Category: Network

Jul 23

12 Questions with Mat Fraser: Coaching Mal O’Brien, Programming, Family Future and His Training Regime in Retirement

Photo Credit: CanWest Games

The Morning Chalk Up had the chance to catch up with the five-time CrossFit Games champion Mat Fraser at last weekend’s CanWest Games just outside of Vancouver, BC, a three-day event with 725 competitors that Fraser and his company HWPO programmed.

What was programming a three-day event for the first time like for you, and are you happy with how it went?

Fraser: “It’s such a process. It’s a lot more involved than I expected, because it’s not just, ‘Alright, here are the tests that we want.’ It’s what equipment is available. What stages are available. How many competitors? How is it scalable?”

“Everything came out perfectly. It was so much fun. The amount of positive feedback we have been getting from the athletes has been very encouraging.”

Are you planning on getting involved programming more competitions in the CrossFit space in the future (he’s also doing September’s Madrid Championships in Spain)

Fraser: “Yeah, that’s the goal. So this one was the test run.”

In a recent interview with USA Today, you said you were very selective with who you choose to work with. Why did you choose Mall O’Brien to work with?

Fraser: “I’m glad you brought this up. Who is not selective with who they spend their time with? You’re spending eight hours a day with someone. Are you just letting anyone into your house, anyone into your door? That quote got taken very out of context and I received some tongue lashings from it, and it was pretty shocking to me how people responded to it, because in my mind it’s not just an athlete’s potential. We work with several athletes, and if I’m spending this amount of time with somebody I want to make sure we get along, (that) we enjoy each other’s company, but then also I want to make sure that the athlete’s dedicated and willing to put in the time and effort, not just in the gym but doing the right things outside of the gym.”

This content is available exclusively to Members

Become an member and start enjoying full access to all our community and sports content, and an ad-free experience.


PROMO

  • Exclusive content
  • Ad-Free web/app experience
  • Comments on articles
  • Access to the mobile app
  • Exclusive 15% WIT discount
  • $1 per month for the first 4 months, $8 each month after

  • Exclusive content
  • Ad-Free web/app experience
  • Comments on articles
  • Access to the mobile app
  • Exclusive private Facebook Group
  • Regular coffee breaks hang out
  • Exclusive 15% WIT discount

Already a member? Log In.

Get the Newsletter

For a daily digest of all things CrossFit. Community, Competitions, Athletes, Tips, Recipes, Deals and more.

… Read More
Jul 21

WJZR’s Jazz Programming Comes To An End

North Coast Radio 105.9 WJZR Rochester

Lee Rust’s North Coast Radio Inc. signed off Jazz “North Coast 105.9” WJZR Rochester NY on Sunday evening.

As first reported by Northeast Radio Watch, the station’s sign-off comes as Rust has decided to retire. WJZR has featured similar programming since the Rust signed-on the station in 1993. A second-generation broadcaster whose father owned 1180 WHAM and 98.9 WHFM in the market, Rust was also responsible for launching the Jazz format on 90.1 WGMC as General Manager in the mid 1980s.

NERW states that the sign-off came just after 10:30pm on Sunday with Rust playing Miles Davis’ “In a Silent Way” followed by a brief farewell statement.

Plans for the station’s license going forward have not been announced.

… Read More
Jul 19

Scratch Can Even Do Linux Kernel

Is writing a Kernel module in Scratch, the block-based programming language used primarily by kids, possible? Absurd it may be, but yes, it is absolutely possible!


Scratch is the original block-based programming language and is still the best known and most widely used. It was invented in 2003 at MIT to make kids’ introduction to coding a much smoother experience. That said, the educational value of block versus regular text based languages ​​is highly debated with strong arguments on either side.

I encountered the case made for using text-based languages ​​opinion when reviewing CodeGuppy, a platform that teaches kids (and teens and “creative adults”) to code by writing Javascript.

Visual Blocks languages ​​such as Scratch have their own merits to introduce very young kids to the world of coding. However our opinion is that kids should transition as soon as possible to text based languages. A text based language will help a kids develop not only real coding skills but also other important skills such as spelling. If kids in the 80s were able to learn coding using BASIC (a text based language written in rudimentary editors), we believe that contemporary children can also learn JavaScript using the advanced Codeguppy environment.

Furthermore, a recent official report of research carried out for the UK government found that:

Block-based programming languages ​​can be useful in teaching programming, as they reduce the need to memorize syntax and are easier to use. However, these languages ​​can encourage pupils to develop certain programming habits that are not always helpful. For example, small-scale research from 2011 highlighted 2 habits that ‘are at odds with the accepted practice of computer science’.The first is that these languages ​​encourage a bottom-up approach to programming, which focuses on the blocks of the language and not wider algorithm design. The second is that they may lead to a fine-grained approach to programming that does not use accepted programming constructs; for example, pupils avoiding ‘the use of the most important structures: conditional execution and bounded loops’.This is problematic for pupils in the early stages of learning to program, as they may carry these habits across to other programming languages.

Further research has highlighted that, although block-based languages ​​may help novices to overcome the difficulties with syntax that they can face when learning to program, they do not necessarily help pupils with the semantic and conceptual difficulties. It is therefore important that, if schools use block-based languages, they consider how to design the curriculum to mitigate these potential pitfalls.

On the plus side, block based languages ​​have been found to carry the following benefits:

Since it’s visual it’s very easy to get started and is highly accessible; you just have to connect visual blocks in a logical way. Then its syntax-free programming takes the clutter out of the way to let students focus on doing something useful while reducing the time to get onto that.

Kid-students aside there’s also been attempts

… Read More
Jul 17

Python programming: PyPl is rolling out 2FA for critical projects, giving away 4,000 security keys

istock-1255905201.jpg

Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto

PyPI or the Python Package Index is giving away 4,000 Google Titan security keys as part of its move to mandatory two-factor authentication (2FA) for critical projects built in the Python programming language.

Python is one of the world’s most popular programming languages, loved for its breadth of packages or add-on libraries that make it useful for data science. Developers need to update these packages frequently and attackers have used this behavior to backdoor their Windows, Linux and Apple machines through bogus packages that are similarly named to legitimate ones, otherwise known as software supply chain attacks.

PyPI, which is managed by the Python Software Foundation (PSF), is the main repository where Python developers can get third-party developed open-source packages for their projects.

SEE: Working hard or hardly working? Employees don’t trust their colleagues to be productive while working from home

PyPI and JavaScript’s equivalent npm repository act like the App Store/Play Store for developers, but aren’t closed and the free services don’t have the resources to vet package submissions for malware.

Google, through the Linux Foundation’s Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), is tackling the threat of malicious language packages and open-source software supply chain attacks. It found over 200 malicious JavaScript and Python packages in one month and noted “devastating consequences” for developers and the organizations they write code for when they install them.

One way developers can protect themselves from stolen credentials is by using two-factor authentication and the PSF is now making it mandatory for developers behind “critical projects” to use 2FA in coming months. PyPI hasn’t declared a specific date for the requirement.

“We’ve begun rolling out a 2FA requirement: soon, maintainers of critical projects must have 2FA enabled to publish, update, or modify them,” the PSF said on its PyPI Twitter account.

As part of the security drive, it is giving away 4,000 Google Titan hardware security keys to project maintainers gifted by Google’s open-source security team.

“In order to improve the general security of the Python ecosystem, PyPI has begun implementing a two-factor authentication (2FA) requirement for critical projects. This requirement will go into effect in the coming months,” PSF said in a statement.

“To ensure that maintainers of critical projects have the ability to implement strong 2FA with security keys, the Google Open Source Security Team, a sponsor of the Python Software Foundation, has provided a limited number of security keys to distribute to critical project maintainers.

PSF says it deems any project in the top 1% of downloads over the prior six months as critical. Presently, there are more than 350,000 projects on PyPI, meaning that more than 3,500 projects are rated as critical. PyPI calculates this on a daily basis, so the Titan giveaway should go a long way to cover a chunk of key maintainers but not all of them.

In the name of transparency, PyPI is also publishing 2FA account metrics. There are currently 28,336 users with 2FA enabled, with nearly 27,000 of them using

… Read More