#How to implement a learning Management system

[seorahulpal]

LMS Support and Maintenance Best Practices: Ensuring a Seamless Learning Experience

As Learning Management Systems (LMS) become increasingly integral to educational and corporate environments, maintaining their optimal functionality is paramount. This article delineates best practices for LMS support and maintenance to ensure a seamless, uninterrupted learning experience.

I. Proactive Planning: The Backbone of Effective Maintenance

Adopting a proactive approach in planning LMS maintenance activities can prevent unforeseen issues and downtime.

1. Schedule Regular Updates and Patches

Set a routine schedule for installing updates and security patches, ideally during off-hours to minimize disruption.

2. Conduct Preventive Audits

Regularly assess the system for vulnerabilities and address them before they lead to problems.

II. User Support: Meeting the Needs of Your Learning Community

Addressing users’ needs and queries promptly is critical in maintaining a positive learning environment.

1. Create Comprehensive FAQs and Guides

Develop detailed documentation that users can refer to for common issues.

2. Establish a Help Desk or Support System

Provide a clear and easy way for users to report issues and seek help.

III. Monitoring and Optimization: Keeping an Eye on Performance

Continuously monitor your LMS to ensure that it performs at its best.

1. Track System Load and Performance Metrics

Regularly review server load, response times, and other performance indicators.

2. Optimize for Scalability

Ensure that your LMS can efficiently handle increases in user numbers and content volume.

IV. Backup and Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Unexpected

In the event of a catastrophic failure, having a robust backup and disaster recovery plan is invaluable.

1. Regular, Automated Backups

Set up automatic backups of your LMS data at frequent intervals.

2. Test and Update Recovery Procedures

Regularly test your recovery procedures to ensure they are effective and up to date.

V. Training and Continuous Learning for Support Staff

Equipping your support staff with the latest knowledge and skills is essential for effective LMS maintenance.

Regular Training Sessions

Conduct training sessions for staff to update them on new features or best practices.

Encourage Professional Development

Support staff in obtaining certifications and attending industry seminars.

VI. Feedback Loop: Listening to Your User Base

Actively collecting and acting upon feedback from users is essential for continuous improvement.

1. Conduct Surveys and Collect Feedback

Regularly solicit feedback from users regarding their experience with the LMS.

2. Implement Changes Based on Feedback

Use the feedback to make informed decisions about updates and improvements.

VII. Security Measures: Safeguarding Your LMS

With the sensitive data handled by an LMS, security is a paramount concern.

1. Regular Security Audits

Conduct comprehensive audits to identify potential vulnerabilities.

2. Implement Best Practices in Data Security

Follow industry standards for encryption, authentication, and authorization.

VIII. Documenting and Reporting: Keeping Records for Accountability and Improvement

Maintaining detailed records of maintenance activities and issues encountered can inform future actions.

1. Maintain Logs of All Support Requests and Resolutions

Detailed records can help identify recurring issues and effective solutions.

2. Generate Regular Reports

Use data to create reports that analyze performance and areas for improvement.

IX. Keeping Up with Industry Trends and Innovations

The world of e-learning is dynamic. Stay informed about industry trends and integrate meaningful updates into your LMS.

X. Cost Management: Efficiently Allocating Resources

Balancing the budget while ensuring top-tier support and maintenance is an art.

1. Regularly Review Vendor Contracts and Costs

Ensure you are getting the best value from your LMS provider and related services.

2. Optimize Staffing

Efficiently manage your support staff schedules and workload.

Conclusion: A Commitment to Excellence in LMS Support and Maintenance

LMS support and maintenance are not one-time activities but ongoing commitments. By adhering to these best practices, organizations can ensure that their LMS remains a robust, secure, and effective tool for learning. It’s not just about keeping the system up and running; it’s about optimizing the learning experience for all users.

With conscientious attention to support and maintenance, an LMS becomes more than a platform—it becomes a cornerstone of an enriching, engaging, and empowering educational experience. Whether for a small organization or a large institution, these best practices lay the foundation for success in the long term, making learning seamless and rewarding for everyone involved.

[reasonsforhope]

"The Netherlands is pulling even further ahead of its peers in the shift to a recycling-driven circular economy, new data shows.

According to the European Commission’s statistics office, 27.5% of the material resources used in the country come from recycled waste.

For context, Belgium is a distant second, with a “circularity rate” of 22.2%, while the EU average is 11.5% – a mere 0.8 percentage point increase from 2010.

“We are a frontrunner, but we have a very long way to go still, and we’re fully aware of that,” Martijn Tak, a policy advisor in the Dutch ministry of infrastructure and water management, tells The Progress Playbook. 

The Netherlands aims to halve the use of primary abiotic raw materials by 2030 and run the economy entirely on recycled materials by 2050. Amsterdam, a pioneer of the “doughnut economics” concept, is behind much of the progress.

Why it matters

The world produces some 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste each year, and this could rise to 3.4 billion tonnes annually by 2050, according to the World Bank.

Landfills are already a major contributor to planet-heating greenhouse gases, and discarded trash takes a heavy toll on both biodiversity and human health.

“A circular economy is not the goal itself,” Tak says. “It’s a solution for societal issues like climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, and resource-security for the country.”

A fresh approach

While the Netherlands initially focused primarily on waste management, “we realised years ago that’s not good enough for a circular economy.”

In 2017, the state signed a “raw materials agreement” with municipalities, manufacturers, trade unions and environmental organisations to collaborate more closely on circular economy projects.

It followed that up with a national implementation programme, and in early 2023, published a roadmap to 2030, which includes specific targets for product groups like furniture and textiles. An English version was produced so that policymakers in other markets could learn from the Netherlands’ experiences, Tak says.

The programme is focused on reducing the volume of materials used throughout the economy partly by enhancing efficiencies, substituting raw materials for bio-based and recycled ones, extending the lifetimes of products wherever possible, and recycling.

It also aims to factor environmental damage into product prices, require a certain percentage of second-hand materials in the manufacturing process, and promote design methods that extend the lifetimes of products by making them easier to repair.

There’s also an element of subsidisation, including funding for “circular craft centres and repair cafés”.

This idea is already in play. In Amsterdam, a repair centre run by refugees, and backed by the city and outdoor clothing brand Patagonia, is helping big brands breathe new life into old clothes.

Meanwhile, government ministries aim to aid progress by prioritising the procurement of recycled or recyclable electrical equipment and construction materials, for instance.

State support is critical to levelling the playing field, analysts say...

Long Road Ahead

The government also wants manufacturers – including clothing and beverages companies – to take full responsibility for products discarded by consumers.

“Producer responsibility for textiles is already in place, but it’s work in progress to fully implement it,” Tak says.

And the household waste collection process remains a challenge considering that small city apartments aren’t conducive to having multiple bins, and sparsely populated rural areas are tougher to service.

“Getting the collection system right is a challenge, but again, it’s work in progress.”

...Nevertheless, Tak says wealthy countries should be leading the way towards a fully circular economy as they’re historically the biggest consumers of natural resources."

-via The Progress Playbook, December 13, 2023

[femmefatalevibe]

Femme Fatale Guide: How To Validate Yourself & Stop People Pleasing

A comprehensive guide to learn love & trust yourself and break out of your people-pleasing identity. Hope this helps xx

HOW TO MASTER THE ART OF SELF-VALIDATION:

Remember the longest relationship you have in life is the one with yourself. While we all need an external support system to be well-rounded & healthy individuals, no one else will be with you throughout your entire life except for you. So, acting as your own best friend is the secret to living your happiest and most fulfilling life. You ultimately need to do what's best for you. Otherwise, you're damaging the only relationship you will have to confront in every aspect and stage of your life.

Acknowledge your humanity and fundamental right to have needs, goals, and personal desires. Validate your personhood and individuality. Remember you're only human and are bound to have your own physical/emotional limitations and preferences. If you would be willing to cater to others' schedules, boundaries, and limitations, give yourself this equal level of respect and expect others to do the same.

Know everyone is self-centered to a certain degree. No one cares about your happiness as much or is watching you as closely as you are. They all have themselves and their lives to worry about. People are paying attention to their own self-interests (or want you to accomplish things to boost their own credibility or self-esteem). Being your greatest personal cheerleader is the only way to fully give yourself the praise and spotlight you deserve for your accomplishments.

Self-confidence is magnetic. It is the secret to showing up as your best self in all areas of life. Being secure in yourself makes you a better friend, family member, lover, partner, spouse, professional, conversationalist, etc. Validating yourself will make you feel good, but also radiates into every relationship or interaction in your life.

Discover what you love about yourself. Reflect on the personality traits, skillsets, and behaviors you know to be admirable about yourself. Are you constantly making others laugh? Do you get endless praise for your cooking, drawing, singing, or problem-solving skills? Would people come to you first to manage a crisis like a champion? Are you a master disciplinarian when it comes to going to the gym or reading? Do people regularly compliment your outfits or nails? Think of all of the aspects of your being that make you unique and help you to feel content with your existing, authentic self.

Take control of your life to cultivate your ideal self. While you should consistently praise your naturally admirable qualities, remember that you always can change aspects of your life that will help you feel like your best self. Know that you're in control of your decisions and have the mental freedom to think & act in any way you desire to reach any goals or implement lifestyle changes to feel like the person you feel destined to be.

Block out the noise and negative self-talk. We're (almost always!) our worst critics. Consider every new experience or interaction as a learning opportunity. Mistakes and failures are life lessons that facilitate self-reflection and opportunities for growth. Remember not to beat yourself up for past mistakes: You did the best you could with the information you had at the time. If you weren't embarrassed by your past self, you never gave yourself the chance to evolve and grow. Every success, failure, and new life stage offers its own lessons and teachable moments. Remember that we're all our own unique life paths. Comparing your life to someone else's is like comparing apples and oranges. Both entities may be fruitful but have vastly different flavor profiles, growing seasons, and rates at which they ripen. As Dita Von Tesse shrewdly said: "You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there will always be someone who hates peaches."

HOW TO STOP PEOPLE PLEASING:

Acknowledge that people-pleasing is a form of self-neglect. By prioritizing another person's desires or approval above your own, you're ultimately neglecting your physical, emotional, energetic, or spiritual needs. Consider acting in your best in your own best interest as an act of self-care that safeguards your well-being.

Set boundaries. State your limitations, calmly, clearly, and directly. Understand that boundaries are your response to other people's actions, not a means to control other people's behavior. An expectation would be to ask someone not to call you during the workday. A boundary is stating that you will not pick up the phone during the workday and will only make/return calls in the evening after leaving the office.

Communicate your needs & expectations clearly. While you can't control what others will do, being upfront with your needs and expectations can eliminate unnecessary stress, logistical issues, misplaced hurt feelings, or disappointment in any type of relationship. Direct communication between parties will allow you both to respect each other's boundaries and to prioritize interactions that are mutually more positive, helpful, and emotionally nourishing.

Express your "no" freely (and without over-explaining). Remember that "No" is a complete sentence. You do not owe someone your time or emotional energy simply because they asked or expect you to do something/attend an event out of perceived obligation/guilt or simply to make someone else happy. Making sure you're okay is your first priority. Feel free to say "no" to any requests that would emotionally drain you, make you overextend yourself, or compromise any of your personal values/goals/priorities. You don't need to justify your needs. Just kindly decline, and let it be.

Remain consistent with your boundaries & priorities. People will treat you how you let them treat you. Once you set a boundary or share your priorities will someone, stick to these words through your actions to show you're serious about how you expect to be treated. Teach people how to interact with you in a way that doesn't feel self-sacrificing. No one will respect your boundaries and priorities if you don't and are easily swayed to forgo these self-imposed standards on a day-to-day or case-by-case basis.

Consider the long-term consequences of people-pleasing. While it may appease immediate conflict or anxiety, people-pleasing offers a one-way ticket to resentment and misplaced anger. By ignoring our own needs for the sake of others, we place unspoken expectations on these individuals' obligations to reciprocate our emotional labor – whether it be with their future actions or matching our generosity with unprompted favors or emotional support. We start keeping score as we continuously give ourselves over to others of perceived obligation. When someone doesn't return the favor, we get upset, despite never expressing this expectation of someone else or that we're even self-sacrificing in any way. This can lead to us feeling depleted or guilt-tripping others, and from their perspective, seemingly out of nowhere. It is best to remember we always have a choice whether to give to others and it should be of a genuine desire, love, or support for the other person – not as a way to gain external validation or manipulate a situation to create a false sense of obligation that we keep ourselves or the receiving party beholden to. Think of your energy, time, and personal resources given to others as a gift, not a bargaining chip.

[csuitebitches]

Things I Have to do for My Sanity

1. Wake up at the first alarm - no snoozing and no going lying around in bed. Getting up straight away and head to the bathroom. It’s going to suck initially but you’ll get used to it in a few days.

2. Mental self care: 30 minute meditation, brain games mental math, reading, news. Knowledge is sexy and don’t deny yourself sexiness.

3. Daily review in my diary at the beginning and end of my day: what went well, what didn’t, what I need to accomplish to achieve my goals. This has tremendously helped my goals and keeping my motivation more consistent, especially at work. Analysing and correcting incremental changes creates long term success.

4. Cleaning up before bed - clothes, shoes, organising my bag, etc. I set a timer for 5 minutes and try to get as much done as possible.

5. Pick out my clothes the night before and steam iron them for the next day.

6. Face masks twice a week, a hair mask once a week, I scrub the soles of my feet with that foot scrubbing thingy once a week. Manicures every month because my nail beds are too sensitive to do it biweekly, iron supplements so that I’m not a moody bitch. Matching underwear to feel good about myself. Lavender spray on my pillow before sleeping so that I don’t get weird dreams.

7. Reading biographies and autobiographies. My mentor had suggested this to me and it’s amazing how literally I don’t have a single original experience - everything I’ve felt or mistakes I’ve made have already been done by someone else.

I’m going to curate a list of business books that I feel that have helped me the most recently.

8. I write a short essay everyday in the language I’m currently learning. I also end my day by talking about my day for at least 2 minutes in that language and I record it in voice memos to keep a track of my progress. I want to be fluent to a level where I can think in this language.

✨

I don’t generally share a lot about my personal life - none of you know my name or where I’m based and I feel comfortable doing that. But I do want to start giving out more insights to what I’m doing personally in my career - the good, the bad, the ugly.

Being self aware and honest to myself has helped me improve a lot. I know that shame is my Achilles heel, so now I’m reading books to combat that. I’ve caved in and decided to try therapy for a bit to see if what I’m doing is useful or not. My first session is tomorrow. Staying disciplined was my initial hurdle but the systems I’ve set (waking up early + habit stacking) have helped me slowly overcome that.

Work side, I’ve started establishing myself publicly more. I don’t want to reveal too much about what I do exactly but the good news is that our biggest competitor has noticed my progress (a former employee of that company came to us for an interview and directly asked our top management about me). It’s been 4 months that I’ve been working here but I know that next year I really have to swing the bat and hit a home run. I’ve decided to work on the field more and less in the office to really understand people’s needs and create unique solutions.

The daily/weekly/quarterly diary is definitely credited to my recent wins. That’s the biggest change I’ve made in my routine and i can already see that it’s working well. I’m going to continue refining and implementing that method.

Recent work methods I’ve decided to start working on (I’m not required to do these but I do it for my growth):

1. I’ve started studying popular companies’ business and revenue models in detail. Everything is adoptable and adaptable, you just have to figure out how to tweak something for your company’s clients and needs. Now I’ve decided that I want to keep a track of our competitors, their business models, their owners names, pricing strategy, their target audience etc etc on an excel sheet so that I’m aware with what’s happening in the market. 

2. I’ve started making client profiles. Every time I meet a client, I note down their name, the company name, what they were like, anything specific they seemed to like or want, how much they had paid us for a service, what their paying capacity could be, etc. 

[whenmemorydies]

This needs to get good or go away.

Having watched all of season 3 of The Bear, Carmy's epic spiral in 1x07 The Review makes so much more sense now. Let's take a look.

Recall Sydney's Cola-Braised Short Rib & Risotto dish from 1x06 Ceres, which she asks Carm to try:

Carmy tells Syd the dish, while tremendous, is not ready to be rolled out as part of The Beef's menu:

Now at Eleven Madison Park, where Carmy was CDC before returning back to Chicago to take over The Beef, when Carmy produced a dish that his EC (Joel McHale as psychopath, Chef David Fields) didn't think was ready, he was berated and abused for it:

Carmy would then be made to THROW AWAY the food he had made:

This is because in Chef Field's kitchen, the food needs to get good or go away:

Note: This particular brand of abuse by Chef Fields almost certainly set the stage for the COLOSSAL waste of food we kept seeing in season 3 as Carmy chucked "not perfect" dish after dish into the trash. He was reverting to learned patterns of behaviour picked up under Fields at EMP in his feral pursuit of a star at The Bear.

Alright, so I think we can establish that in Carmy's experience, there's no serving food to patrons where the EC doesn't think that food is ready to go out. Even if this means huge amounts of perfectly edible and probably delicious food gets chucked in the bin.

But what does Sydney do in 1x06 with her tremendous but "not ready" dish of Cola-braised short ribs with risotto, of which she has an extra plate? She sends it out to a patron. Because Sydney Adamu Does. Not. Waste. Food! (a woman after my mother's heart):

She even tells Carmy that she didn't want to waste the food in the next episode, 1x07 The Review, when we find out (along with Sydney) that the patron she gave her dish to was a food critic who wrote a glowing review about The Beef, and made special mention of Syd's dish in particular (note: this is the same review that Syd has stuck to her fridge door in 3x10 Forever):

Now Carmy plays the review and the fact that Sydney's dish made it out of the kitchen off here. He insists "its all good" but this lasts for about a second before he drops this petty, passive-aggressive barb:

And then as most people know by now, the kitchen rapidly descends into chaos when we come to realise that Sydney accidentally left The Beef's online pre-order option open, resulting in a huge number of orders that the crew could not reasonably be expected to fill. While this is happening, Carmy begins to spiral. He starts berating Sydney:

And then we get it, the moment Carmy snaps to EMP, Chef Fields and Michelin Mode:

Of course, Sydney asks the question that we're all thinking:

Because really, the short rib and risotto dish has nothing to do with the pre-order fiasco...but Carm is in the middle of a spiral here.

He is off kilter, triggered by Sydney sending out a dish he deemed was "not ready" and a new system they've tried to implement now blowing up in their faces. When Sydney asks Carmen what her Cola-braised short rib and risotto dish has to do with the pre-order issue, Carm yells at her:

Chef, stop!

Then Sydney does her best to try and manage expo but at this point, Carmy is taking anyone speaking to him as an act of insubordination. His need to regain control is so great at this point in the episode that he blows up at Sydney in a moment that is still hard for me to watch:

As I said at the start of this post, seeing the windows into Carmy's culinary (and familial) ancestry across all 3 seasons of The Bear has contextualised Carmy's breakdown in 1x07 that much better for me. Key to this context is control and agency.

@chaoswillcalmusdown and I talked here about how important a lack of control is in driving much of Carmy's actions, particularly in the context of being locked in the walk-in at the end of season 2. I think this obviously holds for season 1 as well.

Carmy's history of trauma, particularly as the child of an addict, means that he has grown up feeling powerless and fearful in the one place where he was meant to feel safe and secure: his home.

This fear was felt by all the Berzatto kids. In 3x08 Ice Chips, Carm's sister Natalie tells their mother, Donna, that the latter scared all of her children and that this is something Natalie doesn't want for her own unborn child.

In his Al-Anon monologue in 1x08 Braciole, Carm also discloses a number of other instances where he felt powerless, including as an adolescent at school and later in his relationship with his brother Mikey:

Carm wanted desperately for a relationship with his oldest brother but the latter's addiction and mental health issues meant that Carm was kept at a distance. Mikey's death by suicide would have been another foundational trauma for Carmy: an event he could not have controlled at all but, had he been able to, would have tried to change with everything in his power in order to avoid losing the only father figure he's ever really known.

Now, add to all of this: Carmy's experience at EMP working under an Executive Chef who seems to get off on inducing a perpetual state of fear and powerlessness in his staff. We see from Carmy's flashbacks throughout the series that at EMP, he never speaks back to Chef Fields despite the latter's incessant verbal and psychological abuse. The ONLY time we see Carmen challenge Fields is when he makes the decision to sub out his EC's choice of fennel soubise for blood orange in a hamachi dish - a dish that eventually will make its way to Sydney Adamu. But even this challenge by Carmy is oblique, one that doesn't involve direct confrontation of Fields himself. In fact, as far as we know, Fields never finds out about Carm's act of insubordination.

Where folks have experienced repeated or chronic trauma like Carmy has throughout his life, a common coping mechanism is to try and assert control wherever possible. This reflex is an attempt to claw back some of the powerlessness that traumatic incidents have taken away. We've seen Carmy do this most profoundly throughout season 3. But this is also what has been happening all along in the show, including in ep 1x07.

Here at The Beef where Carm was in effect EC, his sous, Sydney, challenged him by sending out a dish he said wasn't ready. She does what he did at EMP but the difference is, here Carmy finds out about it. And then, as the kitchen descends into chaos because of the pre-order fiasco, Carmy ROARS. He doesn't stop to think about how similar Sydney is to him in their rebellions. Or that it makes sense to not waste perfectly good food. Instead, he lets the bear out of its cage in an attempt to scare everyone in his vicinity into submission. He channels the most recent mentor he's had - the one whose abuse would have literally altered Carmy's brain chemistry and behavioural instincts (because thats what trauma does to us) - in order to assert control and avoid, at all costs, that familiar feeling of powerlessness.

All of the above is not to say that Carmy's behaviour in 1x07 (or 3x03 or 3x09 etc) was acceptable. It wasn't. Carmy even recognised this in 1x08 when he apologises to Syd via text:

Later in that same episode, Carmy offers to start The Bear with Sydney: a peace offering and a commitment to their relationship.

We got none of this remorse or show of contrition from Carmy in season 3, which I think has contributed to why the most recent season of The Bear has divided audiences. But given the events of 3x10, I suspect these things are going to come from Carmy in the next season. I also note this interview with co-show runner Joanna Calo where she says (about depicting trauma and recovery on the show):

[I]f you're going to change, its probably temporary [...] or if you do actually change, it takes a while.

[...]

[c]hange is gradual and you do, you go back and forth [...] You make gains in one way but then when its actually tested in another, you realise you actually aren't fixed at all [...] and that felt like a real thing that we knew we wanted to explore.

Watching this interview after season 3 was reassuring. It contextualised a lot of Carmy's behaviour as regression, given his past trauma. This leaves room for the next season of the show to explore what happens after Carmy realises the cost of his regression - on himself and his loved ones. And hopefully we then get more steps forward than backwards in his recovery. Hopefully, we get less perfection (which itself is an attempt at control) and more joyful, loving mess.

[the-joy-of-knowledge]

Thinking Fast & Slow

Understanding System 1 and System 2 Thinking.

In Daniel Kahneman's seminal work, "Thinking, Fast and Slow," he introduces the concept of two systems of thought: System 1 and System 2. These systems operate in different ways, shaping our decisions, behaviors, and habits.

System 1: The Fast Thinker

System 1 is our intuitive, automatic, and quick mode of thinking. It operates with little or no effort . This system is responsible for our immediate reactions and gut feelings.

Characteristics of System 1:

Automatic and Quick: Requires minimal effort.

Emotional: Driven by emotions and immediate impressions.

Unconscious: Operates without conscious awareness.

Fast: Reacts instantly to stimuli.

Examples of System 1 Behaviors:

Binge Eating: Grabbing a bag of chips and consuming it mindlessly while watching TV.

Impulsive Shopping: Buying items on impulse because they are on sale or displayed attractively.

Driving on a Familiar Route: Navigating through known streets without consciously thinking about each turn.

Reacting to a Sudden Noise: Jumping in response to a loud sound.

System 2: The Slow Thinker

System 2 is our analytical, deliberate, and effortful mode of thinking. This system is responsible for making more deliberate choices and reflecting on complex issues.

Characteristics of System 2:

Effortful and Deliberate: Requires mental effort and attention.

Rational: Driven by logic and reasoning.

Conscious: Operates with full awareness.

Slow: Takes time to process information.

Examples of System 2 Behaviors:

Intentional Eating: Planning meals ahead of time to ensure a balanced diet.

Careful Budgeting: Analyzing finances and creating a budget to manage spending.

Learning a New Skill: Dedicating time and effort to practice and improve.

Solving Complex Problems: Taking time to think through a difficult work-related issue or a puzzle.

How System 1 and System 2 Affect Our Habits

Our habits are largely influenced by the interplay between these two systems. System 1 often governs habits formed through repeated behaviors and routines, while System 2 comes into play when we try to change or form new, deliberate habits.

System 1 Habits:

Unhealthy Eating: Reaching for comfort food when stressed, driven by emotional responses.

Procrastination: Putting off tasks in favor of immediate, less demanding activities.

Mindless Browsing: Scrolling through social media without a specific purpose.

System 2 Habits:

Regular Exercise: Planning and adhering to a workout schedule.

Mindful Meditation: Setting aside time for mindfulness practices.

Continuous Learning: Reading books or taking courses to gain new knowledge and skills.

Practical Applications

I have realized that for me to form a new habit, I have to constantly fight against System 1 behavior (checking my phone first thing in the morning, impulsive eating etc). By fighting against it, I mean reminding myself of my intentions, taking time to ask myself why I really need another brownie. It is difficult at first but understanding the differences between System 1 and System 2 can help us make better decisions and develop healthier habits. For example, recognizing that binge eating is a System 1 behavior can lead us to implement System 2 strategies, such as meal planning and mindful eating, to counteract it.

Tips to Engage System 2:

Pause and Reflect: Before making decisions, take a moment to consider the consequences.

Create Routines: Establish structured routines that require conscious effort initially but can eventually become automatic.

Set Clear Goals: Define specific, achievable goals to guide deliberate actions.

Practice Self-Control: Develop self-discipline through regular practice and reinforcement.

By harnessing the power of System 2 thinking, we can override the automatic responses of System 1, leading to more intentional and beneficial habits.

[cassolotl]

UK government planning to scrap a major disability benefit

I'm only just scraping by and the government are proposing to take away PIP (a disability benefit), which would be HALF of my income wiped out.

"Reforms to personal independence payments (PIP) could include stopping regular cash payments, and instead offering claimants one-off grants for things like home adaptations." -- "Disabled people face end to monthly benefits cash", BBC News, 29 April 2024

And:

"The plans, which will be consulted on over the coming months, also include proposals to “move away from a fixed cash benefit system”, meaning people with some conditions will no longer receive regular payments, but instead access to treatment if their condition does not involve extra costs." -- "People with depression or anxiety could lose sickness benefits, says UK minister", Guardian, 29 April 2024

That's what the NHS is supposed to be doing...

Genuinely absolutely terrifying.

Can anyone living in the UK join in with an (hopefully!) overwhelming cascade of unique emails to their MP opposing this? WriteToThem.com makes it very quick and easy.

They're proposing to replace it with one-off grants that the individual can apply for, which is absurd and horrifying, so feel free to point out how that won't work as well!

Here's what I'm writing, and do not just copy-paste my letter/email, because that makes it less legit. Do your own thing, even just one sentence telling your MP that you're opposed is enough if that's all you can manage. Whatever you want to say is what your MP needs to hear.

Dear [MP's name], Today I learned that the government plan to scrap PIP, and maybe replace it with something like a one-off grant application process, before the next election. ("Disabled people face end to monthly benefits cash", BBC News, 29 April 2024: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0ry09d50wo) PIP is about half of my income (about 44%). I don't spend it on occasional large purchases, I spend it on countless things that are more expensive for me than they are for other people. PIP is in place to acknowledge, as it says in the above article, that disabled people's lives are more expensive than non-disabled people's lives by hundreds of pounds per week. ("Previous research from Scope suggests households with at least one disabled adult or child face an estimated average extra cost of £975 a month to have the same standard of living as non-disabled households." That's £225 per week, and the maximum amount of PIP you can get is £184.) So firstly, it could be argued that PIP doesn't even cover the additional expenses of the average disabled household. And next, the cost of implementing an alternative system would be worse for disabled people, totally unsuited to its purpose, and more expensive to run. Worse for disabled people: Currently PIP acknowledges that being disabled takes a lot more work to maintain a comparable standard of living, and as it's an amount of work that the claimant cannot sustainably do, they are given money so that they can pay someone else to do it. These costs are distributed across all living expenses, in addition to occasional one-off purchases of e.g. mobility aids. Having to apply for one-off payments for expenses would be more work on top of that, so if the disabled person isn't able to do it (which is very likely) they will either have to work less in their day jobs in order to spend more time applying for one-off grants, or they will have to also apply for one-off payments to pay someone to apply for more one-off payments. This is self-evidently a waste of energy and time, and totally impractical, as well as being counter to the entire point of disability benefits. It would also be extremely undignified for the disabled people, and arguably against human rights (right to private life and dignity), to have to justify each purchase to the government. Totally unsuited to its purpose: One off-grants are not suited to ongoing higher expenses such as having to buy more prepared food (e.g. carrot batons are more expensive than raw carrots and go off much more quickly). Does this policy assume that disabled people's PIP is only for things like wheelchairs and walking sticks? More expensive to run: The system for PIP applications is already fairly backlogged, in that my last application took over 6 months to complete. I was awarded PIP for 10 years. If every application for a one-off grant had to be accompanied by an application of a similar scale that wouldn't be workable, so presumably an initial PIP application like the current system's would still be required to qualify for the system in the first place, and then following that, numerous smaller applications for money (e.g. for taxis, pre-chopped veg, painkillers, specialist clothing, etc.) would be carried out per person per month. The disability benefits system would have to be scaled up significantly, and it would be much more expensive. It is far cheaper to give people a set amount of money based on their needs; it's the same money that you would be giving them in grants anyway, but without having to process each purchase/one-off application. I implore you to oppose this proposal. It is blatantly unworkable to the level of absurdity, but more importantly it is inhumane. I look forward to your reply detailing your stance. Many thanks in advance. Yours sincerely, [My name]

But, again, if you can't manage anything long or complicated like that, your best is good enough. Even if they're not all perfectly written and detailed, we want to bowl them over with sheer quantity of emails.

[argyrocratie]

"How will people get healthcare?

(...)

During the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona’s Medical Syndicate, organized largely by anarchists, managed 18 hospitals (6 of which it had created), 17 sanatoria, 22 clinics, 6 psychiatric establishments, 3 nurseries, and one maternity hospital. Outpatient departments were set up in all the principal localities in Catalunya. Upon receiving a request, the Syndicate sent doctors to places in need. The doctor would have to give good reason for refusing the post, “for it was considered that medicine was at the service of the community, and not the other way round.”[40] Funds for outpatient clinics came from contributions from local municipalities. The anarchist Health Workers’ Union included 8,000 health workers, 1,020 of them doctors, and also 3,206 nurses, 133 dentists, 330 midwives, and 153 herbalists. The Union operated 36 health centers distributed throughout Catalunya to provide healthcare to everyone in the entire region. There was a central syndicate in each of nine zones, and in Barcelona a Control Committee composed of one delegate from each section met once a week to deal with common problems and implement a common plan. Every department was autonomous in its own sphere, but not isolated, as they supported one another. Beyond Catalunya, healthcare was provided for free in agrarian collectives throughout Aragon and the Levant.

Even in the nascent anarchist movement in the US today, anarchists are taking steps to learn about and provide healthcare. In some communities anarchists are learning alternative medicine and providing it for their communities. And at major protests, given the likelihood of police violence, anarchists organize networks of volunteer medics who set up first aid stations and organize roving medics to provide first aid for thousands of demonstrators. These medics, often self-trained, treat injuries from pepper spray, tear gas, clubs, tasers, rubber bullets, police horses, and more, as well as shock and trauma. The Boston Area Liberation Medic Squad (BALM Squad) is an example of a medic group that organizes on a permanent basis. Formed in 2001, they travel to major protests in other cities as well, and hold trainings for emergency first aid. They run a website, share information, and link to other initiatives, such as the Common Ground clinic described below. They are non-hierarchical and use consensus decision-making, as does the Bay Area Radical Health Collective, a similar group on the West Coast.

Between protests, a number of radical feminist groups throughout the US and Canada have formed Women’s Health Collectives, to address the needs of women. Some of these collectives teach female anatomy in empowering, positive ways, showing women how to give themselves gynecological exams, how to experience menstruation comfortably, and how to practice safe methods of birth control. The patriarchal Western medical establishment is generally ignorant of women’s health to the point of being degrading and harmful. An anti-establishment, do-it-yourself approach allows marginalized people to subvert a neglectful system by organizing to meet their own needs.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, activist street medics joined a former Black Panther in setting up the Common Ground clinic in one of the neediest neighborhoods. They were soon assisted by hundreds of anarchists and other volunteers from across the country, mostly without experience. Funded by donations and run by volunteers, the Common Ground clinic provided treatment to tens of thousands of people.

The failure of the government’s “Emergency Management” experts during the crisis is widely recognized. But Common Ground was so well organized it also out-performed the Red Cross, despite the latter having a great deal more experience and resources.[41] In the process, they popularized the concept of mutual aid and made plain the failure of the government. At the time of this writing Common Ground has 40 full-time organizers and is pursuing health in a much broader sense, also making community gardens and fighting for housing rights so that those evicted by the storm will not be prevented from coming home by the gentrification plans of the government. They have helped gut and rebuild many houses in the poorest neighborhoods, which authorities wanted to bulldoze in order to win more living space for rich white people."

-Peter Gelderloos, "Anarchy Works" (2010)

[yoursoulvisions]

"Idea generators" and "implementation masters" by birth day

Depending on their birth day, there are people who generate ideas and those who bring them to life. This isn’t about "strength" or "weakness" in the usual sense. It’s about different roles in our big world.

"Igniters" (born on the 1st, 10th, 19th, 28th) These guys are like the first ray of sunshine! Leaders, innovators, idea generators. Impulsive, creative, always in motion. They can take someone else’s idea and turn it upside down, creating something completely new. Engines of progress, nothing less! But without those who implement their ideas, they are just a spark.

"Implementation masters" (born on the 2nd, 11th, 20th, 29th) Ideal partners, helpers, those who turn chaos into order. It is they who bring brilliant ideas to perfection. They know how to create comfort and harmony around them. But it’s very important for them not to take on a mountain of responsibility. Otherwise, they risk burning out.

"Inspirers" (born on the 3rd, 12th, 21st, 30th) Creative personalities with incredible charisma. They know how to light a fire in the hearts of others. Often strive for management, capable of creating and leading their own business. But they need depth! It is necessary to find their passion, become an expert in their field – and then the world will be at their feet.

"Strategists" (born on the 4th, 13th, 22nd, 31st) Reliable, persistent, systemic. They prefer a clear plan to impulsivity and chaos. They don’t like sudden changes, but if they take on a task, they will see it through to the end. They need inspirers from the outside. Exception: the 13th, these guys are more mobile and flexible.

"Communicators" (born on the 5th, 14th, 23rd) The life of the party, diplomats, natural negotiators. They easily find common ground with anyone. Brave, decisive, always on the move. But they often abandon what they started halfway through. They need a reliable partner who can back them up.

"Keepers of comfort" (born on the 6th, 15th, 24th) They value comfort and harmony. They need support and motivation to unleash their potential. They often settle for less. But if they take on a task, they will do everything at the highest level!

"Intuitives" (born on the 7th, 16th, 25th) A restless soul. Idea generators, with incredible intuition. Routine is their main enemy. They come up with ideas, launch them, but finishing them is a task for others.

"Business people" (born on the 8th, 17th, 26th) Excellent organizers, know how to build systems and make difficult decisions. They value stability, don’t like change. It’s important for them to learn to see opportunities around them, not to dwell on the past. An inspiring partner nearby is what they need for success!

"Defenders" (born on the 9th, 18th, 27th) Strong leaders, capable of leading others. They can take responsibility for others, protect the weak. They motivate, inspire, and push other people towards change.

P.s. As a representative of the 4s, I want to add that my main motivators for active work, creating new content for this blog, writing songs and poems (one of my hobbies), are 1s, 3s, and 9s. But the people whose tasks I often finish or whose problems I solve are 7s.

Be a bit of a numerologist, analyze yourself and the people around you. Are you your own motivator and a motivator for others, or do you need an inspirer to create something new?

[silentmagi]

Awkward Arrival:

First headcanon off the bat, 2 in 1, a name and thing, tessa’s design of what she call’s “protection model drones” are different then disassembly drones a few key ways

1.Sturdier build and only slightly more humanoid but overall still a drone.

2.Weapons are more varied and customizations/attachments for weapons can be spawned via a 3d printer that’s designed to look like a satchel at either hip, and a new weapon can be uploaded to the cloud at any point (I imagine Uzi would be happy to lend design schematics to see what a version of her railgun would look like on a PM drone body) but the weapon swap system is a bit slower to load the weapon,a 0.5 second slower to be exact (eldritch magic be damned, tessa got close).

3.no oil hunger thankfully but there is alot more oil acting as the blood of this machine.

4.backups of personal memory of the unit are done CONSTANTLY and the drone themselves is their own admin.

5.has tools for repairing regular drones as well in the arsenal

6.has a version of the patch installed in their hardware, allowing transfer of solver users into PM drone bodies

7.has a sharp knife-tipped usb with a copy of the patch on it as apart of the weapon arsenal

8.instead of the color scheme of the yellow and black of safety tape, its green and red.

Her J was of course the first subject, and also managed to free her from solvers admin controls and gave her memories back.A lot of digital tears were shed that day because solver implemented a false memory of her killing tessa, which Tessa removed before giving admin over to her jaybird.

2nd headcanon: The spaceship base is the most self-indulgent looking home of tessa, her interests on full display, she has found and made a station for oxygen tank refills, there is more futuristic stuff, mainly lots of old food and water producing related tech (thankfully J has watched her and she has a green thumb)

3rd headcanon: Tessa has had to learn how to make ammo and make new weapon designs to deal with dd’s due to the last planet she was on, picked it up from a old weapon smith colony on the same planet(they were the weapon supplier during the solver war)

1 Question: how is cyn feeling amidst all of this as she watches from the back of her own mind?

Awkward Arrival

I love the idea that Tessa would make the Protection Model Drones (PMD), with the Solver's Disassembly Drones (SDD) being inferior knock offs.

Probably would have them based off construction drones to start study, and just add some armor without cutting functionality.

The greater variety would make up for the delay in making a weapon, especially once Uzi gets the greenlight to have some fun making more weapons. She actually is slowed down due to upload speeds.

Probably also took care of the heat problem that caused the oil hunger.

Great idea, cloud back ups every hour, and a full system back up at night.

They are uploaded to the cloud for the weapons under a sub folder.

Excellent touch for them to have that patch, and that it's updated.

File number 00003 is the USB penetration unit.

This is her gift to the universe so the Christmas Colors are thematic.

J needs therapy, Tessa needs therapy, EVERYONE NEEDS THERAPY! No, group therapy is not kissing Tessa, Jaybird, get it together you two... NOT THAT WAY!

I could see her making it an even fancier mansion than her parents could imagine, and every inch is full of her interests and love. J keeps her alive by reminding her to use the food and water machines.

I could see her developing a love of kinetic and beam weapons over ballistic weapons. She gathers all blueprints she can find, no matter what.

1 Answer: Cyn is glad to see the two of them, and hopes that they can stop her, and the monster she has become.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Opinion: Better protecting schools from COVID is within reach - Published Aug 17, 2022

This article was incredibly well sourced and correct: Why are these simple procedures not being implemented to keep children and teachers safe two years from publication?

Welcome to the “Live with COVID” era, where living with the virus means not talking about it at all. We’ve been told to pretend it’s over, though those “weird summer colds” and “lingering symptoms” indicate otherwise. Rising case rates, hospitalizations, and deaths. Best Summer Ever 2.0 is ending, which means kids are about to return for their third pandemic September.

Article content In the beginning, we were told that 1) kids don’t get COVID, 2) they do, but it’s mild, 3) vaccines alone will protect us, and 4) COVID does not spread in schools. While true that fewer children die from COVID than adults, they’re generally not supposed to die.

And kids are experiencing disabling long COVID, with estimated rates between two and 25 per cent of all infections, not counting reinfections. While vaccines mitigate the worst outcomes of COVID, they don’t completely stop transmission, and additional measures are required. And of course, as every parent knows, children don’t keep their germs to themselves. They go on to transmit to their teachers, parents and grandparents. Furthermore, outbreaks in schools do spread to the community.

Schools need to be safer for all students and staff, including those with medical concerns and vulnerable family members. Worker shortages are everywhere, education included. Sick teachers can’t teach, and more worryingly, may go on to develop long COVID, resulting in time away or even retirement.

It’s also harder for kids to learn when they’re sick and more absences means losing more time when so much has been lost to the pandemic. Looking at the Calgary Board of Education’s absence data, 6.3 per cent of students were away in April 2022, compared to 2.8 per cent in 2019. This is unsurprising, as there were essentially no protections in schools by June, despite low vaccination uptake and no vaccines for kids under five. No testing, mask mandates (Education Minister Adriana Lagrange outlawed those), enhanced ventilation nor in-room filtration (again, banned by the CBE). Yes, hand sanitizer was plentiful, but that doesn’t stop a virus that spreads through the air.

We can make schools safer for kids and their communities, but it means we have to talk about COVID. We need to acknowledge that COVID transmission is predominantly airborne, so that citizens have a framework for understanding risk. The smoke analogy, used by the Public Health Agency of Canada, and chief public health officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam, is an excellent metaphor.

There are multiple ways to make schools safer. Adequate ventilation, with a minimum of six fresh air changes per hour, mitigates build-up of viruses floating around in the air. Even opening windows/doors can be effective. Ventilation can be monitored through measuring the CO2 concentration in the room, essentially showing how much air one may be breathing in that was exhaled by someone else. Boston Public Schools is doing this and even has a public dashboard to share data. Upgrading filters in ventilation systems helps too, but as of May, the CBE has not completed this at any of their schools.

An additional intervention is filtration units like HEPA filters, or even homemade Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, to remove and trap virus particles. The CBE’s own risk management consultants acknowledged the effectiveness of this intervention.

Article content And we need to reinstate universal masking in zones where high community spread is identified, emphasizing respirator-style (N95 or KN95) masks for everyone. Information released in Alberta showed that schools with no mask mandates had three times more outbreaks than those with masking, confirming similar data from Arkansas and Massachusetts.

Pretending that COVID is over doesn’t it make it so. And it doesn’t help us “live with COVID” either. Yes, people are tired, we all want to move on. But making schools safer is fully within our reach. And until COVID is actually over, we can’t pretend our way out of it. So Alberta parents must demand the safety of their children and their teachers, or our leaders will simply go on pretending.

[goldensunset]

i hate car-centric society So Much but omggggg that person on your post is. so. so………

like. this is the way society works. unless you live somewhere with public transport, or really close to your job, you NEED a murder death machine to get there. or anywhere, actually. (can you tell i live in the middle of nowhere.) why are they on a moral high horse about that. and not jaywalking/running so drivers have much less of a chance to kill you is common sense to me, but not everybody? i guess??? braking unexpectedly for pedestrians will cause a boatload of people behind you to also have to brake. WHICH COULD GET SOMEONE HURT. you are not making the murder death machines any less deadly by throwing yourself in front of them. putting yourself and drivers at risk is not praxis.

right like… man this is NOT how you implement societal change. putting yourself and others in danger helps NO ONE. sometimes changing the system means at least temporarily cooperating with the one that is already in place. or like at the very least cooperating with basic principles of safety? if you are going to live in a place with imminent threats you need to learn about them and learn proper risk management you can’t just go well i ethically disagree with their existence so i’m immune to any pain they might inflict and if i get hurt i have no personal responsibility for it. you gotta look out for yourself and others. sorry man but that’s just life. people who do not understand this do not live in the real world

[dailycharacteroption]

Book Review: 1E GameMastery Guide

And it’s time for another review of various books in the Pathfinder system, this week starting with the GameMastery Guide (yes, the capital M in the middle is accurate).

Now, those who remember the previous reviews might immediately ask. “But wait? Didn’t Pathfinder 1e merge the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide of the game it was based on into one book? Why does there need to be a separate Game Master book?

Well, to answer that, we have to understand that while the 3.5 DMG was meant to be the book that only the GM was reading to have loot and experience tables and the like on hand to hand out to the players, plus some lore stuff and guides for building stuff and whatnot. Useful at the time, but honestly better that they consolidated it in Pathfinder because players inevitably had to read the DMG anyway to learn about prestige classes and magical items with which to spend their hard-earned gold.

The Gamemastery Guide is… not that. Instead, the book only has a few chapters dedicated to actual rules and mechanics in the game, and instead focuses on useful advice for Game Masters running their games, with a few chapters devoted to useful tools, systems and NPC stat blocks for use in the game.

Going chapter by chapter, the book starts with one on defining what a GM is and what their duties are to the game, in terms of learning the rules of the game, arbitrating their application, building and bringing to life the world of the game. There’s also a section on setting the tone for a campaign and when to think about establishing content warnings and discussing sensitive topics.

It also brings up the subjects of getting the group together and how and where to host them, including what to do when players can’t make it, and what is appropriate to bring to the table

Naturally, game planning also comes up as well, including setting out the likely story and what to do if the party deviates.

The next chapter covers actually running the game itself, everything from preparations, taking back mistakes that were made in previous sessions, and of course, being both proactive and reactive to what the players do just as they act and react to you and each other. There’s also a section on presentation too, with things like music, handouts, and the like being good starting points.

Not only do GMs need to be actors, but also writers as well, learning how to use narrative techniques in their storytelling as well.

And then of course there’s the whole thing about actually knowing the mechanics of the game (and when to ignore them when it makes for a better story, such as forgetting a monster’s insurmountable defenses so that the party can actually kill it, or claiming that the boss has more hp so that it gets a few more rounds of being a threat, especially if it was going down too easy.)

And of course there’s a section on building adventure structures and encounters, as well as what to keep in mind for atypical party compositions. Of course, there is also a section for when things go wrong, such as the party becoming unbalanced or they all die or they missed the seemingly easy to find clue that they kinda needed to actually move on to the next part of the story. Plus some useful tables as well.

Next is the section on player characters, which focuses on the easy trap of viewing the players as an enemy to vex, but also in guidelines for helping players make their characters, implementing their backstories into the game, managing the dynamic of the heroes, and of course, dealing with problem players in various capacities in a diplomatic way.

This chapter is immediately followed by one on NPCs, particularly building them both mechanically and in a roleplaying sense, be they humble shopkeeper or insidious villain, complete with LOTS of tables to help inspire the GM.

Next is a chapter on handling rewards, everything from figuring out what XP to give from both encounters and roleplaying alike, to what treasures to give, and when to create special rewards tailored to the desires of the characters, like a wish spell from a rescued genie, a new spell that really excites the party caster, or all manner of story rewards. This chapter even comes with the first instance of random loot tables in the system.

The next chapter is worldbuilding, offering things like useful questions to ask about the countries, continents, laws of physics, and the like of your world, to say nothing of geography, the cosmos, and the planes beyond. Culture is a big question as well, and guidelines are offered based on the society in question and tech level as well. Even questions of technology get focus as well.

And then we look at some nitty gritty about actually designing adventurous locales, from structuring adventures to designing dungeons and using shorthand signs to make the dungeon make sense and so on, to designing the strange traits of other planes of existence and the like, with useful tables.

Then we get useful tables and details for other adventuring staples like taverns, the rules for settlement statistics, aquatic environs, the wilderness, and more.

Next is the chapter on advanced topics, such as when to homebrew or reskin content, the chase subsystem, running natural disasters, rules for drugs and addiction, using fortune telling in-game, gambling games, a full write-up of the haunt rules outside of 3.5, various hazards, running mysteries, puzzles and riddles, a basic sanity system (sigh), and so on.

And finally, the book ends with a robust gallery of NPC stat blocks, which can prove useful for modifying or using as-is to flesh out your world or have antagonists that aren’t horrible monsters

Moving on from the book’s actual content, the art is particularly phenomenal here. The cover art depicts the Runelord Karzoug, the very first big bad we saw in one of Pathfinder’s adventure Paths, sitting on a throne surrounded by various trinkets of his wizardly craft with a blue dragon servant at his side. This proves quite evocative of the vibes of this being a book for the master of the game behind the veil.

As for the inner art, much like the core book there are big splash art pages for each chapter, and most of the art in the book itself is new, including some cute depictions of goblins in the earlier chapters (including one in a dragon outfit that I adore), as well as other NPC art and the like appropriate to each chapter.

Overall, this book gets my seal of approval. The actual mechanical rules are minimal in the book, but it provides a lot of useful advice for new GMs and old alike, and you can’t beat a good random table for those times when your own creativity is running dry.

On the other hand, those very tables for loot and NPCs do get sidelined later on by the NPC Codex and Ultimate Equipment books, which are just so much more robust. Additionally, I do have to dock a point for the sanity system, because gamifying mental illness is kinda completely disrespectful, though as we’ll see in other books, this is not the worst that Paizo gets at this topic. At least here they limit it to the possibility of developing a disorder due to extreme stress.

And that will do it for this book! While the Gamemastery Guide is not required for playing Pathfinder, it is definitely a very useful tool to have in your arsenal, and it’s advice is very good for helping to develop your own skills as a GM.

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

How do you feel about track systems for horses? Would a similar system be beneficial or detrimental for captive cetaceans?

Oh that's a very interesting idea. I do really love the concept of track systems and it seems to be a really good way to encourage more movement and improve fitness, hooves ect. for horses.

For cetaceans though... it could be tricky to implement safely if we were looking at physical "tunnels" to funnel them through.

The reason that a lot of cetacean habitats are so "empty", especially for larger species like orcas, is because social behaviour is a huge component of their lives. Social behaviour can include high speed chases, breaches, porpoising, raking/biting, fluke slapping and everything in between.

Obstacles make any sort of high arousal play/social behaviour/aggression even more of a risk. Because in the heat of the moment at very fast speeds, cetaceans can hurt themselves if they scrape against or hit something.

The only way I could see a system like that work is if the track was made using underwater bubble nets. So if they hit them, they wouldn't get hurt. But they'd probably just want to go through them for a massage anyway lol

Physical components of a habitat like rockwork ect. look nice but they will always put cetaceans more at risk of environmental scrapes. We also had that issue in lagoons/sea pens with coral and rocks.

This is why I think Chimelong is amazing with their underwater bubble jets and wave pools because it's a safe way to make their habitat variable and enriching, encouraging underwater exploration/diving and surface wave riding.

The study looking into what factors influence dolphin movement and distance travelled in human care found that enrichment programs and training times were the main influences.

This is just one study though - would love to see more like this with other species, especially orcas.

I'd be so curious to compare the movement of Chimelong orcas compared to SeaWorld orcas too. I would hypothesise that the addition of the wave pool creates a lot more movement and acceleration throughout the day!

Simply adding live fish has had a huge impact on some of the orcas in the the San Diego SeaWorld pod, with lots of hunting and moving around being recorded. And I love that! It's simple but effective!

I think you could get so creative with cetacean habitats to encourage more movement, especially focusing on underwater and diving based enrichment. This would be better than focusing on what the habitat looks like, focusing on what the animals actually value and find enriching.

So things like creating underwater treadmills they could use to exercise on (they'd probably need to learn how to though). Underwater and surface water jets that they could turn on and off when they want, wave pools at varying heights, creating currents in the water ect.

I kind of got off track but imo that would probably be the best way to encourage more movement!

[bright-hope-spot-19]

Kankuro and his relationship with rules and figures of authority

I've written a lot about why I like Kankuro's character and many of his little traits and idiosyncrasies that, in my opinion, make him unique. Another trait of his tho, that I think I've only superficially touched upon, and think deserves more attention, is his tendency to break rules. Or not respecting figures of authority would be more like it. As we all know, one of the main tenets of shinobi is that of complete and utter loyalty to the village, and all that it entails. That also comes with respect to figures of authority (the Kage and clan leaders) as well as their rules. That's what the Will of Fire is, really. A way to indoctrinate children into becoming obedient soldiers who don't question the system.

Now, the will of fire mainly applies to Konoha, so one question I've always had is: What about Suna? Do they share a similar philosophy? The simple answer is: yes, they, of course, do. It might not be called 'Will of fire' in Suna (some fans speculate in Suna it'd be Will of Wind. Even if it's never been named in Canon). But they still follow very similar principles. Heck, I'm pretty sure there's a scene somewhere in the anime, where it is stated the sand sibs stayed in Leaf for a while, to learn from them how they ran their academy system? To implement a similar one in Suna or smth. Especially after Gaara's rise to Kazekage, it's a given fact he's gonna embrace his beloved Naruto's will of fire. In fact, it's also very known that Suna's also way harsher than Konoha, supposedly.

That's where I started thinking of the 3 main sand shinobi we know: the sand siblings. I came to the realization that while it's true that Temari and especially Gaara are very obedient shinobi who abide by the rules. Kankuro really doesn't? At least, he doesn't respect them as much as his sibs. Boy does whatever he wants, not caring about the consequences.

His introduction was very explicitly of him breaking the rules, with Temari urging him to stop it.

One of his lines is him very explicitly saying he just wants to play until the 'boss' (Gaara) comes. He's very clearly going against standard shinobi protocol, picking up a fight with these kids just cause he felt like it. In this instance, he's breaking the rules. They were probably told to keep it low-key while in the Leaf, and he went and immediately did the complete opposite.

It happens again in Shippuden, after Gaara is kidnapped by Deidara and Kankuro is very explicitly told not to engage in combat:

And once again, he does the complete opposite. He not only tracked the two Akatsuki but also tried to fight them on his own. The funny thing is, it was thanks to his rash way of thinking that they managed to get Gaara back. As without him fighting Sasori, he would've never gotten a piece of his cape, and t7 would've never been able to locate their hideout in the desert. There's also the two instances of him picking up a fight with one of the council elders and Oonoki himself in the Kage meeting arc. Kankuro is deep down, very pragmatic. Whenever he approaches a situation, he does so in a practical way that will lead to positive results he can benefit from. Nowhere is that better shown than this scene here in the forest of death:

This is his main philosophy, which is completely detached from any shinobi teachings. Now, some might think that is exactly what shinobi are taught to do, and I'd say: no, not really. With the shinobi world's militaristic ideals, they live by the rule that violence is the solution to everything and to end all problems standing in the way. That diplomacy should only be the outcome after the violence is done to force the losing side into agreeing to the winners' rules. That's how the Uchiha massacre happened and how the shinoby system was enforced, as well as the idea of having jinchuriki as super powerful weapons. Since Konoha was the 1st to do it, and they were the strongest superpower, all other main village's had to follow the same system if they didn't wanna be crushed. If I'm not wrong, and correct me if I am, the chunin exams were also an invention of Konoha, and the other villages joined in. Kankuro twists that into 'violence should only be used in extreme circumstances when there's big profit to be gained from it'. He doesn't see violence as the first and only tool, or even as a solution. He only considers it if the outcome from it would be a preferable one to him and his loved ones (his sibs). It is very clear, too, because when they came across the rain guys in the forest, Kankuro didn't think it was a good idea to get into a fight with them. His plan in his head consisted of first tracking and obtaining an idea of what scroll they had. Only if it was the scroll they needed would they attack. And head to the tower after that, without getting into any other unnecessary fights that could potentially lead to unnecessary losses. It's in stark contrast to team 8, who immediately set up traps to wipe as many people as possible out of the competition, even if they only needed one scroll. Kiba and Co were willing to get into unnecessary fights to get rid of hypothetical problems that other contestants could pose in the long run (Konoha's teachings), whereas Kank evades that, as much as possible. Which is a very strategic way of thinking things when seen in retrospect. He also tells Gaara that while the exam may be no big deal to him, it's still dangerous to Kank and Tem. Once again, highlighting how much he cares about his sibs (Temari in this instance).

It's also worthy of note that the only authority we've ever seen Kankuro actively respect is that of his siblings

Which should tell us everything we need to know: Kankuro really doesn't care about shinobi rules or ideals, as long as his siblings are safe and out of danger. While yeah, in this image, he's shown fretting about their plan. Let's also keep in mind that once the attack started, they went against it by carrying Gaara away from the village so he wouldn't cause any real damage. Also, he's literally deferring to his sister here on what to do, a sister who not only is just 1 year older than him, but was also pretty much against this whole invasion instead of going to ask his adult jounin instructor for advice, which once again, shows how little he respects figures of authority. He does so once again when him and Temari are in the forest, on the run from Sasuke, and he asks her for instructions. I don't know how else to say that Kankuro doesn't follow shinobi rules strictly. He just takes the decisions that will ensure the safety of his siblings. He's following the rules of his heart.

Another instance of him following the rules of his heart is by comparing his speech to his squad to the one Gaara gave to the whole alliance

Kankurou doesn't give big talks about protecting the whole world and its authorities. He's highlighting the things that matter the most to him: family. That is his main motivator. Protect his family cause they're his loved ones. If we look at Gaara's speech on the other hand:

I don't wanna say it's bad, but he's practically saying that his main motivator is protecting Naruto. Through his speech, he brings Naruto as the golden standard of friendship and breaking village barriers that they should aspire to and protect. Also, he ends his speech by stating the fact that they're all shinobi, which feels pretty much like an admission of 'we were raised to fight and die against the bigger bad no matter our differences'. He's saying that instead of wasting time fighting each other, they should concentrate on becoming friends to defeat this common enemy who's looking to hurt Naruto and the whole world as a result. He, at no point, brings up their families or loved ones as motivators for these people to keep fighting. Naruto is the motivator that comes to Gaara's mind and how he made an intrinsic relation between Naruto's safety and the safety of the whole world. In Gaara's mind, the world is safe as long as Naruto is. If anything happens to Naruto, the whole world goes to heck. Which, when seen in retrospect, isn't that motivating. Knowing that the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of some 16 year old, and the role of every other person in the alliance is to die to protect and ensure the safety of said 16 year old cause he's the most important one. That's what Gaara was saying, basically. Also, looking at it: Naruto ends up becoming an authority, the most powerful in the world, in fact. So, Gaara's speech is all about protecting a future figure of authority to ensure the safety of the world as a result.

Last one here, but this characterization, is kept consistent even in fillers. In the 2nd rendition of the chunin exams, there's a part that took place in the Suna desert, and a big sandstorm happened, putting the contestants' lives at stake. When it's decided that Kankuro and Temari would have to go rescue them, this was his reaction:

He's complaining about having to rescue the contestants but ends up agreeing with it only because the command came from Gaara. You can bet if the order came from anyone else but Gaara (or even Temari), Kankuro would've tried to argue and come up with ideas to ensure the safety of the participants without having to endanger his or Temari's lives. Even when he agreed to it tho, and they go rescue these people, Kankuro is still pouting, and he doesn't even let them ride on Salamander for safety. Once again, showing how he doesn't abide by the rules, he does whatever th he wants, as long as his sibs aren't in danger.

In conclusion: I just find it interesting how much of a rebel Kankuro is. Now, yeah. You can say that, at the end of the day, Kankuro is just serving Gaara, who abides by Konoha's will of fire. So, Kankuro ends up abiding to it as a result. While that might be true, I think we shouldn't miss the main point of his character: his main purpose is protecting Gaara. That is the role he plays in the large scheme of things. Whether he has to follow any shinobi rules to do it is an entirely different matter. He's the type to follow rules, only if said rules ensure the safety of his family. Also, he doesn't view Gaara as an authority figure. He views him as a little brother. So, when he wants to protect Gaara, he's just doing his elder brother role, not looking after his political leader. It's very obvious, too, in how when Suna was destroyed by Deidara, Kank didn't give two shits about his village, and instead went running after the criminals who kidnapped his brother. I just think it's such a phenomenal character trait that makes him stand out, and more people should take it into account.

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

How do I deal with hypervigilance from trauma? I'm anxious about everything constantly, even in situations where I know that I'm safe. Coping skills (like deep breathing, taking walks, ect.) help for a little while, but as soon as I stop the anxiety just comes back again…it's exhausting to deal with.

I'm sorry. You may not like this answer, but it's all I can give you.

1) I cannot give you specific advise on how to manage your symptoms, that would be a very bad idea for us both. It sounds like you already have the coping skills that work for you, so stick with those, and/or keep gaining more with your care team.

2) you keep doing it. Yes, the coping skills don't turn off your hypervigelence permanently. They're not meant to. Think of them like scales and arpeggios for musicians. You can't just learn to play a song right away. You need to build a foundational muscle memory of movements, a functional recognition/mastery of common chords, fluency in reading sheet music, and then you need to keep practicing those things so that implementing them with intention to play a song remains a process free of the skill-building that preceeds it. In mental health and autonomic regulation, coping skills serve a similar purpose. They quiet your system enough that it can return to a more reliable process of functioning for complex tasks (e.g. emotional regulation or problem solving) and it creates a stable and reliable muscle memory for what gives you back access to need-meeting skills. They leave you/return to you the emotional buffer to read and interpret your body's biofeedback to better support yourself. And the longer and more consistently you practice and use proper form during recitals (crisis moments), the less you have to think about it when you need to call on them and the more effective you'll be in wielding your skills.

3) there is no such thing as a person who doesn't ever dysregulate. It is absolutely exhausting and infuriating when you spend so MUCH of your life activated to have to keep returning to baseline, but. That's what everyone is doing all the time. The reason it is more overwhelming for us in those moments is because we are burnt out and lack executive functioning reserves (emotional regulation is an executive functioning cognitive process that is easily impacted by many things like stress, depression, nutrition, medical needs, etc.) to call on. It's because we are often regulating through complex, layered, or unsafe emotions, which require more front loaded effort to fully subside. And the reason we return to overwhelm so quickly is in part because we do not yet have the reliable skills to return effectively to regulation. Building these things will change your relationship to that exhaustion, as well as to the process of regulation.

I'm sorry. I know it's exhausting. I know it sucks. The only way out is through.