Zero-shot text classification is a task in natural language processing where a model is trained on a set of labeled examples but is then able to classify new examples from previously unseen classes.
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Author: learndaily
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Ramshackle
ram·shack·le | \ ˈram-ˌsha-kəl \
adjective
1: appearing ready to collapse : RICKETY
2: carelessly or loosely constructed
The Evolution of Ramshackle
Ramshackle has nothing to do with rams, nor the act of being rammed, nor shackles. The word is an alteration of ransackled, an obsolete form of the verb ransack, meaning “to search through or plunder.” (Ransack in turn derives, via Middle English, from Old Norse words meaning “house” and “seek.”) A home that has been ransacked has had its contents thrown into disarray, and that image may be what caused us to start using ramshackle in the first half of the 19th century to describe something that is poorly constructed or in a state of near collapse. These days, ramshackle can also be used figuratively, as in “He could only devise a ramshackle excuse for his absence.”
im·passe | \ ˈim-ˌpas , im-ˈpas \
1 a: a predicament affording no obvious escape
b: DEADLOCK
2: an impassable road or way : CUL-DE-SAC
Synonyms
deadlock, gridlock, halt, logjam, Mexican standoff, stalemate, standoff, standstill
Examples
We seem to have been forced into an impasse.
When the debt limit impasse is resolved, Treasury is required to replace any investments removed from the pension funds with any lost interest.
A calavera [plural: calaveras] (Spanish – pronounced [kalaˈβeɾa] for “skull”) is a representation of a human skull. The term is most often applied to edible or decorative skulls made (usually by hand) from either sugar (called Alfeñiques) or clay that are used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) and the Roman Catholic holiday All Souls’ Day. Calavera can also refer to any artistic representations of skulls, such as the lithographs of José Guadalupe Posada. The most widely known calaveras are created with cane sugar and are decorated with items such as colored foil, icing, beads, and feathers. They range in multiple colors.
Traditional methods for producing calaveras have been in use since the 1630s. The skulls are created either for children or as offerings to be placed on altars known as ofrendas for the Día de Muertos, which has roots in the Aztec, Mayan, and Toltec cultural celebration of the Day of the Dead.
The tradition of sugar skulls is for families to decorate their loved ones’ ofrendas with both large and small handmade sugar skulls. Children who have died, represented by small sugar skulls, are celebrated on November 1. The larger sugar skulls represent the adults, whose celebration takes place on November 2. It is believed that the departed return home to enjoy the offering on the altar.
In pre-Columbian times the images of skulls and skeletons were shown often in paintings, pottery, etc. representing rebirth into the next stage of life. During the 20th century a political caricaturist named José Guadalupe Posada became famous for making Calaveras as vain skeletons dressed in the clothing of the wealthy. The most famous one was Catrina, wearing a feathery hat, fancy shoes and a long dress. Catrina is considered to be the personification of The Day of the Dead. These skeletons are created from many materials such as wood, sugar paste varieties, types of nuts, chocolate, etc. When used as offerings, the name of the deceased is written across the forehead of the skull on colored foil.
Production
Traditional production methods have been in use since roughly the 15th century. The process involves using molds to cast the calaveras. Production can be a lengthy process: a craftsman will usually spend roughly four to six months producing the skulls for a season. Traditionally made sugar skulls are considered folk art and are not meant to be consumed.
The production process is more focused on the aesthetic appeal of the skull than on the taste or food safety of the product. Furthermore, many calaveras feature inedible decorations, such as beads, feathers, and foil. Some skulls were formerly decorated with sombreros, although these designs have mostly disappeared since the 1970s.
The calaveras are traditionally sold at outdoor market stalls beginning two weeks before the Day of the Dead. Sugar skulls offered for sale in Mexico.Large sugar skull offered for sale in Mexico.“Calaveritas” (little skulls) made of chocolate and sugar for sale in Mexico.
Other calaveras are produced to be edible. Most are cast as one piece from cane sugar, which can either be left unflavored or else flavored with vanilla. Some calaveras are also made from chocolate. The calaveras are typically colored with vegetable dyes. As with the more decorative calaveras, these will sometimes have names written on the foreheads, as well. Calaveras may be eaten, or kept for a few days and then thrown away.
Clay skulls
Clay toy variations of calaveras also resemble the shape of human skulls. These toys are often painted a metallic silver color, but they may also be found in colors such as white, black, and red. Beaded eyes of many colors may also be added for decoration.
Literary calaveras
Poetry written for the Day of the Dead are known as literary calaveras, and are intended to humorously criticize the living while reminding them of their mortality. Literary calaveras appeared during the second half of the 19th century, when drawings critical of important politicians began to be published in the press. Living personalities were depicted as skeletons exhibiting recognizable traits, making them easily identifiable. Additionally, drawings of dead personalities often contained text elements providing details of the deaths of various individuals.
Face painting
Sometimes known as “sugar skull” make-up, or Catrina make-up, facepainting a skull with ornate elements is a popular element of Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico. Its use as a Halloween costume has been criticised as cultural appropriation.
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Día de los Muertos
A holiday traditionally celebrated on the 1st and 2nd of November, though other days, such as 31 October or 6 November, may be included depending on the locality.
It largely originated in Mexico, where it is mostly observed, but also in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage elsewhere. Although associated with the Western Christian Allhallowtide observances of All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, it has a much less solemn tone and is portrayed as a holiday of joyful celebration rather than mourning. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pay respects and to remember friends and family members who have died. These celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.
Traditions connected with the holiday include honoring the deceased using calaveras and aztec marigold flowers known as cempazúchitl, building home altars called ofrendas with the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these items as gifts for the deceased. The celebration is not solely focused on the dead, as it is also common to give gifts to friends such as candy sugar skulls, to share traditional pan de muerto with family and friends, and to write light-hearted and often irreverent verses in the form of mock epitaphs dedicated to living friends and acquaintances, a literary form known as calaveras literarias.
In 2008, the tradition was inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
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Malfeasance
noun
1 a: a word or expression used in a figurative sense : FIGURE OF SPEECH
1 b: a common or overused theme or device : CLICHÉ
// the usual horror movie tropes
2: a phrase or verse added as an embellishment or interpolation to the sung parts of the Mass in the Middle Ages
-trope
noun combining form
Definition of -trope (Entry 2 of 2): body characterized by (such) a stateallotrope
synonyms : banality, bromide, chestnut, cliché (also cliche), commonplace, groaner, homily, platitude, shibboleth, truism
antonyms : safeness, safety, secureness, security
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Inflection point
In differential calculus and differential geometry, an inflection point, point of inflection, flex, or inflection (British English: inflexion) is a point on a smooth plane curve at which the curvature changes sign. In particular, in the case of the graph of a function, it is a point where the function changes from being concave (concave downward) to convex (concave upward), or vice versa.
hog·wash | \ ˈhȯg-ˌwȯsh , -ˌwäsh, ˈhäg- \
noun
1: Nonsense,
Example: the librarian told us a lot of hogwash about how you can go to jail for having overdue books
synonyms : applesauce [slang], balderdash, baloney (also boloney), beans, bilge, blah (also blah-blah), blarney, blather, blatherskite, blither, bosh, bull [slang], bunk, bunkum (or buncombe), claptrap, codswallop [British], crapola [slang], crock, drivel, drool, fiddle, fiddle-faddle, fiddlesticks, flannel [British], flapdoodle, folderol (also falderal), folly, foolishness, fudge, garbage, guff, hokeypokey, hokum, hoodoo, hooey, horsefeathers [slang], humbug, humbuggery, jazz, malarkey (also malarky), moonshine, muck, nerts [slang], nonsense, nuts, piffle, poppycock, punk, rot, rubbish, senselessness, silliness, slush, stupidity, taradiddle (or tarradiddle), tommyrot, tosh, trash, trumpery, twaddle
Latin phrase
abbreviation – etc.
: and others especially of the same kind
: and so forth —abbreviation etc.
noun
1: exposure to or imminence of death, loss, or injury : DANGER
Example: placing their lives in jeopardy
Example: workers in jeopardy of losing their jobs
2 law : the danger that an accused person is subjected to when on trial for a criminal offense
synonyms : danger, distress, endangerment, harm’s way, imperilment, peril, risk, trouble
antonyms : safeness, safety, secureness, security
abbreviated Latin words
: and others
It is usually styled with a period, but you will occasionally see et al as well.
The article by Jones, Perez, et al. is well-known, but the one by Jones, Lee, et al. has been more widely cited.
History and Etymology for et al.
Latin et alii (masculine), et aliae (feminine), or et alia (neuter)
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Comeuppance
heu·ris·tic | \ hyu̇-ˈri-stik \
adjective
: involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods
also : of or relating to exploratory problem-solving techniques that utilize self-educating techniques (such as the evaluation of feedback) to improve performance
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Admonition
ad·mo·ni·tion | \ ˌad-mə-ˈni-shən \
noun
1: gentle or friendly reproof
remembered the admonition to keep it simple
2: counsel or warning against fault or oversight
the principal’s admonition against bullying
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Propensity
de·cid·u·ous /diˈsijo͞oəs/
adjective
(of a tree or shrub) shedding its leaves annually.