#their even knowing that some people Do get to exist autonomously is; indeed; that ''threat'' to the [child is property] order

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

Not rly st related, well maybe? 4th of July , but why are US-citizens so in love with their country? They even call themselves Americans when their nation is just one part of the continent, lol. If I were as obsessed with my country people would call me crazy. Oh and my granny is German and I know that many Germans are still scared to even wave their flag cos of past events, and the US isn't rly a nation of peace either. pls dont get me wrong, Im just curious and dont know any US people irl xD

I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on the matter, but I do have something of an interest in history.

I think the patriotic spirit of Americans is as much a practical matter as it is a symbolic one. In the early Colonial days, citizens were more likely to identify themselves by their colony (i.e. Pennsylvanian or Virginian). They were also still British citizens at the time, and, even during the Revolution, many still stayed loyal to the king. Creating a sense of patriotism and a unified front would be crucial in presenting a realistic challenge to the British Empire. One of the rally flags of the Revolution was the Join or Die flag. It was not a threat, but a warning. We had to band together to stand a chance.

(For non-Americans, the colonies, as depicted from left to right, are South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New England.)

It may seem weird to think about it now, but my country was very much the underdog in any conflicts until the early 20th century. Defeats came often, and were, at times, devastating. War support would be extremely difficult if not for the sense that we were one people with something to defend. It's Tribalism, for good or ill. It's the same phenomena that results in sports fans going crazy when their team loses (or wins!) or makes people jump up to defend family members they may not even like. Everyone wants to "belong" to something, and, here in America, we created a sense of belonging to a country.

I'll admit that the American sense of patriotism came as a result of the cultivation of an "us vs them" attitude. The easiest way to get even a more modest US citizen to start waving a flag is for a foreign individual or state to insult our nation or culture.

The love of country still has a pragmatic component today, though. We have always been a nation of mixed cultures and ethnicities (even though some of them had no say in the matter), but that is true even more so today. Having a strong national identity and pride helps bring these different cultures together. While we still have no shortage of backwards, bigoted people, most of us welcome new additions to our culture.

Sadly, this concept of a unifying identity has been repeatedly challenged. One group or another would be deemed as "Un-American" or inferior, often by the more conservative among us. I imagine America's history of racial abuse and discrimination is known outside of my country. There's also the horrible crimes committed against the Native Americans and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War 2. Socialists, or, indeed, any simply suspected of socialist sympathies, were often persecuted during the Cold War. The new millennium saw rising hostilities against Arab-Americans. This too also contributed to the American sense of patriotism, as these groups would sometimes go to great lengths to express that their political opinions or cultural backgrounds didn't diminish their love of country.

When it comes down to it, though, our patriotism and Fourth of July celebrations draws on that original underdog element. While I doubt anyone would call America the underdog anymore, we were still a country that probably never should have existed. By all rights, we had no business defeating the British in the Revolution. We somehow repelled a British invasion in 1812 (that we provoked, but still). The Union struggled massively early on in the Civil War in 1861 and came pretty close to having to deal with the British allying with the rebellious Confederacy. We are proud to be Americans for, if nothing else, simply managing to have the chance to be Americans.

We have no shortage of sin. Anyone who says otherwise is nationalistic, not patriotic. One of our greatest cultural values is the freedom to criticize our government, but the more extreme of us tend to forget that. Our military and political power also tends to result in being too willing to get into conflicts, often without a plan as to how to get out. We can often now be the snobs looking down our noses at the rest of the world. We're the ones fighting against the underdogs, at times suffering humiliating defeats. I personally feel we need to be humbled, at times, though.

Being such a diverse culture also means that sometimes the "wrong people" get power. Internal strife can become great, as disagreements as to how to run the country escalate and permeate every corner of the country. It often brings family member against family member, neighbor against neighbor, colleague against colleague, friend against friend. These celebrations are also a means to remind us, when things cool down, that we are still one.

At the end of the day, the same values and freedoms that we celebrate with our patriotism bring about the need for the patriotism. It's something of an oddly paradoxical cycle. Without the unifying sense of being of one country, the freedom to dissent, the freedom to express your religion or culture, and the freedom to express your individuality could all result in America and its culture breaking apart into separate entities. Oddly enough, it's these freedoms that ultimately bind us together, even if we each secretly feel that our neighbors are morons who have it all wrong.

As for why we call ourselves Americans, well, we simply don't have better options. The official name of the country is the United States of America. We wouldn't call ourselves United Staters, as that part of the country simply indicates that we're comprised of (currently 50) partially autonomous states. We'd more likely go back to calling ourselves by our individual states. For example, I'd identity myself as a Pennsylvanian. As far as I'm aware, people don't celebrate their individual state quite as much, with possibly the exception of Texans. The America part is the common element that binds us, so we become Americans.

I have heard of the German reluctance to express a sense of national pride like we do here. I can certainly understand that reluctance after what happened with the Holocaust. I think it's important to remember where you were. I fear my country sometimes tries to ignore the darker parts of our own history. I think our patriotic spirit remains because we like to believe we've grown past those events. In some ways we have, but I fear we often look the other way when it comes to remnants of those events. I admire Germany's refusal to forget what's happened, though I do think you might be punishing yourselves a bit too much.

For the record, I think we often overdo it with the patriotism. I don't agree, for example, with having kids recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school. I'm not sure how seriously most parents or kids take it anymore, though. It's mostly just become routine by now. I also don't buy into the whole "America First" garbage. Yes, our government has a responsibility to look out for our interests, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the needs and well-being of other countries.

I hope this somewhat answers your questions. I imagine I may have some errors with my facts or interpretations. Like I said, I'm no historian. This is simply my understanding of the matter.

[shypotato-translations]

QTVW Chapter 8

Future* President's Fiancee (VIII)

----

After Ling Xihan's words landed, An Mu Lan's spine immediately stiffened.

Ling Xihan reached out her hand, white and slender fingers, and cupped An Mu Lan's chin, turning her head to face her.

And at this time, Ling Xihan saw that An Mu Lan, under her gaze, lowered her head slightly and quietly dropped her tears.

Crystal tears flowed out of her round eyes, somewhat like rain, staining her black curved eyelashes, before falling in large globs, An Mu Lan's lips were tightly pursed at this moment, her face was a look of obvious patience and sadness.

An Mu Lan gave a sob and her lips trembled as she suppressed her emotions and whispered,

"You're disappointed in me, aren't you? You hate me like this, don't you?"

She huffed again, then took a deep breath to calm her emotions.

Only when she had calmed down did she say in a flat tone,

"Although I was the young lady of the An family, my father did not like me, or even hate me, because my mother died for me; and my brothers never considered me as their sister. But I don't blame them, because I hate myself just as much, because I was the one who saw my mother die, and it was all my doing."

She squeezed her thumbs and spoke slowly,

"I don't blame them for being indifferent to me, and I don't blame the servants for looking down on me and bullying me, because these are all human things, but ...... I hated that woman, who was a lowly maid, and yet she occupied the most important place in my father's and brother's heart.

I hated their resentment, she was clearly just selling her flesh, she enjoyed a large group of people taking care of her, but she acted like a victim, she even begged to come to me, how I loathed her, so ...... I played a trick, I wanted her to lose her reputation under the eyes of everyone, so that everyone would see her for what she really was. She is nothing but a self-absorbed lowly servant.”

She blinked as tears crossed her cheeks, there was a look of stubbornness and vulnerability in her eyes, she suddenly turned her head away and finished wiping them roughly with the back of her right hand before continuing,

"So, I did such a thing, so, I let you down, I am not a good girl, I am not well behaved, I am not quiet, and I resent, and I am disgusted. I'm sorry ...... this marriage was a decision made by my father, I will go back to the An family immediately, to see my father and ask him to break the engagement, our marriage, forget it anyway ......"

She wiped her eyes once more, but her voice was tinged with sobs, and she said viciously,

"Anyway ...... Li Jiarou is single now, she is noble and prettier than me, a real lady of the house, she is the one for you, not to mention, the Li family power that is behind her, I know you need this, sorry .... I can't be that useful to you."

An Mu Lan made a move to break free from Ling Xihan's arms, her face showing a grim and hopeless look, but her body's movements, however, were extraordinarily swift.

She broke away from Ling Xihan's grasp, then got up and got out of bed, and just as she was about to put on her shoes and walk away, Ling Xihan tugged An Mu Lan's hand and pulled her back into her arms, and then, she spoke.

Her voice was still cold, with a bit of coolness, she said in a slow tone,

"This matter of alliance is the layout of my arrangement, you just need to obediently do my bidding and stay by my side. You are very good, you know how to use your own hands to get what you want. I like people with a vengeance and a ruthless heart.

Mu Lan, stay and be here. This matter is not up to you, you are not qualified now, you have no right to speak against it, you are just a vase with a little brain, I can provide for you, but if you want to speak on the same level as me, then you have to do what I say."

As she said this, she lifted An Mu Lan's chin and looked into her teary eyes. After An Mu Lan had gone through a suppressed crying session, her eyes were now slightly red and fully hydrated, looking extraordinarily soft and helpless, while her lips, which had become engorged and red from her lover's earlier tight pursing and nibbling.

Ling Xihan looked at this face of hers, innocent and childish, and suddenly lowered her head and kissed her lightly on the lips. She rubbed her lips against An Mu Lan's and then said to her in this intimate position,

"You and I are the same kind of person, I like your softness, but I like your darkness even more, stay well by my side and I will teach you to be evil, teach you to take revenge on those who hurt you personally, because you are beautiful enough to please me. "

After Ling Xihan finished, she got up and straightened her slightly creased clothes, then she resumed her usual harmless indifference and said to the **blushing An Mu Lan,

"I'm going to the study to work now, it's 7pm."

An Mu Lan immediately understood the meaning of her words, she blushed slightly, as if she was shy about the earlier kiss, she whispered,

"I'll clean up and wash up, then I'll go and make dinner, you go and get busy."

Ling Xihan narrowed her eyes in satisfaction and turned to leave the bedroom.

The door closed with a 'bang', and An Mu Lan's stiff body, immediately went limp as she laid back and breathed heavily, as if she had gone through a fierce struggle.

She raised her hand to cover the soft light, the faint sting of her eyes telling her how messy she had been crying earlier. But, as messy as it was, she had finally gotten through this one and managed to turn the tables, bringing her closer and closer to Ling Xihan.

This time, it was when Ling Xihan was looking deeply at her that she came up with the idea on a whim.

As soon as she saw the deepness in Ling Xihan's eyes, she made a show of fear, placing herself in the manner of a child who has been caught doing something bad by an adult with a guilty heart.

It was not difficult for her, for she did feel the threat of death under Ling Xihan's grim gaze, and she knew that if she answered incorrectly, she would be thrown out of the room at the slightest, or die without a trace if she died accidentally.

There are a few places in the novel's plot where it is slightly depicted, the frightening aspect of this person, Ling Xihan.

An Mu Lan had never underestimated her, even with this planning by the Li family, apart from the fact that she felt that it had gone exceptionally well, more than anything else, she was speculating about the helpers behind the scenes.

Subconsciously, when she saw the news, she had already switched on her autonomous defence mode, and this time, she had indeed got it right.

She was not alone in resolving the matter smoothly, though, as the familiar mechanical sound that suddenly sounded in her head as Ling Xihan licked her cheek brought her to her senses.

【The host is facing the threat of death, the system activates its self-rescue mode, redeeming 50 points on its own in exchange for one 'Intelligence Enhancement’.】

【Warning: System hosts please be cautious, your soul consciousness will be completely dissipated if the mission cannot be achieved.】

Mu Lan knew that this was her second crossing mission, she could not remember exactly who she was before she died, but she knew that her existence, was very simple, so she did not have a strong ability to defend herself, her acting skills were poor, her intelligence was usual, she could only be careful to do everything right.

But even this is still not enough, because what happened in relation to the Li family banquet has made her clearly aware that she is lacking in herself, and that she has much to improve.

And Ling Xihan was willing to give her a chance, she was willing to come and teach her to grow, no matter what the reason was, Mu Lan was grateful to her, because whatever she had learnt in this world would eventually be turned into 【Skill Collection】and added to her strength when the task was completed.

An Mu Lan wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, then got up and went downstairs to the kitchen to cook, her role now, apart from pleasing Ling Xihan, was to cook her a home-cooked dinner, she knew that Ling Xihan liked the warmth of home, so she made an effort to do so. She does it patiently and then immediately goes to correct her mistakes, her strong will is to rip off Ling Xihan and she will take her time to do it.

After the two of them had eaten dinner, Ling Xihan walked over to the sofa and sat down. She turned on the electronic video for a rare occasion, randomly pressing the button to a channel, and watched it quietly.

An Mu Lan obediently walked over to Ling Xihan's side and took the initiative to soften her body as the other woman reached out to take her into her arms.

Then she heard Ling Xi Han's flat and slightly cold voice say,

"Tomorrow morning go to the company with me, watch me do my work, I will teach you some things; and in the afternoon, you will go to the exercise room on the ground floor of the company, I have just found some fitness instructors for you, you go and learn some fighting skills from them.

My background is not clean, there will always be people seeking revenge, and at this time, your status as my fiancée is the disadvantage that my enemies use to retaliate against me. As long as you stay by my side, I will keep you safe, though I cannot rule out the unexpected. And at this time, for your personal safety, you need to improve your strength and practice obedience."

After saying that, she kissed An Mu Lan's soft cheek and asked in a low voice,

"Do you understand?"

An Mu Lan looked up at her, her wet and slightly red eyes twinkling, then she pouted and said,

"I understand."

"That's good!"

Ling Xihan rewarded her with a kiss, then took her hand and said,

"Go to my room tonight, you'll move into my room after this, we're in a fiancee relationship, aren't we?"

An Mu Lan blushed down and mumbled her lips as she said,

"Yes, thank you for helping me, that's very kind of you."

At these words, Ling Xihan's hand that was stroking An Mu Lan paused, then gently patted the top of her head and said,

"Go to bed."

An Mu Lan replied,

"Mhm."

#shypotato #yuri #trangmigration #world hopping #QTVW8

[ruminativerabbi]

Israelis and Emiratis

This week’s surprise announcement that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have decided to establish full diplomatic relations, including the cultural and commercial ties that such relations traditionally bring in their wake, caught me completely off guard—and everybody else in the world too apparently except for the players directly involved. Who saw that coming? And yet, now that I’ve had time to think about it a bit, I see this not only as something that was probably inevitable, at least eventually, but as a move that has the potential to alter the political reality in the Middle East in a way that could possibly actually lead to a peaceful resolution of one of the most traditionally intractable face-offs on the planet, the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

It’s hard even to know where to start in assessing the potential impact of the agreement, but probably most important of all is that it makes it crystal clear that the Sunni Arab world is not going to refuse to make common cause with the one country in the region, Israel, that can and does stand up to Iran in its relentless effort to extend its malign, imperialist influence into Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen merely because the Palestinians don’t wish them to. The Gulf States feel vulnerable because that’s precisely what they are—and the UAE decision to recognize Israel is simply their way to make themselves feel less vulnerable and more in control of their own destiny. Nor is it at all likely that this is the sole deal of its kind in the offing: most of the experts I’ve read this last week seem to agree that it is now only a matter of time before Oman, Bahrein, Kuwait, and even Saudi Arabia follow suit and establish formal relationship with Israel. (Morocco and Sudan won’t be far behind.) It’s hard to imagine a more dramatic shift than the one constituted by this week’s agreement. It really is a whole new world out there.

The message the UAE-Israel deal sends out directly to the Palestinians is key. For decades, the Palestinian leadership has presumed the right to turn down whatever is offered to them—and there have been so many offers over the years that it’s hard even for experts to keep them all straight—not because of any specific detail included or not included, but merely because entering into a peace arrangement with Israel would obviously require the Palestinians to agree to live in peace with their neighbors, something they have never been able to bring themselves to do.

I have returned to this theme many times in this space. Well over 100 nations have already recognized the non-existent nation of Palestine, so it’s not like the Palestinians have to worry if their state will be internationally recognized. Indeed, the Palestinians could easily proclaim their independence tomorrow, like the Israelis did in 1948, and then get on with the business of nation-building. Yes, they’d have to work through various issues with the Israelis, including some thorny ones regarding a future Jewish presence in the new Palestinian state, but once all that was successfully done the Palestinians would still have to bring themselves to live in peace with the Israelis next door. And that is what they appear unwilling or unable to bring themselves to do.

The UAE-Israel speaks directly to that set of issues.

First, it makes it clear that the Palestinians do not have a veto over other nations’ decisions to act in their own best interests. They had an inkling of that sentiment in 1979 when Sadat came to Jerusalem and Egypt established diplomatic relations with Israel, and then again in 1994 when Jordan followed suit. But 1994 was quite some time ago and things have changed considerably in the Near East since then. The Palestinians are eager to describe the UAE decision as a stab in their collective back. But a more realistic appraisal would be that the decision simply constitutes an instance of a nation declining to pass up a chance to prosper through a judicious alliance merely because of a different people’s intransigency.

Second, it makes it clear that the threat posed by the Iranians to the neighboring states of the Middle East is serious and real…and not only in Western eyes but in the eyes of the players on the ground in the region. In other words, this week’s agreement signals that the nations who see themselves as future victims of Iranian expansionism are not going to sacrifice their nations on the altar of somebody else’s national aspirations…and particularly not when those aspirations could be brought to fruition easily and effectively in a matter of days or weeks if there were any real desire to live in peace and to prosper not as a nation of perennial victims, but as a free, independent, autonomous player in the forum of nations.

Third, the Palestinians have always acted as though time were on their side, as though all they had to do was wait long enough and Israel would just go away and their problems would be solved. The UAE deal signals that the opposite is actually the case, that time is specifically not on their side, and that the time has clearly come to act if they want to resolve their conflict with Israel effectively and fairly. The Palestinian story is a tragic one that began with their leaders’ failure to seize the moment in 1948 and establish the “other” state that the Partition Plan for British Palestine was supposed to create. That was already seventy-two years ago, however, and yet they remain mired in tactical decisions that failed them in the 1940s and are still failing them. Clearly, at least some of the Arab world is tired of waiting for the Palestinians to act in their own best interests.

And, finally, the UAE-Israel agreement makes it clear that the oft-insisted-upon fantasy that Israeli cannot live in peace with any Arab nation until it caves into the demands of the Palestinians, no matter how radical or unimaginable, is simply not true. It probably wasn’t ever really true. But now it’s clearer than ever that the moment for the Palestinians to move forward as an independent state is upon them…if they have the courage to seize the day and make the requisite compromises any deal will inevitably entail.

What the Palestinians have to learn, the Europeans also need to take to heart. The endless EU-based rhetoric based on the assumption that the key to Israeli-Arab relations is resolving the Palestinian conflict needs to be set aside and replaced with words reflective of a new reality. If the member states of the EU want to contribute to peace in the Middle East, in fact, they need to press the Palestinians to realize that their problems are being dwarfed in the region by the hegemonic aggression of the world’s two largest non-Arab Muslim states, Iran and Turkey. And that the smaller states in the region see that aggression not only as irritating or destabilizing, but as an existential threat. Since peoples who are facing existential threats generally do what it take to address those threats regardless of what bystanders think appropriate or reasonable, the time has clearly come to press the Palestinians to negotiate a just peace and then to move ahead from there into the future.

Suddenly, all sorts of dreams I’ve had for years are becoming slightly more possible. Could Lebanon ever live in peace with Israel? Not with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah pulling the strings, but what if Lebanon suddenly found the wherewithal to become free of foreign influence? What then? Would a seriously isolated Iran be willing to renegotiate the so-called Iran Deal of 2015 and agree actually to turn away from the possibility of becoming a nuclear power? Could the people of Syria ever seize the real reigns of power in their country, get rid of the Iranians camped out on their territory, and establish the kind of close ties with Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel that should have long ago made that specific part of the Near East into the economic powerhouse it could and should be? The irony, of course, is that these developments—pie-in-the-sky though they may sound now—these developments would only bring prosperity and autonomy to the Palestinians too, who would then be part of a thriving economic region.

In the meantime, exciting things are happening. The Israeli and UAE foreign ministers have had their first phone call and are apparently going to meet in person soon. Embassies are going to be opened, ambassadors appointed. Omer Adam, the Israeli singer, was invited personally by the royal family of the UAE to perform in Abu Dhabi. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin formally invited the Emirati crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to visit Israel. It is expected that it is only a matter of time, possibly only weeks, before direct flights begin between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi.

Americans should be proud of the role our government played in this enormous break-through. But the lion’s share of the credit goes to the Emiratis themselves who found the courage to act in their own best interests. That their move could conceivably lead the Palestinians to abandon their traditional intransigency and negotiate a just and real peace deal with Israel—that really would be the icing on the cake. Whether that will happen, none can say. But it was a pretty good week for the Middle East, and particularly for Israel and for the UAE, and for that we should all be grateful.

#Israeli #Abu Dhabi #United Arab Emirates

[meditativeyoga]

Can Yoga Help Keep Your Brain Young? An Interview with Dr. Baxter Bell

Baxter Bell M.D. is a full-time yoga exercise therapist, yoga treatment instructor and also regular presenter at meetings as well as workshops. He is a board member of the International Organization of Yoga exercise Therapy, (IAYT), and the founder and also author for the prominent "Yoga exercise for Healthy and balanced Aging" blog site where he shares his expertise of clinical problems, composition, and yoga with professionals as well as teachers throughout the globe. In this interview with Yoga U Online, Baxter talks about the direct as well as indirect advantages of yoga exercise for mind wellness, and also his new webinar: Yoga for Your Brain: A New Formula for Healthy Aging

Yoga U Online: When we consider yoga and healthy aging, we generally think of points like improving mobility or retaining the variety of activity of the joints. The holy grail of efforts to age well truly exists in reducing the aging of the brain. Do we have any capacity to stop those brain related conditions, like Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease?

Dr. Baxter Bell: A few of the danger elements for creating those Alzheimer's, dementia, or Parkinson's are hereditary tendencies. There are likewise several lifestyle elements that appear to place you at a higher threat or a lesser risk. Though it is uncertain exactly how, we understand that diet regimen may contribute. We additionally know that suitable rest is extremely important in decreasing our risk for developing problems like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

And, in certain areas, yoga is really efficient at advertising way of life modifications that might verify down the roadway to actually be methods to stop these problems. Now, we can not make bold declarations, however it makes feeling that diet regimen, motion and also exercise will have favorable results on our wellness and also brain as we age. Staying active, not only literally yet socially as well, is another manner in which we could really enhance mind health. We additionally recognize that just making use of yoga tools to boost our anxiety monitoring abilities additionally can have a possibly extremely powerful result on general brain health as we obtain older.

Yoga U Online: So yoga exercise might have a result on preventing or reducing the development of Alzheimer's or mental deterioration by mediating positive way of living adjustments. Is there any type of evidence that yoga would certainly have a more straight effect?

Dr. Baxter Bell: Indeed, there was a current research study that considered the effects of yoga on cognitive performance, which was done on healthy older adults. These just weren't individuals that had Alzheimer's or mental deterioration, they were healthy and balanced older grownups at the age of concerning sixty-two. They had a look at one team that did yoga 3 times a week for 8 weeks as well as a control group that did extending 3 times a week for the very same amount of time to see if it influenced cognitive functioning as well as if it influenced stress and anxiety levels. Surprisingly, they noted that cortisol levels, which are a pen for continuous degrees of anxiety, were lower in the yoga group and also in fact raised in the stretching team. It's fascinating.

The second point they discovered is that the yoga group had improvement in memory skills and in cognitive handling when they had to make quick choices on a computer examination. They did much better after eight weeks than when they started the program. And also, they did far better as compared to the group that did the stretching. We have actually obtained healthy and balanced individuals in their very early sixties who are practicing yoga on a regular basis, who hadn't done so in the past, that are having renovations in memory, improvements in cognitive performance, and also a decreasing of tension which could have a preventative effect on the brain over time.

This kind of information might prove practical down the roadway if we had a longer, bigger study that looks at individuals who have very early dementia, and we try to use the yoga exercise devices in that group. We could find that these early researches are going to provide energy and also possible advantages of yoga exercise in those even more details cases.

Yoga U Online: Did the researchers in the study placed forward any type of concept for how those evidently much more straight results of yoga exercise on memory and cognitive function may occur?

Dr. Baxter Bell: They talked about the reality that yoga exercise is theorized to increase just what was called the top-down and bottom-up operating of the entire nerve system. Top-down is, "I'm getting a little hungry. It's been awhile given that I had breakfast." I begin to create an intend on what I would love to do for lunch. My brain allows me, through my entire body, to complete that based on previous memories as well as present conditions. That's top-down operation. Bottom-up procedure is when something takes place unexpectedly and also all of a sudden and also I have to make a fast decision. This information can be found in through my senses, it goes up with a certain processing location in my mind before it enters into my mindful mind, and after that I respond really quickly to what's taking place. Yoga appears to enhance both directionalities of mind functioning.

The various other point we recognize is that yoga exercise tends to boost the ability to change to the parasympathetic anxious system to make sure that autonomic feature (the history operating systems of our body) appear to work better as well as successfully in having the ability to change to and fro in between times of action and also interest and also times of leisure and also restoration.

If we take a look at the minds of long-term meditators who are great at meditating, we notice that the real framework of their brain adjustments in time. They are most likely to have thicker areas in the mind, which is unusual because as we age, specific locations generally get thinner. We even see that the grooves, the gyrus, in the mind, are in fact further as well as there are even more of them-- it's as if the brain is actually transforming and expanding in reaction to particular yogic techniques that we could do. Those are a few of the actually intriguing ways that yoga seems to have a much more straight result in both feature and type of your brain.

Yoga U Online: Exist particular yoga exercise series or methods of exercising that would be extra valuable for an aging mind or is it simply yoga exercise, period?

Dr. Baxter Bell: We could make use of yoga to enhance discovering. That will certainly be a facet of our brain that we maintain healthy. There may be specific ways of exercising that would highlight that aspect of benefit. Among our coworkers at Yoga exercise for Healthy and balanced Aging commonly says, "exactly what benefits the heart benefits the mind.' In my upcoming program, we'll speak about exactly how cardiovascular techniques straight will influence your brain health and wellness. To make sure that's one more manner in which you might exercise. Furthermore, considering yoga exercise methods that are purely for stress and anxiety management could be various from those other two means of exercising while likewise being excellent for healthy and balanced aging.

Yoga U Online: Inform us concerning your upcoming course on Yoga U on the effects of yoga exercise for healthy mind aging.

Dr. Baxter Bell: I constantly believe it readies to have a basic understanding of the components of the mind and exactly how they work, and also since the mind is so complicated, we're going to keep it pretty uncomplicated and easy to understand for everyone listening. We'll chat regarding typical modifications that occur in the human brain as we obtain a little bit older: points that are expected as well as not uncommon. We'll speak about the frequency with which those points occur, as well as exactly how they affect most people.

We'll have a look at how yoga can impact the aging mind in a positive method. I'll provide an understanding of a few of the concepts of healthy aging and how they impact exactly how we look at the brain. We'll look at some real practices that we could incorporate now and in the future to maintain the mind healthy and balanced over time.

We'll also chat concerning even more research studies like the one that we chatted regarding today that will highlight the exciting methods that yoga exercise could impact brain health. The excellent information is that whether you're healthy or otherwise healthy, this information is going to be helpful for you. For those of us out there that are in fact in excellent form right currently, it's fantastic to be able to incorporate some of these suggestions right into our method so that preferably, we'll stay healthy and balanced as time goes on.

Interested in discovering more about yoga for healthy aging and your mind on yoga exercise? Take a look at our on-line Course with Dr. Baxter Bell - Yoga exercise for Your Mind: A New Solution for Healthy Aging.

#meditating #Yoga

[gilbertineonfr2]

Hack.lu 2017 Wrap-Up Day 2

As said yesterday, the second day started very (too?) early… The winner of the first slot was Aaron Zauner who talked about pseudo-random numbers generators. The complete title of the talk was “Because ‘User Random’ isn’t everything: a deep dive into CSPRGNs in Operating Systems & Programming Languages”. He started with an overview of random numbers generators and why we need them. They are used almost everywhere even in the Bash shell where you can use ${RANDOM}.  CSPRNG is also known as RNG or “Random Number Generator”. It is implemented at operating system level via /dev/urandom on Linux on RtlGenRandom() on Windows but also in programming languages. And sometimes, with security issues like CVE-2017-11671 (GCC fails to generate incorrect code for RDRAND/RDSEED. /dev/random & /dev/urandom devices are using really old code! (fro mid-90’s). According to Aaron, it was a pure luck if no major incident arises in the last years. And today? Aaron explained what changed with the kernel 4.2. Then he switched to the different language and how they are implementing random numbers generators. He covered Ruby, Node.js and Erlang. All of them did not implement proper random number generators but he also explained what changed to improve this feature. I was a little bit afraid of the talk at 8AM but it was nice and easy to understand for a crypto talk.

The next talk was “Keynterceptor: Press any key to continue” by Niels van Dijkhuizen. Attacks via HID USB devices are not new. Niels reviewed a timeline with all the well-known attacks from 2005 with the KeyHost USB logger until 207 with the BashBunny. The main problems with those attacks: they need an unlocked computer, some social engineer skills and an Internet connection (most of the time). They are products to protect against these attacks. Basically, they act as a USB firewall: USBProxy, USBGuest, GoodDog, DuckHunt, etc. Those products are Windows tools, for Linux, have a look at GRSecurity. Then Niels explains how own solution which gets rid of all the previous constraints: his implants is inline between the keyboard and the host. It must also have notions of real)time. The rogue device clones itself as a classic HID device (“HP Elite USB Keyboard”) and also adds random delays to fake a real human typing on a keyboard. This allows bypassing the DuckHunt tool. Niels makes a demonstration of his tool. It comes with another device called the “Companion” which has a 3G/4G module that connects to the Keynterceptor via a 433Mhz connection. A nice demo was broadcasted and his devices were available during the coffee break. This is a very nice tool for red teams…

Then, Clement Rouault, Thomas Imbert presented a view into ALPC-RPC.The idea of the talk: how to abuse the UAC feature in Microsoft Windows.They were curious about this feature. How to trigger the UAC manually? Via RPC! A very nice tool to investigate RPC interface is RpcView. Then, they switched to ALPC: what is it and how does ir work. It is a client/server solution. Clients connect to a port and exchange messages that have two parts: the PORT_MESSAGE header and APLC_MESSAGE_ATTRIBUTES. They explained in details how they reverse-engineering the messages and, of course, they discovered vulnerabilities. They were able to build a full RPC client in Python and, with the help of fuzzing techniques, they found bugs: NULL dereference, out-of-bounds access, logic bugs, etc. Based on their research, one CVE was created: CVE-2017-11783.

After the coffee break, a very special talk was scheduled: “The untold stories of Hackers in Detention”. Two hackers came on stage to tell how they were arrested and put in jail. It was a very interesting talk. They explained their personal stories how they were arrested, how it happened (interviews, etc). Also gave some advice: How to behave in jail, what to do and not do, the administrative tasks, etc. This was not recorded and, to respect them, no further details will be provided.

The second keynote was assigned to Ange Albertini: “Infosec and failure”. Ange’s presentation are always a good surprise. You never know how he will design his slides.As he said, his talk is not about “funny” failures. Infosec is typically about winning. The keynote was a suite of facts that prove us that we usually fail to provide good infosec services and pieces of advice, also in the way we communicate to other people. Ange likes retro-gaming and made several comparisons between the gaming and infosec industries. According to him, we should have some retropwning events to play and learn from old exploits. According to Ange, an Infosec crash is coming like the video game industry in 1983 and a new cycle is coming. If was a great keynote with plenty of real facts that we should take care of! Lean, improve, share, don’t be shy, be proactive.

After the lunch, I skipped the second session of lightning talks and got back for “Sigma – Generic Signatures for Log Events” by Thomas Patzke. Let’s talk with logs… When the talk started, my first feeling was “What? Another talk about logs?” but, in fact, it was interesting. The idea behind Sigma is that everybody is looking for a nice way to detect threats but all solutions have different features and syntax. Some example of threats are:

Authentication and accounts (large amount of failed logins, lateral movement, etc.)

Process execution (exec from an unusual location, unknown process relationship, evil hashes, etc…

Windows events

The problem we are facing: there is a lack of standardised format. Here comes Sigma. The goal of this tool is to write use case in YAML files that contain all the details to detect a security issue. Thomas gave some examples like detecting Mimikatz or webshells.

Sigma comes with a generator tool that can generate queries for multiple tools: Splunk, Elasticsearch or Logpoint. This is more complex than expected because field names are different, there are inconsistent file names, etc. In my opinion, Sigma could be useful to write use cases in total independence of any SIEM solution. It is still an ongoing project and, good news, recent versions of ISP can integrate Sigma. A field has been added and a tool exists to generate Sigma rules from MISP data.

The next talk was “SMT Solvers in the IT Security – deobfuscating binary code with logic” by Thaís Moreira Hamasaki. She started with an introduction to CLP or “Constraint Logic Programming”. Applications in infosec can be useful like malware de-obfuscation. Thais explained how to perform malware analysis using CLP. I did not follow more about this talk that was too theoretical for me.

Then, we came back to more practical stuff with Omar Eissa who presented “Network Automation is not your Safe Haven: Protocol Analysis and Vulnerabilities of Autonomic Network”. Omar is working for ERNW and they always provide good content. This time they tested the protocol used by Cisco to provision new routers. The goal is to make a router ready for use in a few minutes without any configuration: the Cisco Autonomic network. It’s a proprietary protocol developed by Cisco. Omar explained how this protocol is working and then how to abuse it. They found several vulnerabilities

CVE-2017-6664: There is no way to protect against malicious nodes within the network

CVE-2017-6665 : Possible to reset of the secure channel

CVE-2017-3849: registrar crash

CVE-2017-3850: DeathKiss – crash with 1 IPv6 packet

The talk had many demos that demonstrated the vulnerabilities above. A very nice talk.

The next speaker was Frank Denis who presented “API design for cryptography”. The idea of the talk started with a simple Google query: “How to encrypt stuff in C”. Frank found plenty of awful replies with many examples that you should never use. Crypto is hard to design but also hard to use. He reviewed several issues in the current crypto libraries then presented libhydrogen which is a library developed to solve all the issues introduced by the other libraries. Crypto is not easy to use and developer don’t read the documentation, they just expect some pieces of code that they can copy/paste. The library presented by Frank is called libhyrogen. You can find the source code here.

Then, Okhin came on stage to give an overview of the encryption VS the law in France. The title of his talk was “WTFRance”. He explained the status of the French law against encryption and tools. Basically, many political people would like to get rid of encryption to better fight crime. It was interesting to learn that France leads the fight against crypto and then push ideas at EU level. Note that he also mentioned several politician names that are “against” encryption.

The next talk was my preferred for this second day: “In Soviet Russia, Vulnerability Finds You” presented by Inbar Raz. Inbar is a regular speaker at hack.lu and proposes always entertaining presentations! This time he came with several examples of interesting he found “by mistake”. Indeed, sometimes, you find interesting stuff by accident. Inbar game several examples like an issue on a taxi reservation website, the security of an airport in Poland or fighting against bots via the Tinder application. For each example, a status was given. It’s sad to see that some of them were unresolved for a while! An excellent talk, I like it!

The last slot was assigned to Jelena Milosevic. Jelena is a nurse but she has also a passion for infosec. Based on her job, she learns interesting stuff from healthcare environments. Her talk was a compilation of mistakes, facts and advice for hospitals and health-related services. We all know that those environments are usually very badly protected. It was, once again, proven by Jelena.

The day ended with the social event and the classic Powerpoint karaoke. Tomorrow, it will start again at 08AM with a very interesting talk…

[The post Hack.lu 2017 Wrap-Up Day 2 has been first published on /dev/random]

from Xavier

#Hack.lu 2017 Wrap-Up Day 2