Public administration and development

Since its founding in 1949, Public Administration and Development (PAD) has been reviewing and assessing the practice of public administration at the local, regional, national and international levels where it is directed to managing development processes in low and medium income countries.

The role of public administration in bringing about development?

On the role of public administration, it will address such areas as sustained economic growth, the promotion of social development, facilitating infrastructure development and protecting the environment, promoting public- private partnerships, managing development programmes and maintaining a legal framework for

ROLE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN DEVELOPMENT TO BE CONSIDERED AT RESUMED GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION 15-19 APRIL

19960412 Background Release The crucial role of public administration in development, particularly in developing countries and economies in transition, will be the subject of a one-week resumed session of the General Assembly, beginning on Monday, 15 April. The resumed session represents the first time the Assembly will meet specifically to consider that issue.

The aim of the resumed session of the General Assembly is to explore themes contained in two distinct categories: the role of public administration, and capacity-building for effective administration. Thirteen specific topics were identified within those categories.

On the role of public administration, it will address such areas as sustained economic growth, the promotion of social development, facilitating infrastructure development and protecting the environment, promoting public- private partnerships, managing development programmes and maintaining a legal framework for development.

With respect to capacity-building, the Assembly will discuss improving civil service systems, organizational strengthening, the enhancement of policy-development capacity, strengthening financial management for development, human resource development for the public sector and the development of administrative capacities for post-conflict and crisis conditions.

In deciding to hold the resumed session, the Assembly recognized the important role that governments and public administrations can play in promoting sustained economic growth and sustainable development (resolution 49/136). It also recognized the need for strengthened public administrative and financial management capacities in order to ensure a civil service that is responsive to the needs of the people.

As a stimulant to its discussion, the Assembly will have before it a report of the Secretary-General containing a series of recommendations on strengthening the role of the United Nations in public administration and development, including recommendations for national governments (document A/50/847-E/1996/7).

Recommendations in Secretary-General’s Report

The report of the Secretary-General contains recommendations on the role of policy-making for public administration and development, the focus of the United Nations programme on that subject, the coordination of relevant activities within the United Nations system and support of donors. It also includes recommendations for national governments and United Nations responses.

On the role of policy-making, the Secretary-General recommends that the issue of public administration and development be included as a regular item on the agenda of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and that the Group of Experts on Public Administration and Finance be redesignated the Committee on Public Administration and Development, which would report to the Council. Likewise, the United Nations programme in public administration and finance should be renamed the United Nations programme in public administration and development.

The United Nations programme in public administration and development should enhance its role as the central depository for materials, reports and non-print media on public administration and development worldwide, the report recommends. Using the latest technology, it should become the clearing-house for all materials on the subject, to serve as a catalyst for a network of international, regional and national institutions and organizations involved in those issues. The programme’s focus should be on action-oriented, practical research on effective systems and procedures in public adminstration.

Tied to its research and clearing-house functions is the assistance the United Nations can provide to individual governments, at their request, in helping them improve their governmental machinery and public management systems for development. To that end, the United Nations programme should be strengthened in the areas of advisory services, needs assessment, diagnostics and substantive support to projects. It is recommended that the United Nations assist governments, when requested, in translating the recommendations of global conferences into detailed programmes for implementation.

The report recommends that the United Nations programme assist in all the phases of the restoration of public administration institutions in countries recovering from conflict and crises, and that it actively assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

On coordination of public administration and development activities within the United Nations system, the Secretary-General recommends that a consultative group on the matter will meet once a year, under the auspices of the Department for Development Support and Management Services. It will focus on closer collaboration in the planning and implementation of global

– 3 – Press Release GA/9056 12 April 1996

programmes of information exchange, research, preparation of guidelines, and organizations of seminars and workshops. It will also provide a forum for mobilizing international assistance.

With regard to donor issues, the report recommends that the donor community recognize the significance of public administration in development and provide adequate resources to improve such structures in developing countries and those with economies in transition. Particular consideration should be given to the loan of expertise to carry out practical research and advisory missions. To that end, the Secretary-General recommends the establishment of a trust fund for United Nations activities in public administration and development.

The Secretary-General highlights a number of recommendations for governments made by the Group of Experts on Public Administration and Finance, which held its twelfth meeting from 31 July to 11 August 1995. Following each recommendation is a projected United Nations response (document A/50/525- E/1995/122, annex).

The Group states that national governments should strengthen the policy, advisory and administrative capacity in critical areas, while the United Nations programme can organize professional exchanges, arrange professional training programmes and prepare case studies on policy matters for dissemination.

According to the Group, in the process of restructuring public administration, government institutions should be encouraged to develop strategic plans and monitor their performance, while the United Nations would continue to undertake comparative studies on restructuring and disseminate them on a regular basis.

Leaders should invest in people, upgrading the capacity of national training institutions to develop a core group of professional trainers, the report states. The United Nations would seek to create and sustain momentum for a global exchange of information on human resource development.

Governments are asked to establish clear goals, encourage operational flexibility, measure results impartially and develop appropriate incentives, while the United Nations would continue offering advisory services in areas including the management of change, performance management and measurement, and information technology.

Public administration services should be provided to reflect ever- changing needs of the citizens they serve, the Group states. The United Nations can assist in developing state-of-the-art technological communication networks.

– 4 – Press Release GA/9056 12 April 1996

Furthermore, governments should encourage financial management at the grass-roots level, the Group states. For its part, the United Nations would assist governments in creating and strengthening national capacities in fiscal policy analysis and economic management, and in promoting a proper environment for capital flows for investment, private sector development, transparency and accountability.

According to the Group, governments should seek objective evaluations of their privatization programmes to establish the appropriate place and timing of privatization in structural adjustment programmes; they should also pay greater attention to performance improvement in parastatals. For its part, the United Nations shall, at the request of the government, arrange for such evaluations, assisting governments in defining the role and scope of their public, private and combined sectors.

While governments should provide an encouraging environment for small and medium-sized enterprises, the report states, the United Nations would assist countries by operating an information clearing-house, developing case studies of successes and failures and providing technical support.

National governments should assume the responsibility for establishing environmental standards for all infrastructure policies, the Group states. The United Nations would assist governments in administrative capacity- building and infrastructure management. Codification of laws must be undertaken to facilitate access to legal guarantees, with the United Nations assisting governments to organize a legal framework of public administration and strengthen judicial supervision of public administration.

For countries recovering from crisis and conflict, the development of both immediate and transitional or long-term strategies is recommended. The United Nations would provide special assistance to countries in post-conflict situations and to collapsed States, to help restore effective public administration.

Governments should promote the use of aid as a stimulant for development and economic growth in civil society, the Group states. The United Nations would provide technical assistance to strengthen institutional machinery capable of evaluating the consistency between development project outcomes and such macro-objectives as growth, employment and income distribution.

Related Meetings, Activities

A number of activities are also being carried out in connection with the resumed session. Among these, Cabinet ministers and other high-ranking officials from each of the major regions will hold an executive session to discuss their experiences in restructuring governments. An International Technical Forum was held on 11 and 12 April at Headquarters, the site of a

– 5 – Press Release GA/9056 12 April 1996

related Internet Exposition until 19 April. (For more information, see Note to Correspondents No. 5329, of 10 April.)

In the lead-up to the resumed session, regional meetings were held in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe. The impetus for the session arose from the June 1994 Tangier Declaration of the Pan-African Conference of Ministers of the Civil Service, which called for the convening of a global conference on public administration and development.

World Population Day 2021

11th July is celebrated as THE WORLD POPULATION DAY every year. This day is devoted to focusing on the relevance of population issues. World Population Day was rooted by the Governing Council of the United National Development Programme in 1989, as an outgrowth of the interest generated by the Day of Five Billion, which was observed on 11 July 1987.

The theme for 2021 is rights and choices.

1) Population in India

image source: Google | image by: Statista

2) Understanding our population 

The total number of children a woman bears is inversely proportional to the following:

  • Literacy
  • Per capita income
  • Development 

It’s been proved that as the above-mentioned factors rise, the total fertility decreases.

The total number of children a woman bears is directly proportional to the following:

  • Infant mortality rate
  • Poverty
  • Illiteracy
  • Unemployment

It’s been proved that as the above-mentioned factors rise, the total fertility rises too.

Our population is growing but at a decreasing rate. It is not an explosion. The total fertility rate, i.e. the average number of children a woman beers, has significantly decreased from 5 to 2.2-2.3 in the last 50 years. The replacement fertility rate, i.e. the number of children a woman needs to have so that the population replaces itself from one generation to another generation is 2.1. Approximately 20 states and UTs in India are very close to it.

3)Why is overpopulation a concern

  • Resources

Well, the rate of growth in the number of human beings is greater than the growth of resources. This means the more the population grows, the difficult it gets to sustain everyone.

  • Environmental destruction

As the number of people grows, more resources and places to live are required to destroy natural habitat. This leads to the loss of animal habitat and they’re seen wandering around in human civilization.

  • Unemployment

An increase in the number of people, increases the demand for jobs to sustain oneself and we as a nation have failed to provide jobs.

  • Poverty

A direct relation between poverty and population has been proved by researchers. This means as poverty rises, so does population and vice versa. Along with these, overpopulation brings:

  • Social religious conflicts
  • Climate change
  • Outbreak of diseases
  • Social unrest
  • Political instability 

4) Benefits of having a bigger population

  • A high population is an asset, which can be utilized gracefully. We can have an ample number of professionals in all the fields and can even outsource our services. There is more production of goods.
  • 4-2-1 problem, i.e 1 child looking up to 4 grandparents and 2 parents, is avoided.
  • We’ll have a balance between the ones earning and the ones depending on pensions because if the number of children born is dropped suddenly, the ones depending on pensions will far outgrow the ones earning and that would be very hard to sustain.

5) How not to tackle population

  • Population Regulation Bill or a 2 child policy

Implementing such a policy is punishing someone for having kids in the form of banning them from elected offices, eliminating them from government schemes and subsidies, government jobs, and even snatching their food by excluding them from PDS. What do you think are the probable effects of these?

A population reduction? NAH. This coercion will lead to even more poverty in the nation which is in the first place one of the root causes of a high population. Furthermore, this may lead to a poor sex ratio as in the case of China which saw sex-selective abortions, foeticides, and even bride price practice which is in simple words buying a bride and might even lead to people bringing girls from poor nations to marry them.

  • Forced sterilization

Sanjay Gandhi and Indira Gandhi led one of the Forced sterilization drives, which is never the answer. Because it violates the choice of the couple, and the right to reproduce which is a basic human right. Even if it doesn’t violate a right, it is unethical to the very roots. Approximately 10 million men were sterilized during that drive and it had no substantial effect on the population growth but had various side effects like deaths and the spread of diseases.

  • Blaming Muslims 

How many times have you heard the statement that Muslims give birth to more children so that one day they can outnumber the Hindu population, or even politicians asking their Hindu following to have more and more children to just come in way of Muslims outnumbering them? Well India’s last census, conducted in 2011, revealed that Hindus make up 79.8% of the population, while Muslims make up 14.2%. and Muslims have more children because of their developmental and literacy levels. Because in states with a higher development, the total fertility rate of Muslims is less too, and the fall in the total fertility rate of Muslims is less than the fall in the total fertility rate of Hindus. All politicians are doing is find a shortcut to avoid tackling the matter with sincerity and propose these stupid ideas.

Forced population control measures are a problem, the solution lies in the development.

6) How to tackle population?

  • Understanding and choosing better leaders for ourselves, voting for the ones who focus on development rather than playing a blame game.
  • Mass education about family planning and contraceptive techniques.
  • Creating job opportunities, improving healthcare facilities and focusing on education would tackle a lot of other significant issues along with overpopulation.
  • Improving access to contraceptives
  • Increasing investment in family planning projects

7) Takeaway

The need of the hour is to plan instead of punishing, utilizing the asset it’s blessed with instead of declaring it a disaster and blaming everything on it and stabilization of population instead of trying to control it. And lastly, having a government that owns up to its responsibilities.

references

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/IND/india/population

https://www.statista.com/statistics/263766/total-population-of-india/

World Population Day: UP Population Bill Draft.

Today, July 11, is celebrated as World Population Day each year and this was established by United Nations Development Programme with an attempt to address the issues faced by global population.

Photo Credits: E Times.

This day is very important to India as our country is one of the few in the world to have a massive increase in population in the past few years. With growing population, demands and needs of the public also increases.

Uttar Pradesh, a state in India has a population of about 220 million, larger than that of many of the developed countries in the world. As increasing population is a growing concern, the Government of Uttar Pradesh has proposed a bill to control the population growth and any suggestions that would improve the bill are also welcomed and the last date for public opinion is July 19.

Blue Area: Uttar Pradesh.

The Blue Area, marked on the picture above is Uttar Pradesh and the blue area has more population than the entire red area combined. This shows the seriousness of the situation regarding the population in Uttar Pradesh.

Let us know some of the important facets from the Population Control Bill Draft of Uttar Pradesh which voices for a “two-child norm” in Uttar Pradesh.

The Government Duties:

1) A State Population Fund will be made for the purpose of implementation of the act.

2) Maternity Centres will be established at all primary health care centres. All centres and related NGOs will have to distribute contraceptive pills, condoms and like.

3) The Centres and NGOs will also have to educate people about proper family planning methods and record the information about pregnancies, deliveries, births and deaths.

4) The Government will also ensure that there’s a separate subject regarding population in all secondary schools.

5) The Government would also ensure to stabilise and provide welfare to the population of the state by implementing and promoting two child norm.

6) In the Bill it is also mentioned that public servant who adopt the two child norm would be entitled to several benefits such as increments throughout lifetime, maternity leaves and paternity leaves for 12 months (according to the case) with full salary and allowances and three percent increase in the Employer’s Contribution Fund under National Pension Scheme.

Citizen’s Responsibilities:

-The Bill has also made it clear that anyone violating the two child policy will be debarred from contesting local bodies elections, from applying or getting promoted in Government jobs, and receiving any kind of Government subsidy.

-As responsible citizens, the bill expects us to abide by the laws contained in the bill or suggest any improvements until July 19 and also encourages us to promote sustainable development with more equitable distribution.

Find your self- love language

When you think of the term love languages, the first thing that may come to mind is relationships and romance. But finding your self- love language is actually an important factor in your self care routine. Here are some helpful tips .

Before delving into self- love languages,let’s know about where this concept from. In 1992, Dr. Gary champan wrote a book called The Five languages. In the book ,he discusses five different ways to express love with your partner. They include words of affirimation,acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time and physical touch.

Champan notes that discovering your love language can help you communicate and better connect. With your love! He also adds that everyone expresses and recieves love differently , so it’s important to understand your love language.

1. Quality Time :

If your love language is quality time, you adore just being together with the person you love .A perfect day would be hanging out with your loved ones and simply enjoying the moment. Why not apply this to your self care routine? Be mindful of how you spend time with yourself. Give yourself the undivided attention that you would want from someone else.

Self- love Ideas for Quality Time :

* practice mindfulness.

* spend a day at the coffee shop.

* Do a gudied meditation exercise.

* sign up for a yoga class.

* Enjoy the sunset.

* Go for a drive.

* start a garden.

*Go on a solo- trip to a dreamy destination.

* Read a chapter of a new book before bed.

* paint a picture.

* Treat yourself to dinner at your favorite restaurant.

* Listen to your favorite album on repeat.

* stargaze.

* watch a meaningful movie.

* sit on your porch.

* Go on a nature hike.

2. Words of Affirmation :

Sometimes, it’s nice to just hear the words,”I love you” or ” you did a great job”, If words of affirimation is your love language,you feel happiest when someone expresses their affection in words. Similarly ,you should speak loving to youself.At times, we can be our own worst critics. Replacing negative self- talk with kind words is a powerful way to show yourself love.

Self -love ideas for words of affirimation:

* Recite daily positive affirmations

* stick encouragingnotes on your fridge.

* write yourself a loving letter.

* keep a gratitude jar.

* Remind yourself of your dreams by making a vision board.

* Be aware of how people in your life speak to you.

* Talk about your passions with others.

* Forgive yourself for past mistakes.

*Give yourself a compliment.

* write a list of things you’ve accomplished this year.

3.Receiving Gifts:

When it comes to this love language,it’s the thought behind the gift that counts. You love the idea that someone bought or made a gift with just you in mind. If receiving gifts is your love language ,you truly appreciate when people listen to your interests and passions.

Let’s say that you adore all things music. You’d probably feel emotional if your loved ones suprised you with tickets to your favorite artist’s concert. Another thing that would mean the world to you is if they made you a personalized playlist! Overall, small gifts make you feel special because someone you love thought about you

Self-love Ideas for Receiving Gifts:

* Treat yourself to a small gift from yore fav shop.

* Buy a ticket to see a local show or movie.

* Invest in your hobbies and passions.

* Decorate your workspace with positive knickknacks.

* create a scrapbook of memories & mementos.

* Make yourself a self care kit.

* start a DIY project just for fun.

4. Physical Touch :

If physical touch is your love language,a hug from someone you care about can make your wholeday. Showing affection through physical touch calms you down and makes you happiest. When it comes to self care , take the steps you need to feel more in tune with your body. Doing so well bring you a sense of calm.

Self-love ideas for physical Touch:

* cook yourself a healthy dinner.

* Get some fresh air

* Light your favorite candle.

* work on your skincare routine.

* sign up for a fitness class.

* Enjoy a cup of tea.

* Drink a glass of water

* play with makeup.

* Go to the gym.

5. Acts of service :

On to the final self- love language _ acts of service! When I took Dr.chapman’s quiz,I was’nt too surprised that this was my personal love language.At the end of the day ,this love language is all about showing the people in your life you care.

Self-love Ideas for Acts of service:

* check off your to-do list.

* Donate to a local charity.

* Learn how to set boundaries and say no to things that drain your energy.

* Make your bed in the morning.

* Give yourself braeks throughout the workday.

* pick up your favorite snacks at the store.

Renewable resources .

Replacing traditional sources of energy completely with renewable energy is going to be a challenging task. However, by adding renewable energy to the grid and gradually increasing its contribution, we can realistically expect a future that is powered completely by green energy.

– Tulsi Tanti

A way to live a new life . Without any destruction , without worrying about the future . Live a life where we can grow together , develop a life with renewable resources.

Introduction

A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale.

When such recovery rate of resources is unlikely to ever exceed a human time scale, these are called perpetual resources. Renewable resources are a part of Earth’s natural environment and the largest components of its ecosphere. A positive life-cycle assessment is a key indicator of a resource’s sustainability.

Renewable resources are an energy source that cannot be depleted and are able to supply a continuous source of clean energy.

Renewable resources also produce clean energy, meaning less pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.

Examples of renewable resources.

  • Biomass .
  • Biogas.
  • Tidal Energy.
  • Wind Energy.
  • Geothermal Energy.
  • Radiant Energy.
  • Hydro Electricity.
  • Compressed Natural Gas.

Types of renewable resources.

1) Solar energy. Sunlight is one of our planet’s most abundant and freely available energy resources. 2) Wind energy. Wind is a plentiful source of clean energy. 3) Hydro energy.
4) Tidal energy.
5) Geothermal energy. 6) Biomass Energy.

Impact of renewable resources.

Environmental impact

Renewable energy projects have also contributed in improving environmental impacts such as reduction of carbon dioxide gas, awakening community about the climate change. The study observed very small impacts on the people living in a particular area, tourism, cost of energy supply, and educational impacts. Significant impacts were observed in improvement of life standard, social bonds creation, and community development. They also observed that the renewable energy projects are complex to install and are local environmental and condition sensitive. Their forecasting, execution, and planning require more consideration and knowledge as compared to other projects.

Social impact

These resources also provide social benefits like improvement of health, according to choice of consumer, advancement in technologies, and opportunities for the work, but some basic considerations should be taken for the benefit of humans, for example, climate conditions, level of education and standard of living, and region whether urban or rural from agricultural point of view. Social aspects are the basic considerations for the development of any country. The following social benefits can be achieved by renewable energy systems: local employment, better health, job opportunities, and consumer choice.

Advantages of renewable resources.

  • Renewable energy won’t run out.
  • Maintenance requirements are lower.
  • Renewables save money.
  • Renewable energy has numerous health and environmental benefits.
  • Renewables lower reliance on foreign energy sources.
  • Higher upfront cost.
  • Intermittency.
  • Storage capabilities.

Conclusion

Renewable energy is becoming an important resource in all over the world . I do agree that people might exploit the resources for there own benefit . But the government is working on that aspect and trying to provide resources that can help our future households .

There are a lot of different ways of building a prosperous society, and some of them use much less energy than others. And it is possible and more practical to talk about rebuilding systems to use much less energy than it is to think about trying to meet greater demands of energy through clean energy alone.

– Alex Steffen

Link

Conspiracy Theory

Conspiracy theory, an attempt to explain harmful or tragic events as the result of the actions of a small powerful group. Such explanations reject the accepted narrative surrounding those events; indeed, the official version may be seen as further proof of the conspiracy.

Conspiracy theories increase in prevalence in periods of widespread anxiety, uncertainty, or hardship, as during wars and economic depressions and in the aftermath of natural disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, and pandemics. This fact is evidenced by the profusion of conspiracy theories that emerged in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001 and by the more than 2,000 volumes on U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy’s assassination. This suggests that conspiratorial thinking is driven by a strong human desire to make sense of social forces that are self-relevant, important, and threatening

The content of conspiracy theories is emotionally laden and its alleged discovery can be gratifying. The evidentiary standards for corroborating conspiracy theories are typically weak, and they are usually resistant to falsification. The survivability of conspiracy theories may be aided by psychological biases and by distrust of official sources.

Top 10 conspiracy theory

Many conspiracy theorists go much further, though, and see a hidden hand behind the world’s major events. While some of the theories have a grain of truth to them, conspiracy theories are impossible to disprove, because the hardcore believers will find some way to rationalize away evidence that contradicts their beliefs. Eyewitnesses who dispute their conclusions are mistaken—or part of the conspiracy.

The 9/11 Conspiracies

9/11 was the worst terrorist incident in the history of the United States. Terrorists hijacked 3 planes, two of which were flown into the World Trade Center in NYC, which led to its collapse and the death of about 3,000 people. To many people, the official story of what actually happened on that day seemed way off.

The weird way in which the twin towers came down and the surgical precision that is required to use two airplanes to cause the towers to collapse the way they did resulted in many conspiracy theories claiming that the attack was an inside job.

Reptilian People Ruling the World

A rather crazier one among these, this one suggests that the most influential leaders of the worlds are in fact Lizard Peoples. According to researchers travelling to different countries, Reptilians are a predator race that takes the form of a reptile man when feeding off of humanity. Some people have claimed to have seen people turn into reptiles and change back into humans, in seconds and sometimes the change lasts for even days. The theory suggests that the race feeds on human fear and that is why most of the terror attacks are actually inside jobs to keep the humans scared.

According to everyone else who believes in this theory- the society’s elites are actually lizards disguised as humans with the mission of enslaving the human race! Those “elites” include world leaders, actors and large corporate executives. Celebrities that are claimed to be from the “reptilian elite” include George W. Bush, the Clintons and even Queen Elizabeth.

The JFK Assassination

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Due to the mysterious motives and circumstances surrounding the assassination, plenty of conspiracy theories that are related to this incident have emerged. Those conspiracy theories make all kinds of claims, starting with the identity of the real killer and the people who were really behind it.

Conspiracy theories related to the people behind the assassination involved many organizations and government agencies, starting with the CIA and all the way to the mafia. Some even accuse the Castro government of being behind the assassination.

Who really killed JFK? Nobody knows for sure.

Area 51

Perhaps one of the most interesting and talked about conspiracy theories that trigger the curiosity of people of all ages has to be Area 51. It is a highly guarded place located in the Nevada Test and Training Range in the southern parts of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas. Details of what goes on in this area are top national secret but speculations say that it is a training and development grounds of the United States Air Force (USAF).

Where something is called “top secret” to the public, conspiracy theories are bound to surface. This was back in the 1940s when mysterious flying saucers were claimed to been spotted by commercial airline pilots. Then later, what was found on the crash site, was described to be a UFO. Theories suggest that the government has kept within Area 51 many such UFOs and most probably its inhabitants, to re-engineer their aircraft and build highly advanced machines for themselves.

These theories were reaffirmed when a retired army colonel claimed that he was given access to extraterrestrial materials gathered from a crashed UFO in Roswell. MAny other conspiracy theories go as far as suggesting that the government is studying time travel in Area 51. Believe them or don’t but these are sure quite the talk of the town.

The moon landing

The greatest achieved by human civilization was the first steps of mankind on the moon. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to set foot on the moon’s soil. But if conspiracy theorists were to be believed, then the whole thing might have been a hoax. It is said that the US was so desperate to win the moon race against Russia, that they faked the whole mission by filming it on a film set.

Unfortunately, there are many conspiracy involving this. Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick in his 1968 Film 2001: A Space Odessey has shown the world that it was possible to create a make-believe film set that perfectly depicted space. This further solidified the conspiracy theories that he might have helped Nasa to film the hoax. Also, the fact that the pictures and videos of the space mission were only available through NASA’s website further raised suspicions.

Secret Societies of the World

The conspiracy theories surrounding this one definitely received its due limelight due to our very famous novelist Dan Brown and his books about the Illuminati. Conspiracy theories suggest that the world is actually ruled by secret societies that are very powerful and influential. They control the world order.

Reports came out in 2004 that both the Presidential candidates were members of a secret society called the Skull and Bones Society of the Yale University. It is believed they control the world.

Apart from that, theories claim that most of the people sitting in some of the most powerful positions in the world are members of some sort of secret society.

The more famous societies that are at the zenith of conspiracies are the Illuminati and the Freemasons. The Illuminati, a Satanic society, which has apparently formed in 18th Century Germany, is said to be trying to create a single government to rule the world and contains some of the most influential people with the likes of Beyonce.

5G causes Coronavirus

Living during a pandemic, how can we miss out on the latest and most happening conspiracy theory that is afloat among us right as we discuss this. This theory claims that 5G technology may have been responsible for the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus.

Though scientists and experts all around the world have rubbish theses claims stating that it is biologically impossible for a virus to spread through an electromagnetic wave, it hasn’t stopped theorists from second-guessing. The idea around is that 5G lowers the body’s immune system and thus accelerates the spread of the Covid-19.

Also, the huge debatable conspiracy around the coronavirus is that it is a bioweapon created by China to weaken the world. It’s surely one of the tragic events to have ever struck the world. Public health now remains a worry more than ever.

Whatever it is, we would like nothing more than to get rid of the deadly virus and get our normal lives back.

For all we know, the real world is a strange one indeed.

 Chemtrails

Did you ever look at the sky and notice those line-shaped clouds that an airplane leaves behind? Those trails are mainly a combination of water vapor and other impurities that are crystallized due to the low temperatures at high altitudes.

The chemtrails conspiracy theory suggests that those trails are a material that is sprayed by governments over their populations with the malicious intent of controlling their minds!

As those trails are seen by people all over the world, this conspiracy theory has gained much more momentum than it should. Or, is that what the government wants us to believe?

Paul Is Dead

This is one of the very many conspiracy theories that has entertained fans in pop culture for decades. According to claims, The Beatles legend Paul Mc Cartney died in a gruesome car accident in 1966 when the band was in the peak of its fame. Fearing that the news of his death would severely affect the band’s image so early on in their career, the band members decided to replace McCartney with a look-alike who, as we all know, is still very much alive and kicking.

Fans have speculated the albums the band released after 1966 and found many references and clues which suggested McCartney’s untimely death. In the album, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, fans have pointed out several clues which validate their suspicion. In the song, A Day In The Life, lyrics like “He blew his mind out in the car” are said to suggest his car accident.

The song, Strawberry Fields Forever has been under the midst of a huge conspiracy which still gets talked about. It is said that John Lennon is clearly heard mumbling at the end of the song “I buried Paul” twice. Lennon has vehemently denied the claims insisting that he was saying “Cranberry sauce”.

Another famous conspiracy theory arises due to the cover of the album Abbey Road where the band members are walking in a line. There John is seen leading a “funeral procession” dressed in white, Ringo is dressed in black signifying a mourner and George appears as a gravedigger. Paul, however, is seeing walking out of line from the rest, barefoot. This, fans claim is a sign since there is no need for shoes in the afterlife.

Tupac Shakur isn’t Dead

After attending the Mike Tyson vs. Bruce Seldon match in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Tupac Shakur was shot in a drive-by shooting in the Las Vegas Strip, after which he died a few days later in the hospital. Well, at least that’s what the official story and the hospital reports said!

According to many of the iconic rapper’s fans, Tupac Shakur is still alive and actually faked his own death. People who believe in this conspiracy theory resort to all kinds of lyrics deciphering to provide evidence of Tupac hinting his own “fake death” and the fact that he is still alive in his songs lyrics.

What are your favorite conspiracy theories? Let us know in the comments section.

Right to repair

Right to repair is a proposed legislation/movement that allows consumers the ability to modify and repair their own electronic devices.  

Planned obsolescence is the practice when goods are manufactured with a pre-determined expiry date aimed at forcing consumers into repeat purchases. The term was first termed in the 1950s by American industrial designer Brooks Stevens. This practice was introduced in the advent of mass-produced manufacturing at the start of the 20th century. But the practice was not as severe and prevalent as it is in recent years. One of the recent changes in the product design has been to make the goods very hard for end consumers to repair.

For instance smartphones, a couple of years back had a user-replaceable battery but with more features crammed into the chassis of a phone. Manufacturers have not only made it unnecessarily difficult to replace the battery but also to even open the panels of smartphones. With the recent MacBook Pro releases, Apple has soldered the SSD (Solid State Drive) on the motherboard. The reasoning for justifying the soldering by Apple is better reliability and the thinness of the laptops. But there is also another aspect. Apple’s business model is about selling laptops and not upgrading the systems. Upgrading an SSD can be a potential loss for them and to counter that Apple might have decided to make the laptop non-upgradable. The problem is that even SSDs are definitely much more reliable than mechanical hard disks but SSDs still fail and combining them with the motherboard means that if one of the two fails, the whole system fails. This also makes it much more difficult for end-user to repair their laptop. It also becomes a problem for the third-party repair business to access the repairing of these devices. This is just one of the instances of how access to repair is being restricted by the manufacturers but various companies are attempting to follow similar practices with varying degrees.          

With the introduction of newer and sophisticated technological components in electronic devices, it has become much more complicated to operate these modern devices. To reduce the access to repair these devices, manufacturers state that repairing the devices might violate their “Proprietary” rights. These repair limitations are a critical problem for not just the first owners but also for the second-hand/ used market. Due to proprietary information and diagnostics tools while evaluating a device. It has become difficult for third parties and end-user to even attempt the repair their own devices that they own. It took Apple the lawsuit to introduce the battery replacement program after the fiasco of the performance throttling issue on older iPhones. It clearly indicates that companies do not like it when consumers try to fix their products and companies deliberately try to reduce the user experience of older devices so that they can sell the newer models to maximize profits. With a monopoly on repair manufacturer’s intent is to lock down the user to the official service centers which can be significantly expensive than third-party service shops.

The right to repair movement intends to enact power into the consumer’s hands for the devices that they own. This means that consumers can open and modify everything they own. Also to root, unlock or jailbreak the software in their devices.

References:

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD

The line “all that glitters is not gold” occurs in William Shakespeare’s well-known play The Merchant of Venice”. It comes as a shock to Prince of Morocco when he, led by the exterior glitter of gold, chooses the gold casket and loses the lottery of caskets. The line has since then become a proverb. It means, in simple words, that appearances are deceptive. The seemingly beautiful and valuable object may turn out to be something most ugly and worthless.

Therefore, like all proverbs, ‘all that glitters is not gold contains the time-tested truth. It enjoins upon us to be cautious in our approach while judging the worth of a person or object. We should not be led by external appearance. A seemingly good apple may be rotten at the centre. A person may smile and smile, and yet prove to be a villain. An extremely beautiful face of a woman may hide her ugly, vicious character. A charming Cleopatra often proves to be a siren.

It is, of course, human to be attracted by good and beautiful persons and things. When a young man falls in love or goes to select a life partner, he is first tempted or repulsed by the outward appearance of the girl. If he does not pause and judge the real character of the girl, he is destined to rue and suffer for his choice throughout his life. So, it is equally true in the case of a girl in the choice of her would- be husband.

There is a beautiful story in the Bible which warns us against falling in to the seemingly attractive exterior. Eve gets attracted to the beautiful and yet forbidden fruit of knowledge (an apple). She fails to resist the temptation of tasting it. The moment she and Adam eat the forbidden fruit, they are thrown out of the Paradise forever. They bring upon them and their progeny (the whole mankind) endless sufferings in many forms.

In our modern world of glitter and glamour, there are many temptations around us. Most of us get attracted to glittering cars and bikes, gadgets and products of several kinds. Youngsters force their parents to buy them, which land their parents in vicious debt circles. The young men and women realise quite late how some of these attractive gadgets tell upon their health and ruin their careers.

Advertisements on the screen and in newspapers often coax people to buy things which are neither worth their money nor as useful as claimed. Most of us are misled by the utility of some products as they are advertised by some beautiful actresses, popular actors or other celebrities.

Yogi proposes two children policy

The UP law panel has a draft of a proposed law aired on controlling population of the state. The up government proposed that if one has more than two children ,they won’t receive any subsidiary from government . Futhermore ,they will be ineligible for taking part in election as well as in giving government exams .Their are various restrictions on who have more than two children.The draft has several perks for one who decided to have one child .They will be given free healthcare facilities and insurance until he/she attains the age of 20.Those will have two children will be given paid maternity and paternity leave of 12 months with free healthcare insurance and facilities.

The Amazon

The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life activity; it affords protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axe-man who destroys it.

– Gautama Buddha

Today , let’s feel the presence of fresh air , waterfall , trees , flora and fauna . Being a citizen of a country , which is well known for its resources , different species, mixed economy and different cultures. It is important for us to see the world of flora and fauna.

Well you get to know by the heading , today we are gonna talk about THE AMAZON’S which is well known for its vast species .

Introduction .


The Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km2 (2,700,000 sq mi), of which 5,500,000 km2 (2,100,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations and 3,344 formally acknowledged indigenous territories.

The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Four nations have “Amazonas” as the name of one of their first-level administrative regions, and France uses the name “Guiana Amazonian Park” for its rainforest protected area. The Amazon represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual trees divided into 16,000 species.

The name Amazon is said to arise from a war Francisco de Orellana fought with the Tapuyas and other tribes. The women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was their custom. Orellana derived the name Amazonas from the Amazons of Greek mythology, described by Herodotus and Diodorus.

Flora and Fauna.

Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia.

This constitutes the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world.

The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and some 2,000 birds and mammals. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 2,200 fishes, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region.

The biodiversity of plant species is the highest on Earth with one 2001 study finding a quarter square kilometer (62 acres) of Ecuadorian rainforest supports more than 1,100 tree species.

Human impact on Amazon jungle.

The human impact on the Amazon rainforest has been grossly underestimated according to an international team of researchers. … They found that selective logging and surface wildfires can result in an annual loss of 54 billion tonnes of carbon from the Brazilian Amazon, increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Lead researcher Dr Erika Berenguer from Lancaster University said: “The impacts of fire and logging in tropical forests have always been largely overlooked by both the scientific community and policy makers who are primarily concerned with deforestation. Yet our results show how these disturbances can severely degrade the forest, with huge amounts of carbon being transferred from plant matter straight into the atmosphere.”

The second author, Dr Joice Ferreira from Embrapa in Brazil, said: “Our findings also draw attention to the necessity for Brazil to implement more effective policies for reducing the use of fire in agriculture, as fires can both devastate private property, and escape into surrounding forests causing widespread degradation. Bringing fire and illegal logging under control is key to reaching our national commitment to reducing carbon emissions.”

The forest is not a resource for us, it is life itself. It is the only place for us to live.

-Evaristo Nugkuag Ikanan

Link

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is the use of the Internet, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other channels to reach consumers. Some marketing experts consider digital marketing to be an entirely new endeavor that requires a new way of approaching customers and new ways of understanding how customers behave compared to traditional marketing.

Understanding Digital Marketing

Digital marketing targets a specific segment of the customer base and is interactive. Digital marketing is on the rise and includes search result ads, email ads, and promoted tweets – anything that incorporates marketing with customer feedback or a two-way interaction between the company and customer.

In the parlance of digital marketing, advertisers are commonly referred to as sources, while members of the targeted ads are commonly called receivers. Sources frequently target highly specific, well-defined receivers.

Digital Marketing Channels

  • Website Marketing

A website is the centerpiece of all digital marketing activities. Alone, it is a very powerful channel, but it’s also the medium needed to execute a variety of online marketing campaigns. A website should represent a brand, product, and service in a clear and memorable way. It should be fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to use.

  • Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

PPC advertising enables marketers to reach Internet users on a number of digital platforms through paid ads. Marketers can set up PPC campaigns on Google, Bing, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, or Facebook and show their ads to people searching for terms related to the products or services. PPC campaigns can segment users based on their demographic characteristics (such as by age or gender), or even target their particular interests or location. The most popular PPC platforms are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

  • Content Marketing

The goal of content marketing is to reach potential customers through the use of content. Content is usually published on a website and then promoted through social media, email marketing, SEO, or even PPC campaigns. The tools of content marketing include blogs, ebooks, online courses, infographics, podcasts, and webinars.

  • Email Marketing

Email marketing is still one of the most effective digital marketing channels. Many people confuse email marketing with spam email messages, but that’s not what email marketing is all about. Email marketing is the medium to get in touch with your potential customers or the people interested in your brand. Many digital marketers use all other digital marketing channels to add leads to their email lists and then, through email marketing, they create customer acquisition funnels to turn those leads into customers.

  • Social Media Marketing

The primary goal of a social media marketing campaign is brand awareness and establishing social trust. As you go deeper into social media marketing, you can use it to get leads or even as a direct sales channel.

  • Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing, and the Internet has brought new life to this old standby. With affiliate marketing, influencers promote other people’s products and get a commission every time a sale is made or a lead is introduced. Many well-known companies like Amazon have affiliate programs that pay out millions of dollars per month to websites that sell their products.

  • Video Marketing

YouTube has become the second most popular search engine and a lot of users are turning to YouTube before they make a buying decision, to learn something, read a review, or just to relax. There are several video marketing platforms, including Facebook Videos, Instagram, or even TikTok to use to run a video marketing campaign. Companies find the most success with video by integrating it with SEO, content marketing, and broader social media marketing campaigns.

  • SMS Messaging

Companies and nonprofit organizations also use SMS or text messages to send information about their latest promotions or giving opportunities to willing customers. Political candidates running for office also use SMS message campaigns to spread positive information about their own platforms. As technology has advanced, many text-to-give campaigns also allow customers to directly pay or give via a simple text message.

Digital marketing challenges

1. Not getting lost in the volume

The digital world is booming, and almost every business out there has taken its products/services online to reach out to the masses. According to a report by Experian, most marketers are now facing the challenge of making their brand stand out in the volumes available on the internet. This eventually leads to the difficulty of running a brand awareness campaign or acquiring new customers.

What can you do?

While it is a fact that at least some of your products/services might be similar to what another business has to offer, there is a minor aspect that is unique to you. Discover the USP of your product/service and find ways to convey the same. Conduct surveys on your existing customers and your target audience to better understand what they are looking for and identify which needs your brand can fulfill.

2. Driving relevant traffic to the website

Continuing on the point above, marketers today are consistently facing a challenge in spreading brand awareness in the right target market. This also makes it harder for them to drive the ideal traffic to their business websites. Therefore, understanding which channel to tap into and driving the relevant audience to your website to turn them into customers is becoming an ongoing challenge for marketers.

What can you do?

Conduct an audit of your online activity. Identify what tactics you are opting to reach out to your audience. Consider the content you’re producing, the channels you’re presenting it on, your social presence, and the paid/unpaid campaigns you are running. Use robust analytics to know which of them work the best for you and optimize your efforts simultaneously. But it is essential to measure your analytics at modest intervals of time to give each of your efforts enough span to work over.

3. Targeting the right audience effectively

The first and foremost thing that an effective marketer would do is identify their target audience in the market. With the number of internet users increasing by the day and their needs changing almost every second, targeting the right audience has become one of the biggest challenges for marketers.

Keeping in mind what your business has to offer and what kind of problems it would solve when put to use, create your value proposition. This will help you identify who or what demographics would resonate with it the most when targeted.

What can you do?

Look at the general demographics of the market that you want to reach out to. Identify their needs and create customer personas taking into consideration their online behavior and possible future needs. In this case, companies like Wigzo equip you with machine learning and predictive analytics tools to enable better persona creation.

4. Lead generation using social media

When it comes to the various social channels, most businesses and marketers don’t know how to remain consistent. Most of them feel that it is all about the paid campaigns they are supposed to run for brand awareness and lead generation. Although, both of them is a constant challenge with the ever-increasing market competition.

Even though considerable marketing budgets are set aside by businesses, most marketers cannot run their engagement into revenue. But you mustn’t just build your social following – you need to get conversions that add up to the overall business goal.

What can you do?

The most effective way to leverage social media is to integrate your marketing and sales efforts. Sharing behavioral data and interaction levels with leads on social media can help the sales team define a custom, personalized customer journey for them – which they are more likely to convert on.

5. Optimizing marketing budgets and ROI

With the increase of digital channels and advanced analytics tools, marketers are now expected to optimize the marketing budgets and the ROI to best suit the business’s needs. He is expected to measure each effort and its value to achieve the end goal – the number of leads generated or the revenue raised.

What can you do?

Tap into the power of machine learning and robust analytics regularly. An effective marketer can gauge the value of every single lead generated from a marketing effort. Understand the impact of each digital campaign on lead generation, test different variants and approaches of reaching out to your target audience to optimize your campaigns for much better results.

While you measure the digital inbound results, ensure that you consider the outbound efforts being made by your business and what kind of results it is yielding.

6. Keeping up with the changing trends

The digital market and marketing techniques have changed drastically over the last few years. And it continues to change even today to cater to the modern-day addressable market needs. Hence, marketers need to stay up-to-date with all these changes.

Be it the launch of a new social media platform or a technology that would make a marketing effort more robust, marketers need to remain on top of things to ensure their business does not lose out on possible conversions.

What can you do?

Consistently engage with your target audience on platforms that they are most active on. The most effective way of doing so is to leverage social listening using tools like Hootsuite. They help you understand what people are saying about you and your product/service, what they expect – allowing you to become a part of their conversation.

7. A Check on Increased Security Risks

We have come across cases wherein online security has been compromised.  The news and media keep it afresh. Since more information is shared online, hackers get more incentives to find ways to get through security. Shopping, bill payment, application submission, order copies, certificates, and other essential documents, and so much more are stored online for easy access – making these spaces a treasure trove for hackers and thieves. Venturing into digital marketing sure comes with its cost of security getting compromised as most of the work remains online. Security comes as a challenge.

What can you do?

You may already have a good firewall, HTTPS encryption, and maybe a good antivirus program. But that’s not enough. You will need more. Sit out and work with an authentic security team and identify your website’s weak spots and apps to create measures to reduce risk.

8. Lesser Focus on Keywords

Keywords were the bread and butter of SEO sometime in the immediate past. You just needed to find the right keywords and use them right, and your site could shoot up to the top in the search results—helping you with more exposure and traffic.

Now Google has changed algorithms making the keywords less critical. However, they are still to be used but are not the focus. Instead, it has become a topical approach rather than seeking and finding one, meaning that Google first gets an overall scope of your website.

What can you do?

First, you need to use search phrases instead of keywords and build content around topics rather than coming up with content for each keyword you want to target. Make your website a resource for the phase or question you need to target and see the changes.

Current trends of serverless computing.

Developers spend countless hours solving business problems with code. Then comes a never ending part where ops team’s turn to spend countless hours figuring out how to get the code that developers write up and running on whatever computers are available and making sure those computers operate smoothly. Serverless computing represents an enhancement of cloud programe models, abstraction, and platforms, and is a command to the attainment and wide acceptance of cloud technologies.

What is serverless computing?

Serverless computing is a cloud computing implementation model in which the cloud provider deals with machine resources on demand, taking care of the servers on behalf of their customers. It does not hold resources in volatile memory; computing is rather done in short bursts with the results persisted to storage. When an app is not in use, there are no computing resources allocated to the app. It is an execution model for the cloud in which Some of the Common languages supported by serverless runtimes are Java, Python and PHP. Amazon’s AWS Lambda was the first serverless platform and it defined several key dimensions including cost, programming model, deployment, resource limits,security, and monitoring. Supported languages include Node.js, Java, Python, and C programming. Initial versions had limited composability but this has been addressed recently.

Current trend

1.Google Cloud Functions : It provides basic FaaS functionality to run serverless functions written in Node. The functionality is currently limited but expected to grow in future versions.

2.Microsoft Azure Functions : It provides HTTP webhooks and integration with Azure services to run user provided functions. The platform supports C , Node.js, Python, PHP, bash, or any executable. The runtime code is open-source and available on GitHub under an MIT License. To ease debugging, the Azure Func-tions CLI provides a local development experience for creating, developing, testing,running, and debugging Azure Functions.

3.IBM OpenWhisk provides event-based serverless programming with the ability to chain serverless functions to create composite functions. It supportsNode.js, Java, Swift, Python, as well as arbitrary binaries embedded in a Docker Container. OpenWhisk is available on GitHub under an Apache open source license.Besides There are several serverless projects ranging from open source projects to vendors that find serverless a natural fit for their business. OpenLambda is an open source serverless computing platform. The source code is available in GitHub Lunder an Apache License. It’s paper outlines a number of challenges around performance such as supporting faster function startup time for heterogeneous language runtimes and across a load balanced pool of servers, deployment of large amounts of code, supporting stateful interactions (such as HTTP sessions), etc

4.AWS Lambda: It is a serverless compute service that lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers, creating workload-aware cluster scaling logic, maintaining event integrations, or managing runtimes. With Lambda, you can run code for virtually any type of application or backend service – all with zero administration. Just upload your code as a ZIP file or container image, and Lambda automatically and precisely allocates compute execution power and runs your code based on the incoming request or event, for any scale of traffic. You can set up your code to automatically trigger from over 200 AWS services and SaaS applications or call it directly from any web or mobile app. You can write Lambda functions in your favorite language (Node.js, Python, Go, Java, and more) and use both serverless and container tools, such as AWS SAM or Docker CLI, to build, test, and deploy your functions.

Advantages

1.No infrastructure to maintain :Serverless computer services, which are small snippets of code meant to execute a single function are executed on pre-existing servers that run functions for countless other customers as well. Since you’re literally using someone else’s computer to execute your serverless functions, there’s no infrastructure to maintain it.

2.No costs : when functions aren’t running As Hacker Noon points out, the costs associated with serverless computing are minimal compared to other cloud services. Access authorization, presence detection, security, image processing, and other costs associated with operating a server, whether physical or virtual, are eliminated under a serverless model. In short, serverless functions can be dirt cheap, and if they aren’t being spun up for use, you aren’t paying anything.

3.Infinitely scalable : Automatic scaling capability of any serverless platform worth investing in is designed to scale based on need. That’s another advantage to serverless computing as there’s never a need to partition a new cloud server or purchase additional computing power for an existing instance. All of that is handled by the serverless computing platform, leaving you with no complication outside of a slightly larger bill for additional computing time.

4.Reduced latency : Cloud flare points out that using serverless functions can greatly reduce the latency experienced by end users. Serverless functions don’t operate from an origin server, so there’s no single location that an end user’s traffic has to be directed to.

5.Reduced software complexity : Serverless computing functions don’t need to take any of that into account–the code just has to be supported by the cloud platform being used. On top of being easier to build, serverless functions require a lot less coding knowledge to build, which opens up development to those at lower skill levels. As cloud native systems inherently scale down as well as up, these systems are known as elastic rather than scalable. Small teams of developers are able to run code themselves without the dependence upon teams of infrastructure and support engineers; more developers are becoming DevOps skilled and distinctions between being a software developer or hardware engineers are blurring.

Disadvantages

1.Security issues : server that runs serverless functions runs them for myriad customers, which opens up a lot of security concerns.

2.Vendor lock-in : Building serverless functions on one platform can mean that migrating to another is difficult. Code might need to be re-written, APIs that exist on one platform may not exist. you’re going to invest in a serverless platform, be sure the vendor you’re considering has everything you need because becoming unhappy with your serverless computing provider a few months or years into your service can be a major problem.

3.Debugging is more difficult : Every time a serverless instance spins up it creates a new version of itself, and that means it’s difficult to collect data necessary to debug and fix a serverless function. Debugging serverless functions is possible, but it’s not a simple task, and it can eat up lots of time and resources.

Conclusion

Evolution of the trend towards higher levels of abstractions in cloud programming models, and currently exemplified by the Function as a Service (FaaS) model where developers write small stateless code snippets and allow the platform to man-age the complexities of scalably executing the function in a fault tolerant manner.This seemingly restrictive model nevertheless lends itself well to a number of common distributed application patterns, including compute intensive event processing pipelines. Most of the large cloud computing vendors have released their own serverless platforms.

for more information go to the link below 👇

https://youtu.be/Fx3ZGy-mbV4

https://youtu.be/i_U_S5Eboy0

Database Management System: DBMS- InShort

What is a DBMS (Database Management System)?

Database Management System (DBMS) is a software for storing and retrieving users’ data while considering appropriate security measures.In large systems, a DBMS helps users and other third-party software to store and retrieve data. DBMS allows users to create their own databases as per their requirement.The DBMS manages incoming data, organizes it, and provides ways for the data to be modified or extracted by users or other programs.

DBMS Softwares

  • MySQL
  • PostgreSQL
  • Microsoft Access
  • SQL Server
  • FileMaker
  • Oracle
  • RDBMS
  • dBASE
  • Clipper
  • FoxPro.

Types of Database Models

  1. Hierarchical Database Model

Hierarchical database model resembles a tree structure, similar to a folder architecture in your computer system. The relationships between records are pre-defined in a one to one manner, between ‘parent and child’ nodes. They require the user to pass a hierarchy in order to access needed data. Due to limitations, such databases may be confined to specific uses.

2. Network Database Model

Network database models also have a hierarchical structure. However, instead of using a single-parent tree hierarchy, this model supports many to many relationships, as child tables can have more than one parent. 

3. Relational Database Model

A relational database is a digital database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A software system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relational database systems have an option of using the SQL (Structured Query Language) for querying and maintaining the database.

4. Object Oriented Database Model

Object-oriented databases, the information is represented as objects, with different types of relationships possible between two or more objects. Such databases use an object-oriented programming language for development.

Functions of DBMS

The DBMS performs several important functions that guarantee the integrity and consistency of data in the database. The current generation DBMS supports many functions, such as the following:

  • Stores the definitions of data and their relationships (metadata) in a data dictionary, any changes made are automatically recorded in the data dictionary.
  • Creates the complex structures required for data storage.
  • Transforms entered data to confirm to the data structures.
  • Creates a security system and enforces security within that system.
  • Allow multiple user access to the data within the computer network environment.
  • Performs backup and data recovery procedures to ensure data safety.
  • Promotes and enforces integrity rules to maintain data consistency.
  • Provides access to the data via utility programs and from programming languages interfaces.

Applications of DBMS

  • Railway Reservation System
  • Library Management System
  • Banking
  • Universities and colleges
  • Credit card transactions
  • Social Media Sites
  • Telecommunications
  • Finance

Conclusion

Database implementation plan is essential for any organization that once to boost is sales or increase their customers experience, a good database implementation plan I supposed to have, all the factors and the significance value towards the organization, not forgetting the requirements that are needed. In my opinion, I could have recommended using a computerized, database management system. This is because it is faster to implement and also it requires less amount of time and finance to set up, the future of database lies on the power of the organization .and the funds that they can be able to set aside to implement new database management system.

Does Art Really Matter in Our Daily Lives?

Art is known to surround life, every individual in different locations, without us being aware of it fully.  Since time has been immemorial, art has existed as long as man has and has exited ever since. It is an integral part of our culture, which contributes in shaping our ideas, and vice versa, and it provides us with a deeper understanding of our emotions, increases our self-awareness, and more. To conclude that art is only confined to the artist or the painter, the dancer, the sculptor, the musician or the singer or other craftsman is to look at a needlessly rigid and a restricted view of life. Life itself is known to be art and though poets and artists may seem visionaries, they have a specific and distinct role to play in our being. Almost every individual has some form of art in their house—a hanging painting, framed photographs on walls, a decorative table center piece and even the main layout and design of a house is and can be considered as a form of art.  Art is not restricted purely for looking at it and admiring, a lot of it is functional too which we often don’t realize, especially when it comes to our living spaces and our daily lives.

Image of World Collaboration Limited edition Art Print (6 artists  collaboration) | Art, Drawings, Art drawings

Everything from a delightfully patterned cushion cover on the pillow or even a decorative plate and intricate designed teacups can be considered as a form of art.  Our brain is mostly conditioned to think that these type of items or things are not a form of art when it’s only for decoration. Another important element of form of art that adds value in our daily lives is Music, it is similar as art, and is considered to be a universal language and it holds importance in our daily lives which is indisputable. Subconsciously, when we hear music through various forms like on shows, commercials, radio and through other forms of media. Sounds, songs, instruments and music can make life extremely joyful and it can contribute heavily in lifting our spirits up and also till some extent improve our mental health and wellbeing. People think that technology and science are considered to be superior to art or any form of art.

Brain research shows the arts promote mental health

But art makes life worthwhile. It may not be as vital to fulfil our basic wants or necessities, but it does add value into our lives and brings colours in it as well. As we proceed our journey of a fast-paced life with quick decisions, moments, time and with many fragmented thoughts, art allows us to learn from every moment and to enjoy each moment and to make it memorable. Understanding our true emotions can help us heal from pain, grow and improve ourselves to become better humans. It helps in increasing our self-awareness and through that it can lead to more success professionally and personally. Through any form of art, we gain a better understanding of history, culture and tradition. It helps people in the present to build a better life for themselves.

The Journalism and mass media

The Journalism and mass media is the  graduates work nationwide and worldwide at newspapers and magazines and in advertising, branding, broadcast news, social media, marketing, media research, photojournalism, publication design, public relations, radio, and other areas.

The Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities. Journalism can be distinguished from other activities and products by certain identifiable characteristics and practices.

There are five types,

  • investigative,
  • news,
  • reviews,
  • columns,
  • feature-writing.

The Rules Of Journalism

: Ask questions.

The  journalist’s greatest assets is their natural curiosity. Start with the famed five W’s (and one H), then ask some more. Asking “why?” is what gets you the good stuff.

: Dig for the story.

If you think you’ve got the whole story, dig around some more. The most fascinating parts of the story are often just under the surface.

: Master the language.

As a journalist, language is your main tool. Read as much as you can and as often as you can, research odd words and archaic sayings, look at what’s behind etymology. Learn the patterns behind language and how to use them.

: Spelling matters.

Double-check if you aren’t sure about spelling or style (especially in the case of names), and read through messages and articles thoroughly before sending either.

#5: Know thy publication.

Before you pitch, know a publication’s style, editorial staff and content. Publications are usually more than happy to provide back-issues. If you can’t find writer’s guidelines, send a short introductory email requesting them.

#6: Contacts are your career.

Contacts (and your reputation with said contacts) are your entire career. Editors, sources and interviewees are all vital parts of the journalistic process. Without them, you’d be screwed.

#7: Once it’s off the record, keep it that way.

Trusted sources will tell you all sorts of juicy, fascinating, scandalous and personal things in your career as a journalist, often off the record. Shut up about it.

#8: Three is a golden number.

Mind the rule of threes: Have at least three reliable, corroborating sources for every fact; three interviewees for every article; and read through a piece at least three times before you sit down to change a comma – that’s at least.

#9: Rejection is opportunity.

Getting a story rejected means you’ve just opened up a line of communication with a new editor – congratulations. Pitch again. Rejection also gives you a chance to sell the story elsewhere: Sometimes rejection just means it’s not right for them

#10: Editors are teachers.

You can learn a hell of a lot from the experience of your editors, and when given the chance you should. They braved the journalistic battlefield before you, so you can trust their edits and advice. Usually, they’re right.

: Mind the word count.

Yes, you can do that in the assigned word count, and the editor will either make you add or cut if you don’t. Here, they always know better. (Remember this piece of key-advice from The Elements of Style and repeat it as your daily editing mantra: Omit unnecessary words.)

: Deadlines are holy.

Deadlines exist for a reason: Never skip out on a deadline unless you are incapacitated or dead. If you have to, let your editor know beforehand and have a damn good reason. Then, don’t do it again. Compare deadlines to menstrual cycles: If you skip one, you might just be stressed. If you skip several, you’re in trouble.

#13: Know the law.

Journalism can take you to some strange places. Make sure you know the law and what side of it you’re standing on at all times.

#14: Always do your research.

Make sure that your research is flawless and that you can always match which source gave which fact. Cross-reference, find first-hand information and do your background research before requesting, planning or conducting an interview.

#15: Have it outlined.

Have the skeleton of your idea outlined and ready by the time you pitch the idea. That way you have all the information ready, and it makes your job – and theirs – easier. Your outline should include the article’s proposed headline, the article’s sub-headers and sections (you can write down facts as key-words here) and who you will interview.

#16: Keep and file everything.

Keep prior notes, interviews, sources, tapes, the lot: You never know when you’ll need it, and you probably will.

#17: Guard your vices.

Many great journalists have been crippled or completely destroyed by their vices – and it can be almost anything: Overworking, coffee, manic exercising, painkillers or heavier drugs. Whatever yours is, keep it in check or risk your job.

#18: Burnout is a rabid, fanged monkey.

Burnout is a myth, until you’re there. It’s a mental and physical size of your writing engine, and if you don’t find your way to unwind you’ll get there a lot quicker.

The Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. … Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television.

The types of mass media include Newspapers, Radio, Television, Internet, Magazines and more,

  • What is Mass Media?
  • Journalism.
  • Social Media.
  • Films.
  • Television.
  • Radio.
  • Advertising.
  • Public Relations.
  • Books, Magazines, Newspapers and Journals.

RULES OF MASS MEDIA

  • The Privacy Act works to guarantee privacy to individuals and controls how personal information is used. Defamation in the written form (libel) or the spoken form (slander) is illegal in the United States.
  • Section 315 (Equal Time Rule) ensures that broadcast media cannot favor any one candidate over another by granting one more time than another. The Fairness Doctrine ensured that radio stations offered equal time to opposing viewpoints.
  • The Freedom of Information Act grants the public, including the news media, access to many government documents. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, established in 1998, extended existing copyright laws to encompass and protect information online.