Rolandt

Ken Greenberg
Spacing Magazine

In a great display of community collaboration, five Toronto-based organizations dedicated to improving and enhancing the city’s public realm have come together to advocate for safe and viable ways for Torontonians to navigate our city on foot and by active transportation. The initiative, led by Cycle Toronto, Walk Toronto, The Bentway, Park People and Spacing, is centered around an emerging network of bike lanes, multi-use trails, parks and ActiveTO closures for recreational and commuting purposes. These “safeways” are both a critical response to the current moment and hold the key to a safe and sustainable post-Covid-19 future.

Covid-19 has shone a light on what is working and what is not, and has raised the ante. As the weather turns and restrictions begin to be lifted, Toronto is joining the dozens of cities around the world — Berlin, Bogota, New York, Paris, Oakland, Milan, Vilnius, Vancouver, Calgary, and Brampton, to name just a few — that are rapidly expanding networks of safe ways to move around the city during the pandemic, turning over hundreds of kilometers of traffic lanes and in many cases entire streets to pedestrians and cyclists.

This shift is both an answer to the practical need for new ways of moving around the city on foot and by bike to get to work and essential shopping and also a way of addressing the insatiable desire to be outdoors while respecting physical distancing. A new form of ‘Emergency Urbanism’ is revealing the promise of what could be. A slow march has become a quick step as improvised ‘pilots’ expand the realm of the possible, testing hard-wired assumptions about what works. As this happens, this response is revealing an entirely new way of using the city laced by interconnected safeways.

This response is a powerful demonstration of city resilience, providing essential choices and work-arounds in a moment of crisis but also pointing the way to adaptations that have great potential to become permanent. As we experience the change, the momentum is unlikely to be reversed. Toronto has been slow off the mark but we believe this can also be the city’s opportunity to boldly join the parade.

This ‘improvised’ shift is dramatically accelerating a movement that was already underway. Toronto is evolving into a great and densely populated city. It has a wide range of existing parks and trails including the Martin Goodman Trail across the waterfront, trails in the ravines and river valleys, and a limited number of protected on street bike lanes. What we are still missing, however, are fully interconnected city-wide networks for real transportation as well as for recreation.

To demonstrate the emerging potential of this network Cycle Toronto, Walk Toronto, The Bentway, Park People and Spacing have come together to compile and release an intuitive and accessible SafewaysTO map that is accessible at https://tinyurl.com/ydcayec2. You can also view a static map (as of June 4, 2020).

 It shows, in one place:

• Existing bike lanes

• Existing multi-use trails

• Existing parks

• Quiet streets (ActiveTO)

• Major weekend road closures (ActiveTO)

• Newly-announced cycle routes (ActiveTO) and Toronto’s adopted 10 Year Cycling Network Plan (2016)

The map — a work in progress — serves two purposes. It helps Torontonians access and use the safeways we now have.  It also sets the stage for what comes next, a new way of navigating the city as we continue to grow and complete the network not just downtown but throughout the city. The map is not about an end state but a beginning, to provide encouragement for further additions and improvements.

This SafewaysTO network of is not a frill or a non-essential “nice to have.” A generously endowed and welcoming network of public safeways provides a vital service and offers significant benefits for public health both physically and mentally. We were already in the midst of a public health crisis, exacerbated by sedentary lifestyles where an over reliance on the automobile and a tendency to spend long hours in front of screens has produced an epidemic of obesity as well as increases of diabetes and heart disease — especially alarming among children.

The Covid-19 crisis has put a premium on public spaces where people of all ages can get out and participate in active pastimes, simply walking and cycling, making these health-promoting activities part of their daily life routines. As things open up we will need safer alternative ways for cyclists and pedestrians to get to work, school or shopping. Many potential users who do not currently feel safe will be encouraged to use these expanded networks, not just during the summer months but all year around, as we see in the Nordic counties, for daily travel throughout the city as they find themselves less hemmed into narrow sidewalks and unprotected lanes by speeding traffic. This is not to replace public transit, which will remain a vital necessity, but to supplement it.

The pattern of safeways we have now is still fragmented and piecemeal, and parts of the city, particularly the inner suburbs, are not yet well served.  There is now an opportunity to build on the momentum to develop a unique made-in-Toronto solution combining both on street and off street components, our unique ravine system with trail connections, and our vast network of over 2,400 laneways, which, combined, extend for more than 250 kilometres. Our future success depends on resourcefully exploiting these arteries and veins, which can be stitched together with hydro corridors, rail lines, stormwater management systems, flood-proofing plans, and related transportation initiatives, to address many of the city’s current deficiencies.

By transforming these underutilized spaces more creatively we create opportunities to link existing and new green spaces into continuous interconnected webs. The entire city has the potential to become more park-like, green, and connected for people on foot and on bicycle. There has been a dramatic and noticeable impact on the environment. The air is cleaner, nature is more evident, and we can hear sounds of city life that were drowned out by traffic. What we are seeing and feeling intermittently with the temporary closings on Bayview and Lakeshore Boulevard, is a vivid demonstration of the 8-80 principles as children and seniors are encouraged to experience these safe spaces on their bikes.

The entire city will benefit as it becomes more connected for people of all abilities and ages on foot and on bicycle, fostering residents’ ability to move around relatively freely and experience more of the city, in ways that break down perceived barriers between neighbourhoods and districts as flows become more continuous. With time, the examples of connection that we are creating ‘on the fly’ today must become the rule.

In these glimpses of what the city could be like, the distances shrink with increased continuity for active transportation. Through a Vision Zero lens the city becomes immeasurably safer for all users. And perhaps counter-intuitively for those who need to drive, the greater the success of the SafewaysTO network, the more they benefit by freeing up space in the rights-of-way as more people use them and get out of their cars.

The partners in this initiative have come together out of a common interest in improving the ways we get around and making our city safer, more welcoming and inclusive.

• Cycle Toronto is a member-supported not-for-profit organization that works to transform our city’s cycling culture.

• Walk Toronto is a grassroots pedestrian advocacy group that works with various levels of government, community groups and citizens to improve walking conditions and safety in Toronto.

• The Bentway is a unique and innovative public space that transforms 1.75km underneath Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway into a new gathering place for our city’s growing population.

• Park People supports and mobilizes the power of parks to build strong communities, healthy environments and resilient cities.

• Spacing pushes readers to think critically about how they can shape the public spaces that surround their everyday lives.

For more details on the SafewaysTO initiative and to provide input and refinements to the mapping visit www.safewaysTO.ca. Please the hashtag #SafewaysTO when sharing the map.

The SafewaysTO map was prepared by Sean Marshall, a member of the Walk Toronto steering committee.

See original here


  

Ben Thompson @benthompson
Blogs = still the best representation of the Internet’s promise. Everyone should have a site that they own, not jus… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

***** @Cindy_Chen
Biked 60 km today so I could ride on lakeshore for #ActiveTO pic.twitter.com/28763Lgkdk

Jonathan Goldsbie @goldsbie
Police unions are very much what people who hate unions believe all unions to be.

Jennifer Hollett @jenniferhollett
Lakeshore East is full of cyclists. A fun and safe ride for all ages and levels. South American countries open th… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Cheryll Diego @Cheryll_D
Bike trails can really get busy on weekends. Glad to have these additional spaces for physical activities for the f… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

As you may remember from your visit Peter, we live on a “bicycle street” where “cars are guests”, and marked by having a reddish road deck (the color of cycle paths across the country), and their own road sign.

our street, you see the colored road deck and the sign on the right hand side

Legally they’re bicycle paths where other traffic is allowed in addition. As far as I can tell, formally that doesn’t change any of the rules (speed, right of way), and it’s first and foremost a set of visual cues for cars to behave differently.

Something like that might still work for downtown Charlottetown, despite making parking free giving the opposite signal. Making signs like that, in consultation with inhabitants and business owners could be a step still open to you, as constructive civil disobedience of sorts. It’s quite common here too for people to mark stretches of road they live on with signs about the behaviour they’d like to see from traffic (usually warning signs for kids at play etc.).

Replied to Free Parking by Peter Rukavina

Two months ago I proposed that the City of Charlottetown take steps to make the downtown, south of Grafton Street, an “active transportation first” zone: As spring arrives and we all spend more time outside, those of us who live in downtown Charlottetown are awakening to a very changed urban lan...

Some organisations (and industries) neither understand nor pay, community professionals very well.

Alas, no amount of jedi mind tricks will persuade an organisation to dramatically increase your salary for doing the same kind of work.

So, if you want to get paid more, you have three options. You can take on a more senior role within your organisation, move to a larger organisation, or move to an industry that pays community professionals more.

A rapidly growing startup is one option. More senior community roles are likely to evolve over time and you would find yourself well-positioned to move into them.

Moving to a larger company within your sector is another. They’re likely to have more resources and a bigger budget to support more customers.

Or move to a sector that already understands and pays the community well (usually technology).

Came across this interview with N.K. Jemisin about her new book ‘The City We Became’, set in NYC. I had very much enjoyed her Broken Earth trilogy, so I’m curious to read her new book.

Mind controlling other-wordly entities are the rudest of tourists

You don’t say.

While I was at it, I found some other work by Jemisin I wasn’t aware of yet as well, and bought that too to read (Killing Moon and Shadowed Sun, Emergency Skin, and How Long ’til Black Future Month?)

I clicked on that blue button on the bottom left of that screenshot. Nothing happened. I did not get any kind of confirmation. What is supposed to happen – according to Facebook is “Enter your password, click Continue and then click Delete Account.” but I didn’t get to that page where I can do that.

This blog started to get neglected as Twitter and Facebook began to get much more attention. But I increasingly got more concerned about the direction that Facebook was taking. Not the people I was following or the ones who followed me (and those were easy enough to quietly ignore when necessary). More disconcerting was the attitude of Mark Zuckerberg as described in this Mother Jones article.

I did contact Facebook help and, of course, I didn’t get any.

So I have now removed the Social Media widgets from the right hand column, and I have also deleted Facebook, Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) and Messenger from all my devices. When you are on a “service” which is “free”, you are the product. So simply saying you are not going to patronize the advertisers doesn’t actually change anything. Facebook still gets revenue for serving you the ad. Only by leaving Facebook can you change anything – but the first thing is that you will not any longer be going down that rabbit hole. If you miss the people you used to enjoy seeing posts from, there are other ways that you can contact them. And all the rest was fluff anyway.

UPDATE June 16

I am pleased to report that I have found a solution. I had installed a Facebook app called “Fluff Busting Purity” which ran as an extension on Chrome. Simply removing that enabled me to get to the account deletion. But then I discovered that the password – as recorded by Chrome – did not work. So I changed the password then deleted. I now have 30 days before the account finally disappears.

mkalus shared this story from DmitryOpines on Twitter.

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mkalus shared this story from moodvintage on Twitter.

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Uber Canada has received a licence to operate in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is now looking for drivers in order to launch its service this summer.

“With our City of Winnipeg license in hand, we’re one step away from launching in Winnipeg this summer!” the company wrote on Twitter.

With our @CityofWinnipeg license in hand, we’re one step away from launching in #Winnipeg this summer!

We’re now signing up drivers! Create your account to drive with Uber → https://t.co/pfe0JGi18y.

— Uber Canada (@Uber_Canada) June 8, 2020

The company planned its entrance into the city for months and has finally received a dispatcher license, and expects to launch within weeks.

Uber has been continuously expanding its operations in Canada, as it launched in Vancouver earlier this year. It’ll be interesting to see if its launch in Winnipeg amid the COVID-19 pandemic will be different since ridership has likely significantly dropped.

On May 18th, Uber implemented mandatory precautionary measures for both riders and drivers. One of the main new measures requires both drivers and riders to wear a face cover or mask.

Riders will only be able to request a ride on the app if they have confirmed that they are wearing a mask. Similarly, drivers can only go online once they have indicated they are wearing a mask.

Uber now requires drivers to take a picture of themselves to verify that they are wearing a mask. This will be done through the app’s AI system, which will be able to detect whether they are wearing one.

Riders are also now asked to sit in the back of the driver’s vehicle and open a window for ventilation if possible. Uber has also reduced the number of passengers for its “UberX” option from four riders to three.

Source: Uber Canada

The post Uber receives licence to operate in Winnipeg, planning summer launch appeared first on MobileSyrup.

About 55 percent of Canadians support making contact tracing apps mandatory when using public services like public transit.

A new survey conducted by Ryerson University asked Canadians to what extent they would support organizations making it mandatory to download a contact tracing app.

“Majorities of Canadians supported making contact tracing apps mandatory for the use of public services, like public transit (55 percent) and in workplaces (51 percent), though in both cases only one in four Canadians strongly supported such an approach,” the report reads.

Further, 46 percent of respondents believe that retail or grocery stores should make it mandatory to download the app. There is strong opposition for landlords of condominiums making contact tracing apps mandatory, as only 30 percent of respondents supported this idea.

“Requiring access to a mobile device for mobility, employment, education, services or housing has high potential to reinforce and exacerbate existing inequalities,” the report states.

The researchers outline that the Canadian government should ensure that any potential contact tracing app mitigates risks by only using Bluetooth technology and not location data. It’s also important to use a decentralized approach by keeping contact data on Canadians’ individual devices.

Governments and institutions should only be collecting, storing and using data that is necessary, and should delete data after 30 days. The reports suggests that the app should also be deleted after the pandemic is contained.

Further, the researchers note it is important that the app is only used on a voluntary basis, and legislation should be passed to ensure that no public or private entities can make the app mandatory to access goods, services, employment or housing.

Ryerson University conducted this report by surveying 2,000 Canadians in mid-May.

Image credit: Ryerson Cybersecure Policy Exchange

Source: Ryerson Cybersecure Policy Exchange

The post Majority of Canadians support mandatory use of contact tracing apps for public services: survey appeared first on MobileSyrup.

"By 2017, American companies had put at least $2.6 trillion into offshore tax shelters...Nike had $12.2 billion.... The company estimates that if its $12.2 billion was repatriated to the U.S., it would owe $4.1 billion in U.S. taxes... Designating its profits this way allows the company to avoid paying even a dime of U.S. income taxes on these profits..." - The Oregonian. More about this in a minute.

The horrible murder of George Floyd was treated by the marketing industry this week as an opportunity to express sincere desire for change. Sadly, it also exposed our talent for hypocrisy.

While brand marketers were exhorting us to end practices that cause social damage to black Americans, they were themselves deeply engaged in some of the most pernicious practices.

I have my own standard for evaluating a company's true commitment to social justice. It is this: to what extremes does it go to avoid paying taxes?

Taxation may be unpleasant. Tax dollars are often squandered on idiotic schemes. Paying taxes may reduce a corporation's returns to investors. But taxation is by far the most potent source of resources for societies to redress social ills. Taxation funds education. Taxation funds housing. Taxation funds health initiatives. Taxation funds social services.

There is no way around this -- when corporations take extraordinary measures to avoid paying taxes, they are doing extraordinary harm to citizens who have the greatest need for education, housing, health, and social services. If brands really believe that Black Lives Matter they must stop starving our country of the resources to improve black lives by hiding their taxable profits in offshore tax havens. Like it or not, to a substantial degree, taxation is the engine that funds social justice.

There will be those who say that these tax dodges are perfectly legal. In many cases they are. This fact impresses me not one bit. If you're going to use social media or paid media to pound your chest about social justice, you have a higher responsibility than just to obey the letter of the law. There is little honor in being legally compliant and ethically opportunistic.

Dear business colleagues -- if you really want to help heal this country here's step one: Pay your fucking taxes. Until you're willing to do that, please instruct your marketing departments to spare us the high-minded pieties.

Let's make this so simple that even a ceo can understand it: You can't be for social justice and against paying taxes.

Innovations spanning food supplies, medical records and PPE manufacture were today included in the final three awards made by Mozilla from its COVID-19 Solutions Fund. The Fund was established at the end of March by the Mozilla Open Source Support Program (MOSS), to offer up to $50,000 each to open source technology projects responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. In just two months, the Fund received 163 applicants from 30 countries and is now closed to new applications.

OpenMRS is a robust, scalable, user-driven, open source electronic medical record system platform currently used to manage more than 12.6 million patients at over 5,500 health facilities in 64 countries. Using Kenya as a primary use case, their COVID-19 Response project will coordinate work on OpenMRS COVID-19 solutions emerging from their community, particularly “pop-up” hospitals, into a COVID-19 package for immediate use.

This package will be built for eventual re-use as a foundation for a suite of tools that will become the OpenMRS Public Health Response distribution. Science-based data collection tools, reports, and data exchange interfaces with other key systems in the public health sector will provide critical information needed to contain disease outbreaks. The committee approved an award of $49,754.

Open Food Network offers an open source platform enabling new, ethical supply chains. Food producers can sell online directly to consumers and wholesalers can manage buying groups and supply produce through networks of food hubs and shops. Communities can bring together producers to create a virtual farmers’ market, building a resilient local food economy.

At a time when supply chains are being disrupted around the world — resulting in both food waste and shortages — they’re helping to get food to people in need. Globally, the Open Food Network is currently deployed in India, Brazil, Italy, South Africa, Australia, the UK, the US and five other countries. They plan to use their award to extend to ten other countries, build tools to allow vendors to better control inventory, and scale up their support infrastructure as they continue international expansion. The Committee approved a $45,210 award.

Careables Casa Criatura Olinda in northeast Brazil is producing face shields for local hospitals based on an open source design. With their award, they plan to increase their production of face shields as well as to start producing aerosol boxes using an open source design, developed in partnership with local healthcare professionals.

Outside of North American ICUs, many hospitals cannot maintain only one patient per room, protected by physical walls and doors. In such cases, aerosol boxes are critical to prevent the spread of the virus from patient to patient and patient to physician. Yet even the Brazilian city of Recife (population: 1.56 million), has only three aerosol boxes. The Committee has approved a $25,000 award and authorized up to an additional $5,000 to help the organization spread the word about their aerosol box design.

“Healthcare has for too long been assumed to be too high risk for open source development. These awards highlight how critical open source technologies are to helping communities around the world to cope with the pandemic,” said Jochai Ben-Avie, Head of International Public Policy and Administrator of the Program at Mozilla. “We are indebted to the talented global community of open source developers who have found such vital ways to put our support to good use.”

Information on the first three recipients from the Fund can be found here.

The post Mozilla Announces Second Three COVID-19 Solutions Fund Recipients appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Some Chromium developers have decided to push towards Google’s goal of ‘racially neutral’ code.

As spotted by 9to5Google, a new code change submitted to the Chromium Gerrit — an online collaboration tool for sharing, reviewing and merging code into the open-source codebase of Chromium — seeks to safely replace every instance of the word ‘blacklist’ without breaking the browser.

The move comes as people around the world continue to protest in support of Black Lives Matter. However, the roots of Chrome’s racially neutral code goal go further back. In October 2019, the Chromium open source project introduced guidance in its official code style guide on how to write racially neutral code. For example, it urges developers to avoid terms like ‘blacklist’ and ‘whitelist’ in favour of neutral terms like ‘blocklist’ and ‘allowlist.’ Below is an excerpt from the guide about racially neutral code:

“Terms such as “blacklist” and “whitelist” reinforce the notion that black==bad and white==good. That Word Black, by Langston Hughes illustrates this problem in a lighthearted, if somewhat pointed way.

“These terms can usually be replaced by “blocklist” and “allowlist” without changing their meanings, but particular instances may need other replacements.”

Further, 9to5 notes that Google began swapping out ‘blacklist’ for ‘blocklist’ as far back as May 2018. While consumer-facing instances have largely changed over, several internal code sections continue to use the terminology, such as one section called ‘components/blacklist.’

The new code change seeking to change everything from ‘blacklist’ to ‘blocklist’ even tackles that section, which should be called ‘components/blocklist’ going forward. In total, the change address over 2,000 references to the word ‘blacklist’ in the Chromium code.

Although there is likely still much work to be done, it’s encouraging to see people taking action to combat racism in whatever ways they can, big or small. Changing several terms in code that most of us will never actually see may not seem like a big deal, but considering how many browsers operate off of Chromium code, the change is actually quite far-reaching.

Source: Chromium Gerrit Via: 9to5Google

The post Chromium devs working to make Chrome’s code racially neutral appeared first on MobileSyrup.

Well it happened. The pandemic meant that there was  a use for remote controlled vehicles that could deliver groceries. But surprisingly citizens have responded with their own resilience of using online services, having grocery delivery, or preordering groceries and having them waiting curbside for pickup at the store.

Canadians have been slow to become accustomed to  online ordering, but Canada Post has been experiencing parcel deliveries of up to 1.8 million parcels a day, similar to Christmas rush levels. Consumers who have never made an online purchase make up 78 percent of customer volume with Shopify merchants, as outlined in this CBC story by Diane Buckner.

But back to those autonomous vehicles. The shuttering of the economy for the pandemic has meant  several of the factories that promised things like  a “fleet of self-driving taxis” by 2020  (General Motors) and  “one  million autonomous robotaxis” on the road by the end of  the year” (Tesla) have had to reframe those predictions.

As Bloomberg.com reports Waymo, a Google company is the company doing well with autonomous vehicles and is the development leader. it is also the only “fully driverless vehicle”  taking passengers.

I have written before how autonomous vehicles were to be the  shiny new  pennies pledging to undertake all the  pesky logistics of driving. But as reported earlier in  The Verge.com the most important aspect for any vehicle on the road is the ability to recognize and avoid vulnerable road users. You know, those pedestrians, cyclists and other wheelers that are using the street without the protection of a vehicular steel shell.

And we are not there yet.  These vehicles have challenges in “so-called edge cases”. That includes weather,  and “when someone else on the road—be it a driver, cyclist or electric scooter pilot—does something unexpected, as humans often do. The halting nature of development has delivered a large dose of humility to the world’s whip-smart mobility experts, who are showing an increased willingness to form posses and work together”.

There are “islands of autonomy” where groceries are delivered by driverless pods, and where seniors can zip around a gated retirement community.

But the investment of $14 billion US dollars has still not produced a truly autonomous vehicle.

While the field of factories will narrow, the use will broaden with online “grocery to gourmet” expansion. One analyst estimated that the use of self driving vehicles for grocery delivery would cut in half conventional trucking freight costs.

Those are the statistics that drive consolidation and working together in the autonomous vehicle field, pandemic or not.

Images: Curbed.com & theHustle

In my last post I went over how to use Cesil to deserialize to known, static, types. Since version 4.0, C# has also had a notion of dynamic types – ones whose bindings, members, and conversions are all resolved at runtime – and Cesil also supports deserializing into these.

In 2020, supporting dynamic isn’t exactly a given – dynamic is relatively rare in the .NET ecosystem, the big “Iron” use cases in 2015 (dynamic languages running on .NET) are all dead as far as I can tell, and the static-vs-dynamic-typing pendulum has been swinging back towards static with the increasing popularity of languages like Go, Rust, and TypeScript (even Python supports type annotations these days). All that said, I still believe there are niches in C# well served by dynamic – “quick and dirty” data loading without declaring types, and loading heterogeneous data. These are both niches Cesil aims to support well, and therefore dynamic support is a first-class feature.

Part of being a first-class feature means that all the flexibility and ease of use from static types is also present when working with dynamic. There aren’t any new types or interfaces, just use Configuration.ForDynamic() instead of Configuration.For<TRow>(), Options.DynamicDefault (which assumes a header row is present) instead of Options.Default (which will detect if a header row is present or not, which isn’t possible with unknown types), and the EnumerateDynamicXXX() methods on CesilUtils. The same readers with the same methods are all available, only now instead of some concrete T you’ll get a dynamic back. And, while dynamic operation does impose additional overhead, Cesil still aims for dynamic operations to be reasonably performant – within a factor of 3 or so of their static equivalent.

Regardless of the Options used, the dynamic rows returned by Cesil always support:

• Casting to IDisposable
• Calling the Dispose() method
• Get accessor with an int (ie. someRow[0]), which returns a dynamic cell
  • This will throw if the int is out of bounds
• Get accessor with a column name (ie. someRow[“someColumn”]), which returns a dynamic cell
  • If there was no header row present when reading (or if the column name is not found), this will throw
• Get accessor with an Index (ie. someRow[^1]), which returns a dynamic cell
  • This will throw if the Index is out of bounds
• Get accessor with a Range (ie. someRow[1..2]), which returns a dynamic row
  • This will throw if the Range is out of bounds
• Get accessor with a ColumnIdentifier (ie. someRow[ColumnIdentifier.Create(3)]), which returns a dynamic cell
  • If the ColumnIdentifier has a Name, and a header row is present, this will throw if Name is not found.
  • If the ColumnIdentifier does not have a Name, or a header row is not present, this will throw if it’s Index is out of bounds

Likewise, regardless of the Options used, dynamic cells (obtained by indexing a dynamic row per above) always support casting to IConvertible. IConvertible is a temperamental interface, so Cesil’s implementation is limited – it doesn’t support non-null IFormatProviders, and makes a very coarse attempt at determining TypeCode. Basically, Cesil does just enough for the various methods on Convert to work “as you’d expect” for dynamic cells.

Just like with static deserialization, the ITypeDescriber on the Options used to create the IBoundConfiguration<TRow> controls how values are mapped to types. The differences are that dynamic conversions are discovered each time they occur (versus once, for static types) and conversion decisions are deferred until a cast (versus happening during reading, for static types). Dynamic deserialization does not allow custom InstanceProviders (as the dynamic backing infrastructure is provided directly by Cesil) – however the XXXWithReuse() methods on I(Async)Reader<TRow> still allow for some control over allocations.

Customization of dynamic conversions can be done with the DynamicRowConverter type (for rows) and the ITypeDescriber.GetDynamicCellParserFor() method (for cells). I’ll dig further into these capabilities in a later post. Out of the box, the DefaultTypeDescriber (used by Options.DynamicDefault) implements the conversions you would expect.

Namely, for dynamic rows Cesil’s defaults allow conversion to:

• Object
• Tuples
  • Rows with more than 7 columns can be mapped to nested Tuples using TRest generic parameter
• ValueTuples, including those with a TRest parameter
  • Rows with more than 7 columns can be mapped to nested ValueTuples using TRest generic parameter
• IEnumerable<T>
  • Each cell is lazily converted to T
• IEnumerable
  • Each cell becomes an object, with no conversion occurring
• Any type with a constructor taking the same number of parameters as the row has columns
  • Each cell is converted to the expected parameter type
• Any type with a constructor taking zero parameter, provided the row has column names
  • Any properties (public or private, static or instance) whose name matches a column name will be set to the column’s value

If no conversion is possible, Cesil will raise an exception. If a conversion is chosen that requires converting cells to static values, those conversions may also fail and raise exceptions.

For dynamic cells, Cesil’s defaults allow conversion to:

• Any type that has a public constructor which takes a single ReadOnlySpan<char> parameter
• Any type that has a public constructor which takes a ReadOnlySpan<char> parameter, and an in ReadContext parameter
• Any type that has a default Parser

As with rows, finding no conversion or having a conversion fail will cause Cesil to raise an exception.

And that covers the why and what of dynamic deserialization in Cesil. This post leaves me with two Open Questions:

1. Are there any useful dynamic operations around reading that are missing from Cesil?
2. Do the conversions provided by the DefaultTypeDescriber for dynamic rows and cells cover all common use cases?

As before, I’ve opened two issues to gather long form responses.  Remember that, as part of the sustainable open source experiment I detailed in the first post of this series, any commentary from a Tier 2 GitHub Sponsor will be addressed in a future comment or post. Feedback from non-sponsors will receive equal consideration, but may not be directly addressed.

Next time I’ll dive into the write operations Cesil supports, starting with static types.

Brave, a privacy-focussed, crypto-friendly and Chromium-based web browser, has come under fire for earning affiliate commissions by redirecting certain search queries through affiliate links.

Twitter user Yannick Eckl (@cryptonator1337) spotted the issue first, noting that typing ‘binance.us’ into the Brave address bar redirected to ‘binance.us/en?ref=35089877.’ Dimitar Dinev, the managing director of JRR Crypto, uncovered other redirect links by digging into Brave’s open-source code, including redirects to Ledger, Trezor and Coinbase. Over the weekend, the issue blew up on Twitter.

So when you are using the @brave browser and type in "binance[.]us" you end up getting redirected to "binance[.]us/en?ref=35089877" – I see what you did there mates

— Cryptonator1337 (@cryptonator1337) June 6, 2020

Although users still end up on the above websites, Brave redirects them through the affiliate links, which the browser then profits from. While many publications use affiliate links — including MobileSyrup — many websites also do so with transparency and notify users when they use affiliate links.

Not only did Brave not warn users, but it went against its own “opt-in” principles. One of Brave’s biggest claims is that it lets users opt-in to things like advertisements. Those who do opt-in get cryptocurrency payouts for viewing ads. However, Brave didn’t warn users about the affiliate links or allow them to opt-out of the practice.

Brave’s CEO called the links a ‘mistake’

Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave, took to Twitter to issue an apology for the “mistake” and said it has been fixed. Eich also promised Brave will “never revise typed in domains again.”

However, Eich also tweeted a defence of the browser, noting that Brave was “trying to build a viable business.” Brave currently makes money by offering users privacy-focussed ads. Along with that, Eich said that Brave seeks affiliate revenue, such as bringing users to cryptocurrency exchanges through widgets.

1/ We made a mistake, we're correcting: Brave default autocompletes verbatim "https://t.co/hJd0ePInEw" in address bar to add an affiliate code. We are a Binance affiliate, we refer users via the opt-in trading widget on the new tab page, but autocomplete should not add any code.

— BrendanEich (@BrendanEich) June 6, 2020

Eich goes on to say that the redirects didn’t reveal any user data to affiliates. As for the Binance link, Eich said the code identifies Brave, not users. Regardless, Brave will remove the redirect. Finally, Eich argued that none of this was hidden from users and has been viewable in the browser’s source code for months.

Despite the apology and defence, critics argued Eich apologized only because he got caught. Further, others believe that Brave had compromised its integrity with the affiliate links.

Eich told Decrypt that Brave’s survival doesn’t depend on any affiliate revenue share.

Source: Decrypt

The post Brave browser apologizes for automatically redirecting users through affiliate links appeared first on MobileSyrup.

My default winter helmet has been a Torch T2 for almost five years now. Before that, I had a T1, which was the original kickstarter version of the helmet. The thing that is really nice about the helmet is that it has built in lights for those dark commutes.

However, the original LA based company that sold these seems to be gone, and their domain name has been taken over by what I assume was their original european distributor. My own T2 is close to being retired, since the battery life isn’t what it was, and the switch on the red lights to the rear is getting a little flaky. Not that this is a complaint; this helmet has seen four years of hard use. I’m told that you’re supposed to retire a bike helmet after several years anyway.

In the meantime, several other companies have come out with helmets featuring integrated lights. One of the most prominent has been LUMOS, and I’ve seen quite a few of these around town.

Now LUMOS is in the process of kickstarting with a newer design, and it looks pretty good. Notably, it comes in a range of sizes and colours, and it is their cheapest model yet.

Given that the projected weight for this helmet (370g) is only slightly more than my T2, it probably has much more efficient LEDs, it looks like it has a more secure fitting system, and that it is available with MIPS, I’ve gone ahead and backed the project. The project is already oversubscribed, and the deadline is still not until July 19.

The anticipated delivery date is November 2020. Of course, kickstarter projects can be delayed. My previous kickstarted helmet was several years late. I’m just hoping that since LUMOS has been in the business of making helmets for years now, that I’ll get the helmet in time for the bulk of winter. (I’m hoping that biking to work in the winter will actually be an issue, but that is another story).

This is a work of fiction. Really. 

chart by LA Johnson for NPR

“You don’t want to have this discussion.”

“Yes I do. I want to understand why you aren’t joining the protest today.”

“I’ve told you. I don’t believe the system can be reformed. What you’re protesting is just a well-embedded part of a large self-perpetuating system that hasn’t worked since it began centuries ago, and is now in the final stages of collapse.”

“What system?”

“Civilization. Industrial Capitalism. The Modern Human Enterprise. Whatever you want to call it.”

“This is about a particularly odious part of that system. A part that kills people.”

“Lots of parts of the system kill people. Industrial agriculture and medicine. Air, water and soil pollution. The entire military complex. It’s inherently competitive, zero-sum, violent, destructive, ignorant of externalities, and has accelerated the sixth great extinction of life on the planet. Including human life. And it’s all discriminatory. Whether you live or die in this system, and how pleasant or painful that life is, depends almost entirely on the cards you’re dealt when you’re born. The system kills people, unequally.”

“You’re the one who says there is no system. You said it’s just a concept made up to try to make sense of things.”

“It’s the collective behaviour of eight billion people each desperately struggling to survive and to do the best they can for themselves and the ones they love. System is just a name for that. The collective result of all those behaviours is chaotic, unintended and uncontrolled. It’s utterly unfair. It’s racist, sexist, nationalist, ageist, and discriminates violently against the poor and unemployed, who are blamed for being lazy, and the sick, who are blamed for not taking care of themselves and for eating badly. Eight billion people looking for someone or some groups to single out to blame for our ghastly global human collective failure. It’s all collapsing, thankfully. But I’m afraid it’s going to get a lot more challenging as it does, and as the blame game accelerates. I’m kind of sorry you have to live through it. When you were born, your mother and I both believed things could be turned around. We were mistaken.”

“Mom’s coming with me. Why don’t you come? You might learn something.”

“I’m sure I would. Or will. I’ll come if you want, but if I do it’s because I’m worried about your safety, not because I think it will accomplish anything.”

“How can you be so sure? You used to be a protester. You stopped some pipelines and dams from being built. You ended a war. Maybe we can prevent some people being killed.”

“We delayed the pipelines and dams; we didn’t stop them. And the war was ending anyway; nobody wanted it to go on. You might cause enough people to pause, for a little while, and maybe save some lives. But then it will resume. New warmongers have been and will be elected and new wars launched. You can get attention and affect short-term behaviour for a while. Occupy did, for a while. The many antiwar protests have worked, for a while. #MeToo got people’s attention, for a while. Climate marches got prime ministers to declare emergencies and join in, for a while. But once the placards are laid down and the media goes away, everything resumes. You can’t change the trajectory of eight billion people. We will do what we will do, including killing people, including protesting, including destroying the planet we depend on for our lives.”

“How can you be such a defeatist, and at the same time be so equanimous most of the time? You get upset by the news — I can see it in your face, in your whole body. How can you be at peace just letting it all happen?”

“Not at peace. Resigned. I know how blessed I am, how much worse most people have it, through no fault of their own.”

“So come out and demand that something be done to allow those who are particularly oppressed to have it better, to at least live without fear of being killed.”

“Demand it of whom? You think someone is actually in control of all this, that some group can pass some laws or introduce some new regulatory group that is going to substantially change anything? The whole system is collapsing; every part of it is in crisis, and even when you can get people to stop and focus on any particular set of outrages, you’ll get about 10 seconds of their time, they’ll sympathize, most of them, and then they’ll get on with their lives and it’ll all be forgotten. We’re all doing our best to cope with a civilization in free fall collapse, even those that’re in denial of that fact.”

“So you’re saying it’s OK for racist cops to kill with impunity.”

“Nothing’s OK. Police forces can be riddled with traumatized, mentally ill people who signed up because they felt angry and helpless at the world and wanted some feeling of power. So can the military. So can the C-Suites of corporations. So can governments. Train any group that it’s us-against-them and teach them to cover for each other no matter what, and give them authority and arms, and this will be the result. Those who believe crime is rife, that everything is black and white, that life is like violent Hollywood crime movies, that everyone’s a potential bad guy, that what’s needed is more exercise of authority, shock & awe, are going to self-select into these professions. On top of that they limited training in peacemaking, and a lot of them probably don’t think that’s part of their job. And then we dump them out into the streets and expect them to deal with all the shit that stems from grinding chronic poverty, boiling-over anger, addiction, physical and mental illness, rage, fear, grief, despair and hopelessness. No one can do that job, especially not cops. That’s not an excuse for targeted violence of any kind; it’s not at all OK, but it’s a symptom of a system that’s made everyone ill, and which is falling apart, leaving everyone desperate and on edge as a result.”

“So because you conveniently think it’s hopeless, you think it’s fine to do nothing, to just let atrocities happen.”

“I’m not a humanist like your mother. We’ve been through this discussion; you’ve read John Gray so you know what I think of humanism — It’s idealistic and delusional. Humanists are just the latest flavour of salvationists, and there is no salvation, and never has been. There is no progress, not in the larger scheme of things. So by all means be an Activist — say, with your eyes wide open, that it’s hopeless but you have to do something anyway, that even if it only improves things on a tiny local scale for a very short time it’s worth it to you. I respect that. Or be a Chronicler — hold a mirror to the world to show just how awful the system is, so even if the system can’t be reformed we can at least do less to prop it up, and let it collapse a little faster. I respect that. And I will love you even if you’re a humanist or a technotopian or any other flavour of Salvationist, though I will work hard to disillusion you.”

“I’m going now. I’m not under any illusions. And I have to do this.”

“I know. Please be careful. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Hah! Yeah right, says the hippie anarchist radical. Mom told me what you did when you were younger.”

“Hey, before you go: I made you a placard.”

“Nobody calls them placards any more Dad. If they ever did. Wow. List of Black Americans killed by police in the past decade. But do you think it’s appropriate for me to carry such a sign, or any sign for that matter?”

“That depends on why you’re going. If you’re going out of a feeling of shame or righteous indignation, probably not. If you’re going in solidarity, or to bear witness to what is happening, I would think it’s probably OK. Ask your Black friends. And if they think it’s inappropriate for you to carry it, offer it to them.”

“So does that make me an Activist, a Chronicler, or a Salvationist?”

“When we marched for #metoo, and for Fridays for Future, what were you then?”

“Hmm. All of them, I guess. Do I have to choose?”

“You don’t even have a choice.”

“Hey — what are you doing?”

“Coming with you. I don’t have a choice either. You have your mask?”

“Of course.”

When you read about the protests about race and policing, you are sure to encounter the phrase “systemic racism.” Why that word “systemic?” Why not “systematic,” which, at one time, was a much more common word? What is the difference between “systematic” and “systemic?” I don’t even recall hearing the word “systemic” until about 15 … Continued

The post Systemic vs. systematic (for example, “systemic racism”) appeared first on without bullshit.

mkalus shared this story from AliceAvizandum on Twitter.

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What if the worst should happen, and some unauthorized party were to compromise Signal? We don’t have to speak hypothetically, because the US government already tried this, so we can examine what that looked like. In 2016, the US government obtained access to Signal user data through a grand jury subpoena from the Eastern District of Virginia. However, there wasn’t (and still isn’t) really anything to obtain. At the time, we worked with the ACLU to fight the gag order that was intended to prevent us from publishing this information, so you can see the full subpoena and response here.

The only Signal user data we have, and the only data the US government obtained as a result, was the date of account creation and the date of last use – not user messages, groups, contacts, profile information, or anything else.

Good enough for me. Probably good enough for you.

More >

Signal stands apart, both for its rich features and the fact that its code has been open source for years, meaning cryptographers have had plenty of opportunities to poke and prod it for flaws.

WIRED has long encouraged readers to use Signal. Here, we’re offering tips on how to get the most out of it once you do.

More >

A good cutting board is a workhorse in any kitchen. Above all, it should be large, providing ample space for carving or chopping, and relatively easy to care for.

We recommend the OXO Good Grips Carving and Cutting Board for those who want a plastic board, and the Teakhaus Edge Grain Professional Carving Board with Juice Canal (15″ by 20″) for those who want a wooden one. Both boards feel good under a knife, and they stood up to many sharp cuts, dark stains, and strong odors better than the competition. Plus, after years of long-term testing, neither board has split or egregiously warped from misuse.

If you ever want to raise a Vancouverite’s ire, just say that you are going to impede seniors and stop them from driving or from being driven around Stanley Park. Last week Gordon Price wrote this article on “The Latest NPA Strategy” which appears to directly pit active transportation on Stanley Park roads against the right to motor around it. Mix in the word “seniors” and everyone had a Grandparent story about why Grandma needed a car in Stanley Park.

Lots more comment immediately came out of the woodwork after the rather unfortunate remarks of a park commissioner who sadly saw the greatest gift to seniors for the upcoming “BC Seniors Week” as the old style 20th century access to complete “open vehicular road” around the park.

Of course that sparked a whole lot of pretty fit seniors to get onto social media showing themselves biking and walking around the park.

 

The businesses in Stanley Park also piled on, telling the Daily Hive that the Prospect Point Cafe and restaurant and Stanley Park Pavilion relied on vehicular access. Their survey showed that 87 percent of customers to Prospect Point came by vehicle and surprise! 100 percent of special event guests used a car or a privately operated shuttle bus.

But here’s the strange part. The restaurants’ survey showed that only 33 percent of Prospect Point’s visitors were Vancouverites, with 53 percent from out of the country and 14 percent from the rest of the region. Given the fact the borders are closed, here’s the opportunity for Stanley Park businesses to retool for local trade and customers, as that’s the only dollar game in town for the foreseeable future. Studies from London show that  public transit users,cyclists and pedestrians spend  40% more per month at businesses  than car drivers, and visit  more often.

As well no one  is talking about what seniors and those with accessibility needs do in the park, where they stop, and what activities they are seeking. There’s an underlying idea that driving around the park is recreation, but it would be helpful to ask whether trail or seawall access  or other factors are at play, and design for that.

At the next Park Board Commission meeting is simply a motion to conduct a feasibility study for  a longer term plan to potentially reduce vehicular traffic around the park to one lane, allowing for cycling and other uses of the space. It’s a feasibility study. Commissioners need to accurately reflect to their constituents what is in their agenda package.

You can take a look at the whole motion below and also take a look at the agenda for the Park Board tonight.

The other takeaway of course is the fact that the Park Board is a remnant of a colonial past where parks warranted their own elected officials with their own exclusive staff. Think of it~there is a whole set of planners, architects, maintenance workers and staff that do no work other than within parks, report directly to Council, and have an annual budget of 136 million dollars.

The City of Vancouver’s Park Board is now the only one remaining in North America, and a study over a  decade ago suggested abolishing it, and melding that work  within the City of Vancouver as a whole.

That’s why you don’t see bicycle paths through parks as the Park Board can say no to such suggestions from the Engineering Department on their turf. On the upside, some see the position of Park Board commissioner as a  training ground for future City Councillors.

You can take a look at the Vancouver Charter which outlines how the Park Board  functions and what its mandate is. Hopefully the commissioners will understand the importance of refocusing the ability to get around the park in more of a 21st century way, in line with city policy. If you are a world class park it makes sense to encourage more space for walkers and cyclists, while still providing access for those who still rely on vehicular use.

It’s not one or the other.

 

 

 

 

From Michael Alexander:

What an be accomplished when Council gives the go-ahead.

On Marinaside Crescent, alongside the Seawall, from start of construction to serving food and drinks took 24 hours.

	mkalus shared this story :
	"Privately operated businesses within the park employ approximately 1,000 people” I’d really like to know how they came up with the number.

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