The entrance

San Anton Garden

1. Flipkart teases the release of iPhone SE (2020) in India  NewsBytes
2. Apple iPhone SE 2020 sale to start soon as Flipkart teaser goes live  Hindustan Times
3. Apple iPhone SE 2020 spotted on Flipkart, launch imminent  Livemint
4. Our Apple iPhone SE (2020) video review is up - GSMArena.com news  GSMArena.com
5. Excited for the new iPhone? Take our iPhone through the ages quiz  Techradar
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Trump admin working to temporarily ban work-based visas: Report  Top Live News
2. US lawmakers want H-1B visas and foreign students internship suspended to protect American jobs  Times of India
3. US likely to temporarily ban work-based visas like H-1B due to rise in unemployment  Zee News
4. US Mulls Temporary Ban on Work Visas Amid Unemployment: Reports  The Quint
5. 5 US lawmakers ask Trump to suspend new H-1B visas  The Tribune India
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Covid-19 Delhi latest figures- 224 new cases take capital’s total to 8,630, India tally at 59,662  Hindustan Times
2. Confusion over Delhi's Covid-19 toll as govt data, figures from hospitals don't match  Times of India
3. 3 More Private Hospitals To Treat COVID-19 Patients In Delhi  NDTV
4. Delhi Covid-19 tally tops 6,000 with 338 new cases in last 24 hours  Livemint
5. 100 rooms in Delhi's five-star hotels now hospitals  Times of India
6. View Full coverage on Google News

From Andrey Mokhov's twitter feed:

Is there any intermediate abstraction between applicative functors and monads? And if yes, what is it? In a new paper with @geo2A, @simonmar and @dimenix we explore "selective functors", which are essentially applicative functors with branching: https://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/andrey.mokhov/selective-functors.pdf

We've implemented selective functors in Haskell: https://github.com/snowleopard/selective, OCaml: https://github.com/snowleopard/selective-ocaml, and even Coq: https://github.com/tuura/selective-theory-coq (the Coq repository contains some proofs of correctness that our selective instances are lawful). And there is also a PureScript fork!

Seven Sketches in Compositionality: An Invitation to Applied Category Theory

2018 by Brendan Fong and David I. Spivak

Category theory is becoming a central hub for all of pure mathematics. It is unmatched in its ability to organize and layer abstractions, to find commonalities between structures of all sorts, and to facilitate communication between different mathematical communities. But it has also been branching out into science, informatics, and industry. We believe that it has the potential to be a major cohesive force in the world, building rigorous bridges between disparate worlds, both theoretical and practical. The motto at MIT is mens et manus, Latin for mind and hand. We believe that category theory—and pure math in general—has stayed in the realm of mind for too long; it is ripe to be brought to hand.

A very approachable but useful introduction to category theory. It avoids the Scylla and Charybdis of becoming incomprehensible after page 2 (as many academic texts do), and barely scratching the surface (as many popular texts do).

Histogram: You have to know the past to understand the present by Tomas Petricek, University of Kent

Programs are created through a variety of interactions. A programmer might write some code, run it interactively to check whether it works, use copy and paste, apply a refactoring or choose an item from an auto-complete list. Programming research often forgets about these and represents programs as the resulting text. Consequently, thinking about such interactions is often out of scope. This essay shifts focus from programs to a more interesting question of programming.

We represent programs as lists of interactions such as triggering an auto-complete and choosing an option, declaring a value, introducing a variable or evaluating a piece of code. We explore a number of consequences of this way of thinking about programs. First, if we create functions by writing concrete code using a sample input and applying a refactoring, we do not lose the sample input and can use it later for debugging. Second, if we treat executing code interactively as an interaction and store the results, we can later use this information to give more precise suggestions in auto-complete. Third, by moving away from a textual representation, we can display the same program as text, but also in a view inspired by spreadsheets. Fourth, we can let programmers create programs by directly interacting with live previews as those interactions can be recorded and as a part of program history.

We discuss the key ideas through examples in a simple programming environment for data exploration. Our focus in this essay is more on principles than on providing fine tuned user experience. We keep our environment more explicit, especially when this reveals what is happening behind the scenes. We aim to show that seeing programs as lists of interactions is a powerful change of perspective that can help us build better programming systems with novel features that make programming easier and more accessible. The data exploration environment in this interactive essay may not yet be that, but it gives a glimpse of the future.

Valerie De Booser deelt uitdagende foto op Instagram vanuit haar kot  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Moeten we Brussels Airlines redden of niet?  De Tijd
2. Hoog spel rond Brussels Airlines  De Standaard
3. Akkoord tussen Swiss en Lufthansa: blauwdruk voor Brussels Airlines?  Trends
4. Lufthansa groep vanaf juni met 160 vliegtuigen de lucht in  Up in the Sky
5. Lufthansa Group verdubbelt in juni het aantal vliegtuigen in dienst  Luchtvaartnieuws.nl
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Turkse recepten tegen virus laten meer vrijheid toe  De Standaard

1. Betogers uit erg diverse hoeken protesteren tegen coronamaatregelen in Duitsland  VRT NWS
2. Duitsland demonstreert tegen coronamaatregelen  De Standaard
3. Duitse ME grijpt in bij protest tegen coronamaatregelen  Telegraaf.nl
4. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Man die fietspad bezaait met prikkeldraad, spijkers en glas praat zichzelf aan de galg tegen visser die stiekem filmt  Het Laatste Nieuws

LIVE. De Wever over eventuele tweede piek: “Normale quarantaine is er een van zieken, niet van gezonde mensen”  Het Laatste Nieuws

Line 1 is over capacity—adding more stops isn't the solution.

We need to talk about this idea to extend the Yonge line up to Richmond Hill. The Yonge line is already congested. Anyone who rides the subway regularly is aware of this. The immediate plans to address it are, shall we say, unimpressive. The Yonge Relief Network Study done in 2015 for Metrolinx [PDF] focused […]

The post Extending the Yonge line will only make crowding worse appeared first on Torontoist.

This Date in Baseball for May 10, 2020

На третий месяц конституционной истерики индеец Зоркий Глаз догадался, что над ним просто издеваются.

На самом деле это удивительное ощущение, когда ты смотришь живое кино о бесстыдстве эпохи. Только это не эпоха какого-нибудь Нерона, а наши дни в отдельно взятой стране.

Единственная цель изменений в Конституции — это как-то объяснить, почему Владимир Путин больше 20 лет не может выпустить из жадного кулака власть, данную ему однажды на 4 года. Это беда не Путина, к слову, а народа: на всем постсоветском пространстве, кроме самых цивилизованных республик (Украины, Грузии, немножко Армении) установилась та же ситуация: побултыхавшись немного без Генерального секретаря партии республики, помыкавшись со своей новой прогрессивной Конституцией самостоятельного государства, феодальное общество быстро заскучало и выдвинуло нового царька на веки вечные. И каждый из этих царьков по-своему объяснил своему народу, почему закон о смене власти конкретно к нему не относится. Ну там в Белоруссии он типа лучший хозяйственник и без него все развалится, в Туркмении — великий сын неба или кто он там, в Казахстане — отец народа великой степи, и так далее. Этот процесс кристаллизации местных царьков на обломках СССР идёт уже 30 лет, и мы привыкли. В России до последнего года пытались делать вид, что мы Европа и у нас все цивилизованно, без царьков, просто законы такие, что позволили чуть задержаться. Но в 2020 решили, что зачем цирк, расшаркивания и исходные схемы, если можно все обнулить без цирковых номеров и джигитовки. Тоже смешно, но речь не об этом. Затем были выделены деньги на рекламу — надо как-то объяснить народу, почему важно прийти и проголосовать за изменения в Конституции, которые касаются не его (народа), а одного лишь Путина. И понеслось... Это жалкое зрелище, когда задача поставлена, а как ее решить — креатива нет:

Какие нахуй семейные ценности будут в исправленной Конституции, каких не было в старой? Или вот совсем кризис мысли — котики. В любой непонятной ситуации рисуй котиков. Котиков все любят, проголосуют за котика, заодно и за поправки в Конституцию. Вид у котика на снимке совершенно охуевший, и его можно понять:

Какие нахуй отношения с животными регламентирует Конституция РФ?! Это же смех и портрет эпохи. А вот совсем уже прекрасно — волонтеры. Вообще волонтерское движение возникает по определению там, где не справляется власть. Поэтому в Конституции оно не прописано ни в какой. Ни в новой, ни в старой, ни в американской. Но мне всё-таки кажется, что художник тонко троллил, нарисовав добровольцев, закапывающих новую Конституцию нахуй:

A while back I bought a copy of ‘Bonnie Blue Flag’ from Cavalier books and I have to say I really liked what I saw. The rules seem to give me everything I was looking for in a ACW rule set, I decided then even though I must have 15 plus ACW rule sets, this was going to be the one for me. I became a Kevin Calder fanboy over night and quickly snapped up his other Sudan rule set too. I constantly patrol Cavalier books looking out for any other variants of the rule set that may of been released. Although, the rules are so adaptable that you could use them for a multitude of other eras.

The only down side though is that because they are a small rule set by Cavalier Books there doesn’t seem to be much support for them. This lead me to do my own research to clean details, however small, from the internet to help outline some of the rules in the book. A big break through came when I found Kevins blog ‘The Iron Brigade’. This was full of nice pictures of his games which gave loads of extra details into the system. I have created this post on here so I can dump any relevant information to save me trolling around in the future. Other like minded souls had made the same connection and had gone to the Facebook site to ask questions, these were not answered though. So here I have gathered images from various games Kevin has done and each one is a wealth of extra information and details for the rule set.



A Crazed stalker raids the internet for more information.
 It’s interesting to see here the use of skirmishers. They are kept on the table and placed around the parent unit at all times, unless destroyed. This wasn’t made very clear in the rule book, I thought you just took them off once they rejoined their regiment.

 It’s also good to see the mini dice in play. I think pictures like this would of been a better choice rather than the stock Cavalier book ACW illustrations in the rule book. It would of really helped define things. Also, Cavalier Books released another set of ACW rules and included the same illustrations... a bit poor I thought.
 This is interesting, dismounted cavalry on 40mm round bases. This shows their looser structure on the field. This is a nice touch and gave me some good ideas about basing units of sharpshooters. Everybody knows the green clad Berdan’s sharpshooters, but by basing up a Confederate unit of marksman in this way would really help define them from the other units.

 A photo taken from a Napoleonic battle hosted by Kevin, it again shows that with a few minor weapon range tweaks, these rules can be used for most horse and musket periods. I also noticed in one of these games that skirmishers could be based two to a base rather than singly. This is quite helpful to me as single figures are quite hard to store and keep safe. Two figures on a 40mm base are a lot more stable and also give the chance of a diorama.
Also interesting that this small unit of sharpshooters only has one skirmisher rather than three to reflect its small size. I will tag this post and keep adding to it, if and when I find out anything new. These rules are great and well worth a look.

Below is a great picture showing the game in process. Note that some skirmishers have been based as units of ‘comrades in arms’, multiple figures in groups of skirmishers, loading and firing to maintain a constant fire. This is an idea I will play with for sure.

I do enjoy painting orcs, it is so enjoyable and freeing after painting hundreds of identical uniforms. These bases had an extra level of enjoyment because they contained many orcy helmets converted with green stuff. I think in the whole they turned okay and add to the hodge podge look of the units. I had planned to spread these helmet guys out but ended up using them all on these two bases, they were finished and ready to go when I needed them, so they were used.
This giant orc Warlord is from Reaper Miniatures. He is massive and so he counts as two orcs in one. My six to a base rule works out as if they are small Goblins, they get an extra figure or two. If they are giant warriors, well then they get one less. This is to keep the fighting value of the base the same visually.
Plastic Warlord Games orcs with green stuff heads and an old plastic GW banner bring up the rear. Also on this base is the classic standard bearer for Harboth’s Black mountain boys. Classic! No point hanging onto these precious opp models, get them painted and use them I say.
It appears my years in Art college weren’t wasted after all. Subconsciously when basing these brutes, I arranged them in such a way that the surrounding orcs weapons help guide your eye on to the leader of the piece. Twenty five years later I finally got it right...
Plastic axes were stuck on the leader’s helmet to give him a kind of orcy centurion look. This is influenced by the films I have to say and has a nice brutal look to it.

The Elf head on the standard was a nice find, however the pole was really thin and bendy. I reenforced this by adding a green stuff banner which really helped. I tore holes in it and made it look very tattered and the result was very pleasing.
The orc above with the mace was made from a Fire forge Sergeant’s body, oathmark goblin arms, warlord games orc head and green stuff mask. He also has a plastic cloak from somewhere too. A real  jumble of bits and pieces. I think here lies the real fun of this project, using parts to create unique figures. It’s very rewarding and I have to say becomes very addictive, in fact once you start it’s hard to stop.
A new base now and this one is lead by a very old sculpt indeed. I think it is an old ‘Perry’ Chaos warrior. Well, an orc who is a Chaos warrior at any rate. I always try to theme my bases slightly and they are always influenced by the leader. This oop figure needed some old friends to keep him company, so I found some other old Citadel miniatures for the base. Saying that, his two closest warriors are more kit bashed plastics with green stuff helmets. New meets very old.
Orcy spears and pole arms can be made by cutting off spears and sticking on naggaity goblin swords. Obviously this works better with plastics and plastic glue. I have found that once the glue has melted the two bits together the weapons are quite durable. The spear shaft will bend rather than the sword break off.
Again the arrangement of  positions helps to draw your eye into the centre of the piece. I surprise myself with this arty bullsh@t.

TIPS.
The motley crew. Earth brown paint was stippled over these guys to give them a real dirty look.  Lots of brown washes of various shades, green washes, black washes, in fact just go crazy with colour washes, you can’t really go wrong. Once a fine metal dry brush goes over the top, it all looks good and gives the armour a grungy look.

 Flesh wash is good for rusty armour so put patches of that here and there. If you have any bronze looking armour or shields, try some green wash on that too. Mix washes together to make the grungiest washes. I have a pot labelled ‘magic mix’ where I have mixed black with brown ink, this is great for orc skin, armour, weapons... well everything really. Just slap it on all over. It even smells bad because the tap water used in the mix has gone off, every time you open the orc shading pot... you get the orc!.

Give the kit bashing a go, it’s great fun and you will create something unique. Just because you have bought a plastic box set, don’t be scared to mix it up with another of a different make. Single sprues of Dark Age/medieval plastics can be bought on eBay for under a fiver. I use these to try and test things out, if I really like the results I will commit to buying a whole box. Plastics are a lot cheaper than lead so there is room to buy and try out different options without busting the purse strings..
Create me an army worthy of Mordor!

Crazy-seeming research, every now and then, leads to something really, really wonder-filled. In this case, the discovery of something long-predicted (by Einstein) but seemingly impossible to perceive: gravity waves. (HT Maggie Lettvin)

We played another successful “reverse” game recently, so I want to document them in one place. Sushi No (Sushi Go) Play normally. Goal is to have the lowest score at the end of the game. 7 Blunders (7 Wonders) Play … Continue reading →

Readers of Language Log will certainly be aware of Tocharian, but when I began my international research project on the Tarim Basin mummies in 1991, very few people — only a tiny handful of esoteric researchers — had ever heard of the Tocharians and their language since they went extinct more than a millennium ago, […]

The tail light cover used to be a plastic Folgers can. I know because the label is still on it.

Whoever thought of this must've been really tipsy.

I think they spent all their money on the fancy toilet paper. ~NSHA

Today I watched two movies The Last Exorcism and Case 39. Here are my thoughts and review of both movies.

In my last post I showed some simple ways you can use to help get your videos more views and subscribers. Now let's talk about getting some of that traffic over to your website or blog. Being that YouTube is the most used search engine in the world right now, and showing no signs of slowing down, this is something you want to tap into.

Using social networks, building backlines, and article writing are just a few free SEO tools you can use to get traffic to your website or blog. But you don’t always need to be in front of your computer all day to boost traffic and get your site noticed. There are lots of ways to get noticed using offline SEO tactics. I’ve tried to include as many free or as inexpensive ideas as possible, some of them will be on the more expensive side and will probably be out of your budget for. But as your site grows and your revenue (if your making money from your site) goes up there worth considering.

Google keyword tool is a great free seo tool you can use to find keywords for your site. Without keywords or key phrases your site won’t be found by users, and you won’t be indexed by the search engines. It’s also important that you pick the right keywords that match your sites description. Often these are overlooked, leaving people frustrated that their sites aren’t getting the hits they would like. To use Google keyword tool to fink keywords, here’s what you do.

When it comes to SEO optimization for your website or blog Google provides many free seo tools and resources. And while many will argue about different techniques at building traffic, using these Google SEO tools listed below will help you analyze your site, fix problems, and help get your website the traffic it deserves.

When it comes to ways you can increase traffic to your website there are dozens if not hundreds of ways to get more traffic. Depending on your website, the content or products you’re trying to get viewed, and the amount of time you can invest each day on your site, not all of those hundreds or ways are going to be as effective. You also want to avoid anything that could be considered “Black Hat SEO” as these types of tricks to increase your traffic may work in the short term, but get your website kicked out of search engine rankings.

When it comes to getting people to your site one of the ways you can do this is through social bookmaking sites. And while these all give your site excellent one way back links, there is one site that you should sign up to first to get more traffic, and that site is Stumbleupon. Why you should use Stumbleupon to get more traffic If you’re not familiar with Stumbleupon this is how it works for your site to get more traffic. Instead of using keywords like how you would for a search engine, visitors select categories that interest them such as videos, music, or computers to name a couple examples. Once they pick their categories and click on the stumble button their randomly taken to a site, article, or video that fits that category. They can then decided if the like or dislike that site by giving it thumbs up or down. The more thumbs up your site gets the more hits it will get because it will show up more frequently when people stumble that category. Visitors to your site can also write reviews and share it with other users or add a sites link to their list of favourite sites giving you even more exposure, back links, and that oh so coveted traffic..........

If you have an Adsense account you’ve probably heard some of the horror stories about people having their Adsense account banned, their earnings held by Google, and being basically left out in the cold with no revenue coming into their site. And while it can happen without warning (Google is notorious for making policy changes and not notifying anyone or always offering a clear explanation) most of the time it’s the fault of the owner of the site. This is either because they didn’t take the time to terms of service and had their Adsense account banned. Or they got caught trying to cheat the system and as a result have a banned Adsense account.

When it comes to getting your website traffic, there are some SEO tricks that don’t work. There either outdated, over abused, or never really worked that well to begin with. So to help clear up some confusion about what SEO tactics will work and which SEO tricks that don’t work, here is a list of 12 items to consider forgetting about to save yourself some time and frustration.

Perhaps you didn’t read Google’s terms of service, or you tried to get others to click on your ads. Either way your Google Adsense account has been disabled and you either got a nice little email telling you this or you can’t log onto Adsense at all. You’ve probably heard of many horror stories on blogs, forums, or on YouTube telling about how they were banned by Adsense, their earnings now held by Google, and their stuck with no income from their site. If this has happened to you there are some things you can do to try and reinstate your banned Adsense account. I can’t make any promises that you’ll get your account back, but these are some things you can try.

How many times has this happened to you when searching online? You find several links to sites that look like they have the information you’re looking for. However when you go to those sites you find only a few ads and nothing but a couple lines of useless text. (If you’re lucky to even find that) So you go back and look around some more and find another link that takes you to another site like exactly like the first one,..............well maybe the color is different. After a bit more searching and running across several more websites like this, you either luck out or find the information you’re looking for, or get pissed off and give up. If this happened to you I don’t need to tell you how frustrating MFA websites are.

Alexa site rank like Google’s page rank is a measure to determine how popular a particular website or blog is. And while Alexa isn’t an accurate representation since it’s only limited to those who use their toolbar it can still be an important factor when it comes to generating traffic, getting others to link to you, and advertising on your site. If you’re not familiar with how Alexa page ranking works it essentially works like this..................

Black hat SEO, if you’re not familiar with it, it’s a general term that covers everything that’s considered unethical or “cheating” to get your site ranked in the number one spots in the search engines. In the short term many of these tricks do work at getting your site the number 1 spot, in the long term however your site will be penalized, pushed down in search engine rankings, or your domain may be completely abandoned by them. And if your website is about trying to make money, or is part of a business this can have a serious impact. So how do you know what’s considered black hat seo if you’re brand new to the whole website or blogging game? Here is a list of 14 black hat seo tricks to avoid.............

What is grey hat seo? The term grey hat is used to categorize all the seo tricks out there that fall somewhere in-between white hat which is ethical, and black hat or non ethical. Using gray hat seo is all about the risk versus the reward of trying to rank well in the search engines to get traffic. Abusing them can have a negative effect on your website, but don’t carry the harsh penalties that black hat seo tricks would......... It’s also important to understand that many grey hat seo tricks wind up becoming black hat from over abuse. Tricks such as cloaking where you present two versions of your website, one for your visitors, the other for the search engines that are stuffed with keywords that they want to rank for. Or paid links where you pay the site owner of a higher rank site for a link are now considered full blown black hat tricks.

When people think of advertising on their website their minds usually thinks of Google Adsense. It’s the biggest and best known after all and extremely easy to put into your site. In my personnel experience Google Adsense has worked well, however they have an extremely strict set of rules. These rules mean that a lot of sites can’t use Adsense on their site by default. Google is also notorious for banning accounts with no warning. Just look online and you easily find story after story about people losing their Adsense accounts for no apparent reason. Like I said I use Adsene and haven’t had any problems or have any complaints about them…….so far................... But just because Google is the biggest player doesn’t mean their the only one. So if your account with Adsense was banned and you’re looking for a new source of online revenue. Or you can’t stand Google and don’t want to deal with them, here is a list of some alternatives to Google Adsense worth checking out.

There are literally countless companies promising you top ranking for your niche, thousands of hits, and the ability to make you lots of money quickly. Sound too good to be true, chances are it is. There are thousands of SEO scammers out there peddling B.S and false promises in order to do one thing PART YOU WITH YOUR MONEY. These companies don’t care if it hurts your website and how well it could rank in the search engines. They don’t care if their hurting your business, they just want your cash and are willing to lie to get it............................... The reality is that SEO is not a get quick rich scheme; it takes hard work, lots of good content, patience, link building, and time to see results. This isn’t to say that all SEO companies are con artists out to rip you off; there are plenty of good ones.

One of the biggest challenges when starting a new blog or website is deciding what the topic of your site is going to be about. You also want to take into consideration what people are looking for online. If you’re stuck on an idea for your site here are the 10 most popular topics that are searched for online besides porn of course and the rough percentage of traffic each one gets.

It’s a safe bet that if anyone from a potential employer to coworkers, to that girl down the street you asked out on a date will type your name into a search engine. As we become more connected with the internet and social media every day, this has become a common theme. A 2009 study by Microsoft revealed that around 80% of hiring managers in the United States searched for a candidate online and around 70% of that group didn’t hire the person they searched because of what they found online............ Fast forward to the recent riot here in Vancouver and you can see why your online reputation holds so much weight. Rioters and those who decide it would be a smart idea to get their picture beside a burning police car are now finding themselves being fired from their jobs, while the pictures they posted on Facebook have been circulated to the police. It’s an extreme example of how your online reputation can be damaged, but it drives home the importance a good online reputation.

Regardless of your niche and what you use your website or blog for, SEO plays a huge role in getting your site noticed online. SEO though isn’t just optimizing your site by using some tricks and writing lots of content. There are also lots of free seo tools available online you can use to where your website stands, and what needs to be fixed or improved. Here is a list of 20 of what I think are some of the best free seo tools available.............

If your currently running or thinking of running ads on Facebook, don’t advertise your Google plus account. It looks like Facebook has a hate on for Google plus, I can’t really blame them considering it’s their biggest competition and I think Facebook is getting more then a little worried about losing their number 1 spot in the social network scene.......