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Home/ Technology/How technology influences development in the world
How technology influences development in the world
Becki Roxane May 26, 2018
0 2,016 4 minutes read
Imagine the kind of crisis we would be in today; if there were no power, telecommunications, transport, and other basic infrastructure. With the large population in the world today, it would have been chaotic in a sense that manual labor would be the only alternative available thereby bringing about exhaustion, time wastage and less productivity. Technology has taken the lead in solving life mysteries that would have remained a burden to us. Use of modern machines in every sector of our lives has changed the game. But before we go further let us consider the term "technology''
Technology refers to the innovation of making work simpler or easier by using machines, sources of power, tools, and techniques for more productivity. As far as science is involved technology is more about a vision for the future by making things happen. There is a close interrelationship between technology and development. Dating back to the prehistoric period, it comes out clearly that these early human race saw the need to simplify their work by improvising their tools of work. Development and use of essential tools is the purest form of technology, and our predecessors discovered how to lessen workload. Here are some sectors, which have been influenced positively by technology,
Telecommunications sector
Remarkable progress in the telecommunications sector has been made, as technology continues to impact on the way business is conducted throughout telecommunication sector. Device and material technology including optical fibers and integrated circuits has made possible the merging of communication and computation functions. Satellites and optical fibers contribute significantly to the digitization of telecommunications services. Social networking is also possible through social networking platforms such as Facebook, which has enabled interaction with people from around the globe. There has been a lot of spending worldwide on research, development, and production of state of the art devices. This has pushed the prices of these devices to go down thereby making them accessible to many firms. Barriers to communication have been lessened with the use of the internet, telephone, mobile phones, media, and the printing press.
The modern tarmac roads, highways, railway lines, streetlights, ports, and airports are some of the benefits of advancement in technology. Development in infrastructure will translate into economic growth, which will, contribute positively in attaining the vision for the future. In many government agendas development of infrastructure is one of the standard policies. Its implementation will take place if the respective government embraces advancements in technology, which will yield improved support. It comes out clear that improved infrastructure comes along with economic progress, and this can only be achieved if the developing countries and third world countries put much input in technological advancements for support. The developed countries are putting much effort in research, invention, and development of current and new software to transform their current technologies. The emergency of heavy and automated machineries has made it possible to make inaccessible areas accessible. This has encouraged more productivity especially in the ways and means of conducting business. Farm produce has been reaching the market faster.
Though the emergency of modern technology has dealt a big blow to human labor in the industrial sector, the benefits are eminent. A lot has been achieved within a very short time. On the other hand, job opportunities have arisen in the area of software production. For a smooth shift of the labor force from decaying to emerging regions, extensive training, and education is a requirement. People from developed countries, where wages are high may not be motivated to adopt structural changes in the industry. Whereas people from developing countries, where wages are low, and job opportunities for the elite are insufficient may have the upper hand in adopting the change. Technology has brought about quality and efficiency in the industrial sector. It has also reduced the risk involved in manufacturing enterprises.
In the health sector, a lot of progress has been owing to technological improvement in the field of health. The birth rate has increased due to incubators to increase the chances of more live births and caesarian section to save babies in problematic pregnancies. The average age per person has also increased in developed countries owing to better medical care and facilities. Surgeries that could not have been possible if not for development nowadays are performed with ease and more like a routine due to advancements in the health sector. Improvements in the health sector through technological advancements have helped reduce the mortality rate.
Agricultural sector
In the modern world, the population is increasing rapidly thus necessitating the increase in food production. This translates into more effort being put into growing, harvesting, and distributing food, to make it affordable and available to everybody. Manual labor will take the back seat as the use of new farming technology takes shape. Different farming, irrigation, weather forecasts and fighting of pests have undergone technological transformation hence guaranteeing high productivity. Technology has brought relieve to the farmer, consumer and the work force by ensuring that they work smart. As economies, continue to develop, the labor force in the agricultural sector declines. Technological advancements are signs that we can make our food supply chain more efficient. Having the conscious of how consumer choices and policy affect the environment; laborers produce the food we buy and consume. Besides, technology, tools, and innovation help to make the food supply chain sufficient and to make smart, sustainable decisions. There are farm management software, precision agriculture tools, and affordable sensors to help the intelligent digital farmer.
There will be no meaningful development without technological transformation. World developed economies are forever indebted to technology for the giant leap taken regarding their progress in all sectors. Technology has a long history and plays a crucial role in influencing the lives of humans. Besides, many scientific accomplishments are now possible because of advancements in technology. , political developments and other spheres of social welfare are a result of improvements in technology. Most countries in the world have visions for the future and technology is crucial in making their dream a reality. We are on a commercial vehicle heading to the future, and the bus fare is knowledge and skills in technology. There is no future without technology.
Economic developments modern technology
Becki Roxane
Good to see you as my blog's reader! I am Devin! I am a passionate writer who dwells in writing tech related blogs and news. Here in this blog, you will find many information that provides a feast for tech bee
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I used to be such a fan of Shamrock Shakes. That was back when they really tasted like a milkshake. They were thick and tasted like they were made with real milk. I'm not so sure anymore. They just taste artificial to me. The consistency and taste are drastically different than they were a few years ago. While I'd normally enjoy a dollop of whipped cream, it just makes it taste more, I don't know…artificial to me. I suppose it's all about money and this newer, thinner formula makes them more of the greens. I miss those minty, thick shakes.
My sons on the other hand are crazy about them and I've made a couple stops there this season to treat them to one. Now that St. Patty's day has past, they'll be heading off the menu. Last year my dad happened to be at a McDonald's at Easter and they still had Shamrock Shakes available. I guess each store just keeps on serving them 'til they run out. Some run out faster than others. I told my teen to enjoy this one because it will probably be almost a year before he gets to have one again.


Sarah Nurse owns a Silver Medal won at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Now she's mining for gold.
Nurse, a forward for Toronto Furies of the Canadian Women's Hockey League, was named to Team Canada for the 2019 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship April 4-14 in Espoo, Finland.
Sarah Nurse played for Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics and will represent her country for the first time at the IIHF Women's World Championship in Finland next month (Photo/Hockey Canada).
The tournament will be Nurse's IIHF world championship debut but she'll be in some familiar company. Fifteen other players from Canada's 2018 Winter Olympic squad will join her in Finland.
"The players we have selected have had success at various levels of their careers, both nationally and internationally, and we're excited to get started in Finland," Gina Kingsbury, Hockey Canada's director of women's national teams, said.
Canada is seeking its 11th gold medal but its first since 2012. And Nurse has the goal-scoring skill to help them do it.
Nurse has emerged as a star for the Furies in her CWHL rookie season. She scored 26 points (14 goals, 12 assists) in 26 regular season games. She has one post-season goal so far for the Furies.
Nurse comes from a highly competitive sports family. Her brother, Isaac Nurse, is a forward for the Hamilton Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League. The siblings are cousins of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and New York Liberty basketball point guard Kia Nurse, who represented Canada at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Sarah Nurse goal powers Canada to 2-1 Winter Olympics win over the U.S.
GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA Sarah Nurse went top shelf and her father went over the moon.
Forward Sarah Nurse scored her first Winter Olympics goal Thursday (Photo/Hockey Canada).
Nurse, a forward for the Canadian women's hockey team, fired a wrist shot that bounced off United States goaltender Maddie Rooney's right shoulder and found a small hole on the short side of the net. It proved to be the difference-maker in a 2-1 contest against the two best teams at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Nurse's goal at 14:56 of the second period gave Canada a 2-0 lead. U.S. forward Kendall Coyne scored early in the third period but Canadian goaltender Genevieve Lacasse withstood an onslaught of U.S. shots – stopping 44 – to preserve the win.
"We played a full 60 minutes and I think we have some things to improve on, but we're definitely confident in where we're at and where we're going," Nurse told reporters after the game.
Nurse's tally was her first Olympic goal. She was named to the Canadian team after she completed a collegiate career at the NCAA Division I University of Wisconsin where she tallied 76 goals and 61 assists in 150 games.
She's the Badgers' eighth all-time leading scorer, keeping company with the likes of U.S. stars Brianna Decker and Hilary Knight, who are also playing in PyeongChang seeking Olympic gold.
Her father was feeling somewhat anxious before Canada's match against its arch-rival for international women's hockey supremacy. He felt exalted when his daughter's shot went in the net.
"I'm still trying to come down," he told me between periods following the goal.
Michelle and Roger Nurse cheered on their daughter, Canadian women's Olympic hockey player Sarah Nurse, at the Canada-U.S. game Thursday. Sarah Nurse scored her first Olympic goal in that contest (Photo/William Douglas/Color of Hockey).
For Roger and his wife, Michelle Nurse, watching their daughter represent Canada in Pyeongchang triggered memories of how it all began.
Sarah reflected on her hockey journey, too. She posted a tweet prior to the Olympic hockey tournament thanking her dad for doing the things that enabled her to play the game.
Thank you for giving me every opportunity to reach me dreams. For driving all over North America & for working nonstop to put every penny into my hockey career.
But for all her success, Sarah and her parents never fully knew where she stood with Hockey Canada. Last year was Sarah's first centralizaton – or tryout – camp with Canada's national team from which the Olympic squad was picked.
"And, you, know, she's still standing, and that's a great testament to her ability to fight through it," he added.
Part of that resilience comes from being part of a highly-competitive family. Sarah's cousins are Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and University of Connecticut women's basketball point guard Kia Nurse, who played hoops for Canada at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Sarah's younger brothers are hockey players: Issac Nurse plays right wing for the Hamilton Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League. Elijah Nurse is a left wing for the Dundas Blues of Canada's Provincial Junior Hockey League.
Sarah Nurse's brother, Isaac Nurse, plays for the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL (Photo/Aaron Bell/OHL Images).
Her father was a renowned Canadian lacrosse player. Her uncle Richard Nurse – Darnell and Kia's father – was a wide receiver for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. Former National Football League quarterback Donovan McNabb is an uncle.
It's something that Roger Nurse's children occasionally have to remind him of when he's dispensing hockey advice.
These days, Roger Nurse keeps his advice simple.
"'Go have fun, step up, and do what you have to do,'" he tells them.
The former University of Wisconsin forward was named to the Canadian women's hockey team that will compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea in February.
Forward Sarah Nurse is headed to the 2018 WinterOlympics (Photo/Hockey Canada).
Nurse, the cousin of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and University of Connecticut basketball point guard Kia Nurse and niece of former National Football League quarterback Donovan McNabb, tallied 76 goals and 61 assists in 150 games for the Badgers from 2013-14 to 2016-17.
She was the Badgers' second-leading scorer in her senior year with 25 goals and 28 assists in 39 games.
Nurse led NCAA Division I women's hockey players with three hat tricks last season, including the first three-goal game by a Badgers player against the University of Minnesota last December. Nurse is the 22nd Wisconsin hockey player in program history to reach 100 career points.
The 5-foot-8 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, native brings a wealth of international experience to Team Canada. She was a member of the country's gold medal-winning team at the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's Under-18 Championship in Helsinki, Finland, in 2013.
She also helped Canada capture gold at the 2015 Nation's Cup in Germany and silver at the 2017 Four Nations Cup in Tampa, Florida. She has 3 goals and 1 assists in 11 international games.
The Olympics are becoming a Nurse family tradition. Cousin Kia represented Canada on its women's basketball team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
U of Wisconsin and Team Canada forward Sarah Nurse (Photo/Hockey Canada).
Congratulations to University of Wisconsin women's hockey forward Sarah Nurse for reaching the 100-point mark in her collegiate career.
She achieved the milestone on a third-period goal that helped cement the Badgers' 6-0 win over Bemidji State University in Madison, Wis., Sunday. It was Nurse's second goal of the game and her 11th of the 2016-17 season.
Nurse, the Badgers' leading scorer this season, is the 22nd player in the university's history to tally 100 points. While getting into the history books is nice, Nurse said there's one achievement that matters more to her: winning an NCAA hockey championship.
Nurse is the cousin of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse and Kia Nurse, a star guard for the 2015 and 2016 NCAA champion University of Connecticut women's basketball team and a member of Canada's women's hoops squad that competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
She's also the niece of former National Football League quarterback Donovan McNabb.
Nurse was a co-captain for Canada's U-22 squad that played a mini-series against the United States in August. The Hamilton, Ont., native led Wisconsin's women's team in scoring last season with 25 goals and 13 assists in 36 games.
.@adesbiens30 wasn't the only Badger to make history today!
The never-ending sports tour for the Nurse family – one of Canada's most athletic and competitive clans – continues.
Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse.
Kia Nurse, the sister of Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse, looks to up her bragging rights over her big bro by bringing home an Olympic medal from Rio de Janeiro as a member of Canada's basketball team.
Kia's one of the Great White North's best basketball players and one of the best collegiate players in the United States. She helped guide the University of Connecticut's storied women's basketball team to NCAA championships last season and in 2015.
She was the Most Valuable Player at the 2015 FIBA Americas Women's Championship. Richard Nurse describes his tough-as-nails point guard daughter's game with an almost hockey reverence.
"Besides being extremely skilled, she's a nasty piece of business," he once told me.
Darnell is no slouch in the championship department. He was a major factor in Team Canada winning the Gold Medal in the 2015 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.
Kia and Darnell come from a highly athletic family. Father Richard Nurse was a wide receiver for the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats; his wife, Cathy, was a stellar basketball player for Canada's McMaster University.
Sarah Nurse, daughter of Roger Nurse and cousin of Kia and Darnell, is a forward on the University of Wisconsin's women's hockey team that played in the 2016 NCAA Women's Frozen Four tournament.


Home inspectors usually just check to make sure windows can be opened and shut. They do not check for drafts. Even new windows can be improperly installed, which can lead to high heating and cooling bills.
When you actually tour Spokane properties, you'll at least be viewing only those that could potentially be your dream home. No more wasting your time and fuel while chasing empty dreams!
Be wise: Get a home inspectors syracuse ny done by your own expert, before you enter the bid. Although you will be required to pay for this inspection, it is worth knowing the repair costs before you bid for the home.


concerts in five intimate clubs. And as usual the musical menu is dazzlingly eclectic. Obvious highlights include The Leonard Cohen Songbook with Brent Carver, Andy Maize, Patricia O'Callaghan, Mike Ross and Elizabeth Shepherd; a tribute to Danny Kaye by Don Francks and Albert Schultz; and solo turns by Ms. O'Callaghan, Jackie Richardson, Molly Johnson, DK Ibomeka and more. Don't miss a beat — go to the source right here.
LITERATI: Because Douglas Coupland made such a big splash with his 1991 bestseller Generation X, I assumed his new novel Generation A was a sequel.
Incidentally, Generation A is set in the near future, where bees are extinct, until one autumn when five people are stung in different places around the world — a shared experience that unites them in a way that only Coupland could imagine.
tonight at 7 pm in The Bram & Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library … Toronto casting director Jason Knight (Chloe, Cairo Time, Away From Her) guests at ReelWorld's monthly mixer tonight at Harlem Restaurant … and the third CP+S (Creative Places & Spaces) opens today with Sir Ken Robinson and Richard Florida headlining more than 60 high-profile speakers including Peter Munk, Sara Diamond, Gerry Flahive, Joe Rotman, Allyson Hewitt and outgoing Toronto mayor David Miller. This year's theme is The Collaborative City and moderators for the 72-hour think tank include Ralph Benmergui, Matt Galloway and Ana Serrano. Should be a very lively three days.
sneak previews of some becoming attractions.


Groups of people are called communities. You're part of lots of communities! Your Daisy troop is one, and so is your class at school. You can help your communities by being a good neighbor. Find out how in this badge. When I've earned this badge, I'll know more about the communities I belong to—and how the people in my communities work together to be good neighbors to each other.


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U.S. Agency Targets Its Own Journalists' Independence
The Voice of America building is pictured in Washington in July.
A regulatory "firewall" intended to protect Voice of America and its affiliated newsrooms from political interference in their journalism was swept aside late Monday night by the chief executive of the federal agency which oversees the government's international broadcasters.
Michael Pack, a Trump appointee who assumed leadership of the U.S. Agency for Global Media in June, wrote that he acted to eliminate policies that were "harmful to the agency and the U.S. national interest." And Pack argued they had interfered with his mandate "to support the foreign policy of the United States."
Pack has already come under fire for revelations that his senior aides investigated the agency's journalists for bias against President Trump and pushed for their dismissals and reassignments, in seeming violation of the rules he has now rescinded, effective immediately.
The move set off a firestorm.
"I am stunned," former Voice of America director Amanda Bennett told NPR early Tuesday morning. "It removes the one thing that makes Voice of America distinct from broadcasters of repressive regimes."
In addition to VOA, the U.S. Agency for Global Media includes the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Collectively, the networks reach more than 350 million people across the world each week.
They historically have demonstrated American pluralism by providing balanced coverage of news events and robust political debate, regardless of how it reflected on current government officials. The broadcasters are also intended to serve the citizens of nations which do not allow journalists to operate freely.
"The key to the credibility of any news organization is editorial independence and adherence to the professional standards of journalism," said David Kligerman, whom Pack suspended as the agency's general counsel in August.
Kligerman was the chief author of the regulation which Pack just killed. It was supported by the agency's bipartisan board, which was dissolved upon Pack's confirmation. Kligerman is also among a group of a half-dozen whistleblowers who have come forward to challenge Pack's actions since he arrived in June.
"The firewall protects the networks by insulating their editorial decisions from political interference," Kligerman said. "That is what differentiates the Voice of America and the other USAGM-funded networks from the state-sponsored propaganda of Russia, China, Iran and others."
A demoralized staff
Several others who work at the agency told NPR they believe the threat to the VOA's independence is "existential." They requested anonymity out of fear of retribution. Pack has purged USAGM and its broadcasters of top executives whom he believed to be insufficiently loyal.
Pack and a top deputy who handles the press did not respond to questions from NPR shortly after the release of the order rescinding the regulation. It was posted on USAGM's website, accompanied by a more formal policy statement that spelled out the justification for the decision.
"By design, [the broadcasters'] purpose and focus is foreign relations and the promotion of American objectives — not simply presenting news or engaging in journalistic expression," the statement read.
In the statement, Pack noted he was the agency's first CEO appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate under a series of reforms intended to streamline the agency. He said in his memo that the inability to set standards inside the newsroom needlessly complicated his ability to run the agency.
In private-sector newsrooms, including NPR, policies preclude or strongly discourage the involvement of non-news executives in specific news coverage. NPR CEO John Lansing preceded Pack at the USAGM. Under NPR's protocols, Lansing, corporate executives and top news executives do not review coverage of USAGM, including this article, before it is published.
Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., an attorney for five other suspended executives turned whistleblowers, called Pack's moves unconstitutional.
"Mr. Pack's attempt to repeal the regulation (which itself is unlawful) confirms the allegations in our suit," Boutrous wrote in a statement. "Rather than protecting these cherished media outlets, their independence, and their credibility, Mr. Pack is trying to break the firewall down brick by brick. At the very least, Mr. Pack is now being honest with the public about what he has been doing all along, taunting independent journalism and violating the First Amendment."
The regulation was written as something of a rear-guard action to protect against the possibility of the new CEO intervening in news coverage. Pack's nomination had languished for more than two years but won new life in the spring when the White House attacked the Voice of America for its coverage of COVID-19 in China.
Asserting control in the shadow of big events
Pack's bold move was taken in the dark of night — announced at 10:18 p.m. Eastern Time in a note to all of USAGM's several thousand employees, on the same night as the swearing-in of a new U.S. Supreme Court justice, and just eight days before Election Day.
Presidential politics have hovered over all of the controversies in Pack's brief tenure.
He has embraced Trump's talk of a so-called "deep state" thwarting the president's priorities at USAGM, and Pack echoed White House immigration policies in denying visa extensions for foreign employees. Pack also instigated investigations of the Urdu language service, the French-to-Africa service and VOA's White House bureau chief over perceived anti-Trump bias in stories involving Trump, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, or their wives, as NPR previously revealed.
The chairman and ranking member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee joined forces in denouncing Pack's investigations. Pack ignored a subpoena they jointly issued to compel his testimony earlier this fall. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut announced new legislation to codify the firewall protections more clearly.
In his memo to staff Monday night, Pack offered examples of actions the firewall prevented him from taking. Among them: "Enforce consequences for violations of the agency's legally binding charter, which, for instance, prohibits biased reporting; Issue policies and procedures that require journalists not to advocate political positions."
Those concerns have been reflected in the investigations undertaken by Pack's associates.
An investigative attorney and a senior policy advisor hired by Pack pressured acting VOA director Elez Biberaj to sideline VOA White House bureau chief Steven Herman from campaign coverage over perceived bias. They said tweets in which Herman referenced statements critical of the president were his own political advocacy, rather than part of a body of work covering Trump and the campaign.
"When the politicians, the politically appointed people, get to now tell the journalists what they can and can't do, what they can and can't report, what they can and can't say, it's completely contrary to the principles that have governed VOA," said Bennett, who resigned along with her deputy the weekend before Pack took control.
She noted VOA had been founded in 1942 during World War II to combat Nazi propaganda with credible news reports, including Allied setbacks as well as advances. The service followed that practice during the Cold War, along with its sister networks. It was codified in a charter drafted in 1960 and signed by President Gerald Ford in 1976, which promised VOA's news would be "accurate, objective and comprehensive" and "represent America, not any single segment of America society."
"If you looked at the entire body of everything, it all pointed in the same direction, from the origin story on," Bennett said. "There's a stack of stuff, you know, 4 inches high that all contain essentially the same language and say essentially the same thing — that the newsgathering operation had to be protected from the political interference."
On its website, USAGM has posted a list of "rumors, myths and untruths" in which, among other things, it defends the firewall. "The firewall is critical to ensure that USAGM journalists and editors can make the final decisions on what stories to cover, and how they are covered," the page reads.
As of early Tuesday morning, the agency's site still touted the virtues of the "firewall." But the CEO had swept it away.
Disclosure: This story was reported by NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by NPR's Mark Katkov. Because of NPR CEO John Lansing's prior role as CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, no senior news executive or corporate executive at NPR reviewed this story before it was published.

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Kitting out your drawing board with a wide range of practical accessories can make a huge difference to the way your work space operates as well as increasing the longevity of your equipment. Carrying your portfolio of work around safely is difficult without art cases or telescopic drawing tubes which can adapt to all the different sizes of paper you are likely to use. Student designers working on travelling around campus with both their work and drawing board really do require the correct equipment. And on those late nights finishing work without a well lit drawing surface can be a pain and a strain on the eyes. Our all new LED drafting lamps give the light coverage with the ability to dim the light to suit.
All new design with elegant style and touch sensitive dimming. The desk mounted LED lamp perfect for all types of artists and designers.
Moving work around can be tricky without the right gear. The telescopic tube is a rugged, no fuss way to safely carry or store up to A0 size plans. For smaller artwork, our Art Case is a neat solution for your portfolio.
The world of design is a harsh and unforgiving place for drawing equipment. We have the solution to ensure your drawing board remains like new for years to come.


Hey Girls! We wanted to fill you in on a little of what is to come with the Sassy Blog.
Moving forward, we will be posting often and keeping the blog a bit more personal.
and any other suggestions that you have.
To give you a little "peek" as we like to say, you can expect more behind the scenes here at Sassy Shortcake, to-do's, must haves, decor and all around Sassy Girl inspiration that you have come to know and love.


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7 Sleep Experts Share What They Do When They Can't Doze Off
Use their secrets to score more shuteye, stat.
By Krissy Brady
When it comes to catching more Zzz's, you know the drill: Nix late-night caffeine, turn your bedroom into an oasis, and ban all electronics at least an hour before bed. Yet instead of snoozing, here you are once again, counting your ceiling tiles (there are 37). Sleeplessness is a total drag, but luckily there are plenty of other tricks you can try to avoid the whole insomnia spiral. Try these handy go-to moves from sleep experts who've been there.
Relax Your Muscles
Use progressive muscle relaxation to nix the physical tension that's preventing you from getting your Zen on, says Sandra Block, M.D., neurologist and author of The Girl Without a Name. Focus on slowly tensing and then relaxing each muscle group in five-second intervals, starting from your toes and gradually working your way up to your head. Finish off by visualizing yourself in a relaxing scenario. "I always go for the tried-and-true beach scene, with sun glittering on the waves, the heat of the towel, and the smell of coconut suntan lotion," says Block. "I'm feeling sleepy just thinking about it."
Think About Staying Awake
"It sounds counterintuitive, but when I find it difficult to sleep because I'm worrying about not falling asleep, I do the opposite," says Sujay Kansagra, M.D., director of Duke University's Pediatric Neurology Sleep Medicine Program and author of My Child Won't Sleep. "Instead of worrying about falling asleep, think about staying awake. This often lessens anxiety and gives your mind a chance to relax enough to fall asleep. It's a technique known as 'paradoxical intent.'"
Make a Sleepy-Time Smoothie
Try swapping out your usual bedtime snack for a smoothie, suggests Robert S. Rosenberg, board-certified sleep medicine specialist and author of Sleep Soundly Every Night, Feel Fantastic Every Day. "I use a small amount of non-fat Greek yogurt and low-cal almond milk, both of which contain sleep-promoting nutrients like tryptophan, calcium, and magnesium," says Rosenberg. "Then I add frozen tart cherries, which have recently been shown to increase sleep by as much as one hour. I add a little cinnamon for taste, and voila!" You're ready to catch a few winks.
Schedule "Me Time"
Clear your head of any pre-sleep drama by going solo. "I try to grab some 'me time' during the last hour before bed," says Lisa Medalie, behavioral sleep medicine specialist at the University of Chicago. "It helps minimize the potential for distressing thought content while trying for sleep. Solo relaxing activities help clear my head from interpersonal problems and get me into the optimal de-aroused state for sleep transition."
Keep a Notebook Handy
Cut back on the mental clutter that's likely to keep you awake by writing it down. "It's a technique called 'constructive worrying,'" says Rosenberg. "At least three hours before bed, write down your concerns and your solutions. Then put them in a desk drawer and leave them there for the night. My wife and I do this together." Physically setting your thoughts aside will likely keep the tossing and turning to a minimum.
Do a Breathing Exercise
"What I do for better sleep is focus on my breathing," says Jose Colon, M.D., author of The Sleep Diet: A Novel Approach to Insomnia. "I try to breathe a little more silent, a little more slowly, and count my breathing backward from 100. When I forget what number I'm on, it's a sign that I'm drifting in and out of consciousness, and I just start over again from 100." As you count backward, try paced breathing: According to the Mayo Clinic, we take about 12 to 14 breaths a minute. With paced breathing, your number of breaths is cut in half—and word is the long, smooth breaths help to reduce stress and trigger a relaxation response.
Make Your Bedroom a Pet-Free Zone
They may make comfy bed buddies, but your kitty or pup can make it harder to drift off and stay asleep. "I don't allow my pets to sleep with me," says Robert Oexman, director of the Sleep to Live Institute in North Carolina. "They have a different circadian rhythm, which will reduce one's sleep as they move around." (Sorry, Fluffy.)
"I sleep with a fan circulating the air in my bedroom and am mindful of the temperature," says Rosenberg. "Most studies demonstrate that room temperatures between 62 and 70 degrees seem to work best for sleeping. The reason is that our core body temperature drops at night and is a signal to the brain to sleep. A warm room can inhibit this process."
Adjust the Lighting
Coordinate your lighting with the sun to keep your circadian rhythm in check. For example, don't work in a dark office during the day, and don't turn on lights in the middle of the night. "After dinnertime, I dim the overhead lights in our home to mimic the sunset outside," says Cathy Goldstein, M.D., neurologist at the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of Michigan. "Light has an alerting effect and can shift the circadian rhythm. Even if I have to use the bathroom at night, I keep the lights dim."
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Krissy Brady Krissy is a regular contributor to Prevention, and she also writes for Cosmopolitan, Weight Watchers, Women's Health, FitnessMagazine.com, Self.com, and Shape.com.
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Posted on November 21, 2018, in Drama and tagged 3 1/2 stars, baptist, biography, drama, gay conversion, joel edgerton, lucas hedges, nicole kidman, russell crowe, true story. Bookmark the permalink.	5 Comments.
HI Tracy and thank you for leaving your comments. If you see this film I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on it.
What is even sadder is that conversion therapy is legal in so many states, including my home state of South Carolina. Thanks for the review – I'm sure it will be a good movie, and my hope is that the story will touch the hearts and minds of all audiences as it did yours.
Absolutely Sheila, that fact is mentioned in the film. I hope you get the chance to see this one. Thank you for the comments.


Every year, the Carding Garden Club organizes a weekend-long "Home and Garden" tour as a fundraiser for its work beautifying the town. Most of the time, this event generates friendly competition as well as collaboration among Carding's dirt diggers.
But this year, there's a new gardener in town who believes that winning is everything.
This three-part favorite Carding Chronicle was first published in 2017.
Hope you enjoy the competition.
The Carding Garden Club is pleased to invite every gardener in town to participate in their annual "Home and Garden Tour" the weekend after the 4th of July.
Back in March, the little green postcards bearing these words brightened up mailboxes and community bulletin boards all over Carding. At the time, seed packets were just starting to appear on racks in Cooper's General Store, and Lee Tennyson had barely accepted delivery of the compressed peat flats in which he would start everything from lobelia to geraniums, begonias, pansies, petunias, coleus and back again for his greenhouses.
In other words, July seems like a long way away when there's snow on the ground.
By April, conversations around the coffee mugs in the Crow Town Bakery had turned from the right way to sand a driveway to hopes for a good growing season. You know the drill—not too hot for too many days, not too much rain either, every weather condition in moderation, and no frost after Memorial Day though it would be better for everybody if frost never appeared again after May 1.
Gardeners began to potter out to their garden sheds to assess the tool situation, sharpen their clippers, fit that new handle into the square-ended shovel, and check the hoses for splits and cracks.
Then Andy Cooper put out his first bags of compost on May 3 and suddenly, every gardener in town felt the pressure to weed even though the ground was still cold and very wet.
You have the full range of gardeners in Carding. There's folks such as Edie Wolfe who inherited her mother's mature gardens along with her family home. In other words, her peonies are older than she is.
That makes Edie a "maintainer," separating and replanting the iris on a regular schedule, controlling the day lily hedge along the road, and tucking in marigolds to replace the narcissus after they've spent their flowering energy early in spring.
Edie's best friends, Ruth Goodwin and Agnes Findley, are like "two paths that diverged in a wood" when it comes to gardening. Agnes is very precise. Her autumn joys never droop. Her bronze hens and chicks rigidly maintain their heart shape within a greater field of green succulents by the same name. Her escargot begonia's leaves always swirl perfectly in their aubergine pot by her shaded front door.
They wouldn't dare do otherwise.
Ruth, on the other hand, likes to take her gardening cues directly from nature which seems to do just fine without a lot of human interference, thank you very much. She does manage to put taller plants in the back of her gardens and yank the grass back from the worst of its intrusions.
I have to confess that Ruth's gardening style drives Agnes crazy, and she's often threatened to show up and weed in the middle of the night.
The three friends used to maintain a mild competitive spirit among them during the Home and Garden Tour. Edie would win one year, Agnes the next, and much to everyone's surprise, Ruth would take the trophy once in a while.
But now they demur from competition. Instead they use the frail and fleeting time from the arrival of compost bags at Cooper's to the garden show as a spur to get their grounds into shape so they can enjoy the rest of the summer at their leisure.
But the same cannot be said of Carding newcomer, G.G. Dieppe. Mrs. Dieppe, as she likes to be called, does not hold with this non-competitive concept. The idea is to win.
And even though she's never gardened before, how hard can it be to buy better plants than anyone else and hire someone to put them in the ground?
"All it takes is money," she told Andy Cooper. Of course he alerted Edie, Agnes and Ruth right away.
And the chase for the Carding Gardening Club trophy was on.


text:
Nine Things I Learned in 2016: The Year of Getting Really, Really, Uncomfortable
You fall and you crawl and you break and you take what you get and you turn it into—
—Avril Lavigne,
Patron Saint of Girls Who Once Had Their Hair Dyed Black Underneath
12/20/2016: Reflecting on this year, it's hard to believe I wasn't, somehow, better at the beginning than I am now. I know this is the tricky way in which nostalgia works—it's 90% missing how naïve and innocent you were at a given point in time. Longing to revert back to the safe and cozy place that was how little you knew, and understanding that you can never go back. (This is a feeling I've been experiencing on the daily, as this last month of 2016 comes to a close.)
I'm not wrong when I say it's been an exhausting year, personally and culturally.
On a personal level: 2016 was the first year I lived in Jamestown, full time. Without school or any illusion of: I'm moving forward in life. It was the year I gave Satan a chance, tried hard drugs, and became the kind of person who uses vague and self-righteous Facebook jargon. Like, "there's nothing wrong with deleting toxic people from your life" and "there's nothing selfish about self-care".
In truth: At the close of 2016, I have become my worst nightmare. Addled with anxiety and all bent out of shape, trying to make sense of how much I know now that I didn't know then. Emotionally and mentally depleted is what I am—like it's a fight to stay a complex individual. To not become one-dimensional and revert to merely playing a role within the senseless drama that is the young adults occupying my hometown.
(I've come to understand that my disconnected feelings in highly social situations can no longer be explained away with the dismal hope that most people are still working out some "high school" bull-shit that they'll eventually grow out of. Nope. I've long discarded the false promise that everyone will eventually mature into diplomatic, relatively caring and freethinking individuals.)
Both a blessing, and a curse, I've come to the conclusion that high school is who most people are and I am not like most people.
Meanwhile, on a cultural level: Waste his time 2016 was anticlimactic—did any of us ever, in fact, waste his time? Or did we just waste our own time, trying to waste his time?
Collectively, we put our cell phones face down on the table. We stared at the wall and contemplated our guilt, having realized we'd just been two hours deep in IG. (Winding in and out of Kermit memes, revealing how unoriginal our most inner longings are. Wondering how 98,735 users could possibly relate to Kim Kardashian's sobbing face.)
We are living in a post post-modern era. Life no longer imitates art, or even the media. Now it's all about the Internet. (Weddings are Pinterest. Values and worldviews are Facebook statuses. Conflict is a comments section. Friendships are only as legitimate as one's latest photo. And life? Only as interesting as the Snap Story implies. People are just glorified memes: Self-deprecation and some stolen piece of pop culture, pasted together to say something funny and sophisticated as a burp.)
I don't want to be cynical, but: A reality TV star is our president.
Real life is so unreal; we don't even trust what's actually happening—right in front of us—anymore. (Example: It's easier for a lot of people to believe that Donald Trump trolling IRL is "the media's" fault, and not his own. Like: "the media" made him openly mock a disabled reporter and, somehow, that makes him "raw" and "real" and not a total fucking asshole.) How? How is this the world I'm living in?!?!?! Why am I not more surprised? Why do I get the sense that many people don't grasp how real a responsibility being president is? Are we that far out of touch with the physical space in front of us? Politics might as well be Fantasy Football at this point.
Overall, 2016 was the year I looked around the room and said: What the fuck is wrong with all of you?
It was the year I fully understood that not everyone is like me. That, while diversity—on the most base level: background, race, experience, sexuality, lifestyle, ability, talent, appearance, etc.—is what makes humanity interesting and worth living for… The fundamental differences—values, emotional depth, intelligence, sense (or lack) of connectedness—are what makes humanity a total fucking nightmare.
In simpler words (specifically, the words of Instagram writer Rob Hill Sr.): "Love isn't hard, people are just difficult." And for the past 366 days (because it was leap year!) I've felt trapped in Avril Lavigne's "Complicated", playing on a loop:
TAKE OFF ALL YOUR PREPPY CLOTHES, GUYS!
I just do not understand the lack of honesty, and empathy, I've experienced this year. To put it in high school terms: Why the fuck is everyone so fake? Trying to make sense of so many other people's inconsiderate worldviews, and actions, has been frustrating. And, admittedly, with this frustration, I've come to understand that what's simple to me, might not be so simple to somebody else.
(Some people really like their preppy clothes; it's just who they are. It doesn't make them bad people—not necessarily. It's what's inside the preppy clothes that's supposed to count! But that's the struggle, isn't it? To see people for who they fundamentally are, and put our own, personal, ultimately petty, biases aside.)
I guess, for me, 2016 has been about deciphering what individuals might not be someone I have all that much in common with, or totally see eye to eye with, but can still recognize as a fundamentally alright person. Versus someone I need to just straight up avoid because they're fundamentally selfish, and hurtful to everyone. (Even the people they claim to "love".)
I guess…
With all of this in mind…
Here's my official list of things I learned in 2016:
1.) Sometimes reacting to a situation exactly how you want to react to it—in the moment—really is the most spiritual thing you can do.
Whether it's simply walking away, or saying "EXCUSE ME!" at the top of your lungs, or running head first into an ex fuckboy's best friend, over and over again, like an angry bull, screaming: YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS TO SUFFER… Okay, maybe only react that way under dire circumstances. Or like, never. Maybe just invest in a punching bag… I don't know! But the point is, it's really, really, unhealthy to disassociate while something totally uncool and potentially damaging to your mental and / or physical wellbeing is happening. So. Sometimes you really do need to abandon the fear of being perceived as a monumental overreact-er and just totally embrace a natural response to a nonsensical situation. (Negative emotions always surface in one way or another, no matter how much you repress them. You might as well save yourself some brooding, and your loved ones the secondhand resentment, by immediately directing those emotions at the person who provoked them in the first place.) A.K.A. I had a tantrum characteristic of the one in Bridesmaids when Kristen Wiig punches through a giant cookie and tries to push over a chocolate fountain that is—clearly—bolted to the ground. (I was Kristen Wiig in the scenario; a guy was the fountain.) He did something really manipulative, knowing I'd either react in the moment—like a crazy person—or spend weeks trying to make sense of it. So, whatever. I went all "Not today, Satan! Not today!" on his ass, and screamed, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS TO SUFFER!" Ultimately, it felt really, really, good to address the issue head on—despite my reaction being extremely embarrassing and over the top. I've learned what pent up aggression, and regular disassociation (i.e. trauma), does to a person. Like, it makes you blow the fuck up out of nowhere, and in ways that are really unflattering—in ways that look mean, and hypersensitive: Crazy! So… forgo repressing your negative emotions to that point and deal with them as they happen. Then make a conscious effort to avoid the people and places that seem to provoke them. This means: Walk away from that person who has screwed you over, time after time. Don't keep going back to that flake-y dude whose poor treatment of you has proven to be pathological. Block the shit out of a few people! Remember: No one is allowed to take away your right to leave, or say "no", or have standards. You're allowed to do whatever you need to do to protect those rights. Don't worry about how it makes you "look", because—after everything's said and done—you're the one who has to deal with the emotional aftermath. Not the bystanders, or anyone else who wasn't directly involved. So, go all in: Not today, Satan! Not today!
2.) A "nice" or "fun" person isn't always synonymous with an authentic or genuinely caring one.
Lots of people are "nice" and "fun", but very few are sincere and loyal. In the past year, I've learned to be wary of excessive flattery and the kinds of people who want to be "best friends" with everyone. True, I've never been the most social of butterflies, and I'm very selective about my friendships. But prior to this year I was a huge advocate for giving people the benefit of the doubt—now I'm a little more cautious. I learned that some people are just nosy and will only flatter you because they want something from you; they want to be a part of your life, and they don't care how negative of a role they play. It's one of the bitterest doses of reality I've ever swallowed, but some people really will do whatever they need to do, and say whatever they need to say, to get what they want—which is constant stimulation, at any cost. It's a really reckless and shallow way to live, but: That's just how some people are. And a lot of the time, they are the most charismatic, "fun", and attractive people imaginable. Because they have to be! They have to be whatever people need them to be, otherwise nobody would like them; which, in a backwards way, is really sad. That being said, pity is exactly what these kinds of people take advantage of: "I just thought you were cute and I wanted to get to know you" *pout*; "My girlfriend just broke up with me for her ex, and you seem like you're really easy to talk to…"; "I have a really hard time making girlfriends, and I love you're writing. We should hang out…" It's not that I think every person who compliments me is going to eventually fuck me over. I've just learned that living in a small place, and standing out in any capacity—from being a feminist writer and advocate, to being "cute" and hyper-romantic—is going to attract some really opportunistic people who either want to "conquer" me, or ruin my positive outlook. And, to be blunt, you just never know where you stand with those destructive types of people. (They'll smother you, and then abandon you; they'll laugh with you, and then snub you; they'll cry to you, and then blame you; they'll comfort you, and then pull the rug out from underneath you…) It's a relationship devoid of understanding, and I just don't have the stamina for that incessant drama. Relationships, for me, aren't a game of "winning and losing"—they're an emotional connection. And I've learned that, with certain people, it's impossible to have a connection. (Not a genuine one, at least.) Because they don't want it! It's meaningless to them. Therefore, if connection is allowed to be meaningless to someone else, the rules of "winning and losing" are allowed to be meaningless to you.
3.) Rejection, or other people's negative and unwarranted responses to you, are rarely, if ever, a reliable indicator of your integrity and character—a.k.a. your worth as a human being.
All my life, whenever a guy I really liked became cold toward me, and decided he wanted nothing to do with me; or when a friend regularly ditched me and made me feel left out, I would immediately blame myself. I'd think: I must have said something really off-color and mean. Or: I must've been too cling-y, and weird. I shouldn't have been so open about my thoughts. I'd think: I must've acted conceited and stuck-up; I must be really boring and shallow and unaware of it. Basically anytime someone was mean to me, or ignoring me in a way that I couldn't find any sensible reason for, I always assumed I'd done something unforgiveable. That I had some major character flaw, and was pathologically broken. I assumed I deserved whatever neglect or shade I got. Which, yes, it's actually good to have this mental system of checks and balances. If you walk around genuinely believing everyone should love and accept you 24/7, you probably have a personality disorder… but the point is: I was worrying about what was "wrong" with me, obsessively. To the point where I didn't trust my own judgments of situations and other people. (Which, this kind of self-doubt is like blood to mosquitoes. It's an attractant for the kind of person who will ignore you for no reason, and will never forgive you for not being perfect within his or her own, personal, definition of the term.) Example: A guy recently lied to me about his dad dying, in an attempt to dump me without looking like an asshole. (Yes, you read that correctly.) The conversation began with him confiding that his father had died, and then ended, the moment he got a genuine emotional response from me, with him admitting, "Okay; don't be mad but, that stuff about my dad—I might have exaggerated a little bit…" Initially my reaction was one of confusion, like, "Why would you do that? Why would you lie to me about that?" Up until this point, I felt I had done nothing but encourage honesty in (what I thought was) our friendship; I couldn't find any rational reason for his lie. He quickly went into vague explanations like, "I never know what you're thinking!" and "You told me you didn't want a boyfriend; I wanted to know for sure whether or not you cared!" and (the worst) "My friends said you would freak out if I was honest!" I walked away, my head spinning. I just didn't know how to react. While driving home, it occurred to me that he might have done such an unforgiveable thing, thinking it was the only way to "get rid" of me. Which stung. I remember thinking: Wow, am I really so insufferable that people have to fake a family member's death, and then admit to it, just to ensure that I'll never speak to them again? In a last ditch effort for some common ground (after freaking out on him via text message), I surrendered the truth about how hurt I was, "I just know you'd only do something like that to get rid of me, and that feels so bad. You could have just told me the truth." He never responded, and as the days following the incident added up, I eventually came to terms with reality: Normal, caring, content-within-themselves, people do not regularly kick the crap out of your heart, and then leave it hanging on a weak-ass pulse—especially not after you've told them how much it hurts. And anyone who does do that is making a statement about themselves; about their own integrity and self-worth—not yours. So. Basically. If you're someone who regularly considers your affect on other people, if you keep positive change and emotional maturity at the forefront of your mind, then it's safe to determine you are trying your best. And as long as you are trying your best, you deserve honesty and straight-forwardness. Not someone who lies about his dad fucking dying because that's somehow easier than being emotionally vulnerable for the eight seconds it takes to say, "I don't want to see you anymore." Like, that person has some major soul searching to do, and his dishonesty and level of inconsideration says way more about his understanding of reality than it does yours. So, trust yourself. You're not broken, or crazy, or unlovable. Someone just made you feel that way because that's how they feel all the time.
4.) Regularly check yourself to make sure you're not doing things you wouldn't normally do—things that are destructive to yourself and / or others—just to avoid dealing with your own vulnerabilities, or insecurities.
I have a tendency to internalize other people's problems, and depending on the energy of the people around me, it can make me act really insecure and defensive. When you're constantly taking on other people's emotions, you start to forget which ones belong to you, and which ones belong to other people. On top of being stuck in your own head, you're stuck in the heads of others. And that can really warp your perception of reality when you're spending a significant amount of time with deeply wounded people. (It's the nature of toxicity—which, I don't really like that terminology. But for the time being that's what our culture has settled with. Toxic: Someone who is deeply hurt and no longer conscious of their pain; someone who, habitually, seeks out other people to do their healing for them; someone who wields the compassion and self-doubt of others at their leisure, and in their favor.) I'm not saying these types of people don't deserve forgiveness, or the chance to start over. I'm just saying they're unsettling to be around when you're a sensitive person who struggles to respect her own boundaries. A.K.A. I'm attracted to emotionally broken—overlooked—people, because I want to heal them. I want to make them feel seen, and heard, and understood: Less alone. Which, this desire is a double-edged sword. It's the foundation of my creativity, and I wouldn't really "be me" without it… But, I don't know how to explain it—I'm very insecure about it. Being this open to the suffering of others is exhausting; at times it feels very invasive to my autonomy. Sometimes I think I'd give anything to just look away. To not know, or understand, anything beyond my own perspective. To become totally immersed in that one viewpoint. But I can't do that. Which means feeling sad and isolated a lot of the time; it means fostering the negative emotions of people I've loved and lost—the ones who might never reciprocate a sense of loss when it comes to me. And, not going to lie, that has me pretty butt-hurt and vindictive at times: How dare they use me as a receptacle for their unresolved pain!!! This past year, I did a lot of things I wouldn't normally do just to shut myself off from the negativity and pain of others. Tiny acts of self-destruction seemed to lighten the sadness that came from feeling an intense, perpetually unrequited, connection to the world of other people (especially the not-so-nice ones). At the time, it seemed like—everywhere I looked—all I saw were people terrified of letting go, of finding actual happiness and love. And all I wanted to do was help them realize the big picture. How beautiful life could be if they just tweaked their perspectives, every so often, and let it be beautiful. In retrospect, I realized: It was the potential of this world, and its collective resilience to it, that hurt me so much. Sometimes I'd just take a deep breath, or stare at another person's face for too long, and it'd make me feel something, like: "OUCH! Can I get a vodka-soda?!?!" Altered states of being, or surrounding myself with the "wrong" people, made the world hurt a little less. It softened the edges of reality and made me more okay with being selfish. It even made me more at peace with the selfishness of others! But it was a temporary fix to the resounding reality that is my loneliness. And I'm trying to become better about checking myself in this way. I'm trying to be less impulsive, and less enabling. (Especially when I feel lonely.) Basically, what I'm trying to say is: If you're a compassionate person, then it's important to remain a compassionate person. Don't lose what makes you susceptible to the good in the world by trying to hide it, or destroy it, as a means of "not hurting". That kind of attitude will always backfire, and you'll become as "toxic" as whatever inspired you to think that way in the first place.
5.) Never allow someone to treat you as if you are an extension of themselves.
Loyalty, at least to me, is not synonymous with "you do everything I say". I've watched people try and control others under the guise of "loyalty", and that shit's so fucked. It's using a positive element of someone else's character against them and, ultimately, denying their right to be a person with desires and opinions that deviate from your own. Like. Manipulation gets me so heated, to a point where I have no desire to be around those who manipulate, or those who allow manipulation to happen. I had a really good friend who sort of pushed my feelings to the wayside because she was trying to pursue a guy who was friends with my ex. (An ex who manipulated and hurt me, often.) This meant that she befriended my ex in an attempt to get closer to the guy that she liked. And it sucked. Because my ex started using her as a tool to get to me emotionally, and she totally fucking let him. She let him do it to a point where she started being mean to me too, and even seemed to enjoy how much the whole thing bothered me. Which was frustrating, because the whole time I just wanted to smack her and say, "DO YOU NOT SEE THAT YOU'RE GETTING PLAYED LIKE A FUCKING FOOL RIGHT NOW!?" But it wouldn't have mattered. She didn't care for, or even trust, my opinion anymore. Eventually she tried to convince me that I needed to "care more about what other people thought." And, just being true to myself, I realized that kind of need for popularity, and approval, just isn't in my DNA. (As Nicki Minaj once said: I give zero fucks, and I got no chill in me.) I'm going to do what I think is best for my mental health, and the big picture, no matter what. Something that ultimately means: What I think of myself will always be more important than what anyone else thinks, or says about me. Unless you're my mom. (She is the only exception!!!!) Furthermore, I want everyone I surround myself with to be like this. I want to be around people who care about themselves, and therefore—care about others in a deep and meaningful way. My thought process being that, people who care about themselves have a strong sense of purpose—their egos aren't fragile—and therefore, being kind and supportive comes naturally to this type of person. They don't get hung up on jealousy and insecurity, or the approval of strangers, because they know what they have to offer. Furthermore: I have no desire to control anyone and, as a courtesy, I want to be around people who have no desire to control me. You know? We either connect, or we don't. And with this particular friend, who I thought I really connected with at the beginning of our friendship, I eventually realized: We just don't value the same shit. We don't view loyalty the same way. To her, loyalty was a matter of maintaining social order. It meant sacrificing elements of one's individuality, and some fundamental part of who you are, for the sake of the group. Which (being someone with a phobia of "groups") didn't vibe well with me. Like, I've been the shitty friend who chose coolness over genuine friendship in the past. And I'm happy to say I snipped off those toxic needs and desires, and left them at the high school. Now, I don't care about "coolness" or inclusion and approval. I just want to be around people who can smell bullshit before it happens, and aren't down with accepting it as ingenuity. Who are content enough within themselves to care about shit that actually matters. (Like protecting gay rights, and the quality of life for minorities, and global warming, and women's reproductive health. You know?! Real human-shit!) People who understand: You are nobody's pawn or prop or project. You are not an ego boost, or a joke, or a trash bag. You are nobody's sidekick! You're a human individual. And no matter what people say or do, they cannot change that. They can treat you like an object all they want, but you will never be an object. And that's where the beginning of your power lies, in that one tiny realization. Once you internalize it, you won't be able to tolerate subpar relationships, friendships, or treatment anymore. You'll realize that you deserve to be around people who want you to pursue things that are greater than yourself, and are sincere about it. You'll start wanting to be around people who are good for you.
6.) Never trust a guy who can't laugh at himself.
A dude legit called my friend a cunt just because we put a snow globe Snap Chat filter over his senior photo and wrote "baby it's cold outside". (Ok, we also drew little devil horns on him, and put him in a little chef's hat…) Which, if he had done that shit to me I would've just laughed and said, "lol you're dumb, kay bye." But no! To him, "baby it's cold outside" was cunt worthy! Like! Does he not know how much time, and effort, it took for us to position the yearbook beneath the iPhone's camera, in such a way, so that Snap Chat's very fickle face sensors could detect his grainy-ass two dimensional features?! He should've been flattered!!!! But, in all seriousness, I just really like to poke fun at people when I'm first getting to know them. It's my way of feeling out what kind of person someone is, and it's a backwards way of saying: Hey, you can feel comfortable around me. I'll even give you a counter example—which is also Christmas themed! Two years ago I was seeing a guy who had some pretty serious dandruff. Which, I don't know why or how it came up. But one day, while he was driving, I said to his friend, "On Johnny's scalp, it's always Christmas morning." And, for a moment, I was like: Can I not have the social filter of a six year old for like, ten seconds?!?!?! But then the dude just started laughing and said, "For real, it's just like that!" And I realized he was able to laugh at the quirks in his appearance and character because he was a fundamentally secure person. So basically, anyone who's illiterate in the art of self-deprecation probably also has a self-awareness level of zero. Like, a guy who can't laugh at his minor quirks—like the fact that he likes The Real Housewives, or that he can't keep "there", "their", and "they're", straight—is probably also severely out of touch with who he actually is. A.K.A. This is someone who can't accept his ever being slightly dorky, or "uncool", or fucking human. And all that just divulges down into his being incapable of admitting when he's a wrong. (Something that will only make you feel crazy and lonely in the long run.) So do yourself a favor and always avoid the guy who can't laugh at himself.
7) The idea that "if a boy's mean to you, it's because he likes you" is totally— 110%—true.
Honestly, I thought this B.S. would end after the ninth grade… but no. Being on the receiving end of catty men's bullshit is just my lot in life—until society starts admitting it's sexist and ceases to enable the fuckery that is erratic white boys. (Which, considering Trump's our president, will not be happening anytime soon.) Until then, I'm just going to have to keep wading through psychos who con me into cuddling them one second, and then, the next, tell me I need to stop being such a "pussy pushover". (Legit: A guy said that to me.) Anyway, I'm no stranger to this spontaneous male-to-female aggression that's bizarrely sexual and envious in nature—the kind that says: Hey, I think you're really smart, and cool, and hot, and you're making me feel things that I can't control; can I, like, hate-fuck you and make you question your self-worth for the next 6 to 8 weeks? Some dudes are just so emotionally stunted that, if you kindle even the slightest spark of desire in their black souls, you'll be named enemy number one: Why can't she just let me be dead inside?!?! What a bitch! They're the kinds of guys who can't help but be mean to the girls they "like"; the kinds of guys who can't, and will probably never, have a functioning relationship because their romantic algorithms have the complexity of a Matchbox 20 song: I wanna push you down! (Well I will! Well I will!) Basically. If there's a guy that you have some weird romantic history with, and he goes out of his way to be mean to you—in ways that are both creative and unpredictable; if, to your face, he acts like you're just shit on his shoe, but then turns around and asks everyone about you; if he withholds closure because he knows how desperately you want it… Then, trust me, it's because he "likes" you too much. (Which, in his world, translates as you not liking him enough: How dare she refuse to roll with my constant punches!?!?!?) It's all ass-backwards, but this kind of guy would not take the time to torment you if he wasn't compensating for the fact that something about you made him go all soft and squishy inside for 1.5 seconds. Like. He's mad at you because you made him feel something in a world where men aren't supposed to feel shit. And perhaps—something that irks him even more than that—he's mad at you for being better than him, in any capacity. Whether you're smarter, kinder, better looking… it doesn't matter. He's pissed and he hopes you feel guilty about it. Which, frankly, just isn't your problem. Long story short: He's mean because he "likes" you. So what? That doesn't change the fact that he's fucking mean to you! Don't romanticize him. Dwell on the situation long enough to recognize it for what it is (an immature dude who can't accept that women are more complicated than sex-toys, capable of inspiring intense feeling, etc…) and opt out of being another boring old ego boost. You're so much more interesting than that.
8.) The things you would write about your best friend in her eulogy, say that shit to her now.
My best friend read something I wrote about her to her co-workers and, apparently, their collective response was one of astonishment. When she told me this, I said, "What? Why?" Because it wasn't like I'd written some groundbreaking realization. She said, "I don't know. I think they're just not used to people saying something that nice, and deep, about another person; not unless that person is like, dead or something." And I thought: Isn't that horrible?!?! It's something I've noticed a lot, especially while creeping on Facebook, this past year. (Is it just me, or was 2016 kind of death-heavy?) It just seemed like everywhere I looked, people were posting statuses about depression and suicide and addiction. (Those "you never know what someone else is going through" kinds of statuses.) And I remember thinking: Why the fuck do we not say this shit when people are alive; when it actually matters? (A girl commits suicide, and suddenly she's loved beyond measure. Suddenly everyone's saying everything she probably really needed to hear, before she killed herself. It's kind of like how the general public treated Amy Winehouse like a fucking joke until she died. And then after? They made her a legend.) This is something I've always hated about our culture. We don't appreciate what's good when it's sitting right in front of us; we only appreciate it when its dead and gone and reduced to an abstract concept that we can use to make ourselves feel good, or included, or enlightened… Which, I'm not saying I'm not guilty of this; I so am. I just wish we'd, collectively, be a little more mindful about it. (Like maybe you shouldn't write a Facebook status about the loss of someone you didn't really know, and subsequently couldn't actually value and understand—at least not intimately. Maybe you should be a little more respectful to the friends and family who really "got" this person. Or maybe, just maybe, you should deal with your regret over having not said these things, when it counted, in silence. Recognize that another person's death isn't about you, or who you should've been while they were alive.) Thinking of all this, I've learned that it's so important to appreciate the people who truly "get" us and value us—in the moment. Friendship is not guaranteed, because nothing good is guaranteed. Not even safety. (No one is exempt from abuse, or cancer, or car crashes. The same way no one deserves these life interruptions and ailments.) For this reason, friendship—a sense that someone is on your side in the world—is such an important connection to maintain, and protect, through proper care and appreciation. Never take it for granted; say thank you when your friend let's you bitch without judgment; say sorry when you act on jealousy and insecurity, or any other selfish inclination; be honest when you don't feel like going out, or find other plans; don't abandon her when she's sick, or angry, or lonely. Validate her feelings. Remind her why she's special while it still counts. Life's too unpredictable to treat your most loyal friends as if they'll always be there; so be loyal back. You'll never regret that.
9.) Forgive people.
I know this one should be obvious, but I struggle with it constantly. There are days where I forgive certain people, wholeheartedly. And then there are days where I'm like: Fuck that bitch; I wish her nothing but eternal loneliness and a cracked iPhone. In this way, forgiveness really is a garden that needs to be watered and weeded regularly. It's the place in our souls where all the lost things go, and we have to ensure that only the good elements take over. (AKA: flowers = understanding & forgiveness; Weeds = bitterness & resentment.) Anyway, I know I'm a serial grudge holder. Something that really came to light when I ran into a guy—someone I grew up with—this past summer. I hadn't seen him since the seventh grade, but we'd been in the same classroom—pretty much—from grades 1 to 6. In my memory, he'd registered as this mean boy who consistently called me a "stupid pancake face". So deep-seeded feelings of rejection, tied with memories of his incessant name-calling, didn't exactly warrant a warm reunion on my end. When he approached me like, "Cat Olson! Where have you been?!?" I leapt backward and looked at him, like: Wtf, dude! Do you not remember the time you sketched a naked woman jumping out of helicopter and told me it was me? Thus ruining my conception of nipples, for life?!?! I just couldn't wrap my head around his being happy to see me without some underlying asshole-y agenda. Without really thinking, I went all word vomit-y and said, "Do you remember how you used to call me pancake face on a daily basis?" Which ultimately led to a conversation in which I listed off every mean thing he'd ever called me. He looked kind of shocked. His friend walked by and said something like, "Oh, I didn't know you knew Cat!" To which he responded, "Yeah, and apparently she holds some serious grudges." And I laughed because: For real! Like the poor guy just got interrogated after twelve years of estrangement: How many times did you call me fat, October 14th 1999?!?!? The mood lightened when I got over myself long enough to remember: People evolve past the sixth grade; he's not going to call you fat or stupid right now. Instead he asked me the standard, "What have you been up to?" I told him about how I finished my degree in writing last Spring, and then capped the whole spiel off with, "But I'll probably just end up being a cashier at Dollar General for eternity." Which, much to my surprise, his response was nice. He said, "I'm so glad you're doing that. You were always writing, and so creative—I knew you'd wind up being the girl who followed her dreams." I looked at him like the emoji with slits for eyes, like: What's your angle? But, deep down, I knew he was being sincere. It was just strange to hear something like that from him. (Someone who I believed never thought much of me, other than: Ew.) It's interactions like this one that make me believe, somewhere, tucked away in a deep place, our perceived worst enemies hope to see us win. Like, clearly this guy had recognized my strengths from the time we were 12—he'd just always chosen to state my insecurities and weaknesses instead. It was reassuring to know that he'd grown into someone who could be happy for me. Actually, it was a gift. We don't always get that validation from the people who have hurt us, or bullied us, or talked down to us. But I think it's good to have faith in the idea that, whether or not you get validation, or a sincere apology, or closure—it's there. Like: You just never know—for sure—what a person really thinks and feels. The mere thought of you walking around and breathing on this planet could be an absolute miracle to someone else, and still—they might never be ready to admit it. Which has to be painful. It has to be painful, never being able to express yourself fully. It has to be so painful; always having the sneaking suspicion that no one could ever love you for who you really are. To believe it, so innately, that you resent or reject all the people who can, or do, and genuinely want to. It must be so painful, it's numbing. So don't add to that pain by clinging to the bad memories of a person who has hurt you, or "wronged" you. Just forgive them, constantly and obsessively. This doesn't mean you're obligated to make that person a part of your life, but it does mean you haven't stopped hoping that, someday, they'll understand.
01/01/2017: A little after midnight, full of Fireball and covered in glitter, I was dancing all by myself to ABBA when two large green eyes drew my one-woman party to a sudden halt. They were like two murky fishbowls, filled with some insane flavor of Kool Aid, and stuck in the head of a guy who can only be described as permanently stoked. Just looking at him, I could tell—words like "lit" and "dope" were made for him. A hopeless spazz-ball who scales strange architecture for fun, and never overthinks anything because life reads as one giant "YES!"
"I think I love you," he said.
And for a moment I felt jolted, like: When you're 23, 24, 25…
(Especially now, in the new millennium, as landlines are being rendered obsolete, and Mercury just went into retrograde for the eighty millionth time, and attention spans are shrinking at a rapid pace…)
You think you're dancing all by yourself to ABBA, and then: BAM! You're staring down the scope of reality, a total lady-killer. You've got to make a split second decision that could change, for better or worse, the narrative of your life. You call this process "depression", you call it "anxiety", and although no one doubts the legitimacy of these ailments, you start to wonder whether chronic feelings of emptiness and fear are just a natural response to being alive at this point in time. With all this pop-psych banter on sociopath "awareness", and the empathy deficit, and "toxicity", you start to suspect that your generation IS mental illness and disorder. That you and your peers are pathologically broken, on a collective level, from having been given a world without limits, and having not evolved enough to comprehend the enormity of that responsibility—
Suddenly your brain goes all ADD, and you remember the guy standing in front of you. You start getting all tripped up on stars aligning, and bad omens. Debating between red flags, and rash feelings. What you want *right now!* vs. how it'll make you feel later. All the while, feeling guilty. Knowing that, no matter what, it always comes back to ~You~. A nasty thought you repress, long enough, to comprehend that a life-altering statement just came out of someone else's mouth, flippantly as air.
You realize you're incapable of not taking things personally: That wall, that flipped switch. How the neon light is hitting the ATM machine the same way it did in 2012, the same way it probably still will when you're forty. How comparison of the past and future makes you wonder: "Am I happy?" Only to remind you that, with every New Year, there's a keener sense of urgency, a more paralyzing awareness that things are always changing.
To put it crudely: Time can be a shitty friend, and Biology is a bad boyfriend, and when they started teaming up against you—it hurt your fucking feelings.
Staring into this ridiculous boy's fishbowl eyes, I realized, at twenty-four, that I am astounded by how subtly things become an everyday part of our lives—debit cards, unlimited data and analog clocks; numbered days and license plates. How adulthood creeps up on you until, suddenly, you're dropping your car keys on the kitchen table after a long day, trying to remember a time when you didn't depend on them.
You can become so weighed down by responsibility that you forget to pursue your dreams. While, on the contrary, you can become so transfixed by your dreams that you forget to actually make them happen. (Sway too far in one direction, and you're settling.) Which is another way of saying your life isn't yours; you're letting other people call the shots and your just going with it. Because? Whatever! It feels easier.
I think a lot of us carry around this lie that says: This is as good as it gets. So when we encounter a career opportunity, or a potential love interest, that doesn't totally excite us but doesn't totally repel us, we just accept it and quit searching for something better. We trick ourselves into believing we're comfortable and happy because, for whatever reason, we're convinced that the pain of shedding old habits, and unfulfilling relationships, is somehow worse than a mediocre life. That familiarity will magically trump personal desire as we internalize the oppressive notion that we should be content with where we are and what we have…
Well—I call bullshit on that.
I am of the mindset that you can be totally grateful without being fulfilled. And that's where I'm at, at this point in time. (Like, the other day, I found some random girl's IG and she had a picture of herself swimming with a fucking SHARK! Wearing nothing but a bikini, like it was no big deal!!!! And I thought: WHY AM I NOT SWIMMING WITH MORE SHARKS?!) It's one of those feelings where, I'm happier—so much happier—than I was this time last year. (I've regained my solitude. I don't feel the need to drink as much. I'm grateful for my job. I'd rather work than party. I've started saving money…) But I'm still not at peace with where I am.
Which is good.
It's a good kind of discomfort that I've fought to feel.
Happy New Year, Pretty Readers.
I probably won't post as much in 2017.
But I feel the need to directly address the random girls who hardly know me, but still take the time to approach me in bars, or to DM me on IG—
Whenever you guys tell me that something I've written (on my irrelevant, virtually anonymous blog) meant something to you, I could fucking sob from gratitude. I'm not a writer without any of you, and it means so much that you'd give my long-winded paragraphs, and constant mishaps, a chance. You all make it SO EASY for me to dismiss the negative, unsolicited, white-male opinions that I receive on my work (and life).
So, thank you. (TIMES A MILLION!)
I want you to know, I will always do my best to get it right for you.
Cat Olson advice, being in your twenties, feminism, inspiration, millennial generation, modern living, personal essay, pop culture, post college life, Uncategorized Leave a comment January 16, 2017 January 16, 2017 32 Minutes


text:
require 'win32/service'

powershell_script 'install eventstore' do
  code <<-EOH
  Add-Type -assembly "system.io.compression.filesystem"
  wget "#{node[:eventstore][:url]}" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\\eventstore.zip"
  [io.compression.zipfile]::ExtractToDirectory("$env:TEMP\\eventstore.zip", "#{node[:eventstore][:destination_path]}")
  $choco = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("ChocolateyInstall", "Machine") + "\\choco.exe"
  & $choco install nssm --acceptlicense --yes --force
  $nssm = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("ChocolateyInstall", "Machine") + "\\bin\\nssm.exe"
  & $nssm install EventStore "#{node[:eventstore][:destination_path]}\\EventStore.ClusterNode.exe" --db ./db --log ./logs --reduce-file-cache-pressure TRUE
  EOH
  action :run
  not_if do ::Win32::Service.exists?('EventStore') end
end

windows_service 'EventStore' do
  action [:start, :enable]
end


text:
'Conscious capitalist' puts sustainability into practice
University of Wisconsin–Madison senior Alana McKeever (left) has worked for the nut butter company Yumbutter since fall 2014.
December 8, 2015 | by Sarah Olson
Creamy or crunchy, peanut butter is more than just sustenance for University of Wisconsin–Madison senior Alana McKeever.
For the past year, the college staple has represented an opportunity to deploy her passion for sustainability through work at Yumbutter, a Madison-based start-up that specializes in socially and environmentally responsible peanut and nut butters. After graduating this month, McKeever will continue full-time as the company's marketing coordinator and sustainability guru.
McKeever, an entrepreneurship major in the Wisconsin School of Business, will be the first student to graduate with a Sustainability Certificate from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. The Sustainability Certificate program launched in fall 2014.
As a business student, McKeever understands that companies need to make a profit, but says her certificate studies showed her that sustainability principles – such as respect for people and the planet – can also be good for the bottom line.
"What I like about sustainability is that it combines every aspect of the world and puts it into a system that just makes inherent sense," McKeever says. "You can't destroy the planet if you want to create a business that's going to last. You can't treat people badly if you want to have a business that functions successfully."
For example, McKeever says businesses can save money by making their operations more energy efficient and increase productivity by investing in the health and wellbeing of their employees.
At Yumbutter, McKeever has drawn on her sustainability education to document the company's sustainability efforts and complete its certification as a benefit corporation, which is an organization that prioritizes social and environmental impact as well as profit. Yumbutter incorporates sustainability into the sourcing, packaging, and distribution of its products and, for every jar or pouch of nut butter sold, donates a percentage of the sale to feeding malnourished children and their mothers in Guatemala.
"My favorite tools I learned from the Sustainability Certificate are the tools to make businesses push customers to make more responsible choices," McKeever says, "because I don't know if customers would make that choice unless they were led."
She also cites the nut butter company as a good example of a sustainable business succeeding in the marketplace. Their products should be available in Target stores nationwide and Whole Foods regionally in April.
"This is a great opportunity for businesses to see a company that's doing well for itself while also doing so much good for other people," McKeever says.
McKeever says she is drawn to sustainability because it's applicable to all disciplines, but she's found her niche in business.
"I'm a capitalist, who is a conscious capitalist," McKeever says. "If you can prove to [business people] that you can make money helping the environment and you can make money helping people, that's the way to save the world."
Posted in NewsTagged Academics, Alumni, Business, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, Students
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