Mentatul

Year: 2016

  • India Makes Efforts towards Gender Equality… Through Censorship

    India Makes Efforts towards Gender Equality… Through Censorship

    In India, many families are taking their gender preferences a bit too far. Because of the perceived material benefit of having boys, women tend to terminate girl pregnancies more often. This has resulted in the country having one of the worst gender balances in the world.

    Various Indian governments have tried to tackle the problem in different ways. The latest such maneuver is asking Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to censor advertisements for services that determine the sex of unborn children:

    http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/20/12986206/google-microsoft-yahoo-india-sex-selection-ad-block^

    It’s good that at least they’re trying to do something about the problem. However, throwing the dead cat in the search engine’s yard is a cheap and cowardly solution. And like all such solutions, it won’t do much. The adverts only help certain companies get customers from other companies who don’t advertise. Without the commercials, people will simply turn to whatever word of mouth is available. And in the third millennium, word travels fast, censorship or not.

    If India really wants change when it comes to gender equality, then the only option is, of course, education. Children, along with their families, have to carefully and respectfully be given the teachings that will make them realize the importance of gender balance. Pragmatically speaking, the digital age has annihilated pretty much any economic advantage men had over women. In a healthy society women can now contribute as the equals they always should have been. It’s jolly time to get healthy, India.

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  • Bob Moses – Far From The Tree

    Bob Moses – Far From The Tree

    It ramps up slowly but determinedly, marching forward with a solid thumping bass that can turn subwoofers into weapons. Then the voices start, rising in beautiful monotony and leading up to the few lyrics that are sung. The melody features an interesting mix between the underlying scattered beat and a carefully put together accompaniment for the singer.

    This song reminds me of a saying in Romanian: “the splinter won’t fall far from the tree”. It is usually said when children follow in the footsteps of parents. However, I think many of us do fall quite far from the tree…

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsyB0phTz9I^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/2iTwQZcArboA9KZ0Xdl0zx^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    http://www.deezer.com/track/94757278^

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  • China’s Awesome Robotics Challenge

    China’s Awesome Robotics Challenge

    It’s called RoboMasters and it’s more important than it may seem. At first sight it could be classified as a nerdy game show. It is much, much more than that. The article below (and the video it contains) will beautifully demonstrate:

    http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/27/13059144/dji-robomasters-robot-drone-battle-video-frank-wang-interview^

    Robotics company DJI has been very smart in how it organized the game show. It’s a beautiful way to attract talent and reward the dedication of China’s students. I feel that this can become a long term commitment, a championship, and could turn out as one of the world’s leading benchmarks in robotics.

    This has seriously impressed me. I’m seeing a fascinating amount of innovation and initiative arising from China in the past few years. The country is on the rise in a deeper, more meaningful way than in the “manufacturing powerhouse” decades.

    My only worry regarding creating a thinking robot that can defend its base against all attackers is… well… think about it. Despite the scary scenarios that the thought may invite, in fact, I don’t believe artificial intelligence will arise as soon as others think. However, I do think that in a couple of decades it will become increasingly difficult to differentiate between a human and a robot when it comes to certain disciplines. Combat is one of these disciplines. You don’t want this sort of AI in the hands of terrorists.

    We’re strolling into uncertain territory. I wish that AI researchers will be careful with all their programming in the coming decades. I wish they will keep ethics in mind and be aware that AI shouldn’t be thought of as some sort of servant, but as a partner. The desire to control and dominate will lead to nothing good.

    For now, we could say it’s mostly advanced remote controlled machines fighting in the RoboMasters arena. But sooner or later we might have something that is not that much different from ourselves there, with all the ethical implications this will entail.

    Related: more robotic innovation from Asia: here’s Japan’s sweating robot^.

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  • All India Radio – Four Three

    All India Radio – Four Three

    Dreamy yet action-packed, this song showcases a beautiful combination of instruments. Distorted percussion, guitars, violins, they all play their part in leading up to her voice. The way she’s introduced to the listener is beautiful and serves as a cornerstone for the entire composition. If it wasn’t for the few words she speaks, this would’ve been just a good rock song. Like so, it’s a colorful musical journey.

    “Welcome to my world.
    Stay. You are not alone.”

    It also comes with one of the quirkiest videos I’ve seen lately.

    You can listen to the song for free, in good quality, on BandCamp, which is one of the best websites when it comes to supporting artists. You can also purchase the song (or album) from this same location. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I did purchase All India Radio’s album :).

    https://allindiaradio.bandcamp.com/track/four-three^

    YouTube (decent quality, quirky video):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWi2ujL5dM4^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/7GraNeuFPEK0slh0AZ4Mgc^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    http://www.deezer.com/track/66279144^

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  • In GMail You Can Undo Sending an E-Mail

    In GMail You Can Undo Sending an E-Mail

    I know, right? Hell froze over! Now we can actually undo sending e-mails. Remember that time when you pressed CTRL + Enter by mistake? Or when you hit send and just in the same moment saw a horrible mistake? Well, Google comes to our rescue, with the amazing “Undo Send E-Mail” functionality!

    Granted, “unsending” an e-mail is possible using some other methods as well, but this is the first time I see a user-friendly method implemented by a major public e-mail provider. And this is why I thought it’s a good idea to make it known to other people.

    Here’s how to do it: go to Settings and enable it. Simple, eh? How does it work? I tested this using two accounts of mine. Google will, in fact, delay sending the e-mail for up to 30 seconds.

    How to set up Undo Send
    How to set up Undo Send

    Unfortunately, if you navigate away from the current page after sending the e-mail, I don’t think you can stop it from being sent anymore (at least I couldn’t find any relevant button or menu option when I opened a test e-mail during the undo window of opportunity). Also unfortunately, you cannot undo for more than 30 seconds. But I’m still very happy I learned about his functionality. I have enabled it for both my accounts.

    It just... works!
    It just… works!

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  • Clubroot – Low Pressure Zone

    Clubroot – Low Pressure Zone

    It’s lovely when an artist manages to somehow combine sound and words, without actually uttering the words. In this case, the song really acts like the title says: “low pressure zone”. There are some seriously low pressure vibes here, as in solid, badassbass (that was not a typo). Of course, there’s much more than the bass. More specifically, the mysterious, all-encompassing floating clouds of sound, punctuated by the lonely, determined keyboard touch. It was love at first listen.

    Soundcloud (high quality, free):

    https://soundcloud.com/fbits/clubroot-low-pressure-zone^

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nctcPI-_nI^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/0xLmLMC5phGgyrq2c5bAfc^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    http://www.deezer.com/track/13610263^

    [ax_meta lnimgurl=’http://mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/01155-ClubrootClubroot-Thumb.jpg’ lnimgw=’250′ lnimgh=’250′ title=’Clubroot – Low Pressure Zone’ desc=’This is some seriously low pressure vibe here, as in solid badassbass (that was not a typo).’]

  • Amid Souring Relations, Russia Pulls out of Nuclear Treaty

    Amid Souring Relations, Russia Pulls out of Nuclear Treaty

    During the past few weeks and months, there have been some worrying rumblings among the world’s superpowers. We’ve witnessed a serious degradation of relations between Russia and the USA, while China is slowly but surely pursuing its own agenda.

    Part of a process of rebalancing itself in the planetary power-play, Russia has recently been involved in military exercises^ together with China. This sends a clear message that the Eurasian superpowers are waking up to the fact that they share more points in common than just the massive landmass they occupy. These military drills were held in the contested waters of the South China Sea. There, the USA has been involved in arbitration between other claimant nation-states. But the balance is quickly shifting^, even as Philippines’ human rights violator^ and political wildcard Rodrigo Duterte cares little about the meddling of far-away USA^ in regional matters.

    Last week, Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan held a joint press conference announcing a revival in economic collaboration^. Turkey has the second largest army in NATO. Rarely have I seen so much rebalancing of powers in the space of just a few months.

    From its side, the USA is launching all sorts of diplomatic efforts in an attempt to contain Russia. The first step was to halt collaboration on Syria^ (as marginal and ineffective as it was). Next, the US together with its close allies^ threatened to drag Russia to an international court for war crimes^ (as if Americans hadn’t blown up hospitals and ruined enough countries in the past).

    What should worry us most though, is the stench of atomic war that started to make itself felt. A few weeks ago Russia pulled out of an important agreement aimed at lowering the nuclear weapons stockpile of the two superpowers:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/world/europe/russia-plutonium-nuclear-treaty.html?_r=0

    It may be tempting to condemn Russia as a warmonger, but actually, at least one of its motivations for quitting the agreement is quite reasonable. The USA hasn’t kept its end of the bargain. Instead of totally disposing of its plutonium by using it in power plants, the US is considering stashing it at a nuclear waste disposal location. Granted, the Americans have helped Russia get rid of quite a bit of plutonium through the years. So, as always, the situation isn’t black or white but rather a gloomy shade of gray.

    This is not the first time^ in recent memory when Russia has brought its nuclear arsenal into the spotlight. However, it’s quite repugnant that they stooped so low as to allow TV anchors^ to spew crude nuclear propaganda into the minds of their viewers; that’s the sort of antics one would expect from North Korea. Sadly, I feel like Russia might have been pushed in this direction by what it perceives as continued advances into its sphere of influence by NATO^.

    Here’s another enlightening synthesis regarding Russian-American relations:

    http://www.businessinsider.com/us-russia-relations-trump-syria-2016-10?r=US&IR=T&IR=T^

    All in all, what’s happening is quite sad. You’d expect more from the 21st century than superpowers squabbling over petty differences while covertly (or not) fueling the destruction of Syria and many other developing countries (Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and the list can go on). Insatiable greed is a sign that a species hasn’t yet made peace with the barbaric traits of its survival instinct.

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  • Au4 – Over The Edge It Goes

    Au4 – Over The Edge It Goes

    Showcasing an impressive amount of craftsmanship, this song is one fascinating ride ending with a long, beautiful guitar solo. There are some seriously wicked grooves here, people! The lyrics are strong too and the way they’re sung is also perfect for the atmosphere that the artists are trying to create.

    14 minutes you say? The last five minutes are a bit of a drag you say? Not really, it’s all part of the cool-down that the two brothers making up the core of Au4 have in store for us via what is the last song of their album. Speaking of which, this is one of the best rock albums I’ve heard in the past few years. There are some gorgeous musical gems scattered through Au4’s “… And Down Goes The Sky”. I highly recommend listening to the entire album, especially since it’s freely available on the artist’s website!

    You can listen to the song for free, in good quality, on BandCamp, which is one of the best websites when it comes to supporting artists.

    https://au4music.bandcamp.com/track/over-the-edge-it-goes^

    However, if you’d like to contribute to the artist, then go to their website and donate (like I did). You can also download both of their albums for free:

    http://www.au4.ca/^

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL6Qet29S-4^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/42HP5DUz8uETktHXrceTtF^

    For Deezer Users (high quality):

    http://www.deezer.com/track/81830950^

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  • 22 x 22 for PTSD

    22 x 22 for PTSD

    22 days ago, I embarked on a challenge to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder. The challenge is one of those things that sometimes flare up through social media. It’s easy to generalize such happenings and to dismiss them as nothing but annoying fads. Luckily, not everybody is prone to generalization. I decided to undertake this challenge not only because PTSD is a mental condition that is familiar to me, but also because a good friend inspired me (he posted a video every time after doing his 22 daily pushups).

    For the past 22 days, aside from the 22 pushups that are the subject of the challenge, I also did daily reading about PTSD. During this process, I compiled a rather long list of notes and now, I’ll use that list to bring forth my own effort for raising awareness about PTSD.

    Some PTSD history

    There is a lot of information about PTSD out there, so I’m not going to repeat it. Instead, I’ll highlight what I consider to be of greater importance. Throughout the years, I’ve learned a bit about PTSD from various online sources. Now, I built upon that knowledge by reading the Wikipedia entry about PTSD^ as well as several other online sources.

    In my understanding, PTSD is just a name for a condition that has been around for ages. That condition is an excessive behavioral adaptation of the brain in an attempt to make sure that a traumatic event does not occur ever again (emphasis intended). Seen in this light, PTSD shows itself as a natural protection mechanism. The problem is with shutting down this system when it’s no longer necessary.

    PTSD research and treatment really took off after the Vietnam War. There was some study in this area during the World Wars but this particular name (post-traumatic stress disorder) became official in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM IV).

    It is more common in women. Childhood trauma increases the chances of a person developing PTSD during subsequent traumatic events in adulthood. It has a serious impact on the physical health of people who suffer from it (for example it worsens outcome in chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes).

    Therapy over medication

    One of the main take-aways from all of the reading I’ve done is that therapy is a better solution than medication. Not only does it offer better results (statistically speaking), but it also spares the human body from going through the nasty side effects that are caused by most drugs that are popular today. These drugs are messing around with neurotransmitters, often causing havoc in other areas of the organism.

    Traumatic events trigger PTSD due to an over-reactive adrenaline response that creates deep neurological patterns in the brain. The generation of painful memories will make an individual hyper-responsive to future situations that share some similarities with the original traumatic event. Because information is tightly intertwined in our memory, a lot of unexpected situations can trigger flashbacks and other symptoms of PTSD. In other words, the traumatic event alters the neural pathways in the brain through the use of neurotransmitters. That is why tampering with these neurotransmitters could help in the process of curing PTSD (some form of therapy is probably still necessary).

    Even though the trauma (or, in the case of Complex PTSD, repeated traumas over a long period of time) does change the victim’s physiology, this doesn’t mean that engaging in long-term chemical interference in the brain is a good idea. If medication is indeed the last resort, there are other options than getting patients hooked on antidepressants, including proven methods such as short-term treatment with MDMA combined with therapy sessions^.

    Medication might still provide benefits but since we know so little about the inner workings of the brain, it’s difficult to decide which patients will be helped and which will be harmed by it (yes, long-term medication can cause lasting side effects). For now, what the studies show is that therapy works best.

    The two main types of therapy used to cure PTSD are cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Due to a lack of differential studies, it is unclear if the eye-movement component of EMDR is really beneficial, but what is certain is that the therapy aspect of it does help patients. The main difference between CBT and EMDR is that in EMDR the patient usually thinks about the traumatic event rather than talking about it.

    Awareness helps cure & prevention

    Being aware of what PTSD is and how it manifests itself is imperative for both victims and their friends & families. Knowing that somebody has been through a serious trauma, proper measures can be taken. Early access to therapy has been shown to be of some benefit. Knowledge is empowering.

    What is most important however is that those that are close to the victim provide social support, are good listeners, rebuild trust and safety, anticipate and manage triggers (probably sounds easier than it is), deal with volatility and anger (ouch) and take care of themselves (this is very important since helping a person weather the effects of PTSD can be quite taxing).

    What could we do if a person hides a traumatic event and suffers quietly? Many of the symptoms of PTSD are easy to spot from the outside: intense distress or irritability, avoidance, bouts of anger, developing a destructive addiction, insomnia, and hyper-vigilance, to name a few. Victims of PTSD should be encouraged to seek professional help, but in a way that does not interfere with their feeling of being in control, which more often than not has been seriously affected by trauma.

    The US military has developed certain programs to educate soldiers about PTSD and be able to deal with it on the battlefield. It’s a two-edged sword though, as the same knowledge can prevent a soldier to properly adapt back to life at home. It’s still probably better than the alternative, because veterans suffering from PTSD tend to have serious trouble with social integration^.

    An explanation that really stuck with me was the fact that upon return, soldiers may feel that they have little in common with their civilian peers. The daily struggles that concern friends and family seem trivial after having experiencing the horrors of war. I can totally see how war can completely redefine one’s scale of suffering. It does not mean that the soldiers lose empathy, but rather that mundane concerns simply fail to register on their emotional radar.

    It’s up to us after all

    More often than not, PTSD in humans is caused by humans (natural disasters are one of the few stressors that are not human-related). Be it war, rape, child abuse or social abuse, unfortunately, PTSD is mostly a product of our own society. Therefore, the first line of defense against PTSD is improving our society through education and other means, towards a more peaceful approach regarding our peers and the ecosystem we are part of (respecting and acknowledging our surroundings will lead to less damage from natural disasters).

    Sports and physical exercise have also been shown to speed up recovery. Not only does physical stimulate the production of euphoria-generating & pain-releving endorphines^, it also builds self-esteem and increases the feeling of being in control. However, the person suffering the effects of PTSD has to be willing to participate in such activities and that can be difficult while in a hurtful state of mind.

    Friends, family and healthcare professionals are the ones that have to encourage the desire to get better within those that suffer from PTSD. The wish to get better is there, what is imperative is that the wish is reinforced from the outside.

    Even if some sick parts of our society cause PTSD in our friends and family, the healthy part is fortunately there to clean up the mess. I wish that PTSD will slowly but surely become a very seldom occurrence, just like the savage behaviors that often cause it.

    Thank you Markus!

    The list of notes I made in the past 22 days is located here: www.mentatul.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/22.txt^

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  • Kalya Scintilla – Boab

    Kalya Scintilla – Boab

    The trees are throwing a party and we’re invited. This is perhaps what Kalya Scintilla’s version of what the Boab corner of the party would sound like. As usual when it comes to this artist, the listener is treated to a staggering array of rhythms and sounds.

    I have to say that at this party, I can hardly contain my body. Even though I am sitting on a chair donning my headphones, I cannot contain the grooves as they keep moving me left and right. It’s good I’m in no rush to type this, because this means I can make all sorts of gestures with my hands as the song keeps digging its way into the tribal parts of my awareness.

    Kalya Scintilla is one of what I’d like to call the “titans of psybient”. This song comes straight from an EP the artist launched this year. I’m happy it happened so, because I was actually looking for a good Kalya Scintilla song to feature on the Weekly Song. Now I have two. The other one will probably be featured next year.

    You can listen to the song for free, in good quality, on BandCamp, which is one of the best websites when it comes to supporting artists. You can also purchase the song (or the EP) from this same location. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I did purchase Kalya Scintilla’s EP :).

    https://kalyascintilla.bandcamp.com/track/boab^

    YouTube (decent quality):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yGrsTZpe7c

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yGrsTZpe7c^

    For Spotify Users (high quality):

    https://open.spotify.com/track/057USOSey2cIDaCuAKugTM^

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