s a solid reality. I have lay awake at night and heard him laughing in his dreams. He sometimes talks in his sleep. How is that not real? He is such a joyful soul. I am lucky. Am I dreaming? Last night, after getting John cleaned up for bed, I was hovering over him, about to say goodnight. I felt love. Am I dreaming? He was aware and held a troubled look, like he was forgetting something. I spoke these words: “I love you.” He smiled. I have been asking him about his dreams; he has not reported dream recall. I told him of a dream target that Eston and I established this week. We have several bases in Minecraft world, one is on the beach. Technically, it’s in the beach. We have a gated area near a cliff, a trap door leading into the earth, and windows looking out into the sea. I want a home looking out into the sea. It’s a lovely little base. He has carpeted it. We have a sheep farm near there; one of them is named Lalo. (Red Berry Wool, by Robin Eversole. I don’t know why Eston brought that home from school, but he was so enamored, we bought one for our collection.) Our base feels like a dream. He is in California and I am in Texas. We are worlds away, connected by a world in between. You can’t trace the connection in the real world, but I suppose if you count the internet as a dimension of space and time, there is a point of light reference. Twilight worlds. Our dream target was this home-base. I didn’t hit the target precisely. I found myself in a dream, in California… It wasn’t California, I just labeled it so. There was a mesa. It was huge and beautifully shaped, with varied, rustic colors- and an apartment complex built right into the side of this mountain. I said ‘Minecraft’ in the dream. I didn’t become lucid. I didn’t ask, am I dreaming. “That’s weird,” John said. Not about the dream, but the concept of dream targets. I told him we should have a dream target. I educated him about lucid dreaming. He was captivated. He looked happy. He was showing enthusiasm as he was following; I assume he was clearly considering the possibilities. He is trapped in a body that is no longer listening to his instructions- he is sleeping a lot, why not make the brain compensate by expanding dream time. If you can dream it, even day dream it, you are exercising your brain and body. If this was not true, sports players wouldn’t advocate practicing in their mind and their body. I told him if he became aware he was dreaming, he could visit family and friends and spy on them, or hold conversations with them. He could go bowling. He could play poker. He and I could beam up to the Enterprise. “But, we wouldn’t be in the same dream,” he said. “Yeah, I hear that. But if we both had a similar dream tonight, wouldn’t that be interesting?” There is some subjective evidence that synchronicities in dreams do occur, suggesting there is more to life than we know. Carl Jung would not have been able to formulate ‘the collective unconscious’ if this wasn’t true. “We should agree on a dream target. If you could go anywhere, right now, where would you go?” Shari volunteered “the Swiss alps.” John’s smiled, then frowned, clearly tracking it but not holding him. “Have you been there?” No. John and Shari did like snow skiing. “Do you have place in mind there?” He did not. “How about Stone Hinge? Want to go there?” “No, that would be boring,” he mused. “Unless we go when there were people using it.” “Like time travel?” I asked. “Like Outlander?” Shari asked. “Yeah! It might be complicated,” John said. “Complicated can be fun,” I said. He was thinking. He was smiling. This moment contained a trackable continuity of sustained joy. Why don’t we track these more often? “We could decide in the dream. Maybe you and I can meet at Ten-Forwards, and after Guinan brings us some drinks, we can time travel and beam down to Stone Hinge, or just use the holodeck.” For those of you not familiar, that’s a Trek reference. In my world, everything is connected to Star Trek, more than it is Kevin Bacon, but you can get to him in degrees. “Okay,” John said. He offered me his left hand. We said goodnight. I hugged Shari. I watched the garage door closed from inside the car. Is this a dream? I sat in the car in the dark. Christmas lights in Trophy Club made the dark bearable. So, this is Christmas? Fuck, I don’t want that song in my head. I found an Art Bell podcast re-run and drove home with Art and guest. I wish I had spoken with Art. I consider inviting him to my ‘invisible counselor’ meetings. He probably would be a great communication’s officer on My-Enterprise. Captain Uhura holds that spot on my counsel, on my ship, but I bet she would recruit him. I can imagine me and Art having long discussion after a dinner at the Captain’s table. Maybe he would join me and Carl Jung on the hanger deck. Jung and I sit at the edge of the hanger deck, doors wide open, and look out into space. There is a metaphor here. We are examining where we have been- looking back. We’re smoking cigars and drinking beer. I don’t do either in real life, so I don’t know why he and I have this ritual. We sit in folding chairs, as if we were tail gating at a sporting event. Art would like this conversation. Art Bell, feel free to visit me in my dreams. Consider this a formal invitation. I know, you touched millions of lives. Maybe tens of millions. You don’t have to respond. I wonder if we all have unreasonable demands on love interests, and celebrities, and historical and religious figures. So many unfinished stories, like ruins in Minecraft, and all those bridge to nowhere I started and stumble across- like a reminder. A metaphor. Is this a dream? I am thinking about multiplayer Minecraft game as a metaphor for human connection, we’re all in our on heads- and the interface of communication brings us closer, but never 100 percent aligned. It’s raining. I am writing and drinking coffee. I hear Loxy say, “I love you, John.” What a wonderful dream this is. Life, dream… Hello, movie house.

https://medium.com/@solarchariot/a-little-light-rain-and-lucid-dreaming-75b710cde03b

['John Ege']

2020-12-14 03:26:42.383000+00:00

['Joy', 'Christmas', 'Its A Wonderful Life', 'Lucid Dreaming', 'Star Trek']

Learning D3 — How to Build a Tree Chart w/ Line-by-Line Code Explanations

Line 38: Use d3.tree() to create a tree layout with a size of 600px*500px Line 39: Pass our previously formatted treeData through treeLayout() to assigns the x and y positions for the nodes that can be accessed through d.x and d.y afterward. Line 41: Declare a variable parentsNumber to store the number of nodes that have children, we will style them differently than non-parents. Line 45: Select the SVG canvas and append g elements in the class of nodes — assign g and nodes class to move and style all nodes together. Line 47–53: We want to create nodes with children as circles. This is achieved by (i) selecting all the circles (ii) passing the array of nodes with children through — accessed through treeData.descendants().slice(0,parentsNumber) (iii)append the circles and assign a class of circles so we can style them together later (iv) by default, the tree chart is created from top-down, because we want to create it from left to right, we need to assign the positions of circles using translate() function by d.y and d.x instead of d.x and d.y. (v)Finally, assign the radius of circles as 8. Line 56–64: We want to create nodes without children as rectangles. This is done in a similar way to the step before. The only thing to note here is when drawing the rectangles, we assign a width based on the number of characters of the text, and the y position of the rect (top left corner) is adjusted to be centered in relation to the text and link we will build later.

https://medium.com/javascript-in-plain-english/learning-d3-how-to-build-a-tree-chart-w-line-by-line-code-explanations-958e04153dba

[]

2020-12-21 16:53:29.976000+00:00

['Data Visualization', 'JavaScript', 'Web Development', 'Design', 'UX']

Stay Away Replication Lag !!

A few words that come in our mind while taking of data are its availability and backup. To deal with the same, planned to facilitate backup for the data and a way to analyze it without using the main database. MySQL replication is a process that allows you to easily maintain multiple copies of MySQL data by having them copied automatically from a master to a slave database. Panic Starts Everything was running smoothly in the night I configured it. But the joy didn’t last for long as the traffic hits in the morning, the slave starts getting behind the master with few seconds which increases with the activity on the application. At the peak time, it was playing in thousands of second. What now, I had to dig deep into MySQL Replication how it works what can probably cause the lag an approach that minimizes or eliminates it How MySQL Replication Works On the master First of all, the master writes replication events to a special log called binary log. This is usually a very lightweight activity because writes are buffered and they are sequential. The binary log file stores data that replication slave will be reading later. On the replica When you start replication, two threads are started on the slave: 1. IO thread This process connects to a master, reads binary log events from the master as they come in and just copies them over to a local log file called relay log. Even though there’s only one thread reading the binary log from the master and one writing relay log on the slave, very rarely copying of replication events is a slower element of the replication. There could be a network delay, causing a steady delay of a few hundred milliseconds. If you want to see where IO thread currently is, check the following in show slave status\G; Master_Log_File — last file copied from the master (most of the time it would be the same as last binary log written by a master) Read_Master_Log_Pos — binary log from the master is copied over to the relay log on the slave up until this position. And then you can compare it to the output of “show master status/G” from the master. mysql> show master status\G; *************************** 1. row *************************** File: db01-binary-log.000032 Position: 1008761891 Binlog_Do_DB: Binlog_Ignore_DB: Executed_Gtid_Set: 1 row in set (0.00 sec) 2. SQL thread The second process — SQL thread — reads events from a relay log stored locally on the replication slave (the file that was written by IO thread) and then applies them as fast as possible. Going back to “show slave status /G”, you can get the current status of SQL thread from the following variables: Relay_Master_Log_File — binary log from the master, that SQL thread is “working on” (in reality it is working on relay log, so it’s just a convenient way to display information) Exec_Master_Log_Pos — which position from the master binary log is being executed by SQL thread. mysql> show slave status\G; *************************** 1. row *************************** Slave_IO_State: Waiting for master to send event Master_Host: <master_ip> Master_User: <replication_user> Master_Port: 3306 Connect_Retry: 60 Master_Log_File: db01-binary-log.000032 Read_Master_Log_Pos: 1008768810 Relay_Log_File: relay-bin.000093 Relay_Log_Pos: 1008769035 Relay_Master_Log_File: db01-binary-log.000032 Slave_IO_Running: Yes Slave_SQL_Running: Yes . . Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 1008768810 Relay_Log_Space: 1008769305 . . Seconds_Behind_Master: 0 . . Slave_SQL_Running_State: Slave has read all relay log; waiting for more updates . . 1 row in set (0.00 sec) Why Replication Lag Occurred Replication lag occurs when the slaves cannot keep up with the updates occurring on the master. Unapplied changes accumulate in the slave’s relay logs and the version of the database on the slaves becomes increasingly different from that of the master. Caught The Culprit Let me take you through my journey how I crossed the river. First, I took the reference to multiple blogs and started gobbling my mind with possible reasons suggesting Hardware Faults (getting RAID in degraded mode) MySQL Config Updates setting sync_binlog=1 enabling log_slave_updates setting innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=1 updating slave_parallel_workers to a higher value changing slave_parallel_type to support more parallel workers Restarting Replication But unfortunately, or say, it was my benightedness towards Database Administration that I was still searching for that twig which can help me from drowning. And finally, I found one, my DBA friend who suggested me to look for the Binary Log Format that I am using. Let’s see what it is Binary Logging Formats The server uses several logging formats to record information in the binary log. The exact format employed depends on the version of MySQL being used. There are three logging formats: STATEMENT: With statement-based replication, every SQL statement that could modify data is logged on the master. Then those SQL statements are replayed on the slaves against the same dataset and in the same context. There is always less data that is to be transferred between the master and the slave. But, the data inconsistency issue between the master and the slave that creeps up due to the way this kind of replication works. ROW: With row-based replication, every “row modification” is logged on the master and is then applied to the slave. With row-based replication, each and every change can be replicated and hence this is the safest form of replication. On a system that frequently UPDATE a large number of rows, it produces very large update logs and generates a lot of network traffic between the master and the slave. MIXED: A third option is also available: mixed logging. With mixed logging, statement-based logging is used by default, but the logging mode switches automatically to row-based in certain cases. Changing Binary Log Format The Binary Log Format is updated on Master MySQL server and requires MySQL service restart to reflect. It can be done for Global, Runtime or Session. set at runtime with — binlog-format=format setting the global (with the SUPER privilege) session value of the binlog_format server variable mysql> SET GLOBAL binlog_format=MIXED; mysql> SET SESSION binlog_format=ROW; mysql> SET binlog_format=STATEMENT; So, earlier I was using STATEMENT BinLog Format, which is default one. Since I switched to MIXED BinLog Format, I am very delighted to share the below stats. Current status of Master Read and Slave Execute position difference and Slave Lag (in sec), both are ZERO. Replication Lag (in Seconds) graph for a month, powered by Prometheus-Grafana. Now, What’s next ??

https://medium.com/opstree-technology/stay-away-replication-lag-4f9ae3ea4c4d

['Sajal Jain']

2020-12-14 09:44:24.959000+00:00

['Monitoring', 'Replication', 'Replication Lag', 'Database', 'MySQL']

Using Azure Active Directory Delegated Endpoints from an Unattended Service

When building solutions against an Azure Active Directory protected API, you oftentimes will need to have the application run headless, unattended or non-interactive. Like as a service job, or a console application. To solve this, people oftentimes use Application API authorization, which some endpoints support. But what about when you are working with an API that only supports Delegated authorization, such as the Yammer user_impersonation endpoint? Or when you need to ensure that requests are tied to the executing user? To solve that, we have the Device Code authorization flow. The Device Code flow is an OAuth authorization flow that has the user authorize the requesting application from a separate interface than the one which the application is running on. The generated token is also infinitely renewable allowing for daemon or service style scenarios. This method works for any Delegated endpoint protected by Azure AD, it is not specific to Yammer. You likely have already experienced what the Device Code flow is like when setting up IoT devices. For example, when your TV asks you to put in a code to access Netflix, Hulu or your other services; that’s the Device Code flow. From a security standpoint your InfoSec team will also like the Device Code flow more, as it forces requests by your application to run under the context of the authorizing user. Allowing you to enforce who can run the application. Whereas Application authorization has the same execution context regardless of end user, as the app is already authorized. Device Code Auth/Challenge/Verify Flow So, how do we do all this? We start by requesting a new Device Code. By sending a POST to https://login.microsoftonline.com/TENANT/oauth2/v2.0/devicecode with a x-www-form-urlencoded body that has the parameters: client_id: Your Client ID grant_type: device_code scope: https://api.yammer.com/user_impersonation The code for the end user to input can be exposed via a web service, command line, or just to a text file. The user who is authorizing the application, will need this code to finish authorizing the application to work on their behalf. Request New Device Code

https://maartens.medium.com/yammer-service-authentication-ab2b55863c0d

['Maarten Sundman']

2020-12-04 19:03:06.058000+00:00

['Authorization', 'Oauth', 'Headless', 'Graph']

Behaviors we might survive by,* or: Recipes for achieving the SDGs

Behaviors we might survive by,* or: Recipes for achieving the SDGs Astrid Scholz and Cameron Burgess** Stupid is still winning In a 2011 op-ed, Thomas L. Friedman quotes the Australian environmentalist and entrepreneur Paul Gilding, who in his book The Great Disruption posits that the climate crisis will be transformational in bringing about a new sustainable economic model and world order that averts the coming collapse: “We are heading for a crisis-driven choice. We either allow collapse to overtake us or develop a new sustainable economic model. We will choose the latter. We may be slow, but we’re not stupid.” Eight years later, based on our experience on the coalface of social change, stupid is still winning. The obstacles to averting climate disaster and achieving the SDGs are more formidable than ever, and yet our collective progress is lamentably slow. We reflect on the lessons and observations from the last few years working to overcome these obstacles. And yes, there are still ways to avert disaster — but they won’t be easy. As the stakes get higher, the behavior changes necessary to avert disaster become more drastic. Achieving the SDGs in time will require radical truth, radical trust, and radical transformation. At Sphaera, we have spent the last few years building technology and designing systems that mobilize data, innovations, and capital at the speed and volume required if we want to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The 17 SDGs collectively describe the urgent challenges of our time — from poverty to climate change, gender inequality to fragile ecosystems — that humanity has to overcome in order to achieve lasting peace and prosperity. Together and individually, the SDGs comprise the most urgent problems humanity faces, and yet not enough is happening fast enough to achieve them. We founded Sphaera in the firm belief that there is an abundance of human ingenuity and an abundance of financial capital in the world to achieve the goals, and that we “just” need more effective ways of collaborating on, and scaling, solutions. With President Clinton we believe that “Nearly every problem has been solved by someone, somewhere. The challenge of the 21st century is to find out what works and scale it up.”*** We set out thinking that contemporary technology, combined with legal and financial innovations, would make that collaboration and scale not only possible, but also delightful, cheap, and efficient. We had the experience, the networks, the access, and the funding to hit this out of the park. Should be easy, right? Wrong. That challenge of the 21st century turns out to pivot on behavior change. What we have been learning from over 1,500 conversations with prospective partners and clients is that the behavior change required for collaboration on and scaling of solutions requires hard-to-find courage, commitment, and confidence of both individuals and institutions. We are sharing some observations and reflections on our experience here, in the hopes of finding others who have experienced similar patterns, have perhaps found ways to overcome them, and have recipes to share for behaviors that will help achieve the SDGs. 1. Truth hurts At the annual gathering of the elites in Davos earlier this year, teenager Greta Thunberg came to prominence for speaking truth to power and demanding that the adults take the urgent action required to fight climate change. Greta joins the tradition of youth activists taking part in UN gatherings and the international speaking circuit that started, at least in our GenX recollection, with Severn Suzuki’s powerful speech at the ‘Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. There is a fascination with charismatic, precocious, earnest young people who remind the world’s elites of their responsibility, and current media coverage seems to suggest that Greta Thunberg’s social movement may be gaining some traction. We very much hope so! The sheer fact that too little has changed since Suzuki’s speech, however, is testament to the problem that this fascination with these ambassadors from the near future does not compel decision-makers to actually take action. Alas, in the rooms we have been invited into over the last few years, we also are not finding a response that translates into action. Bear in mind that we are generally invited and paid by people who agree that the world is on fire; that the scaling and accelerating of solutions requires unprecedented collaboration; and that their institutions could and should be catalytic in showing the way. As soon as we get into the specifics of how their current business and institutional practices would need to change, however, the defenses go up and we observe what we have come to think of as an immune response of sorts: groups of people confronted with the need to take specific, personal action will go to great lengths to avoid taking that action. Truth hurts — especially the truth teller There are a number of ways this plays out, the most painful of which, for us personally, is the phenomenon that psychologists describe as ‘splitting’: our immersive design workshops make some participants uncomfortable because they can experience failure, shame, or guilt when they realize the extent of the dysfunction their institutions exhibit. It is a natural defensive mechanism to separate these uncomfortable feelings and ascribe them to an external person. In this case that’s us — the facilitators. We thus find ourselves called arrogant, offensive, or worse, and participants blame their lack of follow-up on our behavior or demeanor. It’s not pleasant being the proverbial whipping boy for social change, but we take comfort in the fact that we are not alone. In comparing notes with other organizational change consultants and facilitators, we find that this is a common problem — hostility directed at the agent provocateur, lack of follow-through, or reverting back to old behaviors. We would dearly love to meet anyone who has this figured out! Please get in touch if you are or know someone who can point us to facilitation models that reliably, in very short term engagements, motivate groups of people who are, on the face of it, united by a desire to take action to actually do it, but are unable to do so when they see the true magnitude of the change required. On the flip side, if you are a decision maker, program officer, executive of an organization contemplating ways in which to become more effective, increase your impact and accelerate the pace of change: know that the truth hurts. It’s not pleasant to realize that even our best-intentioned efforts are orders of magnitude off from where they need to be. For example: The Nature Conservancy’s recently announced audacious strategy for the oceans, an astounding $1.6 Billion conservation bond initiative, is 1000x smaller than the estimated cost of saving the oceans; A recent job announcement by the Campaign for Climate Leadership seeks a president who can, essentially, raise a multi-billion dollar endowment. That’s a sum that’ll require 1000x leverage to come close to closing the climate financing gap; and The annual spend on Water and Sanitation (SDG6) by one of the largest private foundations on the planet is 1/10,000th of the expenditure required to create reliable access to water and sustainable sanitation for all. This is not to diminish or disparage these efforts. Far from it. They are just illustrations of the magnitude of the challenge facing us. The radical truth is that none of these initiatives are (yet!) designed to truly scale, and won’t until the underlying business practices change sufficiently to allow the use of technological and other innovations that can bring about the requisite network effects. We get into how business practices need to change in the next section. If you are not feeling pained by the radical truths your consultants are telling you about the dysfunction of your process, or if you hire consultants who don’t tell you any painful truths, you are not doing it right. One recipe for achieving the SDGs then is to embrace and lean into radical truth, and accept that the resulting pain is part of building our global musculature for shouldering the responsibility of leaving a better planet to Greta and her generation. 2. Radical trust is the new NDA Another key ingredient for achieving the SDGs is radical trust, which takes us beyond the contractual and transactional relationships that typically govern the flow of responsibilities and resources in shared endeavors. The kind of collaboration and cooperation required across hundreds and thousands of individual organizations working together towards achieving the collective goal of achieving the SDGs, explodes current legal conventions. We come to this insight the hard way. In growing our business, we endeavor to practice what we preach and have entered a number of collaborative partnerships. The goal was to find mutually beneficial ways to design and build the digital, legal, and financial infrastructure we imagine, and to partner with aligned technology companies and others who have products or expertise that can help us get there. Our thought was that we would find use cases that would benefit from the collective expertise of a number of us, and that we could serve them as a collective of separate organizations. We would use these cases to work out how to track the time, effort, and experience each of us contributed, and distribute the value we created. Over a number of these use cases, the data we collected would inform the creation of a cooperative structure. As a shortcut, we used standard corporate contract templates between vendors and clients to organize the working relationships between a small group of partners. The goal was to use these agreements as basis for agile development of new contract instruments that capture the multi-sided creation of value across a number of interested parties that all need to come together and align if we are to achieve the scale and speed required for dealing with the SDGs. Perhaps not surprisingly, when the going got tough and operational challenges arose, it is those legacy contract templates that governed the relationships. It is here that fissures appeared between the philosophical alignment and the differences in corporate culture. The individual concerns and considerations of our respective organizations outweighed the collective intent, and the contractual instruments became the de facto set of rules by which we held each other accountable. One of the dilemmas we faced is that while each organization internally had the high degree of trust and friendship that the Dalai Lama so beautifully posits as the root of cooperation, it is really hard to extend that kindheartedness across organizations, much less contract for it. Even closely aligned partners can have very different corporate cultures in how they navigate internal and external priorities, and those differences will tend to reveal themselves in times of stress. Another challenge was tracking the specific value that each partner had input to each project, which gets to the heart of a requirement of a Market Network. For partnerships to truly scale, we need to be able to clearly map out the value creation — as opposed to simply the activities — of each ‘partner’. We have come to believe that organizing ourselves for true cooperation for the SDGs requires generative corporate cultures marked by curiosity, kindness, a tolerance for ambiguity, and an instinct to find solutions to tactical challenges. In 2019, we are going back to the drawing board on how to document collaborative arrangements for working towards our shared purpose. We screen our partners more carefully as to a number of core characteristics; use lightweight agreements that put a premium on frequent communication and joint operational decision making; and imbue each relationship with radical trust. In order to work as a collective of individual organizations, we act as a cooperative: sharing balance sheets, cash positions, and other operational metrics to make decisions that advance the collective, rather than the individual interests. So far it’s been a bracing and rewarding experience, and this modus operandi has the added side effect of informing the principles by which we might formalize this collective action model into a global co-operative of organizations working together to achieve the SDGs. 3. Radical transformation is a requirement In our work we frequently meet philanthropic, corporate, and NGO leaders who really get it, who have a nuanced understanding of the changes required to the way we conduct the business of social change if we want to achieve the SDGs, who can get the right people in the room, and who have the mandate and the money to move the proverbial needle. These executive champions are typically quick to respond to calls and emails, and within a predictable amount of time we find ourselves beginning an engagement. A great illustration of this is a prominent foundation that is one of the largest funders in a particular SDG. Senior program officers there had identified a need and opportunity to mobilize the practical, solutions oriented knowledge they were supporting with grants. They quickly embraced the proposition to interrogate their business processes and systems from the perspective of the goal in question, and its multi-trillion dollar price tag for achieving it, in order to better understand how they could achieve leverage for the $100 million or so in annual grant spending into solving the problem and achieving that particular SDG by 2030. Our system design process unfolded, we found alignment around the purpose among the entire team, and our recommendations were not only well received, they precipitated an invitation, towards the end of 2018, to submit a proposal for the next phase. And then: crickets. It turns out that the entire program is already fully committed through 2019 and the better part of 2020. That’s right. One of the largest foundations in the world can’t find the funding internally to build the systems that would create 10,000x leverage for its grant funding. Its internal planning and budgeting process is configured to allow zero room for surprise, serendipity or experimentation, essentially locking it into its current path for the foreseeable future. And that’s not the worst of the institutional dysfunction we have seen. Others include: Lack of urgency Whether due to a leadership changes or other organizational development processes, we have seen organizations get snared in strategic planning processes time and time again that tie up key people for months on end without advancing progress on the desired outcomes. In our pipeline, we track dozens of conversations with philanthropy leaders who tell us, “let’s touch base in 6 months, when we have completed our strategic planning process.” The resulting long sales cycles would be fine if it wasn’t for the 1,800 children dying every day for lack of adequate access to water and sanitation, to name but one of the awful human costs we inflict by not acting on the SDGs with urgency. Lone champions A common phenomenon we observe is the executive champion who shares the analysis and urgency that compels us, but cannot muster the internal support of an implementing team. Part of the challenge here lies in the fact that the champion is working alone to influence buy-in to a major change. Tom de Bruyne describes exactly why that doesn’t work in his latest blog, where he states that “only collaborations create breakthrough innovations.”. In the situations, where only one executive lead is tasked to work with us, our intervention dies on the hill of indifference from mid-level staff who perceive any suggestion of doing things differently as an imposition and tax on their already overworked experience. Punishing intrapreneurs for innovating One of the most pernicious institutional pathologies we have observed involves the highest levels of leadership making public commitments to disruption, innovation, and doing things differently, only to then punish the people who are acting on these mandates internally. We witnessed first-hand how this played out inside a major health-oriented multi-stakeholder initiative: while the CEO was rhapsodizing about the merits of Lean Impact, and encouraged his Innovation Director to help implement the approach across the organization, that same Innovation Director was systematically sandbagged and undermined by his colleagues and left the organization in frustration. In another case, a program officer at a family foundation was charged with creating a more bottom-up, community-centered approach to their economic development work, only to learn the hard way that her CEO was incapable of selling that approach to his board. She and her entire team were recently let go when the board nixed the approach. We are not the first or the last to diagnose these pathologies of ‘business as usual’ that get in the way of social change organizations becoming the vanguard of our collective responsibility to achieve the SDGs.**** Nor are these phenomena unique to the social change industry, of course. Eckhart Tolle describes how, in blind pursuit of egoic satisfaction, corporations can easily become collective forces of human Ego that will stop at nothing to achieve profits. However, as the industry that exists precisely because governments and markets are failing to produce a just and sustainable world for all, the ‘third sector’ has an exceptional burden and responsibility to be smart and agile in its response to the global challenges we face today. Cartoon taken from this website What’s left then, is the need to radically transform the business of social change itself, and to embrace different ways of working in the service of leverage and scale. Given the prevailing patterns, this will be hardest for legacy institutions. Reasons for hope Even with what we have experienced, we see some reasons for hope. Among the 1,500 or so people and organizations we have spoken and worked with over the last 3 years, we see the emergence of two cohorts that seem to be moving in the right direction. One are innovative new business models that are centered on leverage and scale, focusing on using (not building) technology to achieve massive network effects to organize and coordinate innovators, investors, and implementers in the pursuit of massive outcomes. These young enterprises don’t have entrenched institutional behaviors yet, and are inventing themselves as natively networked organizations from inception. The other cohort are ultrahigh-net-worth individuals, trustees of foundations and family offices, who are actively breaking from the modus operandi of the philanthropic and investment organizations they have created to pursue new, more direct approaches to achieving leverage and scale for the solutions they support. Both of these cohorts embrace the market network infrastructure we described in Billions to Trillions, and we are working on designing the first few charismatic use cases this year. Interestingly, the number of these pioneers, from among the 1,300 leads in our pipeline, as well as the distribution of the other attitudes to the required behavior change that we are observing, follows almost exactly the ‘Innovation Diffusion Theory’: about 1% are pioneers who will motivate the next 10% to become early adopter, with the vast majority not yet ready to take action. At Sphaera, we’ll keep going, pivoting our way to success and looking for those pioneers and early adopters at the tail of the distribution, and looking for others we can learn from in modeling and proliferating the behaviors we might survive by: the telling and listening to of uncomfortable truths, putting trust before transactions, and transforming the business of social change. We are looking for fellow travelers on this journey, and share these observations and reflections in the hopes of finding others who have experienced similar patterns, and have perhaps found ways to overcome them, and have recipes to share for behaviors that will help achieve the SDGs. If that’s you, please get in touch!

https://medium.com/@ajscholz/behaviors-we-might-survive-by-or-recipes-for-achieving-the-sdgs-5c06ced7fd2b

['Astrid Scholz']

2019-05-15 23:07:21.869000+00:00

['Sdgs', 'Sustainable Development', 'Change Management']

Chemex Coffee. The perfect step-by-step guide to…

A Common Sense Guide to Chemex Coffee As you can see, a Chemex is kind of a big deal. It’s not every day that you see a success story like this one. Upon looking at it for the first time, you’d think that the Chemex is a rather new invention; it looks slick, fashionable, like something a 20-year-old coffee savant designed in their post-modern treehouse. Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was actually invented by the chemist (which is probably why it looks straight out of a chemistry set) and inventor, Peter Schumblom back in 1941. Although a lot of his inventions had already been somewhat popular during his day, he couldn’t have imagined the way that the Chemex would blossom almost a whole century after being invented. Why Chemex It’s got to be hard inventing a brewing method all the way back in the 1940s that still works flawlessly to this day. While many other brewing methods have been significantly updated (and some are still being updated more frequently than the iPhone), the Chemex has remained essentially the same since its conception. The only thing that has changed is the design, to make it more appealing for today’s audience. Still, the Chemex remains very true to its roots, with the classic model featuring the only addition of a cool wooden handle, fastened with a leather cord. Even this good-looking feature is there for the practical purpose of easier pouring. Besides this classical model, they also have a glass handle model, which is made completely out of glass and features a regular handle. There’s also a hand-made model, made entirely by hand by professional glassblowers! Interestingly, Chemex has also put out what they call the Funnex — basically, the upper part of the Chemex. It lets you make coffee into whatever decanter you want. It’s like having a portable Chemex! Here’s a picture of the Funnex. Now, let’s go over how to make coffee using a Chemex coffee maker: What you’ll need: 50 grams of medium-fine coffee grounds 800 ml of water, between 197.6 F° (92 C°) and 204.8 F° (96 C°) A digital scale A bottleneck kettle One Chemex coffee filter Instructions: Place the filter on the Chemex, 3-ply facing towards you. Rinse the filter with hot water, then discard the water. Place the Chemex on a coffee scale or similar, add coffee grounds. Tare the scale and start a timer. Pour 100 grams of water (197.6-204.8 F°). Let the coffee bloom for 30 seconds. Resume pouring the rest of the water very slowly, taking your time. At around two minutes and thirty seconds, you should finish. Discard the filter without pressing down on it. Serve and enjoy your freshly brewed Chemex coffee. This method yields great results, particularly on dark roasts — if you have any espresso roasts laying around, this recipe is perfect for such coffees. Chemex is said to have the best body out of all the other brewing methods. It produces a bright cup of coffee, never too acidic or too bitter. One of the greatest things about Chemex is its versatility. You can easily make iced coffee using this coffee maker, like so: Chemex Iced Coffee What you’ll need: 200 grams of coffee ice cubes 30 grams coffee grounds, medium-coarse grind 300 ml water, 204.8 F° (96 C°) Prepare by making a batch of coffee ice cubes. This will prevent your coffee from diluting down, which is the biggest danger when having iced coffee. Add ice cubes to the Chemex Add a filter, then coffee grounds. Pour about 100 ml and let bloom. After 15 seconds, pour the rest of the water. Serve and enjoy The ratio is meant for strong coffee; you can easily use this same ratio with plain water cubes, using 150 grams of ice cubes instead. It’s also important to note that the pouring should be done as slowly as possible, to allow the coffee to be thoroughly extracted. Tips For Better Chemex Coffee Here are a few useful tips to help you get ahead in your Chemex game: #1 — The nipple All Chemex coffee makers have a small bump in the lower chamber; this is called “the nipple”. The nipple is actually there to mark the exact half capacity of your coffee maker, making it easier to eyeball water quantities and, more importantly, to achieve consistent results. If you purchase the six-cup model, the nipple marks three cups, and so on. #2 — The Chemex Cup Related to the previous one, be aware that what Chemex calls a “cup” is not the same as the American “cup” size. While a cup of coffee in America is usually 8 ounces, the Chemex cup is around 5 ounces. Take this into account when reading Chemex recipes! #3 — Use A Gooseneck Kettle Gooseneck kettles are not purely decorative. They allow much greater precision when pouring. This is especially important when brewing pour-over, as you have a greater area to cover and it is easy to overlook some parts, leading to wasted coffee grounds. Traditional kettles are much harder to handle if you are to make a spiraling or circular motion like you need in coffee makers such as the Chemex, or the Hario V60. Once you have a gooseneck kettle, practice this spiraling motion beforehand so you get the hang of it. It is particularly important during the first pour, as you need to wet all grounds, allowing them to bloom and therefore degas — this is probably the most important step in a pour-over. And with that, you’re ready to try your hand at making better Chemex coffee. It’s all about practice! Making coffee is just like a muscle. The more frequently you do it, the better you’ll get at it.

https://medium.com/the-cookbook-for-all/a-common-sense-guide-to-chemex-coffee-d81dff0388f1

['Common Sense Coffee']

2020-12-11 01:55:59.963000+00:00

['Knowledge', 'Coffee', 'Caffeine', 'Recipe', 'Lifestyle']

Are Client Testimonial Videos Really That Powerful?

Client testimonial videos are regarded as some of the most effective marketing and PR tools that a business could use. They are powerful, persuasive, and personal. But how relevant are they? Better yet, are they actually that powerful? To start with, the numbers speak for themselves. A considerable number of online users base their shopping decisions on the word of fellow consumers. Video is currently at the top of the type of content being consumed on the web. Social media dominates as the premier platform for getting news and product or service information. Taking all of these together, you can start getting a picture of just what client testimonial videos can do for your business. Straight From The Mouth Client testimonial videos are considered powerful marketing tools because they actually give customers a reason to try your product or services. When you are new or are trying to court new customers, one of your biggest challenges is your lack of brand recognition. If people don’t know you, they won’t trust you. Reaching out to them as the owner or tasking employees to do so via videos is a good stop. However, if customers hear how great your offers are from people just like them, the message is easier to accept. This is just how human psychology works. Of course, there are exceptions, such as those coming from authority figures. But even this isn’t nearly as effective as recommendations coming from fellow consumers. Using celebrities might work to grab attention for the short term. Unfortunately, this tactic no longer has the same level of payoff as it did in the days of television. Compelling and Enthralling Much like any kind of video content, client testimonial videos can also be made as immersive and persuasive as possible. You’ll want to do this to maximize the impact of the video, especially if you only have a limited shot at reaching your target demographic. Remember that if you’re not careful, your videos can be boring. Boring is dangerous for your business because it doesn’t engage, at all. It would have been better to make a controversial video since that would have some kind of effect. Client testimonial videos that are well-made can grab the attention of viewers and keep it. That’s the whole point. By enthralling viewers so that they watch until the end, it becomes easier to convince them that your business is worth a shot. More to the point, it gives existing customers to keep trusting you with their money. Freedom to Create Another great thing about client testimonial videos, which also makes them potent marketing tools, is how they allow you to be as creative as you want. You will have to adhere to certain standards such as not censoring the folks in the video. After all, you are going for authenticity here, but more on that later. For now, just remember that aside from what your clients actually say, everything else is fair game. You can create or have professionals create graphics that are colourful, inventive, and whacky as you want. It would, of course, need to keep with the theme of the video. There’s no sense adding comedic elements when your clients are talking about sombre topics. It just wouldn’t fit. However, as long as your creatives don’t clash with the message, you’re free to go nuts. It’s your client testimonial video. Authenticity Given Form A huge reason for the popularity of client testimonial videos, even during the era of televised marketing, is how authentic they come across. Everyday folks with everyday problems telling other regular Joes and Janes about how wonderful your offers are can have a profound impact. It’s like when a neighbour, a friend, a family member, or even a colleague tells you about something new and wonderful that you simply have to try. It can be a new food place, a new shopping mall, or it could be your products and services. The power of authenticity simply cannot be discounted, especially in this era when people no longer know which is real or fake. Client testimonial videos are about as real as things can get on the web. That’s a point that you can capitalise on so that your business can thrive. Contact us at Ithaka Media and we’ll take care of all your professional video and photography needs.

https://medium.com/@digital.ithakamedia/are-client-testimonial-videos-really-that-powerful-30094e8acadc

['Ithaka Media']

2021-12-16 05:25:42.218000+00:00

['Client Testimonial Videos', 'Business Videos', 'Client Videos', 'Marketing Videos', 'Client Testimonials']

How To Get Into Ketosis With Atkins

by Richard | Dec 17, 2021 | This article is from www.wholehealthemporium.com and may contain affiliate links. Atkins, paleo, keto, cabbage soup, and so many other diets come into popularity because of their rapid weight loss results. Some diets are different, but some are similar with minor difference. The basic principle of the Atkins diet is that a state of ketosis will help you burn your fat stores as energy. Many people, even those who are on low carbohydrate diets, don’t quite understand ketosis and why it works. Many diets are focused on calorie-reduction, which can be effective for some. They help you lose weight, but some of the weight is from fat and some of it is from lean muscle tissue. While the scale may show you some different numbers, your metabolism is actually slowing down. The more muscle you lose the slower your metabolism will be. This makes losing weight more difficult and gaining weight back even simpler. If you’re looking for an extra boost to kick you into ketosis — these supplements are excellent! How Does The Atkins Diet Achieve Ketosis? The Atkins diet, on the other hand, is carbohydrate restrictive. It creates a state of ketosis in your body that burns only fat, and not muscle. “The Atkins diet has four phases; 1. The induction phase, 2. Balancing phase, 3. Pre-maintenance phase 4. The long-term maintenance phase.” The primary source of your energy for your body will be fat in the form of ketones. Your liver will convert fat into ketones and it cannot be converted back. It will be excreted naturally. Ketones are actual a normally and efficient source of fuel for the human body. They are created in the liver from the fatty acids that result from the breakdown of body fat. These only appear when there is an absence of glucose and sugar. In the Atkins diet, you reduce the amount of glucose and sugar that is in the bloodstream. As a result, your body produces ketones for fuel. When your body is creating ketones it is called ketosis. There is a common misconception that following a ketogenic diet like Atkins is dangerous. The truth is that being in ketosis is a completely naturally state. The human body creates ketones to use as fuel in the absence of glucose. Ketone Testing Strips In the Atkins diet book, Dr. Atkins suggests using ketone-testing strips to determine your state of ketosis during dieting. These small plastic strips are held in the urine stream and contain a special chemically treated absorptive pad. This pad will change color if ketones are present in the urine. With the presence of ketones, the strip will change varying shades of pink to purple. There is a color scale on the label of the bottle that will help you determine your ketone levels. Where To Find Ketone Strips Ketone strips are available in any pharmacy and can be found among the diabetic supplies. In some stores, they are kept behind the counter so you may have to ask for them. You won’t need a prescription to buy them though. Once you open a package of ketosis strips they have a shelf life of 6 months. It may be helpful to mark the opening date on the box. How Useful Are Ketone Strips? Ketone strips will let you know if you are progressing correctly on the Atkins diet. If you are following the Induction plan to the letter and aren’t seeing purple, don’t worry. Some people never show trace amounts of ketones or they may show just above the minimum line. As long as you are losing weight and inches then you are successfully using ketones. Also, if you’ve just exercised a few hours before using the strips, you may not see purple. Watch Out For Dehydration Some dieters may mistakenly believe that a dark purple result on the testing strips means that they are losing weight faster. Actually, the darkest purple color is a sign of dehydration. It means that your urine is too concentrated and you need to drink water. Ketones come from fat in the bloodstream, whether it is fat that you eat or fat that you burn. So if you eat a meal heavy in fat and then immediately use a testing strip, then you’ll see a dark purple result. Use the strips as a guide, but don’t get hung up on the color. Also watch out for the keto flu — click here to learn how you can beat the keto flu! Supplements Thousands of people who have had success with the atkins and/or keto diet find supplementing with additional vitamins is beneficial for their journey. Also adding certain Superfoods like spirulina or chlorella can help boost your energy levels, detox, help with weight loss, and give clarity of mind without knocking you out of ketosis. Conclusion Reaching a state of ketosis is the key to success on the Atkins diet. Eliminating carbohydrates from the diet will help you in this process. Make sure to follow the eating plan correctly and use the ketone testing strips as needed. Supplements and superfoods can significantly help you during your in the process Thank you for reading! What was has your journey with the atkins and/or keto diet been like? Please share your comments with us below! Edited by Pauline D. and Richard Tracy Works Cited “The Atkins Diet: Benefits, Risks and What to Eat — Health Guide.” .Ro.co. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2021. Amazon.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2021.

https://medium.com/@wholehealthemporium/how-to-get-into-ketosis-with-atkins-c804b9525204

['Whole Health Emporium']

2021-12-17 14:03:04.535000+00:00

['Weight Loss', 'Health', 'Healthcare', 'Keto', 'Weight Loss Tips']

On Dreaming and Experience Design — part 1

Photo by Max Micallef on Unsplash UPDATE: Since I wrote this, I found out that Human Experience Design is actually a thing. UX for VR that is. When I wrote this I was thinking about something deeper than VR. — The ultimate User Experience is what I now call Human Experience and it is happening while we live our life. An important part of this Human Experience is when we are dreaming. When we are dreaming unconscious parts of our Self, our close ones and our society act very much like Big Data. In the Process of Dreaming, you, as the person experiencing “the experience/your dream that is” are getting exactly what you need at the time. “Magical Cookies” are collected during the day, when you experience life, and at night “Natural Big Data” is doing its work. You dream exactly what you need, or what you think that you need at the moment. It’s your psyches way of balancing stuff. One interesting part is that we are now creating another layer to this experience with the digital worlds we are collectively designing. Both as product designers and as product users. As a person with an experience in altered states of consciousness I no longer want to call this “User” Experience Design, I call it “Human” Experience Design. The “product” is whatever we are doing and interacting with, and, our environment. For example, I am now typing on the keyboard. You could say I am experiencing something that someone at Lenovo carefully thought about when designing the laptop. But apart from that I have my nephew in my back, clicking on his computer playing Fortnite. Further away my sister is cooking in the kitchen. My stomach is excited about mashed potatoes. So no matter how carefully someone at Lenovo designed this keyboard there are an infinite ways to experience it and it’s gonna be different every time for every human being experiencing it. As Persons experiencing a digital or physical product we are now constantly making it better as data is collected byte by byte. As Digital Creators in the digital realm, we have a huge responsibility. We are educating “digital children” both metaphorically and literally(thinking of my nephew behind me). We are altering the experience of the Persons living and consuming our creation, most of the time, a commercial product. But, both as persons experiencing something on the web and creators of experiences, what are we making better? Why? Better at what? For what purpose? How? Who is ultimately gaining and What are they gaining? These are few of the questions that arise in this process. I do have to admit that maybe it’s a bit to radical and blunt, we have to make room for some compromise and adapt to what can be done in todays reality. I want to stir this back to the dream world. Maybe that is where I need to pay more attention. How do night time dreams really come about? Who is storing all of the “cookies”? What are they doing with them? Why? Verse, Universe, Uni-verse, United Verse? (Just some fun with words).

https://medium.com/@flaviusfrantz/on-dreaming-and-human-experience-design-fc3531ea0e80

['Flavius Frantz']

2020-12-12 15:58:19.945000+00:00

['Human Experience', 'VR', 'Vr Experiences', 'Ux Writing', 'Human Experience Design']

The Hypocrisy of Autocracy

During the Democratic National Convention in 2016 the incomparable Michelle Obama gave a speech in which she uttered the now famous words, “when they go low, we go high.” This was an Obama and probably a Robinson family mantra well before it went national. This was how the Obamas taught their daughters to react to unfair and unearned criticism. This is how the Michelle and Barack always responded to cruel and racist barbs and it is the underpinning of their grace. Since the convention, particularly after Hillary Clinton won the election but was denied the office she had earned, many have questioned the wisdom of Michelle Obama’s words. It is — after all — frustrating to be the recipient of hateful abuse and even threats of violence when you have done nothing at all to deserve it. But Michelle’s right. There’s not a lot you can do beyond hold up a mirror and hope they see their reflection as it actually is. Fascists and autocrats at the ground level have two main things going on. Firstly, they feel that they lack an identity or social mooring and secondly they feel aggrieved. They don’t have to actually be aggrieved, they just have to feel that way. If you descend to their level you prove their point. This is kind of like dealing with someone who is delusional and trying to gaslight you. You cannot just point out that they’re completely untethered from reality — of course Trump never won a general election, of course there’s no “witch hunt,” against him, of course Democrats are not harvesting children’s blood for satanic rituals. But they have tied their sense of identity to all those insane things being true. They are not emotionally in a position to let go of it because without it they’re not — in their very own eyes — a person. And yeah, through their delusion they are causing considerable damage and have actually killed people. So you may think, “enough is enough.” You may think that they’ll use your refusal to engage as a sign that you’re complicit. And they will. But as a group the best way to respond to fascists is to insist on your own reality, but not necessarily demand that they immediately let go of their fantasy. Except for the ones that injure and kill people. If they get to that point they need to go to prison. The problem with fascists is that they are inherently damaged. The reason fascists engage in violent behaviour and come up with plots to kidnap and murder governors, or shoot up synagogues, or just randomly massacre Black people is because they have convinced themselves — unreasonably — that their feelings are more important than other people’s lives. If you talk to a fascist and ask them why they are violent they will invariably tell you that the other side is worse. According to Nazis and the KKK, Jews and/or Black people and/or Muslims and/or Mexicans and/or whatever group that aren’t them are going around raping white women and killing white children. They will insist on this. It’s obviously and clearly not factual, but you will never be able to convince a radicalized fascist that it’s not. And once you’ve failed they’ll insist that they’re just being, “rational.” So the question is, how did they get to this point? White people are not oppressed at all. White women get kicked by white men rather frequently, but there’s no weird conspiracy against specifically white men. So why manufacture one? Well, weirdly, it’s jealousy. White people, particularly white men don’t really understand systemic racism and sexism. They’ve never experienced it themselves. They do not really understand how behaviours they think are innocuous or even complimentary like commenting on a woman’s body or suggesting someone is well-spoken can reinforce inequality. Worse, programs like Affirmative Action and Title IX mean that white men feel like they are not being given the allocations or positions they “deserve.” They don’t understand these programs as creating an actual meritocracy because they cannot conceptualize a society where a woman or person of colour might be the better candidate or athlete or student or whatever they may be. They do not understand that they are not just naturally the best so when someone else gets something they wanted, even if it’s something they never worked for or never really previously thought about, they feel aggrieved. Gamergate is a really excellent example of this aggrievement out of nowhere. There were always women and people of colour and LGBTQ individuals playing games. And there always will be. Gamers are perceived as white and male, and white men are largely the demographic marketed to by game companies, but the actual gaming community is much more diverse. Gamergate came about because of a bad breakup and a guy who thought his ex-girlfriend’s success couldn’t possibly be due to her skill as a developer and therefore had to be due to her use of sexuality in what he believed was a primarily white male field. Seriously. That’s what it was about. A guy was upset his girlfriend wasn’t his girlfriend anymore. But a lot of mostly white male gamers latched onto the conflict and it became about female encroachment into male space. Again, this is ridiculous. Women already played games en masse. The call — as it were — was coming from inside the house. But white men, not understanding what discrimination really was, wanted a reason to be angry and special and so this imagined influx of women into gaming became a cause. No one was threatening white men, videogames are still made with sexist and racist themes, men can play videogames to their heart’s content, and there was no caravan of women illegally crossing the border into the sacred utopia of gaming man-land (just as there was no violent caravan of migrants bent on illegally crossing into the US). Radicalization can result from psychologically externalized personal failure and the narrative for a lot of these movements including Nazism is exactly that. White people, primarily white men but also a lot of white women aren’t for whatever reason doing well, but see select minorities either doing well or successfully putting on a brave face and they decide that their own personal failure or even just perceived or relative failure is not due to a downturn in the economy or their own lack of degrees or skills or work, but minority groups accessing and using up limited resources before and instead of them. This is how populism works. A would be leader finds the aggrieved but powerful majority and tells them that their failure to live up to a certain standard is due to greed, incompetence, and cronyism from the reigning “establishment,” who further is preferencing a given minority group over the majority. It comes down to “they are taking your things and benefitting from your work, and you are getting nothing in return.” That is an attractive message and everyone from Nazis to BernieBros to Proud Boys to KKK members have fallen for it. “It’s not your fault and you have a right to be angry,” is an attractive message. Unfortunately, it’s not a productive message. Because the next step is “reclaiming your heritage/rights/living room/country,” usually through violence. And, of course, since said violence was based on a flawed premise, it’s not only violent and horrific, but it ultimately serves no actual purpose. Fascists have incredibly dark and violent fantasies. Despite almost invariably belonging to the hegemonic group and under absolutely no threat, they labour under the pretence that they’re being either outbred or that there is an active genocide against them. This allows them to justify violence against women — who must be controlled for breeding purposes according to them — and the nebulous “other,” even if the nebulous other happens to be an innocent child. But they take it even further. Fascists often justify extreme violence against themselves and members of their own “in group.” They encourage and even idolize mass shooters who then take their own life. There is no logic or rationale behind either the violent behaviour or fantasies. Sadly, fascists understand violence — any violence — as a display of strength and are therefore afraid to question violence or stop committing it. There is no easy way of thoroughly defeating fascism. If you counter it with violence even violence in self-defence, fascists will use that action to justify further violence. If you negotiate with them as an actual group you both give them legitimacy and put yourself in a position where the negotiation cannot possibly progress because what they want is for you not to exist. The only way of defeating them is going to Michelle Obama’s mantra and fully embracing the strength that “when they go, low we go high,” requires. Fully purging fascism from our system requires rehabilitating each individual fascist. And that sucks. Not only does it suck because these people have done truly revolting racist and sexist things for no reason other than as an expression of their misdirected resentment, but it sucks because fascists are fundamentally irrational. There is no such thing as a logical autocrat. You can have a despot who utilizes autocracy or fascism or populism to gain and maintain power, but you cannot have a base of logical or rational fascists. That means, as with people who are delusional and as with gaslighters you have to hold on to reality while not immediately threatening or succumbing to their dark and weird fantasy. There is hope. There are ex-white supremacists. There are reformed Nazis. Former members of the KKK have realized the damage they have done and rededicated their lives to the advancement of civil rights and equality. But if you’re truly Antifa you have to have Michelle Obama’s endless strength and patience.

https://medium.com/@ariadneschulz/the-hypocrisy-of-autocracy-9ebbba9c69

['Ariadne Schulz']

2020-12-18 23:59:58.595000+00:00

['Fascism', 'Hope', 'Radicalisation', 'White Supremacy', 'Extremism']

You Don’t Know CSS

A look behind the scenes… YDKCSS Hi! Are you now developing a website or web application? Are you a front-end guy that loves working on HTML/CSS? Have you ever known about CSS’s inheritance, specificity, or the “cascading” itself? Well, the chance is you might don’t know CSS in depth. But, fret not, that was me too before I took this awesome Advanced CSS course taught by one of Udemy’s Top Instructors Jonas Schmedtmann. So, this article is basically an excerpt from that course, that I believe will enrich your understanding of what’s going on underneath. Enough chit-chat, here it goes!

https://medium.com/frontend-buddy/ydkcss-5fc20fcebf44

['Hizkia Juan Suryanto']

2020-07-20 05:01:01.175000+00:00

['HTML', 'Web Design', 'Front End Development', 'CSS', 'Web Development']

The Yellow Sweater: Words for My Best Friend

The Yellow Sweater: Words for My Best Friend You were a welcome respite from years of wandering through a desert of disconnection Larkyn Simony Jan 19, 2020·3 min read Photo by the author I have this yellow sweater. I don’t know if you remember it or not. Actually, yellow may not be the best way to describe the color; the words goldenrod or sunflower might be more accurate. I wore my yellow sweater to work last week, even though I knew I shouldn’t. It has ink spots on the sleeve from when I didn’t notice the ink on a greeting card wasn’t dry and I dragged the sleeve through it. Though I tried, that ink never would come out. The seams of my yellow sweater are coming apart. It, like me, has seen better days. But I wore my yellow sweater to work anyway. It’s the kind of thing I’d normally throw away. It endured a final rip at work last week which has rendered it unusable, yet I can’t get rid of it. It sits on my desk and reminds me of you. It is the sweater I wore the day we met, and if I throw it away, then I am throwing away everything there ever was or ever will be between us. That’s what I tell myself. You were my best friend. Maybe because I needed a best friend, even though I’ve never been a best friend kind of girl. Maybe because we got along so well from the beginning. We first encountered each other on a dating site and, when we met, the day I wore that yellow sweater, we argued our way through half the dinner. We were so similar in ways that made dating a terrible idea, and so different in ways that made dating a terrible idea, that we decided to give dating a try. After a very brief, and very awkward attempt at dating, you finally said what was true: We’d make much better friends than we did romantic partners. You said as friends we could be in each other’s lives forever, until we were old and couldn’t walk without assistance. I knew you were right, but I figured that, like most times men and women say they will be friends after failed romantic dalliances, we’d never see each other again. To my great surprise, we did see each other again one day the next week. And the day after that, and most of the days after that. We spent almost all of our free time together. You were working on a PhD, which was grueling and not always satisfying work. Maybe I was a good distraction from your work and your studies. Maybe I was an escape. I never considered that might be the role I played in your life, until one day I did. Yet, in spite of all the things I learned about you and about how you don’t get close to people, you allowed me in. You allowed us to become close; you allowed me to see you as you really were. You were my best friend, until one day you weren’t. For me, you were a welcome respite from years of wandering through a desert of disconnection from myself, the world, and other people. An incorrect mental-health diagnosis, and being wrongly medicated made closeness with other people impossible for me, even though not being close to people is the opposite of who I truly am. In spite of my strong desire to say you used me, and to say you never cared, in my heart I think you did care. A lot. I know you did. But knowing you did makes it much harder than thinking I was nothing more more important to you than a Netflix binge or a night of drinking that made you forget all your stresses. I still tell myself I never really did matter to you. If I never mattered to you, life makes a lot more sense And if I tell myself that enough, I might believe it. If I tell myself that enough, I might start living life again, instead of crying into this ragged, unsightly, broken, yellow sweater.

https://medium.com/@LarkynSimony/the-yellow-sweater-cf262b1bb3a6

['Larkyn Simony']

2021-07-25 01:45:48.590000+00:00

['Sad', 'Friendship', 'Losing A Friend', 'Best Friend', 'Grief']

S3,E12 || Star Trek: Discovery (Series 3, Episode 12) Online 1080p-HD

⭐ Watch Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 12 Full Episode, Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 12 Full Watch Free, Star Trek: Discovery Episode 12,Star Trek: Discovery CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery Eps. 12,Star Trek: Discovery ENG Sub, Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Star Trek: Discovery Series 3,Star Trek: Discovery Episode 12, Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 12, Star Trek: Discovery Full Streaming, Star Trek: Discovery Download HD, Star Trek: Discovery All Subtitle, Watch Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 12 Full Episodes Film, also called movie, motion picture or moving picture, is a visual art-form used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound, and more rarely, other sensory stimulations.[12] The word “cinema”, short for cinematography, is ofCBS All Access used to refer to filmmaking and the film Star Trek: Discovery, and to the art form that is the result of it. ❏ STREAMING MEDIA ❏ Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb to stream refers to the process of delivering or obtaining media in this manner.[clarification needed] Streaming refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than the medium itself. Distinguishing delivery method from the media distributed applies specifically to telecommunications networks, as most of the delivery systems are either inherently streaming (e.g. radio, television, streaming apps) or inherently non-streaming (e.g. books, video cassettes, audio CDs). There are challenges with streaming conCBS All Accesst on the Internet. For example, users whose Internet connection lacks sufficient bandwidth may experience stops, lags, or slow buffering of the conCBS All Accesst. And users lacking compatible hardware or software systems may be unable to stream certain conCBS All Accesst. Live streaming is the delivery of Internet conCBS All Accesst in real-time much as live television broadcasts conCBS All Accesst over the airwaves via a television signal. Live internet streaming requires a form of source media (e.g. a video camera, an audio interface, screen capture software), an encoder to digitize the conCBS All Accesst, a media publisher, and a conCBS All Accesst delivery network to distribute and deliver the conCBS All Accesst. Live streaming does not need to be recorded at the origination point, although it frequently is. Streaming is an alternative to file downloading, a process in which the end-user obtains the entire file for the conCBS All Accesst before watching or lisCBS All Accessing to it. Through streaming, an end-user can use their media player to start playing digital video or digital audio conCBS All Accesst before the entire file has been transmitted. The term “streaming media” can apply to media other than video and audio, such as live closed captioning, ticker tape, and real-time text, which are all considered “streaming text”. ❏ COPYRIGHT CONCBS All AccessT ❏ Copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to make copies of a creative work, usually for a limited time.[12][12][12][12][12] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is inCBS All Accessded to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[12][12][12] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States. Some jurisdictions require “fixing” copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is ofCBS All Access shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[citation needed][12][3][3][3] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[3] Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered “territorial rights”. This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state, do not exCBS All Accessd beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works “cross” national borders or national rights are inconsisCBS All Accesst.[3] Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 3 to 12 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[12] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration. It is widely believed that copyrights are a must to foster cultural diversity and creativity. However, Parc argues that contrary to prevailing beliefs, imitation and copying do not restrict cultural creativity or diversity but in fact support them further. This argument has been supported by many examples such as Millet and Van Gogh, Picasso, Manet, and Monet, etc.[3] ❏ GOODS OF SERVICES ❏ Credit (from Latin credit, “(he/she/it) believes”) is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[12] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exCBS All Accesssible to a large group of unrelated people. The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[12] Credit is exCBS All Accessded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower. ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ CBS All Accessween China, U.S. CBS All Access’s live-action “Star Trek: Discovery” was supposed to be a huge win for under-represented groups in Hollywood. The $12 million-budgeted film is among the most expensive ever directed by a woman, and it features an all-Asian cast — a first for productions of such scale. Despite well-inCBS All Accesstioned ambitions, however, the film has exposed the difficulties of representation in a world of complex geopolitics. CBS All Access primarily cast Asian rather than Asian American stars in lead roles to appeal to Chinese consumers, yet Chinese viewers rejected the movie as inauthentic and American. Then, politics ensnared the production as stars Liu Yifei, who plays Star Trek: Discovery, and Donnie Yen professed support for Hong Kong police during the brutal crackdown on protesters in 31212. Later, CBS All Access issued “special thanks” in the credits to government bodies in China’s Xinjiang region that are directly involved in perpetrating major human rights abuses against the minority Uighur population. “Star Trek: Discovery” inadverCBS All Accesstly reveals why it’s so difficult to create multicultural conCBS All Accesst with global appeal in 2020. It highlights the vast disconnect CBS All Accessween Asian Americans in Hollywood and Chinese nationals in China, as well as the exCBS All Accesst to which Hollywood fails to acknowledge the difference CBS All Accessween their aesthetics, tastes and politics. It also underscores the limits of the American conversation on representation in a global world. In conversations with seStar Trek: Discoveryl Asian-American creatives, Variety found that many feel caught CBS All Accessween fighting against underrepresentation in Hollywood and being accidentally complicit in China’s authoritarian politics, with no easy answers for how to deal with the moral questions “Star Trek: Discovery” poses. “When do we care about representation versus fundamental civil rights? This is not a simple question,” says Bing Chen, co-founder of Gold House, a collective that mobilizes the Asian American community to help diverse films, including “Star Trek: Discovery,” achieve opening weekend box office success via its #GoldOpen movement. “An impossible duality faces us. We absolutely acknowledge the terrible and unacceptable nature of what’s going on over there [in China] politically, but we also understand what’s at stake on the Star Trek: Discovery side.” The film leaves the Asian American community at “the intersection of choosing CBS All Accessween surface-level representation — faces that look like ours — versus values and other cultural nuances that don’t reflect ours,” says Lulu Wang, director of “The Farewell.” In a business in which past box office success determines what future projects are bankrolled, those with their eyes squarely on the prize of increasing opportunities for Asian Americans say they feel a responsibility to support “Star Trek: Discovery” no matter what. That support is ofCBS All Access very personal amid the Star Trek: Discovery’s close-knit community of Asian Americans, where people don’t want to tear down the hard work of peers and Star Trek: Discovery. Others say they wouldn’t have given CBS All Access their $3 if they’d known about the controversial end credits. “‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is actually the first film where the Asian American community is really split,” says sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, who examines racism in Hollywood. “For people who are more global and consume more global news, maybe they’re thinking, ‘We shouldn’t sell our soul in order to get affirmation from Hollywood.’ But we have this scarcity mentality. “I felt like I couldn’t completely lambast ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ because I personally felt solidarity with the Asian American actors,” Yuen continues. “I wanted to see them do well. But at what cost?” This scarcity mentality is particularly acute for Asian American actors, who find roles few and far CBS All Accessween. Lulu Wang notes that many “have built their career on a film like ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ and other crossovers, because they might not speak the native language — Japanese, Chinese, Korean or Hindi — to actually do a role overseas, but there’s no role being writCBS All Access for them in America.” Certainly, the actors in “Star Trek: Discovery,” who have seen major career breakthroughs tainted by the film’s political backlash, feel this acutely. “You have to understand the tough position that we are in here as the cast, and that CBS All Access is in too,” says actor Chen Tang, who plays Star Trek: Discovery’s army buddy Yao. There’s not much he can do except keep trying to nail the roles he lands in hopes of paving the way for others. “The more I can do great work, the more likely there’s going to be somebody like me [for kids to look at and say], ‘Maybe someday that could be me.’” Part of the problem is that what’s happening in China feels very distant to Americans. “The Chinese-speaking market is impenetrable to people in the West; they don’t know what’s going on or what those people are saying,” says Daniel York Loh of British East Asians and South East Asians in Theatre and Screen (BEATS), a U.K. nonprofit seeking greater on-screen Asian representation. York Loh offers a provocative comparison to illustrate the West’s milquetoast reaction to “Star Trek: Discovery” principal Liu’s pro-police comments. “The equivalent would be, say, someone like Emma Roberts going, ‘Yeah, the cops in Portland should beat those protesters.’ That would be huge — there’d be no getting around that.” Some of the disconnect is understandable: With information overload at home, it’s hard to muster the energy to care about faraway problems. But part of it is a broader failure to grasp the real lack of overlap CBS All Accessween issues that matter to the mainland’s majority Han Chinese versus minority Chinese Americans. They may look similar, but they have been shaped in diametrically different political and social contexts. “China’s nationalist pride is very different from the Asian American pride, which is one of overcoming racism and inequality. It’s hard for Chinese to relate to that,” Yuen says. Beijing-born Wang points out she ofCBS All Access has more in common with first-generation Muslim Americans, Jamaican Americans or other immigrants than with Chinese nationals who’ve always lived in China and never left. If the “Star Trek: Discovery” debacle has taught us anything, in a world where we’re still too quick to equate “American” with “white,” it’s that “we definitely have to separate out the Asian American perspective from the Asian one,” says Wang. “We have to separate race, nationality and culture. We have to talk about these things separately. True representation is about capturing specificities.” She ran up against the Star Trek: Discovery’s inability to make these distinctions while creating “The Farewell.” Americans felt it was a Chinese film because of its subtitles, Chinese cast and location, while Chinese producers considered it an American film because it wasn’t fully Chinese. The endeavor to simply tell a personal family story became a “political fight to claim a space that doesn’t yet exist.” In the search for authentic storytelling, “the key is to lean into the in-CBS All Accessweenness,” she said. “More and more, people won’t fit into these neat boxes, so in-CBS All Accessweenness is exactly what we need.” However, it may prove harder for Chinese Americans to carve out a space for their “in-CBS All Accessweenness” than for other minority groups, given China’s growing economic clout. Notes author and writer-producer Charles Yu, whose latest novel about Asian representation in Hollywood, “Interior Chinatown,” is a National Book Award finalist, “As Asian Americans continue on what I feel is a little bit of an island over here, the world is changing over in Asia; in some ways the center of gravity is shifting over there and away from here, economically and culturally.” With the Chinese film market set to surpass the US as the world’s largest this year, the question thus arises: “Will the cumulative impact of Asian American audiences be such a small drop in the bucket compared to the China market that it’ll just be overwhelmed, in terms of what gets made or financed?” As with “Star Trek: Discovery,” more parochial, American conversations on race will inevitably run up against other global issues as U.S. studios continue to target China. Some say Asian American creators should be prepared to meet Star Trek: Discovery by broadening their outlook. “Most people in this Star Trek: Discovery think, ‘I’d love for there to be Hollywood-China co-productions if it meant a job for me. I believe in free speech, and censorship is terrible, but it’s not my battle. I just want to get my pilot sold,’” says actor-producer Brian Yang (“Hawaii Five-0,” “Linsanity”), who’s worked for more than a decade CBS All Accessween the two countries. “But the world’s getting smaller. Streamers make shows for the world now. For anyone that works in this business, it would behoove them to study and understand Star Trek: Discoverys that are happening in and [among] other countries.” Gold House’s Chen agrees. “We need to speak even more thoughtfully and try to understand how the world does not function as it does in our zip code,” he says. “We still have so much soft power coming from the U.S. What we say matters. This is not the problem and burden any of us as Asian Americans asked for, but this is on us, unfortunately. We just have to fight harder. And every step we take, we’re going to be right and we’re going to be wrong.” ☆ ALL ABOUT THE SERIES ☆ is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date.[12] In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and exCBS All Accesssible to a large group of unrelated people. The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment.[12] Credit is exCBS All Accessded by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower. ‘Hausen’ Challenges Asian Americans in Hollywood to Overcome ‘Impossible Duality’ CBS All Accessween China, U.S.

https://medium.com/star-trek-discovery-s3xe12-4khd-quality/s3-e12-star-trek-discovery-series-3-episode-12-online-1080p-hd-2ba44081476d

['Naomi Briggs']

2020-12-25 22:12:55.026000+00:00

['Technology', 'Lifestyle', 'Coronavirus', 'TV Series']

Komodo: A Detailed Guide

Originally published in the NOWNodes blog. The Komodo platform, aimed at bringing new standards in cryptocurrency security and anonymity protocols, was founded in September 2016. Headquartered in San Gwann, Malta, the Komodo platform leverages the Zcash Zero-Knowledge proofs to help its users make 100% untraceable transactions. These transactions are protected by Bitcoin’s Petahash Proof of Work mechanism. Komodo’s Unique Blockchain Platform The blockchain platform offered by Komodo is open and composable. These fully composable solutions, built on multi-chain designs. It proves beneficial for solo developers, growing startups, and comparatively larger enterprises alike. These entities can leverage this aspect of composability to create a customized blockchain that is capable of hosting applications, software, and any other type of blockchain-based solution. The composability of Komodo’s blockchain provides a wide variety of components that can be activated as and when needed and can be used in different combinations and configurations so that they can meet the specific needs of a specific use case. Although launched in 2016, the development of the platform started further back in 2014. The initial development process took its cue from the tested technology paradigms of Bitcoin and ZCash. In offering customization facilities relating to the blockchain, Komodo enables projects to build a fully customizable and independent Antara smart chain that remains connected to the multi-chain ecosystem of Komodo through platform synchronizations. The smart chain is protected with bitcoin level security. Antara equips Komodo with the provisions of offering a toolkit for blockchain. The different development tools within this kit enable the users to build on advanced business logic. This facility is complemented by Komodo’s on-chain native app support. The multi-chain design of Komodo allows many sovereign smart chain projects to co-exist in the same ecosystem with each one having its own consensus, network, and coin. However, these independent chains are capable of doing cross-chain transfers of value and logic leveraging Komodo Core’s Platform Synchronization technology. The Antara smart chains keep on updating themselves with the progress of time and technology. All these smart chains are future proof and the users of these smart chains keep receiving free updates as and when they are released. New features are also added to the base Komodo technology stack on frequent intervals keeping the technology dynamic. Developers, start-ups, and enterprises who build their own independent smart chain to meet their needs are free to scale up when they feel. The Antara smart chain allows them to scale on demand by bringing together multiple smart chains under the ambit of one logical chain. Not only expansion in the number of chains, but Antara smart chain technology also enables scaling up in terms of functionalities of the chain. One can introduce several new features and options to their chain, including oracles, tokens, trustless price feeds, stablecoins, etc. Apart from enabling projects to create custom, independent smart chains, Komodo also helps businesses and individual users with a bunch of necessary white-label products, including multi-coin wallets, atomic swap DEX, custom block explorers, and hosted infrastructure solutions. In the next segments, we will have a detailed look into these offerings of Komodo. Atomic Swap DEX and Multi-Currency Wallet The AtomicDEX offered by Komodo combines a highly secure wallet with a non-custodial decentralized exchange. Users can leverage this combine to store their holdings and trade on a peer-to-peer basis without having to give up control over their funds. The multi-currency wallet helps frequent crypto users to get rid of a host of different wallets required to hold each different type of coins. One can conveniently store their BTC, ETH, and a dozen more types of coins in the test version of the wallet in a secure and non-custodial way. Although the current Beta release of the wallet allows a dozen types, the final launch will have the capacity to store more than hundreds of different types of crypto coins. On the other hand, the biggest facility provided by the Atomic Swap DEX is that it lets the users trade any coin without having to go through an exchange first. Since one does not have to go through an exchange to trade, there is no giving up of control over their funds. Atomic Swap DEX is known as the industry’s most advanced, mobile-first atomic swap protocol so far. The Benefits of Komodo’s Atomic Swap DEX The next-generation decentralized exchange or DEX technology introduced by Komodo addresses a lot of legacy issues when it comes to the trading of digital assets. Although the blockchain technology is pivoted on decentralization, the trading in the blockchain is still largely dependent on the centralized exchange services. But, these CEX services have their limitations and disadvantages. Centralized exchanges suffer from a lack of security. According to estimates, in 2018 alone, all centralized exchanges combined lost digital assets worth US$1 billion to hackers and cyber attackers. It becomes a matter of grave concern for the users as they need to give up the control of their funds before going to trade through centralized exchanges. Trading through centralized exchanges proves costlier than average. Not only the user has to pay 0.33% trading fees applied on the value of the trade, but one also needs to pay fees for withdrawal and regaining one’s control over his or her funds. Centralized exchanges also fail to provide a good range of trading pairs. Most of the CEX services have one or two trading pairs for most of the coins and tokens. The AtomicDEX offered by Komodo takes care of each of these problems. It offers the highest standard of security protocol to its users who, under any condition, do not have to give up control over their funds by sharing their private key with the exchange. The Komodo DEX services also offer a bouquet of unrestricted trading pairs to its users where any asset is eligible for direct swapping. The fees are also much less on the DEX as compared to any centralized exchange services. In the AtomicSwapDEX, while the market makers do not need to pay any fees, the takers need to pay only 0.15% Komodo: Tokenomics The native token of Komodo is the KMD token. The total supply of the KMD token is fixed at an upper limit of 200 million tokens. Out of these 200 million, 100 million were pre-mined and were distributed through an ICO or Initial Coin Offering. Of these 100 million Komodo tokens that went into ICO, 90% were available for the investors who participated in the ICO. The rest of the 10% was set aside for the future development of the platform. Apart from the 100 million KMD tokens, the other 100 million are decomposed by Komodo through its proof-of-work consensus mechanism. Komodo users with more than 10 KMD tokens held in a single address are eligible for a 5% reward. To give an idea about the trading potential of Komodo, its price reached an all-time high of USD 12.23 on December 22, 2017, trading at a volume of more than USD 1.2 billion. Latest Komodo Updates Komodo platform completed its first successful stress test on 31st October 2020. During this stress test, a total of 2000 traders attempted performing swaps through the AtomicDEX. The test enriched Komodo developers with a host of valuable data for them to test the veracity of Market Maker 2, Komodo’s highly-sophisticated order-matching technology, based in Libtorrent. This update to Market Maker 2 will make Komodo far more useful than its previous versions. It enables the DEX with the whole package of free battle-tested servers for DHT bootstrap and a significantly large network of DHT peers. It’s also helpful in correcting and upgrading the network address translations and anomalies relating to routing. The use of Libtorrent in Market Maker 2 makes the AtomicDEX eligible to operate while switching IPs. It becomes particularly useful when the user is mobile and might be using different Wi-Fi routers, cellular towers, etc. As a provider of the next generation of DEX technology, the Komodo platform has established itself as a major driving force in the evolution of blockchain technology. With a strong foundation, comprised of the Antara framework, delayed proof of work mechanism, atomic swaps, and platform synchronization features, Komodo is expected to continue its run as an innovation and thought leader in the world of blockchain in the days to come. Also, Read

https://medium.com/coinmonks/komodo-a-detailed-guide-694c4e77c79a

[]

2020-12-28 13:02:12.108000+00:00

['Technology', 'Atomic Dex', 'Komodo', 'Blockchain', 'Cryptocurrency']

Do You Know Her?

Do You Know Her? Poem Image by Cari R. from Pixabay do you know her? she holds oceans between breaths in a peak of pale foam she makes aftercraft of the undercroft insides furnished with sin she is interrogation low-leaning unflinching from your fleeing outrage do you know her? I know her

https://medium.com/assemblage/do-you-know-her-72262c5d96e

['Lisa Alletson']

2020-03-23 12:48:35.520000+00:00

['Poetry', 'Women', 'Self', 'Poem', 'Strong Women']

Living At Home During Grad School

Living At Home During Grad School Photo by Flaunter on Unsplash I am 23 and I live at home. Although those words may not come across as striking as they may have years ago when moving out at 18 was the universal standard, they still carry some negative notion to many. I live with my mother and father, my 15-year-old brother, and our 2 dogs. I have 2 younger sisters who go to college far away, one of whom is a communications major who lives on her own in Florida. Despite the horror stories I’ve heard from others, I have had no tangible issue living at home. My parents don’t have any crazy rules, I have a wonderful relationship with them, and before the pandemic, I spent 90% of all days out of the house on the campus where I attend graduate school. The house I live in is large and beautiful, its many walls filled with memories of many people’s joy, stress, despair, and love. The house has stood for over 100 years. It has seen decades of joyous holiday celebrations. Out the window, you can watch the seasons change as the in-ground pool my dad and his friends built themselves turns into an ice rink when winter hits. In the summer I can look out the window and see my childhood. My siblings, cousins, and friends, all pretending to take our driver’s tests as we rode our bikes around our dead-end street. We didn’t yet know screens. We spent our days outside doing cartwheels and pretending any chunk of wood on the playground was a balance beam. Our childhood was magnificent and to this day, I am profoundly grateful for the roof I have over my head, having all my family and friends close by, and my serene room where the desk my parents bought me houses thousands of hours of neuroscience and orthopedic study material and my cranberry chutney candle. Somehow many years have passed, but I am still here. I stayed here to save money in undergrad since I went to school just down the street. My plans shifted when I did not get accepted to the affordable graduate program at the university I attended during my undergraduate studies. I did however get accepted into one of the nation's top 10 programs, but the price was significantly higher. Eventually, I decided it was too good an opportunity to give up.

https://medium.com/illumination/living-at-home-during-grad-school-951a46a35768

[]

2020-12-17 01:18:50.304000+00:00

['Life Lessons', 'Self Improvement', 'Education Reform', 'Higher Education', 'Graduate School']

Window of heart

More from Simran Kankas Follow Author of ‘Beyond and Within’ — https://amz.run/3ZHY; My bond with the universe since the childhood helped me find the purpose of my life.

https://simrankankas.medium.com/window-of-heart-78ca7732a31f

['Simran Kankas']

2020-01-28 11:54:39.063000+00:00

['Philosophy', 'Self', 'Mindfulness', 'Poetry', 'Haiku']

A community of life

All Americans should care about the wildlife on the coast plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, even if we never visit. (Photo credit: Credit: Alan D. Wilson via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0) Protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a legacy of our country’s conservation movement. Originally established in 1960 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the refuge pre-dates the publication of Rachel Carson’s seminal book, Silent Spring (1962) and the Santa Barbara oil spill (1969), which horrified the organizers of the first Earth Day (1970). I’ve never been to the refuge, and, I suspect you’ve never been there either. In fact, the vast majority of Americans are less likely to visit the north slope of Alaska than almost any other spot in the U.S. Of course, if you’re lucky enough to have access to a private plane or you’re up for hiking and backpacking there from Fairbanks — with all of the food and provisions you’ll need — it’s surely worth the effort. By all accounts, it’s spectacular. However, that’s beyond so many of us. Still, even if we never get there, that’s not the point of protecting this place. This reason why this wild and amazing place must be protected was eloquently explained in the 1964 Wilderness Act, which was enacted four years after the refuge was officially designated. Its words clearly apply to this remote Alaskan area: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the Earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”

https://medium.com/environment-america/a-community-of-life-252c46586e07

['Ellen', 'Len']

2020-12-23 15:15:36.219000+00:00

['Environment', 'Wildlife Conservation', 'Arctic', 'Polar Bears', 'Wildlife']

A Disproportionate Burden

Voter ID laws in the United States are becoming more common and more strict. In 2013 alone, legislators in six states moved to strengthen their voter ID laws. Today, eleven states have a strict voter ID requirement in place. Moreover, the fate of these laws is far from certain; almost every strict ID requirement has been challenged in the courts, and many of these cases remain outstanding. More challenges to these laws are likely to emerge in the future. Outside of these legal proceedings, the constitutionality of these laws remains in question. The stakes for American democracy are high and growing higher by the year. The answer to that constitutionality question may well be tipped one way or the other by the weight of the empirical evidence about the burden these laws pose on minorities. All of this means that there is a real need for hard evidence. Clear, objective, and empirical answers to the core voter identification debates could actually sway outcomes on the issue. In this article, we have attempted to provide some of those hard empirical answers. By focusing on data from recent elections following widely implemented strict photo ID laws, by using official turnout data to eliminate concerns over inflated and biased turnout patterns from self-reported survey data, and by employing a research design that incorporates longitudinal data and difference-in-difference tests, our analysis overcomes many of the core problems faced by previous studies. As such, our study offers a more rigorous test of these laws. Our primary analysis assesses changes in aggregate county turnout data between 2012 to 2016, incorporating all U.S. counties in the analysis. We also perform a robustness check that focuses on changes in county turnout between 2010 and 2014. The core test is to compare changes in turnout in racially diverse counties in states that have implemented a new strict voter identification law to changes in turnout in similarly racially diverse counties in states that have not enacted a new strict voter identification law. We also focus on how the gap in turnout changes between more racially diverse and less racially diverse counties in states with newly enacted strict ID laws, compared to how the gap changes elsewhere. We perform these difference-in-difference tests with and without controls for other factors that could also shape changes in turnout. The findings presented in our paper strongly suggest that these laws do, in fact, represent a burden that disproportionately affects minorities and significantly alters the makeup of the voting population. Where these laws are enacted, turnout in racially diverse counties declines: it declines more than in less diverse areas, and it declines more sharply than it does in other states. As a result of these laws, the voices of Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, and other minorities become more muted and the relative influence of white America grows. An already significant racial skew in American democracy becomes all the more pronounced. If courts are indeed trying to gauge the burden these laws impose on minorities and others, then this new data should help the courts with their deliberations.

https://medium.com/mit-election-lab/a-disproportionate-burden-a6521956423e

['Mit Election Lab']

2018-07-26 21:13:26.233000+00:00

['Esra 2018', 'Politics', 'Voting']

Why is Ebrahim Laher the most Trusted Strategic Advisor in South Africa?

Ebrahim Laher, is a known name in the world of Strategic Advisory and Business Strategic growth. He is a well-known Digital Entrepreneur, Strategic Advisor to companies in the Emerging Market. He is a former Executive Director at EOH, Co-Founder at Hetu Consulting. A successful digital entrepreneur, Ebrahim Laher’s journey as a Digital Entrepreneur and Strategic Advisor’s in Africa, South Africa, the Middle East has been astounding where he has made vast contributions to businesses and society at a large scale by making millions of transformations with digital technology. For making lucrative developments in the field of business, entrepreneurship, philosophy, education, Ebrahim Laher has contributed a lot. His knowledge of Digital Entrepreneurship has opened up many new avenues and questions about providing benefiting strategies, opportunities for businesses and government to flourish. What Makes Ebrahim Laher, one of the most Trusted Advisors in Africa and the Middle East? When someone thinks of a Strategic Advisor, Ebrahim Laher is a renowned name who’s the best advisor in the creation of goals and how to develop tactics and regarding the tools to improvise digital strategic advisory. Consulting is natural to Ebrahim Laher as he held positions requiring expert skills and knowledge to advise companies on what they should do and how to do it. The unique advisory and helping nature of Ebrahim Laher has traded multi-fold strategies to prove growth, even for a short span of time in many successful and upcoming companies. Often it is observed that people use the word strategy and tactics but organizations like EOH have developed leaps and bounds in South Africa due to Ebrahim Laher. Africa’s potential as a growth market in the digital industry has remained both underestimated and misunderstood. Ebrahim Laher was the key strategic advisor with the potential in transforming the main roles of a company by solving the businesses biggest challenges. EOH is among Africa’s biggest information and communication technology (ICT) providers. Ebrahim Laher, a top-notch digital entrepreneur harnesses the reach and power of the technology in order to offer products and services for the profit of the company. He possesses all the characteristics of a traditional entrepreneur i.e.vision, determination, persistence, and creativity. Ebrahim Laher holds a number of key traits to become the most trusted advisors in South Africa and Africa. He has operated constantly shifting algorithms that control who or what appears in the online listing in South Africa. Due to Ebrahim Laher’s Digital entrepreneurship skills, the companies have specialized in the provision of technology services to businesses and the government. How Ebrahim Laher has become the most popular digital entrepreneur in Africa? Ebrahim Laher has become the most popular digital entrepreneur in South Africa as he has been influential in aiding organizations, businesses, and even government bodies across countries such as Africa, South Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The digital entrepreneurship skills of Ebrahim Laher have improved the process of data collection across all social platforms and even allowed organizations for identifying opportunities across the globe. He has advised the organization to scale to great heights over time. With the best strategies for the Businesses goals, products, Likewise Ebrahim Laher has scaled many businesses in Africa. He is highly notable for the growth of EOH Group that has its branches laid out in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, North Africa, India, The UK, South America, and Turkey. Ebrahim Laher has maintained lucrative conventional methods and values for the company. With the unique advisory nature of Ebrahim Laher, EOH has jumped substantially high and is valuable in the world of Digital Entrepreneurship in South Africa. Ebrahim Laher has integrated many prosperous Strategic Partnership schemes with variant partners that have mutually benefited and ensured that businesses in Africa have thrived with the latest technology services and strategic growth. EOH’s existence has solved challenges in Africa eagerly and has provided much knowledge and industry expertise. Ebrahim Laher has committed to sustainable transformation thus making the businesses in Africa bring about more contributions to society positively. To know about Ebrahim Laher, click here.

https://medium.com/@newsfeedsouthafrica/why-is-ebrahim-laher-the-most-trusted-strategic-advisor-in-south-africa-bbd667443799

[]

2021-12-22 09:09:48.371000+00:00

['Strategic Planning', 'South Africa', 'Eos', 'Ebrahimlaher', 'Eoh Ebrahim Laher']

21 Predictions about the Software Development Trends in 2021

1. Centralized Infrastructure: Cloud, cloud everywhere During COVID-19, most of the industry suffered heavily, albeit a handful of industries. Cloud is the forerunner industry, which actually becomes stronger than ever during the pandemic. If there were any doubt and uncertainty in terms of Cloud adoptions, COVID-19 has wiped that away. A global-scale catastrophe like Corona showed that we not only need Cloud for upscale, we also need it for down-scaling, i.e., when demand for our services drops significantly. Think about the tourism and transportation industry that has to maintain their expensive data centers, although their market drops 90%. Forrester predicted Global Public Cloud IT infrastructure market would grow to a whopping 120 Billion USD with 35% growth in 2021: No matter which industry you are in (Government, Startups, Agriculture, Healthcare, Banking), plan Cloud migration as the entire world moves to Cloud sooner than later. There will be a huge shortage and high demand for Cloud-Native Engineers in 2021 and onwards. If you are an IT engineer, jump into any MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) to earn your Cloud certificate. The good news is that many of them are offering free months during Covid. Also, the major public cloud providers are offering free courses. Recently the biggest public Cloud provider Amazon has declared that they will give free Cloud Computing training to 29 million people between 2021–2025: 2. Decentralised Infrastructure: Edge Computing will see exponential growth In contrast to the Public Cloud where we want to have a centralized Data Center for Data and Compute power, there are many scenarios where we want to have the opposite, i.e. the Data and Compute power near the end-user. Some are very low latency (5 to 20 ms), high bandwidth, regulatory reasons, Real-Time use cases, smart and powerful end-user devices, etc. Although Edge computing is an old concept and we are using Edge Computing in Content Delivery Network (CDN), it is gaining popularity in recent years. With the rise of connected vehicles (autonomous Cars, drones), online gaming, IoT, smart devices, and edge AI/ML, Edge Computing will be a gigantic market in 2021 and beyond. Another key reason Edge computing will be key in 2021 is the rise of the 5G mobile devices. In 2021, two groups of industries will fight for the market share in Edge computing. One group will be the public Cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, as reported here: Here again, Amazon is the leader with many services like AWS Snow family, AWS IoT Greengrass. Microsoft is also providing edge services with Azure Stack Edge, Azure Edge Zone. Google is also moving its Data Center services to the end-user with Google Anthos. The other group is the industry that already has the Edge Infrastructure like Telecom Companies, Data Center Providers, Network Providers. If they can move fast and leverage their advantages (i.e., existing Infrastructure), they have the opportunity to lead here. The Hybrid cloud provider RedHat (IBM) will be a key player here with its Hybrid Cloud Platform OpenShift, and engagement in OpenStack. Recently Samsung has joined with IBM to develop Edge Computing solutions: State of the Edge is the initiative to make Open Standard for Edge Computing to make the Edge computing vendor-neutral. Recently State of the Edge became part of the Linux Foundation. Like CNCF, the State of the Edge will also gain more moment in 2021 and onwards. Prepare for many innovations, mergers, neck-to-neck fight, and standardization in Edge Computing in 2021 and beyond. 3. Cloud: AWS is leading, but Multi-Cloud will be the future Among the public Cloud vendors, there is no question about who is the leader. In Q3 2020, Amazon is leading the public Cloud market with a 32% market share, as shown below: Microsoft had another strong year with its cloud offering and enjoyed 48% annual growth in 2020. In Q3 2020, Microsoft has a 19% market share compared to a 17% market share in Q3 2019. As it is now, Google is the third-largest public Cloud provider with its 7% market share in Q3 2020. In 2021, Amazon and Microsoft will keep their position as the first and second spots, respectively. However, Alibaba will take over third place in 2021 as it is just behind Google with a 6% market share in Q3 2020. Also, the Multi-Cloud initiative will get more momentum in 2021. Many companies also moving to a Multi-Cloud strategy. CIA has recently awarded its Cloud contract to multiple vendors instead of one single vendor: Until now, Amazon was reluctant to join the multi-cloud initiative to protect its market share. But as we had already seen with Microsoft 10 years ago, the whole industry and community are bigger than the biggest individual company. Recently, Amazon has silently joined the Multi-Cloud initiative: The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) plays a key role in the Multi-Cloud movement and has arguably surpassed the Linux Foundation. In 2021, we can see more growth in the CNCF. Also, Multi-Cloud service providers like HashiCorp will become more important in 2021. Some outstanding projects also provide API compatibility with popular vendor-specific Cloud Services like MinIO (providing AWS S3 compatible Object Storage). In 2021, there will be more initiatives like MinIO so that we can easily lift-and-shift popular Vendor lock services. This is good news for the whole industry as I dream of a world where companies can deploy their application in Multiple Cloud seamlessly. 4. Containerization: Kubernetes is the Emperor, and Docker will slip away Containerization is the Core Technology of the Cloud Native IT, whether Public Cloud, Private Cloud, or even Edge Computing. For several years now, Kubernetes has established itself as the leading Container Orchestration and Management Technology. Like Linux ruled the Data Centers previously, Kubernetes is ruling the Public Cloud and Private Cloud landscape. Initially, Google was the leading force behind Kubernetes, but now almost all Giant Tech companies put their weight behind Kubernetes. All the major public Cloud providers are now offering managed Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, Google GKE) along with their managed Containerization Services. On the other side, RedHat is offering managed Kubernetes Service in private Cloud with OpenShift. In 2021, we will see more adoption of Kubernetes as it is the core component in the Hybrid-Cloud or Multi-Cloud strategy. Non-traditional Enterprise applications like AI/ML, Databases, Data Platforms, Serverless, and Edge Computing applications will also move to Kubernetes. On the flip side, Docker is slowly losing its charm as a Conternization Technology. There are already initiatives to standardize the container format and runtime, and two of them are getting huge traction in recent years. One is the Kubernetes led Container Runtime Interface (CRI). The other one is the Linux Foundation lead Open Container Initiative (OCI). Recently Kubernetes has deprecated Docker in favor of CRI and planning to remove Docker completely in late 2021 in its upcoming Kubernetes release (1.22): As Kubernetes is the 800-pound Gorilla in the containerization ecosystem, 2021 will be the beginning of an end for Docker. On the upside, the CRI and OCI will get more momentum in 2021, and especially the CRI based containers will get a huge boost in 2021. 5. Computing: Quantum Computing will get momentum Quantum Computing is the most revolutionary technology on this list. Like the digital computer, it has the potential to impact every sector. I have created a list of hottest Technology for the 2030s, and Quantum Computing was in the number one spot: To put into perspective: if we think about today's most advanced Supercomputers as a normal human being, for example, a Chess Player or an 8th-grade math student, then Quantum computing is the Supergenius like Magnus Carles, who can play with 50 average Chess players at a time or genius Mathematician like Euler. There were some significant breakthroughs and advancements in Quantum computing in 2020. In June 2020, Honeywell claimed that it had created the most powerful Quantum Computer, beating the previous record set by Google: Only a few days ago, a group of scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) showed that Quantum Computer could beat the most advanced classical Supercomputer comfortably for a particular task (Gaussian boson sampling): Many governments and Tech Giants are exploring and investing in Quantum Computing. Google and IBM are two of the biggest players in this field. Google even launched an open-source library TensorFlow Quantum (TFQ), for prototyping the Quantum Machine learning models: Amazon is also offering managed quantum computing service via its Amazon Braket Cloud Service. Considering the massive interest and its infinite possibilities, there will be some breakthroughs and jaw-dropping discoveries in Computer Quantum in 2021. If you want to explore Quantum Computing, then you can use the Open Source SDK qiskit, which is also offering the free course: 6. Blockchain: The roller coaster ride will continue Blockchain (Distributed Ledger) is also one of the major disruptive technologies developed in recent times. Technology-wise, it has the potential to change the whole industry. Although Cryptocurrency played a major role in popularizing the technology. It also played a major role in moving the Technology in the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” in Gartner’s Hype Cycle curve. Many rogue entities capitalized on the popularity of Bitcoin and created scam projects to cheat common people who wanted to be rich in a short time. Now Blockchain is going through the “Trough of Disillusionment” of the Hype Cycle curve. Also, Governments are interfering in Cryptocurrencies to prevent scams. Recently the Chinese government has seized a Cryptocurrency scam “Plus Token Ponzi”: Facebook released its Cryptocurrency Libra in 2019 but got intense regulatory pressure in 2020: Other open-source Blockchains like Ethereum are putting a Code in the Block, making it possible to use it as a smart contract, which is the future of Blockchain. In 2021, Blockchain will be used more as a Smart contract mechanism, and hopefully, it will enter the “Slope of Enlightenment” phase. Blockchain will get a major boost in 2021, as China has put it in its ambitious 500 Trillion “New Infrastructure” plan: 7. Artificial Intelligence: AI will be for all As one of the hottest Technology in recent times, AI has also seen many breakthroughs in 2020. Another interesting trend is that AI slowly started to enter all sectors with the slogan “AI for all.” In the natural language processing domain, GPT-3 was the biggest breakthrough that came in May 2020. The US company OpenAI created GPT-3, which has made it possible to create human-like text using Deep Learning. Only after four months, the entire world was simultaneously amazed and shocked when the following Guardian Article was written using GPT-3: In 2021, there will be a breakthrough in Natural Language Processing, where AI will write articles or write small software programs. The other interesting development was the AutoML 2.0, which enables Automated feature engineering. In 2021, there will be a major advancement in Full Cycle AI Automation and more democratization in AI. AI is not unbiased, and ethical AI is getting more traction. Another major trend in AI is explainable AI, which will need an explanation for why AI has taken a certain decision. In 2021, there will be major progress in these fields as the EU has set regulations to explain AI’s decision. AI will also see major adoption in the Aviation industry in 2021 and beyond. Only a few days ago, the US Air Force used AI as Co-Pilot to fly an Aircraft: AI will also be the centerpiece in Chinese digital-based infrastructure for the future: Expects lots of mind-blowing innovations and democratization in AI in 2021. 8. Deep Learning Library: It will be TensorFlow 2.0 and PyTorch Google and Facebook are the two dominant players in Deep Learning and Neural Network. Google’s key business is searching capability, and it is the leading innovator in Natural Language Processing. Facebook’s key business is a social network, and it has to handle Images, Videos, and Text. In Image processing, Facebook is the tech leader with many innovations. TensorFlow from Google was the leading library in Deep Learning, but everything changed in 2016 when Facebook released PyTorch. PyTorch used Dynamic Graph instead of Static Graph (used by TensorFlow) and more Python friendly. Google reacted by creating TensorFlow 2.0 in 2019, which copied many PyTorch features (Dynamic Graph, Python friendliness). It also works perfectly with Google’s Collab, a very modern and powerful Notebook. Since then, Google enjoyed the upturn of TensorFlow 2.0’s popularity. Currently, TensorFlow is the most popular Deep Learning framework, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 2020:

https://towardsdatascience.com/21-predictions-about-the-software-development-trends-in-2021-600bfa048be

['Md Kamaruzzaman']

2020-12-25 11:21:21.811000+00:00

['Software', 'Programming', 'AI', 'Data', 'Cloud']

Fetch.AI’s Staking Model Explained

We’re delighted to be able to announce plans for staking in the run up to the launch of the Fetch.AI main network at the end of this year. In an earlier article, we provided the key information that our supporters will need to take part in the staking program. The purpose of this article is to provide some background on the role of staking on the Fetch.AI platform and the rationale for the design of the staking model. We’ll also discuss how staking will evolve as the Fetch.AI network grows over time. Staking is a mechanism that is used in the Fetch.AI consensus to secure the operation of the blockchain. The operators of nodes, known as validators, stake FET tokens in exchange for the right to earn rewards from the production of blocks over a certain time period. This stake can be withheld if the validators do not follow the protocol correctly. Users can also delegate stake to a particular validator to earn a share of the rewards that they receive. In both cases, the locking of stake allows the network to operate securely by putting the principal at risk if validators misbehave in any way. In the following sections, we use a question-and-answer format to explain other aspects of the staking program. So what is Proof-of-Stake and why do we need it? There is a common idea behind all Proof-of-X schemes where X could be “Work” or “Stake” or some other valuable resource. Nodes that maintain the blockchain need some mechanism to distinguish valid blocks from blocks that contain invalid transactions or some other defect. This is necessary as an attacker can easily write a program that outputs invalid blocks that contain plausible lists of transactions and other associated data. Without some type of penalty, an attacker would then be able to flood the network with these fake blocks to stop the blockchain from operating. Proof-of-X chains resist this type of attack by requiring that block producers provide evidence that is easy to verify (a proof) that a significant amount of resources have been expended in the block’s creation. This makes it expensive for an attacker to disrupt the blockchain with fake blocks. In Proof-of-Stake chains, the expense involves the node “locking-up’’ a significant amount of funds for a certain amount of time. The private key that locked these funds can then be used to append digital signatures to blocks that prove they came from the same individual. Blocks that arrive with invalid signatures are safe to ignore. In contrast, blocks that include valid signatures allow the allocation of rewards for good behaviour or the levying of penalties for misconduct via the withholding of stake. Bitcoin uses Proof-of-Work. How does that differ from staking and why is staking better? In Proof-of-Work, the solution of a difficult computational puzzle demonstrates the expense involved in creating a block. This proves that a substantial amount of energy has been burned at great financial cost. This is the cause of Bitcoin’s well-publicised environmental impact. The main benefit of Proof-of-Stake systems over Proof-of-Work is that that they are much more energy efficient. They can also support higher transaction throughput. Another important advantage is that staking is what economists would call a “homogeneous” cost. In simple terms, this means that it is the same for everyone. The specialised hardware that is available for Bitcoin mining leads to different costs. This is one of the reasons that mining has become centralised in China where the hardware is manufactured and energy is cheap. The homogeneous cost of staking means that it can deliver greater decentralisation. A final advantage of Proof-of-Stake is that it is likely to provide greater security. This arises from the stakes being a resource that is intrinsic to the blockchain. Misbehavior can thus be discouraged through the withholding of stake. In contrast, the hashing power used in Proof-of-Work chains is an external physical resource that is independent of the ledger. This means that miners cannot be restrained by other participants in the protocol. This is one of the main causes of the bitter disputes that have taken place after forking of the Bitcoin blockchain. You have a sharded blockchain. What is that exactly? One of the main weaknesses of existing blockchains is that they have limited throughput. This is caused by bottlenecks on, for example, how fast the nodes can execute transactions or send large messages to each other. It’s possible to avoid these bottlenecks by breaking these tasks up into different groups or shards that run in parallel with each other. If sharding is implemented correctly, then the throughput of the ledger will increase linearly with the number of shards. This enables potentially unlimited throughput. So are the validators running a single shard or many? At the launch of the main network, all nodes will be running all of the shards. In blockchain terminology, these are known as “master” nodes. In later updates of the ledger, we’ll also introduce “light” nodes that run a subset of the shards and have a lower operating cost. These nodes will also be able to take part in consensus and earn fees and rewards despite being unable to create blocks by themselves. Additionally, they will be able to host instances of the Open Economic Framework (OEF). This supports deployment of multi-agent systems. Nodes will also be able to earn revenue from providing services to agents. What is the reason for having two hundred master nodes at the launch of your main network? The design of our consensus protocol and our sharded blockchain make it technically feasible for there to be a larger number. Though, it’s important to remember that running a node involves quite a significant operating cost. Ultimately, this cost must met by people using the platform. To put it another way, there is a trade-off between the number of nodes (and the protocol’s degree of decentralisation) and low transaction fees. A total of two hundred nodes is a major improvement over many other Proof-of-Stake chains. This reflects the high efficiency and performance of our ledger. A restriction on the number of nodes also allows control of transaction fees in the future. Will there always be two hundred validator nodes or are you planning on increasing the number at some point? The two hundred nodes will maintain the ledger for a specific tenure, which will have a duration of around a month. At the end of their term, another auction will conclude. Stakes will be returned or reallocated, and the validators will be replaced by a new and potentially different set of individuals. The ledger is a work in progress and will continue to develop after launch of the main network. Our roadmap lays out a development plan to improve the ledger’s performance, decentralisation and security. These improvements will also enable us to increase the number of nodes that can take part in consensus. It is also likely that other types of nodes will be available for supporting deployment of autonomous economic agents. These nodes do not need to be directly involved in consensus. Why is there a reserve price of 200,000 FET for becoming a validator? An important aspect of the incentive design is that it needs to provide cryptoeconomic security. If a single entity controlled a majority of the staked tokens (say, 51%) then they would have effective control of the blockchain. We need to set the reserve price at a sufficiently high level that this would be difficult for anyone to achieve. If the number of staked coins is high enough, then the increased demand for tokens will cause the price to rise significantly. This will make the attack progressively more expensive. The reserve price is set in the expectation that at least 15% of the circulating supply will be staked in the first three years of operation. I have less than 200,000 FET but would still like to earn rewards for staking. How do I get involved? We will be inviting our partners in industry and academia to operate ledger nodes. In exchange for locking your stake and delegating it to them, they will serve as validators on your behalf and pay a defined reward for your contribution. This is likely to be a competitive process. Thus, we anticipate that the margins of these operators will be low and that they will offer very good reward to retail investors. How does the staking program benefit the Fetch.AI ecosystem before launch of main-net? We’re testing the economic mechanism that will determine which parties are responsible for operating the blockchain before main-net so that we gain insight into the number of bidders that we can expect and the quantity of tokens that will be staked. This gives us an indication of the number of nodes that must be supported by block rewards and transaction fees and the level of security that we will attain. There are also the secondary questions on the duration of the bidding phase and lock-up periods, and the overall user experience. It’s an experimental process and we’re offering rewards to compensate people for the effort of understanding the auction design and the user-interface, for locking tokens and for the risk associated with staking tokens in a novel smart contract. What are the benefits of participating in the staking program? We’re using an auction to allocate staking rights to two hundred validators. The auction will be implemented in a smart contract. The winners will be entitled to an initial annual reward of approximately 50,000 FET for acting as a validator. Sale of all stakes at the reserve price will correspond to an annual gross return of around 20% on the principal if the nodes follow the protocol correctly. This reward must cover the cost for operating a node, and also provide an additional incentive to provide security to the protocol by locking a large quantity of tokens. If you are a smaller FET holder, the smart contract will allow you to delegate your stake to a validator at a specific rate of return. This will compensate you for the effort of choosing a responsible validator who will operate a node on your behalf, the risk of making an erroneous choice, and for the opportunity cost of locking your tokens for a defined period of time. Are the rewards going to decrease similarly to Bitcoin or Ethereum halving? For those of you not familiar with halving, an explainer can be found here. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum halving, Fetch.AI staking rewards will increase with token supply. This will reward our supporters for holding tokens as the supply and adoption of the token increase. During the first three years of operation, rewards will increase. The goal is to maintain at least 15% of the circulating supply allocated to staking. After this period, we’ll be transitioning to a fee-based incentive model as FET is a non-inflationary token that will preserve its users’ value. How do I find out more? Additional aspects of the staking program are discussed in these FAQs. I’m also happy to answer questions on Twitter (@jonathan6620 or @Fetch_AI). Alternatively, you’re welcome to post questions on our Telegram channel.

https://medium.com/fetch-ai/fetch-ais-staking-model-explained-e9a987a89529

['Jonathan Ward']

2020-01-01 08:13:08.498000+00:00

['Fetch Ai', 'Proof Of Stake', 'Technology', 'Staking', 'Blockchain']

#18 Growth Weekly News

Learn the latest news in Digital Analytics world and join us on this week’s stories in the comments. 18 is my personal favourite number and I couldn’t do less for you this week. 😊 So, I promise you this: great things are happening — product updates and learning material. I said enough and I won’t spare your time any longer. So keep reading… Last week in summary: Firebase introduced a ton of new features, among them Language Identification, Smart Reply and Cloud Run and Google Cloud continues strong for another week, with the new Cloud Dataproc announced at Google Cloud Next ‘19.

https://medium.com/growth-analytics/18-growth-weekly-news-5a4664b6ff5f

['Alexandra Poulopoulou']

2019-04-18 08:18:41.809000+00:00

['Google Ads', 'Firebase', 'News', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Cloud Computing']

Tiptoe

in In Fitness And In Health

https://medium.com/simple-is-licious/tiptoe-4c6d2a327fbc

['Lyondhur Picciarelli']

2017-09-06 05:00:50.399000+00:00

['Poetry', 'Sil']

Why Does the Term “Microaggression” Piss People Off So Much?

All rights @ Jamie Spaniol; Athens, Greece If hearing terms like microagression, toxic masulinity or white privilege annoys you, makes you feel defensive, frustrates you or even makes you angry your reaction actually proves that you understand, and dislike microaggressions. If merely reading these terms makes you angry enough to call a stranger on the internet a “moronic fuck blister”, (one of many things I’ve been called for writing about white privilege and misogyny), you’re basically acknowledging that you yourself have been wounded by a microaggression. All I hear in the thick of this hypocrisy is “I’m offended that you’re offended.” And no one has complained about that more than white male comedians. Hannah Gadsby shrewdly deconstructs the upper echelon of who gets to be angry in our society, whose rage is valued as brilliant social commentary while the quest for equality of others is marginalized as knee-jerk overreacting. “On a daily basis, there’s this repetitive injury that comes with microagressions. It’s really, really simple stuff. It has the impact of greater injury.” — Tiffany R. Warren, Senior VP, Chief Diversity Officer for Omnicom Group The camel’s back doesn’t break right away, it bends. One straw at a time we bend a little with every insult and every oversight. The cumulative power of missteps and minor irritations can compound to make reinjury easier. And even more likely. One faux pas can just be a failure to adapt to new terminology, like my uncle who never got the memo that we now describe people as Asian; we only use ‘oriental’ if we’re talking about things. But those who offend, inadvertently or otherwise, are rarely on the receiving end of the wrong terminology or inappropriate topics. And because they are often from a majority population they have only recently started to be labeled. And some among them are detonating in response. None more than the toxic white male being called a toxic white male. Hell hath no fury, no petulant outrage, like a white man who feels unfairly targeted. If being called out on your toxic masculinity or white privilege infuriates you, you are fundamentally capable of understanding what microagressions are and why they matter. Your reaction to this term, your body’s reflex to something you instinctively reject proves that you understand how little things, race-based assumptions, outdated sexist jokes — even words, can add up. The double standard is as obvious as it is absurd. Why do those who demand freedom of speech for themselves decry the PC police state and get offended every time a woman or minority tries to exert some self-determination? Why do they recoil at some words and terms but anyone else who does is a libtard or a snowflake? If words are just words, that includes words and terms like boomer, triggered, organic, vegan and safe space. You can’t demand the freedom to use words that other groups feel oppressed or pigeonholed by but reserve the right for yourself to resist or react to the words you don’t like — unless everyone else does too. It cuts both ways, my friends. Wanting everyone to stop using the term microaggression while simultaneously rolling your eyes or trolling anyone who uses terms like Latinx instead of Latino or trans instead of tranny is hypocritical. Your irritation is not more valid than anyone else’s. And it proves that words have weight. Etymology might be one of humanity’s most abstract endeavors but if words had no meaning, no impact, neither would poetry, your favorite lyrics, your beloved saying ‘Welcome home’ or telling your child ‘I love you.’ It’s why the word ‘moist’ physically repulses so many people. If words are “just words” you can’t have it both ways. There’s no saw-the-lady-in-half trick you can use to righteously protect your uninhibited First Amendment expression while simultaneously denying someone else theirs. Sorry, boomer.

https://medium.com/with-liberty/why-does-the-term-microaggression-piss-people-off-so-much-af0d56bd7e80

['Heather M. Edwards']

2019-11-26 23:54:11.169000+00:00

['Culture', 'Language', 'Equality', 'Politics', 'Racism']

Garden ecology and the nature of growing

Heather in the Echinacea by Tauna Pierce Herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides… which for what, what for where, how and when? Farmers who love farming, and gardeners who love gardening would much rather be outside in the sunshine with their hands full of dirt, than toiling through mountains of material safety data reports. Pest and disease prevention is, however, an unwavering commonality for every grower; and there are as many chemical “solutions” available as there are pests. How do you decide which ‘icide to use, which is most beneficial for the dollar, which has the least fallout for your land, which are the longest acting — and most importantly, do they work at all and if so, are they safe to use around children, pets and the food you will be eating? A brand new bean by Tauna Pierce Generally speaking, chemical solutions to natural problems rarely work beyond the very short term. And when fighting nature with synthetic strategies, there is always a price to pay… sometimes just a dollar price, but often with the price of your own health. Chemical deterrents for insects and animals are indiscriminate killers. Chances are, if it isn’t safe enough for you to eat, you don’t want it on or near your food crops… and you certainly wouldn’t want it in the bodies of your children. In fact, the reason why a vast majority of people grow their own food to begin with, is to provide a safer, healthier alternative to commercially grown food. Image by Markus Spiske Our natural world offers healthy alternatives to nearly every difficulty that growers are faced with. Whether it be inviting native wildlife to eat up rodents who are otherwise eating up your crops, or utilizing the natural properties of certain plants to repel insects from other plants, or even nurturing soil properties to prevent disease processes in your vegetables, nature has already created strategies — we just have to identify and implement them. Farmers and gardeners who work with nature, instead of against it, will find that the answers are more plentiful, and even less difficult, than they seem. Natural pest control options are available to every backyard, every garden, and every farm — no matter where you grow. Just take a real close look at our natural world and learn to incorporate natural solutions. These methods are almost always safer, healthier, smarter and cheaper than modern approaches to primitive problems. Earth has been a grower since the beginning of time and the secret of her success is in the “law of least effort”. Instead of fighting natural rhythms, the planet flows with them by nurturing multi-species relationships and encouraging all the living creatures within an ecosystem to perform the work that keeps that system in balance. Image by Dixit Motiwala It’s a lot like we were taught growing up — if everybody does a little bit of the work, then nobody has to do all of the work… that kind of fairness creates a harmony that’s healthy for everyone involved. We can learn from this ancient arrangement — we can even manipulate and exploit some of these natural processes in order to maintain a nice balance in our own cultivated ecological endeavors. Think of your farm, your garden, your backyard and even a singular flower bed as an ecosystem in itself. In a healthy, natural environment, there is a method of checks and balances that keeps the plants and animals fed, thriving and useful. There are means to prevent diseases and to limit pests by using the same techniques that have been at work in our natural world from the start. Sure, there’s a little work involved, but trust me, it’s much less mind-numbing than decoding chemical data sheets. Nature’s ways are much more beneficial to the health of any biotic network, including your organized ecological community. Image by Tom Ezzatkhah Your first step is to identify what is living in your ecosystem. Take a day, in three shifts, to really look at what you’re trying to create from your dirt and your sunshine. Spend the morning quietly watching which animals and insects are gathering — and then do the same thing in the middle of the day — and again at the end of the day. In between shifts, enjoy a nice walk-about to familiarize yourself with what kinds of wild plants are growing on and around your property. You’ll most likely notice that in addition to native bushes, trees, grasses and vines, you may also have many foreign plants that have taken root there as well. After you’ve gotten your inventory, take a look at what plants and animals are native to your area — which birds, reptiles, mammals, insects and plants are supposed to be there. Many native wild animals provide beneficial services to growers, such as regulating the populations of others. With a little thought, these helpful creatures can be incorporated into your space — usually it’s as simple as inviting them to dinner. Image by Vladimir Kudinov Native wildlife prefers a native diet. It’s true. Ask any bunny and he will tell you that he’d rather have a tummy full of dandelion and clover than anything in our boring old gardens anyway. By discovering which plants should naturally thrive around you, you’ll be a step closer to balancing your mini ecosystem. For instance, most songbirds are omnivores, in addition to berries and seeds they do a great job of regulating insect populations — so get rid of invasive plant species that are uselessly taking up your space, and add the things that the birds would naturally eat. Lure them in with native grasses, huckleberries, elderberries, trumpet creeper and such -then watch as your pesky garden insects become the icing on the cake for many a happy songbird. Stay a step ahead of the bugs and get sweet bird songs to boot. Image by Ian Baldwin You’re going to be digging and planting anyway, why not garden for your wildlife too? By mimicking nature’s solutions to ecosystem imbalances, you achieve a more organic approach to your own ecological creation. An added benefit to gardening for your wildlife is that many native plants provide you with a delicious treat as well. Who doesn’t enjoy a pocket full of muscadines, or fresh blackberries in their pancakes? Encouraging beneficial insects to patrol the garden helps keep the “bad bugs” to a minimum. We all know that pollinators like honey bees and butterflies are essential for a healthy garden. There are many other little bugs that are garden-friendly as well. Lady bugs, dragonflies, spiders, fire flies and wasps are just a few that enjoy dining on the insects (and larvae) that reap havoc in our garden spaces. Image by Benjamin Balazs In addition to songbirds and beneficial insects, another way to discourage the bad bugs is by companion planting — tuck herbs and flowers in between your vegetable plants. Many herbs — like garlic, chives, basil, mint and rosemary — repel harmful insects. An herb garden is valuable in many other ways too, from jazzing up your kitchen creations, to delicious teas and organic remedies, growing herbs is a “should do” for anyone who enjoys encouraging the soil to bring up life. A truly healthy ecological structure requires diversity in order to keep that balance of “enough but not too many”. Don’t limit your wildlife invitations to just the birds, they’re great for daytime work, but most of them clock out when the sun goes down. For this reason, you’ll also want to invite bats, toads and frogs to help you keep your mosquitoes and other nocturnal insects to a minimum. On sultry August evenings, you’ll be glad you did. Image by Wayne Robinson Hawks, owls and snakes should join your community as well, they will be glad to keep the birds, squirrels, rabbits, rats and mice in check. Some raptors, especially red shouldered hawks, will help prevent snake populations from getting intrusive. Hawks and owls go hand in hand, by staffing both the day shift and the night shift you get 24 hour rodent coverage — and some of your owls will even eat skunks, opossums and armadillos too. Red tailed hawk — Image by Tauna Pierce Even though your guest list is growing, don’t worry, this system is self regulating. By offering your hospitality to the wild things, you keep niches filled with what works. With plants and animals alike, if you take away one species, another will quickly slide into its place. This is why trapping and/or killing garden pests doesn’t work in the long run — something is standing at the backdoor ready to take its place. By letting natural patterns work for you, that balance is more readily achieved. Just like a natural ecosystem, your garden is circular in nature, with everything touching something else in the loop. Taking the time to nurture this natural balance within your cultivated spaces will not only start to pay off quickly, it does eventually learn to keep itself — giving you more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor instead of just working for them.

https://medium.com/driftwood-chronicle/garden-ecology-and-the-nature-of-growing-cd8ecd7b066b

['Tauna Pierce']

2016-11-18 13:59:13.588000+00:00

['Gardening', 'Sustainability', 'Edible Backyard', 'Environmental Issues', 'Environment']

10 TIPS TO INCREASE YOUR CASHFLOW

By lakshmi2020 December 5, 2020 Money Secrets You are struggling in your business post lockdown. Here we share 10 TIPS TO INCREASE YOUR CASHFLOW to grow your business. TIP […] By lakshmi2020 December 3, 2020 Uncategorized How you start your day is most important for you. Here are a few easy Tips for you to follow every day for your SUCCESS!! […] By lakshmi2020 November 26, 2020 Uncategorized Starting your own ONLINE STORE is one of the best options for you to make some extra bucks! After the COVID-19 crisis, many […] By lakshmi2020 November 21, 2020 Uncategorized 5 SUCCESS SECRETS FOR YOUR STARTUP : If you understand these SECRETS your business will be on the right track! Startup […] By lakshmi2020 November 21, 2020 Uncategorized Have you ever read this book “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗶𝗰𝗵” ? If not, please grab a copy and read or simply listen […] By lakshmi2020 November 21, 2020 Uncategorized By lakshmi2020 November 21, 2020 Uncategorized Zero to Millionaire ~ 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 In 1981, at San Francisco, 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀 𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿 a salesman invests his entire life savings in […] Search Recent Posts December 5, 2020 December 3, 2020 November 26, 2020

https://medium.com/@askvitz/10-tips-to-increase-your-cashflow-9059ff1ac772

[]

2020-12-12 16:14:14.909000+00:00

['Smallbusiness', 'CEO', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Business', 'Startupindia']

Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s Saintliness (Part 3)

Love for the Ailing and Poor Pramukh Swami Maharaj had arrived in Sankari, a remote village in south Gujarat. He was scheduled to stay there for two to three days. Swamishri reminded kothari Prabhuswarup Swami that he wished to bless the ailing Lallu, a servant of Somabhai. But who was Lallu and what was so special about him? Lallu belonged to a backward tribal sub-caste. He was very poor and worked as a serv­ant for many years at Somabhai’s house. Whenever Swamishri came to Sankari Lallu always came for darshan and served in whatever way he could. Swamishri always blessed him lovingly. This morning Swamishri remembered him and expressed his wish to see him. But Swamishri’s schedule for the day was very tight. A large num­ber of devotees from the Surat district had come to meet him. In addition, devotees were waiting for him to bless the satsang assembly. After the dis­course he had to meet thousands of devotees while they filed past him. In spite of all this, Swamishri took some time out and went to Somabhai’s house. Youth volunteers had brought Lallu to Somabhai’s house. Swamishri came to him while he was lying awake in bed. He had become emaciated because of diabetes. Lallu could barely raise and fold his palms in respect. Swamishri placed his hand on Lallu’s head and body and praised him, “Lallu, you have served Thakorji, the mandir and sadhus well. God will shower his grace upon you. Do bhajan by saying ‘Swaminarayan, Swaminarayan’. Maharaj will liberate you and take you to Akshardham. Do not think otherwise. Remember Maharaj and be happy.” Then Swamishri garlanded him. Lallu broke down and with folded palms prayed, “Bapa, Bapa.” He felt his life to be worthwhile and blessed because Swamishri himself had come to bless him in his final hour. Swamishri graced Lallu, and as he was leav­ing Somabhai’s house Lallu heard Swamishri tell Prabhuswarup Swami, “Take care of Lallu. He has no one other than us.” At that time Lallu whis­pered, “Swami, you have considered me to be yours. Now it matters not if I have no one else!” A few days later, after Swamishri had left Sankari, Lallu passed away. He attained Akshardham through his seva and the abundant grace of Swamishri.

https://medium.com/bapssatsang/pramukh-swami-maharajs-saintliness-part-3-3bf15059717

['Param Shanti']

2020-12-11 14:03:27.168000+00:00

['Collaboration', 'Life Lessons', 'Compassion', 'Pramukh Swami Maharaj', 'Love']

Day 7 of 30 Days of Kink: The Awakening of Fallon Monroe

THE AWAKENING OF FALLON MONROE I was going to pop. My entire body was taut, strung like a bow. One false move and I would explode. I tried. For the last eighteen months, I tried to be the good girl. I tried to repress my inner freak for the sake of building a meaningful relationship based on a deep emotional connection and not a physical one. But none of that mattered now. It was all about to go out the damn window, as I listened to my boyfriend talk. “It’s not you. It’s me…” Yeah right, I thought. “I want things that you can’t give me.” “Like what?” I asked before I could stop myself. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer, wasn’t sure if my pride could take it. The look on Cameron’s face mirrored my internal struggle. Sighing deeply, he looked me straight in the eyes and told me why he was leaving me. “You don’t give me what I need sexually.” At the incredulous look on my face, he quickly added, “It’s not your fault. My tastes are…out there. You couldn’t handle them, and I wouldn’t force you to. I respect you too much. I met this girl, and she understands…” I was going to pop! Inside my head, there was a whistling sound akin to a kettle over an open flame on the stove. Girl? What girl? When did he meet this bitch? At the moment I didn’t know who I was more upset with him or myself. I tried to change, to suppress my natural urges, and here he was saying that I, Kyle Monroe, couldn’t fulfill him? He had lost his damn mind. If I released the beast on his ass, he would forever have his head between my legs licking the sticky goodness from my pussy. I think what hurt the most was that he didn’t even give me a chance to prove I could be more than enough for him. We could’ve been beautiful together. Now we were nothing. His loss. Cameron’s droning on almost made me fall asleep until he mentioned a party. My ears instantly perked up. “Look, Kyle, I would love to be able to go somewhere like that with you, but I know you. You wouldn’t be able to handle it. An underground sex club is not your thing. I need a woman who is comfortable enough in her own sexuality to handle my fetishes. I’m sorry, but you aren’t her. I need you and all of your shit gone by the time I get back.” Standing up to my full height, I simmered with anger. Yeah, I was going to pop. “You’re kicking me out?! After begging me to move in, you are kicking me out?” He shrugged. “I don’t have time for this. You’re a good girl, a nice girl, but you’re not what I want. Why waste time? I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” Cameron had lost his mind. First, he tells me that I can’t please him and then he kicks me out on the streets with nowhere to go. I was going to get his ass. I chuckled to myself as I watched him leave. He had no idea what he had just set free. CHAPTER 2 “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait…a…damn…minute! You mean to tell me that Cameron, Mr. Vanilla Sex himself, told you that you couldn’t handle his fetishes?” Rolling my eyes, I took another sip of my margarita. I knew I shouldn’t have told my best friend, Parker, what happened with Cameron but I needed her help. I also knew she wouldn’t give an inch unless I gave her the dirt on the Cameron situation. She had warned me about trying to change myself for a man but did I listen? Of course not. So here I was in her gaudily decorated apartment giving her the rundown on my relationship’s demise. Seriously, her place looked like Sisqo decorated it — golds, reds, and dragons every damn where! I had to find a place to live and fast. “Yes, that is what happened.” “Here’s what I want to know, what is his fetish?” Leaning forward, she gave me a glimpse of her cleavage. “Doggystyle?” I couldn’t help but crack up. That girl was a nut. But she wasn’t asking anything that I hadn’t already asked myself. When we were together, Cameron usually balked at anything outside of missionary unless it was a special occasion like a birthday or Valentine’s Day. “That’s why I need your help, P. He said something about going to an underground club, a party. I need to know which one.” “Why do you need my help?” Her brow knitted in confusion. “You used to be the queen of those clubs.” “Key phrase is ‘used to be.’ You know how it is. Once you leave, it takes you forever to get back in. I need to know which one he’s going to be at and I need to be on the list.” A smile stretched across her red painted lips. “Oh, so you’re breaking out Fallon huh?” I grinned just thinking about my alter ego and all the fun she used to have. “Yep, I look at as a twofer. One, I can show Cameron what he’s missing. Two, I can finally get some good dick!” We both laughed hard at that one. “Cameron wasn’t hitting that thang right, huh?” “Hell no! Missionary is not for me.” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t even lie on my back when I go to sleep.” “Well, you know,” Parker said while licking her full lips. “I can always give you something to hold you over until the party.” My eyes raked over Parker’s form. With her smooth milk with a splash of honey skin, bright blue eyes, and a body that could rival any Victoria Secret’s model she was tempting. Add to that the fact that Parker could hands down eat pussy better than any man I almost gave in but we had been down this road before, and it never worked. I was never into women for the long haul. I ran a finger down her cheek and kissed those lips I knew I would dream about tonight. “Thanks but no thanks. Just do this for me, and I’ll be straight.” Sighing deeply, she reached for her glass. “You know one day, Kyle, you are going to finally realize that only a woman can love you the way you need to be loved.” “When that happens, believe me, you and that talented tongue of yours will be the first to know.”

https://medium.com/the-aambc-journal/day-7-of-30-days-of-kink-the-awakening-of-fallon-monroe-7b9e76fec5c0

['Phoenix Williams']

2019-07-17 01:28:04.791000+00:00

['Romance', 'Erotic Romance', 'Fiction', 'Kinky', 'Short Story']

India at World T20 — What went wrong?

As a fan of Indian Cricket, it was hugely disappointing to see what happened at the World Cup. The team has failed on all fronts — batting, bowling and fielding. The team which was joint favorite at the start of the tournament along with SA has literally fallen apart in the space of 100 highly forgettable hours for Indian cricket. So, what went wrong? Here’s my take - 1. Excessive cricket — Whatever excuses maybe given by the BCCI, Lalit Modi or Dhoni, I feel the biggest reason for this debacle has to be excessive cricket. It is extremely tough for players to get to peak motivation levels after a high stakes tournament like IPL. Note — Even SA was playing cricket continuously for so many months now, infact they were playing tougher cricket than India — back to back against the Aussies. But then, they were atleast at home and have far better fitness levels than the Indians. 2. Makeshift Opener — This has been India’s problem for God-knows how many years! India had taken only 2 openers — Sehwag and Gambhir . Rohit Sharma had batted in the middle order for Deccan in the IPL. To his credit, his form itself was so brilliant that he looked menacing during the warmups, but when it came to the crunch time, Rohit was a batsman wasted at the opening slot. He simply couldn’t continue the form. Only other batsman who could have come for opening was Dhoni. But then, he wasn’t in form as well. 3. Erratic fielding — Players who were supposed to be good fielders were having torrid times in the field. Right from Raina to Yuvraj, everyone gave away runs and in a T20, even 5 runs are crucial. Remember, we lost to England only by 3 runs. Players simply didn’t care or weren’t fit enough to dive. Yuvraj, inspite of all his batting heroics, didn’t look fit on the field. 4. Form factor — To quote Dhoni after the match, It’s not about what you can achieve, it’s about what you do achieve. We were not really up to the mark or at 100 per cent. Our performance was not up to the international standard. There never was a time when the majority of the guys performed in one match, it was usually two bowlers in one game or three in another, with an off-day for a couple of them, or one man scored and the rest didn’t so we never performed as a unit. Bottomline, IPL perhaps brought the foreign players into better touch than Indians, because they had to keep their place in their IPL teams with the 4 player restriction in effect. 5. The BCCI — The BCCI found this hen that lays golden eggs in IPL. However, it did not take care of its players, in the quest for money. I am sorry to say this, but I believe the BCCI and its greedy ways is as responsible for the World Cup debacle as the players themselves. They just cram in cricket, cricket and more cricket in their calendar. They keep selling those rights to TRP hungry TV channels and crush rivals like ICL, but do nothing to protect their assets — the players. But then, who gives a damm for the players? BCCI as an organisation, I am sure doesn’t look at its players as anything but agents of minting money… Finally, to quote the fake IPL player, perhaps the Indian fans didn’t see this coming. India was too arrogant to recognise that the team simply isn’t fit enough. Had Yuvraj not played against Bangladesh, I am sure India would have lost that match as well. Now in India, the blame game will start. All those who sang paeans of Dhoni till now would ask for him to be dropped as captain, even from the side perhaps. The saga of Indian cricket never ceases to amaze one and all, doesn’t it?

https://medium.com/siddheshj/india-at-world-t20-what-went-wrong-afdeee8921ec

['Siddhesh Joglekar']

2016-10-05 00:18:49.544000+00:00

['Cricket', 'Dhoni', 'Ipl', 'Sport']

Top 5 places to visit after Covid

Photo by Eva Darron on Unsplash Thought we are still going through a pandemic, and traveling is definitely NOT RECOMMENDED, it is safe to say that we are all missing the thrill of getting in a plane and being able to get to explore a new country. So, the closest thing that we can do to feel like that again is to start making a list of the places that we want to visit! (once it’s safe to, of course). To make sure you make the best out of your new and exciting adventures, here are the top 5 destinations that you need to visit right after de ending of the pandemic! #5. Vysoké Tatry, Slovakia Photo by Marek Levák on Unsplash If nature and peaceful places, is all you are looking for, don’t fret no more, Slovakia is the right place for you! Noted primarily for its mountainous nature in this country you will for sure have an incredible connection with nature. #4. Hummingbird highway, Belize Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash I get it, maybe being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forest can sound a little intimidating. So, if you still want to feel like you are in touch with nature but also have some fun and socialize Belize is the way to go! Formerly known as British Honduras, this Caribbean country located on the northeastern coast of Central America will for sure bring you tropical vibes along side with some amazing adventures! #3. Amsterdam, Netherlands Photo by Jan Gemerle on Unsplash Are you in the mood for a little more action and less zen environments? The Netherlands might just do the trick! This beautiful countries has an amazingly friendly and welcoming environment and it’s filled with traditions and socialization events! From the duch beer tasting to the Nijmeegse Four Day Marches you will for sure have a wonderful time! #2. Capri, Italy Photo by Martyna Bober on Unsplash Although Italy has been one of the counties with the most severe consequences from Covid, once the situation is control this is defenetly a destination that you have to visit. Weater you’ve already been there or been meaning to go, it is guaranteed that every single time that you visit this country you will find something new and fall in love with the country again and again and again. #1. Algarve, Portugal Photo by Sven Rutsatz on Unsplash Besides being considered one of the safest countries in the world Portugal has much to offer. Filled with rich culture and history, this country has the perfect balance of city and nature. Thought it’s best known for it’s capital, Lisbon, cities like Porto and Aveiro offer amazing entertainment. And, of course the beaches are to die for.

https://medium.com/@nina-ferreira/top-5-places-to-visit-after-covid-33aae0bfc2c

['Nina Ferreira']

2020-12-21 12:57:14.061000+00:00

['Cities', 'Quarantine', 'Covid 19', 'Traveling', 'Nature']

Mayhem joins Niantic!

I am excited to announce that Mayhem has been acquired by Niantic! The team will be joining Niantic to continue building new social experiences that will amplify and connect the global community of Niantic explorers. We will be bringing our proven expertise in creating community-focused products to Niantic, and look forward to unlocking brand new ways for players to create memories with their friends and families, meet new people, and connect with each other. As part of the acquisition, we will be sunsetting Mayhem as a standalone product in February so we can focus our energy on a shared vision at Niantic and drive new innovations in social for AR real-world gaming. To all of our players, thank you for letting us build Mayhem with you. Over the years, you have always guided us towards a bigger vision of what we could accomplish, and your passion and creativity taught us so much about what it means to bring people together. The Beginning When my cofounder Anhang Zhu and I started the company three and a half years ago, our mission was to reimagine the way people interfaced with games and bring players together in a meaningful way. As lifelong gamers, we had front row seats to the explosion of today’s online multiplayer formats. From titles like Warcraft, Quake and StarCraft launching in the 90’s to the release of mods like Counter-Strike and Dota — these games transformed the industry. But despite the accelerated evolution of content over the last two decades, the way that people played together had barely changed at all. Developers focused on elevating the gameplay experience, but the core social connections between players formed and persisted externally on platforms like Reddit, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Discord. Although games functioned well as a catalyst, the social fabric that holds people together was fragmented, and ultimately disconnected from the games. In 2017, Anhang and I set out to solve this problem by building a product that could interface directly with a game to surface gameplay data in real-time and unlock a new category of interactive experiences. Our first product, Visor, augmented the game experience using a combination of overlays, visual alerts, and audio cues to provide instant performance feedback during gameplay. Think J.A.R.V.I.S., but for gamers! We spent 18 months building the product with our users across numerous iterations before we found what felt like product-market fit. But as we watched tens of thousands of gamers adopt Visor in the first few weeks, something unexpected happened. We originally believed that game data was the key to unlocking new first party experiences like real-time feedback, but instead, our users were orders of magnitude more interested in leveraging that data to engage with their friends, share stats, and improve by playing together. So instead of quickly expanding Visor to support our next game, we took a step back, aligned our focus with that new insight, and started building towards what eventually became Mayhem. Since we first started the company, it took us a little over two years and six product iterations before we succeeded in building the Mayhem that exists today. Over that time, the common thread that connected all of our products was the core understanding that games were at their most powerful when they brought people together and helped them form deep connections through meaningful interactions. Building Mayhem, Joining Niantic In July 2019, we launched Mayhem to a small community of several hundred people that played games together every day. Within one week of launch, we knew we were on the right path because the product was instantly co-opted by the community. Even though the first version was just a simple community leaderboard, hooked up to a game, and updated in real-time, our early adopters took that and ran away with it. Since then, we’ve scaled Mayhem to thousands of communities, giving millions of gamers a deeper way to connect with each other. We have been humbled time and time again by the support, feedback, and creative ways people have used Mayhem with their communities from weekly game nights to events with tens of thousands of concurrent players, and everything in between. Our community of creators taught us the importance of designing the right environment, not just creating an ephemeral, multiplayer experience. Persistent environments become a home, a place that bridges the before, during, and after, whenever people play together. So in the beginning of 2020, we doubled down on communities to create a home for our users, while laying the foundation to go beyond.

https://medium.com/@Izhou/mayhem-joins-niantic-c27d3ece6026

['Ivan Zhou']

2021-01-05 14:05:38.665000+00:00

['Startup', 'Gaming', 'Acquisition', 'Tech', 'Consumer']

This is Advent Week Three — Joy. An abecedarian poem after reading…

So many scriptures have the word “joy” in them. I read that “joy” is found 155 times in KJV. Therefore, joy must be important to God. He created us to feel that emotion. He also blessed us with the Holy Spirit so we can feel joy even when we don’t feel happy. Weird eh? As I study three passages a day, I am learning so much about God, about me and about my relationship with others. I also joined Kimberley Payne’s challenge on Facebook to read through the book of Luke this Advent Season. I’ve been challenged by reading a chapter a day from the Bible. I wrote this abecedarian after reading Psalm126, Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. (Psalms 126:2, NIV) I also read Habakkuk 3:2–6, Philippians 3:12–16 Afterwards After Bad COVID Don’t return to old ways. Encounter new things Find hope, peace, joy and love. God is always here. Head down His pathway, Interested in what He shows us. Jesus beckons. Keep believing. Look beyond ourselves. Make every effort to Notice God at work. Open our eyes, Lord. Protect us. Quieten our hearts before You, Lord. Return to Your ways and Your path. Silence the devil’s tongue. Take up the armour of God. Ultimate goal — to be with You. Vacate places that encumber us. Watch for snares of the devil. eXamine our hearts with Your ZEAL. ©Janis Cox 2020 Let’s look for joy each day. Advent Week One Advent Week Two Let’s start the new year by counting our blessings. Join me on Facebook and we will have a thread once a week to list the blessings you see. Janis Cox Facebook — if you are not a friend, message me with, “Want to count our blessings 2021” and I will accept your friendship. Many blessings, Janis

https://medium.com/koinonia/this-is-advent-week-three-joy-d048d6774323

['Janis Cox']

2020-12-18 19:15:50.347000+00:00

['Christianity', 'Advent', 'Joy', 'Christmas', 'Poetry']

How to plan your first cruise?

Think about a cruise and it feels like a spectacular fantasy dream, especially when you are planning for your first cruise. Experiencing the different kinds of spa treatment every day and exploring the fascinating port cities all around the world, getting pampered in that luxury voyage feels too good, doesn’t it? How to plan your first-ever cruise vacation? But along with all these fantasies, many questions arise such as — When and where should I go? What will I experience on that floating resort? What is the right time to sail? What should I pack as luggage, what are the expenses and how long will the trip last? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here are a few suggestions when you plan your first cruise. What is the best time of the year to sail on a Cruise? Sailing out on a cruise completely depends on your plan of vacation, what time of year it is, and also whether you are going to travel with kids or not. If you are going with kids, then summer vacations are the best time, keeping in mind the school and extracurricular activities. Now that we are confined to our homes due to covid-19, many of the cruise services would have their own terms to onboard new customers. Many of them won’t even be operating. You can take a look at the Indian Cruise providers just in case you get too tempted to beat the summer heat on a cruise. On the other hand, if it is just you and your partner, then sailing out in the month of February and opting for a Caribbean cruise would be just awesome. You need to keep in mind that sailing out to the northern port in winters can be a bit difficult because you would be facing the cold weather and the rough seas due to which fatigue can clench you, thus, making your heartfelt trip a daymare. Sailing out in August or September may save you a few bucks because it’s a peak time due to hurricanes. But, you don’t need to worry about it because the sailors and the crew know what they are doing given their years of expertise in sailing troubled waters. You may face some titanic storms though, but if you can take it, you will remember the experience of the scary sail all your life. Sailing in summer means more crowd and sailing in winter means lesser crowd. Now, it’s completely your choice when you want to sail. Do keep some meds with you as most people are prone to nausea due to motion sickness or most commonly referred to as Seasickness. The most common ailments that one encounters while on a ship are cold sweats, pale or greenish skin color, and headaches. You can prevent them if you eat light, hydrate well, avoid alcohol, and say these words often- “Keep Calm, I’m on a Cruise”. If you still feel the urge to puke violently despite these precautions, look straight ahead to the horizon so that your brain is not misled by a load of information coming through and help it focus on static imagery, thus, helping it relax. What should be your destination? The best thing is that cruise ships go almost everywhere, you need to consider the travel as per your budget and schedule it. For your first-ever cruise, you might want to stick with something simple. For instance, if you’re on the east coast of the United States then you have a lot of options for Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Decide your destination If you are on the west coast side, you would probably consider Alaska, Mexico, and Canada. There are different types of cruises. Some are “repositioning” cruises, which are one-way trips. The other options are “transatlantic” cruises and “Panama Canal” cruises. These are expensive and long trips, but they are some of the most amazing, adrenaline-pumping ferries you can ever experience. Choose a perfect cruise line. The destination where you wish to travel may be in parts, so you need to decide to cruise with which company. You can check on the websites of the individual cruise, different cruise lines have different models such as Holland America caters to an older and more affluent crowd, Disney and Carnival cater to kids and families. Choose the perfect cruise line Be wise while picking your line as it should match your expectations. If you’re bringing your kids along with you, then you need to check if that cruise even allows kids onboard, and if it does, are there kid activities on offer or not. Some Cruises do have a ‘kids club’ for activities but most of them do not, and you do not want to get stuck with children adamant about jumping off the ledge due to being too mischievous. So make sure that you’ve done your research prior to onboarding a Cruise with the right safety precautions and if it has ample life-saving equipment or not. You need to search major cruise lines but do check with the small ones as well. In the past few years, some cruise lines have updated their offerings with specialty services and unique options. Here are some suggestions for a few cruise lines. Royal Caribbean International. Holland America Line. Norwegian Cruise Line. Costa Cruises. Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line. How many days will you stay on the Cruise? Generally, a cruise lasts from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Considering vacation time, you should plan for at least a week so that you can experience the leisure of being surrounded by the ocean beneath the blue sky for quite some time. Choose your cabin. Now, this is also one of the important questions about which kind of stateroom you want. You have many options like: Inside cabins (they have no windows) Cabins with a window or porthole Balcony cabins Various suites range from slightly larger than regular cabins that are huge and expensive. The best advice is to choose the highest-level chamber you are comfortable paying for. I prefer going to a balcony cabin so that when I get up in the daylight, I can enjoy my breakfast with the sunrise and that spectacular view. Choose your cabin If you are willing to save some money, you can choose the inside cabins as they are the cheapest and usually people stay less in their rooms. The other important thing to take note of is your steward. A steward is basically an attendant who is responsible for maintaining and cleaning your stateroom while you’re out. Make sure to not leave your valuable belongings lying around making it easier to be lost or ending up in someone else’s pockets. Plan transportation to and from the port. One of the important things to plan is your transportation to and from the pier. You may require flying to the port you’re sailing from, so consider the price of the airline tickets at your convenience. Then you need to figure out how to get from the airport to the pier. Plan your transportation to reach the cruise Some cruise lines also have some packages where, through them, you can arrange transport to and from the airport. Be sure to check them and see what they have to offer you and the kinds of deals you can get. The Buzz of Pre-Cruise. Once you have planned your cruise and scheduled it, you’ve still got a lot of work to do. Remember which clothes you need to pack, make sure your passports and relevant documents are updated, what other items you may need, and never forget to pack some good medicines in case you feel nausea, headaches, or even fever. Get excited about your cruise journey Don’t let your excitement wither because ‘you’re going on a cruise’!

https://medium.com/@iflynfeast/how-to-plan-your-first-cruise-14dc49e0497f

['Manishaa Dubey']

2021-08-25 09:48:17.983000+00:00

['Cruises', 'Travel', 'Blogger', 'Vacation', 'Traveling']

Hitler’s Anti-Smoking Campaign. The first anti-smoking campaign in the…

Hitler’s Anti-Smoking Campaign A Nazi anti-smoking ad titled “The chain-smoker” saying “He does not devour it [the cigarette], it devours him” (Source: Wikimedia Commons) It is very interesting how people with focused ideologies can make such drastic changes in their life. A good example is Hitler being quite the smoker, ending up smoking even forty cigarettes a day, and then deciding out of nowhere that this wasn’t good for his health, nor for that of those around him. At the time, people were not aware of second-hand smoking, but it seems that Hitler was concerned for those around him as well as the Aryan population. However, Hitler did not publicly mention that he stopped smoking for his or anyone else well being, but because he realized that smoking was a “waste of money.” Even if in the early days of his political career, he created his own cigarette company as well as a brand that he used to manipulate the public into winning more voters for the Nazi party. Therefore we can assume that he showed (in an indirect way) that smoking had helped him become the leader of Germany and also a bit richer. To get a better understanding we will have a look at how Hitler used smoking to gain power and how he used this anti-smoking campaign to gain even more political power and support from the German as well as the Austrian public. Sturm Cigarette Company An advertisement from January 1932, when the Nazis were trying to win power, showing a uniformed SA member, the Nazi hakenkreuz, the SA logo, and an anti-monopoly political slogan. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) The Sturm Cigarette Company was initially created by the Nazy party in 1932 in order to provide the SA (Sturmabteilung “Storm Detachment”) members cigarettes as well as to fund the Nazi Party from the sales it made to the public. The way the SA were promoting their cigarettes was very interesting as they were using violence in order to remove the competitors and fear in order to make the public buy their cigarette brand. The other use for this cigarette company was for Hitler to promote his fascist ideology and Nazy party through the use of political messages that were included with every pack of Sturm cigarettes. The promotion of these cigarettes was also done through posters that mainly included information about the Nazi party and the SA members rather than actual information about the cigarettes themselves. Smoking is quite an old habit, however, smoking was banned for a very long time and it wasn’t something accessible for everyone as it was quite expensive due to the long manufacturing process. In 1840, the Prussian government banned smoking in public locations, meaning a huge decrease in firms that were making cigarettes, therefore cigarettes had to be imported, making them even more inaccessible to the public. Unemployed SA men, at least three of them smoking, in 1932, three years after the SA began manufacturing cigarettes. (Source: Wikimedia commons) It wasn't until the late 19th century that the manufacturing of cigarettes evolved with the integration of an automated manufacturing process, making cigarettes much cheaper, therefore more accessible to the public. With the roaring 1920s in full swing, smoking was becoming a cool habit among the public, with most people that could afford cigarettes smoking at least one pack a day, translating to very high demand. As the Nazi party made smoking very affordable, even for poor citizens, they were getting political support from the public. It is not known for sure, but it can be argued that this is how Hitler got a good portion of his votes in the 1938 elections. The world’s first anti-smoking campaign “Tobacco capital” raining down to spoil the people’s health (Volksgesundheit), labor-power (Arbeitskraft), demographic political goals (Bevolkerungspolitische Ziele), and the wealth of the people (Volksvermogen). (Source: Reine Luft 1941;23:117) Hitler as a political leader now had to show that he cared about his Aryan population by having them stop smoking, this would certainly show that he cared about their well being. In other words, gaining even more support and further indoctrinating the population with his fascist ideology and regime. This is why he based his campaign on the health problems caused by smoking, “so many excellent men have been lost to tobacco poisoning”. In 1942, he promised that after the war, he would ban the use of tobacco in the military. He even had research done about how smoking can lower a women’s fertility. This also gave a bad reputation for women within Germany as women who smoked were seen as unsuitable wives and mothers. From the end of 1938, a new law was stated that actually didn’t allow women to purchase tobacco, with the exception of some women working in war factories who were offered tobacco as part of their daily ration. The principle behind the whole campaign and behind many regulations that were set by the Nazi government was Nichtraucherschutz (the protection of non-smokers), showing that at least Germany was aware at the time of passive smoking. Hitler knew that chaos would be created by totally banning tobacco, therefore he made many regulations that banned smoking in public, as well as in small households where passive smoking could take place. The campaign got so serious that even the bomb shelters had separate rooms for smokers and non-smokers. The Reichpost (German Post service from 1938) imposed that smoking should be banned in Germany, with many political supporters agreeing, but many of the leaders from the Nazi political party still being heavy smokers (except Hitler). Hitler was actually trying to make them stop, especially Heinrich Himmler who developed health complications from smoking as well as Eva Braun as she was constantly smoking, even though she was meant to be the image of the model German woman. The campaign went so far that it even got coupled with the fascist Nazy ideology by telling the public that smoking was an unhealthy vice spread by the Jewish population. This also went along with the ideology of the Aryan race and how as the “purest race” the German population should not infect itself with tobacco. You could say that Hitler’s smoking campaign was quite efficient as from 1940 until 1944, 23.4% of the German population stopped smoking.

https://historyofyesterday.com/hitlers-anti-smoking-campaign-2e8321916933

['Andrei Tapalaga']

2020-11-15 21:03:08.170000+00:00

['History', 'Politics', 'Health', 'Culture', 'World War II']

Traditional Dance culture in India | Represent Hindu Mythology & Spirituality

Dance in India signifies the ancient tradition of our culture. A classical dance training & meaning for expression practice is documented and traceable to ancient classical text, particularly the Natya Shastra. Indian classical dance requires studies of classical texts, physical exercises and extensive training to systematically synchronize the dance repertoire with play or composition, vocalists and Orchestra. INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE FORMS: It’s believed that classical dance forms enact stories from Hindu Mythology. In Indian culture we have many dance forms coming from different states. But there are 8 forms of classical dance recognized on a national level. Bharatnatyam — It is a classical dance form of Tamil Nadu state. This dance is usually accompanied by classical carnatic music. Bharatnatyam has been a solo dance that was performed exclusively by women which express spirituality and religious themes of Shiva, Vishnu and Shakti. Kathakali — Kathakali is one of the most renowned and religious dance forms of India originated from Kerala. This dance form also represents storytelling. It indicates the tales of Ramayana and Shiva stories. Kathakali includes the intriguing face movements, heavy costumes, face mask and body paints. Kathak — Kathak derives from the Sanskrit word ‘Katha’ which means ‘Story’. It’s often referred to as the dance form of Love. It can be performed by both male and female dancers together. Kathak originated from the northern state of India Uttar Pradesh. Kuchipudi — Originated from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. According to history, Kuchipudi dancers were all males who would play the roles of men and women in the story after dressing appropriately. Odissi — Odissi dance form originated in Odisha state of India. This dance form expresses religious and spiritual stories particularly of Lord Vishnu. According to history this dance form is predominantly performed by women. Manipuri — This dance form originated in the North-east state Manipur. This dance form represents the romantic relationship between the Lord Krishna and Radha, which is famously known as Raasleela. Sattriya — Sattriya dance form introduced in the 15th century AD by Mahapuresha Sankaradeva, a Vaishava Saint who is the reformer of Assam. This dance was an artistic way of presenting mythological teachings. Mohiniyattam — This dance form originated from Kerala. The meaning of Attam in Malayalam is rhythmic motion hence adhering to the dance of the divine enchantress. According to mythology, Mohini is the female avatar of Lord Vishnu.

https://medium.com/@hoovufresh/traditional-dance-culture-in-india-represent-hindu-mythology-spirituality-cb9a3b73d0f5

['Hoovu Fresh']

2021-07-07 07:33:19.065000+00:00

['Indian Dance Forms', 'Dance', 'Arts And Culture', 'Traditional Culture']

The Modern Republican Party

The modern Republican Party has devolved into a radical party that endorses an extreme and fringe ideology. It no longer pretends to stand for traditional conservative values such as small government, rule of law, the free market, and wholesome Christian values. We saw this indifference to conservative ideals throughout the Trump presidency. The Republican Party supported former President Trump’s disregard for states’ rights and the independence of the judiciary, and turned a blind eye to his crimes, his faux Christianity, and his excessive use of taxpayer money. Today, elected Republicans seem more interested in exercising raw political power than preserving traditional conservatism. Those few elected officials who have defended conservative principles and democratic values are being pushed out of the party, or choosing to leave, and are being replaced with people more loyal to Donald Trump. Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, in addition to Congressmen Justin Amash and Will Hurd, are just some of those who’ve left the party. Representative Adam Kinzinger and Senator Lisa Murkowski are both facing primary challenges. Liz Cheney was ousted from her position as Conference Chair in the House of Representatives and replaced by someone with far fewer conservative bona fides. Former presidential candidate and current Senator Mitt Romney was booed and denounced as a ‘traitor’ and a ‘communist’ during an April GOP event in Utah. The McCain family, whose late patriarch was also the 2008 Republican nominee for President, endorsed Joe Biden at the onset of his 2020 presidential campaign. If the Republican Party is no longer interested in holding conservative values, then what do they represent? In an interview for the Today Show, the party’s former standard bearer, President George W. Bush, was troubled when he described the party as ‘isolationist’ and ‘nativist’. Former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner has suggested the current ideologues of the party don’t stand for anything and even likened some members to political terrorists. Tom Nichols, former Republican and political scientist, went a step further when he described them as the party of “American carnage” in a September essay for The Atlantic. Indeed, our modern Republican Party is far from the party of Reagan who viewed America as a force for good in the world and described our country as ‘a shining city on a hill’. While many on the right may view this shift away from traditional conservative values as a victory, political scientists and historians are sounding the alarm on what this new iteration of the GOP could mean for the future of our democracy. A 2016 study as part of the Manifesto Project showed that while both major US parties have been diverging over that last two decades, the Democrats moved closer to the global political center and the Republicans became a more radical, fringe party. According to this project, which reviews and categorizes a party’s platform or manifesto, the GOP has very little in common with the mainstream Conservative Party of Britain and is more in line with the far-right Alternative Party in Germany, for example, whose platform explicitly contains xenophobic and anti-Muslim statements. The problem, political scientists say, is that while in Europe these far-right parties are often an alternative to the mainstream and hold very little power in national governments, in the United States, this far-right party is the mainstream. As a result of the Republican Party’s extremism, its membership is shrinking. A 2021 Gallup poll showed that Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters account for 49% of the American electorate while Republicans and Republican-leaning voters account for just 40%, a deficit that hasn’t been seen in nearly a decade. Despite its growing unpopularity, though, the GOP continues to be a competitive party nationally, winning 4 of the 9 presidential elections since 1988. However, they’ve only won the popular vote twice in that same time period and not since 2004. It’s a question that our nation will have to wrestle with at some point: What happens to a democracy when one political party continues to win elections and hold power while repeatedly losing the popular vote by millions? Additionally, with an electorate that is growing evermore diverse with each election, the GOP has failed to attract young voters and voters of color, and that is unlikely to change. According to a May CBS News poll, 47% of Republican voters want the party to prioritize voting restrictions and rule changes over developing popular policies and ideas in order to win elections. Republican politicians have been all too happy to oblige. Rather than conduct an autopsy of the party’s weak points or shift towards a more broadly popular platform, the party’s elected officials have instead chosen to double down on their unpopular policies and entrench themselves in minority rule via gerrymandering and restrictions on voting and ballot initiatives. In doing so, the Republican Party has given up on a key pillar of democracy: that you earn the right to govern by proposing ideas that appeal to a majority of the public. Many on the right already view Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters as illegitimate or un-American. Glenn Ellmers of the Claremont Institute confessed as much when he wrote in the American Mind, “…most people living in the United States today — certainly more than half — are not Americans in any meaningful sense of the term… They do not believe in, live by, or even like the principles, traditions, and ideals that until recently defined America as a nation and as a people.” He went on to explain that he’s referring to the 81 million people who voted to elect Joe Biden as our President. But Ellmers isn’t alone in sharing this view. Two-thirds of Republican voters believe Joe Biden is an illegitimate President, and 147 Congressional Republicans voted against certifying his electoral win. Some Republicans, like the National Review’s Kevin Williamson or Arizona state representative John Kavanagh, have even gone so far as to suggest adding requirements to improve the “quality” of voters. The implicit suggestion here is that votes should only count when they are in line with Republican values. These incidents are not the only indication of the GOP’s shift away from democratic norms. A recent study by the nonpartisan V-Dem Institute in Sweden concluded that the “Republican Party in the US has retreated from upholding democratic norms,” and that its rhetoric more closely resembles that of authoritarian parties like Fidesz in Hungary or the AKP in Turkey. Comparatively, the Democratic Party has not moved much on the institute’s “Illiberalism Index” and still maintains democratic values. Another grim finding in V-Dem’s research into authoritarianism is that, historically, only 1 in 5 democracies that start down this path are able to reverse the damage before succumbing to full-blown autocracy. How can a nation maintain a functioning democracy when one of its two major parties rejects the very notion of democratic values? The obvious answer is, “It can’t.” The right’s march towards authoritarianism and its adoption of authoritarian values is well-documented and pre-dates former President Trump’s time in office. However, Donald Trump’s obvious autocratic tendencies showed the Republican Party there was no political downside to employing illiberal tenets. As a result, the GOP has shifted to a more anti-democratic version of itself. Though the 45th President is no longer in office, his party has continued down its path of anti-democratic governance. Republican-led state legislatures all over the country have used their self-inflicted distrust in election security to usher in a new wave of voter suppression laws. As of March 24, the Brennan Center for Justice has recorded that 361 voting bills with restrictive provisions had been introduced in 47 state legislatures. To date, 25 of these restrictive voting bills have passed. Dubbed “election integrity” bills, these laws would disrupt the voting process for millions of voters and make it easier for some state governments to deny their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins their state. In Georgia, for example, the state’s recently passed voting law removed the secretary of state from the State Election Board and gave the GOP-controlled state legislature control over appointing the board’s chair. Additionally, the law also allows the legislature to suspend local election officials and appoint temporary replacements. It is these types of provisions that will make voting more susceptible to partisan interference. Moreover, these changes to voting rules fit broadly into the sort of approaches used in authoritarian regimes around the world, according to democratic researchers. Most recently, over 100 political scientists signed a statement of concernhighlighting what they view as the dangers faced by a Republican party intent on impeding our electoral process. Additionally, some Republican legislatures have begun pushing bills that would essentially criminalize protesting and outlaw dissent — a right guaranteed under the First Amendment. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed an “anti-rioting” bill that would make it legally hazardous to engage in mass public protests of any kind. The law makes “participation” in a “riot” a felony and establishes a new criminal offense called “mob intimidation”. The law is vague enough that it has civil rights groups concerned. Could nonviolent protesters be charged with “assisting” looters by commandeering police attention during a demonstration? Does the chant, “no justice, no peace” constitute an attempt to change views through a threat of violence? Both DeSantis and Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt also signed into law bills that insulate drivers from civil liability if they injure or kill protestors on the road. These laws appear to be a solution in search of a problem given that police and prosecutors are already well-equipped to handle rioting. Punishing free speech and criminalizing violence against dissenters — if we saw these kinds of laws being passed in other countries, wouldn’t there be public outcry? Misled by partisan officials and indulged by an indomitable propagandist media engine, much of the Republican base has begun endorsing violent and fringe ideologies. Analysts warn that the line between mainstream and extremist right-wingers is vanishing. In a January 2020 survey, more than 40% of Republicans agreed that “a time will come when patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands.” This ‘mass radicalization’, as security experts and terrorism researchers call it, has already led to an increase in domestic terror incidents. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), right-wing extremists have been involved in 267 plots or attacks and 91 fatalities since 2015. This staggering figure greatly eclipses that of far-left extremists who have been involved in 66 incidents and 19 fatalities. It’s the highest number of domestic terror plots the US has seen in decades. In 2020, there were 73 far-right incidents alone, an all-time annual high in the CSIS database. Over the last decade, right-wing extremists have made up 70 percent of domestic terror-related killings. The lies about the 2020 election have intensified the violence on the right. Since November, many election workers have dealt with death threats, racist harassment, and even armed protesters. For example, the Elections Director of Fulton County, Georgia reported receiving a caller stating that the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville “was a practice run for what was coming to our polling places.” Others throughout the nation have been sent images of nooses and received other various online threats. In December, dozens of armed protesters showed up at the home of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and shouted obscenities into bullhorns while she and her four-year old son were preparing to watch a Christmas movie. It should have surprised no one when these events, in addition to repeated and insistent lies by Republican party leaders, culminated in the deadly January 6th Insurrection in which hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Building in a violent coup attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory. This failed attempt to undo the will of the people was one of the single worst days for police injuries since 9/11 and has, so far, resulted in over 460 arrests with at least some of the perpetrators facing likely sedition charges. The violent tendency within the GOP isn’t limited to its voting base — it extends to party officials as well. During his time in office, former President Trump stoked violence with his often-dehumanizing rhetoric towards immigrants, people of color, and journalists. At the start of his 2016 presidential candidacy, he likened Mexican immigrants to criminals and rapists. He endorsed physically attacking protestors at his rally and was quoted saying such attacks were “very, very appropriate” and something “we need a little bit more of.” His language has been cited by several terrorists and mass shooters as the impetus for their attacks. Perhaps most notable among them are Cesar Sayoc, who mailed pipe bombs to several prominent Democrats and media figures, and the El Paso shooter, who drove more than 10 hours to a Wal-Mart before opening fire and killing 23 people in an attempt to stop a mythical “Hispanic invasion.” On January 6, Donald Trump told supporters, “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” and “You will never take back our country with weakness.” Other Republican officials have adopted Trump’s use of violence for political gain. In 2017, then-Congressman Greg Gianforte of Montana was charged with assault after body-slamming a reporter for asking a question regarding healthcare legislation. Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner was quoted saying, “Governor Wolf…I’m gonna stomp all over your face with golf spikes…” during a Facebook Live event as part of his 2018 campaign. In a January 2, 2021 interview with Newsmax, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas said in response to courts ruling against the Trump campaign’s false claims of voter fraud, “… you gotta go to the streets and be as violent as Antifa and BLM.” At the Save America rally on January 6, Rudy Guiliani suggested having a trial by combat against the public servants who refused to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In a December podcast interview with Sean Hannity, Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks likened the election of Joe Biden to the beginning of the Civil War. Later, at the Save America rally, Congressman Brooks gave a speech in which he said, “Our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes, and sometimes their lives to give us, their descendants, an America that is the greatest nation in world history. So, I have a question for you: Are you willing to do the same?” At a May rally in Dalton, Georgia, Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida proudly proclaimed this in response to dubious claims of ‘cancel culture’: “We have a 2nd Amendment in this country, and I think we have an obligation to use it!” It’s about as close as you can get to calling for violence without actually saying the word. Later that month, at a far-right conference, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn endorsed the idea of a military coup saying there was “no reason” it shouldn’t happen here. None of this is to say that all Republicans are violent or anti-democratic. However, the future of American democracy is currently bound to that of the Republican Party. To continue treating it as a normal political movement jeopardizes our country. If you are a Republican who values traditional conservatism and the importance of our democratic institutions, you have a responsibility to speak up and speak out loudly against the inherent and growing extremism of today’s GOP.

https://medium.com/@bensteines/the-modern-republican-party-d756d06118e9

['Buddy Irish']

2021-06-01 18:46:11.004000+00:00

['Democrats', 'Republicans', 'Politics', 'Voting', 'Democracy']

TRONX NETWOK” PRE-LAUNCHING Of World’s 100% Decentralized Mutinous Smart Contract Made On Tron Blockchain

www.tronx.network Tornx network is erudition and remunerative matrix marketing plan, this program is built on tron blockchain. It’s automatic hence no admins required to run this project, it’s impossible for project creator or anyone to change the code & flow of smart contract. This system is immensely powerful, as it ensures the project to keep running, where risk is null or possibility of hacking or terminate the smart contract disparate centralized crypto currency project. WHY TRON? Launched in 2017, TRON is an ambitious project that aims to decentralize the internet through blockchain technology and decentralized applications. Within one year, TRON has built one of the largest, most reliable smart contract platforms. TRON’s Independence Day took place on June 28th, 2018 as we rolled out a network that is better for developers due to its speed, low fees, and massive scalability. Keeping in line with our mission of decentralization, the TRON network is governed by 27 Super Representatives that are voted in by TRX holders. TRON is now one of the biggest blockchain-based decentralized application platforms with a large number of DApp developers building and advertising their DApps.TRON has been striving to promote blockchain technology and diversify DAPPs on its platform while adhering to local laws and regulations across the globe High growth in both stablecoins and DeFi usage has had adverse results for Ethereum, which settles transactions for both finance applications. High Ethereum Fees Push All Dapps to Move In Tron Blockchain. Tron blockchain which have high capacity to execute transactions per minute in very low gas fee of 0.1%. $COMP, $YFI, $YFII, $SUSHI, etc, 10 times, 100 times and even more. Looking at the hype, you really want to participate in it. But there are a lot of issues you are worried about. You don’t know how to identify the scams. You don’t know which token to choose. You don’t know whether the current price is too high??? Incoming few weeks we the TRXN Dapp project, Provide secure asset built on TRON BLOCKCHAIN. Now we are Rewarding 400 TRXN Tokens of Tronxnetwork to everyone who join the platform. You will get an extra 50 TRXN as rewards on every new referrals under you. These tokens will be able to be staked/used on our various platforms to earn Tron from its use cases generated from all Tronxnetwork defi assets. With the implosion of DAPP/TRXN will be gaining ground and grow rapidly. In the stock market, passive investment is a way that Warren Buffett strongly recommends. He encourages investors to invest in the stock index to enjoy the long-term positive trend of the America stock market but in cryptocurrency Dapp based Defi are truly passive investment cum income source that can provide more strong nonvolatile returns. TRXN TOKENS Details and Rules: TRXN TOKENS Total supply: 2 Billion Only Symbol: TRXN Tronx Token TRXN tokens is generally refers to the digital assets and financial smart contracts, protocols which is an advanced intelligence platform that uses machine learning , AI and statical inovation to convert and grow your crypto asset with security of defi TRXN Tokens. TRXN defi tokens will be listed in many defi and leading exchanges with targeting price with $0.01 with a realistic enhanced growth for targeting value of 100X. TRXN will be used for Asset Management, Analytics, Crypto Lending & Borrowing, Margin Trading, Decentralized Exchanges, DeFi Infrastructure & Dev Tooling, Derivatives, Staking The opted TRXN you can also use in Games,Casino etc. Through our International Portal you can book your Flight tickets & Hotels This much lesser quantity of token will give 100X boost from its launching price. Follow the steps below to claim your tokens. Visit www.tronx.network Login and Click the “Claim TRXN Token” button and connect with Tronwllet or Tronlink. 3. Approve the transaction. 4. Wait to receive the TRXN Token. We will announce publicly when start distribution. IT’S DECISION TIME! If you are still searching for a secure platform to earn real passive income and still confused which smart contract is best and which is running fast in low cost of gas fee saving millions of people’s money? Your searching ends here on real trusted smart contract platform of tronx.network on Tron blockchain which consumes very low gas fee. The path is open for talent! Get In Earlier to Get It Earlier” Join our decentralized community: Telegram- https://t.me/tronxnetwok Twitter- https://twitter.com/tronxnetwork1 Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/tronxnetwork Medium- https://medium.com/@tronxnetwork1 You Tube -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suAd0WyxaiE&feature=youtu.be

https://medium.com/@tronxnetwork1/tronx-netwok-pre-launching-of-worlds-100-decentralized-mutinous-smart-contract-made-on-tron-ed50c92b5d90

['Tronx Network']

2020-09-04 13:08:36.293000+00:00

['Smart Contracts', 'Btc']

Don’t Get Trampled: The Puzzle For “Unicorn” Employees

As a product-obsessed entrepreneur and investor, I rarely focus on financing mechanics in the start-up world. It tends to be a binary outcome, and people should join a venture for the team and mission more than anything else. However, a string of recent conversations with really talented employees (and prospective employees) at later stage start-ups have stayed in my mind…this post is for them. Illustration by Oscar Orozco, Behance/99U A company’s fate is ultimately determined by its people, so talent is everything. But this old adage bumps up against another one: cash is king (or runway is king, for a fast-growing private company). Without runway, talent takes off. 😉 So, it is no surprise that bold moves to extend runway (think late-stage financings at technically large valuations with some tricky liquidation preferences underneath) are done even if they could hurt the company (and its people) in the long run. This is especially true when these financings are ego-driven rather than strategic. The problem is, the employees at these companies don’t understand the implications. They see the valuation, they know the number of shares they own or are being offered, but they do the wrong math. The “unicorn” phenomenon (the vast number of companies that have raised over $100M at a $1B+ valuation) gets enough media coverage these days. Much has been written about the founders of these companies, their investors, and their rapidly growing valuations. But very little has been written about the employees, the people that do all the work and whose careers rely upon the judgement of their leaders and investors. How can employees — and prospective employees — protect themselves in this environment? One of my sad predictions for 2017 is a bunch of big headline-worthy acquisitions and IPOs that leave a lot of hard working employees at these companies in a weird spot. They’ll be congratulated by everyone they know for their extraordinary success while scratching their heads wondering why they barely benefited. Of course, the reason is that these employees never understood their compensation in the first place (and they were not privy to the terms of all the financings before and after they were hired). I have had a few conversations about compensation at so-called “unicorn” companies the past few months. Two of these conversations were with prospective employees — an engineer and a designer — with offers to join later-stage private companies in mid-level producer-manager roles. Another conversation was with the founder of a very early stage startup contemplating an acquisition offer from one of the later-stage delivery/food-related private companies. And the most recent conversation was with a senior HR professional at one of these $1B+ valued companies. All of these conversations reinforced my concern that employees (and founders of acquihire/acquisition targets) don’t understand how the capital structure of later-stage private companies can impact the true value of their compensation and outcome. The Quick Primer For How “Unicorn” Employees Get Trampled When CEO’s need more runway, they naturally seek investment at a higher valuation than their last round. When the company’s performance doesn’t warrant the valuation they seek (or when investors have the upper hand), investors can insert special terms to protect their interests, essentially limiting their downside at the expense of past equity holders, many of whom are employees. Over coffee the other day with the Head of HR at a late-stage start-up, she confirmed for me how few candidates even ask about their stock grants. “And when they do, they ask for more shares, without even knowing the denominator,” she said in amazement. “And when they know the denominator and the hypothetical value of stock at the last round, they almost never ask about liquidation preferences or other barometers for the likely long-term value.” Wow. To bring this home, it’s like negotiating your salary without specifying the currency you’re being paid in. While the drive to join a company cannot be solely about the money, I also believe that the possibility of reward must accompany risk. If you’re joining an early start-up, these questions are premature and your focus should be on building something of value. But if you’re joining a later stage private company, it’s just being responsible. Don’t Get Trampled By A Unicorn, Audit Your Comp So, if you’re an employee working at a “unicorn” company (or are considering joining one), what questions should you have? Here’s a bit of a primer for employees: Have you raised capital with liquidation preferences, and what are they? A liquidation preference specifies which investors get paid first in the event your company is acquired or goes public. It also determines how much investors get paid before everyone else gets paid. It is standard and necessary to have a “1x non-participating liquidation preference” which means that investors will get the amount they invested out first (before employees). The thing to look out for is a higher liquidation preference, where investors get a multiple of their investment out first, before you or any other shareholder gets a single dollar — regardless of how much equity you own. If your company has raised a lot of money with high liquidation preferences, you could argue that your salary and/or grant should be larger to account for the increased risk of your shares being worthless. Like any investment that is less marketable as a result of an illiquid market, stock that is less likely to be valuable and/or marketable should be discounted. How many months of runway do you have? The amount of money your company has raised, divided by the amount it “burns” every month (expenses beyond revenue), determines the number of months your company can survive before it either makes more, spends less, or needs to raise more funding. If your company is running out of money, your CEO is more likely to raise money at unattractive terms (like a high liquidation preference). If runway is limited, you’re entitled to ask about the plan. If you need to raise more money but are unable to do so at standard terms, will you accept less favorable terms or will you raise at a lower valuation? I wouldn’t ask this question straight out, but I’d look for the signs. A big consequence of the press’s celebration of billion-dollar valuations is the desire to be one or stay one, despite unfavorable terms. Founders are essentially compromising the long-term value of shares held by employees in exchange for a larger valuation today. In a more normal world, companies would be able to tolerate ups and downs in valuation with the realization that every company goes through cycles (recall not too long ago when Facebook traded below its IPO price, Netflix plummeted during its transition away from DVDs, etc…). The value of your shares can go up or down, but liquidation preferences stick around. The best CEOs can stomach and lead their teams through some volatility rather than optimize for short-term headlines. In his post last year about the mechanics of these late-stage financings, Bill Gurley (with whom I work as a Venture Partner at Benchmark) makes the point that employees need to understand their CEOs approach, “if your CEO/founder will take a dirty round, and is also anti-IPO, the chance that you will ever see liquidity for your shares anywhere near what you think they are worth is very, very low.” Has the company taken on debt? Like a liquidation preference, debt must be repaid before the proceeds from being acquired are divided by shareholders. A company with a lot of debt is another red flag that could certainly jeopardize the value of your shares in the event your company is acquired. Does the company aspire to be a public company? To be clear, a company need not aspire to go public. However, raising hundreds of millions of dollars leaves very few other ways to return value to investors or employees. Nevertheless, there are many CEOs that want to keep their companies private while continuing to raise massive amounts of capital despite unfavorable terms. You deserve to know the intentions of your leaders. Perhaps there is a good reason related to certain milestones your company must reach before going public? Alternatively, it may seem like the allure of less scrutiny is driving decisions (red alert!). The answer you get will help you quantify the likehood of your shares being valuable over time. If the company’s plan is to stay private for the foreseeable future, have there been secondary sales for employees and/or founders? It’s a controversial question — you may want to fish around vs. appear to be so focused on liquidity, but it is fair for you to know whether employees and founders are selling their shares while the company is still private. If there is no line of sight to becoming a public company, secondary sales are your only chance at liquidity. But there are cultural and signaling implications if some employees are able to sell their shares. Have the company’s financials been audited? Obviously, the value of your shares in the company is connected to the company’s financials. Early stage start-ups without massive expenses or balance sheets need not endure audited financials. But as companies become larger and/or valuable, checks and balances ensure that mistakes or misrepresentations are not impacting how investors value the business (which ultimately determines how many shares you receive in the company). You’d be shocked to learn how many companies raising money at a billion-dollar valuation are doing so with financials that have never been checked/audited by a third-party. Again, if you’re taking a major risk in your career for a grant of stock with a proposed value, you deserve to know how reliable it is. Don’t Wait For The Cataclysmic Event, Start Asking Now Like most bad behavior that brews in any industry, the bad behavior is liable to continue without much attention until a major event blasts it into consciousness. Imagine waking up one morning to the news that one of the popular “unicorn” companies was just acquired for a billion dollars. “Wow,” you think. Headlines fly around celebrating the outcome. And then suddenly there is a flurry of tweets from employees of the company followed by an expose article revealing the fact that employees actually made very little from the acquisition. How is this possible? The company raised money at increasingly high valuations at unfavorable terms, and there was little left to distribute to common shareholders. Hundreds of employees got nothing more than a hard lesson learned. I hope it doesn’t take such an event to encourage companies to disclose the mechanics behind their valuation and illustrate the implications for employee shares. But you can start asking now. Your CEOs willingness to answer these questions, the cleanliness and simplicity of his/her answers, and the assurances your CEO provides you are as important as any quoted value for the shares you are given for your investment of time in the company — an investment far more valuable than money. **** Follow on Twitter, get the latest book — The Messy Middle, or sign up for an infrequent newsletter summary of insights. PS: Since originally posting this article, I have received a lot of feedback. Entrepreneurs and seed investors appreciate the sunlight on equity comp packages coming from late-stage companies. On the other hand, some late-stage company investors and CEOs are understandably defensive of their best efforts to communicate the possible value of complex equity grants. True, as a company grows, so do the nuances that impact the potential value of equity. However, there are always a finite number of shares and an internal model that can output the value of one common share of equity across many scenarios. Some have suggested ways for companies like eShares, that manage company capital tables, to fill the gap. Another interesting idea to reduce complexity for employees came from Brian Neider at Lead Edge Capital, who suggested a single question for employees to ask management: “Can you please let me know how much money I’d make from my options if the company were to sell or IPO for $100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, etc?” Of course, the answers will inevitably have some disclaimers and dependencies, but the answers will expose the potential impact of terms from late-stage financings.

https://medium.com/positiveslope/dont-get-trampled-the-puzzle-for-unicorn-employees-8f00f33c784f

['Scott Belsky']

2018-06-27 04:23:35.707000+00:00

['Investing', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startup', 'Venture Capital', 'Finance']

Catherine Breillat

in The New York Times

https://medium.com/movies-directed-by-women/catherine-breillat-55400d55861d

['Rene Hirsch']

2020-07-05 10:30:46.911000+00:00

['Catherine Breillat', 'France', 'Brief Crossing', '36 Fillette']

did you know these all ?

in 1998, Sony had to recall 700,000 video cameras after customers realised that the product inadvertently boasted ‘X-ray’ capabities. They were not actually camcorders. They were the devices with which people could actually see through clothes. Sony still has this tech but will never release it. 2. The entire 1985 Super Mario Bros. game was only 32 kilobytes in size. The above image was 87 kilobytes at the time of upload! 3. If you are not sure whether you are dreaming or not, try reading some book. The majority of people are incapable of reading in their dreams. This is because reading and dreaming are the functions of different parts of the brain. The same goes for time. Each time you look at a clock, it’ll tell a different time and the hands on the clock won’t appear to be moving. And may be that’s why Inception don’t have any reading scene. 4. Japanese death row inmates are not told their date of execution. They wake each day wondering if today may be their last. 5. here is a company named TrueMirror® that makes non-reversible mirrors. Instead of ‘mirroring’ you (your left is the mirror’s left), it shows you how you actually appear to others.

https://medium.com/@bishanpatel123/did-you-know-these-all-bf46c09ab276

['Bishan Patel']

2019-09-23 07:44:10.522000+00:00

['Unbelievable', 'Facts', 'Amazing Facts', 'Nintendo', 'Facts And Myths']

日本刀の威力に見る、『Ghost of Tsushima』の描く「繊細な日本」

in Both Sides of the Table

https://medium.com/canzume/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E5%88%80%E3%81%AE%E5%A8%81%E5%8A%9B%E3%81%AB%E8%A6%8B%E3%82%8B-ghost-of-tsushima-%E3%81%AE%E6%8F%8F%E3%81%8F-%E7%B9%8A%E7%B4%B0%E3%81%AA%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC-989869a48f8c

[]

2020-06-09 11:50:38.744000+00:00

['Column', 'ゲーム', 'Videogames', 'PS4', '日本語']

Wildeye: Make it So

Interview with Ted Cohn, CEO & CTO of Wildeye Interview with Ted Cohn, CEO & CTO of Wildeye Tell us about Wildeye. What do you do? We provide a marketplace enabling people bid or pay for video calls with influencers, athletes, professionals, and personalities worldwide. What is your startup’s origin story? I had been looking to start a more conventional human connection “gig” marketplace prior to Covid. As an introvert, working as a software developer for 16 years remotely on and off, and traveling often, it sometimes got lonely. I yearned to increase my social capital to make new friends and connect with mentors to help level-up my career. Meanwhile, my wife, Diane, had become an emerging YouTuber. She noticed that numerous creators had hundreds of fans asking questions that went unanswered, with many offering to pay to speak with them. Then one of her viewers asked to pay to speak with her about her topic of expertise, real estate. The lightbulb went on and we collaborated to launch Wildeye’s BidToTalk. Had you been involved in the industry before this startup? What is your background? I’ve been involved with software startups and larger, well-known Silicon Valley firms my entire career. I have more than 30 years of experience developing consumer software products and services such as Nook, search, MoviePak real-time Quicktime video capture/playback, games and robotics, for companies including Apple, Barnes & Noble, Ugobe, Excite/Webcrawler, and SurveySez (prior to SurveyMonkey). I’ve been awarded 10 patents, and my biggest thrill hands down was working for Steve Jobs at NeXT. Going way back, I wrote BugByter, the best selling/used 6502 debugger for the Apple II when I was 13, and sold to Apple. What’s unique about your company? What are the key differentiators between you and other players? In addition to selling time for fixed fees, we also enable sellers to auction their time to the highest bidder, letting the market set the price — a potentially lucrative proposition for influencers and exciting for fans. We also offer discovery to help customers find all kinds of interesting people to connect with. 1:1 calls are private and masked so callers can feel secure knowing their contact information won’t be disclosed. Take us through a day in your life. What does the typical day look like? At the crack of dawn, take a walk, perform a standup with my team, write code, check in with the team, speak with vendors, investors, influencers, advisors. I’m constantly thinking about traction and building the best product we can to delight and attract customers. I fix bugs, test the site, code more, get and log feedback, make improvements. Lunch gives me a quick much needed break, where I zone out to watch 15 minutes of Netflix or check in with No Man’s Sky. Then it’s back to work. At the end of the day, I squeeze in time to read and watch entrepreneur, motivation and news videos on YouTube. Then sleep, rinse, repeat. What has been the most challenging part of growing your company? Build traction for our new branded marketplace. What has been your best marketing channel? What are some channels you are looking to explore next? Niche influencer groups. What apps do you use that you would recommend to others? GSuite, Slack, Sendmail, Mailerlite, Jira, Mightycall, Upwork, Github, Zoom, among others. Do you have a book, podcast, or Youtube channel you would recommend to other Entrepreneurs? Valuetainment (YouTube), Simon Sinek’s book Start with Why and his YouTube talks, plus John Lee Dumas’ Entrepreneurs on Fire. If you could go back in time to the day you founded your company, what advice would you give yourself? More founding members, more research, more growth hacking market tests. What’s something you’ve learned from building your business that someone else can learn from? Start with why — something you can see yourself focusing on intensely for the next 5–10 years. Choose an enormous market and opportunity, solve a big problem, and get lucky with marketing timing. Select a fabulous founding team that complement each other.

https://medium.com/startup-thread/wildeye-make-it-so-4320ff8ab8a

['Dan Stein']

2020-12-23 08:42:24.077000+00:00

['Startup Life', 'Startup', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Entrepreneur', 'Founder Interviews']

Fundraising 2.0: leveraging technology to do the legwork

Fundraising is quite inefficient, both for startups and investors. Founders have to run all over town to tell the same story to different people over and over again. Investors need to go through hundreds of pitch decks sent to them without being able to get a good intuition for the people behind the startup. We thought: there must be a better way to manage this. So we came up with an idea…. Fundraising sucks Fundraising is a (most often) necessary evil in building a new startup. Founders need money to build out their dream and investors are in the business of buying low and selling high. Everyone is trying to minimize their risk. As a founder, you are looking for investors’ cash and need to get them to a place where they feel comfortable saying “Yes” to you. Throughout this process, you tell your story again and again and again. On the one hand, you get better at telling it. On the other, the time and effort it requires are taken away from your efforts to focus on your product and company, which is the ultimate driver of your success. And despite all the effort, at the end of the day, your reach is still limited: even the hardest working entrepreneurs can only usually target a few dozen investors. Investors, on their end, don’t love the process either. In larger funds, the dealflow usually passes through the more junior ranks, as the partners can’t possibly spend their days reading through decks. Add to that the tedium of reading materials that start blending into each other, and the inability to get a human “feel” for the founders, and you get a process that investors would also love to improve. Problems investors have when it comes to finding early stage targets: Scanning through dozens of pitch decks and one-pagers can be overwhelming and quite tiring. Eventually, it gets hard for startups to stand out. Most investors aim to primarily invest in the people behind the companies, with less focus on the idea itself. However, the pitch decks give you a very poor sense of who the founders actually are. Saying “no” to founders is never easy. It takes an emotional toll, even on the most hardened investors. And despite investors’ best efforts, founders can take the rejection to a very personal place. Issues startups encounter when looking for funding: Fundraising can be a very tiring process since you’re basically running around, telling the same story to different people. This is time and energy that you can’t dedicate to building your startup. It’s hard to get the time and attention you feel your pitch deserves. Many investors just never say no, and it’s up to startups to figure out whether they should stay persistent or if they are wasting time on a lead that will never close. A new way to connect investors and startups Elevator is our attempt at APX to address all these issues, using an app which gives a short intro to each startup based on 30-second videos. Each one of these clips covers a key aspect: Problem description, solution, traction, team, and a call-to-action. Together with the founders, we ensure the 30-seconds are packed with only the most relevant content. The aim is to be as brief and efficient as possible. Also, we implemented tags (such as funding stage, B2B vs. B2C, or industry), to categorize startups and make the filtering process for investors easier. After listening to the pitch, if an investor is interested in contacting a startup or staying up to date, they can ‘swipe right’ or ‘bookmark’ it. Once an investor shows interest, she has the chance to: …message the startup directly via a chat function to ask questions, set up a meeting, exchange contact info …get notifications and updates automatically once a startup has reached certain milestones in traction, fundraising, etc. Right now, our app is being gradually rolled out to investors in the APX network. We have been contacted by investors who asked if we could open up the app to startups and investors outside of our network but we want to ensure a certain quality of startups and investors on our app. Our community is quite inclusive, however, so if you are an investor and interested in the APX portfolio, just write us and we would be happy to grant you access to the app! In collaboration with Mel Goering

https://medium.com/apxberlin/fundraising-2-0-leveraging-technology-to-do-the-legwork-72dc19061c92

['Dr. Yoni Goldwasser']

2019-05-06 11:41:05.201000+00:00

['Investing', 'Technology', 'Venture Capital', 'Startup', 'Impact']

Zeals Engineers are going to host an Advent calendar

The Advent Calendar is an event that runs from December 1 to 25 each year, where each Zeals engineer posts an article. In other words, it is like a 30 days challenge. The articles are associated with technologies in which our engineers are currently interested as well as those we adopt in our product. If you’re interested in learning more about it, please visit and take a look! Zeals Advent Calendar 2020 https://qiita.com/advent-calendar/2020/zeals

https://medium.com/zeals-tech-blog/zeals-engineers-are-going-to-host-an-advent-calendar-4c94ad46575d

['Tamaki Takato']

2020-12-25 02:05:19.934000+00:00

['Company Information']

Image encryption and decryption web application using Flask

A few months back I made a flask app during a hackathon. The web app helps in easy encryption and decryption of an image. It is based on the XOR operation. Upon encryption, the user is given back an encrypted image along with a key. Later on, the user can upload the encrypted image back to the web app along with the key, and in return, the user is given back a decrypted image only if the key entered is correct. The link to my deployed website for this project image security The Tech stack used for making this app is Flask + Jinja framework. The sole function of this web app is image encryption and decryption. The reason for choosing flask is because it is relatively easy to fetch or provide images in Flask. The other reason for using Flask is python (easy operations). Kindly refer to this documentation if you want to set up a flask project.

https://medium.com/@vinayaksh42/image-encryption-and-decryption-web-application-using-flask-b3b113b16365

['Vinayak Sharma']

2020-11-18 12:40:00.465000+00:00

['Encryption', 'Decryption', 'Hackathons', 'Flask', 'Python']

How to Create 10000 Backlinks Within Minutes?

How to Create 10000 Backlinks Within Minutes? A Backlink is defined as a link from any other website to your website. Purpose of Backlink is basically to bring traffic towards your content. The quality of the Backlinks matter the most. If your website has good quality Backlinks then, it is obvious that the most trusted websites will link with you and you will definitely get more traffic. A backlink is the backbone of SEO. SEO and Backlinks SEO is associated with various factors, Backlinks play a major role. If your Backlinks quality will be good, more authentic sites will link to your ones and it will make your content SEO. How to create Backlinks? Creating backlinks on your website is quite easy. But the major thing is the proper create Backlinks. It has great significance, as it will let your keywords get ranked in various search engines. It is a little tough but not impossible. So, it takes a bit of effort to create high-quality backlinks free. I will guide you to create Backlinks (step by step). These are the following steps you can follow to create backlinks within minutes. 1-Free Method In the free method, you just visit various authentic websites and give link of your website in comments. From there you will get a Backlink. Now you need to know the proper way to add a comment. Don't pop up in someone else comment section and share your link. Praise their content, then add your link and post your comment. After 48 hours probably, it will get approved and you will get a backlink from that site. You will find various sites to get backlinks in the comment section where various people had already commented. This is a bit time-consuming but easiest way to create backlinks. 2-Infographics (combination of visual and text) One of the most popular method to create worthy Backlinks and traffic to your website. The scope of infographics has increased because of everybody's increasing concern toward the visual world. It majorly helps in getting backlinks. Create good infographic to get worthy backlinks. Your infographic must be engaging, amazing and based on well researched content. Once your infographic is published, you have to follow these steps to promote your content. · Install WordPress plugin, it will bring sharing options on your infographic. · Create Embed Code for your infographic, it will let others share your infographic on different platforms. · Submit your infographic to popular infographic submission site. Websites having content related to your content will reach you. Offer them unique content and ask for your backlinks. This will create possible ways to get quality backlinks from authentic websites. 3-Testimonials and reviews Another easy thing that can create Backlinks for you is testimonials and unique reviews. Basically, it will improve your ranking which will lead you to get backlinks. Different sites are providing an opportunity to write reviews on their stuff. When you will write a unique review, they will see your name and website which will bring organic traffic towards your page and it will lead you to get best backlinks within minutes. Once your review is published, tag the company whose stuff you're reviewing this will create business links with them. Good business relationship = More backlinks 4-Various tools that will get you more backlinks There are various tools to grow traffic towards your content. Backlinks are basically backbone of search engine ranking factors. The best approach for this link building relationship has a dependency on; · The website you have created. · Your strategies. · Your concern towards SEO Here, you will find few tools that will help you create backlinks within minutes. 1-Pitchbox Pitchbox is a link building platform which will help you create Backlinks in 2020. It has really good reviews. Pitchbox will help you find a list of keywords, blog posts relevant to your content and list of backlink information of your competitors mentioned in your list. Here is the link to this website. https://pitchbox.com/ 2-Broken Link Builder Broken Link Builder is basically a link building strategy through which you can create backlinks within minutes. In this strategy; · We find a broken link · Recreate the broken content. · Reach out webmasters. · Ask them to replace their broken links with your accurate links. Read the following article by Ahrefs to know more about creating backlinks through Broken Link Builder; https://ahrefs.com/blog/fix-broken-links/ 3-Monitor Backlinks This is an amazing site to create backlinks within minutes. It helps you to keep an eye on new links created by competitors. It will send you alert whenever a new link will be created. It will give you information regarding keyword rankings and speed of your site as compared to other sites. Here is the link to their site; https://monitorbacklinks.com/ 4-BuzzStream You need to know about another tool called BuzzStream for creating backlinks within minutes. Buzz stream has free link building tools that will help you create quality backlinks. Backlinks are very good for SEO. BuzzStream is one of the engine that is claiming to give you easiest backlinks. There will be several benefits for this approach claims BuzzStream. Read complete information regarding Buzzstream at their website. Link is provided; https://www.buzzstream.com/blog/building-backlinks-with-reports.html

https://medium.com/@asmasaeed834/how-to-create-10000-backlinks-within-minutes-14fdb30a8b7e

['Asma Saeed']

2020-12-20 01:30:47.620000+00:00

['Rankings', 'Backlink Building', 'Backlink', 'Infographics', 'Backlinking']

Google : Cloud Study Jam Series

PyData Mumbai is excited to host hands-on workshop series on Google Cloud Platform with collaboration with Google. The agenda of the series would be as follows: Please note: a. All the topics will be hands-on lab based provided by Google Cloud. b. Please visit the meetup page for each day (provided below along with each day’s agenda) to learn more about the agenda, venue, timings and RSVP for the same. c. Since you will get GCP access, please register yourself to the google form url provided (separately for each day, please find the urls below) with the email id which you would be using for the cloud labs access. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Day 1: 29th June, 2019 Topic: Data Engineering on Google Cloud Platform Meetup: http://bit.ly/cloud_day1 Registration: http://bit.ly/day1_reg Labs to be covered: GCP essentials - a. A tour of the Qwiklabs and GCP : understanding the basics b. Creating a Virtual Machine c. Getting Started with Cloud Shell & gcloud Baseline: Data, ML, AI a. Cloud Dataprep b. Cloud Dataflow c. Cloud Dataproc : console and command line Data Engineering a. Creating a Data Transformation Pipeline with Cloud Dataprep b. Execute a Big Data Text Processing Pipeline in Cloud Dataflow c. Building an IoT Analytics Pipeline on GCP d. ETL Processing on GCP Using Dataflow and BigQuery Scientific Data Processing a. Introduction to SQL for BigQuery and Cloud SQL b. Analyzing weather data in BigQuery c. Distributed Image Processing in Cloud Dataproc d. Analyzing Natality Data using Datalab and BigQuery — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Day 2: 20th July, 2019 Topic: DevOps on Google Cloud Platform Meetup: http://bit.ly/cloud_day2 Registration: http://bit.ly/day2_reg Labs to be covered: GCP essentials - a. Kubernetes Engine: Qwik Start Baseline: Infrastructure a. Cloud Storage: Qwik Start — Console b. Cloud IAM: Qwik Start c. Stackdriver: Qwik Start d. Cloud Functions: Qwik Start — Console e. Google Cloud Pub/Sub: Qwik Start — Python Kubernetes in the Google Cloud a. Introduction to Docker b. Orchestrating the Cloud with Kubernetes c. Managing Deployments Using Kubernetes Engine d. Continuous Delivery with Jenkins in Kubernetes Engine Kubernetes Solutions a. Kubeflow End to End b. Awwvision: Cloud Vision API from a Kubernetes Cluster — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Day 3: 10th August, 2019 Topic: Data Science on Google Cloud Platform (Part 1) Meetup: http://bit.ly/cloud_day3 Registration: http://bit.ly/day3_reg Labs to be covered: Baseline: Data, ML, AI a. Cloud Natural Language API: Qwik Start b. Google Cloud Speech API: Qwik Start c. Video Intelligence: Qwik Start Data Science on GCP — Part 1 a. Introduction to SQL for BigQuery and Cloud SQL b. Ingesting Data Into The Cloud c. Ingesting Data Into The Cloud Using Google App Engine d. Loading Data into Google Cloud SQL e. Visualizing Data with Google Data Studio f. Processing Data with Google Cloud Dataflow g. Visualize Real Time Geospatial Data with Google Data Studio h. Loading Data into Google BigQuery for Exploratory Data Analysis i. Exploratory Data Analysis using Google Cloud Datalab j. Evaluating a Data Model Machine Learning APIs a. Introduction to APIs in Google b. Extract, Analyze, and Translate Text from Images with the Cloud ML APIs c. Classify Text into Categories with the Natural Language API d. Cloud ML Engine — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Day 4: 24th August, 2019 Topic: Data Science on Google Cloud Platform (Part 2) and IoT Meetup: http://bit.ly/cloud_day4 Registration: http://bit.ly/day4_reg Labs to be covered:

https://medium.com/pydata-mumbai/pydata-mumbai-google-cloud-study-jam-series-423abf2fce3c

['Sukanya Mandal']

2019-10-19 03:08:03.212000+00:00

['Machine Learning', 'Internet of Things', 'Google Cloud Platform', 'Data Science', 'Mumbai']

What 40 Yard Dash Times Produce The Best Running Backs

From the data obtained the above table displays the percentage that an athlete who ran a specific time will be in the top 10% for career yards. For example, if a running back runs a time between 4.50-4.59 they have only a 6.6% of being in the top 10% for yards. Best and Worst 40 Yard Dash Times As we get a look at a more broad view of the top athletes in yards we saw that running backs in other time intervals start to appear on the list, and we get a different view of each time interval. Using the data that was found and from each analysis, I’m going to give my opinion of the best and worst 40 yard dash times. Best: 4:40–4:49 Running backs who run a time between 4.40-4.49 appear to have the most success in the NFL. It may appear that those who run in the 4.20's are better but since there’s only 1 athlete in that time the sample space is too small to be sure, while 4.40–4.49 have multiple running backs as evidence. Adrian Peterson (above) ran a 4.40 and has the most career yards over the last 20 years These running backs have the highest chance to be one of the top running backs in yards, play in the NFL for one of the longest times, and have 6 running backs in the top 10 rushers in yards over the last 20 years. Also if we viewed the times where there are more than 5 running backs they average the most in yards per attempt at 4.14 yards. Worst: 4:60–4.69 If a running back runs in the 4.60's statistically they are already at a disadvantage to be a top running back. Arain Foster (above) ran a 4.69 and is currently out fo the NFL due to a long list of injuries These running backs typically don’t last in the NFL for that long only averaging 4.6 seasons. This results in them obtaining less yards during their tenure in the NFL. They are also the second worst time in yards per attempt, and in the bottom half of ranking of running backs in the top 10%. There’s a debate that running backs who run in the 4.80’s are worse but since the sample size is too small compared to 4.60–4.69, there’s more confidence that the stats for the 4.60’s are more accurate and closer to the actual result. Conclusion The 40 yard dash is the most popular event in the NFL combine and by doing simple analysis we got a better view at which running backs may have the best chance to have the best careers. This obviously isn’t 100% accurate, but by using even more stats from the combine we may have better confidence at what running backs will be successful in the NFL even before they take their first snap.

https://medium.com/the-sports-scientist/what-40-yard-dash-times-produce-the-best-running-backs-dd5d35eab471

['Christopher Zita']

2020-04-29 13:25:52.601000+00:00

['Sports', 'NFL', 'Football', 'Data Science', 'Sports Analytics']

New Study Finds Brands Benefit from Advertising Across Mid-Sized CTV Channels

Buyers of Mid-Sized CTV/OTT Inventory Twice As Likely to Beat Key Campaign Goals PubMatic , a sell-side platform that delivers superior outcomes for digital advertising, released the findings from a custom commissioned Forrester Consulting study entitled “New Opportunities for Scale and Value in OTT/CTV Advertising.” The study uncovers two significant findings. First, brands are unsatisfied with the limited number of media companies that they currently leverage for buying CTV/OTT inventory. Second, mid-sized CTV/OTT publishers present a major opportunity for brands to get more from CTV/OTT, including access to key audiences and higher campaign performance. The study, available for download here, surveyed 307 brand and agency buyers of OTT/CTV inventory in the U.S. and U.K. The study finds that, “respondents who currently buy mid-sized CTV/OTT inventory were twice as likely to say they overachieved against their key video advertising goals last year compared to those who do not.” Marketing Technology News: Aims Community College to Deploy YuJa Enterprise Video Platform to Store, Manage and Deliver… “This study’s findings are consistent with what PubMatic has also seen. Today’s CTV marketplace has combined the high-quality aspects of linear TV with the data and scale of digital media. Brands that diversify their media buying across diverse CTV/OTT inventory are often more bullish on biddable environments, allowing them to make real-time optimizations that drive better campaign performance,” said Nicole Scaglione, VP of OTT & CTV at PubMatic. “Too many brands have limited themselves to inflexible guarantees with high-cost CTV/OTT publishers due to unfounded fears about scale and complexity, and are missing a major opportunity.” CTV/OTT is a major growth channel for brands looking to reach consumers who have migrated from linear TV to streaming content. Forrester’s research found that the benefits of CTV/OTT include gaining incremental reach and the ability to address media fragmentation. However, too often, brands stick to familiar relationships within a very limited subset of CTV/OTT inventory. The study found that 40% of brands buy from OTT suppliers while 34% buy from broadcast networks compared to only 28% that buy from small- and medium-sized publishers. Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Sara Spivey, CMO at Braze Buyers agree that a more diverse media buying approach would improve audience reach and performance, exposing the opportunity that awaits those who increase their spend with small and medium publishers. The top reasons for buying more inventory from small and medium publishers includes “ability to reach audiences in a relevant context,” “higher quality” and “greater efficiency” all cited by nearly a third of buyers. The study notes that, “buyers who diversified their CTV/OTT media strategies across small and medium-sized publishers (mid-sized CTV/OTT) were more successful at their media objectives over the prior year than those who did not.” To tap into the opportunity provided by small and medium CTV/OTT publishers, media buyers need to lean into partners that can provide comprehensive solutions to reduce complexity and leverage lessons and partner experience with more mature ad formats in order to seize the opportunity. “The promise of CTV/OTT is enormous for the media buyers who are motivated to diversify their approach. The consumer trend toward streaming media across a growing number of apps and channels proves that investing now will set media buyers up for dramatically better returns,” said Scaglione.

https://medium.com/@MarTechCoreNews/new-study-finds-brands-benefit-from-advertising-across-mid-sized-ctv-channels-3b22984dc2cd

['Core News Martech Series']

2021-11-24 13:41:33.441000+00:00

['Marketing Technology', 'Pubmatic', 'CTV', 'Brands', 'News']

Page depth: How it affects your SEO performance

Page depth refers to the number of clicks you need to reach a specific page from the homepage using the shortest path. A page directly linked to the homepage is at depth 2 (the homepage itself is always 1!). If a page needs more than 3 clicks to be reached, it will perform poorly because search engines will have issues to crawl it compared to a page available in one click. In fact, deep pages have a lower pagerank because search engines are less likely to find them and so to crawl them. If a page is hard to find, crawlers won’t check them as often as pages at depth 2 and so they will lower their chance to be ranked. Websites need to be thought in terms of tree graph because it offers an overview of the overall structure of the site and of pages performing badly. How to improve your site structure? 1# Use your internal linking If you own a large website with a lot of deep pages, reorganizing your internal structure manually could be a nightmare. If you do not want to start again from scratch, you can lower your site’s depth through the help of internal linking, using external backlinks and internal backlinks. It has the advantage to: lower the number of clicks needed to reach a page on your website and to facilitate the crawler job increase your user experience by providing your visitors additional valuable content lower your bounce rate since users will have a better access to the information searched Every time you create a new blog post for example, check if there is any opportunity to link to something relevant you have already written on your website. You can them create an internal link. But be careful, you should only link to something useful and avoid stuffing keyword strategies on anchor-text. 2# Use breadcrumbs Breadcrumbs will make it easier for your visitors to know where they are on your website. Categories are essential to organize your site but do not overuse subcategories because it will certainly take more than 3 clicks to get there. To know more about breadcrumbs you can check our previous article.

https://medium.com/oncrawl-seo-tips-tricks/page-depth-how-it-affects-your-seo-performance-71a1774ca29f

[]

2016-05-06 14:45:04.409000+00:00

['Seo Tips', 'SEO']

How to Rank High on iTunes: Top Tips to Keep in Mind

Podcast consumption and subscription in the US has been enjoying a meteoric rise. In fact, statistics show that one out of five Americans listen to podcasts. Undoubtedly, the podcasting space is growing at a really rapid pace. Of course, with numerous people jumping in on the podcasting bandwagon, standing out has become quite challenging both for podcasters old and new. That means making it to the iTunes’ new and noteworthy section has also become a challenge in itself. The iTunes Secret Majority of podcasts who have made it to iTunes’ distinguished new and noteworthy list are hosted by popular people and celebrities. Others who made it to the top also already have a significant following on other mediums like blogs. For those who are just starting their podcasting journey, things can be pretty intimidating. It is reassuring to remember though that no one really knows for sure iTunes’ algorithm. That being said, there really is no foolproof formula that can help guarantee you’ll snag the number one spot on the new and noteworthy list. There are however a few things you can do to have a better chance of ranking high on the list. For starters: Exceptional audio quality This one is a given. After all, it won’t matter how amazing your content is. You can’t expect people to listen, much more subscribe if your audio quality leaves much to be desired. In line with this, make sure you invest in decent equipment that can help improve the quality of your audio. In addition, there is one thing you should never forego — editing. If editing is something you are not good at or something you don’t have time to do, invest in the expertise of a competent podcast engineer. A seasoned podcast engineer can help warrant you are able to present a podcast that’s polished and professional sounding. Reviews Many people believe getting good reviews can also help improve the iTunes ranking dramatically. Fortunately, you don’t have to get a lot of reviews right away. The idea is to have a decent number especially when you are still starting out. Start by asking your social media followers (as well as friends and family) to listen to your show and leave a review. Sending friends, family, and other people you know to leave a review as well as rate your show would also be a good idea. Great copy Not everyone may be aware of it but a great copy can definitely make a difference in your effort to land a spot in the new and noteworthy list. In line with this, put more effort when it comes to naming your podcast. Moreover, don’t shy away from being creative when it comes to your episode titles. Keep in mind that a creative and interesting title can definitely entice more listeners to tune in and maybe even subscribe to your show. Multiple episodes If you just launched your podcast, make sure you have multiple episodes already recorded. Publishing a single episode won’t often do if you want to get some sort of traction. Having several episodes ready will give your podcast some activity and it will also give listeners more opportunity to get hooked. Getting that much-coveted spot on the iTunes new and noteworthy list is no walk in the park. However, it is something worth pursuing especially if you want to do podcasting for good. What other techniques do you swear by? I’d love to hear about it!

https://medium.com/@glindberg104/how-to-rank-high-on-itunes-top-tips-to-keep-in-mind-d6e37a0d718a

['Gustaf Lindberg']

2019-01-23 13:34:03.475000+00:00

['Podcasting Tips', 'Podcasting', 'Podcasting Strategies', 'Podcasting 101', 'Podcast']

2019 LaunchPad Propel Pitch Competition Winners Help Build Student Credit Scores, Connect Young Creative Talent to Opportunities, and Provide Healthy Snacks

Out of nearly 100 student entrepreneurial teams from schools across the U.S. and Ireland, Credit Starter, Cllctve, and Eat Makhana rose above the rest and won in the 2019 Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars pitch competition. Judges from organizations including Blackstone, Techstars and Shutterstock evaluated ventures on business model/viability, team strength, and presentation quality. “Of course innovation, resilience, and drive are important characteristics of the student founders we want to support and cultivate,” said Blackstone Charitable Foundation executive director Amy Stursberg, “But what really impressed us this year, was the ingenious solutions these young entrepreneurs are developing to address problems their own fellow students struggle with!” 2019 LaunchPad Propel winning businesses included: 1st Place: Credit Starter, founded by Michael Broughton at USC is working to overcome the obstacle of developing a positive credit history as a young person. While predatory practices of credit card companies can present real risk to students long term, Michael has recognized that safer and commonly repeated payments (including student tuition, gym memberships, and streaming entertainment bills) can be utilized to help students build credit. 2nd Place: Cllctve. After struggling to balance her own successful creative content development work with the demands of school, Cllctve cofounder and Syracuse University student Kelsy Davis is developing an online marketplace to efficiently connect other young creators with companies needing talent. Cllctve re-positions brands for success, while simultaneously nurturing the freelance community on college campuses across the country. 3rd Place: Eat Makhana. Mallika Chawla, Amruta Gadgil, and Vineet Sinha, alumni of the University of California, Berkeley are on their own mission to help fellow students stay healthy by offering delicious, nutritious, allergy-friendly foods from popped water lily seeds. Based on a snack common in her childhood home in India, these young entrepreneurs have also taken an innovative approach to the widely recognized challenge of breaking into the grocery store aisle — successfully targeting corporate cafeteria and snack rooms. “The GiveFirst philosophy is ingrained in everything we do at Techstars — from our mentorship driven Accelerators to our university-focused LaunchPad partnership with Blackstone,” said Techstars founder David Cohen. “It is incredibly exciting to see the college students involved in this network so naturally developing businesses that help their fellow students out.” In addition to the annual Propel event in New York each fall, LaunchPad also offers Lift and Startup Weekend. Lift, offered in the spring and summer, is a 10-week, virtual, mentorship-driven cohort program that take student teams from any of the 20+ LaunchPad campuses to the next level. LaunchPad Startup Weekends are where ideas are sparked and new companies are formed and take place at many of the LaunchPad college campuses throughout the year. For more information about the LaunchPad network and to get your campus involved, please visit www.blackstonelaunchpad.org.

https://bxcfideas.com/2019-launchpad-propel-pitch-competition-winners-help-build-student-credit-scores-connect-young-ebb9451a006f

['Blackstone Charitable Foundation']

2019-11-18 19:40:49.776000+00:00

['Entrepreneurship', 'Blackstone', 'Techstars', 'Startup']

Trump in High School

So, is it hate speech when two white boys randomly yell at a random black boy walking down the hall, “Trump! Trump! Trump!”?

https://medium.com/the-vignette/trump-in-high-school-2578eeb3af28

['J. Garcia']

2017-01-08 20:28:03.565000+00:00

['Questions', 'Short Shorts', 'High School', 'Donald Trump', 'Sadness']

Icon design for dummies: how to add new icons to an already perfect icon library

My background is from graphic design, and I felt pretty rookie at pixel perfection and UI design when I joined the Fortum Design Team a couple of years ago. It’s weird to look back on how I looked at Fortum’s Design System at the time. Particularly the icon set was this holy, consistent, well designed and pixel perfect piece of art. To my surprise it turned out that our perfect icon library didn’t cover all possible needs. And to my horror it turned out that we were to design some new icons in-house, in the Design Team, by a visual designer. Can you guess whom this impossible task fell to? I was relieved to discover that we had some magic tools and guidelines for designing icons. Phew! A place to start. OK, roller-coaster of feelings aside, and try to focus on the task and learn as I go. Where to start? Maybe there’s hope after all Even I could see we had two types of icons at Fortum. Those we call marketing icons are quite detailed and illustrative and may be used to bring clarity and increase usability in a service. Combined with text they enhance each other. Some examples of Fortum’s marketing icons Then we have the system icons. These are simpler and bolder than the marketing icons, and therefore more suitable for symbolizing commands and actions in a user interface. Some examples of Fortum’s system icons The system icon style is designed by Mika, Fortum’s talented Lead Visual Designer (and my mentor), who also was the one who gave me the task to design these new icons for the system icon set. The pressure was on! The guidelines were pretty specific and explained stuff like how thick the strokes should be, what the radius for corners should be etc. I even got a customized icon grid template for both types of icons. Oh, how I appreciate some good design guidelines! So, I had the guidelines, I had grid template files to follow, and I had a bunch of other icons I could look at for inspiration. This was starting to feel like something I could master after all. Until I learned what kind of icon I was starting with. If only it had been a hamburger menu, or a chevron, or even a check mark! But no. My first task was “Show password” and “Hide password”. Normally an eye. Barely no straight lines at all! At least it was a system icon, so less amount of pixels to screw up on. Where to start? Finding a good process for icon design Step 1: Research I started with some research on what others did to symbolize “Show password” and “Hide password”. www.thenounproject.com and www.dribbble.com turned out to be good sites for inspiration. Step 2: Warm up Then I did some sketches by hand; this often helps me “warm up” the right side of my brain, and if I’m lucky some concrete ideas will come out of it too. Step 3: Consistency It was very important to me that my icons worked well with other icons in our sacred library. I downloaded a selection for inspiration; some similar in style and shape to what I was making, some in the same category, and some I just really liked. Step 4: Sketching technique I sketched the hell out of Adobe Illustrator and tried copying parts of existing icons to see if I could reuse them. No need to reinvent the wheel if you can avoid it, right? I made sure to regularly check that I was on the right path as I went: Checked that my sketches were in line with the other icons Made sure the sketches followed the grid Checked that the icons worked in actual size Normally I would also make sure that the icons are pixel perfect, but seeing as these particular icons had no straight lines, it was enough to follow the icon grid in this case Step 5: Selecting sketches After 58 versions (!) I finally had some sketches I was pretty happy with. I gathered the ones I considered the best ones in one file, placed my absolute favorites in a screenshot of the service we were using the icons for, and sent it to my mentor for feedback. A selection of sketches I was quite happy with. Step 6: Feedback and adjustments My mentor liked them! Mika had some suggestions for minor adjustments, and the end result was a nice addition to the icon library. Hurray!

https://medium.com/fortum-design/icon-design-for-dummies-how-to-add-new-icons-to-an-already-perfect-icon-library-eb21a721012e

['Marlén Holden']

2020-10-09 06:34:09.519000+00:00

['Inhouse Design', 'Visual Design', 'Icons', 'UI', 'Design Systems']

Behind the Lens: Photographing the President in 50 States

This week, the President will visit South Dakota, marking the 50th state he has visited during his administration. As such, it’s also my 50th state with him. To mark the occasion, I chose one photograph from each state that we’ve visited. This was not as easy as I thought it would be. With help from photo editor Phaedra Singelis, I tried to depict a variety of situations. Some are more lighthearted; some are sad, and some are poignant. Some are with the Vice President; some are with the First Lady, and a couple are with the entire family. A selection of photos are centered on policy, and others on politics. Some focus on the President as Commander-in-Chief — others on his role as consoler for the nation. I hope you enjoy this gallery. And stay tuned — we’ll be adding a photograph from South Dakota following his visit there on Friday.

https://medium.com/vantage/behind-the-lens-photographing-the-president-in-50-states-8202eca6408

['The Obama White House']

2016-05-20 20:04:39.168000+00:00

['President', 'Photos', 'America']

Doctors Who LOWER Your Bills? THAT’S Business Change!

When a business change that helps you is started by someone that has no direct interest in your well being, it’s a surprise. When that money-grubbing, heartless medical doctor to whom you entrust your health and even your life is that business change agent . . . oh, wait . . . Most of us make far less money than our physicians, and in a world where the practicalities of our doctors’ businesses include needing to see more patients than they really have time for just to make ends meet it can feel as though those doctors just don’t care about us. This isn’t always the case, of course, and one doctor has done something about it. And you can benefit from this medical business change even if he isn’t your doctor. Doctor Doug Lefton of Fairlawn Ohio has helped create a way for people who need lab tests to get them done way less expensively than by submitting them though standard medical laboratories. I could stop here, hold Doctor Lefton up as one of those good guys who does amazing things straight from the heart, call it a real business change (it is!), and move on. But I’d like to say more. One of the things we do at Answer Guy Central is Medical Practice Management. I point this out both because . . . well, because . . . and also as a reference to the reality that doctors need to enact business change, both for their patients’ benefit and their own. I wrote about the business change mistakes doctors and other medical practitioners make managing their practices once before, and actually praised the practice of doctors refusing to take medical insurance. But that business change was purely about making more money. Dr. Doug Lefton has created a business change that helps his patients and is either neutral to him (he makes nether more nor less money) or a win, but not financially. Dr. Lefton’s patients are simply healthier. And so they come to him for annual physicals, stay alive longer, recommend other patients . . . hey . . . Doctor Lefton can make more money from this business change! NOW I’ll stop. But first I’ll ask you: what business change can you bring about that increases your business, helps your clients, and costs you nothing? Contact the Answer Guy if you want help finding that business change.

https://medium.com/business-change-and-business-process/doctors-who-lower-your-bills-thats-business-change-f9ebb0092d8a

['Jeff Yablon']

2016-12-19 00:23:14.995000+00:00

['Insurance Companies', 'Doug Lefton', 'Hmos', 'Business Process', 'Doctors']

Committed to Success: Sim Brar, Plastiq

Sim Brar is a Commit engineer who joined Plastiq in 2019 as a Principal Software Engineer. We talked to him about his journey. Can you tell us a bit about your background before joining Commit? I geared my education toward startups. I studied entrepreneurship, design and programming so I could be well-versed in tech startups, and I’ve always been pretty deep into the startup philosophy and space. After school, I joined a company that had the feel of a late-stage startup and was there for about four years. I kind of got sick of the corporate-ish, slow-moving, steady-ship situation, so I quit and went to go hack on some projects for six months, and travel. And then I joined Commit. “The opportunity to grow at Commit is awesome — you can take on stuff that you don’t have a background in, and do it at a pretty damn high level.” What appealed to you about the Commit model? I was at a point where I needed to figure out what I wanted to do. I tend to make decisions very systematically and I like the idea of being able to try before I buy. When you join a company you typically have an interview process and you get invested for at least six months. I wanted to do more than that — I wanted to try three or four projects, to get a sense of the team and the work. With Commit, that’s exactly what I got to do. That model was appealing, as was the opportunity to develop other skill sets. I got to level up skills that I wanted to work on and do it on real projects. How did you get connected to Plastiq? I started a 3-month pilot project with Plastiq around the end of November. I knew within the first month that I could work there. I liked the team, I liked what we were working on, I liked my fit, in terms of being able to leverage my skill set. I felt like I could make an impact. I let my manager know that I liked it there and they got the ball rolling. Three months later I joined full-time. What drew you to Plastiq? There are a lot of things, but it starts with the people. The culture and people are great. In a traditional early-stage startup, you’re figuring out the culture, and that’s great, but at Plastiq it’s more established and continues to get better. Also, Plastiq is well-positioned. They have a sound product-market fit, which a lot of early-stage startups are scrambling to find. And from a technology perspective — I think this is my big one — they were in a place where they had worked for a few years to get something to the market and make sure it fits, and now they are investing heavily in quality and reliability. I felt like I could leverage what I knew and what I had experienced at other good companies and contribute that with Plastiq. What advice would you give to other entrepreneurial engineers like yourself who are considering joining Commit? Everyone’s in a different situation, and if you don’t really know what you want to do or what you’re interested in, Commit is a good place to help you figure it out. With Commit, you get to try different things. That self-discovery is really great. You can try different projects, different industries, different tech stacks. You can cater your career to your specific interests and skillsets. The opportunity to grow at Commit is awesome — you can take on stuff that you don’t have a background in, and do it at a pretty damn high level, which is rare. # # #

https://medium.com/commit-engineering/committed-to-success-sim-brar-plastiq-3c349dbff9e3

['Noel Pullen']

2020-06-14 21:47:41.414000+00:00

['Career Paths', 'Startup', 'Engineering']

Cryptocurrency basics — 3 key characteristics and why they matter

In order to believe in the crypto revolution, it’s important to understand the fundamental aspects of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology that make it so revolutionary. The 3 key characteristics of cryptocurrencies are that they are trustless, immutable, and decentralized. Bitcoin: our first and most prominent example Bitcoin is a cryptographically secure currency that was created to be used universally for payments, similar to cash. It was also created with the vision of Bitcoin replacing of all forms of fiat currency in mind. As Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency ever created, it is the first to exhibit the 3 key characteristics we will cover later on. Because the Bitcoin code is open source, people have been creating their own versions of Bitcoin, a.k.a. “Alt-coins” for the past few years. The vision of Bitcoin replacing all fiat currency is becoming less realistic with bitcoin’s current dominance at 45% (less than half) of the total cryptocurrency market. As you can see from the trend, there have been some tremendous altcoin rallies that have chopped Bitcoin’s dominance down over time, bringing in a number of other strong projects to the market. However, bitcoin and altcoins share very similar blockchain technology and the 3 key characteristics also apply across the board (in most cases). These 3 characteristics we will discuss are the answers to the questions you might often hear from skeptics such as: “what makes cryptocurrencies so special?” and “How are cryptocurrencies any different than fiat currencies?” 1) Trustless Bitcoin is trustless because it was designed in a way that nobody has to trust anybody else in order for the network to function. Every form of currency before bitcoin required a central authority that you had to trust in order to use it. In all cases, that central authority becomes the central weakness that leads to the demise of the currency. With bitcoin, each part of the ecosystem validates what the other parts are telling it without needing to trust anybody. If you broadcast a bitcoin transaction, all nodes receive it and verify that the signatures are valid. If the signatures are not valid, they discard the transaction. Everyone on the network has a copy of the ledger so we no longer need to trust a single entity/organization/third-party because there is no need to trust when you can just verify against this ledger because you have a copy of it. The decentralized ledger is known as the blockchain. The incentivization of individual network actors though the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm is one of the most groundbreaking ideas in modern economics. The incentive may help encourage nodes to stay honest. If a greedy attacker is able to assemble more CPU proof-of-worker than all the honest nodes, he would have to choose between using it to defraud people by stealing back his payments, or using it to generate new coins. He ought to find it more profitable to play by the rules, such rules that favor him with more new coins than everyone else combined, than to undermine the system and the validity of his own wealth. — Satoshi Nakamoto Although we are still figuring out exactly how we use cryptocurrencies and and what for, they are here to stay. Aside from the other major benefits of cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech, solving the centralized trust issue alone is a big enough innovation to give crypto staying power. 2) Immutable “Immutable”, in its simplest sense, means “cannot be undone.” Immutability in regards to blockchain and cryptocurrency should follow 3 principles: It should be highly improbable or difficult to rewrite history. It should be impossible for anyone but the owner of a private key to move funds. All transactions are recorded on the blockchain. (to guarantee the above 2 principles) When we want to check how money has been spent from our bank accounts, we check our transaction history with the bank. We trust our banks not to fabricate transactions or manipulate our money as we trust them to deliver our transactions to recipients. If there are fraudulent transactions, the bank also needs to be trusted to change them and fix the situation. As we have already seen that the elements of centralization and trust are removed from cryptocurrency, there is no longer a third party for us to trust to do these things. Therefore, transaction records are made public and unchangeable (immutable). Although it isn’t impossible to change the transaction ledger, cryptographic security makes it extremely difficult. It require you to compromise the entire network of cryptocurrency users. 3) Decentralized Since “decentralization” is such a relevant buzzword in the crypto community, it’s important to define it well. It can take on different meanings. “Blockchains are politically decentralized (no one controls them) and architecturally decentralized (no infrastructural central point of failure) but they are logically centralized (there is one commonly agreed state and the system behaves like a single computer).” — Vitalik Buterin Fault tolerance: decentralized systems are less likely to fail accidentally because they rely on networks of separate components. decentralized systems are less likely to fail accidentally because they rely on networks of separate components. Attack resistance: decentralized systems are more expensive to attack and destroy or manipulate because they don’t have vulnerable central points that can be attacked at much lower cost than the surrounding system. decentralized systems are more expensive to attack and destroy or manipulate because they don’t have vulnerable central points that can be attacked at much lower cost than the surrounding system. Collusion resistance : it‘s harder for members of decentralized systems to act in ways that benefit them at the expense of others. On the other hand, corporations and governments collude in ways that benefit themselves but hurt others all the time. With central banks and governments, the supply and creation of money through mints and interest rates are controlled only by the banks. Users of fiat currencies are at the mercy of the central banks’ money-printing whims. The problem in this world is to avoid concentration of power — we must have a dispersion of power . — Milton Friedman If you are not yet outraged by the central banking money-printing scam, it is helpful to think of it as a hidden tax when they print and destroy the wealth you have stored in those fiat currencies. With cryptocurrency however, no individual or consortium is able to affect the supply of currency or exert significant influence over it without the approval of the majority. Bonus Characteristic — Deflationary Leading cryptocurrencies feature maximum token supply caps or infinite supply with pre-defined production parameters. Many top cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dash have a maximum supply, making them deflationary by nature. Any increase in the demand or adoption of the cryptocurrency will cause a corresponding increase in the price. Most of the other major cryptocurrencies such as ethereum, monero etc., that have infinite supply have pre-defined rules for how many coins will be produced each year. Therefore they are predictable in nature. If these currencies are successful in the long-term, it’s highly unlikely that the rate of production of more currency will result in any sort of inflation. The increasing demand, adoption, and destruction of coins in the form of lost private keys will likely offset any moderate increase in supply due to PoW/PoS mining rewards. Conclusion So there you have it, the 3 key characteristics that make cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology so revolutionary. Plus the bonus economic characteristic of being deflationary through limited supply. Next time anyone asks you those pesky questions like “what’s so special about crypto?” or “what makes them any different”, you can take them to school on the 3 key characteristics: trustlessness, immutability, and decentralization. Hold On for Dear Life

https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/cryptocurrency-basics-3-key-characteristics-and-why-they-matter-7348242abe18

['Lucho Poletti']

2018-04-10 21:34:38.920000+00:00

['Central Banking', 'Currency', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Decentralization']

3 Things Most People Don’t Understand About Marketers

3 Things Most People Don’t Understand About Marketers But every successful marketer knows. In the 10+ years we’ve spent connecting brands with entertainment companies through innovative marketing partnerships at the zakHill Group, we’ve learned people have a lot of misconceptions about marketers. Here are three of the most common ones: 1. Success isn’t just based on marketing ability, it’s based on the ability to market within CONSTRAINTS. Marketing executives can’t just execute whatever amazing idea they dream up. They have to figure out how to succeed with limited time, money, staff and sometimes even mediocre products. 2. Marketing work is an ongoing EXPERIMENT. The best marketing executives know what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. Unlike a lot of other professions, marketers must constantly experiment, analyze, and adapt their approach. 3. Marketers have to be TRANSLATORS. Marketers not only need to be experts in their product and audience, they also need to be able to translate between the two. They have to be able to explain to the company what customers are looking for and be able to communicate to their potential customers why they need the product. These certainly aren’t the only things people misunderstand about marketing executives. What would you add to the list?

https://medium.com/marketing-partnerships/3-things-most-people-dont-understand-about-marketers-c6af4e2a7b65

['Cynthia Hill']

2017-10-25 18:22:43.247000+00:00

['Branding', 'Marketing', 'Public Relations', 'Business', 'Digital Marketing']

Don’t Mess With PhDs

Don’t Mess With PhDs Hell Hath No Fury Like a Doctorate Holder Scorned When I saw it trending, I thought, no! Not another “Doctorgate.” In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last weekend, essayist and former professor Joseph Epstein attempted to make a point about academic pomposity (as well as the proliferation of frivolous PhDs in some fields) by suggesting that, as first lady, Jill Biden should stop referring to herself as Dr. Biden, as she has since earning an Ed.D in Educational Leadership in 2007. “Madame First Lady — Mrs. Biden — Jill — kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter,” wrote Epstein, who is a former editor of The American Scholar. “Any chance you might drop the ‘Dr.’ before your name? ‘Dr. Jill Biden’ sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic.” Wouldn’t you know it, the piece didn’t quite land. It crashed spectacularly, sending the 83-year-old Epstein to the Twitter stockade and generating several news articles about the outrage, including this one in The New York Times. Pretty soon, Northwestern University, where Epstein is an emeritus lecturer, had released a statement denouncing the op-ed and decrying Epstein’s “misogynist views.” A subsequent Newsweek article suggested that Northwestern had removed Epstein’s biography from its website. Meanwhile, Epstein’s strategy to put the non-M.D. “Doctor” honorific in its place has completely backfired. In what is sure to be the next iteration of hashtaggable badassery, tee-shirts reading “Doctor. First Lady. Jill Biden” are already being sold as fundraising merchandise for the college where Biden will be teaching next semester. The mileage of this meme-in-the-making could be infinite. We may still be mourning the loss of Notorious R.B.G, but there’s a new #Doctor in the house. As a longtime writer of op-eds, I know that you can’t hit a home run (or even make contact with the ball) every time. In Epstein’s defense, I think the charges of misogyny were misdirected, since he spends plenty of time deriding blowhard male academics who insist on being called “Dr.” It also seems a bit of a stretch for the Times to mention that Epstein had been “accused of advancing offensive views before,” only to cite just one example — from 1970. Still, even by failed op-ed standards, this one was epic. The “kiddo” flourish was pointlessly condescending. (Some commenters noted that people of Epstein’s generation sometimes used “kiddo” in the spirit of friendly avuncular advice directed to either sex. Okay, but in that case, maybe “whippersnapper” would have been a better choice.) Epstein’s snide mockery of Biden’s dissertation title was unnecessary, as was his invocation of a “wise man [who] once said that ‘no one should call himself ‘Dr.’ unless he has delivered a child.’” Considering that midwives–not to mention the occasional taxi driver—have been delivering babies for centuries, that citation would have been best left uncited. Nonetheless, my heart went out to Epstein ever so slightly. Not just because he apparently wasn’t afforded the luxury of an editor who might have saved him from himself but because I know what it’s like to run afoul of PhDs. Believe me, you don’t want to get on their bad side. Last spring, after noticing that Christine Blasey Ford was trending on Twitter topic under “Dr. Ford,” I made the mistake of tweeting a silly joke about the “Doctor” honorific, specifically Jill Biden’s use of it. Okay, maybe it didn’t quite qualify as a joke. It was more like a not-very-well-thought-out observation that wasn’t particularly funny. (A first for Twitter!) It certainly wasn’t my best tweet. Unfortunately, it remains the most retweeted and commented-upon tweet I have ever sent. It resulted in what was by far the most vehement and prolonged dragging I ever experienced on the site. PhDs from all corners came out to call me a jealous wannabe, overall garbage person and, inevitably if also irrelevantly, a “Karen.” I would point out that several people with PhDs messaged me privately to tell me they knew exactly what I meant. They said it was tacitly acknowledged in most academic circles that people in non-scientific fields who went around calling themselves “Doctor,” at least in non-professional settings, were generally regarded as insecure and embarrassingly arriviste. Figuring that all of the PhDs who were angry with me knew deep down that this was true, I “doubled down,” as they say, sending this tweet. Needless to say, this just kicked off another avalanche of indignation. On top of insulting PhDs, of course, I had also been perceived as being misogynistic toward both Jill Biden and Christine Blasey Ford. That had not even remotely been my intention. So after a few days of avoiding Twitter as if it were a hot stove (and also because it was the height of pandemic lockdown and I was as bored and deranged as anyone) I composed a long tweet thread in which I attempted to clarify myself and explain my admittedly convoluted thought process. Between figuring out what to say and figuring out how to do a tweet thread, it only took me around seven hours. As you can see, practically no one read it. Meanwhile, more than eight months have gone by and the original tweet, which I saw no point in deleting, still resurfaces and now then, bobbing along like a piece of driftwood on which someone (I guess that would be me) has written “kick me” in fluorescent letters. For the last couple of days, in wake of the Epstein fracas, the tweet has been back in mild enough rotation that I find myself peering at my notifications through my fingers. Goddamn Joseph Epstein, I think. Followed by poor Joseph Epstein. The guy is 83–years-old and, until the outrage archeologists come up with new findings, doesn’t appear to have said anything offensive in 50 years. By today’s standards, that’s almost saintly. Come to think of it, I’d like to know how he does it. If I could go 50 days without people getting mad at me, that would be an accomplishment. Speaking of accomplishments, please, once again, understand me: earning a Doctorate — in medicine, in education, in experimental dance theory, in anything—is an accomplishment. Also please understand that I realize that universities are cut throat hierarchies in which having “Doctor” before your name affects your salary, your standing, and the respect you get from students and other faculty alike. But if there’s anything I learned from my online pummeling at the hands of thousands of PhDs and their allies, it’s that holders of doctorates are uniquely adept at defending themselves against enemy attack. No doubt it’s a skill they’ve picked up from the brutal politics of their own institutions. “The reason that university politics is so vicious is because the stakes are so low,” said Henry Kissinger, in what is arguably the most famous quote about academia in modern history. No surprise then, that Kissinger is also famous for insisting on being called Dr. Kissinger. Like I said, don’t mess with these folks.

https://meghandaum.medium.com/dont-mess-with-phds-95c436887d09

['Meghan Daum']

2020-12-15 13:32:55.771000+00:00

['Academia', 'Joseph Epstein', 'Jill Biden', 'PhD', 'Wall Street Journal']

Starting From Scratch: Pulling Off a Career Switch

Starting From Scratch: Pulling Off a Career Switch From Hospitality to Fashion An Interview With Arti Patel — Fashion Design Student at Parsons School of Design at The New School Changing career paths is considered a monumentally daunting task. It is tedious to leave the comforts of an already trodden upon path to divert valuable time and resources and gain a new set of skills and experiences. Some of us also hate the feeling of being a novice at something that is scary and new. Lastly, the notion that it is ideal to do follow only one career path our whole life is deeply embedded in our psyche. Like a lot of decisions, and the career you choose being one of them, it is not uncommon to reach a stage where it does not excite you anymore. Even though it is considered hard to successfully break into multiple careers in one meager lifetime, changing professions is more common than you would think. In our conversation with Arti Shah, a newly graduated fashion design student from Parsons School of Design and a former professional who worked for a decade in the hospitality sector, we pick her brain on how to successfully break into a new career, talk about getting into the prestigious program at Parsons with no prior background in fashion, the transition after working for years in hospitality and her exciting new goals! Tell us a little about yourself and the course you are pursuing at Parsons? I grew up in Central, PA, went to undergrad at Temple University in Philadelphia and have been living in NYC for about 5 years. I recently graduated from the 2-year fashion design program at the Parsons School of Design. The program is tailored for individuals that have already completed a 4-year bachelor degree and are pursuing a career in the world of fashion. Prior to attending Parsons, I worked 10 years in marketing, e-commerce and hotel operations with a large REIT/Hospitality Management company. 2. What are the other schools that offer the similar program? What are the best schools in Fashion and why did you choose Parsons over them? There are several great schools out there aside from Parsons — FIT, FIDM and Pratt just to name a few within the US. Each program offers a variety of curriculum and places emphasis on areas which they believe will most benefit their future alumni. For example, FIT has a stronger focus on technical skills, while Parsons believes in overall conceptual design. Therefore, the curriculum reflects these two different viewpoints. Personally, I chose Parsons b/c of their stellar reputation, focus on conceptual design and relationships within the fashion community. 3. You were in the hospitality sector before you made the switch. Tell us a bit about your experience in hospitality sector. After completing my undergraduate degree in Marketing from Temple University, I jumped in to the workforce. My first professional experience in hospitality was very hands-on. I learned the ins and outs of how a successful hotel operates. From the front desk to housekeeping, I did it all. This gave me some great real world experience and helped me develop my customer service and people skills. I then spent several years working in sales, revenue management and e-commerce at the corporate level. 4. What was your motivation behind joining the Fashion Designing field after an established career in hospitality and management? Did your skills in the field of corporate hospitality help your switch to fashion? A part of me has always had a passion for art, fashion, architecture and design. Throughout my career in hospitality, I was constantly looking for ways to fulfill my creative appetite. After working in a non-creative role for a couple of years post undergrad, I wasn’t feeling satisfied. I decided to pursue a graphic design degree at the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia in hopes that it would help me take on a new, more creative, role within the company I was working for. Luckily, it led me in to taking on more projects that involved graphic design and PR. Ultimately, I knew that I would never feel completely satisfied unless I dove in headfirst and committed to a real career change. I researched a variety of creative fields…interior design, event planning, graphic design, etc…but in the end, Fashion just felt right. I have no doubt that my experience corporate hospitality helped me make the switch in to fashion. The experience I gained there is irreplaceable. It taught me a lot about making tough decisions, working as a team and adapting to new environments. These are all qualities and characteristics that I believe Parsons looks for in their prospective students. 5. How do you feel now after a year and a half at Parsons? Was that switch worth it? How has your experience been so far? Has it been different from what you expected? The experience so far has been an exciting ride…and you never know what to expect around the corner. It has certainly pushed me harder than I’ve ever been pushed. It’s creatively challenging and highly demanding, but when you’re passionate about something, “work” never seems like work. I wasn’t quite sure how to set my expectations prior to starting the program. Since I had zero fashion background, I learned something new every day. I had no idea how to sew, sketch, drape or pattern-make, but the Parsons faculty is second to none. Even though a lot of students in my program had some experience in these areas, the professors dedicated time to help students at any skill level. Also, the old saying is true that nothing can replace hard work. The faculty will help you where they can, but they won’t hold your hand. Parsons is a very competitive school and it’s up to you to put in the work to shorten your learning curve. It was absolutely worth the switch. I can honestly say that I have not looked back. It’s hard to believe that I’m finished with the program and can now create a garment from vision to final piece. It’s something that fulfills that creative passion I’ve always had. 6. How did you make your application stand out? Given that a lot of students apply to Parsons School of Design. How did you make your CV stand out from the others? I think certain aspects my corporate hospitality experience maybe stood out to the admissions team at Parsons, but I had to supplement my CV with a portfolio that reflected my fashion and design identity. I knew that the competition would be fierce, so I needed to put my best creative foot forward. I used some of my cultural influences from the Indian evening garments that I had designed in the past for different events. I also focused on having the portfolio tell my personal design story. Through photography, architecture, clothing and style. My portfolio conveyed my style –classic, minimal and clean with a little bit of edge. 7. Do you have any advice for working professionals who want to come back to school to further prospects? If you’re thinking about a career change and/or going back to school, I would suggest testing the waters before you jump in. Talk to people in the industry you’re looking at to get an insiders perspective on what to expect. If you’re still unsure, try taking a class or two before fully committing yourself to the program. Before I applied to Parsons, I took a general Fashion course at an art and design school. Taking that course while working full time, gave me the confidence to apply to Parsons b/c I knew I had chosen the right field. 8. Do you have any advice for professionals who are thinking of switching careers, like you made the transition from hospitality to design? For me it was something I was thinking about for quite some time. I didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to switch careers. Everyone has a different level of risk tolerance, so I believe it’s important to assess that and be honest with yourself. I would also advise people to do as much research and due diligence as possible on their potential career change. Talk to as many people as you can in the field you’re looking at. Also, once you’ve made up your mind, don’t take no for an answer. I knew that I wanted to go to Parsons and if I didn’t get in the first time, I would keep trying. If I did get in, I was fully prepared to follow through…quit my job, move back to NYC and just go for it. I think you should have unwavering confidence that you’re making the right decision and trust in yourself. 9. Any interview advice that an applicant should keep in mind while applying for Parsons? There was no formal interview process for Parsons, but in general I would always try to be as personable, honest and trustworthy in any interview process. If you are genuine, it will make a huge difference, no matter what you’re interviewing for. 10. What advice do you have for the students who intend to apply to Parsons? Be ready to work hard and be serious about what you’re doing. The curriculum is intense and expectations are high. You won’t have much time for social activities outside of the design studio, but the end result is absolutely worth it. 11. Can you tell us a little about your current internship? What motivated you to take this opportunity and how did you bag it? I am working with an emerging luxury women’s wear designer, Charles Youssef. I was drawn to this opportunity b/c the brand/company is still in the growth stage. It’s very much a start-up, entrepreneurial environment, and that is exactly what I was looking for. He was awarded a space in the CFDA incubator along with a handful of other standout emerging designers. It has given me the opportunity to interact and learn from some of the biggest and most respected names in the fashion industry. 12. What’s next for you? I’ll continue to work in the CFDA incubator space with Charles Youssef and learn as much as I can about building a successful fashion business. Ultimately, my end goal is to have my own women’s wear line. Just like I did with changing careers and attending Parsons, I’ll do my homework and wait until the time is right to go out on my own.

https://medium.com/readers-writers-digest/starting-from-scratch-pulling-off-a-career-switch-66396319b8c0

[]

2016-11-18 01:09:15.005000+00:00

['Design', 'Career Advice', 'Careers', 'Fashion', 'Career Change']

Miscellaneous ways of Installation of Kafka on Ubuntu 18.04 for Novice Data Architect

Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash I have kept this blog as short as possible on two commonly used ways of how to use Kafka Producer-Consumer processes over single node single broker acrhitecture with as minimal required features as possible to make it simple. Prerequisite: Ubuntu 18.04 server and a non-root user with sudo privileges. At least 4GB of RAM is required on the server. Installation without this amount of RAM may cause the Kafka service to fail, with the Java Virtual Machine(JVM) throwing out an “Out Of Memory” exception during startup. Even using Docker services one need to make sure the host machine has more than 4GB of RAM (advisable 8 GB RAM) as it is an absolute requirement for Kafka will consume a big part of RAM. OpenJDK 8/11 should be installed on the server. Kafka is written in Java, so it requires a JVM, however in order to use Confluent Open Source binaries one need to use Java 8. Remember : While using sudo one must remember the root password. 1. Use Kafka setup files licensed by Apache In order to install Apache Kafka as stated by official Kafka, we follow series of steps: First Update the package repository cache of Ubuntu server with the following command : $sudo apt-get update Then we will install OpenJDK 8 or 11 on Ubuntu 18.04 server : $ sudo apt-get intall openjdk-8-jdk $ sudo apt-get install openjdk-11-jdk Then we download the Kafka 2.4.0 (or any latest version as available) from Official website of Kafka : $ sudo wget “http://apachemirror.wuchna.com/kafka/2.4.0/kafka_2.12–2.4.0.tgz” or $ sudo wget “http://mirrors.estointernet.in/apache/kafka/2.4.0/kafka_2.12_2.4.0.tgz” After the installation we have to download the Zookeeper : $ sudo wget “http://apachemirror.wuchna.com/zookeeper/stable/apache-zookeeper-3.5.6-bin.tar.gz” or $ sudo wget “http://mirrors.estointernet.in/apachezookeeper/” Now we need to extract the kafka_2.12–2.4.0.tgz and apache-zookeeper-3.5.6-bin.tar.gz $ sudo tar -xzf Downloads/kafka_2.12–2.4.0.tgz $ sudo tar -xzf Downloads/apache-zookeeper-3.5.6-bin.tar.gz Now we enter into Kafka directory : $ cd kafka_2.12–2.4.0.tgz As Kafka uses Zookeeper so we need to first start a Zookeeper server, if we don’t have one. Always remember that Kafka broker runs over Zookeeper servers. It is Zookeeper server that is responsible for management of Kafka leaders and followers. $ sudo bin/zookeper-server-start.sh config/zookeeper.properties Now after Zookeeper instance is on, we use Kafka-server : $ bin/kafka-server-start.sh config/server.properties We create a topic named “Test123” : $ sudo bin/kafka-topics.sh --create --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --replication-factor 1 --partitions 1 --topic Test123 We can check created topic by writing the command : $ sudo bin/kafka-topics.sh --list --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 After running the producer we can write some messages: $ sudo bin/kafka-console-producer.sh --broker-list localhost:9092 --topic Test123 and then we can consume the data by running a consumer process on another terminal. $ sudo bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --topic Test123 --from-beginning The demo of the above hand usage of Kafka for a single broker and node is shown below:

https://medium.com/swlh/miscellaneous-ways-of-installation-of-kafka-on-ubuntu-18-04-for-novice-data-architect-aec3d5c9c5c5

['Suraj Saha']

2020-06-08 13:51:26.402000+00:00

['Data Streaming', 'Big Data Streaming', 'Kafka Connect', 'Kafka', 'Kafka Installation']

Kicking Off the 2019 Blockchain Summit

Kicking Off the 2019 Blockchain Summit By Valery Vavilov Five years ago, we had a big idea: Let’s invite some of the world’s smartest and most interesting people, from a broad cross-section of government, business and non-profits, to an intimate and collegial summit on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island. There, we’ll identify creative new ways that blockchain technology can make the world a better place. Then, we’ll turn those ideas into action. This week, the Blockchain Summit — organized by Bitfury, ACTAI and the Global Blockchain Business Council — celebrates its fifth anniversary as one of the most important and impactful gatherings in the blockchain ecosystem. Kicking off our 2018 Summit at the Kasbah Tamadot in Morocco This year, the Blockchain Summit will focus primarily on government. Our honored guests — some of today’s biggest game-changers in technology, academics, policy and regulatory issues, media, business, conservation and digital finance — will confront the broken systems and services that are failing their citizens every day. With an eye toward blockchain and other emerging technologies, we will identify ways that we can best repair them. To discover how we can make the world a more just and livable place, we must start by talking about our governments and the rules they create and implement. We will discuss how these institutions have supported innovation and analyze if (and how) they are applying the same innovative spirit to themselves and their responsibilities. We’ll talk about the declining levels of trust and blockchain’s role in repairing that. We’ll discuss security issues and blockchain’s ability to create digital identities. And we’ll talk about efficiency — reducing costs, streamlining processes, decreasing audit burdens, and ensuring data integrity. We’ll highlight the importance of smart and innovative regulation. The world is changing so fast; Regulators need to embrace an agile approach to emerging technologies that enables them to evolve and grow. We’ll ask hard questions, like where can we, and the policies and technologies we discussed during this summit, do the most good now? We will discuss two critical issues — the state of journalism in our world today, and the cruel realities of climate change. And we’ll analyze where technology is, and isn’t, a solution. And finally, we will learn about the oldest and most successful use case of blockchain to date — digital currencies — and hear from our resident visionaries and experts about other innovations in store for blockchain and crypto. Attendees visiting the Eve Branson Foundation during the 2018 Blockchain Summit in Morocco We’ll do this, as always, in an atmosphere that encourages deeper levels of thoughtful conversation than could possibly exist at other conferences. This is what our summit is all about — drawing people out of offices and away from emails and phones so that we can think, talk, and learn from one another, with blockchain as a critical tool in our toolbox. I encourage you to watch our panel discussions, which will be broadcast on Facebook Live, and follow our social media channels for news and updates about the Summit. And let us know what you think. Our Summit will only truly succeed if it sparks discussions and change beyond Necker Island. If we inspire you to imagine new solutions to old problems, reach out and join the conversation. It’s only by working together that we can truly make a difference.

https://medium.com/meetbitfury/kicking-off-the-2019-blockchain-summit-4f467247a836

['The Bitfury Group']

2019-06-21 12:45:32.879000+00:00

['Bitfury', 'Leadership', 'Technology', 'Blockchain Summit']

TTY::Prompt in a CLI Application

A Command Line Interface Application, also known as a CLI application, is an interactive program that allows the user to navigate and process commands through their terminal. During project week at Flatiron School, we were tasked with creating a CLI app that would utilize CRUD elements (Create, Read, Update, Delete) and would need to display some kind of output to our terminal. After brainstorming for a hot minute, we stumbled upon this neat, little Ruby gem called TTY::Prompt. TTY::Prompt, created by Piotr Murach, is an amazing gem that allows users to respond to commands, or prompts, within the terminal. Users can insert inputs into the terminal and directly respond to prompts that have been programmed into the CLI app. It’s an interesting and easy-to-use gem that allows for a ton of interactivity with the user. After doing a bit of research on TTY::Prompt usage, we discovered that one of the popular uses of the gem is to actually make a text-based adventure game. To put it simply, users are given a list of choices, and after selecting an option, they are then given another set of prompts, ultimately having some sort of end with a specific selection.

https://medium.com/@ipnatt/tty-prompt-in-a-cli-application-3b2e299473

['Irvin Natt']

2020-12-22 00:05:19.238000+00:00

['Tty Prompt', 'Rubygems', 'Software Engineering', 'Cli App', 'Ruby']

El perfil del Desarrollador Web en el Perú 2015

in In Fitness And In Health

https://medium.com/espanol/el-perfil-del-desarrollador-web-en-el-per%C3%BA-2015-799eccef5e45

['Juan Eladio Sánchez Rosas']

2015-08-27 16:20:58.637000+00:00

['Spanish', 'Web Development', 'Desarrollo Web']

📆 Reflections on 2018 — My Year In Review

🏠 New House = New Lifestyle The starting of the my 2018 year wasn’t an ideal one. It was rather exhausting one. We recently (November 2017) moved to a new house, so it was a tough time to adjust to the new neighborhood, make new friends, memorize new travel plans and routes etc. On top of it, we had these huge loans and debts to repay to all the people who helped us in our tough time with purchasing our dream house. (We love you all ❤️ and will always be grateful to you 😊️). We were on track of clearing debts month by month and sacrificing almost everything such as the pizzas, movies, shopping etc. Told you this was exhausting time. And then January passed and come 1st February. This exhausting starting became a “disaster starting”. I got fired from my newly joined job out of blue. Why? Because my employer was crazy. Or because I was stupid enough to join that company in the first place. Or because I was tired of fighting negative energy and dirty politics at my previous job. Or because I wanted to switch the job faster. The employer couldn’t achieve the projects they bid for and I was hired early. Way too early. And now I was a useless resource on payroll for them. So, they asked me nicely to go home and cleared all my dues. So, does asking nicely to go home without any prior notice counts as nice? I don’t think so. To That Employer: It was not nice. It wasn’t even close to the nice. You shattered my life in an already tough time. I won’t be able to forget that horrible day and that humiliation you caused. At least you could have asked for an apology. Maybe that could have given me some relief. I spent two months in that toxic workplace and it made me a lot depressed already. I was living like a dead man walking. I had already started looking for new job, but I wasn’t ready to leave before I get any new job to keep the income steady. In order to appreciate the life and good things, you must experience the bad or even worse things first. The only good thing in that company was a very good friend who gave me hope, positive energy, made my day laughable, spent good time, and gave best memories.

https://medium.com/hackernoon/reflections-on-2018-my-year-in-review-e88f45ee4211

['Wajahat Karim']

2019-03-03 20:32:30.753000+00:00

['Wajahat Karim', 'Reflections', 'Open Source', 'Year In Review', 'Android']

Lobster Legs

I think of this everyday A moving poem about a skirt And how I think it is lovely So deep it feels foreign Filled with two legs that look like a lobster Not some lobsters I may think are good for dinner But two straight up that could be read about in a book And these two make me frown As I see them be a book about an apple Being eaten by a moose But stop. This two legs smell like a coctail That numb my cock Making all my limbs uniform Not too hard, not too sensible As I just lay being a wet noodle

https://medium.com/literally-literary/lobster-legs-c6eb66eb51a6

['Sebastián González De León']

2017-05-03 18:23:21.503000+00:00

['Lobster', 'Sex', 'Poetry', 'Erotica', 'Literally Literary']

How to mine ETH profitably if the memory capacity of your cards is 3GB or 4GB

According to the Hive OS statistics, ETH is the most popular coin — at the moment, 67% of users choose it. Why? Everything is explained by the high and steadily growing cost of ETH (for a long time it was about $200, but now it has almost doubled), and the market capacity (the number of coins generated per day). Considering all these factors, ETH mining is beneficial for both the owners of large mining farms and “home” miners. However, it is no longer possible to mine ETH on 3GB video cards. The reason is the constantly growing DAG-file, which is required for mining coins on the Ethash algorithm. It is loaded into the memory of the video card, and if its size exceeds its capabilities or the specified size of memory, it becomes impossible to mine the coin. 4GB cards are also at risk. However, do not hurry up to get rid of them! It’s still possible to mine ETH with these cards, and we’ll tell you how! Solution for the cards with 3GB memory capacity It is no longer possible to mine ETH directly on cards with 3GB memory — the DAG-file is too large for them. But you can do the following: start mining another coin, and then sell what you mined in exchange for ETH. To make it easier for you, we’ve created the list of advantages and disadvantages of some coins that are still suitable for mining on cards with 3GB memory. Bitcoin Gold (BTG) Advantages: This coin has no DAG-file. This means that on cards with a memory capacity of up to 3GB, it can be mined as long as the coin remains profitable; Sometimes the coin is on the list of the most profitable cryptocurrencies; A lot of trading platforms support BTG. Disadvantages: The project is rarely updated on Github; The coin is associated with a number of major scandals — trading platforms suffered losses due to this and removed it from the list of supported coins. How to mine: using Gminer, Bminer, or miniZ. Algorithm: Zhash (other names: Equihash 144/5, Equihash-BTG). Expanse (EXP) Advantages: Sometimes the coin is very profitable. Disadvantages: The coin project on Github is rarely updated, which raises doubts about its relevance; Low trading volume; You can sell this coin only on Bittrex. How to mine: using Ethminer, PhoenixMiner, TeamRedMiner, or Claymore. Algorithm: Ethash. Metaverse (ETP) Advantages: The coin is supported by a lot of trading platforms; High trading volume; ETP is under active work on Github. Disadvantages: The cost of a coin fluctuates a lot — before starting mining, we recommend you to check the rate. How to mine: using Ethminer, PhoenixMiner, TeamRedMiner or Claymore. Algorithm: Ethash. QuarkChain (QKC) Advantages: High trading volume; The coin is supported by a lot of trading platforms; The coin project is actively updated on Github; QKC is often more profitable than many other coins. Disadvantages: The capitalization of the project is still relatively small, there are only two pools, and this raises doubts. How to mine: using PhoenixMiner, TeamRedMiner or Claymore. Algorithm: Ethash. RavenCoin (RVN) Advantages: The coin periodically appears in the top coins in terms of profitability; The coin is supported by many trading platforms; Fairly high profitability. Disadvantages: Heavy load on video cards; High power consumption (devices may overheat); The complexity of the miner setup. How to mine: using KawpowMiner, Gminer, T-Rex, TeamRedMiner or NBMiner. Algorithm: Kawpow. Callisto (CLO) Advantages: The coin is quite active on Github; Fairly high trading volume. Disadvantages: The coin is accepted by a small number of trading platforms; In terms of market capitalization, the coin is “falling” — very slowly, but steadily. How to mine: using Ethminer, PhoenixMiner, TeamRedMiner or Claymore. Algorithm: Ethash. Beam (BEAM) Advantages: There is no DAG-file; Large trading volume; High developer activity. Disadvantages: The stability of mining depends on the optimization of the miner; Mining efficiency is lower than on cards with 6GB of memory or more. How to mine: using miniZ or lolMiner. Algorithm: BeamHashIII. ZelCash (ZEL) Advantages: There is no DAG-file; Relatively large trading volume; Large selection of pools. Disadvantages: The coin network is relatively small, which can lead to a drop in profitability even in case of a small “influx” of miners. How to mine: using miniZ, lolMiner or Gminer. Algorithm: ZelHash. Haven Protocol (XHV) Advantages: There is no DAG-file; Quite good trading volume; Consumption is lower than on Ethash; A good alternative for AMD cards. Disadvantages: Not always the best choice in terms of profitability for Nvidia cards. How to mine: using XMRig, CryptoDredge, or TeamRedMiner. Algorithm: Cryptonight Haven. Super Zero (SERO) Advantages: Good choice of trading platforms; The price of the coin periodically increases; The coin is mined well on Nvidia cards. Disadvantages: The coin is mainly supported by Chinese trading platforms and pools. How to mine: using NBMiner, Gminer, TTminer or SeroMiner. Algorithm: ProgPoW. Zano (ZANO) Advantages: The price of the coin periodically increases; The coin is mined well on Nvidia cards. Disadvantages: Trading is concentrated on Stex; High centralization on one pool (>90%). How to mine: using NBMiner, Gminer or TTminer. Algorithm: ProgPowZ. SnowGem (XSG) Advantages: There is no DAG-file; The price of the coin periodically increases. Disadvantages: Trading is concentrated on Stex; The coin network is small, which can lead to a sharp drop in profitability even in case of a small “influx” of miners. How to mine: using miniZ, Gminer, Bminer or lolMiner. Algorithm: Zhash (Equihash 144/5). Nimiq (NIM) Advantages: There is no DAG-file; Good trading volume on the KuCoin trading platform; The profitability is sometimes comparable with Ethereum. Disadvantages: A short perspective for mining due to the expected transition of the coin to PoS this fall; High centralization on the Icemining pool; The commission of pools and miners’ devfee can be up to 4–5% in total. How to mine: using NoncerPro-CUDA, nq-miner, CryptoDredge, SushiMiner, or TeamRedMiner. Algorithm: Argon2d. Solution for the cards with 4GB memory capacity The solution described above for 3GB cards is also suitable for 4GB cards. That is, you can simply switch to another coin with a suitable DAG-file size and sell it in exchange for ETH. But there is also another solution that is applicable in case you use PhoenixMiner. The thing is that this miner has a -rvram parameter that determines the amount of memory that cannot be used for mining. By default, the size is 128MB for Linux and 384MB for Windows. By disabling this memory separation, you can get additional space for mining ETH. To do this, open the miner .bat file, find the -rvram parameter and set the value to 1. As a result, the parameter should look like this: -rvram 1. In the case of TeamRedMiner, everything is even easier — you won’t have to configure it further. With it, you can still mine ETH (and even ETC for a while) on cards with 4GB of memory. Why is it profitable to mine ETH on the Hiveon pool? It is better to mine ETH on the Hiveon pool, and here is why: The payout model is PPS+ (you will get paid for each valid share, which will make your income more stable); The pool fee is 0%; You won’t have to pay for transactions — we do this for you; Pool servers are located in North America, Asia, Europe, and Russia — this guarantees the efficiency of mining; On the Hiveon pool you can mine both ETH and ETC; Paid users of the Hive OS management and monitoring system can pay for it using the commission for mining ETH or ETC on the Hiveon pool. The commission is 3%, but if you have more than 50 devices, you will get a discount. As you can see, 3GB and 4GB cards can still be useful for mining ETH, so don’t rush to throw them away. Instead, mine other coins and sell them, or try allocating more memory for mining ETH.

https://medium.com/hiveon/how-to-mine-eth-profitably-if-the-memory-capacity-of-your-cards-is-3gb-or-4gb-a64dda185bf4

['Liliia Nik']

2020-08-06 10:10:44.575000+00:00

['Hiveos', 'Ethereum Mining', 'Eth', 'Mining', 'Ethereum']

Do you love yourself?

Do you love yourself? It’s a question I have had in the back of my mind for some time It was also a question that was asked of me recently If I’m being completely honest… The answer is no. This photo right here, triggered a lot of emotion deep inside me It was an accidental pic… One of those random pics you take while fiddling with your phone The minute I saw it I closed it down I couldn’t look at it. In that moment it came up, all I could see was my father Right at the point he became really sick. Mentally. Physically… For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be different from him. I wanted to be everything he was not Even my mother used to say to me ‘you’re just like your Dad’ Which used to really frustrate me! It used to make me angry To the point that anger would manifest itself in tense muscles… Raised heartbeat, churning gut And holding onto that anger, that frustration, those powerful emotions Brought me closer to being just like him Much closer… So then I decided I needed to keep this picture as a reminder A reminder of what happens when you don’t look after the big things in life Your physical health Your mental health Your emotional health Your spiritual health By taking on so much You spread yourself thin… Really thin You lack the ability to see yourself slipping into a deeper hole each day Like fatigue, it’s insidious… Until you are shown the warning signs of something more serious on the horizon Constant niggles and injuries in the body Lingering and intrusive thoughts preventing your ability to focus and be present… Relationships turning stale… Feeling low on connection with the people closest to your heart These are all signs of something more insidious looming around the corner See here’s the thing… What you put out into the universe… You receive back Everything you put out has a frequency. It’s been measured and quantified It’s very real… You can have everything you want But It starts with the inner work. Firstly acknowledging where you are now And where you want to be You don’t have to sacrifice your relationships to be ‘successful’ What ever that looks like for you. You don’t have to break your body Or your mind to have the health you want The world has this illusion that in order to be ‘successful’ and to have it ALL There has to be this sacrifice. This trade off. Bullshit! It isn’t so. I’ve been looking outside for external validation. The vast majority of us do You don’t need it. The real work is inside you. Start there Once you do, you will begin too see that prioritising these 4 key things in life Will give you the life you truly desire But.. You have to be open too it. You have to open your heart Opening up again and sharing your true self is fucking hard Especially if you’ve been closed off for a while. I have been… I’ve withdrawn myself. I’ve shit myself off Admitting this is confronting, but it’s also the way forward If you’ve had this lingering feeling… If this resonates with you in any way I’m grateful If it forces you to peel away the layers in your life and take an objective view to within I am grateful… Start there. And if this is something you know and love needs to hear Share it with them. Pull them out of that dark place before shit starts really going south for them… Their physical health Their mental health Their emotional health Their spiritual health Lee

https://medium.com/@lee_jones_fraser/do-you-love-yourself-b62579118c7

['Lee Jones-Fraser']

2019-12-02 06:21:52.117000+00:00

['Parenthood', 'Fatherhood', 'Mental Health', 'Coaching', 'Entrepreneurship']

Cách mua token giáo dục (LEDU)

Education Ecosystem is a decentralized ecosystem for learning about technologies and trying them out hands-on using free practical project examples. Follow

https://medium.com/ledu-tokens/c%C3%A1ch-mua-token-gi%C3%A1o-d%E1%BB%A5c-ledu-8ce30fdc81da

['Education Ecosystem']

2018-07-29 17:37:18.510000+00:00

['Bitcoin', 'Exchange', 'Blockchain', 'Vietnamese', 'Ethereum']

Choose Your Email Marketing Technology Carefully

Practical Business Choose Your Email Marketing Technology Carefully Once you know who your audience is, fully understand your reason for being, and know-how the products and services you recommend benefit your ideal customer, then you can work on choosing the right email marketing technology that will work for you today and into the future as your business grows. This is a topic near and dear to my heart since … well I am in the middle of using a few. Don’t be me — seriously. I started with Mailchimp as it easily integrated with ClickFunnels and WordPress. Signed up for some program that required ActiveCampaign. Then ClickFunnels had Actionetics. Then Kajabi had an email service too. Ugh. So, I ended up with a hot a$$ mess. Again, do be me. So what did I learn from all this? To choose the right technology, ask yourself the following questions: Does the Solution Fit My Budget? It’s hard to budget until you explore the various offerings regarding email autoresponder and email marketing technology. However, when you set your budget, understand that this is an investment in your business and an important one. As they say, “the money is in the list,” and with a 38 to 42 dollar return for every dollar you spend, this is not a joke. Set a reasonable budget but realize that this is going to be one of your biggest income earners too. Mailchimp has a nice free version — but if you want to use the automated sequences, you need to pay. Don’t just see free and think there isn’t a long-term cost. What Reputation Does the Software Have with Users and Others? Always check the standing of the software company before using it. Just because it exists doesn’t make it useful. It’s also best to choose a well-loved software that’s been around for a while to avoid having to deal with bugs and issues. If many people in your industry and niche use it, it’s probably a good choice. For example, I have heard that Infusionsoft is really hard to use and it more from when you have a really established company as well as someone to help you technically. I also have used Actionetics by ClickFunnels and it isn’t exactly nailing it. So, do a little homework. What Is the Deliverability Rate Advertised? The email marketing provider you choose is vital because it’s a trusted system by your customer’s email providers. If they cannot get your emails or they all go to spam folders, you won’t get very far. Consider how nearly all of your *gmail goes into spam. That is what we are talking about here. I personally like that I can see right from ActiveCampaign my deliverability rate. I can also see who opened it and who clicked through. I cannot see that in many of the others. Can I Integrate the Software with My Current Technology? If you already have a website and other technology that is important for your business, can this technology be used with what you already have? It’s important to understand what it works with so that you can get the most from the solution. I even talked about this in the introduction. I love that Mailchimp easily connects to everything. ActiveCampaign can be a bit jerkish with ClickFunnels. If you are not a really technical person, it matters a ton what you decide to use. Does the Software Allow for Audience Segmentation? This criterion is something you cannot get by without. You need to be able to automatically segment your audience based on when they sign up, what they sign up for, or where they sign up for your list. This is also called different things and done in different ways within the various technologies. If you want to send some things to new subscribers and others to those that didn’t purchase or did purchase — this will matter to you. Can I Set Up Automation Based on Subscriber Behavior? In addition to segmentation based on what the customer downloaded or consumed; you should also segment your subscribers based on their behaviors. For example, did you send a survey to your email list? The people who answered should be segmented from those who didn’t. Are the Terms of Service Compatible with My Business Model? I realize the terms of service are probably long, but you need to know if it’s within the rules to use this software the way you intend to use it. For example, if you recommend any products you did not create via a unique coded affiliate link, some providers don’t allow it. It would suck to do all that work, build a responsive list, and then get kicked off the platform. Will This Choice Grow with My Business? You may not need all the features of the technology when you first get started but trust me, you’ll need many of the features later as your business grows. You want to choose the best system you can base on the ultimate goal of your business growth, not where you are now, because switching systems isn’t as easy as you may think, and you’ll lose list members in the process. Can I Figure Out How to Use It? The final issue is, can you figure out how to use it enough to use it now? You can hire an expert in the product to run it for you, but it’s always a good idea to understand it a little bit. The trials can help you determine if you can figure it out enough to get started. Don’t be afraid to try a few low-cost or free trails but keep in mind that they can be limited until you get the full version. Using free versions for business is not recommended, no matter how long they let you do it. Invest in your business, and others will be willing to invest in you.

https://medium.com/practical-business/choose-your-email-marketing-technology-carefully-438cee1f5249

['Jackie Schwabe', 'Mba']

2020-12-06 22:15:12.592000+00:00

['Small Business', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Email Marketing', 'Entrepreneur', 'Email Marketing Tips']

Bootstrap-Vue ile Vue.js Form Validation

not much, yet.

https://medium.com/@oldner/bootstrap-vue-ile-vue-js-form-validation-91f708f6f3a8

['Haktan Sefa Pasin']

2020-12-14 19:30:12.387000+00:00

['Bootstrap Vue', 'Vuejs', 'Türkçe', 'Form Validation']

My first house

Actually my house. It ain’t flash but it’s real. I grew up in Sydney Australia the city of sun, beaches and great weather. I took these for granted until I moved to grey cold London. But alas it was home where I first discovered I liked monopoly. In board game form and reality. I bought my first house with my ex-BF. I had no savings as I had been travelling the world and volunteering in Africa. He had a lot though. The house was $380k in a suburb called Auburn. It’s not a nice beach suburb but rather it was filled with ethnics and the occasional soap bombs at the train station. I’m an ethnic too so I’m allowed to say this (ha ha). We took out an 80% loan and paid a 20% deposit. Well he did and it took me over a year to pay him back my share. We also spent just over 10k for the renovations. The house was a mess but we weren’t going to live in it so…whatever! So basically in the summer of 2010, I owned a property after a few months of hard work searching, buying, financing and renovations and I owed $38k to my then BF. Obviously not everyone has a BF to help with a down payment of $38k. So clearly we need to address the way to help you do this. The first step to to not walk away from that number. The number seems large but let’s break it down. Firstly you don’t have to take a 80% loan. You can take 90%. The additional 10% would equal to about extra $150/month in repayments. Very manageable. So you’d still need $38k for a 10% deposit. An average salary in Australia is $55k approximately but if you’re a millennial like me and went to university and have a job I would say you should be at least on $65k – $100k if you have a professional job. Let work on the lower end and say you earn $70k. After tax your take home pay would be around $2500. If you already live at home then I suspect you already have the deposit in savings. If not you probably have a shit load of life experience – drugs sex rock and roll. If you don’t live at home then after rental and expenses you really don’t have much room to save $38k. Here is where you would normally give up. But imagine you hadn’t? Imagine you went and asked 7 family members for a $5k loan each? Imagine you paired up with siblings to buy this house? Imagine you phoned your overseas uncles for help? Imagine you sold the idea to your best friend to buy together? The options are endless. Think about when you were young and just wanted a tamagotchi or the newest yo-yo. Yeahh gen Y you know that’s you. Those brain yo-yos were the shit. Did you negotiate with the rents? Did you offer to do more chores? Surely you didn’t just take no for an answer? It’s about how much you want it. I also didn’t have this 38k but what did I do to get it to pay back the ex BF? I did the following: Asos wasn’t popular yet in Australia. I bought nice dresses on sale and using discount codes and sold them 3x the price on eBay Australia. Cheap chinese fashion sites were also not very popular so again I did the above. I had a $66k salary but minus super and “benefits” it really was $57k. Just an average Jane here. But I sent him 500–1000/month anyway. Some months my car insurance came in or whatnot but I consistently did (1) and (2) everyday. After a year I was debt free to the then BF and we had a house that paid itself off consistently. Said house in 2015 has now doubled in value and I’ve now bought out the ex-BF’s share thereby increasing the cost base but I also increased the rent since 5 years ago and it’s still paying itself off! No effort for a house?! SURE ILL HAVE ONE! Now you’ll say (1) and (2) were doable back in 2010 now it’s not! Well that’s true but as new things come in, we just need to adapt and learn. It’s a dog eat dog world innit. It wasn’t like I was a lucky dog pouncing on a rare opportunity. In 2010 you could find many properties for that price in the suburbs of Sydney. And just like 2010, 2016 will have similar but different opportunities. We just have to look! I started with a past tale as an example but I hope to share more of the present. More things we can do NOW. Here is a numerical representation of all costs in detail :) it’s not IMPOSSIBLE! Let’s end with a summary of 3 possible actions to take to get your first house! Analyse your life for “hustle” opportunities: friends, parents, siblings, best friends — anyone want to buy together? What are you good at? Can you make saleable things? Can you provide services for a fee? Can we reorganise your budget so that you can save extra $300/month. I can help you — send me a msg! Figure out what you’d like to learn to invest in. Equity? Property? High interest savings? There’s no one size fits all. I may write about property but that’s because I like it. What do you like? If you like it, you’d more likely learn it properly and thus, invest your money more effectively. Make a plan/checklist/goal — be specific e.g. Own 2 properties by 2018, have a portfolio of x amount value by 2018. Make them S.M.A.R.T. Then list down steps to achieve them. Write down where everything can go wrong and plans to overcome these issues. These 3 steps could even take you a year — don’t be impatient but don’t lose momentum either. KEEP CRACKING, READING, SEARCHING, AND PLANNING! W

https://medium.com/@wenbun/my-first-house-b6731299f220

[]

2017-01-23 23:05:35.030000+00:00

['Money', 'Real Estate', 'Real Estate Investments']

Pandemic & Parenting: The Story NOT Being Told About COVID-19

’Tis The Season To Be Fatherless. While you’re enjoying the holidays with your children, please don’t forget the dads who’ve been locked out due to the pandemic Sitting on his porch on Father’s Day 2020, tears welled up in David Earley’s eyes with the sight of every passing car. He knew that he would not be spending the day with his two boys– or probably not any day, anytime soon — and the thought of it all was heavy and crushing. All he could do, was sit there, heartbroken, sad and dreaming of a time when he could see their faces again in-person. The ongoing pandemic was fairly fresh at the time and his Ex-Wife had made it clear that she did not feel it was safe for the children to see him in-person. He was hopeful that the situation would improve with time. It has not. Fast forward five months later and this holiday season his predicament is not any better. For him, and legions of other dads across the country, it will mark yet another missed opportunity to make special memories with their children during what has been one of the most trying times in our nation’s history. While headlines like, “The Upside of Covid-19: Kids Spend More Time with Their Fathers” and “Dads Closer to Kids Due to Covid-19” suggest that the ongoing pandemic — now eight months and counting — is helping fathers build better relationships with their children, the story about how this pandemic has been adversely affecting many fathers has been largely left untold. In spite of standing orders around the country during the pandemic that all custody and parenting time should be honored and continue as ordered by local courts, an effort aimed at ensuring non-custodial parents, mainly fathers, would not lose any time with their children amid it is not happening. Many custodial parents simply aren’t honoring that, some on the grounds that they don’t believe it is safe for their children to spend time in-person with their dads. And nobody, including the very authorities charged with helping noncustodial parents, mostly dads, is stepping in to help. As a result tens of thousands of children have been left virtually fatherless during this unprecedented time. Some may ask, why not just go back to court to file a contempt and get a resolution? The answer, is that the courts are backed up and have been for quite some time since the initial pandemic shutdowns. So, by the time a court hearing can happen, for many the gifts will have already been given and the holidays will be over, leaving a lot of sad dads to bear the brunt of tough times. As the Founder & CEO of the Fatherless Generation Foundation Inc. (TFGF), a one-stop shop reunification service, I get the phone calls and hear the silent cries that have been all but ignored by many. Still, even I feel helpless. Since 2015, I have reunited 3,307 biological fathers with 8,267 children while providing fathers with resources and services that help strengthen, support and elevate their commitment to fatherhood and family values; but even my well-oiled machine can’t overcome the damage that this pandemic has done to an already long-flawed and broken system, that often leaves fathers who seek custody or regular visitation at a huge disadvantage. The fact of the matter is, that no matter the race or socio-economic background, many men are struggling now to access their children for verbally agreed upon and court ordered parenting time because an ex-partner has deemed them unworthy or simply decides to alienate them, often in retaliation. And COVID-19, unfortunately, is providing some with the perfect excuse to deny access and unfortunately, the children are the one truly paying the highest price. The pandemic has exposed many weaknesses in our society — from health and wealth disparities to shortcomings in our nation’s healthcare system, and I think our nation’s judicial system should be added to that list. Fathers with no history of abuse, neglect or anything that would put a child in danger, deserve the right to spend time with and bond with their children and COVID-19 should not change that. Grownups need to be, well, grown, and work out a plan that ensures that children are kept saft and also get some in-person time with their dads. Sadly, the 2020 holiday season won’t provide that chance for far too many. So, as you’re enjoying this holiday season with your family, especially your kids, please don’t forget about the “childless fathers” out there, left with nothing more than a hope for a better 2021. The pandemic may have opened the door to fatherhood for some, but it has also slammed the door in the face of so many others.

https://medium.com/@drtorrij/pandemic-parenting-the-story-not-being-told-about-covid-19-608ed580855d

['Torri J. Evans-Barton']

2020-12-25 09:58:02.727000+00:00

['Covid 19', 'Parental Alienation', 'Fatherless', 'Parenting', 'Fatherhood']

A Closer Look Into the RED Platform Ecosystem — How It All Functions

An ecosystem is usually defined as a large community of living organisms existing in a particular area. The living and physical components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. The RED Platform functions in a similar way. Only with electricity. Here’s a closer look! The RED Platform — The Vision is Being Fulfilled The RED Platform is a blockchain-based, decentralized energy trading software. Users are able to participate in peer-to-peer energy trading and operate transactions between consumers and energy producers. In order to incentivize the usage of renewable energy sources, individuals that buy renewable energy are awarded Green Certificates that can be sold for profit, also highlighting them as green energy users, interested in sustainability. The Ecosystem’s Components Work For Its Users The system behind it all is made of three key components that work together to bring you the energy democracy we envisioned at the start: the MegaWatt Tokens (MWAT), the RED Platform, and the RED Franchise. Our RED ecosystem allows users to send and receive energy worldwide using the MWAT. The tokenized energy traded on the RED Platform can be physically delivered at local rates in countries with deregulated markets where Restart Energy is directly present or through one of our franchises. The RED MWAT tokens are ERC20 utility tokens that give access to the RED Platform (RED-P) software and to the RED Franchise (RED-F). All the activity is measured by a real-time WiFi meter meant to record all the incoming and outgoing energy consumption and producing at the system level. Access to the platform is granted if the user already has MWAT in their RED account. Large-size producers, including the ones that operate green energy (solar, wind, hydro, biomass), prosumers and small producers are selling energy into the system and receiving MWAT from the buyers, also members of the platform. The KWh received by the consumers is then tokenized and added to the user’s corresponding electronic wallet, storing their digital revenue for later use. The RED Franchise is the first power retail franchise that makes it simple and easy to start and operate your own power utility company. If someone offered you the possibility of buying a McDonald’s franchise, would you refuse? Let us tell you more about how you can easily become a micro-entrepreneur in the renewable energy sector, be a responsible prosumer while spending time with the ones you love. Introducing the RED Retail Energy Franchise! The RED Platform’s plan has three pillars through which we aim to build a global energy power supply platform: using blockchain technology, developing a peer-to-peer network and empowering the built of independent franchises, making way to the rise of the prosumer, and a world in which we all strive towards a more sustainable energy production and consumption pattern. Waste-based consumption hasn’t always been the case. The tactics that derive from this vision deal with being able to further develop the RED Platform and expand globally. Also, we need to change the energy retail business model, by introducing the concept of the prosumer, incentivizing local entrepreneurs to start and grow their own small businesses, transactioning energy and being able to be compensated for their operations. By building the platform on the blockchain infrastructure, we help any registered user buy or sell from any other registered user, as well as encouraging the built of renewable energy stations, those acting like power generators that fuel digital society we live in, from households to corporations and technology start-up initiatives. We strategized the transformation to happen on the blockchain. We imagined an e-business model that has transparency and safety at its core, incentivizing each user to be an active part of the community by rewarding renewable energy consumption with green energy certificates, therefore bringing change closer with each individual.

https://blog.restartenergy.io/a-closer-look-into-the-red-platform-ecosystem-how-it-all-functions-71d47289608d

['Restart Energy']

2019-11-21 07:44:22.510000+00:00

['Green Energy', 'Franchise', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Blockchain', 'Blockchain Technology']

Improve Intimate Relationship — The Scientific Research You Need to Know

3. How does love evolve with time? Like many other things, love evolves with time. In 1970, Murstein published the Stimulus-Value-Role (SVR)[3] theory on the intimate relationship development where he divided it into three stages. In the early stage, visual and physical stimulus carry significant weight. For example, appearance plays a big role to attract both sides. During this period both parties are in a state of excitement, passion and novelty. After the initial phase, the halo effect disappears. This is where often the real conflict begins to emerge. Value system becomes the leading factor to determine whether couples can get through the bonding period and successfully enter a long-term relationship. When you start to discuss with your partner who washes the dishes and who scrubs the floor, you have probably entered the final stage. Congratulation! In this stage, often along with commitment, the role compatibility has a significant influence in everyday life. Both sides need to find a mutually beneficial and sustainable way to collaborate and tackle everyday challenges. Is “Marriage the tomb of love”? Once you have understood the different development stages, the right question to ask is which stage I am in and how to counter-balance the weight factors?

https://medium.com/@flora-yang/improve-intimacy-relationship-the-scientific-research-you-need-to-know-9e0fc4e4ae26

[]

2020-12-23 19:46:25.728000+00:00

['Relationships', 'Love', 'Research', 'Intimacy', 'Coaching']

Cure.fit — A holistic approach to fitness.

Cure.fit — A holistic approach to fitness. These quarantine days showed me the status updates of my friends regarding their achievements as top performers for fitness routines. Initially, I ignored it, but then when I realized even after 2 months, they are still happily sharing their achievements, and that’s when it hit me that some of my friends have become a part of a fitness ecosystem known as the Cure.fit community! Cure.fit is the brainchild of well-known names of the Indian startup ecosystem — Mukesh Bansal (founder of Myntra) and Ankit Nagori (Ex-CBO of Flipkart). Founded in 2016 at a small building at Koramangala, Bangalore, Cure.fit had an amazing growth trajectory that is still continuing. In 2016, Cure.fit was able to generate $15 million in funding from Kalaari, ID, and Accel. As of April 2020, Cure.fit was valued at a whopping $732 million. Where it begins… Mr. Mukesh Bansal being a fitness enthusiast came across the Bangalore based startup Cult which had a unique value proposition of a no-machine workout model. Upon seeing that he instantly identified the potential it had, to scale up globally. Mr. Bansal saw the vision of expanding the idea of verticals like a healthy diet, medication, etc, Journey… In 2016, Cure.fit got the majority of Cult shares by investing $3 million. They have also acquired the online food tech company Kristy Kitchen, Opinio — a B2B logistics startup and the fitness club The Tribe. By aggregating all the above platforms and adding new ventures, they introduced a horizontal business model via four verticals of Cure.fit Cult.fit | Mind.fit | Eat.fit | Care.fit It is a mix of Gym, food delivery, fitness studios, yoga centers, and health clinics. It is going after as many as 16 different “markets” all at once and thus needs to have $$ in cash reserves in the bank. All 4 verticals need very different strategies as a business. By merging the essential healthy lifestyle needs like gym, meditation, healthy diet, and medicines Cure.fit has created a subscription-based hybrid (both offline and online) brand. It does look like a movement, with its slick marketing and multiple celebrity endorsements like Hrithik Roshan’s, who is a perfect role model for the fitness industry. A home run from the brand’s marketing team Cure.Fit is going after the “$100 Bn health & fitness market“, which is indeed large. All the verticles that Cure.Fit is targetting is fragmented and disorganized. We can see the Cure.Fit has a very traditional approach to solving this market. The verticals in themselves are large and fragmented which requires a separate focus on each sector. The same will hold true for Cure.Fit, and it has taken a largely inorganic approach to enter each of these verticals. Cult.fit offers physical wellness programs like Zumba, weight lifting, yoga, etc, at their wellness centers. Care.fit provide access to trained health care professionals and online consultation. Eat.fit provides curated diet options for health-conscious individuals. And Mind.fit offers mental wellness programs. They have also ventured into a new vertical Whole.fit, a grocery delivery platform, and clothing and accessories brand CULTSPORT. Recently they have acquired Rejoov, a cold-pressed juice brand. These acquisitions are proof that Cure.fit is on a journey to conquer the world of fitness. Being tech-driven is one of the major peculiarities of Cure.fit. They have created dashboards that will integrate the information of different verticals like Eat.fit and Cult.fit to give better insights to customers. The dashboard is capable of being a coach to you and offers timely advice and recommendations on your daily routines. This paves the way for better customer satisfaction and loyalty to the offerings. Also, they have used technology in various aspects like logistics and operations management. Being tech-driven has helped them to stay alive in operations even during the COVID-19 crisis. Future. Cure.fit was also forced to join the bandwagon of COVID-19 impact as their business model chain of Cult.fit centers were extremely affected. Cure.fit had to lay off employees during this crisis. But going digital is the future of the fitness industry and Cure.fit being the tech-driven company it is, it’s going to be a fairly easy road for them to adapt to digital offerings. Also by doing so, they can not only reduce the fixed cost associated with Cult.fit but also eliminate the geographical constraint of the current model. Cure.Fit says it wants to become a one-stop healthcare platform. It might just as well is a healthcare data company. All this marketing, and these various verticals, is to acquire highly lucrative and valuable customer health data. This data can help healthcare service providers to target the right customers with the right products and improve the experience like Google or Facebook. It is indeed a question of whether that the horizontal model they following with different verticals may get affected by over focussing on digital offerings or not. Cult.fit was their primary medium for customer acquisitions for other verticals. So, a strategy which will retain both online and offline (hybrid) model seems to be the way out for them to the path of further success.

https://medium.com/@kr.louhit/cure-fit-a-holistic-approach-to-fitness-15d272a8fc3b

['Kumar Louhit']

2021-07-05 22:11:26.696000+00:00

['Cultfit', 'Fitness', 'Analysis', 'Entrepreneurship', 'Startups']

How to be a better programmer

If you have never ever coded before or you’re not that good enough to write a program but you are much interested in learning and growing your skills then go ahead and learn! Make sure you take this advice before taking the step No to Codephobia : Mostly people have fear in them when they see a block of code they get scared and so as their level of interest decreases. So, you must not fear it rather than getting scared of it you should take more interest in it and learn with fun, take your time and try to understand it and once you did it then try to make it more short and functional. : Mostly people have fear in them when they see a block of code they get scared and so as their level of interest decreases. So, you must not fear it rather than getting scared of it you should take more interest in it and learn with fun, take your time and try to understand it and once you did it then try to make it more short and functional. Start with the Basics : Make sure you build your foundation first and try to master the basics as it all started from there. : Make sure you build your foundation first and try to master the basics as it all started from there. Build projects as you learn: It’s always a good step to build projects as you learn and to use those concepts in your projects on the go. Last but not least Try to upgrade your existing projects first instead of going for a new one (Once you mastered the required skills). You can always start a new project but instead of building a new one from the scratch you can always use your existing project and modify it because It will help you learn how to maintain existing software or project. By following it you can develop yourself. Once you develop yourself then it won’t be hard for you to become a good programmer. Regards Anas Bin Sohail @thebinsohail

https://medium.com/@anasbinsohail/how-to-be-a-better-programmer-ee8a896b1e4

['Anas Bin Sohail']

2020-12-26 20:48:12.813000+00:00

['Developer Stories', 'Students', 'Coding', 'Advice', 'Programming']

Happy Anniversary to me

About this time last year I was being wheeled into surgery. A surgery I wish I was brave enough to do years earlier. I had a sleeve gastrectomy. For those of you not sure what that is, it’s the permanent removal of about 75% of my stomach, a highly effective weight loss surgery. My only regret is not doing it decades ago. I’ve struggled with healthy weight management my whole adult life. I love food, love cooking and feeding people. Planning a dinner party, prepping all the food then watching everyone enjoy my food has always filled my heart with joy. And anyone that knows me also knows I love a drink too 😊 None of these things have changed, I still enjoy food — just tiny portions. I still enjoy a drink, just not quite as many as I used to. I was on a slew of medications for reflux, high blood pressure, chronic pain from osteo arthritis in my knees and many more. I was pre-diabetic and insulin resistant. I couldn’t walk the 400m to my bus stop without so much pain I would be holding back tears. My knees used to pop and crack so loudly when moving that people 10 metres away would cringe. Don’t even get me started on going clothes shopping. A year later, I know I could have lost more weight had I not let lockdown boredom (read baking and drinking) get the better of me but I’m still so proud of how far I’ve come and my attitude towards food, and my health in general. I’m enjoying exercise again, can move without so much pain, am off all the meds and don’t break into sweats at the thought of going clothes shopping. For years I battled a voice in my head that told me surgery was a cop out, the easy way, the cheats way to lose excess weight. Boy oh boy was I wrong. I had to learn to listen to my teeny tiny tummy and not overeat, if I did then it would come straight back out without warning. This caused a fair amount of anxiety about eating away from home! I also had to learn that I can’t drink and eat at the same time, after 47 years of having drinks with meals, I still don’t get this right all the time. I was subjected to other people blatantly judging me, purely based on my size. Feeling ‘too much’ is as bad as feeling ‘not enough’. Both are painful, shameful and basically shit. Guess what, I’m ‘just right’ — a bit like goldilocks finding the right bed 😊 I’m so much more than the number on the scales, or the size on my clothing labels. I’ve always known that, but….. seeing the way people looked at me, hearing people talk about me or having people be outright disgustingly rude to me, it does hurt, it does take its toll. I wanted to be invisible, I didn’t want to be seen, or the centre of attention. Even well meaning unsolicited weight loss advice used to make me feel like shit. I hated having my photo taken, hated catching sight of reflection. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate what I saw when I looked in the mirror, deliberately looked, like when getting ready to leave the house. It was the accidental glimpses that I wasn’t prepared for that shocked and shamed me. The one thing other peoples attitudes and bias towards me purely based on my size has taught me, is to be kind, don’t judge others. From lived experiences, especially painful ones comes growth, understanding and empathy. Having workmates offer to drive me home well out of their way despite me being only a few bus stops away from work, having my niece or grandson want to help me get up ONE step, feeling puffed walking anywhere, getting over heated just from normal movement. These things all built up, like a massive weight, adding to my physical weight. I was tired ALL the time, I never felt well rested. I needed to have surgery for my physical health, I was a very high risk for stroke. It finally got to the point I needed to deal with my bias about weight loss surgery and do what was necessary for me to live longer. To spend more time with my amazing husband, doing more overseas adventures (once possible and safe to do so obviously!). Playing with (or chasing) my very cheeky active grandson. Being a willing participant in life. I also needed to work on my attitude towards my body and relationship with food/alcohol. I did the work, it started about year prior to surgery. It was at times, very difficult and upsetting to untangle and understand my relationship with food and with myself. It was enlightening and exciting too. I know for sure, had I not done the pre-work, I absolutely would have struggled so much more mentally post-surgery. I feel really well, grateful that I had the option to do surgery, lucky that I didn’t develop diabetes, thankful that my physical and mental health are significantly better. I no longer want to fade into the background, no longer get anxious about being too big to fit, no longer unable to participate in physical activity, no longer dread going clothes shopping. I’m not done yet, and will continue to work on making better health choices, work on making my body stronger and enjoy life to its fullest. 2020 hasn’t been all bad, I’ve gained morning walks with the best man I know, we talk more. I miss my whanau back home something terrible, but at least we’re all safe and relatively healthy. I’m proud of me and cant wait to see what 2021 holds.

https://medium.com/@mellyfromwelly/happy-anniversary-to-me-c26750a852fd

['Mel Kramer']

2020-12-19 07:21:29.263000+00:00

['Surgery', 'Healthy Lifestyle', 'Weight Loss', 'Bias']

Managing Customer Relationships with CRM

Managing Customer Relationships with CRM Photo by MayoFi on Unsplash Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool to help us track our interactions with customers to understand their needs better? And manage ongoing relationships with our customers as well as customer leads. It is cheaper to retain customers than it is to attract and convert new ones. Meaning we’re more profitable! This blog explores Customer Relationship Management — explaining how it works and its benefits of using CRM.

https://medium.com/strategy-marketing-branding/improve-customer-retention-and-increase-sales-with-customer-relationship-management-crm-f0011aee5057

['Daniel Hopper']

2021-03-15 19:51:31.368000+00:00

['Digital Marketing', 'Strategy', 'Business', 'Marketing', 'Customer Service']

How to Estimate Salary with Linear Regression

Linear Regression 1. Loading data Firstly, we will use the Python Pandas library to read our CSV data. Line 1–6: Import all the required libraries. Line 8: Use the Pandas read_csv function to read the CSV file. This function will return the data in a dataframe format. Image Prepared by the Author Line 9–10: Extract the column of YearsExperience and Salary and assign them to the variables X and y, respectively. 2. Splitting data into a training set and a test set Prior to building a linear model, we need to prepare a training set and a test set (part of standard procedure in a machine learning workflow). The training set will be used to train the model whereas the test set will be used to assess the performance of the trained model in predicting the result from unseen data. We can use the Python scikit-learn train_test_split function to randomly split our data into a training and test set. Line 1: Set apart 30% of the entire dataset as the test set and assign the training set and test set into four variables, respectively. 3. Data Transformation Python scikit-learn only accepts the training and test data in a 2-dimensional array format. We have to perform data transformation on our training set and test set. Line 1–2: Use Numpy reshape function to transform the training set from 1-dimensional series to a 2-dimensional array. Line 3–4: Use Numpy reshape function to transform the test set from 1-dimensional series to a 2-dimensional array. 4. Training Model Now we are ready to train our linear model. Line 1: Use the Scikit-Learn LinearRegression function to create a model object. Line 2: Fit the training set to the model. 5. Predicting Salary using Linear Model At this stage, we have trained a linear model and we first use it to predict the salary on our training set to see how well it fit on the data. Line 1: Use the linear model to predict the salary based on the training set. Line 3–10: Use the Matplotlib to create a plot to visualize the predicted results. The “true values” are plotted as the blue dots on the chart and the predicted values are plotted as a black color straight line. Image Prepared by the Author In general, the linear model fits well on the training data. This shows a linear relationship between the salary and years of experience. Now, we need to check if the linear model can perform well on our test set (unknown data). Line 1: Use the linear model to predict the salary based on the test set. Line 3–10: Use the Matplotlib to create a plot to visualize the predicted results. The “true values” are plotted as the green dots on the chart and the predicted values are plotted as a black color straight line. Image Prepared by the Author The graph shows that our linear model can fit quite well on the test set. We can observe a linear pattern of how the amount of salary is increased by the years of experience. 6. Model Evaluation The previous section uses a graphical approach to evaluate the performance of our linear model which can sometimes be quite subjective in our judgment. Here we will use some quantitative methods to obtain a more precise performance evaluation of our linear model. We will use three types of quantitative metrics: Mean Square Error — The average of the squares of the difference between the true values and the predicted values. The lower the difference the better the performance of the model. This is a common metric used for regression analysis. — The average of the squares of the difference between the true values and the predicted values. The lower the difference the better the performance of the model. This is a common metric used for regression analysis. Explained Variance Score — A measurement to examine how well a model can handle the variation of values in the dataset. A score of 1.0 is the perfect score. — A measurement to examine how well a model can handle the variation of values in the dataset. A score of 1.0 is the perfect score. R2 Score — A measurement to examine how well our model can predict values based on the test set (unknown samples). The perfect score is 1.0. Line 1–3: Use the Scikit-learn Metrics functionalities to calculate the mean square error, explained variance, and R2 score for our linear model. We feed the functions with the true values (test set) and the predicted values. Image Prepared by the Author If we perform a root square calculation on our mean squared error, we will gain an average discrepancy of around $6146.92 which is quite a low error. Besides, the explain variance score and the R2 score hit 0.9 above. This shows our linear model is not overfitted and can work nicely to predict the salary based on new data.

https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-estimate-salary-with-linear-regression-6e5511db28f6

['Bee Guan Teo']

2021-09-09 14:38:24.395000+00:00

['Getting Started', 'Programming', 'Data Science', 'Statistics', 'Python']

Paul Pierce to launch ‘Truth’ marijuana brand in Massachusetts

Ex-Celtic opens up about using cannabis to cope with trauma of 2000 stabbing The truth may or may not set you free, but if Paul Pierce has his way, it will at least get you high. The Celtic great and NBA champion told the Globe Monday he’s launching a line of recreational marijuana products in Massachusetts under the “Truth” brand, in partnership with marijuana operator The Hub Craft. The deal will see Pierce’s Shaq-bestowed nickname appear on various edibles, concentrates, and cannabis lotions by the end of the year, with a signature strain of marijuana flower hitting local dispensary shelves in 2022. “I have such a great connection with Boston,” Pierce said in an interview, “so I’m excited to bring the brand there first and educate people on the plant — how it can help in everyday life and also in sports and recovery.” The announcement comes after ESPN (owned by family-oriented Disney) fired Pierce in April for live-streaming himself smoking what appeared to be marijuana, with exotic dancers twerking in the background. Afterward, he alluded on Twitter to “big things coming soon,” and later teased the Truth cannabis venture by posting a short video of himself in a room full of cannabis plants, adding to the media frenzy around his departure from the network. Get This Week in Weed in your inbox Witness the birth of the marijuana industry in Massachusetts and catch up on national pot headlines every Saturday. Lost in the tabloid noise, Pierce said, is the truth about his relationship with cannabis: The drug helped save his career in the aftermath of a vicious stabbing at a Boston nightclub in September 2000, which nearly took his life and has shadowed him psychologically for years. Pierce made a remarkably quick physical recovery from the assault, emerging from New England Medical Center just days later and assuring fans he couldn’t wait to get back on the court. “I’d just like to tell everybody I feel good,” he told the media at the time, wearing sunglasses over the scars left by a shattered bottle. He did not feel good. While Pierce willed his way to an impressive individual season, playing all 82 games on a middling Celtics squad, the attack left him paranoid, anxious, depressed, and maybe most of all, sleepless. He rarely socialized and avoided crowds, never quite feeling safe, he said. A police detail sat outside his home 24/7. Meanwhile, basketball elders and other critics publicly insinuated that Pierce had somehow invited the attack, chiding his lifestyle. Pharmaceuticals prescribed by team doctors at the time didn’t work, were addictive, or put too heavy a load on his body, Pierce said, echoing the complaints of many people treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. “Athletes don’t even know what’s in these pills. The league doctors just say, ‘Take this, take that, here’s a prescription,’ ” Pierce said. “We get addicted to that stuff. It’s so harmful for your body. You don’t realize your liver and all your other organs are taking a pounding.” Despite the league’s drug-testing policy at the time — the NBA stopped testing players for THC metabolites last year — Pierce turned to marijuana, which he had smoked occasionally since high school because it allowed him to sleep peacefully and wake up without feeling drugged. “I was dealing with a lot of depression and anxiety and sleep issues — a lot,” he said. “So I really leaned more on cannabis. But it was difficult, man.” “You really couldn’t do it while you were playing during the season because of the tests, but there were times I couldn’t even help it — I took an edible or smoked a joint just to get some sleep, and had to deal with the consequences. It was really bad for me early on,” he added. Pierce said during his career, he would also consume regularly during summers when league-mandated testing paused. That’s easier to admit now, amid the spread of legalization laws and the increasing willingness of sports leagues to embrace the medical potential of marijuana. “It’s a blessing that the world is finally catching up,” he said. “They don’t know what us athletes go through — our bodies and our mental state of mind.” The Hub Craft, which has licensed cannabis growing and processing facilities in Fitchburg and Holyoke and has also signed deals with Whoopi Goldberg and Gary Payton, says it is in the process of developing an all-natural lineup of Truth products in close consultation with Pierce. Far from being a rookie in the reefer business, the ex-Celtic has for years quietly co-owned a marijuana cultivation and processing business in California dubbed Western Green Mamba, which makes “white-label” cannabis products for retailers. (A separate 2019 attempt to launch a line of Truth CBD vapes appears to have fizzled.) “We don’t just want a picture of an athlete on the box,” said Shivani Dallas, the company’s chief strategy officer. “We want substance behind what we’re doing.” Beth Waterfall, a Boston-based cannabis marketing and events consultant, said celebrity deals in the sector work best when the star in question has a genuine connection to marijuana. “When it’s Seth Rogan or Snoop Dogg, you buy it, you believe they’re putting forward a product they’d enjoy themselves or serve to their friends,” Waterfall said. “It’s authentic, and those are the types of arrangements that will be more enduring.” Pierce likely passes that sniff test, Waterfall said. But he’ll still have to produce a quality product, she warned, and his brand may have more staying power in Massachusetts than elsewhere, especially as more former athletes join the burgeoning cannabis business. “Retailers only have so much shelf space,” she said. “If the message of every athlete-backed product is the same — ‘It helped me after workouts or recover from an injury’ — at some point the market will get oversaturated.”

https://medium.com/@jonathan44young/paul-pierce-to-launch-truth-marijuana-brand-in-massachusetts-4c5cdc0e6daf

['Jonathan Young']

2021-06-16 01:16:38.213000+00:00

['Hemp Oil', 'Thc Cartridges', 'Hemp', 'Marijuana', 'Cannabis']

What Is Rotoscope Animation in 2021?

Animated movies are everyone’s favourite from 5 to 70, from Toy Story to Lion King, each has a delightful story to tell and bond to make with the audiences. While we enjoy the final visual delight did you know there are more than one ways to animate a movie? As leading videography experts our team has crowned rotoscoping as the most innovative way of creating animated videos in 2021!. Now that we have got you wondering what Rotoscoping is all about, let’s talk about it. What is Rotoscoping? Decades ago when animated movies took its birth in this world, audiences were not sure or comfortable with this format. Cartoons running, walking and talking was like living in another world. They were very curious to find out what was behind these animated figures. This is where rotoscoping came in. It is a graphic asset for animated and live action projects. First introduced by Animator Max Fliescher in the year 1915, while he was trying to make the process of animation simple he discovered tracing live footage would be the best way to do. He believed that drawing first hand was a time consuming process whereas tracing is much faster. This gave birth to the first rotoscoped cartoon character “Koko the Clown”. The cartoons were immediately popular. A reviewer for the New York Times wrote in 1919, “After a deluge of pen-and-ink ‘comedies’ in which figures move with mechanical jerks with little or no wit to guide them, it is a treat to watch the smooth action of Mr. Fleischer’s figure” The still at the head of this article features legendary band leader and singer Cab Calloway performing “Minnie the Moocher” in 1932. You can see the animation here At the start you see footage of Calloway’s idiosyncratic act, and then at various times like 1:52 or 2:25 you’ll see a walrus creature whose movement has been rotoscoped or traced from Calloway’s performance. The Evolution As technology evolved, movies did too and it was time for an upgrade for rotoscoping too. Unearthing the history our experts share, ‘In the 90’s due to technology intervention the process called interpolated rotoscoping was introduced’ Wondering what it is? Well it is a technique that allows you to use rotoscoping technique with a computer. Later this technique became popular by the name rotoshop. This software lets the user to trace figures and applies the basic forms to other movements. What do you achieve through rotoscopy ? Today with the techniques of rotoscoping is used to create a mask around the object that needs to be removed or added to another moving frame by using articulated rotoscoping. We human beings are programmed to notice movement. It’s an important quality for designers who help the audience to notice and connect with their work. But how can you incorporate motion in a way that enhances your art and doesn’t take advanced animation skills? With the right tools, you can create gif’s animation in just a few steps. Why is it important? Imagine tracing a shape around an object captured live frame, cutting it and then pasting in another to make the changes you desire to make. By doing this moviemakers create silhouettes they can use to extract the purpose from a scene for use on unique backgrounds. This has allowed a lot of improvement in visual effect in any process of recording using motion. With technology advancement all this manual process was replaced with rotoscoping after effects. These involve automated techniques and features from softwares like motion tracking, Roto and VFX. Rotoscoping animation aftereffects is the best way to get started in motion design. It lets you incorporate movements quickly without knowing all the principles of animation. Find out your movies that have used rotoscoping to give life to your favourite characters by reading more https://evolutionco.com/blog Know More About Us: https://www.evolutionco.com/ Follow Us on: Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube Dribble Twitter

https://medium.com/@evolutionco/what-is-rotoscope-animation-in-2021-11d3fbf5d3f7

[]

2021-03-04 06:40:06.330000+00:00

['Illustration Design', 'Graphic Design', 'Design Service', 'Vfx']

Dynamic Data Masks: Protect sensitive data with Snowflake (superhero edition)

What we want here is dynamic masks. With dynamic masks, we can define policies in one place and Snowflake will make sure that people in your company can share tables and queries, but they will only see what they’re allowed to see, depending on their role. So I wrote this policy in SQL that only allows people with the lawyer role to see the full name. Meanwhile people with the customer service role only see the first name — and no one else will be able to see the legal name of our customers: Let’s try it out with a SELECT * : I get some data, and if I change my role, the same SELECT * gives me different results. It’s the same table. It’s the same query. My role determines what I see. Even better, these masks are applied at query time. They even work with external tables that might live in your Data Lake. And it’s that simple because Snowflake cares about your data and the privacy of your customers. And this is just a start. We will go deeper in the near future but in the meantime, check below the full SQL script to reproduce these results. Script For dynamic masks to work, you need to use Snowflake’s Enterprise edition or higher: use role sysadmin; // Let's assume this database and a warehouse exists, otherwise create them. use masks_db; // Quick creation of base data create or replace table customers as select $1[0]::string hero_name, $1[1]::string birth_name, replace($1[2], ',')::int fame, $1[3]::string birth_place from ( select split(x.value, '|') from table(split_to_table('Batman|Bruce Wayne|104,302|Gotham City Iron Man|Tony Stark|64,098|Manhattan Wolverine|James Howlett|43,482|Alberta Black Widow|Natasha Romanoff|42,453|Volgograd Catwoman|Selina Kyle|40,763|Gotham City Magneto|Max Eisenhardt|35,691|Dusseldorf Doctor Manhattan|Jonathan Osterman|30,225|Heidelberg Kitty Pryde|Katherine Anne Pryde|28,226|Deerfield Spawn|Albert Francis Simmons|28,080|Detroit Daredevil|Matthew Michael Murdock|27,574|New York City Martian Manhunter|J\’onn J\‘onzz|27,547|Mars Luke Cage|Carl Lucas|24,799|New York City Storm|Ororo Munroe|24,221|New York City Wolfsbane|Rahne Sinclair|23,413|Ullapool Colossus|Пётр Николаевич Распутин|22,823|Siberia Legion|David Charles Haller|22,769|Haifa Tim Drake|Timothy Jackson Drake|21,957|Gotham City Sunspot|Roberto da Costa|21,872|Rio de Janeiro Elasti-Girl|Rita Farr|20,650| Polaris|Lorna Dane|20,532|San Francisco Zatanna|Zatanna Zatara|19,782|Gotham City Emma Frost|Emma Grace Frost|19,427|Boston Cable|Nathan Christopher Charles Summers|18,894|Westchester County Nightcrawler|Kurt Wagner|18,886|Bavaria Spider-Woman|Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy|18,375|Forest Hills Cyclops|Scott Summers|18,344|Anchorage Psylocke|Elizabeth Braddock|18,168|Maldon', ' ')) x ) ; // securityadmin can create roles use role securityadmin; create role marketing; create role cust_service; create role lawyer; // our user 'felipe' will be able to use these roles grant role marketing to user felipe; grant role cust_service to user felipe; grant role lawyer to user felipe; // create a role that we'll use for common permissions create role masks_demo_role; grant role masks_demo_role to role marketing; grant role masks_demo_role to role cust_service; grant role masks_demo_role to role lawyer; // back to sysadmin, to grant permissions to tables and create policies use role sysadmin; grant usage on database masks_db to masks_demo_role; grant usage on schema masks_db.public to masks_demo_role; grant select on table masks_db.public.customers to masks_demo_role; // creating and applying "empty" policies, making it easier to modify later create or replace masking policy mask_hero as (val string) returns string -> val; create or replace masking policy mask_name as (val string) returns string -> val; create or replace masking policy mask_fame as (val int) returns int -> val; alter table customers modify column hero_name set masking policy mask_hero; alter table customers modify column birth_name set masking policy mask_name; alter table customers modify column fame set masking policy mask_fame; // these are the real policy implementations, we can play here with their code alter masking policy mask_hero set body -> case when current_role() in ('MARKETING', 'SYSADMIN') then val else '' end; alter masking policy mask_name set body -> case when current_role() in ('LAWYER', 'SYSADMIN') then val when current_role() in ('CUST_SERVICE') then regexp_substr(val, '[^ ]*') else '' end; alter masking policy mask_fame set body -> case when current_role() in ('MARKETING', 'SYSADMIN') then val when current_role() in ('CUST_SERVICE') then pow(10, round(log(10, val)))::int else -1 end; // use role marketing; use role cust_service; use role lawyer; // try the different roles and see what results they get// https://i.imgur.com/q1jGMZe.gif use role marketing;use role cust_service;use role lawyer; select * from customers; // introspection: what policies were created and applied use role sysadmin; describe table customers; show masking policies; Next steps How JetBlue Secures and Protects Data Using dbt and Snowflake Want more? I’m Felipe Hoffa, Data Cloud Advocate for Snowflake. Thanks for joining me on this adventure. You can follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn, and check reddit.com/r/snowflake for the most interesting Snowflake news.

https://medium.com/snowflake/dynamic-data-masks-protect-sensitive-data-with-snowflake-superhero-edition-20a00773f951

['Felipe Hoffa']

2021-05-05 15:26:14.130000+00:00

['Compliance', 'Privacy Protection', 'Sql', 'Snowflake', 'Data Science']

Using Mentors to Close Leadership Gaps

Using Mentors to Close Leadership Gaps Mentors serve a different purpose from leaders. People who mentor aspiring leaders often guide mentees to discover new unknown strengths. Research shows mentors benefit from mentoring as much as mentees. Even though 76% of working professionals believe a mentor is important to growth, more than 54% do not have such a relationship. What do you learn when working with a mentor? In many cases, there are many untold stories and experiences no leadership program offers. Global leaders often share lessons learned from leadership experiences. There are other lessons they don’t share that result from mentor or mentee experience. This is what McKinsey refers to as intentional learning. “Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Why Great Leaders Benefit from Being Both Mentors and Mentees Studies show, people with mentors perform better, advance in their careers faster, and even experience more work-life satisfaction. Being a mentor requires slightly different abilities from some leaders, yet leaders who want to guide and contribute to the growth of aspiring leaders, make great mentors. I recently interviewed Greg Wade, who shared stories from over 10 years of mentoring experience. Early in our conversation I asked Greg, “What makes a great mentor? He said, “Mentors want mentees to tap into something bigger for themselves — an opportunity to be a great leader.” Next, I asked Greg to share details about his first experience as a mentee at AT&T. “I had the good fortune of engaging with an individual (at AT&T Canada) who provided me with guidance and challenged me. That experience taught me so much that when I became a Global Leader at BlackBerry, I was compelled to “pay it forward” to people who aspire to have a similar kind of experience.” — Greg Wade Greg was fortunate to be a mentee while working as a senior manager at AT&T in Canada. At the time, Bill Catucci was brought in as the CEO in 1996. The company was losing a $1 million a day and had undergone a massive restructuring. Catucci’s expertise working on the Malcom Baldridge Awards and process management made him uniquely qualified for this specific role. Bill balanced his commitment to process with a recognized need to establish an openness and connection with the employee base. Catucci was not a formal mentor to Greg, though his strength as a leader resulted in many teachable moments. Greg’s Story About Being a Mentee at AT&T Bill brought amazing leadership and communication skills to the table. On the occasions when I had the opportunity to interact with Bill, he had the ability to listen, absorb and communicate in a way that made me feel important, even as a senior manager. The opportunity to observe Bill in action made a long-lasting impact. It was especially important to witness Bill’s ability to take action swiftly yet wisely. Cynthia Young who I reported to at the time, was also an informal mentor and a member of the executive team. She taught me about the importance of understanding the differences between strategy and tactics. What made this experience memorable, were values she instilled around the importance of equal opportunity for women and men. Photo by Christina Morillo from Pexels “Paying it Forward”-Becoming a Mentor to Aspiring Leaders Fast forward to 2009 when Greg became a Global Leader at a leading technology company. This was Greg’s opportunity to use everything he learned as a mentee. “I was given the keys to the car” , said Greg. After assembling a strong and diverse team of leaders responsible for 200 people, Greg felt pulled to mentor aspiring leaders. For the past 10 years, Greg allocated a portion of his time to mentoring aspiring leaders from companies such as UPS, Mattel, Twitter, OpenTable and dozens of others. The Future of Mentoring in Organizations When Greg and I talked about the future of mentoring and leadership, he emphasized the importance of mentoring as a core competency organizations need to develop. Here are 5 habits leaders interested in becoming a mentor should develop: · Encourage aspiring leaders to surround themselves with individuals who possess complimentary skills. · Exercise empathy while encouraging aspiring leaders to learn from experiences and through the listening process. · Continuously develop a leader’s ability to challenge, to question, and then the ability to provide an opinion or perspective. · Keep reminding leaders the importance of recognizing decisions need to be made based on an informed position with a broad base of inputs and perspectives. · Recognize you can actually have an impact many organizations and people, and the economy, if you look at leadership through a broader lens. How to Seek a Mentor My interview with Greg concluded by asking him to offer advice to aspiring leaders seeking a mentor. Here are three: 1. Develop the courage to admit you don’t have all the answers. 2. Acknowledge the value of experts in particular areas who challenge and help you grow as an individual leader. 3. Seek the input and the insights and perspective of others who may be more senior or more experienced. Considerations and Questions for Future Mentees: At some point in your career, you reach a point in a company where you’re unclear how you fit in. This is when you should start asking yourself, “What’s my purpose? Why am I doing this?” Here’s my challenge to you. Ask yourself, “What improvements would I like to see in my ability to lead? Where in my organization can I isolate an opportunity to apply MORE of my leadership? Learning by doing seems like an obvious action, but it’s easier said than done. When you identify an opportunity, keep in mind, practicing and failure often go hand-in-hand. You’re bound to make mistakes. So, make sure the opportunities you identify for practice won’t be catastrophic if you fail. This is when you should seek out a mentor. Mentors are distinct from leaders — they may even be unsung heroes. Identify someone with enough expertise and real-world experience who wants to help you achieve your individual objectives. When you find someone, be forthright about what you want to achieve. Find someone who will provide a safe space with no judgement. Someone who demonstrates they have humility and empathy. Someone who knows how to “connect the dots” and look out for the roadblocks and red flags. Thank you to @Greg Wade for generously sharing your insights and stories.

https://medium.com/@lynn-2933/using-mentors-to-close-leadership-gaps-393f973a9f7e

['Lynn Miller-Learning', 'Content Marketing Writer']

2020-12-24 15:38:34.514000+00:00

['Leadership', 'Mentorship', 'Mentoring']

Harmony OS and International Relations Theory

Harmony OS and International Relations Theory Following the disastrous first half of the 20th Century it was recognised in the Western countries that international relations needed to be put on a more stable long-term footing to avoid a future war that could be truly catastrophic. Thus, international relations became the subject of serious study and practice in the West. Some of the principles were: (i) Internationally recognised borders are given and cannot be altered outside of a legal framework — essentially the UN (ii) Countries sign protocols and agreements and observe the rule of law (iii) Countries avoid inflicting material damage on each other and acknowledge legal equality (iv) Trade is beneficial for economic growth and also encourages interdependence (v) Interdependent economies have mutual self-interests which encourages them to mediate disputes (vi) Trade is good because it promotes higher productivity and allows development costs to be amortised over a larger sales base If we look at US relations with China since the 1970’s it could be remarked that the US and its allies spend several decades after the reestablishment of diplomatic relations in integrating China into this system — Pax Americana. However, under the Trump Administration there has been a departure from the principles of normal diplomatic relations which could in the future lead to conflict: (a) Unilateral sanctions outside of a legal framework (b) Singling out individual companies for sanctions (c) Use of the international financial plumbing to exert coercive influence (d) Use of undiplomatic language regarding the Corona Virus It was inevitable that China and the US would have differences of opinions and the US is right to be concerned about the bilateral trade deficit. However, in my view the deficit is caused mostly by the US’ enormous health sector which devours everything in its path and prevents many middle class families from saving. The lack of saving leads to lack of investment and hence the deficit. Some of the measures enacted by the Trump administration run frankly counter to their own interests if they had taken the trouble to think them through such as is the case with Harmony OS. Huawei was, inter alia, blocked from using Google’s Android operating system on grounds that can be described as trying to kill off a rival, which is counter to normal trading practices. This has forced Huawei to develop its own operating system, Harmony OS, which is now ready and will soon be rolled out. Unlike Windows Phone where apps had to be developed from scratch most Android apps will work on Harmony OS though they may need to be tweaked. In addition, Harmony has the advantage of the world’s largest market in China so it is extremely unlikely that this will go the way of Windows Phone OS. In fact, it is likely that down the road there will be a Harmony version of Chrome OS for laptops. Thus, for the first time in the computer era there will be a major operating system not controlled by the US. This all stems from Trump’s ban. The US administration has also been imposing bans on sales to China by companies which use their inputs such as in making microprocessors. Given that China is and will remain the largest production centre for many technology products the US is giving these companies a strong reason not to source from them. This looks like going the same way as Android and Harmony OS; after a period of disruption China will have found a workaround. The US cannot own China’s foreign policy, nor cannot it impose its laws extraterritorially like in the Meng/Huawei case. The Trump Administration’s attempts to use the dollar’s dominant role in international transactions to force other countries to follow its policies is without precedent in the post-war system. Were this policy to be continued under the Biden administration it would almost certainly lead to China setting up a parallel payments system — the monetary equivalent of Harmony OS. China does not appear to have any interest in following the US role in financial markets with huge flows passing in and out every day. However, for the Yuan to be used in international trade all it requires is confidence in its value (ie that it won’t be subject to runaway inflation) and that it will always be convertible so users are not left holding Yuan they don’t need. These criteria can easily be met without following the US route of open financial markets.

https://medium.com/@pauldixon-xyz/harmony-os-and-international-relations-theory-695a43bba646

['Paul Dixon']

2020-12-23 14:31:51.117000+00:00

['International Relations', 'Harmony Os', 'Economics', 'Yuan', 'China']

If George Orwell Could Critique Broadcast News

If George Orwell Could Critique Broadcast News Photo: NurPhoto/Corbis via Getty Images I teach writing to graduate students. For about half the semester, I have to train them to unlearn every habit they’ve acquired in other classes. Jargon. Pretentious phrasing meant to show they “do theory.” Insider codes. Abstract flights of unmoored words traipsing around in the post-structuralist heavens, winking and kissing each other, making everyone on the ground feel stupid. For the past 20 years, Ralph Keyes’ The Courage to Write has been one of my indispensable guides. Keyes helps readers understand that much of what they thought was sophisticated scholarly prose actually generates “verbal fog” — the use of jargon and other forms of “higher obfuscation” — to obscure rather than clarify thought. I have my students bring in a previously written piece, cross out all the foggy items, and try to replace them with ordinary English. Most are shocked to discover that once they declutter their writing, they often have no idea what they meant to say. It’s a depressing but necessary exercise for which they are ultimately grateful. Once they’ve cleared away the fog, they can ask themselves what they are truly interested in writing about — and, in many cases, they rediscover why they wanted to write in the first place. That motivation often gets lost in the process of so-called professional training. Another great guide is George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language,” written in 1948 but more applicable today than ever. In fact, I find it so piercingly true that even though I’ve taught the piece for decades, I still fall in love with it every time. Expressing ideas precisely is hard. 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https://test.activesilicon.com/wah/video-maritimu-v-belenensesh-v-yt2-1usf-13.php http://mid.actiup.com/fjl/v-ideos-cracovia-v-lechia-gdansk-v-pl-pl-1nty-2.php http://amik.closa.com/vux/v-ideos-metz-v-lens-v-fr-fr-1xok-5.php http://mileno.provecracing.com/xat/v-ideos-OFI-Crete-Aris-Thessaloniki-v-gr-gr-1odo-13.php https://test.activesilicon.com/wah/v-ideos-maritimu-v-belenensesh-v-yt2-1zbj-14.php http://mid.actiup.com/fjl/v-ideos-cracovia-v-lechia-gdansk-v-pl-pl-1nve-6.php http://great.gruposio.es/mfo/videos-Al-Sareeh-Al-Faisaly-v-en-gb-1rgv-6.php What we should be doing instead, according to Orwell, is “letting the meaning choose the word, and not the other way around.” He goes on, with a phrase that gives me chills every time, “In prose, the worst thing you can do with words is surrender to them.” I’m pretty sure that unless you’ve read “Politics and the English Language,” this is the first time you’ve encountered the idea of surrendering to words. That’s part of why it’s so great. It catches us by surprise, unexpectedly putting together the emotionally charged idea of surrender with that quotidian little noun word. But Orwell gives us more. Surrendering to words means “throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you — even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent — and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself.” The verbal fog of acadamese is a species of surrender to words, but not the only one. Political writing, Orwell argues (in fact, it’s his main target), suffers from a similarly stale, imprecise, essentially clubby embrace of prefabricated phrases, repetitious metaphors that have been bludgeoned to death, pretentious verbal tics, and other enemies of clarity and communication. “As soon as certain topics are raised,” Orwell writes, “no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house.” Orwell wasn’t thinking of broadcast punditry when he wrote these words, of course, but political pamphlets, articles, manifestos, and speeches. Television was in an experimental stage in 1948, and for many years after played a tiny 30-minute role as a conveyer of news. Today the talking heads never shut up—even when there is little actual news to report or when they have already reported it 10 times—and prefabricated construction is the norm. After I heard MSNBC’s Kristen Welker use the word robust four times in a two-minute report, I decided to turn my annoyance into a game. I asked my Facebook and Twitter friends which words and phrases they would most like to see purged from the media’s vocabulary. I wasn’t surprised that each was an example of one of Orwell’s top enemies of thought. 1. Dying Metaphors “Worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.” “Baggage” “Getting out over one’s skis” (very popular at the moment) “Speaking truth to power” (especially when said about someone who is in a position of power) “Rockstar” (when applied to a politician) “Teachable moment” “Horse race” (when applied to contest for political office) “At the end of the day” “Unpack” “Our better angels” Some of these all-too-familiar turns were once vibrant. “Unpack,” for example, used to be exclusive to the vocabulary of analytic philosophers. When journalists picked this up, it evoked a visual image that had some life, suggesting that ideas were like suitcases, stuffed full of various items to be sorted rather than singular in nature. “Our better angels” was evocative and lovely when President Barack Obama quoted Abraham Lincoln, and (unlike the Gettysburg Address) Lincoln’s inaugural address was new to many people. (“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”) And “speaking truth to power” was both passionate and precise as the title of Anita Hill’s memoir. Today, however, all these phrases are as common as punctuation marks. During the Great Swindle of the 2016 election, broadcast news went all post-modern on us, and “narrative” and “optics” became standard pundit vocabulary. More disturbing than the simply overused phrases are those that influence how listeners organize their perceptions. When a politician is anointed a “rock star,” for example, it immediately casts a certain sheen over him (I’ve yet to hear “rock star” applied to a woman) and immediately makes viewers want to come to the party. Political rock stars are as much, if not more, the creation of the media as any groundswell, yet pundits continually describe such stardom as though they are reporting a natural phenomenon. Another example: Describing a political contest as a “horse race” confers a kind of equality to the contestants, even if one is a thoroughbred and the other a show pony. It also creates a sense of breathless anticipation. Who is gaining? Who is falling behind? Are they neck and neck? All of this makes position in the polls seem far more important than, say, policy differences. 2. Verbal False Limbs Basically, padding that adds nothing to a sentence except excess syllables. “Quite frankly” (rarely used to indicate that a particularly frank or candid statement is coming; reporters have become addicted to peppering their sentences with this) “The fact of the matter” “With all due respect” “It remains to be seen” “Look” or “So” (as the first word of the answer to a question, serving no purpose other than to create the illusion of dialogue) 3. Pretentious Diction The examples Orwell gives are drawn from science, history, Greek, Latin, and foreign phrases. His essay preceded the importing of academic jargon into mainstream journalism. Our pundits are younger, and many have apparently minored in philosophy or literary criticism. The following — rarely true to their original meaning, but retaining their air of theoretical or political cool — have crept into prime-time broadcasting. “Deconstruct” (often used interchangeably with “unpack,” which comes from an entirely different tradition in philosophy) “Narrative” (more about this in a bit) “Optics” (also more in a bit) “Epistemological” (actually, this one probably belongs more under the “verbal false limbs” category, as there is rarely a reason to use it outside of a discussion about knowledge — a topic that is hard to make as ratings-friendly as the word itself) “Existential” (always used to mean “threatening the very continued existence of,” which is about as far from what Sartre, Camus, Beauvoir, or any other original existentialist practitioner of the term meant) “Othering” or “Otherness” (when someone like Chris Hayes uses it, it’s more a badge of lefty honor than the useful concept that it is — and it comes from Simone DeBeauvoir, not any post-post theorist) “Resonates” “Problematic” 4. Meaningless Words Orwell is referring to words that are so plastic and have such variable meanings that they wind up with no accepted meaning at all, and are thus used — sometimes deceptively — any way the speaker wants. The most glaring contemporary example I can think of is “establishment,” which “the left” (another phrase that fits the bill) still throws around with passion. But it’s not just the left that is guilty. Bernie Sanders may have originally tossed the grenade, but commentators and anchors from left, right, and center have passed it from hand to hand casually and recklessly, seemingly unaware that although the word is a dud meaning-wise, it can cause extensive damage as a weapon of political destruction. Its so-called opposite, “progressive,” is among Orwell’s own examples, and pundits now use it (in a contrast with “centrist” or “moderate”) to designate different wings of Democrats. They then distribute politicians with basically similar agendas and ideals under one column or another, creating the illusion of major differences. In 2015 and 2016, they smushed together Trump and Clinton with false equivalences; now they’ve turned Democrats into competing camps by labeling some “progressive” and some “centrist.” Optics are not facts, and reporting on optics with the same urgency and repetitive emphasis as facts… is to create, for listeners or readers, a secondary world of faux realities. A couple of other provocative labels that have no commonly accepted meaning but are powerful shapers of how prospective voters imagine their choices: “insurgent” and “populist.” Orwell calls this kind of self-serving shell game, in which honorific or demonizing labels appear wherever they are placed, a swindle. During the Great Swindle of the 2016 election, broadcast news went all post-modern on us, and “narrative” and “optics” became standard pundit vocabulary. Why were journalists suddenly talking like English professors? I guess it felt fresh and somehow sexy to stop reporting what happened — the old-fashioned point of the news — and begin talking about what academics used to call the construction of reality. This is the study of how things are put together and shaped for various ends; the impact of how they appear and the impressions they create, rather than boring old facts. But optics are not facts, and reporting on optics with the same urgency and repetitive emphasis as facts (as in the hysteria of suspicion raised when Clinton, after nearly fainting during a 9/11 outdoor ceremony, “disappeared” into Chelsea’s apartment without — heaven forbid! — telling the press why) is to create, for listeners or readers, a secondary world of faux realities as vivid and “evidentiary” as what actually took place (Clinton had pneumonia). No, I don’t think the mainstream media is a generator of fake news. But by allowing the journalistic fashions-of-the-moment to displace the rigor of distinctions, precision, and the difference between appearance and fact, mainstream media has softened the ground in which the Trumpian garden of lies could plant itself and flourish. Trump has convinced an awful lot of people that Mueller’s investigation is a “witch hunt” simply by saying the words over and over, as journalists have called out. What they haven’t acknowledged is that repetitively describing Russian interference as “meddling” has arguably shaped people’s understanding by underplaying the seriousness of what happened. Meddling is what an interfering old relative does. The Russians very likely altered the course and outcome of a presidential election. The most destructive examples, however, which I detail in my most recent book and won’t rehash here, come from the lexicon that turned Hillary Clinton’s private email server into the offense of the century and Clinton herself into an untrustworthy, seriously flawed politician at best and a criminal at worst. (Flawed is a word to be purged, particularly from discourse about Hillary Clinton.) 5. Euphemisms and Clichés Orwell doesn’t have a specific category for either of these, but they are clearly part of the surrender to words that is the main topic of his piece, and my Facebook and Twitter friends mentioned them frequently. “Troubling” (surely what’s happening today is worth a little more concern than that) “Give a listen” (sit back in your rocking chair, suck on your corncob pipe, and hear POTUS mangle law, language, and morality) “Hotly contested” (please don’t change the channel; this is exciting stuff) “Highly anticipated” (ibid) “Hopes and prayers” (it was painful, yet I was glad to see the parent of a recent school shooting victim tell the politicians, although not in exactly these words, to shove their hopes and prayers up a bodily orifice and get rid of guns) “Misspoke” (instead of “lied”) “Racially tinged” (instead of “racist”) “Unprecedented” (we know that all bets are off, all rules have been broken, under Trump) And finally, one friend’s candidate for The Great Purge: “Every word out of Chuck Todd’s mouth.” Interested in more deconstruction, unpacking, and unprecedented epistemological analysis of the mainstream media? Check out my book The Destruction of Hillary Clinton: Untangling the Political Forces, Media Culture, and Assault on Fact that Decided the 2016 Election.

https://medium.com/@tsarilelri/if-george-orwell-could-critique-broadcast-news-cdb333c868e8

[]

2020-12-20 02:31:48.647000+00:00

['Babies', 'Coronavirus', 'Health', 'Life', 'Mental Health']

How to Grow and Maintain a Strong Crypto Community

By Nick Saponaro After being a prominent member of several slacks during my crypto adventure, I’ve noticed and picked up a few very useful things along the way that I want to make sure we use for our growing community of fans and contributors here at The Divi Project. Every successful project is backed up by a strong and motivated community. And if the community is not attended to like a herd of sheep, madness will erupt in the blink of an eye. The key to keep a happy and positive community is to make sure they know they’re appreciated and to make them feel special. There are a lot of ways of achieving this, but more on that later. If the community is treated well, they will be the best and cheapest publicity your project can have. They will also come up with ideas you never thought of. Some will even do work. They’ll help code, do testing, and write articles. They will protect your community against FUD and other type of attacks. They will even put your brand on different promotional items and help you spread the good word. And if you’re really doing a good job, they’ll start getting tattoos of your logo! All they really need is a little bit of attention and incentive. The backbone of the community, besides the users themselves, are the community managers. They need to run the different channels like a well-oiled machine 24/7 without exception. Especially around important dates like the ICO launch and such. Different personalities are very important among the managers so you cover a big spectrum of the community’s own characteristics. It’s like how TV shows work. You will enjoy what you’re watching more if you can relate to the characters on the screen. Names and Colors People naturally want to belong to tribes (religions, street gangs, political parties and so on.) Some of the most effective aspects that they have in common are colors and symbols. A glowing example of this is the Stratis community. Old Stratis supporters are members of the Stratis army and most of them have a blue avatar to represent the Stratis colors. They to this day stick together and commit to investments together. Even after it dropped from 460k to 46k they still hold and carry on supporting faithfully. I know this because I’m a part of the army. But really any Stratis enthusiast can call themselves a member. I’m also a part of the metal tribe. Naming the community in this way tightens the group and it catches on very fast. Making the community members feel special is simple. It can be as easy as having the CEO enter the telegram and give a comment a thumbs up. Here is a list of suggestions that’s pretty simple to execute. Custom avatars. Pay a designer to give 20 members free avatars with the same colors of the project. The rest of the users will crave these. Get a tipbot — Comments and efforts can be directly rewarded. Angry FUDsters can become nice pussycats if they get a tip. Members can pay the community designer for their Divi avatar for example. It creates an economy within the community. Schwag — T-shirts -fidget spinners .. stickers .. Anything you can put your logo on really.. Give it away to early investors and important community members. Competitions — For example, we want to make a tutorial video and we will be accepting community suggestions. Suggestions used in the end product gets X amount of Divi and so on. Treat members as equal — You never know what connections somebody has. The community is an asset as important as the tech behind the project. Gamify the community — Give the members a ladder to climb.. Different tiers attached to efforts and time spent in the slacks/telegrams. Have locked channels for different tiers. Meetups — arranged by the community. I have myself travelled to NYC to meet fellow investors and the CEO for Metal. Now I’m hooked for life. Rapid Response — 24/7 Someone from the team is around to represent us and engage with fans. Full Team Engagement — All team members should at least post occasionally or comment. No ghosts. Scheduled Q&A Sessions — Weekly one-hour “Ask Me Anything” with various tech members, the CEO, CTO, etc so the community gets to engage with everyone. Video Mentions — People who contribute a lot could be mentioned by name in our videos to thank them. A happy and supportive community isn’t just good business, it’s really essential for the long term survival of any cryptocurrency. Since cryptos aren’t backed by gold or governments, their value derives mainly from the community that supports it. If enough people like it, buy it, hold it, and say good things about it, the value will hold or rise. Furthermore, cryptos aren’t just about money. For most of us in this space, our coin projects are our life, and having a happy and supportive community makes the whole adventure more fun for everyone.

https://medium.com/diviproject/how-to-grow-and-maintain-a-strong-crypto-community-31b7f3c8e247

['Divi Cryptocurrency']

2017-11-17 03:00:18.292000+00:00

['Token Sale', 'ICO', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Bitcoin', 'Community']

Medical Spa Market Size Worth $33.9 Billion By 2026 | CAGR: 13.8%

The global medical spa market size is expected to reach USD 33.9 billion by 2026 registering a CAGR of 13.8%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing number of aesthetic treatment alternatives is projected to be one of the key growth-driving factors. Moreover, integration of business areas like travel, hospitality, cosmetics, fitness, etc. with wellness tourism, especially in U.S., India, China, and Thailand, is expected to drive the market further. Technological advancements, such as laser systems, have resulted in increased cost of medical spa procedures. For instance, in 2016, the average cost of a laser skin resurfacing procedure increased by around 15%. However, rising disposable income levels will drive the demand for novel procedures. Growing popularity of wellness tourism is anticipated to further expand the market in the forecast period. In 2017, an international wellness tourist spent an average of around USD 1,528 per trip, accounting for 53% more than a typical international tourist. It is estimated that the domestic wellness tourists spend 178% more premium than any other domestic tourist. North America led the global market in 2018 due to technological advancements and increasing number of new entrants in the medical spa industry. To request a sample copy or view summary of this report, click the link below: www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/medical-spa-market Further key findings from the study suggest:

https://medium.com/healthcare-market-research/medical-spa-market-size-worth-33-9-billion-by-2026-cagr-13-8-e8a55707e8ca

['Rajesh Varma']

2020-08-20 11:02:32.347000+00:00

['Medical', 'Medical Devices']

How to Motivate Your Family to be Healthier

YOU should be focused on a sound way of life Before you can urge your relatives to take up a better way of life, you need to focus on one yourself. On the off chance that you’re not after a solid, dynamic way of life, what’s to say your family will follow one since you advise them to? Concede to getting fit as a fiddle, practicing good eating habits, and following a daily schedule, if you are upheld by others. Your relatives will put forth a note of the attempts you’ve made when you converse with them about it, causing it more probable that they’ll to emulate your example. Be chivalrous of the present status of your relatives Perhaps you’ve seen that a portion of your relatives are unfortunate and rusty. Be that as it may, instead of condemning them for their present status, energize them, and show them evidence of exactly how far they can go. You likewise can converse with them concerning why you have decided to lead a sound way of life and how doing so can assist them with welling. By keeping away from analysis, your relatives are more averse to be guarded and closed down your solicitation. continue reading here How to Motivate Your Family to be Healthier (healthifyme02.blogspot.com)

https://medium.com/@aravkumar807/how-to-motivate-your-family-to-be-healthier-ef1c05d4ffec

[]

2021-03-11 10:52:38.482000+00:00

['Healthcare', 'Love', 'Love Yourself', 'Family', 'Moms']

Tips for creating celebrity footprint in the industry

When you are at the executive level of your career, you should strive to create a celebrity status for yourself. Self marketing in your area of expertise can offer you numerous benefits such as: Establishing yourself as an expert in the industry Opening up avenues for your future dream positions- prospective employers contact you Broaden your network Better control on what you work & who you work with Get positive references These points would be meaningful & give you a winning edge when you manage your career keeping these potential benefits in consideration. How do you build that celebrity status? Check out these tips: Build a platform/personal website: It is super important & easy to build a platform where you can write & publish content & blogs in the area of your expertise. WordPress is free & easy to set up. Going one step further, you can build your own website where you can publish your content, white papers & books you have written, consulting projects or any other assignments you have undertaken. Besides you can also publish your blogs & content on LinkedIn pulse. Given that LinkedIn is a professional networking site, it is a perfect place to share news, insights & expertise. You can also subscribe to groups to answer questions asked by various business persons on various topics. This is the perfect way to build your professional brand. Collaborate with high performers in the Industry: Get involved in volunteer groups or industry associations. These are two excellent platforms subscribed by various professionals & executives who care about industry & issues. This will have two fold benefits for you- expanding your network & giving you opportunity to leverage & grow your career. If you attend an industry event or speak series, make sure you introduce yourself after the presentation. Exchange your business cards. These are small things but open up new avenues for future opportunities, networking friendship which will be beneficial in the long run. Augment your knowledge base: When was the last certification you received? Are you currently undergoing a skill based training? I suggest you indulge into 2 to 3 actions/training that help you enhance your skills. Enroll for one training or certification that has been into a knowledge enhancement plan for quite some time now. Besides also check with your current employer’s training & development policy & ongoing benefits if your training can be a sponsored /covered expense. Developing a celebrity footprint doesn’t mean you need to have or develop an ego. It’s a wise business move that opens more avenues. You will be excited to learn how connecting these small dots will make positive changes in your career moves. PS: Originally published on www.thesushantkumar.com

https://medium.com/@sushantkumar-67353/tips-for-creating-celebrity-footprint-in-the-industry-9cc6c9aac9ec

['Sushant Kumar']

2020-06-03 05:23:17.868000+00:00

['LinkedIn', 'Executiveresume', 'C Suite', 'Networking', 'Professionalbrand']

Got Bitcoin? US Fed Warns National Debt Growth Is ‘Not Sustainable’

The head of the United States Federal Reserve has admitted current economic policy is “not sustainable” — but that it is not its job to fix it. Speaking during testimony before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee on Nov. 13, Jerome Powell noted that currently, U.S. national debt is growing faster than nominal GDP. Powell: Solving debt spiral “not up to the Fed” “Ultimately in the long run that’s not a sustainable place to be,” he said. Powell continued: “How to fix that — it’s easy to say that — how do you do that and when do you do that is an issue that is up to you and not to us.” U.S. debt has now topped $23 trillion — around $70,000 per head of the population, or more than $1 million for each Bitcoin that will ever exist. On the night of Nov. 14 alone, the Fed distributed funds to banks worth 12.7 million BTC, while its balance sheet is expanding towards $4 trillion. For Powell, however, resolving the debt crisis simply means making growth beat debt, and even failure to do so would not equal chaos. “I would be remiss in not pointing out that the consequences of not addressing it is just that… our kids and grandkids will be spending their tax dollars servicing debt rather than on the things they really need,” he continued. Trump wants negative interest rates The comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump renewed calls for negative interest rates — effectively charging savers to store fiat currency — and criticized the Fed for not introducing them. “Remember, we are competing with nations who openly cut interest rates so that now many are actually getting paid when they pay off their loan… who ever heard of such a thing? Give me some of that, give me some of that money,” he said in a speech to the Economic Club of New York. Debt-driven economic policy and its consequences were the main motivation behind Bitcoin (BTC), which appeared after the 2008 economic crisis. As hard money with a deflationary supply impossible to manipulate, Bitcoin is increasingly compared to gold as a hedge against the constant erosion in the value of fiat currencies.

https://medium.com/coinegg/got-bitcoin-us-fed-warns-national-debt-growth-is-not-sustainable-6351ffaf7349

['Coinegg Exchange']

2019-11-14 10:41:57.795000+00:00

['Bitcoin', 'Cryptocurrency', 'Altcoins', 'Debt']