Work with Cuemath – The company that is shaping the future
I had the good fortune of speaking to high school students from the Shriram Millennium School, Noida last month. I remember two very distinct shades of high school life from my own teenage years: (a) the unbridled joy and happiness of playing hard and working harder in class 9th and 10th, and (b) the overpowering stress of preparing for the IIT JEE in class 11th and 12th. The thought of highly engaged and driven young men and women burning out even before they turn 18 has always troubled me. So as a 34-year-old, who is in the middle of his third career, I look forward to every opportunity I get to interact with teenagers and share my learnings.
There are two massive factors/ trends that are changing the world we live in:
- Longer life spans
- The emergence of the wisdom economy
Let’s dig deeper into both these factors and their implications for teenagers.
Children born today are expected to have a life expectancy of 80+ years. In fact, some studies predict that more than two-thirds of all children born today will live over the age of 100. And while much of the developing world is relatively young (40%+ of India’s population is under the age of 18), dropping birth rates mean that within a few decades we will also have the largest group of middle-aged people this world has ever seen.
In principle – basic universal income makes sense. But currently it is far from reality. So, people will have to work longer to sustain their lifestyles. And while everyone has joked about/ dreamt of retiring in their 40s, it is neither going to be feasible nor desirable for most people in the future. Retirement ages/ caps will have to go up and in fact might have to be completely removed. And even if you are not working for basic survival and have all your needs met – you will still need to do something to pass your time.
In the past, shorter life spans meant that most people acquired one set of skills and figured out a solo vocation and kept at it for a quarter of century or so. Most people were limited to mastering a single subject/ skill (which typically required 10,000 hours of effort). But imagine doing the same thing year over year, decade over decade for 60 or 70 or 80 years.
Our education system puts incredible stress on teenagers to chalk out their career paths at an age where the sum-total of their experiences is highly limited. It is represented as an absolute single choice – a sort of crossing of the Rubicon. This is complete hogwash.
Athletic ability seems to be the only known skill that diminishes with age (someone please tell that to Tom Brady). Perhaps science will eventually overcome this limitation. [Though, more and more people are running marathons and climbing mountains in their 40s and beyond. People are hitting their physical peaks much later in life.] Our thinking ability on the other hand only diminishes in extreme old age (as brain cells begin to die and lose their ability to regenerate). Science is definitely looking to overcome this limitation.
So, unless you plan on playing a sport professionally, there is really no need for you to finalize a career at 17. Choose a vocation. Pick a skill set to master. Figure out how you are going to spend your next 10,000 hours. Or build breadth. Dive into a four-year-long liberal arts course and get a taste of a wide variety of subjects. But please don’t fall for the trap that there is no going back once your decision has been made. Or that you cannot do something completely different in the future.
I wish I had this insight at 18. I arrived at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras – a burnt out individual with no interest in anything. I pretty much wasted my freshman and sophomore years. Then I woke up one day and realized that I was on a great campus, surrounded by brilliant and talented individuals and had the ability to do anything/ everything I wanted. And that’s exactly what I have done.
This brings us to the second major trend that is emerging globally: the advent of the wisdom economy.
Human beings have been earning their keep using knowledge as capital for millennia. Law, trade, finance, medicine and a multitude of other professions can be classified as being part of the knowledge economy. However, advances in artificial intelligence will make many rule-based professions obsolete in the near future. More than knowledge, what will be required is wisdom: the ability to blend concepts through leaps of cognitive and creative breadth. Enter, the wisdom economy.
In Sanskrit, there is a wonderful term: budhijeevi – someone who lives and leads their life through intellect and wisdom. I believe that this way of life is no longer the domain of a privileged few. Once mechanical and rule-based professions disappear – more and more people will have to find work in unconventional ways. They will need a firm understanding of a multitude of concepts. They will then need the ability to freely jump between and associate these concepts. This would require a certain cognitive agility and creativity that most schools/ curricula do not or cannot provide.
This is our mission at Cuemath. We don’t think of mathematics as just another subject. We think of it as a way of life – a way to imbibe wisdom. A way to survive and prosper in this new world. This is why I joined Cuemath.
We are looking for bright and brilliant budhijeevis to accompany us on our journey. So, if you are a product manager, product designer, academic, educator, content strategist and creator, marketer, analyst, ops expert, artist or developer – do apply!
Latest posts by Anshumani Ruddra (see all)
- Work with Cuemath – The company that is shaping the future - January 6, 2017


Topics for Sixth Grade Persuasive Essays
26 SEP 2017
Sixth-graders must be able to write persuasive essays that present an argument that supports their ideas with logic and proof. They are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the topic and provide credible sources. To motivate your students, assign topics that are relevant to their lives.
1 Personal Experiences
Choose essay topics familiar to sixth-graders. What situations in their personal lives do they feel passionate about? Do they want to stay up later than they are allowed? Can they provide logical reasons for doing so? What movie would they recommend to a friend and why? Can video games be considered art? Is reading graphic novels just as educational as reading traditional novels?
2 Sticky Social Situations
Getting sixth-grade students to express themselves about social issues is a good way for them to start a healthy dialogue about potentially volatile situations. Is it OK to say something on the Internet that you wouldn’t say to someone’s face? Is it OK to get a job or a place on the team because a family member is the boss or the coach? How important is it to wear brand-name clothes? Is it OK to play pranks on people just for fun?
3 Debatable Policies
School and community policies can affect sixth-graders on a very personal level, and they are sure to have opinions about protocols that affect their lives. Should there be more time designated to eat lunch in school? If the school budget had to be cut, what programs should be eliminated and why? Is a school uniform policy a good idea? Should students be allowed to have cellphones in the classroom? Is Saturday detention an effective method of discipline?
4 Cultural Expectations
Writer and historian James Truslow Adams defined the American dream as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” What is your idea of the American dream? Do you think the American dream is possible? Are the goals of your generation the same as your parents and grandparents? What are the advantages and disadvantages of getting married? Of having children? Should everyone go to college?


Includes bibliographical references (p. -276) and index.
Preface-- Introduction-- Chronology-- List of Entries-- Encyclopedia-- Resource Guide-- Appendix: List of Entries by Topic-- Index-- About the Author and Contributors.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
Rape has been perpetrated throughout history and worldwide. The Encyclopedia of Rape offers 185 entries in an A-to-Z essay format covering the historical scope and magnitude of the issue. Written by a host of scholars from diverse fields, it provides informed perspectives on the key dimensions of the topic, from concepts, social movements, offenders, high-profile cases, legislation, influential activists, landmark texts, and victimology to representations in literature and art. This will allow students and the general reader to contextualize current events with reference to history, literature and the Bible, film, art history, gender studies, psychology, criminology, popular culture, and more. Rape is a topic of perpetual relevance and remains deeply controversial. Although women are the primary targets of rape and thus the focus of discussion, the rape of men, children, and animals is also considered in the encyclopedia. Up-to-date, it contains insight on the manifestations of rape today, including as a tool of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and genocide in Rwanda, the Catholic priest scandals, and drug-facilitated date rape. Added value comes from an abundance of statistics, suggested reading for further research per entry, chronology, resource guide, and appendix listing entries by topic. Covers all aspects of rape Addresses current issues, such as rapes by the U.S. military and the clergy Has worldwide coverage and a broad historical scope Edited by a recognized name in rape studies. (source: Nielsen Book Data)


How To Join Granny Squares with the Zigzag Slip Stitch Method!
Tips and Techniques
Crochet is a versatile craft, with many different techniques to try. In this section of the Blog, you will find free instructions, articles, patterns, and tutorials to enable you to learn a variety of different crochet techniques. We hope you enjoy it!
Disappointed and Sad for not Completing your Crochet Projects?
How To Join Crochet Motifs with an Invisible Seam
Learn The Secret on How to Crochet Smooth Edges!
Learn More About The Differences Between US and UK Crochet terms!
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The Best Lessons to Learn Crochet
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Tutorial Clutch Tapestry Crochet [FREE Pattern]
Tapestry Crochet, Back and Forth, with Single Crochet [Step by Step Video]
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KARACHI: Lack of a continuous supply of water is one of the major problems the residents of Karachi have to deal with. An irregular supply of water to homes and industrial areas has also hampered socio-economic activities, resulting in slow or reduced productivity.
Home to around 18 million people, the residents of the city require clean, safe water – fit for consumption. And a lot of it. What is more exasperating for the locals is that a solution to this critical problem remains low on the list of priorities for the government. Unfortunately, urban water supply has steadily gotten worse over the years. The current situation calls for creating awareness for, and promotion of, efficient use and conservation of water.
Reports indicate that water is supplied to these hapless consumers is insufficient and contaminated, which is not fit for drinking. According to health experts, around 30,000 people, most of them children, die each year in the city due to consumption of contaminated water.
The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) is solely responsible for municipal water supply and the management of waste water as well as sewerage in the city. To be specific, potable water supply, its bulk transmission, primary, secondary and tertiary distribution, enactment of tariff and recovery of revenues, operation and maintenance of the supply, disposal of waste-water as well as supply of water through tankers for emergency purposes are key components of the services extended by the KWSB.
However, a decline in the KWSB’s institutional capacities to manage its aging operational systems, imbalance in the supply and demand, dilapidated water distribution networks, decaying pumping machines, soaring incidents of water theft and leakages in the supply lines, increasing dependence on water vendors and inappropriate as well as imprudent tariff structures are, among others, pressing problems which have created impediments in the overall performance of the KWSB.
“Several solutions have been proposed in the past by water experts at different forums and conveyed to the government officials, but such efforts have failed for reasons unknown,” says Mumtaz Khaskheli, an expert on potable water and sanitation.
“Recent changes initiated by the government such as the commercialisation of entire beaches, real-estate development and real-estate schemes along highways have also exerted an enormous pressure on demand for safe water. In addition, formal and informal settlements have also increased the demand for a continuous water supply,” says Gulshan Shaikh, a sub-engineer of the KWSB.
Members of the Hisaar Foundation in Karachi, a civil society organisation involved in promoting the conservation of water, estimate that around 40 per cent of the water in the city is wasted due to leakages in the supply lines and another 25 per cent is wasted by consumers in form of leaky taps, washing cars, watering their gardens, etc.
However, it is not just health problems that are associated with unclean water.
“Lack of access to water for both domestic and drinking purposes has proved to be an additional economic burden on the earnings of low-income households. And this is so because they usually end up paying 12 times the price for drinking water than what people from higher-income brackets pay,” claims a member of the Hisaar Foundation.
“We haven’t been getting water through the official supply for many years, although I regularly pay the KWSB water tax,” complains Ameena Batool, a housewife from eastern Karachi. In order to meet the daily water needs of the household, she pays about Rs 500 – 600 a week for water from a tanker.
Because of poor maintenance, the municipal water supply and related facilities have become grossly inadequate with regard to users’ needs and expectations. Dwellers of the low-income group areas and katchi abadis, who cannot afford to pay the cost of private tankers, have no choice but to consume sub-soil, unhygienic water.
“The operators of private tankers have taken undue advantage of the situation and have increased their rates; we pay Rs1,200 for a 1,000-gallon tanker and Rs 2,000 for a tanker carrying 2,000 gallons of water,” claim several residents across the city.
And it isn’t just the residents are suffer from the water shortfall, industries have suffered just as much.
Haji Ahmed Raza owns a large chemical factory in the Korangi Industrial Area. According to Raza, industrial units are forced to buy from water tankers on a regular basis to meet the demands of the factory. He also claimed that these water tankers have capitalised on the current shortage.
“I pay around Rs 17,000-20,000 a day to those who supply water through tankers to run the factory,” said RazaOfficials in the KWSB stated that there are currently around 150 illegal hydrants drawing water from its main pipelines which are not just a major reason for an acute water shortage in the city, but also causes a massive revenue loss of over Rs 1.3 billion annually to the water board.
“A large number of illegal hydrants have been set up in different parts of the city, which is where a large-scale theft of over 30 million gallons of water occurs each day from the KWSB’s various pipelines. This is mostly done in connivance with low-ranking staff of the KWSB and the concerned area police,” a senior KWSB official said, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Describing the private hydrants and tanker business as a ‘roaring business’, an engineer (bulk water) at the KWSB, claimed that around 30,000 ‘illegally-operating’ tankers [of 1,000 gallons each] were earning around Rs 4-5 million daily.
“Since the private hydrants and tanker mafias are stealing water from the KWSB pipelines, the utility is losing an estimated Rs120-150 million every month,” he said.
Some officials in the KWSB, however, believe that much of the water supply and demand can be met if the current water supply and sewerage infrastructure is revamped. “The water transmission and distribution lines were mostly installed during the ’60s and ’70s, and have completed their designed life. Replacing such lines that are faulty, will help reduce water wastage,” remarked a spokesman of the KWSB.
However, the current water shortage is also due to the performance level and financial strength of the KWSB which has deteriorated consistently over the years. Corrective measures have been taken at different points in the past to fix the operational, institutional and water-supply capacity problems of the KWSB, but such measures have been rejected by some unscrupulous elements, recalled an official at the public health engineering department of the Sindh government.
“Foreign multi-lateral lending agencies introduced various reforms, but they failed to meet the stipulated objectives. Some of the proposed approaches aimed at improving the KWSB’s institutional performance included the privatisation of the utility and subsequent institutional reforms,” he said.
The official, wanting to remain anonymous, recalled how the ‘Private Sector Participation’ (PSP) strategy which was introduced in 1995 to make the KWSB economically, functionally and managerially viable and sustainable, was put on the back burner due to resistance within the organisation.
“In 2005, technical assistance was also sought from the UNDP under the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme for South Asia (WSP-SA) and even a consultative process was initiated to identify and address the pressing issues faced by KWSB. But matters were left halfway because of the then Sindh government’s apathy,” claims a senior planning official in the provincial finance department.
Water experts say that at a time when fresh water resources are fast depleting and its availability to the people plummeting, revamping the KWSB and the way it functions as a whole is the need of the hour. The replacement of the water supply infrastructure in the metropolis and adjoining suburbs is equally critical for conservation and an efficient use of water.


The True Meaning of Religion
-Thrineshwara M.R. and
- Shivshanker Cheral
The True Meaning of Religion when we think of a religion what strikes our mind generally is a set of rituals, beliefs, faith, practices, dogmas, deities, holy scriptures, places of worship and their architectures, dresses that we wear, cultures, etc. Some religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, etc., have prescribed their own forms of Gods or deities for worshiping, there are some other religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, etc., which have not prescribed any deities because they do not believe in the existence of God. Yet, these religions are major ones in the world with large number of followers all over the world.
For these outer/visual exhibitors without real change in mind, Allama Prbhu asks:
What if the body is bare, when the mind is not pure?
What if the head is shaved, when feeling has not disappeared?
What if one wears the sacred ash, when the sense qualities are not burnt?
The words of such guises of desire I detest
and Guheshwara, you are the witness. -Allama Prabhu/530
Listen O Man,
you, a doubter,
Think, you have bathed and worshipped god.
Does the fish not bathe?
Does the crocodile not bathe?
If you bathe and your mind is not bathed
does our Guheshwara appreciate mere showy words? -Allama Prabhu/593
It is of no worth to go round and round.
It is of no worth to bathe a million times in Ganga.
It is of no worth to climb the high mountain and shout.
It is of no worth to touch the body with daily rituals.
If one can fix the mind that always moves firm
then, the linga called Guheshwara is sheer light itself. -Allama Prabhu/625
So, what looks common among all these religions is man’s relentless endeavor to attain salvation and liberation ultimately. In order to achieve this every religion has prescribed some methods in the form of rituals, practices, etc. In such rituals and practices the belief of the followers in the meaning of salvation and liberation plays an important role. For some followers this Earth might look like a place full of all miseries and sorrows or in other words a ‘Maya’. For this Allma Prabhu says:
They say wealth is Maya, wealth is not Maya.
They say woman is Maya, woman is not Maya.
They say earth is Maya, earth is not Maya.
the desire before the mind itself is Maya. -Allama Prabhu/648
The common element in all religions is to find out the ultimate Truth as the main purpose of life. But is there any definite path to find out the Truth? Truth is a universal one and time independent but why different religions have prescribed different methods for their followers? This means that what all has been prescribed in these religions may not be the ultimate or authoritative when it comes to find out the Truth.
Every religion talks about something infinite but prescribes a finite method to reach the infinite. This is probably the source of confusion in the minds of people who have come under the influence of their respective religions either by force or by birth both physically and psychologically. This confusion has existed throughout man’s existence which has resulted in several kinds of division and disintegrations among the people. By prescribing specific rituals, practices, deities, etc., these religions seem to have forced people to follow something mechanically or blindly. When there is no definite path to find out the Truth how can someone ask people to follow certain things or believe in one thing? Even though all religions have described some methods the responsibility to find out the Truth lies on each individual. No one can show Truth to others but instead it has to be realized by everyone individually. It is nothing but an individual experience.
We would like to bring out one of the Vachanas by Lord Basavanna, which is very relevant here.
ದಯವೇ ಬೇಕು ಸರ್ವಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳೆಲ್ಲರಲ್ಲಿ.
ದಯವೇ ಧರ್ಮದ ಮೂಲವಯ್ಯಾ,
Lord, is there any religion without compassion?
There must be compassion for all creatures.
Compassion itself is the root of religion.
Anything otherwise is unacceptable to
Koodalasangamadeva. – Guru Basva/223
It means that there cannot be any Dharma which lacks the Compassion, one need to show compassion on all creatures, compassion is the root for any Dharma.
No one can teach these things because these happen in our mind accidentally without expectations and desiring and not by the creation of thought or through any effort. The one who is meditating on it always may one day exhibit it accidentally.
So, what we can understand from the term religion is not a set of rituals, dogmas, practices, Holy Scriptures, cultures, etc., but it is a way of life to be discovered and sustained by every individual. Hence we can give a meaning to Religion that has universal appeal as follows:
A Religion is essentially a way of life aimed at finding eternal happiness by living virtuously, exhibiting True Love towards every living being on Earth and maintaining a harmonious relationship with everyone and the Nature.
The life system proposed by Lord Basavanna, which focuses on “Kaayaka” and “Dasooha” appears to support the above statement since it helps in establishing a cordial relationship with everyone. Life means relationships and without a relationship or when a relationship is spoiled our life loses meaning.
If engaged in Kaayaka
one should forget visiting guru;
forget worshiping linga
and need not bother even if Jangama stands waiting.
As kaayaka is Kailaasa
even Amareeshwaralinga is included in kaayaka -Aaydakki Marayya/1520
Begging from others, cajoling them,
pestering them, troubling them
and then offering it to jangama and linga is no good.
Making the body earn it,
making the mind earn it
even if it is just wild leaves and raw fruits,
doing daasohatojangama and linga
by serving jangama who comes to you
tired in body and mind is worship,
holy offering to Chandeswaralinga. -Nuliya Chandayya/1817
Some people have an illusion that whatever they could not achieve in their present life can be achieved in next life. Under this illusion they ignore the value of life and their responsibilities to be fulfilled in each life. For such ignorant people Lord Basavanna writes as below.
Deva Loka, Martya Loka berilla kanibho,
Satyava nudivude Deva Loka,
Mithyava nudivude Martya Loka,
Aachaarave Swarga, Anaachaarave Naraka,
Illi salluvavaru alliyu salluvaru, Illi salladavaru elliyu sallaru
Koodalasangamadeva – Guru Basava.
Divine world and mortal world are not separate.
Uttering the truth is divine world,
uttering untruth is mortal world.
Righteousness is heaven, unrighteousness is hell.
This is the truth, and
Koodalasangamadeva, you are the witness. -231
In the above vachana Guru Basava has indicated that one should make use of the current life to live virtuously for the benefit of entire humanity and unless this is achieved in this world one cannot expect to be accepted in any other world.
They speak of Kailasa and the mortal world.
What is Kailasa, what is mortal world?
the word is the same here and there
the deed is the same here and there
those from Kailasa are all gods
those from the mortal world are all mahaganas.
there is no death for a thousand years in the world of gods
there is the endless cycle of birth and death in mortal world.
Seeing this our sharanas
giving least value to either of the worlds
rising above the matters of this world
realizing their origin,
uniting with the Great Light
attained nothingness in that Light
O Appannapriya Chennabasavanna -Lingamma/1361
If we believe in the above meaning of a religion and practice it then there will not be any amount and kind of conflicts among people or between people and Nature. Only when our thoughts are fragmented on the lines of beliefs, dogmas, faiths, etc., that differ from one religion to other conflicts get created resulting in violence. This we have been witnessing for thousands of years of man’s existence. If there is God who is common for all creatures in the universe then he must be inside us also. Hence, we should keep our thoughts and deeds cleansed every moment just like we maintain the temples, mosques, churches, Gurdwaras and other places of worship with a belief that God exists there.
 Number indicates at the end of each Vachana is from the book "Vachana", pub: Basava Samiti Bangalore 2012.
|Treating Our Body like a Temple||Work itself Heaven|


The development of social skills is an important part of early childhood education. Many children enter preschool or kindergarten with little or no exposure to individuals outside their own families. Teachers can encourage social skills development through activities that introduce concepts such as verbal communication, negotiation, active listening, non-verbal communication and social conventions.
Once a week, have a community or class meeting to discuss issues that arise in the classroom. Teachers need to involve all students in the problem solving process. Students take turns sharing concerns and offering solutions to problems. The class meeting is also a time to introduce giving compliments. Students give one another compliments when they see classmates acting appropriately or doing good work. The act of giving compliments is a positive behavior to replace the negative act of tattling, and provides students with positive feedback from their peers. Teachers introduce complimenting during the class meetings by modeling. Class meetings are part of a classroom management approach known as Positive Discipline, and are an excellent method for teaching interpersonal communications skills.
Reading Facial Expressions
Teachers will need a stack of pictures representing various facial expressions. Students should sit in a circle or grouping that allows everyone to see the pictures. The teacher allows the students to guess the emotion shown in the picture. This can lead to a discussion of the clues the students used to figure out the emotion. A follow-up activity for this is to have students choose a picture and make up a story about why the person feels that emotion. These activities can help students build the concept of empathy and reading facial expressions.
Another activity for practicing reading body language and facial expressions is a modified game of charades. The teacher can whisper an emotion to one student and have him act out that emotion. The other students try to guess how he feels. For older kids, teachers can write down names of emotions on slips of paper and let kids draw from a hat.
Cooperative Decision Making
Encourage negotiation skills by involving students in cooperative decision making activities every day. For snack time, have pictures or representations of three possible choices. Have students discuss ways they could come to a decision: voting, drawing out of a hat, allowing one person to choose each day, etc. Students must use creative problem solving skills and diplomacy to reach a decision as a group. This activity is useful for deciding on activities or games for the group as well. It can also lead to discussions of fairness and how to behave if your favorite is not the class choice.
Role-playing is an excellent way to teach social skills. Students can act out scenarios that have occurred in the classroom while the other students brainstorm various resolutions. The students can then act out “what should be done” in the situation. Role-play is also a way to practice social conventions, such as: greetings; saying please, excuse me and thank you; handshaking or hugging appropriately. Role-play is also useful for teaching safety procedures, such as calling 911, fire drill procedures and “stop-drop-and-roll.”
Social stories are typically used with children with disabilities, particularly autism. However, these also can be useful when teaching young children who are unfamiliar with social conventions. In a social story, the children imagine an everyday scenario, and instead of acting it out, they write a “script” about how the situation should unfold. This can easily transition into a role-playing session.
- Self Esteem 2 Go: Social Skills Activities
- Parenting Science: Social Skills Activities for Children and Teenagers
- American Academy of Pediatrics: The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds
- Poly XO: Social Stories
- Courage to Risk: Class Meeting Format
- Photo Credit playing image by Lisa Eastman from Fotolia.com
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First Kids 1st Initiative
The First Kids 1st initiative is a national collaborative effort comprised of leading American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) organizations, allies, and partners from all backgrounds focused on changing national, tribal, and state policy to create conditions in which AI/AN youth can thrive. The First Kids 1st initiative works to cultivate and nurture strategies and policies that help create and strengthen systems of support for AI/AN youth in their communities.
The First Kids 1st effort is led by four founding partners: the National Congress of American Indians; the National Indian Child Welfare Association; the National Indian Education Association; and the National Indian Health Board.
For more information, visit: http://firstkids1st.org/
NCAI Policy Research Center - First Kids 1st Data Resources:
First Kids 1st Breakout Session, 14th Annual Tribal Leader/Scholar Forum, NCAI Mid Year Conference, Reno/Sparks NV, June 26, 2019
First Kids 1st Data Resource Book (2019). The purpose of the First Kids 1st Data Resource Book is to provide a resource to tribal nations and others on the latest research and data that can be used to help implement systems of support for Native youth to thrive. The Data Resource Book includes a review of recent literature on protective and risk factors in helping Native youth thrive, and examples of data indicators that can help tribal nations see whether Native youth are thriving in four areas: healthy lifestyles; successful students; supportive environments; and vibrant communities.
First Kids 1st Data Resource Book - Appendix (2019). This document is an appendix to the First Kids 1st Data Resource Book and contains an annotated bibliography of articles from the literature review. Articles included in the literature review are from the last five years in order to highlight recent research.
Questions? Contact email@example.com.
Affirming Native Youth Project
In order to strengthen the visibility of American Indian and Alaska Native youth in policy and research contexts and to highlight the value of Native cultures, NCAI hosts a Native Youth Training Collaborative. Through the Affirming Native Youth: Making Visible, Making Valuable Project, the Collaborative has three objectives, namely to:
- Create a space for Native youth leaders to convene, set a national agenda, learn from tribal leaders, and have virtual educational and networking experiences;
- Expand partnerships with federal agencies, advocacy organizations, and community partners to ensure the collection and reporting of data on the status and experiences of Native youth; and
- Train Native youth, tribal leaders, policymakers, researchers, and others involved with developing policies and practices that affect Native youth to do so in a more coordinated and effective manner.
The outcomes of the Native Youth Training Collaborative are to:
- Increase the number of American Indian and Alaska Native youth who are prepared with political knowledge and skills to become national and tribal leaders;
- Identify strategies for improving the quality of data collection, analysis, and reporting on issues of significance for American Indian and Alaska Native youth; and
- Increase the awareness of researchers and policymakers about American Indian and Alaska Native youth and cultures.
The Project extends from September 2012 through September 2015 and is funded by the Administration for Native Americans.
The Project has three key components, including:
1. National Native Youth Cabinet
The National Native Youth Cabinet is the executive and policy training component of NCAI’s National Native Youth Training Collaborative, which also engages youth affiliated with the National Congress of American Indians Youth Commission, the Native Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the U.S. Department of Justice's 2012 National Intertribal Youth Summit.
The National Native Youth Cabinet provides a virtual space for Native youth to meet; share insights based on their local experiences; and engage with federal policy that has importance to them and their communities. Eight Cabinet Members, ages 17-24, were competitively selected based on applications and tribal recommendations for outstanding leadership and demonstrated commitment to issues affecting Native youth. Cabinet members represent issues of significance in their tribe and region, and help move a national strategy related to Native youth leadership.
The NCAI National Native Youth Cabinet Members are:
- Sapphire Carter (Chippewa Cree)
- Julian Juan (Tohono O’odham)
- Whitney Sawney (Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma)
- Alayna Eagle Shield (Standing Rock Sioux Nation)
- Candice Yazzie (Navajo Nation)
- Sarah Schilling (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians)
- Heather Curley (Navajo Nation)
- Malachi (Kai) Stroud (Choctaw Nation, Oklahoma)
- Layha Spoonhunter (Eastern Shoshone/Northern Arapaho/Oglala Lakota)
- Cierra Fields (Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma)
- Jaysonha Revey (Lummi Nation)
- Simon Goldenberg (Mdewakanton Dakota)
- Dakhota Kicking Bear Brown (Wilton Miwok)
- Collin Church (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi)
- Stephanie Lefthand (Taos Pueblo)
Members of the National Native Youth Cabinet participate in training designed to prepare them with political knowledge and skills to further their abilities as national and tribal leaders. The training takes place primarily in virtual space and includes financial literacy, resiliency, community wellness, and policy identification and development.
At NCAI’s 2013 Mid-year Conference in Reno, NV Cabinet Members worked with other Native youth leaders to identify the following Native youth policy priorities:
- Education: Funding for tribal colleges and individual funding for higher education
- Culture: Protecting and maintaining language, sacred lands, and traditional ways
The National Native Youth Cabinet will work with NCAI’s Policy Research Center, federal agency partners, researchers, and policy makers to identify, assess, and improve data related to these policy areas.
Finally, the Native Youth Cabinet will lead a national competition for Native youth to envision in virtual space a model reservation or program.
2. Data Institutes
In Year 2, NCAI worked with federal partners and other organizations to plan a series of Data Institutes to bring stakeholders together around federal data on American Indian and Alaska Native youth to discuss data quality, data use, and policy development.
- PowerPoint for the Youth Data Institute at the 2014 Mid Year Conference in Anchorage, Alaska
- Agenda for the Youth Data Institute hosted at the Embassy of Tribal Nations in Washington, DC
3. Nations Building Virtual Challenge
Beginning in Year 2, NCAI will work to establish a challenge for Native youth to use technology to address an issue of significance in their community that can also influence policy.
Data: 2011 Native Youth Count
For further information, please contact firstname.lastname@example.org


CUDDLING UP IN A QUILT OF GAMMA-RAY STARSDolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington, DC
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
July 19, 2000
The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory is gone, but its memory lives on -- in a quilt museum located in a rural Virginia town. A retired couple in Elkwood, VA took two gamma-ray images their son received from NASA, back in 1993, and turned them into spectacular coverlets.
One image, of the Crab and Geminga pulsars, is on display through September 18 at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg. The second, of a gamma-ray quasar called 3C 279, will have its first public viewing during a symposium on the Compton mission July 19 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
"I can't say I know much about quilt-making, but these are fabulous reproductions of the original Compton images, right down to the smallest detail, or data point," said Dr. Neil Gehrels, a Goddard astrophysicist and project scientist for the mission. "We could use them as view graphs at meetings if the electricity should ever fail."
The cosmic quilt makers are Rose and Albert Costanzo, a retired couple who manage a Christmas tree farm. In their ten years of quilting, they have never made an astronomy-themed quilt. Nor do they consider themselves amateur astronomers. Mrs. Costanzo was simply struck by the gamma-ray images that her son showed her, captured by the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET), one of Compton's four instruments.
Mrs. Costanzo wrote to Goddard in June after hearing about the controlled re-entry of the Compton observatory over the Pacific Ocean. "I saw in the paper that their satellite was deliberately crashed in the ocean," said Mrs. Costanzo. "I just wanted them to know that one of EGRET's many images can now be seen as a quilt hanging in a museum."
Quilts have long served as a medium for astronomical images. The Bayeaux Tapestry, an embroidery measuring more than 230 feet long and 20 inches wide, depicts the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1064, which William the Conqueror saw as a sign from God that he and not Harold of England was the rightful heir of the English throne.
Seven years ago, the Costanzos' son, Daniel, now a volunteer coordinator for the Albert Einstein Planetarium at the National Air and Space Museum, thought that new Compton images he had seen would lend themselves to a quilt design.
Daniel Costanzo contacted Dr. Dave Thompson, a Goddard astrophysicist who works closely with EGRET data. Dr. Thompson quickly sent the family two photographs of EGRET, not knowing how they would be used.
Mrs. Costanzo's letter to Dr. Thompson contained a photograph of the Crab and Geminga quilt. The EGRET team members at Goddard were so impressed that they asked the Costanzos to join them at the Compton symposium and to bring the second quilt. The Goddard Visitors Center may also display both quilts.
With the success of the Compton quilts, the Costanzos plan to attempt yet another celestial image, perhaps from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Chandra has already captured hundreds of dramatic images of supernovae and flaring stars.
Rose Costanzo is a former school teacher and one of the first women to graduate from St. Bonaventure University. Albert Costanzo, a veteran of three wars, is a retired Army colonel and was a West Point classmate of Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.
The Compton Observatory, launched in 1991, re-entered the earth's atmosphere during a controlled reentry on June 4, 2000. GLAST, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope scheduled for a 2005 launch, will essentially cover the EGRET energy range with 50 times the sensitivity.
If you have a question about CGRO, please contact us via the Feedback form.


Marshall County Among Those Declared Natural Disaster Area by USDA
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 12 counties in Indiana as primary natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by the recent drought.
The counties are:
"Our hearts go out to those Indiana farmers and ranchers affected by the recent natural disasters," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "President Obama and I are committed to ensuring that agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation's economy by sustaining the successes of America's farmers, ranchers, and rural communities through these difficult times. We're also telling Indiana producers that USDA stands with you and your communities when severe weather and natural disasters threaten to disrupt your livelihood."
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Indiana also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
- La Porte
- St. Joseph
The map of designated drought disaster areas is available by clicking here.
All other Indiana counties that would be eligible under 7 CFR 759.5 (a), already have been designated as primary natural disaster counties.
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas Aug. 15, 2012, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.
Recently, USDA effectively reduced the interest rate for EM loans from 3.75 percent to 2.25 percent, and reduced the payment reduction on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands qualified for emergency haying and grazing in 2012 from 25 to 10 percent. USDA also announced that it will allow additional acres under CRP to be used for emergency haying or grazing. The action will allow lands that are not yet classified as "under severe drought" but that are "abnormally dry" to be used for haying and grazing. In addition, USDA is allowing producers to modify current Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts to allow for grazing, livestock watering, and other conservation activities to address drought conditions, and has authorized haying and grazing of Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) easement areas in drought-affected areas where haying and grazing is consistent with conservation of wildlife habitat and wetlands.
Additional programs available to assist farmers and ranchers include the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance, and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
Secretary Vilsack also reminds producers that the department’s authority to operate the five disaster assistance programs authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill expired on Sept. 30, 2011.This includes SURE; the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP); the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP); the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP); and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP). Production losses due to disasters occurring after Sept. 30, 2011, are not eligible for disaster program coverage.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture


Many states including Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are considering significant education reform initiatives. The Parent Trigger, allowing parents to petition for school-wide reform, is quickly spreading across the nation. Private and public school choice programs are being proposed, and charter laws are being reformed. Although the various proposals are unique to each state, they share one overarching concept: parent empowerment.
Previously implemented reforms have been stymied by bureaucracy. According to the Fordham Institute, only 1 percent of the schools deemed the worst-of-the-worst received the reforms promised under federal law. For example, many states place arbitrary caps on the number of charter schools that can open, who can open them, and how long the process takes.
Empowering parents has been proven to raise achievement, hold teachers accountable, and increase parental satisfaction with schools. Research at Tel Aviv University found that when parents were given a voucher to leave their public school, teachers responded with â€œopen communication and transparency to boost parents confidence and trust in their teaching skills”empowerment legislation forms closer parent-teacher relationships and puts pressure on teachers to produce.
Policy initiatives that empower parents are likely to increase parental involvement and satisfaction and raise student achievement by inviting parents into the process. In a study of 22 parent-empowering programs, Stanford University’s Barbara Goodson and Robert Hess found they all produced significant achievement gains and that it was the empowerment itself, rather than the content of the programs, that was responsible for the gains.
The Parent Trigger and private school voucher programs are the most empowering policies for parents. Instituting these reforms at the state level is thus likely to raise both student achievement and parental satisfaction.
Even a foolproof Parent Trigger mechanism will be of little value without a set of well-researched, time-tested reforms from which parents may choose.
The designers of the California Parent Trigger made a grave mistake by leaving tepid reform modules in the bill and allowing districts to override the parents reform choice. Essentially, if parents in California choose to convert their school to a charter school, district officials can decide to implement any of the other reform options instead.
The modules section of a parent trigger bill can be thought of as a vessel for major reforms that can be triggered at the school level. Possible modules could range from a recent reform fad such as teacher merit pay to time-tested voucher programs to experimental overhauls that cannot be instituted as a blanket, statewide policy.
It is important to present parents with truly empowering choices that will dramatically reshape schools. Tired, failed reforms such as those mandated at the federal level as “turnarounds” simply increase bureaucracy and further burden taxpayers. Parent Trigger bills by their nature are mechanisms for flexibility and localized control, so lawmakers should include modules to remedy all sorts of school situations. For example, a rural school would benefit far more from the option to convert to a charter school than from a provision for school closure or public school choice. Conversely, voucher programs or leadership replacement might make the most sense in other settings.
With that in mind, a parent trigger bill should include at least two modules: (1) a school-specific voucher program and (2) conversion to a charter school. Bills without at least one of these modules will not truly empower parents.


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Here is a way for nurses administrators, social workers and other health care professionals to get an easyceu or two
The most common kind of chronically irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation, is associated with a greater risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. This discovery by scientists at Group Health Research Institute and their collaborators was published online in advance of print on August 1 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
"Both atrial fibrillation and dementia increase with age," said Sascha Dublin, MD, PhD, a Group Health Research Institute assistant investigator who led the research. "Before our prospective cohort study, we knew that atrial fibrillation can cause stroke, which can lead to dementia. Now we've learned that atrial fibrillation may increase dementia risk in other, more subtle ways as well."
The results of Dr. Dublin's study suggest a relationship between atrial fibrillation and dementia beyond the connection through stroke. The people in the study had a mean age of 74 years when the study began. None had dementia or a history of stroke. At the beginning of the study, 4.3 percent had atrial fibrillation, and an additional 12.2 percent developed it during the study. In the course of the study, 18.8 percent developed some type of dementia. People with atrial fibrillation were more likely to have other cardiovascular risk factors and disease than were those without the condition. So the researchers looked to see if atrial fibrillation increased dementia risk more than just through its association with other kinds of heart disease.
Participants were followed for an average of seven years. Over this time, those with atrial fibrillation had a 40 percent to 50 percent higher risk of developing dementia of any type, including probable Alzheimer's disease, compared to those without atrial fibrillation. This was true even for people who did not also have a stroke during the follow-up period.
The research was part of Adult Changes in Thought (ACT), an ongoing joint project of the Group Health and University of Washington studying risk factors for dementia in older adults. Started in 1994 ACT is led by Dr. Dublin's co-author Group Health Vice President for Research and Group Health Research Institute Executive Director Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH. ACT focuses on finding ways to delay or prevent dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and declines in memory and thinking. It aims to deepen understanding of how the body-especially the brain-ages. ACT participants are members of Group Health Cooperative, a nonprofit health care system in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.


N. B. C. Studio Marvels at Radio City (Nov, 1936)
N. B. C. Studio Marvels at Radio City
SEVEN ACRES OF FLOOR SPACE IS USED FOR BROADCASTING STUDIOS AND EQUIPMENT
One of the modern wonders of the world is Radio City in New York. ‘ Principal of the Radio City attractions is the National Broadcasting System’s arrangement of studios. These occupy eleven floors, nine of which have no outside windows. They are ventilated by the most intricate air-conditioning system yet built. Air is forced through petroleum-coated glass wool filters and washed by seven and a half million gallons of water a year. Two hundred and fifty tons of rock wool was used in insulation and soundproofing. The studios are insulated from the building frame. They contain 265 synchronized AC clocks. A motor generator set is used one hour a year to double their speed when Daylight Saving goes into effect.


Warwick Medical School and their researchers have been studying the long term mental effects of adolescence children who move from school to school frequently.
The research found that frequent moving from one school to the next ‘heightens the risk of developing psychotic-like symptoms by up to 60% and contributes to mental health, psychotic disorders and suicide problems in adulthood.’
For more information on this study: Frequent School Moves
School, teachers, peers, homework, hormones, and extra curricular activities all play a role in your child’s mental health. When children have to move frequently from school to school it puts a lot of extra pressure on the child.
Children worry about getting good grades, getting along with their peers, making teachers and parents happy, girl-boy relationships, peer pressure of taking drugs, drinking alcohol, or smoking cigarettes, bullying, homework assignments and chores at home.
Thousands of children are latchkey children meaning when they go home after school to an empty house, their parents are still at work, leaving their children to fend for their selves for hours alone.
For information on legal age restrictions by state see:


When we say that Saint Stephen’s provides a “world-class” education, what does that mean and how do we define it on our campus? Our history of high academic achievement speaks for itself, but ask SSES teachers, students, parents, and administrators and it’s clear that “world-class” means different things at different times during their experience.
Amanda Ripley, contributing writer for Time and Atlantic magazines, and author of a global look at education entitled, The Smartest Kids in the World, offers several cues to identifying world-class education. She says the best way to gauge the quality of a school is to spend time while the school is in session and watch the students. Are they interested in what they’re doing and working hard?
Despite a sometimes shifting definition of world-class, there are common threads.
LEARNING TO THINK CRITICALLY
A school can't provide education in a bubble. By nature, students must study the same subjects as their peers at other schools and be skilled across academic disciplines. But more importantly, Saint Stephen’s students demonstrate strong critical thinking skills that let them dialog with their peers and continue their learning outside the classroom, adapting their opinions as they consider others' points of view.
“Saint Stephen’s teaches students, rather than just subjects,” Librarian Maggie Von Aken says. “Our teachers are highly qualified and passionate about their work. They help students analyze and think critically about information. They encourage them to ask questions and actively use what they learn.”
TEACHERS OF INCREDIBLE QUALITY
At Saint Stephens, the faculty spends a great deal of time getting to know the "whole" child, including his or her interests outside of the classroom. In many ways, the faculty is as dedicated to the task of learning as the students. Teachers willingly share their areas of expertise with peers who want to learn more about a specific subject matter.
“The faculty regularly seeks to integrate the knowledge we teach across academic disciplines,” Bernie Yanelli, Upper School History/Economics Teacher says. “This type of teaching/learning style is essential in the 21st century, since the complex problems facing the world today often require a person to have knowledge that spans more than one discipline.”
AN INCLUSIVE CAMPUS CULTURE
Saint Stephen's embraces a culture of civility. Consider the number of people who have striven to make a positive difference, each building on the actions of the previous era. Students, teachers, and staff see themselves as unique individuals that are part of a family. Instead of marking differences, we embrace the diversity that makes us stronger. Students who graduate from Saint Stephen's are confident, collaborative young adults who are ready to meet challenges and lead by example.
“Every child that enters our school is greeted by a host of dedicated people who intend to put their heart and soul into an education with depth and caring for that child,” Lower School Teacher Lee Ann Pritchett says.
EDUCATION BEYOND THE TEXTBOOK
An SSES education is authentic and teaches students to deal with (and attempt to solve) real-world problems, not just textbook lessons. Students are taught from a young age that they're the leaders of tomorrow, poised and able to tackle global problems such as the necessity for clean water and alleviating world hunger and disease. Student exposure to community service allows them to be engaged in real teaching moments and the volunteer efforts undertaken are educational, rewarding, and inspiring. Alumni more often than not continue to live out their lives punctuated by community service endeavors.
A Saint Stephen's graduate is flexible, nimble, with highly developed skills that enable him/her to succeed anywhere. It’s more than just an academic education.
“It’s a mindset, an ability to view an issue from multiple perspectives and see through the lens of other ideas. There’s a big picture idea that they are part of something greater. The things that they do, not only in the classroom, but in interacting with others, can create positive change,” Intermediate School Teacher Chris Valcarcel says.
STOKING STUDENT PASSION
Families who have the choice of an education anywhere in the world come to Saint Stephen’s because we offer a supportive educational environment that serves as a model for others. Our students are encouraged to chase their passions and gain the skills to understand and contribute to meeting the global challenges of the 21st century.
For Intermediate School English Teacher Tanya Creneti, providing a world-class education begins with selecting and promoting literature that opens our students up to the world beyond their own lives. Books can serve as windows and doorways to diverse perspectives, and can foster respect and empathy for individuals whose experiences differ from our own.
“As our students go on to develop their intellectual passions, having a more global outlook positions them to use their talents to make an impact,” she says. “To me, that is the ultimate end of a world-class education.”


David Dunning, a psychologist at Cornell University, has produced a fascinating study that suggests that people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people and the quality of those people’s ideas. In essence, he suggests that, when it comes to voting, most people lack the capacity to make meaningful judgments.
Winston Churchill said it somewhat differently when he stated that "the greatest argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
Dunning has concluded that nations often stumble when they rely on voters to elect leaders. He suggests that voters who are largely ignorant of the facts being debated by candidates are largely unable to select the best candidates to solve problems.
“Smart ideas are going to be hard for people to adopt.” Dunning told the website, Life's Little Mysteries, “Because most people don’t have the sophistication to recognize how good an idea is.”
However stunned we get from time to time at the results of local and national elections, the system that defines American democracy goes to the polar opposite of Dunning’s contention. Voting for public officials is considered an absolute right that is a bedrock of American life. Not only should every effort be made to make voting easy, but Americans are taught from youth that we have the solid obligation to cast ballots.
That’s what makes the Republican Party’s current assault on the voting rights of Black Americans so appalling. While claiming cases of voter fraud that never quite seem to bear fruit, Republicans are systematically passing laws that require voters to produce state identification, knowing that a large number of low-income African-Americans simply don’t possess them.
But Dunning’s research and the vociferous disagreement that many are bound to feel toward it, point to another significant imperative. If the voting rights of Americans are being assaulted, that places a stronger imperative upon all residents — but particularly African-American voters — to go the polls.
For years, Black parents and teachers have reminded their children of the sacrifices made by martyrs of the civil rights movement to expand voting rights for all Americans, regardless of race. But at no time since the civil rights movement should Black Americans feel a more compelling insistence on voting than now.
We are living in an era when the attack on voting rights (not to mention American women’s ability to make decisions about their own health needs) is at an all-time high. The stakes are particularly high for Black Americans. The message here, which is in sharp counterpoint to the research compiled by Dunning, is simple: If we don’t vote, we shouldn’t complain.
Take the 1993 race for mayor in New York City. The incumbent, David N. Dinkins, lost his re-election bid. And some political scientists suggest that if Black turnout had been just slightly higher, New York’s first African-American mayor would have been re-elected. Instead, he lost and New Yorkers were treated to two terms of Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose antipathy toward communities of color was breathtakingly wretched and whose heavy-handed approach to minorities still produces widespread grievances.
Despite Dunning’s premise, African-Americans surely know enough about the candidates running for president in 2012 to make some informed decisions. The only question is whether Black America will go to the polls in numbers that respect the sacrifices of the past and the compelling needs of the present.
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Catalyzing personal empowerment, societal transformation, and environmental sustainability
"The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think."
Mission & Vision
Naturally Sustainable Community
Dave Ewoldt, May 2005
Nature provides a model and the metaphors necessary to embed the principles of sustainability into the ways we live, work, and play together. In fact, bringing our lifestyles into alignment with the natural systems processes that we are an intimate part of is a first step in our quest for sustainable community.
Humans are natural creatures who have evolved out of 14 billion years of experience about what works and what doesn't when it comes to organizing and sustaining living systems. The balance we strive for in our lives is the same balance ecosystems strive for in order to remain healthy and productive. It just makes sense to pay attention to how Nature does it and follow Nature's example by using those processes to build healthy relationships in our own lives and communities.
Fortunately, the principles that create and sustain a healthy and thriving ecosystem are few: Mutual support, reciprocity, increasing diversity, no greed, and no waste. In human terms, this means cooperation, compassion, nurturance, and no waste.
Just like an ecosystem, a community is also a system of relationships, of interdependencies. While mainstream communities don't explicitly address this aspect, perhaps it's time they started to, and there's an available example. It's the growing intentional community movement. Although not identical to the ecovillage and New Urbanism trends, these movements all share many values and goals.
While there's a tremendous amount of diversity among intentional communities, there are many commonalities. Shared land and housing are the ones most people think of. More important, though, the members of an intentional community share a vision and work together on common goals like sharing resources, creating vibrant family neighborhoods, and often today, living ecologically sustainable lifestyles. Intentional communities can, and should be, spiritually eclectic to model nature's diversity in yet another way. Intentional communities often focus on voluntary simplicity, mutual interpersonal growth work, and lifelong education and mentoring.
People attracted to living in intentional communities tend to be hard working, peace loving, health conscious, environmentally concerned, and family oriented. They tend toward a way of life which increases the options for their own members without limiting the choices of others. Most intentional communities tend to be democratic, and often use consensus to reach group decisions.
Today we are faced with an immanent global economic and environmental meltdown. This is due to dwindling supplies of cheap and abundant fossil fuels, atmospheric carbon buildup due to burning fossil fuels, the Industrial Growth Society's consumer culture of cheap throw-away plastic goods created from fossil fuels, and an agriculture system dependent on fossil fuel for pesticides, fertilizers, cultivation, transportation, and processing.
The food on our dinner tables traveled thousands of miles to get there and most likely didn't come from a family farm, let alone an organic one. Most of our consumer goods traveled tens of thousands of miles to appear on the shelves of a big box retailer--which had driven your favorite local retailer out of business. The U.S. corporate logos these goods are branded with came from outsourced manufacturing jobs in overseas sweatshops. Without cheap and plentiful fossil fuel, none of this "free-market" globalization will remain possible.
Relocalization can protect our communities from these global crises and the economic failure that a staggering foreign debt and trade imbalances are exacerbating. Perhaps nonintuitively, state mandated "growth management" actually moves us in the wrong direction by refusing to address these realities. The more we allow growth (whether we call it smart or not), the less we'll be able to meet the needs of our existing population.
Relocalization means creating (or rebuilding) an alternative public infrastructure for essential goods and services that can be produced and distributed within bioregional boundaries. Generating and distributing renewable energy at the local level, and doing much more to conserve energy is another important aspect of relocalization; a need made more apparent when one realizes that half the electricity sent through the centrally controlled national power grid is lost in transmission. Skilled trade jobs in environmentally friendly industries will be needed to invigorate local economies, and cities need to be rebuilt to reduce transportation needs and expenses.
People are starting to gather in communities to find ways out of the waste-producing economy and into sustainable lifestyles. They are experimenting with new models and processes for organizing and networking that are non-hierarchical, inclusive and equitable.
By taking the above concepts of shared land, resources and other sustainable goals, Bellingham, or any other city, could consciously strive to become the world's largest intentional community. In fact, there's a group working on bringing that vision to reality in Bellingham.
The Intentional Bellingham group is working on the formation of affinity action groups in a number of very broad categories such as food, transportation, health, energy, city design, and education. Besides facilitating the process of forming the affinity groups, the Intentional Bellingham group is helping with information gathering and sharing, as well as networking among the affinity groups and with the wider community.
By building coalitions that are based on the natural systems processes of mutual support, reciprocity, and sustainability, that nurture creation and increase diversity, the Intentional Bellingham affinity groups will help prepare for the interdependent self-reliance that relocalization requires. But equally important is to inspire hope and spread awareness that viable alternatives and solutions to global crises exist within our community today.
The key to global transformations in the personal, social, environmental, and economic realms is not a simple matter of right or wrong actions, but a matter of building right relationships, and nature provides a model for doing so. The more closely communities are aligned with natural systems, the more successful and sustainable they will be.
By consciously reconnecting community members to Nature and to each other's inner nature, we overcome our separation, strengthen an atrophied part of the self, and build sustainable lives that are both fulfilling and thoroughly enjoyable.
If you would like to schedule an introductory consultation session or arrange a presentation or workshop for your group, please contact firstname.lastname@example.org or give Dave or Allison, co-founders of Attraction Retreat, a call at (360) 756-7998.
"You didn't come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here."


On the morning of September 3, 1914, an aerial observer by the name of Lieutenant Watteau assigned to the Paris garrison rushed to the Deuxième Bureau, the French military intelligence agency, with urgent news. In the four weeks since the outbreak of World War I, German armies had advanced to within 30 kilometers of the center of Paris. The French government had fled the city and the British-Franco armies were retreating under the pressure of the German right flank. At the Paris headquarters, aerial observer Lieutenant Watteau reported a 48-kilometer gap between the First and Second German Armies on the far right flank of the advance. The following day, more Parisian airmen confirmed the German mistake, convincing French and British commanders to halt their retreat and to drive a wedge between the German armies. In the First Battle of the Marne, French and British forces reversed the German encirclement of France—known as the Schlieffen Plan—and a long and costly war began in earnest. With advances in aviation, communication and photography, the First World War not only was the dawn of aerial warfare, but also the emergence of a sophisticated aerial reconnaissance and intelligence apparatus. It was a conflict in which, as the cultural theorist Paul Virilio writes in War and Cinema, aviation ceased to be about breaking flight records and became “one way, or perhaps even the ultimate way, of seeing.”
Prior to the First World War, balloons were the main platform for military aviation. During the Second Hague Peace Convention in 1907, Russian delegates encouraged a ban on the launching of projectiles from balloons. Captain William Crozier of the American delegation objected to the proposed unlimited ban on aerial warfare. Crozier argued that while the technology at the time did not allow for aerial targeting, perhaps new technologies in the future might add forward mobility to aircraft. Machine powered aircraft might enable more precise methods for launching projectiles from the air, thereby precipitating a speedy conclusion to the conflict and sparing lives.
The delegates decided to reduce the period of the ban from indefinitely to until the next peace convention. The possibility of an air war excited public attention. In 1908, H.G. Wells published The War in the Air, in which massive fleets of bombers wreak “civil conflict and passionate disorder” on the urban centers below. The first aerial bombardment occurred three years later, during the 1911-1912 Italo-Turkish War, when Italian Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti threw four grenades out of his Etrich Taube monoplane from an altitude of 600 ft.
By this time, sophisticated aerial photography from kites, balloons and even pigeons had already developed significantly thanks to a century of experiments by scientists and militaries. In “The Balloon Prospect,” Caren Kaplan writes that balloons were used for military reconnaissance as early as June 26th, 1794, when the French Revolutionary Army floated balloons over their engagement with the Austrian-Dutch coalition in Fleurus, Belgium. Aerial reconnaissance from balloons also saw use in the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and in the Boer War. Balloons and other methods of aerial photography began to give way to airplanes in the Italo-Turkish War, in which aircraft were used for the first time for military reconnaissance, directing naval gunfire. At the 1913 Paris Aero Salon, French engineers revealed the first airplane to be equipped with a specially configured aerial camera. By 1914, each of Europe’s major powers had developed dedicated aircraft corps for aerial intelligence. “The single use in war for which the machines of the Military Wing of the Royal Flying Corps were designed and the men trained was (let it be repeated) reconnaissance… [I]t was designed to operate with an expeditionary force and to furnish that force with eyes,” wrote Walter Raleigh in The War in the Air: In Being the Story of the Part Played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force (1922).
In Shooting the Front: Allied Aerial Reconnaissance in the First World War, Terrence Finnegan argues that reconnaissance aircraft—not fighters or bombers, which remained fairly rudimentary—were the focus of military aviation in the First World War. Allied powers dedicated resources to developing technical capabilities in aerial photography, photo interpretation, and aerial targeting for artillery, as well as a system for disseminating intelligence to the commanders in the field. Finnegan argues that systematic adoption of the aerial photograph led the First World War to become the first time that technical forms of intelligence collection became more highly valued than information gathered from human sources.
Aerial imagery was first used comprehensively to plan an engagement in the early months of 1915. At the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, British intelligence distributed 1,500 photographic maps of the German trench fortifications to British infantry commanders and, for the first time, aerial observers coordinated artillery barrages with an infantry advance. Despite being a strategic failure for the Allies, the engagement demonstrated the increasing sophistication of imagery interpretation and exploitation techniques for intelligence and cartographic purposes. Mosaic maps, which became an important tool throughout the war, were made by taking a series of overlapping vertical photos and aligning them together to create a comprehensive view of the enemy’s trench network. In the same way that an analyst today might use drone imagery to develop a “pattern of life” analysis based on behavioral signatures, photo interpreters in the First World War used stereoscopes—a device used to view two separate images—to make comparative studies of the imagery. “The interpreter is trained to know how things ought to look under all sorts of different conditions in a vertical photo,” wrote Harold Porter in Aerial Observation, in 1921. Interpreters looked for visual clues that might denote changes in the enemy’s position. For example, soil displacement or shadows could help identify trenches, embankments, artillery batteries and troop movements.
As the war became an entrenched battle of attrition, a system for the collection and dissemination of aerial intelligence facilitated increased coordination between the operations of aircrews and ground units. Artillery units in particular soon came to rely on aerial intelligence for the effective targeting of enemy positions. Artillery, the most lethal weapons platform of the war, served a number of duties that ranged from weakening enemy fortifications to disrupting rear-echelon communications and logistics. Equipped with the details of their targets, “aerial coverage provided a sense of control and purpose to artillery staffs,” writes Finnegan in Shooting the Front. In order to be relevant to ground operations, military intelligence required that photographs be delivered as fast as possible. Prior to the 1916 Somme offensive, British air crews conducted “speed tests,” challenging each other for the fastest time between taking a photograph and delivering it to a frontline unit. During the Verdun Campaign of 1916, the French assigned air crews to support specific units of artillery and infantry as aerial sentries, providing a stream of coverage during engagements. “Observation planes now guaranteed with the greatest exactness the operation of liaison with the infantry, of the photographic service, and of the timing of the artillery,” wrote Marechal Petain in Verdun, in 1930. Wireless telegraphy and emerging technologies such as radio provided close to real-time information, aiding coordination between aircrews and ground forces.
Coordination between air and ground, often the decisive factor in later conflicts and in military engagements today, became so common that infantry units came to associate the presence of aircraft with an impending artillery barrage. One German soldier at the Battle at Verdun in June 1916 described the psychological impact of the air-ground cooperation: “A silent enemy flyer pursued the individual wanderer, and French artillery shells accompanied his path. To run, stand still or lay down, it was all the same.” Despite being a technology primarily for aerial reconnaissance, the aircraft acquired a deadly reputation in the First World War as the harbinger of artillery strikes. In a 1917 article for the New York Times, Orville Wright argued that when the United States sent to Europe enough airplanes to bring down every German reconnaissance airplane, “the war will be won, because it will mean that the eyes of the German gunners have been put out.” Wright illustrates the violent bond between aircraft and artillery as well as to the essential function of the aircraft to provide the power of sight in a war in which soldiers charged blindly to kill and to be killed. The fusion of ground operations and aerial intelligence, predicated as it was on a vast intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination bureaucracy, was the first iteration of what today is known as a “kill-chain.”
Footage from the 1919 film of the Western Front by Jacques Trolley de Prévaux, a French Navy pilot who, during the Second World War, played a crucial role in the Resistance gathering intelligence for the Allied invasion of Normandy.
The beginnings of the drone are remarkably similar to that of its manned predecessor. Just as ground troops in the First World War were rendered sightless by the static trench warfare and oppressive new weapons, soldiers in the counterinsurgency wars today face an enemy that hides among the civilian population. While drones existed long before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, unmanned systems were embraced by the American military due in part to the difficulties of waging counterinsurgencies. These factors lead commanders to rely on aerial photographic or video imagery in order to increase an awareness of the battlefield and to find enemy targets. The introduction of new platforms on such a scale not only changes the kinds of intelligence that are collected but also influences the planning and conduct of military operations. In recent years, aerial intelligence has begun to focus more on tracking individuals and recording their habits in a “pattern of life” analysis, departing from its role in coordinating the bombing campaigns seen in the second half of the 20th century. While the tempo of the counterinsurgency campaigns of today do not match that of the First World War, the global search for terrorists by drones flashes the same sense of a forever war.
At the outbreak of the First World War, commanders like British Field-Marshal John French believed that no mechanical platform would ever replace cavalry as means to conduct reconnaissance. Within months, however, the horse succumbed to industrial warfare, as did traditional methods of cavalry generalship. In the place of cavalry arose the modern military intelligence bureaucracy that employed a Fordist system of photo interpretation in an attempt to achieve total knowledge of the battlefield and total control. The power of photo interpreters, in the words of Paul Saint-Amour, was “not in the mere ability to command, but in the more rarefied capacity of producing the knowledge that would inform the commanders.” With the proliferation of the drone there is the unshakable feeling that our means of perceiving the world are drastically changing. Those who witnessed the aircraft’s rise to prominence in war must have felt something very similar. The emergence of the drone on foreign and domestic fronts recalls the earliest days of aviation when, as Paul Virilio writes in The Art of the Motor, the ambition “was not so much to fly as to see from on high.”


Because they are aware of the negative impacts of the extra glucose present in the blood, which if not burnt properly, might cause problems related to Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Heart Problems, Diabetes, Kidney problems and Obesity etc. (watch video to understand in detail how these problems are related to one another)
In most of the cases it is seen that the person who have been eating a medicine for one of the above stated lifestyle disorders definitely eats medicine for all of the above stated lifestyle disorders at some point in life if the root cause is not dealt with (which is a change in person’s lifestyle/routine/habits)
Just remember this rule, to burn 1 gram of glucose a person needs to walk /physical movement for about 15-20 minutes approximately.
Now Let’s understand this with the help of a “cola drink”
A can of cola contains 39g of processed/refined sugar which is capable of releasing extra glucose in your blood in a matter of 25-35 minutes or earlier. This 39g of sugar could release 19g (Approx) of glucose in a person’s blood instantly... which is a very dangerous condition, now to burn this much gram of glucose a person need to walk for (look at the calculation below):-
19g (glucose) X 20 minutes walk (To burn per gram of glucose) =380 minutes
380 minutes divided by 60 minutes = 6.3 hours walking
Note: So to burn 19g of excess glucose in blood a person needs to walk for about 6 hours (Approximately) and how much do we walk in actual? THINK!!!
And we expect our excess glucose level to drop and burn by not working out enough and by not controlling our dietary glucose intake through simple carbohydrates and processed Foods, sugars/sweeteners.
Today’s medical system is very much advance and needed in today’s time of rising health ailments... Medical Experts (Doctors, Nurses etc) are doing a pretty good work in this zone, Big thanks to them for their contribution in the society....
But Somehow with issues related to lifestyle disorders (diabetes, cholesterol, Blood Pressure etc.), specially Diabetes, medical students are taught that “DIABESTES IS AN INCURABLE DISEASE” / “IT IS A PROGRESSIVE DISSORDER”
Why do we overlook the fact that it’s a lifestyle disorder, which has come up because of our bad/unhealthy lifestyle patterns?
Now, since this problem is the result of our unhealthy lifestyle... can this problem not be reversed by correcting and improvising our lifestyle??? Can this problem not be reversed by giving body the enough time to recover itself??(Watch video to know how)
Why not? When the body has the ability to heal itself....THINK!!!!
OUR REVERSAL PROGRAMME: Focuses on....
EATING PATTERN: we guide you about the type of food you must eat to maintain the level of glucose in your blood. Which includes mainly avoiding the simple carbohydrates that cause a rapid rise in blood glucose level and consuming the complex carbohydrates which digest slowly in the system thus release the glucose slowly and steadily in the blood. Thereby maintaining the glucose level.
EXERCISE/DAILY YOGA PRACTICE: We conduct daily online yoga sessions (zoom) in the morning for the people suffering from diabetes. The objective of the session is that nobody misses their daily practice + the sessions are live conducted in the presence of an expert who can help keep you going and keep you motivated
Our sessions our divided into 2 parts the first part includes the set of asana’s that focus on your problem related to diabetes and second part includes the set of asana’s targeting your overall health & fitness.
Note: Duration of the diabetes based online yoga session is 30 minutes.
INTERMETTENT FASTING: we promote intermittent fasting of 12-14 hours daily (ASK US HOW?) because when the body is fasting it gets the chance to free itself from accumulated toxins + body gets the time to work on healing itself as the body is not busy in the process of digestion.
For Further Queries Call :9910910688


Respected Sister in Islam,
Wa-alaykumus Salaam wa-Rahmatullahi wa-Barakaatum
1.) Ahle Ilm (The
people of Knowledge) are supposed to be Ahle Hilm (people
of tolerance). Just as you would like that Allah Ta’ala tolerates
you for all your weaknesses and shortcomings, so you will have to
train your nafs to also tolerate others on their weaknesses. Being
human means that we are prone to shortcomings and errors –
each and everyone of us.
2.) Making remarks that are
uncalled for and are hurtful to them will invite regret. Learn to
maintain silence. The Hadeeth mentions that a man does not slip
so much with his foot as he does with his tongue.
3.) Moreover, you should
adopt ‘adl’ (justice) in respect to your students, otherwise
not testing them due to their weakness, will be an injustice to
them. Allah Ta’ala has entrusted these students to your care.
This is an amaanat. Win them over with love, compassion and affection.
Encourage them with good words, with incentives.
If need be, get the brighter students to give some
time to the weaker students, for revision purposes – that
is, if you do not have the time.
4.) There are many excellent
books by our pious Ulama and these book offer different methods
of teachings as well as excellent suggestions in dealing with students.
Was-Salaamu alaykum wa-Rahmatullahi wa-Barakaatuhu
Yunus Patel (Maulana)


Four Scottish Monarchs Whose Reigns Were Cut Suspiciously Short
Kings and queens being hanged, beheaded, and poisoned. It seems Scotland has seen more than its fair share of suspicious regicides.
Before I started writing The Stolen Letter, I didn’t know much about Mary, Queen of Scots, but I’ve always held a fascination for the martyred queen. Over the years, of course, I’d picked up on a few things; my murder, mayhem, and mystery mind (fictionally only, of course) mostly glomming onto the facts that she was held prisoner inside castles and that she was beheaded after probably being betrayed. Come to find out, those were just mere specks of her fascinating history.
Most of my research for the details I included in The Stolen Letter came from John Guy’s The True Life of Mary Stuart Queen of Scots. It’s a big book, full of historical detail, yet totally compelling. According to the quote on the cover, the New York Times said it’s “As enthralling as a detective story.” I agree.
There’s much to learn about Mary – she must have been an incredible force – but a few things stood out and made me wish I could run into her on the street and have a sit-down, a wee bit of blether. For instance, she was tall, almost six feet, which, for a woman of that time, was very rare. She was frequently surrounded by four of her ladies, also named Mary, who, as a group, were known as the four Maries. Mary, the queen, enjoyed exercise, in the form of riding her horse – up to three hours at a time – and even playing golf. She would sometimes dress as a man, and with the four Maries at her side, she would venture out among “the people.”
I enjoyed weaving some of the queen’s history through my contemporary book. I couldn’t use everything, but I hope I included some interesting facts. It’s impossible to know if history has been recorded accurately, but my research into Mary piqued my curiosity about other Scottish monarchs and some of their unusual behaviors or attributes.
The real Scottish ruler named Macbeth reigned from 1040 – 1057. Shakespeare wasn’t exactly accurate in his portrayal, but some facts might ring familiar. Macbeth was nicknamed the Red King, likely because of a head full of red hair and a ruddy complexion. At first, he ruled over only a portion of present-day Scotland, becoming ruler by killing the previous ruler. Though little is known of Macbeth’s early life, it is speculated that he was a grandson of Malcolm II (a previous King of Scots). Macbeth probably killed the previous ruler before marrying his widow, Gruoch – they had no children, and there’s no indication she was anything like the Lady Macbeth we’ve come to know.
Macbeth’s reign was mostly peaceful, though in 1040 King Duncan I launched an attack and was killed by Macbeth’s troops. Macbeth succeeded him as King of Alba (ruler of all of Scotland). Macbeth was later killed at the Battle of Lumphanan by forces loyal to the future Malcolm III.
Another female Scottish ruler’s legitimacy was questioned. Margaret, Maid of Norway, was the queen-designate of Scotland from 1286 until her death in September of 1290. She was never inaugurated, though it’s not clear why; possibly an attempted change in the idea of how Scotland was to be ruled, possibly because of concern about her being from Norway. Her status as monarch is debated by historians. She died after a journey over the sea. It was probably food poisoning that did her in, but wouldn’t it be great to have an accurate record of exactly why her position as monarch was never solidified? There’s a bit of suspicion about her life and death, but not as much as my questioning mind would like. It was a long time ago, I suppose.
One of my favorites is Robert I, or Robert the Bruce. Talk about a history. He packed a lot into fifty-four years of life. He is the ruler, a true warrior, who led Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England and is revered throughout Scotland as a national hero. There’s much to know and learn about Robert I but my favorite fact is about his heart.
After Robert I died (maybe from leprosy, but it’s certainly shrouded in some mystery), he was buried in multiple places, but his heart was placed inside a metal urn to be worn around the neck of Sir James Douglas, who promised to take it to the holy land. Unfortunately, Sir Douglas never made it that far. He took a detour to fight the Moors in Spain, where he was killed. However, before he died, he reportedly threw the urn containing the king’s heart and yelled, “Lead on brave heart, I’ll follow thee.” A team of archeologists found the urn in Spain in 1921 and it is now interred in Melrose Abbey.
Robert the Bruce was the original “brave heart.” Or that’s just a very good story.
Even though history might not have been recorded as well as we would like, there’s much to know about Scotland and its rulers. I’ve barely scratched the surface, but I’m hooked. Mary, Queen of Scots will always be my favorite. She was fierce – and power-hungry forces fought her fierceness until they, unfortunately and ultimately, won.
However, she will always be my brave heart. May she lead on, wherever she is.


Three-year reseeding project will use cattle grazing to restore ecosystem and protect wildlife.
As global demand for protein increases, farmers and ranchers, agribusinesses, restaurants and conservation organizations are coming together to feed a growing population, address climate change and protect the planet.
Cargill is teaming up with Burger King® restaurants, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and ranchers within the Northern Great Plains for an ambitious grassland restoration program. Aimed at reseeding 8,000 acres of marginal cropland in Montana and South Dakota, the program will reinstate valuable grassland and ecosystems, with beef cattle acting as primary grazers.
By 2030, the project could cumulatively save the carbon equivalent of driving 70 million miles in a passenger car. It will also prevent soil erosion, increase soil water-storage capacity and encourage greater biodiversity in the area.
Climate benefits of reseeding grasslands and cattle grazing
Native grasses, with roots 10 to 15 feet deep, pull carbon from the atmosphere and store it underground – supporting one of the world’s most stable carbon sinks.
These deep roots also secure the plants, prevent the topsoil from being blown or washed away and effectively pull water underground, supporting the resiliency of the grasslands during times of drought.
Cattle grazing can stimulate the growth of grasses and maintain a healthy ecosystem – just as the native bison once did. Cattle’s hooves break through hard ground, allowing more water to be absorbed into the soil, while their dung encourages grass growth. The restored grassland also provides a habitat for wildlife unique to the region.
This project could change the way the world addresses beef farming – so the data we gather is vital. Employing the latest monitoring practices, we will evaluate changes in soil carbon and moisture, as well as the wildlife response. Carbon-measurement tools will also be explored and tested to continually evolve best practices.
Progress through partnerships
Cattle ranchers are at the forefront of this effort to develop a foundation for grassland ecosystem restoration. In partnership with WWF’s Sustainable Ranching Initiative, they are gaining the knowledge to implement sustainable cattle grazing practices after plants have taken root. With their commitment to sustainable land stewardship, the project will set in motion realistic, scalable environmental solutions for the entire industry.