#python developer roles

[ourjobagency]

The Python developer can be a web developer, data analyst, data scientist, software developer, machine learning engineer, AI engineer, and automation tester.

https://ourjobagency.com/python-developer-roles-responsibilities-and-career-path-in-2022/

[robomad]

Implementing Role-Based Access Control in Django

Learn how to implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in Django. This guide covers defining roles, assigning permissions, and enforcing access control in views and templates.

Introduction Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a method of regulating access to resources based on the roles of individual users within an organization. Implementing RBAC in Django involves defining roles, assigning permissions, and enforcing these permissions in your views and templates. This guide will walk you through the process of implementing RBAC in Django, covering user roles,…

[connect-infosoft-technologies]

Exploring The Role Of AI Vision In Creating Innovative Mobile Apps

Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed many industries, including mobile app development. One of the most intriguing aspects of AI technology is its ability to perceive and understand visual data, known as AI vision. By incorporating AI vision into mobile app development, developers can unlock a world of innovative possibilities and enhance user experiences like never before. 

In this blog, we will delve into the role of AI vision in creating innovative mobile apps and explore its potential impact on various industries.

1. Understanding AI Vision:

AI vision refers to the capability of machines to interpret and analyze visual data, just like humans do. Through advanced algorithms and deep learning techniques, AI vision enables mobile apps to recognize objects, understand scenes, and even identify emotions on people's faces. This technology has been made possible by the availability of vast amounts of annotated image and video data, along with the increased processing power of modern smartphones.

2. Enhanced User Experiences:

By incorporating AI vision into mobile apps, developers can provide users with enhanced and personalized experiences. For example, consider a shopping app that uses AI vision to enable users to search for products by simply taking a photo. The app can analyze the image, identify the product, and display relevant search results, making the shopping process more convenient and efficient.

Furthermore, AI vision can enable apps to offer augmented reality (AR) features, overlaying virtual objects in the real world through the device's camera. This opens up new possibilities for gaming, interior design, fashion, and various other industries, providing users with immersive and interactive experiences.

3. Improved Security and Safety:

AI vision plays a crucial role in enhancing the security and safety features of mobile apps. Facial recognition technology powered by AI vision can be integrated into apps to provide secure authentication and access control. This eliminates the need for traditional passwords and improves user convenience while ensuring robust security.

Moreover, AI vision can be utilized in surveillance apps to detect and recognize suspicious activities, objects, or individuals in real time. This can be particularly useful in public spaces or sensitive areas, enhancing overall safety and security.

4. Revolutionizing Healthcare:

The healthcare industry stands to benefit significantly from the integration of AI vision into mobile apps. Medical imaging apps can leverage AI vision algorithms to analyze X-rays, MRIs, and other diagnostic images, aiding in the detection and diagnosis of various medical conditions. This can result in faster and more accurate diagnosis, potentially saving lives.

Additionally, AI vision can assist individuals in monitoring their health and wellness. Mobile apps equipped with AI vision can analyze facial expressions and body movements to detect signs of stress, fatigue, or other health-related indicators. Users can receive personalized recommendations and interventions to improve their well-being.

5. Optimizing Transportation and Navigation:

AI vision has the potential to transform the transportation and navigation industry. Mobile apps integrated with AI vision can recognize and interpret road signs, traffic signals, and pedestrian movements, providing real-time guidance and alerts to drivers. This can enhance road safety, reduce accidents, and improve overall traffic management.

Furthermore, AI vision can enable apps to offer advanced navigation features, such as indoor navigation within shopping malls, airports, or large buildings. Users can navigate complex environments with ease, finding their desired locations efficiently.

Conclusion:

The incorporation of AI vision technology in mobile app development opens up a world of innovative possibilities. From enhancing user experiences and improving security to revolutionizing healthcare and optimizing transportation, AI vision has the potential to transform various industries. As AI continues to evolve and advance, we can expect mobile apps to become even more intuitive, personalized, and capable of understanding and interpreting the visual world around us. Embracing AI vision in mobile app development is not just a trend but a significant step towards creating innovative and impactful applications that cater to the evolving needs of users in the digital age.

[herrenxenoberg]

Fandorm Showcase #15 - Robin Hood

Before I get into the showcase itself, I'm giving a loving shoutout to @gummibunnie for the amazing Robin Hood fan event doodles that I adore so much, the character outfits and the event itself is amazing and it definitely has canon event vibes if it's official, especially the fact it centers around Rook and Vil playing the lead roles (my ideal TWST couple), so thank you to @gummibunnie for giving me the inspiration for this fandorm.

Now let's get to the showcase!

Inspired by Robin Hood, we have the glorious and magnificent dorm...

Griffvereign!

It combines both the words Griff (another term for Lion) and sovereign (a supreme ruler).

This dorm focuses on ambitions for power and dominance over people, fueled by the desire of recognitions and status. Although everyone in this dorm all wanted to be leader, they all share one goal in common, and that is developing social connections with others, in order to gain trust and support from one another. The theme of this dorm mostly focuses around the medieval era, similar to Robin Hood, with the people having more sophisticated mannerisms.

"A dorm founded on the Regent Prince's spirit of humility. Students in this dorm treat one another on equal terms no matter the status or position."

Requirements and Traits:

Have social influence

Ambition for greater goals and opportunities

Drive to hide your insecurities by increasing your own ego

Onto the dorm uniform design:

The lion helmet only applies to the housewarden fit, which will be explained later as we move down the showcase. This pretty much takes inspiration from medieval outfits as well as some fantasy outfits for that extra detail.

Introducing the character roster...

Greet the elegant and illustrious housewardeness of Griffvereign...

Jacquelinne Gryffin! (Twisted Off Prince John)

Being the first ever housewardeness in NRC on her second year, she didn't get very good reception from the others due to her being a female in an all-boys school (in our server, this rule has been overturned in favor of female TWST OCs), and the fact she only took over this position after her older brother, who was the previous housewarden, has left for his internship the year she entered sophomore semester. Although she hails from the royal Gryffin family as the queen's maiden, she wants to have recognition of her own due to the fact her older brother gets more attention than she does, both in the family and in the public eye. In order to better fit in with the crowd she's trying to appease, she dawns on a lion helmet to mask her appearance, as it also comes with voice changing magic, and that her name is sometimes shortened to Jacque to make it sound "manly". She always tries her best to appeal to people she is leading, although she is still the queen's maiden. However, her consort and vice housewarden has a different idea in mind for her.

Notable Members:

Lacelyn Pythone (Junior, Vice Housewarden) - Jacquelinne's childhood friend and vice housewarden (also a snake beastman) for both her and her older brother, but he favors Jacquelinne's presence over her brother not because they're friends, it's for a different purpose. (Twisted off Sir Hiss)

Fowke Buckingham (Junior) - A wolf beastman who also acts as the dorm's enforcer, ensuring people fall in line and show respect for their housewardeness. (Twisted off The Sheriff of Nottingham)

Clerenbald Caiman (Junior) - A crocodile beastman who is an excellent archer and has a sense of pride for being the best archer there is. (Twisted off Captain Crocodile)

Alane Cluckstein (Junior) - A rooster beastman who charms people with his serenades on his lute and storytelling, which you can usually find him sitting in a tree playing the lute. (Twisted off Alan-A-Dale)

Synopsis:

It was your ordinary day in Night Raven College, everything is fine and dandy, until suddenly, members from Griffvereign came in and started demanding the students for tax pay! Turns out it was the school's monthly tax season (which for some reason Crowley approved of this), that everyone has to pay a certain amount of fee for doing things that would cost the school's overall resources, and all of this was issued by the housewardeness of Griffvereign, "Jacque".

It's up to our main protagonists to look into the bottom of this and stop the tax season from draining more pockets.

I tried to incorporate story elements of Robin Hood into the modern setting, which is a bit difficult, but this is the best I can do.

Next Up: Pinocchio

[teamtophat]

Hello, all! As the time ticks away to another year, Team Top Hat has since reached 5ish years! To which, we think now is time for some transparency… As much as we hate to admit it, the game has now come to a complete crawl. We’ve come a decent way to get to where we are, in no small part thanks to those that have previously joined us and lent their help to shape everything from the story and world-building, to the puzzles, music, and programming of our engine: The Layton Editor.

Everything had fallen to silence once again, and for that, we truly apologize to those that have waited for any response from us.

Most would take near inactivity as a means to give up, but with a project that has gone on for a decent length and seeing its own rises and falls… we don’t simply wish to see this game die. It’s the culmination of everyone’s hopes and dreams for characters to have proper development and Layton himself to have more adventures. Especially, if those adventures can now be properly told on an engine that is quite literally built off of the original games.

And so, we call upon everyone that has an interest, everyone that has a love of a series that just recently revived itself once again… we want nothing more than to revive our team and finish this game for all the fans that want more stories for this top-hatted man!With that said, we’ll be explaining more of the story in the upcoming post, to give everyone an idea of what mysteries await those just seeing this post. If we have your interest… This will be a public call for several roles!

What we need:

Artists

Preferably those demonstrating an understanding of Layton’s designs.

This will consist of Character Designers, Puzzle Artists and Background Artists.

Storywriters

Preferably, people with a strong understanding of Layton's narrative, world building, and storytelling

Puzzle Creators

Those that know of the puzzle mechanics, picarat distribution, and display a creative prowess for brain teasers

Programmers

Preferably those experienced in Python, C/C++ and/or assembly[for NDS])

We hope that you consider applying but please only do so if you are available and willing to respond to progress reports!

[assembly-official]

In the 1950s the PvdA (party for labour, Dutch social democrat party), was activity involved in sending soldiers to Indonesia because they still considered it a Dutch colony. Not every PvdA member agreed with this, and they formed, together with non-stalanist CPN (Communist Party of the Netherlands) members, a new party: the PSP (Pacifist Socialist Party).

From 1975 till 1981 the head of the PSP was Lambert Meertens, where he met Guido van Rossum, who was working on automating the membership registration. So now in 1982 Meertens is working on ABC, and he consults van Rossum about it. van Rossum works on ABC for a while, and he takes a lot of inspiration from it when developing Python.

The PSP doesn't exist anymore (it, together with the CPN, and two other parties formed GroenLinks (GreenLeft) which is now basically fusing with the PvdA), but without it Python might not have existed, so even though the PSP never got many seats; in a way it still had a very big impact on the world.

Idk what the moral of the story is; "Form a good political party because even if you don't achieve much politically, the party might play a small role in the development of a popular programming language" ? That doesn't seem like a real widely applicable moral, but idk, I thought it was a nice story

[nishtha135]

Which coding languages should I learn to boost my IT career opportunities?

A career in IT needs a mix of versatile programming languages. Here are some of the most essential ones:

Python – Easy to learn and widely used for data science, machine learning, web development, and automation.

JavaScript – Key for web development, allowing interactive websites and backend work with frameworks like Node.js.

Java – Known for stability, popular for Android apps, enterprise software, and backend development.

C++ – Great for systems programming, game development, and areas needing high performance.

SQL – Essential for managing and querying databases, crucial for data-driven roles.

C# – Common in enterprise environments and used in game development, especially with Unity.

[petercapaldi-press]

INTERVIEW

Exploring new avenues

2007

Peter Capaldi is best known for playing ferocious spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the BBC political comedy The Thick of It, but now he is turning his hand to another kind of humour - a farce on stage. He tells Nick Smurthwaite about Absurdia

[transcript under the cut]

For most actors, no matter how talented or versatile, the onset of middle age normally brings with it typecasting and the death of professional adventure. For Peter Capaldi, it has brought him the role of a lifetime.

His dazzling portrayal of Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed, apoplectic spin doctor in Armando Iannucci's political sitcom The Thick of It, has raised Capaldi's game in a way he didn't think was possible in his mid-forties.

"I'd got to the stage where I was doing nice parts in Midsomer Murders and Waking the Dead," he explains, "but nobody was asking me to do anything different or difficult.

"The whole process of making The Thick of It was completely different from anything I'd experienced before. I suddenly found myself in a working environment where everything was dangerous and scary."

In most TV drama or comedy, the position of the camera determines the blocking of the scenes. In The Thick of It there is no blocking, the cameramen simply follow the actors around.

"We don't rehearse, so nobody really gets the hang of what's going on, giving it that chaotic feel. We can go off in a different direction both physically and verbally; which is both tough and incredibly liberating. We've done takes of 45 minutes long."

Capaldi suspects Iannucci deliberately creates a "pressurised, neurotic, wrong-footing atmosphere" to keep the actors on their toes and help them become their characters.

Does he find Tucker's rage and bile easy to access? "Easier than I thought," he smiles. "I think it must have something to do with my age, but obviously it is my job as an actor to bring it all to the boil. It would be boring if he was shouting at people all the time, so I try to make him cunning, to give him quieter, pressure cooker moments. I prefer it when he is hatching some mad Machiavellian strategy to extricate himself from another impossible situation.

"I can't praise the writers too highly. The actors all found it difficult to improvise at first, because the scripts were so brilliant. Also, if you're going to improvise, it has to be funny and in character, otherwise it doesn't work. But the adrenaline carries you along. It's a powerhouse once we get going.

Coincidentally, only four years before The Thick of It arrived on the scene, Capaldi was involved with another New Labour satire, Feelgood, by Alastair Beaton, in which Henry Goodman played a Tucker-like spin doctor, clearly modelled on Alastair Campbell, while Capaldi was his cowering speech writer.

That was Capaldi's last foray on to the London stage, clearly not his natural habitat. Now he is returning in Absurdia, a trio of one-act comedies at the Donmar Warehouse, consisting of two old ones by NF Simpson and a new one by Michael Frayn. Why bother, I ask, when his work in TV is going so well?

"You do it for the challenge, the stretch," he replies. "Generally in TV, you are employed to do what you are known for doing best. Here I'm doing things I've never done before, a lot of mime and movement. The Frayn play is about staging a farce in the middle of the desert, generated entirely in the imaginations of the two characters, with no props. I've never done mime before, so it remains to be seen if it works."

A former art student who cites the Pythons as a major influence, Capaldi has dabbled rather successfully in 'absurdia' of his own. Twelve years ago, he picked up an Oscar in the Best Short Film category for Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life, with Richard E. Grant as Kafka, which Capaldi wrote and directed. Once nominated, he suddenly found himself propelled into an alien world of Hollywood development deals and heavy duty schmoozing.

"The truth is, I went to Hollywood after the film was nominated and didn't know what to do when I got there," he says. "I was an actor, not a director, so it was all very strange and scary. The money men were hardly going to give me $80 million to play with, because they could see I wasn't anywhere near experienced enough."

He did, however, manage to sell a feature-length screenplay even before the Oscars took place. But the fact that he wasn't interested in becoming a director of blockbusters cramped his style as a bright young hopeful. He just wanted somebody to give him half a million to go away and do his own thing.

"I went to art school, so my whole creative ethos is about expressing myself in images. I didn't make a little film in order to make bigger ones. I just like the idea of making little films in which i can express myself."

For some years now he has been trying to get his third project as writer-director off the ground (the second, Strictly Sinatra, was a disappointment). It is called The Great Pretender and it has four parts for Ewan McGregor. While Capaldi doesn't see any problem persuading his fellow Scot to do it - he says he is already committed 100% - there are money problems to sort out.

"I know it will be really easy to make and we're all ready to go," he says wistfully. "But the problem with making your own films is that you end up spending all your time trying to blag the money. I'm really not interested in that side of it at all, but unfortunately I have to do it in order to get the thing made. I loved Kafka, looking through the camera and seeing this little world we were creating take shape, but I don't think it will ever be like that again because of the size and nature of the project and the number of friends I had working on it."

Taking his cue from the style of The Thick of It, Capaldi has written what he describes as a "pseudo documentary" biography of a fictional celebrity for TV which he hopes will go into production later this year.

While he is proactive when it comes to writing and generating his own projects, Capaldi the actor is content to sit back and wait for the phone to ring. "I don't know any actors who decide what roles they want to play and then go chasing after them," he says, when I suggest that The Thick of It might have given him more clout to pick and choose his roles. "My knowledge of the theatre isn't broad enough to be able to say, I'd like to play such and such a role.

"I agreed to do Absurdia because I liked the material and I'm a great admirer of Douglas Hodge, the director. You have to be nuts about the play you're doing because the theatre pays so badly and it takes up six months of your life.

"The worse thing is going into a job where, two weeks into rehearsals, you realise the director you thought was wonderful is crap. You're stuck with a sadistic egomaniac, you realise the whole thing is going to be a disaster, and there is nothing you can do about it."

He doesn't say so, but I get the strong impression he doesn't have those Tuckeresque feelings about Hodge and Absurdia.

Absurdia is playing at the Donmar Warehouse until September 8

[queer-ragnelle]

Hi! I was wondering if you had any advice on how to craft a well-written, compelling Arthurian OC that isn't obnoxious or out of place but is still unique. I recognize the difficulty in doing so with so many different source texts (I'm most familiar with Le Morte, so that's usually my go-to) and the vast list of already existing characters. I'm just curious about your thoughts on the matter, since you're an author and also very knowledgeable about Arthuriana 💖

Hello there!

This is a tough question to answer! I think it's important to note that everyone will have a different opinion on this, but that shouldn't alter you writing your story how you want to. Some think adding any characters at all is too big of a change, while others write a full cast of original characters and then Merlin shows up randomly and makes the story "Arthurian."

I'm going to say something controversial.

Every Arthurian character is an OC.

Even King Arthur himself is an OC.

I'm going to elaborate on this quite a bit, as it's very important to me. But the TL;DR is that reading more will definitely help you conceptualize the boundaries of what's possible. Le Morte d'Arthur is a great start, but there's so much out there, both medieval and modern, that'll undoubtedly aid in your Arthuriana writing journey! :^)

While I do say things like "I love Arthurian OCs" as a means to convey that I view everyone's new creations as valid and interesting, I actually don't believe in a strong differentiation between Chretien de Troyes' Sir Lancelot or Marie of France's Sir Lanval and what you or I are writing today. We're participating in a tradition which can, at times, necessitate the creation of a new character or repurposing of an existing one. I think as soon as you create a character for your Arthurian story, they're an Arthurian character. Some refer to Lancelot or Galahad as "French OCs" or call Knight of the Cart or the Vulgate "fanfiction" as a means to degrade it's validity. Some seem to have an arbitrary timeline on which the full body of Arthurian works is measured, and the more recently something was written, the less authentic it becomes. I think they're wrong. I believe that whether or not we enjoy an installment in the ever expanding Arthurian tradition is irrelevant; it's all equally entitled to a measure of respect, even the new characters. No character or story is lesser than another by virtue of its age or language of origin or target audience or medium. I disdain the excess of scrutiny put upon certain arbitrary groupings of Arthurian tradition. Each story is full of original characters and building on the foundations of what came before. That's the nature of creative influence. Whether or not Arthur was a real person at some point in history is moot. The guy in the Mabinogion or the Vulgate or Le Morte d'Arthur or BBC Merlin is a character. He's a tool to tell a story. Such as your creation will be! Your brand new Arthurian character stands equally with all the rest who preceded them. :^)

Now, it can be helpful to distinguish between a medieval character and a modern one, sure, as they may represent different things depending on what point in history (or part of the world) they were created in. But Arthuriana isn't a franchise one must obtain express permission to contribute to, and it doesn't have a "canon," so therefore differentiating a character as "other" can be counter productive when developing a story. I don't believe Sir Robin from Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975) or Brian from The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-1957) are any less valuable as characters, even if they do draw on traits of existing Arthurian motifs in order to commentate on them or otherwise expand. In fact I think they're great characters and serve their narrative roles beautifully. One simple and one complex. I recommend watching those to see how it's done well and that may help you develop your own characters. But I'll delve into it a bit here to illustrate what I mean.

Sir Robin carries the coat of arms of a chicken, he's a cowardly knight followed around by a troupe of musicians that sing songs about all of his exploits. That is, the things he's run away from. Rather than use an existing Arthurian character and degrading them, Monty Python developed Sir Robin in order to tell their joke.

The flipside is Brian, a bona fide kitchen boy, who attaches himself to Sir Lancelot and desires to squire for him. Brian's narrative purpose is to deconstruct the nobility in a way that Gareth Beaumains, whom Brian is plainly inspired by, could not. Brian begins as a true serf forced to endear himself to Sir Lancelot to elevate his station. Merlin forges papers of nobility to convince King Arthur that Brian is worthy of this privilege. Even after that, Brian must face the brutality of his fellows while living in the barracks with them, as they don't take kindly to a "smelly kitchen boy" in their midst, plotting to get Brian to incriminate himself as a thief and get evicted from Camelot by Sir Kay. This role is incongruous with Gareth as Sir Gawain's brother, who was always noble, always a prince, and merely cloaked himself in the guise of poverty to prove a point. Gareth could return to the comforts of wealth whenever it suited him and his reason for going stealth was to intentionally distance himself from that privilege. The character Brian exists in order to commentate on the injustice of the upper class's oppression and dehumanization of the lower class in a way Gareth, or even Tor, could not, as they are of noble blood, even if it came by way of reveal. That's why Brian is a great addition to the Arthurian tradition.

Really, it comes down to treating the creation of your new Arthurian character like you would developing one for any other work, one entirely separate from the tradition. If they're a good character, they're a good character! Try not to get hung up too much on whether or not they're going to mesh well with the rest of the cast. For centuries, writers have transformed historical figures into Arthurian characters. (See: King Mark of Kernow better known as the Cuckhold King from the Prose Tristan, Owain mab Urien better known as Sir Yvain from Knight of the Lion by Chretien de Troyes, Saint Derfel better known as Derfel Gadarn from The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell, etc.)

Speaking of Prose Tristan, would anyone consider Sir Dinadan an OC? Or Sir Palomides? They're characters added to a story drawing from a much, much older tradition, and I think they enrich the story. I feel likewise about the many Perceval Continuations, including the German Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, which adds a half brother named Sir Feirefiz, or names Chretien's anonymous haughty maiden Orgeluse. What about Sir Aglovale's son Moriaen in the Dutch tradition? Amurfina in German Diu Krone by Heinrich von dem Türlin? Morgan le Fay's daughter Puzella Gaia in Italian La Tavola Ritonda? Not to mention the countless Middle English additions. The Green Knight and his wife? Dame Ragnelle and Sir Gromer? Or how about everyone's favorite Savage Damsel, Lynette of Castle Perilous? Is she not a late-era addition to the tradition courtesy of the man, the myth, the legend, Sir Thomas Malory himself? And then here comes Tennyson, who read Le Morte d'Arthur, and got to the end of dear Gareth Beaumains' story and had the same reaction we all did: "What the hell? He marries her sister?" And then he went about changing that in Idylls of the King. Speaking of Lynette, what's up with her niece Laurel? She's just a name on a page, the vast majority of retellings choose to ignore her, even if they do keep Lynette and Lyonesse. Laurel can scarcely be called a character, after all. She doesn't even have dialogue. So as I've gone out of my way to make her a prominent, fully developed character, with her own culture and back story and motivations, does that make her an OC of mine? And Henry Newbolt who included Laurel in his play Mordred: A Tragedy. And Sarah Zettel, who wrote from Laurel's point of view in Camelot's Blood. We did all the work, but we threw an Arthurian name on the character, so therefore, she isn't ours? But if we changed her name, she would be? Who gets to decide?

All of the Arthurian characters belong to all of us. That's the beauty of writing in a long-standing tradition, which exists apart from all other forms of writing. We have complete creative liberty to do what we want and refer to it how we want and no person or corporation or anyone can dictate otherwise. The intellectual property of Arthuriana belongs to the people. So invent a brand new wife for Gawain, and well, you're only the millionth author to do it! Just make sure she's an interesting character and that's literally the only requirement. Can't wait to meet her. (And all others you create!)

Have a great day!

[generalb]

I think I could get away with pretending to be an AI robot. At least for a few years. Lord knows I’d figure out how to shut the emotion in my voice off immediately, and if I’ve got a face of steel I don’t need to worry about people reading my emotions. My ability to take things literally will be ignored as standard Python coding. I might be able to even get away with oversharing information as just supplying the data the humans asked for.

What’s gonna get me caught is my inability to stand a quiet room for longer than 30 seconds. Maybe I could develop a subsonic pattern only my robot ears could catch, or I could focus inward. Literally. Listen to my gears and cooling fans. But the quiet and the boredom is what will get me. Maybe I could Murderbot it out and just watch shows all day long, but it got caught so I don’t know if I want to view it as a role model.

I just know at some point I’m going to break the monotony and do something that would absolutely break my cover and someone I didn’t realize could see me, well, sees me. But then I’d get to indulge in my second favorite fantasy: running away from the authorities and escaping!

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New data model paves way for seamless collaboration among US and international astronomy institutions

Software engineers have been hard at work to establish a common language for a global conversation. The topic—revealing the mysteries of the universe. The U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) has been collaborating with U.S. and international astronomy institutions to establish a new open-source, standardized format for processing radio astronomical data, enabling interoperability between scientific institutions worldwide.

When telescopes are observing the universe, they collect vast amounts of data—for hours, months, even years at a time, depending on what they are studying. Combining data from different telescopes is especially useful to astronomers, to see different parts of the sky, or to observe the targets they are studying in more detail, or at different wavelengths. Each instrument has its own strengths, based on its location and capabilities.

"By setting this international standard, NRAO is taking a leadership role in ensuring that our global partners can efficiently utilize and share astronomical data," said Jan-Willem Steeb, the technical lead of the new data processing program at the NSF NRAO. "This foundational work is crucial as we prepare for the immense data volumes anticipated from projects like the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and the Square Kilometer Array Observatory in Australia and South Africa."

By addressing these key aspects, the new data model establishes a foundation for seamless data sharing and processing across various radio telescope platforms, both current and future.

International astronomy institutions collaborating with the NSF NRAO on this process include the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE).

The new data model was tested with example datasets from approximately 10 different instruments, including existing telescopes like the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder and simulated data from proposed future instruments like the NSF NRAO's Next Generation Very Large Array. This broader collaboration ensures the model meets diverse needs across the global astronomy community.

Extensive testing completed throughout this process ensures compatibility and functionality across a wide range of instruments. By addressing these aspects, the new data model establishes a more robust, flexible, and future-proof foundation for data sharing and processing in radio astronomy, significantly improving upon historical models.

"The new model is designed to address the limitations of aging models, in use for over 30 years, and created when computing capabilities were vastly different," adds Jeff Kern, who leads software development for the NSF NRAO.

"The new model updates the data architecture to align with current and future computing needs, and is built to handle the massive data volumes expected from next-generation instruments. It will be scalable, which ensures the model can cope with the exponential growth in data from future developments in radio telescopes."

As part of this initiative, the NSF NRAO plans to release additional materials, including guides for various instruments and example datasets from multiple international partners.

"The new data model is completely open-source and integrated into the Python ecosystem, making it easily accessible and usable by the broader scientific community," explains Steeb. "Our project promotes accessibility and ease of use, which we hope will encourage widespread adoption and ongoing development."

[ourjobagency]

The Python developer can be a web developer, data analyst, data scientist, software developer, machine learning engineer, AI engineer, and automation tester.

[magdalene-spirit]

The Goddess & Order out of Chaos

Within the one, undifferentiated substance of Consciousness, the two principles, masculine & feminine, together bring forth the play or drama of creation.

When the principles are relational & reciprocal, in giving & receiving, a harmonious or orderly world is brought forth-all needs can be provided for.

The uncreated substance of Consciousness, the vast ocean of potential, is ancient & eternal. But to bring forth a manifested reality (order) out of the depths (chaos) requires an instrument with which to incant the sounds that stirs up waves that will roll out into the manifest outer reality as our life-story— this instrument of desire is the heart, where intention & emotive power is held — the lyre & voice.

To bring forth a reality we desire we must sink beneath the surface of form, the upperworld, into the depths, the underworld.

But here we can't travel with a physical body, we journey through portals of the mind, states of Consciousness- of dream, vision or hypnagogia.

Releasing aspects of our old life, to die, to be composted & to return to pure substance, is to give back to chaos— the python of the deep who consumes, from where we can rebirth & be reconstructed in a wholly renewed way.

Deconstruction or dismemberment is required & is prior to renewed order.

The snake bite is to be deconstructed, taken by kundalini & the alchemical fires of the underworld to be transformed & matured. This uncreated substance that is Consciousness/ matter itself, can only be melted & remoulded by Mother/ Nature in her womb cauldron & crucible.

Out of the abyss/chaos, rises life/Gaia & from the living & relations, love/Eros emerges into the world.

With excessive reason, a whole half of existence, the underworld, the dark, the feminine principle of feeling has been wiped out of existence— & without the right relation between the two principles the world can't come to peace.

Deep in the psyche, man is angry at woman for wielding feminine magical power over creation, & woman is angry at man, for ancient wounding, for entering & taking & betraying the primordial covenant of relation- that regardless of gender all forms are equally born of the primordial cosmic Mother.

Envying the magical & shamanic feminine power to create order out of chaos, through dying & rising- man wanted this power for himself.

Whereas the feminine felt into the power with intuition & dream, man had to conquer it with his understanding to control it with force.

The new, allowed roles for women in patriarchy was limited, to maiden, mother or crone- this formulation of the triple-goddess is for our times, however, in a time before this time, it signified stages of spiritual development & mastery of magical power or siddhi to harmonise the creation, as a result of realisation of the divine through the kundalini process or underworld journey with the great Goddess, who is pure power of manifestation, of Maya, the magical reality, herself.

Realising your substance as the substance of divine power & Consciousness opens up possibility to interact with phenomena, for example to call in rains for the lands, through the song in the heart.

[sio-writes]

After some time spent thinking about the next few months, I realize I may have to (temporarily) set writing aside. I start my job in late January, and I'm currently working through 3 separate books on c++ and python game development to beef up my brain for the role. I also plan to wrap up both Sacrifice and Botanist's Guide next year as well, and I have plans for not one, not two, but three new serials that I want a solid buffer for before I start posting.

Long story short, I believe a hiatus would be the best decision at this point in time. I won't stop posting, I'll still be available on my various social media(s), but I'm holding off on my writing content until March 1st.

I appreciate everyone's continued faith in me, and I'm so excited for everything that's to come next year!

[alicelufenia]

Book 4 finished, and wow do I have thoughts

I gotta say, when I started I did not expect Akua "Doom of Liesse" Sahelian to be one of my favorite characters, but damn. Dying was by far the best thing to happen to her character development!

So now Cat's got Diabolist's soul on a leash, and the dynamic between the two is immediately so fascinating, with Catherine obviously hating her guts yet can't help but find her advice and knowledge useful, and in turn Akua is playing up her new role to the hilt, showing just how useful she can be while shamelessly flirting and planning to inevitably slip the leash (and boy will we get to that). I imagine the shippers were having a field day, but remember that Catherine has a strict "don't invade Callow" stipulation on who she takes to bed, much less "don't turn a whole city into undead cannon fodder". But I get it, Cat did rip her heart out when she killed her, and Akua does now love to call Cat pet names like "my heart", it's also just fascinating to see how Cat is able to override Akua's free will with a thought, and more so to see how often she doesn't exploit this to torment her (not that Akua gives any sign the torture does anything, except as a sign of what she should be doing to stay useful)

And honestly, I was surprised to see this not be a complete deal breaker for Thief, but not only has Vivienne gotten somewhat more pragmatic, it's clear Cat has gone to great lengths to earn her trust by basically giving the other Callowan girl the means to kill her, as contingency (so many contingencies in this part). Last time I did say how much I loved oaths, well now that Cat is basically full fae, AND commands all the power of the (former) Winter Court, oaths now are mortally binding to her, which is very fun when Akua does get loose and take over Cat's body and is then forced to pluck her eye out (it grows back now) but even has a bit of fun "playing hero" when she has to act like Cat on the battlefield. And boy, more on that later too.

As full Winter, Cat doesn't have a Name anymore, but if anything this feels like the peak of her power, she's basically invincible and can regrow anything lost instantly, she just gets crazier and "more Fae" as she uses the power, which honestly is pretty fascinating. There's been some disturbing behavior changes in her ever since book 3 when she gained the power of Winter. She's become just as reliant on stories as the fae, and so now the plot becomes an exercise in "how far is Cat willing to go to achieve her story?" Hint: pretty damn far.

I haven't been commenting on the goings on in the south much, but honestly a couple of books in I've decided I really like the tonal shift of everything down there with the League, especially the Tyrant and Most Resistant to the Call Named ever, Hierarch! Refuse to take a stand, live on the street, give no ruling and have that have a disproportionately large effect on policy! YASS KING give us NOTHING. My money's still on him having the biggest impact later on however, as so far the only time he's willingly called upon his Name was to tell the Bard to get out, and it worked?? They're playing Lord of the Rings in Callow/Praes, Game of Thrones in Procer, meanwhile down in the Free Cities it's Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

I mean, mostly, there was that nasty business where Black and the Calamities were there to fight White Knight's party, and poor Sabah got killed :( and that was last book, which I completely forgot to mention. The Calamities are having a bad time in this book.

Other major point, the Crusade is in full force, and the most interesting part of that is how its political inevitability, combined with Cat taking the throne setting off alarms, and her attempts to negotiate peace with the heroes accompanying the first army of Crusaders runs face first into her tendency to break what's in front of her. Grey Pilgrim is an interesting figure, who's motivation is hard to pin down at first. He seems open to negotiating peace with Cat, but only if she abdicates, which she doesn't want to do cause Callow is held together by duct tape and a dreamAnd then when her said tendency to break stuff forces the crusaders to actually negotiate retreat, he basically (according to Cat) tries to trap her into a "redemption arc", because those usually end in the villain's death. Well played Pilgrim. Fortunately what winds up playing out for Cat is, possibly that, but definitely not how anyone thought it would go, but I really should talk about Hierophant and how much I underappreciated him earlier.

First, I love how he's one of the earliest companions Cat picks up who is entirely on board cause she takes him interesting places and he's become friends with the other Woe. Pairing Masego, who is Ace/Aro as hell and definitely on the spectrum, with Archer, the flirtiest drunkest murderhobo ever, was just a perfect move, I love their friendship!

He has such a bitter sweet reunion with his fathers though, after discovering his incubus papa was around during the time before the Dead King rose up, which leads to I think the biggest twist I did not see coming, but looking back it makes total sense, that being Catherine died at Second Liesse, and the "Sovereign of Winter" didn't just take over her soul, but has basically replaced her. Which uh, goes a long way to explain her behavior changes, but also if you go back and read, you see the exact point when she breaks the binding that lets Winter flood her soul and body, and her heart stops, and it feels to her like she died, but then didn't die. Is the Cat after Liesse a different person from the one who died now, or if, because she sees herself as Cat, and everyone else does, does it really matter if she just never fully died, or if she died and then had basically a botched necromancy to keep a copy of her with her memories going?

I think it matters in one potentially big way, and it's possibly the one line that haunts Cat throughout the book; at one point the Pilgrim says that her presence as a villain ruling a Good kingdom makes her a corrupting force, and everyone she knows will be twisted by her Evil. And slowly Cat starts questioning if this is true, when even mild mannered nobles on her council are considering strategies using her mantle that would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths, but "better if it's Proceran deaths", when even Cat herself refuses to use such a strategy because she wants to minimize deaths!

It happens more obviously with Thief, who is gradually losing her Named powers (she's much weaker and her hair is growing when normally Named develop their fixed look and keep the) and also is displaying signs of depression, and doubt as to whether she chose the right side.

Except it's ODD. Everything she says and does is understandable in the moment, but looking back you can see a clear shift that started after Cat got her mantle. Like okay, it's understandable that she'd be wary of Hakram; he fought and beat her when Viv was with the Lone Swordsman, and threatened her in her own seat of her power at the thieves guild just before she officially joined up. A few months after that she's still wary, but is more confident, basically fronting around him when all the Woe are hanging out. Now, a year later and they are working together in Laure running the kingdom, but now Thief is TERRIFIED of him. And then to prove to her that she can trust him, he goes so far as to CUT OFF HIS NECROMANCY SKELETON HAND. IN FRONT OF HER. Which was extreme, but also really weird!

I'm thinking this might be more the influence of Cat's growing fae nature rather than the narrative making her allies worse, but we'll have to wait come book 5 to see if everyone can chill the fuck out!

I don't have much to say about the gang's trip to Keter (except that amnesia mystery was neat and never underestimate Malicia), but Cat, Akua and Indrani's drow adventures? Here we go!

So as is obvious to anyone who knows me, big drow fan here. So I was fascinated to see what the Guide version was like. And it turned out to be heavily involved, basically an empire in ruin, and a people forced to fight amongst themselves for a limited magical resource. Heck the chapter that introduces them has for its epithet a Dread Emperor who literally invented the pyramid scheme, and that's basically drow culture. Still as backstabbing as you remember them from Forgotten Realms, except here they've been blasted back to the stone age, and live in heavily segmented tribes where they're constantly fighting over Night; kill another drow, take their Night, and you gain their power and knowledge.

The whole sequence where Cat builds her, let's be honest, drow slave army using the convincing argument of "swear an oath to me or die", is actually surprisingly long and drawn out, but we do learn a lot about them—I think it's interesting that all the drow are genderless in their society (or what counts as one). Of all the sequences where it's obvious Akua is succeeding at corrupting Cat, this probably takes the cake; sure, she gets the idea once they make it into the Everdark (you have no idea how often I misread that as Underdark, it was almost every time!) to "rescue" the drow from being genocided by the dwarves, but she was totally there for an army, and she's just strongarming one (while killing a LOT of drow herself) along the way to the final confrontation with the Priestess(s) of Night.

The payoff is amazing though. First, Indrani and Catherine sleep together! Which, I don't see it going too further, but they both needed it. But most important, human Cat's back! Which I guess. Disproves Warlock's theory that she's a different person, if she can go back to being human (lame leg and all) And it's so cool how you can immediately tell it's her old self, more snarky and actually still has a moral compass. She's legit horrified at what she did to the drow. And, we see mortal Catherine going back on a lot of what Fae Catherine said earlier and in book 3. Her gambit to get out of judgement is, the crab bucket dilemma; when all we do is fight each other, no one gets out of the bucket, so we should try working together instead!

And then she dies... again? But is now completely free of the mantle of Winter, and in exchange is now the new Priestess of Night.

So, yay Catherine, Mother of the Drow! Perhaps? It's very unclear. We literally leave Cat off with the lines "in pain, and gloriously mortal", which is quite a way to describe it. And, it looks like her goal to negotiate the drow out of the Everdark, and into a war with the Dead King without binding oaths, might actually work? The dwarves seem willing to listen at least.

Personally, I always thought the parts of the story where Cat has a lame leg were some of the most interesting moments, so I appreciate the depower. Even if it seems to happen every other book.

So, seems the war with the Dead King is going to be the focus for next book. Hoping Cat abdicates too, mortal Cat really thought becoming queen was a bad idea. Thinking we might be going back to a more principled Cat? Either way, it seems like she's gotten her humanity back (that was stolen by the mantle) time will tell whether her actions play out.

On to book 5!

[steblynkaagain]

Assigning Conclave characters IT/CS roles based mostly on vibes:

Agnes used to be a driver developer in 80s, now she's teaching in some uni

Lawrence - head of internal tech support, used to be QA engineer

Ray - system administrator, works under Lawrence

Tedesco - DB specialist, teaches half-time in the same uni as Agnes

Benitez - devsecops (no one knows what he's doing)

Tremblay - project manager, can't program at all, pretends he knows python

Aldo - project manager but he's decent full stack dev

Wozniak - ???

Sabaddin - ???

Adeyemy - ???