How not to do things with words.

Exploring the relationship between topics and trends.

I’ve been talking about correlation since I started this blog. Actually, that was the reason why I did start it: I think literary scholars can get a huge amount of heuristic leverage out of the fact that thematically and socially-related words tend to rise and fall together. It’s a simple observation, and one that stares you in the face as soon as you start to graph word frequencies on the time axis.1 But it happens to be useful for literary historians, because it tends to uncover topics that also pose periodizable kinds of puzzles. Sometimes the puzzle takes the form of a topic we intuitively recognize (say, the concept of “color”) that increases or decreases in prominence for reasons that remain to be explained:

At other times, the connection between elements of the topic is not immediately intuitive, but the terms are related closely enough that their correlation suggests a pattern worthy of further exploration. The relationship between terms may be broadly historical:

Or it may involve a pattern of expression that characterizes a periodizable style:

Of course, as the semantic relationship between terms becomes less intuitively obvious, scholars are going to wonder whether they’re looking at a real connection or merely an accidental correlation. “Ardent” and “tranquil” seem like opposites; can they really be related as elements of a single discourse? And what’s the relationship to “bosom,” anyway?

Ultimately, questions like this have to be addressed on a case-by-case basis; the significance of the lead has to be fleshed out both with further analysis, and with close reading.

But scholars who are wondering about the heuristic value of correlation may be reassured to know that this sort of lead does generally tend to pan out. Words that correlate with each other across the time axis do in practice tend to appear in the same kinds of volumes. For instance, if you randomly select pairs of words from the top 10,000 words in the Google English ngrams dataset 1700-1849,2 measure their correlation with each other in that dataset across the period 1700-1849, and then measure their tendency to appear in the same volumes in a different collection3 (taking the cosine similarity of term vectors in a term-document matrix), the different measures of association correlate with each other strongly. (Pearson’s r is 0.265, significant at p < 0.0005.) Moreover, the relationship holds (less strongly, but still significantly) even in adjacent centuries: words that appear in the same eighteenth-century volumes still tend to rise and fall together in the nineteenth century.

Why should humanists care about the statistical relationship between two measures of association? It means that correlation-mining is in general going to be a useful way of identifying periodizable discourses. If you find a group of words that correlate with each other strongly, and that seem related at first glance, it's probably going to be worthwhile to follow up the hunch. You’re probably looking at a discourse that is bound together both diachronically (in the sense that the terms rise and fall together) and topically (in the sense that they tend to appear in the same kinds of volumes).

Ultimately, literary historians are going to want to assess correlation within different genres; a dataset like Google's, which mixes all genres in a single pool, is not going to be an ideal tool. However, this is also a domain where size matters, and in that respect, at the moment, the ngrams dataset is very helpful. It becomes even more helpful if you correct some of the errors that vitiate it in the period before 1820. A team of researchers at Illinois and Stanford4, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, has been doing that over the course of the last year, and we're now able to make an early version of the tool available on the web. Right now, this ngram viewer only covers the period 1700-1899, but we hope it will be useful for researchers in that period, because it has mostly corrected the long-s problem that confufes opt1cal charader readers in the 18c — as well as a host of other, less notorious problems. Moreover, it allows researchers to mine correlations in the top 10,000 words of the lexicon, instead of trying words one by one to see whether an interesting pattern emerges. In the near future, we hope to expand the correlation miner to cover the twentieth century as well.

For further discussion of the statistical relationship between topics and trends, see this paper submitted to DHCS 2011.

UPDATE Nov 22, 2011: At DHCS 2011, Travis Brown pointed out to me that Topics Over Time (Wang and McCallum) might mine very similar patterns in a more elegant, generative way. I hope to find a way to test that method, and may perhaps try to build an implementation for it myself.

1) Ryan Heuser and I both noticed this pattern last winter. Ryan and Long Le-Khac presented on a related topic at DH2011: Heuser, Ryan, and Le-Khac, Long. “Abstract Values in the 19th Century British Novel: Decline and Transformation of a Semantic Field,” Digital Humanities 2011, Stanford University.

2) Jean-Baptiste Michel*, Yuan Kui Shen, Aviva Presser Aiden, Adrian Veres, Matthew K. Gray, William Brockman, The Google Books Team, Joseph P. Pickett, Dale Hoiberg, Dan Clancy, Peter Norvig, Jon Orwant, Steven Pinker, Martin A. Nowak, and Erez Lieberman Aiden*. “Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books.” Science (Published online ahead of print: 12/16/2010)

3) The collection of 3134 documents (1700-1849) I used for this calculation was produced by combining ECCO-TCP volumes with nineteenth-century volumes selected and digitized by Jordan Sellers.

4) The SEASR Correlation Analysis and Ngrams Viewer was developed by Loretta Auvil and Boris Capitanu at the Illinois Informatics Institute, modeled on prototypes built by Ted Underwood, University of Illinois, and Ryan Heuser, Stanford.

Trends, topics, and trending topics.

I’ve developed a text-mining strategy that identifies what I call “trending topics” — with apologies to Twitter, where the term is used a little differently. These are diachronic patterns that I find practically useful as a literary historian, although they don’t fit very neatly into existing text-mining categories.

A “topic,” as the term is used in text-mining, is a group of words that occur together in a way that defines a thematic focus. Cameron Blevin’s analysis of Martha Ballard’s diary is often cited as an example: Blevin identifies groups of words that seem to be associated, for instance, with “midwifery,” “death,” or “gardening,” and tracks these topics over the course of the diary.

“Trends” haven’t received as much attention as topics, but we need some way to describe the pattern that Google’s ngram viewer has made so visible, where groups of related words rise and fall together across long periods of time. I suspect “trend” is as a good a name for this phenomenon as we’ll get.

blue, red, green, yellow, in the English corpus 1750-2000

From 1750 to 1920, the prominence of color vocabulary increases by a factor of three, for instance: and when it does, the names of different colors track each other very closely. I would call this a trend. Moreover, it’s possible to extend the principle that conceptually related words rise and fall together beyond cases like the colors and seasons where we’re dealing with an obvious physical category.

Google data graphed with my own viewer; if you compare this to Google's viewer, remember that I'm merging capitalized and uncapitalized forms, as well as ardor/ardour.

“Animated,” “attentive,” and “ardour” track each other almost as closely as the names of primary colors (the correlation coefficients are around 0.8), and they characterize conduct in ways that are similar enough to suggest that we’re looking at the waxing and waning not just of a few random words, but of a conceptual category — say, a particular sort of interest in states of heightened receptiveness or expressivity.

I think we could learn a lot by thoughtfully considering “trends” of this sort, but it’s also a kind of evidence that’s not easy to interpret, and that could easily be abused. A lot of other words correlate almost as closely with “attentive,” including “propriety,” “elegance,” “sentiments,” “manners,” “flattering,” and “conduct.” Now, I don’t think that’s exactly a random list (these terms could all be characterized loosely as a discourse of manners), but it does cover more conceptual ground than I initially indicated by focusing on words like “animated” and “ardour.” And how do we know that any of these terms actually belonged to the same “discourse”? Perhaps the books that talked about “conduct” were careful not to talk about “ardour”! Isn’t it possible that we have several distinct discourses here that just happened to be rising and falling at the same time?

In order to answer these questions, I’ve been developing a technique that mines “trends” that are at the same time “topics.” In other words, I look for groups of terms that hold together both in the sense that they rise and fall together (correlation across time), and in the sense that they tend to be common in the same documents (co-occurrence). My way of achieving this right now is a two-stage process: first I mine loosely defined trends from the Google ngrams dataset (long lists of, say, one hundred closely correlated words), and then I send those trends to a smaller, generically diverse collection (including everything from sermons to plays) where I can break the list into clusters of terms that tend to occur in the same kinds of documents.

I do this with the same vector space model and hierarchical clustering technique I’ve been using to map eighteenth-century diction on a larger scale. It turns the list of correlated words into a large, branching tree. When you look at a single branch of that tree you’re looking at what I would call a “trending topic” — a topic that represents, not a stable, more-or-less-familiar conceptual category, but a dynamically-linked set of concepts that became prominent at the same time, and in connection with each other.

one branch of a tree created by finding words that correlate with "manners," and then clustering them based on co-occurrence in 18c books

Here, for instance, is a branch of a larger tree that I produced by clustering words that correlate with “manners” in the eighteenth century. It may not immediately look thematically coherent. We might have expected “manners” to be associated with words like “propriety” or “conduct” (which do in fact correlate with it over time), but when we look at terms that change in correlated ways and occur in the same volumes, we get a list of words that are largely about wealth and rank (“luxury,” “opulence,” “magnificence”), as well as the puzzling “enervated.” To understand a phenomenon like this, you can simply reverse the process that generated it, by using the list as a search query in the eighteenth-century collection it’s based on. What turned up in this case were, pre-eminently, a set of mid-eighteenth-century works debating whether modern commercial opulence, and refinements in the arts, have had an enervating effect on British manners and civic virtue. Typical examples are John Brown’s Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times (1757) and John Trusler’s Luxury no Political Evil but Demonstratively Proved to be Necessary to the Preservation and Prosperity of States (1781). I was dimly aware of this debate, but didn’t grasp how central it became to debate about manners, and certainly wasn’t familiar with the works by Brown and Trusler.

I feel like this technique is doing what I want it to do, practically, as a literary historian. It makes the ngram viewer something more than a provocative curiosity. If I see an interesting peak in a particular word, I can can map the broader trend of which it’s a part, and then break that trend up into intersecting discourses, or individual works and authors.

Admittedly, there’s something inelegant about the two-stage process I’m using, where I first generate a list of terms and then use a smaller collection to break the list into clusters. When I discussed the process with Ben Schmidt and Miles Efron, they both, independently, suggested that there ought to be some simpler way of distinguishing “trends” from “topics” in a single collection, perhaps by using Principal Component Analysis. I agree about that, and PCA is an intriguing suggestion. On the other hand, the two-stage process is adapted to the two kinds of collections I actually have available at the moment: on the one hand, the Google dataset, which is very large and very good at mapping trends with precision, but devoid of metadata, on the other hand smaller, richer collections that are good at modeling topics, but not large enough to produce smooth trend lines. I’m going to experiment with Principal Component Analysis and see what it can do for me, but in the meantime — speaking as a literary historian rather than a computational linguist — I’m pretty happy with this rough-and-ready way of identifying trending topics. It’s not an analytical tool: it’s just a souped-up search technology that mines trends and identifies groups of works that could help me understand them. But as a humanist, that’s exactly what I want text mining to provide.

The Google dataset as an episode in the history of science.

In a few years, some enterprising historian of science is going to write a history of the “culturomics” controversy, and it’s going to be fun to read. In some ways, the episode is a classic model of the social processes underlying the production of knowledge. Whenever someone creates a new method or tool (say, an air pump), and claims to produce knowledge with it, they run head-on into the problem that knowledge is social. If the tool is really new, their experience with it is by definition anomalous, and anomalous experiences — no matter how striking — never count as knowledge. They get dismissed as amusing curiosities.

Robert Boyle's air pump.

The team that published in Science has attempted to address this social problem, as scientists usually do, by making their data public and carefully describing the conditions of their experiment. In this case, however, one runs into the special problem that the underlying texts are the private property of Google, and have been released only in a highly compressed form that strips out metadata. As Matt Jockers may have been the first to note, we don’t yet even have a bibliography of the contents of each corpus. Yesterday, in a new FAQ posted on (see section III.5), researchers acknowledged that they want to release such a bibliography, but haven’t yet received permission from Google to do it.

This is going to produce a very interesting deadlock. I’ve argued in many other posts that the Google dataset is invaluable, because its sheer scale allows us to grasp diachronic patterns that wouldn’t otherwise be visible. But without a list of titles, it’s going to be difficult to cite it as evidence. What I suspect may happen is that humanists will start relying on it in private to discover patterns, but then write those patterns up as if they had just been doing, you know, a bit of browsing in 500,000 books — much as we now use search engines quietly and without acknowledgment, although they in fact entail significant methodological choices. As Benjamin Schmidt has recently been arguing, search technology is based on statistical presuppositions more complex and specific than most people realize, presuppositions that humanists already “use all the time to, essentially, do a form of reading for them.”

A different solution, and the one I’ll try, is to use the Google dataset openly, but in conjunction with other smaller and more transparent collections. I’ll use the scope of the Google dataset to sketch broad contours of change, and then switch to a smaller archive in order to reach firmer and more detailed conclusions. But I still hope that Google can somehow be convinced to release a bibliography — at least of the works that are out of copyright — and I would urge humanists to keep lobbying them.

If some of the dilemmas surrounding this tool are classic history-of-science problems, others are specific to a culture clash between the humanities and the sciences. For instance, I’ve argued in the past that humanists need to develop a quantitative conception of error. We’re very talented at making the perfect the enemy of the good, but that simply isn’t how statistical knowledge works. As the newly-released FAQ points out, there’s a comparably high rate of error in fields like genomics.

On other topics, though, it may be necessary for scientists to learn a bit more about the way humanists think. For instance, one of the corpora included in the ngram viewer is labeled “English fiction.” Matt Jockers was the first to point out that this is potentially ambiguous. I assumed that it contained mostly novels and short stories, since that’s how we use the word in the humanities, but prompted by Matt’s skepticism, I wrote the culturomics team to inquire. Yesterday in the FAQ they answered my question, and it turns out that Matt’s skepticism was well founded.

Crucially, it’s not just actual works of fiction! The English fiction corpus contains some fiction and lots of fiction-associated work, like commentary and criticism. We created the fiction corpus as an experiment meant to explore the notion of creating a subject-specific corpus. We don’t actually use it in the main text of our paper because the experiment isn’t very far along. Even so, a thoughtful data analyst can do interesting things with this corpus, for instance by comparing it to the results for English as a whole.

Humanists are going to find that an eye-opening paragraph. This conception of fiction is radically different from the way we usually understand fiction — as a genre. Instead, the culturomics team has constructed a corpus based on fiction as a subject category; or perhaps it would be better to say that they have combined the two conceptions. I can say pretty confidently that no humanist will want to rely on the corpus of “English fiction” to make claims about fiction; it represents something new and anomalous.

On the other hand, I have to say that I’m personally grateful that the culturomics team made this corpus available — not because it tells me much about fiction, but because it tells me something about what happens when you try to hold “subject designations” constant across time instead of allowing the relative proportions of books in different subjects to fluctuate as they actually did in publishing history. I think they’re right that this is a useful point of comparison, although at the moment the corpus is labeled in a potentially misleading way.

In general, though, I’m going to use the main English corpus, which is easier to interpret. The lack of metadata is still a problem here, but this corpus seems to represent university library collections more fully than any other dataset I have access to. While sheer scale is a crude criterion of representativeness, for some questions it’s the useful one.

The long and short of it all is that the next few years are going to be a wild ride. I’m convinced that advances in digital humanities are reaching the point where they’re going to start allowing us to describe some large, fascinating, and until now largely invisible patterns. But at the moment, the biggest dataset — prominent in public imagination, but also genuinely useful — is curated by scientists, and by a private corporation that has not yet released full information about it. The stage is set for a conflict of considerable intensity and complexity.

Identifying topics with a specific kind of historical timeliness.

How to make the Google dataset work for humanists.

I started blogging about the Google dataset because it revealed stylistic trends so intriguing that I couldn’t wait to write them up. But these reflections are also ending up in a blog because they can’t yet go in an article. The ngram viewer, as fascinating as it is, is not yet very useful as evidence in a humanistic argument.

As I’ve explained at more length elsewhere, the problems that most humanists have initially pointed to don’t seem to me especially troubling. It’s true that the data contains noise — but so does all data. Researchers in other fields don’t wait for noiseless instruments before they draw any conclusions; they assess the signal/noise ratio and try to frame questions that are answerable within those limits.

It’s also true that the history of diction doesn’t provide transparent answers to social and literary questions. This kind of evidence will require context and careful interpretation. In which respect, it resembles every other kind of evidence humanists currently grapple with.

Satanic, Satanic influence, Satanic verses, in English corpus, 1800-2000

The problem that seems more significant to me is one that Matt Jockers has raised. We simply don’t yet know what’s in these corpora. We do know how they were constructed: that’s explained, in a fairly detailed way, in the background material supporting the original article in Science. But we don’t yet have access to a list of titles for each corpus.

Here differences between disciplines become amusing. For a humanist, it’s a little shocking that a journal like Science would publish results without what we would call simply “a bibliography” — a list of the primary texts that provide evidence for the assertion. The list contains millions of titles in this case, and would be heavy in print. But it seems easy enough for Google, or the culturomics research team, to make these lists available on the web. In fact, I assume they’re forthcoming; the datasets themselves aren’t fully uploaded yet, so apparently more information is on the way. I’ve written Google Labs asking whether they plan to release lists of titles, and I’ll update this post when they do.

Until they do, it will be difficult for humanists to use the ngram viewer as scholarly evidence. The background material to the Science article does suggest that these datasets have been constructed thoughtfully, with an awareness of publishing history, and on an impressive scale. But humanists and scientists understand evidence differently. I can’t convince other humanists by telling them “Look, here’s how I did the experiment.” I have to actually show them the stuff I experimented on — that is, a bibliography.

Ideally, one might ask even more from Google. They could make the original texts themselves available (at least those out of copyright), so that we could construct our own archives. With the ability to ask questions about genre and context of occurrence, we could connect quantitative trends to a more conventional kind of literary history. Instead of simply observing that a lot of physical adjectives peak around 1940, The Big Sleepwe could figure out how much of that is due to modernism (“The sunlight was hot and hard”), to Time magazine, or to some other source — and perhaps even figure out why the trend reversed itself.

Google seems unlikely to release all their digitized texts; it may not be in their corporate interest to do so. But fortunately, there are workarounds. HathiTrust, and other online archives, are making large electronic collections freely available, and these will eventually be used to construct more flexible tools. Even now, it’s possible to have the best of both worlds by pairing the scope of Google’s dataset with the analytic flexibility of a tool like MONK (constructed by a team of researchers funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, including several here at Illinois). When I discover an interesting 18c. or 19c. trend in the ngram viewer, I take it to MONK, which can identify genres, authors, works, or parts of works where a particular pattern of word choice was most prominent.

So, to make the ngram viewer useful, Google needs to release lists of titles, and humanists need to pair the scope of the Google dataset with the analytic power of a tool like MONK, which can ask more precise, and literarily useful, questions on a smaller scale. And then, finally, we have to read some books and say smart things about them. That part hasn’t changed.

But the ngram viewer itself could also be improved. It could, for instance

1) Give researchers the option to get rid of case sensitivity and (at least partly) undo the f/s substitution, which together make it very hard to see any patterns in the 18c.

2) Provide actual numbers as output, not just pretty graphs, so that we can assess correlation and statistical significance.

3) Offer better search strategies. Instead of plugging in words one by one to identify a pattern, I would like to be able to enter a seed word, and ask for a list of words that correlate with it across a given period, sorted by degree of positive (or inverse) correlation.

It would be even more interesting to do the same thing for ngrams. One might want the option to exclude phrases that contain only the original seed word(s) and stop words (“of,” “the,” and so on). But I suspect a tool like this could rapidly produce some extremely interesting results.

fight for existence, fight for life, fight for survival, fight to the death, in English, 1800-2000

4) Offer other ways to mine the list of 2,3,4, and 5-grams, where a lot of conceptually interesting material is hiding. For instance, “what were the most common phrases containing ‘feminine’ between 1950 and 1970?” Or, “which phrases containing ‘male’ increased most in frequency between 1940 and 1960?”

Of course, since the dataset is public, none of these improvements actually have to be made by Google itself.


College of Divinity (ETW building)

College of Divinity
Category: Religion
Level: 2
Turns to build: 3
Building cost: 1500
College of Divinity
Etw eu town education lvl2 religious.png

Chapter School

A college of divinity specialises in religious education, inculcating all the minutiae of the Protestant faith in its students.

The graduates of this school are armed with theological arguments against other branches of Christianity, and a sense of mission to spread the truth of Protestantism as widely as possible. Intellectual effort is expected over and above simple-minded faith.

Originally, many western European universities were based on religious teaching establishments, where divinity was the main (and sometimes only) field of study. Their graduates were granted doctorates, indicating that they were qualified to teach theology to others. However, the universities were also often tied to the established Catholic Church, and Protestantism was a revolt precisely against the failings of established religion. Where Protestantism replaced Catholicism as the official state religion, teaching changed to remove “papist” doctrine and error. This did not, however, prevent further, lesser schisms such as the rise of non-conformist sects like Methodism. These nonconformists also wished to teach their views, and they were often denied teaching places at universities.


What Is Containerization?

Containerization is a type of virtualization at the application level, which allows for multiple isolated user space instances on a single kernel. These instances are called containers.
Containers provide a standard method of packaging an application's code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, and configurations into one instance. Containers share one kernel (operating system), which is installed on the hardware.

Benefits of Containers

  • Lightness
    Containers take up a smaller amount of space on the server than virtual machines, and typically take only a few seconds to start up.
  • Elasticity
    Containers are highly elastic and don’t need to be allocated a given amount of resources. This means containers are able to make more efficient and dynamic use of the resources from the server. When the demand on one container decreases, the extra resources are freed to be used by other containers.
  • Density
    Density refers to the number of objects that a single physical server can run at a time. Containerization allows the creation of dense environments in which the host server’s resources are fully utilized but not over-utilized. Compared with traditional virtualization, containerization allows for more dense environments because containers do not need to host their own operating system.
  • Performance
    When there is high resource pressure, the performance of applications is far better with containers than it is with hypervisors. Because with traditional virtualization, the guest OS must also meet its own memory needs, taking valuable RAM away from the host.
  • Maintenance Efficiency
    With only one operating system kernel, updates or patches on the operating system level only needs to be done once for changes to take effect across all containers. This makes the operations and maintenance of servers more efficient.

What Is Container Orchestration?

The deployment and organization of containers to support applications is called container orchestration, which is done through a container orchestration tool. Some popular open source container orchestration tools include Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and LXC.

When to Use Containers?

Almost any application that needs to change and re-deploy quickly and frequently is a good fit for containerization. Applications using a Microservices Architecture are also a natural choice.
Alibaba Cloud provides Container Service for Kubernetes, click to learn more about Containers as a Service.

Related Articles


This is not just a travel blog. Yes - I travel and a lot and write about it. But for me the real reward of being in a new place lies not just in the scenery or a unique culture. My real reward is realizing how the uniqueness of that culture couldn't have existed without other cultures. How every single thing you think makes you "YOU" or gives a country its trademark is just the result of centuries of activities from all over the planet.

Think Indian or Thai food and you think of hot peppers. Well peppers were originally from Mexico & Central America so Indian food has been around for 1000s of years but started using peppers only in the past couple of hundred years.

Rice & beans is a staple central american food but rice originated in China.

There were no horses in the American continent. Europeans got them here.

Is "chai" British or Indian or Chinese? How long have been Indians drinking tea?

The richest person in history was from West Africa.

The word guitar is derived from the Indian sitar and coffee from Arabic qahwah and alcohol from again...Arabic  al-kuhul.

The world keeps transforming rapidly. It always has. While snapshots crystallize a moment, a story tells you what happened before that moment. And makes you wonder what could happen later.

This is not just a travel blog. This is an attempt to find the story behind cultures and traditions. Find differences and similarities and expose the frailness & comical ridiculousness of man made borders. And distinctions and local pride. Our identity doesn't have to be contained in some random lines some map maker drew up while in some different continent.

So anyway.

Where am I from? Am from everywhere. So are you. We are from everywhere.


Bowdoin Science Experience

Bowdoin Science Experience (BSE) is a program committed to developing the talents of all students interested in science and mathematics—especially those from groups underrepresented in the sciences—including students of color, women, and first-generation college students.

The primary goal of this orientation program is to provide an effective head-start to science or math careers while learning about a wide range of campus resources and discussing study strategies and course offerings. BSE offers students the opportunity to gain early insights into science and math at Bowdoin, become familiar with faculty, the campus, and build a network of peers.

In 2018, under the THRIVE initiative, BSE integrated student mentors to fully support and engage first year students participating in BSE. Throughout the first year, the program offers ongoing advising, support, and activities, such as lunches, dinners, academic enrichment programming and social outings.


Melinda Connor

専門分野: Content Writer, Communications specialist

教師経験: I taught in a pre-school for 3 years, with children aged between 3 and 5 as well as older students.

興味: reading, swimming, watching AGT and BGT with daughter, pottery, studying

学歴: I went to the University of Johannesburg, and have a degree in Languages and Education, with an Honors in English

話せる言語: 英語 (ネイティブレベル)


Nandita Vijaykumar (CMU) - Rethinking the Hardware-Software Contract

Return to Full Calendar
April 9, 2019 at 2:30pm - 3:30pm
JCL, Rm. 390
Event Audience:
Nandita Vijaykumar

Speaker: Nandita Vijaykumar Ph.D. Candidate, Carnegie Mellon University

Nandita Vijaykumar is a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Prof. Onur Mutlu and Prof. Phillip Gibbons. She is also currently a visiting student at ETH Zurich. Her research focuses on the interaction between programming models, system software, and hardware architecture in an increasingly diverse compute landscape, with a focus on memory systems and modern accelerators like GPUs. She is excited about enabling cross-layer full-stack solutions to make future systems highly efficient and easy-to-program. She is the recipient of the Benjamin Garver Lamme/Westinghouse Fellowship at CMU. During her Ph.D., she has been fortunate to intern at Microsoft Research, Nvidia Research, and Intel Labs.

Abstract: Rethinking the Hardware-Software contract: Enabling Practical and General Cross-Layer Optimizations

Layered abstractions in the computing stack are critical to building complex systems, but the existing *interfaces* between layers restrict what can be done at each level. Enhancing cross-layer interfaces--specifically, the hardware-software interface--is crucial towards addressing two important and hard-to-solve challenges in computer systems today: First, significant effort and expertise are required to write high-performance code that harnesses the full potential of today’s diverse and sophisticated hardware. Second, as a hardware or system designer, architecting faster and more efficient systems is challenging as the vast majority of the program’s semantic content and programmer intent gets lost in translation with today’s hardware-software interface. Moving towards the future, these challenges in programmability and efficiency will be even more intractable as we architect increasingly heterogeneous and sophisticated systems.

In this talk, I will highlight my work [ISCA‘15, MICRO‘16, ISCA‘18, ISCA‘18] on how to design rich cross-layer abstractions that provide layered interfaces to directly communicate higher-level program semantics and intent from the application to the lower levels of the stack. In doing so, we can effectively bridge the so-called “semantic gap” between applications and computer systems, and enable a wide range of cross-layer optimizations in future systems with a single unifying interface. I will discuss how cross-layer approaches with these abstractions can significantly enhance (1) performance and efficiency by enabling the system to adapt to application characteristics and (2) programmability and portability by enabling application software to easily leverage diverse underlying hardware resources without specific knowledge of system details.  For example, daunting aspects of programming GPUs can be made much simpler with a rich cross-layer programming abstraction. I will describe how such abstractions can be designed to be highly practical and low-overhead, requiring only small additions to existing abstractions.

Host: Shan Lu

Type: talk


well, they try to... *jailbreak* *cough*cough*

look at the whole itunes vs pre debacle.

the real question, I think is, would that UAE spyware snafu have happened if there was some transparency? I'm not saying the underlying code or systems should've been laid wide open for all to see (even google understand this distinction of private vs public), but that the chances of getting away with stuff like that may have been much reduced


unconnect only in PCCW

recently I have a strange experience.
I make a website for a event registration activities in
It runs fine.
One day, I received a complaint that people can not log into my server.
The situation only happens in PCCW, other ISP runs fine.
The situation backs to normal after one day. Does it means  PCCW DNS is collapsed


Filial piety

In Japan, dutifulness is extolled in many forms.
The bronze statue shows a son carrying his aged mother and climbing stone steps at the shrine. Inscription reads: "Carrying my mother at my back, I can count the number of steps going up to the shrine. But, countless is the debt of gratitude to my mother." Sasagawa Memorial, Tokyo, Japan

Filial piety is the virtue of a child to his or her parents or parental figures, both living and deceased. It is one of the most fundamental virtues universally found in diverse cultures throughout human history.

In Confucian thought, filial piety (Chinese: ; pinyin: Xiào) is one of the virtues to be cultivated and denotes a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors. In Western cultures, Judaism and Christianity both assert the importance of honoring and respecting one's parents.

Filial Piety and Western Culture

In the Hebrew and Christian traditions, filial piety is asserted in various instances of the Bible. For example, the fifth commandment says to "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12), and the relationship with God as a Father denotes a relationship of love and respect. A classic example of filial piety in the bible can be found in the relationship between Isaac and Abraham, a story that exemplifies the values of obedience and piety beyond any concern for one's own well-being.

Filial Piety and Chinese Culture

Filial piety is considered the first virtue in Chinese culture, and it is the main concern of a large number of stories, for example The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars (二十四孝). This story depicts how children have exercised their filial piety in the past. Throughout most of the diverse religions of China, filial piety has been common to almost all of them. For example, Historian Hugh D.R. Baker calls respect for the family the only element common to almost all Chinese believers. These traditions were sometimes enforced by law, during parts of the Han Dynasty for example, and those who neglected ancestor worship could even be subject to corporal punishment.

Filial Piety and Confucianism

Filial Piety and Buddhism

Filial Piety in Indian Buddhism

Chinese Filial Piety. Drawing from the book 24 Examples of Filial Piety, 1846

Although early Indian culture had elements of filial piety, early Indian Buddhism did not have a specific notion of filial piety. Early Buddhism in India rejected respect for ancestors and parents because the true Buddhist had to reject all family ties, just as they had to reject social and class ties if they were to pursue Nirvana. Early Buddhism stressed individual salvation, and had little room for the interdependent society that Confucianism had created in China, which stressed the good of the community more than the good of the individual. In India, Buddhism also advocated celibacy among its monks which was unacceptable in the Confucian world view, given that it was viewed as the child's duty to continue the parental line.

The Introduction of Buddhism to China

The Mouzi Lihuolun

These philosophical arguments were not entirely successful in convincing the filial Chinese that the behavior advocated by Buddhism was correct, and so less subtle methods were employed. To more directly give Buddhism a filial nature, passages and parables that were of minor importance in Indian and Central Asian Buddhism became very prominent in Chinese Buddhism. The story of Shan-tzǔ (Syama in Sanskrit), is an example of this.

The Story of Shan-tzǔ

Shan-tzǔ spent his entire life aiding his blind parents, until he was accidentally killed. But, because of his life of filial devotion, he was miraculously revived. This story was often mentioned in the Chinese canon of Buddhist writings, including in a number of different anthologies (such as the Liudu Jijing) and referred to by other Chinese Buddhist writers. While it is clearly of Indian origin, this tale was virtually indistinguishable from similar Chinese tales. While the tale was transmitted along with Buddhist writings, philosophically it had very little to do with traditional Buddhism.

Other Texts

  • Baker, Hugh D.R. Chinese Family and Kinship. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979. ISBN 0231047681
  • Ch'en, Kenneth. The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. ISBN 069107187X
  • Ikels, Charlotte. Filial Piety Practice and Discourse in Contemporary East Asia. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2004. ISBN 1417519444
  • Radice, Thomas. The Ways of Filial Piety in Early China. Thesis (Ph.D.)—University of Pennsylvania, 2006.
  • Slote, Walter H., and De Vos, George A. Confucianism and the Family. SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1998. ISBN 0585093105
  • Traylor, Kenneth L. Chinese Filial Piety. Bloomington: Eastern Press, 1988. ISBN 0939758199
  • Zurcher, E. The Buddhist Conquest of China. Leiden: E. J. Brill., 1959 ISBN 9004156046


Real Estate Signs

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Super Cheap Signs offers you a bespoke route to realtor signs. You could be an individual property owner who wishes to sell a property, a real estate agent in a city or have a statewide or nationwide presence. In every scenario, you can get some unique real estate yard signs or signs, designed exclusively for your needs. You can come up with your own design or use one of our customizable templates. You can choose the materials, sizing and colors. Selling a property can become effortlessly simple when you can market it well. Almost all property owners and realtors today understand the significance of real estate signs in the virtual world and in the real world. Marketing a property online and having a degree of omnipresence in the virtual world is necessary. But that doesn't substitute the need or dilute the significance of actual real estate yard signs. Signs are the simplest, most affordable and also the more effective way to reach out to interested prospects, to convey a message to the people and also to help them to identify the property instantly when they are on the physical quest.


Credit: Pixabay

The elephant is known in popular culture as a wise animal, not an elegant one. You’d be surprised to find out, though, that African elephants walk on their tippy-toes despite having a huge foot which measures 4.4 feet (1.34 m) in circumference.

Elephants on high heels

The debate has come up with two primary candidate explanations: either the captivity itself is driving the elephants to change their gait and ultimately ruin their feet or something in the environment is to blame. The two are so well connected, however, that it’s very difficult to single out the leading factor.

Testing elephant walking is very challenging but Panagiotopoulou and colleagues found a way. They trained five African elephants (Loxodonta africana) from a park in South Africa to walk over a platform that was fitted with pressure sensors. When an elephant walked over the platform, the researchers could then map the load distribution along the foot.

The results of the tests made on African elephants were then compared to those made on Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in a zoo in England using the same pressure plates. This analysis revealed that when elephants walk in wild or semi-wild environments, they put the most pressure on the outside toes of their front feet and the least pressure on their heels. The outside of their feet is, not coincidentally, where most instances of disease occur.

Because zoos and certain conservation park often have harder surfaces, even asphalt, the findings seem to explain why captive elephants have to deal with sore feet on a daily basis.

“We know that elephants in captivity get diseases that we don’t see in wild individuals as much, but the major question for conservation purposes is what can we do to prevent them,” Panagiotopoulou told ABC Australia.

It’s not like we can release elephants in the wild overnight. Captive environments are crucial to elephant conservation in Africa where poachers are having a field day. Since 2007, the African savanna lost 30 percent of its elephants to cut-throat poaching.

Instead, Panagiotopoulou is proposing the wide scale introduction of pressure plates to monitor the health of elephant feet. If an animal is at risk, future development of foot disease might be avoided through trimming.

“You can change the trimming approach to move the weight away from the part of the foot that is injured or can even create elephant orthotics to stop disease progression,” she said.

Rhinos also experience similar difficulties. They might also walk on their tippy-toes and we’ll soon learn when Panagiotopoulou and colleagues use pressure plates to study their gait as well.

Findings appeared in the journal Royal Society Open Science.


Sunday, June 03, 2012

A Dream to Paint, 10 days can make all the difference

I met Jenny a couple of years ago, when I created a special assemblage necklace for her using a special thimble that belonged to her grandmother who had passed away. She and I have formed a special connection and I have watched her painting journey from the very beginning...always trying to encourage her along the way, to follow her dreams. She has the talent.

She has a dream to paint with Misty. She is asking for help.
so admire her for that.
So often when we want something so badly, we become frozen by worry and with wonder about how others will perceive we sit in silence while our heart aches for what we truly need. Some of us were raised never to ask for help...that it is a sign of weakness....a sign that we our out of control of ourselves and our lives. Not true.
Jenny is my hero. She has put herself "out there". She wants this so badly, she is willing to open herself and be vulnerable to rejection and negativity. I call that strength. Not weakness.
Do you have a dream?
What would happen if you asked those around you to help you achieve it? Even in the smallest way?
What is the worst that could happen?
The worst that could happen is that they could simply say no...then, move on to share your dreams with those that will be supportive and nurturing of it.
She is asking.
I am asking.
Please say yes.
Fostering her dreams will help you to foster your own. Trust that. Put it out there, and just see what comes back.

Donate button is on her Right sidebar on her blog right here~

Your presence here is warmly felt, and I am so grateful for it.

  1. You are my hero valentine♥ Thank you for you for your friendship, this beautiful post, and making this a real possibility...
    Love you,

  2. She's very pretty! I love mixed media, too, and want to experiment more with it in future. Thanks for the inspiring example. :) kandy paint


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Descriptions of the Swim Strokes

Descriptions of the Swim Strokes

If you are not a swimmer, the strokes and their rules can be confusing. Since most people do not have a copy of the US Swimming Rules, below is a description of each stroke and the two relays in competition rules below are the US Swimming rules as modified for use in the NVSL. Teams in other leagues may have slightly different rules.

In the NVSL league, each age group has events for boys and girls in each stroke (8 and under do not do butterfly) and the distance increases by age group. In addition to individual races in each stroke, there are relays by age group, both individual and team relays. Below is a description of each stroke and the relay events.

Freestyle is defined as any means of swimming across the pool, although most people’s fastest manner is what is commonly known as the “crawl.” Any stroke and kick are acceptable however, you may not: (1) walk on the bottom or pull yourself along using the lane lines; and (2) in a 50 Meter race (two pool lengths) you must touch the wall at the 25 meter end before touching the wall at the 50 meter end (This may seem obvious, but sometimes swimmers miss the wall at the turning end of the pool).

Like freestyle, almost anything goes on the backstroke as long as you stay on your back. Watching swimmers learn the backstroke is a perverse sense of fun as they bounce off lane lines and wonder where they are. Eventually, they learn to guide off the lane lines, use the overhead backstroke flags and the lane line markings to know where they are in the pool, and count strokes from the flags to the wall. Backstroke starts are different from all others because the swimmer is in the water feet planted against the wall, and hanging on to either another swimmer’s legs or the lip on the pool awaiting the starter’s signal. “Legs” must be grabbed below the knee. Persons serving in an official capacity (such as timers or coaches) may not serve as “legs”. If your swimmer is a backstroker, he or she will eventually learn the backstroke flip turn. This is the one exception to staying on your back and can be used only as part of a turn (not a finish) at the pool wall.

Breaststroke has two components, the kick and the arm pull. The pull and its recovery must both be under the breast and cannot extend further back than the waist area. The kick is a “frog” kick and the toes must be pointed outward during the propulsive part of the kick. The arm pull and kick must be in an alternating sequence and the elbows must stay below the water except for tagging the wall at the finish. Breaststroke turns and finishes require a simultaneous two-hand touch.

A well-executed butterfly (or Fly) is the most beautiful exhibition of power you’ll ever see in a swimming pool. Quite frankly, the fly is the hardest stroke for most swimmers to perfect and while they are learning it many look like they are drowning. There are two components of the fly; the arm pull and the kick. The arm pull must be an over the water recovery (elbows breaking the surface of the water) with the arms moving simultaneously. The kick is a dolphin style kick with both legs moving simultaneously. Turns and finishes require a simultaneous two-hand touch at the wall.

Individual Medley

The individual medley (or IM) is when an individual swims each of the four strokes in the sequence butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. We swim a 100 Meter IM, which equals 25 Meters, or one pool length, of each stroke. In a 100 Meter IM, every turn is a stroke change and stroke finish rules apply. This means no backstroke flip turns. The 8 and under group does not swim IM.

Team Relays

There are two kinds of relays, the freestyle relay and the medley relay. Both involve a team of four swimmers, each swimming one-quarter of the total distance. In the freestyle relay, each swimmer swims freestyle. In the medley relay, the sequence is backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. At the NVSL Relay Carnival, swimmers eight and under swim a modified medley relay where the fly leg of the relay is replaced with a freestyle leg. In all relays, each swimmer must wait until the previous swimmer touches the wall prior to leaving the deck. Running starts or pushes from teammates are not allowed.

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Is the Duduk Hard To Play?

Generally speaking, yes and no. Playing any musical instrument to a good or professional standard is not easy, and requires much practice, patience, and perserverance. Learning to play Duduk is considered to be harder then most instruments mostly due to the lack of understanding towards it in the western world. We don’t know much about how to practice and learn the amazing techniques used to create the haunting sounds of the music that comes from the instrument, and then take into account the complex melodic and rhythmic modes used, it becomes much less simpler to develop then say learning to play piano.

Personally, i’ve only dabbled on clarinet before, and the Duduk was the first time for me to play a double reed instrument. In the beginning it was indeed difficult, but with patience, and some great information from online resources & people, I was able to develop my playing over the course of 1 year to a good standard (for a beginner that is!).

How Long Will It Take Me To Get Good?

This is a very hard question to answer. Some people are just quicker and better at things then others. It took me about 9-10 years to become a decent guitarist of a professional standard, whereas I have colleauges who achieved that standard in less then half of that time! Same goes for Duduk, or any other instrument, in that if you practice on a daily basis, focus on developing your studies (and not mindlessly noodle around), you will continue to develop & grow as a musician. Main thing is to remain humble and realistic, yes we all want to sound like Djivan Gasparyan, but that’s not going to happen overnight…..

How much does a good Duduk cost? And is the Duduks made by Master Simon on Ebay any good?

Ok… This is a question i get asked allot, and I’m going to be very honest (read brutally honest). First of all, there is no such thing as a professional level hand made instrument for $40… Those Meys that i’ve seen online for 40 bucks are made from plastic resin & are not Duduks. Secondly, there is no such thing as a professional instrument for $100 bucks either…. This is what we call a student level instrument.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with a student level instrument, yes sometimes they have tuning quirks, don’t sound great, or look great, but they’re designed for you to learn on, without losing a large chunk of cash, and for this purpose, any Duduk around that price is OK…. The big issue that comes with buying a low quality Duduk is the issue of the reed.

The Duduks reed (or Ghamish) is responsible for a large part of the tone of the instrument, and if it is a low quality reed, not only will the tone be bad, but also, it may cause the instrument to not be in tune, require a ridiculous amount of air to resonate, and may even create a wrong sound altogether.

My first Duduk came from the UK ( and Matt was very helpful in the matter. The instruments made by Karen Hakobyan are fine instruments (for beginners), the main issue though was the reed, not only was it very stiff, but also didn’t tune well. Literally, the veins in my face would be bulging at the amount of breathe I needed to produce a sound. Eventualy through a very good persons advice (Steen / Geesemaildk) I got two very good reeds from Vache Sharafyan, which not only produced a sound more true to the Duduk, but were much easier to blow on and didn’t make me feel like my head was going to explode.

Where did you get your Duduks from?

I got my A and Bb duduks from Gevorg Dabaghyan, via Vache Sharafyan. They’re pro level, are much more denser then my first Duduk, look beautiful, and sound amazing. They also came with 2 very good reeds.

Do I have to know how to play any other instruments before starting on Duduk?

Not really no. It helps if you have, just so you’d have prior background in music theory, and understanding about scales & intervals, since this is a large part of learning to play the Duduk and it’s music.

Do you give lessons?

In my past F.A.Q the answer was no, since I had only been playing a short amount of time. After playing for several years, creating a successful Youtube video series of lessons (which can be found in the Duduk Video Lessons page on this site) & writing a book on the subject (available on Amazon & via this website also) I do offer lessons via Skype. Click here for more info or choose “Skype Lessons” under the Duduk section of my website.

How do I get the reed to open up? Do I use water?

Generally speaking, if it is a new reed, you should avoid using water or too much moisture, to avoid its shape warping. Try using the moisture from your lips and breath, and try blowing on the reed, and leaving it for about 10 minutes. Then repeat the same thing. If after about 30 minutes, the reed is still not open enough, you may dip the tip of the opening in water, shake off the excess water, and cover it with the cap again. Wait about 5 minutes, and hopefully it should start to open up, but it depends on the reed you have.

If the weather is warm & humid, you can expect the reed to have issues with keeping moist enough. There are several tricks to this, most of which I would not recommend to a beginner who is not experienced enough to know how the reed is responding, and could over time damage or ruin the reed. I created a YouTube video which can be of help in learning how to properly warm up the reed:

How do I do Vibrato?

How do I “Bend” the notes?

Depends. There are instances, where lifting the fingers whilst blowing will slide the note up or down (glissando), and there are times where it is done by the lower lip (on trilled notes I believe, and on notes on the higher register once all fingers are uncovered).

For the lip based bends on the higher notes, avoid squashing the reed with the teeth, the pressure should come from the cheeks and the lower lip. If done correctly, you will get a clean higher note, incorrectly, and you’ll hear a choking buzzing sound. The reed plays a major role here, on some reeds I can only uplip from a High A to a Bb, whereas on a good reed, i can actually bend up to a minor 3rd (in this case, bend up to nearly a High C). Once again, as time progresses and your cheek muscles and breath control improve, this technique will become easier for you, and you’ll be able to combine it with vibrato.

How do I hold notes for longer?

Generally, depending on your state of fitness & the reeds you use, you find its hard to maintain a note for a long time. This is something which you’ll gradually learn to improve over time. Most people take deep breathes from the chest and are not used to controlling their breathing. For Duduk, we rely more on the diaphragm, and abdominal breathing. This means inhaling and exhaling via the abdomen. Try breating in and out using your stomach, not your chest, and you’ll understand more about how this is achieved. With support from your abdomen, and with practice, you’ll be able to take deeper breaths of air, and distribute the air with more control, meaning you can play longer phrases without problems.

How do I do those “shakes” or “trills” that I hear in Armenian tunes?

The “Xargh” technique as it’s known in Armenian is a simple technique in concept, but rather challenging in development since it requires some co-ordination and a lot of relaxation mixed with tension to get the right “effect”. There have been several explanations of this technique to me, and thus far, I don’t really concur with any of them. The trills done in armenian tunes seem to be a mixture of techniques. A trill in normal music is a rapid succession of a note and an interval done two or three times (minor second, major second, minor third, major third, etc). On the duduk this is done it seems via the fingers and the lips in some form, and is mixed with vibrato at the same time. The sound is very distinct and hard to describe, it’s like a flurry or “shake” of pitches usually. It’s sometimes done on one note, or usually down or up a scale. There are two videos now on YouTube called “Duduk: how it is made” narrated by Gevorg Dabaghyan and has English subtitles. Gevorg masterfully shows the technique’s two separate parts and then shows them at slow and faster speeds.

What is the tuning of my Duduk?

More then most like your Duduk is in A. This means the Duduk is tuned to the scale of A Major (A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A). The starting note though is actually the 6th degree of the scale, so with all 8 finger holes and the thumb closed, it is actually an F#, then it goes up the scale. The range of the Duduk is about an Octave and a fourth (so that means it goes from a lower F# to a higher F#, and then up to a B (which is a fourth if you think of F# as being one). If you have a good reed and good technique you can play a C note, but it’s very difficult to do, and is usually used as a grace note, not a note to be held for long or to sustain as part of a melody.

Also be aware that in some musical notation, the Duduk is treated as a transposed instrument, that is to say that if you see a piece of music, and see the C note (“Do” for those used to solfege), you should actually play the A note. So the A actually becomes the “do” (those of you who use non fixed solfege will be familiar with this concept. This is how it’s possible to see a piece of music which has notes which are higher then the range of the Duduk. An example of this would be the musical notation for the piece “Hovern Engan” (The winds have dropped). The notation shows to start on F# G then A… But the notes are actually D# E and F# on the Duduk. For the A duduk this means it’s transposed a Minor Third, and for Bb Duduk, its a Major Second.

Be aware that this isn’t for all Duduk music Notation, some pieces are notated using the actual pitches.

Can I only play one fixed scale on the Duduk?

Nope. The Duduk is capable of playing chromatically, and as such, is capapble of playing multiple scales, despite being tuned to a fixed scale. By using Half holing (uncovering the holes only partially) and using the lips and certain fingerings, you can play allot of scales on the Duduk. Naturally some are easier to play then others, and some don’t work well at all. Check out some of my videos on Youtube for some scales that you can practice.

What is the name of the Scale(s) I hear played in Duduk music?

Depends really. The scales that are played are usually Modal, and belong to the “Mugham” system of scales. Every country in the Middle East has it’s own system, which is looseley related to all the other systems. In Egypt it’s called Maqam, in Persia, it’s Dhagstah, in India, it’s Raga.

The Mugham system is interesting in that unlike the Persian & Egyptian system, the quarter tones are not part of the scale, but are considered embellishments to certain modal phrases and intervallic movements. Unfortunately there is very little in the way of literature on the subject, and I’ve only been able to find a website that has a book on the subject, which although I found abit confusing, has been very helpful on explaining the system.

At the moment I’ve slowly been working on learning the Mughams, and soon will learn the rules involved on the intervallic movements involved in improvising using them. When I’ve learnt more on the subject, I’ll add a section to my site on the subject.

In the meantime feel free to conduct your own research!

Do these scales use tunings or notes not found in the Western Major Scale?

Yes they do. The intervals used are more natural, in that a Minor Second might be sharper then a Minor Second on the Piano, and that a Major Third might be slightly Flatter also. The issue of tuning is interesting since different regions and modal systems all use variations in tuning. Microtonal music in this sense can be very daunting since although it might be fractionally sharper or flatter, it would be considered an incorrect mode, or considered non musical & improper. This is what makes Middle Eastern Modal systems so daunting to us Westerners who’ve spent so many years learning to play strictly in tune…. now we need to force ourselves to play out of tune! (or conversely as a colleague of mine said “more in tune!”)

Where can I learn more about Middle Eastern Music?

Generally speaking, there are allot of books published on the subject matter, and a plethora of great websites. Amazon would be the best starting point. There are several books on the subjects of modes of the countries in the region (Egypt, Persia, Iraq, Etc.).

Got a Question to ask? Contact Me!


Design and Construction

Keep Your Dog in Your Yard Without Unattractive Fencing

A fence extension can accumulate your dog cautiously in your backyard after you accepting to access the acme of the fence or resort to chains or shock collars. Fence extensions are not airedale and abounding are calmly removed and transported to a fresh fence if the buyer needs to move. This is a abundant band-aid to the botheration of dogs aggressive or jumping fences.

Many homeowners accept the botheration of befitting their dogs in their yards because the dog climbs the fence. Abounding of the solutions to this are cruddy or unwieldy. "Invisible fences" accept their problems too, as some dogs avoid the shock and the airy fence does not assure the dog from bodies or added animals like a accepted fence does. Building a fresh fence or a taller fence is not aural abounding owners' agency and some areas prohibit fences aloft a assertive height.

One acknowledgment is to install a fence addendum that extends about a bottom inward. This stops a dog from actuality able to get acquirement on the top of the fence, with which it can barrage itself off the top and out of the yard. Since dogs' bodies aren't set up to ability abaft their ears, Rover will accept to get acclimated to blockage in his own yard. In accession to preventing your dog from accepting hit by a car, this additionally prevents the injuries that are acquired by a 6 bottom bead assimilate adamantine surfaces.

Currently, there are companies alms attractive, calmly installed extensions for abstinent pricing. These appear in abounding styles, abstracts and adapter types. There are abounding that are advised to pop on and off the fence for back you are affective or assuming the abode and don't appetite the buyers to be absent by the abnormal fence bureaucracy or appetite to accumulate the addendum as allotment of the chattels.

You can additionally accomplish your own addendum with boards, alternation articulation or plywood. Some bodies accept begin success by bend panels of anchored wire to a 45 amount bend and base one allotment of the console to the absolute fence. Anchored wire has the acerbity that keeps it upright. If one wants to use alternation articulation or wood, brackets will accept to be acclimated to absolutely extend the actual from the fence. Depending on how accessible you are, you can accomplish an adorable "shelf" or arched addendum that doesn't backbite from the attending of your yard. Ask your bounded accouterments abundance or angry supplier for solutions if you are ashore on something.

With accurate planning and construction, you can accept a fence that keeps your dog in the backyard after accepting to reconstruct your absolute angry set up or breach your neighborhood's angry acme restrictions. Safe angry solutions are the key to befitting a abnormality dog in the backyard and will anticipate accidents and injuries that my contrarily occur.


Satan Does Hollywood

Question from Janiece:
I read the previous question from the Australian guy regarding the Illuminati. My issue is this… Several people who I respect and believe say Hollywood is run by Satanist paedophiles and homosexuals. They talk of and point out things that seem to validate much of this. Things that were done to or witnessed by them personally. I do not believe for one minute that the Hollywood Insiders – paedophiles or not – actually worship Satan but wonder if he is used to make claims regarding the crimes of Hollywood less credible. I am really struggling with all the “devil worship” behind all the secret societies that our Presidents and many other leaders all seem associated to. Since devil worship doesn’t seem to be the real motive behind these groups what is the purpose of using the rituals that can be clearly associated to Satanists?

Answer by SmartLX:
There are certainly plenty of homosexuals in Hollywood. There are also many suspected paedophiles in the movie industry, and confirmed or confessed paedophiles in some cases. (Roman Polanski and the father from 7th Heaven come to mind.) The difference is that one implies sexual behaviour between consenting adults and the other implies rape, at least statutory. I have no problem with homosexuals running Hollywood any more than I would have a problem with a homosexual head of state, provided that this one aspect of their identity does not drive their every decision. As for paedophiles, they should be either in prison or in therapy and have no business running an industry at the same time as either.

Aside from those relatively few individuals committing legally defined sex crimes, as happens in all industries to some degree, what exactly are the crimes of Hollywood? You’re convinced that these shadowy cabals are running the place, but what dastardly deeds are they using that power to actually do? How are you threatened, and why are you so concerned? Comment with some material and let us down the rabbit hole. The simple fact that you’re convinced isn’t enough to convince most of us, I reckon. Besides, if you don’t actually think anyone involved is a genuine Satanist, the whole subject has little to do with religion or with this site.

The Virginal Consensus

Question from Kaitlyn:

Answer by SmartLX:

Sense and Sense-ability

Question from Dante:
I came up with a notion that i have been musing over for months now. It’s an evolutionary notion/question. I will not use it to make any assertions but I would be interested to hear what any sages would have to say and how they would address it. So here goes….

Realism/rationalism is based firmly on a permutation of inputs through our 5 senses, processed through our brains using the tool of what, contemporarily, we agree to be science. In an evolutionary sense, starting with the primordial soup, the first unicellular organisms would have started out with some sort of sense analogous to the tactile or chemical. As we climb the evolutionary tree with time, we find further senses appearing, which did not always exist – till the present time when we are aware of 5 ”top-level” senses which we use to experience our reality. processing their input to produce our rationality.

Here is the ‘punch line’:- Evolution is ongoing. Therefore we have no basis to presume that life on our planet has reached the zenith as far as the development of senses goes. Or do we? Beings on this planet billions of years from now ( it is not irrational to postulate) would have further progressed the sensory perception – 6 senses? maybe 7 I dont know. But I do know it is arrogance to decide that evolution does not progress beyond five, just because that is the limit of our sensory perception at this stage of evolution.

This is my question – is it not true then that our knowledge’/’rationality’/’reality’ even science has to be at least to some degree subjective? At the very worst erroneous? Are we really masters of this universe with the tools we use at this stage of evolution – FIVE SENSES????

Answer by SmartLX:
No, we are hardly masters of the universe, and yes, our senses are highly subjective and very often erroneous. We have far more than five senses now – look up proprioception and chemoreceptors, for instance – but in the future we might develop more of them and improve our existing senses. Regardless, it’s pretty clear that there’s a lot in the universe we currently have no way of sensing or detecting, near and far. Reality goes way beyond that which we’ve seen and recorded.

So why ask this on an atheist site? Most likely because of the possibility that senses we don’t yet have might be able to detect the influence or even the direct presence of a god. Sure, it’s possible that we could discover a god in the future, if we become capable of looking in the right way. That doesn’t change the fact that there’s no substantive evidence for a god available to us right now, and no good reason to believe in anything but the possibility of a god.

Atheism: Endgame

Question from Brian:
Although I am an atheist, I believe that religion serves a very important purpose in our capitalist society. Most of us live, almost like slaves, being controlled by our employers. It gives meaning to those who otherwise cannot find meaning in their lives. For example the idea that a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven, allows someone who is poor, which most Americans are, to believe that while this life may suck, the next life they will find some sort of better life. So Christianity serves an important role in appeasing the masses. Now, what is the endgame for atheism? How will a capitalist society continue to sustain itself, when the masses have no hope, and fail to develop some sort of coping mechanism? Let’s face it, the vast majority of the people are biologically and intellectually incapable of surviving in the harsh capitalist system, which is why they turn to religion and the supernatural. Knowing science or understanding the physical world doesn’t help them in a practical sense. It will only make them more miserable. What’s wrong with a little delusion? Isn’t the most rational thing for people to do is try to live a life as happy as they can?

Answer by SmartLX:
I don’t think that modern religion is very good at serving the purpose you ascribe to it, or that the absence of religion would leave the kind of hole in the collective psyche that you and Karl Marx think it would. (That’s not a general insinuation; he wrote something similar in his “opiate of the masses” piece. He wanted to remove the drug so that people would feel their pain and do something about it.)

Yes, Christianity and other religions have traditionally reassured the poor and warned the rich, and if you’re cynical you might think this was to channel money from both groups to the religions themselves. This message has by now been utterly corrupted by “prosperity gospel” and other such doctrines, and religions are brazenly taking congregants for everything they have. This isn’t universal, of course, but religion as a whole appears to be actively making people poorer on average through the way it’s preached. Throw right-wing politics into the mix and religion becomes a way to make the poor vote against their own interests and further enrich the super-rich at their own expense. Religion can make people happy, but so can alcohol, and the cost can be too great – and I’ve only gone into the financial aspect here. The real problem with a delusion is usually what’s happening in the real world at the same time.

I’m sure many people do find meaning in their lives solely through religion, but this is not because there is nothing else. Religion encourages believers to focus their lives on it, and to draw meaning from it alone, so they seldom even look for alternatives. When one is first divested of belief in a god, the threat often looms that one’s whole world will collapse (try searching the site for my term “faithdrawal”) before the realisation comes that the accompanying beliefs that everything depends on the god are also wrong. I honestly think your opinion that the majority can’t survive without religion is terribly patronising toward the majority. If you’re doing it, why can’t they? What makes you biologically and intellectually superior to so many?

You ask about the endgame for atheism, but atheism need not be the first move. There is an inverse correlation between average happiness and the religiosity of a country, as this infographic explains. The happiest countries by a number of standards are those where relatively few people consider religion important at all. This not only flies in the face of your implication that capitalist society would collapse without religion, but it also suggests a way forward for atheists: simply work to improve your society and make people happier, and religion will fade.

To answer your question directly, the endgame or the ideal for atheism from my perspective is universal voluntary abandonment of religion and religious faith as harmful and ultimately useless. Ideally all benefits of religion are replaced by other sources which don’t come with the same drawbacks. People congregate but are not told what to think, they donate to charities which do good work without an agenda, they find personal meaning in the world around them and work to improve it without arguing to a standstill over the meanings. It’ll be hard to achieve, and as you suggest it will require the world to be a nicer place to live in, but that right there is something we can work towards.

The Khabouris Codex: cool name, but proof of God?

Question from Abishek:
Does anyone know the truth about this “Khabouris Codex”?
Some Christians on the internet use it as proof that the New Testament is divine. I am confused, please help me in this.
Thank you.

Answer by SmartLX:
This was a new one on me. The Khabouris or Khaboris Codex is a manuscript of the New Testament (except for five books) dating back to the 12th century. It contains a note to say it’s a copy of a second-century manuscript, which if true gives it serious bragging rights as one of the most authoritative sources of the NT text in Jesus’ own language of Aramaic.

That doesn’t seem to be what’s important about it for the purposes of proving the divinity of the text. Since it was acquired from Kurdistan in 1966, the manuscript has been physically used to assist in religious healing and spiritual instruction. Reading from it has been claimed to cause minor psychological miracles; the main example is that regularly concentrating on the text in Aramaic – without understanding Aramaic – is said to make one more mature. It was even used in an attempt to calm violent prisoners. It’s a proper Christian relic, with minor powers such as you’d see on items in the ‘relic’ or ‘trinket’ category in a role-playing game. It’s most likely in a private collection at the moment.

The Christians you’re referring to may be arguing for the divinity of the New Testament from any of a few different angles. It might be the idea that the text has barely changed over thousands of years, which is dependent on the unverified claim of the Codex’s own source. It could be the discovery of the Codex, as a new revelation from God. It could be any of the abilities the Codex supposedly displayed after it arrived in the West, which are highly subjective in nature. It could be some passage which differs from the modern Bible and can be interpreted as making a unique prediction about subsequent events. None of these seem to be anything to worry too much about, honestly, but if you have more details of their claims (or a link to their website) please fill us in using a comment.

Some Things Never Change

Question from Caleb:

Answer by SmartLX:

Atheism or A-beliefism?

Question from Sarah:

Answer by SmartLX:

Secular devotionals, or the equivalent

Question from Ashley:
Can you direct me to any atheist — or, more likely, secular humanist — devotionals or inspiring readings? I have been asked to do a (3-5 minute) devotional at one of the monthly meetings of parents at my daughter’s Christian school and I would really like to do it — not to rub anyone’s face in my atheism or challenge their beliefs, but just to show them that atheists can provide thought-provoking and inspirational ideas without including references to God, religion, Christ, etc. I can probably come up with something on my own, but I’d love some resources to consult. Any suggestions?

By the way, I am grateful to you for all the resources you supply and for your suggestion, years ago, that I consult Dale McGowan’s Parenting Beyond Belief regarding raising my children without religion. Thank you!

Answer by SmartLX:
I think I’ve found the earlier exchange here, and if so the book wasn’t our idea. Still, glad you found what you were after at the time.

I won’t lie, it was hard to get started on this question. Atheist and secular humanist devotionals are rare, because a devotional is just a (short) prayer by another name. When there isn’t someone to pray to, it seems a bit pointless to devote oneself to, and beg things from, an empty space.

So I started from scratch and simply looked for inspiring and thought-provoking short-form writing. I realised that there’s a common word for that: poetry. I found some great classical poems, and then was shown up when I found most of the best-known ones on a single two-page list here.

Not everything on the list is secular, so to be specific I recommend If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking by Emily Dickinson, The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, and In Spite of War by Angela Morgan. They are respectively about living one’s life for others, finding one’s true identity, and finding joy in the midst of adversity and suffering. These are three things that religious people often think are impossible without religion, but a non-religious person could say any one of these poems and absolutely mean it (and therefore the religious beliefs of the poets themselves, if any, are irrelevant).

Depending on your allotted time, you could string the three of them together into one short speech. If any of them is not to your taste, that’s a whole site full o’ poems ya got there, so rummage around to your heart’s content.

Poetry connoisseur I am not, honestly, so everyone’s welcome to add their own favourite secular writings (use links if possible, to save space) in the comments. What could be read aloud in a church or other religious environment and make everyone think or feel something significant, while forgetting about God for a few moments?

Sometimes we’re the only atheists to ask.

Question from Cody:
a) What does it mean to be human?
b) What happens after death?

Any help is appreciated.

Answer by SmartLX:

Theist Cosmology: As Long As God’s Necessary Somewhere

Question from Physitheist:
I’m going to start this by saying that I’m a Christian, but also someone who believes in science…Here’s my question. According to the laws of thermodynamics energy moves to heat. Also there is no process that is truly reversible because we can not reach absolute zero, and the process would take infinite time. Since entropy continues to increase, and there is a limit of mass and energy how are we here? If there is not a limit of energy and mass, then why do you think so? And if you believe that energy and mass can appear out of thin air balanced out by anti matter why haven’t we ever seen this? After all the amount of unusable heat created is enormous. So basically my question is this, given the laws of thermodynamics, if you extrapolate to the size of the universe how are we here? After all the Big Crunch theory doesn’t really solve the energy problem since no process is 100 percent efficient. We’d still only have heat since there’s no such thing as negligible when the scale is eternity.

Thank you, and have a wonderful day!

Jesus loves you!

Answer by SmartLX:
I answered a similar question in my piece The World of Leftover Energy, so you can comment on that one if you like. Here I’ll just try to address some of your specific points and questions.

If you extrapolate the laws of thermodynamics regarding entropy to account for the entire universe they need to be applied as to a closed system, because we’re not aware of any energy leaving the universe. A hypothetical Big Crunch takes all the matter and energy there has ever been and jams it back together in a singularity – even the “lost” energy that’s been radiated outwards throughout the history of the compressed universe. That could actually achieve 100% efficiency through recycling, as literally no energy would be lost and the singularity could behave exactly the same as the previous singularity.

There is most likely a finite amount of matter and energy in THIS universe. If it’s the only universe, an eternal existence would have to depend on some form of reclamation, like the Big Crunch, or an exponential decrease that never hits zero, like I describe in the other piece. If there are other universes, as many have theorised and some evidence actively suggests, then it’s very possible that the total matter and energy in the multiverse is infinite, and entropy doesn’t mean much on the grand scale. I don’t feel the need to declare one or the other scenario more likely. An eternal universe isn’t certain in the first place, but a non-eternal universe doesn’t guarantee an eternal creator god.

Think about what would happen if a small group of matching matter and antimatter particles suddenly emerged naturally somewhere on Earth, and therefore in an environment saturated with existing particles of matter (e.g. air, water or earth). The antimatter would be annihilated by the existing matter in an instant, and the matter it touched would also be annihilated, so you’d be left with no antimatter and exactly the amount of matter you started with. It could be happening all around us and we’d never detect it without precise instruments. This isn’t proof that it happens, but it makes it impossible to say that it isn’t happening.


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Top 10 High-Fiber Foods

Top 10 High-Fiber Foods
Fiber is a form of carbohydrate found in plants that humans lack the enzyme to digest. It helps us feel fuller on fewer calories, keeps things moving through the gastrointestinal tract, can help support cardiovascular health, and can help support healthy blood sugar levels by slowing the absorption of sugar after a meal.
If you’re looking for a simpler way to slim down and improve your health, eating more fiber may help you get there.
Without fiber, the digestive tract suffers and people may develop high cholesterol that could lead to heart disease.
So, the question is, are you getting enough fiber?
The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that women ages 19–50 get from 25–28 grams of fiber daily; men ages 19–50 should aim for 30–34 grams daily. Due to today’s lacking Western diet, it is estimated that less than 5% of population get the recommended amount of dietary fiber each day.
All of the foods listed below are not just foods with the highest fiber content, but essential nutrients that help our bodies thrive.

Total dietary fiber: 2.8 grams of fiber per tablespoon of whole flaxseeds (10 grams)
Essential nutrients: Protein, thiamine, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, omega-3 fatty acids

Chia Seeds

Total dietary fiber: 10.6 grams per ounce (28 grams)

Total dietary fiber: 7.2 grams per cup (80 grams)
Essential nutrients: Manganese, omega-6 fatty acids, folate, selenium

Image credit:

Total dietary fiber: 10.3 grams of fiber per medium artichoke (120 grams)
Essential nutrients: Vitamins A, C, E, B, K; potassium; calcium; magnesium; phosphorous

Total dietary fiber: 8 grams of fiber per cup (123 grams)
Essential nutrients: Vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, folate

Total dietary fiber: 10.1 grams per cup (150 grams)

Total dietary fiber: 8.8 grams per cooked cup (160 grams)
Essential nutrients: Vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, thiamine, manganese, folate, vitamin A, protein

Total dietary fiber: 15.6 grams of fiber per cup (198 grams)
Essential nutrients: Protein, iron, folate, manganese, phosphorous

Now, I´d love to know: How do you plan to combine these foods to get the fiber you need daily?


Waste district: More items went to landfill in 2018

A higher percentage of items collected at the Dubois County Solid Waste Management District Process Center — located at 1103 S. 350 W., Jasper — last year had to go to the landfill than in 2017.

There are several factors that could have attributed to this, District Director Carla Striegel–Winner explained to the solid waste district board this week.

The board went over a summary of the district’s activity and collection, as well as collections at the eight recycling/trash drop-off sites.

For the district’s process center, which accepts many items not accepted at the county’s recycling sites, 77.62 percent of everything collected was not sent to the landfill. In 2017, that amount was 82 percent. “Some tonnage is down,” Striegel–Winner said, “because some electronics are weighing less, like TVs” which are part of the recycling. Also, she added, places that may have purged in 2017, like schools and libraries purging books, may not have done that last year.

The biggest amounts of recyclables collected were 68.6 tons of cardboard, 39 tons of office paper, 37.7 tons of magazines and 27.7 tons of electronic waste.

In 2018, 72.5 tons went to the landfill, which is more than 2017’s total of 66 tons. Striegel–Winner said that more people are using the large-item dumpster. Also, she said, large plastics, like buckets and chairs, that had been recycled in the past are now going to the dumpster as well.

Most of what is collected at the recycling/trash drop-off sites is trash. For 2018, the sites collected 830.6 tons of recycled items and 3,294 tons of waste. Of the recycled items, the biggest tonnages collected were 396.8 tons of cardboard, 108.2 tons of newspapers, 86.4 tons of mixed colored glass, 72.7 tons of magazines, 62.8 tons of plastics and 52.9 tons of junk mail.

Recycling revenue has decreased, from 2017’s $10,000 to 2018’s $6,800. Striegel–Winner explained that the foreign market for recycling has drastically decreased, and come countries aren’t accepting as much recycling as they did in the past. “This may force the United States to create a recycling structure,” she said, “which should have been done in the first place.”

An average of 170 people visited the process center each month in 2018. For the four Twilight Tuesday events, at which the process center was open in the evening, a total of 39 people visited. But center workers noticed an uptick in the number of visitors to the process center during regular hours after a Twilight Tuesday event is announced, Striegel–Winner said.

The number of community-service hours served at the process center was up substantially from 2017. In 2018, the total hours were 258.25; 2017’s total 98.25, which Striegel-Winner said was unusually low.

More on DuboisCountyHerald.com


Intravenous leiomyomatosis

Type of disease: Rare conditions

Intravenous leiomyomatosis (IVL) is a benign smooth muscle tumor of the uterus that grows within the veins but does not invade the surrounding tissue. IVL usually starts in the veins of the uterus and can extend into the inferior vena cava and ultimately into the right side of the heart, resulting in death The abnormal smooth muscle cells that cause IVL express estrogen and progesterone receptors and tumor growth thus appears to respond to these hormones. Although this is a benign condition, many affected individuals require surgery to remove the excess tissue in the uterus and heart. The exact cause of IVL remains unknown. IVL is rare, with only about 200 cases reported in the medical literature. Source: Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD), supported by ORDR-NCATS and NHGRI.

Connect. Empower. Inspire.


Book Review: Becoming by Michelle Obama

By Mariyam Haider

Title: Becoming

Author: Michelle Obama

Publishers: Crown Publishing Group, Viking Press

Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, is powerful, personal and fulfilling. Her writing takes us with her on her journey, from growing up in Euclid Avenue on the South Side of Chicago to calling White House her home. In the course of this larger-than-life story, Michelle Obama offers her readers an insight into how a strong value-based system allowed her to take risks, commit mistakes and learn from them, address failure as a mentor, be honest to herself and develop authenticity as her crusading feature.

The book is divided into three segments: Becoming Me, Becoming Us and Becoming More. She sets the theme of the book in the preface by writing, “I think it’s one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child — What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point you become something and that’s the end.” The title of the book is thus the threadline of how each one of us is in a constant flux of evolution and rediscovery, embracing the unknown and resonating with the deeper voice that commands us to remain true to ourselves.

Becoming is the turf that Michelle Obama lays for every reader to explore and through it, find a place of belonging. Her narration is honest and enlightening, as she highlights the intersectionality of issues that a black woman, raised in a working-class family with limited means but immense determination, faces every step of her way.

“There are truths we face and truths we ignore,” she writes, recounting an episode where she expressed dissatisfaction with her job at Sidley & Austin law firm to her mother. Despite having always unabashedly supported her children’s dreams, her mother says, “I say make the money first and worry about the happiness later”. Michelle Obama viewed this as her mother’s clarion call to check her privileges that were unavailable to the earlier generations.

She thus learns how many live with piped dreams because the social system is structured against their interests, how death is the biggest equaliser of all, how true friends and mentors are priceless, how failure allows us to take ourselves less seriously and how devoting one’s life to service is the most gratuitous of all work.

The book is not only a peek into Michelle Obama’s life; it is also a friendly invitation to get to know her closely. The passages that highlight watching her father manage multiple sclerosis, losing her best friend to cancer and the anguish caused by a miscarriage are watershed moments that she expresses with immense vulnerability and honesty. Further, her companionship with her husband Barack Obama, their commitment towards each other’s aspirations and their continued support despite differences in opinions is endearing. “For better or for worse, I’d fallen in love with a man with a vision who was optimistic without being naive, undaunted by conflict, and intrigued by how complicated the world was,” she writes. Their compatibility in the face of uncertainty and confidence in one another to tide over every challenge is a master class on relationships.

Towards the second half of the book, Michelle Obama unfolds her life as the wife of a senator, later a presidential candidate and finally POTUS. She recounts her journey as a campaigner for her husband while learning the ropes to become a leading public figure. She recalls fighting the negative media spin, working on her public speaking skills and functioning with a sharp and trustworthy team.

The book’s strength lies in the depth of self-awareness that Michelle Obama projects, helping her readers understand the real picture behind being a POTUS. Living in constant concern for the safety of one’s family, losing access to one’s own time, always being in the public eye where one wrong gesture could cost weeks of media frenzy and striking a balance between maintaining both a public image and a personal self are the challenges that, perhaps, have never been voiced so openly.

She spells out  that despite being the First Lady and having led a most privileged life, a person is first and foremost a human being, one who is susceptible to all kinds of emotions and doubts. Every chapter is an ode to being human, being real and feeling it all.

Though Obama’s life has often been viewed through a glowing public office lens, she makes it radically clear that this was not what she wanted. She disliked politics and the incendiary ways it could be used to misconstrue one’s message. Through her narrative, one discovers she did manage to use it as a platform towards creating a more equal and healthier society.

Her dedication towards her kids’ health turned into Let’s Move!, a national initiative to reduce obesity amongst children through better nutrition programs at schools. The initiative resulted in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 that funded and reformed school meals and inculcated healthier choices. Becoming highlights her strength in being adaptive, learning to let go of inhibitions and recognising change as a nurturing agent.

The book conveys that strength lies in finding your values and using them under every circumstance to become the best version of yourself.

Becoming is a definite read and a re-read.

Mariyam Haider is an independent writer and performance poet based in South Asia. She most recently worked with Financial Times journalist James Crabtree as the researcher on his book ‘The Billionaire Raj’ that won the 2018 TATA Lit Live Business Book of the Year. Her writings have appeared in Hindustan Times, Livemint, Feminism In India, and New Asian Writing. A journalist by training, Mariyam holds a Master in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore.