Friday, May 17, 2024
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YOUTH ARE AWESOME

Youth Are Awesome, commonly referred to as YAA, is a blog written by youth for youth. YAA provides the youth of Calgary a place to amplify their voices and perspectives on what is happening around them. Youth Are Awesome is a program of Youth Central.

Any views or opinions expressed on this blog belong solely to the author and do not represent those of people or organizations that the blog may be associated with, unless explicitly stated. All content is for informational purposes only.

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Tips on working out

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Featured Image by alba1970 from Pixabay

Truly an important activity

It is widely accepted that individuals generally should exercise for at least half an hour each day to maintain ideal physical conditions. Exercising not only boosts your immune system, but it also helps to maintain a positive overall emotional well-being. Exercising prevents many common diseases, and can even bring individuals to meet new friends and gain insights in the process. If you have not yet begun to exercise, now might be a perfect time! 

A basic guide to the types of exercises

According to healthline, the most common types of exercises include aerobic exercises, strength exercises, and exercises involving balance, stability, or flexibility. Believe it or not, every sport involves a certain combination of the above categories. Sure, when we picture soccer players, we will likely perceive strength to be a major aspect of their games. However, soccer players also generally have great stamina, as soccer games are often treated as marathons, with 90 minutes each game. With many teams playing games multiple times each week during busy seasons, soccer players also train aerobically as well

What to do before picking up exercising as a hobby

The most important step that everyone must take before starting to exercise is to ensure that their current health enables them to pursue the type of exercise they desire to begin. Doing a physical medical examination is always a good choice, and this is often also a prerequisite for joining various sports teams or creating a program with trainers at the gym. 

Many stick with exercises that do not require extra budgeting of money; rather, these sports usually only require time and dedication. Running is a great example: as long as you live near a trail (providing that the trail is not overly dangerous to use), you can take advantage of it. Specifically for running, a common target is 5 kilometers, at least five times a week. However, many find themselves unable to reach 5 kilometers starting from the very first session. A good way to increase the physical stamina would then be to pursue 1 km at the start, then incrementally increasing the distance to eventually 5 kilometers. 

This method is especially effective, especially to cheer up those who are only beginning to exercise. Seeing that one’s capable of following through with mini-steps is crucial to building confidence for more, long-term, exercise plans. 

Implementing rest days

Another good way to work out, but not burn out, is to exercise every other day; throughout the week, be sure to increase the intensity somewhat! For example, a swimmer can maybe swim for 20 laps on Monday, then rest on Tuesday, then swim for 30 more laps on Wednesday. This ensures that we are taking a holistic approach to exercising, and even permitting ourselves to indulge, just a little, in resting our bodies during the rest days! However, it is still effective as a fitness plan. 

Warming up and cooling down

It is recommended that each training session is accompanied by a warm-up and cool-down session. Warming up and cooling down allows a “buffer time zone” which not only helps the body physically transition to and from the exercising state but also increases athletic performance. By warming up, such as doing simple actions like leg kicks and walking lunges, you are setting yourself up for a less painful (from the sudden muscle cramps) workout! 

Conclusion

One of the biggest takeaways for exercising is to be flexible in creating the fitness plan, and improvise whenever it is necessary. This can include the types of exercises you are interested in, how long/much you would like to exercise, and whether to do it alone or with a couple of friends. Regardless, change the fitness plan whenever necessary to fit your priorities, as exercising truly takes place at infinite freedom, with no limits. Here is to a better health! 

How do we feel emotions?

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Emotions are the fundamental bases of life that make up our personality, memories, and daily lives. Inside Out Two is coming this June after the enormous success of Inside Out One, where audiences shared empathy as human beings of the world who all experienced the maturation of emotions and transitions from childhood perspectives to teenagers to adult perspectives of the world. I wanted to write about how we actually “feel” the emotion that makes up one’s identity. 

What is Emotion

Not only forming a collective psychological identity, emotions play a crucial role in survival during human evolution. Reflexes, which are known for the automatic function of our body to specific stimuli, emotions are different; they are “selected” in evolution because emotion responds in the process of adaptation to a constantly changing environment regarding protection, nurturing, finding food, water and shelter, and in finding sexual partners (mates). Emotions arise from activations of specialized neuronal populations in various parts of the cerebral cortex, such as the anterior cingulate, insula, ventromedial prefrontal, and subcortical structures, including amygdala, ventral striatum, putamen, caudate nucleus, and ventral tegmental area. 

The conscious, emotional experiences of these activations are known as feelings, and they are mediated by neural networks in behaviour, language, and thought. This improves the capacity to take in new information, anticipate it, and evaluate it in the context of prior experiences. The amygdala is the primary subcortical emotional brain structure that is crucial to contemporary theories of emotion. It continuously assesses and integrates a wide range of sensory information from the environment, assigning appropriate values to affective characteristics like valence, intensity, and approachability. 

The amygdala facilitates the regulation of autonomic and endocrine functions, decision-making, implicit associative learning, changes in short—and long-term synaptic plasticity, and the activation of the fight-or-flight response through efferent projections from its central nucleus to cortical and subcortical structures.

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5 Fascinating Origins of Common Idioms

 

                                                     INTRODUCTION:

Have you ever wondered how certain phrases we commonly use came to be? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Our language is always evolving and the meaning behind the language we speak is sometimes very suprising! In this article, we are going to be exploring the types of phrases we see and use commonly, and learn how they came to be.

                                              1. “It’s raining cats and dogs”

The meaning behind this idiom is quite dire. There are multiple perspectives on the origin behind this idiom, but most of them all come down to a single idea. During the 1600’s in England, the streets were known to be very filthy and riddled with stray animals, such as dogs and cats. The streets then did not have a reliable drainage system. Because of this, each time a heavy rainstorm came by, the aftermath resulted in heaps of dead animal bodies on the ground. So, when people came out of their houses, it would seem as though it really did rain cats and dogs! Today, it means that it is raining heavily.

                                     2. “Bite the bullet”

This idiom is tied back to the 19th century, when Rudyard Kipling used the quote in his 1891 novel: The Light That Failed. In the book, it was mentioned that it involved a soldier biting down onto a bullet to cope with the pain of surgery without anesthesia. Even though evidence of this happening is quite inferequent, some argued firsthand that it had occured before.

                                        3. “Turn a blind eye”

To turn a bilnd eye to something is to ignore information that may be unwanted. This term originated in 1801 during The Battle of Copenhagen. Nelson was an admiral on the British side, and was blind in his right eye. During the war, he was told by his higher rank to retreat his forces. This was indicated by signal flags. However, Nelson did not want to retreat his forces and claimed that “I have a right to be blind sometimes, I really do not see the signal”. Nelson believed that their fleet could win the battle but in the end, they suffered major losses.

                                         

                                        4. “Saved by the bell”

Even back then, people had a massive fear of being buried alive. To prevent this from actually happening, people decided to put ropes attached to bells from coffins to the ground above. So, if someone was to be buried alive, they could just ring the bell and alert people the people around them. The time period from where this happened was in the late 19th century. Today, being saved by the bell means when a bad situation ends at the perfect time, allowing you to escape.

                                       5. “Caught red handed”

To be caught red handed is to be caught while doing something wrong. This term originated in Scotland during the 15th century. The meaning of this idiom is quite literal, it is used to describe catching a murderer with blood still on their hands.

Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time to read my post! I hope you took out as much information as I did when I was writing this. It was quite suprising to learn about the terms that we use every so often!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-22408,00.html#:~:text=The%20phrase%20is%20supposed%20to,ancient%20associations%20with%20bad%20weather.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bite_the_bullet#:~:text=The%20phrase%20(as%20%22bite%20on,a%20surgical%20procedure%20without%20anesthetic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_a_blind_eye#:~:text=Turning%20a%20blind%20eye%20is,of%20Vice%20Admiral%20Horatio%20Nelson.

https://www.businessinsider.com/phrase-origins-that-are-wrong-2015-1#:~:text=Instead%2C%20%22saved%20by%20the%20bell,the%20phrase%20hit%20the%20mainstream.

https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/phrases/caught-red-handed

 

 

Solace of Daydreams

In pages filled with hidden stories, where tears of liquid gold fall, I wander through the wall.

Daydreams dance across my mind, A comforting escape my soul often finds.

From stress and sorrow I drift away, To the sounds of laughter and joy I travel each day.

With dragons so alluring and knights so brave, In the forests of wonders, my soul does thunder.

The burden of naivety fades lighter, As innocent melodies envelop the night.

Through kingdoms and villages, I roam,

Finding solace far from the reality of adulthood.

In books, I find freedom,

A realm with no consequences for curiosity and laughter,

Where dragons roam free and knights stand brave, to lead.

Lost in stories, I find solace, From life’s demands, if only for a brief moment.

The Mental Health Crisis Around The World

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Featured Image by Anemone123 from Pixabay

A disease causing hurt from within

According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, situated in Toronto, Canada, most people don’t understand “just how big, onerous, and potentially damaging the crisis is.” Hundreds of millions of people all around the world are suffering from mental illnesses. This sheer number is why mental illnesses collectively are the “leading cause of disability worldwide.” In Canada alone, about half of the population will have had a mental illness at least once by the time they reach 40 years old.

The statistics and data are simply stunning. Typically, when we envision powerful but destructive forms of diseases, we think of physical pain and cancer. However, mental illnesses in some ways affect even more people, and truly, nobody is immune to it.

The consequences of mental illnesses on society

Did you know that “nearly 500,000 employed Canadians” are prevented from attending work simply because of mental illness? However, when employees stay home because of mental illness, their cost of leave is double compared to physical illness. In general, the economic burden of mental illness in Canada is huge, since it leads to a smaller workforce, less productivity, and yet rising health care coverage costs spent by the companies or government. Approximately 51 billion dollars are lost each year in the Canadian economy due to mental illness.

The adverse economic impacts, however, are nothing compared to the sufferings individuals with mental illness go through. Especially due to the plethora of other health conditions mental illness can lead to. Some common tragic outcomes of severe mental illness include drug overdoses, suicides, and the development of chronic diseases.

What’s more, mental illness affects children and adults alike, and believe it or not, approximately “75% of children with mental disorders do not have access to specialized treatment services.” This is awful, as children are often more fragile psychologically as adults; especially for many teenage children, as they grow up constantly battling mental health issues, it increases the chance of them not getting their best life in the future. This is a serious crisis that should be resolved by the general population and government alike.

Ways we can respond

On the individual/personal scale, the American Psychological Association (APA) offers many useful pieces of advice. For example, the first step individuals can take to address negative mental health conditions is to detect them. Often, we all are so consumed by the events happening in our day-to-day lives that we do not notice the building pain growing inside. Some common signs of emotional crisis include neglect of personal hygiene, significant weight gain or loss, dramatic change in sleep habits, or withdrawal from routine activities. All of these are “abrupt changes in behavior,” so if we take the moment to attempt to perceive them, we very possibly will. 

From here on, it is just important to reach out to another trusted individual and talk about the concerns and late changes to the personal life. Seeking professional help is also a real alternative, offering the ability to completely “get that problem under control.” Psychologists are usually trained to be experts in treating various complex emotional problems. Whoever you are speaking to, however, just make sure the other person can be supportive and non-judgmental about your experiences, and will not criticize harshly in any way. 

Conclusion

According to experts, the most effective method of combating the mental crisis around the world is by doing so at an individual and personal level. This includes reaching out to those in need of help as quickly as possible and providing much-needed emotional support. To a certain degree, everyone will undergo some kind of emotional trauma. This is precisely why everyone can play a part in combating this crisis. Whether you are suffering from a mental health illness, or know someone who is, always remember that recognition of the problem and communication with others are the most important steps to take. 

How to reduce number of times of check your phone

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Larry Rosen, a psychology professor and author of The Distracted Mind, suggests that most individuals habitually check their phones every 15 minutes or less, even without any alerts or notifications. This behavior is driven by a pervasive sense of anxiety regarding our technology usage, leading to a fear of missing out if we don’t check in frequently.

Rosen’s research has revealed that this compulsion to constantly check notifications and feeds not only exacerbates feelings of anxiousness but also disrupts people’s ability to concentrate.

Beyond the sheer waste of time, excessive phone usage can also take a toll on mental well-being. Numerous studies have highlighted the detrimental impact of social media on mental health, with even Facebook acknowledging the negative effects of passive usage on mood. Researchers are still investigating the potential long-term consequences of devoting significant time and energy to our devices.

Some major investors are urging Apple to develop new tools to help users combat phone addiction, recognizing that dependency could harm the company’s future prospects.

However, individuals need not solely rely on tech companies for solutions. By consciously managing phone usage, one can take proactive steps to reprogram behavior. If you’re seeking concrete strategies beyond simple resolutions like “spending less time on Facebook” or “limiting Snapchat use during work,” here are some practical tips to help recalibrate your habits: 

Remove distracting applications off your home screen

Removing distracting apps from your home screen can be effective in curbing unconscious phone usage, as explained by Rosen. When apps are readily accessible, it’s easy to transition from one to another without much thought, leading to unintentional time-wasting.

By relegating apps that you want to limit your usage of to less convenient locations, such as folders on the second page of your apps or off-screen entirely for Android users, you can reduce the likelihood of impulsively opening them. Meanwhile, prioritize placing apps that align with your goals, such as reading or language learning apps, prominently on your home screen to encourage their usage.

For even greater control over your phone habits, consider deleting certain apps like Facebook or Twitter altogether and relying on your smartphone’s web browser when necessary.

Make schedule for yourself

Maintaining a structured schedule is key to reducing phone dependency, according to Rosen. He recommends setting alarms at intervals to regulate phone usage, starting from every 15 minutes and gradually spacing them out to every half hour, 45 minutes, or hour. Upon hearing the alarm, allocate one minute to address any notifications before resetting the timer.

To alleviate the pressure to respond immediately and ensure accountability, Rosen advises informing close friends or family members that you may not be as prompt in replying to messages as before.

Turn off as many notifications from applications as possible

Minimize disruptions by disabling numerous push notifications. You need not be constantly alerted about every new “like” on your Instagram post or the latest episode release from your favorite podcast.

A straightforward method to reduce distractions is to disable push notifications for multiple apps. Simply navigate to Settings > Notifications to manage your preferences. Personally, I’ve opted to keep notifications enabled only for email, chat app messages, calendars, and utility apps like Lyft or GetAround, which are activated only when in use.

Turn on your phone’s grayscale

Consider activating grayscale mode on your phone as a powerful method to reduce screen time. Time Well Spent, a nonprofit dedicated to reshaping our interactions with technology, suggests this technique to eliminate the allure of vibrant colors that entice you whenever you unlock your device.

I personally found this strategy highly effective in deterring me from frequenting apps like Facebook and Instagram. However, I did disable it occasionally when needing to access Maps or capture photos.

To enable grayscale, navigate to the “Accessibility” section in your phone’s settings. On an iPhone, locate “Display Accommodations” and activate “Color Filters.” For Samsung devices, go to “Vision” and scroll down to select “Grayscale.”

Get rid of your phone from your bed

Banish your phone from your bedside to resist the urge of making it the last thing you see at night and the first thing you check in the morning. Opt for a traditional alarm clock and charge your phone out of arm’s reach. This simple adjustment can help prevent the temptation of diving into a barrage of messages and updates at the start of your day.

Sources
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The Science Behind Tears


Living in a society with norms and expectations surrounding the act of crying, it is easy to forget that behind the gender roles, ridicule, and perceived weakness of our tears, they serve an important and astonishing evolutionary purpose. First and foremost, we must establish that not all tears are the same: in fact, there is a consensus that there are three types of tears. Basal tears, always coat your eyes and protect them from debris, germs, and dirt. These tears are spread over your eyes every time you blink and help to keep your eyes clean and healthy. Next are reflex tears, which, as their name suggests, are made in response to foreign bodies such as chemicals, dust, smoke, and other potentially harmful things. (Think: onions!) They protect and clear out your eyes with antibodies and a quantity larger than basal tears. Finally, what most people think when they think of tears: is emotional tears. These are the tears that you release when you are crying from an emotion such as sadness, anger, or joy, and are what we will be exploring in this blog post!

Why Do We Cry?

There have been multiple theories as to why we cry emotional tears, but there are a few that stand out, make sense, and have stood the test of time. There is the fact that tears are an agent to relieve stress, as well as other strong emotions. Have you ever noticed how much better you feel once you’ve cried? That’s because when you cry, you release oxytocin and endorphin. These are widely known as “feel good” hormones and can relieve you of intense and unpleasant emotions. They have been found to relieve both physical and mental pain.

Crying is also a very important and effective social cue for humans, who are extremely sociable creatures whose health and well-being oftentimes depend upon said social connection. Of course, the most obvious example of this is a baby, who will cry to signal that they need something because they are unable to talk. But even into adolescence and adulthood, crying can cue others in on the fact that you need support, or that you are overwhelmed. Within family dynamics and communities, this can be an invaluable method of nonverbal communication.

How Did We Come to Cry?

Humans are the only known animals to cry. Of course, other organisms release tears just like our basal and reflex tears, but we are the only ones that seem to cry out of emotion. There have been many theories as to why (and some which have been disproven): as indications within our social circles, as a way to clear the body of toxins, as distress calls that were perceived as more submissive and thus gained less attention from potential predators… etc. But similar to many other phenomena that we can observe in the human species, it is a feature unique to humans. Funnily enough, we have done to crying what we have done with myriad things throughout history: assigned stereotypes and assumptions borne from the world and society around us. Funny that, don’t you think? Certainly, there is an unfortunate amount of shame and stigma surrounding the expression of emotions through tears. But how healthy it can be and how we are evolutionarily wired to feel good through crying, perhaps you’ll think about your preconceived notions about crying and give it a try. (Dare I say, give it a cry?)

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Happy National Volunteer Week! – 5 Benefits of Volunteering

In Canada, National Volunteer Week is the week of April 14th – April 20th. It is a week that acknowledges the work and commitment of volunteers around Canada. As a personal observation, within the week, special gifts, parties and events are being held to celebrate another year of volunteering. From people that they volunteered for, it is clear that most people are grateful for having volunteers. To celebrate National Volunteer Week, here are 5 benefits to volunteering. Hopefully, these can help you build your appreciations for volunteers and/or become a volunteer yourself.

Volunteer
Image by Chaiyan Anuwatmongkolchai from Pixabay

1. Volunteering is a meaningful experience

At first glance, this is hopefully one of the first things that comes to your mind when someone mentions volunteering. A simple process: you donate time to help communities and/or organizations grow. However, despite how simple volunteering is, it can leave an amazing long-lasting impact. As you help people out, a possible result is that people will like you. By committing a small bit into volunteering, can come back as a very meaningful experience. Volunteering is not entirely about helping others, but it’s to also allow volunteers themselves to grow and adapt to many new situations. From this, many amazing memories can be created and those memories can make volunteering a meaningful experience for all individuals.

Meaningful message
Image by Alexa from Pixabay

 

2. Volunteering helps with mental health

There are a wide variety of volunteer experiences to try from writing thank you letters to the frontline workers, interacting with seniors and/or kids, to helping out in big festivals. As a thought, without experiencing new things like these, life would seem pretty boring. Without having to learn new things, meet great people, or see new places, it would be hard to cope with mental health, and individuals can often feel unhappy when they do not experience new things.

Heart connected by others
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Through volunteering, there is the benefit that it helps with your mental health. You are able to learn new things, meet incredible people, and discover new places.

Teamwork

Image by Bob Dmyt from Pixabay 

3. Volunteer helps you build skills

Through volunteering, you can learn many skills that you wouldn’t normally learn. For example, in some volunteer projects, you may be tasked with kitchen duties (for the cause of serving homeless people and/or a community). Depending on what the volunteer project is, it is very likely that you will learn new skills. Ranging from social skills, life skills, customer service skills, etc… there’s always something new for you to learn, especially through volunteering. On top of learning skills, recall that there are a variety of volunteer experiences. Many experiences helps you learn many skills which would become essential to you in one way or more.

Learning new skills
Image by Dim Hou from Pixabay

As a fun fact, volunteer experiences can be used to help you achieve post-secondary and/or jobs. As mentioned earlier, volunteering can help you learn new things. While most jobs are more focussed on your experience of working with other people, there are always other things that can help you gain an advantage because of volunteering. These other things can include problem-solving, time-management, reflections. Volunteering not only helps you build skills, but also allows you to utilize your existing skills and make them better!

Cooking
Image by Abdulmajeed Hassan from Pixabay

 

4. Volunteering helps you get out of your comfort zone

Even if you are shy, volunteering helps you get out of your shell. At some point, through volunteering (but also through any sort of participation), your comfort zone begins to grow. By experiencing and participating in new things, volunteering can help you build confidence in not just yourself, but also to other people and communities. While it may seem difficult to get out of your comfort zone, it is always possible. All it takes is to participate as best as you can!

Engaged Volunteer
Image by baekmoon sung from Pixabay

As a personal example, I remember my first time volunteering. I had no idea exactly what to expect and was ready to follow what I was told. However, as my first experience progressed, I quickly became comfortable being around other volunteers, and after other experiences, I became comfortable interacting with the community. It is through my participation in icebreaker games (where we introduce ourselves and interact with other volunteers) and enjoying volunteering in general that helped me expand my comfort zone and be more confident.

"Ice breaker"
Image by Wilfried Pohnke from Pixabay
– “Ice breaker”

 

5. Volunteering enlightens how you view the world

Now, this last one might be difficult to understand at first if you’re not used to volunteering. However, by experiencing many new experiences, volunteers can be prone to changing some of their perspectives. As a personal observation, through volunteering, the most common perspectives that changes are towards how volunteers see homeless people, seniors, and other commonly stereotyped groups of people. With the previous benefits of volunteering mentioned here, these enlightenments happen at some point for volunteers. Through a meaningful experience where you’re able to go outside your comfort zone, there’s the possibility that your perspective of the world and how it operates changes.

Sunset picture
Image by Boris Kjaev from Pixabay

 

Closing Statement

Before you leave, a few things to keep in mind. Firstly, these 5 benefits of volunteering mentioned are not all of the possible benefits. Second, while this is briefly mentioned, it takes some commitment to achieve most of the benefits (as a question to think about: if you don’t engage in the opportunity, then how can you benefit greatly from it?) Lastly, while this is also briefly mentioned, volunteering is much more fun with friends. Even if you started it by yourself, meeting new people and making new friends during a volunteer opportunity is where the main fun of volunteering begins.

Friends having fun
Image by Maike und Björn Bröskamp from Pixabay

Hopefully, this blog post has enhanced your appreciation for volunteers around the world. While most volunteer opportunities are short, every last contribution goes a long way to those that the volunteers helped. Through volunteering, there is so much potential that can be fulfilled and many ways to build yourself. Personally, volunteering is a very positive experience for me and I am glad to present a blog post on this. Hopefully, this post encourages you to become a volunteer whenever a volunteering opportunity presents itself. Have a great rest of your day and Happy National Volunteer Week!

Volunteer hands placed as leaves on a tree
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Sources: 1 , 2 , 3

Images: 1 (Featured Image) , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12

How does space travel affect the brain?

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As we know it, one of humanity’s greatest goals to achieve in life is the expansion of space travel. Just like how Neil Armstrong reached the moon in 1969 and how Elon Musk is desperate to reach Mars, space exploration remains important in discovering the world above the sky. At this point, scientists have realized how the universe is expanding, which greatly increases the chances of finding something “other”. Whether that’s establishing contact with aliens or discovering a brand-new habitable planet not many light years away. The point is, that space travel remains to be a pivotal subject for humanity to ponder upon.

To reach this understanding we have of space today, humanity has sent humans out into the great unknown. Conducting experiments and documenting their observations has led us to learn more about our habitat way above the atmosphere. From what has been documented, we have learned that space is “zero-gravity”, but not actually zero because there can never be “no gravity” in space. We have also learned that space is only 1 degree warmer than absolute zero (which is -273.15 degrees Celsius). in 1995, astronomers Raghvendra Sahai and Lars-Åke Nyman said that absolute zero is the lowest temperature that is theoretically possible!

Since we now know that space has proven itself to be a deadly and scientifically rich area, are the human space travellers affected by it?

There are many long-term issues that correlate with the human anatomy and space travel, mainly the fact that many of the organs in the body may slightly deteriorate. Some examples of these negative health conditions include balance disorders, muscle atrophy, and immune system deterioration. All these complications may occur because of the radiation levels, weightlessness, long-term confinement, and even loneliness (well confinement and loneliness may play a part in psychological conditions rather than physical issues).

One of the most prominent of these apparent psychological issues is located with sleep patterns. All humans have an inner biological clock that helps us keep in check with our sleep patterns during time changes and season changes. In space, this biological clock becomes quite messed up due to the drastic change of habitat and atmosphere. Another factor is because of the lack of gravity travellers face whilst in their spaceships, they become fatigued and their sleep schedule deteriorates even more. Isolation is another issue they have to deal with. Astronauts may have to work with an extremely small team for many months, and of course, as expected, conflict may arise.

Monotony occurs in space travel too. As most people probably know, monotony is the quality of wearisome consistency, routine, and lack of variety. Because they are cooped up in a small place, for months, at a time, and probably do the exact same thing every day, boredom is inevitable, which will obviously negatively impact the emotional state of the astronauts.

The radiation that circulates around in space also factors into the well-being of the astronauts. This may lead to a negative interference with the astronaut’s executive functions. Furthermore, increased levels of exposure may lead to neuroinflammation which can lead to Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.

Overall, although space exploration may be a beautiful subject area to learn more about, the astronauts will unfortunately pay the price of their health. So for all you readers out there who are aspiring to be an astronaut, keep in mind the small price you have to pay.

Links: 1,2,3

 

What is Starlink

Starlink is a satellite constellation project, a satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites that operate as a system, making Starlink an example of a satellite constellation. Starlink is designed to provide high-speed and affordable internet services to the entire globe, with a focus on remote and rural locations. The satellite internet service is operated by SpaceX, and is not the same as cell phone signal or 5G. Starlink enables households, businesses, or remote areas to connect to the internet via satellite because it differs from cell phone signal and 5G.

The project will place thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit 550 km above Earth, this will significantly hinder both optical and radio astronomical observations. There are currently 3,000 Starlink satellites orbiting the planet, but SpaceX intends to deploy at least 12,000 satellites and possibly as many as 20,000 to secure Starlink’s ability to ensure global internet coverage via Starlink.

The Starlink satellite is available in various countries, to ensure everyone gets access to Starlink, and will have a lifespan of approximately 5 years.

How Does Starlink Work?

Starlink uses thousands of small satellites as opposed to satellites that use a few large satellites. There are many different types of satellites, and each one orbits the Earth when its speed is balanced by the gravity of the planet. Information about Earth’s clouds, oceans, land, and air is provided by certain satellites. Similar to Starlink, other satellites are related to the internet and data. While SpaceX provides the Starlink service using a large constellation of geostationary satellites in low Earth orbit, regular satellite internet services rely on a single geostationary satellite that orbits the Earth.

Satellite internet works similarly to cable internet, except there are a few more moving parts. On how the Starlink works basically are in the following few steps:

Your data requests pass from your computer to a satellite internet dish attached to your home (or nearby location). The satellite internet dish broadcasts the data requests to a satellite orbiting the Earth. In turn the satellite sends the request to the ISP. Sending your data back reverses the process, transmitting data from the provider to the satellite, then to the satellite internet dish, down to your router, and onto your computer. Rather than sending internet signals through electric cables, which must be physically laid down to reach far places, satellite internet works by beaming information through the vacuum of space, where it travels 47% faster than in fibre-optic cable. Starlink satellites are meant to carry large amounts of information rapidly to any point on Earth, even in extremely hard to reach places where fibre optic cables would be expensive or hard to place in.

Benefits
Starlink offers a lot of benefits despite its hugely controversial side. The Starlink app is well crafted, very functional, and user-friendly. Starlink is a fairly safe project in terms of data transmission. Data transmission is the transfer of data from one digital device to another. Starlink is a very useful satellite and can make good use in case of an emergency. For example during the Ukraine and Russia war, or the incident that occurred in Iran, Starlink allowed citizens to contact families. Starlink did this by allowing citizens to bypass the country’s censorship networks, allowing them to communicate with others.

Starlink is faster than conventional internet, and is more effective than optic fibres. Starlink provides reliable internet, during bad weather Starlink does not suffer from problematic internet outages on Earth. If one base station fails due to bad weather, the other base stations will provide internet access to the Starlink satellites.

Conclusion

In summary, Starlink is a satellite constellation project initiated by SpaceX with the goal of providing global high-speed internet coverage, particularly in remote areas. By deploying thousands of small satellites in low earth orbit, Starlink aims to revolutionize internet accessibility worldwide. Despite concerns about its impact on astronomical observations, Starlink offers numerous advantages, including faster and more reliable internet connectivity, especially in areas where traditional infrastructure is lacking. Its approach has the potential to bridge the digital gap and empower communities globally.

Sources

https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-starlink-satellite-internet/#:~:text=Starlink%20is%20a%20satellite%20constellation,directly%20to%20your%20Starlink%20router.

https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites.html 

https://theglobestalk.com/what-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-starlink/ 

https://www.starlinkhardware.com/here-are-the-biggest-disadvantages-of-starlink/#Price  


Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

Guess the Movie from the Emoji Plot Summary: Can You Get Them Right?

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Hello! As per the title, I’ve interpreted 5 movies into emojis based off of the plot. The movies range from genres of anime, romance, LGBTQ+, drama, and comedy. Please enjoy!

Movie #1: 

🤓♀️🪄❤️‍🔥📚

🏫, 😡💪🤾♀️, 🍯💗♀️ 

🍫🎂

😡♀️ 🏡→🍬, 🪆 → 🍯♀️ and 🤓♀️

😡♀️ → 🫠♀️

🍯♀️ and 🤓♀️ →  🏠👪

 

Movie #2: 

🤷 is 😠 at 👪👪👪

🌅👪👪👪 → 🛫 but 🤷 → 🏠

🥷🥷 → 🏠💎💲and 🤷😝→🔥🤜🎨⚡👣🪶→ 🥷🥷→ ☠️☠️

🥷🥷→ 🚓

🤱of 🤷 → 🏠 and❤️‍🔥🎉🎄

 

Movie #3: 

🧝🏰 is 🖼️ by 🏰

🧝 meets ♀️

♀️ → 🫎🐔🐜🐘🐋

🧝🤝♀️ to 🚫 🖼️ by 🏰

🧝💔♀️ because ♀️ 😞

😢😡♀️ → 🏰🔥⚡→ 🧝⚔️

🧝 🪄 ♀️ 🎉

 

Movie #4: 

♀️ →🌸🏠🌊 

At ✍️🗞️🎙️, ♀️ meets ♂️ → 👩‍❤️‍👨 but 👪❓

♀️ and ♂️ meets ♂️ 🧑‍🍼on 🌊🚢 → not 👪!

📰👏😀 and 👩‍❤️‍👨🎉

 

Movie #5: 

♀️🧑‍🎓 → 📰 👓 👠 👗 🧑‍🦳

♀️ is 😞😵‍💫because 🧑‍🦳 🙄

♀️ ⬆️ 👗 👠 and 🧑‍🦳 👏

👩‍❤️‍👨 💔

♀️🪞🚗 with 🧑‍🦳 

♀️ ❌ 📰 👓 👠 👗

📱→ ⛲

👩‍❤️‍👨

 

************************************************************************

The answers are down below!

 

 

 

Answers: 

  1. Matilda
  2. Home Alone 
  3. Nimona
  4. From Up on Poppy Hill
  5. The Devil Wears Prada

 

Hopefully my interpretations were close! Thank you for reading, and hopefully you enjoyed guessing each of these!

 

Instagram’s Viral New Policy to Limit Political Content

It’s no lie that as youth, we spend a large portion of our time on social media. According to Forbes, the average teenager spends nearly five hours a day scrolling. With this information, it’s no wonder these platforms have such an influence on the opinions of youth. When we spend a fifth of our day scrolling through the internet, it’s obvious that in addition to recieving instant gratification and entertainment, we are also passively absorbing a lot of information.

Social media drives many issues in youth, including body dysmorphia, cyber-bullying, and dangerous challenge trends like “the skull breaker TikTok challenge.” The introduction of cyber-security courses and content filters have addressed most of these issues. However, one of the less obvious influences on youth is the spread of political misinformation, idealogy, and bias.

With increased competition in the media, some creators are filming dramatically politically biased content to gain more views. While it works, it also has a concerning impact on the youth population’s political opinion. Similar to how drawing news from a singular source creates bias, scrolling only to see more of the same political ideals creates an underlying bias in youth. In this way, it directly influences us soon-to-be-voting citizens.

Which begs the questions: who controls the media? And how can we prevent underlying bias?

Instagram’s Solution

With the upcoming American Federal Election in November, Instagram has enrolled all of its users in a filter that limits its algorithm from recommending political content. They have defined “political content” as topics that relate to “governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or a society at large.”

Another key point in this policy is that its users who are eighteen years old or older are permitted to turn off this filter. Those with an account set younger than eighteen cannot change the filter.

This filter doesn’t only impact Instagram – in fact, it affects all of its sibling companies under Meta, including Facebook and Threads.

The Controversy

The newly implemented “Political Content” limitations spawned huge debate recently. Although they sent out a small article in February, many users claim that the policy should have had a much larger forewarning after its introduction a week ago. It angered users who depended on social media for political updates. Some even claim the policy is impeding on freedom of speech.

This is particularly relevant today, as social media has often been used as a place for advocacy and spreading awareness. Human Rights Watch claims that the policy will further impede on the voices of pro-Palestinians in the ongoing war in Gaza right now. They say that it only exacerabates the existing repression against Palestinian expression because of its limits against political awareness.

In stark contrast, many believe the limitation is necessary not only to prevent political bias, but also to sustain Meta as a company. After an overwhelming amount of evidence pointing toward Meta suggesting its spread of misinformation and polarized political content in the last two American Federal Elections, both the company and many of its users argue that the implementation of the policy is long overdue.

TL; DR

Social media plays an increasingly important role in our reception of information, especially as youth. However, sometimes this results in the creation of an underlying political bias, which is a big concern for companies such as Meta during election and major political social issue times. To address this, Meta has created a new policy that will limit the amount of political content that its algorithm suggests to its users.

Caged: Puppy Mills and Their Horrifying Living Conditions

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I snuggle deeper into my mother’s thick fur coat, the steady beat of her heart helping me calm down. But today, even this does not ease the freezing cold. All I can do is shiver as the slight chills running down my back morph into stinging needles, their icy grasp leaving no part of my body behind. Slowly my siblings follow me, bringing with them a sense of comfort. We usually fight for the warmest spot. I try to relax as a sleepy haze clouds my thoughts but the howls of the anguished dogs around us are anything but relaxing. They screech and cry, each voice filled with despair. These sounds hurt my ears, but they are unavoidable, since the other canines share the space with us. Since I was born, these sounds have always been there, just like the smells. The pungent scent of urine, the smells of blood.

I shift, changing positions from time to time, the wire flooring digging into me. What doesn’t help is the constant itch I feel everywhere. The feeling of a thousand tiny creatures crawling up me, bringing with them an irritating tingling sensation. No matter how much I scratch, the feeling never goes away. Suddenly, I’m not so sleepy anymore. I watch as my mother forces her bleeding feet to the bowl of food and decide to follow. But walking is even harder than laying down. Each step on the wire hurts, reignighting the healing cuts it previously caused. Every step feels like a fire burning my already damaged paws. I watch her lick the still-empty bowl of food, watch her wet the huge gash on her side using her tongue, watch her pace the enclosure myriad times.

But then something else catches my eye.

The door. A human. A human swings the door open and saunters in.

But this is not what distracts me, It’s the sudden overload of sounds, scents and feelings. Slowly, the other dogs quieten down and I am now entirely focused on these alien stimuli coming from the other side of the door.

The chirp of a bird.

The smell of grass and rich soil.

Beams of sunlight.

Rays of hope. 

All of these come with a sudden longing. A pull. I am drawn to them. All my other troubles out of mind, I race to the door. But then I crash into something. A wire wall. Realization strikes me and I come back to my senses. I whimper,  for I had forgotten about the four wire walls.

The four wire walls that trap me and my family in.

The four wire walls that make up my enclosure. All the dogs here have them. I scratch at them, I pound. But they do not budge. I notice my mother and my siblings, who have slunk to the back of the enclosure. Surely they feel the pull as well. They know.

For the first time, I feel like a prisoner.

A caged prisoner.

One in three Canadian puppies comes from a puppy mill. There are around a thousand puppy mills in Canada, with about 100,000 dogs being bred for commercial purposes. These animals live have inhumane living conditions and are usually sold online or shipped to pet shops. The mothers face a different plight, being bred again and again until they can no longer do so. Adopt your puppy from an animal shelter or trusted breeder instead. 

Sources:

  • https://thebark.com/content/veterinarians-get-puppy-mill-blues
  • https://www.peta.org/issues/animal-companion-issues/pet-trade/puppy-mills/
  • https://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/puppy-mill-statistics-canada
  • https://www.humanesociety.org/all-our-fights/stopping-puppy-mills

 

A Checklist To Help Maintain A Comfortable Schedule

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Introduction Section

In life, as we gain more responsibilities, we tend to have trouble balancing all of them. At some point, there will be a time where it is just too much trouble. However, those moments are meant to happen at some point. Those moments are meant to indicate to us that we need help balancing all of these responsibilities. One of the main methods to help with that is to create a schedule.

Now, a schedule can help us visually track everything down. However, there are still odd moments where there are too many things planned within a certain hour, day, or maybe even a week. If this is the case, then please consider following the checklist to maintain a comfortable schedule below. As a note to keep in mind, a comfortable schedule varies between person to person. While this checklist can apply to everyone, anyone can take different approaches to the following points.

Calendar planner
Image by Deborah Hudson from Pixabay

1. List everything you plan on doing

Before you create a schedule, you should list everything you plan on doing ahead of time. This not only gives you the benefit of hindsight, but allows you to coordinate your events and see if there are any conflicts between those events. Of course, there are times where you can’t fit everything into your schedule. Because of those situations, it’s not a bad idea to list everything you might do before you officially try to perform them.

Checklist
Image by 472301 from Pixabay

2. Set up a priority system

After listing everything, try organizing your list from what’s most important to what’s least important. As mentioned earlier, there could be cases where you can’t fit everything into your schedule. As a starting point, your most important things to do could range from your job and/or school, exercising, to attending special family events. While, on the other hand, your least important things could range from going to a recreational place, shopping, to attending social events in general. By setting up your priorities, it’s easier to pinpoint your more important events first.

Scrabble words revealing "Prioritise"
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

3. Consider any transportation you will take to get to those places

While it’s fun to do more exciting things, there is the issue of how you will get to those places. If your fun plan is at your home, then it’s incredibly easy to fit it to your schedule. However, when it comes to events that take place far away, it’ll certainly become more difficult. For example, if it takes 30 minutes to get to an event from your home, you’ll have to consider that 30 minutes to get there AND the 30 minutes to get back.

Tip: If you plan on going to a far place, then consider doing other things on your way to that event. On the way to that one event, you can do other things for fun and/or are needed. When it comes to transportation, you can get to most places. It’s something you can take advantage of in a responsible matter.

Polar Express Train
Image by Annette from Pixabay

4. Leave some space for time to relax, eat, and for cases when something unpredictable happens

On top of considering transportation, there are times where you need to relax, eat, and respond to emergencies. From time to time, you’ll need to relax, eat, and in some cases, deal with unexpected tasks.

When it comes to relaxing, especially sleeping, and eating, these are the times where you can take a break. Especially when you have a lot of things to do, your schedule can get very stressful. Taking the time to relieve yourself by relaxing and eating, can allow you to recharge and perform better. Sometimes, it’s best to go slower than perform without stopping.

Autumn Forest
Image by Joe from Pixabay

While you can’t exactly plan for unexpected things, it’s best to be flexible when those things do happen. While you can’t exactly foresee the unexpected ahead of time, you can make a plan to respond to it. For example, you cannot exactly plan to have a flat tire like in the picture below, but you can free some time in your schedule for unexpected moments like those.

Flat tire
Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay

5. Set reminders for the important events/deadlines ONLY

After considering the previous points, you can create a comfortable schedule that works for you. However, as humans, we can all make mistakes from time to time and forget things. As mentioned earlier, a schedule can help you visually track everything down, but there are those times where you’ll forget some of those things you’ve put in your schedule. Because of that, it’s not a bad idea to set yourself reminders for important events. Especially when you’d like to value other people’s time, a reminder can help you prepare ahead of time. While you don’t necessarily need reminders for every event where you may not get penalized for forgetting, setting reminders can help remind you of upcoming events.

Clock approaching deadline
Image by Gino Crescoli from Pixabay

Of course, after following this checklist, it’s just a matter of becoming comfortable and developing a habit with the schedule. At the beginning, it may be difficult to handle all the changes. However, as you get used to your responsibility and develop a flow in your schedule, your life may go in smooth sailing. A comfortable schedule will vary between different people, but at some point, you can be comfortable with your own schedule. With that, I wish you the best of luck on creating a comfortable schedule for yourself and hopefully consider this checklist!

Monthly Calendar
Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay

Sources: 1 , 2

Images: 1 (Featured Image), 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9

Picture Prompts: What can you come up with?

Hello! This is an activity I participated in at a recent blogger’s meeting. Essentially, you get a picture, and then you have 5-10  minutes to write what you believe is happening in that picture. Nothing is off limits, and anything you can come up with your imagination can be used. Here are the prompts and my own answers:

Ink smudges adorned his hands, splotches decorating across the plane of the paper. He was a ruined artist, devoid of creativity or inspiration. His hands strangled locks of his hair in frustration, strands floating to the floor. He should give up. In the reflection, his face was filled with contempt and malice for himself. As the image of his grandfather crystallized in the reflection, his eyes widened in shock. Was he hallucinating? The familiar wrinkled lines etched along his grandfather’s face, the calloused hands, and his eyes – pleading, and a reminder. He was an artist too, before he passed away. The memories of a long lazy afternoon with his grandfather, bathing in sunlight, painting whatever they wanted on the canvas. Joyful, blissful, carefree days. The exasperation left him, replaced with peace. He painted from the heart, each brush stroke a tribute to his grandfather, a memento to his legacy.

Rain hit the pavement like marbles, before vanishing in an instant. The chasm between the boy and the other side of the sidewalk seemed endless. His first step, an imprint in the rain, seemed to push him. Then another step, and another. Hidden details seemed to catch his eye, the faded painted lines, the intricate array of stones embedded in the road. The journey had become treacherous, the rain drenching his face, dripping through his clothes, squeezing through his shoes. He almost gave up. But he focused on making another imprint in the rain, searching for another speckled rock in the road. HIs last step echoed a resounding finality. The chasm faded and the clouds unfurled, shining a brilliant sunlight.

A phenomenon. The convergence of nature and humankind. A butterfly within a lightbulb. Passerbys wondered about this mystery. Was the butterfly trapped? Was the butterfly content in its solitude? Even as the seasons changed, the people changed, the butterfly in the lightbulb was a constant. It was an anchor in an ever-changing world. The rhythmic beating of its wings never eased and the small flicker of light never faded.

In the blue and black expanse, the woman could only hear the sound of cicadas and the occasional lap of the water. Her last possession left of the shipwreck was a lamp, untouched and dry. Her fingers thumbed the carefully crafted ridges and the smooth curve lamp shade. The light flickered over her head, casting a faint glow over her features. The acrid smell of the sea clutched to her hair and clothes, bringing up the haunting memory of the shipwreck. She wondered when she would be saved. When someone notices her. Only time will tell. She sat there, waiting patiently.

 

Her pants came out in puffs of air, before vanishing in the sky. Lush green pine trees towered over her, the branches spreading out like fractals over her head. She shouldn’t be here. A closed-off area, with a forbidden bridge. Exhilaration pulsed through her at the thought of the intrigue. The rhythmic thump of her backpack accompanied each step, the creak of the hanging bridge adding to the suspense. Each step was a climax in a story– will the bridge break or will it stay? Her hands ran along the chains of the bridge, a metallic smell coating her hands. And with the next step, the rusty chains broke, collapsing in on themselves, the bridge unfurling under her feet. That smell coated her body, before that that was all she could sense anymore.  

With that gruesome ending, thank you for reading this week! I hope you participated in some of these prompts and enjoyed my interpretations. Have a nice day!