Tag Archives: Why

Why Cybersecurity Can Win the Fight Against Islamic Extremism By Cosmo Clark

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Cosmo Clark is a cybersecurity and cyber terrorism analyst and observer whose first novel, Blue Eyed Infidel, a satirical sci-fi thriller in the vein of Orwell’s 1984, hits the UK shelves this week. Here Clark (a pseudonym) argues that computers, not bombs, will win the war on terror.

What do you think is the best way to win an argument? When I was at primary school, John Biggers, the village bully, thought he had the answer: to punch me in the face. Hard.

But violence didn’t work in the playground and it doesn’t work in the real world, either. Invading Iraq and bombing ISIS in Syria might win a few headlines for politicians, but in the long term, all it really does is create more terrorists, and leads directly to more attacks here in the UK.

It is my firm view (and one shared by a wealth of academics) that technology, not bombs, will win the global war on terror.

1. In-APP-propriate action: why we should boost, not ban, encrypted chat apps

Extremists talk to each other using secretive, encrypted chat apps. That’s how they groom new members, organise attacks and keep out of the public eye.

Our kneejerk reaction to that has always been to shut these apps down. But that would be a big mistake. Banning one type of app (or making it less secure) will only lead to more. That is a battle that can never be won.

Instead, we should be encouraging their use; remember, loose lips have and always will sink ships. We should be using covert spyware to infiltrate the apps and identify the bad guys.

2. Jihadi Join: why UK spies should be posing as online extremists

Islamic extremists will never love the UK. They don’t feel loyalty to a passport, only to their God. Trying to force them into ‘being British’ or to ‘integrate’ is a total waste of time and money, and just helps them know what to say in order to disappear into our society.

Instead, we should talk to extremists online in ways that make sense to them. To start with, that will involve doing things which will seem completely counter-intuitive. Let’s say you are a jihadi who wants to blow himself up. If you create an online persona as someone who can help them make that bomb, it’ll be much easier to grab the perpetrator – and the rest of his terror cell – when the time comes.

3. Dead ringer: using deceased ISIS fighters to communicate with terror cells

Technology changes quickly, but we’ve got two exclusive advantages right now that we should be using more. Firstly, we must put more pressure on social media companies like Facebook and YouTube to track (rather than ban) and report on Islamic extremists using their platforms. That’s harder than you might think.

Secondly, we’ve got access to cool resources like artificial intelligence. My favourite idea is to create fake cyber-personalities, ‘chatbots’ if you like, which are smart enough to hold conversations with real-world Islamic extremists. To be genuinely believable, these cyber-personalities could actually appear to be real people. There are roughly 25,000 Islamic extremists in the UK, and about 1,000 British jihadis who went to fight for ISIS and who have since gone missing. If a few of those deceased individuals popped up online, they could be treated as heroes. Only those ‘in the know’ would ever know the truth.

Blue Eyed Infidel by Cosmo Clark is out now, priced £9.99 in paperback and £3.49 as an eBook, and is available at Amazon UK. Visit www.cosmoclark.com.

 

Why Mothers Stop Breastfeeding

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GentleIt’s not your imagination– all babies go through a difficult period around the same age. Research by Dr. Frans Plooij Ph.D. and Dr. Hetty van de Rijt Ph.D., authors of The Wonder Weeks: How to Stimulate Your Baby’s Mental Development and Help Him Turn His 10 Predictable, Great, Fussy Phases Into Magical, has shown that babies make 10 major, predictable, age-linked changes – or leaps – during their first 20 months of their lives taking place around weeks 5, 8, 12, 19, 26, 37, 46, 55, 64 and 75. During this time, they will learn more than in any other time. With each leap comes a drastic change in your baby’s mental development, which not only affects his mood, his health, sleeping patterns and the “three C’s” (crying, clinging and crankiness) but also… babies drinking and comfort seeking habits. Unfortunately these Wonder Weeks are often a reason for moms who do not know about these wonder weeks, to stop breast-feeding their child.

With every new wonder week a baby gets a totally new perception of the world. Every Wonder Week is like waking up on a strange planet. A baby did not ask for this, did not see it coming, but suddenly this whole new world was there. What would you do? You would retreat to a well-known and safe place. For a baby that is mom. How would you do that? By literally clinging to your mom. Being one with her, holding on tight and the best way to do that would be via literally sucking yourself to your mom. This is where breast-feeding and Wonder Weeks meet. Whilst on the one hand Wonder weeks are in fact something good and signal progress in development, on the other hand, when the Wonder Weeks are misunderstood, they are often the reason moms give up breastfeeding.

“My daughter was crying so much that I was afraid something was terribly wrong. She wanted to breastfeed constantly. I took her to see the pediatrician, but he couldn’t find anything wrong with her. He said he just needed to get used to my milk and that many infants went through a similar crying phase at 5 weeks. I thought that is was a strange thing to say, because she hadn’t had any problems with my milk until then. Her cousin, who was the same age, kept crying, too, but he was being bottle-fed. When I told the doctor that, he pretended he hadn’t heard, I didn’t push the subject though. I found out about wonder weeks later on, but I keep on wondering why nobody told me about these wonder weeks earlier.” – Julitte’s mom, 5th week

Wonder Weeks and the milk doubting moms:

Wonder Weeks: One of the reasons mothers stop breastfeeding? As the baby gets more Clingy, Cries more and is more Cranky during a wonder week, many mothers start doubting themselves. Are they doing something wrong? If a baby wants to drink so often, does this mean they do not have enough milk? Or is their milk not good enough? Moms who know their baby is in a wonder week, don’t doubt themselves or their milk.

“Around the third wonder week my daughter suddenly started nursing less. After 5 minutes, she would start playing around with my nipple. After that had gone on for two weeks, I decided to start supplementing my milk with formula, but she wouldn’t have any of that either. This phase lasted 4 weeks. During that time I worried she would suffer from some kind of nutrition deficiency, especially when I saw my milk supply starting to diminish. But now she is drinking like she used to again, and my milk supply is as plentiful as ever. Now I know this is normal behavior during a wonder week. I never doubted my milk again since I know when these wonder weeks are.”
– Hannah’s mom, 19 th week.

Wonder Weeks and the exhausted moms:
Even the moms not doubting their milk sometimes give up breastfeeding. Simply because the impact of the leap on the behavior of their child is wearing them out. The moms that know about Wonder Weeks tend to be less exhausted as they know what is happening and that Wonder Weeks are actually a good thing.

Wonder Weeks and the mom of a six month old:
One of the most difficult leaps is the one of relationships, around six months after due date. The exact same time breast milk alone is not enough anymore and most parents start to give solid food as well. Mom is exhausted from the leap, doesn’t sleep or sleeps very poorly, while at the same time her child needs food. Just days after giving the first ‘meals’, the baby is in a much better mood. Often moms explain this whole sequence of events wrongly and seem to think their child was in need of other milk than theirs. While in fact the child just went through another leap and finished the leap when he turned six months.

Wonder Weeks and nipple cracks or abrasions:
Pain is, logically, one of the reasons moms want to stop feeding their child. When a child is in a Wonder Week he wants to drink many times more often than is normally the case. As this is one of the only times a baby is quiet, a mom doesn’t really pay as much attention to the feeding process as she normally would. Often resulting in wrong feeding positions, resulting in i.e. cracked nipples.

Making parents aware of Wonder weeks will enable parents to understand their baby’s behavior much better and will help many moms to continue feeding their child and to make sure these Wonder Weeks are not a reason to give up.

Dr. Frans Plooij Ph.D. and Dr. Hetty van de Rijt Ph.D. discovered the leap phenomenon while studying chimpanzee mother infant relationships in the Gombe National Park, Tanzania, East-Africa together with Jane Goodall. They are the authors of the book The Wonder Weeks: How to Stimulate Your Baby’s Mental Development and Help Him Turn His 10 Predictable, Great, Fussy Phases Into Magical

Dr. Frans Plooij Ph.D. is always willing to educate professionals about these Wonder weeks, or answer questions via Skype or email. He regularly has Skype sessions with moms around the world.

 

 

Beyoncé Responds To That Solange And Jay Z Lift Attack

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Beyoncé has responded to the rumours that Jay Z’s 100th problem, her sister Solange, is no longer her friend by posting a lot of pictures of the two together on her Instagram.

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32-year-old Beyoncé uploaded a picture of them at Coachella last month, one of them hugging and one of the sisters looking happy together on the back of a truck. But where does this leave Jay Z? What really happened in that lift? Will we ever know? Maybe not, but some of the rumours are that Jay wanted to go to Rihanna’s afterparty, or that Solange has just never liked her brother-in-law and has flipped out before.

Tell us what you think.

Why I Wrote Emotional Support Through Breast Cancer By Cordelia Galgut

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cgalgutMy new book Emotional Support Through Breast Cancer, the alternative handbook, is a culmination of a process that started almost 10 years ago, when I was twice diagnosed with breast cancer. Before being diagnosed, as a psychologist, I sometimes supported women with breast cancer and considered I had a pretty good take on what they were going through and my clients were too polite to disabuse me of this. Little did I know!! Life on the other side of the fence turned out to be completely different and much harder than I could ever have imagined, both emotionally and physically. Indeed, I was so struck by the differences and fed up with the general lack of awareness I experienced amongst most of the people treating me and around me that I decided to set about writing about these issues from my new dual perspective, in order to raise awareness.

I started with a series of articles that were published in both the popular press and professional journals, which provoked many responses from women saying things like, ‘Thank goodness I’m normal, I thought it was just me who was still lying awake at night worrying about recurrence several years after diagnosis, until you said you did.’ Or the women who told me how sick they were of trite judgements from others such as: ‘It’s time you got on with your life!’; ‘You should be over breast cancer by now.’ or ‘You’re over-anxious.’ Strong themes that also emerged from their feedback were their fear of speaking out about how they felt about breast cancer, for fear of being judged and/or their treatment being adversely affected, and the ignorance of the health professionals treating them. However, they wanted me to speak out for them.When I did so, I was often met with skeptical responses from health professionals, saying things like,‘Oh it’s just the minority who feel bad ongoingly ,’ or ‘you’re overstating how traumatic the experience is.’

This chasm of a mismatch between the views of the health professionals and the women themselves, plus my new found awareness, spurred me on to write my first book, The Psychological impact of Breast Cancer: a psychologist’s insights as a patient, written for health professionals, the aim of which was to highlight both good and bad practice and what seems to help and what doesn’t.

This book was read by women with breast cancer, too, although it wasn’t really meant for breast cancer sufferers. The fact they were reading it, and the feedback they were giving me, highlighted more than ever the need for a support manual that didn’t downplay breast cancer’s emotional effects and that validated women’s deep and enduring emotions about the gamut of effects the disease has. There was also a need to directly challenge the whole notion, so prevalent in society at large, that you’re abnormal if you can’t ‘move on’ or ‘get over’ an extreme life trauma such as breast cancer. In fact, I challenge the whole assumption that you can get over breast cancer, especially given that scars remain, both emotional and physical, and fear of recurrence is ever-present. How can we ‘get over it’?

Our review of the book is here.

Why Bike Patrol Uniform Needs to be Reflective Clothing

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reflective clothing for cyclingEvery police officer whether riding on a bike, a horse, or perhaps in an automobile recognizes that being visible to oncoming motorist when you are performing a traffic stop could literally mean the difference between life and death for an officer from the law.

Police officers everywhere have prescribed standards that they’re necessary to follow concerning uniforms. Police officers must adhere to specifications not just about how a uniform should, but more about that they are created and what types of materials they are created from.

Bike Patrol Uniforms Require Different Standards Then Regular Police Uniforms

The fact that bike patrol uniforms officers spend all their time practical outside in the weather with very little more than a high visibility jacket and a police uniform together the street, weather, and also the suspects makes bike patrol uniforms and the way they are manufactured from the upmost importance.

What sort of Visibility Jacket Do Bike Patrol Officers Wear?

Usually when we think of a high visibility jacket we think from the visibility jacket that most folks wore as kids while riding our bikes round the neighborhood. However, a better high visibility jacket is a lot sturdier than our Moms regarded as being a visibility jacket, and bought at the area department store. The type of high visibility jacket that uniform bike patrol officers must wear is known as, “Class 3 high visibility clothing” although police officers aren’t necessary to wear the category 3 high visibility clothing constantly it is required while officers are directing traffic, while they’re investigating car wrecks, and when being employed as a uniform bike patrol specifically in high traffic or congested areas.

Bike Patrol Officers Uniforms and Regular Uniforms

The large difference in bike patrol uniforms and regular police uniforms may be the method that they are made. Taking into consideration that bike riding causes more deterioration of many places of clothing bike patrol officers uniforms are reinforced in certain areas to make sure strength when needed and luxury as well areas including the knees and crotch area wears faster when riding a bike day in and day out.

Another difference inside the bike patrol uniforms is the fact that they are outdoors in the actual elements most of the time. The bike patrol officer is a lot more more likely to get wet by sweat or rain so they really have to have a uniform that will keep them dry after they have to be kept dry, and will dry quickly after they don’t realize wet. Bike patrol uniforms are produced from fabrics which can be specially made to do just that.