terrorism stamped with white privilege ft. capitol hill chaos

BLM is fighting and protesting for an actual cause. It’s fighting for basic human rights, lives, equality, and respect. People came together with fire in their voices and their soul. They came together with passion, pain, love in order to set things right. What was the response?? Tear gas, military set up, shootings, unlawful arrests and protesters being labelled “savages” and “thugs”.

Now, the same people who carry the blue lives matter flag (which isn’t even a thing), the same people who cry out about the burning buildings, are seen pepper-spraying, flipping off, fighting cops, and breaking into Capitol Hill. These white supremacists raided the Capitol building, waving nazi flags, waving confederate flags (which symbolizes the exclusion of POC and their enslavement), breaking windows, and just being chaotic. And, for what? FOR WHAT? They can’t accept the democratic conclusion, the election. They are fighting with hatred. The response was being called “great patriots who have been unfairly treated,”, being walked down by hand, and selfies. This was no protest, this was no riot, this was a domestic terrorist attack. Terrorism stamped with white privilege.

We know that if it were a BLM protest, that day would have gone so much differently. It can’t be any more clear that it was never about being pro-police but anti-black, it wasn’t about the burning buildings but blatant racism, and it wasn’t how you would react around the police but who are you are, how you look, and your skin color. No justice, no peace. This isn’t over.

Brandon bernard

Our justice system is messed up.

Brandon Bernard, may he rest in power, was executed on December 10, 2020, at 9:27 pm by lethal injection by the federal government of the United States. This was murder, just because it was government sanctioned, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it was murder.

Brandon Bernard was 18 years old when he was sentenced to death for a crime committed in 1999, the government and jurors had an incomplete picture of Brandon and what he did. Stacie and Todd Bagley were the couple who was shot and murdered by Christopher Vialva (executed on September). Bernard was tasked with getting rid of the evidence by burning the couple’s car. He didn’t have a leading role in the crime. The couple was dead before this fire. I’m not excusing what Bernard did, it was wrong, and it was bad. However, Brandon did not deserve to be put to death.

Brandon was a father of two daughters. He was a son. He only saw his family through a glass wall. Throughout his 20 years of incarceration, he demonstrated positive behavior, he changed his behavior for the better, and helped at risk youth with the intention of leading them away from going down the wrong path. 5 of the 9 jurors (the same ones from 20 years ago) regret their prior decision to sentence him to death.

“Bernard’s last words, which were more than three minutes long, were directed to the Bagley family, according to the pool reporter present at the execution. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s the only words that I can say that completely capture how I feel now and how I felt that day.” ( CBSNEWS )

If these are my last days… I hope that my death will bring a meaning other than destruction and it will ripple through generations positively.

– BRANDON BERNARD

It’s important to remember that Brandon Bernard’s case is not a one time thing. It’s the system that we currently have that make POC in this line of fire of injustice and inhumane treatment. We need to keep on fighting and keep on putting our voices out there to change this. We need to keep educating ourselves and helping each other in whatever way we can. Spreading the word, sighing a petition, making a call, being vocal, keep on keeping on to help in creating a positive change. There’s already so much pain and hurt and hardship that’s been affecting everyone especially this year. Your voice is heard and what you do is important. No justice, no peace.

On Covid-19

A new norm. That’s what we’re faced with. It’s crazy what’s been happening.

As of July 22, 2020, worldwide:

Cases: 15,314,719

Deaths: 624,538

Recovered: 9,243,230

We are always learning new things that come and so maybe by the time that you come across this, numbers and accuracy of the current information I’m sharing may have changed. My heart goes out to everybody going through this time. 

The virus was originally detected in Wuhan, China.

Beginning Timeline:

December 31, 2019:

world health organization gets alerted

Although the World Health Organization (aka WHO) was alerted about a flu-like cases in Wuhan on December 31, 2019 (just before the new year was about to happen), no action was taken because back then they didn’t suspect it to be that severe yet.

January 11, 2020:

first death in Wuhan, China

The first death report: a 61-year-old man on January 1st who checked himself in the hospital on December 27 because suspected of the flu.

January 13, 2020:

confirmed case in Thailand

The first confirmed case outside of china was known to be in Thailand. 

January 17, 2020:

second death in Wuhan, China and another case in Thailand

The second death reported in Wuhan of a 69-year-old man. Another case in Thailand is reported, a 74-year-old woman.

January 21, 2020:

first case in the US, more confirmed cases show up, china reports more deaths and cases rise

A man, in his 30s, who traveled back to the US from China, is confirmed the first Coronavirus case in the US, Washington state. Hong kong (person in their 30s) along with Taiwan (woman in 50s) confirms first cases. China confirms two more deaths (a 66 year old man and 48 year old woman). By this time, there was about 300 confirmed cases in China.   

January 23, 2020:

transportation shut down

Steps are being taken to try and stop the spread of the virus. Wuhan announces the shut down of all transportation. Take note that Wuhan is home to 11 million people. Beijing cancelled fairs and large gatherings. Singapore has its first confirmed case.

Fast forward to today:

There are 213 countries affected by Covid-19. Millions of confirmed cases. Hundreds of thousands of lives taken. 

There is currently no vaccine yet. However, they are working on making one. 

Events (like Coachella, TED, NBA, GDC, Shopify, and more) have been cancelled. Tourism has taken a big hit.

Countries and cities have gone into lockdown. Some example of places that have undergone lockdown would be: Beijing, Italy, Leicester, Manila, Iran, Germany, and more.

Schools have closed.

Cruise ships gets headlines as they go through quarantine.

Groceries had to put limits on the quantities on food that could be bought per family. 

The economy takes a hit.

Millions of people have lost their jobs. 

However a lot of places are slowly starting to reopen and lift restrictions. Some places have even opened up their schools. The result of this have been mixed as some have gotten their number of cases spike up again. 

What should we be doing?

Let’s look at the health strategy that’s been going around, A.K.A Flattening the Curve.

What the heck does that mean?:

Before learning how to do this flattening thing, let’s first learn what the curve actually is. First off, the number of cases shown when flattening the curve refers to a projected number of people who will get covid over a period of time, not the actual amount of people who have it currently. In a chart, this curve we’re talking about, actually it’s two curves, are shown. One of them shows the spread of the virus with protective measures and steps taken to slow it down (we’ll get more into these details in a little bit), whereas the other curve shows the virus spread without protective measures. Although the number of cases are the same for both curves, the difference is that one of them (the curve that took the extra measures) has a more gradual rise of cases rather than just a huge spike of people getting Covid infections in a short span of time.

Why is this important?: 

There’s only so much that the medical equipment and the health-care system can take at a time. Without any measures to slow the spread of infection, there would be overwhelmingly amount of cases that wouldn’t allow the health care system to properly give people better access to care, hospital beds, ventilators and treatments. 

Here’s an example:

We have a city called ABC (real creative there- okay, not the point) and in this city there are about 100+ people and 10 front-liners (the doctor and nurses in this case). For simplicity sake, we’ll say that there is only one hospital in the city and there are currently traveling restrictions in place, preventing people from leaving the city. The number of people who will contract the virus is projected to be 100 in a span of about 5 months. If no actions were taken to prevent the fast spread, there could be 100 people going to the hospital in the span of two months, making it the biggest struggle for only 10 doctors and nurses to cope with the few supplies and vital medical they have in such a short period time. However, if health and safety measures were to be implemented and followed, basically how it would be if we worked to flatten the curve, then we could try and lower the amount of patients checking in and being treated at the hospital during a five month period and that would help the health system cope and increase the quality of treatment per patient. So instead of having the challenge of 100 patients at once (or in a span of two months) in a hospital with limited medical equipment and 10 people on the job (that’s about 10 patients per doctor or so), it could be like 20 patients per month for the next 5 months (that would be about 2 patients per doctor) allowing the operation of helping these patient recover to run more smoothly. 

How exactly do we flatten the curve then?

Okay, okay so we’ve covered the importance of flattening the curve. The next thing I want to talk about are steps that can help in flattening the curve. Let’s do this. Our collective actions will make a difference and it does matter. Here are some things that could do for your social responsibility:

Although you might have heard of these already, these are important to remember to do, they go a long way. 

quick note to remember: The main way that Covid-19 is transmitted to others are through droplets coming from an infected person. When a person exhales, speaks, coughs, or sneezes, there are small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth that are expelled to their surrounding. If you are too close to a person with Covid-19, you could inhale the the droplets.

• Social Distance!! 

Try maintaining at least 1 meter (aka 3 feet) from other people. It’s better to be safe and take extra precaution when you’re out! Keeping a distance will be better for you so that you don’t inhale the droplets that someone with Covid might have exhaled out. 

• Avoid touching your face

Another way that someone can contract the virus is through touching a surface that someone who has the virus has touched and then touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. These are easy ways and paths that the virus can enter the body. The average person touches their face a few times per hour. Sometimes we don’t notice we touch our faces, but it’s a habit we need to break! Keep the hands away from the face peeps.  

• Cover your mouth and nose when coughing

Change starts with you! You amazing human being. While we’re breaking away from the habit of touching our face, we’ve got to work on the habit to cover your nose and mouth (use your bent elbow or tissue) when you sneeze or cough! Remember, droplets spread the virus.

• Wear mask when you are out

WEAR. A. MASK. You might not be used to it but it is empirical that you do so. They can prevent those huge droplets from someone who has Covid-19 from spreading with a mask. Make sure that mask covers the nose and mouth. Wear a mask please. 

• If you have the privilege of staying home, stay home!

Yes, it’s a struggle. Plans have been cancelled and you can barely see any of your friends at the moment. It’s only natural that we want to run and hug all the peeps that we miss in our lives. And, yes, it can get boring at home. However, it’s critical to maintain our distance while we let the numbers stop rising and flatten the curve. There are nurses and doctors who have to work hours on end and who can’t even go home to their families, stay home if you can stay home please! Avoid crowds and large gatherings.

• Wash your hands often

Wash your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water as often as possible, especially when you’ve been out or touched surfaces that could have been contaminated, after using the toilet, after coughing or sneezing, and before eating. Hygiene is very, very important! 

• Call for help

If you’re not feeling well, reach out and call professional help. A great place to start would be your local health worker.

but I’m young…

Covid is very real and it’s not yet over. It’s true, people who are 60+ years or with an underlying health condition or in a state that comprises or affects their immune system have a higher risk. Yes, your immunity might be strong and maybe you got this thought that you probably wouldn’t catch anyway. Or, if you did, you’d be able to recover fairly well. But, that’s not the point. How about the people that you come in contact with. Your parents, grandparents, and even your friends. Although you might be strong, how about them? You might have Covid but be asymptomatic (you don’t show any symptoms) and spread it to people without even knowing. It’s important to understand that this is so much bigger than it may seem. And, what you decide to do is important. So, if you have the option to stay home, please stay home. And, when you do go out remember to flatten the curve and wear a mask, social distance, wash hands frequently, and always take extra precaution! Thank you guys 🙂 

Don’t panic and be alert. I know it’s easy to fall into this feeling of fear and panic, but now more than ever is important to calm. Your mental health is super important. Being in a worried state can also compromise your immune system, your fighting engine. Call a friend, take a bath, find something that works for you to stay happy and healthy.

THANK YOU:

Before ending this, I want to give huuuugggeee thank youu to all the essential frontline workers. True, hardworking heroes. Despite the hardship and the health risks that they have to endure, they choose to continue to do help and fight. To all the front-liners around the world, thank you! THANK YOU to the medical professionals. THANK YOU to the restaurant workers. THANK YOU to the sanitation workers. THANK YOU to the farmers. THANK YOU to the delivery peeps. THANK YOU to the grocery clerks. THANK YOU to the truck drivers. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU all heroes. ❤

love yall!

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

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© Elizabeth Anne Villoria

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Lives Matter!

This fight isn’t over.

Ugh, Ocean Acidification

Quote of TRUTH: “How inappropriate to this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.” – Arthur C. Clarke

ugh.

 Our Ocean   

Under the beautiful glistening ocean, marine life silently suffers from the effects of overabundant carbon dioxide (a.k.a CO₂) that has been dumped (and is still continuously being dumped until today) into our atmosphere. You may be wondering how a percent of the excessive amount of CO₂ we produce ends up in the ocean damaging the structure, life flow, and ancient paradise underwater. Well, let me tell you that it wasn’t just a one time job and the effects from it will only get way worse if we don’t take action. Today you shall learn about ocean acidification and what it does to our oceans. 

*

 Industrial Revolution   

It was during the 1800s when the human industry and advancements were booming. Fossil-fuel powered machines and different inventions (like the steam engine, construction, oil-slick roads, mining & dump sites, livestock waste, and more) were the root cause of the CO₂ entering the atmosphere. This was known as the industrial revolution. This gist of this revolution will come into play later on.

*

 Ph Balance

Essentially, the pH scale is a scale used to measure the acidity of something. The scale goes from numbers 0 to 14. Lower numbers, ranging from 0-6, are more acidic. 7 is neutral. Higher numbers, ranging from 8-14, are basic. To give some examples:

• Lemon has an acidity level of 2
• Lye has an acidity level of 13

Putting it into more technical terms:

The acidity of a solution one is measuring describes the Hydrogen ions (H⁺) the solution contains. An acid, on the other hand, is a substance that releases hydrogen ions. Going back to the pH scale, this is the measure of the concentration of H⁺ ions. Since the pH scale is logarithmic, a slight change in measure makes a big difference.

*

 

Industrial Revolution + Ocean pH

Since the industrial revolution, the ocean’s pH has dropped from 8.2 to 8.1. Although this might seem like a small change in number, this is a 30% increase in acidity! That’s right, I’m talking about the whole ocean out there changing 30% in acidity (THAT’S A LOT, SHALL I ADD!). It is even estimated that more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that gets released by burning coal, oil, and gas gets absorbed. I SAID MORE THAN A QUARTER INTO OUR BEAUTIFUL OCEAN. okay, I gotta chill. Proceeding….. At the moment, 22 MILLION tons of CO₂ gets dissolved into the ocean PER DAY. When this was first discovered, it was seen as a positive thing (as scientists saw that is lessened the carbon dioxide warming up the atmosphere). However, further studies showed that the ocean’s chemistry was changing.

*

 

Natural Buffering

There is this stabilizing effect that scientists call buffering. This process is when rivers carry dissolved chemicals from rocks to the ocean. This helps to stabilize the ocean’s pH. However, since there is too much carbon dioxide entering and all at such speed, this natural buffering hasn’t been able to keep in pace. There is a possibility that the ocean’s capacity to function as a carbon storehouse will begin to falter.

*

 

Adapting

Although there are some species that are finding ways to adapt and be even stronger (such as crustaceans), many marine organisms are being negatively impacted by the increasing CO₂ levels. We’ll get more into this in a bit.

*

 

CO₂ + Ocean

The reaction that happens when our ocean absorbs CO₂ can be broken down simply. When water and carbon dioxide get mixed, they form carbonic acid. This kind of acid, just like hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid, breaks down solids and releases hydrogen ions. It is weaker compared to the others, nevertheless, it still accomplishes the same in breaking down solids.

*

Shelled Organisms

A key component of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) shells is carbonate (CO²⁻ ₃). Shell-building marine animals combine calcium ions (Ca⁺²) with carbonate (CO²⁻ ₃), which they get from surrounding seawater, to make calcium carbonate.

Here’s the thing, hydrogen ions (which is released as carbon dioxide and ocean combine) usually bond and get attracted to carbonate. When hydrogen ions combine, bicarbonate ions (HCO₃-) is the result. Shell-building organisms are able to get the carbonate they require from bicarbonate. 

In conclusion to this, the ions that corals, mussels, clams, starfish, oysters, and any other shelled organisms become less abundant with the chemistry changes caused by ocean acidification. And, although these sea creatures may find a way to adapt in more acidic water, their resources, and energy (that normally goes to reproduction and other important activities) will be exhausted.

*

 

A Global Problem

This is truly a global problem. There are millions of people who depend on the ocean for livelihood and as a source of food and protein. Imagine, with the corals being affected like this, the results with the food chain won’t be good. And, on top of ocean acidification, there are already so many existing threats our oceans, the reefs, and the sea creatures face. To name some: pollution, plastic, garbage dumping into the sea, overfishing, and coral bleaching. To be aware of these problems is truly great, but, without any action, the consequences we get, give us too much unnecessary lose. We must take action, spread the word, find solutions, and take action my peeps.

 

 

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

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© Elizabeth Anne Villoria

 

Artificial Intelligence, taking over the world? Yes? No? Maybe….

Quote of TRUTH: “Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time” – Terry Pratchett

Over the past years, technology has seemed to advance faster than we could have ever imagined, especially comparing to the Paleolithic times (where all our ancestors had invented were cave paintings and fire pits, which is, by the way, still very awesome to invent). We’ve gone from having our first light bulb flicker into existence then next self-driving cars, like Tesla. Mind-blown, I know, feelings are mutual. But, now, we’re going to talk about something that isn’t common in most places (for now, or so we think), Artificial Intelligence.

1. They’re starting to camouflage with everyone else around them

What I mean by this is that they are starting to look super realistic! We have almost mastered the art of forming technology into such human-looking-like figures. To tell you the truth it is a little bit creepy. One example of this would be Yangyang, a robot which has been created. The features that were given to her have made her an almost replica of Sarah Palin!

Sarah Palin isn’t the only one out there. There’s also Sophia and Nadine. Sophia is pretty well-known as she has been on a couple of interviews. She has even met Will Smith, and she’s actually the first robot to receive a citizenship. Nadine, on the hand, is an AI who works as a university receptionist. She was described as the “world’s most human-like robot”. Aside from looking human, these robots are able to interact as such, too. Nadine has the capability to smile, make eye contact, greet visitors, and even recognize past guests. What happens when you can’t tell artificial intelligence from an actual living and breathing human being? Imagine, just imagine, someone decides to change the entire Madame Tussaud, a wax museum (by the way, people already get confused by whether the wax figures are real or not), into AIs. Just thinking about it gives me the chills.

2. They are taking over our jobs

This problem is something that we’ve got to keep in mind. We’ve created these machines to do all these tasks and finish all these jobs for us. Yet, we somehow seem to be distracted from the fact that this would be very unfortunate for so many families and people out there.

It is estimated that 73 million U.S. jobs would be taken over by robots and automated by 2030. Yes, I actually mean millions. So for every job operated by automation, that’s another job lost for someone or their family. But here’s the wildest thing, the estimate for 73 million jobs lost is just in the U.S. alone. Looking at the bigger picture, a new report claims that, worldwide, an astonishing amount of 800 million jobs would be lost due to automation.

3. ROBOT DOGS!

You read that right. Robot. Dogs. How cool does that sound? Very much, I agree. Having a robot dog eliminates most of the migraines that you would normally get from a normal dog as it wouldn’t have to do his “business”, everywhere, if you know what I mean. The two main things that you wouldn’t have to worry about anymore would be the robot dog’s health and its hygiene.

Sony has actually announced that they would be releasing their robot dog. With a price of $2,899, they have made major improvements such as adding touch sensors for when you pet it, facial recognition for it to know its owners, a camera mapping which it uses to memorize your house’s layout, and it even has voice commands!

4. They are able to teach themselves

Yup, self-taught. The advancement of the technology that has been put in their system has actually allowed them to teach themselves. They no longer need us humans to put more information for them, they can learn what they want to learn. Remember the AI robot I told you about earlier, Sophia?  Well, according to the supposed first photographer who stepped inside the Hong King-based Hanson Robotics, Sophia might have self-taught herself what a camera was.

Another example of this would be the AI system that Google has made which taught itself to play Atari 2600 games. A study funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), showed that their program for their robot was capable of watching videos on how kitchen utensils work and able to properly copy what it saw without any humans to help them out. They even said that by 2029, because of AI increase of knowledge, they would have the same intelligence as us humans.

5. They Can Heal Themselves

The algorithm based on trial and error is what the robot uses to check its system and repair itself. The researcher’s idea is that the robot would act something like an animal and adapt to being broken as they “learn and iterate based on self-reflection”. They have been able to successfully adapt a method similar to this to AI.

Another way that robots were designed to heal themselves was by what material they were made out of. What roboticists did was create soft robots. Soft robots work by heating itself for about 40 minutes at a temperature of 80°C, then after a day when the temperature is at 25°C, the robot would restore after its damages.

6. They’re Being Weaponized

An amount reaching $2 billion dollars is said to be spent alone for AI systems in weaponry. One of the main reasons why the Pentagon and the U.S. military wants to invest this much for their weapons is to stay ahead of other countries around and be more advanced. Even though this would be helpful for an increase in security, there are still dangers that come along with it. The machines that are given the power to control their own actions may put the lives of innocent people at risk, as well.

7. Romantic Relations and AI?

Once our fellow AIs roam the earth and we can’t seem to tell if they’re human or not, there’s a high chance that most people (as in human beings) would have some type of relationship with an AI. Whether it’s romantic or not, the more we put in research and push for these robots to be made, it’s going to be inevitable to not have some contact with one AI or two. There are actually a couple of movies out there that show a glimpse of what people predict the futuristic love life of most to be, such as, Her or Ex-Machina.

According to the report of Dr. Ian Pearson, he says that “by 2050, human-on-robot sex will be more common than human-on-human sex”. Eventually, this idea would be so casual yet looking at it now just seems a bit weird. It looks as if we’re all planning to slowly steer away from humanity and merge as one with technology.

8. They’re Being Taught To Deceive

Claiming for military purposes, a research conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology by Professor Ronal Arkin and his team have successfully implemented this deceptive behavior into a robot. Professor Arkin and his team first tested out this deceiving behavior with squirrels and birds and when they got the results they also were able to do it with robots.

This is definitely something remarkable yet scary. Even though we are programming this for when they are out at war or during some military business, they can also use these skills if they go rogue. And, how dangerous might that be? Very dangerous, very much indeed.

9. They’re Getting Good at Gaming

These artificial intelligence machines are becoming better and beating us at our own games. Literally. These are the very games that we’ve created. The games that only a small percentage of us have actually mastered after the years of practice. It’s all fun and games until it’s not. Right?

There is an artificial intelligence division within Google that is known as DeepMind. The advancement of AI has shown impressive results. They’ve been able to successfully beat our best players at chess, Go, and even Jeopardy using the skill sets that they now acquire.

One of the more famous cases would be google’s AlphaGo computer program designed to play the game Go. This game is something you’d really have to put your brain power to use as proper strategic planning is needed in order to win. And, here’s the craziest part, after just a couple of hours of training this program was able to defeat the world’s best player.

10. They May Possibly Take Over the World

Taking into account all the great progress we’ve done for both the advancement and improvement of Artificial Intelligence is truly remarkable. However, there have been expressed concerns by some of the best minds out there that going through with AI research and development may lead to our ultimate doom.

Stephen Hawking has said that AI is pretty much spelling the end of our human race. Bill Gates is very worried and knows that AI going to pose as a threat to humans. Elon Musk(LINK 20) has thrown concern and warning after warning that continuing on this path to develop AI is dangerous and even compares it to “summoning the devil”.

Artificial Intelligence has already learned to lie, self-study, create, destroy, fight, self-heal, and even think for themselves. We can’t tell the future. We can’t say for sure right now whether this would be the best thing or the worst thing to happen to us. But, what we do know is that our decisions daily to proceed with AI developments is going to affect what happens to us later on. And one day we may have an AI apocalypse but also we might not.

This is our future we’re talking about. Are we willing to risk it all? Hmmm….

 

spread your awesomeness!

Yours truly, 

L.O.A.S.H

 

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 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria

Protecting yourself from…. Hackers -_-

Quote of TRUTH: “Security is always excessive until it’s not” – Robbie Sinclair

There was this really cool conference kind of meeting that happened on September 19, 2018, at the University of La Verne. Its main purpose was to teach small business on how to develop themselves. There were plenty of things that they taught like about trade, foreign investment, government contracts, and more. BUT, in this blog, we will be talking about cyber threats. 

Ikr sounds super mind-boggling but its OKAY because I shall explain more.

Also before we continue I just need to point out that the speaker for this part of the conference was an FBI Special Agent. super. duper. cool. I know.

OKAY, let’s actually start this.

So, what is the meaning of cyber you may ask? It is of, relating to, or involving computers or computer networks ( as the internet ).

We use devices all the time nowadays don’t we? And, the problem is that every individual with a smartphone are targets for potential hackers.

We can break down Cyber threats into these five categories: (this will be from least problematic to more problematic, but they are all still a problem)

• Criminal
• Hacktivism
• Espionage
• Terrorism
• State-Sponsored

 

So we have good news and we have bad news…..

I’ll tell you both, starting with the good news:

Down for 2018, so far:

• Government Leaks
• Major outages
• Global ransomware attacks

However for the bad news:

Up in 2018:

• Corporate data breaches
• Critical infrastructure failures
• State-sponsored hackers
• Cryptomining
• Internet of Things Attacks
• Business Email Compromise

 

Okay, so the cons may be, slightly, a bit outweighing the pros but I have gathered information on what can be done to level the playing field. If that makes sense.

Some of the big hacks would include the 2014 Sony Hack. Imagine this being a billion dollar company and all their files were hacked and stolen. This was very stressful for them. Another one would be how hackers got into a Hollywood Hospital and took control of their systems and blackmailed them to give them $17,000 in bitcoin if they wanted them back. In case you were wondering, the bad guys got away with their money as they were paid what they wanted. 

These are examples of Ransomware. 

RANSOMWARE? I’ll explain. It is 1) a very big threat and 2) kinda really scary when it happens. In other words, this is a type of malware that would ask you for a ransom if you want your files or computer access back. And, if you don’t give the money then there’s a big chance you won’t be getting your stuff back. How is this a very big deal? Well, okay, imagine this. You are driving in your all new and improved-futuristic-technology-filled tesla car when suddenly the iPad on the computer starts to malfunction. A message then pops up and it reads “If you want to have access to your brakes, pay up $120,000 now”. You freak out and hit the brakes but nothing happens and your speed starts to accelerate. Fortunately, you just had the biggest paycheck ever and you were able to make a wire transfer of $120,000 to the encrypted bank account number they’ve given. And, your car then goes back to normal and you safely drive back home. But what happens when you don’t have the money or you’re just stuck in your car because of someone who hacked your car. Very scary and dangerous thing indeed. 

Another kind of hacking that seems to regularly occur would be the business email compromise (a.k.a B.E.C). This happens when a hacker gets into your email and tricks you into paying your house, bills, or other things and instead the money gets sent to them. This happens all the time because the email received looks very legit. Especially in real estate. So much money gets lost. 

Hackers hijack emails in 4 easy steps:

1. They use an email extractor which you can easily access
2. Hacker sends a fishing email out to thousands of emails
3. They research everything about like how you and the person you are negotiating with speak with each other and the deals made
4. The hacker uses the information they found to send the homebuyer a message telling them to reroute their bank account. 

Imagine this is how simple it is for them. And yet in the process, there are families out there that lose their life savings because of these evil deeds. YOU need to make sure to ALWAYS check for authenticity. Example of this would be to call up the person you’re making a deal with and double check to see if they’re the ones who sent you an email.

Did you know that the average B.E.C loss is $130,000? 

You can actually even buy legit emails for just $11.00 just by looking it up on google. All the hacker needs to do is to buy a piece of software or malware which is just up to $25 dollars to do all this damage. There are tons of people who get victimized as they are unaware of fishing emails sent to them. 91% of cyber attacks and resulting data breaches happen with email.

HACKER: Mistah X

• Victims- mostly women
• Blackmails
• Uses the person’s computer camera to record just whatever they do and uses it to blackmail them
• He uses a software
• He was put in jail but was recently released, that means he is out there 

HACKER: Christopher Chaney

• Targeted: celebrities
• He had no programming experience whatsoever 

Christopher Chaney would use a notepad to list down all the details of a celebrity and open up their emails. Then, he would go to the forget password part and answer the “secret” questions that they give. Since celebrities nearly give all their information to the world it wasn’t that difficult for him to hack into their emails with what he got.

HACKER: Emeka Ndukwu

• Used spoofed domains “typo-squatting”
• Stole about $1 M
• He only had minimal hacking skills

 

See how these people barely required to have extensive hacking skills yet they’ve done all these? It’s so easy to get hacked which is why cybersecurity is very important. Small business is the target of 58% of all malware attacks which is shown in the Verizon insights report statistics of 2018.

Now, what can we do about this?:

• Have a multi-factor authentication (which is requiring two things to access something, like your email):
  • This reduces the chances of having personal information being stolen
  • It is free for most devices
• Beware of SIM swap hack
• Backup data on Hard Drive:
  • This way you would have your files in a potential ransomware attack
• Have a good password 

Remember there is nothing foolproof and it’s so much better to take extra precautions.

Good practices to prevent this from happening to you:

• Multi-factor authentication
• Back your data regularly
• Use strong passwords and change often
• Educate others on this
• Have a network security plan & actually implement it
• Establish a cybersecurity policy
• Conduct tabletop exercise for an incident
• Update your software
• Have a robust process for financial transfers

Even if though these were the tips given to businesses to protect themselves from cyber threats, you should use these too to protect yourself! Spread the word because this is something definitely everyone should be aware of!

 

don’t forget to smile today (:

Yours truly, 

L.O.A.S.H

 

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 © Elizabeth Anne Villoria

 

LAWNS = NO, GARDENS = YES!!!!

Hi, guys! Welcome back to my blog! And, advanced MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you awesome humans!! Here’s a blog on lawns and how we shouldn’t

Yes, those huge green spaces, usually found in front of a house, which normally has sprinklers (around 1-3, really depending on how big the lawn is), grass, grass- oh! Did I forget to mention there’s grass? And, if you’re really lucky, you would find one or two dandelions around. Some people even consider putting a sign or two saying “KEEP OFF OF GRASS” or “WALK ON PATHWAY ONLY”.

The thing is, lawns have been existent as far as the 16th century. In the beginning, lawns just had the purpose (waaaaaay before) to help the people see if an animal or some person were coming from a direction which seemed to be endangering others. Then soon enough years passed then bowling came the next “cool and popular thing” that went around until it was banished for the “commoners” in England by several kings, which is just unfair. Let’s fast forward again, the Northern Europeans migrate and travel to North America, they share their ideas with the lawns and what they need to start their own. Only the rich and wealthy were able to afford these new “cool” grass trends, at the start. Then looking at today, you can find lawns nearly anywhere. There are too many gallons of water that endlessly get wasted to just these lawns.

I just found out that according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, that more than 30-60 percent of water from the total percentage which a household uses goes to your outdoors. If we look at both what would be worth using up water on, lawns or gardens? Another thing the US EPA mentioned was this:

If the average sized lawn here in the US gets 20 minutes of watering every day seven days a week 

=

running the shower constantly for 4 days 

=

taking more than 800 showers 

=

this is the amount of water needed for the average family to take 1 year’s worth of shower

I was blown away by such an extraordinary amount that is being used just by ONE average lawn, just one. Can you imagine the hundreds of thousands of lawns using this much water? That’s way too much. But it’s not too late to change this numbers and change our currently occupied spaces by lawns into something better. It’s never too late.

The benefits of having a garden:

Plants and trees absorb sounds. Yeah, you read that right. They absorb sound and these are actually one of their not – so – known traits that they have. Meaning this benefits us when it comes to noise pollution.

Secondly, plants and trees also aid with our pollution. They take in the carbon dioxide that we humans exhale and create, as they give out and produce oxygen. And, this oxygen is a very important component for us to live and survive.

If you have edible plants you could even save a bit of money by reducing the times you visit the market and grow them yourself and produce more in your backyard! And since you’ve grown these plants yourself, you’ll also be aware that there won’t be any preservative or other stuff that barely anyone could spell being injected or placed into your food.

Gardens also help other types of wildlife which insects and other animals like to hang out and even eat a bit of fruit from the trees and take shelter. It’s awesome knowing that we’re helping these creatures while we help ourselves, too. It’s awesome that we’re able to help in these little ways to our one and only home, earth, especially since plants help remove chemicals and bacteria from water in the ground.  

Here is an awesome (oh you know, they’re just so awesome) solutions:

• Home Gardens for everyone!

Here, imagine this, trees that bear awesome tasting and healthy fruits at your front door. You look up and even find a bird perched on one of your tree branches singing a lovely tune. A breeze swifts past you momentarily spreading an aromatic smell filling your living room with a fragrance of ripe oranges, basil, rosemary and you even take a hint of sage which seemed to be lingering from your next door neighbor’s newly planted herb. Wouldn’t this be such a wonderful sight (or should I say smell) to wake up to? Everyone can try to convert their lawns to a garden which would not only be such an amazing sight to see but very useful to this earth, the animals that live in it and even ourselves. It doesn’t have to be a humungous garden with trees and herbs everywhere you could barely walk back to your house. There are plenty of ways you could design your garden to your liking! Small or big, it all helps. Students and everyone who would want to could even volunteer to help water or take care of the plants.

Spread the word, guys! You could also probably be the one to influence others wherever you live to do the same! Just keep being awesome and create your own ideas! 

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mexico and the Dead Zone *DUN DUN DUN*

The situation occurring in Mexico’s dead zone hasn’t improved, in fact, it has gotten worse. 

What is a dead zone? It’s an area in an ocean or big lake, found in lots of places around the world, with hypoxia, in other words, oxygen depletion. When there is oxygen depletion, the area affected by this problem causes the instability to support marine life. When there are too much growth and bloom of algae it chokes the water and makes it not possible for marine like to survive with the inadequate amount of oxygen. But, how does nature suddenly start blooming and getting all these nutrients enough to keep spreading this hypoxia? Well, it doesn’t work alone. It’s also our fault because one way or another the nitrates and phosphorus that our farmers use in farming eventually seeps into our water systems and into the ocean which makes the algae flourish and grow and bloom and other things that shouldn’t happen because it (LITERALLY) chokes the ocean and the marine life below it.

Since we covered the basics and everything you will probably need to know about hypoxia and dead zones, we can now focus on a specific ‘dead zone’ and that is in the Gulf of Mexico.

On April 20, 2010, one of the biggest oil spills in the BP (British Petroleum) and American records and history occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. It happened just a day after they sealed the 70-kilometer deep hole with concrete followed by a metal valve used to stop the flow of oil entering the ocean. While the men were doing their inspection of the day old concrete, they noticed that oil and gas have actually been spilling out into the water through the faulty concrete and failed valve.

87 days past before they finally sealed the oil spill which already gave out 5,000 gallons of oil per day! Let’s do the math here: It would be an estimate of 5,000 x 57 which equals to 435, 000 gallons. HOLY MACARONI. Imagine how much has spread already? Especially since the oil spill was close to the dead zone, which made a few people worry things would get much worse. Honestly, a LARGE oil spill next to a DEAD ZONE. Nah-uh not a good combination nor timing. Won’t it affect the surviving animals living in the area? Think about it. The people in the restaurants were worried about the food they’ve been serving thinking it might affect the people, but they trusted it was all in good hands.

The oil soon mixed and glued itself to the plankton and other bacteria i

n the ocean which caused marine snow to sink to the bottom. What if small creatures and animals start eating this. These are some of the worries fishermen had when catching the food. But, fortunately, due to the natural oil seeps, the flora and fauna of the ocean have adapted to the oily marine snow. Yes, there are actually natural oils that seep from the earth. Th- WAIT, what is marine snow you wonder? It looks like the picture below —>

How dangerous it would have been to be the person underwater checking out the valves and the fear of it not properly functioning. There have been many oil spills through history. One after another there has news flashes saying “Now this one is the biggest oil spill..” It just keeps getting bigger. Luckily, they got to shut out the rest of the oil spill, even though it was after 87 days. 

According to National Wildlife Federation, below are the lists of affected animals near the Gulf of Mexico:

Dolphins and Whales

• Nearly all of the 21 species of dolphins and whales that live in the northern Gulf have demonstrable, quantifiable injuries.
• The number of bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay and the Mississippi Sound – two places particularly affected by oil – are projected to decline by half. Multiple studies have determined that the injuries to bottlenose dolphins were caused by oil from the disaster.
• It is estimated that it will take approximately one hundred years for the spinner dolphin population to recover.
• There are only a few dozen Bryde’s whales in the Gulf. Nearly half this population was exposed to oil, and nearly a quarter of these whales were likely killed. The long-term survival of this population is in doubt.

Sea Turtles

• Scientists estimate that as many as 167,000 sea turtles of all ages were killed during the disaster.
• In 2010, the once-remarkable recovery of the endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle halted abruptly. Scientists remain concerned about this species of sea turtle, which is known to congregate and feed in areas that were oiled off the Louisiana coast.
• Heavy oil affected nearly a quarter of the Sargassum – a type of floating seaweed – in the northern Gulf. Sargassum is an important habitat for juvenile sea turtles.

Fish

• Studies have determined that oil is particularly toxic for many species of larval fish, causing deformation and death. The federal study estimates that the disaster directly killed between two and five million larval fish.
• At this time, the data does not indicate that the oil spill caused significant decreases in populations of commercially harvested fish species.
• However, a number of species of fish have documented oil spill injuries. For example in 2011, some red snapper and other fish caught in oiled areas had unusual lesions, rotting fins, or oil in their livers. Oil spill impacts have been documented in fish species such as southern flounder, redfish, and kill fish.

Birds

• At least 93 species of bird were exposed to oil. The resulting loss of birds is expected to have meaningful effects on food webs of the northern Gulf of Mexico.
• Species particularly affected include brown and white pelicans, laughing gulls, Audubon’s shearwaters, northern gannets, clapper rails, black skimmers, white ibis, double-crested cormorants, common loons, and several species of tern.

The Gulf Floor

• Scientists estimate the habitats on the bottom of the Gulf could take anywhere from multiple decades to hundreds of years to fully recover.
• A significant portion of the Gulf floor was affected by oil. The federal study confirmed that at least 770 square miles around the wellhead were affected, while a separate analysis determined that at least 1,200 square miles were affected. Both studies suggested that a significant amount of oil was likely deposited on the ocean floor outside the areas of known damage.
• Coral colonies in five separate locations in the Gulf – three in deep sea and two in shallower waters – show signs of oil damage.

 

Dolphins, whales, turtles, fish and birds are getting affect by this and they already have lots of other things to worry about such as plastic. Now, here’s the most shocking truth. This 2017 they found out that the dead zone at the Gulf of Mexico is the size of New Jersey! NEW JERSEY. The size is about 8776 square miles.

 

We can stop this. Start gathering solutions people you can do it! Some ways are to stop utilizing the products that help in causing the blooming, like nitrate. Keep thinking creative my awesome readers.

Yours truly,

L.O.A.S.H

 

 

 

 

What is Globalization? 🌏

An interesting way to think about this is that Globalization is comparable to a jungle. It sorta runs on the rule of survival of the fittest. Therefore, we either flourish or we perish.

What is Globalization?

To simply put it, globalization is the result when the trade and cultural exchange brings the world to be extremely interconnected. When this happens, different countries come together and form a large global economy. This makes the international trade much, much easier. If you haven’t gotten the full idea of globalization, then maybe you would understand this definition better if you knew that globalization happens when the barriers between national economies get “broken” down and there is this large rush of services, goodies, investments, capital flow, technology and labor immigration which

If you haven’t gotten the full idea of globalization, then maybe you would understand this definition better if you knew that globalization happens when the barriers between national economies get “broken” down and there is this large rush of services, goodies, investments, capital flow, technology and labor immigration which get encouraged.

Basically, globalization is the process of when different countries come together through trade and others.

What are the Pros of Globalization??

Well, in my opinion, I think globalization is great in some many ways also because it allows people to communicate, elaborate and link together. And, because of Globalization, some parts of the has changed the ways that other people (maybe including yourself) travel, arrange and do meetings and see the world.

According to Future of Working, below are the following pros:

• It Improves the Global Economy

This is a big help to different companies as it aids them to reach huge and rapidly expanding markets every day. This helps Global Economy through the access of international sale and business.

• The Expansion of the Knowledge of Foreign Cultures

Because of globalization, people from different places on earth are given the opportunity and access to freely communicate with each other. This helps people to destroy that cultural barrier that has hurt the integration of countries for centuries. This helps to gain a better understanding of the different life – styles different people go through.

• Free Trade! = Happy Economy

Since globalization lifts those invisible gates of heavy and crazy taxes and annoying restrictions, people are able to sell goods around the world to help other struggling economies.With this, poverty and unemployment rates are improving.

These are most of the pros that I’ve just bombarded with you, which I hope you understood. ^_~

What are the Cons of Globalization???

Since there are pros there are cons….. well, except for pizza, all they have are pros.

So, you probably knew this day would come. The day where you learned the bad side of globalization. Yes, yes, I know…. you might be wondering “huh?!?!?!?” Just kidding.

There are always to side to a story, just like a coin. We’ve learned the good side but now to learn the bad side | A.K.A | the cons. DUN! DUN!! DUN!!!

The Cons of Globalization:

• Rich become Richer | Non-rich become poorer

This is one of the top problems of globalization. Just from the title, I’m pretty sure you understand this is a big con. Actually, this is a pro for the rich and a con for the poor. How unfair is it that the non-rich become poorer?!

• Smaller Countries Suffer the Most

Unfortunately for less developed countries, they don’t normally get the benefit from globalization and instead suffer from it. But, this is the case that smaller and less developed countries encounter. I feel like we need to help these less developed countries and enable to get the same amount of level playing field benefits that globalization offers.

• Negative Impact on Environment

In the process of trading and transporting goods from one place to another, the amount of fuel generated and used contributes and increases in the pollution levels in the environment. It is kinda sad that some places have the guts to actually cut down mountains in order to create tunnels or highways. Unfortunately, more roads are being seen by most as progress rather than the destruction of our earth. Another example that struck me was the incident that occurred in 2010 when one of the containers of the British Petroleum leaked and caused damage to the ecosystem. But, wait! There’s more. Unfortunately. The consumption of plastic has grown as they’ve used it for packaging and preserving the goods. Not only is plastic terrible when exposed to the sun for quite some time (which could happen during the hours of traveling) but because of this, it has led to widespread environmental pollution. 

•  Loss of Cultural Identity

As I might have mentioned above, globalization allows people to learn more and more about different cultures and other languages. The thing is the increased number of people moving from one place to another and spreading their cultures, the original culture seems to be fading. Now, let’s think about it. 

 

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