THINKING BIG

Every week, for the past few months, I have been able to cobble up something for this blog. It’s frivolous, I know. Yet it’s also what I can term as a succor. Thought I could write on a full-time basis but I cannot. Hence, I do it on a partime basis and have made Friday my date with the blog. It’s noteworthy to consider that I even did an online course on fundamentals of blogging and search engine optimization and marketing to ameliorate my skills but am still not yet there.

I have been doing some studies on programming and that has gobbled up a huge amount of my time. Programming is fun at first. You find it easy and enjoyable. The codes work and you start wondering why programmers are paid so much for not having to do much other than stay behind the screen scripting something that we take for granted while we are using. As I continue immersing myself in this field of solitude, I am optimistic it will eventually lead to fruition once I have mastered the skill to the core. Sounds silly, well it’s not. Somehow, the process gets protracted as you delve deeper into what you want to do. Frustrations set in and things seem not to work as you start being nerdy with codes. And there is a point where you hit a snag as it gets derailing and pesky. Anon, you furiously fold the computer and take a rest because you have had too much thinking that you will never do it again.

To be truly honest, the field of programming requires a lot of patience. I will try to be as candid as I can in trying to depict a scenario that happened. Let’s jump straight into it. I normally watch a video, read few scripts and blogs then use the knowledge to work out on some tasks and exercises that are online. I am into R programming. Men, it’s crazy. Even the patience to watch the video to the end can thin when you think you are ‘floating’ instead of ‘sinking’ the knowledge being dispensed. I guess that’s probably the reason why I dreaded the thought of programming at first.

When you write a code, you think that RStudio, the program I am using, will execute it and the syntax will turn out to be correct. Hell no. Coding platforms are very sensitive. Let me explain why, say you decided to use capital letters instead of small letters, when you run the codes, you will get an error warning. Again, if you miss something like a comma, the codes will not be submitted smoothly as you thought. So, you may be thinking, but I have written everything correctly. Yet there is an omission of a comma or you used capital letters and because most programs are case sensitive, the execution becomes naught. That is why inspecting codes is a must if you want to run them without experiencing structural problems. Plus, you need to continuously check the codes to be able to ascertain there are no errors failure of which you may built something which ends up malfunctioning at the very end of the project.

First of all, let me explain that I am a novice programmer. I am not even a junior when it comes to programming. Therefore, I really need to harness my potential in this arena on a continuum until a time when I will be fully fully conditioned to get my act right out there. In a nutshell, because I have free time, I am into binge learning. It never hurts to learn, right? Again, I am the bad programmer kind of guy. I am content with the little that I learn from the Datacamp platform I subscribe to and never go beyond the exercises to find out something that would give me an extra edge in terms of the knowledge that I have. Programming is an uphill task that requires a lot of twitches here and there. It’s like learning a new language altogether, to master it you need to practice it. Yet when I think of what I can do by programming. It makes sense to stick for a while to see if things will work out.

Programming requires a scientific mindset. It is not for every Tom, Dick and Harry. The first thing you should have is a problem to solve. That means critically thinking into what you are to do. This means you need to deconstruct the problem and then apply logic to the solution in a structured way to come up with a meaningful outcome. Then you start digging in and doing so much in terms of research to arrive at a solution. The bottom line here is that you require some intrinsic motivation like a soldier fighting for his country in a battlefield. Where, albeit crimson garish flows and cadavers litter the grounds with souls that had long departed with celestial planes to go dance with the spirits and ancestors, the oath of 'no retreat, no surrender' keeps you put.

Either way, one needs to be on top of his game with various tools that give or arrive at the same answer. My assumption is that once you are able to master one tool, you can be able to easily transfer the knowledge into another one seamlessly without much ado. Here is why. Sometimes back, I did a course on web design. Never mind that I never progressed beyond the academic knowledge that I acquired in class. All in all, I could be able to use the knowledge I had learnt in one platform and integrate it into another and it worked. While web development was my first incubation into the world of programming, it became a dodo when I joined campus. I sometimes use the knowledge on this blog occasionally.

The fact that programming is challenging makes me regard it highly. Again, as opposed to sales, the community outside there is super welcoming and you feel like you are not in it alone. It’s strange that as you plunge into this field, there are people who genuinely want to help you with the journey. Talk of sites like Quora, CodeNewbie and an avalanche of others. This is where the slogan of Liverpool fans ‘You’ll never walk alone’ comes in.

Beyond that, it’s only fascinating when the codes that you have scripted run seamlessly and you become better and better. But gain, choosing on what works is the best thing when it comes to programming. You don’t need to bog yourself with hard stuff just to prove to be the guy who can do it when you can reproduce what you were doing on a less stressful platform. The bottom line is that what counts is being able to make mincemeat out of what you are doing. Knowing how to manipulate the variables is another concept that makes it fun when you are coding. Then applying the knowledge in cracking puzzles and solving problems to arrive at a meaningful result is another thing altogether.

For instance, more than a year ago, I came up with a winning formula of how I could be able to win seven-match games with all the possible outcomes in a betting competition. Recently, I saw a ten-game jackpot that I thought can be leveraged on by using the winning formula I had conjured. Yet, the only setback I have been having is the number of people who can be able to play with the bets successfully at a very small price. The interface to use to execute the codes is what has been worrying me for quite some time now.  If only I can come up with a good user interface, it will not be a big deal to find people to subscribe to my bets. That in place I cannot be worried about finances. I will be more concerned with building up on my fortunes henceforth.

As such, I am looking at programming as a tool that can help me to unearth some of the inadequacies of my thoughts. Once I can figure out how to do it, I will comfortably use it to be able to come up with algorithms to find hidden insights without being explicitly programmed where to look to get the winning games. If machine learning can help me out in this, then I am sure things will be a smooth sail.

While creating a machine learning platform for soccer prediction may be superfluous, there is need for one that can read a team’s form before a match on its website, the players who are going to play, past performance and commentator reviews on the stakes of that match. In short, if the program can collect all this useful information and act on it, there is nothing stopping my ambition of turning into an overnight millionaire with a mobile app to quench the thirst of the many guys who love betting.

I am imagining that there are people who will also be betting. Statistics never lie because there are so many people who love betting and that is why there are so many betting platforms. The app through machine leaning will be able to work on the feedback of the people who bet on various games, say it is a jackpot. The app will then review the data and look for patterns and arrive at a conclusion on the best bets given that I already have all the possible outcomes of the games to be played. And it should be such that anyone who uses the platform to look for potential bets will have a customized predictive aspect that will be personalized for individuals who bet. And Monte Carlo simulation ensures that all the possible outcomes of your decisions are thoroughly analyzed depending upon the number of games specified. This will allow for better decision making under uncertainty.

So that is why the fire of my journey into programming has never waned. It rejuvenates like a disappearing river and can be likened to a fad. The best thing is that it gets seasonal nourishment every time I find myself idle. While at present I am into data science programming, my long-term goal is to dive into stocks and private equities. I want to be able to model winning outcomes that take into cognizance a variety of inputs into play only a financial guru can comprehend.

To top it off, this will be a treacherous journey. I am looking at it as a long haul. The only problem is that there is so much at stake. I may get a job that may make me so absorbent in it that this dream may die just like that. In the meantime, the codes I have for a winning game remain a secret gem like those that came to be used later to bring success in hitherto unexploited territory. It’s ilk the secret ingredient that makes Coca Cola tick or the one used by KFC or other big flourishing firms.

Hasta La Vista Baby

[Picture Source: Google Images]

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CREATIVE BLOG WRITING IMPETUS

Does creative blog writing change our demurred perspective on the plight of those who struggle everyday having gone through experiences in life that are mortifying or those who lavish at the altar of abundance because life bestowed such prominence?

The world is without doubt a global village. At the click of a button, you will be able to see pictures (said to be worth a thousand words), watch videos and even read on what’s trending all over the world. Amid the many pictures and videos, words aid in giving life to otherwise undecipherable sounds, motion pictures or still pictures that we see whenever we access the internet. And internet created the blogs. I will not dwell on the genesis of the blogs. But the reality is that as at now, blogs are a force to reckon with. They shape life in so many aspects we cannot fail to ignore them.

This essay will gravitate on how creative blog writing is redefining the narration of untold stories which are rarely captured by the mainstream media. Blog posting has also aided in taking writing to the next level. As such, it should be appreciated as an avenue of making would-be professional writers in the near future or those who are yet to be discovered.

Blogging is changing the way people tell stories that would have never been captured in black and white. Ideally, it's easy starting a blog, but updating it continuously is a major setback among many bloggers. It is a maelstrom that needs innate research since we are losing many writers due to lack of intrinsic motivation. However, there are a number of creative blog writers who capture us readers with fascinating stories you feel like you are part of the story as opposed to making readers feel like passengers in a bus. Their prose are ‘leavened with wit’, hold us captive and serenade us with joy or invoke grief or remorse we sometimes are forced to act just by the power of words we read.

Indeed creative blog writing has been instrumental in shaping the perspective of many people who would have otherwise not acted because of lack of information. The penetration of cheap Chinese smartphones has made it easy to access information on the internet which has also been compounded by the availability of subsidized data bundles in this age of technology. For example, in Kenya, when a blog post goes viral, many people get to know about a  tragedy facing an individual or it aids in creating awareness about stigmas which readers can react to. As such, such posts trend on the social media with engaging hash tags that capture your attention even if you never wanted to read. Therefore, creative blog writing aids in bridging the hiatus that is existential in terms of being informed since the mainstream media is limited to reported stories by journalists and the editing process kills stories that may end up not evoking reaction by the ‘audience.’

There is a case in point where a blogger  used her platform to inform her readers of the rot in society especially about the collapse of a bank that had accepted in deposits the savings of her family lineage. When the bank was liquidated and because in the financial miasma, it is the creditors whose dues are first settled, they are still waiting to be indemnified. It was real eye opener because she was among those who had to undergo the misery of having lost so much money when they had trusted in an institution to deliver.

There is also a time a very influential blogger used his platform in raising awareness on cancer. The end result was a certain cancer patient got help in terms of finances to aid in his treatment at a hospital in India. That’s killing two birds with one stone. Otherwise, no one would have known that he was bravely battling with the disease and was not going to let the growth let him succumb without using alternative avenues. Maybe, now he is benign or on the onset.

The blogosphere in Kenya is still in its nascent stages. The number of bloggers who take it seriously as a source of livelihood can be said to be insignificant. Many creative bloggers are engaging in writing as a pastime hoping that someday, they will be able to take their craft to the next level. That means getting a wider audience, being able to cash in on advertising revenue as a result of blog posting and having an influence in general on their readers. Which is beneficial because you have a rote that as a blogger should be fulfilled, failure of which, you may antagonize those who wait with abated breath for a new post. The only stumbling block to going mainstream in terms of blogging is the availability of finances for setting up a professional blog and advertising the blog. Still many people are not aware of avenues they can use to blog on the various platforms available.

However, there are instances in which some people have used such platforms as blogs to perpetuate vices in society. While such engagements may generate income to such bloggers, the net effect is that it eventually contributes to the moral rot in society. Propagation of messages that tend to incite readers negates the essence of an avenue that should be used for the betterment of society. However, we cannot live in an ideal world. Had rather we foil their efforts when they go to the extreme end.However, as long as people of various cultures and creeds congregate together, there is high likelihood of finding those who will engage in truancy for the sake of it or as a result of influence from movies or information available online.

With all due respect, blogging is here to stay. It is slowly giving the traditional media houses a run for their money. But before it takes over, let’s appreciate the little it has done in addressing the inadequacies that have been plaguing society which are sadly ceaseless.

P/S: I originally wrote this essay as a requirement for submission in a certain online class I was attending and thought it necessary to have it on my blog.

Hasta La Vista Baby.


[Picture Source: My Own] 

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