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Jonathan Neale writes: I have spent the last year working on a book called Fight the Fire – Green New Deals and Global Climate Jobs. Most of it is about both the politics and the engineering of any possible transition that can avert catastrophic climate breakdown. One thing I had to think about long and hard was lithium and car batteries.
[This article was first published by Climate and Capitalism on 11 Feb 2021.]
I often hear people say that we can’t cover the world with electric vehicles, because there simply is not enough lithium for batteries. In any case, they add, lithium production is toxic, and the only supplies are in the Global South. Moreover, so the story goes, there are not enough rare earth metals for wind turbines and all the other hardware we will need for renewable energy.
People often smile after they say those things, which is hard for me to understand, because it means eight billion people will go to hell.
So I went and found out about lithium batteries and the uses of rare earth. What I found out is that the transition will be possible, but neither the politics nor the engineering is simple. This article explains why. I start by describing the situation simply, and then add in some of the complexity.
[This post is an excerpt from Fight the Fire – Green New Deals and Global Climate Jobs, which can be downloaded as a FREE pdf or a FREE e-book here. It can be ordered as a paperback for £15 here .]
Lithium is a metal used in almost all electric vehicle batteries today. About half of global production of lithium currently goes to electric vehicles. And in future we will need to increase the production of electric vehicles from hundreds or thousands to hundreds of millions. That will require vast amounts of lithium.
There are three ways to mine lithium. It can be extracted from rock. It can be extracted from the brine that is left over when sea water passes through a desalination plant. Or it can be extracted from those brine deposits which are particularly rich in lithium. These brine deposits are the common way of mining lithium currently, because it is by far the cheapest. Most of the known deposits of lithium rich brine are in the arid highlands where Bolivia, Chile and Argentina come together.
Lithium mining is well established in Chile and Argentina. In both countries the local indigenous people have organised against the mining, but so far been unable to stop it. The mining is toxic, because large amounts of acid are used in the processing. But the mining also uses large amounts of water in places that already has little enough moisture. The result is that ancestral homelands become unlivable.
Bolivia may have even richer deposits of lithium than Argentina and Chile, but mining has not begun there. The Bolivian government had been led by the indigenous socialist Evo Morales from 2006 to 2019. Morales had been propelled to power by a mass movement committed to taking back control of Bolivia’s water, gas and oil resources from multinational corporations. Morales was unable to nationalize the corporations, but he did insist on the government getting a much larger share of the oil and gas revenue.
His government planned to go even further with lithium. Morales wanted to mine the lithium in Bolivia, but he wanted to build factories alongside the mines to make batteries. In a world increasingly hungry for batteries, that could have turned Bolivia into an industrial nation, not just a place to exploit resources.
The Morales government, however, was unable to raise the necessary investment funds. Global capital, Tesla, the big banks and the World Bank had no intention of supporting such a project. And if they had, they would not have done so in conjunction with a socialist like Morales. Then, in 2019, a coup led by Bolivian capitalists, and supported by the United States, removed Morales. Widespread popular unrest forced a new election in October. Morales’ party, the Movement for Socialism won, though Morales himself was out of the running. It is unclear what will happen to the lithium.
That’s one level of complexity. The local indigenous people did not want the lithium mined. The socialist government did not want extractavism, but they did want industrial development.
Those are not the only choices.
For one thing, there are other, more expensive ways of mining lithium. It can be mined from hard rock in China or the United States. More important, batteries do not have to be made out of lithium. Cars had used batteries for almost a century before Sony developed a commercial lithium-ion battery in 1991. Engineers in many universities are experimenting with a range of other materials for building batteries. But even without looking to the future, it would be possible to build batteries in the ways they used to be built. Indeed, in January 2020, the US Geological Service listed the metals that could be substituted for lithium in battery anodes as calcium, magnesium, mercury and zinc.
The reason all manufacturers currently use lithium is that it provides a lighter battery that lasts longer. That gives the car greater range without recharging, and it make possible a much lighter car. In other words, lithium batteries are cheaper.
Rare Earth Metals
Similar arguments apply to rare earth metals. There are several different kinds of rare earth metals, each with different properties. They are widely used, in small amounts, in wind turbines, car batteries and much other technology necessary for climate change. It is often said that this rarity is an obstacle to decarbonizing the world.
This is not quite right. First, rare earth metals are not rare because they are found in only a few places in the world. They are found in many places, all over the world. The word rare in this context means that they are found in very, very small concentrations in the ore where they are mined. This makes them expensive. It also requires mining a vast amount of ore and then processing it with acids. If unregulated, the pollution is intense. In other words, this is more extractavism.
Right now most rare earth metals are mined in China. There is nothing special about the geology of China. Most of them could be mined in the United States, or a range of other countries. Coltan is a good example. It is used in small, hand-held electronic devices. At one point in the civil war in the Congo, the coltan mines were cut off by fighting and for a few weeks there was a global shortage of smart phones, and a delay in the supply of play station. By 2009, many sources were repeating that 80% of coltan reserves were in Africa. Reserves are hard to estimate, but in 2009 about 30% of coltan was being mined in Congo DR. That was because the largest coltan mine in the world, Wodginga in Australia, had closed at the end of 2008. At that point Wodginga had been supplying 30% of the global markets for coltan, but found production uneconomic. Wodginga opened again in 2011, closed in 2017, and is now a lithium mine. There is almost always an alternative place to mine.
China has two “advantages.” One is that the government can deal brutally with local protestors against pollution. The other advantage is that the Chinese government decided that they would move their economy towards high-tech, high-value industry, and that to do this they need a reliable supply of rare earth metals.
The Chinese government has also made a decision to open mines for a wide range of rare earth metals. This makes China dominant in the market, because it is not possible now to tell what metals will be needed for which industries in ten years’ time. What China can do, and the United States or Australia so far cannot, is decide on public investment in advance of knowing exactly what will be needed.
But as with lithium, there are always alternatives. The main use of rare earth metals now is for screens, smart phones, games consoles, electronics and laptop computers. You can have a phone, a computer or a screen without rare earth metals. But a pinch of the metal gives the screen better resolution, and it allows the device to be made much smaller. Steve Jobs knew what he wanted to do with phones long before he made the I-phone. But Jobs had to wait for the necessary rare metals to come onstream.
All this means that when climate jobs programs need rare earth metals, they can always go back to an older technology. A shortage of rare metals does not mean renewable energy won’t work.
We have established that batteries do not have to be made out of lithium. Other materials are available. We have established that shortages of lithium do not mean we have to give up on the prospect of all vehicles being electric. Other kinds of batteries can be used. Lithium can be mined from other parts of the world.
In another chapter in my book, I explain why hydrogen from electrolysis with renewable electricity can be used instead in cars instead of batteries. There are serious technical problems, and again, it’s more expensive.
So we don’t have to use lithium in electric batteries. We need not poison the homelands of indigenous people. Moreover, much of the poisoning takes place because mining is unregulated. Regulation could solve that problem.
Which sounds all well and good. But this is to ignore the relations of power that enable destructive extraction in poor countries all over the world. Is it naïve to think we can do anything about that?
Well, as things stand it is difficult for local people, or indigenous people, to defend themselves. This is true in Papua New Guinea, but also in Argentina, China and indeed with mountain-top removal in West Virginia. In many parts of the world, international NGOs do encourage local people to campaign against pollution in the media, and to take out court cases, in countries far away. Sometimes this works, but the record is not good, and it takes years. Moreover, local people lose control of their campaign, which means the foreign NGO and lawyers can settle whenever they decide to, on whatever terms they accept.
Agitation and organization inside the country can have a larger effect. In 2020, a court ruling in Chile in support of the indigenous communities brought lithium mining there to a halt, and may stop it altogether.
All this is worth fighting for. But most of my book is about how we can fight for and establish a public sector climate jobs service in each country. And if we win that – a big if – the problem is simpler. Then it would become possible to challenge the destructive power of extractive industries. The people whose lives and lands are polluted or drowned, in Bolivia for instance, could appeal for solidarity from the people who work in the new climate service, in France for example.
The balance of forces would be quite different from the way it is now when NGOs attempt to lobby and shame great corporations. The workers in the climate service in France would be unionized.
Union organization is never automatic. But if people cannot organize a union in a public sector service of a million people, and moreover a service that has been won in the teeth of established power by a mass movement of millions, a mass movement in which the unions have been central, a mass movement where everyone knows they are part of a global movement to save the Earth – then, frankly, you cannot organize a union anywhere. Moreover, if we succeed in climate jobs, we will have workforces with a deep pride in their mission to save the Earth.
All of this presumes that the workers in the climate service have job security, and government jobs. As we have seen, there are many other reasons why we need those protections anyway. But in that situation, with those feelings and forces in play, an appeal for solidarity from indigenous people in a river valley somewhere could easily lead workers 8,000 miles away to tell their management: “We will use lithium from somewhere else. Or another material. Or hydrogen fuel cells. We are not working with lithium that has blood on it.”
Similar arguments apply to almost all other cases of extractive industry. Workers who offer each other solidarity can turn a race to the bottom into a race to the top. And if that feels unlikely to you, it is because you live now, here, on this Earth. If we can do it, the process of saving that Earth will change what people can do and imagine.
In sum, the energy transition right now is powered, in many places, by appalling destruction and poisoning in the extraction of raw materials. It does not have to be that way.
This is an excerpt from Jonathan Neale’s new book, Fight the Fire: Green New Deals and Global Climate Jobs, published on Feb. 4 by Resistance Books and the Alternative Information and Development Centre, and available as a free pdf and ebook at The Ecologist magazine. You can contact Jonathan at lindisfarne [dot] neale [at] gmail.com.
Jeffrey Webber, 2017, The Last Day of Oppression, and the First Day of the Same: The Politics and Economics of the New Latin American Left, London: Pluto; and Mike Gonzalez, 2019, The Ebb of the Pink Tide: The Decline of the Left in Latin America, both provide good guides to the complexity and contradictions of the Morales’ government, which was the product of a great mass movement and deeply constrained by neoliberalism. But politics is changing again in Latin America, and good up to the minute analysis is Pablo Solon, 2020, “Why Lucho and David won the Bolivian elections,” Systematical Alternatives, Oct. 19.
“Lithium,” US Geological Service, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January, 2020.
David Abraham, 2015, The Elements of Power: Gadgets, Guns and the Struggle for a Sustainable Future in the Rare Metal Age, New Haven: Yale University Press, is brilliant.
Michael Nest, 2011, Coltan, Cambridge: Polity, 16.
Stuart Kirsch, Mining Capitalism, Berkeley: University of California Press, chapter 2 is very good on this. | <urn:uuid:6b9c27b5-7475-42ac-a3a2-1fad9cd7eea0> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://annebonnypirate.org/2021/02/16/lithium-batteries-and-climate-change/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296949107.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20230330070451-20230330100451-00315.warc.gz | en | 0.959546 | 2,938 | 2.625 | 3 | The extract scores 4 points because it provides a comprehensive discussion of complex scenarios requiring sophisticated communication, strategic thinking, and advanced problem-solving across multiple contexts, including environmental sustainability, economic development, and social justice. The author presents nuanced interactions and complex problem-solving opportunities, incorporating cultural awareness, digital literacy, and practical applications. However, it falls short of a perfect score as it does not seamlessly integrate advanced communication, leadership, and problem-solving scenarios that mirror real-world complexity in every element.
Educational score: 4 | 4 | 3 | 113,749 | 1 |
By Dr. Adam Horn
You may have seen the infographic below, it is circulating around the Internet. I decided to take the fact check challenge to see if this information is true. The infographic states that 19 justices were nominated and confirmed in an “election” year. This part is true. In most cases, it was an “election” year. What the infographic does not say is they were nominated and confirmed in a “presidential election” year. Add the word “presidential” and the infographic is incorrect.
This infographic was likely created to imply that Senators Cruz and Rubio’s facts were wrong in Saturday’s Republican debate. Both stated that a supreme court justice has not been nominated and confirmed in an election year in 80 years (actually it was 1940, which is 76 years). “Technically” they were wrong when they said an “election year” and not “presidential election” year. Do you see the semantic difference here? Every year is an election year somewhere in the United States. In the spirit of their argument, most reasonable thinking people probably assumed both men meant presidential election year because Justice Antonin Scalia died Saturday and we are in the midst of a presidential election year.
The fact is only three justices have been nominated and confirmed in a presidential election year since 1900: Frank Murphy (1940), Benjamin Cardozo (1932), Louis Brandeis (1916).
Here’s the proof (see below). Check it out for yourself. This took me about 15 minutes of research. For the record, the infographic is technically right. However, due to its timing, it is misleading because the implication is that Senators Cruz and Rubio were wrong about their facts in Saturday’s debate.
Had Senators Cruz and Rubio said a supreme court justice has not been nominated and confirmed, in a “presidential election” year, in nearly 80 years, they both would have been right. But, because both senators simply said “election” year and not “presidential election” year, this is what makes the infographic correct – though it is misleading in its intent.
The Lesson For Communicators
In the original post that accompanied this infographic it stated that Cruz and Rubio need to check their facts. That’s true. Reality is, we all need to check the facts before posting or stating what we “think” is true because we saw a post that we “liked,” did not check the facts, and believed it to be holistically true. The infographic is correct with the words “election” year. It is incorrect if you add the words “presidential election” year.
Supreme Court Justices mentioned: Kagan (2010), Alito (2006), Breyer (1994), Souter (1990), Scalia (1986), Rehnquist (1986), Blackmun (1970), Goldberg (1962), White (1962), Warren (1953), Clark (1949), Vinson (1946), Murphy (1940), Reed (1938), Cardozo (1932), Roberts (1930), Hughes (1930), Sutherland (1922), Brandeis (1916).
Presidential election years: 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016.
I did not do this to defend Cruz or Rubio. They are grown men. They can defend themselves. Also, I did not do this to share or persuade you with any particular political ideology. I did this because people do not take the time to check their facts anymore. We tend to believe the first thing we agree with (see or hear) on TV, or in this case, Facebook.
In this presidential election year, regardless if you are a Democrat or a Republican, please take the time to educate yourself with actual facts before believing everything you read. You don’t have to agree with everything you read, but at least make sure it tells the whole story and that parts of it are not intentionally misleading – much like the infographic. | <urn:uuid:99c24bff-628c-479f-bc0d-a2879bcc0eb9> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://ucmprprogram.com/2016/02/15/check-the-facts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585371700247.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20200407085717-20200407120217-00090.warc.gz | en | 0.957564 | 890 | 3.078125 | 3 | The extract earns a score of 4 due to its comprehensive discussion of critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and nuanced communication. It presents a complex scenario requiring strategic thinking and advanced problem-solving, while emphasizing the importance of fact-checking and media literacy. The author demonstrates intercultural fluency by encouraging readers to look beyond political ideologies and focus on verifying information.
Educational score: 4 | 4 | 3 | 985,109 | 1 |
Teaching for Justice & Belonging A Journey for Educators and Parents, by Starker Glass, Tehia; Carter Berry, Lucretia
- ISBN: 9781119834328 | 1119834325
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 8/23/2022
Create a classroom with a culture of true belonging, liberation, and justice for all
Teaching for Justice and Belonging: A Journey for Educators & Parents provides a practical and powerful blueprint to unrooting racism in the educational setting. The book is an easy-to-understand guide designed to cultivate an educational experience that inspires a culture of true belonging, liberation, and justice for all.
Relying on case studies, thorough research, and deeply personal and enlightening experiences drawn from the lives of the authors themselves, Teaching for Justice and Belonging also offers:
- Demonstrations of how to explore personal and collective racial identity to learn more about oneself and others
- Support for making systemic change within the spheres of influence of educators and parents
- Real testimonials and stories to guide readers on their own healthy anti-racism journeys
A central piece of any anti-racism roadmap, this book is perfect for K-12 educators, administrators, and teacher leaders. It will also earn a place in the bookshelves of pre-service teachers and parents interested in unlearning racism and encouraging diverse voices in the education system. | <urn:uuid:62283830-c9bb-400c-bbc9-e89ecbbc33e2> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.biggerbooks.com/teaching-justice-belonging-journey/bk/9781119834328 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296943589.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20230321002050-20230321032050-00438.warc.gz | en | 0.90627 | 296 | 2.53125 | 3 | This extract scores high for its focus on creating a culture of belonging, justice, and liberation, which inherently requires advanced communication, empathy, and leadership skills. It promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, and intercultural fluency through case studies, research, and personal experiences, offering a comprehensive approach to professional development.
Educational score: 5 | 5 | 4 | 186,625 | 1 |
Open Sources 2.0/Open Source: Competition and Evolution/Why Open Source Needs Copyright Politics
From Programmer 97-things
Some programmers and businesspeople draw a distinction between "Free Software" and "open source." Free Software is political, they say, and open source is pragmatic. Free Software developers want to recode the world; open sourcers just want to write good code. This distinction is, of course, exaggerated. Many people adopt these labels for their own reasons; some switch between them depending on audience or context. But even the most apolitical of open source developers and users should be concerned by the copyright battles waged right now. The copyright law being made and enforced today will impact the software we can develop and use for decades, and its impact reaches far beyond commercial media.
Imagine, for example, that you'd like to build an open source home multimedia server. Nothing fancy yet, just a place to play music, watch the occasional DVD, and record television programs—one machine to replace the menagerie of devices nesting in your media center. Easier developed than cleared legally. Technically, you (or others willing to share with you) will be able to meet the challenges with Moore's Law-fast processors, ever-cheaper massive storage capacities, and clever user interfaces. The legal obstacles are harder to hack. Start with the music. If you have standard CDs, you're all set: plenty of Free programs let you play them from the CD drive, rip them to Ogg, FLAC, or MP3 (with a nod, perhaps, to the patent licensors at Fraunhoffer). Try to connect to a streaming service or purchase music online, and things get tricky. Apple's iTunes, the "new Napster," and Rhapsody all lack open source clients, and none would be happy with reverse engineering to write one that plays the music they sell encrypted or by subscription.
Yet music is the easy part. Want to write a player for DVDs you've purchased or Netflixed? Because only closed source implementations have been licensed to decrypt the DVD's files, any DVD player you write is liable to be deemed a "circumvention" by the movie studios and courts, even if the only features you write match those of WinDVD or the standalone player under the TV. Television, then; recording over-the-air broadcasts shouldn't be too hard, since those are unencrypted. Watch out for the digital television transition and the broadcast flag, though. Unless public interest groups' challenge succeeds, the FCC's broadcast flag rule will ban open digital TV tuners that can be used with open source software. The only ones who will be able to play will be those making closed hardware or proprietary software decoders. You'll encounter these obstacles before you even try to take any of your media off the server to exchange with friends or family.
OK, but say for a moment that you have no interest in multimedia. Leave that minefield for another day and move on to business networks or productivity software. Even there, copyright law intrudes. Your security analysis of a system's encryption might be limited by what media companies have preemptively claimed as "technological protection measures;" your selection of replacement parts or add-on modules could be dictated by copyright-based tying more than fitness for use; your ability to interoperate depends on whether reasonable interpretations of the law prevail over some vendors' extreme copyright claims.
Like a group of once-healthy cells grown out of control, copyright law has metastasized to threaten the system of creativity it was once helping to support. No longer a "limited monopoly" to encourage creativity and dissemination of creative works to the public, copyright has become a blunt tool of exclusion, chilling development of software, among other creative endeavors. And so the fight to restore balance to copyright law cannot be dismissed as mere politics. Unless users and developers of open source software join the copyfight, they will find the new reality of copyright law restricting not just their freedom to play blockbuster movies, but also their core freedoms to write and run independent and interoperable software.
From Movable Type to MovableType
A balanced copyright law is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution: "to promote the progress of science and useful arts," Congress was empowered to grant authors exclusive rights "for limited times." The monopoly created was limited in time and scope. The first copyright law gave authors a 14-year term, renewable once, to publish and vend maps, charts, and books. Copyright protected original expression for a short time, while leaving others free to build around that expression (translations and dramatizations, for example), and then to recycle works entirely from the public domain once copyright expired.
Copyright law has changed with the introduction of new technologies. New means of reproduction often first challenge the copyright framework, then establish themselves as new creative tools for authors and their public audiences alike. At the turn of the last century, printers bought single copies of sheet music and punched holes into rolled paper to program "piano rolls" for then-new player pianos. Composers and music publishers sued, seeking to rein in this appropriation. When the courts held that punched paper didn't "copy" inked notes, Congress updated the law with a compromise—not to ban player pianos or mechanical reproduction, but to permit anyone to produce piano rolls if they paid a "mechanical license" royalty for every roll sold. As the player piano market grew, more music reached more people, and more composers got paid for creating it.
The pattern has repeated itself many times since. Songwriters and performers denounced radio until both found that it could promote sales. Movie studios deplored the videocassette recorder, saying Sony's Betamax would be the "Boston Strangler" to their industry. When they failed to shut Sony down, however, the industry converted its peril into a profit center, finding that viewers with home recorders were potential customers for rentals and sales of appropriately priced videotapes. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court's ruling that technology makers would not be liable for users' copyright infringements so long as their devices were "capable of substantial noninfringing use" fueled a technology boom. The public and the creators shared the benefits of new technology—the public could record movies from television to videotape; studios could sell or rent videocassettes more easily than reel-to-reel.
Despite making it through these earlier transitions, the entertainment companies haven't stopped fighting technological change and the competitive threats it represents. The MP3 player is a slightly more convenient cassette deck, and the weblog is just the next step forward from the typewriter and mimeograph. This time, however, the entertainment industry has swayed many in Congress and the courts to the view that "digital is different," and induced them to change the law in ways that are different and dangerous.
This expansion of copyright's control interferes with open source development. The changes manifest themselves in layers, most notably overassertion of protection for code itself; excessive protection of other copyrighted content that code is dealing with; and misuse of copyright to control markets and maintain cartels in technologies of distribution or manipulation of code and content. Together, the copyright layers build a shell around not only proprietary code, but also around culture and innovation.
Copyright in Code
Copyright protects original expression in code, as it protects any other "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression." Some developers use that protection to enforce the openness of their code, as with the GNU General Public License (GPL); others use it to reinforce a proprietary distribution model. But while copyright protects code's creative expression, it does not protect the functions, methods, or procedures that expression implements. Thus, even for closed code, a programmer remains free to study interfaces and functionality, free to interoperate or replace that code with his own.
Situated as it is in an environment filled with proprietary software and poorly documented interfaces, open source development frequently relies on reverse engineering to fit in. Anyone who has used Samba to bridge Windows and non-Windows networks has benefited from Andrew Tridgell's reverse engineering of the Windows protocols for network services; anyone who exchanges files to read and write them in OpenOffice.org rather than Microsoft Word appreciates the reverse-engineering-derived ability to edit files in Microsoft Word format.
Courts have long held that reverse engineering, the practice of examining something and taking it apart to figure out how it works, is a fair use, not an infringement of copyright. Even when programs are released only as closed, binary code, programmers can often discover a great deal about them by watching their operation or the file formats they use, or by disassembly. Reimplementing those discoveries in new code comports with copyright too. So, companies have been protected in taking apart a video game console to build a console emulator (Sony v. Connectix) or disassembling a game to build a new one compatible with the console (Sega v. Accolade). If someone builds a better mousetrap after examining those that exist, copyright law will not stop her from deploying it.
At least that's the black-letter law. In practice, though, many copyright holders try to extend copyright's limited monopoly to block reverse engineering, through a combination of copyright, contract, and anticircumvention. For example, Blizzard, maker of the popular Starcraft and Warcraft video games, claims that all players have "agreed," through click-wrap licenses they encounter before the programs run, to a contract that prohibits reverse engineering the Blizzard games. This contract plus copyright, Blizzard asserts, prevents anyone from interoperating without permission.
The bnetd project began when a group of programmers became frustrated by the poor performance of Blizzard's battle.net server for multiuser play of the games they had bought. Instead of putting up with the frequent downtime and rampant cheating on Blizzard's server, they started work on their own open source game server. By watching the communications between game and server, the bnetd programmers were able to reverse engineer their own compatible server, which they set up to give owners of Blizzard games an alternate place to meet, and made the source available for others to join the effort. The public got another option for playing Starcraft, and another reason to buy Blizzard games.
Blizzard rewarded the bnetd team's creativity with a lawsuit claiming, among other things, copyright infringement and breach of the click-wrap contract. The team had not seen any of Blizzard's source code, much less copied it, as they reimplemented uncopyrightable functionality, but that didn't stop Blizzard from pulling out the copyright sword. Copyright's lack of protection for functionality is deliberate and sound innovation policy—the public benefits from being able to choose among competing implementations of functionality, be they game servers or network services—yet Blizzard follows in the steps of many trying to get around copyright's limits with contract claims.
Blizzard was trying to limit the code others could produce, to extend the copyright protection on its own code. But many of those pulling out copyright's swords aren't trying to protect code, but other copyrighted content touched by—or that they're afraid will be touched by—code. These efforts, assertions of secondary liability, anticircumvention regimes, and attempts to impose technology mandates, all limit open source developers' ability to produce new code, to learn from old code, and to compete in the market with proprietary code.
Copyright law has not been strictly limited to the direct infringers, but may be extended to those who "contribute" to the infringement in an ongoing relationship with the infringer, or with special-purpose equipment suited only for infringement. Thus, the proprietor of a hall, who looks the other way while paying guests listen to unlicensed music, can be held vicariously liable for the infringing public performance, and the seller of tapes of a length precisely timed for copying particular copyrighted albums could be held contributorily liable for the subsequent infringing use. Extended too far, however, secondary liability chokes off innovation.
Twenty years ago, the Supreme Court rejected Universal and Disney's "unprecedented attempt to impose copyright liability upon the distributors of copying equipment" with the ruling that manufacturers of devices "capable of substantial non-infringing use" could not be held secondarily liable. The MGM v. Grokster lawsuit, an attack by all the major record labels and movie studios against Grokster and Streamcast, maker of the Morpheus filesharing software, is nothing short of an all-out assault on the Sony standard.
The studios argue that Grokster and Streamcast should be liable because many users of the peer-to-peer software infringe copyrights—notwithstanding that many others transfer public domain works from Project Gutenberg or the Internet Archive; freely licensed works including open source software and Creative Commons-licensed media; or government works. They argue that the producers of software should be held liable for its "predominant" or "principal" use. Their standard is unworkable both to an entrepreneur financing an untested product and to an open source developer releasing software, any of whose users could adapt it to an unintended, infringing purpose.
Under the Betamax standard, makers of multiuse devices such as the VCR could thus offer them to the public without fearing that they might be held liable if customers misused them to infringe copyrights. With this assurance, hardware makers built components with open interfaces, including CD and DVD burners and massive hard drives, without fearing that someone might put the Plextor on the copyright hook by using that CD burner for large-scale copyright infringement. They built copying devices to transfer content. Software makers, too, have safely offered highly configurable and open source software with relative confidence that their users' configurations won't land them in hot water. The studios' proposed redefinition threatens that freedom to innovate.
Grokster is thus much bigger than peer-to-peer. An expansion of copyright liability, with a "predominant use" test, would make it safer to produce limited-purpose, non-user-modifiable devices and software than open hardware and open source software, regardless of the intent of the developer.
If secondary liability for those who "contribute" to infringement in some ill-defined way weren't enough, the entertainment industry is likely to return to Congress with pleas of renewed urgency to pass the INDUCE Act, which stalled last term. That proposed bill would add yet another level of indirect liability: "inducing" infringement of copyright would extend beyond those who made the tools, to those who explained how to make them work. Watch out that your documentation isn't too thorough!
The next stage of copyright expansion beyond direct infringement is the anticircumvention and antitools provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). In the real world, these provisions do little to stop hard-core piracy, but they present a serious barrier to open source compatibility.
Section 1201 of the DMCA prohibits "circumvention" of technological protection measures controlling access to copyrighted works, and it bans manufacture, distribution, and trafficking in devices, products, components, or services that are promoted for, primarily useful for, or designed for circumvention of technological protection measures. Now, a copyright holder who employs a technological lock, such as simple encryption of content, gains the ability to control who and what programs or devices can unlock it, as part of the new right to control "access" to a protected work.
This is an important functional change from the world of printed books or even CDs, where anyone who purchased or borrowed the physical item had the right to use it as she chose—read the last chapter first or play the CD in the car or the computer. Someone who wants to develop a new shuffle mode for CD playback, or a new ripper with better compression for transfer to a portable music player, can do so without seeking permission from the recording companies. It's the misuse of those tools—say, to copy CDs and sell the copies without authorization, that can be pursued as an infringement of traditional copyright.
Under the new anticircumvention regime, however, those who control copyrights can take their control much further. Thus, copyright holders say, and courts have agreed, anyone who develops a decoder for an encrypted format without a license is producing circumvention tools in violation of the DMCA. So, groups of copyright holders, who couldn't individually control markets, join together in licensing cartels backed by the magic of the DMCA, by which they control not only copyrights but also the surrounding player technologies.
And so it is with digital video discs. Movie studios and consumer electronics and technology companies developed the content scrambling system, a.k.a. CSS, applied it to DVDs, and declared it to be a technological protection measure. By forming the DVD Copy Control Association to license the CSS specification as a trade secret on restrictive terms, they sealed themselves a nice cartel, simultaneously protecting themselves against disruptive innovation in video players from outside of the establishment and walling off their copyrighted works against fair use copying.
The CSS encryption was trivially easy to break, once Jon Johansen and some German programmers set their minds to it. But that's beside the point, since the law protects even weak technological protection measures with the full panoply of anticircumvention and antidevice prohibitions. Even weak measures set up the law's sharp division between licensed access and unlicensed circumvention. Thus, with DeCSS and its successor code, anyone can play or rip a DVD on any platform, but with DMCA, no one can lawfully do so in the United States, or even develop code for DVD playback, without a license from the DVD-CCA.
Kaleidescape is a small company with a rich clientèle—owners of hundreds of DVDs willing to pay nearly $30,000 for a DVD jukebox to organize and store them all. Kaleidescape built this machine—a computer filled with massive hard drives onto which customers could rip their DVD movie collections. For its efforts to help the movie industry's best customers get more out of their purchases, Kaleidescape earned itself a lawsuit from the DVD-CCA, claiming Kaleidescape had breached its contract licensing the not-so-secret DVD trade secrets.
Kaleidescape's system, which allows the creation of persistent digital copies of the content of DVDs and allows copying of the CSS copy protection data, is not designed in a manner and does not include features clearly designed to effectively frustrate efforts to defeat the copy protection functions....For these reasons, Kaleidescape has breached the CSS license.
Without that license, even if similar information could be derived from reverse engineering and publicly available information, using it to enable DVD "access" and playback would be labeled circumvention.
As the movie studios have done with DVDs, record labels and software companies have done with multiple incompatible formats for streaming and downloadable music: Windows Media, Janus, Apple's FairPlay. Many of these have succumbed to reverse engineering of varying degrees of sophistication, from "burn it to CD and rerip," to "run it through a simulated sound-card driver," through cryptanalysis (much of it from Jon Johansen, again).
Yet, like CSS, none of the music protection measures is licensed on terms that permit open source development, nor could they be. Open source is incompatible with both their stated aim, to prevent "piracy" of content, and the unstated underlying goal of technology control. Since the essence of open source is user modification, users could easily modify in or out any particular features—and the first to go would likely be the restrictions of digital rights management (DRM) and barriers to interoperability. Even if open source version 1.0 incorporated all the restrictions of proprietary clients, numerous versions 1.0.1 would likely disable them. Thus, anticircumvention regimes lock open source out of mainstream development of entire classes of applications to interact with these copyright cartels' media.
Of course, it's not just open source developers who need reverse engineering. Consider RealNetworks' attempt to sell music that would play on the popular iPod. Real could have transcoded downloads into standard MP3, which play on the iPod, but Real (or its record-label-relations department) wanted to include DRM on the files. So, it reverse engineered Apple's FairPlay format, in a move Real called Harmony, to encode Real files for the iPod. Apple fought back with legal and technical threats. Along with intimations that it might use the DMCA, Apple issued a statement that said, "We strongly caution Real and their customers that when we update our iPod software from time to time it is highly likely that Real's Harmony technology will cease to work with current and future iPods." Real wasn't threatening to infringe copyrights, but to give customers a way to interchange their iPods for other devices. Once again, DRM is market protection, not copy protection.
The Threat to Research
Again in the DMCA, copyright bleeds beyond entertainment media and content. Here, it also chills research into encryption that may be used to secure copyrighted works, regardless of whether that research touches entertainment content directly.
When the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) invited programmers to "attack" security technologies they were promoting to control digital music, Princeton computer science professor Ed Felten and his team stepped up to the challenge. They broke the security and prepared a scientific paper analyzing the weaknesses of digital audio watermarking. By scrutinizing these implementations, they could help the public, and particularly those considering watermarks to protect their own materials, to evaluate the security of watermark technologies.
But when the Felten paper was accepted for presentation at a computer security conference, its authors were threatened with a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and SDMI's technology providers. RIAA and the technology companies claimed that even the scientific analysis of flaws in security technology "would subject [the] research team to enforcement actions under the DMCA and possibly other federal laws." The RIAA suggested that the paper and conference presentation fell under the DMCA's antidevice prohibition, which bans offering to the public "any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof," designed or marketed for circumvention or having only limited commercially significant other purposes. Facing legal pressure on conference organizers and researchers, the team withdrew the paper.
While Professor Felten and his team ultimately published a version of the paper, "Reading Between the Lines: Lessons from the SDMI Challenge," they were forced to strip out technical detail. With the vague anticircumvention threat hanging, the authors felt they had to omit code samples that could be construed as aiding circumvention—even though that code would have helped other researchers and developers to understand the watermarks' weaknesses better and to learn from SDMI's errors in building their own security systems.
The work of the Felten team never infringed copyright. The researchers did not copy a single piece of music without authorization, nor even produce tools that enabled others to do so directly. And yet, they were caught up by the DMCA's vagaries because their paper—intended to educate other researchers and developers of security systems—might also have provided "part" of a tool for circumventing a copyright control. Will the same hurdles rise before someone who builds a tool to strip accidental copy protection from fonts he himself has created; security researchers who find vulnerabilities in network software they analyze; someone describing hardware modifications to make the Xbox a more general-purpose device? So far, the answer has been "yes" for Tom Murphy, SNOsoft, and Bunnie Hwang.
For those who are attracted to open source development because of its opportunities to learn from and share with others, this antiresearch aspect of the DMCA should be particularly troubling: research is being chilled precisely because it teaches too much, because its teaching might be misused. Of course, closing systems doesn't stop them from having security flaws, or even prevent those flaws from being discovered, and it does block some of the most effective information sharing around better security. Both the teaching that open source developers depend on to improve their programs and the teaching of open source code itself are at risk.
Further, the DMCA has been used in attempts to block competitive interoperability of devices including printer toner cartridges and remote control garage door openers, as manufacturers add little scraps of code to devices and hope to leverage its "protection" into market control. Though those arguments have been rejected so far, it's unlikely we've seen the last of them.
The final layer of copyright's expansion, so far, is to technology mandates, where an entire technology is redesigned by government fiat in the name of copyright protection. Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings proposed one of these in 2002 that would have required every "digital media device," including the personal computer, to be redesigned to protect copyrighted content. While the "Fritz chip" never came to be, a smaller version has been foisted upon us in the form of the Broadcast Flag, an FCC rule set to take effect July 1, 2005.
With the government eager to get broadcasters off the valuable analog spectrum and onto digital transmissions, movies studios threatened that they wouldn't allow their content to be broadcast digitally in the clear, and warned that there would be no transition without their "high-value" content. The FCC didn't want to abandon the notion of unencrypted over-the-air television broadcasts, but it did want to give the studios their "protection," so it put the restrictions into the hardware. At the studios' recommendation, the FCC adopted a rule that adds a "flag" to these unencrypted broadcasts and then requires every receiver to watch for the flag and output flagged content only to "compliant" devices or in low resolution. Only devices that can implement DRM in a manner "robust against user modification" will be deemed compliant.
The Broadcast Flag rule enforces copyright on communications through the devices that receive them:
We conclude that in order for a flag-based content protection system to be effective, demodulators integrated within, or produced for use in, DTV reception devices ("Demodulator Products") must recognize and give effect to the ATSC flag pursuant to the compliance and robustness rules....This necessarily includes PC and IT products that are used for off-air DTV reception.
Instead of focusing on infringing uses of TV broadcasts (taping a show and selling copies, for example), this new kind of regulation puts the government in the business of redesigning products that might be used to infringe. In the process, it locks out many noninfringing uses, innovative technologies, competitive products, and open source developers. Building a device for time-shifting, pausing live TV, remotely scheduling recordings, and watching shows at double speed doesn't infringe copyright, but because the hardware/software to enable those capabilities isn't "robust," it is sacrificed to illusory copyright protection. Because these collateral harms are unavoidable, technology mandates should be a last resort, not a predictive strike against hypothetical danger.
The result of this rule is restriction on open source even greater than encryption would have been. Open source can implement encryption, but it can't offer "robust[ness] against user modification." Pre-flag, you could get an HDTV tuner card for a PC, pair it with open source software such as MythTV, and build your own digital video recorder to compete with TiVo. Post-flag, TiVo must use government-approved "robust" technologies to lock down its hardware and software, and open source will be shut out from access to the high-definition signals entirely.
Under the Broadcast Flag regime, market participants, bound up in the welter of licensing and preapproval requirements, can't offer the products users want. Where the market fails to provide fair-use-enabling technologies, the robustness rules prevent end users from correcting the problem. Absent technology mandates, users dissatisfied with commercial options can and do write their own software alternatives and often share them in open source. In a world of restricted, robust hardware, users are limited to the options the commercial market provides: the fully capable hardware HD tuner card can't be manufactured. Consumer-driven innovation is cut off when users can't tinker with existing technologies or develop new ones that challenge market leaders.
What About That Media Server?
Copyright in its historical form benefits open source developers. Along with the general public, they benefit from the incentive to creativity and the support copyright gives to open source distribution models. Copyright as special-interest law, however, hurts open source development, because the special interests are those of closed markets and closed content. DRM can't stop piracy, but it can prevent anyone from Betamaxing another industry, commercializing disruptive technology development without content-industry sanction. Where the entertainment industry can't stop infringement, it attacks openness instead, and the "honest person" loses.
Whether you want to build a media server or an embedded network device, you'll likely run across the snares of copyright law. It's time to peel back the layers of copyright protectionism and return copyright to its original purpose: "to promote the progress of science and useful arts." | <urn:uuid:fa1ebbb3-e245-4e54-aa60-6df5be2f04dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://programmer.97things.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/Open_Sources_2.0/Open_Source:_Competition_and_Evolution/Why_Open_Source_Needs_Copyright_Politics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709224828/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516130024-00079-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944222 | 6,009 | 2.671875 | 3 | The extract provides a comprehensive discussion on the impact of copyright law on open source development, highlighting the complexities and challenges faced by developers. It delves into the history of copyright law, its evolution, and how it has been influenced by special interests. The text features realistic scenarios, integrating emotional intelligence, leadership challenges, and critical thinking opportunities, making it a valuable resource for professional development. However, it lacks nuanced interaction or complex problem-solving opportunities, and its focus is more on theoretical knowledge and awareness of the issues rather than practical application.
Educational score: 3 | 3 | 2 | 147,550 | 0 |
Why Do We Value Privacy?
We’ve seen how we use privacy as a commodity, and we’ve talked a bit about how we dispense it, but we haven’t talked about the second question that was proposed at the beginning of the Module. Clearly we all place some value on privacy, but why? If we use our privacy as a commodity, then we ought to think about how much we should ask for in return for our privacy. In setting that price, it would be a good idea to think about what sort of value our privacy has.
One answer is that we all have a different preference for privacy, and so we should all set whatever price we like. Some of us are perfectly happy for our lives to be an open book. If we can give out some of our private information and receive a bargain at the store then we call that a fair trade. Some of us are more concerned with our privacy, and we give our information out in smaller parcels and more selectively. It takes more than saving a few cents on cheese to get our info, but we are concerned with the safety of our neighborhoods so we acquiesce to having video cameras that record people’s actions and hopefully limit crime. This personal valuation of privacy is perhaps too loose, though. Johnson suggests placing a higher value on privacy because it is a special sort of good.
In her paper, Johnson distinguishes between two kinds of value: intrinsic, and instrumental. Instrumental value means more or less what it sounds like. A thing with instrumental value is valuable because it is instrumental in gaining something else. Money is instrumentally valuable. It’s not good for much all by itself, but it is an instrument that we can use to get other things that we want. Most of the things we value are like this. I value a hamburger because I don’t want to be hungry anymore, and I like the way they taste. The burger is instrumental to my goals. If we say that something has intrinsic value, then we mean that it is valuable in and of itself. It isn’t valuable for something, it just is valuable. This is a difficult argument to make, as we usually think of “value” in the instrumental fashion. A thing is valuable to or for something. Thinking of something being valuable all by itself is a bit odd for us. An example might be something like love or friendship or pleasure. Those things might just be valuable regardless of anything that they might bring along with them. We just do value them.
It’s not clear how we can make an argument that privacy is intrinsically valuable, but it certainly seems instrumentally valuable. We can use privacy to delineate our relationships with other people and we can make use of our private information in order to get those things that we want and need.
This isn’t enough to explain why privacy is valuable, though. As Johnson points out, when think of how much privacy it is appropriate to give up, the question is addressed by trying to balance the needs of business or government against people’s preference to have parts of their lives remain private. When we balance it this way, we are balancing all of the benefits of others having our information against some vague preference people have for remaining anonymous or private.
This way of framing the discussion is biased in favor of the info-gatherers and against the private citizen. She suggests that this framing is the wrong one. There is more at stake here than our preference to maintain sole control of our information. Privacy also serves as a social good.
A social good is one which is enjoyed by everyone in a society. Police protection and clean air and military defense are all social goods because having them benefits everyone without excluding anyone. These goods are more important than mere personal goods because they benefit the whole and not merely the individual. They each have costs as well, but we have decided that the costs are worthwhile.
Johnson makes the argument that privacy is this kind of good. One of the things that we have come to see as a social good is democracy. The things that would be necessary for democracy to function are instrumental goods and privacy, Johnson argues, is necessary for democracy.
The argument draws on the concept that people who are being watched will behave differently than people who aren’t being watched. If you’re pretty certain that you are in private you might be tempted to do things like belch out loud or pick your nose or sing or dance along to your favorite song. You might even steal if you think you can get away with it. We don’t do these things when we think it’s possible that someone is watching. Security cameras serve this function even when they aren’t being monitored because the possibility of being watched is often enough to alter our behavior. Jeremy Bentham (who you might remember from Module 1’s section about Utilitarianism) designed a prison called the Panopticon which operated on this principle. In the Panopticon the prisoner’s cells are transparent on at least one side so that a guard in a central location could be watching any prisoner’s activities at any time. This possibility of being watched keeps prisoners from doing things that might get them in trouble.
If this argument is right, then Democracy is a social good, and privacy is instrumental to that social good. This puts it in a different category from mere preferences and such.
Now, it might seem like our loss of privacy in the USA is pretty minor. Millions of bits of information about each of us circulates through the internet, but our freedom and democracy doesn’t seem to have been substantially impacted. We feel free to do as we please. What if the situation were more dire? | <urn:uuid:51f855cc-3a2f-4227-ad57-5d799a1cdc04> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://philosophia.uncg.edu/phi361-matteson/module-6-privacy-property-and-technology/why-do-we-value-privacy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370493120.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20200328194743-20200328224743-00349.warc.gz | en | 0.966118 | 1,179 | 2.5625 | 3 | The extract scores 3 points because it discusses the value of privacy, a concept that integrates emotional intelligence, leadership challenges, and critical thinking opportunities. The text features realistic scenarios, such as the trade-off between privacy and convenience, and explores the idea of privacy as a social good, which is essential for democracy. However, the extract lacks complex scenarios requiring sophisticated communication, strategic thinking, and advanced problem-solving across multiple contexts, which would warrant a higher score.
Educational score: 3 | 3 | 2 | 960,742 | 0 |
Great Economic and Social Depression in Israel of Old
According to Bible in the days of the Judges, the children of Israel had done evil in the sight of the LORD and He delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for seven years. It was so bad that they had to hide in dens, caves and strongholds from the oppression of the Midianites and Amalekites. No one could speak up, nor raise their heads. Totally subdued. Even their produce was often confiscated and destroyed by the ruling powers, the Midianites.
Israel came under great socio-economic depression and oppression. They became greatly impoverished by the activities of the Midianites. There was no more justice in the land. It was a great day of doom.
See excerpts of the account in the Book of Judges, chapter 6, verse 1 to 6:
“Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites“
And Israel cried unto the Lord. They cried out of anguish of their souls unto the Lord to deliver them. And the Lord heard and chose a man by the name Gideon – the seemingly insignificant personality, the least and the weakest. Gideon, like some of us, has been so beaten down by the circumstances of life that he has lost confidence in himself. He has become fearful. The situation around him has instilled fear and hopelessness into him. The giant in him had died until the Lord showed up. And the Lord understood that.
As you will know later, the Lord guided Him all the way through the pre-war phase and during the war. Imagine God (while) telling him to go down and strike the enemy in the valley and He (God) quickly added an option, saying in Judges 7:10-11 “But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, and you shall hear what they say.” On a lighter note: who would not be afraid? Have you read the description of the army he was going to face? Bible says the Midianite and Amalekite armies were as numerous as locust; camels without number like sand by seashore!
The Lord knows our frailties and fears, yet He helps our infirmities. He strengthens our faith in the face of adversity. He searches our heart and helps us.
Bring Down Everything Exalting Itself Against God
Gideon proceeded in this unction to execute the first action. He pulled down the foreign idol that had been erected and sacrificed unto by his people. He destroyed all the worship places of Baal.
For you and I, the questions are: Are you the Gideon of God called to bring deliverance to your people? To your community or to the nation? First of all, in order to execute this divine task, you need to pull down in your life everything and anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, be it in your heart or in your life or in your working place. Pull down that selfish ambition that does not point you to God. That ambition that will make you tread upon the people of God.
Remember, the fall of Lucifer (Satan) the son of morning emanated from ungodly ambition in his heart, for he said, “I will ascend to heaven and exalt my throne above the stars of God and sit upon the mount of the congregation. I ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:12 – 14. By this God pulled him down from heaven.
The Lord Chooses By Himself
Let’s go back to Gideon’s story. After destroying the altars of Baal, the Spirit of God came upon Gideon and he gathered as many children of Israel as he could to prepare for war against the Midian and Amalek. Maybe out of fear, he gathered 32,000 men that God had to correct him.
“And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.” Judges 7:2.
By strength shall no man prevail (1 Samuel 2:9). The LORD by Himself chose those that are called for the battle. He tested and pruned down the 32,000 men to just 300 men. The Lord God chooses His battle axes Himself.
With these men, God delivered the Midianite and Amalekite armies into the hands of Gideon. The Lord caused the enemies to destroy themselves; “…the Lord set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp.” Judges 7:22.
Lord, our prayers are that:
You will choose your Gideon that will set us free from oppression. Raise Gideons. Men that you have empowered by Your Spirit. Raise men and women who have pulled down haughty imaginations in their hearts and their ways. Those that you have endured with your Spirit. Those that you will work with, having minimal human interference. Those that You will use to bring Your Miraculous Deliverance to Your People, to a nation, Oh God!
Raise men and women that though small in their eyes yet mighty by the Hands of God! Men and women who have not defiled themselves with the king’s dainties. Men and women that speak uprightly. That seek not their own things but lean on the Most High God. Lord, raise us Gideons and deliver Your People from oppression and calamity. Set fire in the midst of the enemies. Pull down their strongholds. Recompense upon them with Your Great Hands. Deliver the oppressed and set the captives free in the mighty name of Jesus.
Thank you Father! | <urn:uuid:ae137742-cfca-41d2-9fb1-04e6c9823345> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | https://changemylife365.wordpress.com/2017/03/15/arise-lord/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128322873.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20170628065139-20170628085139-00260.warc.gz | en | 0.975269 | 1,382 | 2.703125 | 3 | The extract lacks direct discussion of soft skills, focusing on biblical narrative and spiritual guidance. However, it touches on emotional intelligence, leadership, and confidence building through Gideon's story, demonstrating how faith and divine guidance can overcome fear and adversity. The narrative encourages self-reflection and personal growth, promoting a strong professional attitude and work ethic.
Educational score: 2 | 2 | 1 | 199,781 | 0 |
TREATMENT AND CARE
As a comprehensive health center, we often work with people from different cultural backgrounds. These cultural backgrounds include areas of heritage, community, spirituality, family and individual identity, and geography. We work with these individuals to develop a cultural assessment for the purposes of improving their healing from addiction, mental health struggles, and overall healthcare.
Recovery is highly contingent on the presence of good therapeutic relationships, and many people of different cultural backgrounds often struggle with feeling supported and understood in healthcare. There may be language barriers or cultural insensitivity involved, leading to limited treatment compliance, awareness and trust. Taking the time to do a good cultural assessment can help build the foundation for good care. It also can give clinicians highly useful information such that we can make better recommendations.
What are some of the important factors present in this cultural assessment? This article describes some of the themes we have noticed in treatment and the importance of attending to such cultural health dimensions.
A cultural assessment is fundamentally open-ended in that it encourages the patient to express his or her views about heritage and lifestyle. We have many people who are part of a specific ethnic group who may or may not participate in common cultural practices of that group. Our job is to help the person describe their beliefs and lifestyle such that we can effectively blend themes of recovery and health with that person.
A good example of this involves immigrants, especially those who grew up in a primarily non-English speaking family. Our healing path fundamentally involves communication, hence paying particular attention to language is a good place to start in our cultural assessment. Some of the useful questions we might ask include:
- What language do you currently speak at home? Do you speak more than one language at home? How strongly do you feel with each language you speak?
- What language was spoken when you were growing up?
- If you have children or parents living with you, what languages do they speak?
- How have you experienced the healthcare system in the areas of language and communication? Have there been times in which an interpreter was involved in your healthcare? How did it go?
- Do you know of any local peer support groups, such as Alcoholic’s Anonymous, where your primary language is spoken?
Country of Origin and Citizenship
For immigrants, we may ask more detailed questions about their country of origin and citizenship. This is important for us to understand the person’s network of peers, potential anxiety and access to healthcare. This is also important for us in the screening of trauma, as refugee immigrants may have been victims of highly severe trauma prior to entering the United States. Cultural questions in this topic area may include:
- Where are you a citizen? Are you currently working through a citizenship process in the United States? Are there special actions you need to take regarding your immigrant status in the United States? Do you have any strong emotions or anxiety around this process?
- Do you associate with a community of people who have also immigrated from your homeland?
- How often (if ever) do you travel back and forth to your country of origin?
- Are there other people in your community of heritage who are in recovery from drugs or alcohol? Can you tell us what peer support means to you in this area?
- Did you enter the United States as a refugee? Were there traumatic or other threatening experiences you’d like to talk about as part of your treatment at CeDAR?
Healthcare Patterns and Beliefs
Additional general cultural questions are necessary for all people, regardless of being an immigrant or born in the United States. These address some very basic lifestyle themes including areas of dietary preferences, living situation within the home, family bonds and spiritual/faith beliefs. We also focus closely on beliefs and possibly negative experiences working with people in healthcare. Specific examples of questions might include:
- Do you have a primary care doctor or specialist doctor you see for your healthcare needs?
- Have you felt that healthcare providers have been sensitive to your cultural background in the past?
- Do you feel that taking medications would be an option for you in terms of your recovery?
- Do you take any other herbal remedies, vitamins or supplements for areas of your wellness?
- Are there certain cultural beliefs used to describe the cause of your illness or health problem?
Regional Factors and Geography
As we have reviewed in other articles, one of our most important goals of clinical work at CeDAR is to help someone embrace a continuum of care so they can maintain stable recovery over upcoming years. This trajectory is very much based on access to services. For patients who come from different cultural backgrounds, sometimes there are unique avenues for available care.
We have treated many patients over the years from American Indian heritage, including those who live on reservations in the State of Colorado or surrounding states. Just as with any patient, we need to understand what is available in terms of healthcare and peer support for these individuals. This is especially true for patients who receive advanced medication protocols like buprenorphine maintenance. The scarcity of physicians licensed to prescribed these meds across the state can influence how we might make medical choices for someone in treatment at CeDAR. An intervention that is highly difficult to follow once someone discharges from care will not be a sustainable, nor worthwhile approach.
The same applies for access to such services as Intensive Outpatient (IOP). Because an IOP approach lasts 3 months, a good referral would be something within reasonable proximity for the patient. If we link a patient to an IOP that may be a 60-minute drive for that individual, what are the chances the person drops out of the program? All of these factors are important in our continuing care recommendations process.
Finally, there are many people who fall into more than one cultural group. A person could be both an immigrant and part of the LGBT community. For these people, we seek to understand how they identify and to what core communities they belong. They may more actively embrace cultural themes from part of their background instead of other areas, or they may concurrently identify with all areas of their heritage.
It is also important for us to acknowledge that some people may be from a cultural background and not necessarily practice its beliefs and patterns. Someone could be of an American Indian heritage and be highly active in tribal practices or somewhat removed from such events. We learn through asking and showing curiosity in the diversity of those we treat at CeDAR.
Our efforts in conducting a cultural assessment are part of our greater healthcare initiative of delivering patient-centered care. What are the unique layers of someone’s life? We need to know how best to help anyone under our care, and this includes an awareness of cultural factors. The above examples illustrate some of the key areas we might consider in this process. | <urn:uuid:aeeeb464-2b1c-4175-963a-9ee0c21f57ce> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.cedarcolorado.org/articles/treatment-and-care/cultural-assessment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296943637.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20230321064400-20230321094400-00263.warc.gz | en | 0.960476 | 1,400 | 2.734375 | 3 | The extract demonstrates a deep understanding of cultural awareness and its significance in healthcare, particularly in treatment and recovery. It highlights the importance of cultural assessment, emotional intelligence, and empathy in building therapeutic relationships. The text provides realistic scenarios, practical applications, and nuanced discussions on cultural dimensions, including language, heritage, and identity. It also acknowledges the complexity of individual identities and the need for tailored approaches.
Educational score: 5 | 5 | 4 | 425,594 | 1 |
There are many outstanding Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who come to mind throughout Islamic history. Some are huge in stature, and others are humble, yet highly respectable or brilliant in some way. Julaybib was a beloved companion of Prophet Muhammad however, not a likely figure to make it in the ranks of celebrated heroes of Islam.
His life and deeds were not sung nor recounted with reverence as they should be but with the meager facts available one sees hope for humble souls through his life.
Julaybib was not tall, or handsome, he was not known to be a gallant warrior on the battlefield before the advent of Islam. His personal attributes appeared so contrary to the normal heroes of old.
Julaybib was an orphan, deformed and extremely short. He was brutally rejected by society because the people were more concerned with his physical appearance and status than integrity.
His story is significant and many lessons can be learnt from it. It shows us a lot about how a human being can be devalued based on superficial things. His life is an example and hope for souls filled with despondency because they do not measure up to the norms set by society. His story touches the hearts of many even today.
Julaybib was an orphan from Madinah and acquired his name before embracing Islam. His name means "small grown" in Arabic which denoted his physical appearance. He was extremely short and could be compared to a dwarf when considering today's definition. It is also noted that he was even described as "damim" in Arabic which means deformed, unattractive or of repulsive appearance. In addition to his physical appearance, another important factor in his mistreatment had to do with his lineage. Lineage was an essential part in the Arab society he lived in, just as it is still important today in many cases. One's lineage determined his or her status in the society. His physical appearance, and unknown lineage, made people shun and spurn him. He was an outcast which caused him much public humiliation and disgrace.
Facing such disdainful treatment, Julaybib was apparently a lonely soul yearning for love and compassion. As he was carrying the burden of prejudice on his shoulder from the time he was born, companionship, love and compassion became alien to him.
There were often times, a question as to whether this man would even taste any compassion or respect in his life. The question cleared with his acceptance of the Prophet Muhammad's message of Islam.
He became a devoted servant of Almighty Allah and beloved companion of Prophet Muhammad. He gained respect and affection from Prophet Muhammad, for his sincerity, integrity and strong Islamic belief. Julaybib earned the honor he yearned and became one of the most valued companions of the Prophet. Prophet Muhammad cared deeply for this soul. He was sensitive of Julaybib's needs, and this is evident from the hadith where the Prophet approached a man from the Ansar (Madinah Muslims who helped the Makkans when they emigrated to Madinah), seeking the hand of his beautiful daughter in marriage on behalf of Julaybib. The Islamic scholar, Imam Ahmad, has recorded this incidents in Julaybib life as follows:
The Prophet went to a man of the Ansar and said:"Give me your daughter for marriage."The man answered excitedly, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah , it would be an honor and a blessing."For which the Prophet said, "I do not want her for myself."The Ansari man asked, "Then for whom, O Messenger of Allah?"And the Prophet answered, "For Julaybib."When the Ansari man heard this, he was shocked and said, "O Messenger of Allah, let me consult her mother." So he went to the girl's mother (his wife) and told her, "The Messenger of Allah is proposing marriage for your daughter."The wife of the Ansari seemed overjoyed and said, "Yes, it would be a pleasure."The Ansari explained to his wife that the Prophet was not proposing to marry their daughter for himself but he is proposing on behalf of Julaybib.His wife was almost shaken and immediately responded, "What! Julaybib? No, by Allah, we will not marry her to him."
When the Ansari prepared to leave to meet the Messenger of Allah and mentioned to him his mother's disapproval, his daughter, a pious Muslim, asked her father, "Who is asking for my hand?"
Her mother told her that the Prophet was asking her hand on behalf Julaybib.
Their daughter instantly asked them, "Are you refusing to follow the command of the Messenger of Allah? Follow his command, for I will not come to any harm."
The following is illustrated in the book Companions of the Prophet by Abdul Wahid Hamid:
Hearing her daughter's word, the Mother's heart being filled with remorse said: "Stop my daughter, don't say another word indeed I have erred I repent and I repent a thousand times over for as of this moment their is no one who I would prefer for you than Julaybib."
The following day the marriage was in place, Uthman and Ali, two of the Prophet's Companions, presented Julaybib a gift of money to help arrange the wedding reception, and to purchase necessary accommodation.
So the Prophet married the beautiful daughter of the Ansari to Julaybib who was once rejected by the whole society. The attitude of the daughter of the Ansari was that of a true believer.
The daughter's attitude shows her confidence of a Muslim woman who could not be influenced by the whims of the society. Unlike the parent's of today's world who are more concerned about status and money, her parents' reaction to her approval explains how Islam does not pressure a woman nor does it disregard her right to choose her husband.
Islam gave the happiness Julaybib deserved and he lived happily together with his beautiful wife until he was martyred.
The following hadith is another proof that Julaybib was indeed dearly loved and valued by Prophet Muhammad:
...After a battle, the Prophet asked his Companions:
"Is anyone missing amongst you?"
They said: "So and so and so."
He asked them again: "Is there anyone missing amongst you?"
They answered: "So and so and so."
He asked them for the third time: "Is there anyone missing amongst you?"
They said: "No."
Thereupon the Prophet said:
"But I see that Julaybib is missing."
The Companions searched for him amongst those who had been killed and found him by the side of seven enemies whom he had killed. He had been killed. The Prophet came there and stood by his body and said:
"He killed seven people. Then his opponents killed him. He is mine and I am his."
He then placed him upon his hands and there was none else to lift him but the Prophet Muhammad. Then the grave was dug for him and he was placed in it. ( SahihMuslim)
The man whose life was filled with despair and struggles won the hearts and admiration of many through his pure intentions, traits, and love for Islam and the Prophet. It is really amazing to note how this man of small stature managed to hold a sword and kill his opponent. He was able to accomplish much chivalry through the Prophet's encouragement.
There are so many lessons to be learnt from Julaybib's life. His story is a reflection of Islam. Islam ended his desolate world of disparagement. | <urn:uuid:0c396673-aff6-45d1-b50b-5107685a3e04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://writerinislam.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704134547/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113534-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987981 | 1,583 | 2.859375 | 3 | The extract scores high for its discussion of empathy, leadership, and critical thinking. It promotes cultural awareness, highlighting the importance of looking beyond physical appearance and societal status. The story of Julaybib encourages readers to develop a professional attitude, embracing diversity and inclusivity. The narrative also showcases the value of confidence building, as Julaybib earns respect despite initial rejection.
Educational score: 5 | 5 | 4 | 144,077 | 1 |
No copy-editing has occured to provide this post some clarity. APA is almost ignored. But, the general curiosity remains. I have always been interested in identity and how we define ourselves throughout our lives and careers. The following was a brief paper and pilot “study” completed with a group of principals in 2006.
Very Brief Background
Q-factor analysis originated soon after Charles Spearman invented factor analysis at the start of the twentieth-century. Factor analysis, according to Steven R. Brown (1980), has been historically “used as a procedure for studying traits”. In this role, factor analysis has been popularized by social and political science. However, Brown explains that factor analysis can be used to factor persons, thereby creating what William Stephenson (1953) terms “person-prototypes”. This, Brown asserts, would require a separate methodology. This methodology, entitled Q, is described by Hair (1998) as “a method of combining or condensing large numbers of people into distinctly different groups within a larger population.”
Although G.H. Thompson was the first researcher to work with Q-factor analysis, he was not positive about its future (Brown, 1980). He believed that it had serious deficiencies, which I will discuss further in a moment. However, one researcher named William Stephenson was more excited about the possibilities of Q. Since its discovery, Q-factor analysis has been used widely in the social and behavioral sciences.
The main structural difference between Q and R analysis is summed up by Raymond Cattell’s description of the “data box” (1988). Cattell names three main components of a factor analysis: persons or cases, items, and occasions. He said that how we organize these components would structurally change the procedure. For example, in R-factor analysis the items signify columns on a matrix, while the persons completing the items represent rows. In this picture, one can see that the items would be grouped to create less factors, thereby creating types of items. Inversely, in Q-factor analysis, one can place the persons in the columns and the items in the rows. This process would create person-prototypes as previously mentioned.
The person-prototype idea is one that has revolutionized the social sciences. Researchers are able to make a case for a certain person type linked to various areas of behavioral disorders. One such study, conducted by Porcerelli, Cogan and Hibbard (2004), was created to better understand what personality traits men possessed who were violent towards their partners. The Q-sort was very large, 200 items long, and was completed by several psychologists and social workers very familiar with the many cases of domestic abuse. The end result supported the notion that these men were “antisocial and emotionally dysregulated.” Thus, it may be argued that these violent men have some things in common that make them stand out from others, person-prototypes.
Q-methodology has been employed by other fields of inquiry recently, as well. In Woosley, Hyman and Graunke’s work with student affairs problems on college campuses using a population of only three, the researchers wanted to explore whether Q would be a promising evaluation tool for the student experience (2004). They found, when asking these participants to sort ideas concerning their jobs on campus, that the students were excited about the process. During a post-sort interview, they all expressed enthusiasm for the activity and the results.
Even with positive stories of Q like these, there are a few reasons why some researchers refuse to use this methodology or see any potential for its use. For example, one could easily discern from the discussion of the data box that a researcher could just take a set of data gathered for an R-factor analysis and apply it to the Q-structure, thereby completing another full analysis of the same information. Cyril Burt championed this form of usage in the Thirties (Stephenson, 1953). This is one point of contention for Stephenson. Stephenson explained that the procedure for collecting the data was part of the methodology. He stated that the Q-sort, the activity of participants physically sorting items in a prescribed pattern under certain conditions, was part of the overall methodology. One could not collect the data for the specific purpose of running an R-factor analysis and simply rearrange the data in a way appropriate for Q-analysis.
Many researchers disregard Q-factor analysis due to its lack of generalizability. They may claim that such a small sample could never be applied to a much larger population. In this respect, they may be correct. A Q-analysis is meant to really be something like a case study. It may be applied in some fashion to another situation, but the data collection is of a moment in time, or an occasion.
One of the main reservations I have with the Q-methodology is the focus on researcher-designated language. The language or items that are selected for the sort are done so by the researcher, not the participants. Thus, there may be some error in communication.
Sample Q-Sort Methodology
The particular focus of my sample Q-sort was a group of principals that are currently participating in the North East Florida Educational Consortium Principal Leadership Academy (PLA). The academy is only a year old, and the current version is a pilot run of the program that has been designed for principals who are undergoing some preliminary training to facilitate a school-wide action research project. The academy is comprised of twenty-four participants, principals with little experience or early-career principals to principals with a great deal of experience or seated principals. Because the leadership experience was quite varied among the group members, my hypothesis was these principals could be arranged in groups by experience and/or leadership style.
The items I decided to use in the Q-sort were the behaviors that the state recommended to the districts might be associated with the ten newly-adopted Florida Principal Leadership Standards (April, 2005). Of course, these behaviors were all optimal based on the standards. Thus, if a sort was using these written behaviors, there would be no “wrong” answers. This was important in establishing trust amongst the participants and me. This was no competition or evaluation of how they relate to and sort these behaviors. If they were aware at the outset, that there was no “correct” way to sort these items and there was no evaluative component to the sort, they may be more honest in the sorting process.
Another possible dimension that could be added to the sort that would possibly yield richer results would be the grouping of leadership behaviors into two categories, transactional leadership behaviors and transformational leadership behaviors. Due to the fact that these behaviors were never verified to actually represent either form of leadership, the Q-sort would have to be labeled an unstructured sort. (Appendix A).
After deciding which behaviors I would use as my items (16 sentence strips), I turned my attention to the actual Q-sort process.
Consulting Fred Kerlinger’s Foundations of Behavioral Research (1973), I was able to formulate a methodological plan. Kerlinger clearly maps out the process of setting up a practice Q-sort activity, or what he calls a “miniature Q-sort”. He writes that the participants may only sort a few items, as little as ten. This would not be optimal, he goes on to explain. Kerlinger insists the more items that one has available for the participants to sort, the better the results. Another piece of useful information was the discussion of the sort design. Kerlinger describes the physical act of sorting the items. He sets up a wonderful method of manipulating the items into a quasi-normal distribution, a Likert-type scale (with seven points) where the participant may choose whether the item is most like them or least like them. The participants are limited with the amount of items they can place at a given point. With this method of distribution, the sort resembles a normal curve. I used this example to help plan the sort activity with the principals in the PLA.
With the example below, the top line is the number of items that may be placed at each point on the Likert-type scale, and the bottom line is the scale itself. In this example, 7= items most like me, and 1= items least like me.
1 2 3 4 3 2 1
7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The sixteen items could be sorted in this quasi-distribution very easily by the participants. Each behavior strip contained a number, so that the participants could easily record the placement on the data sheet provided (Appendix B). I created ten identical envelopes containing the sixteen principal behavior strips. Then, I created a large poster displaying the procedures of the sort and the limitations for each placement. I would let the principals sort the behaviors after an already scheduled PLA meeting. They would be separated, mostly for the purpose of providing space for each participant.
On November 2, 2005, the participants completed the sort and carefully filled out the corresponding data sheet as I monitored. The purpose for monitoring was the successful completion of the stated procedures. This was explained to the participants. Once I collected all of the data, I began entering into SPSS 13 to start the analysis. The SPSS software is really set up with R factor analysis in mind, the columns are used for mostly organizing items (refer back to the discussion of Cattell’s idea of the Data Box). However, it is important to note that one may enter the participants in the columns as nominal data. Then, one could easily enter the numbers of the sorted behaviors as the rows. Then, the factor analysis procedure is the same from this point on.
Analysis and Interpretation
In this discussion of the results of this particular practice Q-analysis, I will be addressing the interpretation of the results yielded in Q-analysis in general. I will also be referring to Figures 1-7, yielded by the SPSS software during this practice analysis.
Figure 1 displays the correlations between the individuals based on how they sorted the leadership behaviors. We started with ten factors (individuals), and we are given ten separate factors in this table. This matrix enables the researcher to make some general statements about how each participant correlated with another. Remember, a 1.0 is a perfect correlation, so those are usually the person correlated with themselves. If one consults Hair’s opinion on the cut-off point for correlations, the cut-off for looking at correlations is anything under .450. This makes sense, because the researcher is really looking for correlations that are nearer to 1.0, as stated above. For example, one can see that there exists a strong correlation between LF and LB (.625). Thus, we could state that they may have sorted somewhat similarly. Inversely, M is not correlated to LB very well at all (.050), leaving us to assume that these two individuals may have sorted the behaviors very differently. However, this is all that we can ascertain at this point.
In Figure 2, the researcher is focused on communalities, or how much of the original participant/factor was extracted/recreated in the analysis. The glaring observation that should be seen at the fore is N (.557) shows the least in common with the group as a whole. At this point, it would help the reader to know that N was the only non-principal participant in the sort. I offered her the chance to take part in the sort to have an even number of ten participants in the activity. N has never worked in an educational administration position.
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.
The next step in the analysis is to look at the Eigenvalues and percent of variance that may be explained by the factor analysis (Table 3). When the data was entered, I wanted to isolate the factors that had Eigenvalues of 1.0 or greater. This would present four factors or, in the case of the SPSS output, components. These factors/components are the “person proto-types” discussed earlier. With this table, one can discern that almost 81% of the variance is explained in the analysis. This is very positive for two reasons: first, I now can see that four factors or person proto-types was a good number to represent most of the variance and, secondly, the low number of four factors is a good reduction from the original ten.
A scree plot of the factors will confirm that four factors/components is a good representation of the whole. To read the scree plot in Figure 1, one must look for the area at which the downward motion of the line comes to a plateau or a leveling off. It is apparent to me that the original interpretation of the number of factors was a wise decision. The plateau of the scree appears after the fourth factor. One may argue that this point actually does not level off as much as it jets upward slightly. However, being aware that this point represents the odd-man out, N (the participant with no experience in an educational leadership role), I believe that four factors truly does represent the whole in the best way. After reviewing this output originally, I ran the analysis again isolating only three factors. However, there ended up being a few of the original participants/factors left out of the whole. Thus, I opted for the four-factor analysis model.
In the next step of the analysis, the researcher begins to examine the extent to which each original factor is represented by the four composite factors or proto-types. The first matrix (Table 4) shows the extent to which each of the original components is represented by the four factors created before the rotation and the variance is distributed more evenly amongst the factors. In other words, we can see which of the person-prototypes each individual fits in the best. For example, M is definitely more associated with the first extracted factor. With this matrix, we can only begin to see how the participants might relate to the person proto-types created. To gain a clearer picture of the relationship between the participants and the composite factors, one needs to consult the rotated component matrix.
In Table 5, the output from the rotation (using the varimax criterion) is more accurate in describing how the well the components is represented by each of the factors. With the background knowledge of all the participants, I could easily see justification for each of the participant’s placement in the matrix. I set the analysis in SPSS to create an output that would arrange according to size. Thus, looking at the matrix, the researcher can see the participants that share the most in common grouped together. In the first column, the first three participants are strongly correlated at .917, .868, and .659 respectively. It is interesting to note that these three principals represented by the first factor are the three most experienced of the participants. Additionally, these three administrators started a statewide reading reform together, meeting monthly for the last five years to discuss and share ideas with reference to the reform.
In the next factor, F (-.915) and K (.904) are represented. F, it appears, is very negatively correlated to K. K has been a principal for one year and has worked as an assistant principal to one of the participants represented in the first factor. F was the principal of a failing school last year, and now is a new principal at a K-22 special needs school. They actually appear to have sorted the behavior strips almost the exact opposite of each other.
The third factor has LB (.928), LF (.716), and N (.714) correlated to each other. LB and LF are both first year principals. N is the non-principal among the group as stated previously. It makes sense to me that they may have sorted the behaviors similarly.
The final factor includes BA (.790) and R (.560). R does not appear to correlate highly with any of the four factors. This grouping is the only one that seems to contain two individuals that have very little in common in their backgrounds. When I forced the analysis to create only three factors/components, BA was left out of the final grouping of factors.
Before leaving the analysis, it is important to speak to one last piece, the variables/behavior strips and their value to each of the factors (Table 6). These values are in the form of Z-scores, making it easier to see how each person- prototype sorted each behavior (interpreted by columns) and how each behavior strip was comparatively sorted in each person- prototype (interpreting by rows). Daniel (1990) explains that these values or standardized regression factor scores are “utilized to determine which items contributed to the emergence of each of the person factors.” Remembering that the first eight strips were designated as transformational leadership behaviors and the second eight were designated as transactional leadership behaviors, one can now find some patterns in how the prototypes sorted. It could be argued that the first group organized the transformational leadership behaviors as more like them than the transactional leadership behaviors. For example, behavior strips # 1, 2, and 4 all score very highly in the matrix for the first group. In contrast, the third group scored behavior #1 negatively, less like them. However, the third group also scored transformational behavior strips # 2 and 4 highly.
Taking into account that the scores did not really follow a trend that established any of the groups as definitively transformational or transactional, it is probably safe to say that the participants were grouped according to another criterion. We can say that the participants were grouped with others who sorted a set of behaviors similarly on that day at that time.
There are two facets of the Q-sort and analysis that I would change if I were to conduct a similar study in the future. To begin, it would be more structurally sound to use many more behaviors in the sort. The added information that they could rate may yield different results in the analysis. Additionally, I would not group the Florida Principal Leadership Behaviors into the two leadership styles, transformational and transactional. This created an unstructured sort, or one based on items that were not used previously in this manner. There has been no research linking these particular items with the labels transformational and transactional.
This practice Q-sort and analysis is narrow in scope. Judgments concerning the principals’ sorts are not applicable. The purpose of this study was to simply find out if the principals could be placed into groups or factors that seemed to make sense. Knowing the backgrounds of the participants allowed me a different lens at which to look at the analysis that many researchers may not get when conducting a Q-sort. It allowed me to understand why I think the participants grouped the way they did.
Brown, S. R. (n.d.) The history and principals of q social sciences methodology in psychology and the social sciences. Retrieved Nov 2, 2005, from http://facstaff.uww.edu/cottlec/QArchive/B.
Brown, S.R. (1980). Political subjectivity: applications of q methodology in political science. London: Yale University Press.
Daniel, L. G. (1990). Operationalization of a frame of reference for studying
organizational culture in middle schools (Doctoral dissertation, University of New Orleans, 1989). Dissertation Abstracts International, 50, 2320A.
(UMI No. 9002883)
Hair, J., Tatham, R., Anderson, R., & Black, W. (1998). Multivariate data analysis. 5th ed. New York: Prentice Hall.
Kerlinger, F. (1973). Foundations of behavioral research. 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
Nesselroade, J., & Cattell, R. (1988). Handbook of multivariate experimental psychology. 2nd ed. New York: Plenum Press.
Porcerelli, J. H., Cogan, R., & Hibbard,S. (2004). Personality characteristics of partner violent men: a q-sort approach. Journal of Personality Disorders, 18(2), pg. 151-162.
Stephenson, W. (1953). The study of behavior. 2nd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Woosley, S. A., Hyman, R. E., & Graunke S. S. (2004). Q sort and student affairs: a viable partnership?. Journal of College Student Development, 45(2), p.231-242. | <urn:uuid:7749ff63-c563-4df0-aff6-00bd670f2449> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://temporarytranslation.com/tag/reflection/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886104631.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20170818082911-20170818102911-00211.warc.gz | en | 0.95221 | 4,252 | 2.875 | 3 | The extract provides a detailed discussion of Q-factor analysis, its methodology, and application in a study of principals' leadership behaviors. While it demonstrates a high level of technical expertise and research knowledge, its focus is primarily on the research methodology and statistical analysis, with limited discussion of soft skills such as communication, teamwork, or leadership in a practical sense. The extract does, however, touch on aspects of professional development, critical thinking, and problem-solving, particularly in the context of research design and data analysis.
Educational score: 2 | 2 | 1 | 712,136 | 0 |
THE Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN’s) meetings in Kuala Lumpur last week were the first ever to incorporate discussions on Internationalised Domain Names. Friendly contention on related issues were apparent between parties with different ideas on how to approach the issue.
Since its inception about 30 years ago, the Internet has primarily been based on the Latin (or Roman) alphabet, Arabic numerals and punctuation marks, all encoded according to the 8-bit American Standard Code of Information Interchange (Ascii) which serves well in the English-literate world or in countries like Malaysia where the national language is written in the Latin script.
The term “Internationalised Domain Names” (IDNs) refers to domain names partially or totally written in non-Latin script like Urdu, Arabic, Tamil or Chinese using unique character codes rather than Ascii.
The contention at ICANN revolved around technical concerns about the Internet’s core infrastructure, especially about its root servers being able to handle these new domain names and scripts, thus compromising the stability of the Internet’s infrastructure and seamless exchange of information across it.
Other concerns involved not having enough code tables or codes to accurately represent all available letters, characters and accents in different scripts and languages; problems like having five different Chinese characters with similar sounds and meanings which make it difficult to register domain names in Chinese due to confusion; or the confusion caused by the Tamil script which uses the exact same symbol for the number 1 and character “ka.”
This problem exists even in Ascii where the numeral “5” and upper case letter “O” can be used together to write “5O” which readers will see as the number “50” – substituting an upper case “O” for a zero in a web or e-mail address will result in an error.
While the 16-bit Unicode from the industry consortium Unicode Inc (www.unicode.org) enables encoding of up to 65,535 different script symbols, people complain they’re still not enough and that the administration is too rigid to adjust to different script and language group requirements.
Norbert Klein, an advisor to the Open Forum of Cambodia (www.forum.org.kh), complained that without alerting the Cambodian authorities to seek their participation, the Unicode Consortium went ahead and developed its own Khmer script code table with some characters which shouldn’t have been there. In addition, the consortium left out a number of characters and symbols, thus rendering the script unusable.
The Open Forum is a Cambodian non-governmental organisation committed to the advancement of technical understanding, information distribution, development and policy issues in Cambodia.
“I was part of the negotiation team, along with Cambodian officials, which brought this matter up with Unicode and the ISO (International Standards Organisation) but Unicode said whatever was published remains, even if it’s wrong. They said the best they could do was to add footnotes to the code table telling people not to use it. Fortunately, Unicode was prepared to accept over 20 letters it had left out,” said Klein.
The Cambodian authorities got round the problem in 2002 by localising Microsoft software to support Khmer script.
“However, buying a Windows-based system with the Microsoft Office suite is simply beyond the reach of most Cambodians with it costing the equivalent of several years of a Cambodian teacher’s US$35 (RM133) monthly salary,” said Klein.
His NGO initiated a three-year project to develop open source, Unicode-based software which they expect will meet 80% of the needs of all users.
“We hope no other language group will suffer the same fate the Khmer script did and we hope there will be international sensitivity to assist language standardisation,” said Klein.
“If we don’t multilingualise the Internet, non-English speakers or about 80% of the world’s population will continue to be excluded from using the so-called ‘global Internet,’ “ Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC, www.minc.org) chairman and chief executive officer Khaled Fattal told the event’s IDN workshop.
“The existing Internet is a series of language-based Internets with the English language or the Ascii code being dominant, and this is what we call the ‘global Internet’ today.”
Two options for creating a truly global Internet are to either teach English to the 4.5 billion non-English speakers worldwide, or to “multilingualise” the Internet by fully incorporating the languages of non-English speakers into the Internet infrastructure. This can be done by getting local experts and users to participate in creating their own language tables for use on the Internet.
“Our ultimate vision for the Internet is for people to write their message in one language and have it automatically translated into the recipient’s language for him to read,” said Khaled.
MINC was founded in Singapore in 1988 based on a bottom-up approach of encouraging communities to get involved in developing their own language group scripts, which will be placed in ICANN’s root servers around the world.
“In 2000, we helped develop language sets in Chinese, Tamil, Urdu, Arabic and other languages in 20 countries,” said i-DNS.net International Inc chairman S. Subbiah, a Singaporean who co-founded MINC in 1998 with National University of Singapore professor Tan Wee Tin.
MINC’s philosophy is based on the “Multilingual dot Multilingual” (or “ML.ML”) concept where the whole web address is written in the same script throughout, whether from left to right or right to left, instead of mixing non-Latin and Latin scripts.
In such a case, the Latin script may not be understood by the user, and this might pose practical problems, with dual Latin/non-Latin keyboards being required.
However, ICANN chairman Dr Vint Cerf and Internet Engineering Task Force liaison to the Board Dr John C. Klensin are concerned about the technical implications, especially of non-standard characters being used in the root server; and the possibility of right-to-left written characters confusing the Internet infrastructure at its core.
“The Internet’s underlying protocols depend on Ascii, and now there are lots of applications using Unicode that can be presented in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) which can support multiple language groups and scripts,” Cerf told In.Tech.
“If the Internet were a wheel, its current development has reached the level of an ox cart. If people want it to support the things they say they want it to do, the Internet will have to be a rocket ship, so the community should work together to provide it with a rocket engine in terms of the underlying technology within its infrastructure,” he added.
MINC’s Khaled believes Cerf’s and Klensin’s technical concerns can be addressed by extensive testing of the scripts for interoperability to ensure they pose no problems before they’re placed in the root server.
Both Klensin and Cerf are also very concerned that MINC’s ML.ML approach to multilingual IDNs will result in the Internet fragmenting into islands of user groups communicating in their own language, thus defeating the global spirit of the Internet.
“The easy answers for internationalisation are really good if you’ve got an isolated, homogeneous population which knows by talking with each other that they’re all speaking the same language, using the same scripts and the same codings. That’s a very simple problem,” Klensin told the IDN workshop.
“The ability to make that work does not imply a solution to the internationalisation problem, because the easy way of making that work is to let those people communicate with each other, while they don’t communicate with anyone else and nobody else communicates with them.
“All the global solutions involve policy tradeoffs in which those two sets of issues are balanced against each other in an intelligent way and while I don’t have the answers, we may start working on them this afternoon,” he added.
Despite that, Cerf summed up the day by saying: “As the community works towards the introduction of IDNs, there will be much technical and policy work to be done to make this valuable extension of the Domain Name system useful.” | <urn:uuid:47a4f538-b0ee-4354-a9f2-72b206d53ace> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://softwareportal.com/news/Finding-a-way-to-make-the-Net-truly-global | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251801423.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20200129164403-20200129193403-00470.warc.gz | en | 0.92364 | 1,810 | 2.78125 | 3 | The extract scores 4 points due to its comprehensive discussion of complex technical and policy issues related to Internationalised Domain Names, requiring sophisticated communication, strategic thinking, and advanced problem-solving. It highlights the need for intercultural fluency, technological adaptation, and collaboration among stakeholders to address the challenges of creating a multilingual Internet.
Educational score: 4 | 4 | 3 | 62,437 | 1 |
Paper Sketches, due Thursday 1/25
Fast concept presentation, due in class Tuesday 1/30
Web Pages, due Thursday 2/1
Part 1: Sketches
Your first project is to generate conceptual designs for three toys. Each toy should be based on a fundamental physical concept. Examples of existing toys like this would be slinkys, rockets with baking soda/vinegar fuel, and tinker toys. Your toys can all use the same physical principle or they can each be based on a different one. Your toys to not have to be original inventions; they can be variations on existing toys. Your toys should
- attract a child’s attention,
- be interactive and fun,
- be self explanatory,
- be durable and safe,
- ideally allow for cooperative play with groups of children, and
- ideally engage several of a child’s senses.
Bring your three hand sketches (not computer-generated drawings) to class on Thursday with a description of how the toy works and an explanation of how/what a child would learn by playing with it.
Part 2: Presentation
Next Tuesday, you should be ready to present one of your sketches in class. We will use a document camera to project the sketches, so you just need to have your sketch on a flat surface.
Your presentation should cover:
- What is the physical principle underlying the toy?
- What age group is the toy designed for?
- How does the toy work/how does the child(ren) play with the toy?
- Where did the idea for your toy come from?
Your presentation should take only a minute or two so everyone can present within one class period.
Part 3: Web pages
For each toy concept, create a WordPress document that includes the following information:
- the principle your toy is based on,
- a sketch of the toy (the idea should be clear, but the drawing doesn’t have to be art),
- a description of how the child (or children) will interact with the toy, and
- a brief discussion of construction materials, durability and safety.
I will give you information during the lab on Thursday about how to put your web pages into the class web site. | <urn:uuid:c8f1e229-3689-4d29-b96e-4dbd53f54618> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/39-245/s2018/project-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296944606.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20230323003026-20230323033026-00368.warc.gz | en | 0.923819 | 469 | 3.59375 | 4 | The extract provides a project outline that promotes creative problem-solving, presentation, and digital literacy skills. It encourages students to design and present toy concepts, fostering critical thinking, communication, and teamwork. However, the extract lacks explicit discussion of soft skills, emotional intelligence, and intercultural fluency.
Educational score: 2 | 2 | 1 | 139,834 | 0 |
“Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire.” – Greta Thunberg (Davos, Sweden – World Economic Forum 2019).
The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reported that we have less than 12 years before the damage we have inflicted on the planet becomes irreversible. In order to even stand a chance at reversing said damage, we would have to see drastic changes being made throughout all aspects of society. Solving the climate crisis will be by far the most complex challenge we will ever take on. However, the main solution is very simple. We need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Leading the fight against the climate crisis is 16-year old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg.
The story of this determined teen began just last year after a record heatwave in northern Europe and forest fires that ravaged large amounts of Swedish land. On August 20th, Greta started her school strike just outside of the Swedish parliament. Armed with just a hand painted sign reading, “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (school strike for climate) and flyers with important facts, Greta promised to strike every day until the Swedish national elections. Although she spearheaded the school strike for climate alone, Thunberg is anything but alone now as more and more people continue to join her in the fight against climate change.
“Adults keep saying: “We owe it to the young people to give them hope.” But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act,” said Thunberg in her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Sweden earlier this year. Greta has used this as a way to push world leaders and billionaire entrepreneurs into action. While many people have joined her in reversing the damage that has been done to the planet, there are still many naysayers that continue to try to discredit her and the cause that she stands for. However, you can’t argue with cold, hard science. Many of these naysayers are political leaders and big corporations who are too concerned with making money and economic growth to acknowledge that climate change should be everyone’s top priority.
Ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, and forests are being set ablaze. Evidence of climate change is all around us and the school strike for climate is a call to action. “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” Greta said in her speech at the U.N.’s Climate Action Summit in New York City.
Global leaders like to look at the youth as a beacon of hope for the future, but seem to be either unaware or indifferent to the fact that climate change is very much real, more serious than they can even begin to fathom. Climate change can rob us of the future that we envision for ourselves and society. If we continue to ignore the warnings that our planet is giving us, we will soon not have a planet to call home anymore.
Thunberg is absolutely right. We should be panicking and we should be afraid. The planet that we call home is dying by our own hands. If that fact alone doesn’t make you want to take action, then I don’t know what will. If the house you live in is on fire, would you just stand by and watch as it burns to the ground? Or would you do everything in your power to put out the fire? I’m asking because as Greta Thunberg said, our house (a.k.a. Earth) is on fire now, but it’s not too late to put out the flames. It’s not too late to reverse the damage that we have inflicted on the planet. There is still hope if we all act now. There is still hope for our planet. | <urn:uuid:308a9606-deec-4168-8118-b21cee3bc960> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://homeplanetearth.org/there-is-still-hope/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875145538.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20200221203000-20200221233000-00426.warc.gz | en | 0.968186 | 934 | 2.53125 | 3 | The extract scores 4 points as it discusses leadership, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence through Greta Thunberg's climate activism, presenting a complex scenario that requires strategic thinking and problem-solving. It also incorporates cultural awareness, digital literacy, and intercultural fluency, with a strong emphasis on taking action against climate change.
Educational score: 4 | 4 | 3 | 628,096 | 1 |
Lost in a thunderstorm over southeastern Australia, Captain R.D. Parmentier and his crew were desperately trying to find a place to land the big DC2 airliner. They were just a few hundred miles from the finish of an epic 11,300-mile race from London to Melbourne and the storm had rendered their communications equipment useless.
While radio operators on the ground tried in vain to reach the aircraft, a mayor in a small town had an idea as bright as the lightning flashing in the sky. He dialed up the city's engineer and asked him to toggle the city's lights in morse code to spell out a message: A-L-B-U-R-Y. The town's name.
It was the plane's only hope.
Melbourne was ready to celebrate 100 years of existence in 1934 and wanted a gesture grand enough to mark the city's existence. Taking advantage of the sudden leap in aviation technology, they decided on an air race from the old center of power in London to Australia's biggest city. As a prize, the chocolate magnate Macpherson Robertson put up $75,000 ($1.3 million inflation adjusted) from his candy company and the MacRobertson Air Race was announced.
The significance was not only the great distance, but also the transformation of Australia as more than "the vast land over the edge of beyond" as one newspaper put it.
Planes would all take off at the same time and have to stop at five designated points along the way (Baghdad, Iraq; Allahabad, India; Singapore; and Darwin and Charleville, Australia). There were no rules about the size or type of plane, only a requirement that the pilots fly the whole race from beginning to end and that the planes meet certain safety standards.
Despite the safety equipment, Lloyd's of London gave the pilots a 1-in-12 chance of dying.
Around 64 teams planned to enter, but just 20 planes made it to the start line on October 20th, 1934. The favorites were a pair of De Havilland DH.88 Comets — sleek twin-engined planes designed especially for the race. The plane's narrow cockpit held just two pilots in tandem.
At the other end of the flying spectrum were a pair of passenger airliners. Two American pilots would be flying a Boeing 247-D and a crew of four from Dutch Airliner KLM would be in the even larger Douglas DC-2. To make things more interesting, the KLM plane would be delivering mail and carrying passengers on their trip!
Sir MacPherson Robertson's Message on ABC "Dear friends early yesterday morning before the sun had peaked over the horizon to disperse the mists enshrouding the Mildenhall Aerodrome in Suffolk; the competitors of the MacRobertson International Air Race were awaiting the signal to start on the epic flight of 11,323 miles. Never in the history of aviation has there been such a line up of aviators and never in the history of the world has there been such an aerial contest."
Under guidance from Captain Parmentier, the KLM DC-2 — nicknamed Uiver (Dutch for "Stork") quickly became a frontrunner. It battled with the British Comet of Captains Scott and Campbell-Black all along the way, using its superior reliability and comfort to keep up with the faster (and not passenger-laden) aircraft. Other competitors crashed (two died) or experienced equipment failure, but the big metal aircraft kept on going.
On October 23rd at 3:33 pm the Comet managed to take the crown in the overall "Speed" category, leaving the Uiver and it's crew the chance to win in the "Handicapped" category, which took into account the size of the aircraft using a formula.
All the Uiver crew had to do was cross the relatively short distance from Charleville to Melbourne and keep the other competitors behind them. But bad luck struck in the form of a thunderstorm just 200 miles from the finish line. It was night and, lacking visibility and functioning communications equipment, the plane drifted hopelessly off course.
Signalers for the Royal Australian Air Force desperately tired to contact them, but nothing was working. Calls went out over the radio for help and railway stations turned on all their signal lamps. Navy ships turned on their spotlights, probably to let the aircraft know if it had drifted too close to the ocean.
The citizens in the small hamlet of Albury heard the planes engines overhead and assumed it was en route to Melbourne. But the plane didn't leave. It kept circling the area.
Aware of the danger various local authorities and radio announcers hatched a plan. The city's Chief electrical engineer Lyle Ferris was sent to flash the city's lights in morse code. An Alderman asked anyone with a car to come to the race course to create a circle of headlamps. Despite the rain everyone who could help turned out.
It was a world-wide event as wireless radio communication meant that listeners between Australian and Holland could follow along as the town made its desperate rescue attempt.
Amazingly, the crew saw the flickering lights and realized it was morse code. Because of the weather they couldn't read the message but they saw the circle of lights at the race track and, with a lot of skill, were able to land the aircraft. The same rainstorm that kept them from finding Melbourne helped muddy the ground enough to allow the pilot put the plane down without going off the short race track.
When the door to the plane finally opened one of the crewman came out and asked Is this Melbourne?.
One can imagine the relief of everyone involved and the laughter that ensued when the question was asked.
At sunup the plane seemed hopelessly stuck but everyone was alive. Not content to let their guests down, the City of Albury once again rallied and plans were brought in to help unstick the big metal aircraft. Everything in the plane that didn't need to go (including passengers) was stripped from the craft and Captain Parmentier and the plane's First Officer took off for Melbourne.
Even with the delay the plane took second place in the speed round and won the handicapped section outright. It was a great victory for the airline, country, and the a small Australian town.
Upon landing the Captain spoke to ABC saying
The first thing I want to tell you is that I am very grateful for all the things that the national broadcasting commission has done to make our landing last night possible at the racecourse in Albury. I also must express my thanks for the help I had from the Mayor of Albury and the population who were very helpful this morning to get our plane out of the mud and to make it possible for us to take off."
The Mayor, Alfred Waugh, would eventually be awarded the Order of the Orange Nassau — a great honor — by Queen Wilhemina. Both the pilot and first officer were knighted.
A relationship between the European country and Albury was formed and, when the Uiver crashed two months later killing all on board, a memorial was erected in Holland that was partially paid for by subscriptions taken up in Albury.
Today, a restored DC-2 sits in Albury, made up to look like the Uiver and re-christened as the "Uiver-2" memorial aircraft. The plane was put up for sale, though locals attempted to block the sale so it can be retained in Albury as a piece of history.(Hat tip to Baber Khan!) | <urn:uuid:48c9068f-aac7-4547-9363-6dc6fce4e64c> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://jalopnik.com/5906006/how-one-australian-town-helped-a-doomed-plane-win-historys-greatest-air-race?tag=History | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549424090.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20170722182647-20170722202647-00670.warc.gz | en | 0.973885 | 1,555 | 3.140625 | 3 | The extract scores 3 points for its discussion of soft skills, including teamwork, communication, and problem-solving, in a realistic scenario. The story highlights the collaboration between the townspeople, authorities, and the aircraft crew to rescue the plane, demonstrating emotional intelligence, leadership, and critical thinking. However, the extract lacks complex scenarios requiring sophisticated communication, strategic thinking, and advanced problem-solving across multiple contexts.
Educational score: 3 | 3 | 2 | 363,402 | 0 |
The word “compiling” intimidates a lot of novice or even intermediate users of Linux. In reality, compiling software packages on Ubuntu is not that difficult. In this post, we will explain what you need to know about compiling packages from source on Ubuntu. Some of the guides on htpcBeginner (installing CrystalHD, XBMC, etc.) talk about compiling packages from source on Ubuntu. We have more guides on the way that would require compiling packages as well. Therefore, we thought it is time to provide the new Linux users a very basic introduction to compiling packages from source on Ubuntu. So here it goes.
Why Do You Need to Compile Packages?
Compilation is the process of processing the source code (programming codes), customizing them to your environment (system/OS), and converting them to installable files. The packages available on Ubuntu repositories or the
.deb files are pre-compiled packages that you can install with a quick command. But many times some of the software packages available on the repository are older versions. Furthermore, some of the packages are not even available in the repositories. So if you want the latest and the greatest, you can download the latest source code, compile, and install it. While the process is longer than installing from the repositories, compilation makes that software the most responsive it can be for your system/environment. Once you know how to do it, it is an extremely easy process as, in most cases, all you have to do is issue a sequence of few commands.
Prerequisites for Compiling Packages from Source on Ubuntu
A typical user does not compile packages, therefore Ubuntu decided not to include the prerequisites for compiling packages into the distribution. The following command installs all the packages necessary for compiling packages on from Source on Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install autoconf g++ subversion linux-source linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential tofrodos git-core subversion dos2unix make gcc automake cmake checkinstall git-core dpkg-dev fakeroot pbuilder dh-make debhelper devscripts patchutils quilt git-buildpackage pristine-tar git yasm checkinstall cvs mercurial
This covers most common packages required for compiling downloaded packages, including those from SVN and Git.
Many of the source codes are downloaded as compressed
tar files. These can be extracted using the following commands:
tar -xzvf tarballname.tar.gz
tar -xjvf tarballname.tar.bz2
If the source code is from SVN or Git, the developers will provide instructions on how to get them. Typically for Git, the
git clone command is used. In our guides, we clearly specify the instructions on how to download from SVN or Git.
Compiling Packages from Source on Ubuntu
Compilation processes involves only 3 steps: configure, make, and install. The first step is
configure. Most downloaded sources (
tar files) will already have a
configure. To configure the compilation files issue the following command:
Some source codes downloaded from Git or SVN may not have the
configure. These will normally include a
autogen script which relies on
autoconf programs and will automatically build the configuration files and run the
The next step is to
make the installation files by compiling the source code, using the following command:
Depending on the size of the source code this step can take minutes to hours. If you have a multi-core process this can be done quicker by utilizing multiple cores. For example, if you have a quad-core processor you can use the following command instead: | <urn:uuid:f2b13be4-bd75-4e07-9cb7-7c43ca931518> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | https://www.htpcbeginner.com/compiling-packages-from-source-on-ubuntu/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320545.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170625170634-20170625190634-00280.warc.gz | en | 0.839385 | 769 | 2.84375 | 3 | The extract provides a basic introduction to compiling packages from source on Ubuntu, covering prerequisites, steps, and commands. It lacks discussion of soft skills, emotional intelligence, leadership, and complex problem-solving, focusing solely on technical aspects. The content is informative but limited in scope and depth.
Educational score: 1 | 1 | 0 | 244,550 | 0 |
(29:25) “And it was in the morning, that behold it was Leah!”
Rashi, quoting the Talmud in tractates Megilah and Bava Basra
explained, “How is it possible that Yakov did not know that the woman he
had married was Leah and not Rachel? Yakov (anticipating Lavan’s
treachery) arranged with Rachel secret signs for the purpose of knowing
whether or not the woman behind the veil was truly Rachel. How then was he
fooled? The Medresh answers, “When Rachel saw that Lavan was taking Leah
to the Chupah instead of her, she said to herself, ‘My sister will be
embarrassed!’ Rachel immediately gave Leah the secret signs so that she
would not be shamed.”
Now for the rest of the story…
(Introduction to Medresh Eicha: A brief background)
At the time of the destruction of the first Bais Hamikdash, the Medresh
details G-d’s conversations with Yirmiyahu (Jerimiah), Avraham, Yitzchak,
Yakov, Moshe, and Rachel. The setting for those conversations was their
attempts at changing G-d’s decision to keep the Jews in exile after having
destroyed the Bais Hamikdash. Yirmiyahu, the Navi (prophet) at the time of
the Churban (destruction of the 1st Temple), was told to summon the Avos
and Moshe so that their tears might move Hashem (G-d) to be forgiving.
Yirmiyahu did as he was told and Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, and Moshe
presented their arguments on behalf of their wayward children.
Avraham argued that mercy was due because of the merits of his readiness
to bring Yitzchak as a Korban (sacrifice). Yitzchak argued that mercy was
due because of the merits of his willingness to submit to the Akeidah
(binding). Yakov argued that mercy was due because of the merits of his
lifetime of trial and tribulation in protecting and raising his children
to become the Jewish nation.
Moshe argued that mercy was due because of the merits of his tireless
commitment and devotion to the Jewish people in shepherding them through
40 years of challenge and rebellion.
Their common theme was, “There are personal merits on record that You (G-
d) are not taking into account in making Your decision. If You would take
those merits into account You would be merciful and bring the Jews home.
In each instance, Hashem listened to their pleas but did not respond. G-d
did not counter their arguments, nor did He offer any explanations. He
simply did not respond.
In the middle of Moshe’s presentation the Medresh records that Rachel
interrupted Moshe to make her plea. Let us pick up the conversation at
“Master of the Universe,You know that Your servant Yakov truly loved me
and worked seven years for my father in order to marry me. At the
conclusion of those seven years, when it was time for me to marry my
husband, my father wanted to switch my sister for me allowing Leah to
marry Yakov. I found out my father’s intentions and was very pained and
bothered. I shared my father’s intentions with Yakov and gave him secret
signs so that he would know if the person he was to marry was me or
someone else. Later I regretted giving Yakov the secret signs. I decided
to overcome my personal desires and hopes for marrying Yakov and have
mercy on my sister. I gave her the secret signs so that she would not be
shamed when it was discovered that she was Leah and not me. More so than
that, I secreted myself beneath the conjugal bed so that I could answer
any question Yakov may have posed during the night ensuring that the
differences in our voices would not give Leah away. In the end, I was
merciful and kind to my sister and I was not jealous of her.
Master of the Universe, if I, a mere mortal of flesh and blood, was not
jealous of my sister and did not allow her to be shamed and embarrassed,
how much more so should it be with You! As the Almighty and Eternal Master
of the Universe You should not be jealous of idols just as I was not
jealous of Leah! Why did You allow the Bais Hamikdash to be destroyed, my
children to be exiled, and the enemy to do with them whatever they wished!
Why would You do such a thing?”
Immediately, G-d’s mercy was aroused and He said to Rachel, ‘Because of
you I will return the Jews to their rightful place.’ As the verses in
Yirmiyah 31:14-15 state, “So did G-d proclaim, ‘A voice on high was heard…
Rachel cries for her children and refuses to be consoled…Therefore G-d
said, stop your cries and dry your tears… your children will return to
Why did G-d respond to Rachel’s argument? Why did He not respond to
Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, and Moshe?
On Tisha B’ Av (9th of Av) I proposed the following answer. After Moshe
accepted to be the Redeemer, he and Aharon confronted Pharaoh. The outcome
of that confrontation was disastrous. Instead of granting freedom to the
enslaved Jews, Pharaoh made their labor more difficult. Moshe turned to
Hashem with the complaint, “Why did You make it worse for the nation, why
did You send me?” G-d’s response to Moshe contrasted Moshe with the
Avos. “How I miss the Avos! They never questioned my actions. They
accepted my decrees without reservation or challenge. You on the other
hand question my judiciousness and My actions!”
That conversation underscores the unique nature of the Avos (forefathers)
and their relationship with G-d. “They never questioned the character and
actions of G-d”. They always trusted that regardless of their own thoughts
and feelings G-d was in charge. Anything He did was by definition for the
benefit of the Jews and the universe. Essentially, the Avos never
challenged G-d’s judiciousness; instead, they trusted Him and attempted to
emulate Him in every possible way.
In attempting to evoke G-d’s mercy, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, and Moshe
challenged His judiciousness. In presenting their reasons as why G-d
should be merciful, they argued that there were merits that Hashem had
possibly not taken into account. Because G-d is the “Truthful Judge,”
because Hashem is “All Knowing,” it is impossible for G-d to have not
taken all things into account; therefore, G-d did not respond to their
arguments. Simply put, it was obvious that everything had been taken into
account and therefore there were no new findings that could have swayed G-
d’s decision. There was no reason for G-d to respond to their arguments.
A note about arguing with G-d.
Humans cannot argue with G-d. G-d does not change His mind; in fact, has
never changed His mind. G-d knows all that was is and will be and does not
make mistakes. All things are considered and the magnitude of the divine,
judicial, processing is beyond human ability and comprehension. All we can
do is marvel at His power and accept the limitations of our intellect.
The Torah’s presentations of mortals arguing with G-d, for example,
Avraham regarding Sodom, Moshe at the Burning Bush, and Moshe defending
the nation in the aftermath of the Golden Calf, were to teach us the
limits of our own comprehension and provide insight into G-d’s
Avraham defending Sodom is a good example of this. G-d knew from the start
that He would destroy Sodom; yet, He insisted on first informing Avraham
and allowing him to argue in their defense. In the end, G-d did exactly as
He originally intended. He saved Lot and his two daughters and He
destroyed the rest of Sodom. However, in the course of Avraham’s argument
it became clear that eradicating evil is ethical, moral, and judicious
when there is no hope for rehabilitation.
Moshe’s reluctance to assume the position of Redeemer and G-d’s response
to him advanced Moshe’s natural humility to the level of “the most humble
of all men.” In the process, Moshe was given to understand why the Jews
had been enslaved and why they deserved to be redeemed.
Moshe’s defense of the Jewish people in the aftermath of the Golden Calf
taught us to understand the concept of Teshuvah without which no human can
sustain a relationship with G-d.
Regarding the arguments of the Avos, Moshe, and Rachel in the aftermath of
the destruction of the first Bais Hamikdash (Temple in Jerusalem), the
same is true. The Medresh intentionally challenges our understanding of
the Avos so that by contrast we can better appreciate Rachel’s argument
and why it was effective.
Contrasting Rachel’s’ argument with the others reveals a significant
difference. Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakov, and Moshe were challenged by design
and circumstance to accept or not accept G-d’s tests. Theoretically, they
could have either listened to G-d or not listened to G-d. Avraham could
have decided not to sacrifice Yitzchak. Yitzchak could have decided not to
allow his father to bind him and offer him as a sacrifice. Yakov could
have allowed circumstances to dictate his fate and not take-on Eisav or
Lavan. The circumstances of the tests were not of their own making or
choice. They either accepted the challenge or not.
Rachel situation was different. Rachel could easily have justified not
giving the secret signs to Leah and allowing Leah to be shamed and
embarrassed. She could have argued that it was divinely ordained that she
marry Yakov and that Leah marry Eisav. She could have argued that Lavan’s
intent to switch Leah was Leah’s challenge and not her own. Maybe Leah was
destined to marry Eisav no different than Milkah (daughter of Haran,
sister of Sarah and Lot) had been destined to marry Nachor (Avraham’s evil
brother). Granted, the shiduch was not pleasing to Milkah but how else
would the likes of Rivkah (her granddaughter) and Rachel and Leah (her
great-grand- daughters) be born? The same may have been with Leah and
Eisav. As evil as Eisav was he was still a son of Rivkah and Yitzchak.
There may have been components of Eisav that were necessary to make
their way back into the body of the Jewish nation. Through joining with
Leah those components of Eisav would be refined enough to eventually be
acceptable. Rachel did not have to reveal the secret signs. Let destiny
take its course and let Leah be shamed. Let destiny take its course and
Yakov would marry Rachel while Eisav would marry Leah!
Instead, Rachel deliberately created the circumstances that would force
her to sacrifice her own potential destiny. By revealing to Leah the
secret signs, something she could have easily justified not doing, she
guaranteed that Yakov would marry Leah, without any guarantee that she too
would end up marrying him.
Rachel’s argument to Hashem was that she had not questioned His ways of
doing things. She had not questioned His character and judiciousness. In
fact she had done the very opposite. Rather than question G-d’s actions
and decrees Rachel emulated His actions and character. Just as G-d is
always merciful so too Rachel was merciful. Just as G-d has no reason to
ever be jealous of idols so too she would not be jealous of her sister.
Therefore, Rachel argued that Hashem had no choice but to be consistent
and be merciful.
Rachel understood that the job of the Jews, the job of humanity, and her
job was to study G-d’s manifest actions and emulate them to the best of
her comprehension and ability. In doing so she expressed her absolute
faith in G-d that “make G-d’s will your own so that G-d will make your
will His.” So long as we do as Hashem wants Hashem does as we want. The
reality is that if we make His will our own then automatically we are in
concert with G-d’s will. The only thing we should want is what Hashem
wants. There is no conflict or contradiction between our wants and desires
and G-d’s wishes and commands.
Rachel argued that her deliberate decision to emulate G-d and be merciful
with Leah demanded that G-d do the same, be merciful on her children and
bring them home – and G-d agreed. “So did G-d proclaim, Stop your cries
and dry your tears… your children will return to their boundaries.”
Text Copyright © 2005 by Rabbi Aron Tendler and Torah.org
The author is the Rabbi of Shaarey Zedek Congregation, Valley
Village, CA, and Assistant Principal of YULA. | <urn:uuid:b0c5a333-8520-46fd-96a8-cf477fdb6bce> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.torah.org/learning/rabbis-notebook/5766/vayeitzei.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394020986799/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305120306-00060-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967032 | 3,030 | 2.640625 | 3 | The extract scores 3 points as it includes discussion of soft skills such as empathy, selflessness, and emotional intelligence through Rachel's story. It features realistic scenarios that integrate leadership challenges and critical thinking opportunities, with a focus on cultural awareness and moral values. However, it lacks complex, real-world problem-solving scenarios and nuanced interaction, limiting its depth and practical application.
Educational score: 3 | 3 | 2 | 807,650 | 0 |
Creation myths reveal the original culture of a people. Oh, we shift and grow and turn to the left and the right over thousands of years, but still our view of this life is colored with how our ancestors explained their existence on this earth.
In The Long Journey Home series, between narrow escapes and the killing of those that need killing, Jeremiah and Montego spend time chewing the fat around a campfire. Part of the fun of writing these novels is the conversations these two men have while sitting under the stars.
Jeremiah, a haunted confederate soldier in the 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment, is an educated, well-read man. Montego, an Osage who also knows the burden of fighting hard and losing a war, was educated by Jesuits. Both men learned much of what they know of the world in battle.
So, sitting around a fire under the stars, gnawing on a burnt rabbit thigh or a deer haunch, these two eventually come around to exchanging ideas about creation. The Osage creation myth tells how the ancestors lived in the sky. After many seasons, and with the blessings of Father Sun and Mother Moon, the people fell from the stars. They floated in the air but found no land, only a vast, salty sea. The ancestors called out for help and finally Elk, one of the animals floating down to earth with the people, saved them by falling into the water. As Elk sank he called out to the four winds to blow away the water. The mist cleared and revealed a thick mud. Elk rolled in the mud and his loose hairs grew into trees and grass. The people landed on these patches of land and continued their journey to Middle World.
As for Jeremiah’s understanding of creation, well as the son of a pastor, he’s been supporting himself since the war as a saddle preacher. Though he battles God daily, he has a solid understanding of the book of Genesis. But Jeremiah is also an extremely well-read man. Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species was published in 1855. Knowledge of the theory of evolution is prevalent in 1871 when our story takes place. Surely Jeremiah is aware of this book.
How much is Montego influenced by the Jesuits who educated him in the ways and language of the white man? How literally does Jeremiah, a man who repeatedly rejects God’s grace, take the book of Genesis and does his understanding of evolution color his beliefs of creation? These are the questions being answered right now as I put fingers to keyboard and listen to these two fascinating characters.
I’m going to give you a brief excerpt for Ridgeline, the first book in The Journey Home series, but if you’re a writer, I’d love for you to share some of the conversations your characters have showed you over the years. If you’re a reader, could you share with me what conversations you’d like to hear between Jeremiah and Montego?
Okay, here’s the promised excerpt from Ridgeline:
The Osage squatted beside him, held a shallow chipped bowl to his mouth. “Drink. It eases pain. Your woman is safe. It is my sister, Niabi, whose screams you hear.”
“Where are the rest of your tribe?”
The Indian returned to his place on the other side of the fire, lowered himself again into a pose of such stillness that Jeremiah blinked to convince himself he gazed not at cold stone, but at a living being.
“I am Montego. My people are gone. The buffalo killed. The fire that burns the spirit and marks the body with the deep bites of death took many. Bluecoats killed others.”
Long, piercing screams sliced the night, sent shivers dancing along Jeremiah’s spine. Montego raised his eyes, stared toward the edge of the clearing. Sparks from the fire winked between the men for an instant, then disappeared into the black night.
“Niabi will not live.” The Indian’s words fell like sharp stones. “She is weak from hiding in these woods, moving always to avoid the soldiers. The child will go with her into the spirit world.”
A centuries-old lament rose unbidden from Jeremiah’s mouth. “A voice is heard in Raman, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.”
Montego lifted his gaze from the fire, stared directly into Jeremiah’s face. “And your people, who also fought the bluecoats? Where are they?”
“Gone. All. Gone.” Jeremiah concentrated on the pounding pain in his leg, hoping to drive from his mind the slow-motion fall of Maggie, sinking to the planks of the porch, that twinkle of blue still clutched in her soft hand. He shut that mental door firmly, forced himself to meet the eyes of the Indian. | <urn:uuid:03341031-4ab7-46bd-9121-1df1c04013c5> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | https://pamelafosterspeakerwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/conversation-around-a-camp-fire/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128323711.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20170628153051-20170628173051-00615.warc.gz | en | 0.968504 | 1,052 | 2.890625 | 3 | The extract scores high for its thoughtful exploration of cultural awareness, emotional intelligence, and nuanced communication. It delves into the creation myths of different cultures, showcasing the author's attempt to integrate complex cultural contexts. The conversations between Jeremiah and Montego demonstrate sophisticated communication, empathy, and critical thinking.
Educational score: 4 | 4 | 3 | 177,799 | 1 |
Miriam Leitao - A specter is haunting Brazil: the internationalization of the Amazon. The deepest nationalist feelings emerge whenever any non-Brazilian authority suggests the idea that the stewardship of the Amazon should be shared, in some way, with the international community. Is this a myth or a real threat?
Pascal Lamy, general secretary of WTO, recently raised this issue, arguing that rainforests should be considered global public goods that the world could help to manage. Though he claims his most recent comments were misunderstood, Lamy has made this argument for a while now. In 2001, in Madrid, he declared: "The forests of the Amazon are a strategic environmental asset not just for the countries belonging to the Amazon Treaty Organization but for the whole planet".
Lamy's words have raised hackles -- and suspicions -- throughout Brazil, feeding the long-standing conspiracy theory that foreigners are out to seize Brazilian riches. Recently three ministers of the Environment, Foreign Affairs and Science and Technology teamed up to publish an article in the Brazilian and foreign press assuring the world that government has made great strides in "taking care of the Amazon".
Are they right? Well, Lula's government has succeeded in reducing the level of annual deforestation from 26 thousand square kilometers a year to 13 thousand km a year since 2003. But nobody can guarantee this will be sustainable. There are plenty of laws to preserve the forest, but enforcement of those laws is another story.
On the other hand, the average Brazilian suspects that the developed world of having destroyed its own woodlands, and is turning to the Amazon to exploit the rainforest's storied biological wealth and biodiversity. Some Brazilians say that they have been doing a fine job protecting the wilderness heritage. In this country's five hundred year history, only 20% of the forest has been cleared, while some 3.3 million square kilometers remain unspoiled, an area almost six times the size of France.
This is an issue of Amazonian proportions. Scientists and environmentalists warn that the modest sounding 20% of the rainforest that has fallen to date is already enough to undermine the health of the Amazonian ecosystem. Worse still, the pace of logging has accelerated dangerously in the last decade. Above all, climate change is a global risk with no national boundaries.
The dilemma for a Brazilian is how to enlist international help to protect this threatened natural heritage without forfeiting national sovereignty over an expanse of land that represents almost half of its territory? How should Brazil protect such a vast area of land with scarce financial resources? It's a quandary Brazil shares with Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname, which together house the 37% of the Amazon not owned by Brazil. And why should the rest of the world pay the Amazonian countries to protect such treasured forests without setting targets and terms of conditionality? How do you think we should solve the sovereignty dilemma, on the one hand, while ensuring credible protection for the Amazon on the other?
Please e-mail PostGlobal if you'd like to receive an email notification when PostGlobal sends out a new question. | <urn:uuid:c695c029-bdf4-45f5-a34b-aeb180985b82> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2007/01/an_amazonian_dilemma.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386163052810/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204131732-00032-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935013 | 644 | 2.59375 | 3 | The extract touches on complex global issues, requiring nuanced communication, strategic thinking, and problem-solving. It presents a real-world scenario, integrating emotional intelligence, leadership challenges, and critical thinking opportunities, particularly in the context of intercultural fluency and environmental sustainability. However, it lacks comprehensive professional development opportunities and sophisticated digital literacy skills.
Educational score: 3 | 3 | 2 | 614,170 | 0 |
Historically, higher education is a foreign entity for Black students, according to Lez’li Waller, a senior at UC Berkeley.
She likened the entry experience to an incarcerated person, following a decadelong sentence behind bars, being released and told education is their ticket to the next level of life. With no guidance, they are left astray, and often, they will fail, Waller said.
Growing out of American soil laced with racism, universities innately perpetuate the marginalization experienced across the nation; colleges are microcosms of the world around them, Waller noted. At a predominantly Asian and white institution such as UC Berkeley, the scarcity of Black students compounds existing pressures faced by the community and leads to various mental health struggles.
“While UC Berkeley certainly has a history of strengths related to various social justice movements, it’s also important to acknowledge and be aware of the history of UC Berkeley that has been oppressive to marginalized communities,” said Dr. Adisa Anderson, a licensed psychologist working in University Health Services, or UHS, on the Counseling and Psychological Services, or CAPS, staff.
From history — applying to universities once barred to Black students to the history class itself — learning about individuals who may have at one point owned enslaved individuals, college life can be very heavy. Helping Black students feel comfortable in their own skin rests on having a robust mental health system, Waller said.
Reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic’s cultural climate, universities have become fertile grounds for racial trauma and anxiety.
As oppressive encounters in the nation continue to unfold, the demand for psychological services is increasing, and the need to improve Black student recruitment and retention is becoming more dire, according to Anderson.
“The larger university environment has to be one that promotes multiculturalism and values diversity not only symbolically but in terms of creating policies, procedures and practices that consider issues of diversity, equity and inclusion,” Anderson said. “Decisions that will essentially more effectively support and affirm the needs of African American students at UC Berkeley.”
“Look in your own backyard”: Recruitment
For those who choose and are able to, applying to colleges is the culmination of their entire lifetime of education; higher education is the pinnacle of traditional academia.
While the world awaits Supreme Court cases on affirmative action bound to send tremors near and far, Anderson underscored the importance of having admissions counselors who truly understand the experiences of Black students.
“They’re able to see the resiliency and restraints of Black-identified students when they consider their college applications,” Anderson said.
A ban on affirmative action in California schools was first approved in 1996 through Proposition 209, which took effect in fall 1998. That year marked a seismic shift in UC Berkeley’s admission of Black students as the rate dropped from 50% in 1997 to 20% the following year.
In 2021, more than two decades later, 5.2% of UC Berkeley’s admitted freshmen identified as Black, and only 3.7% enrolled in the school.
Black student organizations shoulder much of the responsibility of recruitment, Waller said, who is also the operational manager for the Black Recruitment and Retention Center, or BRRC. Funded by several campus grants, BRRC must allocate part of its money toward recruitment, which it uses in part to fly in Black students from across the state to visit UC Berkeley and live in the breadcrumbs of their potential future.
While Waller noted BRRC is very active in its work to provide resources about UC Berkeley to students of color, she alleged that campus places the onus on BRRC without doing the work itself. BRRC should be a support to campus, not the vanguard, she added.
UC Berkeley should focus its recruitment efforts in local areas around Berkeley that have significant Black populations, Waller noted.
“If you can’t look in your own backyard and find talent within the different demographics that you’re serving as an institution, something’s wrong,” Waller said.
Until UC Berkeley restores the number of Black students on campus to what it was before the sweeping ban on affirmative action, none of the diversity wins it touts about Black admissions are worth celebrating, Waller said.
Diversity is not reflected by having an African American studies department on campus — it means being a student in any major and being taught and led by Black professors and administrators, Waller said.
Recruitment is inextricably linked to diversity, Waller added, because Black students will not feel supported until they can walk into a class and be greeted by one or two classmates who look like them.
“Universities have to look at what they do as an institution to support students, not what are you asking the students to do to support themselves,” Waller said. “That is a great way to start addressing how to help Black students in their mental health in higher education.”
Amid societal pressures of educational attainment and excellence is a clashing history of systemic policies meant to exclude Black people from education.
Generation upon generation of people of color experience this racism, which has rippling effects on mental health, one of which is trauma, according to Allison Briscoe-Smith, child clinical psychologist and senior fellow of campus’s Greater Good Science Center, or GGSC.
Understood as an experience or event that outpaces people’s typical means of coping, trauma can not only alter people’s relationships with others but also with themselves. Trauma can lead to depression, anxiety and substance abuse, among other problems, she said.
“Despite all of that, we as a population demonstrate incredible resilience and connection and growth and capacity,” Briscoe-Smith said.
Over time, the daily slights and insults — compounded by microaggressions and jabbing judgments experienced by marginalized groups — gnaw away at people’s sense of selves, said GGSC Associate Education Director Amy Eva.
Upon crossing Sather Gate for the first time and exploring unknown campus crevices, there’s a psychological adjustment that occurs where individuals question their abilities and have to reconcile self-doubt. Known as impostor syndrome, Black students grapple with feeling truly affirmed in their Black identity, Anderson said.
When people feel like they don’t belong, they often seek to self-protect and search for coping mechanisms, which contribute to the outmigration from STEM fields and greater dropout rates among marginalized groups, according to campus psychology professor Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton.
“You’re going to disengage from the noxious environment and find a place where you do feel belonging,” Mendoza-Denton said.
Beyond the psyche, anxiety and stress can penetrate the body.
As marginalized groups battered by discrimination age over time, they are much more likely to suffer from heart attacks and develop cardiovascular diseases or diabetes due to stress reactivity compared to nonstigmatized groups, according to Mendoza-Denton.
Even when Black students have the proper mental health support and are able to make the transition to university, they are bound to deal with stereotype threat, Anderson said. This occurs when people from marginalized communities perform lower than their actual competence and knowledge levels.
In other words, a Black student may walk into an exam room and underperform because of the negative stereotypes that have been associated with their identity and the psychological toll of being in spaces that feel oppressive, Anderson explained.
Having invalidating or oppressive professors can enhance the impacts of stereotype threat, Anderson added. Instructors are constantly evaluating the work of minority students more critically than that of majority students, despite it being of the same caliber, Mendoza-Denton alleged.
“It’s so important for there to be instructors and faculty members that have an understanding of the importance of multicultural sensitivity and culturally relevant curriculums in the classroom,” Anderson said.
With so few Black students on campus, there’s more pressure on Black students to excel because they may feel like they have to represent their entire community, Anderson said.
At the same time, the lack of social support leads to feelings of ostracism and self-consciousness about participating in the classroom for fear of being misperceived.
“Black-identified students that successfully matriculate through the campus are some of the brightest students nationally,” Anderson said. “It really requires a resilient student to navigate through the barriers and complexities of being a student at UC Berkeley.”
Cemented in the brain
Humans are wired to be biased.
Behind the curtain of daily life, the brain is constantly engaging in quick cognitive shortcuts to make sense of its environment, which helps explain subconsciously why “we are all racist,” according to Eva. Once people acknowledge their implicit bias, they can begin to question themselves and take action in support of racial justice, but it can’t all occur introspectively.
“There’s no way we’re going to see all of this in ourselves,” Eva said. “It’s not going to happen unless we explicitly seek it out. Not just questioning ourselves but with kind and supportive friends who are willing to call us out.”
Practicing mindfulness is crucial to building a greater self-awareness around structural racism because it allows people to sit with their thoughts, giving them moments in time where they can just be and not judge themselves, Eva noted. For students at a high-caliber school such as UC Berkeley who put inordinate amounts of pressure on themselves, it allows them to hold their experiences in balanced awareness rather than suppress or exaggerate pain.
In the classroom, mindfulness practices can help connect students and nurture a sense of belonging by having students acknowledge each other, Eva said. She added that, at the very least, professors and people in power should take it upon themselves to create open lines of communication with others.
“I tell my students all the time, ‘Please, any time I say anything in class that makes you feel alienated, suggests some sort of prejudice … call me out on it,’ ” Eva said.
Despite social cognitive theory positing that people learn through vicarious experience and by observing the behavior of others, there’s a vacuum of role models for marginalized people in sectors such as education. From as early as elementary school, most students of color are taught by white instructors, fueling isolation among Black students as they may question, “Where are my people?” Eva said.
To help retain Black students in higher education, Anderson echoed Eva’s sentiment that there must be greater representation in academia. Seeing themselves reflected in the university environment can help Black students affirm their intersectional identities while increasing the number of staff and faculty who have a shared understanding of their struggles and needs.
Reflecting on the progress that has been made for Black people, Waller said she sees history repeating itself. At times when she feels like there have been a couple of steps forward, something else will often happen to reveal that, on the whole, the strides have been quite short.
The layered mental suffering among Black people is not just a university problem, she said, but rather a national one. However, for the handful of years Black students are at UC Berkeley, there needs to be more resources and measures in place so students have the chance to escape the hardships of the world.
“Black people have been in this country and have contributed to this country for centuries now, but it seems like when it comes to our struggles or our needs, it’s so foreign to everyone,” Waller said. “How is it that our struggle and our needs seem like a new adventure every 10 years or so?”
“Black people don’t do therapy”
The looming COVID-19 pandemic and harrowing racial violence that have transpired have brought a surge of mental suffering.
The impact looks different to many. For Briscoe-Smith, this means there’s not a vacant therapy room among her colleagues.
“Number one: There are not enough mental health services for college campuses,” Briscoe-Smith said. “Number two: There are not enough mental health and other supportive services anywhere, and that’s only been heightened in the context of the pandemic.”
Given the relative shortage of Black therapists, there are particular barriers for Black students who prefer to connect with a counselor of the same race, Briscoe-Smith said. While she noted the research on race-matching in counseling is at times controversial, being represented might facilitate people stepping into therapy.
Having shared experiences tied to racial-ethnic identity can certainly benefit the therapeutic outcome, but all counselors should be trained to provide effective services to marginalized students to meet the growing demand in mental health, Anderson said.
Black students who request to meet with a Black-identified counselor on campus can face longer wait times given the scarcity of Black therapists, according to UHS spokesperson Tami Cate.
Currently, there are nine Black-identified counselors in UHS, all of whom do not exclusively serve Black students, according to Cate. Approximately 6% of CAPS users identify as Black, with Black students representing 4% of the student population.
“We have been intentional in our hiring to increase the diversity of our staff and to have our staff be representative of the intersecting identities of our students,” Cate said in an email. “Even though CAPS is seeing Black students in numbers greater than their representation on campus, we know there is more we can do to support our Black students who experience marginalization and isolation.”
Mirroring national trends, CAPS has seen an increase in the use of its services and continues to offer both in-person and virtual mental health care, according to Cate. Students are also able to see a counselor outside of CAPS for free through the added platform “humanest,” which provides services with Black-identified counselors.
Amid an era of Zoom domination, Briscoe-Smith said she’s most worried about the ways kids of color may not be seen during this time. Children could be crumbling under stress as they help support their family, but their absence from school veils their struggles.
If mental health resources aren’t available in primary schools, asking for help and getting support won’t become normalized, Briscoe-Smith said.
“Then we fall into that trap of the stigma, which is Black people don’t do therapy,” she said.
Elementary, middle and high schools can help mediate mental health problems by providing early support to assist children with mental health concerns, such as depression and bipolar disorder.
The opportunity for intervention is “ripe” during childhood, Briscoe-Smith said, which is one of the main reasons she chose to become a child psychologist.
“We need a radical reorganization of our services and our priorities and to center the experiences of those disproportionately impacted by large system failures like racism,” Briscoe-Smith said. “What do Black students need? Let’s ask them, and let’s try to meet it.” | <urn:uuid:1966d5e5-f16f-4a23-82a3-29c91e76d962> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://dailycal.org/2022/02/23/we-are-all-racist-black-students-face-mental-health-trials-tribulations-in-higher-education | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224643462.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20230528015553-20230528045553-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.960194 | 3,204 | 2.640625 | 3 | The extract discusses the challenges faced by Black students in higher education, particularly at UC Berkeley, and the need for improved mental health support, recruitment, and retention strategies. It highlights the importance of multicultural sensitivity, culturally relevant curriculums, and representation in academia. The extract also touches on the impact of systemic racism, implicit bias, and stereotype threat on Black students' mental health and academic performance. The discussion is nuanced and integrates emotional intelligence, leadership challenges, and critical thinking opportunities, warranting a high score.
Educational score: 5 | 5 | 4 | 703,220 | 1 |
It's that time of year again. The back to school ads have started popping up all around us. And, while students are likely ignoring the signs that the school year is quickly approaching, most parents are counting down the days until the bell rings once again.
Back to school means another year of learning, growing, and expanding of young minds. New research suggests, however, that this learning can be significantly stunted for female students when they are aware of stereotypes impugning the intelligence or ability of their gender.
Psychologists have known for some time that when people are aware of negative stereotypes about the racial or gender groups to which they belong (e.g., "African Americans are not very intelligent" or "girls can't do math"), their performance on important tests can suffer. This phenomenon, known as stereotype threat, may help explain racial and gender gaps on standardized tests ranging from the SAT to AP Calculus tests. Now research shows that these negative stereotypes don't just jeopardize performance on tests, they actually shut down learning in the classroom.
In a study published late last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Robert Rydell and his Indiana University colleagues asked a group of college-age women to perform a visual perception task. Before the task, some women were reminded of well-known stereotypes about women's subpar math and visual processing abilities (i.e., they were put in a stereotype threat situation). Other women were told nothing at all.
The task involved visually searching for a specific Chinese character in the middle of other distracting Chinese characters. Women were first shown the Chinese character they would be looking for (i.e., the target). Then, a display of several characters appeared. The goal was to indicate - as quickly as possible - whether the target was indeed in the display (which occurred about half the time).
Usually, as people learn this visual perception task, their ability to detect the presence of the target gets better and better. Eventually, people no longer need to search effortfully through the display. The target just "pops out" at them. Sure enough, this popout happened for women who were not reminded of negative stereotypes regarding their math and perceptual abilities. In contrast, women faced with the stereotype didn't really learn how to do the task at all.
One might wonder whether women under stereotype threat did learn, but just didn't show it. To test this, the researchers did something rather clever. Following the visual perception task, all of the women were shown two colored patches and asked to choose the patch with the greater color saturation. Superimposed on the patches was the target Chinese character the women had previously learned to search for. If people have learned to recognize these target characters, then superimposing them on the colored patches should slow down decisions about the patches' color saturation. This is because when you have spent a lot of time learning to recognize characters, objects, whatever, they pop out at you, even if you are not looking for them. Only women who were not reminded of negative gender stereotypes showed this slowing.
Dr. Rydell has work forthcoming showing impaired learning in math as a function of awareness of negative gender stereotypes as well. As it happens, women reminded that "girls can't do math" learn less in math lessons. These women have difficulty memorizing math rules and thus learn fewer mathematical facts and procedures than women who are not faced with the gender stereotype.
Although the above mentioned work was conducted with college students, it's easy to imagine how stereotype awareness in the early grades could put some girls on a slower learning path for good. A few months ago, my colleagues and I found that even as early as 1st and 2nd grade, students often endorse the stereotype that "boys are good at math and girls are good at reading." Importantly, when girls endorsed this stereotype, they showed less math learning across the school year.
Where do these stereotypes come from? We found that one source was the girls' female teachers. The more anxious a teacher was about her own math ability, the more likely girls in her class endorsed the stereotype that "boys are good at math and girls are good at reading." And, when girls endorsed this stereotype, they showed less math achievement by school year's end.
So, as we think about the start of another school year, it is worth recognizing some of the factors that might slow down students' learning in the classroom. Interestingly, it has been shown that teaching girls that stereotypes about gender and math are not true and providing them with facts to back up this assertion, helps to curb the impact of negative stereotypes on performance. Of course, this tactic may not be very effective if female teachers, through their own math anxieties, are modeling commonly held gender stereotypes to their students.
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Check out my forthcoming book Choke | <urn:uuid:ce83ed84-04c1-4b63-a40a-2274da04c363> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/choke/201008/when-negative-gender-stereotypes-hang-heavy-in-the-classroom-girls-learn-less | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394010721184/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305091201-00062-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977033 | 986 | 3.5 | 4 | The extract discusses the impact of stereotypes on learning, specifically how awareness of negative gender stereotypes can hinder female students' performance and learning in math and other subjects. It provides research-based examples and scenarios, highlighting the importance of addressing these stereotypes to promote equal learning opportunities. The content touches on emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and cultural awareness, but lacks practical application and nuanced interaction.
Educational score: 3 | 3 | 2 | 975,009 | 0 |
This Monday (February 29th) is Rare Disease Day, a day dedicated to raise awareness about rare diseases and their impact on patients’ lives. The theme for 2016 is all about you, individuals and families living with a rare disease and the importance of making your voice heard.
What is a Rare Disease? Each country has a slightly different definition on what qualifies as a rare disease. In the US, a disease or disorder is defined as rare when it affects less than 200,000 Americans at any given time. Looking for a list? You can find one here, thanks to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD).
Many of the medical foods that we make here at Nutricia – like Neocate products - are used by individuals with a rare disease. Our goal is simply to improve their lives through medical nutrition. Rare diseases include some food allergy conditions, like food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) and eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE).
Why your voice is important. It is important to speak out and educate others in the medical and legislative community on the impact your rare disease has on your everyday life and what you need to make a difference in your quality of life. Now I know what you might be thinking. You are not the right person to speak to legislators or medical professionals and make a difference, and you would be wrong. Not only are you the expert on yourself and what you need to improve your quality of life, but because you belong to a unique and small community, you are also an expert on your disease.
Personal stories on what you are experiencing and what would help either through medical research or legislation is vital to instigate change. It is necessary to ensure that legislators and medical professionals remember that rare diseases and disorders are a public health priority.
Why today? Rare Disease day is always the last day in February. It’s especially “rare” this year because it’s February 29th, which only happens every four years!
Power in numbers. When a large community speaks out together, such as on a day like Rare Disease Day 2016, there is power in numbers. This day is celebrated by not only patients, but also family members, patient organizations, researchers, industry, medical professionals, and legislators all around the globe to amplify your voice to be heard across the world.
Tips for success: You may not realize that you advocate for yourself and your loved ones regularly and likely with great success. Educating family members, school classmates or faculty, coworkers, and your community members on your needs in relation to your diet and rare disease is advocating for yourself. But let’s take a moment to go over some tips to help you be a better self-advocate.
1) Know your “Ask”. Advocacy should be a call to action, so what action would you like the person or organization to take on your behalf? It is important to keep the action you are seeking or your “ask” in mind and make sure to state it at the beginning and end of the conversation so everyone is clear on how they can best help you. It can be something specific like support for a piece of legislation, or something broad like funding for research or medical coverage. Even if you are asking for something on a local level such as your school or community, make sure you are clear on what actions they can take to support you when living with a rare disease.
2) Tell Your story. There is nothing more powerful or more helpful for key people than your personal story. When key decision makers know your story and how your request will benefit you and others in your community that is the best motivation for them to help you, and motivate others to join them and get something accomplished on your behalf.
3) Maintain Communication. Once you create that relationship, make sure to keep up communication so you can encourage progress. Communication when things are going well and when a change is desired is important. Relationships with key people are important, but relationships with their staff are equally or sometimes even more important.
Check out these pages or more information on Rare Disease Day events near you, or how to get involved. Now go and tell your story!! You can share your story or read stories others have shared with the rare disease community here on the 2016 Rare Disease Day website.
In fact, the Neocate team here at Nutricia would love to hear your story and learn how our products have helped you live with your rare disease. So tell us: What’s your rare disease story?
-Kristin Crosby, MS, RDN | <urn:uuid:f2bb52ca-9073-415f-b0c2-f00de535ce0e> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://www.neocate.com/blog/rare-disease-day-2016-making-your-voice-heard/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886106367.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20170820092918-20170820112918-00681.warc.gz | en | 0.961689 | 946 | 2.859375 | 3 | The extract scores high for its discussion of soft skills, particularly in self-advocacy, communication, and storytelling. It provides practical tips and encourages individuals to share their personal stories to create change. The content also promotes emotional intelligence, empathy, and community building, while highlighting the importance of raising awareness about rare diseases.
Educational score: 4 | 4 | 3 | 787,484 | 1 |
The Development of Our Sense of Self
Lecture no. 8 from the course: Effective Communication Skills
Taught by Professor Dalton Kehoe | 30 min | Categories: The Great Courses Plus Online Professional Development Courses
How does your sense of self emerge and shape your relationships to others? What are the factors that differentiate one personality from another? Examine one model—the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator—and gain invaluable tips on how different personality types can communicate successfully with each other. | <urn:uuid:16e084b9-8901-406b-9b31-1271d2d9adf5> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/effective-communication-skills/the-development-of-our-sense-of-self | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886133032.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20170824043524-20170824063524-00445.warc.gz | en | 0.905502 | 102 | 2.625 | 3 | This extract scores 3 points as it discusses soft skills, specifically communication and self-awareness, and features a realistic scenario integrating emotional intelligence and critical thinking. The inclusion of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator model provides a practical application with meaningful context, and the focus on effective communication between different personality types demonstrates cultural awareness and digital literacy.
Educational score: 3 | 3 | 2 | 909,469 | 0 |
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