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tumblingdoe · 5 years ago

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FULL INTERVIEW WITH DR. KIT STUBBS the founder of the Effing Foundation.

1. How did the Effing Foundation start? Why? Why you?

I started getting the idea for what would eventually become the Effing Foundation back around 2012. I had started making some very nerdy sex toys -- my first dildo, the Tardis Tickler, is a copy of my favorite toy with a small Tardis suspended inside it; I also made The Hammer, a rainbow light-up dildo controlled by an Arduino microcontroller. People really enjoyed those toys! They made people laugh, and they encouraged people to talk about sex and sexuality in a way that wasn't sexualizing or objectifying. So I started giving talks about DIY sex toys and sex/tech, which meant I started meeting all kinds of cool artists, educators, and other sex-positive folk. And I realized that there was a growing community of creators who were trying to start these conversations, but that it's incredibly difficult to get financial support to do so. I realized that changing the world requires money. It takes a lot of other things, too, but if you don't have money, it's hard to get very far. So the Foundation grew out of the desire to move money from, say, my friends in tech who are sex-positive, and get it to sex-positive artists and educators who really need the support to do their work.

Why me? Well, after I got my Ph.D. in robotics and had been working in that field for a couple of years, I realized that there were already a lot of people doing great work in robotics. But there weren't very many people doing sex-positive activism, and I have a lot of privileges that make it easier for me -- I'm white, I'm well-educated, I have financial support, and I can use my wallet name with the fancy letters after it. I felt that I could make better use of those advantages, and make a bigger impact on the world, if I moved from robotics to sex-positive activism.

2. Why do you keep it going? How long would you like it to live on for?

I work so hard to keep the Foundation alive not only because I love doing this work -- I have met so many amazing people, and I have had the honor of helping to bring some absolutely fabulous projects into the world -- but also because it's so desperately needed. We've made a lot of progress, but we are still a ways away from a world where every person has access to pleasure-focused, scientifically accurate, age-appropriate, queer, trans, and disability-inclusive sexual education; a world where we can have open conversations about sex, sexuality and asexuality, about consent and relationships, without fear, shame, or stigma.

I want the Effing Foundation to live on until it's no longer needed, to be honest! But I think we have a lot of work to get there.

3. What's your big dream with it?

I want us to be able to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, to be able to offer ongoing funding to projects we support, and to have a small staff of folks who are doing this full time and getting paid for their work. Right now we can only make grants in the US, but eventually I'd love for us to gain the skills and people we need in order to make grants internationally, too.

4. Is there a way for the public to have a say on who is granted funding?

No, not really, and that's an intentional choice. The folks who have the most say right now are our Board and our Advisory Council, which is made up of sex-positive artists, educators and activists -- as much as possible, we want funding decisions to be made by people who represent the communities we are trying to support.

If you're a member of the public, you can get involved by donating and by telling your favorite sex-positive educators, artists, or organizations about our grant program so they can apply!

5. When is the application for funding deadline?

We haven't announced next year's calendar yet, but generally submissions open in late spring and close in the summer. If you want to get emails about the grant program, you can go to

https://www.effing.org/join

and sign up for grant updates there.

6. How do you decide who to give the money to?

Our submission process starts with an online survey, where someone tells us a bit about who they are and what they would like to do. We first rule out submissions that aren't really about sex or that aren't #ownvoices (meaning the person doing the work doesn't share the same life experiences as the people the work is focused on). We also rule out projects where there are other funding agencies available, like projects that are about public health. We look at how well the work supports our mission and our values, and we have a number of demographic goals to make sure we are getting funding to people with (multiple) marginalized identities. We also have a set of special topics that we're particularly interested in -- this year, those topics included supporting intersex people and supporting neurodiverse people. Based on all of those goals, our staff and Advisory Council narrow those initial surveys down to the top dozen or so, and then those projects move to the next round where they give us more details and things like a budget. The Advisory Council reviews that information more closely and provides feedback to the applicants, who have an opportunity to edit their applications before the Advisory Council reviews them and make recommendations to the Board, who make the final funding decisions.

We try to balance supporting projects and organizations that are well-established with supporting people who may be relatively new to the sexuality space; and we try to make sure we are funding projects from a lot of different parts of the US.

7. Is sexuality underfunded!?!

The sexuality field is extremely underfunded! If you start looking at an area like public health -- HIV and STI prevention and treatment -- those have some funding, but they're still really underfunded. If you look at things like queer- and trans-inclusive, pleasure-focused sex education, or support for art that celebrates sexuality, or for resources supporting fat folks or disabled folks with respect to sex, there's basically nothing. Sadface!

We're extremely proud that the Effing Foundation funds the kinds of work that almost no one else will. Award-winning, ethically produced queer feminist porn? An anthology of erotic live-action games? Phenomenal fat-positive nude photography shoots? Yep, we fund that.

8. How much of an impact do you think it makes? Do you have statistics?

In our first two years, we've awarded over $100,000 in grants. That has helped us reach over 2,400 people directly as audience members, workshop participants, and performers, and we've reached over 240,000 people via the web (including social media, web visits, and podcast downloads). That doesn't include the impacts that are harder to measure -- the work that couldn't have been done with out our support, and the difference that we've made in the lives of individual artists and educators, where we've helped fund new equipment that will help them keep doing their awesome work for years to come.

9. Why did you choose to partner with Sexplanations?

Choosing to partner with Sexplanations was a really exciting opportunity for us. Sexplanations works to provide inclusive, scientifically accurate, pleasure-focused sex education, which is exactly the kind of work that our organization wants to support! We're a relatively young and small organization, so this partnership also gives us the opportunity to tell the Sexplanations audience about our mission and our awesome grantees.

10. What do you want my audience to know about the Effing Foundation?

The Effing Foundation is a new non-profit whose entire purpose is to help bring more sex-positive art and education into the world. If you like Sexplanations, you might also like some of the other projects we're supporting! And if you want to support awesome sexuality educators and artists, your donations will help us make even more grants.

11. What other names did you come up with for it before choosing the Effing Foundation?

Oh, geez! I am so horrible at naming things. So originally my idea had been to build a crowdfunding site for sexuality projects (this was back before you could put much of anything relating to sex on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo), and the best name I could come up with for that site was "Passionate Produce." It was a very weird garden metaphor. Once I realized that it made more sense to build a not-for-profit, The Effing Foundation was actually almost the first name that I came up with, but I was like, "lol, that would never actually work." So I spent another six or eight months trying to come up with a name, but I never found anything that was as good or memorable as The Effing Foundation. So here we are!

12. What is your fundraising goal?

We are trying to raise $150,000 this year, which will let us make more grants and help build our organization's capacity for the future. Our stretch goal is closer to $250,000. (More specific time frame: $75,000 by the end of November and $150,000 by the end of May.)

13. What is the best way for people to donate?

Go to

www.effing.org/donate

! We accept PayPal, checks, credit or debit cards directly on our site, and more.

14. Can they donate in someone else's honor? Like a gift for the holidays?

That's a great idea! Unfortunately we don't have a way to do that on the website yet.

15. How do you feel when you inform people they are grant recipients?

Telling people that they've been awarded a grant is The. Best. It's absolutely the highlight of my year. I'm so excited, and they're so excited! And what's great is, it's really just the beginning of a new collaboration -- now we get to provide support and watch as grantees start doing fabulous things.

16. How can people get in ways?

My guess is this question is, how can people get involved?

- Sign up for our newsletter (www.effing.org/join) and follow us on social media (@Twitter, facebook.com/EffingFoundation)- Donate if you can.- Please help us spread the word! If you have friends who are into sex-positivity, please tell them about us. If you are doing sex-positive activism, or you know someone else who is, please check out our grant program (www.effing.org/grants).- If you're interested in running a fundraiser for us, or you have other skills to volunteer, drop us a line ([email protected]).

17. What gap is the Effing Foundation filling? Is there anything else helping to fill this gap?

There are some awesome groups out there doing sex-positive education and activism, and activism in support of sex workers, and we hope you'll consider supporting them as well. Here are just a few to get started:

- Scarleteen (https://www.scarleteen.com/)

- The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (https://ncsfreedom.org/)- The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health (http://www.thecsph.org/)- Sex Workers Outreach Project USA (https://swopusa.org/)

Honestly, I don't know any other organization with a grant program that's supporting sex-positive art and education. And unlike a lot of grant givers, we don't require our applicants to have 501(c)(3) status or a fiscal sponsor -- literally anyone in the US doing sex-positive work can apply for a grant from us, and we absolutely fund folks who have never applied for a grant before.

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wildlyhardphilosopher-blog · 5 years ago

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cabiba · 7 years ago

Link

Is Jeremy Corbyn really out to help the poor – or just to entice the middle classes into his big socialist tent? I ask because the more you examine the manifesto he keeps waving before the television cameras, the more it seems to be designed around giving benefits to the better-off. These won’t come without cost, of course – the better-off will also be paying for the benefits which Corbyn is dangling before their eyes, in the form of higher income taxes, and possibly new wealth taxes, too. But for the moment, it seems to be the potential handouts which are making Labour headlines rather than the prospect of higher taxes.

Could Corbyn potentially sweep to power on the back of the student vote, and the votes of students’ parents? Probably not, but the promise to abolish tuition fees has certainly helped to turn the polls. Would it really help to increase participation of low-income groups in higher education? Not to judge by the experience of Ireland, where tuition fees were abolished in 1996. A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in 2011 rather poured cold water on the theory that tuition fees are all that stands between us and more children of poor families going to university. The IFS looked at participation rates before and after abolition of tuition fees and concluded that the policy had done absolutely nothing to increase educational opportunities for the poor. On the contrary, it found:

‘The only obvious effect of the policy was to provide a windfall gain to middle class parents who no longer had to pay fees’.

The experience contrasts with that in England when tuition fees were trebled in 2012. In the first year, the number of students from poorer backgrounds rose by 10 per cent in the first year. Why? Because as the IFS found in Ireland, factors other than tuition fees are far more important in determining whether children go on to study at university. The biggest barrier is low educational attainment at school. The English tuition fee increase coincided with a period in which the government was putting pressure on universities to offer places based on lower exam grades to students from poorer backgrounds.

There is a difference between England now and Ireland in 1996. Prior to then, Irish students from poor backgrounds already enjoyed means-tested grants which covered bother tuition fees and living costs. Abolishing the fees, in other words, offered nothing new to them, and in fact put them at a disadvantage because it encouraged more middle class children to apply to university.

If Labour really wants to help the poor, why not means-test free tuition fees? That would work out considerably cheaper than a wholesale end to the fees – which will cost £11 billion. Is it that Labour is shamelessly going after the middle class vote with a bribe? I think the answer is a little more subtle than that. Corbyn opposes means-tests because he wants us all to share in socialism. Like Nye Bevan, who wanted the banker and the architect to live in council housing next door to the welder and the plumber, Corbyn first and foremost wants to make us all clients of the state. In Corbyn’s mind, the well-being of the poor comes second to this principle.

MrBishi • 13 hours ago

I do like truthful journalism. I visited IFS report - "The Impact of Tuition Fees and Support on University Participation in the UK" (2011) - and found the quote above: "The only obvious effect of the policy was to provide a windfall gain to middle class parents who no longer had to pay fees" nowhere to be found in the report. I did, however, find this quote: "Our estimates suggest that tuition fees have a significant adverse effect on university participation, whilst maintenance grants have a positive impact."

TheEvilThatMenDo MrBishi • 12 hours ago

The quote given in the article is from 'The effect of abolishing university tuition costs: evidence from Ireland - IFS Working Paper 05/11' which is the report to which Clark links. Why he doesn't use the more relevant report that you cite 'The Impact of Tuition Fees and Support on University Participation in the UK' is anyone's guess.

ManofKent2015 (the real one)

MrBishi • 13 hours ago

Is that the same IFS who basically said McDonnell's Tax Plans were from Cloud Cuckoo Land and will not deliver the revenues he claims?

TheEvilThatMenDo

ManofKent2015 (the real one) • 12 hours ago

It's the same IFS who was equally critical of both Conservative and Labour manifestos, if you're not being partisan:

'Neither of the two main parties “has set out an honest set of choices” to the public over their tax and spending plans, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has said.

In a critical assessment of the Conservative and Labour party manifestos, the thinktank said both parties presented a misleading picture of the impact their polices would have over the course of the next parliament. It warned that neither addressed the long-term challenges facing the UK.

The Tory focus on cutting immigration risked a £6bn hit to the exchequer and the plans for continued austerity could prove impossible to deliver without causing serious damage to services, the IFS said.

Labour’s proposals would raise spending to its highest level since the mid-1980s and tax levels to record levels in peacetime, the thinktank said. But the party’s plans for tax hikes aimed at top earners and businesses may “not raise anything like” the £48.6bn claimed and its proposals could turn out to be economically damaging, it added.'

https://www.theguardian.com...

Truth Revealed

TheEvilThatMenDo • 12 hours ago

At last Shakey you have seen the light

"But the party’s (labour) plans for tax hikes aimed at top earners and businesses may “not raise anything like” the £48.6bn claimed and its proposals could turn out to be economically damaging, it added.'

I think that says it all, and when they have spent all this money and are not getting anything like the tax revenue is it all just going to be added to borrowing?

lets not forget that Labour DOUBLED the national debt in just 18 MONTHS between the end of 2008 to 2010.

Father Todd Unctious

Truth Revealed • 4 hours ago

No it didnt. At the end of 2010 the Tories had been in power for 8 months. 2008 £580 billon. 2010 £850 billion. A rise of 53% is not doubling.

Debt to GDP 2008 41%, Debt to GDP 2010 86% before Conservative action on the deficit .

Father Todd Unctious Truth Revealed • 3 hours ago

Sorry. Wrong . April 2008- 50%. April 2010 -76%. Up 52%.

Michael Mckeown • 14 hours ago Labour pretend it was not them that abolished free tuition fees in the first place and they don't ever mention that they got all there Scottish MP's to come to Westminster to vote for the abolition as there were not enough English Labour MP's to do the job and this despite higher education in England being none of the Scottish MP's business. People have short memory's and Labour are relying on this.

William Brown

Michael Mckeown • 13 hours ago

There's a whole generation of bright-eyed young things who look upon this charlatan with little short of drooling idolatry.

ManofKent2015 (the real one) William Brown • 13 hours ago

Yes and they are concentrated in University cities which already vote Labour. Who cares if Cambridge votes red, yellow or green, it was never going to vote blue. According to some Labour sources that's exactly whats happening.

http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2...

PS And don't put it past Momentum to crowd swamp pollsters to manipulate the polls

David Smith • 10 hours ago

The 'loans' used to pay for those degrees are provided by the Govt which issues bonds to cover the costs.

These loans aren't being paid back. The total money lent by Govt is fast approaching £100 billion with an estimated 2/3 rd's never paid back. [1]

We already have free university fee's but only to those who aren't intelligent enough to do a course that has any value.

If we want to fix the system we should have students get the loan off the university, and have the university issue bonds to cover student loan debt. We will then see financial institutions trade and price the bonds based on the quality of the debt (Yield rates on Ox-bridge bonds will be significantly lower than those on Salford Uni bonds). This would force universities to get rid of the joke courses that they offer to students who will never realistically pay back the loan.

1. https://www.ft.com/content/...

Cora • 14 hours ago

"it seems to be the potential handouts which are making Labour headlines" In other words, the standard modus operandi of Labour.

"but the promise to abolish tuition fees has certainly helped to turn the polls." ...the tuition fees that Labour introduced...

"Is it that Labour is shamelessly going after the middle class vote with a bribe?" Bribing people with other people's, and often their own, money. Genius. Standard Labour MO.

Mara Naile-Akim

Cora • 10 hours ago

What if those people are ok with paying higher taxes to get better public services?

Is that not allowed?

Cora

Mara Naile-Akim 9 hours ago

But individuals don't make those decisions. Politicians do, and politicians have a vested interest in getting as much tax as possible and bribing people to vote for them. This is open season for a corrupt and tyrannical government. Over hundreds and hundreds of years, smart humans figured this out and decided to severely limit the power and reach of government because liberty is more important than magic-money-tree social engineering utopianism. Unfortunately the Left went crazy and decided that huge powerful regulation-mad politically-correct ideologically-motivated governments were a good thing, and so are more than happy to see taxation rise.

You cannot take a poll of the people who actually pay the most tax and ask them if they are ok with having more of their property confiscated. What you can do, and what does happen, is you ask the other 90% if they would like to see the rich taxed more, and they'll say yes, obviously. Because they've been brainwashed to believe that when that CEO drives a nice Jaguar, it's fuelled by dead kitties, global warming, and the tears of blue-collar workers.

Public services, housing and NHS are pathetic in this country because the government is rubbish at almost everything, not because there isn't enough tax. It's because the government is profligate with our money, is bloated, is inefficient, and spends too much on vanity projects, foreign aid, and things the left has told the public are "rights", which aren't.

Oh, and as for the freedom to choose to pay to help other people - we already have a mechanism for that. It's called CHARITY.

Arun Jolly

Cora • 13 hours ago

Labour have realised that you can only get away with grossly overcharging for tuition if the people you are ripping off believe other people are paying for it. Even when university tuition is 'free', they are still going to have trouble finding punters for the less selective universities because UK families now understand that there is no point going to university unless you can get into the most selective Russell Group ones. I don't care about the motivation though, I just want my kid not to have to pay 27 grand.

AndyTheScientist

Arun Jolly • 13 hours ago

Oh you will pay for it one way or another. This only the top 5% will pay is complete tripe and everyone knows it. It'll fall on those on PAYE with middle incomes to pay for all of this profligacy which Corbyn is promising. That is because it's only those on PAYE that can easily be milked. Notice how they say they won't increase the "Rate" of tax on those outside of the fictitious 5% who already pay upwards of 40% of all income tax. What they haven't mentioned any promise on the banding, which will be moved to further suck people into the higher rate 40% banding, which was originally for the rich and now it encompasses anyone who does reasonably well for themselves.

Damaris Tighe

Cora • 11 hours ago

Degrees in 2017 aren't worth the paper they're printed on. If students want to get in debt for a third rate Gender Studies degree from a fourth rate university, they're free to do so and the market will deal with them as they deserve. But there's no justice whatsoever in making taxpayers fund their folly. It's a colossal waste of money at a time when the UK has no money to spare, and what it has should be focused on the first responsibility of government - security.

William Brown • 13 hours ago

He's after nothing more than to foist upon us a repeatedly failed ideology. He is as much of a man-child as Trump - but possibly more dangerous. Imagine, if he were to become El Presidente, how difficult he would be to winkle out of office - I doubt, going by his history, that he would be persuaded by a mere election...

Truth Revealed • 11 hours ago

Its "hunt the Abbottopotomus" time!

Abbott was SUPPOSED to be on the flagship Radio 4 "Woman's Hour" programme this morning but was suddenly taken ill again with another "Brexit vote migraine"

http://www.standard.co.uk/n...

BUT, she was spotted this morning at a tube station in London rather than at home in bed.

http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/...

Like the Brexit vote, Diane wasn't clever enough to actually go home and hide, she went to the pub instead with some other Labour MP's who tweeted the picture.

And she's supposed to be Labour's home secretary, you do have to laugh!

ManofKent2015 (the real one) • 13 hours ago

When the middle classes realise Corbyn intends to double their council tax and worse with his Land Value Tax plans any flirtation that may have been in the offing will collapse.

The middle class will not be Corbyn's cash cow just as the wealthy will not be either. It would end up the same old 'Borrow and Bust' from Labour with disastrous consequences both for them and the country.

Mara Naile-Akim • 10 hours ago

If you look at the Attlee government, they were mainly in business of giving out universal benefits, not welfare.

Welfare is a Tory idea, and it rose under Thatcher to the present levels.

Labour was never a party of welfare before the 80's.

Torybushhug • 9 hours ago

Labour will harm the poor. Immigration will accelerate. Queue jumping will proliferate. All those shiny new houses will be a magnetic pull for the worlds scroungers. Jobs will be lost. Permanent jobs will be replaced with workarounds to any new rules. Division will grow. Brexit will be limp wristed or cancelled. Political Correctness will act in service of the cunning and scrounging self framing victim.

With vastly more debt WHEN the next recession hits, the poor truly will suffer.

An independent England could be the result.

Truth Revealed • 12 hours ago

Corbyn is out to "help" the poor, just like Labour did in 1979. Do you remember when you couldn't even get a funeral for your dead grannie?

Initially everything will be fine, "loads a money" and then it hits immigration, because of course we are pretty much at full employment and all these extra public sector workers have to come from somewhere don't they?

Then it will hit inflation because 60bn of extra spending is a hell of a lot, the £ will tumble, and inflation will start going up and up with all this extra money.

And then interest rates will have to rise and all those people struggling on mortgages are going to feel it, HARD.

The JAM's won't be JAM's anymore, they'll be homeless

And so the spiral will continue until Labour MP's walk away and side with the Tories to put together a vote of no confidence because he's going to completely wreck the economy and the country.

Mr Creosote • 13 hours ago

Corbyn, as correctly pointed out, is fond of brandishing his little red book of so-called "costed" policies (hold my wobbling sides)

The £11 billion quoted cost of abandoning tuition fees is only half the story, this will be more than doubled by the 30 hours "free" childcare policy for 2-4 year olds which is going to cost another £12.7 billion per annum (1.3 million kids x 30 hours x £8.60 per hour x 38 weeks).

So that's £24 billion or half of the costed total in his little red book - FOR TWO POLICIES !!!!

That's year in, year out, for the duration of the socialist dream.

Impecunious • 5 hours ago

IMHO Labour cannot help the poor by making them better off because the poor would no longer be poor and would want to keep their new found wealth.Otherwise,the 'ex-poor' would then be more likely to vote Conservative. To 'help' the poor Labour need to convince them that they are in fact victims.Labour acts as a self appointed body claiming to be on the side of the victims/poor.Labour robs the wealthy and gives handouts to the poor. Labour doesn't do much to help the poor, they just hate the wealthy.That's what keeps them going.

Lola Sapola • 10 hours ago

Means testing is rarely the solution to anything as it creates just as many unfairnesses as it is meant to solve . Tuition fees were means tested on parental income back in the 60s/very early 70s then abolished. Grants, which lasted much longer, were also means tested. This wasn't the progressive utopia that current commentators believe: it is unjust to means test an otherwise independent adult on the income of a third party who has no obligation to cooperate and some parents didn't. Also, as with all means testing, various savvy people worked the system. Children of self-employed business people with lovely homes and top of the range cars managed to get full grants as did the children of divorced couples even if Dad had a sizeable income because they lived with their stay-at-home mother and step-father (whose income wasn't assessed). The assessments caned those with a reasonably decent earned income but took no account of whether other people with only modest salaries had massive assets or would retire on a non contributory pension of 2/3 salary plus a lump sum. A loan system is much fairer although ours needs some major changes over both the amounts (very difficult to see how some courses justify >9K fees) and the systems for paying back. Universities could be invited to apply for central funding for subsidising courses that will teach skills that benefit the economy such as sciences and engineering. Courses such as nursing and medicine could incur a fee debt that then gets discounted according to how long the graduates work for the NHS - say 1 year's fee debt forgiven for each 2 years of full time work.

#university #Jeremy Corbyn #corbyn #nye bevan #labour party #labour uk #labour #the spectator #specpolitics #spectator #marxism #ifs #Institute For Fiscal Studies

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96thdayofrage · 8 years ago

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The great investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, in two previous articles in the London Review of Books («Whose Sarin?» and «The Red Line and the Rat Line») has reported that the Obama Administration falsely blamed the government of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad for the sarin gas attack that Obama was trying to use as an excuse to invade Syria; and Hersh pointed to a report from British intelligence saying that the sarin that was used didn’t come from Assad’s stockpiles. Hersh also said that a secret agreement in 2012 was reached between the Obama Administration and the leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, to set up a sarin gas attack and blame it on Assad so that the US could invade and overthrow Assad. «By the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi’s arsenals into Syria». Hersh didn’t say whether these «arms» included the precursor chemicals for making sarin which were stockpiled in Libya, but there have been multiple independent reports that Libya’s Gaddafi possessed such stockpiles, and also that the US Consulate in Benghazi Libya was operating a «rat line» for Gaddafi’s captured weapons into Syria through Turkey. So, Hersh isn’t the only reporter who has been covering this. Indeed, the investigative journalist Christoph Lehmann headlined on 7 October 2013, «Top US and Saudi Officials responsible for Chemical Weapons in Syria» and reported, on the basis of very different sources than Hersh used, that «Evidence leads directly to the White House, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, CIA Director John Brennan, Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar, and Saudi Arabia´s Interior Ministry». And, as if that weren’t enough, even the definitive analysis of the evidence that was performed by two leading US analysts, the Lloyd-Postal report, concluded that, «The US Government’s Interpretation of the Technical Intelligence It Gathered Prior to and After the August 21 Attack CANNOT POSSIBLY BE CORRECT». Obama has clearly been lying.

However, now, for the first time, Hersh has implicated Hillary Clinton directly in this «rat line». In an interview with Alternet.org, Hersh was asked about the then-US-Secretary-of-State’s role in the Benghazi Libya US consulate’s operation to collect weapons from Libyan stockpiles and send them through Turkey into Syria for a set-up sarin-gas attack, to be blamed on Assad in order to ‘justify’ the US invading Syria, as the US had invaded Libya to eliminate Gaddafi. Hersh said: «That ambassador who was killed, he was known as a guy, from what I understand, as somebody, who would not get in the way of the CIA. As I wrote, on the day of the mission he was meeting with the CIA base chief and the shipping company. He was certainly involved, aware and witting of everything that was going on. And there’s no way somebody in that sensitive of a position is not talking to the boss, by some channel».

This was, in fact, the Syrian part of the State Department’s Libyan operation, Obama’s operation to set up an excuse for the US doing in Syria what they had already done in Libya.

The interviewer then asked: «In the book [Hersh’s The Killing of Osama bin Laden, just out] you quote a former intelligence official as saying that the White House rejected 35 target sets [for the planned US invasion of Syria] provided by the Joint Chiefs as being insufficiently painful to the Assad regime. (You note that the original targets included military sites only – nothing by way of civilian infrastructure.) Later the White House proposed a target list that included civilian infrastructure. What would the toll to civilians have been if the White House’s proposed strike had been carried out?»

Hersh responded by saying that the US tradition in that regard has long been to ignore civilian casualties; i.e., collateral damage of US attacks is okay or even desired (so as to terrorize the population into surrender) – not an ‘issue’, except, perhaps, for the PR people.

The interviewer asked why Obama is so obsessed to replace Assad in Syria, since «The power vacuum that would ensue would open Syria up to all kinds of jihadi groups»; and Hersh replied that not only he, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff, «nobody could figure out why». He said, «Our policy has always been against him [Assad]. Period». This has actually been the case not only since the Party that Assad leads, the Ba’ath Party, was the subject of a shelved CIA coup-plot in 1957 to overthrow and replace it; but, actually, the CIA’s first coup had been not just planned but was carried out in 1949 in Syria, overthrowing there a democratically elected leader, in order to enable a pipeline for the Sauds’ oil to become built through Syria into the largest oil market, Europe; and, construction of the pipeline started the following year. But, there were then a succession of Syrian coups (domestic instead of by foreign powers – 1954, 1963, 1966, and, finally, in 1970), concluding in the accession to power of Hafez al-Assad during the 1970 coup. And, the Sauds' long-planned Trans-Arabia Pipeline has still not been built. The Saudi royal family, who own the world’s largest oil company, Aramco, don’t want to wait any longer. Obama is the first US President to have seriously tried to carry out their long-desired «regime change» in Syria, so as to enable not only the Sauds’ Trans-Arabian Pipeline to be built, but also to build through Syria the Qatar-Turkey Gas Pipeline that the Thani royal family (friends of the Sauds) who own Qatar want also to be built there. The US is allied with the Saud family (and with their friends, the royal families of Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, and Oman). Russia is allied with the leaders of Syria – as Russia had earlier been allied with Mossadegh in Iran, Arbenz in Guatemala, Allende in Chile, Hussein in Iraq, Gaddafi in Libya, and Yanukovych in Ukraine (all of whom except Syria’s Ba’ath Party, the US has successfully overthrown).

Hersh was wrong to say that «nobody could figure out why» Obama is obsessed with overthrowing Assad and his Ba’ath Party, even if nobody that he spoke with was willing to say why. They have all been hired to do a job, which didn’t change even when the Soviet Union ended and the Warsaw Pact was disbanded; and, anyone who has been at this job for as long as those people have, can pretty well figure out what the job actually is – even if Hersh can’t.

Hersh then said that Obama wanted to fill Syria with foreign jihadists to serve as the necessary ground forces for his planned aerial bombardment there, and, «if you wanted to go there and fight there in 2011-2013, ‘Go, go, go… overthrow Bashar!’ So, they actually pushed a lot of people [jihadists] to go. I don’t think they were paying for them but they certainly gave visas».

However, it’s not actually part of America’s deal with its allies the fundamentalist-Sunni Arabic royal families and the fundamentalist Sunni Erdogan of Turkey, for the US to supply the salaries (to be «paying for them», as Hersh put it there) to those fundamentalist Sunni jihadists – that’s instead the function of the Sauds and of their friends, the other Arab royals, and their friends, to do. (Those are the people who finance the terrorists to perpetrate attacks in the US, Europe, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, India, Nigeria, etc. – i.e., anywhere except in their own countries.) And, Erdogan in Turkey mainly gives their jihadists just safe passage into Syria, and he takes part of the proceeds from the jihadists’ sales of stolen Syrian and Iraqi oil. But, they all work together as a team (with the jihadists sometimes killing each other in the process – that’s even part of the plan) – though each national leader has PR problems at home in order to fool his respective public into thinking that they’re against terrorists, and that only the ‘enemy’ is to blame. (Meanwhile, the aristocrats who supply the «salaries» of the jihadists, walk off with all the money.)

This way, US oil and gas companies will refine, and pipeline into Europe, the Sauds’ oil and the Thanis’ gas, and not only will Russia’s major oil-and-gas market become squeezed away by that, but Obama’s economic sanctions against Russia, plus the yet-further isolation of Russia (as well as of China and the rest of the BRICS countries) by excluding them from Obama’s three mega-trade-deals (TTIP, TPP & TISA), will place the US aristocracy firmly in control of the world, to dominate the 21st Century, as it has dominated ever since the end of WW II.

Then, came this question from Hersh: «Why does America do what it does? Why do we not say to the Russians, Let’s work together?» His interviewer immediately seconded that by repeating it, «So why don’t we work closer with Russia? It seems so rational». Hersh replied simply: «I don’t know». He didn’t venture so much as a guess – not even an educated one. But, when journalists who are as knowledgeable as he, don’t present some credible explanation, to challenge the obvious lies (which make no sense that accords with the blatantly contrary evidence those journalists know of against those lies) that come from people such as Barack Obama, aren’t they thereby – though passively – participating in the fraud, instead of contradicting and challenging it? Or, is the underlying assumption, there: The general public is going to be as deeply immersed in the background information here as I am, so that they don’t need me to bring it all together for them into a coherent (and fully documented) whole, which does make sense? Is that the underlying assumption? Because: if it is, it’s false.

Hersh’s journalism is among the best (after all: he went so far as to say, of Christopher Stephens, regarding Hillary Clinton, «there’s no way somebody in that sensitive of a position is not talking to the boss, by some channel»), but it’s certainly not good enough. However, it’s too good to be published any longer in places like the New Yorker. And the reporting by Christof Lehmann was better, and it was issued even earlier than Hersh’s; and it is good enough, because it named names, and it explained motivations, in an honest and forthright way, which is why Lehmann’s piece was published only on a Montenegrin site, and only online, not in a Western print medium, such as the New Yorker. The sites that are owned by members of the Western aristocracy don’t issue reports like that – journalism that’s good enough. They won’t inform the public when a US Secretary of State, and her boss the US President, are the persons actually behind a sarin gas attack they’re blaming on a foreign leader the US aristocrats and their allied foreign aristocrats are determined to topple and replace.

Is this really a democracy?

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perfectzablog · 6 years ago

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What Teachers and Sports Coaches Can Learn From Each Other

When Vicky Tong started coaching seventh- and eighth-grade cross-country in 2012, she took the job because the school where she teaches needed somebody to do it. Tong figured that this additional work would follow naturally from her duties as a middle school science and Chinese teacher and complement her interest in running. She was training for a half-marathon when the offer arrived, and the timing seemed right.

Now, six years later, she looks back on her earlier reasoning with amusement. “If you go into coaching and think it’s like the classroom, you’re wrong—it’s very different,” she said. Further, technical knowledge of the sport—in her case, running—was essential but far less critical for success than other skills, she added. Her experience in the classroom made her a better coach, and what she has learned working alongside athletes has improved her teaching skills.

It’s impossible to know how many teachers are coaches and coaches are teachers, said Dan Schuster, director of coach education at the National Federation of High Schools; the data don’t exist. But he believes that the greater demands on coaches’ time and the shrinking of the off-season mean that fewer teachers coach multiple sports throughout the school year. Pressure from parents and clubs to focus more on “the X’s and O’s” has forced a change. “Years ago, if you were teaching, you’d coach a team,” he said. “It’s not that culture anymore.”

The apparent drop in teacher-coaches marks a decline in the important insights that these two-hatted adults bring to the student-athletes in front of them. Interviews with several experienced teacher-coaches reveal what each could learn from the other.

What teachers could learn from coaches:

Tie learning and teaching to a performance. “We as teachers have a lot to learn from coaches,” said Jeff Gilbert, a former teacher and coach and now principal of Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, California. Most important, student learning would improve if teachers included more public performances in their instruction, he said.

In sports, players practice their skills in order to play the game better, and coaches modify what and how they train based on the athletes’ performance. Students in the classroom would benefit from similar high-stakes public performances, where they demonstrate what they’ve learned. In this way, the learning has a purpose, the same as throwing and catching drills in baseball.

Learning grounded in performance also allows teachers to give students constant feedback, like a coach who tweaks a player’s stance or swing. Though it’s more difficult for teachers to assess how well students are learning—unlike coaches, who can see immediately whether what they’ve taught has stuck—projects that include performances give more opportunities for immediate feedback.

Students at Hillsdale High School are required each year to participate in learning events that include such public pieces. Sophomores, for example, must take part in the “Golding Trial,” where they assume various roles in a libel “trial” of William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies. They read the book, study the law and eventually travel to local courthouses to plead their cases. These kinds of learning performances keep education from being all practice and no games, Gilbert said, and allow teachers to give regular feedback while the kids prepare. It also makes learning more emotional and can change the way a teenager thinks about herself as a student. “If we do it right, you’ll have students talking about these school performances the way they do about the big moments in sports, with the same fondness,” Gilbert said.

Give more feedback. Whether tied to a performance or more day-to-day schoolwork, feedback helps kids learn. “It’s the biggest thing that I’ve taken away from coaching and applied to the classroom,” Tong said. Having observed how athletes benefit from her up-to-the-minute response to their play, she strives to offer more timely feedback to the kids in her classroom. In a class discussion, for example, she will respond to a child’s remark, no matter its accuracy.

“I always say some type of personal feedback before moving forward, like ‘nice analytical skills,’ or ‘I like the way you made a connection, but let’s focus on X,’ ” Tong said. The feedback makes kids feel safe and more willing to speak up next time, even if they’re uncertain about their answers.

Build interdependence. A team thrives when everyone on it feels connected and valuable. Coaches work to build that unity. Such interdependence is often absent from classrooms, however, because each student’s academic success is largely independent of others. Learning that involves group performances, where every student plays a role and relies on others, can stir up similar feelings of connection. “When kids feel that they’re in this together, and they’re co-dependent—it’s really powerful,” Gilbert said.

It’s all about relationships. “My coaches wanted to know me on a personal level,” said Aly Carter, who played multiple sports in high school many years ago. But she barely remembers her teachers, because they never took the time to get to know her. Coaches also let her into their lives, Carter said, so that the relationship felt more authentic and balanced. Of course, coaches spend more time in the season with their players in varied settings than teachers; that “quantity time” makes room for natural give-and-take. But teachers who strive to get to know their pupils more personally will likely have a larger impact.

Look for another side of a child. Teachers who work in the classroom can develop a jaundiced view of certain kids. A child who regularly disrupts, or who seems chronically unprepared, can discourage the most experienced teachers. Working with those same kids in an athletic context allows teachers to see them more fully. “I can’t judge a kid based on a science class, because on the field they’re a different person,” Tong said. “It’s a way to see another side of them, and it’s redeeming,” she added, recalling how a timid student in class behaved like a bulldozer on the soccer field. Teachers who aren’t able to coach might get a different sense of a child if they watch her at a sporting event or dance recital.

What coaches could learn from teachers:

Stay abreast of research in child development. Clark Meyer teaches eighth-grade English and coaches varsity girls’ soccer at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta. He’s done both jobs for 22 years, and believes that operating in two different spheres has widened his perspective on his players and students. What’s he’s picked up in the classroom about brain-based learning—a hot topic in education circles—he’s also applied to his team. “I’m interested in ‘cognitive soccer,’ ” Meyer said, before explaining how he puts his players in just-uncomfortable-enough tactical training situations to compel them to adapt and grow. From his deep understanding of child development, he also realizes that getting the message and culture right on the team is essential to a successful season. Mechanistic coaches without knowledge of how children develop, and who focus solely on tactics and strategy, miss what most teenagers crave: social connection.

Develop discreet skills and draw connections. Teachers often use structured lesson plans to teach specific skills. Trained in pedagogy, they will craft a particular lesson, explain what they’re teaching to the class, review what they went over at the end, and then prompt the students to practice. According to Gilbert, coaches often lack this essential teaching skill. “Coaches don’t connect the dots, about how the drills connect to the scrimmage, which then connects to the game,” he said.

Ask, don’t tell. Coaches have abundant opportunities in practice and games to tell their players what to do—to move here when the opponent goes one way, to bend or turn or maneuver in some particular way in order to achieve a physical goal. But athletes learn more deeply when a coach asks them how they’ll handle different scenarios, inviting them to figure out for themselves what to do rather than wait to be instructed. In his book Positive Coaching, then-Stanford professor Jim Thompson argued that welcoming players to think for themselves, and then helping them learn from the outcome, promotes a longer-term engagement in the sport. Likewise, asking players on the bench or sidelines how they would handle an athletic situation keeps them thinking and involved.

Give up some control. Some of the most creative classroom teachers structure their classes so that students feel in control of their own learning. Coaches can do the same. Thompson offers this example: Rather than merely demonstrate a new skill and offer immediate feedback on a player’s attempt, a coach can demonstrate first and then pair up kids to practice together and critique one another. Similarly, rather than impose team goals from on high, a coach can encourage players to reflect on their own goals and work out a plan to achieve them. The point is to turn the learning, and the responsibility for it, over to the kids.

“The best teachers and coaches are developers of people as lifelong learners,” Thompson wrote. “And a big part of this is being able to surrender control of the process to the player rather than trying to direct everything from a coach’s perch.”

What Teachers and Sports Coaches Can Learn From Each Other published first on https://greatpricecourse.tumblr.com/

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bisoroblog · 6 years ago

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What Teachers and Sports Coaches Can Learn From Each Other

What teachers could learn from coaches:

What coaches could learn from teachers:

What Teachers and Sports Coaches Can Learn From Each Other published first on https://dlbusinessnow.tumblr.com/

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samuelfields · 6 years ago

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The Negatives Of Early Retirement Life Nobody Likes Talking About

It’s been six years and three months since they took my paycheck away. I sometimes stay up all night and sleep all day. At least I can do whatever I want and see professionally whomever I choose.

Gourmet sushi at fancy restaurants tastes so good. But sitting alone mixing wasabi can’t take away those occasional blues. Because nothing compares, nothing compares to the camaraderie of you dear ex-colleagues!

For all the glamour of living an early retirement lifestyle, there are plenty of negatives I’ve come to discover since I permanently left my job in 2012. I know why we revert back to our baseline state of happiness, no matter how much freedom and money you have.

Let’s go through some of the negatives of retiring early now that I’m a grizzled veteran.

The Downside Of Retiring Early

1) You will suffer an identity crisis for an unknown period of time. When you’ve spent at least a decade working in a profession, you’ll find it incredibly jolting to no longer be identified as the person who is a marketing expert, an investment professional, or the management consultant who can figure out how to optimize a business. It’s only after you leave your job do you truly realize how wound up you were in your profession.

Your identity crisis may last as short as three months or it might last for years. It all depends on how wrapped up you were in your job, how long you spent getting educated after high school, and whether you have a clear plan post-retirement. Doctors are some of the people who suffer the most after leaving their occupations. Conversely, high school graduates who somehow struck it rich with a product or an invention seem to adjust much easier in post-retirement life.

Job titles can be incredibly addictive. Why else do people get so depressed when passed over for promotion? Why else do people try so hard to get promoted sooner and faster than everybody else? Do not underestimate the importance of being a manager, director, vice president, or even a C-level executive.

After all, the most common question people ask when they first meet each other is: What do you do for a living? And if you tell them you don’t do anything for a living, well then you might just feel like a sheepish loser. You’ll want to try to explain yourself, but by then, your three-second first impression will no longer hold the other person’s attention.

What happened to me: After working in the Asian equities business for 13 years, it felt hollow to no longer have my Executive Director title or be identified with my investment firm. I felt sad that I could no longer go to Asia for conferences or with clients. For so long, taking a business class trip to Hong Kong, India, China or Taiwan was part of my quarterly routine. I felt special every time I was allowed to board first. I felt important when clients would entrust me to show them around in a foreign land.

For the first year after leaving my job, I wondered how the business was doing without me. Could they really survive without my expertise? After all, I was there for 11 years. Surely, they needed my relationships. But after months went by with no email or phone call from my old firm saying they wanted me back, I had to come to terms that I was no longer important to them.

I wanted to believe that my position meant something to the firm and to the people that I serviced. But at the end of the day, the person I trained to replace me as part of my severance agreement, was good enough. And because he was good enough, I concluded that I was no longer any good.

This ego hit took me a full year to get over.

2) You will be stuck in your head. When you suddenly have an extra 10 – 14 hours a day of free time, it’s very difficult to optimize your time wisely. Just like how bedrooms naturally get messy, your mind naturally gets lazy the more time you have to do anything.

Your productivity will suffer in retirement. You will no longer feel motivated to achieve great wins. As a result, you may slowly start to get depressed. Only after some really deep soul-searching and some, what the hell am I doing with my life questioning will you begin to organize your time better and become more productive.

Your mind can be very dangerous because it can always second-guess your actions. Did I retire too soon? What if I run out of money? What if people think I’m a loser? What if I can’t ever get back into the workforce if things go wrong? When you have a lot of time to think, your doubts go on and on.

Perhaps one analogy is to compare being stuck in your head with Locked-in syndrome. LIS is a condition in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for vertical eye movements and blinking. This could be one of my worst nightmares. Retiring early may render you inoperable for an unknown period of time.

What happened to me: Because I left work at the age of 34, I was worried for the first two years whether or not I had made the right choice. No rational person leaves a well-paying job to be unemployed in their mid-30s. Your late-30s is when you start to finally make good money. And by the time you reach your 40s, you should be at your maximum earnings power.

During my first year of early retirement, to the outside world I proudly proclaimed I was retired from a career in finance. But on the inside, I was second-guessing my decision to leave. Because of my uncertainty, I decided to do some part-time consulting with some financial technology startups for ~20 hours a week. It was a great way to distract my mind from all my fears, earn some side income, and replug myself into society. I also kept in touch with multiple banks until my Series 7 and 63 licenses expired.

Finally, I dived deep into my writing on Financial Samurai. Writing has always been my most cathartic way to deal with any uncertainty or problems I might have. For example, now that I have a son, I’ve been worried about whether our ~$200,000 a year in passive income is enough to support a family of three. As a result, I did a deep dive budget analysis for a family earning $300,000 a year, and it sure seems like this income is what’s required if our boy can’t get into a good public school. Alternatively, we can always move to Taipei, Honolulu, or Austin.

3) People will treat you like a weird misfit. Whether it’s because retiring early is unconventional or because people are secretly jealous you aren’t grinding away at a day job, people won’t give you the same amount of respect as working class citizens. After all, if they can’t describe what you do for a living, then they can’t pigeonhole you into an archetype that is comfortable for them.

Having a job means you are a productive member of society. If you retire at a young age, people will assume you are simply slacking off and not paying any taxes. They’ll sometimes look at you as a leech they want to flick off.

Further, if you are an outcast, then you won’t be invited to parties or events that other working people always get to attend. You’re simply not top of mind to them. If you are an extrovert, early retirement will be much more difficult than if you are an introvert.

What happened to me: After the first year of early retirement, I no longer told anybody I retired early. Instead, I told anybody who asked that I was a writer, a tennis teacher, a fintech consultant, or simply in between jobs. Prior to that, I think a lot of people just assumed I was a trust fund baby who did not have to work. And the last thing this middle-class guy who went to public school wants to be known as is a trust fund baby.

My favorite time of the year was during the winter holidays. I loved going to all the holiday parties and getting tipsy with fellow revelers. Now, I get invited to zero holiday parties because I don’t work for anyone. Nor do I get invited to client holiday parties either, even though I have several partners who are based in the SF Bay Area. It may sound silly, but having a drink with good people with shared interests really means a lot to me.

It takes a lot of effort to build new social networks if you aren’t part of a larger organization. There is no weekend BBQ party a colleague is hosting on Labor Day Weekend to attend. I’ve had to participate in various meet-up events in order to find new people to hang out with. So far, my social network only revolves around tennis and softball. But even then, it’s not like I’ve found buddies who will come over and just chill in the hot tub over a beer or anything.

4) You’ll be disappointed that you aren’t much happier. So many people think that once they achieve financial freedom or leave a job they dislike, they’ll suddenly be permanently happier. The truth of the matter is, your elevated happiness will only last at most three to six months. Eventually, you’ll revert to your natural state of being.

If you don’t believe me, think back to your high school or college days when you didn’t have any money compared to now. I’d venture to guess you were just as happy, if not happier when you were a broke college student.

Having the freedom to do what you want is priceless. But you will eventually take your freedom for granted like the air you breathe. On the days you feel angry or sad, you will start questioning what the hell is wrong with you since you’ve got more than the average person. You’ll feel stupid for feeling unhappy when there are literally hundreds of millions of people in the world wondering whether they’ll have enough to eat the next day.

You think, if you can’t be happy when you’re financially independent, surely there must be something seriously wrong with you. And you could be right!

What’s going on with me: I thought I’d be much happier not having to report to a micromanager boss I did not respect. But my happiness was fleeting and only lasted for about a week before I was back to my regular self. Instead, my happiness was weighed down by months of uncertainty on whether I had made the right move to leave my job.

Although corporate politics no longer piss me off, other things end up filling the void. For example, drivers who decide to double park on a busy street in rush hour traffic really piss me off now. So do drivers dog owners who let their dogs poop in front of my house and don’t pick up after them. In the past, I could only allocate a small amount of annoyance to such incidences.

Instead of being permanently at a happier level, I’m simply no longer as annoyed or angry at things as frequently. Further, the volatility around my steady state of happiness is lower.

5) You constantly wonder whether this is all there is to life. Retiring early is like finishing up your favorite longstanding TV show. You’re glad there’s a conclusion, but you’re also sad that it’s over. You hope to find a show that’s as good or better, but there are no guarantees.

Most of us spend 13 years going to grade school so we can spend four years in college in order to get a decent job. Then we spend decades trying to earn and save money in order to provide for our family and then one day retire by 65. With good luck, we’ll live for another 20 years to enjoy all the fruits of our labor.

When you retire at a much earlier age, you are constantly left wondering what’s next. You are mentally twiddling your thumbs waiting for the next big thing while your close friends are all at work. Early retirement can get extremely mundane and boring because you have nobody to spend time with.

As a result, you’re repeatedly forced to will yourself into action. This constant self-starting attitude can become extremely trying to the point where you long to rejoin the workforce and be told what to do.

What’s going on with me: I probably drove my wife nuts during the first two years of early retirement because I constantly told her I was bored. Only boring people get bored right? Wrong. Everybody gets bored at some point. When you’re working, you don’t have time to get bored because you’re working. There’s only so much tennis, golf, and softball I can play before my knees break apart. There are only so many churches to visit in Europe before they all start looking the same.

She used to have vacations from me because I would be away traveling for work every month. Now she was seeing my cherubic face every single day! It’s a good thing we had three bedrooms at the time. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure we’d both have gone crazy from seeing each other so often.

It was only after our son was born in early 2017 that I felt a renewed sense of purpose. Before my boy, I felt my purpose was to help educate as many readers as possible about personal finance in order to one day be free. After my boy was born, my purpose has expanded to keeping Financial Samurai running long enough to teach him about operating an online business out of fear he may have a tough time getting ahead. In addition, I now need to live long enough until he finds someone who loves him as much as I love my wife.

I don’t think I’d be able to die in peace if there’s nobody to replace his mom or me. As a result, I’m exercising more, eating healthier, and meditating longer.

Early Retirement Is Great, But It Doesn’t Solve Everything

There is no doubt in my mind that early retirement is a worthwhile goal to pursue. Having the freedom to do what you want cannot be overstated. Just know that your mind will play games with your spirit during the first few years after leaving work. Some of you won’t be able to take early retirement life and will go back to work.

Just know that with enough conditioning, you will eventually embrace your freedom. Nobody I know who retired from corporate life early stayed retired. You will find your purpose. Once you do, you will take steps, such as building passive income, to ensure you remain free forever.

Related: How To Retire Early And Never Have To Work Again

Readers who have permanently left work, what are some other downsides you’ve experienced? What are some ways you stay connected to society? Do you ever feel like you’ve lost your purpose? If you found my post intro weird, it’s a play on Sinead O’Connor’s and Prince’s “Nothing Compares To You” song.

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mcjoelcain · 6 years ago

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The Negatives Of Early Retirement Life Nobody Likes Talking About

It’s been six years and three months since they took my paycheck away. I sometimes stay up all night and sleep all day. At least I can do whatever I want and see professionally whomever I choose.

Let’s go through some of the negatives of retiring early now that I’m a grizzled veteran.

The Downside Of Retiring Early

This ego hit took me a full year to get over.

You think, if you can’t be happy when you’re financially independent, surely there must be something seriously wrong with you. And you could be right!

Instead of being permanently at a happier level, I’m simply no longer as annoyed or angry at things as frequently. Further, the volatility around my steady state of happiness is lower.

I don’t think I’d be able to die in peace if there’s nobody to replace his mom or me. As a result, I’m exercising more, eating healthier, and meditating longer.

Early Retirement Is Great, But It Doesn’t Solve Everything

Related: How To Retire Early And Never Have To Work Again

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ronaldmrashid · 6 years ago

Text

The Negatives Of Early Retirement Life Nobody Likes Talking About

It’s been six years and three months since they took my paycheck away. I sometimes stay up all night and sleep all day. At least I can do whatever I want and see professionally whomever I choose.

Let’s go through some of the negatives of retiring early now that I’m a grizzled veteran.

The Downside Of Retiring Early

This ego hit took me a full year to get over.

You think, if you can’t be happy when you’re financially independent, surely there must be something seriously wrong with you. And you could be right!

Instead of being permanently at a happier level, I’m simply no longer as annoyed or angry at things as frequently. Further, the volatility around my steady state of happiness is lower.

I don’t think I’d be able to die in peace if there’s nobody to replace his mom or me. As a result, I’m exercising more, eating healthier, and meditating longer.

Early Retirement Is Great, But It Doesn’t Solve Everything

Related: How To Retire Early And Never Have To Work Again

https://www.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/The-negatives-of-early-retirement-life-nobody-likes-talking-about.m4a

The post The Negatives Of Early Retirement Life Nobody Likes Talking About appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-negatives-of-early-retirement-life-nobody-likes-to-talks-about/

#Financial Samurai

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clutchcustommotorcycles · 7 years ago

Text

Helpful Advice On Clear-cut Iso Xp Whey Protein Systems

Helpful Guidelines For Common-sense Strategies For Grass Fed Organic Whey Canada

First, I tried the most plain flavor: Cappuccino. It only has one gram of sugar. It tasted like watered down coffee. I preferred my regular iced coffee. A few days later, I tried the Mocha Latte — the sweetest flavor thanks to a dose of organic maple syrup. It has 21 grams of sugar, which makes it off-limits for anyone watching their sugar intake. The drink tasted more like Nesquik chocolate milk than coffee, and I downed a bottle in minutes. It was delicious. But I don't know that it made me any more alert or focused. Some people working in Silicon Valley take their coffee with butter as a way to inject more fat into their diet. A recent diet craze, known as the ketogenic diet , has techies cutting carbs and filling up on fat as a way to improve focus and avoid sugar crashes. Studies suggest a high-fat diet may also promote weight loss , dull hunger , and stave off age-related diseases .

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.businessinsider.com/we-tried-buttered-coffee-from-picnik-2017-8

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Get Fit Quick With These Great Tips!

Many people want to get fit but just don't think it is something they can do. Getting in shape is only achievable through proper education on fitness. Use the advice in this article in order to craft a plan. Many people look to lifting weights as a means to reach their fitness goals. While lifting weights certainly help you to meet your fitness goals, it's also possible to do simple exercises like push ups and pull ups to reach your goals. Spend no more than one hour at a time lifting weights. If you work out for longer than an hour, you can start to lose muscle mass. It's best to keep your weight lifting workout at less than an hour to maximize the benefits from your hard work. A fast and effective way to increase strength in your legs is doing wall sits. You should begin with a wall space that is wide enough for your body to fit and that allows you to safely do the move. With your back facing the wall, position yourself approximately 18 inches from it. Bend the knees and lean your body back until you are touching the wall with your entire back. Now slide down the wall until your thighs are perpendicular to the ground in a sitting stance. Stay here as long as your legs will let you. Check the padding's thickness with your fingers before you exercise on a bench. If it is easy for you to feel the wooden surface beneath the padding, move on to another machine. Working out on a machine with insufficient padding can lead to bruising because it is failing to provide adequate support during your workout. Doing dips is an excellent fitness tip you should follow. If you want an incredible work out for your shoulders, triceps and chest muscles, then dips are for you. There are numerous ways in which you can perform them. You can do gravity-assisted dips by doing them between two appropriately-positioned benches. Additionally, you can enhance the effectiveness of dips by adding weight to them. Lightly exercise the muscles you worked out the day before. You can do this easily by slightly working out your tired muscles with a much weaker effort. Rest when your body says you need to. Some people will say that you can only take a rest in between the sets. Only you know what is best for your body. So if your body requires a break then stop. If you don't respect your body and treat it well, you put yourself at risk for injuries. Now that you have this information, you know there are easier ways you can get fit. Remember there is more information to learn and that the only way you're going to see any type of true progress is if you apply all that you know. Learn with each possible moment and apply that knowledge to your routines; through time, you will have a personalized routine that keeps you in top-condition.

Straightforward Tips On Identifying Crucial Issues For Canada

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA – Protecting and conserving the natural environment is Parks Canada’s main job, the federal environment minister concludes in her response to a massive public consultation on the future of Canada’s national parks. “I did feel there needed to be a reset button,” Catherine McKenna said Monday about her response to the Let’s Talk Parks consultation, held January 2017. “I thought it was really important to make that signal.” That response acknowledges that commercial developments — especially in the heavily pressured Rocky Mountain parks of Banff and Jasper — may have to be reviewed. “Maintaining and restoring ecological integrity requires limits on development in national parks, particularly those where development can impact ecosystem health,” McKenna said in the report. She said an independent working group will be struck to examine Parks Canada’s practices and approval policies for development. That group is to report back by the end of August. The report also acknowledges how important the parks are for tourism, noting that they support the equivalent of 40,000 full-time jobs across the country. Let’s Talk Parks Canada was the largest public consultation the agency has ever held. More than 13,000 people and organizations participated either in person at public meetings, through online surveys or via email submissions or social media. The response makes a series of further promises. McKenna said her government will restore Parks Canada’s science capacity, at least to the level it was at before its budget was curtailed in 2012. It promises greater transparency, with assessments of individual parks conducted every five years and released publicly. The document also promises to “finalize the creation of currently proposed national parks and national marine conservation areas,” although it doesn’t provide a timeline.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.570news.com/2018/05/07/ecological-integrity-to-be-top-priority-for-parks-canada-environment-minister/

Learn How Vitamins And Minerals Can Be Incorporated Into Your Life Easily

Natural vitamins and minerals are an important piece of a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, the food we eat does not always contain an adequate amount of these nutrients. You must first educate yourself on how they can help. Continue reading to find the things you should know. Vitamins are also essential for getting good results from exercise. When you put vitamins and minerals into your body, you'll be able to recover fast and you also will find that it helps the body build muscles while burning fat. Minerals and vitamins often affect each other so it's important to know how each nutrient is best absorbed by the body. Calcium and iron do not mix that well. Don't drink or eat dairy products or take your calcium supplement until about a half hour of taking your iron. Eating a clean, balanced diet is key to keeping your nutrients in check. Try to eat 5 to 7 portions of both fruits and veggies daily along with small portions of protein. Supplements can be used as a last resort if you cannot do this. You can both grow and maintain good strong bones with calcium. Your body needs vitamin D, though, to properly absorb the calcium. You can get out in the sun, take a supplement or eat a fortified food. Each of these things is a good way to make sure your body will absorb calcium. Try scheduling supplements that have fat around mealtimes to take them with food. Vitamin A, E, and K need to be taken with food to be properly absorbed. Foods that contain fat will help this. Iron is essential for making red blood cells. This helps to transport oxygen through the body. Women generally need more iron than men, which is why there are some iron supplements that are just for women. When you struggle to breathe or feel lethargic, you may need more iron. Vitamin A is important as an antioxidant for your immune system, reducing heart disease risk, slowing skin aging and improving your vision. Taking too much of it, however, is toxic. The recommended dose is 2300 IUs a day. Squash, carrots and dark leafy greens provide vitamin A. Taking the right vitamins and minerals are key to living a healthy lifestyle. When you purchase food that has been over processed, you are not going to get the essential vitamins that you need. These nutrients can be replaced in your diet by taking a high quality supplement. Do not take any prenatal vitamins if you are already past the age of menopause. Many women who are not pregnant take these vitamins in order to help grow their hair and nails. Though this might be safe, post-menopausal women can receive too much iron by taking them. Always second guess the info you read about mineral and vitamin supplements. Some of the advertisements are geared just to help the bottom line of the company Whey Protein that is selling the product. Question all material you review regarding your health. Ask a doctor if you're unsure. Use caution when it comes to supplements. Never take more than the recommended amount. This occurs if you are taking an abundance of supplements; it can have very bad consequences. The effects of these supplements depend on which ones they are, but the results will usually be bad and may be life-threatening. After reading this article you should understand a lot more about taking vitamins and minerals. You know how to make use of them to feel great. Put the above tips to good use. Great health is now on the horizon for you.

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glenmenlow · 7 years ago

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What’s Driving Consumers: 5 Questions With Ford’s Sheryl Connelly

Ford Motor Company’s resident futurist Sheryl Connelly has been forecasting consumer trends with a blend of qual and quant insights for the last few years. She uses a big global survey of consumers to inform her opinions and then shapes a trends report which the company started sharing publicly in 2012.

Let the debate begin about Connelly’s choices for the 2018 Looking Further with Ford Trends Report, her sixth annual outlook that takes the pulse of consumers, reads the economic winds and parses what it all means for marketers, and not just Ford. Her top 10 trends are a fascinating reflection of consumers’ mindsets as we adapt to the accelerating forces of cultural and political polarization, technological obsolescence and disruption and digital ubiquity.

The current mood, Connelly finds, is a general feeling of consumer anxiety, even as economies strengthen and incomes and job opportunities grow around the world: more than half (54%) of adults participating in Ford’s global study this year said that they feel more stressed than they did a year ago.

“This moment in time is unique in its anxiety and its sense of being overwhelmed,” Connelly told brandchannel. “And it’s not a specifically American point of view. The UK, India and Spain, for instance, have their own issues, too.”

But that doesn’t mean a feeling of hopelessness or paralysis, as Connelly states in her 2018 consumer outlook: “Shifting global priorities, rampant political upheaval, and a spotlight on social inequity have upended the status quo and left many disoriented. But out of the chaos and conflict, a new energy and creativity is motivating people like never before. From compassion and guilt to heightened activism, most adults believe their actions have the power to influence positive change.”

Key data points from Ford’s new global research report:

39% of adults say they do not mind sharing their personal information with companies, but 60% say they are frustrated by how much of their information has become public

76% of adults around the world say they find it creepy when companies know too much about them

52% of adults say they believe artificial intelligence will do more harm than good, but 61% say they are hopeful about a future of autonomous vehicles

68% of adults say they are overwhelmed by suffering in the world today, and 51% say they feel guilty for not doing more to make the world better

81% of adults say they are concerned about the widening gap between the rich and the poor

73% of adults say they should take better care of their emotional well-being

54% of adults globally say they feel more stressed out than they did a year ago, and among 18- to 29-year-olds, that number is even higher, at 65%.

And the top 10 consumer trends coming out of the research:

The Edge of Reason: “Across the world, people are overwhelmed by the change affecting everything from politics to pop culture—and consumers are hungry for inventive ways to cope and adapt,” the report said. Case in point: 80% of U.S. adults surveyed find that people are increasingly intolerant of opposing views.

The Activist Awakening: 52% of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 surveyed by Ford say they expect brands to take a stand on political issues. “Thanks to the culture of polarization, consumers are being jolted out of complacency. Individuals are debating the change we need, unafraid to topple the conventional wisdom and expectations.”

Minding the Gap: “Worldwide, the spotlight is on inequality. Activists and entrepreneurs are experimenting with new ways to improve access to quality education, increase productive employment, close wage gaps and provide everyone with affordable access to basic living standards and infrastructure.”

The Compassionate Conscience: 76% of adults Ford surveyed globally believe their actions can influence positive change. “With an omnipresent news cycle, consumers are more aware of the challenges people face across the world—and more reflective of their role in society.”

Mending the Mind: “Slowly, consumer and institutions are realizing that you cannot have a healthy body unless you have a healthy mind. As such, mental health and well-being are coming to the forefront as issues that individuals, governments and companies need to address.”

Retail Therapy: “Many consumers are on the endless hunt for something new and different—and they’re rethinking how material goods and services can bring them happiness.” For instance, 66% of adults globally between the ages of 18 and 29 think that the experience of shopping is more enjoyable than the actual purchase.

Helplessly Exposed: “Big Data claims to be able to interpret our behaviors, which in theory should help consumers—yet it also can come with Big Bias. Consumers are ramping up the pressure on companies to be accountable and act responsibly.”

Technology’s Tipping Point: “Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and autonomous technology are here, integrating into our daily lives. Across the globe, humans are asking: what does the onslaught of intelligent technology mean for us as a society, and will it make a more positive impact than we thought?” Interestingly, 52% of those surveyed by Ford believe artificial intelligence will do more harm than good.

Singled Out: “Are marriage and parenthood still the desired norms for happy living? More and more people are rethinking commitment and fulfillment, with more choices at their fingertips and longer life spans to consider.”

Big Plans for Big Cities: “By 2050, roughly 75% of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas. To capitalize on the full potential of cities—to keep them happy and healthy places to live—we must be smart and mindful about planning.”

For more insights on the data and analysis, we spoke with Connelly about what she’s seeing and what it means for consumers, Ford and other brands:

Sheryl, how would you summarize the difference between Ford’s first public trends report in 2012 and this latest research that you’re sharing?

This is our sixth annual report, but I’ve been doing it for 14 years. They’re near-term and easier to call because they’re microtrends. But this report is decidedly different from the reports that we’ve put forth in the last five years, a true reflection of where the world stands right now. In 2012, the world was still reeling from the global recession and there was a lot of uncertainty. What I found surprising was how widespread that feeling was [now].

To what extent is this current anxiety a result of feeling bombarded with political news and other people’s views across traditional and social media?

We don’t know what anyone else is thinking because we’re so polarized that we’re unwilling to engage in debate. I made as purposeful an effort to be as balanced as possible. Some people say ‘At last world order is being restored and it’s long overdue.’ And some people feel it’s the beginning of the end and are wallowing in anxiety and discontent.

We’re overwhelmed by the changes taking place and it’s left us feeling uncertain. But three-quarters said they believe in the individual’s ability to bring out change. Engagement is at an all-time high and there’s awareness and desire to become educated in matters that are important to them. It’s really driving how we live. I’m more conversant on politics, for example, than I’ve ever been before.

Your latest research finds that a majority of adults between 18 and 29, with smaller percentages for older cohorts, believe that brands should take a stand on political issues. What should CEOs and brands do?

This is really the question. This is a difficult one. Companies that have a clear set of values are in a better position than others. Ford is an example. I don’t think of us as a very political company, but in early January when there was a move to ban some immigrants (from entering the U.S.), Ford made a statement that it goes against what we stand for.

One of the trends we identified is The Compassionate Conscience. That’s about the good work you do in a community. This calls out the trend from the past year that we’ve been witness to some horrific tragedies like the hurricanes, and the coverage made it impossible for many people not to respond to the problems of others.

How is “The Compassionate Conscience” playing out at Ford?

There’s an ongoing conversation about what kind of role do we play at a company like Ford and how we stand on those issues. For example, [Ford Executive Chairman] Bill Ford put a volunteer corps together years ago and it gives people license to step away from their day job and do community service. He amped that up with the Bill Ford Better World Challenge, (a global grant program) where he asked individuals to suggest solutions—he personally contributes to it—and a global caring month of volunteerism in September. We’re also embedding this into our culture with “30 Under 30,” asking Ford people to nominate themselves to create best-in-class community engagement initiatives. This next generation of Ford philanthropic leaders receives mentoring from our leadership team.

Let’s talk about the “Helplessly Exposed” trend—what’s going on there?

Privacy is always about give and take. I’m happy to share my information with a business as long as they’re transparent about it. Like having my credit card information on Amazon: I can be on any computer in the house and I don’t have to hunt down my credit card. But there’s risk in keeping that information somewhere on the world wide web.

There are patterns of behavior and things that we do where we’re not always mindful they’re being collected, such as algorithms on a search engine. By improving search efficiency they’re building a profile about you that biases the information you receive, and no one tells you that. That feeds into the “Edge of Reason” because that echo chamber is so loud.

“Retail Therapy” is another interesting trend as it’s more than just “treat yourself.” Can you shed more light on that?

Everyone talks about how bricks and mortar (retail) is dead and online is the key to the future. But [Apple senior vice president of retail] Angela Ahrendts says only about 35% of purchases take place online, and she believes there’s a movement afoot to bring people together and now they think of the Apple store as a space that’s a town hall or place of community and not always geared to sell something. They want to bring people together who have an affinity or shared passion or teachable point of view, such as classes about how to better use the camera on your phone. I found that fascinating.

Three other brands have a similar take on it: Restoration Hardware, which has turned showrooms into places to lounge; Nordstrom Local [where they do your nails and serve you coffee while you wait for garment alterations]; and Ford’s Hub in New York City. Another interesting thing is that it’s all about the brand experience—it’s a new way to engage.

Also not as obvious in Retail Therapy is the notion of “the hedonic treadmill”—that we all have a baseline of happiness and a natural resting state on that scale. If you win the lottery you’re never going to be as happy as you hoped, for instance. We often turn to shopping to elevate that hedonic level. I’m fascinated by that. Gamblers would have a similar kind of thing. That’s what brands are trying to do: extend that fascination people have with a new product.

For more, visit FordTrends.com — and get more insights in our Q&A series.

The post What’s Driving Consumers: 5 Questions With Ford’s Sheryl Connelly appeared first on brandchannel:.

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#IFTTT #WordPress

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joejstrickl · 7 years ago

Text

What’s Driving Consumers: 5 Questions With Ford’s Sheryl Connelly

Key data points from Ford’s new global research report:

39% of adults say they do not mind sharing their personal information with companies, but 60% say they are frustrated by how much of their information has become public

76% of adults around the world say they find it creepy when companies know too much about them

52% of adults say they believe artificial intelligence will do more harm than good, but 61% say they are hopeful about a future of autonomous vehicles

68% of adults say they are overwhelmed by suffering in the world today, and 51% say they feel guilty for not doing more to make the world better

81% of adults say they are concerned about the widening gap between the rich and the poor

73% of adults say they should take better care of their emotional well-being

54% of adults globally say they feel more stressed out than they did a year ago, and among 18- to 29-year-olds, that number is even higher, at 65%.

And the top 10 consumer trends coming out of the research:

For more insights on the data and analysis, we spoke with Connelly about what she’s seeing and what it means for consumers, Ford and other brands:

Sheryl, how would you summarize the difference between Ford’s first public trends report in 2012 and this latest research that you’re sharing?

To what extent is this current anxiety a result of feeling bombarded with political news and other people’s views across traditional and social media?

How is “The Compassionate Conscience” playing out at Ford?

Let’s talk about the “Helplessly Exposed” trend—what’s going on there?

“Retail Therapy” is another interesting trend as it’s more than just “treat yourself.” Can you shed more light on that?

For more, visit FordTrends.com — and get more insights in our Q&A series.

The post What’s Driving Consumers: 5 Questions With Ford’s Sheryl Connelly appeared first on brandchannel:.

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markjsousa · 7 years ago

Text

What’s Driving Consumers: 5 Questions With Ford’s Sheryl Connelly

Key data points from Ford’s new global research report:

39% of adults say they do not mind sharing their personal information with companies, but 60% say they are frustrated by how much of their information has become public

76% of adults around the world say they find it creepy when companies know too much about them

52% of adults say they believe artificial intelligence will do more harm than good, but 61% say they are hopeful about a future of autonomous vehicles

68% of adults say they are overwhelmed by suffering in the world today, and 51% say they feel guilty for not doing more to make the world better

81% of adults say they are concerned about the widening gap between the rich and the poor

73% of adults say they should take better care of their emotional well-being

54% of adults globally say they feel more stressed out than they did a year ago, and among 18- to 29-year-olds, that number is even higher, at 65%.

And the top 10 consumer trends coming out of the research:

For more insights on the data and analysis, we spoke with Connelly about what she’s seeing and what it means for consumers, Ford and other brands:

Sheryl, how would you summarize the difference between Ford’s first public trends report in 2012 and this latest research that you’re sharing?

To what extent is this current anxiety a result of feeling bombarded with political news and other people’s views across traditional and social media?

How is “The Compassionate Conscience” playing out at Ford?

Let’s talk about the “Helplessly Exposed” trend—what’s going on there?

“Retail Therapy” is another interesting trend as it’s more than just “treat yourself.” Can you shed more light on that?

For more, visit FordTrends.com — and get more insights in our Q&A series.

The post What’s Driving Consumers: 5 Questions With Ford’s Sheryl Connelly appeared first on brandchannel:.

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theaverageotundergrad-blog · 7 years ago

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That’s how we Role

If you’re an Occupational therapist than you can relate to the following sentiment;

You walk into a room of new faces, and confidently introduce yourself. OT’s have no problem with meeting new people. A discussion is going on, and people are impressed by your valuable input on literally all topics. You are able to identify with everyone in that room, from the stay-at-home-mum complain about dirty laundry, to the Financial Broker in heels who is complaining about eye-strain from her computer. You have already added your opinion on how they can reduce these complaints (even though no one really asked you). The conversation therefore shifts focus to you, and people begin to question this strange knowledge that you have about anything and everything. Then, every Occupational therapist worst nightmare comes to life, they ask the big question. What do you do as an Occupational Therapist?

*Blank Stare*

Now, let us take that dreaded question and formulate a blog post about it. The very definition of occupational therapy is not the most specific one. Maybe this is due is to our work never being specific enough to generalize. It is holistic. To the average Joe, occupational therapy is like an abstract concept that is very difficult to understand if you haven’t seen the phenomenon in action, you’re unable to describe this role to another person. Even if you have, every encounter with an OT is so dynamic, so different. I often get the comment,

“Your work is just too much to describe in words.”, or

“I can’t find the right words to describe you”, to which I reply

“I think you have some word findings problems, maybe you should see me more often,”

“Occupational therapy is a client-centred health profession concerned with promoting health and wellbeing through occupation. The primary goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life. Occupational therapists achieve this outcome by working with people and communities to enhance their ability to engage in the occupations they want to, need to, or are expected to do, or by modifying the occupation or the environment to better support their occupational engagement (WFOT 2012)”

The World Federation of Occupational Therapist has the most specific definition of our profession that I could locate. I therefore used this to determine what our role was in health promotion. I found this to be indicating that Occupational Therapist play a role in promoting health and well-being through occupation. Occupation was determined as day-to-day tasks that people engage in alone, with each other or within communities in order to have a meaningful life. These include things that people need, want and are expected to do.

Now, say that definition out loud. It is difficult to understand, even after a four year degree! I therefore, tried to analyze this and simplify it so that I would be able to fully understand our role in health promotion. I agree that we are client-centred, and that we play a role in health promotion. I remember this from program planning based in either Promotive, preventative, Rehabilitative, Habilitative or Maintenance health care (Naidoo, 2015). So we have a Promotive role in health care through occupation. This is where it became tricky to understand, how can we promote health through occupation?

I tried to apply this to the community setting. We are running a Health promotion Project where our aim is to bring awareness to healthy people that are currently at risk of lifestyle conditions such as heart and stroke. We aim to educate and provide the opportunity for the community, to engage in this program so that they are able to live healthier, longer lives and therein improve their quality of life to prevent occupational deprivation. Basically, to create awareness that will be a catalyst for change in the community, and allow people to engage in normal daily living without these preventable conditions. This correlates with a paper that explained the role of OT in promotion;

“to play a broader role in promoting the health and wellness of groups, communities, and whole populations by developing and implementing interventions designed for people without any specific health problems or disabilities (Filiatrault, 2014).”

Therefore the role of OTs in health promotion is to target the healthy populous in a community and address concerns that will improve engagement in occupations. The uniqueness of occupational therapy in this role, is that we don’t just focus on education, however we address this issue in a manner that promotes engagement in daily life, in leisure, in peoples culture and their roles, in keeping with their value system and promoting work, rest and play to ensure that health and well-ness is promoted through each person lifestyle.

When we think Health Promotion, we automatically assume these huge events where we give speeches or hand-out pamphlets to healthy people. However, I think health promotion needs to be a continuous endeavor even on a smaller scale. We are always able to incorporate Promotive programmes into our intervention, which I was able to see in community. Often, you will walk into a house and think that you are going to treat one client, and then find yourself ding indirect intervention with the family members. I found, that it was there that I applied many health Promotive programmes during community. This is where I find the definition for health promotion and Primary Health Care to merge in order to find the OT Role.

Primary Health Care “a basic level of health care that includes programs directed at the promotion of health, early diagnosis of disease or disability, and prevention of disease. Primary health care is provided in an ambulatory facility to limited numbers of people, often those living in a particular geographic area. It includes continuing health care, as provided by a family nurse practitioner (Mosby, 2009).

Occupational Therapists, especially in community settings fulfill this role without even realizing its description. We are able to promote early intervention, provide assistance at a primary clinic level instead of just at the hospitals and promote and prevent diseases and disabilities through empowerment of communities.

Our role in the use of media is one that I haven’t actually though about too much. Media has become such a second nature to every millennium, and I personally feel that we are really well equipped to use social networks for both personal and professional usage. However, this role or scope of practice is not one that is often discussed in campus or that I could have a theoretical basis to it.

In the pats occupational therapist have used newspapers to advertise, promote their projects and bring awareness to the communities. Today, this method is still effective and largely used. However , internationally more and more OTs are being coerced into attending workshops , forums and small courses to enable them to take their role and extend its services online and therefore through less traditional media channels such as radio ,and the internet. Social Media, including Facebook , Instagram , Whatsapp , Blog Posts and Twitter are now the most common form of media advertising , marketing and a way to address occupational therapy issues to the larger community.

We are not able to connect using media, and play a role in promoting health care, increasing the base of OT knowledge, creating awareness and advertisement of our services. This role is mostly in terms of Promotive and Preventative programs such as online fliers, information sheets , newspaper clips , audio records and podcasts, as well as in indirect treatment by posting our knowledge in a manner that those who require our services are easily able to access them. Blogs and Pintrest have become great social networks where many OTs post their intervention plans and treatment ideas. It is rapidly growing popularity and therefore more therapist want to share their expertise to the global communities around the world. It has become a platform for advocacy, engagement, promotion, prevention, access to knowledge and techniques and a pace where OTs and Clients can find each other. We, as new OTs, play a role in growing and maintaining a responsible and respectful media presence to enable our services to be holistically recognized and ensure that those who need our help, are able to find us and benefit from our services provided.

I think the conclusion of this blog, to answer the discussion questions, is that OT role and scope is so extensive that we often learn that we belong in a place that we hardly anticipated. For example, we know that we have a role in Media , but why is there such a lack of resources available for us to develop our profession knowledge on our role in this field? I scoured the internet searching for an article or post about our role in Media , however what I discovered was a community of OT already using media platforms for their work without a definition or guideline of this role. Even with primary health care, this role is under-developed. In OTs course work, we hardly encouraged thinking amongst these lines of work, and we only really know about it through community engagement.

To encourage young minds to be more passionate about these important roles and scopes of practice, I would query a way to integrate this knowledge into our study program. At the end of this year, there will be over 30 blog posts on Media and Primary Health Care, yet a search engine is unable to locate these. Therefore, if we really want to create awareness about our roles, not only to the public but to OTs as well, we should find a way to enable others to read these posts, or develop one article that can be published in a site, or forum that will allow other OTs to broaden their horizons. And so that we know , that is how we role.

primary health care. (n.d.) Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 8th edition. (2009). Retrieved October 12 2017 from https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/primary+health+care

Deshni Naidoo, H. K. (2013). 2015 OCTH246W2 OT Physical Theory and Fieldwork 2: Course Notes. Retrieved October 22, 2015, from Learn: http://learn.ukzn.ac.za/course/view.php?id=36439

Filiatrault, J. (2014). Prevention and Health Promotion in Occupational Therapy: From Concepts to Interventions. International Handbook of Occupational Therapy Interventions , 837-848.

WFOT. (2017, Ocotber 12). Occupational Therapy . Retrieved from World fedartion of Occupationla Therapy : http://www.wfot.org/

#occupationaltherapy

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blucky64 · 8 years ago

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Seymour Hersh Says Hillary Approved Sending Libya's Sarin To Syrian Rebels

Tyler Durden

May 1, 2016 10:00 PM3.0KSHARES

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Authored by Eric Zuesse via Strategic-Culture.org,

The great investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, in two previous articles in the London Review of Books ("Whose Sarin?" and "The Red Line and the Rat Line") has reported that the Obama Administration falsely blamed the government of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad for the sarin gas attack that Obama was trying to use as an excuse to invade Syria; and Hersh pointed to a report from British intelligence saying that the sarin that was used didn’t come from Assad’s stockpiles. Hersh also said that a secret agreement in 2012 was reached between the Obama Administration and the leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, to set up a sarin gas attack and blame it on Assad so that the US could invade and overthrow Assad.

"By the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi’s arsenals into Syria."

Hersh didn’t say whether these 'arms' included the precursor chemicals for making sarin which were stockpiled in Libya, but there have been multiple independent reports that Libya’s Gaddafi possessed such stockpiles, and also that the US Consulate in Benghazi Libya was operating a "rat line" for Gaddafi’s captured weapons into Syria through Turkey. So, Hersh isn’t the only reporter who has been covering this. Indeed, the investigative journalist Christoph Lehmann headlined on 7 October 2013, "Top US and Saudi Officials responsible for Chemical Weapons in Syria" and reported, on the basis of very different sources than Hersh used, that:

"Evidence leads directly to the White House, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, CIA Director John Brennan, Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar, and Saudi Arabia´s Interior Ministry."

And, as if that weren’t enough, even the definitive analysis of the evidence that was performed by two leading US analysts, the Lloyd-Postal report, concluded that:

"The US Government’s Interpretation of the Technical Intelligence It Gathered Prior to and After the August 21 Attack CANNOT POSSIBLY BE CORRECT."

Obama has clearly been lying.

However, now, for the first time, Hersh has implicated Hillary Clinton directly in this 'rat line'. In an interview with Alternet.org, Hersh was asked about the then-US-Secretary-of-State’s role in the Benghazi Libya US consulate’s operation to collect weapons from Libyan stockpiles and send them through Turkey into Syria for a set-up sarin-gas attack, to be blamed on Assad in order to ‘justify’ the US invading Syria, as the US had invaded Libya to eliminate Gaddafi. Hersh said:

"That ambassador who was killed, he was known as a guy, from what I understand, as somebody, who would not get in the way of the CIA. As I wrote, on the day of the mission he was meeting with the CIA base chief and the shipping company. He was certainly involved, aware and witting of everything that was going on. And there’s no way somebody in that sensitive of a position is not talking to the boss, by some channel".

This was, in fact, the Syrian part of the State Department’s Libyan operation, Obama’s operation to set up an excuse for the US doing in Syria what they had already done in Libya.

The interviewer then asked:

"In the book [Hersh’s The Killing of Osama bin Laden, just out] you quote a former intelligence official as saying that the White House rejected 35 target sets [for the planned US invasion of Syria] provided by the Joint Chiefs as being insufficiently painful to the Assad regime. (You note that the original targets included military sites only – nothing by way of civilian infrastructure.) Later the White House proposed a target list that included civilian infrastructure. What would the toll to civilians have been if the White House’s proposed strike had been carried out?"

The interviewer asked why Obama is so obsessed to replace Assad in Syria, since "The power vacuum that would ensue would open Syria up to all kinds of jihadi groups"; and Hersh replied that not only he, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "nobody could figure out why". He said, "Our policy has always been against him [Assad]. Period". This has actually been the case not only since the Party that Assad leads, the Ba’ath Party, was the subject of a shelved CIA coup-plot in 1957 to overthrow and replace it; but, actually, the CIA’s first coup had been not just planned but was carried out in 1949 in Syria, overthrowing there a democratically elected leader, in order to enable a pipeline for the Sauds’ oil to become built through Syria into the largest oil market, Europe; and, construction of the pipeline started the following year. But, there were then a succession of Syrian coups (domestic instead of by foreign powers – 1954, 1963, 1966, and, finally, in 1970), concluding in the accession to power of Hafez al-Assad during the 1970 coup. And, the Sauds' long-planned Trans-Arabia Pipeline has still not been built. The Saudi royal family, who own the world’s largest oil company, Aramco, don’t want to wait any longer. Obama is the first US President to have seriously tried to carry out their long-desired "regime change" in Syria, so as to enable not only the Sauds’ Trans-Arabian Pipeline to be built, but also to build through Syria the Qatar-Turkey Gas Pipeline that the Thani royal family (friends of the Sauds) who own Qatar want also to be built there. The US is allied with the Saud family (and with their friends, the royal families of Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, and Oman). Russia is allied with the leaders of Syria – as Russia had earlier been allied with Mossadegh in Iran, Arbenz in Guatemala, Allende in Chile, Hussein in Iraq, Gaddafi in Libya, and Yanukovych in Ukraine (all of whom except Syria’s Ba’ath Party, the US has successfully overthrown).

Hersh was wrong to say that "nobody could figure out why" Obama is obsessed with overthrowing Assad and his Ba’ath Party, even if nobody that he spoke with was willing to say why. They have all been hired to do a job, which didn’t change even when the Soviet Union ended and the Warsaw Pact was disbanded; and, anyone who has been at this job for as long as those people have, can pretty well figure out what the job actually is – even if Hersh can’t.

Hersh then said that Obama wanted to fill Syria with foreign jihadists to serve as the necessary ground forces for his planned aerial bombardment there, and, "if you wanted to go there and fight there in 2011-2013, ‘Go, go, go… overthrow Bashar!’ So, they actually pushed a lot of people [jihadists] to go. I don’t think they were paying for them but they certainly gave visas".

However, it’s not actually part of America’s deal with its allies the fundamentalist-Sunni Arabic royal families and the fundamentalist Sunni Erdogan of Turkey, for the US to supply the salaries (to be "paying for them", as Hersh put it there) to those fundamentalist Sunni jihadists – that’s instead the function of the Sauds and of their friends, the other Arab royals, and their friends, to do. (Those are the people who finance the terrorists to perpetrate attacks in the US, Europe, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, India, Nigeria, etc. – i.e., anywhere except in their own countries.) And, Erdogan in Turkey mainly gives their jihadists just safe passage into Syria, and he takes part of the proceeds from the jihadists’ sales of stolen Syrian and Iraqi oil. But, they all work together as a team (with the jihadists sometimes killing each other in the process – that’s even part of the plan) – though each national leader has PR problems at home in order to fool his respective public into thinking that they’re against terrorists, and that only the ‘enemy’ is to blame. (Meanwhile, the aristocrats who supply the "salaries" of the jihadists, walk off with all the money.)

Then, came this question from Hersh:

"Why does America do what it does? Why do we not say to the Russians, Let’s work together?"

His interviewer immediately seconded that by repeating it, "So why don’t we work closer with Russia? It seems so rational". Hersh replied simply: "I don’t know". He didn’t venture so much as a guess – not even an educated one. But, when journalists who are as knowledgeable as he, don’t present some credible explanation, to challenge the obvious lies (which make no sense that accords with the blatantly contrary evidence those journalists know of against those lies) that come from people such as Barack Obama, aren’t they thereby – though passively – participating in the fraud, instead of contradicting and challenging it? Or, is the underlying assumption, there: The general public is going to be as deeply immersed in the background information here as I am, so that they don’t need me to bring it all together for them into a coherent (and fully documented) whole, which does make sense? Is that the underlying assumption? Because: if it is, it’s false.

Hersh’s journalism is among the best (after all: he went so far as to say, of Christopher Stephens, regarding Hillary Clinton, "there’s no way somebody in that sensitive of a position is not talking to the boss, by some channel"), but it’s certainly not good enough. However, it’s too good to be published any longer in places like the New Yorker. And the reporting by Christof Lehmann was better, and it was issued even earlier than Hersh’s; and it is good enough, because it named names, and it explained motivations, in an honest and forthright way, which is why Lehmann’s piece was published only on a Montenegrin site, and only online, not in a Western print medium, such as the New Yorker. The sites that are owned by members of the Western aristocracy don’t issue reports like that – journalism that’s good enough. They won’t inform the public when a US Secretary of State, and her boss the US President, are the persons actually behind a sarin gas attack they’re blaming on a foreign leader the US aristocrats and their allied foreign aristocrats are determined to topple and replace.

Is this really a democracy?

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