In 2020, India experienced 965 earthquakes of magnitude 3 and above, and the number of earthquakes continues to increase each year. All of these earthquakes hit the poor communities harder and harder, leaving thousands in need of food, clean water, and shelter.
The India Development and Relief Fund works to provide support for ongoing programs based in India such as; education, health care, women’s empowerment, eco friendly development, good governance, disaster relief, and rehabilitation.
Those six areas are the main focuses for programs.
IDRF asks for donations of any size, volunteering, fundraising, and partnerships with businesses to help break the continuous cycle of poverty within India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. They recognize poverty is a deep rooted and oppressed issue. India Development and Relief Fund’s mission is to empower the poor, to guide their programs to be beneficial to the women and children fighting, and having the locals truly take charge so that the change is long lasting.
IDRF’s programs serve the disadvantaged with no regards to religion, race, caste, or creed.
One of the popular programs being run right now is computer literacy to underprivileged children. It is being run all across India right now.
Disaster relief and rehabilitation would be the program used for earthquakes and man made disasters. This program is very active in rebuilding communities in the aftermath of disaster. Once the immediate needs are met, the program focuses on enabling enduring and sustainable development in the area. That way, instead of focusing on transitional relief, IDRF can focus on the long term sustainable options and rehabilitation.
IDRF continues to partner with trustworthy local non government organizations (NGOs) after years of working with them and achieving great results.
IDRF has three COVID-19 relief campaign projects out now; two are based in India, one based in the United States.
IDRF has been awarded 4 out of 4 stars by ‘Charity Navigators’ because it demonstrates strong financial health and accountability.
Now, with the COVID-19 disaster, is the best time to donate and join the IDRF family.
Everyone says “breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” But sometimes I’m too tired to make any breakfast, or I wake up late and barely have any time to eat something healthy. And there are many occasions where I simply don’t know what to eat. So, here are —- quick and easy healthy breakfast ideas:
Why not try having a burrito in the morning? Getting a tortilla, adding in some eggs, avocado, and some veggies (or keeping it a strictly vegetable-only burrito) makes a healthy and delicious breakfast meal!
A quesadilla-obviously with a tortilla and cheese, but why not add something else? Adding in some ham, bacon, or sausage to boost up protein is always an option!
A bacon, egg quesadilla-or simply some egg!
Or add in some vegetables-onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms always do the trick! Some avocado also never hurts!
Oatmeal is quick, easy, and healthy! Adding in some fruit, jam, seeds, some almond or adding in some peanut butter with chocolate chips always shakes things up!
Adding in some yogurt with some chia seeds is another great combination with oats!
Or apricots with pistachios and pomegranate seeds, or hemp seeds with mango and currants!
As you may know, ‘Attack on Titan’ season 4, is coming out weekly. As of March 24th there are 16 episodes out. This anime is arguably the most watched seasonal anime coming out right now. Apparently, season 4 is the final season of the anime, and this is what I think about the season so far.
Animation
The animation for this last season is really good. The studio in charge is most known for doing another anime called ‘Vinland Saga’. The animation studio is WIT studio.
They have the task of animating much harder things and details than the other seasons, like the technological advancements in this series during the timeskip. Trains, guns, and explosions are rampant in this season making it a much more difficult task to animate. Even with all that, they are doing a great job with consistency and the animation is much better than expected.
Voice acting
For this season, you have good news for both sub (Japanese) and dub (English), because the voice acting is phenomenal. Especially in Japanese, this part of the anime is flawless.
The octaves of the voices changed according to what they used to sound like, and for me personally, they sound exactly like what four years would do to someone; older characters sound the same as younger characters grew up.
Designs
The designs are really good for most characters. The main character, his sister, and his best friend have all aged and the designs were really good. On top of that, the change in animation really made the designs look significantly better because we were unfamiliar with this animation style.
Changes
This is by far the worst part of this season. The changes they made to save time cheapens the story. They keep the most important parts intact, but the foreshadowing and other details, like character interaction and buildup, were removed. The more time passes the worse it will get, and the more they will skip.
They are claiming that this is the final season, but to this day, the manga is still coming out.
Yoga was once a practice that involved great spirituality and mindfulness. It was a way of life which no individual had taken lightly. However, after its introduction in Western society, yoga became a factory which Americans have simply thrown money at. The culture of Hindus, Buddhists, and Janeists have become a multi-million dollar industry marketed towards white women.
The origins of yoga date back thousands of years. It was first mentioned in the ‘Rig Veda’, which are ancient Sanskrit texts from India, however, yoga was practiced by yogis long before there was written record of it. The ‘Rig Veda’ is one of the most important texts in the tradition of Hinduism. It is a collection of hymns and mantras divided into ten mandalas (books).
Over time, yogis passed down the discipline to their students. Schools of yoga had begun to expand across India, and started to spread through Eastern Asia as well.
Yoga is one of the six schools of philosophy in Hinduism, and is a major part of the traditions of Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism as well. It is a practice which combines aspects of physicality, spirituality, and mental well being through breathing techniques, poses, and meditation.
Yoga is most commonly known in the Western world as being an exercise that involves poses, but in reality, physicality is not as significant in the traditional practices in India. Instead of being a fitness routine, yoga was focused on spiritual growth and mental improvement. The word yoga in Sanskrit means “union” and is meant to be a way to connect the mind, body, and soul.
According to a research study done by the University of Connecticut, yoga practitioners in the United States are generally white, middle aged, women, of a higher socioeconomic status. Therefore, the American yoga industry markets towards this demographic. Products such as yoga mats and blocks are so overpriced that they have become inaccessible to individuals of lower socioeconomic status. Yoga studios are generally built in areas of greater wealth. This might have something to do with the $90 yoga pants they sell, or the $20 per class fee they charge. Yoga practitioners in the U.S. spend more than $10 billion a year on classes, clothing, and accessories. The upscale white woman is the face of yoga, because that’s who Western yoga (white yoga) is marketed towards.
One of the most significant symbols of the commercialization of yoga is the mat. Many consider this a vital piece in the practice. A top of the line mat can cost you around $100. However, mats have not always been a staple to the practice of yoga. The first mat which was intentionally produced for the purpose of yoga, was created in the 1990s. Before that, yoga was practiced on grass, rugs, and even just on the bare floor. Today some argue that the use of mats interferes with the practice, claiming it distracts the practitioner away from the true aims of yoga, and towards that accumulation of commodities.
The result of the commercialization of yoga could potentially be dangerous. Unqualified teachers can cause physical harm to students. According to an article by the ‘New York Times’, it is all too common for students and teachers alike to injure themselves from lack of experience in yoga. Glenn Black, an incredibly experienced and famous yogi, claims that the majority of people in practice, shouldn’t be.
Commercialization has driven yoga to become more of an exercise which involves harsh posing, causing injury to be common. It’s rarely known that certain poses can cause serious issues such as strokes, wounding of vertebral arteries, and blood clots. These poses are not meant for the inflexible white urbanite. The poses were extensions of positions ancient Indians used to sit and stand in every day. Their bodies were built to be able to bend this way.
The failure to discuss the idea that yoga can cause blinding pain is done on purpose. What’s pumped out into the media is the idea that yoga is a miracle cure for anxiety, depression, back aches, high blood pressure, and so much more. This furthers its already growing popularity and contributes to the rising trust in its abilities. The industry creates such an incredible profit that they would do nothing to endanger it. Therefore its potential harm is not mentioned.
In addition to the dangers commercialization of yoga can cause to Americans, the dilution and corruption of yoga in the Western world does harm Hindu people and culture, as well as other traditions that practice yoga. The way that yoga is practiced in Western society is cultural appropriation. It has erased the true traditions of yoga through the failure to practice in the correct manner. This creates obstacles for Hindu people attempting to access their own culture, and prevents the passing down of tradition.
Practicing yoga without acknowledging its background is also very problematic because of its history with British colonial rule. Hindus were persecuted by the British, and prevented from practicing yoga in their own land. Their culture was almost erased.
Hindus today still face discrimination for practicing yoga, while white people practice it without consequences and without ackknowledging the culture and people behind it.
Western commercialization has created a culture of appropriation. We have turned hallowed traditions and spiritual practices into workout routines for the wealthy. Our lack of awareness and acknowledgement harms cultures around the world. The practice of yoga is not a weekly stretch, but in fact is a way of life.
For more information, please visit:
More on the demographics of yoga: file:///C:/Users/gshel/Downloads/Whodoesyoga.pdf
In the spirit of this article, I’m making the header image literal advertising space for Pizza Hut. I don’t even know if I’m allowed to do this *Editorial disclaimer: we are not being paid by Pizza Hut for advertisement, but agree with the author’s decision to use the ad
So, recently, as I’m sure you’ve heard, Paramount launched it’s brand new streaming service known as Paramount+, and while I know it’s hard to contain your excitement at the idea of being able to watch as much ‘Young Sheldon’ as your heart desires for only $5.99 a month, this had me thinking of sorta how this all started.
Back when I was a drooling toddler, with a dent in my head, my family used to go to a lil’ place called Block Buster, where you could rent a DVD of ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop’ once a week, whenever you wanted to see a movie without having to go through the hassle of going to a theatre (or a theater, one of the two).
But now, in the Year of the Ox, 2021, the moviegoing industry is just a little different now that cinemas are considered boiling soups of disease and sickness.
Originally, people would’ve turned to Netflix in this specific scenario, where you could watch all the movies you want in the comfort of your own lil’ hut, for only a given price per month. But now, there’s like 30 different variants of Netflix, all with different shows which are all exclusive to each, so you gotta collect them all now like some Yugioh cards or whatever.
So now, the experience seems to go a little something like this:
Man, I really like the movie ‘Caddyshack’, but Netflix only has ‘Caddyshack 2’, so now if I wanna see the entire Caddyshack cinematic franchise I need to pay for both Netflix and Big Burrito+, but I can only get both if I get the SpaghettiTV+ package which includes ‘Two Broke Girls Express’, which is the streaming service that only has 1 show, and that’s ‘Two Broke Girls’, which is the worst show of all time, but at least I can listen to Donald Glover’s new album which is exclusive to Disney+ because Donald Glover himself is apparently a Disney property now and so is ‘King Of The Hill‘.
All the most popular streaming services, including everyone’s favorite; Big Burrito+
So, I dunno, maybe it’s just me being cynical, and it probably wasn’t any better during the days when you had to deal with all those cable packages and stuff, but honestly, I just wanted to mention how interesting it is to me that ‘King Of The Hill’ is actually a Disney property now.
But, nonetheless, companies are now realizing that that if anybody is going to watch anything, you need to make it in a “binge watching” format, so people can feel like they’re in control to watch whatever they want, whenever they want. Even though the selection of shows/movies are only based on algorithms designed purposefully to announce the removal of a given show they know is popular, so that people’ll rewatch it as much as they can, out of the hope they can catch the fleeting availability of ‘Friends’before they pull the rug out from under you, and Ross, Joey, and whatever Jennifer Anniston’s character’s name was, are gone from your life forever.
And aside from already established shows being stuck on to these services as exclusive items to collect, more and more “original” shows are starting to pop up all over these places. But what’s wrong with having original stuff? Nothing, but there is one show, in particular, me and a buncha other people are sorta upset about.
So, there’s this show called ‘Kamp Koral’, and it’s all about the “infant years” of SpongeBob, which only particularly makes me lose my big ol’ Cheshire Cat smile cause the creator the original SpongeBob, Stephen Hillenburg, sorta was known for always talking about how he never wanted any SpongeBob spinoff shows, like a ‘Muppet Babies’ or a ‘Patrick Show’, to be made under his watch, as he didn’t wanna over commercialize it and sacrifice quality for profitability whatnot.
So, the executives in charge of Paramount/Nickelodeon conveniently waited until about 7 monthsafter he passed away, to announce 2 separate ‘Cleveland Show’esque SpongeBob spinoffs; one being exclusively about Patrick, and one about SpongeBob as a toddler (Kamp Koral), which is just peachy…
Honestly, people in general are sort of expecting this sort of thing from the overall “industry” in general, because it’s nothing new that corporate higher ups would be disregarding this guy’s wishes like this in such a blatantly disrespectful way, and I mean you can always just pirate your shows anyway if you don’t wanna contribute to 0.000001% of these guy’s overall revenue.
Which, I mean, is a really cynical way of looking at things, but, I mean, if you think about it, what if people just don’t wanna pirate stuff, and are happy to pay for networks which host shows they have fondness for? And what if these shows carry memories which might seem silly to some people, but could be meaningful to other people? What if people actually enjoy the exclusive content, and remember it with happiness like I remember watching SpongeBob as a lil’ kid?
I mean, yeah, these shows could probably be made without these services so easily, and the conscious of all the ‘Kamp Koral’ stuff still is scummy on a moral level, but in a time where people just naturally want entertainment to distract them from all this wacky stuff around them, maybe I should just let people enjoy their ability to watch as much ‘Young Sheldon’ in peace as they want, because at the end of the day, it’s just entertainment and what matters more in an American’s life than their TV?
Research that was conducted at Stanford University, in 2013, found that high school students, who may be considered a part of ‘high achieving communities’, who spend more time on their homework, struggle with balancing their education with their social life and physical health. This lack of balance has caused many of these students stress.
This study came to find that more than two hours of homework per night is not only overbearing, but it also is counterproductive. The students who participated in this study reported to be spending over three hours on homework, on average.
When it came to stress, over 70% of the studied students reported they were often, or even always, stressed over schoolwork, and more than 99% claimed that homework was a stressor. More than 40% of students claimed they experienced three or more physical symptoms when asked if they ever experienced any headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss, and stomach problems, and 80% said they experienced at least one.
Many students in this study, and even personally, felt forced and/or obligated, to choose homework and grades over the rest of their life. This could mean that any free time at home, time with my family, any social outings, and extracurricular activities were neglected because of homework.
Some tips that can help with the stress of too much homework are:
Stick to a schedule: As a student, this has helped me a lot, with more than my homework. Just forcing myself to wake up at the same time everyday, get dress and do something like make my bed or pick up my room before school has helped me create good habits that I wouldn’t otherwise have.
Stay organized and check your agenda constantly: This is another important aspect to keeping stress down. A tool I use personally is a homework app. I enter my homework and the due dates into an app and check it off as complete when it is submitted. It also helps me when an adult also has access to my homework tracker to help me stay on task.
Communication: Communication with your teacher is ideal, it helps your teacher get to know you and it makes it easy to talk to them when you have questions. And as mentioned before, talking with an adult in your house is very helpful. Sit down for five minutes every night, or every couple nights, and discuss how homework is progressing and your upcoming assignments. I was very hesitant when I first started doing this, but it has given me a lot of motivation to get things done.
Get a good night’s sleep. This one seems very obvious but it’s true. I’m sure everyone knows the importance of sleep, but as a high schooler myself, I cannot tell anyone how much easier school got when I started going to sleep at a decent time. If you were to do this, even on most nights, the difference is noticeable.
There are many resources students can use to keep in contact with their teachers and many apps and websites to keep track of your schoolwork. The app I use personally is called ‘My Homework Student Planner’, and paper planners are another amazing way to stay up to date. I spend, at most, five minutes at the start of each day looking through Schoology for new assignments.
Around the world, governments and automakers have pushed electric vehicles as a key solution to curbing oil use and fighting climate change, but are these vehicles really as “green” as advertised?
The answer is yes, but also no. While electric vehicles are, in fact, very “green”, they do still have environmental effects.
An argument that is often put forward when discussing how environmentally-friendly electric vehicles are is how polluting and damaging the process behind the manufacturing of their batteries can be to the Earth. The batteries behind electric vehicles are actually composed of a range of rare-earth metals, and the extraction of these metals contributes significantly to carbon emissions. In this sense, electric vehicles are not exactly “green”.
Additionally, the production of electric vehicles consumes a lot of energy. In fact, the emissions from the production of an electric vehicle is higher than those during the production of a conventional vehicle. This is due to the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries needed for electric vehicles. More than a third of the lifetime CO2 emissions from an electric vehicle come from the energy used to make the car itself. This is not very “green” either.
However, electric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions, producing no carbon dioxide emissions when driving. When evaluated on that factor alone, electric vehicles are a lot more eco-friendly than conventional gasoline-powered vehicles on the market today. Over a year, an average of 1.5 million grams of CO2 can be saved just by one electric vehicle on the roads.
Electric vehicles are also much more energy-efficient than conventional gasoline-powered vehicles. Approximately 17 to 21 percent of the energy is converted into power for the car when the gasoline in conventional vehicles combusts. 59 to 62 percent of the energy is converted into electric energy to power electric vehicles.
So, the answer to our question is quite ambiguous, but perhaps, as technology advances and electric vehicles become even more environmentally friendly, we will have a definitive answer.
There are 13 essential elements. Vitamins are organic compounds that we need to ingest to stay healthy. In a sense they are the bodybuilders, defenders, and maintenance workers if the body. They build muscle and bone, capture and use energy, all the while healing wounds.
They are consumed in different ways. Lipid (fat) soluble, and water soluble. Water soluble vitamins are taken up by the blood flow. Lipid soluble is broken up by bile from the liver and is commonly seen in fat.
The difference of the way it is consumed, ejected, and even stored is based on if it is a water or a fat soluble vitamin.
Here are the four main vitamins that you need the most:
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is vital for the reproductive system and for the immune system. The other things that Vitamin A is good for is that it helps lungs, kidneys, and other organs run properly.
Liver, fish, and dairy are great sources of Vitamin A.
Vitamin B
Vitamin B is great for cell health, it is also great for infections and even helps blood cells thrive.
Ways to receive Vitamin B are meat, eggs, whole grains, seeds, and you can’t forget the dark leafy vegetables.
Vitamin C
This is the vitamin that you probably will recognize. A deadly disease called scurvy can be cured with this vitamin. It has the benefits of helping reduce your chances of contracting certain types of cancer and diabetes.
This vitamin can be found in oranges, mangoes, papayas, and pineapples.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D can be found in liver, eggs, red meat, and ultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet radiation can be found basically anywhere the sun is, so you can get Vitamin D by going outside as well.
Severe Vitamin D deficiencies can lead to the following: easily fatigued, bone pains, and even muscle weakness.
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner is an African American inventor who was born on May 17, 1912, in Monroe, North Carolina. Her father, Sidney Davidson, was an inventor and she had one sister, Millred Davidson.
In her childhood, Mary Kenner was filled with many ideas. Mary wanted to invent tools to help make people’s lives more convenient.
In 1924, she explored the U.S. Patent and Trademark office and became familiar with the building and patent process.
Later, Mary Kenner graduated Dunbar High School and attended Howard University but had to stop attending due to financial reasons.
Although Mary didn’t finish her formal education she still used her spare time to invent. In 1957, Mary created her first patent of the sanitary belt (a sanitary belt was an early model for the type of pads women would wear during their periods). Originally, Mary had Invented it earlier in the 1920s, but could not afford a patent. As the years progressed Mary continued to improve her version of the sanitary belt.
Mary’s first patent of the sanitary belt was an elastic band that held napkins in place. Maxi pads were not invented until much later. But Mary’s invention was revolutionary and prevented way more leaks than the rags women used at the time.
One company approached Mary’s idea and was interested in marketing her patented invention, but when a representative learned she was black, the company backed away. Because of the racism and prejudice against women at the time, Mary’s invention was declined until 30 years after Mary invented it.
Despite the racism Mary faced as a black inventor, she continued inventing and filed five patents in her lifetime. Leaving behind a legacy worthy of celebration.
If you follow college basketball, then you surely are aware of March Madness. March Madness is a 64 team tournament, with the 64 best college basketball teams. The teams are ranked one through 16 based on their record, strength of schedule, and overall talent.
This year, the teams are in a “bubble” which is a bunch of hotels where the players are quarantined and not allowed to leave to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
A common part of March Madness is filling out a bracket; anyone can fill out a bracket on who you think is going to win the tournament.
If someone were to fill out a bracket and have it be perfect, they would win the Warren Buffet One Million Dollar Challenge. Warren Buffet says he would award anyone one million dollars a year for life if they were to fill out a perfect bracket. Filling out a perfect bracket is nearly impossible, in fact the odds are 1-10 billion.
March Madness is also a huge event for gamblers as the AGA (American Gambling Association) estimates 10.4 billion dollars will be gambled, while only 3% of that money will be gambled legally.
In my opinion, March Madness is one of the exciting, fun times of the year. I love filling out brackets and watching games with my friends. March Madness is expected to have record breaking numbers in viewers this year due to the fact that they couldn’t even have the tournament last year due to COVID.
Plaid Line 