Category Archives: Mind Uploading

Around the middle of our meeting, observing my fingers on the computer keyboard, Lior Shamir tells me he is sure it will soon be possible to extract a great deal of personal information from my typing rhythm. In theory, Your medical condition could be gleaned just from the speed of your typing, says the Israeli-born professor. He speaks with the ease of a scientist who for years has been breaking images down into millions of fragments of information, and thereby translating reality into dimensions of which most of us are not even aware.

I have no doubt that in another 50 years quite a bit will be written about this period, he notes in his dry, analytical, measured and restrained style. They will write about how people gave all their personal data so freely to organizations, even though they didnt have the slightest idea what use is being made of the sensitive information, he continues. For a moment its not clear whether hes more outraged by the invasive collection of information or by the nonchalance with which people surrender their privacy.

Shamir, an associate professor in the computer science department of Kansas State University, has no intention of becoming part of the intrusive effort to round up everyones personal information even though probably few scientists in the world could collect it as efficiently, systematically and precisely as he. In recent years he has published a series of fascinating and widely discussed research studies, based on the advanced programs he has developed.

Using them, he is able to break down vast quantities of information into dry data and exact numbers. He has studied hundreds of political speeches, thousands of works of art, hundreds of hours of music, the performance of thousands of soccer players, and numberless images of galaxies moving through space. He has also done a comparative analysis of thousands of hours of dialogue between whales in the ocean depths, in different parts of the world.

An example is an article Shamir published last December in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, which generated considerable attention. Its a comparative analysis, unprecedented in scope, of the changes in the nature of Western popular music from the 1950s to today. He analyzed 6,150 songs, all of which appeared on Billboard magazines top 100 chart from 1951 to 2016. The program he wrote breaks down the songs content into levels of anger, fear, anxieties, love and other emotions.

The results of the study show clearly how music changed over the years, he says. The emotions that were expressed in the music of the 1950s are completely different from the emotions contained in songs of the 2000s. Todays music expresses far more anxiety, far more sadness, and there are far fewer expressions of happiness.

Shamir pulls from his laptop a detailed graph quantifying the language disparities between Eminem and John Lennon, and between Bob Marley and Elton John. All told, the research shows, since the 1950s expressions of anger and disgust have doubled, fear has surged by 50 percent and, at the same time, openness and personal security have plunged by dozens of percentage points.

The professor makes no pretense of being a music critic or a scholar of culture. But he does not want his research to remain at the level of arid graphics, and tries to impart a social-cultural interpretation to the findings. In the 1950s, music played a very different role from what it did beginning in the mid-1960s, he explains.

In the 1950s, music was meant to entertain, to make people happy. But from the mid-1960s, we see a sharp rise in the fear and anger being expressed in the songs, the immediate context of which was the Vietnam War and the flower generation that sprang up in its wake. In that period, music changed its goal; it became a tool for social protest. The leading example is Bob Dylan, who enjoyed tremendous popularity in those years. In parallel, we see the change undergone by the Beatles, for example with Nowhere Man [December 1965], their first song that doesnt deal with love and romantic themes.

Did the songs become angrier and less happy because society grew more frightened and angrier, or was it the singers who changed and suddenly developed a social and political awareness? We will never know what would have happened if Bob Dylan had created his music in the 1940s, but we can assume that there were quite a few critical artists in the 1940s, too, only their music was received with less openness than was the case in the 1960s and 1970s. So the change occurred in the public, which was now receptive to their music. In the same way, today there is far greater openness toward rap songs that contain a great deal of verbal violence, which in the past simply would not have been acceptable. You can find violent songs in the 1940s and 1950s, too, but their public consisted of small, marginal groups.

How do you account for the openness you describe?

It has to do with the fact that the style of speech in the public space has undergone a change. Things that used to be spoken in private can be heard today in public, including in the political field, which has become far more outspoken. In addition, the internet and the social networks have made artists far less dependent on the big recording companies, which is also why they are a lot less limited in what they can say.

Shamir offers an amusing example, in which the program he developed faced an interesting public test. In 2016 there was a big scandal when some claimed the theme song of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics very much resembled the song Let it Go [from the Disney movie Frozen], he relates. In the wake of this, the periodical Foreign Policy asked me to let the program analyze the song and see what it resembled. To Shamirs delight, the program did not let him down. The computer immediately identified the great musical resemblance between the two songs, he says with a satisfied smile.

In connection with computer-generated information-gathering, what leaps instantly to mind is the controversy surrounding the British firm Cambridge Analytica, which made headlines after revelations of its involvement in the 2016 U.S. election campaign. The company specialized in collecting data and analyzing information it had acquired from 50 million different Facebook profiles. With these it generated personality and behavioral models that enabled the firm to create personalized political campaigns. For every American user, a political slogan that played on his deepest fears; for every Facebook fan, an election broadcast adapted to personality, friends, hobbies, likes, desires, education, age and other information that was collected about him from his own account.

Although this whole phenomenon has often been described in terms of a danger to democracy Shamir seems to treat it as small change, as the tip of the iceberg.

What they did is dangerous and problematic, but its still nothing, he says. Im talking about the ability to create a complete model of your medical condition and your probable life expectancy from the pace of your typing, the time at which you open the computer in the morning, the frequency of your tweets, the number of Facebook friends, your age, the content of your emails, the pictures you upload to Instagram, the clips you put on Facebook, the number of hours youre active at the computer.

Today, we know that a persons walking pace can be an indication of how many years he has left to live. Through the pupils of the eyes we can know which diseases a person suffers from. There have been cases of someone uploading a picture to the social network and a physician diagnosing, through the eyes, that hes suffering from a certain disease. People wear all kinds of smart watches with sensors that record sensitive medical information, such as pulse and blood pressure.

Sounds intense? Shamir doesnt stop there: The way you move the mouse can provide plenty of information about you. Even the frequency of your blinking can supply sensitive medical information about you. A human being cannot analyze so much information, he doesnt have the tools to cope with more than a few dimensions at a time. But a program can be created that will allow you to analyze 4,000 different dimensions for every person, and at the same time cross-check the information with that of tens of millions of other people.

Who has an interest in compiling a vast digitized database about blink frequency and the waking-up habits of millions of people?

Think about what will happen when life insurance companies possess all that sensitive information and will be able to decide, on the basis of an evaluation of the lifespan of every person, whom to sell a policy to and how much to charge each client. And what about old-age homes, which obviously will prefer to accept people with a short life expectancy, who will pay a high initial price and vacate the room as quickly as possible, over those who will occupy a place for many years. Banks and financial institutions will be able to draw up a profile not only of your medical situation but also of your decision-making habits, and on that basis evaluate the prospect of your repaying a loan, or not. Employers will be able to decide on the basis of the profile whom to hire and whom to reject.

To the bone

Shamir, 47, was born in Kiryat Ono and studied computer science at Tel Aviv University. He is married, with two daughters. His wife, Mirit, also works at Kansas State, as coordinator of the program for advanced degrees. In 2003, Shamir moved to the United States, earning his PhD in computational science and engineering at Michigan Technological University. His postdoctoral work was done at the National Institutes for Health in Baltimore, where he tried to develop logarithms for early detection of arthritic diseases in elderly people.

Some arthritic diseases are incurable, but if they are caught early, its possible to delay significantly their rate of development by changing eating habits, losing weight and so on, he notes. The problem, which crops up in most of his research studies, is not a lack of information per se, but the difficulty of analyzing all the information. In this case, there were thousands of x-ray images with very minor levels of deviation, which the human eye cannot detect.

For decades, thousands of people came to the institute every few years to be x-rayed, the professor relates. When 40 percent of them came down with arthritic diseases later in life, the institute staff went back to the early x-rays and fed them into Shamirs program, with the aim of discovering a pattern that could indicate the existence of early symptoms. What the computer found is that the disease starts with the bone and not necessarily with the cartilage, as was usually thought until then, he explains now.

But why waste time talking about arthritis, when there are far more interesting subjects at hand, such as a comparative analysis between annual salary and the field performances of thousands of soccer players around the world?

The truth is that Im not really interested in soccer, Shamir admits, adding that the study sprang from a masters dissertation written in his department. He and his students drew on information collected by FIFA, the international soccer association, which included the detailed monitoring of 6,082 players from dozens of leagues worldwide (not including Israel, by the way).

The height of their leaps, speed, power, pass accuracy, ball losses, goals, assists, fouls, head-butting all told, no fewer than 55 different criteria for each player in the 2016-2017 season were analyzed. I asked Shamir about the importance of a study like this. He admitted that if hed had to invest a lot of time on it, he probably would have dropped it. Its a study that has entertainment significance. There is no exciting scientific discovery. But a few seconds later, he adds, On the other hand, billions of people around the world follow soccer, so who am I to say its not important enough?

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Why Messi is grossly overpaid and how blinking can expose our medical history - Haaretz

I hate my job! Have you ever said that?

Chances are if youve held any position for any length of time at all, youve uttered the wordsI hate my job.It seems like a prevailing attitude these days.

Let me contrast hating your job from pursuingearly retirementorfinancial freedom because you want to have more control over your time and your life. Though some have said they hate their jobs, most want to take more control of their lives and put together a plan to get there sooner rather than later.

Im talking about those of us who say I hate my job but feel like they cant do anything about it.

There are a lot of reasons for being unhappy with our jobs. Heres a shortlist too many meetings, bad bosses, not enough vacation time, long hours, not appreciated, too much stress, not fulfilling, or not what matches my education.

Can I be honest with you? As the saying goes, these are first world problems. Sometimes I think we forget how good we have it. Ill spare you the soapbox about how good we have it in this country relative to the rest of the world. And Im certainly not suggesting that anyone should stay in a job thats causing them stress that leads to health problems.

Heres the thing that bothers me. I think we have lost perspective on work. That scares me a bit. If everyone hated their jobs and decided to quit, where would that leave the economy? It would be a mess. Thankfully, not everyone quits their jobs.

But should they? What should we do if we find ourselves in an unbearable job situation? Should we tell our boss to shove it? Stick it out?

Thats what I want to talk about in this post.

Polls and studies tell us that the vast majority of people hate their jobs. A couple of years ago, in 2017, Gallup conducted a survey on workplace happiness. In reality, it was about workplace unhappiness. The title of the study,The Worlds Broken Workplace, says it all. The results show that a staggering 85% of the workers of the world say they hate their jobs. Im not making this up. Its not that they dont like their jobs. They say they hate them.

The reason they cite the most? They hate their boss. Heres a quote from the article:

According to Gallups World Poll, many people in the world hate their job and especially their bossEmployees everywhere dont necessarily hate the company or organization they work for as much as they do their boss. Employees

Wow! And there is more:

Only 15% of the worlds one billion full-time workers are engaged at work. It is significantly better in the U.S., at around 30% engaged, but this still means that roughly 70% of American workers arent engaged. It would change the world if we did better.

Whichever study you choose to use, the evidence is clear. People are unhappy with their jobs!

I hesitate to put this first. But I understand the reality. Many of you cant see your way out of ever being happy with your current job situation. So, lets look at some ways you can find another job.

First, get thatkiller resume ready. The resume should be your best first impression. Spend time getting that together. Consult an expert if you think that will help. Have others look it over and make suggestions. Dont skimp on this step. Most get passed over. Yours needs to stand out. Make sure it does.

If youre in a job that pays $100k or more, Ladders is your best option. You can post your resume there, get into networking groups, and so much more. Even if youre not looking for a $100k plus job, its a great site to get educated on the process.

Indeed.comis another excellent place to look. Their site is much more broad-based. YOu can enter keywords into a search box describing the kinds of jobs you want. Uploading your resume is a simple process. They have profiles of numerous companies you can research. You can search by salary range, income, location, and many more.

LinkedInis another great job search site. Go to theJobs taband search for the jobs you want. Here, you can leverage your connections, get introductions, and much more.

These three would be my top choices to start the job search.

With that out of the way, I would suggest this not be your first step. Ill tell you why when I cover the next few things to do.

Im probably stepping into some dangerous territory here with this one. But if we dont do some self-reflection when things arent going our way, we are more prone to bad decisions.

Have you noticed it? The blame game is alive and well. It seems like most of us dont want to take responsibility for our actions. Thats especially true when it comes to our mistakes. Its much easier to find fault in someone else. In reality, the responsibility may not be with anyones mistake. It may have everything to do withour mindset.

Carol Dweck, who wrote a great book on the topic of mindset,Mindset, The New Psychology of Success, says the following:

Im probably stepping into some dangerous territory here with this one. But if we dont do some self-reflection when things arent going our way, we are more prone to bad decisions.

Have you noticed it? The blame game is alive and well. It seems like most of us dont want to take responsibility for our actions. Thats especially true when it comes to our mistakes. Its much easier to find fault in someone else. In reality, the responsibility may not be with anyones mistake. It may have everything to do withour mindset.

Carol Dweck, who wrote a great book on the topic of mindset,Mindset, The New Psychology of Success, says the following:

In one world, effort is a bad thing.It, like failure, means youre not smart or talented.If you were, you wouldnt need effort.In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.

Your Mindset

The latter description is the growth mindset. The former is a fixed mindset. If you have a fixed mindset in life, you will likely be miserable in your job. Heres how I described it in anarticle on the subject of mindset:

People with a fixed mindset believe their essential qualities,like talents and intelligence, are fixed traits.Rather than spending their time developing them, they spend time documenting their ability or knowledge.They believe their talent and intelligence are the keys to their success.Hard work has no bearing on it.Dr. Dweck says for those with a fixed mindset,its not enough just to succeed.You have to be flawless.Its the belief that says if youve got it, youve got it.If you dont, you dont.

Its a dangerous perfectionist mindset. Do you look at yourself as being flawless? If so, how do you think that impacts those around you at work? Be willing to examine yourself critically to look at your role in your unhappiness at work. People with a growth mindset are always looking for ways to learn and grow.

As yourself some of the following questions.

If youre one who says I hate my job, take a look at what it is you hate about it. Is it the area of the company? Do you hate your boss? Is the work boring? If you could do something else with the company, what would it be?

If, after self-reflection, you feel youve done everything you can, its time to talk to your boss. Before you do, though, get yourself in the right frame of mind. If you go in with an attitude, or with an accusing tone, it wont go well for you. If youre angry and cant get rid of that anger, dont have the conversation until youve settled down. Often, the root of the problems at the workplace comes down to communication.

Im not saying your boss isnt a jerk. He or she very well be a jerk. What I am saying is that it doesnt mean they arent willing to change. Think about what you want to say before setting up the meeting. Write down your thoughts. Talk to your spouse, partner, significant other, or a good friend. Vet it out with someone you trust. Be careful when you do that to look critically at both sides of the issue. There are always two sides to every story. As you contemplate the conversation, try to get a feel for your bosss side of the story. Look at things from their perspective.

Dont turn assumptions based on your feelings into facts. Facts are just that facts. Just because you think you know why someone does something, that doesnt make it a fact. Its an opinion. Look at the other possibilities outside of what you think.

Everyone is fighting a battle. Someone who is a jerk is likely an unhappy person. They have baggage you dont know about. You have baggage they dont know about. Understanding that aspect of the human condition is helpful when preparing to have tough conversations.

Lets say that, after answering the previous questions, you find there may be another place in the company thats a better fit. Do you have the skills or education to move into that position? If not, what would it take to get those skills?

Once you have the answer to that question, put together a plan to get that education. Most companies nowadays offer assistance to advance your knowledge. Most want to help those who wish to further their careers with their company. Pursue that education and make yourself a better employee.If it turns out that the job you want and the skills you need to get it is outside of your current company, put together a plan to get those skills or that education.

According to thePew Research studyreferenced earlier, people in management are much more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. They are salaried employees with excellent benefits as part of the job. People in retail, manual operations have fewer benefits and lower job satisfaction. The survey shows that 59% of people earning $75,000 or more in salary say they are very satisfied with their current job.

Get the additional skills, degree, or certification you need to move into the higher-paying jobs. Work on your income by working on your education and skills.

Finding other sources of income may sound far-fetched if youre miserable in your current job and working long, stressful hours. For a refresher, go back to #2 and check on your mindset. Were going to assume you want to get better and improve your position.Finding financial independencebrings options to your life. Having multiple sources of income is one of the best paths to get there.

Sides hustles for busy peopleare possible. There are numerous ways to make money that dont take a lot of time. Not sure where to start? I get it. If youre one of those people, who say I hate my job and you feel stuck, thinking about side hustles can be difficult. If that describes you, please dont give up hope. Whether youre an introvert, extrovert, or a combination of both (yes, thats possible), there are numerous ways toearn side income.

The most successful people who retire comfortably have more than one source of income. It may be frominvestments in real estate,dividend-paying stocks, businesses, or a simple part-time job. You would be surprised how little money and time it takes to get started in some of these side hustles or investments.

Dont think its impossible because you dont have the time or skills. You have plenty of both. Focusing on a plan to create additional income is a marathon, not a spring. It wont get you out of the job you hate tomorrow.

However, it might make it easier to put up with or feel better about it if you know you have a plan to move away.

I am keenly aware that anyone reading this whos in the I hate my job mindset, might find this oversimplified. Id go so far as to say it might even piss you off. I mean, no one wants to hear about the changes and steps they need to take to improve a difficult job situation. Its much easier to put the onus on another person. Perhaps you put it on the company, the culture, or all of these things.

Heres what I know. There is one and only one thing we can control in these kinds of situations. No, it isnt our boss. Nor is it the companys management (though they may be horrible). It isnt the work environment. It isnt any of those things. You know where Im going with this. The one thing we can control is us. We cant control our circumstances, only how we react and respond to them.

Its our choice. We can stay stuck in the mindset of trying to force change on others. Or we can take matters into our own hands and change the one thing we can control.

Make no mistake. Its easier said than done. I realize that. We will have a much better chance for success when the focus of the change and examination is on ourselves, rather than the one we think is the reason for our misery.

There is a lot more that we could say about this kind of situation. I like to keep things simple. The five items listed here are, at the very least, a starting point to help get you unstuck.

This article first appeared on The Money Mix.

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Jobs What can I do if I hate my job? Here are 5 things - Ladders

The first time YouTube tried live-streaming, it failed. YouTube Gaming began in 2015, after Google tried and failed to buy Twitch, and as of this May the project was shuttered because it was confusing for users. It was pretty bad. It could not have been worse, to be completely honest, says the e-sports consultant and broadcaster Rod Breslau, when I reach him by phone. The failure knocked YouTube out of the race it had been in with Twitch to win the hearts and minds of the streaming class, and it kept the company from really developing a robust live-streaming community. Its death, however, was not the end.

In recent months, YouTube has been positioning itself for another run at the crown. Juiced by the impending arrival of Google Stadia, the companys first foray into cloud gaming, YouTubes been on a hunt for talent it can use to draw new viewers to its platform. Its especially wild when you consider that YouTube the most popular video platform on the planet already has stars with millions of followers. That, combined with the fact that the platform also has the most effective video distribution network on the internet, means that YouTube could reshape live-streaming in its image. That is, if it learned its lessons from the last go-round.

The bigger question, though, remains: will YouTube be able to capitalize on the opportunity?

In the last month, YouTube cut deals with Jack CouRage Dunlop and Lachlan Power, who between them commanded about 3 million followers on Twitch. While Im sure they were paid handsomely, Dunlop and Power will also benefit from plugging themselves into YouTubes scale. According to Breslau, during Fortnites black hole event, there were about three times as many people watching the hole on YouTube as there were on Twitch. According to YouTube, Powers stream alone maxed out at 198,976 live concurrents, which is a truly staggering number. To put that in perspective: Tim Timthetatman Betar, one of the most followed creators on Twitch, drew in 100,000.

More recently, the League of Legends World Championship semi-final happened last weekend, drawing in a peak of just about 4 million concurrent viewers a number that, according to Breslau, made the event the most watched e-sports event of all time in the west (excluding China). And there were more people watching it on YouTube than on Twitch.

The difference in viewership can be explained by the difference in audience. Twitch, as a platform, has a community built specifically around live streams; YouTubes community is centered around events and prerecorded videos. There isnt really a culture around streaming on the site, or at least not much of one outside of political events and lo-fi chill anime beats streams. But paradoxically, its also generally better for YouTubers to stream on YouTube because thats where their audiences are.

YouTube wants viewers to get more used to seeing live streams on the site. In an email, Ryan Wyatt, head of gaming at YouTube, wrote that part of the reason that YouTube folded gaming back into its main site was to make sure live-streaming was introduced to the entire YouTube audience.

Some YouTubers do go over to Twitch to live stream, but their viewership is nowhere near what they can pull in on YouTube; it can be orders of magnitude different. YouTube, Breslau says, is the only platform with an endemic fan base with millions of subscribers for millions of creators already. And you already have a platform with all of the subscribers on your platform. Translation: its much easier to stream to the audience you already have than it is to find a new one, because its easier to convert fans into concurrent viewers than it is to convert internet strangers into fans.

Here, Felix PewDiePie Kjellberg is probably the best example. Earlier this year he announced hed signed an exclusive streaming deal with DLive, a blockchain-fueled live-streaming platform that doesnt have a huge viewership. He has just over 640,000 followers on DLive an impressive number, but nothing compared to his YouTube audience. On YouTube, he is the most followed creator on the platform, with an utterly bonkers 102 million people. If Kjellberg ever streams on YouTube, where his videos regularly pull in millions of views, it will proverbially break the internet. Many of those 102 million people would get a notification alerting them to a stream at the same time; if even 1 percent of Kjellbergs total audience shows up, thats one million concurrent viewers.

Either way, the platform itself doesnt seem to mind: Wyatt wrote that the site planned to always invest in YouTube creators, even if part of their business is on another platform. In his message to me, he also alluded to the fact that YouTube is actually winning the streaming wars. Regardless of where Creators are streaming, they are all uploading on YouTube, he wrote, and we will be sure to continue to support them since every Gaming creator is a YouTube creator.

The point of all this is vertical integration. YouTube paying creators millions to stream exclusively on the site is just Google buying viewers for Stadia, which neatly integrates with YouTube in ways that encourage streamers to use it. While Twitch is trying to own the future of live television, Microsoft and Google are going head to head in the console wars. As Breslau says, Microsoft bought Michael shroud Grzesiek and Tyler Ninja Blevins to make Project Scarlett, its upcoming console, a success. Obviously they want to make YouTube and Mixer big platforms, but the larger tech portion of it these consoles that are coming out in the next year or two are a significant reason why this is happening.

Its also why were absolutely going to see more big names change platforms in the near future. All of this is good for streamers, of course: they get a hefty payday, sometimes in the seven-figure range, just for changing where they create their content. Its nothing to the platforms, either to them, its like paying a toll with change you found in your couch. And for viewers, its simple: if you like a streamer, youll follow them wherever they decide to go.

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YouTube enters the live-streaming fight (again) - The Verge

DAWN appeared on MBCs Radio Star on November 13 and shared some insights into his relationship with HyunA!

This was DAWNs first time on a variety show on his own, and he shared that HyunA had told him to be careful about what he said. When Kim Gura suggested that he just talk honestly, DAWN said, Im not good at lying.

DAWN and HyunA both released their new singles on November 5 and held a comeback showcase together as good-natured rivals. DAWN said, I was much lower in the rankings, but we didnt focus on the rankings, and it was just a good-natured competition. We did it because it seemed like it would be a good motivation.

DAWN went on to say, HyunA said that she was the first one to confess and say that we should date, but it was me. When I was a trainee, there was a time when I helped her for a performance. We met for the first time then, and HyunA says that she started liking me then.

When asked if hed felt an interest for her too, DAWN replied, To be honest, I didnt. Kim Gura said that was natural since she was huge star, and DAWN confirmed that was the reason.

HyunA said that she felt more interested in me because while other men showed they were interested in her, I didnt, said DAWN.

DAWN also shared a story about what their dating life is like. He said that HyunA is the scariest when she gets mad and calls him by his real name. I dont get mad much myself, he said. I always apologize first. If Im angry, then once HyunA has her back turned, Ill swear at her back so that she doesnt hear.

DAWN spoke about how he went through a difficult time after they revealed that they are dating. I tend to be really optimistic, he said. Even if I fight with HyunA,by the time I turn around Ive forgotten about it. Im not even that affected by malicious comments. But atthat time, the people that were everything to me turned their backs on me, so it was hard then. I felt like Id lost everything, and I was worried about even goingoutside in case someone recognized me.

He shared that hed managed to get over that feeling after starting to use social media for his fans. There were a lot of fans there who were supporting me, he said.

He later said that he wanted to clear up a misunderstanding thats been caused by their social media posts. He said that many people seem to misunderstand and think that HyunA likes him more than he likes her because shes often uploading pictures of them together and expressing her affection for him. He explained that he doesnt do it much because he feels awkward uploadingphotos like that himself. He clarified, I think I like her more.

DAWN was asked if hes ever thought about a potential break-up with HyunA. Ive talked about it with HyunA, he replied. People around us have said to us, If you break up after youve dated publicly, all of your posts will still be there. What are you going to do?'

DAWN explained, HyunA said, Lets not delete our photos, even if we break up. Its natural for young people to date and then break up, and its possible that we could date again. It would remain as a good memory, so I think that things like deleting all of our photos arent really our style.

He also surprised the hosts when he shared how he and HyunA confidently show their affection for each other in front of his parents. DAWN said, Ive always liked showing affection, ever since I was young. I was like that with my parents too without any hesitation.

He shared, The most recent time my parents came to visit me, HyunA lived close by too so we all met together, he said. I naturally showed my affection for HyunA in front of my parents too. My parents didnt mind at all. But HyunA The hosts joked that she must have been shocked and tried to shy away when he did that, and he laughed and said it was a bit like that. The hosts asked if theyd held hands, hugged, and gave kisses on the cheek, and he said they had.

Watch Radio Star below!

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DAWN Shares What He And HyunA Would Do With Their Photos Online If They Broke Up, How They Act In Front Of Parents, And More - soompi

Every four to six years, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) celebrates its unity and plans its next season at a General Assembly (GA), gathering some 800 leaders from all over the globe. It takes care of administrative procedures and serves to formulate a fresh vision for the 600 million Evangelical community. The last General Assembly was to be held in 2014 in Seoul, South Korea, but was postponed until 2019.

For seven days, November 7-13, Indonesias capital Jakarta hosted the WEAs 13th General Assembly since the 1950s. A line borrowed from the Lords Prayer, Your Kingdom Come, served as main theme of the summit, uniting 92 national alliances leaders to refresh their passion and commitment to further Christs reign on the earth.

The organizers have aimed to invite three groups of people: endorsers or decision makers, who are the approving authority and direction-setters, normally composed of elder leaders; influencers or mobilizers, who have the passion, social skill and ability to mobilize people and resources; and implementers, or doers, who will get the job done, and make the plans happen at all levels, especially on the ground.

FINAL EVENING: LOVE, HUMILITY, HOPE, URGENCY

At the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly closing evening, in a surprising visit, the conference welcomed Indonesias Minister of Internal Affairs. A moderate Muslim, he delivered an improvised talk with words about bridges between religious communities and common work towards public peace.

He had prepared a special gift: a beautiful texture map of Indonesia to WEA. In return, Secretary General of the WEA Efraim Tendero gave him a medallion of peace as a recognition for his efforts to promote security and peaceful atmosphere in Indonesia.

The final plenary session was led by George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization. Dressed in a long-sleeve shirt portraying a map of the world, he spoke about being thankful for what God has already given. In his typical radical voice, the 81-year-old veteran ignited the audience with a calling to serve the Lord with love, humility, hope, urgency. He accented on radical grace leading to radical discipleship. Praise the Lord! If He can use a struggling, 81-year-old man like me, He can use anyone else!, ended George Verwer under standing ovations from the assembly.

In a final prayer, two young people prayed a commissioning prayer over the WEA national alliance leaders.

WEA PLEDGE: 4 COMMITMENTS

The WEA General Assembly closed with a pledge of four commitments:

(1) Articulating Evangelical essentials in the 21st Century

Evangelical essentials are timeless, but how they are presented to others in society requires careful consideration. Sensitivity, intentionality and boldness are needed to transmit these essentials effectively.

(2) Being authentic followers of Jesus

An authentic follower of Jesus follows Him personally and in community. Every Christ-follower should be engaging with others and inviting them into a journey of Christ-likeness in every area of their lives. Authentic followers reflect the image of God in who they are and all they do, as the fruit of sanctification, for Gods glory.

(3) Intergenerational leadership

As different parts of the Body of Christ, each generation offers unique gifts to advance the disciple-making effort. Congregations (and other communities and formations of Christ-followers) that incorporate the principle of intergenerational differences and capitalize collaboratively on the wisdom of members from each generation.

(4) Global focus, national impact

Following Jesus takes place within the context of His body of believers the Church locally, nationally and globally. Unity matters to the WEA. This unity will be demonstrated in a shared focus on holistic disciple-making during the next decade. The WEA is committed to maximizing its effectiveness by establishing and building up national alliances, strengthening its commissions, task forces and initiatives, while simultaneously nurturing new and creative networks and movements to accelerate spiritual formation.

MAPPING THE GA WEEK

The conference had opened on November 7 with a spectacular ceremony and then proceeded with plenary sessions, workshops, networks and business sessions. Every day of the GA weighed upon a general theme: Kingdom, Generations, Renewal, Unity, Leadership.

Twelve main sessions captured the hearts and imagination of the attendants: Your Kingdom Come; State of the WEA; The Kingdom in 21st Century Cities; Urgency of Disciple Making; Generational Discipleship; New Breeds of Leaders; Disruptive Innovations; Concert of Prayers; Reinforcements or Replacements; Mindset Shifts; Recalibrate, Realign and Resurgence; Commissioning.

Halfway through the assembly, the participants had an opportunity to make a pause for recalibration, realignment, and renewal as they joined 6:00 AM worship services with local believers. After this early start, the day proceeded with more downtime, local excursions and regional meetings for reflection and fellowship.

WATER THAT HEALS THE LAND

The new week began with Rev. C. B. Samuel, advisor of Micah Global, returning on Ezekiel 47:1,8-12. He said that every teaching about the Holy Spirit which does not have a foundation in both the Old and the New Testament, cannot be Biblical. Rather than the transforming missional engagement of the Holy Spirit, today His presence is only sought after as entertaining and experiential. The imagery of Ezekiel is one of water flowing out from a temple. In the NT, these metaphors would refer to the Spirit and the Church.

In v.9, the water flows towards the Dead Sea, and the sea waters were healed, because wherever the river goes, everything will live. The problem with mission today is that our talking about the Holy Spirit has been confined between four walls, Samuel said. The church is church only when it is missional. In His Kingdom the lion and the lamb will be together. The Jew and the Gentile will be together. This is the character of the Kingdom.

CONCERT OF PRAYERS FOR EVERY NATION

A challenging message by Dick Eastman, International President of Every Home for Christ, engaged the audience in a message, entitled Concert of Prayers. He followed up on a song preceding his talk that said, Its Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise.

He opened by quoting Dr. A.T. Pierson, Wherever the church is aroused and the worlds wickedness arrested, someone somewhere has been praying. Christians should engage effectively praying for every country round the world. To lay a foundation for prayers, Dick Eastman outlined five main areas to focus: Open hands (in Mt. 9:37-38 God gives us the Great Condition: prayer); Open doors (Col. 4:2-3); Open minds (Acts 26:17-18); Open hearts (2 Cor. 4:3-4); Open heavens (Isaiah 45:8).

With the help of maps containing the name of every country, the audience spent focused minutes in prayer. To make sure every single nation is prayed for, the map lists country names grouped within the days of a month. Every delegate at the GA interceded for the nations listed on the date of his birthday.

RICH HISTORY OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES

The World Evangelical Alliance is a network of Evangelical communities in 130 nations, and 100 organizations, representing some 600 million Evangelical Christians. According to its webpage, the WEA seeks to strengthen local churches through national alliances, supporting and coordinating grassroots leadership and seeking practical ways of showing the unity of the body of Christ.

The organization was founded in London back in 1846. Today, it embraces member-bodies whose identity is rooted in historic Biblical Christianity. The WEA affirms the Biblical unity of the Church celebrating diversity of practices and theological emphases consistent with its Statement of Faith, while at the same time recognizing the dynamic tension between unity and diversity.

Every four to six years, the WEA holds a summit for vision renewal, connecting networks, and financial reporting, as well as holding an election of new International Council. The event is called General Assembly, and during the past three decades was held in Manila, Philipines (June 1992), Abbotsford, Canada (May 1997), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (May 2001), Pattaya, Thailand (October 2008). During this time it was consecutively led by Agustin Vencer (1992-2001), Gary Edmonds (2002-2004), Geoff Tunnicliffe (2005-2014), and presently by Bp. Efraim Tendero.

The mandate of Bp. Tendero was coming to an end in February 2019. However, the International Council had decided to extend his term by another year, so that there would be adequate focus on the Jakarta General Assembly. To facilitate the recruitment and on-boarding of an incoming WEA Secretary General, the council has established a human resource group tasked with setting up a Search Committee.

During the past couple of years, the organization accepted 16 new members from various places round the world. Since April 2019, whenever a new national alliance is accepted as a member of one of its eight Regional Alliances (Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, North America, Middle East & North Africa, South Pacific), it automatically also becomes a member of WEA.

BUSINESS PROCEEDINGS AND ELECTIONS

At a Monday morning business session, the General Assembly proceeded to grant mandate to its International Council. Eight of its members had already been nominated by the Regional Alliances and voted in a few days earlier. The session needed to accept the reports of the WEA IC Chairman Shana and Secretary General Tendero, to take care of electing the rest of the council, as well as to discuss some amendments in its by-laws.

The voting affirmed that the new WEA International Council would consist of fifteen members, including: 8 regional directors (Goodwill Shana, Noel Pantoja, Desmond Austin, Frank Hinkelmann, Marta Gaspari, David Guretzki, Bassem Fekry and Brian Winslade); 5 members at large (Mario Li Hing, Palmira dos Santos, Yamini Ravendran, Snehal Pinto, Kenneth Artz); one emeritus member (John Langlois) and the Secretary General Efraim Tendero. The mandate of the new council commences in November 2019, and will continue until the next WEA General Assembly. It is intended to represent the cultural mosaic that is the fabric of todays global Church.

In addition, the congregation discussed several amendments in the organizations by-laws: (a) that Regional Alliances would be formed on geographical (and not linguistic or cultural) basis; and every national alliance would only able to participate in one Regional Alliance; (b) that if a new organization from a country that already has a national alliance member of WEA applies for membership in a Regional Alliance or WEA, its application will need to be supported by the existing WEA member from that country; (c) that acceptance of a new member is based on their consent to abide by the WEA by-laws; (d) that in the case of membership termination of a national alliance, WEA would need to have the agreement of the corresponding Regional Alliance; (e) that in case of postal or electronic voting, a lack of reply on behalf of the International Committee members would be counted for abstention instead of affirmative (as it was so far).

After heated debates, the counting of ballots first showed 76% in favor for the changes suggested by the Spanish Evangelical Alliance. According to the organizations by-laws, any amendment in the document can only come in effect with a majority of 75% affirmative vote of the present voting members. Later in the evening at the plenary session, however, the International Committee chair Dr. Goodwill Shana announced that there had been a miscalculation of the ballots percentage. With a 37:13 vote (not counting abstentions), the math showed that only 69% of the delegates were in favor of the amendments. This was insufficient for a valid decision, and thus the by-laws remained unchanged.

For the first time in decades, the WEA announced a budget without financial deficit or debt. The issue had hung as a heavy burden for the past few administrations, and thus the Secretary General expressed his gratitude to the Lord for this achievement.

The WEA is a family of a number of structures and networks that work together constantly. Since 1974, it has maintained six commissions: Theological, Missional, Religious, Womens, Youth, Information Technology. At Jakarta, some of these commissions received new directors.

LAST REFLECTIONS AND PLENARIES

As a last morning reflection, Rev. C.B. Samuel spoke about what kind of leaders are able to bring hope to the world. In Ezekiel 34, God expresses His frustration with leaders who do not take care of the flock. They build empires, they are brutal, and have ruled harshly.

I am concerned with Christian leaders who come from corporate culture and bring in a type of thinking that cares about achievements, but does not care about people, Pastor Samuel admonished the audience. In that same chapter, God commits to send a shepherd to take care of his people. It is easier to develop leadership in a servant, than to develop servanthood in a leader. God needs shepherds after his own heart, concluded C.B. Samuel.

Youth are leaders today; not just tomorrow, insisted Pastor Tan Seow How, of Heart of God Church, Singapore. Do not entertain youth; empower them. Youth need to be invited, involved, included before they can be influenced and impacted. Instead, we wrongly attempt impressing them.

In two consecutive plenary sessions entitled Reinforcements or Replacements, and Mind Shifts to Raise and Release the Next Generation of Leaders, pastor How inspired the conference to create space to empower youth. In traditional Protestant culture, How said, the tendency is: believe-become-behave-belong. However, the mindset of youth culture is radically different: belong-believe-become-behave. Three young people from Heart of God Church stepped on stage sharing how their life was changed as they joined the family of the youth focused ministry.

WEA ON THE WEB

In a designated app, the organizers packed information on GA program, speakers, resources, stories, partners and sponsors. It also provided translation help, a prayer wall, and options for connecting.

On its YouTube channel, the WEA has set up a video playlist, regularly uploading recordings from the GA. Synopses of stage talks can also be found on the event blog. The organizations Twitter account @WEAGA2019 kept feeding relevant information, interviews and snapshots of the event, while a hashtag #jakarta2019 was promoted to mark social media interactions and references.

A new app that had been launched only months earlier, was presented at the assembly. It is developed by Linking Global Voices, a ministry aiming to serve the global missions community by focusing on the unique role of networks. The app is called GENMobile, and is designed to be a place to discover and serve alongside with other networks, collaborating as followers of Christ. Every national alliance or network can have its own profile (for invitation, contact here), presenting its own contact info and ministries, as well as receiving an opportunity to search for and connect with Christian networks across the globe. The application was presented by Eldon Porter, Consultant for Global Engagement on behalf of Linking Global Voices. In a day and age of networking and crisscrossed peer-to-peer communications, of personal linking and flat interconnectedness, GENMobile arrives as a timely and incredibly useful gizmo. The app is intended specifically to serve as a network of Christian networks.

In a similar endeavor to meet contemporary tendencies of interpersonal communication and peer-to-peer encouragement, the Global Institute of Leadership (GIL) was founded to bring together national alliances leaders from around the world via a platform for mutual support and training. GIL is an initiative of WEA administering both online and on-site peer learning communities. The grid sign up walks the participant through a questionnaire of their strong skills and ministry needs. Based on this information, the institute later facilitates for personal connections, as well as more specialized training as needed.

PARTNER MISSION IN FOCUS

A number of networks passionate about reaching and awakening a generation partner under WEA: Converge (aimed at youth); GCF (reaching children); 1for50 (training children); Sports Movement (children & youth); 414 movement (children & youth).

The ministry and vision of several world missions was featured during the WEA GA.

The 4/14 Movement involves passionate focus to reach, rescue, root, and release this emerging generation into the dream of God for their lives. The organization is explicitly intentional about partnering with leaders of the world on various levels for the sake of acquainting children and teenagers with God. The organizers announced relaunching their 4/14 Training Academy intended to equip Christians. A 4/14 global leader summit was announced for May 2020.

Global Institute of Leadership (GIL) is a division of the WEA. Interim chairperson of GIL Dr. Brad Smith said, The GIL is set up to facilitate regional face-to-face and virtual peer learning to strengthen relationships between alliances. It is a long-term, decentralized initiative.

#Gospel is an organization created to bring the gospel to the current generation in ways that sync their culture and uniqueness. The group provides discipleship tools to engage the next generation with the gospel, utilizing social media, video content, and the book #Gospel: Life, Hope, and Truth for Generation Now. It is a book/media project that breaks down Pauls explanation of the gospel in Romans in a way that is accessible and engaging for culture today. This project is designed to use current cultural references and stories to draw us into a thoughtful conversation about what the Gospel really is, and how it radically alters our everyday lives.

Compassion International is a Christian child development organization. Founded back in 1952, it partners with more than 7500 local churches to release children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty in Jesus name. Currently, the organization serves over two million babies, children and young adults in 25 countries. The ministry is Christ-focused, Child-focused and Church-based.

Tearfund is a Christian charity called to follow Jesus wherever the need is greatest. To overcome the worst effects of poverty and disasters, Tearfund works alongside local churches and other locally-based organizations in over 50 countries to help people realize their plans for a better future.

World Vision is an international partnership of Christians whose mission is to follow the Lord in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.

Other partners of the WEA GA were: The Global Leadership Summit Youth (leading the worship sessions); Youth Force (setting up the video and tech support); and the Sentul International Convention Center (providing premises for the conference).

CLOSING RECOGNITION OF WEA SERVICE

In a session of appreciation and gratitude, the organizers gave plaques of recognitions to previous WEA leaders like Augustin Vencer and Geoff Tunnicliffe, as well as to current figures like John Langlois and Brian Stiller.

John Langloiss plaque of recognition was handed for his fifty years of faithful and tireless service in providing leadership to WEA in many areas, including theology, religious liberty, governance and accountability. Since the previous 2008 General Assembly, Langlois has been elected emeritus member for life in the WEA International Council.

We have this incredible infrastructure; we have those beautiful ministries of WEA; we see such tremendous needs in the world! And what God has created among us is astounding!, emotionally exclaimed Brian Stiller, Global Ambassador of WEA, after he was handed plaque of recognition for his timely interventions over several decades, helping to firm up WEA sustainability. All that Hes been about in our lives together there is something going on in the Heavenlies we know nothing about. But by His Spirit we can link hands together and accomplish His will. As we go from here, I pray that we will leave in hope, and in risking faith!

With a Scriptural blessing from Joshua 1:17, the General Assembly prayed for the newly elected International Council: Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Medallions of recognition were given to every member of the governing body of the WEA.

A SENSE OF NEW MOMENTUM

Thus, after an exuberant week with a beautiful texture of plenary messages; a spicy bounty of Indonesian cuisine, a plentitude of topical workshops and networks, a delightful profusion of worship experience, and deep sense of Christs inspiration and guidance, the Jakarta General Assembly 2019 officially closed.

The delegates left Indonesia with a sense of destiny and a new momentum, looking forward to a decade of the Spirits moving in unique ways, awaking and raising a new generation, and furthering Gods Kingdom on this earth.

See more here:

With a recalibrated vision WEA commits to further God's Kingdom - Evangelical Focus

Toronto will be better off if the provincial government drops plans to upload the TTC subway network, but Queens Park needs to address unanswered questions about the transit line its asking the city to endorse, according to experts and members of council.

As the Star reported Tuesday, sources say provincial and municipal officials are negotiating a deal that would include Premier Doug Fords government abandoning its proposal to take ownership of Torontos subway network, while the city would endorse the provinces contentious Ontario Line plan.

The rail line Ford announced in April would run between the Ontario Science Centre and Exhibition GO station, and replace the council-approved relief line subway.

Finance Minister Rod Phillips acknowledged Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney and Associate Transportation Minister Kinga Surma are in the midst of talks with the city about a change in upload plans. He praised Mayor John Tory for rejecting calls primarily from left-wing councillors opposed to the upload to break off transit talks with the province.

I will wait to see the results of those negotiations, but lets just say were optimistic with those discussions that have been going, and I commend the mayor for taking that step not listening to some of the naysayers on council and continuing to have those discussions ... about getting the job done, getting shovels in the ground, Phillips told reporters at Queens Park on Wednesday.

Mulroney had little to say Wednesday about the potential deal, which the Star understands has not been finalized, as she barrelled past reporters on her way into a cabinet meeting at Queens Park.

Weve always been very clear that were committed to building better public transit options for the people of Ontario and we are working closely with ... city officials. Im confident our conversations are going well, she said.

Steven Farber, a transportation geographer and assisstant professor at the University of Toronto, said the subway upload as proposed by the Progressive Conservatives was lousy to begin with and Im glad to see the government walking back.

Farber who has done an assessment of the Ontario Line for provincial transit agency Metrolinx and also sat on the citys upload advisory panel said he opposed the provincial takeover of the rail network because while the TTC would have continued to operate the lines it would have given ownership of Torontos subway to the province with no structure in place to ensure city representatives had a say in what happened with the system.

While the new proposed deal would involve the province scuttling its plans to take over existing subway infrastructure, the government passed legislation in June allowing it to take control of new transit projects, clearing the way for it to advance the Ontario Line.

The 16-kilometre line would serve the same purpose as the relief line subway of diverting passengers off of the crowded Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadina), but be about twice as long and use smaller trains that would run more frequently.

Farber said the line is at a very early stage of design and requires more study, and city council will have to push for clarification to some aspects, including how Metrolinx plans to build a large section of it above ground through an already crowded GO rail corridor east of the Don River.

But he said there are a lot of fantastic aspects to the plan, including the fact that unlike the first phase of the relief line it would extend north of Danforth Ave. and serve the lower-income neighbourhoods of Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park.

I think they should be supportive of the Ontario Line in principle while advocating for required changes, he said of the city.

Tricia Wood, a professor of geography at York University and adviser to the CodeRedTO transit advocacy group, said the province hasnt given the city enough information about the Ontario Line for council to make a firm commitment.

That lack of transparency is not a positive thing for transportation planning, she said.

Coun. Gord Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park), who has been vocally opposed to the idea of the province uploading any part of the existing TTC system, said he is happy to hear it appears to be off the table. But hes not yet satisfied with council supporting allocating funding to the Ontario Line plan.

The upload was always a banana-pants idea and its nice that its gone away, he said.

When asked whether council should endorse the Ontario Line without a full business case from Metrolinx, Perks said: It would be the height of irresponsibility for anyone on council to vote away billions of dollars in Torontos future without real information about what were getting, what the impacts will be and how it compares to other options.

That sentiment was echoed by Ontario NDP transit critic Jessica Bell. The province has said it can build the Ontario Line at a cost of about $11 billion by 2027, but Bell said its impossible to know whether thats true without further study.

It is hard to see how the city or the public can support a line that at this point is still just lines on a map, she said.

Coun. Stephen Holyday (Ward 2, Etobicoke Centre), one of only two council members to vote against a motion in December stating the subway should remain in the citys hands, said he retains an open mind about the merits of an upload.

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He said he feared some on council wouldnt support the Ontario Line merely because they oppose the Ford government.

There will be some members of council that will fight it just for the sake of fighting the government. And thats a shame because we should all be focused on getting something built as fast as possible, he said.

A city and TTC report staff report on the Ontario Line and the rest of the provinces transit plans is expected to go to the mayors executive committee on Oct. 23, and then onto council the following week.

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro, Kris Rushowy, and Rob Ferguson.

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Experts praise provinces possible subway upload reversal but caution city on backing Ontario Line - Toronto Star

Look up! Is that a kestrel? A swallow? Take note. These sightings are getting rarer. A recent RSPB report blamed the climate crisis for dwindling bird numbers in the UK. But as the number of birds decreases, the number of young bird enthusiasts in the UK is on the rise. Birdwatchers have long endured an unfair reputation for being anorak-sporting twitchers, lumped into the same category as their equally derided cousins, the trainspotters. But times have changed. Now, as a young person, it is becoming acceptable cool, even to show the world the mental and physical benefits of getting outside and observing wildlife.

Today, young birders are using social-media platforms to form positive communities and share their sightings and experiences. Amusingly, most of it happens on Twitter, where birders pledge allegiance to certain species in their bios and discuss rare species with some of the worlds foremost experts. They use apps and spreadsheets, often photographing their finds and uploading pictures to their social channels instantly. Instagram accounts have been created. WhatsApp groups have formed.

Offline, young birders gather at wetland centres, hold meet-ups in areas of natural beauty, organise hiking excursions. They offer each other tremendous support and subscribe to the same defining message: that anyone can birdwatch anywhere. All you need is a pair of eyes and a desire to go outside.

Ive been going out birdwatching with my family since I was a baby. It was OK during primary school, but when I went into secondary I very quickly realised that birdwatching is strange. Id avoid talking about it like the plague. If any of my primary school friends brought it up, Id change the conversation very swiftly. Like most 13-year-olds, I didnt know how to deal with being different from other people, but as Ive got older I dont care any more. You should never stop doing what you love because of other people. It helps that Im friends with people who appreciate going outside and going into nature.

I am now just over 100 bird species away from having seen half of all of the bird species in the world. Ive been going out birdwatching with my family since I was a baby. Its something thats very important in my life, and I cant really picture myself without it. But Im one of the lucky ones, you know? Most people dont have parents who take them out birdwatching for the weekend.

I enjoy the separation from everyday life, I find it really relaxing. Loads of people I talk to always go on about meditating, but I just cant do it, because my brain goes very fast all the time. Going outside is my version of meditation. Its something thats integral to me. Ive recently been visiting potential universities and greenery has been a factor in that. Sheffield has got so many trees and parks everywhere, and it felt really nice.

With the rise of the youth strikes, and Greta Thunberg, the last nine months have been amazing. Everythings just suddenly taking off, after not much happening for years and years. Its been encouraging seeing older people join the movement. Im in a group chat with loads of climate activists, and sometimes, if I feel a bit hopeless, I like to go on there and see how passionate and motivated everyone is to create change.

My Granny and Bampa are really into birdwatching. They travel all over the world and theyre always on the lookout for feathers and different birds to bring back for me. My favourite is the white-tailed eagle feather: its about a foot and a half long, and stiff like wood. Gran found it in Norway. And pheasant feathers, which I like for their patterns, and how flexible they are. Ive got about 20 altogether. I find them stuck in trees, or in dense forest, where they cant really blow around.

We do a lot of hiking and walking. I take my book and my binoculars, which used to belong to my grandfather when he was in the army, and I see what I can spot, and when I get home I look them up online and see what they are. Or I look in my bird book, or on an app called Seek. I want to be a naturalist when I am older, to look at animals, go to different countries, go on telly, tell people how they hunt, how they make their dens, stuff like that. And Id like to learn more about nature at school. Ive got dyslexia and I struggle with reading, so I prefer to be out looking at things.

As a family, weve always enjoyed the outdoors. Every Sunday we go to volunteer and birdwatch at Cley Marshes nature reserve, in Norfolk. Its a salt and freshwater marsh and nature reserve, and it attracts loads of different waders and birds. We have seen shelducks, mallards, avocets, black-tailed godwits, redshanks, lots of different sandpipers At home we see buzzards, kestrels and sometimes red kites.

I look everywhere for birds. Sometimes we stop the car when were driving, if we see a kestrel. We always keep binoculars in the car just in case. Id like to see a snowy owl, or a little owl, in the wild. And Id like to see a green woodpecker. My mum saw two recently, but I wasnt with her.

I record my sightings on a spreadsheet on my dads phone and Ive got my own little notebook, too. I have collected more than 120 bird species so far. I can tell birds apart quite easily they look different, obviously, and they also have different calls. Sometimes I can hear a bird and know what it is. I like the sounds that owls make, and the blackbirds song, which is probably my favourite. But I also like the woodpigeons call. Sometimes I like to draw what I see, and at other times I just draw other random animals.

Anyone can look for birds. Or insects. Go and start in the back garden and work your way out to somewhere else. Look at all the birds and all the insects and try to find some interesting stuff. People seem to see nature, but they dont always appreciate it. Often, were all too busy minding our own business.

Most people in my class like video games. I like some video games, too! But I think a lot of kids would enjoy birdwatching, if they just tried.

For most of my life I have lived in Eastcote, in the London borough of Hillingdon. When I was about seven or eight I looked outside the window and saw lots of pigeons and robins and sparrows, and I thought: Let me explore more. So I got some binoculars, and my uncle bought me a field guide for my 10th birthday, and I just went out to discover the local area.

I realised from a young age that I like nature and wildlife from around the world, but I only started to develop an interest in the wildlife in Britain when I actually looked outside and I realised the wildlife around me was mainly birds. Thats how I got into birdwatching. What most people dont realise is that everything is hiding in plain sight: its all just there, on your doorstep. This is partly why I created an interactive map, Nature Reserves of London. It shows all designated wildlife sites and nature reserves around and throughout the capital, and reveals how much biodiversity there really is.

I think if you live in an inner city, or a built-up place, you just have to look harder. Look at the trees, see if there are ants. And if there are, maybe theres a blackbird. Ive been surprised to see waxwings in Wimbledon.

For young children, Id suggest they get involved with local organisations, or some grassroots projects nearby maybe an allotment site or a city farm. They might not even have a garden, but if they have a balcony, they could maybe make a pond by filling up an old container with water and putting plants in it. Or they could make bird feeders or nest boxes to hang from the outside of their house. Its all to do with passion, and the will to do it.

I only have one or two friends at school who are as interested in birding as me. But birdwatching is so calming. Its wonderful to see the birds and the colours of their plumage and their different sizes and to hear their song.

If people who suffer from mental health issues or people who are on their phones all the time and they dont notice their surroundings actually go outside and look at the trees and hear the birdsong, they will automatically just feel better because theyll be at one with nature. Theyre surrounded by it.

Its always been my view that everyone has a connection with nature: its whether or not you choose to heed that connection that makes the difference. When you take the time to enjoy and be calmed by nature, thats when it starts taking effect and really helping you noticing that there is a soldier beetle on a leaf, and then being curious about what you have seen Asking questions is the best thing you can do in this world.

Something that I would like to emphasise is that you do not need any fancy or expensive equipment to go out into nature. If you have eyes, you can watch birds. If you have ears, you can listen to birds. If you have hands, you can feel bark. If you have an open mind, you can feel those experiences. You dont need too much, just the will to go out.

I go out with no particular aim or reason. I dont go out specifically to see birds, but I love to see them. They are magical to me, and I enjoy their presence.

I hold the firm belief that people thinking that nature is dirty stems from parents saying, Dont pick up that feather, because youre going to get a disease from it. Ive touched countless feathers in my life, and never got sick from them.

When Im out I take field notes. I sit down on a bench, get out a notebook and I write down the date, weather, what Ive seen and what Im feeling my emotions which I then wont forget, because its been internalised through writing. It makes it feel real.

Some of the connection I have is down to my autism; I feel things very strongly. When I feel bark it feels like a lot more than just touching bark it feels like touching a living creature. Sometimes it can be quite overwhelming. We are all part of this Earth. I feel a responsibility towards it.

I was bullied quite heavily a couple of years back. They were saying, Why do you care about nature and all this stuff? and I was like: Wait a second, if I care about nature more than basically everything else, and I dont care about the bullies, it makes them irrelevant.

There is one thing that I am 100% sure of: my love of the natural world it is essential to my wellbeing and my mental health. It is a part of me now. If it was taken away from me, it would be like someone taking the floor from beneath me. I dont know where Id be.

Visit rspb.org.uk for a guide to birdwatching

See the original post here:

Eyes on the skies: young birdwatchers take flight - The Guardian

Hybrid cloud is gaining traction as organizations seek to realize the flexibility and scale of a joint public and on-premises model of IT provisioning while also changing the way their compute and storage infrastructure is funded, transferring costs from a capital expense (capex) to an operating expense (opex). The proportion of organizations with a hybrid cloud strategy grew to 58 percent in 2019, up from 51 percent in the prior year, according to RightScales State of the Cloud 2019 report.

Moving your infrastructure to the cloud, however, wont necessarily guarantee the promised benefits, especially for compute-intensive datacenters. Indeed, there is a danger that the cloud part of a hybrid infrastructure could actually let you down that performance gains and cost-savings are not realized. That can happen if you dont optimize your distributed workloads an area where policy-based automation can really help.

Hybrid cloud solves one of the biggest problems in high performance computing: a lack of capacity. If you are relying purely on your own computing infrastructure then you face a trade-off between workload capacity and computing resources. Take batch processing jobs, for example; these often entail a complex mixture of workloads with different sizes, required completion times, and other characteristics.

Job schedulers seek to fit as many workloads as possible into the computing infrastructure, but job volumes and sizes arent always regular. Too many of them at once create demand spikes that may exceed resources. What happens when there are more workloads with specific machine requirements than there are machines, and those jobs have hard deadlines or high priority? Buying more computers to satisfy rare but critical spikes in demand isnt the answer. That equipment could languish with lower utilization during workload volume valleys.

This is where the concept of hybrid cloud comes in because it lets you extend your existing, on-premise resources. The drivers for this are, typically, the need to ensure additional capacity for peak workloads, to provision more specialized resources than those usually required, or to spin up new resources for special projects. Unlike cloud-only, hybrid cloud uses a common orchestration system and lets administrators move data and applications between the local and remote infrastructures. By moving workloads dynamically to the cloud when local resources are insufficient, companies can build elasticity into their computing environments while avoiding extra capital outlay.

This provides several advantages: users can complete jobs more quickly, and also gain access to resources they might not have locally, such as GPUs, fast block and object storage, and parallel file systems.

While this is all great stuff, the practice of actually implementing bursting can be complex. For example: how can you ensure that youre sending the right jobs to a cloud environment? With so many computing jobs of different sizes and types, making the best use of your local infrastructure and remote cloud resource is like playing a multi-dimensional game of Tetris.

Get it wrong, and youll end up paying too much for your hybrid cloud than you had planned. Moor Insights & Strategy highlights several examples of how costs can run out of control in hybrid cloud environments. Examples include budgeting for ideal capacity without allowing for uncertainty and also forecasting a higher use of the infrastructure than you deliver thereby paying for unused capacity. You might miss smaller costs beyond compute and storage, such as data transfers, load balancing, and application services. Another common cause of cost overruns is failing to de-provision cloud resources once youve finished with them. Hybrid cloud customers can also fall into the trap of using higher-cost platform services such as proprietary public cloud data storage, instead of infrastructure services running open source software on compute and storage services. It can all add up to an unnecessary dent in your budget.

These issues should be top of mind if cost management is as it should be a compelling reason for using the cloud in a hybrid setting. RightScales 2019 State of the Cloud report found that 64 percent of cloud customers in 2019 on average prioritized optimizing their cloud resources for cost savings. This makes it the top initiative for the third year in a row, increasing from 58 percent last year. The number is highest among intermediate cloud users (70 percent) and advanced (76 percent), confirming that the more sophisticated your use of cloud resources, the more complexity you face.

Automation promises to help manage cloud usage and do away with some of these potential problems. An orchestration system that manages workloads can automatically play that game of workload Tetris for you, and if done correctly ensure optimal results. Such a system involves more than a job scheduler, however. These have been around for decades and tend to focus on resource efficiency and throughput of a single, static compute cluster. That means they can be inflexible and reactive, managing batch scheduling according to workload or project priorities or other parameters. Schedulers fail to take into account that cloud resources can be allocated and sized dynamically.

More modern cloud management systems serve multiple computing platforms and have been extended to seamlessly integrate on-prem with cloud. The most mature of these can tie job allocation to application performance and service levels. These systems can ensure that a user or department only gets the level of service that they agreed to, sending resource hogs further down in the queue.

Importantly, these tools can help you manage your costs. They do this by tagging resources when theyre provisioned so that admins know what machine instances are in play and what they are being used for. They can alert operators to such things as instances in the hybrid cloud that have gone unused beyond a certain threshold.

Such tools can also link to a dashboard that will let you peek into your level of cloud usage and see just how much your virtualized resources are costing. Ideally, admins should be able to drill down into usage and expenditure data on a per-project basis.

Rather than simply reporting back on whats happened, this category of tools can be used to enforce policies to control what youre spending on a per-project or even a per-user basis providing alerts when usage is nearing a pre-set budget threshold.

Of course, the best rules dont come out of a box, and somebody has to write them in the form of policies that the cloud manager can use to determine a course of action. Such policies should take several factors into account. For example, applications that are allowed to burst to the public cloud versus those that are not, software licenses allowed to run on only local servers, and data that cannot move beyond the datacenter for compliance or security reasons.

When writing the rules, you also need to be aware of the technical factors that can stymie a jobs journey to the cloud in order to overcome them. These factors include the fact that a workload may rely on output from some prerequisite jobs that are running locally, meaning it must wait to execute or short-running workloads may take too long to provision the cloud-based resources that it needs. Spinning up a machine instance to handle a job may take two minutes, while uploading the data it needs may take five minutes. If the job ahead of it in the local system will finish in 30 seconds, then it makes sense to wait rather than sending the workload to the cloud.

Another factor that a policy could draw on is the direction and pacing of the workload. A policy could decide how many remote cloud server instances to spin up or spin down, based on whether the number of scheduled jobs is growing or shrinking, and how quickly.

Ultimately, this kind of thinking can help you to deliver a reaper policy that deletes server resources at the end of a cloud-based job. The reaper policy helps keep the use of unnecessary cloud resources to a minimum, but if the delta between the workloads in the queue and the available local resource continues to grow, it may wish to keep some machine instances available for new jobs, so it doesnt have to waste time starting new ones.

There is yet another dimension to consider: rightsizing. The cloud manager must spin up the appropriate machine instance in the hybrid cloud to enable the scheduler to dispatch the job. Sizing accuracy is important in the cloud where you pay for every processor core and gigabyte of RAM used.

Admins should therefore use their own custom (and internally approved) instances rather than relying purely on the cloud service providers own default configurations. You should take care to match the core count and memory in those virtual servers to the size of the job so that you arent paying extra for computing and memory resources that arent needed.

Although cloud computing jobs often specify machine instance requirements themselves, savvy admins wont take that at face value. Instead, they will use runtime monitoring and historical analytics to determine whether regular jobs use the resources they ask for. Admins finding a significant difference may specify server instances based on historical requirements, rather than stated ones.

The ideal situation here is a NoOps model, in which policies automate operations to the point where there is little administrative intervention in an increasingly optimized system. The factors contributing to policy execution are many, varied, and multi-layered while the policies themselves can be as complex as an admin wants to make them. The more complex the policies, the more important it is to test and simulate them to ensure that they operate according to expectations.

Policy-driven cloud automation is the key to the successful use of hybrid cloud because it provides a way to tune infrastructure and avoid burning cash on unnecessary cloud resources, such as machine instances and cloud storage. Its the next step towards a mature use of cloud away from simple, discrete jobs to an environment thats an integral part of your data processing toolbox.

Read more from the original source:

Automation And Policy Drive Optimal Hybrid Cloud Spending - The Next Platform

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

That is a picture of my post on the front page of Imgur.

That is another picture of another post

Now you see this?

Almost 150,000 views, hundreds of comments, all looking at me and my game. And best yet I didnt have to spend anything to boost my post or convince some features editor to write about it, or pay an influencer. It was just me uploading some pictures and writing a little bit about my game.

This post explains how to do this.

Organic traffic is hard to come by these days. Algorithmic based feeds and paid advertising on Facebook and Twitter has made organic traffic almost impossible now. There are very few places left where a non-curated feed is still possible. imgur is one of those. For now...A few months ago I learned this strategy from a secret Google document that was being passed around by a couple top-tier games marketing people in private forums. This strategy was invented by Adrian Kaiser and his expert marketing team. It has worked for me at least 3 times earning me over 374,000 total views. I thought I would pay it forward and share it with the greater indie game community. I asked Adrian and thankfully he said it was ok to share this. So as a big thank you please follow him on Twitter and his associate who co-developed this strategy andwishlist his game (it comes out October 17th) as a big thank you So here goes...

Before I blow your mind with this strategy let me bring some reality here first. imgur is a top of the funnel marketing tactic. The best you can do is get people who dont know you exist into people who are merely aware of your game. You are not going to sell 1,000,000 copies even If you stay on the front page of imgur for a week. imgur is just once piece in your overall marketing strategy. (If this doesnt make sense or you have never heard of the marketing funnel,please read this article I wrote all about the funnel.) Understanding the funnel is the core to understanding how to do marketing.

imgur can only get someone from "Unaware" to interested. You need to figure out another marketing platform that will move them from interested down to actually buying your game. My choice is an email lists because it works the best, but other options are Steam wishlisting, Joining a Discord, following you onsocial media.

imgur is terrible for making people fall in love with you. For instance imgur has away to follow other imgurians but nobody really uses it. (In fact you can only follow someone from the mobile device). You cant upload a custom profile picture - you have to pick from a couple dozen pre-made icons. If someone likes your post you have no way to contact them again when your game is onsale. This all contributes to the fact that imgur is like the Groundhog Day of social media. Every day is like starting out with 0 following and nobody will remember you exist a day later.

Also, despite this strategy working for me any many others, I have had a lot of posts go nowhere. It still comes down to luck. There are a hundred little factors that could mean your post doesnt go viral. I will discuss what to do if it doesnt work. Just keep in mind this strategyis not a guarantee.

With that pre-amble over, lets look at how to get your game to be on the front page of imgur.

The trick to a viral imgur post is to hit the right tone and subject matter for the imgur audience. You cant just post a random game screenshot with the title of your game and expect it to go viral.

Here are some examples of hooks that work on imgur:Wish fulfillmentDoing something totally counter to societal normsIncredible persistenceJust prettyUnexpected Result

Your title screenshot and sometimes description have to work together to tell the story of why you are posting this to a giant community. You should come off as just a regular Joe or Jane who is trying your best against all odds.There should be a bit of wish fulfillment as if you are doing something that the audience wishes they could accomplish but you are the one trying and maybe possibly able to pull it off (side note you dont have to actually pull it off but the effort is appreciated).

For instance the I quit my job posts are almost a cliche now but it was my best performing post because almost everyone reading it actually wants to quit their job and here you are actually doing it. They are thinking That could be me!

When trying to come up with the hook for your imgur post, think back on your own history. Making a game is so hard to do and you are much further than the average human being. So dont be humble. Just by making some form of game you are extraordinary and worth posting something What have you overcome or done that most people have not accomplished?

Creating an imgur post title like "Hey imgur, this is our new game called " you will get called out for advertising so fast your post wont even get a single positive vote.

Instead, use an emotional headline with some phrases that have worked in the past. Most importantly DONT mention the name of your game.

Here are some successful examples of titles:"I quit my full time job to work on this project""We worked over 3 years to realize our dream game""You're ship-wrecked! Farm, craft and explore a mysterious archipelago to find a way home.""We merged Pokemon and Star Wars in this farming game"

The first question you must ask your self is "what do you want out of this post?"

If you just said Exposure! Boo.

Just making people aware of your game is useless and a waste of a good post. There are so many games out there and so much time before your next release just hoping that a bunch of people will remember who you are is a terrible idea. Exposure is likebuilding a sandcastle while the tide is coming in. When you get to the front page you must convert the traffic into followers on another platform.

Basic copywriting 101 rules apply here

You must tell people what you want them to do. Now dont go overboard and list every single social media platform you are on. Instead, pick your primary platform and tell them a reason why that is the best one.

But here is the tricky part. imgur hates any form of marketing. Every post will have a comment from thebuy-an-ad-guy. He is a guy who comes on to say BUY AN AD and then down vote your post.

Here is an example of buy an ad guy. Look at that, he even made a little image to express how much he hates advertising. You will see this guy a lot, don't worry though.

There are a couple tricks to getting your CTA in without raising the ire of Buy-An-Ad-guy. However, it depends on your strategy so stay tuned.

At this point just decide what action you want the viewer to take.

Every post has a bit of text to accompany each image. There are actually two options depending on your hook and your game.

If your game is remarkable from a single screenshot or video, use this strategy. You have to be really honest with yourself on this one. Your art has to be so good it gets 100s of retweets when you post it on Twitter. Or the gameplay mechanic has to be super unique. Or it has to be some sort of hilarious physics based game. Basically it has to make people stop scrolling just to look at it.

If your game has those qualities, you can get away with Option 1. With this strategy you play the mysterious stranger. Upload your video, trailer, screenshot. Add a great thumb-stopping-headline (that I mentioned above) but dont add a description.

Writing a Call To Action for Option 1

If you have a great looking game, the readers will be super curious and start asking "Cool, what is the name of this game?" and then you can come back with your call to action "Hey thanks! You can wishlist on Steam -> URL".

The benefit of this strategy is you dont come off as an advertisement because your call to action is given only when someone asks for it. People on imgur often read other comments so they are sure to see it.

Examples of Option 1-style posts:

If you dont have a game that is uniquely-stand-out-impressive you can still succeed on imgur (in fact this is the only way I have found success here.) You just need to show more personality and spunk. You are going to be focusing on impressing folks with your writing or with the depth of your game play. Note pixel art games (even if pretty) dont always do well on imgur because the art is much smaller and harder to see when just scrolling through. But a good story can fix that (that is the case with my games).

With the story mode strategy you post lots of images in an album.

Each imagehelps to contribute to your story. The images you pick dont all have to be from your game. You can post pictures of where you work on your game, or photos from your childhood where you are doing something gaming related (imgur catnip). Note though that the first image of your story will be the thumbnail people see on imgur so it should really be a great looking image.

Writing a Call To Action for Option 2

You have to make the CTA all about imgur. So for instance on my post about quitting my job I wrote a CTA that said. I need your help now. I want to keep myself accountable so I setup a "check-in." Every month I am going to send out what I got done, what I struggled with, and how I stayed motivated.Join my mailing list.

That got me almost 500 new email subscribers overnight. Note that I said it is about them helping meand not that I was advertising and nobody said anything about it being an ad.

Here are some other ideas for low-key CTAs:

There is one other alternative where you just post a link to your Steam page to say wishlist it that is effective but you have to time it just right. Dont put your Steam link CTA until you make it to Most Viral I will get into that in the section about timing.

Additional tips for story mode:

Examples of Option 2-style posts:

The First image in your album is the most important because it is the one that will appear on everyones feed and will invite them to click on it.

Tips for your photos:

Tips for Videos

I would also recommend watching Thomas Reisenegger's (@Olima) GDC 2019 talk PRsuccess.gif Get your game across in 5 seconds. Unfortunately the video is behind the GDC Vault paywall. BUT you can download the slides without having full access by clicking here

imgur always seems to delete my tags when I come back to a draft version of my post. So I dont typically add my tags until I am about to hit publish. But while you are writing your post, start thinking about them.

Tags are how imgur will classify your content and it is how users will find yours. Now the most important one is definitely Gaming because there is always the Gaming section pinned to the front page of imgur.

Also check the front page for the main categories such as Awesome, Creativity, Funny. Also check the posts I linked to in this article for additional tag inspiration.

Now the timing and sequence of your launch is very important. Super duper important. I am not kidding here. Read this half of the article very carefully. It was not until I followed these step that I started making it to the front page.

Getting you imgur post to the front page is like launching a multi stage rocket. It is like running a nation wide presidential campaign where you have to attract super delegates and do well in the Iowa caucuses in the lead up to Super Tuesday. It is a carefully orchestrated event so please dont skip these steps or think you can wing it.

To help guide you along this process I made thisgraph based on the data from two different posts of the game Bloom: Memories by@studiofawn. It charts the number of upvotes recieved on every hour after the post went live. The green line chartsthispost that went to the front page of imgur. The white line is for a postthat was live for 3 hours but did not get past "Popular." I don't have a link because @studiofawnended up deleting that post due to poor performance.

As you can see there are specific jumps in the graph that pertain to the pages your post gets assigned to. Also note that some posts just don't have the special "juice" to move up. They just linger there after about 3 hours.

Timing is everything. People read imgur in bed as they procrastinate getting up to go to work and during lunch as they try to mask the loneliness of eating their cold tuna salad by themselves in the company break room.

There is a magical moment on planet Earth when people are eating lunch in Western Europe and waking up on the East Coast. You should try to get your post live during that window. So post within an hour of 7AM EST on Weekdays. I cannot stress how missing this window will make your post go nowhere. If you are off by just a couple hours a post that could have could have gone to the front page will get buried.

Based on where I live I have to make my post at 5am local time. I actually set an alarm, get up add my tags and have it published to imgur by 4:44 AM. Remember how I told you to write your post a day or two ahead of time. This is why.

Note in the following section I will show you hour by hour what you should be doing. T = time because i am just copying what NASA does when they launch a rocket.

When you are ready, click the Share to community Button and confirm you are going to post it:

Your post is now live. Your day is just beginning and will center around watching this number tick up. It is the number of upvotes and it is the barometer of how your imgur post is doing.

When you push publish, your post goes into the new section of imgur. At this point your upvotes are coming in pretty slow. Maybe one every ten to twenty minutes. The folks upvoting right now areimgur diehards who browse this list. You might be a bit afraid that it seems dead. Dont be.

Your goal at this stage is to get 50-100 up votes so you can get on the Popular Tab.

However, you likely wont get to 50 without help. So you need to call in favors from friends and family and most importantly your super fans. Here is who to ask

To reach my super fans I send an update to my mailing list and explain to them exactly what I am doing and why it helps. Again you need a strong call to action explaining what to do. Dont just say check out my post. Instead Say Click this link and if you think it is good, push the upvote button. Doing this helps spread the word and get more people to play my gems.

I got my wife to do it. I told my friends. I told former coworkers. I told my childhood next door neighbor. All you need is 50-100 votes. You probably know 50 people right? I would go ahead and tell them what you are up to a day or two ahead of time because you want them to act right away. Like say hey tomorrow I am going to send you something first thing in the morning. Please do it as soon as you get it is that important super early.

I always tell my favorite game dev forums and Discords about my posts. My local IGDA chapter has its own Discord. So I post it there. I also DM my favorite twitter friends and tell them what to do.

Going from new to popular is the hardest and most time consuming part of this strategy. You need to scrounge for every single upvoteat this point. This is super important. I know it seems like it wont scale but you are trying to get the rocket from sitting on the launch pad to 100 feet in the air. You need every booster you can.

Also dont add your call to action to your post yet. The people who looking at your post at this stage are typically imgur super users and are the ones most likely to police the no marketing culture.Your post is too delicate at this point to survive their downvotes so be on your best behavior.

At just about 2 hours if I see the upvotes are coming in pretty steadily i like to post a link to it on Reddit. You can do it earlier but I like to wait to make sure that the post is getting good traction before I bother doing Reddit. That is because if I do pull the post because it isn't performing I don't have to also pull it from Reddit. This isn't a hard and fast rule though and is worthy of experimenting with.

For reference,here is the corresponding Redditpost I created for my best performing imgurpost.

At around 3 hours after publishing it, a good imgur post will have around50 to 100 upvotes. If you hit this magic numberyour post will appear on the popular tab of imgur. You have achieved the first major hurdle.

However if it has been 3 hours since you made your post public and you still have fewer than 50 votes, your post is not going to make it past the new tab. You can also tell if you are refreshing your post and the upvote count is not changing. You are the white line in our little chart. If it has stopped getting upvotes, kill it here and try to launch your post on another day with a better headline or better first image. I would create a whole new entry instead of republishing the same one. I think imgur posts havesome metadata associated with them that says it already went live and so you will not get the benefit of theranking algorithms.

If at this point you have around 50 upvotes, your post appears in the popular tab. There is no notification from imgur when you do this you will just notice that the upvotes start coming in a lot faster than they did before. Look at the graph at this point and you will see a slight increase in the rate of upvotes.

When you are on the popular tab your up votes will be incoming at a much higher rate. At this point you just have to keep the conversation going. Your primary focus is nowanswering questions and makingsure there are no fires or trolls.

Check Hacker news to see if someone posted a link to your imgur there. Hacker news kinda scared me so I never post my link there but some random hacker did it for me on their own. The people were super nice actually.

Here are the corresponding Hacker News threads that I didn't create

You are now the host of a party that is really moving. You should be going around answering questions, upvoting good comments, flirting, and making sure people dont need anything.

You should alsobe flipping between imgur and Reddit (and maybe hacker news) and sorting comments by latest and thenanswer questions that come in.

Copy the url to your imgur post and paste into the search bar of Twitter -respond as necessary to anyone talking about it there.

Here are some tips for managing the Comments

On popular posts, a lot of people will read all the comments. So if someone leaves a snarky comment and you are snarky back others will see it and it will look bad. I just ignore the trolls and down vote it. You are trying to keep the mood positive in your comments sodont bring the party to a screeching halt by being a jerk.

No matter what, someone is going to leave the comment buy an ad or this seems like marketing. Down vote dont engage with them. Dont even bother asking why they consider it an ad. They wont answer you. Just ignore. If you really need to vent... scream into a pillow or something. But these folks leave these comments on every single post. Seriously just ignore it as one of lifes little inconveniences. The last thing you should be worried about are these people.

Just look, this buy-an-ad-guy even has a cool animated gif to show how much he hates my post.

Look at my post and ctrl f for the word Buy. See. They are there and it didnt matter. Be the bigger person in the room and ignore.

Also now is the time to start pitching your CTA. You should be looking to see if anyone says what game is this? Answer them with a link to your cta.

More:

How to get on the front page of imgur - Gamasutra

As is usually the case with Supergirl, the second episode of the season serves almost as a second half of the premiere. The spider-filled promo for next weeks episode implies the series will be back to more episodic outings soon. But Stranger Beside Me is interested in laying out the major themes, storylines, and relationships of the season. That leaves it feeling both exhilarating and overstuffed. As the title indicates, its an episode all about characters getting to know each other on a deeper leveleither literally meeting each other for the first time or just seeing one another in a new light. But Stranger Beside Me favors breadth over depth, which leaves everything feeling just a little bit too surface.

The most exciting thing about Stranger Beside Me is that it indicates Jonn is going to be a major player this season. Thats a relief after last season largely punted what could have been a fascinating storyline about his life as a private citizen/private detective. But Stranger Beside Me also demonstrates Supergirls weakness when it comes to doling out mythology. Instead of mining Jonns Martian past for pathos, as the show has done before, Stranger Beside Me takes a clunky tell, dont show approach thats confusing rather than compelling.

To be fair, at least some of that confusion is intentional. As Kelly discovers while trying to treat a medical ailment brought on by a Martian curse against brother-on-brother violence, Jonn is missing large swaths of his memory. He doesnt even remember having a brother, let alone that his brother betrayed the Green Martians to the White ones, which is how he ended up in the Phantom Zone as punishment. Were clearly meant to be left with a lot of questions, but its hard to separate the intentional ambiguity from the poorly handled exposition.

The episodes imagery isnt much help. Stranger Beside Me goes out of its way to overexplain basic visualslike the fact that a blank book in Jonns mind palace represents a missing memory. But then it rattles off Martian customs, curses, and history as if they were common knowledge. Martian lore has the potential to be a really compelling element of Supergirls worldbuilding, it just needs way more screentime if the writers want it to land as more than mumbo-jumbo. Youre still in the dark, brother, Jonns as-yet-unnamed sibling intones. Thats pretty much how I feel too.

Elsewhere, Stranger Beside Me contrasts this seasons two new romantic relationships. Alex and Brainy are both anxious about the new ladies in their lives, mostly because their feelings for their respective paramours are so intense. Alex and Brainy are terrified of messing things up, so they wind up pushing too hard. Alex prepares an elaborate homemade breakfast without thinking to check in on her girlfriends dietary restrictions (it turns out Kelly is deathly allergic to blueberries). Brainy, meanwhile, hits it out of the park when he surprises Nia with breakfast burritos, but then takes that as a sign that he must continually re-up his grand gestures in order to make each day the best day ever.

The Alex/Kelly dynamic takes up more screentime, as Alex must eventually suss out that Jonns brother is impersonating her girlfriend. But the Brainy/Nia dynamic is the more interesting one. For one thing, weve seen far more of their relationship play out onscreen, which makes it easier to invest in them as a couple. Kelly wasnt introduced until fairly late into last season and it was with the pretty clear intention of being Alexs love interest, so she still doesnt entirely feel like a three-dimensional character in her own right. She also plays into Supergirls penchant for idealizing Alexs relationships. Kelly and Alex end on a portrait of pitch-perfect domestic bliss thats actually far less interesting than the slight note of ambiguity in Brainy and Nias dynamic.

Lena is another character discovering new things about someone she thought she knew. It turns out it wasnt Leviathan who kidnapped Eve at the end of last weeks episode. Lena abducted her former assistant in order to use her as a test subject in her latest project: Re-programming humanity to rid the brain of malicious traits like violence and betrayal. Lena initially wants to use Obsidians contact lenses as a means of applying her upgrade, but when Andrea finds out that Lena is modifying her tech, she cuts off her supply. So Lena decides to upload her A.I. Hope into Eves body in order to come up with a new plan.

The return of the Eve/Lena dynamic helps flesh out Lenas worldview. For one thing, its a pointed reminder of just how many people have betrayed Lena over the years, which puts her refusal to forgive Kara in a larger context. For another, it demonstrates the fine line that Lena walks with her morality. She takes Eves plea that she wants to become a better person as permission to fix her by any means necessary, including uploading a whole new personality into her body. Its an interesting example of the Luthor familys myopia and egotism aimed in a different direction than just power grabs. Lena may claim her aim is non nocere or do no harm, but by the end of the episode, I cant imagine Eve would agree that she hasnt been harmed.

Its a shame we dont spend more time on Lenas storyline, as its one of the strongest elements of the episode. But the final reveal of the Hope-Eve (Heave?) hybrid is an appropriately chilling image in an episode full of them. One of the most successful things about Stranger Beside Me is the amount of tension director David McWhirter mines from Dana Horgan & Katie Rose Rogers script. The scene where Kara, Alex, and Briany track Jonns brother to a sewer calls to mind any number of horror movies, as does the one where Andrea is just inches away from discovering the secret prisoner Lena has locked in her lab. Stranger Beside Me even ends with an eerie acoustic cover of Girls Just Want To Have Fun, which effectively implies that not everything is hunky dory in National City.

That includes the fact that Kara is struggling to fit in at a new version of CatCo where her boss and co-workers expect her to (gasp!) do her job in a timely and professional manner. She accuses William of being a saboteur, and he certainly doesnt win any points for calling up an old NSA contact in order to track her. Yet the final shot of William volunteering at a soup kitchen implies hes still a stranger Kara doesnt fully understand. No doubt the many pointed mentions of his wife will play a bigger role this season too.

Stranger Beside Me lays out some interesting ideas and themes for the season to explore, it just doesnt entirely function as an episode in its own right. It lacks the seamlessness of the best Supergirl outings, even as it proves willing to shake things up in potentially intriguing ways.

Go here to read the rest:

Supergirl digs into Martian lore with a brotherly twist - The A.V. Club