#or plan to implement that other than continuing to try to educate people on why its better- but im not gonna force someone and I

[snekdood]

ppl who think you doing something means you think everyone else should automatically do it by default and be forced to are 1. unhinged for assuming that but 2. bc it reveals a lot about how they think things should work. like forcing people to believe something isnt bad if its something you want but if its something I believe in it is... got it.

[realistically-shifting]

Reality: Orion

In the story I had for Orion, Remus, our 12 wives, and I basically recreated the world with Hana in mind. Everyone else just benefited from it. This video reminded me of it because this is something we’d have in it.

For example, because of her trauma in the story, she struggled with being in hospitals because of the sterile rooms, but it was necessary for checkups and research. So, every hospital has room options in various styles, with doctors and nurses dressed to match. This and some other changes helped her, but also ended up helping others with medical trauma in the story.

After factories and global militaries stopped functioning, there was a spike in emissions due to militaries fighting zombies, but eventually nature started to overtake cities and come back to waterways. We worked with various groups to continue monitoring the environment, eventually giving rights to the land and treating it almost as a citizen itself.

Food, water, shelter, education, healthcare, etc. became universal rights. Cities were made more walkable. Public transportation exploded and years down the line people are able to do cross-continental trips using only public transit. Kids stopped being forced to do homework and a slew of child protection laws were enacted. Public infrastructure had to undergo a lot of changes to include accessibility features everywhere. Etc.

In the story, we wanted to basically create a utopia for Hana to raise her own family in one day. We also wanted her to live in a society better than what we lived through. We worked together with other new societies after the apocalypse, with several ending up under our “rule”. “Rule” isn’t exactly the right word, but we became responsible for them. These other societies and groups weren’t as fleshed out in the story, but they implemented our basic expectations (universal food, water, housing, healthcare, education) while still maintaining many cultural differences.

Remus was in charge of defense. I was surprised at how many people wanted to take over, and one man who we thought was an ally was working to implement plans that would essentially create ghettos for the “undesirables” of this new society, but Remus, Ivy, Daphne, and Valentina weren’t shocked at all. Every time I asked something akin to, “But why would they WANT a group of people to be poor?!”, or “Why wouldn’t I ask an expert for their opinion on this? They’re the expert??” they’d try to answer but all their answers flew over my head still.

Some attacked us and tried to start conflicts, but those scuffles were silenced by Remus or another Helvig showing up inside of their personal home. We didn’t believe in rulers using their people like pawns and wars like games, so Remus handled a lot of things himself or gave the task to someone he trusts.

I don’t think I’ll ever want to live through that because it sounds like a headache, so I won’t script it. At least not all of it.

[myastrouniverse]

May/2024🌘♈️Hamlet was a privileged asshole. 🤡

🌘 ☸︎ 🌽 There was a lot of misogyny in the 80s & 90s. Consider the Anita Hill case against Clarence Thomas. Anita Hill courageously stood up for ALL working women in America, when she spoke up about Clarence Thomas’ behavior in the office. I would argue, Thomas’ behavior sets a low standard. A person who sets a low standard of behavior in their place of work, has no business working as a judge in our HIGHEST COURT. (Biden the corpse bot was responsible for allowing Clarence Thomas to become a Supreme Ct Justice, btw.) Regardless of the outcome of that hearing, it sparked a Nationwide conversation about setting standards of appropriate behavior in the workplace. It is because of Anita Hill’s bravery, corporations implemented employee educational programs condemning sexual harassment behaviors; to improve work conditions for women across America. However, the degradation of our Supreme Ct has continued. Each new Supreme Ct Justice voted into office has held loyalty to corporations and foreign interests over the WILL OF THE PEOPLE. As a result of decades of laws created to undermine the freedom and sovereignty of our Nation, (The United States of America.), we have now become literal slaves -on paper- to corporations. The very lives of our people are now at risk. Corporations can virtually get away with ANYTHING, including a PLANNED GENOCIDE. Wake up. It’s time we end this madness NOW, or we literally will have no future.

🌘 ���︎ ♅︎ Hamlet, is a cursed play. Even as a young woman I was pondering why there were SO MANY extremely BAD and misogynist productions of Hamlet set to film, especially in the 80s & 90s. I’ve read, researched and watched that play more than any other work of art. It has taken me to be extremely sick and near dead before I was able to work out and complete my MASTER WORK of that production, which if set to the consciousness of the collective; could hopefully BREAK THE HAMLET CURSE. I hope I am able to get some producers one day, to assist me in bringing my vision to life. Regardless, the MASTER WORK lives in my head, which gives me an AUTOMATIC PhD in THEATRE.

🌘 ☸︎ ♃︎ It was during some of my darkest days, I had to THINK of something to live for that would bring me joy. When I saw Yung Blud’s music videos for the first time, I could not stop laughing. For YEARS I have been trying to make a DREAM CAST for Hamlet. Watching Yung Blud’s silliness told me a great many things about the dark days to come. He maybe a little devil, but the knowledge he gave me made him an Angel to me. I see your dark and light side, Yung Blud. I see YOU. I hope you can look at YOUR DARK SIDE and LAUGH at how ridiculous you have been. Then think of it all a dream and all is well. I AM trying to send you to heaven, not to hell.

🌘 ☌ ♆︎ Bruner had a Master’s Degree from the University of Portland, I know, because I was in his Master’s Thesis project of the play: The Dining Room. Also, a rather ‘cursed’ play. I respected Bruner as an artist and a theatre director. (I did NOT respect his treatment of women.) Bruner comes from a distinguished lineage of actors, dating back to the times of Shakespeare. I suppose in my unique way, I can also tap into the teachings of his ancestors. He did teach in Battle Ground, and the Umtuck tribe people were great masters of mask theatre. I learned a great deal from him and I owe him credit for his dedication to the theater.

Trace, I owe you credit for your work as well. I loved and respected YOU. I loved your taste in the avant-garde Dadaism form of collective theatre. It was A MASTER WORK in chaos magick. You deserve a PhD for YOUR VISION. You gave me a tremendous foundation to envision my own kind of avant-grade Dada-chaos, collective theatre via social media. (I don’t approve of Robin’s personal issues!) Despite what may have been our personal moral issues, I see the divine at work in YOU. I wish we had a chance to actually collaborate on a project in a more equal and positive manner. Without knowing it, you taught me more about life than you will ever know.

Dr. Peter John was my philosophy professor. I got a B+ on my ‘Zen and The Art of Hula-Hooping’ dissertation. I would like you to PLEASE ignore my grammar and spelling issues and in exchange, I promise to hire a professional editor to review my book. With your approval, I would like my grade to be changed to an A, so I may receive my PhD in philosophy. Dr. Peter John wrote his dissertation on ‘The Truth, Right and The Good.’ I now more than ever ponder your thoughts in your book. It has certainly helped me navigate deep waters. Thank you for being you.

Lon Milo Duquette, is a HERO. Lon said it himself: I do my work so that the next generation will have an easier time understanding extremely difficult esoteric subjects. Your book on Enochian Magick is a MASTER WORK. Someone should award Lon Milo Duquette a PhD for his contribution to esoteric literature. I know YOU have feared me as your enemy Lon, but I have ALWAYS respected YOU as a teacher and as a FRIEND.

Tom Johnson. I AM very sorry our friendship was so sadomasochistic. Tom was actually a TERRIBLE improvisational instructor. He was a gifted improviser: He understood the fundamentals. He understood goal, formula and character development, very well. He studied under Del Close, in Chicago. His trouble was issues with his own ego. I was trying to teach him about diversity and community building. Notice Tom, that ‘your core’ community was the one I BUILT for YOU. You should have ALSO noticed that MY CORE GROUP never fucking progressed AFTER FIFTEEN FUCKING YEARS because of MY ABSENCE. I LEARNED EVERYTHING ABOUT IMPROVISATIONAL THEATRE FROM KEITH JOHNSTONE. I lived for YOUR CLASSES. I fucking LIVED for the EGO DEATH. Long form Improvisational theatre is a study in ego death and from that you give birth to an interactive spontaneous story building problem, that must be collectively solved within a group of participants. You see how I used these formulas to create my social media theatre. I respected your work as a teacher Tom, but you never respected my work. I did love you once. I loved you because you reminded me of Elliott. Elliott and I had a similar relationship that couldn’t be reconciled. This was my way of trying to MAKE PEACE.

There are many other wonderful, intelligent individuals whom have taught me so much over the years. I have spent more time studying and learning outside of school than inside. The difference between me and others is possibly the diverse nature of the books and subjects that interest me.

I AM Kerri Hoseney, and I also studied under a PhD in Physical Anthropology (I forgot his name. Sorry.) and Tom Kenyon is a PhD in Cultural Anthropology; together we have a Dissertation on ancient healing techniques.

I highlighted this group of people because: “AN ARTIST CREATES THEIR OWN MORAL UNIVERSE” - Woody Allen. (I don’t agree with Mr. Allen’s personal moral issues.) My response to Mr. Allen: “If YOUR UNIVERSE IS IMMORAL, PLEASE KEEP THAT 🤡💩IN CYBER SPACE.”

🌘 < 🌞 I want to mention to Rob Zombie, that his wife looks and acts ALMOST EXACTLY like my friend Tonya Peterson, aka Harley Quinn. She was once a brilliant metal working artist and model, in LA. Her father was a Broadway and Hollywood actor. I’d like to think she puppeteers your wife. Would it make you proud to know Tonya has FAUGHT POLICE (This is an esoteric spelling of fought.), for nearly HALF HER LIFE? She is still a strong muthafucking bitch, despite DECADES OF ABUSE. She has no teeth, bad skin, a corpse thin body but the heart of a lion. There are more like her and they deserve protection. I felt I needed you to know that and I appreciate your work.

♀️🔺🦚 I believe, MOST theatre scholars, INCLUDING GARY BRUNER, are EXTREMELY misguided about the use of Iambic Pentameter in Shakespeare’s work. In MY RESEARCH I DISCOVERED, in the days of Shakespeare, most of Shakespeare’s monologues were set to music by his actors. Understand? An Actor in the days of Shakespeare had to memorize a great deal of plays. The more monologues set to memory for any given role, the more money actors were able to make. The playwrights whom the actors favored, wrote in iambic pentameter, because the use of iambic pentameter made it easier to set a great deal of monologues to MUSIC. The actors used old songs they knew, and filed in their minds, the monologues that closely flowed with the music. Speaking a monologue to the tune of a song, made the work flow easier for the actors and the audience. Understand? Now you also understand why Horatio speaks the speech to the tune of: FREE BIRD

🌘 ☸︎ ♇︎ Battle Ground, is a town named after a war, that NEVER happened. I trust NOW you understand why I AM HERE.

♂️🔺🎸 Yes and No. You are NOT bound to perform my Hamlet in real life. You already performed your role in cyberspace. However, I won’t let you do anything immoral in MY UNIVERSE. So, you are bound to a certain standard if you work with me. It is up to you. I believe in: FREE WILL.

Lynard Skynard - FREE BIRD (Devil’s Rejects)

X-RAY CAFE, PDX

Elliott Smith - Angeles

I think Trey is going to be okay now. Please get a grip.

[angelssdecay]

Why Zhongli isn’t just a blockhead (though sometimes he is) – another essay by yours truly

Disclaimer beforehand: I am partly Asian, but I am not Chinese and as such don’t have a complete grasp on the richness of Chinese lore and history although I do try to keep on educating myself about it. If you see I made any mistakes, missed out on something very important or accidentally said something I shouldn’t have please don’t hesitate to point it out for me, I’d really appreciate it. This analysis was mostly for myself and because I wanted to set a few things right about some things I’ve seen and encountered about his character in the fandom, that is all. 

This analysis ended up to be quite long (over 1.3k words oops) despite me keeping some points out of it on purpose to make it more compact, but I hope you’ll enjoy my thoughts nonetheless!

-          Zhongli is not, and has never been, simply a brute without a brain despite his undeniable trail of destruction left in the wake of the Archon war – everything he’s done, as immoral as it may seem to humans, has been done with the image of a more peaceful future in mind and the wish to create a better world for those inhabiting it. 

-          And let’s not forget that he is extremely cunning and always waging decisions carefully considering he has planned out such a grand scheme from faking his death to implementing Childe in this game of his, and using everyone in Liyue for his grand, final test 

- though he did not do so without a thinking about the weight such a final decision would hold, but instead hought long and hard about it through observations of Liyue’s people and how they would fare without his divine intervention from now on.

-          Zhongli is without a doubt not a 110% good character, he is indeed manipulative, irrational and inconsiderate of individual human lives to a certain degree and I won’t say that his objectives erase the way of his methods, after all everyone knows that the path to hell is paved by good intentions-

-          but it’s simply impossible to define any character in Genshin in such black and white/ good and bad ways because each and every of his decisions is very nuanced - he is not only selfish, Zhongli is also incredibly selfless at the same time because all that he did was for the people of Liyue, he gains literally nothing from all this apart from his rest from his immortal duties, and he is not heartless either because despite making just yet seemingly cold decisions it also has to be said that such hard decisions cannot be made and set in stone when one let’s themselves swayed by emotions

-          To come to another point: After living so far off from the mortal world for so long – because watching over humans isn’t the same as wandering amongst and living with them – it is no surprise he is quite detached from them, his heart despite his love for Liyue having petrified little by little and he knows it.

-          Yes, Zhongli definitely knows he can’t escape eventual erosion, petrifying little by little, that he will wear away as a river wears away a mountain - but still he lives on to uphold the memory of those that have faded to dust, had sacrificed their very lives to help pave the way for a peaceful and prosperous Liyue and also to carry the weight of sins he has committed in the war – he thinks and he cares so, so much and to conclude this:

-          I literally cannot stress enough how he carries so much responsibility, so much history on his shoulders – he is living history – even more now that he’s the only one left to carry on the hopes and dreams who have long passed and that this is an incredibly lonely task. It’s just heart-breaking to think about what he’s carrying with him day by day.

-          And to come to one of the most important people from his long life and who helped to shape him into who he is now: Guizhong.

-          She was one of the people who taught him that his heart is capable of more than just living for his duty, that he doesn’t only have to live as the God of Martial Arts – they were not just ‘brawns and brain’ – they were a team that complemented and completed each other

-          and Guizhong (and consequently her death as well) pushed him to embracer the other sides of his personality as well. It doesn’t matter whether people see their relationship as platonic or romantic, because the impact she has left on him is the same – as someone who believed in his gentler, more caring side

-          Zhongli is also incredibly thoughtful and perceptive, seen in the way he talks - a very refined and elegant way with every word laced by the wisdom he has accumulated without it being overbearing or coming across as absolute with no room for doubts - about various important characters in Liyue right now – accurately pinpointing their strengths and weakness and how valuable they are to making the land he has protected for so long continue to prosper

-          for example when he talks about the Yuheng and that despite, no, because of her abrasive attitude towards his deeds as a good she is a gem amongst humans and one of the many people he places their trust in to take care of Liyue’s future in his stead. Or Yanfei, the young half-Adepti who despite never having entered a contract with him, or rather doesn’t even know of his true identity upholds order and contracts within Liyue which he praises and values

-          It shows how deeply he cares about this land and its people, believing in their strength to overcome everything even without him – which is one of his most defining traits – seen in the way he has guided humanity all these years and in the way the people of Liyue have faith in him, a faith that isn’t blind or caused by fear like with Decarabian, but true respect for all he has done for the people of this land.

-          to say he’s a blockhead who doesn’t think nor care about humans is completely wrong because his entire rule for the past millennia was centered around protecting mankind – yes, it has to be said that his methods and morals are outside normal human values but it has to be kept in mind that he is an immortal god and gods neither feel nor live like humans, they understand and perceive the world differently than humans

-          gods stand outside out world and that makes it harder for them to truly connect with the way humans live - and it is only after stepping down from his throne that he actually has the chance now to try and experience the life of mortals for himself, to see and live it for himself and not as the distant overseer that Rex Lapis was.

-          and while he may feel sadness over not being needed anymore, giving up his godhood is the freedom he chose for himself, it’s something he deserves after watching over mankind for so long and trying to keep balance between the world or mortals and supernatural being

-          being free, being allowed to be selfish and think of himself outside of being a god is something he’d never done before being so incredibly bound to duty, contracts and traditions as he is; but by now he truly believes that this is the age of men as the end of the age of gods is coming to its end and it’s a beautiful thing to see him grow beyond the boundaries he had set for himself the past thousands of years

-          though in all fairness, sometimes our beloved Ex-Archon can indeed be a little of a blockhead considering he dumped the entire world of Teyvat into a financial crisis by stopping the production of one of the most important catalysts for everyday life – something that may not unfold its consequences immediately of course

-          – and even forgot to lay aside a private fund of mora but that’s because he isn’t accustomed to normal human life at all, he is still learning and more than willing to expand his horizon despite the vast knowledge he’s already accumulated over years of his life – and in the end that’s what makes him such a brilliantly lovable man, am I right?

[azz-clazz-shit]

Love is War by @/xXKrist_CrosserXx on Wattpad.

[It is based off the anime Love is War. Like the first half of the first episode. And I already asked the author if I could publish it on tumblr and they allowed it.

Italics are the narrator.]

You fall in love with someone...

In a cloudy and dark area,  Sugino stood in front of Kanzaki. "Pl-Please be my girlfriend!" He said bowing down with his hand out for the girl to hold.

...confess that love...

She gasped in surprise with a blush on her face and slowly let her hand rest against the Sugino's palm. 

... and become a couple.

Then all of a sudden, the sun came up, along with doves and a church. Along with many  animals and people that joined in as well.

Everyone would say that's a happy thing.

They all let out cheers as confetti and ribbons were released to the sky. 

But they're wrong!

A gift fell to the floor, breaking it apart.

Even among sweethearts, there exists a distinct power relationship!

She had a sweet smile on her face until all of a sudden, the smile turned to something more dark and sinister. Sugino had a shocked expression on his face as he tried to back away.

A side that exploits and a side that's exploited.

Kanzaki stepped on his head. She was holding chains as she let laughed at his misery.

A side that's devoted, a side receiving devotion. A winner and a loser!

If you're trying to live a noble life, then you mustn't become a loser.

Love is WAR!

Karma stared at Gakushuu with daggers behind his back where as Gakushuu also stared at karma with a gun behind his back.

The person who falls in love loses.

Kunugigaoka Academy!

It's a prestigious school with an ancient and honorable origin, founded as a faculty to educate upper-class children. The focus on nobility is gone,  but many talented students born into wealthy, distinguished families and shouldering the future attend the school.

In the hallway, the students passing by greeted each other.

One girl widened her eyes as she spotted something or someone.

Naturally ordinary people wouldn't be permitted to lead and bring these students together!

A boy with strawberry blonde hair passed through the hallway along with a person with red hair.

"Everyone look." The same girl said. People turned to the direction she told them to look and as they did they were filled with admiration.

"The Student Council members!" She squealed out as Karma and Gakushuu were walking. Gakushuu was in the front, reading a book while Karma was just right behind him.

Karma Akabane, the vice-president of the Student  Council at Kunugigaoka Academy. Total assets: 200 trillion yen. Yes, more than Koro-sensei. He family owns the Akabane group, one of the top four financial conglomerates in Japan, with over 1,000 subsidiaries. 

Benefitting her superior lineage, e was a talented young man, who has attained splendid achievements in various fields. Such as, traditional performing arts, music and martial arts. That is Karma Akabane. And the one Karma supports is...

Gakushuu Asano, the president of the Student Council at Kunugigaoka Academy. He's wise and intelligent, strong and silent. He scores first place in the practice exams. In contrast to the talented Karma, his devotion to studying commands awe and fear. And because of that exemplary behavior, he was selected to be the Student Council  President, despite being relatively new to the school.

The red armband that stays on his sleeve has been passed down from president to president at Kunugigaoka Academy  for all the years it existed!

Both walked down the hallway, hearing the chatters of many other classmates who made a pathway for them to continue walking as they just stared at them. 

"Those two always look so good together." A girl murmured. 

"There's even a dignity to them!" Another girl chattered back.

"Do you think they're dating?" A friend of theirs asked.

"Somebody please ask them!"

"I wouldn't dare!"

"It would be presumptuous to even get close to the. Let alone ask such a question!"

The doors of the Student Council opened. Then, the thud of the door, signaling it's closed brought the chatters of the students to shut down.

Karma poured tea into a cup. "It seems that... there's a rumor going around... that we're in a relationship or some such." He placed the teacup he poured in front of Gakushuu.

"That's normal for their age. You should ignore it." He advised to the red head. 'The fools do enjoy talking about nonsensical love affairs. Although...' His eyes turned to Karma's direction. And with a turn Karma looked at the Asano while holding a tray close to his chest. 'if Akabane demanded that I go out with him, I suppose I would mull it over!' He boasted to himself. 'And I'm certain she has feelings for me. Probably just a matter of time.' He let out a chuckle. 'He should just take off his prideful mask of a perfect, pampered young man and make his blushing appeal to me.' He thought to himself as he imagined Karma all fidgeting with the tray and blushing while facing his face away saying "Pr-president, I need to talk to you." He let out another chuckle. 

'The ignorant children with their common talk.' Karma thought with a smirk on his face. 'Who do they think I am. I'm a member of the Akabane family, the heart of this country. How did they reach the conclusion that I would be dating a commoner?' He took a peek of Gakushuu. 'Well, I suppose there could be a very slight possibility. If he gets on his knees and offered up his body, soul and hometown, I suppose I could train him to be a person who measures up to me.' He let out a light chuckle. 'Certainly, there's no one who doesn't pine for me. It's probably just a matter of time.'

Both were just creepily laughing to themselves in the empty room.

While they were engaging in this kind of thing...half a year has passed! Nothing of note happened during that period.

Both were in the Student Council room doing paper work sitting next to each other. And oddly enough, there was a steamed bun in the middle of the table.

"By the way, today there were snails in the interior of the apple and cherry relief in the courtyard's water fountain." Karma said, trying to start a small talk.

"My younger sister once caught a cold taking a dip in the water fountain, even though it was hot outside. When you act according to emotions, there are no good results." He responded blankly.

During this period of nothingness, their thoughts shifted from 'I wouldn't mind dating him.' to 'Maybe I'll make him confess his love to me.' Meanwhile, one other person had no idea that two super high school-level minds were in engaged in sophisticated strategizing.

A girl with green pigtails sat across from them. "Ah!" Kayano Kaede, the student council secretary of Kunugigaoka Academy. "That reminds me! Listen to this! I won a pair of movie tickets, but my parents won't let me see stuff like that." She said while grabbing something out of the pockets in the school uniform. "So, are you two interested?" The tickets she held up had the name 'Love Refrain' making it pretty obvious that it was a romance movie.

"Hmm," Gakushuu thought about it because Note: he is a cheapskate. "Come to think of it, I have a rare free weekend." He opened up a pocket planner and flipped to a page with nothing scheduled on it. "So, Akabane, why don't we-"

"Supposedly there's a jinx. If two people go see this movie together, they'll become a couple." Kayano interrupted him. 

Gakushuu's face suddenly turned pale and was dripping in cold sweat from hearing that.

"How romantic!" She squealed, squirming in her seat.

"Oh, President." Karma placed the pen he was working with down. He turned to face Gakushuu. "Did you just invite me?"

A drop of Gakushuu's sweat dropped.

"You want to go with me to a movie in which pairs are said to be a couple if they see it together. Oh, dear, that sounds a lot like..."

'Like I'm asking him out on a date!' Gakushuu, screaming mentally with his eyes twitching, finishing the sentence with his thoughts.

The Asano's predicament was, in romance, 'The person who falls in love loses' is the rule! As they were both filled with pride, neither one could confess one iota of romantic interest!

'What should I do? It's blatant. The only I could do is smooth it over!' Gakushuu tried to think of a scenario.

"Why don't we sell the tickets to a scalper?" He suggested.

"Oh, President, I've never seen you so flustered before." Karma said from behind. Karma let out a little smile as Gakushuu's face turned blue. "How cute." Karma said ever so slowly, looking down on him with his dull mercury eyes.

'This is unacceptable! There is no escape route of the path that Asano conquers! You're the one who's going to run, Akabane!' He was determined.

"Yeah, I invited you, Akabane. I don't care about rumors like that, but it sees you do." He grabbed the tickets from Kayano's hand. "Do you want to see this movie with me?" He asked as he waved the ticket in his hand.

That moment, Karma thought...

'After indicating the intent to invite me, he assigned me the choice of whether we see the movie or not. Well played. I could choose to refuse, but then all of y preliminary arrangements up to now would become meaningless. I went to all the trouble of fabricating a prize and putting it in Kaede's mailbox. My plan to aim for one of the president's rare free days would be for nothing! And if I turn him down now, the president may never invite me to anything again! From the viewpoint of a guy, I say no! And I say no to that kind of choice!' He mentally pouted at the last few sentences.

"Yes, well..." Karma finally spoke out. "I can't help believing in stories like that." Karma had a  fucking adorable face that I can't describe so just imagine Karma having the puppy eyes and blushing and everything around him is sparkling. "So if we are going, I'd like you to at least invite me with more passion."

'Innocent' skill implemented!

Because of that skill, Gakushuu was shocked as if he just stepped on a puppy or kitten. As if he had done something that would bring him to all the gates in hell, maybe even more.

It's a  negotiating skill passed on from father to child in the Akabane family. It's said this calculated expression and voice even make the gods' hearts beat faster. In truth, Gakushuu's thoughts were also in disarray. 

'Well, I guess it is an Asano's duty to ask a person out.'

That thought crossed his mind! Of course, Karma didn't let that chance go by! He pursued without a moment's delay.

Karma's eyes hatched onto him like a prey and acted hastily by grabbing his hands, which caused the tickets to fall to the ground. 

"I'm at the age where I'd like to try a little romance too." He looked away as if he was shy and Kara's atmosphere was filled with lovely hearts. 

Gakushuu flinched as a growing blush would soon fill his pale face as his eyes turned wide and wavering. Whereas Kayano just sat there, watching all this happening. But the an idea came into her head as she grabbed something out of her pocket.

This battle of thoughts seemed to be like a chess problem. Kara cornered Gakushuu, who searched for an opportunity to turn it around. The brains of these prodigies raced two steps ahead, clashing with each other as wheels turned faster than any ordinary mind! Karma strengthened his defense! Gakushuu tried to break through! They both constructed a theory leading to a conclusion! The one who completed the theory first would be the winner! 

"Ah!" Kayano voiced out. "If you don't like love stories, you can also use these tickets..." Karma and Gakushuu looked at her as if she somewhat interrupted something. She held out two tickets with both of her hands. "...to go see the movie, 'The Birdie from Tottori.'"

"'The Birdie..."

"...from Tottori?'"

Both said, looking at Kayano with a confused yet shocked expression on their face. 

Chaos Theory. Secretary Kaede's casual remark added an element of chaos into the theories that were all but completed! It was only one element, but like the Big Bang, the chaos increased the possibilities. In order to process the vastly expanded choices, the wheels in their brains spun even faster, going beyond their limits!

Gakushuu's and Karma's head erupted steam from all the thinking they had to do. They sat blankly as if someone just asked them 'Is the sun a planet?'

"Un, is something wrong?" Kayano asked in concern of the two people. 

As a result, their brains craved a great deal of sugar! The only sugar in the Student council office was in a single steamed bun! Thus, whoever obtained the steamed bun would be the winner!

Both rivals dramatically reached for the steamed bun. As soon as it was in the grasps of their hands, Kayano turned to the clock and said "Afternoon classes are about to start." She had the steamed bun in her hand and had a 'nom' of it as Karma and Gakushuu were frozen in place. "Well, see you again after school." she muffled out with the steamed bun still in her mouth as she walked away all innocently. She jumped in the air, letting go of the steamed bun and ate it whole, with a lick of her lips.

Both rival's souls seemed to had left their bodies. They both suddenly collapsed on the table as soon as Kayano left. 

It was a sophisticated battle of the brains, with the ingenuity and pride of these two geniuses on the line. Todays Battle result: Both sides defeated.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Hello, I've been trying to educate myself about Catalonia (currently watching Two Catalonias in Netflix, glad to have found your blog!). There's a lot of questions that Im desperate to have an answer for. Sorry bc I havent gone all of the timetable yet. I saw that October 2017 was when it became independent. But what is it independent for? Is it politics? Why is it still part of Spain now? Is there a different government body? I hope u dont take this the wrong way. Thanks in advance. <3

Hello, thank you for your interest 😄

It’s all pretty complicated but I’ll try to sum up the timeline and hope it makes sense.

A lot has happened since 2017 and it was... intense. This is going to be a very long post, so I’ll put it under the cut.

October 1st 2017: the referendum, considered illegal by Spain, police brutality against the voters, etc. That’s been talked about extensively so I’ll skip it. Anyway, the result of the referendum is 90.18% of votes for YES to independence (2,044,038 votes), 7.83% of votes for NO (177,547 votes), and 1.98% votes in BLANK (44,913 votes). The participation rate that could be counted was 43.03% of the population of Catalonia who legally can vote in normal elections. Actually, more people had voted but their votes were kidnapped by the Spanish military police when they stormed voting centers, so those votes were not counted. Other people wanted to vote but couldn’t because they the police attacked and closed their voting center, or because they’re not eligible to vote in elections because they live here but don’t have documents.

So we consider that a victory for YES.

October 3rd 2017: general strike. Ready to take control of the territory, a general strike is called and it is massively followed. The economy is shut down, highways and trains are blocked, etc. Here’s a post from that day. And another one.

October 10th 2017: president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont declares independence and suspends it 8 seconds later. This was my post at the time:

(Spoiler alert: obviously Spain refused to negotiate. Not only that but they went further in the repression. You’ll see.)

October 16th 2017: activists Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez (the elected presidents of the two most important pro-independence organizations, Òmnium Cultural and ANC respectively) are arrested and put in pre-trial jail. Many demonstrations around Catalonia the next days and weeks and months.

October 27th 2017: following Puigdemont’s words, since the Spanish government has explicitly refused to negotiate, the suspension on the declaration of independence is lifted. The Parliament of Catalonia declares independence (DUI = Declaració Unilateral d’Independència = unilateral declaration of independence). Thousands and thousands of people came to the streets to celebrate, and then in filled Plaça Sant Jaume in Barcelona (the square where the Seat of the Government of Catalonia is) and all the nearby streets and avenues. It was so packed that it was impossible to move, and there was music and singing all the time. We did this to protect the building, because we knew our government was inside signing papers and doing what was necessary to start to implement the Catalan Republic, and to make it absolutely impossible for the Spanish police and/or army to get to the Seat of the Catalan Government and arrest them.

Spain considered the Catalan government criminals and searched for them to jail them, but the following day they were outside of the country and nowhere to be found. The plan was to move to a more democratic European country and create a government on exile there which could effectively coordinate the culmination of the independence process and make independence effective. The reason they couldn’t stay in Catalonia was that they would all get jailed and would not be able to work from jail, so Catalonia would not have a government who could negotiate with the EU, Spain, or whoever was necessary, and who could continue the normal functions of a government to ensure the people of the country can still work and live, while coordinating the participative processes to create our own Constitution, tax collection, etc. But only half of the government made it outside... I’ll expand on this later.

Now let’s see what Spain was up to. The Spanish government applied the article 155 of the Spanish Constitution to Catalonia. This articles deletes the regional government and that comunidad autónoma (region) is ruled directly by the central Spanish government. In practice, what this means is that the whole Catalan government (elected democratically in legal elections recognized by Spain) stops existing, and it is replaced by politicians from the ruling Spanish party, which at the time was PP, a right-wing Catalanophobic party that had only reached 8.5% of votes in the previous Spanish elections in Catalonia. It was like a dictatorship. They controlled the public TV (read this) and banned the use of certain words, they fired people who had affinities with the independentist government, a lot of people went to trial (including even teachers) at the slightest suspicions...

And everything had to stop. Even things you wouldn’t expect to be affected. Everything was affected and the Spanish government’s presence. For example, my mother is a teacher of Catalan language in a public school for adults, and she had to ask permission to the Spanish government directly every time she wanted to use a printer (they were threatened that otherwise they could be sued for wasting public money). Sometimes they even refused her to print class exercises for the students. My department in university also had to stop all the research projects for the following year since they depend on the funds given by the Catalan government. etc.

(You can see the whole post that screenshot is part of here)

Obviously, there were protests. During those days, we were busy with demonstrations and strikes, and then learnt that president Puigdemont and others were on exile in Belgium. There were some problems with Spain sending international orders of arrest against them but the crimes they’re accused of don’t exist outside of Spain so they were arrested and temporarily jailed in Germany but not deported. I won’t get in detail because it happened more than once and it would be long.

But half of the Government of Catalonia did NOT cross the border. The whole government, which was a coalition of the PDeCat and ERC parties, met in secret in Llívia (an enclave surrounded by French territory), and then the ERC politicians decided not to follow the plan. There are different reasons behind this change in strategy:

The need for political prisoners to prove that we are not exaggerating. The EU was not taking seriously how repressive Spain could be. They saw the police brutality on the referendum’s voters and shrugged as if nothing happened because nobody had died (though one man almost did). So some of the consellers (equivalent of ministers in the Catalan government) said that they would remain in Catalonia, and they were sure they would be jailed and this would show other countries that there was a reason for the Catalan Government to be on exile, it wasn’t just that they had left because they’re dramatic and don’t want to follow the law.

Jail as a loudspeaker. These same consellers said that being in jail would give them attention from international media that otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten, so they would use their time in jail to explain to the world what was going on and why their countries should show support to Catalonia. Political prisoner Jordi Cuixart later said that this has been the case for him, and he has met with important activists from around the world who came to visit him in jail, so it makes sense.

Aaaand whatever the hell vicepresident Junqueras was talking about. I still don’t understand. He should’ve gone to Belgium in my opinion. He’s just rotting in jail for no reason now.

So we have half of the Catalan Government in Spanish jails and the other half in Belgium. They still remain like that nowadays.

The two parties of the coalition that formed the previous Catalan Government (the one that Spain had dismantled) continued to fight among them. They later explained that Spain threatened that they would send the army to Catalonia and there would be a bloodbath. In phone calls, the delegates of the Spanish government made it clear that they were going to kill people and frame it as it was the fault of the Government of Catalonia. The Government of Catalonia did not want people dead, so they stopped calling on citizens to take control of the territory, the administration, etc. At the time, we did not know why they were suddenly silent, all they said was they were waiting for Spain to negotiate (and everybody was angry because we knew Spain would never negotiate, as Spanish politicians have been saying the whole time).

Then, the Spanish government forced Catalonia to have elections, since it considered that the democratically-elected Government of Catalonia was not in power anymore because Spain had fired them. There was a lot of discussion on what independentist parties should do. These were the different positions:

Catalonia has declared independence and we need to focus all our energy on making it real. All independentist parties have to be working on taking full control of the taxes, administration, and services. We cannot be a candidate to the elections of the Spanish region of Catalonia, because that doesn’t exist anymore and we are in the Republic of Catalonia now. The result of participating in these elections would be legitimizing Spanish rule. But if we don’t participate, only the unionists will vote and the whole Government of the Spanish region of Catalonia (the one that has the real power by now and is recognized by other countries) will be 100% composed of unionist politicians who will make our lives hell (like they did during 155). And the world might take this as “unionists won the elections, so that’s the only legitimate representatives of Catalonia to negotiate with”.

Independentist parties should participate and make the Government of the Spanish region of Catalonia be the Government of the Republic of Catalonia. It’s good that it’s an official legal election accepted by everyone, and there will be representation of all the inhabitants (whether they are unionist or independentist). Problem: this leads us back to where we started, with a Parliament that has a majority of seats for independentist parties but is still the Parliament of a region of Spain.

Independentist parties should participate in the elections of the Spanish region of Catalonia in order to boycott it. Basically, all independentists would be called to vote for their preferred independentist party (PDeCat, ERC or CUP), and once the Parliament of the Spanish region of Catalonia is formed, they never show up. More than half of the Parliament would be empty, so it would be blocked from being efficient. Meanwhile they would be at the real Parliament of the Republic of Catalonia.

After a lot of talk, they choose the 3rd. In theory.

Elections happen, with pretty much the same results from the previous elections so PDeCat and ERC form a coalition government with support from CUP. But the politicians who are in jail or exile are outlawed by Spain and could not participate in elections, so they do a “symbolic” president, Quim Torra, who is like a spokesman for the real president Puigdemont in exile.

So with the leaders of the two bigger independentist parties and civil organizations in jail or on exile, media still banned from using certain words, people getting arrested for taking part in the general strikes, and a general feeling of uncertainess, things started to go very badly.

Suddenly ERC (social-democrat independentist party) decided that we had already failed, and that this showed that the DUI (unilateral declaration of independence) was always going to fail because so many important elements of an independent state work automatically (for example, taxes of Catalan people are automatically sent to Spain, they don’t pass through the Catalan gov, and it’s all informatic so it’s not like we can just stop the caravan that is transporting the money because there is no such a thing) or other mechanisms needed for a country really become independent unilaterally (aka without Spain agreeing) are just impossible for us to create without the support of other independent countries or organizations like the EU or UN. From then on, ERC has defended that we need to find a way to negotiate with Spain and do a referendum that Spain recognizes as legally binding, but Spain has shown they don’t want to let us vote, so we need to be strong enough to force them to have to agree with us. “Strong enough” meaning to have the huge majority of Catalonia be in favour of independence, have the Parliament and other representative bodies be almost absolutely pro-independence, have the councils of all major unions be in favour of constant mobilization for independence, etc. So the most repeated sentence by ERC is, to this day, “enxamplar la base” (make the base/grassroots wider), and that’s what they dedicate most of their efforts towards, trying to convince undecided people or Spanish leftists or left-leaning people who they think can be convinced.

CUP (anti-capitalist independence party) said that the important thing to become independent is the support of the masses and constant mobilization. We already had a majority of the population in favour of independence and they showed to be ready for constant mobilization. General strikes had been successful, so what we needed was to do an indefinite strike (so, instead of just striking a couple of days, declare a strike that would not end until our demands -independence and freedom of political prisoners- are met). This is difficult because most people cannot afford to stop showing up to work for such a long time as would be needed, and the solidarity funds (the collections of funds used to aid workers who need it during strikes and to help pay for lawyers or whatever the repressed protestors need) could never be enough for a whole country. Nevertheless, lots of people are ready to make sacrifices.

And the other party, president Puigdemont’s PDeCat (the liberal independentist party). They said that we had to work harder on having all the state structures (“estructures d’estat”, those words are used a lot). State structures would be all the things necessary for a country to function independently. It includes the tax collection system, ambassies, administration system, justice system, police force (I know this is debated but at least we all can agree that we do NOT need Spanish cops imposing Spanish laws), postal service, etc. PDeCat’s efforts are centered on this, especially on economical aspects. They are still now working in this direction, with the idea that Spain will never agree to negotiate and so our only way of becoming independent is behaving like we’re independent: when we have our own tax collection, state services, citizenship, ambassies, etc. we will be independent whether or not Spain recognizes it, because we will be behaving independently and will not depend on Spain.

After that a lot of important things happened to, but basically the coalition government (PDeCat and ERC) fought all the time. As I just explained, their strategies are opposed, and ERC accuses PDeCat of being too radical and “scaring away” the Spanish left who could maybe one day let us have a referendum agreeded on with Spain, while PDeCat and CUP accuse ERC of having turned independence in a long-term goal instead of a short-term goal like it was until 2017.

So basically, we failed and did not achieve independence. We declared it but were not able to keep it going. Most people feel like the political class ruined it, because the people were ready to do what was needed (as proved in the strikes like October 3rd 2017, the occupation of the Barcelona airport on 4th October 2019, the so-called Battle of Orquinaona, etc). There’s been great protests until the covid-19 lockdown, it’s not like we ever really stopped. But most politicians seem too focused in fighting each other for the best strategy, especially ERC who is not participating in the meetings with the other parties any more. It’s all very confusing for the people, and it seems that we don’t know everything that happened in late 2017.

That’s pretty much it. I hope it was more or less understandable, and if you’re still confused, don’t worry, we are confused too. Now, seriously, if you want more clarification on any point you can send me another ask and I’ll be happy to answer. Meanwhile, after remembering all of this, I will be crying in my room ✌️ (jk)

[notebooknebula]

Jay Conner Mastermind LIVE!

https://www.jayconner.com/jay-conner-mastermind-live/

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (00:00):

We’re streaming live right now on Facebook and YouTube. Hello everyone, I’m Chaffey-Than Nguwen, and I am at the Jay Conner Mastermind, and I’m here with Fred,

Fred Wallace (00:18):

Wallace.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (00:20):

And Fred is going to tell us all the wonderful things that he learned today.

Fred Wallace (00:25):

Well, what we’ve learned is the Private Money Lending world is great. Helps a lot of people also being able to how to help other people buy. And when they’re in pain with their house and had, it was relief from the pain, and to help them out of trouble.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (00:46):

But we can’t tell them specifics about what you learned in here. Cause what happens in the Mastermind stays in the Mastermind. What are some of the general topics that you discussed today that maybe you haven’t discussed before?

Fred Wallace (01:01):

Your brand building, How to talk to customers, work with customers. It is more of a, the interaction with customers and trying to solve their needs.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (01:15):

Andy come on back over here, come on over here. So what’d you think about the first day? This is our first time here, correct?

Fred Wallace (01:26):

This is our first Mastermind meeting is great. We plan to be beat each one and hope to continue with the Mastermind.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (01:33):

Awesome. Any thoughts or comments you want to share with the audience? Final thoughts or comments?

Fred Wallace (01:40):

You really should check out, Jay Conner and his program it’s been outstanding for us and we look forward to everything in the future with it.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (01:47):

And you get, you got fed today.

Fred Wallace (01:49):

I got fed.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (01:50):

And we’re going to go to dinner right now as well.

Fred Wallace (01:52):

We get fed again.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (01:52):

That’s right. Awesome.

Scott Paton (01:56):

Could you tell us a little bit about your background in real estate?

Fred Wallace (02:01):

We some, a commercial property right now, we’ve rehabbed a few houses, we built a house. We generally have a few, a licensed general contractor, home inspectors, Mothers. but they real estate broker. The most proud of is a drone pilot. That’s a good one, but we really tried to embrace the real estate world.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (02:30):

So, question popped in my head Fred, you got like nine different licenses.

Fred Wallace (02:36):

Yes.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (02:36):

You’ve bought and sold real estate.

Fred Wallace (02:38):

Yes.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (02:38):

You got a multiunit property and Andy is joining us. Thank you for coming. And so with all the experience and everything that you know, why are you here? Why did you come to this event? Why did you feel that you needed to be here? And has it been obviously, has it been worth it?

Fred Wallace (02:55):

Oh yeah, we took a ton of notes. You can never learn enough. And we’ve looked at other programs, we’ve joined other programs, we’ve got more way far more information out of this one than the other ones, but it’s all a life learning experience and, you know, you never stopped learning.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (03:13):

Awesome. Well, thank you very much.

Fred Wallace (03:16):

Appreciate it, Chaffey

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (03:16):

We appreciate you guys coming out. Would you like to say a few word Andy?

Andy  (03:22):

Just knowledge is power.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (03:24):

Knowledge is power. So thank you guys for coming out. Thank you for being here. And then we’ll see you guys at dinner tonight. Jay’s going to treat us well as part of the Mastermind group. So we will see you there and I’m going to pull Austin over. Who’s busy typing away on a cell phone, so thank you. And we’ll see you later.

Fred Wallace (03:42):

Thank you Chaffey.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (03:43):

Mr. Austin, come on in.

Austin Steel (03:50):

Hello, everybody, I’m Austin Steel.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (03:52):

Tell them a little bit about your background in real estate.

Austin Steel (03:55):

So my background, I’m a, I’m still a young guy. I actually graduated a few years ago studying business management and then started working full time for a real estate investor and had a interest, you know, kind of growing up and decided to get involved in real estate after I graduated.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (04:13):

So fun fact about you, what’s that fun fact cause when people see you, they might think they’re drunk.

Austin Steel (04:18):

Yeah. Fun fact, I am an identical triplet, so I have two look-alikes, So.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (04:26):

So they can get a lot of real estate done.

Austin Steel (04:27):

Yeah. So if you happen to see me around and you come up and say, hi, Hey, I saw your testimonial. That may not be me, So.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (04:35):

Awesome. So what have you gotten out of this Mastermind so far? And I know you’ve attended before.

Austin Steel (04:42):

Yeah.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (04:42):

And so a little bit about your Mastermind experience without obviously sharing some details. Cause you know, this is an exclusive club to be a part of.

Austin Steel (04:52):

Yes. a lot of really good things today. You know, honestly, we had some really good ideas for approaching the idea of looking into other markets. Our market’s really hot, and so we’re currently evaluating, looking into some other markets close to us, maybe even farther away. So we’ve got some really good ideas about that. We also got some really good ideas about social media marketing and branding and you know, some of the ideas were ideas that I’ve heard in other places, but they were set in a way that I realized, Oh wow! I’ve always just kind of turned off when they talked about that. But hearing people share about, you know, how they’re implementing these ideas and to see the kind of business that they’re running and how many deals they’re doing, you know, really adds credibility to the ideas that they sharing when you see, Oh, like I thought that didn’t actually work, but I can see that it actually works so.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (05:43):

Awesome. So as I said before, this isn’t your first time here.

Austin Steel (05:47):

Yeah.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (05:48):

Go a little bit. Or tell us a little bit about how maybe have you seen progression from the previous times that you have attended, have you tested things out, have you done things and has it helped the business grow a little bit?

Austin Steel (06:01):

Yeah, absolutely. So we’ve we’ve had this specific marketing like lists and tips that have been given to us and those have worked out well for us. We’re generating more leads than we used to. And you know, we’re on track to generate even more based on the leads that are coming in right now. So also we’ve definitely improved our processes. So we operate more smoothly as a business and definitely have a bigger vision for where we’re headed.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (06:33):

Yeah. I know that was a big issue for you guys at the last event, was really just focusing on those processes and everything. And so tomorrow morning we get to share one thing that you got out today, and then we have a full day of sharing and education again tomorrow. So I’m going to be excited to hear what you guys are going to share tomorrow morning, So.

Austin Steel (06:50):

I’m looking forward to it.

Fred Wallace (06:51):

Well, that’s what all I got. Scott, you got anything else?

Scott Paton (06:56):

No, That’s Great. Good to Oh, just a sec. Okay, Good to see you, I wish I could be there. And so that’s day one of the Mastermind is over it’s in the books.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (07:08):

Yes.

Scott Paton (07:08):

And it sounds like it was well worth everybody’s time and everybody learned a lot.

Chaffee-Than Nguwen (07:15):

Absolutely. And we got a full day tomorrow and hopefully I’ll be able to pull up another, you know, a couple of Mastermind students and do this again at the end of the day and just share again, some concepts and ideas that we were talked about discussed throughout the day, So.

Scott Paton (07:30):

Awesome. All right, See you tomorrow. Thanks for joining us, everybody.

[darealpatyu]

DLSU’s Strategic Plan is Lit

First Impressions

DLSU’s strategic plan is nothing short of brilliant. I don’t mean to compare our school to other schools (I actually do mean to), but I think that compared to The Areneo, DLSU has really thought through well their plans for the future, keeping in mind the well-being of key stakeholders. The strategic plan does not only cover the improvement of system processes for the welfare of the students; it also covers the localization of SDG projects to embody our school’s value of zeal for service, which I really, really admire.

Reader, if you would be so kind as to allow me to digress and say that it’s no wonder that DLSU was not a proponent of the academic freeze that students were clamoring for a while back. This strategic plan tells me that the administration has things under control. Things might have started out rocky, but they’ve managed pretty well so far, and now, their plans make me believe that things are only going to get better.

Let’s Talk Strategy

The ANIMO strategies -- albeit a little cheesy and let’s be honest, the words were obviously forced to fit into the words ANIMO – address student concerns, the uncertain future, and the larger social environment comprehensively. Although these strategies have yet to materialize, their ambitious plans convey DLSU’s goal to be the top university in the Philippines; even when everything else is uncertain, DLSU’s service hasn’t wavered. Their Accompaniment (A) strategy is the one I like best, and it is one of the reasons why DLSU will maintain its status as one of the best universities in the PH. Their accompaniment strategy stresses the importance of making sure that student workload is manageable and “authentic,” to quote the speaker. Making workload authentic is honestly something I like because students need to do assessments and activities that actually matter. The pandemic has revealed the proverbial truth that students have their own lives apart from school. We have our own problems; so, when teachers give assessments, it has to be something that will benefit us. None of that “make a brochure” or “do a creative skit” stuff. Also, encouraging a manageable workload is a great way of showing students that the system cares for their mental health. Yassss, we aren’t robots, thanks for acknowledging that, DLSU!

The A strategy also entails strengthening student support and reimagining the student life cycle to fit the new world we’ve been thrown into. The A strategy basically encompasses almost all the community needs that were brought up by the survey respondents; these needs were E-reliability, Abatement, Innovation, and Support. By responding to the needs of stakeholders, DLSU effectively maintains its position as a top university!

To me, the strategy that establishes DLSU’s international prestige is, surprisingly, the Opening (O) strategy. The O strategy is focused on creating policies for when the uncertain future comes. This establishes DLSU’s international reputation as a university that can adapt to changing times; there’s honestly nothing worse than a school that is so conservative that they end up being an enemy to progress. By staying relevant through progressive policies, and by acknowledging that there is a need for permanent change for when face-to-face classes will be allowed, DLSU stays relevant with its prestige and everythang.

A Little SWOT, please?

A drum roll for the SWOT analysis, please! I actually have some fancy bullet points for you all, so you can visualize things a little better.

Strengths

·            Open to change

·            Already started online learning even before the pandemic started

·            Listens to stakeholders

·            Research efforts continue

·            Is one of the top universities

Weaknesses

·            Some professors are old-school and are not tech-savvy

·            Internal processes are not optimal

·            Student support is not useful enough to be relevant

Opportunities

·            No other university adjusted to the new normal as quickly as DLSU

Threats

·            Intermittent wi-fi  (E V E R Y W H E R E)

·            Government policies ineffective and arbitrary*

·            Typhoons

Based on this very primitive SWOT analysis, I would say that DLSU’s success rate in implementing its strategies would be 90%. I am quite hopeful for the future because they’ve exhibited several strengths that, to me, outweigh all the weaknesses. When you have the strength of being open to change, which is the most important strength in this VUCA world (Miss Sarmiento, are you proud of me? I just quoted you :D), you can essentially take on anything. The weaknesses are very annoying to us now, but I know that along the way, DLSU will address them. The weaknesses are just glitches in the plan that can be smoothed out along the way.

With the way things are going right now, there aren’t many opportunities that the institution can maximize (from my perspective, at least), and there’s a load of threats that are beyond the institution’s control. This is why I am only 90% confident that DLSU can effectively implement its strategies. The wi-fi issue is especially the worst. Wi-fi in the Philippines is the biggest party pooper of all time. The government is another issue because DLSU can’t fulfill its plan of fully resuming campus access in 2022 if the government keeps up its antics. Hence, it is likely that these uncontrollable factors will hinder the success of the more ambitious key strategies, such as the localization of SDG projects and the campus redesign.

*An example of government policy:

The Ideal Business Leader Cares

I do believe that the strategic plan promotes the objectives in the Vocation of the Business Leader. First of all, DLSU’s strategic plan fulfills the Good Goods because of the mere fact that they plan to continue operating the school even in a pandemic. Their service continues to create students who are the critical thinkers of society. So, it’s fulfilling this service even when times are hard, which is the exact embodiment of the Good Goods if you ask me. DLSU also fulfills the second goal of the Good Goods, which is to maintain solidarity with the poor. La Salle schools literally started as schools for the poor. Now, DLSU continues to give out great, comprehensive scholarship grants, and as a scholar of DLSU myself, I can say that DLSU invests a lot of money in its scholarship programs, which is honestly so nice it makes me want to cry; education is the greatest equalizer and will last a lifetime, and I am really happy that the poor are receiving it just as I am. DLSU has even made arrangements with telecommunication companies, so that struggling students, faculty, and staff have access to pocket Wi-Fi.*

Now, let’s move on to Good Work. DLSU promotes the objectives of this principle through its Impact strategy, which seeks to ensure a pipeline of research outputs. This priority towards the pursuit of knowledge is one that embodies the value of human work. People should work not just to make money and live, but to improve themselves and the world we live in. Work should not just be the thing we do to survive; it must also be the way that provides meaning to our lives. That is what DLSU provides for its faculty through its strategic plan. And that’s what I’ve seen with all the professors in DLSU. They’re always the best in their fields because they’ve been allowed to grow in the workplace. Lastly, DLSU promotes Good Wealth through its planned SDG localization projects. They plan to give back to society, which fulfills the objective of just distribution of wealth.

I think that these objectives are a reflection of how a good business leader must be. This strategic plan has made me realize that a good business leader thinks for the present and the future. She looks at the needs of the community and answers them with care and with the common good in mind. She makes decisions, knowing full well that those decisions impact other people other than herself. She promotes a humane workplace, one where compassion and empathy rule over individualistic, “bahala ka diyan” mindsets. She invests in the development of others and society. And most of all, she proves to the public that she is worth trusting – that she is capable of being held accountable for the health and well-being of stakeholders. All of these are embodied in DLSU’s strategic plan. To quote Socrates, virtue is knowledge; because DLSU sets an example of caring for the larger society, I too have the duty to continue this mission.

*Reference to DLSU arranging to give out pocket Wi-Fis: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/05/02/dlsu-provides-financial-psychological-and-connectivity-support-during-covid-19/

Where do I fit into this strategic plan?

Answering this question is second nature to me. My unique contribution to the success of the university’s objectives is to be a compassionate and empathetic person to myself, my classmates, and my teachers; to be stringent, unrelenting, and selfish during these trying times is to become an opposing force to the strategies. These strategies depend on our ability to adapt along with the university; hence, we must do our part and be kind. We must understand each other, become a support system for those struggling, and do our best to help each other stay sane. When the university reaches its objectives, I expect that we will be receiving education of the best quality when compared to other Philippine universities. We will be receiving an education that is flexible to our circumstances, and an education that will make us want to give back and innovate for society – the way that DLSU has given back to this country these past few months.

Before I get sentimental and become a puddle of tears while writing this blog, I’d like my readers to know that I have fallen in love with DLSU. I stand by its values and fervently respect all the decisions it’s made during this pandemic. I am the (self-proclaimed) critical-thinking, well-rounded student I am today because of this institution. As a scholar of DLSU, I’ve learned that quality education is not a privilege, but a right and I dream of the day when the Filipino is able to learn what I learn, see what I see, and feel the same passion that I feel when I think of this country.

That’s all, readers. See you next time!

[businessfrontrunners]

Leigh Hilton - Texas Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney Speaks To Business Innovators Radio Network About Protecting The Two Most Important Things In Your Life

https://authoritypresswire.com/?p=33765 Kurt Lucien speaks with the Texas Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney, the one and only Leigh Hilton of the Leigh Hilton PLLC, in the latest episode of the Business Innovators Radio. In this up and close episode, Kurt interviewed Leigh about protecting the two most important things in a family's life: Everything They Own and Everyone They Love. Leigh explained how her firm helps families with both these concerns. Leigh states, "as you know, estate planning is 'who’ gets your stuff when you die, trying to think through how to have your family protected. Elder law is Medicaid and veterans benefits". And she and her firm help them have the peace of mind that their family is protected in case something goes wrong.Leigh explained how most people want to ensure that they protect everyone they love. They also want to make sure they protect everything they've worked all their lives to accumulate. She also explained the difference between a will and a trust.When asked about the common misconceptions a family looking to protect their assets from divorce, creditors, lawsuits, and predators have about protecting the two most important things in their life? Leigh said the most common misconceptions people have is that they can do it themselves or that there are online programs that can work to make things easy.And the hard thing about that, and the misconception is, it is cheaper in the short run, so they can save quite a bit of money by doing it themselves initially. But, it could actually end up costing their family thousands of dollars more in the long run because they may not cover things that need to be covered. She went on to say, for example, they may not realize in Texas; there are two types of probate. There's one that takes two or three months and costs $4000 to $6000. There's another type of probate you end up in if you don't do the will properly, that can take over a year to do and costs $15,000 to $20,000. So by doing it themselves, they feel like they're saving money, but they could very well end up spending way more in the long run.When asked about the common fears regarding implementing a will or trust. Leigh responded that one of the most common fears, and it's kind of an unusual one/ But people have kind of an irrational fear that if they put together a will or a trust, they're somehow more likely to pass away. So they're afraid if they admit their mortality by putting together a plan, that somehow that's going to cause them to die sooner. And so I think that's one of the reasons why people resist putting together a will or a trust.Leigh went on to state, "another common fear is that with working with an attorney, you're going to be nickel and dimed every time you call in or ask a question. And that's why the attorneys at Leigh Hilton, PLLC do everything at a fixed price. So that way, you know going in what it's going to cost you to put together the plan, and then in the future, if you have questions, you're able to email them or call them, and there's no charge for that. So you get the information you need to make sure your plan does what you want it to do".She also advised what to look for in an attorney for either estate planning or the elder law aspect; by saying, look for an attorney that does primarily estate planning and elder law. So you're not going to want to work with an attorney whose focus is car wrecks and just works on wills every now and then.Because if they do anything other than having a major focus in one area, they're not going to be able to really dive deep into learning about what needs to be done correctly the 1st time. She explained why Leigh Hilton PLLC is the successful firm it is today - as everyone in her firm does a lot of continuing education throughout the years; they also belong to groups of other attorneys where they can expand on what they've learned about the various areas of law and how it could impact their clients desired results. The team spends hours making sure that what they do is what needs to be done and will work properly for the family; attorneys that do other areas of law also can't possibly have enough time to dive that deep into it if they're also focusing on other areas.To listen to the entire interview head over to Business Innovators Radio.About Leigh Hilton PLLCLeigh Hilton PLLC is an Estate Planning and Elder Law Firm based in Denton, Texas with additional offices in Aubrey and Bartonville, serving the DFW Metroplex and Texas State as a whole. Areas of practice include: Estate Planning | Elder Law | Probate Law | Guardianships | Wills, Trusts & Estates

[mamcdonald0223]

Macropost #4

F9- Design a population-based policy, program, project or intervention

F19-Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation

As our practicum days come to an end, I would like to take a moment to reflect on our experience. At the beginning of the school year, we signed up for the practicum group MATCH, which stands for Mobilizing for Action to Improve Community Health. We were suppose to develop partnerships and use the 4 phases of the MAPP assessment with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Harnett County office. During our first meeting with our preceptor, the community development officer, she expressed her desire to develop a Community Health Ambassador Program (CHAP) to Harnett County, with the intention of helping the community eliminate health disparities. The description of our expectations and the program were very vague as we explained she wanted to see our creativity come to life through this program. Allowing students to use their own creativity instead of telling them exactly what needs to happen is a downfall for some who love structure and details, and it is a blessing for others who love to let their creativity run free. The team’s limited knowledge and assignment confusion lead us to come together to decide that we had to work together to figure this practicum assignment out. As we began researching and trying to figure out what in the world we were even supposed to be doing, we started our journey to growing and collaborating together as a team. However, little did we know that it would only be us left in the end. Team MATCH had to stick together to decipher what we each took from the instructions and our individual research on CHAP. We all explained our visions and goals for the project and what we ultimately envisioned happening. During this process, each individuals’ personality began to shine and we all discovered each other’s passions and interest. We had one more meeting with our preceptor to inform her on our progress with researching CHAP and what we envisioned the program going like. With little guidance, she just wanted us to come up with our own creative solution. As time proceeded, the group continued to work on each’s part. As we tried to reach back out to our preceptor, we discovered she was missing and unresponsive to any outreach. This brought the group to a devastating whirlwind. We felt abandoned and truly stranded. We began to compare ourselves to other groups and the feelings only grew worse as we began wallowing in our self-pity. Then as a team we came together to decide that we had to move forward, the show could not end here. We made the decision to not compare ourselves to other groups because we were all on our own separate paths. I believe this helped us push forward and continue theoretically envisioning how this training program would pan out. As we began pretending how the training would happen, we began to ask ourselves some valuable questions. What the community leaders would need to learn about and why? How would this benefit the community? How are we going to get the community leaders together to discuss their perceptions on what they believe are the most important problems Harnett county faces and what unique solutions they had to tackle the issues? Also who in the world would we want to invite to sit at the table? What kind of diversity would benefit the community the most? How could we reach more individuals, especially the ones with health disparities and who need the messages the most? And most importantly, how could we advocate for the residents of Harnett County and recruit more community ambassadors to get together and make a difference for their community? We wanted to show them how to focus on the strengths and resources the community already possessed instead of finding everything that is missing. As a team we did not want them comparing themselves to other communities and wallowing in self-pity of lack, like our team ultimately did at first. Team MATCH strived to empower the community ambassadors to understand they have a voice, they had power, they could speak up, and by educating the community leaders they could reach out and touch the lives of so many in Harnett County. Our ultimate goal was to make Harnett County a better place and mobilize the resources needed to lead to a better quality of life. Our dreams and aspirations for this program did not go as planned from the beginning; however, there was so much more we received from this project. Normally when people begin creating programs or projects, their minds limit them to what they believe is possible and not possible. They limit their potential and possibilities. Team MATCH was not defined by any limitation and every goal, thought, vision, and desire was possible in our minds. We created a program that we know in our hearts would change the community if it were to become implemented. COVID-19 has brought some unique challenges and now more than ever, Harnett County residents need our support, advocacy, and help. In the end this is the best possible experience we made out of it. Without limitations and expectations, we allowed our creativity to come to life. We developed a program that we are sure would help eliminate health disparities in Harnett County as soon as it was implemented.

[smarthomesdholera]

Dholera Greenfield Smart City - A Trillion Dollar baby - Part I

Ever since our honourable PM Sh. Narendra Modi announced “100 Smart Cities Mission” we have been hearing so much about smart cities, we have so many questions about smart cities, like how are they made? What is basically a Smart City? How an existing city will be converted to something robotic wherein everything will be done by machines or technology? What are Greenfield and Brownfield Cities? What sort of technology is used in making smart cities? Like these there is an endless list of such questions and today I thought let me just put all these questions together and explore Dholera Greenfield Smart City from its core to the peak.

Yes, we are talking about much talked Greenfield Smart City, India’s First and DMIC’s (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor) biggest Smart and Sustainable Dholera Smart City and what will make Dholera a “Trillion Dollar Baby”.

What is DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor) and Dholera Smart City will add value to this corridor?

A Special Purpose company was formed to facilitate and promote DMIC or Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor with the name of DMICDC or Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited. However, when more Industrial Corridor projects were announced, the mandate of DMICDC was expanded to develop and implement all the Industrial corridor projects and name of DMICDC was changed to NICDC means National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) Limited.

Government of India is working on to develop various Industrial corridor projects as a part of National Industrial Corridor programme with an objective to develop various futuristic industrial cities which will emerge as best manufacturing and investment destinations across the globe. The National Industrial Corridor programme will generate a lot of direct and in-direct employment which will in-turn result in economic growth and we will see overall socio-economic development of our country. 11 Industrial Corridors Projects are being taken up for development with 30 Projects to be developed in 4 phases up to 2024-25

·         Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC)

·         Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC)

·         Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC)

·         East Coast Industrial Corridor (ECIC) with Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) as Phase 1

·         Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor (BMIC)

·         Extension of CBIC to Kochi via Coimbatore

·         Hyderabad Nagpur Industrial Corridor (HNIC)

·         Hyderabad Warangal Industrial Corridor (HWIC)

·         Hyderabad Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (HBIC)

·         Odisha Economic Corridor (OEC)

·         Delhi Nagpur Industrial Corridor

These Industrial Corridor programmes are to be developed in phases where in NICDC will work in coordination with state governments for the development of these corridors and along with these a lot of new industries smart cities will be developed.

Let’s talk in-depth about Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor

Overall length of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor will be 1504 kms and it will cover several states including UP, Delhi NCR, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra with end terminals at Dadri in Delhi NCR and Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) near Mumbai.

8 new Industrial Regions are to be developed along with DMIC Corridor. These regions will redefine the development of new future cities not only in India but across the Globe. Below are the names of these regions:

·         Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat

·         Manesar Bawal Investment Region in Haryana

·         Pithampur – Dhar – Mhow Region in Madhya Pradesh

·         Shendra Bidkin Industrial Area (SBIA), Maharashtra

·         Khushkhera Bhiwadi Neemrana Investment Region, Rajasthan

·         Dadri Noida Ghaziabad Investment Region, UP

·         Jodhpur Pali Marwar Industrial Area, Rajasthan

·         Dighi Port Industrial Area, Maharashtra

So, these are our new 8 future cuties to be developed along with DMIC alignment and Dholera SIR is going to be one of the largest Smart and Sustainable Greenfield Industrial City in making and that is how Dholera adds a special value to DMIC. Dholera is going to create a self sustainable eco system through which 3 pillars of sustainability that is Social, Environmental and Economic will be covered completely.

What are Greenfield and Brownfield Smart Cities? Why Dholera is a Greenfield Smart City and what is an advantage of investing in a Greenfield Smart City?

We’ve been hearing about Smart City so much these days, let talk about how these cities are categorized in Greenfield and Brownfield.

Greenfield Smart Cities

Greenfield Smart Cities are developed on barren land. Usually these areas are identified far from the cities or existing cities and where there is scope of development and where it will be beneficial to people. As the name itself suggest it’s just Greenfield, where no development has

ever happened and everything gets started from zero. In India, Greenfield Smart Cities program comes under Ministry of Commerce.

Brownfield Smart Cities

Brownfield Cities are those cities which are already exiting and we try to convert them into better developed cities by implementing various technologies like sensors across the city, smart traffic management, technologies like IoT, ICT, wi-fi etc. widening of roads, expressways, highways, roads and services. Cities like Faridabad or Noida in Delhi NCR or Surat or Ahmedabad in Gujarat are few examples of Brownfield Smart Cities.

Modi Govt. in 2015 launched 100 Smart Cities Mission which is under Ministry of Urban Development (MoUd).

So, Greenfield and Brownfield Smart Cities are totally different concepts and has nothing to do with each other. Complete work approach, execution process, everything is different, even ministries are different for both the concepts.

Dholera being developed from barren land has seen no development before; this essentially means that Dholera comes under category of a Greenfield Smart City. Bigger than Delhi and Mumbai and conceived like international cities Frankfurt and London, Dholera is all set to give exponential returns on investment to its investors. At the present moment, Dholera is in early development phase and development of Dholera is also happening as per the Master Plan designed.

Are there any other Greenfield Smart Cities in the world getting developed like Dholera?

Oh yes, in various parts of world such Greenfield Smart and Sustainable Cities are developed from scratch. Some of the examples of such cities are:

·         Belmont Arizona Smart City in United States of America

·         Songdo, International Business District (Songdo IBD) in Seoul, South Korea

·         NEOM in Saudi Arabia

·         Masdar City in the Unite Arab of Emirates

·         Fujisawa Tokyo in Japan

How do you see Dholera becoming a self reliant and self sustainable smart city?

Dholera SIR is spread across 920 sq kms, however, developable area will be only 420 sq kms so that question arises like what will happen to the rest of the designated area. And, the answer is that area has been kept for nature, yes, you heard it right, in rest of the area will be kept for renewable energy generation, parks, green spaces, tree plantations, water reservoirs, solar parks etc.

Today Frankfurt is one of the best examples of a sustainable city as half of the city is actually just green. Similarly, Dholera is being conceived which is going to make it the most sustainable smart city on this planet.

Dholera is also following 3 major pillars of sustainability which are Social, Environmental and Economic. Social pillar takes care of people and people reflects mobility and quality of life like infrastructure of the city, smart transportation, healthcare, education, income inequality, work-life balance, all these indicators focus on quality of life. Environmental pillar will take care of our planet and it will take care of renewable energy share of the city, recycling rates, solid waste management, water treatment, potable water, sanitation etc. And, last pillar that is Economic which is all about profit and assesses business environment and economic performance of our city. Ease of doing business, easy taxation policies, single window clearances, living cost, property cost, GDP per capita and of course energy efficiency. It’s like creating an importance of your city in the global economic networks.

About Author: Ms. Meenakshi Khurana, Managing Director, SmartHomes Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. which is the pioneer in Dholera Real Estate market as technically most advanced and innovative developers & builders.

SmartHomes Infrastructure: SmartHomes Infrastructure Private Limited, a real estate developer entered the Dholera market 6 years back and now is one of the leading and most innovative developers and land owners of inside Dholera SIR and on border of Dholera SIR. SmartHomes Infrastructure owns huge land parcels & multiple projects in Dholera Smart City. Smart Homes is focusing on developing projects in TP 1, TP 2 and 11 sub TPs of Dholera SIR which will be on both side of Express Highway near Airport and on the border of Dholera SIR.

Smart Homes mainly deals in Commercial, Industrial and Residential Land and Projects. Our customers are High Net worth Individuals, NRIs from more than 20 countries, multinational companies and its employees from organisations like ISRO, ICICI, SBI, UCO Banks, Army, Navy and Air force.

International businesses that are looking to start their industry in Dholera, Smart Homes provide them end to end solutions from land acquisition, required permissions from the government for setting up an industry and residential set up for employees.

To be continued in Dholera Greenfield Smart City – A Trillion Dollar Baby Part 2

[mystargreen]

Hey! this is Cholula. Environmental practices: drop of peace.

Angy:

I went to help to San Pedro Cholula because I’ve always wanted to make a difference, it is not too far away from my house so it was really easy to arrive here. Also I like to help people and animals, I want to see people take their normal lives again. I’m staying at a house.

The weather is strange, sometimes it is cold, sometimes it is rainy, sometimes it is sunny, it is so strange.

I have helped to clean the river, I have helped to clean the sewers,I have helped to clean the streets, I have saved lost pets, I have taken the water out of the affected houses.

On the next days I think I will help to make a filter for the water, I will help affected people to put their things back in order inside their houses and I think I will throw away the garbage we took away from the houses, streets, and sewers.

I want to enjoy this soon in an other place.

Montserrath:

This blog is a space dedicated to the Municipality of Ocoyoacac specifically in the colony of San Pedro Cholula, aims to inform about the problem that the community is currently experiencing is the recent floods presented that affected their homes where they suffered material damage. The recorded rains caused parting and overflowing drainage, the population claims that these affectations them suffer every year for lack of repairs to the drainage.

That is why we hope to be able to solve the affectations that caused in the community, please join this wonderful project, where we will learn many things!

o Hi I am Montse, I am currently doing environmental practices so I am in San Pedro Cholula, located in Ocoyoacac, Mexico I stay in an apartment of a friend of mine is warm and fresh.

o The average climate in san pedro cholula mexico: In San Pedro Cholula, the rainy season is cloudy, the dry season is partially cloudy and comfortable all year round. During the course of the year, the temperature usually ranges from 1oC to 24oC and rarely drops to less than --2oC or rises to more than 27oC.

o I am in San Pedro Cholula in order to continue the maintenance of the drains so that I can prevent the strainers from inging the flooding and cause flooding within the community

o The activities that are being carried out in the campaign are as follows:

a. One day cleaning in streets, he picked up all the rubbish he had and disaffected himself

b. Application of trash cans on every street corner, were decorated according to tastes

c. A course was held to implement environmental education

d. Pantry support was provided to low-income families

e. And finally we send a report to the Municipal President in support of the campaign

o The activities that will take place in the following days will be

a. Make more propaganda to the campaign

b. Implementing clothing to distinguish

c. Perform a protocol for drain maintenance

Marco:

We went as volunteers to san pedro cholula to help people affected by the floods that occur in the region to carry out relief activities.

The weather when we arrived was a bit rainy which caused a little water to accumulate in the streets

The trip was not so long since I live something near the place where the program called "a friendly hand" was developed

Upon arrival they let us stay in an area where there were small tents

In the days that I have been here I have helped to bring supplies such as food and water bottles to people who were affected, I also went to help by putting bags to stop the water somewhat and also help people evacuate the places where the flood hit the hardest

I have also helped keep the streets clean to prevent the drain from clogging.

Likewise, I have also helped to partially clean the drains and finally help to get water out of the homes

In the days that remain here, it will probably help to give the drainage a better cleaning, maybe it will support the families to return to their homes after giving the necessary follow-ups and finally I will do a garbage collection to prevent it from clogging the drain in the future

Joshua:

During the visit made to San Pedro Cholula in order to support the environmental practices "Drop of Peace".

They took us to a lodging in the center of Ocoyoacac which had four rooms and we started our activities the day after we arrived. We carried out activities such as planning an automated drainage system and generating our own energy in which a whole team collaborated, we also formulated hypotheses and objectives to make the plan a success. A team of scientists worked with us on a solution made of non-harmful chemicals and experimented several times. We proceeded to speak with the corresponding authorities to obtain legal permits. After that we proceeded to expand our campaign and try to find permanent collaborators. For this purpose we first obtained permission from the inhabitants by signing formulas. Before exploring the terrain, we placed wooden boards and supports in places that were difficult to access.

After some hard work we were invited to taste the traditional food of the place which we found as interesting as fascinating, with it came its history and meaning.

Josué:

Hi!, my name is Josué. I’m a student of Anthropology. I’m from Metepec. When I listened about the project “San Pedro Cholula needs your help!”, I thought that I have never been to an environmental internship, so I said “come on”, and did the online registration. I went on a bus from Metepec to Ocoyoacac, and walked to Cholula today morning. When I arrived at Cholula I asked from the Green hostel, where I´m staying. At 12 o’clock, we started to survey locals about how the floods affect them, it was sunny. After that, I met with other volunteers in the lagoon to analyze it, and take out trash. When we finished, we distributed pamphlets about the river and the lagoon, and received more volunteers. Finally, I went to eat near the hostel and go around the town. I’m very excited ‘cause tomorrow we are going to visit the Ocoyoacac’s registry to study the actions that the government has done. Also tomorrow we are going to study the people’s habits about the floods and the trash. Is a warm night, and the internet says that tomorrow will be sunny too, so today Cholula’s people won’t be worried about floods tonight. Tomorrow, in the afternoon, I’m going to visit the Cholula’s Archaeological area.

Edgardo:

San Pedro Cholula, needs your help! 2020. The objective of the environmental practice "A drop of peace" aims to help in a voluntary and transparent way the people who live affected in the community of San Pedro Cholula due to the increase in water in the "Cienegas de Lerma" lagoon, therefore  house, streets and drains have been affected. 

The destination of the trip is San Pedro Cholula is located in the Ocoyoacac Municipality of the State of Mexico Mexico. Length: -99.486111 Latitude: 19.263889 The town is located at a medium height of 2570 meters above sea level. The place of lodging was decided in small departmental rooms that are for rent, located on the avenue "Cuauhtemoc" in the town. 

The weather in San Pedro Cholula has been unfavorable, there is rainfall and rain from 11 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon and during the nights from 9 at night to 2 in the morning there are electrical storms and hail falls, the  average temperature recorded has been 8 ° C.

In the time that we have been in this place we have witnessed the increase in the water level in the streets, houses and sidewalks, for which we have carried out some voluntary actions.

• Some activities that have been carried out voluntarily are the cleaning of garbage on the main avenues.

• Donations were granted such as basic basket foods, coasters, boots and mats.

• They were collected from signatures of those affected to apply for financial assistance from the municipality which belongs to the community.

• Delivery of drinking and bottled water for those house that were affected by the high level of water.

• Placement of wooden boards on clone stool difficult to access by water.

In the next 3 days we have scheduled actions such as:

-Volunteer help to fill and place sacks around the sidewalks to access the streets.

-Volunteer station to help neighbors bring products they need to their homes.

-Fence streets with high water levels to avoid the passage of cars that could get stuck.

It is great to be able to help people who need it, despite the cold, rain and a lot of water and being a small project, it becomes something very big.

[nasrullahmasud]

Creativity and Innovation: How to Think Like a Genius

Creativity is one of the rarest and most essential skills of the human being. It is one of the vital elements of our modern civilization advancement. Creativity leads us to create something unique. It prepares us to learn anything, do many things, and achieve everything in our life. A creative person innovates something that can fulfill any unmet need of himself or any other person.

Innovation also follows creativity. Creative people tend to think outside of the box. They analyze any problem or event very closely. They always try to come up with ideas that are not considered yet. Like famous scientists, business people, politicians, and great leaders, almost all the genius people in this world are creative and innovative. So now the question arises, Can we be like them? Is there any method or way to become a creative man?

                                              Pic credit: freepik.com

 What is creativity?

In a single sentence, creativity is merely widening the range of choices. If we can invent any different way of doing or thinking anything, that’s called creativity. It’s a god gifted quality for us. Human is the only creature on this planet to think which does not exist in nature. Our multidimensional thinking ability and imaginative power give us the strength of ruling this world. So we can treat creativity as a button of progress in the future.

Definition and feature of innovation

Creativity has two parts. One is discovering any idea, and the other is delivering or implementing any idea. The latter one is innovation. In simple words, innovation is finding an efficient and unique way to execute any plan. Both creativity and innovation are essential for becoming a successful person. 

                                   Pic credit: journalismonline.com

 Is creativity a natural thing, or can be acquired later?

Many people think creative people are generally genius. But that is not always true. Researchers don’t find any evidence of the role of any genes that can turn on creativity. So we can consider that we have a chance to be a genius. But how can we do that? Let’s check out some useful ways to follow.

 Treat your brain as a muscle.

According to scientists, our brain is the most complex object of the universe. The number of neurons in our brain outnumber the number of galaxies in the cosmos. It functions all the time, whether we are in sleep or awake. Studies show that our mind takes and processes almost 35000 decisions daily on average per day. But how many of them are we aware of it?

                                             Pic credit: freepik.com

It indicates that we are not correctly evaluating our greatest asset. We need to treat the brain as a muscle. So we need to exercise it to keep it conducive to our work. We can do that by thinking and analyzing complicated things. Challenge the basic assumptions to find a novel way of solving any known or unknown problem. Always try to engage with productive work. There is a saying, “An idle brain is the devil’s workshop.” 

 Follow Zi-Zo-Zi method

One can follow the effective Zi-Zo-Zi method to practice creativity. It can be written in full form as Zoom in-Zoom out-Zoom in the technique. It is a very fundamental method of gaining confidence in thinking and creating something new. Let’s see the three steps of this method.

Zoom in: This step explains to analyze any events or things or unmet needs very closely. Try to see every pros and con of any problem and find the knowledge gap. It means to compare how we are solving any problem at present and how it can be solved efficiently according to current knowledge.

Zoom out: This is the idea generation step. After zooming into the events or problems, we need to find the potential solution. In that case, we need to brainstorm some ideas for solving the problem. These ideas sometimes may seem very weird, absurd, or awkward. But never kill any idea when it is just born.

Try to feel comfortable with any uncomfortable idea initially. Many  inventions      and discoveries in this world occur from foolish imaginations and mad ideas. That’s why Einstein once said, “For an idea that does not first seem insane, there is no hope.”

                             Albert Einstein. Pic credit: nobelprize.org

 Zoom in: After thinking and producing many types of choice, it’s time to tame the ideas practically. It is the execution step. In this step, we need to modify and reform our thoughts according to our available resources and knowledge. In this case, we have to think about our capabilities for implementing our plans. Innovation begins its journey from this step.

To sum up the whole thing, we need to have our head in the clouds of imagination and feet on the ground of reality. It helps us implement any creative idea, whether it is small or big.

Napoleon Hill said, ‘If you can’t do great things, do simple things in a great way.’

                               Napoleon Hill. Pic credit: Bloomberg.org

 Innovation career lessons from masters:

Leonardo Da Vinci

Many innovators lived and did their innovative works on this planet. Italian legend artist Leonardo da Vinci is one of them. He was a master of innovation. He drew many pictures of creative things that were discovered or made after many years of his death. 

                                     Pic credit: leonardodavinci.net

 For example, he drew the picture of a triangle parachute out of his imagination in 1485. A man from Switzerland named Olivier built that after 523 years following drawing of Vinci.

Leonardo Da Vinci also made the preliminary design of planes, tanks, pistol, etc. 

But he did not observe any object with his eyes while drawing. He did everything with his imaginative power and creativity. That made him famous.

 Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison is one of the greatest innovators ever lived on earth. He had more than 1000 patents under his name. This American inventor was not very skilled at conventional education. He also had problems with hearing. But he made this weakness as his way of innovation. He made a phonograph by capturing sound waves within a disc.

He also got popularity in discovering the DC transmission system. He found the filaments of the incandescent lamp also. The world lit up with artificial lights at night due to his hard work and determination.

                                         Pic credit:art-sheep.com

The whole human civilization is indebted to him for this.

Michael J Gelb wrote a book named ‘Innovate like Edison’ in 2007. In this book, he discussed five innovation competencies of Edison. They are given below:

1.     The solution centered mindset

2.     Kaleidoscopic thinking

3.     Full-spectrum engagement

4.     Master-mind collaboration

5.     Super value creation

 The final verdict

At closing the topic, one can say creativity is not just a natural thing. It can be acquired by practicing that continuously. We need to have curiosity and interest in creativity and innovation. But only creativity and innovation are not enough to be a genius, people. Hard work and discipline are also vital elements of our success. Thomas Edison gave much importance to that in his life. He said, ‘Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration.’ 

     . 

[hopefulfestivaltastemaker]

September 13, 2020

My weekly roundup of things I am working on. Topics include wildfires, exotic energy sources, speculative energy sources, the Biden housing plan, and creative outlets.

Wildfires in Oregon

Oregon, along with the rest of the West Coast, has been in the news for devastating wildfires that are still ongoing. This is certainly the worst I have experienced, much worse that the 2017 fires in California. Both Oregon and California are having their worst seasons on record.

In Oregon, it started last Monday, when a strong (and unseasonably early) east wind came over an already dry state, drying the air further and spreading fires rapidly. The Portland metro area experienced sporadic bad air quality on Monday and Tuesday, and it has been consistently bad since Wednesday. Today is no noticeable improvement. The weather forecast is for clouds on Monday and some rain on Tuesday, which should finally bring about some improvement.

So far there have been dozens of deaths in the West and several dozen more people unaccounted for and significant property damage. My guess is that most of the damage will be harder to see: the impact of the poor air quality on people who are already vulnerable. These events bring about yet more disruption in a region that has already been reeling from the pandemic, economic hardship, and civil unrest.

I made a facetious remark on Twitter about solar radiation management, but I really have been struck at how much the weather has cooled down. The temperature is at least 20 degrees (F) cooler than it should have been, due to soot particles reflecting sunlight. In my neighborhood, the light-sensitive streetlights are on during the day. I can look directly at the Sun without hurting my eyes. Needless to say, I will need to be convinced that any solar radiation management scheme will not significantly harm air quality before I will believe it’s a good idea.

If anyone is actually reading this, I would implore you not to use the fires merely as a talking point for your pet climate policy. This is something that irritates me greatly. In the immediate term, we need relief and a stronger firefighting force. In the medium term, we need better forest management practices. Greenhouse gas mitigation helps only marginally in the long term. Don’t try to tell me that building a bike lane in New York City is the solution we in the West are looking for. Once the fires are extinguished, most climate activists will lose interest in our land use needs and move on to the next disaster.

Exotic Energy Sources

This week I added an Exotic Energy section to Urban Cruise Ship. I had been considering this for a long time, and I went ahead and did it mainly because I have been stuck on some harder projects and wanted to do something relatively easy. There are no graphics planned, as I don’t see the topic as important enough to justify assigning more work to our graphics guy, but there are a few interesting things.

One recurring scheme is various ways to capture piezoelectricity, which is generated through pressure on a surface, such as when people walk over a plate or cars drive over it. One study in Australia found that with more advanced generators, an educational building at Macquarie University might recover 0.5% of its electricity usage by installing generators at high traffic points. With technology that was current at the time of the study, it’s probably more like 0.06%.

As for roadways, I cited several studies that report levelized costs of electricity in the range of multiple dollars per kilowatt-hour (wholesale prices tend to be in the range of 3-6 cents/kWh and retail on the order of 10 cents). The exception was a California study that reported 8-20 cents/kWh, which as far as I can tell is just an uncritical repetition of claims from the vendor. Also not discussed is the fact the source of energy is kinetic energy from cars, so unless the car is braking, the generators are stealing energy from motorists. We might as well be using diesel generators then.

If I were to make a guess, the pilot project is little more than California burning several million dollars on a patently unworkable scheme because of some marketing by a shady vendor. I’m all for trying bold ideas that are not guaranteed to succeed, but one must draw the line at ideas that clearly won’t succeed or where basic feasibility questions haven’t even been asked.

Biomechanical energy harvesting is an idea that got a bit of hype a few years ago, but now few people seem to still be interested. Making some extremely generous assumptions, I estimated that it would have a theoretical of about 1 exajoule per year, or about 0.2% of primary energy supply. More medium-case assumptions would cut that by at least a factor of five. Plus that doesn’t account for extra exertion required by the person or embodied energy in the devices.

There are probably some niche use cases for piezoelectric generators and biomechanical systems, such as low power distributed sensors and personal electronics respectively.

I even commented on the power from rainfall paper earlier in the year, an idea too silly to take seriously.

Speculative Energy Sources

But even with the above we’re not done. I decided to venture into the realm of speculative physics.

In quantum physics, even a system with zero temperature must have some latent energy due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. This has been termed the zero point. So naturally that leads people to speculate that zero point energy could be harvested for useful purposes. The near-consensus seems to be that this is impossible, that it must violate thermodynamics somehow, though I found it surprisingly difficult to find a rigorous explanation of why this is the case. This paper from 2019 is all I found, and even then, it only rules out two of three proposed ZPE extraction methods based on thermodynamic principles. Incidentally, the authors hold a patent on the third method and claim there is inconclusive evidence that it works.

Additionally, there is the NASA Eagleworks project to use the quantum vacuum to develop a spacecraft that can operate without onboard propellant.

There is a lot of interesting physics here that I don’t understand. I was expecting to write a short, dismissive comment for the website, but it would seem that ZPE is a legitimate area of scientific research. Maybe this will actually work for energy production someday. But there is no solid evidence yet, and any claims of a currently working ZPE device can be safely rejected.

Some other ideas that pop up, based in speculative physics, including hydrinos, neutrinos, quark fusion, and the ever popular perpetual motion machine. At least neutrinos and quark fusion are legitimate physics, but as far as useful energy production goes, these are all pathological ideas. I’ll add more as I see them. I briefly covered cold fusion a while ago on the Fusion page.

I expect that when the site is finally done, of the many things people could fairly accuse me of, not being comprehensive will not be one of them.

The Biden Housing Plan

Evidently I am a few weeks late, but the Biden-Harris campaign has a housing plan. The tl;dr is that there might be a few good things here, but I’m not too impressed.

When it comes to housing affordability, the principle I’ve tried to reiterate over and over again is that it comes down to supply. If there are 1,000,000 people who want to live in a city with a zoned capacity for 800,000, then 200,000 people will not be able to live there. It doesn’t matter if you impose rent control, eviction moratoria, inclusionary zoning rules, offer Section 8 or other subsidies, or whatever. As long as the supply is fixed, all these do is change the rationing mechanism from price to something else. Which, it must be acknowledged, is often the intent.

Traditionally, the federal government has a limited role in zoning. That could change of course; the federal government today has major roles in many areas where it previously had a limited or no role. As it is now, I see two plausible hooks for federal involvement in the near term. The first is the Fair Housing Act, where it can be argued fairly convincingly that zoning rules have disparate impact on protected groups, and in some cases intentional impact; and the second is to tie zoning reform to federal Community Development Block Grants or transportation funding, where reform is a matter of insuring that federal spending is actually used effectively.

The Biden plan calls for reinstatement of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which while imperfect, I think is better than what the Trump Administration decided to go with, which is nothing. As for the second, I momentarily got my hopes up when I saw that they were promoting legislation to do just that. But upon reading the details of the HOME Act (which was introduced last year but I was unfamiliar with until now), I see that the list of measures the bill calls for to promote “inclusive land use” are wide-ranging, and only some of them can reasonably be expected to increase the housing supply. It could be a good piece of legislation, but much rides on the implementation. Zoning reform advocates at the state level routinely underestimate the creativity that municipalities will show in evading the intent of their laws.

Anyway, there is a lot of other stuff here on racial discrimination, energy efficiency, and the Davis-Bacon Act (which probably makes housing less affordable by running up construction costs), but I won’t belabor the issues. All in all, it’s a plan that reflects the set Democratic interests pretty well, has a lot of stuff in it, and would do little to achieve broad-based housing affordability.

Creative Outlets

Like many people, I have been continuing to struggle with a variety of stressful circumstances. I took more time than usual this week on some creative projects, which has helped.

The newest one I am calling Project Epsilon, which for now is a maze generator. I’ve long had a fascination with generative content, and I would like to see how far the concept can be taken, but for now it is really just for fun. It is not deployed, but someone knowledgeable with Python and Flask in particular can download and run it fairly easily. Not that there is much to see yet. All it does it let the user input a few parameters and make a maze.

The other is Repair the Cosmos, which is deployed but hasn’t been updated publicly in a long time, despite considerable local activity. This is an incremental game that is meant to tell the story of humanity from the Paleolithic to the far future. I started it in January and have been working very intermittently since then, but I finally have a burst of creativity going for the first time in months. I still expect at least a few weeks before the next update, and I can only go for so long before I start feeling guilty about not doing real work.

[brahmachari-girish-ji-blog]

Learning from Time

The learning from Time should be taken on time, it is the guidance of veteran and learned men. It is literally true. The time of Corona has come, there has been an outcry in the whole world. The death toll has crossed two lakh, no one is sensing anything, the market of rumors is hot.

Till now we used to hear, ''as many things as number of mouths'' now are hearing ''thousands of things from every mouth''. Even in times of crisis, number of people does not have sense of wisdom. Frivolous politics is continuing, the blame is on the culmination, the useless people are accusing the sincere, the sincere and responsible leaders are troubled by their responsibilities and worries, there is no one to encourage and support them, they are kind of isolated, days and nights of planning and decision are falling short. It is said that time is very strong, the big Surmas of their time are not known today. In a song heard recently, it says that in their time, without their will or command, not even a single leaf of their kingdom was shaken, the Raja-Maharaja Chakravarti who use to build a grand memorial on the death of every member of their family, no one knows where their own funeral took place. We are discussing about Time here. Nobody could win from Time. It seems that time, history and nature are all very close relatives of a family. Whatever is happening, is happening by these three or in the cognizance of these three. By the way, the blame is given to Lord Brahma that everything is written by him. Opponents of Lord Vishnu are in a good number, everything is happening with his Maya, such blame is put on Lord Vishnu. The interesting thing is that neither Brahma nor Vishnu is seen, nor is there any effect seen on them of our words nor any response comes from them. Regarding nature, she does not leave without showing reaction. The Lord Krishna said in the Gita, ''Mayadhyekan Prakritihi, Suyate sa Characharam''. Lord Vishnu does nothing. He enjoys Yoganidra on the bed of Sheshnaga in the Ksheer Sagar and his nature in the entire world keeps shaping his work - with the Maya created by him.

Time can be considered innocent, as the leela of the Lord, he continues to perform the work. Yes, it might not be wrong to put him in the role of a teacher. Time only plays a big role in teaching. And Itihasa-History? It does not seem to have any special role in the formulation, implementation, education, planning of any of these areas. He simply keeps it on record when the work is done. Therefore, History is not worth blaming.

As it is thought about the role of Time, it is for sure that we learn a lot from Time. It conducts everyone's life remotely, it is not visible but leaves an indelible influence, does not tolerate anyone, does not forgive anyone,perhaps Dharmaraja- Yamraj and Chitragupta are close relatives of Time. It is definitely seen that nature nourishes the person who nurtures nature in his life. In the same way it is also certain that the one who is respectful to the Time, following it's rules, took it along with him, the Time was favourable for him, his days were auspicious, kept on teaching well, gave alertness, and finally kept giving salvation. It has always been an eternal truth, it is still today and it will be tomorrow also, because Time is most powerful. In today's situation,what Time is teaching us, let's take a little thought on this. In my view, Time is reminding one of life's greatest learning that life is fragile. No one knows when to go and for what reason. A small, invisible cause has taken the lives of more than 200,000 people in a short span of time and may take many more, no one knows how many. The top scientists of the world are researching day and night about its nature, structure, behavior, effect and antidote, it has been four months but it is still not possible to reach the final result. Everyone's hopes for life, longevity are eternal, but it is not right to be fascinated by it. Hope and imagination are right, but hope and imagination are real, it is not appropriate for the common man to believe, the matter of wise and perfect men is different.

Therefore, the first thing is to perform the duties of life in such a way that there is never anything pending. When the call comes, just go.

The second important thing is to always do good things in life. Everyone knows the consequences of bad deeds, a doubt always hides in the mind, having the record that one has done these bad deeds and do not know if there will be any time to rectify them. At the last moment of life, the accounts of one's own actions are revealed, but till then it is very late, then there is no opportunity to rectify, then one has to leave the world with that account only.

The third thing is to learn to audit your life in time. Who is closest to us in life, who is far away, who is the enemy and who is the hidden enemy, Time is the best teacher for all this. There has been a lockdown for the last one month, we are just compelled to stay in our homes. Everyone has their own requirements. Some need food, some need regular home supply, some want children's goods, some are craving for restaurant food, some have lost their job, some have lost business, some got stuck thousands of kilometers away from family, some have to postpone their marriage, some lost their close family member and could not attend the last rites. Many individuals, many institutions, governments have come forward to help. There is no scale to measure how much help is really being received. The greatest help we can give is peace of mind, consolation, strength. It is more valuable than all goods. But its lacking everywhere. Actually, at this time we learn who is receiving what and from whom.

During lockdown, everyone is provided opportunity to work from home. The government ordered that everyone should be given full salary. There is no account or record of work people doing at home. Many are not in touch and have not reported at all for the past one month. They are invisible like ''horns from donkey's head''. They did not even try to find out the status of their subordinates, colleagues, officers, or the situation of their organisation. Yes those who received Rs. 50 or 100 less in salary, they immediately contacted the Finance Department to find out the reason. This is the opportunity for us to correct the list of sincere/loyal and useless people. Who is responsible, who is dedicated and devoted or not concert at all for the organisation, this has been tested during this past one month. Time taught, the list is corrected for the future. The scores of the loyal and opportunists are changed in record. Apart from this, Time also taught a lot other things. Today a girl from our school said, ''Sir, it was forbidden to bring mobile phones to school by now, see today the whole school has come to mobile''. It is a fact. Till yesterday we wanted to keep children away from mobile, today the same medium has become the main medium for children's education. If anything is used properly for a good cause, then it proves to be a useful and helpful tool. Since last year, universities were not clear why UGC was trying to stop the distance education offering in large number of universities in India. Universities were being harassed by making new strange rules. All the universities which have prepared programmes for distance education in last several years after hard work and spending crores of rupees, all of them are compelled to just waste their efforts. Now see the how the Time has changes, now the same U.G.C. is singing the song of online education. Time has reminded us of Ashta Prakriti, rise from the ground and see the order of ego. The first prakrati starts from the earth, rises and at the end the mind,intellect goes full on the ego. When the nature of this ego changes from the nature of self-respect, to the nature of pride, when ''swa''-self is left out of it, then the human falls on the first prakrati-prathvi-earth. It should be understood. The balance of the Ashtaprakratees should be maintained,this will happen only when the basis of Ashtaprakrateesis in the 9th Prakrati- Para Prakrati, the transcendental field of prakrati. Otherwise the tree of life, like the tree without good roots or with damages roots, will be ruined at any time.

In addition, time also showed a change in relationships. Till now we use to look at the police with the image having a stick and a gun. Now the police are also seen cooking food, distributing food, raising young children in their lap and holding the hand of an old man or woman across the road, singing and dancing on the road in public interest and even facing attacks.

Charitable was the word of the dictionary for most people, now its experimental meaning is understood. Families with average economic status are also regularly providing food to some needy families. Some of my familiar physicians said that on normal days, they used to experience exhaustion on completing their working hours and use to come home. Now they work for 18 to 22 hours. The realization of responsibility has added unique energy to them. Now there is no more tiredness in working extra hours, they are always refreshed with satisfaction of service.

The teachers of my schools told me that they were not ​​working on holidays earlier. But now they are working seven days of the week. How much more knowledge to give to their students so quickly, this is the only agenda they have. what's all this? This is all the teaching of Time. Apart from this, how should be the thoughts, how should be the behavior, how should be the speech, how to have a happy life in spite of limited resources, how to make extrovert mind introvert, how to generate infinite organizing power from the deep peaceful ocean of eternal knowledge, it is all the teaching of Time. Time has given the so much blessings through teaching in a short period on the pretext of Corona, for that let us give BIG THANKS to TIME, express our gratitude to Time.

Jai Guru Dev, Jai Maharishi Brahmachari Girish Chairman - Maharishi Group of Educational Institutions 

[doctormike]

Thoughts on the Reopening of Schools

Hello, friends and families…! In this blog post I will NOT tell you if it is OK for your child to return to school for remote, in-person, or hybrid learning.  Any article that gives you specific advice about this may be well intentioned, but will rarely apply to your individual situation, and will be based on information that is going to be out of date by the time you read it.

I AM, however, going to review some important points to keep in mind when you juggle the pros and cons of any individual decision that you make for your family, and I think that will be helpful.  Just like deciding about surgery, it will ALWAYS come down to weighing the risks and benefits of any given path.  When I’m helping parents decide about an operation, I often hear “we just want what’s best for our child”.   But it’s very rare that a situation is clear enough so that there is only one reasonable choice.  The decision almost always comes down to balancing personal risk tolerance and a wide range of intangibles.  That’s why it’s not usually my job to tell my families WHAT to do, but to help them understand the tradeoffs so that they can make those decisions themselves. With that said, here are some things to keep in mind when you are making a decision about school in the era of COVID-19. 1) I probably don’t have to tell you this, but any official recommendation, government regulation or organizational decision about school reopening is NOT only considering the medical aspects of the situation.  Economic, political, parenting, regional and developmental concerns are always going to be a big part of what you are told, and that’s reasonable.  From a purely medical point of view, the “safest” thing to do would for everyone to stay in full lockdown until a vaccine arrives, but virtually no one is seriously recommending that.  So don’t discount those factors, but be aware of their impact and relative importance. 2) Most people making these decisions are working in good faith, and trying to get the best possible outcome.  It’s easy to vilify school administrators and other parents by assuming the worst underlying motives.  But the majority of people who actually have the responsibility of making community decisions are trying to strike the right balance.  Give them the benefit of the doubt, hear them out and consider the tradeoffs that they are dealing with before forming your own opinions.  Be open to new strategies to minimize school risks.  For example, one such idea is pooled saliva testing which is to be used by the SUNY system.  This is much cheaper and less invasive than traditional testing methods, and it will allow schools to rapidly shut down new outbreaks before they spread widely in the community.  

3) There are a large number of controls - administrative, infrastructure / engineering, epidemiological and personal - that can be incorporated into an in-person reopening plan.  It’s beyond the scope of this email to discuss them all, but here is a good summary.  Not every school needs to adopt every possible control, but this should give you an idea about the kind of things that you might be asked to consider. Try to understand the goals that are reasonable for your child's particular situation, taking into account the time, place and current community infection rates.  Keep this passage in mind:

“Given the uncertainty, reliance on an effective vaccine to solve the return-to-school problem is unrealistic, and other strategies that may at first glance seem too difficult or too expensive must be developed and implemented. If the position adopted by society is: ‘not until it is completely safe,’ then we have to recognize that the kindergarteners who left their elementary schools in March of 2020 may never see the inside of those buildings again. This is not feasible. Thus, we really need to shift the conversation from ‘perfectly safe’ and ‘only if there is vaccine’ to ‘how can we do this as safely as possible?’ and ‘what resources do we need in order to achieve this common goal?’“

4) The people who know more about COVID-19 than anyone else in the world never heard of it 8 months ago.  This is a new virus, and we are learning about it daily.  Beware of anyone who is absolutely certain, who doesn’t qualify their advice with words like “as best as we know right now”, or who makes definitive statements about the long term effects of infection.  Watch out for people trying to score cheap political points by comparing someone’s prior and current statements, and claiming “hypocrisy” or “flip-flopping”.  For something new like this, it is always important to follow current developments and continually refine policy and practices.  Don’t be like the guy that Stephen Colbert was describing when he said: "He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened on Tuesday.” 5) Having accurate, current data about the number of local infections is CRUCIAL in running any sort of school plan, and that has to be monitored regularly.  Plans for in-person education can change overnight - you can see that with the early opening and reclosing of several college campuses.  As schools open, we are getting new data about the rate of infection in children, which must be watched closely as this process continues.  Some recent information suggests that infection rates are actually rising faster in children than in adults.  However, this data set covers all patients under ager 18.  There is other evidence that toddlers have exceptionally low infection rates, despite being - as this article describes them - "mask licking germ bombs". 6) The American Academy of Pediatrics has a document outlining its recommendation for school reopening.  In general, they recognize that there are serious downsides to remote learning including the challenges of effective teaching, the loss of the social aspects of school, and the inherent inequality of online classes, especially for underserved communities.  So if in-person education can be done safely, that's better for kids. But they also stress the point that there is no one single answer for all times and places.  Increasing evidence that children can be asymptomatic for weeks and spread the virus has to be incorporated into any school plan.  While the AAP’s initial recommendations strongly advocated for in-person classes, these recommendations have been revised as it has become clear that more study is needed.  This passage is from these guidelines:

“To be able to open schools safely, it is vitally important that communities take all necessary measures to limit the spread of the SARS-CoV-2. School policies must be flexible and nimble in responding to new information, and administrators must be willing to refine approaches when specific policies are not working…the AAP strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school. Unfortunately, in many parts of the United States, there is currently uncontrolled spread of SARS-CoV-2. Although the AAP strongly advocates for in-person learning for the coming school year, the current widespread circulation of the virus will not permit in-person learning to be safely accomplished in many jurisdictions.”

7) As parents, we are used to meticulously planning our children's lives far into the future. COVID-19 has shown us again and again that this is not always possible.   Of course, we still need to anticipate challenges and make decisions, but we need to be much more comfortable with contingencies and accept the fact that things can change rapidly due to forces beyond our control.  As the old joke goes: "How do you make God laugh?  Tell him your plans." 8) The mitigation practices that have helped us get the virus under control in New York City over the past few months are vital, and need to be continued, especially as schools reopen and socialization outside of school increases. Masks work.  Hand hygiene works.  Social distancing works.  Our overall rate of positive test results has recently stayed around or below 1%. Unfortunately, there is no book that will tell you exactly what to do in every situation - we all use judgement in deciding what to do when.  Masks work, but most people don't wear them inside with their immediate family members who are taking precautions when away from home, or when eating at an outdoor restaurant with adequate separation from other tables.  On the other hand, for example, we might wear them when outside with a more distant family member who has been traveling from areas with a higher infection rate. Even if your family remains vigilant, if your child spends a significant amount of time indoors and/or without masks with someone from another family who isn’t so careful, you can reverse all of those hard won gains.  Ideally, your child's social life will be built around families that share your concerns and attitudes, so that you can safely maintain the socialization that is so vital for healthy cognitive and emotional development. As infection rates have fallen, so has our attention to detail.  The virus isn’t gone, and the cold weather will probably make transmission more likely.  Stay strong, watch the numbers, listen with an open mind, and take care of each other.   And as always, I’m happy to chat or email with any of you about your individual concerns. Best, Mike Rothschild