Happiness + Courage

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Happiness is not enough to insure a fulfilling life. It is imperative to have courage, not merely happiness. To be fulfilling, happiness must derive from the courage that leads one to face stressful circumstances and to do the necessary hard work of transforming them from potential disasters into growth opportunities.

One particularly relevant study by my research team and me showed that hardiness was more effective than optimism (happiness) in helping people cope with stresses by growing through them, rather than stagnating. This showed how happiness, devoid of courage, can be laced with naive complacency.

Salvatore R. Maddi

27 Data Science Articles from June 2022

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The priorities of the first-ever assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration (& top acquisition executive for the Space Force)

Google Cloud expands Earth Engine to help businesses and governments

Comparing C++ to Python (with examples)

Can synthetic data help AI get quicker results —and be less discriminatory? Here comes the fake data

OpenAI says its latest AI has learned to play Minecraft

US intelligence artificial intelligence use is booming but it's not the secret weapon you might imagine

“A major challenge facing the DoD at the moment is disparate data, spread across many different databases and stakeholders. Future winners will be those that can take all the data into a single location and make sense of it.”

“AI solutions for defense are much more mundane and focused on improving decision-making for humans” than many would imagine”

Space 2.0: “The shape of space is expanding beyond traditional defense & aerospace to an expansive range of practical & profitable applications.” A look at the 2022 trends

China launches first crewless drone carrier—experts suggest that it could also be used as a military vessel  

Space-based assets aren’t immune to cyberattacks: Russia's attack on Viasat satellites exposed how vulnerable space-based assets are and the potential for spillover damage

Which is better for data science visualization—R or Python? (hint: it all depends on the nature of the problem to be solved) 

Overcoming overfitting a model in machine learning

How space debris threatens modern life  

Ranking Pandas for Python, Dask & Datatable based on their performance

Snowflake ups support for python Build and offers Native Application Framework to run applications inside the Snowflake Data Cloud platform

Pentagon’s new AI and data chief waited days just for an ID card: ‘Let me say honestly that the bureaucracy is real’

The basic process of handling satellite image data for geospatial deep learning

6 Types of “feature importance” — a useful (and yet slippery) machine learning concept

Google Cloud’s new machine learning tools for its Vertex AI are now making their debut after being featured at the recent Applied ML Summit

The remarkable story of deploying the satellite communication system Starlink in Ukraine

Creating a simple, interactive dashboard with Panel & Python

Wanted: artificial intelligence & machine autonomy algorithms for military command and control

A visual breakdown of threats to space-based services such as Starlink & GPS

Google won’t allow people to create deepfakes using its collaborative machine learning platform any longer

“Python may be the second choice to R, but its popularity and ease of use positions it to dominate data science” 

Top YouTube channels for learning data science

Some basic data cleaning issues and possible solutions

Daily Data Science stories here.

The five different types of impostor syndrome

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Impostor Syndrome Archetypes

According to Dr. Valerie Young, a leading expert on the subject of impostor syndrome, these feelings of self doubt are not one-size-fits-all. Here are the five different types of impostor syndrome:

#1 Expert - You expect to know everything and feel ashamed when you don't.

#2 Soloist - You believe work must be accomplished alone and refuse to take any credit if you received any kind of assistance.

#3 Natural Genius - You tell yourself that everything must be handled with ease, otherwise it's not "natural talent".

#4 Superperson - You feel you should be able to excel at every role you take on in your life.

#5 Perfectionist - You set impossibly high standards for yourself and beat yourself up when you don't reach them.

Understanding the different types of impostor syndrome is an important first step, as each manifestation requires a unique toolkit of solutions to help overcome this common psychological trap experienced by professionals.

Read about the strategies to combat each type here.

How Science Fuels a Culture of Misinformation

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Covid-19 hasn’t been just a viral pandemic, but also a pandemic of disinformation—what the World Health Organization calls an “infodemic.” Many scientists blame social media for the proliferation of Covid-related falsehoods, from the suggestion that Covid could be treated by drinking disinfectants to the insistence that masks don’t help prevent transmission. Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and other platforms have indeed propagated dangerous misinformation. However, social media is a symptom of the problem more than the cause. Misinformation and disinformation often start with scientists themselves.

Joelle Renstrom writing in OpenMind

The one-sided Cycle

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The ancient wisdom from Ecclesiastes that tells us that there is a time for living and dying. East and West have traditionally taken opposite positions in relation to this cycle. Eastern religions have traditionally embraced the letting-go that characterizes the ending aspect of the cycle. Western thought, on the other hand, has tried to get the most out of the other aspect of the cycle—the identifications, the embodiments, the actualizations that are associated with the transition phase of beginning again in a new cycle. This approach makes an ending into a breakdown and even a failure. To be fair, the East has its own one-sidedness too. It identifies with letting go and ending, and all the things that are produced by beginnings are dismissed as illusion. The letting go is no longer a dynamic process but a state of detachment.

William Bridges, The Way of Transition

Local TV and Radio News Survey 2022

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Takeaways from The Radio Television Digital News Association’s annual survey of local TV and radio:

Programming

  • A new record of 1,116 TV stations aired local news—up 18 from last year’s all-time high.

Budgets

  • Just 16.3% of TV stations report budget increases while 29.3% report experiencing budget cuts.

  • Among TV news directors who do know their department’s profitability, 75.9% report a profit.

  • The percentage of radio news managers reporting their budgets decreased doubled to 18.2% over the previous year.

Salaries

  • Despite pandemic-related pay cuts, local television news salaries, on average, increased by 3.5%, or 2.1% after accounting for inflation.

  • TV salaries in markets 101-150 faired the best, with salaries for most positions increasing while in the top 25 markets, salaries for most positions fell.

  • Average and median starting TV news salaries both rose during 2021 to the highest staring salaries in the survey’s history.

Staffing

  • Full-time newsroom staffing fell 6.3% in 2021.

  • Digital staffing, on average, was up slightly, along with the roles of photographer, producer, editor and social media producer/editor.

  • Three times as many commercial radio news departments cut staff as added. Public radio stations, on the other hand, were four times more likely than commercial stations to grow.

Solo Journalists

  • The average newsroom has fewer solo journalists than last year while smaller markets overwhelmingly rely on MMJs, and mid-markets increasingly do, but few stations large market stations send reporters out alone.

  • MMJs and producers remain most in demand, representing about three-quarters of new TV news hires.

Innovations

  • More local TV newsrooms report producing virtual town halls, specials and longer-form or digital-exclusive content.

Social Media

  • Facebook is the most popular social media platform for local TV and radio news, with 94% of radio newsrooms and 100% of TV newsrooms reporting they used it.

  • Instagram is used by nearly every TV station and a third of radio newsrooms.

  • Twitter use among local news has been declining for several years, with most TV newsrooms using the platform, but less frequently.

Podcasts

  • The typical station, measured by median, has no podcasts and the average per station is less than one half.

  • The typical radio news department reporting zero podcasts.

Danger

  • 1 in 5 television news directors reported attacks on employees.

  • More than half of attacks occurred during coverage of civil unrest, protests, marches/rallies or riots

The Full Report

Media Growth Predictions

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Here are some takeaways from the annual PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Global Entertainment & Media report:

  • U.S. digital newspaper ad revenue expected to surpass print by 2026.

  • Online TV’s ad growth (10%) will come at the expense of terrestrial TV’s ad growth, which will decrease from 66.6% in 2021 to 63.1% in 2026. 

  • Print still dominates the book market, accounting for 77.4% of total revenue in 2021, with electronic books contributing 22.6%. 

  • Virtual reality continues to be the fastest-growing segment of media, albeit from a relatively small base.

  • Global internet advertising revenue will expand at an impressive 9.1% CAGR in the next five years to reach $723.6 billion in 2026, at which point 74% of internet ad revenue will be mobile.

  • Teenagers are now spending more time in immersive virtual worlds like Roblox and Fortnite than they are on TikTok. 

Read more here

Which of the 4 family types do you come from?

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There are basically four family types that we all come from.

1 - The Traditional Family System

The old-fashioned family has a myth that “father knows best.” This family is under the control of only one member.

2 - Enmeshed Family System

The frightened family has a myth that it's “us against the world.” It is emotionally bound together and protective of itself.

3 - The Fighting Family System

The fighting family has a myth of “every man for himself.” Each member of this family is strongly individualistic, recognizing no other authority than his (or her) own.

4 - The Open Family System

The healthy family system theme is “all for one and one for all.” The open family system emphasizes the worth, dignity, and uniqueness of each individual, the importance of unconditional positive regard, and the value of positive reinforcement.

Productivity struggles

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E.B. White once wrote: “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” But in my research, I’ve found that productive people don’t agonize about which desire to pursue. They go after both simultaneously, gravitating toward projects that are personally interesting and socially meaningful.

Often our productivity struggles are caused not by a lack of efficiency, but a lack of motivation. Productivity isn’t a virtue. It’s a means to an end. It’s only virtuous if the end is worthy. If productivity is your goal, you have to rely on willpower to push yourself to get a task done. If you pay attention to why you’re excited about the project and who will benefit from it, you’ll be naturally pulled into it by intrinsic motivation.

Adam Grant, writing in the New York Times

Words that have the Power to Change Minds

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Researchers have discovered that certain words or phrases have the power to change the course of a conversation. Here are some dos and don’ts they discovered:

  • List options rather than recommending “best-interest” solutions.

  • Use “willing” —as in “Would you be willing to…” (and “I know it’s not your first choice but would you…”

  • Don’t use “just” (as in “Could I just” or “I just wanted to”) because it is a ‘permission’ word, an apology implying interrupting and people do not respond as well when a warm-up to a request is offered first.

  • Use “speak” instead of “talk” (such as “I’m here to talk.). “Talk” is a reminder of the negative cultural idioms associated with the term (such as “talk is cheap”).

  • Use “sort” (as in “Let’s sort it out”) instead of “help.” “Sort” seems more direct and active.  

  • Ask “Can I speak to you about this?” rather than “Can we talk?”

  • Avoid “How are you?” when it’s not your intention to discuss the topic. Better to get to the point.

  • Avoid “any” (as in “Anything else I can do for you?” because the question is too broad) and instead use “some” (as in “Is there something else I can do for you today?”).

  • Avoid “yes, but” and once you do hear the phrase repeated three or more times, pack it in. The conversation is going nowhere. Try “What’s needed here?” or “What do you need?”

  • Offer a bright “hello.”

Based on research from: 

Talk: The science of conversation, Elizabeth Stokoe  

Some vs Any, John Heritage and Jeffrey Robinson

Workstorming, Rob Kendall

Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss

Wanna be creative? Get some sleep!

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One of the most interesting discoveries of neuroscience of the last 20 years is that when you acquire memories, they’re stored in temporary, fragile form, like cement. When you pour it, initially it’s soft, but when it dries and hardens, it becomes strong and durable. Memories are like that. They become hardened through a process of consolidation, which happens largely during sleep.

Memory consolidation actually transforms the memory, as well. It brings out details, hidden relationships. That can be the stuff of creativity and insight.

That’s why there are so many stories of people waking up in the middle of the night with a new idea or solution to a problem. Like Paul McCartney. He was awakened one morning with this melody in his head. It was the song, “Yesterday.” It just appeared to him. Sleep supercharges creativity.

Brigid Schulte writing in The Washington Post