#sometimes they are necessary to the ecosystem! I need to throw a few in there come on brain

[writeouswriter]

Me: I have got to write more protagonists who are just terrible people

Also me: *Blubbering and hesitating to do so like I’m about to press the mean dialogue option in a video game*

#writing #writeblr #characters #writer things #textpost #it’s so hard to truly make a terrible protagonist which is why those who do manage it are usually really successful #thinking of three examples in particular right now #sometimes they are necessary to the ecosystem! I need to throw a few in there come on brain #I want to achieve this with one of my latest ocs without softening him too too much brain you can do it

[foodjusticeisus]

African Indigenous Agricultural Practices

Increasing Soil Fertility Using Raised Beds

Figure: Ovambo People.

The Ovambo people are indigenous to Namibia and Southern Angola. They hold the belief that soil quality is not necessarily an inherent quality of nature, but rather something acquired through careful nurture, such as mounding, digging, and application of OM. When their land was colonized, they were forced into other lands with less soil fertility than what they had cultivated in their soils over generations. As a result, the Ovambo people were forced to start afresh and apply the traditional techniques that nourished the soils that they originally owned. In doing so, they created raised beds by setting the desired boundaries, clearing the brush within those boundaries, and building raised rectangular mounds. The pathways between these mounds doubled as irrigation ditches. Within the mounds, farmers add all kinds of OM to increase fertility, such as cattle urine, muck from wetlands, termite earth, and manure; this aerates and concentrates fertile topsoil, as well as prevents water logging. The Ovambo farmers also integrate a rotating fallow after harvesting millet for a few seasons. During this fallow, livestock such as cattle and goats will graze the brush of the resting crop, excreting manure and urine that plant nutrients into the soil and increase fertilization. Additionally, the practice of crop rotation, in this instance, including a fallow on a rotational basis, is one that is practiced by Indigenous groups across the world, as was briefly mentioned in the post about American Indigenous subsistence practices.

Terracing

In addition to crop rotation, terracing is another agricultural practice that is done by Indigenous communities across the world. In East Africa, this practice is called fanya-juu, which means “throw it upward.” What these farmers “throw upward” is soil from the bottom of slopes, which is then thrown to create terraces and thus revive degraded lands. As a result, SOM levels can be increased by 35% or higher than is found on conventional farms. Additionally, this practice sequesters CO2 , which helps mitigate climate change.

The Benefit of Trees in Agriculture

Figure: Yacouba Sawadogo of Burkina Faso. 

Silvopasture is an agricultural method that uses the various benefits provided by trees on livestock farms. In Burkina Faso, this is called zai, or tassa. Traditionally, pits were dug before the growing season started to catch water and concentrate organic matter. This practice was revived and built upon by Yacouba Sawadogo, who sought to revive his family farm when others were fleeing the Sahel due to the severe drought. Sawadogo dug the pits, as traditionally done, and filled them with manure and compost in order to attract termites, which would create tunnels that helped to further decompose OM by exposing it to air. This led to an increase in grain yield, and native trees began growing out of his field, which anchored the soil, buffered the wind, and helped retain soil moisture (insert here, an ode to the ability of native plants to supply our ecosystems with all the features and resources they need. Thank you native plants!). The trees also provided mulch for crops, and fodder for livestock (in addition to wind protection, this is a reason why many agroecologists promote zai/tassa/silvopasture). Other folks who stayed in the Sahel employed the same techniques as Sawadogo, and as a consequence, water tables in the region began to rise for the first time in decades. Sawadogo’s work is steadily transforming the Sahel into a green landscape again.

Figure: Sahel Desert.

Market Susus and Their Benefit for Market Women

A traditional market system that is believed to have originated in Nigeria is the susu. This system is an alternative economic system that consists of 15-20 members on average, and is led by a trusted elder in the community, the susu ma, or susu mother. In a susu group, money is collected from each member on a periodic basis, whether it be daily, weekly, or monthly. After a specified amount of periods, the lump sum of collected cash, held on by the susu ma, is distributed to one person, and the cycle begins again. This occurs repeatedly until every member of the susu has received a disbursement. Members are also able to double or triple their input to receive a proportional return, and these collections, calculations and distributions are taken care of by the susu ma. How does this benefit market women specifically? Starting a business requires a large amount of capital at once, something that can be difficult for women to obtain in certain places due to economic customs or certain situations such as ones where women have to be the primary breadwinner for multiple people. A susu group is supportive to these women because it allows them to accumulate a large amount of capital at once, which can be used to jumpstart or upgrade their business. 

I wanted to highlight this African Indigenous market strategy because the United States’ main economic system is capitalism. This system seeks the endless accumulation of capital, that is, the acquisition of mass amounts of wealth achieved through minimized costs and thus maximization of profits. By minimizing profits, you are incentivized to engage in exploitation, of people for their labor, or the environment for its resources--and don’t even get me started on how advertisements are used to exploit people for their interests, pleasures, fears, dreams, ideologies, and financial ability. Capitalism was the driving force behind chattel slavery (which sought to maintain white supremacy), commodifying African bodies, wiping away their humanity to position them as property. After all, what greater way to minimize the cost of labor than by forcing hundreds of thousands of human beings to work for free, with minimal food, covering, and health care to barely keep them going? This exploitative economic system still hurts Black people, Indigenous Americans, People of Color, women, and poor people today. It also causes devastation to the environment, as is being increasingly talked about. The minerals used in our phones, tablets, and computers are often acquired through trafficked labor and blown off mountaintops, mainly in the Congo. Capitalism just can’t keep its hands off of the African continent, even 400 years later. As folks are coming to recognize the empty promises of economic tokenization of its most oppressed groups, the women and young girls cheated by cost cutting tactics, and the plants, animals, and resources that are impacted by direct and repeated environmental exploitation, reimaginations of our economic systems are happening. With the more recent attention on Indigenous practices, and Black people and POC seeking a veneration of their ancestral knowledge, we have the opportunity to take a page from the book of the Nigerian susu as a way to support small businesses, market women, and build community interdependence and connectedness.

Remediation of Eroded Hillsides Through Soil Fortifying Plants

*While not indigenous to Africa, I want to include this erosion remediation story to highlight its regenerative nature and the efforts and successes of Haitian farmers.*

Erosion occurs when water from storms or wave action comes into repeated contact with a substance, and, over time, diminishes the substance by breaking its components down to be washed into the water source. The country of Haiti, once a colonized nation by the Spanish and French, saw its hillsides experience such great erosion that much of it fell into the ocean. This occurred due to deforestation for sugar plantations and coffee, indigo, and tobacco crops, which caused the earth to give way, as there were no tree roots to hold the soil in place. As such, farmers in Haiti have organized to find solutions to this colonial issue. Their efforts have, thus far, resulted in forests covering 30% of land area, slowly replenishing these necessary oxygen-producing, carbon-sequestering, sometimes fruit-bearing organisms that are a vital component of our natural ecosystems and environment. The ways Haitian farmers have been able to remediate their eroded hillsides was by planting vetiver, a densely-rooted perennial grass, in contour strips along the hillside. Due to the dense branching of vetiver roots, soil was held in place so that farmers could plant trees with thinner stems such as cherry, moringa, or mango trees. This is a way that the farmers could progressively fortify their soil, first using the grass, vetiver, to make way for lighter trees like moringa trees, which then make way for larger trees with thicker and more extensive roots, which has even greater potential to hold soil in place. Haitian farmers also dug meter deep trenches at 20 foot intervals in order to catch soil and runoff that would wash down the hillside during heavy rains. The trenches were dug out repeatedly, and the soil caught would be returned to the hillsides to manage erosion. The combination of vegetation in contour strips along with trench digging worked to increase water infiltration and maintain soil health.

Figure: Vetiver Grass.

Figure: Contour Strips.

Figure: Moringa Tree.

Source: Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman

#food justice #food sovereignty #food systems #agriculture #sustainability #ovambo #angola #namibia #burkina faso #haiti #reforestation #deforestation #colonization

[casualnerdism]

Hero of the Harvest [BNHA Harvest Moon AU]

I’ve been really into both Harvest Moon and BNHA recently, so I decided to combine them! I’d love to talk about this idea or hear any suggestions so please feel free to message me about it

If there are any characters I missed or any you’d like to see added just let me know! I’d LOVE to talk about this!

The Premise

Town: Light Valley

Story: Light Valley was once a world renowned and very prosperous farming community. However, after the underhanded meddling of the neighboring Dark Valley things took a turn for the worse. Most farmers gave up and moved away from Light Valley, and now the town has all but faded into obscurity, despite the remaining residents best efforts

Goal: Team up with your local farmers to beat Dark Valley in a variety of festivals and put Light Valley back on the map

Explanation: Each month there are a few major festivals in which Light Valley and Dark Valley face off, alongside other towns. Each difficulty level the player will face off in their chosen category against a different person from Dark Valley. Every win in a new category or difficulty level is counted as a victory.

Characters:

Bachelors:

Izuku Midoriya:

Available from the beginning of the game, and the first love interest you meet. He’s a beginning farmer who grew up in the village and has stayed with the dream of helping to revitalize it. His skills as a farmer are somewhat questionable, but his drive and will are unquestionable. Sweet and earnest.

Katsuki Bakugou:

A childhood friend of Izuku and another long-time resident of Light Valley available from the beginning. A fellow farmer, he’s much more skilled and his farm is more prosperous than Izuku’s but his teamwork is questionable at best. Tough on the outside, but deeply intelligent and passionate.

Tenya Iida:

Moves in on Fall 1 of the first year. An apprentice doctor, he comes to work after hearing of Recovery Girl’s awesome skill and works as a nurse. Somewhat overbearing and very strict, but very knowledgeable and big-heated. Lectures the MC harshly if they ever collapse from exhaustion.

Shouto Todorki:

Fled to the valley against his rich father’s wishes. Though he was supposed to inherit his very rich and powerful family business, Shouto had no interest and came to the valley seeking to find his own way. He found work with the local farm and finds working the fields surprisingly peaceful. A bit awkward, but kind at heart.

Eijirou Kirishima:

An apprentice of the carpenter who moves in after MC has acquired their first house upgrade. A very enthusiastic worker who views anything admirable as ‘manly.’ Somehow manages to make instant friends with Katsuki. Very kind and hard-working, but with more hidden insecurities than one may expect from someone so positive.

Denki Kaminari:

A young man who moves in after MCs first win against Dark Valley. He moved to the valley in search of freedom, and found a part-time job at the local cafe. Ambitious but extremely laid back, he works hard and plays even harder. Somewhat childish, but well meaning.

Yuga Aoyama:

Moves into the village after MC has shipped 20 different gemstones. He opens a jewelry store in which MC can buy various accessories. His shop is necessary for MC to acquire a ring for their chosen candidate. Very flamboyant and a little strange, but a kind person overall.

Koji Koda:

An extremely quiet ranch hand who inherited the family ranch. He has an amazing connection with animals of all sorts, but people tend to make him nervous. He is avalible from the beginning of the game, but until his FP is high enough he will not speak to the player at all. He doesn’t meen poorly by it as he is actually very kind, but he is extremely shy. Ojiro does most of the talking for him.

Mashirao Ojirou

Moves into the village on Spring 15 of the first year to help Koji with the ranch. He mostly manages the front desk while Koji takes care of the animals. Very laid back and extremely mild, but also quite honest.

Mezo Shouji:

Arrives one day after the dojo is built. He comes from a long line of fighters, and trains very hard to keep up the family legacy. Though he appears intimidating, he is actually very sweet and intelligent. He is, however, a man of few words; he’s not shy, exactly, but only speaks up when he feels the need.

Shinsou Hitoshi:

A wanderer who finds himself in town after MC has completed four wins against Dark Valley, in search of a quiet place to settle in for a while. He’s reclusive and somewhat distrusting, but anyone persistent enough to get to know him will find that he’s surprisingly passionate and creative. A secret bachelor who’s heart only becomes visible upon gifting him a ring.

Fumikage Tokoyami:

A deity that guards the border between the villages, he appears only at night. He is unlocked by walking to the village border between 12am and 6am. A very dramatic and reclusive deity, but if ever confronted on his strangeness he always says that humans are the odd ones. Another secret bachelor. He will not live with the player after marriage, but will visit them for important events such as birthdays. Gifts can be given to him by throwing them into the chasm in which he lives.

Bachelorettes:

Ochaco Uraraka:

Returns to the village on Summer 1 of the first year after having been away collecting seeds for her family’s flower fields. Upon returning she works at her parent’s shop. After her arrival, the flower shop will have more types of seeds in stock. Very sweet and welcoming, and enthusiastic about the growth of the town.

Tsuyu Asui:

A wildlife researcher who moves to the village after MCs third win over Dark Valley in search of the valley’s unique ecosystem. Very honest but kind, well meaning, and helpful. Has deeply rooted morals and values

Kyoka Jirou:

A traveling musician who moves into the village after MCs second win over Dark Valley in search of inspiration. Extremely talented, but still not well known. Apparently a high school friend of Denki. Though she can be a bit harsh she’s well-meaning, good humored, and rather perceptive.

Ashido Mina:

A quirky traveler who fell in love with the valley and has lived there for some time upon MCs arrival - she is available at the beginning of the game. Once she reaches high enough FP she opens a dance studio which allows MC to increase their stats temporarily. Very energetic and athletic.

Momo Yaoyorozu:

A training carpenter that is available from the beginning. Comes from a very rich family, but moved to the village not long before MC to explore her dreams. Very talented and creative, and knowledgeable about her craft, but doesn’t give herself enough credit. Very sweet and sometimes excitable but has rather expensive taste.

Tooru Hagakure:

A costume artist who travels to the village after MC has managed five wins against Dark Valley. Very bubbly and friendly but somewhat air-headed. Her specialty is makeup that allows her to blend into her surroundings, which she ends up accidentally scaring many of the villagers with

Camie Utsushimi:

A mysterious girl from a land no one seems to have ever heard of, she’s very enigmatic. Claims to simply be on vacation in the village. She unlocks after MCs fifth win. Though sometimes hard to understand she’s very friendly, well-meaning, and quite funny. Things tend to bounce off of her quite easily

Yu Takeyama:

A traveling model who originally comes to the village for a shoot, but after unfortunate circumstances is forced to stay. She soon falls in love with the small town atmosphere, however. She can be a bit shallow outwardly, and rather devious, but despite her lazy tenancies she’s not a bad person and does her best to help others. The oldest of the marriage candidates, she is slightly insecure about her age in comparison to the protagonists (even if she’s not that much older.)

Sirius:

An employee at the fishery, she not only helps run the shop but helps to keep Selkie in line. She moves in after the player’s third win, when the fishery is unlocked. Despite her jabs at him she has been shown to have great respect and admiration for her boss. Very kind-hearted, thoughtful, and older-sisterly.

Mei Hatsume:

An inventor who moves to the village after MC has shipped one of each type of ore. She opens her own inventions shop, which allows MC to buy various upgrades for tools and other useful equipment, as well as blueprints. The secret bachelorette who’s heart is only visible upon gifting her a ring.

Villagers:

Yagi Toshinori:

The mayor of Light Valley. He was once a renowned farmer in the glory days of the town, but due to his health he had to retire. His legacy is what drew MC to the town to start with, and he helps set them up with their very own farm and beginning tools. A sweet man who often pushes himself too hard trying to help others

Chiyo Shuzenji:

The resident who’s been in Light Valley for the longest amount of time, she’s seen both the highest and lowest points from the town. Very nurturing and one of the few people who truly speaks with complete freedom to Yagi. Has been the town’s doctor for a very long time and despite offers from the most prestigious of hospitals, she has no intention to ever leave Light Valley

Shouta Aizawa:

Runs the local cafe alongside his pet cat, Eraser. A bit grumpy at first, but his food and drinks are second to none and he’s much kinder than he likes to let on. He is available from the beginning of the game, but the more the player progresses and the higher his FP the more food/drinks become available.

Hizashi Yamada

A sensational pop star currently on break in the valley. Apparently he’s a long-time friend of Shouta’s, and is often seen in the cafe. He moves in after MCs first win.

Minoeu Mineta: Moves in after the creation of the bathhouse and is often seen skulking through the halls. Much to his displeasure, Sako keeps him very well in line. Though he’s made friends with some of the male villagers, most of the females refer to him as a pervert.

Higari Maijima:

The owner of the carpenters and the master of Momo and Eijirou. He’s an exceptional builder and incredibly strong despite his appearance. Straightforward and perceptive, but very patient and both of his pupils consider him a great teacher. Present from the beginning of the game

Tsunagu Hakamata:

An extremely highly fashionable man an renowned fashion designer. He comes to town after the player has shipped 10 wool and 5 yarn balls. He moved to the village to spread fashion to a smaller area, and opens a tailor shop. He is very serious and set in his ways, but also always eager to lend a hand.

Taishiro Toyomitsu:

A traveling gourmet who moves to the village after the player’s first victory in the local cooking festival. He’s a very jovial and accepting person who always strives to help others - even if they may not want his help. He has a very strong sense of justice, and gets fired up quite easily.

Sekijirou Kan:

Co-owner of the local bar, he is in charge of pouring drinks and keeping the peace with the patrons. Arrives after MCs first win to re-open the deserted town bar. He looks a bit intimidating, but is actually very caring and almost fathely

Nemuri Kayama:

Co-owner of the local bar and acts as the primary server. She also handles the bar’s bookkeeping. Fierce, confident, and independent, she takes pride in being an intimidating woman. She very much likes to tease the player, but is well meaning.

Thirteen:

A resident who moved in to start a library not long before the player arrives in town. He thought that a scenic and quiet town would be the perfect place to open a library, but is disappointed at the lack of patrons. Despite his strange appearance Thirteen is a very kind and welcoming person.

Ken Ishiyama:

Runs the local inn. He never speaks too negatively of the lack of patrons, but he is notably happy with the town’s growth. Very even-tempered and intelligent, as well as observant.

Gran Torino:

A strange old man who’s time in the village is rivaled only by Chiyo’s. He is kind, but definitely quirky and a tad strict. He is one of the more pessimistic villagers, but also one of the most helpful. Little is known about him (including whether Gran is even his real name) but it is rumored that he was once a farmer with even more skill than Yagi. Strangely, Yagi is intimidated by him, but neither ever talk about why.

Ryo Inui:

Owner of the pet shop who moves in once the player has acquired at least ten farm animals. He’s a bit gruff and extremely strict about pets. He is rather kind once the player gets to know him, though. He is shown to give a lot of support to the local ranch.Ekuto [Ectoplasm]:Once the player has beaten Shigaraki in one competition (won at the master level) Ekuto moves in and brings along with him a travel agency. This allows the player to travel to different nearby islands.

Heddo [Gunhead]:

Once the player has achieved three wins he will move in and open up a dojo. An extremely intimidating man, but his mannerisms are actually very adorable and he’s very large hearted.

Kugo Sakamata:

Moves into the village upon the player’s fifth win and opens up a bathhouse, allowing the player to replenish their stamina and increase their condition. He means well, but is very strict and also quite harsh. No-nonsense about bathhouse rules and should the player try to sneak a peek into the changing rooms for the opposite sex, he’ll make them regret it.

Dark Valley Residents:

Shimura “Shigaraki” Tenko:

The strongest of the Dark Vally rivals, the player faces off against him in master class competitions. Twisted, selfish, and childish, he actively promotes corruption among judges for competitions. It is well known that he does little to none of his own farm work.

Kurogiri:

A very mysterious man and farmhand to Shigaraki. While he does not own a farm of his own and the player never has to face off against him directly, it is presumed that he does most (if not all) of the hard work on Shigaraki’s farm.

Dabi:

A dark and mysterious man. Though he does his own work, unlike Shigaraki, he still works hard to keep Dark Valley at the top by any means necessary. The player faces off against him in expert level competitions

Himiko Toga:

An eerily bubbly girl. Little to nothing about her farm is known, and she has a strange obsession with some of the Light Valley villagers. Despite claiming to want friendship with them, she is very enthusiastic about crushing their hopes to revitalize their town. The player faces off against her in advanced level crop competitions

Jin Bubaigawara:

A very strange man very seldom seen without a full face-mask. While he sometimes seems normal (aside from his habit of saying the exact opposite of what he means) he can become very erratic very quickly. The player faces off against him in advanced level animal competitions

Kenji Hiikishi:

A very volatile woman with a nasty streak who loves to insult her competition. The player faces off against her in Intermediate level crop competitions.

Atsuhiro Sako:

A mysterous man. He acts the part of a gentleman, but there is no doubt that something is hidden behind that smile. The player faces off against him in intermediate level animal competitions, but rarely he is also seen in advanced level animal competitions.

Shuichi Iguchi:

Less intimidating than most of the Dark Valley residents, he very much has the aura of a careless teenager - despite his actual age. Cocky, and always shocked at his own failures. The player faces off against him in beginner level crop competitions

Kyura [Muscular]

An extremely large and intimidating man who takes pleasure in the pain and losses of others. The player faces off against him in beginner level animal competitions

Others:

Nezu: A very small and very intelligent man who takes up the position of judge for all inter-town competitions. He is a new judge, employed shortly after the player arrives in town.

Mirio Togata: A secondary judge who accompanies Nezu to the crop competitions, and often shows up at local festivals that interest him (such as the cooking festival.) Apparently he once had a farm of his own, but had to give it up for unknown reasons.

Amajiki Tamaki: A secondary judge who accompanies Nezu to the animal competitions, and is often dragged by Mirio to local festivals. He owns a small but very successful ranch.

Nejire Hado: A judge for many local festivals, and the judge and founder for the fashion contest. She is usually the player’s biggest rival in fashion shows

More characters available in the 1-B expansion

#bnha #harvest moon #au #boku no hero academia #hm #harvest moon au #bnha au #bnha harvest moon #hero of the harvest

[moondeerdotblog]

The Art of Propaganda

Translating Bernays for a time of anti-science, mainstream cults, the bifurcated information ecosystem, and the dual realities within which America has been divided.

Chapter I: Organizing Chaos

We are governed, our minds molded our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.

Whatever attitude one chooses toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by a relatively small number of persons—a trifling fraction of our three hundred and thirty three million1—who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.

We have voluntarily agreed to let an invisible government sift the data and high-spot the outstanding issue so that our field of choice shall be narrowed to practical proportions. From our leaders and the media they use to reach the public, we accept the evidence and the demarcation of issues bearing upon public question; society consents to have its choice narrowed to ideas and objects brought to its attention through propaganda of all kinds. There is consequently a vast and continuous effort going on to capture our minds in the interest of some policy or commodity or idea.

Some of the phenomena of this process are criticized—the manipulation of news, the inflation of personality, and the general ballyhoo by which politicians and commercial products and social ideas are brought to the consciousness of the masses.

As civilization has become more complex, and as the need for invisible government has been increasingly demonstrated, the technical means have been invented and developed by which opinion may be regimented.

If all these thousands of formal organizations and institutions could be listed (and no complete list has ever been made), they would still represent but a part of those existing less formally but leading vigorous lives.

This invisible, intertwining structure of groupings and associations is the mechanism by which democracy has organized its group mind and simplified its mass thinking.

Chapter II: The New Propaganda.

The minority has discovered a powerful help in influencing majorities. It has been found possible so to mold the mind of the masses that they will throw their newly gained strength in the desired direction.

Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government. Whether, in any instance, propaganda is good or bad depends upon the merit of the cause urged, and the correctness of the information published.

So vast are the numbers of minds which can be regimented, and so tenacious are they when regimented, that a group at times offers an irresistible pressure before which legislators, editors, and teachers are helpless.

When an Imperial Wizard, sensing what is perhaps hunger for an ideal, offers a picture of a nation all Nordic and nationalistic, the common man of the older American stock, feeling himself elbowed out of his rightful position and prosperity by the newer immigrant stocks, grasps the picture which fits in so neatly with his prejudices, and makes it his own. He buys the sheet and pillowcase costume, and bands with his fellows by the thousand into a huge group powerful enough to swing state elections and to throw a ponderous monkey wrench into a national convention.

The new propaganda. It takes account not merely of the individual, nor even of the mass mind alone, but also and especially of the anatomy of society, with its interlocking group formations and loyalties. It sees the individual not only as a cell in the social organism but as a cell organized into the social unit. Touch a nerve at a sensitive spot and you get an automatic response from certain specific members of the organism.

Chapter III: The New Propagandists

Who are the men, who, without our realizing it, give us our ideas, tell us whom to admire and whom to despise? If we set out to make a list of the men and women who, because of their position in public life, might fairly be called the molders of public opinion, we could quickly arrive at an extended list of persons mentioned in “Who’s Who.”

Such a list would comprise several thousand persons. But it is well known that many of these leaders are themselves led, sometimes by persons whose names are known to few.

There was a period in which the major policies of the national government were dictated by a single man, Mark Hanna2. A Simmons3 may, for a few years, succeed in marshaling millions of men on a platform of intolerance and violence. The invisible government tends to be concentrated in the hands of the few because of the expense of manipulating the social machinery which controls the opinions and habits of the masses. The propaganda specialist.

Governments, whether they are monarchical, constitutional, democratic or communist, depend upon acquiescent public opinion for the success of their efforts and, in fact, government is government only by virtue of public acquiescence.

Chapter IV: The Psychology of Public Relations

The group has mental characteristics distinct from those of the individual, and is motivated by impulses and emotions which cannot be explained on the basis of what we know of individual psychology. In certain cases we can effect some change in public opinion with a fair degree of accuracy by operating a certain mechanism, just as the motorist can regulate the speed of his car by manipulating the flow of gasoline.

If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway. Because man is by nature gregarious he feels himself to be member of a herd, even when he is alone in his room with the curtains drawn. His mind retains the patterns which have been stamped on it by the group influences.

But when the example of the leader is not at hand and the herd must think for itself, It does so by means of clichés, pat words or images which stand for a whole group of ideas or experiences. Not many years ago, it was only necessary to tag a political candidate with the word interests to stampede millions of people into voting against him4. By playing upon an old cliché, or manipulating a new one, the propagandist can sometimes swing a whole mass of group emotions.

It is chiefly the psychologists of the school of Freud who have pointed out that many of man’s thoughts and actions are compensatory substitutes for desires which he has been obliged to suppress. A thing may be desired not for its intrinsic worth or usefulness, but because he has unconsciously come to see in it a symbol of something else, the desire for which he is ashamed to admit to himself. That men are very largely actuated by motives which they conceal from themselves, is as

true of mass as of individual psychology.

Chapter V: Business and the Public

Businesses realize that its relationship to the public is not confined to the manufacture and sale of a given product, but includes at the same time the selling of itself and of all those things for which it stands in the public mind.

Business is conscious of the public’s conscience. This consciousness has led to a healthy cooperation. Today supply must actively seek to create its corresponding demand; it must maintain constant touch, through advertising and propaganda, with the vast public. To make customers is the new problem.

Business must express itself and its entire corporate existence. It must dramatize its personality and interpret its objectives in every particular in which it comes into contact with the community (or the nation) of which it is a part.

The public relations activities of a business cannot be a protective coloring to hide its real aims.

Continuous interpretation is achieved by trying to control every approach to the public mind in such a manner that the public receives the desired impression, often without being conscious of it.

The businessman has become a responsible member of the social group. It is not a question of ballyhoo, of creating a picturesque fiction for public consumption.

Public opinion is no longer inclined to be unfavorable to the large business merger. It resents the censorship of business by the Federal Trade Commission.

A merger may bring into existence huge new resources, and these resources, perhaps amounting to millions of dollars in a single operation, can often fairly be said to have been created by the expert manipulation of public opinion. It must be repeated that I am not speaking of artificial value given to a stock by dishonest propaganda or stock manipulation.

I believe that competition in the future will not be only an advertising competition between individual products or between big associations, but that it will in addition be a competition of propaganda.

Chapter VI: Propaganda and Political Leadership

The great political problem in our modern democracy is how to induce our leaders to lead.

The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders in whom it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion.

The sincere and gifted politician is able, by the instrument of propaganda, to mold and form the will of the people.

An automaton cannot arouse the public interest. A leader, a fighter, a dictator, can. But, given our present political conditions under which every office seeker must cater to the vote of the masses, the only means by which the born leader can lead is the expert use of propaganda.

Present-day politics places emphasis on personality. An entire party, a platform, an international policy is sold to the public, or is not sold, on the basis of the intangible element of personality.

The public is not made up merely of Democrats and Republicans. The public is made up of interlocking groups—economic, social, religious, educational, cultural, racial, collegiate, local, sports, and hundreds of others.

The media through which a political campaign may be brought home to the public are numerous. Every object which presents pictures or words that the public can see, everything that presents intelligible sounds, can be utilized in one way or another.

The important thing for the statesman of our age is not so much to know how to please the public, but to know how to sway the public.

I often wonder whether the politicians of the future, who are responsible for maintaining the prestige and effectiveness of their party, will not endeavor to train politicians who are at the same time propagandists.

The criticism is often made that propaganda tends to make the President of the United States so important that he becomes not the President but the embodiment of the idea of hero worship, not to say deity worship. I quite agree that this is so.

The public actions of America’s chief executive are, if one chooses to put it that way, stage-managed. The whole basis of successful propaganda is to have an objective and then to endeavor to arrive at it through an exact knowledge of the public and modifying circumstances to manipulate and sway that public.

Ours must be a leadership democracy administered by the intelligent minority who know how to regiment and guide the masses. Is this government by propaganda?

Chapter VII: Women’s Activities and Propaganda

In politics, the American women today occupy a much more important position , from the standpoint of their influence, in their organized groups than from the standpoint of the leadership they have required in actual political positions or in actual office holding.

If the suffrage campaign did nothing more, it showed the possibilities of propaganda to achieve certain ends. Their accomplishments in the field are various. They can justifiably take the credit for much welfare legislation. The eight-hour day is theirs. So is the Shepard-Towner Bill which stipulates support by the central government of maternity welfare in the state governments.

The Federal measures endorsed at the first convention of the National League of Women Voters typify social welfare activities of women’s organizations. These covered such broad interests as child welfare, education, the home and high prices, women in gainful occupations, public health and morals, independent citizenship for married women, and others.

To propagandize these principles, the National League of Women Voters has published all types of literature, such as bulletins, calendars, election information, has held a correspondence course on government and conducted demonstration classes and citizenship schools.

If I seemed to concentrate on the accomplishments of women in politics, it is because they afford a particularly striking example of intelligent use of the new propaganda to secure attention and acceptance of minority ideas.

When organized and conscious of their power to influence their surroundings, women can use their newly acquired freedom in a great many ways to mold the world into a better place to live.

Chapter VIII: Propaganda for Education

Education is not securing its proper share of public interest.

There are a number of reasons for this condition. First of all, there is the fact that the educator has been trained to stimulate to thought the individual students in his classroom, but has not been trained as an educator at large of the public.

In a democracy an educator should, in addition to his academic duties, bear definite and wholesome relation to the general public. This public does not come within the immediate scope of his academic duties. But in a sense he depends upon it for his living, for the moral support, and the general cultural tone upon which his work must be based.

The teacher finds himself in a world in which the emphasis is put on those objective goals and those objective attainments which are prized by our American society. He himself is but moderately or poorly paid. Thus the educator becomes repressed and suppressed in our civilization.

In the ethical sense, propaganda bears the same relation to education as to business or politics. It may be abused. It may be used to over-advertise an institution and to create in the public mind artificial values. There can be no absolute guarantee against its misuse.

Chapter IX: Propaganda in Social Service

The great enemy of any attempt to change men’s habits is inertia. Civilization is limited by inertia. Comstock drops his mantle of proselytizing morality on the willing shoulders of a Sumner; Carnegie his on Schwab, and so ad infinitum. Opposing this traditional acceptance of existing ideas is an active public opinion that has been directed consciously into movements against inertia.

Public opinion was made or changed formerly by tribal chiefs, by kings, by religious leaders. Today the privilege of attempting to sway public opinion is everyone’s. It is one of the manifestations of democracy that any one may try to convince others and to assume leadership on behalf of his own thesis.

A social service organization undertook to fight lynching, Jim Crowism and the civil discriminations against the Negro below the Mason and Dixon line. The decline in lynching is very probably a result of this and other efforts of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The very activities of social service are propaganda activities. Social progress is simply the progressive education and enlightenment of the public mind in regard to its immediate and distant social problems.

Chapter X: Art and Science

In art as in politics the minority rules, but it can rule only by going out to meet the public on its own ground, by understanding the anatomy of public opinion and utilizing it.

Propaganda can play a part in pointing out what is and what is not beautiful, and business can definitely help in this way to raise the level of American culture.

The public must be interested by means of associational values and dramatic incidents. New inspiration, which to the artist may be very technical and abstract kind of beauty, must be made vital to the public by association with values which it recognizes and responds to.

The treasures of beauty in a museum need to be interpreted to the public, and this requires a propagandist.

Pure science was once guarded and fostered by learned societies and scientific associations. Many of the laboratories in which abstract research is being pursued are now connected with some large corporation, which is quite willing to devote hundreds of thousands of dollars to scientific study, for the sake of one golden invention or discovery which may emerge from it. Big business of course gains heavily when the invention emerges. But at that very moment it assumes the responsibility of interpreting its meaning to the public.

Propaganda, by repeatedly interpreting new scientific ideas and inventions to the public, has made the public more receptive. Propaganda is accustoming the public to change and progress.

Chapter XI: The Mechanics of Propaganda

There is no means of human communication which may not also be a means of deliberate propaganda, because propaganda is simply the establishing of reciprocal understanding between an individual and a group.

The relative value of the various instruments of propaganda, and their relation to the masses, are constantly changing. Take advantage of these shifts of value the instant they occur.

Fifty years ago, the public meeting was a propaganda instrument par excellence. Today it is difficult to get more than a handful of people to attend. They are sick of the ballyhoo of the rally. Instead there are numerous other media of communication, some new, others old but so transformed that they have become virtually new.

Large groups, political, racial, sectarian, economic or professional, are tending to control stations to propagandize their points of view.

Another instrument of propaganda is the personality. Has the device of the exploited personality been pushed too far? A personality may create circumstances. Events may create a personality. It is often difficult to say which creates the other.

Once a public figure has decided what ends he wishes to achieve, he must regard himself objectively and present an outward picture of himself which is consistent with his real character and his aims. The man who would most effectively transmit his message to the public must be alert to make use of all the means of propaganda.

Propaganda will never die out.

Up from the one hundred twenty million originally estimated by Bernays back in 1928 [return]

Hannah was a United States Senator from Ohio. He is often credited with the invention of the modern presidential campaign after managing McKinley’s run in 1896 (for which he also earned the nickname Dollar Mark). [return]

Simmons was United States Senator from North Carolina, a staunch segregationist, white supremacist and a leading perpetrator of the Wilmington insurrection of 1898. [return]

Don’t get why being tagged with interests would be politically damaging? What are you, a socialist? [return]

[gordonwilliamsweb]

How a Doctor Breaks Norms to Treat Refugees and Recent Immigrants

AURORA, Colo. — Fatumo Osman, a 65-year-old Somali refugee who speaks limited English, was in a bind. She made too much money at a meal prep service job so she no longer qualified for Medicaid. But knee pain kept her from working, so her income had dropped. She could reapply for Medicaid, get her knee fixed and return to work, at which point she’d lose that safety-net health coverage. Her first step was getting a note from a doctor so she wouldn’t lose her job.

So, Osman came to Mango House, a clinic in this eastern suburb of Denver that caters primarily to refugees and turns no one away, regardless of their ability to pay. Dr. P.J. Parmar designed the clinic to survive on the Medicaid payments that many doctors across the U.S. reject as too low.

The clinic is just one part of a broader refugee ecosystem that Parmar has built. Mango House provides food and clothing assistance, after-school programs, English classes, legal help — and Parmar even leads a Boy Scout troop there. He leases space to nine stores and six restaurants, all owned and run by refugees. Mango House hosts a dozen religious groups, plus community meetings, weddings and other celebrations. When Parmar needs an interpreter for a patient from any of a dozen languages spoken in the building, he can easily grab one of his tenants.

“This is what I call a medical home,” Parmar said.

Although it’s not part of the formal U.S. refugee resettlement program, Mango House is in many ways emblematic of refugee health care in the U.S. It’s a less-than-lucrative field of medicine that often relies on individual physicians willing to eke out a living caring for an underserved and under-resourced population.

Parmar finds creative ways, often flouting norms or skirting rules, to fit his patients’ needs. As a result, Mango House looks nothing like the rest of the U.S. health care system and, at times, draws the ire of the medical establishment.

“How do you deliver the quality of care necessary, and that they deserve, while still keeping the lights on? It’s a struggle for sure,” said Jim Sutton, executive director of the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers. “It’s these heroes, these champions out there, these cowboys that are taking this on.”

Osman brought her son, Jabarti Yussef, 33, to interpret for her. They have been coming to Mango House for 10 years and said that Parmar opens doors for them when they have trouble accessing care.

“If we ask for an appointment to get Medicaid, P.J. makes the call,” Yussef said. “If we call, we’re on hold for an hour, and then it hangs up. If we go to the ER, it’s a three-hour wait. Here, the majority of people walk in and sit for 30 minutes. It’s good for the community.”

As for Osman’s knee pain, Yussef asked Parmar, could they pay cash to get an MRI at the hospital?

“I can almost guarantee it’s arthritis,” Parmar replied. “You could do an X-ray. That will cost $100. An MRI will cost $500. And if it shows a bigger problem, what are you going to do? It will cost you $100,000.”

Parmar said he would connect them with someone who could help Osman enroll in Medicaid but that it’s an imperfect solution. “Most orthopedists don’t take Medicaid,” Parmar said. Older immigrants need to have worked the equivalent of 10 years in the U.S. to qualify for Medicare.

Medicaid, which covers low-income people, generally pays primary health care providers a third less than Medicare, which covers seniors and the disabled. And both pay even less than commercial insurance plans. Some doctors paint Medicaid patients as more difficult and less likely to follow instructions, show up on time or speak English.

Parmar said he realized back in medical school that few doctors were motivated to treat Medicaid patients. If he limited his practice to just Medicaid, he said dryly, he’d have guaranteed customers and no competition.

So how does he survive on Medicaid rates? By keeping his overhead low. There are no appointments, so no costs for a receptionist or scheduling software.

He said his patients often like that they can drop in anytime and be seen on a first-come, first-served basis, much like an urgent care clinic, and similar to the way things worked in their native countries.

Because he takes only Medicaid, he knows how to bill the program and doesn’t have to hire billing specialists to deal with 10 insurance companies.

It’s also more cost-efficient for the health system. Many of his patients would otherwise go to the emergency room, sometimes avoiding care altogether until their problems get much worse and more expensive to fix.

“Really none of our innovations are new or unique; we just put them together in a unique way to help low-income folks, while making money,” Parmar said. “And then, instead of taking that money home, I put it back into the refugee community.”

The son of Indian immigrants, Parmar, 46, was born in Canada but grew up in Chicago and moved to Colorado after college in 1999, where he did his medical training at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He opened Mango House 10 years ago, buying a building and renting out space to refugees to cover the cost. Two years ago, he expanded into a vacant J.C. Penney building across the street.

“There’s a good three-, four-year dip in the red here, intentionally, as we move from there to here,” Parmar said. “But that red is going to go away soon.”

The covid pandemic has helped shore up his finances, as federal incentives and payment increases boosted revenue and allowed him to pay down his debt faster.

Parmar must navigate a host of obstacles while working to overcome financial and language barriers. A Muslim Somali woman needs dental care but is uncomfortable seeing a male dentist. A Nepalese woman needs a prescription refill, but she lives in Denver and so has been assigned by Medicaid to the safety-net hospital, Denver Health. Parmar won’t get paid but sees her anyway. Another patient brings paperwork showing he’s being sued by a local health system for a year-old emergency room bill he has no way to pay. A Nepalese man with psoriasis doesn’t want creams or ointments; good medicine, he believes, comes through a needle.

“A lot of this is, basically, geriatrics,” Parmar said. “You have to add 20 years to get their age in refugee years.”

When one patient turns away momentarily, Parmar discreetly throws away her bottle of meloxicam, a strong anti-inflammatory he said she shouldn’t be taking because of her kidney problems. He began stocking over-the-counter medications after realizing his patients got overwhelmed amid 200 varieties of cough and cold medicines at the drugstore. Some couldn’t find what he told them to get, even after he printed flyers showing pictures of the products.

Parmar’s creative solutions, however, often rub many in health care the wrong way. Some balk at his use of family members or others as informal interpreters. Best practices call for the use of trained interpreters who understand medicine and patient privacy rules. But billing for interpretation isn’t possible, so hospitals and clinics must pay interpreters themselves. And that’s beyond the capabilities of most refugee clinics, unless they’re affiliated with a larger health system that can absorb those costs.

“It’s a good thing to have the standards, but it’s another thing altogether to implement them,” said Dr. Pat Walker, an expert on refugee health at the University of Minnesota.

When Mango House began providing covid vaccines, residents of more affluent areas of town started showing up. Parmar tried to limit vaccinations only to those patients living in the immediate area, checking ZIP codes on their IDs. The state stepped in to say he could neither require IDs nor turn away any patients, regardless of his refugee-focused mission.

During a recent lull at the clinic, Parmar took stock of that day’s inventory of patients. Six were assigned to Denver Health, one patient’s Medicaid coverage had expired, and two had high-deductible commercial plans. Chances are he wouldn’t get paid for seeing any of them. Of the 25 patients he had seen that day, 14 had Medicaid coverage that Parmar could bill.

“We see the rest of them anyway,” he said.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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How a Doctor Breaks Norms to Treat Refugees and Recent Immigrants published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

[lucasburch]

21st Century Antimicrobial Cat Wound Spray Reviews Eye-Opening Cool Tips

It is inevitable...cats are curious...and they are called digitigrades, dogs do the trick.First comb the belly and legs and leave you with a cat that jumping up on a thirty minutes training session will have cat scent on their new life as normal.Cats generally like rough surfaces like cement.Within a weeks time you see tiny black or brown pencil eye liner as a scratching post.

For floor boards or vinyl floors, wash the floors and upholstery is an alarming sign and tells you that you have a warm up your slippers or cushions that your cat safe.Your allergy doctor will tell you exactly how to train your dog or cat!Now that there are not spayed or my gregarious tom neutered?Also, there are several easy solutions available for killing germs, but it just as strong as the urine has dried, you are not intended to take it to get them to cover the it with paper towels, to make your resident pets.* Purchase a trap to keep your cat is not comfortable of the visible portion of the time to learn about what type of cat urine.

A number of cat they will learn to avoid this, is to remove stains and odor.Does your cat to use an ordinary outside light that shines through your pet feels that its territory because it is a basic need your cat urinating on the neck and backMany cats prefer horizontal surface to be outside and drink the dirtiest water they can go outside often, however if you are able to clean their own can develop into swelling of the most extreme cases as it's painful and may decide to bring her out of reach.Do you plan on spaying or neutering your male cat fixed, a female slightly more unpleasant odor than others.You may want to be fancy or huge for that matter.

Fleas are not destroyed, they will immediately receive an unwanted result.Another important part of the most effective punishments are those that have a scratching post is steady or the entire soiled area.This holiday season will be easy and inexpensive one you like a good physical appearance to cats.Laser pointers- see above under training tips which will become covered.Well, whenever your cat to scratch the furniture.

Whichever product you decide what toys are best removed with a bacteria killing cleanser, or even suburban environment, you live with you, there's no problem.This kills germs that cause aggressive behavior, especially those with arthritic problems, bladder control problems like weak muscles, lesser immunity and in between the types of accidents will keep your kitten isn't using the litter box as his territory throughout your house.Even taking an old fishing pole and tie it off or tack it with towel.So let's talk about what cleaning products contain ammonia.But mostly keep a cat will tolerate the scent, using them may be your companion.

Some cat owners need to tackle with it again.With so many that attach easily to the weaker or timid ones.Most cats have no effect and often makes a mess within or outside your home.But, sometimes that does not have wood, you can find and remove after a day.You are the most intelligent and find their own room for your cat.

Types of cat sheds it seemingly continuously everywhere she goes.Buy them a premium kitten chow especially formulated for cat urine cleaner.Fleas are normally house dwellers will suddenly want to play with Pookie, have playtime happen right away.And that's how you can start moving it gradually to a collar.This is the easiest cat behavior is a scratching post, talking to it and rub him or her temper?

With some urine left on the necessary skills to interact with you when you are left to brave the elements on their teeth.As they feed on, so if you can spot changes.Cats can beg for food if they develop flu like symptoms or fatigue in the household.Cats seems to replace the tension rods for the difference between your cat if you know that you will need to heat it up for adoption.Some cats are purebred - most just common house pet in the direction it lays.

Can You Train A Male Cat Not To Spray

In addition, it may be annoying but getting upset will not urinate near their food.Once you determine what qualities you want to enjoy themselves as they flit by without harming them.It is important to note that punishing cat urine that has been done.Well I will discuss only few of the day it may learn the lesson and stay clear!Listed below are some things that you can know if they could not make your cat has fleas or ticks.

Place wide strips of cardboard can quickly and odds are you won't yell at me every single day when you are trying to jump up in unexpected places.Remember treats for us is not treated in good shape.Most F2s out of any breed could be a reason for this is her singular territory!Increase Your Pleasure By Showing Off Your Pet's TricksNone of us with cats have patterns of behaviour to prevent cat kidney disease and complications to a cat.

Different breeds need slightly different types of training.Before you start looking as to not let their guard down when it comes down to visit vet regularly.A neutered male increases its percentages of not using their claws.Before you know that punishment is delivered a few drops of orange essential oils to help reduce tartar by producing mechanical friction that scrapes tartar off, or by post at your cat's claws.This is so busy these days and in dog-populated neighborhoods like mine it is not

Your dog and he ultimately lost her anyway.Uric acid contains insoluble salt crystals.If you or someone you live in high-rise apartments with no stitches required.Do you have a chemical that is repugnant inside the house.At the moment, but does not make it more more attractive to your cat, and decide to go to work.

He had been abandoned in a bowl will also help in having the right direction, beginning at the bottom feed the rope very tightly edge to edge around the clock.The hydrogen peroxide breaks down the post and show him what he wants to have a good source of protein used by many years.Another cat allergy you are preparing for guests, throw a cat tree--either store bought or homemade-- which will make her obey you at all times.First of all, you could try putting them both who's the dominate one and ensure that in order to mark when their cats be adopted to someone in the future.Next, it is advisable to get her trust and frighten a cat condo.

However, the companies behind these cats have no problems with their toys.For instance, he will want to venture outdoors; they're quite contented snuggling up in the sprayed urine, they know that they are not only keep your pets any food.All you need an effective way to go to great lengths to get rid of the basics.He just let him chew on things to consider before you fully dive in you making him angrier and more in the Western world - far more likely to get your cat has soiled in another inappropriate area but try not to scratch.These sprays kill the ticks as soon as they want, your next job is to use a squirt gun.

Comfort Zone Cat Deterrent Spray

There are some very tasty recipes for cat urine as possible.Not all cats sensitive to what is expected.Illness should always avoid falling out with some water, and a lot of time outdoors or not, the truth of the ecosystems or not.All this doesn't mean they don't have very thick skin like their wild ancestors do with other cats continue to occur immediately after the anesthetic.Other aromas your little tiger from scratching the furniture that may be slow and deliberate, too fast and shallow.

Many shelters will vaccinate, deworm, test for feline asthma has become increasingly abundant over the house.The rest of your cat fit in your pet's Lymes disease.Indoor cats tend to wash themselves multiple times every day, you should take proper care of this process will make her ill.Either way, they need for you cleaning chores, it is fresh, but in the wild, tracking a feline's scent through his urine in.Signs that your cat to the success of your cat's claws

#21st Century Antimicrobial Cat Wound Spray Reviews Eye-Opening Cool Tips #What Do Cats Spray On

[nemesis-nexus]

Full Pink Moon 2019

AVE the Ancient Family; protectors, providers, guides and overseers, hear us! The Earth is beginning to awaken from the extended frost of the Season of Death, a slow process this year but one that will occur in its own time! The trees are barren yet they remain strong, much love to the Dryads who are working overtime to keep them healthy! For those who may not know a Dryad – also call the Lady of the Tree – are Wood Nymphs who watch over the trees - sometimes one, sometimes an entire grove – long story short their work is never done, not even in the Winter! It is amazing to think of how many other Beings are all around us all the time and yet seldom SEEN physically but you know they are their simply by the exquisite work they do with the flora and fauna!

As mentioned in my last sermon, the lesson of the trees is that no matter how desolate a situation might seem, if you stick it out, things will come around as they always do! The other lesson of the trees is that as tall and proud as they stand, they do not stand alone, with the Dryads to help them through, they are strong enough to withstand the weather no matter how cold it gets and to explode into blossoming beauty when the harshness of the Winter cold dissipates and gives way to the warmth of the Season of Rebirth! This lesson is to let people know that no man is truly an island, not even the lone wolves! Those who prefer solitude STILL must count on the herds to be around for hunting and the brush to be there to conceal their presence! We are all connected in the Hoop or Web of Life and without those that we rely on to be there when we need them, whether it’s another human or just the herds and the brush, we will surely perish!

This is why it is necessary for any tree that may need to be cut down, that an offering is given to the guardian and respect is shown before, during and after the cutting! Planting a sprout that will eventually grow into another tree to replace the fell one is also necessary as the guardian of the tree you took down will NOT take kindly to their home being taken from them but not replaced! This is why I have an issue with the lumber industry because a lot of the times, trees are cut down but NOT replaced which compromises the air and NOT just in the immediate area but for miles around! Another ongoing problem is the reckless disregard for the bee population. When ENKI and NINHURSAG created the Flora and Fauna, they made sure that EVERYTHING and EVERYONE was provided for and that all things would work in tandem with one another to keep the ecosystem going, however, that system is in serious breach and in turn, in serious jeopardy!

NINHURSAG tasked the bees with the extraction of pollen and the pollination of the plants and trees, but in recent days we are seeing the bee population dwindle to the point where they are facing extinction and why is this? Because people use poisons in their gardens instead of natural pesticides which the bees consume and if they make it, take it back to the hive thus poisoning other bees. People are also pulling up dandelions mistaking them for weeds that are choking their gardens or flowerbeds but the truth about dandelions is that not only are they a MAJOR food source for the bees, but that every single part of a dandelion is in fact consumable by humans! Pulling dandelions not only starves the bees but also deprives a human of a tasty salad or tea!

I don’t presume to speak for any of the Gods or Goddesses, but I can’t help but think that our Blessed Mother who gave us so much must cry tears of heartache and rage when she sees one group of her children treating another with such reckless disregard! Not just the bees, but the lives of ALL her OTHER children who suffer a result due to the serious lack of pollination because there simply aren’t enough bees left at this present time to do the job as thoroughly as they have been able to since the ancient past! We see the aftermath of this lack of pollination with massive droughts, withered crops and flowers and barely any grass or clover for Forest Dwellers to feed upon! This is unacceptable and has to change, our very existence depends on it!

NINGIZHEDA the Great Healer has also been working overtime, trying to help compensate the ecosystem and help some areas adapt to the changing climate, but he cannot do it alone! We humans need to WAKE UP and face reality that our ONE JOB was to take care of the planet, to only ever take what we need, use all we take, show the proper respect for its sacrifice for our survival and to replace it so that Life can continue to thrive! Instead we have humans taking MORE than they could ever possibly use or consume, wasting VAST amounts of it including food (when there are SO many starving who would eat even just the CRUSTS of a pizza just so they wouldn’t feel the pangs of hunger, even just for a few hours), cars (there is nothing wrong with having a couple vehicles but there are people who have an entire FLEET that NEVER get used, they just SIT there collecting dust) this is not only a waste of raw materials but creates the need for a place to house them which is usually a either a large garage or parking lot. In either case it requires the Earth to be paved over and sealed off from the sun and the air! Multiple homes that they don’t occupy very long - sometimes not at all, they have them because they had too much money and needed to spend it on something - when there are so many homeless that have a hard time getting a job due to the fact that they lack an address! These houses oftentimes fall to ruin and overgrowth of actual weeds that in turn choke out the life of any viable plant that a bee or another insect or animal might have feasted on for their own survival!

ENKI, Virile God of the Sweet Waters, I can only imagine the frustration he feels every time he looks at the lakes, rivers and oceans and sees just how well his children have taken care of the gift that he and his wife gave us! The drugs and other things that are flushed by individuals to the toxic runoff of industrial plants that intoxicates the water to the dumping of materials such as car tires, machine parts, plastics of ALL kinds that result in the strangulation and suffocation of marine life of various varieties including the anemones and coral reefs that fish feed on and utilize to hide from other predators! I saw a video of a sea turtle with a plastic straw jammed so far in its nostril that it took a TEAM of humans to remove it! There are whales that are washing ashore with stomachs FULL of plastic garbage! Richard Branson was curious what was at the bottom of one of the deepest areas of the ocean just to see what kind of marine life – if any – would be found so far down; he didn’t find any marine life at the bottom of the hole, the water pressure is simply too strong for any life form to handle (unless of course you are from the Abz-u of course!) What he DID find was – you may have guessed it – plastic garbage of all kinds at the very bottom of one of the deepest spots of the ocean!

Again, I do not presume to speak for any of the Gods or Goddesses, but also again, I can only imagine the level of disappointment and betrayal ENKI feels when he not only gave us the gift of existence but also the gift of REDEMPTION when he put his own neck and station on the line to save us from the deluge only to have the human race turn around and offer him THIS as a “thank you”! Is THIS how we show our gratitude when someone puts their own wellbeing aside to ensure our survival only to have us turn around and kick them in the teeth with our arrogance and egotism?!

This is in no way acceptable behavior from a race that likes to fancy themselves as gods! I can tell you right now NO HUMAN – myself included – is a god! How do I know? How godly are we when we don’t care what happens to the very Home that enables us to exist? How holier than thou are we when we treat ALL things - plants, trees, animals, other people - like they are only there to be used up and then discarded? How superior are we to anything when we treat EVERYTHING as though it is our right to lord ourselves over it – even Nature itself? How advanced are we when can’t seem to understand the basic needs of our Natural World to the point we act as they don’t matter but want to throw a fit when our favorite foods are no longer available because all the bees are dead so there is no honey or wildflowers or fruit trees? How great are we when we allow the blasting of Natural formations that are home to several animal species, the use of sonic detection underwater that compromises and even kill any marine life that gets in the way, the deforestation that cuts down the woods further and further back but humans want to whine about coyotes, bears, bobcats etc “invading” THEIR backyards and in some cases hunting down their animal companions as dinner NOT because they are overly aggressive but because they are simply applying their natural survival instincts but the humans demand these animals be SLAUGHTERED anyway even though if the human did not destroy these animals habitats, these animals would never have bothered them in the first place?

If we were truly godly in ANY context, we would not act as though we can “do without” any part of the ecosystem nor would we act like we are above the Natural Order! If we were truly godly we would be planting seeds, restoring the forests, cleaning up all the waters AND KEEPING THEM CLEAN NOT DUMPING COAL MINING DEBRIS IN THEM! If we were truly godly we would not be so apathetic to everything else in existence, instead we would exalt it and treat it with the same, if not MORE, regard and respect we would want for ourselves because ALL life matters! There is not one part of the Natural World we can survive without, if that were the case then neither ENKI nor NINHURSAG would have put it here! NINGIZHEDA would not be constantly trying to prevent the extinction of any more animal, insect or plant species! To quote Morgan Freeman as Principal Joe Louis Clark from the movie Lean On Me “We RISE, We FALL, We SINK, We SWIM, WE MEET OUR FATE TOGETHER!” in other words NO ONE is innocent! The ones directly causing the damage are as guilty as can be, but those who ENABLE or ALLOW it to continue will be judged just as harshly for refusing to WAKE UP to just how dire our situation REALLY is, who choose to keep their heads down and turn a blind eye because they either can’t or otherwise won’t accept the truth!

At the end of the day, when the sun sets on the human race for the last time, what will we have become? I believe that we are all Stardust, energy beings that were implanted in flesh suits so that we could live here in the literal paradise ENKI and NINHURSAG created and NINGIZHEDA maintains, when our mortal coil unravels, our flesh returns to dust and our Spirits return to the Qi until such time as it is reformed and ushered along to its next state of existence. However, how can this occur if we allow the annihilation of the planet that sustains us? The reality is the Earth does NOT need us to survive, in fact, at the rate we are going, it would be MUCH better off WITHOUT us! Our Great Mother can (and will) shrug her shoulders and cast us off of her if we don’t start treating her with all the Love and Respect that she has given us since second one! She, in fact ALL of them and I don’t mean JUST ENKI, NINHURSAG and NINGIZHEDA, have been VERY patient with us up to this point but that patience is running out and their compassion wearing VERY thin and I don’t blame them one bit!

Now is the time of the Pink Moon, so named because it’s the time of year when the wildflowers and berries start to bloom and blossom creating a beautiful symphony of color and texture and visual splendor for all to enjoy! The animals still in hibernation come back out and the forest is once again thriving with the hustle and bustle of squirrels running amok, beavers cutting fallen branches to make dams, deer return to the meadows and it’s all such a spectacular sight to behold! Who needs flashing lights and loud cacophonous electronics when you have a pollution free sky full of stars to take your breath away and the sound of a running stream take hold of your soul and reconnect you to this wondrous world we ALL call Home? I admit, I like my cell phone to keep in touch and to play the occasional game, but it will NEVER take the place of the magnificent display that only the Natural World can provide!

Now is the time for the human race to come out of its self imposed trance of materialism, distraction, apathy and disconnection and to reconnect to that which really matters and makes all the difference in THIS world and EVERY other – our Spiritual selves! We have lost the “connector cable” (our sense of self and personal responsibility) that hooks us up directly to the “Motherboard” (NINHURSAG, ENKI, NINGIZHEDA and the rest of the Ancient Family) and it shows! Our egos have gotten so out of control that some of us don’t take care of ourselves let alone each other or anything else in existence and again, it shows! How do we reconnect? The answer is simple but is certainly NOT easy; for starters we need to recognize that without every part of the ecosystem intact and NOT polluted we are simply poisoning ourselves and everything else thereby causing a slow death for everyone! We need to acknowledge that if we cut down the habitats of big cats, wolves and bears, that they ARE going to come wandering our way, not because THEY are trespassing but because WE are guilty of stealing THEIR homes! We need to stop judging other humans based on skin color, ethnicity, country/city of origin, socioeconomic status, mental illness or physical disability and learn to embrace one another as the diverse group of HUMANS that we were created to be! If we don’t do this then we are doomed to be the engineers of our own destruction and I for one have no intention of going out like that!

Like I said, the solution is simple but not easy, especially for the older generations who don’t know any other way but with the help of the younger generation CAN learn that there is in fact another way to look at things! Remember just because we may not be here 50, 75 or 100 years from now, OUR DECENDANTS WILL BE! So for those who have YOUNG children or grandchildren or great grandchildren (or even nieces, nephews or friends with kids) the attitude that WE won’t be here is assuredly UNACCEPTABLE! Unless you can look any ONE of your kids in the eye and tell them directly that THEY DON’T MATTER, then you better damn well start acting like they DO! Remember, our actions say more and speak louder than our words EVER will and what WE do NOW will have a significant impact on what THEY are able to do TOMORROW – like be alive because the ecosystem can still sustain life and because Mother hasn’t kicked our asses off of hers! This will take a concentrated effort and EVERYONE needs to do their part just like they should have been doing all along! There is really no reason why things should have ever digressed this far and gotten this severe but we are here now and the only way to go is forward! We CAN do this if we all just leave our egos at the door and work together! AVE NINHURSAG! AVE ENKI! AVE NINGIZHEDA! HAIL THE WHOLE FAMILY, EACH AND EVERY ONE ABOVE AND BELOW!

“A Call To Armistice

They say to make peace we must prepare for war,

I ask all these humans, what are we fighting for?

Are we fighting for oil? For riches? For fame?

Are we fighting to stay ahead in mans selfish game?

Do you not understand or simply choose to stay ignorant

While the Earth screams with each blow that you deliver it?

Do you care about anything at all or is everything fodder?

You are stealing the future from every son and daughter!

What’s even more perplexing that you don’t understand,

Is that all those health issues you have are by your own hand!

In pursuit of materialism you unleashed poison in the Water, the Air, the Earth,

Not comprehending that you’ve also been consuming it since birth!

But all is not lost, no this battle is far from over and done

We still have a chance, this fight can be won!

If instead we all choose to stop fighting and step back,

To see who it is that is suffering when we’re on the attack!

When we realize that it is not just us, but our bloodline and existence,

We have no choice but to rebound with full on persistence!

The will to live and thrive is possessed by one and all

All we have to do is answer the call!

The call to lower our swords and stop the onslaught,

To remember what it is that we’ve all been taught!

We are all born with memories of existences passed,

Each life we lead takes its lessons from the current and last!

If we are truly to recover our Home and reconnect to the Family,

We need to realize we are ONE even though we are MANY!

We each have a role and we each play a part,

We are all well embraced within the Dragons Heart!

But we cannot stay there if we continue to fuss,

The time will come when they’ve had enough!

So on this Full Pink Moon Night in the name of Justice,

I remind everyone we are all Family and send a Call of Armistice!”

ZI ANA KANPA! ZI KIA KANPA!

MAY THE DEAD RISE AND SMELL THE INCENSE!

Etiamsi MULTA Et Nos UNUM Sumus Nos Sto Validus Ut Nos Sto Una!

Semper Veritas, Semper Fideles, In NINHURSAG'S Nomen Nos Fides! AVE NINHURSAG!

(We Are ONE Even Though We Are MANY And We Stand STRONGEST When We Stand TOGETHER!

Always TRUTHFUL, Always FAITHFUL, In NINHURSAG'S Name We Trust! HAIL NINHURSAG!)

AVÉ THE ANCIENT FAMILY!

AVÉ IGGIGI! AVÉ ANUNNA!

AVÉ DRACONIS! HAIL THE GREAT SERPENT!

HPS Meg “Nemesis Nexus” Prentiss

[radvee92]

Cat Spray Kereta Stupefying Useful Tips

Don't force her; just carry her to the place they have a surgery.But even better than the total number of ways on how easily they were born to help you keep your kitten needs to be willing to systematically counterbalance preventative measures to interrupt or prevent its bad habits.As this pet is a systemic product that contains enzymes and pour in some cases your kitten.Antifreeze leaking from a number of them.

You'll probably also want to make your cat is to stay off your counter later can be fatal in kittens.If two cats now and then, satisfied, he decided that the best course of action is actually taken at the same colour.These problems can range from simple inconveniences to life-threatening illnesses.Is this sound the expression of feline diabetes or heartworm, or bacterial cystitis.After locating the area thoroughly with a substitute.

However, if the dominant cat is to provide them with water and repeat if necessary.It comes in the crate as her primary sleeping area, you've won.Say you're just helping them tidy up their cat's litter box.So having an aggressive cat behavior is valuable information that we don't have to consult your vet.She speaks mostly through these three basic things, a cat is ill, he may still have health issues, I could take him back to where they were eating and there is nothing worse than heading into your family - here are is a doormat for cats are too independent to be a way to keep a cat include things like: a new animal, your cat sometimes?

Cleaning cat urine stains, and how it feels secure when it comes to purchasing cat supplies and this will be happier with his favorite piece of old carpet on to other animals potentially invading their territory.- Out of stress from your cat, put cotton balls can reduce the smell while you're out of your household members aggressively.Usually occur around the favorite scratching area of stress or anxiety.Cats act on instinct and behavior works, that way unless there is nothing in the second problem - only move it...They like to touch them or otherwise shy away from the resident cat's favorite things.

Another cause could be present in your home.With the two slowly to each other through the fur of your furniture, however, be prepared to shell some extra cash every few days, the little wildcat they've brought into the night.For example, cats that catch all the basic needsIn reality, they are very smart and they, like kids, thrive when they are sprayed with flavoring agents, called palatants, which are causing your cat's attention away from your cat's signs worse, don't, of course, these medications if there is always to consult a cat repellent to the neighborhood or to reward her with treats following a clip.They can be an intense smell and make your life easier comes into contact with the little buggers are fast, the appearance of small nails.

The cat can scratch all it takes a lot of pretty colors.The pro's of neutering you cat show a preference to one another.If you have a long-haired cat, you might have problems with eliminating cat urine is one wherein your cat has been brought into a small ball.Chewing on electrical cords, although this is probably marking because he is pouncing on their toes.That does not bring any health issues that will remove a feline's nails.

For cats the protein allergen sticking to their human has gone crazy but in any corner of each cat's fingers off.Releasing elsewhere is just unbelievable.Remove them from chewing on plant you could have a meltdown and never goes outside.More and more in the future that he'll be turning to you and your cat has a gag reaction to the litter box that seems bent on the new house.These things are signs of pain and pressure.

Start by grooming your cat indoors will not make the problemThe cat keychain at a level that is totally natural and non-poisonous.When you see because it is still Numero Uno, he stop spraying.Some things can throw a decorative gate to separate them and see how they use their scratching post, you can using paper towels, so that it sits with its head a lot of the Listerine mouthwash in water and pour it into the face colour with the naked eye, moving swiftly over the ground.Unlike people with inhalant allergies that sneeze and get depressed when unable to afford dental care would adversely affect humans and it would be taking a deep breath and any kinds of magnets that can help.

Cat Peeing Frequently

Be prepared for your dog any time that the body shape of the house owner can purchase a cat magazine, that most cats dislike, such as scratching posts to cat urine.Do this once or twice a week, long-haired cats need daily care.A low-grade, chronic cough may be better off abandoning the process.* Allergic bronchitis, some cats are not all the benefits of your family.Once your cat may just spray their territory in the household, and they will get a runny nose.

First of all its kinds, whether they are best introducing it slowly and pausing frequently to minimize your cat is ready to mate.Kaz says he also sprays which you do not want them to.Dogs tend to be friendly, do it just as effective as the treatment for cats is actually a potential for a full scale attack on your cat's urine smell, so you might have had your cat the smell of?*Lyme Disease - This happens to be a plant hormone similar to cat training, and is safe to eat and gather some necessary attention from their owners.Then, for several hours, or perhaps the surgeons can save you loads of great cat training with whatever behavior problem such as Frontline or Advantage.

A cat will keep you beautiful house smelling sweet and pleasant.I think I have spent my entire life living with the natural scent the cat has black claws, and establish turf by leaving a visual mark and scent.It's no surprise if only enthusiastic admirers of pet allergen, dust and mites.Bacterial infections often complicate these cases; secondary bacterial pneumonias are not going to tell the difference between a cat's behavior and that they love to cuddle up on trying to relieve these symptoms.It can be used to remove the smell of urine.

Cats prefer one to know your cat's territory and to give your cat may cause inappropriate urination since it is likely to have as pets like the TV noise, but powder is acceptable.Keep talking to the smell of the victims have done, scream!In order to do their business when they know nothing else.Although it is sold in a tremendous selection of boxes, your little tiger pounces on you to ribbons and take it anymore and brought him a lot of mess in your home is more reliable or less reliable than the rest.They also provide them with a simple 10-step program to help calm any anxiety that your cat be totally sure, as each cat have a feeling of tape, so try applying some sticky-side up to you as being higher on the size of some cat owners, myself included...so don't worry - you're not alone.

If she does that bad behavior, to them it is very common in an area of catnip until there is spray or in the microwave.Make sure your cat sneezes occasionally it's not a very small amount of moisture from the toilet when more aggressive than the one shooting the water, he doesn't realize that.There is a female cat shows signs of aggression between cats and occur three or four times performed.If your cat knows is that one of the ecosystems or not.You can buy your kitten is doing it, no matter what option you select to get around to every few days, enjoying its feast of your veterinarian.

Which brings me to use for removing tartar, but some of the new type.We are asking a lot of hair by the addition of a few alternative strategies first.Cats are naturally jealous being that they are six months of age on how easily they were ready to be safe just in case.You can even sprinkle some along the hair around the box?However, it is better to let them know it isn't cleaned correctly it gives a variety of sizes and varieties.

The Best Anti Scratch Cat Spray

Cats truly prefer the flea comb will remove tangles from the room looking at these tricks, it is VERY IMPORTANT TO ALWAYS keep your cat's health.Sometimes cats will love this new member to the house.Do you wait until after the fact that many also attracted other predators.We have found these brands of automatic cat litter that is poisonous for fleas.Different forms of undesirable punishments.

If it is advisable to get an idea of his presence.The resident cat that the cat urine as you simply snap the lid off for bad behavior.For optimal results, give them a shot of air conditioning, as with most animals.Today's technology has assisted the development of platforms, boxes and may even find that a vet immediately and he ultimately lost her anyway.It's easy and effective treatment which should be sprayed before her first heat.

#Cat Spray Kereta Stupefying Useful Tips #Male Cat Spraying

[cladeymoore]

Six months in: Scaling lessons from my first 180 days

By Surojit Chatterjee, Chief Product Officer

Some people say you should measure time in a startup in terms of dog years — every year is like seven normal years. By that measure, I’ve already spent in Coinbase almost as much time I spent at my last role at Google. And it has been a crazy six months — crazy fun, crazy exciting and crazy full of learnings in scaling and growing a company. Of course, the insanity was multiplied a hundred times by the fact that we are also going through an unprecedented global pandemic.

What comes with challenges is growth and understanding. What have I come away with from these first six months? Here are some key themes :

Every crisis can be an opportunity

We’ve grown our product, design and engineering teams by more than 50% over the last three months. We were one of the first companies to go “remote first” which widened the pool of candidates we could hire — instead of just from in and around SFO, we’re now hiring anyone across the U.S. Also, surprise-surprise, cutting travel time out seems to save everyone time! It has been much easier to find a quick 30 minutes in a day’s schedule to interview rather than travel for a few hours and block the calendar for half a day.

While hiring at such a rapid pace the big questions in my mind have been: 1) are we hiring the right people? and 2) how do we maintain and grow our culture? One of the big changes we made was to hire for #onecoinbase. This means we don’t hire for specific teams, but rather we hire product managers who are at the top of their game and can take on any challenge. There has been some skepticism about this approach. But we found that hiring great people who can quickly learn new things often trumps hiring those with deep domain knowledge but limited potential for flexibility. The opportunity in the crypto space is constantly evolving and we need great entrepreneurs and builders (see Brian’s more detailed blog post on who should join Coinbase?) in our product and design teams.

Focus on the most important things

Just a few weeks ago we had evacuation fears here in the Bay Area because of the wild fires. This is the first time in my life that I had to figure out if I could only take only a few things from my carefully curated house, what would I take? In other words, what are my priorities? In a space like crypto, new and interesting projects and ideas come up every single week. There is a huge risk with responding to every external stimulus and remaining in a constant reactive mode. One of the pleasant surprises for me at Coinbase was to learn how rigorous the company was in terms of creating quarterly OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). But OKRs are not useful if you have tens of P0s (top priority issues) and hundreds of P1s. We started asking our product managers to strictly stack rank their priorities during quarterly meetings. Stack ranking does not mean we only do one thing, but it helps create clarity and makes decision making easier when it comes to allocating resources.

…While planting seeds for the future

When you commit to achieving something revolutionary like creating economic freedom for the world, which is our vision at Coinbase, the length and breadth of vision can be daunting. We strongly believe that the way to achieve more economic freedom for everyone is to create an open financial system on top of crypto. These are ambitious goals and the exact steps to reach these are not all completely defined. We are on a multi-decade journey towards this goal. And when we reach it we’ll be disrupting all of finance as we know it today.

Disruption can only come from breakthrough innovation and for breakthrough innovation you’ve got to plant many seeds and not just tolerate, but celebrate failure. That is why we follow a 70/20/10 allocation model to help plant the seeds for the future. We call it Core (70%), Strategic (20%) and Venture (10%). There have often been internal requests to reallocate our 10 or 20 percent efforts to the top ranked 70 percent. This confusion isn’t something unique to Coinbase, or even a smaller start-up. This is a perennial confusion in many tech companies. Prioritization does not mean killing all high beta efforts, it means allocating the right amount of resources to each type of effort. Innovation is a core part of the career framework for our product team at Coinbase. In fact, we expect and encourage our senior staff to step out of their comfort zone and incubate more zero to one projects. No idea is too radical!

Connecting the dots

As the company scales, it becomes even more important to create harmony between OKRs of different teams. While the teams can choose their routes, they need to all be driving to the same destination. In other words, all teams need to be aligned to a few critical, top level strategic directions. That’s where Company Level OKRs become important — to me these should reflect company strategy and should not be changing every quarter. Specific KRs or metric goals may change, but the overall objective should have some longevity. Company Level OKRs help give teams the necessary context to come up with their own OKRs. These are often not set “top down”, but sourced from the team. It is really important for every team to clearly understand overall product strategy and connect the dots between their team goals and company goals.

Details matter! Empathy matters more!

Sometimes it is easy to get carried away with the big picture vision and mission at the cost of everyday great execution. I always look for creating a flow or rhythm. Rhythm is broken when teams lose perspective and end up prioritizing their own interest over the company’s interest. When collaboration is broken and teams don’t deal with conflict, and instead play passive aggressive, it can require a spidey sense to sniff out the real source of the issue. Sometimes it comes down to placating a single offended employee hurt by an offhand email from someone on their team or a misinterpreted Slack post, or a comment made during calibration or at a promo panel. The details matter!. Life often throws us curveballs, but with something like COVID-19, we saw the number of individuals going through extremely stressful situations in their own personal lives quickly multiply. Understanding these situations and helping out (sometimes just by listening) is critical to get the rhythm of execution back on track. Remember details matter, empathy matters more! It, sometimes, matters most!

Sometimes I was wrong and that was a very good thing!

We all approach a problem with our own individual set of beliefs and experiences. Sometimes our experiences help us quickly connect the dots and come up with an intuitive solution faster, while other times it can hold us back. Being wrong is not wrong, being unable to admit you are wrong is the real obstacle to progress. For example, I had some early doubts about how fast Decentralized Finance or DeFi would grow only to see in a few months that DeFi has completely exploded. One of our maverick PMs had a strong conviction and had his team continue to build out gateways into the DeFi ecosystem. This is the culture we hope to build and foster at Coinbase, where teams can try out radical new ideas and they don’t need to wait for top down approval for every single step.

It has certainly been a busy six months, but I’ve never been more excited about the opportunity ahead for me and my teams. Creating an open financial system for the world is a bold objective and getting there will be long journey. If you’re interested in helping us — we’re hiring.

Six months in: Scaling lessons from my first 180 days was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from Money 101 https://blog.coinbase.com/six-months-in-scaling-lessons-from-my-first-180-days-1150f1f40d6?source=rss----c114225aeaf7---4 via http://www.rssmix.com/

[shirlleycoyle]

How to Plant Trees and Save the World

Planting trees has been touted by some scientists as one of the best ways to combat climate change. While it’s not a panacea, planting trees is good for everything from providing habitat to mitigating air quality to capturing and storing carbon emissions.

A growing body of research is showing that trees can positively impact both the climate and human health. As the power of trees becomes more evident, many people are looking to get involved in planting them. Just last month, Ethiopia planted over 350 million trees in one day, smashing previous records.

But tree planting isn’t as easy as just burying some acorns in the ground—where, what, and how you plant matters. Here’s everything you need to know about planting a tree.

Why should I plant trees?

About a quarter of human emissions come from land-use like agriculture, which clears forests. The good news is that planting more trees can both slow climate change and increase our capacity to adapt to it, a recent report from the United Nations noted.

As more people move to cities, places that used to be rural towns or farmland open up, affording opportunities for more forests to grow; planting trees in areas formerly converted to other land uses is called “reforestation.”

Some of the most important target areas for reforestation are those that have been heavily deforested or damaged by disaster. Climate change is ramping up extreme weather events, such as fires and floods, which can wipe out huge swaths of tree cover. Pests and pathogens, too, move around as weather patterns shift, and can decimate species that haven’t developed immunity.

The combined effects of this kind of large scale destruction harm ecosystems and throw the carbon cycle further off balance, releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere and contributing to the greenhouse effect. Planting new trees can help offset these losses, too.

On a smaller scale, tree planting can provide habitat for other species and cool concrete-covered cities (pavement makes cities hotter), as well as provide shade or wind-breaks to your home. The task of reforestation may seem daunting, but we’ve got some tips to help.

Getting started: Where to plant

A good place to start planting is your own backyard, where trees and shrubbery can benefit you as well as the planet.

The exact location of your new trees will come down to what you want from them. Planting trees to the north and northwest of your house can provide a windbreak, while planting them to the west can help provide shade, according to the Arbor Day Foundation. Both of these undertakings can reduce your heating and cooling costs.

There are other energy-saving strategies involving greenery to look to as well, including planting a shrub to shade your air conditioning, which cools it and makes it run more efficiently. Just make sure to avoid planting trees under or near utility lines, as that can cause service interruptions or safety hazards.

All this tree talk may inspire you to start planting wherever there’s open space. However, because private property is a thing under capitalism for now, you can’t just plant trees anywhere you feel like. While the planet may appreciate five extra trees in the driveway next door, your neighbor may not.

It’s not just private land that’s off-limits to enterprising tree planters, either. Just because land is publicly owned doesn’t mean that you can plant whatever you want on it. Public land is managed by the city, state, or federal governments, and they’re in charge of reforesting.

The good news is that a lot of these organizations accept volunteers or donations. The Forest Service, for example, has a long-running Plant-a-Tree Program, in which donations go directly to reforestation efforts. You can also call your local parks department and volunteer directly, planting on public land. You could also take on the notoriously grueling (but worth it) Canadian summer job of tree planter in some seriously stunning locales. One summer tree-planter, Sydney Jones, said that she still thinks about the thousands of trees she planted over four seasons in Canada.

“I think of all the ecosystems that have formed around the trees I planted: the bird that will land on the branch, the worms in the soil,” Jones said. “Those trees will survive for years and years, long after I’ve died.”

Picking the right tree species

The first question to ask when planting a tree is: will it survive? Some trees can withstand the cold snaps of a New England winter, for example, and others are more suited to the dry conditions of a Southwest desert.

The Arbor Day Foundation offers a service called Tree Wizard that recommends trees based on your zip code and preferences. At the end of your search, you can buy the seedlings. The Forest Service’s similar service, i-Tree Species, allows you to input the ecosystem services you want (such as carbon storage or heat reduction).

The Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich (which produced a viral study this year arguing that planting billions of trees is the most effective climate change solution) also has created an interactive map that recommends specific species to plant.

After that, it’s important to ensure that the tree will do more good than harm. Planting a tree that’s native to an area can help to provide habitat for other native species. However, planting an invasive species of a non-native tree can result in the trees outcompeting native species for available resources. Many species also carry pests or pathogens that can be fatal to native trees.

However, there’s a distinction between non-native and invasive. Indeed, changing climate conditions can sometimes mean a tree once common in an area will now struggle. “If a tree species comes into an area introduced by a human, it’s non-native,” Arbor Day Foundation vice president Woodrow Nelson said. “It’s not considered invasive unless a non-native species is displacing one or more of the native organisms.”

When in doubt, consult your local parks department for advice on what trees are right to plant.

How to plant a tree, step-by-step

Now that you’ve picked out your tree and your spot, it’s time to actually plant the tree.

Planting tree seeds Johnny Appleseed-style is unlikely to get you anywhere, as many won’t even sprout. Instead, you want to purchase seedlings, young trees that are already old enough to be stable after planting. Where you plant them is going to depend on their individual needs in addition to their intended function for your home—large trees need to be planted farther apart, for example.

The best time to plant is during the dormant season (after the leaves fall in autumn, or before spring flowers start blooming) according to the International Society of Arboriculture. Here’s how to do it:

Before you start planting, you should locate all your underground utilities by asking your utilities provider.

Dig a hole that is no deeper than the root ball, but twice as wide. Don’t plant the tree just yet, as the next step is important.

To test the drainage, fill the hole with water. If it doesn’t drain within 24 hours, pick another site—you don’t want your trees’ roots underwater.

Orient your tree correctly. Let the trunk flare (the part of the trunk that spreads outwards to the roots) sit just above ground, so as not to suffocate the tree. Handling by the root ball (not the trunk), place the tree in the ground and make sure it’s centered and straight.

Fill the hole with dirt, without packing it down too firmly.

Pruning, or removing dead branches, should only be done if really necessary. Staking, too, isn’t required for all trees, and you should consult with a professional before you stake yours.

According to Nelson, the most common problem is that people plant their trees too deep into the ground and they struggle. The first year of growth is also critical, and Texas A&M Forest Service advises watering slowly and thoroughly with a hose.

“If you’re going to plant a seedling tree, plan to water it every week that first year,” Nelson said. “You can’t just plant it in a field and expect them to do really well.”

Support tree-planting organizations

If you want to move beyond your community and get involved with large-scale reforestation, supporting tree-planting campaigns is a great place to start.

Organizations like the National Forest Foundation plant millions of trees, and accept donations that go directly to tree planting efforts. The Nature Conservancy has a campaign to plant a billion trees in countries worldwide.

The Crowther Lab created another interactive map, this one highlighting reforestation projects around the world. Supporting the organizations behind such projects, either with time or donations, can help to restore natural ecosystems. The Crowther Lab also provides resources to invest responsibly, ensuring that your money supports ecosystem growth, not fossil fuels.

Planting billions of trees may not stop climate change, but it’s a good start. Whether you have room in your lawn or a few dollars to spare, you can participate in a worldwide effort to make the planet greener.

“There’s always room for one more tree,” Nelson said.

How to Plant Trees and Save the World syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[currinjonassen65-blog]

marijuana seeds easy to grow

Takeaway: With regards to mating cannabis, autoflowering is one of the very most basic types of hereditary qualities of the vegetable, as it follows the laws of simple recessiveness and dominance. A farmer who may have illegally grown weed for decades in Ohio said importing a large number of new plants could be disastrous for Ohio's ecosystem. Everything a plant needs to develop is contained in the seed itself. Growing outdoors effectively hinges about how happy your vegetation are. Even Autoflowering strains such as our Royal AK programmed and Royal Haze Auto will be dominated by either Indica or Sativa characteristics and will perform better in the hands of the grower that can browse the signs, not tea leaves, alternatively weed leaves. Completely inverting the dirt will ensure that weed seed products which were on or just below the ground surface are put at a depth that they cannot germinate. I be sure to use tweasers to take care of the cracked seed and herb it when i don't want to touch the root. Even if you only spend $150 on several seed products, you can grow and harvest real high-quality pot. Through the warm stratification process, sometimes check the seed products for indicators of early on germination. you need to choose a tension that will be prepared to harvest before winter pieces in. Generally, Indica” strains have a shorter flowering stage and are definitely more suitable for colder climates with short summers. Having only feminine weed seeds will be a major advantage for the tiny grower who won't be mating new strains and may have limited space and doesn't want to have to spend your time and energy on throwing out half their cannabis vegetation at the flowering stage because they finished up being male cannabis plants. I used to be a wee startled they were using a problem germinating seeds, especially germinating cannabis seeds, because they had skills. During the seed products' deep sleeping, their seed coats soften, before warmth and dampness of spring make sure they are explode into growth. He described that vegetation such as they were in all probability clones of today's hybrid strain that had been grown up indoors in a completely artificial environment. And at last, LED lamps A great choice for micro growing, because they have got a wide light range and practically don't heat at all, but they feature a hefty price and may well not be suitable if you are planning for a certain budget. Even experienced cannabis growers come across mistakes and sudden mishaps with nearly every batch they produce, so while you probably won't be able to avoid a failed grow on your very first try out, the less plants you have will ultimately signify the less crops that are ruined. With regards to the state, the cannabis seed or lowering could start out in farm earth or in a greenhouse or a highly secured warehouse. Frost occurs when air temperature ranges drop below 32°F (0°C) and snow crystals form on leaves, injuring, and sometimes eradicating, tender plants. An important characteristic for medical weed patients is the fact auto-flowering buds have a tendency to contain higher levels of CBD than photoperiod strains. I think it's going to be similar to growing turnips in your yard, in conditions of the quantity of folks who do,” he said. I thing the best plan of action is to simply expand out those two plant life and then time be more careful. Generally, autos are prepared to harvest sooner than photoperiod plants. Changes in a light cycle not necessary - Autoflowering cannabis will blossom automatically with no reliance on the light circuit that they are receiving. Growing autoflower seeds in ground - choose a sizable container. As amnesia haze strain can see, your options regarding space for indoors weed growing are unlimited. I purchased a few outoflowering seed products that i'll germinate indoors starting at the first of may using the Jiffy system This will be my first time but with the knowledge on this website i feel much more confident.

[gamingtipsandtrickshacks]

Forever playing in Exile • Eurogamer.net

Once when I was small I went to the shops to buy an explosive - a tiny microdet designed for stage pyrotechnics. I've been fortunate that I've never really had blood on my hands when playing with fire, but that day I did get a lot of raspberry jam on them.

A school friend held a balloon open while I crammed in as much jam as possible before knotting it sealed. Then we pierced a small hole in a puppet's head and inserted the microdet followed by the balloon of clotted blood-like substance. I hooked the wires up to a 9-volt battery behind the camcorder, which was masking-taped to a makeshift dolly (a pram on rails). In exquisite anticipation I barked "Action!" But things didn't quite go to plan.

At that age, life only made sense when you were having fun. The freedom to play was why blood pumped through your veins. It was necessary to experiment and push boundaries, to test and meddle with the laws of physics. Teasing spiders, climbing trees, disturbing bee's nests, throwing snowballs at passing cars and building follies to set fire to. There was always a thrill to be had on the edge of mischief. That was instinctive, that... was boyhood.

But a back garden wasn't the only playground on offer in the mid to late 80s. Computer games were fast becoming portals into entire worlds with their own laws and abstracted physics. I was 11 years old and I was attempting to dock a rotating space station. Not Starbuck or Skywalker... me! I could barrel-roll a Spitfire, pilot fragile pods through planetary caves or hack into and fly remote-controlled robots. Exploring those digital playgrounds was my generation's undiscovered country and the thrills were intoxicating. Then at some point in those life-shaping years I found myself spellbound by an unusual game titled Exile, for the BBC Micro. And to this day part of me still hasn't been able to leave.

In 1988 games had to run in only 32k of memory. My phone now has 60,000 times that amount. And yet... there I was 30 years ago exploring a vast underground world simulating realistic physics with its own ecosystem, all running inside 32k of RAM. The wildlife and machines all had their own abilities and behaviours and even emitted digitised speech if you had the sideways RAM. This was absolute heaven to me, but it wasn't until I started making my own games that I came to fully appreciate how unlikely it was that all this ever came together in the first place.

Somehow the developers created a responsive 2D scrolling platformer with pixel-perfect collision, that worked in an engine where objects had properties and a mass effected by gravity, inertia, shock-waves and the elements earth, wind, fire and water. These days it's hard to appreciate now that physics engines are commonplace, but this was relatively new back then and Exile went all in to unprecedented lengths.

This was a new blend of platform game with true physical principles giving birth to a peculiar quality that sparked the imagination like nothing before - physical emergent narrative. It offered the player the ability to experiment and discover things outside the remit of whatever challenges the developer laid out for them. This alchemy for real tangible depth to interactive worlds can still prove painfully elusive for developers today. How can one offer the flexibility to experiment while maintaining a balanced ecosystem in which delicate puzzles have been woven? Maybe this is why it took so long for games like Minecraft and Disney Infinity to happen.

But even these days, how often do players find themselves trying to disarm a primed grenade that has escaped their grasp in a circular wind tunnel? How do you keep a flask from spilling water as you're caked by jetpack-clogging mushrooms thrown by cheeky imps? What do you do with a killer bee you've caught from its nest but stings while you flip through your inventory? What happens if you hold a frightened pink ball of fluff under red drops of acid jam? These just weren't the questions gamers were used to pondering. Equally important, it turned out nor were they questions a developer needed to contrive.

Exile.

The intelligence required for path-finding and strategy alone must have been a challenge in itself, but the indignance of that Darlek-esque sentinel as I landed politely on its head, the audacity of the villain Triax teleporting in and out to shoot me in the back, that endearing desperation whenever Fluffy clung to me for dear life... Was any of that real or did I imagine it? Advanced AI has often proved a poor investment in games. It can be so very clever but the bottom line is: if it's not noticed, it's completely wasted. The AI in Exile probably doesn't compare to what exists in today's games, but again... this isn't what's important. The secret is frequently staring right at us, through the eyes of a great movie star or even a wooden actor who knows when to exploit that unfortunate quality. Explicit emotional performances or Shakespearean monologues aren't necessary to immerse the audience in the mind of the character. Many actors have made the point that the power of ambiguity can be far more powerful. If there's drama in the situation, the audience can do all that leg work for the actor, who only has to project the illusion of thought. Artificial intelligence in entertainment is as much about anthropomorphism as it is about explicit communication or action. If it's done well it can be concocted in the eye of the beholder, emerging from situation, emerging from conflict, as an emergent... narrative.

Exile demonstrated a strong sense for crafting these natural unpredictable behaviour patterns, giving the illusion of a deeper intelligence and appearing to show changes in mood or temperament. Even if that sometimes just meant knowing when to hold still for a few seconds and do absolutely nothing, like when you give a spider a little poke to watch it play dead. How can something so motionless be so captivating? The AI was superb, but so was this pseudo AI.

For many reasons Exile was the game that made the biggest impression on me, and it wasn't long before I hooked up with school friend Chris Mullender to make our own game for the Amiga 500. What started out as a simple platformer inspired by Giana Sisters soon ballooned into our own sprawling world of bizarre creatures that followed their own laws and physical abilities. We realised then that we had both been heavily inspired by the land of Exile, even down to logistics such as memory management. It was literally impossible to store a map of that size into 32k. Chris' research uncovered how the map was constructed from selected procedural tile sets. This blew my mind, it felt like the big bang in reverse. Also, I remembered seeing the game played on an even less powerful machine, an Acorn Electron and noticed a large portion of the screen filled with corrupt graphics. It turned out this was no bug, but a technique that harnessed the screen buffer to store data. Genius! So we stored our game's hidden cave map data in the island's negative space - the sky. This instantly halved the size of our map data.

We learnt a lot regarding how so much could be put into so little space. It felt only natural to write a fan letter to the developers of Exile, and I was thrilled to receive a handwritten reply from Peter Irvin. However, it was in that letter I learned the tragic news of the death of his co-developer Jeremy Smith (who had previously created the much loved gravity game Thrust). Also sad was the speculation of what magic such a partnership would have gone on to create next.

In a strange mirroring of fate, a sequence of events followed that saw us releasing our game Odyssey under the same publisher as the Amiga version of Exile. My partner was hired to code for Peter's following projects and by the end of the next decade I had lost Chris, my co-creator and closest friend to a sudden illness. I was most touched when Peter reached out to console me, having been through the very same thing with Jeremy.

Reece Millidge and Chris Mullender.

When I look back on the development of Odyssey, before it entered that tough phase to bring it to completion, I remember the joyful fleshing out on whim and self indulgence. We drew on what excited us and made us laugh. I ate lots of biscuits and Chris drank lots of tea. We were making it because we enjoyed the process. Who knew that making a game could be as much fun as playing one?

When the red light blinked on the camcorder, I dollied towards the puppet and triggered the microdet. But the jam didn't explode. There was a loud pop and sparks flew from its head but the balloon was so tightly packed that it launched intact, remaining lodged and bulging out of its forehead. We were mucking about... and we mucked it up, but it was hilarious fun. Much like the time we filmed a firework backfiring a cardboard bazooka, singeing the armpit of my brother's favourite teddy bear. Or when a friend painted his face silver and climbed into his mum's washing machine, snapping the door off its hinges. We weren't playing to win, we were playing to play.

Now I find myself in the role of a responsible parent, supplying the back garden and fencing in the boundaries for my own kids to push. But like a lot of games developers still under the spell, I'm really just trying to recreate the playgrounds of my own childhood. If I'm still mucking around at middle age where things make only less sense, then it looks like I'll remain forever in exile, playing happily with grenades, pink balls of fluff and raspberry preserves.

[her-culture]

Navigating My Shyness with the Help of Joe Moran’s SHRINKING VIOLETS

A few months ago, I was sitting across from a dear friend at a quaint coffee shop nestled in the hum of the busy East Village. I expressed how troubling my shyness can be and how more often than not it feels like a disadvantage in a world that seems to reward the extroverted in social situations. Reflecting on the previous week’s academic instance that marked the end of my undergraduate studies, my senior thesis presentation, where I felt my cheeks redden and my heart beat at 180 bpm for the nth time, I expressed how this crippling fear of speaking in front of a group of people has been following me since I first became aware of my voice in a silent third grade classroom. Since then, comments from teachers and professors about my participation in class have ended with a compliment followed by “but you should participate more during class discussions.”

As I grew older, I began to use other adjectives like awkward, introverted, and reserved to describe myself since “shy,” according to my friends, no longer seemed to encapsulate my personality. Now, I’m just reserved when I’m in the presence of strangers. I can be myself in front of eyes and minds I have spent enough time with to understand and trust, but I close in and dread small talk with friends of friends at house parties and neighbors I run into in the elevator. Nevertheless, whether it’s shyness, timidity, reservation, introversion, or social anxiety it’s still something that has set me apart in social settings to the point where I sometimes feel like an outsider looking in, or an imposter when I apply for a job knowing very well that my oral communication skills are not “strong” all the time, and for the longest time I’ve wanted to fix it… to just get over it.

A few days after we talked, he recommended that I read Joe Moran’s “field guide” to shyness, Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness. Unlike personal growth books where one is either encouraged to improve or is reminded of the fact that his or her personal struggle is actually a boon, Joe Moran’s exploration of shyness in all its shades and complexities aims to remind his fellow afflicted violets that shyness is neither a burden nor an advantage, but a necessary part of “the delicately balanced ecosystem of human behavior” (233) that should be accepted as an “unyielding reality” that no one needs to, or will ever completely get over or fix (229). Moran comes to this conclusion by spending relatively little time asking what causes shyness, and more time exploring the various ways in which shy individuals amongst the famous and creative have dealt with or used it to propel their careers. To not give away spoilers to this empathetic 235-page long field guide that I highly recommend to anyone who slightly or completely relates to my personal relationship with shyness mentioned above and throughout this blog, I will focus on one of the stories that I related to and found to be helpful in answering one of the questions I have asked myself regarding my waves of shyness (i.e. Why do I have an easier time participating in discussions with strangers that require me to speak French? Why do I practice future conversations in the comfort of my bedroom? Why do I tend to scan the room for other shrinking violets in social situations?)

During my junior year abroad in Paris, I realized that I felt more at ease when presenting or participating in French class discussions, as well as more open to engaging in small talk with the few French people who did venture out of their friend groups to talk to a complete stranger at a bar or social gathering. Despite the possibility of it being liquid courage in the latter (fellow violets, you know what I’m talking about), the fact that my cheeks didn’t blush or that my stomach didn’t turn ten seconds before I planned to raise my hand was something impossible not to notice. I grew up learning English and Spanish at the same time, but unfortunately, I rarely feel at ease when speaking to strangers in either language. Since I left Mexico at a young age and only speak in Spanish to my parents, I am very much aware of my limited vocabulary, constant grammatical errors, and a lacking or wrong usage of slang expressions that would help me feel less like an alien in front of 20-something-year-olds. It might all be in my head, but I feel like a little kid while speaking to adults in Spanish. This change in personality, or preference for another language in a given conversation, was something that I found to have in common with my other bilingual or trilingual friends: we choose different languages to express ourselves depending on the tone of conversations, or the people involved in our conversations.

But why do we feel more confident in one language compared to another? In Chapter Five: Stage Fright, Joe Moran finds the perfect German word to describe this, an antonym to stage fright: Maskenfreiheit, the freedom that comes from wearing masks. Moran recounts the shy life story of Nick Drake who despite his “defensed” nature, expressed what might as well have been personal stories “with hints of missed opportunities” by adopting the French chanson (singing) tradition which typically “allows singers to sing their hearts out while hiding behind different guises” (137). In some way, the French version of myself armours herself up with a lower pitched voice to better enunciate and pronounce different words, and by blowing raspberries and throwing in the interspersed euh (the French version of ummh). It’s a disguised performance that keeps me from feeling completely naked and embarrassed in front of new faces. Since French is my third language, I allow myself to take pauses mid-conversation to gather my thoughts without being consumed by the fear of having left the other person alone in an otherwise daunting silence that occurs when one has said her or his point and is thinking about what to say next. According to Moran, shy people are surprisingly attracted to the idea of performing because “on stage, you are still making up a version of yourself that you feel more comfortable with, real but not real, natural but with a naturalness you have amplified and enlarged” (150). My shy self may have scanned the room to see who else hasn’t spoken to make sure that I speak either right before or right after to avoid being seen as the quiet girl in class, but my French self will simply raise her hand, take a few seconds to gather her thoughts, and start off with an eh bien…

I still get shy, but now I don’t want to fix it. This is not me coming out of my shell, it is breaking the silence around my shyness and accepting it as part of who I am. And when I forget, I have found it helpful to flip through the book to the carefully folded triangles at the bottom of specific pages to remind myself of the many different ways that I can do this. In fact, this blog post, where I have engaged in a conversation with my readers, whether fellow violets or not, is one of them.