There is a certain dazzle in the dark, don’t you think, if you look hard enough? Or even when your eyes adjust to the dark, you can see that it is really not so, well, dark after all!

This brought to mind one camping trip with my son’s scout troop where the scouts were working on finishing their wilderness survival badge. They had invited families along too, though we did not have to do the wilderness survival part, and could sleep in tents with warm sleeping bags unlike the scouts who had to sleep in shelters they built out of leaves and twigs and more.

But we did do a few fun activities. One of them was hiking in the night (a new moon one too) without the help of lights of any kind. We had to get our eyes used to the dark, and to our amazement, our eyes helped us navigate the dark! Dazzlingly wondrous, right?

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Dark and Not so Dark Too: Data Types and More

The Dark Web

I find the concept of the dark web intriguing, fascinating, and scary too. More than monsters under the bed, I would worry about things lurking in what they term the dark web.

If you are wondering what it is, here is a short answer for you:

The dark web is a part of the internet that is not indexed by traditional search engines and requires specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. It is often associated with illicit activities due to its anonymity and lack of oversight, making it a haven for illegal trade, such as drugs, weapons, stolen data, and other illicit goods and services. However, it’s important to note that not all activity on the dark web is illegal, as it can also provide a platform for whistleblowers, journalists, and activists to communicate securely and anonymously.

Data Types Next

First, the basics:

What is Data?

We have data everywhere around us, and use tons of data each day without realizing it. Simply put, data  is a collection of values that convey information. It could be raw facts, observations, measurements, or values that have been collected, stored, and processed for various purposes. Data can take many forms, including numbers, text, images, audio, video, or any other form of information. By itself, data often has no real inherent meaning. And its significance emerges when it is interpreted, analyzed, and used to derive insights or make decisions.

Today, I just want to give an overview of different types of data. With that in mind, I have here for you, a

Dozen (Baker’s Dozen, I mean) Data Types

1. Quantitative Data: Numerical data that can be measured and expressed with numbers. For eg: temperature readings (e.g., 25°C, 30.5°F).
2. Qualitative Data: Descriptive data that characterizes attributes or qualities. Like, customer satisfaction ratings (e.g., “satisfied,” “neutral,” “dissatisfied”).
3. Binary Data: Boolean values representing true or false, 0 or 1.
4. Time-Series Data: Data collected over time at regular intervals, often used for analysis of trends and patterns. Like stock prices over time (e.g., daily closing prices of a company’s stock).
5. Spatial Data: Data representing geographic locations or spatial extents of features on Earth’s surface. GPS coordinates of landmarks (e.g., latitude and longitude of a city).
6. Text Data: Unstructured data consisting of textual information. This includes email messages, blog posts, or social media comments.
7. Multimedia Data: Data that includes a combination of text, images, audio, and/or video. Eg: A YouTube video containing both audio and visual content.
8. Categorical Data: Data that represents categories or groups with no inherent numerical value. Types of fruits (e.g., apple, banana, orange).
9. Ordinal Data: This has categories with a specific order or ranking. Like the rating scale for movie reviews (e.g., “1 star,” “2 stars,” “3 stars”).
10. Nominal Data: Data representing categories with no inherent order or ranking. Types of cars (e.g., sedan, SUV, truck).
11. Hierarchical Data: Data organized into a hierarchical structure with parent-child relationships. For eg: Organizational chart of a company with departments and sub-departments.
12. Big Data: Extremely large and complex data sets that require specialized processing techniques. One eg is social media feeds with massive amounts of user-generated content, such as tweets or Instagram posts.
13. Meta Data: Data that provides information about other data. It describes the structure, content, and context of the data

Discussing Dazzling Books in the Dark

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night

dVerse-ing with the Cool Desert Rat: Nothing Dark Here

Day four’s NaPoWriMo prompt challenges us to write a poem in which we take our title or some language/ideas from The Strangest Things in the World. I picked the cool desert rat (for coincidentally, April 4th is World Rat Day! Who knew?).

I combined this with dVerse’s MTB prompt of writing a palinode where we backtrack from what we first say or want. While there is no half-lie or white lie here per the optional requirement, there is a half-desire for sure..

‘Desert’ Delights
I heard it said that the rat of the desert
Has a truly amazing wondrous power
The power to take H and O and convert
Them to water. Isn’t that rather clever?

That led me to thinking how cool it’d be indeed
If like this vermin of Death Valley
Our bodies could, based on our whims and our need
Create culinary treats regularly!

As I pondered on this some more
I recalled that day I truly savored
Rather, guzzled feasts galore
Did not want any dish to feel unfavored.

That memory of course ended elsewhere
And what it did was made me optate
That in treats we should indulge with care
Having them within might feel like constant surfeit.
~ Vidya @ LadyInReadWrites

Delightful Dances

The name from D I want to highlight: Daamini meaning lightning! A dazzling name that lights up the dark skies instantly.

The Bollywood song: Disco Deewane for I felt like dancing in the dark… This one is from the 70’s when disco was trending in India.

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, do let me know if you have read any of the books listed today? Which book would you pick first? Will you attempt a palinode poem inspired by a white lie or by one of the strangest things within that linked book above yourself? If you do, don’t forget to share it with me!

I am linking up to A-Z, Blogchatter, UBC, NaPoWriMo, and also to dVerse and Thursday13

And you can find all my A-Z posts (this year and previous years’ as well) here:

A to Z Challenge Posts