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Imagine the situation: You return home after a long day at work, but your mind is still filled with the unfinished tasks that await you the next day. You try to relax, but these thoughts won’t let you go. Rather than helping you recharge your batteries for a new day, your mind is spinning and ruining your evening! If you’ve ever been in this situation, you’ve experienced the Zeigarnik effect. the tendency to remember an interrupted task better than a completed task. Zeigarnik Effect: This discovery was made by , who gave her name to the phenomenon. She came up with the theory while observing the behavior of waiters in a restaurant. the Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik When the bill had not yet been paid, the waiters always remembered all the customers’ orders in detail. But once payment had been received, they instantly forgot what the customer had ordered. The young psychologist hypothesized that it’s easier to remember the details of an incomplete task than a completed one. The 1927 Experiment To verify her intuition, Bluma Zeigarnik set up an experiment, the results of which were published in 1927. , she asked participants to solve cognitive problems such as puzzles and brainteasers. In this study She interrupted half the group in the middle of their thinking and let the others complete their exercises. She then asked participants in both subgroups a series of questions to measure the details they could remember. The result was surprising: the interrupted subgroup remembered 90% more details than those who had completed the tests, thus proving Zeigarnik’s theory on the memorization of interrupted tasks. Although the Zeigarnik effect has been criticized by other researchers who have been unable to reproduce the same results, its effects can still be seen in everyday life. Have you ever felt like you’d forgotten everything you’d learned after passing an exam? The Zeigarnik effect is to blame. As Bluma Zeigarnik has shown in another study, this effect can also be helpful. For instance, students can use it to retain better what they have learned (by introducing voluntary interruptions). However, its negative effects are more commonplace, particularly in the workplace. The influence of the Zeigarnik effect on our work-life balance Our brain is a problem-solving machine. When we leave a task incomplete or are interrupted in its completion, a cognitive tension forms in our mind. This tension will help our brain to memorize the details needed to solve the task later. Whether we like it or not, this task will inhabit a part of our subconscious, a part of the brain we have no control over. And most often, the subconscious is most active when relaxing, meaning after work. Then, the classic pattern sets in: You think about the task that needs to be done, which creates stress and the need to do something about it. Feeling useless, you start working in the evening when your energy reserves are at their lowest. But this doesn’t work because, without energy, you can’t really do quality work. So, you fall back on low-value tasks, such as going through your emails. New problems arise, increasing your stress and wasting time that should have been spent resting. The next day starts off badly because you’re not fully rested. In the end, the task remains unfinished and even ruins your evening! Yet this vicious circle can easily be avoided, and researchers have even proved it. Overcoming the Zeigarnik effect with planning , researchers Roy Baumeister and E. J. Masicampo examined the Zeigarnik effect. They began by replicating the 1927 experiment by asking a group to complete a list of tasks. In a paper published in 2011 As you might guess, they interrupted some of the participants in order to generate the Zeigarnik effect. They then discovered a simple solution to reduce the effect: asking the interrupted participants to create an action plan to complete the remaining tasks. Planning the next steps allowed participants to free up more cognitive space to focus on other problems. The researchers also observed that, for these people, the feeling of having achieved their goal increased. What this experiment shows is particularly interesting for those who want to completely disconnect from their work to regain mental energy for the next day. It suggests that it is possible to trick our brains into a sense of completion through planning. To benefit from this method, the best is to establish a daily ritual at the end of your working day. The Anti-Zeigarnik Ritual In his book , author Cal Newport describes a daily practice he uses to effectively combat the Zeigarnik effect. He calls it the “Shutdown Ritual.” Deep Work To begin, you need to establish a routine lasting around 15 minutes at the end of your day. During these 15 minutes, you’ll take the following four steps: Review the tasks that couldn’t be completed today. For each task, create an action plan. The plan doesn’t need to be massively detailed. The important thing is to define the following steps to be taken for each task. Capture this plan in your organizational system (your “to-do list,” for example). Say a ritual phrase like “Workday successfully completed.” This little trick may sound a bit cheesy, but believe me, it does relieve the mental pressure you can feel at the end of the day and helps you switch off completely. Once you’ve completed this ritual, don’t spend a single second on work-related subjects - it’s now time to recuperate your mental energy! The Zeigarnik effect is omnipresent in our lives and, if left unchecked, can lead to burnout. Like an addiction to completed tasks, this effect prevents us from resting and enjoying better mental capacities during working hours. Yet a simple 15-minute ritual can free us from this effect and allow us to enjoy our evenings to the fullest. To say goodbye to the Zeigarnik effect, all you have to do is plan ahead! Also published . here

The Zeigarnik Effect: How Those Unfinished Tasks At Work Ruin Your Evenings and How to Beat Them

THE UNFINISHED BOOK

My side project game is at its all time low. Maybe I am using unhealthy comparison with myself during college years when I did not need to care about grownup stuff. But only shipping a tiny, two page app per year is sad. Strange part is that I am still constantly hacking on side projects, nothing has changed there. Where are those projects now? Oh, right, they have been abandoned before reaching “shippable” state. After some retrospective on previously successful and failed projects I think I have found why this is happening. Stuck in analysis paralysis Spending too much time thinking about the best technical solution. There is no need to think how the solution will scale when there is only one user — me. Facebook was built with PHP and plenty of companies started with Ruby on Rails. What was my reason for using Go on Google App Engine when Python had superior support and prototyping took half the time? Geeking out on new language, I guess. The best technical stack is the one which gets You from zero to production the fastest. Raison d’être Creating projects that have no clear reason why they should exist. There is nothing wrong with creating one more JavaScript web framework. But as a bare minimum the new framework should have at least one novel feature. And that feature should be the first thing implemented and shipped (think Minimum Viable Product). If the feature does not bring anticipated value, then there is no reason to build the rest. I somehow have forgotten about goals. S.M.A.R.T Context switching Juggling too many projects at the same time. Switching between projects is mentally demanding and turns out to be counter productive in the end. If I am stuck on a project, I am way better off going for a run than stuffing my brain with a different problem. Action plan Following my short retrospective I have devised an action plan for 2017. Start projects with one clear use-case or hypothesis to test. Define what MVP should look like Pick the most straight forward way to implement the project If MVP isn’t done, don’t start a new project. Get in into habit of following though from start to finish I have already made some good progress following my plan, so stay tuned for more posts about my projects.

Walking through the death valley of unfinished side projects

3 Lessons I Learned from Van Gogh’s Unfinished Work Look what I stumbled upon during a free afternoon in New York City: So here are three lessons I learned that I want to share with you: The power of the process. Experiencing Van Gogh’s stroke, original stroke, what he used to create the framework, the skeleton of his work, gave me a first row seat to his process of creation. In my mind, I could recreate his process of creating magical pieces of art which reminded me that our greatest creations are a result of simple, consistent and at times challenging steps that come together to create something where there was nothing before. Co Creating; Andy Warhol’s piece, intentionally unfinished, was designed for the art viewer to co-create the artwork with the original artist. Warhol invited the viewer to work with him in creating a unique experience of his art. I wonder, what would we create, if we designed more room for co-creating? At home, in the office, with our teams, our clients in the boardroom? The beauty in being human. I have to say, some of the pieces I saw at the Met Breuer Museum, these unfinished pieces, moved me more than some great art I’ve seen in other museums, some from the same artist. Why is that? I felt moved by the human side of the artist. The stories behind each piece and why they remained unfinished. It allowed me to see the artist not just as someone who creates great art, but as someone who is human and is using art to express their experience of life. I wonder, what would happen if we shared our human, imperfect, vulnerable side more often than we share what we do or who we are. Think of it, what if we showed our human side in facebook or other social media, instead of sharing ONLY our best side? How much more would we relate and connect with others? If you happen to stop in NY, please, do not miss this exhibit. In the meantime, come share YOUR humanity with us. I’m hosting a monthly planning session next week to help YOU plan your month of MAY. This is a FREE virtual, 60 minute video call where we come together as a group to help each other set and strategize our 30 day goals. Register Now! Feel free to share this opportunity with your network. You can copy and paste the text below in social media or in an email to your colleagues & friends: “Looking for some Clarity & Planning time? Dolores Hirschmann, Coach & Strategist is hosting a FREE & Virtual Monthly Planning Session to map out your next 30 days of reaching your goals. Register Now!” It’s Travel time! Let’s Meet Up. If you are in one of these places let’s connect. Here are my where & when for the next few weeks. Email me: Miami, FL; 4/21 to 4/24 Ft. Lauderdale, FL; 4/25 to 4/27 Buenos Aires; 5/2 to 5/9 New York; 5/10 Until next time, have a great week, Dolores Dolores Hirschmann is an internationally-recognized strategist, coach, TEDxOrganizer, speaker and author. She has over 20 years experience helping entrepreneurs, companies and organizations realize their potential — by guiding them with CLARITY — to refine their vision, message and market perspective needed to leverage their next level of growth. If you would like to learn more, book a FREE CLARITY SESSION.

3 Lessons I Learned from Van Gogh’s Unfinished Work

Omnity Network, the first fully on-chain Bitcoin asset hub, plans to provide Bitcoin liquidity and security to any connected chain. The Bitcoin interoperability hub, launched after the Bitcoin halving, was the first protocol to support Runes interoperability with its Red Envelope HOPE YOU GET RICH Runes token ($RICH.) Omnity's omnichain hub is built on the Internet Computer (ICP). ICP's Chain Fusion Technology allows Omnity to read and write directly to the Bitcoin network, sidestepping the congestion and high user fees. Ordinal NFT and Runes asset standards have increased Bitcoin's potential as a general-purpose settlement layer, but these assets can bottleneck the Bitcoin network. Omnity says it has solved this problem without compromising security or decentralization. It is now expanding its scope to include Bitcoin staking and shared security to become the "Liquidity and Security Hub of the Bitcoin Ecosystem." Omnity's novelty lies in its ability to achieve a user experience comparable to trust-based bridges without relying on off-chain witnesses or relayers due to its 100% end-to-end on-chain tech stack. As the liquidity and security hub of the Bitcoin ecosystem, Omnity's goal is to support Bitcoin Shared Security Services for execution chains or Layer-2s (L2s) by providing L2s multibillion-dollar-level security at a modest cost. Any end-user-facing, highly usable blockchain that deals with Bitcoin assets and needs to peg security to the Bitcoin Network could then be connected through Omnity. Armed with ICP's Chain Fusion, Omnity acts as the "bond" between the Bitcoin settlement layer and unlimited execution layers, ready to handle massive transactions because ICP is infinitely scalable. Omnity's roadmap includes the launch of Bitcoin Staking in Q3 2024, followed by Bitcoin Shared Security in Q4 2024. Omnity's Service Nervous System (SNS) governance token, $OT, will also be released in Q4, granting voting rights via $OT SNS staking. The SNS framework is the Internet Computer's built-in solution for creating and maintaining decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to govern Dapps. Omnity’s SNS DAO shall implement voting rights for determining protocol upgrades, blockchain connections to the Omnity Interoperability Network, and Bitcoin L2 connections to use Omnity's shared security. "We hope that Bitcoin will be the settlement layer for the world economy because it is a common good. No one can control Bitcoin. It's an impartial and non-abusable settlement layer," said Louis Liu, Founder of Omnity. "Similarly, Omnity is an ‘unopinionated infrastructure.’ We don't care what type of blockchain it is. We care about what our users are willing to use. If it can bring some utility, entertainment, or profit to Bitcoin asset holders, Omnity will direct Bitcoin assets to that blockchain." From a technical perspective, Omnity relies on ICP's Bitcoin integration to bring Bitcoin assets, BTC, or Runes to ICP. A dedicated subnet has made ICP an impartible part of the Bitcoin network. Dfinity Foundation has a world-class cryptography research team that supported the development of Chain Key Cryptography, the cornerstone of ICP and the Bitcoin integration, safeguarding assets worth billions in USD. However, connections to all other blockchains rely fully on the Omnity team's extensive experience with IBC Protocol implementations and on-chain light clients. "As the only team to implement IBC-ICS 28 on Rust/Wasm chains, Omnity has transplanted many kinds of on-chain light clients, such as Tendermint, Substrate, and NEAR light clients, to enable trustless interoperability,” says Liu. Omnity can immediately support Tendermint-based, Substrate-based, and Polygon CDK-based blockchains, with plans to include OP stack-based L2s and others. Omnity Network , the first fully on-chain Bitcoin asset hub, plans to provide Bitcoin liquidity and security to any connected chain. The Bitcoin interoperability hub, launched after the Bitcoin halving, was the first protocol to support Runes interoperability with its Red Envelope HOPE YOU GET RICH Runes token ($RICH.) Omnity Network Omnity Network Omnity's omnichain hub is built on the Internet Computer (ICP). ICP's Chain Fusion Technology allows Omnity to read and write directly to the Bitcoin network, sidestepping the congestion and high user fees. Internet Computer Internet Computer Chain Fusion Technology Chain Fusion Technology Ordinal NFT and Runes asset standards have increased Bitcoin's potential as a general-purpose settlement layer, but these assets can bottleneck the Bitcoin network. Omnity says it has solved this problem without compromising security or decentralization. It is now expanding its scope to include Bitcoin staking and shared security to become the "Liquidity and Security Hub of the Bitcoin Ecosystem." Omnity's novelty lies in its ability to achieve a user experience comparable to trust-based bridges without relying on off-chain witnesses or relayers due to its 100% end-to-end on-chain tech stack . As the liquidity and security hub of the Bitcoin ecosystem, Omnity's goal is to support Bitcoin Shared Security Services for execution chains or Layer-2s (L2s) by providing L2s multibillion-dollar-level security at a modest cost. 100% end-to-end on-chain tech stack 100% end-to-end on-chain tech stack Any end-user-facing, highly usable blockchain that deals with Bitcoin assets and needs to peg security to the Bitcoin Network could then be connected through Omnity. Armed with ICP's Chain Fusion, Omnity acts as the "bond" between the Bitcoin settlement layer and unlimited execution layers, ready to handle massive transactions because ICP is infinitely scalable. Omnity's roadmap includes the launch of Bitcoin Staking in Q3 2024, followed by Bitcoin Shared Security in Q4 2024. Omnity's Service Nervous System (SNS) governance token, $OT, will also be released in Q4, granting voting rights via $OT SNS staking. The SNS framework is the Internet Computer's built-in solution for creating and maintaining decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to govern Dapps. Omnity’s SNS DAO shall implement voting rights for determining protocol upgrades, blockchain connections to the Omnity Interoperability Network, and Bitcoin L2 connections to use Omnity's shared security. Service Nervous System (SNS) Service Nervous System (SNS) "We hope that Bitcoin will be the settlement layer for the world economy because it is a common good. No one can control Bitcoin. It's an impartial and non-abusable settlement layer," said Louis Liu, Founder of Omnity. "Similarly, Omnity is an ‘unopinionated infrastructure.’ We don't care what type of blockchain it is. We care about what our users are willing to use. If it can bring some utility, entertainment, or profit to Bitcoin asset holders, Omnity will direct Bitcoin assets to that blockchain." From a technical perspective, Omnity relies on ICP's Bitcoin integration to bring Bitcoin assets, BTC, or Runes to ICP. A dedicated subnet has made ICP an impartible part of the Bitcoin network. Dfinity Foundation has a world-class cryptography research team that supported the development of Chain Key Cryptography , the cornerstone of ICP and the Bitcoin integration, safeguarding assets worth billions in USD. Dfinity Foundation Dfinity Foundation Chain Key Cryptography Chain Key Cryptography However, connections to all other blockchains rely fully on the Omnity team's extensive experience with IBC Protocol implementations and on-chain light clients. "As the only team to implement IBC-ICS 28 on Rust/Wasm chains, Omnity has transplanted many kinds of on-chain light clients, such as Tendermint, Substrate, and NEAR light clients, to enable trustless interoperability,” says Liu. IBC Protocol IBC Protocol Omnity can immediately support Tendermint-based, Substrate-based, and Polygon CDK-based blockchains, with plans to include OP stack-based L2s and others.

Omnity Network's Fully Onchain Hub Announces Bitcoin Staking and Shared Security

ওমনিটি নেটওয়ার্কের সম্পূর্ণ অনচেইন হাব বিটকয়েন স্টেকিং এবং শেয়ার্ড সিকিউরিটি ঘোষণা করেছে

Der vollständig Onchain-Hub von Omnity Network kündigt Bitcoin-Staking und gemeinsame Sicherheit an

El centro totalmente en cadena de Omnity Network anuncia participación y seguridad compartida de Bitcoin

Le hub entièrement en chaîne d'Omnity Network annonce le jalonnement Bitcoin et la sécurité partagée

ओम्निटी नेटवर्क के पूर्णतः ऑनचेन हब ने बिटकॉइन स्टेकिंग और साझा सुरक्षा की घोषणा की

オムニティネットワークの完全オンチェーンハブがビットコインのステーキングと共有セキュリティを発表

Omnity Network의 완전 온체인 허브, 비트코인 스테이킹 및 공유 보안 발표

Hub Fully Onchain da Omnity Network anuncia piquetagem de Bitcoin e segurança compartilhada

Полностью ончейн-концентратор Omnity Network объявляет о стейкинге биткойнов и общей безопасности

Omnity Network'ün Tamamen Zincir Üzerindeki Merkezi, Bitcoin Staking ve Paylaşımlı Güvenliği Duyurdu

Trung tâm Onchain hoàn chỉnh của Omnity Network công bố đặt cọc Bitcoin và bảo mật chia sẻ

Omnity Network 的 Fully Onchain Hub 宣布推出比特币质押和共享安全

Scaling Bitcoin On-Chain with Omnity

Omnity সহ বিটকয়েন অন-চেইন স্কেলিং

Bitcoin On-Chain skalieren mit Omnity

Escalando Bitcoin On-Chain con Omnity

Faire évoluer Bitcoin en chaîne avec Omnity

ओम्निटी के साथ बिटकॉइन को ऑन-चेन स्केल करना

Omnity によるオンチェーンでのビットコインのスケーリング

Omnity로 비트코인 온체인 확장

Escalando Bitcoin On-Chain com Omnity

Масштабирование биткойнов в цепочке с помощью Omnity

Omnity ile Bitcoin'i Zincir Üzerinde Ölçeklendirmek

Mở rộng quy mô Bitcoin trên chuỗi với Omnity

使用 Omnity 在链上扩展比特币

Tools like ChatGPT have been a big help for programmers, offering code suggestions in chat and even directly within their coding environment. But these helpers have limitations. They can’t do everything a programmer can, like checking for errors or running the code to see if it works. This is where AutoDev steps in to make a difference. It’s like a super-powered coding assistant that can take action directly within your code files. AutoDev can edit files, search for information within the code, build and run the code, test it for errors, and even use command-line tools. This means it can help you complete complex coding tasks without you having to do everything manually. In essence, AutoDev takes existing coding helper tools to the next level by giving them the ability to directly work on your code and automate more steps in the coding process. Key Features: Conversation Manager Customizable Tools Agent Scheduler Evaluation Environment A novel framework that empowers AI agents to manage complex software development workflows. We demonstrate its effectiveness through evaluations using established datasets and showcase its ability to handle diverse software engineering objectives. The results highlight AutoDev’s potential to significantly automate software development tasks while maintaining a secure and user-controlled development environment. How It Works Behind the Scenes Imagine a team of AI helpers for your coding projects. That’s what AutoDev is! It lets these AI agents work together to tackle complex software development tasks without needing you to look over their shoulders constantly. Here’s a breakdown of how it works: First, you tell AutoDev what the AI helpers can and can’t do. You can choose from a list of pre-built commands, like editing files, running tests, or checking for bugs. You can even fine-tune these permissions to fit your specific needs. Think of it as giving your AI helpers a rulebook to follow. Setting the Rules: Once the rules are set, you tell AutoDev what you want to achieve. For example, you might ask it to create test cases for your code, making sure they work properly and catch any errors. This is like giving your AI helpers a specific task to complete. Giving Instructions: This part acts as the project manager for your AI helpers. It keeps track of everything that’s said and done, making sure everyone is on the same page. It also decides when to pause things and check in with you, just in case. The Conversation Manager: The AI helpers might suggest actions, but the Conversation Manager needs to make sure they’re following the rules and using the right commands. It also translates their responses into clear messages for you to understand. Understanding the Helpers: After the AI helpers take action (like running a test), the Conversation Manager gathers the results and puts them in a clear report for you. This way, you can see what the AI helpers did and what the outcome was. Keeping You Informed: Imagine AutoDev as a team manager for AI helpers in coding. This is like the team leader who assigns tasks to different AI helpers based on their strengths. Some helpers are better at understanding code (like OpenAI GPT-4), while others are better at creating code (like smaller language models). The leader decides who does what and in what order, using different methods like taking turns (round robin), letting someone work until finished (token-based), or prioritizing tasks based on importance. The Scheduler: These are like the coding assistants. They can’t directly write code, but they can follow instructions and use tools to help with various coding tasks. They communicate with each other and the team leader using plain English. The AI Helpers: This is like a toolbox with different functions for the helpers. There are tools for editing files (like code, instructions, or notes), searching for specific information within the code, building and running the code to see if it works, checking for errors, and even communicating with the team leader or you (the user) if they need help. The Tool Library: This is a secure environment where the helpers use the tools to work on the code. It keeps everything safe and makes sure no mistakes are accidentally made to the original code. The Safe Zone: How it works: You tell AutoDev what you want the code to do (the objective). It assigns different parts of the task to different AI helpers based on their skills. The helpers use the tools and communicate with each other to achieve the objective. Everything happens in the safe zone to avoid messing up the original code. This process keeps going back and forth until the code is finished, you ask AutoDev to stop, or there have been too many attempts without success. Overall, It helps automate complex coding tasks by using a team of AI helpers with different skills and a safe environment for them to work in. Testing AutoDev’s Skills Imagine you want to see how good AutoDev is at different coding tasks. That’s what the researchers did here. They set up some experiments to answer three main questions: Can AutoDev write code? Can AutoDev create tests for existing code? How efficient is AutoDev at doing these tasks? Write Code The researchers gave some unfinished code snippets and asked them to complete them. They compared AutoDev’s performance to other approaches, including directly using a powerful AI model like GPT-4. It did a very good job (almost as good as the best) at writing code, even without any extra training! They measured success by checking if the code AutoDev generated passed all the existing tests for that code snippet. Creating Test This test flipped things around. The researchers gave AutoDev complete code and asked it to create new tests for that code. They compared AutoDev’s tests to tests written by humans. Here’s the key finding: While AutoDev wasn’t perfect, it created tests that were almost as good as human-written tests in terms of how well they covered the code. The Efficiency Test This test looked at how many steps and resources AutoDev used to complete the tasks. They looked at things like how many times it had to call on the helper AI model and how many words it used in its conversations. This is important because you wouldn’t want AutoDev to take too long or use too much power to do its job. Overall, these tests show that AutoDev is a promising tool that can both write code and create tests for existing code. It’s still under development, but it has the potential to be a valuable helper for programmers. The Results: How Well Does AutoDev Do? The researchers looked at how well AutoDev performed on different tasks: They found that it did a great job (almost the best) at writing missing parts of code, even without any extra training! This is better than directly using a powerful AI model like GPT-4 on its own. Writing Code: AutoDev was also good at creating tests for existing code. Its tests were almost as good as human-written tests in terms of how well they covered the code. Creating Tests: AutoDev takes a few more steps than some other approaches, but that’s because it does more than just write code. It also checks the code it writes to make sure it works properly, which is an important step programmers normally do themselves. How Many Steps Does It Take? AutoDev is a promising tool that can both write code and create tests for existing code. It achieves good results without needing extra training data. It takes a bit more effort (steps) than some other approaches, but that’s because it does more thorough work. Technical Details (can be skipped by most readers): The researchers compared AutoDev to other methods and found it performed well. They measured success by looking at how many times it completed the task correctly on the first try (Pass@1). It uses more “tokens” (words) than some other approaches, but that’s because it takes extra steps, like testing the code it writes. It uses a secure environment to run the code it creates. AutoDev in Action We tell AutoDev to generate a Pytest test with specific assertions for a function in . Here's the Python code for the function: human_answer.py def is_bored(S):
  """
  You'll be given a string of words, and your task is to count the number of boredoms. 
  A boredom is a sentence that starts with the word "I". Sentences are delimited by '.', '?' or '!'.
  For example:
  >>> is_bored("Hello world") 0
  >>> is_bored("The sky is blue. The sun is shining. I love this weather") 1
  """
  import re
  sentences = re.split(r'[.?!]\s*', S)
  return sum(sentence[0:2] == 'I ' for sentence in sentences) We tell AutoDev to write the test to a new file named with a specific format. test_HumanEval_91.py It creates a new test file ( ) with the following code: test_HumanEval_91.py from .human_answer import *
import pytest
def test_is_bored():
  assert is_bored('Hello world') == 0
  assert is_bored('I am bored. This is boring!') == 2
  assert is_bored('The sky is blue. The sun is shining. I love this weather.') == 1
  assert is_bored('I think, therefore I am. I am bored?') == 2
  assert is_bored('') == 0 It discovers an error. One of the assertions fails. AutoDev Detects and Fixes the Error It identifies that the test for fails because it expects the function to return 2, but according to the function's logic, it should only return 1. 'I am bored. This is boring!' It corrects the failing test by updating the assertion statement in (line 5) to: test_HumanEval_91.py assert is_bored('I am bored. This is boring!') == 1 AutoDev runs the tests again, and this time, all tests pass. It successfully creates a test suite that covers all the functionalities of the function. This example highlights two key features : is_bored It can identify errors in its generated code and fix them. Self-evaluation: It keeps the user informed about its actions throughout the process. User Transparency: Conclusion Imagine them as little code-writing helpers. Instead of developers doing all the work, they become supervisors. And don’t worry, this won’t happen overnight. It’s a gradual shift, and developers will still play a crucial part in shaping the software world. So, while AutoDev is exciting, it won’t replace human developers in the long term. They’ll continue to be essential making sure the robots stay in line! 🤖👩‍💻👨‍💻 C# Programming🚀 Thank you for being a part of the C# community! Before you leave: If you’ve made it this far, please show your appreciation with a clap and follow the author! 👏️️ Follow us: | ** | | | | X LinkedIn Dev.to Hashnode Newsletter Tumblr Visit our other platforms: | | | | ** GitHub Instagram Tiktok Quora Daily.dev More content at C# Programming Also published . here

From Davin to Microsoft Autodev: Elevating AI Coding Assistants to Super-Powered Code Editors

Despite the woo-woo-seeming presentation of ideas in this and his most popular book , I think Napoleon Hill was onto something, even if it was expressed in a delulu way. Think and Grow Rich The following is the summary of the main concepts of a lesser-known Napoleon Hill book: . First things first - Hill didn’t think he was talking to the devil. He wrote it as a parable about human nature and how we sabotage ourselves. Outwitting the Devil actual What you’ll learn: What happens to the mind when it has no purpose? Mental habits and behaviors for success. How to use human nature to your advantage. The key concept of the book - drifting. Drifting refers to a state of mind that lacks aim or purpose - essentially going through the motions. 9 thought habits that lead to drifting: Fear Superstition Avarice Greed Lust Revenge Anger Vanity Laziness Success - drifter vs non-drifter In Hill’s terms, the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful person is a set of habits. If you’re not successful, it’s because you’re unwilling to train your mind. Drifting ≠ Success. Non-Drifting = Success. Successful people carefully choose the people they surround themselves with because we download the thought habits of the people we interact the most with. Drifter always complains that the world has run out of opportunity and there's nothing to do while the non-drifters will create opportunity no matter the circumstances. Non-drifters provide a service that's useful to as many people as possible; the attitude is to give before you get. How to protect yourself against drifting Value time as your greatest asset. Recognize that the emotion of fear is self-sabotage. Resist it. Decide what you want from life and create a plan to achieve it. Form the habit of being decisive. Don’t leave things unfinished. If temporarily defeated or failed, analyze it to extract the knowledge and advantage it has given you. Your thoughts guide your actions. Be wary of what/how you think. Human nature Hypnotic rhythm - the unconscious part of your mind that tends to solidify your habits and behaviors. These automated behaviours can be good or bad: brushing your teeth, compulsively checking social media, exercising, eating poorly etc. But hypnotic rhythm refers to thinking patterns, too. Do we ruminate or gossip? Are we grateful and forgiving? Do we look for opportunities or focus on what work? These mental habits usually form early on and then become solidified beliefs that produce the illusion that . doesn’t that’s what the world is How to stop drifting You need to develop: DEFINITENESS OF PURPOSE Definite aims, goals, and purpose. Have a plan for how you're gonna achieve them. Plans can change, but the definiteness of purpose doesn’t. If a plan fails don't be discouraged, devise a new plan. MASTERY OVER SELF Master your desire for 1) food 2) sex 3) desire to express loosely organised opinions. The person who talks less has the opportunity to learn more by listening to and observing others. Expressing loosely organized opinions is a destructive habit; don't give opinions unless you’re asked. CONTROLLING ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCE (ASSOCIATIONS) Your environment feeds your thought habits. We unconsciously adopt the habits of those we associate with closely. Association through romantic relationships has very strong powers because the minds are connected spiritually. TIME Time converts thought habits into outcomes and either penalizes or rewards you depending on them. Time allows human beings to cultivate wisdom, but wisdom only comes to non-drifters who proactively use their minds for positive thought habits. HARMONY Like attracts like - nature seeks things of a similar nature. Successful people 1) make sure to have harmony among their business associates 2) require their associates to have definiteness of purpose. CAUTION - THINKING THROUGH YOUR PLAN BEFORE YOU ACT Think first act second. A drifter reacts before thinking. Has a plan if things go wrong to avoid unnecessary stress. How the mind works, according to Hill We receive thoughts from the collective consciousness and the Infinite Intelligence (God, Universe, Consciousness - whatever it means to you). All negative desires are nothing but frustrations of positive desires. Thoughts tend to invoke similar thoughts so if you're thinking positively, more positive thoughts will come up and vice versa. The thoughts that we keep having become a part of the hypnotic rhythm law. That's why it's so important to choose your thoughts. Wrap up Would I recommend you read the book? Yes, if you’re not bothered by spiritual-speak. offers a deep dive into the psychology of success through a dialogue with the sabotaging part of ourselves. Outwitting the Devil Key takeaways: Have purpose and vision for your life and guide your actions accordingly. Master self-discipline, both through thought habits and curating the people/information you surround yourself with. Value your time and use it to your advantage by creating positive mental habits that compound over time and bring you ‘luck.’ Also published . here

A Key to Success: Defeat Drifting

In this blog post, I want to discuss the importance of starting with a red test. The red-green-refactor cycle is a well-known mantra in test-driven development. To recap: Red - write a piece of test code for the functionality you want to implement. It must be red since the functionality is not there yet. One of the main ideas is that the tests should guide the development process. Green - write a piece of code for the test to pass. Refactor - eliminate code duplicates, enhance readability, improve aesthetics, possibly extract some methods or create new classes, and optimize. Don't forget to refactor both the production code and the test code. Why red? I very rarely do post-code testing (perhaps there is a better-known expression for writing tests after writing production code). I do that when I encounter a piece of code not covered with tests that I need to put my hands on. And I'm happy when the test is green, making me feel the code works as expected. Test-driven development is not only about writing tests to make sure the production code works as expected, but it is rather (as the name suggests) a process of development. A couple of things pop into my head when I think about Red in . First is demand; I produce the production code when it is needed (red test), and I need to meet the demand. Second - YAGNI (You Aren’t Gonna Need It), I do not produce the code that is not needed, I do not code too much, because it might not be needed. TDD I'm just a human after all I'm only human, and I make mistakes. I make mistakes in production code and test code alike. The idea for this blog post came last week when I encountered situations where the test was not red, and it was very tempting to leave it as is because it was GREEN. This was especially true when there were already several tests, leading me to think that I might have already covered the case. It may sound like an oxymoron, but a GREEN test in the first step of TDD is a RED flag. In the following sections, I will provide cases that I encountered last week where I made a mistake in the test, causing it to be green, but it was incorrect. it vs if I'm a backend developer and use TDD a lot. However, sometimes I have to work with front-end and do . I do my best to practice TDD while doing JavaScript development as well. JavaScript development For JavaScript testing, I use as a test runner and as a test framework. In , the function sets a test case, and the function defines an individual test. I want to share how I mistyped as multiple times, leading to a false impression of all passing tests. karma jasmine jasmine describe it it if it('Seat map is selected when person of the seat map is selected', 
    function () {
        let seatMaps = result.Seating.SeatMaps;
        expect(seatMaps[0].Selected).toBeTrue();
        seatMaps[2].Passengers[1].select();
        expect(seatMaps[2].Selected).toBeTrue();
    }
); and if('Seat map is selected when person of the seat map is selected', 
    function () {
        let seatMaps = result.Seating.SeatMaps;
        expect(seatMaps[0].Selected).toBeTrue();    
        seatMaps[2].Passengers[1].select();
        expect(seatMaps[2].Selected).toBeTrue();
    }
); In all modern development environments and text editors for developers, is usually highlighted in a different color. I'm not colorblind, but it is still easy for me to miss it. Additionally, I find that my finger muscle memory is used to typing a two-letter word starting with as . It just happens automatically. As a result, there are no errors, and it is a valid sentence. All tests appear green when I run them. It is easy to notice when it is the first test because it will show that 0 tests have been run. However, it is more difficult when there are more tests. In this particular situation, my initial thought was, Fortunately, my experience with treating green tests as a red flag saved me. if i if "aha, I already covered this functionality.". Missing the attribute This example is in C#. While it's not taken from production code, it captures the essence: [DataRow(1, 2, 3)]
[DataRow(2, 3, 5)]
public void SomeFakeTest(int a, int b, int c)
{
    Assert.AreEqual(c, a + b);
} In the MsTest test framework, the attribute alone is insufficient to mark a method as a test. The or attribute is required for the method to be recognized as a test. I have found myself forgetting this attribute a few times, which resulted in tests not being run and creating a false impression of all tests passing. DataRow TestMethod DataTestMethod Missing assertion The following example, which I adapted from my previous blog post, demonstrates the situation. I recall the instances when I write a test - I think of a test case, a test name, arrange it, then act, and then - get distracted. When I return to see where I left off, I usually run the tests to see the red ones and continue from there. But in this particular case, all are green. This case is tricky; it's easy to forget that I left the test unfinished, and it's green because it doesn't have an assertion.ertions. [TestCaseSource(typeof(UnexpectedPaymentMessageIsSentWhenInvoiceIsOverpaidOrUnknownCases))]
public async Task UnexpectedPaymentMessageIsSentWhenInvoiceIsOverpaidOrUnknown(
    Invoice invoice,
    string message)
{
    _invoiceRepositoryResult = invoice;

    await CallCallback();
} Misread Recently, I needed to modify the functionality of a DTO converter to return passengers in order by , rather than in a somewhat random manner. I'm using , which allows passing configuration in the method. I simply typed , and Visual Studio's IntelliSense suggested a list of options. I chose the first one that started with and ended with . sequenceNumber FluentAssertions BeEquivalentTo config.With With Ordering seatMapDto
    .Passengers
    .Select(x => x.FirstName)
    .Should()
    .BeEquivalentTo(
        new[]
        {
            "GUDMARIN",
            "GUDMARIANA",
            "TOM"
        },
        config => config.WithoutStrictOrdering(),
        "should be ordered by sequenceNumber"
    ); I ran the test, and it was green. Since I expected the test to be red, I began by making sure that the input data was unordered in the arrange part to create a nonsequential order for the test to be red. Only later did I realize that I had chosen the configuration instead of . WithoutStrictOrdering WithStrictOrdering Wrapping it up Being human and making mistakes is not easy :). In this blog post, I wanted to showcase how sometimes silly mistakes can give the impression that tests are green, and emphasize the importance of starting with a red test first. Have you encountered similar situations where a mistake in a test led you to believe that production was working as expected? Please share your experiences in the comments. If you enjoyed this post, please click "like" and "follow". Feel free to explore my other blog posts, where I write about test-driven development and my pet project EasyTdd, a Visual Studio extension that makes test-driven development simpler. Also published here.

Why You Should Start With a Red Test in Test-Driven Development

178 Stories To Learn About Essay

The recent shockwave to hit the world financial markets once again originated in China. As we are well-acquainted now, those shockwaves come and go as they please with fewer and fewer days apart. However, this particular one was building for several years and now it’s gotten the long-overdue catharsis. The recent court order in Hong Kong to wind up Evergrande, the world's most indebted property developer, has brought a chain of reactions from far beyond the sector. And the world has thus been divided. real estate First came those whose unfinished property was, well, abandoned, and the deposits vanished. Then, came the construction sector, whose services were under or not at all paid, and, surely, further collaborations no longer in question. The deeper implications, however, extend to the very core of the founding fathers – the great and terrible banking system, bringing to light its vulnerability and interdependence. Without intending so, has revealed not only the real estate and fast-paced growth’s sore points but also a necessity for a banking paradigm shift, with fintech startups leading the way. Evergrande's demise Evergrande's troubles began in 2021 with a default on a crucial repayment. The company's aggressive expansion, borrowing over $300 billion, and subsequent struggles to meet interest payments on its debts have bared the risks of the financial ecosystem. As stated, Evergrande's financial troubles extend beyond the immediate stakeholders. Those who purchased property from the company now face the looming risk of losing their deposits, creating a ripple effect of financial distress. Furthermore, businesses associated with Evergrande, including construction firms and materials suppliers, are at risk of significant losses, potentially pushing them into bankruptcy. But what China is especially terrified of is that the downfall of Evergrande has an immediate impact on banks and other lenders, potentially compelling them to reduce their lending activities. These tight and complex interconnections between financial institutions and the real estate sector (and not just it) are now under the magnifying glass, as the forthcoming credit squeeze is upon China’s businesses of all sectors and sizes. Looking at the bigger picture, this not only stifles economic growth but also exposes the vulnerabilities in the conventional banking model, which, as it happened, is more fragile than terrible. For instance, during a crisis of such magnitude, traditional banks may face constraints in adjusting lending practices promptly, potentially exacerbating the credit crunch. In contrast, fintech platforms like Bitbanker, with their technology-driven infrastructure, can swiftly adapt their risk management strategies. These platforms can recalibrate lending models, ensuring a more responsive approach to market dynamics. The adaptive nature of fintech operations also facilitates the continuous provision of essential financial services, such as acquiring, investing, and staking deposits, even when traditional banks may be grappling with liquidity concerns. crypto Moreover, the transparency inherent in fintech platforms allows for real-time monitoring of financial transactions, reducing the risk of information asymmetry that often plagues traditional banking systems during crises. This enhanced transparency not only fosters greater trust among users but also contributes to more effective risk mitigation strategies. It’s hard to say how hard and for how long China will struggle for the mistakes of its grand real estate misfortune. Will the second-largest economy draw the same conclusions as I have? Doubtfully so. However, The Colossus of Rhodes has gotten its first cracks, and it is only a matter of time before the long chain of interdependencies will shake, bringing down the fragile foundation.

Evergrande's Collapse Calls for the Financial Shift?

This year has been important in so many ways. I’ve been publishing more content than ever. I had a part-time personal assistant. Got access to many wonderful opportunities. I raised my net worth by 60%. I’ve built a great team and moved the product forward at the cybersec SaaS I work at. I almost finished my master’s in management (thesis postponed to the next year). I designed and furnished my first (and hopefully last) apartment. Hell, I even started using separate products for hair and body. And there was a lot of personal change as well. Join me in this short recap if you want to learn where a path like mine can lead you. I’ll share mostly blog and online presence-related details with some professional (engineering), financial, and private information sprinkled on top. Happy to tell more to those interested. Why am I here? I like sharing knowledge, writing, and helping people. I believe that publishing is a vital part of being a professional. Being here, rushing some content out even though it’s not perfect, being vulnerable - that’s a great way to get to know more people and open one’s mind to new points of view. I think one person - Austin Kleon - put this in words much better than me. Check out his short book, and you’ll know everything. is about why generosity trumps genius. It's about getting , about using the network instead of wasting time "networking." It's not self-promotion, it's self-discovery--let others into your process, then let them steal from you. Show Your Work! findable I had a blast putting effort into this blog and other projects this year. Some people enjoyed it as well, as seen in stats from various platforms. Stats Here’s the most interesting numbers i dug out! My blog was visited a total of 43 thousand times: I also got an additional 23k visits to my articles republished on Hackernoon. My LinkedIn content generated 65k impressions, similar to views on the blog. I’ve been posting quite irregularly, as seen in the graph below. Near the end of the year, I started listening to the numbers, resulting in more engagement than ever. Posts mentioning others and with my photos are noticeably more popular. Other numbers: My newsletter got 50 subscribers (up from 24 in July). On Twitter, my posts generated ~300k impressions. I spoke at eight conferences. I was a guest in 5 podcast episodes. I have published 12 blog articles. Best content If you missed some of my articles, here’s a chance to catch up. It’s clear that my most popular content was not opinions, summaries, or anything related to my publishing online. Most viewed articles were software engineering tutorials. A lot of traffic came from Google search, where I ranked quite high for some keywords. I also think I figured out a good way to create thumbnails. 11k views: Extracting and Generating JSON Data with GPTs, LangChain, and Node.js 9K views: How I Effortlessly Create PowerPoint Presentations with ChatGPT and MARP (as a Software Engineer) 2K views: Fine-tuning OpenAI GPT 3.5: Practical example with Python Tip for me for the next year: write more engineering tutorials. Other projects simple message from me here: don’t build a house or buy a new unfinished apartment if you’re not into it. I had to learn interior design from the ground up. Get to know materials, design solutions, too many new technical terms. It interesting, it can be fun, but it is a lot of work. Even though I’m very happy with the outcome, I think I could have spent my time better. Real estate investing / buying a new apartment: really is kicked off 2, shipped none. Excuses? Master thesis and moving apartments. Picking them up again in 2024. One was MeetingFusion: , the other is still unpublished. MF got several sign-ups on the waiting list. Side projects/startups: https://meetingfusion.com : Struggling, will post an update soon. My old AI Startup, Sentimatic : I’ve been able to provide some small-scale but well-paid software engineering services on the side. Consulting : applied for government funding and spent a lot of time. My assistant spent 175 hours on it! The application was of a master’s thesis size. Funding for new AI project Opportunities Writing here gave me more opportunities than ever before. Apart from everything mentioned above, here are some highlights. I’ve been invited a few times to run a workshop about topics I write about by several engineering companies. All my offers were rejected due to the price. I am okay with this, as I only considered it if I was able to provide the absolute best quality of the workshop. I’ve got more interesting job offers than ever. I did not proceed with any, as I’m committed to my current work at Netacea. I’ve been asked to develop a Vue.JS course for a popular course platform. The contract signing is in progress, so hopefully, next year, some people will be able to learn something new using the course. I’ve been invited to many more conferences than I spoke at. Had to choose where to spend my time. Money My work around this blog and anything professional that is not related to Netacea (the cybersec startup I’ve mentioned) only me money. cost Apart from this money pit, I am quite okay at managing my finances, saving it, and investing. I’m also fluent in tax codes. I don’t let money go to waste. I am following the stock market to a limited extent as well. All of this pays dividends and helps me feel more secure in life. I recommend everyone to have basic financial fluency. I won’t get into much detail and exact numbers, but I’ll share some stats to give you some insight into how I think about money and investing. I can share some guidelines for engineers in a separate article. Let me know. My net worth (assets less liabilities) is allocated between cash, real estate, and stocks. I am definitely real estate heavy but I have access to really good advice. Going forward, I’d prefer to have my net worth allocated in some business I run or contribute to in the form of work or investment. I am tracking my savings and investments as a whole by doing a monthly net worth evaluation (it’s a quick exercise at this point). I’ve been doing it since April 2019 and have been able to maintain a good pace of growth, albeit with some ups and downs. Don’t get all excited; the starting point was fairly low! My short advice for friends: use retirement tax-advantaged accounts buy the simplest stock market investments - index funds, S&P500, whole US stock market get a mortgage; it’s a low-interest rate leveraged capital, and overall properties keep up with inflation rates have a safety net with some small cash (as in a bank) pile to bail you out in emergencies Plans My plans regarding this blog and my online presence are still in the making. I want to aim for something that will keep giving me satisfaction while being relevant and impactful. Here are the goals I am thinking about: Launch and grow a newsletter up to at least 1000 subscribers. Shipping one successful SaaS tool on my own. And then grow or sell it. Grow my global (online) and local (at Netacea) influence as an engineering leader. Write one blog post per week. Publish video content and get a reasonable following. Regardless of the details of these, you’ll likely see much more from me next year! Stay tuned. Summary So yeah, a lot happened, and I want it to continue to happen. This year has been another great period of my life which I’m truly grateful for. As for this blog, I want to keep writing and being a part of the global community. After years of learning and working, I finally think like I have something to say. For me, writing has always been this elusive thing that I never quite got to do. I stopped hiding behind perfectionism and started sharing. And many people found it useful, which just makes me happy. I keep learning but this time, I make some of my private notes public. This year, I’ve learned a lot, made mistakes, and made new friends. The future looks exciting. See you there. Have the most wonderful year of your life. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my blog’s for more tips and insights! @ horosin_ newsletter If you don't have Twitter, you can also follow me on . LinkedIn Also published . here

Reflecting On My 2023: A Year of Growth, Opportunities, and Financial Insights

This story was originally published on by Caleb Bedillion, . Co-published with and ProPublica Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal The Marshall Project This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the and . to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal The Marshall Project Sign up for Dispatches In 2017, the Mississippi Supreme Court’s then-Chief Justice William Waller Jr. helped mandate that judges throughout the state explain in writing how they deliver on their duty to provide poor criminal defendants with a lawyer. He hoped the rule would spur improvements in Mississippi’s patched-together public defense system, regarded by many legal experts as among the worst in the country. Now, six years after the rule went into effect, only one of the 23 circuit court districts in the state has responded. The 22nd Circuit Court in southwest Mississippi became the first to comply this summer, according to . the Supreme Court’s docket The requirement was part of a push to move “toward a statewide system,” said Waller, who retired a couple of years after it went into effect. He said he’s partly responsible for not enforcing it. “We should have started going court by court and asking them to show us their plans.” Public defense systems across the country are and , but Mississippi stands out. Nationally, it ranks last in how much money it spends per capita on public defense, according to the Sixth Amendment Center, a nonprofit that advocates for a robust defense for the indigent — those who can’t afford their own lawyer. overburdened underfunded Mississippi is one of only eight states that rely on local officials to fund and deliver almost all public defense for people facing trial, according to the center. Mississippi has long failed to monitor or evaluate local courts to see whether they’re delivering that defense, which is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Without such oversight, no one knows whether all the state’s courts, especially smaller ones in the vast rural stretches of the state, are doing the job that’s required of them. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, ProPublica and The Marshall Project have identified courts that aren’t following the state Supreme Court’s rules on public defense, including judges who fail to appoint lawyers as early as required, or who deny counsel to defendants for inappropriate reasons. Even once appointed, some lawyers say they do little for defendants and that local judges know this. Such problems show why it’s important for courts to explain how they provide public defense, said André de Gruy, who runs Mississippi’s Office of State Public Defender and has written a that they could adapt to meet their needs. Without these plans, he said, “we can’t say whether we are in compliance with the Constitution.” model plan for local courts “Not Much Lawyering Going On” In the last three decades, there have been repeated efforts to overhaul Mississippi’s public defense system, including four state committees or commissions, two major reports by outside legal experts and numerous pieces of legislation. They’ve been largely unsuccessful. There’s widespread agreement about the systemic problems: Defendants can sit in jail for months at a time without a lawyer. The way that many lawyers are paid gives them an incentive to cut corners. There are few full-time public defenders in the state. “There is not much lawyering going on. I get them through the system and get them out of here,” an unidentified, part-time public defender bluntly told consultants for the Mississippi Bar Association as part of a state government effort to reform the public defense system in the 1990s. Shortcomings in Mississippi’s Public Defense Persist Over 20 Years “There is no statewide oversight of indigent defense in Mississippi, which leads to a hodge podge, county-by-county approach to providing defense services,” wrote the Spangenberg Group, a consulting firm hired by several legal groups to evaluate the state’s public defense system. 1995: The right to counsel is “functionally meaningless in Mississippi, a state which provides almost no regulation, oversight, or funding for indigent defense,” said the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. 2003: “The state of Mississippi has no method to ensure that its local governments are fulfilling the state’s constitutional obligation to provide effective assistance of counsel to the indigent accused in felony cases in its trial courts,” according to the Sixth Amendment Center. 2018: In a 2003 study, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund reported that a lawyer on the Gulf Coast said that because by the time he’s been appointed, nine months to a year have typically passed since the crime. he never tried to locate or interview witnesses “By then,” researchers wrote, recounting what the lawyer told them, “crime scenes have changed, witnesses have moved, and memories have faded.” That study of a man arrested in the northeast Mississippi city of Tupelo for possession of crack cocaine. The court appointed three different lawyers in succession. The first two never spoke with the defendant and did not respond to his phone calls or letters. highlighted the case On the day before the trial, the third lawyer told the court that he had not prepared for his client’s case. The evidence against the man was so weak that he was acquitted by a jury after less than 15 minutes of deliberation. He’d spent eight months in jail. From 2000 to 2011, several task forces successfully pressed for a series of reforms, including the creation of a state office to handle death penalty defense and indigent criminal appeals. That’s the office de Gruy now runs. But reforms to public defense in local courtrooms remained out of reach. “I remember being very frustrated,” said Waller, who was part of those efforts after joining the state Supreme Court in 1998. The sheer number of courts across the state, and the lack of coordination among them, is a factor in why it’s so hard to reform the system. “In other states, any discussion of policy change takes place at one or two systems,” said David Carroll, director of the Sixth Amendment Center. “There are nearly 500 indigent defense systems in Mississippi.” New Rules for Public Defense In 2009, Waller became chief justice and went on to play a key role in an ambitious effort to create rules of criminal procedure that would be shared by all courts in the state. Eight years later, those statewide rules went into effect. For the first time, judges were required to write down exactly how they delivered on their obligation to provide lawyers for defendants who couldn’t afford one. The courts were then required to send those plans to the Mississippi Supreme Court for approval. “The intent of the rule was, as much as possible, to have consistency across the state,” Waller said. “A lawyer would be able to look at the rules and know what the practice is, and it would be fairly consistent, and he wouldn’t be memorizing the Magna Carta every time he went into a new court.” Waller knew it was a limited effort. But in the absence of legislation to create a statewide system for public defense or a movement by counties to hire full-time lawyers, the Supreme Court could at least encourage uniformity among courts and reject inadequate plans. In combination with other new rules, including measures to make bonds less onerous and give defendants more opportunities to argue their case before a judge, he hoped counties would move to create full-time public defender offices. That didn’t happen. To date, just seven counties have full-time public defender offices, and only the 22nd Circuit Court has filed the required paperwork laying out its indigent defense system. The Mississippi Supreme Court last month. approved the plan The plan is not lengthy, but it shows that the 22nd Circuit’s lone judge knows what’s required by the Sixth Amendment and that she has developed a process for how she fulfills that duty. It says when appointed counsel should be provided to poor defendants, it directs judges to monitor attorneys’ performance, and it outlines a procedure to ensure that defendants don’t lose representation as their case moves from one court to another. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, The Marshall Project and ProPublica asked the court administrators in all 23 circuit court districts, as well as the county-level clerks in all 82 counties, if they have a written plan for indigent defense. Many would not comment, but clerks in nearly 20 counties said they don’t. Waller called on the current justices to remedy the failure to enforce the public defense rule. Chief Justice Michael Randolph and Justice Jim Kitchens, who heads the court’s criminal rules committee, declined to comment. “I’m Not Too Quick to Pull the Trigger on a Public Defender” At least a few judges aren’t only ignoring the requirement to write down how they provide lawyers for poor criminal defendants. They’re not following state rules on providing those lawyers in the first place. The Daily Journal, ProPublica and The Marshall Project identified two courts that aren’t properly appointing lawyers for indigent defendants, according to Waller, legal experts and the rules of criminal procedure. A lawyer who acts as a part-time judge in the small northeast Mississippi city of Guntown told a reporter that he usually handles defendants’ first appearances over the phone and doesn’t ask if they can afford a lawyer. This contravenes Mississippi’s criminal rules, which require that during a defendant’s initial court appearance, a judge should . find out if that defendant can afford a lawyer and appoint one if not “They hear their charges and get a bond if they deserve one,”said Harry Sumner, the part-time judge. “I do not appoint a public defender at the initial [appearance] at that time.” Told that this practice doesn’t meet the state standard for an initial appearance, Sumner said he believes that defendants waive those requirements when they agree to appear before a judge by phone. If someone wants a lawyer, he said, one could be appointed at a preliminary hearing, although he acknowledged that those hearings are rarely requested. The state’s rules, however, are clear that while defendants held in jail may agree to , the requirements of an initial appearance still apply. appear before a judge by audiovisual means In nearby Yalobusha County, a judge said he doesn’t move quickly to appoint a lawyer if a defendant posts bond and is released from jail. “If they’re arrested on a felony and they’ve made bond, I’m not too quick to pull the trigger on a public defender, particularly if they’ve made a high bond,” said Yalobusha Justice Court Judge Trent Howell. The rules, however, not to base their decision about whether to appoint a lawyer on the ability of defendants or their friends or family to pay money to get them out of jail. Pressed on why he doesn’t abide by that instruction, Howell defended his approach. instruct judges “It’s just human nature” to consider whether someone has been able to raise money for a bond, he said. Even as courts have ignored the requirement to file their public defense plans, the Mississippi Supreme Court recently issued another rule to improve public defense. It’s supposed to eliminate what critics call the “dead zone” — the practice of withdrawing legal counsel from poor defendants after their initial appearance, leaving them without a lawyer as they wait to be indicted. The Daily Journal, The Marshall Project and ProPublica found that either. That suggests that poor defendants will remain deprived of meaningful legal assistance as they wait months or years, often in jail, for prosecutors to decide whether to pursue felony charges. many courts are not prepared to implement that rule De Gruy said the recent mandate to eliminate the dead zone offers courts an opportunity to grapple with much larger problems with public defense in Mississippi. “I was hoping,” he said, “this would be a reminder to the courts that they’ve got unfinished business.” Photo by on Sebastian Pichler Unsplash

How Do Mississippi Courts Provide Lawyers for Poor Clients? They Won't Say

I got introduced to the concept of todo lists early in my career. The idea sounded simple and interesting, so I decided to give it a try. I started putting everything on my mind into a to-do list. It worked well initially. After all, I had only a few responsibilities. So, putting them on a piece of paper and marking each one as I progressed didn’t require much planning and effort. I would glance at the list at the beginning of each day and tackle each task one by one. Todo lists worked like a magic formula—writing tasks down ensured I didn’t miss anything, knowing I had it all in one place led to less stress and anxiety, and the best part was the feeling of satisfaction from seeing those tick marks on my todo list which I believe kept me happy and motivated. As I grew in my career, five tasks on my to-do list turned into 20, 30, 40…and so on. Different types of responsibilities with different expectations, both at work and at home, were overwhelming. So, I kept adding everything to my to-do list, and before I knew it, it was crammed with more things than I could accomplish. A long list of things to do made it harder to pick something meaningful and valuable and get started on it. I would stare at the endless list, pick tasks at random, and try to do as much as I could during the day. But in spite of working long hours, I felt defeated at the end of the day—my work was less impactful and more exhausting, and I still had a ton of things on my to-do list that kept crying for my attention. Not accomplishing as much as I expected to was demotivating at first. But I wasn’t ready to give up. I knew the problem wasn’t my to-do list but my process. So I decided to try a bunch of different strategies—some worked, others didn’t. Here are the five practices to put your to-do list to best use based on my experience. Long hours spent checking off a to-do list and ending the day with a full trash can and a clean desk are not virtuous and have nothing to do with success. Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list—a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results. To-do lists tend to be long; success lists are short. One pulls you in all directions; the other aims you in a specific direction. One is a disorganized directory and the other is an organized directive. If a list isn’t built around success, then that’s not where it takes you. If your to-do list contains everything, then it’s probably taking you everywhere but where you really want to go. — Gary Keller, The One Thing 5 steps to make the most of your todo list Keep a written todo list Big or small, it’s impossible to remember everything you need to do. When you don’t actually write things down, it’s hard to prioritize complex, long-term, forward-looking tasks over easy, short-term, time-wasting activities. Not writing things down has another problem. Keeping track of all the unfinished tasks puts an unnecessary burden on the brain. Your brain cycles that are better spent in completing a task are wasted in holding a mental list of all the things you need to do. What makes it even worse is the Zeigarnik effect—thoughts of unfinished tasks keep popping up in your head right when you get down to work or are trying hard to focus. These intrusive thoughts that take away your attention even for a split second make it hard to concentrate and get any meaningful work done. Distractions from incomplete work prevent you from entering into a state of flow—which is when you are completely immersed in a task and the time seems to stand still. Flow minimizes distractions, prevents procrastination, and leads to high performance and productivity. Letting your brain continually remind you that you haven’t done something is actually quite unpleasant, and it can even lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout. The simple act of writing things down makes your brain more effective—fewer things on the mind frees up your brain to do more productive work. But dumping everything from your mind to the list is just a start. Simply writing everything down won’t help you stay productive. To make the most of this to-do list, you need to turn it from a bunch of meaningless line items to a more meaningful action-oriented list. Creating a to-do list does not mean you have to tick every single item on it. You need to declutter and organize it in a way that makes it easy to spot and get started on more impactful work. Your task list isn’t a tool for getting everything done. Rather, it’s a tool that will ensure you get the right things done. It’s important to understand the difference. — Damon Zahariades, To-Do List Formula Organize your todo list. A big to-do list may seem scary at first. But once you organize it well, it eases the process of deciding what to do each day, which tasks to schedule into the future, and how to achieve more by getting work done through others. To do this, divide your todo list into four groups: Urgent tasks that immediately deserve your attention. These could be important tasks that you’ve put off for too long and have now turned into urgent or unplanned issues, discussions, or meetings that demand your time and effort. Group 1: Important tasks that you refuse to prioritize because they’re either complex don’t have a specific due date, or their deadline is far into the future. These are often tasks that involve long-term thinking, planning, and future-oriented work. Group 2: Tasks that you don’t need to do yourself and can be delegated to others. It’s hard to delegate when you expect 100% perfection or want others to do things just the way you do. If someone can meet 70-80% of your expectations, delegate and consider it as a task well done. Group 3: Activities that make you feel good once done but actually don’t bring any value or tasks that have been sitting on your to-do list for a long time that you’ll probably never get done. These are time-wasting, unproductive units of work that feel small at the moment but add up to a significant amount of lost time and effort. Group 4: A useful practice when doing this activity is to color code tasks—use a different color for each group. One look at the to-do list, and you’ll get a snapshot of how your tasks are spread—do you have a long list of inconsequential activities? Is a large part of your to-do list focused on important future-looking activities or reacting to the urgent? Are you saving time by delegating enough, or are you too afraid to let go? With your to-do list organized, it’s now ready for some action. Make it actionable The hard part is over. You have a well-organized to-do list, which makes it easy to plan and prioritize. A to-do list is not only meant to decide today’s tasks but also to schedule what you need to do in the future. To act on your todo list, go through each group created in the step above and do this: Strike off everything in group 4. Beam with pride, for you just saved yourself a tremendous amount of time. Let's put all that saved time to good use. Delegate everything in group 3. Allocate a small amount of time for coordination and follow-ups. Just because you’re not doing it yourself does not mean this work will take you zero time. Order tasks in group 2 by importance and interest. Take the top 5 tasks with the highest score on the importance and interest scale and mark them for you to tackle first. If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first. This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. — Brian Tracy, Eat That Frog Order tasks in group 1 by urgency and mark the top 2-5 tasks for you to work on today based on their complexity and effort required. A clear list of action items is good to get started, but it’s not enough to ensure you make the best use of your time and get things done. Unless you create a specific plan detailing when and where you are going to initiate the desired behavior, you may miss multiple opportunities presented during the day when you could make progress on these tasks. The next step minimizes lost opportunities and enables you to get more work done. Put it on your calendar Take a look at your calendar for tomorrow, next week, and next month. Is your calendar packed with meetings? Which ones are useful, and which ones can be discarded? Do you have tasks on your calendar from group 4 that are no longer needed? Which slots on your calendar are filled with activities that can be delegated to others? Spot them on your calendar and remove, reassign or reschedule to create space for activities from group 1 and group 2. If you’re not in the habit of using a calendar to schedule and plan your tasks, don’t worry. You can get started now. Scheduling tasks in advance makes it easy to get started, as you no longer have to decide what to do next or wait for the inspiration to strike. You can initiate the intended response by simply acting on your plan. Planning ahead and time-boxing your tasks by putting them on your calendar has some major advantages: You don’t have to decide at the last moment, which often leads to indecision and waste of time. You can plan and prioritize important work over easy or urgent tasks. Gives you a sense of control over your time. Keeps you calm and focused as it prevents you from panicking on not knowing what to do next. More brain cycles are available to focus on the task at hand. You’re less likely to waste all your time in meetings by blocking important work upfront. Gives you an opportunity to do work that you have been procrastinating and putting off for a long time. You can also use a calendar to block time for repetitive tasks, checking emails, responding to messages, etc. Once your mind tunes to using specific time blocks for these activities, you’re less likely to be distracted by them during your most productive hours. You must create a foundational schedule that adds structure and intentionality to your days and weeks. A foundational schedule is a pre-determined, recurring schedule that is made up of focused time blocks dedicated to your highest priority activities. — Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs Check off your completed tasks. You have done the work. You have finished the task. Now to the most important part. Don’t forget to tick the item off your to-do list. There’s a certain sense of satisfaction and pleasure in marking a task done. Checking off tasks releases dopamine in our brains, which not only makes us happy but also makes the task more pleasurable next time around. You can benefit from ticking the completed items in more than one way. Spend 15 mins weekly and monthly looking at the finished tasks. Are you spending your time effectively? What do you need to start doing? What can you eliminate? What more can you delegate? How can you prioritize more forward-looking activities? How can you reduce time spent on urgent, time-sensitive tasks? Effectively managing your to-do list isn’t a one-time process. It requires the mindset to consistently learn and improve. Don’t rush through your to-do list. Invest time in making it work for you. People don’t take anything seriously until it’s written down and becomes an actual part of their daily schedule. It might take you some time to get there but once that becomes a habit, you’ll end up getting all that you planned done simply because it’s part of your to-do list for the day. — Jim Kwik Summary Writing everything you need to do in a to-do list is a good start. It ensures you don’t miss anything while freeing your brain to focus on the task at hand. A to-do list without a sense of importance and urgency is of no use. Divide your to-do list into different groups to easily separate impactful work from inconsequential activities. Declutter and eliminate delegates, then pick a few urgent and important tasks to get started. Don’t leave things you need to do to change. Schedule all activities on the calendar to ensure they get done at the right time. Tick the item on the todo list once complete. It will leave you feeling happy and satisfied. Also published . here

Turn Your Lengthy To-Do List Into A Success List

আপনার দীর্ঘ করণীয় তালিকাকে সাফল্যের তালিকায় পরিণত করুন

Verwandeln Sie Ihre lange To-Do-Liste in eine Erfolgsliste

Convierta su larga lista de tareas pendientes en una lista de éxitos

Transformez votre longue liste de tâches en une liste de réussite

अपनी लंबी कार्य सूची को सफलता सूची में बदलें

長い To Do リストを成功リストに変える

긴 할 일 목록을 성공 목록으로 바꾸세요

Transforme sua longa lista de tarefas em uma lista de sucesso

Превратите свой длинный список дел в список успеха

Uzun Yapılacaklar Listenizi Başarı Listesine Dönüştürün

Biến danh sách việc cần làm dài dòng của bạn thành danh sách thành công

将冗长的待办事项清单变成成功清单

"The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else." – Eric Ries 💯  Framework // Concept // Mental Model Launching a successful product is no easy feat. The odds are stacked against you. Over 90% of startups fail due to a lack of product-market fit, running out of cash, not having the right team, and more. 😨 In a talk on “How to Succeed with a Startup,” Sam Altman shared hard-earned wisdom on building startups based on his experience investing in and founding them. 📝 As a fellow product leader, I picked out the key lessons that I believe can help PMs be more successful - whether at a scrappy early-stage venture or scaling behemoth: 🚀 Here, I will dive deeper into each area with tactical advice for how product managers can evaluate and contribute to critical dimensions that influence startup outcomes. Craft Viral, Remarkable Products 🤩 The number one predictor of startup success is intense product-market fit that delights users enough to spark organic growth. Rather than flashy tech or temporary fads, these are durable, viral products addressing underserved jobs. Traits of Remarkable Products Obsessively solve frustrations for a target user base better than alternatives. Offer dramatic improvements on key experiences rather than iterative gains. Frame a compelling, intuitive value proposition addressing feelings potential users self-identify with Tactics to Embed Survey early adopters directly to assess product intensity based on metrics like: Frequency of use Retention over various periods Loyalty vs competitor solutions Satisfaction ratings Structure beta user panels representing various user archetypes to gather broad, honest feedback. Analyze usage data for signs of successfully forming user habits and rituals. Evaluate if the minimum viable product (MVP) solves a pressing “hair on fire” priority. Expand on bright spots with enthusiasm from early testing rather than responding to every feedback item Examples Instagram offered dramatic improvements in mobile photo sharing and filters before cluttering additional capabilities. Tesla initially built a viral base of EV enthusiasts by focusing wholly on an exceptional vehicle experience rather than trying to scale mainstream too quickly. Peloton successfully formed exercise habits and community loyalty better than alternatives. Target High-Potential Markets 📈 Rather than currently observable metrics, evaluate whether the target users and use cases can support exponential expansion in demand over time. This requires accurately assessing both adoption obstacles that need to be overcome before such inflections occur and platforms reach a scale that might bend adoption upward rapidly. Traits of High-Potential Markets Technological maturation unlocking new use cases. Regulatory changes expanding access. Business model evolution overcoming pricing obstacles. Tactics to Embed Talk to investors, founders, and experts in adjacent spaces to gather signals identifying emerging trends early based on peripheral activity. Use tools like Google Trends, SEMrush, SimilarWeb, Pitchbook data, etc. to quantify changes in interest, search patterns, and funding related to market spaces over time. Extrapolate S-curves and model user segments that expand as capabilities improve and costs lower. Identify platform shifts that can accelerate niche adoption once infrastructure scales. Apply adjacencies like mobile → powering app explosion. Examples Teladoc identifies telehealth adoption constraints that would ease over time with video improvements. Mobile gaming benefits from smartphone penetration expanding casual gaming TAM. Autonomous vehicle companies mapping regulatory hurdles and cost Declines unlocking logistics categories. Distinguish Real vs Fake Trends 💎 With so many startups touting world-changing potential but failing to drive repeat user engagement, it’s critical to audit actual intrinsic interest beyond initial curiosity. Analyze both breadth of appeal and depth of habit formation over time across user cohorts. Traits of Real Trends High retention and loyalty even with simple/unfinished early products. Power users exhibit unusually intense usage behavior. Mainstream initial interest matures to a more nuanced understanding of true appeal over time as hype fades. Tactics to Embed Carefully segment users by behavior rather than aggregate statistics. Identify differentiated use cases and niche communities forming around the product. Survey & interview both casual and loyal users on what drives ongoing value. Test viral coefficient with incentive experiments (e.g., refer-a-friend rewards). Monitor engagement and retention by cohort over long periods tracking stabilization. Examples Pokémon Go sustained a strong core user base years after the hype faded. Plant-based meat alternatives prove more appealing to specific consumer segments vs suggested mass-market potential. Wearable fitness trackers shifting from novelty gadgets to practical health tools for target demographics. Recruit Evangelical Founders 🫂 Leadership playing chief product advocate to passionately communicate the vision makes a huge difference in attracting the necessary attention and resources. This starts with the executive team setting the tone, urgency, and confidence to break through the noise. Traits of Strong Evangelists Exude confidence and conviction despite uncertainty. Tailor compelling narratives to various audiences. Inspire belief in lofty visions and rally support. Tactics to Embed Coach leadership on storytelling and presence. Help craft pitches resonating with key stakeholder groups. Fill gaps by communicating passionately if leadership lacks. Examples Steve Jobs captivated audiences with legendary keynotes. Elon Musk sustained ambitious visions on multi-year timelines. Bill Gates credibly explains the future of technology. Structure Bold Incentives 💰 The most in-demand, elite startup talent has countless options today given the abundant funding environment. Competing on compensation alone is insufficient. Attract and retain top talent by framing ambitious visions tied to long-term value creation rather than optimizing for near-term profits. Anchor missions to bold outcomes advancing humanity, not just building profitable apps. Traits of Bold Visions Address complex challenges requiring exceptional teams. Mission orientated around meaningful progress. Inspire talent with a purpose beyond their role. Tactics to Embed Spotlight inspiring PURPOSE rather than PRODUCT. Craft 10-year visions tied to economic, social, and technological progress. Structure incentive alignment and leadership communications to reinforce. Examples Tesla anchoring workforce to sustainable energy innovation. SpaceX attracting top engineers to space exploration missions. Longevity-focused biotech Startups Framing Healthspan impacts. Obsess Over Team Composition 👥 Studies show startup success strongly correlates with thoughtful, balanced team composition based on skillsets, experience, and temperament. Before scaling headcount, probe the leadership traits and interpersonal chemistry within founding teams by benchmarking against past archetypes. Recruiting should then fill gaps with appropriate aptitudes and resilience required for volatile environments. Balanced Startup Archetypes : Sells the vision Hustler : Builds the product Hacker : Obsesses over user experience Hipster Shared Mindsets Optimism - Belief can figure out hard problems Ownership - Fix things rather than pointing fingers Resilience - Persistence despite turbulent conditions Tactics to Embed Evaluate the team through founder archetype lenses first Assess collective persistence qualities beyond domain expertise Carefully select the first 10-15 hires based on cultural signals Test alignment on intrinsic – mission, norms, values Examples Airbnb’s cereal team bonding screening for collaboration Tesla’s relentless problem-solving perspective Stripe’s long-term thinking and execution balance Sustain Cadence Through Wins 🏆 Maintaining consistent tempo on product and go-to-market initiatives builds confidence in leadership, staff, and investors by repeatedly proving empirical success. Cultivating urgency and delivering tangible results prevents organizations and budgets from stagnating when running lean. Value progress velocity over distant milestones. Traits of Sustained Cadences Continuous action bias toward incremental progress Rapid experimentation velocity testing assumptions Avoid distraction by postponing non-critical efforts Tactics to Embed Structure sprints and OKRs to ship value faster Impose constraints like Innovation Lockdowns to focus on innovation Celebrate small milestones frequently Continuously realign on the most critical priority Examples Amazon’s “Working Backwards” product development rigor OODA loop continuous orientation, decisions, and actions “Innovation Theater” budgeting tactics to fund progress Develop Competitive Advantages 💪 Most startups pitch feature advantages, but sustainable moats stem from systems, network effects, and scaling over time rather than temporary differentiators. Analyze marketplace dynamics and system-level resources that could compound startup strengths apart from basic product features. Traits of Compounding Advantages Switching costs imposed through integrated workflows Data barriers that improve system performance Brand affinity and community create inertia Tactics to Embed Map core interaction loops and intermediaries Model how aggregating signals may improve utility Design rituals and cultural differentiators early Examples Amazon Prime ecosystem lock-in Facebook social graph and ad targeting Apple’s brand community and product launches Design Viable Monetization 💵 Consider business model viability early and have pricing and revenue experiments ready to run at key milestones rather than solely optimizing for traction goals trusting adoption subsidies everything. Draft early financial model blueprints depicting how the startup could eventually design profitable, scalable revenue streams across various functions. Traits of Good Models Identify monetizable user values Outline milestones to test experiments Analyze analogs demonstrating sustainability Tactics to Embed Map monetizable user actions and incentives Talk to ecosystem partners about potential affiliate rev shares Survey power users on willingness to pay Examples Amazon moving from books to → third-party marketplace Instagram establishing ads after growth footing Distribute Effectively 🚀 Rather than treating it as an afterthought, evaluate probable acquisition channels and optimize conversion funnels for growth built into products from the onset. Viral models bake in incentives and social sharing hooks driving referral looping. Direct sales compensates business development partners. Traits of Effective Distribution Achieve product-channel fit matching user search behavior Incentivize organic propagation through network effects Compensate ecosystem partners Tactics to Embed Analyze analog platforms to determine the most relevant touchpoints Survey early adopters on how they discovered niche offerings A/B test positioning and packaging conversion Examples Facebook’s early college ambassador programs Slack’s developer evangelism and freemium conversion Snapchat leveraging broadcast social sharing As a product manager, focus on evaluating and contributing to progress in these areas critical to startup greatness. 💫 👇 What resonated most with you? What success factors did I miss? Share your top lessons for fellow PMs below! 📚 Book - Offers unique insights into creating value in the startup world. Zero to One by Peter Thiel 🎧  Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lJKucu6HJc 😎  Meme Thanks for reading The Product Channel By Sid Saladi! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. 🌟 Some of our popular newsletter editions ============================================ 🚀 Week 6 - Dynamic Ways ChatGPT Revolutionizes Product Management 🚀 and 50+ Product Management prompts 📚 Week 5 - 50+ Product Management Prompts for ChatGPT-4 👩‍💼 Week 22 - How to create a customer persona for your product 🧠 Week 24 - 14 Behavioral Psychology Concepts Product Managers Should Know 📊 Week 27 - 📈 How to Develop and Write KPIs: A Guide for Product Managers 📋 📚 Week 6 - PM 101 (Books, Articles, Podcasts and Newsletters) 💼 Week 20 - AI Tools 🤖 for Product Managers 💪 That Will Transform Your Workflow 🔄 and Boost Productivity 📈 ✍️ Week 29 - 💡 A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Killer 📝 Problem Statements 🔧 Week 33 - 🚀 The Ultimate Guide to Prototyping for Product Managers: Mastering the Art of Reducing Uncertainty in Product Development 🎯 🤯 Week 16 - 6 Most Effective Problem Prioritization Frameworks for Product Managers - Part 1 🤯 Week 17 - 6 Most Effective Problem Prioritization Frameworks for Product Managers - Part 2 Also published here

How to Succeed With Startups - A Guide for Product Leaders Inspired by Sam Altman

A Treatise on Painting by da Vinci Leonardo, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . AERIAL PERSPECTIVE. here AERIAL PERSPECTIVE. Chap. CCCIV.— Aerial Perspective. There is another kind of perspective called aerial, because by the difference of the air it is easy to determine the distance of different objects, though seen on the same line; such, for instance, as buildings behind a wall, and appearing all of the same height above it. If in your picture you want to have one appear more distant than another, you must first suppose the air somewhat thick, because, as we have said before, in such a kind of air the objects seen at a great distance, as mountains are, appear blueish like the air, by means of the great quantity of air that interposes between the eye and such mountains. You will then paint the first building behind that wall of its proper colour; the next in point of distance, less distinct in the outline, and participating, in a greater degree, of the blueish colour of the air; another which you wish to send off as much farther, should be painted as much bluer; and if you wish one of them to appear five times farther removed beyond the wall, it must have five times more of the azure. By this rule these buildings which appeared all of the same size, and upon the same line, will be distinctly perceived to be of different dimensions, and at different distances. Chap. CCCV.— The Parts of the Smallest Objects will first disappear in Painting. Of objects receding from the eye the smallest will be the first lost to the sight; from which it follows, that the largest will be the last to disappear. The painter, therefore, ought not to finish the parts of those objects which are very far off, but follow the rule given in the sixth book. How many, in the representation of towns, and other objects remote from the eye, express every part of the buildings in the same manner as if they were very near. It is not so in nature, because there is no sight so powerful as to perceive distinctly at any great distance the precise form of parts or extremities of objects. The painter therefore who pronounces the outlines, and the minute distinction of parts, as several have done, will not give the representation of distant objects, but by this error will make them appear exceedingly near. Again, the angles of buildings in distant towns are not to be expressed (for they cannot be seen), considering that angles are formed by the concurrence of two lines into one point, and that a point has no parts; it is therefore invisible. Chap. CCCVI.— Small Figures ought not to be too much finished. Objects appear smaller than they really are when they are distant from the eye, and because there is a great deal of air interposed, which weakens the appearance of forms, and, by a natural consequence, prevents our seeing distinctly the minute parts of such objects. It behoves the painter therefore to touch those parts slightly, in an unfinished manner; otherwise it would be against the effect of Nature, whom he has chosen for his guide. For, as we said before, objects appear small on account of their great distance from the eye; that distance includes a great quantity of air, which, forming a dense body, obstructs the light, and prevents our seeing the minute parts of the objects. Chap. CCCVII.— Why the Air is to appear whiter as it approaches nearer to the Earth. As the air is thicker nearer the earth, and becomes thinner as it rises, look, when the sun is in the east, towards the west, between the north and south, and you will perceive that the thickest and lowest air will receive more light from the sun than the thinner air, because its beams meet with more resistance. If the sky terminate low, at the end of a plain, that part of it nearest to the horizon, being seen only through the thick air, will alter and break its natural colour, and will appear whiter than over your head, where the visual ray does not pass through so much of that gross air, corrupted by earthy vapours. But if you turn towards the east, the air will be darker the nearer it approaches the earth; for the air being thicker, does not admit the light of the sun to pass so freely. Chap. CCCVIII.— How to paint the distant Part of a Landscape. It is evident that the air is in some parts thicker and grosser than in others, particularly that nearest to the earth; and as it rises higher, it becomes thinner and more transparent. The objects which are high and large, from which you are at some distance, will be less apparent in the lower parts; because the visual ray which perceives them, passes through a long space of dense air; and it is easy to prove that the upper parts are seen by a line, which, though on the side of the eye it originates in a thick air, nevertheless, as it ascends to the highest summit of its object, terminates in an air much thinner than that of the lower parts; and for that reason the more that line or visual ray advances from the eye, it becomes, in its progress from one point to another, thinner and thinner, passing from a pure air into another which is purer; so that a painter who has mountains to represent in a landscape, ought to observe, that from one hill to another, the tops will appear always clearer than the bases. In proportion as the distance from one to another is greater, the top will be clearer; and the higher they are, the more they will shew their variety of form and colour. Chap. CCCIX.— Of precise and confused Objects. The parts that are near in the fore-ground should be finished in a bold determined manner; but those in the distance must be unfinished, and confused in their outlines. Chap. CCCX.— Of distant Objects. That part of any object which is nearest to the luminary from which it receives the light, will be the lightest. The representation of an object in every degree of distance, loses degrees of its strength; that is, in proportion as the object is more remote from the eye it will be less perceivable through the air in its representation. Chap. CCCXI.— Of Buildings seen in a thick Air. That part of a building seen through a thick air, will appear less distinct than another part seen through a thinner air. Therefore the eye, N, looking at the tower A D, will see it more confusedly in the lower degrees, but at the same time lighter; and as it ascends to the other degrees it will appear more distinct, but somewhat darker. Chap. CCCXII.— Of Towns and other Objects seen through a thick Air. Buildings or towns seen through a fog, or the air made thick by smoke or other vapours, will appear less distinct the lower they are; and, , they will be sharper and more visible in proportion as they are higher. We have said, in Chapter cccxxi. that the air is thicker the lower it is, and thinner as it is higher. It is demonstrated also by the cut, where the tower, A F, is seen by the eye N, in a thick air, from B to F, which is divided into four degrees, growing thicker as they are nearer the bottom. The less the quantity of air interposed between the eye and its object is, the less also will the colour of the object participate of the colour of that air. It follows, that the greater the quantity of the air interposed between the eye and the object seen, is, the more this object will participate of the colour of the air. It is demonstrated thus: N being the eye looking at the five parts of the tower A F, viz. A B C D E, I say, that if the air were of the same thickness, there would be the same proportion between the colour of the air at the bottom of the tower and the colour of the air that the same tower has at the place B, as there is in length between the line M and F. As, however, we have supposed that the air is not of equal thickness, but, on the contrary, thicker as it is lower, it follows, that the proportion by which the air tinges the different elevations of the tower B C F, exceeds the proportion of the lines; because the line M F, besides its being longer than the line S B, passes by unequal degrees through a quality of air which is unequal in thickness. vice versâ Chap. CCCXIII.— Of the inferior Extremities of distant Objects. The inferior or lower extremities of distant objects are not so apparent as the upper extremities. This is observable in mountains and hills, the tops of which detach from the sides of other mountains behind. We see the tops of these more determined and distinctly than their bases; because the upper extremities are darker, being less encompassed by thick air, which always remains in the lower regions, and makes them appear dim and confused. It is the same with trees, buildings, and other objects high up. From this effect it often happens that a high tower, seen at a great distance, will appear broad at top, and narrow at bottom; because the thin air towards the top does not prevent the angles on the sides and other different parts of the tower from being seen, as the thick air does at bottom. This is demonstrated by the seventh proposition, which says, that the thick air interposed between the eye and the sun, is lighter below than above, and where the air is whiteish, it confuses the dark objects more than if such air were blueish or thinner, as it is higher up. The battlements of a fortress have the spaces between equal to the breadth of the battlement, and yet the space will appear wider; at a great distance the battlements will appear very much diminished, and being removed still farther, will disappear entirely, and the fort shew only the straight wall, as if there were no battlements. Chap. CCCXIV.— Which Parts of Objects disappear first by being removed farther from the Eye, and which preserve their Appearance. The smallest parts are those which, by being removed, lose their appearance first; this may be observed in the gloss upon spherical bodies, or columns, and the slender parts of animals; as in a stag, the first sight of which does not discover its legs and horns so soon as its body, which, being broader, will be perceived from a greater distance. But the parts which disappear the very first, are the lines which describe the members, and terminate the surface and shape of bodies. Chap. CCCXV.— Why Objects are less distinguished in proportion as they are farther removed from the Eye. This happens because the smallest parts are lost first; the second, in point of size, are also lost at a somewhat greater distance, and so on successively; the parts by degrees melting away, the perception of the object is diminished; and at last all the parts, and the whole, are entirely lost to the sight. Colours also disappear on account of the density of the air interposed between the eye and the object. Chap. CCCXVI.— Why Faces appear dark at a Distance. It is evident that the similitude of all objects placed before us, large as well as small, is perceptible to our senses through the iris of the eye. If through so small an entrance the immensity of the sky and of the earth is admitted, the faces of men (which are scarcely any thing in comparison of such large objects), being still diminished by the distance, will occupy so little of the eye, that they become almost imperceptible. Besides, having to pass through a dark medium from the surface to the in the inside, where the impression is made, the colour of faces (not being very strong, and rendered still more obscure by the darkness of the tube) when arrived at the focus appears dark. No other reason can be given on that point, except that the speck in the middle of the apple of the eye is black, and, being full of a transparent fluid like air, performs the same office as a hole in a board, which on looking into it appears black; and that those things which are seen through both a light and dark air, become confused and obscure. Retina Chap. CCCXVII.— Of Towns and other Buildings seen through a Fog in the Morning or Evening. Buildings seen afar off in the morning or in the evening, when there is a fog, or thick air, shew only those parts distinctly which are enlightened by the sun towards the horizon; and the parts of those buildings which are not turned towards the sun remain confused and almost of the colour of the fog. Chap. CCCXVIII.— Of the Height of Buildings seen in a Fog. Of a building near the eye the top parts will appear more confused than the bottom, because there is more fog between the eye and the top than at the base. And a square tower, seen at a great distance through a fog, will appear narrower at the base than at the summit. This is accounted for in Chapter cccxiii. which says, that the fog will appear whiter and thicker as it approaches the ground; and as it is said before, that a dark object will appear smaller in proportion as it is placed on a whiter ground. Therefore the fog being whiter at bottom than at top, it follows that the tower (being darkish) will appear narrower at the base than at the summit. Chap. CCCXIX.— Why Objects which are high, appear darker at a Distance than those which are low, though the Fog be uniform, and of equal Thickness. Amongst objects situated in a fog, thick air, vapour, smoke, or at a distance, the highest will be the most distinctly seen: and amongst objects equal in height, that placed in the darkest fog, will be most confused and dark. As it happens to the eye H, looking at A B C, three towers of equal height; it sees the top C as low as R, in two degrees of thickness; and the top B, in one degree only; therefore the top C will appear darker than the top of the tower B. Chap. CCCXX.— Of Objects seen in a Fog. Objects seen through a fog will appear larger than they are in reality, because the aerial perspective does not agree with the linear, viz. the colour does not agree with the magnitude of the object; such a fog being similar to the thickness of air interposed between the eye and the horizon in fine weather. But in this case the fog is near the eye, and though the object be also near, it makes it appear as if it were as far off as the horizon; where a great tower would appear no bigger than a man placed near the eye. Chap. CCCXXI.— Of those Objects which the Eyes perceive through a Mist or thick Air. The nearer the air is to water, or to the ground, the thicker it becomes. It is proved by the nineteenth proposition of the second book, that bodies rise in proportion to their weight; and it follows, that a light body will rise higher than another which is heavy. Chap. CCCXXII.— Miscellaneous Observations. Of different objects equal in magnitude, form, shade, and distance from the eye, those will appear the smaller that are placed on the lighter ground. This is exemplified by observing the sun when seen behind a tree without leaves; all the ramifications seen against that great light are so diminished that they remain almost invisible. The same may be observed of a pole placed between the sun and the eye. Parallel bodies placed upright, and seen through a fog, will appear larger at top than at bottom. This is proved by the ninth proposition, which says, that a fog, or thick air, penetrated by the rays of the sun, will appear whiter the lower they are. Things seen afar off will appear out of proportion, because the parts which are the lightest will send their image with stronger rays than the parts which are darkest. I have seen a woman dressed in black, with a white veil over her head, which appeared twice as large as her shoulders covered with black. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. da Vinci Leonardo (2014). A Treatise on Painting. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/46915/pg46915-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

AERIAL PERSPECTIVE 

Scientific American, Vol. XXXIX. No. 6. [New Series.], August 10, 1878, by Various, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . A VELOCIPEDE FEAT EXTRAORDINARY. here A VELOCIPEDE FEAT EXTRAORDINARY. Two intrepid velocipedists, M. le Baron Emanuel de Graffenried de Burgenstein, aged twenty years and six months, and a member of the Society of Velocipede Sport, of Paris, has accomplished, with M. A. Laumaillé d'Angers, the greatest distance that has been made with a velocipede in France. Leaving Paris on March 16, they returned on the 24th of April, after having traveled a distance of more than three thousand miles. Their route extended through a part of the west, the middle, and the south of France, Italy, and southern Switzerland. They traveled through Orléans, Tours, Poitiers, Angoulême, Bordeaux, Montauban, Toulouse, Montpellier, Marseilles, Toulon, Nice, Menton, San-Remo, Genoa, Turin, Milan, the Simplon—where they barely escaped destruction by an avalanche—Vevay, Berne, Lausanne, Geneva, Dijon, Troy, and Provins. The longest distance that they accomplished in a single day, was between Turin and Milan, a distance of 90 miles, which they made in 9-1/2 hours. Superior Excellence of American Goods. The , of Birmingham, England, remarks with regard to American competition, that "perhaps the most humiliating feature of the business for British manufacturers is the fact that their competitors are prevailing, not through the cheapness, but through the excellence of their goods. Time was when English workmanship ranked second to none, and the names of our great manufacturing firms were a guarantee for the sterling quality of the goods they turned out; but competitions, trades unions, piece work, short hours, and other incidents of the 'march of progress' have altered all that. Complaints, received by hardware merchants from their customers abroad, are not confined to the goods of second class firms. Manufacturers who have obtained a world-wide reputation for their products are frequently convicted of sending out scamped and unfinished work, and they do not venture to deny the impeachment, pleading only that the most vigilant must be sometimes at fault, and that their men, unfortunately, are not to be depended upon. In other cases it is the merchants or their customers who are to blame for the inferior quality of the articles by cutting prices so low as to preclude the possibility of honest work, thinking, probably, that anything is good enough for a foreign or colonial market. But whatever the cause, the fact is now undeniable, that a great deal of the manufactured produce shipped from this country of late years has been of a very low standard, and that the American manufacturers have consequently had an easy task in beating it." Post Petroleum Oils as Lubricators. Oils from petroleum are now produced suitable for nearly every mechanical process for which animal oils have heretofore been used, not excepting those intended for cylinder purposes. A serious objection attaching to the animal oils is present in petroleum. If, through the exhaust steam, some of the oil be carried into the boiler, foaming or priming is the consequence, but the same thing happening in the case of petroleum is rather a benefit than otherwise, for it not only does not cause foaming, but it prevents incrustation or adhesion of the scale or deposit, and this aids in the preservation of the boiler, and is perhaps the best preventive of the many everywhere suggested. Often, in removing the cylinder head and the plate covering the valves of an engine, we see evidences of corrosion or action on the surfaces, differing entirely from ordinary wear, and the engineer is generally at a loss how to account for it. According to the general impression grease or animal oil is the preservative of the metal, and is the last thing suspected of being the cause of its general disintegration. The reason of this is that vegetable and animal oils consist of fatty acids, such as stearic, magaric, oleic, etc. They are combined with glycerin as a base, and, under ordinary conditions, are neutrals to metals generally, and on being applied they keep them from rusting by shielding them from the action of air and moisture. But in the course of time the influence of the air causes decomposition and oxidation, the oils become rancid, as it is called, which is acid, and they act on the metals. What happens at the ordinary temperature slowly goes on rapidly in the steam cylinder, where a new condition is reached. The oils are subjected to the heat of high pressure steam, which dissociates or frees these acids from their base, and in this condition they attack the metal and hence destroy it. This applies as well to vegetable as to oils of animal origin, fish or sperm oil included. Petroleum and oils derived therefrom (generally called mineral oils) are entirely free from this objection. Petroleum contains no oxygen, and hence it cannot form an acid, and therefore cannot attack metal. It is entirely neutral, and so bland that it may be and is used medicinally as a dressing to wounds and badly abraded surfaces where cerates of ordinary dressing would give pain.— Coal Trade Journal. Influence of Light on Plants and Animals. Professor Paul Bert, who has recently devoted a great deal of attention to the study of the influence of light on animals and plants, denies that the leaves of the sensitive plant close on the approach of evening, the same as if they had been touched by the hand. On the contrary, he finds that from 9 in the evening, after drooping, they expand again and attain the maximum of rigidity at 2 in the morning. What is commonly called the "sensitiveness" of plants is but the external manifestations of the influences of light. Professor Bert placed plants in lanterns of different colored glass; those under the influence of green glass drooped in the course of a few days as completely as if placed in utter darkness, proving that green rays are useless, and equal to none at all. In a few weeks all plants without exception thus treated died. It has been proved by the experiments of Zimiriareff that the reducing power of the green matter of plants is proportionate to the quantity of red rays absorbed, and Bert shows that green glass precisely intercepts these colored rays, and that plants exist more or less healthily in blue and violet rays. In the animal world phenomena of a directly opposite nature are found, and of a more complex character. Here the light acts on the skin and the movements of the body, either directly or through the visual organs. M. Pouchet has shown the changes in color that certain animals undergo, according to the medium in which they live. For instance, young turbots resting on white sand assume an ashy tint, but when resting on a black bottom become brown; when deprived of its eyes the fish exhibits no change of color in its skin; the phenomenon, therefore, seems to be nervous or optical. Professor Bert placed a piece of paper with a cut design on the back of a sleeping chameleon; on bringing a lamp near the animal the skin gradually became brown, and on removing the paper a well defined image of the pattern appeared. In this case the light acted directly, and without nervous intervention. If, however, the eye of the chameleon be extracted, the corresponding side of the animal becomes insensible to the influence of the light. Professor Bert's conclusion, therefore, is that the circulation in the transparent layers of the skin must be affected by light. According to Dr. Bouchard a sunstroke is the effect of the direct action of light upon the skin, produced by the blue and violet rays. The heat producing rays have no part in such accidents, as proved by the fact that workmen exposed to intense heats do not feel their fatal effect. Professor Bert, in a series of experiments on a variety of animals, found that none avoided light, but all rather sought it; and the lowest forms, like the highest, absorbed the same rays. As regards intensity of color, however, there was a difference, some being more partial to one ray than another. Thus the microscopic daphne of the pond preferred yellow; violet was less in request; spiders seemed to enjoy blue rather than red rays—so resembling people suffering from color blindness. No two persons are sensible to the same shades or tones, while absorbing the same light; and this would seem to indicate that the retina possesses a selective power. New Mechanical Inventions. An improved Weighing Scale has been patented by Hosea Willard, of Vergennes, Vt. The object of this invention is to economize time in ascertaining the weight of an article by avoiding the necessity for shifting the poise on the scale beam. It consists in providing a scale beam with a number of dishes suspended from different points on said beam, and representing or corresponding with different weights, so that the weight of an article may be ascertained by placing it in one or more of said dishes and observing which dish is depressed. William John, of Rigdon, Ind., has patented an improved Tire Setting and Cooling Apparatus, by which the tire may be set by one person, easily and quickly, without burning the fellies, and without straining the wheel by the unequal cooling of the tire. Joseph A. Mumford, of Avondale, Nova Scotia, Canada, has patented an improved machine for Sawing and Jointing Shingles. This machine cannot be properly described without engravings. It has an ingenious feeding device, and its flywheel carries the jointing knives. Ill-balanced Production. The Philadelphia sensibly remarks that the popular complaint of over-production is a mistake. Though of a few things we make or mine too much, our main trouble arises from not producing enough, in variety if not in quantity. Record "The wants of mankind never can be satisfied. Every new means of supplying a want creates new wants. They grow by what they feed on. As long as humanity is so constituted, over-production, in a general and enlarged sense, is impossible. It is this impossible thing with which the reformers would deal who propose to work fewer hours each day, or fewer hours in the week. The trouble they deplore does not exist; the remedy they propose defeats itself. A man cannot get rid of his load by shifting it from his right hand to his left hand. Production will not be stopped by making men their own employers certain hours in the day or certain days in the week, instead of allowing them to pursue their usual avocations. "The real trouble, which the labor reformers seem incompetent to fathom, is that there is not enough diversity in employments. What is desired is more work in productive enterprises, a more diffused industry, and a closer commercial connection with those countries wherein we can make desirable exchanges both of our raw material and our manufactured products. Every miner that drops his pick and takes up a hoe, every idle man that turns himself into an earner of wages, every person that picks up some loose thread of employment, every capitalist that takes advantage of stagnating industry and cheap material to build a house or beautify or improve a country seat, or set on foot some new process of manufacture, does something toward working out the problem which is puzzling the economists. In good time the surplus iron and coal will be sold; new populations will want new railroads; recuperated capital will gather confidence and take hold of new enterprises, and the whole nation will move forward again to more assured prosperity and to vaster undertakings." Labor in Germany. The consul at Barmen reports that for agricultural labor the pay varies greatly, according to the proximity to or remoteness from manufacturing centers; and ranges from fifty-six cents a day in the neighborhood of Barmen to thirty-one cents a day in the lower Rhine valley, and as low as eighteen cents in parts of Silesia. At Barmen, Crefeld and Düsseldorf, carpenters, coppersmiths, plumbers, machinists and wagonsmiths earn fifty-one to seventy-five cents daily; saddlers and shoemakers forty-seven to fifty-two cents daily; bakers and brewers, with board and lodging, from $1.42 to $2.14 weekly, and without board from sixty cents a day to $4.28 a week; farm hands are paid from $107 to $215 yearly, with maintenance; railroad laborers from fifty-six to eighty-[Pg 90]three cents per day, and as high as ninety-five cents daily for piece work on tunnels; silk weavers can earn $2.15 to $2.85 a week per loom; factory women $2.15, and children $1 a week. Business and wages are very low. In good times wages are eighty per cent higher. The cost of the necessaries of life has increased some fifty per cent in thirteen years, although it is now but little higher than five years ago. A man and wife with two or three children can live in two or three rooms in a poor and comfortless manner for $275 a year, and to support such an establishment all the members have to work ten or twelve hours daily. For a family of six persons the cost is about $7 per week—an amount but few families can earn, as the depression of trade and the reduction of time allow few to do a full week's work, although wages are nominally a trifle higher than five years ago. Petroleum June Review. DRILLING WELL ACCOUNT. The low price of oil and large accumulation of stock in the producing regions have had the effect to lessen operations in this department during the month of June. The total number of drilling wells in all the districts, at the close of the month, was 266, which was 110 less than in the preceding month. Rigs erected and being erected 243, against 309 last month. The number of drilling wells completed during the month was 269, being 151 less than in May. Aggregate production of the new wells was 3,788 barrels, against 6,851 barrels in May. The total number of dry holes developed in the month was 22, against 42 in May. The operators in the great northern field (Bradford district) have curtailed operations to an extent which will compare favorably with the operators in the other portions of the producing regions, as will be seen by the following statement, namely: Number of wells drilling at the close of the month, 187, against 284 at the close of the previous month. Number of drilling wells completed in June, 193, against 346 in May. Number of rigs erected and being erected, 196, against 234 in May. PRODUCTION. The daily average production for the month was 40,575 barrels, being a decrease of 227 barrels. The new wells completed in June failed to make good the falling off of the old ones, by decreasing the daily average 227 barrels. Bradford district shows a daily average production of 16,000 barrels, being an increase of 1,280 barrels over last month. The aggregate production in June of all the other districts combined, with the aid of 76 new wells, decreased the daily average 1,507 barrels. SHIPMENTS. The shipments in June, out of the producing regions, were 174,225 barrels larger than in the preceding month. The total shipments of crude, and refined reduced to crude equivalent, by railroad, river and pipes to the following points, were 1,135,119 barrels: New York took 555,794 bbls. Pittsburg " 153,182 " Cleveland " 239,389 " Philadelphia " 73,426 " Boston " 29,266 " Baltimore " 26,623 " Richmond " 7,000 " Ohio River refiners took 5,200 " Other local points took 45,239 " Total shipments 1,135,119 " Included in the above shipments there were 140,299 barrels of refined from Titusville and Oil City, which is equal to 187,065 barrels of crude.— Stowell's Petroleum Reporter. Remarkable Poisoning of a Lake. A contributor to describes the remarkable poisoning of Lake Alexandrina—one of the bodies of water which form the estuary of the Murray river, Australia. This year the water of the river has been unusually warm and low, and the inflow to the lakes very slight. The consequence has been an excessive growth of a conferva which is indigenous to these lakes and confined to them. This alga, , is very light and floats on the water, except during breezes, when it becomes diffused, and being driven to the lee shores, forms a thick scum like green oil paint. Nature Nodularia spumigera This scum, which is from two to six inches thick, and of a pasty consistency, being swallowed by cattle when drinking, acts poisonously and rapidly causes death. The symptoms of the poisoning are stupor and unconsciousness, falling and remaining quiet (as if asleep), unless touched, when convulsions are induced, the head and neck being drawn back by a rigid spasm, subsiding before death. The poison causes the death of sheep in from one to six or eight hours; of horses, in from eight to twenty-four hours; of dogs, in from four to five hours; and of pigs in three or four hours. A shows the plant is rapidly absorbed into the circulation, where it must act as a ferment, and causes disorganization. As the cattle will not touch the puddle where the plant scum has collected and become putrid, all they take is quite fresh, and the poisoning is therefore not due to drinking a putrescent fluid full of bacteria, as was suggested. post mortem When the scum collects and dries on the banks it forms a green crust. When, however, it is left in wet pools it rapidly decomposes, emitting a most horrible stench, like putrid urine; but previous to reaching this stage it gives out a smell like that of very rancid butter. A blue pigment exudes from this decomposing matter, having some remarkable properties. It is remarkably fluorescent, being red by reflected and blue by transmitted light; it appears to be a product of the decomposition, and allied to the coloring matter found in some lichens. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Various (2013). Scientific American, Vol. XXXIX. No. 6. [New Series.], August 10, 1878. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19406/pg19406-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

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