#i have applied to 20 different institutions for various positions

[the-everqueen]

once again grappling with the peculiar grief of the almost post-grad student: i like doing this work, and there is no guarantee i will get to continue it after spring. i went into grad school knowing that the odds were not good for academic employment, but i also spent six years studying this thing and building a highly specific body of knowledge, and i might have to let all that go soon.

[jcmarchi]

Yariv Fishman, Chief Product Officer at Deep Instinct – Interview Series

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/yariv-fishman-chief-product-officer-at-deep-instinct-interview-series/

Yariv Fishman, Chief Product Officer at Deep Instinct – Interview Series

Yariv Fishman is Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Deep Instinct, he is a seasoned product management executive with more than 20 years of leadership experience across notable global B2B brands. Fishman has held several prominent roles, including leadership positions with Microsoft where he led the Cloud App Security product portfolio and initiated the MSSP and security partner program, and Head of Product Management, Cloud Security & IoT Security at CheckPoint. He holds a B.Sc in Information Systems Engineering from Ben Gurion University and an MBA from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

Deep Instinct is a cybersecurity company that applies deep learning to cybersecurity. The company implements AI to the task of preventing and detecting malware.

Can you tell us about your journey in the cybersecurity industry and how it has shaped your approach to product management?

Throughout my 20 year career, I’ve worked at several global B2B organizations, including Check Point Software Technologies and Microsoft, where I led product management and strategy and built my cybersecurity experience across public cloud, endpoint, network, and SaaS application security.

Along the way, I’ve learned different best practices – from how to manage a team to how to inform the proper strategy – that have shaped how I lead at Deep Instinct. Working for numerous cybersecurity companies of various sizes has allowed me to get a holistic view of management styles and learn how to best create processes that support fast-moving teams. I’ve also seen first-hand how to release products and plan for product-market fit, which is critical to business success.

What drew you to join Deep Instinct, and how has your role evolved since you started as Chief Product Officer?

As an industry veteran, I rarely get excited about new technology. I first heard about Deep Instinct while working at Microsoft. As I learned about the possibilities of predictive prevention technology, I quickly realized that Deep Instinct was the real deal and doing something unique. I joined the company to help productize its deep learning framework, creating market fit and use cases for this first-of-its-kind zero-day data security solution.

Since joining the team three years ago, my role has changed and evolved alongside our business. Initially, I focused on building our product management team and relevant processes. Now, we’re heavily focused on strategy and how we market our zero-day data security capabilities in today’s fast-moving and ever-more-treacherous market.

Deep Instinct uses a unique deep learning framework for its cybersecurity solutions. Can you discuss the advantages of deep learning over traditional machine learning in threat prevention?

The term “AI” is broadly used as a panacea to equip organizations in the battle against zero-day threats. However, while many cyber vendors claim to bring AI to the fight, machine learning (ML) – a less sophisticated form of AI – remains a core part of their products. ML is unfit for the task. ML solutions are trained on limited subsets of available data (typically 2-5%), offer only 50-70% accuracy with unknown threats, and introduce false positives. They also require human intervention because they are trained on smaller data sets, increasing the chances of human bias and error.

Not all AI is equal. Deep learning (DL), the most advanced form of AI, is the only technology capable of preventing and explaining known and unknown zero-day threats. The distinction between ML and DL-based solutions becomes evident when examining their ability to identify and prevent known and unknown threats. Unlike ML, DL is built on neural networks, enabling it to self-learn and train on raw data. This autonomy allows DL to identify, detect, and prevent complex threats. With its understanding of the fundamental components of malicious files, DL empowers teams to quickly establish and maintain a robust data security posture, thwarting the next threat before it even materializes.

Deep Instinct recently launched DIANNA, the first generative AI-powered cybersecurity assistant. Can you explain the inspiration behind DIANNA and its key functionalities?

Deep Instinct is the only provider on the market that can predict and prevent zero-day attacks. Enterprise zero-day vulnerabilities are on the rise. We saw a 64% increase in zero-day attacks in 2023 compared to 2022, and we released Deep Instinct’s Artificial Neural Network Assistant (DIANNA) to combat this growing trend. DIANNA is the first and only generative AI-powered cybersecurity assistant to provide expert-level malware analysis and explainability for zero-day attacks and unknown threats.

What sets DIANNA apart from other traditional AI tools that leverage LLMs is its ability to provide insights into why unknown attacks are malicious. Today, if someone wants to explain a zero-day attack, they have to run it through a sandbox, which can take days and, in the end, won’t provide an elaborate or focused explanation. While valuable, this approach only offers retrospective analysis with limited context. DIANNA doesn’t just analyze the code; it understands the intent, potential actions, and explains what the code is designed to do: why it is malicious, and how it might impact systems. This process allows SOC teams time to focus on alerts and threats that truly matter.

How does DIANNA’s ability to provide expert-level malware analysis differ from traditional AI tools in the cybersecurity market?

DIANNA is like having a virtual team of malware analysts and incident response experts at your fingertips to provide deep analysis into known and unknown attacks, explaining the techniques of attackers and the behaviors of malicious files.

Other AI tools can only identify known threats and existing attack vectors. DIANNA goes beyond traditional AI tools, offering organizations an unprecedented level of expertise and insight into unknown scripts, documents, and raw binaries to prepare for zero-day attacks. Additionally, DIANNA provides enhanced visibility into the decision-making process of Deep Instinct’s prevention models, allowing organizations to fine-tune their security posture for maximum effectiveness.

What are the primary challenges DIANNA addresses in the current cybersecurity landscape, particularly regarding unknown threats?

The problem with zero-day attacks today is the lack of information about why an incident was stopped and deemed malicious. Threat analysts must spend significant time determining if it was a malicious attack or a false positive. Unlike other cybersecurity solutions, Deep Instinct was routinely blocking zero-day attacks with our unique DL solution. However, customers were asking for detailed explanations to better understand the nature of these attacks. We developed DIANNA to enhance Deep Instinct’s deep learning capabilities, reduce the strain on overworked SecOps teams, and provide real-time explainability into unknown, sophisticated threats. Our ability to focus the GenAI models on specific artifacts allows us to provide a comprehensive, yet focused, response to address the market gap.

DIANNA is a significant advancement for the industry and a tangible example of AI’s ability to solve real-world problems. It leverages solely static analysis to identify the behavior and intent of various file formats, including binaries, scripts, documents, shortcut files, and other threat delivery file types. DIANNA is more than just a technological advancement; it’s a strategic shift towards a more intuitive, efficient, and effective cybersecurity environment.

Can you elaborate on how DIANNA translates binary code and scripts into natural language reports and the benefits this brings to security teams?

That process is part of our secret sauce. At a high level, we can detect malware that the deep learning framework tags within an attack and then feed it as metadata into the LLM model. By extracting metadata without exposing sensitive information, DIANNA provides the zero-day explainability and focused answers that customers are seeking.

With the rise of AI-generated attacks, how do you see AI evolving to counteract these threats more effectively?

As AI-based threats rise, staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated attackers requires moving beyond traditional AI tools and innovating with better AI, specifically deep learning. Deep Instinct is the first and only cybersecurity company to use deep learning in its data security technology to prevent threats before they cause a breach and predict future threats. The Deep Instinct zero-day data security solution can predict and prevent known, unknown, and zero-day threats in <20 milliseconds, 750x faster than the fastest ransomware can encrypt – making it an essential addition to every security stack, providing complete, multi-layered protection against threats across hybrid environments.

Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit Deep Instinct.

[lavendairs]

♚  ━━━  ❛ ALL ABOUT AUGUST.

G E N E R A L  —

NAME.         his full birth name is august ahn-evergreene, his last names being a combination of his maternal and paternal last names because his mother wasn’t going to allow her children to not have her last name in some fashion. however, in his twenties he drops evergreene and only uses ahn as his last name due to a rift with his mother / wanting an identity separate from her ( he’s not fond of his father either but he has a habit of leaving town so it’s easier for august to distance himself from that part of his family’s ‘legacy’ ).

AGE.         he appears in his late 20s ( 27-30 ) but is around 60 years old due to the extended lifespan of a mage.

HEIGHT.          he stands at 6′1 ( 185.42 ). no, he’s not a sloucher and is the type to internally judge people who do because stand up straight wtf?

WEIGHT.          170 pounds ( 77.1kg ). he’s lean and not overly muscular; doesn’t do much heavy physical activity anymore due to his current ‘condition’.

ETHNICITY.         korean-filipino american mage. he comes from a bloodline of magic-users. if commenting on his natural magical prowess, expect a dry ‘of course, i was breed to be.’ in response.

OCCUPATION.           he is what the people of crescent creek call ‘the overseer’, the highest sitting member of the council of novema ( or just ‘the council’ for short ). they are the ones who ‘govern’ the town and its people, establishing laws and stepping in to resolve high-level matters between residents if it should come to it. with the council needing to hear matters from the magi, vampires, fae, werewolves, and other beings, august has a constant headache.

GENDER.          cis-male.

SEXUAL & ROMANTIC ORIENTATION.         he would state that he’s heterosexual but admittedly he’s never fully explored his sexuality enough for that to be a definite statement. he hasn’t seriously dated in a very long time™ and it isn’t interested in changing that.

MBTI.         INTJ-A,  The  Architect  —  it can be lonely at the top. as one of the rarest personality types – and one of the most capable – architects ( INTJs ) know this all too well. rational and quick-witted, architects may struggle to find people who can keep up with their nonstop analysis of everything around them. these personalities can be both the boldest of dreamers and the bitterest of pessimists. architects believe that, through willpower and intelligence, they can achieve even the most challenging of goals. but they may be cynical about human nature more generally, assuming that most people are lazy, unimaginative, or simply doomed to mediocrity.

S P E C I F I C S  —

FAVOURITE  FOOD.           he’s very particular about getting his three meals a day in if he can but he probably has the most fondest for food that was often served at dinner time with his family or when all his cousins spent time at his lola’s house when they visited her. dishes such as bopis, kimchi, pancit canton, tocino and rice, korean styled steak, etc. are personal favorites.

FAVOURITE  DRINK.           his day isn’t complete without having a nice, chilled glass of vintage red wine during dinner ( and maybe just drinking straight from the bottle by the end of the night ). he does enjoy drinking rosé during a nice breakfast or lunch depending on the bottle.

FAVOURITE  HOBBY.          brooding. joking aside, he does enjoy sparring matches, ‘magical’ based sparring matches. he does practice taekkyeon ( korean martial arts ) and enjoys mixing spells in by shocking opponents, blocking their spells with his own wards, etc.

FAVOURITE  SCENT.             the smell of freshly cut grass as well as the scent of pomegranates, vanilla, cinnamon, and musk. the former is bittersweet and nostalgic, reminding of his years as a teen: when he was young, oblivious, and only had to be concerned about being late to football / soccer practice. the latter reminds him of someone he would rather forget.

FAVOURITE  PERSON.        i. his twin brother, ansel ahn. his death still hurts and he’ll always partially blame himself for it - despite the fact that there would’ve been nothing he could’ve done to change it. ( this is the part where that wand.avision quote is inserted in ). the loss of his brother dramatically changes the course of his life. ii. his lola, nora evergreene. she grounds him a lot. one of the few times he’s at peace is when he visits her for brunch every third saturday of the month. iii. his ex, audrey cramer. he would never admit it out loud though - at least not anymore.

T E N   F A C T S  —

he’s well versed in magical creatures : one of the 'gifts’ of being the overseer is the ability to traverse pass the veil - a barrier / entry way that exist between ‘earth’ and the many dimensions that exist beyond it. this ability, however, is one that has fallen out of use over the past few decades. ever the abnormally, august makes use of this ability for his own personal agenda. outside of the different races that already live within crescent creek ( witches, vampires, werewolves, fairies, etc. ), there are those that prefer to live freely in their own worlds rather than live in secrecy on earth. so yes, he has met unicorns and he thinks most of them are actually assholes.

on the nature of the veil : the origin of the veil itself is a mystery. all that is known that about its existence is that many millennium ago, those from different dimensions ( or ‘worlds’ ) were able to freely pass through it without the need of assistance or a spell. as time progressed and humanity began to rise, passage through the veil became increasingly more restricted, leading to entry ways within the veil being sealed and only accessible through the leader in each world ( ex. the overseer in crescent creek ). although the town of crescent creek has always traded with other towns, cities, etc. pass the veil, many of those trades have slowed to a stop entirely as those dimensions have become inaccessible. to somewhat ease panic and concern, the council has framed the issue being due to other dimensions permanently closing themselves off from earth ( a situation that has previously happened some worlds ). in truth, the veil itself has become 'infected’ by a foreign spell that’s led to the blocking of entry ways that lead into other worlds. due to not knowing the source of the spell and its affect on the veil, the knowledge of its presence is unknown to most people in crescent creek. // note: this is more of an overall ‘lore’ fact that explains the backdrop of what’s going on in this ‘world’ to understand other facts about him. in the grand scheme of things, this wouldn’t come up when interacting with him.

he doesn’t believe in astrologists, psychics, fortune tellers, etc. : which may seem contradictory considering he’s a literal magical being but in his experience, it’s typically humans pushing pseudoscience or mages using their magic to con clueless humans. people in that line of ‘work’ are hacks to him - especially since he’s seen it first hand with his own father’s profession.

over the past twenty years, he’s been continuing his brother’s research : ansel, his older, twin brother, had been studying the distortions within the veil in secret before his death a decade prior. although the status of the veil was supposed to be concealed to those outside of the council’s reach, ansel confided in his brother before his death. in august’s eyes, whatever spell that’s taken over the veil is an active threat and with the backing of onyx crane, a vampire on the council, and his cousin, faye evergreene, he began an almost obsessive-like determination to complete his brother’s work and find answers - even if it’s to his own detriment. // *note: with a big soap opera trope being people returning from the dead, it shouldn’t be shocking to discover that ansel, is in fact, not actually dead. he used a storm that hit the town as a means to fake his own death ( disasters that kill off characters is usually a soap opera storyline that happens during ‘sweeps’ period ) and left town for his own agenda.

the youngest overseer to sit in the council : his status as the overseer is one steeped in controversy due to...a variety of reasons: an overseer typically is replaced by another council member by vote or an apprentice to the overseer should they have one after an overseer’s death, resignation, or if they’ve been forcefully discharged from the position. none of these things applied to august’s own mother, tala ahn-evergreene, when he usurped her - blackmailing the council by threatening to expose the truth about the current threat of the veil. // *note: in every ( american ) soap opera, it is a staple to have a ‘thing’, whether it be a business, a central institution in town ( ex. a hospital ), or a position ( CEO of a company, chief of staff at a hospital, etc. ) that many of the characters are tied to or even fighting for control over. ELQ, the quartermaine’s family business on general hospital, often have storylines where family members are fighting over shares of the company, who should run it, or the family teaming up to oust an outsider that’s taken over the company ( funnily enough, there is a story like the latter happening on the show right now ). the point here is that being the overseer or even sitting on the council of novema is that ‘thing’ that people fight over to be on for various reason. 

he takes his personal upkeep very seriously : there’s a lot of things one could say about crescent creek’s current overseer but no one can ever say they’ve seen august ahn not look put together when he’s out and about ( this is him going out publicly basically ). as someone who values consistency and control in his life but pretty much never has it, august actually highly treasures the time spent doing his morning / nightly skincare routines, getting his acupuncture treatments, and so on. he supports the self care movement essentially.

he ( as well as his siblings ) once witnessed one of his father’s affairs : it was an awful experience. -10/10. doesn’t recommend. this incident shapes his attitude towards relationships in general and how he operates within them. august has a very black and white attitude about relationships: you are either with him 100% or you’re not with him at all. it’s unhealthy and he has to unpack that. // *fun fact: this is actually a real event that happened with this family back in the sims 2 over ten years ago - they just all had different names, were a different race, and so on at that point.. they’ve changed a lot:tm:. 

may be an active suspect for murder : it happens. when marlena cramer, a former council member, suddenly passes on, the town is overtaken by a wave of a grief...that soon becomes shock and suspicion when her death is rules to be from unnatural causes. between being one of the last people to see her alive and reports of him wanting her off the council, august becomes one of the prime suspects for her murder case. // *note: whodunit’s are probably up there with ‘who’s the daddy’ storylines in terms of being the most common soap opera staple ( ex. who shot j.r. on dallas ).

voted most likely to be successful in his HS yearbook : august was the picture perfect prom king, the jock that was friends with everyone on campus, and the one everyone expected ride off into the sunset with his hs sweetheart. on paper, august was well rounded - some would say outright perfect. today, those who knew him in high school would shake their heads and ask themselves what happened to the boy who always smiled at them when he passed you by in the hallway or whose laughter could easily be heard the loudest in a classroom. august, as he is now, is a stranger to those that once knew him.

it’s happening gradually but he is, in fact, dying : many of the worlds that had become unaccessible were not only blocked off but were actively decaying - many of its residents fleeing to other worlds before they were forever trapped in a dying one while others locked their entry ways to stop the spell from spreading to their own homes. the overseers in crescent creek were restricted from traversing the veil themselves due to the unknown risk of the spell, a rule that august actively ignores. every time he travels through the veil, the more the spell slowly eats away at him - a fact that he is well aware of and he has no desire to stop. he will keep traveling worlds ( and helping those he can ) until he finds the source of the spell and kills its caster himself.

FIVE  THINGS  HE  LIKES.

visiting the sauna. the heat helps with his internal pain.

eating home-cooked meals.

getting hydrafacials ( james_franco_so_good.gif ).

smoking with his cousin, faye.

blasting emo music as he gets drunk, questions his life choices, and stares at the ceiling

FIVE  THINGS  HE  DISLIKES.

feeling used.

disloyal / uncommitted people

selfishness.

tough, chewy steak.

cheap wine.

COMMON  WORDS / PHRASES  THAT  ANNOY  THEM.         during a misunderstanding or argument, the worst thing to tell him is that he ‘doesn’t understand’. even if the person is somewhat correct, august is a person that prides himself on being an objective observer of a situation, rational in his thinking, and not someone who lets his emotions dictate his choices. saying something like that to him would just further annoy him.

PERSONALITY  TYPES  THEY  PREFER.        those who are smart, loyal, and efficient. those who are willing to dirty their hands on occasion, and believe that the ends do justify the means.

PERSONALITY  TYPES  THEY  AVOID.       selfish and incompetent people, those who proceed to waste his time, useless people in positions of powers, jerky unicorns.

WHAT  DO  YOU  FIND  DIFFERENT / DISTINCT  ABOUT  YOUR  PORTRAYAL?

         the whole concept of this ‘world’ is based around soap opera cliches and tropes so the character is intentionally ‘tropey’ and meant to pull from different fictional men from the genre - as well as outside of it. i would say him being the leading man is unique within itself because people of color in soaps ( at least within american soaps which this is all inspired by ) are generally never the leads or involved in what i actually watch soaps for: the drama, the love stories, the scheming, the cheating, etc. they’re usually the straight men to the white characters; living well off but boring lives and are rarely given front burner stories. all black people in a soap opera are usually always going to somehow know each other, only date each other, etc. you can switch black people out with latinos, asians, etc. and it would still be true. the characters of color are easily written off as a result of this.

        in general, soap operas are very white - and still are today. they have a history of casting white people as mexican characters, ex. lindsay hartley as theresa on passions. asian american soap characters are severly lacking - i could probably count the amount of i’ve seen on screen. a black actress formerly on general hospital mentioned how people jokingly called the show ‘generally white hospital’ behind the scenes. chad.wick bos.eman left all my children because of how much of a stereotype his character was - and he was right ( ironically, michael b. jord.an was his recast ). some shows are getting better, bold and beautiful currently has a story involving two characters cheating ( one of which is black ) and it’s hot af but it’s still not enough for the times we’re in. this isn’t a problem exclusive to soaps either - most media has a problem with this. people of color aren’t getting lead roles and especially not romantic lead roles - even if they do, the shows always make it a interracial romance with a white person ( ex. bridg/erton ) as if people of color of different races are incapable of dating each other.

         finally, i’ve noticed that you rarely see asian american men portrayed as romantic leads or desirable ( at least in a non-fetishized way ) in western media. that’s pretty lame:tm: so that was also a factor when i revamped audrey’s love interest ( parts of ‘old’ him still exist, ex. him being a jock / king of the school as a teen, a complicated relationship with his brother, etc ). anyway, stan august uwu.

tagged by:   i took it from myself. tagging:   anyone who wants to.

[didanawisgi]

In wake of George Floyd’s killing and the protests that followed, many colleges and universities have been rolling out new training requirements – often oriented towards reducing biases and encouraging people from high-status groups to ‘check their privilege.’  The explicit goal of these training programs is generally to help create a more positive and welcoming institutional environment for people from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups.

As I have explained elsewhere, there is a long literature on the benefits of diversity on knowledge production. However, many of the approaches to training people how to navigate and utilize diversity were implemented by corporations, non-profits and universities before their effectiveness had been tested rigorously (if at all).

Although the precursor to contemporary diversity training, sensitivity training, actually dates back to the mid 1940s,  diversity training became especially important beginning in the mid-80s to early-90s. Why? Starting in the late 70s through early 80s, universities began enrolling significantly higher numbers of women, minorities, and people from middle-class and lower-income backgrounds. Soon thereafter, employers found themselves with a much more heterogenous labor pool. They had to face, often for the first time, some of the challenges that come along with the benefits of diversity — as people with increasingly divergent backgrounds and perspectives were put side by side and tasked with common goals.

Beginning in the mid-90s, however, it became increasingly clear that, due to their lack of validation, many widely-used interventions could be ineffective or harmful. An empirical literature was built up measuring the effectiveness of diversity-related training programs. The picture that has emerged is not very flattering.

The limited research suggesting diversity-related training programs as efficacious was based on things like surveys before and after the training, or testing knowledge or attitudes about various groups or policies. And to be clear, the training does help people answer survey questions in the way the training said they ‘should.’ And many people who undergo the training say they enjoyed it or found it helpful in post-training questionnaires.

However, when scientists set about to investigate whether the programs actually changed behaviors, i.e. do they reduce expressions of bias, do they reduce discrimination, do they foster greater collaboration across groups, do they help with retaining employees from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups, do they increase productivity or reduce conflicts in the workplace — for all of these behavioral metrics, the metrics that actually matter, not only is the training ineffective, it is often counterproductive.  

Kalev, Alexandra w/ Frank Dobbin & Erin Kelly (2006). “Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action and Diversity Policies.” American Sociological Review 71(4): 589-617.

Naff, Katherine & J. Edward Kellough (2007). “Ensuring Employment Equity: Are Federal Diversity Programs Making a Difference?” International Journal of Public Administration 26(12): 1307-36.

Paluck, Elizabeth & Donald Green (2009). “Prejudice Reduction: What Works? A Review and Assessment of Research and Practice.” Annual Review of Psychology 60: 339-67.

Training is Generally Ineffective at Its Stated Goals

The stated goals of these training programs vary, from helping to increase hiring and retention of people from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups, to eliminating prejudicial attitudes or behaviors to members of said groups, to reducing conflict and enhancing cooperation and belonging among all employees. Irrespective of the stated goals of the programs, they are overwhelmingly ineffective with respect to those goals. Generally speaking, they do not increase diversity in the workplace, they do not reduce harassment or discrimination, they do not lead to greater intergroup cooperation and cohesion – consequently, they do not increase productivity. More striking: many of those tasked with ensuring compliance with these training programs recognize them as ineffective (see Rynes & Rosen 1995, p. 258).

Chang, Edward et al. (2019). “The Mixed Effects of Online Diversity Training.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116(16): 7778-7783.

Dobbin, Frank & Alexandra Kalev (2016). “Why Doesn’t Diversity Training Work? The Challenge for Industry and Academia.” Anthropology Now 10(2): 48-55.

Dobbin, Frank w/ Daniel Schrage & Alexandra Kalev (2015). “Rage against the Iron Cage: The Varied Effects of Bureaucratic Personnel Reforms on Diversity.” American Sociological Review 80(5): 1014–44.

Dobbin, Frank w/ Alexandra Kalev & Erin Kelly (2007). “Diversity Management in Corporate America.” Contexts 6(4): 21-7.

Folz, Christina (2016). “No Evidence That Training Prevents Harassment, Finds EEOC Task Force.” Society for Human Resource Management, 19 June.

Frisby, Craig & William O’Donohue (2018). Cultural Competence in Applied Psychology: An Evaluation of Current Status and Future Directions. Cham, CH: Springer.

Magley, Vicki et al. (2016). “Changing Sexual Harassment within Organizations via Training Interventions: Suggestions and Empirical Data.” The Fulfilling Workplace: The Organization’s Role in Achieving Individual and Organizational Health. New York, NY: Routledge.

Newkirk, Pamela (2019). Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business. New York, NY: Bold Type Books.

Training Often Reinforces Biases

Often, when people attempt to do fact-checks, they begin by underscoring the falsehood, and then proceed to try to debunk that falsehood. This can create what psychologists call an ‘illusory truth effect,’ where people end up remembering the falsehood, forgetting the correction – and then attributing their misinformation to the very source that had tried to correct it! A similar effect seems to hold with antibias training. By articulating various stereotypes associated with particular groups, emphasizing the salience of those stereotypes, and then calling for their suppression, they often end up reinforcing them in participants’ minds. Sometimes they even implant new stereotypes (for instance, if participants didn’t previously have particular stereotypes for Vietnamese people, or much knowledge about them overall, but were introduced to common stereotypes about this group through training intended to dispel said stereotypes).

Other times, they can fail to improve negative perceptions about the target group, yet increase negative views about others. For instance, an empirical investigation of ‘white privilege’ training found that it did nothing to make participants more sympathetic to minorities – it just increased resentment towards lower-income whites.

Encouraging people to ignore racial and cultural differences often results in diminished cooperation across racial lines. Meanwhile, multicultural training — emphasizing those differences — often ends up reinforcing race essentialism among participants. It is not clear what the best position between these poles is (such that these negative side effects can be avoided), let alone how to consistently strike that balance in training.  

Cooley, Erin et al. (2019). “Complex intersections of race and class: Among social liberals, learning about White privilege reduces sympathy, increases blame, and decreases external attributions for White people struggling with poverty.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 148(12), 2218–28.

Heilman, Madeline & Brian Welle (2006). “Disadvantaged by Diversity? The Effects of Diversity Goals on Competence Perceptions.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 36(5): 1291-1319.

Kulick, Carol w/ Elissa Perry & Anne Bourhis (2000). “Ironic evaluation processes: effects of thought suppression on evaluations of older job applicants.” Journal of Organizational Behaviour 21(6):  689–711.

Macrae, Neil et al. (1994). “Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67(5): 808-17.

Plaut, Victoria  w/ Kecia M. Thomas and Matt J. Goren (2009). “Is Multiculturalism or Color Blindness Better for Minorities?” Psychological Science 20(4): 444-6.

Wilton, Leigh w/ Evan Apfelbaum & Jessica Good (2019). “Valuing Differences and Reinforcing Them: Multiculturalism Increases Race Essentialism.” Social Psychological and Personality Science 10(5): 681-9

Training Can Increase Biased Behavior, Minority Turnover

Many diversity-related training programs describe bias and discrimination as rampant. One unfortunate consequence of depicting these attitudes and behaviors as common is that it makes many feel more comfortable expressing biased attitudes or behaving in discriminatory ways. Insofar as it is depicted as ubiquitous, diversity-related training can actually normalize bias.

For others, the very fact that the company has diversity-related training is proof that it is a non-biased institution. This perception often reduces concerns about bias and discrimination – by oneself or others. As a consequence, people not only become more likely to act in more biased ways, but they also react with increased skepticism and hostility when colleagues claim to have been discriminated against.

Meanwhile, those who are discriminated against become more likely to rationalize mistreatment by others in the institution after undergoing diversity-related training (for the same reason, because they believe the institution must be fair in virtue of its commitment to diversity-related training; indeed, minority employees are often called upon to lead diversity reviews themselves). Consequently, they become less likely to actually report or address wrongdoing.  As a result, problems persist unabated — often leading to higher turnover among the very groups the programs were ostensibly designed to render more comfortable.

Brady, Laura et al. (2015). “It’s Fair for Us: Diversity Structures Cause Women to Legitimize Discrimination.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 57: 100-10

Dobbin, Frank & Alexandra Kalev (2019). “The Promise and Peril of Sexual Harassment Programs.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116(25): 12255-12260.

Dobbin, Frank & Alexandra Kalev (2016). “Why Diversity Programs Fail.” Harvard Business Review 94(7): 52-60.

Dover, Tessa w/ Brenda Major & Cheryl Kaiser (2014). “Diversity initiatives, status, and system-justifying beliefs: When and how diversity efforts de-legitimize discrimination claims.” Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 17(4): 485-93.

Duguid, Michelle & Melissa Thomas-Hunt (2015). “Condoning Stereotyping? How Awareness of Stereotyping Prevalence Impacts Expression of Stereotypes.” Journal of Applied Psychology 100(2): 343-59.

Kaiser, Cheryl et al. (2013). “Presumed Fair: Ironic Effects of Organizational Diversity Structures.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 104(3): 504-19.

Kirby, Teri w/ Cheryl Kaiser & Brenda Major (2015). “Insidious Procedures: Diversity Awards Legitimize Unfair Organizational Practices.” Social Justice Research 28: 169-186.

Leslie, Lisa (2019). “Diversity Initiative Effectiveness: A Typological Theory of Unintended Consequences.” Academy of Management Review 44(3). DOI: 10.5465/amr.2017.0087

Training Often Alienates People from High-Status Groups, Reduces Morale

Diversity-related training programs often depict people from historically marginalized and disenfranchised groups as important and worthwhile, celebrating their heritage and culture, while criticizing the dominant culture as fundamentally depraved (racist, sexist, sadistic, etc.). People from minority groups are discussed in overwhelmingly positive terms, while people from majority groups are characterized as typically (and uniquely) ignorant, insensitive or outright malicious with respect to those who are different than them. Members of the majority group are told to listen to, and validate, the perspectives of people from historically marginalized or disadvantaged groups — even as they are instructed to submit their own feelings and perspectives to intense scrutiny.

In short, there is a clear double-standard in many of these programs with respect to how members of dominant groups (typically men, whites and/or heterosexuals) are described as compared to members of minority groups (i.e. women, ethnic/ racial minorities, LGBTQ employees). The result is that many members from the dominant group walk away from the training believing that themselves, their culture, their perspectives and interests are not valued at the institution – certainly not as much as those of minority team members — reducing their morale and productivity.

The training also leads many to believe that they have to ‘walk on eggshells’ when engaging with members of minority populations. By calling attention, not just too clear examples of harm and prejudice, but just as much (or more) to things like implicit attitudes and microaggressions, participants come to view colleagues from historically marginalized and disenfranchised groups as fragile and easily offended. As a result, members of the dominant group become less likely to try to build relationships or collaborate with people from minority populations.

Anand, Rohini & Mary-Frances Winters (2008). “A Retrospective View of Corporate Diversity Training from 1964 to the Present.” Academy of Management Learning & Education 7(3): 356-72.

Dover, Tessa w/ Brenda Major & Cheryl Kaiser (2016). “Members of High-Status Groups Are Threatened by Pro-Diversity Organizational Messages.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 62: 58-67.

Plaut, Victoria et al. (2011). “’What About Me?’ Perceptions of Exclusion and Whites’ Reactions to Multiculturalism.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101(2): 337-53.  

Rios-Morrison, Kimberly w/ Victoria Plaut & Oscar Ybarra (2010). “Predicting Whether Multiculturalism Positively or Negatively Influences White Americans’ Intergroup Attitudes: The Role of Ethnic Identification.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 36(12): 1648-61.

Sanchez, Juan & Nohora Medkik (2005). “The Effects of Diversity Awareness Training on Differential Treatment.” Group & Organization Management 29(4): 517-36.

Focus On: Implicit Attitudes

Implicit attitudes are one of the most commonly relied-upon constructs in contemporary diversity-related training. However, there are severe problems with these constructs – as hammered home by meta-analysis after meta-analysis: it is not clear precisely what isbeing measured on implicit attitude tests; implicit attitudes do not effectively predict actual discriminatory behavior; most interventions to attempts to change implicit attitudes are ineffective (effects, when present, tend to be small and fleeting). Moreover, there is no evidence that changing implicit attitudes has any significant, let alone durable, impact on reducing biased or discriminatory behaviors. In short, the construct itself has numerous validity issues, and the training has no demonstrable benefit.

Blanton, Hart et al. (2009). “Strong claims and weak evidence: Reassessing the predictive validity of the IAT.” Journal of Applied Psychology 94(3): 567–582.

Carlsson, Richard & Jens Agerstrom (2016). “A Closer Look at Discrimination Outcomes in the IAT Literature.” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 57(4): 278-87.

Forscher, Patrick et al. (2019). “A Meta-Analysis of Procedures to Change Implicit Measures.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 117(3): 522–559.

Lai, Calvin et al. (2016). “Reducing implicit racial preferences: II. Intervention effectiveness across time.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 145(8): 1001-1016.

Oswald, Frederick et al. (2013). “Predicting ethnic and racial discrimination: A meta-analysis of IAT criterion studies.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 105(2): 171–192

Focus On: Microaggressions

Contemporary diversity-related training often draws significant attention to microaggressions – small, typically inadvertent, faux pas involving people from historically marginalized and disadvantaged groups. The cumulative effects of microaggressions are held to have significant and adverse impacts on the well-being of people from low-status groups. However, although the microaggressions framework goes back to 1974, there is virtually no systematic research detailing if and how microaggressions are harmful, for whom, and under what circumstances (indeed, there is not even robust conceptual clarity in the literature as to what constitutes a microaggression). There is no systematic empirical evidence that training on microaggressions has any significant or long-term effects on behavior, nor that it correlates with any other positive institutional outcomes.

In fact, when presented with canonical microaggressions, black and Hispanic respondents overwhelmingly find them to be inoffensive – and we have ample reason to believe that sensitizing people to perceive and take greater offense at these slights actually would cause harm: the evidence is clear and abundant that increased perceptions of racism have adverse mental and physical consequences for minorities. In short, not only is there no evidence that training on microaggressions is valuable for improving the well-being of people from historically marginalized or disadvantaged groups, there is reason to believe it could actually be counter-productive to that end.

al-Gharbi, Musa (2020). “Who Gets To Define What’s ‘Racist’?” Contexts, 15 May.

Lillienfeld, Scott (2017). “Microaggressions: Strong Claims, Inadequate Evidence.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 12(1): 138-69.

Mandatory Training Causes Additional Blowback

Although diversity-related training programs are generally ineffective, and often bring negative side-effects, they tend to work better (or at least, be less harmful) when they are opt-in. Mandatory training causes people to engage with the materials and exercises in the wrong frame of mind: adversarial and resentful. Consequently, mandatory training often leads to more negative feelings and behaviors, both towards the company and minority co-workers. This effect is especially pronounced among the people who need the training most.  Yet roughly 80% of diversity-related training programs in the U.S. seem to be mandatory.

If an institution is going to include diversity-related training, it should offer it as a resource for those who want to learn more. To encourage more people to volunteer for the training, its value and purpose should be linked to specific organizational and development goals. Small incentives could be offered for those who take part, rather than the current norm of sanctioning those who do not.

Bingham, Shereen & Lisa Schrer (2001). “The Unexpected Effects of a Sexual Harassment Educational Program.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 37(2): 125-53.

Devine, Patricia et al. (2002). “The Regulation of Explicit and Implicit Race Bias: The Role of Motivations to Respond without Prejudice.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82(5): 835-48.

Kidder, Deborah et al. (2004). “Backlash toward Diversity Initiatives: Examining the Impact of Diversity Program Justification, Personal and Group Outcomes.” International Journal of Conflict Management 15(1): 77-102.

Kulick, Carol et al. (2007). “The Rich Get Richer: Predicting Participation in Voluntary Diversity Training.” Journal of Organizational Behavior 28(6): 753-69.

Legault, Lisa w/ Jennifer Gutsell & Michael Inzlicht (2011). “Ironic Effects of Antiprejudice Messages: How Motivational Interventions Can Reduce (but Also Increase) Prejudice.” Psychological Science 22(12): 1472-7.

Plant, Elizabeth & Patricia Devine (2001). “Responses to Other-Imposed Pro-Black Pressure: Acceptance or Backlash?” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 37(6): 486-501.

Robb, Lori & Dennis Doverspike (2001). “Self-Reported Proclivity to Harass as a Moderator of the Effectiveness of Sexual Harassment-Prevention Training.” Psychological Reports 88(1): 85-8.

Training Comes at the Expense of Other Priorities

We are in a period of educational austerity. Creating, implementing and ensuring compliance with diversity-related training programs is expensive. In a world where these training programs consistently advanced diversity and inclusion goals within an organization, or enhanced intergroup cooperation and overall productivity, then these costs could be justified – even during a time of belt-tightening. However, it’s a different dynamic when the training is typically ineffective or even counterproductive. Worse, it often crowds out much more substantial efforts that could be undertaken to actually enhance diversity and inclusion within institutions.

Why do many rely on diversity training despite its demonstrated ineffectiveness? The short answer is that, even if training is expensive and doesn’t work, it is relatively easy to implement – and it allows institutions to show (including, often, in court) that they are doing something to address prejudice, discrimination and inequalities… even if what they’re doing is, in fact, pointless.

This is sort of empty signaling is bad across the board. However, it is particularly egregious for universities – institutions that regularly claim to embody and inculcate such values as evidence-based reasoning, respect for facts, commitment to truth, etc. Schools are doing a bad job at modeling those values for students insofar as they force upon them (and upon the faculty who are supposed to be instructing them!) pedagogical materials that are demonstrably ineffective or even counterproductive.  

Indeed, it seems antithetical to their pedagogical purpose to dump increasing sums of money into these programs, even as many departments are seeing hiring freezes or budget cuts, and contingent faculty are being laid off en masse (disproportionately people from historically underrepresented and disadvantaged groups).

It insults, rather than honors, the memory of George Floyd to offer empty gestures like these in his name. As Cyrus Mehri aptly put it, “When you keep choosing the options on the menu that don’t create change, you’re purposely not creating change. It’s part of the intentional discrimination.”

Musa al-Gharbi is a Paul F. Lazarsfeld Fellow in Sociology at Columbia University. A version of this article was originally published by Heterodox Academy.

[tlatollotl]

This diorama at the American Museum of Natural History was amended in a way that allows museumgoers to see the historical inaccuracies it perpetuates.Credit Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

On the first floor of the American Museum of Natural History, a diorama depicts an imagined 17th-century meeting between Dutch settlers and the Lenape, an Indigenous tribe inhabiting New Amsterdam, now New York City. It was intended to show a diplomatic negotiation between the two groups, but the portrayal tells a different story.

The scene takes place in what is now known as the Battery, with ships on the horizon. The tribesmen wear loincloths, and their heads are adorned with feathers. A few Lenape women can be seen in the background, undressed to the waist, in skirts that fall to midcalf. They keep their heads down, dutiful. In front of a windmill are two fully clothed Dutchmen, one of them resting a firearm on his shoulder. The other, Peter Stuyvesant, colonial governor of New Netherland, is graciously extending his hand, waiting to receive offerings brought by the Lenape.

Critics have said the diorama depicts cultural hierarchy, not a cultural exchange. Museum officials said they had been aware of these implications for a while, and now they have addressed them.

The narrative, created in 1939, is filled with historical inaccuracies and clichés of Native representation, said Bradley Pecore, a visual historian of Menominee and Stockbridge Munsee descent. “These stereotypes are problematic, and they’re still very powerful. They shape the American public’s understanding of Indigenous people.”

About a year ago, the museum asked Mr. Pecore to help solve the diorama problem. Should it be removed entirely? Could the protective glass be temporarily taken out, and what was behind it altered?

Lauri Halderman, the museum’s vice president for exhibition, said, “We could have just covered it over.” Instead, museum officials decided on a more transparent approach. “What was actually more interesting was not to make it go away,” Ms. Halderman continued, “but to acknowledge that it was problematic.”

The solution offers a lesson in the changing nature of history itself. And it’s written on the glass.

The diorama, in Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, depicts a meeting between the Dutch colonial governor, Peter Stuyvesant, and representatives of the Lenape tribe.Credit Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

While the scene remains intact, 10 large labels now adorn the glass, summarizing various issues. They were carefully chosen after a research process that took most of 2018. The largest one, visible from a distance, invites visitors to “reconsider this scene.”

The labels say, for instance, that if the scene had been historically accurate, the Lenape would have been dressed for the occasion in fur robes and adornments that signified leadership positions. Canoes would have been seen in the water next to the European ships. These were vital to colonial trade, providing access to items found further inland, where the larger ships could not navigate. The women did not wear impractical skirts. Further, some are likely to have been part of the negotiations, as women in Lenape societies (past and present) typically hold leadership roles. While only Stuyvesant was originally identified, the new labels also take note of Oratamin, a respected leader of the Hackensack, a Munsee branch of the Lenape. The list goes on, but it is not complete; there’s only so much room on the glass.

“One thread that runs through this work is understanding who gets to tell the story in museums,” Ms. Halderman said.

Along with Ms. Halderman, Mr. Pecore worked on the project with the museum’s curator of North American ethnology, Peter Whiteley, who said the diorama’s problems came up early in his tenure, which began in 2001. Asked the cost of the project, a museum representative estimated the amount at “tens of thousands of dollars,” but officials did not provide a precise figure.

The diorama is one of four in the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall, unveiled shortly after the president’s death in 1919. The others honor the president’s life and conservation efforts. The New Amsterdam scene was meant to honor his Dutch ancestry, although Mr. Roosevelt was not a direct descendant of Stuyvesant himself. Mr. Pecore said the presence of Indigenous people in this display signifies their role in history. “You can only be so American without Native Americans,” he said. “For me, that’s the reason it’s in the Roosevelt memorial.”

Instead of replacing the diorama, the museum had researchers investigate the issues and create explanations of what was wrong with the portrayals. They are posted on the glass.Credit Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

A new panel placed on the wall near the diorama addresses an often-overlooked question: Where are the Lenape now?

Before the arrival of the Dutch, around 30,000 Lenape lived in their homeland, territory that is now the northeastern United States. Forced to move repeatedly over several generations, the roughly 16,000 remaining tribe members now live across Canada and in Kansas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. The panel shows a map with arrows starting in the regions they had to leave, and pointing to their new locations.

It was important to Mr. Pecore that the exhibition signal the continuing effects of colonization, as well as correct the stereotypical representations. “I’ve walked through different museums, and when you see Native people, they’re in the corner playing with stones. We never arrive to be fully modern humans.”

The changes come after three years of protests by members of Decolonize This Place, a movement urging institutions to acknowledge the struggles of Indigenous peoples, and other groups asking the museum to change demeaning displays.

“There’s no question that the controversies around the memorial quickened our attention,” said Lisa Gugenheim, a senior vice president for strategic planning at the museum.

Among the group’s requests was the removal of the statue in front of the museum showing Roosevelt on his horse, and the formation of an independent commission that would assess cultural representations across the museum.

Reassessing representations is, in part, the purpose of a current $14.5 million reconstruction of the Northwest Coast Hall, set to reopen next year. Showcasing Indigenous artifacts collected on an expedition, the gallery presented them as belonging to cultures stuck in time, immune to historical change. The updated exhibition will include contemporary practices and the lives of present-day descendants, and will contextualize the artifacts presented.

One of the best-known artifacts from the collection is what the museum calls the Great Canoe, displayed right outside the exhibit.

Ms. Gugenheim said that amending the Stuyvesant diorama, as opposed to removing it, created the opportunity for dialogue. “We’re revealing the making of the cake and not just the end of the process,” she said. “We’re inviting visitors to imagine themselves, why did we feel the need to update it? And of course that applies to teachers and kids, too.”

Alan Czemerinski was visiting recently when he spotted the labels from across the hall, and spent a few minutes reading them. “I probably would have walked by it otherwise,” he said. “It’s important to look back at historical representations and see what’s wrong.”

Another visitor, Alana Steinberg, said her experience was enhanced this way. “It’s interesting,” she said, “to see how cultural knowledge has changed over time.”

[mgares]

HOW TO BUY A HOUSE - IN 3 EASY STEPS

There is a lot of confusion out there about how to become a Homeowner so I thought I would take a moment and put it into Average Joe speak. That, and in my experience, some people go about it totally backwards which is counter productive to the end goal.

STEP 1. - ASSESS YOUR FINANCES

This is fairly simple. Eliminate non-essentials from your spending budget and stick it in the piggy bank. Modify spending habits to generate savings. Make short-term lifestyle changes.

It's just temporary and if canceling monthly memberships (Netflix, Gyms, Any Subscriptions), adjusting your shopping habits [I got some great tips for this], or eliminating other non-essential spending allows you to keep more money in your pocket to get a home versus flushing rent dollars down the proverbial toilet? Bit of a no-brainer if you ask me.

Bottom line is you have to have money ready-to-hand for the transaction. Even with the "zero down" options like VA and some USDA loans; just to name a couple.

There are inspections, appraisals, escrow funds, repairs, home warranty policies, property taxes, closing costs, and other such considerations that must be paid in order to get a home of your own.

"Do Not Save What Is Left After Spending; Instead Spend What is Left After Saving" - Warren Buffett

Figure out what kind of a down payment your financial situation will allow for. The more, the better, but very few people I know got 20% of the purchase price [a.k.a. - conventional/bank loan] sitting around collecting dust. Good news is you don't necessarily have to have that much.

One of the most common loans is a FHA that only asks for 3-5% down AND there are down payment assistance programs out there if you are really Stuck Like Chuck when it comes to finances. NOTE: This does NOT mean they are going to give you ALL of your down payment; you gotta have some chips in that poker game too.

I like to recommend that people shoot for at least 6-8% of the purchase price of the "kind of home they want" just to make sure all the bases are covered - down payment AND cost(s) of the transaction. Folks, that's a lesser down payment than Owner Finance options for the same "kind of home" as Owners generally ask for 10-15% down.

This total can be a combination of self-savings, down payment assistance, assets that can be used as collateral against the loan, monetary or tangible gifts from friends/family members in some few cases, and more.

Each person is unique and different in how that 6-8% manifests and lenders can vary in what form(s) of down payment they will accept.

EXAMPLE:

Purchase Price: $150k

FHA Down Pymt (3-5%): $4,500 - $7,500

Other Cost(s): (3% +/-): $4,500

Total Savings Needed: $9,000 - $12,000

Kill some bills, sell your "junk" - we all got crap laying around the house we don't use worth money in various amounts - and modify spending habits in a positive manner.

If you are a two car family... can you get by with just one vehicle on a temporary basis [turn that car, and its bills, "into" a house]? Perhaps you have a skill set or piece of equipment that can earn you extra cash here and there on your terms? What changes to your lifestyle can you make that will put another dime or dollar into that kitty bucket?

Finally, do whatever it is you need to do to put those greenbacks into a savings method you can stick with. Whether that is a traditional banking institution or an old shoe box under the bed; you do you. If this means you have to ask someone in a position of trust to hold it so you don't spend it? Guess what you should consider doing?

STEP 2. - TALK TO LENDERS

Let's talk about the "When" of contacting a lender. The only true answer to "When" is... When You Are Ready and only you know how Ready you feel.

I've had clients express the sheer dread they felt about reaching out to a lender and it's an understandable fear. One of my people even said that they felt applying to lenders and having them see their credit condition was akin to stripping naked in front of a total stranger.

But, and as I told my client... think of it like going to the doctor for a full physical exam. Hospital gown over your birthday suit and all. Lenders are professionals there to do a job. They do NOT judge or speculate just because they have intimate knowledge of or about you.

If you suspect you may have some homework to do, credit wise, then it's better to contact a lender sooner rather than later. This allows you to get a game plan together and knock out credit related targets while you are saving funds for your down payment goal. Once completed, you are able to resume your application with confidence moving forward.

"Everything You Want Is On The Other Side of Fear" - Jack Canefield

However, if you are one of the few who feel their credit profile will be a "non-issue" then my suggestion becomes waiting to speak to lenders until you have most, if not all, of your down payment goal met.

When applying to a lender always ask if they perform a Soft or Hard inquiry against your credit report. Most of the lenders I know [and I will list two of my favorites for you here in a second] will execute a Soft Credit Inquiry to determine credit worthiness. This Soft Inquiry does not impact or affect your credit score - should such be a matter of concern to you.

Something else I've noticed is that people don't seem to understand shopping for lender is very much like shopping for an automobile. The overall requirements of any one particular lender (or dealership) can be totally different from a fellow lender's (or dealership's).

Just because one says "No" does not mean they will all will say "No". And even if the first lender tells you "Yes"... I would still encourage you to apply to more than one who does Soft Inquiries. Compare apples to oranges to find the best fit for your home purchasing needs by reviewing interest rates, terms of repayment, mutual rights and remedies, and so on and so forth.

Only after you have secured lender approval (which may be conditional based on various factors) and they have given you the green light to shop up to the amount of $X.00 do you move on to Step 3.

STEP 3 - FIND YOUR REALTOR

The vast majority of the population feels the path to homeownership is "finding the home and then buying it" - through a Real Estate agent. This is NOT the case.

Selecting an agent to help navigate you through the complexities of The Offer and Purchase process is the absolute LAST step to be taken.

What Happens When You Do It Backwards:

You shop for, and find, that PERFECT place and then reach out to an an agent or contact the website that is listing that property. The agent involved determines you haven't spoken with a lender and may now recommend one to get the process started.

Just to let you know... most of us agents are unable to do much of anything at this point without your having secured a lender first. There are some agents out there who are also qualified mortgage consultants but I, personally, haven't met one yet so I don't know how they work.

At this point the agent may also put you on an e-mailer list that scouts the MLS's and regularly sends you properties "matching" the ideal home that you originally asked about.

Why?

Because "that home may not still be there when you are in a position to buy". That's agent speak for... this is gonna take a bit of second and that property will most likely have sold by the time we get you lender approved.

I can't emphasize enough the fact that we agents don't "GET" you that house - the lender does that by providing the loan to pay for it. Us agents help you shop for a home and protect your best interests when buying it.

We deal with the butt-ton of technical paperwork coming/going from every which-a-way at all hours of the day, manage the contract negotiations, handle scheduling and execution of services by professional providers involved in the transaction, are your personal defacto counselor/moral support during the stress mess of buying, and more. None of which can be done until a lender gives us the green light to begin.

Well, most folks aren't mentally or emotionally prepared to reach out to said lender on the fly like this. Fears of "what that lender will see" or personal misgivings about "not qualifying" due to credit condition can halt the whole process at this point. Perhaps leaving you with negative emotions about the whole experience thus far.

But, for the sake of argument let's say you muster up the courage to reach out to a lender anyway. You'll discover that they are people too - most with a generous heart and helpful personality.

You might even discover that your credit was nowhere near as bad as you had built it up in your mind to be. Or, the lender may come back with a little homework for you. Take care of This and That and we'll be able to get you into a home.

The "whammy" of doing it in reverse order like this is that the lender will also share that you will need X thousands of dollars as a down payment to make that happen. Talk about a case of sticker shock!

Obviously, this can be discouraging and disheartening. To overcome one obstacle only run smack dab into another you weren't prepared to tackle? It may start to feel like you are looking up the side of a mountain, the goal of owning a home clearly in your line of sight, but you lack the climbing equipment (not to mention the funds to acquire such) to reach the summit.

It may feel like "that's it, game over" at this point. I know because I, too, approached home ownership azz-backwards like this before I became a Realtor. Felt like someone had ripped a bit of my soul away and left me frustrated and crying inside my heart and mind.

DON'T give up on yourself or your dream of home ownership. Back up, regroup, and attack that goal again. This time, in the correct sequence of events.

"You May Have To Fight A Battle More Than Once To Win It" - Margaret Thatcher

Do this and I promise you that there will be no better feeling in the world than those you experience at the closing table when you are finally handed the keys to your very own home.

Disclaimer: Opinion Editorial for educational and/or informational purposes. Content presented is deemed accurate and/or reliable at the time of authorship. Any errors or omissions present in material(s) are unintentional. You are encouraged to execute your own research.

[msbarrows]

Cataracts - What Surgery Is Like

As previously mentioned, I’d developed cataracts and am now going through surgery for them, and have elected to document a bit about what it’s all like from my viewpoint. Mostly because I think it’d make a nice reference for anyone wanting to write with some degree of accuracy about what it’s like from the inside.

This post contains a description of the surgical process involved and what that actually feels like, I’m trying not to be overly graphic but I’m also not elliding over any of the grosser bits (thankfully and surprisingly very little).

First off, a descriptiong of the preliminaries. This started for me with my vision going blurry over the last couple of years, and finally getting around to visiting my old optomitrist when I happened to be in Toronto over last Christmas (as my one up north just retired a couple years ago, and I hadn’t replaced her yet). Of the several potential causes for the vision loss I was experiecing, what I had turned out to be cataracts, of the variety that occurs at the back of the lens and therefor doesn’t cause easily-visible clouding. Which I actually said “Oh, thank god!” to when the optomitrist told me, since they are the absolute easiest thing to fix, while some of the other options (detached retina, or diabetes-related macular degradation, to name a couple) are much less so. Then he gave me a reference to an opthamologist. Thanks to COVID-19, it was this fall before I was finally able to actually get to the clinic and see her.

From my point of view, the process then went pretty quickly. Note that I was at an eye institute that specializes in cataract treatment; everything is contained in one building (a nicely renovated Victorian brick house in the Annex area of Toronto). So all tests and surgery are done on premises.

First appointment there, they did the same sort of vision tests my optomitrist generally does, plus some extra inner-eye photography to get a good look at what was going on. This was done by two different people, one doing the eye-chart related tests and a different one doing the photography. Then I met briefly with my doctor, who looked over my questionnaire (which included questions like whether near, mid, or distance vision was most important to me, and was there a focal distance I particularly needed to be glasses free for, etc.), and that I didn’t need nor have interest in a lens replacement that wasn’t covered under our provincial health care.

A week later I returned for them to perform eye measurement tests, which are used as a basis for manufacturing the replacement lens. They measure the size and shape of the eye, and mostly just involved staring into various machines while photos are taken. The weirdest one, which they did last, involved dripping numbing drops into my eyes, and then lightly pressing a small sensor to multiple places both directly on the eyeballs and then on the closed lids. Something to do with viscosity I’d assume.

And now for a description of the general surgical process, which you can also find summarized (or in more detail) at a number of medical web sites. In my case, it was a pretty basic surgery being performed; the opthamologist needed to make a small slit in the outer layer of my eye, used a tiny probe to break down the lens using ultrasound waves, vacuum out the broken down lens, then use a largish needle to insert a folded plastic lens into the eye, where it would unfold within the capsular space and could be tweaked as needed into the correct position. The cut in the eye is tiny enough that it usually doesn’t even need stitching, apparently.

I was asked to arrive at a specific time, and had to start applying dilating drops to my eyes an hour, half-hour, and five minutes before leaving for the clinic. No nail polish or facial makeup. Preferable wearing comfortable pants and a loosely short-sleeved button front shirt without any undershirt or long underwear beneath it (which turns out to be a “just in case things go crazily sideways” measure; they didn’t actually need to access anything on my torso).

The first step after I arrived at the clinic was being dressed in PPE - one of their own disposable masks to be sure I was wearing a good enough one (that wasn’t coated in whatever mine had picked up outside), a hair cap, a long-sleeved thigh-length blue plasticized robe (it had thumb holes to prevent the sleeves from slipping), and booties over my shoes.

Then I was taken to their surgical floor, where a nurse began a series of eye drops. These included more dilation, an antispectic, and an antibiotic, that I can remember - multiple drops of all. She also gave me a teeny tiny pill to place under my tongue and let dissolved, which contained a small dose of a relaxant/anti-anxiety med (Sorry, she told me the name of it at the time but it’s dropped out of my memory). I didn’t notice any particular change in my mood, but then I’d been counting slow deep breaths since arriving (4 seconds in, 4 seconds out...) to help keep myself relaxed and give myself something to focus on that wasn’t omfg I’m going to be awake during this! Because yeah, not having a clue what it was going to be like was stressful. Nurse also took my blood pressure to be sure I was fine in that regards, and put a sticker on the gown to remind the doctor that it was my right eye being done that day.

After a brief wait, I was moved into one of the surgical theatres, where there was a dentist chair they sat me in, then connected a blood pressure cuff, fingertip monitor (hence the no nail polish rule) and sensors on the backs of both hands and one ankle (I’m assuming those were measuring a mix of blood oxygenation and heartbeat, with the ankle one making sure my feet were still getting blood when I was spending the surgery in what ended up as a tipped-over-backwards with head lowest position). They then rinsed my eye and the orbital area with bactine (very yellow vision while that happens), then patted the area around the eye dry.

The doctor sat at my head, and applied a medical drape with a pre-cut adhesive-edged opening over my eye, then peeled off a translucent applique that was over the hole. Then they applied medical clamps that held my eyelids in the open position (which thanks to the numbing drops, I didn’t feel at all). A brightly lighted microscope was then positioned over the eye, and I was told to stay as still as possible and stare at the red dot in the lighted area. The doctor then did the surgery as described above. From my point of view, there was very little to feel; occasional dull pressure, some random coldness that I believe was the eye being irrigated. I could hear the occasional very quiet noise the probe made as the lens was sucked away, but mostly it was just staring at the red light as well as I could while my vision distorted oddly and I continue counting breaths. Within what felt like no more than 5-10 minutes (if that), it was all over with.

They had me continue to lie there for a couple minutes while they peeled off the drape, wiped the eye area clean, and removed all the sensors, then a brief rest before having me sit up.

I blinked once or twice, and... DAMN! Sudden near-perfect vision in an eye that hasn’t seen clearly without help since I was in single digit ages. And the saturation. The detail.

Now, my left eye of course still has a cataract (it gets treated next week). I’d been telling people for a while that basically all my right eye was seeing was blur, so my left eye was doing most of the seeing, and I thought my left eye wasn’t anywhere near as bad as my right. With my right eye now seeing perfectly, I could now alternate opening eyes from side to side, and see just how badly (and irregularly) blurred and yellowed the left lens actually is. To which I can only saw, WTF, how was I even seeing anything at all!?

Then they had me sit for a while in the waiting area, where the doctor came and double-checked I was fine, and gave me a kit in a plastic bag of a card that identifies that I have an interocular lens (and info about it), a prescription for two different eye drops (antibiotic and anti-inflamatory) which was enough for both this eye and the eye getting operated on next week, and a shield to wear at night for the first five nights, to be sure I don’t accidentally rub it or put pressure on it.

Then I put on sunglasses (because hugely dilated eye) and walked out.

Side note - they won’t do your operation unless you have a ride home arranged; because that tiny pill means you’re in a slightly altered state, among other reasons. Good thing it was my brother and not, say, a taxi, since among other things it took us three drugstores to find one that actually had both kinds of eyedrops in stock, yay super fun.

Also, remember me talking about the starburst rays I was seeing around lights due to cataracts? While my eye was still dilated (which lasted until after midnight) I was seeing what I can only describe as ‘Ferris wheels’ - a burst of  rays expanding out like the spokes of a wheel, and ending in an uneven ring of dots of bright light, each wheel matching the colour of the light causing it. Looked wild at night. Thankfully that effect has now gone away.

Had a follow-up appointment this morning where they did an eye chart and the rebounce test where they puff air at your cornea, and the opthamologist says the vision in that eye tested as 20/20 (WOOO! Finally something good with that number). I can see sharply and clearly for blocks from the mid-range on out. Sadly when I try to use my computer, tablet, etc (near-range and close vision) the eye can’t focus down far enough; some of that may improve over the next month or two as the eye continues healing, and adapting to the lens. In the meantime my sister suggested I try a pair of her reading glasses and, yay, that worked. I am now planning that after my follow-up appointment for next week’s surgery on the left eye, I’ll run around and pick up 2-3 pairs of reading glasses of various strengths (which I will get will depend on what seems to work best with arm’s length and close-in viewing), to carry me through until I go back to an optomitrist in a month or three, and get my vision evaluated to see if I need actual prescription reading and/or far distance glasses.

In the meantime, apart from computer/tablet use, I am glasses free. I can’t even remember ever having such sharp, clear, and saturated vision (since I’ve been in glasses for such a long time). You know the “oh, trees are made of leaves!” effect? I am getting that with every single thing I look at. Oh, that’s how much grey is in my hair? Weird, I never noticed this wall was textured before. Oh geez, that text over there is so small and yet I AM READING IT. I mean, even with glasses I probably was never able to read that from this distance! Etc ad infinitum.

It’s just so, so nice.

And that’s with just one eye finished. I am now really looking forward to next week’s surgery. Stress? What stress!?

[pass-the-bechdel]

Alias season one full review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

Seventeen out of twenty-two (77.27%).

What is the average percentage per episode of female characters with names and lines?

25.08%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Zero.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Three: 1.09 – “Mea Culpa” (16.67%); 1.11 – “The Confession” (9.09%); and 1.14 – “The Coup” (17.65%)

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Twenty-two. Sixteen who appeared in more than one episode, two who appeared in at least half the episodes, and one who appeared in every episode.

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Eighty. Thirty-one who appeared in more than one episode, seven who appeared in at least half the episodes, and four who appeared in every episode.

Positive Content Status:

While it could have done much worse, it could have also done considerably better. The white male perspective shines through in ways that are often individually minor but collectively major (average rating of 2.86).

General Season Quality: Mindless fun, at least the first time around. However, once subjected to scrutiny, only the performances save what is in many ways a mess.  

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

Alias’ first season is often considered to be among the series’ best, and it’s not hard to see why: it’s the most confident (at least on the surface), it’s the one that is most distinct from other TV shows, and features level of extravagance that is not seen in many of the future seasons. It’s also the season most in control of its various elements: while not all of them are used to their best effect, we can at least understand why they are there, and they all have a role to play.  This is very often not the case with this series.

And yet, I find that season one, which I had once considered my favorite, is actually the one that stands up least well to rewatching. With the twists and turns that define its narrative having long since lost their bite, there is very little about it that is engaging in the way future seasons are. While it features elements which I wish had been kept and not abandoned, the more I rewatch, the more it becomes clear that these elements were often just not used well.  

Take Rambaldi. While a lot of the fandom would eventually lose patience with the device and blame it for the series’ flagging quality, it is clear, upon reconsideration, that it wasn’t a good idea from the start. Are Rambaldi missions marginally more interesting than those that don’t involve Rambaldi?  Sure—but that’s not exactly hard. The problem with those early non-Rambaldi missions wasn’t the absence of a mystery box featuring a Leonardo Da Vinci knock-off, it was that there was absolutely no resonance to them. They did not tell us anything about characters. They did not feature interesting elements. They did not further the stories that existed outside of them. However, none of these are actually inherent qualities of the stories. Having non-Rambaldi stories that did not feel as if they mattered was a choice. Furthermore, none of these problems with the early missions are actually fixed by having Rambaldi in them. Rambaldi stories are often exactly as hollow as the others—they just happen to also include The Tease, which is by definition attention-grabbing and helps make it easier to ignore other crucial things—like, for example, how meaningless it all is. 

“Meaningless,”  sadly, is a word that can be used to describe many of the stories this season, which could accurately be described as a twenty-two episode version of the first three quarters of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, also by J.J. Abrams—go to Place A to do Thing B, so you can then go to Place C and do Thing D, repeat ad nauseum.  What does Rambaldi tell us about anything? What did Charlie tell us about Francie? What makes the C.I.A. fundamentally different from SD-6?  What is the point of all this prophecy business?  What’s the red ball about, and why should we care, when the series is not giving us any reason to beyond “you should care”? What is the series saying?

The closest thing the season has to a theme, as mentioned in previous reviews, is the idea that people have different faces, many of which we choose to or are forced to keep hidden for one reason or another. It’s…fine, as themes go (although it’s worth noting that Rambaldi contributes nothing to that conversation), but the season is, at best, ambivalent about it. Given how universal the thesis is, it feels very much like it should be applied to everyone, and yet this is very clearly not the case, with a very clear line between characters who get to be multifaceted and those who don’t. Additionally, a robust exploration of the theme would require a greater interest in people than the show has demonstrated; that the standard mission features the barest amount of human interaction feels like a serious misstep, and is one of the reasons why large parts of this season feel unmemorable. As crucial as Sydney’s costumes are for the series’ brand identity, the missions that facilitate them are also often the least interesting part of any given episode.

(On a related note, it’s worth noting once again that the series is also not at all interested in the various places it takes its characters to. All the jet-setting the series does exists largely to provide the barest amount of local color, and nothing else—the philosophy behind Sydney’s costumes, applied to scenery.)  

One thing that is consistently interesting about season one, though, is the difference between the Sydney the writers thought they were writing and the Sydney they actually wrote.  I’ve mentioned multiple times that there is a consistent sense that the writers were afraid of making Sydney a character that could be considered objectionable, in a way that led them to strip away every bit of complexity from her situation, and undermining the show’s very premise. Yes, she worked for a terrorist group for seven years, but Alias is not a redemption story—Sydney is never shown to have done anything that could be considered immoral. Yes, she’s actually still working for them now, but none of her missions actually require her to consider compromising her beliefs. Yes, her job requires her to dress much more sexily than she does when she’s not playing a role, but never that she have sex —spysex is bad. Yes, SD-6 is the most formative experience of her life as a young adult, but that doesn’t mean she’s in any way ambivalent about it or has seven years of history to recontextualize. No, she has no reason why to trust the government, but that doesn’t mean she is anything other than completely loyal to U.S. intelligence interests.  A situation that is nothing but complicated edges—a woman who has turned against the institution that made her who she is because she realized it was evil and that she was facilitating that evil—is as toothless as Clifford the Big Red Ball.

(Making things worse still is that the writers don’t actually morally object to the things they contrive to prevent Sydney from doing. The scene where SpyDaddy tortures and kills Haladki is not meant to make viewers think worse of SpyDaddy—just the opposite, in fact. And this has very real implications: arguing that male characters like Jack or Sloane get to have edges and imperfections while female heroes only get to be worthwhile if they’re virginal is textbook sexism.)   

This, however, isn’t to say that Sydney is flawless—but rather, that Alias, having decided to leave the natural implications of its premise unexplored, has to look elsewhere to provide imperfections. The first of these imperfections, which feels like the show’s version of the clumsy female YA protagonist trope, is that Sydney…is not smart. She’s very clever in the moment, but she is consistently very bad at long-term thinking, or at dealing with people (Alias does not care about people). While she sometimes gets called out on this—such as when she’s told her impulsive plan to quit SD-6 and still keep her normal life is impulsive and had no chance of working—it still feels exceedingly odd for a veteran spy to be thinking this way, and inexplicable in one that has been in the business for seven years and is supposedly very good at her job. That characters like SpyDaddy are, in turn, allowed to be competent in ways she isn’t make things even more baffling: if you know well enough to make your characters tactically smart, then why not allow your supposedly-smart main character to actually make tactically smart decisions?

Sydney’s lack of critical thinking mixes with the aforementioned fear of allowing her to be morally compromised in ways that further serve to undermine the character. A person who has no need to make moral compromises is much more likely to not understand the concept of compromise or moral complexity, which is very often how Sydney is written—she just loves that high horse—in a way that actively harms the series, because the series then has to warp its universe in order to fit the narrative.  It makes no sense for Sydney to consider her mother to be evil for being a KGB assassin—not in light of Sydney’s own work for SD-6—unless one makes it so that her work for SD-6 was somehow not immoral or visibly harmful.  Similarly, it makes no sense for Sydney to consider being lied to for large parts of her life as indefensible, given her life and how much of it is lying to others. And while Sydney is free to have feelings that are logically inconsistent or even hypocritical, the fact that she is never seriously called out on these inconsistencies strongly suggests that the writers have not spotted them either. 

And so, we have a Sydney who can accurately be described as a Karen: someone who (often correctly) believes systems and rules and morals are only suggestions when they apply to her but unbreakable rules when used against those she doesn’t like,  and who uses her relatively minor oppression as a way to ignore her considerable privilege, which she consistently uses for her own personal benefit. Not only is her “original” sin—telling Danny about SD-6—borne from this belief, we see it consistently in ways both major (her belief that the anti-SD-6 effort should follow her lead, even after she’d just learned that she knew nothing about the group; her attempts to secure Vaughn as her handler; her general belief that only she gets to determine who and who does not get forgiven) and minor (her blithe attempts to get an extension on classwork she didn’t do). While she’s far from the worst example of a Karen—she lacks, for example, the cruelty that characterizes those who call cops to kill Black people—she nevertheless fits the profile with shocking exactness.  

And honestly, that’s fantastic.

One of the reasons I can still appreciate Alias, despite its multiple flaws, is because it’s part of a genre that is both fairly derivative and which gets a fair amount of play—the original Nikita (the 1990 Luc Besson film) begat La Femme Nikita (the 1997-2001 TV series) begat Alias (2001-2006) begat Nikita (the 2010-2013 series) and to a lesser extent Person of Interest (2011-2016)—which means that everything it’s done badly has probably been done well elsewhere. This, in turn, allows me to enjoy Alias on its own terms. I don’t really need to see Sydney the hypercompetent, empathetic super-spy—that’s what Nikita Mears is there for, and if Sydney were more like her, then she would not be nearly as memorable or fascinating.  

(It helps immeasurably that Jennifer Garner is fantastic at making Sydney feel fundamentally likeable. Were it not for that, the series would have been unbearable.)

That said, that doesn’t mean that Sydney doesn’t present a problem for the show. As fascinating as Hypocritical Entitled Princess SpyBarbie is, she would be even more so as the main character in a world that reacts to her idiosyncrasies in a way that makes sense. That this is not the case is one of the season’s biggest problems. To go back to Sydney Doesn’t Kill, even if one could justify it in-universe, one would still need to explain why it goes on completely unremarked by anyone. The only explanation for that is to argue that SD-6 just has a general non-killing policy, which makes absolutely no sense. More generally, keeping the show’s version of Sydney viable means breaking the series’ moral parameters—SD-6 is terrible except when it isn’t—which further hinders the season or its attempts to say anything worthwhile.   

On another note entirely, let’s talk about those Bechdel Test results. When I began working on this, I was honestly expecting this season to do far worse than it did, since I remembered the bulk of Sydney and Francie’s conversations being about the men in their lives.  While this turned out to be not the whole truth, it is still largely accurate in ways that do not speak well of the season.  

The Bechdel test presents, by design, a very low bar to clear. Passing is not hard to do, and it is even less hard when the main character of the work is female—you almost have to actively work at failing in order to consistently do so. And yet, this is what almost happens with Alias. Take away Francie from the main cast—which is actually shockingly easy to do, especially in the second half of the season—and the passing rate falls dramatically.

It’s also worth noting how few of the passes actually take place outside of Sydney’s domestic life. This is a serious problem! First of all, it means that the series is very often passing by the skin of its teeth, since Sydney’s domestic life is not often the focus of the series, especially as the season progresses. More importantly, it indicates that Sydney’s worlds outside the purely domestic realm are ones made up nearly entirely of men. 

Now, it’s bad enough that Sydney is very nearly the only female intelligence operative in the world, in a world where even the desk jockeys are overwhelmingly male. But this goes beyond that. It’s not just that Sydney does not interact with female agents. It’s that she very rarely interacts with female scientists, female doctors, female party hosts, female corporate bigwigs (or, in college, with female professors). Why has the world of the show been set up this way?    

Well, consider this: in a heteronormative world—which Alias very much is, no matter how much we all love Anna Espinosa and her no-heterosexual-explanation-for-this chemistry with Sydney—seduction is not a valid interaction between two women.

I’ve noted that Sydney’s aliases are almost never about adopting concrete personas, and instead about adopting particular aesthetics, which almost always accept the modifier “sexy”—sexy maid, sexy club-goer, sexy IT person—even when there’s no actual need for it, according to stated mission parameters.  While this is, to a degree, about genre convention (sexy spies gotta sexy) there is something deeper going on here. Sydney’s aliases tend to be about being sexy because it’s Sydney’s chief interaction (whenever interaction is needed—it often is not, as mentioned earlier)—or at the very least, the use of feminine wiles is. This, in turn, is only possible because Sydney’s spy work takes place in a world largely devoid of women. It’s a vicious circle: Sydney’s missions don’t have women because sexy costumes are not needed to interact with women. Sexy costumes are needed because Sydney is always interacting with men, and the only valid interactions with them involve the possibility of sex.

Consider, in contrast, what happens with Dixon. Sydney dons costumes; Dixon adopts personas. Given that seduction is not an option for Dixon in a world with almost no women, his interactions get to be more complex—the rich person lording his privilege over the people who want his money; the cocky poker player. Heck, even Vaughn, with his limited screen time, gets to have fairly complex interactions. His alias in “The Solution” involves a more complex interaction than Sydney has ever had in the whole season, with the possible exception of…sigh…her brownface alias (which note, is also one where seduction is not available to her).

In short: Alias’ mission sequences are often so samey and uninspired because writers cannot conceive of a world in which Sydney interacts with women, or one when she can have non-sexual interactions with men. One could hardly find a better example of how sexism actively makes works worse and is inextricably linked with quality.

I’ve been fairly negative during this review so far, so it’s important to note that Alias is far from all bad. In fact, part of the reason why this season is so frustrating is because what we actually got, as disappointing as it is, is still generally so enjoyable, and makes me want the series to be its best self.  So let’s talk about things I do like.

The first and foremost element in Alias’ plus column is its excellent cast, which does an incredible job of elevating writing that, as we’ve established, often does not do them any favors. Usually, bad writing results in unlikeable characters, but not here; this is actually a supremely engaging group of people, which makes the series surprisingly easy to get through. There’s no character whose presence will stop me from enjoying an episode because of the haaaaate, and that’s a rare blessing. Even Will, who has the audacity to both date his twenty-year-old intern and then very visibly not appreciate her, even when she’s great and looks like Sarah Shahi (whose Sarah Shahi-ness is 98% of the reason why the character is great; it certainly isn’t because of the way she’s written), is someone I really, really like, which is a bona fide miracle.

(Also, shout out to unproblematic favorites Dixon and Francie, who are wonderful and don’t get nearly the development they deserve.) 

Something I also really enjoy about this season is its management of Sydney’s love life, which feels atypical for the genre in a way I appreciate. Both Will and Vaughn have really good chemistry with Sydney, and you could see her being happy with either. You can see why they all like each other. The pacing feels just right: neither Will nor Vaughn dither when it comes to expressing their feelings, and yet the evolution of said feelings and how they express them simmers at just the right speed. Will gets to have his feelings rebuffed and deal with them in exactly the right way (at least when it comes to his interactions with Sydney). None of their characters treat romance as the only worthwhile endgame of their relationships. It won’t last, but for now, this element of the series is very appreciated.  

Finally, there is something about this season’s expansive approach to world-building, which is very appealing for reasons I can’t quite describe. As someone who’s a big fan of narratives featuring tangential storylines running in tandem, I really appreciate just how many different social circles the series establishes in a very short amount of time. It could have done better by pretty much all of them, but ultimately, I am interested and invested in the world the show has established. 

In the end, though, season one’s chief asset may just be its ability to bluff, using the appearance of confidence, showmanship and excellent production values to make up for its various sins. It’s largely illusory, of course, but if you let yourself get caught up in the magicians’ misdirection, you end up with a propulsive fun experience that is also unlike anything that was going on at the time and which despite various imitators hasn’t quite been replicated since.  It may not always be great, but it’s never a slog.

Alias season 1 is not the best season of the show; it’s not even among the better ones. Still, despite it significant and arguably fatal flaws, I can’t hate it—just the opposite, really.  It’s a lot like Sydney Bristow that way.

[mediaeval-muse]

Academic Book Review

The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your PhD Into a Job. By Karen Kelsky. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2015. Pp. x + 438. $16.

Argument: Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration. Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success.  They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers.

***Full review under the cut.***

Chapter Breakdown: This book technically has 63 chapters, so I’m going to briefly describe each major section.

Section 1: Dark Times in the Academy Overviews the decline in tenture-track jobs in higher education, as well as the challenges facing PhDs, from adjucting to the feeling of losing one’s identity.

Section 2: Getting Your Head in the Game A guide to the realities of the academic job market, including what it is, what unspoken rules/assumptions are present, what grad students tend not to understand or habits that make them a poor candidate, institution types and rankings, and how to (generally) build yourself up as a candidate.

Section 3: The Nuts and Bolts of a Competitive Record Covers the importance of building a CV, getting teaching experience, publishing, obtaining grants, cultivating references, and going to conferences. Also contains advice on how to take control of these situations.

Section 4: Job Documents That Work Advice on how to compose cover letters, CVs, teaching statements, evidence of teaching effectiveness, research statements, diversity statements, and dissertation abstracts.

Section 5: Techniques of the Academic Interview Information about interview basics, including what kinds of questions are likely to be asked (and how to respond). Also includes information about conference interviews, campus visits, job talks, teaching demos, talking to deans, etc. Also contains advice on how to handle outrageous questions and what to do after the interview.

Section 6: Navigating the Job Market Minefield Covers topics that could cause additional stress in the job market search, such as inside candidates, unresponsive references, poor campus climate, department politics, pregnancy, finances, etc. Also contains advice on how to dress professionally and cautions against attitudes like narcissism, grandiosity, self-juvenilization, etc.

Section 7: Negotiating an Offer Advice for negotiating job offers, including sections on partner (formerly, “spousal”) hires and rescinded offers.

Section 8: Grants and Postdocs Contains templates for writing grants as well as an overview of how postdoc applications are different from a job application.

Section 9: Some Advice About Advisors Overview of what kinds of advisors are “good” (one that has your best interests in mind) as well as a section on how advisors/departments discuss PhD debt (and what that can tell you about job prospects).

Section 10: Leaving the Cult Advice on leaving academia, including a list of transferable skills. More focused on “giving permission” to leave as opposed to traditional job search advice (like how to write a non-academic cover letter).

Reviewer Comments: Despite the intimidating size of this book, The Professor Is In is probably the most useful text I’ve come across (so far) in terms of career advice for PhDs. It contains practical information about preparing academic job materials, as well as insights into unspoken assumptions about the job search from the perspective of the hiring committee. It also does not hesitate in talking about the dismal state of higher education, and is very clear that the contents of this book (and individual action) can’t fix systemic problems.

The tone of the writing is appropriate for its audience. Kelsky doesn’t attempt to give readers an inspirational pep talk, nor does she ignore the fact that readers may have very real, pressing anxieties about their futures. Instead, she lays out the facts of the job market so that readers can make informed choices about how to proceed. I liked that Kelsky’s prose was so down-to-earth and blunt, not trying to coddle PhDs but also not trying to blame them for things beyond their control. Instead, Kelsky was able to balance “tough love” with true empathy and compassion, which made me not only feel open to reflecting on my own flaws as a PhD job candidate, but also respected as someone with real concerns. For some, the tone might be off-putting, as it does, admittedly, come off as “angry” in many ways, but I honestly prefer that over other books I’ve read that tries to “cutesify” the problems in academia. I also appreciated that Kelsky offered stats and secondary sources to illustrate everything point she made, so her advice felt less anecdotal and more rooted in research. As PhDs, most of us like supporting research, so I may be a bit biased; I just don’t find anecdotes that inspirational.

While this book is aimed at PhDs from various disciplines, the sheer amount of information and practical writing advice made it *actually* useful. As opposed to books which tend to offer general pointers like “tailor your resume,” Kelsky has specific advice, like “email your letter writer and ask for 15-20 minutes of their time” or “here’s an example of a diversity statement as well as a brief analysis of what it does and does not do.” Kelsky clearly lays out not just what candidates *should* be doing, but also *why* they should be doing it, which makes concepts easy to grasp and see the value in.

The only major thing that made this book discouraging to read was the implicit suggestion that if you haven’t been building your academic job profile from the beginning (or even before entering graduate school), you’re basically f*cked. Looking over some of the advice, I couldn’t help but feel like I had missed out on some things and couldn’t rectify them because I’m out of school. Maybe that’s true, maybe it isn’t, but either way, I wanted to see it addressed (or maybe it was and I missed it?). If I can’t get accepted to lead a conference panel in the top conference in my field, what then? What if I apply for tons of grants and don’t get many? What if a journal holds onto my article for 2 years with the promise of publishing it but never moves forward (something that actually happened to me)? What if my dissertation topic is interesting to me, but doesn’t follow popular trends? Am I a bad candidate? Should I give up? Things like that.

Overall, I think this book is one of the most practically useful guides out there, and if you’re a grad student who does not have a supportive job placement program at your institution, this book is invaluable for beginning to understand the realities of the academic job market, as dismal and unfair as it is.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if

you’re a graduate student or adjunct going on the academic job market

you’re a grad student thinking ahead about how to use your time in graduate school effectively

you’re a PhD thinking about leaving academia

you working in career advising (including positions such as dissertation director or department head)

[wildscienceblog]

My unpopular opinion about popular science topics: A new study says that SARS-CoV-2 RNA may integrate into the human genome - DON’T PANIC, this is likely not the case and even if it was, would probably lack clinical relevance :) -

For a few days now, there has been an ongoing heated discussion on Academic Twitter and other scientific outreach outlets regarding a bioRxiv preprint titled “SARS-CoV-2 RNA reverse-transcribed and integrated into the human genome” (Zhang et al. bioRxiv, 2020). The study proposes that the sustained viral RNA shedding and recurrence of PCR positive testing after recovery might be due to retrointegration (in simple terms this is the insertion of DNA sequences into a host genome mediated by an RNA intermediate, the enzymes reverse-transcriptase and endonuclease and chaperone proteins) of SARS-CoV-2 into the DNA of patients (i.e. their nuclear DNA). The senior author is the renowned scientist Rudolf Jaenisch who together with Beatrice Mintz, produced the first-ever transgenic mammals by injecting retroviral DNA into early mice embryos. He is a professor of biology at MIT and his lab based in the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research works on epigenetics and epigenome editing and transgenic models to understand neurological disorders and cancer and has recently included research on SARS-CoV-2. This research focus is shared by his co-authors, who also are postdoctoral researchers at his lab. The first author, Liguo Zhang studies epigenetics and nuclear organization in the nervous system and how their misregulation leads to diseases, followed by Alexsia Richards who is currently examining the tropism and transcriptional response to SARS-CoV-2, Andrew Khalil focuses on understanding the role of the adaptive immune system in regulating metabolism, Emile Wogram combines stem cell technologies, genome engineering, biochemistry, and proteomics to study microglial phagocytosis, and Haiting Ma is concerned with studying signaling pathways and epigenetics of stems cells differentiation and maturation into functional lineages. Richard A. Young also a professor of biology at MIT and a member of the Whitehouse Institute pioneer in the systems biology of gene control in health and disease also participated in this research.

Nevertheless, these findings are raising many eyebrows among the scientific community, especially under the current climate where an mRNA-based vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is already approved in some countries and another one to be soon authorized (see here and here if you want to learn more of the current status on vaccines’ roll out). Scientists from fields ranging from immunology to cancer biology to the closest it gets to the topics being addressed in the polemic study, mobile elements, transposons, and endogenous viruses as well as clinical virology, have sharply criticized the soundness of their conclusions and are calling for the retraction of the preprint.

A major concern is the adequacy of the experimental assays used to support the hypothesis of retrotransposition events. Zhang et al. (bioRxiv, 2020) report to have found chimeric transcripts of fused viral and cellular sequences in published data of cultured cells and primary cells of patients. They overexpressed human LINE-1 or HIV-1 reverse transcriptase in cells which were then infected with SARS-CoV-2 and applied a single-molecule RNA-FISH (i.e. an in situ hybridization method that uses probes of multiple oligonucleotides to detect individual  RNA molecules inside of single cells https://sites.google.com/site/singlemoleculernafish/home?authuser=0) to confirm that viral sequences were integrated and detected their transcription in the nucleus of the cells overexpressing LINE-1. They also analyzed published data on LINE-1 expression in cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 and chimeric read abundance and found a correlation between these two. Furthermore, they suggest a molecular mechanism by which LINE-1 expression can be stimulated under SARS-CoV-2 infection via cytokines. However, Cedric Feschotte a professor at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in Cornell University with 20 years of experience studying mobile elements points out that these experimental approaches are insufficient to sustain an in vivo retrotransposition because they omit gold standard techniques such as isolating and reporting of “the sequence of the integrants along with flanking genomic regions (junction sequences spanning both viral and flanking DNA)” and fail to present hallmarks of the proposed LINE-1 dependent process (e.g. short direct repeats flanking integrant, integration at preferred L1 endonuclease cleavage site [TTTT/AA], polyA tail at the 3’ end or chimera with the 3’ end of endogenous L1/Alu). A generalized opinion among critics of Zhang et al. (bioRxiv, 2020) is that the chimeric reads are likely to be artifacts of library preparation or template-switching events and that their approach does not rule out these possibilities.

Aris Katzourakis, a professor of Evolution and Genomics at the University of Oxford whose research is centered in the study of ancient viruses and uses endogenous viral elements, including retroviruses tweeted: “ … genomic integration of coronaviral DNA is highly implausible, given there is not a single known genomic fossil of integrated coronaviruses in any know host genome that has ever been sequenced to date.” Which is a strong and educated argument (yet not a smoking gun) against the evidence presented by Zhang et al. (bioRxiv, 2020). Moreover, various academics argue that even if substantiated under experimental conditions, is a whole different thing to prove retrotransposition happening during natural infection with SARS-CoV-2. Clinical scientists draw attention that is definitely not unique to SARS-CoV-2 the persistency of viral debris in tissues of convalescent or recovered patients (even though its mechanism and clinical relevance remain subject to discussion e.g. see here). Altogether, they agree that its clinical relevance is far from proven and unlikely to exist.  

As dull as it is for me, I am merely a spectator here since, despite my keen curiosity for genetic mobile elements, I have very limited first-hand experience on these subjects. I do think that a take-home message is that probably many features described as novel or unique to SARS-CoV-2 (which sometimes alarm scientists and the general public alike) might be in fact more ubiquitous than the flood of SARS-CoV-2 scientific papers would have us believe. In my opinion, the reason being that the acuteness and the timing in terms of technology and communications of this pandemic have powered studies at scales that have not been possible to conduct in other disease outbreaks. In other words, we are looking too much, too close, and perhaps missing a bigger picture (I have seen a strikingly low number of papers building upon previous knowledge on other coronaviruses, especially at the clinical level). Whether or not SARS-CoV-2 integrates into our genomes and if so, whether this has clinical implications, is definitely something that cannot yet and should not be answered based on the findings by Zhang et al. (bioRxiv, 2020). It is also safe to say, that whereas the semantics can be confusing for the general public, even if retrotransposition is later proven to occur in vivo during natural infections, there is still a long shot from there to assert that this implies a direct risk for mRNA vaccines to integrate into our genomes because they are designed such that they do not interact with our DNA (they do not go inside the nucleus, you can read more about the different vaccines and their mechanisms here). Having said that, clinical usage of mRNA vaccines is new, and we will be confirming and learning more about how they (hopefully well!) work soon.

Lastly, I want to share that my motivation to write this piece was not so much the hot topic that SARS-CoV-2 is but rather the atmosphere that this paper as others in various fields which present (seemingly) premature conclusions and bold takes have triggered. This paper has the feature of being presented as a preprint. Preprints have the goal of allowing the scientific audience “to see, discuss, and comment on the findings immediately” before peer-review is completed. Therefore, while I find most critiques to this paper very compelling and I strongly agree that when a bias or unsubstantiated evidence is identified, this should be acknowledged and corrected, I consider a poor scientific practice to demand a retraction of a publication at a stage that has precisely the aim of calling for discussion. I am talking now of a number of papers I have seen being targeted by similar reactions. The intentions of authors cannot be, of course, inferred, so why not waiting for them to take part in the discussion before deploying what seems like attempts to bowdlerize rather than enriching, correcting, or helping improve. Has not this been the case of most wondrous and prodigious scientific findings and technological advances? In the past, findings that were about to change the world but too odd for their surrounding context (please let me be clear that I am not referring to any particular paper that I believe to have such potential, but rather to a general attitude towards outliers of the mainstream) were met by generalized disbelief and mockery. I thought that we have already moved away from the practices that discourage sharing surprising results. Of course, there is a thin line between sharing to prompt healthy discussions and incurring unethical practices, but where are going to end up if we try to ban everything that does not comply with our preconceptions? And even if claims end up being wrong, how are we supposed to ensure that they are corrected if we promote distrust and an unwelcoming arena. Is this a retrogression powered by a more than ever intolerant society? or it never left and is it just becoming evident as communications allow it? I think we should do better.

[kcostanz]

disclaimer: I’m going to be existential & sad before I turn it around

As 2020 wraps, I find myself increasingly absorbed by understanding the practices that I’m newly drawn to. The things I’ve chosen to connect with to get through what has certainly been the most unexpected year of my life, and perhaps that of billions of others. Even making such a grand statement still boggles my mind. Taking a moment to step outside of my life to acknowledge this global reality always gives much needed perspective. Life has been altered in wholly unforeseeable ways for billions of people this year. 

Exactly how our lives and worlds have been reshaped certainly looks different for each and every one of us. Our realities are constructed by so much: where we live, who we live with, what we do each day, our job, or the roles we play in society as a whole. Every life looks different, but the pandemic’s impact on these answers (and many more) is ever-changing and harshly felt. 

Reflecting on my own journey that has been navigating covid-19 and its impact on the world centers upon my age. Being 22 years old right now feels like constantly being stuck at a major life inflection point. In many ways I’m at the height of decision making- important ones at that, that will guide (the beginnings of) the rest of my life. Existential and perhaps a bit dramatic I know, but the pandemic exacerbates these emotions, so throw me a bone. 

I spent the first 21 years of my life on a set path, a regulated track that unknowingly provided an absurd amount of comfort. I went to public school K-12, graduated high school, and attended a 4-year institution, long awaiting the fantastical graduation year that for so long existed as a far-off fantasy: 2020. 

That momentous final semester was different than expected, but I can’t complain. I spent the last 3 months of college with a small handful of my closest friends, attended classes from the comfort of my bed, and graduated in my tiny apartment with two of my closest friends who hung around until the end. 

I procrastinated packing and cleaning my apartment until the last possible moment as my disapproving landlord approached to conduct the final walkthrough. Unsurprisingly, I left with a fraction of the security deposit, and the hard learned lesson that expo marker writing does not always come out of refrigerators (as the All Purpose spray, Oxi-Clean, bleach, hot water, soap, and eventually, shamefully, white paint can attest). 

With a egregiously packed car and zero rear view visibility, I was off. I blasted oldies with a twinge of liberation- I think I recall Born to Run (don’t worry, I am indeed embarrassed). I left all four windows down until I could no longer stand the sound of garbage bags flapping. Five short hours later I pulled into the driveway of my childhood home in Rochester, NY (with a broken mirror in the trunk no less- unsure if I’m superstitious but it felt like bad luck). 

The latter half of 2020- from June until now, has been full of unknowns, decision making in the dark, and hard fought self motivation. Vivid mixes of emotions old and new. 

First the dread of moving back in with parents as a young adult, and the stubborn resistance to fully unpack, so as to not get “too comfortable” at home. I now know such a thing is impossible for many reasons, one being that regardless of the lighting, art, and design, the girly pink walls of my childhood bedroom have proven immutable. 

Following this initial shock were extreme levels of self-induced pressure to find a job, do nothing but apply to jobs, and then bask in dejected feelings of never being able to get a job. While in the process, fully isolating myself from others, because I simultaneously felt I had too much to do, but yet was never really doing a thing. That concept has been fun to sit with. It comes with the realization that the carefree bliss of not having a single thing to do- say for a month long winter break- is officially gone. The list of things you could (and probably should) be doing is endless- welcome to the real world, Kate!

August was a blessed, beautiful month that, at the risk of (again) sounding dramatic, I am eternally grateful for. During this sweltering month I lived out of a car for nearly 3 weeks, camping with two pals throughout Utah and Wyoming. Even hitting a deer at 9pm, in a no-cell service zone, in the middle of a State Forest in Wyoming was a welcomed adventure at this point. A broken transmission, impromptu camping, two-hour tow truck ride, countless insurance calls, hostile car dealership conversations, two rental cars later, and we were back on track. This (incomplete) list of challenges provided beautiful life experience however, imparting lessons I could never fully know until I lived them. 

Returning home was as expected, a difficult transition back to monotony. Did I apply to vineyard jobs vaguely “out west?” Absolutely. Did I have it in me to go through with such a spontaneous life choice? Unfortunately not, though to my credit I did realize important goals that stood in the way of a dreamy vagabond existence. 

The fall has been a blur, and now there’s snow on the ground. I’ve found myself living for the future, and rarely ever for the moment, which is entirely antithetical to my personal philosophy. I have proclaimed my personal soundtrack to 2020 to be the loop of traditional Lebanese music that plays on repeat at my job as a server at Sinbad’s Mediterranean Cuisine (now as a takeout extraordinaire. And yes, despite the lack of in-person customers we are indeed instructed to play the CDs as per usual). This work, or my role as a part-time nanny is far from fulfilling (though the kids are darn cute), but that’s not the point for now. “At least I’m saving!” has been my most reliable source of positive encouragement, nearing personal mantra. 

I write this from my childhood bedroom, sitting at my desk, which was once our kitchen table circa 2002. It is as wobbly as it is sentimental, and I love it. The desk faces a window, the sill littered with glassware and candles because I have a thing against artificial light. I have a total of five notebooks, half opened, each containing swirling levels of thoughts, drawings, organization, calendars and to do lists. An orange caricature of a topless french woman sunbathing sits in front of me, reminding me that “TOUT VA BIEN!” (that everything is fine). And in minutes I will be dancing to the Moana soundtrack or drawing christmas trees and unicorns with 3 and 4 year olds. A snapshot of my life, at 22 years old, in 2020. 

Despite my life not being what I expected, or what I wanted it to look like as I embark on what’s supposed to be the most adventurous, spontaneous, and simply well-lived decade of my life, it is what it is, and as the french lady says, everything is fine. I have two part-time jobs, unforeseen savings, quality family time (both for better and for worse), my mom’s cooking, and a roof over my head. In a world with inconceivably high death tolls, rising unemployment and homelessness rates, and the constant, precarious fear of general loss, I have infinite blessings to count.

Life does feel like a giant waiting game though. How can one strategically plan out what comes next in their individual life when the entire world remains a massive question mark? In a time when we feel trapped, impatiently waiting for opportunities, experiences, and adventures to reopen, waiting feels hopeless. Because it is. If you’re unhappy with the opportunities before you, create your own.

I’m not saying I’m doing a stellar job at this myself- and as you can see I certainly struggle with my fair share of existential pessimism (day in and day out). But doing things has a certain electrifying feel that ignites and empowers you to build a meaningful life. I’m producing a web series with a group of similarly listless 20 somethings who are also doing their best to be creative and productive from the confines of their family homes. I’m practicing yoga and meditation really to cope with my own stress and internal anxieties, but in doing so am creating new habits and mindsets that will certainly outlast the pandemic. I’ve connected with a group of strangers by dancing to shamantic and electronica music in various outdoor locations throughout Rochester. Whoa! Never would I have imagined finding such deeply liberating peace through ecstatic dance of all things, but hey 2020 is full of surprises. 

This position I’m in is both uniquely my own through my personal experiences, and also shared by more people than I could imagine. Maybe only bits and pieces resonate with you, or maybe you are living your best life in the city of your dreams with a fabulous career in a lovely home with the world’s best roommates. But even if that’s you- you’re missing out on something too. The whole world is. We feel disconnected, disjointed, digitally controlled and consumed, and despite who we surround ourselves with- isolated. We’re stuck living in a world of “once this is over I’ll….” and no matter who you are it feels damn weird to spend so much time in your head dreaming of a future rather than living it out in the now. 

So… solutions? As we all know, you only have so much control during a global pandemic (very little to be exact). But what you can control is how you live your life during it. I certainly won’t preach to what works and pretend like I’ve figured it out- that work is no one’s to do but your own. But I do feel that so much comes down to mindset, perspective, mental health and ultimately finding ways to seek inner peace. 

Potential solutions are abundant, and have been explored by more people now than ever before. Though there is no recipe to conquer the inevitable fears, concerns and anxieties that accompany the pandemic and this phase of life, I’m interested in further exploring some of the ones that work for me. How is something as simple as breathing so helpful? 

Finding inner peace is a sought after skill in 2020. I have endless gratitude to all of the incredible humans who have served as a source of learning, and have helped me to tap into positive internal energy. My intention is to look into some of the causes of (my personal) covid-realted inner turmoil and the solutions that have brought some serenity into my life. Though they may not always be long lasting, some answers are better than none. Here’s to writing for no one, and thank you for listening. <3 

[stateweeder8-blog]

Hifu Skin firm

vaginal tightening Up In Uk.

Content

claim So lengthy Cellulite In just 8 Weeks! charm guru Kate Shapland Shares Revolutionary recommendations.

exists An Age limitation For This type Of surgery?

Air Liquide In The Uk.

What Is Hifu Treatment For Face?

pearly Whites lightening therapy.

Once the light beams get to the pertinent midsts of the skin, they will certainly converge, developing little and also unnoticeable 'mini openings' within the skin. Our non-surgical Vaginal Tightening therapy utilizing the revolutionary FemiWand ® technology. The FemiWand ® makes use of High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound that has an enduring record of method for clinical applications.

say So long Cellulite In simply 8 Weeks! charm guru Kate Shapland Shares Revolutionary recommendations.

Is it bad to have Cellulite at 14?

It is completely normal! Most of the time it occurs around the hips thighs and bum and is caused by fat deposits under the skin pushing up towards the surface, creating an uneven or dimpled appearance.

This week I have another session on my stomach location, It does require time, however it does function. Had the fat freeze in December and also i am so pleased with the results, I've decreased 2 outfit sizes. I'm currently a dimension 16 and also have actually booked in for an additional 8 applicators, i can not fault this business whatsoever! the only unfavorable responses i have is that it made me go to the commode so typically but that's reasonable as my body was just getting rid of the waste. I previously had an instance of the guy boobs so I got a cryolipolysis treatment to reduce these. I'm pleasantly shocked by the results as well as I have practically no fat in that area anymore.

having my second treatment of cryo done, have seen a big difference after my very first treatment on my tummy. my skin does feel tighter but i haven't seen any results yet as it does take 6-8 weeks to see outcomes so i am captivated to see what results i obtain. came in for hifu face lift last month and determined to obtain my jaw location and neck done too after talking to the professional. i was a little bit afraid initially as i do not like uncomfortable treatments but it was not painful it just really felt awkward in certain areas.

exists An Age limitation For This type Of surgical Procedure?

When I was called for my consultation, they attempted to market me a program of 3 treatments. I was skeptical about the treatment so declined on the basis I would see if I obtained any kind of outcomes initially. When I asked what the success rate was for this treatment, the person informing me concerning the therapy she stated she didn't have any numbers as well as Outcomes vary from person to person.

really happy with my facelift therapy, would advise to anybody as well as would certainly suggest going for the full works as it is absolutely worth it. I have seen outcomes after 3 months and also my face looks amazing, i am extremely pleased.

Why do men not get cellulite?

“Men, on the other hand, have much stronger connective tissue and much less subcutaneous fat, so they normally do not develop cellulite”, Georgios adds.

Air Liquide In The Uk.

The treatment i had opted for was the superficial treatment, so just waiting for outcomes. I have my fourth session of ultrasound reserved for next week and also I am really happy with the price at which my double chin is beginning to lower in size. The car park is a little bit aggravating though as no person clarified originally that there was no free car parking offered outside however when I called, a wonderful girl offered me instructions to a close-by car park. fantastic solution and also team member, prices are economical and worth the cash. I would extremely recommend this treatment if you have any type of interest in the tightening up of your girl bits.

Does cupping help cellulite?

Do cellulite cups really work? A small study in 2014 found that dry cupping therapy is an effective treatment for cellulite as it stimulates lymph drainage and micro circulation. The results indicated that applying the therapy 10 times on each leg for this duration was 'efficient and safe for decreasing' cellulite.

What Is Hifu Treatment For Face?

The focus of the thermal power is specific as well as aids control the contraction of the muscles and also strength to curb the invasiveness. The process guarantees results and comfort for every individual as well as takes the quickest time feasible to go back to the normal regimen. The therapy is additionally appropriate for those with various other vaginal issues, including genital prolapse, endometriosis, pelvic leisure and pelvic discomfort. There are no contraindications for FemiLift if you are taking the contraceptive pill, have a contraceptive implant or have formerly had a hysterectomy. FDA authorized given that 2014 for the therapy of post-menopausal vaginal degeneration with dyspareunia which leaves numerous ladies incapable to have intercourse as a result of dryness and also pain on penetration. The FemiLift CO2 laser provides power roughly 0.5 mm deep into the genital skin as well as develops small, white, ablated dots of damaged cells on the mucosal cells inside the genital canal. The FemiWand is a nine-minute therapy, boosting genital muscle strength as well as tightness - and also the results can last for greater than TWO years.

To start with, this non-invasive genital therapy approach is painless as well as calls for no downtime. Besides, it just takes 20 minutes, thus do not interfere with your normal life. As said earlier, this is a non-invasive vagina firm approach. The technique is well made to restore and repair vaginal walls without needing to utilize numbing or anesthetic creams. Numerous clinical as well as analytical looks into have actually been done on this innovation. It is accredited secure as well as authorized for usage in medical practice. A study by the US National Institute of Wellness in December 2015 verified that the treatment is risk-free, effective and also non-evasive, and has a positive enduring impact on skin laxity.

It has actually been simply over a month given that I had the femiwand treatment. I was truly hoping that the treatment would certainly have remedied the damages of being obese etc. i had a therapy at the new clinic in birmingham, i should say it is a charming clinic and it is a bonus offer that they have vehicle parking on site. the facility itself is spick-and-span as well as neat as well as all personnel are well specialist. i was supplied a beverage on arrival as well as was provided the wifi password and if i desired any type of magazines. I had the fat freezing therapy at the Bham facility, and i have to claim it went well. It had not been uncomfortable in any way and also i had an extremely pleasant experience.

The ultrasound procedure focuses the thermal power on the superficial muscular aponeurotic system of the vaginal cells. This leads to tightening of the muscular tissues which in turn tightens up the muscle.

teeth lightening therapy.

Many customers report no pain and need no downtime after the treatment. Therapies are scheduled at 4 or six-week periods, and also the majority of clients see take advantage of one or two therapies. The treatment is proper for healthy females over the age of 30 that are trying to find vaginal renewal. Clients who are breastfeeding or expectant are not recommended for the therapy. We suggest customers to wait at the very least 3 months after a normal giving birth prior to having the FemiWand ® treatment. The sole function of this procedure is to boost the lifestyle. Females who succeed in recovering their vaginal area tightness have a tendency to be extra positive and also have admirable self-esteem.

Various other long-lasting results of the treatment include tightening up as well as restoration of vaginal cells. Clients should have the desire for a tighter, much more youthful-looking vaginal area to get FemiWand ® . Because every lady's body is different, your aesthetician will talk about the ideal number of therapies to fit your needs as well as objectives. Vaginal tightening with FemiWand ® requires no downtime, as well as clients can return to normal life quickly adhering to the treatment. FemiWand ® is the ideal choice to considerable, intrusive surgery to bring back the youthful appearance as well as feature of the vagina. FemiWand ® is a 20-minute treatment that can be carried out on your lunch break.

This is since the PSA blood test is not specific to prostate cancer cells.

Increased PSA levels additionally can't inform a medical professional whether a man has dangerous prostate cancer cells or otherwise.

This aids the specialist target the cancer so that less of the healthy and balanced cells is damaged.

The probe likewise makes use of ultrasound to produce images of the prostate while your cosmetic surgeon is treating it.

It can likewise be duplicated needs to your cancer repeat, and also it does not exclude various other therapies if needed such as radiotherapy or surgical procedure.

Your PSA level can additionally be raised by various other, non-cancerous conditions.

Sonablate is a state-of-the art, non-invasive clinical device that damages tissue in the prostate utilizing concentrated ultrasound.

The risk of side effects over a ten-year duration are unidentified however are anticipated to be better by the nature of the treatment as there is less damages to the prostate and bordering organs and also tissue.

On the various other hand, tightening the vaginal area aids sexually energetic ladies to enjoy their bed room matters with their other halves. Also if vaginal area looseness is seldom spoken about, it is a critical condition that can make ladies really feel unfortunate, disappointed, embarrassed, and awkward with their bodies.

excellent facility

I had the surface and also the muscle treatment done as I have had 2 youngsters sen differ from leak. I did not experience any discomfort or pain as well as I am expecting feelin results ideally this therapy will assist me as well as tighten up things up! I had the femiwand treatment done yesterday at the Manchester center as well as was instantly put at simplicity by the doctor. The areas i had actually done are now looking very glowing and also I'm very satisfied with the outcomes, I will certainly for sure be returning in for an additional treatment. Aftercare therapy was offered and its been 2 days and im feeling good. I had actually undertaken the treatment for the femi wand genital therapy, and also it was slightly unpleasant. However the specialist was extremely gentle and offered me with a lot of aftercare guidance as well as was extremely pleasant and inviting.

Extra recently, HIFU has been effectively used for cosmetic therapies consisting of skin laxity. Use cellulite treatments to schedule a vaginal tightening assessment. A female expert will get in touch to discuss your needs. The ultrasound is flawlessly secure, as well as unlike lasers can exceed the surface of the genital cells to intensify the impacts of the therapy. A PRIVATE cosmetics clinic has been ordered to remove an advert promoting its vaginal rejuvenation treatment after the UK's advertising and marketing watchdog deemed it "misleading" and "irresponsible".

Why does my stomach look like it has cellulite?

Cellulite most definitely occurs when you gain weight — in women, it tends to be most noticeable in the areas where women are prone to gain the most weight (the stomach, thighs, and backside) — and when that body fat grows, it enlarges and pushes against the connective fibers under your skin.

The locations I had them on were a little bruised for a couple of days however quickly cleaned up. It's not a magic stick and also I really did not end up being design slim overnight, so any individual who thinks that is what will certainly take place will be dissatisfied. My transformation is going along fantastic and I would certainly reccomend vivo facility. Had the Cryolipolysis therapy therefore far the outcome is impressive I have actually dropped a pants dimension most definitely suggest this therapy. My companion enjoys i more than happy would very advise this therapy if you've had kids or suffer from leak. i purchased additional applicators for the location as well as made a decision to have a couple of sessions done. I didn't inform my close friends and individuals that knew me, remarkably everybody was discovering I was trimming.

What is the best cellulite cream?

Best Overall: Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream. Best Splurge: Augustinus Bader The Body Cream. Best for Arms: Revision Skincare BodiFirm. Best for Legs: Body Merry Cellulite Defense Gel-Cream. Best for Stomach: Glytone Slim Design Cellulite Day Cream. More items•

The registered nurse was charming but no prior to photos were taken ... so even if I did buy a course, there's no other way of recognizing it's worked !! She told me that the treatment would not firm my skin whatsoever regardless of the advert on wowcher stating it would certainly !! The treatment lasted half an hour, wasn't particularly unpleasant yet I am not holding my breath for any type of results. The exact same 'sales representative' then attempted to offer me some cream prior to I left. Also aggressive and not enough understanding about their treatments or success rates. The therapy has been established with the very same innovation that has actually been properly made use of in non-surgical renovations. Merely, this involves releasing several ultrasound beams into the skin.

my spouse has additionally observed a difference in that location and enjoys with what he has actually seen. i would certainly have a secound therapy to tighten up the area slightly a lot more. I have had a HIFU treatment with Vivo Clinic as well as have actually had fantastic results.

[rewritingtrauma]

Permaculture Design Course

We dialled in from living rooms, bedrooms, caravans and gardens across 11 different time zones, from Abu Dhabi to California (with Brazil and Berlin somewhere in between). Our reasons for being here were all unique and yet all similar; concerns for the future; for the mass extinction event and loss of natural habitats; hoping to learn how to live sustainably; how to grow food naturally; how to produce more than we consume; how to change career; how to live without doing harm; and how to co-create a better world for our children and future generations to grow up in. In the context of one of the biggest worldwide pandemics in living history, this group of strangers met in the timeless hinterland of the online meeting room to explore, share, and learn about positive solutions both now and for our futures... 

I stumbled across The Permaculture Design Course quite by accident (as I was looking for ways to make my struggling garden thrive rather than merely survive) but, over the course of a month, this unexpected experience changed my life completely... For the first time in 35 years I feel that I have been given access to a toolkit for living - a set of frameworks, processes and principles which speak entirely to what I feel and know to be real and right - for how to be and live in the world in deeply connected, holistic and sustainable ways... At a moment when I was feeling incredibly helpless and overwhelmed by global and personal circumstances, the PDC and this group of wonderful, disparate strangers, appeared “as if by magic” and turned around the whole way I understand myself, my power, and my place in the world. On my ‘rewriting trauma’ journey the PDC has been an invaluable turning point and has provided me with the maps and materials I most need (though may not have been looking for) for going forwards... 

Since finishing the course I have been asked numerous times by friends, family and neighbours “What IS Permaculture, exactly...?” And I have responded with numerous answers (according to who was asking, their reasons for asking and the context in which the question was asked) but I would like to take this opportunity to address that question, in the best way I know how, through the precious and manifold ideas and conversations which came up throughout the course. I want to respond to the question “What is Permaculture?” in this way (rather than offer a singular narrative) because I believe this embodies and reflects much more of the essence of what Permaculture is : a set of principles, processes and frameworks for living which can be tailored to the particular and specific answers and solutions each one of us seeks in our own, unique context. 

Word bubble formed from the PDC reactions to the question “How do you define Permaculture?” 2nd June 2020

“You can’t have sustainable food production without sustainable everything else.”

                                                                                                           Graham Bell,                                                                                            Online PDC, June 2020

June 2020 was an astonishing and deeply challenging month in so many ways… Personally, I was forced to face the vulnerability of my own situation; my reliance on shop bought food and uncertain income streams when, at the very outset of lockdown, literally all of my work dried up, my partner was made redundant and access to food was scarce and difficult. Then there was worse to come. In the late hours of the 16th of June, my cousin Beth died. The news arrived during one of our PDC sessions. She had been battling secondary and primary breast cancer. This is a heartbreak and a loss I am still trying to understand and process (but one which, had I not been held by this group and this experience, would have been so much harder to deal with). 

Meanwhile, on the international stage, people were facing so many additional threats and challenges posed by the Coronavirus Pandemic. The death statistics highlighted the social and economic inequalities, both at home and abroad, particularly along lines of race - with a disproportionate number of deaths and redundancies in people from BBIPOC (Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Colour) backgrounds. We saw deaths in refugee camps sky rocketing. These statistics were a bitter salt in the wounds of exhaustive and institutional racism which we saw enacted again and again from the refugee crisis in Syria and Yemen to the police murders of George Floyd in Texas, Israel Berry in Oregon, Tracy Downe in Florida and many more besides… Some of us white folx, in waking up to the scale and pervasiveness of institutional and embedded violence towards our African, Asian and South East Asian Diaspora friends, that we (I) started to understand our (my) own white fragility and the systems of dis/advantage which many of us have been complicit in. And it was amidst this context of great uncertainty and upheaval that the PDC took place... 

Over the course of the month of June, with three day-long zoom meetings a week and a handful of break out/additional sessions in between, we explored (amongst many things); the ideas and inspirations behind Permaculture; the centrality of Observation; Non Violent Communication; Patterns; Input & Output Analysis; Wild Design; Trees and Soil; Guilds - what they are, how they work, making our own; Arts and Culture(s); Landscape; Climate; Planning for the future; Alternative Exchange Economies; Food and Water; Six Coloured Thinking Hats; Plant Families and Nomenclature; Sociocracy; Healing; Cooperation vs Competition; Zones and Sectors; Needs, Wants and Offers… And many more things besides and between. 

Though I was not aware of it at the time (though I might have been, had I read the curriculum and course handbook in advance!) almost the entire first half of the PDC was taken up with the co-creation of a safe and productive learning space and culture.  

One of the first questions posed to the participants was from Kate Everett who asked “What makes learning work for you?”

I struggled to identify what had worked for me in the past but could instantly conjure what made learning not work: I thought of GCSE revision, 20 cups of tea a day, desperately cramming information into my head… I thought back to how long it had taken me to learn how to tie shoe laces or to put up a tent because of how much heat and anger there was from my father and his father that I couldn’t just do it… I thought of those feelings of shame, humiliation, stress and of shutting down when I was told I was an idiot and a failure… But then, interestingly, so many others in the group articulated similar experiences - “stress, school, competition”…Some people described themselves as lone wolves, others learnt better in groups, some benefited from working together over a problem or by sharing what they were learning… But what all of us agreed upon was the inhibiting effects of stress on learning and the need to enfold experimentation, play, overview and failure in order to make our learning journeys productive and engaging...

                                                 “Learning is love”

                                                                                                           Graham Bell 

Little did we know it at the time but all this information about our individual learning experiences was being observed, gathered and harvested… as we learnt about ourselves and one another we were also learning how to create the best learning (and hence growing) conditions for us as individuals and as a collective. Though we may not have fully realised it as it was happening, we are all in the “inverted classroom” : we had all become the teachers, as well as the students and would learn more from the collective than any single teacher or pedagogy could ever bestow...

Quotes and prompts I collected throughout the course 

“A person who doesn’t make a mistake probably doesn’t make anything” 

                                                                                                            Graham Bell

Mark Shiperlee introduced us to the concept of the Culture Board and we begin brain storming what factors are important to measure our course culture against. The factors we decided were of most importance to integrate into, and develop throughout, the course were;

Positive Solutions

Long & Short Breaks

Gift Economy

Time Keeping

Mutual Respect

Fun

Creativity

Task Setting & Reporting

Inclusion

Group Work

Connect With Nature

Throughout the course we would check in on the Culture Board regularly to determine what stage these various factors were at i.e. Seed; Sprout; Leaf; Flower; or Fruit. For me this was a valuable tool in understanding where the group felt our learning journey was at - which areas were working and which were not. It made this an easy, fluid and almost anonymised process and helped to address both the successes and the failures as we went along, understanding where energy needed focusing. This was one of many visual tools, along with The Life Ethics venn diagram, Six Thinking Hats, OBREDIMET, Looby’s Design Web, Input & Output Analysis, PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting) Analysis, Importance/Urgency Matrix, and Relative Location which I have continued to use in my own Permaculture Life/Design Processes…  

My LIfe Ethics Venn Diagram - i.e. the three main ethics of permaculture”Earth Care”, “People Care” and “Fair Shares” Where they all intersect is the core of Life Ethics 

During the course we were also given our own break out Guild groups with whom we had to develop ad present a Permaculture Design Project with (below is ‘an artist’s impression’ of our Guild The Four Acorns - Lynn, Siobhan, Lucy and myself.

“Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple” 

                                                                                                             Bill Mollison

By the third week of the course, with each one of our guild feeling exhausted by various life stresses (illness, work, family, bereavement, etc) we decided the best and most effective design we could work on was one for supporting each other as a guild whilst we embarked upon our permaculture journeys (the one thing which united all of us was that we wished to continue beyond the course). 

We started applying some of the tools and processes we acquired throughout the course to our own visions for the future. We started off with Holmgren’s Permaculture Design Principles;

Principle 1. Observe & Interact

We began our guild process by gradually getting to know one another, developing  & discussing  project ideas that would tap into all of our needs & aspirations. 

Principle 2.Catch & Store Energy

As we were all feeling a bit burnout we realised we needed to do something that would hold space and energy for us as individuals and a collective i.e. catch and store energy by making and holding space for one another. We wanted to encourage each other to feel safe enough to start exploring with new eyes and to assist each other’s courage in the face of major life changes.

Principle 3.Obtain a yield

We all wanted to carry on our development beyond the course and to share permaculture with others - so we asked the questions “How could we support one another in this?” But, in addition “What renewable resources and services did we have that we could use, share and apply?” and “What could we create - the main yield - within this guild?” We decided that the yield we could create in the present, but carrying into the future, was a space full of loving-support, inspiration, challenge and abundance.

Principle 4. Apply Self-regulation & accept feedback & Principle 5. Use & Value Renewable Resources and Services

As we began using permaculture tools to explore our individual designs, these processes enabled us to support and affirm one another; to share wisdom; tell stories; hear, value and integrate one another as individuals in a guild; become energised and strengthened by our diverse experiences, perspectives, knowledge(s), points of view; and to be challenged and strengthened by processes and making compassionate space for learning through failure too... And believe me, we did fail... 

Mind Map at the outset of my own Permaculture Life Design exploring my assets, helps/opportunities, limitations, needs, aims and potential tools & processes to employ

                         “It takes shit... literal shit... but then you get humus”

                                                                                                                   Siobhan

On the last day of the course all of the individual guilds presented their design projects and it was amazing to see the wealth, depth and diversity of those ideas and the tools and processes (which we had been given throughout the course) put into action. There were design solutions that addressed; food scarcity; social isolation; mental health issues; segregation; alienation; loss of habitat and species; water shortages; poor health; access to education; job losses; seed sharing; community spaces; and so many more big issues. It was staggering.

In such a short space of time this small group of strangers had come together and, with the support of our guides and course leaders, co-created a network of support from across the world, positively enriching one another and the larger ecosystems each of us are a part of. It was a little island of paradise which cultivated an abundance of new perspectives, hope and courage. By showing us what might be possible and - rather than getting too mired in the negative/things we cannot control - looking to appreciate what we have, what we can be and what we can create together, the PDC taught us how diversity and collaboration can help us, both as individuals and a society, develop resilience in the face of the overwhelming challenges of our times.

It was an experience I will never forget and which I hope to keep alive as I go into the future (remembering to regularly use, sharpen and adapt those valuable tools)... 

[drnikolatesla]

Nikola Tesla Shares His Lifetime's Work and Discoveries on 81st Birthday

"At the close of 1889, having worked one year in the shops of George Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, I experienced so great a longing for resuming my interrupted investigations that, notwithstanding a very tempting proposition by him, I left for New York to take up my laboratory work, but owing to pressing demands by several foreign scientific societies I made a trip to Europe where I lectured before the Institution of Electrical Engineers and Royal Institution of London and the Societe de Physique in Paris. After this and a brief visit to my home in Yugoslavia I returned to this country in 1892 eager to devote myself to the subject of predilection on my thoughts: the study of the universe.

"During the succeeding two years of intense concentration I was fortunate enough to make two far-reaching discoveries. The first was a Dynamic Theory of Gravity, which I have worked out in all details and hope to give to the world very soon. It explains the causes of this force and the motions of heavenly bodies under its influence so satisfactorily that it will put an end to idle speculations and false conceptions, as that of curved space. According to the relativists, space has a tendency to curvature owing to an inherent property or presence of celestial bodies. Granting a semblance of reality to this fantastic idea, it is still self-contradictory. Every action is accompanied by an equivalent reaction and the effects of the latter are directly opposite to those of the former. Supposing that the bodies act upon the surrounding space causing curvature of the same, it appears to my simple mind that the curved spaces must react on the bodies and, producing the opposite effects, straighten out the curves, Since action and reaction are coexistent, it follows that the supposed curvature of space is entirely impossible. But even if it existed it would not explain the motions of the bodies as observed. Only the existence of a field of force can account for them and its assumption dispenses with space curvature. All literature on this subject is futile and destined to oblivion. So are also all attempts to explain the workings of the universe without recognizing the existence of the ether and the indispensable function it plays in the phenomena.

"My second discovery was a physical truth of the greatest importance. As I have searched the scientific records in more than half dozen languages for a long time without finding the least anticipation, I consider myself the original discoverer of this truth, which can be expressed by the statement: There is no energy in matter other than that received from the environment. On my 79th birthday I made a brief reference to it, but its meaning and significance have become clearer to me since then. It applies rigorously to molecules and atoms as well as the largest heavenly bodies, and to all matter in the universe in any phase of its existence from its very formation to its ultimate disintegration.

"Being perfectly satisfied that all energy in matter is drawn from the environment, it was quite natural that when radioactivity was discovered in 1896. I immediately started a search for the external agent which caused it. The existence of radioactivity was positive proof of the existence of external rays. I had previously investigated various terrestrial disturbances affecting wireless circuits but none of them or any others emanating from the earth could produce a steady sustained action and I was driven to the conclusion that the activating rays were of cosmic origin. This fact I announced in my papers on Roentgen rays and Radiations contributed to the Electrical Review of New York, in 1897. However, as radioactivity was observed equally well in other widely separated parts of the world, it was obvious that the rays must be impinging on the earth from all directions. Now, of all bodies in the cosmos, our sun was most likely to furnish a clue as to their origin and character. Before the electron theory was advanced, I had established that radioactive rays consisted of particles of primary matter not further decomposable, and the first question to answer was whether the sun is charged to a sufficiently high potential to produce the effects noted. This called for a prolonged investigation which culminated in my finding that the sun’s potential was 216 billions of volts and that all such large and hot heavenly bodies emit cosmic rays. Through further solar research and observation of Novae this has been proved conclusively, and to deny it would be like denying the light and heat of the sun. Nevertheless, there are still some doubters who prefer to shroud the cosmic rays in deep mystery. I am sure that this is not true for there is no place where such a process occurs in this or any other universe beyond our ken.

"A few words will be sufficient in support of this contention. The kinetic and potential energy of a body is the result of motion and determined by the product of its mass and the square of velocity. Let the mass be reduced, the energy is diminished in the same proportion. If it be reduced to zero the energy is likewise zero for any finite velocity. In other words, it is absolutely impossible to convert mass into energy. It would be different if there were forces in nature capable of imparting to a mass infinite velocity. Then the product of zero mass with the square of infinite velocity would represent infinite energy. But we know that there are no such forces and the idea that mass is convertible into energy is rank nonsense.

"While the origin and character of the rays observed near the earth’s surface are sufficiently well ascertained, the so-called cosmic rays observed at great altitudes presented a riddle for more than 26 years, chiefly because it was found that they increased with altitude at a rapid rate. My investigations have brought out the astonishing fact that the effects at high altitudes are of an entirely different nature, having no relation whatever to cosmic rays. These are particles of matter projected from celestial bodies at very high temperature and charged to enormous electrical potentials. The effects at great elevations, on the other hand, are due to waves of extremely small lengths produced by the sun in a certain region in the atmosphere. This is the discovery which I wish to make known. The process involved in the generation of the waves is the following: The sun projects charged particles constituting an electric current which passes through a conducting stratum of the atmosphere approximately 10 kilometers thick enveloping the earth. This is a transmission of energy exactly as I illustrated in my experimental lectures in which one end of a wire is connected to an electric generator of high potential, its other end being free. In this case the generator is represented by the sun and the wire by the conducting air. The passage of the solar current involves the transference of electric charges from particle to particle with the speed of light, thus resulting in the production of extremely short and penetrating waves. As the air stratum mentioned is the source of the waves it follows that the so-called cosmic rays observed at great altitudes must increase as this stratum is approached. My researches and calculations have brought to light the following facts in this connection:

(1) the intensity of the so-called cosmic rays must be greatest in the zenithal portion of atmosphere;

(2) the intensity should increase more and more rapidly up to an elevation of about 20 kilometers where the conducting air stratum begins;

(3) from there on the intensity should fall, first slowly and then more rapidly, to an insignificant value at an altitude of about 30 kilometers;

(4) the display of high potential must occur on the free end of the terrestrial wire, that is to say, on the side turned away from the sun. The current from the latter is supplied at a pressure of about 216 billion volts and there is a difference of 2 billion volts between the illuminated and the dark side of the globe. The energy of this current is so great that it readily accounts for the aurora and other phenomena observed in the atmosphere and at the earth’s surface.

"For the time being I must content myself with the announcement of the salient facts, but in due course I expect to be able to give more or less accurate technical data relating to all particulars of this discovery.

"To go to another subject, I have devoted much of my time during the year to the perfecting of a new small and compact apparatus by which energy in considerable amounts can now be flashed through interstellar space to any distance without the slightest dispersion, I had in mind to confer with my friend George E. Hale, the great astronomer and solar expert, regarding the possible use of this invention in connection with his own researches. In the meantime, however, I am expecting to put before the Institute of France an accurate description of the devices with data and calculations and claim the Pierre Guzman Prize of 100,000 francs for means of communication with other worlds, feeling perfectly sure that it will be awarded to me. The money, of course, is a trifling consideration, but for the great historical honor of being the first to achieve this miracle I would be almost willing to give my life.

"My most important invention from a practical point of view is a new form of tube with apparatus for its operation. In 1896 I brought out a high potential targetless tube which I operated successfully with potentials up to 4 million volts from ‘96 to '98. This device was adopted by many imitators and with slight modifications it is employed even now in all research laboratories and scientific institutions here and in other countries, and virtually all atomic investigations are carried on with it. At a later period I managed to produce very much higher potentials up to 18 million volts, and then I encountered unsurmountable difficulties which convinced me that it was necessary to invent an entirely different form of tube in order to carry out successfully certain ideas I had conceived. This task I found far more difficult than I had expected, not so much in the construction as in the operation of the tube. For many years I was baffled in my efforts, although I made a steady slow progress. Finally though, I was rewarded with complete success and I produced a tube which it will be hard to improve further. It is of ideal simplicity, not subject to wear and can be operated at any potential, however high, that can be produced. It will carry heavy currents, transform any amount of energy within practical limits, and it permits easy control and regulation of the same. I expect that this invention, when it becomes known, will be universally adopted in preference to other forms of tubes, and that it will be the means of obtaining results undreamed of before. Among others, it will enable the production of cheap radium substitutes in any desired quantity and will be, in general, immensely more effective in the smashing of atoms and the transmutation of matter. I am hopeful that it will be possible by its use to carry out a process in which there should be no misses whatever, but only hits. However, this tube will not open up a way to utilize atomic or subatomic energy for power purposes. According to the physical truth I have discovered there is no available energy in atomic structure, and even if there were any, the input will always greatly exceed the output, precluding profitable, practical use of the liberated energy.

"Some papers have reported that I had promised to give a full description of my tube and its accessories on the present occasion. This has caused me a considerable annoyance--as, owing to some obligations I have undertaken regarding the application of the tube for important purposes, I am unable to make a complete disclosure now. But as soon as I am relieved of these obligations a technical description of the device and of all the apparatus will be given to scientific institutions.

"There is one more discovery which I want to announce at this time, consisting of a new method and apparatus for the obtainment of vacua exceeding many times the highest heretofore realized. I think that as much as one-billionth of a micron can be attained. What may be accomplished by means of such vacua is a matter of conjecture, but it is obvious that they will make possible the production of much more intense effects in electron tubes. My ideas regarding the electron are at variance with those generally entertained. I hold that it is a relatively large body carrying a surface charge and not an elementary unit. When such an electron leaves an electrode of extremely high potential and in very high vacuum, it carries an electrostatic charge many times greater than the normal. This may astonish some of those who think that the particle has the same charge in the tube and outside of it in the air. A beautiful and instructive experiment has been contrived by me showing that such is not the case, for as soon as the particle gets out into the atmosphere it becomes a blazing star owing to the escape of the excess charge.

"The great quantity of electricity stored on the particle is responsible for the difficulties encountered in the operation of certain tubes and the rapid deterioration of the same."

–Nikola Tesla

"Dynamic Theory of Gravity." July 10, 1937 (Prior to interviews with the press on his 81st birthday observance).

[aarjav-jain]

Complete course on Digital Marketing

Well, I know everything about this course. As I am the curator of one of these courses :-)

First I want to thank all my Tumblr readers, as of now we got 450+ enrollment from Tumblr.

And, I would like to write everything about this course here on Tumblr. So, I have asked the question myself.

First thing first, the story behind this course creation.

I was the school topper in my 12th grade from Guru Tegh Bahadur Public School, I got 96%. I was excited after that, as I got admission in Delhi University based on my marks.

Since after scoring such good marks and getting admission to Delhi University, I was hoping that now things will get easy in life.

But that sweet shell was broken on the day of orientation in the college, that day I saw more than 1500 students with the same marks and college in their hands.

And then I knew that this place is not for me, I can not achieve my dreams by following a regular path.

After reading hundreds of the article and watching hundreds of the video I came to know about Digital marketing and found that the scope of digital marketing has increased in the past at a faster rate and will be growing drastically in future also.

Then I decided to learn digital marketing, I joined a course for digital marketing in Delhi by paying 50,000, and after I was done with the course I was having good theoretical knowledge but no practical knowledge.

I started to watch Youtube videos and started reading Neil Patel's articles to brush up my skills and to gain some practical knowledge I go for 2 internships in Delhi and Noida. After 1 year I decided to launch a digital marketing agency, we started well with some potential clients.

Suddenly I clicked with an idea of starting some webinars to share knowledge of digital marketing, the motive of those webinars was to get digital marketing clients.

But instead of people asking for digital marketing services, people start asking whether we provide digital marketing course, that was the moment I decided to launch a course on Digital Marketing.

But there was one big hurdle that more than 50 institutions in Delhi are providing digital marketing courses from the last 5 years. The question was-

How to differentiate us from others?

To find the answer, I started enrolling for online courses at these institutions. I came up with 2 things that these institutes were not providing that was-

1. Practical knowledge

2. Marketing knowledge

3. Mentorship

By marketing knowledge here I mean is in the whole course the instructors did not explain what is marketing, they did not tell me what is consumer behavior, no one explains to me how reputed companies market themselves on different platforms. Instructors were only focusing on digital aspects of the course like website development, social media marketing, or SEO.

Digital marketing can not be learned by only watching the video and reading blogs. Mentorship is very important to learn digital marketing.

So once you will enroll in this course, you will be directly in contact with me. In the first lecture I clearly state that you need to implement everything that you are learning and when you find any queries or doubts, you will be directly contacting me for that. There will no online portal where you have to add your question and wait for the answer.

During the whole course, you will be only in contact with me not with my team members :-)

That was the answer to my question "How to differentiate us from others?". We decided to launch Digital marketing that will cover all the aspects of the Digital part as well as the marketing part. That is why name it as "A complete course on digital marketing".

In this course, we teach our students with a practical approach. We make sure that the marketing part is been covered in the course. In the course, there are 20+ marketing case studies of companies like Coke, Uber, and Starbucks that how these companies use marketing as their growth tool. Ever concepts of marketing like season marketing, cause marketing, emotion marketing is been discussed in detail, and many time in the course.

Now let's understand some other aspects of the course-

Course Audience (Basically who can enroll):-

I have developed the course keeping three types of audience in considerations.

This course is for:-

Marketer:- It is been said that one should always brush up their skills, if you are already in the marketing field and working as a marketing head, you should enroll in this course. Now the time is changing and the same with the demand for digital marketing over traditional marketing.

Business Owner/ Entrepreneur:- More than 120+ business owners enroll in this course and make their business online. It is a better option than hiring an agency and giving them at least 50,000 for doing your digital marketing. If you are having the time to learn from the course and implement, it is the best option you can get to make your business online.

Career seeker:- We help you to make your career in Digital marketing, you can enter into this field as a freelancer, affiliate marketer, have your own digital marketing agency, build your personal brand as an influencer or can apply for jobs at various positions like website developer, SMM expert, SEO expert.

Students:- Students enrolled in graduate programs like BCom, BA(Economics), BBA, BBM, BSc( Maths), BSc (Statistics) can always consider the digital marketing industry as their career choice. Every topic is explained from the beginning and we will be taking you to an advanced level step by step.

Though the course is made for the above four audiences, certain sections are focussed on just one of the above. But, since the course will progress in a systematic manner where the participant will get one video class a day, everyone has to complete all the sections.

COURSE FEE - Why not free?:-

1990/- Rs Though, we have distributed free copies of this course to many college students. We couldn’t make it free for all.

We did keep it free for 1 week and told everyone I knew about this course. But, they were 5 to 10 takers of this course.

Then we ran ads. Targeted ads to people looking for Digital marketing courses. And, we did 27 sales in three weeks.

I and my team decided to keep a price for the course to cover the cost of the website and video hosting and advertising.

Whatever we earn, we invest back in this website and ads.

In this course, I will be sharing my personal methods and experience that will help you to get digital marketing clients, getting jobs, working as an affiliate marketer. I helped a lot to the businessmen to take their businesses online with the help of this course.

All the experiences are shared :-)

Certificates along with the course:-

6 certificates from Google, that includes Google Analytics for beginners, advance and google ads, etc.

2 certificates from Hubspot that includes Email marketing and Hubspot marketing.

2 certificates from Facebook Blueprint.

I certificate from our organization for completion of course.

Idea is to reach out to a minimum of a million live in India and teach them digital marketing in common and simple language videos. There is a very high chance that when you are reading this answer, even this post is sponsored :-) And if you are interested in buying this USE QUORA5 as coupon code to buy the course. You will get a 5% discount.

What we offer:-

In this course, you will learn- Website development, Facebook Marketing, YouTube Marketing, Linked In marketing, SEO, Google Analytics, Affiliate marketing, Video Editing(Advance), Graphic designing(Basic), Analytical marketing, Google Ads, Social Ads, Google tag manager, E-commerce website development and marketing, E-mail Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Content Marketing, Marketing strategies insights.

I mean everything about DIGITAL MARKETING :-)

We will be providing you Elementor pro( page building software) free along with the course, worth Rs.14000/- and advance video editing software, worth Rs. 3000/-. These are provided so that you can learn digital marketing on the premium platforms. Please search them on Google :-). We are able to provide you these plugins at such a low cost because we use this software in our digital marketing agency.

You will be getting access to all the pre-recorded 90 lectures and software lifetime.

We also conduct 2 webinars every month, so that I can share the practical problem that I face in the digital marketing agency and share with you my real projects.

In the webinar, we focus on 2 things:-

The real-life digital marketing problems that I face working with my clients and ask my student in the webinar that what will you do if you were at my place. This actually gives them practical knowledge.

I work on my client's project in front of all of my students on the webinar. So that they will have knowledge that how to work at a professional level in this field and we provide the maximum level of practical knowledge to all our students.

The best part about these webinars is that you will be getting a webinar link in every 15 days so that you can learn digital marketing as long as you want. So learning never stops. 80% of the student continues watching these webinars even after completion of this course.

What you can do after the completion of this course?

After the completion of this course, you can get a chance of working as an intern in our Digital Marketing Agency and can earn some experience.

You can work as a Freelancer, many learners are working as a freelancer and earning 20,000–25,000 per month. One difficulty that you have to face working as a freelancer is getting the first 2 clients. After that things get easy.

You can have your own Affiliate website and can earn passive income from the Amazon Affiliate program in the form of commission. 20% of the learners are having their own websites and are on a path to build their own brand.

Start your own Digital Marketing Agency, this may seem a hectic task, but lot’s of methods are told in this course through with you can start your successful agency.

Apply for a job at various positions like website developer, SMM expert, SEO expert, and can have a stable job.

After this lockdown digitalization has become an obligation, nothing can stop you to get excel in this field. But with a single contingency “Will to work”

No knowledge is bad knowledge. :-) And, I had to make just one course for all. That's why I named it also “A complete course on Digital Marketing”

Thanks.

[lossplain4-blog]

financial education guide 98

Investing, Advice, Retirement And Banking

Introduction To Bank Accounts

Monthly Expenses — These 26 line objects permit the person to enter various month-to-month expenses. Assumptions 9 through 24 have particular headings which are supposed to symbolize frequent family expenses. Assumptions 25 through 34 allow the user to enter further personalized expense classes and corresponding dollar quantities. All greenback amounts for items within the Monthly Expenses class ought to be entered as positive numbers (don't enter unfavorable numbers despite the fact that they're cash outflows) in column F throughout from the suitable line merchandise.

What https://financialfreedomandeducation.com Of Bank Accounts Can I Open?

Throughout the mid and late 1990s, traders grew to become crazed over the Internet and the prospects for brand spanking new know-how growth. The shares of firms that were expecting to lose cash for years to return had been being bought at ridiculous prices. Countless folks moved cash from other investments into the technology sector in concern of missing a quick journey to riches. But as people began to think more rationally, many poorly run firms with unrealistic business plans began souring, and expertise shares plummeted. To additional make clear this level, Table 5.5 exhibits an instance of the calculations of these two ratios. Loan Maturity Date — Every mortgage will have a scheduled maturity date on which the final payment is due to absolutely repay the mortgage. However, an asset class can be damaged down extra granularly to incorporate particular person investment devices. For example, the definition of a fi xed earnings asset class can embody all forms of bonds amongst other investments. However, as discussed, there are numerous forms of bonds, and not all bonds carry out the identical under totally different economic and market conditions. For example, bonds issued by the U.S. authorities are perceived as being virtually threat free due to the stability and fi nancial strength of the United States.

What are the 3 rules of money?

Financial IQ is a measure of how well you do with money. Having a high financial IQ doesn't mean that your investments outperform the market or predict you'll retire a millionaire. Rather it means you handle money responsibly. You make smart money decisions and spend and save according to a plan.

It also explains that most financial service suppliers are business individuals themselves, and so they design and sell merchandise with a view to making a profit. Some service suppliers have been developed by groups of people to assist themselves and aren't profit oriented. The goal of the second booklet is to help folks to take inventory of their current livelihood strategies and decide in the event that they contemplate any of their enterprises as companies from which they hope to make a financial revenue.

Entrepreneurs need to ensure that they aren't giving up too much control and too much of an possession position in return for capital.

Variable Life Insurance Insurance salespeople make a considerably greater commission from selling variable life insurance when compared to time period life insurance coverage, which is commonly why they attempt to convince you that this is the better selection.

In addition, the actions of the enterprise shall be closely watched by any taking part traders.

One or extra seats on a company’s board of directors may be taken by angel traders or members of a enterprise capitalist fi rm, and ongoing reporting is often required and monitored.

In addition, variable life insurance coverage allows a portion of the premiums paid to be invested in securities such as stock and bond mutual funds.

Individuals and companies use checks to pay payments and make purchases. Bank Savings Accounts — A financial institution financial savings account (sometimes known as a passbook financial savings account ) permits the account holder to deposit money with a bank and have immediate entry to the money when needed. The bank usually pays the account holder a minimal amount of curiosity. Bank checking and financial savings accounts invested with a Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) insured financial institution are insured for up to $250,000 (the current threshold in 2009) by the federal authorities. In this case, the portfolio’s threat has elevated because of extra publicity to stocks and fewer exposure to bonds. ACTIVE AND PASSIVE INVESTING Two primary investment methods embody energetic and passive management approaches. An energetic investment technique is employed when an investor or fund supervisor uses forecasting tools, assumptions, and analysis to determine which securities to buy and sell and when. Active investing is intended to beat the market, meaning that by choosing individual securities, an investor can earn larger returns than a basic benchmark or market index. This course provides students with the fundamental construction of these organizations as well as the principles and tips that govern pre-employment education necessities. The automobiles, gear, and emergency mitigations strategies that are commonly used in the emergency- and fireplace-management subject are additionally explored. Approximately 18 months after the pilot, we invited participants to complete a follow-up examine. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot’s financial education interventions in encouraging non-budgeters to undertake sustained budgeting behaviours. We found that the pilot financial education interventions had overwhelmingly constructive lengthy-term results in bettering non-budgeters’ budgeting behaviours and confidence. Over half (54%) of those that started budgeting through the pilot were nonetheless doing so one and a half years later. Even extra promising was the finding that participants who have been budgeting had better financial outcomes than those who were not.

What are the 10 principles of financial management?

Financial intelligence (FININT) is the gathering of information about the financial affairs of entities of interest, to understand their nature and capabilities, and predict their intentions. Generally the term applies in the context of law enforcement and related activities.

For individuals with restricted spending needs, seeking the bottom annual payment is commonly the best strategy. Table 5.2 illustrates a simplistic example of how an annual payment can result in larger financing prices even when accompanied by a lower APR. According to a report by WIFR.com, the typical time earlier than someone realizes that their identity has been stolen is 12 to 18 months. Even worse is that 20 percent of Americans have reported some type of identity theft, and it takes folks up to 600 hours and $1,four hundred to fi x their identification and clear their credit score (). While derivatives can be utilized to scale back threat, they may also be used for speculative purposes. Many investors will create extraordinarily difficult positions by buying and selling numerous fi nancial derivatives at one time. When folks gamble and bet on the course of sure markets or securities using fi nancial derivatives, they can make or lose tremendous sums of cash. While few particular person traders will enter swap, choice, or futures contracts, a few of the investment companies and funds that you purchase could use such instruments. By distinction, father's and mother's education, opposite to expectations, didn't show statistically significant coefficients on the traditional ranges, indicating that parental education has no important influence on the individuals' financial literacy. In the same context, the literature suggests that folks play a significant function by influencing their youngsters's client conduct.