All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Dalgona coffee?? Naaah Lets try Dalgona Mango!!😃🥭+🥛=>🍹

Soni's thoughts

Holla pals, whats cooking today?? Well nothing in my list, i just made a beautiful drinks months back to chill my mind and relax myself… As in initial lockdown months, Dalgona coffee became the trend amongst all, isnt it! I too wanted to make it, but as you all know how lazy i am!! So dropped the idea… But suddenly a thought pinned in my head, why not to try it with other ingredient? So i checked the possibilities and finally opted for… DALGONA MANGO SHAKE!!! Yeah heard right, and believe me peeps, it was lucious😋😋 Today i am gonna share with you its recipe. I know, i know its not atall mango season, but its ok… Have the recipe with you and once you have the mango season, make it without any delay, cool??😃😃

My Dalgona Mango😊😋❤️

Yummmmm😋

INGREDIENTS :

*2-4 Mangoes
*Chilled milk as per requirement or size…

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North Dakota Is About to Kill the National Popular Vote Compact — The Weekly Sift

http://www.masshist.org/features/juniper/assets/who-counts/carousels/toles_electoralcollege_tt_exh.jpg Presidential elections are rigged in favor of Republicans. North Dakota wants to keep it that way. As we’ve seen in the last two elections, the Electoral College gives the Republican candidate about a 3-4% advantage, which might be growing as the rural areas (which the EC over-weights) get more conservative and the cities (which […]

North Dakota Is About to Kill the National Popular Vote Compact — The Weekly Sift

Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine is very effective — and requires only one shot – Vox

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is no different in this regard. According to data released by the FDA last week, the clinical trials found an efficacy rate of about 72 percent in the US. But that’s the number that only tells us about any symptomatic infection, down to the sniffles or a short-lived fever. For hospitalizations and death, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine reported 100 percent effectiveness after 28 days (all of the vaccines so far take weeks to build up the body’s defenses). Source: Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine is very effective — and requires only one shot – Vox

ASIA/MYANMAR – Catholic nun saves young demonstrators: Cardinal Bo wants the country to be “transformed”

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Myitkyina – A Catholic religious woman took to the streets in the city of Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in the north of Mynamar, and asked the security forces not to shoot young demonstrators who are protesting peacefully. Sister Ann Nu Thawng of the Congregation of St. Francis Xavier in the diocese of Myitkyina, became the heroine of yesterday, February 28th, which was marked by harsh repression of the Burmese police, who, according to the United Nations, opened fire, killing 18 people and injuring more than 30 nationwide.
“In the Myitkyina area, demonstrations so far have always been peaceful and without incidents. However, yesterday episodes of violence risked precipitating the situation”, said Catholic Joseph Kung Za Hmung, editor of the “Gloria News Journal”, the first Catholic online newspaper in Myanmar. “The action of the nun and the response of the police who, upon seeing the nun’s plea, stopped, surprised many of us. Sister Ann Nu Thawng is today a role model for Church leaders: bishops and priests are called to step out of the their comfort zones and follow her courage as an example”. Many non-Catholics also praised Sister Thawng’s brave efforts, whose entry went viral on social media. “More than 100 demonstrators were able to find shelter in her monastery. It saved them from brutal beatings and arrests by the police”, says the Director.
Commenting, in his homily yesterday, second Sunday of Lent, on the social and political crisis in the country, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, noted: “The Gospel of the Transfiguration is so current that it reflects the events of these days: What transfiguration are we looking for in Myanmar today? If we seek it, all the confusion, all the darkness, all the hatred will go away and our country, the famous Land of Gold, will be transfigured into a land of peace and prosperity”.
“During the last month – continued the Cardinal – we have implored everyone: peace is the only way; peace is possible. Pope Francis has called for the resolution of all conflicts through dialogue. Those who want conflict do not want the good of this nation. Let us all become Elijah who proclaims peace, by lighting a lamp of hope in the midst of darkness”. Cardinal Bo prayed for the nation that “has seen so much suffering, so much war, so many deaths” and said, “Like Abraham, we seek a promised land. The promised land comes when we are ready to sacrifice what we consider very dear”.
He concluded his message: “Conversion is the central message of Lent. Let’s challenge ourselves. Let’s see each other in a better light. There is a possible new world, a possible new Myanmar, a conflict-free nation is possible if that nation is transfigured into the glory it deserves. Let us make peace our destiny, not conflict. Weapons are unnecessary. We must rearm ourselves through reconciliation and dialogue. Myanmar’s Mount Tabor must be climbed with patience, tolerance, if we are to witness this transfiguration. Evil must disappear, but it cannot be destroyed by another evil”.
The Burmese army took power on February 1 in a coup, declaring a one-year “state of emergency”, after accusing the National League for Democracy, the party of the civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under arrest.

– International Women’s Day, 2021 – To Lead is to Serve — A Pacific Woman’s Perspective

By Leituala Kuiniselani Toelupe Tago-Elisara
SUVA, Fiji, Mar 1 2021 (IPS)

An often quoted indigenous reference in the Samoan language is, O le ala i le pule o le tautua, literally translated, “the pathway to leadership is through service” because to be able to lead is to be willing to serve.

Since world leaders endorsed the blueprint for gender equality in Beijing 1995, women in leadership has dominated in numerous conversations and forums in terms of the need to increase women in leadership as a critical factor to achieve gender equality. Many of the perspectives shared, are about facilitating opportunities for women, advancing women in fields dominated by men, particularly in the sciences, and achieving equality in decision-making. Women in leadership has become a popular discourse from development, to academia, to politics, to science and innovation; and organisations across all sectors are recognizing the importance of inclusivity and equity for achieving sustainable development.

The 2020 Pacific review of the Beijing Platform for Action, 25 years after Beijing, highlighted that Pacific states still have a long way to go in achieving balanced representation of women in national parliaments. With the exception of the French Territories where equitable representation of women in their legislative assemblies is ensured by the French ‘parity law’, women’s representation in national parliaments across the region is shockingly low and temporary special measures (TSMs) are only used in a few states. At all levels, and across all nations, gender power dynamics disadvantage women as decision makers; and socio-cultural norms in the Pacific see men as the ‘natural’ spokespeople for families, communities and governments. That said, the report also noted an increase in women’s participation in all levels of decision-making at community levels, in public service and in civil society organisations. This raises a number of challenging questions.

Leituala Kuiniselani Toelupe Tago-Elisara

Where does this lead us in a pandemic environment? COVID-19 has exacerbated existing and ongoing inequalities in the Pacific, hindering what is already very slow progress for achieving gender equality. The evidence is quite clear as to where these inequalities are found and policy dialogues and talanoa sessions held within the region over the last two and a half decades, have generated a multitude of recommendations on what can be done by governments and as a region. What then is the problem, we ask ourselves? It’s the resourcing, the response, the lack of political will and commitment, and the list goes on, that women leaders and women engaging in the gender space, know all too well.

So, what can we do and what does this mean for Women in Leadership? The answer lies in our ongoing concerted efforts to have women at the table with an equal voice to speak for the 50% of our population. We will keep pushing to have women leaders at the table who understand women’s lived experiences and needs, and that these are translated into decision-making on resource allocation and prioritisation. We need women who lead, knowing that they have families and communities to attend to after work, and appreciate the value of unpaid care work. More importantly, we need the same women leaders at the table to share those perspectives with their men counterparts, to affect change that will transform societies and enable positive and inclusive change for gender equality at all levels in society and across all locations – urban, rural and remote.

Our unprecedented experience with COVID-19 has changed the way we live, the way we work and certainly the way we exercise leadership and deliver service. It has reminded us that with border closures and travel restrictions, we need to be searching within our own borders and within our own societies for solutions. One of these solutions is for us to utilize and capitalize on the often-untapped skills, knowledge and expertise of women, to generate solutions for our development challenges. The role of women, as we are seeing in recovery efforts across the Pacific, is a testament to the service they continue to provide for our families and our communities. It is evidenced in women’s resilience and their significant capabilities in managing our communities and societies through multiple disasters and climatic events over the years, and through the multitude of cultural and customary obligations that we have all lived through, and will continue to live through. It is a reflection of women’s knowledge of our Pacific ways of knowing and ways of being, gathered and passed down from generation to generation.

The impacts of COVID-19 are huge and as a region and as a people, it will take some time to navigate our way through these impacts towards full recovery. However, if there is one learning that I take away from this crisis, it is our ability to remain resilient and to continue to serve each other and our people, with our women holding the fort in all our societies and communities across the Pacific Ocean, through their ongoing service. It is a manifestation and a living example of leadership through service, because to be able to lead is to be willing to serve, and being able to serve is being able to lead, and such is the spirit of Pacific women in leadership.

Leituala Kuiniselani Toelupe Tago-Elisara is Acting Regional Director, Polynesia Regional Office Pacific Community (SPC)

 

The post – International Women’s Day, 2021 –
To Lead is to Serve — A Pacific Woman’s Perspective
appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

The following opinion piece is part of series to mark International Women’s Day March 8.

The post – International Women’s Day, 2021 –
To Lead is to Serve — A Pacific Woman’s Perspective
appeared first on Inter Press Service.

FOCUS: 1 month on, anti-coup protests continue in Myanmar despite violence

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One month after a military coup that ousted the elected government of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has seen no abatement of popular protests as Sunday marked its deadliest day since the power grab.

Violent responses by Myanmar’s security forces, who have killed at least 21 protesters since the coup, 18 of them on Sunday alone, have drawn condemnation from the international community, with the United States and the European Union leading calls for greater sanctions against the military.



Read full story here

Bitcoin’s Achilles Heel

We are approaching 8 billion people on this planet, and so anything that a lot of people do is likely to have a significant impact. This includes things that we previously considered to be essentially resource free, or at least insignificant, including digital activity. This may be a bit of a generational thing – those of us who lived through the explosion of computer use, the adoption of the web and social media, and the general shift from analog to digital technology grew up with the idea that doing things digitally was resource efficient.

For example, there was a huge push to transform to a “paperless office” because that would save trees. It is much better to shuffle electrons around than pieces of paper. This transition took a lot longer than anyone thought, and in fact – it hasn’t really happened yet. Here we are, 40 years later, and office paper use is still increasing. No one would have predicted that.

Because of the pandemic meetings and many services shifted from in-person to online, over Zoom, for example. This is much more efficient than people traveling to the same physical location for the meeting. But this does not mean we can ignore the electricity use, and therefore carbon footprint, of the digital meeting. A recent study, for example, found that simply turning off the video when not needed can reduce that footprint by 96%. This is small individually, but huge in the aggregate:

Turning off a camera for 15 hour-long meetings every week would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 9.4 kilograms (20.7 pounds) per month. If one million Zoom users did this, they would save 9,000 tons of CO2, the equivalent of coal-powered energy used by a city of 36,000 in that same month.

We are now streaming movies instead of driving to a Blockbuster. Again, this is good, but streaming increasingly high resolution movies has a significant carbon footprint too. Further, people tend to increase their resource use when that resource becomes cheaper and more efficient, making up for the higher efficiency. Lighting is a great example of this – as lights become more energy efficient, we simply are using more lighting. This is called the “energy efficiency paradox” – we are actually using more electricity for lighting as it becomes more efficient. (There is a completely tangential side problem of light pollution and observing the night-time sky, but that is a separate post for another day.)

This brings me to Bitcoin, the most famous cryptocurrency. This is a purely electronic version of money, and so again we are just crunching numbers in a computer rather than moving around anything physical. The difference between cryptocurrency and your electronic bank statement is that the former has not physical existence anywhere. Cryptocurrency only exists as a software phenomenon. Further, the computer code that manages cryptocurrency, called blockchain, is designed for security and anonymity. It is designed not to be hackable – since Bitcoin emerged in 2009 the system has not been hacked. However, individual electronic wallets have been hacked.

The main problem with Bitcoin is likely that it is massively resource intensive. It takes a lot of computing power to mine Bitcoin and to mange the distributed system. How much? Recently The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) studies estimated the energy use of Bitcoin:

It calculates that Bitcoin’s total energy consumption is somewhere between 40 and 445 annualised terawatt hours (TWh), with a central estimate of about 130 terawatt hours.

For comparison, all datacenters around the world use 199 TWh. The UK uses about 300 TWh per year – not just for computing, for everything. Bitcoin uses more energy than entire countries. Further, the CCAF team estimated that two-thirds of that energy comes from burning fossil fuel.

Further, Bitcoin is designed not to be scalable. The quick version is that new Bitcoin are created by miners, who use computer power to guess random numbers and winners are rewarded with Bitcoin. They also independently verify Bitcoin transactions, so they are core to its operation. This is extremely resource intensive. But worse – as more people use Bitcoin and as the price goes up, the incentive for mining goes up. The more miners there are, the more difficult the random number puzzles become to compensate, and therefore the more computing power each miner needs to compete. By one estimate, if Bitcoin became the world’s sole currency, we would need to double our worldwide energy production. This doesn’t include building and maintaining all that computing power.

I think it’s safe to say that cryptocurrency, as currently managed, will not become the de-facto currency anytime soon. I don’t know if there is a solution to this inherent problem, or if it means blockchain is inherently an unscalable application. For now, Bitcoin will remain niche. But even then, it is consuming the energy of a medium-sized country.

As we are now fully in the digital age, we need to consider the efficiency of the most common digital applications. This has to include the “efficiency paradox” about how convenience and low cost drives increased use. We cannot assume that the energy use of our computers is negligible. They are an increasing portion of our total energy use.

The post Bitcoin’s Achilles Heel first appeared on NeuroLogica Blog.

Bullies Actually Fear Losing Power and Control over Their Targets

I look back now and realize that my bullies were in constant fear of losing control and dominance over anyone they deemed inferior. I say this because I remember that anytime I or any other target at Oakley High, countered their insults, or had our own opinion about anything, the bullies and their followers would be quick to shout us down.

They would demand that we “shut up,” or “sit down and be quiet.” They would also threaten bodily harm or instigate violent arguments to intimidate and shut down anyone who dared to exercise their rights to speak freely, therefore, asserting their dominance.

Targets were highly discouraged from having their own thoughts, opinions, or views. I also remember during a class discussion, when a teacher asked me what my thoughts were on the subject we were discussing, I only had time to get the words, “I think…” out of my mouth when another girl shouted, “You think nothing! Shut up!”

Naturally, the teacher reamed her out for the outburst. However, the others only laughed at the teacher, the teacher went silent, then continued on with the discussion and allowed me to finish my answer.

There was nothing a target could speak about that one of the bullies wouldn’t shout down and attack them with. For example:

Target: “I don’t feel so good. I think I need to call home.”

Bullies and classmates: “You ‘ain’t’ sick! You’re just trying to get out of coming to school when your dumb ass needs to learn something useful!”

Target: “I’m afraid that…”

Bullies and classmates: “Shut up! You don’t have nothin’ to be afraid of! You’re just a big chicken!”

Target to target: “I need the hall pass to go use the restroom.”

Bullies and classmates: “You ‘ain’t’ goin’ nowhere! Shut up and sit down!”

Or…

If a target put up their hand and walked away from a confrontation, one of the bullies would either physically step in front of him/her and block them from leaving, grab the target by the back of his shirt and pull him back, or follow close behind them while shoving them forward while screaming, “Don’t turn your back and walk away from me, (expletive),” or “Turn around and look at me when I talk to you!” And If a target ignored a group of bullies, those bullies would then want to fight him.

It was as if the bullies had grown desperate and were panicking. And now that I know better, I realize that that’s exactly what they were doing- feeling desperate and panicking. And they were doing it out of fear.

So, anytime bullies yell and scream at you because you spoke or because you showed any form of opposition to their abuse, realize that it’s because they fear losing their dominance. Bullies instinctively know that if they lose control over a target, they lose face and look weak in front of the others around them. They also realize that if their target has the guts to challenge their power, then it just might encourage others to follow suit and bullies can’t have that.

Bullies must have their targets, not only to get sick pleasure and entertainment from, or to wield dominance over. They must also have them as examples to show everyone else that there will be brutal consequences if they show any form of dissent. Targets are used to keep everyone else in line too.

So, always remember this, and look for a way to use the bullies’ fear to your advantage. You have more power than you know.