BARNSLEY head coach Daniel Stendel believes that his side's mental toughness and strength in adversity is proving the defining characteristic in their League One promotion charge.
The second-placed Reds boast an impressive 19-match unbeaten league sequence stretching back to December 8 and can move eight points clear of automatic promotion rivals Sunderland if they beat Coventry on Saturday.
With a new manager and style of play, we have done well this season and need to finish the job now.
Stendel's side dug deep to chisel out a priceless stoppage-time victory at Walsall last weekend – to maintain the pressure on the fourth-placed Wearsiders, who are five points adrift with two games in hand.
Barnsley also hold a four-point lead over Portsmouth, in third, having played the same amount of games.
Saturday was an occasion when the Reds, without the services of influential first-choice goalkeeper and captain Adam Davies, claimed a seventh successive clean sheet in a 1-0 triumph.
Should Barnsley record another shut-out, they will equal a club record of eight, previously set on two occasions – the last time being in April, 1955.
The Reds' feats are all the more noteworthy given that they have suffered major disruption already in 2019 with top-scorer Kieffer Moore and midfielder Kenny Dougall both sidelined for the rest of the season.
A key absence in the first half of the season to another leading player in striker Cauley Woodrow represented another obstacle to the Reds, who also recently contended with the absence of suspended duo Cameron McGeehan and Jacob Brown for three matches apiece.
Yet the issues have steadfastly failed to affect Barnsley's quest to book an immediate return to the Championship, with Stendel quick to pay tribute to the mentality and drive of his squad, the second youngest in the third tier.
Stendel told The Yorkshire Post: "Promotion is a big motivation and I hope we can achieve our goal.
"Normally, a season (in Germany) is 34 games. Here, 46 games and the cup games makes it more than 50 games; it is a long, long season.
"We have had difficult times such as the end of November where we did not win and then we were seventh in the table. All teams have some problems, but our strength is that we are a tight, close team who work together.
"When we miss one, two, three or sometimes more players, the others come and work harder to win the games.
"I like the idea of improving young players. But it is very difficult to have the feeling of a big family when you see that Adam Davies was the only player who played two years ago.
"You need identity as a player – that this is a player from us. Yet in good and bad times, we go together.
"Players need to come here and know what to expect. They must have a very good attitude and want to improve and want to play for Barnsley for a big chance to improve their careers.
Both Brown, who scored the dramatic winner at Walsall and Williams, who made an outstanding goalline clearance when the game was in the balance at 0-0, provided telling contributions in last weekend's win, as did Davies's stand-in, Jack Walton.
Making his first league appearance since October 13, the 20-year-old produced a fine showing to thwart Walsall – to provide the platform for Brown to take the glory with his late strike.
It ensured that with seven games of the season to go, the Reds – enjoying their longest unbeaten run since 1980-81 – are in the box seat for promotion.
Should that be achieved, it will represent a particularly rewarding moment for the Barnsley squad, the vast majority of whom were part of the side relegated to League One just under 12 months ago.
Walton said: "No-one wants to get relegated. But, unfortunately, it happens and we have come back together as a team.
"With a new manager and style of play, we have done well this season and need to finish the job now.
"Saturday was probably the first game this season when we have scored a late winner. But you need that in a season. Sometimes, you might not perform as good as you want but we dug in and scored a crucial goal at the end.
On the importance of keeping the pressure on Sunderland, who do not return to league action until next Wednesday night, the young custodian added: "They have games in hand but, at the end of the day, you want points on the board. We can only do what we can; we cannot affect Sunderland's results or performances.


Planning meeting. Events for 2014. Club night February 11th.
Gerry, Mark , Melvin and PIP have been busy sorting out a B&B / Hostel moving on 5 day "A road" tour to venture into Scotland leaving Higham Ferrers on Sunday 29th June and returning late afternoon on Friday 4th July.
Anyone interested need to notify Gerry rockabillyone@aol.com or Mark darsdale@talktalk.net as soon as possible and certainly no later than the Tuesday Club night of the 11th February which has been designated as a rides planning / discussion meeting. Numbers will have to be kept manageable and it is envisaged that the tour will involve 200 – 250 miles per day so modern bikes only.
Andy and Doug tonight confirmed that ENCMCC has a club stand allocated for the Classic Bike Event held as part of the Donnington Park three day spectacular. Andy also Informed us that he will be endeavouring to secure special room rates for us at the Holiday Inn Express etc. – so ensure you have these dates in your diary.
I will be booking a room at Burnham Deepdale , (independent hostel) Norfolk and riding over on Friday 19th staying Friday and Saturday which will allow a trip to the 40's weekend and a gentle ride back along the coast on the Sunday afternoon if anyone fancies joining me please let me know. Twin , double and triple rooms are available at Burnham Deepdale at a very reasonable rate, as well as camping and other forms of accommodation - take a look atwww.deepdalefarm.co.uk In view of the Forties weekend I would not be surprised if rooms are quickly sold out so if you are intending to go early booking is strongly advised.
As you will have already noted Tuesday Club night 11th February is the platform for discussing rides / runs and other club events including social get together trips to the dogs / ten pin bowling etc. have already been suggested. John the landlord has already offered to put on Club BBQ's and tonight he was asked whether he could also do a Chile Con-Carnie and chips club night.
The Club is continuing to gain popularity but still needs you to share your views and ideas and of course to support the rides / events.


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Tag: Pew Research
Thought Starters: Uber, Machine Learning, "Alt-Right" Democracy and Globalisation
Thought Starters provides me with a chance to review and highlight some of the more interesting (and hopefully well informed) opinions that I've read over the last few weeks. This edition is dominated by the fallout from the American elections with people looking at the reasons for the rise of such an unconventional candidate and a look at what we might expect from Donald Trump's presidency:
Is the tide turning on Uber? There's no disputing that the ridesharing model has become a key plank of our transport infrastructure. Question is will Uber's pool of cash be enough to keep the company going until self driving cars arrive? Yves Smith and Eric Newcomer weigh in:
Published financial data shows that Uber is losing more money than any startup in history and that its ability to capture customers and drivers from incumbent operators is entirely due to $2 billion in annual investor subsidies. The vast majority of media coverage presumes Uber is following the path of prominent digitally-based startups whose large initial losses transformed into strong profits within a few years.
This presumption is contradicted by Uber's actual financial results, which show no meaningful margin improvement through 2015 while the limited margin improvements achieved in 2016 can be entirely explained by Uber-imposed cutbacks to driver compensation. It is also contradicted by the fact that Uber lacks the major scale and network economies that allowed digitally-based startups to achieve rapid margin improvement.
Benedict Evans released the latest version of his Mobile is Eating the World presentation which looks at the growing synergies between mobile and machine learning, with a particularly focus on retail or automotive:
Benedict's presentation points to mobile apps as the dominant means for consumers to interacting with the digital world. As mobile becomes ubiquitous, we're seeing consumers sticking to the apps they know according to research from Adobe in the US:
Amazon is taking advantage of mobile technology to further automate the process of shopping with their soon to launch AmazonGo offering. Better experience for consumers, less employment for retail workers:
As mobile matures, we're seeing the next gold rush emerging in machine learning. Sam DeBrule has pulled together a valuable collection of information sources if you're keen to track developments in the sector as they increasingly spill over into the real world:
Providing a counterpoint to Silicon Valley boosterism is Om Malik's column warning that technology doesn't exist in a vacuum and that the startup sector needs to be more aware of these changes if it's to avoid a major backlash:
"It is not just Facebook. It is time for our industry to pause and take a moment to think: as technology finds its way into our daily existence in new and previously unimagined ways, we need to learn about those who are threatened by it. Empathy is not a buzzword but something to be practiced. Let's start by not raging on our Facebook feeds but, instead, taking a trip to parts of America where five-dollar lattes and freshly pressed juices are not perks but a reminder of haves and have-nots. Otherwise, come 2020, Silicon Valley will have become an even bigger villain in the popular imagination, much like its East Coast counterpart, Wall Street."
Ryan Broderick tracks the rise of the "alt-right" in the US and Europe and how social media provides fertile ground for its growth.
"Facebook doesn't want to challenge you, they don't want to upset you, because they know that if you're challenged on their platform, you wouldn't want to use it as much," Derakhshan said. "The very fact that you cannot show your reaction to anything you see on Facebook by saying that you agree or disagree or that it's true or false and you can only show your emotions to it is very telling."
UK's telecommunications regulator regularly releases research looking at Britons' use of media and technology. Their most recent report covers media use and attitudes among children and young people aged 5-15, providing a valuable window into where media is heading in the future:
Pew Research's research from the US point to ebooks market share as stabilising with a similar story for printed books. Another valuable finding is that consumers are now increasingly reading e-books on tablets, PCs and smartphones rather than just dedicated e-book readers:
Americans have traditionally been strong believers in economic progress with the expectation that they will be better financially positioned than their parents. Research from Raj Chetty profiled by David Leonhardt points to this no longer being the case, a situation which is presumably leading to growing dissatisfaction with the political status quo:
Much has been made of Donald Trump's call for bringing manufacturing back to the US with suggestions that he'll bring in more protectionist trade policy. Mark Muro in his coverage of the American manufacturing points to how automation is seeing the sector become increasingly divorced from its blue colour labour roots:
Another initiative Donald Trump has been touting is investment in America's infrastructure which is one area where the Democrats and Republicans could potentially find common ground…but the devil is in the details. Ronald A Klain's analysis of the initiative suggests that it's more likely to line the pockets of those already working on projects rather than providing a boost to employment:
First, Trump's plan is not really an infrastructure plan. It's a tax-cut plan for utility-industry and construction-sector investors, and a massive corporate welfare plan for contractors. The Trump plan doesn't directly fund new roads, bridges, water systems or airports, as did Hillary Clinton's 2016 infrastructure proposal. Instead, Trump's plan provides tax breaks to private-sector investors who back profitable construction projects. These projects (such as electrical grid modernization or energy pipeline expansion) might already be planned or even underway. There's no requirement that the tax breaks be used for incremental or otherwise expanded construction efforts; they could all go just to fatten the pockets of investors in previously planned projects.
China's economic growth is unprecedented, but a darkening political climate has led to growing suggestions that this trend may be derailed in the future as the country adopts a more authoritarian stance:
The rise of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Marie Le Pen among others points to a backlash against globalisation, but analysis from The Economist point to this trend not being shared by all countries:
Amanda Taub profiles Yascha Mounk's research pointing to declining support for democracy among many developed countries, coinciding with the growth of the "Far Right"…Although Erik Voeten's analysis suggests it's not quite as severe as the graph below suggest:
Given the rise of the far right, Yale history professor Timothy Snyder's 20 lessons from 20th century provides valuable advice on fighting a rise in authoritarianism (even if it is aimed at an American readership):
1. Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You've already done this, haven't you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.
The Danish concept of hygge has become very much of the moment with its harking back to a simpler age but Charlotte Higgins suggests that the UK's reinterpretation of the idea is not quite so healthy:
If, for Danes themselves, hygge has an element of fantasy – through the way it draws back from difficulties, difference and debate – then the British import is a fantasy of a fantasy. Hygge may be quintessentially Danish, but there is something utterly British about the nostalgic longing for the simple accoutrements of an earlier time – especially if it can be bought. At the same time, it is hard to deny that just at the moment, the most natural thing in the world is to want to huddle round the fire and wish the outside away. Settle in: it's going to be a long winter.
The featured image is a MOMO mural from Sicily.
Categorized as Thought Starters Tagged Adobe, Alt Right, Amanda Taub, Amazon, AmazonGo, authoritarianism, Benedict Evans, Charlotte Higgins, children, David Leonhardt, democracy, Donald Trump, ebooks, Eric Newcomer, Facebook, hygge, machine learning, manufacturing, Mark Muro, media, mobile apps, Ofcom, Om Malik, Pew Research, publishing, Raj Chetty, retail, Ronald A. Klain, Ryan Broderick, Sam DeBrule, Sarah Perez, Silicon Valley, Timothy Snyder, Uber, Yascha Mounk, Yves Smith
Thought Starters: Google I/O, property puzzle in England and rates of innovation
Thought Starters provides me with a chance to review and highlight some of the more important or interesting research and opinions that I've read over the last week or so. This edition looks at Google and Apple at a crossroads, England's property market and questions over the rate of innovation among other things:
Whilst many technological and social indicators point to the lead that Western Europe and North America has over the developing world, there are cases where incumbent infrastructure slows down the introduction of new technologies. An example of this from the World Economic Forum is the lead Sub-Saharan Africa has in mobile money accounts, aided by the lack of traditional financial services infrastructure:
Interesting benchmark figures from Pew Research on the use of online services by the American population. There's obviously plenty of opportunity for growth still across many different categories:
Google I/O developer conference happened on Wednesday which saw the launch of new virtual reality, mobile messaging, smart home and virtual assistant platforms and updates for Android, Android Wear and Android Auto. It's worth checking out The Verge's coverage of the leading announcements if you're wanting more details on what to expect in the coming months.
Ben Thompson has an interesting follow on to the conference pointing to Google's technical process but also suggesting that other factors at play are likely to hamper the organisation's success:
The problem is that as much as Google may be ahead, the company is also on the clock: every interaction with Siri, every signal sent to Facebook, every command answered by Alexa, is one that is not only not captured by Google but also one that is captured by its competitors. Yes, it is likely Apple, Facebook, and Amazon are all behind Google when it comes to machine learning and artificial intelligence — hugely so, in many cases — but it is not a fair fight. Google's competitors, by virtue of owning the customer, need only be good enough, and they will get better. Google has a far higher bar to clear — it is asking users and in come cases their networks to not only change their behavior but willingly introduce more friction into their lives — and its technology will have to be special indeed to replicate the company's original success as a business.
Another company that's had a strong run but for which the future is harder to anticipate is Apple. Marco Arment has been a valuable commentator and proponent of Apple and its broader ecosystem and his concerns about Apple's long term health should definitely be taken seriously:
But if Google's right, it won't be enough to buy Siri's creators again or partner with Yelp for another few years. If Apple needs strong AI and big-data services in the next decade to remain competitive, they need to have already been developing that talent and those assets, in-house, extensively, for years. They need to be a big-data-services company. Their big-data AI services need to be far better, smarter, and more reliable than they are. And I just don't see that happening.
As a venture capitalist, David Pakman has a vested interest in a more entrepreneurial music ecosystem. That being said, I do believe he has a strong point talking about how major record labels are squeezing some of the innovation out of the music sector:
In my mind, it would have been in the long-term best interests of the recorded music business to enable the widespread success of thousands of companies, each paying fair but not bone-crushing royalties back to labels, artists and publishers. But the high royalty rates imposed upon startups, even after clear signs over the past 19 years that the strategy killed companies, prevented a healthy ecosystem from emerging. It's a bed the music industry made for itself, and now it is left to lie in it.
Whilst there's a been a lot of talk about the polarisation of incomes in the West, research from Walter Frick points to a similar polarisation in corporate performance with leading firms galloping ahead of everyone else:
Donald Trump's nomination for the Republican party is pretty much a given now, and I'm glad to see more and more commentators coming out to express their opposition to his candidacy. Robert Kagan's is definitely among the more eloquent, let's just hope the US population listens to reason:
And the source of allegiance? We're supposed to believe that Trump's support stems from economic stagnation or dislocation. Maybe some of it does. But what Trump offers his followers are not economic remedies — his proposals change daily. What he offers is an attitude, an aura of crude strength and machismo, a boasting disrespect for the niceties of the democratic culture that he claims, and his followers believe, has produced national weakness and incompetence. His incoherent and contradictory utterances have one thing in common: They provoke and play on feelings of resentment and disdain, intermingled with bits of fear, hatred and anger. His public discourse consists of attacking or ridiculing a wide range of "others" — Muslims, Hispanics, women, Chinese, Mexicans, Europeans, Arabs, immigrants, refugees — whom he depicts either as threats or as objects of derision. His program, such as it is, consists chiefly of promises to get tough with foreigners and people of nonwhite complexion. He will deport them, bar them, get them to knuckle under, make them pay up or make them shut up.
The UK referendum on whether the country chooses to leave the European Union is fast approaching leading to some scaremongering from the pro Brexit camp. Providing a rather different perspective is research from Philippe Legrain who points out the economic benefits potentially provided by the influx of refugees to Europe:
Refugees who arrived in Europe last year could repay spending on them almost twice over within just five years, according to one of the first in-depth investigations into the impact incomers have on host communities.
Refugees will create more jobs, increase demand for services and products, and fill gaps in European workforces – while their wages will help fund dwindling pensions pots and public finances, says Philippe Legrain, a former economic adviser to the president of the European commission.
Over the following decade, England's population rose by 4.1m while its housing stock rose by only 1.7m, something which any economist will tell you is going to cause some problems. This shortage is exacerbated by disparities between local authorities as The Economist recently mapped (click through for the interactive version):
A further indication of the overheated nature of certain parts of the UK housing sector can be seen in the fact that the average first time buyer in London now earns £85k and has a deposit of £123k according to the ONS figures:
Frans de Waal has taken a critical look at economics, pointing to its vision of the self interested human being rather different from how societies developed or currently operate:
Economists should reread the work of their father figure, Adam Smith, who saw society as a huge machine. Its wheels are polished by virtue, whereas vice causes them to grate. The machine just won't run smoothly without a strong community sense in every citizen. Smith saw honesty, morality, sympathy and justice as essential companions to the invisible hand of the market. His views were based on our being a social species, born in a community with responsibilities towards the community.
There's been a lot of debate over the rate of innovation, with the naysayers attitudes illustrated by Peter Thiel's infamous statement "We were promised flying cars and we got 140 characters." Neil Irwin has looked at the big inventions over the last 150 years, and suggests the nature of what is being invented might have changed but the pace of innovation hasn't:
In short, the sheer number of ways a person can be in touch with others, and consume information or entertainment, has exploded, and the price has collapsed.
This is the area in which human life has changed the most in the last 46 years. We live and travel much as we did in 1970. We eat more variety of foods. Products of all types keep getting a little safer, a little more efficient, a little better designed.
But the real revolution of recent decades is in the supercomputer most people keep in their pocket. And how that stacks up against the advances of yesteryear is the great question of whether an era of innovation remains underway, or has slowed way down.
One innovation I am expecting to see much more of in the coming years is augmented reality with its fusing of the virtual and real life. Keiichi Matsuda provides a rather dystopian view of the world we might face in years to come:
The featured image is from eko.
Categorized as Thought Starters Tagged Apple, augmented reality, Ben Thompson, David Pakman, Donald Trump, eko, Frans de Waal, Google, Google I/O, innovation, internet, Keiichi Matsuda, Marco Arment, mobile money, music, music industry, Neil Irwin, Patrick Kingsley, Pew Research, Philippe Legrain, Robert Kagan, sharing economy, Walter Frick, World Economic Forum
Thought Starters: social media, Apple, banking and changes to employment and income
Thought Starters provides me with a chance to review and highlight some of the more important or interesting research and opinions that I've read over the last week or so. This edition looks at the competing social media platforms and their roles, whether Apple can innovate, banking and its relationship with fintech and changes in employment and income among other things.
Robinson Meyer revisits Reid Hoffman's look at social networks and the parallels he draws between them and the seven deadly sins:
"Social networks do best when they tap into one of the seven deadly sins," the LinkedIn co-founder and venture capitalist said. "Zynga is sloth. LinkedIn is greed. With Facebook, it's vanity, and how people choose to present themselves to their friends."
Research from Social Fresh, Firebrand Group and Simply Measured points to Facebook being comfortably ahead of other social media platforms in terms of ROI:
Whilst Snapchat is making growing inroads among younger audiences in the US, Instagram for the moment is proving a more popular medium for advertisers according to L2 Think Tank's research:
Twitter recently reclassified its mobile app as a news service rather than social media in Apple's App Store. Pew Research's recent findings point to how the services have a different relationship with news content with Facebook driving more traffic whilst users referred by Twitter typically spending more time with the visited content:
Given the increasingly important role that Facebook plays in distributing content, it's no surprise that commentators cried foul when Gizmodo reported that Facebook was suppressing conservative news. A more careful reading of the news by Tyler Cowen and Ben Thompson suggests this isn't quite as significant as the headlines suggest:
This, then, is the deep irony of this controversy: Facebook is receiving a huge amount of criticism for allegedly biasing the news via the empowerment of a team of human curators to make editorial decisions, as opposed to relying on what was previously thought to be an algorithm; it is an algorithm, though — the algorithm that powers the News Feed, with the goal of driving engagement — that is arguably doing more damage to our politics than the most biased human editor ever could. The fact of the matter is that, on the part of Facebook people actually see — the News Feed, not Trending News — conservatives see conservative stories, and liberals see liberal ones; the middle of the road is as hard to find as a viable business model for journalism (these things are not disconnected).
James Allworth profiles Apple's business strategy and suggests that the company's success is one of the key things holding the company back:
And it appears that Apple has fallen into exactly the same trap. Rather than start anew — with a beginner's mind—what the above reveals to me is that they've tried to take the last paradigm and just jam it into the new one. The old has bled into the new. The result, at least as it stands now: just like Microsoft did, Apple knows what needs to be built — a phone-disrupting device. It's just that they can't bring themselves to let go of the past in order to do the job properly.
Whilst the Apple Watch hasn't proved the breakthrough success for Apple that the iPhone provided, Neil Cybart's analysis of Apple's R&D expenditure points to something big coming soon:
At the more nascent end of the technology ecosystem, Jared Friedman's analysis of applicants to the Y Combinator programme provides a valuable window into the type of startups we're likely to see more of in the very near future. Think more apps, SAAS businesses and platforms based on messaging, Slack and virtual reality among other things:
For those of you working in startups looking to improve your product and people management, you'd be well advised to read Mike Davidson's account of life as Vice President of Design at Twitter. He covers a lot of ground so I'm not going to try and summarise it, but it's well worth checking out.
On the other hand, if you're looking for a more nuts and bolts approach to improving your digital presence, Nick Kolenda's 125 easy tweaks provides a good starting point, even if you don't agree with everything he has to say.
The banking sector won no popularity contests over the last 9 years with its practices fueling the global financial crisis. James Surowiecki reviews moves to reform the sector suggesting improvements have been made but there's still some way to go:
Of course, there's much about Wall Street that Dodd-Frank has not changed. Bankers still make absurd amounts of money. Hedge-fund and private-equity managers still benefit from the carried-interest tax loophole. The big banks, though smaller, are still too big. "If you wanted financial reform to radically downsize the financial sector, or thought it was going to make a major dent in income inequality, you're bound to be disappointed," Konczal says. And Dodd-Frank's work is still unfinished: many of the rules it authorized have yet to be written, and the banks are lobbying to have them written in their favor. As Ziegler told me, "The progress that's been made is precarious. It can be unravelled." But precarious progress is progress. Regulation involves a constant struggle to keep rules in place and to enforce the ones that are there. Dodd-Frank shows that that struggle is not necessarily a futile one: sometimes government really does regulate business, and not the other way around.
In Fintech circles there's a lot of talk about the power of startups to disrupt the banking sector but Josh Constine suggests that these startups may actually strengthen rather than undermine your relationship with your bank:
But what many of these startups have in common is that they all rely on connecting to your existing bank to fund your accounts with them or receive money. Rather than shun the startups, the incumbents have built bridges to let you hook fintech products into your bank accounts.
The result is that while banking is changing rapidly, you might be more reluctant to change which bank you use, according to several fintech founders and VCs I spoke to.
There's been increasingly vociferous discussions about the impact that automation will have on employment over the long term. Josh Zumbrun's analysis of US figures provides an indication of where things are heading. Employment among knowledge workers and non-routine manual workers is proving much less susceptible to automation and is showing much stronger rates of growth compared to employment with routinised workflows:
Pew Research figures point to the polarisation of wealth in American society as not simply coming from growing income and assets among the wealthiest but also due to the relative decline of the country's middle-income households:
Ed Hawkins' data visualisation of climate over the last 150 years provides a valuable reminder that now is not the time for us all to put our heads in the sand:
Elisabeth Zerofsky's profile of Marine Le Pen provides a reminder of the growing tide of nationalism in European politics and attempts to try provide a more "palatable" face on a movement that was previously at the fringe of European politics.
I am keen to hear your thoughts any of the above, whether you vehemently agree or disagree, so please don't hesitate to use the comments field.
The featured image is a MOMO piece commissioned by the City of Sydney.
Categorized as Thought Starters Tagged Apple, automation, climate change, Ed Hawkins, Elisabeth Zerofsky, employment, Facebook, fintech, Instagram, Jared Friedman, Josh Constine, Josh Zumbrun, Marine Le Pen, middle, Momo, Neil Cybart, Nick Kolenda, Pew Research, Reid Hoffman, Robinson Meyer, Snapchat, social media, startup, Twitter, Y Combinator
Thought Starters: look at AMP, Amazon's dominance, corporate profits & music industry
Thought Starters provides me with a chance to review the research and opinions that I've read over the last week or so. This edition looks at the launch of Accelerated Mobile Pages, Amazon's growing dominance in the digital world, rising corporate profits, the declining fortunes of the music industry and terrorism among other things.
Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages is now out in the open. Alex Bauer profiles what it offers mobile internet users and also what is going on behind the scenes:
AMP isn't actually new technology. In fact, AMP is what the web could have been all along, if it had been originally designed with nothing but mobile device performance in mind. This "mobile-only" approach is important because one of the ways AMP achieves its blazing-fast performance is by completely ignoring any device that is not small enough to fit in your pocket. AMP is emphatically not about making desktop websites look good on phone screens, but rather a totally separate, alternative presentation of the same content. It's the web we already know, except stripped back to the bare essentials and then subjected to aggressive validation and rendering controls.
Alex Muir points to Facebook's Hydra like offering as something any entrepreneur should consider as a competitor before launching a business into the B2C space:
Today, **if you're building a service for communities or individuals then Facebook is almost certainly your biggest competitor. ** B2B: Excel, B2C: Facebook.
Ben Thompson recently profiled how Amazon is leveraging its scale in ecommerce and cloud computing to gain a near insurmountable competitive advantage. Eugene Kim's collection of charts profiling Amazon provides a valuable complement to Thompson's words illustrating what a behemoth the organisation present (at least in the US):
Bastion of free market economics, The Economist has made a convincing argument that the US economy needs more competition (and regulation) pointing to growing concentration and rising profits among the country's leading firms:
Scott Santens joins the chorus of voices raising concerns about the threat automation poses to employment with Google DeepMind's AlphaGo illustrating the major advances in artificial intelligence capabilities which could upturn society as we know it:
No nation is yet ready for the changes ahead. High rates of labor force nonparticipation leads to social instability, as does a lack of consumers within consumer economies. It turns out, humans are good at designing things, but not so great at picturing a world that their technology will create. What's the big lesson to learn, in a century when machines can learn? Maybe it is that jobs are for machines, and life is for people.
Ben Sisario and Karl Russell profile the declining fortunes of the music industry over the last ten years with growth streaming services and vinyl sales failing to fill the hole left by declining CD sales. Whilst the figures don't allow for revenues from other revenue streams such as concerts, sponsorship and branded content initiatives, overall, the picture isn't particularly healthy:
An interview with Michael Rosenfeld sheds some light on how online dating is (and isn't) changing the nature of relationships in the 21st century:
I don't think that that theory, even if it's true for something like jam, applies to dating. I actually don't see in my data any negative repercussions for people who meet partners online. In fact, people who meet their partners online are not more likely to break up — they don't have more transitory relationships. Once you're in a relationship with somebody, it doesn't really matter how you met that other person. There are online sites that cater to hookups, sure, but there are also online sites that cater to people looking for long-term relationships. What's more, many people who meet in the online sites that cater to hookups end up in long-term relationships. This environment, mind you, is just like the one we see in the offline world.
The rise of Donald Trump is one of the more interesting (and scary) phenomenons in the US's current election cycle. Clare Malone looks at where Trump's support comes from:
The Upshot's look at the geography of Trumpism showed a number of variables linked to areas of deep Trump support — counties where a high proportion of the population is white with no high school diploma, where there are large numbers of mobile homes, and where there is a poor labor-force participation rate. Political scientists Michael Tesler and John Sides recently pointed to new research that shows "both white racial identity and beliefs that whites are treated unfairly are powerful predictors of support for Donald Trump in the Republican primaries."
Whilst playing to race is an important part of Donald Trump's success, changing demographics point to a strategy of appealing to America's white population as becoming increasingly untenable in the future according to Pew Research forecasts:
The recent terrorist attack has led to an inevitable concerns among Europeans about their personal safety. Annalisa Merelli's analysis of deaths and injuries from terror attacks in Western Europe point to the region being no more dangerous than in the recent past although digital media is no doubt amplifying current fears:
The featured image shows a Hazul Luzah mural from Underground Paris' interview with the Portuguese artist.
Categorized as Thought Starters Tagged Accelerated Mobile Pages, Alex Bauer, Alex Muir, Amazon, Annalisa Merelli, Ben Sisario, Ben Thompson, Clare Malone, Donald Trump, Eugene Kim, Facebook, Hazul Luzah, Karl Russell, Michael Rosenfeld, music, online dating, Pew Research, terrorism, The Economist
Thought Starters: children's media use, app streaming, Dribbbilisation and privacy
Ofcom released Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report this month which provides a detailed look at the media consumption and device usage of children and teenagers in the UK. Among the interesting statistics are changes in the social media usage and inevitably high penetration of smartphones:
Consumers movement from a browser to an increasingly app based interactive experience poses a significant threat to Google's business model where the majority of income continues to come from search. Among the ways that Google is looking to address this threat is the deeper indexing of content from apps and the launching of app streaming smoothing the transition from search to app usage. You can see an example of it in action below with a search for a hotel in Chicago leading to the Hotel Tonight Android app below:
A further indication of the growing importance of mobile can be seen in the growing share mobile is taking of ecommerce revenues in the US according to figures from comScore:
An interesting companion piece to comScore's forecast are figures from the Wall Street Journal which point to a decline in retail space per capita in the US which is no doubt fueled by growing ecommerce sales:
WeChat provides an interesting case study in how we might see the mobile ecosystem developing in the West with mobile messaging becoming a hub for an increasingly diverse range of services. Edith Yeung profiles some of the different services currently offered in China – we're beginning to see this with Facebook Messenger's expansion of functionality and there'll no doubt be plenty more to come in the near future.
Paul Adams criticises many designers for paying too much attention to aesthetics and not enough attention to purpose in what he describes as the Dribbbilisation of Design (referencing design showcase site Dribbble). Adams argues that designers need to give greater consideration to outcomes, structure and interaction, particularly as we move to an environment where interactive design permeates everything:
Tony Aube points to the move to an increasingly messaging based world driven by artificial intelligence as making the traditional model of visual user interfaces irrelevant:
"What I do believe, however, is that these new technologies are going to fundamentally change how we approach design. This is necessary to understand for those planning to have a career in tech. In a future where computers can see, talk, listen and reply to you, what good are your awesome pixel-perfect Sketch skills going to be?
Let this be fair warning against complacency. As UI designers, we have a tendency to presume a UI is the solution to every new design problem. If anything, the AI revolution will force us to reset our presumption on what it means to design for interaction. It will push us to leave our comfort zone and look at the bigger picture, bringing our focus on the design of the experience rather than the actual screen. And that is an exciting future for designers."
Benedict Evans reviews the competition for control of the television which he characterises as a ultimately a sideshow to the broader battles for the PC and more recently the smartphone and tablet:
"Games consoles' closed ecosystem delivered huge innovation in games, but not in much else. The web's open, permissionless innovation beat the closed, top-down visions of interactive TV and the information superhighway. The more abstracted, simplified and closed UX model of smartphones and especially iOS helps to take them to a much broader audience than the PC could reach, and the relative safety of installing an app due to that 'closed' aspect enables billions of installs and a new route to market for video. It's not that open or closed win, but that you need the right kind of open in the right place."
GroupM has released its forecast for the UK media sector, with a continuation in the trend of decline in print advertising and robust growth from television and interactive advertising:
The Flexport blog looks at the overinvestment in freight shipping capacity where the impact has been compounded by a decline in Chinese exports leading to some unintended consequences:
"It costs $300 to move a 40-foot container from Rotterdam to Shanghai, which is barely enough to cover the cost of fuel, handling, and Suez Canal fees. Here's some more context. Let's say that you want to travel for a year; it's cheaper to put your personal belongings in a shipping container as it sails around the world than to keep it at a local mini-storage facility."
Germany has long been a manufacturing powerhouse (see below). What The Economist asks is whether the country can adapt to an environment where a greater share of the value added comes from outside the traditional domains of designing and assembling goods:
Turkey's recent shooting down of a Russian air force plane has raised serious concerns about a further escalation of the conflict in Syria. Liam Denning argues the conflict reflects the increasingly embattled position Russia faces as oil prices decline (I wouldn't paint Turkey's role as necessarily benevolent given its support for anti Kurdish forces in Syria):
"Two things flow from this. First, Syria may represent just one front in a many sided struggle by resource-dependent countries such as Russia to maintain their position in oil and gas markets that suddenly look more like actual competitive markets than they did just a few years ago as new supply has entered the scene. That, rather than a Turkish border dispute, is the central geopolitical drama affecting energy."
We're seeing privacy at the centre of debates around online advertising and state surveillance but Greg Ferenstein explains that the concept of privacy is a relatively new one. He explores the emergence of privacy and looks at how we're likely to see it further evolve in years to come:
The Economist has produced a valuable interactive infographic (it's worth visiting The Economist for the interactive version) allowing viewers to examine which countries are doing a better job of empowering women in the workplace. Britain seemingly doesn't do well in any of the measures:
The US is often characterised as deeply religious which has an inevitable impact on national and ultimately international politics. Given this, it's interesting to see Pew Research Center's latest recent research into religion and faith pointing to the country becoming more secular:
The featured image is Pistache, Bleu Gris et Noir by eko.
Categorized as Thought Starters Tagged app indexing, app streaming, Benedict Evans, children, comScore, Dribbbilisation, Edith Yeung, employment, faith, Germany, Google, Greg Ferenstein, GroupM, Hotel Tonight, Liam Denning, manufacturing, media, mobile commerce, Ofcom, Paul Adams, Pew Research, product design, religion, retail, Russia, shipping, teenagers, television, The Economist, Tony Aube, turkey, WeChat, women
Content that has caught my eye recently or got me thinking, which includes coverage of enterprise technology, changing nature of interaction on the internet and citizen journalism among other subjects.
Recent data breaches at Sony, Target and Home Depot point to serious security issues within large enterprises but Steven Sinofsky points to the move to cloud infrastructure and other developments as addressing many of these concerns in the near future. It's also worth reading Sinofsky's look at trends within the workplace in 2015 for Re/code, taking a closer look at cloud and hybrid cloud solutions, email, tablets and mobile device management among other matters.
Ben Bajarin takes a closer look at the emergence of the mobile internet, pointing to its dominant role in China, with Western markets likely to follow. Ignore at your peril.
Complementing Bajarin's analysis is Chris Dixon's coverage of the move from a search to social centric model in what he describes as a move from a pull to a push model of the internet:
The Lending Club IPO has placed a spotlight on the emergence of peer-to-peer models within the financial sector. The Economist's comparison of the costs of the Lending Club versus traditional channels illustrate why Lending Club and other peer-to-peer operators are seen as a disruptors:
The sharing economy has taken a lot of stick for what some critics has described as providing an unfettered form of capitalism. The Nation posits an alternative model of the sharing economy in which associated technologies enable a more collective model of business:
Serial reignited my interest in podcasts even if the show didn't manage to maintain its early momentum. EJ Dickinson compared reporting of the case on the podcast to that on Reddit, with the latter providing a valuable indication of the value of citizen journalism.
Hannah Kuchler covers Pew Research Center's study into the Ferguson riots, pointing to the long delay in television news' coverage of the event when compared to social media:
A pair of Morgan Stanley analysts experiences with the much lauded GoPro point to the fact that there are likely to be limits to the success of the action sports video camera:
1) Our feats as equity research analysts provoke way fewer jaw-dropping oohs and ahhs than the world's top motorcycle freestylers
2) it is way easier to shoot hours of raw video content (the hardware capabilities are great) than it is to create anything that is even remotely digestible
3) the video editing and creation process is incredibly laborious—it took nearly 8 hours of work to create a sub-2 minute video—even as GoPro's Studio helped ease the process (we didn't have to match soundtrack to video, Studio's [software provided] templated clip lengths and transitions, while providing a general storyboard outline).
Bloomberg reports on how the American economy is becoming increasingly independent of the petroleum sector with an interactive infographic – worth a look:
The Economist profiles the emerging middle class in developing societies as more of the world's population finds themselves emerging from poverty:
Joseph E. Stiglitz looks at the emergence of China as the pre-eminent global economic power and what this means to the U.S.
The featured image is mural by Patel in Rio San Juan, Dominican Republic and found on StreetArtNews.
Categorized as Thought Starters Tagged Ben Bajarin, Bloomberg, China, Chris Dixon, EJ Dickinson, enterprise, Ferguson, GoPro, Hannah Kuchler, income, information technology, internet, Lending Club, mobile internet, Morgan Stanley, Pastel, peer-to-peer, petroleum, Pew Research, podcast, poverty, security, Serial, sharing economy, smartphones, social media, Sony, Steven Sinofsky, The Nation, Twitter
The McKinsey Quarterly profiles technological disruption, emerging markets growth and ageing population as trends that will have a substantial effect on business in the coming 50 years:
Going on public confidence, we've still got a long way to go before the world pulls out of the recession according to research from Pew Research, although reassuringly, UK is among the more confident:
Americans are seemingly chain to their desks, followed not too far behind by the UK according to research from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Salon's reporting of the research also highlights willingness of Americans and Britons to work weekends and evenings:
The Economist profiles the world of real time bidding for online advertising which has gained a strong foothold in US and UK markets and looks likely to rapidly spread to the rest of the world:
Research from Harvard Business School profiled in Forbes contrasts the ROI from search and display advertising. I won't giveaway who came out on top.
Much has been made of the impact that Amazon is having on the retail sector with effects particularly felt in the book sector. Zachary Karabell's reporting points to the independents rather than the larger book store chains as proving best able to respond to Amazon's encroachment.
The Guardian has avoided adding paywalls to its website unlike competitors The Times and the New York Times. What the organisation has done is follow the lead of other move media organisations and establish a membership led events programme offering that will bring its staff more into face to face contact with its readers:
The New Statesman profiles bellingcat which looks to use a citizen based journalism model to shed light on conflict zones, with successful reporting from Ukraine and Syria among other locations.
There's been no shortage of coverage of Apple's launch event for Apple Pay, iPhone 6 and Apple Watch. Marco Arment looks at what we would like to see with the Apple Watch but then goes on to praise Apple for its ability to produce best in class product design:
The ideal smartwatch would have a high-resolution, color, self-illuminated but not too bright, highly visible yet completely subtle screen that's always on, but isn't tacky and doesn't draw much attention to itself from others. The screen must be as large as possible so you can read and touch it nicely, but as small as possible so it isn't ostentatious and doesn't look out of proportion on a wrist. This screen, and all of the other components, must use as close to zero power as possible because the battery needs to last at least a week (ideally much longer), weigh as little as possible, and occupy almost no space.
So it needs to be bright, dim, bold, subtle, large, and small, with a battery that lasts a month with zero mass, and some compelling everyday applications beyond telling time and showing phone notifications. The true design challenge isn't making it pretty — it's making it good.
Horace Dediu in his analysis points to Apple's presentation which highlighting the Watch's role as timepiece, communicator and health and fitness device but he goes on to suggest that we will see lots more use cases emerge in the coming years.
Whilst much of the consumer attention was on the iPhone and Apple Watch launch, we may well find that it's Apple Pay that will have the most substantial long term effect on our society, giving the mobile payments sector an important boost.
For those of you wanting to find out more about the wearable technology sector outside of Apple's launch, you might want to try PSFK's recently released presentation:
Tinder has reshaped the way that many people approach dating and relationships. If you're interested in finding out more about the site, I'd suggest you try Kiera Feldman's oral history or for a more analytical approach try Anne Helen Petersen looking at how race and social class affects people's choices on the platform.
A lot of noise has been made about the disruptive forces of Silicon Valley. Airbnb founder and CEO Brian Chesky argues that the tech sector should be more selective in their use of the phrase and suggests that Airbnb is more a return to older ways of doing business rather than something totally new:
Dougald Hine highlights the need for reflection as consumers are faced with an ever expanding hosepipe of information:
The latter requires, among other things, space for reflection – allowing what we have already absorbed to settle, waiting to see what patterns emerge. Find the corners of our lives in which we can unplug, the days on which it is possible to refuse the urgency of the inbox, the activities that will not be rushed. Switch off the infinity machine, not forever, nor because there is anything bad about it, but out of recognition of our own finitude: there is only so much information any of us can bear, and we cannot go fishing in the stream if we are drowning in it. As any survivor of the 1960s counterculture could tell us, it is best to treat magic substances with respect – and to be careful about the dosage.
The featured image is by Ben Slow in Vitry, Paris and was found on vitostreet's Flickr stream.
Categorized as Thought Starters Tagged ageing population, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple Pay, Apple Watch, belllingcat, Brian Chesky, confidence, display advertising, economy, employment, Guardian, Horace Dediu, iPhone, Marco Arment, McKinsey Quarterly, Pew Research, quality of life, search marketing, sharing economy, Tinder, work

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This year's Halloween tally was 208. I don't know why we have 32% fewer trick-or-treaters than we had last year, which was down 20% from the year before that. Maybe the rain earlier in the day kept people home. Maybe because it was Friday people opted for parties instead of going door to door. I don't know.
Thanks to my friend Stuart for being on this year's data gathering crew. As usual, the full story is in the numbers.


Find Emergency Plumbers in Clarkston, get reviews, contact details and submit reviews for your local tradesmen. Request a quote from Emergency Plumbers near you today with Yell. Request a quote from Emergency Plumbers near you today with Yell.


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Q: Virtual Debugging with VMWare in Visual Studio? I can't find any help on this topic that isn't from 8+ years ago and/or from a much older version of VMWare. I installed VMWare Workstation 16 Pro and I already had Visual Studio Community 2019 installed on Windows 10 Pro. I read that I should find new tools in Visual Studio for virtual debugging but I didn't find anything new in there. I didn't see anything about a Visual Studio plugin when installing VMWare either. Can anyone help?
Thanks!

A: According to this, this feature was removed starting with workstation version 12 (Don't know why!!).

As an alternative, you can install Microsoft Remote debugging tools on the desired VMWare Machine and configure it (refer to this link), after that, go to Visual studio --> Project Settings --> debug --> Check the box "Use Remote Machine" and enter machine name or IP Address.

PS: You need to set a password for the user account on the VMWare Machine.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Parents must obtain a signed Preference Certificate from the Parish Priest of their parish for each child seeking enrolment as a preference student.
Non-preference students do not require a signed Preference Certificate.
To download any of these files, please click on the text under the image.


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RESTORING HISTORY
KNOW THEIR NAMES
Plaque location: 4 Lyme Street, First Congregational Church of Old Lyme
An emancipation certificate entered in Lyme's land records tells us that Humphrey, a Negroman Slave to John McCurdy, paid one Hundred pounds in 1778 to gain his freedom. In precise legal terms the certificate states that Humphrey had been a Slave for life and that McCurdy, having obtained a license from the major part of the Selectmen of Lyme for the purpose, did on January 13, 1778, Emancipate and Set free the sd Humphrey and Clear him from my Service forever. Nothing else about Humphrey is known.
Lyme's vital records show that between 1757 and 1764, five children, Jordan, Ezelphie, Clo, Caezer, and Shambaes, were born into hereditary slavery in John McCurdy's household. Humphrey may well have been the children's father. During those years McCurdy built wharves and warehouses on the Lieutenant River, bred horses on his farm for export to the West Indies, and commissioned the building of multiple vessels. Humphrey provided labor essential to McCurdy's mercantile activities, his accumulating wealth, and his social prominence. Gen. George Washington is thought to have rested at McCurdy's house while traveling from Boston to New York in 1776, and Humphrey likely helped prepare for the distinguished visitor. Two years later, perhaps having been paid wages for work as a deckhand on a McCurdy vessel, Humphrey purchased his freedom.
Emancipation certificate for Humphrey, January 17, 1778
Please note, this website, like history, is constantly evolving as we learn more. We will update these pages as new information and resources become available.
Header Image: Lyme Street, showing, on left, house formerly of Richard McCurdy; at center, house formerly of Stephen J. Lord. LHSA at the Florence Griswold Museum.
© 2021 by Witness Stones Old Lyme


From denim to dresses, the Free People™ Royale Flat will cover all your bases.
Leather upper features distressed and wrinkled detailing for a vintage-inspired look so color may vary.
Kaufen Sie personalisierte Alo Yoga It Slide 2 Flip Flop Weiß / Weiß - Womens Dress Sandalen Low Cost Sales Jetzt kaufen.


Construct your own word search puzzle for profit in your spare time.
Use the word key to solve the puzzle and know what words you have used as well.
Remember, as you try to solve the author's puzzle, that each of the 54 words in the list appears somewhere in the block of letters, spelled either forward or backward, in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal straight line. In some cases, the smae letter in the same position on the grid is used in more than one word.
You don't have to be a professional writer to make good money with words . . . and if you doubt me, spend a few minutes at your local newsstand looking through any of the numerous word-search puzzle magazines now being published. Virtually all of the games in those specialized periodicals — as well as the similar puzzles featured regularly in mainstream consumer and trade magazines — are produced by people who have simply exercised a little imagination and tossed in a bit of humor to turn their spare time into cash.
You can puzzle for profit, too! Just how much money you make for any given word search quiz, of course, will depend on the payment policy of the publication in question . . . and on the size of the brainteaser itself. An 11 X 11 square (that is, a letter grid containing 11 rows of 11 letters each) may pay as little as $6.00. On the other hand, selling a 21 X 23 "biggie" to a widely circulated national magazine could bring $100 or more. In my experience, though, $15 is an average payment for a medium sized square.
Those seemingly small amounts can really add up, however, when you consider that — with practice — you can construct a salable word-search puzzle in a little over an hour. I spend about 15 hours a week on this sideline myself and net more than $600 a month!
To develop a feel for this unique craft — and for what editors buy — study a variety of word search magazines. Scrutinize each puzzle carefully (paying particular attention to the relationship between the title and the word list, and to the way words are fit into the grid), and try to imagine the process the author went through to produce that particular game.
Usually, your first step is to come up with a basic subject for the puzzle. You can build a theme around almost any topic: famous people or places, hobbies, activities, holidays, events, nature, careers . . . you name it. Then think of a title — and a list of words — relating to that subject. Some puzzles are fairly straightforward in this regard: One of my creations, for instance, was called "Eggs citing" and included words describing how eggs can be cooked (baked, coddled, scrambled, etc.). Others, however, take a somewhat less direct approach . . . as in the puzzle that I captioned "What's Up?", which listed such diverse words as balloon, cloud, elevator, heads, inflation, soprano, and Venus.
In any case, keep in mind that unusual titles, or those that employ a play on words, are generally preferred by submissions editors .. . and can spell the difference between a sale and a rejection. And to get more mileage out of your ideas, always try to come up with more than one title for any given puzzle. Then you can simply change the initial word list somewhat, tack on a different heading, and — presto — you'll have another moneymaking idea to turn into a puzzle. For example, I recently sold two different pieces based on similar lists of archaeological terms . . . one was titled "Can You Dig It?", and the other "Sticks and Stones and Ancient Bones".
Actually, conceiving puzzles can be a lot of fun . . . and you don't even have to schedule extra time to do it. Those otherwise idle minutes you tick off while riding on the bus or waiting in lines and offices make perfect "working hours". My family makes a game of brainstorming titles and word lists while we do our daily chores. Children especially love this form of play as a rainy-day or travel activity.
Just be sure, though, that you jot your ideas down! I always carry a pocket-sized memo notebook with me for this purpose. Remember, too, that if you intend to earn a consistent income as a puzzle writer, you'll have to generate a fairly steady flow of submissions. I've found that typing the new ideas from my notebook onto 5 X 8 index cards once a week — and then filing the thought starters for future reference — really helps. I put the title and sample word list on the front of the card, reserving the back to use for recording submittals by date mailed, date returned, and payment received (if any). That way, I have a ready supply of fresh puzzle ideas to develop while I'm waiting for a decision on earlier works . . . and a simple record keeping system!
All you need to "build" a puzzle is a good title, a list of appropriate words, and . . . well, a certain amount of diligence.
 can be placed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. You may also have noticed that at least 75 percent of the letters in any given solution are found in circled words (editors frown on too much "empty" space).
Keeping those factors in mind, start laying out your puzzle on quarter-inch graph paper. The exact size of your creation, obviously, will be determined by the number of words you include. For our purposes, though, let's say that there are between 30 and 40 words on your list . . . in which case a 15 X 15 square should be about right. Using a ruler, draw that box on the paper.
Now, start fitting words into the space: Pencil a word in (using a good dictionary to check each word even if it "looks right" to you) . . . scan your list for another that might intersect with one you've already placed (or that will tuck neatly into an open space) . . . write it in . . . and go on until the grid is nearly full and you've exhausted your list. Then fill in the empty spaces with random letters.
I've found that it's usually best to insert the longer words around the perimeter of the square first. Then I fill in the remainder of the puzzle a section at a time with the shorter ones. As you work, try to vary the direction of the words . . . and don't hesitate to add new words to your list if you need them to fill gaps. Whatever you do, be sure to check each one off your list as you use it, and lightly circle the word on the diagram. Otherwise, you may lose track of which words you've used, and of where you've placed them!
Chances are, you'll find constructing word search puzzles a real challenge at first. But eventually — with practice and patience — you'll develop your own word-fitting tricks and techniques . . . and before you know it, you'll be diagramming like a pro!
The best source for publications that purchase word-search puzzles is Writer's Market, a book published annually that lists buyers' addresses, editorial requirements, and payment rates (you'll find good prospects not only in the "Puzzles" section, but also among some of the more extensive consumer- and trade-magazine listings).
It's always a good idea to query a magazine regarding its current needs and general policies before you actually submit work for consideration. The periodical you have in mind may already be overstocked with puzzles on a certain theme, for example, or may be scouting around for word searches geared toward a particular holiday or event. And you may save yourself an unpleasant surprise by finding out beforehand whether the magazine pays on acceptance or only on publication (which can mean that there'll be a delay of several months before you get a check).
Be sure to request a copy of the buyer's puzzle guidelines, as well. Some editors want to see a title and sample word list before they'll give a go-ahead to construct the puzzle itself. Others insist on seeing finished puzzles, but only those that meet specific size criteria. Guidelines can help you tailor your submission to the editor's exact requirements, and can also alert you to a magazine's particular taboos (virtually all puzzle publications ban brand names, profanity, sexual terms, and ethnic labels).
 Type the word list and the puzzle and answer diagrams on separate sheets of 8 1/2 X 11 white bond (don't use onionskin or erasable paper) ... and mack topics for your files. Recheck the spelling of the words on your list and in your diagrams.
 Type your name, address, and Social Security number in the upper left corner of each sheet. Come down three spaces . . . type the puzzle's title . . . and then — three spaces below that — begin typing the list, letter grid, or answer diagram.
 Alphabetize and double-space the word list. Divide the roster evenly into no more than three columns.
 Double-space the letters, both horizontally and vertically, on your diagrams. Use capital letters only. When preparing the answer diagram, circle each word neatly, using black india ink.
Most magazines respond to submissions within three weeks. (Meanwhile, you can be working on your next batch of puzzles!) If you don't hear from the editor within a month, send a polite follow-up note. And don't let rejection slips get you down . . . they're an inevitable part of a free-lancer's life. Puzzle editors tend to be friendly folks and — because competition in this market is relatively low — they'll often give helpful advice to beginners. Just keep trying . . . and, sooner or later, you're sure to make your first sale!
In case you need a little extra inspiration to get you started in this business, I've worked up a word-search puzzle for you to solve. It's based on my observations a few rears back when I visited MOTHER EARTH NEWS' EcoVillage . . . and you shouldn't find the solution terribly difficult. What I'm hoping is that it'll get you to thinking, "Gee, I could put together a puzzle like this." Because the fact is, you can — anybody can — and get paid for doing it!
i love puzzles and i would love to create word search puzzles and get paid for it also! i want to do things i love and get paid for it. thank you!


The Sand Diver: A Lizardfish!
Are Rats Destroying our Coral Reefs?
Preliminary Catch Reports – Atlantic Swordfish Landings Down 17.2% for first half of 2018.
******************** ********************** ********** OCOVI originated and sponsors the Environmental Rangers Submersible Remotely Operated Vehicle Build Program, with IOOS - (US Integrated Ocean Observing System), an office of NOAA's National Ocean Service CARICOOS (Caribbean Coastal Ocean oserving System), funded by NOAA through the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (UPRM).
The official environmental heritage website of Camp Umoja and the Environmental Rangers.
ClimateChangeVI.org is a commissioned copyrighted product of Camp Umoja and the Environmental Rangers, conceived and produced by Karl Callwood and, in addition to producing unique content, accepts public input and commentary for publishing. Statements, posts and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the sponsors, producers, management and staff.
Camp Umoja and the Environmental Rangers is a part of Djabana's Kuumba Campground, Inc., a Virgin Islands registered non-profit founded 2003.


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Q: looping through an array of spans seems to remove all of the metadata I have made an array of spans, when I console log it I can see that it contains all of the metadata (maybe metadata is the wrong word here) that I want.

However, when I loop through the code and console.log each item all of the metadata disappears and it just displays the inner text.

This is a problem because I am trying to access the parent element, but it's returning null.
I have tried using console.dir instead of console.log but that came back completely blank.
My JavaScript is below, thank you for any input!
// Select all <span> elements
    const spanElements = document.querySelectorAll('span');

// Convert the NodeList to an array
const spanArray = Array.from(spanElements);

   // Select all <span> elements containing the estimated job length
    const lengthElements = spanArray.filter(element => element.innerText.includes('Estimated job length:'));
    console.log('lengthElements ', lengthElements)
    // Create an array to store the estimated job lengths
    const lengths = [];

    // Loop through the selected elements and extract the estimated job lengths
    for (let i = 0; i < lengthElements.length; i++) {
        console.log(`lengthElements[${i}] `, lengthElements[i])
        // Get the text inside the <span> element
        const text = lengthElements[i].innerText;
        console.log(`text ${text}`)

        // Extract the hours and minutes from the text
        const [hours, minutes] = [text.split(' ')[3], text.split(' ')[5]]

        // Get the checkbox element with the corresponding id
        const checkbox = document.getElementById(lengthElements[i].parentElement);
        console.log('length checkbox', checkbox)

        // Check if the checkbox is checked
        if (checkbox.checked) {
        // Add the hours and minutes to the array if the checkbox is checked
            lengths.push({ hours: Number(hours), minutes: Number(minutes) });
        };
    }

A: This is an X/Y problem.
Share the HTML and I can fix it easily.
The following is not a valid statement, since you do not pass an ID
document.getElementById(lengthElements[i].parentElement);
but fixing that will not help because you cannot have a checkbox parent element to a span or any other element because input is a void element and does not have a close tag in HTML
You need find the wrap or wrap the input AND the span in a label or other container. Then I would loop over all checked checkboxes in the nearest common static container and see if the inputElement.nextElementSibling or inputElement.closest("label").querySelector("span") had the text.


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FROM phusion/baseimage:latest

RUN add-apt-repository ppa:git-core/ppa
RUN apt-get update && \
    apt-get install -y git wget sudo make && \
    apt-get clean

RUN curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/github/git-lfs/script.deb.sh | bash && \
    rm /usr/local/bin/git-lfs || true && \
    rm /usr/bin/git-lfs || true  && \
    apt-get install -y git-lfs && \
    /usr/bin/git-lfs install && \
    apt-get install -y g++-multilib && \
    apt-get install -y libstdc++6 && \
    apt-get install -y clang

ADD . /app/

ARG PUID=1000
ARG PGID=1000
RUN groupadd -g $PGID zefiros && \
    useradd -u $PUID -g zefiros -m zefiros

# ssh:
ADD insecure_id_rsa /tmp/id_rsa
ADD insecure_id_rsa.pub /tmp/id_rsa.pub

ARG INSTALL_WORKSPACE_SSH=false
ENV INSTALL_WORKSPACE_SSH ${INSTALL_WORKSPACE_SSH}

RUN if [ ${INSTALL_WORKSPACE_SSH} = true ]; then \
    rm -f /etc/service/sshd/down && \
    cat /tmp/id_rsa.pub >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys \
        && cat /tmp/id_rsa.pub >> /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub \
        && cat /tmp/id_rsa >> /root/.ssh/id_rsa \
        && rm -f /tmp/id_rsa* \
        && chmod 600 /root/.ssh/authorized_keys /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub \
    && chmod 400 /root/.ssh/id_rsa \
;fi

# install ZPM:
RUN wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Zefiros-Software/ZPM/master/script/install-zpm.sh | bash

WORKDIR /app/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home > School Policies
The Policy Documents of the School of Computing, DCU are detailed below:
Staff-Student Charter
Welcome to the School of Computing in Dublin City University. You have joined a community of students (undergraduate and postgraduate), researchers and academic and non-academic staff. In order to function as a community we have certain expectations of each other.
What you can expect from us.
A supportive and stimulating learning environment.
A clear statement of the requirements to successfully complete a module when the module starts.
A consistent and efficient administrative support for your course and modules.
Staff members are available for consultation. You may need to contact a staff member to arrange a mutually suitable time.
Staff are contactable by phone, email and electronic forums.
Staff will try to answer a query, either by phone or email, as soon as possible. A staff member may have prior commitments and imminent deadlines in addition to your query but they will try to answer your question as soon as they can, usually within a week.
Fair and timely assessment of and feedback from continuous assessment.
Regular meetings to review progress with project supervisors.
A clear definition of unacceptable behaviour (such as plagiarism, cheating, collusion and beach of copyright).
A clear and fair mechanism for appeals.
What we expect from you.
Treat every member of the community with respect and dignity.
Respect the property of others.
Make yourself aware of DCU's and the School of Computing's regulations, and to observe them.
Make yourself aware of all course and module requirements, and to observe them.
Participate fully in all modules. This means attending all scheduled lab sessions, and participating in lectures and tutorials.
You should inform the School Office if you cannot attend a scheduled lab session.
Complete all continuous assessment on time. If you cannot complete a piece of continuous assessment on time due to illness, you should provide a certified doctor's note. An extension can then be discussed with the lecturer involved.
Make use of the resources available within the university to answer academic questions, e.g. lectures, tutorials, web pages, the library, forums, etc. If none of these are appropriate, contact the appropriate staff member.
When you are completing continuous assessment, you are expected to only submit your own work unless work from other sources is clearly referenced.
Your conduct in lectures or labs should not interfere with other students.
Comply with notices placed throughout the School.
Follow the instructions of staff in the event of an emergency.
Provide constructive feedback to help us improve the learning experience for all.
Attend meeting organised by your tutor or project supervisor.
Use the course support systems provided, such as Moodle.
General class issues should normally be directed through a class representative.
For latest policy document see School Research Committee [1] section on Intranet
The information contained on and the contents of the pages of this web site, including but not limited to the layout and expression, are the copyrighted work of Dublin City University (DCU) and/or its students, and may not be copied, transmitted, converted, transcribed or reproduced, except in accordance with the following permission:
You may print or download on any single personal computer, one copy of the contents of these pages (other than those excepted from this licence below) for your personal, non commercial use. All copyright notices, proprietary notices and disclaimers should also be copied;
The limited licence to copy materials on these pages does not include the design or layout of the DCU web site. Elements of the DCU web site are protected by trade dress, trademark, unfair competition and other laws, and may not be copied or imitated in whole or in part. No logo, graphic, sound or image from any page may be copied or re-transmitted, unless with prior DCU written authorisation;
In respect of any software, including source code, downloaded from these pages, title, including all intellectual property rights, shall vest in and remain vested in DCU and/or its students;
all rights not expressly granted herein are hereby reserved.
The limited licence to copy materials on these pages, set out above, does not permit the incorporation of the material, whether documentation or software, or any part thereof, in any other work or publication, whether in hard copy, electronic, or any other format. In particular, but without limitation, no part of these pages may be copied or distributed for any commercial purpose. No part of these pages may be reproduced or transmitted on, or to, or stored in, any other web site or other form of electronic retrieval system.
The information and documentation contained on these pages is provided for general information and general interest purposes only. Although, DCU and/or its students has taken all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy, currency, correctness and completeness of the information and documentation contained on these pages, the information and documentation is provided AS IS without any warranty of any kind, whether expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties or conditions of quality, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. The use of this web site is solely at the user's sole risk and DCU and/or its students shall not be liable for any loss or damage, howsoever arising, as a result of use of, or reliance on, the information and documentation set out on the pages of this web site, whether authorised or not, to the maximum extent permitted by the applicable law
If you do not accept the above terms and conditions of use of these web site pages then you are not entitled to use this web site.
Use of this web site shall be made subject to the laws of Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland) which shall exclusively govern the interpretation, application and effect of all permissions, exclusions, licences, policies, and conditions of use set out in this web site. The Courts of Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland) shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all claims or disputes arising in relation to, out of, or in connection with, this web site and its use. Both parties hereby consent to the admissibility of electronic evidence before the Courts of Ireland.
Statement on Intellectual Property Arising from Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Student Projects
This document addresses the ownership of intellectual property arising from work completed by undergraduate and taught postgraduate students as part of student projects in the School of Computing [2] at Dublin City University [3].
The University's research policy states that the "University shall have no vested interest in inventions developed by students who are not employees unless commitments to sponsoring agencies are involved." (see http://www.dcu.ie/research/research_policies.shtml [4]). This means that in general, students are in ownership of any exploitation rights arising from their own projects.
However, within the School of Computing there is a sliding scale of involvement of Academic Staff in devising, developing, guiding and otherwise contributing to project work, especially projects in the final year of degree programs and as part of taught Masters. This can vary from the case where
(a) the idea for the project comes from the staff member, the background information is provided by the staff member and the way in which the project is developed and implemented is closely monitored by the the staff member;
to the case where
(b) the idea for the project comes from the student who gathers all the background material and who receives little guidance from any member of staff.
Both of these extremes are common and acceptable to the School of Computing, although we do encourage students to avail of the experience and the expertise of our staff as much as possible.
Accordingly, and to encourage Academic Staff to contribute wholeheartedly to undergraduate projects it is fair that the contribution of such staff in cases where staff make a significant contribution to a project, be acknowledged through their own part-ownership of intellectual property arising from that project.
Where student and staff member are in agreement about such division of potential intellectual property then the following form [5] (in PDF) should be completed and signed by both student and staff, ahead of the commencement of the project. One signed copy should be retained by the student, one signed copy should be retained by by the staff member. In the case of joint projects (with more than one student involved) then one of the collaborating students should sign and retain on behalf of all students involved.
In order to prevent unauthorised use of source code from student projects, the School undertakes henceforth not to make source code for student projects generally available on the WWW, except for the purposes of assessment and examination, and for subsequent use in follow-on project project work within the school. Unless it is expressly agreed otherwise, in advance of the commencement of a project, students agree to their project code and documentation being made available for this purpose. This is in line with our policy on copyright [6] for such matters.
This document applies to undergraduate and taught postgraduate students only. Under the section entitled "Invention Rights of Students" the University policy (see http://www.dcu.ie/research/research_policies.shtml [4]) states
"Students employed by the University in any capacity are covered by the terms of this [University] policy. In addition, where a student receives financial aid or remuneration under a sponsored research, training or fellowship programme, his/her rights in any invention are limited by the terms of the University agreement with the sponsoring agency."
IP Agreement Form [5] 4.74 KB
Plagarism Statement
Notice to Students: COPYING
Copying another person's work and presenting it as your own is a very serious offence.
Just as it is wrong to copy in examinations, so it is a serious offence to copy someone else's solution to an exercise and submit it as your own. Allowing someone else to copy your work is just as bad.
General discussion of exercises with your colleagues is a healthy part of your educational experience and is not discouraged. But general discussion of a solution to a programming problem does not lead to identical code. It is one thing to obtain a hint for a small part of an exercise, or to invite an opinion on a difficulty you've encountered, quite another to copy a solution. If you are in doubt as to when that line is crossed, ask a lecturer.
Collusion is also wrong. It is not permissible for a solution to be developed jointly by two or more students when it is set as an individual exercise.
Sharing or obtaining solutions to assessed exercises by e-mail, floppy disk, file sharing, web access, or by any similar mechanism opens the door to copying and you should never do it, even if your motives are good. Similarly, taking computer printouts that are not your own may bring you under suspicion.
There are circumstances in which you may reasonably use another person's work, such as when you incorporate a publicly available component into a program, or when you write an essay or term paper that draws on the writing of others. Apart from where the exercise explicitly requires you to do this, you must unambiguously acknowledge the extent to which your work incorporates that of others. The writings of others must be paraphrased in your own words and sentence structures unless you are quoting directly (in which case you must indicate this with quotation marks or similar).
The School does not treat incidences of copying lightly. University policy requires that allegations of copying be referred to the University's Disciplinary Committee. Quite apart from being denied credit for the exercise, those found guilty of copying are liable to severe penalties. This may include a student's entire examination results being declared void, or the student being refused an award with honours.
Remember that a reference request from a prospective employer may well ask about your integrity, and our response will inevitably refer to your honesty in doing assessed coursework. Copying is cheating, and should have no part in your approach to your work.
Computer Labs Usage Rules
Lab Rules
These regulations are additional to the rules laid out by ISS [7] on the use of computers in the University.
UNACCEPTABLE USE OF FACILITIES!
Specifically: Viewing of PORNOGRAPHY, sharing of ACCOUNTS, nuisance network BROADCASTS, playing of GAMES, nuisance and anonymous or impersonated EMAIL, bringing FOOD or DRINK into CA building, are all considered to be UNACCEPTABLE uses of University facilities, and will be treated as disciplinary offences.
If discovered by any staff member the following penalties are implemented:
€20 for a first offence, student's School of Computing account disabled until the fine is paid.
€50 for a second offence, student's School of Computing account disabled until the fine is paid. Subsequent offences to be dealt with by Head of School.
Fine Payment Procedure:
Deposit the fine using the printer paystation located in the Foyer.
Email fines@computing.dcu.ie [8] stating that the fine is paid.
On receipt of email and verification of fine payment, the student's School of Computing account is re-enabled.
The policy applies to ALL students using these facilities, and will be enforced without exception 24 hours per day
NOTE: "GAMES" INCLUDES GAMES SOFTWARE DOWNLOADED OVER THE INTERNET.
NOTE: ALL USER ACCOUNT ACTIVITIES ARE MONITORED, AND IF ANY BREACHES OCCUR THE ACCOUNT OWNER WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.
First Aid Procedure
firstaid.pdf [9] 15.35 KB
Heath_and_Safety_Statement_SoC_2018.pdf [10] 616.33 KB
This page describes the policy of the School of Computing for ensuring research projects at undergraduate and taught Masters levels conform to the University's guidelines for research ethics best practice. PhD supervisors or Principal Investigators for funded projects are responsible for ensuring that projects at PhD level or funded from outside sources, conform to the University's guidelines.
Please refer to the DCU Research Ethics Committee for guidance.
https://www.dcu.ie/researchsupport/rec_guidance.shtml [11]
Source URL: https://www.computing.dcu.ie/policies/school-policies
[1] https://www.computing.dcu.ie/intranet/school-research-committee
[2] https://www.computing.dcu.ie/
[3] http://www.dcu.ie/
[4] http://www.dcu.ie/research/research_policies.shtml
[5] https://www.computing.dcu.ie/sites/default/files/documents/policies/intellectual-property/IP_Agreement.pdf
[6] https://www.computing.dcu.ie/policies/copyright-statement
[7] http://www.dcu.ie/info/regulations/computing.shtml
[8] mailto:fines@computing.dcu.ie
[9] https://www.computing.dcu.ie/sites/default/files/documents/policies/first-aid-procedure/firstaid.pdf
[10] https://www.computing.dcu.ie/sites/default/files/documents/policies/health-safety-statement/Heath_and_Safety_Statement_SoC_2018.pdf
[11] https://www.dcu.ie/researchsupport/rec_guidance.shtml


text:
Q: Using bash to receive UDP packet payloads with source address and port? I need to listen for UDP packets, which could come from any address and any port to my listening UDP ports.
In my bash script I need to take action based on, the source address, the source port and the payload text.
I have to use bash because of memory limitation and coding ability on my part.
I initially used ncat to receive the payload for instance
ncat  -ul 8787

The problem with this is, once netcat has received a packet from one source ip address and port, it will not receive packets from other source addresses or ports.
Another problem is that netcat doesn't print the source IP and port of each packet, which I also need.
Another alternative is using tcpdump
For instance
tcpdump -n udp port 8787

Will output one line per packet
04:31:35.934203 IP 1.1.1.1.8787 > 192.168.2.102.8787: UDP, length 5

Includes source IP and port, but not the payload
Another configuration
tcpdump -lnA  udp port 8787

04:28:06.140486 IP 1.1.1.1.8787 > 192.168.2.102.8787: UDP, length 5
E(.!S.@...N........f"S"S....test
(............
04:28:08.798009 IP 1.1.1.1.8787 > 192.168.2.102.8787: UDP, length 5
E(.!Y.@.......~....f"S"S....test
(............

This prints all I need, but parsing all that excess gibberish in bash seems infeasible to me. I don't know all possible ways UDP packets can be interpreted, it seems I would need to write an entire UDP decoder stack to use this. (unless I put a ugly hack)
Yet another tcpdump command line
tcpdump -lnxA  udp port 8787

This one produces a more verbose, but cleaner, all hexadecimal output out the whole packet
04:27:48.580050 IP 1.1.1.1.8787 > 192.168.2.102.8787: UDP, length 5
        0x0000:  4528 0021 5301 4000 2e11 4f06 17ea cfa4
        0x0010:  c0a8 0266 2253 2253 000d 1eb7 7465 7374
        0x0020:  0a28 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
04:27:57.215598 IP 2.2.2.2.8787 > 192.168.2.102.8787: UDP, length 5
        0x0000:  4528 0021 5e0f 4000 2e11 e6e5 c694 7e0c
        0x0010:  c0a8 0266 2253 2253 000d c1a4 7465 7374
        0x0020:  0a28 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000

Does an easier alternative exist, again, in bash, to receive the source ip address, source port and text payload for each UDP packet I receive on that UDP port ?
Thanks


text:
PHOTO: Nina Weiss Photography Phantoms vs. WolfPack 2-17-17
All photos in this post courtesy Nina Weiss/Highland Park Hockey
Game 50 Hartford at Lehigh Valley 2/17/17
Editor's Note: Going to try something new to add yet another element to our Lehigh Valley Phantoms game night coverage. The plan is to feature more of our awesome photographers' work associated with game night photos taken at the games.
Make sure you're following Highland Park Hockey's Nina Weiss (@trancemoment) for all the best in-game action photos when the Phantoms play both at home and on the road.
After the jump, some photos from last night's 3-2 loss to the Hartford WolfPack at PPL Center Friday night.
Danick Martel was active throughout Friday night's game.
Here's Martel after a net front battle. He might be undersized, but he's not afraid to get to the dirty areas of the ice.
Cole Bardeau comes to a halt after entering the offensive zone.
Scott Laughton made his return to the Phantoms' lineup after a two-game injury absence. He scored a goal in third period that made it a one goal game.
The Phantoms spent most of the night in the offensive zone. Here's Radel Fazleev shielding a Hartford defender and attempting to get to the puck to the net.
Phantoms were shooting from everywhere, racking up 44 shots on net. Look at that flex though on one of T.J. Brennan's point shots.
Phantoms dominated the neutral zone as well after the first 10 minutes of the game. Here's Travis Sanheim and Mark Zengerle teaming up to get the puck up ice.
Despite their efforts, the Phantoms came up short to Hartford Friday night 3-2. Everyone in a WolfPack uniform knew the reason why they were able to get the two points. Goaltender Brandon Halverson stopped 42 shots.


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