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weditchthemap · 5 years

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Scientists Search Externally While Yogis Search Internally for Meaning, Truth, & Purpose

A Scientist (Western Trained Mind) Searches Externally for Meaning, Truth, & Purpose

Searching for Meaning Externally is Fundamentally Flawed and Destroying the Country

Many years of travel has taught me more about life and what really matters than my entire education from pre-school up through and including engineering graduate school. The western world, largely led by the US, devotes its energies on searching for answers through the only method our culture values, through the use of external lenses. Through the use of logic and reason scientists set out to explain (or try to) the world in which we live. Some may argue and say that we also study neurotransmitters and stress reduction techniques in the office, which counts as an inward look. Do not be confused—these are still very much external reductionist explanations for our infinitely unknowable world.

Our constant external search for truth and meaning is not bad in and of itself. However this single-mindedness has led without the tools to search inwards for these same things (e.g. truth and meaning). We unconsciously refute lifestyles and claims that draw upon inward looking tools—we do so as a self-preservation defense mechanism against the great unknown as these ideas do not rely on science. America’s credo may as well be “If it cannot be measured it doesn’t matter!” This may sound trivial but it has had profound effects on our society. We have shunned inward “unmeasurable” realities in favor of constantly pursuing material truths. This has bled over from pure scientific inquiry into our everyday lives and I believe it is a primary source of our country’s depression, stress, suicide, obesity, gun violence, racism, and so many other issues that plague our nation. Are we spending our time measuring or mattering?

We Have Created a Society Where Money is on Top of Our Value System

Money has become the ultimate external goalpost and all lenses are focused on the almighty greenback. When we aren’t sprinting for the end zone we distract ourselves watching mindless TV, playing stupid games, and using social media so that we do not have to actually confront who we are on the inside—because most of us in America are completely empty when you scratch away at our curated façade. Cultures that value looking within to develop “inner peace” (or what some call spirituality) do not suffer from the massive amounts of depression, suicide, gun violence, mass shootings, violent crimes, etc.

We are so detached with what actually matters that many of us take a personal interest in the lives of others simply because they have money (e.g. CEO ‘A’, basketball star ‘B’, movie actress ‘C’, etc.). We idolize athletes and celebrities—Not only is it trivial but I think it demonstrates a real deficit in our current culture. A young child can throw a ball into a hoop and perform in an elementary rendition of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” but for some reason we think that people that do these thing well are worthy of praise and idolization? I’m really good at playing roller-coaster with my 3-year old niece, where are my endorsements? I understand that people enjoy various types of pastimes and that is all good and fine. As a side note: It wasn’t until very recently that athletes and actors were paid more than a lower-middle class wage. Our incessant search for all things external has led us to live a sheepish life where we value distracting entertainment above all else. Thus the money has flowed into these areas. Don’t even get me started on how individuals can make millions of dollars playing video games on YouTube.

Money Has Become Our Primary Motivator, Leaving Us Empty Inside

The people that actually matter (and I mean people trying to make the world a better place) go largely unnoticed. How many people have ever heard of Sophie Scholl, Thich Nhat Hanh, Liu Xiaobo, or W.E.B. Du Bois? Athletes and celebrities are measured in RBIs, # of Golden Globes, along with their ridiculous annual salaries. Americans actually spend their time consuming media about how these people spend their money, what diets they use, where they vacation, what they wear, and so on.

Now you can chastise me and say, “Scott, it’s a free country and we are lucky enough that people can choose how they want to spend their money”. I would counter that argument with, “Sure, and they can choose to spend it on the metal detectors at their children’s schools, pharmaceutical drugs keeping them alive, depression clinics, paying off their college debt, all while enjoying their measly 2 weeks of vacation a year”.

Consumption and Buying Brings Us Fleeting Pleasure But Happiness Comes from Within

I have worked with pharmaceutical executives with Harvard MBAs that earn a quarter million dollars a year—before their annual bonus. At the same time I have taught reading to inner city adults who have only a kindergarten reading level and who have never held a job. Would you believe me if I told you that the executives were more miserable than our adult learners? What if I told you they were more miserable than the people of Turkey, Myanmar, or Laos who earn in one year what these executives earn in a handful of hours? Well they are both true. It’s not that money is evil, it’s that if that is your aim in life you will miss EVERYTHING that actually matters!

For thousands of years we have known that happiness and purpose are found in helping others and being part of a community but we continue to ignore the wisdom of our elders—both living and long deceased—in favor of our trivial external pursuits of pleasure.

Ask any mother who has given up a career to be a full-time mother and she’ll tell you that what really matters cannot be measured.

Pleasure vs Happiness

Let’s be clear, pleasure and happiness are not the same thing. Status, 2-Car Garage, Tesla, Omega, Apple, All-Inclusive, Business-Class, Shopping-Spree, Birthday Cake, Samsung—These are external things that bring people pleasure. None of them have ever brought a person happiness. People who constantly seek pleasure will never be happy—not only are they looking for the wrong thing but they are also using the wrong tools. External pursuits bring one pleasure, which is impermanent, never satisfying you long-term.

America’s Propaganda Machine is Easily the Worst in the Developed World

Our culture routinely demonizes and punishes people who do not drink the proverbial “American Kool-Aid”. If one does not value the acquisition of wealth then that person will most likely go down in history as an Anti-American threat. Despite the constitution’s right to free speech our country punished countless individuals who just had a different value system. One period that comes to mind was during the 1940s and 50s—during McCarthyism several states passed laws enacting life imprisonment and the death penalty as punishments against individuals who didn’t agree that the acquisition of wealth was the most important thing in life. People spending their manicured lives looking outwards render their inner state devoid of any real substance, thus leaving their fragile psyche vulnerable to fear what they do not understand. McCarthyism was a prime example of just that. Pure fear because deep down, under their shell of external pursuits, they were uneasy, scared, and deeply empty.

The Hippie Counterculture movement of the 60s comprised of a community of individuals that valued peace, love, and equality above all else. Propaganda has led to portrayals of hippies having being lazy, unemployed, unwashed commies with long hair. Many hippies were in fact successful business owners, teachers, pilots, surgeons, chefs, nurses, and engineers. Remember history is always written by the ‘winners’. A culture that values money over inner-peace has trivialized an entire and deeply profound movement into a negative and fundamentally inaccurate stereotype.

In America Having Money is More Important Than How It Is Earned

It’s important to note that in America making money is what’s important, how you earned it is inconsequential. Thus we have created a society valuing professional basketball players more than underpaid health aides. We have a country where bright minds are encouraged to go into fields such as technology and finance while being deterred from paths leading to teaching social/public work. We have a culture where our youth idolizes uneducated thugs rapping about cars, sex, parties, and money. Our culture is very good at looking at the end game, but at what expense? We have no idea how to live in the now! This is why we kill people, have depression, ADHD, suicide, violence, etc…it’s because in real life the end game NEVER COMES. The only time we are able to live is NOW! But hey, who wants to hear about an educated performer singing about working hard, helping others, and enjoying a simple weekend helping inner-city at-risk youths learn to garden? Fuck that, Americans want cars, money, fame, mansions—because they think that is happiness. When will they learn happiness comes from how you live and not what you have/get. It makes me sad.

A Yogi (Eastern Trained Mind) Searches Internally for Truth/Purpose

“Happiness is like peeing in your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.”

How to Find Happiness (Stop Looking Outwards)

Science is a great tool but it is just that, a tool. It can answer very discrete and specific questions, but when one takes a purely scientific mind it forces that person to lay down so many other useful tools. A scientist is too busy trying to define emotions through quantifying neurotransmitters, various bioactivity, external stressors, etc. to develop internal searching tools.

I won’t go into depth on what searching internally means and what happiness is because honestly most people reading this are too fragile and unwilling to accept what I have say. Also, once one realizes that searching within is where one truly find contentment your journey will become fully your own. I will leave you with a few things to contemplate however.

Slow down, focus on your breath, help others, stop caring about what others value, and focus on how you feel about yourself. Stop trying to change the world (because you are probably fucking it up for someone else)—focus on trying to leave the planet no worse than when you entered it. Stop letting other people’s opinions influence your values. Question each of your values often and ask yourself “does this idea/practice make me a better person?” Lose the idea that money or education actually make you a better person—they will increase opportunities in life however. Your body is your vehicle on this ride we call life, treat it well and make it last. Be proud of the work you do. Do not idolize anybody—you should listen to their ideas and internalize the ones that speak to you. However you must test everything out yourself—though make sure you have the critical reasoning skills to do so (a nod to science). Beliefs are as steadfast and illogical as religion. Ideas on the other hand are like rivers—they won’t simply change direction but over time they can carve out new paths leading you in different directions.

Karma is Real!

Karma has been used by the west to mean all types of things, most of them being outright wrong. Karma simply means “action, work or dead” in a spiritual sense it can also represent the “principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect)”. I will give you examples of Karma in action:

In the two examples below two people, Sylvie and DonnieT, had almost the same day but live vastly different lives. See their Karma at work!

A person, we will call her Sylvie, walks into a store and greets the clerk, assists an elderly shopper, and then buys a loaf of bread for a homeless person on the way out. She spends her free time working with sick animals and helping inner city adults learn to read. She always asks about other’s feelings and truly cares about people. Walking back from the store she finds a parking ticket on her car.

Sylvie has been calm and breathing slowly while engaging with the people around her all day. Her stress hormones are low and she feels a sense of belonging in the world. She finds joy in helping to reduce the suffering of those around her but knows her limits—she is only one person. She is happy with what she has and grateful for her friendships and community. She responds to the parking ticket by being frustrated but understands that she was at fault. She realizes the ticketing officer was just doing their job and she will try not to repeat the mistake again. She gets back in the car and tunes the radio to NPR as she looks forward to peaceful session of yoga this evening.

A person, we will call him DonnieT, walks into a store listening to his headphones while ignoring the clerk, he avoids the elderly shopper completely, and reprimands a homeless person on the way out. He spends his free time playing golf at his exclusive resort and eating at expensive restaurants. He never asks about other’s feelings and only cares about himself. Walking back from the store he finds a parking ticket on his car.

DonnieT has been stressed and breathing shallowly and rapidly throughout the day. He has been avoiding all but essential people. His stress hormones are high and he feels a sense of superiority in the world, though always a bit on edge. He finds pleasure in indulging in luxury and ignores the suffering of those around him and fantasizes about having more power and money. He covets what he does not have and finds little value for friendships and community. He responds to the parking ticket by calling the ticketing officer a “f**king idiot” and he refuses to accept any fault in the matter. He finds relief in that the officer is probably less educated and makes less money and DonnieT justifies this is why the officer wrote the ticket. He completely dismisses all responsibility and feels the law doesn’t apply because he doesn’t agree with the law. He gets back in the car and angrily dials his lawyer ready to fight the ticket and drives home agitated and stressed.

In this example you see how one’s Karma impacts one’s life.

A Key Walkaway:

Treat everyone (including animals) with kindness and compassion. It matters more than money!

And Ask Yourself: “Are you spending your time measuring or mattering?”

Do not forget to Pin this article and share with your friends if you liked reading it!

#what is yoga #the science of yoga #science vs yoga #Scientist vs yogi #western science vs eastern religion #east vs west #science vs religion #happiness vs pleasure #what is happiness #does money buy happiness #pleasure is not the answer

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bearspraypro-blog · 5 years

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HOW TO USE A BEAR CANISTER IN BEAR COUNTRY

In bear nation you can't depend on your nourishment being protected medium-term in the event that you don't avoid potential risk. Notwithstanding hanging a bear pack has its issues with regards to hungry bruins. Yogi Bear is simply sticking around the bend, prepared to do a few trapeze artists to get your outing crate. The best way to stop him is with a reason made bear canister

WHY GET A BEAR CANISTER?

The conventional strategy hikers have been utilizing for quite a long time is hanging their nourishment up in a tree to dodge hungry bears. Shockingly bears are a cunning breed and will climb, paw and dangle to tear down your nourishment pack. A bear that has been fruitful once will try constantly to get your nourishment. The better option is a bear canister.

There are a couple of brands available, yet my most loved is the Bear Vault Bear Resistant Food Canister. Tried to keep out even the most brilliant Grizzly and Black Bears. Store the majority of your nourishment and scented things securely in the transparent Bear Vault. Simply top it off and utilize the advisers for lash it onto your rucksack. You'll be headed instantly.

In addition to the fact that you are shielding your nourishment from bears. It will be remained careful from raccoons, possums, squirrels and even rodents.

BEAR CANISTER VS HANGING A BEAR BAG

Points of interest: The fundamental preferred position bear canisters offer is bit of psyche. You won't need to mess around with discovering trees and hanging your bear pack. Also your nourishment is ensured to go undisturbed for the duration of the night. It's secured against every wild animal, not just bears. I've had some significant issues with squirrels unleashing destruction on my hanging nourishment sack.

Hindrances: The essential detriment that your going to have is simplicity of vehicle. Most canisters are overwhelming and unwieldy to withstand the heaviness of a full developed Grizzly. Another worry of numerous explorers is the significant expense tag.

WHY BEAR CANISTERS ARE HELPFUL

Bears have an extraordinary feeling of smell, tracking down human nourishment like they were gourmet culinary specialists. Scientists gauge that bears can smell nearly as wonderful as a very much prepared following canine. They can get unobtrusive fragrances from miles away, so it should not shock anyone when they gallivant through camp searching for nourishment.

In the days of yore bears had a characteristic dread of people and campers laid down with their nourishment. No bear was strong enough to enter camp and take your private nourishment stash. Sadly untrustworthy campers gave bears a sample of nourishment making them progressively intense. They attacked camp terrifying typically resting campers.

For a considerable length of time individuals took a stab at hanging nourishment packs suspended over tree appendages, however bears immediately made sense of that. They changed to increasingly expand strategies that were incredibly tedious. Draping sacks over branches and apparatus up offsets, was a tiring procedure. Many individuals still utilize the offset technique where park officers permit it.

BEARS FIND A WAY

Bears aren't idiotic, they figure out how to beat each detailed hanging strategy we think of. Regularly sending whelps to move crosswise over branches cutting the rope. They're similar to ethereal gymnastic performers dangling off a trapeze.

When they've been acquainted with human nourishment they're snared and follow it each possibility they get. They go to extraordinary lengths to attempt to get their grimy little paws on your lunch. Bear canisters like the Bear Vault or Frontiersman Insider are your last line of protection. Who realizes to what extent it will be until bears get insightful enough to open our bear canisters. For more in-depth information I highly recommend bear canister rental denver.

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therappundit · 6 years

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June 2018 - *PlayLi$t of the Month*

SUMMER IS HERE, AND THE RAP WORLD IS ON FIRE RIGHT NOW.

Where do we begin? Pusha-T vs. Drake, Drake vs. Kanye West, the whole damn world vs. Kanye, Rhymefest vs. Kanye vs. Kim Freakin’ Kardashian, cynical rap fans like myself vs. all of the Kanye stans - and there are numerous other rap skirmishes happening around us (ranging from petty to serious), plus a critically panned A$AP Rocky album, rumors of a new Clipse song - how can anyone keep up!? It’s like the summer heat already has folks going crazy...

As always, The Rap Pundit is going to focus more on the music, because we have a whole lot to be thankful for. There has been so much sensational new music to drop over the last few weeks, so I did my best to try to acknowledge most of my favorite projects that are currently seated high in my rotation (even though, truth be told, I could have dedicated slots 1-7 to DAYTONA, just sayin’).

My soundtrack for June is packing heat like the oven door, so enjoy this extra long, extra ‘eghck!’ edition of the Pundit PlayLi$t...

1. “The Games We Play” - Pusha-T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j98tczxXKtE

(Some of the best bars on DAYTONA can be found right here. And this Booker T. Averheart sample....sheeeeesh, I might not be a fan of Ye the album, but I am a huge fan of Ye the producer. Pusha-Ton dedicates this one to his core fanbase, declaring DAYTONA the “Purple Tape” for a new generation. Personally I don’t think this project can be compared to the legendary Raekwon album, but I would put this song up against the any song made by anyone else rapping today. And regardless of whether this album turns out to be a classic or not, I can say this with certainty: “The Games We Play” will be a classic rap song.)

2. “Hard Piano” - Pusha-T feat. Rick Ross & Tony Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEEAqPMSZqU

(DAYTONA is a relentless smash of a project from start to finish, so ranking each song on the album is more of a 1a, 1b, 1c scenario. Right now I’m vibin’ with “Hard Piano” like it’s “New God flow Pt. 2″. Pusha glides across Kanye’s slick sampling of Charles Wright & Watts 103rd Rhythm Band’s “High As Apple Pie Slice II”, and by the time we get to Rozay’s “this is for the sneaker hoarders and coke snorters”, you know that he’s about to bless us with one of the best verses that he’s done in quite some time. He knows that you gotta bar-up when Pusha is in album mode! I don’t know if any other song in Pusha’s catalogue better showcases his “be Sosa not Tony” mentality like “Hard Piano”. DAYTONA should be coming out of speakers everywhere.)

3. “Dostoyevsky” - Black Thought & 9th Wonder feat. Rapsody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54OUwQA2wQs

(Welcome to 2018, Black Thought “solo” project. No, it’s not the dream solo debut that Black Thought fans have been dreaming about for decades, but it is a highly successful byproduct of Thought’s collaboration with 9th Wonder & The Soul Council. As an EP it’s more of a sterling appetizer than an opus, but rest assured, Streams of Thought, Vol. 1 is a non-stop bar-fest and a feast for the ears. As if five Black Thought songs alone weren’t enough, Rapsody comes through on “Dostoyevsky” and more than holds her own alongside the Roots frontman. Let this EP be further confirmation of the embarrassment of riches that is rap music in 2018.)

4. “If You Know, You Know” - Pusha-T

https://soundcloud.com/pushat/if-you-know-you-know

(Simply one of the best openings I have ever heard on a rap album. The build is perfect, and the beat is vicious. Not the traditional fair that fans associate with Pusha from back in the Clipse era...but remember how different those Neptunes beats once sounded to the traditional hip-hop ear? Kanye clearly considered what made Pusha’s presence so effective on YOGI’s commercial smash “Burial”, and then it dialed up to 11 with “If You Know, You Know”, a rare triumphant rap-EMD hybrid. It’s an attention grabbing intro, a rap star anthem capable of getting any crowd hyped, and the best catchphrase to come out of DAYTONA and into the rap lexicon.)

5. “Leaps” - Rigz

https://soundcloud.com/prodbymichaelangelo/rigz-leaps-prod-by-michaelangelo

(I don’t know much about MichaelAngelo - the producer, that is - but I know I enjoy the limited sample size that I have heard thus far. What I DO know and have known for some time, is that Rigz is one of the dopest MC’s in the game right now. If you haven’t checked out the Rochester native’s catalogue, I highly recommend his mixtapes, but you can also start with this loosie right here. Rigz can flat-out rap.)

6. “Hun43rd” - A$AP Rocky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp8sSx06Bds

(This track is gorgeous. The soothing instrumental cruises along as Rocky waxes nostalgic about Harlem. Sure, it’s good stuff, but then the song goes to another level when Devonté Hynes/Blood Orange releases a smooth hook that could easily be mistaken for a sample from an 80′s New Wave band...or maybe a song that would have felt at home on the Batman Returns soundtrack? Yeah I should probably stop before I date myself any further. Anyway, this one is easily a contender for Testing’s strongest track, textbook Rocky right here.)

7. “Come Back Baby” - Pusha-T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SkMJqlZ6Y0

(Elements of classic Ye can be found all over track #4 on DAYTONA. Three braggadocios verses from Pusha are broken up by a soulful George Jackson sample, and to great effect. As with so many of Pusha-T’s classic tracks, “Come Back Baby” succeeds in making a dangerous lifestyle sound awfully seductive.)

8. “Buck Shots” - A$AP Rocky feat. Smooky MarGielaa & Playboi Carti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBTeuZhftTY

(If Ryan Gosling and company were to do a sequel to Drive, I could picture him listening to “Buck Shots” during a brooding moment from behind the wheel of his ‘73 Chevy Malibu. To some the “buck shots” repetition might sound grating, but I feel like it really helps take the catchiness of this Kelvin Krash beat into maximum overdrive. The song personifies the emphasis of style over substance on Testing, which works for me in this case because of how well that vibe is reinforced with this album, at least sonically.)

9. “Self Destruction” - Boogie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXNMVRsIeB4

(Is there a non-TDE West Coast rapper better than Boogie right now? I was expecting him to explode right after “Oh My” started to catch heat in 2015, but after a strong appearance on Royce Da 5′9′s Book Of Ryan and a buzz-worthy album on the way, it looks like 2018 might actually be the year for Boogie to ascend to the next level. Want further proof? Check out the feast of rhymes on his trippy new single, “Self Destruction”. The Compton MC’s future is looking very, very bright right now.)

10. “Percs” - Denzel Curry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7PS4gJe5Y4

(If a scientist took elements of A$AP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar and Chief Keef and stirred them together in a pot, Denzel Curry would be the outcome. It’s refreshing to hear a trap-inspired rapper denounce some of the drugs that are currently frying the brains of his peers, but it does make sense that the message would come from Curry, who seems to be wise beyond his years. I am pretty eager to hear what else lies in store for us on his upcoming album, Ta13oo.)

11. “Ministry” - MIKE

https://mikelikesrap.bandcamp.com/track/ministry-4

(If you’re not familiar with MIKE, now is the perfect time to fix that. His newly released album, Black Soap, confirms that the young NYC rapper follows his own path and has a very bright future. “Ministry” reminds me of the type of subterranean NY rap that we haven’t heard enough of since the Def Jux era.)

12. “Jujitsu” - Tuamie & Henny L.O. feat. Fly Anakin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp1C09p_XbI&index=9&t=0s&list=PLqD8s2lDRYOtiHUSkTpi6eUe8n9Fs-iDl

(Another month, another incredibly dope project from the Mutant Academy collective. Henny and Fly sound blissful over this sweet Tuamie production, one of many wonderful cuts on their new Emergency Raps, Vol. 2 compilation...one of many projects that got lost in the shuffle of Drake vs. Pusha T hoopla over the past week. Do yourself a favor and add this to your collection right now!)

13. “Sunoco” - Al.Divino & $auce Heist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMQSBpvZJKo

(WOW, hard NYC rap doesn’t get much better than this crazy new Al.Divino and $auce Heist project! Pretty crazy considering only Heist is from NY, while Divino hails from Massachusetts. I’m really loving the beat on this one, it sounds like a Bjork “Human Behavior” sample but I’m not sure if that’s the case? The whole BENGAL BONE MARROW tape is worth the $40 price tag, it is brutally good.)

14. “Infrared” - Pusha-T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytzc6ehAvOM

(Hey have you guys heard this one? Pretty under the radar, yeah I know. Seriously what more can be said about this one.....except that it’s pure FIRE, no matter whose corner you stand in with the Drake-Pusha beef.)

15. “Soul Reaver” - A$AP Ant feat. A$AP Twelvyy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnRFRhv-EGI

(Before A$AP Rocky released his album, A$AP Ant dropped a new album titled Lil Black Jean Jacket. As one of the less heralded members of the A$AP Mob, it’s easy to overlook this project...but you would be making a mistake. To me, this tape succeeds in all of the areas that Playboi Carti’s Die Lit album failed. You won’t find much lyrical depth on Jacket, but you will find catchy flows and hypnotic production. And on “Soul Reaver”, you will also find the best verse on the album, courtesy of Twelvyy. This sleepy gem really goes!)

16. “Long Way” - Benny feat. El Camino

https://soundcloud.com/bennythebutcher1/benny-the-butcher-long-way-ft-el-camino-prod-by-dj-shay

(The loop and Camino’s hook-work gives this joint an old school Dipset aesthetic, while Benny’s bars remind me of prime Beanie Sigel, and I’m loving all of this! “Long Way” is favorite joint off of Benny’s new A Friend Of Ours project, but the whole tape is worth playing front to back.)

17. “Brotha Man” - A$AP Rocky feat. French Montana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYbWAgF02no

(The most soulful song on Testing, and there’s a lot to like here. French Montana channels his best Marvin Gaye impression - there’s a sentence I never thought I would type - and "Brotha Man” also includes some of the album’s finer written moments from Rocky. True to form, his reference to caring more about personal style rather than important social issues is a display of brutal honesty that only adds to the track’s authenticity.)

18. “Hoop Dreamin” - Blueprint feat. Has-Lo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drv4yESEMFM

(A few weeks back, rapper/producer Blueprint slipped out a brand new project titled Two-Headed Monster, where he explores a number of topics over some beautiful production. The palpable sense of urgency felt on “Hoop Dreamin” makes this cut my favorite off the album, but the whole project warrants more attention.)

19. “Helvetica” - CODENINE & Mr. Rose feat. Milano Constantine, Al.Divino & Estee Nack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AWJEJj3oT8

(Proving that the underground collective swirling around Al.Divino and Estee Nack is one that you need to watch, CODENINE and Mr. Rose’s project is another notch on the team’s belt. “Helvetica” has the feel of one of those classic late 90′s underground hip-hop cyphers.)

20. “Kevlar Tux” - SONNYJIM & Conway feat. Roc Marciano

https://soundcloud.com/sonnyjim01/03-kevlar-tux-ft-roc-marciano?in=sonnyjim01/sets/conway-x-sonnyjim-death-by-misadventure

(I’ve heard chatter suggesting that this SONNYJIM & Conway project wasn’t official? Well this Conway & Roc Marci joint sounded officially dope to me, so it still belongs on this playlist, no doubt.)

*Bonus - Honorable Mention*

“Twofifteen” - Black Thought & 9th Wonder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgJ434TL-bo

(Black Thought sounds like he is unleashing 25 years of lyrical tenacity on this one, the first of five great tracks off of his project with 9th Wonder & The Soul Council.)

“Onna Gang” - DaBoii (of SOB x RBE)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ-FTDFkwAM

(The SOB x RBE stand-out showcases his solo skills all over this bouncy head-nodder.)

“Tony Tone” - A$AP Rocky feat. Puff Daddy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6z6oiTirFQ

(Another sharp cut from Rocky’s new album, which seems like it will be under-appreciated for the foreseeable future. The menacing, teeth-grinding beat alone is worth the price of admission.)

“Mob Era” - Tha God Fahim & Jay NiCE feat. Left Lane & Mach-Hommy

https://soundcloud.com/thagodfahim/tha-god-fahim-x-jay-nice-x-left-lane-x-mach-hommy-mob-eraprodby-jlvsn

(JLVSN laced Fahim, Mach and company with a tense little piano loop, and all four MCs deliver. )

“Unknown Worlds” - Planet Asia feat. Montage One

https://planet-asia.bandcamp.com/track/unknown-worlds

(Planet Asia’s second project of 2018 - maybe more, it’s hard to keep track because the guy is a workhorse- Mansa Musa is as strong as all of his previous projects, but there’s a freshness to the samples used on this one that make it one of my favorite PA projects from the last few years. Both West Coast icons kill this one, and Planet Asia deserves the AC Green award for longevity in the game at this point - he may never fall off!)

“NYCHA” - Dave East feat. Nas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsrMVAB3weY

(The soundtrack to Netflix’s Rapture dropped a few weeks back, mostly unnoticed, but it had some strong joints. Perhaps none hotter than this NY-centric Dave East & Nas jam, my favorite collaboration that I have heard from the Mass Appeal duo thus far.)

[ICYMI: Last month’s list below]

https://therappundit.tumblr.com/post/174009402131/may-2018-playli-t-of-the-month

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pogueman · 7 years

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Exclusive: What Fitbit's 6 billion nights of sleep data reveals about us

yahoo

How we sleep is unbelievably important. Getting too little sleep not only makes you feel lousy and cranky, but it’s also linked to obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and even early death. (No pressure.)

But it’s amazingly hard to measure our sleep, as a population. Sure, one person at a time can stay overnight at a sleep lab, hooked up to scalp electrodes — but try sleeping normally that way, away from home and wired to strange equipment. Other sleep studies use self-reporting, where you write down each morning how you slept, but that data is famously unreliable.

Now, though, there’s a new way to study our sleep: Fitness bands, worn by millions of people. Most of Fitibit’s bands, for example, have built-in heart-rate monitors, which produce much more accurate sleep-measurement results than earlier bands. These bands track your sleep automatically, in your own bed, on your normal schedule, under normal conditions.

Since Fitbit began tracking sleep stages in March 2017, it has collected data from 6 billion nights of its customers’ sleep. This is a gold mine — by far the largest set of sleep data ever assembled. (This data is anonymous and averaged; it’s not associated with individual customers’ names.)

“It’s a really, really exciting and really rare data set,” Fitbit data scientist Karla Gleichauf says. “It’s probably the largest biometric data set in the world.”

The measurements include not just how long you sleep, but what stages of sleep you experience. Each morning, the Fitbit app shows which parts of the night you spent in REM sleep (the vivid-dreams stage, good for mood regulation and memory processing), in deep sleep (good for memory, learning, the immune system, and feeling rested), in light sleep, and awake. (It’s always disheartening to see how much of the night you waste in little one- or two-minute wake-ups that you don’t even remember.)

Each morning, the Fitbit app shows how you slept.

But wait, there’s more. The Fitbit app also knows your gender, age, weight, height, location, and activity level. Therefore, the company’s data scientists can slice and dice its massive sleep database in fantastic ways. They should be able to tell us who sleeps more: men or women. Northerners or Southerners. East Coasters or West Coasters. They should be able to calculate our national average bedtime. They should be able to draw all kinds of conclusions about the way we sleep — and what’s good for us.

Now, for the first time, they have. Gleichauf and her boss, Conor Heneghan, Fitbit’s lead sleep research scientist, agreed to mine that vast sleep database to unearth some of its secrets. Some of their findings reinforce what sleep scientists have already studied; some have never been measured before.

Here’s what Fitbit discovered — a Yahoo Finance exclusive.

Men vs. women

Women sleep 25 minutes longer a night than men. They average six hours and 50 minutes of sleep a night, whereas men get only six hours and 26 minutes. Neither group gets anywhere close to the recommended eight hours a night.

Women get about 25 minutes more sleep a night than men.

Women also get about 10 minutes more REM sleep than men every night, too — a gap that widens after age 50.

Why these differences? “It’s really not known if it’s a physiology thing, is it a cultural thing, who knows,” Heneghan says. “I think that would be super exciting over the next 10, 20 years for people to really get into why.”

The news for women isn’t all good, though: They’re 40% more likely to suffer from insomnia — trouble falling asleep — than men.

(Those two findings could be related, too: Since women’s sleep is less efficient, they have to spend more time in bed.)

Old vs. young

Getting older also affects your sleep. In this graph from Fitbit’s sleep study, you can see that we get less deep sleep as we age. When you’re 20, you’re getting half an hour more deep sleep a night than when you’re 70.

We get less and less of the good sleep as we age.

North vs. South

Yes, it’s true: Northerners go to bed five minutes earlier than Southerners. They wake up earlier, too.

That may seem like a very small difference, but on the scale of billions of data points, it’s significant.

On the other hand, Heneghan points out that statistics can be tricky. “I think North/South may be an artificial divide; urban/rural is probably a more meaningful divide,” he notes. In other words, there may just be more big cities in the North.

East vs. West

East Coasters, according to the data, stay up seven minutes later than West Coasters (and wake up five minutes later, too).

“I personally find this consistent with my experience of American culture,” Heneghan says. “I lived in New York. I lived in California. You get to 9 p.m. here in California, and the restaurant staff are kind of looking at you funny. There’s a great quote from Yogi Berra: ‘It gets late real early around here.’”

The national bedtime

Here’s a data point that no amount of sleep-lab studies could have unearthed: The average American goes to bed at 11:21 p.m.

Bedtime consistency

The biggest finding in Fitbit’s data may be the link between sleep quality and bedtime consistency.

That, Gleichauf explains, “is this idea that your bedtime varies.”

And in America, it really does vary — by an average of 64 minutes. You might go to bed at 11 p.m. on weeknights, but stay up after midnight on the weekends.

The Fitbit data shows that your sleep suffers as a result. If your bedtime varies by two hours over the week, you’ll average half hour of sleep a night less than someone whose bedtime varies by only 30 minutes.

And you’ll pay the price.

By the time your weekly bedtime variation is 2 hours, it’s costing you half an hour of sleep a night.

You know how jet lag works, right? “When you have jet lag, it’s the mismatch between the actual time, in the zone you’re in, and your circadian rhythm,” Gleichauf told me. “You’re not on the right part of that curve to make you fall asleep.” So, at night in your new city, you lie there for hours, unable to fall asleep — and then in the middle of the next day, you’re overcome by exhaustion.

When your bedtime varies over the week, then, you’re creating self-induced jet lag. Gleichauf calls it social jet lag: On Monday, when you have to go back to work (and drag your bedtime backward), you feel crummy and you’re more likely to get sick.

(Dr. Till Roenneberg, professor at the Institute of Medical Psychology at the University of Munich, calculates that every hour of social jetlag increases your risk of being overweight or obese by about 33%.)

“I’m super excited about this data,” Heneghan says. “For the first time ever, we were actually able to show the link between consistency and how long you sleep.”

Social jet lag, by city

Gleichauf dove into American geography to see if there were differences in bedtime consistency — and there is.

Can you guess which city has the most widely varying bedtimes over the week?

It’s Boston — probably because it’s a huge college town, with a huge population of young people.

Congratulations, Boston—you have the most erratic bedtimes in the country.

Can you guess which one has the least variation in bedtimes?

It’s Las Vegas. “People who live and work in Las Vegas — if they’re in the industry of nightclubs and casinos, their schedule is going to be much less weekend-dominated,” Heneghan says.

Wake-up times also vary. This time, Seattle is the winner, with the least variation across the week. The losers here are New Yorkers, whose wake-up times swing an average of 73 minutes over the week. (Well, it is the city that never sleeps.)

New York is the city that never wakes up consistently.

The takeaways

The reporting that Fitbit’s sleep scientists offer in this exploration is only the very, very beginning. The company has amassed big data — big sleep data — that could provide some incredible answers. We just have to ask the right questions.

Why do men and women sleep differently? Why do we get less deep sleep as we age? Beyond the “party on the weekend” effect, why do our bedtimes vary so much? We know that exercise is good for our sleep, but when should we exercise for the best sleep? When should we eat if we want to get the most deepest sleep? Is the kind of sleep (REM sleep, deep sleep) more important than the total time asleep? Should the nation’s school hours and work hours be adjusted to fit the way we actually sleep?

Fortunately, Fitbit plans to share its data, both with other scientific institutions and in science journals; it’s thrilling to think of the new knowledge that may result from it.

Until then, consider trying to get to bed at a more consistent hour throughout the week. You’ll sleep better, you’ll sleep longer, and you’ll feel better once you’re up.

Or just move to Las Vegas.

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the Web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s [email protected]. You can sign up to get his stuff by email.

Tech that can help you keep your New Year’s resolutions

Pogue’s holiday picks: 8 cool, surprising tech gifts

Google’s Pixel Buds: Wireless earbuds for the extremely tolerant

Study finds you tend to break your old iPhone when a new one comes out

Rejoice: Sonos Speakers are finally voice-controllable

#sleep #_uuid:1b18e117-49dc-3035-a0e6-05b932100f3c #_lmsid:a077000000BAh3wAAD #pogue #_revsp:yahoofinance.com #_draft:true #$FIT #Fitbit #_author:David Pogue

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makingscipub · 5 years

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Epi-pins: Epigenetics on Pinterest

This post has been co-authored with Cath Ennis, University of British Colombia, Vancouver (author of Epigenetics: A Graphic Guide).

***

Cath and I are interested in how epigenetics is made public, for example through visual aids, such as drawings, photos, diagrams, infographics and so on. We thought one way to access such visuals would be by looking at Pinterest, an image-based social media network; but, as you’ll see below, looking at Pinterest actually brought us back to words rather than images.

Epigenetics has a long history and is still evolving, but it is safe to say that “[r]esearch in epigenetics today is primarily concerned with the investigation of changes in gene expression, where the mechanism for this is something other than a change to the underlying DNA. The focus of research is on the dynamics of chemical modification upon the DNA, which enhance, decrease, initiate or silence gene expression.” (Pickersgill et al., 2013)

Epigenetics in its current form, as part of molecular biology, began to flourish in the scientific literature after 2003 (the end of the Human Genome Project) and has been popularised through at least four main channels of communication:

Through the work of celebrity scientists or epigenetic champions who give TED talks, appear on YouTube videos, write comment and opinion pieces, and become go-to experts for journalists and film-makers.

Through the dissemination of epigenetic stories by journalists and science writers.

Through targeted campaigns by advertisers promoting (mostly unproven) alternative health and well-being products using traditional and social media.

Through the labour of academic bloggers, podcasters and tweeters (some them prominent scientists), almost all of whom are quite sceptical of some of the claims being made about epigenetics in the popular sphere.

Some of these efforts leave traces on Pinterest if they include images.

We searched Pinterest using the term “epigenetics” (on 18 August 2019 at 15.30 GMT [when we looked an hour later, things had changed]). (There are also ‘boards‘ or collections where individuals choose and collect pins dealing with epigenetics, which would deserve a separate analysis).

There was not only a wealth of images on display, but also a banner above the images showing the main themes, presumably found by an algorithm. We could have jumped straight to epigenetics-related content on the theme of, say, stress or trauma or diet or even art.

Screenshot taken on 22 August 2019

We decided to look more closely at the first 20 ‘pins’ (more about pinning and pins here). What surprised us was that many of them didn’t contain visuals but rather words.

The following ‘analysis’ is just a rough sketch. This is not a systematic study of epigenetics on Pinterest, using, for example, visual content analysis (see Conclusion below for some examples). We selected the first twenty pins (which now have changed substantially, so make of that what you will) and sorted them into three categories: university outreach, science/news communication, and alternative health promotion and pseudoscience.

We have a hunch that a very similar pattern of dissemination can be found on Twitter, but we haven’t looked at this closely yet.

University outreach

The first pin we saw (on 18 August) displayed an educational poster on “What is Epigenetics?” with relation to child development, produced by the University of Harvard’s Centre for the Developing Child. Another poster “adapted from” this one was displayed in another pin using similar words but ‘cuter’ pictures of children, not the more abstract representations used by the Harvard original.

Both posters talk about how “Epigenetics explains how early experiences can have lifelong impact” (both positive and negative ones) and that “[y]oung brains are particularly sensitive to epigenetic changes”. They point out that through epigenetics the environment affects gene expression, which means that “the old idea that genes are ‘set in stone’ has been disproven” (they don’t point to a source for this ‘old idea’ though). Experiences can, they say, “leave a unique epigenetic ‘signature’ on genes”… These changes can, the posters claim, be reversed, but the best thing is to reduce stress ”from the beginning” and bring up children in a nurturing environment.

Science/news communication

One pin links back to a neuroscience news item on daytime sleepiness. Another pin refers to a popular science book on epigenetics, showing its cover. This is The Epigenetic Revolution (2011) by Nessa Carey.

A pinned YouTube video tries to provide an answer to the question “What is epigenetics?”. It’s by Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna and has gathered almost a million views. Carlos is a researcher at Linköping University looking at links between epigenetics and society, including autism. The video should be analysed together with other popular videos about epigenetics.

Another pin displays a sciencey-looking diagram entitled “Genetics vs Epigenetics” which was used in a popular article published in 2013 in Discover Magazine and entitled “Grandma’s Experiences Leave a Mark on Your Genes”. The article begins by saying: “Your ancestors’ lousy childhoods or excellent adventures might change your personality, bequeathing anxiety or resilience by altering the epigenetic expressions of genes in the brain”. This was one of several articles dissected and found wanting by Kevin Mitchell in his 2018 blog post on Wiring the Brain entitled: “Grandma’s trauma – a critical appraisal of the evidence for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in humans”. We’ll come back to this topic in the next section/category.

Alternative health and pseudoscience

The rest of the twenty pins link to rather less reputable sources, mainly websites (two from Instagram) selling ways to enhance body and mind through changes in nutrition and lifestyle, through meditation, detoxification and so on. As an aside: If you follow the pins recommended underneath these pins you get into quantum physics, quantum consciousness, astrology and, we kid you not, ‘star shit’, an image saved to a board titled “Brainiac facts” along with the note “Human body ingredients. Everything, every element that exists, everything we are composed of was created in the death of a star. We are literally made of star stuff”.

Many of the pins in our alternative health and pseudoscience category display stock visuals of the double helix, mostly in blue, but many more depict what one may call inspirational texts, such as:

“Epigenetics: Science is proving that our bodies (sic) ability to heal and repair itself is greatly effected (sic) by our beliefs thoughts emotions and intentions for they have a profound vibrational effect upon our continually evolving genetic code We’re the programmers of the code DNA activation is our software upgrade.” [no punctuation] These words appear against a dark background and underneath readers can see a hand touching and lighting up a piece of a double helix.

Another pin from the Mindful Design Feng Shui School says: “90% of what happens to you – including how your genes get expressed – is determined by your environment. This is the science of epigenetics. And the most important part of that environment is created by your beliefs, most of which you are not consciously aware.”

One pin is a combination of words and visuals, in this case drawings of a bicycle, a man and a woman, healthy fruit and veg, etc. The words say: “Your gene expression can change based on what you eat, how you move, your thoughts, feelings and social connections.” (After reading things like this, it’s always good to go back and read Kevin Mitchell’s blog post)

If you want to be more ‘out there’, you can look at a pin saying “Epigenetics is catching up to what Yogis have always known”, illustrated again with a double helix. The article itself talks about the Holy Grail, the Da Vinci Code etc. and says: “The Holy Grail, or the sacred chalice, is blood that holds high vibrational DNA.” And: “Science is now proving that DNA can be altered and programmed through a field called behavioral epigenetics. We are no longer victims of the past, but creators of our destiny. Epigenetics has proven what Yogis have always known: that your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, environment, and diet can change your life.”

A pin showing an image of a woman’s head and the words “How your mind can reprogramme your genes” leads to an article saying: “You are the ‘driver’ of your genetic roadmap. And not only your roadmap, but the thoughts and emotions you feel, the foods you eat, and how well you detoxify also pass down 3 generations!” An interesting verbal image or metaphor.

Underneath this article are two intriguing comments. One says: “Epigenetics explains naturopathy, prayers, good intentions, karmic law and even reincarnation of physical self in scientific way.” The other asks: “Hello, can this help with Huntingtins Desease [sic]?” This shows just how dangerous such hype can be!

Some pins link up with the work of Bruce Lipton who wrote a book entitled The Biology of Belief – Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles (2005), stressing the power of thoughts and beliefs and the way we can harness them to improve our health.

Many pins include promises about the power of epigenetics to change people’s genes. One pin relating to nutrition, again referencing Lipton, claims that “Genes are equivalent to blueprints; epigenetics is the contractor. They change the assembly, the structure.” Another novel metaphor. Another pin goes further and says: “’It’s in my genes, I can’t do anything about it.’ BULLSHIT. The field of epigenetics, led by Bruce Lipton (sic!), is proving that genes are not the end all be all of your health. What is more affective (sic) on your body is your beliefs, thoughts and feelings.”

Lipton is, according to Wikipedia, “an American developmental biologist who supported the theory that gene expression could be influenced (via epigenetics) by environmental factors i.e. environmental factors have a greater impact on their health than genetic research has previously determined”. The wiki article also stresses that his work remains on the sidelines of mainstream epigenetics – although he is widely cited as an authority on other social media platforms such as Twitter, often in support of pseudoscientific claims about alternative health products and services.

Another pin, related to an article on epigenetics and autism, is a PowerPoint slide with a double helix on the left-hand side and various bullet points, one of which claims “Can be transgenerational”, a rather contested assumption when it comes to humans.

Finally, a pin, linked to what one may call spiritual wellness, talks about epigenetics as “healing generational memory and inherited family trauma”. Another displays the title: “Epigenetics: The weird science behind inherited experience”, referring to “Holocaust survivors passing on certain behavioural traits to their offspring”, tapping into the fascination with transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and trauma, a topic of which scientific bloggers are greatly sceptical.

Conclusion

What can we learn from this quick survey?

We tried to study visuals used to make epigenetics public. What we found was that words seem to trump visuals and that the visuals used were mostly conventional stock images of the double helix. These science-symbolising images were even used in combination with the weirdest claims, perhaps in an attempt to lend scientific authority to unscientific content.

Epigenetics is portrayed as a way to escape the power of genes and (the strawman of) genetic determinism (blueprint, set in stone, blank slate, programme). Epigenetics, we are told, overcomes these barriers through diet and exercise but, more importantly, the power of the mind, thoughts and beliefs.

Epigenetics is linked to trauma and ‘the ghost of generational memory’. An article pinned up on Pinterest refers to a 2016 book by Mark Wolynn entitled It Didn’t Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle. (The cover of this book also features a double helix as part of its design). The article also says that “Slaves in the 1800s and before left a heavy generational footprint in the DNA of their descendants”. Trauma in all is forms resonates with many popularisers of epigenetics.

The majority of pins link to articles or blog posts or book about epigenetics that are steeped in pseudoscience. The pseudoscientific pins we looked at are only the very tip of a large iceberg that has been growing for a decade. In 2015 Adam Rutherford, said (first on Twitter, then in print): “The legion purveyors of flapdoodle love a real but tricky scientific concept that they can bolt their pernicious quackery on to. […] Epigenetics is a real and important part of biology, but due to predictable quackery, it is threatening to become the new quantum.” (The Guardian, 19 July 2015). This is no longer a mere threat it seems!

Some of the researchers who have published Pinterest content analyses have concluded that aspects of the platform’s content related to public health topics can be actively harmful, for instance in the cases of vaccination, electronic cigarette and waterpipe smoking, skin tanning, and weight loss.

While scientifically inaccurate pins about epigenetics seem likely to have less direct and less serious impacts, they do have the potential to spread misinformation and false hope, and may contribute to the rejection of conventional medicine approaches. This first dip into the Pinterest pool highlights the need for a deeper dive, to understand the opportunities for dissemination of accurate scientific information to wider audiences as well as the potential harms of users sharing pseudoscience and other inaccurate content about epigenetics.

Image: Pixabay

The post Epi-pins: Epigenetics on Pinterest appeared first on Making Science Public.

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newlaptopreviews · 7 years

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Exclusive: What Fitbit's 6 billion nights of sleep data reveals about us

“It’s a really, really exciting and really rare data set,” Fitbit data scientist Karla Gleichauf says. “It’s probably the largest biometric data set in the world.”

Each morning, the Fitbit app shows how you slept.

Here’s what Fitbit discovered — a Yahoo Finance exclusive.

Men vs. women

Women get about 25 minutes more sleep a night than men.

Women also get about 10 minutes more REM sleep than men every night, too — a gap that widens after age 50.

The news for women isn’t all good, though: They’re 40% more likely to suffer from insomnia — trouble falling asleep — than men.

(Those two findings could be related, too: Since women’s sleep is less efficient, they have to spend more time in bed.)

Old vs. young

We get less and less of the good sleep as we age.

North vs. South

Yes, it’s true: Northerners go to bed five minutes earlier than Southerners. They wake up earlier, too.

That may seem like a very small difference, but on the scale of billions of data points, it’s significant.

East vs. West

East Coasters, according to the data, stay up seven minutes later than West Coasters (and wake up five minutes later, too).

The national bedtime

Here’s a data point that no amount of sleep-lab studies could have unearthed: The average American goes to bed at 11:21 p.m.

Bedtime consistency

The biggest finding in Fitbit’s data may be the link between sleep quality and bedtime consistency.

That, Gleichauf explains, “is this idea that your bedtime varies.”

And in America, it really does vary — by an average of 64 minutes. You might go to bed at 11 p.m. on weeknights, but stay up after midnight on the weekends.

The Fitbit data shows that your sleep suffers as a result. If your bedtime varies by two hours over the week, you’ll average half hour of sleep a night lessthan someone whose bedtime varies by only 30 minutes.

And you’ll pay the price.

By the time your weekly bedtime variation is 2 hours, it’s costing you half an hour of sleep a night.

“I’m super excited about this data,” Heneghan says. “For the first time ever, we were actually able to show the link between consistency and how long you sleep.”

Social jet lag, by city

Gleichauf dove into American geography to see if there were differences in bedtime consistency — and there is.

Can you guess which city has the most widely varying bedtimes over the week?

It’s Boston — probably because it’s a huge college town, with a huge population of young people.

Congratulations, Boston—you have the most erratic bedtimes in the country.

Can you guess which one has the least variation in bedtimes?

It’s Las Vegas. “People who live and work in Las Vegas — if they’re in the industry of nightclubs and casinos, their schedule is going to be much less weekend-dominated,” Heneghan says.

New York is the city that never wakes up consistently.

The takeaways

Fortunately, Fitbit plans to share its data, both with other scientific institutions and in science journals; it’s thrilling to think of the new knowledge that may result from it.

Until then, consider trying to get to bed at a more consistent hour throughout the week. You’ll sleep better, you’ll sleep longer, and you’ll feel better once you’re up.

Or just move to Las Vegas.

Tech that can help you keep your New Year’s resolutions

Pogue’s holiday picks: 8 cool, surprising tech gifts

Google’s Pixel Buds: Wireless earbuds for the extremely tolerant

Study finds you tend to break your old iPhone when a new one comes out

Rejoice: Sonos Speakers are finally voice-controllable

from laptop3 http://ift.tt/2lT3cyl read more heah aware

#IFTTT #laptop3

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symbianosgames · 7 years

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The conquering of virgin territory is quite an old fantasy given new life by countless installments of genre fiction. Our very language locks us into a certain mindset when we talk about “colonizing” other planets, an apt word that nevertheless cannot shake off the associations with what it has meant on our own world. Militaristic dominion; slavery; genocide; cultural dissolution. How can sci-fi shed that baggage? Is it even possible to tell a story about brave explorers colonizing new worlds without evoking the conquistador and his terrors?

The quiet, diffuse imperialism of Mass Effect: Andromeda is offset by innumerable, equally quiet reckonings with that old imperial imagery--and the result is a somewhat confused affair at war with itself.

[SPOILERS FOLLOW]

To deliver the fantasy--always and forever a power fantasy--you have to allow the player to indulge in the unethical. They have to be able to shoot and kill aliens with impunity, they have to be objectively better than the natives, and they have to be the fulcrum upon which all progress is levered. In several ways, Andromeda meets all that criteria. You bring salvation to the native Angara after centuries of stalemate with the vastly more powerful Kett (whose actual name you never learn throughout the hundred-hour long game), you’re treated early on to a member of your squad committing a lesser war crime against the implacably marauding aliens, and your technology is more advanced than theirs; all the ingredients are present.

But there is a guilty and almost endearingly earnest B-narrative in the midst of it all that contrasts with some of this.

"The game has some awareness of the fire it plays with and it’s to be commended for that."

Games like Andromeda are authored by many hands, and it’s rarely so apparent as it is when one looks at how it deals with the themes of colonization. On the one hand you’re presented with a classically jingoistic tale of spacefaring heroes crossing the ocean of space to beat some implacably evil, ugly alien bad guys.

On the other, you have something that owes a lot to Star Trek and its sense of peaceful exploration. Your ship, notably, has no offensive weapons. The job of a Pathfinder is to have, as Foster Addison said in her memorably awful line, “path found something.” Inasmuch as that particular Yogi Berra-ism makes any sense, it means that a Pathfinder’s first job is to explore and find habitable planets for the sleepers aboard the Nexus.

The Andromeda Initiative has “first contact” procedures to ensure peace, and a charming, almost dorkily earnest welcome center aboard the Nexus to introduce native Andromedans to the new species who’ve shown up on their door. You’re reminded (and given the opportunity to say) that the colonists, as outsiders, should be respectful to the Angara and recognize that this is their home. One can even say this of the Kett, as a way of explaining their hostility. “How would you feel if aliens with guns showed up suddenly on your planet?” you can ask. The game has some awareness of the fire it plays with and it’s to be commended for that.

Andromeda is at its best when you get involved in the life of each planet you visit, undertaking the necessary work to make them more habitable. It gives an almost miraculous edge to being a Pathfinder, making you a lifebringer among the stars.

But when you go back to mass slaughter of everything from aliens to colonists to native wildlife, you’re stuck back in that tiresome idiom of progress that undercuts those more peaceful themes. Even this would be somewhat more forgivable if the new alien species introduced weren’t so bland.

***

"The attempts to add some degree of nuance always feel dissonant against the Chosen One style fantasy that games like this still try to sell."

Part of what made the original Mass Effect so compelling was the, if you’ll pardon the awkward expression, humanity of its aliens. Classic sci-fi and fantasy tend to make humans the versatile and diverse species, while every alien race is rigidly locked into a very narrow band of stereotypes. In Mass Effect, though there’s a median for each race (Krogan’s are militarist toughs, Asari cerebral aesthetes, Salarians cunning scientists) there’s ample diversity shown that exceeds each stereotype. You have thuggish Asari and sensitive Krogan, for instance. In so doing, BioWare did an excellent job showing how sapience, in any species, was likely to lead to diversity of thought, personality, and perspective.

There’s none of that here. The Kett are horrifically evil, unattractive, and implacable--indeed, their entire religion seems based on committing the very crimes you struggle against. There are hints of a political conflict within the Kett force, who are also invaders in the Heleus Cluster, subjugating the native Angara. One increasingly vocal group wants to go home, while their maniacal Archon wants to press on. But that’s as close as we come to anything approximating nuance.

The Angara are a touch better. Their voices are represented with three different English accents, and this is actually explained as being the result of different Angaran languages and dialects being expressed through their lingua franca trade language. There’s a lot to like here; aliens are often portrayed as having one language, an oddity when we humans have literally hundreds. Showing Angarans as possessed of some of that linguistic diversity is a wonderfully humanizing move.

But that’s about all I can say for them. This is important because the portrayal of the alien other whose land you’re exploring and colonizing is central to our predicament.

As critic Dia Lacina makes clear in her scathing take on colonial themes in RPGs:

it's represented in systems that demand binary conflict: player vs. baddies. Games are quick to establish an "other" that must be defeated or subjugated, along with material resources that must be acquired, expended and reacquired.

The Angara are portrayed as sympathetic, themselves the victims of what can justly be described as the Kett’s imperialism. But they are also put in the position of being the technologically inferior species that you, to an extent, have to save from themselves with your superior knowhow and broad-minded views. It’s the Angara who are portrayed as mistrustful xenophobes--not without cause, as the murderous Kett were their first contact with an alien species--but it can leave a bad taste in your mouth as it comes off as an enlightened, soft form of colonialism. ‘We must teach these noble creatures the ways of galactic cosmopolitanism, which they are too backward to come to on their own.’

But then again, those many hands writing this plot all have their say. Some Angara are portrayed as xenophiles, eager to meet and learn about the new creatures in their cluster. Others, like the Moshae, a spiritual leader, are portrayed as wise (though this is a trope in its own right), and can be given the opportunity to assume leadership roles over a nascent political union between the Angara and the colonists. Still, the fact that such a thing is yours to give, rather than in the gift of the people who actually live there, rankles.

This, again, is where the power fantasy runs up against the themes. You’re the mighty Pathfinder, with power over all galactic events. What player wouldn’t want to be that? Yet this is at odds with the realities of diplomacy and the complexities inherent to being a newly arrived species in an already-inhabited cluster of stars. The attempts to add some degree of nuance always feel dissonant against the Chosen One style fantasy that games like this still try to sell.

There is freedom and art within limits, and much to explore in the territory of constrained power. Andromeda would have been better served by delving into that, rather than serving up another cliched guns-blazing conqueror fantasy.

This matters despite all the usual protests. Such ideas and themes invariably resonate with our own very real history; that history provides the context which gives those themes meaning in the first place. A lovely little soliloquy from Suvi, your science officer, makes the point. She romanticizes the intergalactic journey by likening it to the “old days” on Earth when one went exploring on those parts of the map that said “There Be Dragons.” We’re locked into this metaphor, and even though science fiction is supposed to be the domain of imaginative speculation, we keep circling back to this theme, in thrall to centuries’ old history that we can’t escape.

Our mental rubric for space colonization comes, in part, from the definitive template of European colonization on Earth. Andromeda demonstrates clear attempts at challenging and militating with that legacy, but still ends up with a kinder, gentler form of it.

Only when we escape the terra nullius fantasy of colonization can we truly begin to make thoughtful games about the subject.

Katherine Cross is a Ph.D student in sociology who researches anti-social behavior online, and a gaming critic whose work has appeared in numerous publications.

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