#role of education in human resource development

[writers-potion]

I'm writing a sci-fi story about a space freight hauler with a heavy focus on the economy. Any tips for writing a complex fictional economy and all of it's intricacies and inner-workings?

Constructing a Fictional Economy

The economy is all about: How is the limited financial/natural/human resources distributed between various parties?

So, the most important question you should be able to answer are:

Who are the "have"s and "have-not"s?

What's "expensive" and what's "commonplace"?

What are the rules(laws, taxes, trade) of this game?

Building Blocks of the Economic System

Type of economic system. Even if your fictional economy is made up, it will need to be based on the existing systems: capitalism, socialism, mixed economies, feudalism, barter, etc.

Currency and monetary systems: the currency can be in various forms like gols, silver, digital, fiat, other commodity, etc. Estalish a central bank (or equivalent) responsible for monetary policy

Exchange rates

Inflation

Domestic and International trade: Trade policies and treaties. Transportation, communication infrastructure

Labour and employment: labor force trends, employment opportunities, workers rights. Consider the role of education, training and skill development in the labour market

The government's role: Fiscal policy(tax rate?), market regulation, social welfare, pension plans, etc.

Impact of Technology: Examine the role of tech in productivity, automation and job displacement. How does the digital economy and e-commerce shape the world?

Economic history: what are some historical events (like The Great Depresion and the 2008 Housing Crisis) that left lasting impacts on the psychologial workings of your economy?

For a comprehensive economic system, you'll need to consider ideally all of the above. However, depending on the characteristics of your country, you will need to concentrate on some more than others. i.e. a country heavily dependent on exports will care a lot more about the exchange rate and how to keep it stable.

For Fantasy Economies:

Social status: The haves and have-nots in fantasy world will be much more clear-cut, often with little room for movement up and down the socioeconoic ladder.

Scaricity. What is a resource that is hard to come by?

Geographical Characteristics: The setting will play a huge role in deciding what your country has and doesn't. Mountains and seas will determine time and cost of trade. Climatic conditions will determine shelf life of food items.

Impact of Magic: Magic can determine the cost of obtaining certain commodities. How does teleportation magic impact trade?

For Sci-Fi Economies Related to Space Exploration

Thankfully, space exploitation is slowly becoming a reality, we can now identify the factors we'll need to consider:

Economics of space waste: How large is the space waste problem? Is it recycled or resold? Any regulations about disposing of space wste?

New Energy: Is there any new clean energy? Is energy scarce?

Investors: Who/which country are the giants of space travel?

Ownership: Who "owns" space? How do you draw the borders between territories in space?

New class of workers: How are people working in space treated? Skilled or unskilled?

Relationship between space and Earth: Are resources mined in space and brought back to Earth, or is there a plan to live in space permanently?

What are some new professional niches?

What's the military implication of space exploitation? What new weapons, networks and spying techniques?

Also, consider:

Impact of space travel on food security, gender equality, racial equality

Impact of space travel on education.

Impact of space travel on the entertainment industry. Perhaps shooting monters in space isn't just a virtual thing anymore?

What are some indsutries that decline due to space travel?

I suggest reading up the Economic Impact Report from NASA, and futuristic reports from business consultants like McKinsey.

If space exploitation is a relatiely new technology that not everyone has access to, the workings of the economy will be skewed to benefit large investors and tech giants. As more regulations appear and prices go down, it will be further be integrated into the various industries, eventually becoming a new style of living.

#writing practice #writing #writers and poets #creative writing #writers on tumblr #creative writers #helping writers #poets and writers #writeblr #resources for writers #let's write #writing process #writing prompt #writing community #writing inspiration #writing tips #writing advice #on writing #writer #writerscommunity #writer on tumblr #writer stuff #writer things #writer problems #writer community #writblr #science fiction #fiction #novel #worldbuilding

[bignosebaby]

If you've heard of black crested macaques or the Yaki monkey, it is probably this one:

This black crested macaque became famous in 2011 when the photographer David Slater was taking photos in the jungle of Sulawesi Indonesia where black crested macaques are indigenous fauna. Slater was not the photographer who captured this photo, however. It was the macaque who has since been commonly called Naruto who took its own photograph on Slater's camera. The famous monkey selfie sparked a copyright lawsuit brought by PETA onto Slater, which was settled in 2017 with an agreement that Slater would donate a percentage of any profits gained by the pictures Naruto took to organizations that protect this species in the wild.

For the millions who enjoyed Naruto's selfies online, the story ends there. For Naruto and the Yaki the story continues. The black crested macaque is critically endangered. Slater's website says he donates 10% of the proceeds of all "monkey selfie" merchandise to "a monkey conservation project in Sulawesi", and while he does not specify which conservation project he supports, there is one I know of that does incredible work.

Selamatkan Yaki is an operation with a huge impact. The Yaki is one of the most endangered primates in the world, and it can be difficult to gauge just how many of them are out there. This is where biodiversity monitoring comes in to produce the data needed for effective conservation protocol. A pilot study was conducted in Tangkoko Nature Reserve, which has created the blueprint for surveying the entire province using camera traps and remote sensing to observe the Yaki and their threats over time.

Using the data gathered from monitoring, Selamatkan Yaki collaborated with the government agency for natural resource conservation to create a Species Action Plan (SAP). This species action plan is not only an evidence based conservation plan designed to save the Yaki, but all the other species that share its forest home. Establishing the Yaki as a flagship species is crucial as this charismatic monkey is just one of many species that is not found anywhere else in the world.

One of the major threats Yaki face, like many other primate species, is hunting for wildlife trafficking and the bush meat trades. While hunting the Yaki is illegal, it takes a true culture shift to keep endangered animals out of traps and cages. Selamatkan Yaki has developed both community conservation and environmental education programs designed to unite local communities in protecting the species. The community conservation program involves surveys conducted since 2007 so that long term data on human-animal relationships can be tracked to best identify community conservation methods. This data is used in the environmental education program which introduces information on biodiversity and conservation to school curriculum and provides research opportunities and scholarships for post secondary students to contribute to conservation.

Selamatkan Yaki understands that it isn't enough to have a team of people dedicated to saving the black crested macaque-- the more people who care and help the better. Everyone has a role to play in conservation, but right now so many people outside Indonesia have only ever seen the black crested macaque once, in a photo online. That's why I'm partnering with Selamatkan Yaki to spread information about the work they do and the species they protect. To learn more about Selamatkan Yaki you can click the links in this post, and stay tuned for more on the black crested macaque.

#selamatkan yaki #black crested macaque #macaques #monkeys #wildlife #conservation #news #animal welfare #animals #endangered species #ecology #macaca nigra #yaki

[gothhabiba]

As noted in post-colonial and gender studies, there has long been a pattern of homogenizing and victimizing discourses, particularly in international agencies and NGO’s, that highlight the need of Western nations to intervene on behalf of “third-world women” and “save” them (Spivak 1988; Wood 2001). Robinson-Pant [notes] that it is common for women’s literacy programs, in particular, to become the gateway for other development interventions such as family planning or child nutrition. Collins and Blot note that literacy projects are not power neutral and argue that,

the interconnectedness of literacy, power and identity formation are unavoidable in thinking about relationships between colonizers and colonized. Colonized discourses often emphasize the “inherent” goodness of bringing education, enlightenment and civilization to formerly savage peoples – literacy becomes a legitimizing narrative for other colonial projects (2003:21)

Such positions were evident in U.S. government discourses about literacy and development during the time the Passerelle program was being developed [in Morocco]. This can be seen for example, in a speech made in 2006 by Dr. Paula Dobriansky, the former U.S. Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, in which she advocated for better education for adult women in developing contexts. In her speech, Dobriansky argued that women and girls should be viewed as “untapped resources” and “vital sources of human capital” for future economic and social growth (Dobriansky 2006).

Thus, in addition to gender, of central importance to understanding the power structures and ideologies underpinning USAID’s Passerelle methodology[] is a consideration of how discourses about literacy often link it up to notions of social and economic development. Collins and Blot (2003) identify these discourses as forming the “Literacy Thesis” [...]. They explain that,

the central claims of the [literacy] thesis are that writing is a technology that transforms human thinking, relations to language, and representations of tradition, a technology that also enables a coordination of social action in unprecedented precision and scale, thus enabling the development of unique social and institutional complexity (Collins and Blot 2003:17)

Numerous critiques of the literacy thesis [...] have since questioned whether literacy can in fact be viewed as a universal, unitary skill that is determinate of social realities or if it is rather embedded in and shaped by the particular, historically contingent cultural contexts in which multiple literacies can occur. [...] Despite [...] challenges to the literacy thesis, its pervasiveness in academic literature, development agendas and the pedagogy of local literacy programs in Morocco is striking.

Given the 2004 Free Trade agreement between the U.S. and Morocco, the emphasis on relationships between literacy and economic forces by U.S. officials, such as [...] Dobriansky, is not unexpected. Prendergast (2003) for example, has argued that since literacy is usually acquired in relation to institutions, it is necessary to consider what other functions these institutions serve. A significant portion of American financial and pedagogical support for adult literacy education in Morocco is funneled through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as illustrated by the Passerelle program. Among USAID’s “strategic objectives and goals” in 2006, was the goal of “Democracy and Economic Freedom in the Muslim World,” a plan, which “[confronts] the intersection of traditional and transnational challenges… [combining]… diplomatic skills and development assistance to act boldly to foster a more democratic and prosperous world integrated into the global economy.” Thus, any literacy promotion by USAID in Morocco should be considered in light of its broader mission statements and how increased literacy in Morocco is being imagined to align advantageously with them. USAID’s role and interest in promoting literacy in Morocco, can also viewed as a form of literacy sponsorship (Brandt 2001). Brandt explains that sponsors of literacy should be understood as “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, and model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold, literacy – and gain advantage by it in some way” (19). [...] Furthermore, Brant notes that, “in whatever form, sponsors deliver the ideological freight that must be borne for access to what they have” (20). In addition to transmitting ideological freight, perhaps indirectly, regarding language varieties and scripts, USAID also explicitly imposes ideological frameworks regarding notions of gender roles and human rights through the inclusion of Moudawana [Moroccan Family Legal Code] content in the Passerelle classroom.

— Jennifer Lee Hall, Debating Darija: Language Ideology and the Written Representation of Moroccan Arabic in Morocco (PhD dissertation), 2015, pp. 76-9.

#Jennifer Lee Hall #Morocco #U.S. imperialism #literacy #literacies #long post /

[thewales]

Oh so it's true. J-C is on loan at Kensington palace.

This from Hardman's book:

“Whereas his father operates his private office along the same lines as that of the late Queen – with a private secretary delegating downwards – the Prince and Princess of Wales have been “developing a more lateral command structure at their Kensington Palace headquarters. ‘The idea is to engender greater collective responsibility, strengthen the structure and avoid a single point of failure,’ says one of the team. Previously, the Prince’s right-hand man had been his private secretary, most recently Jean-Christophe Gray. A high-flying civil servant, Gray had previously worked for three chancellors of the Exchequer and a prime minister (David Cameron). He had arrived on loan from Whitehall to replace another civil servant, Simon Case. The fact that Case was leaving Kensington Palace to go back to the top job in the entire civil service, that of Cabinet secretary, was indicative of the importance which the government attaches to the work of the heir to the throne. One of Gray’s last tasks, before returning to the civil service himself in 2024, would be to split his job in two. The Prince and Princess of Wales would, henceforth, have both a ‘chief executive’, managing the whole show, alongside a private secretary covering the more constitutional side of things. These two would become part of the same ‘leadership team’, which would also include an assistant private secretary with specific responsibility for foreign affairs, in this case a former ambassador to Lithuania, David Hunt. It is seen as a priority to have another Welsh-speaking assistant private secretary who can handle Welsh interests.

The Waleses have additionally created the role of ‘chief operating officer’ (with a financial and human resources role). External recruitment consultants were summoned to ensure that the search for these vacant posts extended beyond the usual trawl of the armed forces and Whitehall. As Valentine Low has written, Prince William only hired an earlier press secretary after first checking that the applicant had not been educated at a top public school but, rather, at a comprehensive.The Kensington Palace team, at the time of writing, also includes the acting private secretary to the Princess of Wales, Natalie Barrows, a ‘KP’ staffer for many years, and the ‘Head of the Private Household’, Lieutenant Commander James Benbow. The former Royal Navy helicopter pilot and equerry occupies a chief of staff/Master of the Household role, running life beyond the public gaze for both the Waleses and their children.

#brf #the prince of wales #the princess of wales

[animalinvestigator]

hey! i havent had tumblr for a while but ive been thinking about cathys eldest sister who wants to run away when she turns 18. is she equipped at all to deal with the outside world? all of the kids seem pretty isolated. ty!

hello anonymous -- first of all let me just say, i am really touched that you remembered my story, and even a pretty minor character in it, and remained so interested that you sent this ask even after being away. really it means a lot more to me than i could ever articulate, i was so stunned and happy that you would. i appreciate it a lot. i really hope someday i can make the story real so that you'll be able to have all these answers without tumblr asks, LOL.

which made me think about -- how mysterious do i want to be to make sure everything still stays fresh if i ever do write it , lol. i thought for a bit about this, and i think i can still say plenty of things without giving away any plot beats or information i havent already shared. espescially about the character youre inquiring on ! so: about bridget.

even though bridget is a side character whose arc plays out largely incidentally in the background of the story, she's definitely the supporting cast member i've thought about most, because she shares a lot in common with catherine, but her motivation to escape is from a completely different perspective, and her approach is entirely different as well because of that.... i'm not sure how much i've talked about catherine's family's history, but they haven't always lived where they live, and they haven't always been as isolated as they are ; bridget is one of the few kids in the family who is old enough to remember a time when she was marginally less secluded from the world, where she was permitted to have relationships among a slightly broader community, instead of having no one and nothing outside of the nuclear family. this, combined with the amount of time she's spent living the way that she does, and the increased responsibility /mistreatment she incurred by being born first, leads her to a feeling that is shared between only her and cathy among her siblings, that something is deeply, implacably wrong with the only world she's ever known, and an abstract need to "run away" as a result.

UNLIKE cathy, bridget has the perspective to know that there does exist a world outside(though she's never been part of it) that she can run away to. because of this, and due to the repertoire she has built up over the years by adequately obeying her parents and avoiding their scrutiny, and her general grew-up-too-fast big sister maturity, she has the increased freedom and general skills she needs to actually enact an escape plan . to get to the meat of your question, though, that definitely does not translate exactly to being able to survive well and easily when she leaves. basically the only thing bridget has ever been is a homemaker, essentially; her days are commanded by the needs of her siblings and the demands of her parents, and there's little room for developing any sense of agency outside of her role as fill-in mother to the younger children in the family. i can't imagine there's anything she even wants to do when she gets out -- she wouldn't have any idea how to want things in the first place -- she has been actively discouraged from learning administrative adult tasks even as mundane as shopping for herself or driving a car out of a desire to keep her subserviant, and she has no safe grown-ups in her life to teach her these skills. she has no education outside of her family's """"homeschooling"""", and when she leaves, she will have no access to her legal paperwork, and no funds or resources whatsoever. which is all to say: bridget knows how to take care of herself and take care of her siblings and take care of her household, but she doesn't know how to be a human being, and she has none of the prerequesites that society would expect from her. even as the /least/ isolated member of the household, she's been completely cut off from any ability to develop as a person, form external relationships, and live without relying on her parents, because that's how catherine's parents maintain their sense of control.

so, the long and short of it is this: the reason that catherine's family is the way it is (and ESPESCIALLY in the case of bridget, whose obedience they rely upon to keep the household running smoothly) is that catherine's parents want to raise adult children, who are simultaneously competent enough to personally benefit the parents in keeping up appearances and in putting in less work themselves, and also so completley reliant on them ideologically, financially, and emotionally that they have no hope of surviving in the outside world. thta's the situation bridget is in when she decides to escape.

that being said, i think she's alright... much like cathy, i try to keep my own ideas for "what happens to this character" private, because i would really like to leave it at "there's no right answer". the main emotion i'm writing this story from is a feeling of lack of closure -- a story where nothing good happens, everyone is worse off at the end, and the main character is left all alone with her memories, wondering for the rest of her life if any of it even happened, not knowing if anything turned out okay, and having to carve out a place to live in that painful ambiguity... that being said, my hope for my own characters is that they'll have a happy ending in the audience's head.. and i feel like i can strongly picture bridget living in a big city somewhere very far away long after catherine's story ends, coming home after work to a tiny , mostly empty apartment, her own space, and thinking for the first time that she can finally breathe.

thank you so much again for your inquiry <3

#ocs #<33 :3 #hope its not too wordy

[flutterbyfairy]

i've been collecting resources and studies about myalgic encephalomyelitis for upcoming doctors appointments, and since there's a lot of misinformation about ME out there i thought i'd make a post with links and information that might be helpful for other ME patients, or just generally educational!

for anyone who doesn't know, myalgic encephalomyelitis is a debilitating multi system chronic illness. it's most characteristic symptom is post exertional malaise/symptom exacerbation (meaning symptoms getting significantly worse after exertion with prolonged recovery periods - see the diagnostic criteria linked below for more explanation). it has previously been called chronic fatigue syndrome, a name associated with claims of it being a psychosomatic condition rather than a medical one despite evidence to the contrary (here's a page with some information about the history of ME, and see the pathology section further down for evidence of ME being a physical disease). ME is also often comorbid with conditions like POTS (or other forms of orthostatic intolerance and dysautonomia), MCAS, and Small Fibre Neuropathy, and it's not uncommon for people who have long covid to develop ME. but yea! here's some links to resources i've gathered.

general resources/overviews:

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Primer For Clinical Practitioners 2014 Edition

Diagnosis and Management of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - ME Action

Initiating Care of a Patient With Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Medical considerations when treating urgently ill patients with underlying myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)

Caring for the Patient with Severe or Very Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Three Cases of Severe ME/CFS in Adults

diagnostics:

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: International Consensus Criteria <- just the criteria

Myalgic encephalomyelitis: International Consensus Criteria <- criteria with explanation of how and why it was developed

TESTING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SUSPECTED ME/CFS US ME/CFS Clinician Coalition

there are multiple ME severity scales, and exact definitions of what constitutes mild/moderate/severe/very severe vary a bit, but here is one: M.E. Disability Scale, another one is the ME/CFS Disability Rating Scale from ME Association, however the pdf on their website costs so i also have a pdf that i made with the text

pathology:

Brainstem volume changes in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and long COVID patients

Decreased oxygen extraction during cardiopulmonary exercise test in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

Developing a blood cell-based diagnostic test for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome using peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Human Herpesvirus-6 Reactivation, Mitochondrial Fragmentation, and the Coordination of Antiviral and Metabolic Phenotypes in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Mitochondrial complex activity in permeabilised cells of chronic fatigue syndrome patients using two cell types

Muscle sodium content in patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Redox imbalance links COVID-19 and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

The use of oxygen as a possible screening biomarker for the diagnosis of chronic fatigue

Tissue specific signature of HHV-6 infection in ME/CFS

treatment (both helpful and harmful):

ME/CFS TREATMENT RECOMMENDATIONS US ME/CFS Clinician Coalition

Low-dose naltrexone in the treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/ CFS)

Potential Therapeutic Benefit of Low Dose Naltrexone in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Role of Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 3 Ion Channels in Pathophysiology and Treatment

Back to the Future? Immunoglobulin Therapy for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Evidence Against Exercise for people with PEM/PESE in Long COVID and ME/CFS

PACE trial claims for recovery in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome – true or false? It’s time for an independent review of the methodology and results

Treatment harms to patients with ME/CFS

#more than okay to reblog! #🐛 #myalgic encephalomyelitis #me/cfs #chronic fatigue syndrome #chronic illness #disability #actually disabled #long covid

[rivensdefenseattorney]

Government of Zenith

(WIP)

Chancellor: The executive director in charge of overseeing governance and policy implementation.

Directors: In charge of specialized divisions within the government

Divisions:

Technological and Magical Integration Division: Focuses on integrating technology and magic, exploring innovative applications and societal integration.

Education and Talent Development Division: Nurtures and develops young talent for leadership roles and houses E.N.C.O.D.E - the Evolutionary Nexus for Candidates' Optimal Development and Evaluation.

Resource Management and Infrastructure Division: Manages energy, resource allocation, infrastructure development, and environmental sustainability.

Community Integration and Welfare Division: Ensures societal harmony, welfare programs, and integration initiatives for diverse inhabitants.

Crime Prevention and Law Enforcement Division: Specializes in crime prevention, law enforcement, and community engagement.

Defense Strategy and Technological Development Division: Oversees defense advancements, strategic planning, and technological innovation for defense.

Foreign Relations, Economic Development, and Trade Division: Manages diplomatic missions, economic strategies, trade agreements, and partnerships.

E.N.C.O.D.E - Evolutionary Nexus for Candidates' Optimal Development and Evaluation:

Encode, operating within the Education and Talent Development Division, serves as a comprehensive program dedicated to identifying and nurturing future leaders within Zenith's society.

Structure of E.N.C.O.D.E:

Evaluators: A group responsible for assessing and evaluating the progress and potential of candidates based on rigorous criteria and assessments. They observe candidates' performance and growth.

Advisors: Seasoned leaders and experts who provide guidance, instruction, and mentorship to candidates, imparting knowledge and nurturing their skills for leadership roles.

Panellites: The ultimate decision-makers responsible for selecting the most promising candidates based on evaluations, progress reports, and recommendations from Evaluators and Advisors.

Specialized Curriculum: Provides tailored educational programs focusing on leadership skills, technological understanding, magical integration, and strategic thinking.

Leadership Pathways: Offers selected candidates pathways to assume leadership roles within Zenith's governance, industries, and societal initiatives based on evaluations and recommendations from Evaluators, Advisors, and Panellites.

Political Factions

Pathos (Innovation Faction): Pathos is a forward-thinking faction advocating for innovative ideas, technological advancements, and the seamless integration of magic and technology. They prioritize progress, envisioning a future where innovation propels Zenith to greater heights. Pathos champions visionary thinking and embraces change as the catalyst for societal advancement.

Ethos (Traditional Faction): Ethos is dedicated to preserving Zenith's cultural heritage, traditional techno-magical practices, and societal stability. They prioritize the conservation of time-honored values, advocating for the protection of traditions and the cautious approach towards technological advancements to maintain the planet's cultural identity and stability.

Logos (Logic Faction): Logos represents a faction driven by logic, efficiency, and pragmatic decision-making. They prioritize data-driven approaches, aiming for tangible and measurable outcomes in technological and magical integration. Logos advocates for the rational utilization of resources and technology to optimize Zenith's societal development.

Notable Members of Government

Chancellor

Name: Cryos

Race: Human

Political Faction: Pathos

Background: A prodigious figure raised from a young age as a candidate within E.N.C.O.D.E. Cryos emerged as a visionary blending magical mastery with technological brilliance.

Abilities: Mastery in air and electricity magic, seamlessly integrated with cybernetic enhancements, grants Cryos unparalleled control over magic-infused technology.

Personality Traits:

Inquisitive Mind: Cryos is ceaselessly curious, constantly exploring the realms of magic and technology to unlock new possibilities.

Mad Genius Brilliance: His unconventional thinking leads to breakthroughs that challenge societal norms, inspiring innovation while occasionally stirring controversy.

Visionary Leadership: Cryos envisions a harmonious society where magic and technology coexist symbiotically, fostering inclusivity and diversity.

Playful Eccentricity: Despite his responsibilities, Cryos maintains a whimsical demeanor, surprising peers and citizens with his unconventional methods.

Quirky Innovator: Cryos's eccentricity extends into his innovative thinking. He's known for unconventional problem-solving methods, often combining seemingly unrelated concepts to create revolutionary solutions. His office is a playground of prototypes, holographic blueprints, and whimsical experiments.

Curious Adventurer: Despite his responsibilities, Cryos is an eternal explorer. He embarks on spontaneous journeys across Zenith, seeking inspiration from both the natural world and the technological marvels he's helped create.

Empathetic Innovator: Beyond his eccentricities, Cryos possesses a deep empathy for the citizens of Zenith. He's dedicated to ensuring that technological advancements improve lives, championing inclusivity and accessibility in all innovations.

Creative Expressionist: Cryos channels his creativity not only into technological innovations but also into artistic pursuits. He dabbles in holographic art installations and even hosts impromptu techno-magical performances to inspire creativity among Zenith's citizens.

Unconventional Communicator: Cryos's communication style is a blend of whimsy and depth. He's known for speeches that fuse magical anecdotes with technological insights, captivating audiences and making complex concepts relatable.

Director of Technological and Magical Integration Division

Name: Dr. Kohen Polaris 

Political Faction: Logos

Race: Human

Background: A brilliant and pragmatic technologist, Dr. Polaris rose through the ranks with a focus on optimizing resource usage and implementing efficient technological integrations. Known for his logical thinking and data-driven approach, he's highly respected for his contributions to technological advancements.

Traits: Analytical, Efficient, Rational, Driven by Data, Pragmatic.

Director of Education and Talent Development Division

Name: Professor Helix

Political Faction: Pathos

Background: An innovative educator passionate about nurturing young talents, Professor Helix champions a futuristic curriculum. Her progressive teaching methods and belief in the power of innovation have shaped many young minds.

Traits: Innovative, Visionary, Inspirational, Forward-Thinking, Mentor.

Director of Resource Management and Infrastructure Division

Name: Xe-1519

Political Faction: Logos

Background: Xenos is a resource management expert with an unwavering focus on efficiency and sustainability. Their data-driven decisions have optimized resource allocation and guided infrastructure development, contributing significantly to Zenith's stability and growth.

Traits: Pragmatic, Resourceful, Strategic, Analytical, Methodical.

Director of Community Integration and Welfare Division

Name: Dr Theta

Political Faction: Ethos

Background: Dr. Theta is a dedicated community advocate, prioritizing societal harmony and welfare. With a background in cultural studies, she emphasizes the importance of preserving traditions while fostering inclusivity and social welfare programs.

Traits: Empathetic, Dedicated, Cultural Preservationist, Inclusivity Advocate, Compassionate.

Director of Crime Prevention and Law Enforcement Division

Name: Captain Thyone

Political Faction: Logos

Background: Captain Thyone, a seasoned law enforcement officer, believes in the power of strategic planning and data analysis for effective crime prevention. His logical approach and community engagement strategies have made significant strides in reducing crime rates.

Traits: Analytical, Strategic, Decisive, Community-Oriented, Disciplined.

Director of Defense Strategy and Technological Development Division

Name: Commander Dagon

Political Faction: Pathos

Background: Commander Dagon, a visionary leader, is committed to advancing defense strategies through technological innovations. Her innovative thinking and strategic planning have elevated Zenith's defense capabilities significantly.

Traits: Innovative, Strategic, Leadership, Visionary, Tactical.

Director of Foreign Relations, Economic Development, and Trade Division

Name: Ambassador Kami

Political Faction: Ethos

Background: Ambassador Kami is a seasoned diplomat and advocate for cultural diplomacy. Their approach prioritizes cultural preservation in international relations, focusing on economic growth while maintaining Zenith's cultural identity.

Traits: Diplomatic, Cultural Advocate, Strategic, International Relations Expert, Persuasive.

___

I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I definitely had to sort something out and lost track of time.

Anyways I'm still tinkering with Zenith's Government, but the core will pretty much stay the same.

#winx headcanons #winx rewrite #winx #winx club #winx club headcanons #winx fanfic #winx club fanfiction #winx club fanfic #winx club headcanon #fate winx club #fate winx saga #winx timmy #winx tecna #tecna #tecna x timmy #zenith #zenith headcanon #winx club rewrite #winx club redesign

[luminalunii97]

Racism of the Islamic Republic regime

Something that has been neglected in topics of protests in Iran is racism. It is often left out of discussions by those of us in or outside of Iran who weren't the direct victims of these antihuman crimes. There's a huge difference between human rights violations in central Persian cities and border non-Persian ones. Persians and other ethnic groups who live in central areas are the targets of enough antihuman acts by this regime that shows the terrorist face of them, just imagine how everything is ×100 worse in non-central areas. Here are some examples:

Arabs in the south: it is estimated that more than 2 million Arabs live in iran. This ethnic minority is severely oppressed and violated. The regime has been capturing and executing Arabs and Arab activists with no clear reason other than being criminal dictators themselves, like how they've been violating and killing Kurds and Balochs in the past 4 decades. Many Arab families have been forcefully moved and pushed to corners, literally in a geographic sense. Racism exist in the Iranian populations like any other country and nation in the world. But it is promoted and supported by the regime. Jina revolution has brought this issue to attention and social activists are doing anti racist activism now, something that wasn't addressed enough before.

Kurds in the west: people of Kurd never accepted the authority of this regime and fought their forces with all their might. Many Kurds citizens and Kurd activists have been the victims of government murder or long imprisonments simply for being freedom fighters. Also, kurds are denied many legal and social rights in Iran, for example not getting hired by governmental organizations, unless they sell their souls to the regime. Because of this many highly educated Kurds can't find a job and they're forced into doing unrelated or illegal labor that often gets them killed. To understand the severity of this issue I recommend you read this article "koolbars new slaves" thoroughly.

Balochs in the east: people of Baloch are victims of the IR regime's racism towards our neighbors, Afghans and Pakistanis. The regime refuses to provide ID papers for Balochs with the excuse that they might be Afghan and not Iranian. The Balochistan province is kept extremely underdeveloped by the regime to the point that many people don't have drinking water there. Kurd and Arab cities are also kept underdeveloped even though most of those areas are rich with natural resources that could easily be used for development. Since many Baloch people are denied id papers they have no legal rights and the regime often gets away with whatever human rights violations, like executions, r*pe, and torture, they do there. Other than the issue of legal rights, the islamic republic had been very successful in isolating Balochistan and keeping the rest of the world including the rest of Iran of knowing who Balochs are and what is really going on in that region. Jina revolution has also brought the issues in Balochistan to attention.

Aside from these intentional neglects, the language and culture of these ethnicities are under attack by the regime.

Other ethnic groups in Iran face discrimination to different degrees by IR. One thing that plays a great role in the level of racism by the regime is religion. Sunni Muslims are very hated and suppressed by the Islamic Republic here. Therefore kurd cities with a majority of Sunni Muslim population face a worse fate than the majority of shia cities. The regime also spreads a lot of hate towards sunni Muslims by accusing them of fanaticism and animosity which used to work on the old shia religious population. Kurds, Balochs, Arab and Turkmens in Iran have the majority sunni Muslim population. They are also the most repressed. Apart from sunni Muslims, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Baha'i and christian believers face discrimination in different ways by the regime.

The only way a war against big criminal bullies like the Islamic Republic can be won is by coming together and unite as people regardless of race, religion, sexuality and gender. Something that seemed not possible 2 years ago but Jîna revolution showed us that it is very much a possibility. We still have a lot of work to do but people took the first step in unity and solidarity. I recommend you read the article below twice to see the dept of what's going on in Iran and why the Islamic Republic overthrow and this revolution is vital to many marginalized people:

#iran #iran protests #iran revolution #human rights #politics #feminism #middle east #mahsa amini #jina amini #women life freedom #jin jiyan azadi #kurds #kurdish #baluchi #arabic #racism #police brutality #irgcterrorists #intersectional feminism #background information

[dailyanarchistposts]

Chapter 1. Human Nature

A broader sense of self

A hundred years ago, Peter Kropotkin, the Russian geographer and anarchist theorist, published his revolutionary book, Mutual Aid, which argues that the tendency of people to help one another reciprocally, in a spirit of solidarity, was a greater factor in human evolution than competition. We can see cooperative behaviors similarly playing a role in the survival of many species of mammals, birds, fish, and insects. Still, the belief persists that humans are naturally selfish, competitive, warlike, and male-dominated. This belief is founded upon a misrepresentation of so-called primitive peoples as brutal, and of the state as a necessary, pacifying force.

Westerners who see themselves as the pinnacle of human evolution typically view hunter-gatherers and other stateless peoples as relics of the past, even if they are alive in the present. In doing so, they are presuming that history is an inevitable progression from less to more complex, and that Western civilization is more complex than other cultures. If history is organized into the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Industrial Age, Information Age, and so on, someone who does not use metal tools must still be living in the Stone Age, right? But it is eurocentric, to say the least, to assume that a hunter-gatherer who knows the uses of a thousand different plants is less sophisticated than an operator at a nuclear power plant who knows how to push a thousand different buttons but doesn’t know where his food comes from.

Capitalism may be capable of feats of production and distribution that have never been possible before, but at the same time this society is tragically unable to keep everyone fed and healthy, and has never existed without gross inequalities, oppression, and environmental devastation. One might argue that members of our society are socially stunted, if not outright primitive, when it comes to being able to cooperate and organize ourselves without authoritarian control.

A nuanced view of stateless societies shows them to have their own developed forms of social organization and their own complex histories, both of which contradict Western notions about “natural” human characteristics. The great diversity of human behaviors that are considered normal in different societies calls into question the very idea of human nature.

Our understanding of human nature directly influences what we expect of people. If humans are naturally selfish and competitive, we cannot expect to live in a cooperative society. When we see how differently other cultures have characterized human nature, we can recognize human nature as a cultural value, an idealized and normative mythology that justifies the way a society is organized. Western civilization devotes an immense amount of resources to social control, policing, and cultural production reinforcing capitalist values. The Western idea of human nature functions as a part of this social control, discouraging rebellion against authority. We are taught from childhood that without authority human life would descend into chaos.

This view of human nature was advanced by Hobbes and other European philosophers to explain the origins and purpose of the State; this marked a shift to scientific arguments at a time when divine arguments no longer sufficed. Hobbes and his contemporaries lacked the psychological, historical, archaeological, and ethnographic data that we have today, and their thinking was still heavily influenced by a legacy of Christian teachings. Even now that we have access to an abundance of information contradicting Christian cosmology and statist political science, the popular conception of human nature has not changed dramatically. Why are we still so miseducated? A second question answers the first: who controls education in our society? Nonetheless, anyone who counters the authoritarian dogma faces an uphill battle against the charge of “romanticism.”

But if human nature is not fixed, if it can encompass a wide range of possibilities, couldn’t we use a romantic dose of imagination in envisioning new possibilities? The acts of rebellion occurring within our society right now, from the Faslane Peace Camp to the Really Really Free Markets, contain the seeds of a peaceful and openhanded society. Popular responses to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans show that everyone has the potential to cooperate when the dominant social order is disrupted. These examples point the way to a broader sense of self — an understanding of human beings as creatures capable of a wide range of behaviors.

One might say selfishness is natural, in that people inevitably live according to their own desires and experiences. But egoism need not be competitive or dismissive of others. Our relationships extend far beyond our bodies and our minds — we live in communities, depend on ecosystems for food and water, and need friends, families, and lovers for our emotional health. Without institutionalized competition and exploitation, a person’s self-interest overlaps with the interests of her community and her environment. Seeing our relationships with our friends and nature as fundamental parts of ourselves expands our sense of connection with the world and our responsibility for it. It is not in our self-interest to be dominated by authorities, or to dominate others; in developing a broader sense of self, we can structure our lives and communities accordingly.

#anarchism #daily posts #communism #anti capitalist #anti capitalism #late stage capitalism #anarchy #anarchists #libraries #leftism #anarchy works

[hologramcowboy]

Dear AAs,

Due to observed behaviors, I wanted to take the time and write a message for you.

It seems like a whole lot of you are wasting your precious youth, resources and potential on obsessing over Jensen so much you lose track of who you are and what you are on this earth to fulfill.

Your infatuation is so high it blinds you and strips you of your values and dreams. You put Jensen and Danneel on a pedestal and feel like less of a human for not being them. You are creating limitations in your own life over a bunch of semi-celebrities who aren't even educated compared to you.

While appreciating or admiring something is a beautiful experience, it should never get to the point where your intelligence becomes overshadowed by your unrealistic expectations and views of two people.

Strive to be YOU, to live YOU and what you most love. Before it''s too late for all of your dreams. You are so caught up in false idols you cannot see how toxic worshiping them is to your own life trajectory.

You project unrealistic view unto Jensen and Danneel because you are afraid to go out there and build your legend, live your uniqueness.

I am serious, I see a lot of underage girls even or way too young lusting after Jensen so much they completely forego their goals and most especially their personalities. They become an empty shell.

If meeting and marrying a highly attractive man is your dream then focus on that and work on developing the life you want, being the person you dream of being, living that true love, being it. That takes work but it's worth it, you are worth it. When you give all your power away to clueless celebrities all you are doing is telling your subconscious mind you don't feel worthy of your dreams, you are not the leading character of your life. Guess what? Your reticular activating system (RAS) then filters life accordingly and you miss out on opportunities and key moments.

It's healthy to have role models, if they match your life trajectory, but ensure you balance out your perceptions and realize they are human, just like you. Just as you appreciate them, you should be appreciation yourself and if you are not already doing that then there is a huge imbalance in your life and, most likely, you energy will end up being sapped by false idols instead of inspired by healthy, realistic, measurable goals and pursuits.

You weren't put on this Earth to be an echo of Jensen and Danneel. You are uniquely you so show up for yourself and your desired life way more than you obsess over J/D. They can steal away time from your life and guess what? Life progresses pretty fast and before you know it you will have a mountain of regrets instead of a heart full of fulfilling memories and tangible results in your life. You will look back and suffer and realize how silly it was to get caught up in mindless infatuation.

I hope you do me a favor. Grab a piece of paper, list every aspect you love about Jensen or Danneel or whoever it is you obsessively stan. Then go through that list and ask yourself: "Where in my life have I displayed these traits?" Don't stop until you answer it for each quality.

If you want to balance your perceptions even more, do the same for their perceived flaws and quirks. This will allow you to see them as human like you and to appreciate them in a balanced way in full awareness of both their negative and positive traits.

If you do me this favor, you will release yourself from your manic perceptions about them and you will be in control of your emotions and your direction.

A second favor would be: Create a vision board of what you want in your life, then grab a notebook and write a scenario of how each of those experiences would feel. Once you are in touch with those feelings, begin breaking down your goals into small, realistic, measurable steps and commit to taking a priority action each day to reach those milestones. Whenever you need to re-energize, go back to the vision you created and live it fully inside, remember your WHY and keep recommitting day by day. If you do this, rather than consume yourself with obsessing over Jensen and Danneel, just imagine where your life will be months from now, years from now. You will reach a new bliss and it will be thanks to your self-care, dedication and focus.

May all of your dreams become your reality and they will, if you chose to believe in yourself rather than giving power away to false idols and escapism.

#anti AAs #anti fanaticism #anti jenneel

[20001541]

Very interesting idea about dfo kunieda - could you share your thoughts on it please?

alright so...

afo never planned on ever having a kid so when he finds out his partner is pregnant he's oh....! (he forgot things like pregnancy can happen with unprotected sex, but he defends himself by saying he was having too much fun at the time to think properly!)

but despite this unexpected development he's interested to see what being a father is like and offers a big sum to the other parent if they proceed with this and give all custody to him, which they agree to if course. said baby comes and afo is very doting and loving and all he talks about is this baby..... for about a week. he was hoping to feel some sort of spark? some fatherly affection that people always talk about. he didn't though, he feels apathetic and he's getting bored and restless being at home when there's a quirk with a rebellious brother within it to catch.

of course this is his flesh and blood and by extension a part of him, so he's not going to abandon it, it's going to stay with a nanny who works for him that has experience taking care of children. he'll provide resources to allow it to grow and thrive, but he is not going to play an active role in its life. maybe someday after he succeeds in getting ofa and taking power he will try to attempt to bond with his son again and see if he feels any affection then, but for now it'll be fine without him.

so little kunieda spends the first four years of his life being raised by a nanny and with limited access to the outside world. he's told his father provides everything and keep an close eye on his progress, but any further questions he may have about said father are never answered. he hopes as a young child that his father may visit him in person some day.

well afo's plans of being the absent father change when kunieda gets his quirk at the tender age of four, when he's notified by henchmen, who were sent to check in as the nanny didn't send her report to him, that she's dead and her body is some sort of plant... along with a distraught child who won't come out of his room.

afo decides to handle this himself in person and is intrigued, this must be the child's quirk. he's at that ripe age where children develop them, and what an interesting quirk too. he manages to coax the child into coming out and introduces himself as his father. he soothes him and finds out what happened between the child's sobs, it was an accident apparently. but afo assures him that it's nothing to be worried about and it was actually quite impressive, he takes him in where he starts playing more of an active role in his development.

kunieda's childhood with afo is essentially afo encouraging him to give into his more darker urges and not to be afraid to use his quirk on people (after all look how beautiful and big those plants bloom when using human flesh as nutrients). a lot of what afo believes in he passes down to his own son who learns eagerly from his father. he fully buys into believing his father is some type of savior for this world, doesn't help he was educated by some of afo's own cultists. affection is something to be earned not something freely given. so kunieda often goes out of his own way to please his father which afo enjoys. as he grows up he's given his own place in afo's organization as an personal assassin of afo's. it doesn't earn him any special privileges, in fact he has to work harder than the average minion for approval as afo is a lot harsher towards him as he expects nothing less than perfection and unwavering loyalty from his own offspring.

later he ends up in tartarus because he got caught up in all mights crusade in capturing all those closest to afo, though heroes don't find out that's his son. afo is too busy to bother breaking him out and everything that's in canon happens and he doesn't get freed until afo's own breakout in prison and we'll you know the rest.

might be kind of vague at points, but thats my idea on how this au would go.

#a41's just not a very good dad 😔 #and no matter how hard his own son tries he'll never be given true love and affection by a41 #but eh you can't expect much from someone like him

[itsbenedict]

per @etirabys's request, here's a paste of a whole lot of highly spoilery words about my favorite Horizon: Forbidden West NPC, who makes so many bad decisions

alright, so- the game in question is Horizon Forbidden West, a big AAA action game about hunting robot dinosaurs. the interesting stuff is almost entirely unrelated to the robot dinosaurs.

the backstory of this game is- a while back, evil military company made a big military AI that went out of control and took over a bunch of military robots and started wiping out humanity. standard stuff. principal characters are a couple of scientists who were part of the last-ditch effort to try to prevent this from happening before the machines wiped out humanity.

one of them, Elisabet, is spearheading this thing called Project Zero Dawn, whose plan for saving humanity is "build an AI terraforming engine equipped with a bunch of human embryos, hide, and wait for the apocalypse to finish and then re-terraform the dead world". the other one, Tilda, works for a company called Far Zenith whose plan is "let's just build a spaceship and GTFO".

Elisabet is a big deal- genius scientist, multidisciplinary, very famous. Tilda is less of a big deal- she's like a PR person for the space company, but is head over heels in hero worship for Elisabet.

this relationship is fairly loosely sketched out, since it's only conveyed via backstory and a few audio logs. Tilda asks her out, and Elisabet is- she's the kind of person who's totally consumed by duty and doesn't know what having fun is, and while she's interested on a physical level, she proves incapable of sustaining a relationship. they break up after a few months- and then their companies start competing for the dwindling resources left as the apocalypse progresses. things turn sour.

Tilda believes- correctly- that Elisabet's going to die if she stays behind to do her project, and she's still in love, so she tries to invite her to abandon her world-saving project and join her in space. this doesn't work, and in their final conversation Elisabet blames Tilda for being complicit in the shortsighted military-industrial fuckery that's going to imminently destroy the world. this is the last they ever see of each other.

but that's not where this ends.

Tilda goes off into space with the rest of her company, and they develop advanced biotechnology and she becomes immortal. meanwhile on Earth, that Zero Dawn thing Elisabet was working on… it has problems. doesn't work quite right. the details are like, the whole plot of the game (two games, actually, forbidden west is a sequel) and involves a whole lot of fighting robot dinosaurs.

but the main thing is- the AI terraforming thing, in an effort to fix itself, decants a clone of its creator, Elisabet Sobeck, to try and create someone with the gene-print authority necessary to fix itself. this clone is the protagonist of the game.

this is, like, a thousand years after the initial apocalypse. a whole bunch of Video Game occurs in which this Elisabet clone, Aloy, saves the world and stuff. and then… Tilda shows up on Earth.

Far Zenith apparently had a problem with their space colony and it got destroyed, and now her and the last few survivors- insanely technologically advanced- have fled back to earth in hopes that Zero Dawn succeeded and the terraforming project would be there intact. they want to take control of the terraforming project and re-terraform the planet to their specifications, wiping out the native life, blah blah blah they're the villains of this game.

Tilda has an important role in this plan. They're aware that the terraforming project requires a clone of Elisabet Sobeck to operate, so they made their own. And Tilda, for totally non-ulterior motives, volunteered to raise this clone.

The clone, Beta- her role is just to open doors for the badguys, and her education is spartan and abusive and all-around horrible, designed to turn her into a tool. Tilda does not like this. She feels bad for the clone, and creates a secret VR replica of her house which she covertly invites the clone to, to teach her about art and music and poetry in between the horrible drills. And attempts to woo the teenaged clone of the ex who rejected her and then died.

Beta's life is this woman running this bizarre abusive hurt/comfort homeschooling experience, and she regards Tilda as both the source of her suffering and the source of her relief and has a bunch of complicated feelings. Beta, like Elisabet, is also terminally duty-poisoned and submits to all this semi-willingly because she's told it'll save humanity.

this whole scenario would be enough for me to want to tell you about on its own- but it gets even more fraught.

the other bosses start to catch wind of what she's doing, and she eventually shuts down the VR house and cuts off contact with Beta to protect her from reprisal, which Beta interprets as abandonment and adds a whole other layer to this nightmare smoothie.

this- and also witnessing the various evil villain stuff they start doing on earth- causes Beta to defect and be rescued by Aloy, her badass videogame protagonist dinosaur-hunting clone. she dumps all this Tilda-related trauma on Aloy and starts plotting to bring her down. Tilda, meanwhile, is despondent, because Elisabet Sobeck broke up with her again and she blames herself for it again.

but then she discovers- oh. hey. hold on. there's another Elisabet. this one is a sexy twenty-something dinosaur-exploding badass who's sticking it to her awful coworkers and saving the world. she has another chance!

so she bides her time, and- during a climactic cutscene where the other baddies all show up to re-kidnap Beta- allows them to kill Aloy's friends so that she'll be defenseless and alone, and then picks that moment to jump in, betray her bosses, and rescue Aloy at the last minute.

Aloy wakes up in the basement of Tilda's actual house, which contains a vault full of classical paintings and various art, and Tilda tries to do the same high-culture seduction act as Aloy's selfless savior.

this Elisabet Sobeck is also duty-poisoned, and has a hundred questions, and her attempt at playing the wise benevolent savior falls flat. she has like. a fancy dinner prepared on a balcony at sunset, to make it as romantic as possible- but oh, fuck, this Elisabet Sobeck is also duty-poisoned and can't think about anything but world-saving, she's about to fuck it up again.

so she frantically tries to rewrite the script and concedes a bunch of stuff and Aloy very forcefully tells her her plan to betray the others is stupid and won't work and here's her much better plan, which is of course a dance she's danced before. but she refuses to give up on making it work with this woman who's into her but has rejected her three times.

ultimately Tilda is the final boss of the game, after her various attempts to get in good with Aloy by helping her betray the main villains don't work as intended. she tries to get Aloy and Beta to run away into space with her (there's another twist final act threat to the earth, not really relevant), and when they reject her again she summons a big robot to try and kidnap them. the final boss is not difficult as a fight as much as it is difficult to listen to this woman completely lose her mind throwing everything she can think of at the wall to try to get Elisabet Sobeck to give her another chance.

it's way more fucked-up and poignant than i was expecting from the big AAA robot dinosaur fights game. this woman tries every awful move in the book to make her ex love her again and just keeps taking it too far and self-sabotaging.

anyway that's it. the main thought i had walking away from that was "oh man, i know exactly who would eat this up, and also there's zero chance she plays like 200 hours of videogame to find out about it"

#i have a lot of other things to say about H:FW but that'll be its own post #later #because GOD there is so much in this game that's infuriating and so much that's incredible #i spent a cumulative... like‚ eight hours just kvetching about it to zero and farn on discord #what a thing. what a Videoed Game.

[maaarine]

Did natural selection make the Dutch the tallest people on the planet? (Martin Enserink, Science, Apr 07 2015)

"For many years, the U.S. population was the tallest in the world.

In the 18th century, American men were 5 to 8 centimeters taller than those in the Netherlands.

Today, Americans are the fattest, but they lost the race for height to northern Europeans—including Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, and Estonians—sometime in the 20th century.

Just how these peoples became so tall isn't clear, however.

Genetics has an important effect on body height: Scientists have found at least 180 genes that influence how tall you become.

Each one has only a small effect, but together, they may explain up to 80% of the variation in height within a population.

Yet environmental factors play a huge role as well. The children of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii, for instance, grew much taller than their parents.

Scientists assume that a diet rich in milk and meat played a major role.

The Dutch have become so much taller in such a short period that scientists chalk most of it up to their changing environment.

As the Netherlands developed, it became one of the world's largest producers and consumers of cheese and milk.

An increasingly egalitarian distribution of wealth and universal access to health care may also have helped.

Still, scientists wonder whether natural selection has played a role as well.

For men, being tall is associated with better health, attractiveness to the opposite sex, a better education, and higher income—all of which could lead to more reproductive success, Stulp says.

Yet studies in the United States don't show this.

Stulp's own research among Wisconsinites born between 1937 and 1940, for instance, showed that average-sized men had more children than shorter and taller men, and shorter women had more children than those of average height.

Taken together, Stulp says, this suggests natural selection in the United States pulls in the opposite direction of environmental factors like diet, making people shorter instead of taller.

That may explain why the growth in average American height has leveled off. (…)

The study suggests that sexual selection is at work in the Dutch population, Stearns says: Dutch women may prefer taller men because they expect them to have more resources to invest in their children.

But there are also other possibilities.

It could be that taller men are more resistant to disease, Stearns says, or that they are more likely to divorce and start a second family. "It will be a difficult question to answer."

Another question is why tall men in Holland are at a reproductive advantage but those in the United States are not. Stulp says he can only speculate.

One reason may be that humans often choose a partner who's not much shorter or taller than they are themselves.

Because shorter women in the United States have more children, tall men may do worse than those of average height because they're less likely to partner with a short woman."

#article

[pavanreddy23]

WHAT IS MBA?

MBA stands for Master of Business Administration. It's a graduate-level degree that focuses on various aspects of business management, such as finance, marketing, human resources, operations, and strategy. MBA programs typically offer a broad education in business fundamentals and often allow students to specialize in specific areas of interest.

Many professionals pursue an MBA to advance their careers, increase their earning potential, or transition into management roles. MBA programs are offered by universities and business schools worldwide, and they can vary in length, format (full-time, part-time, online), and curriculum focus.

The curriculum of an MBA program usually includes courses in subjects like accounting, economics, organizational behavior, marketing, operations management, finance, and strategy. Additionally, many programs offer opportunities for experiential learning through internships, consulting projects, or case competitions.

Upon completion of an MBA, graduates typically have enhanced skills in leadership, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making, which are valuable in a wide range of industries and sectors.

You An MBA, or Master of Business Administration, is a graduate-level degree that focuses on various aspects of business management. It is one of the most sought-after and prestigious degrees in the business world.

MBA programs typically cover a wide range of subjects, including finance, marketing, human resources, operations, and strategy. They aim to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of business principles and practices, as well as develop their leadership and managerial skills.

Many professionals pursue an MBA to advance their careers, increase their earning potential, or transition into management roles. MBA programs are offered by universities and business schools worldwide, and they can vary in length, format (full-time, part-time, online), and curriculum focus.

Overall, an MBA equips individuals with the knowledge, skills, and network needed to succeed in various industries and sectors of the business world.

#mbacollege #whatismba #education

[nmenvs3000w24]

Unit 10: A reflection on my Personal Ethics as a Nature Interpreter

Hello fellow interpreters,

For my final blog post for this course as a nature interpreter, I bring with me a set of beliefs, responsibilities, and approaches that guide my interactions with the natural world. This final blog serves as a place of reflection on my changing beliefs, the responsibilities I uphold, and the approaches that I find the most suitable for me as an interpreter (Beck et al. 2019, Chapter 4). Taking inspiration from ideas in the textbooks and course material I plan on applying my values and insights into meaningful actions in the world of nature interpretation. 

Starting with my beliefs, as a nature interpreter I believe that nature has a greater purpose than just its practical uses. I believe that nature possesses great value and worth, and it deserves our respect and protection. Thinking back to when I was a kid, my beliefs about nature have developed for the better as I became more educated on the topic over my academic career. For example, as a kid I only knew nature from what I had experienced, which included going on family camping trips, going on hikes, and playing outside with friends. I would say my view of nature at this time was that it provided a space for me to engage in activities and I didn't understand how much value it held. Now that I am older and more developed, I have learned a lot about the environment, I understand how much it shapes our day-to-day life, our mental health, our physical health, self-esteem, and many more (Beck et al. 2019, Chapter 3). After learning about many aspects of nature I understand that it is far more than a resource for human consumption but a complex and interconnected web of life that sustains us all (Beck et al. 2019, Chapter 3). By recognizing and honoring the value of nature, we can build a deep sense of appreciation and stewardship for the world around us (Dr. Hooykaas, n.d.). 

Secondly, as a nature interpreter, I understand the responsibility that comes with the role of creating connections between people and the natural world. In this role, I am tasked with creating understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the environment while also advocating for conservation and sustainability practices (Dr. Hooykaas, n.d.). This responsibility is exemplified through my exploration of communication and experiential learning theories in this course, which have equipped me with tools to effectively communicate important information on nature to diverse audiences (Beck et al. 2019, Chapter 5). Just like interpreters help people develop an ethical sense of their place and role in the world, my goal is to create a similar sense of connection and responsibility toward nature in future generations (Beck et al. 2019, Chapter 3; Jacob Rodenburg, 2019). Inspired by Tilden's goal of creating transformative experiences through interpretation, I am committed to providing engaging stories, asking thought-provoking questions, and evoking a sense of wonder and appreciation for the natural world in all those I encounter. Take the children's podcast we recently completed as an example, we focused on environmental education, where I put my interpretive skills to use to engage young listeners in topics such as biodiversity, conservation, and the wonders of the squirrels in the arboretum. Through projects like these, I plan to fulfill my responsibilities as a nature interpreter by inspiring curiosity, and compassion, and creating a sense of environmental responsibility in future generations (Dr. Hooykaas, n.d.). 

When dissecting naturing interpretation, I tend to favor approaches that focus on authenticity, empathy, and experiential learning to interact with visitors. Through the content of this course, I believe that the power of storytelling is a great way to create deep connections using tales that make sense to the lives of participants as the medium to convey messages of unity and empathy (Beck et al. 2019, Chapter 10). Using interactive and story-telling techniques that captivate the senses and provoke emotional responses, I intend to promote an interest in nature and motivate action in the people I come across. I see the importance of meeting people where they are in their journey of life so that I can adapt easily to their interests, backgrounds, and developmental stages.

As an individual, I have learned through this course that I am a visual learner and that I tend to use approaches that emphasize hands-on experiences and visual aids. I believe in the power of storytelling and how it captures the imagination and interprets complicated ideas in a relatable way. By incorporating visuals, such as photographs, diagrams, and props, I can help others who are visual learners as well by enhancing their learning experience and making complex concepts more manageable for participants. Throughout this course, I have noticed the importance of creating inclusive and welcoming environments for everyone so that they feel comfortable and engaged. Whether I am leading an interpretive walk, holding a workshop, or creating interpretive material, I will always make sure that my approach meets the diverse needs and preferences of my audiences, to make sure everyone can connect to nature in a meaningful way (Beck et al. 2019, Chapter 6).

Overall, as I reflect on my journey as a nature interpreter, I am reminded of how big of an impact my beliefs, responsibilities, and approaches have on shaping the interactions made with the natural world. By being more mindful and searching within myself, I have gained a better appreciation of the inherent worth of nature and the connections between all life. The ongoing changes in my personal beliefs lay a foundation for my future nature interpretation responsibilities which include, building understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the environment, while still advocating for conservation and sustainability practices (Dr. Hooykaas, n.d.). From creating educational materials to interacting with various audiences, I am dedicated to the goals of accurately describing ideas, empathizing with the audiences, and experiential learning in the process. By creating memorable narratives using storytelling, pictures, and inclusive practices, I hope to create transformative experiences that inspire curiosity, and compassion, and create a sense of environmental responsibility in all who cross my path. As I continue my journey as an interpreter, I am grateful for the knowledge I have gained and look forward to applying it in practice, ensuring that nature's interpretations remain a powerful tool for connecting people with the natural world. Together as a class, let us embrace the wonders and beauties of nature, and strive to be stewards of the earth we call our home. 

References

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage for a Better World. Sagamore Publishing. https://www.sagamorepub.com/products/interpreting-cultural-and-natural-heritage-better-world

Jacob Rodenburg. (2019, July 17). Why environmental educators shouldn’t give up hope | CLEARING: PNW Journal of Environmental Education in the Pacific Northwest. https://clearingmagazine.org/archives/14300

Hooykaas, A. (n.d.). Unit 10: Nature Interpretation’s Role in Enviornmental Sustainability [Lecture notes]. ENVS3000 Nature Interpretation. University of Guelph.

[dgtanisha]

Empowering Women: Unleashing the Force of Change

In a world where progress is measured by the empowerment of its people, the role of women stands as a critical cornerstone of societal advancement. Empowering women isn't merely about providing them with opportunities; it's about recognizing and unleashing the transformative potential that lies within each woman. From breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes to driving innovation and fostering inclusive societies, women empowerment is a catalyst for positive change across the globe.

Historically, women have faced systemic barriers that hindered their full participation in social, economic, and political spheres. Discriminatory practices, unequal access to education and employment, and gender-based violence have long impeded the progress of women in societies worldwide. However, despite these challenges, women have continually demonstrated resilience, courage, and determination in their pursuit of equality and empowerment.

Education serves as a cornerstone of women empowerment, providing them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to pursue their aspirations and contribute meaningfully to society. By ensuring equal access to quality education for girls and women, we not only unlock their potential but also lay the groundwork for sustainable development and social progress. Education empowers women to challenge societal norms, pursue their passions, and become agents of change in their communities.

Moreover, economic empowerment is essential for women to achieve financial independence and break free from the cycle of poverty. Access to economic resources, including credit, land ownership, and entrepreneurial opportunities, enables women to support themselves and their families, invest in their futures, and contribute to economic growth and prosperity. By promoting women's entrepreneurship and leadership in business and industry, we can harness their talents and expertise to drive innovation, create jobs, and foster inclusive economic development.

Political empowerment is another crucial aspect of women empowerment, as it enables women to participate fully in decision-making processes and shape the policies that affect their lives. Through representation in political institutions, women can advocate for their rights, influence legislative agendas, and champion issues of gender equality and social justice. By promoting women's political participation and leadership at all levels of governance, we can create more inclusive and responsive democracies that reflect the diversity and voices of all citizens.

Beyond education, economics, and politics, women empowerment also encompasses the elimination of gender-based violence and discrimination. Violence against women remains a pervasive global issue, depriving women of their dignity, safety, and fundamental human rights. By challenging harmful gender norms, promoting gender equality, and implementing laws and policies that protect women from violence and discrimination, we can create safer and more equitable societies where women can thrive and fulfill their potential.

Cultural and social norms often perpetuate gender stereotypes and restrict women's freedom and agency. Empowering women requires challenging these norms and fostering environments where women are valued, respected, and treated as equals. By promoting gender-sensitive attitudes and behaviors, celebrating women's achievements, and amplifying their voices and stories, we can inspire future generations of women to dream big, defy expectations, and pursue their aspirations without fear or limitation.

In today's interconnected world, the empowerment of women is not only a matter of justice and human rights but also a prerequisite for sustainable development and global peace. When women are empowered, societies prosper, economies thrive, and communities flourish. By investing in women's education, economic opportunities, political participation, and safety, we invest in a brighter and more equitable future for all.

As individuals, communities, and nations, we must commit ourselves to the cause of women empowerment and work tirelessly to dismantle the barriers that stand in the way of women's progress. Let us celebrate the achievements of women past and present, amplify their voices, and champion their rights and aspirations. Together, let us build a world where every woman and girl can live with dignity, equality, and the freedom to pursue her dreams. For in empowering women, we empower humanity to reach its fullest potential and create a better world for generations to come.

#women empowerment #women equality #social responsibility #women education